Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multistatic UAV SAR Joint Synchronization Based on Multiple Direct Wave Pulses Exchange

Multistatic unmanned aerial vehicle synthetic aperture radar (MUAV-SAR) 3-D imaging system suffers from the time and phase synchronization errors among multiple stations. The classical two-way direct wave pulse exchange synchronization method introduces the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pi $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-ambiguity phase error and causes limited time–phase synchronization accuracy with multiple system nodes, leading to 3-D image defocusing. An MUAV-SAR joint synchronization method based on multiple direct wave pulses exchange is proposed to solve the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pi $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-ambiguity problem robustly and improve the synchronization accuracy significantly. First, the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pi $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-ambiguity phase error is estimated through the comparative calculation of delay-phase information extracted from direct wave pulses and the high estimated success probability (99.73%) of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pi $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-ambiguity can be achieved through the noise smoothing. Second, the synchronization accuracy is improved, that is, the time and phase errors are reduced to about <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(2/N)^{1/2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of the existing method by utilizing <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> stations information fusion to jointly process redundant information of direct wave pulses from multiple synchronization links. Finally, a four-station UAV SAR real data experiment verifies the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Electronic Properties and Structure of Functionalized Graphene

The trend over the last 50 years of down-scaling the silicon transistor to achieve faster computations has led to doubling of the number of transistors and computation speed over about every two years. However, this trend cannot be maintained due to the fundamental limitations of silicon as the main material for the semiconducting industry. Therefore, there is an active search for exploration of alternate materials. Among the possible candidates that can may be able to replace silicon is graphene which has recently gained the most attention. Unique properties of graphene include exceedingly high carrier mobility, tunable band gap, huge optical density of a monolayer, anomalous quantum Hall effect, and many others. To be suitable for microelectronic applications the material should be semiconductive, i.e. have a non-zero band gap. Pristine graphene is a semimetal, but by the virtue of doping the graphene surface with different molecules and radicals a band gap can be opened. Because the electronic properties of all materials are intimately related to their atomic structure, characterization of molecular and electronic structure of functionalizing groups is of high interest. The ab-inito (from the first principles) calculations provide a unique opportunity to study the influence of the dopants and thus allow exploration of the physical phenomena in functionalized graphene structures. This ability paves the road to probe the properties based on the intuitive structural information only. A great advantage of this approach lies in the opportunity for quick screening of various atomic structures. We conducted a series of ab-inito investigations of graphene functionalized with covalently and hapticly bound groups, and demonstrated possible practical
Association between Sjögren syndrome, sociodemographic factors, comorbid conditions, and optic neuritis: a Taiwanese population-based study

Purpose Our study aimed to explore the correlation between Sjögren syndrome, sociodemographic factors, comorbid conditions, and optic neuritis. Methods This retrospective, nationwide, population-based, matched case–control investigation involved 33,190 individuals diagnosed with optic neuritis, identified using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes 377.30 for optic neuritis or 377.32 for retrobulbar neuritis. Patient data were extracted from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Demographic characteristics, the presence of Sjögren syndrome, and pre-existing comorbid conditions were analyzed using univariate logistic regression. Continuous variables were assessed with a paired t-test. Adjusted logistic regression was employed to compare the prognosis odds ratio (OR) of patients with optic neuritis to controls. Results After adjusting for confounding variables, individuals with Sjögren syndrome exhibited a significantly higher likelihood of developing optic neuritis compared to controls (adjusted OR, 9.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.28–12.98; p < 0.0001). Other conditions associated with increased odds of optic neuritis included rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and granulomatous vasculitis (adjusted OR: 1.57, 95% CI: 1.33–1.86; adjusted OR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.65–2.48; adjusted OR: 140.77, 95% CI: 35.02–565.85; adjusted OR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.71–3.30; adjusted OR: 18.28, 95% CI: 2.21–151.45, respectively), as well as systemic infections such as human herpes viral infection and tuberculosis infection (adjusted OR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.35–1.66; adjusted OR: 4.60, 95% CI: 3.81–5.56, respectively). Discussion Our findings strongly support the existence of an association between Sjögren syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, granulomatous vasculitis, human herpes viral infection, tuberculosis, and optic neuritis.
Affective norms for 501 Chinese words from three emotional dimensions rated by depressive disorder patients

Introduction Emotional words are often used as stimulus material to explore the cognitive and emotional characteristics of individuals with depressive disorder, while normal individuals mostly rate the scores of affective words. Given that individuals with depressive disorder exhibit a negative cognitive bias, it is possible that their depressive state could influence the ratings of affective words. To enhance the validity of the stimulus material, we specifically recruited patients with depression to provide these ratings. Methods This study provided subjective ratings for 501 Chinese affective norms, incorporating 167 negative words selected from depressive disorder patients’ Sino Weibo blogs, and 167 neutral words and 167 positive words selected from the Chinese Affective Word System. The norms are based on the assessments made by 91 patients with depressive disorder and 92 normal individuals, by using the paper-and-pencil quiz on a 9-point scale. Results Regardless of the group, the results show high reliability and validity. We identified group differences in three dimensions: valence, arousal, and self-relevance: the depression group rated negative words higher, but positive and neutral words lower than the normal control group. Conclusion The emotional perception affected the individual’s perception of words, to some extent, this database expanded the ratings and provided a reference for exploring norms for individuals with different emotional states.
Association between Intake of Edible Mushrooms and Algae and the Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Chinese Older Adults

Previous studies have investigated the association between diet and cognitive impairment, yet there is limited investigation into the link between edible mushrooms and algae intake and cognitive decline. This study aims to explore the association between edible mushrooms and algae intake and the risk of cognitive impairment in individuals aged 65 years and above in China. Cross-sectional data from the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) formed the basis of this study. Edible mushrooms and algae intake was evaluated using a simplified food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). A binary logistic regression model was used to evaluate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), with subgroup analysis conducted. Among 14,150 older adults, the average age was (85.33 ± 11.55), with a cognitive impairment prevalence of 22.7; multi-model adjustments showed a 25.3% lower probability of cognitive impairment for those occasionally consuming edible mushrooms and algae (OR: 0.747, 95% CI: 0.675~0.826). Furthermore, a 29% lower risk was observed in those with daily intake (OR: 0.710, 95% CI: 0.511~0.987). Subgroup analysis demonstrated significant risk reduction in women (OR: 0.589, 95% CI: 0.375~0.925, p = 0.022), individuals with disability in activities of daily living (OR: 0.568, 95% CI: 0.367~0.878, p = 0.011), and those with low social activity levels (OR: 0.671, 95% CI: 0.473~0.950, p = 0.025). This study concludes that edible mushrooms and algae intake significantly impacts the risk of cognitive impairment in older adults. These results provide insights and impetus for further research into this area. Additional cohort studies or intervention trials are necessary to confirm the potential benefits of edible mushrooms and algae in promoting cognitive health.
Equatorial and low‐latitude ionospheric response to the 17–18 March 2015 great storm over Southeast Asia longitude sector

This study mainly investigates equatorial and low‐latitude ionospheric response to a great geomagnetic storm that occurred on 17 March 2015. We found that there were some interesting ionospheric phenomena, e.g., short‐term ionospheric positive effect, daytime spread F, and morning Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA) in the topside ionosphere, emerged at equatorial and low‐latitude region along the longitude of about 100°E. Ground‐based ionosondes and in situ satellite (Swarm) were utilized to study the possible mechanisms for these ionospheric phenomena. We found that vertical downward transport of plasma or neutral induced by traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) or traveling atmospheric disturbances (TADs) might make a contribution to the short‐term ionospheric positive effect at the main stage of this great storm. Additionally, results suggested that the occurrence of daytime spread F at low latitudes might be due to the diffusion of equatorial ionospheric irregularities in the topside ionosphere along geomagnetic field lines. Moreover, observational evidence shows that TIDs also might be the main driver for morning EIA‐like feature recorded by Swarm B satellite in the topside ionosphere. These ionospheric phenomena mentioned above could make us gain a better understanding of ionospheric storm effects at equatorial and low‐latitude region.
Policy Diffusion, Environmental Federalism, and Economic Efficiency – How Institutions Influence the Implementation of EU Legislation in Two Nordic Countries

We explore the changes in central government administration due to European Union (EU) membership and its consequences for policy outcomes and economic efficiency in Finland and Sweden. Both countries became members of the EU in 1995. Upon joining the union, member states are expected to adopt common legislation and are encouraged to develop similar rule-making procedures. The actual implementation of EU directives varies considerably between member states, however. This is also the case for Finland and Sweden. Despite the two Nordic countries for historical reasons having had similar government systems, upon becoming members of the EU, they started to diverge. Using a model of delegation and comparing the more centralized Finnish system with the decentralized institutional setup in Sweden, we show that the Swedish approach leads to a stricter than optimal environmental policy, which in turn makes EU policy non-optimal from a global point of view, ceteris paribus. We also provide empirical support for our findings in the form of some example cases. We focus on environmental policy since this is an area that has been high on the EU agenda.
Migratory behaviour and ecology of a trans-Saharan migrant raptor, the osprey Pandion haliaetus

The seasonal migration of birds is one of the great phenomena of the natural world and satellite tracking provides a valuable means to analyse the behavioural and environmental factors that influence it. In this study satellite telemetry was used to track ospreys Pandion haliaetus during migration between the United Kingdom and West Africa. Autumn migrations were faster than those in spring, with more favourable meteorological conditions resulting in ospreys requiring fewer travelling days to reach their destination. They also incorporated time-minimisation techniques during southward journeys, indicating that selection-pressure influences migration speed in autumn as well as during spring migrations. The reclamation of winter territories is likely the key behavioural driver during autumn, particularly as later-departing individuals migrated faster. High resolution GSM-GPS transmitters provided new insights into the ability of ospreys to adapt flight method to environmental conditions, with tagged individuals exploiting thermal updrafts when available, but swapping to energy-demanding flapping flight when necessary. Very long ocean crossings, particularly across the Bay of Biscay, were regularly undertaken in autumn, when tailwinds aided progress. These flights were predominantly undertaken by flapping, but ospreys sometimes exploited weak thermals and elements of the wind to achieve soaring-gliding flight over the sea, the first time such behaviour has been documented. Individuals also regulated both flapping and gliding airspeed in response to changing wind conditions. Juvenile ospreys showed clear individual variation in the timing and speed of migration. Migration routes during the first migration were profoundly influenced by weather conditions, with wind drift resulting in very long flights across the ocean. It was also notable that ospreys with the longest post-fledging phase migrated fastest. Juveniles generally exhibited energy-minimisation techniques during migration, indicating that they were less time-constrained than adults. This may be particularly important given that individuals are likely to gain fitness advantages by arriving at the wintering grounds in good condition.
Eye Movement Features in the Depth and Spatial Perspective Perception of Paintings and Other Static Scenes

In this paper, using the example of two scenes, they showed that it is possible to perceive the depth and spatial perspective of painting images (and other static scenes) without the condition of binocular disparity (hereinafter referred to as the 3D phenomenon). To study the 3D phenomenon, eye movement is recorded. The students of the Institute of Physics at Kazan Federal University and an experienced researcher of the 3D phenomenon, the author and the developer of the working methodology took part in the surveys on eye movement record. To identify the perception of spatial perspective, 3D raster images are used mounted on the same static stimulus scenes (pictures). The first plot includes obtaining information on eye movement in the conditions of perception of two paintings with the elements of a monocular perspective of images. Histograms show that students perceive the perspective of the pictures displayed on the monitor screen. In two scenes presented, eye focusing occurs outside the plane of stimulus images. When students demonstrate a monitor screen with text and a white sheet of the histogram, they show that the focus planes are located between the screen and the students' eyes.
Analysis of forest fire fatalities in Southern Europe: Spain, Portugal, Greece and Sardinia (Italy)

Wildfire fatalities remain a significant problem in Mediterranean Europe. Although there is a strong inter-annual variability with regard to their number, repeated tragic accidents remind us of this grim occurrence, despite the increasing firefighting capacity aimed to improve human safety. In this paper, we present an analysis of the 865 fatalities caused by wildfires in the 1945–2016 period. Data originating from national databases were merged, contextual and weather factors related to the accidents that caused these deaths were documented and analysed to explore probable relationships with the number and type of fatalities. Results show a major rise of fatalities in late 1970s in the four regions of Greece, Sardinia (Italy), Spain and Portugal. Fatalities present a strong seasonality in summer months, as expected. Overall, Spain has the highest absolute numbers of fatalities; however, normalisations by population, and burned and forest area show that annual number of fatalities is comparatively smaller. Certain other factors showed correlation with mortality. Civilians were the most affected group in Greece (65%) and Sardinia (58%), but not in Spain and Portugal. Findings indicate that an in-depth revision of fire-management policies and practices is required, with emphasis on prevention planning in urban areas, and better training of the firefighting resources.
Universal High-Throughput and Low-Complexity LDPC Decoder for Laser Communications

To address the challenges posed by propagation channel impairments and to meet the high data rate requirements of laser communications, this study introduces a pioneering low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoder characterized by its high throughput and low complexity. The unique design of this decoder, based on an inter-frame pipeline and intra-frame parallel (IFPP-IFP) scheme, is specifically tailored to maximize the efficiency of processing units, leading to a substantial increase in decoding throughput. The implementation of IFPP is realized through a novel full-overlap message passing (FOMP) scheme and a dynamic address access (DAA) algorithm, distinguishing it from current solutions. Additionally, the decoder employs a message packing strategy and low-complexity data alignment units to effectively achieve IFP. Compared to existing solutions, our hardware implementation on the Xilinx XCKU060 FPGA demonstrates significant progress. The decoder achieves a decoding throughput of 2.67 Gb/s at 10 iterations and 350MHz. Remarkably, when five decoders are used on a single FPGA device, the throughput soars to 13.3 Gb/s, outperforming state-of-the-art designs by 1.3 times and concurrently reducing resource consumption by half. This combination of resource efficiency and enhanced throughput highlights the innovative and superior nature of our proposed approach.
Uncovering the Role of Hydroxycinnamoyl Transferase in Boosting Chlorogenic Acid Accumulation in Carthamus tinctorius Cells under Methyl Jasmonate Elicitation

Chlorogenic acids (CGAs) are bioactive compounds widely used in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Carthamus tinctorius is an important economic crop, and its suspension cells are rich in CGAs. However, little is known about the biosynthesis and regulation of CGAs in Carthamus tinctorius cells. This study first elucidated the regulatory mechanism of CGA biosynthesis in methyl jasmonate (MeJA)-treated Carthamus tinctorius cells and the role of the MeJA-responsive hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HCT) gene in enhancing their CGA accumulation. Firstly, temporal changes in intracellular metabolites showed that MeJA increased the intracellular CGA content up to 1.61-fold to 100.23 mg·g−1. Meanwhile, 31 primary metabolites showed significant differences, with 6 precursors related to increasing CGA biosynthesis. Secondly, the transcriptome data revealed 3637 new genes previously unannotated in the Carthamus tinctorius genome and 3653 differentially expressed genes. The genes involved in the plant signaling pathway and the biosynthesis of CGAs and their precursors showed a general up-regulation, especially the HCT gene family, which ultimately promoted CGA biosynthesis. Thirdly, the expression of a newly annotated and MeJA-responsive HCT gene (CtHCT, CtNewGene_3476) was demonstrated to be positively correlated with CGA accumulation in the cells, and transient overexpression of CtHCT enhanced CGA accumulation in tobacco. Finally, in vitro catalysis kinetics and molecular docking simulations revealed the ability and mechanism of the CtHCT protein to bind to various substrates and catalyze the formation of four hydroxycinnamic esters, including CGAs. These findings strengthened our understanding of the regulatory mechanism of CGA biosynthesis, thereby providing theoretical support for the efficient production of CGAs.
Systematic assessment of salt tolerance based on morpho-physiological traits and genes related in inbred rice lines at the seedling stage

Abstract. Herawati R, Simarmata M, Masdar, Purwoko BS, Miswati. 2023. Systematic assessment of salt tolerance based on morpho-physiological traits and genes related in inbred rice lines at the seedling stage. Biodiversitas 24: 6256-6267. Salinity stress is an abiotic constraint that limits rice productivity. Salinity-tolerant traits are very complex and involve many genes. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude how rice plants respond to salinity stress. This study aimed to investigate the genetic potential of 19 rice genotypes for salt tolerance as well as the quantitative impacts of varying salinity stress levels on a subset of the genotypes. Salinity tolerance is identified in two stages: assessing salinity stress in nutrient solutions using 0, 5,000 (EC 7.8 dS.m-1), and 10,000 ppm (EC 15.62 dS.m-1). Gene expression analysis detected genes controlling salinity stress tolerance using two pairs of specific primers: DST (Drought Salt Tolerance) and OsAPX (ascorbate peroxidase). The results showed that all lines could survive high salinity stress up to EC 7.8 dS.m-1. Biplot is reflected in K-means grouping the 21 rice genotypes into three major groups, namely salt-sensitive (1 genotype, 4.75%), moderately salt-tolerant (2 genotypes, 9.5%), and salt-tolerant-very tolerant (18 genotypes, 85.7%). The DST and OsAPX1 genes showed both genes were expressed under salinity stress, although some lines showed smears or even did not appear at all, namely in G3 and G7. This result is consistent with the PCA analysis, where genotypes G3 and G7 are categorized as moderately tolerant. This study reveals that screening at the seedling stage combined with marker-assisted selection can identify tolerant genotypes. Furthermore, conducting field trials on soil salinity with EC > 4 dS.m-1 is recommended to obtain salinity-tolerant lines as potential new varieties.
The Effect of Tax Penalty, Probability of Audit and Fair Treatment on Permanent Voluntary Disclosure: Tax Professionals’ Perspective

This paper examines the effects of tax penalty, the probability of audit and fair treatment to participate in permanent voluntary disclosure (VD), from the perspective of tax professionals. A total of 2,540 questionnaires were distributed to tax professionals in Malaysia using a combination of online and drop-off modes. The potential respondents were selected using a simple random sampling technique. The collected dataset comprised 192 useable questionnaires. To unravel the underlying factors influencing permanent VD, the research employed Smart PLS Version 4.0. 9.6 for data analysis. The results revealed that tax penalty and the likelihood of probability of audit are significant in influencing corporate taxpayers’ motivation to partake in permanent VD. Surprisingly, the element of fair treatment towards taxpayers is not significant. In addition, the findings reveal that tax penalty, the probability of audit, and fairness treatment, explain 0.195 of variance (R2) in corporate taxpayers’ motivation towards partaking in permanent VD. The current findings may facilitate policymakers and the tax revenue authority in devising strategies to enhance the attractiveness of permanent VD. An enhanced permanent VD will benefit the tax revenue authority as it saves time and cost of collecting information on tax audits and investigation cases. Our findings contribute to the paucity of published work pertaining to the use of threat and fairness in galvanising participation in permanent VD.