Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influences of midtropospheric perturbations on summer convective storms over the United States Northern Plains

Northwest flow (NWF) severe weather outbreaks describe a type of summer convective storms occurring in areas of mid-level NWF over the central United States. Despite the weak forcing often associated with NWF environments, convective systems in these environments can travel a long distance and form recurrent northwest-southeast oriented tracks across the Upper Midwest. Progressive convective storms under the NWF condition have been found to couple with subsynoptic-scale, midtropospheric perturbations (MPs). This coupling is suggestive of the mechanism by which NWF outbreaks occur. Using the North American Regional Reanalysis for the decade of 1997-2006, this study traces MPs, examines their general behaviors, and assesses their climatological influences on NWF outbreaks and the summer rainfall. MPs originate from the Rocky Mountains and have an average wave length of 700 km during their mature stage. The maximum occurrence frequency of MPs in July lags behind the peak tornado season in late spring, which is consistent with NWF outbreaks. In July, an upper-level anticyclone develops as part of the North American monsoon circulation and forms prevailing NWF over the northern plains. The background NWF channels MPs into eastward/southeastward propagation. Convection is often sustained ahead of the perturbation trough, while the downstream propagation of MPs results in the progressive behavior of their associated convection. However, the upper-level anticyclone also restricts the vertical development of MPs and prevents convective storms from growing into cyclones due to a lack of baroclinicity or large-scale forcing. Evidently, MPs function as a smallerscale forcing mechanism in a background weather pattern lacking synoptic-scale features during summer. When encountering the northern terminus of the low-level jet, updrafts and convection
Factors Affecting the Early Maturation of Arteriovenous Fistulae Created at a Tertiary Centre in Oman

Objectives This study aimed to determine the risk factors associated with the failure of arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) maturation. Methods This retrospective cohort study was conducted from January 2014 to December 2018 in Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman. Patients were followed-up 3 months after surgery, and their electronic medical records were accessed for demographic and clinical data. Univariate analysis was used to determine the risk factors associated with early AVF maturation and multivariant analysis was used to determine the predictive factors for AVF failure. Results A total of 269 patients were included. Female gender was a significant factor affecting AVF maturity (P = 0.049), while age (P = 0.626), diabetes (P = 0.954), hypertension (P = 0.378), dyslipidaemia (P = 0.907), coronary artery disease (P = 0.576), cerebrovascular accident (P = 0.864), congestive heart failure (P = 0.685), previous central venous catheterisation (P = 0.05), fistula type (P = 0.863) and fistula site (P = 0.861) did not affect AVF maturation. Binary logistic regression showed that all the risk factors were insignificant. Failure of early AVF maturation affected 11.5% in the cohort. Conclusion This study found that the proportion of early AVF maturation at our hospital is at par with that in the international literature. Failure of AVF maturation was significantly associated with the female gender. These findings can help nephrologists and vascular surgeons prognosticate AVF maturation rates. However, a larger study is needed for definitive conclusions.
Current advances in the structural biology and molecular engineering of PETase

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a highly useful synthetic polyester plastic that is widely used in daily life. However, the increase in postconsumer PET as plastic waste that is recalcitrant to biodegradation in landfills and the natural environment has raised worldwide concern. Currently, traditional PET recycling processes with thermomechanical or chemical methods also result in the deterioration of the mechanical properties of PET. Therefore, it is urgent to develop more efficient and green strategies to address this problem. Recently, a novel mesophilic PET-degrading enzyme (IsPETase) from Ideonella sakaiensis was found to streamline PET biodegradation at 30°C, albeit with a lower PET-degrading activity than chitinase or chitinase-like PET-degrading enzymes. Consequently, the molecular engineering of more efficient PETases is still required for further industrial applications. This review details current knowledge on IsPETase, MHETase, and IsPETase-like hydrolases, including the structures, ligand‒protein interactions, and rational protein engineering for improved PET-degrading performance. In particular, applications of the engineered catalysts are highlighted, including metabolic engineering of the cell factories, enzyme immobilization or cell surface display. The information is expected to provide novel insights for the biodegradation of complex polymers.
Quality of honey processed and stored by honey processors and traders in the mountains of northern Kenya

A study was conducted in the mountains (Nyiru, Ndoto and Marsabit) of northern Kenya to determine the quality of honey processed and stored by honey processors and traders. Twelve processed and stored honey samples were randomly collected from processing groups and honey traders in three honey markets. The samples were analyzed for moisture content, total reducing sugars, apparent sucrose, acidity and Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) by applying the Harmonized Methods of the International Honey Commission or the Association of Official Analytical Chemists. The mean moisture content, reducing sugars, apparent sucrose, acidity and HMF values of 18.0%, 69.5%, 2.8%, 26.1meq/kg and 3.6 mg/kg, respectively met the Codex Alimentarius and Kenya national quality standards. However, with storage the acidity and HMF increased while the moisture content of honey decreased. In conclusion, honey processed in northern Kenya using simple straining methods and stored up to fourteen months was of acceptable quality and qualify for sale in urban and regional markets.
Dynamic SLAM: A Visual SLAM in Outdoor Dynamic Scenes

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) has been widely used in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), robotics, and autonomous vehicles as the theoretical basis for robots to perceive their environment. Most popular SLAM algorithms assume that objects in the scene are static. Solving dynamic problems in SLAM is now attracting increasing attention. In this article, we propose a method that combines semantic segmentation information and spatial motion information of associated pixels to cope with dynamic objects based on ORB-SLAM2. We add a deep segmentation network SegNet to segment input image and obtain the semantic information for each feature point. Next, the spatial velocity of feature points between adjacent frames is calculated assuming uniform motion. Finally, the two parts are fused for the final judgment, and the dynamic feature points are removed to improve positioning accuracy. We evaluate our SLAM algorithms using the public KITTI dataset. The proposed algorithm has a similar overall accuracy level to ORB-SLAM2, but it is more accurate in sequences with many dynamic objects. On KITTI’s raw data sequence containing multiple dynamic objects, our pipeline achieves the best performance, improving 39.5% compared with the original ORB-SLAM2 system. We compare our algorithm with other state-of-the-art SLAM systems used to cope with dynamic environments. The results show that the proposed algorithm has a better performance.
Partial recovery of MRJP1 protein expressed in Pichia pastoris using chromatographic techniques

Major Royal Jelly Protein 1 (MRJP1) is the main protein component of the bee-produced complex mixture royal jelly, which is the only nutrient source for queen bees promoting increased lifespan, body size and fertility. Recombinant production of MRJP1 represents an alternative to direct extraction from royal jelly. Production in Pichia pastoris results in high density biomass, with a supernatant containing high amount of impurities. Various methods have been applied to recover and/or purify MRJP1. Here, exploiting the physicochemical properties of MRJP1, reverse phase chromatography (RPC), size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and ion-exchange chromatography (IEX) were investigated as alternative methods to recover MRJP1 directly from supernatant. All techniques showed a 57-kDa band in SDS-PAGE analysis, corresponding to the size of recombinant MRJP1, with contaminants attributed to culture media. However, SEC coupled to IEX evidenced a single peak in the chromatogram corresponding to MRJP1 which suggest it may be a good protocol to recover recombinant MRJP1 from P. pastoris supernatant. This approach serves as a procedure to identify MRJP1 in fermentation culture of P. pastoris. This is the first report about characterization of IEX-based recovery of recombinant Apis mellifera MRJP1 produced in Pichia pastoris without the use of histidine tags.
Etude geologique des formations superficielles et du proche substratum à Grand Ilet (cirque de Salazie - La Réunion) application a la cartographie du risque de mouvements de versants

A la suite des degâts occasionnes par le cyclone Hyacin~ the, le B.R. G.M. Reunion et l'equipe de geologie appliquee de l'I.R. I.G.M. (Universite de Grenoble) ont entrepris l'etude des risques du secteur de Grand lIet. Cette etude comporte plusieurs parties : La premiere est une presentation generale du secteur de travail dans le contexte geographique et geologique de l'ile de la Reunion. Les raisons du choix de Grand lIet y sont exposees. En dernier lieu, les resultats d'une analyse statis* tique systematique des directions de ravines sont presente. La deuxieme partie est l'etude geologique detaillee des formations de Grand Ilet. Elle conduit a la definition de l'unite intermediaire qui est caracterisee par des glissements de grande ampleur. La troisieme partie concerne des mouvements de terrains plus superficiels mais qui sont responsables de degârs importants. On insiste sur le role des precipitations cycloniques dans leur evolution. Enfin, la quatrieme partie tente de faire un bilan des conditions d'instabilite et permet de proposer un zonage du secteur adapte au contexte volcano-detrique et au climat tropical.
Modeling liquid transport in the Earth's mantle as two-phase flow: effect of an enforced positive porosity on liquid flow and mass conservation

Abstract. Fluid and melt transport in the solid mantle can be modeled as a two-phase flow in which the liquid flow is resisted by the compaction of the viscously deforming solid mantle. Given the wide impact of liquid transport on the geodynamical and geochemical evolution of the Earth, the so-called “compaction equations” are increasingly being incorporated into geodynamical modeling studies. When implementing these equations, it is common to use a regularization technique to handle the porosity singularity in the dry mantle. Moreover, it is also common to enforce a positive porosity (liquid fraction) to avoid unphysical negative values of porosity. However, the effects of this “capped” porosity on the liquid flow and mass conservation have not been quantitatively evaluated. Here, we investigate these effects using a series of 1- and 2-dimensional numerical models implemented using the commercial finite-element package COMSOL Multiphysics®. The results of benchmarking experiments against a semi-analytical solution for 1- and 2-D solitary waves illustrate the successful implementation of the compaction equations. We show that the solutions are accurate when the element size is smaller than half of the compaction length. Furthermore, in time-evolving experiments where the solid is stationary (immobile), we show that the mass balance errors are similarly low for both the capped and uncapped (i.e., allowing negative porosity) experiments. When Couette flow, convective flow, or subduction corner flow of the solid mantle is assumed, the capped porosity leads to overestimations of the mass of liquid in the model domain and the mass flux of liquid across the model boundaries, resulting in intrinsic errors in mass conservation even if a high mesh resolution is used. Despite the errors in mass balance, however, the distributions of the positive porosity and peaks (largest positive liquid fractions) in both the uncapped and capped experiments are similar. Hence, the capping of porosity in the compaction equations can be reasonably used to assess the main pathways and first-order distribution of fluids and melts in the mantle.
Revealing the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya based on serological and PCR-test data

Policy makers in Africa need robust estimates of the current and future spread of SARS-CoV-2. Data suitable for this purpose are scant. We used national surveillance PCR test, serological survey and mobility data to develop and fit a county-specific transmission model for Kenya. We estimate that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic peaked before the end of July 2020 in the major urban counties, with 34 - 41% of residents infected, and will peak elsewhere in the country within 2-3 months. Despite this penetration, reported severe cases and deaths are low. Our analysis suggests the COVID-19 disease burden in Kenya may be far less than initially feared. A similar scenario across sub-Saharan Africa would have implications for balancing the consequences of restrictions with those of COVID-19.
Chronobiology of Hypoderma spp. in north-central Algeria as a basis to establish a control program

espanolDesde noviembre de 2005 a octubre de 2006 se visitaron semanalmente dos mataderos del Departamento de Bugia (Centro-norte de Argelia) con el objetivo de determinar la cronobiologia de Hypoderma spp. Este estudio revelo la existencia de H. bovis e H. lineatum en proporciones similares. Las L-1 de H. lineatum se encontraron en el esofago entre los meses de agosto y diciembre, con un maximo en noviembre, mientras que las L-1 de H. bovis se observaron en el raquis de octubre a febrero, con un maximo en diciembre. Los nodulos larvarios estuvieron presentes desde finales de octubre hasta abril. Finalmente, el periodo de actividad de las moscas tendria lugar desde finales de marzo a junio. Por consiguiente, en esta area el tratamiento preventivo/temprano deberia aplicarse entre julio y septiembre y el curativo deberia administrarse a partir de diciembre. Sin embargo, debido a que la cronobiologia de este parasito varia de un ano a otro en funcion de las condiciones climaticas, esta deberia establecerse bien antes de aplicar cualquier plan de lucha EnglishFrom November 2005 to October 2006 two slaughterhouses from the Department of Bejaia (Northcentral Algeria) were weekly visited in order to determine the chronobiology of Hypoderma spp. This survey revealed that H. bovis and H. lineatum are present in this area with similar proportions. L-1 of H. lineatum were found in the oesophagus between August and December, with a peak in November, whereas L-1 of H. bovis were observed in the rachis from October to February, with a maximum in December. Warbles were present under the skin from the end of October until April. Finally, the activity of the adult flies would occur from the end of March until June. In consequence, in this area preventive/early treatment should be performed from July to September, whereas curative treatment should be implemented after December. However, due to changes in annual weather conditions, the chronobiology of the parasite should be determined before any control program in order to avoid accidents consecutive to preventive treatments
Examining Emotional Pain among Individuals with Chronic Examining Emotional Pain among Individuals with Chronic Physical Pain: nomothetic and idiographic approaches Physical Pain: nomothetic and idiographic approaches

Pain is often conceptualized as an experience that is both physical and emotional. These two components are often difficult to distinguish, which may contribute to the experience of chronic physical pain without an apparent physical cause. In the current two studies, I sought to examine whether emotional pain is associated with physical pain severity for individuals with chronic pain. Emotional pain and the more specific experiences of psychological and social pain have been defined as the experience of pain affect in response to non-physical stimuli (i.e., thwarted belongingness, loss, social rejection). In Study 1, I found that emotional and psychological pain were significantly positively correlated with physical pain intensity among individuals with chronic pain. In Study 2, I used an idiographic approach to examine whether emotional and physical pain can be conceptualized as distinct constructs that prospectively predict one another for individuals with chronic pain. In two individuals, I found that emotional and physical pain did represent distinct factors; however, neither predicted the other over three-hour lags. Implications for further idiographic and nomothetic research are discussed.
Improving Performance of Edible Coating Protection on The Honey Pineapple Quality Attributes Through the Addition of Roselle ( Hibiscus sabdariffa ) Bioactive Compounds

Honey pineapple, as superior fruit commodity in Pemalang Regency, has a higher fructose content (1.94%) than regular pineapple (1.42%). This causes limited market share due to the shelf life of sliced pineapple, which is only 1– 3days.Onewaytoextendtheshelflifeofcutpineappleisbycoatingitusingedible coatingwiththeadditionofroselleextract.Roselleextractcontainsbioactive compoundsthatcanfunctionasantibacterialandantioxidant.Thisstudyaimsto determinetheeffectofstoragetemperatureandvariationsinadditionofroselle extractconcentrationinediblecoatingusedonthephysicalandchemicalquality offreshcutpineappleduringstorage.Treatmentsofthisresearchwere:roselle concentrationaddition(R),namely7.5%(R1),12.5%(R2),17.5%(R3);storage temperature(S):28.1°C(S1),and5°C(S2). Dataonphysicalandchemical variableswereanalyzedusinganalysisofvariance(Ftest)at5%level.Iftheresults haveasigniﬁcanteffect,thenfurthertestsusingtheDuncanMultipleRangeTest. ThebesttreatmentcombinationisdeterminedusingtheEffectivenessIndexTest. Theresultsshowthat1)theadditionofvariationsintheconcentrationofroselle extract has a signiﬁcant effect on acidity (pH), and 2) storage temperature has a signiﬁcant effect on weight loss, hardness and acidity (pH).
Reporting on Political Acquaintances: Personal Interactions Between Political Journalists and Politicians as a Determinant of Media Coverage

To explain which politicians make it into the news, this study considers the influence of the personal interactions between political journalists and politicians. While theoretically plausible, there is little empirical evidence that the personal interactions between reporters and politicians are associated with news content. This study draws on a survey of political journalists combined with a content analysis of their newspaper articles to analyze how personal interactions with politicians and the background characteristics of journalists relate to their news-making. Overall, it is found that journalists report more often and more positively about politicians they have personal contact with and about those politicians who hold similar political views. Hence, personal interactions with journalists can be useful for politicians to attract (positive) media coverage.
The Effect of Payment Contracts on C-section Use

C-sections are the leading cause for hospitalization among women and contribute to rising health care costs. In this paper we quantify the effect of payment contracts (fee-for-service vs. capitation) on c-section rates, health care costs, and post-delivery maternal health outcomes. We estimate a structural model of delivery choice and hospital demand, and a reduced-form pricing model. We find that hospitals are more likely to provide a c-section when it is reimbursed under fee-for-service. However, patients are less likely to choose hospitals covered under fee-for-service. We use our model estimates to compute market outcomes under counterfactual contract regulation and find substantial declines in the number of c-sections and improvements in health outcomes when both c-sections and vaginal deliveries are capitated.
@Western Scholarship@Western

Kallikrein-related peptidases (KLKs) are a group of 15 serine proteases implicated in a variety of biological processes. Aberrant expression of KLKs has been associated with the development of certain cancers. However, the role of KLKs in salivary tumors has not been extensively studied. This study evaluated the expression of KLKs in both adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) and normal salivary gland tissue. We isolated total RNA from 39 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples, which included 24 ACCs and 15 normal salivary gland tissues. Complementary DNA, synthesized by reverse transcription, was combined with gene specific kallikrein primers ( KLK1 – KLK15 ) to allow for quantitative real-time PCR. Data was normalized to a β-actin housekeeping gene. Relative quantification analysis was performed using the ΔCq method. KLK1 – KLK15 expression was observed in both tissue types. However, KLK1 , KLK8 , KLK11 , and KLK14 were found to be downregulated in ACC. We propose that this may represent a multi-parametric panel providing diagnostic and prognostic information.
The effects of diachronous surface uplift of the European Alps on regional climate and the oxygen isotopic composition of precipitation

Abstract. This study presents the simulated response of regional climate and the oxygen isotopic composition of precipitation (δ18Op) to different along-strike topographic evolution scenarios. These simulations are conducted to determine if the previously hypothesized diachronous surface uplift in the Western and Eastern Alps would produce δ18Op signals in the geologic record that are sufficiently large and distinct to be detected using stable isotope paleoaltimetry. We present a series of topographic sensitivity experiments conducted with the water-isotope-tracking atmospheric general circulation model (GCM) ECHAM5-wiso. The topographic scenarios are created from the variation of two free parameters, (1) the elevation of the Western–Central Alps and (2) the elevation of the Eastern Alps. The results indicate Δδ18Op values (i.e., the difference between δ18Op values at the low- and high-elevation sites) of up to −8 ‰ along the strike of the Alps for the diachronous uplift scenarios, primarily due to changes in orographic precipitation and adiabatic lapse rate driven localized changes in near-surface variables. These simulated magnitudes of Δδ18Op values suggest that the expected isotopic signal would be significant enough to be preserved and measured in geologic archives. Moreover, the simulated slight δ18Op differences of 1 ‰–2 ‰ across the low-elevation sites support the use of the δ–δ paleoaltimetry approach and highlight the importance of sampling far-field low-elevation sites to differentiate between the different surface uplift scenarios. The elevation-dependent rate of change in δ18Op (“isotopic lapse rate”) varies depending on the topographic configuration and the extent of the surface uplift. Most of the changes are significant (e.g., −1.04 ‰ km−1 change with slope error of ±0.09 ‰ km−1), while others were within the range of the statistical uncertainties (e.g., −0.15 ‰ km−1 change with slope error of ±0.13 ‰ km−1). The results also highlight the plausible changes in atmospheric circulation patterns and associated changes in moisture transport pathways in response to changes in the topography of the Alps. These large-scale atmospheric dynamics changes can complicate the underlying assumption of stable isotope paleoaltimetry and therefore require integration with paleoclimate modeling to ensure accurate reconstruction of the paleoelevation of the Alps.