Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Width of plasmaspheric plumes related to the level of geomagnetic storm intensity

Abstract. The plume is a plasma region in the magnetosphere that is detached from the main plasmasphere. It significantly contributes to the dynamic processes in both the inner and outer magnetosphere. In this paper, using Van Allen Probe A (VAP-A), the correlation between plume width and the level of geomagnetic storm intensity is studied. First, through the statistical analysis of all potential plume events, we find that there is almost no correlation between plume width and the level of geomagnetic storm intensity. However, for the plumes in the recovery phase after improved sifting, it seems that there is a negative correlation between the plume width and the absolute value of minimum Dst during a storm. Utilizing test particle simulations, we study the dynamic evolution patterns of plumes during two geomagnetic storms. The simulated structures of the two plasmaspheric plumes are roughly consistent with the structures observed by the Van Allen Probe A. This result suggests that the plasmaspheric particles escape quickly during intense geomagnetic storms, causing the width of the plume to be relatively narrow during the recovery phase of intense geomagnetic storms. These results are helpful for understanding the dynamic evolution of the plasmasphere and plume during geomagnetic storms.
Factors Affecting Student Satisfaction, Perceived Learning and Academic Performance in an Emergency Online Science Course

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive disruptions in the global academic calendar, including the Philippines. To address this, emergency remote teaching was implemented as a viable alternative to face-to-face instruction without contributing to the spread of the disease. This investigation sought to examine the factors that affect student satisfaction, perceived learning and academic performance in an emergency online science course namely, online learning self-efficacy, learner-content interaction, learner-instructor interaction and learner-learner interaction. Data from 104 college students were collected using an online survey and analyses were done by applying correlation and regression methods. In general, college students had favorable views about their online learning experience. Significant and positive associations were found between the dependent and independent variables with academic performance obtaining the weakest correlation. Online learning self-efficacy had a significant influence on perceived learning and academic performance but not student satisfaction. Learner-content and learner-instructor interactions were revealed to be strong predictors of student satisfaction and perceived learning. Learner-learner interaction did not have a meaningful impact on any of the three outcome variables.
Beyond the Turk: Alternative Platforms for Crowdsourcing Behavioral Research

Abstract The success of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) as an online research platform has come at a price: MTurk has suffered from slowing rates of population replenishment, and growing participant non-naivety. Recently, a number of alternative platforms have emerged, offering capabilities similar to MTurk but providing access to new and more naive populations. After surveying several options, we empirically examined two such platforms, CrowdFlower (CF) and Prolific Academic (ProA). In two studies, we found that participants on both platforms were more naive and less dishonest compared to MTurk participants. Across the three platforms, CF provided the best response rate, but CF participants failed more attention-check questions and did not reproduce known effects replicated on ProA and MTurk. Moreover, ProA participants produced data quality that was higher than CF's and comparable to MTurk's. ProA and CF participants were also much more diverse than participants from MTurk.
Environmental mastery and purpose of life during COVID‐19‐related lockdown: A study deepening the role of personal and community resilience

Abstract COVID‐19 outbreak and the measures needed to contain its first wave of contagion produced broad changes in citizens' daily lives, routines, and social opportunities, putting their environmental mastery and purpose of life at risk. However, these measures produced different impacts across citizens and communities. Building on this, the present study addresses citizens' understanding of the rationale for COVID‐19‐related protective measures and their perception of their own and their community's resilience as protective dimensions to unravel the selective effect of nationwide lockdown orders. An online questionnaire was administered to Italian citizens during Italian nationwide lockdown. Two moderation models were performed using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) path analysis. The results show that the understanding of the rationale for lockdown only associated with citizens' purpose of life and that it represented a risk factor rather than a protective one. Furthermore, the interaction effects were significant only when community resilience was involved. That is, personal resilience did not show the expected moderation effect, while community resilience did. However, the latter varied between being either full or partial depending on the dependent variable. In light of the above, the theoretical and practical implications of these results will be discussed.
Sulfation of Phenolic Acids: Chemoenzymatic vs. Chemical Synthesis

Phenolic acids are known flavonoid metabolites, which typically undergo bioconjugation during phase II of biotransformation, forming sulfates, along with other conjugates. Sulfated derivatives of phenolic acids can be synthesized by two approaches: chemoenzymatically by 3′-phosphoadenosine-5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS)-dependent sulfotransferases or PAPS-independent aryl sulfotransferases such as those from Desulfitobacterium hafniense, or chemically using SO3 complexes. Both approaches were tested with six selected phenolic acids (2-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (2-HPA), 3-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (3-HPA), 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (4-HPA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DHPA), 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid (4-HPP), and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylpropionic acid (DHPP)) to create a library of sulfated metabolites of phenolic acids. The sulfates of 3-HPA, 4-HPA, 4-HPP, DHPA, and DHPP were all obtained by the methods of chemical synthesis. In contrast, the enzymatic sulfation of monohydroxyphenolic acids failed probably due to enzyme inhibition, whereas the same reaction was successful for dihydroxyphenolic acids (DHPA and DHPP). Special attention was also paid to the counterions of the sulfates, a topic often poorly reported in synthetic works. The products obtained will serve as authentic analytical standards in metabolic studies and to determine their biological activity.
Alcohol Withdrawal and the Associated Mood Disorders—A Review

Recreational use of alcohol is a social norm in many communities worldwide. Alcohol use in moderation brings pleasure and may protect the cardiovascular system. However, excessive alcohol consumption or alcohol abuse are detrimental to one’s health. Three million deaths due to excessive alcohol consumption were reported by the World Health Organization. Emerging evidence also revealed the danger of moderate consumption, which includes the increased risk to cancer. Alcohol abuse and periods of withdrawal have been linked to depression and anxiety. Here, we present the effects of alcohol consumption (acute and chronic) on important brain structures—the frontal lobe, the temporal lobe, the limbic system, and the cerebellum. Apart from this, we also present the link between alcohol abuse and withdrawal and mood disorders in this review, thus drawing a link to oxidative stress. In addition, we also discuss the positive impacts of some pharmacotherapies used. Due to the ever-rising demands of life, the cycle between alcohol abuse, withdrawal, and mood disorders may be a never-ending cycle of destruction. Hence, through this review, we hope that we can emphasise the importance and urgency of managing this issue with the appropriate approaches.
The Detection of Foodborne Pathogenic Bacteria in Seafood Using a Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction System

Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays are mainly used to simultaneously detect or identify multiple pathogenic microorganisms. To achieve high specificity for detecting foodborne pathogenic bacteria, specific primers need to be designed for the target strains. In this study, we designed and achieved a multiplex PCR system for detecting eight foodborne pathogenic bacteria using specific genes: toxS for Vibrio parahaemolyticus, virR for Listeria monocytogenes, recN for Cronobacter sakazakii, ipaH for Shigella flexneri, CarA for Pseudomonas putida, rfbE for Escherichia coli, vvhA for Vibrio vulnificus, and gyrB for Vibrio alginolyticus. The sensitivity of the single system in this study was found to be 20, 1.5, 15, 15, 13, 14, 17, and 1.8 pg for V. parahaemolyticus, L. monocytogenes, E. coli O157:H7, C. sakazakii, S. flexneri, P. putida, V. vulnificus, and V. alginolyticus, respectively. The minimum detection limit of the multiplex system reaches pg/μL detection level; in addition, the multiplex system exhibited good specificity and stability. Finally, the assays maintained good specificity and sensitivity of 104 CFU/mL for most of the samples and we used 176 samples of eight aquatic foods, which were artificially contaminated to simulate the detection of real samples. In conclusion, the multiplex PCR method is stable, specific, sensitive, and time-efficient. Moreover, the method is well suited for contamination detection in these eight aquatic foods and can rapidly detect pathogenic microorganisms.
Parameter allocation approach for runoff simulation in an arid catchment using the KINEROS2 hydrological model

The KINEROS2 model was utilized for runoff simulation in the Dehgin catchment situated in the Hormozgan province of Iran. A parameter allocation procedure was used in lieu of parameter optimization. After parameter allocation, the model was able to adequately simulate hydrographs associated with high‐magnitude peak discharge events with the efficiency values between 0.011–0.83 for Nash–Sutcliffe and 0.36–0.98 for Kling–Gupta, but the model did not accurately simulate hydrographs corresponding to low‐magnitude peak discharge events. Although calibration after parameter allocation improved model performance with respect to the simulation of low‐magnitude discharge events, numerical values of the hydraulic conductivity and net capillary pressure as the most sensitive model parameters did not agree with parameters known to be reasonable in the region. So that the value of hydraulic conductivity was decreased from 61 to 55 mm/h in channels and from 3.7 to 1.7 mm/h in planes. The new values are physically reasonable but are not approximately the same as physical values associated with the regional and environmental context of the Dehgin catchment. In this case, the values of the evaluation criteria were obtained between −2.5 and 0.78 for Nash–Sutcliffe and 0.17 and 0.98 for Kling–Gupta. The results of using the HydroPSO package in R to automated calibration of the model, with the value of Nash–Sutcliffe between −0.63 and 0.43, indicated that autocalibration without intelligent and deliberate selection of parameters cannot accurately represent hydrological processes, and therefore should be avoided. Also, the results show that an understanding of the catchment environmental conditions and appropriate allocation of parameters is initially more effective as a first step of the modeling process and thereby contributes to a first‐order characterization of environmental conditions in the catchment.
Rosemary and CoQ10 Alleviated the Detrimental Effects of Concomitant Administration of Acetaminophen and Carbamazepine by Accelerating Their Metabolism and Elimination

BACKGROUND: The interaction of carbamazepine (CBZ) and acetaminophen (APAP) could result in hepatic failure and mortality. This study was conducted to analyzed the potential of rosemary ethanol extract (REE) or coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) to alleviate the interactions between CBZ and APAP.METHODS: Fourty-eight adult male rats were treated differently based on the assigned groups. Oxidative stress parameters, including malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione S-transferase (GST), and the expression levels of CYP3A4, CYP2E1, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1B in the liver were estimated. In addition, the histopathology of liver was examined and the plasma clearance rate of CBZ and APAP was estimated.RESULTS: Combination of CBZ and APAP significantly elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity and hepatic MDA, and reduced the activities of GPx, GST, and GSH level in liver. The gene expression of CYP3A4 and CYP2E1 was upregulated by CBZ and CoQ10, respectively. The expression of IL-6 has decreased in the groups treated with CBZ alone or in combination with APAP. TNF-α expression was significantly downregulated in the groups treated with CBZ, APAP, REE, CoQ10, or combination CBZ and APAP. The liver from CBZ and APAP combination group showed centrolobular degeneration and necrosis. REE and CoQ10 were able to alleviate most of these detrimental effects. The combined administration of CBZ and APAP extended the plasma clearance time of APAP and CBZ from 6 to 24 and from 9 to 24 hours, respectively.CONCLUSION: REE and CoQ10 alleviated the detrimental effects of the combination of CBZ and APAP through enhancing the cellular antioxidant milieu, induction of metabolizing enzymes, reduction of the plasma half-life of APAP and CBZ preventing their accumulation and potential interaction.KEYWORDS: acetaminophen, antioxidants, carbamazepine, CoQ10, CYP3A4, CYP2E1, glutathione, lipid peroxidation, rosemary
On the L 2 -boundedness of solutions of nonlinear functional equations

Let e N denote the set of N-vector-valued functions of t defined on [0, ∞) such that for any real positive number y, the square of the modulus of each component of any element is integrable on [0, y], and let L 2N (0, ∞) denote the subset of e N with the property that the square of the modulus of each component of any element is integrable on [0, ∞). In the study of nonlinear physical systems, attention is frequently focused on the properties of one of the following two types of functional equations $\eqalignno{g &= f + KQf \cr g &= Kf + Qf}$ in which K and Q are causal operators, with K linear and Q nonlinear, g e e N , and f is a solution belonging to e N . Typically, f represents the system response and g takes into account both the independent energy sources and the initial conditions at t = 0. It is often important to determine conditions under which a physical system governed by one of the above equations is stable in the sense that the response to an arbitrary set of initial conditions approaches zero (i.e., the zero vector) as t → ∞. In a great many cases of this type, g belongs to L 2N (0, ∞) and approaches zero as t → ∞ for all initial conditions, and, in addition, it is possible to show that if f e L 2N (0, ∞), then f(t) → 0 as t → ∞. In this paper we attack the stability problem by deriving conditions under which g e L 2N (0, ∞) and f e e N imply that f e L 2N (0, ∞). From an engineering viewpoint, the assumption that f e L N is almost invariably a trivial restriction. As a specific application of the results, we consider a nonlinear integral equation that governs the behavior of a general control system containing linear time-invariant elements and an arbitrary finite number of time-varying nonlinear elements. Conditions are presented under which every solution of this equation belonging to e N in fact belongs to L 2N (0, ∞) and approaches zero as t → ∞.
Evaluating instrumental learning and striatal–cortical functional connectivity in adolescent alcohol and cannabis use

Adolescence is a vulnerable time for the acquisition of substance use disorders, potentially relating to ongoing development of neural circuits supporting instrumental learning. Striatal–cortical circuits undergo dynamic changes during instrumental learning and are implicated in contemporary addiction theory. Human studies have not yet investigated these dynamic changes in relation to adolescent substance use. Here, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used while 135 adolescents without (AUD‐CUDLow) and with significant alcohol (AUDHigh) or cannabis use disorder symptoms (CUDHigh) performed an instrumental learning task. We assessed how cumulative experience with instrumental cues altered cue selection preferences and functional connectivity strength between reward‐sensitive striatal and cortical regions. Adolescents in AUDHigh and CUDHigh groups were slower in learning to select optimal instrumental cues relative to AUD‐CUDLow adolescents. The relatively fast learning observed for AUD‐CUDLow adolescents coincided with stronger functional connectivity between striatal and frontoparietal regions during early relative to later periods of task experience, whereas the slower learning for the CUDHigh group coincided with the opposite pattern. The AUDHigh group not only exhibited slower learning but also produced more instrumental choice errors relative to AUD‐CUDLow adolescents. For the AUDHigh group, Bayesian analyses evidenced moderate support for no experience‐related changes in striatal–frontoparietal connectivity strength during the task. Findings suggest that adolescent cannabis use is related to slowed instrumental learning and delays in peak functional connectivity strength between the striatal–frontoparietal regions that support this learning, whereas adolescent alcohol use may be more closely linked to broader impairments in instrumental learning and a general depression of the neural circuits supporting it.
Effects of energy density on the microstructure evolution of TiC/Ti6Al4V-ELI metal composite fabricated with laser metal deposition

This study investigated the microstructural evolution of Ti6Al4V-ELI reinforced with TiC, fabricated via in-situ laser metal deposition technique. The 3.85% volume fraction TiC/Ti6Al4V-ELI metal composite samples were fabricated at two different energy densities (ED). It was observed that in-situ reaction resulted in various morphologies (unmelted or partially melted, chain-shaped eutectic, granular eutectic, granular primary eutectic, and dendritic primary) of TiC embedded with the beta grain boundary and the acicular alpha prime matrix. The size of dendritic structures decreases with respect to ED. Additionally, the hardness average of 457.59 ± 39.73 and 455.08 ± 18.03 HV0.3 for 96 and 102 J/mm2 ED respectively.
Scattering layer thickness and position estimated by radar frequency domain interferometry: 1. Effects of the limited horizontal extent and advection of the scattering layers.

Frequency domain interferometry (FDI) is a mesosphere‐stratosphere‐troposphere radar technique used for probing thin‐layered structures of the atmosphere. The position and thickness of a scattering layer embedded within the illuminated volume can be deduced from the complex coherence of received signals at two closely spaced frequencies. This technique has permitted us to identify layered structures (called “FDI layers”) with thicknesses estimated to be around 50–200 m in the troposphere‐stratosphere. However, its application needs very restrictive hypotheses. For example, the layers are assumed to have a large extent in the horizontal plane with respect to the horizontal extent defined by the ‐6‐dB angular width of the two‐way antenna pattern. This hypothesis seems not always to be verified in light of observations with other radar techniques. In this paper, theoretical calculations are performed in order to estimate the consequences of the limited extent of the scattering structure in the horizontal plane on the FDI parameters, i.e. the vertical extent and position in height of the single layer. The first analysis concerns the effects of the limited extent by itself, and the second one deals with the consequences of the advection of the scattering structure by the wind. It is shown that in some limiting cases, substantial biases in the FDI parameters can occur. Finally, this work stresses the necessity to confront the FDI data with other technique measurement results or to complete it with space domain interferometry data. A future paper will be devoted to the study of the effects of the tilt of a scattering layer on the thickness and position estimations.
The Association of uPA, uPAR, and suPAR System with Inflammation and Joint Damage in Rheumatoid Arthritis: suPAR as a Biomarker in the Light of a Personalized Medicine Perspective

Background: In recent years, the involvement of the soluble urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (suPAR) in the pathophysiological modulation of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) has been documented, resulting in the activation of several intracellular inflammatory pathways. Methods: We investigated the correlation of urokinase Plasminogen Activator (uPA)/urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (uPAR) expression and suPAR with inflammation and joint damage in RA, evaluating their potential role in a precision medicine context. Results: Currently, suPAR has been shown to be a potential biomarker for the monitoring of Systemic Chronic Inflammation (SCI) and COVID-19. However, the effects due to suPAR interaction in immune cells are also involved in both RA onset and progression. To date, the literature data on suPAR in RA endorse its potential application as a biomarker of inflammation and subsequent joint damage. Conclusion: Available evidence about suPAR utility in the RA field is promising, and future research should further investigate its use in clinical practice, resulting in a big step forward for precision medicine. As it is elevated in different types of inflammation, suPAR could potentially work as an adjunctive tool for the screening of RA patients. In addition, a suPAR system has been shown to be involved in RA pathogenesis, so new data about the therapeutic response to Jak inhibitors can represent a possible way to develop further studies.
Synthetic wall boundary conditions for the direct numerical simulation of wall-bounded turbulence

We report on the simulation of a turbulent channel flow in a reduced computational domain where the wall no-slip boundary condition is replaced with a synthetic boundary condition on a horizontal plane in the wall layer. The simulation is carried out at a moderate Reynolds number (R τ=180). The boundary condition consists of a planar velocity field reconstructed at each instant from a combination of proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) spatial eigenfunctions, which are supposed to be known a priori. Two different techniques are used to reconstruct the temporal coefficients of the combination. The coefficients are first integrated from a dynamical model [29] (B. Podvin, A pod-based model for the wall layer of a turbulent channel flow, Phys. Fluids 21(1) (2009), p. 015111) derived for one wall-normal POD mode. The coefficients are then estimated from flow information on the reduced domain as described in [30] (Podvin et al., On self-similarity in the wall layer of a turbulent channe flow, J. Fluids Eng. 134 (2010), p. 042102). Synthetic wall conditions are tested at y+=17 and y+=50. When only one wall-normal POD mode is used, the low-dimensional model appears to provide some agreement, while the estimation technique fails to reproduce the statistics of a full channel flow. The statistics improved significantly when the higher order wall-normal POD modes were included in the estimation procedure. Contributions to the Reynolds stress were examined: Vortex stretching was more easily reproduced than vorticity transfer, and adjusted more rapidly to the feedback-estimated boundary condition.