Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urban Channel Erosion Quantification in Upland Coastal Zone Streams of Virginia, USA

To quantify sediment contributions due to urban channel enlargement, 50 study sites were selected on 1through 3-order streams, in watersheds with varying levels of urbanization, in two Physiographic Regions (Coastal Plain and Piedmont), and in the Coastal Zone Management Area of Virginia. At each site, riffle cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys were conducted to measure the channel morphology. Enlargement ratios for bankfull cross-sectional parameters were calculated to quantify channel change relative to stable streams (from regional curves). Relationships between dependent, channel characteristics and watershed-scale, independent variables were assessed. The main objectives were to: 1) test for differences in the morphological features between Coastal Plain and Piedmont streams; 2) develop relationships between watershed-level, urbanization characteristics and stream morphological features; and, 3) determine if relationships exist between watershed urbanization and channel enlargement ratios to estimate sediment loading from urban streams for use in statewide nonpoint source pollution assessment activities. It was determined that: 1) for a given watershed area, streams in the Piedmont tended to be larger than those in the Coastal Plain Region (for regional curve streams and for project streams); 2) among all project sites and sites in the Piedmont, watershed area was the best indicator of channel morphology, but among the Coastal Plain sites, the number of road crossings over streams was the best indicator of channel morphology; and, 3) few significant relationships between enlargement ratios and watershed urbanization variables existed; however,
Dynamics of Eucalyptus Diameter Distribution in the State of Minas Gerais

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of age, site, and density factors on the dynamics of eucalyptus diameter distribution. Data were obtained from a continuous forest inventory measured at different occasions, stratified according to the factors evaluated and adjusted by the three-parameter Weibull function using nonthinned clonal plots of eucalyptus stands located in the Central region of the state of Minas Gerais. In order to evaluate the diameter distribution behavior, asymmetry and kurtosis measures and graphical analysis for fitted curves were used. In general, an increase was observed in diameter amplitudes with aging, as well as with improvement of site productivity and higher densities. The number of trees decreased in the lower classes and increased in the upper classes, resulting in diameter distribution curves, being displaced to the right and flattened with aging.
Cyp19a1a Promotes Ovarian Maturation through Regulating E2 Synthesis with Estrogen Receptor 2a in Pampus argenteus (Euphrasen, 1788)

In the artificial breeding of Pampus argenteus (Euphrasen, 1788), female fish spawn before male release sperm, which indicates rapid ovarian development. In fish, aromatase is responsible for converting androgens into estrogens and estrogen plays a crucial role in ovarian development. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential role of brain-type and ovarian-type aromatase to study the rapid ovarian development mechanism. The results showed that cyp19a1a was mainly expressed in the ovary and could be classified as the ovarian type, whereas cyp19a1b could be considered as the brain type for its expression was mainly in the brain. During ovarian development, the expression of cyp19a1a in the ovary significantly increased from stage IV to stage V and Cyp19a1a signals were present in the follicle cells, while cyp19a1b expression in the pituitary gland decreased from stage IV to stage V. To further investigate the function of Cyp19a1a, recombinant Cyp19a1a (rCyp19a1a) was produced and specific anti-Cyp19a1a antiserum was obtained. The expressions of cyp19a1a, estrogen receptors 2 alpha (esr2a), and androgen receptor alpha (arα) were significantly upregulated in the presence of rCyp19a1a. Meanwhile, cyp19a1a was expressed significantly after E2 treatment in both ovarian and testicular tissue culture. Taken together, we found two forms of aromatase in silver pomfret. The ovarian-type aromatase might play an important role in ovarian differentiation and maturation, and participate in E2 synthesis through co-regulation with esr2a. The brain-type aromatase cyp19a1b might be involved in the regulation of both brain and gonadal development.
Reclassification of RAS/BRAF allele mutations predicts the survival benefit of triplet chemotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer

Background: Different RAS/BRAF allele mutations imply distinct biological properties in various solid tumors. Recently, several studies have focused on the predictive and prognostic roles of various RAS/BRAF allele mutations in colorectal cancer (CRC) but the results remain controversial. Methods: Between March 2017 and September 2022, the patients diagnosed as stages I–IV CRC with detailed medical records including next-generation sequencing (NGS) data and clinicopathological follow-up information available at our center were enrolled. Survival data were estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method, and the difference was tested in a log-rank test. Multivariate tests were carried out using Cox models. Results: A total of 1029 CRC patients were included, and the incidence of RAS/BRAF mutation was 58.4%. The hypermutated cohort was defined as patients with microsatellite instability-H or POLE/D mutation. In the non-hypermutational cohort, only KRAS G13D mutation was associated with a higher incidence and inferior disease-free survival in patients with stage I-III CRC. In the cohort of patients with non-hypermutated metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), we assessed the risk of various RAS/BRAF allele mutations and subsequently reclassified patients into four groups based on first-line median progression-free survival: wild type (group 1), low-risk RAS/BRAF mutation (group 2, RAS/BRAF mutations other than KRAS G13D/G12V/G12C or BRAF V600E), high-risk RAS mutation (group 3, KRAS G13D/G12V/G12C), and BRAF V600E mutation (group 4). mCRC patients with high-risk RAS mutation could significantly benefit from intensive triplet chemotherapy (hazard ratio, 2.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.36–5.12; p = 0.0091). Conclusion: In the non-hypermutated CRC cohort, the prognostic risk of various RAS/BRAF allele mutations varied between local and metastatic CRC. KRAS G13D mutation tended to be the only prognostic marker for stages I–III CRC; however, KRAS G13D/G12V/G12C mutations collectively defined a high-risk subgroup of mCRC patients with poor prognosis, who would benefit from intensive triplet chemotherapy.
The Effect of Reputation and Partnership Strategy on Business Performance of Internet Service Provider Company

Internet service provider companies play a crucial role to internet usage. This industry is facing the conditions of hyper competition, so that the profitability growth tends to stagnate and even decline. Refer to the background, the study is aimed to investigate the influence reputation and partnership strategy on business performance of the internet service provider companies in Indonesia. This was a verification study on internet service provider companies in Indonesia as the unit of analysis, with the observation unit was the management of that companies. Samples were taken from 100 respondents. The research data was collected in a cross-section/one-shoot time horizon, in 2023. Data processing and hypothesis testing used Partial Least Square. The results of hypothesis testing show that reputation and partnership strategy have an effect on business performance of internet service provider companies, and partnership strategy has a more dominant influence compared to reputation. It is concluded that to achieve the targeted business performance of the internet service provider companies in Indonesia, it must be support by strengthening the partnership strategy and improve reputation so that it is expected to support growth in business performance.
A National E-assessment Implementation Framework: Assessing Readiness in Secondary Schools and Teacher Education in Tanzania

Nearly every aspect of teaching and learning in the education sector has undergone a technological and pedagogical shift globally. The outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the digital advancements in recent years are two major factors that have geared and transformed the sector practically. Due to the rapid population growth and the fee-free education policy, candidate enrollment is constantly expanding, so it is crucial to devise an efficient, cost-effective, and secured approach for conducting educational assessments. This paper explores the possibilities of implementing a national e-assessment system for teacher education and secondary schools in Tanzania. Considering that the e-assessment philosophy is diverse, interdisciplinary, and multidimensional, a holistic research approach focused on library search, document review, and international benchmarking was applied. The e-assessment adoption framework and its design are based on expert opinion. The data used for theoretical and qualitative analysis was captured from the candidate and school registration portals. The study suggests that e-assessment in Tanzania is an inevitable part, especially in the educational system of the 21st century. More importantly, the findings show that e-assessment for teacher education appears to be more pressing as it can be deployed quickly given the computing status and educator readiness in teacher training colleges. For secondary education, e-assessment seems possible in about 6.4% of all schools that currently offer computer science as a subject. To facilitate a seamless adoption process and secure registration of examination centers, a national e-assessment framework is proposed. The framework is tailored to the local context as it applies adaptive staging, on-demand, and ready-to-go approaches to ensure the adopted solution is feasible and sustainable. Through this framework, you can tell whether certain schools are prepared to switch from conventional pen-and-paper exams to e-assessments.
Opportunistic motivation on fair value accounting of investment properties: Does corporate governance matter in Indonesia?

This study examines the influence of opportunistic managers' motivation and corporate governance on using fair value measurement for investment properties. It was conducted on a sample of 126 corporations listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2016 to 2020, using logistic regression and moderated regression analysis. The results showed that opportunistic motivation significantly affects the use of fair value measurement for investment properties. These results provide empirical evidence that fair value measurement, intended to enhance the relevance and reliability of financial reporting, can be leveraged to maximize corporate profits for certain interests. Additionally, the study indicates that corporate governance structure strengthens management's motivation to utilize fair value for investment properties, contrary to the expected role of corporate governance in mitigating managerial opportunistic behaviour. Future studies could explore alternative measurements, such as the difference in fair value profit/loss, to further support the bonus plan hypothesis in the Positive Accounting Theory framework. The practical implication of this study is to offer an understanding of the rationales behind the choice of accounting policies for investment property. This will enable the development of policies and regulations that safeguard financial statement users from management's opportunistic motives when selecting accounting methods. In addition, this research can also be evaluation material about opportunistic motivations that management may have in implementing IFRS.
Dynamic Social Recommendation with High-Matching Inhomogeneous Relations

Social recommendation utilizing social relations as auxiliary information can alleviate data sparsity issues of collaborative filtering methods. However, existing social recommendation methods usually focus on the shallow relations of user-item interactions and social networks to mine potential user preferences, which fail to provide a fine-grained consideration of the inhomogeneous influence and the changes in user interest or item attractiveness over time in high-order interactions of multiple relation types. To address these issues, we propose a novel method named Dynamic Social Recommendation with High-matching Inhomogeneous Relations (DSRHIR) to reveal the influence of inhomogeneity in dynamic interactions on social recommendation from multiple perspectives. Specifically, we first model the short-term dynamic and long-term static representations of both users with social relations and similar relations, and items with correlations. Then, we combine their dynamic and static representations during the interaction and the information from the high-order neighbors of these three relations to obtain a graph-augmented representation. Finally, the graph-augmented representation is used to modulate high-matching user interest and item attractiveness. Extensive experiments on two real-world datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of DSRHIR.
Valorization of Spent Grains from Beer Production through β-Glucan Extraction

Brewers’ spent grains (BSG) are the major byproduct of the brewing industry. Recently, it has been found that β-glucan, which can be used as a food supplement, can be extracted from BSG and offers the greatest added value. This study aimed to investigate the effects of temperature (45–90 °C) and time (30–120 min) on β-glucan extraction efficiency when using hot water extraction. β-glucan was precipitated upon 80% ethanol addition. The chemical compositions were examined. The highest β-glucan concentration and yield were obtained at a temperature and time of 60 °C and 90 min, respectively. The functional properties of the extracted β-glucan were analyzed and compared with other commercial stabilizers such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), xanthan gum, gum arabic, and oat β-glucan. All stabilizers exhibited non-Newtonian flow behavior, except for gum arabic, which exhibited Newtonian flow behavior. The water holding capacity of BSG β-glucan was 6.82 g/g and the creaming index of the emulsions stabilized with BSG β-glucan was 89.05%. BSG β-glucan improved the color and stability of orange juice by reducing the precipitation of orange pulp. This study illustrated that BSG β-glucan can be used as a stabilizer and viscosity enhancer in foods, depending on the concentration, which can be applied to a variety of foods.
Quantitative Assessment of Qualitative Statements: What People Mean by Once in a Blue Moon

Within the context of human-automation interaction (HRI), transparency refers to how well a user can understand the reasoning and logic behind the actions an automated-aid. Transparency helps users understand the logic behind system decisions and mediates communication. Transparency also influences trust – a crucial dimension in effective HRI (Hancock, 2011). Effective and timely communication is critical to success in any kind of group effort (Stubbs & Wettergreen, 2007), so it is doubly important in mixed humanautomation teams, which understandably face unique teamwork challenges. Transparency supports communication by ensuring that human teammates correctly understand the intent, actions, and logic that a robot teammate is providing. Transparency can be operationalized through communication by varying the level or type of information provided by the system. Providing information via differing sensory modalities (auditory, visual, tactile) is one established solution to increase communication (Wickens, 1984). The purpose of this research is to examine how specific facets of transparency influence user stress in HRI. In this experiment we examine differences in stress based on transparency, manipulated through Level of Information (LOI) and communication modality provided by the robotic teammate. Since malfunction is ever-present in real-world environments and can also influence user stress, we also manipulated system performance by including malfunctions in the experimental trials. We predict stress will be greatest in conditions with a high LOI and where system malfunction is present. We will also evaluate differences in stress levels based on communication modality.
Clostridioides difficile Infection: Diagnosis and Treatment Challenges

Clostridioides difficile is the most important cause of healthcare-associated diarrhea in the United States. The high incidence and recurrence rates of C. difficile infection (CDI), associated with high morbidity and mortality, pose a public health challenge. Although antibiotics targeting C. difficile bacteria are the first treatment choice, antibiotics also disrupt the indigenous gut flora and, therefore, create an environment that is favorable for recurrent CDI. The challenge of treating CDI is further exacerbated by the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of C. difficile, placing it among the top five most urgent antibiotic resistance threats in the USA. The evolution of antibiotic resistance in C. difficile involves the acquisition of new resistance mechanisms, which can be shared among various bacterial species and different C. difficile strains within clinical and community settings. This review provides a summary of commonly used diagnostic tests and antibiotic treatment strategies for CDI. In addition, it discusses antibiotic treatment and its resistance mechanisms. This review aims to enhance our current understanding and pinpoint knowledge gaps in antimicrobial resistance mechanisms in C. difficile, with an emphasis on CDI therapies.
Segmenting hypothalamic subunits in human newborn magnetic resonance imaging data

Abstract Preclinical evidence suggests that inter‐individual variation in the structure of the hypothalamus at birth is associated with variation in the intrauterine environment, with downstream implications for future disease susceptibility. However, scientific advancement in humans is limited by a lack of validated methods for the automatic segmentation of the newborn hypothalamus. N = 215 healthy full‐term infants with paired T1‐/T2‐weighted MR images across four sites were considered for primary analyses (mean postmenstrual age = 44.3 ± 3.5 weeks, n male/n female = 110/106). The outputs of FreeSurfer's hypothalamic subunit segmentation tools designed for adults (segFS) were compared against those of a novel registration‐based pipeline developed here (segATLAS) and against manually edited segmentations (segMAN) as reference. Comparisons were made using Dice Similarity Coefficients (DSCs) and through expected associations with postmenstrual age at scan. In addition, we aimed to demonstrate the validity of the segATLAS pipeline by testing for the stability of inter‐individual variation in hypothalamic volume across the first year of life (n = 41 longitudinal datasets available). SegFS and segATLAS segmentations demonstrated a wide spread in agreement (mean DSC = 0.65 ± 0.14 SD; range = {0.03–0.80}). SegATLAS volumes were more highly correlated with postmenstrual age at scan than segFS volumes (n = 215 infants; R segATLAS 2 = 65% vs. R segFS 2 = 40%), and segATLAS volumes demonstrated a higher degree of agreement with segMAN reference segmentations at the whole hypothalamus (segATLAS DSC = 0.89 ± 0.06 SD; segFS DSC = 0.68 ± 0.14 SD) and subunit levels (segATLAS DSC = 0.80 ± 0.16 SD; segFS DSC = 0.40 ± 0.26 SD). In addition, segATLAS (but not segFS) volumes demonstrated stability from near birth to ~1 years age (n = 41; R 2 = 25%; p < 10−3). These findings highlight segATLAS as a valid and publicly available (https://github.com/jerodras/neonate_hypothalamus_seg) pipeline for the segmentation of hypothalamic subunits using human newborn MRI up to 3 months of age collected at resolutions on the order of 1 mm isotropic. Because the hypothalamus is traditionally understudied due to a lack of high‐quality segmentation tools during the early life period, and because the hypothalamus is of high biological relevance to human growth and development, this tool may stimulate developmental and clinical research by providing new insight into the unique role of the hypothalamus and its subunits in shaping trajectories of early life health and disease.
Periphyton and macroinvertebrate assemblage responses to flow regime in spring-fed headwaters

Dry weather is common during summer in the Pacific Northwest of North America. As a result, biota of headwater streams have evolved various adaptations in response to these predictable periods of low flow (baseflow; Boulton 2003). Headwater streams may have a determinate source (spring), or flow may be dominated by shallow groundwater input generated by relatively recent precipitation. These 2 types of systems vary in the permanence of flow, with spring streams typically supporting continuous year-round flow to the channel head. In headwater streams not sourced by a spring, the upper extent of surface flow varies seasonally and clear differences have been noted between the communities utilizing areas with permanent flow and areas that dry in summer (Delucci & Peckarsky 1989). However, the extent to which summer low flow influences stream biota in headwater spring streams has not been fully evaluated. Spring-fed headwater streams usually support surface flow throughout the year. The proportion of spring water changes with season and distance from the spring. Near the spring and during extended periods of low precipitation there is a higher proportion of spring water. Even some spring streams may experience periodic dewatering during severe droughts; therefore, despite the relatively consistent flow in spring-fed headwater streams, summer low flow may still serve as an important environmental attribute dictating longterm species persistence and shaping the biotic assemblage (Lake 2003). We examined macroinvertebrate communities in springfed, headwater streams in the Oregon Coast Range in early and late summer, during the driest part of the year. We also characterized the composition and biomass of the periphyton assemblage in spring, examined invertebrate and periphyton assemblages with a focus on taxa resilience in these habitats at the head of the fluvial network, and explored how seasonal low flow and periodic droughts might influence assemblage characteristics.
Pazopanib-induced trismus in a young male with metastatic renal cell carcinoma: a case report and literature review

Abstract The treatment landscape of advanced kidney cancer has radically changed over the years. Targeting tumor angiogenesis from historical cytokines to multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitors and recently the advent of immunotherapy resulted in a radical improvement in survival but presented substantial challenges in terms of toxicity management. In countries where the access to immune checkpoints inhibitors is still very limited, tyrosine-kinase inhibitors remain the optimal choice. The toxicity profile of these agents can influence both the clinician and the patient’s preference for one molecule over another. This report describes the case of a young man treated with Pazopanib in a first-line setting for stage IV renal carcinoma who developed trismus under treatment. The occurrence of this off-target toxicity has made the patient ineligible for anti-angiogenic drugs. Although side effects of tyrosine kinase inhibitors seem manageable and reversible, some less known and unusual effects may evolve into severe and irreversible complications.