Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sodium Nitroprusside Functions in Browning Control and Quality Maintaining of Postharvest Rambutan Fruit

Surface browning after harvest is the primary constraint affecting the storage life and market circulation of rambutans. In this study, rambutan fruits were soaked in sodium nitroprusside at different concentrations and stored at 25°C for 8 days to explore the effects on postharvest quality and browning. The weight loss, browning index and superoxide anion radical, hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde contents of the treated fruits were reduced compared to those of the control fruits (soaked in distilled water). And fruits treated with sodium nitroprusside had a higher total phenolic content and lower polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase activity. In addition, compared with the control, the treated fruits exhibited higher phenylalanine ammonia lyase, ascorbate peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities; titratable acidity; and soluble solid, vitamin C and protein contents, indicating high fruit quality. Overall, sodium nitroprusside treatment at 200 μmol L−1 demonstrated the most positive preservation effects. Therefore, sodium nitroprusside treatment, particularly at 200 μmol L−1, can be used as an eco-friendly, safe and convenient method for postharvest quality management and high-efficiency preservation of rambutan fruits.
Research on recognition of painted faces

Abstract. In the field of public safety surveillance, suspects may disguise themselves by painting their faces, challenging the face recognition system. The well-developed ordinary, two-dimensional image face recognition methods rely mainly on the texture features of the face images, which leaves the traditional face recognition system relatively vulnerable to the camouflage attacks. We set our sights on three-dimensional (3D) alternatives. A 3D facial recognition method is proposed which extracts 3D features of each individual that are not related to face texture. Considering actual requirements, we applied binocular stereo matching to obtain 3D face point clouds. Hereafter, we included a spatial representation for classification and recognition of 3D face, based on which we then adopted a multicascade classifier. By reconstructing, extracting features, and identifying multiple 3D faces, comparison experiment results demonstrate that our proposed method discerned 3D faces correctly, defeated the face camouflage attacks effectively, and showed promising application prospects for public safety surveillance.
Effects of Barrier Stiffness on Debris Flow Dynamic Impact—I: Laboratory Flume Test

Debris flows often cause local damage to engineering structures by exerting destructive impact forces. The debris-flow–deformable-barrier interaction is a significant issue in engineering design. In this study, a large physical flume model test device was independently designed to repeatedly reproduce the flow and impact process of debris flow. Three physical flume tests were performed to investigate the effect of barrier stiffness on the debris flow impact. The flow kinematics of debris flow with three barrier stiffness values are essentially consistent with the process of impact–run-up–falling–pile-up. The development of a dead zone provided a cushion to diminish the impact of the follow-up debris flow on the barrier. The peak impact forces were attenuated as the barrier stiffness decreased. The slight deflections of a deformable barrier were sufficiently effective for peak load attenuation by up to 30%. It showed that the decrease of the barrier stiffness had a buffer effect on the debris flow impact and attenuated the peak impact force. And with the decrease of the barrier stiffness, when the barrier was impacted by the same soil types, the recoverable elastic strain will be larger, and the strain peak will be more obvious.
Cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy and vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS): from clinical diagnosis towards genetic testing

Abstract The cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy and vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS) is a late-onset and recessively inherited ataxia. For many years, CANVAS has been diagnosed based on the clinical phenotype. Only recently, a large biallelic pentanucleotide repeat expansion in the replication factor C subunit 1 (RFC1) gene has been identified as the underlying genetic cause for the large majority of CANVAS cases. Subsequently, other phenotypes such as ataxia with chronic cough, incomplete CANVAS and MSA-C-like phenotypes have been associated with biallelic RFC1 repeat expansions. Because of this heterogeneity it has been suggested to change the name of the disease to “RFC1 disease”. Chronic cough is characteristic and can precede neurological symptoms by years or decades. In the neurological examination signs of cerebellar, sensory, and vestibular ataxia are frequently observed. Nerve conduction studies usually show absent or markedly reduced sensory nerve action potentials. On brain MRI cerebellar degeneration and spinal cord alterations are common. In later disease stages more widespread neurodegeneration with additional involvement of the brainstem and basal ganglia is possible. As yet, the exact incidence of RFC1-associated neurological diseases remains uncertain although first studies suggest that RFC1-related ataxia is common. Moreover, the pathophysiological mechanisms caused by the large biallelic pentanucleotide repeat expansions in RFC1 remain elusive. Future molecular and genetic research as well as natural history studies are highly desirable to pave the way towards personalized treatment approaches.
Analysis of COVID-19 news coverage by Televisión Española (TVE1)

This article analyzes the news coverage of the COVID-19 health crisis by Televisión Española (TVE1), to determine if this media reported the news with rigor and in accordance with journalism professional codes and best practice guidelines. For this purpose, content analysis was conducted on the universe of news stories (n=1,449) in the TVE1 daily newscast, starting with the first outbreak of the pandemic on the Iberian Peninsula on February 26, 2020, until the end of the first state of emergency on June 21, 2020. Our categories of analysis were: information sources, news frames, predominant topics, resources used for dramatic effects, and breaches of journalism ethics in reporting news. In general, TVE1 did not engage in sensationalized or dramatized news coverage, but instead attempted to transmit a message that was educational and instructional. Its policy was to provide information on measures adopted by authorities to help prevent the spread of the pandemic. Nevertheless, TVE’s benevolent attitude towards the government and its policies can be observed in its news reporting, revealing a lack of impartiality and editorial independence by this media. Despite the importance of specialized and expert information in times of a pandemic, eyewitness sources were those most used in reporting news, even in economic news framing. Furthermore, these latter sources were employed instead of expert ones, which were in fact the least used, and whose presence progressively declined during the analyzed period.
Stakeholder collaboration, a solution to overtourism? A case study on Sagada, the Philippines

Abstract This study explores overtourism in the resort town of Sagada, the Philippines, which has experienced an influx of tourists over the past few years. Qualitative methods – including in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation, and informal conversations – were used to collect data from 2017 to 2019. A conceptual framework using systems theory guides the data analysis while social exchange and stakeholder theories are also employed. Research findings suggest that although Sagada has immense problems, including inadequate facilities, lack of policies, and insufficient preparedness, stakeholder collaboration has helped mitigate the problems brought by mass tourists. This study finds that when community cooperation is attained, issues brought about by overtourism can be mitigated, and solutions can be crafted.
Residents’ Support for Tourism: The Role of Tourism Impact Attitudes, Forest Value Orientations, and Quality of Life in Oregon, United States

ABSTRACT Residents’ support for tourism is essential for the tourism governance. Currently, knowledge of factors influencing tourism support is inconclusive. Studies applying social exchange theory reveal that tourism support is a function of perceived tourism impacts. However, studies suggest that social exchange theory applications insufficiently explain determinants of tourism support. Using the Value-Attitude-Behavior approach, and quality of life concept, we examine factors likely to predict support for tourism. Our results suggest that residents’ perceived tourism impacts are strong determinants of their support for tourism. Additionally, our results suggest that quality of life does not mediate the influence of attitudes concerning tourism impacts on tourism support. Results also suggest that positive and negative tourism impact attitudes fully mediate the influence of commodity value orientations on tourism support. However, such attitudes were not found to mediate the influence of ecocentric value orientations on support for tourism. We discuss the implications of these findings.
Impact of Crop Diversification on Household Food and Nutrition Security in Southern and Central Mali

Many African countries, including Mali, depend on the production of a single or a limited range of crops for national food security. In Mali, this heavy reliance on a range of basic commodities or staple crops, or even just one, exacerbates multiple risks to agricultural production, rural livelihoods, and nutrition. With this in mind, the smart food campaign was initiated to strengthen the resilience and nutritional situation of households and peasant communities where the diet is mainly cereal-based and remains very undiversified and poor in essential micronutrients. As part of the campaign, our study aims to analyze the impact of agricultural diversification on food consumption and household nutritional security. The analysis uses survey data from 332 individuals randomly selected. Multinomial logistic regression and the Simpson diversity index were used to determine the index and estimate the determinants of crop diversification. The consumption score index weighted by consumption frequency and anthropometric indices (for children) were used to assess the nutritional status of households. The results show four types of strategies of diversification: 7.55% are cereals only, 5.66% combine millet–sorghum–groundnut, 41.51% combine millet–sorghum–groundnut–cowpea, and 45.28% combine millet–sorghum–groundnut–cowpea–maize. The estimation of the regression model shows that socioeconomic factors have a positive influence. With a consumption score index of 34 in the villages and 40.5 in Bamako, based on eight food groups, we find that the quality of food is insufficient in rural areas, but it is acceptable in the urban center of Bamako. Analysis of the nutritional status of children aged 6–48 months reveals that 30% of the surveyed population is in a situation of nutritional insecurity (all forms combined). To help improve crop diversification and the nutritional quality of foods, we suggest, among other things, subsidies and public spending to facilitate access to inputs that allow the acquisition of a wider range of inputs and services, intensification of nutrition awareness, and education programs to maximize the incentive to consume nutritious foods from self-production and market purchases. Finally, we propose to facilitate access to technologies promoting food diversification and improving food and nutritional security, particularly in rural areas.
Confirmation of a crisis leadership model and its effectiveness: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Despite the significance of crisis leadership for organizations, especially in the wake of COVID-19, empirical research in this area is still nascent. Therefore, “What attributes make an effective leader during a crisis? ” is unclear. Using lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, this study seeks to address this gap in the literature by i) developing and validating a robust multi-dimensional crisis leadership model and ii) measure its effectiveness in handling the crisis. A higher-order measurement model of crisis leadership comprising of seven constructs (compassion and care, openness and communication, resilience and courage, decisiveness, consultation and collaboration, and empowerment) and two structural models to measure its predictive validity (effectiveness in handling the crisis) were proposed based on the review of crisis leadership literature. Next, using data collected through a global survey, the validity of the proposed models, including the relevance/appropriateness of each construct and the predictive power of the crisis leadership model in explaining the organizations’ effectiveness in handling the crisis, were assessed. The second-order confirmatory factor analysis established the existence of a higher-order measurement model for crisis leadership, with each of the seven constructs contributing uniquely and strongly. The structural equation modeling results confirmed the strong predictive power of the crisis leadership model in explaining the organizations’ effectiveness in handling the crisis across its different (beginning, current, and future) phases. The findings show that crisis leadership is multifaceted and requires an all-encompassing effort and provides a road map for organizations looking to develop crisis leadership capabilities for senior managers and leaders.
Design and analysis of two‐phase studies with multivariate longitudinal data

Two‐phase studies are crucial when outcome and covariate data are available in a first‐phase sample (e.g., a cohort study), but costs associated with retrospective ascertainment of a novel exposure limit the size of the second‐phase sample, in whom the exposure is collected. For longitudinal outcomes, one class of two‐phase studies stratifies subjects based on an outcome vector summary (e.g., an average or a slope over time) and oversamples subjects in the extreme value strata while undersampling subjects in the medium‐value stratum. Based on the choice of the summary, two‐phase studies for longitudinal data can increase efficiency of time‐varying and/or time‐fixed exposure parameter estimates. In this manuscript, we extend efficient, two‐phase study designs to multivariate longitudinal continuous outcomes, and we detail two analysis approaches. The first approach is a multiple imputation analysis that combines complete data from subjects selected for phase two with the incomplete data from those not selected. The second approach is a conditional maximum likelihood analysis that is intended for applications where only data from subjects selected for phase two are available. Importantly, we show that both approaches can be applied to secondary analyses of previously conducted two‐phase studies. We examine finite sample operating characteristics of the two approaches and use the Lung Health Study (Connett et al. (1993), Controlled Clinical Trials, 14, 3S–19S) to examine genetic associations with lung function decline over time.
Reducing Parameters of Neural Networks via Recursive Tensor Approximation

Large-scale neural networks have attracted much attention for surprising results in various cognitive tasks such as object detection and image classification. However, the large number of weight parameters in the complex networks can be problematic when the models are deployed to embedded systems. In addition, the problems are exacerbated in emerging neuromorphic computers, where each weight parameter is stored within a synapse, the primary computational resource of the bio-inspired computers. We describe an effective way of reducing the parameters by a recursive tensor factorization method. Applying the singular value decomposition in a recursive manner decomposes a tensor that represents the weight parameters. Then, the tensor is approximated by algorithms minimizing the approximation error and the number of parameters. This process factorizes a given network, yielding a deeper, less dense, and weight-shared network with good initial weights, which can be fine-tuned by gradient descent.
A GPU-Accelerated Approach to Static Stability Assessments for Pallet Loading in Air Cargo

The static stability constraint is one of the most important constraints in pallet loading and plays a substantial role when assembling safe and loadable palletizing layouts. Current approaches reach their limits as soon as additional complexity is added, which is a given in the practice of air cargo logistics, or when performance becomes important. As our central objective, we explore a new approach to calculate static stability more performantly and to cover more complexity by relaxing several simplifying assumptions. The approach is implemented in a prototype and builds on the emerging technology of graphical processing unit acceleration in combination with physics engines. We propose a new artifact design and summarize the how-to knowledge in the form of abstracted design principles. Our results demonstrate an improvement in terms of performance depending on the underlying hardware. We develop a conceptual model to assist future research in choosing a solution technology.
Genetic and Physiological Characterization of Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphate Aldolase and Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase in the Crabtree-Negative Yeast Kluyveromyces lactis

The milk yeast Kluyveromyces lactis degrades glucose through glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway and follows a mainly respiratory metabolism. Here, we investigated the role of two reactions which are required for the final steps of glucose degradation from both pathways, as well as for gluconeogenesis, namely fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). In silico analyses identified one gene encoding the former (KlFBA1), and three genes encoding isoforms of the latter (KlTDH1, KlTDH2, KlGDP1). Phenotypic analyses were performed by deleting the genes from the haploid K. lactis genome. While Klfba1 deletions lacked detectable FBA activity, they still grew poorly on glucose. To investigate the in vivo importance of the GAPDH isoforms, different mutant combinations were analyzed for their growth behavior and enzymatic activity. KlTdh2 represented the major glycolytic GAPDH isoform, as its lack caused a slower growth on glucose. Cells lacking both KlTdh1 and KlTdh2 failed to grow on glucose but were still able to use ethanol as sole carbon sources, indicating that KlGdp1 is sufficient to promote gluconeogenesis. Life-cell fluorescence microscopy revealed that KlTdh2 accumulated in the nucleus upon exposure to oxidative stress, suggesting a moonlighting function of this isoform in the regulation of gene expression. Heterologous complementation of the Klfba1 deletion by the human ALDOA gene renders K. lactis a promising host for heterologous expression of human disease alleles and/or a screening system for specific drugs.
Food Habits of the Japanese Dormouse in the Yatsugatake Mountains, Japan

We conducted a quantitative dietary analysis of the Japanese dormouse (Glirulus japonicus) using fecal samples collected in the subalpine zone of the Yatsugatake Mountains, central Japan. Dormouse diets were dominated by insects (69.2%) in summer and both fruit (43.0%) and insects (33.4%) in autumn. Leaves accounted for a small proportion of the diet in all seasons. Dormice may be reliant on insects because fruits are scant in summer, and on fruits to accumulate body fat in autumn before hibernation.
Spatiotemporal variations in length-weight relationship, growth pattern and condition factor of Periophthalmus variabilis Eggert, 1935 in Vietnamese Mekong Delta

Length-weight relationship (LWR), growth pattern and condition factor (CF) play a vital role in fish resource evaluation and management but data on this is limited for Periophthalmus variabilis. This is an amphibious fish that lives in the mudflats of the mangrove forests in the Western Pacific regions, including the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). This paper contributes to the understanding of the LWR, growth pattern and CF of P. variabilis. Fish specimens were collected by hand at four sites in the VMD from April 2020 to March 2021. The analysis of 495 individual fish (259 females and 236 males) showed that fish weight could be estimated from a given fish length due to high determination values (r2 = 0.70 − 0.97). Dusky-gilled mudskippers of the VMD exhibited positive allometry, as indicated by their larger than 3 b value (b = 3.094 ± 0.045, p = 0.04). However, the growth pattern of the mudskipper between the sex and maturation stage (immature versus mature) showed isometry. These fish displayed positive allometry in the dry season (b = 3.138 ± 0.065) (>3, p = 0.04) but isometry in the wet season (b = 3.058 ± 0.061) (≈3, p = 0.34). Fish growth ranged from isometry to positive allometry and varied by site (b = 2.850 ± 0.103–3.370 ± 0.114) and month (b = 2.668 ± 0.184–3.588 ± 0.299) based on the b value. The CF of P. variabilis was not affected by sex (p = 0.29), body size (p = 0.64) or season (p = 0.43), but was affected by site (p = 0.01) and month (p = 0.01). The CF of this species (1.05 ± 0.02) was higher than 1 (p < 0.001), indicating that the fish adapted well to their habitat.
Impaired antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination in advanced HIV infection

Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination is reportedly efficient in people with HIV (PWH) but vaccine trials included participants with normal CD4+ T-cell counts. We analyzed seroconversion rates and antibody titers following two-dose vaccination in PWH with impaired CD4+ T-cell counts. Methods: We collected retrospective postvaccination SARS-COV-2 serology results available in a university hospital for PWH vaccinated between March and September, 2021 who were tested for antispike antibodies from 8 to 150 days following dose 2. Antibody titers were compared in PWH with CD4+ T-cell count less than 200 cells/μl, 200 < CD4+ T-cell counts < 500 cells/μl and CD4+ T-cell count greater than 500 cells/μl at vaccination. Results: One hundred and five PWH were included: n = 54 in the CD4+ T-cell count less than 500 cells/μl group (n = 18 with CD4+ <200 cells/μl, n = 36 with 200 < CD4+ < 500 cells/μl) and 51 in the CD4+ T-cell count greater than 500 cells/μl group. They received two doses of BNT162b2 (75%), mRNA-1273 (8.5%), or ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (16.5%). The median time from vaccine dose 2 to serology was consistent across all groups (73 days, interquartile range [29–97], P = 0.14). Seroconversion rates were 100% in the CD4+ T-cell count greater than 500 cells/μl group but 89% in participants with CD4+ T-cell counts less than 500 cells/μl (22 and 5.5% seronegative in the CD4+ T-cell counts <200 cells/μl and 200 < CD4+ < 500 cells/μl groups, respectively). Median antibody titers were 623.8 BAU/ml [262.2–2288] in the CD4+ greater than 500 cells/μl group versus 334.3 BAU/ml [69.9–933.9] in the CD4+ less than 500 cells/μl group (P = 0.003). They were lowest in the CD4+ less than 200 cells/μl group: 247.9 BAU/ml [5.88–434.9] (P = 0.0017) with only 44% achieving antibody titers above the putative protection threshold of 260 BAU/ml. Conclusion: PWH with CD4+ T-cell counts less than 500 cells/μl and notably less than 200 cells/μl had significantly lower seroconversion rates and antispike antibody titers compared with PWH with CD4+ T-cell counts greater than 500 cells/μl, warranting the consideration of targeted vaccine strategies in this fragile population.