Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive stress response induced by toluene increases Sporothrix schenckii virulence and host immune response

Environmental factors modify the physiology of microorganisms, allowing their survival in extreme conditions. However, the influence of chemical contaminants on fungal virulence has been little studied. Sporotrichosis is an emergent fungal disease caused by Sporothrix schenckii, a soil-inhabiting fungus that has been found in polluted environments. Here, we evaluated the adaptive stress response of S. schenckii induced by toluene, a key soil contaminant. The effect on fungal virulence and host immune response was also assessed. The fungus survived up to 0.10% toluene in liquid medium. Greater production of melanosomes and enhanced activity superoxide dismutase, associated to increased tolerance to H2O2 were observed in toluene-exposed fungi. Intraperitoneal infection of mice with S. schenckii treated with either 0, 0.01 or 0.1% of toluene, resulted in greater fungal burden at day 7 post-infection in spleen and liver in the groups infected with fungus treated with toluene 0.1%. A higher production of Il-1β, TNF-α, IL-10 and nitric oxyde by peritoneal macrophages and IFNγ, IL-4 and IL-17 by splenocytes was also observed in that group. Our findings showed that morphological and functional changes induced by toluene leads to increased S. schenckii virulence and antifungal host immune response in our model.
Frequency-Domain Decision Feedback Equalization for Single-Carrier Transmissions in Fast Time-Varying Underwater Acoustic Channels

Frequency-domain equalization (FDE) is a computationally efficient method to recover underwater acoustic single-carrier transmissions in a multipath environment. The FDE receivers often operate in a block-by-block manner, assuming that the channel is time invariant during a block duration. This assumption implies that traditional block-based FDE receivers experience performance degradation in fast time-varying channel conditions, since the interfrequency interference (IFI) is often not considered. Here, we focus on the IFI cancelation (IFIC) in single-carrier transmissions. The IFI formulations are developed for a blockwise FDE receiver, where the time reversal (TR) processing is incorporated to alleviate the interblock interference. Based on the formulations, the IFI is estimated by the time-varying impulse responses, which are obtained from an adaptive basis expansion model. A soft two-step IFIC strategy is then employed to address the IFI. In the first step, the main IFI is removed by the time-varying TR processing and explicit IFI cancelation. The residual IFI is suppressed by the frequency-domain decision feedback equalization (FD-DFE) in the second step. To further enhance the communication performance, we develop a soft-symbol-based iterative receiver, referred to as IFIC-FD-DFE. The impulse responses, explicit IFI, and residual IFI are updated in an iterative fashion, based on the soft symbol estimates. The proposed receiver has been tested using the at-sea measurements collected at the Gulf of Mexico in August 2017. Communication packets at four ranges at the carrier frequency of 160 kHz with a symbol rate of 32 kHz have been decoded. The effectiveness of the IFIC-FD-DFE receiver has been demonstrated via comparisons with several FDE schemes in the current literature.
Polyploidy, the Nucleotype, and Novelty: The Impact of Genome Doubling on the Biology of the Cell

Polyploidy is a key mechanism of genome evolution and speciation, particularly in plants. Many aspects of polyploidy have been elucidated with the tools that have become available during the molecular genetics and genomics revolution. Nevertheless, significant questions remain about how genome doubling per se, in the absence of hybridization, is capable of generating evolutionary novelty. This is particularly true at the cellular level, where since the discovery of polyploidy it has been assumed that increased cell size plays a key role in physiological and developmental changes associated with genome doubling, usually through changing the surface-to-volume ratio. Cell size, nuclear volume, and cell cycle duration have been hypothesized to be among a suite of “nucleotypic” characters, defined as phenotypic traits influenced by bulk DNA amount, irrespective of genic content. We update this old but still relevant concept, focusing on what current knowledge from cell biology can elucidate about how quantitative differences between diploids and isogenic autopolyploids could lead to phenotypic differences. Much remains to be learned before causality and correlation can be distinguished in the complex network of interactions among the cytoplasm, the nucleus and other organelles, the cell cycle, metabolism, and intra- and intercellular transport. It is clear that many effects of polyploidy are likely to be cell type specific and are conditioned by the different genomic architectures of species in which genome doubling occurs. The rapidly developing ability to study key processes such as transcription and the movement of molecules in single cells will enable experiments capable of addressing fundamental questions about potentially nucleotypic aspects of genome doubling and how these interact with genotypes to produce phenotypic novelty.
Pulmonary hypertension secondary to chronic mitral valve disease in dogs: prevalence and echocardiographic aspects

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in dogs with mitral valve disease and to determine the correlation between pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and certain echocardiographic indexes that reflect the severity of the disease. Materials and methods: A retrospective study of the echocardiographic records of dogs with chronic mitral valve disease. Results: This study evaluated 359 dogs with mitral valve disease. Of these, 89 (24.8%) had some degree of PAH. A total of 59 animals (66.3%) had mild PAH (G2a) with an estimated pulmonary arterial pressure of 43.7 ± 5.9 mmHg. Twenty-five animals (28.1%) had moderate PAH (G2b) with an estimated PAP of 68.2 ± 8.4 mmHg and 5 animals (5.6%) had significant PAH (G2c) with an estimated PAP of 102.2 ± 37.6 mmHg. PAH secondary to mitral valve disease develops in small dogs of older age with progression of valve degeneration and in animals with significant diastolic dysfunction. Statistically significant correlations between systolic pulmonary arterial pressure and the aortic-to-left atrial diameter ratio as well as between systolic pulmonary arterial pressure and the E and A wave of transmitral flow were detected. Conclusion: Our results suggest that these indexes could be used as predictors of PAH.
Fatty Liver Identification with Novel Anisotropy Features Selected by PSO

This paper proposes a method to classify ultrasound (US) images of normal and fatty human liver using pattern recognition tools. For classification 32 simple novel features, namely, anisotropy features, proposed by authors, are compared with traditional 200 GLCM features. The extracted features are selected by two methods: i) ranking (Welch’s test) and ii) meta heuristic (Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO)). These selected features are fed into multilayer perceptron (MLP) classifier. It is shown that only 6 anisotropy features, selected by PSO when fed into MLP classifier yield 100% accuracy and the proposed algorithm is much less computational intensive compared to ones found in literature. 
Life cycle assessments of aquaculture systems: a critical review of reported findings with recommendations for policy and system development

The aquaculture sector is anticipated to be a keystone in food production systems in the coming decades. However, it is associated with potentially important environmental damages caused by its contribution to eutrophication or climate change, for example. To comprehensively quantify those impacts, life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been conducted on several seafood farming systems for the past 15 years. But, what major findings and common trends can we draw from this pool of studies? What can we learn to provide recommendations to decision and policy-makers in the aquaculture sector? To address these questions, we performed a critical review of 65 LCA studies of aquaculture systems from the open literature. We conducted quantitative analyses to explore which impacts can be identified as dominating and to compare different types of aquaculture systems. Our results evidenced that the feed production is a key driver for climate
Production of synthetic tetraploids as a tool for polyploid research

Abstract. Polyploidization has been traditionally considered a phenomenon that mediates ecological differentiation; however, the adaptive value of genome duplications has been seldom explored. Natural or synthetic polyploids offer unique opportunities to experimentally quantify the immediate consequences of genome duplications in plant traits that may be involved with ecological differentiation. Jasione maritima is a diploid-tetraploid complex with cytotypes distributed allopatrically in an environmental gradient ideal for exploring the role of genome duplications in the success of polyploid lineages. However, like in numerous other polyploid complexes, neotetraploids of J. maritima have not been found in nature. In this study we developed a methodology to obtain synthetic tetraploids from seeds collected in wild diploid plants of J. maritima. We tested the effect of different colchicine concentrations and seedling ages in survival and polyploidization success of J. maritima seedlings, using flow cytometry to assess ploidy level and considering the population of origin. A methodology to synchronize seed germination was also explored. Synchronization of seed germination was best achieved using a cold treatment of 2 weeks before the transference to a growth chamber. An overall survival rate of 11.5±0.7 % and further tetraploid conversion of 35.6±2.9 % was obtained using 3-day-old seedlings of J. maritima. Survival rates were variable depending on colchicine treatment (the highest the most lethal) and seedling origin (i.e. population), while conversion rate was similar across these factors and high rates of tetraploid conversion were obtained. Considering that the main constraint was survival to the colchicine treatment, we suggest the use of the lowest colchicine concentration tested, i.e. 0.1 % colchicine. The use of older seedlings increased survival rates but, in many cases, compromised a complete tetraploid conversion, generating many diploid-tetraploid mixoploid plants.
High-dose exposure to synthetic chemicals, hormones, or homeostatic substances in experimental animals or humans can induce artefactual pathology

The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) provides the highest probability of a positive result in a toxicology bioassay. The assumption underlying the MTD in animal bioassays is that adverse effects at very high doses are qualitatively the same as those occurring at low doses. In contrast with the MTD, the optimal top dose in a toxicology animal study is the highest dose that does not produce a pathological end point that presents no risk at lower doses, for example, the dose below which cytotoxicity induces tumors in the absence of genotoxicity or other carcinogenic mechanisms. Normal concentrations or biological activity levels of many substances necessary for normal physiological function induce pathology when found at high levels. For example, the demonstration that ingestion of abnormally high levels of certain dietary fats can cause or exacerbate atherosclerosis in relevant animal models like rhesus macaques does not demonstrate that normal levels of these fats should be considered as toxic. Excessive estrogenic stimulation is associated with breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers. This does not imply that normal age-appropriate levels of estrogen are toxic. Normal wound healing is associated with transforming growth factors beta 1 and 2. Excessive stimulation of fibroblasts by these growth factors results in hypertrophic scarring and keloid formation. An understanding of the mode of action of a test substance can facilitate the selection of dose levels much higher than those expected to be experienced by humans, but not beyond a dose level at which pathology is an experimental artefact of the high-dose level.
Cryptic niche differentiation in West African savannah termites as indicated by stable isotopes

1. Termites consume a wide range of plant material at different stages of decomposition and, accordingly, have been classified into ‘feeding groups’. African savannah ecosystems harbour many termite species, yet most belong to Termitidae. Especially striking is the co‐occurrence of up to eight Macrotermitinae and five Trinervitermes species, each having apparently identical trophic niches, i.e. fungus‐growers and grass‐feeders, respectively.
Effect of Risk Factors on Local and Systemic Control in Stage 1 Endometrial Cancer

RESULTS In patients with a median age of 58 (35-89) years, histological distribution of pathologies revealed the presence of cases of the 107 endometrioid adenocarcinoma (93%), two serous (1.7%), two clear cells (1.7%), one mucinous (0.8%) carcinomas and two (1.7%) carcinosarcoma. High risk was detected in 14 (12.28%), high to intermediate risk in nine (7%), intermediate risk in 35 (30.7%), and low-risk in 56 p (49%) patients. Recurrence developed in five (4%) patients whose survival was found to be statistically significantly lower than those without recurrence (logrank: 41.74 p=0.0001). Five -year survival rate was 95% and the mean (±SD) survival time was 78.46±1.27 months.
Study of dose rate in the brain model based on the neutron beam of SUT-MNSR

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is tumor-cell targeted radiotherapy that has significant superiority over conventional radiotherapies. The most neutron beams used for BNCT are from the reactors with high power, new design Miniature Neutron Source Reactor(MNSR) with 45kW with BNCT beam for Suranaree University of Technology(SUT) is being designed and built. According to SUT-MNSR physics design, SUT-MNSR will have the epithermal neutron beam for BNCT treatment. The dose rate distribution in the body should be estimated before SUT-MNSR is used for BNCT clinical trials (Brain tumor). This paper introduces the simulation for SUT-MNSR neutron beam by Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code (MCNP), and the establishment of human brain model and physics dose rate distribution in brain tumor by MCNP program.The brain model is established according to the different element in the skin, skull and tissue, the distribution of neutron dose and Gamma dose in the brain model were calculated.
The Impact of Virtual Classes on Second Language Interaction in the Saudi EFL Context: A Case Study of Saudi Undergraduate Students

This study was performed to investigate the impact of the virtual classroom on second/foreign language (L2) interaction. A total of 90 Saudi female undergraduate students participated in this study. All participants were enrolled in an English language course in the Preparatory Year Programme (PYP) at a Saudi English Language Centre (ELC), with the English language being taught as a core module in this course. The English language proficiency level of the participants was equal to beginner or low intermediate, which was determined to be the A2 language level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). A quantitative research method, a questionnaire was developed with 19 statements to test the hypotheses of this study, which sought to determine whether virtual classes had an effective impact on language interaction and L2 learning, and whether participants had a positive attitude towards interaction and learning via virtual classes. The study revealed that there was a good degree of communication and interaction among Saudi students specifically in virtual classes. Also, participants showed a positive attitude towards using online classes for L2 learning. Thus, implementing virtual classes for language learning and teaching is highly recommend not only in this particular Saudi learning environment, but also across other EFL contexts. The study aspired to answer the following research questions:1. How effective are virtual classes for promoting interaction through the English language in the preparatory year in Saudi Arabia? 2. To what extent can Saudi students use virtual classes for learning English?
Regularity theory for nonlocal space-time master equations

We analyze regularity estimates for solutions to nonlocal space time equations driven by fractional powers of parabolic operators in divergence form. These equations are fundamental in semipermeable membrane problems, biological invasion models and they also appear as generalized Master equations. We develop a parabolic method of semigroups that allows us to prove a local extension problem characterization for these nonlocal problems. As a consequence, we obtain interior and boundary Harnack inequalities and sharp interior and global parabolic Schauder estimates for solutions. For the latter, we also prove a characterization of the correct intermediate parabolic Hölder spaces in the spirit of Sergio Campanato.
VoltJockey: A New Dynamic Voltage Scaling-Based Fault Injection Attack on Intel SGX

Intel software guard extensions (SGX) increase the security of applications by enabling them to be performed in a highly trusted space (called enclave). Most state-of-the-art attacks on SGX focus on either mining the software vulnerabilities in the enclave or speculating the secret data with side channels. In this study, we report our recent work on breaking SGX by inducing voltage-oriented hardware faults. The novelty and importance of this attack are that it is completely controlled by software and does not require any security vulnerability in the software. Our proposed attack, called VoltJockey, exploits a vulnerability in the implementation of dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) that achieves energy saving by dynamically adjusting the processor’s operating voltage and thus clock frequency. However, if the operating voltage is lower than a certain critical level, the circuit’s timing constraint will fail and hardware fault would be created. We propose to deliberately trigger such voltage-oriented hardware faults by a loadable kernel module that can set the processor’s voltage through Intel’s undocumented model-specific register (MSR). We first utilize the module to furnish the processor with a transient low voltage with controlled timing to inject a temporal fault into the target location of the program running in the enclave. Then, we perform a differential fault attack on the outputs before and after the injection of faults. For demonstration, we successfully deploy the proposed attack to extract the key of an AES executed in the enclave and lead an SGX-protected RSA to output our specified result.
CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS FOR SUCCESS AND FAILURE AMONG HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS

This study was aimed to analyse the causal attributions of higher education students and to find the relationship between the successful and unsuccessful students causal attributions to exam scores studying in different semesters of under graduate and post graduate science program. A total number of 406 respondents filled the The revised causal dimension scale (CDSII). A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in order to substantiate the construct validity of the scale. In order to examine the relationship Pearson Chi-Square test was performed. The results indicated that there exists significant relationship between the successful and unsuccessful students causal attributions to exam scores. The successful students attributed their success to internal, stable and controllable causes more frequently and unsuccessful students attributed poor efforts and lack of ability as a major cause for their failure.
Kinetic Modeling of Halogen-Based Plasma Etching of Complex Oxide Films and its Application to Predictive Feature Profile Simulation

In this work, a comprehensive framework for predicting etching behavior is developed using the test case of hafnium lanthanate (HfxLayOz) in Cl2/BCl3 chemistry, starting from detailed thermodynamic analysis in the form of volatility diagrams. Through these calculations, it was predicted that at typical plasma reactor operating pressures, the reactions of molecular Cl2 and Cl radicals with La2O3 and HfO2 could generate sufficiently high partial pressures of OxCly for measurable material removal to occur. The etch rate of Hf0.25La0. 12O0.63 as a function of ion energy was characterized in situ using a quartz crystal microbalance. The etch rate data was found to exhibit a dual ion energy dependence with a maximum etch rate of ~27 A/min at Eion = 175 eV. The overall etch rate was found to be approximately half that of a pure HfO2 film etched at the same conditions, due to the formation of non-volatile LaClx compounds. QMS measurements of HfLaO in Cl2 chemistry showed LaOCl and LaCl as the primary La-containing etch products. XPS analysis of pure La2O3 films provided further evidence of this hypothesis, showing significant Cl retention (~10%) compared to HfLaO and also revealing the presence of Cl-O-La bonding. A kinetics-based bulk scale (TML) model was fit to the aforementioned experimental data and good agreement was shown between the TML model's simulated results and etch rate data. An additional degree of validation was provided through a comparison of the model's predicted composition of the surface mixing layer and the XPS-measured film compositions after plasma exposure.The final validation of this approach was to assess the fitted kinetic parameters for complex oxide etching in Cl-based chemistry (such as reaction rate coefficients, threshold energies and sticking probabilities) at feature scale levels. The results from the TML model were coupled to a Monte Carlo based feature profile simulator and used to predict the variation of the etched feature profiles of Hf0.25La0. 12O0.63 films for varying aspect ratios (1.5, 3 and 6) and ion energies (75, 100 and 175 eV). In order to compare to experimental results, features of varying aspect ratio were achieved using an e-beam tool to pattern a ZEP520A photoresist mask on HfLaO followed by etching in Cl2 . Good agreement was achieved with the etched profile at 100 eV and AR = 5. As a test of the model's ability to handle variations in gas chemistry with a material system besides that of high-k dielectrics, this methodology was also applied to the shallow trench isolation process (Si etching in Cl22/O2 chemistry). The model showed good fitting of the major process parameters (etch rate, etch product ratios and surface composition) and showed an ability to predict the profile variation with 0, 2, 6 and 8% oxygen addition to a pure Cl2 plasma for the etching of Si.