Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Disturbance of a rare seabird by ship-based tourism in a marine protected area

Managers of marine protected areas (MPAs) must often seek ways to allow for visitation while minimizing impacts to the resources they are intended to protect. Using shipboard observers, we quantified the “zone of disturbance” for Kittlitz’s and marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus brevirostris and B. marmoratus) exposed to large cruise ships traveling through Glacier Bay National Park, one of the largest MPAs in North America. In the upper reaches of Glacier Bay, where Kittlitz’s murrelets predominated, binary logistic regression models predicted that 61% of all murrelets within 850 m perpendicular distance of a cruise ship were disturbed (defined as flushing or diving), whereas in the lower reaches, where marbled murrelets predominated, this percentage increased to 72%. Using survival analysis, murrelets in both reaches were found to react at greater distances when ships approached indirectly, presumably because of the ship’s larger profile, suggesting murrelets responded to visual rather than audio cues. No management-relevant covariates (e.g., ship velocity, route distance from shore) were found to be important predictors of disturbance, as distance from ship to murrelet accounted for > 90% of the explained variation in murrelet response. Utilizing previously published murrelet density estimates from Glacier Bay, and applying an average empirical disturbance probability (68%) out to 850 m from a cruise ship’s typical route, we estimated that a minimum of 9.8–19.6% of all murrelets in Glacier Bay are disturbed per ship entry. Whether these disturbance levels are inconsistent with Park management objectives, which include conserving wildlife as well as providing opportunities for visitation, depends in large part on whether disturbance events caused by cruise ships have impacts on murrelet fitness, which remains uncertain.
The Artificial Mentor: An assessment based approach to adaptively enhance learning processes in virtual learning environments

: Emerging e-learning systems cover a wide range of application fields satisfying user expectations such as rapid information access or flexibility in time and location. Still a challenge is to automatically respond to individual learner’s perceptions. This paper presents a glimpse on concepts, evolution and practical implementation of the Artificial Mentor, a highly flexible, adaptive software component. The Artificial Mentor selects and triggers micro adaptations within a learning environment, intended to enhance the learning process. It was initially developed in the setting of a 3D virtual learning environment to address modern learner’s individual learning needs
Drought vulnerability assessment in Karnataka : Through composite climatic index

A composite climatic drought vulnerability index based on seven sub-components such as the coefficient of variation of rainfall during south west monsoon (SWM-CV), north east monsoon (NEM-CV), aridity index anomaly (AIA), Average rainy days during pre-monsoon (PMARD), south west monsoon (SWARD), north east monsoon (NEARD) and annual (ANNARD) was developed at taluk level for the state of Karnataka. Out of the above seven subcomponents the first three were found to have positive functional relationship while the other four sub-components have negative functional relationship with climatic drought vulnerability index. These composite index values of 176 taluks were subjected to normal distribution with mean and standard deviation. Based on maximum, minimum values of the indices at taluk level, five classes (1 to 5) at fixed class interval that depict progressive drought vulnerability are formed and these classes were assigned to each of the taluks. As per this climatic drought vulnerability index class, it is observed that 82 taluks (47%) are highly vulnerable (class-4), 50 taluks (28%) are very highly vulnerable (class-5), 27 taluks (15%) are moderately vulnerable (class-3), 11 taluks (6%) are slightly vulnerable (class-2) and 6 taluks (4%) are very slightly vulnerable (class-1). Among the four regions in the state, majority of the taluks in South Interior Karnataka (87%) and North Interior Karnataka (97%) are highly and very highly drought vulnerable followed by Malnad (36%) and Coastal region (5%). The drought mitigation measures to restore the eco-environment and to ensure sustainability of the people and livestock could be planned for implementation in the affected taluks of the state.
Moral distress in Turkish intensive care nurses

Background: Moral distress is a common problem among professionals working in the field of healthcare. Moral distress is the distress experienced by a professional when he or she cannot fulfill the correct action due to several obstacles, although he or she is aware of what it is. The level of moral distress experienced by nurses working in intensive care units varies from one country/culture/institution to another. However, in Turkey, there is neither a measurement tool used to assess moral distress suffered by nurses nor a study conducted on the issue. Aim/objective: The study aims to (a) validate the Turkish version of the Moral Distress Scale–Revised to be used in intensive care units and to examine the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the scale, and (b) explore Turkish intensive care nurses’ moral distress level. Method: The sample of this methodological, descriptive, and cross-sectional design study comprises 200 nurses working in the intensive care units of internal medicine and surgical departments of four hospitals in three cities in Turkey. The data were collected with the Socio-Demographic Characteristics Form and The Turkish Version of Moral Distress Scale–Revised. Ethical considerations: The study proposal was approved by the ethics committee of the Faculty of Medicine, Cumhuriyet University. All participating nurses provided informed consent and were assured of data confidentiality. Results: In parallel with the original scale, Turkish version of Moral Distress Scale–Revised consists of 21 items, and shows a one-factor structure. It was determined that the moral distress total and item mean scores of the nurses participating in the study were 70.81 ± 48.23 and 3.36 ± 4.50, respectively. Conclusion: Turkish version of Moral Distress Scale–Revised can be used as a reliable and valid measurement tool for the evaluation of moral distress experienced by nurses working in intensive care units in Turkey. In line with our findings, it can be said that nurses suffered low level of moral distress. However, factors which caused the nurses in our study to experience higher levels of moral distress are inadequate communication within the team, working with professionals they considered as incompetent, and futile care.
A Light-trapping Metric for Solar Cells With Application to Cadmium Telluride and Silicon

We examine an enhancement metric for characterizing light trapping in single-junction solar cells by comparing the measured quantum efficiency spectrum and the theoretical absorptance spectrum based on ergodic light scattering. This ideal enhancement is 4n2, where n is the refractive index of the absorber layer. Using a uniform procedure, we have determined the effective enhancement from published results for many single-junction nanocrystalline, polycrystalline, and monocrystalline silicon cells, as well as for thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe)-based cells. The largest effective enhancements were 33 for monocrystalline Si, 25 for nanocrystalline Si, and 10 for CdTe. The 4n2 benchmarks are about 50 for Si and 36 for CdTe; for CdTe, 4n2 light trapping adds about 1 mA/cm2 to the photocurrent density of a 3-μm cell. We propose a procedure that separates the effects of parasitic absorption from incomplete scattering in determining the enhancement and show that the champion enhancement of 33 for silicon was mostly limited by parasitic absorption and not by inadequate scattering.
3 Biomarkers in Gastrointestinal Cancer : Focus on Colon , Pancreatic and Gastric Cancer

Personalized cancer medicine based on genetic profiling of individual tumors is regarded as the treatment strategy of the future. The targeted drugs for the treatment of cancer have rapidly developed. However, our understanding (at the molecular level) of the precise role that potential targets have in tumorigenesis, and the survival dependence of tumors on these components, has not progressed at the same rate (De Roock et al., 2011). Since patient selection for therapy remains problematic, there has been an increasing interest in biomarkers of cancer risk in predicting future patterns of disease. In the broadest sense, a biomarker is any biological, chemical, or biophysical indicator of an underlying biological process. From a medical perspective, a biomarker is a physiological characteristic that is indicative of health and disease. A cancer biomarker has been defined as “a molecular, cellular, tissue, or process-based alteration that provides indication of current, or more importantly, future behavior of cancer” (Hayes et al., 1996). Cancer biomarkers are employed across the entire healthcare spectrum from the cancer biological research laboratory to patient monitoring in the clinic. Clinical applications include disease risk stratification, chemoprevention, disease screening, diagnosis and prognosis/prediction, treatment planning and monitoring, and posttreatment surveillance. Cancer biomarkers have contributed greatly to our current understanding of the heterogeneous nature of specific cancers and have led to improvements in treatment outcomes. However, full adoption of cancer biomarkers in the clinic has been slow to date, and only a limited number of cancer biomarker products are currently in routine use (http://www.insightpharmareports.com/reports_report.aspx? r=559&id=78452). Two primary challenges in developing cancer biomarkers are the discovery of candidate markers and the validation of those candidates for specific uses. The discovery process depends on the technologies available, and their sensitivity and specificity, to investigate the complex biochemistry of health and disease in order to identify differences that can be detected consistently in diverse populations. The validation process is also arduous and costly, often
Cognitive Radio Networks for Smart Grid Applications: A Promising Technology to Overcome Spectrum Inefficiency

With the rapid increase in world population and power demand, the aging infrastructure of the existing power grid has caused many problems to electric utilities and customers in terms of system reliability, power quality, and customer satisfaction. Field tests show that the power grid has harsh and complex environmental conditions, dynamic topology changes, connectivity problems, interference, and fading, which make wireless communication very challenging in power grid environments. Recently, cognitive radio (CR) network is recognized as a promising technology to address the communication and networking problems of next-generation power grid, i.e., smart grid (SG). This article presents a comprehensive review about SG characteristics and CR-based SG applications. Also, architectures to support CR networks in SG applications, major challenges, and open issues have been discussed.
NRDTD: a database for clinically or experimentally supported non-coding RNAs and drug targets associations

Abstract In recent years, more and more non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been identified and increasing evidences have shown that ncRNAs may affect gene expression and disease progression, making them a new class of targets for drug discovery. It thus becomes important to understand the relationship between ncRNAs and drug targets. For this purpose, an ncRNAs and drug targets association database would be extremely beneficial. Here, we developed ncRNA Drug Targets Database (NRDTD) that collected 165 entries of clinically or experimentally supported ncRNAs as drug targets, including 97 ncRNAs and 96 drugs. Moreover, we annotated ncRNA-drug target associations with drug information from KEGG, PubChem, DrugBank, CTD or Wikipedia, GenBank sequence links, OMIM disease ID, pathway and function annotation for ncRNAs, detailed description of associations between ncRNAs and diseases from HMDD or LncRNADisease and the publication PubMed ID. Additionally, we provided users a link to submit novel disease-ncRNA-drug associations and corresponding supporting evidences into the database. We hope NRDTD will be a useful resource for investigating the roles of ncRNAs in drug target identification, drug discovery and disease treatment. Database URL: http://chengroup.cumt. edu.cn/NRDTD
Ventilation behavior During upper-body incremental exercise

Pires, FO, Hammond, J, Lima-Silva, AE, Bertuzzi, RCM, and Kiss, MAPDM. Ventilation behavior during upper-body incremental exercise. J Strength Cond Res 25(1): 225-230, 2011-This study tested the ventilation (VE) behavior during upper-body incremental exercise by mathematical models that calculate 1 or 2 thresholds and compared the thresholds identified by mathematical models with V-slope, ventilatory equivalent for oxygen uptake (VE/&OV0312;o2), and ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide uptake (VE/&OV0312;co2). Fourteen rock climbers underwent an upper-body incremental test on a cycle ergometer with increases of approximately 20 W·min−1 until exhaustion at a cranking frequency of approximately 90 rpm. The VE data were smoothed to 10-second averages for VE time plotting. The bisegmental and the 3-segmental linear regression models were calculated from 1 or 2 intercepts that best shared the VE curve in 2 or 3 linear segments. The ventilatory threshold(s) was determined mathematically by the intercept(s) obtained by bisegmental and 3-segmental models, by V-slope model, or visually by VE/&OV0312;o2 and VE/&OV0312;co2. There was no difference between bisegmental (mean square error [MSE] = 35.3 ± 32.7 l·min−1) and 3-segmental (MSE = 44.9 ± 47.8 l·min−1) models in fitted data. There was no difference between ventilatory threshold identified by the bisegmental (28.2 ± 6.8 ml·kg−1·min−1) and second ventilatory threshold identified by the 3-segmental (30.0 ± 5.1 ml·kg−1·min−1), VE/&OV0312;o2 (28.8 ± 5.5 ml·kg−1·min−1), or V-slope (28.5 ± 5.6 ml·kg−1.min−1). However, the first ventilatory threshold identified by 3-segmental (23.1 ± 4.9 ml·kg−1·min−1) or by VE/&OV0312;o2 (24.9 ± 4.4 ml·kg−1·min−1) was different from these 4. The VE behavior during upper-body exercise tends to show only 1 ventilatory threshold. These findings have practical implications because this point is frequently used for aerobic training prescription in healthy subjects, athletes, and in elderly or diseased populations. The ventilatory threshold identified by VE curve should be used for aerobic training prescription in healthy subjects and athletes.
Toxicological Evaluation of Z24, a Novel Indolin-2-Ketone Compound, in Cultured Human Liver Cells Using Toxicogenomic Techniques

The current study was designed to investigate the toxicity of 3Z-3-[(1H-pyrrol-2-yl)-methylidene]-1-(1-piperidinylmethyl)-1, 3-2H-indol-2-one (Z24), a novel synthetic indolin-2-ketone small molecule compound, using toxicogenomic techniques (complementary DNA [cDNA] microarray). Bioinformatic analysis suggested that the main functions of genes with altered expression were consistent with liver cell regeneration, apoptosis, metabolism of energy and fat, and the death receptor (DR)-mediated apoptosis-signaling pathway. Death receptor 4, Bcl-2, Bcl-xl, caspase 3, and cytochrome C, which are involved in the DR-mediated apoptosis-signaling pathway, were altered after Z24 treatment as determined by Western blotting analysis. When hepatocarcinoma cell line (HepG2 cells) treated with Z24 at 0.248 mmol/L for 24 hours, DNA fragmentation reached a maximum, and examination of cell morphology showed typical signs of apoptosis. These results indicate that Z24 can initiate apoptosis in hepatocytes, which in turn causes hepatotoxicity. A possible toxicological mechanism is that apoptosis was induced in hepatocytes by initiating the DR-mediated signal transduction pathway. Apoptosis of hepatocytes might lead to impairment of energy and lipid metabolism and provoke hepatocyte necrosis or inflammation, resulting in hepatotoxicity.
Two-Phase Computed Tomography Study of Warthin Tumor of Parotid Gland: Differentiation From Other Parotid Gland Tumors and Its Pathologic Explanation

Objective The objective of this study was to define the radiological characteristics of 2-phase computed tomography (CT) of parotid gland Warthin tumors (WTs) with a pathologic basis for these findings. Methods We prospectively enrolled 116 patients with parotid gland tumor who underwent preoperative 2-phase CT scans(scanning delays of 30 and 120 seconds). The attenuation changes and enhancement patterns were analyzed according to pathology. We also evaluated size-matched samples of WTs and pleomorphic adenoma by staining CD31, vascular endothelial growth factor-receptor 2, collagen IV, and smooth muscle actin. Results Computed tomography numbers in WTs were significantly higher than those in other tumors in early-phase scans and lower in delayed scans. Pathologically, CD31(+) blood vessel area was significantly higher in WTs than in pleomorphic adenomas. In addition, WTs had an extensive capillary network and many leaky blood vessels. Conclusions The enhancement pattern of early fill-in and early washout is the typical finding of WTs on 2-phase CT scans, which may be attributed pathologically to abundant blood vessel and extensive capillary network.
Protein-sparing effect in skeletal muscle of growth hormone treatment in critically ill patients.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of growth hormone (GH) treatment on skeletal muscle protein catabolism in patients with multiple organ failure in the intensive care unit (ICU). SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA Skeletal muscle depletion affects the incidence of complications and the length of hospital stay. A protein-sparing effect of GH treatment in skeletal muscle of long-term ICU patients was hypothesized. METHODS Twenty critically ill ICU patients were randomized to treatment with GH (0.3 U/kg/day) or as controls. Percutaneous muscle biopsy samples were taken before and after a 5-day treatment period starting on day 3 to 42 of the patient's ICU stay. Protein content, protein synthesis, water, nucleic acids, and free amino acids in muscle were analyzed. RESULTS The protein content decreased by 8% +/- 11% in the control patients, with no significant change in the GH group. The fractional synthesis rate of muscle proteins increased in the GH group by 33% +/- 48%, and muscle free glutamine increased by 207% +/- 327% in the GH group. Total intramuscular water increased by 12% +/- 14% in the control group as a result of an increase in extracellular water of 67% +/- 86%; these increases were not seen in the GH group. In contrast, the intracellular water increased by 6% +/- 8% in the GH group. CONCLUSION Treatment with GH for 5 days in patients with multiple organ failure stimulated muscle protein synthesis, increased muscle free glutamine, and increased intracellular muscle water.
PECAM‐1 isoform‐specific activation of MAPK/ERKs and small GTPases: Implications in inflammation and angiogenesis

Platelet‐endothelial cell adhesion molecule‐1 (PECAM‐1/CD31) is expressed on the surface of endothelial cells (EC) and leukocytes. PECAM‐1 plays an important role in endothelial‐leukocyte and endothelial‐endothelial cell–cell interactions. The anti‐PECAM‐1 antibody‐mediated blockade of these interactions inhibits transendothelial migration (TEM) of leukocytes and angiogenesis. PECAM‐1 may accommodate these processes through the regulation of cell adhesive and migratory mechanisms. How PECAM‐1 regulates these dynamic processes remain unknown. Here we show that PECAM‐1 transduces outside‐in signals, which activate MAPK/ERKs and small GTPases. This occurs through PECAM‐1‐mediated formation of intracellular‐signaling complexes, Shc/Grb2/SOS1 and/or Crkl/C3G, which is initiated by PECAM‐1 engagement on the surface of leukocytes and/or EC. Src, SHP2, and alternative PECAM‐1 pre‐mRNA splicing play a regulatory role in these signaling events. Our findings reveal that PECAM‐1 engagement on the cell surface can transduce “outside‐in” signals and activate MAPK/ERKs and small GTPases, impacting both cadherin‐mediated cell–cell and integrin‐mediated cell–matrix interactions. Thus, we propose PECAM‐1 is an important mediator of vascular barrier and regulator of leukocyte and EC adhesion and migration. J. Cell. Biochem. 98: 451–468, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An overview on properties and efficacy of topological skeletons in shape modeling

The paper investigates the main issues related to the definition of abstraction tools for deriving high-level descriptions of complex geometric models. Among the wide range of shape descriptors, topological graph-like representations not only give a powerful and synthetic sketch of the object, but also capture its inner structure, that is how features connect together to give the overall shape. This aspect makes them useful to describe complex 3D objects in various applications like modeling, morphing, matching and recognition. The paper surveys the main properties of skeletons developed in shape modeling for representing objects.
A trustworthy energy efficient MIMO routing algorithm based on game theory for WSN

Wireless sensor network requires robust and energy efficient routing protocols to minimise the energy consumption as much as possible. Channel fading, interference and radio irregularity create a big challenge in the design of energy efficient communication and to route the data in wireless network. To mitigate the fading effects in wireless channel, multi-input multi-output (MIMO) scheme is utilised for sensor network A Trustworthy Energy-Efficient MIMO (TEEM) routing algorithm designed for wireless sensor network is introduced in this paper and the performance of the system is evaluated to minimise the energy consumption and increase the lifetime of sensor nodes. Game theory is used to elect healthier cluster heads having sufficient residual energy and high trust level during the cluster heads election. Further the game theory is used to select the cooperative nodes for MIMO communication. Simulation results show to the effectiveness of the TEEM routing algorithm which provides 68% increase in residual energy as compared to TEER for 1000 rounds. This is due to the use of the diversity gain of MIMO systems.
A solder joint fatigue life model for combined vibration and temperature environments

Electronic assemblies in field use are exposed to a wide range of environmental loads. The interaction of combined loads has to be considered in lifetime estimates of electronic packages. In this paper, we discuss lifetime prediction for lead-free soldered flip chips under vibration load in different temperature environments in terms of solder joint fatigue. Parameters for lifetime modeling are obtained from non-linear and temperature-dependent finite element analysis and lifetime experiments. We introduce temperature dependent coefficients and exponents for the Coffin-Manson-Basquin relationship considering elastic and plastic fatigue behavior. The results indicate that temperature is an important parameter affecting the solder joint vibration fatigue life.