Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microwave-Hydrothermal Treated Grape Peel as an Efficient Biosorbent for Methylene Blue Removal

Biosorption using agricultural wastes has been proven as a low cost and efficient way for wastewater treatment. Herein, grape peel treated by microwave- and conventional-hydrothermal processes was used as low cost biosorbent to remove methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions. The adsorption parameters including the initial pH value, dosage of biosorbents, contact time, and initial MB concentration were investigated to find the optimum adsorption conditions. The biosorbent obtained by microwave-hydrothermal treatment only for 3 min at 180 °C (microwave-hydrothermal treated grape peel, MGP) showed faster kinetics and higher adsorption capability than that produced by a conventional-hydrothermal process (hydrothermal treated grape peel, HGP) with a duration time of 16 h. The maximum adsorption capability of MGP under the optimum conditions (pH = 11, a dosage of 2.50 g/L) as determined with the Langmuir model reached 215.7 mg/g, which was among the best values achieved so far on biosorbents. These results demonstrated that the grape peel treated by a quick microwave-hydrothermal process can be a very promising low cost and efficient biosorbent for organic dye removal from aqueous solutions.
Optimization of Ultrasound-assisted Extraction of Quince Seed Gum through Response Surface Methodology

Ultrasound-assisted extraction was used to determine the optimum processing conditions and to achieve the maximum extraction yield and viscosity of the gum extracted from quince seed. Using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to design the experiments and adopting the Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD), the effect of extraction temperature (25-55°C), time (3-10 minutes), and pH (6-8) were evaluated on efficiency of gum extraction yield (%) and viscosities (mPas). The Chemical composition of the extracted gum was determined using AOAC standard methods. Apparent viscosity of the gum was measured by rotational viscometer. Using multiple linear regression analysis, a second-order polynomial model was developed for each response. The quince seed gum showed pseudoplastic behavior. Optimum operating conditions based on the highest yield and viscosity was predicted by RSM as an extraction temperature of 38.03◦C, pH of 6.35 and the extraction (ultra-sonication) time of 7.68 minutes. At this optimum point, extraction yield and viscosity were 14.09% and 52.4 mPas, respectively.
Molecular Mechanisms of Nanosized Titanium Dioxide–Induced Pulmonary Injury in Mice

The pulmonary damage induced by nanosized titanium dioxide (nano-TiO2) is of great concern, but the mechanism of how this damage may be incurred has yet to be elucidated. Here, we examined how multiple genes may be affected by nano-TiO2 exposure to contribute to the observed damage. The results suggest that long-term exposure to nano-TiO2 led to significant increases in inflammatory cells, and levels of lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphate, and total protein, and promoted production of reactive oxygen species and peroxidation of lipid, protein and DNA in mouse lung tissue. We also observed nano-TiO2 deposition in lung tissue via light and confocal Raman microscopy, which in turn led to severe pulmonary inflammation and pneumonocytic apoptosis in mice. Specifically, microarray analysis showed significant alterations in the expression of 847 genes in the nano-TiO2-exposed lung tissues. Of 521 genes with known functions, 361 were up-regulated and 160 down-regulated, which were associated with the immune/inflammatory responses, apoptosis, oxidative stress, the cell cycle, stress responses, cell proliferation, the cytoskeleton, signal transduction, and metabolic processes. Therefore, the application of nano-TiO2 should be carried out cautiously, especially in humans.
MorphDB: Prioritizing Genes for Specialized Metabolism Pathways and Gene Ontology Categories in Plants

Recent times have seen an enormous growth of “omics” data, of which high-throughput gene expression data are arguably the most important from a functional perspective. Despite huge improvements in computational techniques for the functional classification of gene sequences, common similarity-based methods often fall short of providing full and reliable functional information. Recently, the combination of comparative genomics with approaches in functional genomics has received considerable interest for gene function analysis, leveraging both gene expression based guilt-by-association methods and annotation efforts in closely related model organisms. Besides the identification of missing genes in pathways, these methods also typically enable the discovery of biological regulators (i.e., transcription factors or signaling genes). A previously built guilt-by-association method is MORPH, which was proven to be an efficient algorithm that performs particularly well in identifying and prioritizing missing genes in plant metabolic pathways. Here, we present MorphDB, a resource where MORPH-based candidate genes for large-scale functional annotations (Gene Ontology, MapMan bins) are integrated across multiple plant species. Besides a gene centric query utility, we present a comparative network approach that enables researchers to efficiently browse MORPH predictions across functional gene sets and species, facilitating efficient gene discovery and candidate gene prioritization. MorphDB is available at http://bioinformatics.psb. ugent.be/webtools/morphdb/morphDB/index/. We also provide a toolkit, named “MORPH bulk” (https://github.com/arzwa/morph-bulk), for running MORPH in bulk mode on novel data sets, enabling researchers to apply MORPH to their own species of interest.
Geotagging IP Packets for Location-Aware Software-Defined Networking in the Presence of Virtual Network Functions

A substantial portion of global telecommunication is based on the Internet Protocol (IP), where IP packets are routed from a source host to a destination host via a communication network. While there is some loose connection between IP addresses and geospatial locations, associating packets to geographic coordinates merely according to IP addresses is hard, and often infeasible in real-time, given the rapidity and prodigious volume of packet traffic via routers and switches. This obstructs using geospatial information about the origin, destination, or route of IP packets or flows. In this paper we introduce a vision of adding geotags to IP packets, to enhance the capabilities of communication networks and of location-based services. We explain how the augmentation can be done flexibly and effectively using two new networking technologies: (1) software defined networking (SDN)---a new architecture that facilitates the ability to control network flows, and (2) network function virtualization (NFV) which allows deploying virtual network services, and chaining such services to one another. We describe new applications that can be built using the enrichment of packets with spatial or temporal properties, including applications related to network security, geofencing and operations support systems. We discuss challenges and research directions in this domain.
Deformation of DNA molecules by hydrodynamic focusing

The motion of a DNA molecule in a solvent flow reflects the deformation of a nano/microscale flexible mass–spring structure by the forces exerted by the fluid molecules. The dynamics of individual molecules can reveal both fundamental properties of the DNA and basic understanding of the complex rheological properties of long-chain molecules. In this study, we report the dynamics of isolated DNA molecules under homogeneous extensional flow. Hydrodynamic focusing generates homogeneous extensional flow with uniform velocity in the transverse direction. The deformation of individual DNA molecules in the flow was visualized with video fluorescence microscopy. A coil–stretch transition was observed when the Deborah number (De) is larger than 0.8. With a sudden stopping of the flow, the DNA molecule relaxes and recoils. The longest relaxation time of T2 DNA was determined to be 0.63 s when scaling viscosity to 0.9 cP.
Improving multi-faceted book search by incorporating sparse latent semantic analysis of click-through logs

Multi-faceted book search engine presents diverse category-style options to allow users to refine search results without re-entering a query. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-faceted book search engine that utilizes users' query-related latent intents mined from click-through logs as multiple facets for books. The latent query intents can be effectively and efficiently discovered by applying the Sparse Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) model to users' query and clicking behaviors in the click-through logs. This paper presents the details to improve the multi-faceted book search by incorporating the compact representation of query-intent-book relationships generated by Sparse LSA into the off-line and online processing procedures. The specificity of latent query intents can be flexibly changed by adjusting the sparsity level of projection matrix in the Sparse LSA model. We evaluated our approach on CADAL click-through logs containing 45,892 queries and 164,822 books. The experimental results show the Sparse LSA model with more sparse projection matrix tends to discover the more specific latent query intents. The latent query intents suggested by our approach usually gain the high user satisfaction ratio.
Gender Differences in Weight-Related Attitudes and Behaviors Among Overweight and Obese Adults in the United States

Few studies have used nationally representative data to focus specifically on gender differences in weight-related outcomes. This article examines gender differences in weight-related outcomes across the body mass index (BMI) spectrum in overweight and obese adults. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009–2010 was analyzed. Weight-related outcomes were accurate weight perception, weight dissatisfaction, attempted weight loss, successful weight loss, and weight loss strategies. Compared with women, overweight and obese men were less likely to have accurate weight perception (odds ratio [OR] = 0.36; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.30–0.44), weight dissatisfaction (OR = 0.39; 95% CI = 0.32–0.47), and attempted weight loss (OR = 0.55; 95% CI = 0.48–0.63). The modifying effect of gender on these associations decreased as BMI increased. By BMI 35, the mean probability of women and men to have accurate weight perception and weight dissatisfaction was 90%; attempted weight loss was 60% (women) and 50% (men). At lower BMIs, men had up to 40% less probability than women for these weight loss outcomes. Men who attempted weight loss were more likely than women to lose and maintain ≥10 lb over 1 year (OR = 1.41; 95% CI = 1.20–1.65) and increase exercise and eat less fat as weight loss strategies; women were more likely to join weight loss programs, take prescription diet pills, and follow special diets. A need exists for male-specific interventions to improve overweight and obese men’s likelihood for accurate weight perception, attempted weight loss, and ultimately, successful weight loss.
Blind blur image restoration considering noise

In this paper, we propose a blind restoration method that is insusceptible to noise. This method is used for point spread function estimation. In addition, we propose to use a filter that can remove noise. Experimental results show that our proposed method more accurately estimates a motion blur and a deblurring image compared with the conventional method.
Hot Speech and Exploding Bombs: Autonomic Arousal During Emotion Classification of Prosodic Utterances and Affective Sounds

Emotional expressions provide strong signals in social interactions and can function as emotion inducers in a perceiver. Although speech provides one of the most important channels for human communication, its physiological correlates, such as activations of the autonomous nervous system (ANS) while listening to spoken utterances, have received far less attention than in other domains of emotion processing. Our study aimed at filling this gap by investigating autonomic activation in response to spoken utterances that were embedded into larger semantic contexts. Emotional salience was manipulated by providing information on alleged speaker similarity. We compared these autonomic responses to activations triggered by affective sounds, such as exploding bombs, and applause. These sounds had been rated and validated as being either positive, negative, or neutral. As physiological markers of ANS activity, we recorded skin conductance responses (SCRs) and changes of pupil size while participants classified both prosodic and sound stimuli according to their hedonic valence. As expected, affective sounds elicited increased arousal in the receiver, as reflected in increased SCR and pupil size. In contrast, SCRs to angry and joyful prosodic expressions did not differ from responses to neutral ones. Pupil size, however, was modulated by affective prosodic utterances, with increased dilations for angry and joyful compared to neutral prosody, although the similarity manipulation had no effect. These results indicate that cues provided by emotional prosody in spoken semantically neutral utterances might be too subtle to trigger SCR, although variation in pupil size indicated the salience of stimulus variation. Our findings further demonstrate a functional dissociation between pupil dilation and skin conductance that presumably origins from their differential innervation.
Lysosome acidification by photoactivated nanoparticles restores autophagy under lipotoxicity

Lipotoxicity is frequently associated with alkalinization of lysosomes and impaired autophagic flux but the relationship between the two is unclear. Trudeau et al. show that autophagic flux can be restored in β islet cells chronically exposed to fatty acids by re-acidification of lysosomes with photoactivatable nanoparticles.
Personal Descriptions of Life Before and After Bariatric Surgery From Overweight or Obese Men

Bariatric surgery is now a common weight loss solution for morbidly obese men where meaningful weight reduction and improvements in quality of life have been identified postsurgery. As the majority of surgical candidates are female, there exists a paucity of literature relating to the experience of males undergoing bariatric surgery. In this study, a qualitative descriptive–exploratory design was used to explore body image descriptions, adaptation of a new lifestyle, new boundaries postsurgery, and any barriers seeking consultation for surgery. Six males who had undergone bariatric surgery were recruited in Australia. Data were collected and analyzed using NVivo between May and October 2014. The themes emerging from the data included living in an obese body, life before surgery, decision making for surgery, and life after surgery. The participants collectively reported that life before surgery was challenging. They described the changes the surgery had made in their lives including positive changes to their health, body image, social lives, and self-esteem. Some participants preferred not to tell others their intentions for surgery due to perceived stigma. The men in this study also described a lack of information available to them depicting male perspectives, a possible barrier for men seeking weight loss surgery options. Implications for practice highlighted in these results relate to a greater need for accessible information specific to men based on real-life experiences.
Oscillation Resolution for Mobile Phone Cellular Tower Data to Enable Mobility Modelling

One major problem of using location data collected from mobile cellular networks for mobility modelling is the oscillation phenomenon. An oscillation occurs when a mobile phone intermittently switches between cell towers instead of connecting to the nearest cell tower. For the purpose of mobility modeling, the location data needs to be cleansed to approximate the mobile device's actual location. However, this constitutes a challenge because the mobile device's true location is not known. In this paper, we study the oscillation resolution problem. We propose an algorithm framework called DECRE (Detect, Expand, Check, Remove) to detect and remove oscillation logs. To make informed decisions DECRE includes four steps: Detect, to identify log sequences that may contain oscillation using a few heuristics based on the concepts of stable period and moving at impossible speed, Expand, to look before and after suspicious records to gain more information, Check, to check whether a cell tower is observed repeatedly (which is a strong indication of oscillation), and Remove, resolving oscillation by selecting a cell tower to approximate the mobile device's actual location. Our experimental results on travel diaries show that our oscillation resolution approach is able to remove records that are far from mobile device's ground-truth locations, improve the quality of the location data, and performs better than an existing method. Our performance study on large scale cell tower data shows that the MapReduce implementation of our approach is able to process 1 Terabyte of cell tower data in five hours using a small cluster.
Optimising gestational weight gain and improving maternal and infant health outcomes through antenatal dietary, lifestyle and physical activity advice: the OPTIMISE randomised controlled trial protocol

Introduction Obesity represents a significant health burden, and WHO recognises the importance of preventing weight gain and subsequent development of obesity among adults who are within the healthy weight range. Women of reproductive age have demonstrated high rates of weight gain during pregnancy placing them at risk of becoming overweight or obese. We will evaluate the effects of dietary and physical activity advice on maternal, fetal and infant health outcomes, among pregnant women of normal body mass index (BMI). Methods and analysis We will conduct a randomised controlled trial, consenting and randomising women with a live singleton pregnancy between 10+0 and 20+0 weeks and BMI 18.5–24.9 kg/m2 at first antenatal visit, from a tertiary maternity hospital. Women randomised to the Lifestyle Advice Group will receive three face-to-face sessions (two with a research dietitian and one with a trained research assistant) and three telephone calls over pregnancy, in which they will be provided with dietary and lifestyle advice and encouraged to make change using a SMART goals approach. Women randomised to the Standard Care Group will receive routine antenatal care. The primary outcome is infant birth weight >4 kg. Secondary outcomes will include adverse infant and maternal outcomes, maternal weight change, maternal diet and physical activity changes, maternal quality of life and emotional well-being, fetal growth and costs of healthcare. We will recruit 624 women to detect a reduction from 8.72% to 3.87% (alpha 0.05 (two-tailed); power 70%) in infants with birth weight >4 kg. Analyses will be intention to treat with estimates reported as relative risks and 95% CIs. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital ethics committee. Findings will be disseminated widely via journal publication and conference presentation(s), and participants informed of results. Trial registration number ACTRN12614000583640.
Computerized dynamic pupillometry indices mirrors the heart rate variability parameters.

OBJECTIVE Dynamic pupillometry (DP) is a simple, non-invasive computerized assessment of pupillary light response which provides data concerning both branches of the autonomous nervous system (ANS). Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis assess cardiac health and the ANS modulation on the heart. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the utility of DP as a predictor of cardiac autonomic activity assessed by HRV. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 44 consecutive healthy subjects (mean age = 35.9 ± 7.4 years, 24 males) were enrolled. Pupil diameters (R0, R1, R2 and R%): latency (Lc), amplitude (Ac), velocity (Vc) and duration of pupil contraction (Tc): latency (Ld), velocity (Vd) and duration of pupil dilatation (Td) were measured in DP. Time and frequency domain indices of HRV were obtained from 24-h ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring. RESULTS There were strong significant correlations of Vc with LF/HF (r = -0.672, p = 0.001) and a measure of HRV: RMSDD (r = 0.654, p = 0.001). R% significantly correlated with PNN50 (r = -0.432, p = 0.003) and RMSDD (r = -0.422, p = 0.004) and LF/HF (r = 0.340, p = 0.024). Vc (β = 0.647, p = 0.011) and Ac (β = 0.320, p = 0.013) were found as independent predictors of RMSSD. Vc (β = 0.578, p = 0.036) was found to be only significant predictor of PNN50. Vc (β = -0.617, p = 0.008) and R% (β = 0.309, p = 0.038) were found to be significant predictors of LF/HF. CONCLUSIONS Pupillary autonomic functions assessed by DP correlates with cardiac autonomic functions evaluated by HRV. Among the DP parameters analyzed, Vc was a predictor of parasympathetic indices, and R% was a predictor of sympathetic indicators of cardiac autonomic functions.
Brainstorming is Just the Beginning: Effects of Convergence Techniques on Satisfaction, Perceived Usefulness of Moderation, and Shared Understanding in Teams

Much research exists regarding (computer-supported) idea generation, yet little is known about how teams can be facilitated to efficiently converge on a set of ideas. Convergence is a critical activity in collaborative problem-solving and decision-making as teams need to focus their cognitive resources on the most promising ideas resulting from a brainstorming activity. This paper investigates the effects of facilitation on team outcomes to foster our understanding of convergence. We tested three facilitated convergence techniques, Self Sifter, Fast Focus, and Treasure Hunt that offer different levels of procedural structuring and discussion allowances. An experiment with 138 subjects in 34 teams showed significant improvements in satisfaction with process and product after convergence. Self Sifter and Treasure Hunt outperformed Fast Focus in terms of shared understanding, while Fast Focus and Treasure Hunt outperformed Self Sifter in terms of usefulness of moderation. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of how teams can benefit from facilitated convergence techniques.
Effects of Parental Dietary Exposure to GM Rice TT51 on the Male Reproductive System of Rat Offspring

Abstract Objective To evaluate the health effects of parental dietary exposure to GM rice TT51 on the male reproductive system of rat offspring. Methods Rice-based diets, containing 60% ordinary grocery rice, MingHui63, or TT51 by weight, were given to parental rats (15 males/30 females each group) for 70 days prior mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation. After weaning, eight male offspring rats were randomly selected at each group and fed with diets correspondent to their parents’ for 70 days. The effects of exposure to TT51 on male reproductive system of offspring rats were assessed through sperm parameters, testicular function enzyme activities, serum hormones (FSH, LH, and testosterone levels), testis histopathological examination, and the relative expression levels of selected genes along the hypothalamic-pituitary- testicular (HPT) axis. Results No significant differences were observed in body weight, food intake, organ/body weights, serum hormone, sperm parameters, testis function enzyme ACP, LDH, and SDH activities, testis histopathological changes, and relative mRNA expression levels of GnRH-R, FSH-R, LH-R, and AR along the HPT axis. Conclusion The results of this study demonstrate that parental dietary exposure to TT51 reveals no significant differences on the reproductive system of male offspring rats compared with MingHui63 and control.