Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Image Retrieval System Based on Combination of Color, Texture and Shape Features

—In the Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) system, an effectiveness of the visual descriptors, such as color, texture and shape, determines a good retrieval performance. Recently, more than two types of visual descriptors are combined to improve the performance of CBIR. The combination method used to combine different types of visual descriptors also plays an important role to obtain a good performance. However, we are aware that researchers have not paid sufficient attention to the combination methods, so in this paper, we focused on combination of schemes of three types of visual features to obtain higher improvement of the retrieval performance. Firstly, several visual descriptors that belong to three types of visual features (color, texture and shaper) are analyzed individually to select a better descriptor from each category. Second, the several combination methods are analyzed to determine a best combination method. The performance of the proposed scheme is compared with some CBIR systems in which more than two different types of descriptors are combined.
Smart and Economical Scheme for Electrical Power Generation

— This article advises a simple and innovative scheme for generating electricity from human activities. A simple and robust approach is proposed for converting human walking into valuable electricity source. The proposed scheme could be sufficient for powering small portable devices and providing independent power supply. Matlab and Simulink dynamic platform are used for stimulating the systems under concern. The prototype results validate the simulation results. The proposed scheme proofed to be valuable, economical and reliable power supply.
Quantifying Disorder through Conditional Entropy

In this paper, we present a method to quantify the extent of disorder in a system by using conditional entropies. Our approach is especially useful when other global, or mean field, measures of disorder fail. The method is equally suited for both continuum and lattice models, and it can be made rigorous for the latter. We apply it to mixing and demixing in multicomponent fluid membranes, and show that it has advantages over previous measures based on Shannon entropies, such as a much diminished dependence on binning and the ability to capture local correlations. Further potential applications are very diverse, and could include the study of local and global order in fluid mixtures, liquid crystals, magnetic materials, and particularly biomolecular systems. CM and UZ acknowledge external funding from the UK National Physical Laboratory (www.npl.co.uk). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Clearly speaking: pronunciation in action for teachers

This kit helps teachers understand the importance of pronunciation and shows authentic classroom teaching situations. The video presents a very useful overview of pronunciation. Several experienced teachers are shown presenting their own techniques and strategies for successfully teaching pronunciation in the classroom. Learners’ comments are also recorded. The handbook explains how to use the video materials and has photocopiable material for professional development as well as further reading and resources.
The e cacy and safety of immune checkpoints inhibitors plus radiotherapy as a combination therapy for advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma: a meta- analysis

Dan Yang (  dandanveronica@hotmail.com ) ChongQing University Cancer Hospital https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3976-5003 DaiRong Li Chongqing University Cancer Hospital LuLu Wang Chongqing Emergency Cancer Hospital LuMi Huang Chongqing University Cancer Hospital JianLin Long Chongqing Emergency Cancer Hospital ZhiJuan Wu ChongQing University Cancer Hospital Yan Teng Chongqing University Cancer Hospital
Road Rush: A Review on Road Traffic Analytics Systems and A Proposed Alternative

Road traffic congestion is a recurring occurrence causing enormous loss of valuable working hours around the world. It is impossible to eradicate such a problem overnight. Rather it could be handled intelligently with the help of modern technologies. Researchers and practitioners have introduced several algorithms, frameworks, systems to mitigate traffic congestion. This paper presents a systematic literature review on existing research and critically analyze the applications on traffic analytics systems. After designing a review protocol, each work was evaluated based on the five research questions and criteria. After critically and carefully analyzing the existing works, this paper also identified the advantages as well as the limitations of the existing approaches towards solving traffic congestion. Based on the findings, a prototype of a mobile application is proposed that can be considered as an improved alternative to the existing works. Finally, this study provides future research directions and improvement scopes in this field.
Electroencephalograph-Based Emotion Recognition Using Brain Connectivity Feature and Domain Adaptive Residual Convolution Model

In electroencephalograph (EEG) emotion recognition research, obtaining high-level emotional features with more discriminative information has become the key to improving the classification performance. This study proposes a new end-to-end emotion recognition method based on brain connectivity (BC) features and domain adaptive residual convolutional network (short for BC-DA-RCNN), which could effectively extract the spatial connectivity information related to the emotional state of the human brain and introduce domain adaptation to achieve accurate emotion recognition within and across the subject’s EEG signals. The BC information is represented by the global brain network connectivity matrix. The DA-RCNN is used to extract high-level emotional features between different dimensions of EEG signals, reduce the domain offset between different subjects, and strengthen the common features between different subjects. The experimental results on the large public DEAP data set show that the accuracy of the subject-dependent and subject-independent binary emotion classification in valence reaches 95.15 and 88.28%, respectively, which outperforms all the benchmark methods. The proposed method is proven to have lower complexity, better generalization ability, and domain robustness that help to lay a solid foundation for the development of high-performance affective brain-computer interface applications.
A Rapid Molecular Assay for Detecting the Mediterranean Fanworm Sabella spallanzanii Trialed by Non-Scientist Users

The invasive Mediterranean fanworm Sabella spallanzanii (Gmelin, 1791) is a notifiable organism under New Zealand’s Biosecurity Act and is recognized as a marine pest of particular concern, that must be reported to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), New Zealand. Since its first detection in 2008, great effort and financial resources are put into surveillance and removal of individuals to contain population growth and spread. Sensitive molecular detection techniques gain great interest and are being increasingly tested for the fanworm detection in marine high-risk sites (i.e., ports and marinas) around New Zealand. However, conventional molecular detection via PCR assays from environmental DNA (eDNA) samples requires specific laboratory resources and technical expertise. This restricts the wider applicability of this approach by biosecurity practitioners or communities willing to be engaged in biosecurity surveillance. To provide end-users with a fast, easy and highly specific way to detect S. spallanzanii directly at the site of interest, a species-specific recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay was designed to be read-out with lateral flow strips (RPA-LF). The RPA generates amplification within 20 minutes at 37-39°C, with a detection limit of 10 pg of the target DNA and was matching the detection limit of digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) when performed on eDNA samples. A simplified visual protocol for non-scientist users of the assay was developed and improved through independent trials with different end-user groups. The assay applicability was verified in a final validation trial with participants without scientific background resulting in 50 percent of the participants successfully detecting S. spallanzanii. Participants rated the ease of use and performance and read-out mostly as easy-to-very easy with overall positive written feedback on its usability for citizen science applications.
Force Sensing by Electrical Contact Resistance in SOI-DRIE MEMS

Title of Dissertation: FORCE SENSING BY ELECTRICAL CONTACT RESISTANCE IN SOI-DRIE MEMS Scott Gibson Rauscher, Doctor of Philosophy, 2018 Dissertation directed by: Professor Hugh Bruck and Professor Don DeVoe, Department of Mechanical Engineering MEMS force sensors employ microfabricated elements to convert applied external forces to electrical signals, typically by piezoelectric, piezoresistive, or capacitive transduction. While existing force sensors based on these sensing principles have commercial success, system dynamics inherent to displacement and strain-based sensing can limit force and frequency ranges. This work explores an alternative force-sensing principle in silicon-based MEMS devices that exploits changes in electrical contact resistance (ECR) during loading between two silicon surfaces, with the aim to determine if ECR can be used to sense force in SOI-DRIE microsystems containing only Silicon and bond pads. While several analytic models were combined to create an ECR-force model for predicting ECR-force sensitivity in systems containing differing contact geometry, topology, and electrical properties, experimental testing is the focal point of this work. The feasibility of using ECR to sense force in bare DRIE silicon contacts is initially evaluated using force applied by simple thermal actuation, which indicated that ECR behavior during applied cyclic loading was erratic and occasionally nonmonotonic with increasing load, while absolute contact resistance varied significantly chip-to-chip (200 Ω – 15 kΩ) and increased asymptotically as contact was removed. Results from further investigation using manual spring elongation show a consistent pre-load of at least 5 mN is critical to obtaining repeatable ECR-force curves, “break-in” cycling is required prior to consistent ECR-force behavior, and sidewall fracture occurs in 100 μm line contacts with radii less than 50 μm. Results from testing of packaged chips through inertial acceleration of embedded proof masses show that minimizing contact area during line contact loading reduces relative standard deviation (RSD) and increases sidewall fracture. When normalized to initial contact resistance, chips subjected to inertial loading exhibited linearized sensitivities of 2.0 %/mN and 2.1% hysteresis, with 1.6% RSD. The use of DRIE, as opposed to additive poly-Silicon-based fabrication, allows a tailorable force range through proof mass sizing and aspect ratio changes, adjustable pre-load through simple design, and integration of an ECR force sensor into existing systems. The successful use of a proof mass to apply force by acceleration indicates ECR between SOI-DRIE interfaces is a viable method to measure acceleration in the future. As with piezo-sensors, calibration of ECR force sensors is expected to improve chip-to-chip repeatability. Compared to commercially available force sensors, the realized ECR force sensor has several advantages (smaller size, lower force range, and simpler fabrication) that may be further leveraged in future development. FORCE SENSING BY ELECTRICAL CONTACT RESISTANCE IN SOI-DRIE MEMS
Discovery of Quercetin and Its Analogs as Potent OXA-48 Beta-Lactamase Inhibitors

Carbapenem resistance in Enterobacteriaceae caused by OXA-48 β-lactamase is a growing global health threat and has rapidly spread in many regions of the world. Developing inhibitors is a promising way to overcome antibiotic resistance. However, there are few options for problematic OXA-48. Here we identified quercetin, fisetin, luteolin, 3′,4′,7-trihydroxyflavone, apigenin, kaempferol, and taxifolin as potent inhibitors of OXA-48 with IC50 values ranging from 0.47 to 4.54 μM. Notably, the structure-activity relationship revealed that the substitute hydroxyl groups in the A and B rings of quercetin and its structural analogs improved the inhibitory effect against OXA-48. Mechanism studies including enzymatic kinetic assay, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis demonstrated that quercetin reversibly inhibited OXA-48 through a noncompetitive mode. Molecular docking suggested that hydroxyl groups at the 3′, 4′ and 7 positions in flavonoids formed hydrogen-bonding interactions with the side chains of Thr209, Ala194, and Gln193 in OXA-48. Quercetin, fisetin, luteolin, and 3′,4′,7-trihydroxyflavone effectively restored the antibacterial efficacy of piperacillin or imipenem against E. coli producing OXA-48, resulting in 2–8-fold reduction in MIC. Moreover, quercetin combined with piperacillin showed antimicrobial efficacy in mice infection model. These studies provide potential lead compounds for the development of β-lactamase inhibitors and in combination with β-lactams to combat OXA-48 producing pathogen.
Exopolysaccharide Produced by Pediococcus pentosaceus E8: Structure, Bio-Activities, and Its Potential Application

The novel exopolysaccharide EPS-E8, secreted by Pediococcus pentosaceus E8, was obtained by anion-exchange and gel filtration chromatography. Structural analyses identified EPS-E8 as a heteropolysaccharide containing mannose, glucose, and galactose. Its major backbone consists of →2)-α-D-Manp-(1→2,6)-α-D-Glcp-(1→6)-α-D-Manp-(1→, and its molecular weight is 5.02 × 104 g/mol. Using atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, many spherical and irregular reticular-like shapes were observed in the microstructure of EPS-E8. EPS-E8 has outstanding thermal stability (305.7°C). Both the zeta potential absolute value and average particle diameter increased gradually with increasing concentration. Moreover, at a concentration of 10 mg/ml, the antioxidant capacities of, 1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ABTS and hydroxyl radical were 50.62 ± 0.5%, 52.17 ± 1.4%, and 58.91 ± 0.7%, respectively. EPS-E8 possesses excellent emulsifying properties against several food-grade oils, and its activity is retained under various conditions (temperature, pH, and ionic strength). Finally, we found that EPS-E8 as a polysaccharide-based coating could reduce the weight loss and malondialdehyde (MDA) content of strawberry, as well as preserving the vitamin C and soluble solid content during storage at 20°C. Together, the results support the potential application of EPS-E8 as an emulsifier, and a polysaccharide-based coating in fruit preservation. Graphical Abstract
Catalyst-free production of ammonia by means of interaction between a gliding arc plasma and water surface

This work reports a study on using a gliding arc plasma reactor to produce ammonia from nitrogen plasma and a water medium without using a catalyst. During the gliding arc plasma discharge, a plasma plume was formed, and vibrational and rotational excitation was observed at the tip of the plasma plume that touched the water below. This arrangement helped the formation of ammonia. The ammonia concentration was 2.12–5.69 ppm, and its production rate varied in the range of 0.63–0.68 mg h−1, having energy efficiency in the range of 0.0249–0.0268 g-NH3 kWh−1, depending on the plasma exposure time. The vibrational temperature increased from 2632 K (near the gas entry zone) to 3778 K (at the tip of the plasma plume interacting with the water), corroborated by the enhanced distribution of electron energy for vibration excitation (≈24%), compared to that for electronic excitation (≈0.03%). The electron temperature dropped from 1.38 eV to 0.76 eV at the plasma zone interacting with the water. This work demonstrates the application of gliding arc plasmas to generate eco-friendly ammonia (green ammonia), and the reactor proves to be promising for further optimization in the future.
Dissociation in Neural Correlates of Hyperactive/Impulsive vs. Inattentive Symptoms in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders characterized in current diagnostic criteria by two dominant symptoms, inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Here, we show that task-related alpha (8–12 Hz) interhemispheric connectivity changes, as assessed during a unimanual finger-tapping task, is correlated with inattentive symptom severity (r = 0.55, p = 0.01) but not with severity of hyperactive/impulsive symptoms. Prior published analyses of the same dataset have already show that alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) in the hemisphere contralateral to unimanual tapping is related to hyperactive/impulsive symptom severity (r = 0.43, p = 0.04) but not to inattentive symptom severity. Our findings demonstrate a neurobiological dissociation in ADHD symptom severity, with implications for understanding the structure of endophenotypes in the disorder as well as for biomarker development.
PLSNet: hierarchical feature extraction using partial least squares regression for image classification

In this paper, we propose an image classification method using partial least squares (PLS) regression. PCANet is a hierarchical feature extraction using principal component analysis (PCA) for image classification, which obtained high accuracies on a variety of datasets. PCA projects explanatory variables on a subspace that the first component has the largest variance. In contrast to PCA, PLS projects explanatory variables on a subspace that the first component has the largest covariance between explanatory and objective variables. If class labels are used as objective variables, the subspace is more suitable for classification than PCA. Therefore, we combine PLS with the network architecture of PCANet and call the method ‘PLSNet’. It obtained higher accuracies than PCANet on the MNIST and CIFAR‐10 datasets. Furthermore, we improve the way to learn filters at the second stage and call the method ‘Improved PLSNet’. It obtained higher accuracies than PLSNet.
Chapter 9 Conclusions and illustrative case studies

Abstract Engineering geology is inter alia concerned with the application of geology to the civil engineering industry to ensure safe and economic design and construction. It is a discipline that advances through practice, and case studies of both successes and failures are critical to its development. In this concluding chapter, 19 case studies have been compiled, mainly by those who were directly involved in the projects, to illustrate the nature and complexity of the ground conditions that can be encountered when working in relict glacial and periglacial terrain. The chapter finishes with a section on how the Working Party volume as a whole can be used to guide and improve best practice.
Multicultural counseling: The strategy of social fasilitator of post-conflict education and psychosocial guidance in multicultural society

Unfortunately, multicultural problems manifested in patterns of thought, attitude, and behavior of intolerance are still seen in many societies over the past decade. It started to become common that certain groups attacked other ethnic and racial groups thereby causing conflict. This might be due to the handling of cases that are not ideal and appropriate, situations of intolerance, and social conflicts that have a wide impact, including causing psychological problems such as anxiety, hatred, violence, or depression. This study aimed to critically examine psychological coping strategies carried out in various countries to assist post-conflict victims with trauma, especially in multicultural societies. This study used an integrative review approach to analyze nine selected articles about psychological strategy and social education for post-conflict settings from 2010 to 2021 by reputable journals or publications. The results showed that the post-conflict victim handling strategy in various countries is carried out using psychosocial approaches and counseling/narrative therapy which are considered the most effective to help victims with trauma. Multicultural skills are an important part of post-conflict psychological handling, and hence is recommended multicultural counseling as a post-conflict psychological treatment and social education model is widely applied by societies with a high level of diversity.
Comparative Chloroplast Genomics of Seven Endangered Cypripedium Species and Phylogenetic Relationships of Orchidaceae

The species in the genus Cypripedium (Orchidaceae) are considered endangered, mainly distributed in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with high ornamental and economic value. Despite previous extensive studies based on both morphology and molecular data, species and sections relationships within Cypripedium remain controversial. Here, we employed two newly generated Cypripedium chloroplast genomes with five other published genomes to elucidate their genomic characteristics. The two genomes were 162,773–207,142 bp in length and contained 128–130 genes, including 82–84 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. We identified 2,192 simple sequence repeats, 786 large repeat sequences, and 7,929 variable loci. The increase of repeat sequences (simple sequence repeats and large repeat sequences) causes a significant amplification in the chloroplast genome size of Cypripedium. The expansion of the IR region led to the pseudogenization or loss of genes in the SSC region. In addition, we identified 12 highly polymorphic loci (Pi > 0.09) suitable for inferring the phylogeny of Cypripedium species. Based on data sets of whole chloroplast genomes (IRa excluded) and protein-coding sequences, a well-supported phylogenetic tree was reconstructed, strongly supporting the five subfamilies of Orchidaceae and the genus Cypripedium as monophyletic taxa. Our findings also supported that C. palangshanense belonged to sect. Palangshanensia rather than sect. Retinervia. This study also enriched the genomic resources of Cypripedium, which may help to promote the conservation efforts of these endangered species.
Genome-wide association study and genomic selection for sting nematode resistance in peanut using the USDA public data

ABSTRACT Cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is valued at $1.28 billion annually in the USA. The sting nematode, Belonolaimus longicaudatus, is an ectoparasitic pathogen that can devastate peanut production. Breeding for resistance to this pathogen is one of the most affordable ways to limit its damaging effects on peanut. The use of molecular tools can further accelerate the development of sting nematode-resistant cultivars. The objectives of this study were to identify single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with sting nematode resistance in peanuts using publicly available datasets and to assess the accuracy of genomic selection in predicting the resistance to sting nematode. SNP discovery was conducted using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a peanut panel consisting of 775 USDA accessions, which were phenotyped for sting nematode resistance. GWAS was conducted using 13,306 filtered SNPs, run in TASSEL with three different statistical models. Results showed that (1) a total of 9, 13, 18, 2, and 4 SNPs, respectively, were found to be associated with sting nematode resistance using the single-marker regression, generalized linear model (PCA), generalized linear model (Q), and mixed linear model (PCA), and mixed linear model (Q), respectively; (2) two SNPs overlapped among the models; and (3) genomic selection was higher when the SNPs from GWAS were used to fit the model. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on SNP markers associated with and genomic selection for sting nematode resistance in peanuts. These results can be used to develop a molecular breeding strategy to select for sting nematode resistance in peanuts.