Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of imidazolium salts to reduce the infection of Bombyx mori caterpillars by Beauveria bassiana

The silkworm, Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae), is susceptible to several entomopathogens, including the fungus Beauveria bassiana (Bals.‐Criv.) Vuill. (Hypocreales), which causes white muscardine. Aiming at effective alternatives for disease control, the effect of one pyridinium salt (PS) and seven imidazolium salts (IS) on biological parameters of this fungus – conidia germination, colony‐forming units (CFU), vegetative growth, and conidia production – were evaluated in vitro. Then, the in vivo action of the IS on silkworm larvae and pupae was verified. Preventive and curative actions of selected IS for disease suppression in B. mori caterpillars were evaluated either via oral or integumentary administration. When administered daily via feeding sheets, the IS 1,3‐di‐n‐decyl‐2‐methylimidazolium chloride at 100 μg ml−1 was effective in reducing the mortality of caterpillars by the fungal infection. In addition, it did not show any negative effects on developing B. mori larvae. Therefore, 1,3‐di‐n‐decyl‐2‐methylimidazolium chloride can be an effective tool in the management of white muscardine in silkworm rearing houses.
Combination of Dexamethasone and Tofacitinib Reduces Xenogeneic MSC-Induced Immune Responses in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

We have recently reported on how transplantation of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into the mouse parenchyma generated immune responses. To facilitate the clinical translation of MSC-based AD therapy, the safety and efficacy of human derived MSCs (hMSCs) must be confirmed in the pre-clinical stage. Thus, it is imperative to investigate measures to reduce immune responses exerted via xenotransplantation. In this study, immunosuppressants were co-administered to mice that had received injections of hMSCs into the parenchyma. Prior to performing experiments using transgenic AD mice (5xFAD), varying immunosuppressant regimens were tested in wild-type (WT) mice and the combination of dexamethasone and tofacitinib (DexaTofa) revealed to be effective in enhancing the persistence of hMSCs. According to transcriptome sequencing and immunohistochemical analyses, administration of DexaTofa reduced immune responses generated via transplantation of hMSCs in the parenchyma of 5xFAD mice. Significant mitigation of amyloid burden, however, was not noted following transplantation of hMSCs alone or hMSCs with DexaTofa. The efficacy of the immunosuppressant regimen should be tested in multiple AD mouse models to promote its successful application and use in AD stem cell therapy.
Adolescent psychological well-being & sociodemographic profile in Kerala, India

Summary: There is clear indication that a person's innate level of psychological well-being is significantly influenced by their social environment and developmental history. The study was conceptualized in the context of research on the passage of teenagers into adulthood. The investigation of adolescents' psychological wellbeing was the study's main objective. 100 school-aged youths from Kerala's Kozhikode District, ranging in age from 15 to 17, made up the sample. The mean, standard deviation, and T-test were used to investigate the relationship between adolescents' psychological wellbeing and their sociodemographic profile. Findings: According to the mean score, 44% of schoolchildren reported great psychological well-being, compared to 56% who reported low psychological well-being. In terms of the manifestation of psychological well-being and sociodemographic profiles, respondents from different age groups demonstrated considerable disparities. The study's conclusions can be applied to people who have mild, moderate, or high degrees of psychological well-being. This analysis makes it possible to examine the relationship between and impact on teenage psychological well-being.
Mammal and bird diversity in a system of protected areas in Argentina

ABSTRACT The main driver of biodiversity loss and subsequent decreases in ecosystem functionality is undeniably human interference, destruction and encroachment. The creation and establishment of protected areas serve as tools for guaranteeing biodiversity conservation. In this study, we examined the diversity of medium- and large-sized mammals and flightless walking birds that are supported by a protected area system, the Ischigualasto–Talampaya system, and its area of influence. We set up 106 camera traps and analysed all data with rank–abundance curves and Hill numbers as a measure of diversity. Species richness was lower in protected areas, unlike in the buffer zone, due to the absence of domestic species. Native species were present all over the area, but with variations in their abundances, showing that the presence of domestic species in low densities would not negatively affect the richness of native species, but would indeed affect their abundance.
Antimicrobial activity of Liposomal colistin against resistant E. coli in vitro and in vivo

T his study was performed to investigate the liposome coated colistin for enhancing the oral pharmacokinetics, bioavailability, delivery and efficacy of the drug against resistant E. coli strain. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of colistin (C) and liposomal colistin (L) was 1.56 µg/ml and 0.00156 µg/ml for O125 sensitive colistin strain (CS and LS), while 100µg/ml and 0.025 µg/ml for O125 resistant strain (CR and LR). In vitro, time kill kinetics of liposomal colistin against sensitive and resistant O125 recorded 100% and 82.8% as a reduction% at 1 MIC, while ≥99.9% at 2 MIC for both strains after 1hr incubation time. The pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamics profiles were studied by single oral dose of colistin and liposomal colistin at 100000 IU/kg b.wt in healthy and diseased chicken. The pharmacokinetic parameters; Cmax/MIC ratio for CS and CR were 3.5 and 0.06. While, liposomal colistin recorded 3.9x10 3 and 247.2 for LS and LR, respectively. AUC/MIC ratios were 13.4, 0.248, 40.9x10 3 and 2.6x10 3 for CS, CR, LS and LR, respectively; proving the high efficacy of liposomal colistin with less significant activity of colistin. There was significant increment of t 1/2 Beta and MRT of liposomal colistin groups in comparison with colistin groups. Contraries, clearance Time (CL/F) was significantly decreased in liposomal colistin than colistin groups. Liposomal colistin en-hanced the bioavailability% from 5.2% to 49.2%. Liver E. coli count re-vealed highly significant decrease of LC for both strains nearly similar to negative control group after repeated treatment for 5 consecutive days; indicating the great effect by liposomal colistin on both E. coli strains especially for colistin resistant strain. This study recommends the liposomal colistin formulation against multidrug resistant E. coli infections.
Conformational Dynamics of Human ALKBH2 Dioxygenase in the Course of DNA Repair as Revealed by Stopped-Flow Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Elucidation of physicochemical mechanisms of enzymatic processes is one of the main tasks of modern biology. High efficiency and selectivity of enzymatic catalysis are mostly ensured by conformational dynamics of enzymes and substrates. Here, we applied a stopped-flow kinetic analysis based on fluorescent spectroscopy to investigate mechanisms of conformational transformations during the removal of alkylated bases from DNA by ALKBH2, a human homolog of Escherichia coli AlkB dioxygenase. This enzyme protects genomic DNA against various alkyl lesions through a sophisticated catalytic mechanism supported by a cofactor (Fe(II)), a cosubstrate (2-oxoglutarate), and O2. We present here a comparative study of conformational dynamics in complexes of the ALKBH2 protein with double-stranded DNA substrates containing N1-methyladenine, N3-methylcytosine, or 1,N6-ethenoadenine. By means of fluorescent labels of different types, simultaneous detection of conformational transitions in the protein globule and DNA substrate molecule was performed. Fitting of the kinetic curves by a nonlinear-regression method yielded a molecular mechanism and rate constants of its individual steps. The results shed light on overall conformational dynamics of ALKBH2 and damaged DNA during the catalytic cycle.
Fish populations and biomass in headwater streams of the Lake Tumba Landscape, DR Congo, 2007–2011

The fish biodiversity in the Congo River and its tributaries is extremely rich but the information on fish communities in the headwaters in terms of catch and biomass estimates is rare. Fishes in the running and stagnant waters in this region are of vital importance as a food resource for local residents. This study aimed to describe the fish community, catch, and biomass in the three headwater streams Bambou, Lebomo, and Bongo in the Lake Tumba Landscape (LTL) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Such information is of vital importance as a benchmark to understand the sustainability of the fish population for future generations of residents of the LTL. The field data were collected from 2007 through 2011, including dry and wet seasons. Here we present the results of this systematic, multi-annual study which was the first for fishes in streams of this region. In total, 50 species of 15 families were found in the nutrient-poor brown waters of these streams where high concentrations of humic acids cause a low pH. Among abundant species occurring in all three streams were the cyprinid Enteromius holotaenia (Boulenger, 1904), the mormyrid Marcusenius moorii (Günther, 1867), the alestids Clupeocharax schoutedeni Pellegrin, 1926 and Bryconaethiops boulengeri Pellegrin, 1900, and the clariid Clarias angolensis Steindachner, 1866. Bongo Stream was distinguished from the others by a rich abundance of Alestopetersius compressus (Poll et Gosse, 1963). The presence of several species at low pH (between 5.0 and 5.5) is new information that lowers the bottom of the pH interval for these species compared to earlier reports. The maximum total length (TL) of some other species was by 5–20 percentage points higher than those reported earlier. The median weight per unit effort (WPUE) in the streams varied between 30 and 115 g per hour during the dry seasons and between 18 and 86 g per hour during the wet seasons. The fish biomass in the streams varied between 0.05 and 0.7 g ⸱ m–2 with a median 0.14 g ⸱ m–2. This relatively low value compared to other tropical headwaters may be a result of the low pH and dark color of these headwaters. The results of the study serve as a reference point to which future monitoring of fish fauna can be compared for sustainable management of the LTL.
Real Time Landmark Detection for Within- and Cross Subject Tracking With Minimal Human Supervision

Landmark detection plays an important role for a variety of image processing and analysis tasks. Current methods rely on either supervised or semi-supervised learning which often requires large labeled training datasets. Also, retrospective addition of further target landmarks after completion of training is difficult in current methods. In this paper we propose a framework that addresses these limitations and allows for landmark detection based on only few examples and for definition of target landmarks after completed training without retraining. Our proposed approach relies on self-supervised training on a within-image template matching task with regularization by data augmentation. The trained network generalizes to cross-image matching and can thus be extended to example-based landmark detection and tracking. We extensively evaluate the proposed framework on chest X-ray images and abdominal MRI scans and demonstrate high accuracy with only few or even only one labeled example. Additionally we apply it to the task of liver and liver lesion tracking in CINE MRI scans.
Optimization methodologies for the power management and sizing of a microgrid with storage

In this paper, we investigate a design approach aiming at simultaneously integrating the power management and the sizing of a small microgrid with storage. We particularly underline the complexity of the resulting optimization problem and how it can be solved using suitable optimization methods in compliance with relevant models of the microgrid. We specifically show the reduction of the computational time allowing the microgrid simulation over long time durations in the optimization process in order to take seasonal variations into account.
A New 360 ◦ Framework to Predict Customer Lifetime Value for Multi-Category E-Commerce Companies Using a Multi-Output Deep Neural Network and Explainable Artiﬁcial Intelligence

: Online purchasing has developed rapidly in recent years due to its efﬁciency, convenience, low cost, and product variety. This has increased the number of online multi-category e-commerce retailers that sell a variety of product categories. Due to the growth in the number of players, each company needs to optimize its own business strategy in order to compete. Customer lifetime value (CLV) is a common metric that multi-category e-commerce retailers usually consider for competition because it helps determine the most valuable customers for the retailers. However, in this paper, we introduce two additional novel factors in addition to CLV to determine which customers will bring in the highest revenue in the future: distinct product category (DPC) and trend in amount spent (TAS). Then, we propose a new framework. We utilized, for the ﬁrst time in the relevant literature, a multi-output deep neural network (DNN) model to test our proposed framework while forecasting CLV, DPC, and TAS together. To make this outcome applicable in real life, we constructed customer clusters that allow the management of multi-category e-commerce companies to segment end-users based on the three variables. We compared the proposed framework (constructed with multiple outputs: CLV, DPC, and TAS) against a baseline single-output model to determine the combined effect of the multi-output model. In addition, we also compared the proposed model with multi-output Decision Tree (DT) and multi-output Random Forest (RF) algorithms on the same dataset. The results indicate that the multi-output DNN model outperforms the single-output DNN model, multi-output DT, and multi-output RF across all assessment measures, proving that the multi-output DNN model is more suitable for multi-category e-commerce retailers’ usage. Furthermore, Shapley values derived through the explainable artiﬁcial intelligence method are used to interpret the decisions of the DNN. This practice demonstrates which inputs contribute more to the outcomes (a signiﬁcant novelty in interpreting the DNN model for the CLV).
Integration of ICN and MEC in 5G and Beyond Networks: Mutual Benefits, Use Cases, Challenges, Standardization, and Future Research

Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) is a novel edge computing paradigm that moves cloudbased processing and storage capabilities closer to mobile users by implementing server resources in the access nodes. MEC helps fulfill the stringent requirements of 5G and beyond networks to offer anytimeanywhere connectivity for many devices with ultra-low delay and huge bandwidths. Information-Centric Networking (ICN) is another prominent network technology that builds on a content-centric network architecture to overcome host-centric routing/operation shortcomings and to realize efficient pervasive and ubiquitous networking. It is envisaged to be employed in Future Internet including Beyond 5G (B5G) networks. The consolidation of ICN with MEC technology offers new opportunities to realize that vision and serve advanced use cases. However, various integration challenges are yet to be addressed to enable the wide-scale co-deployment of ICN with MEC in future networks. In this paper, we discuss and elaborate on ICN MEC integration to provide a comprehensive survey with a forward-looking perspective for B5G networks. In that regard, we deduce lessons learned from related works (for both 5G and B5G networks). We present ongoing standardization activities to highlight practical implications of such efforts. Moreover, we render key B5G use cases and highlight the role for ICN MEC integration for addressing their requirements. Finally, we layout research challenges and identify potential research directions. For this last contribution, we also provide a mapping of the latter to ICN integration challenges and use cases.
Hierarchical User-Driven Trajectory Planning and Charging Scheduling of Autonomous Electric Vehicles

Autonomous electric vehicles (A-EVs), regarded as one of the innovations to accelerate transportation electrification, have sparked a flurry of interest in trajectory planning and charging scheduling. In this regard, this work employs mobile edge computing (MEC) to design a decentralized hierarchical algorithm for finding an optimal path to the nearby A-EV parking lots (PLs), selecting the best PL, and executing an optimal charging scheduling. The proposed model makes use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to assist edge servers in trajectory planning by surveying road traffic flow in real time. Furthermore, the target PLs are selected using a user-driven multiobjective problem to minimize the cost and waiting time of A-EVs. To tackle the complexity of the optimization problem, a greedy-based algorithm has been developed. Finally, charging/discharging power is scheduled using a local optimizer based on the PLs’ real-time loads, which minimizes the deviation of the charging/discharging power from the average load. The obtained results show that the proposed model can handle charging/discharging requests of on-move A-EVs and bring fiscal and nonfiscal benefits for A-EVs and the power grid, respectively. Moreover, it observed that user satisfaction in terms of traveling time and traveling distance is increased by using the edge-UAV model.
The Nuclear Spin Environment in Lateral GaAs Spin Valves

IBM Research, Zu¨rich Research Laboratory, S¨aumerstrasse 4, 8803 Ru¨schlikon, Switzerland(Dated: October 4, 2011)The spin degree of freedom in solids oﬀers opportunities beyond charge-based elec-tronics and is actively investigated for both spintronics and quantum computation.However, the interplay of these spins with their native environment can give rise todetrimental eﬀects such as spin relaxation and decoherence. Here, we use an all-electrical, lateral GaAs spin valve to manipulate and investigate the inherent nuclearspin system. Hanle satellites are used to determine the nuclear spin relaxation ratesfor the previously unexplored temperature range down to 100 mK, giving T
Process‐oriented evaluation of the oversea AROME configuration: Focus on the representation of cloud organisation

This study evaluates the ability of the French convection‐permitting model AROME‐OM to represent shallow cumulus and their main organisations for boreal winter conditions in the North Atlantic trades. It uses a set of three winter seasons (January–February, 2018–2020) of high‐resolution (1.3 and 2.5 km) simulations over the Caribbean domain (9.7–22.9°N, 75.3–51.7°W). The model is assessed against soundings at Grantley Adams Airport and remote‐sensing observations at a site located on the east coast of Barbados which is representative of downwind trade regimes. The thermodynamic environment of the model fits the observations overall but the boundary layer is slightly too deep, resulting in a weak cold and dry bias. Both model and observations clearly exhibit (a) a double peak of cloud fraction, a first peak near the cloud base and a second one near the cloud top and (b) a larger variance in cloudiness near the top of the deepest cumuli, at around 2 km, with a higher sensitivity to the environment. We then take advantage of the EUREC4A field campaign which took place in January–February 2020 to assess the ability of the model to reproduce the four main mesoscale patterns and to characterize the air masses in which they develop. All the observations confirm the capacity of the model to predict the different mesoscale organizations and their associated environment.
Can the Urban Growth Boundary Reduce Urban
Industrial Air Pollution in China?
A Study from the Perspective of the Sustainability
of Land Urbanization

Using the panel data on 93 prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2018, this paper takes the UGB implementation in pilot cities as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the difference in difference model to empirically test the impact and mechanism of urban growth boundary (UGB) on urban industrial air pollution. The results show that the UGB policy has a significant role in reducing urban industrial air pollution. This conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests. Furthermore, we found that UGB reduces industrial air pollution through governance effects rather than spillover effects, and the negative impact is dynamic and sustainable. Hence, UGB contributes to the sustainable development of land urbanization in terms of reducing industrial air pollution. This research provides empirical evidence for the sustainable development of land urbanization and green development in China.
The European Parliament in the Economic and Monetary Union after COVID: towards a slow empowerment?

ABSTRACT The European Parliament (EP)’s role in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has always been rather limited. Its prerogatives were somewhat reinforced after the Euro crisis, but its role in policy implementation remained minimal. However, because of the pandemic, the level of integration at the supranational level has significantly increased as a result of, among others, the adoption of unique instruments such as the SURE instrument, Next Generation EU and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RFF). This article considers to what extent the EP’s role in EMU has been reinforced as a result of these measures. It finds that the EP was regrettably reserved only a limited role in the operationalisation of the RRF and an even lesser role in other instruments, but that legal and political constraints made any other outcome unlikely. This article argues in favour of an increased use of the existing instruments by both the EP and national parliaments, as well as a reinforcement of interparliamentary cooperation. A far more extensive empowerment of the EP would be required if temporary and exceptional developments that occurred in the EMU during the pandemic were to become more entrenched.
Something from nothing: linking molecules with virtual light

A new research field is emerging in which ensembles of molecules are collectively hybridised with light in a process known as strong coupling. This hybridisation leads to the formation of new states that are part light and part matter, states known as polaritons. Here we offer an entry point into the field of molecular strong coupling. We include an overview of the essential phenomena and an introduction to the conceptual framework – considerable use is made of simple classical physics models since they are helpful in developing an intuitive understanding. Open questions are identified and discussed, as well as some of the exciting experimental and theoretical challenges that lie ahead.