Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NADPH oxydase Nox4 : structure/fonction protéomique recombinante et approche immunologique

La NADPH oxydase, Nox4, appartient a la famille des Nox qui generent les especes radicalaires de l'oxygene, ROS, en transferant un electron a l'oxygene moleculaire. Malgre sa large distribution dans les tissus, Nox4 est encore mal comprise. Contrairement aux autres Nox, Nox4 est unique par son activite constitutive et sa capacite a former H2O2. Les ROS sont des especes bactericides dans les phagocytes et des outils de signalisation dans les cellules non phagocytaires en etant associes a de nombreuses pathologies inflammatoires et du vieillissement. Une etude de la structure en lien avec la fonction de Nox4 permettra de mettre l'accent sur un mecanisme de fonctionnement et sur de nouvelles cibles therapeutiques. 5 nouveaux anticorps monoclonaux ont ete generes contre une construction recombinante tronquee (AA: 206-578) de Nox4. La specificite de 3 anticorps monoclonaux (8E9, 5F9, 6B11) a ete confirmee par western blot dans les cellules HEK293 transfectees et le cortex de rein humain. L'anticorps 8E9 est le seul a permettre un marquage des cellules TRex-Nox4 sans permeabilisation par FACS. L'immunofluorescence confocale a montre que Nox4 est localisee dans la zone perinucleaire et le reticulum endoplasmique. La microscopie TIRF a confirme sa presence dans la membrane plasmique. Un phenomene interessant est que 5F9 ne detecte pas Nox4 a la membrane plasmique. L'epitope de 8E9 reconnait une region sur la derniere boucle E extracellulaire de Nox4 (222H-E241), tandis que les anticorps monoclonaux, 6B11 et 5F9 marquent respectivement les regions 6B11 (389S-P416) et 5F9 (392D-F398). Par ailleurs, seuls 5F9 et 6B11 inhibent l'activite de Nox4, ce qui suggere que les deux regions marquees par ces ACm sont impliquees dans le transfert d'electrons. Une etude ciblee sur la boucle E de Nox4 a permis de montrer que le changement de 2 cysteines modifie la nature des ROS generes par Nox4 avec la production de O2- au lieu de H2O2. O2- est mis en evidence par la formation de peroxynitrite en presence de NO. Par ailleurs l'ACm 8E9 diminue la production de H2O2 dans les cellules COS7 qui expriment Nox4 a la membrane plasmique alors que celle de O2- est augmentee. Des constructions recombinantes de Nox4 (native ou tronquee) ont ete generees par induction bacterienne, E.Coli, et par un systeme de transcription/traduction (RTS). Les proteines correspondantes, solubles, ont ete produites a grande echelle et l'activite diaphorase mesuree; cette activite est constitutive. L'etude de la topologie membranaire de Nox4 et p22phox a ete abordee en preparant des proteines de fusion avec l'ubiquitine marquee a la GFP. Cette methode, TDUFA, particulierement originale, devrait permettre d'apprehender la topologie de l'heterodimere Nox4/p22phox, actif.
After the epizootic: Host–pathogen dynamics in montane tropical amphibian communities with high prevalence of chytridiomycosis

The amphibian fungal disease chytridiomycosis, caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), poses a great threat to global amphibian biodiversity. In Peruvian cloud forests of the Kosñipata Valley of Manu National Park where chytrid infection is highly prevalent, we have monitored species‐rich amphibian communities since 1996. An epizootic of chytridiomycosis is thought to have caused the disappearance of 35% of species richness in the early 2000s. We investigated the post‐epizootic Bd prevalence and infection intensity within the remnant amphibian community from 2008 to 2015, and modeled Bd dynamics as a function of species, season, reproductive mode, life stage, and elevation. Prevalence was higher in 2012–2015 than in 2008–2009, but overall prevalence has remained fairly constant (~50%) post‐epizootic. We also found that while prevalence decreased with elevation during the wet season, it generally increased with elevation during the dry season, potentially due to seasonal changes in temperature and precipitation. In aquatic habitats, Bd is likely maintained through a single, stream‐breeding, putative reservoir species (which survived epizootics, in contrast to other aquatic‐breeding species). The now‐dominant terrestrial‐breeding species allow Bd to persist and spread in terrestrial habitats, possibly through individual dispersal into naïve areas. We conclude that Bd prevalence in the Kosñipata Valley has stabilized over time, suggesting that Bd is now enzootic. Long‐term monitoring of host infection is important because temporal changes in prevalence and infection intensity can cause changes in host species richness and abundance, which in turn may alter the trajectory of host–pathogen dynamics.
The relationship between lifetime book reading and empathy in adolescents: Examining transportability as a moderator.

Reading narrative literature is discussed as an influencing factor on the development of social-cognitive skills. Transportability, which is the tendency to immerse into narrative worlds, has been proposed as a moderator within this relationship, with hightransportable individuals being assumed to profit more from narratives. The current study examines (1) whether a relationship exists between different dimensions of empathy and narrative reading in an adolescent sample, (2) whether this relationship remains intact when gender, age, IQ, trait openness to experiences, and real-life social network are statistically controlled, and (3) whether transportability moderates the relationship between narrative reading and empathy. The sample included 282 German adolescents (Grades 9-10, age 13-18 years) who completed questionnaires and IQ test. Results revealed significant relationships between different dimensions of empathy (empathic concern, perspective taking, personal distress, and fantasy) and narrative reading. However, after including the control variables in the model, the relationships— except for fantasy—were no longer significant. Only for empathic concern, transportability emerged as a moderator but in an unexpected direction, showing a closer relationship between reading and empathic concern for low-transportable students. Finally, our results indicated that transportability might be better conceptualized as a mediator between narrative reading and empathy.
Challenges encountered in the Implementation of A Diet and Exercise Intervention for Low-Income Hispanic Older Adults with Diabetes

The purpose of this study was to present the challenges faced when implementing a diet and exercise intervention for low-income older Hispanics with type 2 diabetes with an observational study of recruitment, attendance, and characteristics of Hispanic adults with type 2 diabetes in a community congregate meal site pre and post administration of a diet and exercise intervention. This report evaluates retentions and diabetes self-management beliefs Hispanic adults ≥60 years with type 2 diabetes (n=17) at baseline, and completion of the six-month intervention in terms of the Health Belief Model. There was limited interest in controlling diabetes with diet and exercise. Major barriers included lack of perceived vulnerability to diabetes complications and a belief that medication alone is sufficient to stabilize blood glucose. Environmental barriers included lack of transportation, access to exercise groups, access grocery stores, and limited ability to pay for healthy foods. A lesson learned from this intervention was that the diet and exercise intervention given was insufficient as a cue to action for this population interventions to engage low-income, older Hispanics with diabetes in diet and exercise need to consider strategies to overcome barriers such as health beliefs, transportation issues, lack of access to nutritious food and group exercise classes.
Single-Image Crowd Counting using Multi-Column Neural Network

Crowd scene understanding is an important and challenging problem in computer vision. Most of studies based on tracking individuals, crowd counting, finding region of motion and alarming crowd flaws have came into existence. The task of crowd counting and density map estimation is riddled with many challenges such as occlusions, non-uniform density, intra-scene and inter-scene variations in scale and perspective. Nevertheless, over the last few years, crowd count analysis has evolved from earlier methods that are often limited to small variations in crowd density and scales to the current state-of-the-art methods that have developed the ability to perform successfully on a wide range of scenarios. The success of crowd counting methods in the recent years can be largely attributed to deep learning and publications of challenging datasets. One of the appropriate method that can accurately estimate the crowd count from an image with arbitrary crowd density and arbitrary perspective is using the state-of-the-art i.e. convolution neural network. The technique used for the crowd detection and crowd density estimation is through the Multicolumn Convolution Neural Network architecture. The model allows the input image to be of arbitrary size or resolution with high accuracy and produces a state of art results. The proposed work is implemented with the Shanghaitech dataset, which is among the largest dataset. The model produces highly precise and accurate results with the estimate crowd count and density map. General Terms Computer Vision, Neural network, Crowd detection, Crowd density.
Oxygen budget of the north-western Mediterranean deep- convection region

Abstract. The north-western Mediterranean deep convection plays a crucial role in the general circulation and biogeochemical cycles of the Mediterranean Sea. The DEWEX (DEnse Water EXperiment) project aimed to better understand this role through an intensive observation platform combined with a modelling framework. We developed a three-dimensional coupled physical and biogeochemical model to estimate the cycling and budget of dissolved oxygen in the entire north-western Mediterranean deep-convection area over the period September 2012 to September 2013. After showing that the simulated dissolved oxygen concentrations are in a good agreement with the in situ data collected from research cruises and Argo floats, we analyse the seasonal cycle of the air–sea oxygen exchanges, as well as physical and biogeochemical oxygen fluxes, and we estimate an annual oxygen budget. Our study indicates that the annual air-to-sea fluxes in the deep-convection area amounted to 20 molm-2yr-1. A total of 88 % of the annual uptake of atmospheric oxygen, i.e. 18 mol m−2, occurred during the intense vertical mixing period. The model shows that an amount of 27 mol m−2 of oxygen, injected at the sea surface and produced through photosynthesis, was transferred under the euphotic layer, mainly during deep convection. An amount of 20 mol m−2 of oxygen was then gradually exported in the aphotic layers to the south and west of the western basin, notably, through the spreading of dense waters recently formed. The decline in the deep-convection intensity in this region predicted by the end of the century in recent projections may have important consequences on the overall uptake of atmospheric oxygen in the Mediterranean Sea and on the oxygen exchanges with the Atlantic Ocean, which appear necessary to better quantify in the context of the expansion of low-oxygen zones.
Modal analysis of end effector of forging robot

The robot end gripper designed by us has an important role in direct contact with the workpiece in industrial production, which requires higher requirements for the safety and stability of the workpiece gripping. In this paper, we design a gripper, use ABAQUS software to model the design, and perform modal analysis of the whole. Based on the simulation results, the end gripper is made to work safely and stably.
A Patient Centred Approach to Rare Disease Technology

Rare disease patients face a long, arduous process to obtain a correct diagnosis. This often involves multiple misdiagnoses, leading to undue treatments and surgeries; patients are left feeling unheard by their healthcare providers and are even isolated from their peers who ‘just don’t understand’. Research to support clinicians in diagnosing rare disease patients has made great strides. However, little research aims to support the patients through this challenging time; and those that do, demonstrate minimal patient input in the design process. This is the first paper that uses methodologically robust patient driven design of pre-diagnostic technologies for rare disease patients. We conducted two workshops with rare disease patients to design a probe technology and subsequently evaluated the probe using a questionnaire. This revealed that rare disease patients predominantly wanted clinician communication aids (90.5%) and social support (61.9%) from technology, rather than the informational support that is typical with patient technology.
Scan to BIM for the Semi-Automated Generation of a Material Passport for an Existing Building

The construction sector has a large negative impact on the environment due to its wasteful treatment of raw materials. To minimize the raw materials consumption, increasing recycling rates through reusing or recycling materials in existing stocks is of utmost importance. However, the main obstacle in the recycling of existing building stocks is the lack of information about materials incorporated in buildings. This work presents the ongoing research within the multidisciplinary research project SCI_BIM, which received funding by the Austrian federal ministry of transport, innovation and technology. Within this paper, the semi-automated generation of an as-built BIM-Model for an existing building as well as the generation of a Material Passport (MP) is tested. In order to obtain the geometry and material information, laser scanners (geometry) and a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR, for materials) are used. Thereby, first, a semi-automated BIM-Model is generated from the point cloud, which was obtained from the laser scans. Finally, the material information obtained from the GPR is integrated into the BIM-Model for the compilation of the MP. First results show that the generation of the MP for the use case is possible, but confronted with manual steps, such as integrating material information from different sources (e.g. analysis of demolition experts). The results of this paper should serve as a basis for the creation of a secondary raw materials cadastre in order to enable recycling of valuable materials, thus supporting the achievement of the EU goals 20-20-20.
Paradigmas da Gestão do Fogo em Áreas Protegidas no Mundo e o Caso da Estação Ecológica Serra Geral do Tocantins

Duas abordagens claras de gestão do fogo podem ser observadas em áreas protegidas pelo mundo: uma está associada ao paradigma do fogo zero, pautada em políticas de proibição do uso do fogo e de exclusão do fogo dos ecossistemas; e outra baseada no manejo do fogo­, que considera o papel ecológico do fogo nos ecossistemas, suas necessidades de uso para práticas tradicionais e o contexto territorial no qual estão inseridas. Este artigo emerge de uma longa reflexão e aprendizados dos autores a partir da experiência de mudança de paradigmas na gestão do fogo na Estação Ecológica Serra Geral do Tocantins, sistematizada em uma dissertação de mestrado profissional. O presente ensaio apresenta e caracteriza os dois paradigmas e derivações, à luz de uma perpectiva holística que considerou a influência dos contextos ecológico, sócio-político e normativo na determinação de política de gestão de uso ou exclusão do fogo em unidades de conservação, especialmente aquelas que protegem ecossistemas naturalmente propensos a sua passagem.
Data-driven causal analysis of observational time series in ecology

Complex ecosystems are challenging to understand as they often defy manipulative experiments for practical or ethical reasons. In response, several fields have developed parallel approaches to infer causal relations from observational time series. Yet these methods are easy to misunderstand and often controversial. Here, we provide an accessible and critical review of three statistical causal inference approaches popular in ecological time series analysis: pairwise correlation, Granger causality, and state space reconstruction. For each, we ask what a method tests for, what causal statement it might imply, and when it could lead us astray. We devise new ways of visualizing key concepts, describe some novel pathologies of causal inference methods, and point out how so-called “model-free” causality tests are not assumption-free. We hope that our synthesis will facilitate thoughtful application of causal inference approaches and encourage explicit statements of assumptions.
Efficacy of local therapy for oligoprogressive disease after programmed cell death 1 blockade in advanced non‐small cell lung cancer

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have dramatically changed the strategy used to treat patients with non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC); however, the vast majority of patients eventually develop progressive disease (PD) and acquire resistance to ICIs. Some patients experience oligoprogressive disease. Few retrospective studies have evaluated clinical efficacy in patients with oligometastatic progression who received local therapy after ICI treatment. We conducted a retrospective analysis of advanced NSCLC patients who received PD‐1 inhibitor monotherapy with nivolumab or pembrolizumab to evaluate the effects of ICIs on the patterns of progression and the efficacy of local therapy for oligoprogressive disease. Of the 307 patients treated with ICIs, 148 were evaluated in our study; 42 were treated with pembrolizumab, and 106 were treated with nivolumab. Thirty‐eight patients showed oligoprogression. Male sex, a lack of driver mutations, and smoking history were significantly correlated with the risk of oligoprogression. Primary lesions were most frequently detected at oligoprogression sites (15 patients), and 6 patients experienced abdominal lymph node (LN) oligoprogression. Four patients showed evidence of new abdominal LN oligometastases. There was no significant difference in overall survival (OS) between the local therapy group and the switch therapy group (reached vs. not reached, P = .456). We summarized clinical data on the response of oligoprogressive NSCLC to ICI therapy. The results may help to elucidate the causes of ICI resistance and indicate that the use of local therapy as the initial treatment in this setting is feasible treatment option.
Including the Dark Side of Entrepreneurship in the Entrepreneurship Education

Pursuing an entrepreneurial career is often rewarding in terms of both economic and psychological outcomes. However, becoming an entrepreneur also has its darker side that affects professional and personal life. Meanwhile, the positivity bias is prevalent in entrepreneurial education and research. It is recognized as emphasizing the advantages of becoming an entrepreneur and giving considerably less attention to potential downsides. Based on the theoretical model of met expectations, it is proposed that building an accurate and balanced image of the entrepreneurial career is crucial to help students prepare to pursue it successfully. Using data from SEAS (Survey on Entrepreneurial Attitudes of Students) Project, authors quantitatively test the perception of the severity of negative aspects of entrepreneurship among 513 business students from northern Poland. Further, the results of 16 semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted with mature and experienced entrepreneurs from the same region are presented. They are focused on the entrepreneurs’ perspective on the experienced dark sides and reveal employed coping strategies. A call is made to include these findings in designing university entrepreneurship programs by eliciting the awareness of the existence of the dark sides and indicating the means of their attenuation.
Indoor localization technology of SLAM based on binocular vision and IMU

In order to enhance the localization accuracy of mobile robot, a SLAM system combining binocular vision and IMU sensor is proposed in this paper. The IMU sensor is added on the basis of ORBSLAM2 framework. During system initialization, binocular vision and IMU are initialized separately, and then the visual frame is converted to the gravity coordinate system through the rotation matrix between the world coordinate system and the gravity coordinate system, so as to eliminate the influence of gravity on IMU. Finally, the nonlinear optimization was used to optimize the visual constraint and IMU constraint at the same time to complete the fusion of binocular vision and IMU. The simulation experiment was carried out in RuRoc. The results show that the positioning accuracy of the proposed scheme is superior to the ORBSLAM2 system in different experimental scenarios.
A VERSATILE UAV NEAR REAL-TIME MAPPING SOLUTION FOR DISASTER RESPONSE – CONCEPT, IDEAS AND IMPLEMENTATION

Abstract. In recent years, the proliferation and further development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) led to a great number of key technologies, advances and opportunities especially in the realm of time-critical applications. UAVs as a platform provide a unique combination of flexibility, affordability and sensor technology which enables the design of cost-effective and intriguing services particularly for disaster response. This contribution presents a concept for UAV-based near real-time mapping system for disaster relief to provide decision-making support for first responders particularly for possible disaster scenarios in Austria. We outline our system concept and its respective architecture, discuss requirements from a stakeholder perspective as well as legal regulations and initiatives at an EU level. In the methodology section of this paper, the preliminary data processing pipeline with respect to the near real-time orthomosaic generation and the semantic segmentation network are presented. Lastly, first experimental results of the pipeline are shown, and further advances are discussed.
Wafer‐Scale Micro‐LEDs Transferred onto an Adhesive Film for Planar and Flexible Displays

The development of micro‐sized light emitting diode (LED) displays has driven the research of micro‐LED mass‐transfer technology. To date, various transfer technologies are proposed, but ample room for improvements in the transfer yield and transfer accuracy still remains. Furthermore, whether these techniques are suited for the subsequent bonding process is not well investigated, which is essential for achieving a good electric connection between micro‐LEDs and driver electronics. Here a systematical solution, termed as “tape‐assisted laser transfer,” which is not only suited for high‐yield micro‐LED transfer but also well compatible with subsequent bonding process, is developed. Using a low‐cost adhesive tape as the support substrate, the method allows fast and wafer‐level transfer of micro‐LED with extremely high yield (≈99.8%) and minimized transfer displacement (<0.5 µm), based on a laser lift‐off (LLO) process. Combined with a shadow mask, the LLO process also allows the selective transfer of micro‐LED to the tape. Such thin film micro‐LEDs are well compatible with the subsequent “bumpless” bonding process using low‐melting point solder. Representative display devices including planar display and deformable display are further developed, suggesting the method has a good potential for developing high‐resolution micro‐LED display panels for the applications in VR/AR, wearables, and smart glasses.