Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acceleration of the southern African easterly jet driven by the radiative effect of biomass burning aerosols and its impact on transport during AEROCLO-sA

Abstract. The direct and semi-direct radiative effects of biomass burning aerosols (BBAs) are investigated over southern Africa and the southeastern Atlantic during the Aerosols, Radiation and Clouds in southern Africa (AEROCLO-sA) field campaign in September 2017. A reference convection-permitting simulation has been performed using the Meso-NH model with an online dust emission scheme, a strongly absorbing BBA tracer emitted using the daily Global Fire Emissions Database and online-computed backward Lagrangian trajectories. The simulation captures both the aerosol optical depth and the vertical distribution of aerosols as observed from airborne and spaceborne lidars. The occurrence of stratocumulus over the southeastern Atlantic, deep convective clouds over equatorial Africa and the large-scale circulation are all reproduced by the model. If the radiative effects of BBA are omitted in the model, we show that (i) the smoke plume is too low in altitude, (ii) the low-cloud cover is too weak, (iii) the deep convective activity is too frequent but not intense enough, (iv) the Benguela low-level jet is too strong, and (v) the southern African easterly jet is too weak. The Lagrangian analysis indicates that the radiative effect of BBA leads to the transport of BBA to higher altitudes, farther southwest and with a stronger diurnal oscillation. The higher smoke plume altitude can be explained by a combination of three factors: increased upward motion induced by the stronger southern African easterly jet, self-lofting of BBA and reduced subsidence associated with less frequent deep convective activity over western equatorial Africa.
Chitosan-based Nanosystems as Drug Carriers

The formation and application of polymeric nanomaterials is great demandin science, industry, biotechnology, and medicine due to the possibility ofachieving a significant improvement in the physicochemical, mechanical,and barrier properties of polymers and using them as drug carriers andfillers, which is especially promising for biodegradable polymers such aschitosan and their derivatives. The article presents methods for creatingpolymer nanostructures based on polysaccharides and, in particular,chitosan. Obtaining nanostructured samples of chitosan using theapproaches of chemical transformation and modification of polysaccharidesis an urgent scientific problem, the solution of which makes it possible toobtain new polymer systems of great practical interest. The medical aspectsof the use of polymer carriers based on chitosan for the treatment of variousdiseases are discussed. The unique specificity of the properties of chitosanand nanomaterials derived from it, with the properties inherent in thisnatural polymer, can serve as a promising future, especially in the field ofmedicine.
Illocutionary Acts and Contextual Utterances in the Movie Raya and the Last Dragon

Understanding illocutionary acts in English can be challenging for EFL students. To understand illocutionary acts, EFL students can see how native speakers express utterances in their speech and understand the context that constructs the basis for using the illocutionary act. This study explored the types and contexts of utterances in the movie Raya and the Last Dragon. Data, consisting of 31 utterances, were collected from the movie transcript and analyzed using content analysis to classify illocutionary act types and contextual utterances. Results showed the movie characters usall five illocutionary acts, and the most dominant illocutionary act was the assertive type, which occurred 13 times. The context underlined the characters expressing illocutionary acts was the place, the interlocutor, the purpose of the conversation, the use of words, and the tone. This film type of verbal communication without text was direct speech or dialogue. This study offers relevant knowledge and benefits to EFL learners and teachers in the learning-teaching processes, such as creating familiarity with complex meanings in English to avoid misinterpretation, developing their consciousness of English utterances, and growing their capability to execute the speech act flawlessly.
The international effect of CEO social capital on the value relevance of accounting metrics

We investigate the effect of chief executive officer (CEO) social capital, proxied by the CEO network centrality, on the value relevance of accounting metrics for non-US firms, and the roles country-level governance attributes play during the valuation process. We find a strong positive relation between CEO social capital and the value relevance of book equity but a strong negative relation between CEO social capital and the value relevance of earning metrics. Further analysis shows that the results are robust with the use of different regression models, and that strong country-level governance quality cannot significantly alter the significant negative relation between CEO social capital and value relevance of earning metrics. Interestingly, we find that the positive relation between CEO social capital and the value relevance of book equity is weakened while the negative relation between CEO social capital and value relevance of earnings metrics is strengthened for firms in developed countries where country-level governance is stronger and institutional investors play a more important role in the market. Overall, our evidence supports the theory that CEO social capital has both “positive” and “detrimental” effects on firm and market outcomes
Insights into Variations and Potential Long-Range Transport of Atmospheric Aerosols from the Aral Sea Basin in Central Asia

The dramatic shrinkage of the Aral Sea in the past decades has inevitably led to an environmental calamity. Existing knowledge on the variations and potential transport of atmospheric aerosols from the Aral Sea Basin (ASB) is limited. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study tried to identify the variations and long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols from the ASB in recent years. The Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) data were used to gain new insight into the types, variation and long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols from the ASB. The results showed five types of tropospheric aerosols and one type of stratospheric aerosol were observed over the ASB. Polluted dust and dust were the dominant subtypes through the year. Sulfate/other was the only stratospheric aerosol detected. The occurrence frequency of aerosols over the ASB showed obvious seasonal variation. Maximum occurrence frequency of dust appeared in spring (MAM) and that of polluted dust peaked in summer (JJA). The monthly occurrence frequency of dust and polluted dust exhibited unimodal distribution. Polluted dust and dust were distributed over wide ranges from 1 km to 5 km vertically. The multi-year average thickness of polluted dust and dust layers was around 1.3 km. Their potential long-range transport in different directions mainly impacts Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and eastern Iran, and may reach as far as the Caucasus region, part of China, Mongolia and Russia. Combining aerosol lidar, atmospheric climate models and geochemical methods is strongly suggested to gain clarity on the variations and long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols from the Aral Sea Basin.
Soybean Meal-Dependent Acute Intestinal Inflammation Delays Osteogenesis in Zebrafish Larvae

Foods are known to be modulators of inflammation and skeletal development. The intestine plays an essential role in the regulation of bone health mainly through the regulation of the absorption of vitamin D and calcium; in fact, inflammatory bowel diseases are often related to bone health issues such as low bone mineral density, high fracture risk, osteoporosis and osteopenia. Considering the complexity of the pathways involved, the use of a simple animal model can be highly useful to better elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms. Soybean flour with a high saponin content has been used in many studies to induce intestinal inflammation in zebrafish larvae. Using a 50% soybean meal (SBM), we analyzed the effects of this soy-induced inflammatory bowel disease on zebrafish larval osteogenesis. Soybean meal induces intestinal functional alterations and an inflammatory state, highlighted by neutral red staining, without altering the general development of the larvae. Our data show that the chondrogenesis as well as endochondral ossification of the head of zebrafish larvae are not affected by an SBM-diet, whereas intramembranous ossification was delayed both in the head, where the length of the ethmoid plate reduced by 17%, and in the trunk with a delayed vertebral mineralization of 47% of SBM larvae. These data highlight that diet-dependent bowel inflammation can differently modulate the different mechanisms of bone development in different zones of the skeleton of zebrafish larvae.
Real Time Water-In-Oil Emulsion Size Measurement in Optofluidic Channels

In this work, we investigated a platform for real-time emulsion droplet detection and size measurement in optofluidic platforms. An 8.2 µm core diameter input optical fiber and a multi-mode Gradient Refractive Index (GRIN) output fiber were integrated into an acrylic microfluidic channel platform consisting of three layers. Water-in-oil emulsions were investigated, since relevant applications have emerged in the recent past for these types of emulsions, such as drug encapsulation as well as droplet-based Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification of DNA, among others. The main contribution of this work is in understanding the main physical phenomena (i.e., total internal reflection, refraction, and interference) behind the complex transmittance pattern obtained for these droplets. For this purpose, a frequency domain electromagnetic wave propagation modelling of the structure using the Finite Element Method (FEM) was used along with experimental measurements.
Effects of Depression, Suicidal Ideation, and Gratitude on Flourishing of High School Students: A Moderated Mediation Model of Growth Mindset

Introduction. The subjective well-being index of Korean adolescents has been the lowest among OECD countries. High school students also have the lowest sense of happiness among adolescents. Therefore, this study was to seek a plan to increase the level of happiness of high school students in Korea. Study participants and methods. Participants of this study were 386 high school students enrolled in high schools located in two cities in Chungcheongnam-do. There were 271 (70.4%) males and 114 (29.6%) females. Regarding their grades, there were 245 (63.5%) in the third year of high school, 139 (36.0%) in the first year of high school, and 2 (0.5%) in the second year. For data analysis, SPSS 25.0 and PROCESS macro 3.5. 3 were used, and frequency analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and moderated mediation effect analysis were performed. Results. First, flourishing had negative correlations with depression and suicidal ideation, but positive correlations with a growth mindset and gratitude. The correlation coefficient between depression and suicidal ideation (r=0.602, p<0.01) was the highest, followed by that between gratitude and flourishing correlation (r=0.506, p<0.01). Second, a moderated mediation role of growth mindset in the effect of depression on flourishing through suicidal ideation and gratitude was verified. Conditional indirect effects of depression → suicidal ideation → gratitude → flourishing were significant when the growth mindset was low (-0.7390, -0.1323~-0.0353), medium (0.0000, -0.1148~-0.0311), and high (0.7390, -0.1006~-0.0257). Conclusions. We found that the growth mindset plays a moderated mediation role in promoting flourishing by increasing the gratitude of high school students with depression and suicidal ideation. These results will help improve the happiness of high school students who suffer from entering to college and getting a job. In addition, these results will be used as an important academic basis that can be applied to the development and implementation of programs that can increase flourishing for high school students.
Field exposure to 50 Hz significantly affects wild-type and unfolded p53 expression in NB69 neuroblastoma cells

Previous studies have shown that intermittent exposure to a 50 Hz, 100 µT sinusoidal magnetic field (MF) promotes proliferation of human neuroblastoma cells, NB69. This effect is mediated by activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor through a free radical-dependent activation of the p38 pathway. The present study investigated the possibility that the oxidative stress-sensitive protein p53 is a potential target of the MF, and that field exposure can affect the protein expression. To that end, NB69 cells were exposed to short intervals of 30 to 120 min to the aforementioned MF parameters. Two specific anti-p53 antibodies that allow discrimination between the wild and unfolded forms of p53 were used to study the expression and cellular distribution of both isoforms of the protein. The expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2, whose regulation is mediated by p53, was also analyzed. The obtained results revealed that MF exposure induced increases in p53 gene expression and in protein expression of the wild-type form of p53. Field exposure also caused overexpression of the unfolded form of p53, together with changes in the nuclear/cytoplasmic distribution of both forms of the protein. The expression of protein Bcl-2 was also significantly increased in response to the MF. As a whole, these results indicated that the MF is capable of interacting with the function, distribution and conformation of protein p53. Such interactions could be involved in previously reported MF effects on NB69 proliferation promotion.
Real-Time Efficient FPGA Implementation of the Multi-Scale Lucas-Kanade and Horn-Schunck Optical Flow Algorithms for a 4K Video Stream

The information about optical flow, i.e., the movement of pixels between two consecutive images from a video sequence, is used in many vision systems, both classical and those based on deep neural networks. In some robotic applications, e.g., in autonomous vehicles, it is necessary to calculate the flow in real time. This represents a challenging task, especially for high-resolution video streams. In this work, two gradient-based algorithms—Lucas–Kanade and Horn–Schunck—were implemented on a ZCU 104 platform with Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC FPGA. A vector data format was used to enable flow calculation for a 4K (Ultra HD, 3840 × 2160 pixels) video stream at 60 fps. In order to detect larger pixel displacements, a multi-scale approach was used in both algorithms. Depending on the scale, the calculations were performed for different data formats, allowing for more efficient processing by reducing resource utilisation. The presented solution allows real-time optical flow determination in multiple scales for a 4K resolution with estimated energy consumption below 6 W. The algorithms realised in this work can be a component of a larger vision system in advanced surveillance systems or autonomous vehicles.
Conducting Interface for Efficient Growth of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes: Towards Nano-Engineered Carbon Composite

Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNT) are manufactured nanomaterials with excellent properties and great potential for numerous applications. Recently, research has intensified toward achieving VACNT synthesis on different planar and non-planar substrates of various natures, mainly dependent on the user-defined application. Indeed, VACNT growth has to be adjusted and optimized according to the substrate nature and shape to reach the requirements for the application envisaged. To date, different substrates have been decorated with VACNT, involving the use of diffusion barrier layers (DBLs) that are often insulating, such as SiO2 or Al2O3. These commonly used DBLs limit the conducting and other vital physico-chemical properties of the final nanomaterial composite. One interesting route to improve the contact resistance of VACNT on a substrate surface and the deficient composite properties is the development of semi-/conducting interlayers. The present review summarizes different methods and techniques for the deposition of suitable conducting interfaces and controlled growth of VACNT on diverse flat and 3-D fibrous substrates. Apart from exhibiting a catalytic efficiency, the DBL can generate a conducting and adhesive interface involving performance enhancements in VACNT composites. The abilities of different conducting interlayers are compared for VACNT growth and subsequent composite properties. A conducting interface is also emphasized for the synthesis of VACNT on carbonaceous substrates in order to produce cost-effective and high-performance nano-engineered carbon composites.
Circulating Carnitine Levels and Breast Cancer: A Matched Retrospective Case-Control Study

Introduction Epidemiological studies investigating the association between carnitine and breast cancer are scarce. Materials and Methods This 1:1 age-matched retrospective case-control study identified 991 female breast cancer cases and 991 female controls without breast cancer using pathological testing. We used targeted metabolomics technology to measure 16 types of whole blood carnitine compounds, such as free carnitine (C0) and octadecanoylcarnitine (C18). Results The average age for cases and controls was approximately 50 ± 8.7 years. After adjusting for covariates, each standard deviation (SD) increase in malonylcarnitine (C3DC; OR 0.91; 95% CI 0.83-1.00), decenoylcarnitine (C10:1; OR 0.87; 95% CI 0.79-0.96), and decadienoylcarnitine (C10:2; OR 0.90; 95% CI 0.82-0.99) level was associated with decreased odds of breast cancer. However, higher butyrylcarnitine (C4) levels were associated with increased odds of breast cancer (OR 1.12; 95% CI 1.02-1.23). No statistically significant relationship was noted between other carnitine compounds and breast cancer. The false discovery rates for C3DC, C4, C10:1 and C10:2 were 0.172, 0.120, 0.064 and 0.139, respectively. Conclusions Higher levels of C3DC, C10:1, and C10:2 were protective factors for breast cancer, whereas increased C4 levels were a risk factor for the disease.
CYP2A6 and GABRA2 Gene Polymorphisms are Associated With Dexmedetomidine Drug Response

Background: Dexmedetomidine is a commonly used clinical sedative; however, the drug response varies among individuals. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the association between dexmedetomidine response and gene polymorphisms related to drug-metabolizing enzymes and drug response (CYP2A6, UGT2B10, UGT1A4, ADRA2A, ADRA2B, ADRA2C, GABRA1, GABRB2, and GLRA1). Methods: This study was a prospective cohort study. A total of 194 female patients aged 18–60 years, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score I-II, who underwent laparoscopy at the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, were included. The sedative effect was assessed every 2 min using the Ramsay score, and the patient’s heart rate decrease within 20 min was recorded. Peripheral blood was collected from each participant to identify genetic variants in the candidate genes of metabolic and drug effects using the Sequenom MassARRAY® platform. Furthermore, additional peripheral blood samples were collected from the first 99 participants at multiple time points after dexmedetomidine infusion to perform dexmedetomidine pharmacokinetic analysis by Phoenix® WinNonlin 7.0 software. Results: Carriers of the minor allele (C) of CYP2A6 rs28399433 had lower metabolic enzyme efficiency and higher plasma concentrations of dexmedetomidine. In addition, the participants were divided into dexmedetomidine sensitive or dexmedetomidine tolerant groups based on whether they had a Ramsay score of at least four within 20 min, and CYP2A6 rs28399433 was identified to have a significant influence on the dexmedetomidine sedation sensitivity by logistic regression with Plink software [p = 0.003, OR (95% CI): 0.27 (0.11–0.65)]. C allele carriers were more sensitive to the sedative effects of dexmedetomidine than A allele carriers. GABRA2 rs279847 polymorphism was significantly associated with the degree of the heart rate decrease. In particular, individuals with the GG genotype had a 4-fold higher risk of heart rate abnormality than carriers of the T allele (OR = 4.32, 95% CI: 1.96–9.50, p = 0.00027). Conclusion: CYP2A6 rs28399433 polymorphism affects the metabolic rate of dexmedetomidine and is associated with susceptibility to the sedative effects of dexmedetomidine; GABRA2 rs279847 polymorphism is significantly associated with the degree of the heart rate decrease.
Differences in Cardiopulmonary Fitness Between Boy and Girls With Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot

Objective Many studies have demonstrated that patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (rTOF) have generally poorer cardiopulmonary fitness (CPF). However, little is known about how the disease results in different CPF in each sex. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether sex (and gender) differences affect CPF in children and adolescents with rTOF. Methods This retrospective study recruited adolescents and children (aged 10–18) with rTOF following an acute stage of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) who received cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in the past 10 years. CPF was determined by symptom-limited CPET with a treadmill under ramped Bruce protocol. Boys and girls were categorized into groups based on body mass index (BMI) and fat mass index (FMI). The BMI was grouped by Taiwanese obesity cutoff points. The FMI was categorized by the body fat percentage. Excess adiposity was defined as (1) “overweight” and “obese” by BMI and (2) greater than the sex- and age-specific 75th percentile of whole subjects by FMI. Results A total of 185 participants (104 boys and 81 girls) with rTOF were recruited for the final analysis. Within the BMI category, 76 boys and 63 girls were in the normal group, whereas 28 boys and 18 girls were in the excessive adiposity group. Within the FMI category, 77 boys and 60 girls were in the normal group, whereas 27 boys and 21 girls were in the excessive adiposity group. The analysis of the body composition of rTOF subjects showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the subgroups of the two sexes, but both showed a smaller body size than normal Taiwanese children. When comparing the CPF within different BMI and FMI groups, the children in the excessive adiposity group had significantly lower values in metabolic equivalents (MET) at anaerobic threshold, peak MET, and measured peak oxygen consumption (VO2) to predicted peak VO2, regardless of sex. Moreover, boys (60.90%) presented poorer CPF than girls (74.22%, p < 0.001). Conclusion In Taiwan, patients with rTOF had poorer CPF than healthy peers. This study found that girls with rTOF had better CPF than boys with rTOF. The effect of gender stereotypes on sports participation and self-efficacy might be one of the contributing factors; however, further investigations are warranted to determine the causal effect.