Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Gut Microbiota of Obese Children Releases Lower Antioxidant Capacity from Food than That of Lean Children

The prevalence of obesity has been increasing in children over the last few decades, becoming a concern for health professionals and governments. Gut microbial community structure in obese people have been found to differ from that of lean subjects for some taxa which could result in different production of microbial metabolites. The aim of the present work was to study whether the gut microbiota from obese children extracts a different concentration of antioxidant capacity than the gut microbiota from lean children. For this purpose, different foods were in vitro digested and in vitro fermented using fecal material from obese and lean children. FRAP, DPPH and Folin-Ciocalteu methods were used to measure the antioxidant capacity released during digestion and fermentation. Overall, when using lean gut microbiota, antioxidant capacity released was higher when measured via DPPH and FRAP. Moreover, according to DPPH results, lean gut microbiota could potentially release more antioxidant power from vegetables than from animal products, while obese gut microbiota did the opposite. On the contrary, with the FRAP method obese gut microbiota released higher levels of antioxidant power from plant products than from animal products, but the final antioxidant capacity was still lower than that released by lean gut microbiota. Therefore, these results reflect that the total antioxidant capacity of foods is influenced by the gut microbiota, although whether that antioxidant capacity is released from plant or animal products can be slightly influenced by the method used for analysis.
Hybrid converter topologies for dc transmission systems

This study presents types 1 and 2 hybrid converters with reduced power circuit complexity compared with the mixed cell modular multilevel converter (MC-MMC). The type 1 converter is formed by replacing the director switches of the alternate arm converter by high-voltage (HV) half-bridge (HB) cells rated for half of the dc-link voltage. Also, it resembles special case of MC-MMC, where the entire HB cells of each arm are lumped into a single HV HB cell, with both capacitors of the half- and full-bridge cells are exposed to fundamental current as in the conventional MMC. The upper and lower arms of the type 2 converter resemble a front-to-front connection of two three-phase hybrid cascaded two-level converters, where the cell capacitors of the three-phase two-level converters that act as director switches do not experience fundamental currents. Therefore, the type 2 converter offers compact design compared with type 1 converter and the MC-MMC. The technical viabilities of the proposed hybrid converters are assessed using simulations, with both converters modelled in MATLAB-Simulink using electromagnetic transient simulation approach, considering normal and transient conditions. Experimental results obtained from single-phase type 1 converter confirm the practical viability of the proposed converters.
Lidar assisted Depth Estimation for Thermal Cameras

Depth- and pose estimation are classical problems in computer vision. Estimating the depth of thermal cameras can be achieved by estimating the camera poses in an indepen-dently captured lidar scan. In underground environments and animal behavior, thermal cameras are often used instead of classical RGB cameras. But existing methods for RGB pose estimation do not necessarily need to be effective for thermal cameras, because their working mode and data are different. This is the case for subterranean cave environments. Thermal cameras can be used to capture animal behavior in dark caves. This is what this paper is focused on. This work provides a systematic approach to the alignment of lidar and thermal image information. We use the Ushichka dataset as an exemplary study case. Classical computer vision techniques like Direct Linear Triangulation and Space Carving are are applied to the dataset. We find that the classical methods do not work here as expected and provide a semi-automatic framework, called DMCP, to solve the registration. Finally, different approaches are compared in order to point out in which way a fully automatic registration might be possible.
Relationship between Cervicocephalic Kinesthetic Sensibility Measured during Dynamic Unpredictable Head Movements and Eye Movement Control or Postural Balance in Neck Pain Patients

Cervical afferent input is believed to affect postural balance and oculomotor control in neck pain patients, but its relationship to cervicocephalic kinesthesia, describing movement sense, has not yet been studied. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship of two aspects of cervicocephalic kinesthesia to postural balance and oculomotor control in neck torsion positions. Forty-three idiopathic neck pain patients referred from orthopedic outpatient clinics and forty-two asymptomatic controls were enrolled in the study. A force plate was used to measure center-of-pressure movements during parallel stances under neutral and neck torsion maneuvers. Video-oculography was used to assess eye movements during smooth pursuit neck torsion test (SPNTT), while kinesthetic awareness was measured using the Butterfly test and head-to-neutral relocation test. Multiple regression was used to describe relationships between tests. Body sway in the anterior–posterior direction was related to Butterfly parameters but less to the head-to-neutral test. A medium relationship between Butterfly parameters and gain during SPNTT, with less SPNT-difference, was observed, but not for the head-to-neutral test. It can be concluded that specific aspect of neck kinesthetic functions (i.e., movement sense) importantly contributes towards oculomotor and balance control, which is more evident under neck torsion positions in neck pain patients, but is less pronounced in asymptomatic individuals.
Experimental Study and Simulation Analysis on Electromagnetic Characteristics and Dynamic Response of a New Miniature Digital Valve

In order to get the better electromagnetic characteristics of the micro digital valve, the larger electromagnetic force should be obtained in the smaller electromagnetic structure. The electromagnetic force directly determines the electromagnetic properties of the miniature digital valve. The electromagnetic force test is studied in the paper. The results of electromagnetic simulation results are basically consistent with the experimental results. The simulation model is reliable and accurate. The dynamic simulation results show that the dynamic characteristics of the miniature digital valve meet the requirements of the digital hydraulic technology. Design of the new micro digital valve is reasonable.
Multimodal Self-Paced Locality-Preserving Learning for Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible neurodegenerative disease that severely impairs human thinking and memory. The accurate diagnosis of AD and its prodromal stages, such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI), is very important for timely treatment or possible interventions of AD. Recent studies have shown that multiple neuroimaging and biological measures contain supplementary information for diagnosis and prognosis. Most existing methods are proposed to simply integrate the multimodal data and train the model using all samples once, which do not fully explore the structural information across the different modalities and ignore the significance of sample learning in the training process. In this article, we propose a multimodal self-paced locality-preserving learning (MSLPL) framework to preserve the inherent structural relationships of the original data and realize the sample selection process from “simple” to “complex. ” Specifically, the model can project the neuroimaging and genetic data into the label space and learn dimensionality reduction manners with preserving locality structure. Meanwhile, the contributions of each sample are adaptively evaluated by weighting optimization so that the impact of noises can be reduced during model training by self-paced learning (SPL). Finally, a multikernel support vector machine (MK-SVM) is used to fuse the features selected from different modalities for the final prediction. We evaluate MSLPL on 913 subjects from the AD neuroimaging initiative (ADNI) database with imaging and genetic data. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve better classification performances compared with the start-of-the-art multimodality-based methods.
The Testing of An Instrumented Wheelchair Propulsion Testing and Training Device

Researchers and clinicians often look for devices that can be used to simulate wheelchair propulsion in different environments for implementing interventions and conducting assessments. Common devices used are belted treadmills, dynamometers (roller systems), and wheelchair ergometers. The Wheelmill System (WMS), a motor-driven roller system, has been developed to match the experience of rolling overground and pushing up and down graded slopes. The purpose of this research was to determine the accuracy of the WMS to simulate surfaces in the environment and to assess propulsion variables. SmartWheel and WMS data were collected with 13 manual wheelchair users pushing their wheelchairs over ground and up two different sloped ramps. The participants then pushed their wheelchairs on the WMS at different resistive settings. Participants pushed at a faster cadence and with more force when pushing overground and on the ramps than on the WMS. The force profiles of the participants were closer on the overground surface compared to the WMS than on the ramps compared to the WMS. During the push phase, the WMS assessed forces similar to those collected with the SmartWheel. These results will assist in enhancing the WMS software models for simulating the resistance of common surfaces encountered by manual wheelchair users.
Doing Research of/from/at Home: Fieldwork Research Ethics in Latinx Contexts

Abstract:This essay explores the idea, construction, and performance of campo/field. Specifically, it challenges narrow, colonial, Western, imperialistic approaches that imagined campo/field as a remote area, removed from civilization and inhabited by Indigenous others. Contrary to this, and inspired by decolonial and anti-oppressive research methodologies, this essay provides alternative conceptualizations and ways of beingdoingseeing the campo/field. In addition, it provides a brief overview of works conducted by and of Latinx communities, and how scholars have presented different ways of engaging, documenting, and imagining Latinx cultural contexts.
Association between Blood Vitamin D Levels and Regular Physical Activity in Korean Adolescents

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between vitamin D levels and physical activity in adolescents using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey (KNHANES). The serum vitamin D concentrations were measured between 2008 and 2014 and analyzed. Adolescents aged 13 to 18 years comprised 4527 of the 61,370 participants surveyed. A final dataset including 2811 adolescents was obtained after those with missing data were excluded. Those who did not participate or only participated in 1–3 days of intense physical activity (p < 0.001), moderate physical activity (p = 0.002), and muscular exercise (weight training) (p < 0.001) showed a higher level of vitamin D deficiency than those who performed the same activities 4–7 days per week. Our results showed that most of the adolescents (76%) were vitamin D-deficient, and the risk was higher among high school than middle school students (odds ratio (OR) = 1.70, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.40–2.06; p < 0.001) and higher in girls than boys (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.18–1.72; p < 0.001). Reduced participation in physical activity was correlated with vitamin D deficiency. Furthermore, vitamin D deficiency was associated with a lower frequency of participation in all forms of physical activity, and the association increased significantly with an increase in body mass index.
Saliency Detection Using a Bio-inspired Spiking Neural Network Driven by Local and Global Saliency

ABSTRACT The detection of the most salient parts of images as objects in salient object detection tasks mimics human behavior, which is useful for a variety of computer vision applications. In this paper, the Local and Global Saliency Driven Dual-Channel Pulse Coupled Neural Network (LGSD-DCPCNN) model is used to provide a novel strategy for saliency detection. To achieve visually homogeneous sections and save computation costs, the input image is first subjected to superpixel segmentation. The global and local saliency maps are then created using the segmented image’s position, color, and textural properties. The LGSD-DCPCNN network is activated using these saliency maps to extract visually consistent features from the input maps to provide the final saliency map. An extensive qualitative and quantitative performance study is undertaken to assess the efficacy of the proposed method. When compared to state-of-the-art approaches, the experimental results show a considerable improvement in the detection of salient regions. Quantitative analysis of the proposed method reveals a significant improvement in the area under the ROC curve (AUC) score, F-measure score, and mean absolute error (MAE) score. The qualitative analysis describes the proposed algorithm’s ability to detect multiple salient objects accurately while maintaining significant border preservation.
Impact of Climate-Driven Land-Use Change on O3 and PM Pollution by Driving BVOC Emissions in China in 2050

This study predicted three future land-use type scenarios in 2050 (including the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway SSP126, SSP585, and carbon scenario) based on the Land-Use Harmonization (LUH2) project and the future evolution of land-use types considering China’s carbon neutrality background. The contribution of land-use changes to terrestrial natural source biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), as well as O3 and PM concentrations, were determined. Under the SSP126 pathway, meteorological changes would increase BVOC emissions in China by 1.0 TgC in 2050, compared with 2015, while land-use changes would increase them by 1.5–7.1 TgC. The impact of land-use changes on O3 and PM concentrations would be less than 3.6% in 2050 and greater in summer. Regional differences must be considered when calculating future environmental background concentrations of pollutants. Due to more afforestation measures under the SSP126 scenario, the impact of land-use change on pollutants was more obvious under the SSP126 pathway than under the SSP585 pathway. Under the carbon scenario, the increase in PM concentration caused by land-use changes would pose a risk to air quality compliance; thus, it is necessary to consider reducing or offsetting this potential risk through anthropogenic emission control measures.
The free energy in a multi-species Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model

The authors of [Ann. Henri Poincar\'{e} 16 (2015) 691-708] introduced a multi-species version of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model and suggested the analogue of the Parisi formula for the free energy. Using a variant of Guerra's replica symmetry breaking interpolation, they showed that, under certain assumption on the interactions, the formula gives an upper bound on the limit of the free energy. In this paper we prove that the bound is sharp. This is achieved by developing a new multi-species form of the Ghirlanda-Guerra identities and showing that they force the overlaps within species to be completely determined by the overlaps of the whole system.
Enhancement-Mode Multi-Channel AlGaN/GaN Transistors With LiNiO Junction Tri-Gate

Multi-channel GaN power device, consisting of stacking multiple two-dimensional-electron-gas (2DEG) channels, has been demonstrated to achieve unprecedented on-state performance while maintaining high breakdown voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{BR}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). However, the large carrier density (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${N}_{s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) makes it more challenging to achieve high positive threshold voltages (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{TH}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) on multi-channel epitaxies. In this work, we demonstrate enhancement-mode (e-mode) multi-channel GaN transistors based on conformally deposited p-type LiNiO over tri-gates to form a multi-channel junction gate structure. Compared to the normal MOS gate, the p-type LiNiO junction gate provides an additional depletion of the channels to yield a more positive <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{TH}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, reaching a maximum <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{TH}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of 1.2 V (defined at <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1 ~\mu \text{A}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>/mm). Moreover, high-quality LiNiO provided excellent on-state performance in multi-channel tri-gate devices with a stable operation at high temperature, which present small <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{TH}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> shift and hysteresis, and low off-state leakage current. The e-mode devices in this work presented a small specific <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${R}_{ON}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${R}_{ON, sp}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) of 0.62 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{m}\Omega \cdot $ </tex-math></inline-formula>cm<sup>−2</sup> along with a hard breakdown voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{BR}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) of 920 V. This work demonstrates the potential of LiNiO for high-performance e-mode power devices.
Molecular Modelling of NONO and SFPQ Dimerization Process and RNA Recognition Mechanism

NONO and SFPQ are involved in multiple nuclear processes (e.g., pre-mRNA splicing, DNA repair, and transcriptional regulation). These proteins, along with NEAT1, enable paraspeckle formation, thus promoting multiple myeloma cell survival. In this paper, we investigate NONO and SFPQ dimer stability, highlighting the hetero- and homodimer structural differences, and model their interactions with RNA, simulating their binding to a polyG probe mimicking NEAT1guanine-rich regions. We demonstrated in silico that NONO::SFPQ heterodimerization is a more favorable process than homodimer formation. We also show that NONO and SFPQ RRM2 subunits are primarily required for protein–protein interactions with the other DBHS protomer. Simulation of RNA binding to NONO and SFPQ, beside validating RRM1 RNP signature importance, highlighted the role of β2 and β4 strand residues for RNA specific recognition. Moreover, we demonstrated the role of the NOPS region and other protomer’s RRM2 β2/β3 loop in strengthening the interaction with RNA. Our results, having deepened RNA and DBHS dimer interactions, could contribute to the design of small molecules to modulate the activity of these proteins. RNA-mimetics, able to selectively bind to NONO and/or SFPQ RNA-recognition site, could impair paraspeckle formation, thus representing a first step towards the discovery of drugs for multiple myeloma treatment.
A Novel Design of Microwave Absorbers Based on Multilayered Composite Materials for Reduction of Radar Cross Section

Reduction of radar cross section (RCS) for targets can be achieved by different approaches and coating absorbing materials at the surfaces of targets is one of widely used methods because of its flexibility and good effect. In the work, we put forward a novel method of reducing the RCS based on the design of multilayer composite absorbing materials. The transmission line theory and particle swarm optimization (PSO) are used to guide the design and analysis, and two kinds of designs, i.e., Type IV and Type VII, are selected finally. Simulation experiments show that the designs are insensitive to the incident angles and polarizations of incident EM wave, which is required for being coated at the surfaces of real objects. Also, the designed absorbing materials are very thin and have an ultra-wide frequency band. The bandwidth of Type-IV design can reach 14.6314. 63 GHz, ranging from 3.373. 37 to 18.018. 0 GHz, while Type-VII design can cover the frequency range from 2.02. 0 to 18.018. 0 GHz, which represents the major part of radar’s frequency range. The designed absorbing materials are coated at the surface of a perfectly-electric-conducting (PEC) cylinder to validate the effectiveness of the materials, and good results have been obtained.
Different Cell Types Affect the Transition from Juvenile to Mature Phase in Citrus Plants Regenerated through Somatic Embryogenesis

Robust protocols for the regeneration of somatic embryos in vitro are essential for the efficient use of the most modern biotechnologies. Unfortunately, in perennial trees such as Citrus, plants regenerated from juvenile tissues usually exhibit strong, undesirable juvenile characters such as thorny habit and delayed flowering and fruit production. In this work, we tested whether the cell types (nucellar and stigma/style) used to regenerate Citrus plants through somatic embryogenesis affected the transition from the juvenile to mature phase. The results show that regenerants from nucellar cells presented persistent juvenile characters, whereas plants originating from stigma/style explants transited to the mature phase more rapidly. Our observations support the hypothesis that the totipotent cells originated from different cell types are not equivalent, possibly by maintaining memory of their previously differentiated state.
Mycelium vs. Fruiting Bodies of Edible Fungi—A Comparison of Metabolites

Edible mushrooms are widely appreciated for their appealing flavours, low caloric values and high content of presumably health-protecting metabolites. Their long history of safe use together with the looming worldwide food crisis have revived the idea of generating meat analogues and protein isolates by the controlled fermentation of mycelia of these edible fungi as a dietary option. The occurrence of proteins, polysaccharides, smaller metabolites, metal ions and toxins in mycelia and fruiting bodies is compared among the three most popular species, Agaricus bisporus (button mushroom), Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom), Lentinus edodes (shiitake) and some closely related species. Large effects of substrate chemistry, strain, developmental stage and ecological interactions result in a wide variation of the concentrations of some metabolites in both mycelial cells and fruiting bodies. This is obviously a result of the high adaptation abilities required to survive in natural habitats. Fungal bioprocesses are decoupled from agricultural production and can be operated anytime, anywhere, and on any scale according to demand. It is concluded that fungal biomass, if produced under food-grade conditions and on an industrial scale, could provide a safe and nutritious meat substitute and protein isolates with a high biological value for future vegan foods.