Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFECT OF INFLUENT COD/N RATIO ON NITRIFICATION RATE IN A BENCH-SCALE BIOLOGICAL REACTOR

Nitrification, the oxidation of ammonia to nitrate catalyzed by bacteria, is a key part of the global nitrogen cycle. In the first step of nitrification, chemolithoautotrophic ammonia oxidizers transform ammonia to nitrite, which subsequently oxidizes to nitrate by nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. This process can be affected by several factors. In this study, the effect of influent COD/N ratio on nitrification rate in a bench-scale biological reactor was investigated. Experiments were carried out using synthetic wastewater. The initial ammonium concentration was 25 mg NH 4 -N L − . The effect of COD/N ratio between 10.01 ± 0.083 and 24.08 ± 0.22 gCODgN on nitrification rate was investigated by varying the COD loading supplied to the reactor. From the results obtained, it may be concluded that in the range of 10.01 ± 0.083 to 14.15 ± 0.17 gCODgN, a direct relationship holds between COD/N ratio and nitrification rate. However, an indirect relationship holds between COD/N ratio and nitrification rate at ratios above 14.15 ± 0.17 up to 24.08 ± 0.22 gCODgN.
Phytotoxicity of Schiekia timida Seed Extracts, a Mixture of Phenylphenalenones

Phenylphenalenones, metabolites found in Schiekia timida (Haemodoraceae), are a class of specialized metabolites with many biological activities, being phytoalexins in banana plants. In the constant search to solve the problem of glyphosate and to avoid resistance to commercial herbicides, this work aimed to investigate the phytotoxic effect of the methanolic extract of S. timida seeds. The chemical composition of the seed extract was directly investigated by NMR and UPLC-QToF MS and the pre- and post-emergence phytotoxic effect on a eudicotyledonous model (Lactuca sativa) and a monocotyledonous model (Allium cepa) was evaluated through germination and seedling growth tests. Three concentrations of the extract (0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 mg/mL) were prepared, and four replicates for each of them were analyzed. Three major phenylphenalenones were identified by NMR spectroscopy: 4-hydroxy-anigorufone, methoxyanigorufone, and anigorufone, two of those reported for the first time in S. timida. The presence of seven other phenylphenalenones was suggested by the LC-MS analyses. The phenylphenalenone mixture did not affect the germination rate, but impaired radicle and hypocotyl growth on both models. The effect in the monocotyledonous model was statistically similar to glyphosate in the lowest concentration (0.25 mg/mL). Therefore, although more research on this topic is required to probe this first report, this investigation suggests for the first time that phenylphenalenone compounds may be post-emergence herbicides.
Productivity, Satisfaction, Work Environment and Health after Relocation to an Activity-Based Flex Office—The Active Office Design Study

Implementation of activity-based flex offices (AFOs) are becoming increasingly common. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an AFO on perceived productivity, satisfaction, work environment and health. Questionnaire data from the longitudinal, quasi-experimental Active Office Design Study was used. The study evaluates a public organization relocating staff to either an AFO or to cell offices. Measures from baseline, 6 and 18 months after relocation, were analyzed. Employees in the AFO experienced a decreased productivity and satisfaction with the office design. Lack of privacy as well as increased noise disturbance, less satisfaction with sit comfort and work posture were reported. Employees in the AFO with work tasks requiring a high degree of concentration experienced lower productivity while those with a high proportion of teamwork rated productivity to be continually high. No significant group differences were found between the two office types in general health, cognitive stress, salutogenic health indicators or pain in the neck, shoulder or back. The study highlights the importance of taking work characteristics into account in the planning and implementation process of an AFO. Flexible and interactive tasks seem more appropriate in an AFO, whereas individual tasks demanding concentration seem less fit.
TGF-β Signaling: From Tissue Fibrosis to Tumor Microenvironment

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling triggers diverse biological actions in inflammatory diseases. In tissue fibrosis, it acts as a key pathogenic regulator for promoting immunoregulation via controlling the activation, proliferation, and apoptosis of immunocytes. In cancer, it plays a critical role in tumor microenvironment (TME) for accelerating invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and immunosuppression. Increasing evidence suggest a pleiotropic nature of TGF-β signaling as a critical pathway for generating fibrotic TME, which contains numerous cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), extracellular matrix proteins, and remodeling enzymes. Its pathogenic roles and working mechanisms in tumorigenesis are still largely unclear. Importantly, recent studies successfully demonstrated the clinical implications of fibrotic TME in cancer. This review systematically summarized the latest updates and discoveries of TGF-β signaling in the fibrotic TME.
Array Design of 300 GHz Dual-Band Microstrip Antenna Based on Dual-Surfaced Multiple Split-Ring Resonators

To meet the increasing need of high-data-rate and broadband wireless communication systems, the devices and its circuits R&D under Millimeter, Sub-Millimeter, or even Terahertz (THz) frequency bands are attracting more and more attention from not only academic, but also industrial areas. Most of the former research on the THz waveband (0.1–10 THz) antenna design is mainly focused on realizing high directional gain, such as horn antennas, even though the coverage area is very limited when comparing with the current Wi-Fi system. One solution for the horizontally omnidirectional communication antenna is using the structure of multiple split-ring resonators (MSRRs). Aiming at this point, a novel 300 GHz microstrip antenna array based on the dual-surfaced multiple split-ring resonators (DSMSRRs) is proposed in this paper. By employing the two parallel microstrip transmission lines, different MSRRs are fed and connected on two surfaces of the PCB with a centrally symmetric way about them. The feeding port of the whole antenna is in between the centers of the two microstrip lines. Thus, this kind of structure is a so-called DSMSRR. Based on the different size of the MSRRs, different or multiple working wavebands can be achieved on the whole antenna. Firstly, in this paper, the quasi-static model is used to analyze the factors affecting the resonance frequency of MSRRs. Simulation and measured results demonstrate that the resonant frequency of the proposed array antenna is 300 GHz, which meets the design requirements of the expected frequency point and exhibits good radiation characteristics. Then, a dual-band antenna is designed on the above methods, and it is proved by simulation that the working frequency bands of the proposed dual-band antenna with reflection coefficient below −10 dB are 274.1–295.6 GHz and 306.3–313.4 GHz.
Understanding Tourist Behavioural Intention When Faced with Smog Pollution: Focus on International Tourists to Beijing

This study examines the behavioural intentions of international tourists travelling to Beijing when faced with smog pollution. An extended MGB (model of goal-directed behaviour) was employed as the theoretical framework by integrating mass-media effect and perception of smog. The role of mass-media effect and perception of smog were considered as new variables in the international tourist’s decision-making process for travel to Beijing. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to identify the structural relationships among research variables. Our research results showed a strong correlation between positive anticipated emotion and desire. The mass-media effect is a significant (direct) predictor of both the perception of smog and behavioural intention. The Chinese government could attach great importance to the mass-media effect to reduce the negative impact caused by smog pollution on inbound tourism.
A conserved ubiquitin- and ESCRT-dependent pathway internalizes human lysosomal membrane proteins for degradation

The lysosome is an essential organelle to recycle cellular materials and maintain nutrient homeostasis, but the mechanism to down-regulate its membrane proteins is poorly understood. In this study, we performed a cycloheximide (CHX) chase assay to measure the half-lives of approximately 30 human lysosomal membrane proteins (LMPs) and identified RNF152 and LAPTM4A as short-lived membrane proteins. The degradation of both proteins is ubiquitin dependent. RNF152 is a transmembrane E3 ligase that ubiquitinates itself, whereas LAPTM4A uses its carboxyl-terminal PY motifs to recruit NEDD4-1 for ubiquitination. After ubiquitination, they are internalized into the lysosome lumen by the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) machinery for degradation. Strikingly, when ectopically expressed in budding yeast, human RNF152 is still degraded by the vacuole (yeast lysosome) in an ESCRT-dependent manner. Thus, our study uncovered a conserved mechanism to down-regulate lysosome membrane proteins.
Current State and Challenges of Natural Fibre-Reinforced Polymer Composites as Feeder in FDM-Based 3D Printing

As one of the fastest-growing additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, fused deposition modelling (FDM) shows great potential in printing natural fibre-reinforced composites (NFRC). However, several challenges, such as low mechanical properties and difficulty in printing, need to be overcome. Therefore, the effort to improve the NFRC for use in AM has been accelerating in recent years. This review attempts to summarise the current approaches of using NFRC as a feeder for AM. The effects of fibre treatments, composite preparation methods and addition of compatibilizer agents were analysed and discussed. Additionally, current methods of producing feeders from NFRCs were reviewed and discussed. Mechanical property of printed part was also dependent on the printing parameters, and thus the effects of printing temperature, layer height, infill and raster angle were discussed, and the best parameters reported by other researchers were identified. Following that, an overview of the mechanical properties of these composites as reported by various researchers was provided. Next, the use of optimisation techniques for NFRCs was discussed and analysed. Lastly, the review provided a critical discussion on the overall topic, identified all research gaps present in the use of NFRC for AM processes, and to overcome future challenges.
Sleep Disorders in Adults with Down Syndrome

Sleep disorders, despite being very frequent in adults with Down syndrome (DS), are often overlooked due to a lack of awareness by families and physicians and the absence of specific clinical sleep guidelines. Untreated sleep disorders have a negative impact on physical and mental health, behavior, and cognitive performance. Growing evidence suggests that sleep disruption may also accelerate the progression to symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in this population. It is therefore imperative to have a better understanding of the sleep disorders associated with DS in order to treat them, and in doing so, improve cognition and quality of life, and prevent related comorbidities. This paper reviews the current knowledge of the main sleep disorders in adults with DS, including evaluation and management. It highlights the existing gaps in knowledge and discusses future directions to achieve earlier diagnosis and better treatment of sleep disorders most frequently found in this population.
Estimating an EQ-5D-3L Value Set for Romania Using Time Trade-Off

Objective: To provide health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data to support health technology assessment (HTA) and reimbursement decisions in Romania, by developing a country-specific value set for the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire. Methods: We used the cTTO method to elicit health state values using a computer-assisted personal interviewing approach. Interviews were standardized following the most recent version of the EQ-VT protocol developed by the EuroQoL Foundation. Thirty EQ-5D-3L health states were randomly assigned to respondents in blocks of three. Econometric modeling was used to estimate values for all 243 states described by the EQ-5D-3L. Results: Data from 1556 non-institutionalized adults aged 18 years and older, selected from a national representative sample, were used to build the value set. All tested models were logically consistent; the final model chosen to generate the value set was an interval regression model. The predicted EQ-5D-3L values ranged from 0.969 to 0.399, and the relative importance of EQ-5D-3L dimensions was in the following order: mobility, pain/discomfort, self-care, anxiety/depression, and usual activities. Conclusions: These results can support reimbursement decisions and allow regional cross-country comparisons between health technologies. This study lays a stepping stone in the development of a health technology assessment process more driven by locally relevant data in Romania.
TIP4.0: Industrial Internet of Things Platform for Predictive Maintenance

Industry 4.0, allied with the growth and democratization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the advent of IoT, is paving the way for the complete digitization and automation of industrial processes. Maintenance is one of these processes, where the introduction of a predictive approach, as opposed to the traditional techniques, is expected to considerably improve the industry maintenance strategies with gains such as reduced downtime, improved equipment effectiveness, lower maintenance costs, increased return on assets, risk mitigation, and, ultimately, profitable growth. With predictive maintenance, dedicated sensors monitor the critical points of assets. The sensor data then feed into machine learning algorithms that can infer the asset health status and inform operators and decision-makers. With this in mind, in this paper, we present TIP4.0, a platform for predictive maintenance based on a modular software solution for edge computing gateways. TIP4.0 is built around Yocto, which makes it readily available and compliant with Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) or proprietary hardware. TIP4.0 was conceived with an industry mindset with communication interfaces that allow it to serve sensor networks in the shop floor and modular software architecture that allows it to be easily adjusted to new deployment scenarios. To showcase its potential, the TIP4.0 platform was validated over COTS hardware, and we considered a public data-set for the simulation of predictive maintenance scenarios. We used a Convolution Neural Network (CNN) architecture, which provided competitive performance over the state-of-the-art approaches, while being approximately four-times and two-times faster than the uncompressed model inference on the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Graphical Processing Unit, respectively. These results highlight the capabilities of distributed large-scale edge computing over industrial scenarios.
Multidisciplinary Care after Acute Care for Stroke: A Prospective Comparison between a Multidisciplinary Post-Acute Care Group and a Standard Group Matched by Propensity Score

In this large-scale prospective cohort study, a propensity score matching method was applied in a natural experimental design to investigate how post-acute care (PAC) after stroke affects functional status and to identify predictors of functional status. The main objective of this study was to examine longitudinal changes in various measures of functional status in stroke patients and predictors of scores for these measures before and after PAC. A group of patients who had received PAC for stroke at one of two medical centers (PAC group, n = 273) was compared with a group who had received standard care for stroke at one of four hospitals (three regional hospital and one district hospital; non-PAC group, n = 273) in Taiwan from March, 2014, to October, 2018. The patients completed the functional status measures before rehabilitation, the 12th week and the 1st year after rehabilitation. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate differences-in-differences models for examining the effects of PAC. The average age was 68.0 (SD = 8.1) years, and males accounted for 57.9%. During the follow-up period, significant risk factors for poor functional outcomes were advanced age, hemorrhagic stroke, and poor function scores before rehabilitation (p < 0.05). Between-group comparisons at subsequent time points revealed significantly higher functional status scores in the PAC group versus the non-PAC group (p < 0.001). Notably, for all functional status measures, between-group differences in total scores significantly increased over time from baseline to 1 year post-rehabilitation (p < 0.001). The contribution of this study is its further elucidation of the clinical implications and health policy implications of rehabilitative care after stroke. Specifically, it improves understanding of the effects of PAC in stroke patients at different follow-up times. Therefore, a policy implication of this study is that standard care for stroke should include intensive rehabilitative PAC to maximize recovery of overall function.
Impact of Humidity and Temperature on the Stability of the Optical Properties and Structure of MAPbI3, MA0.7FA0.3PbI3 and (FAPbI3)0.95(MAPbBr3)0.05 Perovskite Thin Films

In situ real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry (RTSE) measurements have been conducted on MAPbI3, MA0.7FA0. 3PbI3, and (FAPbI3)0.95(MAPbBr3)0.05 perovskite thin films when exposed to different levels of relative humidity at given temperatures over time. Analysis of RTSE measurements track changes in the complex dielectric function spectra and structure, which indicate variations in stability influenced by the underlying material, preparation method, and perovskite composition. MAPbI3 and MA0.7FA0. 3PbI3 films deposited on commercial fluorine-doped tin oxide coated glass are more stable than corresponding films deposited on soda lime glass directly. (FAPbI3)0.95(MAPbBr3)0.05 films on soda lime glass showed improved stability over the other compositions regardless of the substrate, and this is attributed to the preparation method as well as the final composition.
An investigation of PKA phosphorylation gradients and a mechanism for their enhancement

The cAMP dependent protein kinase, or protein kinase A (PKA) is an important and ubiquitous intracellular mediator of information transfer in neurons, where it plays critical roles in neurotransmission, cellular excitability, and synaptic plasticity. All of these processes require high specificity in PKA phosphorylation. An abundance of studies have shown that PKA specificity is mediated by a class of proteins called A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs), which target upstream activators, downstream substrates, and inhibitors of PKA to defined subcellular locations, putatively establishing tight gradients of PKA phosphorylation. However, AKAPs directly anchor only the regulatory subunit of PKA. Once bound by cAMP, conformational changes in the PKA holoenzyme result in the release of catalytic subunit of PKA (PKA-cat) whereupon it is free to diffuse. A cytosolic protein of comparable size to PKA-cat is expected to fully sample synaptic compartments, such as dendritic spines, in tens of milliseconds and exit these compartments within hundreds of milliseconds. Considering that these time scales are significantly shorter than both the enzymatic turnover of PKA-cat and the observed time scales of PKA signaling, such diffusion would be expected to break down the PKA specificity established by AKAPs. Here, we use a variety of imaging and biochemical techniques in both neurons and model cell lines to investigate gradients of PKA phosphorylation and the mechanisms by which they are enhanced in both resting and stimulated conditions. Collectively, the results paint a picture in which both states of PKA phosphorylation preferentially occur in the plasma membrane compartment of cells. In resting states, PKA phosphorylation is largely confined to the plasma membrane. Similar to resting PKA phosphorylation, exogenous stimulation of the PKA holoenzyme also results in a gradient of PKA phosphorylation emanating from the plasma membrane. Furthermore, we have discovered a role for Nterminal myristoylation of PKA-cat in imparting membrane affinity to the freed PKA-cat thereby limiting its mobility and enhancing its phosphorylation in the plasma membrane Such targeting of PKA-cat is a novel mechanism for maintaining AKAP established PKA signaling gradients. As PKA is one of the many promiscuous, yet specific, diffusible proteins involved in signal transduction, we hope that these results will provide a better template
Exercise and the Risk of Dementia in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Background: It is unclear whether exercise would reduce dementia in patients with a new diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF). Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the association between the change in physical activity (PA) before and after new-onset AF and the risk of incident dementia. Methods: Using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, we enrolled a total of 126,555 patients with newly diagnosed AF between 2010 and 2016, who underwent health examinations within two years before and after their diagnosis of AF. The patients were divided into four groups: persistent non-exercisers, exercise starters, exercise quitters, and exercise maintainers. Results: Based on a total of 396,503 person-years of follow-up, 5943 patients were diagnosed with dementia. Compared to persistent non-exercisers, exercise starters (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 0.87; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.81–0.94), and exercise maintainers (aHR 0.66; 95% CI 0.61–0.72) showed a lower risk of incident dementia; however, the risk was similar in exercise quitters (aHR 0.98; 95% CI 0.92–1.05) (p-trend < 0.001). There was a J-shaped relationship between the dose of exercise and the risk of dementia, with the risk reduction maximized at 5–6 times per week of moderate-to-vigorous PA among exercise starters. Conclusion: Patients who initiated or continued regular exercise after diagnosis of AF were associated with a lower risk of dementia than persistent non-exercisers, with no risk reduction associated with exercise cessation. Our findings may provide evidence for the benefit of exercise prescription to patients with new-onset AF to prevent incident dementia regardless of their current exercise status.