Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interstitial telomere-like repeats in the monocot family Araceae

Combining molecular cytogenetics and phylogenetic modelling of chromosome number change can shed light on the types of evolutionary changes that may explain the haploid numbers observed today. Applied to the monocot family Araceae, with chromosome numbers of 2n = 8 to 2n = 160, this type of approach has suggested that descending dysploidy has played a larger role than polyploidy in the evolution of the current chromosome numbers. To test this, we carried out molecular cytogenetic analyses in 14 species from 11 genera, using probes for telomere repeats, 5S rDNA and 45S rDNA and a plastid phylogenetic tree covering the 118 genera of the family, many with multiple species. We obtained new chromosome counts for six species, modelled chromosome number evolution using all available counts for the family and carried out fluorescence in situ hybridization with three probes (5S rDNA, 45S rDNA and Arabidopsis-like telomeres) on 14 species with 2n = 14 to 2n = 60. The ancestral state reconstruction provides support for a large role of descending dysploidy in Araceae, and interstitial telomere repeats (ITRs) were detected in Anthurium leuconerum, A. wendlingeri and Spathyphyllum tenerum, all with 2n = 30. The number of ITR signals in Anthurium (up to 12) is the highest so far reported in angiosperms, and the large repeats located in the pericentromeric regions of A. wendlingeri are of a type previously reported only from the gymnosperms Cycas and Pinus. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 177, 15–26.
Acetylation of bacterial cellulose using N-methyl-imidazole as a catalyst under solvent-free and N,N-dimethylacetamide/lithium chloride solvent systems

Bacterial cellulose acetate (BCA) at a low degree of substitution (DS) was prepared using acetic anhydride in the presence of N-methylimidazole (NMIM) as a catalyst. The acetylated reaction was studied in both solvent-free (heterogeneous) and N,N-dimethylacetamide/lithium chloride (DMAc/LiCl; homogeneous) systems, where the DS ranges of BCA obtained from heterogeneous (BCA-HE) and homogeneous (BCA-HO) systems were recorded as 0.31 to 0.95 and 0.4 to 1.5, respectively. The DS values could be effectively controlled by adjusting the reaction conditions. Compared to the heterogeneous reaction, the homogeneous reaction could be processed under a mild condition within a short time. The BCA-HE and BCA-HO displayed good water solubility at a DS value less than 0.95 and 1.09, respectively. The structural and the characteristic changes were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, 13C cross-polarization magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, and thermogravimetric analyses. The present study may offer a convenient, mild, and green catalyzed-processing to tailor low DS of cellulose acetate.
Towards Developing an Automated Faults Characterisation Framework for Rotating Machines. Part 1: Rotor-Related Faults

Rotating machines are pivotal to the achievement of core operational objectives within various industries. Recent drives for developing smart systems coupled with the significant advancements in computational technologies have immensely increased the complexity of this group of critical physical industrial assets (PIAs). Vibration-based techniques have contributed significantly towards understanding the failure modes of rotating machines and their associated components. However, the very large data requirements attributable to routine vibration-based fault diagnosis at multiple measurement locations has led to the quest for alternative approaches that possess the capability to reduce faults diagnosis downtime. Initiatives aimed at rationalising vibration-based condition monitoring data in order to just retain information that offer maximum variability includes the combination of coherent composite spectrum (CCS) and principal components analysis (PCA) for rotor-related faults diagnosis. While there is no doubt about the potentials of this approach, especially that it is independent of the number of measurement locations and foundation types, its over-reliance on manual classification made it prone to human subjectivity and lack of repeatability. The current study therefore aims to further enhance existing CCS capability in two facets—(1) exploration of the possibility of automating the process by testing its compatibility with various machine learning techniques (2) incorporating spectrum energy as a novel feature. It was observed that artificial neural networks (ANN) offered the most accurate and consistent classification outcomes under all considered scenarios, which demonstrates immense opportunity for automating the process. The paper describes computational approaches, signal processing parameters and experiments used for generating the analysed vibration data.
Colonisation of water bodies by the Zebra Mussel Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas) in the light of genetic studies

Five populations of the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha, from small, isolated, post-glacial water bodies and one reservoir formed in the 50s (all in the Western Pomerania) have been examined. Isoenzyme electrophoresis in starch gel was used in order to estimate their variation and genetic structure. The studied populations are widely variable genetically, and their genotypes are very diverse, in spite of their isolated character. The analysis revealed 86% polymorphic loci, 2.3–3.7 alleles per locus and 2.5–4.2 per polymorphic locus, 2.4–5.4 genotypes per locus and the expected heterozygosity of 0.338–0.487. The genetic similarity between the populations ranged from 0.828 to 0.949 and was somewhat lower, compared to other populations of the species. The level of genetic variability of D. polymorpha in the isolated populations was comparable to that found in large populations from the Western Pomerania and with the founder populations from the Great Lakes of North America. Colonisation by D. polymorpha is not accompanied by impoverishment of gene pool resulting from founder effect. The species seems to be expanding massively, using all of its genetic potential.
The mediating role of perceived benefits on intentions to book a sustainable hotel: a multi-group comparison of the Swiss, German and USA travel markets

Abstract The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was applied to analyse the role of perceived benefits (PB) on intentions to book a sustainable hotel. Data for the research came from 2564 respondents to an online survey conducted in Switzerland, Germany, and USA. A multi-group structural equation modelling (SEM) determined how PB (environmental, social, and economic) played a mediating role on booking intentions (BI) in the three markets and identified significant differences among them. Analysis showed that sustainable hotel benefits are bundled into one category as “added value,” without differentiating among the three sustainability dimensions. In the Swiss and German markets, the findings also showed that benefit perceptions played a partial mediating role between TPB constructs, where both attitude (ATT) and subjective norms (SN) were found to affect booking intentions directly and indirectly. This research highlights the important role sustainability benefit communications can play for hotels in different markets.
A Single-Layer Single-Fed Shorted-Patch Antenna With Broadside Circular Polarization by Using Nondegenerate TM0,1/2 and TM1,1/2 Modes

A novel design concept to excite and produce the broadside circularly polarized (CP) radiation is presented in a shorted-patch antenna (SPA). First, the far-zone radiated fields of the SPA under radiation of TM<sub>0,1/2</sub> and TM<sub>1,1/2</sub> modes are theoretically studied. It demonstrates that the broadside |<italic>E</italic><sub>θ</sub>| component of its TM<sub>0,1/2</sub> mode is generated in <italic>yoz</italic> plane. In contrast, the orthogonal |<italic>E</italic><sub>ϕ</sub>| component of its TM<sub>1,1/2</sub> mode is produced in this plane. Then, the resonant frequency of the TM<sub>0,1/2</sub> mode is gradually pushed up to around that of TM<sub>1,1/2</sub> mode, aiming to generate the normal CP radiation between these dual modes. After that, a linear slot is etched out on the core radiator so as to counteract the equivalent inductance caused by the loaded pins and feeding probe. Finally, the proposed antenna is fabricated and tested. The measured results reveal that it's operating bandwidth (|<italic>S</italic><sub>11</sub>|<–10 dB and AR<3 dB) is kept at about 1.2% or at a range of 2.720–2.752 GHz. Most importantly, the CP radiation (AR<3 dB) of the antenna at the broadside direction is indeed resonated at around 2.738 GHz, while keeping the reduced length, single-layer, and single-fed properties.
An Improved Boundary-Aware Perceptual Loss for Building Extraction from VHR Images

With the development of deep learning technology, an enormous number of convolutional neural network (CNN) models have been proposed to address the challenging building extraction task from very high-resolution (VHR) remote sensing images. However, searching for better CNN architectures is time-consuming, and the robustness of a new CNN model cannot be guaranteed. In this paper, an improved boundary-aware perceptual (BP) loss is proposed to enhance the building extraction ability of CNN models. The proposed BP loss consists of a loss network and transfer loss functions. The usage of the boundary-aware perceptual loss has two stages. In the training stage, the loss network learns the structural information from circularly transferring between the building mask and the corresponding building boundary. In the refining stage, the learned structural information is embedded into the building extraction models via the transfer loss functions without additional parameters or postprocessing. We verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed BP loss both on the challenging WHU aerial dataset and the INRIA dataset. Substantial performance improvements are observed within two representative CNN architectures: PSPNet and UNet, which are widely used on pixel-wise labelling tasks. With BP loss, UNet with ResNet101 achieves 90.78% and 76.62% on IoU (intersection over union) scores on the WHU aerial dataset and the INRIA dataset, respectively, which are 1.47% and 1.04% higher than those simply trained with the cross-entropy loss function. Additionally, similar improvements (0.64% on the WHU aerial dataset and 1.69% on the INRIA dataset) are also observed on PSPNet, which strongly supports the robustness of the proposed BP loss.
Soil Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound Flux in a Mixed Hardwood Forest: Net Uptake at Warmer Temperatures and the Importance of Mycorrhizal Associations

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (bVOCs) play important roles in ecological interactions and Earth system processes, yet the biological and physical processes that drive soil bVOC exchanges remain poorly understood. In temperate forests, nearly all tree species associate with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) or ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. Given well‐established differences in soil biogeochemistry between AM‐dominated and ECM‐dominated stands, we hypothesized that bVOC exchanges with the atmosphere would differ between soils from the two stand types. We measured bVOC fluxes at the soil‐atmosphere interface in plots dominated by AM‐ and ECM‐associated trees in a deciduous forest in south‐central Indiana, USA during the early and late vegetative growing season. Soils in both AM‐ and ECM‐dominated plots were a net bVOC sink following leaf‐out and were a greater bVOC sink or smaller source at warmer soil temperatures (Ts). The flux of different bVOCs from ECM plots was often related to soil water content in addition to Ts. Methanol dominated total bVOC fluxes, and ECM soils demonstrated greater uptake relative to AM‐dominated plots, on the order of 170 nmol m−2 hr−1 during the early growing season. Our results demonstrate the importance of soil dynamics characterized by mycorrhizal associations to bVOC dynamics in forested ecosystems and emphasize the need to study bidirectional soil bVOC uptake and emission processes.
A Touch Orientation Classification-Based Force–Voltage Responsivity Stabilization Method for Piezoelectric Force Sensing in Interactive Displays

Piezoelectric force touch panels have attracted a significant amount of interest in the field of human–machine interactivity, owing to its merits, such as a low power consumption, high force detection sensitivity and simple panel structure. However, the unstable force–voltage responsivity introduced by various touch orientations limits its successful use in interactive displays. To address this issue, in this article, we present a machine learning-based technique, in which a user finger touch-induced capacitive pattern is used to train an artificial neural network (ANN). Using this technique, a high touch angle classification accuracy (95.7%) and a high average force detection accuracy (90%) of distinct touch orientations are achieved. The presented technique prompts the development of piezoelectric force touch panels.
Surgery without visible scars-double valve surgery using the right lateral access.

We report a 79-year-old male who presented with dyspnea NYHA III°. Echocardiography revealed severe aortic stenosis and significant mitral regurgitation (MR). The mechanism of the MR seemed predominantly functional as a result of annular dilatation, with additional small calcifications at the A1/P1 segments. The anterior mitral leaflet was measured to be 30 mm and left ventricular ejection fraction remained preserved at 57%. Coronary artery disease was ruled out by coronary angiography. His medical history consisted of a single-chamber pacemaker implantation 6 years ago and his Euroscore 2 was calculated to be 1.97%, attesting to an overall low-risk profile, despite the patient’s advanced age. Our surgical strategy consisted of biological aortic valve (AV) replacement using a rapid deployment valve and isolated mitral annuloplasty, using right lateral access through the 3 intercostal space, along the right anterior axillary line. The development and evolution of this technique in our institution was inspired by the “MiamiMethod”, initially described by Lamelas (1).
Association Between Supplemental Private Health Insurance and Burden of Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Expenditure in China: A Novel Approach to Estimate Two-Part Model with Random Effects Using Panel Data

Introduction Private health insurance (PHI) is an important supplement to the basic health insurance schemes in the Chinese healthcare system. However, there is an absence of evidence on whether the strategy of engaging PHI to reduce burden is effective in China. As such, we aimed to investigate the association between supplemental PHI and the out-of-pocket (OOP) burden of household healthcare expenditure in China. Methods We conducted a panel data analysis using data from three waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Specifically, a two-part model (TPM) with a first-stage probit and second-stage generalized linear model (GLM) framework was used to analyze the data. To account for individual-level random effects in both stages and their correlation in the TPM analysis, we proposed a generalized structural equation modeling (GSEM) approach to implement the estimation. The proposed approach allowed us to simultaneously analyze the association of PHI with the probability of having any healthcare and the OOP burden conditional on having any healthcare expenditure. Results Using the GSEM estimates, we found that supplemental PHI was significantly associated with a higher probability (4.29 percentage points) of having any OOP healthcare expenditure but a lower OOP burden conditional on having any expenditure (−2.37 percentage points). Overall, supplemental PHI was insignificantly associated with a lower OOP burden (−1.05 percentage points). Discussion Our findings suggested that supplemental PHI in China may be able to effectively improve access to healthcare while keeping the OOP healthcare expenditure burden flat. Also, GSEM is a feasible method to estimate random-effect TPMs.
TGF-β Mediates CTLA-4 Suppression of Cellular Immunity in Murine Kalaazar1

Recent studies indicate important roles for CTLA-4 engagement in T cells, and for TGF-β production in the immunopathogenesis of murine kalaazar or visceral leishmaniasis, but a functional link between these two pathways in helping intracellular parasite growth is unknown. Here we report that Ag or anti-CD3 activation of splenic CD4+ T cells from visceral leishmaniasis leads to intense CTLA-4-mediated TGF-β1 production, as assessed either by CTLA-4 blockade or by direct CTLA-4 cross-linkage. Production of TGF-β1 accounted for the reciprocal regulation of IFN-γ production by CTLA-4 engagement. Following CD4+ T cell activation, intracellular growth of Leishmania chagasi in cocultured splenic macrophages required both CTLA-4 function and TGF-β1 secretion. Cross-linkage of CTLA-4 markedly increased L. chagasi replication in cocultures of infected macrophages and activated CD4+ T cells, and parasite growth could be completely blocked with neutralizing anti-TGF-β1 Ab. Exogenous addition of rTGF-β1 restored parasite growth in cultures protected from parasitism by CTLA-4 blockade. These results indicate that the negative costimulatory receptor CTLA-4 is critically involved in TGF-β production and in intracellular parasite replication seen in murine kalaazar.
Phylogenetic Relationships among Tea Cultivars Based on AFLP Analysis

Several modifications of the AFLP protocol were made to simplify the analysis, i.e., the amount of the reagents for restriction digestion, ligation of adaptors, preamplifircation and sclective amplification, the primers without labeling, and the gel staining with ethidium bromide. The phylogenetic relationships among 37 accessions of the genus Camellia were assessed using the modffied AFLP technique and cluster analysis. The accessions, 24 Japanese tea cultivars, seven Korean wild tea varieties and six Camellia species closely related to tea, were clustered into five groups; Japanese tea cultivars closely related to 'Yabukita', those not closely related to 'Yabukita', Chinese tea cultivars and Korean wlld tea varieties, Assam type black tea cultivars, and Camellia species closely related to tea. The results of this study indicated that the morphological characteristics and the origins of the tea cultivars were well reflected in the clustering of the cultivars based on the AFLP analysis, and that the AFLP technique might rmd its use as an efficient and effective tool for determining phylogenetic relationships among tea cultivars.
Representative Elementary Volumes, Hysteresis, and Heterogeneity in Multiphase Flow From the Pore to Continuum Scale

Representative elementary volumes (REVs) and heterogeneity are key concepts in continuum multiphase flow, yet their manifestation from the pore‐scale and associated impacts with the flow regime are not well understood. We use a multi‐scale experimental and modeling approach to elucidate the role of REVs, hysteresis, and heterogeneity in multiphase flow in two distinct water‐wetting Bentheimer sandstones. Experimental observations during steady‐state drainage and imbibition resolve the pore space at 6 μ m across a field of view up to 12 ×12× 65 mm with simultaneous measurements of differential pressure during fluid flow. The REV for porosity and capillary pressure is ≈ 2 mm 3 for both samples, with 5% relative uncertainty. In contrast, due to macroscopic capillary pressure heterogeneities, the REV for saturation varies between 3.4 and 157.5 mm 3 , dependent on the fractional flow. Accurate knowledge of this REV uncertainty is critical in assessing continuum scale model validity and predictiveness. We validate the Land trapping model directly by predicting observed non‐wetting fluid connectivity at multiple imbibition states to within the REV uncertainty for homogeneous media. With this, observed hysteresis in the measured relative permeability is entirely removed when considering the connected saturation, validating conceptual hysteresis models based on connected pathway flow. REV scale heterogeneities in capillary pressure are shown to impact flow and trapping characteristics; when built into 3D continuum scale numerical models with hysteresis we are able to predict the variations in trapping and relative permeability observed between the two samples with different heterogeneity structures. The experimental data set herein provides an excellent benchmark for future development of continuum scale modeling frameworks.
Forage production and nutritional quality at different development stages of black oat

The present study evaluated the agronomic productive and qualitative traits of black oat (Avena strigosa) forage harvested at different developmental stages for haylage production. This was a 2 x 3 factorial randomized complete block design consisting of six treatments, two stages of development of the crop (vegetative and full vegetative) associated with three harvest seasons, with four replications: T1 - vegetative stage, first cut, when light interception reached values between 90 and 95 %; T2 - vegetative stage with harvest seven days after the first cut; T3 - vegetative stage with harvest fourteen days after the first cut; T4 - full vegetative stage, second cut, when again the light interception reached values between 90 and 95 %; T5 - full vegetative stage with harvest seven days after the second cut; and T6 - full vegetative stage with harvest fourteen days after the second cut. The first cut at the vegetative stage of black oat generated a larger dry biomass production with 2.478 kg ha-1 and a greater participation of green leaves compared to the second cut at the full vegetative stage, as well as the in situ degradability of green leaves and the stem was higher in the first cut. The delay of 7 or 14 days from the ideal harvest time of the black oat forage reduced the nutritional quality. The first cut at the vegetative stage resulted in higher dry biomass production, greater participation of green leaves in the dry matter and better digestibility of green leaves and stem compared to the second cut at the full vegetative stage.
Adaptive Displacement Calibration Strategies for Field Structural Health Monitoring Based on Doppler Radars

This article presents two displacement calibration algorithms for Doppler radar demodulated data, which contribute to accurate monitoring of small vibrations even when the conventional arctangent demodulated displacement exhibits abrupt jumps. The field structural health monitoring of a traffic signal support structure was carried out by a 5.8-GHz Doppler radar to verify the effectiveness of each algorithm. The radar sensor captures and downconverts the microwave signal, which is phase modulated by the mast arm motion after being reflected on the ground. When conventional nonlinear phase demodulation is employed to retrieve the mast arm displacement from the Doppler radar baseband responses, sudden jumps are encountered in the displacement measurement. Two novel algorithms, referred to as the adaptive low-pass filtering algorithm (ALFA) and the adaptive joint signal processing algorithm (AJSPA), respectively, are suggested to eliminate jumps in phase-demodulated Doppler radar data. These strategies are compared in terms of accuracy and computational cost. The simulated and experimental results are provided to validate the proposed techniques. The presented methods can have wide applications in radar-based vibration monitoring.
Editorial – Towards FAIR and SQUARE hydrological data

AGROCAMPUS OUEST, INRAE, UMR SAS, Rennes, France; International Association of Hydrological Sciences, Wallingford, UK; US Geological Survey, Reston, VA, USA; World Meteorological Organization, Commission for Hydrology, Geneva, Switzerland; International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, Sri Lanka; Previously: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), UNESCO, Perugia, Italy; Hydrology Research, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), Norrköping, Sweden