Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surface Subsidence in Urbanized Coastal Areas: PSI Methods Based on Sentinel-1 for Ho Chi Minh City

In Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam, though at present flooding is merely a recurring nuisance, there is increasing concern that a combination of impending climate change and rapid urbanization will significantly exacerbate the situation. Given the significant measures taken in HCMC to reduce groundwater extraction and sea-level rise (SLR) inundation since the most recent subsidence studies, we aim to update and contribute to the subsidence information of HCMC with continuous temporal coverage from 2017 to 2019. In this study, we use Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) with Copernicus Sentinel-1 data and open source tools to determine current subsidence rates within the urban center of HCMC. Additionally, the scalability of this method and use of freely accessible data allows for continuous updating and monitoring of this high-vulnerability region. The observed average subsidence rates were 3.3 mm per year with a maximum local subsidence of 5.3 cm per year. These results largely align with findings of previous studies and reflect similar spatial distributed subsidence patterns. Inundation risk awareness is enhanced by not only continued improved subsidence analysis, but also incorporating latest advancements in Digital Elevation Model (DEM) accuracy. This study compares local differences between traditionally used AW3D30 DEM with the CoastalDEM. Our findings indicate that although we identify lower than previously accepted elevations in the urban core, that stabilization of subsidence is observed in this same region.
Identification of Drugs by Ultra Fast Liquid Chromatography/Electrospray Ionization‐Quadrupole Ion Trap/Time‐of‐Flight Mass Spectrometry

Abstract Hybrid quadrupole ion trap/time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (QIT/TOFMS) was applied for detection of ultra fast liquid chromatography (UFLC). The system performance for fast qualitative analysis was evaluated using test drugs. The test drugs were separated on a C18 column (30 mm×2.0 mm I.D., particle size: 2.2 µm) with fast linear gradient elution using 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile as mobile phase. The flow rate was set at 0.5 mL/min and the analysis cycle time was 4.5 min. Relative standard deviations (RSDs) of retention time and peak area for each drug (200 pg each) were 0.2% or better, lower than 3%, respectively. Mass accuracy of each compound was found to be 3.2 ppm or better. Rapid positive to negative polarity switching mode was demonstrated, showing good mass accuracy below 5 ppm. Moreover, an MS3 measurement was carried out and the formulae of compounds were confirmed using formula prediction software.
Status of the follow-up x-ray telescope onboard the Einstein Probe satellite

The Einstein Probe (EP) is an X-ray astronomical mission mainly devoting to time-domain astronomy. There are two main scientific payloads onboard EP, the Wide Field X-ray Telescope (WXT) based on the lobster eye optics and the Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT). FXT contains two Wolter-1 mirrors with a pnCCD detector on each focus. The total effective area is about 600 cm2 and the energy range is 0.3-10 keV. The pnCCD detector cooled by a pulse tube cooler enables high-resolution spectroscopy and imaging combined with excellent time resolution. It will also have several working modes with time resolution ranging from tens of microseconds to 50 milliseconds. Currently, the FXT is in its qualification model phase. The mirror assemblies (STM and TCM) as well as the pnCCD EM module have been manufactured and tested.
Reducing PD-L1 expression with a self-assembled nanodrug: an alternative to PD-L1 antibody for enhanced chemo-immunotherapy

The binding between the immune checkpoints, programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and programmed cell death 1 (PD-1), compromises T-cell-mediated immune surveillance. Immune checkpoint therapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) to block PD-L1 on cancer cell membrane or PD-1 on activated T cell membrane can restore antitumor function of T cell. However, the intracellular expression of PD-L1 and its active redistribution to cancer cell membrane may impair the therapeutic benefits of ICIs. To address this issue, herein we develop a nanodrug (MS NPs) capable of reducing PD-L1 expression and enhancing antitumor effects. Methods: The nanodrug was self-assembled from immunoadjuvant metformin (Met, an old drug) and anticancer agent 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN38) via hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions. A series of experiments, including the characterization of MS NPs, the validation of MS NPs-mediated down-regulation of PD-L1 expression and in vitro therapeutic effect, the MS NPs-mediated in vivo chemo-immunotherapy and tumor metastasis inhibition were carried out. Results: Different from ICIs that conformationally block PD-L1 on cancer cell membrane, MS NPs directly reduced the PD-L1 level via metformin to achieve immunotherapy. Therefore, MS NPs showed enhanced chemo-immunotherapy effect than its counterparts. MS NPs were also effective in inhibiting tumor metastasis by remodeling the extracellular matrix and restoring immune surveillance. Additionally, no obvious toxicity was observed in major organs from MS NPs-treated mice and a high survival rate of mice was obtained after MS NPs treatment. Conclusion: We have designed nanodrug MS NPs by self-assembly of the immunoadjuvant Met and the anticancer agent SN38 for combined immunotherapy and chemotherapy. MS NPs might break the deadlock of antibody-based ICIs in immunotherapy, and repurposing old drug might provide a new perspective on the development of novel ICIs.
Succession process and the impact of gender in Puerto Rican family businesses

This paper explores succession phenomena in four Puerto Rican businesses. The main conclusion is that there are differences between the succession pro-cess for daughters and sons because of a stereotypical concept of women’s role and leadership within businesses. Daughters appear to have full access to presidency only when the father dies. Before that, daughters exercise a periph-eral leadership within the organization to construct their leadership space and, at the same time, transmit the values of the business. Opposed to daughters, sons achieve full presidency power and leadership upon confrontation with the father. Main sources of resistance in leadership transition from father to daughters came from external constituencies.
Gallers as leaf rollers: ecosystem engineering in a tropical system and its effects on arthropod biodiversity

Gall‐inducers can be considered ecosystem engineers when they modify leaf morphology and create shelters for secondary users, altering properties of ecological communities. In this study, we evaluated whether shelter structures created by leaf‐galling contribute to changes in the diversity and composition of the community at plant and leaf scales, the effects of leaf roll occupation on the choice of secondary colonisers and the influence of leaf shelters on herbivory levels on host plants. The arthropod abundance, richness, and biomass were higher in leaf shelters compared to intact leaves. These effects were observed at similar magnitudes at both plant and leaf scales. The composition of arthropods differed between plants with leaf‐rolled galls and plants with galls removed and between unoccupied leaf rolls and intact leaves. Artificial leaf rolls increased arthropod abundance, richness, and biomass by almost 100.0% compared to intact leaves. However, occupied artificial leaf rolls had a decrease in abundance, richness, and biomass of arthropods by almost 60.0% compared to unoccupied leaf rolls. Finally, plants with galls removed exhibited higher levels of leaf herbivory than plants with leaf‐rolled galls. Our findings demonstrated the strong and positive indirect effects of gall induction facilitating shelter creation and the indirect effects of shelters on the diversity, species composition, and on leaf herbivory, and should be replicated in other systems involving plants and their respective gallers.
Investigation of enteral nutrition products for Mesophilic Aerobic Bacteria and Cronobacter sakazakii contamination

In this study, it is aimed to analyze for the presence of Mesophilic Aerobic Bacteria (MAB), C.sakazakii, and the pH values of the enteral nutrition products, which are categorized under the special medicinal dietary products in the Turkish Food Codex. 20 enteral nutrition products were obtained from various hospital pharmacies in the province of Istanbul, and the spread plate method was carried out on suitable media. According to the results of microbiological analysis, no MAB and C.sakazakii were found in any of the samples (100%; <1 log cfu/mL). The average pH of the products was found to be 6.68 ±0.09. As a result of the research, it has been seen that all the microbiological contamination levels (100%) of enteral nutrition products are within the values suitable for use and do not pose a health risk.
Wettability and thermal stability of fluorocarbon films deposited by deep reactive ion etching

Fluorocarbon films have low surface energy and can be used as antistiction coating for microelectromechanical systems. By using the passivation process in a deep reactive ion etcher, the fluorocarbon films can be deposited and integrated with other processes in the clean room. The properties such as wettability, surface energies, and thermal stability, have been investigated in detail. It has been found that the fluorocarbon films deposited have a static water contact angle of 109° and a surface energy around 14.5mJ∕m2, whereas as-received and as-deposited single silicon, poly silicon, and silicon nitride have a much lower water contact angle and a higher surface energy. The fluorocarbon films keep their good hydrophobicity up to 300°C, and the degradation temperature depends on the thickness of the fluorocarbon films. Decomposition happens at lower temperatures (100–300°C) even though the decomposition rate is quite slow without affecting the contact angle. The decomposition mechanism at low temperatures (less than 300°C) might be different from that at high temperatures. It has been shown that the fluorocarbon film deposited by a deep reactive ion etcher tool provides very high hydrophobicity, low surface energy, good thermal stability, and antiadhesion behavior for use in nanoimprinting lithography.Fluorocarbon films have low surface energy and can be used as antistiction coating for microelectromechanical systems. By using the passivation process in a deep reactive ion etcher, the fluorocarbon films can be deposited and integrated with other processes in the clean room. The properties such as wettability, surface energies, and thermal stability, have been investigated in detail. It has been found that the fluorocarbon films deposited have a static water contact angle of 109° and a surface energy around 14.5mJ∕m2, whereas as-received and as-deposited single silicon, poly silicon, and silicon nitride have a much lower water contact angle and a higher surface energy. The fluorocarbon films keep their good hydrophobicity up to 300°C, and the degradation temperature depends on the thickness of the fluorocarbon films. Decomposition happens at lower temperatures (100–300°C) even though the decomposition rate is quite slow without affecting the contact angle. The decomposition mechanism at low temperatures.
Development of a Compton telescope based on single-crystal diamond detectors and fast scintillators

Observing cosmic sources in the medium-energy gamma-ray regime (∼0.4 - 10 MeV) will require a highly efficient instrument with good angular resolution and background rejection. Artificial single-crystal diamond detectors (SCDDs) have comparable energy ranges, energy resolution, and threshold levels as traditional silicon solidstate detectors (SSDs), but with faster rise times, improved radiation hardness, and insensitivity to light and temperature. CeBr3 scintillator is a high density, high Z material with fast rise times and good energy resolution make it a promising gamma-ray calorimeter. This work outlines ongoing work at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to develop readout and data acquisition electronics to characterize SCDDs. Additionally, work is ongoing at Los Alamos National Laboratory to characterize CeBr3 scintillator detectors that are read out with silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and recorded via an off the shelf ASIC system (TOFPET ASIC), developed for timeof-flight (ToF) positron emission tomography. The ultimate goal of the project is to individually characterize SCDDs and CeBr3 and bring them together to form a prototype Compton telescope, which will benchmark simulations of a functional diamond Compton telescope and predict the sensitivity of an optimized instrument for a satellite platform.
Local Ecological Knowledge Networks in Tropical Artisanal Shrimp Fisheries

BackgroundLocal ecological knowledge (LEK) in fishing communities is generated through interactions between fishers and the exploited resources. It is transmitted through social networks, interdisciplinary structures that drives the dynamics of socio-ecological systems (SES). LEK variability is supposed to depend on the quality and quantity of ecological information flow among different stakeholders. To assess what is driving LEK themes, we hypothesized that the formation of LEK clusters among fishers is determined by network articulation, fisher experience and the commercial value of the exploited species. MethodsThe study area comprises three fishing communities in the Western South Atlantic, in the tropical coastal zone of Brazil where artisanal shrimp fisheries (on Penaeus schmitti, P. subtilis and Xiphopenaeus kroyeri) are a major activity. Data collection took place between March, April, and November 2019. To test our hypothesis, linear regression and bipartite network analyses were performed to visualize the interactions between fishermen groups and LEK themes. The connectivity, nesting, modularity, and centrality parameters in this social network were calculated to test the hypothesis. ResultsOur results indicate that experienced fishers enhance LEK in their networks on the themes of food, mortality, and growth. Furthermore, there are subgroups of fishers with dissimilar knowledge about the exploited shrimp species, one old on the fishery with wide knowledge, other less experienced, just knowing about reproduction and migration themes. ConclusionWe conclude that there is a spatial similarity in the connectivity of fisher’s LEK, mainly concerning the reproductive and migratory dynamics of the target species, but also differences permeated by fishers’ experience and local interests. Managers initiating co-management agreements using reproduction and migration referential variables as benchmarks will be more successful if they incorporate LEK into decision-making. Regional knowledge similarities favor the implementation of management policies at a regional scale potentially reducing conflicts within fishing communities and increasing resource use efficiency.
Redes Neurais Convolucionais para Identificação e Preensão Robótica de Objetos

This paper proposes a two-step cascaded system with the Generative Grasping Convolutional Neural Network (GG-CNN) and a modified version of the Single Shot Multibox Detector architecture (SSD) to perform robotic grasping in a vision-based object recognition system. The proposed method is called Single Shot Generative Grasping Neural Network (SSGGCNN). The GG-CNN is a powerful object-independent grasping synthesis method well-known for the outstanding performance in open-loop and closed-loop systems using a pixel-wise grasp quality prediction. However, this technique does not allow the robot to selectively grasp objects. In order to mitigate this problem, the modified SSD was adopted to perform the object detection and selection preceding the grasping. It was achieved an average success rate of 85% considering open-loop and uncluttered objects randomly organized on a planar surface. Code is provided at github.com/lar-deeufba/ssggcnn_ur5_grasping. Resumo: Este artigo propõe um sistema em cascata de duas etapas utilizando a Generative Grasping Convolutional Neural Network (GG-CNN) e uma versão modificada da arquitetura Single Shot Multibox Detector (SSD) para a realização de preensões robóticas através de reconhecimento de objetos, utilizando visão computacional. O método proposto foi denominado Single Shot Generative Grasping Convolutional Neural Network (SSGG-CNN). A GG-CNN é uma técnica eficiente de preensão robótica que funciona em objetos de qualquer geometria, conhecida pelo excelente desempenho em malha aberta e malha fechada, através de inferências realizadas em cada pixel de uma imagem de profundidade. No entanto, essa técnica não permite ao manipulador efetuar preensões em objetos de forma seletiva. Para mitigar este problema, a versão modificada da SSD foi adotada para a detecção e seleção de objetos para a posterior preensão. Experimentos em malha aberta produziram uma taxa média de sucesso de 85% na preensão de objetos organizados aleatoriamente em superf́ıcie plana. O código do projeto está dispońıvel em github.com/lar-deeufba/ssggcnn_ur5_grasping.
Image Artefacts in Industrial Computed Tomography

Computed tomography is a method that has been used for many years in medicine and material analysis, and recently it has also been introduced in dimensional measurements. The method has a lot of advantages compared to other 3D measurement methods, with the largest one being the possibility to perform a non-destructive measurement of an object’s inner geometry. However, it is a complex method with a large number of parameters that influence measurement results. Some of these parameters are image artefacts that occur in the scanning and reconstruction process. An artefact is any artificial feature which appears on the CT image, but does not correspond to the physical feature of an object. In order to achieve metrological traceability, it is necessary to eliminate and minimize the influence of image artefacts on measurement results. This paper presents and explains image artefacts in industrial computed tomography as the consequences of different influence parameters in the CT system.
BACTERIAL TRANSPORT IN NAPL-CONTAMINATED POROUS MEDIA

To understand the effect of a non-aqueous-phase liquid (NAPL) on bacterial transport, column experiments in the presence and absence of a NAPL were conducted using two bacterial strains and two different porous media. The presence of a NAPL (tetrachloroethene) decreased the retention of Pseudomonas fluorescens P17 in quartz and soil columns (factor of 2 for quartz and 1.6 for the soil). In contrast, there was little change in the overall transport of P. putida KT2442 in soil columns in the presence of a NAPL. To understand how a NAPL phase might affect bacterial transport, several different mechanisms of particle removal by a NAPL were hypothesized, and a filtration model was modified to test each hypothesis. Only one of the five models was consistent with the increased transport of P17 in the presence of the NAPL suggesting that the NAPL produced large, immobile zones of water. The presence of immobile water zones would decrease overall porosity, reduce the number of packing grains available for particle filtration, and increase water velocity, resulting in increased bacterial transport in the presence of a NAPL.
An Investigation on Students’ Perception and Expectation from Hospitality Internship Program in Dhaka

The main objective of the study is to describe the intern students’ perceptions about their internship experience at hospitality industry in Dhaka. The respondents came from 22 educational institutes. The study used structured questionnaire (40 closed ended questions assessed using 5 point likert scale) comprised of three parts: Part I about internship placement, Part II factors influencing the internship program comprising with internship program planning, industry involvement and students’ self commitment, Part III pursuing a career in hospitality industry, along with demographic information. The study employed descriptive analysis to consider demographic information and central tendencies of the responses. A Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.93 is found and which indicates a good scale reliability. The study finds that students’ value their internship program planning and training notably. The successful completion of the training program has positive impact on future career in hospitality industry. However, the job hierarchy and long working hours create dissatisfaction among the interns. Original Research Article Shetu and Sayeda; JEMT, 26(10): 1-14, 2020; Article no.JEMT. 63683 2
Chemical Synthesis of Oligo-(1→3)-β-D-Glucans

The synthesis of β-(13)-glucans is at present has more than a chemical challenge. The discovery of their biological properties found development for new anti- cancer therapies, the efficient preparation of pure and structurally well-defined β-(13)-glucans has generated interest in the glycochemist community. This chapter highlights recent strategies that not only yielded the target biomolecules but have also drawn attention on basic limitations. It also shows how it is possible to strengthen the activity of β-glucans by conjugation to non saccharidic derivatives.
Soil properties in organic olive groves compared with that in natural areas in a mountainous landscape in southern Spain

This study evaluates soil properties in organically managed olive groves and natural zones in a mountainous area of Andalusia, Spain. Two soil types (Eutric Regosol and Eutric Cambisol) and the most common soil management methods (tillage and two intensities of grazing) were studied. Both soil types in the groves had values not much lower than those in the natural areas. Average (±SE) values in the groves were 1.58 ± 0.71% for organic carbon, 323 ± 98 g kg−1 for macroaggregate stability, 1.11 ± 0.16 g cm−3 for bulk density, 3.5 ± 1.6 mm h−1 for saturated hydraulic conductivity and 1209 ± 716 mg CO2 kg−1 for soil respiration. Overall, these values tended to be lower in the tilled compared with that in the grazed groves. The average phosphorus soil content (5.83 ± 5.22 mg kg−1) was low for olive production and within adequate ranges for N (0.12 ± 0.05%) and K (142 ± 81 mg kg−1). Soil erosion was high in the tilled groves (35.5 ± 18.2 t ha−1 year−1) with soil loss correlating with indicators of soil degradation such as organic carbon content and water stable macroaggregates. In the grazed groves, soil loss was moderate with no clear indications of soil degradation. Overall, there was significant farm‐to‐farm variability within the same soil and land management systems. Olive production had a moderate effect on soil degradation compared with natural areas and olive cultivation could be sustained in future if cover crop soil management replaced tillage, especially in the most sloping areas.