Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study on the influence of elbow with different curvature radii on pipeline leak location

Experimental and numerical methods are used to locate the pipeline leakage in the present work. The weak compressibility of the fluid is taken into account when simulating the propagation of negative pressure wave (NPW) in the pipeline. The NPW attenuation coefficient is used to describe the influences of curvature radius on location accuracy. The results indicate that when the curvature radius is small, the location accuracy of pipeline leakage is low. When the radius of curvature increases or the inlet pressure increases, the accuracy of pipeline leak location is improved. Besides, with the change of inlet pressure, pressure, and velocity distributions in the elbow with different curvature radii are investigated. When the curvature radius of the elbow is three to four times of pipe diameter, the measurement accuracy of leakage location is the best. When the inlet pressure of the pipeline is 0.7 MPa, the sensitivity of the pipeline detection is the highest. The cavitation corrosion at the elbow is the most obvious. Therefore, the elbow is the area where pipeline leakage occurs most frequently.
Concentration versus Market Share: Which Determines Performance and Why Does it Matter?

The empirical research reviewed in this article has led us to conclude that market share, not concentration, is the primary structural determinant of profitability. Market share increases profits through the benefits of scale economies. In contrast, concentration affects profits by facilitating oligopolistic coordination. We conclude therefore that scale economies are far more powerful than oligopoly power in determining profit levels. For this reason, we believe that provisions of our antitrust laws based on the presumption that concentrated market structures lead to resource misallocation (i.e., antimerger and antimonopoly provisions of the Clayton and Sherman Acts) are misguided and may well be leading to decreased efficiency.
Correlations between cognitive function and gray matter alterations in patients with acute lacunar stroke

Researchers emphasized acute lacunar stroke (ALS) patients suffer from poor social/physical outcomes, cognitive decline, and decreased quality of life. We hypothesized brain abnormalities may occur in ALS during this particular stage and may be associated with cognitive deficits upon evaluation. We investigated structural abnormalities in ALS using magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry conducted on 28 healthy controls (HC) and 29 patients with ALS and proximal anterior circulation occlusion within 12 hours of symptom onset. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were used to evaluate cognitive dysfunction. Decreased gray matter (GM) in ALS vs. HC was predominantly in the superior frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, insula, superior temporal gyrus (STG), heschl gyrus, middle temporal gyrus (MTG), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), hippocampus (HIP), and others. Positive correlation was found between GM density and MMSE scores in STG (r = 0.59, p = 0.0007), MTG (r = 0.46, p = 0.01), PCC (r = 0.42, p = 0.02), HIP (r = 0.4, p = 0.03), and medial prefrontal cortex (r = 0.5, p = 0.005). This study provided further information on pathophysiological/morphological mechanisms related to cognitive impairment in ALS and is the basis for further studies in aging-related diseases.
Radicalism, Respectability, and the Colour Line of Critical Thought: An Interdisciplinary History of Critical International Relations

The epithet ‘critical’ has become both coveted and contested. A long-established lodestone of personal, political, and professional commitment within academia, its meanings are multiple, and its histories are poorly understood. This article reconstructs an interdisciplinary history of debates concerning what it is to ‘be critical’, beginning in the 1930s but focusing on the late 1960s to the late 1990s. It argues the significance of the category ‘critical’ to be that it can connote political radicalism while allowing for a degree of professional respectability. Furthermore, the article shows that claims and counterclaims upon the parameters of criticality have privileged certain thought traditions. In particular, while contemporary discourses of ‘anti-wokeness’ caricature critical academics as being prepossessed with issues of coloniality and race, traditions of thought dealing with these issues have, until recently, been rather marginalised. The enduring ‘colour line’ of critical thought is not only unjust but also deleterious to political imagination.
Characterization of γ-Glutamyl Peptidases and γ-Glutamyl Cyclotransferases for Glutathione Degradation in Arabidopsis

Organic sulfur is stored as glutathione (GSH) in plants. In Arabidopsis, γ-glutamyl cyclotransferases (GGCT2;1, GGCT2;2, and GGCT2;3) degrade cytosolic GSH, but they do not fully explain the rapid GSH turnover. Here, we demonstrate that γ-glutamyl peptidases, GGP1 and GGP3, play a substantial role in degrading GSH in the cytosol. We conducted yeast complementation assay and activity assay of recombinant proteins to identify the novel GSH degradation enzymes. The expression patterns were investigated by RT-qPCR. GSH concentrations in the mutants were also analyzed. GGP1 complemented the yeast phenotype. Recombinant GGP1 and GGP3 showed reasonable Km values considering cytosolic GSH concentration, and their activity was comparable to that of GGCTs. The GGP1 transcript was highly abundant in mature organs such as rosette leaves. The expression of GGCT2;1 was conspicuously enhanced under sulfur deficiency. GSH concentration was higher in ggp1 knockout mutants regardless of nutritional conditions; the concentration was higher in ggct2;1 knockout mutants under sulfur-deficient conditions. We propose a model wherein cytosolic GSH is degraded fundamentally by GGP1. The degradation is accelerated by GGCT2;1 under sulfur deficiency. Given the energy cost throughout the reactions, GGPs could render a more efficient route for GSH degradation than GGCTs.
Systems-based approach for optimization of a scalable bacterial ST mapping assembly-free algorithm

Epidemiological surveillance of bacterial pathogens requires real-time data analysis with a fast turn-around, while aiming at generating two main outcomes: 1) Species level identification; and 2) Variant mapping at different levels of genotypic resolution for population-based tracking, in addition to predicting traits such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). With the recent advances and continual dissemination of whole-genome sequencing technologies, large-scale population- based genotyping of bacterial pathogens has become possible. Since bacterial populations often present a high degree of clonality in the genomic backbone (i.e., low genetic diversity), the choice of genotyping scheme can even facilitate the understanding of ancestral relationships and can be used for prediction of co- inherited traits such as AMR. Multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) fits that purpose and can identify sequence types (ST) based on seven ubiquitous genome- scattered loci that aid in genotyping isolates beneath the species level. ST-based mapping also standardizes genotyping across laboratories and can be consistently used worldwide. However, ST-based algorithms, when using Illumina paired-end sequences, often rely on genome assembly prior to classification. That hinders rapid genotyping and scalability which are essential aspects of genomic epidemiology. stringMLST is a kmer-based ST method with the capacity to solve both hurdles. Yet, a comprehensive scalable comparison of its use in contrast to a standard MLST program for a wide array of phylogenetically divergent Public Health-relevant bacterial pathogens is lacking. Herein, we first demonstrated that stringMLST is a fast tool that can be deployed for ST-based epidemiological inquiries of bacterial populations. Additionally, we systematically evaluated and showed the impact of genome-intrinsic and -extrinsic features, as well as the optimal kmer length in maximizing the performance of stringMLST on species- by-species basis, and highlighted a few instances where this program may not be applicable in its current format. Furthermore, we integrated stringMLST as part of our freely available and scalable hierarchical-based population genomics platform called ProkEvo. Besides facilitating automatable and reproducible bacterial population guided analysis, ProkEvo now offers a rapidly deployable genomic epidemiology tool for ST mapping, with specific guidance on how to optimize its performance, that can be widely applicable by microbiological laboratories and epidemiological agencies.
Acoustic censusing and individual identification of birds in the wild

Avian vocal individuality carries information that can be utilized as an alternative to physical tagging of individuals. However, it is rarely used in conservation tasks despite rapidly-expanding use of passive acoustic monitoring techniques. Reliable acoustic individual recognizers and accurate quantifiers of population size remain elusive, which discourages the use of vocal individuality for monitoring, wildlife management, and ecological research. We propose a neuro-fuzzy framework that allows discrimination of individuals by their calls, the discovery of unexpected individuals in a set of recordings, and estimation of population size using solely sound. Our method, tested using data collected in the wild, allows rapid individual identification and even acoustic censusing without prior information from the recorded individuals. We achieve this by integrating a fuzzy classification and clustering methodology (LAMDA) into a Convolutional Deep Clustering Neural Network (CDCN). Our approach will benefit monitoring for conservation, and paves the way towards robust individual acoustic identification in species whose handling is time-consuming, culturally or ethically problematic, or logistically difficult.
A macromutation eliminates colour patterning in captive butterflies

Captive populations often harbor variation that is not present in the wild due to artificial selection. Recent efforts to map this variation have provided insights into the genetic and molecular basis of variation. Heliconius butterflies display a large array of pattern variants in the wild and the genetic basis of these patterns has been well-described. Here we sought to identify the genetic basis of an unusual pattern variant that is instead found in captivity, the ivory mutant, in which all scales on both the wings and body become white or yellow. Using a combination of autozygosity mapping and coverage analysis from 37 captive individuals, we identify a 78kb deletion at the cortex wing patterning locus as the ivory mutation. This deletion is undetected among 458 wild Heliconius genomes samples, and its dosage explains both homozygous and heterozygous ivory phenotypes found in captivity. The deletion spans a large 5’ region of the cortex gene that includes a facultative 5’UTR exon detected in larval wing disk transcriptomes. CRISPR mutagenesis of this exon replicates the wing phenotypes from coding knock-outs of cortex, consistent with a functional role of ivory-deleted elements in establishing scale color fate. Population demographics reveal that the stock giving rise to the ivory mutant has a mixed origin from across the wild range of H. melpomene, and supports a scenario where the ivory mutation occurred after the introduction of cortex haplotypes from Ecuador. Homozygotes for the ivory deletion are inviable, joining 40 other examples of allelic variants that provide heterozygous advantage in animal populations under artificial selection by fanciers and breeders. Finally, our results highlight the promise of autozygosity and association mapping for identifying the genetic basis of aberrant mutations in captive insect populations.
What Do We Really Need? Degenerating U-Net on Retinal Vessel Segmentation

Retinal vessel segmentation is an essential step for fundus image analysis. With the recent advances of deep learning technologies, many convolutional neural networks have been applied in this field, including the successful U-Net. In this work, we firstly modify the U-Net with functional blocks aiming to pursue higher performance. The absence of the expected performance boost then lead us to dig into the opposite direction of shrinking the U-Net and exploring the extreme conditions such that its segmentation performance is maintained. Experiment series to simplify the network structure, reduce the network size and restrict the training conditions are designed. Results show that for retinal vessel segmentation on DRIVE database, U-Net does not degenerate until surprisingly acute conditions: one level, one filter in convolutional layers, and one training sample. This experimental discovery is both counter-intuitive and worthwhile. Not only are the extremes of the U-Net explored on a well-studied application, but also one intriguing warning is raised for the research methodology which seeks for marginal performance enhancement regardless of the resource cost.
Dimensionality and modularity of adaptive variation: Divergence in threespine stickleback from diverse environments

In nature, populations are subjected to a wide variety of environmental conditions that affect fitness and induce adaptive or plastic responses in traits, resulting in phenotypic divergence between populations. The dimensionality of that divergence, however, remains contentious. At the extremes, some contend that populations diverge along a single axis of trait covariance with greatest availability of heritable variation, even if this does not lead a population directly to its fitness optimum. Those at the other extreme argue that selection can push populations towards their fitness optima along multiple phenotype axes simultaneously, resulting in divergence in numerous dimensions. Here, we address this debate using populations of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in the Cook Inlet region of southern Alaska from lakes with contrasting ecological conditions. We calculated effective dimensionality of divergence in several trait suites (defensive, swimming, and trophic) thought to be under correlated selection pressures, as well as across all traits. We also tested for integration among the trait suites and between each trait suite and the environment. We found that populations in the Cook Inlet radiation exhibit dimensionality of phenotype high enough to preclude a single axis of divergence.
Worldwide reef surveys highlight different adaptive responses to heat between coral taxa

Coral reefs around the world are under threat due to widespread decline of hard corals caused by anomalous heat waves. Coral taxa of different morphologies are known to have different sensitivities to heat stress. However, little is known about how long-term effects of heat exposure differ between coral taxa, nor in particular how such effects might drive adaptive processes.Here, we combined worldwide reef survey data with remotely sensed thermal anomalies to evaluate how local rates of taxa-specific coral cover were associated with heat stress. We found a negative association between coral cover and heat stress, where associations were weaker for corals with boulder-like morphology (massive corals), intermediate for corals with arborescent morphology (branching corals) and stronger for corals with encrusting or laminar morphology (plating corals). Additionally, we found that the negative association between branching coral cover and recent exposure to heat stress (measured as the year before a survey) was mitigated by the effect of long-term heat stress (measured since 1985), suggesting that adaptive processes occurred. In contrast, this “mitigating effect” of past heat-stress was not observed for either massive or plating corals.We hypothesize that these different responses to recent and past heat stress mirror different life history traits of coral taxa. For instance, branching corals are known to show higher sensitivities to heat stress and faster growth rates, two characteristics that might boost adaptive rates via evolutionary processes, when compared with other taxa.The results of this work suggest that all coral taxa, regardless of their morphology, will be “losers” of coral bleaching, and that conservation strategies should be adjusted to match taxa-specific responses to heat stress.
Post-exercise Warm or Cold Water Immersion to Augment the Cardiometabolic Benefits of Exercise Training: A Proof of Concept Trial

We investigated whether substituting the final half within 60-min bouts of exercise with passive warm or cold water immersion would provide similar or greater benefits for cardiometabolic health. Thirty healthy participants were randomized to two of three short-term training interventions in a partial crossover (12 sessions over 14–16 days, 4 week washout): (i) EXS: 60 min cycling 70% maximum heart rate (HRmax), (ii) WWI: 30 min cycling then 30 min warm water (38–40°C) immersion, and/or (iii) CWI: 30 min cycling then 30 min cold water (10–12°C) immersion. Before and after, participants completed a 20 min cycle work trial, V.O2max test, and an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test during which indirect calorimetry was used to measure substrate oxidation and metabolic flexibility (slope of fasting to post-prandial carbohydrate oxidation). Data from twenty two participants (25 ± 5 year, BMI 23 ± 3 kg/m2, Female = 11) were analyzed using a fixed-effects linear mixed model. V.O2max increased more in EXS (interaction p = 0.004) than CWI (95% CI: 1.1, 5.3 mL/kg/min, Cohen’s d = 1.35), but not WWI (CI: −0.4, 3.9 mL/kg/min, d = 0.72). Work trial distance and power increased 383 ± 223 m and 20 ± 6 W, respectively, without differences between interventions (interaction both p > 0.68). WWI lowered post-prandial glucose ∼9% (CI −1.9, −0.5 mmol/L; d = 0.63), with no difference between interventions (interaction p = 0.469). Substituting the second half of exercise with WWI provides similar cardiometabolic health benefits to time matched exercise, however, substituting with CWI does not.
Effect of Photodynamic Therapy on Gemcitabine-Resistant Cholangiocarcinoma in vitro and in vivo Through KLF10 and EGFR

Cholangiocarcinoma is a relatively rare neoplasm with increasing incidence. Although chemotherapeutic agent such as gemcitabine has long been used as standard treatment for cholangiocarcinoma, the interindividual variability in target and drug sensitivity and specificity may lead to therapeutic resistance. In the present study, we found that photodynamic therapy (PDT) treatment inhibited gemcitabine-resistant cholangiocarcinoma cells via repressing cell viability, enhancing cell apoptosis, and eliciting G1 cell cycle arrest through modulating Cyclin D1 and caspase 3 cleavage. In vivo, PDT treatment significantly inhibited the growth of gemcitabine-resistant cholangiocarcinoma cell-derived tumors. Online data mining and experimental analyses indicate that KLF10 expression was induced, whereas EGFR expression was downregulated by PDT treatment; KLF10 targeted the EGFR promoter region to inhibit EGFR transcription. Under PDT treatment, EGFR overexpression and KLF10 silencing attenuated the anti-cancer effects of PDT on gemcitabine-resistant cholangiocarcinoma cells by promoting cell viability, inhibiting apoptosis, and increasing S phase cell proportion. Importantly, under PDT treatment, the effects of KLF10 silencing were significantly reversed by EGFR silencing. In conclusion, PDT treatment induces KLF10 expression and downregulates EGFR expression. KLF10 binds to EGFR promoter region to inhibit EGFR transcription. The KLF10/EGFR axis participates in the process of the inhibition of PDT on gemcitabine-resistant cholangiocarcinoma cells.
Composition and Dynamics of H1N1 and H7N9 Influenza A Virus Quasispecies in a Co-infected Patient Analyzed by Single Molecule Sequencing Technology

A human co-infected with H1N1 and H7N9 subtypes influenza A virus (IAV) causes a complex infectious disease. The identification of molecular-level variations in composition and dynamics of IAV quasispecies will help to understand the pathogenesis and provide guidance for precision medicine treatment. In this study, using single-molecule real-time sequencing (SMRT) technology, we successfully acquired full-length IAV genomic sequences and quantified their genotypes abundance in serial samples from an 81-year-old male co-infected with H1N1 and H7N9 subtypes IAV. A total of 26 high diversity nucleotide loci was detected, in which the A-G base transversion was the most abundant substitution type (67 and 64%, in H1N1 and H7N9, respectively). Seven significant amino acid variations were detected, such as NA:H275Y and HA: R222K in H1N1 as well as PB2:E627K and NA: K432E in H7N9, which are related to viral drug-resistance or mammalian adaptation. Furtherly, we retrieved 25 H1N1 and 22 H7N9 genomic segment haplotypes from the eight samples based on combining high-diversity nucleotide loci, which provided a more concise overview of viral quasispecies composition and dynamics. Our approach promotes the popularization of viral quasispecies analysis in a complex infectious disease, which will boost the understanding of viral infections, pathogenesis, evolution, and precision medicine.
Systematic Review of Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts

Pathologies related to the cardiovascular system are the leading causes of death worldwide. One of the main treatments is conventional surgery with autologous transplants. Although donor grafts are often unavailable, tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) show promise for clinical treatments. A systematic review of the recent scientific literature was performed using PubMed (Medline) and Web of Science databases to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art in TEVG development. The use of TEVG in human patients remains quite restricted owing to the presence of vascular stenosis, existence of thrombi, and poor graft patency. A total of 92 original articles involving human patients and animal models were analyzed. A meta-analysis of the influence of the vascular graft diameter on the occurrence of thrombosis and graft patency was performed for the different models analyzed. Although there is no ideal animal model for TEVG research, the murine model is the most extensively used. Hybrid grafting, electrospinning, and cell seeding are currently the most promising technologies. The results showed that there is a tendency for thrombosis and non-patency in small-diameter grafts. TEVGs are under constant development, and research is oriented towards the search for safe devices.