Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bovine Tuberculosis: The Emergence of a New Wildlife Maintenance Host in Ireland

Despite advances in herd management, tuberculosis (TB) continues to affect ~0. 5% of Ireland's national cattle herd annually. It is clear that any “final” eradication of TB in cattle will need to address all TB maintenance hosts in the same environment. In Ireland and the UK, European Badgers (Meles meles) are a known TB maintenance host, while deer are recognised as spillover hosts. However, deer have been identified as maintenance hosts in other countries and Sika deer, specifically, have been identified with TB in Ireland. We examined the power of cattle, badger and Sika deer densities (at the county level) to predict cattle TB-breakdowns in Ireland, at both the herd and the individual level, using data collected between 2000 and 2018. Our hypothesis was that any positive correlations between deer density and cattle TB-breakdowns would implicate deer as TB maintenance hosts. Using linear multiple regressions, we found positive correlations between deer density and cattle TB-breakdowns at both the herd and individual levels. Since Sika deer in County Wicklow are known to have TB, we ran further regressions against subsets of data which excluded individual Irish counties. Analyses excluding Wicklow data showed much weaker correlations between Sika deer density and cattle TB-breakdowns at both the herd and individual levels, suggesting that these correlations are strongest in County Wicklow. A similar effect for badger density was seen in County Leitrim. While locally high densities of Sika deer persist in Irish counties, we believe they should be considered an integral part of any TB-control programme for those areas.
Ferulic Acid Ameliorates Atherosclerotic Injury by Modulating Gut Microbiota and Lipid Metabolism

Atherosclerosis is a leading cause of death worldwide. Recent studies have emphasized the significance of gut microbiota and lipid metabolism in the development of atherosclerosis. Herein, the effects and molecular mechanisms involving ferulic acid (FA) was examined in atherosclerosis using the ApoE-knockout (ApoE-∕-, c57BL/6 background) mouse model. Eighteen male ApoE−/− mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks and then randomly divided into three groups: the model group, the FA (40 mg/kg/day) group and simvastatin (5 mg/kg/day) group. As results, FA could significantly alleviate atherosclerosis and regulate lipid levels in mice. Liver injury and hepatocyte steatosis induced by HFD were also mitigated by FA. FA improved lipid metabolism involving up-regulation of AMPKα phosphorylation and down-regulation of SREBP1 and ACC1 expression. Furthermore, FA induced marked structural changes in the gut microbiota and fecal metabolites and specifically reduced the relative abundance of Fimicutes, Erysipelotrichaceae and Ileibacterium, which were positively correlated with serum lipid levels in atherosclerosis mice. In conclusion, we demonstrate that FA could significantly ameliorate atherosclerotic injury, which may be partly by modulating gut microbiota and lipid metabolism via the AMPKα/SREBP1/ACC1 pathway.
Extracting Phonetic Features From Natural Classes: A Mismatch Negativity Study of Mandarin Chinese Retroflex Consonants

How speech sounds are represented in the brain is not fully understood. The mismatch negativity (MMN) has proven to be a powerful tool in this regard. The MMN event-related potential is elicited by a deviant stimulus embedded within a series of repeating standard stimuli. Listeners construct auditory memory representations of these standards despite acoustic variability. In most designs that test speech sounds, however, this variation is typically intra-category: All standards belong to the same phonetic category. In the current paper, inter-category variation is presented in the standards. These standards vary in manner of articulation but share a common phonetic feature. In the standard retroflex experimental block, Mandarin Chinese speaking participants are presented with a series of “standard” consonants that share the feature [retroflex], interrupted by infrequent non-retroflex deviants. In the non-retroflex standard experimental block, non-retroflex standards are interrupted by infrequent retroflex deviants. The within-block MMN was calculated, as was the identity MMN (iMMN) to account for intrinsic differences in responses to the stimuli. We only observed a within-block MMN to the non-retroflex deviant embedded in the standard retroflex block. This suggests that listeners extract [retroflex] despite significant inter-category variation. In the non-retroflex standard block, because there is little on which to base a coherent auditory memory representation, no within-block MMN was observed. The iMMN to the retroflex was observed in a late time-window at centro-parieto-occipital electrode sites instead of fronto-central electrodes, where the MMN is typically observed, potentially reflecting the increased difficulty posed by the added variation in the standards. In short, participants can construct auditory memory representations despite significant acoustic and inter-category phonological variation so long as a shared phonetic feature binds them together.
Spatial Distribution of Crusts in Antarctic and Greenland Snowpacks and Implications for Snow and Firn Studies

The occurrence of snowpack features has been used in the past to classify environmental regimes on the polar ice sheets. Among these features are thin crusts with high density, which contribute to firn stratigraphy and can have significant impact on firn ventilation as well as on remotely inferred properties like accumulation rate or surface mass balance. The importance of crusts in polar snowpack has been acknowledged, but nonetheless little is known about their large-scale distribution. From snow profiles measured by means of microfocus X-ray computer tomography we created a unique dataset showing the spatial distribution of crusts in snow on the East Antarctic Plateau as well as in northern Greenland including a measure for their local variability. With this method, we are able to find also weak and oblique crusts, to count their frequency of occurrence and to measure the high-resolution density. Crusts are local features with a small spatial extent in the range of tens of meters. From several profiles per sampling site we are able to show a decreasing number of crusts in surface snow along a traverse on the East Antarctic Plateau. Combining samples from Antarctica and Greenland with a wide range of annual accumulation rate, we find a positive correlation (R 2 = 0.89) between the logarithmic accumulation rate and crusts per annual layer in surface snow. By counting crusts in two Antarctic firn cores, we can show the preservation of crusts with depth and discuss their temporal variability as well as the sensitivity to accumulation rate. In local applications we test the robustness of crusts as a seasonal proxy in comparison to chemical records like impurities or stable water isotopes. While in regions with high accumulation rates the occurrence of crusts shows signs of seasonality, in low accumulation areas dating of the snowpack should be done using a combination of volumetric and stratigraphic elements. Our data can bring new insights for the study of firn permeability, improving of remote sensing signals or the development of new proxies in snow and firn core research.
The Importance of Farm Animal Health and Natural Behaviors to Livestock Farmers: Findings From a Factorial Survey Using Vignettes

There is increasing interest in enabling positive experiences, not just minimizing negative experiences, to improve the welfare of farmed animals. This has influenced the growth of private agri-food standards and supported arguments to integrate animal welfare into policy on sustainability and climate change. However, much research finds that farmers predominantly focus on the minimization of negatives (i.e., health issues). This may impact the positioning of farmers within these wider societal debates, affecting their social license to farm. It is thus important to better understand farmers' priorities relating to the minimization of negative factors (e.g., health issues) and the promotion of positive experiences (i.e., natural behaviors). A novel 2 × 2 factorial survey using vignettes, which experimentally manipulated health (health issues minimized/not minimized) and natural behavior (natural behaviors promoted/not promoted) provision, was completed by livestock farmers (n = 169), mostly with extensive systems, in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The majority (88%) considered “minimizing health issues” to be the most important factor for animal well-being. However, the overall welfare of animals was judged to be highest when both health and natural behaviors were supported. Several individual characteristics, including farming sector, production system, gender, belief in animal mind and business type influenced how participants judged the welfare of animals and the level of importance they gave to health and natural behaviors. Findings suggest that although farmers prioritize the minimization of health issues they want animals to be both healthy and able to express natural behaviors, and individual characteristics are important for understanding farmers' welfare-related judgements.
Dual Role of Lysophosphatidic Acid Receptor 2 (LPA2) in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a pleiotropic extracellular lipid mediator with many physiological functions that signal through six known G protein-coupled receptors (LPA1–6). In the central nervous system (CNS), LPA mediates a wide range of effects including neural progenitor cell physiology, neuronal cell death, axonal retraction, and inflammation. Since inflammation is a hallmark of most neurological conditions, we hypothesized that LPA could be involved in the physiopathology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We found that LPA2 RNA was upregulated in post-mortem spinal cord samples of ALS patients and in the sciatic nerve and skeletal muscle of SOD1G93A mouse, the most widely used ALS mouse model. To assess the contribution of LPA2 to ALS, we generated a SOD1G93A mouse that was deficient in Lpar2. This animal revealed that LPA2 signaling accelerates disease onset and neurological decline but, unexpectedly, extended the lifespan. To gain insights into the early harmful actions of LPA2 in ALS, we studied the effects of this receptor in the spinal cord, peripheral nerve, and skeletal muscle of ALS mice. We found that LPA2 gene deletion increased microglial activation but did not contribute to motoneuron death, astrogliosis, degeneration, and demyelination of motor axons. However, we observed that Lpar2 deficiency protected against muscle atrophy. Moreover, we also found the deletion of Lpar2 reduced the invasion of macrophages into the skeletal muscle of SOD1G93A mice, linking LPA2 signaling with muscle inflammation and atrophy in ALS. Overall, these results suggest for the first time that LPA2 contributes to ALS, and its genetic deletion results in protective actions at the early stages of the disease but shortens survival thereafter.
Nicotine delivery and cigarette equivalents from vaping a JUULpod

With patented nicotine salt technology, JUUL dominates the e-cigarette market. We reviewed studies of JUUL’s nicotine pharmacokinetic profile and studies quantifying nicotine in a JUULpod, emitted in the aerosol and absorbed by users. Examined in eight studies, JUUL’s peak nicotine levels were half to three-quarters that of a combustible cigarette in industry-conducted studies with JUUL-naïve users, while comparable to or greater than combustible cigarettes in independent studies of experienced e-cigarette users. JUUL Labs reports each 5% (nicotine-by-weight) cartridge contains approximately 40 mg nicotine per pod and is ‘approximately equivalent to about 1 pack of cigarettes. ’ In five independent studies, nicotine in the liquid in a JUULpod ranged from 39.3 to 48.3 mg. Seven studies measured nicotine delivery via vaping-machine generated aerosols, varying in puffing regimes and equipment. One study estimated 68% transfer efficiency to the aerosol, measuring 28.8 mg nicotine per JUULpod. The other studies reported nicotine values ranging from 72 to 164 µg/puff. At 200 puffs, this is 14.4–32.8 mg of nicotine per pod with equivalence to 13–30 cigarettes. A study measuring nicotine levels in JUUL users during a 5-day controlled switch found equivalence to 18 cigarettes. One JUULpod appears capable of delivering the nicotine equivalent to smoking about a pack of cigarettes, with variability. In JUUL-naïve smokers, JUUL’s nicotine boost was lower than that of combustible cigarettes; while in experienced users, JUUL was comparable. Minimising harshness and adaptive to user experience, JUUL’s design facilitates initiation to a high nicotine, and ultimately, highly addictive vaping product.
Dynamics of cerebral perfusion and oxygenation parameters following endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke

Background We studied the effects of endovascular treatment (EVT) and the impact of the extent of recanalization on cerebral perfusion and oxygenation parameters in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and large vessel occlusion (LVO). Methods Forty-seven patients with anterior LVO underwent computed tomography perfusion (CTP) before and immediately after EVT. The entire ischemic region (Tmax >6 s) was segmented before intervention, and tissue perfusion (time-to-maximum (Tmax), time-to-peak (TTP), mean transit time (MTT), cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF)) and oxygenation (coefficient of variation (COV), capillary transit time heterogeneity (CTH), metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2), oxygen extraction fraction (OEF)) parameters were quantified from the segmented area at baseline and the corresponding area immediately after intervention, as well as within the ischemic core and penumbra. The impact of the extent of recanalization (modified Treatment in Cerebral Infarction (mTICI)) on CTP parameters was assessed with the Wilcoxon test and Pearson’s correlation coefficients. Results The Tmax, MTT, OEF and CTH values immediately after EVT were lower in patients with complete (as compared with incomplete) recanalization, whereas CBF and COV values were higher (P<0.05) and no differences were found in other parameters. The ischemic penumbra immediately after EVT was lower in patients with complete recanalization as compared with those with incomplete recanalization (P=0.002), whereas no difference was found for the ischemic core (P=0.12). Specifically, higher mTICI scores were associated with a greater reduction of ischemic penumbra volumes (R²=−0.48 (95% CI –0.67 to –0.22), P=0.001) but not of ischemic core volumes (P=0.098). Conclusions Our study demonstrates that the ischemic penumbra is the key target of successful EVT in patients with AIS and largely determines its efficacy on a tissue level. Furthermore, we confirm the validity of the mTICI score as a surrogate parameter of interventional success on a tissue perfusion level.
Manifold embedded distribution adaptation for cross-project defect prediction

: Cross-project defect prediction (CPDP) technology refers to the constructing prediction model to predict the instance label of the target project by utilising labelled data from an external project. The challenge of CPDP methods is the distribution difference between the data from different projects. Transfer learning can transfer the knowledge from the source domain to the target domain with the aim to minimise the domain difference between different domains. However, most existing methods reduce the distribution discrepancy in the original feature space, where the features are high-dimensional and non-linear, which makes it hard to reduce the distribution distance between different projects. Moreover, previous works mainly consider marginal distribution or conditional distribution difference. In this study, the authors proposed a manifold embedded distribution adaptation (MDA) approach to narrow the distribution gap in manifold feature subspace. MDA maps source and target project data to manifold subspace and then joint distribution adaptation of conditional and marginal distributions is performed on manifold subspace. To evaluate the effectiveness of MDA, the authors perform extensive experiments on 20 public projects with three indicators. The experiment results show that MDA improves the average performance, but the improvement is not statistically significant in comparison to HYDRA (one of the baselines).
Exploring Students Engagement Towards the Learning Management System (LMS) Using Learning Analytics

Learning analytics is a rapidly evolving research discipline that uses the insights generated from data analysis to support learners as well as optimize both the learning process and environment. This paper studied students’ engagement level of the Learning Management System (LMS) via a learning analytics tool, student’s approach in managing their studies and possible learning analytic methods to analyze student data. Moreover, extensive systematic literature review (SLR) was employed for the selection, sorting and exclusion of articles from diverse renowned sources. The findings show that most of the engagement in LMS are driven by educators. Additionally, we have discussed the factors in LMS, causes of low engagement and ways of increasing engagement factors via the Learning Analytics approach. Nevertheless, apart from recognizing the Learning Analytics approach as being a successful method and technique for analyzing the LMS data, this research further highlighted the possibility of merging the learning analytics technique with the LMS engagement in every institution as being a direction for future research.
Molecular dynamics studies of orientational and collision‐induced light scattering in molecular fluids

Molecular dynamics calculations of the Rayleigh and Raman light scattering properties of atom–atom Lennard‐Jones fluids (’’N2’’, ’’O2’’, ’’Cl2’’, and ’’CO2’’) have been made, including collision‐induced (CI) effects to lowest order in the dipole‐induced dipole approximation. CI effects are shown to result in deviations from the Lorentz–Lorenz (Claus–Mosotti) relation, changes in the spectral moments of both Rayleigh an Raman bands and in their depolarization ratios. Where possible, the predicted magnitudes are compared with experiment. Calculated CI influences on the effective molecular polarizability are compared with theoretical estimates based on the superposition approximation. The importance of isotropic CI light scattering in molecular fluids is indicated. Finally, we discuss the separability of orientational and CI contributions to depolarized spectra.
Preparations and luminescent properties of PbS nanoparticle phosphors incorporated in a SiO2 matrix

A synthetic route for the preparation of luminescent PbS nanoparticles encapsulated in SiO2 at room temperature by the sol-gel process is presented. The particle size and morphology of the PbS nanoparticles were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The particle sizes were estimated from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks using the Scherrer's equation. The measured particle sizes were in the range of 10 to 50 nm inside the SiO2 matrix. The cathodoluminescence (CL) measured with a Fiber Optics PC2000 spectrometer showed the emission peak to be at the wavelength of 680 nm. The phosphor was degraded in an oxygen atmosphere. The chemical composition of the prepared samples was analyzed by an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) was used to measure the surface chemical composition of the SiO2:PbS nanoparticles before and after electron degradation. XPS analysis on the degraded spot showed the development of characteristic SiO, SiOx and elemental Si peaks on the low-energy side of the SiO2 peak. The desorption of O2 from the surface, which resulted in a decrease in the CL intensity is attributed to the dissociation of SiO2 into elemental Si and O by the electron bombardment. The degradation was less severe at higher oxygen pressures. PbSO4 was also formed on the surface during the electron beam degradation process. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
One-dimensional Polymers Constructed with Binuclear Copper（II） α,β-Unsaturated Carboxylates Bridged by 4,4＇-Bipyridine

A methanol solution of 4,4'-bipyridine reacts with Cu2A4(H2O)2 to yield coordination polymers of general formula: [Cu2A4(bipy)]n [A: CH2=C(Me)CO2^- (1), CH2=CHCO2^- (2); bipy: 4,4'-bipyridine]. They were characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectra and thermal analyses. The X-ray structure analyses of 1 show a one-dimensional chain structure where the binuclear structural units Cu2[CH2=C(Me)CO2]4 are bridged by 4,4'-bipyridine molecules. Furthermore, the binuclear units between adjacent layers can form micropores. The temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility of 1 indicates that the strong antiferromagnetic interaction exists between copper(Ⅱ) atoms in the binuclear units.
Photoreduction of anthraquinone sulphonates in aqueous organic media

The kinetics of photoreduction of sodium anthraquinone sulphonates in anaerobic aqueous solutions of simple alcohols and N-alkyl amides have been investigated by spectrophotometric measurement of the anthrahydroquinone produced. At substrate concentrations below 1.5 M the rate of the non-chain radical reaction is determined by competition between transfer of a hydrogen atom to the photoexcited triplet of the anthraquinone sulphonate and its radiationless deactivation. The behaviour of the 2-, 2,6- and 2,7-sulphonates has been quantitatively compared in neutral and acidic media. Diacetyl, phenol, hydroquinone, Cl–, Br– and I– retard photoreduction of the β-sulphonates. It is suggested that phenol, hydroquinone and the halide ions act by chemical quenching of the photo-excited triplet, diacetyl by triplet energy transfer. Benzoquinone inhibits temporarily the formation of anthrahydroquinone by rapid reaction with anthrasemiquinone. Velocity constant ratios provide two independent estimates of substrate reactivity towards hydrogen atom transfer and a measure of the quenching efficiency of additives.
Morphology and thermal properties of poly(L‐lactide)/poly(butylene succinate‐co‐butylene adipate) compounded with twice functionalized clay

Poly(L-lactide) (PLLA)/poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA) blends were compounded with Cloisite 25A® (C25A) and C25A functionalized with epoxy groups, respectively. Epoxy groups on the surface of C25A were introduced by treating C25A with (glycidoxypropyl)trimethoxy silane (GPS) to produce so called Twice Functionalized Organoclay (TFC). Variation of morphology and properties of PLLA/PBSA/C25A composites was investigated before and after the treatment with GPS. The morphological structure of the composites was analyzed by using X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The silicate layers of PLLA/PBSA/TFC were exfoliated to a larger extent than PLLA/PBSA/C25A. Incorporation of the epoxy groups on C25A improved significantly elongation at break as well as tensile modulus and tensile strength of PLLA/PBSA/C25A. The larger amount of exfoliation of the silicate layers in PLLA/PBSA/TFC as compared with that in PLLA/ PBSA/C25A was attributed to the increased interfacial interaction between the polyesters and the clay due to chemical reaction. Thermo gravimetric analysis revealed that both T 5% , which was the temperature corresponding to 5% weight loss, and activation energy of thermal decomposition of PLLA/PBSA/TFC were far superior to those of PLLA/PBSA/C25A as well as to those of PLLA/PBSA, indicating that the composites with exfoliated silicate layers were more thermally stable than those with intercalated silicate layers.