Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ad Astra – telomeres in space!

Abstract Purpose My journey to the stars began as I – along with the whole world – stood still and watched Neil Armstrong take those first small steps on the Moon. Fast forward 50 years and NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Christina Koch each spend nearly a year in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS), a remarkable multinational collaborative project and floating U.S. National Laboratory that has supported continuous human presence in low Earth orbit for the past 20 years. Marking a new era of human space exploration, the first commercial rocket, SpaceX Falcon 9, recently launched NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavor to the ISS and returned safely to Earth. NASA and its commercial partners are rapidly advancing innovative space technologies, and with the recently announced Artemis team of astronauts, plans to send the first woman and next man back to the moon and establish sustainable exploration by the end of the decade. Humankind will then be poised to take the next giant leap – pioneering human exploration of Mars. Conclusions Historically, fewer than 600 individuals have participated in spaceflight, the vast majority of whom have been middle aged males (35-55 years) on short duration missions (less than 20 days). Thus, as the number and diversity of space travelers increase, a better understanding of how long-duration spaceflight affects human health is essential to maintaining individual astronaut performance during, and improving disease and aging trajectories following, future exploration missions. Here, I review findings from our NASA Twins Study and Telomeres investigations, highlighting potential mechanistic roles of chronic space radiation exposure in changes in telomere length and persistent DNA damage responses associated with long-duration spaceflight. Importantly, similar trends were observed in prostate cancer patients undergoing intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), additional support specifically for the role of radiation exposure. Individual differences in response were also observed in both cohorts, underscoring the importance of developing personalized approaches for evaluating human health effects and long-term outcomes associated with radiation exposures, whether on Earth or living in the extreme environment of space.
Long-Term Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 and Isolation Care on Survivor Disability and Anxiety

ABSTRACT. We conducted an assessment of disability, anxiety, and other life impacts of COVID-19 and isolation care in a unique cohort of individuals. These included both community admissions to a university hospital as well as some of the earliest international aeromedical evacuees. Among an initial 16 COVID-19 survivors that were interviewed 6–12 months following their admission into isolation care, perception of their isolation care experience was related to their reporting of long-term consequences. However, anxiety and disability assessed with standard scores had no relationship with each other. Both capture of the isolation care experience and caution relying on single scoring systems for assessing long-term consequences in survivors are important considerations for on-going and future COVID-19 and other pandemic survivor research.
High-resolution model-based material decomposition in dual-layer flat-panel CBCT.

PURPOSE Spectral CT uses energy-dependent measurements that enable material discrimination in addition to reconstruction of structural information. Flat-panel detectors (FPDs) have been widely used in dedicated and interventional systems to deliver high spatial resolution, volumetric cone-beam CT (CBCT) in compact and OR-friendly designs. In this work, we derive a model-based method that facilitates high-resolution material decomposition in a spectral CBCT system equipped with a prototype dual-layer FPD. Through high-fidelity modeling of multilayer detector, we seek to avoid resolution loss that is present in more traditional processing and decomposition approaches. METHOD A physical model for spectral measurements in dual-layer flat-panel CBCT is developed including layer-dependent differences in system geometry, spectral sensitivities, and detector blur (e.g., due to varied scintillator thicknesses). This forward model is integrated into a model-based material decomposition (MBMD) method based on minimization of a penalized weighted least-squared (PWLS) objective function. The noise and resolution performance of this approach was compared with traditional projection-domain decomposition (PDD) and image-domain decomposition (IDD) approaches as well as one-step MBMD with lower-fidelity models that use approximated geometry, projection interpolation, or an idealized system geometry without system blur model. Physical studies using high-resolution three-dimensional (3D)-printed water-iodine phantoms were conducted to demonstrate the high-resolution imaging performance of the compared decomposition methods in iodine basis images and synthetic monoenergetic images. RESULTS Physical experiments demonstrate that the MBMD methods incorporating an accurate geometry model can yield higher spatial resolution iodine basis images and synthetic monoenergetic images than PDD and IDD results at the same noise level. MBMD with blur modeling can further improve the spatial-resolution compared with the decomposition results obtained with IDD, PDD, and MBMD methods with lower-fidelity models. Using the MBMD without or with blur model can increase the absolute modulation at 1.75 lp/mm by 10% and 22% compared with IDD at the same noise level. CONCLUSION The proposed model-based material decomposition method for a dual-layer flat-panel CBCT system has demonstrated an ability to extend high-resolution performance through sophisticated detector modeling including the layer-dependent blur. The proposed work has the potential to not only facilitate high-resolution spectral CT in interventional and dedicated CBCT systems, but may also provide the opportunity to evaluate different flat-panel design trade-offs including multilayer FPDs with mismatched geometries, scintillator thicknesses, and spectral sensitivities.
Feather, But Not Plasma, Glucocorticoid Response to Artificial Light at Night Differs between Urban and Forest Blue Tit Nestlings

Abstract Urbanization drives phenotypic variation in many animal species. This includes behavioral and physiological traits such as activity patterns, aggression, and hormone levels. A current challenge of urban evolutionary ecology is to understand the environmental drivers of phenotypic variation in cities. Moreover, do individuals develop tolerance to urban environmental factors, which underlie adaptative responses and contribute to the evolution of urban populations? Most available evidence comes from correlative studies and rare experiments where a single urban-related environmental factor has been manipulated in the field. Here we present the results of an experiment in which we tested for differences in the glucocorticoid (CORT) response of urban and rural blue tits nestlings (Cyanistes caeruleus) to artificial light at night (ALAN). ALAN has been suggested to alter CORT response in several animal species, but to date no study has investigated whether this effect of ALAN differs between urban and rural populations. Immediately after hatching, urban and forest broods were either exposed to 2 lux of ALAN (using an LED source mounted inside the nestbox) or received no treatment (dark control). The experiment lasted until the chicks fledged. When the chicks were 13 days old plasma samples were collected to measure baseline CORT concentrations, and feather samples to provide an integrative measure of CORT during growth. Forest birds had higher plasma CORT (pCORT) concentrations than their urban counterparts, irrespective of whether they were exposed to ALAN or not. Conversely, we found population-specific responses of feather CORT to ALAN. Specifically, urban birds that received ALAN had increased feather CORT compared with the urban dark controls, while the opposite was true for the forest birds. pCORT concentrations were negatively associated to fledging success, irrespective of population and treatment, while feather CORT was positively associated to fledging success in broods exposed to ALAN, but negatively in the dark control ones. Our results demonstrate that ALAN can play a role in determination of the glucocorticoid phenotype of wild animals, and may thus contribute to phenotypic differences between urban and rural animals.
Mindful larks and lonely owls: The relationship between chronotype, mental health, sleep quality, and social support in young adults

Chronotype is related to mental health, with evening chronotypes being more susceptible to psychological disorders than intermediate and morning types. The present study investigated the relationship between chronotype, mental health, sleep quality, and social support in Canadian young adults. We surveyed 3160 university students aged 18–35 years. Participants completed the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Medical Outcomes Study – Social Support Survey. We conducted Bonferroni‐corrected one‐way analyses of covariance with post hoc paired comparisons to determine the relationship between the aforementioned variables, with age and sex as covariates. We further looked at the moderation of social support on the relationship between chronotype and sleep quality. Overall, 55%, 36% and 9% of participants were classified as intermediate, evening and morning types, respectively. There was a significant difference between chronotype on levels of depression, anxiety, and sleep quality, with evening types reporting more severe symptomology than morning‐types and intermediate types. Morning types reported greater levels of overall social support and mindfulness. Evening types reported the lowest levels of all types of social support. Social support did not moderate the relationship between chronotype and sleep quality. This study further demonstrates the association between worse psychological well‐being and eveningness and between more social support, and mindfulness in morning chronotype young adults. Education and intervention are warranted to help evening chronotypes manage the potential negative features of their circadian rhythm, as well as to cultivate a greater sense of social support and mindfulness.
Clinical Characteristics and Prognosis of Idiopathic Acute Pancreatitis

Objective Acute pancreatitis is a serious diagnosis with an increasing incidence in the Western world. In this study we sought to investigate the incidence of idiopathic AP and to compare clinical and prognostic characteristics of idiopathic cases with cases of AP with known etiology. Methods In this retrospective study of adult hospitalized patients diagnosed with acute pancreatitis between 2012 and 2015, a comparison was made between admissions of patients with known etiology and those for whom no cause was found. Primary outcome was defined as composite outcome of 30-day mortality and complications. Results Among 560 admissions of 437 patients with a primary diagnosis of acute pancreatitis, the main factors identified were gallstones (51.2%) and idiopathic pancreatitis (35.9%), with alcohol ranked third at only 4.8%. Mortality rate within 30 days of hospitalization was 2.9% and within one year was 7.1%. Use of lipid-lowering, anti-hypertensive, and anti-diabetic medications was more frequent among patients with “idiopathic” disease (70%, 68%, and 33% versus 59%, 56%, and 27%, respectively). Patients admitted with idiopathic AP, in comparison to patients with known AP etiology, had milder disease with shorter hospital stay (3 days versus 4, respectively), and less re-admission in 30 days (7.5% versus 21.2%). Idiopathic AP patients had better prognosis in terms of 30-day death and complication (HR 0.33, 95% CI 0.08–0.40, P<0.001). Conclusion Idiopathic disease is common among acute pancreatitis patients; the two study groups differed in severity of disease and prognosis. Common use of medications with doubtful value suggests possible under-diagnosis of drug-induced acute idiopathic pancreatitis.
Scattering defect in titanium doped sapphire crystal obtained by Kyropoulos technique

The Kyropoulos technique allows growing large diameter Ti doped sapphire for Chirped pulse amplification laser. A scattering defect peculiar to Kyropoulos grown crystals is presented. This defect is characterized by different techniques: luminescence, absorption measurement, X-ray rocking curve. The impact of this defect to the potential application in chirped pulse amplification CPA laser is evaluated. The nature of this defect is discussed. Modified convexity of the interface is proposed to avoid the formation of this defect and increase the quality of the Ti sapphire crystal.
Light absorption of Isochrysis galbana(Prymnesiophyceae) under day-night cycle at high-light irradiance

Diel variation in chl a specific absorption coefficients [a*(A), m2 (mg chl a)"1] was examined to study the effect of pigmentation on a*(A) of the Prymnesiophyceae Isochrysis galbana (Parke) in chemostat culture under 12 h light:12h dark cycle at 1500 ymo\ photons m~2s"1. Photosynthetic and photoprotective pigment as well as cell density and diameter were also determined at two light regimes every 3 h for 2 days to confirm the periodicity of a*(A). A distinct diel variation was observed for a*(A) with maxima toward the end of light periods and minima toward the end of dark periods. The magnitude of diel variation in a*(440) or a*(674) was 50% and 24%, respectively. To reconstruct the absorption coeffi cient, arec (A), the absorption efficiency factors [0,(674)] were determined using intracellular chl a concentration, cell diameter, and chl a specific absorption coefficients after solubilization on Triton X [a*TXU)]. The contribution of variation in the intracellular chl a concentra tion and cell diameter to the variation in a*recU) was less than one by a*TX(A). Any changes in a*TXU) are due only to changes in the pigmentation. Diel variation in the absorption ratio of photoprotective pigments to chl a was observed to be more significant than that for the absorption ratio of other photosynthetic pigments to chl a. The diel variations in a*(X) were primarily caused by changes in pigmentation of photoprotective pigments due to high-irradiance. These results indicated that phytoplankton exhibited 12 h periodic patterns in a*{X) dependent on high and low irradiance levels.
Why anything rather than nothing? The answer of quantum mechanics

Many researchers determine the question “Why anything rather than nothing? ” as the most ancient and fundamental philosophical problem. Furthermore, it is very close to the idea of Creation shared by religion, science, and philosophy, e.g. as the “Big Bang”, the doctrine of “first cause” or “causa sui”, the Creation in six days in the Bible, etc.Thus, the solution of quantum mechanics, being scientific in fact, can be interpreted also philosophically, and even religiously. However, only the philosophical interpretation is the topic of the text.The essence of the answer of quantum mechanics is:1. The creation is necessary in a rigorous mathematical sense. Thus, it does not need any choice, free will, subject, God, etc. to appear. The world exists in virtue of mathematical necessity, e.g. as any mathematical truth such as 2+2=4.2. The being is less than nothing rather than more than nothing. So, the creation is not an increase of nothing, but the decrease of nothing: it is a deficiency in relation of nothing. Time and its “arrow” are the way of that diminishing or incompleteness to nothing.
Online Suicide Identification in the Framework of Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST)

Background: Suicide is a serious social problem. Substantial efforts have been made to prevent suicide for many decades. The internet has become an important arena for suicide prevention and intervention. However, to the best of our knowledge, only one study has analyzed suicidal comments online from the perspective of rhetorical structure with incomplete rhetorical relations. We aimed to examine the rhetorical differences between Chinese social media users who died by suicide and those without suicidal ideation. Methods: The posts of 15 users who died by suicide and 15 not suffering from suicide ideation were annotated by five postgraduates with expertise in analyzing suicidal posts based on rhetorical structure theory (RST). Group differences were compared via a chi-square test. Results: Results showed that users who died by suicide posted significantly more posts and used more rhetorical relations. Moreover, the two groups displayed significant differences in 17 out of 23 rhetorical relations. Limitations: Because this study is largely exploratory and tentative, caution should be taken in generalizing our findings. Conclusions: Our results expand the methods of RST to the online suicidal identification field. There are implications for population-based suicide prevention by combining rhetorical structures with context analysis.
Adaptive Cruise Control response optimization with respect to riding comfort

The goal of this thesis is to design a part of an adaptive cruise control system to maintain riding comfort during a cut-in maneuver. Its functionality is then verified on a set of experiments with the use of a 6-DoF motion platform and the help of volunteers. The developed optimisation tool takes multiple parameters of the Ego vehicle – Target vehicle system into account (relative distance, relative velocity etc.) and provides a reference acceleration for Ego vehicle to follow. This reference is calculated using linear programming and takes the passengers’ comfort into consideration by introducing limits on longitudinal acceleration and jerk. This approach is compared to a different control system with no comfort consideration. The results from the experiments proved that the developed tool ensures more riding comfort during a cut-in maneuver than the referential control system. The algorithm will be available for further use during future research at the Department of Control Engineering at FEE, CTU Prague.
Complex biochemical reactors for selenium and sulphate reduction : organic material biodegradation and microbial community shifts

ii PREFACE . iii TABLE OF CONTENTS . iv LIST OF TABLES . vii LIST OF FIGURES . ix NOMENCLATURE . xv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . xvii DEDICATION . xix CHAPTER 1 . 1 BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW . 1 1.
Koro, Tekrarlı ve Yardımlı Okuma Yöntemlerinin Zayıf Okuyucuların Okuma ve Anlama Becerileri Üzerine Etkisi

The main objective of this study was to explain the effects of choral, repeated and assisted reading strategies on fluent reading and reading comprehension skills of poor readers. The research was conducted with the single-subject research method and the multiple-subject model. The study group was consisted of six students who experience reading difficulties. The study was carried out in 90 hours. In the preliminary test, fluent reading and reading comprehension levels and reading mistakes of the students were determined. In this test, fluent reading level was lower than%89 and reading comprehension level was lower % 70, which showed that the students were at the Anxiety Level in both levels. During the study, choral, repeated and assisted reading strategies together had contributed to developments of the students’ fluent reading and reading comprehension skills both in the informative and the narrative texts. The data obtained during the research were analyzed by the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test. When examining the pre- and post assessment results, it was found that there was a significant difference between the word recognition percentages, number of incorrect words, number of words per minute, and the reading comprehension percentages in the informative text. In addition, it was articulated that there was a significant difference between the word recognition percentages, number of incorrect words, and the reading comprehension percentages in the narrative text. However, it was not found a significant difference between the numbers of words per minute in the narrative text. The data obtained at the end of the study shows that choral, repeated and assisted reading strategies have positive effects on the fluent reading and reading comprehension skills of the poor readers.
The Transfer of Polyphenolic Compounds from Grape Seeds into Wines

A procedure was developed that appears to estimate the total extractable polyphenolic substances in grape seeds satisfactorily. The relationship between alcohol content, temperature, time, and the extraction of tannin from grape seeds into model solutions was investigated. The percent of the tannin present which is extracted is expressed as a linear function of the logarithm of the elapsed time for several alcohol-temperature combinations in the range of 0-14% ethanol by volume and 52-86°F (11.2-30°C). In general, the tannin is extracted more completely in the same length of time by high temperatures and by higher alcohol content. Calculations from these data indicate that grape seeds must contribute important amounts of tannin to red wines. Complete extraction of the tannin of the grape9s seeds into the wine would give tannin contents of about 0.2-0.4%. Under the usual conditions of red wine fermentation it is estimated that an amount sufficient for about half of this concentration should be extracted from the seeds and, without other reactions and precipitations, should appear in the wine.
POTENTIAL OF ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY AND PHENOL CONTENT IN FOUR CHEILANTHES SPECIES FROM NORTHERN WESTERN GHATS

Objective: The aim of current work was to assess the total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties of different extracts of four Cheilanthes sp. : Cheilanthes farinosa (Forssk.) Kaulf, Cheilanthes anceps Sw ,Cheilanthes tenuifolia (Burm.f.) Sw , and Cheilanthes albomarginata Clarke which is collected from Northern Western Ghats of India. Methods: Analysis of the scavenging activity using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing power assays and N, N-dimethyl-p-phenylendiamine (DMPD) radical cation decolorization assay. Results: Cheilanthes sp. whole plant with rhizome was analyzed for total flavonoids content (TFC) and phenolic content (TPC). The ethyl alcohol and water are the best solvents for the extracting phenols and flavonoids from the Cheilanthes sp . whole plant with rhizome (CSWPR). The antioxidant activities of Cheilanthes sp . whole plant with rhizome extracts were a positive correlation between total flavonoids and phenolic content capacity and observed DPPH radical scavenging activity based on these results, the result signifies that the potentiality Cheilanthes sp.whole plant with rhizome is one of the natural sources of antioxidant compounds. Conclusion: We have reported in this study the cheilanthes species from whole plant with rhizome powder possess good antioxidant properties as well as their potential antioxidant capacity against DPPH radical, ferric reducing power and DMPD radical . Cheilanthes species whole plant with rhizome is a rich source of Phytochemicals including total antioxidant and phenolic compounds and it offers to the development of value-added products from Cheilanthes species whole plants so enhance today's opportunities in nutraceuticals and food applications for Human Health.