Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Generation of the swing motion pattern of a multi-link robot for the explosive increase of the kinetic energy of the end-link by exploiting dynamic coupling

This paper describes how to exploit the dynamic coupling of a multi-link robot to improve the motion ability without depending on only actuator power. The focus is on swing motion (e.g., throwing or kicking motion) in this paper. The prime purpose of swing motion is to increase the kinetic energy of the end-link (e.g., hand or foot). This paper proposed a method to generate the swing motion pattern for the explosive increase of the kinetic energy of the end-link. In general, a multi-link robot has high-power actuators in the base side. The high-power actuators can produce a large amount of mechanical energy. The dynamic coupling can transfer mechanical energy between the links. Mathematical models were constructed to transfer mechanical energy from the base side toward the end side and convert potential energy into kinetic energy in this paper. The swing motion pattern for the explosive increase of the kinetic energy of the end-link was generated on the basis of the models. The results of the simulation experiments showed that the kinetic energy of the end-link increased explosively. The reason was that a large amount of energy produced by the actuators in the base side was transferred toward the end side. Furthermore, they showed that the motion pattern was similar to the trajectory optimized based on energetic cost.
mmWave Four-Element MIMO Antenna for Future 5G Systems

This paper presents an S-shape four-port Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) wideband mmWave antenna with bandwidth of 25 GHz to 39 GHz. The antenna is designed on 0.254 mm ultra-thin RO5880 with permittivity of 2.3. The dimensions of proposed S-shape antenna are 10 × 12 mm for single element and 24 × 24 mm for four-port MIMO configuration. A decoupling network is introduced to further compress mutual coupling among MIMO elements. The peak gain achieved is 7.1 dBi and MIMO assembly delivers diversity scheme. The proposed MIMO antenna is fabricated, and simulated results are found to be in excellent agreement with simulations. Through the results obtained, the proposed MIMO antenna system can be considered as a potential candidate for future mmWave devices.
Metformin Protects against Diabetic Cardiomyopathy: An Association between Desmin–Sarcomere Injury and the iNOS/mTOR/TIMP-1 Fibrosis Axis

The intermediate filament protein desmin is essential for maintaining the structural integrity of sarcomeres, the fundamental unit of cardiac muscle. Diabetes mellitus (DM) can cause desmin to become dysregulated, following episodes of nitrosative stress, through the activation of the iNOS/mTOR/TIMP-1 pathway, thereby stimulating collagen deposition in the myocardium. In this study, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was induced in rats. One group of animals was pre-treated with metformin (200 mg/kg) prior to diabetes induction and subsequently kept on metformin until sacrifice at week 12. Cardiac injuries developed in the diabetic rats as demonstrated by a significant (p < 0.0001) inhibition of desmin immunostaining, profound sarcomere ultrastructural alterations, substantial damage to the left ventricular tissue, collagen deposition, and abnormal ECG recordings. DM also significantly induced the cardiac expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and the profibrogenic biomarker tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1). The expression of all these markers was significantly inhibited by metformin. In addition, a significant (p < 0.0001) correlation between desmin tissue levels/sarcomere damage and glycated hemoglobin, heart rate, iNOS, mTOR, and fibrosis was observed. These findings demonstrate an association between damage of the cardiac contractile unit—desmin and sarcomere—and the iNOS/mTOR/TIMP-1/collagen axis of fibrosis in T2DM-induced cardiomyopathy, with metformin exhibiting beneficial cardiovascular pleiotropic effects.
Permanent Magnet or Additional Electromagnet Compensation Structures of End Electromagnet Module for Mid-Low Speed Maglev Train

In the mid-low speed Maglev train, the levitation force produced by end electromagnets is influenced by the train speed due to the eddy current effect, especially the front-end electromagnets at high speed. In this paper, the eddy current effect of front-end electromagnets is calculated by an analytical method, which is validated by the Finite Element method (FEM). To compensate a decrease of levitation force, two improved structures of end electromagnet modules are designed and compared. One is the permanent magnet compensation structure, designed by inserting a piece of permanent magnet (PM), and called the PM hybrid structure, and the other is an additional electromagnet compensation structure, which adopts five electromagnets, and called the five-coil structure. In terms of comparison, the five-coil structure can not only produce a high enough levitation force, but can also be easily manufactured. Its effectiveness is verified by the prototype application.
The Panama Canal expansion: New Panamax container vessels and their implications for the basic port infrastructure in the container ports of Ecuador

The expected opening of the enlarged Panama Canal in 2016 and the introduction of the New Panamax container vessel bring in new advantages to global trade. The deployment of more vessel capacity is seen as a driver to reduce transportation costs based on the economies of scale. But this new vessel capacity is also seen as a major challenge for the ports in the region of the West Coast of South America since their basic port infrastructure, comprised of maritime access channel depth and quay wall length, have not been developed accordingly. The aim of this study is to evaluate the introduction of the New Panamax vessel in the container ports of Ecuador and propose some implications to be considered in the short term in order to improve the port system of this country. The theoretical model applied to this study shows that the ideal port capable of handling this type of vessel differs significantly from the actual situation of the ports in Ecuador. In the case of the Port of Guayaquil, the maritime access channel depth is below the average for the region, for this reason it requires urgent attention in order to have at least 14 metres of draught restriction to avoid it becoming an obsolete port upon the opening of the enlarged Panama Canal. In the case of the Port of Esmeraldas and the port of Puerto Bolivar, in addition to the deepening of their maritime access channel, the quay wall length is the variable that will be most affected therefore, expansion projects for the extension of the quay wall should be marked as priority in the to do list of these ports.
Liposomal Formulations to Improve Antioxidant Power of Myrtle Berry Extract for Potential Skin Application

Many substances in plant extracts are known for their biological activities. These substances act in different ways, exerting overall protective effects against many diseases, especially skin disorders. However, plant extracts’ health benefits are often limited by low bioavailability. To overcome these limitations, drug delivery systems can be employed. In this study, we evaluated the antioxidant power of an ethanolic extract from Myrtus communis L. (myrtle) berries through colorimetric tests (DPPH and FRAP). The antioxidant activity was also verified by using fibroblast cell culture through cellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) levels measurements. Moreover, the myrtle extract was formulated in phospholipid vesicles to improve its bioavailability and applicability. Myrtle liposomes were characterized by size, surface charge, storage stability, and entrapment efficiency; visualized by using cryo-TEM images; and assayed for cytocompatibility and anti-ROS activity. Our results suggest that myrtle liposomes were cytocompatible and improved the extract’s antioxidant power in fibroblasts, suggesting a potential skin application for these formulations and confirming that nanotechnologies could be a valid tool to enhance plant extracts’ potentialities.
A Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Study on Phellodon (Bankeraceae, Thelephorales) from China

In this study, phylogenetic analyses of Phellodon from China were carried out based on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, the large subunit of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (nLSU), the small subunit of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (nSSU), the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB1), and the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB2), combined with morphological characters of the collected specimens in China. The fruiting bodies of the specimens were used to observe their characteristics, and three new species of Phellodon are discovered. Phellodon crassipileatus is characterized by its pale brown to dark brown pileal surface, tomentose pileal margin, white spines, and the presence of clamp connections in generative hyphae of pileal surface, context, and stipe. Phellodon griseofuscus is characterized by its dark brown to black pileal surface, white to pale brown pileal margin, the presence of both simple septa and clamp connections in generative hyphae of spines, and moderately long basidia. Phellodon perchocolatus is characterized by its woody and broad pileus, brown to greyish brown pileal surface when fresh, tomentose pileal margin when young, which becomes glabrous with age, and the presence of both simple septa and clamp connections in the generative hyphae of the spines. This is the first time both single and multi-genes analysis is used in such a phylogenetic and taxonomic study on Phellodon, which can provide the basis for the phylogenetic study of the genus.
Protective Effect of Trehalose Against H2O2-induced Cytotoxicity and Oxidative Stress in PC-12 Cell Line and the Role of Heat Shock Protein-27

Background: Oxidative stress has been shown to be an important factor, which plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. Heat Shock Protein-27 (HSP-27) has been implicated in antioxidant responses against oxidative stress. Trehalose is a natural disaccharide widely used in a variety of food products with demonstrated protective effects against several neurodegenerative diseases. This study investigated the effects of trehalose on antioxidant responses, and the gene expressions for HSP-27 and caspase-3 against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induced oxidative injury in PC-12 cell line. Methods: The PC-12 cells were treated with various concentrations of H2O2 and trehalose for 24hr. The cell viability was assessed, using MTT and Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) release assays. Moreover, the activity of Catalase (CAT) and Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx) enzymes, and the Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were determined. In addition, the levels of HSP-27 and caspase-3 gene expressions were measured. Results: The results indicated that the pretreatment with trehalose increased cell survival against the H2O2-induced oxidative injury. Furthermore, trehalose elevated the CAT and GPx activities and reduced MDA levels compared to that of control group (P˂0.05). Moreover, trehalose upregulated the HSP-27 gene expression, while reducing the expression of caspase-3 gene compared to that of the untreated cells (P˂0.05). All of these biochemical changes were found to be dose-dependent for trehalose. Conclusion: Based on the study findings, trehalose had the capacity to attenuate the oxidative stress and cell injury. Therefore, trehalose may be suggested as a therapeutic agent to treat neurodegenerative disorders caused by oxidative stress damages.
In Silico and In Vitro Antimalarial Screening and Validation Targeting Plasmodium falciparum Plasmepsin V

Malaria chemotherapy is greatly threatened by the recent emergence and spread of resistance in the Plasmodium falciparum parasite against artemisinins and their partner drugs. Therefore, it is an urgent priority to develop new antimalarials. Plasmepsin V (PMV) is regarded as a superior drug target for its essential role in protein export. In this study, we performed virtual screening based on homology modeling of PMV structure, molecular docking and pharmacophore model analysis against a library with 1,535,478 compounds, which yielded 233 hits. Their antimalarial activities were assessed amongst four non-peptidomimetic compounds that demonstrated the promising inhibition of parasite growth, with mean IC50 values of 6.67 μM, 5.10 μM, 12.55 μM and 8.31 μM. No significant affection to the viability of L929 cells was detected in these candidates. These four compounds displayed strong binding activities with the PfPMV model through H-bond, hydrophobic, halogen bond or π-π interactions in molecular docking, with binding scores under −9.0 kcal/mol. The experimental validation of molecule-protein interaction identified the binding of four compounds with multiple plasmepsins; however, only compound 47 showed interaction with plasmepsin V, which exhibited the potential to be developed as an active PfPMV inhibitor.
User-Centered Approaches in Conventional and Autonomous Truck Design and Future Effects on Environmental Design

Meeting the world’s increasing need for transportation today soon requires the development of autonomous vehicle systems. User-centered approaches in industrial design are crucial to advance technological, mechanical, and equipment specifications and provide effective driving experiences. This study analyzes conventional and new generation autonomous vehicles through user-centered design (UCD) and drivers’ experiences. Turkish company BMC and the new truck series “Tuğra” are selected. Participants are truck drivers, designers, engineers, and specialists. Observations and face-to-face interviews investigated comfort, usefulness, usability, desirability, accessibility, credibility, findability, and value from the elements of user experience design within the truck, as well as users’ awareness of UCD. Credibility and usability were among the highest-ranked principles. The participants provided valuable information for the design development of trucks, and ideas for future problems and solutions. Further multidisciplinary research that focuses on technical, as well as social and ethical issues is essential in this new and emerging area.
How far do we go? Involving students as partners for redesigning teaching

ABSTRACT Students as partners (SaP) is becoming an increasingly common notion in higher education , but we continue to grapple with questions around how to best involve our students with the work we do as educators. Queries around responsibility, accountability and trust are raised when considering SaP. Participatory action research is presented from an introductory chemistry module in chemical engineering, whereby students were actively involved as partners at various stages of the research, design and development of the module. The action research spanned a 2-year period, accommodating 2 iterations of the module's development. The student partners actively participated in this process in 4 different ways: to set the research agenda (at the beginning), to create suitable formative assessment questions for their peers (ongoing), to manage other students in designing learning tools (as part of the second iteration), and to design and develop appropriate assessment. Some initial structuring was required to establish what the working relationship should look like, but the student partners engaged constructively with the process and added considerable value to reshaping the module. The end result was a more student-focused module, where the student partners had challenged the status quo, used their experiences constructively, and truly empathised with their peers.
Predicting the Effects of Land Use Land Cover and Climate Change on Munneru River Basin Using CA-Markov and Soil and Water Assessment Tool

It is important to understand how changing climate and Land Use Land Cover (LULC) will impact future spatio-temporal water availability across the Munneru river basin as it aids in effective water management and adaptation strategies. The Munneru river basin is one of the important sub-basins of the Krishna River in India. In this paper, the combined impact of LULC and Climate Change (CC) on Munneru water resources using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is presented. The SWAT model is calibrated and validated for the period 1983–2017 in SWAT-CUP using the SUFI2 algorithm. The correlation coefficient between observed and simulated streamflow is calculated to be 0.92. The top five ranked Regional Climate Models (RCMs) are ensembled at each grid using the Reliable Ensemble Averaging (REA) approach. Predicted LULC maps for the years 2030, 2050 and 2080 using the CA-Markov model revealed increases in built-up and kharif crop areas and decreases in barren lands. The average monthly streamflows are simulated for the baseline period (1983–2005) and for three future periods, namely the near future (2021–2039), mid future (2040–2069) and far future (2070–2099) under Representation Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 climate change scenarios. Streamflows increase in three future periods when only CC and the combined effect of CC and LULC are considered under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios. When compared to the CC impact in the RCP 4.5 scenario, the percentage increase in average monthly mean streamflow (July–November) with the combined impact of CC and LULC is 33.9% (near future), 35.8% (mid future), and 45.3% (far future). Similarly, RCP 8.5 increases streamflow by 33.8% (near future), 36.5% (mid future), and 38.8% (far future) when compared to the combined impact of CC and LULC with only CC. When the combined impact of CC and LULC is considered, water balance components such as surface runoff and evapotranspiration increase while aquifer recharge decreases in both scenarios over the three future periods. The findings of this study can be used to plan and develop integrated water management strategies for the basin with projected LULC under climate change scenarios. This methodology can be applied to other basins in similar physiographic regions.
Selection signatures and formation of the Samosir goat breed through the cultures of the Batak Toba Tribe in Samosir Island, Indonesia

Background and Aim: The Samosir goat has a high cultural value and is a source of germplasm in Indonesia. This study aimed to reveal the history and selection signatures of the Samosir goat. Materials and Methods: A total of 25 goats were divided into seven subpopulations of Indonesian goat breeds. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from blood samples was isolated with the use of the gSYNC™ DNA Mini Kit (Geneaid, Taipei, Taiwan). Cytb gene amplification was performed by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, and the PCR products were sequenced. A phylogenetic tree was constructed by the neighbor-joining method using MEGA 11 software. A questionnaire was used to collect information related to the history and breeding practices of the Samosir goat on Samosir Island. Results: Samosir goats are divided into four groups based on their coat color: Completely white, white with brown spots, white with black spots, and white with brown and black spots. The body form of the Samosir goat is similar to that of the Kacang goat. The space below a traditional Toba Batak house is used as a goat pen. The genetic difference between the Samosir goat and the Kacang goat based on the Cytb gene was approximately 0.1%. Conclusion: Phylogenetic analysis between Samosir goats and other indigenous Indonesian goats revealed that Samosir goats form a single clade, with a very close genetic distance from other local goats, such as the Kacang goat. The Toba Batak culture on Samosir Island has significantly influenced the selection and formation of the Samosir goat breed.
Untargeted Metabolomics Profiling of Arabidopsis WT, lbr-2-2 and bak1-4 Mutants Following Treatment with Two LPS Chemotypes

Plants perceive pathogenic threats from the environment that have evaded preformed barriers through pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that recognise microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). The perception of and triggered defence to lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) as a MAMP is well-studied in mammals, but little is known in plants, including the PRR(s). Understanding LPS-induced secondary metabolites and perturbed metabolic pathways in Arabidopsis will be key to generating disease-resistant plants and improving global plant crop yield. Recently, Arabidopsis LPS-binding protein (LBP) and bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI)-related proteins (LBP/BPI related-1) and (LBP/BPI related-2) were shown to perceive LPS from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and trigger defence responses. In turn, brassinosteroid insensitive 1 (BRI1)-associated receptor kinase 1 (BAK1) is a well-established co-receptor for several defence-related PRRs in plants. Due to the lack of knowledge pertaining to LPS perception in plants and given the involvement of the afore-mentioned proteins in MAMPs recognition, in this study, Arabidopsis wild type (WT) and mutant (lbr2-2 and bak1-4) plants were pressure-infiltrated with LPSs purified from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst) and Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris 8004 (Xcc). Metabolites were extracted from the leaves at four time points over a 24 h period and analysed by UHPLC-MS, generating distinct metabolite profiles. Data analysed using unsupervised and supervised multivariate data analysis (MVDA) tools generated results that reflected time- and treatment-related variations after both LPS chemotypes treatments. Forty-five significant metabolites were putatively annotated and belong to the following groups: glucosinolates, hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, flavonoids, lignans, lipids, oxylipins, arabidopsides and phytohormones, while metabolic pathway analysis (MetPA) showed enrichment of flavone and flavanol biosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, alpha-linolenic acid metabolism and glucosinolate biosynthesis. Distinct metabolite accumulations depended on the LPS chemotype and the genetic background of the lbr2-2 and bak1-4 mutants. This study highlights the role of LPSs in the reprogramming Arabidopsis metabolism into a defensive state, and the possible role of LBR and BAK1 proteins in LPSs perception and thus plant defence against pathogenic bacteria.
The effect of destination source credibility on tourist environmentally responsible behavior: an application of stimulus-organism-response theory

Abstract A lack of credibility in the tourism sector is becoming a social and environmental concern. This article argues that destination source credibility as a destination-level stimulus can have significant influences on tourist environmentally responsible behavior (TERB). Based on the stimulus-organism-response theory, this article developed an integrated model of the relationship between destination source credibility and TERB, with destination image (cognitive and affective) and place attachment as mediators. Three sets of survey data were collected at a Chinese national wetland park (N = 451), a world heritage cultural landscape site (N = 453), and a world cultural heritage site (N = 450). The serial multiple mediation model was tested through combining bootstrapping and Bayesian approaches. Results indicated that destination source credibility enhanced tourists’ cognitive and affective image, place attachment, and TERB. In addition, the effect of destination source credibility on TERB was partially and sequentially mediated by (cognitive and then affective) destination image and place attachment, among which place attachment emerged as the most powerful mediator. Robustness of these findings was confirmed across different destination types. Theoretical contribution and practical implication for sustainable destination management are discussed.