Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ecological quality assessment and monitoring using a time-series remote sensing-based ecological index (ts-RSEI)

ABSTRACT Ecological quality assessment is fundamental to revealing changes in ecological environments before the development of effective ecological conservation policies. The complex ecological environment can be assessed more reliably when multiple remote sensing indices are integrated, such as in the use of the prevalent Remote Sensing-based Ecological Index (RSEI). However, for effective ecological quality assessment, the requirement of acquisition time consistency for images has become an outstanding issue for broadening the application of the RSEI. In this study, we adjusted the RSEI to the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm that predicts synthetic images instead of real images. Based on this algorithm, we mapped time-series RSEI (ts-RSEI), which provide comparable results for tracing the dynamics of ecological quality at any time. Our major findings are as follows: (1) The RSEI is very sensitive to the timespan of the image acquisition dates, with the Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) of 0.111 (19.2%) when the interval between dates exceeds one month. (2) The ts-RSEI from synthetic images is comparable to the RSEI from real images, with the MAD of 0.075 (10.5%), which is superior to that of two real images with the timespan of half-a-month. (3) For Hangzhou, the ecological quality was maintained for almost the past 35 years (the ts-RSEI changed from 0.679 to 0.705). However, special attention should be paid to the spatial polarization between natural (“better”) and human-dominated (“worse”) environments. The high temporal consistency and the capability of any- time mapping of the ts-RSEI are expected to be of value to policy makers and authorities in implementing effective ecological conservation measures.
The crystal structure of tert-butyl 2-(4-(12-bromo [2.2]paracyclophanyl)carbamoyl)pyrrolidine-1-carboxylate, C26H31BrN2O3

Abstract C26H31BrN2O3, orthorhombic, P212121 (no. 19), a = 11.01(1) Å, b = 13.227(12) Å, c = 16.458(14) Å, V = 2397(4) Å3, Z = 4, R gt(F) = 0.0367, wR ref(F 2) = 0.0775, T = 298(2) K.
Detection of magnetic barriers in a chaotic domain: first application of finite time Lyapunov exponent method to a magnetic confinement configuration

Magnetic field lines embedded in a plasma confinement system are often characterized by a chaotic motion. This weakens the confinement properties of any magnetic configuration. However, even in case of chaotic domains, magnetic barriers can emerge and limit the field line motion itself. In the context of the numerical simulation of a Reversed-Field Pinch configuration a new magnetic topology analysis, borrowed from previous fluid dynamic studies, is discussed. This methodology relies on the behavior of the Finite Time Lyapunov Exponent (FTLE) associated with the magnetic field. By referring to a previous work in which the magnetic field is given in terms of analytical function (Borgogno et al 2011 Phys. Plasmas 18 102307) the FTLE field shows the presence of ridges, special gradient lines normal to the direction of minimum curvature, forming magnetic barriers. These ridges can be recognized as Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCSs) for the system, actually opposing the penetration of magnetic field lines across them. In this article a more general numerical scheme for the detection of the LCSs has been adopted that allows analysis of realistic cases in which the magnetic fields are numerically known on a discrete mesh. After a validation test performed on the analytical case, a first application to a numerical magnetohydrodynamics simulation of the RFP, characterized by a broad chaotic region, has been performed. A strong magnetic barrier has been observed that effectively limits the field lines motion inside the chaotic sea.
Identifying the volatility spillover risks between crude oil prices and China*s clean energy market

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the global economy has been hit hard, and the development of renewable energy and energy transitions has become a common choice for all countries. The development of clean energy firms has become a hot topic of discussion among scholars, and the relationship between the stock prices of clean energy firms and the international crude oil market has attracted more attention. In this paper, we analyze the volatility connectedness between crude oil and Chinese clean energy firms from 2016 to 2022 by building time-varying vector autoregressive models with stochastic volatility components and time-varying spillover index and dynamic conditional correlation GARCH models. The results of the shock effects analysis show that international crude oil volatility had a significant short-term positive impact on Chinese clean energy firms during the COVID-19 outbreak period. Regarding spillover analysis, firms with large total market capitalization tended to be the senders of volatility spillovers, while smaller firms were likely to be the recipients. In terms of dynamic correlation analysis, the correlation between international crude oil and each clean energy firm was found to be volatile, and the dynamic correlation coefficient tended to reach its highest point during the COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, from the optimal portfolio weighting analysis, it is clear that all optimal weights of international crude oil and medium clean energy firms will increase during an epidemic outbreak, and that more assets should be invested in clean energy firms.
LINC01635, a long non-coding RNA with a cancer/testis expression pattern, promotes lung cancer progression by sponging miR-455-5p

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to play vital roles in human lung cancer. In recent years, cancer/testis (CT) lncRNAs have been characterized as a novel class of lncRNA. However, this class of lncRNA remains to be thoroughly investigated. The present study identified long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1635 (LINC01635), which was highly expressed in testis and in a broad range of human cancer types. Next, it was confirmed that LINC01635 was upregulated significantly in samples from patients with lung cancer and in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cell lines. Silencing LINC01635 suppressed the proliferation and metastasis of NSCLC cells in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, it was found that LINC01635 could bind to microRNA (miRNA or miR)-455-5p and regulate the expression of a series of miR-455-5p-targeting tumor-related genes. Knockdown of miR-455-5p partially rescued the progression of lung cancer cells that was suppressed by LINC01635 silencing. Together, the current results demonstrated that LINC01635 may play important roles in NSCLC progression by targeting miR-455-5p, and that it could be a biomarker and therapeutic target for lung cancer.
Krill Oil Supplementation Does Not Change Waist Circumference and Sagittal Abdominal Diameter in Overweight Women: A Pilot Balanced, Double-Blind, and Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

An excess of body fat is one of the biggest public health concerns in the world, due to its relationship with the emergence of other health problems. Evidence suggests that supplementation with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3) promotes increased lipolysis and the reduction of body mass. Likewise, this clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effects of supplementation with krill oil on waist circumference and sagittal abdominal diameter in overweight women. This pilot, balanced, double-blind, and placebo-controlled study was carried out with 26 women between 20 and 59 years old, with a body mass index >25 kg/m2. The participants were divided into the control (CG) (n = 15, 3 g/daily of mineral oil) and krill oil (GK) (n = 16, 3 g/daily of krill oil) groups, and received the supplementation for eight weeks. Food intake variables were obtained using a 24 h food recall. Anthropometric measurements (body mass, body mass index, waist circumference, and sagittal abdominal diameter) and handgrip strength were obtained. After the intervention, no changes were found for the anthropometric and handgrip strength variables (p > 0.05). Regarding food intake, differences were found for carbohydrate (p = 0.040) and polyunsaturated (p = 0.006) fatty acids, with a reduction in the control group and an increase in krill oil. In conclusion, supplementation with krill oil did not reduce the waist circumference and sagittal abdominal diameter. Therefore, more long-term studies with a larger sample size are necessary to evaluate the possible benefits of krill oil supplementation in overweight women.
Research on the Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Chinese Urban Households’ Electricity Consumption Efficiency

Improving energy efficiency is a key global policy goal for climate protection. Residential energy consumption has also increased rapidly with the acceleration of China’s urbanization process, there is still a lack of studies that deeply explore the microscopic urban household energy efficiency and the main determinants in China, although urban household energy efficiency has attracted the attention of many scholars. We use a two-step method to analyze the electricity consumption efficiency of Chinese urban households in 2014 and 2016, the changing characteristics of household electricity efficiency who live in two-bedroom houses are measured with data envelopment analysis (DEA) method in the first step and the driving factors of changes are analyzed with Tobit model in the second step. The results show that household electricity efficiency gained a small but significant improvement between 2014 and 2016. Household income, age, and education level of the head of household, and housing type are the main drivers of inefficiency. We also adopt robustness tests, such as Bootstrap truncated regression to find this effect still exists. This information can be used in activities such as subsidized energy-saving equipment, energy audits, and information campaigns that aimed at improving household electricity efficiency, thereby increasing their cost-effectiveness and minimizing electricity consumption.
FADING HARD X-RAY EMISSION FROM THE GALACTIC CENTER MOLECULAR CLOUD Sgr B2

The center of our Galaxy harbors a four million solar mass black hole that is unusually quiet: its present X-ray luminosity is more than 10 orders of magnitude less than its Eddington luminosity. The observation of iron fluorescence and hard X-ray emission from some of the massive molecular clouds surrounding the Galactic center has been interpreted as an echo of a past 1039 erg s-1 flare. Alternatively, low-energy cosmic rays propagating inside the clouds might account for the observed emission, through inverse bremsstrahlung of low-energy ions or bremsstrahlung emission of low-energy electrons. Here, we report the observation of a clear decay of the hard X-ray emission from the molecular cloud Sgr B2 during the past seven years, thanks to more than 20 Ms of INTEGRAL exposure. This confirms the decay previously observed comparing the 6.4 keV line fluxes measured by various X-ray instruments, but without intercalibration effects. The measured decay time is 8.2 ± 1.7 yr, compatible with the light crossing time of the molecular cloud core. Such a short timescale rules out inverse bremsstrahlung by cosmic-ray ions as the origin of the X ray emission. We also obtained 2–100 keV broadband X-ray spectra by combining INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton data and compared them with detailed models of X-ray emission due to irradiation of molecular gas by (1) low-energy cosmic-ray electrons and (2) hard X-rays. Both models can reproduce the data equally well, but the time variability constraints and the huge cosmic-ray electron luminosity required to explain the observed hard X-ray emission strongly favor the scenario in which the diffuse emission of Sgr B2 is scattered and reprocessed radiation emitted in the past by Sgr A*. The spectral index of the illuminating power-law source is found to be Γ ∼ 2 and its luminosity 1.5–5 × 1039 erg s−1, depending on the relative positions of Sgr B2 and Sgr A*. Using recent parallax measurements that place Sgr B2 in front of Sgr A*, we find that the period of intense activity of Sgr A* ended between 75 and 155 years ago.
Prebiotic Chemistry Experiments Using Microfluidic Devices

Microfluidic devices are small tools mostly consisting of one or more channels, with dimensions between one and hundreds of microns, where small volumes of fluids are manipulated. They have extensive use in the biomedical and chemical fields; however, in prebiotic chemistry, they only have been employed recently. In prebiotic chemistry, just three types of microfluidic devices have been used: the first ones are Y-form devices with laminar co-flow, used to study the precipitation of minerals in hydrothermal vents systems; the second ones are microdroplet devices that can form small droplets capable of mimic cellular compartmentalization; and the last ones are devices with microchambers that recreate the microenvironment inside rock pores under hydrothermal conditions. In this review, we summarized the experiments in the field of prebiotic chemistry that employed microfluidic devices. The main idea is to incentivize their use and discuss their potential to perform novel experiments that could contribute to unraveling some prebiotic chemistry questions.
Access to Algebra I: The Effects of Online Mathematics for Grade 8 Students. NCEE 2012-4021.

The study analyzed data from more than 400 students attending 68 middle schools in predominately rural areas of Maine and Vermont that did not offer stand-alone eighth-grade algebra. About half of the schools were randomly assigned to offer an online Algebra I curriculum, and half were assigned to provide their usual eighth-grade mathematics curriculum, which typically included some algebra content in addition to other mathematics subjects.
Estimated prevalence and gender disparity of physical activity among 64,127 in-school adolescents (aged 12–17 years): A multi-country analysis of Global School-based Health Surveys from 23 African countries

The Africa sub-region currently lacks quantitative normative data to illustrate the extent of burden and gender inequities of physical activity level in order to inform policy and education, towards meeting the WHO’s 2030 physical activity milestone. The study aimed to provide insights on the current prevalence of sufficient physical activity and gender disparity, using a nationally representative data from the Global School-based student Health Survey (GSHS) from 23 African countries. The study used the multi-country GSHS data from 23 African countries (2003–2017). Sufficient physical activity was measured through self-administered questionnaire. The prevalence of sufficient physical activity among in-school adolescents in each country was estimated by proportion with corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Meta-analysis with random effect was employed to pool the prevalence of physical activity level in the 23 African countries. Additionally, sub-group, sensitivity, and meta-regression analyses were performed. The study included 23 African countries representing 64,127 in-school adolescents aged 12–17 years. Overall, only 20% [95% CI: 18%-22%] of adolescents in Africa engaged in sufficient physical activity. With respect to sex, only 25% [95% CI: 22%-28%] of males and 16% [95% CI: 14%-18%] of females met the WHO recommendation of sufficient physical activity. Sufficient physical activity ranged from 11.6% [9.2%-14.5%] in Sudan to 38.3% [CI:30.2%-47.1%] in Benin. Sufficient physical activity in boys ranged from 7.5% [95% CI: 6.2%-9.0%] in Zambia to 29.2% [95% CI: 22.5%-36.8%] in Benin, and ranged from 2.5% [95% CI: 1.6%-4.0%] in Senegal to 12.2% [95% CI:10.6%-14.1%] in Tanzania for girls. Only 20% of in-school adolescents met the WHO’s recommended physical activity level. Generally, adolescent girls in Africa are less active than adolescent boys. Addressing the rising burden of insufficient physical activity in adolescents and narrowing the gender gap could ultimately increase the overall physical activity engagement and achieve the WHO’s global physical activity target by 2030.
Comparative cytotoxicity of in vitro and field grown shoots of Withania somnifera in Caenorhabditis elegans model

Indian ginseng, also known as Withania somnifera, is a popular medicinal plant used as a domestic treatment for a number of age-related illnesses. The field grown WS roots are referred as as a Rasayana (Rejuvenator) medication in the traditional Ayurvedic medicine of India. It has been utilized as the main component in many formulations to help slow down the aging process, manage stress, and be a remarkable neuroprotectant. The quantity and quality of traditionally grown plants, however, provide a considerable hurdle to their use in herbal-based products. The objective of this study was to determine the toxicity of shoots of in vitro developed W. somnifera, in Caenorhabditis elegans model and to compare the toxicological effect with that of plant shoots grown in the field. We found that biosafety is strictly concentration dependent. It was clear from the results that 250 µg/µL of W. somnifera shoot extract exhibited maximum viability for wild type animals.
Measurements of branching fraction and direct 
CP
 asymmetry in 
B±→KS0KS0K±
 and a search for 
B±→KS0KS0π±

We study charmless hadronic decays of charged B mesons to the final states KS0KS0K± and KS0KS0π± using a 711 fb-1 data sample that contains 772×106 BB¯ pairs and was collected at the ϒ(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. For B±→KS0KS0K±, the measured branching fraction and direct CP asymmetry are [10.42±0.43(stat)±0.22(syst)]×10-6 and [+1.6±3.9(stat)±0.9(syst)]%, respectively. In the absence of a statistically significant signal for B±→KS0KS0π±, we obtain a 90% confidence-level upper limit on its branching fraction as 8.7×10-7.
Social capital and mobility: An experimental study

Theoretical models of local social capital predict that communities may find themselves in one of two equilibria: one with a high level of local social capital and low migration or one with a low level of local social capital and high migration. There is empirical literature suggesting that immigrants who join communities high in social capital are more likely to invest in local social capital and that the whole community will then end up in the equilibrium with high local social capital and low migration. However, this literature suffers from the selection of immigrants, which makes the identification challenging. In order to test the causal influence of the initial level of local social capital, we take the setup used in the theoretical models into the laboratory. We treat some communities by increasing the initial level of social capital without affecting the equilibrium outcomes. We find that while most communities end up in one of the two equilibria predicted by the theoretical models, the treated communities are more likely to converge to the equilibrium with a high level of local social capital and low migration.
Genetic analysis for yield and its attributes in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia)

Genetic interaction and inheritance study in bitter gourd was carried out using six-generation mean analysis to determinate the types and magnitude of gene effects for yield and its attributes. The knowledge portioning to gene action and interaction, is tool for designing appropriate breeding strategy for developing varieties in bitter gourd. Four crosses, viz. DBGS-54 × DBGS-34, DBGS-2 × DBGS-34, PVGy-201 × Pusa Do Mousami and DBGS-2 × DBGS-3 were used for studying six generation (P1, P2, F1, F2, B1 and B2) model. The presence of non-allelic interaction were detected by both scaling test and joint scaling test and observed inadequacy of the additive-dominance model for all traits except vine length in cross PVGy-201 × Pusa Do Mousami.The results revealed the contribution of additive (d), dominance (h) and epistasis interaction (i, j, l) towards expression of all traits studied. In most of the characters magnitude of dominance gene effect was greater than additive gene effect suggested that recurrent selection or heterosis breeding would prove useful. Duplicate epistasis was prevalent in most of the traits like vine length, days to first female flower and fruit weight. Fruit epicarp colour and seed coat colour inheritance suggested these traits were controlled by monogenic.
Interpreting scattering wave functions in the presence of energy-dependent interactions

In scattering theory, the squared relative wave function |{phi}(q,r)|{sup 2} is often interpreted as a weight, due to final-state interactions, describing the probability enhancement for emission with asymptotic relative momentum q. An equivalence relation also links the integral of the squared wave function over all coordinate space to the density of states. This relation, which plays an important role in understanding two-particle correlation phenomenology, is altered for the case where the potential is energy dependent, as is assumed in various forms of reaction theory. Here, the modification to the equivalence relation is derived, and it is shown that the squared wave function should be augmented by a additional factor if it is to represent the emission enhancement for final-state interactions. Examples with relativistic vector interactions, e.g., the Coulomb interaction, are presented.
Spatiotemporal Bayesian estimation of the number of under-reported COVID-19 cases in Victoria Australia

Having an estimate of the number of under-reported cases is crucial in determining the true burden of a disease. In the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a great need to quantify the true disease burden by capturing the true incidence rate to establish appropriate measures and strategies to combat the disease. This study investigates the under-reporting of COVID-19 cases in Victoria, Australia, during the third wave of the pandemic as a result of variation in geographic area and time. It is aimed to determine potential under-reported areas and generate the true picture of the disease in terms of the number of cases. A two-tiered Bayesian hierarchical model approach is employed to estimate the true incidence and detection rates through Bayesian model averaging. The proposed model goes beyond testing inequality across areas by looking into other covariates such as weather, vaccination rates, and access to vaccination and testing centres, including interactions and variations between space and time. This model aims for parsimony yet allows a broader range of scope to capture the underlying dynamic of the reported COVID-19 cases. Moreover, it is a data-driven, flexible, and generalisable model to a global context such as cross-country estimation and across time points under strict pandemic conditions.