Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shallow sea-floor reflectance and water depth derived by unmixing multispectral imagery

A major problem for mapping shallow water zones by the analysis of remotely sensed data is that contrast effects due to water depth obscure and distort the special nature of the substrate. This paper outlines a new method which unmixes the exponential influence of depth in each pkel by employing a mathematical constraint. This leaves a multispectral residual which represents relative substrate reflectance. Input to the process are the raw multispectral data and water attenuation coefficients derived by the co-analysis of known bathymetry and remotely sensed data. Oufputs are substrafereflectance images corresponding to the input bands and a greyscale depth image. The method has been applied in the analysis of Landstat TM data at Hamelin Pool in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Algorithm derived substrate reflectance images for Landsat bands 1, 2, and 3 combined in color represent the optimum enhancement for mapping or classifying substrate types. As a result, this color image successfully delineated features, which were obscured in the raw data, such as the distributions of sea-grasses, microbial mats, and sandy area.
Methods for assessing cardiac myofilament calcium sensitivity

Myofilament calcium (Ca2+) sensitivity is one of several mechanisms by which force production of cardiac muscle is modulated to meet the ever-changing demands placed on the heart. Compromised Ca2+ sensitivity is associated with pathologies, which makes it a parameter of interest for researchers. Ca2+ Sensitivity is the ratio of the association and dissociation rates between troponin C (TnC) and Ca2+. As it is not currently possible to measure these rates in tissue preparations directly, methods have been developed to infer myofilament sensitivity, typically using some combination of force and Ca2+ measurements. The current gold-standard approach constructs a steady-state force-Ca2+ relation by exposing permeabilised muscle samples to a range of Ca2+ concentrations and uses the half-maximal concentration as a proxy for sensitivity. While a valuable method for steady-state investigations, the permeabilisation process makes the method unsuitable when examining dynamic, i.e., twitch-to-twitch, changes in myofilament sensitivity. The ability of the heart to transiently adapt to changes in load is an important consideration when evaluating the impact of disease states. Alternative methods have been proffered, including force-Ca2+ phase loops, potassium contracture, hybrid experimental-modelling and conformation-based fluorophore approaches. This review provides an overview of the mechanisms underlying myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity, summarises existing methods, and explores, with modelling, whether any of them are suited to investigating dynamic changes in sensitivity. We conclude that a method that equips researchers to investigate the transient change of myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity is still needed. We propose that such a method will involve simultaneous measurements of cytosolic Ca2+ and TnC activation in actively twitching muscle and a biophysical model to interpret these data.
PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF KING OF BITTER ANDROGRAPHIS PANICULATA AGAINST PATHOGENIC MICROBES

In ancient times, traditional medicine used for various diseases. Traditional medicine involves the usage of different plant extracts due to the presence of bioactive compounds against various diseases. The study represents that a comparative study of phytochemicals was made on three different solvent derived leaf extract of Andrographis paniculata. The leaf extracts were prepared by using three solvents are aqueous, ethanol and acetone. The qualitative analysis of phytochemicals concludes that presence of steroids, alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, glycocides, saponins and triterpenoids. Screening of antibacterial activity of three types of solvent derived extracts was assessed by Agar well diffusion method. It was observed that, ethanol extract of A. paniculata showed the significant antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumonia and candida sp compared with aqueous and acetone extract. The minimum inhibitory concentration is 50 µ L. Present results interestingly concluded that the crude ethanolic extracts of A.paniculata herbal plant leaves are promising medicinal value for harmful diseases. Life Sciences
Rhizosphere bacterial community PCR-DGGE profiles and metal speciation in shooting range soils.

Chemical immobilization in conjunction with vegetation coverage is a practical remediation technology for metal contaminated soils. This paper evaluated metal solubility and bacterial community structure in a highly contaminated shooting range soil treated with a phosphorus amendment (AP) and plant growth. The low dose of amendment addition decreased the SPLP-Pb concentration to 2.1 mg/L. However, the high dose treatment increased Pb solubility more than that of Control soil. The soils treated with the amendment along with plant growth (Plant + AP) had a lower SPLP-Pb concentration than the soils treated solely with the amendment. The soils with the amendment addition had a decreased number of bands in their DGGE profile, and the detrimental effect of amendment appeared more significant for the high dosage than in low dosage. According to the DNA sequence identification, the band corresponding to Bacillus sp. , and Rhizobium sp. that dominated in the Control and Plant soils was not observed in the soil with the high dose of amendment.
Synaptic and cellular organization of layer 1 of the developing rat somatosensory cortex

Layer 1 of the neocortex is sparsely populated with neurons and heavily innervated by fibers from lower layers and proximal and distal brain regions. Understanding the potential functions of this layer requires a comprehensive understanding of its cellular and synaptic organization. We therefore performed a quantitative study of the microcircuitry of neocortical layer 1 (L1) in the somatosensory cortex in juvenile rats (P13–P16) using multi-neuron patch-clamp and 3D morphology reconstructions. Expert-based subjective classification of the morphologies of the recorded L1 neurons suggest 6 morphological classes: (1) the Neurogliaform cells with dense axonal arborizations (NGC-DA) and with sparse arborizations (NGC-SA), (2) the Horizontal Axon Cell (HAC), (3) those with descending axonal collaterals (DAC), (4) the large axon cell (LAC), and (5) the small axon cell (SAC). Objective, supervised and unsupervised cluster analyses confirmed DAC, HAC, LAC and NGC as distinct morphological classes. The neurons were also classified into 5 electrophysiological types based on the Petilla convention; classical non-adapting (cNAC), burst non-adapting (bNAC), classical adapting (cAC), classical stuttering (cSTUT), and classical irregular spiking (cIR). The most common electrophysiological type of neuron was the cNAC type (40%) and the most common morpho-electrical type was the NGC-DA—cNAC. Paired patch-clamp recordings revealed that the neurons were connected via GABAergic inhibitory synaptic connections with a 7.9% connection probability and via gap junctions with a 5.2% connection probability. Most synaptic connections were mediated by both GABAA and GABAB receptors (62.6%). A smaller fraction of synaptic connections were mediated exclusively by GABAA (15.4%) or GABAB (21.8%) receptors. Morphological 3D reconstruction of synaptic connected pairs of L1 neurons revealed multi-synapse connections with an average of 9 putative synapses per connection. These putative synapses were widely distributed with 39% on somata and 61% on dendrites. We also discuss the functional implications of this L1 cellular and synaptic organization in neocortical information processing.
Phytochemical Composition and Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Humboldtia sanjappae Sasidh. & Sujanapal, an Endemic Medicinal Plant to the Western Ghats

Ethnomedicinal plants are important sources of drug candidates, and many of these plants, especially in the Western Ghats, are underexplored. Humboldtia, a genus within the Fabaceae family, thrives in the biodiversity of the Western Ghats, Kerala, India, and holds significant ethnobotanical importance. However, many Humboldtia species remain understudied in terms of their biological efficacy, while some lack scientific validation for their traditional uses. However, Humboldtia sanjappae, an underexplored plant, was investigated for the phytochemical composition of the plant, and its antioxidant, enzyme-inhibitory, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial activities were assessed. The LC-MS analysis indicated the presence of several bioactive substances, such as Naringenin, Luteolin, and Pomiferin. The results revealed that the ethanol extract of H. sanjappae exhibited significant in vitro DPPH scavenging activity (6.53 ± 1.49 µg/mL). Additionally, it demonstrated noteworthy FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power) activity (8.46 ± 1.38 µg/mL). Moreover, the ethanol extract of H. sanjappae exhibited notable efficacy in inhibiting the activities of α-amylase (47.60 ± 0.19µg/mL) and β-glucosidase (32.09 ± 0.54 µg/mL). The pre-treatment with the extract decreased the LPS-stimulated release of cytokines in the Raw 264.7 macrophages, demonstrating the anti-inflammatory potential. Further, the antibacterial properties were also evident in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The observed high zone of inhibition in the disc diffusion assay and MIC values were also promising. H. sanjappae displays significant anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and antibacterial properties, likely attributable to its rich composition of various biological compounds such as Naringenin, Luteolin, Epicatechin, Maritemin, and Pomiferin. Serving as a promising reservoir of these beneficial molecules, the potential of H. sanjappae as a valuable source for bioactive ingredients within the realms of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries is underscored, showcasing its potential for diverse applications.
Influence of the South China Sea Biweekly Sea Surface Temperature on the South China Sea Summer Monsoon Especially during the Indian Ocean Dipole

ABSTRACT The influence of the biweekly sea surface temperature (SST) in the South China Sea (SCS) on the SCS summer monsoon, especially during the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is presented using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) SST and rainfall data for April to June from 1999 to 2013. During positive IOD (PIOD) years the biweekly SST anomalies over the SCS lead the rain anomalies by three days, with a significant correlation (r = 0.8, at the 99% confidence level), whereas during negative IOD (NIOD) years, the correlation is only 0.2. The biweekly SST is observed to influence the westward and northward propagating rainfall anomalies over the SCS and, hence, affect the SCS summer monsoon, especially during PIOD years. No such propagation was seen during NIOD years. The biweekly intraseasonal oscillation of SST in the SCS results in enhanced sea level pressure and surface shortwave radiation, especially during PIOD years. The potential findings here indicate that the biweekly SST in the SCS is strongly (weakly) influenced during PIOD (NIOD) years. Further, it is observed that SST in the SCS has a strong (weak) effect on the SCS summer monsoon by westward and northward propagation of rainfall, especially during PIOD (NIOD) years. When a PIOD or NIOD exists over the tropical Indian Ocean, the SCS SST will be strongly (r = 0.6, at the 99% confidence level) or weakly correlated with the residual index, respectively.
Soil water variability in the Weatherley grassland catchment, South Africa: II. Soil water content

Abstract Soil water content is a major factor that affects the hydrological response of a hillslope or catchment. It is therefore important to have reliable soil water content data to estimate catchment water yield. Daily soil water content (θ) data was calculated based on weekly measured and other data for the Weatherley grassland catchment in South Africa. A modelling procedure, based on the soil water balance equation and the interpretation of the physical properties of soils was used to calculate daily θ for all 28 sites for the six-year period. A statistical model performance indicated that the mean index of agreement was 0.88, root mean square error (RMSE) was 6.8 mm water per 300 mm soil and mean unsystematic RMSE to total RMSE was 93%. These results indicated that the calculated soil water contents agreed well with the measured values and could therefore be used with reasonable confidence to fill data gaps. The proposed procedure therefore affords the possibility to increase the resolution of irregular measured soil water content data. This would significantly advance the usability of such data, because the influence of rainfall events on soil water content is frequently missed by manual soil water content measurements.
A Systematic Analysis of Seismic Moment Tensor at The Geysers Geothermal Field, California

The Geysers geothermal field is one of the most seismically active regions in northern California. Most of the events occur at shallow depths and are related to stress and hydrological perturbations due to energy production operations. To better understand the relationships between seismicity and operations, better source mechanism information is needed. Seismic moment tensors offer insight into the nature of equivalent forces causing the seismicity. Fifty-three M>3 events located at The Geysers geothermal field were selected from the University of California Berkeley Moment Tensor Catalog for analysis of seismic moment tensor solutions and associated uncertainties. Deviatoric and full moment tensor solutions were computed, and statistical tests were employed to assess solution stability, resolution, and significance. In this study, we examine several source models including double-couple (DC), pure isotropic (ISO; volumetric change), and volume-compensated linear vector dipole (CLVD) sources, as well as compound sources such as DC+CLVD, DC+ISO, and shear–tensile sources. In general, we find from a systematic approach toward characterizing uncertainties in moment tensor solutions that The Geysers earthquakes, as a population, deviate significantly from northern California seismicity in terms of apparent volumetric source terms and complexity.
NOTES ON THE TAXONOMY OF COUSINIA SECT. HAUSSKNECHTIANAE (ASTERACEAE, CARDUEAE)

Taxonomy of Cousinia sect. Haussknechtianae is revised. The species belonging to this section have limited distribution in high mountainous areas of C, SW and W Iran, and NE Iraq. Due to their late flowering time and remote mountainous areas of distribution, they are poorly known. Thanks to the examination of extensive collections from Zagros mountain range in recent years, species of C. sect. Haussknechtianae are now better known. In this paper three new species, i.e. C. komidjanensis from C Iran, C. curvibracteata from SW Iran and C. rawanduzensis from NE Iraq are described as new to science. A short diagnosis, an English description and an image of holotypes for each of these three new species are given. According to the results, C. sect. Haussknechtianae includes overall eight species endemic to Iran and N Iraq. A synopsis of all species belonging to this section, an identification key to the species and a map of distribution of species are given. In addition, C. hergtiana is here lectotypified.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of ATI NAZIONALE

Nowadays, the gradual depletion of fossil fuels associated with constraints on emissions of greenhouse gases leads to valorize their wasted heat from power plant. One of the technologies adopted for improvement is the utilization of combined cycles. For this purpose, the steam cycle is used most frequently. These systems are highly efficient, but they are very complex and water is requested, moreover they are very heavy, so they cannot always be used. In this context, Air Bottoming Cycles (ABC) become attractive for potential use in future plants and repowering because they are light, compact and they have flexible-use and no water consumption. An application of an Air Bottoming Cycle (ABC) is composed of a gas turbine powered by natural gas, an air compressor and an air turbine coupled to the system by means of a heat exchanger, referred to as the AHX (Air Heat Exchanger). The aim of this paper is to study an Air Bottoming Cycle (ABC) that uses a medium power industrial gas turbine as topper cycle. A thermodynamic optimization is realized, determining the best pressure ratio and air mass flow rate of bottomer cycle. Then, an off-design analysis varying ambient temperature and FAR (Fuel Air Ratio) is shown, in fact, in this case, the exhaust gas conditions from topper gas turbine and inlet air of bottoming joule cycle change. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of ATI NAZIONALE.
Learning High-Dimensional Gaussian Graphical Models under Total Positivity without Tuning Parameters

We consider the problem of estimating an undirected Gaussian graphical model when the underlying distribution is multivariate totally positive of order 2 (MTP2), a strong form of positive dependence. Such distributions are relevant for example for portfolio selection, since assets are usually positively dependent. A large body of methods have been proposed for learning undirected graphical models without the MTP2 constraint. A major limitation of these methods is that their consistency guarantees in the high-dimensional setting usually require a particular choice of a tuning parameter, which is unknown a priori in real world applications. We here show that an undirected graphical model under MTP2 can be learned consistently without any tuning parameters. This is achieved by a constraint-based estimator that infers the structure of the underlying graphical model by testing the signs of the empirical partial correlation coefficients. We evaluate the performance of our estimator in simulations and on financial data.
Network Intrusion Detection Design Using Feature Selection of Soft Computing Paradigms

The network traffic data provided for the design of intrusion detection always are large with ineffective information and enclose limited and ambiguous information about users’ activities. We study the problems and propose a two phases approach in our intrusion detection design. In the first phase, we develop a correlation-based feature selection algorithm to remove the worthless information from the original high dimensional database. Next, we design an intrusion detection method to solve the problems of uncertainty caused by limited and ambiguous information. In the experiments, we choose six UCI databases and DARPA KDD99 intrusion detection data set as our evaluation tools. Empirical studies indicate that our feature selection algorithm is capable of reducing the size of data set. Our intrusion detection method achieves a better performance than those of participating intrusion detectors. Keywords—Intrusion detection, feature selection, k-nearest neighbors, fuzzy clustering, Dempster-Shafer theory
Semi-Supervised Exploration in Image Retrieval

We present our solution to Landmark Image Retrieval Challenge 2019. This challenge was based on the large Google Landmarks Dataset V2[9]. The goal was to retrieve all database images containing the same landmark for every provided query image. Our solution is a combination of global and local models to form an initial KNN graph. We then use a novel extension of the recently proposed graph traversal method EGT [1] referred to as semi-supervised EGT to refine the graph and retrieve better candidates.
A multi-technique evaluation of the groundwater resource potentials of wuro juli well field, gombe subbasin, upper Benue basin, northeastern Nigeria

A B ST R A C T Hydrostratigraphic mapping and results of pumping test analysis were used to investigate groundwater occurrence and the hydraulic properties of the aquifer systems in the Wuro Juli well field, near Gombe Metropolis, Gombe Sub Basin. The well field is comprised of a set of 13 deep boreholes developed to improve public water supply to Gombe Township. The delineated aquifers have several formation boundaries that inhibited lateral continuity of groundwater flow. At a discharge rate of between 43.20 m 3 /day and 613.44m 3 /day, the specific discharge (q) and Hydraulic Conductivity (K) values varied in the range of 1.172. 03m 3 /day and 2.75 x 10 -2 - 2.06 x 10 0 m 2 /day, respectively. The Application of both Chow’s method of Drawdown Analysis and Jacob’s Residual Drawdown Method to drawdown measured during multiple pumping tests in the well field yielded very low Transmissivity (T) and Storativity (S) values. T and S varied in the range of 3.13 x 10 -5 3.50 x 10 -4 m 2 /sec and 4.40 x 10 -8 - 4.00 x 10 -7 , respectively. The analysis of the distancedrawdown data indicated that a resultant drawdown due to simultaneous pumping of two wells for about 200 minutes ranged from about 30m near the pumping wells to 0.50m over the more distant segments of the radius of influence. The low Transmissivity (T) and Storativity (S) values of the water supply aquifers in the well field caused very low range of cone of depression, culminating in huge drawdown values within some of the pumped wells. This tight cone of depression would limit the actualization of the projected abstraction rate of 4492.80m 3 /day (187.20m 3 /hr) required to temporary solve water supply problems in Gombe Town. Structural discontinuities and in particular very low aquifer recharge through rainfall were other important parameters that contributed to the limitation of the groundwater potentials of Wuro Juli well field.
Factors associated with health-related quality of life in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: Thai PCI registry

Background Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been shown to improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). The objectives of this study were to assess the changes in HRQoL and factors influencing these changes in CAD patients after undergoing PCI. Methods Data from a nationwide PCI registry across 39 hospitals in Thailand were collected in 2018–2019, including baseline characteristics, comorbid diseases, angiographic CAD severity, procedural details, and type of health insurance. HRQoL, as measured by utility scores, was determined in all patients using the Thai version of EQ-5D-5l at admission, discharge, and 6 and 12 months after discharge. The effects of time after PCI procedure and various factors on mean utility scores were assessed using a mixed-effect linear regression model. Results A total of 19,701 patients were included in the analysis; they had a mean age of 64.2 ± 11.7 years and were predominantly (69.1%) male. Following PCI, the mean utility scores increased from 66.6 ± 19.6 at admission to 81.9 ± 13.8 at discharge, and remained stable at 6 and 12 months (86.1 ± 12.3 and 88.0 ± 11.7, respectively). After adjusting for potential confounding variables, several factors were found to be independently associated with improved HRQoL, including angiographic success, male gender, overweight status, dyslipidemia, and radial access. Six other factors were associated with less improved HRQoLs, including cardiogenic shock/IABP support, old age, CKD, clinical presentation (STEMI and NSTEMI), prior cerebrovascular disease, and heart failure. There were no associations of CAD severity and procedural details with HRQoL. No differences were found related to type of health insurance, except that patients who were uninsured or self-pay tended to have less improvement in HRQoL. Conclusion HRQoL improved significantly after PCI in these subjects, as observed through 1 year of follow-up. Identifying the factors influencing these improvements may assist clinicians in tailoring patient interventions to optimise quality of life after PCI.