Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial interpolation of precipitation in a dense gauge network for monsoon storm events in the southwestern United States

Inaccuracy in spatially distributed precipitation fields can contribute significantly to the uncertainty of hydrological states and fluxes estimated from land surface models. This paper examines the results of selected interpolation methods for both convective and mixed/stratiform events that occurred during the North American monsoon season over a dense gauge network at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed in the southwestern United States. The spatial coefficient of variation for the precipitation field is employed as an indicator of event morphology, and a gauge clustering factor CF is formulated as a new, scale‐independent measure of network organization. We consider that CF < 0 (a more distributed gauge network) will produce interpolation errors by reduced resolution of the precipitation field and that CF > 0 (clustering in the gauge network) will produce errors because of reduced areal representation of the precipitation field. Spatial interpolation is performed using both inverse‐distance‐weighted (IDW) and multiquadric‐biharmonic (MQB) methods. We employ ensembles of randomly selected network subsets for the statistical evaluation of interpolation errors in comparison with the observed precipitation. The magnitude of interpolation errors and differences in accuracy between interpolation methods depend on both the density and the geometrical organization of the gauge network. Generally, MQB methods outperform IDW methods in terms of interpolation accuracy under all conditions, but it is found that the order of the IDW method is important to the results and may, under some conditions, be just as accurate as the MQB method. In almost all results it is demonstrated that the inverse‐distance‐squared method for spatial interpolation, commonly employed in operational analyses and for engineering assessments, is inferior to the ID‐cubed method, which is also more computationally efficient than the MQB method in studies of large networks.
Nanofiller materials for transparent polymer composites: Influences on the properties and on the transparency—A review

Filler materials are widely used in combination with polymer materials. Conventional filler particles generally cause light scattering and absorption because of their optical characteristic or refractive index difference. With nanoparticles (NPs) as a filler material, it is theoretically possible to manufacture transparent compounds due to their small particle dimensions reducing the interaction with light. Nevertheless, the particles tend to build agglomerates and aggregates which reduce the composite’s transparency considerably. This review gives an overview of the effect different particle materials have on the properties of transparent polymer composites with consideration of the composite’s transparency. There are very few reports on highly transparent and thick (>1 mm) polymer nanocomposites with such an amount of particles that affect other properties of the polymer significantly. In the majority of cases, NPs lead to a significant lower transparency. This indicates that the homogeneous dispersion of the particles is still a major difficulty in producing transparent nanocomposites with enhanced properties.
The Dynamic Distribution of Porcine Microbiota across Different Ages and Gastrointestinal Tract Segments

Metagenome of gut microbes has been implicated in metabolism, immunity, and health maintenance of its host. However, in most of previous studies, the microbiota was sampled from feces instead of gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In this study, we compared the microbial populations from feces at four different developmental stages and contents of four intestinal segments at maturity to examine the dynamic shift of microbiota in pigs and investigated whether adult porcine fecal samples could be used to represent samples of the GI tract. Analysis results revealed that the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes from the feces of the older pigs (2-, 3-, 6- month) were 10 times higher compared to those from piglets (1-month). As the pigs matured, so did it seem that the composition of microbiome became more stable in feces. In adult pigs, there were significant differences in microbial profiles between the contents of the small intestine and large intestine. The dominant genera in the small intestine belonged to aerobe or facultative anaerobe categories, whereas the main genera in the large intestine were all anaerobes. Compared to the GI tract, the composition of microbiome was quite different in feces. The microbial profile in large intestine was more similar to feces than those in the small intestine, with the similarity of 0.75 and 0.38 on average, respectively. Microbial functions, predicted by metagenome profiles, showed the enrichment associated with metabolism pathway and metabolic disease in large intestine and feces while higher abundance of infectious disease, immune function disease, and cancer in small intestine. Fecal microbes also showed enriched function in metabolic pathways compared to microbes from pooled gut contents. Our study extended the understanding of dynamic shift of gut microbes during pig growth and also characterized the profiles of bacterial communities across GI tracts of mature pigs.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Population genomics reveals the origin and asexual evolution of human infective trypanosomes

Evolutionary theory predicts that the lack of recombination and chromosomal re-assortment in strictly asexual organisms results in homologous chromosomes irreversibly accumulating mutations and thus evolving independently of each other, a phenomenon termed the Meselson effect. We apply a population genomics approach to examine this effect in an important human pathogen, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense . We determine that T.b. gambiense is evolving strictly asexually and is derived from a single progenitor, which emerged within the last 10,000 years. We demonstrate the Meselson effect for the first time at the genome-wide level in any organism and show large regions of loss of heterozygosity, which we hypothesise to be a short-term compensatory mechanism for counteracting deleterious mutations. Our study sheds new light on the genomic and evolutionary consequences of strict asexuality, which this pathogen uses as it exploits a new biological niche, the human population. lack of sex. This mechanism essentially repairs the inferior, or mutated, copy of a gene on a chromosome by ‘copying and pasting’ the superior copy from the chromosome’s partner. The findings also suggest that gene conversion can only go some way to compensating for a lack of sex. A future challenge will be to investigate how effective this mechanism can be in the long term and to predict whether the parasite will ultimately become extinct.
A novel second-order nonlinear differentiator with application to active disturbance rejection control

A Second-order Nonlinear Differentiator (SOND) is presented in this paper. By combining both linear and nonlinear terms, this tracking differentiator shows better dynamical performances than other conventional differentiators do. The hyperbolic tangent tanh(.) function is introduced due to two reasons; firstly, the high slope of the continuous tanh(.) function near the origin significantly accelerates the convergence of the proposed tracking differentiator and reduces the chattering phenomenon. Secondly, the saturation feature of the function due to its nonlinearity increases the robustness against the noise components in the signal. The stability of the suggested tracking differentiator is proven based on the Lyapunov analysis. In addition, a frequency-based analysis is applied to investigate the dynamical performances. The performance of the proposed tracking differentiator has been tested in active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) paradigm, which is a recent robust control technique. The numerical simulations emphasize the expected improvements.
CONSORT-EHEALTH Checklist V1.6.2 Report

A randomized control trial evaluating the initial impact of receiving a tailored, web-based message on boys’ and girls’ perceived breast cancer risk and interest in receiving further information on the relationship between breast cancer and cigarette smoke. TITLE 1a-i) Identify the mode of delivery in the title Yes. The title contains the text "web-based message" 1a-ii) Non-web-based components or important co-interventions in title Yes. There were no non-web based components to the intervention. 1a-iii) Primary condition or target group in the title Yes. The title indicates that "boys’ and girls’" are the target group. ABSTRACT 1b-i) Key features/functionalities/components of the intervention and comparator in the METHODS section of the ABSTRACT Yes. The abstract text indicates that:
Assessing Dietary Quality of Older Chinese People Using the Chinese Diet Balance Index (DBI)

Background/Objectives Few studies have applied the Chinese Diet Balance Index (DBI) in evaluating dietary quality for Chinese people. The present cross-sectional study assessed dietary quality based on DBI for older people, and the associated factors, in four socioeconomically distinct regions in China. Methods The China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) involves 2745 older Chinese people, aged 60 or over, from four regions (Northeast, East Coast, Central and West) in 2009. Dietary data were obtained by interviews using 24 hour-recall over three consecutive days. Four indicators: Total Score (TS), Lower Bound Score (LBS), Higher Bound Score (HBS) and Diet Quality Distance (DQD) from DBI were calculated for assessing dietary quality in different aspects. Results 68.9% of older people had different levels of excessive cereals intake. More than 50% of older people had moderate or severe surplus of oil (64.9%) and salt (58.6%). Intake of vegetables and fruit, milk and soybeans, water, and dietary variety were insufficient, especially for milk and soybeans. 80.8% of people had moderate or severe unbalanced diet consumption. The largest differences of DQD scores have been found for people with different education levels and urbanicity levels. People with higher education levels have lower DQD scores (p<0.001), and people living in medium and low urbanicity areas had 2.8 and 8.9 higher DQD scores than their high urbanicity counterparts (p<0.001). Also, significant differences of DQD scores have been found according to gender, marital status, work status and regions (p<0.001). Conclusion DBI can reveal problems of dietary quality for older Chinese people. Rectifying unbalanced diet intake may lead to prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Dieticians and health care professionals need to increase dissemination and uptake of nutrition education, with interventions targeted at regions of lower socioeconomic status.
A fuzzy superiority and inferiority ranking based approach for IT service management software selection

Purpose Information technology service management (ITSM) has become a major IT department management system in organizations. Successful implementation of ITSM depends on select adequate ITSM software. Evaluation and selection of the ITSM solution or software packages is complicated and time-consuming decision-making problem. This paper aims to present an approach for dealing with such a problem. Design/methodology/approach This approach introduces functional, non-functional requirements and novel fuzzy out-ranking evaluation method for ITSM software selection. The presented approach breaks down ITSM software selection criteria into two broad categories, namely, functional (service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation, continual service improvement according to Information Technology Infrastructure Library V3) and non-functional requirements (quality, technical, vendor, implementation) including totally 46 selection criteria. A novel fuzzy superiority and inferiority ranking (FSIR) was developed and made applicable for ITSM software selection based on identified criteria. Findings The proposed approach is applied to IT services company to select and acquire ITSM software, and the provided numerical example illustrates the applicability of the approach for this choice. The approach can facilitate firms to achieve suitable ITSM software and have a precise acquisition decision; however, the limitation of dependency on experts’ competence and proficiency in the both ITSM field and IT technical issues exists. Research limitations/implications The approach can facilitate firms to achieve suitable ITSM software and have a precise acquisition decision; however, the limitation of dependency on experts’ competence and proficiency in the both ITSM field and IT technical issues exists. Practical implications Facilitating of ITSM implementation through its handy software selection is the major impact of current research. Originality/value A facile FSIR-based approach for software selection has been customized to contribute to the current literature in the ITSM field. Facilitating of ITSM implementation through its handy software selection is the major impact of current research.
Brain mitochondria contain aquaporin water channels: evidence for the expression of a short AQP9 isoform in the inner mitochondrial membrane

Aquaporins are a family of water channels found in animals, plants, and microorganisms. A subfamily of aquaporins, the aquaglyceroporins, are permeable for water as well as certain solutes such as glycerol, lactate, and urea. Here we show that the brain contains two isoforms of AQP9—an aquaglyceroporin with a particularly broad substrate specificity—and that the more prevalent of these isoforms is expressed in brain mitochondria. The mitochondrial AQP9 isoform is detected as an ∼25 kDa band in immunoblots. This isoform is likely to correspond to a new AQP9 mRNA that is obtained by alternative splicing and has a shorter ORF than the liver isoform. Subfractionation experiments and high‐resolution immunogold analyses revealed that this novel AQP9 isoform is enriched in mitochondrial inner membranes. AQP9 immunopositive mitochondria occurred in astrocytes throughout the brain and in a subpopulation of neurons in the substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, and arcuate nucleus. In the latter structures, the AQP9 immunopositive mitochondria were located in neurons that were also immunopositive for tyrosine hydroxylase, as demonstrated by double labeling immunogold electron microscopy. Our findings suggest that mitochondrial AQP9 is a hallmark of astrocytes and midbrain dopaminergic neurons. In physiological conditions, the flux of lactate and other metabolites through AQP9 may confer an advantage by allowing the mitochondria to adjust to the metabolic status of the extramitochondrial cytoplasm. We hypothesize that the complement of mitochondrial AQP9 in dopaminergic neurons may relate to the vulnerability of these neurons in Parkinson's disease. Amiry‐Moghaddam, M. , Lindland, H. , Zelenin, S. , Roberg, B. A. , Gundersen, B. B. , Petersen, P., Rinvik, R. , Torgner, I. A. , Ottersen, O. P. Brain mitochondria contain aquaporin water channels: evidence for the expression of a short AQP9 isoform in the inner mitochondrial membrane. FASEB J. 19, 1459–1467 (2005)
Leishmania‐induced increases in activation of macrophage SHP‐1 tyrosine phosphatase are associated with impaired IFN‐γ‐triggered JAK2 activation

Leishmania‐induced macrophage (Mϕ) dysfunctions have been correlated with altered signaling events. Recent findings from our laboratory suggest that modulation of host protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) following Leishmania infection could lead to these Mϕ defects. To address this issue, Mϕ PTP activity and IFN‐γ‐inducible signaling events were evaluated in Leishmania donovani (Ld)‐infected cells. We observed that Ld promastigotes can rapidly trigger host PTP activity simultaneously with dephosphorylation of Mϕ protein tyrosyl residues and inhibition of protein tyrosine kinase (PTK). Our results further revealed that Mϕ SHP‐1 PTP was rapidly activated by the infection. This Ld‐evoked signaling alteration was reflected by absence of IFN‐γ‐induced intracellular phosphorylation. IFN‐γ‐inducible JAK2 PTK phosphorylation was also markedly diminished in Ld‐infected cells. We also observed that co‐immunoprecipitation of JAK2 with SHP‐1 was considerably higher in infected as compared to uninfected cells. Altogether, these results suggest that SHP‐1‐mediated JAK2 dephosphorylation triggered by Leishmania is partly responsible for abnormal Mϕ IFN‐γ signaling and represent an important mechanism supporting persistent parasitic infection.
Stigmatic Self-Incompatibility and Mating Patterns in Trillium grandiflorum and Trillium erectum(Melanthiaceae)

Post-pollination processes governing mating patterns in Trillium, a well-known genus of insect-pollinated woodland herbs, are poorly understood. Mechanisms influencing outcrossing were investigated in T. grandiflorumand T. erectum, two widespread species native to eastern North America. In southern Ontario, Canada, the two species are often sympatric; they flower in early May, and are pollinated by diAerent assemblages of insects. Controlled cross- and selfpollinations and structural observations of pollen germination and pollen tube growth were conducted to determine whether the two species possess a self-incompatibility (SI) system and, if so, the specific site(s) of self-rejection. Controlled pollinations indicated that both species set significantly more seeds from cross-pollination than self-pollination, implicating the action of SI. This was confirmed by structural studies which demonstrated that selfrecognition and rejection reactions occurred on dry-type stigmatic papillae. Observations of pollen hydration revealed that self-rejection was rapid, being initiated within 10 min of pollination and prior to pollen tube emergence. Final selfrejection resulted in failure of pollen tube growth at the base of stigmatic papillae. SI was expressed more weakly in T. erectum and thereby resulted in considerable self-seed set in some individuals. Estimates of outcrossing rates using allozyme markers indicated that T. erectum displayed a mixed-mating system whereas T. grandiflorum was more highly outcrossed. Structural studies of pollen traits indicated that the two species diAered with respect to the size of grains and their aggregation with implications for pollen dispersal and mating. The ecological and evolutionary implications of the variable expression of SI in Trillium are discussed. # 2001 Annals of Botany Company
Reducing Sensor Noise in MEG and EEG Recordings Using Oversampled Temporal Projection

Objective: Here, we review the theory of suppression of spatially uncorrelated, sensor-specific noise in electro- and magentoencephalography (EEG and MEG) arrays, and introduce a novel method for suppression. Our method requires only that the signals of interest are spatially oversampled, which is a reasonable assumption for many EEG and MEG systems. Methods: Our method is based on a leave-one-out procedure using overlapping temporal windows in a mathematical framework to project spatially uncorrelated noise in the temporal domain. Results: This method, termed “oversampled temporal projection” (OTP), has four advantages over existing methods. First, sparse channel-specific artifacts are suppressed while limiting mixing with other channels, whereas existing linear, time-invariant spatial operators can spread such artifacts to other channels with a spatial distribution which can be mistaken for one produced by an electrophysiological source. Second, OTP minimizes distortion of the spatial configuration of the data. During source localization (e.g., dipole fitting), many spatial methods require corresponding modification of the forward model to avoid bias, while OTP does not. Third, noise suppression factors at the sensor level are maintained during source localization, whereas bias compensation removes the denoising benefit for spatial methods that require such compensation. Fourth, OTP uses a time-window duration parameter to control the tradeoff between noise suppression and adaptation to time-varying sensor characteristics. Conclusion: OTP efficiently optimizes noise suppression performance while controlling for spatial bias of the signal of interest. Significance: This is important in applications where sensor noise significantly limits the signal-to-noise ratio, such as high-frequency brain oscillations.
The Use of Virtual Reality to Facilitate Mindfulness Skills Training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury: A Case Study

Introduction: Paralysis from a spinal cord injury (SCI) increases risk of psychological problems including suicide attempts, substance use disorder, negative emotions (e.g., anger), depression, anxiety, ASD/PTSD. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy® (DBT®) has been shown to be effective for treating similar psychological symptoms in non-SCI patient populations. The current study explored for the first time, the feasibility and clinical potential of using Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) enhanced DBT® Mindfulness skills training to help reduce psychological symptoms (negative emotions and anxiety, ASD/PTSD) of two patients with SCI. Patient 1 was a 39-year-old male patient suffering multiple spinal cord injuries, resulting in quadriplegia, after falling out of a four story building. Patient 1 had severe depression, and anxiety symptoms. Patient 2, was a 31 year old male with a C7 vertebral body fracture, leading to paresis, after suffering a blunt force trauma injury during an attempted suicide, jumping from a moving vehicle. Patient 2 had mild depression, and anxiety symptoms. Methods: Each patient looked into VR goggles, and had the illusion of slowly “floating down” a river in virtual reality while listening to DBT® Mindfulness Skills training instructions. Each patient filled out brief psychological ratings before and after each VR session, four VR DBT® sessions for patient 1, and two VR DBT® sessions for patient 2. Results: As predicted, patient 1 reported reductions in negative emotions after each VR DBT® Mindfulness session. Patient 2 had mixed results on some of the measures of negative emotions. And both patients reported feeling less depressed, less anxious, and less emotionally upset, after VR DBT® Mindfulness Skills learning. Patient 2 reported large reductions in short term ASD/PTSD symptoms after his first VR DBT® mindfulness skills training session. Conclusion: This study explored the feasibility of using VR DBT® with quadriplegic or paresis SCI patients. Both SCI patients accepted VR, the patients liked using VR, and, with assistance from the therapist, the patients were able to use the VR equipment, despite being paralyzed. Additional research and development will be needed to determine whether VR DBT® Mindfulness Skills training leads to any long term improvements in outcome.