Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural analysis of paintings based on brush strokes

The origin of works of art can often not be attributed to a certain artist. Likewise it is difficult to say whether paintings or drawings are originals or forgeries. In various fields of art new technical methods are used to examine the age, the state of preservation and the origin of the materials used. For the examination of paintings, radiological methods like X-ray and infra-red diagnosis, digital radiography, computer-tomography, etc. and color analyzes are employed to authenticate art. But all these methods do not relate certain characteristics in art work to a specific artist -- the artist's personal style. In order to study this personal style of a painter, experts in art history and image processing try to examine the 'structural signature' based on brush strokes within paintings, in particular in portrait miniatures. A computer-aided classification and recognition system for portrait miniatures is developed, which enables a semi- automatic classification and forgery detection based on content, color, and brush strokes. A hierarchically structured classification scheme is introduced which separates the classification into three different levels of information: color, shape of region, and structure of brush strokes.
Massive abiotic methane production in eclogite during cold subduction

Abstract Methane (CH4) is a critical but overlooked component in the study of the deep carbon cycle. Abiotic CH4 produced by serpentinization of ultramafic rocks has received extensive attention, but its formation and flux in mafic rocks during subduction remain poorly understood. Here, we report massive CH4-rich fluid inclusions in well-zoned garnet from eclogites in Western Tianshan, China. Petrological characteristics and carbon–hydrogen isotopic compositions confirm the abiotic origin of this CH4. Reconstructed P–T–fO2–fluid trajectories and Deep Earth Water modeling imply that massive abiotic CH4 was generated during cold subduction at depths of 50–120 km, whereas CO2 was produced during exhumation. The massive production of abiotic CH4 in eclogites may result from multiple mechanisms during prograde high pressure-ultrahigh pressure metamorphism. Our flux calculation proposes that abiotic CH4 that has been formed in HP-UHP eclogites in cold subduction zones may represent one of the largest, yet overlooked, sources of abiotic CH4 on Earth.
The Effect of an Upper Limit to Population Size on Persistence Time

Abstract For a population with density-independent vital rates in a randomly varying environment, previous authors have calculated the probability that population size will first drop to some specified (arbitrary) low level at a given time (the first passage time distribution (FPTD), which may be interpreted as a distribution of extinction times). In this paper, we study the FPTD For a stochastic model of density-independent population growth which includes a hard upper limit to population size. We discuss the conditions under which this distribution may be approximated by the FPTD of a Wiener process with a reflecting boundary condition, for which an exact calculation is presented in an appendix. We compare the FPTD of the new model with its counterpart in the model without an upper limit. The most important effects of introducing the upper limit are: (a) ultimate extinction becomes certain; (b) if the long run growth rate in the absence of the upper boundary was small but positive, extinction within ecologically significant times is likely; (c) for larger values of the long run growth rate, persistence over ecologically significant times is almost certain. We discuss the implications of result (b) for conservation. Result (c) establishes that "density-vague" regulation can produce persistent, but bounded, populations.
Variable Misuse Detection: Software Developers versus Neural Bug Detectors

: Finding and fixing software bugs is a central part of software development. Developers are therefore often confronted with the task of identifying whether a code snippet contains a bug and where it is located. Recently, data-driven approaches have been employed to automate this process. These so called neural bug detectors are trained on millions of buggy and correct code snippets to learn the task of bug detection. This raises the question how the performance of neural bug detectors and software developers compare. As a first step, we study this question in the context of variable misuse bugs. To this end, we performed a study with over 100 software developers and two state-of-the-art approaches for neural bug detection. Our study shows that software developers are on average slightly better than neural bug detectors – even though the bug detectors are trained specifically for this task. In addition, we identified several bottlenecks in existing neural bug detectors which could be mitigated in the future to improve their bug detection performance.
Protective Effects of Aqueous Extract of Bay Leaf (Laurus Nobilis) on Endotoxin-Induced Oxidative Stress in Rabbits

ABSTRACT The protective effect of oral co-administration of Laurus nobilis on Escherichia coli endotoxin-exposed rabbits was studied. Twenty-five (25) rabbits were randomized into five groups containing five rabbits each – Group A, 500 Endotoxin Unit (EU) kg−1 bw, Group B, 500 EU kg−1 bw + 6.6 mg kg−1 bw extract, Group C, 500 EU kg−1 bw + 3.3 mg kg−1 bw extract, Group D, 500 EU kg−1 bw + Ascorbic acid (100 mg kg−1 bw) and Group E (0 EU kg−1 bw). The rabbits were pre-administered with the bay leaf extract in the first 7 days, then endotoxin oral administration was started and repeated daily for 21 d. At the end of days 7 and 21, assays for the serum superoxide dismutase, glutathione S-transferase, reduced glutathione, catalase, and malondialdehyde were done. The animals were sacrificed to collect kidneys and liver. Histopathological analysis of the liver and kidneys showed that exposure to 500 EU kg−1 bw endotoxin for 21 d + bay leaf extract at 6.6 and 3.3 mg kg−1 bw increased specific activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione S-transferase, and reduced glutathione and catalase compared to the negative control. There was a decrease in the concentration of malondialdehyde in groups treated with the aqueous extract of bay leaf.
Roles of religiosity in enhancing life satisfaction, ethical judgements and consumer loyalty

Abstract Previous research concerning religiosity and consumer behaviors highlights that consumers are possibly affected by religion in areas such as life satisfaction, faith, ethics, and materialism. Analysis, however, has yet to develop a systematic framework that examines the effects of particular religious commitments on consumer behaviors, such as life satisfaction, ethical decisions, and intentions of loyalty, which is the main incentive for us to conduct this research. This study which takes into account Catholic affiliation in the Vietnamese context intends to develop the literature on the relationship between religiosity and consumer behaviors. Specifically, aiming to explore potential mediators in the interrelationship between religious commitments and customer loyalty intentions at convenience stores, the research incorporates ethical judgements and life satisfaction. The Structural Equation Modeling method is utilized to analyze the surveyed data from 388 Catholics for hypothesis testing. According to the tested results, satisfaction with life plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between religious commitments and customer loyalty. On the other hand, ethical judgements serve as an important mediator that considerably enhances the impact of intrinsic religiosity on consumer loyalty. The findings also provide an insightful view of the sociology of religion regarding business enterprises.
The effect of entrepreneurial orientation on innovation performance in the airport industry through learning orientation and strategic alignment

Abstract In a highly competitive market and global economy, innovation is often recognised as the pinnacle of success and one of the most critical components. Entrepreneurial orientation has been recognised as an effective development strategy to advance innovation performance. Nevertheless, innovation research in the airport industry through entrepreneurial orientation has not received adequate attention. In addition, the development of innovation requires a dynamic change in strategic alignment and learning capacity. Nonetheless, the literature still lacks studies explaining how entrepreneurial orientation influences innovation performance through strategic alignment and learning orientation in the airport industry. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and innovation performance through the mediating effect of strategic alignment and learning orientation in the Dubai airport. A questionnaire was distributed to 413 employees from three main departments. The research findings revealed a significant positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and innovation performance. The findings also exposed that strategic alignment and learning orientation mediate the above relationship. Theoretically, this study extends the dynamic capabilities theory by providing an empirical model explaining how to dynamically improve innovation performance in the airport through the entrepreneurial orientation mediated by strategic alignment and learning orientation. Practically, this study also introduces a model that assists the managers in developing employees’ entrepreneurial capabilities and airport information technology (IT) alignment and learning that are important to improve airport innovation performance.
Reframing Parent-Teacher Relationships in Rural African Schools

Abstract Positive interactions and relationships between parents and teachers have the potential to deepen parents’ involvement in children’s learning. However, not much is known about the scope of the interactions between parents and teachers in rural public primary schools in Africa. Specifically, little is known about the spaces in which parents and teachers relate and inter-act; who participates in these interactions; and the types of relationships which underpin or emerge from such interactions. This article explores the natural (i.e., not interventionist or programme-driven) interactions and relationships between parents and teachers in North Central Nigeria. The findings draw from a two-phased ethnographic study of parental involvement in two rural schools and communities with parents of upper level primary children and the teachers and head teachers of the children. The main methods were partly structured interviews and participant observations while thematic analysis was used to identify themes around which narratives were represented. The findings revealed affective, economic, and official relationships between parents, teachers, and head teachers within and outside schools, though to a limited extent in one of the school-communities where there was significant instability of school leadership. Importantly, these relationships were embedded within the religious, social, and cultural ways of life in both communities. The study underscores the criticality of school heads for parent-teacher relationships, and for realising the promises of parental involvement in schooling.
A real-time photoacoustic and ultrasound dual-modality imaging system facilitated with GPU and code parallel optimization

Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) offers structural and functional imaging of living biological tissue with highly sensitive optical absorption contrast and excellent spatial resolution comparable to medical ultrasound (US) imaging. We report the development of a fully integrated PAT and US dual-modality imaging system, which performs signal scanning, image reconstruction and display for both photoacoustic (PA) and US imaging all in a truly real-time manner. The backprojection (BP) algorithm for PA image reconstruction is optimized to reduce the computational cost and facilitate parallel computation on a state of the art graphics processing unit (GPU) card. For the first time, PAT and US imaging of the same object can be conducted simultaneously and continuously, at a real time frame rate, presently limited by the laser repetition rate of 10 Hz. Noninvasive PAT and US imaging of human peripheral joints in vivo were achieved, demonstrating the satisfactory image quality realized with this system. Another experiment, simultaneous PAT and US imaging of contrast agent flowing through an artificial vessel was conducted to verify the performance of this system for imaging fast biological events. The GPU based image reconstruction software code for this dual-modality system is open source and available for download from http://sourceforge.net/projects/pat realtime .
“I Love My Body; I Love It All” : Body Positivity Messages in Youth-Oriented Television Series

ABSTRACT Traditionally, content analyses of body image (BI) messages in youth-oriented series have focused on negative messages. Thus, studies have not addressed the potential for youth-oriented series to promote positive BI (PBI). Using the main principles of the General Learning Model, this study fills this gap in the literature through a content analysis of the PBI messages in six youth-oriented television series. A total of 126 characters (52% male, 48% female) and 3,151 scenes across 65 episodes were coded. We further paid attention to the co-occurrence between PBI and negative BI (NBI) messages, and to who promoted PBI messages (i.e., character gender and body size). The results indicate that a PBI message occurred in a youth-oriented television series twice per episode. Also, NBI and PBI messages co-occurred. This underlines the complexity of the television landscape and implies that scholars should focus on both NBI and PBI, instead of exclusively examining NBI messages and their impact on adolescents’ BI. Further, the distribution of PBI messages did not vary by character gender. Lastly, characters with below-average body sizes were more likely to convey PBI messages.
The community profiles of symbiotic bacteria at the different life stages of coral Dipsastraea favus

Corals live in a symbiotic relationship with various bacteria that are fundamental to host fitness, health, and survival. Though the diversity of symbiotic bacteria has been revealed in the early life stages of some corals, the dynamic bacterial community profiles of one coral are still poorly characterized, particularly the stage-specific bacteria. In this study, the bacterial communities in the patent, eggs, and 4-day-old planula larvae of a hermaphrodite coral Dipsastraea favus were investigated by high-throughput sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA gene. As a result, dynamic profiles of bacterial community in the parent, eggs and larvae of D. favus were suggested. The bacterial diversity in the planula larvae was a bit higher than that in the D. favus parent, and distinct stage-specific symbiotic bacteria were detected, e.g., Oceanospirillaceae, Kordia, and Legionellaceae in D. favus larvae, and Kiloniellales and Prosthecochloris in adult D. favus. The dynamic change of bacterial community in coral adults and larvae may expand our understanding of the complex relationship between coral host and its symbiotic microbiota.
Low doses of 3-phenyl-lawsone or meglumine antimoniate delivery by tattooing route are successful in reducing parasite load in cutaneous lesions of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis-infected hamsters

Current therapeutic ways adopted for the treatment of leishmaniasis are toxic and expensive including parasite resistance is a growing problem. Given this scenario, it is urgent to explore treatment alternatives for leishmaniasis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 3-phenyl-lawsone (3-PL) naphthoquinone on Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis infection, both in vitro and in vivo, using two local routes of administration: subcutaneous (higher dose) and tattoo (lower dose). In vitro 3-PL showed low toxicity for macrophages (CC50 >3200 µM/48h) and activity against intracellular amastigotes (IC50 = 193 ± 19 µM/48h) and promastigotes (IC50 = 116 ± 26 µM/72h), in which induced increased ROS generation. Additionally, 3-PL up-regulated the production of cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-10 in infected macrophages. However, the anti-amastigote action was independent of nitric oxide production. Treatment of hamsters infected with L. (V.) braziliensis from one week after infection with 3-PL by subcutaneous (25 µg/Kg) or tattooing (2.5 µg/Kg) route, during 3 weeks (3 times/week) or 2 weeks (2 times/week) significantly decreased the parasite load (p<0.001) in the lesion. The reduction of parasite load by 3-PL treatment was comparable to reference drug meglumine antimoniate administered by the same routes (subcutaneous 1mg/Kg and tattoo 0.1mg/Kg). In addition, treatment started from five weeks after infection with 3-PL per tattoo also decreased the parasite load. These results show the anti-leishmanial effect of 3-PL against L. (V.) braziliensis and its efficacy by subcutaneous (higher dose) and tattoo (lower dose) routes. In addition, this study shows that drug delivery by tattooing the lesion allows the use of lower doses than the conventional subcutaneous route, which may support the development of a new therapeutic strategy that can be adopted for leishmaniasis.
Game based assessments of cognitive ability in recruitment: Validity, fairness and test-taking experience

Gamification and machine learning are emergent technologies in recruitment, promising to improve the user experience and fairness of assessments. We test this by validating a game based assessment of cognitive ability with a machine learning based scoring algorithm optimised for validity and fairness. We use applied data from 11,574 assessment completions. The assessment has convergent validity (r = 0.5) and test–retest reliability (r = 0.68). It maintains fairness in a separate sample of 3,107 job applicants, showing that fairness-optimised machine learning can improve outcome parity issues with cognitive ability tests in recruitment settings. We show that there are no significant gender differences in test taking anxiety resulting from the games, and that anxiety does not directly predict game performance, supporting the notion that game based assessments help with test taking anxiety. Interactions between anxiety, gender and performance are explored. Feedback from 4,778 job applicants reveals a Net Promoter score of 58, indicating more applicants support than dislike the assessment, and that games deliver a positive applicant experience in practise. Satisfaction with the format is high, but applicants raise face validity concerns over the abstract games. We encourage the use of gamification and machine learning to improve the fairness and user experience of psychometric tests.
Perinatal mesenchymal stromal cells of the human decidua restore continence in rats with stress urinary incontinence induced by simulated birth trauma and regulate senescence of fibroblasts from women with stress urinary incontinence

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a condition that causes the involuntary loss of urine when making small efforts, which seriously affects daily life of people who suffer from it. Women are more affected by this form of incontinence than men, since parity is the main risk factor. Weakening of the pelvic floor tissues is the cause of SUI, although a complete understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the pathology is still lacking. Reconstructive surgery to strengthen tissue in SUI patients is often associated with complications and/or is ineffective. Mesenchymal stromal cells from the maternal side of the placenta, i.e. the decidua, are proposed here as a therapeutic alternative based on the regenerative potential of mesenchymal cells. The animal model of SUI due to vaginal distention simulating labor has been used, and decidual mesenchymal stromal cell (DMSC) transplantation was effective in preventing a drop in pressure at the leak point in treated animals. Histological analysis of the urethras from DMSC-treated animals after VD showed recovery of the muscle fiber integrity, low or no extracellular matrix (ECM) infiltration and larger elastic fibers near the external urethral sphincter, compared to control animals. Cells isolated from the suburethral connective tissue of SUI patients were characterized as myofibroblasts, based on the expression of several specific genes and proteins, and were shown to achieve premature replicative senescence. Co-culture of SUI myofibroblasts with DMSC via transwell revealed a paracrine interaction between the cells through signals that mediated DMSC migration, SUI myofibroblast proliferation, and modulation of the proinflammatory and ECM-degrading milieu that is characteristic of senescence. In conclusion, DMSC could be an alternative therapeutic option for SUI by counteracting the effects of senescence in damaged pelvic tissue.
Challenges and potential solutions of grid-forming converters applied to wind power generation system—An overview

As the capacity of wind power generation increases, grid-forming (GFM) wind turbine generators are deemed as promising solutions to support the system frequency for future low inertia power grids. So far, the GFM converter with a nearly ideal dc voltage source has been studied thoroughly. However, when the GFM converter is applied to wind power applications, there are some realistic problems and challenges, such as coordinating wind turbine control and GFM control, limited energy to support the grid, variable wind speed, etc. These problems still need more discussion. In this paper, an overview of challenges and potential solutions of GFM converters applied to wind power generation systems are provided, where different energy reserving schemes, GFM control schemes, and overcurrent protection schemes are compared and discussed. Finally, a few perspectives on future trends are shared according to the authors’ knowledge.
Limitations of radiosensitization by direct telomerase inhibition to treat high-risk medulloblastoma

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. Previous studies have elucidated the genomic landscape of MB leading to the recognition of four core molecular subgroups (WNT, SHH, group 3 and group 4) with distinct clinical outcomes. Group 3 has the worst prognosis of all MB. Radiotherapy (RT) remains a major component in the treatment of poor prognosis MB but is rarely curative alone and is associated with acute and long-term toxicities. A hallmark of cancer cells is their unlimited proliferative potential which correlates closely with telomere length. The vast majority of malignant tumors activate telomerase to maintain telomere length, whereas this activity is barely detectable in most normal human somatic tissues, making telomerase inhibition a rational therapeutic target in the setting of cancer recurrence and therapy resistance. We and others have previously shown that short telomeres confer sensitivity to ionizing radiation (IR) suggesting that telomerase inhibition mediated telomere shortening will improve the efficacy of RT while minimizing its side effects. Here, we investigated the efficacy of the combination of IR with IMT, a potent telomerase inhibitor, in an in vivo model of group 3 MB. Our results indicate that although IMT inhibited MB telomerase activity resulting in telomere shortening and delayed tumor growth, the combination with IR did not prevent tumor recurrence and did not improve survival compared to the treatment with IR alone. Together, these findings suggest that the radiosensitization by direct telomerase inhibition is not an effective approach to treat high-risk pediatric brain tumors.