Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prenatal genetic counseling in states hostile to abortion in the final days of Roe v. Wade: A qualitative study

Genetic counselors (GCs) play an important role in providing and coordinating care for patients considering abortion care secondary to fetal anomaly and/or genetic diagnosis. In the United States, restrictive legislation reducing access to abortion has increased dramatically in recent years. In Texas, an unusual vigilante‐style law went into effect in September 2021, effectively banning all abortion after 6‐week gestation; this more restrictive legislation was widely seen as a harbinger of things to come. To assess the impact of evolving abortion restrictions on genetic counseling practice and patient care, we conducted semistructured interviews with 34 GCs practicing in states characterized as hostile to abortion using standards developed by the Guttmacher Institute and analyzed using Dedoose software. All interviews took place prior to the June 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Our qualitative study offered some support for earlier work, suggesting that time pressure created by gestational age limits and the potential need for patients to travel out of state for abortion care was the most significant impact on GC practice. However, GCs practicing in Texas and other highly restrictive states were more likely to report that legal uncertainty had a greater impact, often affecting their ability to counsel patients. GCs in Texas also emphasized that institutional guidance was helpful and that a lack of institutional guidance hindered patient care. With the Supreme Court decision in June 2022 overturning the right to abortion established under Roe v. Wade, many more GCs are likely to practice in states where abortion is restricted or banned. Our study suggests that impediments to counseling may be underappreciated in the changing landscape of abortion law.
First Description of Akanthomyces uredinophilus comb. nov. from Hemipteran Insects in America

Filamentous fungi of the genera Lecanicillium and Akanthomyces (Ascomycota: Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) have been isolated from a variety of insect orders and are of particular interest as biological control agents for phloem-sucking plant pests. Three aphid- and whitefly-pathogenic fungal strains that had been isolated from naturally infected Trialeurodes vaporariorum and Myzus persicae in Argentina were assigned to the species Lecanicillium uredinophilum by combined analyses of morphology and ITS, LSU, EF1A, RPB1 and RPB2-based molecular taxonomy, giving rise to both the first description of this fungus from hemipteran insects and its first report from outside South-East Asia, especially from the American continent. A combination of phylogenetic reconstruction and analysis of pair-wise sequence similarities demonstrated that—reflecting recent changes in the systematics of Cordycipitaceae—the entire species L. uredinophilum should be transferred to the genus Akanthomyces. Consequently, the introduction of a new taxon, Akanthomaces uredinophilus comb. nov., was proposed. Moreover, extensive data mining for cryptic A. uredinophilus sequences revealed that (i) the fungus is geographically widely distributed, including earlier unrecognized isolations from further American countries such as the USA, Mexico, and Colombia, and (ii) entomopathogenic and mycoparasitic lifestyles are predominant in this species.
Plasma wave observations near the plasmapause with the S³‐A satellite

Summary. In this paper we describe the electric field noise phenomena observed by the S³-A spacecraft near the plasmapause during the magnetic storm of December 16–17, 1971. The most striking and unusual feature of these storm time electric field observations is the occurrence of a region of intense low-frequency (20 to 500 Hz) electrostatic noise bursts just outside the plasmapause boundary. These noise bursts occurred concurrent with the rapid decrease in low-energy (20 ≲ E ≲ 50 kev) ring current protons mirroring near the equator during this storm and may be responsible for the loss of these particles. The characteristics of other phenomena, such as whistlers, ELF hiss, and banded chorus, observed near the plasmapause during this period are also discussed.
Some New Results of Nonautonomous Lotka–Volterra Competitive Systems with Delays☆☆☆

Abstract In this paper, we improve and generalize the results of Montes de Oca and Zeeman [ J. Math. Anal. Appl. 192 (1995), 360–370; Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 124 (1996), 3677–3687] to general N -species nonautonomous Lotka–Volterra type competitive systems with finite or infinite delays. We establish a series of criteria under which a part of the n species of the systems is driven to extinction while the remaining part of the n species is persistent or uniformly persistent, or coexists globally asymptotically stable.
Simplicial Mesh Generation with Applications

Many problems in computer graphics and in engineering analysis require for their solution the construction of a mesh of simple polytopal elements that approximately fill the interior of an object or cover its boundary. The simplest polytopes are the simplexes, and simplicial meshes have particular advantages when solving interpolation problems, graphically rendering objects approximated by boundary meshes, and in many other applications. Boxes are often used where simplexes should be considered because the properties of boxes are more familiar. This dissertation develops several techniques that aid in the construction of simplicial meshes in any dimension. It presents the essential combinatorial and geometric properties of simplexes, and presents simple techniques for decomposing simplexes into smaller simple objects. It describes the simplicial quadtree, a useful representation in the construction of simplicial meshes, and presents a technique for converting an arbitrary simplicial quadtree into a balanced quadtree, then into a triangulation. It also describes mesh displacement, a technique for improving the quality of a boundary triangulation while reducing its size. Several degenerate behaviors can arise from mesh displacement, and the dissertation discusses methods for detecting and compensating for these degeneracies. Simplicial mesh generation techniques can be applied to many kinds of problems. To illustrate this, the final chapters describe the implementation of a polygonalizer for algebraic sets and a system that applies the operations of constructive solid geometry to sets defined algebraically.
The impact of the corona epidemic on working capital management for jordanian companies listed on the amman stock exchange

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine how the COVID-19 epidemic has affected the working capital management practices of Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) companies. From 2012 to 2021, 101 firms were studied in the financial sector. The data was also examined using a Multiple Regression Model in the study. The results revealed that Covid-19 Pandemic has significant and negative effect on working capital management. According to the results, companies tended to take a relatively conservative approach to managing their working capital. More importantly, the data demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic crisis drove changes in working capital management practices. Companies with a high FL, QR, and CCC have attempted to increase their client base by prolonging the average age of their accounts receivable and decreasing the turnover rate of their liabilities, respectively. Companies with a greater CCC, as well as those whose principal current assets are accounts receivable, outperformed the other working capital management strategies.
Isolation and Characterization of Muntingia Calabura Cellulose Nanofibers

ABSTRACT Bio-nanocomposite attracts a lot of attention in composite studies and in this article is observed the composite with cellulose nanofiber (CNF) reinforcement. Several types of potential fiber as reinforcement have been published and there is one type of interesting fiber due to its large population, namely Muntingia calabura, which is considered as agricultural waste. Muntingia stems also have the characteristics of being easy to dry, elastic, and soft which are potential to be used as a composite. In order to have high fiber performance, the manufacture of cellulose nanofibers needs to be analyzed for their characteristics. The characteristics of Muntingia fiber were enhanced by applying the chemical treatment using 8% of NaOH and 0.5% of NaClO. Next, mechanical treatment using an ultra-fine-friction grinder was performed to derive the CNF from the fiber. The chemical treatment roughened the fiber surface and decreased the impurities, lignin, and hemicellulose in the fiber. It was proven by the lignin bond chain (C-C) with the smallest intensity of 31.03% and the surface morphology was observed through SEM. The highest crystallinity index of Muntingia fiber was obtained from bleaching-treated Muntingia of 83.29%, affecting the percentage of total fiber weight lost by 28.75%. The lower the percentage of fiber weight loss, the higher the thermal resistance. This study showed that Muntingia fiber is potential to be used as one of the alternative fibers for bio-nano composite.
Real-Time Characterization of Clonal Fate Decisions in Complex Leukemia Samples by Fluorescent Genetic Barcoding

Clonal heterogeneity in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) forms the basis for treatment failure and relapse. Attempts to decipher clonal evolution and clonal competition primarily depend on deep sequencing approaches. However, this prevents the experimental confirmation of the identified disease-relevant traits on the same cell material. Here, we describe the development and application of a complex fluorescent genetic barcoding (cFGB) lentiviral vector system for the labeling and subsequent multiplex tracking of up to 48 viable AML clones by flow cytometry. This approach allowed the visualization of longitudinal changes in the in vitro growth behavior of multiplexed color-coded AML clones for up to 137 days. Functional studies of flow cytometry-enriched clones documented their stably inherited increase in competitiveness, despite the absence of growth-promoting mutations in exome sequencing data. Transplantation of aliquots of a color-coded AML cell mix into mice revealed the initial engraftment of similar clones and their subsequent differential distribution in the animals over time. Targeted RNA-sequencing of paired pre-malignant and de novo expanded clones linked gene sets associated with Myc-targets, embryonic stem cells, and RAS signaling to the foundation of clonal expansion. These results demonstrate the potency of cFGB-mediated clonal tracking for the deconvolution of verifiable driver-mechanisms underlying clonal selection in leukemia.
Validating ECMWF forecasts for the occurrence of ice supersaturation using visual observations of persistent contrails and radiosonde measurements over England

One of the largest uncertainties in quantifying the impact of aviation on climate concerns the formation and spreading of persistent contrails. The inclusion of a cloud scheme that allows for ice supersaturation into the integrated forecast system (IFS) of the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) can be a useful tool to help reduce these uncertainties. This study evaluates the quality of the ECMWF forecasts with respect to ice supersaturation in the upper troposphere by comparing them with visual observations of persistent contrails and radiosonde measurements of ice supersaturation over England. The performance of 1–3 day forecasts is compared, also including the vertical accuracy of the supersaturation forecasts. It is found that the operational forecasts from the ECMWF are able to predict cold ice‐supersaturated regions very well. For the best cases Peirce skill scores of 0.7 are obtained, with hit rates at times exceeding 80% and false‐alarm rates below 20%. Results are very similar for comparisons with visual observations and radiosonde measurements, the latter providing the better statistical significance. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society
Rotor Wake Vortex Definition-Evaluation of 3-C PIV Results of the HART-II Study

An evaluation is made of extensive three-component (3-C) particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements within the wake across a rotor disk plane. The model is a 40 percent scale BO-105 helicopter main rotor in forward flight simulation. This study is part of the HART II test program conducted in the German-Dutch Wind Tunnel (DNW). Included are wake vortex field measurements over the advancing and retreating sides of the rotor operating at a typical descent landing condition important for impulsive blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise. Also included are advancing side results for rotor angle variations from climb to steep descent. Using detailed PIV vector maps of the vortex fields, methods of extracting key vortex parameters are examined and a new method was developed and evaluated. An objective processing method, involving a center-of-vorticity criterion and a vorticity “disk” integration, was used to determine vortex core size, strength, core velocity distribution characteristics, and unsteadiness. These parameters are mapped over the rotor disk and offer unique physical insight for these parameters of importance for rotor noise and vibration prediction.
A universal design procedure for adaptive control of nonminimum phase linear stochastic systems

A universal design procedure for adaptive control of possibly nonminimum phase linear stochastic systems is suggested in this paper. It is based on a class of weighted least squares (WLS) algorithms. The appealing feature of WLS is its self-convergence property, i.e., it converges to a certain random vector almost surely irrespective of the control law design. This "universal convergence" result combined with a method of random search can then be applied easily to construct a self-convergent and uniformly controllable estimated model, and thus may enable us to form a general framework for adaptive control of possibly nonminimum phase ARMAX systems. As an application, we give a simple solution to the well-known stochastic adaptive pole-placement and LQG control problems in the paper.
Anthropogenic Heat Release: Estimation of Global Distribution and Possible Climate Effect

The estimation of the distribution of global anthropogenic heat release (AHR) from 1992 to 2009 was obtained by applying Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)/Operational Linescan System (OLS) satellite data. The results indicate that global AHR was geographically concentrated, essentially correlating to economic activities. The anthropogenic heat flux concentrated in the economically developed areas, such as East Asia, Europe, and Eastern North America, reached a level high enough to influence regional climate. In contrast, the anthropogenic heat flux in vast areas, such as Africa, Central and North Asia, and South America, is very small. With the increases in global population and economic development, an increase in AHR was easily found. The model results show that AHR has a significant impact on surface temperature and that it is able to affect global atmospheric circulation, leading to a 1–2 K increase in the high-latitude areas of Eurasia and North America. The results show that AHR is able to affect global climate despite being limited to a region. Although the influence to global warming by AHR is not as large as greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, on a global scale, AHR is an important factor in global climate change that should not be ignored.
Efficient Hardware Architectures for Accelerating Deep Neural Networks: Survey

In the modern-day era of technology, a paradigm shift has been witnessed in the areas involving applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Deep Learning (DL). Specifically, Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have emerged as a popular field of interest in most AI applications such as computer vision, image and video processing, robotics, etc. In the context of developed digital technologies and the availability of authentic data and data handling infrastructure, DNNs have been a credible choice for solving more complex real-life problems. The performance and accuracy of a DNN is a way better than human intelligence in certain situations. However, it is noteworthy that the DNN is computationally too cumbersome in terms of the resources and time to handle these computations. Furthermore, general-purpose architectures like CPUs have issues in handling such computationally intensive algorithms. Therefore, a lot of interest and efforts have been invested by the research fraternity in specialized hardware architectures such as Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), and Coarse Grained Reconfigurable Array (CGRA) in the context of effective implementation of computationally intensive algorithms. This paper brings forward the various research works on the development and deployment of DNNs using the aforementioned specialized hardware architectures and embedded AI accelerators. The review discusses the detailed description of the specialized hardware-based accelerators used in the training and/or inference of DNN. A comparative study based on factors like power, area, and throughput, is also made on the various accelerators discussed. Finally, future research and development directions, such as future trends in DNN implementation on specialized hardware accelerators, are discussed. This review article is intended to guide hardware architects to accelerate and improve the effectiveness of deep learning research.
2D-Laser Scan Registration Using Multi-Scale NDT with Polar Scan Clustering

Scan registration plays an important role in robotics. The problem is to figure out the optimal transformation between two frames of data points, reference points and scene points. One approach to perform this task is using Normal Distribution Transform (NDT). The concept of NDT is to convert reference point cloud into Gaussian mixture distribution and then match scene points with this distribution. Nevertheless, this approach is likely to suffer from local optimum problem especially when the initial transformation error is large. Therefore, in recent researches, multi-scale registration technique is applied. In this work, multi-scale registration can be achieved by using polar scan clustering with different degree of separations. In registration problem, polar scan clustering has advantage over other clustering approaches because it is aware of the fact that the structure of data obtained from laser range finder is sorted by measured angle. To evaluate the performance of our approach, the experiment is conducted to compare transformation error resulted from our approach and a recent approach. As a result, the result from the proposed approach is better than the recent one significantly.
Antibacterial, antioxidant, and haemolytic potential of silver nanoparticles biosynthesized using roots extract of Cannabis sativa plant

Abstract In this study, Cannabis sativa roots extract has been employed for the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The appearance of reddish-brown colour followed by absorption peak of AgNPs at 408 nm through UV-vis spectrophotometry suggested biosynthesis of AgNPs. The size of the particles ranged from 90–113 nm, confirmed using DLS and TEM along with zeta potential of −25.3 mV. The FTIR provided information regarding the phytochemical capping. The study was further elaborated for determining AgNPs antibacterial, antioxidant, and cellular toxicity using MIC, DPPH, MTT, and haemolytic assays, respectively. The AgNPs were significantly effective against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive), as compared to that of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli (Gram-negative). AgNPs also exhibited remarkable antioxidant potential wherein 58.01 ± 0.09% free radical scavenging was observed at a concentration of 100 µg/ml. AgNPs revealed lower cytotoxicity where cell viability was observed to be 52.38 ± 0.6% at a very high concentration of 500 µg/ml in HEK 293 cells. Further, very low toxicity was seen in RBCs i.e. 6.47 ± 0.04% at a high concentration of 200 µg/ml. Thus, the current study beholds anticipation that Cannabis sativa ethanolic root extract-mediated AgNPs may play a vital role in therapeutic.
Cognitive Strategies: Moderating the Relationship between Executive Functions and Daily Functioning

Whereas prior studies have addressed relationships between cognitive strategies and learning and achievement, very few dealt with their connection to daily functioning. This study examines the moderation effect of the frequency of compensatory cognitive strategy use within that relationship among university students. A sample of 336 students (18–36 years; 180 women, 156 men) answered the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX; executive function components), Time Organization and Participation Scale (TOPS; daily functioning), and Compensatory Cognitive Strategies Scale (CCSS; strategy use). The results showed significant correlations between the DEX and TOPS for three CCSS levels (−1.0, −1.0 to 1.0, and 1.0 SD from average); the higher the frequency of cognitive strategy use, the stronger the association between the DEX and TOPS. The findings suggest that more frequently use of cognitive strategies can strengthen efficient daily functioning.
Exact integration of polynomial–exponential products with application to wave-based numerical methods

Wave-based numerical methods often require to integrate products of polynomials and exponentials. With quadrature methods, this task can be particularly expensive at high frequencies as large numbers of integration points are required. This paper presents a set of closed-form solutions for the integrals of polynomial-exponential products in two and three dimensions. These results apply to arbitrary polygons in two dimensions, and for arbitrary polygonal surfaces or polyhedral volumes in three dimensions. Quadrature methods are therefore not required for this class of integrals that can be evaluated quickly and exactly.