Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MprF-mediated immune evasion is necessary for Lactiplantibacillus plantarum resilience in Drosophila gut during inflammation

Background Multiple peptide resistance factor (MprF) confers resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in several pathogens, thereby enabling evasion of the host immune response. While MprF has been proven to be crucial for the virulence of various pathogens, its role in commensal gut bacteria remains uncharacterized. To close this knowledge gap, we used a common gut commensal of animals, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, and its natural host, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, as an experimental model to investigate the role of MprF in commensal-host interactions. Results The L. plantarum ΔmprF mutant that we generated exhibited deficiency in the synthesis of lysyl-phosphatidylglycerol (Lys-PG), resulting in increased negative cell surface charge and increased susceptibility to AMPs. Susceptibility to AMPs had no effect on ΔmprF mutant’s ability to colonize guts of uninfected flies. However, we observed significantly reduced abundance of the ΔmprF mutant after infection-induced inflammation in the guts of wild-type flies but not flies lacking AMPs. These results demonstrate that host AMPs reduce the abundance of the ΔmprF mutant during infection. We found in addition that the ΔmprF mutant compared to wild-type L. plantarum induces a stronger intestinal immune response in flies due to the increased release of immunostimulatory peptidoglycan fragments, indicating an important role of MprF in promoting host tolerance to commensals. Conclusion Overall, our results demonstrate that MprF, besides its well-characterized role in pathogen immune evasion and virulence, is also an important resilience factor in maintaining stable microbiota-host interactions during intestinal inflammation.
Primary oocytes with cellular senescence features are involved in ovarian aging in mice

In mammalian females, quiescent primordial follicles serve as the ovarian reserve and sustain normal ovarian function and egg production via folliculogenesis. The loss of primordial follicles causes ovarian aging. Cellular senescence, characterized by cell cycle arrest and production of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), is associated with tissue aging. In the present study, we report that some quiescent primary oocytes in primordial follicles become senescent in adult mouse ovaries. The senescent primary oocytes share senescence markers characterized in senescent somatic cells. The senescent primary oocytes were observed in young adult mouse ovaries, remained at approximately 15% of the total primary oocytes during ovarian aging from 6 months to 12 months, and accumulated in aged ovaries. Administration of a senolytic drug ABT263 to 3-month-old mice reduced the percentage of senescent primary oocytes and the transcription of the SASP cytokines in the ovary. In addition, led to increased numbers of primordial and total follicles and a higher rate of oocyte maturation and female fertility. Our study provides experimental evidence that primary oocytes, a germline cell type that is arrested in meiosis, become senescent in adult mouse ovaries and that senescent cell clearance reduced primordial follicle loss and mitigated ovarian aging phenotypes.
Software engineering for large-scale multi-agent systems: research issues and practical applications

Software Engineering Foundations. - Taming Agents and Objects in Software Engineering. - The Role of Roles in Designing Effective Agent Organizations. - Requirements Engineering and Software Architecture. - Requirements Engineering for Large-Scale Multi-agent Systems. - Requirements Traceability in Agent Oriented Development. - The Reflective Blackboard Pattern: Architecting Large Multi-agent Systems. - Coordination and Mobility. - A Declarative Approach to Agent-Centered Context-Aware Computing in Ad Hoc Wireless Environments. - Engineering Mobility in Large Multi Agent Systems: A Case Study in Urban Traffic Management. - Sustainable Information Ecosystems. - Reuse. - Achieving the Promise of Reuse with Agent Components. - Application-Specific Reuse of Agent Roles. - Assisting the Development of Aspect-Based Multi-agent Systems Using the Smartweaver Approach. - Dependability. - Dynamic and Adaptive Replication for Large-Scale Reliable Multi-agent Systems. - Achieving Software Robustness via Large-Scale Multiagent Systems. - Empirical Studies and Applications. - What Can Cellular Automata Tell Us about the Behavior of Large Multi-agent Systems? - The RETSINA MAS, a Case Study. - Secure Multi-agent Coordination in a Network Monitoring System. - Towards Monitored Data Consistency and Business Processing Based on Declarative Software Agents1.
Are remotely sensed image classification techniques improving ? Results of a long term trend analysis

The long term trend in the accuracy of remotely sensed image classification has been investigated using reported results in the journal Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing in the period since 1989. The results indicate no significant improvement in the performance of classification methodologies over this period. Average classification performance across all results was found to be 72.7% with the average Kappa value being 0.64. Results also indicate no significant correlation between classification performance and number of classes. A good correlation is found between overall percentage accuracy figures and the Kappa coefficient indicating the suitability of either to categorize overall mapping performance. Only a small percentage of papers (8%) were found to provide all background information necessary to make a sophisticated inter-comparison of methods.
Treatment of Lead-containing Wastewater with Ceramisite

The treatment of lead-containing wastewater with ceramisite was experimentally investigated.The results show that the rate of lead removal is more than 98%, when pH is 4～11 and Pb 2+ concentration is in the range of 0～100? mg/L,The treated effluent meets the national wastewater discharge standard.
Investigation of Phenolic Constituents of Carduncellus eriocephalus Boiss. var. albiflora Gauba and their Biological Activities

The total ethanolic extract (TEE) of Carduncellus eriocephalus Boiss. var. albiflora Gauba showed antioxidant, antihyperglycaemic, and antihyperlipidaemic activities, which were attributed to the n-butanol fraction (BF). Chemical investigation of the BF led to the isolation of a new flavonoid, kaempferol-3-O-β-D-galactopyranoside-6″-sulfate (16), and a phenyl propenyl glycoside, 1-β-D-glucopyranoside-3-phenyl-2-propenol (rosin) (6), which is reported for the first time in the family Asteraceae. Chrysoeriol (1), 3′-O-methylorobol (2), luteolin (3), quercetin (4), myricetin (5), kaempferol 3-O-α-L-arabinopyranoside (7), kaempferol 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (8), quercetin 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (12), luteolin 7-O-β-D-rutinoside (13), quercetin 3-O-β-D-rutinoside (14), apigenin 7-O-β-D-rutinoside (15), and 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (17) were isolated for the first time from the genus Carduncellus, in addition to apigenin 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (9), chryseriol 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (10) and luteolin 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (11), which have been previously reported for C. eriocephalus.
LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating for high-pressure basic granulite from North Qinling and its geological significance

A combined study of CL imaging, LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating and trace element analysis were carried out for zircon grains from high-pressure basic granulite at Songshugou in North Qinling. The zircons display core-rim internal texture. The cores are made up of sector or planar domains, partially displaying weak zoning or misty texture, and have the feature of low content of Th, U, REE, HREE, low Th/U ratio and high (Nd/Yb)n ratio, and the REE pattern typical for zircon coexisting with garnet. These features indicate the metamorphic genesis for the zircon cores. The rims have narrow light margins (<30ìm in width) around the cores and boundaries between core and rim are rounded or lough-like, indicating that the rims were formed during retrograde metamorphism. U-Pb isotopic data of 24 spots from the cores of 11 zircon grains yield a 206Pb/238U weighted average age of 485±3.3 Ma, which is interpreted as the peak metamorphic age of high-pressure (HP) basic granulite. This age is well consistent within error with that of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) eclogite and its country rock gneiss (507±37 Ma) that occur at the north side of the Qinling Group, possibly indicating the occurrence of two contemporaneous Early-Paleozoic HP to UHP metamorphic rock belts on the north and south sides of the Qinling Group. Combining with the regional geological studies and the distribution of Early-Paleozoic granites related to subduction and collision, the two HP to UHP metamorphic belts may be the products of continental crust bi-directional deep subduction toward Qinling micro-block caused by the subduction and collision of Paleozoic Qinling ocean and Erlangping ocean, respectively.
still-ex-Construction and validation of an instrument for evaluating the quality of university service-learning projects using the Delphi method Construcción

: Service-learning has spread significantly in higher education in recent decades. Its effects in the academic field (students and teachers) and in the community (disadvantaged groups at risk of social exclusion and socio-educational partners) are backed by research. However, few works have considered the evaluation of these projects, and there are few instruments available for guiding their development and for assessing their quality. The aim of this study is to develop criteria to evaluate university service-learning projects. To do so, we used the Delphi method with three rounds of expert consultation. The result is a university service-learning, indicator matrix with 9 dimensions and 43 indicators. We conclude that, as well as evaluating the quality of service-learning projects, this instrument could also be valid for validating social innovation from the educational sphere. The principal limitations to overcome are the still-ex-Construction
Inﬂuence of a micro-perforated duct absorber on sound emission and performance of axial fans

In this article we investigate the inﬂuence of varying ﬂow conditions on the acoustic behaviour of a micro-perforated panel absorber (MPA), applied in the vicinity of an axial fan. The predesign of the MPA was conducted by using the Finite Element Method (FE) in combination with porous material modelling approaches. Experimental results of emitted sound spectra and fan characteristic of different fan blade geometries, positioning of the fan to the absorber, as well as changes in turbulent intensity are presented. The studies showed that the investigated MPA duct reduces the overall sound pressure level emitted by the fan by up to 16 dB while maintaining the same efﬁciency and pressure build-up. From an acoustic and aerodynamic point of view, it was more efﬁcient if the fan operate downstream of the MPA instead of within the MPA. This arrangement increased the efﬁciency and avoided high-frequency sound generation, which is caused by the ﬂow through the MPA. The results show that the function of the MPA can be used for different fan geometries and that inlet turbulence improves the properties of the absorber.
Intelligent Mobile Drone System Based on Real-Time Object Detection

: Drone also known as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has drawn lots of attention in recent years. Quadcopter as one of the most popular drones has great potential in both industrial and academic fields. Quadcopter drones are capable of taking off vertically and flying towards any direction. Traditional researches of drones mainly focus on their mechanical structures and movement control. The aircraft movement is usually controlled by a remote controller manually or the trajectory is pre-programmed with specific algorithms. Consumer drones typically use mobile device together with remote controllers to realize flight control and video transmission. Implementing different functions on mobile devices can result in different behaviors of drones indirectly. With the development of deep learning in computer vision field, commercial drones equipped with camera can be much more intelligent and even realize autonomous flight. In the past, running deep learning based algorithms on mobile devices is highly computational intensive and time consuming. This paper utilizes a novel real-time object detection method and deploys the deep learning model on the modern mobile device to realize autonomous object detection and object tracking of drones.
Species discrimination in the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) ammonite genus Knemiceras von Buch, 1848

Mit verschiedenen Analysemethoden der multivariaten Statistik werden Sammlungen von Knemiceras ssp. aus dem Iran und Libanon auf die Validität dreier Arten hin untersucht, die mittels der üblichen Arbeitsweise der beschreibenden Taxonomie aufgestellt worden sind: K. persicum coLLignon, 1983, K. syriacum (von Buch 1848a) und K. dubertreti Basse, 1940. Die Gültigkeit eines vierten Taxons, nämlich K. compressum hyatt, 1903, lässt sich aufgrund des mangelhaften Materials nicht mit Sicherheit feststellen. Eine sogenannte “Eigenshape-Analyse” der Suturlinien aller Taxa weist darauf hin, dass keine wesentlichen Unterschiede vorhanden sind. Da der Formenreichtum der Gehäuse sehr groß ist, könnte dieses Ergebnis möglicherweise von funktioneller Bedeutung bezüglich des Verhältnisses Gehäuseform/Sutur, sein.
EPIDEMIOLOGY OF HYPOCALCAEMIA IN NICU OF A TEACHING HOSPITAL OF EASTERN REGION OF INDIA

Background: Neonatal hypocalcemia is a common yet challenging anomaly, often asymptomatic and transient, posing potential threats to newborns. The absence of a well-established definition and controversy surrounding therapeutic cutoff levels add complexity to clinical assessment. This study aims to explore the epidemiology of hypocalcemia in a NICU setting in Eastern India, investigating prevalence, associated risk factors. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at an eastern Indian teaching hospital's NICU from July 2020 to June 2021. Participants included newborns aged <28 days admitted specifically for hypocalcemia or those developing it during NICU stay. Exclusions comprised major congenital anomalies, out-born newborns, and those without parental consent. Hypocalcemia definitions varied based on birth weight, and data were collected through venous samples and detailed documentation. Result: Out of 628 deliveries, 14 newborns (2.23%) developed hypocalcemia, with a prevalence of 16.28% in NICU admissions. Males outnumbered females (5:2), and the term-to-preterm ratio was 1:1. Common delivery mode was Lower Uterine Caesarean Section (LUCS) (78.58%). Hypocalcemia was prevalent in newborns with a birth weight ≥2500g (50%). Early onset neonatal hypocalcemia (EONH) occurred in 6 cases, while 8 developed late-onset neonatal hypocalcemia (LONH). Respiratory distress (50%) and jaundice (50%) were predominant symptoms, and Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension (PIH) emerged as a common precipitating factor (37.5%). Conclusion: The study highlights a 16.28% prevalence of hypocalcemia in NICU, predominantly affecting males and newborns with a birth weight ≥2500g. PIH and birth asphyxia emerged as significant risk factors, with a noteworthy proportion of asymptomatic cases. Respiratory distress was the leading associated pathology. Further multicenter, long-term studies are warranted to comprehensively explore the epidemiological profile and trends. Limitation of this study is single-centered with a short span in a NICU setting, emphasizing the need for extensive, multicenter, and longitudinal investigations from both NICU and OPD settings.
Addressing Current Deficits in Patient Education Materials Through Crowdsourcing

Background Patient education materials are commonly reported to be difficult to understand. Objectives We aimed to use crowdsourcing to improve patient education materials at our institution. Methods This was a department-wide quality improvement project to increase organizational health literacy. There are 6 phases of this pilot study: (1) evaluating preexisting patient education materials, (2) evaluating online patient education materials at the society (the American Society of Plastic Surgeon) and government level (Medline Plus), (3) redesigning our patient education material and reevaluating the education material, (4) crowdsourcing to evaluate understandability of the new patient education material, (5) data analysis, and (6) incorporating crowdsourcing suggestions to the patient education material. Results Breast-related patient education materials are not easy to read at the institution level, the society level, and the government level. Our new implant-based breast reconstruction patient education material is easy to read as demonstrated by the crowdsourcing evaluation. More than 90% of the participants reported our material is “very easy to understand” or “easy to understand. ” The crowdsourcing process took 1.5 days, with 700 workers responding to the survey. The total cost was $9. After incorporating participants' feedback into the finalized material, the readability of the material is at the recommended reading level. The material also had the recommended length (between 400 and 800 words). Discussion Our study demonstrated a pathway for clinicians to efficiently obtain a large amount of feedback to improve patient education materials. Crowdsourcing is an effective tool to improve organizational health literacy.
Speech Understanding and Subjective Listening Effort in Noise With Different OTEs and Sound Processing Technologies

Objective To determine speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in noise and subjective listening effort (LE) in cochlear implant (CI) recipients for application of three sound processing (SP) technologies with two off-the-ear (OTE) CI sound processors, a fixed moderately directional microphone (Standard), an adaptive directional microphone (Beam), and the spatial noise-reduction setting ForwardFocus, with the Kanso 2 (OTE2), and Beam with the Kanso (OTE1). Study Design Prospective repeated measures, within-subject design. Setting Single tertiary-referral center. Patients Twenty CI recipients with bilateral severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. Main Outcome Measures SRTs were assessed in two spatial configurations with frontal speech and noise from 90–180–270 degrees (S0N90–180–270) or from the CI side (S0NCI). SRTs were obtained for sentences of the Oldenburg sentence test presented in International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA) noise ICRA5-250. LE for speech understanding in noise was evaluated in S0N90–180–270 and assessed in effort scale categorical units (ESCUs) by using Adaptive Categorical Listening Effort Scaling (ACALES). LEs at 5-dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were calculated from fitted psychometric curves. Results With OTE2 in S0N90–180–270, SRT with ForwardFocus (−4.28 dB SNR) was better than with Beam (−3.13 dB SNR) and Standard (0.43 dB SNR). ForwardFocus showed lower LE5dB (2.61 ESCU) compared with Beam (4.60 ESCU) and Standard (5.32 ESCU). In a comparison of both OTEs in S0N90–180–270 regarding best-performing SP technology, ForwardFocus with OTE2 yielded a better SRT and better LE5dB than Beam with OTE1 (SRT: −1.70 dB SNR; LE5dB: 4.00 ESCU). With OTE2 in S0NCI, SRT was improved with ForwardFocus (−2.78 dB SNR) compared with Beam (−1.23 dB SNR) and Standard (1.83 dB SNR). Conclusion With respect to SP technology and OTE, CI recipients experience best SRT and lowest LE in S0N90–180–270 when using ForwardFocus with OTE2. ACALES is feasible for assessing subjective LE in CI recipients.
A Simple Metric for Predicting Video Quality of Experience

—Quality of Experience evaluation for video and audio transmissions over the Internet has gained an increased attention, due to the importance of promoting customer satisfaction. In this paper we propose a framework for predicting the end user’s Quality of Experience in a test environment that comprises an evaluation process and a simple metric, simulating a lossy or congested network having a mechanism of trafﬁc engineering to differentiate among relative importances of the transmitted packets. The results obtained have conﬁrmed the validity of our approach in the context of the assumed premises, showing that it is possible to achieve similar results to the ones that are obtained when the video subjective quality is resource-intensively assessed by the VQM metric.
Advancing E-Commerce Analytics: The Development of Intelligent Analytics Software for Enhanced Customer Experience

In the current era of rapid growth in electronic commerce, it is crucial for organizations to possess an in-depth understanding of client habits in order to effectively optimize their plans. This position paper presents a proposal that centers on the creation of Intelligent Analytics Software designed specifically for Casper, a well-known e-commerce platform that specializes in the selling of electronic devices. The main purpose of the software is to facilitate the real-time monitoring and analysis of users' browsing patterns, utilizing historical navigation data as a basis. The effort arises from the growing necessity to utilize data-driven insights in order to improve client experiences and achieve commercial advantages. The statement above highlights the need for secure and accurate information collecting, rapidly adapting to user behaviors in real-time, and delivering personalized benefits, as well as effectively addressing platform-related challenges. Our research and development efforts involve conducting comprehensive analyses of user navigation, ensuring secure processing of data
Reducing conﬂicts on JVSTM transactions - STMBench7: A case study

Over the last years, multicores have become accessible to the common developer. Writing concurrent programs that are correct and that display good performance is hard. Software Transactional Memory (STM) is a step in the direction of solving the ﬁrst problem, but it does not provide tools for the programmer to understand and optimize his code’s performance, thus leaving the second problem as an open issue. In this paper, we present a novel technique that informs the developer about which objects cause JVSTM transactions to conﬂict. Then, we describe how we used that technique together with several JVSTM conﬂict reduction techniques to improve the performance of a transactional application.
Smith ScholarWorks Smith ScholarWorks

Research has established that trauma-related symptoms may impede the formation of a strong working alliance (i.e., interpersonal connection, trust, and shared goals between therapist and client). As the alliance is critical in trauma-focused therapy, we studied how clients’ pretherapy factors, including symptoms and psychophysiological arousal, predict treatment alliance. We examined symptoms and physiological responses in 27 women who had exposure to extreme interpersonal violence; all of whom were enrolled in therapy. All had symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder. Clients completed measures of working alliance and were assessed before and after treatment on measures of symptoms and autonomic arousal. Autonomic assessment included measures of skin conductance and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), taken during baseline, while viewing positive and then trauma-related slides, and during recovery. Higher alliance ratings were predicted by lower pretherapy skin conductance during trauma slides ( r = − .41, p = .049) and recovery ( r = − .44, p = .047) and higher RSA during baseline ( r = .47, p = .027) and positive slides ( r = .43, p = .044). Findings remained signiﬁcant even after partialling pretherapy symptoms. These data on a high-need but understudied population suggest that sympathetic and parasympathetic arousal may help traumatized clients effectively engage in therapy, further supporting the role of parasympathetic activity in social engagement.