Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NO Is Not the Same as GSNO in the Regulation of Fe Deficiency Responses by Dicot Plants

Iron (Fe) is abundant in soils but with a poor availability for plants, especially in calcareous soils. To favor its acquisition, plants develop morphological and physiological responses, mainly in their roots, known as Fe deficiency responses. In dicot plants, the regulation of these responses is not totally known, but some hormones and signaling molecules, such as auxin, ethylene, glutathione (GSH), nitric oxide (NO) and S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), have been involved in their activation. Most of these substances, including auxin, ethylene, GSH and NO, increase their production in Fe-deficient roots while GSNO, derived from GSH and NO, decreases its content. This paradoxical result could be explained with the increased expression and activity in Fe-deficient roots of the GSNO reductase (GSNOR) enzyme, which decomposes GSNO to oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and NH3. The fact that NO content increases while GSNO decreases in Fe-deficient roots suggests that NO and GSNO do not play the same role in the regulation of Fe deficiency responses. This review is an update of the results supporting a role for NO, GSNO and GSNOR in the regulation of Fe deficiency responses. The possible roles of NO and GSNO are discussed by taking into account their mode of action through post-translational modifications, such as S-nitrosylation, and through their interactions with the hormones auxin and ethylene, directly related to the activation of morphological and physiological responses to Fe deficiency in dicot plants.
A Stained Glass Image Filter

Medieval stained glass windows are a stylized artform that has not previously been thoroughly treated in the computer graphics literature. In this paper, we present an automated method for transforming an arbitrary image into a stained-glass version of that image. The key issues in designing a stained glass window are the tile boundaries and tile colors. We use erosion and dilation operators to manipulate and smooth an initial region segmentation tiling; we choose tile colors from the palette of heraldic tinctures; and finally, we render a displacement-mapped plane to obtain our final image.
ReduceM: Interactive and Memory Efficient Ray Tracing of Large Models

We present a novel representation and algorithm, ReduceM, for memory efficient ray tracing of large scenes. ReduceM exploits the connectivity between triangles in a mesh and decomposes the model into triangle strips. We also describe a new stripification algorithm, Strip‐RT, that can generate long strips with high spatial coherence. Our approach uses a two‐level traversal algorithm for ray‐primitive intersection. In practice, ReduceM can significantly reduce the storage overhead and ray trace massive models with hundreds of millions of triangles at interactive rates on desktop PCs with 4‐8GB of main memory.
A Systematic Review of Machine Learning and IoT Applied to the Prediction and Monitoring of Cardiovascular Diseases

According to the Pan American Health Organization, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, claiming an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. This paper presents a systematic review to highlight the use of IoT, IoMT, and machine learning to detect, predict, or monitor cardiovascular disease. We had a final sample of 164 high-impact journal papers, focusing on two categories: cardiovascular disease detection using IoT/IoMT technologies and cardiovascular disease using machine learning techniques. For the first category, we found 82 proposals, while for the second, we found 85 proposals. The research highlights list of IoT/IoMT technologies, machine learning techniques, datasets, and the most discussed cardiovascular diseases. Neural networks have been popularly used, achieving an accuracy of over 90%, followed by random forest, XGBoost, k-NN, and SVM. Based on the results, we conclude that IoT/IoMT technologies can predict cardiovascular diseases in real time, ensemble techniques obtained one of the best performances in the accuracy metric, and hypertension and arrhythmia were the most discussed diseases. Finally, we identified the lack of public data as one of the main obstacles for machine learning approaches for cardiovascular disease prediction.
Designing CuInSe2 quantum dot-based high-performance Schottky photodetector: a numerical study

Sensing in the near-infrared and visible wavelengths is critically essential for a broad range of potential applications. Colloidal quantum dot(CQD) based photodetectors provide key advantages, such as spectral tuneability, straight integration with electronic parts, high sensitivity and low cost. Here, a Schottky photodiode architecture based on CuInSe2 (CISe) CQDs structure was designed and its photoresponse characteristics were simulated at various absorber layer thicknesses, at different back contact materials, varying light intensities, several defect densities, and different temperatures. A maximum responsivity of about 0.37 A W−1 was recorded from the proposed device. This work demonstrates that CISe CQDs are potential candidate materials for high-performance Schottky photodetectors operating in the near-infrared and visible electromagnetic spectrum.
Neuroprotective Potential of L-Glutamate Transporters in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Cells against Excitotoxicity

Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neural cells have started to be used in safety/toxicity tests at the preclinical stage of drug development. As previously reported, hiPSC-derived neurons exhibit greater tolerance to excitotoxicity than those of primary cultures of rodent neurons; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. We here investigated the functions of L-glutamate (L-Glu) transporters, the most important machinery to maintain low extracellular L-Glu concentrations, in hiPSC-derived neural cells. We also clarified the contribution of respective L-Glu transporter subtypes. At 63 days in vitro (DIV), we detected neuronal circuit functions in hiPSC-derived neural cells by a microelectrode array system (MEA). At 63 DIV, exposure to 100 μM L-Glu for 24 h did not affect the viability of neural cells. 100 µM L-Glu in the medium decreased to almost 0 μM in 60 min. Pharmacological inhibition of excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1) and EAAT2 suppressed almost 100% of L-Glu decrease. In the presence of this inhibitor, 100 μM L-Glu dramatically decreased cell viability. These results suggest that in hiPSC-derived neural cells, EAAT1 and EAAT2 are the predominant L-Glu transporters, and their uptake potentials are the reasons for the tolerance of hiPSC-derived neurons to excitotoxicity.
APOLOGY STRATEGY IN DISNEY AND PIXAR’S LUCA MOVIE: A PRAGMATIC APPROACH

This paper aims to analyse the various apology strategies used by the characters in the Luca movie script and describe their use through a pragmatic approach by referring to the theory of Klimczak and Pawlak (2014) and Fraser's theory (1981) to explain the factors that influenced the use of apology strategies by characters in Luca's film script. This study uses a descriptive qualitative research method with data obtained from the film script Luca. The results of this study indicate that there are 23 utterances featuring apologies made by 6 characters in Luca's story. The findings are grouped into a taxonomy of apology strategies, there are 9 types of apology strategies used by the characters in Luca's story. The 9 types of strategy include Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (an expression of regret) of 5 utterances, Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (a request for the forgiveness) of 1 utterance, Phatic Communication of 2 utterances, Acknowledgement of Responsibility (explicit self-blame) of 2 utterances, Internal Intensifiers (intensifying adverbials) with 2 utterances, Acknowledgement of Responsibility with 4 utterances of lack of intent, Acknowledgement of Responsibility (expression of embarrassment) with 4 utterances, Explanation or account of the situation with 2 utterances, and Acknowledgement of Responsibility (refusal to acknowledge guilt) with 1 utterance, which every utterance and strategy were influenced by 1-2 factors.
The effects of subcutaneous Tirzepatide on obesity and overweight: a systematic review and meta‐regression analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background Despite the fact that obesity and overweight are serious major health problems worldwide, fighting against them is also considered a challenging issue. Several interventional studies have evaluated the potential weight-reduction effect of Tirzepatide. In order to obtain a better viewpoint from them, this study aimed to comprehensively investigate the effects of subcutaneous Tirzepatide on obesity and overweight. Methods Scopus, PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Embase databases were searched using standard keywords to identify all controlled trials investigating the weight loss effects of Tirzepatide. Pooled weighted mean difference and 95% confidence intervals were achieved by random-effects model analysis for the best estimation of outcomes. The statistical heterogeneity and publication bias were determined using the Cochran’s Q test and I2 statistics and using the funnel plot and Egger’s test, respectively. Results Twenty three treatments arm with 7062 participants’ were included in this systematic review and meta‐regression analysis. The pooled findings showed that Tirzepatide vs placebo significantly reduced body weight (weighted mean difference (WMD): -11.34 kg, 95% confidence interval (CI): -12.79 to -9.88, P< 0.001), body mass index (BMI) (WMD: -3.11 kg/m2, 95% CI: -4.36 to -1.86, P< 0.001), and waist circumference (WC) (WMD: -7.24 cm, 95% CI -10.12 to -4.36, P< 0.001). These reductions were even greater, especially with higher doses and duration of Tirzepatide. Conclusions Tirzepatide medication had significant effects on weight management with the reduction of body weight, BMI, and WC. Administration of Tirzepatide can be considered a therapeutic strategy for overweight or obese people.
Distinctive Features of the XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16 Spike Protein Receptor-Binding Domains and Their Roles in Conformational Changes and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 Binding

The emergence and the high transmissibility of the XBB.1. 5 and XBB.1. 16 subvariants of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron has reignited concerns over the potential impact on vaccine efficacy for these and future variants. We investigated the roles of the XBB.1. 5 and XBB.1. 16 mutations on the structure of the spike protein’s receptor-binding domain (RBD) and its interactions with the host cell receptor ACE2. To bind to ACE2, the RBD must transition from the closed-form to the open-form configuration. We found that the XBB variants have less stable closed-form structures that may make the transition to the open-form easier. We found that the mutations enhance the RBD–ACE2 interactions in XBB.1. 16 compared to XBB.1. 5. We observed significant structural changes in the loop and motif regions of the RBD, altering well-known antibody-binding sites and potentially rendering primary RBD-specific antibodies ineffective. Our findings elucidate how subtle structural changes and interactions contribute to the subvariants’ fitness over their predecessors.
Efficacy and Safety of Hybrid Comprehensive Telerehabilitation (HCTR) for Cardiac Rehabilitation in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Backgrounds Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a serious condition that poses threats to patients' quality of life and life expectancy. Cardiac rehabilitation is a crucial treatment option that can improve outcomes for CVD patients. Hybrid comprehensive telerehabilitation (HCTR) is a relatively new approach. In the context of pandemics, HCTR can minimize the risk of cluster infections by reducing hospital visits while delivering effective rehabilitation care. This study is aimed at assessing the efficacy and safety of HCTR as a secondary prevention measure for CVD patients compared to usual rehabilitation care. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, The Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, and PsychINFO for all related studies up to January 20, 2023. Two reviewers independently screened the titles and abstracts of potentially eligible articles based on the predefined search criteria. Data were analyzed using a comprehensive meta-analysis software (RevMan5.3). Results Eight trials, involving 1578 participants, were included. HCTR and usual rehabilitation care provide similar effects on readmission rates (odds ratio (OR) = 0.90 (95% CI 0.69-1.17), P = 0.43) and mortality (odds ratio (OR) = 1.06 (95% CI 0.72-1.57), P = 0.76). Effects on Short Form-36 Health Status Questionnaire (SF-36) score were also similar (SMD: 1.32 (95% CI-0.48-3.11), P = 0.15). Compared with usual rehabilitation care, HCTR can improve peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak) (SMD: 0.99 (95% CI 0.23-1.74), P = 0.01) and 6-minute walking test (6MWT) (SMD: 10.02 (95% CI 5.44-14.60), P < 0.001) of patients. Conclusions Our findings indicate that HCTR is as effective as traditional rehabilitation care in reducing readmission rates and mortality and improving quality of life in patients with CVD. However, HCTR offers the added advantage of improving VO2 peak and 6MWT, measurements of cardiorespiratory fitness and functional capacity, respectively. These results suggest that HCTR can be a safe and effective alternative to traditional rehabilitation care, offering numerous benefits for CVD patients. Clinical Study Registration Number. This trial is registered with NCT02523560 and NCT02796404.
Genetic analysis of layer performances in a selected line of Rhode Island Red chicken

The study aimed to estimate genetic parameters of layer performance traits in a selected line of Rhode Island Red (RIR) chicken maintained at this institute. The performance traits were recorded on 433 pedigreed pullet progenies, offsprings of 48 sires and 113 dams; and data were analyzed by least squares analysis of variance. Heritability and correlations were estimated using full-sib correlation method. The least squares means of age at first egg (AFE), body weights (BW20, BW40), egg weights (EW28, EW40) and egg production up to 40 weeks of age (EP40) were estimated. Almost all the traits were significantly affected by sires and hatch, whereas dam within sire could not affect any trait. Birds’ housing weight demonstrated significant regression effect on the above traits. The heritability estimates from sire component of variance ranged from 0.003 to 0.241 in different traits. The heritability estimates from dam component and sire plus dam component ranged from 0.011 to 0.670 and 0.061 to 0.379, respectively. The ranges of genetic and phenotypic correlations among the traits were 0.130 to 0.918 and 0.015 to 0.542, respectively. The varied direction of correlations revealed that selection for earlier age at first egg would favour moderately lower body weights and egg production. Again selection for heavier EW28 would favour late AFE and lower egg production. Present findings would serve as the pre-requisites for chalking out the breeding strategies for genetic improvement of RIR chicken.
SmartVent: A Smart Ventilation Solution for Comfortable Indoor Environment

Ventilation is a cost-effective solution for attaining a healthy and comfortable indoor environment. This work presents an Internet of Things (IoT)-based low-cost smart ventilation solution considering indoor air quality and thermal comfort based on intelligently controlling the air-flow direction of bidirectional ventilation fan. The direction of air flow (inward/outward) is controlled based on outdoor and indoor environmental parameters. For decision support, the IoT-based solution considers location-specific outdoor environmental parameters, fetched from the Internet (weather cloud), and the indoor environmental parameters measured through sensors. The solution considers a scalable architecture to support multiple fan units, which could be helpful in creating customized air-flow patterns. Solution prototypes with a manual mode and an automatic/auto mode (considering thermal comfort) of operations demonstrate effective decision making related to the air-flow direction. The experimental results related to air-flow patterns under two fan deployment scenarios are also encouraging. The solution could help in better management of indoor air circulation and it could be useful in various indoor settings, e.g., houses, offices, factories, hospitals, etc.
The “Invisible” Mountains

Abstract This paper examines various ways in which mountains can be defined for Southern Africa (Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland), and South Africa in particular, by using harmonized topographic, vegetation and cultural digital data within a Geographic Information System (GIS). A particular topographic model is finally selected. This definition is then applied to the South African national context to identify the socioeconomic characteristics of its mountainous areas, in particular with regard to poverty indicators. These areas are identified as having distinctive characteristics when compared with metropolitan areas and, more importantly, with non-mountain rural areas. This observation has important political implications, as mountains currently have a very low visibility in regional and social policy.
Eurographics Symposium on Rendering (2007) Efficient Basis Decomposition for Scattered Reflectance Data

Recent progress in acquisition technology has increased the availability and quality of measured appearance data. Although representations based on dimensionality reduction provide the greatest fidelity to measured data, they require assembling a high-resolution and regularly sampled matrix from sparse and non-uniformly scattered input. Constructing and processing this immense matrix becomes a significant computational bottleneck. We describe a technique for performing basis decomposition directly from scattered measurements. Our approach is flexible in how the basis is represented and can accommodate any number of linear constraints on the factorization. Because its time-and space-complexity is proportional to the number of input measurements and the size of the output, we are able to decompose multi-gigabyte datasets faster and at lower error rates than currently available techniques. We evaluate our approach by representing measured spatially-varying reflectance within a reduced linear basis defined over radial basis functions and a database of measured BRDFs.
Frame-indi(cid:11)erent and positive-de(cid:12)nite Reynolds stress{strain relation

Both necessary and su(cid:14)cient conditions are derived in a systematic, rigorous way for a Reynolds stress model to preserve both frame indi(cid:11)erence and positive semi-de(cid:12)niteness of the Reynolds stresses and to satisfy the principle of material frame indi(cid:11)erence (PMFI). Also developed are two approximate theories, a linear theory and a quadratic theory, to simplify the work of developing models satisfying such conditions. The results are also valid for the higher-order correlations and the SGS Reynolds stresses. This leads to the results either con(cid:12)rming the previous intuitive arguments or o(cid:11)ering new insights into turbulence modelling, and is of signi(cid:12)cance in clarifying some controversies in the literature, examining how well existing models preserve the physics, and developing new models. An examination of various existing models with respect to the necessary and su(cid:14)cient conditions obtained in the present work shows that no one model can simultaneously satisfy the invariance, the realizability and the PMFI. This o(cid:11)ers answers to some fundamental questions regarding the existing models, such as the reason why k − " and k − l models fail to give accurate predictions for the normal Reynolds stresses.
Magnetic Damping Constant of CoFeB/Pt Thin Films With Varying the Thicknesses of Pt and Insertion Layer of Al

The effect of the thicknesses of Pt and the insertion of Al layer on the effective magnetic damping constant of CoFeB/Pt thin films caused by the spin-pumping effect has been studied by an angular-dependent ferromagnetic resonance method. In CoFeB/Pt bilayers, a roughly linear dependence of the effective damping constant on Pt thickness ( $t{\mathbf {Pt}}$ ) was observed before saturated at $t_{\mathbf {Pt}} = 2$ nm. While in CoFeB/Al/Pt trilayers, a sharp drop of damping constant was observed while Al thickness is around 0.5 nm, then the damping constant nearly remains when Al thickness further increases to 5 nm. It indicates a decreased spin pumping efficiency due to Al insertion between CoFeB and Pt layers. The decreased spin pumping efficiency was ascribed to the spin memory loss at CoFeB/Al and/or Al/Pt interfaces rather than the spin backflow effect. The results also suggest that the linearly increased damping constant in CoFeB/Pt layers mainly comes from the magnetic proximity effect (MPE) of Pt, which could be eliminated by insertion a thin layer of Al. However, in order to obtain a large-spin current injection efficiency and less MPE to improve the spin-pumping effect in CoFeB/Pt, a proper insertion layer rather than Al with small-spin memory loss need to be investigated.
Lanelet2 for nuScenes: Enabling Spatial Semantic Relationships and Diverse Map-based Anchor Paths

Motion prediction and planning are key components to enable autonomous driving. Although high definition (HD) maps provide important contextual information that constrains the action space of traffic participants, most approaches are not able to fully exploit this heterogeneous information. In this work, we enrich the existing road geometry of the popular nuScenes dataset and convert it into the open-source map framework Lanelet2. This allows easy access to the road topology and thus, enables the usage of (1) spatial semantic information, such as agents driving on intersecting roads and (2) map-generated anchor paths for target vehicles that can help to improve trajectory prediction performance. Further, we present DMAP, a simple, yet effective approach for diverse map-based anchor path generation and filtering. We show that combining DMAP with ground truth velocity profile information yields high-quality motion prediction results on nuScenes (MinADE5=1.09, MissRate5,2=0.18, Offroad rate=0.00). While it is obviously unfair to compare us against the state-of-the-art, it shows that our HD map accurately depicts the road geometry and topology. Future approaches can leverage this by focusing on data-driven sampling of map-based anchor paths and estimating velocity profiles. Moreover, our HD map can be used for map construction tasks and supplement perception. Code and data are made publicly available at https://felixhertlein.github. io/lanelet4nuscenes.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF WOUND HEALING OF TWO COMMERCIAL ACELLULAR DERMAL MATRICES: AN IN VIVO STUDY A Thesis by SOPHIE ROSE COUTO

ii DEDICATION . iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES . vi NOMENCLATURE . vii TABLE OF CONTENTS . ix LIST OF FIGURES . xi LIST OF TABLES . xii CHAPTER
Correlation between Land Surface Temperature and Urban Heat Island with COVID-19 in New Delhi, India

This study aims to analyses the correlation between Urban Heat Island (UHI), Land Surface Temperature (LST) with COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease) pandemic in New Delhi, India. This study engaged a secondary data analysis of surveillance data of COVID-19 from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India and temperature data from MODIS (MOD11A1 & MOD11A2). The significant relation in between COVID-19 confirmed cases and LST in day time postulate a positive significance (p value <0.05) with R2=81% and for night time this is R2= 86%.