Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mondialisation et inégalités des salaires : cas de la Tunisie [Globalization and wage inequality: the case of Tunisia]

This article proposes to study the effects of globalization on income inequality. In a first part, we try to present a theoretical framework reflecting the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson (HOS) and the Stolper Samuelson model to study this relationship. In a second part, we present a review of empirical literature showing the different studies testing these hypotheses. Finally, in the third part, we try to empirically test these hypotheses in the case of Tunisian manufacturing industries.
CSF 14-3-3β is associated with progressive cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized pathologically by amyloid-beta plaques, tau tangles and neuronal loss. In clinical practice, the 14-3-3 isoform beta (β) is a biomarker that aids in the diagnosis of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Recently, a proteomics study found increased CSF 14-3-3β levels in Alzheimer’s disease patients, suggesting a potential link between CSF 14-3-3β and Alzheimer’s disease. Our present study aimed to further investigate the role of CSF 14-3-3β in Alzheimer’s disease by analysing the data of 719 participants with available CSF 14-3-3β measurements from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Higher CSF 14-3-3β levels were observed in the mild cognitive impairment group compared to the cognitively normal group, with the highest CSF 14-3-3β levels in the Alzheimer’s disease dementia group. This study also found significant associations between CSF 14-3-3β levels and CSF biomarkers of p-tau, t-tau, pTau/Aβ42 ratios and GAP-43, as well as other Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers such as Aβ-PET. An early increase in CSF 14-3-3β levels was observed prior to Aβ-PET–positive status, and CSF 14-3-3β levels continued to rise after crossing the Aβ-PET positivity threshold before reaching a plateau. The diagnostic accuracy of CSF 14-3-3β (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.819) was moderate compared to other established Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in distinguishing cognitively normal Aβ pathology–negative individuals from Alzheimer’s disease Aβ pathology–positive individuals. Higher baseline CSF 14-3-3β levels were associated with accelerated cognitive decline, reduced hippocampus volumes and declining fluorodeoxyglucose-PET values over a 4-year follow-up period. Patients with mild cognitive impairment and high CSF 14-3-3β levels at baseline had a significantly increased risk [hazard ratio = 2.894 (1.599–5.238), P < 0.001] of progression to Alzheimer’s disease dementia during follow-up. These findings indicate that CSF 14-3-3β may be a potential biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease and could provide a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying pathological changes of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression.
When Negative Turns out to Be Positive

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on various aspects of society, including language and cognitive processes. This research investigates how the pandemic has influenced associations related to health-related words among 1,454 Estonian native speakers. Data collected between January and March 2023 were compared with a pre-pandemic dataset, the Dictionary of Estonian Word Associations (DEWA), compiled from 2016 to 2018. The study focuses on fifteen health-related cue words. The results revealed that five terms experienced significant changes in their association sequences concerning the COVID-19 crisis. Notably, among these 15 words, three stand out as the most significant cases where a change occurred in their primary responses: these typically exhibit the most robust and enduring associative links, making them less susceptible to change. This unveils shifts in the mental lexicon's representations and the evolving perceptions of specific words and concepts amidst the pandemic backdrop. These findings illustrate how unforeseen external disruptions, such as the COVID-19 crisis, can reconfigure the salience of certain concepts within language and cognition. This research contributes to our comprehension of the linguistic repercussions and potential language adaptations triggered by a health crisis. It also enriches the relatively understudied field of word association research, particularly in languages beyond the dominion of English.
Chlorogenic Acid Alleviated AFB1-Induced Hepatotoxicity by Regulating Mitochondrial Function, Activating Nrf2/HO-1, and Inhibiting Noncanonical NF-κB Signaling Pathway

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a kind of mycotoxin, imposes acute or chronic toxicity on humans and causes great public health concerns. Chlorogenic acid (CGA), a natural phenolic substance, shows a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect. This study was conducted to investigate the effect and mechanism of CGA on alleviating cytotoxicity induced by AFB1 in L-02 cells. The results showed that CGA (160 μM) significantly recovered cell viability and cell membrane integrity in AFB1-treated (8 μM) cells. Furthermore, it was found that CGA reduced AFB1-induced oxidative injury by neutralizing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and activating the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) signaling pathway. In addition, CGA showed anti-inflammatory effects as it suppressed the expression of inflammation-related genes (IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α) and AFB1-induced noncanonical nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) activation. Moreover, CGA mitigated AFB1-induced apoptosis by maintaining the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and inhibiting mRNA expressions of Caspase-3, Caspase-8, Bax, and Bax/Bcl-2. These findings revealed a possible mechanism: CGA prevents AFB1-induced cytotoxicity by maintaining mitochondrial membrane potential, activating Nrf2/HO-1, and inhibiting the noncanonical NF-κB signaling pathway, which may provide a new direction for the application of CGA.
Modeling of the solitary waves trajectories in “shallow water” environme

Solitary waves in the “shallow water” environment are considered and approximate approach to calculation and prediction of trajectories of these waves is proposed. We use an approach which was developed in recent years and was called the T-representations method. This method allows to move away from the exact solutions of the corresponding systems of differential equations and construct the trajectory approximately, in fact estimating only the point of maximum of the wave amplitude and its displacement. An appropriate mathematical simplification makes efficient computer simulations possible. In recent years, software packages have been actively used to monitor and predict a number of dangerous natural phenomena, such as Earth Alerts, Pacific Tsunami Warning System, Wave Monitoring Sites and others. But these systems do not take solitary waves into account. Using our approach, it is possible to refine the parameters of solitary waves in a specific environment, investigate whether such waves exist there at all and create functions taking into account solitary waves in monitoring systems.
Temperature-dependent poroelastic and viscoelastic effects on microscale—modelling of seismic reflections in heavy oil reservoirs

SUMMARY We develop a new model for elastic properties of rocks saturated with heavy oil. The heavy oil is represented by a viscoelastic material, which at low frequencies and/or high temperatures behaves as a Newtonian fluid, and at high frequencies and/or low temperatures as a nearly elastic solid. The bulk and shear moduli of a porous rock saturated with such viscoelastic material are then computed using approximate extended Gassmann equations of Ciz and Shapiro by replacing the elastic moduli of the pore filling material with complex and frequency-dependent moduli of the viscoelastic pore fill. We test the proposed model by comparing its predictions with numerical simulations based on a direct finite-difference solution of equations of dynamic viscoelasticity. The simulations are performed for the reflection coefficient from an interface between a homogeneous fluid and a porous medium. The numerical tests are performed both for an idealized porous medium consisting of alternating solid and viscoelastic layers, and for a more realistic 3-D geometry of the pore space. Both sets of numerical tests show a good agreement between the predictions of the proposed viscoelastic workflow and numerical simulations for relatively high viscosities where viscoelastic effects are important. The results confirm that application of extended Gassmann equations in conjunction with the complex and frequency-dependent moduli of viscoelastic pore filling material, such as heavy oil, provides a good approximation for the elastic moduli of rocks saturated with such material. By construction, this approximation is exactly consistent with the classical Gassmann's equation for sufficiently low frequencies or high temperature when heavy oil behaves like a fluid. For higher frequencies and/or lower temperatures, the predictions are in good agreement with the direct numerical solution of equations of dynamic viscoelasticity on the microscale. This demonstrates that the proposed methodology provides realistic estimates of elastic properties of heavy oil rocks.
QoS-Aware Online Service Provisioning and Updating in Cost-Efficient Multi-Tenant Mobile Edge Computing

The vigorous development of IoT technology has spawned a series of applications that are delay-sensitive or resource-intensive. Mobile edge computing is an emerging paradigm that provides services between end devices and traditional cloud data centers to users. However, with the continuously increasing investment of demands, it is nontrivial to maintain a higher quality-of-service (QoS) under the erratic activities of mobile users. In this paper, we investigate the service provisioning and updating problem under the multiple-users scenario by improving the performance of services with long-term cost constraints. We first decouple the original long-term optimization problem into a per-slot deterministic one by using Lyapunov optimization. Then, we propose two service updating decision strategies by considering the trajectory prediction conditions of users. Based on that, we design an online strategy by utilizing the committed horizon control method looking forward to multiple slots predictions. We prove the performance bound of our online strategy theoretically in terms of the trade-off between delay and cost. Extensive experiments demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed algorithm.
A Simple Nomogram for Predicting Stroke-Associated Pneumonia in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke

The purpose of this study was to develop a prediction model for stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) based on risk factors for SAP and to suggest nursing interventions to prevent SAP. In addition, a nomogram was developed to enhance its utility in nursing practice. The retrospective cohort study included 551 patients hospitalized for acute ischemic stroke at a university hospital in South Korea. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and a review of the electronic medical record (EMR). In the development of a predictive model for SAP, multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that independent risk factors for SAP were age ≥ 65 years, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score ≥ 7, nasogastric tube feeding, and C-reactive protein (CRP) ≥ 5.0 mg/dL. The logit model was used to construct the SAP prediction nomogram, and the area under the curve (AUC) of the nomogram was 0.94. Furthermore, the slope of the calibration plot was close to the 45-degree line, indicating that the developed nomogram may be useful for predicting SAP. It is necessary to monitor the age, NIHSS score, nasogastric tube feeding status, and CRP level of stroke patients and identify high-risk groups using the developed nomogram to provide active nursing interventions to prevent SAP.
Low Levels of Serum Total Vitamin B12 Are Associated with Worse Metabolic Phenotype in a Large Population of Children, Adolescents and Young Adults, from Underweight to Severe Obesity

Vitamin B12 (or cobalamin) is an essential vitamin for DNA synthesis, fatty acid and protein metabolism as well as other metabolic pathways fundamental to the integrity of cells and tissues in humans. It is derived from the diet and mostly stored in the liver. Its deficiency has been associated with metabolic derangements, i.e., obesity, glucose intolerance, increased lipogenesis and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and steatohepatitis (MASH). However, data with regard to body weight across the whole spectrum (from underweight to severe obesity) in children and young individuals are scarce. The present study aims to describe the association between serum total vitamin B12 and body mass index (BMI) ranging from underweight to severe obesity in a large population of children, adolescents and young adults. This study also investigates associations with visceral adiposity, glucose and lipid metabolism and liver dysfunction. A cross-sectional, single-centre study was conducted at the Paediatrics and Endocrinology units of the ”Bambino Gesù Children Hospital”, a tertiary referral institution for eating disorders. Clinical charts were reviewed and 601 patients aged from 5 to 25 years were enrolled in order to analyse anthropometric, auxological, clinical, biochemical and liver ultrasound data using robust statistical approaches. Analyses were adjusted for potential confounders. A reduction in serum total B12 levels was associated with a linear increase in body weight, as expressed by WHO BMI SDS (r = −0.31, p < 0.001, BCa 95% −0.38, −0.24). Lower B12 levels were associated with higher waist circumference but only in pubertal girls (r = −0.33, p = 0.008, BCa 95% −0.53, −0.11). Hepatic insulin resistance was higher in males with lower B12 levels (B = −0.003 (−0.007, −0.0001), p = 0.039), but not in females, whereas whole-body insulin resistance was unaffected. Serum lipid profiles (total, HDL and LDL cholesterol and triglycerides) were not influenced by serum cobalamin levels. However, lower cobalamin levels were associated with higher grading of ultrasound-scored hepatic steatosis (ptrend = 0.035). Lastly, both AST and ALT showed a significant and direct correlation with total B12 levels in underweight (r = 0.22 and 0.24, p = 0.002 and <0.001, respectively) and severely obese subjects (r = 0.24 and 0.32, p = 0.002 and <0.001). In conclusion lower vitamin B12 levels are associated with higher body weight, adiposity and with worse metabolic health in a large population of children, adolescents and young adults.
Ecology and economics of fish kills: mortality and recovery of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) in an Irish river

Abstract:ABSTRACTThere is a small international scientific literature, principally from North America, on recovery of fish communities following substantial fish kill events and a smaller literature on monetary assessment of losses in such events. A chemical discharge led to over 90% loss of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) age classes in 31km of the River Boyne catchment, a major Irish salmon-producing and angling fishery in July 1997. Subsequent investigations permitted a novel study that examined both the changes in the fish community composition over time and also a monetary assessment of losses. The population structure and density of 1+ and older brown trout took four to five years to recover. The population of 1+ salmon increased substantially during the recovery period, to levels threefold higher than those recorded prior to the pollution event. Financial loss assessment was examined through ‘replacement cost’ and through consequential loss models. An examination of the monetary modelling, in the light of the fish community recovery, showed there was an ecological justification for the potential loss model used. This approach to appraisal of loss is considered to have an international relevance, in the context of ecosystem processes and the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
The Fossil Record of Cretaceous Tetrapods

Abstract The fossil record of the Cretaceous is critical for understanding the evolution of modern tetrapods. Using a measure of relative completeness of the fossil record—the Simple Completeness Metric (SCM)—quality of the fossil record and diversity during the Cretaceous appear to be closely related, suggesting an artifactual component. The SCM calculations also show that knowledge of the fossil record has improved in the last ten years. Recent proposals that modern orders of birds and mammals originated early in the Cretaceous are rendered unlikely by four arguments: (1) the SCM calculations indicate that the fossil record of Cretaceous birds and mammals is relatively good; (2) it is unlikely that all modern orders, independently, would have remained cryptic throughout the Cretaceous; (3) control samples of exquisitely preserved tiny Cretaceous tetrapods lack any specimens of modern groups of birds and mammals; and (4) the suggestion that the undiscovered ancestors of modern groups are to be found in unsampled parts of the Earth is not supported by cladistic evidence.
First-Principles Study of Elastic Properties and Electronic Properties of Al-Ni-Ce Ternary Intermetallic Compounds

The materials of the Al-Ni-Ce ternary system have promising application potential in additive manufacturing, and the systematic study of Al-Ni-Ce IMCs is an important part of the design and performance development of Al-Ni-Ce alloys. In this paper, the mechanical properties and electronic properties of seven major Al-Ni-Ce IMCs are studied using first-principles calculations, and the differences in their mechanical properties are discussed. The enthalpy of formation and cohesion energy of the Al-Ni-Ce IMCs showed that Ce4Al23Ni6 had the highest enthalpy of formation and cohesion energy, which were −49.57 kJ/mol and −4.47 kJ/mol, respectively. This demonstrated that all Al-Ni-Ce IMCs had excellent thermodynamic stability. The elastic modulus calculation of the Al-Ni-Ce IMCs showed that the Young’s modulus of CeAl3Ni2 was the largest at 178.15 GPa, the bulk modulus of CeAlNi4 was the largest at 125.78 GPa, and the shear modulus of CeAlNi2 was the largest at 62.53 GPa. This proved that among the Al-Ni-Ce IMCs, CeAl3Ni2 had the greatest stiffness, CeAlNi4 had the strongest resistance to uniform deformation, and CeAl3Ni2 had the strongest resistance to plastic deformation. The electronic density of states of Al-Ni-Ce IMCs was analyzed, and the results showed that the main bonding types of Al-Ni-Ce IMCs were metallic and covalent bonds. This work can provide a theoretical basis for the material design and development of the Al-Ni-Ce ternary system.
An objective method for determining the existence of a feature or change in scientific data

A re-occurring problem in science involves the detection of a feature or change in data which is constantly fluctuating due to multiple drivers, non-stationarity, or the presence of interference or random noise. The identification of a genuine feature in angular, spatial, or temporal data may be crucial to the interpretation or validity of a theory. Here we present a simple, independent method for objectively determining if, and when, a significant change has occurred in measurements. We explain the method by applying it to SuperDARN radar data recorded on 24 November, 1996 (see Ruohoniemi and Greenwald, 1998), thereby confirming a coherent large-scale convection change occurred nearly "instantaneously" (2-4 min) over at least 11 hours of local time in the polar cap ionosphere. The analysis contributes towards resolution of an outstanding problem, namely whether the high-latitude ionosphere responds gradually (~10 min) or "instantaneously" (<2 min), or both, to changes in the coupling between the solar wind and magnetosphere.
Geologic Evidence for Onshore Sediment Transport from the Inner Continental Shelf: Fire Island, New York

ABSTRACT Schwab, W.C. ; Baldwin, W.E. ; Hapke, C.J.; Lentz, E.E. ; Gayes, P.T. ; Denny, J.F. ; List, J.H. , and Warner, J.C. , 2013. Geologic evidence for onshore sediment transport from the inner continental shelf: Fire Island, New York. Sediment budget analyses along the south shore of Fire Island, New York, have been conducted and debated in the scientific and coastal engineering literature for decades. It is well documented that a primary component of sediment transport in this system is directed alongshore from E to W, but discrepancies in volumetric sediment budget calculations remain. An additional quantity of sand, averaging about 200,000 m3/y is required to explain the growth of the western segment of the barrier island, a prograding spit. Littoral sediment derived from updrift erosion of the coast, addition of beach nourishment fill, and onshore transport of inner continental shelf, shoreface sediments, or both have all been proposed as potential sources of the additional sediment needed to balance the sediment budget deficit. Analysis of high-resolution seafloor mapping data collected in 2011, including seismic reflection profiles and inteferometric sonar acoustic backscatter and swath bathymetry; comparison with seafloor mapping data collected in 1996–1997; and shoreline change analysis from 1933 to 2011 support previous suggestions that the inner-shelf Holocene sedimentary deposit is a likely source to resolve this sediment budget discrepancy.
Lightweight Human Motion Recognition Method with Multiscale Temporal Features

To address the problems of the large size of human motion recognition models based on deep learning and insufficient mining of data features and thus low recognition accuracy, a lightweight human motion recognition algorithm based on multi-scale temporal features is proposed, the algorithm automatically extracted features through a multiscale feature fusion model. After, the integrated features are modeled by an improved time convolution network (TCN). In the TCN network structure, In the TCN network structure, the depthwise separable convolution is used instead of the normal convolutional layer to reduce the computational complexity, and the Leaky ReLU activation function is used instead of the ReLU function to improve the training efficiency. The experiments are based on the WISDM public dataset. finally achieve fast real-time recognition of actions, and structural and parametric optimization is performed through experiments to effectively improve the accuracy of results, and the final accuracy rate reaches 99.06%. In comparison with other methods, this method can reduce the model volume while maintaining a high accuracy rate.
Double-Diffusive Convection in a Stochastic Shear

AbstractAn attempt is made to quantify the impact of stochastic wave–induced shears on salt fingers associated with internal waves in the ocean. The wave environment is represented by the superposition of Fourier components conforming to the Garrett–Munk (GM) spectrum with random initial phase distribution. The resulting time series of vertical shear are incorporated into a finger-resolving numerical model, and the latter is used to evaluate the equilibrium diapycnal fluxes of heat and salt. The proposed procedure makes it possible to simulate salt fingers in shears that are representative of typical oceanic conditions. This study finds that the shear-induced modification of salt fingers is largely caused by near-inertial motions. These relatively slow waves act to align salt fingers in the direction of shear, thereby rendering the double-diffusive dynamics effectively two-dimensional. Internal waves reduce the equilibrium vertical fluxes of heat and salt by a factor of 2 relative to those in the unsheare.