Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting Site Energy Usage Intensity Using Machine Learning Models

Climate change is a shift in nature yet a devastating phenomenon, mainly caused by human activities, sometimes with the intent to generate usable energy required in humankind’s daily life. Addressing this alarming issue requires an urge for energy consumption evaluation. Predicting energy consumption is essential for determining what factors affect a site’s energy usage and in turn, making actionable suggestions to reduce wasteful energy consumption. Recently, a rising number of researchers have applied machine learning in various fields, such as wind turbine performance prediction, energy consumption prediction, thermal behavior analysis, and more. In this research study, using data publicly made available by the Women in Data Science (WiDS) Datathon 2022 (contains data on building characteristics and information collected by sensors), after appropriate data preparation, we experimented four main machine learning methods (random forest (RF), gradient boost decision tree (GBDT), support vector regressor (SVR), and decision tree for regression (DT)). The most performant model was selected using evaluation metrics: root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE). The reported results proved the robustness of the proposed concept in capturing the insight and hidden patterns in the dataset, and effectively predicting the energy usage of buildings.
An Origanum majorana Leaf Diet Influences Myogenin Gene Expression, Performance, and Carcass Characteristics in Lambs

Simple Summary Nutrition affects all interactions of the body, especially the genome and the expression of genes. All organisms are always feeding, and life is not possible without nutrition. Origanum majorana (MO) is one nutritional additive and has many useful properties, such as antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal properties. On the other hand, myogenin is a protein in the myogenic regulatory factor family that plays an important role in determining carcass and meat traits and is vital for the growth and development of livestock muscles. As the results of the current study show, MO might be applied in the diets of lambs in order to improve the parameters related to growth via useful reactions on myogenin gene expression. Abstract Myogenin is a protein in the myogenic regulatory factor family that plays an important role in determining carcass and meat traits and is vital for the growth and development of livestock muscles. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of Origanum majorana leaf (MOL) on the myogenin gene expression of lambs. Twenty-four male Kermani lambs were used in a completely randomized design using two experimental groups (0% Origanum majorana L. = MOL0 and 4% Origanum majorana L. = MOL4). Final weight, average daily gain, hot and cold carcass weight, feed conversion ratio, empty body weight, hot and cold dressing percentage, the weight of the shoulder, loin, leg, and lean meat, and the lean/bone ratio were measured. A standard kit was used for extracting total RNA from the loin, leg, and shoulder muscles of the lambs’ tissues. The cDNA was synthesized, a real-time PCR was performed, and the obtained data were analyzed. The results of this study showed that the effect of MOL4 on dry matter intake is not significant. The MOL4 diet increased final weight by 8.22%, average daily gain by 28.57%, hot carcass weight by 11.38%, cold carcass weight by 13.43%, feed conversion ratio by 31.03%, empty body weight by 9.38%, hot dressing percentage by 2.92%, cold dressing percentage by 3.75%, shoulder weight by 56.70%, loin weight by 8.98%, leg weight by 10.90%, lean meat weight by 14.62%, and the lean/bone ratio by 2.85% (p < 0.05) compared to the MOL0. Along with adding MOL4 in the lambs’ diets, in comparison with MOL0, there was higher expression of myogenin in the loin (3.5 times), leg (3.9 times), and shoulder (3.6 times) muscles of the lambs. Due to the fact that adding Origanum majorana to the diet of the lambs enhanced the expression of the myogenin gene in the loin, leg, and shoulder muscles and increased parameters related to growth, it can be used to improve the parameters related to growth and to increase myogenin gene expression in the muscle of lambs.
Automatic Masseter Muscle Accurate Segmentation from CBCT Using Deep Learning-Based Model

Segmentation of the masseter muscle (MM) on cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is challenging due to the lack of sufficient soft-tissue contrast. Moreover, manual segmentation is laborious and time-consuming. The purpose of this study was to propose a deep learning-based automatic approach to accurately segment the MM from CBCT under the refinement of high-quality paired computed tomography (CT). Fifty independent CBCT and 42 clinically hard-to-obtain paired CBCT and CT were manually annotated by two observers. A 3D U-shape network was carefully designed to segment the MM effectively. Manual annotations on CT were set as the ground truth. Additionally, an extra five CT and five CBCT auto-segmentation results were revised by one oral and maxillofacial anatomy expert to evaluate their clinical suitability. CBCT auto-segmentation results were comparable to the CT counterparts and significantly improved the similarity with the ground truth compared with manual annotations on CBCT. The automatic approach was more than 332 times shorter than that of a human operation. Only 0.52% of the manual revision fraction was required. This automatic model could simultaneously and accurately segment the MM structures on CBCT and CT, which can improve clinical efficiency and efficacy, and provide critical information for personalized treatment and long-term follow-up.
Energy Levels of Yb 3 + in Gallium and Aluminum Garnets. I. Spectra

The interpretation of the near infrared spectrum of ytterbium in the gallium and aluminum garnets is greatly simplified by the observation that a majority of the lines can be identified as vibronic by virtue of their symmetric pairing as summation and difference sidebands about the transition connecting the lowest $^{2}F_{\frac{7}{2}}$ and $^{2}F_{\frac{5}{2}}$ ytterbium levels. The few lines which cannot be so identified are readily assigned as electronic transitions connecting the remaining $^{2}F_{\frac{7}{2}}$ and $^{2}F_{\frac{5}{2}}$ levels. This procedure provides a complete identification of all the $4f$-electron energy levels of trivalent ytterbium based on experimental evidence alone. It is found that the first excited $^{2}F_{\frac{7}{2}}$ level occurs above 540 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ in the gallium garnets and above 600 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ in the aluminum garnets. New assignments are made for the $^{2}F_{\frac{5}{2}}$ levels in the aluminum garnets, these assignments being more similar to those already made for the gallium garnets. No spectral evidence is found in the gallium garnets for ytterbium ions occupying other than normal sites. However, there is some indication in the aluminum garnets that a small percentage of the ytterbium ions occupy abnormal sites.
Facility level thermal systems for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope

The management and control of the local aero-thermal environment is critical for success of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST). In addition to minimizing disturbances to local seeing, the facility thermal systems must meet stringent energy efficiency requirements to minimize impact on the surrounding environment and meet federal requirements along with operational budgetary constraints. This paper describes the major facility thermal equipment and systems to be implemented along with associated energy management features. The systems presented include the central plant, the climate control systems for the computer room and coudé laboratory, the carousel cooling system which actively controls the surface temperature of the rotating telescope enclosure, and the systems used for active and passive ventilation of the telescope chamber.
Unconventional interactions of the TRPV4 ion channel with beta-adrenergic receptor ligands

The transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV4) ion channel is important for respiratory function. Here, it is shown that TRPV4 is inhibited by bronchodilators widely used in diseases such as asthma. The transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) ion channel is present in different tissues including those of the airways. This channel is activated in response to stimuli such as changes in temperature, hypoosmotic conditions, mechanical stress, and chemicals from plants, lipids, and others. TRPV4’s overactivity and/or dysfunction has been associated with several diseases, such as skeletal dysplasias, neuromuscular disorders, and lung pathologies such as asthma and cardiogenic lung edema and COVID-19–related respiratory malfunction. TRPV4 antagonists and blockers have been described; nonetheless, the mechanisms involved in achieving inhibition of the channel remain scarce, and the search for safe use of these molecules in humans continues. Here, we show that the widely used bronchodilator salbutamol and other ligands of β-adrenergic receptors inhibit TRPV4’s activation. We also demonstrate that inhibition of TRPV4 by salbutamol is achieved through interaction with two residues located in the outer region of the pore and that salbutamol leads to channel closing, consistent with an allosteric mechanism. Our study provides molecular insights into the mechanisms that regulate the activity of this physiopathologically important ion channel.
Seasonal variation in expression pattern of heat shock factor genes in Ovis aries and Capra hircus

In many dairy animals the correlation between longevity and stress resistance has been observed, which suggests that, for the regulation of lifespan, the ability to sense and respond to environmental challenges is important. Therefore it is necessary to observe the role of heat shock factors (HSFs), in the regulation of longevity which acts as a master transcriptional regulator of stress-inducible gene expression and protein folding homeostasis. Exposure to heat stress causes changes which have a substantial impact on production and productivity. Therefore the four major mammalian HSF genes, HSF-1, 2, 4, and 5 have been studied in sheep and goat. Major objective of this study was to analyze the expression status of these genes in sheep and goat using gene-specific primers. Changes in the gene expression profile of these two species were noted by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The expression level in both the species has been studied and it was found that the level of HSF-1, 2, 4 and 5 mRNA was higher in testis compared to all the tissues examined. Moreover, they are expressed in a wide range of tissues but their expression was variable. The analysis of seasonal changes in blood profile in goat and sheep showed an up-regulation in HSF-4 and HSF-5 genes in winter. The study implicates that the intricate balance of different HSFs is adjusted to minimize the effect of seasonal changes in environmental conditions. These findings enlighten our understanding of the complex, context-dependent regulation of HSF gene expression under normal and stressful conditions.
Nondestructive evaluation of piers

This paper proposes a vibration-based damage detection method designed for structural elements subjected to important vertical loads, as columns or pillars. The method is based on the relation existing between the energy stored in the pillar in several vibration modes and the corresponding natural frequencies. For a certain mode, this energy results as the sum of the energies stored in all pillar slices, being dependent on the rigidity and the squared of the corresponding mode shape curvature. This means that the energy distribution along the pillar is different for each mode. Thus, reducing the rigidity of one slice due to damage, the frequencies will decrease in different ways, depending on the slice location. This fact permits to contrive patterns able to characterize the effect of damage at any location along the pillar. Since the mode shapes (and the natural frequencies) are influenced by inertial forces, but in the meantime by the compression and shear forces induced by the top mass, the patterns have to be derived for each load case. The paper presents a simple mathematical expression able to predict frequency changes if damage occurs at any location along the pillar and for any top mass value. Patterns that characterize the damage location are consequently derived by using the squared mode shape curvatures of the healthy beam. The damage location becomes an inverse problem, it being found by interpreting the results of frequency measurements for the healthy and damaged state. The process of damage location is exemplified by numerical simulations.
Evaluation of Therapeutic Effect of Buspirone in Improving Dysphagia in Patients with GERD and Ineffective Esophageal Motility: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Ineffective esophageal motility (IEM) is the most common esophageal motility disorder associated with low-to-moderate amplitude contractions in the distal esophagus in manometric evaluations. Despite recent new conceptions regarding the pathophysiology of esophageal motility and IEM, there are still no effective therapeutic interventions for the treatment of this disorder. This study aimed to investigate the effect of buspirone in the treatment of concomitant IEM and GERD. Methods and Materials: The present study was a randomized clinical trial conducted at the Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran. Patients with a history of gastroesophageal reflux disease and dysphagia underwent upper endoscopy to rule out any mechanical obstruction and were diagnosed with an ineffective esophageal motility disorder based on high-resolution manometry. They were given a package containing the desired medication(s); half of the packets contained 10 mg (for 30 days) of buspirone and 40 mg (for 30 days) of pantoprazole, and the other half contained only 40 mg (for 30 days) of pantoprazole. Dysphagia was scored based on the Mayo score, as well as a table of dysphagia severity. Manometric variables were recorded before and after the treatment. Results: Thirty patients (15 pantoprazole and 15 pantoprazole plus buspirone) were included. Females comprised 63.3% of the population, with a mean age of 46.33 ± 11.15. The MAYO score and resting LES pressure significantly changed after treatment. The MAYO and Swallowing Disorder Questionnaire scores significantly decreased after treatment in both groups of patients. Our results revealed that the post-intervention values of manometric variables differed significantly between the two groups after controlling for the baseline values of the variables. This analysis did not demonstrate the superiority of buspirone. Conclusion: Buspirone seems to have no superiority over PPI. Treatment with concomitant IEM and GERD using proton pump inhibitors improves the patient’s clinical condition and quality of life. However, adding buspirone to the treatment regimen did not appear to make a significant difference in patient treatment.
On the cause of metallicity gradients in spiral galaxies.

We investigate particular models for the chemical evolution of galactic discs in an attempt to account for the observed behaviour of metallicity with surface density, and hence explain abundance gradients. The models include simple Schmidt star formation rate laws, models in which the formation of massive stars is suppressed below a threshold interstellar gas density, and models with self-regulation of star formation
The current trends in the health burden of primary liver cancer across the globe

Copyright © 2023 by Korean Association for the Study of the Liver This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Corresponding author : Donghee Kim Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA 94304, USA Tel: +1-650-497-9261, Fax: +1-650-723-5488, E-mail: dhkimmd@stanford.edu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1919-6800 pISSN 2287-2728 eISSN 2287-285X
An overview of closed capture-recapture models

This article reviews various models for both discrete-time and continuous-time closed capture-recapture experiments. The traditional discrete-time models assume that the samples are independent. Dependence may be caused by local dependence (list dependence) within each animal or by heterogeneity among animals. Three different approaches that can incorporate dependence into models are reviewed, i.e., ecological models, log-linear models, and the sample-coverage approach. The statistical tools involved in population size estimation in these three approaches cover a wide range of methodologies. There has been relatively little published research for the continuous-time counterparts. The counting process approach, which is the framework for most existing estimation procedures for continuous-time models, is reviewed. The connection of continuous-time models to recurrent event analysis in the context of failure time inferences is discussed. The applications of capture-recapture models to other disciplines are briefly presented. Remarks about the limitations of the models are made and some future research directions are also suggested.
Genetic Predictors of the Development of Complications after Coronary Stenting

Due to the fact that there are scientific discussions about the significance of gene polymorphisms in the risk of developing cardiovascular complications after a percutaneous coronary intervention, it is of interest to evaluate the genetic predictors of the development of cardiovascular events. This study is a molecular genetic study. Association with the genes of biomarkers for inflammation and immune response increases the risk of cardiovascular events: rs1234313 (TNFSF4): (A/G, OR-4.57 (2.35–8.87), p ≤ 0.0001), (A/G-A/A, OR-3.14 (1.75–5.63), p ≤ 0.0001), and (A/G, OR = 4.01 (2.19–7.36), p ≤ 0.0001); rs3184504 (SH2D3); ATXN2: (C/T, OR-2.53 (1.28–5.01), T/T, OR-2.99 (1.13–7.92), p = 0.017)), (C/T-T/T, OR-2.61 (1.35–5.07), p = 0.000), and (OR-1.89 (1.15–3.09), p = 0.009)). According to the lipid metabolism biomarker genes, rs2943634: (A/C OR-2.57 (1.18–5.62), p = 0.013); according to the endothelial biomarker genes, rs2713604: (DNAJB8-AS1; GATA2): (C/T, OR-4.27 (2.35–7.76), p ≤ 0.0001), (C/T-C/C, OR-4.13 (2.31–7.40), p ≤ 0.0001), (OR-4.05 (2.24–7.30), p ≤ 0.0001), and (C/T, OR-3.46 (1.99–6.00), p ≤ 0.0001). The regression analysis found that in the presence of the rs2943634 gene polymorphism, the risk of late cardiovascular events increases by 4.007 times with 95% CI (1.502:10.692), p = 0.006. The genes of biomarkers for the risk of cardiovascular events are rs1234313(TNFSF4), rs3184504 (SH2D3; ATXN2), rs2943634, and rs2713604 (DNAJB8-AS1; GATA2). The only predictor of the development of new cardiovascular events was rs2943634, which belongs to the group of lipid metabolism biomarkers.
Optical Probing of CO2 Laser-Plasma Interactions at Near Critical Density

The interaction of a high-power laser beam with plasma has been explored extensively in the context of laser-driven fusion, plasma-based acceleration of ions and electrons and high energy-density physics. One of the fundamental processes common to all these studies is the penetration of intense light into a dense matter through the hole boring effect and self-induced transparency. Light with a given wavelength will be reflected once the electron density equals the critical electron plasma density . The radiation pressure exerted on the critical density layer is characterized by the ponderomotive force of a focused laser pulse which scales with a laser intensity, as Wμm2/cm2. At ~1017 Wμm2/cm2 and above, it becomes possible for the laser pulse not only to steepen the plasma profile but to push the overcritical plasma with creating a cavity or a hole in the target. The phenomenon of hole boring, whereby a laser pulse propagates through a reduced density cavity to reach and push the critical density layer, is of importance in fast-ignition fusion because it may allow the laser pulse to deliver its energy closer to the compressed fuel where it can be converted into fast electrons that are needed to ignite a small portion of the fuel. The layer of plasma pushed by the radiation pressure can reflect and accelerate ions via the so called Hole Boring Radiation Pressure Acceleration mechanism. Also the density pile- up in combination with the strong electron heating at the critical density layer can facilitate the formation of a collisionless shock. This shock wave acceleration can produce high energy ion beams with a narrow energy spread. Numerous experiments have been carried out to study dynamics of laser plasma interaction indirectly using solid state targets that are opaque for 1μm laser. However, by using a longer wavelength CO2 laser, = 10. 6μm, the critical plasma density is decreased by a factor of 100 ( ). Therefore overdense CO2 laser plasma is transparent for a fast optical probe which opens a unique opportunity to study the physics of laser hole boring in the temporal and spatial domain simultaneously. This thesis reports the first direct measurements of the laser hole boring velocity in an overdense plasma using a four-frame picosecond green pulse interferometry. The plasma was created by tunnel ionization of a plume of He gas from a gas jet using a train of 3ps long CO2 laser pulses. For probing the plasma, a ~2ps frequency-doubled (532nm) Nd:Glass laser pulse is used in a four-frame interferometry scheme. Spatio-temporal dynamics of hole boring in CO2 laser-plasma interaction at 2×1018 Wμm2/cm2 are studied with a ~15µm spatial and better than 2ps time resolutions. Experimental measurements indicate the hole boring process is determined by a balance between the radiation pressure and thermal pressure . As a result of this competition, increases during the risetime of the laser pulse where but decreases with a larger slope rate on the falling edge. This is because the plasma electrons once heated cool slowly and diminishes the efficacy of even faster.
Dense Normal Based Degeneration-Aware 2-D Lidar Odometry for Correlative Scan Matching

Degeneracy detection and pose estimation of mobile robots have long been difficult task for laser scan matching techniques. Since the information perceived by lidar is underconstrained or deficient in degeneration scenes such as long corridors and lobbies, it is challenging for common hardware-limited lidar odometry to operate safely and stably. In this article, we propose a novel degeneration-aware correlative scan matching (CSM) algorithm for such situations. First, we carry out a low-dependency degeneration scene detection and analysis approach to determine the current degeneration situation accurately and instantly. Then, an environmentally sensitive CSM approach is designed based on real-time results, which dynamically adjusts the motion weight to achieve the autonomous adaptability to a variety of environments. Extensive experiments on both datasets and real-world scenarios demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm in both degeneration scene detection and lidar odometry. In comparison to the CSM algorithm, the proposed algorithm not only minimizes the need of manually weights setup under dynamic environments but also ameliorates the accuracy of lidar odometry.