Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Radiocarbon Dates for the Vedde Ash and the Saksunarvatn Ash from Western Norway

Abstract The Vedde Ash Bed (mid-Younger Dryas) and the Saksunarvatn Ash (early Holocene) are important regional stratigraphic event markers in the North Atlantic, the Norwegian Sea, and the adjacent land area. It is thus essential to date them as precisely as possible. The occurrence of the Saksunarvatn Ash is reported for the first time from western Norway, and both tephras are dated precisely by AMS analyses of terrestrial plant material and lake sediment at Kråkenes. The Vedde Ash has been previously dated at sites in western Norway to about 10,600 yr B.P. It is obvious in the Younger Dryas sediments at Kråkenes, and its identity is confirmed geochemically. The mean of four AMS dates of samples of Salix herbacea leaves adjacent to the tephra is 10,310 ± 50 yr B.P. The Saksunarvatn Ash is not visible in the early Holocene lake sediment at Kråkenes. After removal of organic material and diatoms, the identity of the tephra particles was confirmed geochemically, and their stratigraphic concentration was estimated. From curve matching of a series of seven AMS dates of terrestrial plant macrofossils and whole sediment, the radiocarbon age of the ash is 8930–9060 yr B.P., corresponding to an age of 9930–10,010 cal yr B.P. (7980–8060 cal yr B.C.).
Classification methods for oil spill detection in ENVISAT ASAR images

In this paper, we present results from a study on classifiers for automatic oil slick classification in ENVISAT ASAR images. First, based on our basic statistical classifier, we improve the classification performance by introducing regularization of the covariance matrixes. The new improved classifier reduces the false alarm rate from 19.6% to 13.1%. Second, we compare the statistical classifier with SVM, finding that the statistical classifier outranks SVM for this particular application. Experiments are done on a set of 103 SAR images.
3D seismic imaging of volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits in the Flin Flon mining camp, Canada: Part 1 — Seismic results

ABSTRACTA 17-km2 3D-3C seismic survey was conducted within the active Flin Flon mining camp located in Manitoba, Canada. The results for the vertical component data as obtained by conventional dip-moveout and prestack time-migration processing sequences and comparison of images from the 3D seismic volume with the subsurface location of known ore zones and the mine horizon generally showed a very good correlation. A well-defined diffraction response from the shallowest ore zone was observed in the unmigrated data with a corresponding phase reversal in the migrated data at the transition from intact ore to backfilled ore zone. The geometry of unmined and backfilled ore zones compared well with strong reflection amplitudes on corresponding cross sections to depths of ∼1000 m. At greater depths, the ore zone had a weaker seismic signature due to a combination of effects, including imaging conditions, ore composition, and the increased presence of rhyolite within the mine horizon. In the case of the deeper or.
The evaluation of extraintestinal manifestations in children diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease: A single-center experience

Objective: We aimed to examine the relationship between the disease activity index rates at the time of diagnosis and the development of extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs) in children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Material and Methods: Our study was conducted with 57 children and adolescent patients diagnosed with IBD between 2018 and 2022. The records of the patients were reviewed retrospectively. For the evaluation of IBD activity, Pediatric Crohn’s Disease Activity İndex and Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity İndex measurements were made. Results: Fifty-seven patients with a diagnosis of IBD were included in the study. When the activity status of the disease was classified as mild, moderate, and severe, there were 11, 14, and 32 patients, respectively. The most common EIM was arthralgia, and it was shown to occur in 23 (40.4%) patients. The presence of EIM was analyzed in 2 (18.2%) patients in mild disease, in 5 (35.7%) patients in moderate disease, and in 17 (53.1%) patients in severe disease, and there was no significant difference between the groups (p=0.110). The area under curve value was found to be 0.623 in the receiver operating characteristic curve to detect the presence of EIM for ulcerative colitis patients (p=0.242). The ideal cutoff value was determined as 67.5, the sensitivity was calculated as 61.5%, and the specificity was calculated as 42.1%. Conclusion: It was found that the presence of EIM at the time of diagnosis was more common in the presence of severe disease, but the result was not significant.
Strategies for Drug Delivery into the Brain: A Review on Adenosine Receptors Modulation for Central Nervous System Diseases Therapy

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a biological barrier that protects the central nervous system (CNS) by ensuring an appropriate microenvironment. Brain microvascular endothelial cells (ECs) control the passage of molecules from blood to brain tissue and regulate their concentration-versus-time profiles to guarantee proper neuronal activity, angiogenesis and neurogenesis, as well as to prevent the entry of immune cells into the brain. However, the BBB also restricts the penetration of drugs, thus presenting a challenge in the development of therapeutics for CNS diseases. On the other hand, adenosine, an endogenous purine-based nucleoside that is expressed in most body tissues, regulates different body functions by acting through its G-protein-coupled receptors (A1, A2A, A2B and A3). Adenosine receptors (ARs) are thus considered potential drug targets for treating different metabolic, inflammatory and neurological diseases. In the CNS, A1 and A2A are expressed by astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, neurons, immune cells and ECs. Moreover, adenosine, by acting locally through its receptors A1 and/or A2A, may modulate BBB permeability, and this effect is potentiated when both receptors are simultaneously activated. This review showcases in vivo and in vitro evidence supporting AR signaling as a candidate for modifying endothelial barrier permeability in the treatment of CNS disorders.
Cucurbitacin E Exerts Anti-Proliferative Activity via Promoting p62-Dependent Apoptosis in Human Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer A549 Cells

EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are the first-line treatment for advanced EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, NSCLC patients with wild-type EGFR and KRAS mutation are ineligible for EGFR-TKIs. Therefore, the discovery of new therapeutic agents is urgently needed for NSCLC patients who cannot receive targeted therapies. Natural products possess tremendous chemical diversity and have been extensively investigated for their anticancer activity. In this study, we found that Cucurbitacin E (Cu E), a triterpene of cucurbitacins widely presented in the edible plants of the Cucurbitaceae family, significantly inhibits the viability and proliferation of A549 cells that harbor wild-type EGFR and KRAS mutation. Our results revealed that Cu E increases cell-cycle arrest at G2/M and subG1 phase. Mechanistically, Cu E significantly inhibits the phosphorylation and protein levels of regulatory proteins and hinders G2/M cell-cycle progression. Meanwhile, the treatment of Cu E resulted in DNA damage response and apoptosis. For the first time, we observed that Cu E induces incomplete autophagy as evidenced by increased LC3B-II expression and p62-accumulation. Knockdown of p62 rescued the cells from Cu E-mediated anti-proliferative effect, apoptosis, DNA damage, and ROS production. These findings suggest that Cu E is a promising drug candidate for NSCLC.
Plausible Protective Role of Encephalartos villosus Extract in Acetic-Acid-Induced Ulcerative Colitis in Rats

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory ailment of the intestine associated with the upregulation of oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Here, we aimed to assess the consequences of Encephalartos villosus (EV) Lem extract on acetic acid (AA)-induced UC. Rats were randomly classified into five groups, as follows: control, AA, AA + mesalazine, AA + EV (50 mg/kg), and AA + EV (100 mg/kg) groups. EV (50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg) and mesalzine (100 mg/kg) were administered orally for 14 days before the induction of UC. On the last day of the experiment, colitis was provoked via the intra-rectal delivery of 3% AA. Then, after 24 h, the rats were sacrificed and their colon tissues were isolated and inspected. Interestingly, EV pretreatment substantially (p < 0.05) reduced the elevated colon weight/length ratio and ulcer area and normalized the histological changes and immunohistochemical features. In addition, EV efficiently reduced the levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and increased the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GS-PX) and catalase (CAT). EV (100 mg/kg) resulted in a downregulation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) and upregulation of heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) and occludin expression levels. Concerning the anti-inflammatory mechanisms, EV reduced the levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF-ĸB) and inhibited cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression levels. It also decreased caspase-3 levels. Our results indicate that the oral intake of EV improves AA-induced colitis in rats through its antioxidative effects and the modulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, as well as the restoration of mucosal integrity. Consequently, EV may be an efficient therapeutic candidate for UC.
Capsid-Specific Antibody Responses of Domestic Pigs Immunized with Low-Virulent African Swine Fever Virus

African swine fever (ASF) is a lethal disease in pigs that has grave socio-economic implications worldwide. For the development of vaccines against the African swine fever virus (ASFV), immunogenic antigens that generate protective immune responses need to be identified. There are over 150 viral proteins—many of which are uncharacterized—and humoral immunity to ASFV has not been closely examined. To profile antigen-specific antibody responses, we developed luciferase-linked antibody capture assays (LACAs) for a panel of ASFV capsid proteins and screened sera from inbred and outbred animals that were previously immunized with low-virulent ASFV before challenge with virulent ASFV. Antibodies to B646L/p72, D117L/p17, M1249L, and E120R/p14.5 were detected in this study; however, we were unable to detect B438L-specific antibodies. Anti-B646L/p72 and B602L antibodies were associated with recovery from disease after challenges with genotype I OUR T88/1 but not genotype II Georgia 2007/1. Antibody responses against M1249L and E120R/p14.5 were observed in animals with reduced clinical signs and viremia. Here, we present LACAs as a tool for the targeted profiling of antigen-specific antibody responses to inform vaccine development.
Manufacturing-oriented review on 3D printed lithium-ion batteries fabricated using material extrusion

ABSTRACT The advent of conductive extrudable materials has broadened the range of additive manufacturing applications to include smart devices, circuits, actuators and sensors – all requiring electrical power. 3D printing of components dedicated to energy storage has also gained interest, with the goal of the monolithic printing of batteries directly integrated into subsuming smart components. This review focuses on the state of the art of extrusion-based 3D printed batteries, appearing as the most widespread, inexpensive and simple additive process. The paper is intended to introduce the processes and materials of 3D printing batteries, while highlighting the main manufacturing challenges and associated solutions proposed in literature. Particular attention is dedicated to describing the extrusion-based printers being employed and the required modifications, printing parameters and multi-material capabilities, with the aim of highlighting the most promising solutions required to print composite individual components and complete rechargeable batteries in a single non-assembly step.
CO2aq‐dependent photosynthetic 13C fractionation in the ocean: A model versus measurements

A theoretical model of CO2aq‐dependent phytoplankton carbon isotope fractionation (єp) and abundance (δ13Corg) is compared to observed isotopic trends with temperature and [CO2aq] in the ocean. It is shown that the model's δ13Corg response to surface ocean temperature and to [CO2aq] can simulate observed trends when the other independent model variables (phytoplankton cell growth rate, cell size, cell membrane CO2 permeability, and enzymatic isotope fractionation) are held at realistic, constant values. The possible contribution made by each of these variables to the residual scatter in δ13Corg about its trends with temperature and [CO2aq] is quantified, thus estimating a maximum isotopic sensitivity to changes in each of these variables. The model response to growth rate and especially cell size, however, appears to be unrealistically high. This may occur because the net isotopic effects of such factors may be attenuated through dependent and isotopically offsetting variations among variables. The model's indicated sensitivity to such factors as CO2 permeability, enzymatic fractionation, cell size, and cell surface area/volume provides mechanisms whereby changes in species composition can play a significant role in affecting observed variations in oceanic δ13Corg. Overall, the model is consistent with earlier suggestions that marine δ13Corg and єp variability can be explained by carbon isotope fractionation evoked by CO2aq‐dependent phytoplankton. This has important implications for interpreting carbon isotopic variability encountered in plankton and their organic constituents in the present‐day ocean and in the marine sedimentary record.
An analysis of teachers’ questioning strategies during the classroom interaction in English for specific purposes

This research aimed to find out the questioning strategy used by lecturer in teaching English during the classroom interaction especially in online learning process. The method used in this research was descriptive qualitative. The participant in this study was an English lecturer at UBHI PGRI Tulungagung who teaches the English for Specific Purposes course. The researcher used purposive sampling by taking one lecturer as a participant. To gather the data, the writer used observation and interview. Based on the data analysis, it was found that the lecturer used several questioning strategies, based on four questioning strategies categories suggested by Wangru (2016). The findings of this study showed that probing and redirecting strategies were most frequently employed by the lecturer, then prompting is quite often used by the lecturer, and repeating was the strategy employed the least. The conclusion of the questioning strategy is the lecturer commitment in teaching English during the classroom interaction to find out whether students understand the material or not and also arouse interest and curiosity about a topic, develop an active learning approach, the end stimulate students to ask themselves and others, to check on students understanding, to obtain information and control the class.
Security and Privacy of Smart Waste Management Systems: A Cyber–Physical System Perspective

Smart waste management systems (SWMSs) represent a fundamental technology to efficiently manage the waste management and disposal process. Indeed, they provide means to efficiently manage the collection process, optimize resources, and foster the adoption of recycling policies. These systems are increasingly more connected and equipped with communication and sensing capabilities. Currently, the research on SWMSs security only focuses on the communication part. However, SWMSs may be subject to different cyber–physical threats due to the interconnection of information and operational technologies. In this article, we investigate the security and privacy issues of SWMSs from a cyber–physical system perspective. To provide a clear understanding of the possible threats, we first provide an overview of the current state of the art on SWMSs implementations. We then review the attacks and security measures proposed in the literature, showing that they solely focus on communication technologies. Then, we provide a thorough overview of all possible cyber–physical threats toward SWMSs. Our analysis shows that SWMSs are still vulnerable to a large number of threats impacting both the system’s and the users’ security, privacy, and safety.
Cardiac Electromechanical Activity in Healthy Cats and Cats with Cardiomyopathies

Optimal heart function depends on perfect synchronization between electrical and mechanical activity. In this pilot study, we aimed to investigate the electromechanical activity of the heart in healthy cats and cats with cardiomyopathy with phonocardiography (PCG) synchronized to an electrocardiography (ECG) pilot device. We included 29 cats (12 healthy cats and 17 cats diagnosed with cardiomyopathy) and performed a clinical examination, PCG synchronized with ECG and echocardiography. We measured the following durations with the pilot PCG device synchronized with ECG: QRS (ventricular depolarization), QT interval (electrical systole), QS1 interval (electromechanical activation time (EMAT)), S1S2 (mechanical systole), QS2 interval (electrical and mechanical systole) and electromechanical window (end of T wave to the beginning of S2). The measured parameters did not differ between healthy cats and cats with cardiomyopathy; however, in cats with cardiomyopathy, EMAT/RR, QS2/RR and S1S2/RR were significantly longer than in healthy cats. This suggests that the hypertrophied myocardium takes longer to generate sufficient pressure to close the mitral valve and that electrical systole, i.e., depolarization and repolarization, and mechanical systoles are longer in cats with cardiomyopathy. The PCG synchronized with the ECG pilot device proved to be a valuable tool for evaluating the electromechanical activity of the feline heart.
Physical Layer Authentication Without Adversary Training Data in Resource-Constrained Underwater Acoustic Networks

Underwater acoustic networks (UANs) have provided significant support for marine applications. Due to the complex marine environment and broadcast channels, however, UANs encounter huge security threats, which are in dire need of reliable authentication mechanisms. Physical layer authentication (PLA) schemes exploit natural properties of channels, which are incredibly difficult to imitate, resulting in a strong authentication capability. However, capturing a specific channel statistical model from adversaries is quite challenging due to the unknown attacker positions, unpredictable opponent behaviors, and the harsh marine environment. Besides, the limited bandwidth and energy supply of UANs require a cost-effective authentication scheme. In this article, a PLA strategy for UANs is proposed in the absence of prior knowledge of illegitimate nodes, which tries to improve the nodes authentication accuracy with reduced network energy consumption. Two database-correlative features are exploited to jointly characterize the channel impulse response (CIR) patterns over time, which possess strong resilience to the complicated time-varying underwater acoustic channels. Inspired by the spatial dependency property of CIRs in UANs, a training-set construction method without adversary data is proposed to generate the training set for nodes authentication. Using the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm with a small training set, the proposed PLA scheme enables each node to distinct spoofing attackers in a distributed manner. Extensive simulations and analysis based on sea trial CIR data have shown that the proposed PLA scheme has achieved high authentication accuracy with low overhead and reduced network energy consumption.
CDAW 9 analysis of magnetospheric events on May 3, 1986: Event C

The ninth Coordinated Data Analysis Workshop (CDAW 9) focused upon several intervals within the PROMIS period (March-June 1986). Event interval C comprised the period 0000-1200 UT on May 3, 1986, which was a highly disturbed time near the end of a geomagnetic storm interval. A very large substorm early in the period commenced at 0111 UT and had a peak AE index value of ∼1500 nT. Subsequent activity was lower, but at least three other substorms occurred at 2-3 hour intervals. The substorms on May 3 were well observed by a variety of satellites including ISEE 1, 2, and IMP 8 in the magnetotail plus SCATHA, GOES, GMS, and LANL spacecraft at or near geostationary orbit. A particularly important feature of the 0111 UT substorm was the simultaneous imaging of the southern auroral oval by DE 1 and of the northern auroral oval by Viking. The excellent constellation of spacecraft near local midnight in the radial range 5–9 RE made it possible to study the strong cross-tail current development during the bstorm growth phase and the current disruption and current wedge development during the expansion phase. We use a time-evolving magnetic field model to map observed auroral features out into the magnetospheric equatorial plane. There was both a dominant eastward and a weaker westward progression of activity following the expansion phase. A clear latitudinal separation (≳10°) of the initial region of auroral brightening and the region of intense westward electrojet current was identified. The combined ground, near-tail, and imaging data for this event provided an unprecedented opportunity to investigate tail current development, field line mapping, and substorm onset mechanisms. We find evidence for strong current diversion within the near-tail plasma sheet during the late growth phase and strong current disruption and field-aligned current formation from deeper in the tail at substorm onset. We conclude that these results are consistent with a model of magnetic neutral line formation in the late growth phase which causes plasma sheet current diversion before the substorm onset. The expansion phase onset occurs considerably later due to reconnection of lobelike magnetic field lines and roughly concurrent cross-tail disruption in the inner plasma sheet region.
Comments on “A Simple, Coherent Framework for Partitioning Uncertainty in Climate Predictions”

AbstractIn a recent article Yip et al. present a simple, yet powerful, framework for partitioning uncertainty in multimodel climate ensembles. Simplicity is achieved by extracting from climate prediction ensembles a single subset with a convenient structure. Here, the analysis of predictions of twenty-first-century global temperature by Yip et al. is extended by analyzing all possible subsets. Findings can depend strongly on the particular dataset chosen, so relying on a single dataset may be misleading.