Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transfer-Learning-Based Approach to Retrieve the Cloud Properties Using Diverse Remote Sensing Datasets

Clouds play an important role in the Earth’s climate system; however, various observational methods describe clouds differently, leading to cloud products being described with different characteristics, and affecting our understanding of cloud effects. To address this problem, this study integrates different cloud products into the transfer-learning procedure of a deep-learning model and determines the cloud effective radius (CER), cloud optical thickness (COT), and cloud top height (CTH) from Himawari-8 thermal infrared measurements. The retrieval results were independently evaluated against the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer science products and further compared with Himawari-8 operational products during the day. The root mean squared errors (RMSEs) of the model for the CER, COT, and CTH were $4.490~\mu \text{m}$ , 11.198, and 1.904 km, respectively, which are lower than those of Himawari-8 operational products (RMSE: $11.172~\mu \text{m}$ , 14.755, and 2.860 km). Moreover, validation results against active sensors show that the model performs slightly better during the day than at night, and both are generally better than the Himawari-8 operational product. Overall, the model maintains stable performance during both day and night, and its accuracy is higher than that of Himawari-8 operational products.
Modification of media compositions for micropropagation of Acorus calamus L.

Modification of medium composition is a critical step in tissue culture to find out the best medium formulation for micropropagation. Furthermore, reduction of some nutrients as well as sugar and plant growth regulator concentrations are an effort often done to make the production of seedlings more economic. The aim of the study was to modify media composition by reduction of macronutrients and sugar concentrations in combination with BAP for micropropagation of Acorus calamus. Experiments of Calamus micropropagation was established by culturing single shoots to MS medium with 100, 50, 33.3 and 25% macronutrients added with sugar at 30, 20, and 10 g/l in combination with 0, 0.5, and 1 mg/l BAP. Each medium treatment had nine replicates. Growth of culture was determined every week until 6 weeks of culture. Growth variable recorded was shoots numbers, leaf length, leaf numbers and root numbers. At six weeks of culture, chlorophyll content was also observed. The results showed that reduction of macronutrients and sugar did not influence shoot and leaf numbers in MS medium but required 0.5-1 mg/l BAP. Rooting is best in medium with no addition of BAP. Chlorophyll content decreased in the medium containing BAP in all reduced macronutrients and sugar concentrations. All plantlets survived in the field. Reduction of macronutrients and sugar can be applied for Calamus shoot culture. Cytokinin BAP is critical for shoot growth but this could be omitted for rooting. Therefore, this finding offered more choices in micropropagation of Calamus with low-cost production.
Timing of post-collisional volcanism in the eastern part of the Variscan Belt: constraints from SHRIMP zircon dating of Permian rhyolites in the North-Sudetic Basin (SW Poland)

Abstract The final stages of the Variscan orogeny in Central Europe were associated with voluminous granitic plutonism and widespread volcanism. Four samples representative of the main rhyolitic volcanic units from the Stephanian–Permian continental succession of the North-Sudetic Basin, in the eastern part of the Variscan Belt, were dated using the SIMS (SHRIMP) zircon method. Three samples show overlapping 206Pb–238U mean ages of 294 ± 3, 293 ± 2 and 292 ± 2 Ma, and constrain the age of the rhyolitic volcanism in the North-Sudetic Basin at 294–292 Ma. This age corresponds to the Early Permian – Sakmarian Stage and is consistent with the stratigraphic position of the lava units. The fourth sample dated at 288 ± 4 Ma reflects a minor, younger stage of (sub)volcanic activity in the Artinskian. The silicic activity was shortly followed by mafic volcanism. The rhyolite samples contained very few inherited zircons, possibly owing to limited contribution of crustal sources to the silicic magma, or owing to processes involved in anatectic melting and magma differentiation (e.g. resorption of old zircon by Zr-undersaturated melts). The SHRIMP results and the stratigraphic evidence suggest that the bimodal volcanism terminated the early, short-lived (10–15 Ma) and vigorous stage of basin evolution. The Permian volcanism in the North-Sudetic Basin may be correlated with relatively late phases of the regional climax of Late Palaeozoic volcanism in Central Europe, constrained by 41 published SHRIMP zircon age determinations at 299–291 Ma. The Permian volcanism and coeval plutonism in the NE part of the Bohemian Massif can be linked to late Variscan, post-collisional extension.
Effects of Acute Caffeine Administration on Pituitary–Testicular Hormonal Responses and Muscle Damage Biomarkers following Muscular Endurance in Well Resistance–Trained Males

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of acute caffeine administration on pituitary-testicular hormonal (prolactin (PRL), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and total testosterone (TT)) responses and muscle damage biomarkers (creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase-MB, myoglobin, and troponin) following muscular endurance test. In addition, total repetitions to failure were determined. Eleven well resistance-trained males (29.11±3.21 years) performed two consecutive trials (7 days apart). Using a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized crossover design, participants administered either 5 mg/kg of caffeine or a placebo 1 hour prior to the test. The test consisted of 3 sets × repetitions to failure at 70% of 1-RM, with 90 s recovery interval, in each bench press, biceps curl, shoulder press, leg press, back squat, and leg extension. Repetitions were counted in each set in each exercise. Blood samples were collected 1 h after the end of each trial from each participant to measure the aforementioned study parameters. Results indicated that caffeine had positively effect on FSH (p=.046) and TT (p=.049) but had negatively effect on CK (p=.012) compared to the placebo. However, no significant (p˃0.05) differences were found in PRL, LH, CK-MB, myoglobin, and troponin between trials. Total repetitions to failure were significantly (p=.013) greater in caffeine trial (334.38±9.70) than in the placebo (309.07±9.43). In conclusion: 5 mg/kg of caffeine administered 1 h prior to muscular endurance test performed by multiple resistance exercises had beneficial effect on FSH and TT probably due to affecting androgen receptors. However, the values of biomarkers of muscle damage were similar in both trials. Hence, male strength athletes may consider using this dose pre-training as an effective ergogenic aid during muscle endurance training.
Exploring the feasibility of a mental health application (JoyPopTM) for Indigenous youth

Objective The purpose of the current study was to explore the acceptability and feasibility of a resilience-focused mobile application, JoyPop™, for use with Indigenous youth. Methods A Haudenosaunee community-based research advisory committee co-developed the research project, in accordance with OCAP™ principles. Adopting a mixed-method approach, five youths from an immersion school used the JoyPop™ app for four consecutive weeks, as well as completed pre-test questions and weekly usage surveys. Most participants also completed post-test questions and a semi-structured interview. Based on a semi-structured interview protocol, youth responded to questions, and the most common themes were categorized to capture the experience of using the app. Results All youth reported a positive impression, used the app daily, found it easy to navigate, and indicated that they would recommend it to a friend. All features were uniformly positively endorsed. There were features that youth used most often (Deep Breathing, “SquareMoves” game, and Art features) and moderately (Rate My Mood, Journaling, and SleepEase). The social connection feature, Circle of Trust, was least utilized, with youth reporting a preference for in-person problem-solving. The drop-down menu of crisis helplines was not used. Youth recommended more gaming options. In terms of cultural resonance, appreciation for the app's use of water sounds in the SleepEase feature was expressed, as was cultural consistency with the “Good Mind” perspective. Recommendations included additional nature sounds, Indigenous design elements, the inclusion of Native language words, and traditional stories. Discussion The JoyPop™ app was positively received by Six Nations youth, and ways to ensure its cultural appropriateness were identified. Moving forward, it is recommended that Indigenous designers create a new version with community design co-creation. Additional research with various groups of Indigenous youth is warranted as a pan-Indigenous approach is not recommended.
Pulmonary function tests and their associated factors in people living with HIV at Jimma medical center; Ethiopia: a comparative cross-sectional study

Background People living with HIV (PLHIV) have a greater risk of developing respiratory disorders. The problems are linked to poor socio-economic status, high viral load, low CD4 counts, and antiretroviral therapy. Despite the high prevalence of respiratory disorders, the association between HIV infection and pulmonary function status, as well as the associated factors, is not well established in resource-limited countries. Methods A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from September 24 to October 15 2020 at Jimma Medical Center among people living with HIV who were arranged into an age–sex-matched comparison group. Data were collected using a pretested structured questionnaire administered via face-to-face interviews. The collected data included socio-demographic, respiratory, HIV infection, and substance use variables. Pulmonary function tests were conducted using an SP10 spirometer. The collected data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 26. Independent t-test and multiple linear regressions were carried out to identify factors associated with the pulmonary function status of the study participants. Results A total of 96 PLHIV and 96 matched control individuals participated in the study. The mean of pulmonary function test parameters among the PLHIV respondents was FVC (l) (67.35 ± 19.12, p0.003), FEV1s (l) (61.76 ± 16.04, p0.001), and PEFR (50.14 ± 23.32, p0.001), with a significant lowering in the study group. Female sex, respiratory symptoms, duration of HIV, duration of treatment, and khat chewing were associated with lowered FEV1s (l) (p < 0.05) in HIV-positive respondents. Conclusion PLHIV had significantly lower mean lung function parameters than HIV-uninfected participants. As a result, health providers should screen HIV-positive patients with respiratory symptoms, prolonged duration of HIV infection, prolonged treatment, and khat chewing for non-infectious lung disorders while treating them.
Radiometric calibration and processing procedure for reflective bands on LANDSAT-4 protoflight Thematic Mapper

The radiometric subsystem of NASA's LANDSAT-4 Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor is described. Special emphasis is placed on the internal calibrator (IC) pulse shapes and timing cycle. The procedures for the absolute radiometric calibration of the TM channels with a 122-centimeter integrating sphere and the transfer of radiometric calibration from the channels to the IC are reviewed. The use of the IC to calibrate TM data in the ground processing system consists of pulse integration, pulse averaging, IC state identification, linear regression analysis, and histogram equalization. An overview of the SCROUNGE-era (before August 1983) method is presented. Procedural differences between SCROUNGE and the TIPS-era (after July 1983) and the implications of these differences are discussed.
Potential of Fractal Analysis of Earthquakes through Wavelet Analysis and Determination of b Value as an Aftershock Precursor: A Case Study Using Earthquake Data between 2003 and 2011 in Turkey

The b value of earthquakes is very useful to forecast the occurrence of aftershocks in a given region. The b value characterizes the release of energy due to stress accumulation in the rocks through an earthquake and is a direct indicator for the prediction of aftershocks in the region. Wavelet based fractal analysis is used in this study to determine the b value by calculating the fractal dimension. This method guarantees high accuracy results through a limited dataset. The objective of this work was to demonstrate an elegant method for the determination of the b value after an earthquake and predict the occurrence of aftershocks with high accuracy. Repeated earthquakes were analyzed between 2003 and 2011 in Turkey and the b value was found for these earthquakes. The results gave an indication that the b value of the mainshock and its aftershocks are different and aftershocks occur in the region when the b value of the mainshock deviates significantly from 0.5, and aftershocks keep occurring until the b value of the earthquake approaches close to 0.5 for this region.
Sex- and age-specific aspects of human peripheral T-cell dynamics

Background The diversity of the antigenic T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire clonally expressed on T lymphocytes is a key element of the adaptive immune system protective functions. A decline in diversity in the older adults is associated with health deterioration. This diversity is generated by the rearrangement of TRB genes coding for TCR chains during lymphocyte differentiation in the thymus, but is essentially maintained by peripheral T lymphocytes proliferation for most of life. Deep sequencing of rearranged TRB genes from blood cells allows the monitoring of peripheral T cell repertoire dynamics. We analysed two aspects of rearranged TRB diversity, related to T lymphocyte proliferation and to the distribution of the T cell clone size, in a collection of repertoires obtained from 1 to 74 years-old donors. Results Our results show that peripheral T lymphocytes expansion differs according to the recombination status of their TRB loci. Their proliferation rate changes with age, with different patterns in men and women. T cell clone size becomes more heterogeneous with time, and, in adults, is always more even in women. Importantly, a longitudinal analysis of TRB repertoires obtained at ten years intervals from individual men and women confirms the findings of this cross-sectional study. Conclusions Peripheral T lymphocyte proliferation partially depends on their thymic developmental history. The rate of proliferation of T cells differing in their TRB rearrangement status is different in men and women before the age of 18 years old, but similar thereafter.
Three-dimensional ladar imaging system using AR-4000LV laser range-finder

A new Laser Detection and Ranging or laser radar (LADAR) prototype system has been designed and implemented to be able to capture the 3D LADAR data from the surfaces of various objects. This system is designed to have a high technical specification (sampling rate and resolution) at a minimum cost. This opens up the possibility for further research in the LADAR field, which is currently limited because of the high cost of traditional LADAR systems. This paper describes the technical aspects of the LADAR design which include hardware components and both the mathematical model and the controlling software that are required for reconstructing the resultant LADAR images from the scanning measurements.
Breast Cancer Detection Based on Hybrid Deep Learning Models

— Early breast cancer diagnosis and detection are very important. It may greatly enhance treatment results and save a life. The absence of early cancer signs makes early identification challenging. Cancer continues to be one of the health subjects that many researchers work to advance. This study proposed a new hybrid model for classifying breast cancer images. The proposed framework consists of preprocessing stage and the proposed two models stage. For the preprocessing, we downsized every image from its original 50x50 to 32x32 pixel size, rotating and flipping all positive images for the Histology Images. The proposed hybrid model consists of a CNN model created from scratch and transfer learning based on EfficientNetB0 (CNN+ EfficientNetB0) to classify Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) into benign and malignant. According to tests, the CNN + EfficientNetB0 model has the highest accuracy compared to the other deep learning models. This model achieves 96% accuracy, 95% precision, 82.5% recall, and 88.3
Mineralogic and petrologic study of the low-temperature minerals in carbonaceous chondrites

Samples and petrographic thin sections of the Orgueil, Ivuna, and Alais chondrites were examined by optical, X-ray, and SEM techniques. Mineral species identified as primary vein constituents were epsomite, gypsum, and a calcium-magnesium carbonate. Relative abundances and textural relationships have suggested that fracture mineralization was a multi stage process, with individual mineralizations closely associated with impact brecciation events. Mass balance considerations of carbonaceous chondrite matrix support the prevailing view that the source of the fracture filling minerals was local. By inference they also suggest that the phyllosilicate matrix has been chemically altered and that there are probably very few primitive mineral phases in the primitive Cl chondrites.
Tannins from Different Parts of the Chestnut Trunk (Castanea Sativa Mill.): a Green and Effective Extraction Method and Their Profiling by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Detector-Mass Spectrometry

: Chestnut wood is a rich source of hydrolyzable tannins, which include gallotannins and ellagitannins, such as castalin, vescalin, castalagin, and vescalagin. The study was aimed to improve knowledge on hydrolyzable tannins from chestnut wood, evaluating the extraction process, the curing time of wood, and the composition of the dry tannin extracts. Different extraction conditions (e.g., wood-chips/solvent ratio and temperature) were evaluated, and more than 50 ellagitannins and gallotannins were tentatively identified by HPLC-MS. The highest yields in tannins on dried matter were obtained for the samples with the higher curing time by the extraction carried out at 100 ° C (maximum applied temperature). The extracts of different chestnut samples extracted at 100 ° C showed a high content of total tannins, with values determined by HPLC-DAD ranging between 19.6 and 25.6% of the dry extract. The values of total tannin content determined using both the HPLC-DAD and the Folin-Ciocalteu methods, both expressed as gallic acid, were compared and correlated, and a multiplication factor of 3.25 was proposed. The use of this factor is a simple way to convert nonhomogeneous quantitative results on tannin concentration in chestnut wood present so far in the literature.
Spatial heterogeneity facilitates coexistence between striped hyaenas and sympatric carnivores

Interspecific competition plays a key role in shaping carnivore communities. Top‐down effects can impact the coexistence of superordinate and subordinate competitors and prey across a shared landscape. Limited resources, their abundance and diminishing habitats can all exacerbate interspecific competition. Sometimes, behavioural mechanisms or adaptations are critical for subordinate carnivores to coexist with larger species. Here, we investigated the distribution pattern of the striped hyaena (Hyaena hyaena) population with respect to habitat features, sympatric carnivores and their prey species across a large landscape.
The Laramide Orogeny: What Were the Driving Forces?

The Laramide orogeny is the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene (80 to 55 Ma) orogenic event that gave rise to the Laramide block uplifts in the United States, the Rocky Mountain fold-and-thrust belt in Canada and the United States, and the Sierra Madre Oriental fold-and-thrust belt in east-central Mexico. The Laramide orogeny is believed to post-date the Jurassic and late Early Cretaceous accretion of the terranes that make up much of the North American Cordillera, precluding a collisional origin for Laramide orogenesis. Instead, the deformation belt along much of its length likely developed 700-1500 km inboard of the nearest convergent margin. The purpose of this paper is to show, through a review of proposed mechanisms for producing this inboard deformation (retroarc thrusting, "orogenic float" tectonics, flat-slab subduction and Cordilleran transpressional collision), that the processes responsible for orogeny remain enigmatic.
Liquid-Updating Impulsive Adaptive Dynamic Programming for Continuous Nonlinear Systems

This article focuses on designing the optimal impulsive controller (IMC) of continuous-time nonlinear systems. A general-event-based dynamics (GED) is constructed to describe the state transition characteristics across the impulsive actions for the continuous-time nonlinear systems. Then, based on the GED, a new IMC design scheme and an impulsive adaptive dynamic programming (IADP) algorithm are developed, which possess strong generality and feasibility. Next, by introducing a novel policy-improving mechanism the liquid-updating IADP (LIADP) algorithm is established, which is more flexible to fit into the memory-limited computing devices, thus improving the flexibility and realization efficiency of the ADP-based approaches. The developed methods are proved to converge to the optimal impulsive performance index function and obtain the optimal impulsive controllers for the continuous-time nonlinear systems. Finally, a numerical study is provided to verify the effectiveness of the present IADP and LIADP algorithms.
A Hybrid Data-Driven Metaheuristic Framework to Optimize Strain of Lattice Structures Proceeded by Additive Manufacturing

This research is centered on optimizing the mechanical properties of additively manufactured (AM) lattice structures via strain optimization by controlling different design and process parameters such as stress, unit cell size, total height, width, and relative density. In this regard, numerous topologies, including sea urchin (open cell) structure, honeycomb, and Kelvin structures simple, round, and crossbar (2 × 2), were considered that were fabricated using different materials such as plastics (PLA, PA12), metal (316L stainless steel), and polymer (thiol-ene) via numerous AM technologies, including stereolithography (SLA), multijet fusion (MJF), fused deposition modeling (FDM), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), and selective laser melting (SLM). The developed deep-learning-driven genetic metaheuristic algorithm was able to achieve a particular strain value for a considered topology of the lattice structure by controlling the considered input parameters. For instance, in order to achieve a strain value of 2.8 × 10−6 mm/mm for the sea urchin structure, the developed model suggests the optimal stress (11.9 MPa), unit cell size (11.4 mm), total height (42.5 mm), breadth (8.7 mm), width (17.29 mm), and relative density (6.67%). Similarly, these parameters were controlled to optimize the strain for other investigated lattice structures. This framework can be helpful in designing various AM lattice structures of desired mechanical qualities.