Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Metabolically Obese, Normal-Weight Phenotype in Young Rats Is Associated with Cognitive Impairment and Partially Preventable with Leptin Intake during Lactation

The intake of high-fat diets (HFDs) and obesity are linked to cognitive impairment. Here, we aimed to investigate whether an early metabolically obese, normal-weight (MONW) phenotype, induced with an HFD in young rats, also leads to cognitive dysfunction and to evaluate the potential cognitive benefits of neonatal intake of leptin. To achieve this, Wistar rats orally received physiological doses of leptin or its vehicle during lactation, followed by 11 weeks of pair-feeding with an HFD or control diet post-weaning. Working memory was assessed using a T-maze, and gene expression in the hippocampus and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was assessed with real-time RT-qPCR to identify cognition biomarkers. Young MONW-like rats showed hippocampal gene expression changes and decreased working memory. Animals receiving leptin during lactation presented similar gene expression changes but preserved working memory despite HFD intake, partly due to improved insulin sensitivity. Notably, PBMC Syn1 expression appears as an accessible biomarker of cognitive health, reflecting both the detrimental effect of HFD intake at early ages despite the absence of obesity and the positive effects of neonatal leptin treatment on cognition. Thus, the MONW phenotype developed at a young age is linked to cognitive dysfunction, which is reflected at the transcriptomic level in PBMCs. Neonatal leptin intake can partly counteract this impaired cognition resulting from early HFD consumption.
Spatial and temporal estimates of population exposure to wildfire smoke during the Washington state 2012 wildfire season using blended model, satellite, and in situ data

In the western U.S., smoke from wild and prescribed fires can severely degrade air quality. Due to changes in climate and land management, wildfires have increased in frequency and severity, and this trend is expected to continue. Consequently, wildfires are expected to become an increasingly important source of air pollutants in the western U.S. Hence, there is a need to develop a quantitative understanding of wildfire‐smoke‐specific health effects. A necessary step in this process is to determine who was exposed to wildfire smoke, the concentration of the smoke during exposure, and the duration of the exposure. Three different tools have been used in past studies to assess exposure to wildfire smoke: in situ measurements, satellite‐based observations, and chemical‐transport model (CTM) simulations. Each of these exposure‐estimation tools has associated strengths and weakness. We investigate the utility of blending these tools together to produce estimates of PM2.5 exposure from wildfire smoke during the Washington 2012 fire season. For blending, we use a ridge‐regression model and a geographically weighted ridge‐regression model. We evaluate the performance of the three individual exposure‐estimate techniques and the two blended techniques by using leave‐one‐out cross validation. We find that predictions based on in situ monitors are more accurate for this particular fire season than the CTM simulations and satellite‐based observations because of the large number of monitors present; therefore, blending provides only marginal improvements above the in situ observations. However, we show that in hypothetical cases with fewer surface monitors, the two blending techniques can produce substantial improvement over any of the individual tools.
Factors Influencing Uptake of Prostate Cancer Screening among Men Aged 40 Years and Above in Kazo Town Council, Kazo District, Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study

Prostate cancer accounts for 20.3% of all cancers in men in sub-Saharan Africa. Early screening among at-risk groups is challenging in Uganda, with limited data on prostate cancer screening uptake in most districts, including newly established ones. The purpose of this study was to determine factors influencing the uptake of prostate cancer screening among men aged ≥ 40 in Kazo Town Council, Kazo District, a newly created district. We used a descriptive cross-sectional study design that employed both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. Participants were recruited through simple random sampling between November 2020 and January 2021. Structured questionnaires were used for quantitative data (n = 300). Statistical analyses to determine associations were carried out using inferential and chi-square tests followed by logistic regression. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 key informants and analyzed thematically to explore a range of perceptions related to prostate cancer screening. Only 10 (3.33%; 95% CI: 0.018-0.60) respondents had ever screened for prostate cancer. Lack of privacy (p < 0.033), access to prostate cancer information (p < 0.014), and distance to health facilities (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with the uptake of prostate cancer screening. Marital status (OR = 7.93; 95% CI: 1.85-33.99; p = 0.005), positive health worker attitudes (OR = 0.002; 95% CI: 0.000-0.023, p < 0.001), and perceived affordability (OR = 0.001; 95% CI: 0.000-0.011, p < 0.001) were independently associated with uptake of prostate cancer screening. Key barriers included lack of information, access to screening centres, and fear of screening. The level of uptake of prostate cancer screening was considerably low among men aged 40 and above in the Kazo District. Targeted community interventions to improve access to prostate cancer information, screening, sensitization, and addressing perceived and actual barriers are needed in newly created districts to bolster the uptake of prostate cancer screening. This has implications for prioritizing research evaluating district resource allocation to support optimized and integrated evidence-based service delivery in primary healthcare centres, especially for specialized services in newly created districts.
YOLO-NPK: A Lightweight Deep Network for Lettuce Nutrient Deficiency Classification Based on Improved YOLOv8 Nano

: When it comes to growing lettuce, specific nutrients play vital roles in its growth and development. These essential nutrients include full nutrients (FN), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Insufficient or excess levels of these nutrients can have negative effects on lettuce plants, resulting in various deficiencies that can be observed in the leaves. To better understand and identify these deficiencies, a deep learning approach is employed to improve these tasks. For this study, YOLOv8 Nano, a lightweight deep network, is chosen to classify the observed deficiencies in lettuce leaves. Several enhancements to the baseline algorithm are made, the backbone is replaced with VGG16 to improve the classification accuracy, and depthwise convolution is incorporated into it to enrich the features while keeping the head unchanged. The proposed network, incorporating these modifications, achieved superior classification results with a top-1 accuracy of 99%. This method outperformed other state-of-the-art classification methods, demonstrating the effectiveness of the approach in identifying lettuce deficiencies. The objective of this research was to improve the baseline algorithm to complete the classification task with a top-1 accuracy above 85%, a FLOP inferior to 10G, and classification latency below 170 ms per image.
Switching disturbance rejection attitude control of near space vehicles with variable structure

A switching disturbance rejection attitude control law is proposed for a near space vehicle (NSV) with variable structure. The multiple flight modes, system uncertainties and disturbances of the NSV are taken into account based on switched nonlinear systems. Compared with traditional backstepping design methods, the proposed method utilizes the added integrals of attitude angle and angular rate tracking errors to further decrease the tracking errors. Moreover, to reduce the computation complexity, a rapid convergent differentiator is employed to obtain the derivative of the virtual control command. Finally, for disturbance rejection, based on the idea from the extended state observer (ESO), two disturbance observers are designed by using non-smooth functions to estimate the disturbances in the switched nonlinear systems. All signals of the closed-loop system are proven to be uniformly ultimately bounded under the Lyapunov function framework. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
Permian fusulinidae of the Franklin Mountains, New Mexico-Texas

Restudy of the Permian rocks of the Franklin Mountains supports a three-fold subdivision based on correlation with the Hueco Canyon Formation, Cerro Alto Limestone, and Alacran Mountain Formation in the Hueco Mountains, Texas. The Hueco Canyon and Alacran Mountain Formations of the Franklin Mountains contain distinctive assemblages of fusulinid species directly comparable to those in the type localities. The Cerro Alto Formation is apparently barren of fusulines. Both the Hueco Canyon and Cerro Alto Formations are wholly within the 9zone of Pseudoschwagerina9 as is such portion of the Alacran Mountain Formation as can be observed. The top of the formation is not exposed and the position of the Wolfcamp-Leonard boundary is indeterminate.
Comparative Transcriptome Analyses Provide New Insights into the Evolution of Divergent Thermal Resistance in Two Eel Gobies

Adaptation to thermal conditions in tidal mudflats always involves tolerating frequent fluctuations and often extreme environmental temperatures. Regulation of gene expression plays a fundamental role in the evolution of these thermal adaptations. To identify the key gene regulatory networks associated with the thermal adaptation, we investigated the capability of cold tolerance, as well as the transcriptomic changes under cold stress in two mudflat inhabitants (Odontamblyopus lacepedii and O. rebecca) with contrasting latitude affinity. Our results revealed a remarkable divergent capacity of cold tolerance (CTmin: 0.61 °C vs. 9.57 °C) between the two gobies. Analysis of transcriptomic changes under cold stress unveiled 193 differentially expressed genes exhibiting similar expression profiles across all tissues and species, including several classic metabolic and circadian rhythm molecules such as ACOD and CIART that may represent the core cold response machinery in eel gobies. Meanwhile, some genes show a unique expression spectrum in the more cold-tolerant O. lacepedii suggesting their roles in the enhanced cold tolerance and hence the extreme thermal adaptations. In addition, a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) revealed a subset of metabolic hub genes including MYH11 and LIPT2 showing distinct down-regulation in O. lacepedii when exposed to cold stress which highlights the role of reduced energy consumption in the enhanced cold tolerance of eel gobies. These findings not only provide new insights into how mudflat teleosts could cope with cold stress and their potential evolutionary strategies for adapting to their thermal environment, but also have important implications for sound management and conservation of their fishery resources in a scenario of global climate warming in the marine realm.
“Mehr Licht!” Anschauung and Its Fading Role in Morphology. Herbsttagung «Evolving Morphology»

Zusammenfassung Anschauung spielt eine Schlüsselrolle, wenn es um die Beobachtung und ein Verständnis der Morphologie geht. Dennoch wird sie in der modernen Biologie als altmodische und subjektive Praxis angesehen. Darunter leidet vor allem die Taxonomie, die in einer zunehmend nicht vergleichenden und von Technologien geprägten Biologie irrelevant wird. Sind wir – ohne es zu merken – dabei, die menschliche Beobachtungstätigkeit und uns selbst aus dem Studium der Morphologie zu entfernen? Indem wir uns auf Goethes Wissenschaftsansatz besinnen, erobern wir die wesentlichen Grundlagen zurück, die die vergleichende Biologie und unsere Verbindung zur Morphologie unterstützen.
Geomorphic Response to Lowhead Dam Removal in a Mid-Sized Urban River System

ii Acknowledgments. iv Vita . v List of Tables . viii List of Figures . x Chapter 1 – Review of Research on Impacts of Lowhead Dams on Rivers and Geomorphic Responses to Lowhead Dam Removal . 1 1.1 Presence of Lowhead Dams on Rivers . 1 1.1.1 Upstream and Downstream Geomorphic Impacts of Dams . 2 1.2 Lowhead Dam Removal . 3 1.2. 1 Upstream and Reservoir Geomorphic Channel Responses . 5 1.2. 2 Downstream Geomorphic Channel Responses . 9 1.3 Literature Cited . 24 Chapter 2 – Geomorphic Response to Lowhead Dam Removal in a Mid-Sized Urban River System . 30 Abstract . 30 2.
Digital Arbitration Is a New Way of Dispute Resolution for the Unified Digital Space of the EAEU: Political, Philosophical and Legal Aspect

The article discusses the theoretical legal foundations of a new type of arbitration – digital arbitration (or blockchain arbitration). The author formulated the concept of digital arbitration and analyzed the differences between digital arbitration and traditional arbitration from the point of view of theories about the legal nature of arbitration. In particular, the author believes that the term digital arbitration (blockchain arbitration) is used in three meanings. Firstly, the term digital arbitration refers to a way to protect the rights arising from smart contracts. This method is considered as an alternative to those methods that imply the need to seek judicial protection from the State or traditional arbitration. Secondly, digital arbitration refers to the body that organizes the digital trial of a legal dispute. And, thirdly, this concept denotes an artificial intelligence agent (robot), which considered the dispute submitted for its resolution. The author believes that due to its features, digital arbitration can be recommended as an alternative way to resolve disputes in the digital space of the EAEU.
CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HISTORY

: Juvenile delinquency is considered one of the threats that destroy life and property in our society today. Due to the nature of the crimes committed by juveniles, parents, management, sponsors and supporters are concerned about the future of teenagers in Nigeria. Juvenile crimes include: rape, theft, kleptomania, burglary, disobedience, murder, absenteeism, vandalism, robbery, etc. Thus, this study aims to explore the effects of family structure on juvenile delinquency in Rivers State. The objective of this study aims at finding out the influence of single-parent families and two-parent families on juvenile, and the ways the society can adopt to mitigate the challenges of juvenile delinquency in Rivers State. The study adopted the Broken Home Theory which was developed by Wilkinson Kelly (1969). And the method of data collection was secondary while the content analysis was used for analysis. The study established that there is strong link between family structure and juvenile delinquency; and children in single-parent of broken homes commit more crime than children from homes that are conflict free in Rivers State. The study also revealed that some factors that lead to single-parent are beyond the control of parents, therefore, there is the need for the communities, schools, churches and communities to get involve in cushioning the challenge of juvenile delinquency in the society
Comprehensive Genomic Analysis of Trihelix Family in Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis) and Their Putative Roles in Osmotic Stress

In plants, Trihelix transcription factors are responsible for regulating growth, development, and reaction to various abiotic stresses. However, their functions in tea plants are not yet fully understood. This study identified a total of 40 complete Trihelix genes in the tea plant genome, which are classified into five clades: GT-1 (5 genes), GT-2 (8 genes), GTγ (2 genes), SH4 (7 genes), and SIP1 (18 genes). The same subfamily exhibits similar gene structures and functional domains. Chromosomal mapping analysis revealed that chromosome 2 has the most significant number of trihelix family members. Promoter analysis identified cis-acting elements in C. sinensis trihelix (CsTH), indicating their potential to respond to various phytohormones and stresses. The expression analysis of eight representative CsTH genes from four subfamilies showed that all CsTHs were expressed in more tissues, and three CsTHs were significantly induced under ABA, NaCl, and drought stress. This suggests that CsTHs plays an essential role in tea plant growth, development, and response to osmotic stress. Furthermore, yeast strains have preliminarily proven that CsTH28, CsTH36, and CsTH39 can confer salt and drought tolerance. Our study provides insights into the phylogenetic relationships and functions of the trihelix transcription factors in tea plants. It also presents new candidate genes for stress-tolerance breeding.
Experimental Design to Determine the Factors Affecting the Preparation of Extracts for Antibacterial Use

The selection of an activity test to screen plants for antimicrobial agents is in itself a problem. However, the preparation of those extracts is a very important step and full attention has not yet been given to this issue. This study was performed in two parts. In the first, different solvents were tested to select the best extractant for three plants used in Mexico to treat infections: Leucophyllum frutescens, Cordia boissieri, and Cyperus alternifolius. In the second part, an experimental design was developed for the most active extract assayed in the first part of the study, using factorial analysis at two levels. The variable under evaluation was the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extract active against a resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus, and the number of active spots identified in a bioautographic assay. The solvents used for the first phase of the study were selected from those most often cited in articles on antimicrobial screening. The best recoveries and lowest MICs were obtained with hydroalcoholic extracts. Shorter extraction times and storage times gave lower MICs; however, the volume of solvent and speed of agitation had no significant effect on MIC.
ITor-SDN: Intelligent Tor Networks-Based SDN for Data Forwarding Management

Tor (The Onion Routing) network was designed to enable users to browse the Internet anonymously. It is known for its anonymity and privacy security feature against many agents who desire to observe the area of users or chase users’ browsing conventions. This anonymity stems from the encryption and decryption of Tor traffic. That is, the client’s traffic should be subject to encryption and decryption before the sending and receiving process, which leads to delay and even interruption in data flow. The exchange of cryptographic keys between network devices plays a pivotal and critical role in facilitating secure communication and ensuring the integrity of cryptographic procedures. This essential process is time-consuming, which causes delay and discontinuity of data flow. To overcome delay or interruption problems, we utilized the Software-Defined Network (SDN), Machine Learning (ML), and Blockchain (BC) techniques, which support the Tor network to intelligently speed up exchanging the public key via the proactive processing of the Tor network security management information. Consequently, the combination network (ITor-SDN) keeps data flow continuity to a Tor client. We simulated and emulated the proposed network by using Mininet and Shadow simulations. The findings of the performed analysis illustrate that the proposed network architecture enhances the overall performance metrics, showcasing a remarkable advancement of around 55%. This substantial enhancement is achieved through the seamless execution of the innovative ITor-SDN network combination approach.
A Bandwidth-Boosted Hybrid LDO With Spike-To-Time Converter for Near-Threshold Regulation

A fully integrated output-capacitorless hybrid low-dropout regulator (HLDO) with enhanced transient response and tight regulation, able to operate at ultralow supply, is proposed in this article. The proposed HLDO contains a dual-control-loop structure to separate the proportional and derivative controls. A spike-to-time converter is used in the derivative control loop to convert the output transient spikes into digital signals and then activates the digital control loop to adjust the output current rapidly to speed up the recovery of output. In the proportional control loop, an analog controller based on the ring-amplifier structure with the proposed compensation scheme utilizes a hybrid algorithm to achieve a rippleless output. The proposed HLDO is fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process with a regular threshold voltage of about 0.45 V. The chip area is 0.0302 mm2. The total on-chip capacitance is 4.4 pF. The minimum supply voltage is as low as 0.5 V with a minimum dropout voltage of 20 mV. At 1-V supply, the measured undershoot at the output is 142 mV and its settling time is 17 ns when the output current increases from 100 μA to 300 mA in 5 ns. The figure-of-merit is 2.05 fs.
Narratives of Experiences in International Teaching Practicum: Lessons from an EFL Pre-Service Teacher

Contrary to popular belief that field experience should be held in local settings, teacher education programs currently initiate networking with other countries through the international teaching practicum (ITP) program. Considering the platform’s magnitude, this paper aims to explore the pre-service English teacher’s experiences during ITP to build professional development of EFL potential teachers from various activities abroad. In this study, a narrative inquiry was implemented and supplemented with data obtained from Tina (pseudonym), an EFL pre-service teacher in one of the Indonesian universities who joined a four-month ITP program abroad, particularly in Thailand. In collecting the data, semi-structured in-depth interviews that emphasized five eligibility aspects were used. The findings reveal that the pre-service teacher reaped plenty of meaningful experience from ITP in terms of the classroom situation, the implementation of basic teaching skills, the period of success or failure in teaching, values for EFL teacher candidates in ITP, critical incidents, and students’ general English competence after ITP. This study provides evidence and feedback for the institution for better planning and organization in implementing practicum. Further, it implies equipping student-teachers with sufficient skill and competence related to adaptability, cultural identity, fear, and emotions in facing challenging English instruction in the future through multiple exposures to teaching instruments and supporting situated environment facilities.