Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrocardiogram and Photoplethysmogram-based Heart Rate Variability Are Not Equivalent: A Bayesian Simulation Analysis

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) is a common measure of autonomic and cardiovascular system function assessed via electrocardiography (ECG). Consumer wearables, commonly employed in epidemiological research, use photoplethysmography (PPG) to report HRV metrics (PRV), although these may not be equivalent. One potential cause of dissociation between HRV and PRV is the variability in pulse transit time (PTT). This study sought to determine if PPG-derived HRV (i.e., PRV) is equivalent to ECG-derived HRV and ascertain if PRV measurement error is sufficient for a biomarker separate from HRV. Methods: The ECG data from 1,084 subjects were obtained from the PhysioNet Autonomic Aging dataset, and individual PTT variances for both the wrist (n=42) and finger (n=49) were derived from Mol et al. A Bayesian simulation was constructed whereby the individual arrival times of the PPG wave were calculated by placing a Gaussian prior on the individual QRS-wave timings of each ECG series. The standard deviation of the prior corresponds to the PTT variances. This was simulated 10,000 times for each PTT variance. The root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) and standard deviation of N-N intervals (SDNN) were calculated for both HRV and PRV. The Region of Practical Equivalence bounds (ROPE) were set a priori at 0.2% of true HRV. The Highest Density Interval (HDI) width, encompassing 95% of the posterior distribution, was calculated for each PTT variance. Results: The lowest PTT variance (2.0 SD) corresponded to 88.4% within ROPE for SDNN and 21.4% for RMSSD. As the SD of PTT increases, the equivalence of PRV and HRV decreases for both SDNN and RMSSD. Thus, between PRV and HRV, RMSSD is nearly never equivalent and SDNN is only somewhat equivalent under very strict circumstances. The HDI interval width increases with increasing PTT variance, with the HDI width increasing at a higher rate for RMSSD than SDNN. Conclusions: For individuals with greater PTT variability, PRV is not a surrogate for HRV. When considering PRV as a unique biometric measure, our findings reveal that SDNN has more favorable measurement properties than RMSSD, though both exhibit a non-uniform measurement error.
Study of deep earth structure using core phases and their scattered energy recorded at seismic arrays

In the thesis, I endeavor to explore the structure of the Earth’s deep interior by analyzing seismic core phases and their related scattered energy generated by small-scale heterogeneities inside the Earth. By modeling the differential traveltimes and amplitude ratios between PKP-DF and PKP-Cdiff measured from a large dataset recorded at seismic arrays, I find that the optimum model by fitting the differential travel times has relatively low velocity at the base of the outer core as in AK135, however, the optimum model found by fitting the amplitude ratios does not exhibit this feature, and instead is closer to PREM. The discrepancy may be explained by small-scale topography on the inner core boundary (ICB) or a thin layer with relatively low Q at the base of the outer core. I also analyzed the coda waves following PKP-Cdiff to locate the lateral heterogeneity and to attempt to understand its nature. By combined modeling of the travel times, slownesses, and envelopes of the coda waves, I find a very strong heterogeneity in the lowermost mantle beneath the Amazon River in South America. To examine the strength of small-scale random heterogeneities in the mantle, I assembled a large, geographically diverse data set of PKP precursor envelopes from globally distributed international monitoring system seismic arrays. I find that the amplitudes of the precursors change from region to region, and exhibit significant variations within specific geographic regions. This may imply that the lower mantle is not perfectly mixed by mantle convection, and that compositional heterogeneities can survive in the mantle for billions of years. By modeling the globally averaged PKP precursors using a seismic phonon method, my results show that a model with random heterogeneities at a scale-length of 8 km with 0.05% r.m.s. velocity perturbation uniformly distributed throughout the lower mantle can provide a reasonable fit to the observations. On the contrary, confining the heterogeneities near the core mantle boundary (CMB) or in the D” does not yield the amplitude versus time pattern observed in our data. Furthermore, extra scattering near the CMB or in the D” is not justified.
Identity dimension of rural women and the sexual and reproductive health

ABSTRACT Objectives: to analyze the social representations of rural women about being a woman in the rural context and its implications for sexual and reproductive health. Methods: this is a descriptive qualitative study with data triangulation, based on the Theory of Social Representations, developed with 31 women who live in the rural context of Minas Gerais (MG/BR). An in-depth interview with a semi-structured script was conducted. A lexical analysis was performed with the help of the ALCESTE 2012 software. Results: the family relationship, especially the couple’s, demonstrated subjectivities and was permeated by violence and normalized sexual practice. The imagery dimension of the ideal family seems to be responsible for exerting domination over rural women. Final Considerations: rural women are subject to the norms and prescriptions of a patriarchal society. It is urgent to increase attention to sexual and reproductive health in an egalitarian and liberating way in order to minimize the consequences of machismo and conservatism.
Distilling particle knowledge for fast reconstruction at high-energy physics experiments

Knowledge distillation is a form of model compression that allows to transfer knowledge between intelligent algorithms. Its main application is the compactification of large deep neural networks to free up computational resources, in particular on edge devices. In this article, we consider proton-proton collisions at the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) and demonstrate a successful knowledge transfer from an event-level graph neural network (GNN) to a particle-level small deep neural network (DNN). Our algorithm, DistillNet, is a DNN that is trained to learn about the provenance of particles, as provided by the soft labels that are the GNN outputs, to predict whether or not a particle originates from the primary interaction vertex. The results indicate that for this problem, which is one of the main challenges at the HL-LHC, there is minimal loss during the transfer of knowledge to the small student network, while improving significantly the computational resource needs compared to the teacher. This is demonstrated for the distilled student network on a CPU, as well as for a quantized and pruned student network deployed on an FPGA. Our study proves that knowledge transfer between networks of different complexity can be used for fast artificial intelligence (AI) in high-energy physics that improves the expressiveness of observables over non-AI-based reconstruction algorithms. Such an approach can become essential at the HL-LHC experiments, e.g., to comply with the resource budget of their trigger stages.
Get the happiness out–An online experiment on the causal effects of positive emotions on giving

Our study provides new evidence on the impact of positive emotions on voluntary contributions to public goods in a natural setting. Using a lab-in-field experiment, we induce positive incidental emotions randomly and analyze their effects on donations using a dictator game with multiple beneficiaries. Although we find no significant overall effect of positive incidental emotions on donation levels, our results show a significant shift in the allocation of donations towards the host charity. These findings shed light on the complex role of emotions in donation behavior and can provide valuable insights for organizations seeking to increase charitable giving.
PROTOCOL: School‐based interventions for reducing disciplinary school exclusion: An updated systematic review

Abstract The primary goal of the present mixed methods review is to systematically examine the available evidence for the effectiveness of different types of school‐based interventions for reducing disciplinary school exclusion. Quantitative evidence will help to understand the overall size of the impact, as well as the factors that better explain it. Qualitative evidence will help to better understand how these programmes may work, and what factors aid or hinder implementation and success. The research questions underlying the quantitative review are as follows: Do school‐based programmes reduce the use of exclusionary sanctions in schools? Are some school‐based approaches more effective than others in reducing exclusionary sanctions? Do participants’ characteristics (e.g., age, sex, or ethnicity) affect the impact of school‐based programmes on exclusionary sanctions in schools? Do characteristics of the interventions, implementation, and methodology affect the impact of school‐based programmes on exclusionary sanctions in schools? Do school‐based programmes have an impact on reducing the involvement of children and young people in crime and violence? Do participants’ characteristics (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity) affect the impact of school‐based programmes on crime and violence? If sufficient data are available, we will compare different approaches (e.g., school‐wide management, classroom management, restorative justice, cognitive‐behavioural interventions) and identify those that could potentially demonstrate larger effects. We will also (potentially) run analysis controlling for characteristics of participants (e.g., age, ethnicity, level of risk); interventions (e.g., theoretical bases, components); implementation (e.g., facilitators’ training, doses, quality); and methodology (e.g., research design). The research questions underlying the qualitative review are defined as follows: What are the barriers and facilitators to implementation of interventions to reduce school exclusions? What are the barriers and facilitators to implementation of interventions to reduce the involvement of children and young people in crime and violence?
Longitudinal characterization of the wake and electron bunch in a laser wakefield accelerator

Energy chirp compensation of the electron bunch (e-bunch) in a laser wakefield accelerator, which is caused by the phase space rotation in the gradient wakefield, has been applied in many schemes for low energy spread e-bunch generation. We report the experimental observation of energy chirp compensation of the e-bunch in a nonlinear laser wakefield accelerator with a negligible beam loading effect. By adjusting the acceleration length using a wedge-roof block, the chirp compensation of the accelerated e-bunch was observed via an electron spectrometer. Apart from this, some significant parameters for the compensation process, such as the longitudinal dispersion and wakefield slope at the bunch position, were also estimated. A detailed comparison between experiment and simulation shows good agreement of the wakefield and bunch parameters. These results give a clear demonstration of the longitudinal characteristics of the wakefield in a plasma and the bunch dynamics, which are important for better control of a compact laser wakefield accelerator.
Climate change in the Mediterranean: socio-economic perspectives of impacts, vulnerability and adaptation.

The issues - socio-economic impacts, vulnerablity and adaptation: recent economic insights into the impacts of climate change, R.S. J. Tol, S. Fankhauser, O.J. Kuik, J.B. Smith adaptation to climate variability and change - what is optimal and appropriate? R.J.T. Klein. Climate change and Mediterranean water resources: climate change and water resources in the Middle East, vulnerability, socio-economic impacts and adaptation, M. El_Fadal, E. Bou-Zeid water availability for agriculture under climate change - understanding adaptation strategies in the Mediterranean, A. Iglesias, N. Ward, M. Mendez, C. Rosenzweig the impacts of climate change on water resources of Lebanon - Eastern Mediterranean, M.R. Khawlie economic impacts of hydrological droughts under climate change scenarios, E. Igelsias Martinez, A. Gomez Ramos, A. Garrido Colmenero. Climate change and Mediterranean land uses: what future scenarios for Mediterranean agriculture? A proposal to integrate socio-economics in climate change scenarios, P. Rosato, C. Giupponi desertification and land degradation in Mediterranean areas - from research to integrated policy making, G. Engelen an exploratory economic assessment of climate change impacts in Israels - agriculture, M. Shechter, N. Yehoshua assessing the ancillary socio-economic benefits of mitigating greenhouse gasses from municipal solid waste management, O. Ayalon, M. Shechter, Y. Avnimelech. Climate change and Mediterranean coastal areas: impact of climatic change in the Mediterranean coastal zones, UNEP's vulnerability assessments methodology and evidence from case studies, D. Georgas. Climate change and coastal zones - an overview of the state-of-the-art on regional and local vulnerability assessment, H. Sterr, R.J.T. Klein, S. Reese impacts of climate change on tourism in the Mediterranean - adaptive responses, A. Perry impacts of climate on tourist demand, W. Lise, R.S. J. Tol.
Sharp decline in future productivity of tropical reforestation above 29°C mean annual temperature

Tropical reforestation is among the most powerful tools for carbon sequestration. Yet, climate change impacts on productivity are often not accounted for when estimating its mitigation potential. Using the process-based forest growth model 3-PGmix, we analyzed future productivity of tropical reforestation in Central America. Around 29°C mean annual temperature, productivity sharply and consistently declined (−11% per 1°C of warming) across all tropical lowland climate zones and five tree species spanning a wide range of ecological characteristics. Under a high-emission scenario (SSP3-7.0), productivity of dry tropical reforestation nearly halved and tropical moist and rain forest sites showed moderate losses around 10% by the end of the century. Under SSP2-4.5, tropical moist and rain forest sites were resilient and tropical dry forest sites showed moderate losses (−17%). Increased vapor pressure deficit, caused by increasing temperatures, was the main driver of growth decline. Thus, to continue following high-emission pathways could reduce the effectiveness of reforestation as climate action tool.
Using Landsat digital data to detect moisture stress

A technique utilizing transformed Landsat digital data for detection of agricultural drought was empirically defined during the 1976 South Dakota drought. During 1977, the procedure was expanded to the Great Plains for evaluation as a technique for detecting and monitoring vegetative water stress over large areas. The technique, Green Index Number (GIN), uses Landsat digital data from 5 by 6 nautical mile sampling frames (segments) to indicate when the vegetation within the segment is undergoing drought. At known growth stages for wheat, segments were classified as drought or non-drought areas. The remote-sensing-based information was compared to a weekly ground-based index (Crop Moisture Index) provided by the United States Department of Commerce. This comparison demonstrated a high degree of agreement between the 18-day remote sensing technique and the ground-based weekly data. Maps based on GIN of parts of the USSR and Australia were produced with a two-week lag and later compared with other crop assessments of crop conditions in these areas. These maps were judged to be in general agreement with the other data sources.
Host proteins interacting with the Moloney murine leukemia virus integrase : Multiple transcriptional regulators and chromatin binding factors

Background: A critical step for retroviral replication is the stable integration of the provirus into the genome of its host. The viral integrase protein is key in this essential step of the retroviral life cycle. Although the basic mechanism of integration by mammalian retroviruses has been well characterized, the factors determining how viral integration events are targeted to particular regions of the genome or to regions of a particular DNA structure remain poorly defined. Significant questions remain regarding the influence of host proteins on the selection of target sites, on the repair of integration intermediates, and on the efficiency of integration. Results: We describe the results of a yeast two-hybrid screen using Moloney murine leukemia virus integrase as bait to screen murine cDNA libraries for host proteins that interact with the integrase. We identified 27 proteins that interacted with different integrase fusion proteins. The identified proteins include chromatin remodeling, DNA repair and transcription factors (13 proteins); translational regulation factors, helicases, splicing factors and other RNA binding proteins (10 proteins); and transporters or miscellaneous factors (4 proteins). We confirmed the interaction of these proteins with integrase by testing them in the context of other yeast strains with GAL4-DNA binding domain-integrase fusions, and by in vitro binding assays between recombinant proteins. Subsequent analyses revealed that a number of the proteins identified as MoMLV integrase interactors also interact with HIV-1 integrase both in yeast and in vitro. Conclusion: We identify several proteins interacting directly with both MoMLV and HIV-1 integrases that may be common to the integration reaction pathways of both viruses. Many of the proteins identified in the screen are logical interaction partners for integrase, and the validity of a number of the interactions are supported by other studies. In addition, we observe that some of the proteins have documented interactions with other viruses, raising the intriguing possibility that there may be common host proteins used by different viruses. We undertook this screen to identify host factors that might affect integration target site selection, and find that our screens have generated a wealth of putative interacting proteins that merit further investigation. Published: 13 June 2008 Retrovirology 2008, 5:48 doi:10.1186/1742-4690-5-48 Received: 20 July 2007 Accepted: 13 June 2008 This article is available from: http://www.retrovirology. com/content/5/1/48 © 2008 Studamire and Goff; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Retrovirology 2008, 5:48 http://www.retrovirology. com/content/5/1/48
Fonction normally-on, normally-off compatible de la technologie HEMT GaN pour des applications de puissance, hyperfréquences

Ce document presente les travaux de these ayant pour objet la recherche et developpement d’une technologie co-integree HEMT GaN normale-on/normally-off compatible avec les materiaux et procedes technologiques de la technologie normally-on hyperfrequence. Un expose theorique et une revue de l’etat de l’art permettent d’abord d’entrevoir les differentes solutions technologiques qui s’offrent a nous, tout en affirmant et en precisant les applications visees. Differentes briques technologiques sont ensuite developpees pour la fabrication de MOS-HEMTs GaN a recess de grille sur des epi-structures a barriere AlGaN ou (Ga)InAlN dediees aux applications hyperfrequences. Nous insistons sur la possibilite d’integrer les 2 fonctionnalites normally-off et normally-on de maniere monolithique. Les echantillons ainsi realises sont ensuite caracterises electriquement de maniere conventionnelle, mais aussi en utilisant des techniques avancees de spectroscopie de pieges comme les parametres S a basse frequence et la mesure du transitoire de RON. Bien que certains phenomenes de piegeage dans l’oxyde de grille soient mis en evidence, les resultats sont tres satisfaisants : des composants normally-off sont obtenus pour les 2 structures, et les performances sont au niveau de l’etat de l’art mondial, avec plusieurs pistes d’amelioration en perspective.
Promoting health in the digital environment: health policy experts’ responses to on-demand delivery in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract Services offering on-demand delivery of unhealthy commodities, such as fast food, alcohol and smoking/vaping products have proliferated in recent years. It is well known that the built environment can be health promoting or harmful to health, but there has been less consideration of the digital environment. Increased availability and accessibility of these commodities may be associated with increased consumption, with harmful public health implications. Policy regulating the supply of these commodities was developed before the introduction of on-demand services and has not kept pace with the digital environment. This paper reports on semi-structured interviews with health policy experts on the health harms of the uptake in on-demand delivery of food, alcohol and smoking/vaping products, along with their views on policies that might mitigate these harms. We interviewed 14 policy experts from central and local government agencies and ministries, health authorities, non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and university research positions in Aotearoa New Zealand using a purposive sampling strategy. Participants concerns over the health harms from on-demand services encompassed three broad themes—the expansion of access to and availability of unhealthy commodities, the inadequacy of existing restrictions and regulations in the digital environment and the expansion of personalized marketing and promotional platforms for unhealthy commodities. Health policy experts’ proposals to mitigate harms included: limiting access and availability, updating regulations and boosting enforcement and limiting promotion and marketing. Collectively, these findings and proposals can inform future research and public health policy decisions to address harms posed by on-demand delivery of unhealthy commodities.
The complete chloroplast genome of Malvaviscus penduliflorus (Malvaceae)

Abstract In this study, we assembled the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of Malvaviscus penduliflorus using high-throughput Illumina sequencing reads. The resulting plastome assembly displayed a typical quadripartite structure with a total length of 160,332 bp, containing a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 26,313 bp separated by a large single-copy region (LSC) of 88,750 bp and a small single-copy region (SSC) of 18,956 bp. The M. penduliflorus cp genome contained 128 genes, and its overall GC content was 36.96%. Phylogenetic analysis among M. penduliflorus and five other Malvaceae species demonstrated that M. penduliflorus was closely related to Urena procumbens and Hibiscus cannabinus. The M. penduliflorus cp genome presented in this study will lay a good foundation for further genetic and genomic studies of the genus Malvaviscus as well as Malvaceae.