Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining Daily Associations Among Sleep, Stress, and Blood Pressure Across Adulthood.

BACKGROUND Sleep can have consequential effects on people's health and well-being, and these effects may vary among younger and older adults. PURPOSE The goal of the present study was to investigate how sleep relates to physiologic and stress responses in daily life across adulthood. METHODS We used an Ecological Momentary Assessment method in a large sample of participants (N = 4,359; Mage = 46.75, SD = 12.39; 69.30% male, 29.85% female) who completed morning sleep diaries, reported subjective stress, and recorded their heart rate and blood pressure for 21 days. Sleep was assessed with self-reports of duration, efficiency, and quality. RESULTS Using multilevel modeling, between-person analyses showed that sleep duration, efficiency, and quality were negatively related to morning heart rate and stress, such that people who slept longer, more efficiently, or better experienced lower heart rate and stress compared to those who slept shorter, less efficiently, or worse. Within-person analyses showed that sleep duration, efficiency, and quality predicted morning heart rate, blood pressure (though less consistently), and stress. That is, people experienced lower heart, blood pressure, and stress following nights when they slept longer, more efficiently, or better than they typically did. These within-person relationships were moderated by age, such that the effects of better and longer sleep on lower morning heart rate, blood pressure, and stress were stronger among younger than older adults. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that daily variations in sleep show immediate associations with stress and physiologic responses, but these daily variations have a stronger relationship among younger compared to older adults.
On The Richardson Number Dependence of Nonlinear Critical-Layer Flow over Localized Topography

Abstract The dynamics of stratified shear flow over localized topography in two spatial dimensions is investigated through analysis of a sequence of nonlinear numerical simulations. The existence of a critical level for all stationary waves is ensured by employing a hyperbolic tangent profile of horizontal wind such that the shear is localized at some elevation ẑc and the flow is asymptotic to a speed −U0 above and +U0 below this level. Previous studies of this problem have investigated the dependence of the quasi–steady-state solution upon the critical-level elevation ẑc and on the strength of the topographic forcing. In the present study these analyses are extended to include an investigation of the dependence of the solution on the third and final governing parameter, namely the minimum gradient Richardson number Rm. Contrary to previous implicit assumption, we find that the temporal evolution of the flow towards the high-drag state can be strongly influenced by the value of Rm, to a degree that depe.
Heart Rate Variability’s Association with Positive and Negative Affect in Daily Life: An Experience Sampling Study with Continuous Daytime Electrocardiography over Seven Days

Heart rate variability has been found to be related to emotional processing and emotional responses. Studies that investigated these relationships were mostly lab-based or cross-sectional. Only limited research used intensive longitudinal data, in particular investigating within-individual processes in real-life settings. This study addresses the applicability of ambulatory-assessed electrocardiograms in combination with the experience sampling methodology by investigating the associations of various HRV measures with affective states on within- and between-individual levels. A total of 26 participants aged 18–29 years (23 females) wore electrocardiograms continuously for seven days. The participants received seven prompts per day and answered questions about their affective wellbeing. The heart rate and heart rate variability measures differed between body positions and activity classes. The heart rate and ratio of low-to-high-frequency heart rate variability were consistently associated with positive affect on a within-individual (state-like) level. These associations were mainly driven by the items of feeling “enthusiastic” and “happy”. No associations were found with negative affect. Overall, we found evidence that the dominance of the sympathetic nervous system over the parasympathetic nervous system was associated with higher levels of positive affect on a within-individual (state-like) level. Suggestions for the application of ambulatory electrocardiogram assessment in the study of the association between autonomous nervous system activity and ecological momentary assessment-based variables are discussed.
Cajanus platycarpus Flavonoid 3′5′ Hydroxylase_2 (CpF3′5′H_2) Confers Resistance to Helicoverpa armigera by Modulating Total Polyphenols and Flavonoids in Transgenic Tobacco

Pod borer Helicoverpa armigera, a polyphagus herbivorous pest, tremendously incurs crop damage in economically important crops. This necessitates the identification and utility of novel genes for the control of the herbivore. The present study deals with the characterization of a flavonoid 3′5′ hydroxylase_2 (F3′5′H_2) from a pigeonpea wild relative Cajanus platycarpus, possessing a robust chemical resistance response to H. armigera. Though F3′5′H_2 displayed a dynamic expression pattern in both C. platycarpus (Cp) and the cultivated pigeonpea, Cajanus cajan (Cc) during continued herbivory, CpF3′5′H_2 showed a 4.6-fold increase vis a vis 3-fold in CcF3′5′H_2. Despite similar gene copy numbers in the two Cajanus spp. , interesting genic and promoter sequence changes highlighted the stress responsiveness of CpF3′5′H_2. The relevance of CpF3′5′H_2 in H. armigera resistance was further validated in CpF3′5′H_2-overexpressed transgenic tobacco based on reduced leaf damage and increased larval mortality through an in vitro bioassay. As exciting maiden clues, CpF3′5′H_2 deterred herbivory in transgenic tobacco by increasing total flavonoids, polyphenols and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging capacity. To the best of our knowledge, this is a maiden attempt ascertaining the role of F3′5′H_2 gene in the management of H. armigera. These interesting leads suggest the potential of this pivotal branch-point gene in biotic stress management programs.
A Novel Piecewise Tri-Stable Stochastic Resonance System Driven by Dichotomous Noise

Stochastic resonance (SR) has been widely studied as a means of signal processing since its conception. Since SR is different from other denoising methods in nature, it can be used for not only feature extraction but also signal enhancement. Additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) is often used as a driving source in SR research due to its convenience in numerical simulation and uniform distribution, but as a special noise, it is of great significance to study the SR principle of dichotomous noise as a driving source for nonlinear dynamics. In this paper, the method of piecewise tri-stable SR (PTSR) driven by dichotomous noise is studied, and it is verified that signal enhancement can still be achieved in the PTSR system. At the same time, the influence of the parameters of the PTSR system, periodic signal, and dichotomous noise on the mean of signal-to-noise ratio gain (SNR-GM) is analyzed. Finally, dichotomous noise and AWGN are used as the driving sources of the PTSR system, and the signal enhancement ability and noise resistance ability of the two drivers are compared.
Rice Intake Is Associated with Longer Reaction Time and Interacts with Blood Lipids and Hypertension among Qatari Adults

We aimed to assess the association between rice intake and cognitive function among Qatari adults and test the interactions with health conditions. Data from 1000 adults aged ≥18 years old who attended the Qatar Biobank (QBB) study were used. Rice dietary intake was measured by a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and mean reaction time (MRT) was used as an indicator of cognitive function. Linear regression and structure equation models were used. The mean rice consumption was 7.6 times/week (SD 2.0). The sample had a mean MRT of 717 milliseconds (SD 205). Rice consumption was positively associated with MRT. Across the quartiles of rice intake, the regression coefficients (95% CI) for MRT were 0.0 (reference), 22.4 (−7.8, 52.6), 36.3 (5.1, 67.5), and 34.5 (2.6, 66.4). There was a significant interaction between rice intake and hypertension, BMI, and blood lipids in relation to MRT. The association between rice intake and MRT was only observed among those with hypertension, overweight/obesity, low LDL, and low total cholesterol levels. Serum magnesium did not mediate the association. High rice consumption was associated with a higher MRT, especially among those with hypertension, overweight/obesity, low LDL, and or low total cholesterol levels. Further longitudinal studies are needed to confirm the findings.
Polyethyleneglycol-Betulinic Acid (PEG-BA) Polymer-Drug Conjugate Induces Apoptosis and Antioxidation in a Biological Model of Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most aggressive solid malignancies with poor treatment response and low survival rates. Herbal medicines such as betulinic acid (BA) have shown potential in treating various solid tumours, but with limitations that can be circumvented by polymer-drug conjugation. Polyethylene glycol-BA (PEG-BA) polymer-drug conjugate has previously shown selective anticancer activity against PC cells. Here, we elucidate the mechanism of cell death and the cell death pathway, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of PEG-BA. PEG-BA induced apoptotic cell death by arresting MIA-PaCa-2 cells in the Sub-G1 phase of the cell cycle compared with BA and untreated cells (39.50 ± 5.32% > 19.63 ± 4.49% > 4.57 ± 0.82%). NFκB/p65 protein expression was moderately increased by PEG-BA (2.70 vs. 3.09 ± 0.42 ng/mL; p = 0.1521). However, significant (p < 0.05) overexpression of the proapoptotic genes TNF (23.72 ± 1.03) and CASPASE 3 (12,059.98 ± 1.74) compared with untreated cells was notable. The antioxidant potential of PEG-BA was greater (IC50 = 15.59 ± 0.64 µM) compared with ascorbic acid (25.58 ± 0.44 µM) and BA-only (>100 µM) and further confirmed with the improved reduction of hydroperoxide levels compared with BA-only (518.80 ± 25.53 µM vs. 542.43 ± 9.70 µM). In conclusion, PEG-BA activated both the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways of apoptosis and improved antioxidant activities in PC cells, suggesting enhanced anticancer activity upon conjugation.
Properties of electromagnetic waves in ferrites

In this paper we present a derivation of the general wave equation governing the propagation of electromagnetic waves in ferrites. This is shown to be equivalent to the usual Helmholtz form obtained by introducing a permeability tensor. Its real underlying structure is somewhat obscured by the Helmholtz form because in this form the time dependence is submerged in the frequency-dependent elements of the permeability tensor. However, the main purpose of the paper is to provide a systematic account of the properties of electromagnetic waves in ferrites and this is done by making use of the close analogy that exists between wave propagation in ferrites and that in cold magnetized plasmas. This facilitates the construction of a so-called ‘C. M. A. diagram’ for a ferrite, which classifies the waves according to the various topologies of the refractive index and ray surfaces (along with the associated wave polarizations) in a two-dimensional parameter space that relates the wave frequency to the precessional frequencies intrinsic to the magnetization of the ferrite. The insight into the behaviour of waves in ferrites that this approach provides is illustrated in connection with the phenomena of cut-offs, resonances and wave-focusing, which give rise to caustics.
Early Permissiveness of Central Nervous System Cells to Measles Virus Infection Is Determined by Hyperfusogenicity and Interferon Pressure

The cessation of measles virus (MeV) vaccination in more than 40 countries as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to significantly increase deaths due to measles. MeV can infect the central nervous system (CNS) and lead to lethal encephalitis. Substantial part of virus sequences recovered from patients’ brain were mutated in the matrix and/or the fusion protein (F). Mutations of the heptad repeat domain located in the C terminal (HRC) part of the F protein were often observed and were associated to hyperfusogenicity. These mutations promote brain invasion as a hallmark of neuroadaptation. Wild-type F allows entry into the brain, followed by limited spreading compared with the massive invasion observed for hyperfusogenic MeV. Taking advantage of our ex vivo models of hamster organotypic brain cultures, we investigated how the hyperfusogenic mutations in the F HRC domain modulate virus distribution in CNS cells. In this study, we also identified the dependence of neural cells susceptibility on both their activation state and destabilization of the virus F protein. Type I interferon (IFN-I) impaired mainly astrocytes and microglial cells permissiveness contrarily to neurons, opening a new way of consideration on the development of treatments against viral encephalitis.
Mixture cure survival models with dependent censoring

Summary. The paper is motivated by cure detection among the prostate cancer patients in the National Institutes of Health surveillance epidemiology and end results programme, wherein the main end point (e.g. deaths from prostate cancer) and the censoring causes (e.g. deaths from heart diseases) may be dependent. Although many researchers have studied the mixture survival model to analyse survival data with non‐negligible cure fractions, none has studied the mixture cure model in the presence of dependent censoring. To account for such dependence, we propose a more general cure model that allows for dependent censoring. We derive the cure models from the perspective of competing risks and model the dependence between the censoring time and the survival time by using a class of Archimedean copula models. Within this framework, we consider the parameter estimation, the cure detection and the two‐sample comparison of latency distributions in the presence of dependent censoring when a proportion of patients is deemed cured. Large sample results by using martingale theory are obtained. We examine the finite sample performance of the proposed methods via simulation and apply them to analyse the surveillance epidemiology and end results prostate cancer data.
Stress Detection Using Frequency Spectrum Analysis of Wrist-Measured Electrodermal Activity

The article deals with the detection of stress using the electrodermal activity (EDA) signal measured at the wrist. We present an approach for feature extraction from EDA. The approach uses frequency spectrum analysis in multiple frequency bands. We evaluate the proposed approach using the 4 Hz EDA signal measured at the wrist in the publicly available Wearable Stress and Affect Detection (WESAD) dataset. Seven existing approaches to stress detection using EDA signals measured by wrist-worn sensors are analysed and the reported results are compared with ours. The proposed approach represents an improvement in accuracy over the other techniques studied. Moreover, we focus on time to detection (TTD) and show that our approach is able to outperform competing techniques, with fewer data points. The proposed feature extraction is computationally inexpensive, thus the presented approach is suitable for use in real-world wearable applications where both short response times and high detection performance are important. We report both binary (stress vs. no stress) as well as three-class (baseline/stress/amusement) results.
The Digital Twin Paradigm Applied to Soil Quality Assessment: A Systematic Literature Review

This article presents the results regarding a systematic literature review procedure on digital twins applied to precision agriculture. In particular, research and development activities aimed at the use of digital twins, in the context of predictive control, with the purpose of improving soil quality. This study was carried out through an exhaustive search of scientific literature on five different databases. A total of 158 articles were extracted as a result of this search. After a first screening process, only 11 articles were considered to be aligned with the current topic. Subsequently, these articles were categorised to extract all relevant information, using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses methods. Based on the obtained results, there are two main conclusions to draw: First, when compared with industrial processes, there is only a very slight rising trend regarding the use of digital twins in agriculture. Second, within the time frame in which this work was carried out, it was not possible to find any published paper on the use of digital twins for soil quality improvement within a model predictive control context.
Barriers and Facilitators to COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Polish Patients: A Qualitative Interview Study

The decision to receive a COVID-19 vaccine is influenced by a variety of individual and contextual factors. However, there are very few studies that analyse individual vaccination decisions using a qualitative methodology. To close this gap, we conducted a qualitative interview study to examine the opinions and experiences with the vaccine among patients previously hospitalized due to COVID-19, including barriers and facilitators to vaccine uptake. An exploratory qualitative study, using semi-structured telephone interviews, was conducted among 22 patients admitted for COVID-19 in Poland in 2022. Opinions of patients previously hospitalized with COVID-19 on vaccination were varied. Barriers to COVID-19 vaccine uptake stemmed from concerns about vaccine safety, patients’ religious beliefs, and negative stories. High disease severity and anxiety over personal and family health were important arguments in favour of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The study findings indicated the need for ongoing health education by healthcare staff as well as coordination and integration of multi-sectoral institutional measures regarding COVID-19 prevention strategies as well as increased public health initiatives on social media and engagement of community leaders for awareness about vaccines and vaccination. It is crucial to build trust in COVID-19 vaccinations among the general public by disseminating reliable information through trustworthy and credible sources. However, it ought to be emphasised that, regardless of the measures taken, some individuals will remain unconvinced about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
ON THE ACCURACY OF THE DESINGULARIZED BOUNDARY INTEGRAL METHOD IN FREE SURFACE FLOW PROBLEMS

SUMMARY In this paper the numerical properties of the desingularized boundary integral formulation were studied within the framework of free surface potential problems. Several numerical experiments were carried out on simple test cases in order to investigate the effects on the accuracy of the distance between the singularity sheet and the free boundary. The optimum value of this distance was related to the mesh size by simple correlations. Once the desingularized boundary integral formulation had been so calibrated, it was implemented for the solution of two typical free surface flow problems: wave diffraction around a fixed obstacle and wave resistance of submerged bodies. Numerical results are discussed in comparison with experimental data; the computational efficiency and accuracy of desingularized algorithms are confirmed and specified # 1977 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Peukert’s Law-Based State-of-Charge Estimation for Primary Battery Powered Sensor Nodes

Accurate state-of-charge (SOC) estimation is essential for maximizing the lifetime of battery-powered wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Lightweight estimation methods are widely used in WSNs due to their low measurement and computation requirements. However, accuracy of existing lightweight methods is not high, and their adaptability to different batteries and working conditions is relatively poor. This paper proposes a lightweight SOC estimation method, which applies Peukert’s Law to estimate the effective capacity of the battery and then calculates the SOC by subtracting the cumulative current consumption from the estimated capacity. In order to evaluate the proposed method comprehensively, different primary batteries and working conditions (constant current, constant resistance, and emulated duty-cycle loads) are employed. Experimental results show that the proposed method is superior to existing methods for different batteries and working conditions, which mainly benefits from the ability of Peukert’s Law to better model the rate-capacity effect of the batteries.
Estimating the Depth of Anesthesia from EEG Signals Based on a Deep Residual Shrinkage Network

The reliable monitoring of the depth of anesthesia (DoA) is essential to control the anesthesia procedure. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been widely used to estimate DoA since EEG could reflect the effect of anesthetic drugs on the central nervous system (CNS). In this study, we propose that a deep learning model consisting mainly of a deep residual shrinkage network (DRSN) and a 1 × 1 convolution network could estimate DoA in terms of patient state index (PSI) values. First, we preprocessed the four raw channels of EEG signals to remove electrical noise and other physiological signals. The proposed model then takes the preprocessed EEG signals as inputs to predict PSI values. Then we extracted 14 features from the preprocessed EEG signals and implemented three conventional feature-based models as comparisons. A dataset of 18 patients was used to evaluate the models’ performances. The results of the five-fold cross-validation show that there is a relatively high similarity between the ground-truth PSI values and the predicted PSI values of our proposed model, which outperforms the conventional models, and further, that the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient is 0.9344. In addition, an ablation experiment was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the soft-thresholding module for EEG-signal processing, and a cross-subject validation was implemented to illustrate the robustness of the proposed method. In summary, the procedure is not merely feasible for estimating DoA by mimicking PSI values but also inspired us to develop a precise DoA-estimation system with more convincing assessments of anesthetization levels.
Iue detection of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of Venus

Ultraviolet absorption bands of sulfur dioxide have been detected in the reflection spectrum of Venus using the high resolution spectrometer of the Internation Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE). The identification of these bands in the 2080 to 2180 A range has been verified by comparision with laboratory absorption spectra. An estimate of the SO/sub 2/ vertical column density using a reflecting layer model is 4 x 10/sup 16/ cm/sup -2/.