Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Aquila Digital Community The Aquila Digital Community

Background: Freshwater unionoidean bivalves, and species representing two marine bivalve orders (Mytiloida and Veneroida), exhibit a mode of mtDNA inheritance involving distinct maternal (F) and paternal (M) transmission routes concomitant with highly divergent gender-associated mtDNA genomes. Additionally, male unionoidean bivalves have a ~550 bp 3' coding extension to the cox2 gene (M cox2 e), that is apparently absent from all other metazoan taxa. Results: Our molecular sequence analyses of M COX2 e indicate that both the primary and secondary structures of the M COX2 e region are evolving much faster than other regions of the F and M COX2-COX1 gene junction. The near N-terminus ~2/3 of the M COX2 e region contains an interspecifically variable number of predicted transmembrane helices (TMH) and interhelical loops (IHL) whereas the C-terminus
Fabrication of Micro/Nano Dual Needle Structures with Morphological Gradient Based on Two-Photon Polymerization Laser Direct Writing with Proactive Focus Compensation

Micro/nano structures with morphological gradients possess unique physical properties and significant applications in various research domains. This study proposes a straightforward and precise method for fabricating micro/nano structures with morphological gradients utilizing single-voxel synchronous control and a nano-piezoelectric translation stage in a two-photon laser direct writing technique. To address the defocusing issue in large-scale fabrication, a methodology for laser focus dynamic proactive compensation was developed based on fluorescence image analysis, which can achieve high-precision compensation of laser focus within the entire range of the nano-piezoelectric translation stage. Subsequently, the fabrication of micro/nano dual needle structures with morphological gradients were implemented by employing different writing speeds and voxel positions. The minimum height of the tip in the dual needle structure is 80 nm, with a linewidth of 171 nm, and a dual needle total length reaching 200 μm. Based on SEM (scanning electron microscope) and AFM (atomic force microscope) characterization, the dual needle structures fabricated by the method proposed in this study exhibit high symmetry and nanoscale gradient accuracy. Additionally, the fabrication of hexagonal lattice periodic structures assembled from morphological gradient needle structures and the size gradient Archimedean spiral structures validate the capability of the single voxel-based fabrication and proactive focus compensation method for complex gradient structure fabrication.
Tenderness on Palpation Patients With and Without Localizing Pain Relief following Vertebroplasty in

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Focal point tenderness over the fractured level is believed to be a necessary criterion for performing vertebroplasty. The purpose of this study was to explore whether the presence of focal-point tenderness over a fracture treated with vertebroplasty predicts superior clinical outcome as compared with outcomes in patients without such tenderness. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, we divided patients into 3 groups on the basis of pain patterns noted during history and physical examination before an initial vertebroplasty in 534 consecutive patients. Group 1 comprised 373 (70%) of 534 patients with focal-point tenderness over the treated fractures. Group 2 comprised 119 (22%) patients with focal-point tenderness over the treated fractures as well as subjective off-midline pain or focal tenderness to palpation over nontreated vertebrae. Group 3 comprised 42 (8%) patients without focal-point tenderness over the treated fractures but with subjective off-midline pain or tenderness to palpation over nontreated vertebrae. Outcomes included pain at rest and with activity as well as the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire score. Statistical tools included the 2-tailed t test with a Bonferroni adjustment. RESULTS: Baseline pain at rest and with activity was not different among groups, but the proportion of group 3 patients maintained on a narcotic anesthesia preprocedure was less than that of groups 1 and 2 ( P (cid:1) . 02 compared with both groups). Group 3 achieved significantly lower pain scores at rest at 1 month ( P (cid:2) . 0001 compared with group 1 and P (cid:2) . 001 compared with group 2). CONCLUSION: The presence of focal-point tenderness does not predict superior clinical response following vertebroplasty compared with the absence of focal tenderness. Even patients without focal tenderness may benefit from vertebroplasty.
Vegetation succession and East Asian Summer Monsoon Changes since the last deglaciation inferred from high-resolution pollen record in Gonghai Lake, Shanxi Province, China

A cal. 20-year-resolution pollen record from Gonghai Lake presented the detailed process of mountain vegetation succession and East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) changes since the last deglaciation in Shanxi Province, North China. Modern vegetation distribution and lake surface pollen assemblages suggested that the fossil pollen mainly came from local and surrounding vegetation in Gonghai Lake, which reflected the elevational changes of plant communities in study area. From 14,700 to 11,100 cal. yr BP, open forests and mountain meadows dominated by shrubs and herbaceous species in surrounding area, suggesting a weak EASM with less precipitation. In the period between 11,100 and 7300 cal. yr BP, bushwoods and grasses were gradually replaced by mixed broadleaf-conifer forest, first developed by pioneer species of Betula and Populus and then replaced by Picea, Pinus, and Quercus, implying an enhanced EASM and increased temperature and precipitation. During the period of 7300–5000 cal. yr BP, warm-fitted trees became expanded and widespread, indicating a climax community of mixed broadleaf-conifer forest and warm and humid climate with higher temperature and sufficient precipitation and the strongest period of EASM. From 5000 to 1600 cal. yr BP, Pinus pollen increased, but Quercus pollen decreased, showing the breakup of the climax community and the recession of the EASM. Since 1600 cal. yr BP, under the threats of land reclamation and deforestation, forest cover sharply decreased, and mountain grass lands were developed. The EASM changes inferred from pollen record of Gonghai Lake were asynchronous to the oxygen isotope records of stalagmites from southern China. We suggest that the existence of remnant Northern Hemisphere ice sheets and relative low sea levels might hampered the northward penetration of the EASM in early Holocene, which caused the maximum monsoon precipitation to reach northern China until mid-Holocene.
Towards Practical, Serverless, Cost-effective, Real-time Pricing for Retail E-Commerce

Real-time pricing, an implementation of dynamic pricing in real-time, is a potent tool with the potential to improve revenue and competitiveness for e-commerce sellers. The broader adoption of dynamic pricing has faced obstacles due to the scarcity of practical, flexible, cost-effective, and readily deployable solutions. The advent of cloud computing has promised to address these challenges by enabling scalable, resilient, and cost-effective software systems. In this paper, we present an innovative solution designed to address this need, aiming to create a practical real-time pricing system for e-commerce, powered by modern cloud computing techniques. Our approach is structured from the ground up, delineating the essential components of a pricing strategy, including prediction of demand and sales conversion ratio. To model and predict these parameters, we employ Linear and Polynomial Regression techniques. These building blocks are then utilized to formulate an optimal pricing strategy. The implemented strategy is deployed within the AWS environment, leveraging serverless services such as AWS Lambda and DynamoDB. These service choices are meticulously selected to optimize deployment costs, ensuring cost-effectiveness compared to alternative options. Our results demonstrate the successful forecasting of pricing parameters and the dynamic adjustment of prices in real-time. The cost-effectiveness of this strategy is further supported by our cost analysis, which finds that implementing dynamic pricing for a medium-volume product with approximately 1 million monthly product views results in a daily cloud bill of about $1 USD.
EFFECTS OF LAND-USE AND LAND-COVER CHANGE ON LAND DEGRADATION IN KIJABE - LONGONOT CATCHMENT, KENYA.

Changes in land use and land cover (LULC) affect ecosystems, biodiversity and goods and services they provide to society. The magnitude of change varies with time period examined as well as the geographical area. A case study was done at a catchment covering part of highland, escarpment and valley bottom in Kijabe-Longonot area in Kenya. The objective of the study was to assess land use and land cover change and the impact on the landscape. Aerial photographs and satellite images of between 1970 and 2000 were used to assess and classify LULC for different years. Geographical information system (GIS) was used to compare the diverse data sets and the area under different land use systems. The results show a general trend of decrease in forest cover and increase in the area under settlement and farms. The rate of annual deforestation shows that by the year 2060 the forest cover will be less than 5 % if the trend is unabated. As the high rate of deforestation continues, land degradation is expected to increase and will lead to decreased land productivity and hence food insecurity. The major impact of LULC change was accelerated soil erosion by wind and water. Corrective measures can be initiated by re-forestation and soil and water conservation interventions.
Reliability Modeling and Analysis of DC Space Microgrids

This work presents a space microgrid architecture for long-term space exploration and human presence in space. It also considers internal and external microgrid faults, and their effects on the functionality of the space habitat. Additionally, it presents a qualitative reliability assessment model for the space microgrid based on Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). The paper presents different failure modes of the power system components, classifies their importance, and assesses the reliability of the system in multiple phases of operation and with different power management and control systems. Simulation results to assess the microgrid's reliability for various disturbance scenarios in a space habitat model are shown.
Journal of the Association for Information Systems

Privacy has become the key concern of many users when they are confronted with friend requests on online social networking websites. Nonetheless, users’ responses to friend requests seem at times inconsistent with their concerns about potential privacy implications. They accept friend requests and expose their personal profiles to largely unfamiliar others even though they are aware of the risks involved. Drawing on impression formation theory and the privacy calculus perspective, this paper elucidates the intriguing roles of privacy risks and expected social capital gains in social connectivity management by examining the key types of social information that users consider and their behavioral responses to online friend requests. We conducted a scenario-based experiment with 141 subjects. Our results indicate that individuals utilize two key types of social information; namely, network mutuality and profile diagnosticity in evaluating privacy risks and expected social capital gains. In addition, we find that privacy risks and expected social capital gains powerfully predict the likelihood of no-action and the likelihood of accepting friend requests on online social networking websites. In sum, this study contributes to the information systems literature by integrating impression formation theory and the privacy calculus perspective to identify the key types of social information that influence privacy tradeoff and predict individuals’ behavioral responses toward establishing new online social connections.
Fibrinogen, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and outcomes in two United States cohorts

Background: Fibrinogen is a marker of systemic inflammation and may be important in the pathogenesis and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: We used baseline data from Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities and Cardiovascular Health Studies to determine the relation between fibrinogen levels and COPD and to examine how fibrinogen levels at baseline affected outcomes of death, development of COPD, lung function decline, and COPD-hospitalizations. Results: Our study sample included 20,192 subjects, of whom 2995 died during the follow-up period. The mean fibrinogen level was 307.6 mg/dL and 10% of the sample had levels . 393.0 mg/dL. Subjects with Stage 3 or 4 COPD were more likely to have a fibrinogen level . 393.0 mg/dL (odds ratio 2.28, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.79–2.95). In the longitudinal adjusted models, fibrinogen levels . 393 mg/dL predicted mortality (hazards ratio 1.54, 95% CI: 1.39–1.70), COPD-related hospitalization (hazards ratio 1.45, 95% CI: 1.27–1.67), and incident Stage 2 COPD (odds ratio 1.36, 95% CI: 1.07–1.74). Similar findings were seen with continuous fibrinogen levels. Conclusion: In the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities/Cardiovascular Health Studies cohort data, higher fibrinogen levels are predictors of mortality, COPD-related hospitalizations, and incident Stage 2 COPD.
Multimodal Biometric Recognition System for Cloud Robots

This paper presents a Multimodal Biometric Recognition System (MBRS) which is capable of integrating various biometric information for person recognition. The MBRS is deployed as a cloud server and provides person recognition service for smart robots. Through the experiments based on multimodal biometric traits, the fact that the multimodal biometric recognition performs better than individual biometric recognition has been proved. In our approach, the implementation of a multimodal biometric recognition system based on face recognition system and voice recognition system is proposed. The MBRS provides the possibility of integrating multi biometric subsystems to do recognition. Even more, since the MBRS is deployed as a cloud server, the public interfaces were provided for the robots to do real-time person recognition. The experimental results show that the MBRS outperforms any individual face recognition subsystem and voice recognition subsystem.
Systematic Literature Review of Security Schemes for Data Exchange in Wireless Sensor Network

- Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are comprised of many sensing devices that can exchange data for monitoring and tracking. Data is exchanged over different paths where a few of malicious nodes may exist to capture the data. To handle this issue, several data security schemes have been presented that are discussed in the literature. In this paper, we perform a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to analyse existing schemes for data security in WSN as per the research question. It involves an inclusion and exclusion criteria for article selection. In literature, we explore the energy efficient schemes in the category of elliptic curve, AES, RSA, chaotic maps, efficient block ciphers, and various other techniques. These schemes are also evaluated in terms of key sizes, plain text sizes, and dominating features of related techniques and results. We identified that most of the data security schemes are extensive due to extensive computations and delayed responses. This work focuses various types of data security approaches that are compared to examine which can be more suitable for secure data exchange.
Cellular and Molecular Biology

: Irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain/discomfort and altered bowel habits. The use of Lactobacilli as probiotics during irritable bowel syndrome is based on their interesting mechanisms of action and their excellent safety profile but little is known about their clinical efficacy due to the lack of adequately designed clinical trials. The current clinical trial protocol aims to determine the effects of a mixture of Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM and LAFTI L10 as probiotics to improve irritable bowel syndrome symptoms (LAPIBSS). Eighty patients with a positive diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome according to Rome III criteria were recruited to a multicentre, double-blinded, in parallel groups, placebo-controlled randomized trial. Patients were provided with a daily dose of two capsules with two strains of Lactobacilli (5x10 9 cfu/capsule) or placebo for 8 weeks on a 1:1 ratio. The primary outcome is to obtain scores of abdominal pain/discomfort assessed with a 100-mm visual analogue scale. The secondary outcome is to obtain scores of bloating, flatus and rumbling tested with a 100-mm visual analogue scale, composite score, stool frequency and stool consistency/appearance assessed with the Bristol Stool Form scale. According to the hypothesis that abdominal pain is mainly the result of a visceral hypersensitivity, the current study protocol aims to provide high quality proof of concept data to elucidate the efficacy of a consumption of a mixture of Lactobacillus acidophilus probiotic strains after 8 weeks, for decreasing abdominal pain. Ethical approval was given by ethics committee French Consultative Committee for the Protection of Individuals in Biomedical Research of the South West (Number CPP08-014a) and ANSM (French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety – Number B80623-40). The findings from LAPBISS will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and at scientific conferences.
Establishment of the GEN Automatic Weather Station(AWS)in Khumbu region, Nepal Himalayas

GEN-AWS was established on October 21, 1994, at Syamboche village, Solu-Khumbu district, at an altitude of 3833 m. Scientific background of the establishment, observed items, and maintenance condition are summarized. Also the meteorological data for 1994-95 are briefly shown.
The Difference in Kinematic Parameters During Gait Between the Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis and Healthy Controls Using an Insole with a Single Inertial Measurement Unit: A Case-Control study

Background: Gait disturbance is a critical problem in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee (KOA). The inertial measurement unit (IMU) is small size and lightweight allows for the measurement of patients without physical constraints. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether an insole with a single IMU can detect differences in kinematic parameters during gait between patients with KOA and healthy controls. Methods: Twenty patients with KOA, for whom unilateral total knee arthroplasty was planned, and 13 age-matched control subjects were included in this study. Participants wore shoes with IMU-equipped insoles and were required to walk across an 8-m walkway at a self-selected speed and foot movement data were collected during gait. We compared the spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters on the right side in healthy controls and both sides in patients with KOA. Results:
The Qualitative Report The

Abstract In this article we investigate college-age womens body image issues in the context of dominant femininity and its polarization of the mind and body. We use original data collected through seven in-depth interviews and 32 qualitative written interviews with college-age women and men. We coded the data thematically applying feminist approaches to the analysis. We conclude that the current standard of femininity disproportionately associates womens worth with their bodies. Differing from literature that suggests femininity is associated with physicality and masculinity is not, our research suggests that masculinity is also partly associated with physicality, but in a way that is linked to power and does not reduce masculinity to only physicality.
of Birmingham Which experiences of health care delivery matter to service users and why? A critical interpretive snthesis and conceptual map

Objective : Patients’ experiences are often treated as health care quality indicators. Our aim was to identify the range of experiences of health care delivery that matter to patients and to produce a conceptual map to facilitate consideration of why they matter. Methods : Broad-based review and critical interpretive synthesis of research literature on patients’ perspectives of health care delivery. We recorded experiences reported by a diverse range of patients on ‘concept cards’, considered why they were important, and explored various ways of organizing them, including internationally recognized health care quality frameworks. We developed a conceptual map that we reﬁned with feedback from stakeholders. Results : Patients identify many health care experiences as important. Existing health care quality frameworks do not cover them all. Our conceptual map presents a rich array of experiences, including health care relationships (beyond communication) and their implications for people’s valued capabilities (e.g. to feel respected, contribute to their care, experience reciprocity). It is organized to reﬂect our synthesis argument, which links health care delivery to what people are enabled (or not) to feel, be and do. The map highlights the broad implications of the social dynamics of health care delivery. Experiences are labelled from a patient’s perspective, rendering the importance of responsiveness to individuals axiomatic. Conclusions : Our conceptual map identiﬁes and helps explain the importance of diverse experiences of health care delivery. It challenges and helps policy-makers, service providers and researchers to attend to the range of experiences that matter, and to take seriously the need for responsiveness to individuals.
Let’s Observe Them Over Time: An Improved Pedestrian Attribute Recognition Approach

Despite poor image quality, occlusions, and small training datasets, recent pedestrian attribute recognition (PAR) methods have achieved considerable performance. However, leveraging only spatial information of different attributes limits their reliability and generalizability. This paper introduces a multi-perspective approach to reduce over-dependence on spatial clues of a single perspective and exploits other aspects available in multiple perspectives. In order to tackle image quality and occlusions, we exploit different spatial clues present across images and handpick the best attribute-specific features to classify. Precisely, we extract the class-activation energy of each attribute and correlate it with the corresponding energy present across other images using the proposed Self-Attentive Cross Relation Module. In the next stage, we fuse this correlation information with similar clues accumulated from the other images. Lastly, we train a classification neural network using combined correlation information with two different losses. We have validated our method on four widely used PAR datasets, namely Market1501, PETA, PA-100k, and Duke. Our method achieves superior performance over most existing methods, demonstrating the effectiveness of a multi-perspective approach in PAR.