Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global Patterns of Linkage Disequilibrium at the CD4 Locus and Modern Human Origins

Haplotypes consisting of alleles at a short tandem repeat polymorphism (STRP) and an Alu deletion polymorphism at the CD4 locus on chromosome 12 were analyzed in more than 1600 individuals sampled from 42 geographically dispersed populations (13 African, 2 Middle Eastern, 7 European, 9 Asian, 3 Pacific, and 8 Amerindian). Sub-Saharan African populations had more haplotypes and exhibited more variability in frequencies of haplotypes than the Northeast African or non-African populations. The Alu deletion was nearly always associated with a single STRP allele in non-African and Northeast African populations but was associated with a wide range of STRP alleles in the sub-Saharan African populations. This global pattern of haplotype variation and linkage disequilibrium suggests a common and recent African origin for all non-African human populations.
Sweet taste exposure and the subsequent acceptance and preference for sweet taste in the diet: systematic review of the published literature.

Background There are consistent, evidence-based global public health recommendations to reduce intakes of free sugars. However, the corresponding evidence for recommending reduced exposure to sweetness is less clear. Objective Our aim was to identify and review the published evidence investigating the impact of dietary exposure to sweet-tasting foods or beverages on the subsequent generalized acceptance, preference, or choice of sweet foods and beverages in the diet. Design Systematic searches were conducted to identify all studies testing relations of variation in exposure to sweetness through foods and beverages with subsequent variation in the generalized acceptance, preference, or choice of sweetened foods or beverages, in humans aged >6 mo. Results Twenty-one studies met our inclusion criteria, comprising 7 population cohort studies involving 2320 children and 14 controlled trials involving 1113 individuals. These studies were heterogeneous in study design, population, exposure, and outcomes measured, and few were explicitly designed to address our research question. The findings from these were inconsistent. We found equivocal evidence from population cohort studies. The evidence from controlled studies suggests that a higher sweet taste exposure tends to lead to reduced preferences for sweetness in the shorter term, but very limited effects were found in the longer term. Conclusions A small and heterogeneous body of research currently has considered the impact of varying exposure to sweet taste on subsequent generalized sweet taste preferences, and this evidence is equivocal regarding the presence and possible direction of a relation. Future work should focus on adequately powered studies with well-characterized exposures of sufficient duration. This review was registered with PROSPERO as CRD42016051840, 24 November 2016.
The Evolutionary Divergence of psbA Gene in Synechococcus and Their Myoviruses in the East China Sea

Marine Synechococcus is a principal component of the picophytoplankton and makes an important contribution to primary productivity in the ocean. Synechophages, infecting Synechococcus, are believed to have significant influences on the distribution and abundance of their hosts. Extensive previous ecological studies on cyanobacteria and viruses have been carried out in the East China Sea (ECS). Here we investigate the diversity and divergence of Synechococcus and their myoviruses (Synechomyoviruses) based on their shared photosynthesis psbA gene. Synechococcus is dominated by subclades 5.1A I, 5.1A II and 5.1A IV in the ECS, and clades I and II are the dominant groups in the Synechomyoviruses. As two phylogenetically independent clades, there is much higher diversity of the Synechomyoviruses than Synechococcus. Obvious partitioning characteristics of GC and GC3 (the GC content at the third codon position) contents are obtained among different picophytoplankton populations and their phages. The GC3 content causes the psbA gene in Synechococcus to have a higher GC content, while the opposite is true in the Synechomyoviruses. Analyzing more than one-time difference of the codon usage frequency of psbA sequences, the third position nucleotides of preferred codons for Synechococcus are all G and C, while most Synechomyoviral sequences (72.7%) have A and T at the third position of their preferred codons. This work shed light on the ecology and evolution of phage-host interactions in the environment.
Antagonistic Effects of Bacillus Species in Biocontrol of Tomato Fusarium Wilt

Abstract Fusarium solani is the causative organism of Fusarium wilt of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill). Four Bacillus spp identified as B. amyloliquefaciens, B. cereus, B. pumilus and B. subtilis were tested for biocontrol activities in vitro as zone of inhibition and in vivo as percent disease control and disease incidence. The result from in vitro analysis showed that B. amyloliquefaciens inhibited the growth of F. solani the most by 95.2% while B. cereus had the highest growth of F. solani and inhibition of 55.7%. B pumilus and B. subtilis showed inhibition of 70.46% and 82.1% respectively and were significantly lower (p=0.05) than the control with 100% F. solani growth. In vivo , B. cereus had the least disease incidence and highest percent disease control (18.75% and 81.2%). This was significantly different from the control (100% and 0%), B. amyloliquefaciens (25% and 75%), B. pumilus (37.5% and 62.5%) and B. subtilis (37.5% and 62.5%). Also, growth parameters like shoot and root length from treatment with B. cereus (38 mm ±1.47 and 31 mm ±1.22) were significantly longer (p=0.05) compared to the control. This result shows that these four Bacillus spp are very effective biocontrol agents and should be harnessed for further biocontrol applications.
Research on the Preparation of Nanoporous Copper Using Taguchi Method

In this work, the influences of process parameters including electroplating time, annealing temperature, etchant concentration and dealloying time on the microstructures of nanoporous copper (NPC) were quantitatively evaluated in terms of pore size. Taguchi method was utilized to reduce the number of experiments required for the evaluation. The effect of each parameter variable on the characterization length scale of NPC was quantified and discussed. It was found that the annealing temperature was the most dominant factor influencing the microstructure of NPC and the dealloying time, electroplating time and etchant concentration contributed sequentially weakly to that of NPC.
Mode and Rate of Evolution of Haemosporidian Mitochondrial Genomes: Timing the Radiation of Avian Parasites

&NA; Haemosporidians are a diverse group of vector‐borne parasitic protozoa that includes the agents of human malaria; however, most of the described species are found in birds and reptiles. Although our understanding of these parasites’ diversity has expanded by analyses of their mitochondrial genes, there is limited information on these genes’ evolutionary rates. Here, 114 mitochondrial genomes (mtDNA) were studied from species belonging to four genera: Leucocytozoon, Haemoproteus, Hepatocystis, and Plasmodium. Contrary to previous assertions, the mtDNA is phylogenetically informative. The inferred phylogeny showed that, like the genus Plasmodium, the Leucocytozoon and Haemoproteus genera are not monophyletic groups. Although sensitive to the assumptions of the molecular dating method used, the estimated times indicate that the diversification of the avian haemosporidian subgenera/genera took place after the Cretaceous‐Paleogene boundary following the radiation of modern birds. Furthermore, parasite clade differences in mtDNA substitution rates and strength of negative selection were detected. These differences may affect the biological interpretation of mtDNA gene lineages used as a proxy to species in ecological and parasitological investigations. Given that the mitochondria are critically important in the parasite life cycle stages that take place in the vector and that the transmission of parasites belonging to particular clades has been linked to specific insect families/subfamilies, this study suggests that differences in vectors have affected the mode of evolution of haemosporidian mtDNA genes. The observed patterns also suggest that the radiation of haemosporidian parasites may be the result of community‐level evolutionary processes between their vertebrate and invertebrate hosts.
Therapeutic mechanisms of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for internet gaming disorder: Reducing craving and addictive behavior by targeting cognitive processes

ABSTRACT Background: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is characterized by signs and symptoms similar to substance use and gambling disorders, and associated with psychosocial impairments. Research suggests that maladaptive gaming-related cognitions and coping may be implicated in IGD; therefore, interventions for IGD need to target these underlying mechanisms. Mindfulness-based treatment is effective in changing maladaptive cognitive processes and increasing adaptive coping among people with addictions. Aims: This study used data from an RCT of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) for IGD to further examine changes in maladaptive gaming-related cognitions and positive reappraisal as mediators of the effects of MORE on IGD signs/symptoms. Methods: Participants (N = 30, Age M = 25.0, SD = 5.4) were randomized to 8-weekly sessions of MORE or a support group (SG) control condition. IGD severity, levels of craving for video game playing, maladaptive gaming-related cognitions, and positive reappraisal were measured at pre-and posttreatment, and 3-month follow-up. Results: Multivariate path analyses revealed that effects of MORE in reducing IGD and craving were statistically mediated by changes in maladaptive gaming-related cognitions. Though changes in positive reappraisal did not significantly mediate effects of MORE on IGD or craving, MORE enhanced positive reappraisal to a significantly greater extent than the SG at posttreatment. Discussion: Findings suggest that effects of mindfulness treatment in reducing maladaptive gaming-related cognitions might lead to reductions in IGD severity and cravings for video game playing. This cognitive mechanism should be evaluated in a future, full-scale RCT.
Effect of fiber in enhancement of mechanical properties and structural behaviors of oil palm shell concrete / Yap Soon Poh

The significance contribution of utilizing locally available waste materials to replace conventional concrete materials gained considerable attention during the past two decades in the realization of sustainable building materials. One such industrial waste material available abound in South East Asia is lightweight oil palm shell (OPS). Earlier researches on OPS showed that OPS could be considered as an ideal replacement of granite aggregates to produce a sustainable lightweight concrete called oil palm shell concrete (OPSC). The development of OPSC has the advantage as a lightweight concrete in addition to environmental benefits. However, the application of OPSC in structural members is less convincing due to its low tensile strength and the addition of fibers has been effective to solve this weakness. The initial challenge in the development of oil palm shell fiber reinforced concrete (OPSFRC) lies in selection of appropriate fibers. In this study, fibrillated and monofilament fibers, nylon fibers and steel fibers of aspect ratio 55, 65 and 80 were added in the OPSC to investigate the effects of different fibers on the mechanical properties of OPSFRC and thereby to select the suitable type of fiber. This would enable to study the effect of volume fraction of fibers on the mechanical properties and structural behaviors under flexural and torsion. In addition, by using a high volume fraction of 3% of steel fibers was added in OPSC to further enhance the tensile strength of OPSFRC to be applied as structural members for special usage which requires high tensile strength. The high tensile strength OPSFRC was tested for mechanical properties, toughness and flexure beam testing. The results show that the synthetic fibers including polypropylene and nylon fibers produced slight increments on the mechanical properties of OPSFRC without significant changes in density. On contrary, steel fibers of aspect ratio 65 outperformed other fibers to produce the highest compressive and flexural strength of 47 MPa and 7 MPa, respectively. Therefore steel fiber of aspect ratio 65 with amount up to 1% was added in the OPSC beams to investigate the flexural and torsional behaviors of OPSFRC beams. The experimental results reported that the increase in the fiber volume resulted in a higher enhancement of the flexural, torsional and cracking resistance of the OPSFRC beams. The OPSFRC beams reinforced with 1% steel fiber show significant increment in flexural and torsional toughness compared to the plain OPSC specimens. OPSFRC beam with 3% steel fibers produced high tensile strength with flexural strength of 18 MPa. The flexural behaviors of high tensile strength OPSFRC showed drastic improvement in moment capacity and cracking resistance compared to OPSFRC beam with 1% steel fiber. It can be concluded that the addition of steel fiber up to 3% enabled the production of high tensile strength OPSFRC which is suitable for structural application.
Porous anodic alumina coating for optimisation of pool-boiling performance

Studies on boiling show that this phenomenon is strongly influenced by geometry and chemistry of surface. One of the methods to control boiling and achieve optimum conditions for increasing the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) is to change the chemistry and structure of the surface by using coating. In this research, one of the techniques of electrochemical coating, that is called anodising, is used for coating aluminium oxide layer on the surface of aluminium samples. With pool-boiling test on anodised samples using deionised water and measuring HTC and critical heat flux (CHF), it can be concluded that porous anodic alumina coating can increase HTC and CHF of nucleate pool boiling, due to change wettability and geometrical structure of surface.
Sleep disruption and duration in late pregnancy is associated with excess gestational weight gain among overweight and obese women

BACKGROUND Poor sleep during pregnancy has been associated with poorer birth outcomes. High body mass index (BMI) is often associated with poor sleep, but little is known about the relationship between gestational weight gain and sleep in late pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships of both gestational weight gain and pre-pregnancy BMI to objective and subjective measures of sleep during late pregnancy. METHODS Pregnant women (n=128) were recruited from prenatal clinics and childbirth classes primarily serving low-income women. Their sleep (disruption and duration) was objectively assessed in their last month of pregnancy with 72 hours of wrist actigraphy monitoring. Their perceived sleep quality was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Pre-pregnancy and late pregnancy height and weight were assessed by self-report and used to calculate BMI and gestational weight gain, which were then grouped into standardized categories. RESULTS Mean Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score was 6.8 ± 3.1 (range 2-16). Sixty percent had excess gestational weight gain and it was associated with poorer perceived sleep quality, but was unrelated to objective measures of sleep duration and disruption. Pre-pregnancy BMI was unrelated to all sleep parameters. However, analyses of the interaction of pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain indicated that excess weight gain was associated with shorter sleep duration and more sleep disruption, but only among women who were overweight before pregnancy. CONCLUSION Pregnancy is an opportunity to promote long-term women's health with a better understanding of the relationship between weight management and healthy sleep habits.
A deep reinforcement learning approach for dynamically stable inverse kinematics of humanoid robots

Real time calculation of inverse kinematics (IK) with dynamically stable configuration is of high necessity in humanoid robots as they are highly susceptible to lose balance. This paper proposes a methodology to generate joint-space trajectories of stable configurations for solving inverse kinematics using Deep Reinforcement Learning (RL). Our approach is based on the idea of exploring the entire configuration space of the robot and learning the best possible solutions using Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG). The proposed strategy was evaluated on the highly articulated upper body of a humanoid model with 27 degree of freedom (DoF). The trained model was able to solve inverse kinematics for the end effectors with 90% accuracy while maintaining the balance in double support phase.
Physical activity correlates in people living with HIV/AIDS: a systematic review of 45 studies

Abstract Purpose: Understanding barriers and facilitators of physical activity participation in persons living with HIV/AIDS is an essential first step in order to devise effective interventions. The present review provides a systematic quantitative review of the physical activity correlates in people with HIV/AIDS. Methods: Major electronic databases were searched till August 2016. Keywords included “physical activity” or “exercise” or “sports” and “AIDS” or “HIV”. Results: Out of 55 correlates from 45 studies (N = 13,167; mean age range = 30.5–58.3 years; 63.2% male) five consistent (i.e., reported in four or more studies) correlates were identified. Lower levels of physical activity were consistently associated with older age (6/10 studies), a lower educational level (6/7), a lower number of CD4 cells/μl (7/11), exposure to antiviral therapy (4/6), and the presence of lipodystrophy (4/4). Other important barriers were the presence of bodily pain (2/2), depression (3/3), and opportunistic infections (3/4). Facilitators were a higher cardiorespiratory fitness level (3/3), a higher self-efficacy (2/2), more perceived benefits (2/2), and a better health motivation (3/3). Conclusions: The current review has elucidated that participation in physical activity by people with HIV/AIDS is associated with a range of complex factors which should be considered in rehabilitation programs. Implications for Rehabilitation Health care professionals should consider HIV-related bodily pain and feelings of depression when assisting people living with HIV in inititiating and maintaining an active lifestyle. Interventions to improve self-efficacy and motivation, and to help people living with HIV in understanding the benefits of exercise, may encourage greater participation.
Ground‐based infrared spectroscopic measurements of carbonyl sulfide: Free tropospheric trends from a 24‐year time series of solar absorption measurements

[1] Solar absorption spectra recorded over a 24-year time span have been analyzed to retrieve average free tropospheric mixing ratios of carbonyl sulfide (OCS). The measurements were recorded with the Fourier transform spectrometer located in the U.S. National Solar Observatory McMath solar telescope facility on Kitt Peak (altitude 2.09 km, lat. 31.9°N, long. 111.6°W), southwest of Tucson, Arizona, and were obtained on 167 days between May 1978 and February 2002, typically at 0.01-cm−1 spectral resolution. A best fit to the time series shows an average mixing ratio of 566 pptv (1 pptv = 10−12 per unit volume) between 2.09 and 10 km, a small but statistically significant long-term decrease equal to (−0.25 ± 0.04)% yr−1, 1 sigma, and a seasonal variation with a summer maximum, a winter minimum, and a peak amplitude of (1.3 ± 0.4)%, 1 sigma, relative to the mean. Although a statistically significant decline and seasonal variation have been detected, both are exceedingly small. The present results confirm and extend earlier studies showing that the OCS free tropospheric abundance at northern midlatitudes has remained nearly constant over the last decades.
Chapter 7 : Explanation in Information Seeking and Retrieval

Information Retrieval (IR) is a research area both within Computer Science and Information Science. It has by and large two communities: Computer Science oriented experimental approach and user-oriented Information Science approach with a Social Science background. The communities hold a critical stance towards each other (e.g., Ingwersen, 1996), the latter suspecting the realism of the former, and the former suspecting the usefulness of the latter. Within Information Science the study of information seeking (IS) also has a Social Science background. There is a lot of research in each of these particular areas of information seeking and retrieval (IS&R). However, the three communities do not really communicate with each other. Why is this, and could the relationships be otherwise? Do the communities in fact belong together? Or perhaps each community is better off forgetting about the existence of the other two?