Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Photoionization Loss of Mercury's Sodium Exosphere: Seasonal Observations by MESSENGER and the THEMIS Telescope

We present the first investigation and quantification of the photoionization loss process to Mercury's sodium exosphere from spacecraft and ground‐based observations. We analyze plasma and neutral sodium measurements from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft and the THEMIS telescope. We find that the sodium ion (Na+) content and therefore the significance of photoionization varies with Mercury's orbit around the Sun (i.e., true anomaly angle: TAA). Na+ production is affected by the neutral sodium solar‐radiation acceleration loss process. More Na+ was measured on the inbound leg of Mercury's orbit at 180°–360° TAA because less neutral sodium is lost downtail from radiation acceleration. Calculations using results from observations show that the photoionization loss process removes ∼1024 atoms/s from the sodium exosphere (maxima of 4 × 1024 atoms/s), showing that modeling efforts underestimate this loss process. This is an important result as it shows that photoionization is a significant loss process and larger than loss from radiation acceleration.
Energy Investment Risk Assessment for Nations along China’s Belt & Road Initiative: A Deep Learning Method

In 2013, China proposed the “Belt & Road Initiative” which aims to invest the “Belt & Road” countries so as to help them develop their infrastructure and economy. China consumes the largest part of fossil energy of the whole world, so it is China’s priority to consider its energy supplying security. Therefore, it becomes urgent for China to invest the “Belt & Road” countries’ energy facilities. There comes a question: how to evaluate the overseas energy investment risk? To answer this question, this paper proposes a deep learning method to assess such risk of the 50 “Belt & Road” countries. Specifically, this paper first proposes an indicator system in which 6 main factors are separated into 36 sub-factors. This paper makes use of hierarchical convolution neural networks (CNN) to encode the historical statistics. The hierarchical structure could help CNN handle the long historical statistics more effectively and efficiently. Afterward, this paper leverages the self-attention layer to calculate the weights of each sub-factor. It could be observed that the resource potential is the most important indicator, while “years of China’s diplomatic relations” is the most important sub-indicator. Finally, we use a conditional random field (CRF) layer and softmax layer to compute the assessment scores of each country. Based on the experimental results, this paper suggests Russia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Kazakhstan to be China’s most reliable choices for energy investment.
Changing the Tendency of Glass-Forming Liquid To Crystallize by Moving Along Different Isolines in the T–p Phase Diagram

Controlling crystallization and glass-forming tendencies of molecular liquids is of great scientific and practical importance. In the present work, we show that a lot can be learned regarding this process by introducing temperature and pressure as thermodynamic control variables. For the glass-forming liquid ketoprofen and its non-hydrogen bonded analogue, we have investigated changes in the crystallization rate along different isolines located in the two-dimensional T–p phase space. This has included isobaric (p = const), isothermal (T = const), and isochronal (τα = const) data. Our results reveal that the crystallization tendency of the investigated liquids can be tuned by moving along specific thermodynamic pathways. In particular, we highlight that among considered isolines the overall crystallization rate is the least affected by the density increase for the isochronal (T, p) state points. Interestingly, for various thermodynamic conditions with the same τα the estimated value of the thermodynamic dr.
Effect of Peels on Quality Attributes of Mango Puree Held for Different Times

Mangoes are usually peeled, but this is labor intensive and may not always improve the quality of the puree. Puree was made from peeled and unpeeled mangoes, and held for 5 min or 1 h 45 min. The puree was analyzed for volatiles, viscosity, total phenolics, color, pH, total soluble solids (TSS) and sensory. Puree without peel showed higher levels of most lipoxygenase-derived volatiles but lower levels of both desirable and undesirable terpene hydrocarbons. Increasing holding time increased most lipoxygenase-generated volatiles and methyl esters, but had no effect on ethyl esters or terpenes. Puree made without peel had lower viscosity and total phenolics, higher pH and lower TSS while color showed no significant difference. Holding time had no effect on the total phenolics but affected viscosity. The puree made without peel was more preferred in flavor, aroma, texture, color and overall liking and was considered to be fresher with less off flavor. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Practical Applications Peeling of mangoes during processing is a common practice but skipping this step is cost effective and increases the level of total phenolics and viscosity. The presence of peel also causes a less desirable color, flavor and aroma of the final product. Conversely, leaving the peel on the mangoes produces higher phenolics and viscosity. In addition, holding time before thermal treatment is essential because it affects the volatile profile and the viscosity of the puree.
Applications for Microwave Kinetic Induction Detectors in Advanced Instrumentation

In recent years Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) have emerged as one of the most promising novel low temperature detector technologies. Their unrivaled scalability makes them very attractive for many modern applications and scientific instruments. In this paper we intend to give an overview of how and where MKIDs are currently being used or are suggested to be used in the future. MKID based projects are ongoing or proposed for observational astronomy, particle physics, material science and THz imaging, and the goal of this review is to provide an easily usable and thorough list of possible starting points for more in-depth literature research on the many areas profiting from kinetic inductance detectors.
A comparison between Polish Holstein-Friesian and F1 hybrid Polish Holstein Friesian × Swedish Red cows in terms of milk yield traits

The intensive breeding work of Holstein-Friesian cattle has led to the decrease in the diversity within the population and to inbreeding depression, which may impair its functional traits. In addition, as shown by the research, production traits are negatively correlated with functional traits such as reproduction, health, and longevity, which have a very strong impact on the profit of dairy farms. The aim of this study was to compare milk yield traits of hybrids obtained by crossbreeding of Polish Holstein Friesian (PHF) cows and Swedish Red (SRB) bulls with values obtained for pure PHF cows. For the study, 100 primiparous cows were selected and divided into two groups. The experimental group consisted of 50 crossbreds (PHF×SRB), while the control group consisted of 50 purebred PHF cows. The study showed a higher content of milk components (fat by 11.78 %, protein by 9.06 %, dry matter by 5.75 %) in PHF×SRB, as compared to PHF. A lower level of SCC (by 38.94 %) has also been shown in hybrids, which indicates their higher resistance to udder diseases. The experiment demonstrated a highly significant impact of heterosis on performance parameters and technological quality of milk in F1 generation obtained as a result of crossbreeding between PHF cows and SRB bulls.
EFFECTS OF INDIVIDUALIZED TRAINING AND RESPIRATORY MUSCLE TRAINING IN IMPROVING SWIMMING PERFORMANCE AMONG COLLEGIATE SWIMMERS - AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Previous researches have been conducted to determine the types of training to improve swimming performance. Nevertheless, no study has been done on the individualized training approach among swimmers. Hence, this study aimed (i) to examine the effects of respiratory muscle training on swimming performance (ii) to examine the effects of combined respiratory muscle training with individualized training on swimming performance, and (iii) to compare the differences between the isolated respiratory muscle training, combined intervention of respiratory muscle training with individualized training and usual training on swimming performance. For this, 45 collegiate swimmers with no previous injuries and swims regularly for at least 1 hour per week participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned into three groups; Group A: Respiratory muscle training and Individualized Training, Group B: Respiratory muscle training alone, and Group C: Usual training session. The difference within the groups after four weeks of the intervention was analyzed using Paired T-test, while the differences between intervention groups were analyzed using repeated measure two-way ANOVA. Both the intervention groups (Group A and B) showed significant improvement after four weeks of intervention, whereas in group comparison, Group A showed tremendous improvement in swimming performance (F (17,238) = 8.385, p<0.05, np2 = 0.375). Thus, the current study has proven that the combination of respiratory muscle training with individualized training could further enhance the swimming performance in terms of heart rate, Vo2 max, stroke volume, perceived exertion, and SWOLF score. Future studies on athletic swimmers with a larger sample size are recommended to further examine the individualized training approach.
Defining the Relevance of Signs and Symptoms to Identify Exit Site Infection of a Hemodialysis Central Venous Catheter: A Delphi Study Protocol

Vascular access is a potentially fatal vulnerability for hemodialysis patients, and a notable area for improvement for healthcare providers. Hemodialysis central venous catheters (HD-CVC) are associated with increased morbidity and mortality from infectious complications. Clinical practice guidelines on vascular access for hemodialysis and infection control do not provide a standard definition for infection of the HD-CVC exit site. The main aim of this protocol is to establish consensus on the signs and symptoms for preventing CVC exit site infection for patients receiving hemodialysis, based on the opinion of a panel of experts. The secondary study aim is to determine the optimum treatment approach according to the signs and symptoms of infection at the HD-CVC exit site, as prioritized by the panel of experts. For this purpose, a modified ranking-type Delphi technique will be used, with three rounds of evaluation conducted via an online questionnaire: the first two rounds will be used to prioritize, by consensus, the most relevant signs and/or symptoms of infection of the HD-CVC exit site or tunnel. Once this consensus has been achieved, a third round of evaluation will be conducted, asking the participants to ascertain the most appropriate treatment approach. The research team has drawn up a list of signs and symptoms related to infection of the HD-CVC exit site or tunnel, based on the definitions obtained from a previous systematic review. The results of the present study will enable us to design an assessment scale for HD-CVC exit sites, thus facilitating early identification and action if infection occurs. The availability of such an instrument will benefit not only clinical practice, but also research, healthcare education and training programs for professionals in this area.
Optimized loss function in deep learning profilometry for improved prediction performance

Single-shot structured light profilometry (SLP) aims at reconstructing the 3D height map of an object from a single deformed fringe pattern and has long been the ultimate goal in fringe projection profilometry. Recently, deep learning was introduced into SLP setups to replace the task-specific algorithm of fringe demodulation with a dedicated neural network. Research on deep learning-based profilometry has made considerable progress in a short amount of time due to the rapid development of general neural network strategies and to the transferrable nature of deep learning techniques to a wide array of application fields. The selection of the employed loss function has received very little to no attention in the recently reported deep learning-based SLP setups. In this paper, we demonstrate the significant impact of loss function selection on height map prediction accuracy, we evaluate the performance of a range of commonly used loss functions and we propose a new mixed gradient loss function that yields a higher 3D surface reconstruction accuracy than any previously used loss functions.
Mechanism of Formononetin-induced Stimulation of Adipocyte Fatty Acid Oxidation and Preadipocyte Differentiation

Decreased adipocyte fatty acid oxidation (FAO) and impaired preadipocyte differentiation characterize hypertrophic expansion of adipose tissue (AT) from obese and insulin resistant humans and are recognized as potential mechanisms for obesity-mediated dyslipidemia. Supplementation of formononetin (FMN), one of the principal isoflavones extracted from red clover or Huangqi (Astragalus roots), has been shown to have beneficial effects on obesity-related hyperlipidemia, a well-established cardiovascular risk factor. However, a target tissue and underlying mechanism(s) through which FMN acts have been under-investigated. Thus, we investigated whether FMN promotes adipocyte FAO and preadipocyte differentiation using 3T3-L1 preadipocytes to provide potential mechanisms of FMN action. We further extended this to the culture of 10T1/2 mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as well as mouse AT explants to reflect in vivo effects of FMN. In fully differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes, FMN-treatment significantly increased the expression levels of FAO-related proteins such as pAMPK, pACC, and CPT1, all of which were consistently upregulated in AT explant cultures treated with 10 μM FMN. In addition, FMN significantly enhanced the degree of differentiation of both 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and 10T1/2 MSCs into adipocytes as evidenced by Oil Red O staining of cellular lipids. This observation correlated with increased expression levels of key adipogenic transcription factors (PPARγ and C/EBPα) and their down-stream target proteins (FABP4, Glut4 and adiponectin). Moreover, FMN failed to exert its stimulatory effects on preadipocyte differentiation in both cell types in the presence of a PPARγ antagonist, suggesting a PPARγ-dependent effect of FMN. Collectively, these data provide possible mechanisms of action of FMN on lipid metabolism and further support the favorable in vivo effects of FMN in diet and obesity-induced dyslipidemia.
Effect of Some Strains of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated From Some Fermented Dairy Products on Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Hepatotoxicity and Nephrotoxicity of Albino Rats.

The current research was performed to evaluate the potential protective effect of Lactobacillus paracasei ssp paracasei, Pediococcus acidi-lactis and Lactoccus lactis ssp lactis, Sylimarin in the alleviation of health (hepatic and renal) complications caused by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in rats. Healthy sixty albino rats were divided into six groups, the first group was control (negative), the second group (control positive) was injected CCl4 (1 ml/kg, 1:1 v/v paraffin oil mixture, i.p. every third day for 8 weeks, The third group (CCl4 + silymarin group) receiving both CCl4 and daily silymarin therapy (50 mg/kg, oral), the fourth group: CCl4+ (Lactobacillus paracasei 1ml orally). The fifth group (CCl4+ Pediococcus acidilactis 1ml orally) and the six group (CCl4+ Lactococcus lactis (1ml orally) for eight weeks per day. Biochemical markers were tested for blood, liver and kidney tissue. Histopathological tests on liver and kidney tissues were performed. The findings obtained have shown that Lactobacillus paracasei ssp paracasei, Pediococcus acidilactis and Lactoccus lactis ssp lactis improved the disrupted biochemical parameters caused by CCl4 therapy. Besides, the findings of the histopathological analysis are in consistent with biochemical parameters and the protective ability of lactic acid bacteria suggesting that the best lactic acid bacteria was Pediococcus acidilactis that helped strengthen liver fibrosis caused by CCl4 therapy, while the best bacterium for improving renal damage was Lactoccus lactis.
Setting the Phosphorus Boundaries for Greek Natural Shallow and Deep Lakes for Water Framework Directive Compliance

Eutrophication caused by nutrient enrichment is a predominant stressor leading to lake degradation and, thus, the set-up of boundaries that support good ecological status, the Water Framework Directive’s main target, is a necessity. Greece is one of the Member States that have recorded delays in complying with the coherent management goals of European legislation. A wide range of different statistical approaches has been proposed in the Best Practice Guide for determining appropriate nutrient thresholds. To determine the nutrient thresholds supporting the good status of natural Greek lakes, the phytoplankton dataset gathered from the national monitoring programme (2015–2020) was used for shallow and deep natural lakes. The regression analyses were sufficient and robust in order to derive total phosphorus thresholds that ranged from 20 to 41 μg/L in shallow and 15–32 μg/L in deep natural lake types. Nutrient boundaries that encompass the stressors these lakes are subject to, are essential in proper lake management design.
Nonlinear disturbance observer-based fault-tolerant control for flexible teleoperation systems with actuator constraints and varying time delay

In this paper, designing a control law for teleoperation systems with flexible-link slave robots in the presence of dynamic uncertainties, disturbances, actuator faults and actuator constraints with time-varying communication delays is addressed. This study proposes a simple anti-saturation nonlinear fault-tolerant controller incorporating a disturbance observer. The attractive features of the proposed controller include the ability to cope with disturbances, avoiding actuators exceeding their usual bounds, and compensating for the actuator faults. Besides which, the controller has a simple structure, does not need a fault detection mechanism, and coordinates the master’s motion speed with the slave’s actuator. A Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional is used to prove the stability and tracking performance of the teleoperation system. The feasibility and efficiency of the proposed controller are corroborated through simulation results.
A standardised biologging approach to infer parturition: An application in large herbivores across the hider‐follower continuum

The timing of birth has a predominant influence on both the reproductive success of the mother and the life‐history trajectory of her offspring. Because early growth and survival are key drivers of population dynamics, there is an urgent need to understand how global change is affecting reproductive phenology and performance. However, identifying when and where birth occurs is often difficult in the wild due to the cryptic behaviour of females around parturition, although this information may also help managers to protect reproductive females and newborn against human disturbance. While several approaches to identify parturition based on movement metrics derived from GPS monitoring have previously been proposed, their performance has not been evaluated over a range of species with contrasted movement characteristics. Here, we present a novel approach to detect parturition by combining data on animal movements, activity rate and habitat use. Using machine learning approaches, we evaluated the relative and combined performance of each category of metrics in predicting parturition for three large herbivores with contrasted life histories: a hider‐type species, the roe deer Capreolus capreolus and two follower‐type species, the Mediterranean mouflon Ovis gmelini musimon × Ovis sp. and the Alpine ibex Capra ibex. We first showed that detection of parturition was much improved when birth‐related modifications in the habitat use and activity rate of the mother were considered, rather than relying on movement metrics only. We then demonstrated that our approach was highly successful (76%–100% of events correctly identified) in detecting parturition in both follower and hider species. Furthermore, our approach generated estimates for peak birth date and the proportion of parturient females that were comparable with those based on direct observations at the population scale. Finally, our approach outperformed the most commonly employed methods in the literature which generally failed to identify non‐reproductive females for the three studied species, and provided birth timing estimates that only poorly match the true parturition date. We suggest that by combining sources of information, we have developed a standardised methodological approach for inferring parturition in the wild, not only for large herbivores but also for any species where parturition induces marked behavioural changes in the mother.
Propylthiouracil: A Thyro-Suppressive as well as Haemato-Suppressive to Induce Agranulocytosis in Hyperthyroid Patients

Background: Propylthiouracil (PTU) is a thyro-suppressive medication commonly used for the treatment of hyperthyroidism, but may cause agranulocytosis, which rises the mortality of patients. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of agranulocytosis in hyperthyroid patients after the use of Propylthiouracil. The aim of the current research is to access the drug utilization and investigation of PTU which aids in accessing rational therapy and other aspects related to the patient’s safety. Methodology: A cross- sectional study conducted from May 2016 to April 2017 at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Hospital Hyderabad/ Jamshoro. 150 prescriptions were collected by non-probability consecutive sampling technique from the adults with Hyperthyroidism patients using Propylthiouracil. Thyroid function tests were conducted using Immunoassay Elecysis 2010. The blood profile tests were evaluated on Sysmex kx21. The collected data was evaluated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: The data revealed that the propylthiouracil-induced agranulocytosis in 4 hyperthyroid patients (n=2 males, n=2 females) and the prevalence of Propylthiouracil-induced agranulocytosis was 2.7%. Conclusion: It was observed that Propylthiouracil damages the hematopoietic stem cells and precursors of granulocytes in bone marrow can cause agranulocytosis.
Structural Characterization and Interactions of the CFTR Regulatory Region

The intrinsically disordered nonphosphorylated and phosphorylated R region of CFTR and its interactions with NBD1 and SLC26A3 STAS have been characterized at residuespecific resolution, primarily using NMR. Limited chemical shift dispersion indicates that the R region is intrinsically disordered in solution and that no global folding event occurs upon phosphorylation. Chemical shifts of backbone nuclei and sidechain carbons were assigned. SSP values indicate that phosphorylation acts as a structural switch, with a reduction in helical propensity in multiple nonphosphorylated R region segments. Free nonphosphorylated and phosphorylated R region were characterized using a variety of structural probes. Fast timescale motion indicates the presence of structural contacts in many R region segments. Hydrodynamic radii are intermediate to those expected for fully folded or denatured proteins, with the phosphorylated R region being slightly more compact. The nonphosphorylated R region was further characterized, including measurements of molecular dimensions, N-H bond vector orientation and inter-residue distances from 6 spin label sites. Using these parameters as input to the program ENSEMBLE enabled calculation of a representative pool of nonphosphorylated