Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic investigation of 211 Chinese families expands the mutational and phenotypical spectrum in hereditary retinopathy genes through targeted sequencing technology

Background: Hereditary retinopathy is a significant cause of blindness worldwide. Despite the discovery of many mutations in various retinopathies, a large part of patients remain undiagnosed genetically. Targeted next generation sequencing of the human genome is a suitable approach for retinopathy molecular diagnosis.Methods: We described a cohort of 211 families from central China with various forms of retinopathy, 95 families of which were investigated using NGS multi-gene panel sequencing as well as the other 116 patients were LHON suspected tested by Sanger sequencing. We validated the candidate variants by PCR-based Sanger sequencing. We have made comprehensive analysis of the cases through sequencing data and ophthalmologic examination information.Results: The potentially causal mutation was identified in majority of the families with retinopathy (57.9% of 95 families) and Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) (21.6% of 116 families). The identified mutations (68mutations, 37 of which are novel) of the 95 families spanned 31 known disease genes, about half have not been reported relation to hereditary retinopathy. The NGS panel solution provides 45.3% potential diagnostic rate of the retinopathy families and another 12.6% families detect candidate gene mutations with undefined pathogenicity in this study.Conclusion: Our study showed novel mutations and phenotypic aspects of retinopathy, and demonstrated genetic and clinical heterogeneity of the conditions. Our results illustrated the significance of molecular genetic testing for patients with hereditary retinopathy.
New Method for Determining Mineralogy and Matrix Properties from Elemental Chemistry Measured by Gamma Ray Spectroscopy Logging Tools

Methods for predicting mineralogy from logging tool measurements have been an active area of research for several decades. In spite of these efforts, methods for predicting quantitative mineralogy including clay types from well logging data were not fully achieved. The introduction of geochemical logging tools in the 1980s offered promise; however, early versions of geochemical logging tools did not measure elemental chemistry with enough accuracy and precision to enable reliable and quantitative determination of mineralogy. Recent advances in geochemical logging tool technology now enable accurate and robust measurements of the chemical elemental concentrations that are needed to determine continuous quantitative and detailed logs of mineralogy. This paper presents a novel approach for determining more accurate, detailed mineralogy from an elemental spectroscopy logging tool. This work was made possible by three recent developments: the introduction of a new high-performance neutron-induced gamma ray spectroscopy logging tool, a new high-quality research database consisting of chemistry and mineralogy measured on cores acquired worldwide from conventional and unconventional reservoirs, and a new model-independent inversion method that overcomes the limitations of previous model-dependent methods. The model-independent inversion makes use of the database which includes clean sands, shaly sands, shales, carbonates, and complex mixed lithologies. The database contains laboratory measurements of dry-weight elemental chemistry and mineralogy measured by transmission Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The database is used to derive a model-independent mapping function that accurately represents the complex functional relationship between the elemental concentrations and the mineral concentrations. Once the mapping function is determined from the database, it can be used to predict quantitative mineralogy from elemental concentrations derived from the logging tool measurements. Unlike previous inversion methods, the model-independent mapping function does not have any adjustable parameters or require any user inputs such as mineral properties or endpoints. The mapping function is used to predict continuous logs of matrix densities plus concentrations of 14 minerals (i.e., illite, smectite, kaolinite, chlorite, quartz, calcite, dolomite, ankerite, plagioclase, orthoclase, mica, pyrite, siderite, and anhydrite) from eight dry-weight elemental concentrations derived from the logging tool. The new method has been applied to well log data acquired worldwide in numerous conventional and unconventional reservoirs having a wide variety of complex mineralogies. The predicted mineralogies and matrix densities are generally found to be in good quantitative agreement with core-derived mineralogies and matrix densities.
Study on primary metabolites and possible biodegradation pathways of nonylphenol

In this paper, the primary metabolites and possible biodegradation pathways of nonylphenol (NP) were analysed by two experimental methods and the interpretation of GC-MS results. One was that activated sludge degraded blank and spiking simulating wastewater for NP. Another was that a dominant bacteria group metabolised the medium contained NP as the only organic carbon source. The results show that the NP primary metabolites are a series of short-chain alkyl phenols with butyl, amyl or hexyls and benzene acetic acid. One of the biodegradation pathways for NP is that the long branches are first degraded into short methyl branches.
Functional aramids: Aromatic polyamides with reactive azido and amino groups in the pendant structure

The structure of the high-performance aromatic polyamides, also known as aramids, was modified to render functional polymers by the introduction of primary amine and azide functional groups in the main polymer chain. These materials were prepared as parent polymers for future use in the simple and inexpensive preparation of other high-performance materials by the chemical derivatization of the primary amine and azide groups using their well-known and broad reactivity. The potential of the parent aramids was exemplified with the preparation of four novel functional aramids containing the fluorescent dansyl group, the anion and cation receptors urea and triazole with free primary alcohol functional groups, and the iminophosphorane ligand for forthcoming synthetic processes. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014, 52, 1469–1477
NMR field gradient diffusometry of segment displacements in melts of entangled polymers

Segment diffusion in a polyethyleneoxide melt (Mw = 5 000 000) was studied with the aid of the supercon fringe field version of field‐gradient NMR diffusometry. The evaluation based on the second moment of the probability density function, i.e., the mean squared displacement, shows reasonable agreement with the predictions of the tube/reptation model. However, taking into account the whole probability density function, leads to substantial discrepancies.
Applications of Bionanotechnology in Nanomedicine: A theoretical analysis

Nanotechnology is one of the most recent innovative disciplines in engineering with substantial benefits especially in nanomedicine. It holds a great potential with its application to create materials and devices within the range of the “nano” metric system. The creation of these vast materials can be applicable in diverse fields of science such as biology (bionanotechnology), nanoelectronics, and nanomedicine. This field seeks to combine both engineering and medicine to solve scientific and day-2-day problems. This paper reviews the applications of bionanotechnology in nanomedicine because; it is one of the mostly studied applications of nanotechnology, which is in biomedical sciences. Various areas such as drug development, drug production, drug delivery, and clinical diagnostics are analysed in the paper. The review paper highlights the relevance of nanotechnogy as an engineering field which is applicable in the field of biology and medicine.
The nature of the N  H…︁OC hydrogen bond: An intermolecular perturbation theory study of the formamide/formaldehyde complex

We have used Hayes‐Stone Intermolecular Perturbation Theory (IMPT) to study the variation with distance and orientation of the various components of the interaction energy of the N  H…︁O = C hydrogen bonded trans‐ formamide/formaldehyde complex, a model system for hydrogen bonding in proteins. The directionality of the total interaction energy is similar to that of the electrostatic component alone. We have analysed our data in terms of two model atom‐atom intermolecular potentials, using an isotropic functional form and an anisotropic one. The anisotropic form gives an excellent representation of the IMPT potential energy surface, considerably better than the isotropic model, and is comprised entirely of theoretically justified, physically meaningful terms.
Enhanced Bioavailability of Sparsely Soluble PAHs

Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic pollutants of concern because of the health hazards they promote. In the present work, a bacterial isolate from crude oil was found to promote enhanced bioavailability of two model PAHs namely fluoranthene and pyrene within a span of 24 h which is very short in comparison to previous reports. The bacterium showed scanty growth in presence of these PAHs as the sole source of nutrient and energy. However it showed good growth in peptone glycerol ammonium salts (PGAS) medium supplemented with these PAHs. It also promoted biosurfactant production in the PAH supplemented medium. After initiation of biosurfactant production, addition of test PAHs was done at a concentration of about 10 times their aqueous solubility. Analysis by TLC showed that the PAHs in their entirety were scavenged off thus advocating for the immense bioremediation potential of biosurfactant from the test bacterium.
Experimental investigation of the efficiency of triple rinsing of agricultural containers regarding their characterization as non-hazardous wastes

The efficiency of water rinsing for removing fenthion from non-combustible used pesticide containers was investigated. Four hundred empty containers from four olive oil producing areas in Greece were studied. Following triple rinsing cleaning procedures, the amount of fenthion retained in the container ranged from 0.01% to 0.1% w/w of its initial concentration. Extraction was accomplished with acetone, and the extracts were analyzed with a capillary gas chromatographic system coupled with flame ionization detector. The results obtained showed that triple rinsing is an effective procedure for removing fenthion from used pesticide containers, since the remaining pesticide concentration was below the legislated threshold value. Consequently, the containers can be handled as non-hazardous solid wastes.
Effect of Audit Fee on Audit Quality of Listed Firms in Nigeria

The expectation of investors and other stakeholders of quoted corporate firms is that the financial statements and annual reports are true and fair about the position of the firm. In order to achieve this, the external auditors must ensure quality auditing. The study has examined the effect of audit fee on audit quality using a sample of selected firms from the consumer goods sector in Nigeria within the time period of 2011 and 2016. The core explanatory variables employed were the audit fee and audit tenure. Added to these explanatory variables were the control for firm size, profitability and leverage. The pooled data OLS regression technique was employed for data analyses. The results showed that audit fee and other explanatory variables determines 38% of audit quality of the selected firms. Specifically, the study found that audit fee, client profitability and financial leverage have positive but insignificant effect on audit quality in the consumer goods sector of quoted firms in Nigeria. However, audit tenure and client size have significant positive effect on audit quality in the consumer goods sector of quoted firms in Nigeria. The study thus concludes that the quality of firm audit is significantly enhanced by the length of audit tenure and client size, much more than the amount of audit fee, firm profit and leverage. It is recommended that firms should contract audit firms for longer than three years to encourage quality of audit reports.
Logos Universality Mentality Education Novelty: Social Sciences

1 PhD Student, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania, virgilgheorghe23@yahoo.com, +40723.173. 349. Abstract: The current research aims at investigating the relationships between locus of control, interpersonal communication and organizational citizenship behaviour. We focused on the variables which are due to the direct impact on the behaviour of an employee and on the orientation thereof towards organizational outcomes being concentrated on interpersonal relationships. Data were collected using an online survey method of 223 employees from various organizations coming from both public and private sectors organizations from Romania. The findings of this study revealed the role of WLOC on the relationship between IC and OCB. Both the analysis of the correlation data between the WLOC and the independent variable (IC), respectively the dependent variable (OCB), as well as the moderation analysis of WLOC was tested in its role of intervention on the relations between dependent and independent variables, shows us its important role in the behaviour of individuals at work. The results of this research are discussed in the light of the internal WLOC’s role in the relationship between attitudes and behaviours and reveal that individuals with a higher IWLOC show higher availability and skill in communication process, with positive results to OCB. The implications with regard to theoretical research and organizational practice are also discussed. Organizations should therefore adapt the assessment and development programs to pay particular attention to the individual particularities and context of the work groups and to enhance the degree of employee participation in the organizational processes and their level of identification with the organization.
Semi-Supervised Land-Use Classification Using Weakly Labeled Remote Sensing Data

This work develops robust semi -supervised classifiers to tackle three most challenging problems in land-use classification using remote sensing data, namely mixed pixels, weak labels and imbalanced data. Specifically, this work proposes to first divide the pixels in remote sensing images into two groups, namely the pixels with accurate labels and pixels with weak labels. To cope with the imbalanced data problem in the pixels with accurate labels, an improved cross entropy-based cost function is proposed to weigh the contributions from data of different classes based on its importance by exploiting the term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) algorithm. Furthermore, for the pixels with weak labels, a nuclear norm-based cost function is developed to direct the training process without requiring data labels. To cope with the interference due to weakly labeled data with unrepresentative spatial features, an artificial class called “Unknown” is proposed. Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of the proposed semi-supervised classifier.
Face Mask Detection Based on SSDv2 Network

2020 is an emergency year for epidemic prevention and control. In order to reduce the risk of cross-infection of people in public places, by detecting whether face masks are worn or not, people can be reminded in time to wear masks correctly and further protect themselves and others’ lives. We proposed a multi-scale detection algorithm to aim at the difﬁculty of detecting obscured targets and small targets in the mask wearing detection tasks, which is called SSDv2. The algorithm is based on the SSD network, not only can obtain feature maps of different scales, but also uses the feature pyramid strategy for feature fusion to enhance detailed feature information. At the same time, prediction is made on different feature maps, which realizes the full use of different levels of feature information, and further improves the accuracy of algorithm detection. Experiments show that the accuracy of the SSDv2 algorithm for detecting mask wearing targets and unmask targets in different scenarios reaches 80.97% and 64.61%,respectively. And the detection accuracy of mask targets is improved by 3.37% compared with the YOLOv3 algorithm, which shows our method has its advantage.
l 2 − l 1 FILTERING FOR NETWORKED SWITCHED SYSTEMS WITH MULTIPLE PACKET DROPOUTS VIA RANDOM SWITCHED LYAPUNOV FUNCTION

This paper examines an l 2 − l 1 ﬁltering problem for a class of discrete-time networked switched systems with multiple packet dropouts, while the data packets include both the measurement output signal and the switching signal. The multiple packet dropouts phenomenon is described by Bernoulli binary sequences with known probabilities. Then, by constructing a novel switched Lyapunov function with the random missing of switching signal taken into account, a switched ﬁlter is designed such that the ﬁltering error system is exponentially stable and satisﬁes the l 2 − l 1 disturbance attenuation level. The parameters of the ﬁlter are obtained by solving an LMI. Finally, a practical example is presented to verify the eﬀectiveness of the proposed approach.
Longevity bond pricing in equilibrium

We consider a partial equilibrium model for pricing a longevity linked bond in a model with stochastic mortality intensity that affects the income of economic agents. The agents trade in a risky financial security and in the longevity linked bond in order to maximize their utilities. Agent’s risk preferences are of monetary type and are described by BSDEs (backward stochastic differential equations). The endogeneous equilibrium bond price is characterized by a BSDE. By using Clark-Haussmann formula, we prove that our longevity bond completes the market. This work is supported through IFSID grant ”Securitization, Pricing, and Management of Longevity Risks and Derivatives”. Minsuk Kwak acknowledges that this work was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund of 2016.
HEALTH RISK ANALYSIS RELATED TO ORGANIZATIONAL TASKS IN PUBLIC HEALTHCARE

The research goal was to assess functional significance that belonged to TNF-α gene polymorphism in the region 308G/A (rs1800629) in ulcerative colitis development. The authors examined 70 patients with ulcerative colitis when the disease was in its active phase and 50 healthy donors. They focused on TNF-α concentration in blood serum and TNF-α gene polymorphism in the region -308G/А. It was detected that TNF-α level was authentically higher in patients who suffered from grave ulcerative colitis and had high endoscopic activity than in people with low endoscopic activity and milder forms of the disease. It allows to apply these tests as additional non-invasive markers to assess apparent damages done to the mucous tunic in the large intestine in a patient suffering from ulcerative colitis. Frequency of allele variations in TNF-α gene -308G/A (rs1800629) was assessed; the assessment revealed that unfavorable homozygote AA significantly more frequently occurred in patients with ulcerative colitis than in donors. Besides, ulcerative colitis might be accompanied with different endoscopic activity; the major allele G and the allele pair GG significantly more frequently occurred among patients with mild and average disease attack and 1–2 degree of endoscopic activity than among patients with 3-4 degree of endoscopic activity and grave ulcerative colitis (χ=14.19; p=0.000). The authors also detected a mutant allele A and the unfavorable homozygote AA associated with grave progressive ulcerative colitis. Mutant allele occurrence causes 5 times higher risk that a patient will have to face the disease in its grave form (OR 5.03; CI 12.07-12.21). Therefore, risks related to unfavorable clinical course of ulcerative colitis with frequent recurrences and fast progressing are associated with the allele A of TNF-α gene in the region -308G/A. It should be taken into account when making forecasts on the clinical course o f the disease and choosing treatment strategies.
Accumulation of Heavy Metals in the Urban Soils of Natural Monument “Bunardzhik” (Plovdiv, Bulgaria)

Progressing urbanization makes soils structurally altered and that results in their degradation, so we aimed to analyze the content of some heavy metals in urban soils of the park zone of Natural monument “Bunardzhik”, situated in the real center of the city of Plovdiv (Bulgaria). Soil samples were collected from the surface layers of urban soils located to the Western and Eastern park zones of the Bunardzhik Hill, according to transects starting from the main communication routes. Soil content of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, Sr, V, U, Zn was determined by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP–MS). The content of V, Mn, Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb is noticeably reduced in the Western park zone (p<0.05), leaving from the route and reaching the middle of the park zone. Urban soils from the Eastern park zone are more polluted and there no significant decreases in their content with increasing the distance from the main road artery have been found. All studied heavy metals and toxic elements could be arranged as follows: Mn (436 mg/kg) > Zn (81 mg/kg) > V (40 mg/kg) > Pb (39.7 mg/kg) > Sr (38.3 mg/kg) > Cu (31.3 mg/kg) > Cr (23.7 mg/kg) > Ni (22.0 mg/kg) > As (3.3 mg/kg) > U (1.9 mg/kg) > Cd (0.36 mg/kg) in the Western park zone and Mn (552 mg/kg) > Zn (84 mg/kg) > V (62 mg/kg) > Pb (52.3 mg/kg) > Cr (36.3 mg/kg) > Sr (33.7 mg/kg) > Cu (28.7 mg/kg) > Ni (28.3 mg/kg) > As (6.0 mg/kg) > U (3.1 mg/kg) > Se (1.6 mg/kg) > Cd (0.55 mg/kg) > Hg (0.23 mg/kg) in the Eastern park zone, respectively. The results obtained for the two studied park zones allow for their use for recreational purposes but some exceedance of the precautionary limits should be adressed.
Dielectric spectroscopy study of specific glucose influence on human erythrocyte membranes

Time domain dielectric spectroscopy has been used to study spherical erythrocytes, suspended in diluted phosphate buffered saline (PBS) buffers at varying concentrations of D- and L-glucose at 25°C. The osmolarity for each glucose solution was adapted, equalling that of a 63% PBS (183 mOsm). The strong effect of the electrode polarization was corrected using the fractal approach in time domain. For analysis of the dielectric properties of suspensions of erythrocytes, the Maxwell–Wagner model is used for small volume fractions. Values of the permittivity and conductivity of the cell membrane were obtained from a fitting procedure according to the one-shell model. The non-monotonic and specific response of membrane electric properties on D-glucose concentrations were observed, with a dramatic decrease around 12 mM. No changes of membrane properties have been observed in the presence of increasing concentrations of L-glucose, the biologically inactive enantiomer of D-glucose. The effect is thus specific to D-glucose. The possible mechanism of specific cell reaction to D-glucose is discussed in this paper.