Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Community gardening in Hellinikon as a resistance struggle against neoliberal urbanism: spatial autogestion and the right to the city in post-crisis Athens, Greece

ABSTRACT In this paper, we aim to explore how community gardening can embed and foment grassroots resistance to the privatization of urban space in the current configuration of a prolonged socio-economic and ecological crisis in European cities. We focus on the emblematic case of the Hellinikon self-organized garden; a case of guerrilla gardening that emerged as part of a social movement against the real estate development of the former International Airport of Athens. Community gardening in Hellinikon emerged as a resistance struggle against a controversial urban regeneration plan that combined green gentrification with unsustainable development and as a prefigurative politics of radically different sociospatial and socionatural relationships. We argue that community gardening initiatives that are part of broader urban struggles and grassroots activism denote a radical practice that has the potential to challenge crisis-driven dispossessions and claim the right to the city through spatial autogestion. This theorization of community gardening can shed light on the emergence of a new era of urban politics where demands for the re-appropriation of urban space by its inhabitants coalesce with demands for radically different urban socionatures in crisis-ridden megacities linking struggles for the right to the city to struggles for the right to urban nature.
Conformational Analysis of Cyclo(Tyr-Cys) and Cyclo(Phe-Cys) Dipeptides

In this study, eight possible stable conformers of the Cyclo(Tyr-Cys) and Cyclo(Phe-Cys) dipeptides, which show the most significant inhibition in cervical carcinoma cells opposite to HT-29 and MCF-7 cells, performed depending on the obtained conformational analysis. The possible stable geometries were determined with the aid of φ, Ψ backbone and c chain dihedral angles. Available all conformers and their energies were calculated and made comparison with the quantum chemical ab-initio results. The Van der Waals, electrostatic , torsional , interaction energies between side and main chains of aminoacids and total energies of cysteine containing dipeptides were computed by using Fortran program.
Iron filings application to reduce lake sediment phosphorus release

Abstract Natarajan P, Gulliver JS, Arnold WA. 2021. Iron filings application to reduce lake sediment phosphorus release. Lake Reserv Manage. 27:143–159. Surface water impairments due to excess phosphorus loading from the watershed and internal recycling from sediments have been reported worldwide. This study investigated the application of iron metal filings to lake sediments as a method to control sediment phosphorus release. Using batch studies, a zero-valent iron filings material was selected for laboratory dosing experiments with lake sediment cores. Iron filings doses of 0 (control), 0.01, 0.1, and 1 g/cm2 were added to sediment cores collected from a eutrophic lake in Minnesota, United States, to determine the impacts of iron addition on the oxic and anoxic phosphate (PO4-P) flux at 20 C and 10 C in the laboratory. Under oxic conditions, PO4-P release did not occur from the sediments, and low water column PO4-P concentrations were maintained in the iron-dosed and control cores. After switching to anoxic conditions, the 0.1 and 1 g/cm2 iron doses continued to reduce or fully prevent sediment PO4-P flux. The enhanced supply of iron in the sediments was found to reduce the porewater PO4-P, resulting in no apparent PO4-P diffusion across the sediment–water interface and low PO4-P in the overlying water under oxic and anoxic conditions. Further evaluation using in situ experiments is needed to assess the effectiveness of iron filings addition in sequestering sediment phosphorus under natural conditions.
Probability-Guaranteed Distributed Filtering for Nonlinear Systems With Innovation Constraints Over Sensor Networks

In this article, the distributed filtering problem is investigated for a class of nonlinear systems. Each individual sensing node provides the state estimate by using not only its own measurements but also its neighbors’ information propagated according to the communication topology. With the purpose of mitigating the effects from possible abnormal data during the signal transmission, an innovation constraint with adaptively determined threshold is imposed on the transmitted innovation during the filter process. The aim of the addressed problem is to design a distributed filtering algorithm, which is capable of confining all the estimation errors within certain ellipsoidal regions with prescribed probability and achieving the required average disturbance attenuation specification. By virtue of a convex optimization method, sufficient conditions are derived for the existence of the requested filtering algorithm, and the desired filtering parameters are then obtained by iteratively solving the corresponding matrix inequalities. Within the established framework, two optimization problems are put forward to seek locally optimal filtering parameters. Finally, an illustrative numerical example is provided to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed filtering paradigm.
Topic Modelling of Germas Related Content on Instagram Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA)

— Content generated by Instagram users related to the Healthy Living Community Movement (GERMAS) has provided new media information that is important for the community and, in particular, the health department. At present, Indonesia is facing a serious challenge in the form of a double burden of disease. Changes in people's lifestyles are suspected to be one of the causes of a shift in disease patterns (epidemiological transition) in the last 30 years. Discussions on what topics occur in the community related to health, as well as community complaints, have not been identified. The Data Mining technique makes it possible to analyze and extract any topics that are contained from the data captions from Instagram. This study uses Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) as a method for modeling topics. The results of evaluating the number of topics using topic coherence yielded the eight most appropriate topic segments. Based on the results of content analysis on each topic segment, it was found that the most dominant topic related to GERMAS was a healthy lifestyle diet.
Heat stress effects in primiparous and multiparous lactating crossbred cows under a warm environment and their responses to a cooling treatment

Context In temperate climates, multiparous cows are more susceptible to heat stress (HS) than are primiparous cows. However, these differences in susceptibility may vary in warm environments, where the overall production level is lower, cow size is smaller, and adaptation to HS increases. Aim The different effects of HS and its alleviation on primiparous and multiparous cows was tested in crossbred cows (3/4 Holstein × 1/4 Brahman) in a warm environment. Method Twelve cows during the rainy season (August–September 2014) and 12 cows during the dry season (March–April 2015; six primiparous, six multiparous) were monitored for rectal temperature and respiration rate, indicators of HS, and milk yield (MY) in a dairy farm in El Salvador. Ambient temperature and relative humidity were recorded hourly to estimate temperature–humidity index throughout the day. During the rainy season, all cows were housed in a pen without cooling treatment. During the dry season, fans and sprinklers were installed in the pen and provided cooling to the herd in two 15-day periods, alternated with two periods without cooling (Control). Key results Primiparous cows were more susceptible to HS. Cooling alleviated HS, resulting in an increased feed intake and MY, with a greater impact on primiparous cows. During the cooling treatment, HS parameters increased overnight after the last cooling cycle of the day. This indicated that, despite the cooling treatment, cows still suffered from HS outside the hottest hours of the day. Furthermore, despite a higher temperature–humidity index during the rainy season, rectal temperature and MY remained similar in both the dry and the rainy season for cows without cooling, indicating that animals effectively lower their body temperature by increasing their respiration rate. Conclusions The cooling only partially helped alleviate HS in both multiparous and primiparous cows, with the effects being greater on the latter. However, the increments in MY were proportional to the increases in feed intake, indicating that the efficiency of feed utilisation was likely to be not improved. Implications More attention should be given to the susceptibility of primiparous cows to HS, as well as to the adjustment of cooling protocols towards alleviating HS in early morning and late afternoon hours.
Sum Propagate Adders

Binary adders are present in every digital computer system. Even if their structure has evolved significantly over the last decades following the progress in logic and circuit design, the scaling of implementation technologies, and the improvement of logic synthesis tools, the fundamental carry-propagation algorithm that guides their operation remains unchanged. This work takes a different path and explores the possibility of performing addition by propagating directly the sum bits of previous bit positions instead of carries. The transformation of binary carry-propagate addition to an equivalent sum propagate addition opens up a whole new design space that spans from ripple-sum to sum-lookahead adders. New parallel-prefix structures that follow the sum-propagation paradigm are presented using a newly introduced associative prefix operator. Sum-propagate and carry-propagate adders have asymptotically the same area and delay complexity. In practice, however, carry propagate adders exhibit better characteristics when implemented in currently established implementation technologies. This gap is expected to reduce in the future using multiple-independent-gate transistors that are promising functionality-enhanced beyond CMOS device technologies, and allow the cost-efficient implementation of AND-XOR operations involved in sum-propagate adders.
A High Conversion Gain Envelope Detector with Wide Input Range for Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer System

Wireless sensors networks (WSN) have been gradually facilitating the pervasive connectivity of wireless sensor nodes. A greater number of wireless sensors have been used in different aspects of our life. However, limited device battery life restricts the applications of large-scale WSN. This paper presents a batteryless envelope detector with radio frequency energy harvesting (RFEH) for wireless sensor nodes, which enables simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). The envelope detector is designed for small modulation index AM signals with large amplitude variations. Therefore, the envelope detector is supposed to have wide input range while achieving a high conversion gain. We proposed an adaptive biasing technique in order to extend the input range of envelope detector. The input differential pair is adaptively biased through a feedback loop to overcome the variation of bias point when the amplitude of input signal changes. The cross coupled rectifier and DC-DC boost converter with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) are presented against power conversion efficiency (PCE) degradation of RF rectifier with the input power varying. The adaptive biased envelope detector is theoretically analyzed by square law MOSFET model. Designed with 0.18 μm complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) standard process, the power consumption of proposed envelope detector is 9 μW. Simulated with a 915 MHz AM input signal with 2 Mbps data rate and 0.05 modulation index, the proposed envelope detector achieves 20.37 dB maximum conversion gain when the amplitude of input signal is 0.5 V, and the PCE of energy harvesting circuits achieves 55.2% when input power is –12.5 dBm.
Is an Immunosuppressive Microenvironment a Characteristic of Both Intra- and Extraparenchymal Central Nervous Tumors?

Abstracts In spite of intensive research, the survival rates of patients diagnosed with tumors of the central nervous system (CNS) have not improved significantly in the last decade. Immunotherapy as novel and efficacious treatment option in several other malignancies has failed in neuro-oncology likely due to the immunosuppressive property of the brain tissues. Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive malignant CNS neoplasm, while meningioma (MNG) is a mainly low grade or benign brain tumor originating from the non-glial tissues of the CNS. The aim of the current preliminary study is to compare the immune microenvironment of MNG and GBM as potential target in immunotherapy. Interestingly, the immune microenvironment of MNG and GBM have proved to be similar. In both tumors types the immune suppressive elements including regulatory T cells (Treg), tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) were highly elevated. The cytokine environment supporting Treg differentiation and the presence of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) have also increased the immunosuppressive microenvironment. The results of the present study show an immune suppressive microenvironment in both brain tumor types. In a follow-up study with a larger patient cohort can provide detailed background information on the immune status of individual patients and aid selection of the best immune checkpoint inhibitor or other immune modulatory therapy. Immune modulatory treatments in combination with IDO1 inhibitors might even become alternative therapy for relapsed, multiple and/or malignant MNG or chemo-resistant GBM.
Nanostructure-Based Electrochemical Immunosensors as Diagnostic Tools

Electrochemical immunosensors are affinity-based biosensors characterized by several useful features such as specificity, miniaturizability, low cost and simplicity, making them very interesting for many applications in several scientific fields. One of the significant issues in the design of electrochemical immunosensors is to increase the system’s sensitivity. Different strategies have been developed, one of the most common is the use of nanostructured materials as electrode materials, nanocarriers, electroactive or electrocatalytic nanotracers because of their abilities in signal amplification and biocompatibility. In this review, we will consider some of the most used nanostructures employed in the development of electrochemical immunosensors (e.g., metallic nanoparticles, graphene, carbon nanotubes) and many other still uncommon nanomaterials. Furthermore, their diagnostic applications in the last decade will be discussed, referring to two relevant issues of present-day: the detection of tumor markers and viruses.
Optical Fiber Waste Used as Reinforcement for Concrete with Recycled Marble Aggregate

Sustainable development in the 21st century depends on the reuse of materials and products, as well as on economic and environmental incentives for recycling. Several studies have sought to improve the quality of concrete, as well as its durability and strength, by adding fibers (metallic, polypropylene, carbon, vegetables) or by replacing the aggregate. The use of optical fiber waste in concrete is still incipient and few studies address the use of marble aggregate to be used in concrete. This research assesses the behavior of the mixture composed of: Portland cement + fine aggregate (sand from crushed marble waste) + coarse aggregate (gneiss) + optical fiber waste and water. The compressive strength, the tensile strength and the modulus of elasticity of concrete and the durability of optical fiber waste in alkaline composite were tested through microstructural evaluation. The results present an increase of about 20% in the mechanical properties and a reduction in the rigidity of the mixture, making the material more ductile. The superficial protection of the fibers made them more resistant to the alkaline attack of the cement. The knowledge acquired would allow the creation of sustainable concrete reinforced with optical fiber in a much more efficient way.
Two Co(II)-coordination polymers: reducing the inflammasome activation and exerting treatment activity on age-related macular degeneration

Abstract Two new cobalt(II) coordination polymers based on H4bpta (H4bpta = 3,3′,5,5′-biphenyltetracarboxylic acid) and N-donor ligands, namely [Co2(1,3-bimb)2(bpta)] n ·2nH2O (1) and [Co2(1,4-bib)2(bpta)] n ·2n(H2O·DMF) (2), (1,4-bib = 1,4-bis(imidazol-1-yl)benzene, 1,3-bimb = 1,3-bis((1H-imidazol-1-yl)methyl)benzene), have been obtained under solvothermal conditions. Series of biological experiments were performed for the biological activity evaluation. Firstly, the western blotting assay was performed to evaluate the inflammasome activation in the endothelial cells of retina after compound treatment. Besides, the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) detection kit was used to measure the down-stream production of the inflammasome activation.
A printed millimeter-wave modulator and antenna array for low-complexity Gigabit-datarate backscatter communications

In this article, a low cost ink-jet printed millimeter-wave RF front-end for low-complexity Gigabit-datarate backscatter communications was designed, fabricated and measured. The RF front-end consists of a microstrip 5×1 series-fed patch antenna array and a single E-pHEMT transistor, supporting a plethora of modulation formats, including binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), and quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM). The circuit was additively manufactured using inkjet printing with silver nanoparticle (SNP) inks on a flexible liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrate. A mmWave transceiver was also designed in order to capture and downconvert the backscattered signals and route them for digital signal processing. A bit rate of 2 Gbps of backscatter transmission is demonstrated at millimeter-wave frequencies 24-28 GHz, expanding the potential of backscatter radio as an ambitious low-energy, low-complexity communication system for future IoT devices. By pushing the circuit complexity to a central station/access point, the radio’s footprint is minimized, which allows additive manufacturing, resulting in significant implementation savings and compatibility with flexible platforms. The wideband operation of these systems will enable broadband wireless transmission with less than 0.17 pJ/bit front-end consumption at 2 Gbps and combined with sensing with low-power sensors and can be integrated with wearables for challenging mobile applications in 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Retrotransposon-mediated Gene Transfer for Animal Cells

Gene delivery methods for animal cells are one of the most important tools in biotechnology fields such as pharmaceutical protein production, generation of transgenic animals and gene therapy. Because retrotransposons can move their own sequences to new genomic locations by a “copy-and-paste” process known as retrotransposition, we attempted to develop a novel gene transfer system based on retrotransposon. A full-length long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1) contains a 5’ untranslated region (5’UTR), two non-overlapping open reading frames (ORFs) separated by a short inter-ORF sequence, and a 3’UTR terminating in an adenosine-rich tract. We constructed a LINE-1 vector plasmid including components necessary for retrotransposition. An intron-disrupted Neo reporter gene and a scFv-Fc expression unit under the control of CMV promoter were added into 3’UTR in order to evaluate retrotransposition and express scFv-Fc. CHO-K1 cells transfected with the plasmids were screened with G418. The established cell clones produced scFv-Fc proteins in the culture medium. To control retrotransposition steadily, we also established retrotransposon systems that supply ORF2 or ORF1–2 separately. Genomic PCR analysis revealed that transgene sequences derived from the LINE-1 vector were positive in all clones. All the clones tested produced scFv-Fc in the culture medium.
Operational strategy optimisation of VRB energy storage systems considering the dynamic characteristics of VRB in active distribution networks

Strategy optimisation of large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) operation in active distribution networks (ADNs) is an actively pursued research topic concerned by electric power researchers. This study proposes a dynamic programming method (DPM)-based operational strategy optimisation of vanadium redox ﬂow battery (VRB) ESSs for the comprehensive performance of ADNs considering the dynamic characteristics of VRB. The dynamic characteristics of VRB based on self-discharge rate, dynamic efﬁciencies, maximum absorption power, cycle life and apparent power are reasonably proposed to construct the operational restrictions of ESSs. VRB is safely and reasonably operated with high cycle life and ideal states by these dynamic operational restrictions. And then, DPM is used to decompose the multivariate optimisation problem into several univariate optimisation problems. Finally, different case studies showed that the developed operation strategy of VRB ESSs can greatly improve both the economy and the voltage quality of ADNs. Also, the curtailment rate of renewable energy in ADNs is greatly reduced by about 50% and VRB ESSs can get a perfect optimisation associated with a higher utilisation rate of about 0.8 and an ameliorative average efﬁciency of about 0.753.
Determinants of the WTI-Brent Price Spread Revisited

We apply autoregressive distributed lag regression (ARDL) and several methods of structural break analysis on a daily data set between 1995 and 2014 to explore various supply and demand factors as drivers of the price differential between WTI and Brent crude oil. In line with previous literature, we identify a major break in the WTI-Brent spread in December 2010. The ARDL regression reveals that the convenience yield, as a proxy for crude oil inventories, is the most important spread determinant. Moreover, also the trading activity in crude oil paper markets, shipping costs, as well as the stock market development in the US and Europe affect the size of the spread. Unlike other papers, we find that the impact of the spread determinants changed after the break in 2010. Especially, the impact of local WTI inventories as well as the influence of paper markets activity on physical trading in crude oil spot markets have gained in importance. In summary, the rising variability in the spread time series after 2010, which reflects a decoupling process of WTI and Brent, can be explained by an absolute increase in several economic determinants.