Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exotic silicon phases synthesized through ultrashort laser-induced microexplosion: Characterization with Raman microspectroscopy

Exotic metastable phases of silicon formed under high pressure are expected to have attractive semiconducting properties including narrow band gaps that open up novel technological applications. Confined microexplosions induced by powerful ultrashort laser pulses have been demonstrated as an advanced tool for the creation of new high-pressure phases that cannot be synthesized by other means. Tightly focused laser pulses are used to generate localized modifications inside the material structure, providing the possibility for precise controlled band-gap engineering. In this study, noninvasive Raman spectroscopy was used for analysis of laser-modified zones in silicon and to determine the metastable high-pressure phases contained. Low laser energies induced the formation of amorphous-only silicon, while higher energies led to crystalline silicon polymorphs within the modifications, albeit under considerable residual stress up to 4.5 GPa. The presence of the structurally similar r8-Si, bc8-Si, and bt8-Si phases is revealed, as well as other yet to be identified phases, and the stacking-related 9R Si polytype is evidenced, presumably stress-induced by the highly compressed laser-modified zone. The ab initio random structure searching approach is used to calculate the Raman signatures and to help identify different Si polymorphs. These findings by Raman spectroscopy from ultrashort laser-induced microexplosion sites may yield insights into the local structure and properties of new silicon metastable phases and the prospect of utilizing exotic phases for extending current applications.
Unveiling the Mystery of Internet Packet Forwarding

Validating the network paths taken by packets is critical in constructing a secure Internet architecture. Any feasible solution must both enforce packet forwarding along end-host specified paths and verify whether packets have taken those paths. However, the current Internet supports neither enforcement nor verification. Likely due to the radical changes to the Internet architecture and a long-standing confusion between routing and forwarding, only limited solutions for path validation exist in the literature. This survey article aims to reinvigorate research on the essential topic of path validation by crystallizing not only how path validation works but also where seemingly qualified solutions fall short. The analyses explore future research directions in path validation aimed at improving security, privacy, and efficiency.
Differentially fed dual‐band circularly polarized printed slot antenna with high common‐mode rejection

This letter proposes a newly designed differentially fed dual‐band circularly polarized (CP) printed slot antenna (PSA). The antenna consists of two oppositely fed halberd‐shaped strips and an S‐shaped slot. By configuring the antenna structure in rotationally symmetric fashion, the fields radiated by any two rotationally symmetric parts of the CP PSA will be constructive when excited differentially and destructive when in common‐mode (CM) operation. Thus, good differential‐mode (DM) performance and high CM rejection can be achieved. In particular, in both CP bands the radiation patterns of the proposed antenna are of the same CP sense, and the CP beams are wide and stable. Measurement shows the proposed differentially fed dual‐band CP PSA has a lower (higher) 10‐dB DM impedance band of 2.09 to 2.85 (5.06‐5.89) GHz and a 3‐dB DM axial‐ratio band of 2.32 to 2.59 (5.13‐5.86) GHz, corresponding to a CP fractional bandwidth of 10.9% (13.3%). Besides, in the displayed frequency region of 2‐6 GHz, the CM signals can be effectively suppressed, with the measured CM return loss smaller than 2.96 dB. The conversion of DM input signals into CM reflected signals is even smaller, with the measured DM‐to‐CM conversion less than −32 dB.
Protection provided by phytoestrogens against cardiac lipotoxicity induced by palmitic acid

xxi SUMÁRIO . xxiii 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1. The role of estrogen in woman’s life . 3 1.1.1. Menopause . 4 1.1.2. Menopause and Health Problems . 6 1.1. 3. Cardiovascular disease in women during menopause . 7 1.1. 4. Cardiac Mitochondrial Fatty Acid Beta-Oxidation during Menopause . 8 1.1. 5. Hormone Replacement Therapy . 13 1.1. 6. Phytoestrogens . 14 1.2. H9c2 cell line as a model for cardiac cells . 16 1.2. 1. Autophagy Pathway . 19 2. HYPOTHESIS AND OBJECTIVE . 23 3. MATERIAL AND METHODS . 27 3.1. Reagents . 29 3.2. Preparation of Palmitic Acid/BSA complexes . 29 3.3. Cell line and culture conditions . 30 3.4. Samples . 33 3.4. 1. Total Protein isolation . 33 3.5. Protein quantification . 33 3.5. 1. Bradford Assay . 33 3.6. Protein analysis by Western Blot . 34
Feeding practice in captive wild ruminants: pecularities in the nutrition of browsers/concentrate selectors and intermediate feeders. A review

We present a review on the feeding practice, the nutritional pathology and the documented nutritional peculiarities of zoo ruminants. The difference in chemical composition between browse and grass historically led to the conclusion that browsers need a diet lower in fibre and higher in protein than grazing ruminants. The term “concentrate selectors”, coined to describe browsing ruminants, additionally focused the attention on the chemical nature of a browser’s diet assumed high in easily fermentable, soluble nutrients; the choice of the term “concentrate” therefore has been critized in the scientific literature (e.g. Owen-Smith 1996). In comparative nutritional surveys, browsing ruminants in zoos tend to consume less fibre, more protein and more nitrogen-free extracts than grazers. While this could be interpreted as a reflection of their nutritional needs, this feeding type displays, in comparative pathological surveys, a higher incidence of acidotic changes in the ruminal mucosa, indicating that this group does not ingest sufficient amounts of fibrous material. Additionally, data from controlled bilance trials does not support the notion that browsing ruminants have higher protein requirements. We suspect that the lesser fibre intake in browsers is due to their reluctance to ingest hay, which is usually offered ad libitum. Reluctance to ingest hay and digestive problems after hay ingestion have been reported for different captive browsing ruminant species and is reflected by a similar reluctance of free-ranging browsers to ingest grasses. There is reason to believe that it is the physical rather than the chemical difference between grass and browse that affected the evolution of different ruminant feeding types. Attention within the zoo community should focus on providing browsers with a fibre source that corresponds to the physical characteristics of their natural forage.
Presynaptic Protein Interactions that Regulate Synaptic Strength at Crayfish Neuromuscular Junctions.

Synapses vary widely in the probability of transmitter release. For instance, in response to an action potential the phasic synapses of the crayfish have a 100-1000-fold higher release probability than tonic synapses. The difference in release probability is attributed to differences in the exocytotic machinery such as the degree of “zippering” of the trans-SNARE (Soluble Nethylmaleimide-sensitive factor Attachment protein REceptor) complex. I used physiological and molecular approaches to determine if the zippered state of SNAREs associated with synaptic vesicles and the interaction between the SNARE complex and Complexin influence the probability of release at the synapse. I used three Botulinum neurotoxins which bind and cleave at different sites on VAMP to determine whether these sites were occluded by SNARE interaction (zippering) or open to proteolytic attack. Under low stimulation conditions, the light-chain fragment of botulinum B (BoNT/B-LC) but not BoNT/D-LC or tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT-LC) cleaved VAMP and inhibited evoked release at both phasic and tonic synapses. In addition, a peptide based on the Cterminal half of crayfish VAMP’s SNARE motif (Vc peptide) designed to interfere with SNARE complex zippering at the C-terminal end inhibited release at both synapses. The susceptibility of
Naked mole rat (HETEROCEPHALUS GLABER)

Enriching BioScience's role as a Forum for Integrating the Life Sciences, Arts in Science provides an occasional venue for poems, visual art, and other forms of artistic expression that explore and enliven our understanding of life. Through the contributions in this section, we hope to share with our readers the passion for nature that science inspires. This contribution is from Ian Wicks, Head of the Inflammation Division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and Professor/Director of the Rheumatology Unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne.
Effect of oxalic acid on the mite Varroa destructor and its host the honey bee Apis mellifera

Here, we study the effect of oxalic acid on isolated varroa mites and on varroa mites parasitizing caged honey bees treated with oxalic acid per os or topically (by trickling or by sublimation). We also study the effect of oxalic acid (trickling and sublimation) on individual bees, focusing on their lifespan, midgut morphology and function, and Malpighian tubule morphology. Effect on mites: contact of isolated mites with oxalic acid coated surface (Petri dishes treated by sublimation) significantly decreased mite viability. In an experiment on varroa mites parasitizing caged bees treated with oxalic acid, the strongest acaricidal effect was observed following oral application and the lowest when oxalic acid was applied through sublimation. Effect on bees: oxalic acid applied by sublimation did not decrease bee lifespan over the 21 days of observation contrary to trickling, where a nonsignificant lifespan decrease was observed. Topical application of oxalic acid increased the rate of midgut cell apoptosis, with a stronger statistically significant effect seen in the group treated by trickling. However, neither trickling nor sublimation caused epithelial destruction in the midgut and Malpighian tubules or loss of digestive tract function.
Psychrophilic properties of sulfate‐reducing bacteria in Arctic marine sediments

Microorganisms in the seabed of most of the global oceans live at temperatures close to zero degrees, and in the polar regions even below. Respiration rates of endogenous sulfate‐reducing microorganisms in the polar seabed, however, are highest in the range of 18–30°C and much reduced at colder temperature. In the past, this was seen as indicative of poor adaptation to their cold habitat. We challenge this interpretation, and tested which temperature range allowed sulfate reducers to grow, by adding moderate amounts of volatile fatty acids to high‐arctic sediment. Initially, sulfate reduction was highest at 27°C in both Svalbard and NE Greenland. But sulfate reduction was not sustainable at this temperature and decreased rapidly over time. Below 26°C, however, sulfate reduction rates increased exponentially over time, indicating growth of sulfate‐reducing microorganisms. We used the increase in the sulfate reduction rates over 4 d to calculate potential growth rates of the endogenous sulfate reducers as function of temperature. From growth rates and respiration rates, we could further calculate the growth yield, also as function of temperature. Highest growth rates were observed at 18°C and growth yields peaked at even lower temperatures between 0°C and 10°C. The maximum growth yield at low temperature revealed a strong psychrophilic adaptation of the sulfate reducers in these Arctic sediments. The fact that growth yield was maximized at in situ temperature but maximum potential growth rate was not, is an indication that yield is the more important parameter for microbial competition in marine sediments.
Predicting Calorific Value of Thar Lignite Deposit: A Comparison between Back-propagation Neural Networks (BPNN), Gradient Boosting Trees (GBT), and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR)

ABSTRACT Calorific value provides a strong measure of useful energy during coal utilization. Previously, different AI techniques have been used for the prediction of calorific value; however, one model is not valid for all geographic locations. In this research, Lower Calorific Value (LCV) of the Thar coal region in Pakistan is predicted from proximate analysis of 693 drill holes extending to 9,000 sq. km. Researchers have applied different techniques to produce the best model for prediction of calorific value; however, Gradient Boosting Trees (GBT) has not been used for this purpose. A comparison of GBT, Back-propagation Neural Networks (BPNN), and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) is presented to predict the calorific value from a total of 8,039 samples with 1 m support interval. The samples were split randomly into 70:15:15 for training, testing, and validation of GBT, BPNN, and MLR models, reporting correlations of 0.90, 0.89, and 0.80, respectively. The features’ importance was reported by the intuitive and best-performing GBT model in decreasing order of importance as: Volatile Matter, Fixed Carbon, Moisture, and Ash with corresponding feature importance values of 0.50, 0.30, 0.12, and 0.08.
Spatiotemporal variations and controlling factors of the surface pCO2 in the northern South China Sea

The focal area of this study was the northern South China Sea (NSCS; 18.5°-22.5°N, 1.0°-8.0°E), located on the northwestern shelf of the SCS. The surface pCO2 (pCO2w), sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS) was measured by continuous measurement system during four field surveys to show their spatiotemporal variations in the NSCS. Low pCO2w in the southwestern region of PRE were observed in four seasons, particularly in spring and summer. The Pearl River diluted water (PRDW) discharged a large amount of nutrients into nearshore waters, which promoted phytoplankton propagation and CO2 uptake in spring and summer. On the contrary, primary productivity was low in winter and late autumn, runoff input of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) played important role in increasing the pCO2 in nearshore waters, so the PRDW controlled the spatiotemporal variations of pCO2w in the coastal and inner shelf. The pCO2w in the outer shelf and slope were relatively high in four seasons, and SST was the critical controlling factor of pCO2w, sea-air CO2 exchange also played role in the seasonal scales of pCO2w, the impact of weather and climate events on the variations of pCO2w and sea-air CO2 flux in the short term also were remarkable. Generally, the NSCS acted as sink of atmospheric CO2 in spring, late autumn and winter, particularly in latter two seasons, in contrast, it was weak CO21 source in summer.
Medical Assistant Mobile Application for Diabetes Control by Simulating a Compartmental Model

This paper presents an educational mobile assistant application for type 1 diabetes patients. The proposed application is based on four mathematical models that describe the glucose-insulin-glucagon dynamics using a compartmental model, with additional equations to reproduce aerobic exercise, gastric glucose absorption by the gut, and subcutaneous insulin absorption. The medical assistant was implemented in Java and deployed and validated on several smartphones with Android OS. Multiple daily doses can be simulated to perform intensive insulin therapy. As a result, the proposed application shows the influence of exercise periods, food intakes, and insulin treatments on the glucose concentrations. Four parameter variations are studied, and their corresponding glucose concentration plots are obtained, which show agreement with simulators of the state of the art. The developed application is focused on type-1 diabetes, but this can be extended to consider type-2 diabetes by modifying the current mathematical models.
Impact of the arundo wasp, Tetramesa romana (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae), on biomass of the invasive weed, Arundo donax (Poaceae: Arundinoideae), and on revegetation of riparian habitat along the Rio Grande in Texas

ABSTRACT An invasive grass, Arundo donax, occupies thousands of hectares of arid riparian habitat along the Rio Grande in Texas and Mexico, and has negative impacts on national security, water resources, and riparian ecosystems. The shoot-tip-galling wasp Tetramesa romana was released in 2009 between Brownsville and Del Rio, Texas, and has dispersed over 800 km along the river channel. Plots along the river were surveyed for shoot counts of arundo and all other plant species in 2016 at seven sites in regions in which prior studies had documented a 22% decline in arundo biomass (estimated from live shoot length) from 2007 to 2014. Estimated live biomass declined a further 32% between 2014 and 2016. Native plants accounted for 86% of the 44 species encountered in plots. Individual plots averaged five plant species, and arundo was most abundant in only 9 of 21 plots. Arundo live biomass and shoot density were negatively associated with plant diversity, indicating that live arundo interferes with germination and/or survival of other plant species. The proportion of dead shoots in plots, proportion of wasp-galled shoots, and density of exit holes made by emerging adult wasps per metre live main shoot length were positively associated with plant diversity in a combined model. Regressions indicated that the effects of wasp damage measures on diversity were mediated through their effects on main shoot mortality. By reducing live arundo biomass, the arundo wasp is fostering recovery of native plant communities at riparian sites along the Rio Grande.
Supplementation of Organic Selenium to Improve Inclusion Level of Plant-derived Proteins in the Diets of Two Commercially Important Marine Carnivorous Finfish Species

of Published Papers 1. Ilham I, Fotedar R (2016) Growth, antioxidant capacity and muscle histochemistry of yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi Valenciennes 1883): Selenium and temperature interaction. Anim. Feed Sci. Tech., 217, 76-86. 2. Ilham I, Fotedar R, Suyasa IN (2016) Use of organic selenium supplements in soybean meal-based diets for juvenile yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi). Int. J Food Nutr. Sci., 3, 1-11.
Transcriptome-Wide Association Supplements Genome-Wide Association in Zea mays

Modern improvement of complex traits in agricultural species relies on successful associations of heritable molecular variation with observable phenotypes. Historically, this pursuit has primarily been based on easily measurable genetic markers. The recent advent of new technologies allows assaying and quantifying biological intermediates (hereafter endophenotypes) which are now readily measurable at a large scale across diverse individuals. The usefulness of endophenotypes for delineating the regulatory landscape of the genome and genetic dissection of complex trait variation remains underexplored in plants. The work presented here illustrated the utility of a large-scale (299-genotype and seven-tissue) gene expression resource to dissect traits across multiple levels of biological organization. Using single-tissue- and multi-tissue-based transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS), we revealed that about half of the functional variation acts through altered transcript abundance for maize kernel traits, including 30 grain carotenoid abundance traits, 20 grain tocochromanol abundance traits, and 22 field-measured agronomic traits. Comparing the efficacy of TWAS with genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and an ensemble approach that combines both GWAS and TWAS, we demonstrated that results of TWAS in combination with GWAS increase the power to detect known genes and aid in prioritizing likely causal genes. Using a variance partitioning approach in the largely independent maize Nested Association Mapping (NAM) population, we also showed that the most strongly associated genes identified by combining GWAS and TWAS explain more heritable variance for a majority of traits than the heritability captured by the random genes and the genes identified by GWAS or TWAS alone. This not only improves the ability to link genes to phenotypes, but also highlights the phenotypic consequences of regulatory variation in plants.
Silicon Photonic Mode-Division Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers with Mode-Selective Integrated MEMS Switches

Mode-division multiplexing (MDM) is an attractive solution for future on-chip networks to enhance the optical transmission capacity with a single laser source. A mode-division reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) is one of the key components to construct flexible and complex on-chip optical networks for MDM systems. In this paper, we report on a novel scheme of mode-division ROADM with mode-selective silicon photonic MEMS (micro-electromechanical system) switches. With this ROADM device, data carried by any mode-channels can be rerouted or switched at an MDM network node, i.e., any mode could be added/dropped to/from the multimode bus waveguide flexibly and selectively. Particularly, the design and simulation of adiabatic vertical couplers for three quasi-TE modes (TE0, TE1, and TE2 modes) based on effective index analysis and mode overlap calculation method are reported. The calculated insertion losses are less than 0.08 dB, 0.19 dB, and 0.03 dB for the TE0 mode, TE1 mode, and TE2 mode couplers, respectively, over a wavelength range of 75 nm (1515–1590 nm). The crosstalks are below −20 dB over the bandwidth. The proposed device is promising for future on-chip optical networks with flexible functionality and large-scale integration.
Adaptive Aggregated Tracklet Linking for Multi-Face Tracking

This paper addresses the problem of multi-face tracking. The proposed framework first assembles discrete detections into short reliable sequences (code-named ‘tracklets’) and second, links them via hierarchical clustering. A key challenge in face tracking in real world scenarios ‘on the wild’ or under adverse conditions is the drastic variations across scenes (e.g: variations in illumination, pose, occlusion, motion blur, etc.). To this end, the paper presents a simple hierarchical clustering approach which exploits the intra-scene compactness while minimizing the impact of inter-scene variations. The algorithm adapts to different domains by dynamically learning domain-specific parameters through density dispersion analysis. The proposed framework is evaluated on three databases, which demonstrate competitive performance with state-of the-art clustering and tracklet linking approaches. In addition, the paper presents a challenging database which is publicly available, on which the end-to-end tracking performance is reported.
Fault Diagnosis of Rolling Bearing Using Wireless Sensor Networks and Convolutional Neural Network

Rolling bearings are widely used in modern production equipment. Effective bearing fault diagnosis method will improve the reliability of the machinery and increase its operating efficiency. In this paper, a novel fault diagnosis method based on WSN and CNN has been proposed to fully utilize the strong fault classification capability of CNN and the inherent merits of WSNs, such as relatively low cost, convenience of installation, and ease of relocation. The feasibility and effectiveness of proposed system are evaluated using the vibration data sets of seven motor operating conditions released by the Case Western Reserve University Bearing Data Center. The experimental results show the fault diagnosis accuracy of the proposed approach can reach 97.6%.