Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of Organic Carbon and Elemental Carbon in Atmospheric Aerosols in the Urban Area in Beibei, a Suburb of Chongqing

To investigate the pollutive characteristics of atmospheric carbonaceous aerosols in Beibei District, a suburb of Chongqing Municipal City, graded aerosol samples were continuously collected by cascade impactors over one year, from March 2014 to February 2015. Carbonaceous aerosols, including organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC), were detected by a DRI 2001A carbon analyzer. The results showed that the average annual concentrations of OC and EC in the PM2.1 were 16.3 ± 7.6 and 1.8 ± 0.7 µg m–3, and in the PM9.0 were 25.0 ± 9.6 and 3.2 ± 1.2 µg m–3, respectively. On the one hand, a more seasonal distribution of OC concentrations appeared in the PM2.1 (winter > spring > summer > autumn) than in the PM9.0 (winter ≈ spring ≈ summer > autumn); furthermore, whereas the OC significantly positively correlated with wind speed for both the PM2.1 (P spring > summer > autumn), and the EC in the PM2.1 significantly negatively correlated with temperature (P < 0.05). Additionally, both the OC and the EC were concentrated mainly in the fine particles (< 2.10 µm), and the size distributions of the OC in all four seasons displayed a bi-modal pattern that peaked in the size ranges of 0.43–0.65 µm (for fine particles) and 4.7–5.8 µm (for coarse particles), whereas the EC displayed a uni-modal pattern that peaked in the size range of 4.7–5.8 µm (for coarse particles). Furthermore, the correlations between the OC and the EC were analyzed, and the SOC (secondary organic carbon) in the PM2.1 was estimated using the primary OC/EC ratio. It was found that the OC highly significantly correlated with the EC (P < 0.01), with the average annual concentration of the SOC being 6.3 ± 5.9 µg m–3, which accounted for 33.5 ± 22.6% of the OC. Analyzing the sources of the pollutive atmospheric aerosol in Beibei further demonstrated that it mainly originated in biomass burning, gasoline-vehicle exhaust, and coal combustion.
Zebrafish as an infectious disease model : The Mycobacterium marinum case Infecting Zebrafish

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a multifaceted animal modelthat is lately and increasingly being used to study human diseases such as infections[1,2]. One of those is tuberculosis, which is is particularly interesting, because in zebrafish it is studied using its natural pathogen, Mycobacterium marinum [3]. In order to become familiar with the zebrafish model and have a closer approach to the zebrafish model a few examples of its applications are shown next.
Neutrinos from Cosmic Accelerators including Magnetic Field and Flavor Effects

We review the particle physics ingredients affecting the normalization, shape, and flavor composition of astrophysical neutrinos fluxes, such as different production modes, magnetic field effects on the secondaries (muons, pions, and kaons), and flavor mixing, where we focus on interactions. We also discuss the interplay with neutrino propagation and detection, including the possibility to detect flavor and its application in particle physics, and the use of the Glashow resonance to discriminate from interactions in the source. We illustrate the implications on fluxes and flavor composition with two different models: (1) the target photon spectrum is dominated by synchrotron emission of coaccelerated electrons and (2) the target photon spectrum follows the observed photon spectrum of gamma-ray bursts. In the latter case, the multimessenger extrapolation from the gamma-ray fluence to the expected neutrino flux is highlighted.
Cultural and Educational Variations in Maternal Responsiveness

Maternal responsiveness is usually associated to varied forms of behavior contingent on a variety of infant signals. This article on cultural and educational variations in maternal responsiveness presents two separate studies examining these hypothesis: 1) that maternal responsiveness is affected by cross-cultural differences in conventions of conversational interaction and 2) that maternal responsiveness is affected by intracultural differences in mothers levels of formal education. The first study compared mother-infant interaction among the Gusii of Kenya with those in suburban Boston Massachusetts. The second study conducted in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca examined variations in mother-infant interactions by maternal schooling within a local sample of low-income mothers of similar cultural background who attended school from 1 to 9 years. Findings from both studies indicated a comparison in the verbal and nonverbal forms of maternal responsiveness on the account of the gross behavioral categories and varying educational levels between the Gusii and Boston samples as well as the Mexican samples.
Smoking , Colorectal Disease and Colorectal Surgical Practice

Background: Cigarette smoking adversely affects the natural history of a number of common colorectal conditions and their treatment. Colorectal cancer is now recognised as a smoking attributable cancer. Aim: This is a narrative review of the effects of cigarette smoking on colorectal disease, colorectal surgery and colorectal surgical outcomes. Methods: Literature search was carried out for relevant articles highlighting relationship between smoking and variety of colorectal conditions (cancer, diverticular disease, inflammatory bowel disease and perianal diseases). As we wanted to highlight the breadth of the problem to current colorectal practice, we have deliberately kept this as a narrative review. Results: Smoking is associated with higher all-cause mortality and colorectal cancer–specific mortality in non-metastatic colorectal cancer and it worsens the outcomes of a number of inflammatory colorectal conditions including diverticular disease and Crohn’s disease. Smoking impairs the inflammatory response, tissue repair and consequently impairs wound healing. Smoking during radiotherapy worsens acute toxicity and reduces disease free survival in anal cancer. Conclusion: Approximately 10 million adults smoke cigarettes in Great Britain currently and therefore there is arguably no single greater reversible patient related parameter that affects outcomes in colorectal practice. Surgeons must advocate and facilitate smoking cessation in their patients putting particular emphasis on the likelihood of increased complication rates and poorer outcomes if an active smoker undergoes colorectal surgery or radiotherapy.
Origin of ocean island basalts: A new perspective from petrology, geochemistry, and mineral physics considerations

[1] Consideration of petrology, geochemistry, and mineral physics suggests that ancient subducted oceanic crusts cannot be the source materials supplying ocean island basalts (OIB). Melting of oceanic crusts cannot produce high-magnesian OIB lavas. Ancient oceanic crusts (>1 Ga) are isotopically too depleted to meet the required values of most OIB. Subducted oceanic crusts that have passed through subduction zone dehydration are likely to be depleted in water-soluble incompatible elements (e.g., Ba, Rb, Cs, U, K, Sr, Pb) relative to water-insoluble incompatible elements (e.g., Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, Ti). Melting of residual crusts with such trace element composition cannot produce OIB. Oceanic crusts, if subducted into the lower mantle, will be >2% denser than the ambient mantle at shallow lower mantle depths. This negative buoyancy will impede return of the subducted oceanic crusts into the upper mantle. If subducted oceanic crusts melt at the base of the mantle, the resultant melts are even denser than the ambient peridotitic mantle, perhaps by as much as ∼15%. Neither in the solid state nor in melt form can bulk oceanic crusts subducted into the lower mantle return to upper mantle source regions of oceanic basalts. Deep portions of recycled oceanic lithosphere are important geochemical reservoirs hosting volatiles and incompatible elements as a result of metasomatism taking place at the interface between the low-velocity zone and the cooling and thickening oceanic lithosphere. These metasomatized and recycled deep portions of oceanic lithosphere are the most likely candidates for OIB sources in terms of petrology, geochemistry and mineral physics.
Overrelaxed Sinkhorn-Knopp Algorithm for Regularized Optimal Transport

This article describes a set of methods for quickly computing the solution to the regularized optimal transport problem. It generalizes and improves upon the widely used iterative Bregman projections algorithm (or Sinkhorn–Knopp algorithm). We first proposed to rely on regularized nonlinear acceleration schemes. In practice, such approaches lead to fast algorithms, but their global convergence is not ensured. Hence, we next proposed a new algorithm with convergence guarantees. The idea is to overrelax the Bregman projection operators, allowing for faster convergence. We proposed a simple method for establishing global convergence by ensuring the decrease of a Lyapunov function at each step. An adaptive choice of the overrelaxation parameter based on the Lyapunov function was constructed. We also suggested a heuristic to choose a suitable asymptotic overrelaxation parameter, based on a local convergence analysis. Our numerical experiments showed a gain in convergence speed by an order of magnitude in certain regimes.
The system-wide impacts of the external benefits to higher education on the Scottish economy: An exploratory “micro-to-macro” approach

The private market benefits of education, i.e. the wage premia of graduates, are widely studied at the micro level, although the magnitude of their macroeconomic impact is disputed. However, there are additional benefits of education, which are less well understood but could potentially drive significant macroeconomic impacts. Following the taxonomy of McMahon (2009) we identify four different types of benefits of education. These are: private market benefits (wage premia); private non market benefits (own health, happiness, etc.); external market benefits (productivity spillovers; and external non-market benefits (crime rates, civic society, democratisation, etc.). Drawing on available microeconometric evidence we use a micro-to-macro simulation approach (Hermannsson et al, 2010) to estimate the macroeconomic impacts of external benefits of higher education. We explore four cases: technology spillovers from HEIs; productivity spillovers from more skilled workers in the labour market; reduction in property crime; and the potential overall impact of external and private non-market benefits. Our results suggest that the external economic benefits of higher education could potentially be very large. However, given the dearth of microeconomic evidence this result should be seen as tentative. Our aim is to illustrate the links from education to the wider economy in principle and encourage further research in the field.
Phase Transitions: A Multinational

Functional twin boundaries S. Van Aert a , S. Turner a , R. Delville a , D. Schryvers a , G. Van Tendeloo a , X. Ding b & E. K.H. Salje c a Electron Microscopy for Materials Research (EMAT) , University of Antwerp , Antwerp , Belgium b State Key Laboratory Mechanical Behaviour of Materials , Xi An Jiao Tong University , Xian , Peoples Republic of China c Department of Earth Sciences , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK Published online: 16 Jan 2013.
REGISTRO DE IMÁGENES DE RANGO MEDIANTE UNA METRICA BASADA EN HISTOGRAMA

In this paper, a new approach for coarse registration of triangular meshes for three-dimensional object reconstruction is proposed by using the shape-index measure for topological description and the Earth Mover's Distance (EMD) metric for region similarity estimation. Two of its main advantages are independence from initial pre-alignment and spatial transformation, obtaining a more accurate registration regardless of the initial viewing position.
Value of 18F-FDG Accumulation in Mediastinal and Hilar Lymph Nodes on18F-FDG PET/CT: Relation to Recurrence of Cardiac Sarcoidosis

Purpose: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) accumulation in the left ventricular (LV) wall detects active myocardial inflammatory lesions in cardiac sarcoidosis (CS), but the significance of 18F-FDG accumulation in mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes (LNs) remains unclear. We investigated the association between CS recurrence and 18F-FDG accumulation in the mediastinal and hilar LNs, using positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 68 patients diagnosed with CS, who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT before beginning treatment. The minimum follow-up period was 24 months. Patients were assigned to the recurrence (n=18) or no recurrence group (n=50) based on follow-up examinations. The 18FFDG PET/CT maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) was measured in the LV wall, right ventricular (RV) wall, and mediastinal and hilar LNs. The association of CS recurrence was analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) curves were made using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: In univariate analysis, sex, BNP, LVEF, and the SUVmax in the LV wall, RV wall, and mediastinal and hilar LNs were significant risk factors for CS recurrence. In multivariate analysis, only the SUVmax in the mediastinal and hilar LNs was a significant risk factor for CS recurrence. RFS rates were significantly higher in patients with an SUVmax<4.1 vs. ≥ 4.1 (log-rank value=36.0, p<0.01). Conclusion: The mediastinal and hilar LN SUVmax was an independent risk factor for CS recurrence after treatment. 18F-FDG accumulation in mediastinal and hilar LNs on 18F-FDG PET before treatment may be a useful biomarker to predict CS recurrence.
Nandrolone decanoate administration can increase apoptosis in spermatogenesis cell lines in male rats

Introduction: Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are used at high doses by athletes for improving athletic ability, muscle mass and physical appearance. Unfortunately, the abuse of these agents has been significantly increased. It has been established that exercise and high doses of AAS may influence the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, which can in turn affect testicular apoptosis and male fertility. However, the effect of the combination of exercise and high doses of AAS on testicular apoptosis is not known . This study investigated combined effects of exercise and high doses of nandrolone decanoate (an AAS) on the sperm quality, male sex organs weight and spermatogenenic apoptosis. Materials and methods: For the study 30 rats were randomly divided into three different groups (10 animals in each group). Group A, control (Cont), without any injection; group B, (sham) rats received solvent of nandrolone decanoate (peanut oil) and in group C, nandrolone decanoate was injected intramuscularly at a dose of 10 mg/kg per week for eight weeks. Results: Body weight changes were shown to be different significantly between control and experiment groups (P<0.0001). Prostates and seminal vesicles weight were significantly different between control and experiment groups (respectively, P <0.05 and P<0.001). Related right and left testes weight was significantly decreased in the experiment group compared to the control group (respectively, P<0.01 and P<0.05). Sperm quality markers were significantly different between control and experiment groups (P<0.0001). The number of normal germ cells in experiment group was decreased in compared with control group. Conclusion: This study concluded that nandrolone decanoate could decrease infertility rate in male system.
NONLINEAR DYNAMIC MODEL FOR FLEXURAL VIBRATIONS ANALYSIS OF A SUPERCRITICAL HELICOPTER'S TAIL ROTOR DRIVE SHAFT

In the new ultra-light helicopter, just now designed in the Institute of Aviation, a lightweight supercritical tail rotor drive shaft will be used. This paper presents a nonlinear dynamic model of such a shaft for the analysis of its flexural vibrations. The model assumes that the shaft has several deformable supports with elastic and damping elements and is loaded by external forces caused by its local unbalance. The equations of motion have been obtained making use of the finite element method and dividing the shaft into several elements between successive supports. In order to ensure easy crossing through a resonance region, a nonlinear dry friction damper has been applied in the shaft structure. Depending on the parameters of this damper, we can obtain various bending vibrations of the shaft under consideration. There can be regular or chaotic vibrations of the shaft.
Commercial preslaughter blue light ambience for controlling broiler stress and meat qualities

The objective of this work was to study the effect of blue light diffuser on the broiler stress control by measuring the occurrence of PSE meat just before slaughtering. Birds were divided into the following two groups before slaughter at the point of being hung on shackles: broiler group under low intensity blue light ambience (475, 17-20 lx) and control group under white light (550-650nm, 321-332 lx). Birds' stressful conditions were measured by the occurrence of PSE meat. Breast fillets were classified as PSE meat based on pH ( 53.0). The fillet samples in the control group had the following characteristics: pHu=5.77, L* = 54.26 and b*= 6.27. The fillet samples from birds under blue light ambience had the following characteristics: pHu=5.81, L* = 52.86 and b* = 5.22 (p < 0.05). These results revealed that the treatment of blue light ambience just before slaughtering contributed to the alleviation of ante mortem stress of the birds, which was observed by a 14% decrease in the occurrence of PSE meat. Exposure to blue light just before slaughtering was shown to have potential to be used in modern slaughterhouses to offer a comfortable atmosphere, thereby maintaining breast meat quality.
Confirmatory Study for Developing the Construction of Core Competencies of Nursing Practice

Aims: The purpose of this study was to develop an evaluation tool for establishing the core competencies of nursing practice programs. The construct validity of the questionnaire design was subsequently analyzed. Methods: A total of 660 graduating nursing students were recruited. This study included the following four stages: formulation of the questionnaire content, establishing expert validity, pilot test for exploratory factor analysis, and conducting confirmatory factor analysis for confirming factor structure. Results: After conducting exploratory factor analysis, the following two domains were identified: “advancement of practice competence” and “practice competence evaluation”. Additionally, the analysis results for both structures showed a factor loading of 57%. Conclusion: The results of this study can be used to evaluate the performance of core competencies in nursing practice programs for prospective graduates.
A target tracking system using sensors of multiple modalities

Radar sensors and camera based vision systems will be used to provide object data in many Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). In this paper, a multi-sensor target tracking system that combines data from a Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar, multiple Short-Range Radars (SRR), a camera-based object detection system and vehicular dynamic sensors is described. Each object sensor individually measures the range, range rate and azimuth angle information of all objects within the observation region. The proposed system 1 groups objects from different sensors in overlapped observation region; 2 tracks an object across different sensor ﬁeld of views; 3 reports the Cartesian coordinates of objects with improved accuracy and reduced rates of false detection and missed detection. The proposed target tracking system was implemented in a retroﬁtted vehicle. Only about two-percent CPU usage is needed for an 800 MHz embedded processor. The output data was directly used by several vehicle features suc.
Local Heuristic Genetic Algorithm for Discovering Community of Complex Networks

Community of complex networks has attracted much attention. For the problem, we propose a local heuristic genetic algorithm (LHGA). Mutation of LHGA is combined with local heuristic function from the perspective of networks dynamics and makes convergence rate of this algorithm expressively improved. Extensive tests on artificial networks and real world networks give excellent results.
MOLECULAR DETECTION OF PATHOGENIC LEPTOSPIRA IN IRAN

Leptospirosis is an acute infectious, systemic and septisemic disease which had recent outbreaks in some parts of Iran especially in north provinces. Rapid detection is a critical step for treatment and control of this disease. In this research a PCR based method was evaluated for detection of Iranian local endemic serovars. All reported endemic serovars of Leptospira including Leptospira grippotyphosa, Leptospira canicola, Leptospira sejreo hardjo, Leptospira pomona and Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae which at present are used for Leptospira micro agglutination test (LMAT) in Iran, were subjected to this PCR. Standard representative serovars from ATCC studied in parallel to local serovars. DNA extracted by phenolchloroform-isoamyl alcohol precipitation. After optimization, the sensitivity of PCR was about 1 fg equal to DNA of 1 Leptospira. All studied serovars including non pathogenic L. biflexa produced the reported 285 bp fragment. Restriction analysis with MboI confirmed the PCR product accuracy. In case of L. biflexa the pattern was completely different from the pathogenic ones. None of near matching bacteria had product in this method. This system was able to detect the existence of Leptospira DNA in all of studied LMAT positive serums.
Soundtrack in Mind

Contemporary film theory is noted for its sturm und drang, though in the case of the soundtrack, incompatible attitudes and methods are found mostly below the surface where theoretical presuppositions are ruled by unpredictable melodic contours and accents. This article provides a comprehensive overview of philosophical issues concerning audition. It aims to orient a diverse array of sound theories in relation to a set of core issues involving perceptual processing, language, and mind. The article sounds out various cognitive frameworks, where each type of frame projects a favored description and explanation of sonic phenomena. It argues that what is heard in a sound depends on how one listens, and with what purpose.
Selection of efficient relay for energy-efficient cooperative ad hoc networks

The Cooperative Communication (CC) is a technology that allows multiple nodes to simultaneously transmit the same data. It can save power and extend transmission coverage. However, prior research work on topology control considers CC only in the aspect of energy saving, not that of coverage extension. This paper identify the challenges in the development of a centralized topology control scheme, named Cooperative Bridges, which reduces transmission power of nodes as well as increases network connectivity. Previous research on topology control with CC only focuses on maintaining the network connectivity, minimizing the transmission power of each node, whereas ignores the energy efficiency of paths in constructed topologies. This may cause inefficient routes and hurt the overall network performance in cooperative ad hoc networks. With the help of studied topology control problem for energy-efficient topology with cooperative communication. This paper proposed optimum relay nodes selection for CC network to reduce overall power consumption of network.