Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gut Microbiome and Autism: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurological and developmental disorder characterized by impaired communication and social interaction skills, as well as stereotypical repetitive behavioral patterns. Its etiology remains elusive, likely involving a combination of genetic changes and environmental factors. Among them, microbiome dysbiosis of the gastrointestinal (GI) system and its effect on CNS inflammation appears to be an important one. Symptoms of the GI system in patients with ASD are closely associated with primary or secondary changes in microbiome abnormalities of the gut. Moreover, the severities of neurological and behavioral symptom in ASD are determined at least in part by gut microbiome profiles in some subgroups of ASD patients. We review the evidence supporting notions of microbiome dysbiosis in host pathogenesis, especially with respect to diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Next, we explore the differences in gut microbiome between neurotypical and ASD children, how these differences arise and how alterations in gut microbiome can lead to the pathogenesis or exacerbation ASD symptoms. We also attempt to address current and emerging new strategies of ASD therapeutic interventions that aim at modulating the gut microbiome, including dietary therapies/prebiotics, probiotics/antibiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation, immune therapies, and the use of traditional Chinese medicine. [N A J Med Sci. 2016;9(3):104-115. DOI: 10.7156/najms.2016. 0903104]
Manipulating disturbance regimes and seeding to restore mesic Mediterranean grasslands

Question: Can managing disturbance regimes alone or in combination with seeding native species serve to shift the balance from exotic towards native species? Location: Central coast of California, USA. Methods: We measured vegetation composition for 10 yr in a manipulative experiment replicated at three sites. Treatments included no disturbance, grazing and clipping at three frequencies with and without litter removal. We seeded eight native species into clipped plots and compared cover in comparable plots with no seeding. Results: Regardless of frequency, clipping generally shifted community dominance from exotic annual grasses to exotic annual forbs, rather than consistently favoring native species. At one site, perennial grass cover decreased in no-disturbance plots, but only after 4 yr. Litter removal had minimal impact on litter depth and plant community composition. Grazing had a highly variable effect on the abundance of different plant guilds across sites and years. Seeding increased abundance of only two of eight native species. Conclusions: Managing disturbance regimes alone is insufficient to restore native species guilds in highly-invaded grasslands and seeding native species has highly variable success.
Generalizing Source Geometry of Site Contamination by Simulating and Analyzing Analytical Solution of Three-Dimensional Solute Transport Model

Due to the uneven distribution of pollutions and blur edge of pollutant area, there will exist uncertainty of source term shape in advective-diffusion equation model of contaminant transport. How to generalize those irregular source terms and deal with those uncertainties is very critical but rarely studied in previous research. In this study, the fate and transport of contaminant from rectangular and elliptic source geometry were simulated based on a three-dimensional analytical solute transport model, and the source geometry generalization guideline was developed by comparing the migration of contaminant. The result indicated that the variation of source area size had no effect on pollution plume migration when the plume migrated as far as five times of source side length. The migration of pollution plume became slower with the increase of aquifer thickness. The contaminant concentration was decreasing with scale factor rising, and the differences among various scale factors became smaller with the distance to field increasing.
Impacts of stumps and roots on carbon storage and bioenergy use in a climate change context

As a result of national and international greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, economic incentives and political desires to be more independent regarding energy supplies, there is interest in substituting fossil fuels with renewable energy sources, such as forest fuels. Stump harvesting could be an option to further increase the bioenergy potential in forested countries; currently stump harvesting is carried out on a pilot basis in Sweden. In this thesis, the Swedish stump harvest potential is studied in a national and European climate change mitigation context. One main objective was to develop a general system for estimating and monitoring carbon stocks and carbon stock changes in stump and root systems on a national scale. A core part of this system was a decomposition function for Norway spruce stumps and roots that was developed as part of this thesis. The decomposition rate in Norway spruce stumps and roots was estimated to be 4.6% annually. Another objective included assessment of the carbon balance trade-offs between the use of stumps for either bioenergy or carbon sequestration. This was carried out over different time scales and harvest intensities and, further, the substitution effect of using stumps for bioenergy in comparison with coal was investigated. The risks of nutrient loss linked to stump harvesting were also studied and discussed. Data from the Swedish national forest inventory and from specifically designed studies on stumps and roots were used for the analyses. The results showed that it takes about nine years for a stump harvest scenario to become more climate-friendly than if coal were used i.e. there is a certain lag period during which the CO₂ emissions from the stump harvest scheme exceed the emissions from utilizing coal as fuel; this is due to higher calorific value in fossil fuels. However, in the long-term, the CO₂ emissions decrease if stumps and roots are used instead of coal. In the medium scenario studied, the CO₂ emissions decreased by 5.0 Tg CO₂ yr-1 - this corresponds to 8.6% of Sweden's current greenhouse gas emissions. It was also shown that the Swedish carbon pool in stumps and roots would start to decrease if more than approximately 107 PJ were harvested annually. Without stump harvesting, the carbon pool in stumps and roots increased over the study period (1984 – 2003) by, on average, 6.9 Tg CO₂ yr-1. Also, the nutrient pools would be at risk if intensive stump harvest schemes after stem and slash harvesting were implemented. However, from a nutrient perspective, depletion of forest soils would be at least risk if a proportion of slash rather than stumps and coarse roots were left after harvesting.
The role of Silicon on Microstructure and High Temperature Performance of Aluminide Coating on Superalloy In-738LC

The microstructures of slurry Si-modified aluminide coatings on Ni-base superalloy In-738LC have been investigated using SEM, TEM, EDS and XRD. The corrosion performance of the coatings has been also investigated by hot corrosion and cyclic oxidation tests. In order to evaluate the hot corrosion performance, the anodic polarization curves were measured in Na 2 SO 4 -25 mol%NaVO 3 -5 mol%NaCl at 1053 K. The cyclic oxidation test was canied out by exposure to alternate conditions of air atmosphere at 1373 K and room temperature. The analyses of SEM, EDS and XRD were also used to characterize attack morphologies of the coatings exposed to the test conditions. The results showed that the heat-treated slurry Si-modified aluminide coating was composed of β-NiAl phase including fine precipitates, which were found to be complex silicides. The results of hot corrosion tests indicated that at least 10-13 mass%Si in the coating layer is needed to improve the corrosion resistance of the aluminide coating. The coatings that met this criterion also showed a good cyclic oxidation resistance.
On the Non-Symmetric Spectra of Certain Graphs

The study of eigenvalue list multiplicities of matrices with certain graphs has appeared in volumes for symmetric real matrices. Very interesting properties, such as interlacing, equivalent geometric and algebraic multiplicities of eigenvalues, and “Parter-Weiner-Etc. Theory” drive the study of symmetric real matrices. We diverge from this and analyze non-symmetric real matrices and ask if we can attain more possible eigenvalue list multiplicities. We fully describe the possible algebraic list multiplicities for matrices with graphs Pn, Sn, Kn, and Kn −Km.
Assessing the effect of monetary policy on economic growth in franc zone

This study aims at assessing the effect of monetary policy on economic growth for the fourteen countries of the Franc zone over the period 1985-2012 using a dynamic panel model. The system estimator of the generalized method of moments has allowed us to demonstrate a significant and negative effect of domestic credit provided by banking sector on economic growth. The analysis reveals that money supply has significant positive effect on economic growth, while total reserves and inflation have a negative effect. However the negative effect of domestic credit provided by banking sector can be reversed through allocation of funds to those projects for which the social returns are the highest and through allocation of funds to productive local industries.
Comparative analysis of Traditional SCADA systems and IoT implemented SCADA

SCADA system stands as an abbreviation of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. It focuses on the supervisory level and is not a full control system. It is a computer system which gathers and analyses real-time data. They are useful in monitoring and controlling a plant or industrial equipment like telecommunications, water, waste control, energy, oil-gas refining, and transportation. It gathers information about a mishap, transfers it back to a central site and alerts the home station about the mishap, carries out necessary analysis and control, like determining if the mishap occurred is critical, and display the information in a logical and organized fashion. They can be relatively as simple as a system which monitors environmental conditions of a small office building, or as complex as a system that monitors all the activity in a nuclear power plant. IoT acts as a complementary setup to SCADA. SCADA system generates information which acts as one of the data sources for IoT. While the focus of SCADA on monitoring and control, the focus of IoT is firmly on analyzing machine data to improve productivity.
SPECTROFLUORIMETRIC METHOD FOR IMPURITIES DETECTION IN THE TUNGSTEN TETRAPHENYL-PORPHYRIN

An spectrofluorimetric method for the impurities detection in the tungsten tetraphenyl- porphyrin is presented in this paper. The elaborated spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of the TPP impurity from the TPPWCl4 samples is a sensitive method for small concentration ranges (less than 1 x 10 -6 M), where the spectrophotometric absorption method does not lead to reproducible results and has high errors. The method is easy accessible and yields to valuable results in respect at the stability of the complex with tungsten of TPP.
DSNs & X.400 assist in ensuring email reliability

While email is fairly reliable, messages do get lost. This can be due to the store-and-forward nature of e- mail, which passes responsibility for delivering email from one mail server to another, but in doing so exposes messages to loss, should a server not fulfil its responsibility. Some end users are more sensitive to email unreliability than others, and seek tools with which they can detect and recover from email failures. This paper describes tools that allow email sending software to automatically respond to reports of undeliverability by persisting with retransmission or retransmitting to alternate recipients.
Searching for solar siblings among the HARPS data

The search for the solar siblings has been particularly fruitful in the last few years. Until now, there are four plausible candidates pointed out in the literature: HIP21158, HIP87382, HIP47399, and HIP92831. In this study we conduct a search for solar siblings among the HARPS high-resolution FGK dwarfs sample, which includes precise chemical abundances and kinematics for 1111 stars. Using a new approach based on chemical abundance trends with the condensation temperature, kinematics, and ages we found one (additional) potential solar sibling candidate: HIP97507.
Firms' Export Behavior and the Role of Bank' Overseas Information

This paper examines how firms’ decision to start exporting is affected by the availability of information on export markets. Unlike existing studies which focus on information sharing among firms, we are interested in the information provided by firms’ main bank. Specifically, using a unique dataset containing information on both Japanese firms’ export activities and their main banks’ experience in transacting with other exporting firms, we examine whether main banks act as a conduit of information on export markets. We find that information spillovers through main banks positively affect client firms’ decision to start exporting (extensive margin), implying that information on foreign markets provided by banks substantially reduces the fixed entry cost of exporting. On the other hand, we do not find any evidence that information provided by banks has an effect on the export volume or on the growth rate of exports (intensive margin). Our results highlight that channels of information spillovers other than those examined in the literature so far may be of considerable importance.
Effect of soymilk as partial milk replacer on feed intake and growth performance on Murrah buffalo calves

This study investigated the effect of soymilk as a partial milk replacer on growth performance and feed intake on Murrah buffalo calves. The results of the experiment conducted on Murrah buffalo calves revealed that the body weight changes, daily feed intake, protein intake, dry matter intake, average daily dry matter intake from calf starter and green fodder (% body weight) were non-significantly (P 0.05) between the groups. Body length was no significant difference (P>0.05) between M and SM20 groups. Body measurements were not significant different (P>0.05) between the groups. Blood parameters (PCV and Hb) and faecal score were also found non-significant between the different groups.
FRACTURE TOUGHNESS OF RESIN COMPOSITES UNDER DIFFERENT MODES AND MEDIA: REVIEW OF ARTICLES

This article aims to review various modes of fracture toughness of resin composites. Also, this study intends to review the papers on the fracture mode, namely “fractography”, under scanning electron microscopy finding fracture initiation site, and the effect of filler content on the fracture toughness of resin composites. It will also review the effect of aging on the fracture toughness of resin composites in different media, mainly distilled water, and acidic environment. In the review performed on fracture toughness of resin composites we used “fracture toughness (K Ic )”, aging AND fracture toughness, AND fractography” of resin composites as the search strategy. The outcome of the review revealed that most of the studies investigated fracture toughness of resin composites under Mode I and less under mode II. However, some others looked at the fracture toughness of dental resin composites under mixed-mode loading conditions. It was also found that fracture toughness studies performed on the same types of resin composites resulted in different values of K Ic . The differences were related to the method of performance that requires different specimen geometries.
Concepts and Operationalisation of Reproductive Decisions Implementation in Austria, Germany and Switzerland

Die Diskrepanz zwischen tatsachlicher und hypothetischer Fertilitat (im Englischen auch unter dem Begriff Fertility Gap gebrauchlich) wurde in jungerer Zeit zum Anlass fur familienpolitische Masnahmen genommen, um eine hohere Geburtenhaufigkeit zu erzielen. Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Relevanz einer anhand von Fertilitatsidealen und -absichten gemessenen hypothetischen Fertilitat, mit der die Schatzung des Fertility Gap angestrebt wird. Ausgehend von einem Uberblick der relevanten Literatur untersuchen wir die Bedeutung dieser Konzepte und deren Operationalisierung anhand empirischer Beobachtungen in drei Vergleichslandern: Osterreich, Deutschland und der Schweiz. Wenngleich der Begriff des gesellschaftlichen Ideals der Fertilitat mehrdeutig ist, kann er bei sorgfaltiger Messung Aussagekraft in Bezug auf Reproduktionsentscheidungen bieten. Die Operationalisierung kurzfristiger und langfristiger Fertilitatsabsichten wird ebenso erortert wie deren Realisierung. Analysen von Absichten sollten auf einem theoretischen Fundament grunden, etwa dem Miller-Pasta-Rahmen oder der sozialpsychologischen Theorie des geplanten Verhaltens. Letztere findet in Osterreich und in Deutschland auf Grundlage von GGS-Daten Anwendung. Der Beitrag kommt zu dem Schluss, dass anhand des Fertility Gap mitunter falsche Schlusse gezogen werden konnen, da sowohl der Indikator der tatsachlichen Fertilitat als auch die Indikatoren der beabsichtigten Fertilitat unprazise sein konnen. Aufschlussreiche politisch relevante Informationen konnen aus einer spezifischen Form der Diskrepanz abgeleitet werden, wenn die Realisierung der individuellen kurzfristigen Absichten des Einzelnen betrachtet wird.
Generation of Unfolded DNA in Human Neutrophils Following Hypothermal Treatment

By visualizing DNA with diamidino phenylindole (DAPI), we found that hypothermal incubation followed by rewarming of human neutrophils resulted in an increased number of DAPI-positive objects representative of extensive DNA unfolding seemingly similar to neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). In contrast to canonical NET formation, diphenylene iodonium (DPI), an NADPH oxidase inhibitor, exhibited negligible effects on formation of the DAPI-positive objects. Moreover, multiple instances of DNA damage were detected in the objects, but not in canonical NETs. Our results thus suggest the potential of hypothermia for triggering DNA structural alteration in neutrophils, which is similar to but distinct from NET formation.
Systematic Correlation Matrix Evaluation (SCoMaE)– a bottom–up, science-led approach to identifying indicators

Abstract. This study introduces the Systematic Correlation Matrix Evaluation (SCoMaE) method, a bottom–up approach which combines expert judgment and statistical information to systematically select transparent, nonredundant indicators for a comprehensive assessment of the state of the Earth system. The methods consists of two basic steps: (1) the calculation of a correlation matrix among variables relevant for a given research question and (2) the systematic evaluation of the matrix, to identify clusters of variables with similar behavior and respective mutually independent indicators. Optional further analysis steps include (3) the interpretation of the identified clusters, enabling a learning effect from the selection of indicators, (4) testing the robustness of identified clusters with respect to changes in forcing or boundary conditions, (5) enabling a comparative assessment of varying scenarios by constructing and evaluating a common correlation matrix, and (6) the inclusion of expert judgment, for example, to prescribe indicators, to allow for considerations other than statistical consistency. The example application of the SCoMaE method to Earth system model output forced by different CO 2 emission scenarios reveals the necessity of reevaluating indicators identified in a historical scenario simulation for an accurate assessment of an intermediate–high, as well as a business-as-usual, climate change scenario simulation. This necessity arises from changes in prevailing correlations in the Earth system under varying climate forcing. For a comparative assessment of the three climate change scenarios, we construct and evaluate a common correlation matrix, in which we identify robust correlations between variables across the three considered scenarios.
Postseismic deformation following the 1991 Racha, Georgia, earthquake

The 1991, Ms = 7.0 Racha earthquake is the largest ever recorded in the Caucasus Mountains. Approximately three months after this thrust‐faulting earthquake, a GPS network was set up to measure postseismic surface deformation. We present an analysis of these data, which indicate accelerated postseismic motions at several near‐field sites. We model this deformation as either afterslip on the rupture surface or viscoelastic relaxation of the lower crust. We find that the postseismic motions are best explained by shallow afterslip on the earthquake rupture plane. The minimum postseismic moment release is estimated at 6.0 × 1018 N m, which is over 200 times the moment released by aftershocks in this same period and about 20% of the coseismic moment. We also show that the effective viscosity of the lower crust in the western Greater Caucasus region exceeds 1018 Pa s.
Non-Radial Instabilities and Progenitor Asphericities in Core-Collapse Supernovae

Since core-collapse supernova simulations still struggle to produce robust neutrino-driven explosions in 3D, it has been proposed that asphericities caused by convection in the progenitor might facilitate shock revival by boosting the activity of non-radial hydrodynamic instabilities in the post-shock region. We investigate this scenario in depth using 42 relativistic 2D simulations with multi-group neutrino transport to examine the effects of velocity and density perturbations in the progenitor for different perturbation geometries that obey fundamental physical constraints (like the anelastic condition). As a framework for analysing our results, we introduce semi-empirical scaling laws relating neutrino heating, average turbulent velocities in the gain region, and the shock deformation in the saturation limit of non-radial instabilities. The squared turbulent Mach number, , reflects the violence of aspherical motions in the gain layer, and explosive runaway occurs for ~0.3, corresponding to a reduction of the critical neutrino luminosity by ~25% compared to 1D. In the light of this theory, progenitor asphericities aid shock revival mainly by creating anisotropic mass flux onto the shock: Differential infall efficiently converts velocity perturbations in the progenitor into density perturbations (Delta rho/rho) at the shock of the order of the initial convective Mach number Ma. The anisotropic mass flux and ram pressure deform the shock and thereby amplify post-shock turbulence. Large-scale (l=2,l=1) modes prove most conducive to shock revival, whereas small-scale perturbations require unrealistically high convective Mach numbers. Initial density perturbations in the progenitor are only of order Ma^2 and therefore play a subdominant role.
Production and Conformation Indices of the Romanian Black and White Bull Dams from the Timiş County

The aim of the paper was to quantify the milk performance and conformation traits of the bull dams and candidatebull dams belonging to the Romanian Black and White cows from Timis County. The study was conducted on 225candidate bull dams and 55 bull dams, from year 2008-2009. Milk production was corrected for mature equivalentusing standard correction coefficients. Candidate bull dams produced 8719.4 kg milk with 3.933% fat and 343.9 kgmilk fat. Milk yield ranged from 6762 kg to 12518 kg, and fat yield from 257.5 kg to 522.5 kg. The fat percentagewas as low as 3.28% up to 4.65%. Average breeding value for milk was 132.06%. The average production of the bulldams was 9686.9 kg milk and 3.945% fat, meaning a ME milk fat yield of 383.35 kg. The average breeding value ofthe bull dams was 132.51%. Average body weight of the bull dams was 651.1 kg, and their height was 139.5 cm atwithers and 140.4 cm at rump. Average score for conformation was 86.1 points. Average global selection index forbull dams was 105.39 that is very low considered the genetics of the studied cows.