Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
18F-FDG accumulation in less-affected lung area predicts postoperative interstitial lung disease acute exacerbation in lung cancer: A case control study

Background: Pneumonectomy for lung cancer with interstitial lung disease (ILD) has been shown to cause postoperative acute exacerbation (AE) of the ILD. The accumulation of 18F-flurodeoxyglucose (FDG) on normal parenchymal or less-affected lung fields in 18F-FDG-positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) has been reported to be related to ILD disease activity and prognosis. To determine whether 18F-FDG accumulation in normal parenchymal or less-affected lung fields on 18F-FDG-PET/CT can predict postoperative AE of ILD in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with ILD.Methods: This retrospective study included 36 NSCLC patients with ILD, who underwent 18F-FDG-PET/CT at 2 institutions before pulmonary surgery. A single volume-of-interest (VOI) was placed to measure the mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean) in normal or less-affected lung fields at 12 areas on the ventral and dorsal locations of both lungs, in each level of the aortic arch, tracheal bifurcation, and the orifice of the right lower pulmonary vein into the left atrium. The region to which the target VOI was set corresponded to no or minimally increased attenuation on high resolution CT. The SUVmean was defined as the mean SUV of the target VOI, SUVtissue fraction (TF) as the corrected SUVmean by using TF and mean computed tomography density (CTDmean) as the mean attenuation of the corresponding target VOI on HRCT. We performed a phantom study to optimize SUV difference among 2 institutions. The corrected SUVmean (cSUVmean) and corrected SUVTF (cSUVTF) were calculated based on the phantom study result.Results: Among 36 NSCLC patients with ILD who underwent pulmonary surgery, 8 patients developed postoperative AE of ILD. The cSUVmean values in the ventral and dorsal locations at the aortic arch level, and in the ventral location at the tracheal bifurcation level in the group with postoperative AE were higher than in the group without postoperative AE. There was no significant difference in the value of cSUVTF and CTDmean between the groups with and without postoperative AE.Conclusion: 18F-FDG accumulation in the normal or less-affected lung fields can potentially predict postoperative AE of ILD in NSCLC patients with ILD.
Deposition of Fine Particles on Surface of Core Particles by High-speed Elliptical-Rotor-Type Mixer.

複合化装置として期待される, 高速楕円ローター型混合機による粒子複合化過程が解析された. 一例として, 核となる粒子表面への微粒子の複合化実験を行い, 装置操作条件として楕円ローター回転数と処理時間が, また粉体側の条件として核粒子の粒子径が複合化に及ぼす影響をそれぞれ検討した. その結果, この装置による粒子複合化過程は, ある限界ローター回転数以下では回転数が大きいほど, また処理時間が長いほど核粒子表面への微粒子付着率は増加するが, 処理時間とともに付着率は飽和する傾向をとった. 一方限界ローター回転数以上では, 短時間処理において微粒子付着率が増加後, 核粒子から微粒子層の剥離が開始し, その後は処理時間とともに微粒子付着率は減少した. この限界回転数は, 核粒子径の-0. 5乗で整理された. 以上の実験結果より, 核粒子表面への微粒子複合化過程のモデル化を行い, 複合化過程を定性的に説明できた.
Qualidade tecnológica do café (Coffea arabica L.) pre-processado por "via seca" e "via umida"

Este trabalho visou estudar metodos simples, objetivos e mensuraveis, para avaliacao da qualidade do cafe. Avaliou-se o efeito do tempo de armazenamento da qualidade do cafe "coco", "descascado" e beneficiado e a atividade da enzima polifenoloxidase (PPO) medida em espectrofotometro, como metodo objetivo para determinacao da qualidade do cafe, comparando-o com o metodo sensorial classico. A avaliacao sensorial foi realizada na Cooperativa dos Produtores de Cafe de Guaxupe -MG, onde foram feitos os testes de classificacao quanto ao tipo e a cor. Para a avaliacao objetiva, foram feitos os testes quimicos para determinacao da atividade da polifenoloxidase, utilizando-se a metodologia descrita por Fujita et al. (1995). Com base nos resultados obtidos nos testes experimentais, concluiu-se que a qualidade da bebida avaliada pelo "teste de xicara" manteve-se constante durante o armazenamento, exceto no caso do cafe descascado que, a partir de seis meses, apresentou queda de qualidade. Existe uma correlacao positiva entre cor e qualidade da bebida. Durante o periodo de armazenamento, todos os tipos de cafe apresentaram variacao de cor, tendendo ao branqueamento; no cafe beneficiado esta tendencia foi mais marcante.
Growth yield and chemical composition of Pelargonium sidoides DC. in response to nitrogen and soil water management

Pelargonium sidoides DC. is one of many medicinal plant species that are harvested in the wild. The current trade in these medicinal plants has negatively affected their distribution in the wild due to unsustainable harvesting. The demand for medicinal plants is unlikely to decrease, but sustainability of the supply is questionable. This is because commercial exploitation threatens to deplete their populations, resulting in many species being considered vulnerable to extinction and being lost from their natural habitat. Increased demand, which is already too high to be met by sustainable harvesting, and price increases presents potential opportunities for cultivating indigenous medicinal plants at a commercial scale. A need for basic information on how to grow the plants and other related matters necessitates that field trials be conducted, before farmers could be expected to venture into cultivating medicinal plants and this study aimed at developing such information. The specific objectives of the study were to investigate 1) the physiological and morphological, 2) the yield components and 3) chemical composition of P. sidoides in response to soil water and nitrogen levels. The study was conducted under a rainshelter as a randomized complete block design with three irrigation levels, four nitrogen levels and three replicates. The irrigation treatments were 30% allowable depletion level (ADL) (well watered treatment), 50% ADL (moderately stressed treatment) and 70% ADL (severely stressed treatment), while the nitrogen levels were 0, 50, 100 and 150 kg · N · ha. Dried root samples were analyzed for the presence of two standard compounds, scopoletin and esculin, using thin layer chromatography (TLC) and for metabolite profiling using the nuclear magnetic resonance technique (NMR). Nitrogen and water level had no significant interaction effect on all measured parameters. Water stress significantly reduced stomatal conductance, while nitrogen had no significant effect on it. The well watered control had a significantly higher leaf area index, plant height and leaf area compared to the water stressed treatments. Nitrogen had a significant effect on the number of leaves, where 100 kg · N · ha had a significantly higher number of leaves
Caspase 4 Overexpression in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma and Its Prognostic Role

Background: Caspase 4 (CASP4) dysregulation is related to the occurrence, development, and outcome of many malignant tumors, but its role in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is unclear. This study was conducted to investigate the expression level of CASP4 in tumor tissues and its relationship with clinical prognosis of patients with ccRCC. Methods: First, the Oncomine and The Cancer Genome Atlas databases were used to determine CASP4 mRNA expression in ccRCC and its association with ccRCC prognosis. We then performed immunohistochemical staining and evaluation of 30 paired ccRCC and adjacent normal tissues to confirm these results. The correlation between CASP4 expression and ccRCC prognosis was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis, and related genes and pathways were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database by gene set enrichment analysis and gene set variation analysis. Finally, we explored the co-expression of genes with CASP4 in ccRCC. Results: CASP4 mRNA expression in ccRCC was significantly higher than that in normal tissues (p < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the overall survival of patients with ccRCC showing high CASP4 expression was significantly reduced (p < 0.001). We then used external datasets (Gene Expression Omnibus database and patients from our center) to verify the level of CASP4 expression and survival differences (all p < 0.05). We also found that differential expression levels of CASP4 were correlated with pathological grade and clinical TNM stage (all p < 0.05). Conclusions: Overall, our study shows that CASP4 is highly expressed in ccRCC and is an important factor affecting prognosis. Thus, CASP4 may be a potential prognostic biomarker of ccRCC.
Anticipatory innovation governance

This working paper introduces the key concepts and features of anticipatory innovation governance– i.e. the structures and mechanisms to allow and promote anticipatory innovation alongside other types of innovation in the public sector. This paper draws on academic literature and OECD work on a range of areas including public sector innovation, foresight, anticipatory governance and emerging technologies. The paper starts outlining an emerging framework to guide policy making in complex and uncertain contexts and sets out some questions for further research in the area of anticipatory innovation governance.
Fast Multi-Objective Optimization of Magnetic Shield Shape by Combining Auto-Encoder and Level-Set Method

We proposed a new multi-objective optimization approach combining both gradient calculation in actual high-dimensional design space and that in a low-dimensional latent space that is an appropriately compressed design space with Auto-Encoder. The proposed approach enables us to quickly and precisely search for more global pareto solution group in multi-objective optimization by using the optimization results in the low-dimensional space as the initial value of the gradient calculation in the actual design space.
Plasma-induced crystallization of silicon nanoparticles

While the formation of nanoparticles in nonthermal plasmas is well known, the heating mechanism leading to their crystallization is poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the crystallization of amorphous silicon nanoparticles in nonthermal plasmas using a tandem plasma configuration. Amorphous silicon nanoparticles with diameters of 3, 4 or 5 nm are formed in a low-power nonthermal upstream plasma, and injected directly into a second separate downstream plasma. Crystallization of the amorphous silicon nanoparticles is investigated as a function of the power used to maintain the second plasma. This approach allows for the decoupling of nanoparticle synthesis and heating. The nanoparticle properties and plasma conditions are examined to obtain a comprehensive understanding of nanoparticle heating and crystallization. The particle crystallinity was studied using x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. We discovered a threshold power for complete crystallization of the particles. A combination of comprehensive plasma characterization with a nanoparticle heating model reveals the underlying plasma physics leading to crystallization. Here we found that the nanoparticles reach temperatures as high as 750–850 K in the secondary plasma, which is well above the gas temperature and sufficient for complete nanoparticle crystallization. While we demonstrate this method of predicting nanoparticle temperature using silicon, the approach can be applied broadly to other plasma-synthesized nanomaterials.
Kinetic modeling of the transient flows of the single gases and gaseous mixtures

Un gaz a l'interieur d’un microsysteme ou d’un milieu poreux est dans un etat hors equilibre, car le libre parcours moyen des molecules est comparable a la dimension caracteristique du milieu. Ce meme etat degaz, appele rarefie, se retrouve en haute altitude ou dans un equipement de vide a basse pression. Ces gaz rarefies suivent des types d’ecoulements qui peuvent etre decrits par des modeles cinetiques derives de l'equation de Boltzmann. Dans ce travail nous presentons les principaux modeles et leurs mises en oeuvre numeriquepour la simulation des ecoulements de gaz rarefies. Parmi les modeles utilises nous presentons les deux modeles complets de l'equation de Boltzmann, le modele de Shakhov(S-model) pour un gaz monoatomique et le modele de McCormack pour un melange de gaz toujours monoatomiques. La methode des vitesses discretes est utilisee pour la discretisation numerique dans l'espace des vitesses moleculaires et le schema de type TVD est mis en œuvre dans l'espace physique. L’aspect original de ce travail se situe sur les regimes transitoires et, en particuliersur les comportements non-stationnaires des transferts de chaleur et de masse. Cependant, pour certaines configurations nous considerons uniquement les conditions stationnaires des ecoulements et un schema implicite est developpe afin de reduire le cout de calcul. En utilisant ces approches numeriques, nous presentons les resultats pour plusieurs types d’ecoulements non-stationnaires, de gaz rarefies monoatomiqueset de melanges binaires de gaz monoatomiques.
A sequential sampling account of semantic relatedness decisions

Semantic memory research often draws on decisions about the semantic relatedness of concepts. These decisions depend on cognitive processes of memory retrieval and choice formation. However, most previous research focused on memory retrieval but neglected the decision aspects. Here we propose the sequential sampling framework to account for choices and response times in semantic relatedness decisions. We focus on three popular sequential sampling models, the Race model, the Leaky Competing Accumulator model (LCA) and the Drift Diffusion Model (DDM). Using model simulations, we investigate if and how these models account for two empirical benchmarks: the relatedness effect, denoting faster "related" than "unrelated" decisions when judging the relatedness of word pairs; and an inverted-U shaped relationship between response time and the relatedness strength of word pairs. Our simulations show that the LCA and DDM, but not the Race model, can reproduce both effects. Furthermore, the LCA predicts a novel phenomenon: the inverted relatedness effect for weakly related word pairs. Reanalyzing a publicly available data set, we obtained credible evidence of such an inverted relatedness effect. These results provide strong support for sequential sampling models -- and in particular the LCA -- as a viable computational account of semantic relatedness decisions and suggest an important role for decision-related processes in (semantic) memory tasks.
Identification Bacterial Contaminant in Semiarundinaria fastuosa Tissue Culture

Bamboo is one of the plants which propagated by tissue culture technique however, the emergence of microbial contaminant caused decrease of bamboo production. A type of microbe that caused the contamination on Semiarundinaria fastuosa tissue culture is bacteria. This study aimed to isolate bacterial contaminant and understanding its biodiversity. Bacterial isolation and phenotypic characterization were done by observing morphology, physiological test, biochemical test, identification and numeric phenetic analysis. Twelve bacterial contaminants was isolated and based on profile matching with Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, six isolate was a member of genus Bacillus, one isolate Enterococcus, two isolate Xenorhabdus, one isolate Morococcus, one isolate Corynebacterium, and one isolate belongs to genus Sarcina. A dendrogram created using Simple Matching coefficient (SSM) parameter and average linkage algorithm shown that on the 71% similarity index, all 12 OTU was grouped in one cluster. However, a dendrogram produced by Jaccard’s coefficient (SJ) parameter and average linkage algorithm on 70% similarity index divided 12 OTU on to 12 clusters.
General drawdown based dividend control with fixed transaction costs for spectrally negative Lévy risk processes

For spectrally negative Levy risk processes we consider a generalized version of the De Finetti's optimal dividend problem with fixed transaction costs, where the ruin time is replaced by a general drawdown time in the framework. We identify a condition under which a band–type impulse dividend strategy is optimal among all admissible impulse strategies. As a consequence, we are able to extend the previous results on ruin time based impulse dividend optimization problem to those on drawdown time based impulse dividend optimization problems. A new type of drawdown function is proposed at end, and various numerical examples are presented to illustrate the existence of those optimal impulse dividend strategies under different assumptions.
Ca alleviated Cd-induced toxicity in Salix matsudana by affecting Cd absorption, translocation, subcellular distribution, and chemical forms.

Cadmium (Cd), a ubiquitous and highly toxic heavy metal pollutant, is toxic to animals and plants. Calcium (Ca) is an essential component for plant growth and reduces plant Cd absorption by competing with Cd. To gain deeper insight into the effects of Ca on Cd absorption, translocation, subcellular distribution, and chemical forms in S. matsudana seedlings under Cd stress, an investigation was conducted on these properties. Adding Ca alleviated Cd physiological toxicity in S. matsudana, reduced Cd absorption, increased the translocation from roots to shoots, lead to subcellular redistribution of Cd by increasing the proportion of Cd in soluble fractions but decreasing Cd in the cell wall and changed the chemical forms of Cd from 0.6 mol/L HCl- and 2% HAc-extracted Cd to 1 mol/L NaCl-extracted Cd. The energy dispersive X-ray analyses (EDXA) results revealed that after adding Ca, Cd was transferred through the root epidermis, cortex, endodermis, and vascular cylinder, transported to the shoots, and was highly accumulated in leaf epidermal and mesophyll cells, but less in leaf vein and guard cells. The genes involved in Cd uptake and xylem loading included NRAMP1, ZIP8, HMA2, and HMA4, which were up-regulated significantly (P < 0.05) in the Cd and Cd + Ca treatments compared to the control. The findings of this study provide new insight into the mechanism that Ca alleviates Cd toxicity in woody tree species, as well as propose an important prospect of Ca addition for improving the phytoremediation of Cd contamination.
Detection of fast electrons in pulsed argon inductively-coupled plasmas using the 420.1–419.8 nm emission line pair

Pulsed rf plasmas exhibit many differences as compared to continuous wave plasmas with the same average power levels, including large temporal variations in the electron temperature, with a sharp spike when the power is applied and falling dramatically in the afterglow. We present a comparison of time-resolved measurements of the effective electron temperature in pulsed inductively-coupled plasmas by means of (i) optical emission spectroscopy (OES) using different sets of argon emission lines and (ii) Langmuir probe measurements. One OES diagnostic used six strong Ar(2px→1sy ? >) emission lines in the 700–800 nm wavelength range, the second used only the Ar 420.1–419.8 nm line pair. For pulsed plasmas with long afterglow periods, the line pair method reveals the presence of a significant number of hot electrons (E⩾22 ? > eV) at the start of the pulse. Under these conditions, the metastable atom density is very low, and the diagnostic using the Ar(2px→1sy ? >) emission lines is ineffective for determining the electron temperature. For later parts of the pulse and pulsed plasmas with short periods (i.e. 10 μs), the metastable density is high and the two OES methods yield similar results which are also in agreement with probe measurements.
Saltiness enhancement of oil roasted peanuts induced by foam-mat salt and soy sauce odour

Summary Odour-induced saltiness enhancement (OISE) method can be used to reduce salt in food. This study was performed to examine the effect of OISE on saltiness perception of oil roasted peanuts seasoned with foam-mat salt. First, 410 consumers rated saltiness intensity elicited by odour names of fifty-seven food/ingredient items. Soy sauce odour name was among from the top five items with higher saltiness intensities, hence it was selected to further investigate the effect of saltiness enhancement in conjunction with foam-mat salt. The control (commercial salt, 100%), CS50 (commercial salt:soy sauce odour; 50:50) or FS50 (foam-mat salt:soy sauce odour; 50:50) was mixed with roasted peanuts, which were subsequently evaluated by a descriptive panel for saltiness intensity and by consumers for sensory acceptance. OISE in conjunction with foam-mat salt produced FS50 roasted peanuts, having 10 mg of sodium per 100 g sample less than CS50 but being as acceptable as the control.
Model Predictive Path-Following Control of Snake Robots Using an Averaged Model

We propose a new simplified model for the control design of snake robots and apply it to a path-following control design using model predictive control (MPC). While MPC has an advantage in that inequality constraints can be explicitly considered in control design, most of the previous simplified models are still too complex to apply to MPC since the models include joint angles as time-varying parameters. Thus, we exclude joint angles using the averaging method to construct a simpler model. Another feature of the proposed model is that it can be derived from the original complex model without parameter identification using simulation data and without assuming straight-line movements. In addition to inequality constraints on joint angles and the frequency of joint motions, we impose constraints on the change rates of these variables in our MPC design since the averaged model is derived by assuming that these variables slowly change. Furthermore, we introduce a soft constraint to decrease the effects of approximation error of the simplified model on the control performance. The effectiveness of the control system is verified in both simulations and experiments.
First cured patient with 2019 novel coronavirus in Changsha, China, a case report

Background: In December, 2019, the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) firstly occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. It spreads rapidly and many cases are identified in multiple countries, which pose a great threat to people's health. Here we report the first cured patient with 2019-nCoV infection in Changsha, China, and the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and management of this patient are all described in the present study. Case presentation: A 57 year old woman developed cough and fever after returning from Wuhan to Changsha on January 9, 2020. She was tested positive for 2019-nCoV infection, which was supported by Chest CT. Lopinavir and ritonavir tablets and interferon alfa-2b injection were used for treatment. A small dose of glucocorticoids were used in a short period to control the immune response in bilateral lung and this patient avoided the occurrence of cytokine storms. The clinical condition of this patient improved and negative result was obtained for 2019-nCoV assay on January 25, 2020. This patient was recovered and discharged on January 30, 2020. Conclusions: At present, many reports about 2019-nCoV infection focused on the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of this disease. This case described the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and management of a cured patient with 2019-nCoV infection, which may provide information for the treatment of 2019-nCoV infection.