Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global Biogeochemical Cycles Oceanic nitrogen cycling and N 2 O flux perturbations in the Anthropocene

There is currently no consensus on how humans are affecting the marine nitrogen (N) cycle, which limits marine biological production and CO2 uptake. Anthropogenic changes in ocean warming, deoxygenation, and atmospheric N deposition can all individually affect the marine N cycle and the oceanic production of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). However, the combined effect of these perturbations on marine N cycling, ocean productivity, and marine N2O production is poorly understood. Here we use an Earth system model of intermediate complexity to investigate the combined effects of estimated 21st century CO2 atmospheric forcing and atmospheric N deposition. Our simulations suggest that anthropogenic perturbations cause only a small imbalance to the N cycle relative to preindustrial conditions (∼+5 Tg N y−1 in 2100). More N loss from water column denitrification in expanded oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) is counteracted by less benthic denitrification, due to the stratification-induced reduction in organic matter export. The larger atmospheric N load is offset by reduced N inputs by marine N2 fixation. Our model predicts a decline in oceanic N2O emissions by 2100. This is induced by the decrease in organic matter export and associated N2O production and by the anthropogenically driven changes in ocean circulation and atmospheric N2O concentrations. After comprehensively accounting for a series of complex physical-biogeochemical interactions, this study suggests that N flux imbalances are limited by biogeochemical feedbacks that help stabilize the marine N inventory against anthropogenic changes. These findings support the hypothesis that strong negative feedbacks regulate the marine N inventory on centennial time scales.
Mainstreaming best practices in energy demand

It is becoming increasingly clear that we need an integrated approach to understanding and encouraging transitions towards a sustainable energy system. Current overall unsustainable ‘practices’ are locked into cultural, material, institutional and infrastructural settings. This limits the scope for individual choice and action. Even when actions are taken on individual or project level, they often remain stand-alone niche experiments and little further diffusion takes place. This paper addresses this problem by investigating how new more sustainable practices in the field of energy demand at the micro level can become mainstream and how energy demand side management projects can encourage this. We first discuss how a multilevel systems approach and practice theory may be fruitfully combined to address the problem of mainstreaming. Second, we analyse four empirical cases of energy demand side management. We explore efforts at diffusing these sustainable energy practices, the encountered challenges, employed solutions and achieved outcomes with the goal of learning about opportunities to mainstream best practices in the field of energy demand. The analysis reveals that the case that involved the most radical innovation faced the highest resistance to mainstreaming from the incumbent system. The more incremental initiatives were more successful at diffusing, but had rather modest outcomes in terms of environmental and efficiency gains. An important finding is that in order to shift everyday practices to a more sustainable direction, an understanding of possibilities to trigger changes in social norms is needed. When these changes are quite invasive, more time for negotiation and discussion might be needed before they become regarded as legitimate. Furthermore, connecting supply and demand (instead of merely addressing the demand side) can be crucial in mainstreaming sustainable energy practices. Although lessons learned from the cases do not offer clear-cut ‘do’s and don’ts’ for future efforts, they do highlight important issues for mainstreaming sustainable practices. These issues can sometimes be addressed within the scope of a single energy demand side project, but often policy has an important facilitating role to play in making sustainable energy practices legitimate and mainstream. (Less)
Effect of Different Processing Methods on Proximate, Functional and Pasting Properties of Plantain Flour

The effect of different processing methods on functional and physico-chemical properties of plantain flour was investigated. Flours were prepared from unripe matured plantain Musa spp . ( Agbagba variety) which was subjected to different processing methods of blanching, natural fermentation, lacto- fermentation and raw unripe plantain which serves as the control. The natural and lacto-fermented plantain flakes was allowed to take place for 48 h while the blanched plantain flakes was blanched at 85 0 C for 5min before they were oven dried 60 0 C for72h and then milled into flour. The flours are examined for their proximate composition, functional properties, pasting characteristics and sensory evaluation of gruels made from each plantain flour sample. The sensory evaluation shows there is significant difference between the control and plantain flour samples in terms of colour and texture, the overall acceptability indicate the control is ranked the highest while the lacto-fermented flour gruels was ranked the least, this maybe due to the fact that lacto-fermented plantain flour is a new modification of plantain flour.The solubility of the flour samples ranged between 8.47-12.17%, least gelation 4.0-6.0%, water absorption capacity 146.67-180.00%, bulk density (loosed) 0.35-0.36g/ml, bulk density (packed) 0.56-0.59g/ml, titratable acidity 0.21-0.55 % and pH ranges between 7.05-7.28. Proximate analysis showed that the samples were low in moisture, crude fat, ash and crude fibre but high in carbohydrate and slightly high in protein. Blanching improves least gelation and bulk density which implies that the blanched plantain flour will be a good binder and more useful as a meat extender, natural fermentation also improves the breakdown viscosity at 37.00RVU and lower breakdown viscosity indicate paste stability of the starch gel during cooking, lacto-fermentation improves gelation and WAC but it has low effect on the setback during pasting analysis.
Host‐Plant Specialization Decreases Predation on a Marine Amphipod: An Herbivore in Plant's Clothing

We investigated the factors selecting for host—plant specialization and the roles that plant defensive chemistry may play in this process. We studied marine organisms because marine communities contain fewer specialized herbivores than terrestrial communities and, therefore, provide a simplified system for investigating certain aspects of host—plant specialization. Our study focused on the unusual domicile—building and feeding behavior of the amphipod Pseudamphithoides incurvaria, which is the only herbivorous marine amphipod known to specialize on a few closely related seaweeds. P. incurvaria lives in a portable, bivalved domicile that it constructs from the chemically defended brown alga Dictyota bartayresii. Chemical assays indicate that natural populations of Pseudamphithoides construct their domiciles from D. bartayresii even when this alga is rare compared to other Dictyota species and to other related genera in the family Dictyotaceae. In both choice and no—choice tests in the laboratory, Pseudamphithoides built domiciles from and selectively consumed species of Dictyota that produced dictyol—class diterpenes that deter feeding by reef fishes. Other brown seaweeds in the family Dictyotaceae, including a Dictyota species, that did not produce these fish—feeding deterrents were avoided by the amphipod. Amphipods removed from their domiciles were rapidly eaten when presented to predatory fish; amphipods in their normal domiciles were consistently rejected by fish. The defensive value of the domicile appeared to result from specific characteristics of the Dictyota from which it was built, since amphipods forced to build domiciles from the palatable green seaweed Ulva were rapidly eaten when these amphipods, in their domiciles, were exposed to predatory fish. Algal defensive chemistry directly cued domicile building. When the green alga Ulva was treated with pachydictyol—A (the major secondary metabolite produced by Dictyota bartayresii), domicile building by Pseudamphithoides increased in proportion to the concentration of pachydictyol—A. All data collected during this study are consistent with the hypothesis that predator escape and deterrence are primary factors selecting for host specialization by Pseudamphithoides incurvaria. Similar conclusions can be drawn for the limited number of other marine herbivores that are relatively specialized.
Facilitating and Preventing Factors in Learning Clinical Skills from the Viewpoints of the Third Year Students of Fatemeh School of Nursing and Midwifery

Introduction: Investigating the problems and barriers in learning clinical skills has been regarded in so many studies but the factors facilitating this process have not been taken into consideration. This study was performed with the aim to determine the facilitating and preventing factors in learning clinical skills from the viewpoints of third year students of Fatemeh School of Nursing and Midwifery in Shiraz. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 54 nursing students in their sixth semester were selected through convenience sampling method. A researcher made questionnaire including questions about demographic characteristics and 67 questions about facilitating and preventing factors in learning clinical skills was distributed among the samples. The questions included the areas of the relationships between the student, staff, instructor and the patient; student’s satisfaction with the teaching methods of instructors and staff; teaching methods of theoretical and practical lessons; the facilities provided by the hospital and university; and instructors’ characteristics. The data was analyzed by SPSS software through descriptive statistics. Results: The most facilitating factors in learning clinical skills belonged to Instructors’ educational and scientific experiences in developing educational affairs (77.8%), the educational environment provided by the instructors for experiencing clinical skills by students (77.8%), paying attention to the patient’s rights and needs (76%), and instructors' responsibility toward education (76%). The most preventing factors in learning clinical skills were the stress felt in the ward (83.3%), lack of students' support by staff (66.6%), and staff's bad temperedness (64.8%). Conclusion: Students were satisfied with the items in different areas but they were unsatisfied with the relationship between staff and students, and also the way that instructors presented the practical and theoretical lessons. They mentioned these factors as the ones prevented their clinical learning. It is recommended to revise clinical education and take some appropriate action in order to provide a proper clinical education
Quantile Regression Learning with Coefficient Dependent lq-Regularizer

In this paper, We focus on conditional quantile regression learning algorithms based on the pinball loss and l q -regularizer with 1≤q≤2. Our main goal is to study the consistency of this kind of regularized quantile regression learning. With concentration inequality and operator decomposition techniques, we obtained satisfied error bounds and convergence rates.
FORMULATION AND ASSESSMENT OF A HERBAL HAIR CREAM AGAINST CERTAIN DERMATOPHYTES

Objective: Developing an herbal antifungal formulation containing eruca and garlic oils against highly resistant dermatophytes ( Malassezia fufur AUMC No. 5173, Microsporum canis bodin AUMC No. 5490 and Trichophyton mentagrophytes AUMC No. 5501. 5501) and assessment of garlic oil thiosulfonates during the ex vivo percutaneous permeation through albino rat skin. Methods: Assay of antifungal activity was performed by filter paper disc method and agar well diffusion method. The components of volatile constituents and fixed oil of eruca seeds were studied using GC/MS. Thiosulfinates in garlic oil were analyzed by HPLC/UV. Both oils were incorporated into hair cream using span 60 and brij 58 at three different concentrations (2, 4 and 6% w/w) and alliin, was ex vivo evaluated using albino rat skin mounted on Franz diffusion cells. Results : The two oils have a synergistic effect on the first and additive effect on the second and the third fungi. The main constituents in eruca are 4-(methyl thio) butyl isothiocyanate (82%) for volatile constituents and erucic acid (40%) for the fixed one. The highest flux for alliin (0.337±0.0015 mg/cm 2 /hr) was obtained at a 4% surfactant concentration. Conclusion: Combination of oils has a high activity on the selected dermatophytes. Formulation of an herbal hair cream using span 60 and Brij 58 with a concentration 4% gives the highest permeation rate for alliin in garlic oil . Keywords: Eruca, Garlic, Dermatophytes, Quantitative determination and Ex-vivo permeation
Inverse design of nanostructured surfaces for color effects

We propose an inverse design methodology for systematic design of nanostructured surfaces for color effects. The methodology is based on a 2D topology optimization formulation based on frequency-domain finite element simulations for E and/or H polarized waves. The goal of the optimization is to maximize color intensity in prescribed direction(s) for a prescribed color (RGB) vector. Results indicate that nanostructured surfaces with any desirable color vector can be generated; that complex structures can generate more intense colors than simple layerings; that angle independent colorings can be obtained at the cost of reduced intensity; and that performance and optimized surface topologies are relatively independent on light polarization.
Algorithm Design and Implementation of Map Matching of City-wide Floating Car Data

With the rapid development of the urbanization, the city transportation system exposes more and more unreasonable planning and congestion problems. To solve these problems, the Floating Car Data (FCD), including the city-wide driving data of vehicles, plays an important role in studying and analyzing Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). Map matching, which serves the purpose of recovering the original route on a road network from a sequence of noisy GPS observations, is one of the most significant prerequisite procedure of using FCD. The FCD usually contains huge amount of noisy data and is updated frequently, but most of the map matching algorithms published in the last few decades were only tested on prepared small and smooth test data that is not as noisy and sparseness as FCD. In this thesis, new map matching algorithms called Fusion Map Matching (FMM) algorithms are presented. The FMM algorithms comprehensively use the two most important map matching technology branches, global and incremental map matching algorithms, and make use of the strong points and avoid the shortcomings of them. Through the tests on FCD in Shanghai, China with different scenarios, the FMM algorithms show better performances on both the accuracy and efficiency perspective compared with other existing global algorithms. In addition, a work flow is proposed for map matching FCD, which can be directly deployed in the map matching project.
A Functional Polymorphism in Promoter of the CXCL10 Gene (-135 G/A) Associated With Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Background: Genetic variation influences susceptibility/resistance to tuberculosis. CXCL10 is involved in T-cell migration and stimulation of natural killer cells in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Objectives: We aimed to investigate the genetic polymorphisms in promoter of the CXCL10 gene in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and healthy controls, to clarify whether polymorphisms in the CXCL10 gene is associated with tuberculosis. Patients and Methods: This study was performed on 150 patients with PTB as well as 150 healthy subjects. Polymorphism of CXCL10 (-135 G/A) was determined using amplification refractory mutational system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR). Results: There were significant differences in genotype and allele frequencies of the CXCL10 gene -135 G/A polymorphism between the groups. GA and AA genotypes were protective against tuberculosis in comparison with GG genotype (OR = 0.19, 95% CI = 0.10-0.36, P < 0.001; and OR = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.04-0.43, P < 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, A allele decreased the risk of PTB in comparison with G allele (OR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.39-0.77, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Significant association was found between the CXCL10 -135 G/A promoter variant and host resistance to PTB in a sample of Iranian population.
Reproductive biology and sperm competition in Australian fairywrens

In birds, the outcome of sperm competition is determined by the relative timing and order of matings, sperm numbers, and the differential fertilizing capacity of male ejaculates. The intensity of sperm competition varies across species according to mating system, specifically the copulation behavior of females. The Australian Maluridae (fairy-wrens, grasswrens, and emu-wrens) exhibit a diversity of reproductive behaviors and adaptations thought to be associated with sperm competition. Australian malurids live in sedentary social groups and reside on temporally stable territories. The species are socially monogamous, with males and females forming multi-year pair bonds, and exhibit facultative cooperative breeding. In contrast to the relative conservatism of social systems, the malurid genera vary widely in reproductive behaviors. Fairy-wrens (Malurus) exhibit some of the highest known rates of reproductive promiscuity for socially monogamous species, and males possess many anatomical and behavioral adaptations associated with sperm competition including relatively large testes and sperm stores. In contrast, male grasswrens (Amytornis) and emu-wrens (Stipiturus) show relatively small testes and sperm stores. These differences are likely a consequence of relatively lower rates of reproductive promiscuity in the grasswrens and emu-wrens. Fairy-wrens and the other malurids illustrate the complex interactions between social and reproductive behaviors and the intensity of sperm competition and sexual selection in birds.
The role of cohesive devices as textual constraints on relevante: a discourse-as-process view

Drawing on Relevance Theory (Sperber and Wilson, 1986; Blakemore, 1987, 1992) and taking insights from Sinclair's (1993) model of written text structure, the purpose of this paper is to show how and which cohesive features play an important role in helping the reader perceive relevance and coherence when a text is approached in the process of reading. With this aim, a comment article from Guurdiun UnIinzited consisting of 60 coherence units is analyzed by a group of 25 subjects. The study seeks to capture the coherence pattem perceived by a discourse community rather than by an individual researcher. The results show that in most cases the cohesive resources that contribute to the perception of the discourse relevance and coherence of this text at each juncture deal only with discourse meaning derived from whole sentences, larger fragments of text, or occasionally, certain simple clauses linked paratactically, and they do much more than effect a tenuous connection between isolated constituents of sentences.
Association of Serum Lipids with High Blood Pressure and Hypertension among Diabetic Patients. Mathematical Regression Models to Predict Blood Pressure from Lipids. An Experience from 12-year Follow Up of more than 9000 Patients' Cohort

Dyslipidemia and hypertension alone predispose to the risk of coronary artery disease, especially if the patient is diabetic. This risk is increased and multiplied when both dyslipidemia and hypertension coexists. There is a lack of studies and significant data for the correlation or association of blood pressure with serum lipids. The studies conducted in the past showed the conflicting results with poor associations. Furthermore, these studies were not conducted on diabetic subjects and lack regression models or mathematical linear equations. Hence, we conducted a prospective, observational cohort study on 9340 diabetic subjects for the duration of 12 year (2005-2017), with the aim to find significant associations, correlations between serum lipids (total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-C, HDL-C and Non-HDL-C) and blood pressure (systolic and diastolic). Our data has demonstrated that total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL-C were significantly correlated with systolic and diastolic BP, and raised among hypertensive patients as compared to non-hypertensive ( p<0.001 for all lipids). The highest correlations were found between Non-HDL-C with systolic and diastolic blood pressures (r=0.414 and r=0.415, respectively with p<0.001). However, HDL-C was inversely correlated with systolic and diastolic BP and was raised among non-hypertensive patients. Regression models and mathematical linear equations were developed to estimate increasing blood pressure by the given serum lipid levels. All regression models were significant (p<0.0001). We concluded and developed regression models, for the first time in medical research that high lipid levels contribute to the development of increase systolic and diastolic blood pressures. With triglycerides, total-cholesterol, and HDL-C, Non-DHL-C levels should also be calculated in diabetology clinics and general practice. Screening should be done for diabetic patients to detect high blood pressure (or HTN) and elevated serum lipids, and early initiation of management to prevent diabetes complications.
Concurrently Knowledge-Extractable Resettable-ZK in the Bare Public-Key Model

We present constant-round concurrently knowledge-extractable black-box resettable zero-knowledge (rZK-CKE) arguments forNP in the bare public-key (BPK) model. We give minimal (sub-exponential) hardness assumption based protocols as well as round-optimal protocols (still under general hardness assumptions). To our knowledge, our protocols are the first ZK protocols that provably provide both resettable/concurrent prover security and concurrent verifier security in public-key models. Here, the notion of concurrent knowledge-extractability roughly means that no malicious polynomial-time prover can convince an honest verifier of any (whether false or true) statement without “knowing” a corresponding NP-witness even by concurrently interleaving interactions in public-key models when verifiers register public-keys. We show that concurrent knowledge-extractability is strictly stronger than “concurrent soundness” (under any sub-exponentially strong one-way permutation) for concurrently proving NP statements to honest verifiers with public-keys. In particular, we show that previous concurrent zero-knowledge protocols in the BPK model that achieved concurrent soundness security and are also traditional arguments of knowledge actually fail to satisfy this stronger security notion (this is demonstrated by concrete attacks). Our work deepens the understanding of the subtleties of concurrent verifier security in public-key settings, and may serve as building blocks in designing other round-efficient concurrently secure protocols in public-key models that use, in particular, argument of knowledge (AOK) protocols as building blocks. RSA Laboratories and Department of Computer Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. moti@cs.columbia. edu Software School, School of Information Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.