Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating fluorescence lifetimes using the expectation-maximisation algorithm

The expectation-maximisation (EM) algorithm uses incomplete data to get the estimation of the probabilistic model parameter, and it has been widely used in machine learning. EM techniques are applied to estimate fluorescence lifetimes in time-correlated single-photon counting based fluorescence lifetime imaging experiments without measuring the instrument response functions. The results of Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the proposed approach can obtain better or comparable accuracy and precision performances than the previously reported method.
Experimental investigation of Surface Roughness effects and Transition on Wind Turbine performance

Aerodynamic experiments have been executed in the wind tunnel and on a wind turbine blade to measure the impact of roughness on the airfoil characteristics and the associated effect on rotor performance and to establish the transition location on a rotating blade. The wind tunnel tests have been performed in the low-speed, low-turbulence wind tunnel of TUDelft. The wind turbine tests were carried out at ECN’s Wind Turbine Test Site. Roughness simulation material has been installed on the airfoil leading edge to measure the impact on airfoil performance. Microphones were mounted on the airfoil surface to detect the boundary layer laminar to turbulent transition position both on the wind tunnel model and on the wind turbine blade.
Understanding Social Systems: A Free Energy Perspective

Social systems are a part of physical systems. In principle, social systems can be described by physical laws. However, there is a long running debate about how much knowledge from physics can be applied effectively to understand human societies. Compared with the vast amount of literature in both natural science and social science, attempts to understand social systems from physical laws are very sporadic. In this work, we show that the structures and evolution of social systems can be clearly understood with some simple and well established knowledge from physics.
Some comments on triggers, energetics and beaming

There is now a consensus that gamma-ray bursts involve extraordinary power outputs, and highly relativistic dynamics. The trigger is probably a binary merger or collapse involving compact objects. The most plausible progenitors, ranging from NS-NS mergers to various hypernova-like scenarios, eventually lead to the formation of a black hole with a debris torus around it, the extractable energy being up to 10 54 ergs. The various modes of energy extraction from such systems are dis- cussed. Some key theoretical issues are highlighted, along with the types of observation that would discriminate among the various models.
A Model for Seasonal Dynamic Networks

Robinson, Jace D. M.S., Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Wright State University, 2018. A Model for Seasonal Dynamic Networks. Sociotechnological and geospatial processes exhibit time varying structure that make insight discovery challenging. This paper presents statistical model of systems with seasonal dynamics, modeled as a dynamic network, to address this challenge. It assumes the probability of edge formations depend on a type assigned to incident nodes and the current time. Time dependencies are modeled by unique seasonal processes. The model is studied on several synthetic and real datasets. Superior fidelity of this model on seasonal datasets compared to existing network models, while being able to remain equally accurate for networks with randomly changing structure, is shown. The model is found to be twice as accurate at predicting future edge counts over competing models on New York City taxi trips, U.S. airline flights, and email communication within the Enron company. An anomaly detection use case for the model is shown for NYC traffic dynamics and email communications between Enron employees.
On the feasibility of the use of wind SAR to downscale waves on shallow water

Abstract. In recent years, wave reanalyses have become popular as a powerful source of information for wave climate research and engineering applications. These wave reanalyses provide continuous time series of offshore wave parameters; nevertheless, in coastal areas or shallow water, waves are poorly described because spatial resolution is not detailed. By means of wave downscaling, it is possible to increase spatial resolution in high temporal coverage simulations, using forcing from wind and offshore wave databases. Meanwhile, the reanalysis wave databases are enough to describe the wave climate at the limit of simulations; wind reanalyses at an adequate spatial resolution to describe the wind structure near the coast are not frequently available. Remote sensing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has the ability to detect sea surface signatures and estimate wind fields at high resolution (up to 300 m) and high frequency. In this work a wave downscaling is done on the northern Adriatic Sea, using a hybrid methodology and global wave and wind reanalysis as forcing. The wave fields produced were compared to wave fields produced with SAR winds that represent the two dominant wind regimes in the area: the bora (ENE direction) and sirocco (SE direction). Results show a good correlation between the waves forced with reanalysis wind and SAR wind. In addition, a validation of reanalysis is shown. This research demonstrates how Earth observation products, such as SAR wind fields, can be successfully up-taken into oceanographic modeling, producing similar downscaled wave fields when compared to waves forced with reanalysis wind.
Temperature affects the early life history stages of corals more than near future ocean acidification

Climate change is projected to increase ocean temperatures by at least 2°C, and levels of pH by ~0.2 units (ocean acidification, OA) by the end of this century. While the effects of these stressors on marine organisms have been relatively well explored in isolation, possible interactions between temperature and OA have yet to be thoroughly investigated. OA at levels projected to occur within this century has few direct ecological effects on the early life history stages of corals. In contrast, temperature has pronounced effects on many stages in the early life history of corals. Here, we test whether temperature might act in combination with OA to produce a measurable ecological effect on fertilization, development, larval survivorship or metamorphosis of 2 broadcast spawning species, Acropora millepora and A. tenuis, from the Great Barrier Reef. We used 4 treatments: control, high temperature (+2°C), high partial pressure of CO₂ (pCO₂) (700 µatm) and a combination of high temperature and high pCO₂, corresponding to the current levels of these variables and the projected values for the end of this century under the IPCC A2 scenario. We found no consistent effect of elevated pCO₂ on fertilization, development, survivorship or metamorphosis, neither alone nor in combination with temperature. In contrast, a 2°C rise in temperature increased rates of development, but otherwise had no consistent effect on fertilization, survivorship or metamorphosis. We conclude that OA is unlikely to be a direct threat to the early life history stages of corals, at least in the near future. In contrast, rising sea temperatures are likely to affect coral population dynamics by increasing the rate of larval development with resulting changes in patterns of connectivity.
Impact of intellectual property rights on AIDS public health policy in Thailand

After a committed policy to contain the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Thailand, another challenge must now be faced : that of providing accessible anti-AIDS treatment to those infected. This paper explores both the technical and legal aspects of a possible solution involving the provision of low-cost medicines by the Thai pharmaceutical industry. It shows that even if the efficient domestic drugs industry could participate in meeting this challenge, recent modifications in the intellectual property rights system hinder the large-scale local production of generic drugs. These institutional modifications can therefore be viewed as an obstacle to the continuation of public health policy as they impede the provision of affordable treatments.
PROS SEM NAS MASY BIODIV INDON

Setiawati T, Nurzaman M, Mutaqin AZ, Budiono R, Abdiwijaya A. 2017. Vitamin C content and potential of makroalga in the Coastal Region of Cigebang, Cianjur, West Java. Pros Sem Nas Masy Biodiv Indon 3: 39-44. This research aims to know the content of vitamin C macroalgae and its potential for the community in coastal area Cigebang Cianjur, West Java province. The methods used in the study is a quantitative descriptive approach. Techniques of sampling survey method using macroalgae, vitamin C test with the method iodometry, and to know the potential of macroalgae according to the community is carried out by the methods of a questionnaire. The results showed that there is a difference of vitamin C on seven types of macroalgae are found namely Boergesenia forbesii 0.0167 mg/mL, Codium edule 0.0191 mg/mL, Padina sanctae-crucis 0.0686 mg/mL, Chaetomorpha antennina 0.0129 mg/mL, Ulva lactuca 0.0191 mg/mL, Cladophoropsis sundanensis 0.0211 mg/mL, and Sargassum sp. 0.0959 mg/mL. of the highest content of vitamin C contained in Sargassum sp. and the lowest at Chaetomorpha antennina. Based on the knowledge of local people, macroalgae are potentially economically and mostly sold to support the life of the community. Some people offer it as foodstuffs such as dodol, urab, stir fry, and even can be consumed directly. Other potential communities know about the macroalgae, i.e. as food ingredients gelatin, cosmetic ingredients, such as batik shirt-making materials, and medicines.
Analysis of the International Oil Price Fluctuations and Its Influencing Factors

Oil is one of the important strategic energy to guarantee the development of modern industry and economy, and is also an important resource, which is scrambled by each interest group in the world. Oil price fluctuation is always regarded as the barometer of worldwide economy, whose each change would be the hot issue to be concerned and discussed gen- erally in political and economic circle in every country. This paper systematically reviewed the historical path of inter- national oil price fluctuation, analyzed comprehensively all factors, which effect the oil price fluctuation and proposed the countermeasures and advices to respond the international oil price fluctuation. Through the analysis, this paper ar- gues that the influencing factors are various, and with the development of the world’s economy, the types of these in- fluencing factors would increase and the influencing intensity, which presented by the various factors that affect the oil price, would also different in different historical periods.
Environmental Fit

Theoretical considerations suggest that problem behavior should increase when a child’s competency does not match the curricular demands of the environment (i.e., when there is poor environmental fit). In the present study, environmental fit was examined for six children with autism spectrum disorders. Results indicated that the children exhibited high rates of problem behavior associated with poor motor or academic competency. Curricular modifications resulted in (a) a decrease in the level of problem behavior, (b) an increase in the percentage of task steps completed correctly, and (c) improved affect. Adults who worked with the children reported ease of intervention techniques. The concept of environmental fit and its usefulness in guiding both assessment of and intervention for problem behavior are discussed.
Surrogate-based design optimization of dual-rotor wind turbines using steady RANS equations

Dual-rotor wind turbines (DRWT) may offer better energy efficiency over their single-rotor counterparts in isolated and in windfarm operation. The design and analysis of DRWT requires, among other, the use of computational fluid dynamics models. Depending on their formulation, these models can be computationally expensive. Numerous simulations are typically required during the design process, which may render the overall computational cost to be prohibitive. This thesis investigates and compares several optimization techniques for the design of DRWTs. In particular, the DRWT fluid flow is solved using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations with a two-equation turbulence model on an axisymmetric mesh, while three design approaches are considered: (1) the traditional parametric sweep where the design variables are varied and the responses examined, (2) direct optimization with a derivative-free algorithm, and (3) surrogate-based optimization (SBO) using both data-driven and physicsbased surrogates. The approaches are applied to test cases involving two, three, and 11 design variables. Two final cases utilize the physics-based SBO to carry out a parametric study of two of the design variables. The results show that the same optimized designs are obtained with all the approaches. However, going from the two-parameter case to the three-parameter case, the effort of setting up, running, and analyzing the results is significantly higher with the parametric sweep approach. The optimization techniques are more efficient because they require no assumptions of sampling discretization, and are much more likely to find the best design. In addition, they deliver the results with lower computational cost in comparison with the parametric sweep approach, while the SBO algorithms often outperform the direct approach in terms of computational expense.
Myostatin is a novel tumoral factor that induces cancer cachexia

Humoral and tumoral factors collectively promote cancer-induced skeletal muscle wasting by increasing protein degradation. Although several humoral proteins, namely TNFα (tumour necrosis factor α) and IL (interleukin)-6, have been shown to induce skeletal muscle wasting, there is a lack of information regarding the tumoral factors that contribute to the atrophy of muscle during cancer cachexia. Therefore, in the present study, we have characterized the secretome of C26 colon cancer cells to identify the tumoral factors involved in cancer-induced skeletal muscle wasting. In the present study, we show that myostatin, a procachectic TGFβ (transforming growth factor β) superfamily member, is abundantly secreted by C26 cells. Consistent with myostatin signalling during cachexia, treating differentiated C2C12 myotubes with C26 CM (conditioned medium) resulted in myotubular atrophy due to the up-regulation of muscle-specific E3 ligases, atrogin-1 and MuRF1 (muscle RING-finger protein 1), and enhanced activity of the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway. Furthermore, the C26 CM also activated ActRIIB (activin receptor type II B)/Smad and NF-κB (nuclear factor κB) signalling, and reduced the activity of the IGF-I (insulin-like growth factor 1)/PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase)/Akt pathway, three salient molecular features of myostatin action in skeletal muscles. Antagonists to myostatin prevented C26 CM-induced wasting in muscle cell cultures, further confirming that tumoral myostatin may be a key contributor in the pathogenesis of cancer cachexia. Finally, we show that treatment with C26 CM induced the autophagy–lysosome pathway and reduced the number of mitochondria in myotubes. These two previously unreported observations were recapitulated in skeletal muscles collected from C26 tumour-bearing mice.
Antiproliferative Potential of Extracts from Kappaphycus Seaweedson HeLa Cancer Cell Lines

A review of the current literature indicates that natural seaweeds are an excellent source of bioactive compounds with antioxidant, antimicrobial and antitumor properties. In the present study, 90% methanolic, 70% acetonic and aqueous extracts from Kappaphycus alvarezii (strains Crocodile, Giant and Brown) and Kappaphycus striatum were used to inhibit the growth of HeLa cell lines. MTS assay was carried out to determine the proliferation of HeLa cells in the presence of different seaweed extracts. Both 500 μg/mL of aqueous and methanolic extracts from K. striatum demonstrated highest anti-proliferative activity against HeLa cells with cell growth inhibition of 53.5 and 43.7%, respectively. Treatment with the aqueous extracts from three strains of K. alvarezii did not show any growth inhibition against HeLa cell lines. The acetonic extract of Kappaphycus seaweeds exhibited a very poor cell growth inhibition with inhibitory activity observed under the treatment of 300 to 500 μg/mL of K. alvarezii strain Brown only. Further studies are suggested to identify and purify the specific anti-tumoral compounds for potential use in cancer therapy.
omparing the impact of increasing condom use or HIV pre-exposure rophylaxis (PrEP) use among female sex workers

In many settings, interventions targeting female sex workers (FSWs) could significantly reduce the overall transmission of HIV. To understand the role HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) could play in controlling HIV transmission amongst FSWs, it is important to understand how its impact compares with scaling-up condom use—one of the proven HIV prevention strategies for FSWs. It is important to remember that condoms also have other benefits such as reducing the incidence of sexually transmitted infections and preventing pregnancy. A dynamic deterministic model of HIV transmission amongst FSWs, their clients and other male partners (termed ‘pimps’) was used to compare the protection provided by PrEP for HIV-negative FSWs with FSWs increasing their condom use with clients and/or pimps. For different HIV prevalence scenarios, levels of pimp interaction, and baseline condom use, we estimated the coverage of PrEP that gives the same reduction in endemic FSW HIV prevalence or HIV infections averted as different increases in condom use. To achieve the same impact on FSW HIV prevalence as increasing condom use by 1%, the coverage of PrEP has to increase by >2%. The relative impact of PrEP increases for scenarios where pimps contribute to HIV transmission, but not greatly, and decreases with higher baseline condom use. In terms of HIV infections averted over 10 years, the relative impact of PrEP compared to condoms was reduced, with a >3% increase in PrEP coverage achieving the same impact as a 1% increase in condom use. Condom promotion interventions should remain the mainstay HIV prevention strategy for FSWs, with PrEP only being implemented once condom interventions have been maximised or to fill prevention gaps where condoms cannot be used. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
Assessment, prediction and occurrence of difficult intubation

Generally, when evaluating upper tract in patients who were given general anesthesia, we expect that these tests present a high sensitiveness, allowing the tracheal instrumentation be performed with the fewest number of attempts and approaches. The predictive criteria of difficult intubation are classified by the scales of Mallampati II-IV, Bell House Doré II-III, Patil Aldreti II-III and interincisive distance; with a variation in both sensitiveness and specificity, according to the author of the research. This comparative study was carried out on 124 patients, both male and female, ranging from 18 to 60 years old, divided into two groups, I without predictive criteria, and II with predictive criteria. The data correlation by the laryngoscopy revealed: r = 0.80 by Mallampati. El Bell House Doré showed a sensitiveness of 0.76 and a specificity of 0.90; while the positive predictive value for interincisive distance was of 1, and the negative predictive value by Bell House Doré and Patil Aldreti was of 0.71. These values differ according to the evaluated anatomic structure; therefore, the prediction of a difficult intubation, as well as its presence, will depend on the used scale.
Modelling of cerebral aneurysm parameters under stent installation

Abstract A computer simulation of a cerebral aneurysm is performed. Based on real surgery data, 3D geometry of the anomaly is reconstructed, hydrodynamic parameters of the blood flow (velocity, pressure, gradient) are calculated, strains and stress are obtained on the vascular walls in the case of the aneurysm and after stent installation changing the geometry of a vessel. It is shown that successful surgery is characterized by lowering the flow velocity, pressure, its gradient, and stresses on the vascular walls.
Correlates of Mild Cognitive Impairment of Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Wuhan, China

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia that occurs mainly in older adults. The MCI phase could be considered as an observational period for the secondary prevention of dementia. This study aims to assess potential differences in the risk of MCI among different elderly groups in Wuhan, China, and to further identify the most vulnerable populations using logistic regression models. A total of 622 older adults participated in this study, and the prevalence of MCI was 34.1%. We found that individuals aged 80–84 (odds ratio, OR = 1.908, 95% confidence interval, 95% CI 1.026 to 3.549) or above (OR = 2.529, 95% CI 1.249 to 5.122), and those with two chronic diseases (OR = 1.982, 95% CI 1.153 to 3.407) or more (OR = 2.466, 95% CI 1.419 to 4.286) were more likely to be diagnosed with MCI. Those with high school degrees (OR = 0.451, 95% CI 0.230 to 0.883) or above (OR = 0.318, 95% CI 0.129 to 0.783) and those with a family per-capita monthly income of 3001–4500 yuan (OR = 0.320, 95% CI 0.137 to 0.750) or above (OR = 0.335, 95% CI 0.135 to 0.830) were less likely to experience MCI. The results also showed that those aged 80 or above were more likely to present with cognitive decline and/or reduced activities of daily living (ADL) function, with the odds ratios being 1.874 and 3.782, respectively. Individuals with two, or three or more chronic diseases were more likely to experience cognitive decline and/or reduced ADL function, with odds ratios of 2.423 and 2.631, respectively. Increased risk of suffering from either MCI and/or decline in ADL functioning is strongly positively associated with older age, lower educational levels, poorer family economic status, and multiple chronic diseases. Our findings highlight that the local, regional, and even national specific MCI-related health promotion measures and interventions must target these vulnerable populations.
Modelo de negocio Canvas de la panadería Adriano Palta de la parroquia Tababela

La generación de modelos de negocio ágiles es vital para la supervivencia e innovación de las iniciativas empresariales. El objetivo de este estudio consiste en desarrollar el modelo de negocio Canvas en la panadería Adriano Palta de la parroquia Tababela, pues se trata de un negocio que ofrece a sus clientes una variedad de productos, principalmente de panadería, de buena calidad y a un precio conveniente. Sin embargo, no cuenta con un desempeño adecuado en el mercado, lo que ha generado una disminución en sus ventas y un bajo flujo de dinero. El diagnóstico se realizó con la aplicación de una encuesta a una muestra aleatoria de 60 clientes y una entrevista al propietario del negocio.Esto permitió establecer las fortalezas y debilidades de la panadería Adriano Palta. A partir del diagnóstico se diseñó el Canvas, o lienzo, de negocio, que incluye en un solo folio el modelo de negocio.En este se han tomado en cuenta las falencias y a la vez las posibles soluciones. En conclusión, la implementación del modelo de negocio Canvas en la panadería Adriano Palta permitirá incrementar sus ventas e ingresos para que este sea rentable.Palabras claves: modelos de negocio ágiles, lienzo de modelo de negocio, panadería.