Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diabetic Retinopathy Detection using Transfer Learning from Diabetic Retinopathy Detection using Transfer Learning from Pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network Models Pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network Models

—Diabetic Retinopathy is the most common eye disease that diabetes can cause. It can even result in vision loss and complete blindness. Early detection prevents complete vision loss. However, it is challenging to detect it early because it may not show symptoms in the early stages. The existing models for diabetic retinopathy cannot detect all the stages of diabetic retinopathy. The most widely used metrics like accuracy, f1-score, precision, and recall; do not consider the level of disagreement between labels, which helps in detecting all the stages of diabetic retinopathy. This paper used ResNet, VGG, and Efficient-Net pre-trained models. We performed results evaluation using quadratic weighted kappa, which is appropriate for classifying different stages of diabetic retinopathy based on the severity. Furthermore, it considers the level of disagreement between actual and predicted labels. We have achieved the quadratic weighted kappa score of 0.85 using the EfficientNet b3 network, surpassing the existing models like support vector machines, decision trees, convolutional neural networks, and DenseNet pre-trained model.
Total Secrecy From Anti-Eavesdropping Channel Estimation

Anti-eavesdropping channel estimation (ANECE) is useful for a network of cooperative full-duplex radio devices/users. Using ANECE, a secret key can be generated by each pair of users, and additional secret information can be transmitted between a pair of users. This paper analyzes the capacity of the secret key based on ANECE, and compares it with the conventional method for channel training. The paper also analyzes the secrecy capacity of information transmission using an one-way scheme, and compares it with a two-way scheme. It is shown that the total amount of secrecy generated from ANECE can be substantially larger than that based on the conventional method especially when an eavesdropper may have an unlimited number of antennas. The paper also formulates a total secure degree of freedom (TSDoF) of the ANECE based scheme, and compares it with a prior scheme of secret information transmission from a multi-antenna node to another against a multi-antenna eavesdropper where channel state information is unknown everywhere initially. The comparison shows that there is a substantial gain of TSDoF by exploiting full-duplex radios and reciprocal channels via ANECE. Most of the key insights are highlighted in twelve proven properties.
The Epigenetic Role of Vitamin C in Neurodevelopment

The maternal diet during pregnancy is a key determinant of offspring health. Early studies have linked poor maternal nutrition during gestation with a propensity for the development of chronic conditions in offspring. These conditions include cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and even compromised mental health. While multiple factors may contribute to these outcomes, disturbed epigenetic programming during early development is one potential biological mechanism. The epigenome is programmed primarily in utero, and during this time, the developing fetus is highly susceptible to environmental factors such as nutritional insults. During neurodevelopment, epigenetic programming coordinates the formation of primitive central nervous system structures, neurogenesis, and neuroplasticity. Dysregulated epigenetic programming has been implicated in the aetiology of several neurodevelopmental disorders such as Tatton-Brown-Rahman syndrome. Accordingly, there is great interest in determining how maternal nutrient availability in pregnancy might affect the epigenetic status of offspring, and how such influences may present phenotypically. In recent years, a number of epigenetic enzymes that are active during embryonic development have been found to require vitamin C as a cofactor. These enzymes include the ten-eleven translocation methylcytosine dioxygenases (TETs) and the Jumonji C domain-containing histone lysine demethylases that catalyse the oxidative removal of methyl groups on cytosines and histone lysine residues, respectively. These enzymes are integral to epigenetic regulation and have fundamental roles in cellular differentiation, the maintenance of pluripotency and development. The dependence of these enzymes on vitamin C for optimal catalytic activity illustrates a potentially critical contribution of the nutrient during mammalian development. These insights also highlight a potential risk associated with vitamin C insufficiency during pregnancy. The link between vitamin C insufficiency and development is particularly apparent in the context of neurodevelopment and high vitamin C concentrations in the brain are indicative of important functional requirements in this organ. Accordingly, this review considers the evidence for the potential impact of maternal vitamin C status on neurodevelopmental epigenetics.
Drivers of Animal Source Food Consumption: A Biophysical Approach

The contributions to energy and protein consumption of animal-source food (ASF) and its commodities bovine, pig, sheep and goat and poultry meat, fish and seafood, dairy products, and eggs were studied by multiple log-log-inverse regression of 1961–2017 consumption (MJ of energy, grams of protein) on income and year within country. The “year” variable implicitly captures time-dependent non-income factors such as prices, climate, agricultural area, urbanization, globalization, gender equality, religion. Fitting the latter six factors explicitly produced unrealistic results, likely due to insufficient within-country variation over time. All consumption patterns differed between countries, and changed over time; these differences and changes were related to income, but considerably more related to time-dependent non-income factors. Within-country estimates of the income elasticity (β) of total energy and protein consumption ranged from −1 to +1: when income increased by 1%, consumption changed by −1 to +1%. The corresponding estimates of the non-income time elasticity (γ) ranged from −0.05 to +0.05% per year: every year, adjusted for income, consumption changed by −0.05 to +0.05%. The β and γ estimates for the contribution of ASF to energy and protein consumption ranged twice as wide as these; those for the contributions of the individual commodities ranged at least three times as wide. The β and γ estimates for those commodities change considerably over time in many countries; their association to each other is very variable too, both between and within countries. Much of this variation takes place at the lower consumption levels. Considering all this, any attempt to forecast the consumption of animal source food (and particularly of its individual commodities) on a more detailed level than globally and on a longer term than a decade should include an income-independent time factor and be very careful with regard to the elasticity coefficients used.
Simulation of Saturation Efficiency and Cooling Capacity of an Unloaded Near Infrared Reflecting Charcoal Cooler for On-farm Storage of Mango fruits

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) fruit is a valuable fruit in Kenya due to its nutritive value and economic importance. However, at least 40 to 45% of mango fruit is lost during postharvest handling primarily due to inadequate storage facilities for mango fruits. In this study, saturation efficiency and cooling capacity of an unloaded improved evaporatively cooled store for onfarm storage of mango fruits were simulated. The cooler had a storage space of 0.75 m3 and its dimensions were 0.84 m x 0.84 m x 1.5 m. The external surfaces of the cooler were sprayed with a near infrared reflecting (NIR) paint. The cooler was constructed from locally available materials including hardwood and charcoal. The charcoal was kept moist by water dripping by gravity from horizontally laid pipes on the roof. The flow of water from an overhead tank approximately 2 m high to the cooler was monitored using a flow meter. The excess water which dripped was collected by gutters fixed at the lower ends of the charcoal walls and channeled to a water reservoir. A 12V pump was used to pump the water back to the overhead tank while a 12V fan located centrally on one of the sides directly opposite the door was used to draw air into the cooler. The pump and fan was powered by a 70Ah battery recharged by a 125 W solar panel. A computer model to simulate the saturation efficiency and cooling capacity of the cooler was developed on a java platform. The input parameters of the model were inlet air conditions, water conditions, air properties at selected ambient condition, and charcoal cooler characteristics. At varied inlet air velocities ranging from 3.0 m/s to 4.0 m/s at an interval of 0.2 m/s, the actual saturation efficiency of the cooler ranged from 68.9% to 66.9% while the predicted ranged from 69.0% to 66.9%. The actual cooling capacity of the cooler ranged from 1055667 kJ/h to 136477 kJ/h while the predicted ranged from 105726 kW/h to 136680 kW/h. The high coefficient of determination (R 2 =0.999) indicated a strong correlation between the actual and predicted results. A root mean square error (RMSE) corresponding to the actual and predicted saturated efficiency was 0.028% while that corresponding to the actual and predicted cooling capacity was 118 kJ/h. At 95% level of confidence, t test results showed no significant difference (t calculated , 0.06; t critical , 2.23) between the actual and predicted saturation efficiency. The t test results also indicated no significant difference (t calculated , 0.01; t critical , 2.23) between the actual and predicted cooling capacity.
A Survey of Compressive Data Gathering in WSNs for IoTs

Internet of Things (IoTs) are increasingly widespread in the field of health care, smart city and smart home application, industrial and agricultural monitoring, automation, etc. With its growing scale of networks, there are a large amount of data in IoTs needing to be sensed, transmitted, and processed. Resource-limited Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) as a perceptual layer of IoTs are hard to handle massive uncompressed sensing data. Compressive data gathering (CDG), which applies compressive sensing theory to data gathering, is a perfectly matching method for data compressing and gathering in WSNs. This promising method has attracted lots of researchers’ attention. In this paper, we attempt to survey substantial references about CDG in WSNs. According to their technology schemes, we classify the published references into three categories, i.e., routing protocol of CDG, clustering scheme of CDG, and CDG combined with other technologies. The merits and defects of each method are highlighted. Our work aims to provide an insight into CDG and promote improvements of this technology.
The Transmembrane Protease TMPRSS2 as a Therapeutic Target for COVID-19 Treatment

TMPRSS2 is a type II transmembrane protease with broad expression in epithelial cells of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, the prostate, and other organs. Although the physiological role of TMPRSS2 remains largely elusive, several endogenous substrates have been identified. TMPRSS2 serves as a major cofactor in SARS-CoV-2 entry, and primes glycoproteins of other respiratory viruses as well. Consequently, inhibiting TMPRSS2 activity is a promising strategy to block viral infection. In this review, we provide an overview of the role of TMPRSS2 in the entry processes of different respiratory viruses. We then review the different classes of TMPRSS2 inhibitors and their clinical development, with a focus on COVID-19 treatment.
Highlighting the Multifaceted Role of Orai1 N-Terminal- and Loop Regions for Proper CRAC Channel Functions

Orai1, the Ca2+-selective pore in the plasma membrane, is one of the key components of the Ca2+release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channel complex. Activated by the Ca2+ sensor in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane, stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1), via direct interaction when ER luminal Ca2+ levels recede, Orai1 helps to maintain Ca2+ homeostasis within a cell. It has already been proven that the C-terminus of Orai1 is indispensable for channel activation. However, there is strong evidence that for CRAC channels to function properly and maintain all typical hallmarks, such as selectivity and reversal potential, additional parts of Orai1 are needed. In this review, we focus on these sites apart from the C-terminus; namely, the second loop and N-terminus of Orai1 and on their multifaceted role in the functioning of CRAC channels.
The Signaling Pathway That cGAMP Riboswitches Found: Analysis and Application of Riboswitches to Study cGAMP Signaling in Geobacter sulfurreducens

The Hypr cGAMP signaling pathway was discovered via the function of the riboswitch. In this study, we show the development of a method for affinity capture followed by sequencing to identify non-coding RNA regions that bind nucleotide signals such as cGAMP. The RNAseq of affinity-captured cGAMP riboswitches from the Geobacter sulfurreducens transcriptome highlights general challenges that remain for this technique. Furthermore, by applying riboswitch reporters in vivo, we identify new growth conditions and transposon mutations that affect cGAMP levels in G. sulfurreducens. This work reveals an extensive regulatory network and supports a second functional cGAMP synthase gene in G. sulfurreducens. The activity of the second synthase was validated using riboswitch-based fluorescent biosensors, and is the first known example of an active enzyme with a variant GGDDF motif.
Photovoltaic Device Application of a Hydroquinone-Modified Conductive Polymer and Dual-Functional Molecular Si Surface Passivation Technology

In the last decades, the conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS has been introduced in Si-based hybrid solar cells, gaining noticeable research interest and being considered a promising candidate for next generation solar cells which can achieve both of low manufacturing cost and high power conversion efficiency. This study succeeded in improving the electrical conductivity of PEDOT:PSS to 937 S/cm through a simple process of adding hydroquinone (HQ) to the pristine PEDOT:PSS solution. The results also showed that the addition of HQ to PEDOT:PSS(HQ-PEDOT:PSS) could not only dramatically improve the conductivity but also well-sustain the work function characteristics of PEDOT:PSS by promoting the formation of more continuous conductive-PEDOT channels without removing the insulating PSS. In this report, we reveal that the application of the HQ-PEDOT:PSS to the Si/PEDOT:PSS HSC could significantly improve the short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage characteristics to increase the power conversion efficiency of the HSCs compared to the conventional approaches. Moreover, we also treated the Si surface with the organic monomer, benzoquinone (BQ) to (1) passivate the excess Si surface defect states and (2) to improve the properties of the Si/PEDOT:PSS interface. We show that BQ treatment is able to dramatically increase the minority carrier lifetime induced by effective chemical and field-effect passivation in addition to enhancing the wettability of the Si surface with the PEDOT:PSS solution. As a result, the power conversion efficiency was increased by 10.6% by introducing HQ and BQ into the fabrication process of the Si/PEDOT:PSS HSC.
Protective Role of Melatonin and Its Metabolites in Skin Aging

The skin, being the largest organ in the human body, is exposed to the environment and suffers from both intrinsic and extrinsic aging factors. The skin aging process is characterized by several clinical features such as wrinkling, loss of elasticity, and rough-textured appearance. This complex process is accompanied with phenotypic and functional changes in cutaneous and immune cells, as well as structural and functional disturbances in extracellular matrix components such as collagens and elastin. Because skin health is considered one of the principal factors representing overall “well-being” and the perception of “health” in humans, several anti-aging strategies have recently been developed. Thus, while the fundamental mechanisms regarding skin aging are known, new substances should be considered for introduction into dermatological treatments. Herein, we describe melatonin and its metabolites as potential “aging neutralizers”. Melatonin, an evolutionarily ancient derivative of serotonin with hormonal properties, is the main neuroendocrine secretory product of the pineal gland. It regulates circadian rhythmicity and also exerts anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and anti-tumor capacities. The intention of this review is to summarize changes within skin aging, research advances on the molecular mechanisms leading to these changes, and the impact of the melatoninergic anti-oxidative system controlled by melatonin and its metabolites, targeting the prevention or reversal of skin aging.
Analysis of Electrical and Thermal Stresses in the Stress Relief System of Inverter Fed Medium Voltage Induction Motors

Pulse width modulation (PWM) voltage source converters (VSC) are one type of motor drives that have become popular because they enable precise control of speed and torque in medium voltage motors. However, these drives are known to have adverse effects on the insulation system particularly on conductive armour tape (CAT) and semi-conductive stress grading tape (SGT). These tapes, which are crucial components of the insulation system, control the surface electrical stresses in the stator slot and in the end portion of the form-wound coils outside the grounded stator. The material properties of CAT and SGT and the methods by which they are applied on form-wound motor coils are traditionally designed for power frequency, or a 60 Hz sinusoidal voltage. However, because of the high frequencies associated with the repetition rate and the fast rise time of the PWM pulses, elevated electrical and thermal stresses develop in these tapes, which can lead to premature insulation failure. Little research has been conducted with respect to understanding the mechanism of dielectric heating as a function of frequency and repetitive pulse characteristics. The material characterization of CAT and SGT is a vital part of an investigation of the performance of the stress relief system at high frequencies. In this study, the anisotropic dielectric properties of CAT and SGT have been measured in dc and ac and in low and high electric fields. The laboratory experiments for determining the material characteristics are discussed and the results analyzed. According to the ac space charge limited field (SCLF) theory, the maximum ac tangential component of the electric field in a nonlinear resistive SGT on medium voltage form-wound motor coils can be predicted from the field dependent electrical conductivity and the frequency. However, the SCLF theory cannot predict the total electric field (vector sum of the tangential and normal components) in the air adjacent to the surface of the tapes. Simulations of the electric field using a finite element method (FEM), is one of the best ways of finding the resultant electric field distribution in the air space adjacent to the SGT. However, prior to this study, researchers simplified the modelling of the stress relief system to avoid the convergence problems that develop due to the nonlinearity of the SGT conductivity as a function of the electric field, and also because of the geometry and dimensions of the tapes when their depths are orders of magnitude smaller than the other dimensions associated with form-wound coils. For modelling the stress grading (SG) system at power frequency and at the rated voltage, the dc isotropic conductivity of the SGT and CAT has also been extensively investigated. However, relatively little work has been done with respect to the ac electrical behaviour of these materials and dc modelling cannot reflect the effects of high-frequency stresses on the machine insulation. In this study, comprehensive transient FEM modelling has been developed in order to simulate the…
NTP VoIP platform: a SIP VoIP platform and its services

This paper introduces the major components of a SIP-based VoIP platform, referred to as NTP VoIP platform. Based on the NTP VoIP platform, the researchers can develop and deploy their applications and services. For lawful interception, we propose a monitoring system that provides call detail records and interception function. We also propose a conference system for audio and video conferences. In this paper, we provide detailed message flows to show how the monitoring system and the conference system work.
Restoring SMN Expression: An Overview of the Therapeutic Developments for the Treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder and one of the most common genetic causes of infant death. It is characterized by progressive weakness of the muscles, loss of ambulation, and death from respiratory complications. SMA is caused by the homozygous deletion or mutations in the survival of the motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene. Humans, however, have a nearly identical copy of SMN1 known as the SMN2 gene. The severity of the disease correlates inversely with the number of SMN2 copies present. SMN2 cannot completely compensate for the loss of SMN1 in SMA patients because it can produce only a fraction of functional SMN protein. SMN protein is ubiquitously expressed in the body and has a variety of roles ranging from assembling the spliceosomal machinery, autophagy, RNA metabolism, signal transduction, cellular homeostasis, DNA repair, and recombination. Motor neurons in the anterior horn of the spinal cord are extremely susceptible to the loss of SMN protein, with the reason still being unclear. Due to the ability of the SMN2 gene to produce small amounts of functional SMN, two FDA-approved treatment strategies, including an antisense oligonucleotide (AON) nusinersen and small-molecule risdiplam, target SMN2 to produce more functional SMN. On the other hand, Onasemnogene abeparvovec (brand name Zolgensma) is an FDA-approved adeno-associated vector 9-mediated gene replacement therapy that can deliver a copy of the human SMN1. In this review, we summarize the SMA etiology, the role of SMN, and discuss the challenges of the therapies that are approved for SMA treatment.