Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimization of Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction of Active Components and Antioxidant Activity from Polygala tenuifolia: A Comparative Study of the Response Surface Methodology and Least Squares Support Vector Machine

Dried roots of Polygala tenuifolia (YuanZhi in Chinese) are widely used in Chinese herbal medicine. These components in YuanZhi have significant anti-oxidation properties owing to high levels of 3,6’-disinapoylsucrose (DISS) and Polygalaxanthone III (PolyIII). In order to efficiently extract natural medicines, response surface methodology (RSM) and least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) were used for the modeling and optimization of ultrasound-assisted extraction of DISS and PolyIII together to determine the antioxidant activity of the extracts obtained from YuanZhi. For the optimal combination of the comprehensive yield of DISS and PolyIII (Y), the Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to improve extraction time (X1), extraction temperature (X2), liquid–solid ratio (X3), and ethanol concentration (X4). The optimal process parameters were determined to be as follows: extraction time, 93 min; liquid–solid ratio, 40 mL/g; extraction temperature, 48 °C; and ethanol concentration, 67%. With these conditions, the predictive optimal combination comprehensive evaluation value is 13.0217. It was clear that the LS-SVM model had higher accuracy in predictive and optimization capabilities, with higher antioxidant activity and lower relative deviations values, than did RSM. Hence, the LS-SVM model proved to be more effective for the analysis and improvement of the extraction process.
Seeing red: Reading uncivil news comments guided by personality characteristics

Whether on a news or a social networking site, comments following news stories are often beset with incivility. Assailed as diminishing constructive dialogue in a digital public sphere, uncivil comments nevertheless require deeper scrutiny to better understand their pervasiveness and, among some, popularity. This article uses a Uses and Gratifications framework to understand why certain people are more drawn to uncivil comments than civil ones. Using eye-tracking technology, this research compares the attention a reader gives to uncivil comments and compares it against certain personality characteristics. Findings suggest that certain readers spend more time reading uncivil comments than civil ones.
Hierarchical CNN Classification of Hyperspectral Images Based on 3-D Attention Soft Augmentation

The distinction of similar classes has always been the core issue in image classification. In this article, a new hierarchical classification process based on three-dimensional attention soft augmentation (HC-3DAA) is proposed to improve the accuracy of classifiers, especially for the accuracy between similar classes. In HC-3DAA processing, the merging matrix is first constructed based on the validation confusion matrix to measure the similarity among different classes. Specifically, the 3-D attention soft augmentation module combined with CutMix is designed for guiding the network model to focus on the key discriminative features. Then, the extracted 3-D feature differences between similar classes are inserted into the attention module for the reclassification to get higher classification accuracy. To evaluate the performance of HC-3DAA, CutMix models with different feature dimensions and the HC module are separately discussed on two widely used hyperspectral datasets. Two different classifiers 3-D convolutional neural network and ResNet are included in the comparative analysis. Besides, experimental results also demonstrate that the proposed HC-3DAA outperforms several state-of-the-art attention-based methods.
KPC-3-, GES-5-, and VIM-1-Producing Enterobacterales Isolated from Urban Ponds

Carbapenems are antibiotics of pivotal importance in human medicine, the efficacy of which is threatened by the increasing prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE). Urban ponds may be reservoirs of CRE, although this hypothesis has been poorly explored. We assessed the proportion of CRE in urban ponds over a one-year period and retrieved 23 isolates. These were submitted to BOX-PCR, PFGE, 16S rDNA sequencing, antibiotic susceptibility tests, detection of carbapenemase-encoding genes, and conjugation assays. Isolates were affiliated with Klebsiella (n = 1), Raoultella (n = 11), Citrobacter (n = 8), and Enterobacter (n = 3). Carbapenemase-encoding genes were detected in 21 isolates: blaKPC (n = 20), blaGES-5 (n = 6), and blaVIM (n = 1), with 7 isolates carrying two carbapenemase genes. Clonal isolates were collected from different ponds and in different campaigns. Citrobacter F6, Raoultella N9, and Enterobacter N10 were predicted as pathogens from whole-genome sequence analysis, which also revealed the presence of several resistance genes and mobile genetic elements. We found that blaKPC-3 was located on Tn4401b (Citrobacter F6 and Enterobacter N10) or Tn4401d (Raoultella N9). The former was part of an IncFIA-FII pBK30683-like plasmid. In addition, blaGES-5 was in a class 3 integron, either chromosomal (Raoultella N9) or plasmidic (Enterobacter N10). Our findings confirmed the role of urban ponds as reservoirs and dispersal sites for CRE.
Live-Imaging Analysis of Target Vessels and Nitric Oxide Production Associated with Gosha-Jinki-Gan and Keishi-Bukuryo-Gan: Two Herbal Preparations with Clinically Proven Blood Flow-Improving Effects but with Different Traditional Clinical Indicative Patterns

Gosha-jinki-gan (GJG) and Keishi-bukuryo-gan (KBG) are Kampo traditional herbal prescriptions used for different clinical patterns (sho) that improve blood flow. The pharmacological basis of the therapeutic choice remains unclear, although the clinical reliance of this pattern-based therapy is widely proven. We aimed to investigate their effects on microcirculation and nitric oxide (NO) kinetics using a live-imaging system to provide evidence for this. Live-imaging was performed in murine subcutaneous vessels and rat mesentery. In the subcutaneous vessels, we analyzed the effects of both drugs on the vessel diameter, blood flow velocity, and volume in the arteries, arterioles, and capillaries. In the rat mesentery, we induced the “oketsu” blood stasis using a stack of thin vinylidene chloride films and examined the effect on NO production using a fluorescent diaminofluorescein-2 diacetate. Following dissolution in hot water, 300 mg/kg of both drugs were administered intragastrically via a transesophageal catheter. Live-imaging analysis of subcutaneous blood flow revealed the different effects of GJG and KBG on their target vessels and effect onset. GJG targeted the capillaries and progressively increased the blood flow velocity and rate at 30–120 min after administration. No vasodilation or increased blood flow in the arteries and arterioles occurred. In contrast, KBG increased the diameter of the arterioles and arteries at 30–90 min after administration, and increased blood flow velocity and rate in arteries and arterioles. In a model of oketsu blood stasis in the mesenteric arteries, KBG increased the NO production from the vascular endothelial cells with dilatation of the arteriolar diameter. GJG improved blood flow mainly in the capillaries. Endothelial NO production decreased after GJG administration. The empirical treatment choice between GJG and KBG is based on the difference in target vessels and NO action and provides a pharmacological basis for therapy based on traditional medicine.
Role of Erythrocytes in Nitric Oxide Metabolism and Paracrine Regulation of Endothelial Function

Emerging studies provide new data shedding some light on the complex and pivotal role of red blood cells (RBCs) in nitric oxide (NO) metabolism and paracrine regulation of endothelial function. NO is involved in the regulation of vasodilatation, platelet aggregation, inflammation, hypoxic adaptation, and oxidative stress. Even though tremendous knowledge about NO metabolism has been collected, the exact RBCs’ status still requires evaluation. This paper summarizes the actual knowledge regarding the role of erythrocytes as a mobile depot of amino acids necessary for NO biotransformation. Moreover, the complex regulation of RBCs’ translocases is presented with a particular focus on cationic amino acid transporters (CATs) responsible for the NO substrates and derivatives transport. The main part demonstrates the intraerythrocytic metabolism of L-arginine with its regulation by reactive oxygen species and arginase activity. Additionally, the process of nitrite and nitrate turnover was demonstrated to be another stable source of NO, with its reduction by xanthine oxidoreductase or hemoglobin. Additional function of hemoglobin in NO synthesis and its subsequent stabilization in steady intermediates is also discussed. Furthermore, RBCs regulate the vascular tone by releasing ATP, inducing smooth muscle cell relaxation, and decreasing platelet aggregation. Erythrocytes and intraerythrocytic NO metabolism are also responsible for the maintenance of normotension. Hence, RBCs became a promising new therapeutic target in restoring NO homeostasis in cardiovascular disorders.
Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression among postgraduate trainees in Qassim, Saudi Arabia

Background: Trainee doctors in postgraduate programs go through many challenges and stressor events in their life which may affect their mental health. Objective: This study aimed to measure the prevalence and risk factor of depression, anxiety and stress among trainees of Saudi Board programs in Qassim region. Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 119 postgraduate trainees enrolled in Saudi Board Program in Qassim region. Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to measure the outcome variables. Logistic regression was used to assess the risk factors of depression, anxiety and stress. Results: A quarter (25%) of the respondents were female, and half (51%) were married. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress were 49.6%, 57% and 39.5% respectively. We found that failing the promotion exam adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 4.43(95% CI: 1.45-13.50), being in Internal medicine AOR 3.94 (95% CI: 1.22 - 12.66) and other specialties AOR 3.56 (95% CI: 1.22-10.39) were significant risk factors of depression. Risk factors for anxiety included; failing promotion exam AOR 4.46 (1.18-16.86) and being in internal medicine AOR 8.95(95% CI: 2.39-30.84) and other specialties AOR 5.78 (95% CI: 1.88-18.72). On the other hand, being unmarried was protective of anxiety AOR 0.23(95%CI: 0.08-0.60). The only significant factor associated with stress was not passing part one exam AOR 5.06 (95% CI: 1.70 - 15.1). Conclusions: We found a high prevalence of mental disorders among postgraduate trainees in Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. This calls for implementing screening and support programs for trainees to improve their mental health and thus their learning and quality of care being provided by them. Key words: Anxiety, Depression, Stress, Trainees, Postgraduate, Saudi Arabia
Biological Response to Bioinspired Microporous 3D-Printed Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering

The scaffold is a key element in the field of tissue engineering, especially when large defects or substitutions of pathological tissues or organs need to be clinically addressed. The expected outcome is strongly dependent on the cell–scaffold interaction and the integration with the surrounding biological tissue. Indeed, mimicking the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) of the tissue to be healed represents a further optimization that can limit a possible morphological mismatch between the scaffold and the tissue itself. For this aim, and referring to bone tissue engineering, polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds were 3D printed with a microstructure inspired by the trabecular architecture and biologically evaluated by means of human osteosarcoma SAOS-2 cells. The cells were seeded on two types of scaffolds differing for the designed pore size (i.e., 400 and 600 µm), showing the same growth exponential trend found in the control and no significant alterations in the actin distribution. The microporous structure of the two tested samples enhanced the protein adsorption capability and mRNA expression of markers related to protein synthesis, proliferation, and osteoblast differentiation. Our findings demonstrate that 3D-printed scaffolds support the adhesion, growth, and differentiation of osteoblast-like cells and the microporous architecture, mimicking the natural bone hierarchical structure, and favoring greater bioactivity. These bioinspired scaffolds represent an interesting new tool for bone tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.
Design of an Active Tunable Bandpass Filter for Spectrum Sensing Application in the TVWS Band

In this paper, we propose an active tunable bandpass filter (BPF) for efficient spectrum sensing in the TV White Space (TVWS) band. By designing a narrow bandwidth, it is possible to improve the sensing probability. The basic circuit configuration involves switching the PIN diode compromising capacitor bank to change the capacitance of the LC resonant circuit. To cover the whole TVWS band effectively, we add a varactor diode, and the bandwidth is set to 25-MHz. We improve the insertion loss by using the active capacitance circuit. The tunable BPF in the TVWS band with a 20-MHz interval is designed to have 11 channels with a bandwidth of 25 MHz and a low insertion loss of 1.7–2.0 dB.
Detect the Antibacterial and Antitumor of synthesized Silver Nanoparticles Using Microbacterium sp.

Metal nanoparticles are widely utilized in biotechnology and biomedicine for various applications, including medication delivery, imaging, and bacterial growth control. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized by bacteria, fungi, algae, and plants. The Study aimed to synthesize nanomaterial with a cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and the uses of AgNPs as antibacterial (against pathogenic bacteria) and anticancer (on MCF7 cell line). In this Study, bacteria were collected from different soil samples. Isolated, purified by selective media, identification genotypically by 16rRNA sequencing analysis, then compared with NCBI, GenBank as Microbacterium sp. Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using Microbacterium for extracellular synthesis by reducing silver ions to silver nanoparticles. The color change to brown and reddish-brown was the first indication of the AgNPs formation; physical characterization using UV-Visible spectroscopy showed a wavelength in 489 nm, while X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that the silver nanoparticles were crystalline; transmission electron microscope (TEM) image showed that AgNPs spherical in shape with an average diameter of around 50 nm, in SEM (Scanning electron microscope) AgNPs formed with a diameter of 41-44 nm, spherical and uniform, while Energy-dispersive X-ray show very high silver peaks. Bioactivity of AgNPs by antimicrobial on pathogenic bacteria, which collected from Al- Sadr hospital in Misan (identified by using VITEK). This experiment showed that the inhibition zone was rung from (6- 38mm) on pathogenic bacteria; it was tremendous compared with antibiotics (Gentamycin in this project ranged from(7-28.5mm). Antitumor activity of extracellular biosynthesized AgNPs was determined using the MTT test against breast cancer cells (MCF7 cell line), which showed very high results. AgNPs inhibition breast cancer cell line by about 81% at 100ug/ml, indicating that the rate is outstanding. Finally, different biomedical approaches can benefit from AgNPs as antibacterial agents and anticancer agents with many results. Keywords. Silver Nanoparticles, Biosynthesis, Antibacterial, and Antitumor.
Multi-Dimensional Attention With Similarity Constraint for Weakly-Supervised Temporal Action Localization

Weakly-supervised temporal action localization (WTAL) is a challenging task in understanding untrimmed videos, in which no frame-wise annotation is provided during training, only the video-level category label is available. Current methods mainly adopt temporal attention branches to conduct foreground-background separation with RGB and optical flow features simply concatenated, regardless of the discriminative spacial features and the complementarity between different modalities. In this work, we propose a Multi-Dimensional Attention (MDA) method to explore attention mechanism across three dimensions in weakly supervised action localization, i.e., 1) temporal attention that focuses on segments containing action instances, 2) channel attention that discovers the most relevant cues for action description, and 3) modal attention that fuses RGB and flow information adaptively based on feature magnitudes during background modeling. In addition, we introduce a similarity constraint loss to refine the action segment representation in feature space, which helps the network to detect less discriminative frames of an action to capture the full action boundaries. The proposed MDA with similarity constraints can be easily applied to existing action detection frameworks with few parameters. Extensive experiments on THUMOS’14 and ActivityNet v1.2 datasets show that the proposed method outperforms the current state-of-the-art WTAL approaches, and achieves comparable results with some advanced fully-supervised methods.
COVID-19 and people's continued trust in eHealth systems: a new perspective

ABSTRACT Individuals’ use of eHealth services has increased significantly. However, the recent pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in a significant reallocation of health resources and support. This study investigated the impact of service quality dimensions on individuals’ continued trust in eHealth during COVID-19. A decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach was used to identify and analyse the causal relationships between service quality dimensions and individuals’ continued trust in eHealth services. A total of 134 eHealth users (78 males and 56 females; aged 29–61 years) responded to the DEMATEL questionnaire. The results showed a variation in the impact of service quality factors on individuals’ continued trust in eHealth services. This study found three core factors (responsiveness, assurance and tangibility) that influence individuals’ continued trust in eHealth services. Other secondary factors (e.g. content quality, reliability, efficiency and hedonic benefits) were found to be primarily influenced by the core factors. The identified relationships in this study can aid the decision-making process of healthcare providers and increase the efficiency of healthcare delivery.
Feasibility of a Wearable Cold-Gas Thruster for Fall Prevention

This paper examines the feasibility and control authority of an electronically-controlled cold-gas thruster (CGT) as a backpack-worn device for fall prevention for individuals at fall risk. The CGT is comprised of a pressurized air tank combined with a custom electrically actuated high-flow-capacity valve and servo-controlled nozzle, which are employed together to create a thrust intended to arrest an impending fall. In this paper, the authors present the design of the CGT prototype and experimentally investigate its prospective control authority for purposes of correcting an impending fall.
Structural Engineering Approach for Designing Foil-Based Flexible Capacitive Pressure Sensors

Structural engineering plays an essential role in designing, improving, and optimizing an electromechanical system, instinctively affecting its performance. In this study, design optimization, finite element analysis, and experimental evaluation of capacitive pressure sensors were conducted. The air pressure sensing application was demonstrated to characterize different sensors, which include a combination of multiple rectangular cantilevers and diaphragms (square and circular-shaped). After the design improvement, we found that the square and circular diaphragms each with two trapezoidal cantilevers exhibited highest sensitivity to air pressure monitoring among the different investigated designs which combine the square and circular diaphragms with cantilevers. These designs were then selected for further analysis for acoustic pressure monitoring. The sensors were fabricated using the do-it-yourself technique with household materials such as post-it paper, posted tape, and foil. Our approach offers an alternative to the conventional cleanroom fabrication technique and uses easily available materials to fabricate affordable sensors. Therefore, this is the first step toward the development of democratized and sustainable electronic devices that are affordable and available to everyone on the internet.
Polarization of Femtosecond Laser for Titanium Alloy Nanopatterning Influences Osteoblastic Differentiation

Ultrashort pulse lasers have significant advantages over conventional continuous wave and long pulse lasers for the texturing of metallic surfaces, especially for nanoscale surface structure patterning. Furthermore, ultrafast laser beam polarization allows for the precise control of the spatial alignment of nanotextures imprinted on titanium-based implant surfaces. In this article, we report the biological effect of beam polarization on human mesenchymal stem cell differentiation. We created, on polished titanium-6aluminum-4vanadium (Ti-6Al-4V) plates, a laser-induced periodic surface structure (LIPSS) using linear or azimuthal polarization of infrared beams to generate linear or radial LIPSS, respectively. The main difference between the two surfaces was the microstructural anisotropy of the linear LIPSS and the isotropy of the radial LIPSS. At 7 d post seeding, cells on the radial LIPSS surface showed the highest extracellular fibronectin production. At 14 days, qRT-PCR showed on the same surface an increase in osteogenesis-related genes, such as alkaline phosphatase and osterix. At 21 d, mineralization clusters indicative of final osteoinduction were more abundant on the radial LIPSS. Taken together, we identified that creating more isotropic than linear surfaces enhances cell differentiation, resulting in an improved osseointegration. Thus, the fine tuning of ultrashort pulse lasers may be a promising new route for the functionalization of medical implants.
Educating the Whole Engineer: Transforming an Introductory Engineering Survey Course

Julianne Vernon is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan, the College of Engineering, researching and assessing the redesign of the first year engineering experience. She received her bachelors of engineering in chemical engineering from the City College of New York and her doctorate degree at University of Florida in Environmental Engineer. She has experience developing international and national research experience for STEM majors. Her interests include course development to increase engage learning for first year engineers.
Adaptive on-time control with adjustable virtual ripple and offset cancellation for buck converter

Ripple-based adaptive on-time (RBAOT) control with virtual ripple is a conceptually simple, fast dynamic transient response at lower duty cycle application and lower component count. This control scheme solves the instability issue of subharmonic oscillation when ceramic capacitors are used. These characteristics make the regulators particularly well-suited for power management applications in portable electronic devices and computers. However, this control scheme has some drawbacks of poor dynamic transient response at a specified duty cycle range and inherent output voltage offset problem. This study discussed the aforementioned shortcomings. A new method called RBAOT control with adjustable virtual ripple was proposed to improve dynamic transient response. A new output voltage offset cancellation was also proposed in this study. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed concept achieved fast dynamic transient response without output voltage offset.