Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimation of Task-Evoked Dynamic Effective Connectivity from fMRI in A Visual Target Detection Oddball Experiment

Studies of dynamic effective connectivity (dEC) are important to understand the causal relationships among different brain regions. This paper presents a novel method for fMRI data analysis by estimating dEC using a time-varying autoregressive (TVAR) model with spatial sparsity and temporal continuity constraints. The constrained TVAR model is solved as a least square problem with L1-regularizations for making inference of dEC. To effectively solve the resultant large-scale optimization problem, the derivation of the gradient is also provided so that effective optimizer can be used to reduce the computational complexity and memory requirement. The proposed method is then applied to fMRI data recorded in a visual target detection oddball experiment to estimate task-evoked dEC. To validate the fMRI dEC, we use graph theoretic measures to demonstrate the dynamically properties changes of various of brain regions between tasks. The statistical tests and the result analysis show that the method can effectively capture the brain connectivity patterns among different brain regions, thus verify the effectiveness of the proposed method and suggest it as a promising tool for investigating task-related dEC.
Throwing is affected by self-movement

This study aimed to investigate the influence of running on a treadmill on distance perception. Building upon previous research that demonstrates that, in an open field, targets are perceived further away when running on a treadmill compared to when standing, we sought to examine if this effect persisted within a shorter range of distances, suitable for a throwing task. Fourteen athletes (five women and nine men) with normal or corrected-to-normal vision and good physical condition participated in the study. In Experiment 1, participants made distance estimates at 6 m, revealing a consistent compression effect and larger distance estimates during running. Experiment 2 utilized a throwing task to assess the accuracy of distance perception while running or standing static on a treadmill. Participants were required to throw balls into a hoop, aiming to put the ball through the hoop without visual feedback. The results showed that running on a treadmill influenced distance perception, leading to larger estimates (DOR effect). However, participants exhibited accurate throwing performance regardless of running or static conditions, indicating that the altered distance perception did not affect their ability to accurately throw objects. These findings suggest that the perception of distance is a process that relies on perceptual cues and sensorimotor feedback in a manner that resembles mutually inhibitory interactions between visual and proprioceptive motor information.
Fast repeat‐modelling of time‐lapse seismograms

In order to plan surveys for seismic time‐lapse studies, seismograms are usually simulated for a set of earth models corresponding to different stages of the oil production process. This can be expensive because, for reasons of accuracy, finite‐difference (FD) modelling is very often applied.We present the Born repeat‐modelling technique (BRM), which is a combination of FD modelling and perturbation theory. Production effects are considered as small perturbations of the earth model, and the Born approximation is used to compute the change in the wavefield due to production‐induced modifications to the reservoir properties. This is very efficient in the situation described above.We give a detailed description of the proposed modelling scheme and discuss its applicability. The theoretical foundations of BRM are presented for onshore seismic experiments, and an extension to the case of marine (pressure) seismograms is derived. In addition, the performance of BRM is demonstrated with several numerical examples.
DDETR-SLAM: A Transformer-Based Approach to Pose Optimization in Dynamic Environments

： Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is a critical technology for accurate robot localization and path planning. It has been an important area of research to improve localization accuracy. In this paper, we propose a Transformer-based visual semantic SLAM algorithm (DDETR-SLAM) to address the shortcomings of traditional visual SLAM frameworks, such as large localization errors in dynamic scenes and “ghosting” in 3D mapping. First, by incorporating the Deformable DETR (DEtection TRansformer) network as an object detection thread, the pose estimation accuracy of the system is improved compared to ORB-SLAM2. Furthermore, a dynamic feature point culling algorithm that combines the semantic information is designed to eliminate outlier points generated by dynamic objects, thereby improving the accuracy and robustness of SLAM localization and mapping. Experiments are conducted on the public TUM datasets to verify the localization accuracy, computational efficiency, and readability of the point cloud map of DDETR-SLAM. The results show that in highly dynamic environments, the ATE (Absolute Trajectory Error), translation error, and rotation error are reduced by 98.45%, 95.34%, and 92.67%, respectively, when compared to ORB-SLAM2. In most cases, our proposed system outperforms DS-SLAM, DynaSLAM, Detect-SLAM, RGB-D SLAM, and YOLOv5+ORB-SLAM2, and our methodology improves location accuracy. The dense mapping also has better readability. The RPE (Relative Trajectory Error) is only 0.0076 m, and the ATE is only 0.0063 m.
The Tundra Microclimate During Snow-Melt at Barrow, Alaska

The microclimate of the tundra during spring of 1971 (29 May to 17 June) at Barrow, is described and analysed in terms of the heat balance at the terrestrial surface and the effects of terrain parameters on the heat balance components. Changes through the snow-melting period are large. Within 2 weeks, 35 cm of snow are removed, soil interface temperatures increase by 15°C and the dry snow environment is replaced by a saturated water-soaked tundra surface. As a result, evaporation rates are high: up to 6 mm/day occurs immediately after the snow melt. The latent heat required for this is 40 times higher than during the pre-melting period.
Combining graph convolutional networks and Chebyshev polynomial approximation of spectral �lter to improve spectral clustering

Spectral clustering(SC) is a widely used method of unsupervised learning, which is effective in dealing with many real-world applications. However, existing SC simply drops in three deﬁciencies. Firstly, the traditional SC cannot learn an effective representation among non-Euclidean data. Secondly, for the present algorithms based on spectral clustering, it is necessary to carry out eigendecomposition of the Laplace matrix, that is very time-consuming when processing large-scale data. Thirdly, in large-scale data, the application of the k -means algorithm for spectral clustering will also waste time. To solve these issues, we combine Graph Convolutional Network and Chebyshev polynomial approximation of spectral ﬁlter to improve spectral clustering (CGCSC). Speciﬁcally, the proposed CGCSC algorithm ﬁrst uses Graph Convolutional Networks (GCN) to express and analyze non-Euclidean data, and then builds the Laplace matrix. Meanwhile,we use Chebyshev polynomial approximation of spectral ﬁlter technology to avoid the eigendecomposition of the Laplace matrix, which is completely different from traditional ways. Additionally, this paper adopts a uniform distribution sampling technique, which can do a random sample of graph signals, further reduce the data scale and improve the k -means’ speed in SC. The performance of CGCSC is tested on artiﬁcial and natural datasets. Compared with several advanced clustering algorithms, the experiment shows that CGCSC can considerably improve the clustering speed, and at the same time ensuring the clustering accuracy.
Designing Pyrrolopyrimidine Linked Triazole Derivatives as JAK Inhibitors for Anti-Cancer Activity: Molecular Docking Analysis and ADMET Prediction

Janus kinases (JAKs) are a family of non-receptor tyrosine kinases that play a central role in the signaling pathways of many cellular processes, including in�ammation, cell growth, and differentiation. JAK inhibitors have been shown to have potential as anticancer agents. In this study, a series of pyrrolopyrimidine-linked triazole derivatives were designed and synthesized. The molecular docking studies were performed using Auto Dock Vina to evaluate the binding a�nity of the compounds with JAK. The ADMET properties of the compounds were predicted using the ADMET Predictor software. The molecular docking studies showed that the compounds have a good binding a�nity with JAK. The ADMET properties of the compounds were predicted to be favorable. According to a study on Passonline study, the substances will react with thioredoxin inhibitor activity with the fewest negative effects. Given that the proposed compounds only violate one of the "rules of �ve," it can be said that these derivatives may have oral activity. All of the proposed compounds can be regarded as safer lead molecules based on the ADMET study. based on the docking Analysis revealed that the derivatives had the lowest minimum binding energy to the protein and had a strong binding a�nity. The docking results indicated that the compounds D2 and D6 respectively, would be the most potent inhibitors. Hydrophobic and hydrogen bond interactions occur between the molecules. These results suggest that the pyrrolopyrimidine-linked triazole derivatives have the potential as JAK inhibitors for anticancer activity.
Differences of gene regulation by TLR3 and IPS-1 in polyI:C-stimulated murine corneal epithelial cells

Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) and interferon-beta promoter stimulator-1 (IPS-1) are associated with antiviral responses to double-stranded RNA viruses and contribute to innate immunity. We previously reported that conjunctival epithelial cell (CEC) TLR3 and IPS-1 pathways respond to the common ligand polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (polyI:C) to regulate different gene expression patterns as well as CD11c + cell migration in murine-model corneas. However, the differences in the functions and the roles of TLR3 and IPS-1 remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the differences of TLR3 or IPS-1-induced gene expression in corneal epithelial cells (CECs) in response to polyI:C stimulation using cultured murine primary CECs (mPCECs) derived from TLR3 and IPS-1 knockout mice via comprehensive analysis. The genes associated with viral responses were upregulated in the wild-type mice mPCECs after polyI:C stimulation. Among these genes, Neurl3, Irg1, and LIPG were dominantly regulated by TLR3, while interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-15 were dominantly regulated by IPS-1. CCL5, CXCL10, OAS2, Slfn4, TRIM30 α , and Gbp9 were complementarily regulated by both TLR3 and IPS-1. Our �ndings suggest that CECs may contribute to immune responses and that TLR3 and IPS-1 possibly have different functions in the corneal innate immune response.
Facile green synthesis of Silver nanoparticles using ventilago maderaspatana leaf extract, physicochemical properties and evaluation of antidiabetic potential against streptozotocin induced diabetic albino rats

The Silver nanoparticles (NPs) had been bio-synthesized using Ventilago maderaspatana leaf extract. The chemical and physical properties of the biosynthesized Silver NPs had been analyzed by XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, EDAX, FTIR and UV – visible absorption. The diffraction pattern con�rmed the cubic structure of the synthesized NPs. The average crystallite size had been calculated by the Debye Scherrer’s method and W-H plot as 11.7 and 9.3 nm, respectively. The FESEM and TEM images con�rmed the sized distribution around this range. The antidiabetic e�ciency of the biosynthesized Silver NPs were assessed in a group of rats for 10 mg/ kg b.w and 20 mg/kg b.w. Injection of streptozotocin in experimental rat showed elevated level of biochemical parameters such as serum blood glucose, total protein, albumin and HbA1c. Meanwhile, serum insulin (2.50 ± 0.55) and activity of glucokinase (64.50 ± 8.66) levels were diminished. Treatment with silver nanoparticles decreased levels blood glucose, total protein, albumin and HbA1c to normal in dose dependent manner. On the other hand, insulin level (7.55 ± 0.63) and activity of glucokinase (121.50 ± 4.60) level were increased. It was due to the antidiabetic potential of V. maderaspatana mediated silver nanoparticles.
Measuring development progress in Africa: the denominator problem

Abstract In developing countries, assessments of progress towards development goals are based increasingly on household surveys. Typically, they omit by design: the homeless; those in institutions; and mobile, nomadic or pastoralist populations. Moreover, in practice household surveys typically underrepresent: those in fragile, disjointed households; slum populations and areas posing security risks. Those six subgroups constitute a large fraction of the “poorest of the poor”. These “missing” poor are estimated to constitute about 11 per cent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa. Their omission from the sampling frames of household surveys leads to substantial biases in the assessment of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
Migration of Mallards Anas platyrhynchos in Hungary: Migration phenology, the origin of migrants, and long‐term changes

Hungarian wetlands are internationally important staging and wintering places for many Eurasian waterfowl. However, published data on migration are scarce or completely lacking for the majority of waterfowl species from the region. In this study we investigated the migration phenology and the origin of Mallard Anas platyrhynchos populations during the non‐breeding season in Hungary. A large‐scale monitoring study conducted on Lake Balaton and Kis‐Balaton between 2003 and 2007 showed that population sizes fluctuated seasonally and peaked during winter months (December‐January), with around 10,000 birds staying in some years on Lake Balaton. Using both Hungarian ringing data and recoveries of 14 other European countries we found that Mallards migrated to Hungarian wetlands most frequently from breeding populations in Russia, Lithuania and Poland. Recoveries of birds coming from northern and western European countries were rare, suggesting limited movements between these and central European populations. Finally, Mallards now tend to migrate to Hungarian wetlands from shorter distances away than in earlier years and the direction of their migration has also changed significantly, which may indicate changes in the geographical location of source populations.
Influence of meteorological factors on air pollution concentration for a coastal region in India

A long-term study of measurement of concentration of NOx, SO2 and TSP pollutants have been done in a port and harbour region in India. Monthly measurements of gaseous and particulate pollutants were made at six monitoring stations from January 1997 to December 2000. Meteorological data was also simultaneously collected. In this study, the relationship between monitored ambient air quality data and meteorological factors, such as wind speed, temperature, is statistically analysed, using the SPSS package. The monthly mean concentrations of NOx, SO2 and TSP were in the range of 19.5–59.0 µg/m³, 8.6–51.3 µg/m³ and 88.2–199.3 µg/m³, respectively. The results show that TSP is strongly correlated with NOx and SO2 with a correlation coefficient of 0.83 and 0.82, respectively. The correlation coefficients for TSP, NOx, and SO2 with wind are –0.78, –0.78, and –0.88, respectively.
Global urbanization bene�ts food security and nature restoration

Urbanization has been considered as an antagonist to food security and nature restoration due to land-taking by urban expansion. However, if urbanization was undertaken with a focus on integrated urban– rural development, it could in face release land areas globally. Here show that domestic rural-to-urban migration with urbanization can support a global population with 2 billion more people, while requiring 49 million hectares of less built-up lands due to higher population density in urban relative to rural areas, over the period from 2020 to 2050. If no urbanization would occur, currently predicted growth trends in global population would require an additional 46 million hectares of lands. If cross-countries rural-to-urban migration is supported, land release could be increased up to 67 million hectares. This amount could satisfy 51% of global cropland demand in 2050, and as an additional bene�t, reduce cropland fragmentation. If the land areas released were set aside for nature restoration, 4,488 more species could be protected. As a further co-benet, additional carbon sequestration of 15 billion tonnes could be achieved over the period from 2020 to 2050. Policies to promote cross-countries rural-to-urban migration and management of released lands would help to bene�ts food security and natural restoration.
Neogene to Quaternary rifting, sedimentation and uplift in the Corinth Basin,Greece

Normal faulting, regional uplift and glacio-eustacy have controlled patterns of sedimentation on a variety of scales during the active rift history of the Corinth Basin. Extensive sections through 800 m of early rift deposits are exposed in the north of the basin. These are overlain by andesites dated at 3.62 ± 0.18 and 4.00 ± 0.40 Ma. Early in the rifting process, basin relief controlled by normal faulting determined broad environmental conditions. Slope gradients determined transport process within an east-west asymmetric graben. Palaeoflow and provenance data allow lateral and axial sediment dispersal systems to be distinguished, and indicate that the Corinth basin was separated by a drainage divide from the larger Gulf of Corinth basin, to the west, during the Lower Pliocene. Sedimentary facies and thickness changes across faults, and the distribution of unconformities and soft-sediment deformation features define active tectonism at this time. As such, the Corinth Basin provides a model for the recognition of syn-rift unconformities and associated depositional patterns in other extensional basins. Since the mid-Pliocene, a combination of regional, crustal uplift and of more localized, fault-controlled, extensional subsidence have determined basin form. In the north of the basin, Lower Pliocene and Quaternary marine sediments have been uplifted up to 300 m above present-day sea-level. Normal faulting during the same episode separated successive intrabasinal depocentres from emergent highs that were subject to erosion. The competition between uplift and extensional subsidence has important implications for the back-arc evolution of the central Aegean area. The uplift suggests that crustal underplating by the subducted Mediterranean plate may have advanced as far north as northern Peloponessus and Corinth by the Upper Pliocene-Lower Pleistocene.
Opening the Blood-Brain Barrier in the Substantia Nigra of Rat Brain with Focused Ultrasound and Microbubbles

Parkinson disease is a slowly progressive parkinsonian syndrome that begins insidiously, but gradually worsens in severity. Normally, the blood vessels of the brain present a blood-brain barrier (BBB), which is a biochemical barrier combined with a high selective structure that not only impedes the absorption of damaging molecules, but also the delivery of drugs. Recently, focused ultrasound (FUS) with microbubbles (MB) has been used to achieve local blood-brain barrier opening to increase penetration of therapeutic drugs into the brain. This paper presents a protocol to open the BBB with 2 MHz focused ultrasound during the presence of microbubbles and using craniotomies in Wistar rats; it was determined the required power to effectively produce BBB disruption without tissue damage. The opening of the BBB was made at the substantia nigra, which will be used to release a specific drug for Parkinson disease. The results show that with low power (3 W) the BBB was reversibly open at the targeted zone.
Association of polymorphisms in FADS gene with age-related changes in serum phospholipid polyunsaturated fatty acids and oxidative stress markers in middle-aged nonobese men

Background: To investigate the association of FADS gene polymorphisms with age-related changes in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in serum phospholipids and oxidative stress markers. Methods: We genotyped 122 nonobese men aged 35–59 years without any known diseases at baseline for rs174537 near FADS1 (FEN1 rs174537G > T), FADS2 (rs174575, rs2727270), and FADS3 (rs1000778), and followed them for 3 years. Results: Among the four single-nucleotide polymorphisms, the minor variants of rs174537 and rs2727270 were significantly associated with lower concentrations of long-chain PUFAs. However, rs174537G > T showed stronger association. At baseline, men with the rs174537T allele had lower arachidonic acid (AA) and AA/linoleic acid (LA), and higher interleukin (IL)-6 levels than rs174537GG counterparts. After 3 years, rs174537GG men had significantly increased AA (P = 0.022), AA/dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (DGLA) (P = 0.007), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and oxidized LDL (ox-LDL), but decreased eicosatrienoic acid. The rs174537T group showed significantly increased γ-linolenic acid and ox-LDL, and decreased eicosadienoic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)/α-linolenic acid (ALA), and IL-6. After 3 years, the rs174537T group had lower AA (P < 0.001), AA/DGLA (P = 0.019), EPA, DPA, EPA/ALA, and urinary 8-epi-prostaglandin F2α (8-epi-PGF2α) (P = 0.011) than rs174537GG. Changes in AA (P = 0.001), AA/DGLA (P = 0.017), EPA, DPA, EPA/ALA, and urinary 8-epi-PGF2α (P < 0.001) were significantly different between the groups after adjusting for baseline values. Overall, changes in AA positively correlated with changes in urinary 8-epi-PGF2α (r = 0.249, P = 0.007), plasma ox-LDL (r = 0.199, P = 0.045), and serum IL-6 (r = 0.289, P = 0.004). Conclusion: Our data show that FADS polymorphisms can affect age-associated changes in serum phospholipid long-chain PUFAs, Δ5-desaturase activity, and oxidative stress in middle-aged nonobese men. In particular, the rs174537T allele did not show the age-associated increases in AA and Δ5-desaturase activity seen with the rs174537GG genotype.
Sensitivity of the quasi‐biennial oscillation to CO2 doubling

The quasi‐biennial oscillation (QBO) is a major oscillation with a characteristic period of 28 months that influences substantially the stratospheric circulation and chemistry. This exploratory study investigates its possible change by direct simulation of the QBO in a doubled CO2 climate for a range of gravity wave sources. It is found that a QBO spin‐up is likely. In the most extreme case the period is nearly halved. Important accelerating factors are the decreased tropical upwelling and increased gravity wave drag, while increased filtering of eastward gravity waves in the upper tropical troposphere acts as a decelerating factor.
PCBs in Lake Michigan water revisited

PCBs were determined in water samples from 11 open water sites in Lake Michigan and compared to data from 1980. PCB concentrations declined from 1980 to 1991 with a first-order rate constant calculated to be −0.078 yr-1. The most southern and southwesterly sites sampled were higher in concentration and exhibited different homolog profiles and partitioning behavior than samples from other sites. The organic carbon-normalized partition coefficients were not correlated to Kow. A simple mass budget about the water column for 1991 using current measurements of PCB inputs and outputs shows a significant imbalance of PCBs and indicates the need for further study of the roles that subregional atmospheric deposition and sediment−water interactions play as sources to the lake.