Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phenanthroindolizidine Alkaloids Secondary Metabolites Diversity in Medicinally Viable Plants of the Genus Tylophora

Plants of the genus Tylophora have commonly been used in traditional medicine in various communities, especially in the tropical and subtropical regions of climatic zones. Of the nearly 300 species reported in the Tylophora genus, eight are primarily used in various forms to treat a variety of bodily disorders based on the symptoms. Certain plants from the genus have found use as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-allergic, anti-microbial, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, anti-oxidant, smooth muscle relaxant, immunomodulatory, and anti-plasmodium agents, as well as free-radical scavengers. Pharmacologically, a few plant species from the genus have exhibited broad-spectrum anti-microbial and anti-cancer activity, which has been proven through experimental evaluations. Some of the plants in the genus have also helped in alcohol-induced anxiety amelioration and myocardial damage repair. The plants belonging to the genus have also shown diuretic, anti-asthmatic, and hepato-protective activities. Tylophora plants have afforded diverse structural bases for secondary metabolites, mainly belonging to phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids, which have been found to treat several diseases with promising pharmacological activity levels. This review encompasses information on various Tylophora species, their distribution, corresponding plant synonyms, and chemical diversity of the secondary metabolic phytochemicals as reported in the literature, together with their prominent biological activities.
The surface-shape operator and its application to image retrieval

This paper proposes an operator called the surface-shape sperator for describing image structures. By considering an image function as a surface, the surface-shape operator is established for describing the shape of each pixel compared with its neighbourhood, In this paper,the surface-shape operator is used as a pre-processing for describing the multiscale topographic structures of images in scale-space representation. Then, image features are extracted from the transformed images instead of the original ones. The surface-shape operator has invariant properties under linear and monotonic gray tone transformations, and is insensitive to additive noises modelled by linear functions, so it has robustness with brightness variations and shading effects. Finally, we show the usefulness of the proposed approach with the image retrieval application. By comparing the Wold features, the multiresolution simultaneous autoregressive features and the proposed features, the proposed features can provide the best pattern retrieval accuracy.
Mean-Field and Second-Moment Budgets in a Baroclinic, Convective Boundary Layer

Abstract Terms in the budgets of turbulence kinetic energy, temperature and humidity variances, and temperature and humidity fluxes have been evaluated for a baroclinic, convective boundary layer using data obtained from the NCAR Electra aircraft during the Air Mass Transformation Experiment (AMTEX). Although the mean temperature and momentum budgets, which were also evaluated, are strongly influenced by the horizontal temperature gradient, the second-moment budgets are little affected. The mean momentum budget is not well balanced, probably due to a combination of neglect of horizontal advection (aircraft advection measurements are shown to be statistically unreliable) and error in the surface geostrophic wind. For the most part, the measured terms in the second-moment budgets agree with previous estimates. Turbulence dissipation, however, was systematically less than that found in previous tower-based experiments. We find that over most of the mixed layer the temperature variance is maintained by turbul.
PCA-based leakage detection method for water supply systems considering complex Fourier components

The water leakage leads to deficient water supplies, roads caving in, leakage in buildings, and secondary disasters. In this study, we propose the PCA-based automatic water leakage detection method considering complex Fourier components. The water leakage sounds and pseudo sounds, such as gas flow sounds, water usage sounds etc., are collected by microphone put on the ground. The Fourier spectra are obtained through the short-time Fourier transform (STFT). Then the principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to complex Fourier components of each collected sound data. The contribution ratio and the kurtosis of the eigenvector of the first principal component show the good ability to distinguish the water leakage sounds from the pseudo sounds. Therefore, the feature vectors are created from these PCA parameters. Based on them, the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is built. The results show that the classification can reach a very high accuracy. At last, applicability of the proposed water leakage detection method is well demonstrated.
A new design of a directional coupler for high order mode multiplexing in few mode fibers

We propose a new and versatile design of a directional coupler able to generate and multiplex high order modes in few mode fibers. The designed device can selectively generate five high order modes and multiplex them in a few mode fiber with an overall insertion loss not exceeding 3dB at the telecommunication wavelength λ = 1550 nm. The mode dependent loss is found to be weakly dependent to the wavelength. The proposed device is very promising for high order mode multiplexing and suitable for high bit-rate optical communication systems.
Establishment and validation of a nomogram to predict cancer-specific survival in pediatric neuroblastoma patients

Background The term “neuroblastoma (NB)” refers to a type of solid pediatric tumor that develops from undivided neuronal cells. According to the American Cancer Society report, between 700 and 800 children under the age of 14 are diagnosed with NB every year in the United States (U.S.). About 6% of all cases of pediatric cancer in the U.S. are caused by NB. NB is the most frequent malignancy in children younger than 1 year; however, it is rarely found in those over the age of 10 and above. Objective To accurately predict cancer-specific survival (CSS) in children with NB, this research developed and validated an all-encompassing prediction model. Methods The present retrospective study used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to collect information on 1,448 individuals diagnosed with NB between 1998 and 2019. The pool of potentially eligible patients was randomly split into two groups, a training cohort (N = 1,013) and a validation cohort (N = 435). Using multivariate Cox stepwise regression, we were able to identify the components that independently predicted outcomes. The accuracy of this nomogram was measured employing the consistency index (C-index), area under the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), calibration curve, and decision-curve analysis (DCA). Results In this study, we found that age, primary location, tumor size, summary stage, chemotherapy, and surgery were all significant predictors of CSS outcomes and integrated them into our model accordingly. The C-index for the validation cohort was 0.812 (95% CI: 0.773–0.851), while for the training cohort it was 0.795 (95% CI: 0.767–0.823). The C-indexes and AUC values show that the nomogram is able to discriminate well enough. The calibration curves suggest that the nomogram is quite accurate. Also, the DCA curves demonstrated the prediction model's value. Conclusion A novel nomogram was developed and validated in this work to assess personalized CSS in NB patients, and it has been indicated that this model could be a useful tool for calculating NB patients’ survival on an individual basis and enhancing therapeutic decision-making.
Annexin A protein family: Focusing on the occurrence, progression and treatment of cancer

The annexin A (ANXA) protein family is a well-known tissue-specific multigene family that encodes Ca2+ phospholipid-binding proteins. A considerable amount of literature is available on the abnormal expression of ANXA proteins in various malignant diseases, including cancer, atherosclerosis and diabetes. As critical regulatory molecules in cancer, ANXA proteins play an essential role in cancer progression, proliferation, invasion and metastasis. Recent studies about their structure, biological properties and functions in different types of cancers are briefly summarised in this review. We further discuss the use of ANXA as new class of targets in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Upgrade Rate of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ to Invasive Carcinoma and the Clinicopathological Factors Predicting the Upgrade Following a Mastectomy: A Retrospective Study

Background The rate of upgrading ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to invasive cancer varies widely in the literature with no consensus regarding sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for DCIS; however, some guidelines do recommend it in the event of a mastectomy. The primary aim of this study was to determine the upgrade rate of DCIS to invasive carcinoma (IC) in patients undergoing mastectomy for DCIS and identify the clinicopathological predicting factors for the upgrade. The secondary aim was to determine the SLNB positivity rate. Methodology We retrospectively analysed consecutive patients with DCIS diagnosed through a biopsy who then underwent mastectomy over a 10-year period (2010 to 2020). Clinical, radiological, and histological variables were collected from medical records. Results We studied 143 women (mean age = 57.4 years, range = 26-85 years) who underwent mastectomy for DCIS identified on biopsy. Almost two-thirds (62.9%, 90/143) of the patients were detected on screening mammography, while 35.6% (51/143) were diagnosed following presentation with either an area of palpable concern or nipple discharge. The most common mammographic presentation of DCIS was calcification (83.9%, 120/143), and, in 85.9% of the patients, the mammographic lesion was more than 20 mm. High-grade DCIS was noted in 76.9% of preoperative biopsy results, while the rest was either low or intermediate-grade DCIS. Overall, 24.5% (35/143) were upgraded to IC (upgraded group) on postoperative histology, whereas 108/143 remained DCIS postoperatively (pure DCIS group). The positivity rate of SLNB was 4.8%. Multifocality was the only significant predictor of IC on multivariate analyses of clinicopathological predictors (odds ratio = 3.0, 95% confidence interval = 1.0-8.7). The presence of comedonecrosis was higher in the upgraded group compared to the pure DCIS group (42.9% vs. 27.8%), but this was not statistically significant. Conclusions In our study cohort, nearly one in four (24.5%) patients were upgraded from DCIS to IC on postoperative histology, with an SLNB positivity rate of 4.8%. This is important when counselling patients regarding the risk of coincident occult IC and the importance of SLNB at the time of mastectomy. Multifocality on preoperative imaging was the only significant predictive factor. Based on this result, we recommend that SLNB should also be considered if patients have multifocal DCIS and planned for oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery. However, further studies are required to investigate the association between multifocal DCIS and the risk of upgrading to IC.
Tidal cycle and time of day control pH levels in coastal habitats of the western Indian Ocean: the case of Mnazi and Chwaka Bays in Tanzania

Ocean acidification, a progressive decrease in the pH and change in the carbonate chemistry of seawater caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, is a growing crisis that threatens marine species. pH data relevant to a species’ natural habitat in the coastal waters of the western Indian Ocean (WIO) is still sparse, limiting the capacity to undertake manipulative studies to better understand the impacts of ocean acidification on marine species. This study investigated tidal and day-night pH variations in mangrove, seagrass, and coral reef habitats of the WIO by using Tanzania as a case study. The mean pH of the studied coastal habitats was highest in seagrass (8.49 ± 0.29), followed by coral reef (8.33 ± 0.06), and lowest in mangrove (8.20 ± 0.17). Seagrass habitats had the highest pH (9.06) during the day at low spring tides, mangrove habitats had the highest pH (8.45) during the day at high spring tides, and coral reef habitats had the highest pH (8.47) during the day at low tides. Seagrass habitats had the widest pH range (1.03), followed by mangrove habitats (0.54), while coral reef habitats had the narrowest range (0.23). The water with the highest pH during the day was transported to nearby mangrove habitats during incoming tides and to coral reef habitats during outgoing tides, resulting in the highest mean pH in mangrove and coral reef habitats during spring high and low tides, respectively. pH within the seagrass habitats correlated strongly and positively with changes in temperature (r=0.80), dissolved oxygen (r=0.84), and salinity (r=0.72), while pH in mangrove habitats correlated moderately and positively with dissolved oxygen (r=0.59). This study provides in-situ evidence on the pH fluctuations in the WIO’s coastal habitats over time and space, with water from seagrass habitats capable of raising the pH of water in nearby mangrove and coral reef habitats during the day, thereby potentially helping in the mitigation of the effects of ocean acidification on these habitats.
The effects of cylindrical surface modifications on turbulent boundary layers

A study employing hydrogen bubble wire flow visualization and hot-film anemometry measurements has been conducted to determine the effects of sublayer-scal e streamwise surface modifications on the structure and flow characteristics of turbulent boundary layers. The visualization results indicate that the surface modifications did affect the streak spacing characteristics, with the greatest effect occurring for s+ 10, the determined streak spacing distributions and statistics appear to relax back to those characteristics of an unmodified surface. Mean velocity and turbulence intensity profiles determined for the modified surfaces indicate essential similarity with those of conventional turbulent boundary layers with variations occurring only near the modified surface. Momentum balances employing the measured velocity profiles indicate that the modifications cause an increase in total surface drag in comparison with an unmodified flat plate. The degree of drag increase shows an apparent correspondence with a narrowing of the line spacing. A hypothesis correlating the increase in drag with changes in the low-speed streak structure by the surface modifications is proposed.
Velocity macro‐model estimation from seismic reflection data by stereotomography

SUMMARY We introduce a new tomographic method for estimating velocity macro-models from seismic reflection data. In addition to traveltimes picked on locally coherent reflected events, the method requires that the associated local slopes of the events be picked simultaneously in the common-shot and common-receiver trace gathers. The data then consist of a discrete collection of traveltimes, positions and slopes for selected reflected events. Unlike traveltime tomography, picked events are only required to be locally coherent. It is not necessary to follow continuous arrivals all over the trace gathers. Indeed, the method does not require the introduction of interfaces in the model description. Several approaches of tomography using the slope have already been proposed. We present a unified formulation for slope tomography methods, in which the model is described by the velocity field and a set of ray-segment pairs associated with the reflected/diVracted events. We propose a new robust slope tomography method, which we call ‘stereotomography’. It consists of fitting all observed data (positions, slopes and traveltimes) to data calculated by ray tracing. There are no theoretical limitations in stereotomography for laterally heterogeneous velocity macro-models. Practically, traveltimes and slopes are picked on local slant stack panels. Ray multipathing can be accounted for since paths are discriminated by their associated slopes. The non-linear inverse problem is iteratively resolved by a local optimization.
Dose rate dependence and time constant of the ion‐beam‐induced crystallization mechanism in silicon

The influence of dose rate on the ion‐beam‐induced crystallization of amorphous layers in silicon has been investigated. The amorphous layers were produced by self‐ion implantation both in bulk silicon and in silicon on sapphire. Subsequent recrystallization was induced at 200 to 400 °C by Ne, Si, Ar, and Kr ion beams of 300 keV energy passing through the amorphous layers. Rutherford backscattering/channeling measurements showed that the regrowth rate decreased with increasing dose rate. This behavior was more pronounced for heavy ions where high dose rates and/or low temperatures could reverse the recrystallization and induce further amorphous growth of the layer. In this new solid‐phase growth regime, the amorphous/crystalline interface moved inwards into the crystal in a manner similar to an epitaxial process. An intermittent beam experiment yielded a time constant for the ion beam induced crystallization mechanism of the order of 0.3 s. The time constant and a scaling law for different ions support a .
Time resolved imaging studies of the plasma produced by laser ablation of silicon in O2/Ar atmosphere

The dynamics of the expansion plasma produced by excimer laser ablation of a silicon target into oxygen and mixed O20Ar atmosphere were studied by means of time-resolved imaging of the expanding plume. Experiments were performed in pure oxygen, ranging between 0.13 and 13.33 Pa, and at different O20Ar ratios at a fixed total pressure of 13.33 Pa. The occurrence of a shock wave ~SW! generated by the supersonic expansion of the plasma was observed at high pressure values. The presence of the SW had a strong influence on the structure of SiOx thin films. In fact, silicon dioxidethinfilmswerealwaysobtainedinpresenceoftheSW,irrespectiveoftheoxygencontentinthegaseousmixture. On the contrary, suboxide thin films were obtained when the expansion occurred at lower pressure values ~no SW presence! The temperature rise following the developing of the SW, is supposed to enhance the oxygen molecules dissociation by increasing the efficiency of the silicon oxidation reaction.
Model Selection and Estimation of Long-Memory Time-Series Models

An exploratory estimation of ARFIMA(p,d,q) models on agricultural spot and futures markets showed us that the estimated d is quite sensitive to the number of lags included in the short-term dynamics. AIC and SIC agreed there were many lags but, familiarly, disagreed on how many. To address this issue, I run a series of Monte Carlo experiments and test the performance (i) of the AIC and the SIC in selecting p and q and (ii) of the AIC, the SIC and the multimodel-inference approach of Burnham and Anderson (2002) in estimating d. I contribute to the literature by studying high-order data generating processes-up to (8,d,8) rather than (2,d,0); by testing also the MMI-approach; and by studying the impact of excluding models close to the data generating process from the set of candidate models. Three findings stand out. First, the familiar result that, in terms of order selection, the SIC outperforms the AIC for low-order models gets reversed for high-order models. Second, for inference on the presence or absence of fractional integration, I find that the SIC still dominates both the AIC and the MMI-approach. Third, set-up snooping (if the true model is also a candidate model) has little impact.
Robust Multi-Ship Tracker in SAR Imagery by Fusing Feature Matching and Modified KCF

In previous research, most multiobject tracking (MOT) algorithms focus on the optical image dataset, while the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image dataset faces the characteristics of few prior samples, high false alarm rate, and various defocusing interference. On the SAR image dataset, a robust MOT algorithm is proposed to fulfill multi-ship tracking in complex imaging conditions. First, the kernelized correlation filters (KCFs) algorithm, a single-object tracking algorithm, is modified and applied to reduce the impact of false alarms on tracking performance. After that, different matching strategies are adaptively adapted to associate the targets based on the three intersection patterns between the predictions and the detections, which can reduce the impact of the deviated detections. Finally, the tracker’s time limit with Gaussian distribution is proposed to improve the reassociation ability after the tracking interruption caused by the defocusing. The experiment results demonstrate the robust tracking ability of the proposed MOT algorithm.
On a nonlinear parabolic problem arising in some models related to turbulent flows

This paper studies the Cauchy–Dirichlet problem associated with the equation \[ b(u)_t - {\operatorname{div}}\left( {| {\nabla u - K(b(u)){\bf e}} |^{p - 2} (\nabla u - K(b(u)){\bf e})} \right) + g(x,u) = f(t,x). \] This problem arises in the study of some turbulent regimes: flows of incompressible turbulent fluids through porous media and gases flowing in pipes of uniform cross sectional areas. The paper focuses on the class of bounded weak solutions, and shows (under suitable assumptions) their stabilization, as $t \to \infty $, to the set of bounded weak solutions of the associated stationary problem. The existence and comparison properties (implying uniqueness) of such solutions are also investigated.
The 2010 Nobel Prize in physics—ground-breaking experiments on graphene

The 2010 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Professors Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for their ground-breaking experiments on graphene, a single atomic layer of carbon, and more generally, for their pioneering work in uncovering a new class of materials, namely two-dimensional atomic crystals. This paper gives an accessible account and review of the story of graphene; from its first description in the literature, to the realization and confirmation of its remarkable properties, through to its impressive potential for broad-reaching applications. The story of graphene is written within the context of the enormous impact that Geim and Novoselovs' work has had on this field of research, and recounts their personal pathways of discovery, which ultimately led to their award of the 2010 Nobel Prize.
Silica Nanoparticles in Xanthan Gum Solutions: Oil Recovery Efficiency in Core Flooding Tests

Polymer flooding is one of the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods that increase the macroscopic efficiency of the flooding process and enhanced crude oil recovery. In this study, the effect of silica nanoparticles (NP-SiO2) in xanthan gum (XG) solutions was investigated through the analysis of efficiency in core flooding tests. First, the viscosity profiles of two polymer solutions, XG biopolymer and synthetic hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) polymer, were characterized individually through rheological measurements, with and without salt (NaCl). Both polymer solutions were found suitable for oil recovery at limited temperatures and salinities. Then, nanofluids composed of XG and dispersed NP-SiO2 were studied through rheological tests. The addition of nanoparticles was shown to produce a slight effect on the viscosity of the fluids, which was more remarkable over time. Interfacial tension tests were measured in water-mineral oil systems, without finding an effect on the interfacial properties with the addition of polymer or nanoparticles in the aqueous phase. Finally, three core flooding experiments were conducted using sandstone core plugs and mineral oil. The polymers solutions (XG and HPAM) with 3% NaCl recovered 6.6% and 7.5% of the residual oil from the core, respectively. In contrast, the nanofluid formulation recovered about 13% of the residual oil, which was almost double that of the original XG solution. The nanofluid was therefore more effective at boosting oil recovery in the sandstone core.