Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular Markers of Ovarian Germ Cells of Banana Prawn (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis)

The banana prawn (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis) is a valuable prawn in the worldwide market. However, cultivation of this species is limited owing to the difficulty in culture management and limited knowledge of reproduction. Therefore, we studied the gene expression and molecular mechanisms involved in oogenesis for elucidating ovarian germ cell development in banana prawns. The tissue-specific distribution of certain genes identified from previous transcriptome data showed that FmCyclinB, FmNanos, and nuclear autoantigenic sperm protein (FmNASP) were only expressed in gonads. The in situ hybridization (ISH) of these three genes showed different expression patterns throughout oogenesis. FmCyclinB was highly expressed in pre-vitellogenic oocytes. FmNanos was expressed at almost the same level during oogenesis but showed the most expression in late pre-vitellogenic stages. Based on the highest expression of FmCyclinB and FmNanos in mid pre-vitellogenic and late pre-vitellogenic oocytes, respectively, we suggested that FmNanos may suppress FmCyclinB expression before initiation of vitellogenesis. Meanwhile, FmNASP expression was detected only in pre-vitellogenesis. Moreover, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis of FmNASP expression was supported by FmNASP ISH analysis based on high expression of FmNASP in sub-adult ovaries, which contain most of pre-vitellogenic oocytes. In this study, we found three reliable ovarian markers for banana prawns and also found a dynamic change of molecular mechanism during the sub-stage of pre-vitellogenesis. We determined the expression levels of these genes involved in oogenesis. Our findings provide information for further studies on banana prawn reproduction which may assist in their cultivation.
SNP screening of the HSD3B1 gene and its association with laying performance in Taihang chickens

The 3 beta- and steroid delta-isomerase 1 (HSD3B1) gene has a great influence on reproductive traits and therefore has been widely studied. However, little is known about the relationships between polymorphisms of the HSD3B1 gene and laying traits in Taihang chickens. Therefore, the HSD3B1 gene was selected for polymorphism detection and analysis of its relationship with laying performance traits. The mRNA expression levels of HSD3B1 in 16 tissues of Taihang chickens were detected, and the HSD3B1 gene was SNP screened and genotyped, and associated with laying traits. The results showed that the HSD3B1 gene was widely expressed. The HSD3B1 expression level was highest in F1 follicles, lowest in small white follicles, and differentially expressed in large follicles with small yellow follicles. The C274T allele was moderately polymorphic in Taihang chickens, and the age of opening day was significantly earlier for the CC genotype than for other genotypes. The present results demonstrate that the homozygous CC genotype can be considered a genotype for molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) to improve the breeding efficiency of Taihang chickens.
Distributed Robust Kalman Filtering with Unknown and Noisy Parameters in Sensor Networks

This paper investigates the distributed filtering for discrete-time-invariant systems in sensor networks where each sensor’s measuring system may not be observable, and each sensor can just obtain partial system parameters with unknown coefficients which are modeled by Gaussian white noises. A fully distributed robust Kalman filtering algorithm consisting of two parts is proposed. One is a consensus Kalman filter to estimate the system parameters. It is proved that the mean square estimation errors for the system parameters converge to zero if and only if, for any one system parameter, its accessible node subset is globally reachable. The other is a consensus robust Kalman filter to estimate the system state based on the system matrix estimations and covariances. It is proved that the mean square estimation error of each sensor is upper-bounded by the trace of its covariance. An explicit sufficient stability condition of the algorithm is further provided. A numerical simulation is given to illustrate the results.
Towards Digital Twins of Plasmonic Sensors: Constructing the Complex Numerical Model of a Plasmonic Sensor Based on Hexagonally Arranged Gold Nanoparticles

In this work, we aim to design the digital twin of a plasmonic sensor based on hexagonally arranged ellipsoidal gold nanoparticles fixed to a glass substrate. Based on electron microscopy images of three experimentally realized nanoparticle arrangement types, we constructed numerical models in environments based on finite element method (FEM) and boundary element method (BEM), namely COMSOL Multiphysics for FEM and the MNPBEM Matlab Toolbox for BEM. Models with nonperiodic and periodic boundary conditions with different unit cells were constructed to study the plasmonic behavior of both the single ellipsoidal particles and the hexagonal nanoparticle arrangements. The effect of the geometrical parameters, namely the interparticle distance, the nanoparticle diameter and thickness, on the resulting LSPR peak positions and bulk refractive index sensitivities were studied in detail, also taking into account the effect of the SiO2 substrate (pillars) under the ellipsoidal particles. We have demonstrated that by optimizing the models, the LSPR peak positions (and sensitivities) can match the experimentally measured values within 1 nm (nm/RIU) precision. The comparison of simulation conditions and the detailed discussion of the effect of the geometrical parameters and used gold dielectric functions on the obtained sensitivities can be very beneficial for the optimization of plasmonic sensor constructions through numerical simulations.
Suitability of maize crop residue fermented by Pleurotus ostreatus as feed for edible crickets: growth performance, micronutrient content, and iron bioavailability

Small-scale farming of edible insects could help combat public health challenges such as protein energy malnutrition and anemia, but reliable low-cost feeds for insects are needed. In resource-limited contexts, where grains such as maize are prohibitively costly for use as insect feed, the feasibility of insect farming may depend on finding alternatives. Here, we explore the potential to modify plentiful maize crop residue with edible mushroom mycelium to generate a low-cost feed adjunct for the farmed two-spotted cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus. Mushroom farming, like insect agriculture, is versatile; it can yield nutritious food while increasing system circularity by utilizing lignocellulosic residues from row crops as inputs. Pleurotus ostreatus, is an edible basidiomycete capable of being cultivated on corn stover (Zea mays). Mushroom harvest results in abundant “spent” substrate, which we investigated as a candidate feed ingredient. We created six cricket feeds containing fermented Pleurotus substrate plus an unfermented control, measuring cricket mass, mortality, and maturation weekly to evaluate cricket growth performance impacts of both fungal fermentation duration and mushroom formation. Pasteurized corn stover was inoculated with P. ostreatus mycelium and fermented for 0, 2, 3, 4, or 8 weeks. Some 4 and 8-week substrates were induced to produce mushrooms through manipulations of temperature, humidity, and light conditions. Dried fermented stover (40%) was added to a 1:1 corn/soy grain mix and fed to crickets ad libitum for 44 days. The unfermented control group showed higher survivorship compared to several fermented diets. Control group mass yield was higher for 2 out of 6 fermented diets. Little variation in cricket iron content was observed via ICP-spectrometry across feeds, averaging 2.46 mg/100 g. To determine bioavailability, we conducted in vitro Caco-2 human colon epithelial cell absorption assays, showing that iron in crickets fed fruiting-induced substrates was more bioavailable than in unfruited groups. Despite more bioavailable iron in crickets reared on post-fruiting substrates, we conclude that Pleurotus-fermented stover is an unsuitable feed ingredient for G. bimaculatus due to high mortality, variability in growth responses within treatments, and low mass yield.
Emblems of Authority, Symbols of Protest: Crowds and the Materiality of Their Signs

Abstract:This essay explores the relationship between the materiality of signs, crowds, and community, focusing on the territory of the former Russian Empire. The first part traces how emblems of authority carried in crowds have evolved from medieval war flags and gonfalons to twentieth-century military distinctions. The ease of production and distribution in the post-Soviet era ushered in symbolic inflation, prompting state attempts to reestablish control over the meaning of such signs. The second part looks at material markers of dissent since the late imperial era, and argues that the individualized production of protest signs in the twenty-first century has fractured protest communities, and discusses recent examples of collective sign-making as attempts to reestablish protest communities in new form.
Mechanical Transient Characteristics Analysis of the Drive Train of Wind Turbine

In order to meet the assessment need for the control of the drive train resonance of wind turbine and the drive shaft torque during grid voltage dips, the research of mechanical transient characteristics of the drive train at a voltage drop was proposed. Firstly, the state equation of twomass model was established based on the drive train models. Secondly, based on the physical expression of the natural frequency and mechanical decay time constant of the drive train, the influence of transmission parameters on the natural frequency and decay time and the shaft torque was analyzed. Then, the drive shaft torque characteristics were also investigated in the condition of voltage drop. Finally, as an example of the factual parameters of the drive train, the simulation model of transmission system was established by MATLAB/Simulink to simulate the mechanical transient characteristics. The validity of analytic expression was confirmed through the simulation results.
Development of split-force-controlled body weight support (SF-BWS) robot for gait rehabilitation

This study introduces a body-weight-support (BWS) robot actuated by two pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs). Conventional BWS devices typically use springs or a single actuator, whereas our robot has a split force-controlled BWS (SF-BWS), in which two force-controlled actuators independently support the left and right sides of the user’s body. To reduce the experience of weight, vertical unweighting support forces are transferred directly to the user’s left and right hips through a newly designed harness with an open space around the shoulder and upper chest area to allow freedom of movement. A motion capture evaluation with three healthy participants confirmed that the proposed harness does not impede upper-body motion during laterally identical force-controlled partial BWS walking, which is quantitatively similar to natural walking. To evaluate our SF-BWS robot, we performed a force-tracking and split-force control task using different simulated load weight setups (40, 50, and 60 kg masses). The split-force control task, providing independent force references to each PAM and conducted with a 60 kg mass and a test bench, demonstrates that our SF-BWS robot is capable of shifting human body weight in the mediolateral direction. The SF-BWS robot successfully controlled the two PAMs to generate the desired vertical support forces.
Caracterización experimental del desvanecimientoa corto plazo en canales vehiculares

The Final Project Degree is based on the experimental characterizaration of short-term fading in vehicular channels, specifically in the communications carried out beetwen two vehicles (vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V). First of all, it describes the origin and purpose of V2V communications, as well as the need of studying the scenario where communication takes place in a way that allows a secure and high realibility connection. Then, the fundamentals related to V2V communications are developed, such as the assignment of frequencies in Europe and the United States and the powers used by the vehicles in each spectral band. Afterwards, the analysis and interpretation of the data collected by the measurement system is carried out in a specific scenario and a classification of the traces, and consequently of the trajectory, is established to allow a more exhaustive study of the short-term fading in function of the characteristics of the environment. Finally, from the parameters obtained of the distributions that model the short-term fading (κ-μ, Rice y Folded normal) for each section in which the path has been divided the corresponding conclusions are drawn.
Discrete-time Consensus Systems under Persistent Flow and Non-Instantaneous Reciprocal Interactions

This paper studies the consensus problem of discrete-time systems under persistent flow and nonreciprocal interactions between agents. An arc describing the interaction strength between two agents is said to be persistent if its weight function has an infinite l1 norm. We discuss two balance conditions on the interactions between agents which generalize the arc-balance and cut-balance conditions in the literature respectively. The proposed conditions require that such a balance should be satisfied over each time window of a fixed length instead of at each time instant. We prove that in both cases global consensus is reached if and only if the persistent graph, which consists of all the persistent arcs, contains a directed spanning tree. The convergence rates of the system to consensus are also provided in terms of the interactions between agents having taken place. The results are obtained under a weak condition without assuming the existence of a positive lower bound of all the nonzero weights of arcs and are compared with the existing results. Illustrative examples are provided to show the critical importance of the nontrivial lower boundedness of the self-confidence of the agents.
Resveratrol May Reduce the Degree of Periodontitis by Regulating ERK Pathway in Gingival-Derived MSCs

Gingival-derived mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs) have strong self-renewal, multilineage differentiation, and immunomodulatory properties and are expected to be applied in anti-inflammatory and tissue regeneration. However, achieving the goal of using endogenous stem cells to treat diseases and even regenerate tissues remains a challenge. Resveratrol is a natural compound with multiple biological activities that can regulate stem cell immunomodulation when acting on them. This study found that resveratrol can reduce inflammation in human gingival tissue and upregulate the stemness of GMSCs in human gingiva. In cell experiments, it was found that resveratrol can reduce the expression of TLR4, TNFα, and NFκB and activate ERK/Wnt crosstalk, thereby alleviating inflammation, promoting the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation ability of GMSCs, and enhancing their immunomodulation. These results provide a new theoretical basis for the application of resveratrol to activate endogenous stem cells in the treatment of diseases in the future.
Effects of Snow Water Storage on Hydrologic Partitioning Across the Mountainous, Western United States

In the montane western United States, where the majority of downstream water resources are derived from snowmelt, a warming climate threatens the timing and amount of future water availability. It is expected that the fraction of precipitation falling as snow will continue decreasing and the timing of snowmelt will continue shifting earlier in the year with unknown impacts on partitioning between evapotranspiration and streamflow. To assess this, we employ a Snow Storage Index (SSI) to represent the annual temporal phase difference between daily precipitation and daily modeled surface water inputs (SWI, the sum of rainfall and snowmelt), weighted by the respective amounts. We coupled the SSI metric with a Budyko‐based framework to determine the effect of snow water storage on relative hydrologic partitioning across snow‐influenced watersheds in the western U.S. Greater snow water storage was positively correlated with greater hydrologic partitioning to streamflow, particularly in the North Cascades/Cascades (r2: 0.62), Blue Mountains (r2: 0.56), Canadian Rockies (r2: 0.55), Idaho Batholith, (r2: 0.48), and Columbia Mountains/Northern Rockies (r2: 0.45). The weekly SWI:P ratio was an equally strong predictor for hydrologic partitioning, particularly in mid‐spring (e.g., March/April) in the same mountainous areas (r2: 0.62–0.74, across the same eco‐regions). The retention of snow water storage and subsequent release of stored water in summer months resulted in increased hydrologic partitioning to streamflow. If SSI decreases with future warming, the volume of water partitioned streamflow will decrease non‐uniformly across the western U.S. with substantial implications for ecosystems and agricultural, industrial, and domestic water supplies.
Moderate hypoxia induces metabolic divergence in circulating monocytes and tissue resident macrophages from Berkeley sickle cell anemia mice

Introduction Human and murine sickle cell disease (SCD) associated pulmonary hypertension (PH) is defined by hemolysis, nitric oxide depletion, inflammation, and thrombosis. Further, hemoglobin (Hb), heme, and iron accumulation are consistently observed in pulmonary adventitial macrophages at autopsy and in hypoxia driven rodent models of SCD, which show distribution of ferric and ferrous Hb as well as HO-1 and ferritin heavy chain. The anatomic localization of these macrophages is consistent with areas of significant vascular remodeling. However, their contributions toward progressive disease may include unique, but also common mechanisms, that overlap with idiopathic and other forms of pulmonary hypertension. These processes likely extend to the vasculature of other organs that are consistently impaired in advanced SCD. Methods To date, limited information is available on the metabolism of macrophages or monocytes isolated from lung, spleen, and peripheral blood in humans or murine models of SCD. Results Here we hypothesize that metabolism of macrophages and monocytes isolated from this triad of tissue differs between Berkley SCD mice exposed for ten weeks to moderate hypobaric hypoxia (simulated 8,000 ft, 15.4% O2) or normoxia (Denver altitude, 5000 ft) with normoxia exposed wild type mice evaluated as controls. Discussion This study represents an initial set of data that describes the metabolism in monocytes and macrophages isolated from moderately hypoxic SCD mice peripheral lung, spleen, and blood mononuclear cells.
6DoF Monte Carlo Localization in a 3D world with Laser Range Finders

In mobile robotics, localization plays a key role in every task assigned to a robot. This report describes the probabilistic module we developed to solve the localization problem in our autonomous driving vehicle. Our method uses a complete 6DoF approach within a 3D motion model, in order to correctly integrate the error caused by dead reckoning. Furthermore, the description of the environment is a 3D voxel representation. We base on particle filtering, in the localization process. An ad-hoc simulation environment has been developed, for testing the effectiveness of the motion model. Finally, we performed some field experiments, to demonstrate that our approach consistently locates the 6DoF position of the vehicle along the driven path on the test site.
Visual Servoing of Flexible Manipulators With Unknown Camera Intrinsic Parameters and Vibration States

This article studies the visual servoing and vibration suppression of flexible manipulators using a fixed camera with uncalibrated intrinsic parameters. The dynamic equations of the flexible manipulator are decomposed into the slow and fast subsystems based on the singular perturbation theory. In the slow subsystem, the adaptive visual servoing controller is designed to regulate the positions of feature points on the image plane, where the unknown camera intrinsic parameters are estimated online. With respect to the fast subsystem, the unknown camera intrinsic parameters are regarded as the additional states of the fast subsystem, and the nonlinear state observer based on the Lie derivatives is developed to estimate the vibration states and camera parameters simultaneously from the visual feedback. The vision-based fast subsystem controller is proposed by using the estimated states to suppress the elastic vibration of the flexible manipulator. Both the stabilities of the slow and fast subsystems are proved based on the Lyapunov theory. Experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
Calibration of Watershed Conceptual Models Using Local and Global ptimization

Many issues related to water resources require the solution of optimization problems. Optimization problems can be quite difficult such as the calibration of many conceptual watershed models. Conceptual watershed models are formulated using empirical relationships between hydrological variables observed in nature or field experiments . The success of automatic calibration depends mainly on the choice of optimization method. Most early attempts to calibrate watershed models have been based on local-search optimization methods. Local optimization methods are not designed to handle the presence of multiple regions of attraction, multi-local optima, insensitivities and parameter interdependencies, and other problems encountered in the calibration of watersheds models. It is therefore imperative that global optimization procedures that are capable of dealing with these various difficulties be employed. In this study, one local search optimization method and one global search method are used to calibrate the parameters a simple tenparameter rainfall-runoff model. The local search method is the well-known Rosenbrock's direct search method; the global search method is the newly developed Shuffled Complex Evolution (SCE) method . The results revealed that Shuffle Complex Evolution optimization method is more superior to Rosenbrok’s direct search method. The results confirmed the finding of many watershed modellers about the dependency of Rosenbrock’s method on the choice of initial search points. It further adds that Rosenbrock’s method is only effective when the initial search points are taken within 5 % or less from the true optimum parameter set. The results indicate that a proper choice of optimization methods can enhance the possibility of obtaining unique and conceptually realistic parameter estimate.