Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Criteria for progressive fibrotic hypersensitivity pneumonitis in a Portuguese patient cohort

Background Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is a syndrome caused by sensitisation to inhaled antigens that leads to an abnormal immune response in the airways and lung parenchyma. Some patients previously diagnosed with certain types of fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (f-ILDs), including fibrotic HP (f-HP), are susceptible to develop a progressive fibrosing phenotype (PF-ILD), despite initial state-of-the-art management. Objectives To characterise a cohort of patients with a multidisciplinary diagnosis (MTD) of chronic f-HP, who were followed up in an ILD outpatient clinic of a hospital in Portugal, and to assess the prevalence of PF-ILD criteria in these patients. Methods Data were collected from all patients with a definite or provisional diagnosis of f-HP after a multidisciplinary team discussion. Patients were followed up between December 2014 and July 2019. Data included clinical characteristics, high-resolution chest tomography (HRCT) disease patterns, lung function tests, bronchoalveolar lavage and further immunological work-up, biopsy reports (conventional transbronchial lung biopsy, transbronchial lung cryobiopsy or surgical video-assisted thoracoscopic lung biopsy), all ILD multidisciplinary team records and diagnostic confidence levels. Patients were assessed according to PF-ILD criteria as defined in the INBUILD trial. Results We identified 83 patients with an MTD of HP, who had been followed up for at least 12 months. Of these, 63 (75.9%) were diagnosed with f-HP. Of the 63 f-HP patients, 33.3% (n=21) fulfilled the predefined criteria for PF-HP: 66.7% had a relative decline of ≥10% forced vital capacity (FVC); 5% a relative decline of 5 - 9% FVC, with worsening symptoms or increased fibrosis on HRCT; and 23.8% had worsening respiratory symptoms with radiological progression. Conclusion This single-centre cohort study demonstrated that a third of f-HP patients presented with PF-ILD, as determined by progression during initial standard-of-care treatment. A usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP)/UIP-like pattern was present in >70% of patients with f-HP, and two-thirds of these patients had an FVC decline of ≥10%. PF-HP patients were also more exacerbation prone. According to recent trial data, this segment of patients can be considered possible candidates for antifibrotic treatment, with a reasonable prospect of effectiveness. Further efforts should focus on refining knowledge of longitudinal behaviour of large multicentric cohorts of f-HP patients, establishing a consensual and uniform definition of progression for use in clinical practice, as well as developing prognostic prediction tools to better (and early) inform the disease course.
Contraintes apportées par la spectroscopie intégrale de champ à la formation et à l'évolution des galaxies.

Cette these est consacree a l'etude de la formation et de l'evolution des galaxies. La mise a disposition de la communaute par l'ESO du spectrographe a multi-integrales de champ FLAMES/GIRAFFE represente une opportunite unique d'etudier la dynamique des galaxies a z 1 requiert d'explorer leur couplage avec des techniques d'optique adaptative. Le projet FALCON (a la fois dedie aux VLTs et aux ELTs) propose une nouvelle voie prometteuse dans cette direction en introduisant le concept d'optique adaptative multi-objets (MOAO). Dans ce concept, seules les zones d'interet scientifique sont corrigees et analysees, ce qui necessite le developpement de systemes miniaturises de correction de front d'onde ainsi que d'une strategie de commande originale en boucle ouverte.
Magnetometer observation of articulation in sitting and supine conditions

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has recently emerged as a useful tool for the investigation of the three‐dimensional vocal tract shape in sustainable articulatory targets such as vowels and fricatives. However, existing scanning devices require that subjects phonate in a supine position. Previous work [Whalen, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 88 (1990)] compared MRI to cineradiographic data collected in a sitting posture, and reported limited effects of gravity on velar height differences in vowel production. This study used electromagnetometry [Perkell et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 92, 3078–3096 (1992)] to investigate whether detectable systematic differences in midsagittal tongue posture exist between the two phonation conditions. Subjects fitted with nine transducers (four on the tongue, mandible, upper and lower lips, and two for head correction reference) produced both running speech and sustained vowels mimicking MRI protocol, repeated in sitting and supine postures. Analysis of separately recorded acous.
Analysis of Nursing Care for the Elderly with Hypertension Using the Practice of Progressive Muscle Relaxation Therapy: A Case Study

Background: Hypertension attacks more in middle age or the elderly. Non-pharmacological therapy is needed so that is safe and easy to apply in providing nursing care as an effort to control Hypertension in the elderly. Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) therapy can be used as an effective and safe nursing action. Objective: This case study aims to analyze the application of progressive muscle relaxation therapy in providing nursing care for the elderly with hypertension. Methods: This study used a case study design. The participant was elderly with Hypertension. The instrument used was a sphygmomanometer and PMR as a systematic technique to achieve a state of relaxation, a method that is applied through the application of a progressive method with gradual and continuous exercise on skeletal muscles by tensing and relaxing them which can restore muscle feeling so that the muscles relax, in this study, for 3 days with a length of 15 minutes on each day. Results: This study uses a case study. The results showed that the change in blood pressure before and after being given PMR decreased, from 170/110 to 158/100 mm Hg. This also has an impact on all client complaints so that they can be resolved, although not completely. The application of PMR therapy in nursing practice can be used as an effort to control hypertension naturally. Conclusion: There is that PMR therapy can be applied in providing nursing care to the elderly with Hypertension because it is effective in lowering blood pressure.
Collisionality dependence of density peaking in quasilinear gyrokinetic calculations

Linear gyrokinetic calculations and a quasilinear model are applied to compute the radial particle fluxes and investigate the properties of the particle transport in a tokamak plasma induced by ion temperature gradient and trapped electron mode instabilities. The paper focuses on the specific problem of the dependence of anomalous pinch and density peaking on collisionality.
Transient wave propagation phenomena at visco-elastic half-spaces under distributed surface loadings

This article analyzes the transient wave propagation phenomena that take place at 2D viscoelastic half-spaces subjected to spatially distributed surface loadings and to distinct temporal excitations. It starts with a fairly detailed review of the existing strategies to describe transient analysis for elastic and viscoelastic continua by means of the Boundary Element Method (BEM). The review explores the possibilities and limitations of the existing transient BEM procedures to describe dynamic analysis of unbounded viscoelastic domains. It proceeds to explain the strategy used by the authors of this article to synthesize numerically fundamental solutions or auxiliary states that allow an accurate analysis of transient wave propagation phenomena at the surface of viscoelastic half-spaces. In particular, segments with spatially constant and linear stress distributions over a halfspace surface are considered. The solution for the superposition of constant and discontinuous adjacent elements as well as linear and continuous stress distributions is addressed. The in uence of the temporal excitation type and duration on the transient response is investigated. The present study is based on the numerical solution of stress boundary value problems of (visco)elastodynamics. In a first stage, the solution is obtained in the frequency domain. A numerical integration strategy allows the stationary solutions to be determined for very high frequencies. The transient solutions are obtained, in a second stage, by applying the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm to the previously synthesized frequency domain solutions. Viscoelastic effects are taken into account by means of the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle. By analyzing the transient solution of the stress boundary value problems, it is possible to show that from every surface stress discontinuity three wave fronts are generated. The displacement velocity of these wave fronts can be associated to compression, shear and Rayleigh waves. It is shown that the half-space transient displacement solutions present abrupt jumps or oscillations which can be correlated to the arrival of these wave fronts at the observation point. Such a detailed analysis connecting half-space transient responses to the wave propagation fronts in viscoelastic half-spaces have not been reported in the reviewed literature.
Inhibitory effect of natural extract mixtures on microbial growth and lipid oxidation of sausages during storage

Abstract Large amounts of additives are used during meat product processing to maintain product quality and shelf life. With the growing interest in healthy foods, natural plant-based additives are being used as alternatives to synthetic additives. In this study, six types of natural extracts with excellent antibacterial activity were selected, and their antibacterial and antioxidant activities against four types of pathogens were evaluated in various combinations. In addition, the pH, color, amount of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and growth of pathogenic microorganisms were analyzed during the storage of sausages treated with various combinations of these extracts. The natural extract mixtures exhibited different antibacterial activities, depending on the combination. Compared to grapefruit seed extract, a mixture of natural extracts extracted with ethanol (M4) reduced the Escherichia coli content by more than 99.9% after 8 days of storage and slowed the growth of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. by more than 80% after 14 days. Compared to untreated (NC) and grapefruit extract (PC)-treated sausages, sausages treated with the natural extract mixtures showed a significant decrease in CIE L* and an increase in CIE a* and CIE b* (p < 0.05). The pH value was significantly lower in sausages containing natural extract mixtures than in the NC and PC sausages (p < 0.05). The natural plant extract mixtures significantly prevented lipid oxidation (p < 0.05). In summary, different types of natural extract mixtures have a synergistic effect when used together, suggesting that natural preservatives can generally inhibit the growth of microorganisms and oxidation of processed meat.
Valence state and local atomic structure of copper in Cu-implanted silica glass

Copper implanted fused silica samples were investigated for the first time by depth-selective x-ray absorption techniques. X-ray absorption near-edge structure and extended x-ray absorption fine structure measurements were performed using both x-ray fluorescence yield and conversion electron yield detection configurations, with the aim to discriminate the contribution of the copper ions at different depths. The copper species were found in both oxidized and metallic states. A dependence of the oxidized copper amount on the depth was detected. Compositional analyses were made by means of secondary ion mass and Rutherford backscattering spectrometries. A matrix-damage related oxidation effect on copper atoms was confirmed.
Does Emotional Intelligence Influence an Employee's Job Satisfaction? An Empirical Assessment

Since job performance is a function of job satisfaction and emotional intelligence, the current research empirically evaluates the association between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction of respondents. The research tests whether emotional intelligence significantly affect job satisfaction or not. The research is based on a quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional survey. The sample size is 140 and they were selected through the convenience sample method. Primary data was collected using a self-designed questionnaire in the Likert scale format, and were administered at the job places of the respondents. Data were analysed using the Pearson correlation and the linear regression analysis methods, and presented in Tables. The research findings of the study indicated a positive significant association between overall emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. There is also a positive significant association between three out of the four dimensions of emotional intelligence evaluated and job satisfaction. The findings indicate that respondents higher on the emotional intelligence scale are more satisfied than respondents lower on the emotional intelligence scale. The findings imply that emotional intelligence is a multidimensional construct. Management of organisations should consider implementing measures that will improve emotional intelligence to ensure job satisfaction of workers. Further study should consider the causal analysis and also introduce control variables such as gender and age to determine if the current findings will be replicated.
CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Gene Editing in Salmonids Cells and Efficient Establishment of Edited Clonal Cell Lines

Finfish production has seen over three-fold increase in the past 30 years (1990–2020), and Atlantic salmon (A. salmon; salmo salar) accounted for approximately 32.6% of the total marine and coastal aquaculture of all finfish species in the year 2020, making it one of the most profitable farmed fish species globally. This growth in production is, however, threatened by a number of problems which can be solved using the CRISPR/Cas technology. In vitro applications of CRISPR/Cas using cell lines can complement its in vivo applications, but salmonids-derived cell lines are difficult to gene edit because they grow slowly, are difficult to transfect and isolate single clones of gene-edited cells. While clonal isolation of the gene-edited Chinook salmon cell line (CHSE-214) has successfully been performed, there is no report of successful clonal isolation of the gene-edited A. salmon ASK-1 and SHK-1cell lines. In the current study, two gene loci—cr2 and mmp9 of A. salmon—were efficiently edited using the ribonucleoprotein (RNP) and plasmid CRISPR/Cas9 strategies. Edited cells were enriched using flow cytometer-activated cell sorting (FACS), followed by clonal isolation and expansion of edited cells. The study both confirms the recent report of the highly efficient editing of these widely used model cell lines, as well as extends the frontline in the single-cell cloning of gene-edited salmonids cells. The report also highlights the pitfalls and future directions in the application of CRISPR/Cas9 in these cells.
Do People Perceive Alexa as Gendered? A Cross-Cultural Study of People’s Perceptions, Expectations, and Desires of Alexa

Mainly, the scholarly debate on Alexa has focused on sexist/anti-woman gender representations in the everyday life of many families, on a cluster of themes such as privacy, insecurity, and trust, and on the world of education and health. This paper takes another stance and explores via online survey methodology how university student respondents in two countries (the United States, n = 333; and Italy, n = 322) perceive Alexa’s image and gender, what they expect from this voice-based assistant, and how they would like Alexa to be. Results of a free association exercise showed that Alexa’s image was scarcely embodied or explicitly gendered. Rather, Alexa was associated with a distinct category of being—the VBA, virtual assistant, or digital helper—with which one talks, and which possesses praiseworthy technical and social traits. Expectations of Alexa and desires regarding Alexa’s ideal performance are presented and compared across the two country samples.
A Review of Data-Driven Approaches and Techniques for Fault Detection and Diagnosis in HVAC Systems

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are a popular research topic because buildings’ energy is mostly used for heating and/or cooling. These systems heavily rely on sensory measurements and typically make an integral part of the smart building concept. As such, they require the implementation of fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) methodologies, which should assist users in maintaining comfort while consuming minimal energy. Despite the fact that FDD approaches are a well-researched subject, not just for improving the operation of HVAC systems but also for a wider range of systems in industrial processes, there is a lack of application in commercial buildings due to their complexity and low transferability. The aim of this review paper is to present and systematize cutting-edge FDD methodologies, encompassing approaches and special techniques that can be applied in HVAC systems, as well as to provide best-practice heuristics for researchers and solution developers in this domain. While the literature analysis targets the FDD perspective, the main focus is put on the data-driven approach, which covers commonly used models and data pre-processing techniques in the field. Data-driven techniques and FDD solutions based on them, which are most commonly used in recent HVAC research, form the backbone of our study, while alternative FDD approaches are also presented and classified to properly contextualize and round out the review.
Sensor network design for fault tolerant estimation

This paper addresses the problem of fault tolerant estimation and the design of fault tolerant sensor networks. Fault tolerance is defined with respect to a given estimation objective, namely a given functional of the system state should remain observable when sensor failures occur. Redundant and minimal sensor sets are defined and organized into an automaton which contains all the subsets of sensors such that the estimation objective can be achieved. Three criteria, which evaluate the system fault tolerance with respect to sensor failures when a reconfiguration strategy is used, are introduced: (strong and weak) redundancy degrees (RD), sensor network reliability (R), and mean time to non‐observability (MTTNO). Sensor networks are designed by finding redundant sensor sets whose RD and/or R and/or MTTNO are larger than some specified values. A ship boiler example is developed for illustration. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Estimation of Excitation Current of a Synchronous Machine Using Machine Learning Methods

A synchronous machine is an electro-mechanical converter consisting of a stator and a rotor. The stator is the stationary part of a synchronous machine that is made of phase-shifted armature windings in which voltage is generated and the rotor is the rotating part made using permanent magnets or electromagnets. The excitation current is a significant parameter of the synchronous machine, and it is of immense importance to continuously monitor possible value changes to ensure the smooth and high-quality operation of the synchronous machine itself. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the excitation current on a publicly available dataset, using the following input parameters: Iy: load current; PF: power factor; e: power factor error; and df: changing of excitation current of synchronous machine, using artificial intelligence algorithms. The algorithms used in this research were: k-nearest neighbors, linear, random forest, ridge, stochastic gradient descent, support vector regressor, multi-layer perceptron, and extreme gradient boost regressor, where the worst result was elasticnet, with R2 = −0.0001, MSE = 0.0297, and MAPE = 0.1442; the best results were provided by extreme boosting regressor, with R2¯ = 0.9963, MSE¯ = 0.0001, and MAPE¯ = 0.0057, respectively.
Bootstrap Approximations in Model Checks for Regression

Abstract Let M = mθθ θ be a parametric model for an unknown regression function m. For example, M may consist of all polynomials or trigonometric polynomials with a given bound on the degree. To check the full model M (i.e., to test for H 0: m e M), it is known that optimal tests should be based on the empirical process of the regressors marked by the residuals. In this article we show that the distribution of this process may be approximated by the wild bootstrap. The method is applied to simulated datasets as well as to real data.
A heterodimeric hyaluronate lyase secreted by the activated sludge bacterium Haliscomenobacter hydrossis.

Haliscomenobacter hydrossis is a filamentous bacterium common in activated sludge. The bacterium was found to utilize hyaluronic acid and hyaluronate lyase activity was detected in its culture. However, no hyaluronate lyase gene was found in the genome, suggesting the bacterium secretes a novel hyaluronate lyase. The purified enzyme exhibited two bands on SDS-PAGE and a single peak on gel filtration chromatography, suggesting a heterodimeric composition. N-terminal amino acid sequence and mass spectrometric analyses suggested that the subunits are molybdopterin-binding and [2Fe-2S]-binding subunits of a xanthine oxidase family protein. The presence of the cofactors was confirmed using spectrometric analysis. Oxidase activity was not detected, revealing that the enzyme is not an oxidase but a hyaluronate lyase. NMR analysis of the enzymatic digest revealed that the enzyme breaks hyaluronic acid to 3-(4-deoxy-β-d-gluc-4-enuronosyl)-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine. As hyaluronate lyases (EC 4.2.2.1) are monomeric or trimeric, the enzyme is the first heterodimeric hyaluronate lyase.