Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling Summer Hypoxia Spatial Distribution and Fish Habitat Volume in Artificial Estuarine Waterway

This study analyzes the dissolved oxygen (DO) depletion or hypoxia formation affecting the ecological vulnerability of Gyeongin-Ara Waterway (GAW), an artificial estuarine waterway. The physical, chemical, and biochemical factors affecting the summer hypoxia dynamics and distribution are simulated and the habitat volumes of major fish species are calculated. CE-QUAL-W2, a two-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model, is applied for the simulation. Comparison with observation reveals that the salinity stratification, vertical DO gradient, and summer hypoxia characteristics are realistically reproduced by the model. Comprehensive analysis of the spatial distributions of the residence time, salinity, and DO concentration reveal that the residence time is longest at the bottom of a freshwater inflow zone. Accordingly, residence time is identified as the physical factor having the greatest influence on hypoxia. It is also clear that a hypoxic water mass diffuses towards the entire waterway during neap tides and summer, when the seawater inflow decreases. Based on the modeling results, the DO depletion drivers are identified and the hypoxic zone formation and distribution are sufficiently explained. Finally, fish habitat volumes are calculated. In particular, the survival habitat volume of Mugil cephalus is found to decrease by 32–34% as a result of hypoxia from July to August. The model employed in this study could be utilized to establish an operational plan for the waterway, which would increase fish habitat volumes.
The microanatomy of Bowman’s layer in the cornea of the pig: Changes in collagen fibril architecture at the corneoscleral limbus

= full alignment) with increasing distance from the corneal centre. These data together lead us to conclude that the porcine cornea does include Bowman’s layer, though it is thin (contributing roughly 0.2% of corneal thickness), and thus, reaffirms the porcine cornea’s similarity to its human counterpart and usefulness as a model system.
Dodine an effective alternative to copper for controlling Venturia oleaginea, the causal agent of pea-cock eye disease, in highly infected olive trees

A trial was carried out in central Italy in an olive orchard of cultivar Moraiolo, highly infected by Venturia oleaginea. The aim of the investigation was to evaluate the effects of autumn and spring applications of copper oxychloride or dodine to control the disease. Non treated trees were used as the control. The effects of the fungal attacks on leaves and inflorescence development confirmed the high susceptibility of the cultivar Moraiolo to the disease. The results show that in trees heavily infected, but with most of the infected leaves at the early stage of the disease (asymptomatic phase), treatments with dodine had a curative effect, with consequent reduction in the appearance of symptomatic leaves and defoliation with respect to the control or copper-treated trees. The use of dodine against the autumnal attacks of V. oleaginea allowed most of the old leaves to be maintained until the new ones had formed, which is important for the growth processes during the early part of the growing season. Overall, the results indicate that to efficiently control the pathogen using copper compounds, treatments must start soon after the beginning of the attack and be repeated in order to maintain the infection at a low level. Dodine can be efficiently used if there is a great increase in infected leaves. The use of dodine to solve particular situations and not for normal repeated use is regulated by the fact that in some countries, Italy included, protocols for integrated pest management allow only one dodine treatment/year.
A blooming business : Identifying limits to Lake Taihu's nutrient input

Last century, Lake Taihu (China) became serious eutrophic due to excessive nutrient input. During the 1980s, the first algal blooms emerged in the lake, reaching disastrous proportions in 2007. During that year, the intake of drinking water had to be shut down and millions of people had to look for an alternative source of drinking water. This raises the question whether such problems can be avoided. Of crucial importance in avoiding and reducing toxic algal blooms is the identification of the maximum nutrient load ecosystems can absorb, while remaining in a good ecological state. In this thesis, I aim to determine the critical nutrient load for Lake Taihu. I approach the search for critical nutrient loads of Lake Taihu in five steps with diversity as an overarching topic throughout this thesis: diversity in lakes, diversity in models, diversity in spatial distribution of nutrient and water sources, diversity in the development of lakes around the earth and finally diversity within specific lakes. From the long list of available models I chose the model PCLake to use in my analysis because it is the most extensively used food web model applied for bifurcation analysis of shallow aquatic ecosystems. The approach has resulted in a range of critical nutrient loads for different parts of Lake Taihu. Furthermore, critical nutrient loads depend on management goals, i.e. the maximum allowable chlorophyll-a concentration. According to the model results, total nutrient loads need to be more than halved to reach chlorophyll-a concentrations of 30-40 μg. L-1 in most sections of the lake. To prevent phytoplankton blooms with 20 μg. L-1 chlorophyll-a throughout Lake Taihu, both phosphorus and nitrogen loads need a nearly 90% reduction. This range contrasts to the single point of recovery that is often found for small shallow lakes. The range in critical nutrient loads found for Lake Taihu can be interpreted as providing a path of recovery for which each step leads to water quality improvement in certain parts of the lake. To reach total recovery, nutrient reduction seems to be the most promising management option.
An Independent Scientific Assessment of Well Stimulation in California Volume I: Well Stimulation Technologies and their Past, Present, and Potential Future Use in California

Author(s): Jane, Long, C.S. ; Laura, Feinstein, C. ; Jens, Birkholzer; Preston, Jordan; James, Houseworth; Patrick, Dobson, F. ; Matthew, Heberger; Donald, Gautier L. | Abstract: In 2013, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 4 (SB 4), setting the framework for regulation of well stimulation technologies in California, including hydraulic fracturing. SB 4 also requires the California Natural Resources Agency to conduct an independent scientific study of well stimulation technologies in California to assess current and potential future practices, including the likelihood that well stimulation technologies could enable extensive new petroleum production in the state, evaluate the impacts of well stimulation technologies and the gaps in data that preclude this understanding, identify risks associated with current practices, and identify alternative practices which might limit these risks. The study is issued in three volumes. This document, Volume I, provides the factual basis describing well stimulation technologies, how and where operators deploy these technologies for oil and gas production in California, and where they might enable production in the future. Volume II discusses how well stimulation affects water, the atmosphere, seismic activity, wildlife and vegetation, traffic, light and noise levels; it will also explore human health hazards, and identify data gaps and alternative practices. Volume III presents case studies to assess environmental issues and qualitative
Longitudinal Muscle Biopsies Reveal Inter- and Intra-Subject Variability in Cancer Cachexia: Paving the Way for Biopsy-Guided Tailored Treatment

Simple Summary Currently, muscle testing remains underutilized in cancer cachexia research, since muscle biopsies are mainly performed at the end of experimental protocols. We aimed to introduce the concept of longitudinal muscle testing for cancer cachexia by initially demonstrating its feasibility and safety for the test subjects. Following that, we tested the hypothesis on a tumor-bearing rat model. Results were indicative of heterogeneity in cancer cachexia manifestation between different subjects and throughout the disease course. There is an abundance of researched pathways and mechanisms of cachexia, as well as interventions to target them. Thus, moving forward, developing biomarkers to suggest “what to target and when to do it” is essential. Sequential muscle biopsies can serve as a promising tool to guide personalized precision treatment for cancer cachexia, as well as to monitor the disease evolution and response to therapy. Abstract In the rapidly evolving landscape of cancer cachexia research, the development and refinement of diagnostic and predictive biomarkers constitute an ongoing challenge. This study aims to introduce longitudinal muscle biopsies as a potential framework for disease monitoring and treatment. The initial feasibility and safety assessment was performed for healthy mice and rats that received two consecutive muscle biopsies. The assessment was performed by utilizing three different tools. Subsequently, the protocol was also applied in leiomyosarcoma tumor-bearing rats. Longitudinal muscle biopsies proved to be a safe and feasible technique, especially in rat models. The application of this protocol to tumor-bearing rats further affirmed its tolerability and feasibility, while microscopic evaluation of the biopsies demonstrated varying levels of muscle atrophy with or without leukocyte infiltration. In this tumor model, sequential muscle biopsies confirmed the variability of the cancer cachexia evolution among subjects and at different time-points. Despite the abundance of promising cancer cachexia data during the past decade, the full potential of muscle biopsies is not being leveraged. Sequential muscle biopsies throughout the disease course represent a feasible and safe tool that can be utilized to guide precision treatment and monitor the response in cancer cachexia research.
Evaluation of serum and urine biomarkers for severe COVID-19

Introduction The new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, poses complex challenges exacerbated by several factors, with respiratory tissue lesions being notably significant among them. Consequently, there is a pressing need to identify informative biological markers that can indicate the severity of the disease. Several studies have highlighted the involvement of proteins such as APOA1, XPNPEP2, ORP150, CUBN, HCII, and CREB3L3 in these respiratory tissue lesions. However, there is a lack of information regarding antibodies to these proteins in the human body, which could potentially serve as valuable diagnostic markers for COVID-19. Simultaneously, it is relevant to select biological fluids that can be obtained without invasive procedures. Urine is one such fluid, but its effect on clinical laboratory analysis is not yet fully understood due to lack of study on its composition. Methods Methods used in this study are as follows: total serum protein analysis; ELISA on moderate and severe COVID-19 patients’ serum and urine; bioinformatic methods: ROC analysis, PCA, SVM. Results and discussion The levels of antiAPOA1, antiXPNPEP2, antiORP150, antiCUBN, antiHCII, and antiCREB3L3 exhibit gradual fluctuations ranging from moderate to severe in both the serum and urine of COVID-19 patients. However, the diagnostic value of individual anti-protein antibodies is low, in both blood serum and urine. On the contrary, joint detection of these antibodies in patients’ serum significantly increases the diagnostic value as demonstrated by the results of principal component analysis (PCA) and support vector machine (SVM). The non-linear regression model achieved an accuracy of 0.833. Furthermore, PCA aided in identifying serum protein markers that have the greatest impact on patient group discrimination. The study revealed that serum serves as a superior analyte for describing protein quantification due to its consistent composition and lack of organic salts and drug residues, which can otherwise affect protein stability.
Spectroscopic Determination of Water Salinity in Brackish Surface Water in Nandoni Dam, at Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa

The problem of limited water supply in the Vhembe District (Limpopo Province, South Africa) is exacerbated by a preponderance of dissolved salts, which cause disagreeable taste and odour in the water as reported by the communities using this water for drinking. The water treatment plant that supplies the treated water to the communities in the District sources this raw water from the Nandoni Dam at the Luvuvhu river catchment. There are no scientific studies that have been reported in the literature that focused on determining the levels of water salinity from various water sources in the municipalities of the District. Water samples from various sites across the Nandoni Dam, a primary source of domestic water supply in the region, were collected through each season over a period of twelve months in order to ascertain the concentrations of dissolved salts in the dam. Onsite analyses of the water samples were conducted using the YSI ProDSS multimeter, while the laboratory water analyses were conducted using the spectroquant and atomic absorption spectrometers. Although salinity tests seem to indicate that the water sampled across most of the Nandoni Dam is brackish during all seasons of the year with the highest being 750 mg/L, water samples from the dam mid-outlet and the treatment plant are slightly below the World Health Organization (WHO) brackish water bracket of 500 mg/L with unfavourable taste for drinking. Results from this study indicate that the water sourced from the Nandoni Dam is not suitable for human consumption and therefore requires integrated water resource management, as well as robust and cost-effective water desalination treatment.
Conservation management and ecosystem services in midwestern United States agricultural systems

The recognition that agricultural systems provide services beyond food production has motivated federal legislation and associated programs that promote sustainable management and conservation of productive working lands. This study evaluates the ability of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) Conservation Measurement Tool (CMT), which has been used to determine eligibility for enrollment in the Conservation Stewardship Program, to reflect changes in ecosystem services resulting from the use of conservation management practices on croplands. This work evaluates four macroconcerns or outcomes (soil erosion, soil quality, water quality, and air quality) that are quantified within the tool by comparing CMT scores tabulated according to practices reported by farmers involved in grain producing operations in the US Midwest with soil health measures (dynamic soil properties [DSPs]) determined on 72 Illinois farm fields. Three management practice categories—Conventional, Conservation, and Organic—were evaluated. The CMT identified significant differences among management categories, and scores ranked consistently higher for Organic than Conventional or Conservation systems. Direct analysis of DSPs suggested that there were relatively small differences among soil health indicators measured on farms under varied management; this implies that the CMT might be overemphasizing the influence of selected management practices. The evaluation of multivariate relationships between the practices scored in the CMT and DSPs revealed that soil properties like soil pH and particulate organic matter-carbon (POM-C) can be used to improve the accuracy of the tool. They also show how relationships between questions (practices) and outcomes suggested by DSPs vary among farming categories and suggest this type of practice-based tool should be adapted by embedding factors to scale farming systems or, preferably, by adding questions that better describe important factors (e.g., plant productivity and fertilizer timing, rate, and form of application) and their interactions with other factors known to influence specific outcomes. This work shows how field data describing practices, properties, and outcomes can be used to statistically evaluate and refine conservation scoring tools.
A developing novel alternative bio-oxidation approach to treat low-grade refractory sulfide ores at circumneutral pH

The extensive neutralization required in acidic bio-oxidation, a conventional pretreatment for low-grade refractory matrices in the gold industry, constitutes one of the principal drawbacks due to the large volume of waste streams. Performing an oxidative pretreatment at circumneutral pH with an in-situ neutralization would avoid the production of undesirable waste, causing potential economic and environmental advantages. For the first time, this investigation evaluates a novel process involving a biological oxidative pretreatment for low-grade refractory ore using two biosafety level 1 neutrophilic microorganisms encompassing Thiobacillus thioparus and Starkeya novella at near-neutral pH. Optimal bacterial growth conditions were determined regarding the culture medium and initial energy source using UV-visible and manual cell counting (cells/mL). Thereafter, biological oxidation of different matrices, including first elemental sulfur and subsequently a refractory sulfidic ore, was evaluated in batch flask cultures and then scaled up into a bioreactor using optimal experimental conditions. Results revealed that culture media containing ca. 4.5 and ca. 0.9 g/L thiosulfate favored biological oxidation of the refractory sulfidic ore using T. Thioparus and S. Novella, respectively, which led to corresponding sulfide oxidation of 27 and 14% within 10 days, comparable to reported studies. The biological action was confirmed by C/S detector and SEM technique of pre- and post-pretreatment residues. Overall, this research is a step forward to advance the understanding of a biological pretreatment out of the highly acidic pH range, promoting the view of a net-zero target by potentially reducing the production of more significant waste streams compared to conventional operations.
A Coupled Glacier‐Hydrology Model and Its Application in Eastern Pamir

An energy‐balance glacier‐melt scheme was coupled with the Variable Infiltration Capacity hydrology model (VIC‐glacier). The coupled model was setup at 30 m × 30 m grids and applied in the Muji basin in eastern Pamir. The model was validated with field measurements of albedo, glacier mass balance, and river runoff. The VIC‐glacier model showed a good correspondence with the observations in incoming shortwave radiation and albedo, with R2 of 0.70 and 0.32, respectively, during August–October 2012. Simulated glacier mass balance exhibited overall good agreements with the observations in ablation seasons, with R2 of 0.89 and root‐mean‐square error of 162.12 mm w.e. during 2011–2015. The model also reproduced discharge records, with R2 of 0.70–0.84, Nash‐Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.56–0.81, root‐mean‐square error of 0.29–0.45 m3/s, and negative relative error of 13.73–18.76% in melt seasons of 2014–2015. The glaciers in Muji basin had a low mean net radiation of 40 W/m2, large negative latent heat fluxes of −32 W/m2, and low melt energy of −21 W/m2 in ablation seasons, resembling the energy partitioning generally found in continental climates. About 60% of the positive energy supply was consumed by latent heat fluxes on the glaciers in Muji basin, while only about 40% of the positive energy supply was used for melting. Glaciers in the Muji basin experienced a mass balance of −812.18 mm over 2011–2015, corresponding to a water release of 4.42 × 106 m3.The VIC‐glacier model has a good potential of broader utility for the large basins with limited meteorological observations.
Enfermedades pulmonares intersticiales difusas asociadas al tabaquismo

Questioning about smoking habits should never be ignored, since the range of inherent diagnostic possibilities is wide. It is a fundamental clinical step facing individuals who consult for symptoms and/or casual radiological findings. We present three clinical cases: the combined syndrome of pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema, desquamative interstitial pneumonitis
Four decades of surface elevation change of the Antarctic Ice Sheetfrom multi-mission satellite altimetry

Abstract. We developed an approach for a multi-mission satellite altimetry analysis over the Antarctic Ice Sheet which comprises Seasat, Geosat, ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, ICESat and CryoSat-2. In a first step we apply a consistent reprocessing of the radar alitmetry data which improves the measurement precision by up to 50 %. We then perform a joint repeat altimetry analysis of all missions. We estimate inter-mission offsets by approaches adapted to the temporal overlap or non-overlap and to the similarity or dissimilarity of involved altimetry techniques. Hence, we obtain monthly grids forming a combined surface elevation change time series. Owing to the early missions Seasat and Geosat, the time series span almost four decades from 07/1978 to 12/2017 over 25 % of the ice sheet area (coastal regions of East Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula). Since the launch of ERS-1 79 % of the ice sheet area is covered by observations. Over this area, we obtain a negative volume trend of −34 ± 5 km 3 yr −1 for the more than 25-year period (04/1992–12/2017). These volume losses have significantly accelerated to a rate of −170 ± 11 km 3 yr −1 for 2010–2017. Interannual variations significantly impact decadal volume rates which highlights the importance of the long-term time series. Our time series show a high coincidence with modeled cumulated precipitation anomalies and with satellite gravimetry. This supports the interpretation with respect to snowfall anomalies or dynamic thinning. Moreover, the correlation with cumulated precipitation anomalies back to the Seasat and Geosat periods highlights that the inter-mission offsets were successfully corrected and that the early missions add valuable information.
Pengaruh Atribut Perusahaan Audit Terhadap Kualitas Audit: Analisis Meta

Skandal keuangan yang terjadi di beberapa negara menyebabkan turunnya tingkat kepercayaan masyarakat terhadap kualitas audit laporan keuangan sehingga indikator yang dapat meningkatkan kualitas audit menjadi sangat penting untuk diteliti. Studi ini bertujuan untuk menyelidiki hubungan antara atribut perusahaan audit dan kualitas audit serta menunjukan pemahaman yang mendalam tentang alasan dibalik perbedaan hasil penelitian sebelumnya. Penelitian ini menggunakan teknik analisis meta dengan sampel 43 studi internasional dari artikel ilmiah yang otentik selama tahun 2003 - 2020. Hasil penel itian menunjukan bahwa ukuran perusahan audit, independensi dan audit tenure berpengaruh positif terhadap kualitas audit. Selanjutnya, hasil analisis variabel moderat membuktikan bahwa klasifikasi negara ( negara maju dan berkembang) memoderasi hubungan antara ukuran perusahan audit, independensi dan audit tenure terhadap kualitas audit.