Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity and lupus nephritis flare using anti-nucleosome and anti-C1q antibodies

Objectives To evaluate serum levels of anti-nucleosome and anti-C1q in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, and their correlation with disease activity and lupus nephritis (LN) flare. Background SLE is a common chronic multiorgan affection autoimmune disease with loss of self-tolerance and unpredictable activity. Increased serum anti-nucleosome and anti-C1q levels may play pathogenic roles in SLE activity and LN immune aberration and disease flare. Patients and methods The study was carried out on 120 participants, 80 SLE patients and 40 non-SLE individuals as a control group. Of these, 55 patients were diagnosed as LN patients by kidney biopsy before enrollment into the study. Anti-nucleosome antibodies and anti-C1q were determined using a quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results Anti-nucleosome and anti-C1q serum levels were statistically significantly high in SLE patients in comparison to the control group and statistically significantly high in active SLE patients (111.43 ± 43.97 and 68.62 ± 22.99 U/ml, respectively) than inactive SLE patients. They have significant positive correlations with the SLE disease activity index score (P < 0.001) and have a high sensitivity and specificity for SLE diagnosis and its activity (P < 0.001). Anti-nucleosome and anti-C1q serum levels were statistically significantly high in LN (113.89 ± 43.87 and 68.61 ± 24.49 U/ml, respectively) than in non-LN patients (P = 0.004, P < 0.001, respectively) with statistically significant positive correlations with SLE disease activity index-renal domain score (P < 0.001). They have high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of active LN (P = 0.004, P < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions Anti-nucleosome and anti-C1q can be used as markers for the diagnosis of SLE disease activity and LN flare with high sensitivity and specificity.
Devekuşu Derilerinin İşlentisi ve Mamul Deri Özelliklerinin Belirlenmesi Üzerine Bir Araştirma

A Study on Processing of Ostrich Leathers and Determination of Their Properties In this research, it was investigated availability of ostrich leather production for garment and fancy leathers. By determining products’ physical properties such as tensile strength, tear strength, stitch tear strength and lastometer value and chemical properties such as extractable fatty substance, chromium oxide content, sulphate ash, hide substance and pH value, it is decided that both products are suitable for mentioned leather types. In addition, some important processing specialities are pointed out.
Bio-Synthesized Nanoparticles in Developing Plant Abiotic Stress Resilience: A New Boon for Sustainable Approach

Agriculture crop development and production may be hampered in the modern era because of the increasing prevalence of ecological problems around the world. In the last few centuries, plant and agrarian scientific experts have shown significant progress in promoting efficient and eco-friendly approaches for the green synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs), which are noteworthy due to their unique physio-biochemical features as well as their possible role and applications. They are thought to be powerful sensing molecules that regulate a wide range of significant physiological and biochemical processes in plants, from germination to senescence, as well as unique strategies for coping with changing environmental circumstances. This review highlights current knowledge on the plant extract-mediated synthesis of NPs, as well as their significance in reprogramming plant traits and ameliorating abiotic stresses. Nano particles-mediated modulation of phytohormone content in response to abiotic stress is also displayed. Additionally, the applications and limitations of green synthesized NPs in various scientific regimes have also been highlighted.
Lactobacillus casei Improve Anti-Tuberculosis Drugs-Induced Intestinal Adverse Reactions in Rat by Modulating Gut Microbiota and Short-Chain Fatty Acids

The adverse effects of anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs in the intestines were related to alteration of the intestinal microbiota. However, there was less information about microbial metabolism on the adverse reactions. This study aimed to explore whether Lactobacillus casei could regulate gut microbiota or short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) disorders to protect intestinal adverse reactions induced by isoniazid (H) and rifampicin (R). Male Wistar rats were given low and high doses of Lactobacillus casei two hours before daily administration of anti-TB drugs. After 42 days, colon tissue and blood were collected for analysis. The feces at two-week and six-week were collected to analyze the microbial composition and the content of SCFAs in colon contents was determined. Supplementation of Lactobacillus casei increased the proportion of intestinal goblet cells induced by H and R (p < 0.05). In addition, HR also reduced the level of mucin-2 (p < 0.05), and supplementation of Lactobacillus casei restored. After two weeks of HR intervention, a decrease in OTUs, diversity index, the abundance of Bacteroides, Akkermansia, and Blautia, and an increase of the abundance of Lacetospiraceae NK4A136 group and Rumencoccus UCG-005, were observed compared with the control group (p all < 0.05). These indices in Lactobacillus casei intervention groups were similar to the HR group. Six-week intervention resulted in a dramatic reduction of Lacetospiraceae NK4A136 group, butyric acid, valeric acid and hexanoic acid, while an increase of Bacteroides and Blautia (p all < 0.05). Pretreatment with Lactobacillus casei significantly increased the content of hexanoic acid compared with HR group (p < 0.05). Lactobacillus casei might prevent intestinal injury induced by anti-tuberculosis drugs by regulating gut microbiota and SCFAs metabolism.
Deep Reinforcement Learning for Dynamic Access Point Activation in Cell-Free MIMO Networks

—The cell-free network architecture suppresses inter-cell interference by eliminating cell boundaries through the joint operation of distributed access points (APs). While a dense deployment of these APs may lead to performance gains, the corresponding increase in energy consumption poses environmental and economic issues. One way to improve energy efﬁciency is to turn off underutilized APs. In this work, we present a deep reinforcement learning-based framework that derives the set of active APs given the spatial user information. The ﬂexible design of the reward function for AP selection allows easy adjustment of performance targets in terms of quality of service and power consumption, as well as studying their trade-off. We also demonstrate how the proposed framework intelligently selects and activates only a subset of APs that contributes signiﬁcantly to user performance, thereby enabling the cell-free network to provide good service while achieving power savings.
The Role of Positive Psycho-Therapy (PPT) for Improving Gratitude among Depressed Adolescents: A Comparative Study

: The present study focuses on examining the role of Positive psychotherapy (PPT) on improving gratitude level of depressed adolescents. The effectiveness of PPT is measured through pre-test and post-test design. In this study, purposive sampling technique has been utilized for data collection. BDI-II and GQ-6 were used as test measures. Total of 120 participants (N=120), 60 depressed (Male=30 & Female=30) and 60 non-depressed (Male=30 & Female=30) were selected through the screening process. Among 60 moderately depressed adolescents every 10 th participants were selected, resulting in 6 participants (3 males & 3 females) were finally chosen for therapeutic purpose of taking PPT. The student’s t-test (correlated sample) was used for statistical calculation. Research findings revealed that there were significant differences in the pre-test and post-test scores of gratitude among depressed and non-depressed adolescents. Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) as an intervention found to be effective for decreasing depressive symptoms in moderately depressed individuals by increasing pleasure, engagement, and meaning- both in-person and over the web during therapeutic sessions. After practicing (gratitude journal, using character strengths, practical wisdom, gratitude letter, hope, optimism) in the therapy, participants developed a sense of growth mind set and better adjustment with the environment. Results of the study indicated from the mean scores that the depressed adolescents showed improvement in post-test (after intervention) ‘Gratitude’ score after receiving PPT. A dependent sample t-test was applied to analyze the significance of the mean difference between pre-test (before intervention) and post-test (after intervention) in the measure of ‘Gratitude’ on depressed adolescents using the Gratitude Questionnaire. The obtained t-value =5.96 with df =5 was significant at a 0.01 level of significance (p <0.01). It is indicated from the mean scores that the depressed adolescents showed improvement in post-test (after intervention) ‘Gratitude’ score.
Three-Dimensional Unique-Identiﬁer-Based Automated Georeferencing and Coregistration of Point Clouds in Underground Mines

: Spatially referenced and geometrically accurate laser scans are essential for mapping and monitoring applications in underground mines to ensure safe and smooth operation. However, obtaining an absolute 3D map in an underground mine environment is challenging using laser scanning due to the unavailability of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals. Consequently, applications that require georeferenced point cloud or coregistered multitemporal point clouds such as detecting changes, monitoring deformations, tracking mine logistics, measuring roadway convergence rate and evaluating construction performance become challenging. Current mapping practices largely include a manual selection of discernable reference points in laser scans for georeferencing and coregistration which is often time-consuming, arduous and error-prone. Moreover, challenges in obtaining a sensor positioning framework, the presence of structurally symmetric layouts and highly repetitive features (such as roof bolts) makes the multitemporal scans difﬁcult to georeference and coregister. This study aims at overcoming these practical challenges through development of three-dimensional unique identiﬁers (3DUIDs) and a 3D registration (3DReG) workﬂow. Field testing of the developed approach in an underground coal mine has been found effective with an accuracy of 1.76 m in georeferencing and 0.16 m in coregistration for a scan length of 850 m. Additionally, automatic extraction of mine roadway proﬁle has been demonstrated using 3DUID which is often a compliant and operational requirement for mitigating roadway related hazards that includes roadway convergence rate, roof/rock falls, ﬂoor heaves and vehicle clearance for collision avoidance. Potential applications of 3DUID include roadway proﬁle extraction, guided automation, sensor calibration, reference targets for a routine survey and deformation monitoring.
Heberden Epidemiology and the arthritides

SUMMARY The multifactorial control of serum uric acid levels is discussed from an epidemiological point of view and the principles at issue related to the epidemiology of osteoarthrosis. It is shown that in osteoarthrosis the clinical characteristics vary from one joint group to another. Association of x-ray changes with pain varies between joints and between sexes for the various joints. The disease tends to be commoner in females but not in all age groups. There is an association between obesity and osteoarthrosis in the hands and knees but not the hips or ankles. These differences raise questions about the homogeneity of generalised osteoarthrosis. Such questions might be answered by epidemiological studies which consider individual joint groups and are carefully directed towards specific hypotheses, the development of which could be facilitated by the use of iconic models.
A Novel Non-Invasive Method for Extraction of Geometrical and Texture Features of Wood

ABSTRACT Non invasive feature detection in wood based application requires exact discrimination between geometrical edges and texture. It has been found that traditional edge detection algorithms are highly sensitive to noise and texture and produces inferior results with wood. The present work encompasses a micro level reconstruction of Palash and Rosewood by using micro X-rays CT scanner. It also encompasses a new edge detection algorithm using newly constructed Chebyshev polynomial based fractional order differentiator. Transform based method has been used for reconstruction purpose. Newly designed fractional order filter has been applied on these reconstructed images. Chebyshev polynomial based fractional order differentiator has been used for filtering operation. Quadrature Mirror Filter (QMF) concept has been used for design of high pass filter and low pass filter. Preprocessing has been performed by using this filter. Canny edge detection algorithm has been used on this preprocessed image. The algorithm has been tested on two different test cases of wood images a) Palash and b) Rosewood. The effect of relaxation coefficient has also been presented and discussed.
MEng Individual Project

To this day, Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) has shown promising results in research and is gradually emerging into many real-life applications. However, the applicability of DRL is often limited by its excessive training time as many problem settings suﬀer from the state-space explosion problem. In this research, we develop State-Space Decomposition Reinforcement Learning (SSD-RL), a novel DRL method which helps alleviate this issue by splitting up large state spaces into smaller ones through state-space decomposition, thereby allowing us to distribute computation and accelerate training. The key idea is to use smaller neural networks to learn the dynamics of the decomposed state sub-spaces, whilst another neural network considers the relatively less frequent interactions between the diﬀerent state sub-spaces. We applied SSD-RL to a variety of environments, including one based oﬀ Alibaba’s cluster dataset where the agent learns to how to eﬃciently allocate processing power in data centers. Through our experiments, we successfully show that SSD-RL notably reduces training time for problems with an appropriate decomposability factor compared to other state-of-the-art methods. We also investigate the condition and parameter settings under which the SSD-RL can be most beneﬁcial in terms of reducing learning time. Finally, we demonstrate how SSD-RL can be extended into a distributed method, allowing us to overcome some of the hurdles of running DRL in distributed systems. From this study, we conclude that applying state-space decomposition to Reinforcement Learning problems is indeed eﬀective for certain problem settings, and the idea of decomposing the learning into multiple neural networks brings us one step closer to being able to create distributed Reinforcement Learning techniques.
Macromolecular engineering of in-situ forming hydrogels

Surgery in our perspective generally requires an operation with a certain size of an incision, leaving wounds, which are painful, require a long time to heal and end up with the formation of scars. Advances in medical procedures and technologies have led to the development of minimally invasive surgical procedures and several imaging tools for diagnosis. Imaging by techniques like e.g. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has become increasingly important since it provides 3D-information in a non-invasive manner [1]. If possible, in follow-up surgery, a minimally invasive procedure with a small incision is applied because of the time reduction for a wound to heal and of prime importance, to diminish the risk of infection [2].
Youth Water Polo Performance Determinants: The INEX Study

Due to the growing engagement of youth in water polo practice, we aimed to characterize age-grouped players across anthropometric, general and specific motor abilities and contextual domains. We have also examined the associations of players’ specific skills with their anthropometric and general motor characteristics. One-hundred-and-one male water polo players, grouped into 12-, 13- and 14-year age cohorts were recruited. One-way ANOVA explained age-cohort variance, and a multiple linear regression was used to assess the association between variables. The variance in cohorts was explained by arm span (25%), stature, hand breadth and length (17%) fat-free mass (18%), 20 m sprint (16%), sit-ups (18%), medicine ball throw (27%), anaerobic (31%) and aerobic performance (21%), change of direction (18%), and in-water vertical jump (14%). The variance of in-water vertical jump, 10 m sprint, change of direction and aerobic fitness for players’ anthropometric characteristics were, 32, 25, 14 and 10% (respectively). The players’ upper-limb explosive power explained 30, 22 and 17% of variance for in-water vertical jump, 10 m sprint and aerobic fitness, respectively. Body mass had an inverse, and arm span had a direct association with in-water vertical jump and swim velocity capability, arm span had an inverse and direct association with change of direction and aerobic fitness, respectively. The upper limbs’ explosive power related directly to in-water vertical jump and aerobic fitness skills, but inversely with 10 m sprint scores.
Immunohistochemical expression of CD 14 in transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder

CD14 is a co-receptor for bacterial lipolysaccharide (LPS) detection. It is found on myelomonocytic cells such as monocytes, macrophages, and Langerhans cells, CD14 expression in bladder cells is necessary for cytokine secretion and increased tumor growth. The goal of this study was to use immunohistochemistry (IHC) to assess CD14 expression in patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder in order to see if there was a link between CD14 marker expression in bladder cancer and cystitis. The immunoexpression of CD14 in paraffin sections from 30 bladder biopsy samples was separated into three groups: cystitis, low grade bladder cancer (L.G), and high grade bladder cancer (H.G), and studied using immunohistochemical assays (IHC). For bladder cancer (L.G & H.G), the percentage of samples that gave positive results for IHC/CD14 expression was 70% and 80%, respectively, compared to 30% for cystitis. The incidence of study samples appear in both sexes.
Efficiency Definitions Relevant to the Study of SSC

Ingen Schenau and colleagues illustrate very well the difficulties that have arisen in using the term efficiency to discuss SSC contractions. Finding an appropriate definition of efJiciency might be easier if we define the meaning of the word for the two processes of stretch and shortening separately. It will be useful to choose to use the term eficiency in various ways (see H. Dumpty's remarks reported by Carroll, 1872). These definitions may at least focus attention on what is missing in the experimental measurements that we have available at present and allow us to predict what would be observed on the basis of theoretical ideas of what occurs during the stretch-shortening cycle. During stretch of a muscle, the energy inputs are the metabolic release of free energy and the work done on the muscle. The energy from these sources could become heat, but generally not all of it will do so; some part of the energy input will be "stored. " The inefficiency in this stage is the dissipation of any of the energy input into heat rather than its storage as free energy. This energy storage might be in the strained elastic structures in the muscle, which is very likely because of the high forces generally generated during stretch. Less likely, but not perhaps to be excluded from consideration, is that there is some chemical process in the muscle that is driven away from its equilibrium by the free energy input during stretch and thus acts as an energy store. All this stored energy is free energy, which could become work at some later time, and so we can reasonably define the efficiency of the muscle during the stretch (see definitions of symbols used).
Summertime Transport Pathways and Dynamics From Northern India and Tibetan Plateau to the Lower Stratosphere: Insights From Idealized Tracer Experiments

We use the idealized tracer experiments and investigate the summertime transport from the surface region of northern India and Tibetan Plateau to the lower stratosphere. It is found that the transport, compared to other surrounding regions, has an overall younger modal age in the northern lower stratosphere away from the tropopause. Analysis of the tracer budget reveals that the tracer is transported to the tropical lower stratosphere rapidly in the first 5 days due to vertical eddy transport and afterward in a month or two advection associated with the Brewer‐Dobson circulation. Meanwhile the tracer is also transported to the northern extratropical lower stratosphere in the first 3 months due to horizontal eddy mixing. The results highlight the uniqueness of the northern India region in the summertime transport to the lower stratosphere and implications for the transport of short‐lived chemical species in the destruction of stratospheric ozone.
Determination of a total body model of efficiency applied to a rowing movement in humans

Efficiency represents the ratio of work done to energy expended. In human movement, it is desirable to maximise the work done or minimise the energy expenditure. Whilst research has examined the efficiency of human movement for the lower and upper body, there is a paucity of research which considers the efficiency of a total body movement. Rowing is a movement which encompasses all parts of the body to generate locomotion and is a useful modality to measure total body efficiency. It was the aim of this research to develop a total body model of efficiency and explore how skill level of participants and assumptions of the modelling process affected the efficiency estimates Three studies were used to develop and evaluate the efficiency model. Firstly, the efficiency of ten healthy males was established using rowing, cycling and arm cranking. The model included internal work from motion capture and efficiency estimates were comparable to published literature, indicating the suitability of the model to estimate efficiency. Secondly, the model was developed to include a multi-segmented trunk and twelve novice and twelve skilled participants were assessed for efficiency. Whilst the efficiency estimates were similar to published results, novice participants were assessed as more efficient. Issues such as the unique physiology of trained rowers and a lack of energy transfers in the model were considered contributing factors. Finally the model was redeveloped to account for energy transfers, where skilled participants had higher efficiency at large workloads. This work presents a novel model for estimating efficiency during a rowing motion. The specific inclusion of energy transfers expands previous knowledge of internal work and efficiency, demonstrating a need to include energy transfers in the assessment of efficiency of a total body action.