Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Global Supply and Demand for Agricultural Land in 2050: A Perfect Storm in the Making? AAEA Presidential Address

Over the past three years, there has been a convergence of interest in the global farm and food system and its contributions to feeding the world’s population as well as to ensuring the environmental sustainability of the planet. The 2007/2008 commodity crisis underscored the vulnerability of the global food system to shocks from extreme weather events, energy and financial markets, as well as government interventions in the form of export bans and other measures designed to avoid domestic adjustment to global scarcity. We have learned that a “perfect storm” in which all these factors coincide can have a devastating impact on the world’s poor, as well as putting considerable pressure on the world’s natural resource base. As we look ahead to the middle of this century, will such commodity price spikes become more commonplace? Will the world’s agricultural resource base be up to the task of meeting the diverse demands being placed on it?
Electrical Impedance Tomography: From the Traditional Design to the Novel Frontier of Wearables

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a medical imaging technique based on the injection of a current or voltage pattern through electrodes on the skin of the patient, and on the reconstruction of the internal conductivity distribution from the voltages collected by the electrodes. Compared to other imaging techniques, EIT shows significant advantages: it does not use ionizing radiation, is non-invasive and is characterized by high temporal resolution. Moreover, its low cost and high portability make it suitable for real-time, bedside monitoring. However, EIT is also characterized by some technical limitations that cause poor spatial resolution. The possibility to design wearable devices based on EIT has recently given a boost to this technology. In this paper we reviewed EIT physical principles, hardware design and major clinical applications, from the classical to a wearable setup. A wireless and wearable EIT system seems a promising frontier of this technology, as it can both facilitate making clinical measurements and open novel scenarios to EIT systems, such as home monitoring.
Electrical Impedance Tomography: A Fair Comparative Study on Deep Learning and Analytic-based Approaches

Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a powerful imaging technique with diverse applications, e.g., medical diagnosis, industrial monitoring, and environmental studies. The EIT inverse problem is about inferring the internal conductivity distribution of an object from measurements taken on its boundary. It is severely ill-posed, necessitating advanced computational methods for accurate image reconstructions. Recent years have witnessed significant progress, driven by innovations in analytic-based approaches and deep learning. This review explores techniques for solving the EIT inverse problem, focusing on the interplay between contemporary deep learning-based strategies and classical analytic-based methods. Four state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms are rigorously examined, harnessing the representational capabilities of deep neural networks to reconstruct intricate conductivity distributions. In parallel, two analytic-based methods, rooted in mathematical formulations and regularisation techniques, are dissected for their strengths and limitations. These methodologies are evaluated through various numerical experiments, encompassing diverse scenarios that reflect real-world complexities. A suite of performance metrics is employed to assess the efficacy of these methods. These metrics collectively provide a nuanced understanding of the methods' ability to capture essential features and delineate complex conductivity patterns. One novel feature of the study is the incorporation of variable conductivity scenarios, introducing a level of heterogeneity that mimics textured inclusions. This departure from uniform conductivity assumptions mimics realistic scenarios where tissues or materials exhibit spatially varying electrical properties. Exploring how each method responds to such variable conductivity scenarios opens avenues for understanding their robustness and adaptability.
Growth performance of broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with amylase and protease enzymes individually or combined

Background: Feed additives that increase nutrient availability in feeds have gained a lot of interest. Aim: An experiment was conducted to determine whether amylase, protease, and their combined supplementation affected broiler performance. Methods: Two hundred eighty broiler chicks were selected and distributed randomly into 28 replicate pens with four treatment groups and seven replicates under a completely randomized design. A total of four diets were developed, having 0, 100, 100, and 100 + 100 g of control (AP0), amylase (A1), protease (P1), and amylase + protease (AP1)/ton of feed, respectively. Four replicates of each treatment were fed each diet. Each diet was randomly allotted to each group. Ad-libitum feeding was provided to the birds. The feeding program had starter and finisher diets. Upon completion of the experiment, three birds from each pen were slaughtered to analyze the carcass characteristics and organ weight. Results: Differences were insignificant between 100 g/ton of amylase supplementation and FI, body weight gain (BWG), or feed conversion ratio (FCR) (p > 0.05). Supplementation with 10 0g/ton of protease did not significantly affect FI, BWG, and FCR (p > 0.05). Similarly, 100 + 100 g/ton of amylase + protease addition had no significant effect on FI, BWG, and FCR (p > 0.05). None of the treatments significantly affected carcass weight, abdominal fat percentage, dressing percentage, drumstick, wings, breast, and thigh weights (p > 0.05). In addition, there were no significant effects (p > 0.05) on the weight of the heart, liver, gizzard, and spleen. Conclusion: In conclusion, amylase, protease, and their combined supplementation at a rate of 100 g/ton of feed did not influence BWG, FI, FCR, carcass characteristics, or organ weight.
Human Mutation

Department of Clinical Genetics and GROW‐School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility and NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Southampton, NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK Departments of Immunology and Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Southampton, UK Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospitals of Leicester, NHS Trust, Leicester, UK Department of Pathology and Medical Genetics, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway Department of Gastrointestinal diseases, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Dresden, Dresden, Germany Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands Department of Human Genetics, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Human Mutation

Funding information Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Grant/Award Number: anr14‐ce12‐0013‐02; Fondation du Rein/Fondation pour la recherche médicale, Grant/Award Number: Prix “Jeune chercheur Gabriel Richet” 2014 Abstract Pathological missense mutations in CLCNKB gene give a wide spectrum of clinical phenotypes in Bartter syndrome type III patients. Molecular analysis of the mutated ClC‐Kb channels can be helpful to classify the mutations according to their functional alteration. We investigated the functional consequences of nine mutations in the CLCNKB gene causing Bartter syndrome. We first established that all tested mutations lead to decreased ClC‐Kb currents. Combining electrophysiological and biochemical methods in Xenopus laevis oocytes and in MDCKII cells, we identified three classes of mutations. One class is characterized by altered channel trafficking. p.A210V, p.P216L, p.G424R, and p.G437R are totally or partially retained in the endoplasmic reticulum. p.S218N is characterized by reduced channel insertion at the plasma membrane and altered pH‐sensitivity; thus, it falls in the second class of mutations. Finally, we found a novel class of functionally inactivated mutants normally present at the plasma membrane. Indeed, we found that p.A204T alters the pH‐sensitivity, p.A254V abolishes the calcium‐sensitivity. p.G219C and p.G465R are probably partially inactive at the plasma membrane. In conclusion, most pathogenic mutants accumulate partly or totally in intracellular compartments, but some mutants are normally present at the membrane surface and simultaneously show a large range of altered channel gating properties.
Assessed data on heat capacity, thermal expansion, and compressibility for some oxides and silicates

Thermochemical and thermophysical data for several oxides and silicates are assessed and refined from the available data on Cp (heat capacity at constant pressure), thermal expansion (α) and compressibility (β) from the relation: Cp = Cν + α2VTT/βT, where Cν (heat capacity at constant volume) at low-temperatures is modelled from Kieffer's (1979a, b, c) model. For five minerals, periclase, forsterite, pyrope, lime, and corundum, high temperature data are available and a comparison between the available and assessed data shows a good match. The available data on thermal expansion and bulk modulus, the calculated and assessed Cν data on 44 oxides and silicates are made internally consistent satisfying the above relationship between the heat capacity at constant pressure and at constant volume, thermal expansion and bulk modulus. These data are useful in phase equilibrium computations.
[Report] Food Deserts in British Cities, 2004: final report on ESRC award

In the late 1990s, deprived areas of British cities with poor access to healthy food at reasonable prices became known as ‘food deserts’, and policies were recommended to tackle their problems. Yet until this study by the Universities of Southampton, Leeds and Cardiff, there was almost no research to test some of the crucial links assumed to exist between food retail access, compromised diets, and poor health. Work included a major before-and-after investigation into the impact on the eating habits of low-income families in the Seacroft area of East Leeds - one of the top five per cent most deprived places in England - after a large, new Tesco store opened on their doorstep
Climatic and oceanographic isotopic signals from the carbonate rock record and their preservation

Abstract Stable isotopic data from marine limestones and their constituent fossils and marine cements can provide quantitative evidence for changes in global climate and ocean circulation. Oxygen isotopic data can indicate changes in temperature and ocean composition whereas stratigraphic variation in carbon isotope ratios may reflect changes in the carbon cycle that can be linked to changes in oceanic productivity and atmospheric greenhouse gases. Terrestrial carbonates–meteoric cements, calcretes and speleothems–similarly offer significant potential for understanding the evolution of terrestrial climates by providing evidence for the composition of rainwater and the nature of vegetative cover. Primary environmental isotopic signals may be obscured by the effects of post-depositional diagenetic alteration. Cementation and replacement reactions can take place in a wide range of diagenetic environments; the diagenetic history of an individual limestone is determined by a combination of its mineralogical diagenetic potential and depositional setting, together with subsequent changes in relative sea-level and burial history. Carbon isotopic values are less prone to alteration during diagenesis than oxygen values but shifts can be significant where organogenic carbon is incorporated. Linear covariation of carbon and oxygen values is not a reliable indicator of diagenetic alteration: water-rock interaction and fluid mixing may produce non-linear distributions. Attempts to determine long-term changes in climatic and oceanographie conditions through isotope stratigraphy of shallow-water limestones must include an assessment of the diagenetic history of the materials analysed. Pétrographic examination using conventional microscopy backed up, where appropriate, by cathodoluminescence and scanning electron microscopy together with elemental and strontium isotopic analysis can help to identify the effects of diagenetic alteration. Where material with a range of different degrees of alteration is preserved in the same sediment it may be possible to compare patterns of isotopic and elemental variation and to attempt to unravel the effects of diagenesis in order to determine primary, environmental, isotopic signals. Recent research has shown that these techniques can be successfully employed in both Phanerozoic and Precambrian sediments.
Instability on dike with scour due to surface flow and seepage

The damage to a dike caused by high water levels from a localized torrential downpour over a long period is presumed to be related to dike saturation from the seepage water from the dike surface and the blow off of pore air following a movement in the seepage line in the dike. The water flow generates a large-scale scour around the structure, and as a result, the stability of the structure is decreased. We discuss the ways in which multi-scaling problems and multi-phase interactions between soil, water, and gas affect these structures in three types of fundamental scour experiments. This study attempted to elucidate the scouring mechanism by experimenting using a movable bed channel device. During the water flow acting on the ground, a vertically upward hydraulic gradient along with excess pore water pressure was generated in the saturated ground, and a liquefaction-like phenomenon was generated by an increase the excess pore water pressure in the ground. Consequently, scouring was facilitated. The pore air in the unsaturated ground formed an air bubble due to seepage flow, and it spouted in the ground surface. The importance of the scour phenomenon of the dynamic interaction of soil particles, pore water, and pore air was discovered.
Lack of diurnal effects on periodic exercise during prolonged cold water immersion.

: Diurnal effects on periodic exercise were examined in 8 male divers wearing passive thermal protection during whole body immersions in 5 degrees C water for periods of up to 6 h. Studies were done during the course of 5-day air saturation dives at a depth of 1.61 ATA, with immersions beginning at 1000 h (AM) and 2200 h (PM). During each hour of immersion, leg exercise was done for 3 min each at workloads of 50, 70, and 90 W. Heart rate (HR) at each workload increased uniformly with immersion time, without a change in slope of HR vs. workload. No AM or PM differences occurred. AM resting VO2 increased linearly, and to the same extent as PM, with exposure time. VO2 at 50 W also increased at the same rate as resting values. VO2 at 70 and 90 W were similar for AM and PM and did not vary significantly during the 6-h immersions. Temporal increases in exercise HR may reflect cardiac compensation of diminished plasma volume. Workloads greater than or equal to 70 W generate enough metabolic heat in this specific condition to meet the thermogenic requirement. Lack of diurnal effects on exercise variables may be due to environmental conditions suppressing circadian rhythms.
MATCHING THE NEEDS OF YOUNG FIRST TIME HOUSE BUYERS IN URBAN AREA

The property developers need to understand the needs of young first time house buyers in house purchase. There are differences in the motivation of buying decision of house purchasers and the residential properties development of the developers. A review of the literature on the reasons of staying in urban area, the factor driving changes of housing price and the needs of young first time house buyers were conducted. The questionnaire surveys were responded by 110 participants. Factor analysis has been adopted and seven principal factors were extracted from thirty factors included in the questionnaire. The seven factors extracted are fundamental needs, quality living, well-planned amenity, healthy environment, human comfort, harmonious community and property value. Other than that, there are specific factors that affect choice of house for young house buyers such as quality building materials and finishes, geographical locality, natural fresh air and government subsidy. The housing price is not the main factor to be considered by urban young house buyers. The government subsidy is one of the factors in helping them to afford a house. This finding could be applied by the developers to develop the residential properties to meet the needs of young first time house buyers in urban area.
The relationship between diatoms and climate in a European mountain lake training set : implications for detecting the Little Ice Age in lake sediments from central Norway

This study evaluates the use of fresh water diatoms, from lacustrine sediments, to infer past changes in climate. The main aim of the thesis is to reconstruct changes in climate over the past 500 years, including the Little Ice Age event, using lake sediments from Central Southern Norway. The relationship between surficial high altitude lake sediment diatom species and measured environmental variables is explored in 80 lakes from Central Southern Norway and North West Scotland through the creation of a 'surface sample training set'. 40 of these lakes have ice-cover duration data and diatom assemblages from these are examined to determine their relationship with measured environmental parameters. Multivariate statistical techniques demonstrate that ice-cover duration accounts for a statistically significant proportion of the diatom variance, and an ice-cover transfer function using weighted- averaging- tolerance- down- weighted (WA(tol)) techniques is developed. Unfortunately, large errors are incurred with the resulting model. For this reason diatom assemblages from all 80 lakes are explored in conjunction with the available environmental parameters. Canonical correspondence analysis with forward selection and Monte Carlo permutation tests reveal that three environmental variables independently explain significant proportions of the diatom variance. These variables are January temperature, TOC and pH. A January temperature transfer function is produced using weighted- averaging- partial- least- squares (WA-PLS) techniques and a pH transfer function is produced using WA(tol) methods. These quantitative inference models are used to help identify changes in climate for two high altitude Norwegian lakes (Gavalivatnet and Hornsjoen). Few changes occur in the diatom inferred pH reconstructions and few linkages are, therefore, made between pH and climate. The January temperature transfer function was applied and its performance is directly compared with measured values of century- long meteorological records. It appears to perform well at Hornsjoen and infers successfully the recent climatic warming. The reconstruction at Gavalivatnet does not reflect the extent of recent climatic warming suggesting that the method is not so robust for this site. Inferences about the changes in the Norwegian climate during the LIA are made using a combination of diatom inferred reconstructed temperatures, lithostratigraphic changes, chrysophyte cyst production and diatom species shifts. Several trends are evident within the proxy records of the lakes which can be linked with the climatic changes associated with the Little Ice Age and recent climatic warming. It is concluded, however, that although changes in the lake biota could be related to climatic fluctuations the signal is complex and multi-faceted. It is proposed that the two lakes respond individually to climatic changes, due to differing lake chemistry and bathymetry, despite being exposed to similar driving macroclimate variables.
Globis final report on Integrated Scenarios D30

The final objective of the project is to provide an integrated vision of these four case studies in WP4. This deliverable will specifically analyze the conflicts and synergies between various sustainability issues that stem from these four cross sectors linkages under different visions of globalization and development pathways. The challenge is thus to integrate sector-based analysis in a common economic framework capturing the interplay between innovation, the evolution of life styles, macroeconomic constraints (investments, trade.) in a world experiencing strong economic transitions. This report will then develop a set of comprehensive scenarios at the World and European levels. These numerical experiments will aim at analyzing i) the mechanisms that explain the tensions and synergies between various sustainability issues (climate change, land availability, energy security) under various views of the future of economic globalization and ii) ways to mitigate these tensions within the framework of each scenario. We will specifically assess the implementation of climate policies. CO2 emissions have indeed continued to grow in the past decade even more rapidly than predicted (Peters et al., 2011; Raupach et al., 2007; IPCC, 2014). This context is the result of both the diculty to decouple growth and carbon emissions in developed regions, where development styles cannot be changed overnight, and the rapid carbon-intensive growth patterns of emerging countries (IEA, 2012). It also highlights the necessity to implement ambitious measures to trigger a strong bifurcation away from carbon-intensive development paths (IPCC, 2007, 2014). Despite this scientific consensus, the implementation of ambitious global carbon emission reduction targets remains highly uncertain as shown by the difficulties to reach a global climate agreement under the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in particular since the failure of the Copenhagen Conference in 2009. This is essentially due to the concerns about (a) significant welfare and economic losses consecutive to carbon restrictions and (b) the interplay of climate measures with other sensitive political issues such as the financial crisis, poverty alleviation, job creation, energy and food security, or health and local environmental protection (e.g., see the dilemma of the climate development Gordian knot discussed in (Hourcade et al., 2008)). An integrated vision between sustainable development and the globalisation process can be a precondition to overcome this dilemma in view of post 2015 climate policies.