Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Taphonomic overprinting on the late Palaeozoic terrestrial plant–animal interactions: a noise in the record

Abstract Plant–animal interactions investigated largely in Glossopteris leaf fossils (1214 specimens) from the lower Permian strata of peninsular India reveal evidence of taphonomic modifications of the ichnofabric. The leaf fossils indicate both above-ground (pre-depositional) and on-ground (post-depositional) animal activities. Animal traces that extend beyond the margins of the leaf compressions or are emplaced on the leaf impressions are evidently post-depositional, preserved ex situ. Both feeding (herbivory/detritivory) and locomotary animal traces are interpreted in the host media. Preserved traces in the leaf fossils depict arrays of pre- and post-depositional events (viz., biotic interactions on green foliage, leaf detachment from the trees, post-mortem transport and burial) along taphonomic pathways. Accordingly, five taphonomic pathways are proposed based on varied combinations of pre- and post-depositional traces, emplaced on leaf fossils. Low diversity and persistent rarity of post-depositional traces (4%) as compared to more common pre-depositional traces (7%) in the sample population are noted. Less common post-depositional trace fossil assemblages of depauperate diversity indicate that stressed habitats prevailed at the depositional sites and a limited time window for preservation of plant–animal interactions. The recognition of pre- and post-depositional trace fossil suites ensures ichnological and ethological fidelity of faunal data on plant–animal interactions.
Measurements and large eddy simulations of the flows in some curved flumes

The curvature of the flow in river bends and in curved flumes leads tosecondary flow normal to the main flow direction. Reynolds averagednumerical simulations, e.g. by k-e models or RSM, fail toreproduce sufficiently the sometimes complicated secondary flow patternobserved. In the computation of the flow in a rotating annular flume both the separation of the flow from the outside wall and the turbulence energyare not reproduced correctly. For the river bend flow the reproduction of asecond counter-rotating secondary flow cell and of shear stresses of thecorrect sign, where they correspond to an observed negative eddy viscosity, proved problematic. Recently executed large eddy simulations gave better results. The computed main flow, but also the secondary flow and theturbulence energy in the rotating annular flume, hardly deviate from themeasurements. For the river bend a good reproduction of the main flow and the secondary flow is obtained, showing the second counter-rotating secondary flow cell and corre.
Kinetic Modeling of Convective and Microwave Drying of Potato Peels and Their Effects on Antioxidant Content and Capacity

This study deals with drying properties and focuses on the drying kinetics of potato peels (PP) by two processes, namely convection drying (CD) at various temperatures (40, 60, 80, 100, and 120 °C) and microwave drying (MD) at different powers (200, 400, 600, and 800 W). In addition, the effectiveness of the adopted processes was evaluated in terms of antioxidant contents and antioxidant capacity. A total of 22 mathematical models were undertaken to predict the drying kinetics, and the best model was selected based on the highest R2 values and the lowest χ2 and RMSE values. The Sledz model was the more appropriate for both methods with values of 0.9995 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.9999, χ2 = 0.0000, and 0.0054 ≤ RMSE ≤ 0.0030 for CD, and the results of MD were 0.9829 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.9997, 0.0000 ≤ χ2 ≤ 0.0010, and 0.0304 ≤ RMSE ≤ 0.0053. The best drying rates (DR) of PP were assigned to a temperature of 120 °C and a power of 600 W with values of 0.05 and 0.20 kg water/kg dw min, respectively. A potential explanation is that as PP’s moisture content decreased during the drying process, there was a drop in absorption, which led to a reduction in the DR. The energy consumption of both processes was assessed, and it rose with increasing temperature or power. The microwave process reduced the drying time, consumed lower energy, and presented a higher drying efficiency at a moderate power level compared to the convection process. Furthermore, MD preserved antioxidants better compared to CD and improved the antioxidant capacity. Therefore, the proposed microwave process for drying PP is suggested for its expected use in various fields, including the food processing industries.
Genetic changes in the genus Vitis and the domestication of vine

The genus Vitis belongs to the Vitaceae family and is divided into two subgenera: Muscadinia and Vitis, the main difference between these subgenera being the number of chromosomes. There are many hypotheses about the origin of the genus, which have been formed with archaeological studies and lately with molecular analyses. Even though there is no consensus on the place of origin, these studies have shown that grapes have been used by man since ancient times, starting later on its domestication. Most studies point to the Near East and Greece as the beginning of domestication, current research suggests it took place in parallel in different sites, but in all cases Vitis vinifera (L.) subsp. sylvestris [Vitis vinifera (L.) subsp. sylvestris (Gmelin) Hagi] seems to be the species chosen by our ancestors to give rise to the now known Vitis vinifera (L.) subsp. vinifera [=sativa (Hegi)= caucasica (Vavilov)]. Its evolution and expansion into other territories followed the formation of new empires and their expansion, and this is where the historical importance of this crop lies. In this process, plants with hermaphrodite flowers were preferentially selected, with firmer, sweeter, larger fruits of different colors, thus favoring the selection of genes associated with these traits, also resulting in a change in seed morphology. Currently, genetic improvement programs have made use of wild species for the introgression of disease resistance genes and tolerance to diverse soil and climate environments. In addition, the mapping of genes of interest, both linked to agronomic and fruit quality traits, has allowed the use of molecular markers for assisted selection. Information on the domestication process and genetic resources help to understand the gene pool available for the development of cultivars that respond to producer and consumer requirements.
Detection of cutaneous melanin based on Raman spectroscopy with optical coherence tomography localization

Melanoma skin cancer is one of the most dangerous types of cancer and responsible for more than half of the skin cancer-related deaths. Common methods for skin cancer detection are dermoscopy and visual inspection, the accuracy of which is greatly influenced by the training and experience of the physician. In some extreme cases, histological findings, which are considered the gold standard for detecting skin cancer, might also cause a debate among competent clinicians. To achieve accurate non-invasive skin cancer diagnostics, a dual-mode optical biopsy system made up of a Raman spectrometer and an OCT system was built. OCT morphological images enable precise localization of the position and depth of lesions for subsequent Raman detection. Skin models were generated by dissolving synthetic melanin in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and applying it to fresh porcine skin samples to investigate the influence of melanin concentration on skin spectra. The amide-I band and the CH2-deformation band detected by using Raman spectroscopy had a lower intensity in the spectra of the samples treated with melanin, which may imply that the addition of melanin promotes the breakdown of proteins and lipids. The intensities of the CH2 twist and C-C stretch bands increased compared to the drop of the aforesaid bands. Given that these two structures are often present in phospholipids, which are the fundamental components of cell membranes, one possible explanation is that melanin has less influence on membranes than on biological macromolecules.
A rapid review of evidence relating to service use, experiences, and support needs of adults from minority ethnic communities along the eyecare pathway in the United Kingdom

Background There is growing awareness of the health inequalities experienced by minority ethnic communities, who make up an increasing proportion of the United Kingdom (UK) population and have been found to be at increased risk of visual impairment (V.I.). V.I. impacts on a wide range of life domains including employment, social functioning and activities of daily living. Considering existing health inequalities, the increased risk of V.I. and its wide-ranging impact, it is important to understand the experiences of adults from minority ethnic communities living with V.I. in the UK. Methods A rapid evidence review of academic and gray literature published since 2005 and in English was performed. A search of AMED, CINAHL Plus and MEDLINE via EBSCOhost identified 969 articles. Articles were included in the review if they reported findings relating to the UK-context, to adults from minority ethnic communities living with V.I. , and to experiences of V.I. and the eyecare pathway. Results A total of 11 academic articles and 4 charity reports presented findings relating to perceptions of V.I. and eye disease (n = 3), access to services and service use (n = 5), impact of interventions (n = 7), the wider impact of V.I. (n = 2), and registration status (n = 1). Much of the literature focused on primary eyecare resulting in a comprehensive list of barriers and recommendations to increase eye tests. Less research addressed experiences and use of services further along the eyecare pathway although use of services may be low. Overall, the research on the experiences of adults with V.I. from minority ethnic communities in the UK remains anecdotal, outdated or unavailable. There are substantial gaps in the evidence relating to the wider impact of V.I. , the impact of perceptions of V.I. , and the use of services beyond primary eyecare. Conclusions This review summarizes our current knowledge of the experiences of adults from minority ethnic communities living with V.I. in the UK and highlights substantial gaps in the evidence. The findings provide practical implications for practitioners and researchers committed to addressing health inequalities in the field of eyecare in the UK.
From Data to Diagnosis: How Machine Learning Is Changing Heart Health Monitoring

The rapid advances in science and technology in the field of artificial neural networks have led to noticeable interest in the application of this technology in medicine. Given the need to develop medical sensors that monitor vital signs to meet both people’s needs in real life and in clinical research, the use of computer-based techniques should be considered. This paper describes the latest progress in heart rate sensors empowered by machine learning methods. The paper is based on a review of the literature and patents from recent years, and is reported according to the PRISMA 2020 statement. The most important challenges and prospects in this field are presented. Key applications of machine learning are discussed in medical sensors used for medical diagnostics in the area of data collection, processing, and interpretation of results. Although current solutions are not yet able to operate independently, especially in the diagnostic context, it is likely that medical sensors will be further developed using advanced artificial intelligence methods.
The target strength of the northern right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)

The greatest cause of anthropogenic mortality in great whales is ship strikes. Avoiding collisions, which are almost exclusively with baleen whales, may be critical to the survival of the northern right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). A potential solution to this problem is the use of an active forward‐looking obstacle avoidance sonar. This sonar could alert the ship’s crew of the presence of the whales or other obstacles at useful maneuvering ranges. The prediction of these detection ranges depends on the reflectivity of the whales. The focus of this study is the determination of target strength of the right whale. In May and September of 1998, a prototype phased‐array sonar was mounted on the bow of a 25‐m research vessel to collect these measurements. The sonar used a CW ping with a frequency of 87 kHz, a duration of 2 ms, a source level of 175 dB re: 1 μPa at 1 m. The receive array consisted of an 8×8 element array with BD wavelength spacing. The frequency was chosen to be inaudible to the baleen whales.
Alternating‐current light‐emitting devices based on conjugated polymers

Most polymer electroluminescent devices to date are represented as tunnel diodes and operate under direct‐current (dc) driving field. Here we report the fabrication of symmetrically configured alternating‐current (ac) light‐emitting (SCALE) devices based on conjugated polymers. The new devices consist of an emissive polymer layer sandwiched between two redox polymer layers. This configuration enables the SCALE devices to work under both forward and reverse dc bias as well as in ac modes. The nearly ohmic electrode/redox polymer contacts improve the charge injection efficiency significantly and make the SCALE device operation insensitive to electrode work functions. Symmetric operation supports the key role of redox polymer/emissive polymer interface states.
Research on Flower Image Classification Based on Transfer Learning

Due to the high similarity between flowers, it is difficult to identify them if they do not have the corresponding biological knowledge when classifying varieties manually. Given the above problems, to improve the accuracy and efficiency of flower classification, this paper proposes a migration parameter pre-training and fine-tuning VGG16 model based on the ImageNet data set to solve this problem. In this paper, the grid coverage enhancement method enhances the flower classification data set to expand the training sample data. The model uses the migration learning pre-training and fine-tuning method to improve network stability and accelerate network convergence. The results of comparative experiments show that the performance of the improved model has been significantly improved, and the result is better on the flower image data set, which has specific practical value.
Effects of Essential Oils and Hydrolates on the Infectivity of Murine Norovirus

The use of natural substances with antiviral properties might reduce foodborne viral diseases. In this study, we evaluated the virucidal effect of Citrus limon and Thymus serpyllum essential oils (EOs) and of Citrus Limon, Thymus serpyllum and Thymus vulgaris hydrolates on murine norovirus (MNV), a human norovirus surrogate. To assess the virucidal effect of these natural substances, the reduction in viral infectivity was estimated by comparing the TCID50/mL of untreated viral suspension and the viral suspension treated with hydrolates and EOs at different concentrations. The results showed a natural loss of infectivity of the untreated virus after 24 h of approx. 1 log. The EO (1%) of T. serpyllum, and hydrolates (1% and 2%) of T. serpyllum and T. vulgaris immediately caused a reduction in MNV infectivity of about 2 log but did not provide a further significant decrease after 24 h. Instead, the EO (1%) and hydrolate (1% and 2%) of C. limon exerted an immediate reduction in the viral infectivity of about 1.3 log and 1 log, respectively, followed by a further reduction in infectivity of 1 log after 24 h for the hydrolate. These results will allow for the implementation of a depuration treatment based on the use of these natural compounds.
On New and Modified Ranked set Sampling Procedures

The existing new parametric ranked set sampling (NRSS) and modified ranked set sampling (MRSS) procedures for estimating the location and scale parameters of a family of distributions are modified so that they can be used for odd sample sizes. The estimators of the parameters based on these proposed procedures are compared with those based on (i) ranked set sampling (RSS) proposed by Mcintyre (1952), and (ii) ordered observations. It is shown that the relative precisions of the estimators based on proposed procedures are higher than those of the ordered least squares estimators and the ranked set sampling procedure. The numerical computations of relative precisions are illustrated by using three distributions.
Effects of Ultra-High-Pressure Jet Processing on Casein Structure and Curdling Properties of Skimmed Bovine Milk

Ultra-high-pressure jet processing (UHPJ) is a new non-thermal processing technique that can be employed for the homogenization and the sterilization of dairy products. However, the effects on dairy products are unknown when using UHPJ for homogenization and sterilization. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of UHPJ on the sensory and curdling properties of skimmed milk and the casein structure in skimmed milk. Skimmed bovine milk was treated with UHPJ using different pressures (100, 150, 200, 250, 300 MPa) and casein was extracted by isoelectric precipitation. Subsequently, the average particle size, Zeta potential, contents of free sulfhydryl and disulfide bonds, secondary structure, and surface micromorphology were all used as evaluation indicators to explore the effects of UHPJ on the structure of casein. The results showed that with an increase of pressure, the free sulfhydryl group content changed irregularly, while the disulfide bond content increased from 1.085 to 3.0944 μmol/g. The content of α-helix and random coil in the casein decreased, while the β-sheet content increased at 100, 150, 200 MPa pressure. However, treatment with higher pressures of 250 and 300 MPa had the opposite effect. The average particle size of the casein micelles first decreased to 167.47 nm and then increased up to 174.63 nm; the absolute value of Zeta potential decreased from 28.33 to 23.77 mV. Scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that the casein micelles had fractured into flat, loose, porous structures under pressure instead of into large clusters. After being ultra-high-pressure jet-processed, the sensory properties of skimmed milk and its fermented curd were analyzed concurrently. The results demonstrated that UHPJ could alter the viscosity and color of skimmed milk, shortening curdling time from 4.5 h to 2.67 h, and that the texture of the curd fermented with this skimmed milk could be improved to varying degrees by changing the structure of casein. Thus, UHPJ has a promising application in the manufacture of fermented milk due to its ability to enhance the curdling efficiency of skimmed milk and improve the texture of fermented milk.
Automatic segmentation of brain tumor in multi-contrast magnetic resonance using deep neural network

Among all the tumors that can affect the brain, gliomas are the most frequent, thus is important to get a correct characterization and delimitation of this malformation to provide the best diagnosis and treatment possible. Nevertheless, there are some issues when dealing with segmenting tumors, it can be a long and tedious labor, which makes it prone to mistakes. To solve those problems, several techniques were proposed, including automatic and semiautomatic segmentation. In this work, we propose the use of a U-net architecture-based deep neural network to automatically realize segmentations of tumors on magnetic resonance brain images obtained from the BRATS 2020 database, which provides T1, T1 contrast enhancement (T1ce), T2, and FLAIR images for each subject. The database has a total of 1476 images distributed in 369 patients, that were shuffled into the training set with 70% of the subjects, and the test set with a percentage of 30%. Our results got a 91.6% DICE value for the validation, from a 91.6% for necrotic core (NET), 91.7% for peritumoral edema (PE), and a 91.4% for enhancing tumor (ET). After the training, we got 55.5%,66.5%, and 68.6% DICE values for NET, PE and ET respectively. We also calculated the whole tumor (WT) segmentation performance, reaching a 78.8% precision and the tumor core (TC) segmentation which reach 75,5% precision.
The “Qualitative” Differences in Problem‐Solving Procedures and Thinking Structures Between Science and Nonscience Majors

This study was conducted to explore the differences of problem-solving procedures and thinking structures between science majors and nonscience majors. A total of eleven Chinese graduate students, consisting of 5 science majors and 6 nonscience majors, participated in this study and completed the same task. The interview data showed us that: (1) Nonscience majors began with personal experience questions whereas science majors promptly designed an experiment; (2) Nonscience majors tended to confirm expected answers whereas science majors tended to explore some questions with unknown answers; (3) Nonscience majors preferred to process the procedures by creating the plan mentally in advance, whereas science majors preferred to proceed by doing, adjusting the plan as the procedures progressed; (4) Science majors would consider the assumption and the validity of the test whereas nonscience majors rarely did; and (5) Nonscience majors were curious about how they would fare if given the same testing situation whereas science majors completed only the required task. Further discussion revealed that the reasoner's epistemology or academic experiences might strongly influence these problem-solving processes, thinking and actions. The implications of this study for improving current curriculum design were discussed.