Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Locations for Gastrophryne carolinensis and Rana clamitans in Oklahoma

The Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad, Ga8trophrytte carolinen8i8 (all nomenclature after Conant, 1958), has pr~viously been known in Oklahoma from Adair, Cherokee, Delaware, Latimer, LeFlore, and McCurtain Cos. I Bragg, 1950); from Mays Co. (Blair, 1950); and from Wagoner and Tulsa Cos. (Blair and Laughlin, 1955). It is known from nearby in Texas from near Paris (Burt, 1937) and from SE of Dallas on the Trinity River (Blair, 1955).
Learning to Synthesize Photorealistic Dual-pixel Images from RGBD frames

As a special sensor that implicitly provides ordinal depth information, dual-pixel (DP) appears to be beneficial for various tasks such as defocus deblurring and monocular depth estimation. Recent advances in data-driven dual-pixel (DP) research are bottlenecked by the difficulties in reaching large-scale DP datasets, and a photorealistic image synthesis approach appears to be a credible solution. To benchmark the accuracy of various existing DP image simulators and facilitate data-driven DP image synthesis, this work presents a real-world DP dataset consisting of approximately 5000 high-quality pairs of sharp images, DP defocus blur images, detailed imaging parameters, and accurate depth maps. Based on this large-scale dataset, we also propose a holistic data-driven framework to synthesize photorealistic DP images, where a neural network replaces conventional handcrafted imaging models. Experiments show that our neural DP simulator can generate more photorealistic DP images than existing state-of-the-art methods and effectively benefit data-driven DP-related tasks. Our code and dataset are released at https://github.com/SILI1994/Dual-Pixel-Simulator.
Observing in Single-Shot the Space-Time Dynamics of Soliton Collision with a Recirculating Fiber Loop

Solitons in optical fibers are pulses of light that propagate indefinitely while retaining their shape as a result of a perfect balance between dispersion and nonlinearity. Since the prediction of their existence 50 years ago [1], they have been the subject of an incredible amount of studies driven both by their applicative potential and fundamental interest in the domain of nonlinear waves. Almost concomitantly with this prediction, Zakharov and Shabat developed the theoretical framework that enables description of the propagation of such solitons by solving exactly the focusing one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation [2]. One of the remarkable result of this so-called inverse scattering transform is the fact that solitons “collide” ellastically which means that they emerge after their interaction completely unaltered except for position shifts that are solely determined by their amplitude and relative velocities. Propagation and interaction of solitonic pulses have been realised in optical fiber experiments under very diverse configurations [3], [4] but the observations are in most cases indirect or do not illustrate the full extent of notable features of soliton collision.
A Rare-Earth-Free Linear Motor Replacing Coreless Linear Motors with Neodymium Sintered Magnets

Neodymium sintered magnets are often used in coreless linear motors for miniaturization and improvement of thrust force density. Since using Nd sintered magnets, which contain rare earth elements, has a problem of material risk, it is required to make them rare-earth-free. In this research, we have developed a rare-earth-free linear motor that can replace coreless linear motors with Nd sintered magnets. The developed motor has higher thrust force density than the coreless motor and acceptable cogging force characteristics.
Accuracy of Root ZX Electronic Apex Locator in Relation to Two Different Employment Protocols: An In Vitro Study

Objective The aim of this study is to determine the apical level of the root canal, whether it is the apical foramen or a level coronal to it, that Root ZX (J. Morita Co., Kyoto, Japan) targets and to identify its employment protocol that provides better accuracy. Methods Actual lengths (ALs) of 75 extracted single-rooted teeth were obtained by inserting a K-file size 8 until its tip was in level with the most coronal border of the apical foramen. Reference length (RL) was calculated by deducting 0.5 mm from AL. Roots were placed in porous sponge block soaked with Ringer’s solution, and canals were irrigated with 2 mL of 5% sodium hypochlorite. The blinded operator used Root ZX to measure lengths with K-file size 8. In the first tested employment protocol, the file was advanced to the “APEX mark” of the digital display, and the length was obtained. The second employment protocol followed the manufacturer’s recommendations by inserting the file until the “APEX mark” followed by its withdrawal to the “0.5 mark. ” Stability of the digital meter for 5 seconds was mandatory before recording the lengths. All measurements were repeated one week later and then both measurements were averaged to represent “APEX mark” and “0.5 mark,” respectively. Data were analyzed using t-test, with significance set at 0.05. Results Regardless of the employment protocol, most registered lengths were longer than targeted. The mean “APEX mark” was significantly longer than the mean AL (P=0.000), and the mean “0.5 mark” was significantly longer than the mean RL (P=0.000). Although the mean “0.5 mark” was longer than the mean AL, the difference was not significant (P=0.07). Conclusion The apical level of the root canal targeted by the Root ZX was the apical foramen. The most accurate employment protocol to achieve that is to use the Root ZX according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Degenerate Cauchy–Goursat problem for 2‐D steady isentropic Euler system with van der Waals gas

This study concerns with the existence–uniqueness of local classical sonic‐supersonic solution to a degenerate Cauchy–Goursat problem that arises in transonic phenomena. The flow is governed by 2‐D steady isentropic Euler system with a polytropic van der Waals gas. The idea of characteristic decomposition has been used to convert the Euler system into a new system involving the angle variables (𝛩,μ)$(\varTheta , \mu )$ . To overcome the parabolic degeneracy caused at the sonic curve, the partial hodograph transformation and a variety of dependent–independent variables have been introduced to transform the nonlinear system into a linear one with explicit singularity–regularity structure. The uniform convergence of the sequences (W(m),Z(m))$(W^{(m)},Z^{(m)})$ has been discussed by employing the mathematical induction. Eventually, the inversion of the solution from partial hodograph plane to the original plane has been established.
What’s for dinner?: Undescribed species of porcini in a commercial packet

Accurate diagnosis of the components of our food and a standard lexicon for clear communication is essential for regulating global food trade and identifying food frauds. Reliable identification of wild collected foods can be particularly difficult, especially when they originate in under-documented regions or belong to poorly known groups such as Fungi. Porcini, one of the most widely traded wild edible mushrooms in the world, are large and conspicuous and they are used as a food both on their own and in processed food products. China is a major exporter of porcini, most of it ending up in Europe. We used DNAsequencing to identify three species of mushroom contained within a commercial packet of dried Chinese porcini purchased in London. Surprisingly, all three have never been formally described by science and required new scientific names. This demonstrates the ubiquity of unknown fungal diversity even in widely traded commercial food products from one of the most charismatic and least overlooked groups of mushrooms. Our rapid analysis and description makes it possible to reliably identify these species, allowing their harvest to be monitored and their presence tracked in the food chain.
poolHelper: an R package to help in designing Pool-Seq studies

Next-generation sequencing of pooled samples (Pool-seq) is an important tool in population genomics and molecular ecology. In Pool-seq, the relative number of reads with an allele reflects the allele frequencies in the sample. However, unequal individual contributions to the pool and sequencing errors can lead to inaccurate allele frequency estimates. When designing Pool-seq studies, researchers need to decide the pool size (number of individuals) and average depth of coverage (sequencing effort). An efficient sampling design should maximize the accuracy of allele frequency estimates while minimizing the sequencing effort. We introduce an R package, poolHelper, enabling users to simulate Pool-seq data under different combinations of average depth of coverage, pool sizes and number of pools, accounting for unequal individual contribution and sequencing errors, modelled by parameters that users can modify. poolHelper can be used to assess how different combinations of those parameters influence the error of sample allele frequencies and expected heterozygosity. The mean absolute error is computed by comparing the sample allele frequencies obtained based on individual genotypes with the frequency estimates obtained with Pool-seq. Using simulations under a single population model, we illustrate that increasing the depth of coverage does not necessarily lead to more accurate estimates, reinforcing that finding the best Pool-seq study design is not straightforward. Moreover, we show that simulations can be used to identify different combinations of parameters with similarly low mean absolute errors. The poolHelper package provides tools for performing simulations with different combinations of parameters before sampling and generating data, allowing users to define sampling schemes that minimize the sequencing effort.
Effect of Adding Isolates of Probiotic Bacteria Lactobacillus acidophilus 4453 and Bifidobacterium bifidum 5144 on Performance of Common Carp Fingerlings Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus (1758)

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of isolates of probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus acidophilus 4453 and Bifidobacterium bifidum 5144 on the performance of common carp fingerlings which had initial body weight attained (44±0.69) g. A total of 72 fish were used and randomly divided into 4 treatments with 3 replicates (6 fish per replicate). An experimental diet was prepared with a crude protein attained (29.14%) and gross energy of 396.726 kcal / g. The probiotics were prepared in the form of bacterial suspensions at a dilution of 1*10-6 cfu/ml) and were added to the suspension of 20% Arabic gum and phosphate buffer salt as an enveloping and adhesive material for bacterial cells to increase their stability and survival on feed pellets. The liquid probiotics were added to specified amounts of the experimental diets according to the following treatments (T0 control treatment, T1 Lactobacillus acidophilus 4453, T2 Bifidobacterium bifidum 5144 and T3 Lactobacillus acidophilus 4453 + Bifidobacterium bifidum 5144. Fish performance was assessed after 83 days of the experiment according to weight gain, daily growth rate, relative growth rate, specific growth rate, metabolic growth rate, feed conversion rate, feed conversion efficiency, and protein efficiency ratio. The results of the statistical analysis showed that all the probiotic treatments were significantly exceeding as compared with T0 in the following order T1, T3, T2 of the weight gain, daily growth rate, relative growth rate, specific growth rate, and metabolic growth rate, also its gave the best feed conversion rate and protein efficiency ratio. Therefore, we conclude that the isolates of probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus acidophilus 4453 and Bifidobacterium bifidum 5144 and their dual combination, within the conditions of this study, were highly influential in achieving the best utilization of the food intake and the best performance of common carp fingerlings.
Applying of Microcapsulated Probiotics via Calcium and Zinc Salts into Yoghurt and Study its Chemical, Microbiological and Sensory Properties

In this study, lactobacillus acidophilus were encapsulated using whey protein concentrate precipitated utilizing salts (Cacl2, Zncl2). The highest efficiency of the encapsulation process by extrusion by calcium chloride was 66%, followed by zinc by 24%. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) examination was used to study the shape of the encapsulation process for the probiotic. In condition similar to the human stomach conditions, the viable numbers of lactobacillus acidophilus probiotic coated with whey protein concentrate were much higher than those without encapsulation where the survivability after 90 min. for calcium chloride was 45.5 % compared with the un-encapsulated probiotic where the survivability was 8.75%, while the survivability for probiotic encapsulated in whey protein extruded with zinc chloride was 22.5% compared to the control treatment. Yoghurt was manufactured from whole milk, the probiotic was added and its chemical, physical and microbiological properties were studied.
Relationship Between the Genetic Marker BM4505 and Some Productive and Physiological Traits of Holstein Friesian Cows

The results of the study showed two genetic polymorphisms of the BM4505 marker for the studied samples: 270/260, 280/271 bp, their distribution ratio was 60.34 and 39.66 %, respectively, which showed highly significant differences (P≤0.01) among genetic polymorphisms. The study showed that there were significant (P≤0.05) differences between the 270/260,280/271 bp genetic polymorphisms by the California mastitis test, the cows carrying the genetic polymorphisms 270/260 bp, where the test value was 1.20 on the genetic polymorphisms 280/271 bp, the test value was 2.47, as for the other studied traits, the study showed that there were no significant differences between the genetic polymorphisms.
Detection of Cu(II) in water by using N, S co-doped carbon dots

Determination of Cu(II) ions in surface and drinking water is a high-priority issue both for the environment and human health. Here, we report on the preparation via a hydrothermal method of stable water suspensions of N and S co-doped carbon dots. This material demonstrated selective sensitivity to the presence of copper in water with the appearance of a characteristic absorption band at 658 nm resulting in a visual color variation from orange to dark brown. The colorimetric measurement, carried out by recording the difference between the absorbance at two wavelengths, showed a good linear dependence on the ion concentration from 1 to 100 μM with a lower limit of detection of 300 nM, significantly below the values set by health and environmental organizations. The sensing method is simply based on the addition of the contaminated sample to the carbon dot solution without any other reagents or previous treatment. Moreover, the sensing solution showed stability for at least 6 months after preparation.
Five Low-Noise Stable Oscillators Referenced to the Same Multimode AlN/Si MEMS Resonator

We report on the first experimental demonstration of five self-sustaining feedback oscillators referenced to a single multimode resonator, using piezoelectric aluminum nitride on silicon (AlN/Si) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Integrated piezoelectric transduction enables efficient readout of five resonance modes of the same AlN/Si MEMS resonator, at 10, 30, 65, 95, and 233 MHz with quality (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${Q}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) factors of 18 600, 4350, 4230, 2630, and 2138, respectively, at room temperature. Five stable self-sustaining oscillators are built, each referenced to one of these high-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${Q}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> modes, and their mode-dependent phase noise and frequency stability (Allan deviation) are measured and analyzed. The 10, 30, 65, 95, and 233 MHz oscillators exhibit low phase noise of −116, −100, −105, −106, and −92 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset frequency, respectively. The 65 MHz oscillator yields the Allan deviation of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4\times 10^{-{9}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2\times 10^{-{7}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at 1 and 1000 s averaging time, respectively. The 10 MHz oscillator’s low phase noise holds strong promise for clock and timing applications. The five oscillators’ overall promising performance suggests suitability for multimode resonant sensing and real-time frequency tracking. This work also elucidates mode dependency in oscillator noise and stability, one of the key attributes of mode-engineerable resonators.
Endothelial Glycocalyx Degradation Patterns in Sepsis-Associated Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Single Center Retrospective Observational Study

Background Sepsis-associated destruction of the pulmonary microvascular endothelial glycocalyx (EGCX) creates a vulnerable endothelial surface, contributing to the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Constituents of the EGCX shed into circulation, glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans, may serve as biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction. We sought to define the patterns of plasma EGCX degradation products in children with sepsis-associated pediatric ARDS (PARDS), and test their association with clinical outcomes. Methods We retrospectively analyzed a prospective cohort (2018-2020) of children (≥1 month to <18 years of age) receiving invasive mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure for ≥72 h. Children with and without sepsis-associated PARDS were selected from the parent cohort and compared. Blood was collected at time of enrollment. Plasma glycosaminoglycan disaccharide class (heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, and hyaluronan) and sulfation subtypes (heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate) were quantified using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Plasma proteoglycans (syndecan-1) were measured through an immunoassay. Results Among the 39 mechanically ventilated children (29 with and 10 without sepsis-associated PARDS), sepsis-associated PARDS patients demonstrated higher levels of heparan sulfate (median 639 ng/mL [interquartile range, IQR 421-902] vs 311 [IQR 228-461]) and syndecan-1 (median 146 ng/mL [IQR 32-315] vs 8 [IQR 8-50]), both p = 0.01. Heparan sulfate subtype analysis demonstrated greater proportions of N-sulfated disaccharide levels among children with sepsis-associated PARDS (p = 0.01). Increasing N-sulfated disaccharide levels by quartile were associated with severe PARDS (n = 9/29) with the highest quartile including >60% of the severe PARDS patients (test for trend, p = 0.04). Higher total heparan sulfate and N-sulfated disaccharide levels were independently associated with fewer 28-day ventilator-free days in children with sepsis-associated PARDS (all p < 0.05). Conclusions Children with sepsis-associated PARDS exhibited higher plasma levels of heparan sulfate disaccharides and syndecan-1, suggesting that EGCX degradation biomarkers may provide insights into endothelial dysfunction and PARDS pathobiology.
Effective and Efficient Batch Normalization Using a Few Uncorrelated Data for Statistics Estimation

Deep neural networks (DNNs) thrive in recent years, wherein batch normalization (BN) plays an indispensable role. However, it has been observed that BN is costly due to the huge reduction and elementwise operations that are hard to be executed in parallel, which heavily reduces the training speed. To address this issue, in this article, we propose a methodology to alleviate the BN’s cost by using only a few sampled or generated data for mean and variance estimation at each iteration. The key challenge to reach this goal is how to achieve a satisfactory balance between normalization effectiveness and execution efficiency. We identify that the effectiveness expects less data correlation in sampling while the efficiency expects more regular execution patterns. To this end, we design two categories of approach: sampling or creating a few uncorrelated data for statistics’ estimation with certain strategy constraints. The former includes “batch sampling (BS)” that randomly selects a few samples from each batch and “feature sampling (FS)” that randomly selects a small patch from each feature map of all samples, and the latter is “virtual data set normalization (VDN)” that generates a few synthetic random samples to directly create uncorrelated data for statistics’ estimation. Accordingly, multiway strategies are designed to reduce the data correlation for accurate estimation and optimize the execution pattern for running acceleration in the meantime. The proposed methods are comprehensively evaluated on various DNN models, where the loss of model accuracy and the convergence rate are negligible. Without the support of any specialized libraries, $1.98\times $ BN layer acceleration and 23.2% overall training speedup can be practically achieved on modern GPUs. Furthermore, our methods demonstrate powerful performance when solving the well-known “micro-BN” problem in the case of a tiny batch size. This article provides a promising solution for the efficient training of high-performance DNNs.
Modificaciones recientes de la cubierta nival y evolución de la vegetación supraforestal en la Sierra de Guadarrama, España: el Puerto de los Neveros

The purpose of this study is to add more insight to the relationship between recent climate change and modifications in plant cover in supratimberline areas of Spain's Central Mountain Range. A 118 hectare study site was chosen at Puerto de los Neveros pass (2100 m) located on the ridge Penalara (Montes
Surf-Zone Hydrodynamics

Review paper on the recent progress in the field of wave modelling in the surf zone. The authors have the following concluding remarks (taken directly from the rapport): Wave breaking provides the forcing for larger scale motions in the surf zone. It is therefore probably both somewhat ironic as well as unfortunate that at the present time there exists no satisfactory theory to describe breaking and broken waves in the surf zone. This is currently a topic of intense research interest and we are confident that substantial progress will be made in the near future. While our overall understanding of wave-induced nearshore circulations seems to be fairly sound, there are a number of phenomena that clearly require further study. These include, but are not limited to, quantitatively accurate predictions of rip currents; the predictions of longshore currents on barred beaches; and the importance of alongshore inhomogenieties on nearshore circulations. Once again, these topics are currently being pursued by a number of investigators, and we expect considerable progress in the near future. Recent work has demonstrated that the surf zone is an important region for the generation of infragravity motions. While the present indications are that a substantial fraction of the infragravity energy seems to be generated in and near the surf zone, the existing models of surf zone generation of infragravity motions have not been verified. Shear waves seem to be amenable to an interpretation as a manifestation of an instability of the longshore current. Ongoing work on the nonlinear development of the instability and the importance of wave group forcing on these motions promises to yield interesting results. In conclusion, the subject of surf zone hydrodynamics is at an exciting stage of development right now and we expect that many of the issues will be clarified in the near future. We may also expect that the ongoing and future work will discover phenomena which we are currently unaware of.