Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-Term Change Analysis of PM2.5 and Ozone Pollution in China’s Most Polluted Region during 2015–2020

In this study, a time change analysis of fine particulate (PM2.5) emission in multi-resolution emission inventory in China (MEIC) from 2013 to 2016 was conducted. It was found that PM2.5 emissions showed a decreasing trend year by year, and that the annual total emission of PM2.5 decreased by 28.5% in 2016 compared with that of 2013. When comparing the observation data of PM2.5 and ozone (O3), it was found that both PM2.5 and O3 show obvious seasonal changes. The emission of PM2.5 in autumn and winter is higher than that in summer, while that of O3 is not. Our study showed that in the 2015–2020 period, annual mean concentrations of PM2.5 and O3 in Beijing varied from 80.87 to 38.31 μg m−3 and 110.75 to 106.18 μg m−3, respectively. Since 2015, the observed value of PM2.5 has shown an obvious downward trend. Compared with 2015, the average annual PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing, Shanghai, Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, and Hefei in 2020 had decreased by 52.62%, 40.35%, 22.2%, 46.84%, and 45.11%, respectively, while O3 showed an upward trend. Compared with the annual averages of 2015 and 2020, Beijing and Shanghai saw a decrease of 4.13% and 8.46%, respectively, while Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, and Hefei saw an increase of 7.08%, 19.46%, and 41.57%, respectively. The comparison shows that PM2.5 is becoming less threatening in China and that ozone is becoming more difficult to control. Air pollution is a modifiable risk factor. Appropriate sustainable control policies are recommended to protect public health.
A SOE estimation method for lithium batteries considering available energy and recovered energy

State of energy (SOE) is a critical index of lithium battery. The problem of the inaccurate available energy and recovered energy of lithium battery affects the accuracy of SOE estimation. In order to solve the problem, this paper proposes a method to estimate the available discharge energy of lithium batteries based on response surface model. In this method, the energy efficiency of lithium batteries in different states is obtained by establishing the relationship model of external charge voltage and external discharge voltage, so as to estimate the actual available energy of lithium batteries in different charge states. On this basis, a correction method based on radial basis function (RBF) neural network is proposed to estimate the actual energy released by the recovered energy when the current direction of the battery is changed. The proposed energy correction method is combined with the adaptive particle filter algorithm to estimate SOE. This method is not limited to the assumption of Gaussian function and can accurately predict the noise variance, so as to improve the estimation accuracy of SOE. Simulations under urban dynamometer driving schedule (UDDS) are conducted, and the result shows that the proposed method can effectively estimate the battery energy and improve the accuracy of SOE estimation.
Computational Methods for the Analysis and Prediction of EGFR-Mutated Lung Cancer Drug Resistance: Recent Advances in Drug Design, Challenges and Future Prospects

Lung cancer is a major cause of cancer deaths worldwide, and has a very low survival rate. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the largest subset of lung cancers, which accounts for about 85% of all cases. It has been well established that a mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) can lead to lung cancer. EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) are developed to target the kinase domain of EGFR. These TKIs produce promising results at the initial stage of therapy, but the efficacy becomes limited due to the development of drug resistance. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of computational methods, for understanding drug resistance mechanisms. The important EGFR mutants and the different generations of EGFR–TKIs, with the survival and response rates are discussed. Next, we evaluate the role of important EGFR parameters in drug resistance mechanism, including structural dynamics, hydrogen bonds, stability, dimerization, binding free energies, and signaling pathways. Personalized drug resistance prediction models, drug response curve, drug synergy, and other data-driven methods are also discussed. Recent advancements in deep learning; such as AlphaFold2, deep generative models, big data analytics, and the applications of statistics and permutation are also highlighted. We explore limitations in the current methodologies, and discuss strategies to overcome them. We believe this review will serve as a reference for researchers; to apply computational techniques for precision medicine, analyzing structures of protein-drug complexes, drug discovery, and understanding the drug response and resistance mechanisms in lung cancer patients.
Phytochemical Screening and In vitro Albumin Denaturation Inhibitory Potential of Methanolic Root Extract of Acorus calamus

Introduction: Medicinal plants are chief antidotes for numerous diseases and have been used since time immemorial. Sweet flag’s (Acorus calamus) presence is in Ayurveda and belongs to the genus Acorus L. of the family Acoraceae and is widely distributed in temperate to sub temperate regions. It is commonly used to treat appetite loss, diarrhoea, digestive disorders in traditional medicinal systems of Asian and European countries. The aim of this study is to explore the phytoconstituents, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of methanolic root extract of Acorus calamus. Materials and Methods: Methanolic root extract of Acorus calamus was done by the Hot Percolation method. Later it was dried and used to analyse the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potentials. Phytochemical screening was done to analyse the presence of various phytochemicals. Antioxidant effect of Acorus calamus was tested by 2, 2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity and Albumin denaturation inhibitory potential test was organised for testing it’s anti-inflammatory Activity. The data were analysed statistically by a one-way analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by Duncan’s multiple range test was used to see the statistical significance among the groups. The results with the p<0.05 level were considered to be statistically significant. Results: Methanolic root extract of Acorus calamus was found to be rich in Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Terpenoids, Sapanoids, Steroids and Phlobatannin. The presence of phytochemicals like alkaloids, saponins, Flavonoids indicates that the extract has potential for further in vitro analysis like antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potentials. It was observed that Acorus calamus has both antioxidant (IC50 of = 295 µg/ml) as well as anti inflammatory potentials (IC50 =310 µg/ml) and the activity increased in a dose dependent manner as compared to that of standard (Vitamin C and Diclofenac respectively). Conclusion: The study proves the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory efficacy of Acorus calamus and throws light on the prospects of drug formulation against oxidant activity and inflammation.
ALIGNMENT BETWEEN COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT

In times of hyper competition, the Competitive Intelligence (CI) System’s synchronization with Information Technology (IT) strategy is an important tool for executives to direct corporations in competitive ways. This premise was checked in a case study involving a multinational corporation, leader in the mobile telecommunication sector. We researched the presence of a CI system, the predominant IT managerial style and the synchronization of CI with the IT managerial style. Results indicate that in the regional unit of the studied corporation, the CI process is still incipient, the IT managerial style is feudal, reinforcing the function of the CI system only among specific sectors of the enterprise, and there is no synchronization between CI and IT management. Although CI is formalized in the main corporation, the inexistence of synchronization between CI and IT has contributed to decrease the importance and the function of the CI systems in this unit.
Effects of salicylic acid levels and irrigation intervals on growth and yield of coriander (Coriandrum sativum) in field conditions

Salicylic acid (SA) is known as a signaling molecule that is involved in plant resistance and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of salicylic acid application and irrigation intervals on growth and yield of coriander using a split-plot layout in a randomised complete block design with three replications. Two levels of irrigation including irrigation every 4 th day (a1) and irrigation every 8 th day (a2) were compared in main plots. Four levels of salicylic (SA) were assigned in sub-plots at 0 (distilled water), 0.01, 0.1 and 1 mM SA (as b1, b2, b3 and b4, respectively). Results showed that the reduction of irrigation interval from 8 to 4 days statistically improved plant height, seed yield and plant biomass. Application of SA significantly affected seed yield and plant biomass. The highest rate of seed yield was obtained at 0.01 mM SA and the other levels of SA were placed in a class. The interaction effect of SA × irrigation on seed yield was significant. The greatest amount of seed yield was produced by a1b2 treatment (every four days irrigation with 0.01 mM application of SA).
Second or foreign language learning through watching audio-visual input and the role of on-screen text

Abstract This article discusses research into the role of audio-visual input for second language (L2) or foreign language learning. It also addresses questions related to the effectiveness of audio-visual input with different types of on-screen text such as subtitles (i.e., in learners’ first language) and captions (i.e., subtitles in the same language as the L2 audio) for L2 learning. The review discusses the following themes: (a) the characteristics of audio-visual input such as the multimodal nature of the input and vocabulary demands of video; (b) L2 learners’ comprehension of audio-visual input and the role of different types of on-screen text; (c) the effectiveness of audio-visual input and on-screen text for aspects of L2 learning including vocabulary, grammar, and listening; and (d) research into L2 learners’ use and perceptions of audio-visual input and on-screen text. The review ends with a consideration of implications for teaching practice and a conclusion that discusses the generalizability of current research in relation to suggestions for future research.
Identification of an Amylomaltase from the Halophilic Archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi by Functional Metagenomics: Structural and Functional Insights

Amylomaltases are prokaryotic 4-α-glucanotransferases of the GH77 family. Thanks to the ability to modify starch, they constitute a group of enzymes of great interest for biotechnological applications. In this work we report the identification, by means of a functional metagenomics screening of the crystallization waters of the saltern of Margherita di Savoia (Italy), of an amylomaltase gene from the halophilic archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi, and its expression in Escherichia coli cells. Sequence analysis indicated that the gene has specific insertions yet unknown in homologous genes in prokaryotes, and present only in amylomaltase genes identified in the genomes of other H. walsbyi strains. The gene is not part of any operon involved in the metabolism of maltooligosaccharides or glycogen, as it has been found in bacteria, making it impossible currently to assign a precise role to the encoded enzyme. Sequence analysis of the H. walsbyi amylomaltase and 3D modelling showed a common structure with homologous enzymes characterized in mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria. The recombinant H. walsbyi enzyme showed starch transglycosylation activity over a wide range of NaCl concentrations, with maltotriose as the best acceptor substrate compared to other maltooligosaccharides. This is the first study of an amylomaltase from a halophilic microorganism.
Study on utilizing MIMO-OFDM to improve performance of mine wireless communication

In this paper,spread characteristics in mine laneways and the effect of multipath fading on wireless communication reliability in mine laneways are investigated.How to settle multipath fading through utilizing MIMO-OFDM is theoretically analyzed.The simulation results indicate that the performance of mine wireless communication is increased by utilizing MIMO-OFDM.The schemes based on space-time codes are discussed in order to overcome the impact of spatial strong correlation.
The “New Great Game” in Central Asia: From a Sino-Russian Axis of Convenience to Chinese Primacy?

ABSTRACT Situated at the crossroads of the Silk Road, Central Asia has been an arena of international competition for centuries. Today, a “New Great Game” appears to be taking place between Russia, China and, to a lesser extent, the United States and the European Union for regional hegemony. In the last two decades, Russia and China formed an “axis of convenience”, both to counter Western influence and to thwart regional challenges; however, this has increasingly turned to rivalry in recent years, with China gradually replacing Russia as the chief power with regard to geo-economic and energy assets in some Central Asian countries. An analysis based on Power Transition Theory points to two possible future scenarios for the rivalry, namely China’s predominance or a Chinese-Russian modus vivendi based on a ‘division of labour’.
Stability estimation for unsupervised clustering: A review

Cluster analysis remains one of the most challenging yet fundamental tasks in unsupervised learning. This is due in part to the fact that there are no labels or gold standards by which performance can be measured. Moreover, the wide range of clustering methods available is governed by different objective functions, different parameters, and dissimilarity measures. The purpose of clustering is versatile, often playing critical roles in the early stages of exploratory data analysis and as an endpoint for knowledge and discovery. Thus, understanding the quality of a clustering is of critical importance. The concept of stability has emerged as a strategy for assessing the performance and reproducibility of data clustering. The key idea is to produce perturbed data sets that are very close to the original, and cluster them. If the clustering is stable, then the clusters from the original data will be preserved in the perturbed data clustering. The nature of the perturbation, and the methods for quantifying similarity between clusterings, are nontrivial, and ultimately what distinguishes many of the stability estimation methods apart. In this review, we provide an overview of the very active research area of cluster stability estimation and discuss some of the open questions and challenges that remain in the field.
Generation and Evaluation of Porous Structure of Bionic Bone Scaffold

According to the analysis on porous structure of human bone and factors influencing scaffold performance,the generation and evaluation method of porous structure of bionic bone scaffold is proposed.Based on the structure of multi-constrained knapsack problem model and an ellipsoid taken as the unit body,the hybrid genetic algorithm is used to solve the inverse model of porous structure.Moreover,porosity and connectivity are used as the constraint condition to ensure the bioactivity of bionic bone scaffold.The model of bionic bone scaffold with pores is generated by Boolean operation between the model of scaffold without pores and the inverse model of porous structure.The evaluation system of porous structure of bionic bone scaffold is established with five evaluation indexes,i.e.porosity of scaffold,connectivity of pore,uniformity of pore distribution,twisting degree of pore canal and specific surface area of scaffold.Based on the inverse model of porous structure of scaffold,the calculation methods of porosity,connectivity,uniformity,twisting degree and specific surface area of scaffold are proposed to evaluate and optimize the porous structure of bionic bone scaffold.The bionic bone scaffold generated with this method has good bioactivity,better mechanical properties and uniform degradation rate.
In Vivo Evaluation of the Oral Toxicity of the Chlorobutanol

Chlorobutanol (CB) is used as a preservative in cosmetics and has antibacterial activity. This study investigated the single- and repeated-dose 28-day oral toxicity of a CB solvent in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. For the single-dose oral toxicity study, a dose of 62.5, 125, or 250 mg per kg of body weight (mg/kg b.w.) of CB was given once orally via gavage. For the repeated-dose 28-day toxicity study, the high dose was set as 100 mg/kg b.w. /day, and the middle, middle-low, and low doses were set to 50, 25, and 12.5 mg/kg b.w. /day, respectively. Body weight was not significantly changed in the repeated-dose toxicity study. Relative liver and kidney weights were significantly increased in both sexes of the 100 mg/kg b.w. /day treatment group. However, there were histopathological changes in liver and kidney for females and males, respectively. These data suggested that the approximate lethal dose (ALD) of CB was over 250 mg/kg b.w. /day in the single-dose study, and the no adverse effect level (NOAEL) for CB was over 50 and 12.5 mg/kg b.w. /day for female and male rats in the repeated-dose toxicity study.
Asymmetry in internal oblique muscle thickness: Not the key to a cricket fast bowler's performance

Purpose Previous studies found that trunk muscle asymmetry may play a role in preventing injury in cricket fast bowlers, while the association with bowling performance has not been investigated. This study aims to describe the side-to-side differences in trunk muscle thickness and determine the association between bowling performance and these side-to-side differences in trunk muscle thickness in adolescent fast bowlers. Methods In this observational cross-sectional study, bowling performance, namely ball release speed and bowling accuracy, was recorded in adolescent fast bowlers. Ultrasound imaging measured external oblique, internal oblique, transversus abdominis and lumbar multifidus muscle thickness. Results Fast bowlers (n = 46) with a mean age of 15.9 (±1.2) years participated. On the non-dominant side, the external oblique and internal oblique at rest were thicker than on the dominant side (external oblique: p = 0.011, effect size = 0.27; internal oblique: p < 0.0001, effect size = 0.40), while the transversus abdominus (p = 0.72, effect size = 0.19) and lumbar multifidus (p = 0.668, effect size = 0.04) were symmetrical. Weak correlations existed between bowling performance and the side-to-side differences in the thickness in all muscles, except for two moderate correlations: 1. The smaller the side-to-side difference in absolute thickness of the external oblique when contracted, the faster the ball release speed (Spearman's (ρ) = −0.455, p = 0.002). 2. Also, a smaller side-to-side difference in external oblique contraction ratio (Spearman's (ρ) = −0.495, p = 0.0001) was associated with faster ball release speed. Conclusions No relationship between bowling performance and side-to-side differences in internal oblique muscle thickness could be established, while more symmetrical external oblique muscles may be linked to faster ball release speeds.
Mallomonas voloshkoae sp. nov. (Synurales, Chrysophyceae) and distribution of M. pechlaneri in mountain lakes of Siberia

Mallomonas voloshkoae sp. nov. was described from Russia based on silica-scale morphology studied by means of transmission and scanning electron microscopy. This species belongs to the section Striatae and is characterised by scales with wide anterior flanges, forming wing-like extensions. This species is most similar in scale ultrastructure to M. pechlaneri. Mallomonas voloshkoae was reported in four mountain lakes of the Transbaikal area and was found in acidic to slightly acidic conditions with very low values of specific conductance. Mallomonas pechlaneri was reported in Russia for the first time. This is the first record of this species after the description of this taxon in Europe. Mallomonas pechlaneri was found in three oligotrophic habitats in the Altay and Sayan Mountain areas.
Nerve and Arterial Supply Pattern of the Popliteus Muscle and Clinical Implications

Introduction The aim of this study was to investigate the nerve and artery supply and the tibial attachment of the popliteus muscle using anatomical methods. Methods Forty-four nonembalmed and embalmed extremities were dissected for this study. To measure the attachment area of the popliteus, the most prominent points of the medial epicondyle of the femur and the medial malleolus of the tibia were identified before dissection. A line connecting these two prominent points was used as the reference line, with the most prominent point of the medial epicondyle of the femur as the starting point. This study also investigated the area where the popliteus attaches to the bone and the points where nerves and arteries enter the popliteus muscle when it is divided into three equal parts in the coronal plane. Results The mean length of the reference line was 34.6 ± 2.1 cm. The origin of the popliteus was found to be at a distance of 16.6% to 35.2% on the tibial bone from the proximal region. The popliteus was innervated by only the tibial nerve in 90% of the cases and by the tibial and the sciatic nerves in the remaining 10% of the cases. The inferior medial genicular artery and the posterior tibial artery supplied blood to the popliteus in 90% and 65% of the cases, respectively. When the popliteus muscle was divided into three equal parts in the coronal plane, the nerve and the artery were found to enter the muscle belly in zones II and III and zones I and II in 92% and 98% of the specimens, respectively. Discussion. The anatomical investigation of the popliteus in this study will help identify patients with clinically relevant syndromes.
Battery Assisted PV-SHEC System With Resynchronization Capability

Microgrid comprising a hydro generator faces the problems of voltage and frequency variation in the standalone mode of microgrid (SMM) as well as in the resynchronizing mode. A robust control technique is, therefore, required to minimize the deviation of the system attributes from their set quantities. This work harnesses the power extracted from the PV array and hydro generator and it supplies quality power to the loads. Besides, a battery storage is also utilized to handle the deviations, provides frequency regulation and acts as a backup storage. An M-estimate normalized sub-band adaptive filter (MENSA) is utilized to extricate the fundamental constituents of the loads as well as hydro-generator current in order to prevent the harmonics entering the system. Moreover, a quadrature signal filter (QSF) is used to extricate positive sequence voltages in order to synchronize the system with the utility grid harmoniously. In the standalone mode of microgrid, a cascaded controller employing proportional and resonant (PR) controller is used to generate the switching pulses for the power conversion unit to operate in voltage control mode. Simulated results are presented and illustrated the synchronization, which occurs within 3 cycles upon restoration of the grid. The performance of microgrid is simulated under various conditions and the results are presented, which comply with the IEEE 1547 std.