Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An open dataset of Plasmodium vivax genome variation in 1,895 worldwide samples

This report describes the MalariaGEN Pv4 dataset, a new release of curated genome variation data on 1,895 samples of Plasmodium vivax collected at 88 worldwide locations between 2001 and 2017. It includes 1,370 new samples contributed by MalariaGEN and VivaxGEN partner studies in addition to previously published samples from these and other sources. We provide genotype calls at over 4.5 million variable positions including over 3 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), as well as short indels and tandem duplications. This enlarged dataset highlights major compartments of parasite population structure, with clear differentiation between Africa, Latin America, Oceania, Western Asia and different parts of Southeast Asia. Each sample has been classified for drug resistance to sulfadoxine, pyrimethamine and mefloquine based on known markers at the dhfr, dhps and mdr1 loci. The prevalence of all of these resistance markers was much higher in Southeast Asia and Oceania than elsewhere. This open resource of analysis-ready genome variation data from the MalariaGEN and VivaxGEN networks is driven by our collective goal to advance research into the complex biology of P. vivax and to accelerate genomic surveillance for malaria control and elimination.
Utility optimization-based multi-stakeholder personalized recommendation system

PurposeIn a multi-stakeholder recommender system (MSRS), stakeholders are the multiple entities (consumer, producer, system, etc.) benefited by the generated recommendations. Traditionally, the exclusive focus on only a single stakeholders' (for example, only consumer or end-user) preferences obscured the welfare of the others. Two major challenges are encountered while incorporating the multiple stakeholders' perspectives in MSRS: designing a dedicated utility function for each stakeholder and optimizing their utility without hurting others. This paper proposes multiple utility functions for different stakeholders and optimizes these functions for generating balanced, personalized recommendations for each stakeholder.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed methodology considers four valid stakeholders user, producer, cast and recommender system from the multi-stakeholder recommender setting and builds dedicated utility functions. The utility function for users incorporates enhanced side-information-based similarity computation for utility count. Similarly, to improve the utility gain, the authors design new utility functions for producer, star-cast and system to incorporate long-tail and diverse items in the recommendation list. Next, to balance the utility gain and generate the trade-off recommendation solution, the authors perform the evolutionary optimization of the conflicting utility functions using NSGA-II. Experimental evaluation and comparison are conducted over three benchmark data sets.FindingsThe authors observed 19.70% of average enhancement in utility gain with improved mean precision, diversity and novelty. Exposure, hit, reach and target reach metrics are substantially improved.Originality/valueA new approach considers four stakeholders simultaneously with their respective utility functions and establishes the trade-off recommendation solution between conflicting utilities of the stakeholders.
Investigating the acceptance of Moodle by LIS students in Kuwait based on UTAUT and WQ

: Moodle is not a new concept and has been widely accepted among highly qualified students in different global higher education institutions. However, little is known about the factors that influence the acceptance of Moodle as a learning tool for LIS students in general, and in Kuwait's higher education institutions, particularly in the College of Basic Education (CBE) at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET). Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the Website Quality (WQ) model, the present study argues that Moodle can be a highly accepted beneficial learning tool for Library Information Science (LIS) students to develop their professional skills and competencies in a rapidly evolving digital age. This study clarifies the LIS students' behavior toward this learning tool and confirms factors that influence the acceptance of Moodle as a learning tool amongst LIS students. Factors that positively impact the acceptance of Moodle are; Performance Expectancy (PE) and Appearance Quality (AQ) on Behavioral Intention (BI). The effects of Technical Quality (TQ), General Content Quality (GCQ), Specific Content Quality (SCQ), and Effort Expectancy (EF), and Social Influence (SI) on Behavioral Intention (BI) were insignificant. Furthermore, Facilitating Conditions (FC) significantly affected Use Behavior (UB), and BI had a negligible effect on UB. Purpose: This study aims to investigate the the acceptance of Moodle among LIS students in Kuwait and further identify those factors that influence student's continuous intentions to use Moodle, an exemplar of learning management systems (LMS) Design/methodology/approach:
The Human Mycobiome in Chronic Respiratory Diseases: Current Situation and Future Perspectives

Microbes play an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, and asthma. While the role of bacterial pathogens has been extensively studied, the contribution of fungal species to the pathogenesis of chronic lung diseases is much less understood. The recent introduction of next-generation sequencing techniques has revealed the existence of complex microbial lung communities in healthy individuals and patients with chronic respiratory disorders, with fungi being an important part of these communities’ structure (mycobiome). There is growing evidence that the components of the lung mycobiome influence the clinical course of chronic respiratory diseases, not only by direct pathogenesis but also by interacting with bacterial species and with the host’s physiology. In this article, we review the current knowledge on the role of fungi in chronic respiratory diseases, which was obtained by conventional culture and next-generation sequencing, highlighting the limitations of both techniques and exploring future research areas.
Practical considerations for feature assignment in high-speed AFM of live cell membranes

High speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) is, in principle, capable of yielding nanometer level detail about the surface of static structures. However, for highly dynamic samples HS-AFM may struggle with the correct feature assignment both within and between frames. Feature assignment in HS-AFM is dependent on (i) the intrinsic sampling rate, and (ii) the rate of internal redistribution of the sample. Whilst the first quantity (the sampling rate) is defined by the device parameters, the second quantity is frequently unknown, and is often the desired target of the measurement. This work examines how, even in the absence of gross cell morphological change, the rapid dynamics of living cell membranes, may impose an upper spatial limit to the frame-to-frame assignment of cell micro-topography and other related properties (such as local elasticity) whose motion may be described stochastically. Such a practical maximum may prove useful in the setup of HS-AFM experiments involving dynamic surfaces thereby facilitating selection of the most parsimonious relationship between observation size, image pixilation and sampling rates. To assist with performing the described calculations a graphical user interface-based software package called HS-AFM UGOKU is made freely available.
Pre- and post-production processes increasingly dominate greenhouse gas emissions from agri-food systems

Abstract. We present results from the FAOSTAT emissions shares database, covering emissions from agri-food systems and their shares to total anthropogenic emissions for 196 countries and 40 territories for the period 1990–2019. We find that in 2019, global agri-food system emissions were 16.5 (95 %; CI range: 11–22) billion metric tonnes (Gt CO2 eq. yr−1), corresponding to 31 % (range: 19 %–43 %) of total anthropogenic emissions. Of the agri-food system total, global emissions within the farm gate – from crop and livestock production processes including on-farm energy use – were 7.2 Gt CO2 eq. yr−1; emissions from land use change, due to deforestation and peatland degradation, were 3.5 Gt CO2 eq. yr−1; and emissions from pre- and post-production processes – manufacturing of fertilizers, food processing, packaging, transport, retail, household consumption and food waste disposal – were 5.8 Gt CO2 eq. yr−1. Over the study period 1990–2019, agri-food system emissions increased in total by 17 %, largely driven by a doubling of emissions from pre- and post-production processes. Conversely, the FAOSTAT data show that since 1990 land use emissions decreased by 25 %, while emissions within the farm gate increased 9 %. In 2019, in terms of individual greenhouse gases (GHGs), pre- and post-production processes emitted the most CO2 (3.9 Gt CO2 yr−1), preceding land use change (3.3 Gt CO2 yr−1) and farm gate (1.2 Gt CO2 yr−1) emissions. Conversely, farm gate activities were by far the major emitter of methane (140 Mt CH4 yr−1) and of nitrous oxide (7.8 Mt N2O yr−1). Pre- and post-production processes were also significant emitters of methane (49 Mt CH4 yr−1), mostly generated from the decay of solid food waste in landfills and open dumps. One key trend over the 30-year period since 1990 highlighted by our analysis is the increasingly important role of food-related emissions generated outside of agricultural land, in pre- and post-production processes along the agri-food system, at global, regional and national scales. In fact, our data show that by 2019, pre- and post-production processes had overtaken farm gate processes to become the largest GHG component of agri-food system emissions in Annex I parties (2.2 Gt CO2 eq. yr−1). They also more than doubled in non-Annex I parties (to 3.5 Gt CO2 eq. yr−1), becoming larger than emissions from land use change. By 2019 food supply chains had become the largest agri-food system component in China (1100 Mt CO2 eq. yr−1), the USA (700 Mt CO2 eq. yr−1) and the EU-27 (600 Mt CO2 eq. yr−1). This has important repercussions for food-relevant national mitigation strategies, considering that until recently these have focused mainly on reductions of non-CO2 gases within the farm gate and on CO2 mitigation from land use change. The information used in this work is available as open data with DOI https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5615082 (Tubiello et al., 2021d). It is also available to users via the FAOSTAT database (https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/EM; FAO, 2021a), with annual updates.
Use of Low-Cost Devices for the Control and Monitoring of CO2 Concentration in Existing Buildings after the COVID Era

In the COVID-19 era, a direct relationship has been consolidated between the concentration of the pollutant carbon dioxide (CO2) and indoor disease transmission. For reducing its spread, recommendations have been established among which air renewal is a key element to improve indoor air quality (IAQ). In this study, a low-cost CO2 measurement device was designed, developed, assembled, prototyped, and openly programmed so that the IAQ can be monitored remotely. In addition, this clonic device was calibrated for correct data acquisition. In parallel, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling analysis was used to study the indoor air flows to eliminate non-representative singular measurement points, providing possible locations. The results in four scenarios (cross ventilation, outdoor ventilation, indoor ventilation, and no ventilation) showed that the measurements provided by the clonic device are comparable to those obtained by laboratory instruments, with an average error of less than 3%. These data collected wirelessly for interpretation were evaluated on an Internet of Things (IoT) platform in real time or deferred. As a result, remaining lifespan of buildings can be exploited interconnecting IAQ devices with other systems (as HVAC systems) in an IoT environment. This can transform them into smart buildings, adding value to their refurbishment and modernization.
Market reactions to voluntary disclosures of a strategic alliance agreement: evidence from China

ABSTRACT This paper examines the market reaction to strategic alliance agreements (SAAs), a prevalent yet previously uninvestigated corporate voluntary disclosure practice. We document that investors react positively to SAA disclosures in short windows, and that the effect of SAA disclosures is transitory, since a reversal occurs within 30 days after the disclosure. We also find that the market reaction is weaker to an SAA involving the progress of existing cooperation projects and that markets react more positively to SAAs disclosed by firms that had released progress reports before. The results of cross-sectional tests indicate that investor sophistication and being a high-technology firm strengthen the association between SAA characteristics and market reactions. Finally, we document that market reaction decreased after the passage of the SAA format guidelines in 2015 and after firms have received a comment letter related to an SAA. Overall, our findings indicate that SAA disclosure is a crucial information resource for investors.
Alteration in the Expression of Genes Involved in Cerebral Glucose Metabolism as a Process of Adaptation to Stressful Conditions

Exposure to chronic stress leads to disturbances in glucose metabolism in the brain, and changes in the functioning of neurons coexisting with the development of depression. The detailed molecular mechanism and cerebral gluconeogenesis during depression are not conclusively established. The aim of the research was to assess the expression of selected genes involved in cerebral glucose metabolism of mice in the validated animal paradigm of chronic stress. To confirm the induction of depression-like disorders, we performed three behavioral tests: sucrose preference test (SPT), forced swim test (FST), and tail suspension test (TST). In order to study the cerebral glucose metabolism of the brain, mRNA levels of the following genes were determined in the prefrontal cortex of mice: Slc2a3, Gapdh, Ldha, Ldhb, and Pkfb3. It has been shown that exogenous, chronic administration of corticosterone developed a model of depression in behavioral tests. There were statistically significant changes in the mRNA level of the Slc2a3, Ldha, Gapdh, and Ldhb genes. The obtained results suggest changes in cerebral glucose metabolism as a process of adaptation to stressful conditions, and may provide the basis for introducing new therapeutic strategies for chronic stress-related depression.
Growth performance parameters of European Sea bass (Dicentrarchus Labrax) cultured in marine water farm and fed commercial diets of different protein levels

Objective: To evaluate the growth performance and whole-body composition of growing E. Sea bass cultured in marine water farm and fed commercial fish diets containing 42.3% to 39.60% crude protein (CP) and 17.4 % to 17.8 % fat. Design : Randomized controlled study Samples : Five ponds out of the 8-ponds open marine water farm of 12 Feddans were used. Procedures : Each pond (120 m length x 40 m width x 1.5 m depth) stocked with 5500 growing E. Sea bass of about 25 g initial mean body weight. Fish feeding and management were followed up for 6 months (June to November 2018). Diets (extruded, pelleted, 3- 4.5 mm size of different protein levels) offered once daily at satiation (at 7:00 AM) until October and twice daily during November. Diets offered daily decreased from 4.6% of relative BW of fish at the start of the feeding trial to 1.02% at the last month. Partial replacement of ponds water was maintained daily. The high protein diet (42.3%) fed during the first 2 months, in the second 2 months a 40.42% CP diet was fed, while diets fed in the last 2 months contained 39.60% CP. Fish samples (n=20 from each pond) were collected at the end of each month to follow up growth parameters. Fish samples collected (4 from each pond) at the end of the fourth and the sixth months of feeding trial for whole body composition and morphometric indices determination. Results: Body weight gain increased from 47.06 g in the 1st month to 113.80 g at the last month. Feed consumption increased from 68 g/fish/month to 109.08 g/fish/month. Mean body weight of the Sea bass fish was 496.30 g at the end of the follow up feeding periods. Unexpectedly, feed conversion ratio decreased from 1.44 at 1st month to 1.18 at the end of the feeding trial instead of the marked increase in BW of fish. Feed efficiency ratio increased from 69.21% at the 1st month gradually to 87.5% at the end of the 5th month, with a little decrease during last month, (85.0%) parallel to the decrease in water temperature in November. There was a little decrease in moisture percentage of fish body with increase in fish size (67.8 vs 69.10%) with a little increase in protein content (18.55 vs 17.82%) of the Sea bass whole body composition, also fat content increased from 7.94 to 9.25%. Carcass or dressed fish wt. dressed %, fillet yield % and K- factor markedly improved with increasing the fish size at the end of feeding trial. Conclusion and Clinical relevance: In conclusion, it seems that feeding diets containing about 42 to 40 % protein with 17.6 % fat produced appreciable growth of E. Sea bass fish culturing in marine water farm under the semi-intensive feeding system.
Characterization of mucin 2 expression in colorectal cancer with and without chemotherapies, in vivo and in vitro study

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third and second most prevalent cancer affecting males and females, respectively. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and irinotecan are the main chemotherapies for CRC. Down regulation of mucin 2 (MUC2) expression is associated with poor prognosis. Aim: This study examines the expression levels of MUC2 in response to treatment with 5-FU and/or irinotecan in vivo and in vitro. Method: HT29 CRC cells were treated with 5- FU and/or irinotecan, and the expression of MUC2 at mRNA and protein levels was examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC), respectively. CRC was induced in rats by injecting azoxymethane (AOM) prior to 5-FU treatment. Results: HT29 cells treated with 5-FU and/or irinotecan displayed a significant increase in the expression of MUC2. MUC2 mRNA expression was similar in response to monotherapy with irinotecan or 5 FU, and combinatorial treatment with irinotecan and 5-FU significantly increased MUC2 mRNA expression. Treatment of colon malignancy in rats with 5-FU resulted in increased expression of MUC2 compared with that in the positive control (rats treated with AOM only). The levels of MUC2 protein were restored and were similar to those in untreated rats. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first in vitro study to report the effects of irinotecan treatment on MUC2 expression in CRC. MUC2 expression was increased by 5-FU and irinotecan. Therefore, further study could be undertaken to explore the potential use as a predictive marker in CRC.
The Handover and Performance Analysis of LTE Network with Traditional and SDN Approaches

The mobility of user equipment (UE) in cellular network is a challenging issue in terms of its management. Current traditional handover in Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network is managed by evolved Node B or eNodeB (eNB) which is a decentralized solution. In contrast to existing technology, software defined network (SDN) has the capability of serving the packets of the switching equipment without involving the SDN controller except for the first one. We have proposed an SDN-based centralized solution for handover management in LTE network. Based on our solution, the handover is being managed by SDN controller which keeps track of the overall network management and dictates the flow entries to the OpenFlow switches in the network. In our testbed, two UEs are connected to two eNBs, and one of the UE performs a handover from one eNB to other eNB. It enhances the performance of the network in terms of reducing the delay while performing the handover and increasing the data rate of the running application. The initial delay will be bit higher due to the initial flow entry absence in the flow tables of the switches; later, the delay will be reduced. It is evident from the results that our approach keeps track of the overall network at centralized controller with improved performance.
A new genus of land planarian (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae) for a new ‘blind’ species

The morphological and molecular (mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, COI) characterization of a new species of the subfamily Geoplaninae (Geoplanidae) supports the erection of a new genus, Anophthalmoplana gen. nov. The most remarkable feature of Anophthalmoplana horticola sp. nov. is the absence of eyes, a feature so far only recorded in one species of Geoplaninae, Geobia subterranea. Other features of the species are: a narrow, ribbon-shaped body; a gonopore near the posterior tip; a creeping sole almost as wide as body width; cylindrical pharynx; voluminous extrabulbar prostatic vesicle; protrusible penis papilla occupying the whole male atrium; a common ovovitelline duct dorsal to the female atrium; the atrium being lined by an epithelium with a stratified appearance. Based on the mtDNA phylogeny, the specimens studied here form a separate clade from the genus Geobia, thus contradicting its inclusion in this genus or any other of the subfamily Geoplaninae. These results reinforce the morphological differences observed, regarding internal anatomy, from Geobia and other members of Geoplaninae. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:317A4055-BCC8-4B89-A9DC-F96F98E803A5
Active and passive selfie-related behaviors: Implications for body image, self-esteem and mental health

Research on online social networks has indicated that it is appropriate to differentiate between active and passive use of these services, especially since they often have reverse effects on well-being. This study focused on Instagram selfies as a specific form of Instagram activity. We adopted the proposed distinction between active and passive use of social networks and applied it to selfies. In two correlational studies, we measured three aspects of selfie-related behaviors: self-presentation through selfies (active form), selfie preoccupation (active form), and upward physical appearance comparison with others’ selfies (passive form). We explored their relationships with body image concerns and self-esteem (in Study 1, N = 284, 16.9% men, age ranged from 17 to 53) as well as subjective well-being and mental health (in Study 2, N = 473, 12.5% men, age ranged from 16 to 49) on the samples of Instagram users from Serbia and Balkan region who reported they take selfies. The results indicated that upward comparison with others’ selfies is detrimental to both body image and subjective well-being. However, self-presentation and selfie preoccupation were related to stronger fear of negative appearance evaluation and better social self-esteem, but they had negligible relationship with indicators of mental health. This research was the first to study both active and passive selfie-related behaviors within the same framework and it showed that these behaviors have similar relations to body image, but different to self-esteem and well-being.