Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spectral and angular characteristics of dielectric resonator metasurface at optical frequencies

The capability of manipulating light at subwavelength scale has fostered the applications of flat metasurfaces in various fields. Compared to metallic structure, metasurfaces made of high permittivity low-loss dielectric resonators hold the promise of high efficiency by avoiding high conductive losses of metals at optical frequencies. This letter investigates the spectral and angular characteristics of a dielectric resonator metasurface composed of periodic sub-arrays of resonators with a linearly varying phase response. The far-field response of the metasurface can be decomposed into the response of a single grating element (sub-array) and the grating arrangement response. The analysis also reveals that coupling between resonators has a non-negligible impact on the angular response. Over a wide wavelength range, the simulated and measured angular characteristics of the metasurface provide a definite illustration of how different grating diffraction orders can be selectively suppressed or enhanced through antenna sub-array design.
A Rare Sternal Lesion on Magnetic Resonance Mammography Mimicking a Metastasis in a Patient With a History of Mamma Carcinoma: A Case Report

A 48-year-old female patient was sent to the radiology department for her annual control magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after mastectomy for breast cancer. The MRI showed a solitary lesion in the manubrium sterni with homogeneous enhancement. Computed tomography (CT) showed a sclerotic lesion. The lesion showed minimal activity on bone scintigraphy. A biopsy was performed and histology revealed a lesion consisting of brown fat. The lesion was diagnosed as an intraosseous hibernoma. This case report highlights the importance of histologic confirmation of a suspected metastasis, since rare lesions can mimic metastases on imaging. J Med Cases. 2017;8(5):145-148 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc2803w
Kummer congruences for expressions involving generalized Bernoulli polynomials

Nous illustrons le fait qu'une expression particuliere, impliquant les polynomes de Bernoulli generalises, satisfait un systeme de congruences si et seulement si une expression semblable, impliquant les nombres de Bernoulli generalises, satisfait les memes relations de congruence. Parmi ces relations se trouvent les congruences de Kummer ainsi que des generalisations fournies par Gunaratne.
Resolution of coronary ‘mother’-’daughter’ configurations by multi-artery FFR method – a comparison with basic FFR method

Background: A sizable coronary artery and its small side-branch are usually termed ‘mother’- ’daughter’ configuration. In the intermediate stenosis severity range resolution of such configurations might not be trivial. Numerical simulation by the novel Multi-artery FFR method will be presented. Such configurations can be also resolved by the basic FFR method. The objective is a comparison between the two methods and exhibition of the effect of stenosis-stenosis interactions. Methods: A ‘mother’ artery stenotic at locations preceding and following the split-off point of stenotic ‘daughter’ artery is considered. Multi-artery FFR method is applied to an equivalent 3-artery configuration. The difference between a stenotic single artery in a virtual stand-alone position (with FFR=FFRtrue) and the same artery within a configuration of interacting stenotic arteries with a different actual FFR (denoted FFRreal) is discussed. Results: An artery in seemingly acceptable condition (FFRtrue~0.93) may have unacceptable actual FFR (FFRreal~0.65) requiring revascularization (see example in article). The Multi-artery FFR method has the advantage of predicting post-revascularization FFRreal of each artery from initial intracoronary pressure data whereas basic FFR method can yield post-revascularization FFRreal of each artery only after revascularizations are actually made. Conclusions: Multi-artery FFR method mathematics used by the PCI practitioner is simple. It can be used in real time to obtain the current status of stenotic ‘mother’-’daughter’ configuration and its final optimal resolution. The basic single-artery FFR method is also applicable in such a scenario. A comparison between the two methods favors the Multi-artery FFR method essentially for its capability to predict revascularization outcomes.
Polynomials with general C2–fibers are variables

Let X' be a complex affine algebraic threefold with H 3 (X') = 0 which is a UFD and whose invertible functions are constants. Let Z be a Zariski open subset of X' which has a morphism p : Z → U into a curve U such that all fibers of p are isomorphic to C 2 . We prove that X' is isomorphic to C 3 iff none of irreducible components of X'\ Z has non-isolated singularities. Furthermore, if X' is C 3 then p extends to a polynomial on C 3 which is linear in a suitable coordinate system. This implies the fact formulated in the title of the paper.
Crustal structure of the Trans‐Atlantic Geotraverse (TAG) segment (Mid‐Atlantic Ridge, 26°10′N): Implications for the nature of hydrothermal circulation and detachment faulting at slow spreading ridges

New seismic refraction data reveal that hydrothermal circulation at the Trans‐Atlantic Geotraverse (TAG) hydrothermal field on the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge at 26°10′N is not driven by energy extracted from shallow or mid‐crustal magmatic intrusions. Our results show that the TAG hydrothermal field is underlain by rocks with high seismic velocities typical of lower crustal gabbros and partially serpentinized peridotites at depth as shallow as 1 km, and we find no evidence for low seismic velocities associated with mid‐crustal magma chambers. Our tomographic images support the hypothesis of Tivey et al. (2003) that the TAG field is located on the hanging wall of a detachment fault, and constrain the complex, dome‐shaped subsurface geometry of the fault system. Modeling of our seismic velocity profiles indicates that the porosity of the detachment footwall increases after rotation during exhumation, which may enhance footwall cooling. However, heat extracted from the footwall is insufficient for sustaining long‐term, high‐temperature, hydrothermal circulation at TAG. These constraints indicate that the primary heat source for the TAG hydrothermal system must be a deep magma reservoir at or below the base of the crust.
Effect of Heavy Metals Contamination on Performance, Blood Profile of Broiler Chicks Fed Corn-Soya Meal Diet

Five hundred, day old Arbo Acre broiler chicks were used in an experiment to evaluate the effect of heavy metals contamination on the performance and blood profile of broiler chicks fed corn-soya meal diet. The birds were randomly assigned to five treatment diets in a Completely Randomized Design [CRD] and each treatment group was further subdivided into four replicates containing twenty birds each. The chicks were feed ad-libitum with formulated broiler starter diet supplemented with battery waste at levels of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% representing treatments 1,2,3,4 and 5 respectively. Feed intake, daily weight were the performance criteria measured while the blood profile includes heamatology and serum analysis. Results showed that broilers fed battery waste above 5% were significantly affected (P<0.05) in terms of their body weight, feed intake, haematological and biochemical analysis were affected. The result of this experiment demonstrated that inclusion of battery waste in broiler chicks above 5% have a deleterious effect on growth, performance and health status of birds.
The Effect of Palm Oil-Based Hybrid Oils as Green Multifunctional Oils on the Properties of Elastomer Composites

Hybrid oils in an elastomer matrix provide superior physical and chemical properties over conventional elastomer composites. In this study, we investigated the possibility of utilizing palm-based hybrid oil as a processing oil, with various other added oils such as methylester, palm monoglyceride and dammar, and their effects on the curing characteristics, mechanical, abrasion resistance and heat build-up properties of elastomer composites. The elastomer composites with the hybrid oils exhibit remarkable improvements in mechanical properties such as modulus, tensile strength, elongation and toughness, which were ascribed to the enhanced dispersion of the fillers in the elastomer matrix. Also, the hybrid oils in the elastomer matrix showed outstanding heat build-up, abrasion and rebound resilience properties at low loadings. The synergistic effects in the elastomer matrix achieved by the hybridization of palm oil and other oils represent a significant contribution to advanced, stronger elastomer composites in various applications.
Comparative Study of Heavy Metal Concentration in Capsicum Annum (Pepper) Cultivated in North Eastern Nigeria

Yaji is a popular spice used in most parts of Northern Nigeria, prepared by mixing powdered Capsium annuum (pepper) and seasoning to taste or mixing powdered Capsium annuum (pepper), with other vegetables like ginger, garlic and seasoning. Consumers claim yaji add taste and stimulates appetite when added to cooked foods and edible leafy vegetables. Consumption of vegetables containing heavy metals is a major pathway for heavy metal accumulation in human body which can lead to health risks. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the concentrations of Pb, Cr, Zn, Mn and Fe in Capsium annuum (pepper) grown in Gashu’a (Yobe State), Biu (Borno State) and Yamaltu deba (Gombe State) of North Eastern Nigeria. Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric techniques was used for the investigation and the result showed the following variations in levels the heavy metals in the tested samples; 0.03±0.002mg/kg – 1.0±0.02 mg/kg Cr, 3.0±0.05mg/kg ‒ 3.5±0.10mg/kg Zn, 0.1±0.01mg/kg –14.00±0.10mg/kg Mn, 1.30±0.01mg/kg ‒ 3.440±0.50mg/kg Fe and 0.1±0.01mg/kg ‒ 0.5±0.10mg/kg Pb. The samples from Gombe showed high accumulation of Pb, Mn and Cr compared to the other samples but all samples were found to be within the recommended dietary intakes for metals in foods defined by the Food and Drug Administration/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO). However, continuous consumption of pepper can contribute to the body burden of the metal toxins especially Pb and Cr.
Permeability Effect on the capillary and the viscous forces during the drainage process in porous media

Two-phase flow and capillarity phenomenon in porous solids are well known in physics and engineering. In different studies, drainage experiments in porous media, initially saturated with a wetting fluid, have been largely devoted by using various type of fluids and different angle values of slant to the horizontal direction, in order to evaluate the effects of gravity forces and the injection flow-rate. However, the influence of the matrix structure on the capillary and viscous forces as well as the fluids distribution has not been treated sufficiently. In this study, we simulate an ascending air phase flow in a vertical porous channel initially saturated with a liquid phase, in order to evaluate the two previous effects. The numerical study is performed for large range of injected air mass flow rate along the porous channel from the bottom up. The different forces intervening in the drainage process is analyzed according to several permeabilities. The results show that for a weak gas mass flow rate, the capillary effect is dominant and the gas saturation in a porous channel is proportional to the permeability. For more important gas mass flow rate, the saturation behavior becomes inversely proportional to the permeability of the porous channel.
Attentional Control and Working Memory Capacity

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Working memory is a limited‐capacity system that operates at the intersection of attention and memory. The capacity of this system (i.e., working‐memory capacity [WMC]) is the functional limit on how many memory representations—or how well even one representation— can be kept active in the face of interference and conscious shifts of focus in the service of ongoing cognitive activities. WMC matters: Its variation across people predicts such important skills as reading comprehension (e.g., Daneman & Carpenter, 1980; McVay & Kane, 2012a), following classroom directions (Engle, Carullo, & Collins, 1991), learning computer languages (Kyllonen & Stephens, 1990; Shute, 1991), multitasking (e.g., Bühner, König, Pick, & Krumm, 2006; Hambrick, Oswald, Darowski, Rench, & Brou, 2010), and solving novel problems (Conway, Cowan, Bunting, Therriault, & Minkoff, 2002; Engle, Tuholski, Laughlin, & Conway, 1999; Kane et al., 2004; Martínez & Colom, 2009). The central role WMC plays in vital intellectual activities has made it an attractive target for interventions to increase its capabilities (for a review, see Melby‐Lervag & Holme, 2013; Chapter 28 by Spencer‐Smith & Klingberg in this volume). Why does a chapter focused on WMC belong in a handbook of cognitive control? Because WMC impacts task performance, in part, through associated cognitive control processes. The processes covered within this chapter are examined via traditional ‘attention’ tasks, so we favour the label attentional control. Recently, two large‐scale studies, using latent‐variable techniques to assess the construct‐related variance shared across multiple tasks, examined attentional accounts of WMC’s contribution to higher‐order cognition (Shipstead, Lindsey, Marshall, & Engle, 2014; Unsworth, Fukuda, Awh, & Vogel, 2014). Each study assessed the contributions of attentional control (using tasks such as antisaccade and Stroop), retrieval from long‐term memory (using tasks such as source memory and paired‐associate recall), and simple short‐term memory (STM; using tasks such as change detection and sub‐span immediate‐recall tasks). In both studies, the best fitting structural model indicated that the relation between WMC and higher‐order cognition was fully mediated by these three correlated factors, with all three factors accounting for substantial unique variance. This multifaceted conception of WMC is analogous to the ‘unity and diversity’ framework of executive functions advanced by Miyake and Friedman (2012), in which executive functions comprise several correlated but separable factors. That is, WMC represents the interactions of multiple Attentional Control and Working Memory Capacity Matt E. Meier and Michael J. Kane 3
Behaviour of clay-fouled ballast under drained triaxial testing

Contamination or fouling of rail ballast with external fines, including slurried and pumped subgrade material (e.g. clay and silt), is one of the primary reasons for track deterioration. Fouling causes differential settlement of the track, and also decreases the load-bearing capacity, owing to the reduction in the friction angle of the granular assembly. In certain circumstances, fouled ballast needs to be cleaned or replaced to maintain the desired track stiffness, load-bearing capacity and track alignment, all of which influence safety. This paper presents and discusses the results of a series of large-scale triaxial tests conducted on latite basalt, a rail ballast of volcanic origin, commonly used in Australia. Consolidated drained triaxial tests were conducted under three different levels of confining pressure and varying degrees of clay fouling. Stress–strain degradation characteristics are discussed in detail. This paper also describes the non-linear strength envelope and a novel empirical relations.
Critical Issues in Reprocessing Single-Use Medical Devices for Interventional Cardiology

1.1 Single-use vs. multiple use medical devices During the 1960s and the early 1970s, most medical devices made of glass, rubber, or metal were generally considered to be reusable. This concept did not change until the late 1970s, when medical devices started to enter the market labelled “single-use only” . During the same decades, clinical medicine has undergone substantial changes, with traditional open surgical procedures giving way to new minimally invasive techniques such as endovascular and laparoscopic intervention. Such procedures required new instruments allowing delicate and complex manipulations through small incisions, with the effector portion of the device located some distance from the operator’s hand, demanding stable and predictable performance. During this same period, patients and clinicians have become increasingly concerned about the risk of infectious disease transmission, particularly human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B and C viruses. One solution to both demands was found in single-use devices (SUDs), shaped from newly developed fabrication materials, firstly polymers, and intended to be discarded after use on a given patient. Consequently, the past three decades have seen an explosion in the production and use of single-use medical devices, stemming from a desire to improve product performance and minimize the potential for disease transmission, and enabled by advances in manufacturing techniques.
THE PREDICTION OF HILLSLOPE FLOW PATHS FOR DISTRIBUTED HYDROLOGICAL MODELLING USING DIGITAL TERRAIN MODELS

The accuracy of the predictions of distributed hydrological models must depend in part on the proper specification of flow pathways. This paper examines some of the problems of deriving flow pathways from raster digital terrain data in the context of hydrological predictions using TOPMODEL. Distributed moisture status is predicted in TOPMODEL on the basis of spatial indices that depend on flow path definition. The sensitivity of this index to flow path algorithm and grid size is examined for the case where the surface topography is a good indicator of local hydraulic gradients. A strategy for the case where downslope subsurface flow pathways may deviate from those indicated by the surface topography is described with an example application.
Performance Evaluation of Image Fusion Methods

The recent advances in sensor technology, microelectronics and multisensor systems have motivated researchers towards processing techniques that combine the information obtained from different sensors. For this purpose a large number of image fusion techniques [Mukhopadhyay & Chanda, 2001; Pohl & van Genderen, 1998, Tsagaris & Anastassopoulos, 2005; Piella, 2003] have been proposed in the fields of remote sensing, medical diagnostics, military applications, surveillance etc. The main goal of these image fusion techniques is to provide a compact representation of the multiple input images into a single grayscale one that contains all the important original features. Such an image provides improved interpretation capabilities but can also be used for further computer processing tasks, like feature extraction or classification. The performance of image fusion techniques is sometimes assessed subjectively by human visual inspection. The reproduction of subjective tests is often time-consuming and expensive, while the exact same conditions for the test cannot be guaranteed. This has led to a rising demand for objective measures in order to rapidly compare the results obtained with different algorithms or to obtain optimal settings for a specific fusion algorithm. The objective evaluation of the performance of pixel level fusion methods is addressed in this book chapter. The image fusion processes can be classified in grayscale or color methods depending on the resulting fused image. For this purpose the general framework of objective evaluation of image fusion is discussed and different fusion measures are discussed. Moreover, a global measure for grayscale image fusion schemes, IFPM, based on information theory is presented. The measure employs mutual and conditional mutual information in order to assess and represent the amount of information transferred from the source images to the final fused grayscale image. Accordingly, the common information contained in the source images is considered only once in the performance evaluation procedure. The experimental results clarify the applicability of the IFPM measure in comparing different fusion methods or in optimizing the parameters of a specific algorithm. Moreover, a measure for objectively assessing the performance of color image fusion methods, CIFM, is presented in this chapter. Two different aspects are considered in establishing the measure, namely the amount of common information between the source images and the final fused image as well as the distribution of color information in the final
Thermodynamic properties of standard seawater: extensions to high temperatures and pressures

Abstract. Measurements of (p, ρ, T) properties of standard seawater with practical salinity S≈35, temperature T=(273.14 to 468.06) K and pressures, p, up to 140 MPa are reported with the reproducibility of the density measurements observed to be in the average percent deviation range Δρ/ρ=±(0.01 to 0.03)%. The measurements are made with a newly constructed vibration-tube densimeter which is calibrated using double-distilled water, methanol and aqueous NaCl solutions. Based on these and previous measurements, an empirical expression for the density of standard seawater has been developed as a function of pressure and temperature. This equation is used to calculate other volumetric properties including isothermal compressibility, isobaric thermal expansibility, differences in isobaric and isochoric heat capacities, the thermal pressure coefficient, internal pressure and the secant bulk modulus. The results can be used to extend the present equation of state of seawater to higher temperatures for pressure up to 140 MPa.
Research, part of a Special Feature on Public policies and management of rural forests: lasting alliance or fool's dialogue? Logging Concessions and Local Livelihoods in Cameroon: from Indifference to Alliance?

Sustainable forest management gives the opportunity to better integrate the way local populations use their customary "village terroirs" in the logging activities. This requirement is explicitly stated in all forest laws of the Congo Basin countries but its implementation on the field remains under documented. In Cameroon, 30 forest management plans (FMP) for logging concessions have been reviewed to assess how they effectively include customary use rights. The integration of use rights into the FMPs is heterogeneous but always with very low enforcement. The weak influence of the FMP application on local practices is confirmed with an empirical survey that shows that natural, financial, and physical capitals in two villages of the eastern region of Cameroon have been little affected by the adjoining logging concession over the latest 13 years. Extrasector policies such as agriculture, road infrastructure, techniques, and land tenure are the real drivers of socioeconomic change at the local scale. Their impacts are facilitated by the presence of the logging concessions, which can contribute indirectly to improve local livelihoods.
Stem Cell And Regenerative Therapies For Degenerative Disc Disease And Discogenic Low Back Pain

INTRODUCTION: Low back pain affects 1 in 3 individuals at some time in their life. Back and neck pain is the second leading cause of disability globally with a prevalence of 60-80% amongst individuals between 20 and 50 years old. The cost of care for low back pain in the US alone has been estimated to be over $150 billion annually and indirect costs are staggering. A standard method of treatment for lumbar disc disease still is lumbar fusion corresponding to the therapy “no disc no pain”. Unfortunately anyone in the spine specialty disciplines of medicine can attest to how untrue that really is. I have described our approach to the back pain patient in numerous articles on this website. Our focus is a regenerative medicine approach. That did not happen overnight but over a period of 30 years of doing everything else first. Since we specialize in advanced spine diagnostics and intervention almost 100% of our patients has been everywhere else first. We will rarely see individuals for back, neck, and orthopedic extremity complaints early on in the course of injury or disease.