Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Finite Element Modelling of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Cold Water Pipe (CWP)

An OTEC CWP can be modelled as a submerged free-hanging pipe conveying fluid. The large amount of the required transported deep seawater might cause catastrophic failure of the pipe due to Centrifugal and Coriolis forces driven by the Internal Flow Effect (IEF). To predict the critical velocity, this paper analyzes the stability of the pipe using a Finite Element Method. At the first step, the general motion equation of the pipe is derived and for each term of the equation, its potential energy equation is represented. Using Hermite shape functions, the local matrixes of each element can be obtained based on virtual displacement principle. Flow field and flow direction change at the inlet is considered at the bottom-end of the pipe as a local boundary condition. After the global matrixes of the system are produced, the global boundary conditions are imposed. Finally, the system is solved using the Newmark time-scheme method. The result are then compared to the previous published works of a small scale model. After being verified, the developed FEM will be used to analyze the full-scale model of the OTEC CWP. The result shows that the critical velocity is around 4.5–4.8 m/s.
Equilibrium Reconstruction and Estimation of Neoclassical Effect in Low-Aspect-Ratio Reversed Field Pinch Experiments on RELAX(Gases, plasmas, electric discharges, and beams)

A neoclassical equilibrium for low-aspect-ratio reversed field pinch (RFP) plasma is reconstructed from initial experimental results of the standard discharge in a low-aspect-ratio RFP device (RELAX). We estimate the magnitude of the bootstrap current, which is a self-induced plasma parallel current, from the reconstructed equilibrium, and illustrate how the bootstrap current depends on plasma parameters.
Institutional Factors and Academic Staff Job Performance in Public Universities in Southwest, Nigeria

Purpose: This study investigated the relationship between institutional factors and academic staff job performance in Southwest, Nigeria. The study examined the level of academic staff job performance in public universities. The study also examined the extent to which the institutional factors are favourable in the Universities. The study specifically examined relationship between institutional factors such as physical facilities and staff workload. Methodology: The study adopted descriptive research design of the survey type. The population of this study consisted of 12,844 Academic Staff of public universities in Southwest, Nigeria. The sample of this study consisted of 90 Heads of Departments and 900 academic staff of public universities. Multi-stage sampling procedure involving simple random sampling technique, stratified random sampling technique and proportionate random sampling technique were used in the selection of the sample for the study. Two instruments tagged ‘Institutional Factor Questionnaire (IFQ) and the Academic Staff Job Performance Questionnaire (ASJPQ)’ were used to collect data from the respondents. Findings: A reliability coefficient of 0.78 was obtained for the Institutional Factor Questionnaire and 0.76 was obtained for the Academic Staff Job Performance Questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using percentages, frequency count, Mean, Standard Deviation and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. All hypotheses formulated were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that level of academic staff job performance was high in public universities in Southwest, Nigeria. It also revealed that status of institutional factors was favourable. Institutional factors variables such as physical facilities and staff workload largely determined academic staff job performance in public Universities in southwest, Nigeria. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: In view of the fact that the status of institutional factors was favourable in public universities in southwest, Nigeria, owners of public institutions in Southwest Nigeria should prioritize adequate physical infrastructure to improve the quality of teaching and research. Also, academic personnel should be assigned assignments based on competency and not overworked.
Disease Progression, Clinical Features, and Risk Factors for Pneumonia in Unvaccinated Children and Adolescents with Measles: A Re-Emerging Disease in Romania

Measles causes in vaccinated children, with some exceptions, a mild disease, while the unvaccinated can suffer complications that result in serious consequences and even death. Although the introduction of the measles vaccine has reduced the number of cases and the viral spread, the current downward vaccination trend has resulted in the resurgence of the disease. Currently, Romania has a measles vaccination coverage below the 95% safety threshold. Thus, an outbreak started in 2016 and still ongoing in Romania, many cases being identified in the Western region in the pediatric population. Our objective was to conduct a thorough examination of clinical characteristics, evolution, and risk factors in vaccinated and unvaccinated children in this region. To reach our objectives we used a retrospective cohort analysis. The authors reviewed clinical and laboratory data from patients hospitalized at “Victor Babes” Hospital for Infectious Diseases and Pulmonology in Timisoara. We found a total of 136 qualifying cases of measles among the children admitted to this facility. The two comparison groups consisted of 104 children under 10 years and 32 patients between 10 and 18 years. An important characteristic of both study groups was the high prevalence of patients from the Roma ethnicity, which, although represents a minority in Romania, the prevalence was over 40% in the current study. The infection source was in 40.4% of children under 10 years inside the family, while 71.9% of infections in the group of adolescents were isolated (p-value = 0.047). The multivariate risk factor analysis identified as independent risk factors for the development of pneumonia the older age of patients (OR = 1.62), poor nutritional status (OR = 1.25), Roma ethnicity (OR = 2.44), presence of anemia (OR = 1.58), and procalcitonin (OR = 3.09). It is essential to handle these risk factors in a patient with measles, especially in conjunction with an unknown vaccination status. To achieve a vaccination rate greater than 95 percent for Romanian children, measles vaccination awareness must be promoted, moreover in the Roma population. More comprehensive preventative methods must be developed promptly with the objective of eradicating measles in Romania via a vigorous vaccination campaign.
Combinations of Cannabidiol and Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in Reducing Chemotherapeutic Induced Neuropathic Pain

Neuropathic pain is a condition that impacts a substantial portion of the population and is expected to affect a larger percentage in the future. This type of pain is poorly managed by current therapies, including opioids and NSAIDS, and novel approaches are needed. We used a cisplatin-induced model of neuropathic pain in mice to assess the effects of the cannabinoids THC and CBD alone or in varying ratios as anti-nociceptive agents. In addition to testing pure compounds, we also tested extracts containing high THC or CBD at the same ratios. We found that pure CBD had little impact on mechanical hypersensitivity, whereas THC reduced mechanical hypersensitivity in both male and female mice (as has been reported in the literature). Interestingly, we found that high CBD cannabis extract, at the same CBD dose as pure CBD, was able to reduce mechanical hypersensitivity, although not to the same level as high THC extract. These data suggest that, at least for CBD-dominant cannabis extracts, there is an increase in the anti-nociceptive activity that may be attributed to other constitutes of the plant. We also found that high THC extract or pure THC is the most efficacious treatment for reducing neuropathic pain in this model.
Thermalisation of light sterile neutrinos in the early universe

Recent cosmological data favour additional relativistic degrees of freedom beyond the three active neutrinos and photons, often referred to as "dark" radiation. Light sterile neutrinos is one of the prime candidates for such additional radiation. However, constraints on sterile neutrinos based on the current cosmological data have been derived using simplified assumptions about thermalisation of νs at the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) epoch. These assumptions are not necessarily justified and here we solve the full quantum kinetic equations in the (1 active + 1 sterile) scenario and derive the number of thermalised species just before BBN begins (T ≃ 1 MeV) for null (L = 0) and large (L = 10 −2 ) initial lepton asymmetry and for a range of possible mass-mixing parameters. We find that the full thermalisation assumption during the BBN epoch is justified for initial small lepton asymmetry only. Partial or null thermalisation occurs when the initial lepton asymmetry is large.
Association between Insertion-Deletion Polymorphism of the Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Gene and Treatment Response to Antipsychotic Medications: A Study of Antipsychotic-Naïve First-Episode Psychosis Patients and Nonadherent Chronic Psychosis Patients

We investigated whether a functional insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) influenced antipsychotic treatment. At baseline, and after 8 weeks of treatment with various antipsychotic medications, we assessed patients’ Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores, PANSS factors, and metabolic-syndrome-related parameters (fasting plasma lipid and glucose levels, and body mass index). A total of 186 antipsychotic-naïve first-episode psychosis patients or nonadherent chronic psychosis individuals (99 males and 87 females) were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction analysis. The ACE-I/D polymorphism was significantly associated with changes in PANSS psychopathology only (p < 0.05). Compared to ACE-II homozygous males, ACE-DD homozygous and ACE-ID heterozygous males manifested significantly greater decreases in PANSS positive score, PANSS excitement factor, and PANSS cognitive factor. ACE-DD homozygous females manifested higher decreases in PANSS depression factor compared to ACE-II homozygous and ACE-ID heterozygous females. The polymorphism’s effect size was estimated as moderate to strong, while its contribution to the PANSS psychopathology ranged from ~5.4 to 8.7%, with the lowest contribution observed for PANSS positive score changes and the highest for PANSS depressive factor changes. Our results indicate that ACE-I/D polymorphism had a statistically significant but weak gender-specific impact on psychopathology data, and showed no association between ACE-I/D polymorphism and metabolic-syndrome-related parameters.
Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cells Interactions With Natural Killer Cells and Pro-angiogenic Activities: Roles in Tumor Progression

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) contribute to the induction of an immune suppressive/anergic, tumor permissive environment. MDSCs act as immunosuppression orchestrators also by interacting with several components of both innate and adaptive immunity. Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphoid cells functioning as primary effector of immunity, against tumors and virus-infected cells. Apart from the previously described anergy and hypo-functionality of NK cells in different tumors, NK cells in cancer patients show pro-angiogenic phenotype and functions, similar to decidual NK cells. We termed the pro-angiogenic NK cells in the tumor microenvironment “tumor infiltrating NK” (TINKs), and peripheral blood NK cells in cancer patients “tumor associated NK” (TANKs). The contribution of MDSCs in regulating NK cell functions in tumor-bearing host, still represent a poorly explored topic, and even less is known on NK cell regulation of MDSCs. Here, we review whether the crosstalk between MDSCs and NK cells can impact on tumor onset, angiogenesis and progression, focusing on key cellular and molecular interactions. We also propose that the similarity of the properties of tumor associated/tumor infiltrating NK and MDSC with those of decidual NK and decidual MDSCs during pregnancy could hint to a possible onco-fetal origin of these pro-angiogenic leukocytes.
DETECTION OF THE COSMIC γ-RAY HORIZON FROM MULTIWAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS OF BLAZARS

The first statistically significant detection of the cosmic γ-ray horizon (CGRH) that is independent of any extragalactic background light (EBL) model is presented. The CGRH is a fundamental quantity in cosmology. It gives an estimate of the opacity of the universe to very high energy (VHE) γ-ray photons due to photon–photon pair production with the EBL. The only estimations of the CGRH to date are predictions from EBL models and lower limits from γ-ray observations of cosmological blazars and γ-ray bursts. Here, we present homogeneous synchrotron/synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) models of the spectral energy distributions of 15 blazars based on (almost) simultaneous observations from radio up to the highest energy γ-rays taken with the Fermi satellite. These synchrotron/SSC models predict the unattenuated VHE fluxes, which are compared with the observations by imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. This comparison provides an estimate of the optical depth of the EBL, which allows us a derivation of the CGRH through a maximum likelihood analysis that is EBL-model independent. We find that the observed CGRH is compatible with the current knowledge of the EBL.
How food-system resilience is undermined by the weather: the case of the Rama Indigenous group, Nicaragua

Climate change is likely to increase both the extent of seasonal weather variation and the magnitude of extreme weather events. The food security of those living in poorer countries and in poorer communities will be disproportionately affected by this change in weather patterns. We explored how the heterogeneity that exists within the Rama Indigenous community (Nicaragua) interacts with seasonal weather variation and extreme weather events to adversely affect food-system resilience. Firstly, we show that there are different levels of food system resilience between the Rama who fish using the traditional methods of hand nets and paddle-powered canoes, and those that can afford gill nets and motorboats. Secondly, there are significant differences in the way Rama farmers respond to threats to their food security: some rely on short-term resilience-based strategies, whereas others focus on more transitional responses. These differences contribute to short-term inequalities in food security and are also likely to have a differential impact on the future food-system resilience of the Rama community. More research at the household scale is vital for understanding how to improve food-system resilience for the most vulnerable populations without introducing policies that are unsustainable and/or curtail future options.
Adding amusement to anxiety: uses of humor in informal caregiver support groups

ABSTRACT This study assessed how informal caregivers for people with dementia humorously communicate about their caregiving tasks and experiences. Support groups for informal caregivers for people with dementia were observed, and instances of humor were thematically analyzed. Informal caregivers used humor at specific moments, including when sharing struggles and exchanging advice, and they used various types of humor, including affiliative, self-defeating, aggressive, supportive, and contestive humor. Informal caregivers’ humor use may operate as an effective coping technique and supportive strategy of reinforcement and encouragement, but humor may also be harmful or detrimental to supportive interactions. These findings offer helpful insights into informal caregivers’ communication patterns and reveal humor’s potential to bring individuals relationally closer together, even over difficult topics such as dementia.
Statistics of the structure components in S0s: implications for bar induced secular evolution

The fractions and dimension of bars, rings and lenses are studied in the NearIR S0 galaxy Survey (NIRS0S), which is a sample of �200 early-type disk galaxies, mainly S0s. We find evidence that multiple lenses in some barred S0s are related to bar resonances in a similar manner as the inner and outer rings, for which the outer/inner length ratio � 2. Inner lenses in the non-barred galaxies normalized to galaxy diameter are clearly smaller than those in the barred systems. Interestingly, these small lenses in the non-barred galaxies have similar sizes as barlenses (lens-like structures embedded in a bar), and therefore might actually be barlenses in former barred galaxies, in which the outer, more elongated bar component, has been destroyed. We also find that fully developed inner lenses are on average a factor 1.3 larger than bars, whereas inner rings have similar sizes as bars. The fraction of inner lenses is found to be constant in all family classes (A, AB, B). Nuclear bars appear most frequently among the weakly barred (AB) galaxies, which is consistent with the theoretical models by Maciejewski & Athanassoula (2008). Similar sized bars as the nuclear bars were detected in seven ’non-barred’ S0s. Galaxy luminosity does not uniquely define the sizes of bars or bar-related structures, neither is there any upper limit in galaxy luminosity for bar formation. Although all the family classes cover the same range of galaxy luminosity, the non-barred (A) galaxies are on average 0.6 mag brighter than the strongly barred (B) systems. Overall, our results are consistent with the idea that bars play an important role in the formation of the structure components of galaxies. The fact that multiple lenses are common in S0s, and that at least the inner lenses can have very old stellar populations, implies that the last destructive merger, or major gas accretion event, must have taken place at a fairly high redshift.
The Poplar (Populus trichocarpa) Dehydrin Gene PtrDHN-3 Enhances Tolerance to Salt Stress in Arabidopsis

Dehydrin (DHN), a member of the late embryogenesis abundant protein (LEA) family, was recently found to play a role in physiological responses to salt and drought stress. In this study, we identified and cloned the PtrDHN-3 gene from Populus trichocarpa. The PtrDHN-3 protein encoded 226 amino acids, having a molecular weight of 25.78 KDa and an isoelectric point of 5.18. It was identified as a SKn-type DHN and was clustered with other resistance-related DHN proteins. Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR showed that transcription levels of PtrDHN-3 were induced by mannitol stress, and more significantly by salt stress. Meanwhile, in a yeast transgenic assay, salt tolerance increased in the PtrDHN-3 transgenic yeast, while the germination rate, fresh weight and chlorophyll content increased in PtrDHN-3-overexpressing transgenic Arabidopsis plants (OE) under salt stress. Significant increases in expression levels of six antioxidant enzymes genes, and SOD and POD enzyme activity was also observed in the OE lines, resulting in a decrease in O2- and H2O2 accumulation. The proline content also increased significantly compared with the wild-type, along with expression of proline synthesis-related genes P5CS1 and P5CS2. These findings suggest that PtrDHN-3 plays an important role in salt resistance in plants.
Mathematical modeling of a multiphase flow in a single-pore reservoir

The flowing process of multiphase flows in single-pore reservoirs is considered. The multiphase flow in the well is formed by mixing oil, formation water and petroleum gas. A mathematical model is presented that describes the process of mass transfer of a two-phase fluid in a single-pore reservoir during a hydrodynamic study on a well. Based on the model, a difference scheme is constructed. The scalar sweep method is used as a method for solving a system of linear algebraic equations. The analysis of the influence of various characteristics of productive formations, reflecting their influence on the pressure dynamics, was carried out. The optimal time for conducting a hydrodynamic study on a production well was calculated. Modeling was carried out in the developed compact software.
Addition of intramuscular to vaginal progesterone for luteal phase support in fresh embryo transfer cycles: A cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Luteal phase deficiency is common in assisted reproductive technology and is characterized by inadequate progesterone production. Various studies have shown that administration of progesterone in fresh embryo transfer cycles increases the rate of clinical pregnancy and live birth rate. Progesterone administration has variable types: oral, vaginal, oil-based intramuscular, and subcutaneous. Objective This study aims to compare the effect of adding intramuscular progesterone to the vaginal progesterone for luteal phase support in the fresh embryo transfer cycle. Materials and Methods This study reviewed the information related to 355 women who had a fresh embryo transfer between March 2020 and February 2021 at the Yazd Reproductive Sciences Institute, Yazd, Iran. The participants population were divided into 2 groups based on the type of luteal phase support regime: group I (n = 173) received 400 mg vaginal progesterone alone twice a day from the day of ovum pick up; and group II (n = 182) received 50 mg IM of progesterone in addition to vaginal progesterone 400 mg twice a day from the day of ovum pick up. Chemical and clinical pregnancy rates were compared between groups. Results The basic characteristics of groups were statistically similar. The rates of chemical and clinical pregnancy were higher in the vaginal plus IM progesterone group than in the vaginal progesterone group. Moreover, chemical pregnancy showed a significant difference between the groups (p = 0.011). Conclusion Our findings demonstrated that the addition of IM progesterone to the vaginal progesterone improves the chemical pregnancy rate in fresh embryo transfer.
Stabilizing Spin Coherence Through Environmental Entanglement in Strongly Dissipative Quantum Systems

The key feature of a quantum spin coupled to a harmonic bath-a model dissipative quantum system-is competition between oscillator potential energy and spin tunneling rate. We show that these opposing tendencies cause environmental entanglement through superpositions of adiabatic and antiadiabatic oscillator states, which then stabilizes the spin coherence against strong dissipation. This insight motivates a fast-converging variational coherent-state expansion for the many-body ground state of the spin-boson model, which we substantiate via numerical quantum tomography.