Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanism of Accelerated Deterioration of High-Temperature Vulcanized Silicone Rubber under Multi-Factor Aging Tests Considering Temperature Cycling

High-temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (HTV-SR) employed for composite insulators is continuously subjected to a complex environment of alternating heat, corona discharge, humidity, etc. These stresses (especially alternating heat) complicate the aging mechanism of HTV-SR, which lacks systematic investigation. In this paper, a multi-factor aging platform considering temperature cycling, moisture, and corona discharge is established. Specifically, four temperature-cycling settings are employed, each of which lasts for 15 cycles. The surface morphology, hydrophobicity, and chemical, mechanical, and electrical properties of aged samples are methodically characterized. Experimental results show that the aging degree is correlated to the range of temperature cycling, which is attributed to diverse crosslink-degradation degrees with different temperature differences. Under a large temperature difference (70 °C), HTV-SR possesses a high crosslinking degree and a low degradation degree, making the material hard but easy to crack with alternating thermal stress. Then, severe defects and water condensation emerge on the HTV-SR surface, which promote the diffusion of corona products and water molecules into the material. The subsequent rise in crosslinking density caused by in-depth oxidation further exacerbates the aging of the material. Consequently, it brings about poor hydrophobicity, high interfacial polarization, and shallow trap energy levels in HTV-SR. This work provides a detailed analysis of the aging mechanism of HTV-SR in a simulated on-site environment.
Image Inpainting of Thangka Murals Using Edge-Assisted Feature Fusion and Self Attention Based Local Refine Network

Thangka murals hold significant cultural value in Tibet, but unfortunately, many of these precious murals have sustained damage over time. Therefore, the restoration of Thangka murals is crucial in preserving Tibet’s cultural heritage. The potential of Gated Convolution for Thangka mural restoration is significant due to its impressive performance. However, existing Gated Convolution-based approaches for Thangka restoration face two challenges: 1) restoration results using Gated Convolution still show blurring at the pixel level, and 2) Gated Convolution remains dependent on the perceptual field of the convolution during image inpainting. To address two challenges, we propose a novel Thangka mural inpainting method that incorporates two key components: 1) an Edge-assisted Feature Fusion (EFF) method that leverages edge information to assist in inpainting the texture details of the image and enhance the consistency of textures and edges; and 2) a Self Attention based Local Refine (SALR) network that effectively enhances the perceptual field of the convolution and captures long-distance dependencies. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method is effective in repairing broken areas of Thangka murals, even on a small dataset (N = 5605). To validate the effectiveness of our proposed architecture and its components, we conduct a series of ablation experiments. The results demonstrate the necessity of our approach and highlight the contributions of each component. Moreover, the proposed end-to-end approach exhibits broad applicability and can be extended to other profiling tasks based on small datasets.
Sorting out the value of spectroscopic tools to assess the Colletotrichum acutatum impact in olive cultivars with different susceptibilities

The olive tree (Olea europaea L.) can be affected by Colletotrichum acutatum, causing a loss of yield and quality of the final products, whilst the incidence of this fungal infection depends on several factors, including cultivar susceptibility. Thus, the effect of C. acutatum infection in cultivars displaying different susceptibilities to this fungal disease (‘Galega Vulgar’ ‐ susceptible, ‘Cobrançosa’ ‐ moderately susceptible, ‘Picual’ ‐ tolerant) has been assessed through spectrophotometric methods and HPLC, while the FTIR spectra of the cuticles have been concomitantly registered, resorting to the ATR accessory.
Multivariate contraction mapping principle with the error estimate formulas in locally convex topological vector spaces and application

The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of multivariate contraction mapping in a locally convex topological vector spaces and to prove the multivariate contraction mapping principle in such spaces. The neighborhood-type error estimate formulas are also established. The results of this paper improve and extend Banach contraction mapping principle in the new idea. c ©2017 All rights reserved.
Impact of discontinuing non-pharmacological interventions on cognitive impairment in dementia patients by COVID-19 lockdown. A pilot observational, longitudinal, retrospective study carried out in an adult day center in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background The lockdown imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic led to social isolation and prevented patients with dementia from receiving a suite of non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs) that prevent cognitive decline. This discontinuation of NPIs could substantially affect the mental health status of people with dementia in social care settings, such as adult day care centers (ADCs). Propose The study aimed to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on mental health and cognitive impairment in patients with dementia who could not attend their usual ADCs and did not receive our NPIs, based on World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines. Methods Observational, longitudinal, retrospective study carried out in an adult day center in Spain and reported it in accordance with the Strengthening Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement. Cognitive status was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in 80 patients attending the ADC of the “Leonese Association of Dementia Patients” (León, Spain), who had been evaluated with this instrument before the COVID-19 lockdown. Results We observed a 0.4-point decrease in MMSE score/month (IQR = 1.4) during lockdown versus a 0.1-point decrease/month (IQR = 0.3) before this period (p = 0.038). Notably, this translated to >10-point decreases in MMSE score/year in 33.8% of participants during lockdown versus 5.5% earlier (p < 0.001). No statistically significant associations (p < 0.05) were found between the individual characteristics of the caregivers and the occurrence of the event. Conclusion The reported declines in MMSE scores reveal a significant acceleration of cognitive decline during the period of inactivity. This could suggest that our NPIs, focused on slowing cognitive decline, are beneficial and, therefore, necessary in patients with dementia.
Genomic Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Malaysia during the Era of Endemic COVID-19

On 5 May 2023, WHO declared the end of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a public health emergency of international concern. However, the risk of new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants causing rapid and high surges in cases and deaths remained. In Malaysia, five COVID-19 waves during the pandemic phase were well characterized, but similar studies focusing on the endemic phase were lacking. Hence, we retrieved 14,965 SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences from the GISAID EpiCoV database for clade, lineage, and phylogenetic analysis in order to provide an insight into the population dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 that circulated in Malaysia from June 2022 to April 2023. The dominance of the Omicron variants was observed, and two new waves of infections driven by BA.5. 2 and XBB.1, respectively, were detected. Data as of April 2023 also pointed to a possible eighth wave driven by XBB.1. 9. Although new variants associated with higher transmissibility were behind the multiple surges, these subsequent waves had lower intensities as compared to the fourth and fifth waves. The on-going circulation and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 mean that COVID-19 still poses a serious threat, necessitating active genomic surveillance for early warning of potential new variants of concern.
Market segmentation, marketisation change speed and R&D investment of private firms

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of market segmentation on R&D investment in transitional economy. Based on the analysis of 14,032 Chinese private firms, we find that market segmentation has an inverted U-shaped relationship with firm R&D investment, that is, private firms’ innovation investment presents a trend of first increase and then decrease in relation to the deepening of market segmentation. In addition, this study explores the moderating effect of marketisation change speed (MCS), and the results indicate that MCS strengthens the inverted U-shaped relationship between market segmentation and R&D investment of private firms. Our findings provide insights into how emerging economies leverage the role of the market to better stimulate private sector investment in innovation.
Genetic and molecular dissection of ginseng (Panax ginseng Mey.) germplasm using high-density genic SNP markers, secondary metabolites, and gene expressions

Genetic and molecular knowledge of a species is crucial to its gene discovery and enhanced breeding. Here, we report the genetic and molecular dissection of ginseng, an important herb for healthy food and medicine. A mini-core collection consisting of 344 cultivars and landraces was developed for ginseng that represents the genetic variation of ginseng existing in its origin and diversity center. We sequenced the transcriptomes of all 344 cultivars and landraces; identified over 1.5 million genic SNPs, thereby revealing the genic diversity of ginseng; and analyzed them with 26,600 high-quality genic SNPs or a selection of them. Ginseng had a wide molecular diversity and was clustered into three subpopulations. Analysis of 16 ginsenosides, the major bioactive components for healthy food and medicine, showed that ginseng had a wide variation in the contents of all 16 ginsenosides and an extensive correlation of their contents, suggesting that they are synthesized through a single or multiple correlated pathways. Furthermore, we pair-wisely examined the relationships between the cultivars and landraces, revealing their relationships in gene expression, gene variation, and ginsenoside biosynthesis. These results provide new knowledge and new genetic and genic resources for advanced research and breeding of ginseng and related species.
The contribution of cassava production and marketing on smallholder farmers’ livelihood in Dodoma Region, Tanzania

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) has remained a major source of food security and income generation for most developing countries including Tanzania due to its ability to drought and disease resistance. At present, its production in Tanzania stands at 630,000 tons while the country's market demand is expected to grow at 7% by 2026. Therefore, this study assessed the contribution of cassava production and marketing on the livelihood of smallholder farmers in Tanzania particularly in the Dodoma region, so as to explore its potential contributions to the society welfare. A cross-sectional research design was employed whereby a multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting a sample of 240 cassava smallholder farmers from four districts in the Dodoma region namely Kondoa, Chemba, Kongwa, and Mpwapwa. Quantitative data were collected through self-administered structured questionnaires and focus group discussion, interview and observation methods also were used in collecting qualitative data from the study area. Content analysis was used in analyzing qualitative data. A binary logistic regression model was employed to estimate the contribution of cassava production and marketing on smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The findings from the study indicated that family size, farmers’ experience, land size, education, number of visits by extension, and market access statistically were significant with showed a positive relationship with the improvement in the livelihood of farmers in the selected districts. On the other hand, transportation costs showed a negative relation with the improvement of farmers’ livelihood. Generally, it can be concluded that an increase in production and improvement in marketing variables could contribute much to the improvement of smallholder farmers’ livelihood. Based on these findings, it is recommended that Ministries responsible for cassava production and marketing which included the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry and Trade focus more on the design, promotion, and implementation of policies and programs that are intended to enhance cassava production in rural areas and increase the provision of best farming practices through employing more extension officers.
Antimicrobial Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is a major Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen causing several serious acute and chronic infections in the nosocomial and community settings. PA eradication has become increasingly difficult due to its remarkable ability to evade antibiotics. Therefore, epidemiological studies are needed to limit the infection and aim for the correct treatment. The present retrospective study focused on PA presence among samples collected at the San Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi D’Aragona University Hospital in Salerno, Italy; its resistance profile and relative variations over the eight years were analyzed. Bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed by VITEK® 2. In the 2015–2019 and 2020–2022 timeframes, respectively, 1739 and 1307 isolates of PA were obtained from respiratory samples, wound swabs, urine cultures, cultural swabs, blood, liquor, catheter cultures, vaginal swabs, and others. During 2015–2019, PA strains exhibited low resistance against amikacin (17.2%), gentamicin (25.2%), and cefepime (28.3%); moderate resistance against ceftazidime (34.4%), imipenem (34.6%), and piperacillin/tazobactam (37.7%); and high resistance against ciprofloxacin (42.4%) and levofloxacin (50.6%). Conversely, during the 2020–2022 era, PA showed 11.7, 21.1, 26.9, 32.6, 33.1, 38.7, and 39.8% resistance to amikacin, tobramycin, cefepime, imipenem, ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, and piperacillin/tazobactam, respectively. An overall resistance-decreasing trend was observed for imipenem and gentamicin during 2015–2019. Instead, a significant increase in resistance was recorded for cefepime, ceftazidime, and imipenem in the second set of years investigated. Monitoring sentinel germs represents a key factor in optimizing empirical therapy to minimize the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Ratners Theorems On Unipotent Flows Chicago Lectures In Mathematics

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Long Non-Coding RNAs in Venous Thromboembolism: Where Do We Stand?

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), a common condition in Western countries, is a cardiovascular disorder that arises due to haemostatic irregularities, which lead to thrombus generation inside veins. Even with successful treatment, the resulting disease spectrum of complications considerably affects the patient’s quality of life, potentially leading to death. Cumulative data indicate that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may have a role in VTE pathogenesis. However, the clinical usefulness of these RNAs as biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for VTE management is yet unclear. Thus, this article reviewed the emerging evidence on lncRNAs associated with VTE and with the activity of the coagulation system, which has a central role in disease pathogenesis. Until now, ten lncRNAs have been implicated in VTE pathogenesis, among which MALAT1 is the one with more evidence. Meanwhile, five lncRNAs have been reported to affect the expression of TFPI2, an important anticoagulant protein, but none with a described role in VTE development. More investigation in this field is needed as lncRNAs may help dissect VTE pathways, aiding in disease prediction, prevention and treatment.
Legislation has Changed But Issues Remain: Provider Perceptions of Caring for People Who Use Cannabis During Pregnancy in Safety Net Health Settings, a Qualitative Pilot Study

Objective: To identify perceptions of cannabis use and risk among maternal health providers who provide care for people who use cannabis during pregnancy in safety-net health settings. Methods: Using qualitative, constructivist ground theory methods, we conducted semistructured remote interviews with 10 providers (2 midwives, 6 OB/GYN physicians, and 2 OB/GYN residents) in Southern California, United States, between March 15, 2022, and April 6, 2022. We selected participants through selective sampling using a convenience sample and snowball approach. Providers were eligible for the study if they self-reported via survey to being a maternal health provider (e.g., physician, doula, midwife, and so on) providing care in a safety-net health setting and had cared for people who used cannabis during pregnancy in the last year. Analysis drew upon grounded theory methods to document the socio-structural contexts that contribute to provider perceptions about cannabis. This study was approved by the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board (UP-21-00282-AM009). Results: We identified three categories of provider perceptions of cannabis use and risk during pregnancy: (1) Relying on self-education, (2) Taking a case-by-case approach, and (3) Avoiding cannabis discussions to maintain an alliance with patients. Findings indicate that provider reluctance to counsel patients about cannabis in favor of preserving a therapeutic relationship can overlook the lack of resources and access to health care alternatives available to low-income patients that can shape self-medicating. Conclusions: Nonpunitive policies and training on cannabis use are critical steps for supporting providers to counsel patients who use cannabis during pregnancy, alongside a harm reduction approach that acknowledges the broader socio-structural contexts and barriers facing patients who disclose use.
Ultrasound Elastography in Children

Ultrasound elastography is a novel ultrasound technique, being extensively researched in children in the last decade. It measures tissue elasticity with the observation of tissue response after an external stimulus. From research to clinical practice, ultrasound elastography has evolved significantly in liver fibrosis evaluation in children; however, several other applications of the technique are available in both clinical practice and research environments. Practically, in children any organ can be assessed, including the brain in early ages, along with muscle and connective tissue elasticity evaluation, spleen, kidney, skin, lymphatic tissue, etc. The elastography method, age, body mass index and technical points should be considered when performing ultrasound elastography. This review highlights its vast potential as a diagnostic tool in the pediatric population, where ultrasound is a dominant imaging tool; however, the indications and exam protocol for its clinical use in several fields in pediatrics have yet to be elucidated.
Formulation and Pharmaceutical Quality Evaluation of Tablets Containing Extract of Cinnamomum burmannii BARK and Colocasia esculenta (L) Schott Leaves

Cinnamon bark (Cinnamomum burmannii) is used traditionally and has an ingredient containing cinnamic acid compounds. Colocasia esculenta (L) Schott leaves contains of flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, steroids, and terpenoids. Both of the plants C. esculenta and C. burmannii plants have the potential as anti-diabetics because they can lower blood glucose levels. This study aims to make combination tablets of C. burmannii bark and C. esculenta leaves extract with various concentrations of PVP K30 binder. This research made four formulas with the concentration of PVP K30, namely F1 (2%), F2 (3%), F3 (4%), and F4 (5%). Tablet preparations were prepared by the wet granulation method. Tablet analysis used flavonoids quercetin and cinnamic acid as markers. The results showed that the tablets were flat, round in shape, light green, had a slightly bitter taste, and had a distinctive aromatic odor. The differences in the concentration of PVP K30 binder 2-5% could affect the hardness, friability, disintegration time, and tablet dissolution (p<0.05). The tablet's hardness was 3.65-5.01 KP; friability was 0.705%, disintegration time was <15 minutes, and dissolution was 84.61% in 40 minutes. The levels of the flavonoid quercetin in the tablets were 4.21% and 8.03% cinnamic acid. A tablet combination of C. burmannii bark and C. esculenta leaves extract with a PVP K30 concentration of 5% (F4) has the best quality.
Zero sequence entropy and entropy dimension

Let \begin{document}$(X, T)$\end{document} be a topological dynamical system and \begin{document}$M(X)$\end{document} the set of all Borel probability measures on \begin{document}$X$\end{document} endowed with the weak \begin{document}$^*$\end{document} -topology. In this paper, it is shown that for a given sequence \begin{document}$S$\end{document} , a homeomorphism \begin{document}$T$\end{document} of \begin{document}$X$\end{document} has zero topological sequence entropy if and only if so does the induced homeomorphism \begin{document}$T$\end{document} of \begin{document}$M(X)$\end{document} . This extends the result of Glasner and Weiss [ 9 ,Theorem A] for topological entropy and also the result of Kerr and Li [ 15 ,Theorem 5.10]for null systems. Moreover, it turns out that the upper entropy dimension of \begin{document}$(X, T)$\end{document} is equal to that of \begin{document}$(M(X), T)$\end{document} . We also obtain the version of ergodic measure-preserving systems related to the sequence entropy and the upper entropy dimension.
Design-Based Maps for Finite Populations of Spatial Units

ABSTRACT The estimation of the values of a survey variable in finite populations of spatial units is considered for making maps when samples of spatial units are selected by probabilistic sampling schemes. The single values are estimated by means of an inverse distance weighting predictor. The design-based asymptotic properties of the resulting maps, referred to as the design-based maps, are considered when the study area remains fixed and the sizes of the spatial units tend to zero. Conditions ensuring design-based asymptotic unbiasedness and consistency are derived. They essentially require the existence of a pointwise or uniformly continuous density function of the survey variable onto the study area, some regularities in the size and shape of the units, and the use of spatially balanced designs to select units. The continuity assumption can be relaxed into a Riemann integrability assumption when estimation is performed at a sufficiently small spatial grain and the estimates are subsequently aggregated at a greater grain. A computationally simple mean squared error estimator is proposed. A simulation study is performed to assess the theoretical results. An application to estimate the map of wine cultivations in Tuscany (Central Italy) is considered. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.