Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
More Accurate Proper Motions in Declination than the Hipparcos Catalogue Ones by Using Optical Latitude Data

In 1995, Commission 19 (Earth Rotation) of IAU established the Working Group on Earth Rotation in the Hipparcos Reference Frame (WG ERHRF) to collect the optical observations of latitude and universal time variations, made during 1899.7 – 1992.0 in line with the Earth orientation programmes (to derive Earth Orientation Parameters – EOP). About 4.4 million observations of latitude/universal time variations made at 33 observatories were collected. Nowadays, it is customary to correct the positions and proper motions of stars of Hipparcos Catalogue using ground-based observations of the same stars. In this PhD thesis I use the latitude observations made with several types of classical astrometric instruments: visual and floating zenith-telescopes (ZT and FZT), visual zenith tube (VZT) and photographic zenith tube (PZT), i. e. a total of 26 different instruments located at 19 observatories all over the world. I received the data from Dr. Vondrák (head of WG ERHRF). The task was to improve the Hipparcos proper motions in declination of the observed stars. The original method was developed. It consists of removing from the instantaneous observed latitude all known effects (polar motion and some local and instrumental errors). The corrected latitudes are then used to calculate the corrections of the Hipparcos proper motions in declination by using the Least Squares Method (LSM) with the linear model. The newly obtained values of proper motions in declination are substantially more precise than those of the Hipparcos Catalogue. It is because the time interval covered by the latitude observations (tens of years) is much longer than the Hipparcos one (less than four years), and because of the great number of ground-based observations made during this interval. The calculated results were compared with ARIHIP and EOC-2 data, and I found a good agreement. The main result of the thesis is a catalogue of proper motions in declination of 2347 Hipparcos stars. Here, some results and main steps of the method are presented.
On volumes of classical supermanifolds

We consider the volumes of classical supermanifolds (such as the supersphere, complex projective superspace, Stiefel and Grassmann supermanifolds) with respect to natural metrics or symplectic structures. We show that the formulae for the volumes of these supermanifolds can be obtained from the formulae for the volumes of the corresponding ordinary manifolds (under some universal normalization of the volume) by analytic continuation with respect to parameters. The volumes of nontrivial supermanifolds may be identically equal to zero. In the 1970s Berezin showed that the total Haar measure of the unitary supergroup vanishes except in the cases and , when the supergroup is the ordinary unitary group or . Some time ago Witten conjectured that the Liouville volume of a compact even symplectic supermanifold is always equal to zero (except for ordinary manifolds). We give counterexamples to this conjecture, present a simple explanation of Berezin's theorem, and generalize this theorem to the Stiefel supermanifold . We mention a connection with recent work of Mkrtchyan and Veselov on universal formulae in Lie algebra theory. Bibliography: 32 titles.
Real-Time Measurements of Formaldehyde Emissions from Modern Vehicles

Formaldehyde (HCHO), a carcinogenic carbonyl compound and precursor of tropospheric ozone, can be found in vehicle exhaust. Even though the continuous monitoring of HCHO has been recommended, the real-world emissions from the road transport sector are not commonly available. The main reason for this knowledge gap has been the difficulty to measure HCHO in real-time and during real-world testing. This, for instance, increases the uncertainty of the O3 simulated by air quality models. The present study investigates real-time HCHO measurements comparing three Fourier Transform InfraRed spectrometers (FTIRs) and one Quantum Cascade Laser InfraRed spectrometer (QCL-IR) directly sampling from the exhaust of one gasoline passenger car, one Diesel commercial vehicle and one Diesel heavy-duty vehicle, all meeting recent European emission standards (Euro 6/VI). Non-negligible emissions of HCHO were measured from the Diesel light-duty vehicle, with emissions increasing as temperature decreased. Relatively low emissions were measured for the gasoline car and the Diesel heavy-duty vehicle. The results showed a good correlation between the different instruments under all the conditions tested (in most cases R2 > 0.9). Moreover, it was shown that HCHO can be accurately measured during on-road and real-world-like tests using instruments based on FTIR and QCL-IR technologies.
Placental chorioangioma with an emphasis on rare giant placental chorioangioma and associated maternal and perinatal outcome: Clinicopathological study in a single centre

Context: Giant placental chorioangiomas (GPC) are exceedingly rare and harbour potential to cause feto-maternal complications with resultant morbidity. Aims & Materials and Methods: A retrospective study using details from Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Pathology is done to study the various clinical and pathological features of placental chorioangiomas with a special emphasis on the rare GPCs and associated complications. Results: Over a period of 16 years, 20 cases were diagnosed as chorioangioma in our institution. 60% of these occurred in primigravida (n=12) and 71% cases carried a female foetus. Only 25% cases were > 30 years. Maternal and foetal complications occurred in 85% and 50% cases. Pre-term labour was the common maternal complication and foetal death/stillbirth was the most common foetal complication. There were 15 cases of GPC, 73% occurred in primigravida (n=11) and 75% of cases carried a female foetus. There were no cases of maternal death or recurrence. Primigravidity was associated with maternal complication in contrast to multigravidity (P = 0.049). Mean age of mothers with maternal complications and those without maternal complications reached statistical significance (P = 0.001). Though histologically all the cases were similar, calcification and infarction were seen exclusively in GPC cases. Conclusion: GPCs are rare and our data adds evidence to use 4cm as an optimum cut-off in the definition. GPCs were associated with a high percentage of primigravidity, female foetus, and poorer outcome of pregnancy. Routine examination of placenta in unexplained foetal/perinatal demise must be stressed to detect microscopic evidence of chorioangioma.
COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices and Vaccine Acceptability in Rural Western Kenya and an Urban Informal Settlement in Nairobi, Kenya: A Cross-Sectional Survey

An important step towards COVID-19 pandemic control is adequate knowledge and adherence to mitigation measures, including vaccination. We assessed the level of COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) among residents from an urban informal settlement in the City of Nairobi (Kibera), and a rural community in western Kenya (Asembo). A cross-sectional survey was implemented from April to May 2021 among randomly selected adult residents from a population-based infectious diseases surveillance (PBIDS) cohort in Nairobi and Siaya Counties. KAP questions were adopted from previous studies. Factors associated with the level of COVID-19 KAP, were assessed using multivariable regression methods. COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was 83.6% for the participants from Asembo and 59.8% in Kibera. The reasons cited for vaccine hesitancy in Kibera were safety concerns (34%), insufficient information available to decide (18%), and a lack of belief in the vaccine (21%), while the reasons in Asembo were safety concerns (55%), insufficient information to decide (26%) and lack of belief in the vaccine (11%). Our study findings suggest the need for continued public education to enhance COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices to ensure adherence to mitigation measures. Urban informal settlements require targeted messaging to improve vaccine awareness, acceptability, and uptake.
Determinants of Complementary Feeding Indicators: A Secondary Analysis of Thailand Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey 2019

Child complementary feeding (CF) practices meet dietary recommendations more often among educated, high-income groups. Much of the evidence for this association addresses inadequate CF for addressing child undernutrition. However, in many countries, including Thailand, child malnutrition assessments must now address under- and over-nutrition. More comprehensive data is needed to understand this complex situation. This study uses data from the Thailand Multiple Indicators Survey 2019, to identify the determinants of CF practices among 6–23-month children (n = 4125) using the newly developed WHO indicators. Logistic regression analysis was used to measure associations between sociodemographic factors and CF practices. In a fully adjusted model, child age, primary caregivers’ education, and household incomes were statistically associated with (in)appropriate CF practices. Older children aged 9–23 months, not only have better minimum dietary diversity (MDD), minimum acceptable diet (MAD), and egg and/or flesh food consumption (EFF), but also tend to consume more unhealthy foods. The proportion of inappropriate CF practices was higher among children living with caregivers other than their mothers. While maternal education and household income were positively associated with MDD and MAD, children of mothers from middle-class households consumed more sweetened beverages. Therefore, nutrition programs addressing different feeding problems should be developed specifically for different primary caregiver and demographic groups.
On the numerical solution of singular integral equations

In this Chapter the numerical methods for the solution of two groups of singular integral equations will be described. These equations arise from the formulation of the mixed boundary value problems in applied physics and engineering. In particular, they play an important role in the solution of a great variety of contact and crack problems in solid mechanics. In the first group of integral equations the kernels have a simple Cauchy-type singularity.
An Investigation of the Large Scale Evolution and Topology of Coronal Mass Ejections in the Solar Wind

This investigation is concerned with the large-scale evolution and topology of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the solar wind. During the course of this three-year investigation, we have undertaken a number of studies that are discussed in more detail in this report. For example, we conducted an analysis of all CMEs observed by the Ulysses spacecraft during its in-ecliptic phase between 1 and 5 AU. In addition to studying the properties of the ejecta, we also analyzed the shocks that could be unambiguously associated with the fast CMEs. We also analyzed a series of 'density holes' observed in the solar wind that bear many similarities with CMEs. To complement this analysis, we conducted a series of 1-D and 2 1/2-D fluid, MHD, and hybrid simulations to address a number of specific issues related to CME evolution in the solar wind. For example, we used fluid simulations to address the interpretation of negative electron temperature-density relationships often observed within CME/cloud intervals. As part of this investigation, a number of fruitful international collaborations were forged. Finally, the results of this work were presented at nine scientific meetings and communicated in eight scientific, refereed papers.
Antimicrobial Biomaterials for the Healing of Infected Bone Tissue: A Systematic Review of Microtomographic Data on Experimental Animal Models

Bone tissue infection is a major clinical challenge with high morbidity and a significant healthcare burden. Therapeutic approaches are usually based on systemic antibacterial therapies, despite the potential adverse effects associated with antibiotic resistance, persistent and opportunistic infections, hypersensitivity, and toxicity issues. Most recently, tissue engineering strategies, embracing local delivery systems and antibacterial biomaterials, have emerged as a promising alternative to systemic treatments. Despite the reported efficacy in managing bacterial infection, little is known regarding the outcomes of these devices on the bone healing process. Accordingly, this systematic review aims, for the first time, to characterize the efficacy of antibacterial biomaterials/tissue engineering constructs on the healing process of the infected bone within experimental animal models and upon microtomographic characterization. Briefly, a systematic evaluation of pre-clinical studies was performed according to the PRISMA guidelines, further complemented with bias analysis and methodological quality assessments. Data reported a significant improvement in the healing of the infected bone when an antibacterial construct was implanted, compared with the control—construct devoid of antibacterial activity, particularly at longer time points. Furthermore, considering the assessment of bias, most included studies revealed an inadequate reporting methodology, which may lead to an unclear or high risk of bias and directly hinder future studies.
Shallow-Water Plane and Tidal Jets

This work uses field and laboratory measurements to improve the understanding of how shallow water depths affect the velocity and turbulence structure of fluid jets, in particular how a low aspect ratio (AR=depth/width) changes the structure of plane jets. The motivation for the work was the Otago Harbour (New Zealand) ebb tidal jet, a strong tidal jet 2 km long and 500 m wide with AR= 0.03. Tidal jets are globally common features and play an important role in the distribution of water-borne constituents within and in the vicinity of tidal inlets. Five vessel-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) surveys of the jet were combined and spatially and temporally interpolated using Radial Basis Functions (RBFs), an approach that was only recently adapted for ADCP data and has never before been used on such a large data set. The resulting velocity field agreed well with a previous study and showed the typical tidally developing jet and a large vortex to its Eastern side. The RBF method also allowed for the first direct extraction of the tidal jet’s dynamical terms, which revealed that during peak ebb flow the dynamical balance was dominated by the advection and pressure gradient terms, with bottom friction (BF), local acceleration and Coriolis contributing in certain areas. Here, a simplified model of an ebb jet, a laboratory plane jet, with much lower ARs (0.06 ≤AR≤ 0.15) than those of any previous laboratory plane jet studies (mostly AR≫ 1), is used to determine how bottom friction influences the plane jet. These low ARs were made possible due to a novel self-regulating lateral entrainment water weir system, which simulated infinite lateral boundaries. Surface drogue Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) was used to yield large coverage, high resolution surface velocity field measurements, allowing detailed turbulence analysis. Although the time-mean plane jet observed the typical near-Gaussian velocity profile, the jet was temporally highly variable. It displayed large meanders flanked by prominent asymmetrically aligned vortices, similar to that observed in the Otago jet. This two-dimensional turbulence propagated downstream and gave the jet a ’flapping’ appearance. This two-dimensional turbulence outweighed the three dimensional turbulence from five exit widths downstream and as BF increased (lower AR and/or higher Re) the across-jet turbulent velocity component magnitude grew relative to its along-jet counterpart. The flapping made the jet appear wider than accounted for by its entrainment, due to the lateral smearing of the velocity profile. As AR decreased the entrainment relative to the jet’s lateral growth, decreased even further, causing the along-jet velocity similarity profile to deviate from the common Gaussian
Gender Determinant on Multidimensional Poverty Index: Evidence from Indonesia

Poverty measurement from a non-monetary aspect is needed as low-income individuals are not always multidimensionally poor, and vice versa. The focus should also be on the gender determinant potentially related to the inequality in wage, labour market, and the return of education, which can influence the household’s ability to achieve a higher standard of living and alleviate poverty. This paper discovers the contribution of gender determinants to multidimensional poverty conditions in Indonesia. This paper used logit estimation using National Socioeconomics Survey (Susenas) 2018. The data show that approximately 10% of the Indonesian population is considered vulnerably poor, and severely poor is 3%. The vulnerably and severely poor individuals are mostly measured from years of schooling, health insurance ownership, and assets ownership. Moreover, we find that variables of household size, dependency ratio, and household head age are the better explanators of poverty’s vulnerability. However, those variables cannot explain severe poverty among female- and male-headed households, even though female-headed households are more prone to falling into poverty situations. Then, the decomposition results show that our selected variables explain the probability of being vulnerable poor. However, the probability of being severely poor is largely determined by unobservable behaviour domination not included in the study.
Criteria for Assessment of the Residual Value of Fertilizer Phosphorus

Sorghum yield and P uptake response data from a field experiment conducted at the ICRISAT farm, Patancheru (near Hyderabad) consecutively for four years (1987–1990) were used for determining the residual value of fertilizer P under rainfed cropping on a Vertisol acutely deficient in P. There were seasonal differences in the residual values of P. But more importantly, the residual P value varied depending on the criteria employed for crop response. On an average, the residual value of fertilizer P in the succeeding season was 52 per cent as effective as the fresh P when dry matter yield response was used as the criterion. The residual value of applied P was found to be 47 per cent as effective using grain yield response as the criterion, and the residual P was only 35 per cent as effective as the fresh P when total P uptake response was used as the criterion. It is suggested that the dry matter yield response of sorghum is a simple and practical criterion for determining the residual value of fertilizer P under rainfed cropping.
Higher Chow groups with modulus and relative Milnor K-theory

Let X be a smooth variety over a field k and D an effective divisor whose support has simple normal crossings. We construct an explicit cycle map from the r-th Nisnevich motivic complex of the pair (X,D) to a shift of the r-th relative Milnor K-sheaf of (X,D). We show that this map induces an isomorphism for all i greater or equal the dimension of X between the motivic Nisnevich cohomology of (X,D) in bidegree (i+r,r) and the i-th Nisnevich cohomology of the r-th relative Minor K-sheaf of (X,D). This generalizes the well-known isomorphism in the case D=0. We use this to prove a certain Zariski descent property for the motivic cohomology of the pair (\A^1_k, (m+1){0}).
miR-214-Enriched Extracellular Vesicles Released by Acid-Adapted Melanoma Cells Promote Inflammatory Macrophage-Dependent Tumor Trans-Endothelial Migration

Simple Summary Cutaneous melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer with high-metastatic ability. Despite the recent advancements in melanoma treatments, the prognosis of metastatic patients remains very poor. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to melanoma dissemination is urgently needed in order to develop novel therapeutical strategies to ameliorate patients’ outcomes. Extracellular vesicles (EV) released by tumor cells are key players in metastasis development: by conveying bioactive molecules with oncogenic activity, they can modulate the surrounding—and even the distant—microenvironment and reprogram recipient cells to facilitate the metastatic cascade. Here, we show that melanoma cells release a higher amount of miR-214-enriched EV when adapted to extracellular acidosis, which promote a macrophage activation state, capable of facilitating the trans-endothelial migration of melanoma cells. Thus, we disclose a new molecular mechanism to prevent melanoma intravasation based on miR-214 targeting. Abstract The understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to melanoma dissemination is urgently needed in view of the identification of new targets and the development of innovative strategies to improve patients’ outcomes. Within the complexity of tumor intercellular communications leading to metastatic dissemination, extracellular vesicles (EV) released by tumor cells are central players. Indeed, the ability to travel through the circulatory system conveying oncogenic bioactive molecules even at distant sites makes EV capable of modulating recipient cells to facilitate metastatic dissemination. The dynamic remodeling of the tumor microenvironment might influence, along with a number of other events, tumoral EV release. We observed that, in melanoma, extracellular acidosis increases the release of EV enriched in miR-214, an onco-miRNA involved in melanoma metastasis. Then, miR-214-enriched EV were found to induce a state of macrophage activation, leading to an overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide. Such an inflammatory microenvironment was able to alter the endothelial cell permeability, thereby facilitating the trans-endothelial migration of melanoma cells, a crucial step in the metastatic cascade. The use of synthetic miR-214 inhibitors and miR-214 overexpression allowed us to demonstrate the key role of miR-214 in the EV-dependent induction of macrophage activation. Overall, our in vitro study reveals that the release of tumor miR-214-enriched EV, potentiated by adapting tumor cells to extracellular acidosis, drives a macrophage-dependent trans-endothelial migration of melanoma cells. This finding points to miR-214 as a potential new therapeutic target to prevent melanoma intravasation.
Impact of COVID-19 Awareness on Protective Behaviors during the Off-Peak Period: Sex Differences among Chinese Undergraduates

COVID-19 remains an extreme threat in higher education settings, even during the off-peak period. Appropriate protective measures have been suggested to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in a large population context. Undergraduate students represent a highly vulnerable fraction of the population, so their COVID-19 protective behaviors play critical roles in enabling successful pandemic prevention. Hence, this study aims to understand what and how individual factors contribute to undergraduate students’ protective behaviors. After building multigroup structural equation models using data acquired from the survey taken by 991 undergraduates at a large research university in eastern China, I found that students’ COVID-19 awareness was positively associated with their protective behaviors, such as wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer, and maintaining proper social distance, but not with getting vaccinated. In addition, I found students with higher COVID-19 awareness were more likely to have more COVID-19 knowledge than those with less awareness. Furthermore, sex differences were observed in the mediation effects of COVID-19 awareness on wearing a mask and getting vaccinated, via COVID-19 knowledge, respectively. The results of this study have implications in helping higher education stakeholders enact effective measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic.