Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Element specific x-ray magnetic circular dichroism magnetization curves using total electron yield

We used x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) to obtain element specific magnetization curves. The most common way measuring XMCD in the soft x-ray region is total electron yield (TEY), because of the easy experimental setup and high signal-to-noise ratio compared to fluorescence yield. Surprisingly TEY was used only marginally for magnetization curves in the past. We show that the major problem using field dependent TEY is the complex current behavior as a function of applied magnetic fields, which directly results in corresponding normalization problems. We developed a simple but effective normalization method in combination with symmetry arguments to obtain magnetization curves using TEY as a probe for XMCD. Quick (2–6 min) and high quality data could be extracted in a wide range of high magnetic fields. In comparison to fluorescence yield hysteresis loops, those measurements could be easily done at synchrotron bending magnet beamlines and no high brilliant undulator sources and/or long measurement .
New fuel consumption model considering vehicular speed, acceleration, and jerk

Abstract A novel computational model for the volatile state was developed to improve eco-driving in intelligent transportation systems (ITS). First, the volatile state was divided into eight types using vehicle acceleration and jerk as delineating criteria. Data analysis showed that each jerk type had a different proportion and contribution level to fuel consumption. Next, the model was created by considering eight instantaneous driving decisions as represented by vehicle speed, acceleration, and jerk. The model input included vehicle speed multiplied by acceleration, with jerk as a classifier. The model was calibrated using quadratic polynomial fitting, and validated using another portion of the data. Finally, predictions were compared with the widely used Vehicle Specific Power (VSP) model and the Virginia Tech Microscopic (VT-Micro) model to evaluate model performance. The new model thoroughly captured the measured fuel consumption and provided more accurate predictions in new routes than the above-mentioned models. The mean absolute percentage error value of the new model was ∼4.9% and 3.2% lower than those of the VSP and VT-Micro models, respectively. The determinant coefficient value was up to 95.8%, which was ∼4.6% and 8.5% higher than those of the VSP and VT-Micro models, respectively.
Electrical short pulses generation using a resonant tunneling diode nonlinear transmission line

In this paper, the generation of short electrical pulses based on nonlinear active wave propagation effects along the resonant tunneling diode transmission line is studied. The principle of operation is discussed and it is shown by computer experiments that an input rectangular pulse as well as a sinusoidal input signal can be converted into a set of output spikes, suitable for A/D conversion at millimeter wave frequencies.
Discovery of Two New Pulsating DA (ZZ Ceti) White Dwarfs

We report the detection of multiperiodic luminosity variations in the light curves of the two DA white dwarfs GD 244 and KUV 02464+3239. We selected these objects as candidate ZZ Ceti stars on the basis of our analysis of their optical spectra, which revealed that their atmospheric parameters place them inside the empirical instability strip in the log g-Teff plane. We find that GD 244 is an intermediate-amplitude pulsator with at least four excited modes with periods in the range 203-307 s, which is consistent with its position in the middle of the ZZ Ceti instability strip at Teff = 11,680 K and log g = 8.08. We compare the properties of GD 244 with those of GD 66, a previously known ZZ Ceti star that appears to be a photometric clone of the former. We also find that KUV 02464+3239 is a large-amplitude, long-period variable, which is again consistent with its position at Teff = 11,290 K and log g = 8.08 in the log g-Teff diagram, near the red edge of the empirical instability strip. The light curve of KUV 02464+3239 is dominated by a quasi-period of ~ 832 s and resembles that of its photometric twin GD 154. Our findings bring to 31 the number of known gravity-mode ZZ Ceti pulsators.
Radial Part of Brownian Motion on a Riemannian Manifold

Let ρ t be the radial part of a Brownian motion in an n-dimensional Riemannian manifold M starting at x and let T = T e be the first time t when ρ t = e. We show that E[ρ 2 t? T ] = nt-(1/6)S(x)t 2 +o(t 2 ), as t↓0, where S(x) is the scalar curvature. The same formula holds for E[ρ t 2 ] under some boundedness condition on M.
Effects of Aerobic Exercise in Hepatic Lipid Droplet-Mitochondria interaction in Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Lipid Droplets (LD) are highly dynamic storage organelles. In the liver, its accumulation causes non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) that can progress to a more severe disease stage, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In hepatic and non-hepatic tissues LD interacts with mitochondria impacting lipid homeostasis. However, whether exercise modulates this interaction in the liver has not been studied yet. Our objective is to determine whether exercise modifies LD-mitochondria interaction in hepatocytes and if this interaction has an association with the severity of the disease. Two different models of NAFLD, a high fat diet (HFD) to evaluate NAFL and a methionine choline deficient diet (MCD) to evaluate NASH, were used to analyze the effects of aerobic exercise in the liver. Our results in the NAFL model showed that exercise decreased the severity of the disease and improved physical capacity compared to sedentary HFD mice. In this regard, although exercise increased the number of LD in hepatocytes, LD were smaller in size than in the sedentary HFD mice. Notably, while sedentary HFD mice increased hepatic lipid droplet (LD)-mitochondria interaction, in exercised animals, this interaction was decreased. Additionally, exercise decreased the size of the LD bound to mitochondria, and this peridroplet mitochondria (PDM) exhibited higher basal respiration and ATP synthesis capacity than PDM from sedentary HFD mice. Besides, we found a positive correlation that predicts the severity of NAFL between LD-mitochondria interaction in the liver and plasmatic ALT transaminases. This correlation is also positive between hepatic LD-mitochondria interaction and the area under the glucose tolerance test curve in this model. Our results in the NASH model resemble, to a greater extent, what we observed in the NAFL model. In NASH, exercise also reduced collagen accumulation, decreased LD-mitochondria interaction, and reduced the size of LD coupled to mitochondria compared to sedentary MCD mice. In all, our results show that aerobic exercise decreases LD-mitochondria interaction in hepatocytes and this interaction is associated with less severity of NAFL and NASH. We propose that exercise provokes an improvement of NAFLD by reduction of the hepatic LD-mitochondria interaction that in turn increase peridroplet mitochondria activity. Highlights Lipid droplet (LD)-mitochondria interaction is increased in high-fat diet-induced NAFLD and choline-methionine deficient diet induced-NASH. Exercise decreased LD-mitochondria interaction and is associated with reduced plasmatic ALT transaminase levels and glucose tolerance test in HFD induced-NAFLD. Exercise decreases LD-mitochondria interaction, decreasing peridroplet Mitochondria (PDM) with possible lipogenic function, which induces a decrease in the LD bound to mitochondria (M-LD) in HFD-induced NAFLD. Exercise decreased LD-mitochondria interaction and collagen accumulation in MCD induced-NASH.
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Microplastic particles are ubiquitously detected in the environment. Despite intensive public and scientific discussions, their potential to transport contaminants in rivers and oceans under environmental conditions is still under assessment. In the present study we measured sorption isotherms and kinetics in batch experiments using phenanthrene (as a typical hydrophobic wastewater contaminant) and microplastic particles of different sizes and materials. We observed a linear sorption isotherm for polyethylene, in contrast to nonlinear sorption of polyamide and polystyrene, which could be best described by the Freundlich and the Polanyi–Dubinin–Manes isotherms, respectively. We modeled sorption kinetics as a combination of external mass transfer governed by diffusion through an aqueous boundary layer and intraparticle diffusion within the plastic. Which of these processes controls the kinetics depends on the sorption strength, particle size, diffusion coefficients, and time. We used semi‐analytical and numerical methods to simulate the coupled mass transfer for both linear and nonlinear sorption. We successfully applied the semi‐analytical model to polyethylene and the numerical code to polyamide and polystyrene, reproducing the measured kinetics and obtaining reasonable values for mass transfer and intraparticle diffusion coefficients. Subsequently, we used these coefficients to estimate the transport potential and relevant time scales for microplastic‐bound contaminants under environmental conditions. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38: 1635–1644. © 2019 SETAC
Effects of pathogen sexual reproduction on the evolutionary and epidemiological control provided by deployment strategies for two major resistance genes in agricultural landscapes

Resistant cultivars are of value for protecting crops from disease, but can be rapidly overcome by pathogens. Several strategies have been proposed to delay pathogen adaptation (evolutionary control), while maintaining effective protection (epidemiological control). Resistance genes can be i) combined in the same cultivar (pyramiding), ii) deployed in different cultivars sown in the same field (mixtures) or in different fields (mosaics), or iii) alternated over time (rotations). The outcomes of these strategies have been investigated principally in pathogens displaying pure clonal reproduction, but sexual reproduction may promote the emergence of superpathogens adapted to all the resistance genes deployed. We improved the spatially explicit stochastic model landsepi to include pathogen sexual reproduction, and then investigate the effect of sexual reproduction on evolutionary and epidemiological outcomes across deployment strategies for two major resistance genes. Sexual reproduction only favours the establishment of a superpathogen when single mutant pathogens are present together at a sufficiently high frequency, as in mosaic and mixture strategies. We concluded that, although sexual reproduction may promote the establishment of a superpathogen, it did not affect the optimal strategy recommendations for a wide range of mutation probabilities, associated fitness costs, and landscape organisations (notably the cropping ratio of resistant fields).
Performance Comparison Between SiC and Si Neutron Detectors in Deuterium–Tritium Fusion Neutron Irradiation

Silicon carbide (SiC) detector is considered to be a good substitute for silicon (Si) detector in neutron detection, considering its mature of device fabrication in large sensitive area and thick sensitive volume, high charge-collection efficiency, significant neutron–gamma discrimination, and excellent endurance in harsh environment, and it is expected to meet the demands of neutron detection in increasingly harsh irradiation field. The performance comparison between SiC and Si neutron detector in neutron irradiation is an important issue but is not fully studied: no researcher has ever made a comparative study on them in constant fusion neutron irradiation. In this paper, the SiC and Si detectors irradiated by constant deuterium–tritium fusion neutron irradiation were tested and compared, getting significant difference in performance degradation: a significant degradation was found in the Si detector at a neutron fluence of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.65\,\,\times \,\,10^{13}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> cm<sup>−2</sup>, which showed a marked increase in dark current (over four orders of magnitude) and a serve reduction in the peak centroid of the alpha spectrum (over 95%), while nearly no degradation was observed in SiC detector at a much higher neutron fluence (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$3.82\times 10^{13}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> cm<sup>−2</sup>). The SiC detector is proven to have better radiation resistance than the Si detector at a fluence of around <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10^{13}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> cm<sup>−2</sup>, and thus, it could replace the traditional Si detector in constant neutron irradiation field at least at a fluence of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10^{13}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> cm<sup>−2</sup>.
Linking muscle mechanics to the metabolic cost of human hopping

Many models have been developed to predict metabolic energy expenditure based on biomechanical proxies of muscle function. However, current models may only perform well for select forms of locomotion, not only because the models are rarely rigorously tested across subtle and broad changes in locomotor task, but also because previous research has not adequately characterised different forms of locomotion to account for the potential variability in muscle function and thus metabolic energy expenditure. To help to address the latter point, the present study imposed frequency and height constraints to hopping and quantified gross metabolic power as well as the activation requirements of medial gastrocnemius, lateral gastrocnemius (GL), soleus (SOL), tibialis anterior, vastus lateralis (VL), rectus femoris (RF) and biceps femoris (BF), and the work requirements GL, SOL and VL. Gross metabolic power increased with a decrease in hop frequency and increase in hop height. There was no hop frequency or hop height effect on the mean electromyography (EMG) of ankle musculature, however, the mean EMG of VL and RF increased with a decrease in hop frequency and that of BF increased with an increase in hop height. With a reduction in hop frequency, GL, SOL and VL fascicle shortening, fascicle shortening velocity and fascicle to MTU shortening ratio increased, whereas with an increase in hop height, only SOL fascicle shortening velocity increased. Therefore, within the constraints that we imposed, decreases in hop frequency and increases in hop height resulted in increases in metabolic power that could be explained by increases in the activation requirements of knee musculature and/or increases in the work requirements of both knee and ankle musculature. Summary Statement This study directly measures activation and work requirements of lower-limb musculature and whole-body metabolic energy requirements across a wide variety of human hopping conditions, helping to guide biomechanical models of energy expenditure.
Experience-Dependent Plasticity in Nucleus Laminaris of the Barn Owl

Interaural time differences (ITDs) are a major cue for sound localization and change with increasing head size. Since the barn owl's head width more than doubles in the month after hatching, we hypothesized that the development of their ITD detection circuit might be modified by experience. To test this, we raised owls with unilateral ear inserts that delayed and attenuated the acoustic signal, and then measured the ITD representation in the brainstem nucleus laminaris (NL) when they were adults. The ITD circuit is composed of delay line inputs to coincidence detectors, and we predicted that plastic changes would lead to shorter delays in the axons from the manipulated ear, and complementary shifts in ITD representation on the two sides. In owls that received ear inserts starting around P14, the maps of ITD shifted in the predicted direction, but only on the ipsilateral side, and only in those tonotopic regions that had not experienced auditory stimulation prior to insertion. The contralateral map did not change. Thus, experience-dependent plasticity of the ITD circuit occurs in NL, and our data suggest that ipsilateral and contralateral delays are independently regulated. As a result, altered auditory input during development leads to long-lasting changes in the representation of ITD. Significance Statement The early life of barn owls is marked by increasing sensitivity to sound, and by increasing ITDs. Their prolonged post-hatch development allowed us to examine the role of altered auditory experience in the development of ITD detection circuits. We raised owls with a unilateral ear insert and found that their maps of ITD were altered by experience, but only in those tonotopic regions ipsilateral to the occluded ear that had not experienced auditory stimulation prior to insertion. This experience-induced plasticity allows the sound localization circuits to be customized to individual characteristics, such as the size of the head, and potentially to compensate for imbalanced hearing sensitivities between the left and right ears.
Acute repair of meniscus root tear partially restores joint displacements as measured with MRI and loading in a porcine knee

The meniscus serves important load-bearing functions and protects the underlying articular cartilage. Unfortunately, meniscus tears are common and impair the ability of the meniscus to distribute loads, greatly increasing the risk for developing osteoarthritis. Therefore, surgical repair of the meniscus is a frequently performed procedure; however, this repair does not always prevent osteoarthritis. This is hypothesized to be due to altered joint loading post injury and repair, where the functional deficit of the meniscus prevents it from performing its role of distributing forces. However, many studies of meniscus function required opening the joint, which alters kinematics. The objective of this study was to use novel MRI methods to image the intact joint under axial load and measure the acute meniscus and femur displacements in an intact joint, after a meniscus root tear, and after suture repair in the porcine knee, a frequently used in vivo model. We found that anterior root tear led to large meniscus and femur displacements under physiological axial loading, and that suture anchor repair reduced these displacements, but did not fully restore intact joint kinematics. After tear and repair, the anterior region of the meniscus moved posteriorly and medially as it was forced out of the joint space under loading, while the posterior region had small displacements as the posterior attachment acted as a hinge about which the meniscus rotated in the axial plane. This technique can be applied to evaluate the effect of knee injuries and to develop improved repair strategies to restore joint kinematics.
Neuromuscular basis of Drosophila larval rolling escape behavior

When threatened by dangerous or harmful stimuli, animals engage in diverse forms of rapid escape behaviors. In Drosophila larvae, one type of escape response involves C-shaped bending and lateral rolling followed by rapid forward crawling. The sensory circuitry that promotes larval escape has been extensively characterized; however, the motor programs underlying rolling are unknown. Here, we characterize the neuromuscular basis of rolling escape behavior. We used high-speed, volumetric, Swept Confocally-Aligned Planar Excitation (SCAPE) microscopy to image muscle activity during larval rolling. Unlike sequential peristaltic muscle contractions that progress from segment to segment during forward and backward crawling, the muscle activity progresses circumferentially during bending and rolling escape behavior. We propose that progression of muscular contraction around the larva’s circumference results in a transient misalignment between weight and the ground support forces, which generates a torque that induces stabilizing body rotation. Therefore, successive cycles of slight misalignment followed by reactive aligning rotation lead to continuous rolling motion. Supporting our biomechanical model, we found that disrupting the activity of muscle groups undergoing circumferential contraction progression lead to rolling defects. We use EM connectome data to identify premotor to motor connectivity patterns that could drive rolling behavior, and perform neural silencing approaches to demonstrate the crucial role of a group of glutamatergic premotor neurons in rolling. Our data reveal body-wide muscle activity patterns and putative premotor circuit organization for execution of the rolling escape response. Significance Statement To escape from dangerous stimuli, animals execute escape behaviors that are fundamentally different from normal locomotion. The rolling escape behavior of Drosophila larvae consists of C-shaped bending and rolling. However, the muscle contraction patterns that lead to rolling are poorly understood. We find that following the initial body bending, muscles contract in a circumferential wave around the larva as they enter the bend, maintaining unidirectional rolling that resembles cylinder rolling on a surface. We study the structure of motor circuits for rolling, inhibit different motor neurons to determine which muscles are essential for rolling, and propose circuit and biomechanical models for roll generation. Our findings provide insights into how motor circuits produce diverse motor behaviors.
Exploring the role of task success in implicit motor adaptation

While implicit motor adaptation is driven by sensory-prediction errors (SPEs), recent work has shown that task success modulates this process. Task success has typically been defined as hitting a target, which signifies the goal of the movement. Visuomotor adaptation tasks are uniquely situated to experimentally manipulate task success independently from SPE by changing the target size or the location of the target. These two, distinct manipulations may influence implicit motor adaptation in different ways, so, over four experiments, we sought to probe the efficacy of each manipulation. We found that changes in target size which caused the target to fully envelop the cursor only affected implicit adaptation for a narrow range of SPE sizes, while jumping the target to overlap with the cursor more reliably and robustly affected implicit adaptation. Taken together, our data indicate that, while task success exerts a small effect on implicit adaptation, these effects are susceptible to methodological variations. Future investigations of the effect of task success on implicit adaptation could benefit from employing target jump manipulations instead of target size manipulations.
Kernel Estimators of the Failure-Rate Function and Density Estimation: An Analogy

Abstract In this article we explore methods by which the rate of convergence of the bias and the mean squared error of kernel estimators of the failure-rate function can be improved. We show that if the kernel is not restricted to be nonnegative and is suitably chosen, then the bias contribution to the asymptotic mean squared error can be eliminated to any required order, and the rate of convergence of the asymptotic mean squared error can be brought as close to n −1 as is desired. The generalized jackknife method of combining estimators is an adequate procedure that leads us to this goal. Some of our results parallel those obtained for density estimation. The material on constructing special kernels using the generalized jackknife is also applicable for density estimation. Wherever appropriate, we make connections between these two topics.
Residual solvability of an equation in nilpotent groups

Let G be a finitely generated nilpotent group. Let S, and S2 be subgroups of G. Let S^ be the set of all products g^, where g, is an element of Sr Let g be an element of G. It is shown that either g is an element of S,,S2 or there is a normal subgroup N of finite index in G such that gN does not meet S|52. This result implies: (a) There is an algorithm to determine whether or not g is an element of S\S2- (b) Given elements a, b, and c of G, there is an algorithm to determine whether there exist integers n and m such that a = bmc". (c) Finitely generated nilpotent groups are subgroup separable (a result of