Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Entropy-expansiveness and domination

Let f : M → M be a C r -diffeomorphism, r ≥ 1, defined on a compact boundary-less manifold M. We prove that if M is a surface and K ⊂ M is a compact f-invariant set such that TKM = E ⊕ F is dominated then f/K is entropy expansive. Moreover, if dim M > 2 and H(p), the f-homoclinic class of a hyperbolic periodic point p, has a dominated splitting and is isolated, then C 1 -generically f/H(p) is entropy expansive. Conversely, if there exists a C 1 neighborhood U of a diffeomorphism f defined on a compact surface and a homoclinic class H(p) of an f- hyperbolic periodic point p, such that for every g ∈ U the continuation H(pg) of H(p) is entropy-expansive then there is a dominated splitting for H(p).
Ballistic magnetoresistance versus magnetostriction effects in electrodeposited nanocontacts at room temperature

The authors present experiments and discuss recent results on ballistic magnetoresistance in nanometer size (on the order of 1 to 10 nm) nanocontacts grown by electrodeposition in thin wires and in thin films of a few nanometer thickness. Very large values of magnetoresistance are shown (up to 4000% and more could be obtained). These experiments as well as others are explained in terms of a dead magnetic layer appearing at the nanocontact. The experiments are also discussed in the context of magnetostriction effects, in the light of existing first principle calculations and observed inverse magnetoresistive effects.
Impact of COVID-19 on the Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients during Infection and after Recovery in Saudi Arabia

This study evaluated the impact of COVID-19 and other factors on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of Saudi patients during infection and after recovery using the EQ-5D-5L and EQ-VAS instruments. An observational prospective study was conducted in November 2022, during which 389 COVID-19 patients were surveyed during their visit to a medical center. Two weeks after their recovery, they were contacted again to re-evaluate their HRQoL (192 patients either refused to participate or withdrew). The mean of the EQ-5D-5L index and EQ-VAS scores significantly increased from (0.69 ± 0.29 and 63.16 ± 24.9) during infection to (0.92 ± 0.14 and 86.96 ± 15.3) after recovery. Specifically, COVID-19 patients experienced improvement of several HRQoL dimensions post recovery, such as better mobility, enhanced self-care, returning to usual activities, less pain/discomfort, and alleviated anxiety/depression. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that having a normal weight, being employed, not being anemic, and previously taking the BCG vaccine were positively associated with a greater change in the HRQoL. An interaction between being asthmatic and taking the influenza vaccine positively predicted a lower change in the HRQoL. Having a normal weight positively predicted a greater change in the perceived health state after recovery. Increasing the consumption of natural supplements (honey and curcuma) did not improve the HRQoL or the perceived health state. Based on these findings, COVID-19 mildly impacted the HRQoL of Saudis with varying effects depending on some socio-demographic/clinical characteristics of the patients.
Surface waves on deep water in the presence of a submerged circular cylinder. I

ABSTRACT A method is given for the calculation of the surface waves of small amplitude generated on deep water by a normal velocity distribution of period 2π/σ prescribed over a submerged circular cylinder. The method of solution involves a system of linear equations in an infinite number of unknowns; this system always possesses a solution. The unknowns may be obtained as power series in a parameter Ka, convergent for sufficiently small values of the parameter. When the parameter is not small, the equations can be solved by infinite determinants. It is shown that the reflexion coefficient of waves incident on a fixed circular cylinder vanishes, as was first shown by Dean. The pulsations of a submerged cylinder are discussed when the normal velocity is the same at all points of the cylinder at any given time.
Non-Governmental Organizations and the Socio-Economic Wellbeing of Project Beneficiaries

- Project evaluation in NGOs is mainly conducted within implementation timeframes, which is attributed to availability of allocated resources for the exercise. While NGOs aim at fulfilling donor mandates, there are limited reports describing if the positive influences listed during project exit reports are still in existence. The study used the Caritas Nakuru as a case study to evaluate the influence of projects sponsored and managed by Caritas on the socio-economic wellbeing of project beneficiaries in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study utilized descriptive research design with a sample size of 238 respondents. Data collection entailed questionnaires and interview schedules. The study found that the Caritas education project had a great impact on the social economic wellbeing of street children. The study concludes that achievement of Caritas peace-building projects influences the socio-economic wellbeing of street children, the internally displaced persons and commercial sex workers. The study recommends that the government continues to provide avenues for education for street dwellers who may not want to join the formal education systems. NGO projects stakeholders need to rally for public sensitization on the importance of enabling disadvantaged groups.
Points of infinitely many normals to convex surfaces.

Every convex surface with a spherical region has the property that infinitely many normals have a common point. How many points may lie on infinitely many normals? Countably many? Of course. Densely many? This is already less obvious. We prove here that most points may lie on infinitely many normals, in the sense that those lying on at most finitely many form a set of first Baire category. This will always be the meaning of "most". In fact we show that most convex surfaces enjoy the above property! Moreover, in our proof the normals will realise relative maxima for the distance-function from their common point.
Impact Behavior of Plain Concrete Loaded in Uniaxial Compression

The uniaxial stress-strain response has been measured for air-dried plain-concrete cylinders, nominally 100 mm in diameter and 250 mm long, loaded in compression at both a slow static rate of about 10 microstrains per second and a much higher impact rate of between 5 and 10 strains per second. Design concrete strengths of 30 and 50 MPa were tested. Static loading was carried out in a hydraulic testing machine, and a guided free-falling mass was used for impact loading. The impact and static responses are compared to provide some insight into the behavior of concrete during hard-impact loading. Differences in behavior are identified for various strength and deformation characteristics. Although the maximum strength and corresponding axial strain, the energy-absorption capacity at failure, and the secant modulus all increase during impact loading, the initial tangent modulus does not appear to change very much. Other characteristics such as volumetric strain and Poisson’s ration are also studied. A simple physical model is used to help explain observed changes.
A Novel Atomically Resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscope Capable of Working in Cryogen-Free Superconducting Magnet

We present a novel homebuilt scanning tunneling microscope (STM) with atomic resolution integrated into a cryogen-free superconducting magnet system with a variable temperature insert. The STM head is designed as a nested structure of double piezoelectric tubes (PTs), which are connected coaxially through a sapphire frame whose top has a sample stage. A single shaft made of tantalum, with the STM tip on top, is held firmly by a spring strip inside the internal PT. The external PT drives the shaft to the tip–sample junction based on the SpiderDrive principle, and the internal PT completes the subsequent scanning and imaging work. The STM head is simple, compact, and easy to assemble. The excellent performance of the device was demonstrated by obtaining atomic-resolution images of graphite and low drift rates of 30.2 pm/min and 41.4 pm/min in the X–Y plane and Z direction, respectively, at 300K. In addition, we cooled the sample to 1.6 K and took atomic-resolution images of graphite and NbSe2. Finally, we performed a magnetic field sweep test from 0 T to 9 T at 70 K, obtaining distinct graphite images with atomic resolution under varying magnetic fields. These experiments show our newly developed STM’s high stability, vibration resistance, and immunity to high magnetic fields.
A Sex-Specific Comparative Analysis of Oxidative Stress Biomarkers Predicting the Risk of Cardiovascular Events and All-Cause Mortality in the General Population: A Prospective Cohort Study

Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in cardiovascular (CV) disease, but current biomarkers used to predict CV events are still insufficient. In this study, we comparatively assessed the utility of redox-related biomarkers in predicting the risk of CV events and all-cause mortality in male and female subjects from the general population. Subjects (n = 5955) of the Prevention of REnal and Vascular ENd-stage Disease (PREVEND) population-based cohort study were included. Blood homocysteine, gamma-GT, HDL cholesterol, bilirubin and protein-adjusted free thiol (R-SH, sulfhydryl groups) levels were quantified at baseline and were prospectively analyzed in association with the risk of CV events and all-cause mortality. After adjustment for potentially confounding factors, protein-adjusted R-SH and homocysteine levels were significantly associated with the risk of CV events in men (HR 0.63 [0.40–0.99], p = 0.045 and HR 1.58 [1.20–2.08], p = 0.001, respectively). Protein-adjusted R-SH and HDL cholesterol levels were significantly associated with the risk of all-cause mortality in men (HR 0.52 [0.32–0.85], p = 0.009 and HR 0.90 [0.85–0.94], p < 0.001, respectively), while the same was observed for bilirubin and homocysteine levels in women (HR 0.68 [0.48–0.98], p = 0.040 and HR 2.30 [1.14–3.76], p < 0.001, respectively). Lower levels of protein-adjusted R-SH were robustly associated with an increased risk of CV events and all-cause mortality in men. Our results highlight the value of R-SH levels in cardiovascular risk assessment and their potential significance as being amenable to therapeutic intervention, while reaffirming the importance of other oxidative stress-related biomarkers, such as homocysteine, HDL cholesterol and bilirubin.
Disk instability and the time-dependent X-ray emission from the intermediate polar GK persei

According to the disk instability model for the 1981-1989 outbursts of the intermediate polar GK Per, the mass accretion rate at the inner disk edge (M in ) varies from ∼2×10 16 g s −1 in quiescence to ∼3×10 19 g s −1 in outburst, while the mass transfer rate from the companion weakly fluctuates around 10 18 g s −1 . During quiescence, the postshock region of the accretion column is characterized by optically thin bremsstrahlung emission with a small inverse Compton scattering depth (y<1)
Opposing Patterns of Altitude-Driven Pollinator Turnover in the Tropical and Temperate Americas

Abiotic factors (e.g., temperature, precipitation) vary markedly along elevational gradients and differentially affect major groups of pollinators. Ectothermic bees, for example, are impeded in visiting flowers by cold and rainy conditions common at high elevations, while endothermic hummingbirds may continue foraging under such conditions. Despite the possibly far-reaching effects of the abiotic environment on plant-pollinator interactions, we know little about how these factors play out at broad ecogeographic scales. We address this knowledge gap by investigating how pollination systems vary across elevations in 26 plant clades from the Americas. Specifically, we explore Cruden’s 1972 hypothesis that the harsh montane environment drives a turnover from insect to vertebrate pollination at higher elevations. We compared the elevational distribution and bioclimatic attributes for a total of 2,232 flowering plants and found that Cruden’s hypothesis holds only in the tropics. Above 30°N and below 30°S, plants pollinated by vertebrates (mostly hummingbirds) tend to occur at lower elevations than those pollinated by insects. We hypothesize that this latitudinal transition is due to the distribution of moist, forested habitats favored by vertebrate pollinators, which are common at high elevations in the tropics but not in the temperate Americas.
Ultrasound Technology as Inactivation Method for Foodborne Pathogens: A Review

An efficient microbiological decontamination protocol is required to guarantee safe food products for the final consumer to avoid foodborne illnesses. Ultrasound and non-thermal technology combinations represent innovative methods adopted by the food industry for food preservation and safety. Ultrasound power is commonly used with a frequency between 20 and 100 kHz to obtain an “exploit cavitation effect”. Microbial inactivation via ultrasound derives from cell wall damage, the oxidation of intracellular amino acids and DNA changing material. As an inactivation method, it is evaluated alone and combined with other non-thermal technologies. The evidence shows that ultrasound is an important green technology that has a good decontamination effect and can improve the shelf-life of products. This review aims to describe the applicability of ultrasound in the food industry focusing on microbiological decontamination, reducing bacterial alterations caused by food spoilage strains and relative foodborne intoxication/infection.
Structure and sources of the sporadic meteor background from video observations

We investigate and discuss the structure of the sporadic meteor background population in the near-Earth space based on video meteor orbits from the SonotaCo database (SonotaCo 2009, WGN, 37, 55). The selection of the shower meteors was done by the Southworth–Hawkins streams-search criterion (Southworth & Hawkins 1963, Smithson. Contr. Astrophys., 7, 261). Of a total of 117786 orbits, 69.34% were assigned to sporadic background meteors. Our analysis revealed all the known sporadic sources, such as the dominant apex source which is splitting into the northern and southern branch. Part of a denser ring structure about the apex source connecting the antihelion and north toroidal sources is also evident. We showed that the annual activity of the apex source is similar to the annual variation in activity of the whole sporadic background. The antihelion source exhibits a very broad maximum from July until January and the north toroidal source shows three maxima similar to the radar observations by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR). Potential parent bodies of the sporadic population were searched for by comparison of the distributions of the orbital elements of sporadic meteors, minor planets and comets.
Attitude Fusion Algorithm for the "Satcom on the move" System in a Highly Manoeuvrable Environment

When the three-axis "Satcom on the move" stable platform is subjected to intense maneuvering and variable speed motion of the carrier, a multi-sensor data fusion approach is designed to effectively tackle the problem of external kinematic acceleration other than gravity acceleration impacting accuracy and real-time of attitude solution. The attitude information is described using the quaternion. The quaternion differential equation and the gradient descent method are used to fuse real-time attitude quaternion, and the parameter β in the attitude fusion algorithm is updated based on the angular velocity measured by the gyroscope and the external acceleration, allowing the gyroscope rate integral drift to be corrected adaptively and thus reinforcing dynamic performance of the algorithm. Finally, The experimental results indicate the proposed algorithm reduces the adverse effects of external acceleration on attitude solution, and has better accuracy, dynamic performance, and anti-interference, compared with the cross-product fusion algorithm and the gradient descent algorithm, thus laying a good foundation for the subsequent tracking control of the stable platform.
Broad learning for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease using FDG-PET of the brain

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, and the development of AD is irreversible. However, preventive measures in the presymptomatic stage of AD can effectively slow down deterioration. Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) can detect the metabolism of glucose in patients' brains, which can help to identify changes related to AD before brain damage occurs. Machine learning is useful for early diagnosis of patients with AD using FDG-PET, but it requires a sufficiently large dataset, and it is easy for overfitting to occur in small datasets. Previous studies using machine learning for early diagnosis with FDG-PET have either involved the extraction of elaborately handcrafted features or validation on a small dataset, and few studies have explored the refined classification of early mild cognitive impairment (EMCI) and late mild cognitive impairment (LMCI). This article presents a broad network-based model for early diagnosis of AD (BLADNet) through PET imaging of the brain; this method employs a novel broad neural network to enhance the features of FDG-PET extracted via 2D CNN. BLADNet can search for information over a broad space through the addition of new BLS blocks without retraining of the whole network, thus improving the accuracy of AD classification. Experiments conducted on a dataset containing 2,298 FDG-PET images of 1,045 subjects from the ADNI database demonstrate that our methods are superior to those used in previous studies on early diagnosis of AD with FDG-PET. In particular, our methods achieved state-of-the-art results in EMCI and LMCI classification with FDG-PET.
Aneurysm wall enhancement, hemodynamics, and morphology of intracranial fusiform aneurysms

Background and objective Intracranial fusiform aneurysms (IFAs) are considered to have a complex pathophysiology process and poor natural history. The purpose of this study was to investigate the pathophysiological mechanisms of IFAs based on the characteristics of aneurysm wall enhancement (AWE), hemodynamics, and morphology. Methods A total of 21 patients with 21 IFAs (seven fusiform types, seven dolichoectatic types, and seven transitional types) were included in this study. Morphological parameters of IFAs were measured from the vascular model, including the maximum diameter (Dmax), maximum length (Lmax), and centerline curvature and torsion of fusiform aneurysms. The three-dimensional (3D) distribution of AWE in IFAs was obtained based on high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI). Hemodynamic parameters including time-averaged wall shear stress (TAWSS), oscillatory shear index (OSI), gradient oscillatory number (GON), and relative residence time (RRT) were extracted by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the vascular model, and the relationship between these parameters and AWE was investigated. Results The results showed that Dmax (p = 0.007), Lmax (p = 0.022), enhancement area (p = 0.002), and proportion of enhancement area (p = 0.006) were significantly different among three IFA types, and the transitional type had the largest Dmax, Lmax, and enhancement area. Compared with the non-enhanced regions of IFAs, the enhanced regions had lower TAWSS but higher OSI, GON, and RRT (p < 0.001). Furthermore, Spearman’s correlation analysis showed that AWE was negatively correlated with TAWSS, but positively correlated with OSI, GON, and RRT. Conclusion There were significant differences in AWE distributions and morphological features among the three IFA types. Additionally, AWE was positively associated with the aneurysm size, OSI, GON, and RRT, while negatively correlated with TAWSS. However, the underlying pathological mechanism of the three fusiform aneurysm types needs to be further studied.
Global, Developed and Emerging Stock Market: Which Characteristic Matters?

ABSTRACT This paper compares the explanations and predictabilities of 35 firm-level characteristics in stock returns between developed and ṆṆemerging stock markets using instrumented principal components analysis (IPCA). In contrast to the weak performance of the global model in each region, the local model performs better with lower mispricing errors at the individual and portfolio levels and exhibits significant differences across markets. Eleven characteristics significantly contribute to the global model’s performance, and each region has unique important characteristics, such as the change in gross property, plants, and equipment plus inventory in developed markets and the sale-to-book enterprise value in emerging markets. The incremental predictability of local characteristics is approximately 18% in developed regions and 7% in emerging markets. Openness and culture help explain the pricing differences in the local characteristics and factor models.
Cardiovascular-related proteomic changes in ECFCs exposed to the serum of COVID-19 patients

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection significantly affects the cardiovascular system, causing vascular damage and thromboembolic events in critical patients. Endothelial dysfunction represents one of the first steps in response to COVID-19 that might lead to cardiovascular complications and long-term sequelae. However, despite the enormous efforts in the last two years, the molecular mechanisms involved in such processes remain poorly understood. Herein, we analyzed the protein changes taking place in endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) after the incubation with the serum from individuals infected with COVID-19, whether asymptomatic or critical patients, by application of a label free-quantitative proteomics approach. Specifically, ECFCs from healthy individuals were incubated ex-vivo with the serum of either COVID-19 negative donors (PCR-/IgG-, n:8), COVID-19 asymptomatic donors at different infective stages (PCR+/ IgG-, n:8and PCR-/IgG+, n:8), or hospitalized critical COVID-19 patients (n:8), followed by proteomics analysis. In total, 590 proteins were differentially expressed in ECFCs in response to all infected serums. Predictive analysis highlighted several proteins like CAPN5, SURF4, LAMP2 or MT-ND1, as highly discriminating features between the groups compared. Protein changes correlated with viral infection, RNA metabolism or autophagy, among others. Remarkably, the angiogenic potential of ECFCs in response to the infected serums was impaired, and many of the protein alterations in response to the serum of critical patients were associated with cardiovascular-related pathologies.