Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recombinant Pichinde viral vector expressing tuberculosis antigens elicits strong T cell responses and protection in mice

Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) remains a major global health threat. The only available vaccine Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) does not prevent adult pulmonary TB. New effective TB vaccines should aim to stimulate robust T cell responses in the lung mucosa to achieve high protective efficacy. We have previously developed a novel viral vaccine vector based on recombinant Pichinde virus (PICV), a non-pathogenic arenavirus with low seroprevalence in humans, and have demonstrated its efficacy to induce strong vaccine immunity with undetectable anti-vector neutralization activity. Methods Using this tri-segmented PICV vector (rP18tri), we have generated viral vectored TB vaccines (TBvac-1, TBvac-2, and TBvac-10) encoding several known TB immunogens (Ag85B, EsxH, and ESAT-6/EsxA). A P2A linker sequence was used to allow for the expression of two proteins from one open-reading-frame (ORF) on the viral RNA segments. The immunogenicity of TBvac-2 and TBvac-10 and the protective efficacy of TBvac-1 and TBvac-2 were evaluated in mice. Results Both viral vectored vaccines elicited strong antigen-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells through intramuscular (IM) and intranasal (IN) routes as evaluated by MHC-I and MHC-II tetramer analyses, respectively. The IN inoculation route helped to elicit strong lung T cell responses. The vaccine-induced antigen-specific CD4 T cells are functional, expressing multiple cytokines as detected by intracellular cytokine staining. Finally, immunization with TBvac-1 or TBvac-2, both expressing the same trivalent antigens (Ag85B, EsxH, ESAT6/EsxA), reduced Mtb lung tissue burden and dissemination in an aerosol challenge mouse model. Conclusions The novel PICV vector-based TB vaccine candidates can express more than two antigens via the use of P2A linker sequence and elicit strong systemic and lung T cell immunity with protective efficacy. Our study suggests the PICV vector as an attractive vaccine platform for the development of new and effective TB vaccine candidates.
Age of first exposure to soccer heading: Associations with cognitive, clinical, and imaging outcomes in the Einstein Soccer Study

Introduction The objective of this study is to assess the role of age at first exposure (AFE) to soccer heading as a predictor of known adverse associations of recent and longer-term heading with brain microstructure, cognitive, and behavioral features among adult amateur soccer players. Methods The sample included 276 active amateur soccer players (196 male and 81 female) aged 18–53 years old. AFE to soccer heading was treated as a binary variable, dichotomized at ≤ 10 years vs. >10 years old, based on a recently promulgated US Soccer policy, which bans heading for athletes ages 10 and under. Results We found that soccer players who began heading at age 10 or younger performed better on tests of working memory (p = 0.03) and verbal learning (p = 0.02), while accounting for duration of heading exposure, education, sex, and verbal intelligence. No difference in brain microstructure or behavioral measures was observed between the two exposure groups. Discussion The findings indicate that, among adult amateur soccer players, AFE to heading before age 10 compared to later start of heading, is not associated with adverse outcomes, and may be associated with better cognitive performance in young adulthood. Cumulative heading exposure across the lifespan, rather than early life exposure, may drive risk for adverse effects and should be the focus of future longitudinal studies to inform approaches to enhance player safety.
Regularity for a minimum problem with free boundary in Orlicz spaces

The aim of this paper is to study the heterogeneous optimization problem J ( u ) = (cid:90) Ω ( G ( |∇ u | ) + qF ( u + ) + hu + λ + χ { u> 0 } ) d x → min , in the class of functions W 1 ,G (Ω) with u − ϕ ∈ W 1 ,G 0 (Ω) , for a given function ϕ , where W 1 ,G (Ω) is the class of weakly differentiable functions with (cid:82) Ω G ( |∇ u | ) d x < ∞ . The functions G and F satisfy structural conditions of Lieberman’s type that allow for a different behavior at 0 and at ∞ . Given functions q, h and constant λ + ≥ 0 , we address several regularities for minimizers of J ( u ) , including local C 1 ,α − , and local Log-Lipschitz continuities for minimizers of J ( u ) with λ + = 0 , and λ + > 0 respectively. We also establish growth rate near the free boundary for each non-negative minimizer of J ( u ) with λ + = 0 , and λ + > 0 respectively. Furthermore, under additional assumption that F ∈ C 1 ([0 , + ∞ ); [0 , + ∞ )) , local Lipschitz regularity is carried out for non-negative minimizers of J ( u ) with λ + > 0 .
Developmental dyslexia in private schools in South Africa: Educators’ perspectives

In South Africa, as is globally, many people struggle with the challenges which emanate from developmental dyslexia (DD). It is thus important for educators to have adequate knowledge and a positive mindset regarding DD and the management thereof in the school context. One such important method of management is the accommodation of these learners in mainstream class. The quantitative survey study reported on here was aimed at determining the perspectives of educators in 2 private schools in the Tshwane South District, Gauteng, South Africa, regarding the knowledge of, attitude towards, and management of accommodations for learners with DD. We implemented a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional survey research approach where a self-administered questionnaire was administered after purposive sampling. Results indicate that the respondents, regardless of their qualifications, gender, or years of teaching experience, had limited knowledge of DD, but with a generally positive attitude towards inclusion and management of these learners. Furthermore, it was found that educators had an awareness of the terminology related to the accommodations that the education department granted these learners with DD. However, they were uncertain about the perceived path and nature of accommodations provided to learners. Specific details and related recommendations were explored.
Internationalization vs Englishization in Italian higher education

This chapter investigates the concepts of internationalization/ internazionalizzazione and Englishization/anglicizzazione as used by academics publishing research about Italian higher education in English and Italian. We seek to understand whether internationalization is understood principally as Englishization, and to investigate the resonance of the terms in context. Methodologically, three corpora are analysed within a corpus-assisted discourse studies approach. The f indings indicate that internationalization is presented in a neutral light, is not construed exclusively as Englishization, which is used invariably as a negative term indicating an invasive process from which Italian academia needs to defend itself. The research suggests reconsidering the role of English as a way of making Italian academic culture more accessible to international audiences, rather than a threat to its identity.
Measurement of photoionization cross sections from the laser-excited Ba I (6s6p) 1P10 state

The authors report upon advanced measurements of absolute photoionization cross sections from a laser-excited Ba I state. Progress has been achieved by improving the thermionic diode technique. They now obtain better resolved spectra with an excellent signal-to-noise ratio. Absolute cross sections are given from the threshold of the 6s continuum at 417 nm down to 370 nm. For the prominent resonances they have fitted Beutler-Fano profiles the parameters of which are presented. Comparison of their data with recent publications, experimental as well as theoretical, show satisfactory to excellent agreement.
Estimation of plasma absorption effects during pulsed laser ablation of high‐critical‐temperature superconductors

During pulsed laser deposition of thin films, a significant amount of energy is coupled to the laser‐generated plasma. The fraction of the energy absorbed in the plasma is a function of the incident laser wavelength, time‐dependent plasma dimensions, and electron density. Due to time‐varying parameters, a quantitative analysis of the plasma absorption is difficult. A method has been developed to estimate plasma absorption during deposition of thin films. In this model, the time‐dependent plasma dimension is replaced by the time‐dependent ablation depth, which can be easily determined. Using simulated absorption coefficient values, the ablation depth of the target as a function of energy density and laser wavelengths has been computed. These calculations have been compared with experimental results obtained from excimer laser deposition of high‐Tc superconductors. Correlations between plasma absorption coefficient and incident laser photon energy have also been determined.
On convection velocities in turbulent shear flows

The problem of defining an effective velocity of convection for turbulent fluctuations in a shear flow is considered, and the definitions adopted by various workers are discussed. An experiment in the shear layer of a circular jet has shown that the usual definitions, based on peaks of the space-time correlations of the fluctuations, yield convection velocities whose magnitudes depend on the value of space or time separation chosen. An alternative approach shows that, by considering the turbulent field as a superposition of harmonic travelling waves, a wave-number/velocity spectrum can be defined that lends itself to the definition of a wave-number-dependent convection velocity and an overall convection velocity, both of which have real physical significance. An experimental technique is described for obtaining the spectrum, and results are presented for one position in the shear layer of the jet.
Indium-tin-oxide clad blue and true green semipolar InGaN/GaN laser diodes

Replacing a portion of the upper III-nitride cladding with indium-tin-oxide (ITO) has several potential advantages for GaN-based laser diodes (LDs). For green LDs, use of ITO in the waveguide structure reduces the epitaxial p-cladding thickness and growth time, which in turn may reduce thermal damage to the active region. We design ITO-clad blue and green semipolar (202¯1) LDs using asymmetric InGaN waveguiding layers to center the mode on the active region. Lasing is demonstrated at 471 nm with threshold current density of 6.2 kA/cm2 for a device with 200 nm p-GaN and at 518 nm for a device with only 300 nm of p-GaN.
Monte Carlo Tree Search for Continuous and Stochastic Sequential Decision Making Problems

Dans cette these, nous avons etudie les problemes de decisions sequentielles, avec comme application la gestion de stocks d'energie. Traditionnellement, ces problemes sont resolus par programmation dynamique stochastique. Mais la grande dimension, et la non convexite du probleme, amenent a faire des simplifications sur le modele pour pouvoir faire fonctionner ces methodes.Nous avons donc etudie une methode alternative, qui ne requiert pas de simplifications du modele: Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS). Nous avons commence par etendre le MCTS classique (qui s’applique aux domaines finis et deterministes) aux domaines continus et stochastiques. Pour cela, nous avons utilise la methode de Double Progressive Widening (DPW), qui permet de gerer le ratio entre largeur et profondeur de l’arbre, a l’aide de deux meta parametres. Nous avons aussi propose une heuristique nommee Blind Value (BV) pour ameliorer la recherche de nouvelles actions, en utilisant l’information donnee par les simulations passees. D’autre part, nous avons etendu l’heuristique RAVE aux domaines continus. Enfin, nous avons propose deux nouvelles methodes pour faire remonter l’information dans l’arbre, qui ont beaucoup ameliore la vitesse de convergence sur deux cas tests.Une part importante de notre travail a ete de proposer une facon de meler MCTS avec des heuristiques rapides pre-existantes. C’est une idee particulierement interessante dans le cas de la gestion d’energie, car ces problemes sont pour le moment resolus de maniere approchee. Nous avons montre comment utiliser Direct Policy Search (DPS) pour rechercher une politique par defaut efficace, qui est ensuite utilisee a l’interieur de MCTS. Les resultats experimentaux sont tres encourageants.Nous avons aussi applique MCTS a des processus markoviens partiellement observables (POMDP), avec comme exemple le jeu de demineur. Dans ce cas, les algorithmes actuels ne sont pas optimaux, et notre approche l’est, en transformant le POMDP en MDP, par un changement de vecteur d’etat.Enfin, nous avons utilise MCTS dans un cadre de meta-bandit, pour resoudre des problemes d’investissement. Le choix d’investissement est fait par des algorithmes de bandits a bras multiples, tandis que l’evaluation de chaque bras est faite par MCTS.Une des conclusions importantes de ces travaux est que MCTS en continu a besoin de tres peu d’hypotheses (uniquement un modele generatif du probleme), converge vers l’optimum, et peut facilement ameliorer des methodes suboptimales existantes.
Fisher information and statistical inference for phase-type distributions

This paper is concerned with statistical inference for both continuous and discrete phase-type distributions. We consider maximum likelihood estimation, where traditionally the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm has been employed. Certain numerical aspects of this method are revised and we provide an alternative method for dealing with the E-step. We also compare the EM algorithm to a direct Newton–Raphson optimization of the likelihood function. As one of the main contributions of the paper, we provide formulae for calculating the Fisher information matrix both for the EM algorithm and Newton–Raphson approach. The inverse of the Fisher information matrix provides the variances and covariances of the estimated parameters.
Analytical antenna model for chiral scatterers: comparison with numerical and experimental data

An analytical model for polarizability dyadics of small chiral conductive particles in free space or those embedded in a lossy material is presented and discussed. Chiral particles are modeled by a wire loop connected to two straight wire elements. The electromagnetic analysis is based on the replacement of the particles by two connected antennas representing the wire and loop portions. Analytical expressions for polarizabilities are given. For electrically small particles, a lumped-element equivalent circuit can be constructed and the polarizabilities can be expressed in terms of equivalent circuit parameters. It is shown that the wire-and-loop antenna model for scatterers satisfies the reciprocity condition and other basic physical requirements. Approximate analytical expressions are compared with numerical simulations and with the experimental data on reflection from single chiral particles, and the results are seen to be in good agreement. The model can be used in analytical modeling of chiral and omega composite materials.
Search for fractionally charged particles in lunar soil. [Upper limit, concentration, cosmic ray flux]

A search for stable fractionally charged particles (quarks) in lunar soil was carried out using methods based on the ionic properties which would separate quarks and distinguish them from normal elements. Previous searches in terrestrial substances are reviewed. An upper limit for the concentration in lunar soils, subject to the uncertainties in the physical and chemical properties of quarks, is 2 x 10/sup -22//nucleon corresponding to a flux of cosmic-ray origin of less than 5 x 10/sup -12//cm/sup 2/ sec sr or 1/m/sup 2/ yr sr. (AIP)
Algebraisable versions of topological predicate logic, Part 1 Toplogical logic via cylindric algebras

Motivated by questions like: which spatial structures may be characterized by means of modal logic, what is the logic of space, how to encode in modal logic different geometric relations, topological logic provides a framework for studying the confluence of the topological semantics for S4 modalities, based on topological spaces rather than Kripke frames, with the S4 modality induced by the interior operator. Following research initiated by Sgro, and further pursued algebraically by Georgescu, we prove an interpolation theorem and an omitting types theorem for various extensions of predicate topological logic and Chang’s modal logic. Our proof is algebraic addressing expansions of cylindric algebras using interior operators and boxes, respectively. Then we proceed like is done in abstract algebraic logic by studing algebraisable extensions of both logics; obtaining a plethora of results on the amalgamation property for various subclasses of their algebraic counterparts, which are varieties. As a sample, we show that the free algebras of infinite dimensions enjoy several weak forms of interpolation, a property equivalent to the fact that the class of simple algebras have the amalgamation property, but they fail the usual Craig interpolation property, because the whole variety fails to have the amalgamation property. Such interpolation properties fail for finite dimensions > 1. Notions like atom-canonicity and complete representations are approached for finite dimensional topological cylindric algebras. The logical consequences of our algebraic results are carefully worked out for infinitary extensions of Chang’s predicate modal logic and finite versions thereof, by restricting to n variables, n finite, viewed as a propositional multi-dimensional modal logic, and n products of bimodal whose frames are of the form (U,U × U,R) where R is a pre-order, endowed with diagonal constants. We show that for any finite n > 2 such modal
Analysis of the Factors Affecting Resistance to Changes in Management Accounting Systems *

Despite changes in the environment and management accounting practices, studies indicate that management accounting systems do not change or change at a much slower rate than expected. The stability of the management accounting systems used by companies may relate to resistance to changing these systems. This study analyzes the factors that contribute to resistance to implementing an integrated management system from the perspective of institutional theory, grounded in the old institutional economics. Methodologically, this study provides a qualitative assessment of the problem and a descriptive analysis of the resistance factors through a case-study approach. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed through content analysis. Two companies were selected for this study due to their differing characteristics. The following seven factors were analyzed for resistance to implementing integrated management systems: institutional power, ontological insecurity, trust, inertia, lack of knowledge, acceptance of routines and decoupling. However, there was no evidence to characterize hierarchical power. The research findings indicate that changing management accounting systems, through the implementation of an integrated management system, faces internal resistance in these organizations. Each factor varies in intensity but is permanently present in these companies, such as ontological insecurity, trust, inertia, lack of knowledge, acceptance of routines and decoupling. These factors are awakened when the change process begins and, if they gather enough force, can stop the change.
Heterogeneous Carrier-Sense Multiple Access for Improved Energy Fairness in LoRaWAN

This paper proposes a heterogeneous carrier-sense multiple access (CSMA) protocol named LoHEC as the first research attempt to improve energy fairness when applying CSMA to Long-Range Wide-Area Network (LoRaWAN). LoHEC is enabled by Channel Activity Detection (CAD), a recently introduced carrier-sensing technique to detect LoRaWAN signals even below the noise floor. The design of LoHEC is inspired by the fact that existing CAD-based CSMA proposals are in a homogeneous manner by having LoRaWAN end devices perform identical CAD regardless of the differences of their used network parameter – spreading factor (SF). This can lead to energy consumption unbalance among end devices since the consumed energy during CAD is significantly affected by SF. By considering the heterogeneity of LoRaWAN in terms of SF, LoHEC requires end devices to perform different numbers of CAD operations with different CAD intervals during channel access. Particularly, the number of needed CADs and CAD interval are determined based on the CAD energy consumption under different SFs. We conduct extensive experiments regarding LoHEC with a practical LoRaWAN testbed including 30 commercial off-the-shelf end devices. Experimental results show that in comparison with the existing solutions, LoHEC can achieve 0.6–0.8× improvement of the energy fairness on average.
Unsupervised, Federated and Privacy-Preserving Detection of Anomalous Electricity Consumption in Real-World Scenarios

Being able to detect anomalous electricity consumption events in residential buildings is one of the main steps when reducing unnecessary energy usage. In this paper, we present an unsupervised approach for detecting such kind of events locally at individual households, while leveraging the knowledge from other households and ensuring the privacy of the consumption. This is realized by learning a model locally on the households’ edge devices for on-the-edge anomaly detection, using federated learning to leverage the knowledge from other households and ensure the privacy of the training data, and using a secure aggregation approach to handle model weight updates, protecting against a malicious central server and avoiding the risk of model inversion attacks. The approach has as advantages that it respects privacy, does not require annotated data, circumvents the cold-start problem, and is flexible with respect to detecting different types of occurring anomalies. We demonstrate its effectiveness on a real-world, highly granular electricity consumption dataset comprising 14 Belgian households during a period of 36 months, and show effectiveness by installing malfunctioning devices in a lab environment.
What Really Drives the Spread of COVID-19 Tweets: A Revisit from Perspective of Content

COVID-19 content spreads wildly on social media and produces significant effects in both causing social panic and assisting pandemic management. However, what really enhances the diffusion of pandemic-related content during COVID-19, particularly from the perspective of the content itself, remains unexplored. Using large-scale COVID-19 tweets posted on Twitter, this paper empirically examines the effects of the four key characteristics, namely emotions, topics, hashtags, and mentions, on information spread in the pandemic. The empirical results show that most negative emotions have positive effects on retweeting. Nevertheless, the positive effect of trust on retweeting is unexpectedly the strongest. And the positive effects of the political topics and mentioning politicians further indicate that people are sensitive to the politicization of information during the pandemic. The strongest anger intensity in the political topic also needs to be noticed. The results complement the extant understanding of information diffusion during COVID-19 and provide insights for the governments to understand the psychology and behavior of large population during disasters like global pandemics.