Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simplifications and Comparisons of Shape Memory Alloy Constitutive Models

Here we will present a simplification of the form of one popular shape memory alloy (SMA) constitutive model. This simplification allows a more compact written form and hence easier calculations with the one-dimensional SMA constitutive law first developed by Tanaka, later modified by Liang and Rogers, and again by Brinson. In addition, a new derivation of the model will be given based on micromechanics. In this context, comparisons between the Tanaka and two other models will be presented and implications discussed. It will be shown that the constitutive models are in fact quite similar, and that the important distinction between these SMA models is primarily in the formulation of the transformation kinetics. Several examples will be presented utilizing the models.
Conservation prioritisation through genomic reconstruction of demographic histories applied to two endangered suids in the Malay Archipelago

The biodiversity of the Malay Archipelago is the product of the region's rich biogeographical history with periods of island connectivity and isolation during the Pleistocene glacial cycles. Here, the case of two endemic suid species, the Javan (Sus verrucosus) and Bawean (S. blouchi) warty pigs, was used to illustrate how biogeographic processes and recent anthropogenic pressures can shape demographic histories with significant implications for species conservation.
Assessment of the safety and probiotic characteristics of Lactobacillus salivarius CGMCC20700 based on whole-genome sequencing and phenotypic analysis

Lactic acid bacteria are generally regarded as alternatives to antibiotics in livestock and poultry farming, especially Lactobacillus strains, which are safe and have probiotic potential. Although Lactobacillus salivarius has long been proposed to be a probiotic, the understanding of the roles of this species is still in its infancy. Here, a strain of L. salivarius CGMCC20700 isolated from the intestinal mucosa of Yunnan black-bone chicken broilers was investigated in the context of its safety and probiotic characteristics by whole-genome sequencing in parallel with phenotypic analysis. Whole-genome sequencing results showed that L. salivarius CGMCC20700 has a single scaffold of 1,737,577 bp with an average guanine-to-cytosine (GC) ratio of 33.51% and 1,757 protein-coding genes. The annotation of Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG) classified the predicted proteins from the assembled genome as possessing cellular, metabolic, and information-related functions. Sequences related to risk assessment, such as antibiotic resistance and virulence genes, were identified, and the strain was further confirmed as safe according to the results of antibiotic resistance, hemolytic, and acute oral toxicology tests. Two gene clusters of antibacterial compounds and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity were identified using genome mining tools and antibacterial spectrum tests. Stress resistance genes, active stressor removal genes, and adhesion related genes that were identified and examined with various phenotypic assays (such as stress tolerance tests in acids and bile salts and auto aggregation and hydrophobicity assays). The strain showed a high survival rate in the presence of bile salts and under acidic conditions and exhibited significant auto aggregation capacity and hydrophobicity. Overall, L. salivarius CGMCC20700 demonstrated excellent safety and probiotic potential at both the genomic and physiological levels and can be considered an appropriate candidate probiotic for livestock and poultry farming.
The spectral profile of cortical activation during a visuospatial mental rotation task and its correlation with working memory

Introduction The search for a cortical signature of intelligent behavior has been a longtime motivation in Neuroscience. One noticeable characteristic of intelligence is its association with visuospatial skills. This has led to a steady focus on the functional and structural characteristics of the frontoparietal network (FPN) of areas involved with higher cognition and spatial behavior in humans, including the question of whether intelligence is correlated with larger or smaller activity in this important cortical circuit. This question has broad significance, including speculations about the evolution of human cognition. One way to indirectly measure cortical activity with millisecond precision is to evaluate the event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) of alpha power (alpha ERSP) during cognitive tasks. Mental rotation, or the ability to transform a mental representation of an object to accurately predict how the object would look from a different angle, is an important feature of everyday activities and has been shown in previous work by our group to be positively correlated with intelligence. In the present work, we evaluate whether alpha ERSP recorded over the parietal, frontal, temporal, and occipital regions of adolescents performing easy and difficult trials of the Shepard–Metzler’s mental rotation task, correlates or are predicted by intelligence measures of the Weschler’s intelligence scale. Methods We used a database obtained from a previous study of intellectually gifted (N = 15) and average intelligence (N = 15) adolescents. Results Our findings suggest that in challenging task conditions, there is a notable difference in the prominence of alpha event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) activity between various cortical regions. Specifically, we found that alpha ERSP in the parietal region was less prominent relative to those in the frontal, temporal and occipital regions. Working memory scores predict alpha ERSP values in the frontal and parietal regions. In the frontal cortex, alpha ERSP of difficult trials was negatively correlated with working memory scores. Discussion Thus, our results suggest that even though the FPN is task-relevant during mental rotation tasks, only the frontal alpha ERSP is correlated with working memory score in mental rotation tasks.
Comparison of GPCP Monthly and Daily Precipitation Estimates with High-Latitude Gauge Observations

Abstract Monthly and daily products of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) are evaluated through a comparison with Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) gauge observations for the period January 1995–December 2007 to assess the quality of the GPCP estimates at high latitudes. At the monthly scale both the final GPCP combination satellite–gauge (SG) product is evaluated, along with the satellite-only multisatellite (MS) product. The GPCP daily product is scaled to sum to the monthly product, so it implicitly contains monthly-scale gauge influence, although it contains no daily gauge information. As expected, the monthly SG product agrees well with the FMI observations because of the inclusion of limited gauge information. Over the entire analysis period the SG estimates are biased low by 6% when the same wind-loss adjustment is applied to the FMI gauges as is used in the SG analysis. The interannual anomaly correlation is about 0.9. The satellite-only MS product has a lesser, but still rea.
The Message in Daily Exchange Rates

Formal testing procedures confirm the presence of a unit root in the autoregressive ploynomial of the univariate time series representation of daily exchange-rate data. the first differences of the logarithms of daily spot rates are approximately uncorrelated through time, and a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model with daily dummy variables and conditionally t-distributed errors is found to provide a good representation to the leptokurtosis and time-dependant conditional heteroscedasticity. The parameter estimates and characteristics of the models are found to be very similar for six different currencies. these apparent stylized facts carry over to weekly, fortnightly, and monthly data in which the degree of leptokurtosis and time-dependant heteroscedasticity is reduced as the length of the sampling interval increases.
Comparison of Water Vapor Measurements with Data Retrieved from ECMWF Analyses during the POLINAT Experiment

During the POLINAT (Pollution from Aircraft Emissions in the North Atlantic Flight Corridor) experiment, water vapor content was measured with a frost-point hygrometer on board the DLR (Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Luft-und-Raumfahrt) Falcon research aircraft. Model estimates of the water vapor mixing ratio along the flight track of the aircraft have been interpolated from 6-h ECMWF analyses. Comparisons are made between the in situ measurements and the model data for 16 POLINAT flights. In the high troposphere, the mixing ratio from the model is generally larger than the measured one, with differences amounting to a few percent up to 100%. But at mixing ratios below 20 ppmv and in the stratosphere, the mixing ratios from the model are generally smaller than the measured ones. The observed differences in the high troposphere can be explained by the low accuracy of radiosonde data at low temperatures and/or at small relative humidities. In the stratosphere, due to the technical limitations of radiosonde hygrometers, the water vapor concentration is set to a constant value at each ECMWF analysis step. Despite these discrepancies, many of the small-scale features are, at least in a qualitative sense, reproduced by the model.
The one-stop-shop approach: Navigating lumbar 360-degree instrumentation in a single position

Objective Treatment strategies of patients suffering from pyogenic spondylodiscitis are a controverse topic. Percutaneous dorsal instrumentation followed by surgical debridement and fusion of the infectious vertebral disc spaces is a common approach for surgical treatment. Technical advances enable spinal navigation for dorsal and lateral instrumentation. This report investigates combined navigated dorsal and lateral instrumentation in a single surgery and positioning for lumbar spondylodiscitis in a pilot series. Methods Patients diagnosed with 1- or 2-level discitis were prospectively enrolled. To enable posterior navigated pedicle screw placement and lateral interbody fusion (LLIF) patients were positioned semi-prone in 45-degree fashion. For spinal referencing, a registration array was attached to the pelvic or spinal process. 3D scans were acquired intraoperatively for registration and implant control. Results 27 patients suffering from 1- or 2-level spondylodiscitis with a median ASA of 3 (1–4) and a mean BMI of 27.9 ± 4.9 kg/m2 were included. Mean duration of surgery was 146 ± 49 min. Mean blood loss was 367 ± 307 ml. A median of 4 (4–8) pedicle screws were placed for dorsal percutaneous instrumentation with an intraoperative revision rate of 4.0%. LLIF was performed on 31 levels with an intraoperative cage revision rate of 9.7%. Conclusions Navigated lumbar dorsal and lateral instrumentation in a single operation and positioning is feasible and safe. It enables rapid 360-degree instrumentation in these critically ill patients and potentially reduces overall intraoperative radiation exposure for patient and staff. Compared to purely dorsal approaches it allows for optimal discectomy and fusion while overall incisions and wound size are minimized. Compared to prone LLIF procedures, semi-prone in 45-degree positioning allows for a steep learning curve due to minor changes of familiar anatomy.
Design and Analysis of a Deep Learning Ensemble Framework Model for the Detection of COVID-19 and Pneumonia Using Large-Scale CT Scan and X-ray Image Datasets

Recently, various methods have been developed to identify COVID-19 cases, such as PCR testing and non-contact procedures such as chest X-rays and computed tomography (CT) scans. Deep learning (DL) and artificial intelligence (AI) are critical tools for early and accurate detection of COVID-19. This research explores the different DL techniques for identifying COVID-19 and pneumonia on medical CT and radiography images using ResNet152, VGG16, ResNet50, and DenseNet121. The ResNet framework uses CT scan images with accuracy and precision. This research automates optimum model architecture and training parameters. Transfer learning approaches are also employed to solve content gaps and shorten training duration. An upgraded VGG16 deep transfer learning architecture is applied to perform multi-class classification for X-ray imaging tasks. Enhanced VGG16 has been proven to recognize three types of radiographic images with 99% accuracy, typical for COVID-19 and pneumonia. The validity and performance metrics of the proposed model were validated using publicly available X-ray and CT scan data sets. The suggested model outperforms competing approaches in diagnosing COVID-19 and pneumonia. The primary outcomes of this research result in an average F-score (95%, 97%). In the event of healthy viral infections, this research is more efficient than existing methodologies for coronavirus detection. The created model is appropriate for recognition and classification pre-training. The suggested model outperforms traditional strategies for multi-class categorization of various illnesses.
What naturalistic stimuli tell us about pronoun resolution in real-time processing

Studies on pronoun resolution have mostly utilized short texts consisting of a context and a target sentence. In the current study we presented participants with nine chapters of an audio book while recording their EEG to investigate the real-time resolution of personal and demonstrative pronouns in a more naturalistic setting. The annotation of the features of the pronouns and their antecedents registered a surprising pattern: demonstrative pronouns showed an interpretive preference for subject/agent antecedents, although they are described to have an anti-subject or anti-agent preference. Given the presence of perspectival centers in the audio book, this however confirmed proposals that demonstrative pronouns are sensitive to perspectival centers. The ERP results revealed a biphasic N400–Late Positivity pattern at posterior electrodes for the demonstrative pronoun relative to the personal pronoun, thereby confirming previous findings with highly controlled stimuli. We take the observed N400 for the demonstrative pronoun as an indication for more demanding processing costs that occur due to the relative unexpectedness of this referential expression. The Late Positivity is taken to reflect the consequences of attentional reorientation: since the demonstrative pronoun indicates a possible shift in the discourse structure, it induces updating of the discourse structure. In addition to the biphasic pattern, the data showed an enhanced positivity at frontal electrode sites for the demonstrative pronoun relative to the personal pronoun. We suggest that this frontal positivity reflects self-relevant engagement and identification with the perspective holder. Our study suggests that by using naturalistic stimuli, we get one step closer to understanding the implementation of language processing in the brain during real life language processing.
A new robust SPMSM control to parameter variations in flux weakening region

A new implementation strategy for the flux weakening control of a surface mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor (SPMSM) is proposed. It is implemented based on the output of the synchronous PI current regulator-reference voltage to PWM inverter. The onset of flux weakening and the level of the d-axis current are adjusted by the outer voltage regulation loop to prevent the saturation of the current regulator. The characteristics of this flux weakening scheme include no dependency on the machine parameters, the guarantee of current regulation on any operating condition, and fast transition into and out of the flux weakening mode. Experimental results at various operating conditions including 4-quadrant operation are presented to verify the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.
On Φ-Derivation in Banach Algebras

Using Brešar and Šemrl approach, we give a proof of the extended Jacobson density theorem for Φ-derivations. Further, some applications on Banach algebras will be given. Precisely, for d being a continuous Φ-derivation on a given Banach algebra ℬ, we show that: d(ℬ) ⊂ rad (ℬ) ⇔ [b,[a, d(a)]] ∈ rad (ℬ) for all a, b ∈ ℬ and d leaves invariant all maximal ideals of codimension one⇔for every a ∈ ℬ there exists a positive integer n such that (d(a)) n is quasi-nilpotent ⇔ [d, Φ](ℬ) ⊂ rad (ℬ) and d 2(a) ∈ rad (ℬ) for all a ∈ ℬ. Finally, we characterize all pairs d, δ of continuous Φ-derivations such that dδ(a) is quasi-nilpotent for all a ∈ ℬ and [d, δ](ℬ), [d, Φ](ℬ), [δ,Φ](ℬ) are subsets of rad (ℬ).
Relationship between Birth Order and Postnatal Growth until 4 Years of Age: The Japan Environment and Children’s Study

Later-borns tend to be shorter than first-borns in childhood and adulthood. However, large-scale prospective studies examining growth during infancy according to birth order are limited. We aimed to investigate the relationship between birth order and growth during the first 4 years of life in a Japanese prospective birth cohort study. A total of 26,249 full-term singleton births were targeted. General linear and multivariable logistic regression models were performed and adjusted for birth weight, parents’ heights, maternal age at delivery, gestational weight gain, maternal smoking and alcohol drinking status during pregnancy, household income, breastfeeding status, and Study Areas. The multivariate adjusted mean length Z-scores in “first-borns having no sibling”, “first-borns having siblings”, “second-borns”, and “third-borns or more” were −0.026, −0.013, 0.136, and 0.120 at birth and −0.324, −0.330, −0.466, and −0.569 at 10 months, respectively. Results similar to those at 10 months were observed at 1.5, 3, and 4 years. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of short stature at 4 years in “first-borns having siblings”, “second-borns”, and “third-borns or more” were 1.08 (0.84–1.39), 1.36 (1.13–1.62), and 1.50 (1.20–1.88), respectively, versus “first-borns having no sibling”. Birth order was significantly associated with postnatal growth and may be a factor predisposing to short stature in early childhood.
The immune checkpoint molecule, VTCN1/B7-H4, guides differentiation and suppresses proinflammatory responses and MHC class I expression in an embryonic stem cell-derived model of human trophoblast

The placenta acts as a protective barrier to pathogens and other harmful substances present in the maternal circulation throughout pregnancy. Disruption of placental development can lead to complications of pregnancy such as preeclampsia, intrauterine growth retardation and preterm birth. In previous work, we have shown that expression of the immune checkpoint regulator, B7-H4/VTCN1, is increased upon differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) to an in vitro model of primitive trophoblast (TB), that VTCN1/B7-H4 is expressed in first trimester but not term human placenta and that primitive trophoblast may be uniquely susceptible to certain pathogens. Here we report on the role of VTCN1 in trophoblast lineage development and anti-viral responses and the effects of changes in these processes on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I expression and peripheral NK cell phenotypes.
Diagonally Implicit Runge-Kutta Methods for Ordinary Differential Equations. A Review

A review of diagonally implicit Runge-Kutta (DIRK) methods applied to rst-order ordinary di erential equations (ODEs) is undertaken. The goal of this review is to summarize the characteristics, assess the potential, and then design several nearly optimal, general purpose, DIRK-type methods. Over 20 important aspects of DIRKtype methods are reviewed. A design study is then conducted on DIRK-type methods having from two to seven implicit stages. From this, 15 schemes are selected for general purpose application. Testing of the 15 chosen methods is done on three singular perturbation problems. Based on the review of method characteristics, these methods focus on having a stage order of two, sti accuracy, L-stability, high quality embedded and dense-output methods, small magnitudes of the algebraic stability matrix eigenvalues, small values of aii, and small or vanishing values of the internal stability function for large eigenvalues of the Jacobian. Among the 15 new methods, ESDIRK4(3)6L[2]SA is recommended as a good default method for solving sti problems at moderate error tolerances.
The Effect of Constriction Size on the Pulsatile Flow in a Channel

The effect of the constriction size on the pulsatile flow in a channel is studied by solving the time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. A pulsating incoming flow is specified at the upstream boundary and the flow is investigated for several constriction sizes. Large flow structures are developed downstream of the constriction even for very small constriction size. The flow structures consist of several vortices that are created in each cycle and propagate downstream until they are washed away with the acceleration of the incoming flow. Additional vortices are created by a vortex multiplication process. The strength and total number of vortices generated in each cycle increase with the severity of the constriction. The maximal size of the vortices as well as their propagation speed are independent of the constriction size. These findings may be used for devising noninvasive methods for detecting the severity of stenoses in blood vessels and the potential damage to blood elements and thrombus formation caused by vortices.
Effects of ring stiffeners on the underwater collapse behavior of carbon/epoxy composite tubes

An experimental study was performed to analyze the dynamic buckling behavior of stiffened composite tubes. The structures analyzed were filament-wound carbon-fiber/epoxy composite tubes with press-fitted compliant and rigid aluminum ring stiffeners. The ring thicknesses were chosen for a consistent buckling pressure for equally spaced one, two, and three compliant stiffener configurations. The composite structures were submerged inside a pressure vessel and then subjected to increasing hydrostatic pressure until buckle initiation. High-speed photography and Digital Image Correlation were used to acquire full-field displacements and velocities of the collapse event. In addition, piezoelectric transducers were used to concurrently record the local dynamic pressure histories along the length of the tube. The results show that increasing the number of stiffeners for the same collapse pressure decreases the overall energy emission from the implosion event by more than 16%. However, the energy mitigation effects are also influenced by the location of the stiffeners in relation to the buckling initiation point.
The Place of the Teacher: Environmental Communication and Transportive Pedagogy

ABSTRACT In this advanced review, we reflect on our own teaching and synthesise recent scholarship on higher education practices in order to examine the place of the teacher in environmental communication pedagogy. Most prior studies of environmental communication pedagogy have addressed on-campus or in-the-field teaching, with little attention paid to the challenges and opportunities of online or blended learning. We argue that environmental communication pedagogy must be reassessed in the context of the shift toward online instruction that the COVID-19 pandemic prompted, and we undertake this reassessment with a particular emphasis on the teacher’s “place. ” Through a review of three different modalities of teaching, we propose a transportive lens for understanding the place of the teacher in environmental communication pedagogy, which takes into account the teacher’s place within the learning environment and acknowledges their role in guiding the movement of learners through pedagogic environmental communication places and praxis.