Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Barriers and Facilitators of Health and Well-Being in Informal Caregivers of Dementia Patients: A Qualitative Study

Background: Given the dramatic projected increase in Alzheimer’s disease globally and the increased risk of morbidity and mortality for family caregivers of these patients, there is an urgent need to provide more targeted, timely resources to support the health and well-being of these informal caregivers. Few studies have investigated the barriers to health and well-being and potential strategies to facilitate better self-care from the unique perspective of the caregivers themselves. Purpose: This qualitative study aimed to identify barriers and facilitators to health and well-being for informal caregivers of family members with Alzheimer’s. Method: We conducted semi-structured interviews with eight informal caregivers, including daughters, wives, and one husband, ages 32 to 83. Using Reflexive Thematic Analysis, we identified three main themes and subthemes across caregivers’ experiences. Findings: We found that caregivers (1) prioritized mental and social well-being over physical health or health behaviors; (2) characterized the subjective burden of caregiving as a “mantle of responsibility” that could not easily be shed due to the complex subjective burden of loss, grief, guilt, resentment, isolation, loneliness, and lack of agency; (3) sought to be recognized as “additional patients”, instead of being viewed as invisible patients, with support services tailored to their life stage and challenges. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the subjective burden of strain experienced by family caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients has a profound impact on their health and well-being, even more so than the objective burden of strain that is the result of their day-to-day caregiving activities.
Spatially periodic dynamos

It is established analytically that, in a precisely defined sense, almost all steady spatially periodic motions of a homogeneous conducting fluid will give dynamo action at almost all values of the conductivity. The same result is obtained for motions periodic in space-time. The asymptotic form of the growing field, for an arbitrary initial field of finite energy, is also presented. Dynamo action is first shown to require that for some real vector there is a magnetic field solution of the form B= H exp (pt+ij. x), where H is a complex function of position (or of position and time) with the same periodicity as the motion, and p has positive real part, indicating growth. This number p is an eigenvalue of a linear differential operator on the space of admissible functions H. The first term of a power series in j for the eigenvalues/) which vanish to zero order is studied. It is thus proved sufficient for dynamo action that the determinant of the symmetric part of a certain 3 x 3 tensor, a function of the motion and conductivity, is non-zero. Finally, it is shown that this determinant is an analytic function of the conductivity, and is non-zero in a small conductivity limit for nearly all motions. This proves the stated result.
A Novel Transformer-Based IMU Self-Calibration Approach through On-Board RGB Camera for UAV Flight Stabilization

During flight, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) need several sensors to follow a predefined path and reach a specific destination. To this aim, they generally exploit an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for pose estimation. Usually, in the UAV context, an IMU entails a three-axis accelerometer and a three-axis gyroscope. However, as happens for many physical devices, they can present some misalignment between the real value and the registered one. These systematic or occasional errors can derive from different sources and could be related to the sensor itself or to external noise due to the place where it is located. Hardware calibration requires special equipment, which is not always available. In any case, even if possible, it can be used to solve the physical problem and sometimes requires removing the sensor from its location, which is not always feasible. At the same time, solving the problem of external noise usually requires software procedures. Moreover, as reported in the literature, even two IMUs from the same brand and the same production chain could produce different measurements under identical conditions. This paper proposes a soft calibration procedure to reduce the misalignment created by systematic errors and noise based on the grayscale or RGB camera built-in on the drone. Based on the transformer neural network architecture trained in a supervised learning fashion on pairs of short videos shot by the UAV’s camera and the correspondent UAV measurements, the strategy does not require any special equipment. It is easily reproducible and could be used to increase the trajectory accuracy of the UAV during the flight.
Optimization of thinned aperiodic linear phased arrays using genetic algorithms to reduce grating lobes during scanning

The scan volume of a thinned periodic linear phased array is proportional to the spacing between array elements. As the spacing between elements increases beyond a half wavelength, the scan range of the array will be significantly reduced due to the appearance of grating lobes. This paper investigates a method of creating thinned aperiodic linear phased arrays through the application of genetic algorithms that will suppress the grating lobes with increased steering angles. In addition, the genetic algorithm will place restrictions on the driving-point impedance of each element so that they are well behaved during scanning. A genetic algorithm approach is also introduced for the purpose of evolving an optimal set of matching networks. Finally, an efficient technique for evaluating the directivity of an aperiodic array of half-wave dipoles is developed for use in conjunction with genetic algorithms.
A Numerical Study of 3D Turbulent Melt Flow and Solidification in a Direct Chill Slab Caster with an Open-Top Melt Feeding System

A 3D control-volume based finite-difference model has been developed to simulate coupled turbulent melt flow and solidification phenomena for a semi-continuous direct chill slab casting of an aluminum alloy (AA-1050). The model considered an open-top melt delivery system for a hot-top mold. The model was verified with the experimental solidification front measurements and a reasonable agreement was found. The computations were carried out by varying important process parameters such as casting speed, inlet melt superheat, and mold–metal contact effective heat transfer coefficient in order to understand their effects on the solidification and cooling behavior of AA-1050.
Hamiltonian description of the topology of drift orbits of relativistic particles in a tokamak

Using classical perturbation theory, a Hamiltonian description of the guiding center motion of relativistic electrons in a torus with an axially symmetric magnetic field is derived. The magnetic field itself generates concentric circular flux surfaces. This description enables us to assess the behavior of the drift orbits such that previously unknown details follow almost naturally due to the introduction of higher order terms in the description. The rotational transform of the orbit for a given particle is found to decrease when the particle energy increases and the radius of the particle orbit is almost constant during acceleration. As a consequence, the minor radius of a drift surface with a (fixed) rotational transform 1/qD is always smaller than the radius of the magnetic flux surface with q=qD from which the particle started with zero energy. At a critical energy, the drift surface has collapsed to a point in the poloidal cross section. Above this critical energy there is no particle orbit with the .
Antibiotic susceptibility of Proteus Mirabillis that isolates of Diabetic foot ulcers in Al- Diwaniyah Hospital

The current study have been included 250 samples diabetic foot ulcer patients attending in Al-Diwaniyah Teaching Hospital and private clinics at a period of study from beginning October 2021 to February 2022, Isolates were identified by morphological form on blood agar and macConkey agar, traditional biochemical tests and then confirmed by Vitek 2 system.
Outcome of COVID-19 in allogeneic stem cell transplant recipients: Results from the EPICOVIDEHA registry

Background The outcome of COVID-19 in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients is almost uniformely considered poor. The aim of present study was to retrospectively analyse the outcome and risk factors for mortality in a large series of patients who developed COVID-19 infection after an allogeneic HSCT. Methods This multicenter retrospective study promoted by the European Hematology Association – Infections in Hematology Study Working Group, included 326 adult HSCT patients who had COVID-19 between January 2020 and March 2022. Results The median time from HSCT to the diagnosis of COVID-19 was 268 days (IQR 86-713; range 0-185 days). COVID-19 severity was mild in 21% of the patients, severe in 39% and critical in 16% of the patients. In multivariable analysis factors associated with a higher risk of mortality were, age above 50 years, presence of 3 or more comorbidities, active hematologic disease at time of COVID-19 infection, development of COVID-19 within 12 months of HSCT, and severe/critical infections. Overall mortality rate was 21% (n=68): COVID-19 was the main or secondary cause of death in 16% of the patients (n=53). Conclusions Mortality in HSCT recipients who develop COVID-19 is high and largely dependent on age, comorbidities, active hematologic disease, timing from transplant and severity of the infection.
Translational Fidelity during Bacterial Stresses and Host Interactions

Translational fidelity refers to accuracy during protein synthesis and is maintained in all three domains of life. Translational errors occur at base levels during normal conditions and may rise due to mutations or stress conditions. In this article, we review our current understanding of how translational fidelity is perturbed by various environmental stresses that bacterial pathogens encounter during host interactions. We discuss how oxidative stress, metabolic stresses, and antibiotics affect various types of translational errors and the resulting effects on stress adaption and fitness. We also discuss the roles of translational fidelity during pathogen–host interactions and the underlying mechanisms. Many of the studies covered in this review will be based on work with Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli, but other bacterial pathogens will also be discussed.
The stability of axisymmetric convection

Abstract The stability of steady axisymmetric solutions of the Rayleigh-Benard problem to non-axisymmetric disturbances is discussed. In the first part of the paper, the critical Rayleigh numbers for the non-axisymmetric modes of convection in a cylinder are determined. These are found to be lower than the critical Rayleigh number for unbounded convection. In the second part, the stability of finite amplitude axisymmetric solutions is discussed, with particular emphasis on the stability of the flywheel mode. The significance of these results for low Prandtl number convection is briefly discussed, and the connection with solar granulation, in particular the exploding granule phenomenon, is mentioned.
SingMonitor: E-bike Charging Health Monitoring Using Sound from Power Supplies

In recent years, fire disasters caused by charging electric bicycles/moped (e-bikes) have been increasing, causing catastrophic loss of life and property; Worse still, existing fire warning systems are costly to install and maintain, and they work after the accident occurs. Some existing works propose using power meters or similar sensors in the power grid to monitor e-bike charging health. However, the use of additional equipment makes them challenging to deploy. Others can use the sound or electromagnetic signals emitted by e-bikes for monitoring, but they suffer from limited monitoring distance. To solve this problem, we propose SingMonitor, a scheme to remotely monitor e-bike charging status using mobile devices’ microphones. The charging e-bike generates a unique current signal, which is then transmitted through the power grid and drives the mobile devices’ power supply to generate sound, which is then captured by a microphone. Based on this principle and the proposed template matching method, SingMonitor can identify the e-bike charging status. Experiments show SingMonitor achieves an F1 score of 0.94 in identifying 10 e-bikes’ charging status, with a detection distance of 9m+.
Factors Influencing the Training Process of Paralympic Women Athletes

(1) Background: Paralympic women athletes in their training process go through a series of interrelated stages which are parallel to their evolutionary development, during which a wide variety of psychological, social, and biological factors will have an impact. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors influencing the sports training process of Spanish Paralympic women athletes (social, sporting, psychological, technical–tactical factors, physical condition, as well as barriers and facilitators) who had won at least one medal (gold, silver, or bronze) in the 21st century Paralympic Games (from Sydney 2000 to Tokyo 2020). (2) Methods: The research involved 28 Spanish Paralympic women athletes who had won at least one medal at a Paralympic Games in the 21st century. An interview of 54 questions grouped into 6 dimensions (sport context, social context, psychological, technical–tactical, physical fitness, and barriers and facilitators) was used. (3) Results: Coaches, as well as families, were essential in the sport development of Paralympic athletes. In addition, most women athletes recognized that psychological aspects were of vital importance, as well as working on technical–tactical aspects and physical fitness in an integrated way. Finally, the Paralympic women athletes highlighted that they had to face numerous barriers, mainly financial challenges and issues with visibility in the media. (4) Conclusions: Athletes consider it necessary to work with specialists to control emotions, increase motivation and self-confidence, as well as to reduce stress and anxiety and manage pressure. Finally, the training process and sporting performance of Paralympic women athletes are conditioned by several barriers, including economic, social, architectural, and disability barriers. These considerations can be taken into account by the technical teams working with Paralympic women athletes, as well as by the competent bodies, to improve the sports training process of these athletes.
Functionalizing Collagen Membranes with MSC-Conditioned Media Promotes Guided Bone Regeneration in Rat Calvarial Defects

Functionalizing biomaterials with conditioned media (CM) from mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) is a promising strategy for enhancing the outcomes of guided bone regeneration (GBR). This study aimed to evaluate the bone regenerative potential of collagen membranes (MEM) functionalized with CM from human bone marrow MSC (MEM-CM) in critical size rat calvarial defects. MEM-CM prepared via soaking (CM-SOAK) or soaking followed by lyophilization (CM-LYO) were applied to critical size rat calvarial defects. Control treatments included native MEM, MEM with rat MSC (CEL) and no treatment. New bone formation was analyzed via micro-CT (2 and 4 weeks) and histology (4 weeks). Greater radiographic new bone formation occurred at 2 weeks in the CM-LYO group vs. all other groups. After 4 weeks, only the CM-LYO group was superior to the untreated control group, whereas the CM-SOAK, CEL and native MEM groups were similar. Histologically, the regenerated tissues showed a combination of regular new bone and hybrid new bone, which formed within the membrane compartment and was characterized by the incorporation of mineralized MEM fibers. Areas of new bone formation and MEM mineralization were greatest in the CM-LYO group. Proteomic analysis of lyophilized CM revealed the enrichment of several proteins and biological processes related to bone formation. In summary, lyophilized MEM-CM enhanced new bone formation in rat calvarial defects, thus representing a novel ‘off-the-shelf’ strategy for GBR.
Molecular and Serological Identification of Pathogenic Leptospira in Local and Imported Cattle from Lebanon

Leptospirosis is a worldwide bacterial zoonosis for which the risk increases in warm and wet climates. Despite the suitability of the local climate for the bacteria’s persistence, Lebanon lacks a formal system of prophylaxis for the prevention of Leptospira infection in both humans and animals, and the disease’s epidemiology is unknown so far. As a preliminary step, we focused on Leptospira infection in cattle, which is of public health and economic concern. We conducted a descriptive study in cattle from the governorate of Mount Lebanon (ML) and in imported cattle. A total of 187 blood and 135 serum samples were provided. Among the 187 blood samples, 135 were from randomly selected animals from 14 herds, while the remaining 52 were from imported livestock. Serum specimens (n = 135) were obtained exclusively from cattle in the ML governorate. DNA was extracted from all blood samples and subjected to real-time PCR targeting 16S rRNA. All Leptospira-positive DNA samples were then amplified using conventional PCR (cPCR), and Leptospira species were identified via Sanger sequencing. A microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was performed on the 135 serum samples from local cattle. The real-time PCR revealed Leptospira infection in 7 of 135 local animals and 1 of 52 imported animals. DNA from six of the seven local animals and the one imported animal were amplified by cPCR and successfully sequenced, identifying the pathogen as the species L. kirschneri. Seven animals located in five out of the 14 tested herds had MAT titers ≥1 : 100. Serogroup Grippotyphosa was predominant. This is the first study to provide epidemiological data on bovine Leptospira infection in Lebanon. Pathogenic Leptospira species and serogroups were identified in both local and imported cattle. These findings highlight the cattle associated risk of Leptospira infection in Lebanon, in the contexts of farming and trade. Summary. Leptospirosis is a severe zoonotic disease that can have critical consequences for people and animals. Within the country of Lebanon, this disease has been reported, but its epidemiology is unknown so far. The present study thus provides the first description of the existence of Leptospira in cattle in Lebanon (local and imported). It also highlights the existence of different pathogenic serogroups of Leptospira in local cattle. Our results should raise public health awareness of the threat posed by this underdiagnosed disease and serve as a starting point for control efforts in Lebanon.
Sampling Theorem for Entire Functions of Exponential Growth

Applying the theory of generalized functions we obtain the Shannon sampling theorem for entire functions F(z) of exponential growth and give its error estimate which shows how much the error depends on the sampling size and bandwidth for given domain of the signal F(z). As an application we obtain a uniqueness theorem for entire functions and temperature functions.
κ-Selenocarrageenan Oligosaccharides Prepared by Deep-Sea Enzyme Alleviate Inflammatory Responses and Modulate Gut Microbiota in Ulcerative Colitis Mice

κ-Selenocarrageenan (KSC) is an organic selenium (Se) polysaccharide. There has been no report of an enzyme that can degrade κ-selenocarrageenan to κ-selenocarrageenan oligosaccharides (KSCOs). This study explored an enzyme, κ-selenocarrageenase (SeCar), from deep-sea bacteria and produced heterologously in Escherichia coli, which degraded KSC to KSCOs. Chemical and spectroscopic analyses demonstrated that purified KSCOs in hydrolysates were composed mainly of selenium-galactobiose. Organic selenium foods through dietary supplementation could help regulate inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). This study discussed the effects of KSCOs on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis (UC) in C57BL/6 mice. The results showed that KSCOs alleviated the symptoms of UC and suppressed colonic inflammation by reducing the activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and regulating the unbalanced secretion of inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10). Furthermore, KSCOs treatment regulated the composition of gut microbiota, enriched the genera Bifidobacterium, Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group and Ruminococcus and inhibited Dubosiella, Turicibacter and Romboutsia. These findings proved that KSCOs obtained by enzymatic degradation could be utilized to prevent or treat UC.
Study of a stall cell using stereo particle image velocimetry

The structure of Stall Cells (SCs) on wings is analyzed on the basis of stereo particle image velocimetry measurements. All experiments regard a Reynolds number 0.87 × 106 flow around a rectangular wing with endplates and an aspect ratio of 2.0. The inherently unstable stall cell is stabilized by means of a localized spanwise disturbance. Velocity, vorticity, and Reynolds stress data above the wing and in the wake are presented and discussed, also in combination with Computational Fluid Dynamics data. The present study completes and clarifies the previously suggested models regarding the SC structure. The SC emerges in between the separation and trailing edge shear layer where three different types of vortices are identified: (a) the stall cell vortices that start normal to the wing surface and continue downstream aligned with the free stream, (b) the separation line vortex, and (c) the trailing edge line vortex that both run parallel to the wing trailing edge and grow significantly at the center of the s.
Temperature dependence of the exciton homogeneous linewidth in In 0.60 Ga 0.40 As/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots

Single dot photoluminescence spectroscopy was used to study the homogeneous linewidth $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ of the ground-state exciton in ${\mathrm{In}}_{0.60}{\mathrm{Ga}}_{0.40}\mathrm{As}/\mathrm{GaAs}$ quantum dots as function of temperature T. In high resolution experiments at 2 K, we find a linewidth that is limited by the excitonic lifetime corresponding to a dephasing time of almost a ns. The approximately linear increase of \ensuremath{\Gamma} with temperature up to $\ensuremath{\sim}30 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{eV}$ at 60 K is considerably weaker than in structures of higher dimensionality. For higher T we observe a strong enhancement of the linewidth reaching eventually a few meV at room temperature that depends on the confined electronic shell structure.
Variation of Hausdorff dimension of Julia sets

Abstract Let (Rλ)λ∈D be an analytic family of rational maps of degree d ≥ 2, where D is a simply connected domain in ℂ, and each Rλ is hyperbolic. Then the Hausdorff dimension δ(λ) of the Julia set of Rλ satisfies where ℋ is a collection of harmonic functions u on D. We examine some consequences of this, and show how it can be used to obtain estimates for the Hausdorff dimension of some particular Julia sets.