Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Angular Power Spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Seen by the COBE DMR

The angular power spectrum estimator developed by Peebles and Hauser & Peebles has been modified and applied to the 4 yr maps produced by the COBE DMR. The power spectrum of the observed sky has been compared to the power spectra of a large number of simulated random skies produced with noise equal to the observed noise and primordial density fluctuation power spectra of power-law form, with P(k) ∝ kn. The best-fitting value of the spectral index in the range of spatial scales corresponding to spherical harmonic indices 3 ≤ ℓ ≲ 30 is an apparent spectral index napp = 1.13−0.4+0.3 which is consistent with the Harrison-Zeldovich primordial spectral index npri = 1. The best-fitting amplitude for napp = 1 is ⟨Qrms2⟩0.5 = 18 μK.
Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, Weight Status, and Body Composition among South African Primary Schoolchildren

Background: Over the past decades, childhood overweight has increased in many African countries. We examined the relationship between sedentary behaviour, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and body composition in South African primary schoolchildren living in peri-urban settings. Methods: MVPA was measured via 7-day accelerometry and body composition via bioelectrical impedance analysis in 1090 learners (49.2% girls, Mage = 8.3 ± 1.4 years). The relationships between MVPA and sedentary behaviour with the various body composition indicators (body fat and fat-free mass [total, truncal, arms, and legs], bone mass, muscle mass, and body water) were tested with mixed linear regressions. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 9.8% and 6.6%, respectively; 77.1% of the children engaged in ≥60 min of MVPA/day. Girls were more likely to be overweight/obese, to accumulate less than 60 min of MVPA/day, and had significantly higher relative body fat than boys (ps < 0.001). Lower MVPA was associated with a higher likelihood of being overweight/obese, higher relative body fat, and lower relative fat-free mass, bone mass, muscle mass, and body water (ps < 0.001). For lower sedentary behaviour, the associations with body composition pointed in the opposite direction. Conclusions: In this South African setting, girls are a particularly relevant target group for future physical activity interventions to prevent overweight/obesity-related non-communicable diseases in later life.
Emission, scattering and localization of light in complex structures: From nanoantennas to disordered media

Using nanostructures to confine light allows to increase the interaction between an emitter and electromagnetic radiation. In this thesis, we use a classical formalism (presented in Chap. 1) to describe this interaction in various contexts, that can be gathered in two parts (respectively Parts II and III). First, we study the apparition of localized modes in the near field of complex metallic structures. We study numerically the spatial distribution of the local density of states (LDOS) in the vicinity of two different structures: gold nanoantennas and disordered metallic films. Our results allow us to discriminate between radiative and non-radiative modes. We introduce the concept of cross density of states (CDOS) to quantitatively study the intrinsic spatial coherence associated with the modal structure of a complex medium. We use the CDOS to demonstrate an overall spatial squeezing of the modes near the electric percolation of disordered metallic films. Then, we focus on strongly scattering media. By illuminating such structures by a coherent source, one obtains a chaotic intensity pattern called speckle. First, we use a diagramatic method to demonstrate an anticorrelation between the reflected and transmitted speckle patterns in the case of a diffusive slab in the mesoscopic regime. Then, we study the C0 correlation, that appears the source is embedded inside the medium. We propose a general derivation of the equality between the C0 correlation and the normalized fluctuations of the LDOS, and emphasize the fundamental role of near-field interactions. Finally, we study two-dimensional disordered media in the Anderson localized regime. We observe the strong coupling regime between such a mode and a resonant scatterer, in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions.
Potential Applications of an Exopolysaccharide Produced by Bacillus xiamenensis RT6 Isolated from an Acidic Environment

The Bacillus xiamenensis RT6 strain was isolated and identified by morphological, biochemical and molecular tests from an extreme acidic environment, Rio Tinto (Huelva). Optimisation tests for exopolysaccharide (EPS) production in different culture media determined that the best medium was a minimal medium with glucose as the only carbon source. The exopolymer (EPSt) produced by the strain was isolated and characterised using different techniques (GC-MS, HPLC/MSMS, ATR-FTIR, TGA, DSC). The molecular weight of EPSt was estimated. The results showed that the average molecular weight of EPSt was approximately 2.71 × 104 Da and was made up of a heteropolysaccharide composed of glucose (60%), mannose (20%) and galactose (20%). The EPSt showed antioxidant capabilities that significantly improved cell viability. Metal chelation determined that EPSt could reduce the concentration of transition metals such as iron at the highest concentrations tested. Finally, the emulsification study showed that EPSt was able to emulsify different natural polysaccharide oils, reaching up to an 80% efficiency (olive and sesame oil), and was a good candidate for the substitution of the most polluting emulsifiers. The EPSt was found to be suitable for pharmaceutical and industrial applications.
Modulation of ENSO teleconnections over North America by the Pacific decadal oscillation

In this study, we investigate whether the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) can enhance or diminish El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) temperature and precipitation teleconnections over North America using five single model initial-condition large ensembles (SMILEs). The use of SMILEs facilitates a statistically robust comparison of ENSO events that occur during different phases of the PDO. We find that a positive PDO enhances winter and spring El Niño temperature and precipitation teleconnections and diminishes La Niña teleconnections. A negative PDO has the opposite effect. The modulation of ENSO by the PDO is mediated by differences in the location and strength of the Aleutian Low and Pacific Jet during ENSO events under different phases of the PDO. This modulation is a simple combination of the individual effects of the PDO and ENSO over North America. Finally, we show that ENSO and the PDO can be used to evaluate the likelihood of the occurrence of temperature and precipitation anomalies in different regions, but cannot be used as a deterministic predictor of these anomalies due to the large variability between individual events.
Insect Pollinators of Onion in New York State1

Honey bees and drone flies are the most common insects found on flowering onions in New York State; 1216 other insects, representing many species, were collected from 3 areas in the state. Dialictus sp. and Halictus sp. (Apoidea) and 3 Diptera species are common pollinators. The observed species are compared with those on onions in the western states.
Unintended Effects of Policy Interactions in the Health Sector: A Case of Kerala, India

The governments of developing countries, including India, are pursuing policy mixes in collaboration with the private sector to strengthen the public health system. However, little is known about the interaction of public policies with different instrument logics. We conducted a contextual analysis of two health policies with different instrument logics—emergency care and social health insurance programme—for over a decade in Kerala, employing primary and secondary data, government reports, newspaper articles, and published and unpublished literature. Our analysis suggests that the competition between policies has led to policies working at crossroads. The low political salience of emergency care has led to the diversion of resources and attention to government health insurance programmes. Thus, emergency care is increasingly facilitated at private facilities, shifting the government’s role from service delivery to financing. Our findings also highlight that the interaction effects among health policies receive limited attention among researchers and practitioners. These findings are relevant to countries of similar economies undergoing New Public Management reforms leading to the weakening of the public system in dealing with health functions such as emergency care.
PSR J1930–1852: A PULSAR IN THE WIDEST KNOWN ORBIT AROUND ANOTHER NEUTRON STAR

In the summer of 2012, during a Pulsar Search Collaboratory workshop, two high-school students discovered J1930–1852, a pulsar in a double neutron star (DNS) system. Most DNS systems are characterized by short orbital periods, rapid spin periods, and eccentric orbits. However, J1930–1852 has the longest spin period ( P spin ∼ ? > 185 ms) and orbital period ( P b ∼ ? > 45 days) yet measured among known, recycled pulsars in DNS systems, implying a shorter than average and/or inefficient recycling period before its companion went supernova. We measure the relativistic advance of periastron for J1930–1852, &ohgr; ˙ = 0.00078 ? > (4) deg yr−1, which implies a total mass ( M tot = 2.59 ? > (4) M ⊙ ? > ) consistent with other DNS systems. The 2 &sgr; ? > constraints on M tot ? > place limits on the pulsar and companion masses ( m p < 1.32 ? > M ⊙ ? > and m c > 1.30 ? > M ⊙ ? > respectively). J1930–1852’s spin and orbital parameters challenge current DNS population models and make J1930–1852 an important system for further investigation.
Conversion of Bulgarian Observational Data to OMOP Common Data Model: Initial Results

Common data models (CDMs) offer a standardized approach for data persistence and exchange. This is especially useful when nowadays-clinical data is distributed among heterogeneous sharing systems. Besides, OHDSI provides software tools in support on each stage of the ETL and ensure quality control. Therefore, data presented in CDM possesses all the features of a reliable source for a broad range of statistical analyses. This paper presents initial results of a research work done with the objective to transfer outpatient records from the Bulgarian Diabetes register into the OMOP CDM. One of the major challenges has been the extraction of clinical data from native language text as well as the use of international OMOP concepts to annotate data recorded in a Bulgarian context. The mapping of national encoding for drug codes was one of the serious obstacles to conceptual mapping that requires adaptation of such codes to corresponding drug codes in the International Classification of Diseases 9th Revision.
Phocid Sensory Systems and Cognition

Phocid seals experience disparate terrestrial and aquatic habitats through unique sensory ﬁlters. These ﬁlters enable them to gather information as they move through each environment, with sensory streams combining to form a salient and perceptually limited construct of the far more cluttered physical world. An understanding of how seals ‘see’ the world is fundamental to every aspect of their behavior. Such an understanding must be pieced together from available clues about their sensory biology and cognitive capabilities. These can be derived from anatomical, behavioral, physiological, and evolutionary studies—and consideration of the unique and sometimes opposing selective pressures operating on these perfectly amphibious carnivores. In this chapter, we summarize what is known about the sensory abilities of phocid seals and link sensory performance to behavior. We examine how vision, hearing, touch and hydrodynamic perception, chemoreception, and other senses operate effectively under the conﬂicting demands of marine and terrestrial living and consider how information from individual single sensory systems is integrated to form a multimodal representation of the environment.
A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO ESTIMATING SECTOR-LEVEL SUBSTITUTION ELASTICITIES WITH PPML

In this paper, we provide a practical approach to estimating the elasticity of substitution by sector using a PPML estimator, building on the methodology described in Riker (2020). The method is illustrated by estimating elasticities for NAICS 3-digit and 6-digit manufacturing sectors. The PPML estimates are compared with estimates produced using OLS and across different levels of aggregation in the data. We find that the PPML estimator tends to produce elasticity estimates that are larger and have greater variability than the OLS estimates.
REVISED BIG BANG NUCLEOSYNTHESIS WITH LONG-LIVED, NEGATIVELY CHARGED MASSIVE PARTICLES: UPDATED RECOMBINATION RATES, PRIMORDIAL 9Be NUCLEOSYNTHESIS, AND IMPACT OF NEW 6Li LIMITS

We extensively reanalyze the effects of a long-lived, negatively charged massive particle, X−, on big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). The BBN model with an X− particle was originally motivated by the discrepancy between the 6, 7Li abundances predicted in the standard BBN model and those inferred from observations of metal-poor stars. In this model, 7Be is destroyed via the recombination with an X− particle followed by radiative proton capture. We calculate precise rates for the radiative recombinations of 7Be, 7Li, 9Be, and 4He with X−. In nonresonant rates, we take into account respective partial waves of scattering states and respective bound states. The finite sizes of nuclear charge distributions cause deviations in wave functions from those of point-charge nuclei. For a heavy X− mass, mX ≳ 100 GeV, the d-wave → 2P transition is most important for 7Li and 7, 9Be, unlike recombination with electrons. Our new nonresonant rate of the 7Be recombination for mX = 1000 GeV is more than six times larger than the existing rate. Moreover, we suggest a new important reaction for 9Be production: the recombination of 7Li and X− followed by deuteron capture. We derive binding energies of X nuclei along with reaction rates and Q values. We then calculate BBN and find that the amount of 7Be destruction depends significantly on the charge distribution of 7Be. Finally, updated constraints on the initial abundance and the lifetime of the X− are derived in the context of revised upper limits to the primordial 6Li abundance. Parameter regions for the solution to the 7Li problem and the primordial 9Be abundances are revised.
Biochemical and Morphological Responses of Cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata ) to Leachate-Contaminated Water

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of leachate contaminated water on the morphological and biochemical parameters of selected tissues of Cowpea plant ( V. unguiculata ) Three polythene pots each containing 10kg of surface soil in a factorial combination of five treatment levels of watering with (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% v/v) simulated leachate. Three seeds of cowpea per pot were planted. Biochemical analysis which includes Alanine aminotransferase enzyme, lipid peroxidation, and assay of antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, ASB, MDA and CAT was carried out on the cowpea plant after 4 Weeks of planting. From the analysis, antioxidant activity of ASA, SOD and CAT planted in PKO leachate-contaminated soil was significantly (p<0.05) lower than that of control, while the malondialdehyde (MDA) was significantly higher than the control (p<0.05), also activities of enzymes (ALT) of leaves, stem and root of cowpea in all experimental groups were significantly higher than that of control (p<0.05). It could be inferred that cowpea growth had been adversely affected as membrane integrity of the tissues studied are compromised and that tissue dysfunction may occur. Therefore, consumption of cowpea plant ( V.unguiculata ) cultivated in water contaminated with leachate could pose threats to public health.
An Actively Controlled Micromixer

An active mixing strategy has been developed to enhance mixing of two fluids through a microchannel. Mixing is enhanced when the flow through the main channel of the mixer is perturbed by three sets of secondary flow channels. Numerical solutions of the flow through the mixer are calculated by simulating the full Navier-Stokes equation, the Stokes equation, and a simple analytical model based upon the superposition of elementary velocity profiles. The analytical model agrees qualitatively with Navier-Stokes and Stokes solutions for Reynolds numbers, Re = 5. A mixing coefficient is developed to quantitatively evaluate mixing efficiency for various flow configurations. The results indicate enhanced mixing for two possible flow configurations.
Decarbonizing Institutional Investor Portfolios

Combining global data on institutional investors’ equity holdings and firm-level carbon emissions, we study whether and how climate-conscious institutions reduce the carbon emissions of their equity portfolios. We find that institutions actively decarbonized their equity portfolios between 2005 and 2019. We hypothesize that institutions could either decarbonize via tilting their holdings towards lower emitting firms or via engaging their portfolio firms to curb emissions. Our analysis suggests that tilting is the predominant strategy used by institutions. Given that tilting does not reduce the negative externality of firm-level carbon emissions, our analysis raises doubts about the effectiveness of institutional investors in reducing the negative impact of firm-level carbon emissions on climate change.
G ENERATIVE M ODELLING WITH I NVERSE H EAT D ISSIPATION

While diffusion models have shown great success in image generation, their noiseinverting generative process does not explicitly consider the structure of images, such as their inherent multi-scale nature. Inspired by diffusion models and the desirability of coarse-to-fine modelling, we propose a new model that generates images through iteratively inverting the heat equation, a PDE that locally erases fine-scale information when run over the 2D plane of the image. We interpret the solution of the forward heat equation as a variational approximation in a diffusion-like latent variable model. We point out emergent qualitative properties not seen in diffusion models, such as disentanglement of overall colour and shape in images and aspects of neural network interpretability. Spectral analysis on natural images elucidates connections to diffusion models and reveals implicit inductive biases in them.
Sound field synthesis: Simulation and evaluation of auralized interaural cues over an extended area

Virtual acoustic environments paired with sound field synthesis methods enable the controlled auralization of a wide range of sound scenes, from single sources to a busy environment. Most sound field synthesis methods are mathematically accurate at the centre of a loudspeaker array, their reproduction errors increase as the distance to the centre increases. For a perceptual evaluation of sound field reproduction methods, an analysis of the resulting interaural cues is essential. Level errors in the sound field might be tolerable for evaluating certain aspects of spatial perception as long as the interaural cues match those present in the target sound field. This work evaluates simulated interaural cues in the centre and at off-centre positions in a square loudspeaker array for a sound source auralized with Higher-Order Ambisonics. We show a clear decrease of the consistency of the interaural cues as the distance to the centre increases, and different ILDs for the onset of the stimulus.
Una mirada al tratamiento actual de la estomatitis aftosa recurrente: Revisión de la literatura A look at the current management of recurrent aphthous stomatitis. Literature review

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a chronic idiopathic ulcerative pathology, which, although it does not compromise the life of patients, it can impair their quality of life. It has a high incidence in the population with a high percentage of recurrence. In view of its importance, the aim of this review is to provide an update on pharmacological and laser therapies for the management of recurrent aphthous stomatitis. A literature search was performed in PubMed, Science Direct, EBSCO HOST and LILACS databases from January 2010 to October 2020, identifying publications in English and Spanish. The articles that were included had to be related to aphthous stomatitis and its treatment, focusing on pharmacological or laser management. The search strategy yielded 4536 bibliographic citations, of which 19 were included in this review. Most of the studies were randomized clinical trials where the target population was adults that demonstrated the use of anti-inflammatory that pharmacological therapy should be established in a particular way, according to the clinical and patient history. The first-choice drugs are of topical use, reserving those of systemic use for moderate or severe cases and for patients with refractory treatment. Likewise, adjuvant recommendations such as nutrition and hygiene can help in the resolution of the disease. Laser therapy emerges as an alternative treatment with low risk and positive results for recurrent stomatitis.
DeepEye: Eye Tracking with Deep Learning

In this thesis, we aimed to combine existing results of Kastrati et al., 2021 to create a multi-task learning architecture which learns simultaneously on multiple tasks with the goal of building an EEG based eye tracker. We used this architecture as a pretraining pipeline for two of the original tasks Kastrati et al., 2021 implemented, namely two tasks which consisted of predicting the correct position and amplitude of a subject’s gaze using EEG data. While we achieved that the unified model learned multiple tasks to some extent, the re-sults do not bring us closer to the aforementioned goal because the pretraining pipeline does not lead to better results than published in the original paper.
An A* Algorithm for Flight Planning Based on Idealized Vertical Profiles

The Flight Planning Problem is to find a minimum fuel trajectory between two airports in a 3D airway network under consideration of the wind. We show that this problem is NP-hard, even in its most basic version. We then present a novel A ∗ heuristic, whose potential function is derived from an idealized vertical profile over the remaining flight distance. This potential is, under rather general assumptions, both admissible and consistent and it can be computed efficiently. The method outperforms the state-of-the-art heuristic on real-life instances.