Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Cytoskeleton Revealed by Quartz Crystal Microbalance and Digital Holographic Microscopy

The connection between cytoskeleton alterations and diseases is well known and has stimulated research on cell mechanics, aiming to develop reliable biomarkers. In this study, we present results on rheological, adhesion, and morphological properties of primary rat cardiac fibroblasts, the cytoskeleton of which was altered by treatment with cytochalasin D (Cyt-D) and nocodazole (Noc), respectively. We used two complementary techniques: quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and digital holographic microscopy (DHM). Qualitative data on cell viscoelasticity and adhesion changes at the cell–substrate near-interface layer were obtained with QCM, while DHM allowed the measurement of morphological changes due to the cytoskeletal alterations. A rapid effect of Cyt-D was observed, leading to a reduction in cell viscosity, loss of adhesion, and cell rounding, often followed by detachment from the surface. Noc treatment, instead, induced slower but continuous variations in the rheological behavior for four hours of treatment. The higher vibrational energy dissipation reflected the cell’s ability to maintain a stable attachment to the substrate, while a cytoskeletal rearrangement occurs. In fact, along with the complete disaggregation of microtubules at prolonged drug exposure, a compensatory effect of actin polymerization emerged, with increased stress fiber formation.
Multiscale Modeling of Electromagnetic Radiation Transport

iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . iv DEDICATION . v LIST OF TABLES . xi LIST OF FIGURES . xii LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES . xix CHAPTER 1. ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION TRANSPORT AND COMPUTATIONAL METHODS . 1 1.
Oxidative desulfurization utilizing activated carbon supported phosphotungstic acid in the frame of ultrasonication

Abstract Desulfurization technology is essential to remove sulfur content in diesel oil to achieve clean fuel products. In this study, oxidative desulfurization via ultrasonic bath equipment was utilized in conjunction with a synthesized activated carbon supported phosphotungstic acid (HPW-AC) catalyst. This research focuses on the extent of desulfurization in a simulated diesel oil. This contains 2.3% sulfur from benzothiophene (BT) and dibenzothiophene (DBT) mixed in actual diesel oil. The effects of ultrasonication time (30 min to 90 min), reaction temperature (40 °C to 70 °C), and catalyst dosage (6 wt% to 18 wt%) were examined for the oxidation of the simulated diesel oil containing BT and DBT. A 2k full factorial design was implemented in the experimental runs to evaluate the parameters by the analysis of variance. Results showed that the curvature of the model was not significant (p-value = 0.3134). Thus, further optimization runs were no longer required to fully analyze the model. The best conditions for sulfur conversion can be attained at 30 min, 70 °C and 18 wt% HPW-AC catalyst. Furthermore, the basic diesel oil properties (density, viscosity, and calorific value) were compared before and after the desulfurization treatment process. Results indicated that the simulated diesel oil retained essentially the same properties prior to its treatment. This proves to show a promising result that can further be improved for its applicability in future industrial practice.
Is Early Surgical Intervention Necessary for Acute Neonatal Humeral Epiphyseal Osteomyelitis: A Retrospective Study of 31 Patients

Objective: To review the treatment experience of neonatal humeral epiphyseal osteomyelitis retrospectively. Study design: Retrospective cohort study of infants with neonatal humeral epiphyseal osteomyelitis. Patients were divided into conservative group and surgical group, and the surgical group was subdivided into early and delayed surgical group. Results: In total, there were 7 patients in the conservative group and 24 in the surgical group. The length of hospital stay and intravenous course of antibiotic therapy were both significantly shorter in the surgical group (p < 0.001). The full recovery rate was also higher in the surgical group (83.3%) than the conservative group (14.3%) (p < 0.001). Early surgery group (n = 14) had an insignificantly higher positive rate of pus/aspirate culture and full recovery rate than delayed surgery group (n = 10). Conclusion: Surgical treatment for neonatal humeral epiphyseal osteomyelitis demonstrated significantly higher rates of positive culture for the pathogen, a shorter course of intravenous oral antibiotics, and lower incidence of growth abnormality than conservative treatment. In our institution, most of culture outcome Gram-positive bacteria, and early surgical treatment was recommended with better outcome than delayed surgical group. Empirical antibiotics should be tailored to the epidemiological characteristics of local virulent bacteria.
Quality of Life Status and Influencing Factors Among Patients with Deep Vein Thrombosis

Objective The objective of the study was to describe the quality of life (QoL) status and investigate the influencing factors of QoL among patients with deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Methods A retrospective analysis at a single center was performed, and the clinical data of 161 patients with DVT admitted to West China Hospital of Sichuan University from June 2019 to June 2020 were collected with the Villalta scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Chronic Venous Insufficiency Questionnaire (CIVIQ). The relationship between QoL and influencing factors, including characteristics, course of DVT, postthrombotic syndrome (PTS), psychological status, and behaviors, was analyzed by Student’s t-test, analysis of variance and multiple linear regression. Results A total of 161 patients who completed all the questionnaires between 2019 and 2020 were included, and 110 patients (68%) were male. The mean QoL score acquired by the CIVIQ scale was 74.18±8.44, and the results showed significant differences between patients of different ages, genders, behaviors and psychological statuses (P < 0.05). Multiple regression analysis showed that age (P = 0.024), negative mood (P < 0.001), CCI index (P < 0.001), PTS (P < 0.001) and regular exercise (P = 0.002) influenced the CIVIQ scale evaluation model, in which exercise regularly was a protective factor for QoL, and age, negative mood, CCI index and PTS were risk factors for QoL. Conclusion The QoL of DVT patients was impaired and associated with age, mood, CCI index and PTS. Regular exercise is beneficial for improving the quality of life of DVT patients.
Deep Learning-Based Consensus Control of a Multi-Agents System with Unknown Time-Varying Delay

Despite the enormous progress in consensus control of a multi-agents system (MAS), amodel-based consensus control is valid only when the assumption on the system environment and on the model is valid. To overcome this limitation, several deep learning (DL) based consensus controls directly learn how to generate a control signal from the model-based control. Depending on the exploitation of knowledge from the model-based control structure, four different deep learning models were considered. Numerical simulations of MAS with unknown time-varying delays and disturbance verify that, while providing comparable performance to the model-based control for many different system configurations, the DL-based controls with explicit knowledge of the control signal structure are preferred to that with implicit knowledge of the control signal or no knowledge, which shows the promising potential of DL-based control with supervised learning.
Hallucinations and Other Psychotic Symptoms in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

Background Psychotic symptoms in BPD are not uncommon, and they are diverse and phenomenologically similar to those in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Despite their prevalence in BPD patients, knowledge about the characteristics and severity of hallucinations is limited, especially in modalities other than auditory. Aim This review summarises the causes, phenomenology, severity, and treatment options of hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms in BPD. Methods The PubMed database was used with the following key terms: “borderline personality disorder” and ‘hallucinations’ and “psychotic symptoms”. Articles were selected between January 1990 and May 2021. The primary keyword search yielded a total of 545 papers, of which 102 articles met the inclusion criteria and were fully screened. Papers from the primary source reference lists were also screened, assessed for eligibility, and then added to the primary documents where appropriate (n = 143). After the relevance assessment, 102 papers were included in the review. We included adult and adolescent studies to gather more recent reviews on this topic. Results Hallucinations are significantly prevalent in BPD, mainly auditory, similar to schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The relationship between hallucinations and depression, anxiety, suicidality, schizotypy, and loneliness in BPD has been discovered but requires more research. Studies for treatment options for hallucinations in BPD are lacking. Conclusion Recognition of psychotic symptoms in patients with BPD as distinguished psychopathological phenomena instead of diminishing and overlooking them is essential in the clinical assessment and can be useful in predicting complications during treatment. More focused research in this area is needed.
The Answe ring Machine Generation - Who Are The y and What Problem Do The y Pose for Survey Research

Increased incidence of telephone answering machines and the use of such devices to screen calls pose a potential threat to the representativeness of samples in telephone surveys. Using data from nine statewide surveys, this analysis examines the extent to which answering machines are used to screen calls and the demographic characteristics associated with answering machine use and call screening. Results show that at most two to three percent of households use answering machines to screen calls, and that such screening is more likely to take place in households with higher family incomes, outside rural areas, and which include individuals who are younger and have higher levels of education. While call screening does not presently threaten the representativeness of samples in telephone surveys, the increased incidence of answering machines together with the increased percentage of households indicating these devices are sometimes used to screen calls demonstrate that the potential bias from this source is growing. Although there are many potential sources of error in surveys, among the most disturbing are those that threaten the representativeness of the sample. Lack of representativeness resulting from noncoverage, refusals to participate, or other forms of nonresponse jeopardize the accuracy of survey results. In this study we address one aspect of this problem by examining the extent to which the increased use of tele-This
Design and Analysis of an Electronically Tunable Magnet-Free Non-Reciprocal Metamaterial

In this article, we develop and experimentally test a fully tunable magnet-free, non-reciprocal, split-ring resonator based metamaterial. Non-reciprocity in the material response is introduced by bridging the split-ring gap with a biased FET transistor, which allows the non-reciprocity to be tuned with respect to gate-source and drain-source bias conditions. As a measure of non-reciprocity, we consider the Faraday rotation of a normally incident linearly polarized planewave, which is a function of the co-polarized and cross-polarized S-parameters associated with two horn antennas that transmit and receive the wave. Faraday rotation is calculated with respect to the operating frequency of the horn antennas and manually measured with respect to drain-source current at the resonant frequency. Interestingly, we find a linear relationship between Faraday rotation and drain-source current at the resonance.
Time use and food insecurity in female-headed households in Brazil

In Brazil, female-headed households disproportionately experience food insecurity. However, empirical and theoretical evidence shows that women are better than men at allocating intra-household resources to achieve well-being. In observation of this paradox, the present work studies the process of poverty feminization, and presents a collective decision model to understand the vulnerability situation of women. Specifically, we aimed to observe how time use and food insecurity correlate. We estimated an ordered probit model with Brazilian National Household Sample Survey data. Our studies found that women manage a double burden of both paid and unpaid jobs. This increases their risk of food insecurity, confirming the importance of time allocation in household well-being. Conversely, this effect is inverted when household tasks are shared with another member, specifically the spouse. Single mother households still face several challenges, which require specific policies and studies.
A new dataset of river flood hazard maps for Europe and the Mediterranean Basin

Abstract. In recent years, the importance of continental-scale hazard maps for riverine floods has grown. Nowadays, such maps are used for a variety of research and commercial activities, such as evaluating present and future risk scenarios and adaptation strategies, as well as supporting management plans for national and local flood risk. In this paper we present a new set of high-resolution (100 m) hazard maps for river flooding that covers most European countries, as well as all of the river basins entering the Mediterranean and Black Sea in the Caucasus, the Middle East and northern Africa. The new river flood hazard maps represent inundation along 329 000 km of the river network, for six different flood return periods, expanding on the datasets previously available for the region. The input river flow data for the new maps are produced by means of the hydrological model LISFLOOD using new calibration and meteorological data, while inundation simulations are performed with the hydrodynamic model LISFLOOD-FP. In addition, we present here a detailed validation exercise using official hazard maps for Hungary, Italy, Norway, Spain and the UK, which provides a more detailed evaluation of the new dataset compared with previous works in the region. We find that the modelled maps can identify on average two-thirds of reference flood extent, but they also overestimate flood-prone areas with below 1-in-100-year flood probabilities, while for return periods equal to or above 500 years, the maps can correctly identify more than half of flooded areas. Further verification is required in the northern African and eastern Mediterranean regions, in order to better understand the performance of the flood maps in arid areas outside Europe. We attribute the observed skill to a number of shortcomings of the modelling framework, such as the absence of flood protections and rivers with an upstream area below 500 km2 and the limitations in representing river channels and the topography of lowland areas. In addition, the different designs of reference maps (e.g. extent of areas included) affect the correct identification of the areas for the validation, thus penalizing the scores. However, modelled maps achieve comparable results to existing large-scale flood models when using similar parameters for the validation. We conclude that recently released high-resolution elevation datasets, combined with reliable data of river channel geometry, may greatly contribute to improving future versions of continental-scale river flood hazard maps. The new high-resolution database of river flood hazard maps is available for download at https://doi.org/10.2905/1D128B6C-A4EE-4858-9E34-6210707F3C81 (Dottori et al., 2020a).
Sport Fan Team Identification in a Professional Expansion Setting

GREENWOOD, PAUL BRIAN. Sport Fan Team Identification in a Professional Expansion Setting. (Under the direction of Michael A. Kanters.) This study assessed the relationship between team identification of sport fans and a number of different variables including but not limited to: the reasons for initially becoming a fan, specific sport knowledge, and purchasing behavior. A non-random sample of spectators (N = 356) at an Arena Football League (AFL) game completed a survey designed to identify or measure the aforementioned variables. A t-test revealed that males reported significantly higher levels of team identification than females. Analysis using a Pearson correlation matrix showed a positive correlation between team identification and sport knowledge, attendance rate, and purchasing behavior. Likewise, a positive correlation was found between team identification and the following reasons for initially becoming a fan: closest team, born and/or live in the city and/or state, team success, the players and/or coaches, parents and/or family influence, and the tailgating and party atmosphere. The findings have important implications for professional sport franchises in terms of tailoring marketing efforts for potential fans. SPORT FAN TEAM IDENTIFICATION IN A PROFESSIONAL EXPANSION SETTING by PAUL BRIAN GREENWOOD A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science PARKS, RECREATION, AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Studies on UV-induced DNA damage and repair to human DNA

The induction and repair of DNA damage has been shown to occur heterogeneously throughout the mammalian genome. As a consequence, analysis of these parameters at a global genome level may not reflect important gene-level events. Tew techniques have been established to explore quantitatively gene-specific DNA damage and repair. Most of these are PCR-based assays and are relatively insensitive, relying on decreased PCR amplification arising from damage in template DNA. In this study, a semi-quantitative assay that combines specific immunocapture of damaged DNA by an antiserum specific for thymine dimers (IgG479), with PCR amplification of a 149bp fragment of the human H-ras proto-oncogene was established. Quantification of DNA damage was based upon proportionality between the amount of the PCR product and the initial amount of damage. Detection of thymine dimers was possible with nanogram amounts o f genomic DNA and increased in a linear, dose-responsive manner. Using this assay, measurement of the induction of thymine dimers in the H-ras gene was shown to be proportional to the measurement of dimers induced in the global genome of UVCand UVB-irradiated genomic DNA, as measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. This result suggests that global damage assessments do indeed reflect gene-level events. However, the preferential repair of UVB-induced T o T in the human H-ras proto-oncogene compared to the overall genome of human keratinocyte cells was detected. These findings demonstrate the suitability of this approach to the detection of UVR-induced DNA damage and repair at the level of individual genes.
Resilient Control for Multiagent Systems With a Sampled-Data Model Against DoS Attacks

To reduce the computational burden and resist the denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, a resilient distributed sampled-data control scheme is proposed for multiagent systems. The agent states are sampled periodically by the sensors. DoS attacks disrupt the data communication from transmitters to controllers randomly or periodically with a limited duration time. Information on DoS attacks can be obtained by introducing novel logic processors embedded in corresponding controllers. Next, the problem of resilient control can be converted into one concerned with the upper and lower bound of the sampling interval of an aperiodic sampled-data control system. Some sufficient criteria for developing resilient distributed controllers are derived using the novel looped Lyapunov functional approach and the free-matrix-based inequality method. Finally, two illustrative examples, unmanned aerial vehicles and the two-mass-spring systems, are provided to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed resilient distributed sampled-data control protocols against the DoS attacks.
Applying heat pipes to a novel concept aero engine: Part 1 – Design of a heat-pipe heat exchanger for an intercooled aero engine

Abstract Civil aviation has instilled new perceptions of a smaller world, creating new opportunities for trade, exchange of cultures and travelling for leisure. However, it also brought with it an unforeseen impact on the environment. Aviation currently contributes to about 3·5% of the global warming attributed from human activities. With the forecasted rate of growth, this is expected to rise to about 15% over the next 50 years. Although it is projected that the annual improvements in aircraft fuel efficiency are of the order of 1-2%, it is suggested that the current gas turbine design is fully exploited and further improvements are difficult to achieve. A new generation of aero engine core concepts that can operate at higher thermal efficiencies and lower emissions is required. One possibility of achieving higher core efficiencies is through the use of an inter-cooled (IC) core at high overall pressure ratios (OPR). The concept engine, expected to enter into service around 2020, will make use of a conventional heat exchanger (HEX) for the intercooler. This paper seeks to introduce a heat pipe heat exchanger (HPHEX) as an alternative design of the intercooler. The proposed HPHEX design takes advantage of the convenience of the geometry of miniature heat pipes to provide a reduction in pressure losses and weight when compared to conventional HEX. The HPHEX will be made of a number of stages, each stage being made of a large number of miniature heat pipes in radial configuration, that will extend from the inter-compressor duct to the bypass split, thus eliminating any ducting to and from the intercooler. This design offers up to 32% reduction in hot pressure losses, 34% reduction in cold pressure losses and over 41% reduction in weight.
The prevalence of injuries in trail running: influence of trails, terrains and footwear

Abstract For many years, running-related injuries have been studied on surfaces that are flat, smooth and predictable but there are few studies that have reported on injuries in trail running. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to report on the prevalence of injuries incurred during trail running, the anatomical location most affected by injury, the type of trails and terrains on which injuries most occurred and the type of footwear associated with trail running injuries. A large sample (n = 1016) responded to an online retrospective questionnaire on trail running injuries, the types of trails and terrains on which they ran and the footwear that they used. The sample was determined to represent a range of ages and geographical regions in the United States. We found that 359 respondents reported a trail running injury with 872 injury occurrences with injuries having different frequencies of occurrence. The most commonly reported injury was a rolled or sprained ankle. A significant association was found between runners that sustained a given injury and their preferred trail and terrain types. A large majority (75%) of trail runners wore running footwear specifically designed for trail running. These results suggest that injuries in trail running are different than observed in road running where traumatic injuries to the ankle are more prevalent in trail running and where chronic injuries to the knee prevail in road running. We also noted that trail running injuries were only marginally the result of the type of trails and terrains on which runners most often ran. We did not find any association between the use of footwear specifically designed for trail running and injury risk.