Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electromagnetic shielding efficiency in Ka-band: carbon foam versus epoxy/carbon nanotube composites

Abstract. The wide application of microwaves stimulates searching for new materials with high electrical conductivity and electromagnetic (EM) interference shielding effectiveness (SE). We conducted a comparative study of EM SE in Ka-band demonstrated by ultra-light micro-structural porous carbon solids (carbon foams) of different bulk densities, 0.042 to 0.150 g/cm3, and conventional flexible epoxy resin filled with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in small concentrations, 1.5 wt. %. Microwave probing of carbon foams showed that the transmission through a 2 mm-thick layer strongly decreases with decreasing the pore size up to the level of 0.6%, due to a rise of reflectance ability. At the same time, 1 mm thick epoxy/CNT composites showed EM attenuation on the level of only 66% to 37%. Calculating the high-frequency axial CNTs’ polarizability on the basis of the idea of using CNT as transmission lines, we devised a strategy to improve the EM SE of CNT-based composites: because of the high EM screening of inner shells of multi-walled CNTs in the GHz range, it is effective to use either single-walled CNT or multi-walled CNTs with a relatively small number of walls (up to 15, i.e., those taking part in the EM interaction, if the CNT length is 20 μm).
Towards net zero emissions by 2050: the role of renewable energy, technological innovations, and forests in New Zealand

New Zealand has set a target of net zero emissions by 2050, and this study looks into the role that economic growth, renewable energy use, technological innovation, and forests could play in getting them there. The Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) technique was used to analyze time series data from 1990 to 2021. According to the results of the DOLS estimation, a one-percentage-point increase in economic growth is associated with a 0.24% increase in CO2 emissions. Furthermore, increasing the use of renewable energy by 1% is related with a reduction in CO2 emissions of 0.81 percent over the long run, as indicated by the coefficient of renewable energy use being negative and statistically significant. The calculated long-run coefficient of technical innovation is negative and statistically significant, suggesting that a 1% increase in technological innovation results in a 0.02% reduction in CO2 emissions. The long-run coefficient of forest area is notably negative and significant, which means that increasing forest area by 1% reduces CO2 emissions by 4.78%. The empirical results show that as New Zealand's economy grows, so do its CO2 emissions, but that the country may get closer to its goal of carbon neutrality through the growing use of renewable energy, technological innovation, and sustainable forest management. Alternative estimators, such as fully modified least squares (FMOLS) and canonical cointegrating regression (CCR), do not significantly affect the estimated results. In order for New Zealand to reach its goal of net zero emissions by 2050, this article offers policy ideas centered on a low-carbon economy, the promotion of the use of renewable energy sources, the financing of technical progress, and sustainable forest management.
Numerical Modeling of Free-Convection in Sinuous Channels with Leveled and Unleveled Ports

In this article, we numerically study natural convection in U-shaped channels oriented upward or downward. The figure of merit considered is the global conductance. Several opportunities for shape optimization have been revealed. In particular, the following features of U-shaped channels have been varied: spacing between the two vertical channels, breadths of the vertical channels, curvature radii of the connection between the two vertical channels, and the inlet-to-outlet height difference. We also studied the impact of nonuniform heat inputs in the channels and the effect of sequencing two interconnected U-shaped channels. Results suggest that upward facing U-shaped channels offer higher global conductance than their downward facing counterpart. Additionally, the results indicate that the curvature radii of the internal and external surfaces of the U-bend have a minor effect on the figure of merit if the bent breadth does not constrict the flow. Finally, the results show that significant improvements in terms of thermal performance are obtained if non-uniform heat flux conditions are imposed to the heated wall.
Comparative evaluation of different doses of dexmedetomidine with ropivacaine 0.25% in caudal block for postoperative analgesia in paediatric patients

Paediatric patients require specific attention when it comes to postoperative analgesia. [1] Single-shot caudal block is the most commonly used regional technique for children. Simpson et al.[2] showed that the use of ropivacaine in a caudal block causes a quicker onset and longer duration of action. The α2-adrenergic receptor agonist dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant reduces the onset time, prolongs the block time and reduces the dose of local anaesthetics. It produces sedation, analgesia, reduces stress response and can be used for caudal blocks in children. [3] This study was carried out to compare the efficacy of ropivacaine with different doses of dexmedetomidine in caudal block for paediatric lower abdominal surgeries.
Exact minimization of Kronecker expressions for symmetric functions

In this paper an algorithm for the exact minimization of Kronecker expressions (KROs) for totally symmetric functions is presented. KROs are a class of AND/EXOR forms closely related to Ordered Kronecker functional Decision Diagrams (OKFDDs). This close relation is used to obtain the first polynomial time minimization algorithm. A generalization to partially symmetric functions is investigated. Experimental results in comparison to previously published methods are given to show the efficiency of the approach.
Low-Frequency Transitions of a Simple Monsoon System

Abstract Seasonal, diurnal and synoptic time scales, plus a subseasonal modulation of synoptic events, appear to dominate the temporal structure of monsoon systems. Observational studies indicate that the latter low-frequency variation modulates or groups synoptic disturbances, producing periods of intense activity (the “active” monsoon) separated by distinct lulls (the “break” monsoon) Together with the “onset” and “retreat” of the monsoon, the modulations introduce into the system time scales which are far more rapid than that which would be expected from the evolving latitudinal variation of insolation. As observations indicate that the seasonal cycle and low-frequency transients occur in large spatial scales a model is used which appears to simulate the large-scale mean seasonal structure of the monsoon. Such a model is a zonally symmetric moist primitive equation model coupled to an interactive and mobile ocean. With such a model the hypothesis is tested that the basic character of the low-frequency .
The circumstellar structure of the Be shell star phi Persei . II. Modeling

We model Feii 5317 emission lines and phase resolved Hei 6678 and 5876 emission lines of the bright B2e& sdO shell binary ϕ Per to find the size and shape of the excitation region inside the circumprimary disk. We find the Feii 5317 emission to originate within 9 stellar radii in an axisymmetric disk around the primary. Orbital phase variations of Hei 6678 are fit in terms of a disk sector with disk radius of 10 stellar radii and opening angle of $\simeq$ $120\degr$ facing the secondary. This region can be alternatively described by an intersection of a sphere around the secondary and the circumprimary disk with a penetration depth of about $7 R_*$. Similar fit values are found for Hei 5876. The enigmatic orbital phase precedence of shell occurrence in the Hei emission features is discussed. We favor a model in which the inner Hei shell is deformed because of differential rotation in combination with a finite recombination time.
The second variation formula for harmonic mappings

The formula of the title is computed, and is used to calculate the index and nullity in several cases. Introduction. The variational characterization of a harmonic mapping of Riemannian manifolds f: N M states that f is harmonic iff the Dirichlet energy E(f) of the map is stable to first order with respect to variations of f [ES]. Here E(f) = 4fN df 12 * 1, where N is taken to be closed and oriented. The object of this paper is to give a formula for the second variation of the energy and use it to calculate the index and nullity of some harmonic maps. For the (nontrivial! ) case of the identity map, there are close relations with certain infinitesimal transformation groups. As a by-product we are led to a unified interpretation (in ? 2) of a differential operator which has turned up in varied geometrical contexts before (e.g. [BY], [LI], [NI], [YNI)X Examples are also given to show that the Morse theory of a harmonic map can be quite pathological. Finally, we note that the second variation formula for minimal submanifolds (i.e., the volume functional) can be found in [HE]. The results of this paper appear in the author's thesis [SMI], and I would like to thank David Elworthy and James Eells for their helpful suggestions. Since this article was accepted for publication, the second variation formula has appeared elsewhere (E. Mazet, La formule de la variation seconde de'l'energie au voisinage d'une application harmonique, J. Differential Geometry 8 (1973), 279-296), in which some different applications are developed. 1. The second variation formula. Let /: N M be a smooth map, and fs t a smooth 2-parameter variation of f with a//as = v and a//at = w at s = t = 0. Received by the editors May 23, 1973 and, in revised form, October 9, 1973. AMS (MOS) subject classifications (1970). Primary 58E15, 53C20.
Comparison of Global and Seasonal Characteristics of Cloud Phase and Horizontal Ice Plates Derived from CALIPSO with MODIS and ECMWF

AbstractThis study analyzed the global and seasonal characteristics of cloud phase and ice crystal orientation (CTYPE-lidar) by using the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) on board the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO). A dataset from September 2006 to August 2007 was used to derive the seasonal characteristics. The discrimination scheme was originally developed by Yoshida et al., who classified clouds mainly into warm water, supercooled water, and randomly oriented ice crystals or horizontally oriented ice plates. This study used the following products for the comparison with CTYPE-lidar: (i) the vertical feature mask (VFM) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), (ii) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and (iii) European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Overall, the results showed that the CTYPE-lidar discrimination scheme was consistent with the outputs from VFM, MODIS, and E.
Novel Adipokines and Their Role in Bone Metabolism: A Narrative Review

The growing burden of obesity and osteoporosis is a major public health concern. Emerging evidence of the role of adipokines on bone metabolism has led to the discovery of novel adipokines over the last decade. Obesity is recognized as a state of adipose tissue inflammation that adversely affects bone health. Adipokines secreted from white adipose tissue (WAT) and bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT) exerts endocrine and paracrine effects on the survival and function of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. An increase in marrow fat is implicated in osteoporosis and, hence, it is crucial to understand the complex interplay between adipocytes and bone. The objective of this review is to summarize recent advances in our understanding of the role of different adipokines on bone metabolism. Methods: This is a comprehensive review of the literature available in PubMED and Cochrane databases, with an emphasis on the last five years using the keywords. Results: Leptin has shown some positive effects on bone metabolism; in contrast, both adiponectin and chemerin have consistently shown a negative association with BMD. No significant association was found between resistin and BMD. Novel adipokines such as visfatin, LCN-2, Nesfatin-1, RBP-4, apelin, and vaspin have shown bone-protective and osteoanabolic properties that could be translated into therapeutic targets. Conclusion: New evidence suggests the potential role of novel adipokines as biomarkers to predict osteoporosis risk, and as therapeutic targets for the treatment of osteoporosis.
High nitrogen inhibits biomass and saponins accumulation in a medicinal plant Panax notoginseng

Nitrogen (N) is an important macronutrient and is comprehensively involved in the synthesis of secondary metabolites. However, the interaction between N supply and crop yield and the accumulation of effective constituents in an N-sensitive medicinal plant Panax notoginseng (Burkill) F. H. Chen is not completely known. Morphological traits, N use and allocation, photosynthetic capacity and saponins accumulation were evaluated in two- and three-year-old P. notoginseng grown under different N regimes. The number and length of fibrous root, total root length and root volume were reduced with the increase of N supply. The accumulation of leaf and stem biomass (above-ground) were enhanced with increasing N supply, and LN-grown plants had the lowest root biomass. Above-ground biomass was closely correlated with N content, and the relationship between root biomass and N content was negatives in P. notoginseng (r = −0.92). N use efficiency-related parameters, NUE (N use efficiency, etc.), NC (N content in carboxylation system component) and Pn (the net photosynthetic rate) were reduced in HN-grown P. notoginseng. SLN (specific leaf N), Chl (chlorophyll), NL (N content in light capture component) increased with an increase in N application. Interestingly, root biomass was positively correlated with NUE, yield and Pn. Above-ground biomass was close negatively correlated with photosynthetic N use efficiency (PNUE). Saponins content was positively correlated with NUE and Pn. Additionally, HN improved the root yield of per plant compared with LN, but reduced the accumulation of saponins, and the lowest yield of saponins per unit area (35.71 kg·hm−2) was recorded in HN-grown plants. HN-grown medicinal plants could inhibit the accumulation of root biomass by reducing N use and photosynthetic capacity, and HN-induced decrease in the accumulation of saponins (C-containing metabolites) might be closely related to the decline in N efficiency and photosynthetic capacity. Overall, N excess reduces the yield of root and C-containing secondary metabolites (active ingredient) in N-sensitive medicinal species such as P. notoginseng.
Improving text mining in plant health domain with GAN and/or pre-trained language model

The Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) architecture offers a cutting-edge approach to Natural Language Processing. It involves two steps: 1) pre-training a language model to extract contextualized features and 2) fine-tuning for specific downstream tasks. Although pre-trained language models (PLMs) have been successful in various text-mining applications, challenges remain, particularly in areas with limited labeled data such as plant health hazard detection from individuals' observations. To address this challenge, we propose to combine GAN-BERT, a model that extends the fine-tuning process with unlabeled data through a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), with ChouBERT, a domain-specific PLM. Our results show that GAN-BERT outperforms traditional fine-tuning in multiple text classification tasks. In this paper, we examine the impact of further pre-training on the GAN-BERT model. We experiment with different hyper parameters to determine the best combination of models and fine-tuning parameters. Our findings suggest that the combination of GAN and ChouBERT can enhance the generalizability of the text classifier but may also lead to increased instability during training. Finally, we provide recommendations to mitigate these instabilities.
Comparison of different force calculation methods in 3D finite element modelling

Different methods for the local and total force calculation in 3D are examined. The accuracy and efficiency of these methods when applied to two dual formulations are compared through numerical examples. The local application of virtual work principle using edge elements permits calculation of local and total force in conductors as well as in magnetic materials. Concerning the equivalent sources methods (magnetising current method and magnetic charge method), they are theoretically equivalent to the Maxwell stress tensor method for total force calculation, while the numerical accuracy depends on the accuracy of the normal and tangential components of the field. >
Accurate Boundary Conditions for Multicomponent Reactive Flows

Procedures to define accurate boundary conditions for reactive flows described by Navier-Stokes equations are discussed. A formulation based on one-dimensional characteristic waves relations at the boundaries, previously developed by Poinsot and Lele for perfect gases with constant homogeneous thermodynamic properties, is rewritten and extended in order to be used in the case of gases described with realistic thermodynamic and reactive models. This kind of formulation appears to be particularly accurate and stable, which is a necessity for non-dissipative codes, in particular for direct simulation of turbulent reactive flows. The simple and solid physical basis of the method is also very attractive and makes it an easy technique to implement in any Navier-Stokes solver. Examples of application in several different computations performed with mixtures of gases and using detailed chemistry and thermodynamic modeling are described. In all cases, acoustic waves, entropy waves, and flames are proved to propagate without perturbation through the boundaries.
Norm inequalities involving derivatives

Synopisis A new method for studying inequalities of the type ‖y(r)‖2<ε‖Sk−ry(k)‖2 + K(ε)‖S−ry‖2 and ‖y′‖2≦ Kp(S)‖Sy″‖ ‖S−1y‖ is presented here. With this new approach we obtain new and far reaching extensions of previously known inequalities of this sort as well as simpler proofs of the known cases. In addition we obtain an inequality of type ‖Sy′‖<ε‖(Sy′)′‖ + K(ε)‖y‖ for a general class of functions S. Also we give an elementary operator-theoretic proof of Everitt's characterization of the best constant as well as all cases of equality for
On the Pitch of Periodic Pulses

Subjects adjusted the frequency of one periodic pulse train to match the pitch of another train fixed in frequency. Two modes of pitch perception are found. In the first mode, for pulse rates less than 100 pps, the pulse trains are ascribed a pitch equal to the number of pulses per second, regardless of the polarity pattern of the pulses. In the second mode, for fundamental frequencies in excess of 200 cps, the sounds are assigned a pitch equal to the fundamental frequency. Between these frequency regions a mode transition occurs in which the pitch judgments generally fall between the pulse‐rate and fundamental‐frequency values. Amplitude and phase spectra are computed for the stimuli. The stimuli are studied on an electrical analog of the basilar membrane. Waveforms of membrane displacement and first spatial derivative of displacement are obtained from the analog. An effort is made to correlate the psychophysical results with the displacement and derivative patterns observed on the analog membrane. The two pitch modes are found to be manifested in the mechanical operation of the cochlea.
High Energetic Gamma Ray Bursts and Their Spectral Properties Within the Fireshell Model

The analysis of various Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) characterized by an isotropic energy Eiso ≲ 1053 ergs within the fireshell model has shown how that the observed N(E) spectrum of their prompt emission can be reproduced in a satisfactory way by assuming a thermal spectrum in the comoving frame of the fireshell. Nevertheless, from the study of higher energetic bursts (Eiso ≳ 1054ergs) such as, for example, GRB 080319B, some discrepancies between the numerical simulations and the observational data have been observed. We investigate a different spectrum of photons in the comoving frame of the fireshell in order to better reproduce the spectral properties of GRB prompt emission within the fireshell model. We introduce a phenomenologically modified comoving thermal spectrum: a spectrum characterized by a different asymptotic low energy slope with respect to the thermal one. We test this spectrum by comparing the numerical simulations with the observed prompt emission spectra of various GRBs; we present, as an exaple, the case of GRB 080319B.
Associations between diagnosis with stroke, comorbidities, and activity of daily living among older adults in the United States

Abstract Background Stroke is the leading cause of mortality. This study aimed to investigate the association between stroke, comorbidities, and activity of daily living (ADL) among older adults in the United States. Methods Participants were 1165 older adults aged 60 and older from two waves (2016 and 2018) of the Health and Retirement Study who had a stroke. Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographic information and comorbidities. Logistic regressions and multiple regression analyses were used to determine associations between stroke, comorbidities, and ADL. Results The mean age was 75.32 ± 9.5 years, and 55.6% were female. An adjusted analysis shows that older stroke adults living with diabetes as comorbidity are significantly associated with difficulty in dressing, walking, bedding, and toileting. Moreover, depression was significantly associated with difficulty in dressing, walking, bathing, eating, and bedding. At the same time, heart conditions and hypertension as comorbidity were rarely associated with difficulty in ADL. After adjusting for age and sex, heart condition and depression are significantly associated with seeing a doctor for stroke (odds ratio [OR]: 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.49–0.91; p = 0.01) and stroke therapy (OR: 0.46; 95% CI: 0.25–0.84; p = 0.01). Finally, stroke problem (unstandardized β [B] = 0.58, p = 0.017) and stroke therapy (B = 1.42, p < 0.001) significantly predict a lower level of independence. Conclusion This study could benefit healthcare professionals in developing further interventions to improve older stroke adults' lives, especially those with a high level of dependence.
Malaria and leishmaniasis: Updates on co-infection

Malaria and leishmaniasis are endemic parasitic diseases in tropical and subtropical countries. Although the overlap of these diseases in the same host is frequently described, co-infection remains a neglected issue in the medical and scientific community. The complex relationship of concomitant infections with Plasmodium spp. and Leishmania spp. is highlighted in studies of natural and experimental co-infections, showing how this “dual” infection can exacerbate or suppress an effective immune response to these protozoa. Thus, a Plasmodium infection preceding or following Leishmania infection can impact the clinical course, accurate diagnosis, and management of leishmaniasis, and vice versa. The concept that in nature we are affected by concomitant infections reinforces the need to address the theme and ensure its due importance. In this review we explore and describe the studies available in the literature on Plasmodium spp. and Leishmania spp. co-infection, the scenarios, and the factors that may influence the course of these diseases.