Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The study of joint input and state estimation with Kalman filtering

The problem of joint input and state estimation is investigated for discrete-time stochastic systems with direct feedthrough from unknown inputs to outputs in this paper. A Kalman filter with unknown inputs (KF-UI) approach is derived with the weighted least-squares estimation method. The least-squares estimators for states and unknown inputs are proven inherently optimal in the minimum-variance and unbiased sense. In addition, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the least-squares estimation of unknown inputs and states are provided and it has been shown that no prior information of unknown inputs is required for the proposed KF-UI approach. Simulation results for a linear system are included to demonstrate the effectiveness and optimality of the proposed KF-UI approach.
Polynomial and analytic stabilization of a wave equation coupled with an Euler–Bernoulli beam

We consider a stabilization problem for a model arising in the control of noise. We prove that in the case where the control zone does not satisfy the geometric control condition, B.L. R. (see Bardos et al. SIAM J. Control Optim. 1992; 30:1024–1065), we have a polynomial stability result for all regular initial data. Moreover, we give a precise estimate on the analyticity of reachable functions where we have an exponential stability. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
When is a molecule three dimensional? A task-specific role for imagistic reasoning in advanced chemistry†

Imagistic reasoning appears to be a critical strategy for learning and problem solving in the sciences, particularly chemistry; however, little is known about how students use imagistic reasoning on genuine assessment tasks in chemistry. The present study employed a think-aloud protocol to explore when and how students use imagistic reasoning for problem solving in organic chemistry. The analysis suggests that students employ imagistic reasoning preferentially for translating between various molecular representations. On more complex tasks typical of classroom assessments, the students' problem solving appears mostly dependent on the accuracy of self-generated inscriptions rather than the use of imagistic reasoning. The results indicate a variable interplay between imagistic reasoning and diagrammatic reasoning that suggests several pedagogical implications for teaching college chemistry. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed95:310–336, 2011
Instability and transitions of flow in a curved square duct: the development of two pairs of Dean vortices

Steady developing flow of an incompressible Newtonian fluid in a curved duct of square cross-section (the Dean problem) is investigated both experimentally and numerically. This study is a continuation of the work by Bara, Nandakumar & Masliyah (1992) and is focused on flow rates between Dn = 200 and Dn = 600 (Dn = Re/(R/a)1/2, where Re is the Reynolds number, R is the radius of curvature of the duct and a is the duct dimension; the curvature ratio, R/a, is 15.1). Numerical simulations based on the steady three-dimensional Navier – Stokes equations predict the development of a 6-cell secondary flow pattern above a Dean number of 350. The 6-cell state consists of two large Ekman vortices and two pairs of small Dean vortices near the outer wall that result from the primary instability that is of centrifugal nature. The 6-cell flow state develops near θ = 80° and breaks down symmetrically into a 2-cell flow pattern. The apparatus used to verify the simulations had a duct dimension of 1.27 cm and a streamwise length of 270°. At a Dean number of 453, different velocity profiles of the 6-cell flow state at θ = 90° and spanwise profiles of the streamwise velocity at every 20° were measured using a laser-Doppler anemometer. All measured velocity profiles, as well as flow visualization of secondary flow patterns, are in very good agreement with the simulations, indicating that the parabolized Navier – Stokes equations give an accurate description of the flow. Based on the similarity with boundary layer flow over a concave wall (the Görtler problem), it is suggested that the transition to the 6-cell flow state is the result of a decreasing spanwise wavelength of the Dean vortices with increasing flow rate. A numerical stability analysis shows that the 6-cell flow state is unconditionally unstable. This is the first time that detailed experiments and simulations of the development of a 6-cell flow state are reported.
Clinical and Histological Findings of Male Uterus (Uterus Masculinus) in Three Dogs (2014–2018)

Simple Summary In this study, we report the clinical and histopathologic diagnostic workup of three cases of uterus masculinus, the Müllerian duct remnant, in dogs. In the literature, single case reports describe this pathology in the canine species and, among other domestic mammals, in the horse. Its definitive diagnosis requires a specialized approach by integrating diagnostic imaging, surgery and histopathology analysis; furthermore, inflammation of uterus masculinus in the dog should be listed as a differential cause of abdominal pain. Abstract Data from three cases of uterus masculinus were retrieved from 2014 to 2018. Two out of three cases presented clinical signs compatible with systemic infection, as observed in bitches with pyometra. Ultrasound examination revealed a tubular fluid-filled structure with a thin irregular wall located cranially to the prostate and in continuity with the cranial part of the gland. In two cases, two other tubular fluid-filled structures were visualized in the caudal part of the abdominal cavity, ventrally to the prostate gland and urinary bladder. After surgical removal of these, histological examination revealed the presence of a uterine structure morphologically similar to the female counterpart. Various types of epithelial cell lining were found, including simple columnar, simple stratified and squamous epithelium associated with glands in the underlying stroma. Immunohistochemistry to anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) produced a positive result on glands, while multifocal expression was found in the lining epithelium. AMH seems involved in the pathogenesis of uterus masculinus, but its role is not fully understood. Thorough clinical and ultrasonographical examinations, followed by a histological confirmation, are necessary to properly diagnose uterus masculinus in dogs.
CT on-line monitoring of HIFU therapy

It was the aim of this study to evaluate the feasibility of a clinical CT scanner for temperature mapping in high intensity focused ultrasound tumor therapy. The authors used a 1.2 MHz ultrasound transducer for HIFU on fresh pig muscle. Image acquisition was performed with a clinical CT Scanner before, during and after HIFU. They were able to determine the spatial and temporal temperature development during HIFU application as hypodense zones in the performed images. Thermal necroses were shown as hyperdense areas in the CT images. Moreover, the authors were able to detect bubble formation due to vaporization during US application. Calibration showed a CT thermosensitivity of -0.43 HU//spl deg/C in pig muscle tissue.
Does the southern dominance of solar activity really exist in solar cycle 21

In this paper. 20 solar-activity phenomena arc:collected to investigate solar activity in solar cycle 21. The results obtained show that we can hardly say that either the south dominance of solar activity or the north dominance exists for solar cycle 21. It is also inferred in this paper that solar activity in solar cycle 21 has a northern bias at first. then as the cycle progresses, southern predominance takes over and tries to balance solar activity in the northern hemisphere. Solar activities in the southern and northern hemispheres are not necessarily in phase.
Melatonin in Dermatologic Allergic Diseases and Other Skin Conditions: Current Trends and Reports

Melatonin is the main hormone that regulates the sleep cycle, and it is mostly produced by the pineal gland from the amino acid tryptophan. It has cytoprotective, immunomodulatory, and anti-apoptotic effects. Melatonin is also one of the most powerful natural antioxidants, directly acting on free radicals and the intracellular antioxidant enzyme system. Furthermore, it participates in antitumor activity, hypopigmentation processes in hyperpigmentary disorders, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulating activity in inflammatory dermatoses, maintaining the integrity of the epidermal barrier and thermoregulation of the body. Due predominantly to its positive influence on sleep, melatonin can be used in the treatment of sleep disturbances for those with chronic allergic diseases accompanied by intensive itching (such as atopic dermatitis and chronic spontaneous urticaria). According to the literature data, there are also many proven uses for melatonin in photoprotection and skin aging (due to melatonin’s antioxidant effects and role in preventing damage due to DNA repair mechanisms), hyperpigmentary disorders (e.g., melasma) and scalp diseases (such as androgenic alopecia and telogen effluvium).
Protein Interactome of Amyloid-β as a Therapeutic Target

The amyloid concept of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) assumes the β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) as the main pathogenic factor, which injures neural and other brain cells, causing their malfunction and death. Although Aβ has been documented to exert its cytotoxic effect in a solitary manner, there is much evidence to claim that its toxicity can be modulated by other proteins. The list of such Aβ co-factors or interactors includes tau, APOE, transthyretin, and others. These molecules interact with the peptide and affect the ability of Aβ to form oligomers or aggregates, modulating its toxicity. Thus, the list of potential substances able to reduce the harmful effects of the peptide should include ones that can prevent the pathogenic interactions by specifically binding Aβ and/or its partners. In the present review, we discuss the data on Aβ-based complexes in AD pathogenesis and on the compounds directly targeting Aβ or the destructors of its complexes with other polypeptides.
Does investment in education and health impact youth employment outcomes? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract Labour engagement, underutilization and unemployment has dominated discourse in development literature in developing economies. It tangentially dictates the direction of migration, gross domestic output and in some cases, youth restiveness. This study investigated the unique relationship between investment in human capital proxied by spending in education and health and its effects on youth employment outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Annual data spanning 1995–2017 were obtained from 40 SSA countries comprising 920 macro panel observations. The bootstrap-based bias correction for the panel fixed effects estimation technique was employed to improve on the analytical corrections. Findings suggest that human capital investment comprising private and government health expenditures, primary, secondary and tertiary education expenditures were found to have varying significant impact on youth employment in SSA. The policy implication is that to reverse the perennial problem of youth unemployment in SSA would require serial consistent disproportionate investment more in education than in health.
Exploratory Study on the Associations between Lifetime Post-Traumatic Stress Spectrum, Sleep, and Circadian Rhythm Parameters in Patients with Bipolar Disorder

The present study aimed at exploring whether lifetime post-traumatic stress spectrum symptoms are associated with chronotype in patients with bipolar disorder (BD). Moreover, we explored whether the chronotype can moderate the potential associations between lifetime post-traumatic stress spectrum symptoms and rest–activity circadian and sleep-related parameters. A total of 74 BD patients were administered the Trauma and Loss Spectrum Self-Report (TALS-SR) lifetime version for lifetime post-traumatic stress spectrum symptoms, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) for self-reported sleep quality, and the Reduced Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (rMEQ) to discriminate evening chronotypes (ETs), neither chronotype (NT), and morning chronotype (MT). Actigraphic monitoring was used to objectively evaluate sleep and circadian parameters. Patients classified as ET reported significantly higher scores in the re-experiencing domain, as well as poorer sleep quality, lower sleep efficiency, increased wake after sleep onset, and delayed mid-sleep point compared with both NT and MT (p-value ≤ 0.05). Moreover, ET presented significantly higher scores in the TALS-SR maladaptive coping domain than NT and lower relative amplitude than MT (p-value ≤ 0.05). Moreover, higher TALS-SR total symptomatic domains scores were significantly correlated with poor self-reported sleep quality. Regression analyses showed that the PSQI score maintained the association with the TALS total symptomatic domains scores after adjusting for potentially confounding factors (age and sex) and that no interaction effect was observed between the chronotype and the PSQI. Conclusions: This exploratory study suggests that patients with BD classified as ET showed significantly higher lifetime post-traumatic stress spectrum symptoms and more disrupted sleep and circadian rhythmicity with respect to other chronotypes. Moreover, poorer self-reported sleep quality was significantly associated with lifetime post-traumatic stress spectrum symptoms. Further studies are required to confirm our results and to evaluate whether targeting sleep disturbances and eveningness can mitigate post-traumatic stress symptoms in BD.
On the distributions of the differences between the estimated autocorrelations and partial autocorrelations at the same lag

Pukkila (1982) introduced a new portmanteau-type test of white noise. The test is based on the differences between the estimated autocorrelations and the corresponding partial autocorrelations. In the present paper the distributions of these differences are consider in the case of normal white noise. Approximations to these distributions are given. Goodness of fit of these theoretical distributions and the corresponding observed distributions is studied using simulated time series of various lengths.
Improved ultraviolet second-harmonic generation at elevated repetition rates from a medium-scale copper-vapor laser

We report significant improvements in ultraviolet (UV) power generation at elevated pulse-repetition frequencies (10/spl ges/kHz) from a frequency-doubled copper-vapor laser (CVL), employing a Ne-H/sub 2/ buffer gas. In particular, UV powers of 1.3 W and 0.6 W at 255 nm (SHG green) were generated at 10 kHz and 20 kHz, respectively, when using H/sub 2/ additive in a medium scale (nominally 20 W) CVL oscillator. These results represent improvements of 6.5/spl times/ and /spl sim/100/spl times/, respectively, over the UV powers obtained for pure neon-buffer gas. The enhanced UV powers are directly related to the improvement in high-beam quality extraction from the CVL due to the beneficial effects of the H/sub 2/ add-gas on CVL gain characteristics. >
Three Layers of Uncertainty

We explore decision-making under uncertainty using a framework that decomposes uncertainty into three distinct layers: (1) risk, which entails inherent randomness within a given probability model; (2) model ambiguity, which entails uncertainty about the probability model to be used; and (3) model misspecification, which entails uncertainty about the presence of the correct probability model among the set of models considered. Using a new experimental design, we isolate and measure attitudes towards each layer separately. We conduct our experiment on three different subject pools and document the existence of a behavioral distinction between the three layers. In addition to providing new insights into the underlying processes behind ambiguity aversion, we provide the first empirical evidence of the role of model misspecification in decision-making under uncertainty.
Near-Surface Vortex Intensification through Corner Flow Collapse

Abstract Results are presented from a large set of large-eddy simulations of a class of unsteady vortex evolution that may sometimes play a role in tornadogenesis or tornado variability. Beginning with a high-swirl parent vortex with an excess of low-swirl flow through the surface/corner/core region, perturbation of the low-swirl near-surface inflow at a large radius can trigger a subsequent dynamic “corner flow collapse” producing dramatic near-surface intensification relative to conditions aloft of an order of magnitude or more in velocity scale. This paper presents a more detailed treatment of the physics and simulation of corner flow collapse, expanding upon the presentation given in a companion paper treating near-surface vortex intensification more generally for both steady and unsteady conditions. The basic scaling of the onset, intensification, structure, and duration of the phenomenon is explored as a function of some of the dominant physical parameters involved. A dimensionless rate of change of.
Precipitation Bragg Scatter in Radar Observations at Nadir

AbstractAs precipitation sediments and interacts with turbulence, spatial structures appear as the familiar “streamers” of precipitation sweeping across the road during a thunderstorm or like those so obvious in snow that is backlit. Some of these are at scales that resonate with the radar wavelength, and as a consequence they produce coherent backscatter (precipitation Bragg scatter). Recently, and in contrast to incoherent scattering, it was found that the power-normalized cross-correlation functions of backscattered complex amplitudes in neighboring range bins ρ12 averaged over time exist. Moreover, they are identical to the fractional contributions made by radar coherent backscatter in the radial direction to the total backscattered power in rain and snow. This coherent power can significantly affect some radar techniques for measuring precipitation intensity because it depends upon the square of the particle concentrations rather than the linear dependence in the case of incoherent backscatter. All o.
Single‐Well Pore Pressure Preconditioning for Enhanced Geothermal System Stimulation

The stress state is an important parameter in terms of both earthquake nucleation and rupture. Here, a new stimulation technique is proposed for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGSs), which have previously been burdened with a number of high‐profile incidences of induced seismicity. This stimulation technique pre‐emptively alters, or preconditions, the stress state before injection. This preconditioning is achieved through fluid production, such that the zone of reduced pore pressure around the well results in a stress‐ and fracture‐energy‐ barrier to potential nucleating and/or propagating ruptures near the point of injection. Using an existing 1‐D linear slip‐weakening model, it is shown how this methodology has the potential to either suppress the nucleation of dynamic events or halt their propagation. In particular, reducing the pore pressure around the region to be stimulated such that the residual shear stress rises above the in‐situ value of shear stress results in ultimately stable nucleation regimes. These results hold for injection times which are small compared to the required time of production, but this methodology results in nucleation lengths, or, analogously, stimulated areas, which are orders of magnitudes larger than those safely achievable without preconditioning. An example of how this approach may be applied in the field as well as other possible methods to achieve a preconditioned reservoir are provided. Both laboratory‐scale and meso‐scale testing of preconditioning are recommended to further constrain the applicability of this methodology for the creation of EGSs.
Laparoscopic vs. open distal gastrectomy for locally advanced gastric cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Objective The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to compare the short- and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (LDG) with those of open distal gastrectomy (ODG) for patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC) who exclusively underwent distal gastrectomy and D2 lymphadenectomy in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Background Data in published meta-analyses that included different gastrectomy types and mixed tumor stages prevented an accurate comparison between LDG and ODG. Recently, several RCTs that compared LDG with ODG included AGC patients specifically for distal gastrectomy, with D2 lymphadenectomy being reported and updated with the long-term outcomes. Methods PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were searched to identify RCTs for comparing LDG with ODG for advanced distal gastric cancer. Short-term surgical outcomes and mortality, morbidity, and long-term survival were compared. The Cochrane tool and GRADE approach were used for evaluating the quality of evidence (Prospero registration ID: CRD42022301155). Results Five RCTs consisting of a total of 2,746 patients were included. Meta-analyses showed no significant differences in terms of intraoperative complications, overall morbidity, severe postoperative complications, R0 resection, D2 lymphadenectomy, recurrence, 3-year disease-free survival, intraoperative blood transfusion, time to first liquid diet, time to first ambulation, distal margin, reoperation, mortality, or readmission between LDG and ODG. Operative times were significantly longer for LDG [weighted mean difference (WMD) 49.2 min, p < 0.05], whereas harvested lymph nodes, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospital stay, time to first flatus, and proximal margin were lower for LDG (WMD −1.3, p < 0.05; WMD −33.6 mL, p < 0.05; WMD −0.7 day, p < 0.05; WMD −0.2 day, p < 0.05; WMD −0.4 mm, p < 0.05). Intra-abdominal fluid collection and bleeding were found to be less after LDG. Certainty of evidence ranged from moderate to very low. Conclusions Data from five RCTs suggest that LDG with D2 lymphadenectomy for AGC has similar short-term surgical outcomes and long-term survival to ODG when performed by experienced surgeons in hospitals contending with high patient volumes. It can be concluded that RCTs should highlight the potential advantages of LDG for AGC. Systematic Review Registration PROSPERO, registration number CRD42022301155.
A search for rotational variations on trans-Neptunian objects

Aims. Our aim is to investigate the surface composition of TNOs. In particular we would like to confirm diverse spectral absorption features and to search for rotational inhomogeneities on one scattered disk object (26375) 1999 DE9, two plutinos (38628) Huya and (47932) 2000 GN171, and one centaur (83982) Crantor. Methods. We observed the targets with a new instrument available at the VLT, the near-infrared integral field spectrograph SINFONI. We obtained complete near-infrared spectra between 1.4 and 2.4 µm and compared them with data recorded previously by various groups. Results. Two objects, (38628) Huya and (83982) Crantor, have evidence of an absorption feature in their spectra at 2.0 µm, probably associated with water ice. (83982) Crantor shows a feature at 2.3 µm which could be associated with methanol. On the other hand, no features were found for (26375) 1999 DE9 and (47932) 2000 GN171 above the signal-to-noise ratio. Possible rotational heterogeneity can be seen on two objects: (38628) Huya as the 2.0 µm band is present on some spectra and absent on others, while (47932) 2000 GN171 shows a flat reflectance in contrast to an absorption in the H region previously seen.