Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stress during the COVID-19 Pandemic Moderates Pain Perception and Momentary Oxytocin Levels

Self-reported pain levels have been associated with increased stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. Less is known about the long-term effects of stress on individuals’ physical and emotional pain levels and their associations with the neuropeptide hormone oxytocin. We aimed to predict momentary pain through individual stress levels and momentary oxytocin levels at genuinely high-stress phases, namely during COVID-related lockdowns. In a cross-sectional (n = 254) and a longitudinal (n = 196) assessment during lockdowns in Germany, participants completed a 2-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol (collecting six saliva samples on two consecutive days each and simultaneously reporting on stress, physical, and emotional pain levels) in 2020, as well as one year later, in 2021. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed significant positive associations between individuals’ stress levels and physical pain, both cross-sectionally (b = 0.017; t(103) = 3.345; p = 0.001) and longitudinally (b = 0.009; t(110) = 2.025; p = 0.045). Similarly, subjective stress ratings showed significant positive associations with emotional pain on a within-person (b = 0.014; t(63) = 3.594; p < 0.001) as well as on a between-person (b = 0.026; t(122) = 5.191; p < 0.001) level. Participants further displayed significantly lower salivary oxytocin when experiencing higher levels of emotional pain (b = −0.120; t(163) = −2.493; p = 0.014). In addition, high-stress levels significantly moderated the association between physical pain and salivary oxytocin (b = −0.012; t(32) = −2.150; p = 0.039). Based on mechanistic and experimental research, oxytocinergic mechanisms have long been suggested to modulate pain experiences, however, this has not yet been investigated in everyday life. Our data, which was collected from a large sample experiencing continued stress, in this case, during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggests that individuals experience more intense physical pain and elevated stress levels, as shown by particularly low salivary oxytocin concentrations.
Horizontal Coherence of Wave Forces on Vertical Wall Breakwaters

Spatial coherence of wave impact pressures at a vertical breakwater in multidirectional seas is studied as part of an EU project under the LSF-TMR programme. The lay out and programme of tests are shortly described. A method for the identification of breaking waves is presented. The percentage of breaking waves for increasing wave height are estimated and compared with existing empirical formulae. The horizontal dimension of the breaker is investigated using two different methodologies: the first analyses the decreasing of the highest 1/250 force with increasing horizontal dimension of the caisson, with special attention to the effects of wave spreading, and the second analyses the spatial correlation of impulsive force per unit length along the breakwater.
Predefined-Time Consensus of Nonlinear Multi-Agent Input Delay/Dynamic Event-Triggered Under Switching Topology

The consensus control problem of multi-agent systems (MASs) is studied. Firstly, a predefined-time consensus control algorithm is proposed for nonlinear uncertain systems with the input delay and switching topology. Then, the problem of resource consumption is considered, a dynamic event-triggered predefined-time consensus control algorithm is presented by introducing internal dynamic variables, which can make the MASs achieve consensus in the preset time. The correctness of the algorithm is proved by algebraic graph theory and Lyapunov theory, and there is no Zeno behavior. Simulation comparison experiments verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm. Compared with the finite-time control algorithm, the convergence time of this algorithm is independent of the initial state. The upper bound of the system convergence time can be set by selecting a time parameter. Compared with the fixed-time control algorithm, the convergence time of this algorithm is independent of the controller parameters, only related to a single parameter, the setting is simple, and the estimated convergence time is less conservative. Compared with the static triggering mechanism, the dynamic triggering mechanism can avoid a large number of triggering.
Rheo-NMR velocimetry characterisation of PBLG/m-cresol

ABSTRACT NMR spectroscopy was used to characterise the velocity profile in nematic solutions of poly(γ-benzyl-L-glutamate) (PBLG) in m-cresol during the application of a simple shear-flow at constant shear-rate values. In this study, the rheo-NMR technique was used that allows an insight over the fluid dynamics during the application of a shear flow in the presence of an external magnetic field, in a perpendicular direction to the shear gradient. Using this Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) based technique, the velocity profile developed inside the system is accessed. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Data-Driven Design of Explicit Predictive Controllers With Structural Priors

In this letter, we propose a data-driven approach to derive explicit predictive control laws. The key idea of the presented strategy is to exploit the prior knowledge that the optimal solution is a piece-wise affine controller. As the proposed method allows us to automatically retrieve also a model of the closed-loop system, we show that we can apply classical Lyapunov techniques to perform a prior stability check for safe controller deployment. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is assessed on a benchmark simulation example, through which we also discuss the use of regularization and preprocessing techniques to handle the presence of noise.
Impact of chronic alcohol exposure on conventional and regulatory murine T cell subsets

Introduction Chronic alcohol use poses significant negative consequences to public health and, among its many biologic effects, is associated with significant T cell dysregulation within the adaptive immune system that has yet to be fully characterized. Novel, automated strategies for high dimensional flow cytometric analysis of the immune system are rapidly improving researchers’ ability to detect and characterize rare cell types. Methods Using a murine model of chronic alcohol ingestion in conjunction with viSNE and CITRUS analysis tools, we performed a machine-driven, exploratory analysis comparing rare splenic subpopulations within the conventional CD4+, regulatory CD4+ and CD8+ T cell compartments between alcohol- and water-fed animals. Results While there were no differences in the absolute numbers of bulk CD3+ T cells, bulk CD4+ T cells, bulk CD8+ T cells, Foxp3- CD4+ conventional T cells (Tconv) or Foxp3+ CD4+ regulatory T cells (Treg), we identified populations of naïve Helios+ CD4+Tconv and naïve CD103+ CD8+ splenic T cells that were decreased in chronically alcohol exposed mice versus water-fed controls. In addition, we identified increased CD69+ Treg and decreased CD103+ effector regulatory T cell (eTreg) subsets in conjunction with increased frequency of a population that may represent a transitional phenotype between central regulatory T cell (cTreg) and eTreg. Discussion These data provide further resolution into the character of decreased naïve T cell populations known to be present in alcohol exposed mice, as well as describe alterations in effector regulatory T cell phenotypes associated with the pathogenesis of chronic alcohol-induced immune dysfunction.
Effects of Diffusion on the Extent of Overshoot Below the Solar Convection Zone

Discontinuities in the derivatives of the sound speed at the base of the overshoot layer below the solar convection zone introduce a characteristic oscillatory component in the frequencies of solar p-modes as a function of the radial order n. The amplitude of this oscillatory part may be used to measure the extent of overshoot. However, sharp changes in the mean molecular weight due to gravitational settling of helium, as well as sharp changes in the opacity due to diffusion of metals, can also give rise to an oscillatory component in the frequencies of solar p-modes. Thus the estimate of overshoot will be affected by the diffusion of helium and metals. It is found that helium diffusion tends to increase the amplitude of the oscillatory component in the frequencies of p-modes, while metal diffusion tends to decrease this amplitude, but the net effect is to increase the amplitude. Apart from diffusion, the amplitude also depends on the depth of the convection zone, and to a lesser extent on the hydrogen and metal abundance in the solar envelope. In the absence of diffusion, or when the composition gradient near the base of the convection zone is smooth, the amplitude of the oscillatory component in a solar model with an overshoot of 0.05H p is found to be consistent with that in the observed frequencies. Further, models with diffusion that have a sharp change in their composition profiles at the base of the solar convection zone do not seem to be favoured by observations.
Analysis of a Strip Antenna Located at a Plane Interface of Uniaxial Metamaterials

A rigorous solution is found to the problem of determining the current distribution and input impedance of a straight strip antenna located at a plane interface of two uniaxial metamaterials. The anisotropy axes of the metamaterials are parallel to each other and to the medium interface. The antenna is oriented perpendicular to these axes and excited by a given time-harmonic voltage. Using the Fourier transform technique, singular integral equations for the antenna current are derived and solved for all possible combinations of the metamaterial parameters. Closed-form representations for the current distribution and input impedance of an infinitely long strip are obtained and their generalization to the case of a finite-length antenna is discussed.
Statistical Correlations between Parameters of Photospheric Magnetic Fields and Coronal Soft X-Ray Brightness

Using observations of more than 160 active regions, we investigate the relationship between the coronal X-ray brightness, LB, and five parameters derived from the photospheric magnetic fields. The coronal X-ray brightness and the magnetic measures were obtained from co-aligned SFD composite images from the Yohkoh SXT and full-disk magnetograms from the SOHO MDI, respectively. The magnetic parameters are (1) the length of strong-gradient magnetic neutral lines, ℒGNL, (2) the magnetic energy dissipation, ϵ, (3) the unsigned line-of-sight magnetic flux, Φ, (4) the horizontal velocities, Vh, of random footpoint motions in the photosphere, and (5) a proxy for the Poynting flux, E = (1/4π) 2, which characterizes the energy flux from the photosphere into the corona due to random footpoint motions. All measures except Vh were analyzed in both the extensive (total) and intensive (average over an area) forms. In addition, we used the area-averaged strong gradient (>50 G) of the magnetic field, ∇Bz, as an intensive form of ℒGNL. We found that the Pearson correlation coefficient between the total X-ray brightness and the total magnetic measures decreases as 0.97, 0.88, 0.86, and 0.47 for Φ, E, ϵ, and ℒGNL, respectively. The correlation coefficient between the averaged X-ray brightness and the averaged magnetic measures varied as 0.67, 0.71, 0.57, and 0.49 for , , , and , respectively. We also found that the velocities of the footpoint motions have no dependencies with Φ and LB. We concluded that the observed high correlation between LB and E is mainly due to the magnetic field. The energy of the Poynting flux is in the range 106.7-107.6 ergs cm-2 s-1 for the majority of active regions, which is sufficient to heat the corona due to footpoint random motions of magnetic flux tubes.
On the Angular Momentum Transport Associated with Convective Eddies in Accretion Disks

Protostellar disks are intrinsically unstable against thermal convection in the direction normal to the plane of the disk. Because the origin of effective disk viscosity is unknown it is of great theoretical interest to investigate the effect of convection on the transport of angular momentum. To study this effect we present here results of direct two-dimensional simulations of compressible convection in axisymmetric accretion disks. In order to make the problem tractable an underlying viscosity (possibly due to shear instabilities and/or smaller scale convection) is used such that the calculations are performed for a Rayleigh number 10 times the critical value for marginal stability
Minimax sliding mode control with minimal-time reaching phase

An original linear time varying system with unmatched disturbances and uncertainties is replaced by a finite set of dynamic models, such that each one describes a particular uncertain case including exact realizations of possible dynamic equations as well as external bounded disturbances. Such a trade-off between an original uncertain linear time varying dynamic system and a corresponding higher order multi-model system with a complete knowledge leads to a linear multi-model system with known bounded disturbances. It is shown that for linear multi-model systems the optimal sliding surface is a hyperplane. During the pre-sliding motion the design of the control, minimizing the worst reaching time, is also obtained. The joint optimization problem is resolved using the suggested successive approximation technique based on the contraction mapping application.
A research landscape on software defect prediction

Software defect prediction is the process of identifying defective files and modules that need rigorous testing. In the literature, several secondary studies including systematic reviews, mapping studies, and review studies have been reported. However, no research work such as a tertiary study that combines secondary studies has focused on providing a landscape of software defect prediction useful to understand the body of knowledge. Motivated by this, we intend to perform a tertiary study by following a systematic literature review protocol to provide a research landscape of the targeted domain. We synthesize the quality of the secondary studies and investigate the employed techniques and the performance evaluation measures for evaluating the software defect prediction model. Furthermore, this study aims at exploring different datasets employed in the reported experimentation. Moreover, the current study intends at highlighting the research trends, gaps, and opportunities in the targeted research domain. The results indicate that none of the reported defect prediction techniques can be regarded as the best; however, the reported techniques performed better in different testing situations. In addition, machine learning (ML)‐based techniques perform better than traditional statistical techniques mainly due to the potential of discovering the defects and generating generalized results. Moreover, the obtained results highlight the need for further work in the domain of ML‐based techniques. Furthermore, publicly available datasets should be considered for experimentation or replication purposes. The potential future work can focus on data quality, ethical ML, cross‐project defect prediction, early defect prediction process, class imbalance problem, and model overfitting.
On convection cells induced by surface tension

A mechanism is proposed by which cellular convective motion of the type observed by H. Bénard, which hitherto has been attributed to the action of buoyancy forces, can also be induced by surface tension forces. Thus when a thin layer of fluid is heated from below, the temperature gradient is such that small variations in the surface temperature lead to surface tractions which cause the fluid to flow and thereby tend to maintain the original temperature variations. A small disturbance analysis, analogous to that carried out by Rayleigh and others for unstable density gradients, leads to a dimensionless number B which expresses the ratio of surface tension to viscous forces, and which must attain a certain minimum critical value for instability to occur. The results obtained are then applied to the original cells described by Bénard, and to the case of drying paint films. It is concluded that surface tension forces are responsible for cellular motion in many such cases where the criteria given in terms of buoyancy forces would not allow of instability.
Development, nutritional and microbial evaluation of cultured bovine milk supplemented with baobab fruit pulp

ABSTRACT Incorporation of the baobab fruit pulp in innovative formulations remains limited, despite its abundance of various nutrients and bioactive components. The objective of this study was to enhance the utilization of the baobab fruit pulp through the development of baobab supplemented cultured milk products. The physicochemical, microbial characteristics and consumer acceptability of treatments were studied. In the treatments, an increase in baobab pulp concentration led to an increase in some proximate components. A significant increase in the calcium, zinc, and vitamin C content was also observed with increased baobab concentration at different culture concentrations. Formulations were free from pathogenic bacteria and hence safe for human consumption. It was also established that Leuconostoc mesenteroides were responsible for the fermentation of the cultured formulations. Incorporating baobab fruit pulp in milk has proven to have a positive effect on the overall nutritional value of the milk, enhancing its suitability in combating micronutrient deficiencies.
Synthesis and Characterization of ZnFe2O4- PEG/RGO Nanocomposites as Lead Heavy Metal Adsorbents

Lead waste that pollutes the environment can cause a variety of serious diseases. Various efforts have been made to remove lead waste from the environment, one of which is through the development of magnetic nanoparticles-based adsorbents. In this work, the synthesis of ZnFe2O4-PEG/RGO nanocomposites was carried out through co-precipitation and sonochemical methods. The structure, morphology, function groups, and adsorption performance of the ZnFe2O4-PEG/RGO nanocomposites were characterized using XRD, SEM, FTIR, and AAS. X-ray diffraction pattern showed the formation of a single phase ZnFe2O4 with a cubic spinel structure. The RGO peak was not detected because the RGO mass was much smaller inside the ZnFe2O4-PEG/RGO nanocomposites. Furthermore, refinement analysis through Rietica software obtained crystallite size of ZnFe2O4-PEG/RGO were 9.6 nm. The SEM result showed that the morphology of ZnFe2O4-PEG tends to be spherically distributed on RGO. Based on FTIR results, the functional groups of ZnFe2O4-PEG/RGO nanocomposites showed the presence of Zn-O and Fe-O bonds at 529 cm-1 and 428 cm-1. Meanwhile, C-O bonds at wavenumbers 1222 cm-1 showed typical absorption of RGO. Despite Fe-O and C-O bonds, the presence of C-O-C bonds at wavenumbers of 1031 cm-1 indicates the characteristics of PEG that successfully coats ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles. Interestingly, the AAS results showed that ZnFe2O4-PEG/RGO nanocomposites had an excellent performance as lead adsorbents, evidenced by the percentage of adsorption up to 97,7%.
The role of iron metabolism in the pathogenesis and treatment of multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a severe demyelinating disease mediated by cells of the innate and adaptive immune system, especially pathogenic T lymphocytes that produce the pro-inflammatory cytokine granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Although the factors and molecules that drive the genesis of these cells are not completely known, some were discovered and shown to promote the development of such cells, such as dietary factors. In this regard, iron, the most abundant chemical element on Earth, has been implicated in the development of pathogenic T lymphocytes and in MS development via its effects on neurons and glia. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to revise the state-of-art regarding the role of iron metabolism in cells of key importance to MS pathophysiology, such as pathogenic CD4+ T cells and CNS resident cells. Harnessing the knowledge of iron metabolism may aid in the discovery of new molecular targets and in the development of new drugs that tackle MS and other diseases that share similar pathophysiology.
Depth-integrated equation for large-scale modelling of low-frequency hydroacoustic waves

Abstract We present a depth-integrated equation for the mechanics of propagation of low-frequency hydroacoustic waves due to a sudden bottom displacement associated with earthquakes. The model equation can be used for numerical prediction in large-scale domains, overcoming the computational difficulties of three-dimensional models and so creating a solid base for tsunami early warning systems.
A study of singular modes associated with over-reflection and related phenomena

Abstract This paper describes an investigation of the linear, diffusive critical layer for shear flows whose inviscid neutral modes have an algebraic branch point. As examples of flows exhibiting such singular behaviour, we treat both stratified shear flows and non-axisymmetric modes on vortices. For the stratified case, the coupled vorticity and energy equations are solved numerically. In this way, the density perturbation, which is unbounded in the absence of diffusion, is determined directly. As an example featuring a vortex, we consider helical modes on a modified Lamb–Oseen vortex whose velocity profile is perturbed in such a way that linear instability is possible. Both the axial and azimuthal velocity perturbations in the critical layer are determined. A characteristic shared by all the above problems is that they involve eigenfunctions that are oscillatory in some region. For forced waves in a stably stratified shear flow, we consider a larger range of parameters than previous investigators. We also examine some experiments and find that the Reynolds stress is sensitive to the actual density profile in the region between a wavy wall providing the forcing and the critical layer. For the stratified shear flows without forcing, much smaller Richardson numbers are involved and the modes considered are over-reflecting. For an unbounded $\tanh y$ mixing layer, we show that the Reynolds stress for a neutral mode must jump across the critical layer. With the presence of a horizontal boundary beneath the shear layer, on the other hand, over-reflection can occur, with the Reynolds stress vanishing on either side of the critical layer. In all cases, the variation of the Reynolds stress across the critical layer is determined.
A Phenomenological Exploration of Grit Experiences in the Hispanic Population

ABSTRACT In developing the renowned grit scale, Angela Duckworth looked at multiple factors (e.g., age, education) to see how they influenced grit. Yet, they did not consider race and ethnicity. Due to unique aspects of the Hispanic culture, we sought to explore the lived experiences of grit in the Hispanic culture through a phenomenological investigation. We used semi-structured interviews with eight Hispanic participants aged 26 to 63. Three themes emerged: Perseverance in the Process, Collectivist Motivation, and Relational Support. We share implications for counselors and counselor educators working with Hispanic clients and students.
Variational principles for electromagnetic resonators and waveguides

Variational expressions are presented for the propagation constants of a waveguide and for the resonant frequencies of a cavity directly in terms of the field vectors for situations not covered in the literature. These situations occur when the electromagnetic problem is not susceptible of a scalar formulation and are typified by the presence of inhomogeneous or anisotropic matter. The variational expressions are applied to several illustrative examples and the results are compared to known exact solutions. The variational expressions are also applied to the derivation of certain perturbation formulas, some of which were previously obtained by different methods.