Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complex Spectra of the Galactic Ridge X-Rays Observed with ASCA

X-ray spectra of the Galactic ridge emission in the Scutum arm region have been obtained with ASCA GIS and SIS in the energy range 0.7-10 keV. The observed spectra are basically of thermal emission from thin hot plasmas, and individual K emission lines from helium-like Mg, Si, S, and Fe ions are confirmed in both the GIS and SIS spectra. This means that the Galactic ridge X-ray emission cannot be explained by a single-temperature ionization-equilibrium plasma model. It cannot, however, be reproduced even if a nonequilibrium ionization model is introduced; thus multiple plasma components are required. The GIS spectra are fairly well fitted by a double-temperature nonequilibrium ionization plasma model with temperatures of kT ~ 0.8 keV and kT ~ 7 keV. The softer component is found to be in an extremely low ionization state, with net ~ 109 cm-3 s, while the harder component is in a relatively high ionization state, though not yet in a full equilibrium. The GRXE properties obtained with the GIS are carefully reexamined by the highly resolved spectral-line features with the SIS. The soft and hard components are absorbed by equivalent hydrogen columns of 0.7 × 1022 cm-2 and 4.6 × 1022 cm-2, respectively. The surface brightness of the soft and hard components at b ~ 0° are estimated to be 1.9 × 10-6 and 5.3 × 10-7 ergs cm-2 s-1 sr-1 respectively, both in the 0.5-10 keV band. The surface brightness of the softer component extends toward significantly higher (~2°) Galactic latitudes than the harder component, although their actual scale heights may be similar at ~100 pc if the differences in their observable depths are taken into account. Spectral properties of the two components are seen to depend on the latitude; the most noticeable effect is a rapid decrease in the Fe K line equivalent width seen in the hard component. Attempts are made to interpret the two components in terms of diffuse hot plasmas filling the interstellar space.
Comparison of demographic, clinic and radiological features of patients with axial spondyloarthritis accompanying familial Mediterranean fever to patients with each condition alone

Objective To compare the demographic, clinical, and radiological features of patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) accompanying familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) to patients with each condition alone. Method Hacettepe University Hospital database was screened regarding ICD-10 codes for FMF (E85.0) and axSpA (M45). The diagnosis of FMF was confirmed by Tel-Hashomer criteria, and axSpA by the presence of sacroiliitis according to the modified New York criteria or active sacroiliitis on magnetic resonance imaging. As control groups, 136 gender-matched, consequent FMF patients without axSpA and 102 consequent axSpA patients without FMF previously treated with any biological agents were included in the analysis. Results In patients with FMF + axSpA compared to the axSpA group, age at axSpA symptom onset and age at diagnosis were lower [median with interquartile range (IQR): 21 (17–30) vs 27 (21–37), p < 0.001; 23 (21–38) vs 32 (24–43) years, p = 0.001], moderate to severe hip disease and total hip replacement were more prevalent (23.4% vs 4.7%, p < 0.001; 11.2% vs 2.8%, p = 0.016). In patients with FMF + axSpA compared to the FMF group, age at FMF symptom onset and age at diagnosis were higher [13 (6–30) vs 11 (5–18), p = 0.057; 23 (13–33) vs 18 (10–31) years, p = 0.033] and amyloidosis was more prevalent (6.6% vs 2.2%, p = 0.076). Although the M694V variant (in one or two alleles) was more prevalent in the FMF + axSpA group, the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion In patients with FMF + axSpA, the age of onset of axSpA was significantly earlier, moderate to severe hip involvement and amyloidosis were more common than in patients with each condition alone.
Knowledge, Attitude and Practices regarding Brucellosis among Medical Practitioners of Karachi

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis presents with generalized symptomatology and in a country like Pakistan it is commonly misdiagnosed by the medical practitioners as any endemic disease. We aim to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding Brucellosis among the medical practitioners of Karachi and differences in knowledge scores across gender and working sectors. The study was conducted from January 2017 to April 2017 in Karachi. METHODS: Our study was a cross-sectional KAP survey, conducted with the help of a structured questionnaire among 217 medical practitioners by convenient sampling. They were divided into two groups with respect to workplace: Group 1 and Group 2. The results were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Chi-square test was used to establish associations. RESULTS: The study showed that although 89.9% of the medical practitioners have heard about brucellosis, yet only 27.6% were able to identify Brucellosis as the second most emerging zoonotic disease. Across gender, more female than male medical practitioners achieved good knowledge score. In group 1, private sector whereas in group 2, teaching hospital medical practitioners had higher percentage of good score. In the attitude section, 47.5% of the practitioners strongly agreed that Continuing Medical Education (CME) seminars help in creating awareness about diseases. In practice, poor response was recorded for inquiry of questions about Brucellosis in medical history despite of good knowledge about their importance CONCLUSION: The study recognized a gap in knowledge and practices of the medical practitioners hence, there is a need to conduct CME Sessions about the neglected disease. KEYWORDS: Brucellosis, Neuro-brucellosis, Zoonosis, Neglected Disease, Awareness, Health Belief Model, KAP Study, CME
On the notion of recurrence in discrete stochastic processes

Received by the editors March 3, 1947. 1 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow. 2 That the theory of stationary stochastic processes is mathematically equivalent with an "ergodic" theory (to which one is also led by dynamical considerations) was clearly recognized by Doob in 1934. See J. L. Doob, Stochastic processes and statistics, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. vol. 20 (1934) pp. 376-379. The analogies discussed in the present paper are but particular cases of Doob's general equivalence principle. However, since the motivations underlying the statistical and the dynamical points of view are of a somewhat different physical character it seemed desirable to treat both cases separately.
Calibration of Methods for SARS-CoV-2 Environmental Surveillance: A Case Study from Northwest Tuscany

The current pandemic has provided an opportunity to test wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) as a complementary method to SARS-CoV-2 monitoring in the community. However, WBE infection estimates can be affected by uncertainty factors, such as heterogeneity in analytical procedure, wastewater volume, and population size. In this paper, raw sewage SARS-CoV-2 samples were collected from four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Tuscany (Northwest Italy) between February and December 2021. During the surveillance period, viral concentration was based on polyethylene glycol (PEG), but its precipitation method was modified from biphasic separation to centrifugation. Therefore, in parallel, the recovery efficiency of each method was evaluated at lab-scale, using two spiking viruses (human coronavirus 229E and mengovirus vMC0). SARS-CoV-2 genome was found in 80 (46.5%) of the 172 examined samples. Lab-scale experiments revealed that PEG precipitation using centrifugation had the best recovery efficiency (up to 30%). Viral SARS-CoV-2 load obtained from sewage data, adjusted by analytical method and normalized by population of each WWTP, showed a good association with the clinical data in the study area. This study highlights that environmental surveillance data need to be carefully analyzed before their use in the WBE, also considering the sensibility of the analytical methods.
Graphene-Metal Metasurface for Cloaking of Cylindrical Objects at Low-Terahertz Frequencies

Most of the theoretical studies involving graphene, typically assume an ultra-high mobility and/or high value of Fermi energy to achieve exciting functionalities such as polarization conversion, absorption, cloaking, among others. In practice, however, graphene with such high mobility is very difficult to realize, on account of the numerous flaws and impurities that inevitably are introduced during the graphene growth and transfer process. This severely compromises graphene’s practical performance, despite the appeal of theoretical predictions. A novel design was presented in ‘X. Wang et al., IEEE Trans. Antenna Propagat. , vol. 67, pp. 2452–2461, 2019’, wherein a graphene metasurface was devised to accomplish perfect absorption with excellent electrical tunability, for a wide span of practical mobility values for graphene (2,000 to 20,000 cm $^{2}\text{V}^{-1}\text{s}^{-1}$ ). Motivated by this design, in this paper, we introduce a graphene-metal metasurface structure, which is engineered to facilitate the realization of practical cloaking of conducting cylindrical objects. Though the framework for our cloak is ostensibly similar to the metasurface structure in the aforementioned reference, the phenomenon that our structure is based on, is radically different; consequently, the functionality and the numerical analysis differs. When this specific metasurface is enveloped around the cylindrical objects, their scattering width reduces noticeably, thereby making them ‘invisible’ to the impinging plane wave. Our design demonstrates cloaking even for the most practical low-mobility graphene, utilizing extremely low Fermi energy values, thereby making our construct desirable not only in theory, but also feasible for practical applications.
Immunotherapy for Melanoma: The Significance of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors for the Treatment of Advanced Melanoma

Therapeutic options for treating advanced melanoma have progressed rapidly in recent decades. Until 6 years ago, the regimen for treating advanced melanoma consisted mainly of cytotoxic agents such as dacarbazine and type I interferons. Since 2014, anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD1) antibodies have been recognized as anchor drugs for treating advanced melanoma, with or without additional combination drugs such as ipilimumab, but the efficacies of these immunotherapies are not fully satisfactory. In this review, we describe the development of the currently available anti-PD1 Abs-based immunotherapies for advanced melanoma, focusing on their efficacy and immune-related adverse events (AEs), as well as clinical trials still ongoing for the future treatment of advanced melanoma.
Mass Customization of Polylactic Acid (PLA) Parts via a Hybrid Manufacturing Process

Mass customization is the development of items tailored to specific customers, but produced at low unit cost in high-volume. In this context, hybrid manufacturing (HM) combines fused deposition modeling (FDM) and injection molding (IM) to fabricate a single personalized part with minimum manufacturing cost. In this technique, inserts with different physical features are first FDM-fabricated and then IM-overmolded. This study investigated the effect of hybrid FDM-IM production technology, FDM insert geometry on mechanical properties, and micro-structural evolution of Polylactic Acid (PLA) samples. The findings indicated a comparable tensile properties of FDM-IM samples (68.38 MPa) to IM batch (68.95 MPa), emphasizing the potential of HM in the manufacturing industry. Maximum tensile stress of FDM-IM specimens shows an upward trend due to the increased infill density of preforms. In addition, overmolding interface direction results in a big gap for the maximum tensile strengths between half-length series specimens (12.99 MPa to 19.09 MPa) and half-thickness series specimens (53.83 MPa to 59.92 MPa). Furthermore, four joint configurations resulted in different mechanical performances of finished specimens, in which the female cube sample exhibits the highest tensile stress (68.38 MPa), while the batch with male T joint shows a lower value in maximum tensile strength (59.51 MPa), exhibiting a similar tensile performance with the half-thickness 75% batch without joint configuration. This study lays the groundwork for using HM to produce bespoke and mechanically improved parts over FDM alone.
Dynamic analysis of train and bridge in crosswinds based on a coupled wind-train-track-bridge model

The dynamic performance and safety of both the train and the bridge are great concerns for long-span bridges subjected to crosswinds. For railway bridges, there is track laid on the bridge deck. The wind, train, track, and bridge subsystems form a complicated coupling system. This paper presents the dynamic responses of both the train and the bridge under crosswinds based on a wind-train-track-bridge coupled model, in which the vibration effect of the track structure involved in the coupling system is especially considered. For studying the dynamic responses of both the train and the bridge, models of railway vehicle dynamics are used for the train and a three-dimensional finite element model is used for the bridge. The train-track interaction and the track-bridge interaction are respectively considered. The wind action on the train and the bridge consists of a steady-state force and an unsteady-state force. Based on an in-situ test, the proposed numerical wind-train-track-bridge model involving the vibration effect of the track is validated. Then, the application of this proposed model on a long-span cable-stayed bridge on the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong HSR (high-speed railway) is presented as a case study. The typical running train and track currently serving in the Chinese railway transportation system are modeled in this study. Excitations from track irregularities are also taken into account. Finally, with the proposed wind-train-track-bridge coupled model, the dynamic performance of both the train and the bridge subjected to crosswinds are investigated.
Hadamard Products of Stable Polynomials Are Stable

A real polynomial is (asymptotically) stable when all of its zeros lie in the open left half of the complex plane. We show that the Hadamard (coefficient-wise) product of two stable polynomials is again stable, improving upon some known results. Via the associated Hurwitz matrices we find another example of a class of totally nonnegative matrices which is closed under Hadamard multiplication.
Revisiting Taylor's hypothesis

Taylor's hypothesis, relating temporal to spatial fluctuations in turbulent flows is investigated using powerful numerical computations by del Álamo & Jiménez (J. Fluid Mech., 2009, this issue, vol. 640, pp. 5–26). Their results cast doubt on recent interpretations of bimodal spectra in relation to very large-scale turbulent structures in experimental measurements in turbulent shear flows.
Tribological properties of polished diamond films

Despite the rapid progress being made in the synthesis of diamond films and recent interest in polishing of diamond films, no systematic measurements of friction and wear on polished diamond films have been reported. In the present study, chemomechanical and laser polishing techniques are used, and friction and wear data on the chemomechanically polished diamond films are presented. With the chemomechanical polishing technique used in this study, the rms roughness of hot filament chemical vapor deposited diamond films can be reduced from about 657 to about 170 nm with rounding off of sharp asperities with no change in the diamond structure. The polished films exhibit coefficient of friction (∼0.1) and wear rates much lower than that of unpolished films. Friction and wear properties of the polished films are comparable to that of single‐crystal natural diamond. Based on this study, it is concluded that polished films are potential candidates for tribological applications.
Disentangling the Drivers of the Sampling Bias of Freshwater Fish across Europe

The Wallacean shortfall refers to the knowledge gap in biodiversity distributions. There is still limited knowledge for freshwater fish species despite the importance of focusing conservation efforts towards this group due to their alarming extinction risk and the increasing human pressure on freshwater ecosystems. Here, we addressed the Wallacean shortfall for freshwater fish faunas across Europe by using the completeness indicator derived from species accumulation curves to quantify the fish sampling efforts. The multiple potential drivers of completeness that were previously related to the sampling efforts for other species (i.e., population density, nature reserves, or distance to cities) were tested using a 10 × 10 km2 grid resolution, as well as environmental (e.g., climatic) factors. Our results suggested that although there was an overall spatial pattern at the European level, the completeness was highly country-dependent. Accessibility parameters explained the sampling efforts, as for other taxa. Likewise, climate factors were related to survey completeness, possibly pointing to the river conditions required for fish sampling. The survey effort map we provide can be used to optimize future sampling, aiming at filling the data gaps in undersampled regions like the eastern European countries, as well as to account for the current bias in any ecological modeling using such data, with important implications for conservation and management.
Small stochastic perturbations in a general fractional kinetic equation

In this paper we study some properties of the density for the law of the solution to a generalized multidimensional fractional kinetic equation driven by a Gaussian noise, white in time and correlated in space. The diffusion operator is the composition between the Bessel and Riesz potentials with any fractional parameters. We also establish Varadhan’s estimates for the solution to the equation obtained by perturbing the noise.
ISOCAM Observations of Globular Clusters in the Magellanic Clouds: The Data

Seventeen globular clusters in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds were observed in the mid-infrared wavelength region with the ISOCAM instrument on board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). Observations were made using the broadband filters LW1, LW2, and LW10, corresponding to the effective wavelengths of 4.5, 6.7, and 12 μm, respectively. We present the photometry of point sources in each cluster, as well as their precise positions and finding charts.
The D-Dimer/Albumin Ratio Is a Prognostic Marker for Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Background: Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is a severe neurological event with limited treatment options, and little is known about its pathophysiology. There are few objective tools for predicting outcomes of aSAH patients and further aiding in directing clinical therapeutic programs. This study aimed to determine whether an elevated serum D-dimer/albumin ratio (DAR) reflects disease severity and predicts aSAH outcomes. Methods: We included 178 patients with aSAH. Data included demographics; clinical severity of aSAH (World Federation of Neurological Societies (WFNS) grade and Hunt–Hess grade); levels of D-dimer, albumin, and c-reactive protein (CRP); leukocyte counts on admission; and three-month outcomes. The outcomes were dichotomized into good and poor. The predictive ability of DAR for outcomes was determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Serum DAR showed a positive correlation with disease severity. Univariate analysis revealed that DAR, WFNS grade, Hunt–Hess grade, delayed cerebral infarction (DCI), age, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and CRP/albumin ratio (CAR) were associated with unfavorable outcomes. Multivariate regression analysis further revealed that elevated DAR predicted poor outcomes after adjusting for WFNS grade, Hunt–Hess grade, DCI, age, NLR, and CRP/albumin ratio. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that DAR predicted outcomes at a level comparable with NLR and CAR and had superior predictivity than D-dimer alone. Conclusion: DAR is a promising objective tool for aSAH outcome prediction. A high content DAR was associated with disease severity and unfavorable short-term outcomes.
The relationship between formalization of HRM function and HRM intensity in SMEs: An empirical investigation in Sri Lanka

Human resource management (HRM) intensity is important for any type of business in which human resources play a vital role. However, little is known about HRM intensity in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the formalization of HRM function and HRM intensity. The sample of the study consists of medium-sized enterprises operating in Sri Lanka. The results show that although the formalization of HRM function is low, HRM intensity is high. The findings also show that higher levels of formalization lead to a greater intensity in HRM practices.
Measurement of Turbulent Kinetic Energy in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Using Triple-velocity Encoding 4D Flow MR Imaging

Purpose The turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) estimation based on 4D flow MRI has been currently developed and can be used to estimate the pressure gradient. The objective of this study was to validate the clinical value of 4D flow-based TKE measurement in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Methods From April 2018 to March 2019, we recruited 28 patients with HCM. Based on echocardiography, they were divided into obstructed HCM (HOCM) and non-obstructed HCM (HNCM). Triple-velocity encoding 4D flow MRI was performed. The volume-of-interest from the left ventricle to the aortic arch was drawn semi-automatically. We defined peak turbulent kinetic energy (TKEpeak) as the highest TKE phase in all cardiac phases. Results TKEpeak was significantly higher in HOCM than in HNCM (14.83 ± 3.91 vs. 7.11 ± 3.60 mJ, P < 0.001). TKEpeak was significantly higher in patients with systolic anterior movement (SAM) than in those without SAM (15.60 ± 3.96 vs. 7.44 ± 3.29 mJ, P < 0.001). Left ventricular (LV) mass increased proportionally with TKEpeak (P = 0.012, r = 0.466). When only the asymptomatic patients were extracted, a stronger correlation was observed (P = 0.001, r = 0.842). Conclusion TKE measurement based on 4D flow MRI can detect the flow alteration induced by systolic flow jet and LV outflow tract geometry, such as SAM in patients with HOCM. The elevated TKE is correlated with increasing LV mass. This indicates that increasing cardiac load, by pressure loss due to turbulence, induces progression of LV hypertrophy, which leads to a worse prognosis.
Determination of the critical slip surface in slope stability computations

The analysis of the stability of slopes using limiting equilibrium considerations necessitates the determination of the critical slip surface which yields the minimal factor of safety. The numerous methods currently available for slope stability analysis provide a procedure for assigning a factor of safety to a given slip surface, but do not consider the problem of identifying the critical conditions. This paper presents an effective minimization procedure based on dynamic programming by which the minimal factor of safety, and the corresponding surface, are determined simultaneously. This procedure SSDP (Slope Stability by Dynamic Programming), couples the minimization scheme with Spencer's method of slope stability analysis. It may be applied to slopes of any geometry, layering, pore pressure and external load distributions. No arbitrary restrictions are placed on the shape of the slip surfaces, and the analysis satisfies all equilibrium equations. Application of the procedure to slope stability problems reported in the literature shows that for a given slip surface the procedure yields factors of safety which are almost identical to those reported, but in every case a more critical slip surface, with a lower factor of safety, may be found.