Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasma-Etched Vertically Aligned CNTs with Enhanced Antibacterial Power

The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria represents a growing threat to public health, and it calls for the development of alternative antibacterial approaches not based on antibiotics. Here, we propose vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VA-CNTs), with a properly designed nanomorphology, as effective platforms to kill bacteria. We show, via a combination of microscopic and spectroscopic techniques, the ability to tailor the topography of VA-CNTs, in a controlled and time-efficient manner, by means of plasma etching processes. Three different varieties of VA-CNTs were investigated, in terms of antibacterial and antibiofilm activity, against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus: one as-grown variety and two varieties receiving different etching treatments. The highest reduction in cell viability (100% and 97% for P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, respectively) was observed for the VA-CNTs modified using Ar and O2 as an etching gas, thus identifying the best configuration for a VA-CNT-based surface to inactivate both planktonic and biofilm infections. Additionally, we demonstrate that the powerful antibacterial activity of VA-CNTs is determined by a synergistic effect of both mechanical injuries and ROS production. The possibility of achieving a bacterial inactivation close to 100%, by modulating the physico-chemical features of VA-CNTs, opens up new opportunities for the design of self-cleaning surfaces, preventing the formation of microbial colonies.
A Deductive-Nomological Model of Probabilistic Explanation

It has been the dominant view that probabilistic explanations of particular facts must be inductive in character. I argue here that this view is mistaken, and that the aim of probabilistic explanation is not to demonstrate that the explanandum fact was nomically expectable, but to give an account of the chance mechanism(s) responsible for it. To this end, a deductive-nomological model of probabilistic explanation is developed and defended. Such a model has application only when the probabilities occurring in covering laws can be interpreted as measures of objective chance, expressing the strength of physical propensities. Unlike inductive models of probabilistic explanation, this deductive model stands in no need of troublesome requirements of maximal specificity or epistemic relativization.
Vortex shedding from a circular cylinder in moderate-Reynolds-number shear flow

The frequency of vortex shedding from a circular cylinder in a uniform shear flow and the flow patterns around it were experimentally investigated. The Reynolds number Re, which was defined in terms of the cylinder diameter and the approaching velocity at its centre, ranged from 35 to 1500. The shear parameter, which is the transverse velocity gradient of the shear flow non-dimensionalized by the above two quantities, was varied from 0 to 0·25. The critical Reynolds number beyond which vortex shedding from the cylinder occurred was found to be higher than that for a uniform stream and increased approximately linearly with increasing shear parameter when it was larger than about 0·06. In the Reynolds-number range 43 < Re < 220, the vortex shedding disappeared for sufficiently large shear parameters. Moreover, in the Reynolds-number range 100 < Re < 1000, the Strouhal number increased as the shear parameter increased beyond about 0·1.
Asypmtotic Filtering Theory for Univariate Arch Models

This paper builds on this earlier work by deriving the asymptotic distribution of the measurement error. This allows us to approximate the measurement accuracy of ARCH conditional variance estimates and compare the efficiency achieved by different ARCH models. We are also able to characterize the relative importance of different kinds of misspecification; for example, we show that misspecifying conditional means adds only trivially (at least asymptotically) to measurement error, while other factors (for example, capturing the "leverage effect," accommodating thick tailed residuals, and correctly modelling the variability of the conditional variance process) are potentially much more important. Third, we are able to characterize a class of asymptotically optimal ARCH conditional variance estimates.
Intensity-Duration-Frequency equations for Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil, based on stationary rainfall series

Heavy rainfall information is essential for environmental studies and water engineering. This study therefore aimed to adjust Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) equations for 247 locations in the Rio Grande do Sul (RS) using stationary rainfall series. Mann-Kendall’s test was applied to identify the temporal trends in the Annual Maximum Daily Rainfall (AMDR) series of 271 rain gauges in RS. The Kappa, Generalized Extreme Value (GEV), Gumbel, two-parameters Log-Normal and three-parameters Log-Normal probabilistic distributions were adjusted to the AMDR series without significant temporal trend. The best distribution fit was given by Anderson-Darling’s test, so the AMDR was discretized up to 5 minutes. IDF equations coefficients were adjusted in RStudio, using Nash-Sutcliffe’s Coefficient and the Root-Mean-Square Error to evaluate them. In conclusion: the most suitable distributions for the AMDR were the multiparametric Kappa and GEV; the IDF equations coefficients adjustment was classified as “excellent”; coefficients a and b varied across the RS and are correlated with the AMDR and geographical positions; and the c and d coefficients were practically constant. Keywords: goodness of fit test, Kappa probabilistic distribution, trends test.
Prevalence of cultural malpractice during the perinatal period and its determinants among reproductive age women in southwest Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study

Background Cultural malpractices are accepted cultural norms and socially shared practices that have a negative impact on health. Cultural malpractices vary in type and number in different communities. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cultural malpractice during the perinatal period and identify its predictors among reproductive-age women in rural communities of southwestern Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 5 to 31, 2019 in Semen Bench district, southwestern Ethiopia; among reproductive-age women who had experienced at least one prior delivery. A systematic random sampling technique was employed to select 422 women for the interview. After collection, the data were entered into EpiData and exported to STATA-14 for further analysis. Descriptive analyses were performed and presented in texts and tables. Besides, binary and multivariable logistic regressions were computed to identify determinants of cultural malpractice. Result A total of 414 women completed the survey, resulting in a response rate of 98%. We found that 26.33% (95% CI: 22.15, 30.85%) had food taboos during pregnancy, 31.88% (95% CI: 27.42, 36.61%) delivered their last child at home, and 33.82% (95% CI: 29.27, 38.6%) practiced pre-lacteal feeding. Lack of formal education (AOR: 11.22, 95% CI: 6.24, 20.15), lack of ANC follow-up (AOR: 10.82, 95% CI: 5.46, 21.42), rural residence (AOR: 6.23, 95% CI: 2.18, 17.78), and avoiding colostrum (AOR: 21.94, 95% CI: 9.73, 49.48) were significantly associated with cultural malpractice during the perinatal period. Conclusion The prevalence of cultural malpractice is notably high in the study area. Hence, community-based measures including expansion of education and promotion of maternal health services are important to reduce cultural malpractice during the perinatal period.
On Ambrosetti–Malchiodi–Ni Conjecture for General Hypersurfaces

We consider the nonlinear problem where p > 1, ϵ is a small parameter and V is a uniformly positive, smooth potential. Assume that 𝒦 ⊂ ℝ n is a smooth closed, stationary and non-degenerate hypersurface relative to the functional with . We prove the existence of solutions , at least for some sequence {ϵℓ}ℓ, which concentrate along smooth surfaces Γϵ close to 𝒦. This result confirms the validity of the conjecture of Ambrosetti et al. in [2] for concentration of Schrödinger equation on general hypersurfaces.
Substorm Influences on Plasma Pressure and Current Densities Inside the Geosynchronous Orbit

Plasma in the inner magnetosphere is affected by various processes, such as substorms. In this study, we have statistically investigated the ring current properties based on the observations of Van Allen Probes from 2012 to 2019 to examine the substorm effects on the plasma pressure and current system in the inner magnetosphere. The results show that the plasma pressure increases significantly, leading to a ∼3 nT/hr geomagnetic depression during intense substorms. The contribution of <100 keV H+ ions to the plasma pressure increases during substorms, which is more significant at lower L‐shells. Opposite to the H+ ions, the proportion of >10 keV O+ ions contributing to the plasma pressure increases as substorm intensity increases. In addition, the rise of plasma pressure is mainly distributed from dusk to midnight, resulting in the enhancement of asymmetric ring current and the region II field‐aligned currents connecting to the ionosphere. Our results provide a comprehensive view of the variation of plasma pressure and current system in the inner magnetosphere during quiet periods and intense substorms.
Why approximate LU decompositions of finite element discretizations of elliptic operators can be computed with almost linear complexity

Although the asymptotic complexity of direct methods for the solution of large sparse finite element systems arising from second-order elliptic partial differential operators is far from being optimal, these methods are often preferred over modern iterative methods. This is mainly due to their robustness. In this article it is shown that an (approximate) LU decomposition exists and that it can be computed in the algebra of hierarchical matrices with almost linear complexity and with the same robustness as the classical LU decomposition. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 35C20, 65F05, 65F50, 65N30
Laser-based, on-chip fabrication of glass-based core-cladding waveguides

Photonic integrated circuits (PIC) have been established for miniaturized, on-chip optical systems. Current approaches for producing PICs mostly rely on semiconductor processing technologies, which are complex and costintensive. A promising alternative with the potential to revolutionize PIC fabrication is additive manufacturing (AM), which offers the opportunity to develop tailored and customized waveguide designs for functionalities needed in fast-evolving modern applications like the Internet of Things. Here, an AM technology called laser glass deposition (LGD) is presented for the production of on-chip core-cladding waveguides based on fused silica. Commercially available glass fibers with a diameter of 125 μm are fused onto a quartz glass substrate using a CO2-laser in a 2.5D-printing process. Test series are performed to determine the process window to reach a stable connection between fiber and substrate while maintaining the fiber´s optical functionality. To enable efficient light coupling into the waveguide, the fiber end facets are laser cleaved after the deposition within the same process environment. Again, parameter studies are performed to reach a high surface quality. Both the waveguides and the cleaved surfaces are characterized using different imaging techniques. In addition, the optical properties of the generated waveguides are analyzed.
Using Next-Generation Sequencing to Disentangle the Diet and Incidence of Intestinal Parasites of Falkland Flightless Steamer Duck Tachyeres brachypterus and Patagonian Crested Duck Lophonetta specularioides Sharing a South Atlantic Island

Species overlapping in habitat use can cohabit depending on how they exploit resources. To understand segregation in resource use, an exhaustive knowledge of the diet is required. We aimed to disentangle the diet composition of the Falkland Flightless Steamer Duck Tachyeres brachypterus and the Patagonian Crested Duck Lophonetta specularioides sharing a coastal environment. Using DNA extracted from scats and Illumina sequencing, we generated a list of molecular operational taxonomic units. Both ducks consumed a variety of invertebrates, frequently overlapping in the taxa consumed. However, only the Falkland Flightless Steamer Ducks consumed fish, which might be indicative of dietary specialization and inter-specific segregation in the restricted space that these birds share. Moreover, the female and male Falkland Flightless Steamer Ducks consumed different fish prey, with almost one-third of the fish taxa being consumed by females only and another similar number consumed by males only. This result might suggest a case of intra-specific competition, triggering sexual segregation. Additionally, we detected parasitic Platyelminthes (Cestoda and Trematoda), with different frequencies of occurrence, probably related to the different diet compositions of the ducks. This study provides the necessary baseline for future investigations of the ecological segregation of these ducks.
Enhancement of Thermoelectric Performance for CuCl Doped P-Type Cu2Sn0.7Co0.3S3

Cu2SnS3 (CSS) has gained great attraction due to its constitutive earth-abundant elements and intrinsic low lattice thermal conductivity, κl, potentially providing high quality factor, B, and high zT value. However, the lack of band convergence is the bottleneck to enhancing the thermoelectric performance of Cu2SnS3 when performing the band engineering. To study the doping effect on the band structure and the thermoelectric performance, the composite Cu2Sn0.7Co0.3S3-xCuCl (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) (CSCS-xCuCl) has been investigated for the first time. The samples showed excellent data repeatability at high temperatures of up to 700 K. It was found that CuCl could compensate the Cu loss, enhance the phonon scattering and minimize the adverse effect on the power factor, PF. The ultralow lattice thermal conductivity could reach 0.38 W m−1 K−1 for the nominal composition of CSCS-0.3CuCl at 700 K. A peak zT of 0.56 (evaluated with no cold finger effect) was realized at 700 K when x = 0.3, which is almost double the performance of pristine samples.
Spatial Patterns of Anthropogenic Heat and Urban Density of an Indian Metropolitan City

Anthropogenic heat intensity arises from levels of population, buildings and vehicle densities. Population and built-up densities are very high in the cities of developing countries, which may have an impact on heat generated from metabolism and buildings differently compared to developed countries. Hence, this study investigated the magnitude of anthropogenic heat in different land uses and areas with different built-up densities pertaining to Indian metropolises; Bengaluru metropolitan area was selected for this study. The maximum metabolic heat (22.8 W/m2), vehicular heat (87.2 W/m2) and building heat (443.0 W/m2) were found in the high-density residential grids and the mixed-use grids in the city centre area during 2017. The lowest value (0.1 W/m2) was found in the low-density residential areas, public and semi-public areas, restricted areas and agricultural areas. A high positive correlation value (0.8 in 2011 and 0.72 in 2017) was found between non-residential building surface fractions and anthropogenic heat.
Bifibrational duality in non-abelian algebra and the theory of databases

Bifibrational duality in non-abelian algebra and the theory of databases T. Weighill Mathematics Division Department of Mathematical Sciences University of Stellenbosch Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa Thesis: MSc Mathematics December 2014 In this thesis we develop a self-dual categorical approach to some topics in non-abelian algebra, which is based on replacing the framework of a category with that of a category equipped with a functor to it. We also make some first steps towards a possible link between this theory and the theory of databases in computer science. Both of these theories are based around the study of Grothendieck bifibrations and their generalisations. The main results in this thesis concern correspondences between certain structures on a category which are relevant to the study of categories of non-abelian group-like structures, and functors over that category. An investigation of these correspondences leads to a system of dual axioms on a functor, which can be considered as a solution to the proposal of Mac Lane in his 1950 paper "Duality for Groups" that a self-dual setting for formulating and proving results for groups be found. The part of the thesis concerned with the theory of databases is based on a recent approach by Johnson and Rosebrugh to views of databases and the view update problem. iii Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
Distributed Nash Equilibrium Seeking for Aggregative Games With Quantization Constraints

The problem of seeking Nash equilibrium (NE) based on aggregative games under quantization constraints is full of challenges. Although the NE seeking algorithm in continuous-time systems has been studied, this problem in discrete-time systems still needs to be solved urgently. To address this problem, three distributed algorithms are first proposed under three quantization cases, adaptive, random, and time-varying quantizations, based on doubly stochastic communication topology networks. Then, the actions of players would eventually converge to NE under the conditions of vanishing step size and strong monotonicity are proved. Moreover, the convergence rate of the three quantization cases are analyzed, respectively. Finally, numerical experiments are implemented on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to validate the effectiveness of the proposed distributed algorithms. Comparing the convergence rates of the three proposed algorithms, the convergence effect of the adaptive quantization is better than that of the other two quantization cases.
The discovery of 64 luminous infrared galaxies in the LAMOST Complete Spectroscopic Survey of Pointing Area at the Southern Galactic Cap

We report the discovery of 64 luminous infrared galaxies, based on new observations of 20 square degrees from the LAMOST Complete Spectroscopic Survey of Pointing Area at the Southern Galactic Cap and the WISE 22 μm catalog from the AllWISE Data Release. Half of them are classified as late-type spirals and the others are classified as peculiar/compact galaxies. The peculiar/compact galaxies tend to exhibit higher luminosities and lower stellar masses. We also separate AGNs from HII galaxies in a simple way by examining LAMOST spectra. Those cases show that host AGNs are easily distinguished from others in the mid-infrared color-color diagrams.
Natural Convection Heat Transfer in a Rectangular Enclosure With a Transverse Magnetic Field

The effect of a transverse magnetic field on buoyancy-driven convection in a shallow rectangular cavity is numerically investigated (horizontal Bridgman configuration). The enclosure is insulated on the top and bottom walls while it is heated from one side and cooled from the other. Both cases of a cavity with all rigid boundaries and a cavity with a free upper surface are considered. The study covers the range of the Rayleigh number, Ra, from 10 2 to 10 5 , the Hartmann number, Ha, from 0 to 10 2 , the Prandtl number, Pr, from 0.005 to 1 and aspect ratio of the cavity, A, from 1 to 6. Comparison is made with an existing analytical solution (Garandet et al.), based on a parallel flow approximation, and its range of validity is delineated. Results are presented for the velocity and temperature profiles and heat transfer in terms of Ha number. At high Hartmann numbers, both analytical and numerical analyses reveal that the velocity gradient in the core is constant outside the two Hartmann layers at the vicinity of the walls normal to the magnetic field.
Effect of Different Sealers on the Cytocompatibility and Osteogenic Potential of Human Periodontal Ligament Stem Cells: An In Vitro Study

Background: There is tendency for unavoidable sealer extrusion in some clinical cases. This might adversely affect host stem cells and affect healing. This study aimed to investigate the effect of different sealers on the cytocompatibility and osteogenic potential of human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs). Methods: The cytotoxic effect of the extracted elutes of VDW.1Seal (VDW.1), Endosequence BC Sealer HiFlow (ES), GuttaFlow-2 (GF), and ADSeal (AD-S) on the hPDLSCs was determined using the MTT assay. Cell proliferation and migration were assessed by the scratch wound healing assay. Osteogenic differentiation potential was assessed. Measurement of pH values and calcium ions release was performed. Results: GF had a significantly higher percentage of viable cells. The cell migration assay showed that GF demonstrated the lowest open wound area percentage. GF and AD-S showed the highest calcium nodule deposition. GF demonstrated higher ALP activity than ES. Expression of RUNX2 and OC genes was similar for all sealers, while OPG gene expression was significantly higher for VDW.1 and GF. ES and AD-S displayed the highest pH values on day 1. Calcium ion release of ES and VDW.1 was significantly the highest. Conclusions: GuttaFlow-2 and VDW.1Seal sealers have favorable behavior toward host stem cells.
Beyond Frontal Face Recognition

Face recognition is one of the most researched subjects in computer vision. The attention it receives is due to the complexity of the problem. Face recognition models have to deal with a wide variety of intraclass variations such as pose variations, facial expressions, the effect of aging, and natural occlusion due to different illumination. This challenge is often referred to as pose-illumination-expression. Our brain performs face recognition efficiently because we process it holistically. Since achieving human-level accuracy in face recognition is the ultimate goal, we should ascertain whether a computational model mimicking this approach would better tackle this problem. In this research, we developed a computational learning model that closely mimics the way the human visual cortex performs face recognition. It decomposes the recognition task into two specialized sub-tasks. A generator performs the holistic step, followed by a classifier for the recognition step, together referred to as the “holistic model. ” To deal with the pose variations problem, we introduced the use of calculated distance features known as configural information (CI), which correlate the frontal face with profile face. We compared the holistic model against two baseline models and the current state-of-the-art (or classical models). The experimental results show the holistic model outperforming the current state-of-the-art for the Multi-PIE dataset, by 2.14% and performed as expected for the Labeled Face in the Wild dataset. The ability of the holistic model to recognize a face in any orientation with high accuracy will have a tremendous impact on biometric authentication with liveness detection.