Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ultranarrow Linewidth Coupling Resonance in Flexible Plasmonic Nanopillar Array for Enhanced Biomolecule Detection

Plasmonic nanostructures, due to their extremely strong confinement and enhancement of optical field, have emerged as a potential tool in myriad applications, ranging from nano‐laser to surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and biosensing. To break through the restriction of intrinsic losses and radiative damping in metal nanostructures resulting in broad plasmon resonance, a plasmonic nanostructure sensor employing hexagonal nanopillar array on flexible substrate to form the bilayer gold cap‐hole coupling structure is proposed and demonstrated. The sensor is fabricated by the combination of vacuum coating and template transfer, and experimentally exhibits an ultranarrow plasmon resonance coupling mode with a linewidth of 4.5 nm. Such a sharp linewidth resonance originates from the coupling of geometrical‐induced Wood's anomaly (WA) and Fabry–Perot (FP) modes. Benefiting from this ultranarrow resonance, a figure of merit (FOM) of 140.6 and spectroscopic detection noise down to 0.02 nm are demonstrated in the bulk refractive index (RI) sensing. Furthermore, the nanopillar array enables the detection of bovine serum albumin biomolecular with the detection limit of 0.27 µm. The plasmonic array device can be further investigated for more potential practical utility that are valuable and significant for label‐free biomolecular sensing with high sensitivity and high throughput.
Determinants of Halal Personal Care Products Purchase Intention: Empirical Evidence from Selected University Students in Malaysia

The Malaysian government has developed various programmes and incentives to promote halal products to the public and to establish Malaysia as a leading Global Halal Hub. One of the halal products that is gaining market share in Malaysia’s halal industry is halal personal care products. This study explores the determinants of consumer intention to purchase halal personal care products among students in Malaysia. The Structural Equation Model with Partial Least Square (PLS-SEM) was done on a selected group of 280 university students in Malaysia through an online questionnaire. The findings suggest that product knowledge and religious knowledge have a positive relationship with consumer attitude towards halal personal care products. In addition, this study shows that attitude and subjective norm have a positive relationship with consumer intention to purchase halal personal care products. This result will be beneficial to personal care product manufacturers to improve their marketing strategy, and to halal certifying bodies to inform the public on the importance of purchasing halal certified personal care products and maintain the integrity of halal certification.
Missing Values in Multivariate Analysis

SUMMARY This paper presents computational results for some alternative methods of analysing multivariate data with missing values. We recommend an algorithm due to Orchard and Woodbury (1972), which gives an estimator that is maximum likelihood when the data come from a multivariate normal population. We include a derivation of the estimator that does not assume a multivariate normal population, as an iterated form of Buck's (1960) method. We derive an approximate method of assigning standard errors to regression coefficients estimated from incomplete observations, and quote supporting evidence from simulation studies. A brief account is given of the application of these methods to some school examinations data.
Benefits of Supersymmetry: From Scattering Amplitudes to Higher-Spin Gravity.

Benefits of supersymmetry: from scattering amplitudes to higher-spin gravity by Cheng Peng Chair: Prof. Henriette Elvang In this dissertation, we study two topics related to supersymmetry. One topic is the computation of scattering amplitudes in supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory via on-shell methods. We develop a formalism to compute the SYM scattering amplitudes with N < 4 supersymmetries and examine various properties of the results. In particular, with the help of the generalized unitarity method, we identify the origin of the 1-loop UV divergence of the N < 4 SYM amplitudes. The second topic is on higher-spin gravity in 3-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime. We find a noval generalization of higher-spin gravity that includes supersymmetry in the framework of the gauge/gravity correspondence. By explicit computation, we match the asymptotic symmetry of the higher-spin supergravity with the chiral symmetry of the ’t Hooft limit of the CP model, which is the proposed dual 2-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT ). In addition, we consider the special case of spin-3 supergravity and find 3 distinct vacua. We find renormalization group (RG) flows connecting two of them to the third vacuum. Thus a new duality between the two ultraviolet (UV)
Robust consensus tracking for a class of heterogeneous second‐order nonlinear multi‐agent systems

This paper deals with the robust consensus tracking problem for a class of heterogeneous second‐order nonlinear multi‐agent systems with bounded external disturbances. First, a distributed adaptive control law is proposed based on the relative position and velocity information. It is shown that for any connected undirected communication graph, the proposed control law solves the robust consensus tracking problem. Then, by introducing a novel distributed observer and employing backstepping design techniques, a distributed adaptive control law is constructed based only on the relative position information. Compared with the existing results, the proposed adaptive consensus protocols are in a distributed fashion, and the nonlinear functions are not required to satisfy any globally Lipschitz or Lipschitz‐like condition. Numerical examples are given to verify our proposed protocols. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Arteriovenous Hemodialysis Access Stenosis Diagnosed by Duplex Doppler Ultrasonography: A Review

Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is currently the hemodialysis access with the longest life expectations for the patients. However, even the AVF is at risk for many complications, especially the development of stenosis. The latter can not only lead to inadequate hemodialysis but also lead to AVF thrombosis. Duplex Doppler ultrasonography is a very precise method, in the hands of experienced professionals, for the diagnosis of AVF complications. In this review, we summarize the ultrasound diagnostic criteria of significant stenoses and their indication for procedural therapy.
Early Plasma Magnesium in Near-Term and Term Infants with Neonatal Encephalopathy in the Context of Perinatal Asphyxia

Magnesium ions are implicated in brain functioning. The disruption of brain metabolism subsequent to a perinatal hypoxic-ischaemic insult may be reflected by plasma magnesium. Infants at 36 weeks after birth or later with neonatal encephalopathy and who were admitted to our neonatal unit from 2011 to 2019 were retrospectively included. The kinetics of plasma magnesium were investigated for the first 72 h of life and correlated to the Barkovich MRI score. Among the 125 infants who met the inclusion criteria, 45 patients (36%) had moderate to severe brain lesions on neonatal MRI. Plasma magnesium values were not strongly associated with the severity of clinical encephalopathy, initial EEG background and brain lesions. Intriguingly, higher plasma magnesium values during the 0–6 h period were linked to the presence of brain injuries that predominated within the white matter (p < 0.001) and to the requirement of cardiac resuscitation in the delivery room (p = 0.001). The occurrence of seizures was associated with a lower mean magnesium value around the 24th hour of life (p = 0.005). This study supports that neonatal encephalopathy is a complex and multifactorial condition. Plasma magnesium could help to better identify the subtypes of neonatal encephalopathy. Further studies are needed to confirm these results in this prospect.
Study on Dynamic Progression and Risk Assessment of Metabolic Syndrome Based on Multi-State Markov Model

Aim Metabolic syndrome (MetS) coexists with the occurrence and even death of cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus. It is essential to study the factors in the dynamic progression of MetS in the interest of prevention and control. Purpose The aim of this study was to analyze the dynamic progression of Mets and explore the potential factors influencing the progression or reversal of MetS. Patients and Methods This study involved 5581 individuals from two waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study: 2011 and 2015. A multistate Markov model containing 4 states (free of metabolic disorder (FMD), mild metabolic disorder (MMD), severe metabolic disorder (SMD) and MetS) was adopted to study the dynamic progression of MetS and its influencing factors. Results After follow-up, a total of 2862 cases (50.28% of the total number) had disease state transition. The intensity of transition from MetS to SMD is the same as that from SMD to MMD, and is greater than that from MMD to Mets (0.06 vs 0.05). For the MetS state, a mean of 1/0.08=12.5 years was spent in the MetS state before recovery. The exercise, smoke, drink, BMI level, hyperuricemia had statistically significant effects on progression of MetS status (P<0.05). The obesity or overweight, little exercise, smoke, drink and hyperuricemia increased the risk of forward progression of MetS disease status. There were significant nonmodifiable (age, gender) and modifiable factors (exercise, drink, BMI level, or high HbA1c) associated with reversion of MetS state. Conclusion The likelihood of progression from MMD to MetS is less likely than that of reversion from MetS to SMD and SMD to MMD. Old females were more resistant to recover from worse states than males. Prevention and intervention measures should be adopted early when MMD or SMD onset occurs.
Resensitization of Fosfomycin-Resistant Escherichia coli Using the CRISPR System

Antimicrobial resistance is a public health burden with worldwide impacts and was recently identified as one of the major causes of death in 2019. Fosfomycin is an antibiotic commonly used to treat urinary tract infections, and resistance to it in Enterobacteriaceae is mainly due to the metalloenzyme FosA3 encoded by the fosA3 gene. In this work, we adapted a CRISPR-Cas9 system named pRE-FOSA3 to restore the sensitivity of a fosA3+ Escherichia coli strain. The fosA3+ E. coli strain was generated by transforming synthetic fosA3 into a nonpathogenic E. coli TOP10. To mediate the fosA3 disruption, two guide RNAs (gRNAs) were selected that used conserved regions within the fosA3 sequence of more than 700 fosA3+ E. coli isolates, and the resensitization plasmid pRE-FOSA3 was assembled by cloning the gRNA into pCas9. gRNA_195 exhibited 100% efficiency in resensitizing the bacteria to fosfomycin. Additionally, the edited strain lost the ampicillin resistance encoded in the same plasmid containing the synthetic fosA3 gene, despite not being the CRISPR-Cas9 target, indicating plasmid clearance. The in vitro analysis presented here points to a path that can be explored to assist the development of effective alternative methods of treatment against fosA3+ bacteria.
Medication Adherence among Patients with Chronic Diseases in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: The management of chronic illnesses commonly includes a long-term pharmacological approach. Although these medications effectively control disease, their full benefits are often not realized because approximately 50% of patients do not take their medications as prescribed. Medication adherence has become a big concern to clinicians and healthcare systems in Saudi Arabia and worldwide because of growing evidence associating nonadherence with adverse outcomes and higher costs of care. Despite it being a well-recognized problem, few studies have investigated medication adherence in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study aims to gain a better perspective on medication adherence among patients with chronic diseases in Saudi Arabia. Method: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among patients with chronic diseases in the Makkah region, Saudi Arabia, from 1 May to 31 July 2021. Patients aged 18 years and above who were taking prescribed or over-the-counter medications were included. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the participants’ characteristics, and categorical variables were reported as frequencies and percentages. A Chi-square test was used to test the relations between variables. Results: In total, 239 participants were included in the study. Females represented 62% of the participants. In terms of the history of chronic diseases, 44% had hypertension, 40% had diabetes mellitus, 21% had heart diseases and 9% had asthma. Nearly half (49%) of participants did not follow up regularly with a primary healthcare center and 42% said that they had forgotten to take their medications in the past. However, most of the participants (78%) stated that they took their medicine as instructed by their doctor or pharmacist, and 61% took their medications on time. The majority of participants (85%) said that the pharmacist explained the method of using the medications and the instructions for use, while 30% thought that the medications they took were too much. In regard to the reasons for medication nonadherence, having no specific reasons for medication nonadherence was the most common cause for nonadherence in our study. The relationship between patients taking medications as instructed by a healthcare provider (the doctor or pharmacist) and the healthcare provider giving clear instructions to patients about medication use was significant (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Failure to adhere is a significant problem that not only affects the patient but also the healthcare system. Additional research is needed to monitor medication adherence and identify factors contributing to this problem to provide successful strategies to improve medication adherence in Saudi Arabia.
Management of Preschool Wheezing: Guideline from the Emilia-Romagna Asthma (ERA) Study Group

Preschool wheezing should be considered an umbrella term for distinctive diseases with different observable and measurable phenotypes. Despite many efforts, there is a large gap in knowledge regarding management of preschool wheezing. In order to fill this lack of knowledge, the aim of these guidelines was to define management of wheezing disorders in preschool children (aged up to 5 years). A multidisciplinary panel of experts of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy, addressed twelve different key questions regarding the management of preschool wheezing. Clinical questions have been formulated by the expert panel using the PICO format (Patients, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes) and systematic reviews have been conducted on PubMed to answer these specific questions, with the aim of formulating recommendations. The GRADE approach has been used for each selected paper, to assess the quality of the evidence and the degree of recommendations. These guidelines represent, in our opinion, the most complete and up-to-date collection of recommendations on preschool wheezing to guide pediatricians in the management of their patients, standardizing approaches. Undoubtedly, more research is needed to find objective biomarkers and understand underlying mechanisms to assess phenotype and endotype and to personalize targeted treatment.
Data-Based Switching Feedforward Control for Repeating and Varying Tasks: With Application to an Ultraprecision Wafer Stage

In precision motion systems, well-designed feedforward control can effectively compensate for the reference-induced error. Compared to iterative learning control (ILC), data-based fixed-structure feedforward control (DFFC) possesses robustness against reference variations, but results in mediocre performance in exactly repeating tasks. In this paper, a novel data-based switching feedforward control (DSFC) approach is synthesized to well balance the tradeoff between the extrapolation capabilities and servo performance. Specifically, a theoretical framework is developed for the proposed DSFC approach, where the feedforward control is switched between ILC and DFFC according to whether the successive references are repeated or not. When operating in the DFFC mode, a new iterative parameter tuning algorithm is proposed to enable the performance enhancement compared to the pre-existing DFFC and overcome the limitation of the allowable reference variations. Furthermore, an unbiased estimate method for the convolution matrix of the (process) sensitivity function is developed based on the impulse response experiment. No parametric model is required throughout the proposed DSFC procedure, and the optimal parameters of the DFFC mode can be unbiasedly estimated. Experimental results on an ultraprecision wafer stage confirm that the proposed DSFC combines advantages of ILC and DFFC, and achieves high performance for both repeating and varying tasks.
Amorphous cobalt boride nanoparticles incorporated vanadium carbide MXene composite for asymmetric supercapacitor applications

The use of novel, low‐cost, and efficient electrode materials in high‐power energy technology is highly anticipated for the development of user‐friendly products. Recently, “MXenes” have been identified as a novel class of advanced two‐dimensional (2D) layered transition metal compounds that have piqued the interest of researchers in a variety of electrochemical applications due to their remarkable physicochemical properties that resemble other 2D materials such as graphene. Similarly, an amorphous transition metal boride compound has sparked considerable interest as a potential candidate for battery‐type supercapacitor electrodes. However, the concerns about MXene layer restacking and the low electrical conductivity of metal borides limit their usefulness. Herein, we present the fabrication of a novel metal boride‐MXene (CoB‐V‐MX) architecture using a simple one‐pot chemical reduction process of cobalt boride nanoparticles and V‐MXene flakes. An asymmetric hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) with activated carbon as the anode and the prepared composite as the cathode was developed. The HSC device can operate over a wider voltage range (1.6 V), distribute a high specific energy of 31.5 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 800 W kg−1, and retain up to 89.2% of its initial capacitance for up to 2500 charge‐discharge cycles, demonstrating the increased possibility of designing a novel composite architecture in advanced energy storage applications.
Evolutionary Perspective on Improving Mental Health

Mental issues are by many considered the main challenge for health authorities in industrialized nations. In this entry, I discuss an approach that may prove useful for ameliorating the situation and thereby improving quality of life. The analysis uses an understanding of the brain based on evolution and neurobiology, so consequently the ideas presented differ somewhat from traditional psychological thinking. Briefly, it appears likely that the problems with psychopathology are partly due to a lifestyle at odds with human nature. The key for finding preventive measures then is to identify the contributing mismatches. Based on the present perspective, therapeutic interventions can be construed as altering the brain by exercising functions that ought to be strengthened. By understanding brain plasticity, and the functions that are likely to need improvement in relation to mental health, we stand a better chance at devising interventions that work.
Solving 0/1 Knapsack Problem Using Hybrid HS and Jaya Algorithms

Knapsack problem is a combinatorial optimization problem, where a fixed-size Knapsack must be filled with the most valuable items. Solving knapsack problem consider NP hard problem and many previous research tried to find optimal solution for it. In this research, a new hybrid algorithm of Harmony search and Jaya search algorithms applied on 0/1 Knapsack problem to find a near optimal results. HS algorithm has been modified to handle the 0/1 Knapsack problem, such as adding penalty function to cope the weight condition, exclude the harmony search bandwidth (bw) parameter, and use the current best result in the next iteration to obtain a better result. The new hybrid algorithm has been applied on different cases of Knapsack problem with different dimensions. 20 case studies have been evaluated by the new hybrid algorithm. The results obtained are competitive to previous HS variants that used to solve Knapsack problem.
The evolution of massive clumps in star forming regions

In this thesis two related arguments are investigated: - The first stages of the process of massive star formation, investigating the physical conditions and -properties of massive clumps in different evolutionary stages, and their CO depletion; - The influence that high-mass stars have on the nearby material and on the activity of star formation. I characterise the gas and dust temperature, mass and density of a sample of massive clumps, and analyse the variation of these properties from quiescent clumps, without any sign of active star formation, to clumps likely hosting a zero-age main sequence star. I briefly discuss CO depletion and recent observations of several molecular species, tracers of Hot Cores and/or shocked gas, of a subsample of these clumps. The issue of CO depletion is addressed in more detail in a larger sample consisting of the brightest sources in the ATLASGAL survey: using a radiative tranfer code I investigate how the depletion changes from dark clouds to more evolved objects, and compare its evolution to what happens in the low-mass regime. Finally, I derive the physical properties of the molecular gas in the photon-dominated region adjacent to the HII region G353.2+0.9 in the vicinity of Pismis 24, a young, massive cluster, containing some of the most massive and hottest stars known in our Galaxy. I derive the IMF of the cluster and study the star formation activity in its surroundings. Much of the data analysis is done with a Bayesian approach. Therefore, a separate chapter is dedicated to the concepts of Bayesian statistics.
Pression sous-glottique et débit d'air buccal des voyelles en français

According to classical view, the respiratory apparatus is a system which permits voluntary changing in intensity and maybe in the shape of the signal, but not (at least in the most known languages) as a system capable of raising the pressure for some given sounds. This paper examine variations going with different vowels and conclude that respiratory effort may be used to distinguish different sounds. Some French speakers seem to voluntary increase sub glottal pressure for some particular segments. Two subjects, one male and one female, participated to this s tudy. We a nalysed different vowels productions for different controlled frequencies and d ifferent controlled intensities. We took measures of mean oral air flow (dm 3 /s) and mean sub-glottal pressure (hPa). Results showed (i) that sub- glottal pressure is lower for (a) than for (u) and for (i) ; (ii) that a vowel effect, as well for the pressure a s for the oral air flow, was showed by repeated measures of analysis of variance. Obviously, the e ffect of the pressure reveals more c omplex mechanisms in the vowels production. In a first approach, this effect may be explained by three ways : (i) a difference in the a ir flow due to d ifferent vocal shapes ; (ii) a different respiratory control ; or ( iii) a difference in the tension of the vocal folds. This last explanation seems to be an interesting track to explore for future experiments.