Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of nanomaterials synthesized from Spirulina platensis extract and their potential antifungal activity

Nowadays, fungal infections increase, and the demand of novel antifungal agents is constantly rising. In the present study, silver, titanium dioxide, cobalt (II) hydroxide and cobalt (II,III) oxide nanomaterials have been synthesized from Spirulina platensis extract. The synthesis mechanism has been studied using GCMS and FTIR thus confirming the involvement of secondary metabolites, mainly amines. The obtained products have been analysed using XRD, SEM, TGA and zeta potential techniques. The findings revealed average crystallite size of 15.22 nm with 9.72 nm for oval-shaped silver nanoparticles increasing to 26.01 nm and 24.86 nm after calcination and 4.81 nm for spherical-shaped titanium dioxide nanoparticles which decreased to 4.62 nm after calcination. Nanoflake shape has been observed for cobalt hydroxide nanomaterials and for cobalt (II, III) oxide with crystallite size of 3.52 nm and 13.28 nm, respectively. Silver nanoparticles showed the best thermal and water dispersion stability of all the prepared structures. Once subjected to three different Candida species (C. albicans, C. glabrata, and C. krusei) silver nanoparticles and cobalt (II) hydroxide nanomaterials showed strong antifungal activity at 50 μg/mL with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values. After light exposition, MIC values for nanomaterials decreased (to 12.5 μg/mL) for C. krusei and increased (100 μg/mL) for C. albicans and C. glabrata.
Efficacy and Mode of Action of a Direct Inhibitor of Mycobacterium abscessus InhA.

There is an unmet medical need for effective treatments against Mycobacterium abscessus pulmonary infections, to which cystic fibrosis (CF) patients are particularly vulnerable. Recent studies showed that the antitubercular drug isoniazid is inactive against M. abscessus due to the incapacity of the catalase-peroxidase to convert the pro-drug into a reactive metabolite that inhibits the enoyl-ACP reductase InhA. To validate InhAMAB as a druggable target in M. abscessus, we assayed the activity of NITD-916, a 4-hydroxy-2-pyridone lead candidate initially described as a direct inhibitor of InhA that bypasses KatG bioactivation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The compound displayed low MIC values against rough and smooth clinical isolates in vitro and significantly reduced the bacterial burden inside human macrophages. Moreover, treatment with NITD-916 reduced the number and size of intracellular mycobacterial cords, regarded as markers of the severity of the infection. Importantly, NITD-916 significantly lowered the M. abscessus burden in CF-derived lung airway organoids. From a mechanistic perspective, NITD-916 abrogated de novo synthesis of mycolic acids and NITD-916-resistant spontaneous mutants harbored point mutations in InhAMAB at residue 96. That NITD-916 targets InhAMAB directly without activation requirements was confirmed genetically and by resolving the crystal structure of the protein in complex with NADH and NITD-916. These findings collectively indicate that InhAMAB is an attractive target to be exploited for future chemotherapeutic developments against this difficult-to-treat mycobacterium and highlight the potential of NITD-916 derivatives for further evaluation in preclinical settings.
Two-Body Problem of Classical Electrodynamics with Radiation Terms-Derivation of Equations (I)

This paper is the first part of our investigations devoted to the two-body problem of classical electrodynamics. The primary purpose of this first part is to derive equations of motion describing two moving charged mass particles taking into account the radiation. We proceed from the suggestions given by J. L. Synge [1]. He has proposed a formulation of the of relativistic two-body problem with usually accepted Dirac’s radiation terms [2] containing second derivatives of the velocities: , Here we propose a general approach to introduce new equations of motion based on the same Dirac’s physical assumptions from [2]. Instead of the above system of eight equations of motion we derive consider an analogous system , where the classical Lorentz-Dirac radiation terms are replaced by newly derived ones. We show that two equations are consequences of the rest ones and so we have to solve a system of six equations for six unknown velocities, issue that has not been discussed in the literature. Instead of second order differential system (with respect to the unknown velocities) we obtain a first order neutral system with both retarded and advanced arguments depending on the unknown trajectories. In the second part we solve the system and so we give a method for overcoming the singularities arising in Dirac radiation terms.
Two-component modeling of the solar IR CO lines

One-dimensional hydrostatic models of quiet and active solar regions can be constructed that generally account for the observed intensities of lines and continue throughout the spectrum, except for the infrared CO lines. There is an apparent conflict between: (1) observations of the strongest infrared CO lines formed in LTE at low-chromospheric heights but at temperatures much cooler than the average chromospheric values; and (2) observations of Ca II, UV (ultraviolet), and microwave intensities that originate from the same chromospheric heights but at the much higher temperatures characteristic of the average chromosphere. A model M(sub CO) has been constructed which gives a good fit to the full range of mean CO line profiles (averaged over the central area of the solar disk and over time) but this model conflicts with other observations of average quiet regions. A model L(sub CO) which is approximately 100 K cooler than M(sub CO) combined with a very bright network model F in the proportions 0.6 L(sub CO) + 0.4 F is found to be generally consistent with the CO, Ca II, UV, and microwave observations. Ayres, Testerman, and Brault found that models COOLC and FLUXT in the proportions 0.925 and 0.075 account for the CO and Ca II lines, but these combined models give an average UV intensity at 140 nm about 20 times larger than observed. The 0.6 L(sub CO) + 0.4 F result may give a better description of the cool and hot components that produce the space- and time-averaged spectra. Recent observations carried out by Uitenbroek, Noyes, and Rabine with high spatial and temporal resolution indicate that the faintest intensities in the strong CO lines measured at given locations usually become much brighter within 1 to 3 minutes. The cool regions thus seem to be mostly the low-temperature portions of oscillatory waves rather than cool structures that are stationary.
Large Magnetic Entropy Change in Ni50Mn50−xInx Heusler Alloys

The magnetocaloric properties of polycrystalline Ni50Mn50−xInx (15⩽x⩽16) associated with the second order magnetic transition at the Curie temperature and the first order martensitic transition were studied using magnetization measurements. The refrigeration capacity and magnetic entropy change were found to depend on the In concentration and reach a maximum value of refrigeration capacity of 280J∕kg with a magnetic entropy change of −6.8J∕kgK at 318K for a magnetic field change of 5T. These values of the magnetocaloric parameters are comparable to that of the largest values reported near the second order transition of metallic magnets near room temperature.
The jet in the galactic center: An ideal laboratory for magnetohydrodynamics and general relativity

Abstract Of all possible black hole sources, the event horizon of the Galactic Center black hole, Sgr A*, subtends the largest angular scale on the sky. It is therefore a prime candidate to study and image plasma processes in strong gravity and it even allows imaging of the shadow cast by the event horizon. Recent mm-wave VLBI and radio timing observations as well as numerical GRMHD simulations now have provided several breakthroughs that put Sgr A* back into the focus. Firstly, VLBI observations have now measured the intrinsic size of Sgr A* at multiple frequencies, where the highest frequency measurements have approached the scale of the black hole shadow. Moreover, measurements of the radio variability show a clear time lag between 22 GHz and 43 GHz. The combination of size and timing measurements, allows one to actually measure the flow speed and direction of magnetized plasma at some tens of Schwarzschild radii. This data strongly support a moderately relativistic outflow, consistent with an accelerating jet model. This is compared to recent GRMHD simulation that show the presence of a moderately relativistic outflow coupled to an accretion flow Sgr A*. Further VLBI and timing observations coupled to simulations have the potential to map out the velocity profile from 5-40 Schwarzschild radii and to provide a first glimpse at the appearance of a jet-disk system near the event horizon. Future submm-VLBI experiments would even be able to directly image those processes in strong gravity and directly confirm the presence of an event horizon.
Design of Radio over Fiber System with 16-QAM Modulation for 5G Fronthaul Network Implementation in Indonesia

In 5G Network, Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) plays a substantial role in escalating network performance efficiency. Nevertheless, this C-RAN concept’s main challenge lies in the need for a fronthaul network to handle high capacity and low delay. The Radio over Fiber (RoF) has been a solution to satisfy the high capacity and high-speed transmission required by the 5G fronthaul network. Keeping the attenuation effect low to achieve the minimum BER by using the optical amplifier is necessary. This paper investigates RoF by considering amplifier placement and different bitrate with 16-QAM modulation for Indonesia’s 5G Fronthaul Network Implementation. Optical amplifier placement scenarios are pre-amplifier and booster amplifier. The results show that the booster amplifier scheme can cover a maximum fronthaul transmission distance of 20 km. As a comparison, the pre-amplifier scheme can reach a transmission distance of up to 15 km. Moreover, increasing the bitrate from 1 Gbps to 2.5 Gbps causes the BER value to increase. This result shows that different optical amplifiers and the increase in bit rate will affect the obtained BER values and limit the transmission distance that the fronthaul network can achieve.
Measurement of the charge asymmetry in top quark pair production in in pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the charge asymmetry in the production of top quark pairs in the semileptonic decay channel has been performed. A dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $1.04\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$, obtained at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 7\,{\rm TeV}$ with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, was used. After performing a selection of events with one isolated lepton, at least four jets and missing transverse energy, a kinematic fit was performed to reconstruct the $t\bar{t}$ event topology. The charge asymmetry was determined using the differential distribution of the reconstructed observable $|y_t| - |y_{\bar{t}}|$, where $y_t$ and $y_{\bar{t}}$ denote the top and antitop quark rapidities, respectively. An unfolding procedure was applied to correct for detector acceptance and resolution effects and to obtain the corresponding distribution at parton level. The total charge asymmetry after unfolding was measured to be \begin{eqnarray*} A_C^{\text{unf}} = -0.018 \pm 0.028\,\text{(stat.)} \pm 0.023\,\text{(syst.)} \end{eqnarray*} in agreement with the Standard Model prediction. In addition, a simultaneous unfolding in $|y_t| - |y_{\bar{t}}|$ and the invariant $t\bar{t}$ mass, $M_{t \bar{t}}$, was performed.
DRAM-CAM: General-Purpose Bit-Serial Exact Pattern Matching

Exact pattern matching is a widely used kernel in many applications. A DRAM-based processing-in-memory (PIM) architecture, Sieve, was recently proposed to alleviate the bottleneck stage of sequence matching in genomics. This paper observes that other exact-pattern-matching-intensive workloads can benefit from a similar architecture. We extend Sieve with several cost-effective modifications, such as a population count logic, chip-level parallelism support, and a hardware data transposition unit, making a general-purpose DRAM-CAM and key-value store that outperforms both CPU and various PIM solutions.
Comparative Study and Detection of Spinal Deformities using Supervised Machine Learning Algorithms

Many issues with various parts of the body in the lumbar spine might cause lower back pain. Machine learning models used in the medical sector for illness diagnosis aid medical professionals in identifying diseases based on symptoms at a premature time. The goal of this is to have a look at and decide the maximum essential bodily traits that result in spinal deformities, in addition to also forecasting spinal malformation primarily based on the bodily facts accrued from the spine. Univariate function selection acts as a filterprimarily based on characteristic choice. For the identification of spinal abnormalities, a variety of machine learning methodologies such as Decision Tree Classifier, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and others are examined. The technique models are tested on a 310-sample dataset from the Kaggle repository. A number of parameters, including training and testing accuracy, recall, and f-1 score, are used to evaluate the performance of the classification of defective and healthy spinal patients.
ECG Biometric using Statistical Feature of EEMD and VMD

Electrocardiogram (ECG), as a biometric that has been widely studied, has advantages that are difficult to fake compared to biometrics using physical characteristics. This study simulated an ECG based biometric system with 15 subjects. It used the Butterworth low pass filter (LPF), ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) or variational mode decomposition (VMD), and statistical features as feature extraction method. The filtered signal will be segmented, and the subsequent five level decomposition using EEMD and VMD. Then, the signal analysis used the statistical feature approach for each intrinsic mode function (IMF) as result of decomposition process. These values become a feature set entered of K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) as classifier; the highest result of 93% was achieved using VMD and KNN with Manhattan distance.
POWER EXTRACTION FROM WATER WAVES

Salter has demonstrated experimentally that a horizontal cylinder in the free surface of water can be a device to extract energy from the incident waves. This paper proposes a design which is based on the idea of a tethered-float breakwater, and gives the theoretical design criteria for maximum power extraction from a general floating cylinder with one or two degrees of freedom. It is shown that the rate of energy extraction must be equal to the rate of radiation damping and that the floating body must be made to resonate. Then for a body with one degree of freedom, the maximum efficiency at a given frequency can be at least one half if the body is symmetrical about a vertical axis, and greater for an asymmetrical body. For a body with two degrees of freedom, all the wave power can be extracted. Hydrodynamical aspects of the controlled motion are examined. Viscous effects are ignored.
Controls on Surface Warming by Winter Arctic Moist Intrusions in Idealized Large-Eddy Simulations

The main energy input to the polar regions in winter is the advection of warm, moist air from lower latitudes. This makes the polar climate sensitive to the temperature and moisture of extra-polar air. Here, we study this sensitivity from an air-mass transformation perspective. We perform simulations of an idealized maritime air mass brought into contact with sea ice employing a three-dimensional large-eddy simulation model coupled to a one-dimensional multilayer sea ice model. We study the response of cloud dynamics and surface warming during the air-mass transformation process to varying initial temperature and humidity conditions of the air mass. We find in all cases that a mixed-phase cloud is formed, initially near the surface but rising continuously with time. Surface warming of the sea ice is driven by downward longwave surface fluxes, which are largely controlled by the temperature and optical depth of the cloud. Cloud temperature, in turn, is robustly constrained by the initial dewpoint temperature of the air mass. Since dewpoint only depends on moisture, the overall result is that surface warming depends almost exclusively on initial humidity and is largely independent of initial temperature. We discuss possible climate implications of this result, in particular for polar amplification of surface warming and the role played by atmospheric energy transports.
Signal Suppression by Preexcitation with Inverting Pulses ’

A cardiac-gated sequence has been developed for functional cardiac imaging. It uses a nonselective 1800 preinverting pulse before a spin-echo (SE) readout sequence with an echo time (TE) of 28 msec. In seven healthy volunteers this sequence provided superior wall-tochamber contrast in end diastole and end systole when compared with the following sequences: SE, TE 28 msec; SE, TE = 28 msec with dephasing gradients; and SE, TE = 28 msec with presaturation bands.
DE TRAVAIL « Spatial preference heterogeneity in forest recreation »

: In this study, we analyze the preferences for recreational use of forests in Lorraine (Northeastern France), applying stated preference data. Our approach allows us to estimate individual-specific preferences for recreational use of different forest types. These estimates are used in a second stage of the analysis where we test whether preferences depend on access to recreation sites. We find that there is significant preference heterogeneity with respect to most forest attributes. The spatial analysis shows that preferences for forests with parking and picnic facilities are correlated with having access to such forests while for the other attributes considered (dominant tree species, trekking paths and presence of lake and rivers) we find no correlation between stated preferences and accessibility. This implies that the problem of endogenous distances in the travel cost method (Parsons 1991) may be present in the estimation of welfare economic values for parking and picnic facilities in the analyzed model. The results underline the importance of considering spatial heterogeneity of preferences carrying out economic valuation of spatial-delineated environmental goods and that the spatial variation in willingness to pay for such goods is not only explained by the users’ transport costs of accessing the sites.
Turbulent Separated Flow Past a Backward-Facing Step: A Critical Evaluation of Two-Equation Turbulence Models

Abstract : The ability of two equation models to accurately predict separated flows is analyzed from a combined theoretical and computational standpoint. Turbulent flow past a backward facing step is chosen as a test case in an effort to resolve the variety of conflicting results that have been published during the past decade concerning the performance of two-equation models. It is found that the errors in the reported predictions of the K-epsilon model have two major origins: (1) numerical problems arising from inadequate resolution, and (2) inaccurate predictions for normal Reynolds stress differences arising from the use of an isotropic eddy viscosity. In adequacies in near wall modeling play a substantially smaller role. Detailed calculations are presented which strongly indicate the standard K-epsilon model -- when modified with an independently calibrated anisotropic eddy viscosity -- can yield surprisingly good predictions for the backstep problem.
Clustering of Fine-Grained Tropical Soils using Data Science Tools Applied to their Geotechnical Properties Geography, Geo-Sciences, Environmental Science & Disaster Management

- The characterization of fine-grained tropical soils for use in pavements has evolved since the 1980s, however, even today these soils are still discarded or underused in infrastructure works because they do not fully meet the requirements established by traditional classification methodologies or even by the CBR. Tropical soils present peculiarities of geotechnical behavior regarding elastic and plastic deformability, as many authors have already observed. This article contributes to this distinction by analyzing the grouping of thirteen fine-grained soils from northeastern Brazil through the application of data science tools to the results of geotechnical tests. More than fifty geotechnical parameters obtained in the laboratory were considered. By means of simple and multiple linear regressions, they were analyzed in a hierarchical cluster, using Ward's linkage method and Euclidean distance. The results showed that the mechanical behavior of soil compaction and the granulometry, especially the quantities of silt and fine sand, were decisive for the initial division of soils into clusters. Abstract - The characterization of fine-grained tropical soils for use in pavements has evolved since the 1980s, however, even today these soils are still discarded or underused in infrastructure works because they do not fully meet the requirements established by traditional classification methodologies or even by the CBR. Tropical soils present peculiarities of geotechnical behavior regarding elastic and plastic deformability, as many authors have already observed. This article contributes to this distinction by analyzing the grouping of thirteen fine-grained soils from northeastern Brazil through the application of data science tools to the results of geotechnical tests. More than fifty geotechnical parameters obtained in the laboratory were considered. By means of simple and multiple linear regressions, they were analyzed in a hierarchical cluster, using Ward's linkage method and Euclidean distance. The results showed that the mechanical behavior of soil compaction and the granulometry, especially the quantities of silt and fine sand, were decisive for the initial division of soils into clusters. For refining the clusters, we considered the different types of geotechnical parameters (physical, chemical and mechanical) in order to highlight other important variables in the distinction of the behavior of these materials. Additionally, microscopic images were compared also using data science techniques and the results corroborated those obtained in cluster analysis, indicating that soil mineralogical characteristics are associated with with the results of laboratory geotechnical tests.
Healthy Lifestyle Is Associated with Reduced Mortality in Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Background and Aims: It is unclear whether a healthy lifestyle impacts mortality in the presence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The present study aimed to examine the joint association of several modifiable lifestyle factors with mortality risk for NAFLD patients. Methods: We collected lifestyle behavior data form the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III from 1988 to 1994 and follow-up data form NHANES III-linked mortality data through 2015. We estimated joint association between four healthy lifestyle factors (non-smoking, non-drinking, regular physical activity, a healthy diet) after NAFLD diagnosis and mortality using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: During a median of 22.83 years of follow-up, 2932 deaths occurred. The risk of all-cause mortality decreased significantly with the healthy lifestyle scores increasing (p < 0.001). NAFLD patients with a favorable lifestyle (3 or 4 healthy lifestyle factors) reduced 36% of all-cause mortality and 43% of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality compared with those with an unfavorable lifestyle (0 or 1 healthy lifestyle factor) (HR, 0.64 [95% CI, 0.50–0.81], 0.57 [95% CI, 0.37–0.88]). Compared with the non-NAFLD group, the number of NAFLD patients required to adhere to a favorable lifestyle to prevent one cardiovascular disease death in 20 years was fewer (77 vs. 125). Conclusions: For the NAFLD patients, adopting a healthy lifestyle could significantly reduce their risk of death.