Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An adaptive uncertainty-guided sampling method for geospatial prediction and its application in digital soil mapping

Abstract Sampling design can significantly reduce the uncertainty in geospatial predictions. In this paper, we developed an adaptive uncertainty-guided stepwise sampling (AUGSS) method to select sampling locations to supplement existing legacy sample points whose representation should be improved. The proposed method selects supplemental samples in a stepwise manner as guided by an objective function with two weighted sub-objectives. One reduces the area with high prediction uncertainty, and the other minimizes the overall prediction uncertainty for the entire area. The method takes an adaptive approach to adjust weights for the two sub-objectives and to tune an uncertainty threshold controlling whether a location can be reliably predicted during the sampling procedure. A case study on soil property prediction shows that AUGSS outperforms the stratified random sampling (SRS) and the non-adaptive uncertainty guided sampling method (UGSS) in terms of RMSE and Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient with different sample sizes. This study shows that the AUGSS method offers a potential for effectively adding supplemental samples to existing samples which are insufficient for spatial prediction. The adaptive strategy guided by predicted uncertainty provides an efficient support to improve the spatial pattern of samples, which plays a key role in the result accuracy of geospatial predictive mapping.
The Galactic O-Star Spectroscopic Catalog (GOSC) and Survey (GOSSS): first whole-sky results and further updates

The Galactic O-Star Spectroscopic Survey (GOSSS) is obtaining high quality R~2500 blue-violet spectroscopy of all Galactic stars ever classified as of O type with B < 12 and a significant fraction of those with B = 12-14. As of June 2013, we have obtained, processed, and classified 2653 spectra of 1593 stars, including all of the sample with B < 8 and most of the sample with B = 8-10, making GOSSS already the largest collection of high quality O-star optical spectra ever assembled by a factor of 3. We discuss the fraction of false positives (stars classified as O in previous works that do not belong to that class) and the implications of the observed magnitude distribution for the spatial distribution of massive stars and dust within a few kpc of the Sun. We also present new spectrograms for some of the interesting objects in the sample and show applications of GOSSS data to the study of the intervening ISM. Finally, we present the new version of the Galactic O-Star Catalog (GOSC), which incorporates the data in GOSSS-DR1, and we discuss our plans for MGB, an interactive spectral classification tool for OB stars.
Characterizing the quiescent X-ray variability of the black hole low-mass X-ray binary V404 Cyg

We conducted the first long-term (75 days) X-ray monitoring of the black hole low mass X-ray binary V404 Cyg, with the goal of understanding and characterizing its variability during quiescence. The X-ray light curve of V404 shows several flares on timescales of hours with a count rate change of a factor of about 5-8. The root mean square variability is Fvar = 57.0(3.2) percent. The first order structure function is consistent with both a power spectrum of index -1 (flicker noise), or with a power spectrum of index 0 (white noise), implying that the light curve is variable on timescales from days to months. The X-ray spectrum is well fitted by a power law with spectral index {\Gamma} = 2.10 - 2.35, and we found that the spectral shape remains roughly constant as the flux changes. A constant spectral shape with respect to a change in the X-ray flux may favour a scenario in which the X-ray emission is dominated by synchrotron radiation produced in a jet.
The Impact of Non-Nodulating Diazotrophic Bacteria in Agriculture: Understanding the Molecular Mechanisms That Benefit Crops

Agriculture is facing increasing challenges with regard to achieving sustainable growth in productivity without negatively impacting the environment. The use of bioinoculants is emerging as a sustainable solution for agriculture, especially bioinoculants based on diazotrophic bacteria. Brazil is at the forefront of studies intended to identify beneficial diazotrophic bacteria, as well as in the molecular characterization of this association on both the bacterial and plant sides. Here we highlight the main advances in molecular studies to understand the benefits brought to plants by diazotrophic bacteria. Different molecular pathways in plants are regulated both genetically and epigenetically, providing better plant performance. Among them, we discuss the involvement of genes related to nitrogen metabolism, cell wall formation, antioxidant metabolism, and regulation of phytohormones that can coordinate plant responses to environmental factors. Another important aspect in this regard is how the plant recognizes the microorganism as beneficial. A better understanding of plant–bacteria–environment interactions can assist in the future formulation of more efficient bioinoculants, which could in turn contribute to more sustainable agriculture practices.
Does the Universe Have a Handedness

In this article I extend an earlier study of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to investigate whether the universe has an overall handedness. A preference for spiral galaxies in one sector of the sky to be left-handed or right-handed spirals would indicate a parity-violating asymmetry in the overall universe and a preferred axis. The previous study used 2616 spiral galaxies with redshifts <0.04 and identified handedness. The new study uses 15872 with redshifts <0.085 and obtains very similar results to the first with a signal exceeding 5 sigma, corresponding to a probability of 2.5x10-7 for occurring by chance. The axis of the dipole asymmetry lies at approx. (l, b) =(32d,69d), roughly along that of our Galaxy and close to the so-called "Axis of Evil".
Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: Historical evolution of transplantation criteria

Liver transplantation (LT) for hepatocellular carcinoma is still a hot topic, and the main factor that is associated with the success of treatment is to determine the patients who will benefit from LT. Milan criteria have been defined 25 years ago and still is being used for patient selection for LT. However, in living donor LT, the Milan criteria is being extended. Current criteria for patient selection do not only consider morphologic characteristics such as tumor size and number of tumor nodules but also biologic markers that show tumor aggressiveness is also being considered. In the present review article, we have summarized all the criteria and scoring systems regarding LT for hepatocellular carcinoma. All criteria have 5-year overall survival rates that were comparable to the Milan Criteria and ranged between 60%-85%. On the other hand, it was seen that the recurrence rates had increased as the Milan criteria were exceeded; the 5-year recurrence rates ranged between 4.9% to 39.9%. Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma needs a multidisciplinary approach. Ideal selection criteria are yet to be discovered. The same is true for treatment modalities. The goal will be achieved by a harmonic interplay between basic science researchers and clinicians.
A SINFONI integral field spectroscopy Survey for galaxy counterparts to Damped Lyman α Systems – V. Neutral and ionized-phase metallicities

The gas-phase and stellar metallicities have proven to be important parameters to constrain the star formation history of galaxies. However, HII regions associated with recent star-formation may not have abundances typical for the galaxy as a whole and it is believed that the bulk of the metals may be contained in the neutral gas. It is therefore important to directly probe the metal abundances in the neutral gas, which can be done by using absorption lines imprinted on a background quasar. Recently, we have presented studies of the stellar content of a small sample of such quasar absorbers with HI column densities measured to be in the sub-Damped Lyman-alpha to Damped Lyman-alpha range. Here, we present observations covering 300 nm to 2.5 microns of emission line spectra of three of these absorbing-galaxies using the long-slit spectrograph X-Shooter on the VLT. This allows us to compare the neutral and ionised phase metallicities in the same objects and relates these measures to possible signature of low-metallicity gas accretion or outflows of gas enriched by star formation. Our results suggest that the abundances derived in absorption along the line-of-sight to background quasars are reliable measures of the overall galaxy metallicities. In addition to a comparison of abundances in different phases of the gas, a potential observational consequence of differences in fueling mechanisms for disc galaxies is the internal distribution of their chemical abundances. We present some evidence for small negative metallicity gradients in the three systems. The flat slopes are in line with the differences observed between the two phases of the gas. These results suggest that a comparison of the HI and HII metallicities is a robust indicator of abundance gradients in high-redshift galaxies and do not favour the presence of infall of fresh gas in these objects.
Candidate carriers and synthetic spectra of the 21- and 30-μm proto-planetary nebular bands

Computational chemistry is used here to determine the vibrational line spectrum of several candidate molecules. It is shown that the thiourea functional group, associated with various carbonaceous structures (mainly compact and linear aromatic clusters), is able to mimic the 21-µm band emitted by a number of proto-planetary nebulae. The combination of nitrogen and sulphur in thiourea is the essential source of emission in this model: the band disappears if these species are replaced by carbon.
FINITE TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON SPIN POLARIZATION OF NEUTRON MATTER IN A STRONG MAGNETIC FIELD

Magnetars are neutron stars possessing a magnetic ? eld of about 1014-1015 G at the surface. Ther-modynamic properties of neutron star matter, approximated by pure neutron matter, are considered at finite temperature in strong magnetic fields up to 1018 G which could be relevant for the inner regions of magnetars. In the model with the Skyrme e®ective interaction, it is shown that a thermodynami-cally stable branch of solutions for the spin polarization parameter corresponds to the case when the majority of neutron spins are oriented opposite to the direction of the magnetic field (i.e. negative spin polarization). Moreover, starting from some threshold density, the self-consistent equations have also two other branches of solutions, corresponding to positive spin polarization. The influence of finite temperatures on spin polarization remains moderate in the Skyrme model up to temperatures relevant for protoneutron stars. In particular, the scenario with the metastable state characterized by positive spin polarization, considered at zero temperature in Phys. Rev. C 80, 065801 (2009), is preserved at finite temperatures as well. It is shown that, above certain density, the entropy for various branches of spin polarization in neutron matter with the Skyrme interaction in a strong magnetic field shows the unusual behavior, being larger than that of the nonpolarized state. By providing the corresponding low-temperature analysis, we prove that this unexpected behavior should be related to the dependence of the entropy of a spin polarized state on the effective masses of neutrons with spin up and spin down, and to a certain constraint on them which is violated in the respective density range.
To evaluate the efficiency of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on stimulated and unstimulated salivary flow rates in diabetic patients: An original research

Aims and objectives: The aim of the present study is to assess the effectiveness of TENS as a means of stimulating salivary function in type2 diabetes mellitus patients. Methods: A sample of 100 patients having diabetes mellitus were enrolled for the study after taking the informed consent. Unstimulated saliva was collected by low forced spitting method for 10 minutes in a graduated measuring jar. Stimulated saliva was collected after placing TENS electrodes over the cheek for 10 minutes in a graduated measuring jar. The values were analyzed and compared.Results: Our study sample included 100 diab etic patients, out of which 52 were males and 48 were females. The age of the patients ranged from 30 yrs to 78 yrs with a mean age of 48.8 yrs. The blood glucose level was found to be highest among males when compared to females. The improvement in salivary flow rates by using TENS was found to significant in different age groups. Conclusion: The study suggests that in patients with Diabetes, TENS was found to be helpful to improve the salivary flowrate. Female diabetic patients showed a statistically significant improvement in salivary flow rates after using TENS.
Tug-of-War Driven by the Structure of Carboxylic Acids: Tuning the Size, Morphology, and Photocatalytic Activity of α-Ag2WO4

Size and morphology control during the synthesis of materials requires a molecular-level understanding of how the addition of surface ligands regulates nucleation and growth. In this work, this control is achieved by using three carboxylic acids (tartaric, benzoic, and citric) during sonochemical syntheses. The presence of carboxylic acids affects the kinetics of the nucleation process, alters the growth rate, and governs the size and morphology. Samples synthesized with citric acid revealed excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation process of Rhodamine B, and recyclability experiments demonstrate that it retains 91% of its photocatalytic activity after four recycles. Scavenger experiments indicate that both the hydroxyl radical and the hole are key species for the success of the transformation. A reaction pathway is proposed that involves a series of dissolution−hydration–dehydration and precipitation processes, mediated by the complexation of Ag+. We believe these studies contribute to a fundamental understanding of the crystallization process and provide guidance as to how carboxylic acids can influence the synthesis of materials with controlled size and morphology, which is promising for multiple other scientific fields, such as sensor and catalysis fields.
Low-Frequency Noise Modeling of Amorphous Indium–Zinc-Oxide Thin-Film Transistors

An improved model for the low-frequency noise (LFN) of amorphous indium–zinc-oxide thin-film transistors (a-IZO TFTs) is developed in this article. For a-IZO TFTs, the LFN is not only attributed to the oxide traps in the gate insulator but also affected by the discrete trap centers in the active-layer film. This makes the device has excess noise in the subthreshold region, which is obviously different from monocrystalline silicon (c-Si) MOSFETs. Therefore, we put forward an accurate and physically meaningful model to characterize this excess noise. For the subthreshold region, the charge of tail states in the channel is considered to describe the excess subthreshold noise, and the channel density of states (DOS) is extracted, confirming the effectiveness of the model. For the above-threshold region, the classic carrier number with correlated mobility fluctuation (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta N$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta \mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>) mechanism has been investigated to explain the noise behavior. Furthermore, the proposed unified model is validated, and it has been successfully applied to a-IZO TFTs with different tail-state densities.
Frost Forecasting considering Geographical Characteristics

Regional accuracy was examined using extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) to improve frost prediction accuracy, and accuracy differences by region were found. When the points were divided into two groups with weather variables, Group 1 had a coastal climate with a high minimum temperature, humidity, and wind speed and Group 2 exhibited relatively inland climate characteristics. We calculated the accuracy in the two groups and found that the precision and recall scores in coastal areas (Group 1) were significantly lower than those in the inland areas (Group 2). Geographic elements (distance from the nearest coast and height) were added as variables to improve accuracy. In addition, considering the continuity of frost occurrence, the method of reflecting the frost occurrence of the previous day as a variable and the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) pretreatment were used to increase the learning ability.
Perceptions of a Secure Cloud-Based Solution for Data Sharing During Acute Stroke Care: Qualitative Interview Study

Background Acute stroke care demands fast procedures performed through the collaboration of multiple professionals across multiple organizations. Cloud computing and the wide adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) enable health care systems to improve data availability and facilitate sharing among professionals. However, designing a secure and privacy-preserving EMR cloud-based application is challenging because it must dynamically control the access to the patient’s EMR according to the needs for data during treatment. Objective We developed a prototype of a secure EMR cloud-based application. The application explores the security features offered by the eHealth cloud-based framework created by the Advanced Secure Cloud Encrypted Platform for Internationally Orchestrated Solutions in Health Care Horizon 2020 project. This study aimed to collect impressions, challenges, and improvements for the prototype when applied to the use case of secure data sharing among acute care teams during emergency treatment in the Netherlands. Methods We conducted 14 semistructured interviews with medical professionals with 4 prominent roles in acute care: emergency call centers, ambulance services, emergency hospitals, and general practitioner clinics. We used in-depth interviews to capture their perspectives about the application’s design and functions and its use in a simulated acute care event. We used thematic analysis of interview transcripts. Participants were recruited until the collected data reached thematic saturation. Results The participants’ perceptions and feedback are presented as 5 themes identified from the interviews: current challenges (theme 1), quality of the shared EMR data (theme 2), integrity and auditability of the EMR data (theme 3), usefulness and functionality of the application (theme 4), and trust and acceptance of the technology (theme 5). The results reinforced the current challenges in patient data sharing during acute stroke care. Moreover, from the user point of view, we expressed the challenges of adopting the Advanced Secure Cloud Encrypted Platform for Internationally Orchestrated Solutions in Health Care Acute Stroke Care application in a real scenario and provided suggestions for improving the proposed technology’s acceptability. Conclusions This study has endorsed a system that supports data sharing among acute care professionals with efficiency, but without compromising the security and privacy of the patient. This explorative study identified several significant barriers to and improvement opportunities for the future acceptance and adoption of the proposed system. Moreover, the study results highlight that the desired digital transformation should consider integrating the already existing systems instead of requesting migration to a new centralized system.
PL minimal surfaces in 3-manifolds

Introduction In [12], we studied the application of least weight normal surfaces to the equivariant decomposition theorems of 3-manifolds. The basic idea in [12] was to investigate ways in which such surfaces can intersect, and then to find new surfaces by cutting and pasting. Here we refine the notion of least weight normal surfaces to obtain piece-wise linear (PL) minimal surfaces in 3manifolds. The main technique for analyzing PL minimal surfaces is by examining PL area under small variations of the surfaces. This yields new proofs of recent applications of least area (minimal) surfaces to the topology of 3-manifolds in [23] and [14], without going through the difficult existence theory for classical analytic minimal surfaces (cf., e.g., [22]). Also we are able to show these PL minimal surfaces have most of the basic properties of analytic minimal surfaces. Some examples are as follows. We define PL mean curvature H for arbitrary normal surfaces and H = 0 is necessary and sufficient for a normal surface to be PL minimal. In fact, there is a basic first variation argument for PL minimal surfaces, as in the analytic case. PL minimal surfaces satisfy a maximum principle and one can perform the crucial Meeks-Yau exchange and roundoff trick (see [16]-[20]). The notion of a convex boundary for a triangulated 3-manifold can be defined and so barrier arguments are possible (see, e.g., [18]). If two PL minimal surfaces intersect at a point of "tangency," then either the local picture is like a generalized saddle, as for analytic minimal surfaces (see [1]), or the surfaces locally coincide where they meet the 2-skeleton. Finally the important results of Freedman-Hass-Scott [5] on the fundamental topological properties of least area surfaces go through in the PL case. Let
A Numerical Formulation Applicable to Surface Piercing Hydrofoils and Propellers

The flow field around a fully ventilated two-dimensional hydrofoil of arbitrary geometry is considered. The presented theory is a non-linear, time marching, potential based boundary element method. The perturbation potential on the cavity is a function of submergence and time. The non-linear cavity geometry is determined iteratively within the solution at each timestep. A linearized free surface condition, at infinite Froude number, is enforced by using the “negative image” approach. The developed analysis is shown to converge well with iterations per timestep, even though the cavity geometry has been found to be sensitive to the panel arrangement at the foil leading edge. Pressure distributions compare very well with linearized analytical results at small angles of attack, but the non-linear effects are noticeable at larger angles of attack.
Entropy Measures of Electroencephalograms towards the Diagnosis of Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) may resemble epileptic seizures but are not caused by epileptic activity. However, the analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals with entropy algorithms could help identify patterns that differentiate PNES and epilepsy. Furthermore, the use of machine learning could reduce the current diagnosis costs by automating classification. The current study extracted the approximate sample, spectral, singular value decomposition, and Renyi entropies from interictal EEGs and electrocardiograms (ECG)s of 48 PNES and 29 epilepsy subjects in the broad, delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands. Each feature-band pair was classified by a support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbour (kNN), random forest (RF), and gradient boosting machine (GBM). In most cases, the broad band returned higher accuracy, gamma returned the lowest, and combining the six bands together improved classifier performance. The Renyi entropy was the best feature and returned high accuracy in every band. The highest balanced accuracy, 95.03%, was obtained by the kNN with Renyi entropy and combining all bands except broad. This analysis showed that entropy measures can differentiate between interictal PNES and epilepsy with high accuracy, and improved performances indicate that combining bands is an effective improvement for diagnosing PNES from EEGs and ECGs.