Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tunable alexandrite lasers

Wavelength tunable laser operation has been obtained from the solid-state crystal alexandrite (BeAl 2 O 4 :Cr3+) over the continuous range from 701 to 818 nm. The tunable emission was observed at room temperature and above in a homogeneously broadened, vibronic, four-level mode of laser action. In this mode the laser gain cross section increases from 7 \times 10^{-21} cm2at 300K to 2 \times 10^{-20} cm2at 475K, which results in improved laser performance at elevated temperatures. Efficient 2.5 percent, low-threshold (10 J) operation has been obtained with xenon-flashlamp excitation of the 6 mm diameter × 76 mm length laser rods. Output pulses of greater than 5 J and average power outputs of 35 W have been demonstrated, limited by the available power supply. The emission is strongly polarized E\parallelb , with a gain that is 10 times that in the alternate polarization. The 262 μs, room-temperature fluorescence lifetime permits effective energy storage and Q -switched operation. Tunable Q -switched pulses as large as 500 mJ have been obtained with pulsewidths ranging between 33 and 200 ns depending on the laser gain. Laser action has also been demonstrated on the high-gain ( 3 \times 10^{-19} cm2emission cross section) R line at 680.4 nm and is also polarized E\parallelb . This three-level mode is analogous to the lasing in ruby except that the stimulated emission cross section in alexandrite is ten times larger than for ruby.
Fault Detection and Diagnosis in Industrial Systems

The appearance of this book is quite timely as it provides a much needed state-of-the-art exposition on fault detection and diagnosis, a topic of much interest to industrialists. The material included is well organized with logical and clearly identified parts; the list of references is quite comprehensive and will be of interest to readers who wish to explore a particular subject in depth. The presentation of the subject material is clear and concise, and the contents are appropriate to postgraduate engineering students, researchers and industrialists alike. The end-of-chapter homework problems are a welcome feature as they provide opportunities for learners to reinforce what they learn by applying theory to problems, many of which are taken from realistic situations. However, it is felt that the book would be more useful, especially to practitioners of fault detection and diagnosis, if a short chapter on background statistical techniques were provided. Joe Au
Stationary iterated tessellations

The iteration of random tessellations in ℝ d is considered, where each cell of an initial tessellation is further subdivided into smaller cells by so-called component tessellations. Sufficient conditions for stationarity and isotropy of iterated tessellations are given. Formulae are derived for the intensities of their facet processes, and for the expected intrinsic volumes of their typical facets. Particular emphasis is put on two special cases: superposition and nesting of tessellations. Bernoulli thinning of iterated tessellations is also considered.
Preclinical Ultrasonography in Rodent Models of Neuromuscular Disorders: The State of the Art for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications

Ultrasonography is a safe, non-invasive imaging technique used in several fields of medicine, offering the possibility to longitudinally monitor disease progression and treatment efficacy over time. This is particularly useful when a close follow-up is required, or in patients with pacemakers (not suitable for magnetic resonance imaging). By virtue of these advantages, ultrasonography is commonly used to detect multiple skeletal muscle structural and functional parameters in sports medicine, as well as in neuromuscular disorders, e.g., myotonic dystrophy and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The recent development of high-resolution ultrasound devices allowed the use of this technique in preclinical settings, particularly for echocardiographic assessments that make use of specific guidelines, currently lacking for skeletal muscle measurements. In this review, we describe the state of the art for ultrasound skeletal muscle applications in preclinical studies conducted in small rodents, aiming to provide the scientific community with necessary information to support an independent validation of these procedures for the achievement of standard protocols and reference values useful in translational research on neuromuscular disorders.
A Generalization of the Poisson Distribution

A new generalization of the Poisson distribution, with two parameters λ1 and λ2, is obtained as a limiting form of the generalized negative binomial distribution. The variance of the distribution is greater than, equal to or smaller than the mean according as λ2 is positive, zero or negative. The distribution gives a very close fit to supposedly binomial, Poisson and negative-binomial data and provides with a model suitable to most unimodel or reverse J-shaped distributions. Diagrams showing the variations in the form of the distribution for different values of λ1 and λ2 are given.
Impact of ground-motion duration on nonlinear structural performance: Part II: site- and building-specific analysis

This study’s Part I proved that ground-motion duration could play an important role when assessing the nonlinear structural performance of case-study inelastic single degree-of-freedom systems. However, quantifying duration effects in many practical/more realistic engineering applications is not trivial, given the difficulties in decoupling duration from other ground-motion characteristics. This study’s Part II, introduced in this article, explores the impact of duration on nonlinear structural performance by numerically simulating the structural response of realistic case-study reinforced concrete bare and infilled building frames. Advanced computational models incorporating structural components’ cyclic and in-cycle strength and stiffness deterioration, and destabilizing P − Δ effects are used. The proposed methodology relies on the generalized conditional intensity measure approach to select ground motions. This allows selecting records consistent with the seismic hazard at a target site, both in terms of spectral shape and duration. Those are employed as input to cloud-based nonlinear structural response analyses. Variance analysis is used to quantify the impact of duration on structural response. Furthermore, vector-valued fragility and vulnerability models alternatively using peak- and cumulative-based engineering demand parameters are derived. Results show that higher damage/loss estimates can be attained as ground-motion duration increases. Relative differences up to 44% are found in fragility median values for a pre-code reinforced concrete infilled frame when comparing scalar and vector-valued fragility models conditioned on average pseudo-spectral acceleration and significant durations up to 35 s.
Exposure to Doxorubicin Modulates the Cardiac Response to Isoproterenol in Male and Female Mice

Sex is a salient risk factor in the development of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. Sex differences in the heart’s ability to respond to hypertrophic stimuli in doxorubicin-exposed animals have not been reported. We identified the sexual dimorphic effects of isoproterenol in mice pre-exposed to doxorubicin. Male and female intact or gonadectomized C57BL/6N mice underwent five weekly intraperitoneal injections of 4 mg/kg doxorubicin followed by a five-week recovery period. Fourteen days of subcutaneous isoproterenol injections (10 mg/kg/day) were administered after the recovery period. Echocardiography was used to assess heart function one and five weeks after the last doxorubicin injection and on the fourteenth day of isoproterenol treatment. Thereafter, mice were euthanized, and the hearts were weighed and processed for histopathology and gene expression analysis. Doxorubicin did not produce overt cardiac dysfunction in male or female mice before starting isoproterenol treatment. The chronotropic response to a single isoproterenol injection was blunted by doxorubicin, but the inotropic response was maintained in both males and females. Pre-exposure to doxorubicin caused cardiac atrophy in both control and isoproterenol-treated male mice but not in female mice. Counterintuitively, pre-exposure to doxorubicin abrogated isoproterenol-induced cardiac fibrosis. However, there were no sex differences in the expression of markers of pathological hypertrophy, fibrosis, or inflammation. Gonadectomy did not reverse the sexually dimorphic effects of doxorubicin. Additionally, pre-exposure to doxorubicin abrogated the hypertrophic response to isoproterenol in castrated male mice but not in ovariectomized female mice. Therefore, pre-exposure to doxorubicin caused male-specific cardiac atrophy that persisted after isoproterenol treatment, which could not be prevented by gonadectomy.
Like and cross‐polarized scatter cross sections for two‐dimensional, multiscale rough surfaces based on a unified full wave variational technique

A variational method is used to select the specific, smooth decomposition of the total surface height spectral density function into surface height spectral density functions for the larger‐ and smaller‐scale surfaces. Using this decomposition, the total like and cross‐polarized scatter cross sections are expressed as weighted sums of physical optics scatter cross sections associated with the larger‐scale surfaces and the tilt‐modulated scatter cross sections for the smaller‐scale surfaces. This variational technique has been shown to be stationary over a wide range of the variational parameter. Since only the slopes of the larger‐scale surfaces tilt modulate the cross sections of the smaller‐scale surfaces, it is necessary to select surface height spectral density functions for the larger‐scale surfaces that do not require the introduction of artificial spatial cutoff wave numbers for the spectral density functions. The methods used to smoothly decompose the surface height spectral density functions result in no artificial rapid fluctuations in the corresponding surface height autocorrelation functions for the smaller‐ and larger‐scale surfaces. This method can be applied to the remote sensing of rough sea or land surfaces.
A Comparison of Chained Linear and Poststratification Linear Equating under Different Testing Conditions.

In this study I compared results of chained linear, Tucker, and Levine-observed score equatings under conditions where the new and old forms samples were similar in ability and also when they were different in ability. The length of the anchor test was also varied to examine its effect on the three different equating methods. The three equating methods were compared to a criterion equating to obtain estimates of random equating error, bias, and root mean squared error (RMSE). Results showed that, for most studied conditions, chained linear equating produced fairly good equating results in terms of low bias and RMSE. Levine equating also produced low bias and RMSE in some conditions. Although the Tucker method always produced the lowest random equating error, it produced a larger bias and RMSE than either of the other equating methods. As noted in the literature, these results also suggest that either chained linear or Levine equating be used when new and old form samples differ on ability and/or when the anchor-to-total correlation is not very high. Finally, by testing the missing data assumptions of the three equating methods, this study also shows empirically why an equating method is more or less accurate under certain conditions.
Collaborative Consumers Can Be Ethical Consumers: Adapting the Defining Issues Test to Understand Ethical Reasoning in Collaborative Consumption Markets

Collaborative consumption activities like saving food and buying used clothes are an important and rapidly growing part of sustainable consumer behavior. Many political and commercial campaigns promote collaborative consumption practices by highlighting subsets of normative motives, such as sustainable, social, and ecological effects. Whether or not consumers can comprehend these claims and incorporate them into their decision-making process is, however, unclear. This article introduces a new experimental study design to ethical consumer research—an adapted version of the Defining Issues Test—that enables to assess consumers’ ability to cognitively and intuitively understand moral arguments in collaborative consumption contexts. The experiment was conducted with N = 435 collaborative consumers from Germany. The findings indicate that in different collaborative consumption contexts, consumers consider different moral arguments as important. Furthermore, the findings also indicate that consumers can incorporate the provider’s point of view in their moral judgment.
Serum uric acid: A risk factor for right ventricular dysfunction and prognosis in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

Background Hyperuricemia and right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) are both widespread in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) patients. RVD is associated with a poor prognosis in HFpEF. The correlation between serum uric acid (UA) levels and right ventricular function is unclear. The prognostic performance of UA in patients with HFpEF needs further validation. Methods and results A total of 210 patients with HFpEF were included in the study and divided into two groups according to UA level: the normal UA group (≤7 mg/dl) and the high UA group (>7 mg/dl). The variables examined included clinical characteristics, echocardiography, and serum biochemical parameters. Right ventricular function was assessed by tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) and tricuspid annular peak systolic velocity (TAPSV). Baseline characteristics were compared between the two groups, and the correlation between baseline UA and RVD was assessed using multifactorial binary logistic regression. Kaplan–Meier curves were used to describe all-cause mortality and heart failure readmission. Results showed that right ventricular function parameters were worse in the high UA group. After adjusting for UA, left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWT), N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), atrial fibrillation (AF), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), UA (odds ratio = 2.028; p < 0.001) was independently associated with RVD, and UA >7 mg/dl (HR = 2.98; p < 0.001) was associated with heart failure readmission in patients with HFpEF. Conclusion Elevated serum UA is closely associated with RVD and significantly associated with the heart failure readmission rate in patients with HFpEF.
Virologists' Sex- and Gender-Based Medical Knowledge of COVID-19 Affects Quality of Students' Education

Background: A sex- and gender-based approach to medical education is important to develop new knowledge and to improve quality of and equality within health care. Results of a systematic survey showed a lack of sex- and gender-based medical education at German medical faculties. The global severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is affecting people from diverse backgrounds differently, and the reciprocal interactions between biological sex and sociocultural gender aspects with regard to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) necessitate an intersectional research approach and transfer to medical education. Methods: This descriptive-phenomenological qualitative online survey focused on the sex and gender knowledge of faculty staff and the status of implementation in medical education and research at departments of virology and immunology at German university hospitals. It comprised 16 questions generated by an expert consortium based on published research data. In the fall of 2021, 36 leading virologists were invited to participate anonymously in this survey. Results: The response rate was 44%. Most experts deemed sex and gender knowledge as not that important or not important. Almost half the lecturers supported a sex- and gender-based research design and sex-disaggregated analysis of animal study data. Biological sex differences and gender aspects regarding SARS-CoV-2 were at least occasionally addressed upon a student's request. Conclusion: Virologists attributed only minor importance to sex and gender knowledge, despite scientific evidence of sex and gender differences in the field of virology, immunology, and COVID-19 in particular. This knowledge is not systematically implemented in the curriculum, but rather only occasionally passed on to medical students.
The Annual Temperature Variation in the Lower Tropical Stratosphere

Abstract The annual temperature variation in the lower tropical stratosphere has its maximum amplitude just above the equatorial tropopause and has nearly the same phase at a particular level throughout both hemispheres. Coldest temperatures occur during the Northern Hemisphere winter (January–February). It is hypothesized that the observed behavior is caused by a seasonal variation in the intensity of the Hadley cell of the Northern Hemisphere with strongest upwelling and cooling in the ascending branch of the meridional circulation occurring in January–February. Computations are made which suggest that a twofold increase in the upward motion near the equator from July to January is sufficient to account for the magnitude of the observed temperature decrease.
Model-based extraction of material properties in multifrequency atomic force microscopy

The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is a tool for imaging surfaces at the microand nano meter scale. The microscope senses the force acting between a surfaceand a tip positioned at the end of a micro-cantilever, forming an image of the surface topography. Image contrast however, arises not only from surface topography, but also from variation in material composition. Improved material contrast, and improved interpretation of that contrast are two issues central to the further development of AFM.This thesis studies dynamic AFM where the cantilever is driven at multiple frequencies simultaneously. Due to the nonlinear dependence of the tip-surface force on the tip’s position, the cantilever will oscillate not only at the driven frequencies, but also at harmonics and at mixing frequencies of the drives, so-called intermodulation products. A mode of AFM called Intermodulation AFM (ImAFM) is primarily studied, which aims to make use of intermodulation products centered around the resonance frequency of the cantilever. With proper excitation many intermodulation products are generated near resonance where they can be measured with large signal-to-noise ratio.ImAFM is performed on samples containing two distinct domains of different material composition and a contrast metric is introduced to quantitatively evaluate images obtained at each response frequency. Although force sensitivity is highest on resonance, we found that weak intermodulation response off resonance can show larger material contrast. This result shows that the intermodulation images can be used to improve discrimination of materials.We develop a method to obtain material parameters from multifrequency AFM spectra by fitting a tip-surface force model. Together with ImAFM, this method allows high resolution imaging of material parameters. The method is very generalas it is not limited to a specific force model or particular mode of multifrequency AFM. Several models are discussed and applied to different samples. The parameter images have a direct physical interpretation and, if the model is appropriate, they can be used to relate the measurement to material properties such as the Young’s modulus. Force reconstruction is tested with simulations and on measured data. We use the reconstructed force to define the location of the surface so that we can address the issue of separating topographic contrast and material contrast.
Mediterranean Diet and Lung Function in Adults Current Smokers: A Cross-Sectional Analysis in the MEDISTAR Project

Background: Previous studies have shown that adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MeDi) has a positive impact on lung function in subjects with lung disease. In subjects free of respiratory diseases, but at risk, this association is not yet well established. Methods: Based on the reference data from the MEDISTAR clinical trial (Mediterranean Diet and Smoking in Tarragona and Reus; ISRCTN 03.362.372), an observational study was conducted with 403 middle-aged smokers without lung disease, treated at 20 centres of primary care in Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain). The degree of MeDi adherence was evaluated according to a 14-item questionnaire, and adherence was defined in three groups (low, medium, and high). Lung function were assessed by forced spirometry. Logistic regression and linear regression models were used to analyse the association between adherence to the MeDi and the presence of ventilatory defects. Results: Globally, the pulmonary alteration prevalence (impaired FEV1 and/or FVC) was 28.8%, although it was lower in participants with medium and high adherence to the MeDi, compared to those with a low score (24.2% and 27.4% vs. 38.5%, p = 0.004). Logistic regression models showed a significant and independent association between medium and high adherence to the MeDi and the presence of altered lung patterns (OR 0.467 [95%CI 0.266, 0.820] and 0.552 [95%CI 0.313, 0.973], respectively). Conclusions: MeDi adherence is inversely associated with the risk impaired lung function. These results indicate that healthy diet behaviours can be modifiable risk factors to protect lung function and reinforce the possibility of a nutritional intervention to increase adherence to MeDi, in addition to promoting smoking cessation.
The Role of an Individual and a Situation in Explaining Work Addiction: Disclosing Complex Relations

The current study aimed to test the relationships between perfectionism, type A personality, and work addiction via mediator of extrinsic work motivation and moderators of both parent work addiction and demanding organization profiles. A cross-sectional study was carried out using an online self-report questionnaire. A sample consisted of 621 employees working in different Lithuanian organizations that were selected on the basis of the convenience principle. Prior to testing the hypotheses, latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted in order to identify the subgroups of participants based on situational variables. Two profiles (i.e., ‘less addicted parents’ and ‘more addicted parents’) for parent work addiction and tree profiles (i.e., ‘slightly demanding organization’, ‘moderately demanding organization’, ‘highly demanding organization’) for a demanding organization emerged from LPA. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Main results revealed that direct relationships between perfectionism, type A personality, and work addiction were positive and stronger for those working in highly demanding organizations. Indirect relationships between perfectionism, type A personality, and work addiction (via extrinsic motivation) were positive and stronger for employees who have parents with higher levels of work addiction. Future researchers and those who implement preventive practices should be aware that personal factors can be the first impetus for work addiction, and the second one (comprised of situational factors in a family and organization) can enhance the expression of these personal factors and stimulate the development of work addiction.