Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Interpenetrating Chains on Rigid Domain Dimensions in Siloxane-Based Block-Copolymers

1H spin-diffusion solid-state NMR was utilized to elucidate the domain size in multiblock-copolymers (BCPs) poly-(block poly(dimethylsiloxane)-block ladder-like poly(phenylsiloxane)) and poly-(block poly((3,3′,3″-trifluoropropyl-methyl)siloxane)-block ladder-like poly(phenylsiloxane). It was found that these BCPs form worm-like morphology with rigid cylinders dispersed in amorphous matrix. By using the combination of solid-state NMR techniques such as 13C CP/MAS, 13C direct-polarization MAS and 2D 1H EXSY, it was shown that the main factor which governs the diameter value of these rigid domains is the presence of interpenetrating segments of soft blocks. The presence of such interpenetrating chains leads to an increase of rigid domain diameter.
Do pheromone traps help to reduce new attacks of Ips typographus at the local scale after a sanitary cut?

The spruce bark beetle, Ips typographus, is causing severe economic losses during epidemic phases triggered by droughts and/or windstorms. Sanitation felling and salvage logging are usually the most recommended strategies to limit the damages. However, any additional control method to limit the economic impact of an outbreak would be welcome. In this respect, the efficiency of pheromone trapping is still controversial or poorly documented. In this 2-year study (2020–2021), at the peak of a severe outbreak in Belgium, we quantified the wood volume and presence/absence of new attacks at 126 sites attacked during the previous year and within 100 m from the initial attack. Each site was randomly allocated to one of three treatments: (1) three crosstraps baited with pheromones, (2) one tree-trap baited with pheromones and treated with an insecticide and (3) control sites with no trapping device. The attacked trees of the previous year were all cut and removed before the start of the experiment and newly attacked trees were removed as they were detected. The trapping devices were only active during spring to target overwintering bark beetles that might have escaped the sanitation cuts and to limit the risk of attracting dispersing beetles from outside the patch during the summer. We found a strong decrease of the attacks relative to the previous year in all treatments, including the controls (more than 50% of the control sites had no new attacks). There was no relationship between the new attacks and the attacks of the previous year. In both years, new attacks were more frequent (presence/absence) in sites with crosstraps (95% Confidence Interval [56–84%] of the sites with new attacks) than in sites with a tree-trap (26–57% - p = 0.02) and to a lesser extent than in control sites (32–63%, p = 0.08). In 2020, the attacked volumes were slightly higher in sites with crosstraps (95% Confidence Interval [3.4–14.2 m³]) than in control sites (0.2–3.5 m³, p = 0.04) and no significant difference was found with tree-trap sites (1.1–6.2 m³, p = 0.38). In 2021, there were no significant differences between the volumes attacked in the control sites (1.8–9.4 m³), crosstraps sites (0.9–6.4 m³) and tree-trap sites (0–2.5 m³). Overall, we found no evidence in favor of the efficacy of pheromone trapping during spring to reduce economic damages at the local scale when combined with sanitation felling and during a severe outbreak. The use of baited crosstraps could even be hazardous as it seemed to increase the occurrence of new attacks probably by attracting bark beetles but failing to neutralize them.
Proofs That Really Count: The Art of Combinatorial Proof

level. For example, Berkson’s bias is a hospital selection bias based on overrepresentation of patients with both exposure and disease in hospital populations. If the degree of this over-representation is not equal between cases and controls, then an odds ratio from a hospital-based case-control study may be distorted (Schwartzbaum, Ahlbom, and Feychting 2003). However, Flanders, Boyle, and Boring (1989) suggested that Berkson’s bias may not be present when incident hospital cases are used with community controls; yet, in the chapter on selection bias, Kleinbaum uses a study of hospital-based lung cancer cases and community controls to illustrate Berkson’s bias. It may be that cases in Kleinbaum’s example are prevalent cases (although prevalent cases are rarely used in case-control studies) or that Flanders et al. were not correct and that Berkson’s bias is actually present in this situation. However, even introductory students should be told that the presence of Berkson’s bias in the particular example given is subject to debate. The problems cited above, however, are minimal and do not detract from the overall richness and creativity of ActivEpi and the companion text. The CD and book may be used as an adjunct to a class, for self-teaching, or for review. Overall, I recommend ActivEpi because it is fun to use. A final word to the wise: check the ISBN number to make sure that you are buying the most recent version of ActivEpi. I would like to acknowledge assistance in reviewing ActivEpi from the following students: Hoda Jradi, Ryan Mayes, Nicholas Miceli, Susanne Scott, and Melissa Senter.
Relationship between Urban Innovation Capability and Energy Utilization Efficiency: An Empirical Study of 281 Prefecture-Level Cities in China

Following a dynamic nonlinear perspective, this study explores the relationship between urban innovation capability and energy utilization efficiency by employing the Panel Vector Autoregression (PVAR) and Dynamic Panel Threshold Regression (DPTR) methods. Using the 2003–2020 panel data of 281 prefecture-level cities in China, this study confirms that energy utilization efficiency improves owing to the improvement of urban innovation capability. Depending on the characteristics of the city, such as population density, industrial structure, and environmental pollution, high energy utilization efficiency in the early stages of city development may help or hinder the improvement of energy utilization efficiency in the later stages. The enhancement in urban innovation capability has failed to improve energy utilization efficiency and has adversely affected cities with a low population density or weak secondary industrial foundation. However, in cities with a high population density or proportion of secondary industry, the improvement in innovation capability significantly increases the efficiency of energy utilization. In addition, the positive effect that urban innovation capability has on energy utilization efficiency is higher in low-pollution cities than in high-pollution cities.
Improved distance determination to M 51 from supernovae 2011dh and 2005cs

Aims. The appearance of two recent supernovae, SN 2011dh and 2005cs, both in M 51, provides an opportunity to derive an improved distance to their host galaxy by combining the observations of both SNe. Methods. We apply the Expanding Photosphere Method to get the distance to M 51 by fitting the data of these two SNe simultaneously. In order to correct for the effect of flux dilution, we use correction factors (ζ) appropriate for standard type II-P SNe atmospheres for 2005cs, but find ζ ∼ 1 for the type IIb SN 2011dh, which may be due to the reduced H-content of its ejecta. Results. The EPM analysis resulted in D M5 1 = 8.4 ± 0.7 Mpc. Based on this improved distance, we also re-analyze the HST observations of the proposed progenitor of SN 2011dh. We confirm that the object detected on the pre-explosion HST-images is unlikely to be a compact stellar cluster. In addition, its derived radius (∼277 R� ) is too large for being the real (exploded) progenitor of SN 2011dh. Conclusions. The supernova-based distance, D = 8.4 Mpc, is in good agreement with other recent distance estimates to M 51.
Remaining Useful Life Prediction Based on Multisensor Fusion and Attention TCN-BiGRU Model

Predicting remaining useful life (RUL) accurately is crucial for improving the reliability of the digitized maintenance and optimizing the operating cycle of devices. Based on the attention mechanism, this article proposes a temporal convolutional neural network (TCN)-bidirectional gate recurrent unit (BiGRU) model for the RUL prediction. The proposed model can accurately predict the RUL by fusing the time-series information recorded by multiple sensors. To suppress noise signals, the sensor’s raw signal filtered by the contribution rate is processed by variational mode decomposition (VMD) and decomposed into intrinsic mode components (IMFs) with different modes. Then, grid search and ${K}$ -fold cross validation are performed to determine the optimal hyperparameters of the proposed Attention TCN-BiGRU model to accurately capture the correlation of IMFs in the spatial dimension and the decay characteristics in the temporal dimension. The performance of the proposed model is validated on the commercial modular aero-propulsion system simulation (C-MAPSS) turbofan engine dataset and the sealing ring dataset. The experimental results indicate that the proposed model can achieve more accurate RUL predictions than other related models.
Tensor Modes in Bigravity: Primordial to Present

uctuations in the theory, only one of which couples to matter. We study perturbations about two classes of cosmological solutions in bigravity, computing the tensor contribution to the temperature anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation and the present stochastic gravitational wave background. The result is strongly dependent on the choice of cosmological background and initial conditions. One class of background solution generically displaying tremendous growth in the amplitude of large-wavelength gravitational waves, while the other remains observationally indistinguishable from standard General Relativity for a wide variety of initial conditions. We analyze the initial conditions for tensor modes expected in an inationary cosmology,
Quantifying Disorder in Point Patterns

Disorder in point patterns can be quantified by means of the complexity, rather than in terms of geometric attributes of pattern structure. A complexity-based disorder-quantifying statistic indicates the practical difficulties associated with modeling processes that produce jammed patterns, particularly with the assessment of model fit and with the simulation of high-intensity hard-core patterns.
Wi-Fi Fine Time Measurement: Is it a Viable Alternative to Ultrawideband for Ranging in Industrial Environments?

Time-based ranging approaches have long been used for indoor positioning due to their reliability and accuracy. Two-way ranging (TWR) with ultrawideband (UWB) has often been utilized for indoor positioning systems (IPSs) in industrial settings due to the ranging accuracy offered by the temporal and spatial resolution of UWB even in challenging non-line-of-sight (NLOS) and reflective environments. With the adoption of the IEEE 802.11mc Standard, Wi-Fi now offers a fine time measurement (FTM) capability that supports the Wi-Fi round trip time (RTT) protocol for time-of-flight (ToF) ranging. This offers an improved ranging accuracy over previous non-time-based Wi-Fi ranging approaches and is considered a potential alternative to UWB TWR. In this article, we introduce UWB TWR and Wi-Fi FTM and discuss their use in real-time IPSs. We include a quantitative comparison of ranging performance in LOS and NLOS ranging measurements to give an initial indication of accuracy in industrial settings. Recommendations for researchers and IPS designers on which technology type to deploy for LOS and NLOS conditions as well as general guidelines for accurate ranging and localization for both technologies are also discussed.
Oxidized Carbon-Based Spacers for Pressure-Resistant Graphene Oxide Membranes

In this study, we report the influence of carbon-based spacer-oxidized derivatives of fullerenes (fullerenols) C60(OH)26–32 and graphene oxide nanoribbons on the performance and pressure stability of graphene-oxide-based composite membranes. The impact of the intercalant shape and composition on the permeance of the selective layers for water vapors has been studied under pressure gradients. It is shown that the insertion of ball-shaped fullerenols between graphene oxide nanoflakes allows a suppression in irreversible permeance loss to 2–4.5% and reversible permeance loss to <25% (at 0.1 MPa), while retaining large H2O/N2 selectivities of up to ~30,000. The demonstrated approach opens avenues for the highly effective stabilization of GO membranes at elevated pressures for industrial-scale dehumidification.
A Multiple-Choice Maze-like Spatial Navigation Task for Humans Implemented in a Real-Space, Multipurpose Circular Arena

Spatial navigation is a key aspect of human behavior and it is still not completely understood. A number of experimental approaches exist, although most of the published data in the last decades have relied on virtual maze on-screen simulation or not-completely freely moving 3D devices. Some interesting recent developments, such as circular mazes, have contributed to analyze critical aspects of freely moving human spatial navigation in real space, although dedicated protocols only allow for simple approaches. Here, we have developed both specifically designed and home-assembled hardware equipment, and a customized protocol for spatial navigation evaluation in freely moving humans in a real space circular arena. The spatial navigation protocol poses an imitation of a real-space multiple-choice path maze with cul-de-sac and instances of non-linear movement. We have compared the results of this system to those of a number of validated, both virtual and real, spatial navigation tests in a group of participants. The system composed by hardware, the test protocol, and dedicated measure analysis designed in our laboratory allows us to evaluate human spatial navigation in a complex maze with a small and portable structure, yielding a highly flexible, adaptable, and versatile access to information about the subjects’ spatial navigation abilities.
QUOTIENT SEMINEAR-RINGS OF THE ENDOMORPHISM OF SEMINEAR-RINGS

A seminear-ring is a generalization of ring. In ring theory, if is a ring with the multiplicative identity, then the endomorphism module is isomorphic to . Let be a seminear-ring. Here, we can construct the set of endomorphism from to itself denoted by . We show that if is a seminear-ring, then is also a seminear-ring over addition and composition function. We will apply the congruence relation to get the quotient seminear-ring endomorphism. Furthermore, we show the relation between c-ideal and congruence relations. So, we can construct the quotient seminear-ring endomorphism with a c-ideal.
Searching for δ Scuti-type pulsation and characterising northern pre-main-sequence field stars

Context. Pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars are objects evolving from the birthline to the zero-age main sequence (ZAMS). Given a mass range near the ZAMS, the temperatures and luminosities of PMS and main-sequence stars are very similar. Moreover, their evolutionary tracks intersect one another causing some ambiguity in the determination of their evolutionary status. In this context, the detection and study of pulsations in PMS stars is crucial for di ﬀ erentiating between both types of stars by obtaining information of their interiors via asteroseismic techniques. Aims. A photometric variability study of a sample of northern ﬁeld stars, which previously classiﬁed as either PMS or Herbig Ae / Be objects, has been undertaken with the purpose of detecting δ Scuti-type pulsations. Determination of physical parameters for these stars has also been carried out to locate them on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and check the instability strip for this type of pulsators. Methods. Multichannel photomultiplier and CCD time series photometry in the uvby Strömgren and BVI Johnson bands were ob- tained during four consecutive years from 2007 to 2010. The light curves have been analysed, and a variability criterion has been established. Among the objects classiﬁed as variable stars, we have selected those which present periodicities above 4 d − 1 , which was established as the lowest limit for δ Scuti-type pulsations in this investigation. Finally, these variable stars have been placed in a colour–magnitude diagram using the physical parameters derived with the collected u v by β Strömgren-Crawford photometry. Results. Five PMS δ Scuti- and three probable β Cephei-type stars have been detected. Two additional PMS δ Scuti stars are also conﬁrmed in this work. Moreover, three new δ Scuti- and two γ Doradus-type stars have been detected among the main-sequence objects used as comparison or check stars.
Geometrical terms in the effective Hamiltonian for rotor molecules

An analogy between asymmetric rotor molecules and anisotropic cosmology can be used to calculate new centrifugal distortion terms in the effective potential of asymmetric rotor molecules which have no internal 3-fold symmetry. The torsional potential picks up extra $\cos\alpha$ and $\cos2\alpha$ contributions, which are comparable to corrections to the momentum terms in methanol and other rotor molecules with isotope replacements.
Voltage/Current Doubler Converter for an Efficient Wireless Charging of Electric Vehicles With 400-V and 800-V Battery Voltages

The lithium-ion battery of an electric vehicle (EV) is typically rated at either 400 or 800 V. When considering public parking infrastructures, EV wireless chargers must efficiently deliver electric power to both battery options. This can be normally achieved by regulating the output voltage through a dc–dc converter at the cost of higher onboard circuit complexity and lower overall efficiency. This article proposes a wireless charging system that maintains a high power transfer efficiency when charging EVs with either 400- or 800-V nominal battery voltage at the same power level. The control scheme is implemented at the power source side, and only passive semiconductor devices are employed on board the EV. The presented system, called voltage/current doubler (V/I-D), comprises two sets of series-compensated coupled coils, each of them connected to a dedicated H-bridge converter. The equivalent circuit has been analyzed while explaining the parameters' selection. The analytical power transfer efficiency has been compared to the one resulting from the conventional one-to-one coil system at 7.2 kW. For the same power level, the dc-to-dc efficiency of 97.11% and 97.52% have been measured at 400-V and 800-V voltage output, respectively. Finally, the functionality of the V/I-D converter has been proved at both the even and uneven misalignments of the two sets of coupled coils.
Climatic Variability of Precipitation Simulated by a Regional Dynamic Model in Tropical South America

: The present study aimed to analyze the seasonal and interannual variability of simulated rainfall over two contrasting regions of Tropical South America. Unlike several previous studies, our analyses were focused on areas with different rainfall regimes within two major regions: the Amazon Basin (AMZ) and Northeast Brazil (NEB). For this purpose, we used the RegCM4.6 climate model and performed two continuous 30-year simulations (1981 – 2010) with a 50 km grid spacing. In the EXP_EM simulation we used the convection parameterization of Emanuel (1991) and in the EXP_GR experiment we used Grell’s parameterization (1993). Differences between simulations and observations were assessed using the Stu dent’s t -test, with a p -value > 0.01. The mean bias and Willmott’s coefficient of agreement were calculated. Considering these metrics, the EXP_EM simulation presented an overall advantage over the EXP_GR simulation.
COMPLEX GAS KINEMATICS IN COMPACT, RAPIDLY ASSEMBLING STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

Deep, high-resolution spectroscopic observations have been obtained for six compact, strongly star-forming galaxies at redshift z ∼ 0.1–0.3, most of them also known as green peas. Remarkably, these galaxies show complex emission-line profiles in the spectral region including Hα, [N ii] λλ6548, 6584, and [S ii] λλ6717, 6731, consisting of the superposition of different kinematical components on a spatial extent of few kiloparsecs: a very broad line emission underlying more than one narrower component. For at least two of the observed galaxies some of these multiple components are resolved spatially in their two-dimensional spectra, whereas for another one a faint detached Hα blob lacking stellar continuum is detected at the same recessional velocity ∼7 kpc away from the galaxy. The individual narrower Hα components show high intrinsic velocity dispersion (σ ∼ 30–80 km s−1), suggesting together with unsharped masking Hubble Space Telescope images that star formation proceeds in an ensemble of several compact and turbulent clumps, with relative velocities of up to ∼500 km s−1. The broad underlying Hα components indicate in all cases large expansion velocities (full width zero intensity ⩾1000 km s−1) and very high luminosities (up to ∼1042 erg s−1), probably showing the imprint of energetic outflows from supernovae. These intriguing results underline the importance of green peas for studying the assembly of low-mass galaxies near and far.
Association between bone trace elements and osteoporosis in older adults: a cross-sectional study

Objectives: Metal micronutrients deficiency may be one of the risk factors for the development of osteoporosis. This study aimed to measure the trace element contents in human bone tissue to analyze the relationship between micronutrients and osteoporosis. Design: A cross-sectional survey was performed on data from 51 elderly patients with proximal femoral fracture. Methods: The concentrations of calcium, phosphorus, manganese, iron, copper, and zinc in bone tissue samples from 51 elderly patients with proximal femoral fracture were determined by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDX). Subjects were divided into osteoporosis and non-osteoporosis groups according to their bone mineral density (BMD) T-score values. The difference in metal elements concentrations in bone tissue between the two groups was compared, and the role of metal elements in osteoporosis was discussed. Results: There was no statistical difference in age, sex, body mass index (BMI), serum albumin, biochemical blood indices, and bone turnover markers between the two groups. The Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare the difference in metal elements concentrations in bone tissue samples between the two groups. The results showed that manganese, copper, and zinc concentrations in the cancellous bone were significantly higher in the non-osteoporosis group than in the osteoporosis group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that high bone zinc concentration [odds ratio = 0.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.075–0.928, p = 0.038] was negatively correlated with osteoporosis. Conclusion: Manganese, copper, and zinc play an essential role in bone mineralization and metabolism. Among them, zinc may be most closely related to osteoporosis and play a key role in bone development and maintenance of bone mass. Therefore, we believe that the design of zinc-rich compounds or nutrients as a new complementary factor to increase the intake of zinc for the elderly could be able to prevent and intervene in the occurrence of osteoporosis in the early stage.