Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Active Earth Pressure for Sloping Finite Soil While Accounting for Shear Stress and Curved Slip Surface

Calculating the earth pressure of the sloping soil having finite width behind the retaining wall is difficult for stability calculation. Thus, a novel method to calculate the active pressure of cohesionless sloping finite soil behind a retaining wall was developed to investigate. Taking cohesionless soil as the research object and considering the principal stress rotation of soil, the resultant force for active earth pressure, action point position, and earth pressure distribution of sloping finite soil was obtained based on assumptions of the translational mode of the rigid retaining wall and cycloidal slip surface. The accuracy of the proposed method was verified by model tests. The influence of the slope height ratio l / H and slope angle α on earth pressure was analyzed in this study. The result revealed that the horizontal component of the active earth pressure distribution curve for sloping finite soil was linear in area I and nonlinear with a drum shape in area II. There was a noticeable change at the junction of the two areas. The resultant force of earth pressure and the height of action point of resultant force increased and tended to reach a certain value as the aspect ratio l / H increased. When l / H ≥ 0.4 , the height of the action point of resultant force tended to be two-fifths the height of the wall. The resultant force and the height of the action point decreased linearly as the slope bottom angle increased.
Preparation and Characteristics of Alginate Microparticles for Food, Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Applications

Alginates are the most widely used natural polymers in the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. Usually, they are applied as a thickening, gel-forming and stabilizing agent. Moreover, the alginate-based formulations such as matrices, membranes, nanospheres or microcapsules are often used as delivery systems. Alginate microparticles (AMP) are biocompatible, biodegradable and nontoxic carriers, applied to encapsulate hydrophilic active substances, including probiotics. Here, we report the methods most frequently used for AMP production and encapsulation of different actives. The technological parameters important in the process of AMP preparation, such as alginate concentration, the type and concentration of other reagents (cross-linking agents, oils, emulsifiers and pH regulators), agitation speed or cross-linking time, are reviewed. Furthermore, the advantages and disadvantages of alginate microparticles as delivery systems are discussed, and an overview of the active ingredients enclosed in the alginate carriers are presented.
Estudo inicial da aplicação de Redes Neurais Artificiais para a previsão de padrões de fluxo em escoamento multifásico Initial study of application of Neural Networks to predict flow patterns in multiphase flow

's effectiveness. For a complete analysis, we trained the network with several combinations of the patterns, the patterns being: intermittent, annular and stratified. We did not use the bubble pattern due to the difference in the amount of data available between this and the other patterns. The net was up to 90% effective in some combinations of the analysis between flow patterns. Analyzing the 3 patterns together, the network showed an efficiency of approximately 67%. We analyzed the results of the net error behavior during its training and the hit rate after training. In this article, we used the artificial neural network as a tool to predict the flow pattern in the multiphase flow, with the maximum available flow parameters.
Transcriptome Analysis of Beet Webworm Shows That Histone Deacetylase May Affect Diapause by Regulating Juvenile Hormone

Simple Summary Diapause is a seasonal adaptation to stress in insects, including in Lepidoptera. Juvenile hormone (JH) is the key factor affecting larval diapause. The diapause of beet webworm, an important agricultural pest, is induced by photoperiod, but the mechanism is unknown. Transcriptome sequencing was performed in five different stages of beet webworm. The results showed that 393 genes in the red module were strongly related to JH, and the hub gene of the red module was histone deacetylase (HDAC). After injecting HDAC chemical inhibitors into beet webworms, we found that HDAC enzyme had an effect on JH content in beet webworms under photoperiod that induced diapause. Therefore, HDAC may be involved in diapause in beet webworms by altering JH levels. Abstract The beet webworm (Loxostege sticticalis L.) is an important agricultural pest and can tolerate harsh environmental conditions by entering diapause. The diapause mechanism of beet webworm is unknown. Therefore, we conducted a transcriptomic study of the process from diapause induction to diapause release in beet webworms. The results revealed 393 gene modules closely related to the diapause of beet webworm. The hub gene of the red module was the HDACI gene, which acts through histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes. HDAC enzyme activity was regulated by the light duration and influenced the JH content under induced beet webworm diapause conditions (12 h light:12 h dark). In addition, transcriptomic data suggested that circadian genes may not be the key genes responsible for beet webworm diapause. However, we showed that the photoperiod affects HDAC enzyme activity, and HDAC can regulate the involvement of JH in beet webworm diapause. This study provided a new module for studying insect diapause and links histone acetylation and diapause at the transcriptome level.
Preparation and Characterization of Decellularized Caprine Periosteum Scaffolds for Fracture Gap Healing

Certain chemical and enzymes like sodium deoxycholate, sodium dodecyl sulphate and Triton X-100 have been used as biological detergents but are responsible for residual cytotoxicity in the decellularized extracellular matrix. The periosteum plays a key role in bone regeneration. We aimed to prepare decellularized caprine periosteum scaffold by exploring the decellularization property of Sapindus mukorossi fruit pericarp extract (SPE). We developed decellularization protocols to completely remove the periosteum cellular components and for good maintenance of the hierarchical multilayer structures and components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) with no cytotoxicity. Histological analysis of hematoxylin and eosin and Masson’s trichrome stained tissue samples decellularized by 5% SPE extract confirmed decellularization with preservation of extracellular matrix microarchitecture. DAPI stained decellularized tissues revealed complete removal of nuclear components, verified by DNA content measurement. It was concluded that 5% SPE is ideal for preparation of decellularized caprine periosteum scaffold and these scaffolds can be used for bone regeneration.
Penicillium digitatum, First Clinical Report in Chile: Fungal Co-Infection in COVID-19 Patient

Penicillium digitatum is one of the most important phytopathogens. It causes deterioration and rotting of citrus fruits, generating significant economic losses worldwide. As a human pathogen, it is extremely rare. We present a case of pulmonary co-infection in a patient diagnosed with pneumonia due to SARS-CoV-2. A 20-year-old female patient, primigravid, 36 weeks of gestation, without comorbidities, and diagnosed with severe pneumonia due to the SARS-CoV-2, showed rapid lung deterioration for which their pregnancy was interrupted by surgery. The patient was hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), connected to mechanical ventilation and receiving corticosteroids and antibiotics. The diagnosis of pulmonary fungal infection was made through bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) culture, and the species identification was performed by sequencing of β-tubulin. Phylogenetic analysis with related species was performed for the confirmation of species identification. Antifungal susceptibility tests were performed for itraconazole (4 µg/mL), voriconazole (2 µg/mL), and amphotericin B (2 µg/mL). The patient was successfully treated with itraconazole. This is the second worldwide report of pulmonary infection by P. digitatum and the first in Chile. Although it is a fungus that rarely infects humans, it could represent an emerging opportunistic fungal pathogen, with associated risk factors that should be considered in the differential diagnosis of Penicillium species isolated from infections in humans.
WiSen: Zero-Knowledge Passive Human Tracking Using a Single WiFi Link

Some pioneer WiFi-based passive human tracking systems have achieved submeter-level accuracy. However, their key limitation is that the location of WiFi devices must be known in advance. To this end, we propose WiSen, a novel system that estimates the location of a passive user in an indoor environment without any prior knowledge about the location of WiFi devices. Specifically, we first exploit a signal power model for human-induced reflection signal extraction and multidimensional parameter estimation. Due to measurement noise and low-resolution parameter estimates, we further design a confidence-aware-based path pruning (PP) method that combines the distribution of path parameters from successive windows to select reliable human-induced reflection paths. Before that, we also adopt a novel data augmentation (DA) method to increase the number of available path parameters for better learning parameter distribution. These path parameters after PP are then used to statistically estimate the relative location of the transmitter with respect to the receiver and finally localize the passive user. We implement WiSen on commodity WiFi devices and validate its performance in real indoor environments. The experimental results show that WiSen can realize the submeter-level accuracy for passive human tracking and device localization with only a single WiFi link.
Investigation of Quantum Turbulence in Superfluid (_^4)HeUsing Injected Ions and ?He?_2^* Molecules in the ZeroTemperature Limit

The decay of quantum turbulence in superfluid (_^4)He in the zero temperature limit wasinvestigated. Quantum turbulence was created by impulsive spin-down from a specific angular velocity to rest. A measurement of the vortex line density was performed using the scattering of charged vortex rings. The vortex line density decayed as L ? t^(-3/2) which is the characteristic of quasiclassical turbulence forced at large length scales. The interaction of metastable spin-triplet ? He? _2^* molecules with quantized vortex lines in superfluid (_^4)He at temperatures below 200 mK was studied too. The molecules were generated during an injection of electrons from a sharp metal tip at high voltage. They were detected as a current into a metal collector after ionization upon colliding with the collector surface. The detected current was suppressed by even a small rotation indicating the trapping of the molecules on quantized vortices. The presence of (_^3)He impurities at the level of 0.3 ppb strongly suppressed the detected signal. The temperature dependence of the detected signal showed a sharp peak, most probably associated with the condensation of (_^3)He atoms on vortex cores. The time of flight of the molecules as a function of temperature was measured. It was observed that there are three regimes for ? He? _2^* molecules transportation in superfluid (_^4)He : ballistic regime for T 200 mK, and an intermediate regime between them. The vortex lines were created by either rotation or ion injection. The trapping diameter of the molecules on quantized vortices was found to be 96 � 6 nm at pressure of 0.1 bar and 27 � 5 nm at 5.0 bar. It was also demonstrated that a tangle of vortices moving in superfluid (_^4)He are capable of conveying the ? He? _2^* molecules through the drift region.
Evidence for Electron-phonon Interaction in Fe1−xMxSb2 (M=Co and Cr; 0 x 0.5) Single Crystals

We have measured polarized Raman scattering spectra of the Fe{sub 1-x}Co{sub x}Sb{sub 2} and Fe{sub 1-x}Cr{sub x}Sb{sub 2} (0 {le} x {le} 0.5) single crystals in the temperature range between 15 and 300 K. The highest energy B{sub 1g} symmetry mode shows significant line asymmetry due to phonon-mode coupling-width electronic background. The coupling constant achieves the highest value at about 40 K and after that it remains temperature independent. Origin of additional mode broadening is pure anharmonic. Below 40 K the coupling is drastically reduced, in agreement with transport properties measurements. Alloying of FeSb{sub 2} with Co and Cr produces the B{sub 1g} mode narrowing, i.e., weakening of the electron-phonon interaction. In the case of A{sub g} symmetry modes we have found a significant mode mixing.
Multidimensional process of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type with nondiagonalizable matrix in linear drift terms

Let R d be the d-dimensional Euclidean space where each point is expressed by a column vector. Let | x | and ‹x, y› denote the norm and the inner product in R d . Let Q = (Qjk ) be a real d × d-matrix of which all eigenvalues have positive real parts. Let X be a process of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type (OU type process) on Rd associated with a Levy process {Z: t ≥ 0} and the matrix Q. Main purpose of this paper is to give a recurrence-transience criterion for the process X when Q is a Jordan cell matrix and to compare it with the case when Q is diagonalizable. Here by a Levy process we mean a stochastically continuous process with stationary independent increments, starting at 0.
Occurrence of Antimicrobial-Resistant Escherichia coli in Marine Mammals of the North and Baltic Seas: Sentinels for Human Health

Antimicrobial resistance is a global health threat that involves complex, opaque transmission processes in the environment. In particular, wildlife appears to function as a reservoir and vector for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria as well as resistance genes. In the present study, the occurrence of antimicrobial-resistant Escherichia coli was determined in marine mammals and various fish species of the North and Baltic Seas. Rectal or faecal swabs were collected from 66 live-caught or stranded marine mammals and 40 fish specimens. The antimicrobial resistance phenotypes and genotypes of isolated E. coli were determined using disk diffusion tests and PCR assays. Furthermore, isolates were assigned to the four major phylogenetic groups of E. coli. Additionally, post mortem examinations were performed on 41 of the sampled marine mammals. The investigations revealed resistant E. coli in 39.4% of the marine mammal samples, while no resistant isolates were obtained from any of the fish samples. The obtained isolates most frequently exhibited resistance against aminoglycosides, followed by β-lactams. Of the isolates, 37.2% showed multidrug resistance. Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) mainly carried E. coli isolates belonging to the phylogenetic group B1, while seal isolates were most frequently assigned to group B2. Regarding antimicrobial resistance, no significant differences were seen between the two sampling areas or different health parameters, but multidrug-resistant isolates were more frequent in harbour porpoises than in the sampled seals. The presented results provide information on the distribution of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in the North and Baltic Seas, and highlight the role of these resident marine mammal species as sentinels from a One Health perspective.
Meta-Analysis of the Prognostic and Predictive Role of the CpG Island Methylator Phenotype in Colorectal Cancer

Background Various studies have produced contradictory results on the prognostic role of the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) among colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Although a meta-analysis published in 2014 reported a worse prognosis of CIMP among CIMP-high (CIMP-H) CRC patients, the sample sizes of the major included studies were small. In this study, we included the most recent studies with large sample sizes and performed an updated meta-analysis on the relationship between CIMP and CRC prognosis. Methods A search of MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Cochrane for studies related to CIMP and CRC published until July 2021 was conducted based on the PICO (participant, intervention, control, outcome) framework. Data extraction and literature analyses were performed according to PRISMA standards. Results In the present update, 36 eligible studies (20 recently published) reported survival data in 15315 CRC patients, 18.3% of whom were characterized as CIMP-H. Pooled analysis suggested that CIMP-H was associated with poorer overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.26–1.48) and disease-free survival/progression-free survival/recurrence-free survival (DFS/PFS/RFS) (HR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.19–1.91) among CRC patients. Subgroup analysis based on tumor stage and DNA mismatch repair (MMR) status showed that only patients with stages III-IV and proficient MMR (pMMR) tumors showed a significant association between CIMP-H and shorter OS, with HRs of 1.52 and 1.37, respectively. Three studies were pooled to explore the predictive value of CIMP on CRC patient DFS after receiving postoperative chemotherapy, and no significant correlation was found. Conclusion CIMP-H is associated with a significantly poor prognosis in CRC patients, especially those with stage III-IV and pMMR tumors. However, the predictive value of CIMP needs to be confirmed by more prospective randomized studies.
Validation and Comparisons of Methodologies Implemented in a RANS-VoF Numerical Model for Applications to Coastal Structures

Methodologies to be used in numerical models based on Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations and the volume of fluid (VoF) to deal with waves over coastal structures, which involve wave breaking and overtopping and porous structures, are shown in this manuscript. Two turbulence models, k-ε NLS (non-linear Reynolds stress tensor) and k-ε SCM (stabilized closure model), that are used to avoid the growth of the eddy viscosity, are implemented in the FLUENT® numerical model. Additionally, equations of momentum and turbulence models are adapted to simulate porous media of coastal structures. Comparisons of performance of k-ε NLS, k-ε SCM and standards k-ε and k-ω SST models in several classical cases of regular and random waves on coastal structures are carried out. It was noticed that the standard k-ε turbulence model, and k-ω SST with less intensity, over-predicted eddy viscosity, caused the decay of the free surface elevation and under-estimated wave overtopping discharge. k-ε NLS and k-ε SCM turbulence models have similar performance, with slightly better results of k-ε NLS, showing good agreement with experimental ones.
Age‐associated sex and asymmetry differentiation in hemispheric and lobar cortical ribbon complexity across adulthood: A UK Biobank imaging study

Cortical morphology changes with ageing and age‐related neurodegenerative diseases. Previous studies suggest that the age effect is more pronounced in the frontal lobe. However, our knowledge of structural complexity changes in male and female brains is still limited. We measured cortical ribbon complexity through fractal dimension (FD) analysis at the hemisphere and lobe level in 7010 individuals from the UK Biobank imaging cohort to study age‐related sex differences (3332 males, age ranged 45–79 years). FD decreases significantly with age and sexual dimorphism exists. With correction for brain size, females showed higher complexity in the left hemisphere and left and right parietal lobes whereas males showed higher complexity in the right temporal and left and right occipital lobes. A nonlinear age effect was observed in the left and right frontal, and right temporal lobes. Differential patterns of age effects were observed in both sexes with relatively more age‐affected regions in males. Significantly higher rightward asymmetries at hemisphere, frontal, parietal, and occipital lobe level and higher leftward asymmetry in temporal lobe were observed. There was no age‐by‐sex‐by asymmetry interaction in any region. When controlling for brain size, the leftward hemispheric, and temporal lobe asymmetry decreased with age. Males had significantly lower asymmetry between hemispheres and higher asymmetry in the parietal and occipital lobes than females. This work provides distinct patterns of age‐related sex and asymmetry differences that can aid in the future development of sex‐specific models of the normal brain to ascribe cognitive functional significance of these patterns in ageing.
Particle saltation trajectories in supercritical open channel flows: Roughness effect

Bed load sediment transport governed by particle saltation in supercritical open channel flows causes bedrock incision in high‐gradient mountain streams and hydro‐abrasion at hydraulic structures. Hence, a better understanding of turbulent flow characteristics and particle dynamics is of prime importance for the prediction of river and landscape evolution, and for a sustainable design of hydraulic structures. To this end, we experimentally investigated single‐particle dynamics in supercritical open channel flows over fixed planar and abraded beds covering smooth, transitionally rough, and hydraulically rough regimes. The experiments were performed at the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) of ETH Zürich in a wide range of hydraulic conditions with various channel width‐to‐depth aspect ratios (b/ho) and Froude numbers (F). We investigated the motions of five particle groups differing in shape, hardness, and diameter. By means of a high‐speed camera, the particle velocities and trajectory parameters—such as hop height and hop length—were determined using particle tracking velocimetry. The results reveal that at least 120 individual particles should be used in the tests to determine sound statistics of particle trajectories. In the present test conditions, the particles are dominantly transported in saltation. The effects of particle properties such as shape and diameter on the particle trajectories are negligible, while the rolling probability of the particles for a given flow condition increases with increasing diameter. Bed roughness was found to be the key parameter having a significant effect on the saltation trajectories and horizontal energy transfer. Hop height, hop length, and particle velocities, as well as horizontal energy transfer, increase with increasing bed roughness. Based on the saltation trajectory data, non‐dimensional equations are developed for each hydraulic regime and used to enhance the saltation–abrasion model of Sklar and Dietrich. The present findings contribute to a better understanding of particle motion characteristics under different hydraulic and roughness conditions, and their effect on the mechanics and prediction of bedrock incision and hydro‐abrasion in three‐dimensional supercritical open channel flows occurring in steeply sloped rivers and at hydraulic structures.