Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental investigation and simulation of Al/B_4C metal matrix composites produced using magnetic field-assisted freeze-casting of porous ceramic structures

Magnetic field-assisted freeze-casting was used to create porous B_4C ceramic preforms. An optimum slurry consisted of a mixture of B_4C powders and 6-wt% Er_2O_3 powder in a H_2O-PVA solution, which was cooled at a rate of 1 °C/min from room temperature to − 30 °C, resulting in porous green state ceramic preforms with vertical channels. Sintered ceramic preforms were then infiltrated in the most vertically aligned channel direction with molten Al (A356) metal through a vacuum-assisted pump to create the metal matrix composite (MMC). The MMCs were imaged using 3D X-ray microscopy and mechanically tested under compression. These results were compared with finite element analysis simulations that verified the anisotropic effect of B_4C channel alignment on mechanical properties. This study highlights magnetic field-assisted freeze-casting as a viable method to create highly directional ceramic preforms, which can be subsequently metal infiltrated to create MMCs. Graphical abstract
PSKH1 affects proliferation and invasion of osteosarcoma cells via the p38/MAPK signaling pathway

Malignant osteosarcoma (OS) is a tumor of bone and soft tissue that metastasizes early and has a high mortality rate. Protein serine kinase H1 (PSKH1), an autophosphorylating human protein serine kinase, controls the trafficking of serine/arginine-rich domain, with downstream effects on mRNA processing. It is also associated with tumor progression. However, how this protein contributes to OS progression and metastasis is unknown. The present study evaluated the potential effect of PSKH1 on proliferation of human OS cells. OS cell lines were used in Cell Counting Kit-8, colony formation, wound-healing and Transwell assays, to investigate cellular processes such as proliferation, migration and invasion and underlying molecular mechanisms. Expression of PSKH1 in OS tissue was significantly greater than in adjacent non-malignant tissue. PSKH1 knockdown inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of OS cells. Conversely, PSKH1 overexpression promoted proliferation of OS cells. PSKH1 upregulated phosphorylated-p38 in OS cells. Moreover, the p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 effectively blocked the tumor-promoting action of PSKH1. Furthermore, PSKH1 knockdown inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. In conclusion, these findings suggested that PSKH1 promoted OS proliferation, migration and invasion. Thus, PSKH1 may serve an oncogenic role in the development of human OS.
Hydrothermal Fluids and Where to Find Them: Using Seismic Attenuation and Anisotropy to Map Fluids Beneath Uturuncu Volcano, Bolivia

Mapping fluid accumulation in the crust is pertinent for numerous applications including volcanic hazard assessment, geothermal energy generation, and mineral exploration. Here, we use seismic attenuation tomography to map the distribution of fluids in the crust below Uturuncu volcano, Bolivia. Seismic P wave and S wave attenuation, as well as their ratio (QP/QS), constrain where the crust is partially and fully fluid‐saturated. Seismic anisotropy observations further constrain the mechanism by which the fluids accumulate, predominantly along aligned faults and fractures in this case. Furthermore, subsurface pressure‐temperature profiles and conductivity data allow us to identify the most likely fluid composition. We identify shallow regions of both dry and H2O/brine‐saturated crust, as well as a deeper supercritical H2O/brine column directly beneath Uturuncu. Our observations provide a greater understanding of Uturuncu's transcrustal hydrothermal system, and act as an example of how such methods could be applied to map crustal fluid pathways and hydrothermal/geothermal systems elsewhere.
Enhancement of optical and structural quality of semipolar (11-22) GaN by introducing nanoporous SiNx interlayers

Enhancement of optical and structural quality of semipolar (11‾22) GaN grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on planar m-sapphire substrates was achieved by using an in-situ epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) technique with nanoporous SiNx layers employed as masks. In order to optimize the procedure, the effect of SiNx deposition time was studied by steady-state photoluminescence (PL), and X-ray diffraction. The intensity of room temperature PL for the (11‾22) GaN layers grown under optimized conditions was about three times higher compared to those for the reference samples having the same thickness but no SiNx interlayers. This finding is attributed to the blockage of extended defect propagation toward the surface by the SiNx interlayers as evidenced from the suppression of emissions associated with basal-plane and prismatic stacking faults with regard to the intensity of donor bound excitons (D0X) in lowtemperature PL spectra. In agreement with the optical data, full width at half maximum values of (11‾22) X-ray rocking curves measured for two different in-plane rotational orientations of [1‾100] and [11‾23] reduced from 0. 33º and 0. 26º for the reference samples to 0. 2º and 0. 16º for the nano-ELO structures grown under optimized conditions, respectively.
Event-Triggered Containment Control for Nonlinear Multiagent Systems via Reinforcement Learning

Herein, we concern with the problem of event-triggered containment optimal control for a class of nonlinear multiagent discrete-time systems (MADSs). Compared to the previous containment control strategy for linear MADSs, a novel containment control strategy for nonlinear MADSs via the backstepping technique is introduced. Utilizing the classic reinforcement learning (RL) approach, we implement the ${n}$ -step backstepping structure with actor-critic neural networks (NNs). In addition, instead of a time-triggered scheme, the event-triggered scheme (ETS) is employed for saving computations. Finally, some simulation results are presented to verify the performance of our control strategy.
Diversity and Ecology of Charophytes from Vojvodina (Serbia) in Relation to Physico-Chemical and Bioclimatic Habitat Properties

In Serbia, almost all charophyte species belong to one of the IUCN categories. This study aimed to gather more knowledge about their floristic richness, distribution and ecology. During the survey, 262 localities were investigated in the Vojvodina province, northern Serbia. Seventeen charophyte species were found, out of which 16 were included in the analyses. The environmental matrix included 38 localities, each characterized by habitat type and 35 environmental parameters. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed six parameters as being statistically significant: substrate, altitude, depth, water temperature, temperature annual range and precipitation of the driest month. Together, these explain the 32.34% variability in the species composition and abundance data. Altitude and substrate contributed the most to this. Two main types of habitats were outlined by the analysis. Small and shallow temporary habitats in the river floodplains, at lower altitudes, with muddy and clayish substrate, belong to one type. These areas are inhabited by either very tolerant species, such as Chara vulgaris and C. globularis, or the so-called “spring” species of the genera Tolypella and Nitella. Habitats which are located at higher altitudes, when deeper and more permanent with a sandy substrate, such as sandpits and river habitats, belong to the second one. These areas are inhabited by species like Chara papillosa, C. hispida, and Nitellopsis obtusa.
Long COVID in the United States

Although yet to be clearly identified as a clinical condition, there is immense concern at the health and wellbeing consequences of long COVID. Using data collected from nearly half a million Americans in the period June 2022-December 2022 in the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS), we find 14 percent reported suffering long COVID at some point, half of whom reported it at the time of the survey. Its incidence varies markedly across the United States–from 11 percent in Hawaii to 18 percent in West Virginia–and is higher for women than men, among Whites compared with Blacks and Asians, and declines with rising education and income. It is at its highest in midlife in the same way as negative affect. Ever having had long COVID is strongly associated with negative affect (anxiety, depression, worry and a lack of interest in things), with the correlation being strongest among those who currently report long COVID, especially if they report severe symptoms. In contrast, those who report having had short COVID report higher wellbeing than those who report never having had COVID. Long COVID is also strongly associated with physical mobility problems, and with problems dressing and bathing. It is also associated with mental problems as indicated by recall and understanding difficulties. Again, the associations are strongest among those who currently report long COVID, while those who said they had had short COVID have fewer physical and mental problems than those who report never having had COVID. Vaccination is associated with lower negative affect, including among those who reported having had long COVID.
Photo-Assisted MOCVD Fabrication of YBCO Thick Films and Buffer Layers on Flexible Metal Substrates for Wire Applications

Photo-assisted MOCVD has been developed for application to high-rate, high quality YBa2Cu3O7-δ thin film production. This technique is now being applied to the fabrication of thick film YBa2Cu3O7-δ on flexible metal substrates for wires and tapes. The unique application of photo-irradiation as the sole source of energy for the MOCVD reaction has resulted in extremely rapid growth rates for YBCO films with accompanying high superconducting performance. Typical YBCO films of thickness >1 μm exhibit Jc ≥ 1 × 106 A/cm2 and Tc > 90 K on single crystal oxide substrates. Such films have now been integrated to metal substrates such as single crystal Ni(100) and roll-textured nickel foil. YBCO films grown on textured Ni foils with CeO2 and YSZ buffer layers show Jc ≈ 3 to 5 × 105 A/cm2 for films of 1 μm thickness grown in 2 to 4 minutes time. Such performance for thick films made in such short growth time is promising for YBCO wire fabrication. The development of effective YBCO wire through thick film growth on flexible substrates also requires buffer layer application. Photo-assisted MOCVD has also been applied to buffer layer formation with promising results.
Impact of image acquisition timing on image quality for dual energy contrast-enhanced breast tomosynthesis

Dual-energy contrast-enhanced digital breast tomosynthesis (DE CE-DBT) image quality is affected by a large parameter space including the tomosynthesis acquisition geometry, imaging technique factors, the choice of reconstruction algorithm, and the subject breast characteristics. The influence of most of these factors on reconstructed image quality is well understood for DBT. However, due to the contrast agent uptake kinetics in CE imaging, the subject breast characteristics change over time, presenting a challenge for optimization . In this work we experimentally evaluate the sensitivity of the reconstructed image quality to timing of the low-energy and high-energy images and changes in iodine concentration during image acquisition. For four contrast uptake patterns, a variety of acquisition protocols were tested with different timing and geometry. The influence of the choice of reconstruction algorithm (SART or FBP) was also assessed. Image quality was evaluated in terms of the lesion signal-difference-to-noise ratio (LSDNR) in the central slice of DE CE-DBT reconstructions. Results suggest that for maximum image quality, the low- and high-energy image acquisitions should be made within one x-ray tube sweep, as separate low- and high-energy tube sweeps can degrade LSDNR. In terms of LSDNR per square-root dose, the image quality is nearly equal between SART reconstructions with 9 and 15 angular views, but using fewer angular views can result in a significant improvement in the quantitative accuracy of the reconstructions due to the shorter imaging time interval.
Laser-sustained plasmas in forced convective argon flow. II - Comparison of numerical model with experiment

A two-dimensional laser-sustained plasma model, which is based on the laminar, Navier-Stokes equations for the flow and geometric ray tracing for the laser beam, has been evaluated and compared with existing experimental results for a wide range of forced convective argon flows. The influence of gas inlet velocity, gas pressure, laser power, and focusing geometry on the structure of the plasma was examined. The model agreed well with the existing experimental data in both global structure and detailed temperature distribution, particularly for static pressures greater than 2 atm. It was found that the diffusion approximation for the optically thick portion of the thermal radiation was not adequate for low-pressure (less than 2 atm) plasmas and that the radiationinduced thermal conductivity had to be adjusted in order to obtain agreement between the model calculations and experimental results. The present model calculations were also compared with a recently published semitwo-dimensional model and the results indicate that the existing one-dimensional and semi-two-dimensional models do not provide adequate solutions for the laser-sustained plasma.
Eddy current losses in finite length conducting cylinders

This paper introduces normalized graphs for the active and reactive powers absorbed by a finite length magnetic or nonmagnetic cylinder placed in an axial uniform time-harmonic magnetic field. Boundary element analysis is used to treat the integral equations relating the azimuthal current density and the tangential magnetic field at the surface of the cylinder. The values of the powers are normalized w.r. t, the corresponding values in the high frequency limit when impedance boundary condition prevails. An equivalent radius is defined for the finite length cylinder. This is a function of the length to diameter ratio and the power demagnetizing factor. The latter is introduced for magnetic cylinders to account for the nonuniformity of the magnetic field in the low frequency limit. Through this normalization a very compact representation of the active and reactive powers for a very wide range of length to diameter ratio, frequency and permeability is achieved.
Least squares glottal inverse filtering from the acoustic speech waveform

Covariance analysis as a least squares approach for accurately performing glottal inverse filtering from the acoustic speech waveform is discussed. Best results are obtained by situating the analysis window within a stable closed glottis interval. Based on a linear model of speech production, it is shown that both the moment of glottal closure and opening can be determined from the normalized total squared error with proper choices of analysis window length and filter order. Results from actual speech are presented to illustrate the technique.
Quantitative Flow Ratio for Assessment of Non-Culprit Coronary Artery Lesions During Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) in 79 Patients Diagnosed with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI): A Study from a Single Center in Lithuania

Background Approximately half of the patients requiring percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have additional stenotic coronary artery (CA) lesions in non-infarct-related arteries (non-IRA). This study from a single center in Lithuania aimed to evaluate the use of the quantitative flow ratio (QFR) in assessing non-IRA lesions during PCI in 79 patients diagnosed with STEMI. Material/Methods We prospectively included 105 vessels of 79 patients with worldwide STEMI criteria and ≥1 intermediate (35–75%) lesion in non-IRA between July 2020 and June 2021. For all included patients, QFR analyses were performed twice, during the index PCI (QFR 1) and during a staged procedure ≥3 months later (QFR 2). The QFR analyses were performed with the QAngio-XA 3D and ≤0.80 were used as cut-off values for PCI. The primary endpoint was a head-to-head numerical agreement between 2 measurements. Results An excellent numerical agreement was found in all investigated lesions, r=0.931, p<0.001, left anterior descending (LAD) r=0.911, p<0.001, left circumflex (LCx) r=0.977, p<0.001, and right coronary artery (RCA) 0.946, p<0.001. Clinical treatment decision-making showed amazing agreement between the 1st and the 2nd QFR analyses, r=0.980, p<0.001. There was 1 disagreement between QFR 1 and QFR 2. Conclusions The findings from this support previous studies and showed that the QFR is a practical quantitative method to evaluate non-IRA lesions, which in this study included STEMI patients during PCI following occlusive CA stenosis.
A Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Climatology for Romania

Abstract The first study of the characteristics of cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning in Romania, based on the data recorded by the Romanian National Lightning Detection Network (RNLDN), is presented. The data, more than 1.75 million CG flashes, covers the entirety of Romania and were recorded between January 2003 and December 2005 and January and December 2007. The spatial analyses (total and positive flash density, the percentage of positive flashes, and negative and positive peak currents) were done with a resolution of 20 km. The average spatial distribution shows a maximum (3.06 flashes km−2 yr−1) over the south slopes of the central meridional Carpathians possibly associated with the Romanian Plain convergence zone. The mean monthly variation shows maximum CG lightning between May and September (98%) and minimum values in December and January. High values (>0.028 km−2 yr−1) for positive CG lightning density are observed in southwestern and central Romania. The monthly distribution of positive flashes sh.
When Operation Technology Meets Information Technology: Challenges and Opportunities

Industry 4.0 has revolutionized process innovation while facilitating and encouraging many new possibilities. The objective of Industry 4.0 is the radical enhancement of productivity, a goal that presupposes the integration of Operational Technology (OT) networks with Information Technology (IT) networks, which were hitherto isolated. This disruptive approach is enabled by adopting several emerging technologies in Enterprise processes. In this manuscript, we discuss what we believe to be one of the main challenges preventing the full employment of Industry 4.0, namely, the integration of Operation Technology networking and Information Technology networking. We discuss the technical challenges alongside the potential tools while providing a state-of-the-art use case scenario. We showcase a possible solution based on the Asset Administration Shell approach, referring to the use case of camera synchronization for collaborative tasks.
The convective nature of instability in plane Poiseuille flow

By numerical solution of the Orr–Sommerfeld equation for complex frequency and complex wavenumber for a wide range of Reynolds numbers R and by asymptotic analysis for large R, it is shown that there is no absolute instability in a two‐dimensional plane Poiseuille flow for any R and that the flow is convectively unstable for Rc <R<∞, where Rc is the critical Reynolds number.
Nonlinear elastic problems in dislocation theory: a gauge approach

In the framework of the nonlinear theory of elasticity the new perturbation method based on the gauge approach is developed to study static dislocations continuously distributed in materials. The self-consistent system of field equations for defect dynamics is presented up to the second-order approximation. The solution for the straight screw dislocations is obtained. The problem of an electron localization in crystals with screw dislocations is considered. The localized electron states are found to appear only in the second-order approximation for M=0 where M is the angular quantum number.
Human Genome Polymorphisms and Computational Intelligence Approach Revealed a Complex Genomic Signature for COVID-19 Severity in Brazilian Patients

We present a genome polymorphisms/machine learning approach for severe COVID-19 prognosis. Ninety-six Brazilian severe COVID-19 patients and controls were genotyped for 296 innate immunity loci. Our model used a feature selection algorithm, namely recursive feature elimination coupled with a support vector machine, to find the optimal loci classification subset, followed by a support vector machine with the linear kernel (SVM-LK) to classify patients into the severe COVID-19 group. The best features that were selected by the SVM-RFE method included 12 SNPs in 12 genes: PD-L1, PD-L2, IL10RA, JAK2, STAT1, IFIT1, IFIH1, DC-SIGNR, IFNB1, IRAK4, IRF1, and IL10. During the COVID-19 prognosis step by SVM-LK, the metrics were: 85% accuracy, 80% sensitivity, and 90% specificity. In comparison, univariate analysis under the 12 selected SNPs showed some highlights for individual variant alleles that represented risk (PD-L1 and IFIT1) or protection (JAK2 and IFIH1). Variant genotypes carrying risk effects were represented by PD-L2 and IFIT1 genes. The proposed complex classification method can be used to identify individuals who are at a high risk of developing severe COVID-19 outcomes even in uninfected conditions, which is a disruptive concept in COVID-19 prognosis. Our results suggest that the genetic context is an important factor in the development of severe COVID-19.
Serious Games and Computer Programming Competencies Development in Educational Contexts

This paper aims to identify the relationship between Serious Games (SG) and the development of competencies related to computer programming. A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was applied, based on a learning experience with Serious Games focused on computer programming languages. The principal finding was a parallel development between computer programming and other generic skills related to English, Math and Spanish. It is concluded that SG have a positive relationship with the development of competencies within the formal education environment, which indicate a great potential to support teaching and learning processes.
A low‐power charge‐based integrate‐and‐fire circuit for binarized‐spiking neural network

This paper presents a charge‐based integrate‐and‐fire (IF) circuit for in‐memory binary spiking neural networks (BSNNs). The proposed IF circuit can mimic both addition and subtraction operations that permit better incorporation with in‐memory XNOR‐based synapses to implement the BSNN processing core. To evaluate the proposed design, we have developed a framework that incorporates the circuit's imperfections effects into the system‐level simulation. The array circuits use 2T‐2J Spin‐Transfer‐Torque Magnetoresistive RAM (STT‐MRAM) based on a 65‐nm commercial CMOS and a fitted magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). The system model has been described in Pytorch to best fit the extracted parameters from circuit levels, including the cover of device nonidealities and process variations. The simulation results show that the proposed design can achieve a performance of 5.10 fJ/synapse and reaches 82.01% classification accuracy for CIFAR‐10 under process variation.