Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Causal Model Analysis of the Effect of Formalism, Fear of Infection, COVID-19 Stress on Firefighters’ Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome and Insomnia

As the front line of epidemic prevention, firefighters are responsible for the transportation of infected cases. Firefighters are under a lot of stress from the new COVID-19, especially the fear that they may contract the virus at work and spread the virus to their families. In particular, the framework of this study incorporates Riggs’ formalism variables. When firefighters think that the epidemic prevention regulations are inconsistent with the actual epidemic prevention, it will increase their work pressure on COVID-19. In this study, firefighters from all over Taiwan were used as the respondents, and a total of 453 respondents were obtained. This study uses confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test the established hypotheses. The findings confirm that formalism, fear of self and family infection are positively influencing COVID-19 stress. COVID-19 stress positively affects PTSD and insomnia. COVID-19 stress negatively affects problem-focused strategies. Problem-focused strategies negatively affect post-traumatic stress disorder.
Metabolomic Analysis of Stephania tetrandra–Astragalus membranaceus Herbal Pair-Improving Nephrotic Syndrome Identifies Activation of IL-13/STAT6 Signaling Pathway

The Stephania tetrandra–Astragalus membranaceus herbal pair (FH) is a classic herbal pair widely used in the treatment of nephrotic syndrome (NS). The effects of Stephania tetrandra (FJ) and Astragalus membranaceus (HQ) on NS have been reported, but the mechanism of their combination on the improvement of NS are still unclear. The NS model was established by injecting adriamycin into the tail vein. FH intervention reduced the levels of serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, interleukin-6 (IL-6), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), urinary protein, and the gene expression levels of aquaporin 2 (AQP2) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) in NS rats. In addition, FH improved kidney injury in NS rats by inhibiting the expression of interleukin 13 (IL-13), phospho-signal transducers, and activators of transcription 6 (p-STAT6), Bax, cleaved-caspase3, while promoting the expression of Bcl-2. By comprehensive comparison of multiple indexes, the effects of FH on lipid metabolism, glomerular filtration rate, and inflammation were superior to that of FJ and HQ. Metabonomic studies showed that, compared with FJ and HQ, FH intervention significantly regulated tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, cysteine and methionine metabolism, and alanine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid metabolism. Pearson correlation analysis showed that succinic acid and L-aspartic acid were negatively correlated with urinary protein, cystatin C (Cys C) and BUN (p < 0.05). In summary, FH could reduce renal injury and improve NS through inhibiting the IL-13/STAT6 signal pathway, regulating endogenous metabolic pathways, such as TCA cycle, and inhibiting the expression of AQP2 and AVP genes. This study provides a comprehensive strategy to reveal the mechanism of FH on the treatment of NS, and also provides a reasonable way to clarify the compatibility of traditional Chinese medicine.
Influence of large and supersize droplets on propagation of lidar radiation in cloud aerosol: numerical statistical simulation

Time distributions of ground-based LIDAR echo-signals reflected by the bottom of a liquid droplets cloud were calculated with the help of local estimates of Monte Carlo methods for wavelengths from visible to submillimeter range. The calculations are performed for three models of clouds. In the first model the cloud layer consists only of small droplets of radius from 1 to 20 microns, in the second one there are small and large droplets of radius from 1 to 85 microns and in the third one we take into account small, large and supersize droplets. A density of a particle size distribution is generalized on results of cloud microstructure observations in temperate latitudes. Wavelength range for which one should take into account large and supersize droplets in cloud models is found.
Complexity problems in computational theory

CONTENTS Introduction Chapter I. Methods of general computability theory in complexity bounds § 1. Complexity hierarchies. Complexity in finite domains § 2. Exponential and high lower bounds § 3. Complexity classes. Universal problems Chapter II. Methods and techniques for constructing "fast" algorithms § 1. Identification of subwords of a given word § 2. Computation of collections of arithmetical expressions § 3. Solution of equations and inequalities. Decomposition into irreducibles § 4. Problems on graphs and geometrical problems § 5. Searching for information. Syntactic analysis Chapter III. Lower complexity bounds for restricted models § 1. Computational models § 2. Lower time bounds § 3. Lower bounds for algebraic complexity References
Real-World Analysis of Outcomes and Economic Burden in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease with and without Secondary Hyperparathyroidism among a Sample of the Italian Population

This real-world analysis evaluated the clinical and economic burden of non-dialysis-dependent CKD patients with and without secondary hyperparathyroidism (sHPT) in Italy. An observational retrospective study was conducted using administrative databases containing a pool of healthcare entities covering 2.45 million health-assisted individuals. Adult patients with hospitalization discharge diagnoses for CKD stages 3, 4, and 5 were included from 1 January 2012 to 31 March 2015 and stratified using the presence/absence of sHPT. Of the 5710 patients, 3119 were CKD-only (62%) and 1915 were CKD + sHPT (38%). The groups were balanced using Propensity Score Matching (PSM). Kaplan-Meier curves revealed that progression to dialysis and cumulative mortality had a higher incidence in the CKD + sHPT versus CKD-only group in CKD stage 3 patients and the overall population. The total direct healthcare costs/patient at one-year follow-up were significantly higher in CKD + sHPT versus CKD-only patients (EUR 8593 vs. EUR 5671, p < 0.001), mostly burdened by expenses for drugs (EUR 2250 vs. EUR 1537, p < 0.001), hospitalizations (EUR 4628 vs. EUR 3479, p < 0.001), and outpatient services (EUR 1715 vs. EUR 654, p < 0.001). These findings suggest that sHPT, even at an early CKD stage, results in faster progression to dialysis, increased mortality, and higher healthcare expenditures, thus indicating that timely intervention can ameliorate the management of CKD patients affected by sHPT.
Light weight airborne imaging spectrometer remote sensing system for mineral exploration in China

Imaging spectrometers provide the unique combination of both spatially contiguous spectra and spectrally contiguous images of the Earth's surface that allows spatial mapping of these minerals. One of the successful applications of imaging spectrometers remote sensing identified was geological mapping and mineral exploration. A Light weight Airborne Imaging Spectrometer System (LAISS) has been developed in China. The hardware of the compact LAISS include a VNIR imaging spectrometer, a SWIR imaging spectrometer, a high resolution camera and a position and attitude device. The weight of the system is less than 20kg. The VNIR imaging spectrometer measures incoming radiation in 344 contiguous spectral channels in the 400–1000 nm wavelength range with spectral resolution of better than 5 nm and creates images of 464 pixels for a line of targets with a nominal instantaneous field of view (IFOV) of ~1 mrad. The SWIR imaging spectrometer measures incoming radiation in the 1000–2500 nm wavelength range with spectral resolution of better than 10 nm with a nominal instantaneous field of view (IFOV) of ~2 mrad. The 400 to 2500nm spectral range provides abundant information about many important Earth-surface minerals. A ground mineral scan experiment and an UAV carried flying experiment has been done. The experiment results show the LAISS have achieved relative high performance levels in terms of signal to noise ratio and image quality. The potential applications for light weight airborne imaging spectrometer system in mineral exploration are tremendous.
Mixing of Non-Collinear Lamb Wave Pulses in Plates with Material Nonlinearity

Guided waves have been extensively studied in the past few years, and more recently nonlinear guided waves have attracted significant research interest for their potential for early damage detection and material state characterization. Combined harmonic generation due to wave mixing can offer some advantages over second harmonic generation. However, studies focused on Lamb wave mixing are still very limited, and have mainly focused on collinear wave mixing and used plane wave assumption. In this paper, numerical simulations and experiments are conducted to understand the interaction of mixing non-collinear Lamb wave pulses with non-planar wavefronts. The results demonstrate that the generated secondary wave is cumulative under internal resonance conditions and the sum-frequency component of the combined harmonics is useful for characterizing material nonlinearities.
Consequential-based life cycle assessment of reducing the concentrates supply level in the diet fed to lactating cows in the alpine dairy farming system

Abstract This study aimed to assess the consequences of reducing the concentrates supply level (CSL) in the lactating cows’ diet on Alpine dairy system’s GHG emissions. Consequential-based Life Cycle Assessment (cLCA) was adopted to assess the consequences within the ‘dairy_system’ (farm plus milk processing) and outside (‘expanded_system’). The functional unit was 1 kg of protein and fat (ProtFat). Data (1-year average) originated from 40 dairy farms in the Alps, collected through farm questionnaires during farm visits. Emissions were evaluated without (GWP) and with land-based emissions (crop- (GWP_LULUC_cb) or global-based (GWP_LULUC_gb) method). The feed conversion ratio was computed in terms of potentially human-edible gross energy (HeECR, MJ feed/MJ milk). Three scenarios were explored: 100% (t0), 75% (t175), and 50% (t150) of the initial CSL. Impact values for both systems were analysed with a mixed model to test the effect of the scenarios. At ‘dairy_system’, 1 kg ProtFat caused 19.0 (GWP), 22.9 (GWP_LULUC_cb) and 23.4 kg CO2-eq (GWP_LULUC_gb) at t0 and HeECR resulted in 0.71 MJ feed/MJ milk. The CSL reduction from t0 to t175 and t150 significantly increased impact values (2–11%) and decreased HeECR (from −10 to −23%). Considering ‘expanded_system’, CSL reduction significantly increased GWP (4%) and GWP_LULUC_gb (3%) but decreased GWP_LULUC_cb (up to −4%). In conclusion, cLCA-based approach evidenced that CSL reductions implied diversified effects on GHG emissions, at Alpine dairy system and at food supply level, giving new insights into the challenge of reducing GHG emissions while favouring the decoupling of milk production from the use of human-edible resources. Highlights Consequential Life Cycle Assessment of reducing concentrates supply (CSL) to lactating cows on the GHG emission of Alpine dairy products was analysed GHGs per protein plus fat in the product increased with decreasing CSL (75% and 50% of initial CSL) but can decrease considering land-use change GHG Decoupling Alpine dairy production from concentrates could be environmentally challenging but feasible
Flux corrected transport solver for solving 1D multiphase equations for drilling applications

A numerical solver is designed and implemented to solve a simplified set of equations modeling 1D multi-phase flow for the oil and gas drilling industry. The main motivation of this work is to capture the key features of kicks taken while drilling vertically using an oil based mud. The physical setup of a two fluid two phase (liquid and vapour phase) flow with solubility of one component is considered. A numerical method is devised to solve the system using the finite volume strategy. The difficulty in obtaining the analytical Jacobian of the fluxes leads to the decreased accuracy in capturing the contact wavefront. To address this issue a fully explicit second order numerical solver based on Flux corrected transport (FCT) is implemented. The code is validated and the physical test cases of gas injection inside the well annulus and shut-in of the well are presented. The results conclude that the FCT solver is a better and efficient method for multiphase models involving slip velocities given by algebraic relations.
Filtering gravitational waves from super-massive black hole binaries

The effectualness of post-Newtonian wave forms and recently proposed P-approximants in extracting gravitational waves from inspiralling binaries of supermassive black holes is explored. Based on the extent of the overlaps of these approximate wave forms with the exact ones, we conclude that P-approximants are essential to reliably measure the parameters of supermassive binaries. The wave form from such a source depends on several parameters: The masses of the component bodies, their spins, eccentricity of the orbit, angles describing the orientation of the binary relative to the LISA detector, direction to the source, etc. Making a choice of search templates in such a multi-dimensional parameter space could be pretty complicated. We suggest a method based on the principal component analysis which could potentially simplify the search to a great extent by enabling us to choose templates in a parameter space of much smaller dimension than the physical parameter space.
1.5T Magnetic Resonance Imaging Generates Accurate 3D Proximal Femoral Models: Surgical Planning Implications for Femoroacetabular Impingement.

The objective of this study was to validate 3D proximal femoral surface models generated from a 1.5T MRI by comparing these 3D models to those derived from the clinical "gold standard" of CT scan and to ground-truth surface models obtained by laser scans of the excised femurs. Four intact bilateral cadaveric pelvis specimens underwent CT and MRI scans and 3D surface models were generated. Six femurs were extracted from these specimens, and the overlying soft tissues were removed. The extracted femurs were then laser scanned (LS) to produce a ground-truth surface model. A 3D-3D registration method was used to compare the signed and absolute surface-to-surface distances between the 3D models. Absolute agreement was evaluated using a 95% confidence interval derived from the precision of the laser scan ground-truth. Paired samples t-tests and Kolmogrov-Smirnov tests were performed to compare the differences between the signed and absolute surface-to-surface distances between the models. The average signed surface-to-surface distances for the MRI vs. LS and MRI vs. CT models were 0.07 mm and 0.16 mm, respectively. These differences fell within the 95% confidence interval of ± 0.20 mm indicating absolute agreement between the surface models generated from these modalities. The signed surface-to-surface distance was significantly smaller for MRI vs LS ground truth model as compared to the CT vs. LS model. Femoral models derived from a 1.5T MRI scan demonstrated absoluteb agreement with the clinical gold standard of CT derived models and were most like laser scan ground truth models of the excised femurs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Signal Versus Noise in the Southern Oscillation

Abstract The utility of a simple index for monitoring the Southern Oscillation signal is explored in detail. Based upon sea level pressure data at the two stations Tahiti (T) and Darwin (D), an optimal index, in the sense that it combines the Southern Oscillation variance into one series is the combination [Tn + Dn] where the subscript n denotes normalization by the overall standard deviation of each series. A direct measure of the noise due to small-scale or transient phenomena that are not a part of the large-scale coherent Southern Oscillation fluctuations is the index [Tn + Dn]. It is recommended that this index of noise also should be monitored in order to determine the representativeness of the Southern Oscillation index. The signal-to-noise ratio is shown to depend upon the cross correlation between Darwin and Tahiti, and can be increased by applying weighted moving average low-pass filters to the data. Monthly data exhibit a signal-to-noise ratio, defined as the ratio of the standard deviations, o.
A femtojoule calorimeter using micromechanical sensors

We describe a highly sensitive new type of calorimeter based on the deflection of a ‘‘bimetallic’’ micromechanical sensor as a function of temperature. The temperature changes can be due to ambient changes, giving a temperature sensor or, more importantly, due to the heat absorbed by a coating on the sensor, giving a heat sensor. As an example we show the results of using the sensor as a photothermal spectrometer. The small dimensions and low thermal mass of the sensor make it highly sensitive and we demonstrate a sensitivity of roughly 100 pW. By applying a simple model of the system the ultimate sensitivity is expected to be of the order of 10 pW. The thermal response time of the cantilever can also be determined, giving an estimate of the minimum detectable energy of the sensor. This we find to be 150 fJ and again from our model, expect a minimum value of the order of 20 fJ.
Real‐time estimation of the electron temperature profile in DIII‐D by leveraging neural‐network surrogate models

Control of both the magnitude and the shape of tokamak profiles will be necessary to achieve stable, high‐performance plasmas. In order to reject disturbances in real time, feedback‐control algorithms rely on accurate real‐time knowledge of the plasma state. When diagnostics alone are insufficient, because they are limited in number or their measurements are too noisy, observers can be used to combine diagnostic data with a response model to provide a better estimation of different plasma properties. An observer has been developed to estimate the electron temperature profile in real time using both diagnostic data from the Thomson scattering system and a model based on the electron heat transport equation describing the evolution of the electron temperature profile. Neural network surrogate models are leveraged to help improve the overall model prediction while staying within computation time constraints for real‐time use. The observer algorithm is shown in offline tests to produce smooth profiles that are consistent with both the diagnostic data and the electron heat transport equation. When implemented into the real‐time plasma control system, this observer will provide valuable information on the electron temperature profile to many potential feedback‐control applications.
A Tailored Strategy to Crosslink the Aspartate Transcarbamoylase Domain of the Multienzymatic Protein CAD

CAD is a 1.5 MDa hexameric protein with four enzymatic domains responsible for initiating de novo biosynthesis of pyrimidines nucleotides: glutaminase, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase, aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATC), and dihydroorotase. Despite its central metabolic role and implication in cancer and other diseases, our understanding of CAD is poor, and structural characterization has been frustrated by its large size and sensitivity to proteolytic cleavage. Recently, we succeeded in isolating intact CAD-like particles from the fungus Chaetomium thermophilum with high yield and purity, but their study by cryo-electron microscopy is hampered by the dissociation of the complex during sample grid preparation. Here we devised a specific crosslinking strategy to enhance the stability of this mega-enzyme. Based on the structure of the isolated C. thermophilum ATC domain, we inserted by site-directed mutagenesis two cysteines at specific locations that favored the formation of disulfide bridges and covalent oligomers. We further proved that this covalent linkage increases the stability of the ATC domain without damaging the structure or enzymatic activity. Thus, we propose that this cysteine crosslinking is a suitable strategy to strengthen the contacts between subunits in the CAD particle and facilitate its structural characterization.
Stress in polycrystalline and amorphous silicon thin films

Stress in polycrystalline and amorphous silicon thin films deposited on oxidized silicon wafers is determined from the lengthening of the undercut edge of a silicon stripe. The technique measures only compressive stresses, has a stress resolution of 108 dyn/cm2, and a spatial resolution on the wafer of 250 μm. Unannealed silicon thin films deposited on oxide are under high compressive stress (1010 dyn/cm2). This stress is reduced below the resolution by annealing at 1100 °C for 20 min in N2, except for the thinnest polycrystalline silicon films studied (230 nm thick).
Agricultural Soils of Florida

This 7-page fact sheet describes the various soil Orders in Florida, how they were developed, their characteristics, coverage in the state, and uses. This information is important for educating land owners, decision-makers, and educators about soils in Florida, leading to better soil management for agricultural and environmental sustainability. Written by Rao Mylavarapu, Willie Harris, and George Hochmuth, and published by the Soil and Water Sciences Department, October 2016. SL441/SS655: Agricultural Soils of Florida (ufl.edu)
CRISPR screening strategies for microRNA target identification

Identifying microRNA (miRNA) target genes remains a major challenge in understanding the roles miRNAs play in gene regulation. Furthermore, understanding which miRNA–target interactions are the most biologically important is even more difficult. We present CRISPR‐based strategies to identify essential miRNA binding sites. First, CRISPR knockout screens can easily be adapted to identify genes whose inactivation suppresses miRNA mutant phenotypes. Second, a custom approach to target individual miRNA binding sites via CRISPR can identify sites whose mutation recapitulates miRNA mutant phenotypes. We emphasize that the latter approach requires a readout of mutational profile (rather than single guide RNA abundance) when applied in a negative selection setting. Overall, the advent of CRISPR technology alongside improving empirical means of miRNA target identification will accelerate our dissection of miRNA gene regulatory networks.