Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ultrasensitive Detection of C-Reactive Protein by a Novel Nanoplasmonic Immunoturbidimetry Assay

Nanotechnology has attracted much attention, and may become the key to a whole new world in the fields of food, agriculture, building materials, machinery, medicine, and electrical engineering, because of its unique physical and chemical properties, including high surface area and outstanding electrical and optical properties. The bottom-up approach in nanofabrication involves the growth of particles, and we were inspired to propose a novel nanoplasmonic method to detect the formation of nanoparticles in real time. This innovative idea may contribute to the promotion of nanotechnology development. An increase in nanometer particle size leads to optical extinction or density (OD)-value changes in our nanosensor chip at a specific wavelength measured in a generic microplate reader. Moreover, in applying this method, an ultrasensitive nanoplasmonic immunoturbidimetry assay (NanoPITA) was carried out for the high-throughput quantification of hypersensitive C-reactive protein (CRP), a well-known biomarker of cardiovascular, inflammatory, and tumor diseases. The one-step detection of the CRP concentration was completed in 10 min with high fidelity, using the endpoint analysis method. The new NanoPITA method not only produced a linear range from 1 ng/mL to 500 ng/mL CRP with the detection limit reduced to 0.54 ng/mL, which was an improvement of over 1000 times, with respect to regular immunoturbidity measurement, but was also effective in blood detection. This attractive method, combined with surface plasmon resonance and immunoturbidimetry, may become a new technology platform in the application of biological detection.
A cosmology-independent calibration of Type Ia supernovae data

Recently, the common methodology used to transform type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) into genuine standard candles has been suffering criticism. Indeed, it assumes a particular cosmological model (namely the flat $\Lambda$CDM) to calibrate the standardisation corrections parameters, i.e. the dependency of the supernova peak absolute magnitude on its colour, post-maximum decline rate and host galaxy mass. As a result, this assumption could make the data compliant to the assumed cosmology and thus nullify all works previously conducted on model comparison. In this work, we verify the viability of these hypotheses by developing a cosmology-independent approach to standardise SNe Ia data from the recent JLA compilation. Our resulting corrections turn out to be very close to the $\Lambda$CDM-based corrections. Therefore, even if a $\Lambda$CDM-based calibration is questionable from a theoretical point of view, the potential compliance of SNe Ia data does not happen in practice for the JLA compilation. Previous works of model comparison based on these data do not have to be called into question. However, as this cosmology-independent standardisation method has the same degree of complexity than the model-dependent one, it is worth using it in future works, especially if smaller samples are considered, such as the superluminous type Ic supernovae.
Probabilistic Techno-Economic Design of Isolated Microgrid

Isolated microgrid (MG) proved its potential to electrify the remote community through the cheaper and greener renewable energy alternatives with higher reliability than the weak grid. The goal of universal electricity access and the climate change mitigation paves the way for many public/private owned microgrids in remote areas. Having in mind various uncertainties associated with the design parameters of the MG (e.g., temperature, irradiation, load), this paper presents a probabilistic approach for optimal sizing and techno-economic assessment of the PV-based MG. The potential environmental impact of the isolated MG is taken into account by considering both, the PV/Battery, and more conventional PV/Battery/Diesel Generator configuration. The effectiveness of multi-year data over the single year data in the probabilistic approach is demonstrated. The probabilistic techno-economic analysis of different configurations facilitates informed decision making regarding the configuration and size of MG components while meeting the reliability of supply and environmental constraints. The feasibility and affordability of the configurations are demonstrated through the distribution of net present cost, levelized cost of energy and the unmet load percentage.
Phase diagram of diluted Ising ferromagnet LiHoxY1-xF4

We present a systematic study of the phase diagram of LiHoxY1−xF4 (0.25≤x≤1) Ising ferromagnets obtained from neutron scattering measurements and mean-field calculations. We show that while the thermal phase transition decreases linearly with dilution, as predicted by mean-field theory, the critical transverse field at the quantum critical point is suppressed much faster. This behavior is related to competition between off-diagonal dipolar coupling and quantum fluctuations that are tuned by doping and applied field, respectively. In this paper, we quantify the deviation of the experimental results from mean-field predictions, with the aim that this analysis can be used in future theoretical efforts towards a quantitative description.
Identifying Demographic, Clinical, Muscular and Histological Factors Associated with Ultrasound Cervical Multifidus Measurement Errors in a Chronic Neck Pain Population

Ultrasound imaging (US) is a widely used imaging tool in physiotherapy for assessing muscle morphology and quality, among other purposes, such as ensuring the patients’ safety during invasive procedures or providing visual feedback during motor control exercises. Identifying factors associated with measurement errors is essential to target avoid bias in high-risk of bias populations. Therefore, this study aimed to assess whether demographic, clinical, muscular and histological factors are associated with ultrasound measurement errors in patients with idiopathic chronic neck pain. B-mode images were acquired and analyzed in 126 patients with chronic neck pain by two experienced examiners. Cross-sectional area, muscle perimeter, mean echo intensity and percentage of fatty infiltration were analyzed. The interexaminer agreement was assessed by calculating the absolute error, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM) and minimal detectable changes (MDC). A Pearson’s correlation matrix including all variables was calculated to conduct a multivariate linear stepwise regression model for estimating the explained variance for each measurement error. Results demonstrated excellent reliability (ICC = 0.965) for assessing the cross-sectional area, and good reliability for assessing the muscle perimeter, mean echo intensity and intramuscular infiltrates estimation (ICC = 0.898, 0.882 and 0.758, respectively). Although clinical variables were not associated with measurement errors (p > 0.05), multiple correlations were found between demographic and cervical multifidus characteristics with measurement errors.
Anbar Journal of Engineering Science©

Satellites may provide data with various spectral and spatial resolutions. The spatial resolution of panchromatic (PAN) images is higher, but the spectral resolution of multispectral (MS) images is greater. There is Satellite sensors limitation for capturing an image with high spatial and spectral resolution, due to the hardware design of the sensors. Whereas many remote sensing, as well as GIS applications, need high spatial and spectral resolution. Image fusion merges images of different spectral and spatial resolutions based on a certain algorithm. It can be used to overcome the sensor's limitation and play an important role in the extraction of information. The standard image fusion approaches lose spatial information or distort spectral characteristics. Optimizations of fusion rules can overcome and degrade the distortions as the fusion core is the image fusion rules. In this paper, the Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) is used to find the optimal injection gain, as most distortions in image fusion are caused by the extraction and injection of spatial detail. Both qualitative and quantitative metrics were utilized to evaluate the quality of the merged image. The mentioned metrics that were used commonly for evaluation of image fusion results support the proposed algorithm for image fusion as the output image was qualitatively and quantitatively growth. In the future the proposed method can be updated by increasing the objective function dimensions to two or three for getting a best fused image.
Coherent state topological cluster state production

We present results illustrating the construction of three-dimensional (3D) topological cluster states with coherent state logic. Such a construction would be ideally suited for wave-guide implementations of optical quantum information processing. We investigate the use of a deterministic controlled-Z gate, showing that given large enough initial cat states, it is possible to build large 3D cluster states. We model X and Z basis measurements by displaced photon number detections and x-quadrature homodyne detections, respectively. We investigate whether teleportation can aid in cluster state construction and whether this introduction of located loss errors fits within the topological cluster state framework.
Kinematic Modeling and Jacobian-Based Control of the COAST Guidewire Robot

Manual guidewire navigation and placement for minimally invasive surgeries suffer from technical challenges due to imprecise tip motion control to traverse highly tortuous vasculature. Robotically steerable guidewires can address these challenges by actuating a compliant tip through multiple degrees-of-freedom for maneuvering through vascular pathways. In this paper, we detail the kinematic mapping of a COaxially Aligned STeerable (COAST) guidewire robot that is capable of executing follow-the-leader motion in three dimensional vascular pathways. We also develop an analytical Jacobian model to perform velocity kinematics for the robot and finally, we implement Jacobian-based control to demonstrate follow-the-leader motion of the guidewire in free space, within 3D-printed phantoms, and within ex vivo animal vasculature.
Implicit-explicit evolution of single black holes

Numerical simulations of binary black holes - an important predictive tool for the detection of gravitational waves - are computationally expensive, especially for binaries with high mass ratios or with rapidly spinning constituent holes. Existing codes for evolving binary black holes rely on explicit time-stepping methods, for which the time-step size is limited by the smallest spatial scale through the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy condition. Binary inspiral typically involves spatial scales (the spatial resolution required by a small or rapidly spinning hole) which are orders of magnitude smaller than the relevant (orbital, precession, and radiation-reaction) time scales characterizing the inspiral. Therefore, in explicit evolutions of binary black holes, the time-step size is typically orders of magnitude smaller than the relevant physical time scales. Implicit time-stepping methods allow for larger time steps, and they often reduce the total computational cost (without significant loss of accuracy) for problems dominated by spatial rather than temporal error, such as for binary-black-hole inspiral in corotating coordinates. However, fully implicit methods can be difficult to implement for nonlinear evolution systems like the Einstein equations. Therefore, in this paper we explore implicit-explicit (IMEX) methods and use them for the first time to evolve black-hole spacetimes. Specifically, as a first stepmore » toward IMEX evolution of a full binary-black-hole spacetime, we develop an IMEX algorithm for the generalized harmonic formulation of the Einstein equations and use this algorithm to evolve stationary and perturbed single-black-hole spacetimes. Numerical experiments explore the stability and computational efficiency of our method. « less
Expression of Different Tumor Biomarkers in Oral Lichen Planus: A Meta-analysis

Background: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a potentially malignant oral disorder that affects 0.5-2% of the general population with a malignant transformation rate of around 1.1%. Malignant transformation is characterized by the increased proliferation of basal layer cells under the influence of biomarkers released from the inflammatory infiltrate. This study was conducted to assess the expression of biomarkers in OLP and their possible predictive value for malignant transformation of these lesions. Methods: A search for studies on tumor biomarkers in OLP was performed in the following databases: PubMed (MEDLINE, Cochrane Library), Web of Science, and Scopus. Data were analyzed using the statistical software RevMan 5.4 (The Cochrane Collaboration, Oxford, UK). For continuous outcomes, the estimates of effects of an intervention were expressed as mean differences (MD) using the inverse variance (IV) method, and for dichotomous outcomes, the estimates of effects of an intervention were expressed as odds ratios (OR) using Mantel-Haenszel (M-H) method, all with 95% confidence intervals. Results: A total of 30 studies were included in this meta-analysis. OLP patients compared to controls without the disease had a significantly higher expression of mutated p53 protein (P<0.001), Ki-67 antigen (P<0.001), p16 protein (P<0.001), and cell proliferation nuclear antigen (PCNA) (P=0.04), but not blc-2 protein. In contrast, OLP patients showed 3.71 times higher probability of bcl-2 protein detection (P=0.01). Conclusions: The expression of tumor biomarkers in OLP suggests the potentially malignant nature of some of these lesions
Pulsar Timing at the Deep Space Network

The 70-m DSN's Deep Space Station antenna 14 (DSS-14) at Goldstone has recently been outfitted with instrumentation to enable pulsar searching and timing operation. Systems capable of similar operations are undergoing installation at DSS-63, and are planned for DSS-43. The Goldstone system is the first of these to become operational, with a 640 MHz bandwidth stretching from 1325-1965 MHz. Initial results from the pulsar timing pipeline show short-term residuals of < 100 ns for pulsar B1937+21. Commissioning obsefvations at DSS-14 to obtain a baseline set of TOA measurements on several millisecond pulsars are currently underway.
The straight and isolated G350.54+0.69 filament: density profile and star formation content

We investigate the global properties of the straight and isolated filamentary cloud G350.54+0.69 using Herschel continuum and APEX molecular line data. The overall straight morphology is similar to two other well studied nearby filaments (Musca and Taurus-B211/3) while the isolated nature of G350.54+0.69 appears similar to Musca. G350.54+0.69 is composed of two distinct filaments with a length ~5.9 pc for G350.5-N (~2.3 pc for G350.5-S), a total mass of ~810 $M_{\odot}$ (~ 110 $M_{\odot}$), and a mean temperature of ~ 18.2 K (~17.7 K). We identify 9 dense and gravitationally bound cores in the whole cloud G350.54+0.69. The separations between cores and the line mass of the whole cloud appear to follow the predictions of the "sausage" instability theory, which suggests that G350.54+0.69 could have undergone radial collapse and fragmentation. The presence of young protostars is consistent with this hypothesis. The line masses of the two filaments (~120 $M_{\odot}$ pc$^{-1}$ for G350.5-N, and ~45 $M_{\odot}$ pc$^{-1}$ for G350.5-S), mass-size distributions of the dense cores, and low-mass protostars collectively suggest that G350.54+0.69 is a site of ongoing low-mass star formation. Based on the above evidence, we place G350.54+0.69 in an intermediate evolutionary state between Musca and Taurus-B211/3. We suggest that investigations into straight (and isolated) versus those distributed inside molecular clouds may provide important clues into filament formation and evolution.
A Large Dark Matter Core in the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy?

We use measurements of the stellar velocity dispersion profile of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy to derive constraints on its dark matter distribution. Although the data are unable to distinguish between models with small cores and those with cusps, we show that a large ≳1 kpc dark matter core in Fornax is highly implausible. Irrespective of the origin of the core, reasonable dynamical limits on the mass of the Fornax halo constrain its core radius to be no larger than ~700 pc. We derive an upper limit of rcore ≲ 300 pc by demanding that the central phase-space density of Fornax not exceed that directly inferred from the rotation curves of low-mass spiral galaxies. Furthermore, if the halo is composed of warm dark matter, then phase-space constraints force the core to be quite small in order to avoid conservative limits from the Lyα forest power spectrum, rcore ≲ 85 pc. We discuss our results in the context of the idea that the extended globular cluster distribution in Fornax can be explained by the presence of a large ~1.5 kpc core. A self-consistent core of this size would be drastically inconsistent with the expectations of standard warm or cold dark matter models and would also require an unreasonably massive dark matter halo, with Vmax ≃ 200 km s-1.
Evolutions of nearly maximally spinning black hole binaries using the moving puncture approach

We demonstrate that numerical relativity codes based on the moving punctures formalism are capable of evolving nearly maximally spinning black hole binaries. We compare a new evolution of an equal-mass, aligned-spin binary with dimensionless spin chi=0.99 using puncture-based data with recent simulations of the SXS Collaboration. We find that the overlap of our new waveform with the published results of the SXS Collaboration is larger than 0.999. To generate our new waveform, we use the recently introduced HiSpID puncture data, the CCZ4 evolution system, and a modified lapse condition that helps keep the horizon radii reasonably large.
Carbonaceous nano-dust emission in proto-planetary discs: the aliphatic-aromatic components

Context. In the interstellar medium, carbon (nano-)grains are a major component of interstellar dust. This solid phase is more vulnerable to processing and destruction than its silicate counterpart. It exhibits a complex, size-dependent evolution that is due to interactions within different radiative and dynamical environments. Infrared signatures of these carbon nano-grains are seen in a large number of discs around Herbig HAeBe stars. Aims. We probe the composition and evolution of carbon nano-grains at the surface of (pre-)transitional proto-planetary discs around Herbig stars. Methods. We present spatially resolved infrared emission spectra obtained with the Nasmyth Adaptive Optics System (NAOS) Near-Infrared Imager and Spectrograph (CONICA) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the 3–4 μm range with a spatial resolution of 0.1′′, which allowed us to trace aromatic, olefinic, and aliphatic bands that are attributed to sub-nanometer hydrocarbon grains. We applied a Gaussian fitting to analyse the observed spectral signatures. Finally, we propose an interpretation in the framework of the The Heterogeneous dust Evolution Model of Interstellar Solids (THEMIS). Results. We show the presence of several spatially extended spectral features that are related to aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbon material in discs around Herbig stars, from ~10 to 50–100 au, and even in inner gaps that are devoid of large grains. The correlation and constant intensity ratios between aliphatic and aromatic CH stretching bands suggests a common nature of the carriers. Given their expected high destruction rates through UV photons, our observations suggest that they are continuously replenished at the disc surfaces.
Absolute-magnitude Calibration for W UMa-type Systems Based on Gaia Data

Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) parallax data are used to determine absolute magnitudes MV for 318 W UMa-type (EW) contact binary stars. A very steep (slope ≃ −9), single-parameter ( ), linear calibration can be used to predict MV to about 0.1–0.3 mag over the whole range of accessible orbital period, days. A similar calibration for the most common systems with days predicts MV values to about 0.06–0.16 mag. For orbital period values both shorter and longer than the central range, the period dependence is respectively steeper and shallower, i.e., the binaries are fainter in MV than predicted by the whole-range linear law. The steepness of the relation for short-period systems implies important consequences for the detectability of the faintest binaries, defining the short-period cut-off of the period distribution. Although the scatter around the linear -fit is fairly large (0.2–0.4 mag), the current data do not support the inclusion of a color term in the calibration.
Touchscreens Can Reveal User Identity: Capacitive Plethysmogram-Based Biometrics

Biometrics are widely used for user identification/authentication, but the fact has rarely been noticed that general capacitive touchscreens can reveal user identities by touch signals. This paper proposes a new biometric method with inherent liveness detection for reliable user recognition based on the cardiac signal captured by the capacitive touchscreen, namely Capacitive Plethysmogram (CPG). And a systematic framework is designed for CPG collection, processing, and exploitation to identify users. Specifically, since the finger usually forms capacitors with multiple sensing electrodes during touching, we can extract several CPG signals simultaneously from the screen output. Then we propose a series of preprocessing algorithms to filter CPG for signal quality enhancement. Finally, to further leverage filtered CPG signals and extract efficient features for identifying users, we build an encoder based on 3D attention CNN and metric learning. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve an average accuracy of 96.73%, FAR of 3.03%, and FRR of 7.35% in the laboratory environment, which reveals the potential of CPG for user privacy protection and data security on various devices laced with capacitive touchscreens.