Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Local density maxima - Progenitors of structure

Assuming structure is formed hierarchically from small to large scales, local density extrema are assumed to be the progenitors of structure. The density contrast profile around local maxima is given, to a good approximation, by the primordial two-point correlation function. The mean number density of objects of a given core mass is calculated as a function of the primordial power spectrum, p(k). Assuming p(k)proportionalk/sup n/, virialized halos in an 0 = 1.0 universe should follow pproportionalr/sup(-9 + 3n/)/(4 + n) for -1< or =n and pproportionalr S for -3< or =n< or =-1. In an open universe, rich clusters should have halos steeper than galactic halos. The observed structure is found to be consistent with 0 < 1.0 and n = -1.
Cell immobilization on polymer by air atmospheric pressure plasma jet treatment

The study of cell immobilization on delicate polymer by an air atmospheric pressure plasma jet (AAPPJ) is required for its medical application. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether AAPPJ treatment induce cell immobilization effect on delicate polymers without significant change of surface roughness by AAPPJ treatment. After surface roughness, dynamic contact angle, and chemical characteristics were investigated, the immobilization effect was evaluated with the mouse fibroblast L929 cell line. Surface roughness change was not observed (P > 0.05) in either delicate dental wax or polystyrene plate (PSP) as advancing and receding contact angles significantly decreased (P < 0.05), thanks to decreased hydrocarbon and formation of oxygen-related functional groups in treated PSP. Adherent L929 cells with elongated morphology were found in treated PSP along with the formation of immobilization markers vinculin and actin cytoskeleton. Increased PTK2 gene expression upregulated these markers on treated PSP.
Superposition, entanglement, and raising Schrödinger's cat

Experimental control of quantum systems has been pursued widely since the invention of quantum mechanics. Today, we can in fact experiment with individual quantum systems, deterministically preparing superpositions and entanglements. In his Nobel lecture, D. J. Wineland gives an overview of this research which has led to the Nobel prize in physics in 2012 ** .
Gas filter correlation instrument for the remote sensing of gas leaks

An airborne remote sensor named GASPILS (gas pipeline leak sensor) has been developed and tested to detect leaks from natural gas pipelines by monitoring the amount of methane in the atmosphere above the leak. The sensor is a passive electro‐optical system, with two independent channels, operating in a downward‐looking profiling mode. It is designed to detect increases in the low levels of methane concentration by sensing the infrared spectral radiance signatures using a nondispersive gas filter correlation technique. This technique involves the use of a gas cell as a matched spectral filter, and it combines a high degree of sensitivity to the target gas with a high degree of specificity.
P-SV wave propagation in heterogeneous media: Velocity‐stress finite‐difference method

I present a finite-difference method for modeling P-SV wave propagation in heterogeneous media. This is an extension of the method I previously proposed for modeling SH-wave propagation by using velocity and stress in a discrete grid. The two components of the velocity cannot be defined at the same node for a complete staggered grid: the stability condition and the P-wave phase velocity dispersion curve do not depend on the Poisson's ratio, while the S-wave phase velocity dispersion curve behavior is rather insensitive to the Poisson's ratio. Therefore, the same code used for elastic media can be used for liquid media, where S-wave velocity goes to zero, and no special treatment is needed for a liquid-solid interface. Typical physical phenomena arising with P-SV modeling, such as surface waves, are in agreement with analytical results. The weathered-layer and corner-edge models show in seismograms the same converted phases obtained by previous authors. This method gives stable results for step discontinuities, as shown for a liquid layer above an elastic half-space. The head wave preserves the correct amplitude. Finally, the corner-edge model illustrates a more complex geometry for the liquid-solid interface. As the Poisson's ratio v increases from 0.25 to 0.5, the shear converted phases are removed from seismograms and from the time section of the wave field.
Precise measurement of the Bragg curve for 800 MeV/u 238U ions stopping in polyethylene and its implications for calculation of heavy ion ranges

Stopping power predictions in radiation transport codes are based on the Bethe-Bloch formula and different corrections. For very heavy ions at relativistic energies the available experimental data are scarce and therefore verification of stopping power predictions is only possible to a limited extent. In this work, a full experimental Bragg curve for 800 MeV/u 238U ions stopping in polyethylene is presented. The measurements were conducted at the experimental area Cave A at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany. The 800 MeV/u 238U beam was provided by the SIS18 heavy ion synchrotron. The Bragg curve was measured with a setup consisting of a binary range shifter and two large area parallel plate ionization chambers. Complementary Monte Carlo simulations using the FLUKA code were performed and compared with the experimental Bragg curve. The mean ionization potential of polyethylene was fine-tuned to match the measured primary ion range with FLUKA simulations. The impact of the Bloch and Mott corrections to the stopping power calculation were studied by switching them off intentionally in separate simulations. A detailed description of the implementation of the stopping power formulae and the Mott correction in FLUKA is provided. Supplementary data for this article is available online.
Study of active magnetic bearings (AMB) on non–synchronous rotors

A rotor is never free from vibration owing to constant centrifugal force acting on it while rotating. A practical rotor has inherent mass unevenness flaw, or bearing misalignment flaw, or self-weight bow flaw, or presence of discontinuity or cracks flaw. If the vibrations are not controlled within limits, the rotor’s purpose of existence is lost. These vibrations can be synchronous if the frequency of vibration is equal to, or multiple of, the speed of rotation of the rotor. Or may be non-synchronous if the frequency of vibration of the rotor is not a multiple of its rotational frequency. Active magnetic bearings (AMBs) have been in use for vibration control, vibration suppression, rotor stability and condition monitoring of rotordynamic systems, since many years. A lot of authors have performed various numerical and experimental works in an AMB–rotor configuration and reported their findings. The goal of this paper is to report and present the effect of AMB solely on non–synchronous rotors for the benefit of the scientific community. Firstly, this paper briefly introduces the constructional features on AMB–rotor system. Then, the gist of every paper is written, as well as specification of the work provided in tabular form. Finally, some comments on limitations and future applications are made. The paper is separately sectioned into numerical investigations, and experimental investigations.
Novel orthorhombic silicane nanosheet as a sensing material for acrolein and propanol—a first-principles investigation

Currently, the elemental monolayer materials attracted great interest among the research communities due to their stability, selectivity, and sensitivity towards hazardous vapour or gas molecules. In this research work, we deployed an orthorhombic silicane nanosheet (Ortho-SiNS) as a sensing element to detect acrolein and propanol at ambient conditions. Initially, the structural firmness of Ortho-SiNS is verified with the support of formation energy. Subsequently, the electronic features of the base substrate are discussed using band structure along with projected density of states maps. The estimated energy gap of Ortho-SiNS is found to be 4.179 eV. The interaction behaviour of target air pollutants on Ortho-SiNS is investigated by ascertaining Bader charge transfer, relative band gap changes, and adsorption energy. In the present work, the adsorption energy is calculated in the scope of −0.305 eV to −1.039 eV, which validates the physisorption of acrolein and propanol on Ortho-SiNS. The outcomes recommended that the Ortho-SiNS can be employed as a promising chemical sensor to sense acrolein and propanol molecules from cigarette smoke.
Stretching, sliding and strategy: indexicality in algebraic explanations

In this study, we describe the linguistic expression of strategy in explanations of algebraic procedures. Stating the steps of an algebraic procedure does not require a student to indicate the relationship between different mathematical actions, but describing algebraic strategy does. The coordinated nature of strategic proficiency suggests that linguistic forms known as indexical language, “pointing words” that link speech to context, may be fundamental resources for expressing this type of competence. A class of first-year university mathematics students developed a habit of reporting procedures that we consider a speech genre. The classroom genre emphasised procedural explanations, but when students expressed strategic competence, they often relied on indexical language. Indexical verbs of motion like slide and drop proved to be a particularly efficient means of expressing algebraic strategies. This informal speech style extended the communicative capacity of the classroom speech genre, and allowed classmates to participate better in strategic mathematical reasoning.
A region-based segmentation method for multichannel image data

Abstract Segmentation has become a widely used tool in modern image analysis. Typical methods are highly nonlinear and often ad hoc, and none so far have proved accessible to detailed statistical analysis even by asymptotic approximations. Can such methods be any good? This article describes a segmentation procedure for multichannel image data and attempts to develop an understanding of its statistical performance characteristics in terms of nonparametric regression. The procedure is based on a recursive merging algorithm defined via a nested sequence of discretizations of the image domain. A cross-validation rule with a near-neighbor block replacement strategy is proposed for selecting the final segmentation model. Idealized numerical simulation experiments are used to evaluate the rate of convergence of the mean square error of estimation and also to study the efficiency of the cross-validation technique. Interestingly, the results show that the rate of convergence tends to decrease as the degree of smo.
A novel Monte Carlo algorithm for polarizable force fields: Application to a fluctuating charge model for water

In this Monte Carlo algorithm for polarizable force fields, the fluctuating charges are treated as special degrees of freedom subject to a secondary low-temperature thermostat in close analogy to the extended Lagrangian formalism commonly used in molecular dynamics simulations of such systems. The algorithm is applied to Berne’s SPC-FQ (simple point charge–fluctuating charge) model for water. The robustness of the algorithm with respect to the temperature of the secondary thermostat and to the fraction of fluctuating-charge moves is investigated. With the new algorithm, the cost of Monte Carlo simulations using fluctuating-charge force fields increases by less than an order of magnitude compared to simulations using the parent fixed-charge force fields.
A new identification method of the Stribeck friction model based on limit cycles

This paper presents a new parameter identification method of the Stribeck friction model based on limit cycles. A single degree of freedom mass spring system driven by a belt is studied, and the Stribeck friction model is established between the mass and belt. Limit cycle oscillation will occur when the system is unstable. The limit cycle curve is described by some main shape characteristic parameters using the modified Freeman chain code method. Thus, the Stribeck friction parameters can be identified by using the ergodic search method to minimize the Euclidean distance of the theoretical and identified limit cycle shape characteristic parameters. The parameter identification method based on limit cycles is different from the traditional identification methods. It only needs the displacement and velocity responses of the system instead of the measurement of the friction force or motor voltage/current. All of these works can provide the reference for the research work of the friction parameter identification.
Application of SWMM to Drainage System Plan in Mountain City

The application of SWMM to drainage system plan in mountain city was researched,especially about the step and method of the assistant analysis.A series of methods to solve the problem of lack of the basic information on drainage in mountain area are proposed.Then an example is analyzed to describe how to use SWMM model to design the drainage system plan scheme in mountain city reasonably and scientifically.
Textile Image Retrieval Using Composite Feature Vectors of Color and Wavelet Transformed Textural Property

It is known that wavelet transform provides very useful feature values in analyzing various types of images. This paper presents a novel approach for content-based textile image retrieval which uses composite feature vectors of low-level color feature from spatial domain and second-order statistic features from wavelet-transformed sub-band coefficients. Even though color histogram itself is efficient and most used signature for CBIR, it is unable to carry local spatial information of pixel and generate inaccurate retrieval results especially in large image data set. In this paper, we extract texture features such as contrast, homogeneity, ASM(angular-second momentum) and entropy from decomposed sub-band images by wavelet transform and utilize these multiple feature vector to retrieve textile images combining with color histogram. From the experimental results it is proven that the proposed approach is efficiently retrieve the desired images from a large set of textile image database.
Human activity recognition based on independent depth silhouette components and optical flow features

Abstract In this work, we propose a novel method that utilises video-based depth and optical flow information of human body movement for human activity recognition. The recognition method utilises independent components (ICs) of depth silhouettes and optical flow-based motion features from a series of depth images and discrete hidden Markov models (HMMs) for recognition. The IC features are extracted from a collection of depth silhouettes containing various human activities, over which linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is performed for better classification. Furthermore, to improve the recognition performance, optical flow-based motion features extracted from the consecutive depth silhouettes are utilised in an augmented form. In addition, discrete HMMs are employed to recognise and model the time-sequential features of human activities. Our results show that the depth silhouette feature-based approach provides better human activity recognition than most generally used binary silhouette-based approaches, and that the augmented depth IC and optical flow features provide additional improvements.
Multiple Impedance Control for Space Free-Flying Robots

To increase the mobility of on-orbit robotic systems, space free-flying robots (SFFR), in which one or more manipulators are mounted on a thruster-equipped base, have been proposed. Unlike fixed-based manipulators, the robotic arms of SFFR are dynamically coupled with each other and the free-flying base; hence, the control problem becomes more challenging. The multiple impedance control (MIC) is developed to manipulate space objects by multiple arms of SFFR. The MIC law is based on the concept of designated impedances and enforces them at various system levels, that is, the free-flying base, all cooperating manipulators, and the manipulated object itself. The object can include an internal angular momentum source, as is the case in most satellite manipulation tasks. The disturbance rejection characteristic of this algorithm is also studied. The result of this analysis reveals that the effect of disturbances substantially reduces through appropriate tuning of the controller mass matrix gain. A system of three manipulators mounted on a free-flying base is simulated in which force and torque disturbances are exerted at several points. The system dynamics is developed symbolically, and the controlled system is simulated. The simulation results reveal the merits of the MIC algorithm in terms of smooth performance, that is, negligible small tracking errors in the presence of impacts as a result of contact with the obstacles and significant disturbances.
Deconvolution of a Distribution Function

Abstract We consider the estimation of a distribution function when observations from this distribution are contaminated by measurement error. The unknown distribution is modeled as a mixture of a finite number of known distributions. Model parameters can be estimated and confidence intervals constructed using well-known likelihood theory. We show that it is also possible to apply this approach to estimation of a unimodal distribution. An application is presented using data from a dietary survey. Simulation results are given to indicate the performance of the estimators and the confidence interval procedures.
Advances in bronchoscopic optical coherence tomography and confocal laser endomicroscopy in pulmonary diseases

Purpose of review Imaging techniques play a crucial role in the diagnostic work-up of pulmonary diseases but generally lack detailed information on a microscopic level. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) are imaging techniques which provide microscopic images in vivo during bronchoscopy. The purpose of this review is to describe recent advancements in the use of bronchoscopic OCT- and CLE-imaging in pulmonary medicine. Recent findings In recent years, OCT- and CLE-imaging have been evaluated in a wide variety of pulmonary diseases and demonstrated to be complementary to bronchoscopy for real-time, near-histological imaging. Several pulmonary compartments were visualized and characteristic patterns for disease were identified. In thoracic malignancy, OCT- and CLE-imaging can provide characterization of malignant tissue with the ability to identify the optimal sampling area. In interstitial lung disease (ILD), fibrotic patterns were detected by both (PS-) OCT and CLE, complementary to current HRCT-imaging. For obstructive lung diseases, (PS-) OCT enables to detect airway wall structures and remodelling, including changes in the airway smooth muscle and extracellular matrix. Summary Bronchoscopic OCT- and CLE-imaging allow high resolution imaging of airways, lung parenchyma, pleura, lung tumours and mediastinal lymph nodes. Although investigational at the moment, promising clinical applications are on the horizon.
CdS nanofilms: effect of deposition temperature on morphology and optical band gap

We have grown 45–60 nm thick uniform smooth cadmium sulphide (CdS) nanofilms via a chemical bath deposition technique at different deposition temperatures (Td = 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 °C) and these have been studied using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and a UV–Vis–NIR spectrophotometer. The growth rate increases with increasing Td up to 70 °C and then decreases. The structural analysis shows that CdS nanofilms exist in cubic or polymorph phases. The surface analysis indicates that the morphology of the films changes with increasing Td. CdS nanofilms grown at Td = 70 °C show high transmittance, low absorbance with a higher band gap.
Effects of LncRNA GAS5/miR-137 general anesthesia on cognitive function by TCF4 inflammatory bodies in patients undergoing lumbar spinal canal decompression

Lumbar spinal stenosis is a common orthopedic disease in clinical practice at present. Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) refers to the phenomenon of impaired memory. However, whether long noncoding RNA (LncRNA) GAS5 contributes to the mechanism of cognitive function in undergoing lumbar spinal canal decompression remains unknown. Thus, the present study investigated the precise details of LncRNA GAS5 involvement in Postoperative cognitive dysfunction of patients undergoing lumbar spinal canal decompression. Patients undergoing lumbar spinal canal decompression with cognitive function and Normal healthy volunteers were obtained. C57BL/6 mice were maintained with a 2% concentration of sevoflurane in 100% oxygen at a flow rate of 2 L minute-1 for 4 hours. LncRNA GAS5 gene expression were up-regulated in patients undergoing lumbar spinal canal decompression. In mice model, LncRNA GAS5 gene expression also increased. LncRNA GAS5 promoted neuroinflammation in vitro model. LncRNA GAS5 raised cognitive impairment and increased neuroinflammation in mice model. LncRNA GAS5 suppressed miR-137 in vitro model. MiR-137 reduced neuroinflammation in vitro model. MiR-137 suppressed TCF4 protein expression in vitro model. Transcription factor TCF4 activates the expression of bHLH. Taking together, this experiment provide the first experimental and clinical evidence that LncRNA GAS5/miR-137 promoted anesthesia-induced cognitive function to increase inflammatory bodies in patients undergoing lumbar spinal canal decompression, suggesting it may be a biomarker of POCD and a potential therapeutic target for POCD.
Effectiveness of prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission among unvaccinated Italian healthcare workers

Background: We aimed to investigate the association between personal protective equipment (PPE) use and SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers (HCWs). Methods: We analyzed occupational surveillance contact forms followed by a PCR test notified between March and September 2020 by Italian HCWs. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs) for positive PCR based on HCWs and contacts characteristics were calculated through multivariable logistic regression models. When multiple contacts were potentially effective for a PCR test, they were weighted by the inverse of their number. Results: Overall, 4,883 contacts reported by 2,952 HCWs were analyzed, and 224 contacts among 144 HCWs had positive PCR. No difference was found according to sex, age, employment, or job title, except for an OR of 0.30 (95%CI 0.11-0.78) for resident physicians, compared to administrative staff. The ORs for use of surgical mask were 0.59 (95%CI=0.40-0.86) for use only by HCW, 0.49 (95%CI=0.22-1.07) only by the infected person, and 0.40 (95%CI=0.27-0.60) by both, compared to use by neither. Use of other PPEs was not associated with infection, while the OR for hand sanitation was 0.61 (95%CI=0.40-0.93). HCWs reporting fever, cough, and asthenia had a higher risk of infection. Conclusions: Use of surgical masks was associated with a 40-60% lower risk of infection, especially when both HCWs and infected individuals used them. Our results quantify the role played by mask use and hand sanitation in preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in high-risk circumstances.