Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A variational formulation of the BDF2 method for metric gradient flows

We propose a variational form of the BDF2 method as an alternative to the commonly used minimizing movement scheme for the time-discrete approximation of gradient flows in abstract metric spaces. Assuming uniform semi-convexity – but no smoothness – of the augmented energy functional, we prove well-posedness of the method and convergence of the discrete approximations to a curve of steepest descent. In a smooth Hilbertian setting, classical theory would predict a convergence order of two in time, we prove convergence order of one-half in the general metric setting and under our weak hypotheses. Further, we illustrate these results with numerical experiments for gradient flows on a compact Riemannian manifold, in a Hilbert space, and in the L2-Wasserstein metric.
Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Junior High School Students in Guadalajara, Mexico: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study

Confinement and a lack of social interaction are associated with depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, and suicidal thoughts. We report the results of a cross-sectional survey of 1414 junior high school students. The aim was to evaluate the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress in Guadalajara, Mexico, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mean scores on the validated Spanish version of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were found to be 6.15 ± 5.6 for depression, 5.8 ± 5.2 for anxiety, and 8.08 ± 5.3 for stress. Female students scored higher in all three conditions (p < 0.001). Students who had relatives infected with COVID-19 showed significantly more anxiety than those who did not (p < 0.004). Although certain demographic groups are at higher risk of manifesting depression, anxiety, and stress, the student population has also been affected by the global impact of the pandemic.
Anti-Biofilm Activity of a Hyaluronan-like Exopolysaccharide from the Marine Vibrio MO245 against Pathogenic Bacteria

Biofilms, responsible for many serious drawbacks in the medical and marine environment, can grow on abiotic and biotic surfaces. Commercial anti-biofilm solutions, based on the use of biocides, are available but their use increases the risk of antibiotic resistance and environmental pollution in marine industries. There is an urgent need to work on the development of ecofriendly solutions, formulated without biocidal agents, that rely on the anti-adhesive physico-chemical properties of their materials. In this context, exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are natural biopolymers with complex properties than may be used as anti-adhesive agents. This study is focused on the effect of the EPS MO245, a hyaluronic acid-like polysaccharide, on the growth, adhesion, biofilm maturation, and dispersion of two pathogenic model strains, Pseudomonas aeruginosa sp. PaO1 and Vibrio harveyi DSM19623. Our results demonstrated that MO245 may limit biofilm formation, with a biofilm inhibition between 20 and 50%, without any biocidal activity. Since EPSs have no significant impact on the bacterial motility and quorum sensing factors, our results indicate that physico-chemical interactions between the bacteria and the surfaces are modified due to the presence of an adsorbed EPS layer acting as a non-adsorbing layer.
The Relationship Between Family Support and Work-Family Balance among Surabaya Health Facility Security Center Employees During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: Surabaya Health Facility Security Center employees experienced anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anxiety is closely related to Work-Family Balance. The balance of roles between work and family is inseparable from family support. This study intended to analyze the relationship between family support and work-family balance. Method: This study used quantitative research with a cross-sectional design. The population consisted of employees at BPFK Surabaya. The sample included 74 pre-selected employees via simple random sampling. The variables in this study were family support (support from family members and family support for work) and Work-Family Balance (family work conflict (FWC), work family conflict (WFC), work family facilitation (WFF), and family work facilitation (FWF)). The data processing was performed using the Smart Partial Least Square test. Result: The study results indicate that there is a high value for family support of 62 (83.8%) and a high value for family support for work at 45 (60,8%). WFC was found to be low at 43 (58.1%), FWC was also low at 43 (58.1%), WFF was given as high at 52 (70.3%), and FWF was high at 54 (73%) respondents. The results indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between family support and WFB (p value = 0.008 <0.05). Family support for work has a significant positive relationship with WFB (p value = 0.027 <0.05). Conclusion: Family support (family support and family support for work) has a relationship with Work-Family Balance.
Analysis of factors affecting the purchase of private label products by different age consumers

PurposeThe aim of this study is to determine how the different age of consumers impacts on some factors that drive consumers to the purchasing of private label products, considering differences and similarities of behaviors.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted through the administration of a questionnaire to evaluate consumers' perceptions about private label food products. To collect data, the convenience sampling method has been used. The valid answers collected and analyzed are 358.FindingsThe results of this study highlight that the response of different age groups to the Private Label Brands (PLBs) must be considered in the light of the positioning adopted by the individual retailers. Value for money and satisfaction on previous consumption are relevant for purchasing decisions regardless of the retailer's strategy and the age of consumers. A third factor, price, is important for the whole sample. Focusing on the specific age clusters, the younger respondents seem to be attentive to factors such as healthy and in-store promotion, while the more experienced consumer are attentive to the origin and traceability of products.Originality/valueAn analysis of the main literature on Private Labels showed that the results of research about the role of consumer age in PLB choices are contrasting. This study aims at integrating the literature, measuring how the factors influencing the purchase of PLB products vary for different age groups of consumers.
Numerical Analysis of Distortion of a Vortex Filament

Motion of a vortex filament with a narrow core in an inviscid and incompressible fluid otherwise at rest is investigated numerically. Two types of initial conditions, a sinusoidal form with a single Fourier component and that of a superposition of the first and the third components, are assumed. In both cases, interaction between different components occurs owing to the nonlinear property of the governing equation, but the filament does not show random behavior and after a certain time it recurs nearly to the initial state. Analytical treatment is made and the numerical results are confirmed. Next, the case where an external flow field with an axisymmetric potential flow exists is examined, and an onset of randomness is observed. This is considered as due to a computational error amplified through the interaction between the filament and the external flow.
Identification of Material Parameters for Constitutive Equations

This contribution addresses various topics on parameter identification for constitutive equations on the basis of experimental data. Starting from basic characteristics of inverse problems illustrated by simple examples, four different identification methods are introduced. Then particular aspects of the least squares approach are outlined, such as optimization, local minima, sensitivity analysis, consequences of instabilities, and stochastic methods. Uniform small strain problems and nonuniform large strain problems are considered, where for the latter finite element results are incorporated into the optimization process. The examples are concerned with a perturbation technique in order to detect possible instabilities, a stochastic analysis in order to examine the uncertainty of parameter estimates, and a necking problem observed with an optical method in order to take into account nonuniform large strains during the experiment. Keywords: inverse problems; optimization; stochastic methods; plasticity; large strains
On diagnostic checking of the autoregressive conditional intensity model

The autoregressive conditional intensity model proposed by Russell (1998) is a promising option for fitting multivariate high frequency irregularly spaced data. The authors acknowledge the validity of this model by showing the independence of its generalized residuals, a crucial assumption of the model formulation not readily recognized by researchers. The authors derive the large‐sample distribution of the autocorrelations of the generalized residual series and use it to construct a goodness‐of‐fit test for the model. Empirical results compare the performance of their test with other off‐the‐shelf tests such as the Ljung–Box test. They illustrate the use of their test with transaction records of the HSBC stock.
Representing forecast error in a convection-permitting ensemble system

AbstractEnsembles provide an opportunity to greatly improve short-term prediction of local weather hazards, yet generating reliable predictions remain a significant challenge. In particular, convection-permitting ensemble forecast systems (CPEFSs) have persistent problems with underdispersion. Representing initial and or lateral boundary condition uncertainty along with forecast model error provides a foundation for building a more dependable CPEFS, but the best practice for ensemble system design is not well established.Several configurations of CPEFSs are examined where ensemble forecasts are nested within a larger domain, drawing initial conditions from a downscaled, continuously cycled, ensemble data assimilation system that provides state-dependent initial condition uncertainty. The control ensemble forecast, with initial condition uncertainty only, is skillful but underdispersive. To improve the reliability of the ensemble forecasts, the control ensemble is supplemented with 1) perturbed lateral bou.
The Dirichlet problem for the dissipative Helmholtz equation in a plane domain bounded by closed and open curves

The Dirichlet problem for the dissipative Helmholtz equation in a connected plane region bounded by closed and open curves is studied. The existence of a classical solution is proved by potential theory. The problem is reduced to a Fredholm equation of the second kind, which is uniquely solvable. Our approach holds for both internal and external domains. Moreover, domains bounded by closed curves and exterior of open curves in a plane are particular cases of our problem. In case of strongly dissipative Helmholtz equation, the problem is studied under weakened assumptions.
The Damped Stochastic Wave Equation on Post-critically Finite Fractals

A p.c. f. fractal with a regular harmonic structure admits an associated Dirichlet form, which is itself associated with a Laplacian. This Laplacian enables us to give an analogue of the damped stochastic wave equation on the fractal. We show that a unique function-valued solution exists, which has an explicit formulation in terms of the spectral decomposition of the Laplacian. We then use a Kolmogorov-type continuity theorem to derive the spatial and temporal Holder exponents of the solution. Our results extend the analogous results on the stochastic wave equation in one-dimensional Euclidean space. It is known that no function-valued solution to the stochastic wave equation can exist in Euclidean dimension two or higher. The fractal spaces that we work with always have spectral dimension less than two, and show that this is the right analogue of dimension to express the "curse of dimensionality" of the stochastic wave equation. Finally we prove some results on the convergence to equilibrium of the solutions.
Analysis of refractive errors in the eyes of young Indians

The refractive errors of normal, healthy eyes were measured using an indigenously developed Shack–Hartmann aberrometer. Measurement was made in both right and left eyes after dilation for a 6 mm pupil size. The power vector method was used to represent the sphero-cylindrical errors. Analysis was done for astigmatism with the rule, oblique astigmatism and defocus between the right and left eyes of the subjects, which showed a negative, positive and zero correlation respectively. No correlation could be detected for RMS values between right and left eyes, though Zernike between right and left showed bilateral symmetry in our subjects. It was found that with an increase of spherical aberration, defocus decreased slightly. The validity and repeatability of our Shack–Hartmann aberrometry in measuring the refractive error was analysed and repeatability coefficient calculated. Optimal correction for greater retinal image quality has been discussed and far-point vergence for detecting the point of maximum retinal image quality is suggested.
Bcl-2 Family Members Bcl-xL and Bax Cooperatively Contribute to Bortezomib Resistance in Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is an aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma with poor prognosis, due to the inevitable development of drug resistance. Despite being the first-in-class proteasome inhibitor for relapsed/refractory MCL, resistance to bortezomib (BTZ) in MCL patients remains a major hurdle of effective therapy, and relapse following BTZ is frequent. Understanding the mechanisms underlying BTZ resistance is, therefore, important for improving the clinical outcome and developing novel therapeutic strategies. Here, we established de novo BTZ-resistant human MCL-derived cells with the highest resistance index of 300-fold compared to parental cells. We provided compelling evidence that both Bcl-xL and Bax are key mediators in determining BTZ sensitivity in MCL cells. Overexpression of antiapoptotic Bcl-xL and depletion of proapoptotic Bax cooperatively protected MCL cells against BTZ-induced apoptosis, causing acquired BTZ resistance, likely by tilting the balance of Bcl-2 family proteins toward antiapoptotic signaling. Bioinformatics analyses suggested that high BCL2L1 (encoded Bcl-xL) and low BAX were, in part, associated with poor prognosis of MCL patients, e.g., when combined with low OGT, which regulates cellular O-GlcNAcylation. Our findings support recent strategies in small molecule drug discovery co-targeting antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins using BH3 mimetics and Bax using Bax activators to overcome cancer drug resistance.
Accelerated Coordinate Descent with Arbitrary Sampling and Best Rates for Minibatches

Accelerated coordinate descent is a widely popular optimization algorithm due to its efficiency on large-dimensional problems. It achieves state-of-the-art complexity on an important class of empirical risk minimization problems. In this paper we design and analyze an accelerated coordinate descent (ACD) method which in each iteration updates a random subset of coordinates according to an arbitrary but fixed probability law, which is a parameter of the method. If all coordinates are updated in each iteration, our method reduces to the classical accelerated gradient descent method AGD of Nesterov. If a single coordinate is updated in each iteration, and we pick probabilities proportional to the square roots of the coordinate-wise Lipschitz constants, our method reduces to the currently fastest coordinate descent method NUACDM of Allen-Zhu, Qu, Richtarik and Yuan. While mini-batch variants of ACD are more popular and relevant in practice, there is no importance sampling for ACD that outperforms the standard uniform mini-batch sampling. Through insights enabled by our general analysis, we design new importance sampling for mini-batch ACD which significantly outperforms previous state-of-the-art minibatch ACD in practice. We prove a rate that is at most ${\cal O}(\sqrt{\tau})$ times worse than the rate of minibatch ACD with uniform sampling, but can be ${\cal O}(n/\tau)$ times better, where $\tau$ is the minibatch size. Since in modern supervised learning training systems it is standard practice to choose $\tau \ll n$, and often $\tau={\cal O}(1)$, our method can lead to dramatic speedups. Lastly, we obtain similar results for minibatch nonaccelerated CD as well, achieving improvements on previous best rates.
Pan-Cancer Analysis of TLE3 Revealed Its Value in Tumor Microenvironment and Prognosis

Background Transducin-like enhancer of split 3 (TLE3), a member of the TLE gene family, is related to tumor genesis and progression. However, whether TLE3 played a crucial role in the whole pan-cancer remained unknown. Methods Comprehensive analysis of TCGA, GEO, and GTEx data with an online tool, and R language was performed to explore the relationship of TLE3 expression between prognosis, gene mutation, protein phosphorylation, DNA methylation, tumor microenvironment, and related pathways in 33 tumors. Results TLE3 was high-expressed in most tumors, and TLE3 expression and the prognosis of some tumor types were significantly correlated. The level of TLE3 expression in 33 cancer types was closely associated with DNA methylation. High-level phosphorylation sites of Tle3, such as S267 and S217, may promote cancers. In terms of the tumor microenvironment, TLE3 affected a wide variety of cancers, especially PRAD and LIHC, and TLE3 may act on them via immune-related pathways. Conclusions The current work provided the first comprehensive investigation of TLE3 in a pan-cancer study, highlighting the role of TLE3 in the tumor immune microenvironment, and also determined the potential of TLE3 as a prognostic, immunotherapy response, and diagnostic biomarker in many cancers. However, the present results were preliminary and required further validation as this study was based on bioinformatics analyses.
Adaptive Local (AL) Basis for Elliptic Problems with $L^\infty$-Coefficients

We define a generalized finite element method for the discretization of elliptic partial differential equations in heterogeneous media. An adaptive local finite element basis (AL basis) on a coarse mesh which does not resolve the matrix of the media is constructed by solving finite-dimensional localized problems. The method requires $O(log(1/H)^{d+1})$ basis functions per mesh point. We prove that the optimal finite element convergence rates are preserved.
Chern-Weil Constructions on $\Psi$DO Bundles

We construct Chern-Weil classes on infinite dimensional vector bundles with structure group contained in the algebra $\cl[\leq 0](M, E)$ of non-positive order classical pseudo-differential operators acting on a finite rank vector bundle $E$ over a closed manifold $M$. Mimicking the finite dimensional Chern-Weil construction, we replace the ordinary trace on matrices by linear functionals on $\cl[\leq 0] (M, E)$ built from the leading symbols of the operators. The corresponding Chern classes vanish for loop groups, but a weighted trace construction yields a non-zero class perviously constructed by Freed. For loop spaces, the structure group reduces to a gauge group of bundle automorphisms, and we produce non-vanishing universal Chern classes in all degrees, using a universal connection theorem for these bundles.
Evaluation of Rapid Dot-Immunoassay for Detection Orthopoxviruses Using Laboratory-Grown Viruses and Animal’s Clinical Specimens

The aim of the work was an experimental evaluation of the characteristics of the kit for the rapid immunochemical detection of orthopoxviruses (OPV). The kit is based on the method of one-stage dot-immunoassay on flat protein arrays using gold conjugates and a silver developer. Rabbit polyclonal antibodies against the vaccinia virus were used as capture and detection reagents. The sensitivity of detection of OPV and the specificity of the analysis were assessed using culture crude preparations (monkeypox virus, vaccinia virus, rabbitpox virus, cowpox virus, and ectromelia virus), a suspension from a crust from a human vaccination site as well as blood and tissue suspensions of infected rabbits. It has been shown that the assay using the kit makes it possible to detect OPV within 36 min at a temperature of 18–40 °C in unpurified culture samples of the virus and clinical samples in the range of 103–104 PFU/mL. Tests of the kit did not reveal cross-reactivity with uninfected cell cultures and viral pathogens of exanthematous infections (measles, rubella and chicken pox). The kit can be used to detect or exclude the presence of a virus threat in samples and can be useful in various aspects of biosecurity. The simplicity of analysis, the possibility of visual accounting the and interpretation of the results make it possible to use the test in laboratories with a high level of biological protection and in out-of-laboratory conditions.
Separation of mixed hidden Markov model sources

In this contribution, we consider the problem of source separation in the case of noisy instantaneous mixtures. In a previous work [1], sources have been modeled by a mixture of Gaussians leading to an hierarchical Bayesian model by considering the labels of the mixture as hidden variables. However, in that work, labels have been assumed to be i.i. d. We extend this modelization to incorporate a Markovian structure for the labels. This extension is important for practical applications which are abundant: unsupervised classification and segmentation, pattern recognition, speech signal processing,… In order to estimate the mixing matrix and the a priori model parameters, we consider observations as incomplete data. The missing data are sources and labels: sources are missing data for observations and labels are missing data for incomplete missing sources. This hierarchical modelization leads to specific restoration maximization type algorithms. Restoration step can be held in three different manners: (i) Com.
The Imperative of Technical Skilled Staff in Legacy Information System Management

Technical skilled personnel and information systems are important for the success of contemporary firms as they face intense rivalry, globalization, and time-to-market pressures. They are an essential element that plays a critical role in an organisation’s ability to sense environmental change and respond efficiently and effectively to that change. Besides the technology components of an information system and the fast pace of technological innovation, the people involved in the design, operation and maintenance are essential elements of information systems. Most of the research work on deciding whether or not to continue with legacy information systems has been centred mainly on intrinsic agility factors. Extrinsic agility factors like technical skilled personnel have largely been overlooked. But, as information systems age or in the case of highly rigid processes, extrinsic agility factors like technical skilled personnel will start playing an important role in deciding whether to prolong the life cycle of the information system. However, human skills obsolescence is a growing problem for organizations that must support legacy systems. The technical skilled staff are either ageing out or upgrading their skills to a non-procedural programming paradigm due to market demand. It is, therefore, imperative to regularly assess the technical skilled personnel competency level of a legacy information system. This study evaluates and classifies the technical knowledge of skilled personnel using a developed online assessment system with test questions based on the legacy information system application program. The result obtained indicates that the technical skilled staff can still operate and maintain the case study information system.