Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reflections on hypermobility: A study of business travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic

The temporary cessation of air travel imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic provided business travelers with an opportunity to mentally “zoom out” and reflect on their suspended hypermobile lifestyle. The present study used these circumstances to reexamine three key issues in the literature pre-pandemic: (a) the costs and benefits of a hypermobile lifestyle; (b) the justification of business trips given the option of online meetings; and (c) the role of tourism in shaping the business trip experience. An interpretive analysis of in-depth interviews with grounded business travelers conducted at the height of the pandemic revealed that the lack of frequent travel improved work-life balance but evoked a longing for tourism-related experiences, such as change, novelty, and pleasure. Grounded business travelers also proclaimed that the lack of physical proximity to colleagues caused by the suspension of travel was followed by difficulties in generating new business relationships and nurturing creativity at work. The study presented the costs and benefits of immobility as a reverse image of hypermobility, reinforcing the notion of hypermobility as a stressful but exciting lifestyle. It showed that physical proximity with colleagues cannot be fully replaced by online meetings, supporting the opinion that stresses the need for business trips. By suggesting that tourism-related experiences serve as anchor points for the reconstruction of memories and longing in the minds of grounded business travelers, the study confirmed that tourism-related experiences are important components of business trips.
Global research hotspots and frontiers of myasthenia gravis from 2002 to 2021: A bibliometric study

The objective of this study is to utilize bibliometric and visual analysis techniques to identify hotspots and frontiers of research in myasthenia gravis (MG) and provide valuable references for future research. The Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database was used to retrieve literature data related to MG research, which was then analyzed using VOSviewer 1.6.18, CiteSpace 6.1. R3, and the Online Platform for Bibliometric Analysis. The analysis revealed 6734 publications distributed across 1612 journals and contributed by as many as 24,024 authors affiliated with 4708 institutions across 107 countries/regions. The number of annual publications and citations for MG research has steadily increased over the past 2 decades, with the last 2 years alone witnessing a remarkable increase in annual publications and citations to over 600 and 17,000, respectively. In terms of productivity, the United States emerged as the top producing country, while the University of Oxford ranked first in terms of research institutions. Vincent A was identified as the top contributor in terms of publications and citations. Muscle & Nerve and Neurology ranked first in publications and citations respectively, with clinical neurology and neurosciences among the main subject categories explored. The study also identified pathogenesis, eculizumab, thymic epithelial cells, immune checkpoint inhibitors, thymectomy, MuSK antibodies, risk, diagnosis, and management as the current hot research topics in MG, while burst keywords like quality of life, immune-related adverse events (irAEs), rituximab, safety, nivolumab, cancer, and classification indicated the frontiers of MG research. This study effectively identifies the hotspots and frontiers of MG research, and offers valuable references for researchers interested in this area.
The systematic position of Cryptopotamonanacoluthon (Kemp, 1918), with the description of a new species of Sinolapotamon Tai & Sung, 1975 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Potamidae) from southern China

﻿Abstract The systematics of the potamid freshwater crab Cryptopotamonanacoluthon (Kemp, 1918) is clarified, and its generic position in Sinolapotamon Tai & Sung, 1975, is confirmed based on morphological comparisons, geographical information and phylogenetic analyses. A new species of Sinolapotamon, Sinolapotamoncirratumsp. nov. is described from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. Sinolapotamoncirratumsp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by the combination of characters of its carapace, third maxilliped, anterolateral margin, and unique male first gonopod. Phylogenetic analyses based on partial COX1, 16S rRNA and 28S rRNA genes also support the species as new.
Slow evolution of Europa’s interior: metamorphic ocean origin, delayed metallic core formation, and limited seafloor volcanism

Europa’s ocean lies atop an interior made of metal and silicates. On the basis of gravity data from the Galileo mission, many argued that Europa’s interior, like Earth, is differentiated into a metallic core and a mantle composed of anhydrous silicates. Some studies further assumed that Europa differentiated while (or soon after) it accreted, also like Earth. However, Europa probably formed at much colder temperatures, meaning that Europa plausibly ended accretion as a mixture containing water-ice and/or hydrated silicates. Here, we use numerical models to describe the thermal evolution of Europa’s interior assuming low initial temperatures (~200 to 300 kelvin). We find that silicate dehydration can produce Europa’s current ocean and icy shell. Rocks below the seafloor may remain cool and hydrated today. Europa’s metallic core, if it exists, may have formed billions of years after accretion. Ultimately, we expect the chemistry of Europa’s ocean to reflect protracted heating of the interior.
Remimazolam versus propofol for procedural sedation: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background To improve patient tolerability and satisfaction as well as minimize complications, procedural sedation has been widely used. Propofol is the most widely used agent for induction of anesthesia and sedation by anesthesiologists. With a different mechanism compared to propofol, remimazolam is a new short-acting GABA-A receptor agonist. It is an ester-based benzodiazepine. This meta-analysis aims to clarify the efficacy and safety of remimazolam versus propofol for procedure sedation. Methods Electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing efficacy or safety of remimazolam versus propofol. Meta-analysis were conducted using RStudio with “metafor” package with random-effects model. Results A total of twelve RCTs were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled results demonstrated that patients with remimazolam for procedural sedation had lower risk of bradycardia (OR 0.28, 95% CI [0.14–0.57]), hypotension (OR 0.26, 95% CI [0.22–0.32]), and respiratory depression (OR 0.22, 95% CI [0.14–0.36]). There was no difference in the risk of developing postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) (OR 0.65, 95% CI [0.15–2.79]) and dizziness (OR 0.93, 95% CI [0.53–1.61]) between the remimazolam and propofol groups. Using remimazolam for procedural sedation is significantly associated with less injection pain compared to propofol (OR 0.06, 95% CI [0.03–0.13]). Regarding the sedation efficacy, there was no difference in sedation success rate or time to loss of consciousness, recover and discharge between the remimazolam and the propofol groups. Conclusions Based on our meta-analysis, patients receiving procedural sedation with remimazolam had lower risk of bradycardia, hypotension, respiratory depression and injection pain compared with propofol. On the other hand, there was no difference in sedation success rate, risk of PONV, dizziness, time to LOC, recovery and discharge between these two sedatives. PROSPERO registration number CRD42022362950
Frequent gamblers’ perceptions of the role of gambling marketing in their behaviour: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

This study explored how frequent gamblers perceive gambling marketing and the role they feel it has in their gambling behaviour. Ten frequent gamblers participated in semi-structured interviews oriented around their experiences of gambling marketing. An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the data led to three overarching themes: exploiting gambling marketing for personal gain; gambling marketing as a test of self-control; and safer gambling messages marketing perceived as ineffective. These themes encapsulated participants’ views of gambling marketing as something they could take advantage of to increase their own gambling success. Marketing was also perceived as a test of self-control among self-identified experienced gamblers, although identified as a risk to those who are considered more vulnerable. Finally, safer gambling messages included within marketing was considered ineffective due to perceived insincerity and being seen as an ‘afterthought’ by marketers. In support of previous research, the current investigation highlights concerning narratives around self-control and perceived risk, as encapsulated within gambling marketing, and these are evident in the perceptions of frequent gamblers. Given gamblers’ perceived lack of effectiveness of current safer gambling messages within marketing, future research should explore new avenues for safer gambling promotion.
Fifth International Conference on Advances in Fluid Mechanics March 2004 , Lisbon , Portugal Simulation of complex biological flows and flow control problems on Cartesian grids

A recently developed Cartesian grid based immersed boundary method is used to simulate a variety of biological flows as well as flows associated with active flow control. The key feature of the method is that it allows us to simulate flows with complex moving boundaries on stationary Cartesian grids. In this paper we present a brief outline of the method and this is followed by simulation results of a number of flow configurations including human swimming, flapping foils, simulations of flow in a modeled human vocal tract and flow in a synthetic jet flow-control device.
Prevalence and complication of COVID‐19 in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and its relationship with TNF‐a inhibitors

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a condition that is treated with nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs and biological drugs such as anti tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α). This study examined the prevalence of COVID‐19 among individuals with AS and compare it between those receiving and not receiving TNF‐α inhibitors.
Design, synthesis, characterization and performance evaluation of multi-band perfect metamaterial absorber

This paper presents the design, synthesis, characterization, and performance evaluation of a metamaterial absorber having four distinct absorption peaks. The proposed absorber is based on the periodic array of the hexagonal closed rings and octa-star structure printed over the dielectric substrate. The dimensions of unit cell are optimized such that the absorption takes place at the distinct frequency near the Federal Communications Commission defined radar spectrum e.g. at 4.10, 6.15, 10.05, and 15.52 GHz with the absorptivity of 0.98, 0.99, 0.99, and 0.99, respectively. The proposed structure is fabricated and the experimental result shows high absorptivity under transverse electric and magnetic polarization for the wide angle of incidence angles, which is in concurrence with the simulated results. The equivalent circuit model of the absorber has been developed sequentially for each of the structure. Furthermore, the complex refractive index of the metamaterial structure has been retrieved in order to have a detailed analysis, which supports the absorption phenomena at all the corresponding frequencies. The proposed metamaterial structure appears to be a potential candidate for absorber applications in the radar cross-section reduction, thermal detectors, and thermal imaging.
Radar shadow detection in synthetic aperture radar images using digital elevation model and projections

Abstract Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images are currently widely used in target recognition tasks. In this work, we propose an automatic approach for radar shadow detection and extraction from SAR images utilizing geometric projections along with the digital elevation model (DEM), which corresponds to the given georeferenced SAR image. First, the DEM is rotated into the radar geometry, so that each row would match that of a radar line of sight. Next, we extract the shadow regions by processing row by row until the image is covered fully. We test the proposed shadow detection approach on different DEMs and simulated one-dimensional signals and two-dimensional hills and valleys modeled by various variance-based Gaussian functions. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm produces good results in detecting shadows in SAR images with high resolution.
Heat-Transfer Studies of Water Flow in Thin Rectangular Channels: Part II - Boiling Burnout Heat Flux for Low-Pressure Water in Natural Circulation

Twenty-nine experimental determinations of burnout heat flux were made with water flowing by natural circulation through electrically heated vertical tubes with and without internal twisted tapes and through rectangular cross sections of three aspect ratios. Heated lengths varied from l0 to 33 in. , system pressure at the test-section flow exit from 14.7 to 26.3 lb/in. /sup 2/abs, inlet subcooling from 36 to 170 deg F, and burnout heat flux from 13,000 to 218,500 Btu/ h. ft/sup 2/. Tests were made with both unrestricted and restricted return flow paths. Three correlations were developed for predicting natural-circulation burnout heat fluxes for such conditions. Two are useful for rapid estimation, but the third involves a more fundamental assessment of the coolant-mass velocity at burnout by a graphical matching of the heat flux that a given flow rate can sustain to the heat flux that will produce that flow rate. For all the data, this approach gave average and maximum deviations of 15 and 38%, respectively. It was found that use of a slip ratio of unity is adequate for burnout prediction, and the reasons for this are discussed in detail. The small burnout penalty incurred by a substantial restriction of return flow path, experimentallymore » observed, is in accord with the theoretical model. (auth)« less
ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLE GROUP OF FACTORS INFLUENCING PERFORMANCE WITH TEAMWORK AS INTERVENING VARIABLE

This research aims to test invariance of parameters in the causal relationship model of variables that influence performance of male and female officials of the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection with an application of the multiple group structural equation model. In the analysis of invariance of the causal relationship model of variables influencing work performance of the officers of the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection, the first hypothesis testing is that of invariance of the model form without equating parameter values between the two genders. In other words, it is a test of the fit between model and empirical data in each population group. It was found that the hypothesis was confirmed: Chi-square = 181.95; df = 154; p-value = 0.06; and GFI = 0.97. This indicates congruence of model and empirical data resulting in invariance of the model form. However, variance of parameters was shown in the matrix of exogenous and endogenous latent variables (GA) and between endogenous latent variables (BE) and other parameters with different genders.
On Metric Regularity of Mappings in Optimization (Sobre la regularidad métrica de aplicaciones en optimización)

El cuerpo de esta memoria esta formado por tres capitulos, precedidos por un capitulo preliminar, Empezamos el Capitulo 0, presentando la notacion y algunas definiciones basicas empleadas a lo largo de la memoria. Tambien suministramos las definiciones mas importantes sobre regularidad metrica que son empleadas en los siguientes capitulos, proporcionando una caracterizacion de cada una de estas propiedades mediante otra nocion de regularidad metrica de la aplicacion inversa. Adicionalmente, establecemos las principales relaciones entre todas estas nociones. En la Seccion 0.3 recordamos algunos conceptos basicos acerca de las correspondencias sublineales (o procesos convexos), sus normas internas y externas, y sus aplicaciones adjuntas. Finalizamos el capitulo enunciando algunos resultados conocidos que son usados en los siguientes capitulos. El Capitulo 1, esta dedicado al estudio de las normas interna y externa de las correspondientes sublineales, mediante un analisis de su finitud y cierta teoria de dualidad. Para un operador lineal acotado, las normas interna y externa de la aplicacion inversa caracteriza, respectivamente, la suprayectividad y la inyectividad de la funcion. En la Seccion 1.2 estudiamos tambien algunas condiciones para la finitud de las normas interna y externa. Aclaramos un error encontrado en el libro de Rockafellar-Wets "Variational Analysis" y demostramos que, de hecho ambas normas no pueden ser finitas si la correspondencia sublineal es multivaluada en un punto (es decir, toma dos valores distintos en cierto punto del dominio). Una correspondencia sublineal es semicontinua interior en (0,0) si y solo si verifica esta propiedad en cualquier punto del espacio X. Una correspondencia es semicontinua interior en 0 exactamente cuando la norma interna de F es finita. De hecho, demostramos que esta equivalencia es valida para cualquier aplicacion positivamente homogenea en el Corolario 1.2. 6. En la Secci
VARIATIONS ON A THEME OF NEWTON

We use a particularly simple example function', and the computer algebra system Maple, to try to learn something about Newton's method. The discussion here presumes only a minimal amount of calculus-including the standard introduction to Newton's method, such as is found in [2, Sec. 2.10]-and some algebraic fluency. This discussion, though aimed at undergraduate students, contains surprises (perhaps even for instructors), items not found in the usual calculus course, and pointers to many more such items. The intention is to provoke or reinforce an interest in pure and applied mathematics. If this works, everyone will take something new away.
Statistical methods for the analysis of high-dimensional data

High-dimensional statistics has captured the imagination of many statisticians worldwide, because of its interesting applications as well as the unique challenges faced. This thesis addresses a range of problems in the area, integrated into an overall framework. Problems explored include how to effect feature selection and test variable relationships, particularly when important nonlinearities may be present; how to create a nonparametric model that adapts to the observed importance of different variables in a dataset; how to assess the reliability of a ranking, for example how to list genes in order of importance to a disease, and how to determine circumstances where we can expect parts of this ranking to be reliable; how to perform hypothesis tests on extremes of populations; and how to incrementally build a multivariate model in high-dimensional situations while simultaneously protecting against overfitting. These problems are addressed through both theoretical and numerical means. Declaration This is to certify that 1. the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface 2. due acknowledgment has been made in the text to all other material used, 3. the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, figures and the Bibliography.
Nonstoichiometric SiC Bus/Ring Waveguide Based All-Optical Data Format Follower and Inverter

Nonstoichiometric silicon carbide (SiC) bus/ring waveguide resonator based all-optical data-format follower and inverter is demonstrated to perform ultrafast dual-functional wavelength and data-format conversion. The buried Si quantum dots (Si-QDs) with strong quantum confinement effect effectively result in a significant change on the nonlinear refractive index of 3.14 × 10–13 cm2/W, which induces a red-shift of 0.07 nm on the resonant wavelength comb of the nonstoichiometric SiC ring waveguide resonator. By injecting the 12 Gbit/s optical pulsed return-to-zero on–off keying (PRZ-OOK) data stream into the ring waveguide at a notched wavelength of 1551.08 nm, the induced red-shift on resonant wavelengths allows versatile all-optical data processing functions, including data wavelength conversion and data format following/inversion, on the data patterns transferred to the probe. The eye-opening diagram analysis at 12 Gbit/s reveals that the data transferred to the probe can provide a signal-to-noise ratio .
Effect of Holder pasteurization and UV-C irradiation on bacteriophage titres in human milk

Abstract Human milk is the optimal nutrition source for infants and contains a complex mix of bioactive compounds and microorganisms. When unavailable, pasteurized donor milk may be provided, particularly to preterm infants. Holder pasteurization (HP) is typically implemented in human milk banks to prevent pathogen transmission. Given the impact of heat on milk bioactives, ultraviolet-C irradiation (UV-C) is an alternative being explored and has demonstrated effective bactericidal activity. In addition to bacteria, milk contains viruses, including primarily bacteriophages (phages) and which likely influence the developing bacterial microbiome of infants. However, the effect of pasteurization on human milk phages is unknown. This study assessed the effect of HP and UV-C on titres of exogenous bacteriophages inoculated into human milk. Ten donor human milk samples were tested in parallel with water controls. Milk samples or water controls were inoculated to a final concentration of 1 × 104 PFU/mL (±1 log) each of a thermotolerant Escherichia coli phage (T4) and a thermosensitive Staphylococcus aureus phage (BYJ20) and subjected to HP and UV-C treatments. UV-C inactivated both phages within milk and water controls, however, HP was ineffective against the thermotolerant T4 phages. Initial data suggest that UV-C treatment may eliminate phage with potential to affect preterm infant gut colonization. Further studies should extend this to other phages.
Quantum Game Techniques Applied to Wireless Networks Communications

In order to analyze the power control problem, the wireless quantum network nodes are modeled as players at a quantum game. The power control problem is one of the most significant wireless communications challenges which characteristics make it proper to be modeled by means of game theory techniques. The problem results in non- cooperative game by nature, but, under quantum rules, a larger strategy space leads the players to choose a coalition strategy as the best option. Thus, the use of quantum game strategies makes possible the emergence of new equilibrium, which guarantees the best possible performance to the whole network. We show also that the whole network power consumption decreases when the intrinsic parallel behavior of quantum computation is capitalized. Moreover, the design of efficient medium access control algorithms is possible.
On the structure of the k-aditive fuzzy measures

The family ofk-additive measures has been introduced as a midterm between probabilities and general fuzzy measures and finds a wide number of applications in practice. However, its struc- ture is different from other families of fuzzy measures and is cer- tainly more complex (for instance, its vertices are not always {0,1}- valued), so it has not been yet fully studied. In this paper we present some results concerning the extreme points of the k-additive fuzzy measures. We give a characterization of these vertices as well as an algorithm to compute them. We show some examples of the results of this algorithm and provide lower bounds on the number of vertices of the n − 1-additive measures, proving that it grows much faster than the number of vertices of the general fuzzy measures. This suggests that k-additive measures might not be a good choice in modeling certain decision problems when the value of k is high but not equal to n.