Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modelling of ELM dynamics for DIII-D and ITER

A model for integrated modelling studies of edge localized modes (ELMs) in ITER is discussed in this paper. Stability analyses are carried out for ITER and DIII-D equilibria that are generated with the TEQ and TOQ equilibrium codes. The H-mode pedestal pressure and parallel current density are varied in a systematic way in order to span the relevant parameter space for specific ITER plasma parameters. The ideal MHD stability codes, DCON, ELITE and BALOO, are employed to determine whether or not each ITER equilibrium profile is unstable to peeling or ballooning modes in the pedestal region. Several equilibria that are close to the marginal stability boundary for peeling and ballooning modes are tested with the NIMROD non-ideal MHD code. When the effects of finite resistivity are studied in a series of linear NIMROD computations, it is found that the peeling–ballooning stability threshold is very sensitive to the resistivity and viscosity profiles, which vary dramatically over a wide range near the separatrix. When two-fluid gyro-viscous and Hall effects are included in NIMROD computations, it is found that harmonics with high toroidal mode numbers are stabilized while the growth rate of harmonics with low toroidal mode numbers are only moderately reduced. When flow shear across the H-mode pedestal is included, it is found that linear growth rates are increased, particularly for harmonics with high toroidal mode numbers. In nonlinear NIMROD simulations, ELM crashes produce filaments that extend out to the wall in the absence of flow shear. When flow shear is included, the filaments are dragged by the fluid and sheared off before they extend to the wall.
Clinical Evaluation of the 3nethra Aberro Handheld Autorefractometer

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the 3nethra aberro auto refractometer device as an alternative tool for quick and reliable measurement of refractive errors and to compare it with the gold standard subjective refractive error measurement. Methods Refractive errors were measured using both subjective refraction and the 3nethra aberro handheld autorefractometer. The refractive measurements were converted into equivalent vector notations of spherical equivalent and Jackson cross-cylinder measurements J0 & J45. The resultant power vectors were compared with subjective measurements. Results This clinical study comprised 60 subjects (22 male and 38 female; with a mean age of 34 ± 16 years). Data, when compared with the subjective refraction measurements, resulted in 90% of power vectors values in both left and right eyes being the same in the 3nethra aberro handheld autorefractometer and the subjective measurement. The refractive error measurements also had an agreement of 70% and 90% when the range of diopter was between ± 0.25 and ± 0.5D, respectively. When the Bland-Altman's plot analysis was performed, about 98% of data lied within the ± 2 standard deviation variation. An average correlation between the two methods of error measurement was 0.74, and the paired t-test showed P > 0.05 for all the power vectors except for the spherical equivalent in the right eye. Conclusion The 90% agreement between the error measurements done by two methods indicates that the 3nethra aberro handheld autorefractometer can function as an alternative for the time-consuming subjective refractive error measurement.
Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice Related to Diabetic Foot Ulcer Among Healthcare Workers and Diabetic Patients and Their Relatives in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Diabetes mellitus is a chronic progressive metabolic disorder characterized by high blood sugar affecting the whole body resulting in a significant impact on the quality of life for the patients and their families. Diabetes mellitus complications lead to morbidity, disability, and mortality and represent a serious global health issue threatening the health system worldwide and resulting in a critical economic impact for all countries, especially epidemic ones. Objective The objective of this study was to assess the level of knowledge and awareness regarding diabetic foot and related behaviour among diabetic patients and their relatives, as well as healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia. Methods A cross-sectional analytic study was conducted in 2022 on healthcare workers, diabetic patients, and their relatives above the age of 18 in Saudi Arabia by using a valid, pretested structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26 (Released 2019; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). Results In this study, there was no correlation between the healthcare workers’ attitude and knowledge. A total of 131 healthcare workers were involved, and a majority of them had good knowledge regarding the predisposing factors of diabetic foot ulcers, and 63 (48.1%) had good knowledge regarding diabetes foot care. On the other hand, there was poor knowledge regarding the characteristics and complications of diabetes ulcers. This study showed various attitudes among healthcare workers regarding diabetic ulcer care. For example, they prioritized the prevention of ulcers over treatment (N=67, 51.1%), the majority of healthcare workers were very keen to wound care (N=77, 58.8%), and they believed that it was their responsibility to educate their patients about reducing re-ulceration (N=86; 65.7%). However, 52 participants (39.7%) considered management of diabetic foot ulcer time-consuming, 54 (41.2%) mentioned that if they had the opportunity, they would like to avoid taking care of the diabetic wound, and 51 (38.9%) reported non-satisfaction with diabetic wound care. One hundred diabetic patients and 117 relatives also were involved, and only 41.3% of participants (patients and relatives) had good knowledge regarding diabetes mellitus. However, our findings also revealed that 91.65% of the participants had good knowledge and a favourable attitude towards diabetes mellitus and diabetic foot care. Nevertheless, even though the participants had good knowledge regarding foot care, they had poor practice, with 56.55% scoring poor on the assessment questionnaire. Conclusion Our study shows that most of the participants had good knowledge and attitudes but poor practices. This highlights the need for more efforts to educate the Saudi population about diabetes and its complications.
Sleep Disturbance, Psychological Distress and Perceived Burden in Female Family Caregivers of Dependent Patients with Dementia: A Case-Control Study

This case-control study analyzed the sleep disturbance, psychological distress and perceived burden in female family caregivers of dependent people with dementia (n = 74) compared with female family caregivers of dependent people without dementia (n = 74) and with age-matched non-caregiver control females (n = 74). Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and an ad hoc questionnaire to collect sociodemographic data. There were significant differences between the groups in PSQI total (F = 24.93; p < 0.001), psychological distress (F = 26.71; p < 0.001) and in all sleep domains assessed: subjective sleep quality (F = 16.19; p < 0.001), sleep latency (F = 9.5; p< 0.001), sleep duration (F = 18.57; p < 0.001), habitual sleep efficiency (F = 19.77; p < 0.001), sleep disturbances (F = 9.22; p < 0.001), use of sleep medications (F = 4.24; p< 0.01) and daytime dysfunction (F = 5.57; p < 0.01). In all measures, the female family caregivers of dependent people with dementia showed the significantly higher mean scores. Regarding the two groups of female caregivers, statistically significant differences were found in daily hours of care (t = −2.45; p < 0.05) and perceived burden (t = −3.65; p < 0.001), as well as in the following dimensions of caregiver burden: time-dependence burden (t = −5.09; p < 0.001), developmental burden (t = −2.42; p < 0.05) and physical burden (t = −2.89; p < 0.01). These findings suggest that female family caregivers of dependent patients with dementia should be subject to psychopathological screening and preventive cognitive-behavioral interventions in clinical practice in primary health care.
IRAS colors of carbon stars - An optical spectroscopic test

Optical spectra are obtained of 57 photographic counterparts to IRAS sources not previously studied spectroscopically, and expected on the basis of their IRAS colors to be M or C type stars. Confirmed carbon stars are found only in a restricted range of 12-25 index, and constitute a striking vertical sequence in the 12-25-60 micron color-color diagram. This sequence is in accord with evolutionary models for AGB stars that convert M into C stars by dredge-up, and follow loops in the color-color plane. Optically visible and optically invisible carbon stars occupy different color-color locations consistent with their representations of different evolutionary states in the life of relatively low-mass stars. 16 refs.
To the Green from the Bl(u)e: An innovative system for monitoring urban green areas

The relation between the health of the green areas and the health of the citizens is part of the One Health concept. People’s health is something widely debated by the scientific community while urban greenery health study is at its beginning. IoT technologies have been recently applied for monitoring environmental parameters such as humidity, wind speed, temperature, and so on. These technologies can be applied to monitor biophysical parameters of green subjects, too. The realization of a network of low-cost and low-cumbersomeness wireless sensors may help in obtaining a precise snapshot of the conditions of urban green areas. A prototypal sensor network has been realized making use of devices that are normally used in industry 4.0 realizations.
Electronic structure of semiconductors with doping superlattices

The dynamically two-dimensional electronic subband structure and the effective energy gap are tunable quantities in semiconductors with a doping superlattice. We present self-consistent calculations of the electronic states, in the framework of the local-density approximation, as a function of the charge-carrier concentration. A discussion of several superlattices differing in their design parameters exemplifies the wide range of electronic subband structures which may be realized in this type of system.
Efficient Staining-Invariant Nuclei Segmentation Approach Using Self-Supervised Deep Contrastive Network

Existing nuclei segmentation methods face challenges with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) whole slide imaging (WSI) due to the variations in staining methods and nuclei shapes and sizes. Most existing approaches require a stain normalization step that may cause losing source information and fail to handle the inter-scanner feature instability problem. To mitigate these issues, this article proposes an efficient staining-invariant nuclei segmentation method based on self-supervised contrastive learning and an effective weighted hybrid dilated convolution (WHDC) block. In particular, we propose a staining-invariant encoder (SIE) that includes convolution and transformers blocks. We also propose the WHDC block allowing the network to learn multi-scale nuclei-relevant features to handle the variation in the sizes and shapes of nuclei. The SIE network is trained on five unlabeled WSIs datasets using self-supervised contrastive learning and then used as a backbone for the downstream nuclei segmentation network. Our method outperforms existing approaches in challenging multiple WSI datasets without stain color normalization.
Robust Control of Adaptive Model Predictive Control using Online Model Estimation

In recent years, designing an adaptive model predictive controller (AMPC) with varying nonlinear plant parameters in real-time has been a challenging problem. Estimating the model parameters under real-time variations require sufficiently excited signal. Hence, this paper proposes an online model estimation technique for adaptive model predictive control (AMPC) using Recursive Polynomial Model Estimator (RPME). Parameters of the system are continuously varied during real-time to validate the robustness of the controller. Linear plant model parameters are estimated online using RPME and fed to the adaptive model predictive controller to compute the control laws with reference to the step signal. Real-time simulation for nonlinear system response has been conducted using AMPC on Van Der Pol oscillator and Inverted Pendulum System.
Integrated optical interferometric detection method for micromachined capacitive acoustic transducers

An integrated optical interferometric detection method for micromachined capacitive acoustic transducers is reported. The back electrode of the capacitive transducer on a transparent substrate is shaped as an optical diffraction grating and the displacement of the transducer membrane is determined with interferometric resolution by measuring the intensity of the reflected diffraction orders. By applying voltage to deflect the membrane electrostatically, the detection sensitivity is kept at the optimum level and transmission signals are generated. Initial experiments on devices microfabricated on quartz substrates show a minimum detectable displacement of 2×10−4 A/√Hz around 250 kHz and low frequency detection capability for microphone applications. Ultrasonic pulse-echo experiments in air at 750 kHz are also demonstrated using both a HeNe laser and a 850 nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser as the light source.
CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Editing of AGAMOUS-like Genes Results in a Late-Bolting Phenotype in Chinese Cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis)

Due to the sudden change in temperature in spring, Chinese cabbage, a leafy vegetable cultivated for consumption, loses its commercial value due to the onset of bolting—the phenomenon of switching from vegetative to reproductive growth. In this study, we applied clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/(CRISPR)-associated system 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) technology to analyze AGAMOUS-like genes. We performed functional analysis of AGL19 and AGL24 genes related to bolting and flowering using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Chinese cabbage transformation. Single-guide RNA (sgRNA) sequences were created with a low off-targeting probability to construct gene-editing vectors. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation was conducted, and tentative E0 AGL-edited lines were analyzed using molecular biotechnological methods. Two AGL19-edited lines with nucleotide sequence mutations in the target sequence of the AGL19 genes and four AGL24-edited lines with nucleotide sequence mutations in the target sequence of the AGL24 genes showed particularly late bolting compared to the inbred line ‘CT001. ’ Generational progression using bud pollination obtained T-DNA-free E1 AGL-edited lines, which also showed late bolting. The loss of function of the AGL protein was caused by the occurrence of an indel mutation in the AGL19 and AGL24 genes, which results in an early stop codon. Furthermore, frameshift mutations led to structural changes and the introduction of an early stop codon in the AGL19 and AGL24 proteins. Our results indicate that CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing of AGAMOUS-like genes results in a late-bolting phenotype and that CRISPR/Cas9 is a useful technology for analyzing gene function in Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis).
Dual CUSUM control schemes for detecting a range of mean shifts

Conventional quality control procedures, such as the CUmulative SUM (CUSUM) and exponentially weighted moving average charts are usually designed based on a mean shift with a given size. In practice, the exact value of the shift size is often unknown and can only be reasonably assumed to vary within a certain range. Such a range of shifts deteriorates the performance of existing control charts. In this paper, a quality control scheme, a Dual CUSUM (DCUSUM), is applied that combines two CUSUM charts to detect the range of shifts. The out-of-control signal is triggered if either one of the CUSUM statistics goes out of the DCUSUM control limits. In particular, a design procedure for the DCUSUM charts is developed and an analytical formula for the Average Run Length (ARL) calculation is obtained via the Markov chain method. The proposed DCUSUM charts are compared with the conventional CUSUM and combined Shewhart-CUSUM charts. Based on a proposed criterion, the integrated relative ARL, the proposed schemes show better performance in detecting a range of mean shifts.
The Role of Ultrasound, Scintigraphy, and Cytology in Evaluating Thyroid Nodules

Abstract Background: Thyroid function testing and imaging studies guide the initial management of thyroid nodules. Our study aims to assess the role that ultrasound (US) and scintigraphy play in thyroid nodules. Methods: We conducted a prospective case series study of 212 consecutive patients presented with thyroid nodules at the tertiary University Hospital of Tirana (“Mother Teresa”) for further evaluation between January 2018 and March 2018. All patients were examined with US and scintigraphy with 99mTc and underwent fine- needle aspiration cytology. Generalized Linear Model (ordinal logistic) was used to predict the dependent variable with 'ordered' multiple categories and independent variables. Results: The majority of patients (85%) were female, and (15%) males, p<0.001. The ordered logit for US finding’s presence of microcalcifications, adenopathy, solid or solidcystic nodules, being in a higher TIR category was 1.27, 4.56, 2.70 and 1.70 more than absence of microcalcifications, adenopathy and cystic nodules, respectively. Conversely, a one unit (year) increase in age would result in a 0.035 unit decrease in the ordered log-odds of being in a higher TIR category. For the scintigraphy findings, the ordered logit for isohypofunctional and hypofunctional nodules (vs. isofunctional), in a higher TIR category, was 1.70 and 2.10 higher, respectively. Conclusions: In thyroid glandular nodules, only a small percentage are malignant, therefore examination with ultrasound, scintigraphy and FNA are important to lower the number of patients undergoing surgery. Given the study's results, scintigraphy has a significant value, but in order to diagnose malignant nodules ultrasound remained an initial and important diagnostic tool, which, when combined with FNA, rounds out a clear diagnosis of thyroid nodules.
Restoring Age-Related Cognitive Decline through Environmental Enrichment: A Transcriptomic Approach

Cognitive decline is one of the greatest health threats of old age and the maintenance of optimal brain function across a lifespan remains a big challenge. The hippocampus is considered particularly vulnerable but there is cross-species consensus that its functional integrity benefits from the early and continuous exercise of demanding physical, social and mental activities, also referred to as environmental enrichment (EE). Here, we investigated the extent to which late-onset EE can improve the already-impaired cognitive abilities of lifelong deprived C57BL/6 mice and how it affects gene expression in the hippocampus. To this end, 5- and 24-month-old mice housed in standard cages (5mSC and 24mSC) and 24-month-old mice exposed to EE in the last 2 months of their life (24mEE) were subjected to a Barnes maze task followed by next-generation RNA sequencing of the hippocampal tissue. Our analyses showed that late-onset EE was able to restore deficits in spatial learning and short-term memory in 24-month-old mice. These positive cognitive effects were reflected by specific changes in the hippocampal transcriptome, where late-onset EE affected transcription much more than age (24mSC vs. 24mEE: 1311 DEGs, 24mSC vs. 5mSC: 860 DEGs). Remarkably, a small intersection of 72 age-related DEGs was counter-regulated by late-onset EE. Of these, Bcl3, Cttnbp2, Diexf, Esr2, Grb10, Il4ra, Inhba, Rras2, Rps6ka1 and Socs3 appear to be particularly relevant as key regulators involved in dendritic spine plasticity and in age-relevant molecular signaling cascades mediating senescence, insulin resistance, apoptosis and tissue regeneration. In summary, our observations suggest that the brains of aged mice in standard cage housing preserve a considerable degree of plasticity. Switching them to EE proved to be a promising and non-pharmacological intervention against cognitive decline.
Behavior of PNIPAM Microgels in Different Organic Solvents

In this research, we studied, in detail, the behavior of common PNIPAM microgels, obtained through surfactant-free precipitation polymerization, in a number of organic solvents. We showed that many of the selected solvents serve as good solvents for the PNIPAM microgels and that the size and architecture of the microgels depend on the solvent chosen. Expanding the range of solvents used for PNIPAM microgel incubation greatly enhances the possible routes for microparticle functionalization and modification, as well as the encapsulation of water-insoluble species. In this demonstration, we successfully encapsulated water-insoluble Sudan III dye in PNIPAM microgels and prepared the aqueous dispersions of such composite-colored microparticles.
THE DYNAMICS OF THE SOLAR MAGNETIC FIELD: POLARITY REVERSALS, BUTTERFLY DIAGRAM, AND QUASI-BIENNIAL OSCILLATIONS

The spatio-temporal dynamics of the solar magnetic field has been investigated by using NSO/Kitt Peak magnetic synoptic maps covering the period 1976 August–2003 September. The field radial component, for each heliographic latitude, has been decomposed in intrinsic mode functions through the Empirical Mode Decomposition in order to investigate the time evolution of the various characteristic oscillating modes at different latitudes. The same technique has also been applied on synoptic maps of the meridional and east–west components, which were derived from the observed line-of-sight projection of the field by using the differential rotation. Results obtained for the ∼22 yr cycle, related to the polarity inversions of the large-scale dipolar field, show an antisymmetric behavior with respect to the equator in all the field components and a marked poleward flux migration in the radial and meridional components (from about −35° and +35° in the southern and northern hemispheres, respectively). The quasi-biennial oscillations (QBOs) are also identified as a fundamental timescale of variability of the magnetic field and associated with poleward magnetic flux migration from low latitudes around the maximum and descending phase of the solar cycle. Moreover, signs of an equatorward drift, at a ∼2 yr rate, seem to appear in the radial and toroidal components. Hence, the QBO patterns suggest a link to a dynamo action. Finally, the high-frequency component of the magnetic field, at timescales less than 1 yr, provides the most energetic contribution and it is associated with the outbreaks of the bipolar regions on the solar surface.
SIMULATION OF GAS-SOLID PARTICLE FLOWS OVER A WIDE RANGE OF CONCENTRATION

SUMMARY A two-fluid model of gas‐solid particle flows that is valid for a wide range of the solid-phase volume concentration (dilute to dense) is presented. The governing equations of the fluid phase are obtained by volume averaging the Navier‐Stokes equations for an incompressible fluid. The solid-phase macroscopic equations are derived using an approach that is based on the kinetic theory of dense gases. This approach accounts for particle‐particle collisions. The model is implemented in a control-volume finite element method for simulations of the flows of interest in two-dimensional, planar or axisymmetric, domains. The chosen mathematical model and the proposed numerical method are applied to three test problems and one demonstration problem. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.