Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Particle Simulation Study of Dust Particle Dynamics in Sheaths

Dynamics of dust particles in a divertor plasma is simulated using numerical solutions of dust momentum and charging equations in an electrostatic sheath and an ionizing presheath, where an electrostatic force and a drag force due to absorption of plasma ions are taken into account. Spatial distributions of plasma parameters in a divertor are obtained with particle simulations including ionization by electron‐impact. We found that the critical dust radius exists. Dust particles with a larger radius than this critical one are incapable to come off a divertor plate because the ion drag force is stronger compared to the electrostatic force. Control of the plate potential can suppress the dust motion from the plate. The radii of heavy dust particles are classified with respect to equilibrium positions. Considering dust particles started at the plate with radii smaller than the critical one, two types of dust motion were found. Dust particles with the first type of motion come back to the plate before approaching their equilibrium positions. The second type of motion is presented by smaller dust particles which oscillate around their equilibrium positions. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Diaphragmatic Activation Correlated with Lumbar Multifidus Muscles and Thoracolumbar Fascia by B-Mode and M-Mode Ultrasonography in Subjects with and without Non-Specific Low Back Pain: A Pilot Study

Background and Objectives: The diaphragm, the lumbar multifidus muscles, and the thoracolumbar fascia (TLF) execute an important role in the stability of the lumbar spine and their morphology has been modified in subjects with non-specific low back pain (NS-LBP). While it is true that three structures correlate anatomically, the possible functional correlation between them has not been investigated previously in healthy subjects nor in subjects with NS-LBP. The aim of the present study was to examine this functional nexus by means of a comparison based on ultrasonographic parameters of the diaphragm, the lumbar multifidus muscles, and the TLF in subjects with and without NS-LBP. Materials and Methods: A sample of 54 (23 NS-LBP and 31 healthy) subjects were included in the study. The thickness and diaphragmatic excursion at tidal volume (TV) and force volume (FV), the lumbar multifidus muscles thickness at contraction and at rest, and the TLF thickness were evaluated using rehabilitative ultrasound imaging (RUSI) by B-mode and M-mode ultrasonography. The diaphragm thickening capacity was also calculated by thickening fraction (TF) at tidal volume and force volume. Results: There were no significant differences recorded between the activation of the diaphragm and the activation of the lumbar multifidus muscles and TLF for each variable, within both groups. However, there were significant differences recorded between both groups in diaphragm thickness and diaphragm thickening capacity at tidal volume and force volume. Conclusions: Diaphragmatic activation had no functional correlation with the activation of lumbar multifidus muscles and TLF for both groups. Nevertheless, subjects with NS-LBP showed a reduced diaphragm thickness and a lower diaphragm thickening capacity at tidal volume and force volume, compared to healthy subjects.
Homomorphic Encryption and the Approximate GCD Problem

With the advent of cloud computing, everyone from Fortune 500 businesses to personal consumers to the US government is storing massive amounts of sensitive data in service centers that may not be trustworthy. It is of vital importance to leverage the benefits of storing data in the cloud while simultaneously ensuring the privacy of the data. Homomorphic encryption allows one to securely delegate the processing of private data. As such, it has managed to hit the sweet spot of academic interest and industry demand. Though the concept was proposed in the 1970s, no cryptosystem realizing this goal existed until Craig Gentry published his PhD thesis in 2009. In this thesis, we conduct a study of the two main methods for construction of homomorphic encryption schemes along with functional encryption and the hard problems upon which their security is based. These hard problems include the Approximate GCD problem (A-GCD), the Learning With Errors problem (LWE), and various lattice problems. In addition, we discuss many of the proposed and in some cases implemented practical applications of these cryptosystems. Finally, we focus on the Approximate GCD problem (A-GCD). This problem forms the basis for the security of Gentry’s original cryptosystem but has not yet been linked to more standard cryptographic primitives. After presenting several algorithms in the literature that attempt to solve the problem, we introduce some new algorithms to attack the problem.
Zone-Enhanced Spatio-Temporal Representation Learning for Urban POI Recommendation

Points-of-interest (POIs) recommendation plays a vital role in location-based social networks (LBSNs) by introducing unexplored POIs to consumers and has drawn extensive attention from academia and industry. Existing POI recommender systems usually learn fixed latent vectors to represent both consumers and POIs from historical check-ins and make recommendations under the spatio-temporal constraints. However, we argue that the existing works still suffer from the challenges of explaining consumers’ complicated check-in actions. To this end, we first explore the interpretability of recommendations from the POI aspect, i.e., for a specific POI, its function usually changes over time, so representing a POI with a single fixed latent vector is not sufficient to describe the dynamic nature of POIs. Besides, check-in actions to a POI are also affected by the zone where it is located. In other words, the zone's embedding learned from POI distributions, road segments, and historical check-ins could be jointly utilized to enhance POI embeddings. Along this line, we propose a Time-zone-space POI embedding model (ToP), which integrates multi-knowledge graphs and topic model to introduce not only spatio-temporal effects but also sentiment constraints into POI embeddings for strengthening interpretability of recommendation. Specifically, ToP learns multiple latent vectors for a POI in a different period with spatial constraints via knowledge graph learning. To add sentiment constraints, ToP jointly combines these vectors with the zone's representations learned by topic models to make explainable recommendations. ToP considers the time, space, and sentiment of POI in a unified embedding framework, which benefits the POI recommendations. Extensive experiments on real-world Changchun city datasets demonstrate that ToP achieves state-of-the-art performance in terms of common metrics and provides more insights for consumers’ POI check-in actions.
Measurement of rotational temperature at Kolhapur, India

Abstract. Measurements of the hydroxyl rotational temperature for the (8,3) Meinel band have been reported from the observations of the ratio of the relative intensities of P 1 (2) and P 1 (4) lines of the OH(8,3) band at Kolhapur (16.8° N, 74.2° E, dip lat. 10.6° N) in India during the period 1 November 2002-29 April 2003 using tilting-filter photometers. Mean values of rotational temperature have been computed for 60 nights. The monthly mean value of temperature lies in the range 194(±11)-208(±18)K. The mean rotational temperature obtained from all the measurements was found to be 202±15K. The results agree with other low-latitude measurements of rotational temperature using photometric airglow techniques. Quasi-periodic fluctuations with a period of about one to two hours have been prominent on many nights. Furthermore, the results show the general agreement between observations and model (MSIS-86) predictions.
Application of Color Doppler with 3- and 4-Dimensional Ultrasonography in the Prenatal Evaluation of Fetal Extracardiac and Placental Abnormalities

Using color Doppler flow imaging or high-definition flow imaging with three-dimensional volume or spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC) in the glass-body mode allows displaying both gray-scale and color information of the heart cycle-related flow events and vessel spatial relationship. Conventionally, STIC in the glass-body mode has been used to examine the fetal heart and assess heart defects. Recently, a novel application of STIC in the visualization of abdominal precordial veins and intraplacental vascularization in singleton pregnancies has been reported. The aim of this present review is to discuss the use of color Doppler with three- and four-dimensional ultrasonography in the evaluation of extracardiac, placental, umbilical cord and twin abnormalities with examples. The glass-body mode is complementary to conventional 2D ultrasonography. Further studies are required to investigate use of the glass-body mode in the assessment of intraplacental vascularization in singleton and twin pregnancies.
Heterologous Expression of Recombinant Human Cytochrome P450 (CYP) in Escherichia coli: N-Terminal Modification, Expression, Isolation, Purification, and Reconstitution

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes play important roles in metabolising endogenous and xenobiotic substances. Characterisations of human CYP proteins have been advanced with the rapid development of molecular technology that allows heterologous expression of human CYPs. Among several hosts, bacteria systems such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) have been widely used thanks to their ease of use, high level of protein yields, and affordable maintenance costs. However, the levels of expression in E. coli reported in the literature sometimes differ significantly. This paper aims to review several contributing factors, including N-terminal modifications, co-expression with a chaperon, selections of vectors and E. coli strains, bacteria culture and protein expression conditions, bacteria membrane preparations, CYP protein solubilizations, CYP protein purifications, and reconstitution of CYP catalytic systems. The common factors that would most likely lead to high expression of CYPs were identified and summarised. Nevertheless, each factor may still require careful evaluation for individual CYP isoforms to achieve a maximal expression level and catalytic activity. Recombinant E. coli systems have been evidenced as a useful tool in obtaining the ideal level of human CYP proteins, which ultimately allows for subsequent characterisations of structures and functions.
Predictors of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Uptake in a Sexual Health Clinic With Rapid PrEP Initiation

Abstract Background Improved pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake is essential for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention initiatives. Offering PrEP at the time of HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing can improve uptake. We offered rapid PrEP initiation in a sexual health clinic and assessed predictors of PrEP interest, initiation, linkage, and retention. Methods Between November 2018 and February 2020, PrEP-eligible individuals who presented to a sexual health clinic were offered a free 30-day supply of PrEP plus linkage to continued PrEP care. Univariable and multivariable analyses of demographic and HIV risk data were conducted to determine predictors of PrEP uptake. Results Of 1259 adults who were eligible for PrEP (99.7% male, 42.7% White, 36.2% Hispanic), 456 were interested in PrEP, 249 initiated PrEP, 209 were linked, and 67 were retained in care. Predictors of PrEP interest included younger age (P < .01), lower monthly income (P = .01), recreational drug use (P = .02), and a greater number of sexual partners (P < .01). Negative predictors of PrEP initiation included lower monthly income (P = .04), testing positive for chlamydia (P = .04), and exchanging money for sex (P = .01). Negative predictors of linkage included self-identifying as Black (P = .03) and testing positive for an STI (P < .01). Having health insurance positively predicted both linkage (P < .01) and retention (P < .03). Conclusions A minority of PrEP-eligible HIV and STI testers initiated PrEP when offered, suggesting that easy PrEP access in sexual health clinics alone may not improve uptake. Predictors of uptake included established HIV risk factors and markers of higher socioeconomic status, suggesting that those aware of their risk and with the means to utilize health services engaged best with this model.
LEAST SQUARES 3D SURFACE MATCHING

An algorithm for the least squares matching of overlapping 3D surfaces is presented. It estimates the transformation parameters between two or more fully 3D surfaces, using the Generalized Gauss-Markoff model, minimizing the sum of squares of the Euclidean distances between the surfaces. This formulation gives the opportunity of matching arbitrarily oriented 3D surfaces simultaneously, without using explicit tie points. Besides the mathematical model and execution aspects we give further extension of the basic model. The first extension is the simultaneous matching of sub-surface patches, which are selected in cooperative surface areas. It provides a computationally effective solution, since it matches only relevant multi-subpatches rather than the whole overlapping areas. The second extension is the matching of surface geometry and its attribute information, e.g. reflectance, color, temperature, etc., under a combined estimation model. We give practical examples for the demonstration of the basic method and the extensions.
Health Maintenance and Preventative Care in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background & Aims: Preventative care plays an important role in maintaining health in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We aimed to assess the overall quality, strength, and transparency of conflicts among guidelines on preventative care in IBD. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in multiple databases to identify all guidelines pertaining to preventative care in IBD in April 2021. All guidelines were reviewed for the transparency of conflicts of interest and funding, recommendation quality and strength, external guideline review, patient voice inclusion, and plan for update—as per Institute of Medicine standards. In addition, recommendations and their quality were compared between societies. Results: Fifteen distinct societies and a total of 89 recommendations were included. Not all guidelines provided recommendations on the key aspects of preventative care in IBD—such as vaccinations, cancer prevention, stress reduction, and diet/exercise. Sixty-seven percent of guidelines reported on conflicts of interest, 20% underwent external review, and 27% included patient representation. In all, 6.7%, 21.3%, and 71.9% of recommendations were based on high, moderate, and low-quality evidence, respectively. Twenty-seven percent, 23.6%, and 49.4% of recommendations were strong, weak/conditional, and did not provide a strength, respectively. The proportion of high-quality evidence (P=0.28) and strong recommendations (P=0.41) did not significantly differ across societies. Conclusions: Many guidelines do not provide recommendations on key aspects of preventative care in IBD. As over 70% of recommendations are based on low-quality evidence, further studies on preventative care in IBD are warranted to improve the overall quality of evidence.
Effects of Apigenin on Pharmacokinetics of Dasatinib and Probable Interaction Mechanism

Dasatinib (DAS), a narrow-therapeutic index drug, Bcr-Abl, and Src family kinases multitarget inhibitor have been approved for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and Ph-positive acute lymphocytic leukemia (Ph+ ALL). Apigenin (APG) has a long history of human usage in food, herbs, health supplements, and traditional medicine, and it poses low risk of damage. The concomitant use of APG containing herbs/foods and traditional medicine may alter the pharmacokinetics of DAS, that probably lead to possible herb–drug interactions. The pharmacokinetic interaction of APG pretreatment with DAS in rat plasma following single and co-oral dosing was successfully deliberated using the UPLC–MS/MS method. The in vivo pharmacokinetics and protein expression of CYP3A2, Pgp-MDR1, and BCPR/ABCG2 demonstrate that APG pretreatment has potential to drastically changed the DAS pharmacokinetics where escalation in the Cmax, AUC(0–t), AUMC(0-inf_obs), T1/2, Tmax, and MRT and reduction in Kel, Vd, and Cl significantly in rats pretreated with APG 40 mg/kg, thus escalating systemic bioavailability and increasing the rate of absorption via modulation of CYP3A2, Pgp-MDR1, and BCPR/ABCG2 protein expression. Therefore, the concomitant consumption of APG containing food or traditional herb with DAS may cause serious life-threatening drug interactions and more systematic clinical study on herb–drug interactions is required, as well as adequate regulation in herbal safety and efficacy.
Parametric approach to the decoupling of linear distributed-parameter systems

In this study the input–output decoupling of linear distributed-parameter systems with distributed control and distributed measurement is considered. The decoupling problem is formulated as an eigenstructure assignment problem for distributed-parameter systems, which is solved using the parametric approach. The resulting static state feedback controller exponentially stabilises the closed-loop system and decouples the reference transfer behaviour with respect to the first p dominant closed-loop modal states. The residual dynamics are taken into account by compensating further dominant eigenvalues with transmission zeros, so that they do not influence the reference transfer behaviour. A heat conductor is used to demonstrate the design procedure which is also compared with an early lumping approach.
A Novel Near-Infrared Ytterbium Complex [Yb(DPPDA)2](DIPEA) with Φ = 0.46% and τobs = 105 μs

The luminescent performances of near-infrared (NIR) lanthanide (Ln) complexes were restricted greatly by vibration quenching of X-H (X = C, N, O) oscillators, which are usually contained in ligands and solvents. Encapsulating Ln3+ into a cavity of coordination atoms is a feasible method of alleviating this quenching effect. In this work, a novel ytterbium complex [Yb(DPPDA)2](DIPEA) coordinated with 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxylic acid (DPPDA) was synthesized and characterized by FT-IR, ESI-MS and elemental analysis. Under the excitation of 335 nm light, [Yb(DPPDA)2](DIPEA) showed two emission peaks at 975 and 1011 nm, respectively, which were assigned to the characteristic 2F5/2 → 2F7/2 transition of Yb3+. Meanwhile, this ytterbium complex exhibited a plausible absolute quantum yield of 0.46% and a luminescent lifetime of 105 μs in CD3OD solution. In particular, its intrinsic quantum yield was calculated to be 12.5%, and this considerably high value was attributed to the near-zero solvent molecules bound to Yb3+ and the absence of X-H oscillators in the first coordination sphere. Based on experimental results, we further proposed that the sensitized luminescence of [Yb(DPPDA)2](DIPEA) occurred via an internal redox mechanism instead of an energy transfer process.
Linking and Nominal Omission

Most (and probably all) of the world's languages allow omission of a variety of nominal elements, ranging from solitary nouns to entire noun phrases. This omission occurs in a great many seemingly disparate contexts. The thesis of this article is that for a great assortment of such cases, in a wide variety of languages, a unified explanation can be given in terms of the notion of linking: Nominal omission is possible in the presence of an item that has the function of linking the nominal to an overt element in the sentence. The apparent logic of the linking-omission connection is that the link serves to point out the location of the missing item. The intimate connection between linking and nominal omission is demonstrated in a variety of constructions in a number of languages.
A Cross-Sectional Study of Hypertension among 20–40 Years Old Residing in an Urban Area of Bagalkot City, North Karnataka

Introduction: Hypertension is the commonest cardiovascular disorder and one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular mortality which accounts for 20–50% of all deaths. Although most studies describe hypertension in older adults and the elderly, there is a paucity of data on young adults as they are deemed to be at a lower risk of developing the disease. Objectives: To study the prevalence of hypertension and study the risk factors and strength of association between factors and hypertension among 20–40 years old. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 20–40 years old residing in the urban field practice area to find the prevalence of hypertension and its association with socio-demographic factors. After obtaining informed consent, data were collected with the help of an interview method by systematic random sampling using predesigned and pretested semi-structured questionnaires. Three readings of blood pressure were recorded using a sphygmomanometer, and the average reading was considered. Data analysis was done using Microsoft Excel, Open Epi software, and SPSS software. Results: Out of 420 subjects, the prevalence of hypertension was found to be 17.9% and pre-hypertension was 52%. Factors significantly associated with hypertension were age, marital status, type of family, family history of hypertension, tobacco chewing, stress, and body mass index (BMI). Conclusion: The present study reveals a high prevalence of hypertension (17.9%) in the 20–40 years old age group, which can lead to increased cardiovascular disease burden in the population.
Temporal and Spatial Features of Waves and Electron Holes Driven by Double Layers and Their Relevance to VLF Saucers

Motivated by the observations of electron holes (EHs) strongly correlated with VLF saucers, the basic idea explored here is that when the parallel potential drop in a developing diverging electrostatic shock encounters a localized density cavity, a set of plasma processes are triggered including (i) formation of an upward‐moving double layer (DL), (ii) setting up of potential gradients in which counterstreaming of electrons occurs on the DL's high‐potential side, and (iii) generation of wave packets containing linear and nonlinear waves, such as the EHs. We specifically examine here the temporal and spatial evolution of such wave packets (WPs) in a one‐dimensional Vlasov simulation. If such evolution persists in multi‐dimensional treatments, the frequency dependent angular dispersion of the WPs could generate VLF saucers. A rapid growth of the wave packets to large amplitudes within a distance of about hundred Debye lengths gives an effective mechanism for the localization of the source for the saucers. Estimates show that the electrostatic energy stored in a wave packet containing just a few large‐amplitude EHs is sufficient to power typical VLF saucer events.
Rapid Identification of Benign Gallbladder Diseases Using Serum Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Combined with Multivariate Statistical Analysis

In this study, we looked at the viability of utilizing serum to differentiate between gallbladder (GB) stones and GB polyps using Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), which has the potential to be a quick and accurate means of diagnosing benign GB diseases. Rapid and label-free SERS was used to conduct the tests on 148 serum samples, which included those from 51 patients with GB stones, 25 patients with GB polyps and 72 healthy persons. We used an Ag colloid as a Raman spectrum enhancement substrate. In addition, we employed orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and principal component linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA) to compare and diagnose the serum SERS spectra of GB stones and GB polyps. The diagnostic results showed that the sensitivity, specificity, and area under curve (AUC) values of the GB stones and GB polyps based on OPLS-DA algorithm reached 90.2%, 97.2%, 0.995 and 92.0%, 100%, 0.995, respectively. This study demonstrated an accurate and rapid means of combining serum SERS spectra with OPLS-DA to identify GB stones and GB polyps.