Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of surface grooves and subsurface inhomogeneities in metals by transmission correlation photoacoustics

Correlation photoacoustics detected from the unilluminated surface of a sample have been studied to detect well‐characterized surface grooves and subsurface inhomogeneities in nickel. The correlation image of a line scan across an opaque sample by transmission technique can present the information on the surface or subsurface characteristics of the sample. This method is especially advantageous to detect subsurface grooves or inhomogeneities which exist anywhere in an optically opaque solid because the photoacoustic signals depend on the thermal and geometrical features in the transmission process of thermal waves. The system developed makes it possible to measure the impulse response of unstable samples because of the short time taken to collect data.
Multi-Spiral Laser Patterning of Azopolymer Thin Films for Generation of Orbital Angular Momentum Light

Recently, the realization of the spiral mass transfer of matter has attracted the attention of many researchers. Nano- and microstructures fabricated with such mass transfer can be used for the generation of light with non-zero orbital angular momentum (OAM) or the sensing of chiral molecules. In the case of metals and semiconductors, the chirality of formed spiral-shaped microstructures depends on the topological charge (TC) of the illuminating optical vortex (OV) beam. The situation is quite different with polarization-sensitive materials such as azopolymers, azobenzene-containing polymers. Azopolymers show polarization-sensitive mass transfer both at the meso and macro levels and have huge potential in diffractive optics and photonics. Previously, only one-spiral patterns formed in thin azopolymer films using circularly polarized OV beams and double-spiral patterns formed using linearly polarized OV beams have been demonstrated. In these cases, the TC of the used OV beams did not affect the number of formed spirals. In this study, we propose to use two-beam (an OV and a Gaussian beam with a spherical wavefront) interference lithography for realization spiral mass transfer with the desired number of formed spirals. The TC of the OV beam allows for controlling the number of formed spirals. We show the microstructures fabricated by the laser processing of thin azopolymer films can be used for the generation of OAM light at the microscale with the desired TC. The experimentally obtained results are in good agreement with the numerically obtained results and demonstrate the potential of the use of such techniques for the laser material processing of polarization-sensitive materials.
Coaxial ion beam/infrared laser beam spectrometer for investigating infrared spectra of doubly positively charged molecules (molecular dications)

We have constructed an apparatus for studying the infrared spectra of molecules with a doubly positive charge (molecular dications). The spectroscopic transitions were recorded indirectly by means of observing a change in the fragmentation rate of the molecular dication when a transition was in resonance. The design and performance of the spectrometer are described, with particular emphasis on the sensitivity achieved for detecting infrared spectra and Zeeman split infrared spectra. The operation and calibration of the spectrometer are discussed and sample results for DCl2+ are presented. It is shown that we achieve the maximum possible signal/noise ratio that could be achieved in this type of experiment.
Myocarditis Diagnosis: A Method using Mutual Learning-Based ABC and Reinforcement Learning

Myocarditis occurs when the heart muscle becomes inflamed and inflammation occurs when your body’s immune system responds to infections. It can be diagnosed using cardiac magnetic resonance image (MRI), a non-invasive imaging technique with the possibility of operator bias. This paper proposes a hybrid method of deep reinforcement learning-based algorithms and meta-heuristics algorithms. A mutual learning-based artificial bee colony (ML-ABC) is employed for initial weight, which adjusts the candidate food source generated with the higher fitness between two individuals determined by a mutual learning factor. Moreover, a sequential decision-making process investigates the imbalanced classification issue, in which a convolutional neural network (CNN) is used as the foundation for policy architecture. At first, initial weights are produced using the ML-ABC algorithm. After that, the agent receives a sample at each phase and classifies it, obtaining environmental rewards. The minority class receives more rewards than the majority class. Eventually, the agent discovers an ideal strategy with the aid of a specific reward function and a beneficial learning environment. We evaluate our proposed approach on the Z-Alizadeh Sani myocarditis dataset based on standard criteria and demonstrate that the proposed method gives superior myocarditis diagnosis performance.
Modified fast multipole algorithm using well‐conditioned electric field integral equation for electromagnetic scattering problem

Conventional fast multipole algorithm is one of the most widely used integral equation method for its high efficiency. Unfortunately, it always come across a problem named subwavelength breakdown when the finest group size is smaller than 0.2 wavelength. In this article, singular value decomposition method is used to modify the translation operator of fast multipole algorithm. The finest group size will be smaller without subwavelength breakdown by this method, which leads to much reduction of the memory requirement. Furthermore, the time consumption is also reduced by applying the well‐conditioned electric field integral equation. Numerical results prove the validity and efficiency of this method. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26142
Increase in internal quantum efficiency in small molecular oligothiophene: C60 mixed heterojunction solar cells by substrate heating

We present small molecule solar cells with α,ω-bis-(dicyanovinylene)-sexithiophene:C60 mixed heterojunctions, reaching power conversion efficiencies of 4.9±0.2%. We use substrate heating during deposition of the mixed layer to achieve an optimized morphology and show that this significantly improves the internal quantum efficiencies (IQEs) to values approaching 70%. By optical modeling, we evaluate the amount of loss due to absorption in inactive layers and show that IQE of the active layer itself is about 80%.
Autism Spectrum Disorder Discrimination Based on Voice Activities Related to Fillers and Laughter

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterized by impairment in social communication, restricted interest and stereotyped behaviors. Since current diagnosis methods are depending on time intensive subjective assessments, the establishment of novel therapeutics could be facilitated by objective, quantitative, and reproducible methods for supporting diagnosis. To that end, we investigated acoustic features of speech which characterize the difference between ASD and typical development (TD). The focus of this paper are features related to fillers and laughter, which play important roles in communication as social signals, and were observed to be used differently by ASD and TD individuals in previous research. We investigated several such features and statistically evaluated how helpful they are for discriminating between ASD and TD. In an experiment, we applied a support vector machine (SVM) for ASD classification considering both prosodic acoustic features as well as the most significant features related to social signals. Discrimination accuracy and F-measure of were slightly improved when using not only the prosodic features but also those related to social signals.
Analysis and Statistics of the Spectroscopic Sample of Byurakan-IRAS Galaxies

Abstract A summary and general analysis of optical spectroscopic data for 255 Byurakan-IRAS Galaxies (BIG) obtained with BAO 2.6m, SAO 6m, OHP 1.93m telescopes, as well as SDSS DR7, DR8, and DR9 is given. The BIG sample is the result of optical identifications of IRAS PSC sources at high-galactic latitudes using the First Byurakan Survey (FBS) low-dispersion spectra. Among the 1178 objects most are spiral galaxies and there is a number of ULIRGs. All but one have emission lines; we have discovered 68 AGN and composite spectrum objects among them and the others are mostly Starburst Galaxies (SB). All possible physical characteristics have been measured and/or calculated, including physical sizes and optical and IR/FIR luminosities. The masses have been estimated based on mass-luminosity relations for spiral galaxies. As it appears, most of these objects are giant massive galaxies. Various multiwavelength (MW) data have been retrieved from recent catalogues from X-ray to radio and MW SEDs have been built, which have been matched to their optical classifications. Luminosity evolution of these objects has been studies.
Surfactant and Block Copolymer Nanostructures: From Design and Development to Nanomedicine Preclinical Studies

The medical application of nanotechnology in the field of drug delivery has so far exhibited many efforts in treating simple to extremely complicated and life-threatening human conditions, with multiple products already existing in the market. A plethora of innovative drug delivery carriers, using polymers, surfactants and the combination of the above, have been developed and tested pre-clinically, offering great advantages in terms of targeted drug delivery, low toxicity and immune system activation, cellular biomimicry and enhanced pharmacokinetic properties. Furthermore, such artificial systems can be tailor-made with respect to each therapeutic protocol and disease type falling under the scope of personalized medicine. The simultaneous delivery of multiple therapeutic entities of different nature, such as genes and drugs, can be achieved, while novel technologies can offer systems with multiple modalities often combining therapy with diagnosis. In this review, we present prominent, innovative and state-of-the-art scientific efforts on the applications of surfactant-based, polymer-based, and mixed surfactant-polymer nanoparticle drug formulations intended for use in the medical field and in drug delivery. The materials used, formulation steps, nature, properties, physicochemical characteristics, characterization techniques and pharmacokinetic behavior of those systems, are presented extensively in the length of this work. The material presented is focused on research projects that are currently in the developmental, pre-clinical stage.
Association between ankle torque and performance-based tests, self-reported pain, and physical function in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the association between ankle torque and performance-based tests, self-reported pain, and physical function in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Patients and methods The cross-sectional study was conducted with 39 individuals (24 females, 15 males; mean age: 57.3±6.2 years; range, 40 to 65 years) with knee OA between January 2014 and July 2015. Ankle torque was determined using an isokinetic dynamometer. The 40-m fast-paced walk test and a stair climb test were used to assess functional performance. Self-reported pain and physical function were assessed using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated to test correlations between the dependent variables (40-m fast-paced walk test, stair climb test, WOMAC pain and physical function domains, sex, age, body mass index, and radiologic evidence of OA) and the independent variables (mean plantar flexor torque and dorsiflexor peak torque). A multiple linear regression analysis was applied to quantify the association between the dependent and independent variables. Results Dorsiflexor and plantar flexor peak torques in the concentric and eccentric modes were negatively correlated with the 40-m fast-paced walk and stair climb tests (r=-0.33 to -0.51, p≤0.05). A negative correlation was found between concentric plantar flexor torque and the WOMAC physical function score (r=-0.35, p=0.03). No correlation was found between ankle torques and the WOMAC pain score (p>0.05). The multiple linear regression analysis showed that the eccentric plantar flexor and dorsiflexor torques were significantly associated with the stair climb test (β=-0.001, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.001 to 0.000, p=0.03, and β=-0.002, 95% CI: -0.004 to 0.000, p=0.05, respectively). No significant associations were found between concentric plantar flexor and dorsiflexor torques and the stair climb test (p>0.05). No significant associations were found between the ankle torques and the 40-m fast-paced walk test and WOMAC physical function (p>0.05). Conclusion Ankle torque plays an important role in functional performance. Thus, ankle torque deficit, especially eccentric plantar flexor and dorsiflexor torques, may exert a negative influence on stair climbing performance in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Fourier analysis of three-dimensional shapes

Almost all people can imagine a process to make a clay cube a clay ball by smoothing every edge and vertex of a cube without knowing any mathematics to describe this procedure theoretically. This is an example which shows that we can infer and obtain new concepts from learned geometrical concepts. This paper proposed a mathematical model to explain a process to obtain an outline of a shape by using the generalized cylinder representation of the 3D shape and Fourier descriptor for boundary curves on each slice. The method yields an outline of changing of the curvature along an orthogonal net drown on the surface of the original shape.
Principal component analysis

Principal component analysis (PCA) is a multivariate technique that analyzes a data table in which observations are described by several inter‐correlated quantitative dependent variables. Its goal is to extract the important information from the table, to represent it as a set of new orthogonal variables called principal components, and to display the pattern of similarity of the observations and of the variables as points in maps. The quality of the PCA model can be evaluated using cross‐validation techniques such as the bootstrap and the jackknife. PCA can be generalized as correspondence analysis (CA) in order to handle qualitative variables and as multiple factor analysis (MFA) in order to handle heterogeneous sets of variables. Mathematically, PCA depends upon the eigen‐decomposition of positive semi‐definite matrices and upon the singular value decomposition (SVD) of rectangular matrices. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Potential for Thomson scatter with an X-ray laser

The authors present an analysis of an X-ray laser Thomson scatter experiment attempted at the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory. Although the experiment was for technical reasons not completed, an analysis of the feasibility is instructive. X-ray lasers are potentially a useful source for this type of experiment as they have high brightness, short pulse duration, and low divergence. Thomson scatter has proved to be a powerful diagnostic technique in low density plasmas and the extension of this diagnostic technique to shorter wavelengths in the XUV region would allow probing of plasmas at higher densities where classical plasma models such as the Debye-Huckel model breakdown. The authors show in their analysis that, at current output levels, self-emission may hamper attempts to probe high-density plasmas. However, a range of interesting plasmas can be probed which would be too optically thick for optical probing.
Orbital Zeeman effect: Signature of charge in the carriers of ferromagnetism

By deriving quantum hydrodynamic equations for an isotropic single-band ferromagnet in a finite magnetic field, we find that a massive mode recently predicted splits under the action of the field. The splitting is a peculiarity of charged fermions and is linear in the field to leading order in q , bearing a resemblance to the Zeeman effect in this limit, and providing a way to determine whether ferromagnetism arises from charged objects or not.
A Current Perspective on the Potential of Nanomedicine for Anti-Tuberculosis Therapy

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the ten infectious diseases that cause the highest amount of human mortality and morbidity. This infection, which is caused by a single pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, kills over a million people every year. There is an emerging problem of antimicrobial resistance in TB that needs urgent treatment and management. Tuberculosis treatment is complicated by its complex drug regimen, its lengthy duration and the serious side-effects caused by the drugs required. There are a number of critical issues around drug delivery and subsequent intracellular bacterial clearance. Drugs have a short lifespan in systemic circulation, which limits their activity. Nanomedicine in TB is an emerging research area which offers the potential of effective drug delivery using nanoparticles and a reduction in drug doses and side-effects to improve patient compliance with the treatment and enhance their recovery. Here, we provide a minireview of anti-TB treatment, research progress on nanomedicine and the prospects for future applications in developing innovative therapies.
Toxicity of the 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine and Its Enantiomers to Daphnia magna after Isolation by Semipreparative Chromatography

MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a chiral psychoactive recreational drug sold in illicit markets as racemate. Studies on the impact of MDMA on aquatic organisms are scarce. While enantioselectivity in toxicity in animals and humans has been reported, none is reported on aquatic organisms. This study aimed to investigate the ecotoxicological effects of MDMA and its enantiomers in Daphnia magna. For that, enantiomers (enantiomeric purity > 97%) were separated by liquid chromatography using a homemade semipreparative chiral column. Daphnids were exposed to three concentrations of (R,S)-MDMA (0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 µg L−1) and two concentrations of (R)- and (S)-enantiomers (0.1 and 1.0 µg L−1) over the course of 8 days. Morphophysiological responses were dependent on the substance form and daphnia development stage, and they were overall not affected by the (R)-enantiomer. Changes in swimming behaviour were observed for both the racemate and its enantiomers, but enantioselective effects were not observed. Reproductive or biochemical changes were not observed for enantiomers whereas a significant decrease in acetylcholinesterase and catalase activity was noted at the highest concentration of (R,S)-MDMA (10 µg L−1). Overall, this study showed that sub-chronic exposure to MDMA racemate and its enantiomers can interfere with morphophysiological and swimming behaviour of D. magna. In general, the (R)-enantiomer demonstrated less toxicity than the (S)-enantiomer.
Sex-specific radiomic features of L-[S-methyl-11C] methionine PET in patients with newly-diagnosed gliomas in relation to IDH1 predictability

Introduction Amino-acid positron emission tomography (PET) is a validated metabolic imaging approach for the diagnostic work-up of gliomas. This study aimed to evaluate sex-specific radiomic characteristics of L-[S-methyl-11Cmethionine (MET)-PET images of glioma patients in consideration of the prognostically relevant biomarker isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutation status. Methods MET-PET of 35 astrocytic gliomas (13 females, mean age 41 ± 13 yrs. and 22 males, mean age 46 ± 17 yrs.) and known IDH mutation status were included. All patients underwent radiomic analysis following imaging biomarker standardization initiative (IBSI)-conform guidelines both from standardized uptake value (SUV) and tumor-to-background ratio (TBR) PET values. Aligned Monte Carlo (MC) 100-fold split was utilized for SUV and TBR dataset pairs for both sex and IDH-specific analysis. Borderline and outlier scores were calculated for both sex and IDH-specific MC folds. Feature ranking was performed by R-squared ranking and Mann-Whitney U-test together with Bonferroni correction. Correlation of SUV and TBR radiomics in relation to IDH mutational status in male and female patients were also investigated. Results There were no significant features in either SUV or TBR radiomics to distinguish female and male patients. In contrast, intensity histogram coefficient of variation (ih.cov) and intensity skewness (stat.skew) were identified as significant to predict IDH +/-. In addition, IDH+ females had significant ih.cov deviation (0.031) and mean stat.skew (-0.327) differences compared to IDH+ male patients (0.068 and -0.123, respectively) with two-times higher standard deviations of the normal brain background MET uptake as well. Discussion We demonstrated that female and male glioma patients have significantly different radiomic profiles in MET PET imaging data. Future IDH prediction models shall not be built on mixed female-male cohorts, but shall rely on sex-specific cohorts and radiomic imaging biomarkers.
Solving a similarity transformation between two reference frames using hybrid geometric control features

A similarity-based transformation has been routinely applied in various fields of geosciences with the main purpose of integrating spatial information across different reference frames. Current approaches for solving the indirect problem (i.e., parameter estimation) of a similarity transformation are primarily point-based approaches, meaning that point correspondence between the original and transformed frames (namely control points) is required. Although it can also be seen that transformation solutions have been reached by means of other features, they have been mainly presented on the basis of a single feature, or, at most a few features, thus exploiting only limited geometric information inside the data. In this study, an integrated technique for solving the transformation parameters is developed using not only point features but also linear and planar features and clusters of point clouds with implicit or explicit features. In addition, this approach provides a closed-form solution for a transformation and, consequently, does not require an appropriate starting value to initiate the transformation parameter estimation. An illustration is given in numerical tests of how the proposed approach is able to process various kinds of control features and gives a reliable result with high computational efficiency. Accordingly, a flexible and automatic determination of a 3-D similarity transformation can be achieved by implementing this technique. Potential applications include geodetic datum transformations, reference analysis of LiDAR point clouds, extraction of features from LiDAR surveying or satellite image data, and registration of digital vector maps in GIS.