Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TESTING FOR COINTEGRATION IN NONLINEAR SMOOTH TRANSITION ERROR CORRECTION MODELS

This paper proposes a new testing procedure to detect the presence of a cointegrating relationship that follows a globally stationary smooth transition process. In the context of nonlinear smooth transition error correction models (ECMs) we provide two simple operational versions of the tests. First, we obtain the associated nonlinear ECM-based tests. Second, we derive the nonlinear analogue of the residual-based test for cointegration in linear models. We derive the asymptotic distributions of the proposed tests. Monte Carlo simulation exercises confirm that our proposed tests have much better power than the linear counterparts against the alternative of a globally stationary nonlinear cointegrating process. In an application to the price-dividend relationship, our test is able to find cointegration, whereas the linear-based tests fail to do so.We are grateful to an associate editor, two anonymous referees, Richard Baillie, In Choi, Atanas Christev, Hira Koul, Richard Harris, Cheng Hsiao, Changjin Kim, Joon Park, Peter Schmidt, Yoonjae Whang, Jeff Wooldridge, and seminar participants at University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, Korea University, University of Leeds, Michigan State University, University of Newcastle, and Sungkunkwan University for their helpful comments. Partial financial support from the ESRC (grant R000223399) is gratefully acknowledged. The usual disclaimer applies.
A Four-Dimensional Incremental Analysis Update for the Ensemble Kalman Filter

AbstractThe analysis produced by the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) may be dynamically inconsistent and contain unbalanced gravity waves that are absent in the real atmosphere. These imbalances can be exacerbated by covariance localization and inflation. One strategy to combat the imbalance in the analyses is the incremental analysis update (IAU), which uses the dynamic model to distribute the analyses increments over a time window. The IAU has been widely used in atmospheric and oceanic applications. However, the analysis increment that is gradually introduced during a model integration is often computed once and assumed to be constant for an assimilation window, which can be seen as a three-dimensional IAU (3DIAU). Thus, the propagation of the analysis increment in the assimilation window is neglected, yet this propagation may be important, especially for moving weather systems.To take into account the propagation of the analysis increment during an assimilation window, a four-dimensional IAU (4DIAU) use.
Middle-aged and older adults’ acceptance of mobile nutrition and fitness tools: A qualitative typology

Background The utilization of mobile health (mHealth) devices such as nutrition and fitness tools seems to be promising in facilitating healthy lifestyle behaviors in middle-aged and older adults. As user acceptance plays a decisive role in the successful implementation of mHealth tools, it is vital to examine the target groups’ acceptance, particularly their usage behavior and attitudes toward these tools. This qualitative study aimed to explore how far middle-aged as well as older adults accept mobile nutrition and fitness tools and to identify facilitators and barriers shaping their acceptance. Methods Twenty-one qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with German adults aged 50 years and older. Data material was analyzed using Qualitative Content Analysis (Kuckartz). Results A comprehensive acceptance typology with three acceptance types could be reconstructed: The Rejection Type, The Selective Acceptance Type, and The Comprehensive Acceptance Type. The target group's acceptance of mobile nutrition and fitness tools appeared to differ considerably across the three acceptance types and between the two different types of mHealth tools – with mobile nutrition tools having been less accepted. Among others, high levels of usability were identified as a key facilitator, while a desire for autonomy and privacy concerns showed to be prominent barriers. Conclusion The resulting typology indicates a pronounced heterogeneity among middle-aged and older adults regarding their acceptance of mobile nutrition and fitness tools. The findings highlight a need for more individualized mHealth tools along with respective promotion strategies that are specifically tailored to the needs and expectations of middle-aged and older adults.
Posterior Preventive Foraminotomy before Laminectomy Combined with Pedicle Screw Fixation May Decrease the Incidence of C5 Palsy in Complex Cervical Spine Surgery in Patients with Severe Myeloradiculopathy

C5 palsy is a frequent sequela of cervical decompression surgeries for cervical myeloradiculopathy. Although many researchers have suggested various risk factors, such as cord shifting and the correction of lordotic angles, the tethering of the C5 root beneath the narrow foramen is an independent risk factor for C5 palsy. In this study, we tried to investigate different techniques for foramen decompression with posterior cervical fusion and assess the incidence of C5 palsy with each technique depending on the order of foraminal decompression. A combined 540° approach with LMS and uncovertebrectomy was used in group 1. Group 2 combined a 540° approach with pedicle screws and posterior foraminotomy, while posterior approach only with pedicle screws and foraminotomy was used in group 3. For groups 2 and 3, prophylactic posterior foraminotomy was performed before laminectomy. Motor manual testing to assess C5 palsy, the Neck Disability Index (NDI) and the Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) scores were determined before and after surgery. Simple radiographs, MRI and CT scans, were obtained to assess radiologic parameters preoperatively and postoperatively. A total of 362 patients were enrolled in this study: 208 in group 1, 72 in group 2, and 82 in group 3. The mean age was 63.2, 65.5, and 66.6 years in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The median for fused levels was 4 for the three groups. There was no significant difference between groups regarding the number of fused levels. Weight, height, comorbidities, and diagnosis were not significantly different between groups. Preoperative JOA scores were similar between groups (p = 0.256), whereas the preoperative NDI score was significantly higher in group 3 than in group 2 (p = 0.040). Mean JOA score at 12-month follow-up was 15.5 ± 1.89, 16.1 ± 1.48, and 16.1 ± 1.48 for groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively; it was higher in group 3 compared with group 1 (p = 0.008) and in group 2 compared with group 1 (p = 0.024). NDI score at 12 months was 13, 12, and 13 in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively; it was significantly better in group 3 than in group 1 (p = 0.040), but there were no other significant differences between groups. The incidence of C5 palsy was significantly lower in posterior foraminotomy groups with pedicle screws (groups 2 and 3) than in LMS with uncovertebrectomy (group 1) (p < 0.001). Thus, preventive expansive foraminotomy before decompressive laminectomy is able to significantly decrease the root tethering by stenotic lesion, and subsequently, decrease the incidence of C5 palsy associated with posterior only or combined posterior and anterior cervical fusion surgeries. Additionally, such expansive foraminotomy might be appropriate with pedicle screw insertion based on biomechanical considerations.
Postpulse alignment of molecules robust to thermal averaging

Alignment of molecules under field free conditions with negligible vibrational or electronic excitation is created by a short off-resonant low frequency laser pulse. Typically the global maximum in postpulse alignment occurs at a rotational wave packet revival close to half a rotational period after the short pulse. The alignment effect is robust to thermal averaging at the revivals, but averaging cancels the alignment in between. The permanent dipole–field interaction can be efficient for alignment with off-resonant frequencies between the rotational and the vibrational frequencies of the molecule.
Generation Z as a critical question mark for sustainable tourism – An exploratory study in Portugal

PurposeMuch has been speculated about the role that Generation Z will play in achieving more sustainable development. The tourism sector gains a special role in this discussion. On the one hand, tourism, due to its growing importance, has had a significant impact on environmental sustainability. On the other hand, Generation Z will be the largest group of travellers ever in the future. In this context, the objective of the present study is to explore the interest of young Portuguese generation Z in sustainable development goals (SDGs), tourism sustainability (TS) and their pro-environmental habits and how these categories influence the choice of sustainable tourism destination.Design/methodology/approachAn online questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 305 young Portuguese. The quantitative analysis was performed with the application of the partial least square (PLS) model.FindingsOverall, the authors found that despite our respondents showing an interest in the SDGs the same interest is not true for tourism. Although most respondents are concerned about choosing a sustainable destination, they do not care about keeping destinations sustainable, nor do they have pro-environmental habits.Originality/valueThis study presents the first evidence of the attitudes, beliefs and pro-environmental habits of Portuguese Gen Zers and their potential contribution to TS.
Carbon stored in live ponderosa pines in the Sierra Nevada will not return to pre-drought (2012) levels during the 21st century due to bark beetle outbreaks

Outbreaks of several bark beetle species can develop rapidly in response to drought and may result in large transfers of carbon (C) stored in live trees to C stored in dead trees (10s of Tg C yr-1 in the western U.S. alone), which over time will be released back to the atmosphere. The western pine beetle (WPB) outbreak incited by the 2012–2015 mega-drought in the Sierra Nevada, California, U.S., could portend more frequent and/or severe bark beetle outbreaks as the temperature warms and drought frequency and intensity increase in the future. However, changes in the frequency and/or severity (resultant levels of host tree mortality) of beetle outbreaks are difficult to predict as outbreaks are complex with non-linear and eruptive processes primarily driven by interactions among beetle populations, the demography of hosts and other tree species, and climate and weather. Using an insect phenology and tree defense model, we projected the future likelihood of WPB outbreaks in the Sierra Nevada with climate drivers from different Earth System Models. Our goal was to understand how host (ponderosa pine, PIPO) recovery and future warming and drought affect the frequency and severity of WPB outbreaks and their C consequences. Our projections suggested that by 2100 the C stored in live PIPO (mean: 1.98 kg C m-2, 95% CI: 1.74–2.21 kg C m-2) will not return to levels that occurred before the 2012–2015 drought (2012: ∼2.30 kg C m-2) due to future WPB outbreaks. However, differences in climate models indicate a wide range of possible WPB outbreak frequencies and severities. Our results suggest that total plot basal area is the most significant factor in the mortality rate of PIPO by WPB in any given year, followed by drought severity and temperature. High levels of host basal area, higher temperature, and extreme drought all contribute to the frequency and severity of future WPB outbreaks. While PIPO basal area may decline under increased drought and warming, limiting high-stand basal area (>60 m2 ha-1) may reduce the severity of future WPB outbreaks in the Sierra Nevada.
SOLITON PERTURBATION THEORY FOR THE GENERALIZED KLEIN-GORDON EQUATION WITH FULL NONLINEARITY

This paper studies the perturbation theory of the generalized Klein-Gordon equation in presence of perturbation terms that appear with full nonlinearity. There are five forms of nonlinearity that are considered for the Klein-Gordon equation. It is observed that all five forms of nonlinearity lead to the same structure of the adiabatic dynamics of the soliton velocity.
On the efficiency of semi‐implicit and semi‐Lagrangian spectral methods for the calculation of incompressible flows

Classical semi-implicit backward Euler/Adams Bashforth time discretizations of the Navier -Stokes equations induce, for high-Reynolds number flows, severe restrictions on the time step. Such restrictions can be relaxed by using semi-Lagrangian schemes essentially based on splitting the full problem into an explicit transport step and an implicit diffusion step. In comparison with the standard characteristics method, the semi-Lagrangian method has the advantage of being much less CPU time consuming where spectral methods are concerned. This paper is devoted to the comparison of the semi-implicit' and 'semi-Lagrangian' approaches, in terms of stability, accuracy and computational efficiency. Numerical results on the advection equation, Burger's equation and finally two- and three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations, using spectral elements or a collocation method, are provided
Long loops of information flow in genetic networks highlight an inherent directionality

Genetic networks integrate the reported interactions between genes into a global view of the transcription regulation. These networks contain, beyond each specific interaction, the information flow between genes and groups of genes that determine the cellular response to different stimuli. The flow of information in such networks is based on the structure of the directed interactions paths, and is not obviously decipherable from the number of paths between genes in the network, which grows exponentially with the number of nodes. We show here that the directional large scale information flow in genetic networks can be understood by combining the cycle (closed walk in graph theory terms) length and distance distributions. These properties are highly sensitive to the effect of flipping the direction of a small number of random edges. Here we focus on cycles composed of back and forth minimal paths between a pair of nodes that we further denote as loops. Intra-cellular networks contain a surprisingly large number of long directed loops that can carry information through multiple components of the network, and in parallel a surprisingly small number of short loops. The direction of practically every edge affects the network’s loop length distribution and the flow of information in the network. Swapping the direction of even 2.5% of the edges in regulatory genetic networks from their target to their source drastically reduces the number of long directed loops. All other properties tested here, such as the clustering coefficient or the degree distributions, are practically not affected by a swap of even 50% of edges. We propose a model of information flow to explain this hyper-sensitivity of the loop length distribution to the direction of edges.
DeriNet 1.0

DeriNet is a lexical network which contains derivational relations in Czech modeled as an oriented graph. Nodes correspond to Czech lexemes (a lexeme is a single lemma, possibly with only a subset of its senses – homonyms may have different derivations and are thus represented by several lexemes) and edges represent derivations between them. DeriNet 1.0 contains 968,967 lexemes with 965,535 unique lemmas; connected by 715,729 derivational links. Lexemes in DeriNet 1.0 are sampled from the MorfFlex dictionary.
VIBRATION SIGNAL ANALYSIS AND FEATURE EXTRACTION BASED ON REASSIGNED WAVELET SCALOGRAM

Abstract The wavelet scalogram has been widely used for vibration signal analysis, but it has low frequency concentration at small scales and low time concentration at large scales owing to the limitation of Heisenberg–Gabor inequality. In addition, misleading interference terms would appear in the scalogram at some conditions. All of these would influence scalogram analysis seriously. In this paper, a reassignment method is used, which can improve the concentration of the scalogram and weaken the interference terms to a certain extent; thus, the readability of the scalogram can be improved. The experimental data for three kinds of faults in rotating machinery: rotor-to-stator rub, oil whirl, coupling misalignment and the actual measurement data from a Pumped Storage Power Generator Unit are analyzed by the scalogram and the reassigned scalogram, and the results by FFT analysis are also given. A comparison among three kinds of analysis results is carried out, and the comparison results indicate that the scalogram can not only reveal the time–frequency features of vibration signal but also highlight the components of low energy. Therefore, it is suitable to extract features of faults at an early stage.
Electrothermal instability growth in magnetically driven pulsed power liners

This paper explores the role of electro-thermal instabilities on the dynamics of magnetically accelerated implosion systems. Electro-thermal instabilities result from non-uniform heating due to temperature dependence in the conductivity of a material. Comparatively little is known about these types of instabilities compared to the well known Magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor (MRT) instability. We present simulations that show electrothermal instabilities form immediately after the surface material of a conductor melts and can act as a significant seed to subsequent MRT instability growth. We also present the results of several experiments performed on Sandia National Laboratories Z accelerator to investigate signatures of electrothermal instability growth on well characterized initially solid aluminum and copper rods driven with a 20 MA, 100 ns risetime current pulse. These experiments show excellent agreement with electrothermal instability simulations and exhibit larger instability growth than can be explained by MRT theory alone.
Unleashed Actin Assembly in Capping Protein-Deficient B16-F1 Cells Enables Identification of Multiple Factors Contributing to Filopodium Formation

Background: Filopodia are dynamic, finger-like actin-filament bundles that overcome membrane tension by forces generated through actin polymerization at their tips to allow extension of these structures a few microns beyond the cell periphery. Actin assembly of these protrusions is regulated by accessory proteins including heterodimeric capping protein (CP) or Ena/VASP actin polymerases to either terminate or promote filament growth. Accordingly, the depletion of CP in B16-F1 melanoma cells was previously shown to cause an explosive formation of filopodia. In Ena/VASP-deficient cells, CP depletion appeared to result in ruffling instead of inducing filopodia, implying that Ena/VASP proteins are absolutely essential for filopodia formation. However, this hypothesis was not yet experimentally confirmed. Methods: Here, we used B16-F1 cells and CRISPR/Cas9 technology to eliminate CP either alone or in combination with Ena/VASP or other factors residing at filopodia tips, followed by quantifications of filopodia length and number. Results: Unexpectedly, we find massive formations of filopodia even in the absence of CP and Ena/VASP proteins. Notably, combined inactivation of Ena/VASP, unconventional myosin-X and the formin FMNL3 was required to markedly impair filopodia formation in CP-deficient cells. Conclusions: Taken together, our results reveal that, besides Ena/VASP proteins, numerous other factors contribute to filopodia formation.
Middle School Students' Knowledge State Analysis about Light

Abstract:In this study, 15 evaluation questions about light were developed and presented to 30 middle schoolstudents, and then the theory of knowledge space was used to analyze the status of the middle school students'knowledge about light. Not only was the state of the students' knowledge about light intended to be measured byschematizing the knowledge hierarchy obtained; the data obtained were also intended to be used as basic materials toimprove the teaching methods used. To achieve the purpose of this study, the evaluation results, the individualknowledge state, and the hierarchy of questions were analyzed. As a result, different knowledge structures werefound in the individuals and groups, and it was determined that individuals and groups should be diagnoseddifferently. In addition, the implication that there is a connection between each question and the individualknowledge state was drawn.Key words: Knowledge space, knowledge state, hierarchy, evaluationKongju National University, The Republic of Korea
Direction-dependent asymmetric expansion of laser-induced shockwaves in air

Laser induced breakdown of air is used to create a SW by focusing a 7 ns, 532 nm, 10 Hz Nd:YAG laser. Plasma created at the breakdown launches a compression wave into the nearest ambient air molecular layers that propagate at supersonic velocities. The propagation characteristics of SWs are studied double probe-beam deflectometry method, by two noninteracting probe beams that are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the propagation direction of the SW creating laser beam. The evolution of the laser induced SWs in air created at the focus along the direction of propagation (forward probe, FP) and in the direction opposite to the laser propagation (backward probe, BP) of the breakdown creating laser beam, are studied. The nature of the SW is estimated from the arrival time (τ) measured at different distances (Z) from the focal volume. At an input laser energy of 45 mJ, the arrival time information in the backward probe showed τ ∞ Z2.5 behavior indicating spherical SWs and in the forward direction followed τ ∞ Z1.6 showing planar expansion of the SWs revealing direction dependent asymmetric expansion of SWs across the focal plane. The pressure of the SWs estimated using counter pressure corrected point strong explosion theory along with the experimentally measured shock velocities are used to generate the P - U Hugoniot of shock compressed air.
Importance of Urodynamic Dysfunctions as Risk Factors for Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Objective: To analyze the role of urodynamic dysfunctions as risk factors for recurrent urinary tract infections (rUTIs) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Material and methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of 170 patients with MS who underwent a urodynamic study due to lower urinary tract symptoms. Patients were followed for one year, and 114 (84 women [74%] and 30 men [26%]; mean age 49 years) completed the study. Clinical variables and urodynamic findings (free uroflowmetry, cystometry, and pressure-flow study results) were recorded. Results indicated rUTIs was present in 37 patients (32%). Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher’s exact test, chi-square test, Student’s t-test, and multivariate regression analysis. Results: In univariate analysis, significant differences were observed between patients with and without rUTIs for the following clinical variables: symptom progression time, MS duration, Expanded Disability Status Scale score, and MS type. Regarding urodynamic findings, significant differences were observed in maximum flow rate (Qmax) (lower in patients with rUTIs), voided volume, bladder voiding efficiency, stress urinary incontinence (SUI) (greater rUTI frequency in affected patients), detrusor pressure at maximum flow, and bladder contractility index score. Multivariate analysis identified the urodynamic factors: low Qmax [Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.90 and SUI (OR = 2.95) as the independent predictors of rUTs. Conclusions: Two urodynamic variables: Qmax and SUI, are independent risk factors for rUTIs in MS patients. These two variables might be associated with Pelvic floor dysfunctions.