Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Padé approximation of the S-matrix as a way of locating quantum resonances and bound states

It is shown that the spectral points (bound states and resonances) generated by a central potential of a single-channel problem, can be found using rational parametrization of the S-matrix. To achieve this, one only needs values of the S-matrix along the real positive energy axis. No calculations of the S-matrix at complex energies or a complex rotation are necessary. The proposed method is therefore universal in that it is applicable to any potential (local, non-local, discontinuous, etc) provided that there is a way of obtaining the S-matrix (or scattering phase shifts) at real collision energies. Besides this, combined with any method that extracts the phase shifts from the scattering data, the proposed rational parametrization technique would be able to do the spectral analysis using the experimental data.
Engineered charge transfer and reactive site over hierarchical Ti3C2T x MXene@In2S3-NiS toward enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution

Steering photogenerated electron flow to the effective reactive sites is ideal for photocatalytic H2 evolution. Herein, as a proof-of-concept, NiS is coupled with a typical Schottky heterojunction of Ti3C2T x MXene@In2S3 through the photodepotition method towards improving the photocatalytic H2 evolution performance. In addition to the Schottky effect-mediated electron transfer in Ti3C2T x MXene@In2S3 heterojunctions, p–n junctions form between In2S3 and NiS to extract photoinduced electrons, which is found to cooperate with the role of effective H2 evolution reactive sites. The synergistic dual functions of NiS cooperate with Ti3C2T x MXene promote multichannel electron transfer in Ti3C2T x MXene@In2S3-NiS hybrids to improve the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) efficiency by 41 times compared to the bare In2S3. These results enlighten the engineering of the spatial transfer of photoinduced electrons to the reactive sites toward boosting the efficiency of photocatalytic HER.
Development and Optimization of a Prognostic Model Associated with Stemness Genes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide, which is associated with a variety of risk factors. Cancer stem cells are self-renewal cells, which can promote the occurrence and metastasis of tumors and enhance the drug resistance of tumor treatment. This study aimed to develop a stemness score model to assess the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients for the optimization of treatment. The single-cell sequencing data GSE149614 was downloaded from the GEO database. Then, we compared the gene expression of hepatic stem cells and other hepatocytes in tumor samples to screen differentially expressed genes related to stemness. R package “clusterProfiler” was used to explore the potential function of stemness-related genes. We then constructed a prognostic model using LASSO regression analysis based on the TCGA and GSE14520 cohorts. The associations of stemness score with clinical features, drug sensitivity, gene mutation, and tumor immune microenvironment were further explored. R package “rms” was used to construct the nomogram model. A total of 18 stemness-related genes were enrolled to construct the prognosis model. Kaplan-Meier analysis proved the good performance of the stemness score model at predicting overall survival (OS) of HCC patients. The stemness score was closely associated with clinical features, drug sensitivity, and tumor immune microenvironment of HCC. The infiltration level of CD8+ T cells was lower, and tumor-associated macrophages were higher in patients with high-stemness score, indicating an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Our study established an 18 stemness-related gene model that reliably predicts OS in HCC. The findings may help clarify the biological characteristics and progression of HCC and help the future diagnosis and therapy of HCC.
Cosmodynamics: energy conditions, Hubble bounds, density bounds, time and distance bounds

We refine and extend a programme initiated by one of the current authors (Visser 1997 Science 276 88, Visser 1997 Phys. Rev. D 56 7578) advocating the use of the classical energy conditions of general relativity in a cosmological setting to place very general and robust bounds on various cosmological parameters. We show how the energy conditions can be used to bound the Hubble parameter H(z), Omega parameter Ω(z), density ρ(z), distance d(z) and lookback time T(z) as (relatively) simple functions of the redshift z, present-epoch Hubble parameter H0 and present-epoch Omega parameter Ω0. The bounds we obtain are typically in the form of polynomial, rational, algebraic or elementary functions, and only in one specific case do we need to deal with special functions (the hypergeometric function). We compare these results with related observations in the literature, in several cases developing new and considerably more general bounds, and then confront these bounds with the recent supernova data.
Implementation of Competence-Based Human Resources Management in the Digital Era

Human resource management digitization may help businesses update their HR processes and provide them a competitive edge. At the same time, it demands a change in work style and a change in the necessity for Human Resources. The purpose of the study is to determine how competency-based human resource management may be used in the digital age. Additionally, researchers examine the primary advantages and disadvantages of the present situation and examine how they affect the skills and roles of HR professionals. Analysis of secondary data characterizing the degree of current digital proficiency based on the responses of more than 7,000 respondents from six EU member nations is part of the qualitative research (Germany, Finland, UK, Portugal, Sweden and Slovakia). The findings show that professional HR applications are typically hesitant to incorporate new technology. Future scholars should note that this study solely focuses on how human resource management is used in the digital age. Therefore, further in-depth study on this issue may be carried out by choosing a larger focal area.
Effect of complete blood count parameters on the clinical course of COVID-19 in pregnant women

Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, affected pregnant women as well as many people. Aim of this study is to compare complete blood count (CBC) parameters of pregnant women infected with COVID-19 to that of healthy pregnant women and determine their prognostic features. 142 pregnant women infected with COVID-19 and 46 healthy pregnant women, included in this retrospective case-control study. Patients infected with COVID-19 were grouped as mild, moderate and severe, according to the findings of oxygen saturation and lung involvement. Age, gestational age, gravida, hospitalization length and CBC parameters of the participants were compared, according to the groups. CBC test revealed that uninfected pregnant women had statistically lower level of white blood cell count (WBC, p=0.001), platelet count (p=0,024), neutrophil count (p=0,001), lymphocytes (p=0,005), monocytes (p=0,001) and platelecrit (p=0.007) than from infected pregnant women. Evaluation of pregnant women with COVID-19 grouped into 3 categories as mild, moderate and severe showed that age, gravida and hospitalization length were comparable between groups, WBC (p=0.012) and neutrophile (p=0.001) counts of mild group were significantly lower than moderate group and there was no significant difference between moderate and severe groups regarding WBC and neutrophile counts (respectively p=0,281, p=0.542). CBC analysis is simple, applicable, widely used and cheap laboratory method. CBC parameters seem as a candidate for predicting COVID-19 clinical course. However, larger sample sized prospective studies supporting this idea are required.
Association Between Testicular Microlithiasis and Histological Subtype in Testicular Cancer

Background There is a clear association between testicular cancer and microlithiasis when there are predisposing risk factors such as the history of germ cell tumors in first-degree relatives, testicular atrophy, Klinefelter’s syndrome, and cryptorchidism. This study aimed to establish an association between microlithiasis and the histological subtype of testicular cancer by analyzing data on Hispanic population. Methods A retrospective cohort, longitudinal, comparative, and analytic study was conducted on patients with a confirmed diagnosis of primary testicular cancer. The testicular ultrasounds were checked before any surgical treatment to find microlithiasis. We performed a binary logistic regression to establish an association between microlithiasis and the type of testicular cancer. Results A total of 130 clinical files were analyzed. Binary logistic regression showed no association between testicular microlithiasis and the subtype of testicular cancer (p = 0.438, 95% CI: 0.80-1.64). The result of the Pearson chi-square test showed no association (p = 0.184). We also analyzed the association between age and microlithiasis using the one-way ANOVA test (p = 0.82) and the association between age and the dichotomic subtype of testicular cancer (seminomatous and non-seminomatous) using the ANOVA one-way test, which showed no significant association in age and testicular cancer subtype (p = 0.178). Conclusions There was no association between testicular microlithiasis and the histological subtype of testicular cancer in our study. As mentioned before, we recommend conducting a more extensive study to provide further scientific evidence to establish a reliable association between microlithiasis and the subtype of testicular cancer since there is a discrepancy in the results of our study with the information previously reported. We encourage the study of characterization of risk factors among ethnic groups as this field has not been explored yet.
Efficacy and Safety of Apatinib in the Treatment of Chemotherapy-Refractory Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review

The purpose of this study was to systematically review the current evidence on apatinib and offer a better understanding of its safety and efficacy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients who have not responded to standard chemotherapies. This systematic review was conducted using research from the last 10 years (May 30, 2012, to May 30, 2022) and was obtained from the following databases: PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. After removing duplicates, screening titles and abstracts, and applying eligibility criteria and quality appraisal, 11 articles were left for this systematic review (one meta-analysis, eight non-randomized studies, and two traditional reviews). Out of the 11 studies, six were on apatinib monotherapy, while three were on apatinib combination therapy. Apatinib has demonstrated efficacy in the monotherapy and combination therapy trials and has exhibited an acceptable safety profile as the adverse events were predominantly graded 1-2 and could be easily managed. Therefore, apatinib is an encouraging candidate for third-line therapy in chemotherapy-refractory mCRC patients. This conclusion should be confirmed and validated by studies with larger, randomized clinical trials to gain better insight and to directly compare the efficacy and safety of apatinib with all current third-line therapies together so that clinicians can easily assess which treatment modality is superior for chemotherapy-refractory mCRC patients.
Transition to Absolute Instability for (not so) Dummies

These notes are intended as an elementary introduction to the concept of absolute instability. The transition from convective instability to absolute instability is an important issue when the stability of stationary flow solutions is investigated. The arguments here described were first developed in the framework of plasma physics and later applied to the hydrodynamics of mixing layers and shear flows. Far from being a comprehensive analysis of this complicated subject, the aim of these notes is just to sketch a rudimentary and quite elementary ground for physicists or engineers which have a familiarity with the basic features of linear stability in fluid dynamics, but are new to the concept of absolute instability.
Effect of comprehensive smoke-free legislation on the tourism industry in countries of the Caribbean Community

ABSTRACT Objective. To assess whether the introduction of comprehensive smoke-free legislation affected tourism in four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries – Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Methods. We compared the evolution of three tourism variables – tourist arrivals, tourist expenditure, and average length of stay – in a country implementing smoke-free environments (treated country) with the evolution of these variables in the same country if smoke-free legislation had not been implemented. We used a synthetic control method to recreate this counterfactual scenario by constructing a synthetic country using a weighted average of several donor-pool CARICOM countries that did not introduce legislation on smoke-free environments during the period analyzed. We quantified the effect of the smoke-free environments on tourism as the difference between tourism variables in the treated and synthetic country. To assess whether the estimated effect of the smoke-free environments was the result of chance, we compared the effects of legislation in the treated country to placebo effects in the donor pool by assuming comprehensive smoke-free legislation was introduced in the same year as in the treated country. Results. Implementing smoke-free environments did not affect the arrival of tourists, tourism expenditure, or the average length of stay in the four countries. Conclusions. Our findings provide strong evidence that public policies banning smoking in public places do not affect hospitality and tourism businesses. Given the economic significance of this industry in the Caribbean, the local evidence provided by this study will help to effectively counteract interference by the tobacco industry and advance towards a smoke-free Caribbean.
Substrate Integrated Waveguide Filters in Glass Interposer for mmWave Applications

This letter presents the first demonstration of substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) filters in glass interposers for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$D$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-band (110–170 GHz). The material stack-up consists of 100-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-thick Asahi Glass Company (AGC) ENA1 glass with 15-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-thick Ajinomoto Build-up Films (ABF GL102) laminated on both sides. To demonstrate different frequency responses, cavities with two different shapes (square and rectangle) are used to design the filters. The cavities are fed using center coupled microstrip lines. Semi-additive process (SAP) is used to fabricate the filters. The diameter and pitch of the via side wall are designed to be 70 and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$170 ~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, respectively. The measured results are in excellent agreement with the simulation models. At ~130 GHz, first-, second-, and third-order square SIW filters show 1.54-, 2.7-, and 4.2-dB insertion loss, respectively. The relative bandwidth for the square filters is 12.8%, 9%, and 8.8%, respectively. The first- and second-order rectangular SIW filters show 1.65- and 2.85-dB insertion loss, respectively, and the relative bandwidth for these filters is 9.5% and 9%, respectively.
Finite sample properties of GMM estimators and tests

Contents: Preface; 1. Introduction to the generalized method of moments estimation David Harris and Laszlo Matyas; 2. GMM estimation techniques Masao Ogaki; 3. Covariance matrix estimation Matthew J. Cushing and Mary G. McGarvey; 4. Hypothesis testing in models estimated by GMM Alastair R. Hall; 5. Finite sample properties of GMM estimators and tests Jan M. Podivinsky; 6. GMM estimation of time series models David Harris; 7. Reduced rank regression using GMM Frank Kleibergen; 8. Estimation of linear panel data models using GMM Seung C. Ahn and Peter Schmidt; 9. Alternative GMM methods for nonlinear panel data models Jorg Breitung and Michael Lechner; 10. Simulation based method of moments Roman Liesenfeld and Jorg Breitung; 11. Logically inconsistent limited dependent variables models J. S. Butler and Gabriel Picone; Index.
Teaching Elementary Mathematics with Educational Robotics

Current education reforms call for engaging students in learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in an integrative way. This critical case study of one fourth grade teacher investigated the use of educational robots (ER) not only for teaching coding, but as an instructional support in teaching mathematical concepts. To support teachers in teaching coding in an integrative and logical manner, our team developed the Collective Argumentation Learning and Coding (CALC) approach. The CALC approach consists of three elements: choice of task, coding content, and teacher support for argumentation. After a cohort of elementary teachers completed a professional development course, we followed them into their classrooms to support and document implementation of the CALC approach. Data for this case consisted of video recordings of two lessons, a Pre-interview, and Post-interview after each lesson. Research questions included: How does an elementary teacher use the CALC approach (integrative STEM approach) to teach mathematics concepts with ER? What are the teacher’s perspectives towards teaching mathematics with ER using an integrative STEM approach? Results from this critical case provide evidence that teachers can successfully integrate ER into the mathematics curriculum without losing coherence of mathematics topics and while remaining sensitive to students’ needs.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL SIMULATIONS OF PURE DEFLAGRATION MODELS FOR THERMONUCLEAR SUPERNOVAE

We present a systematic study of the pure deflagration model of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) using three-dimensional, high-resolution, full-star hydrodynamical simulations, nucleosynthetic yields calculated using Lagrangian tracer particles, and light curves calculated using radiation transport. We evaluate the simulations by comparing their predicted light curves with many observed SNe Ia using the SALT2 data-driven model and find that the simulations may correspond to under-luminous SNe Iax. We explore the effects of the initial conditions on our results by varying the number of randomly selected ignition points from 63 to 3500, and the radius of the centered sphere they are confined in from 128 to 384 km. We find that the rate of nuclear burning depends on the number of ignition points at early times, the density of ignition points at intermediate times, and the radius of the confining sphere at late times. The results depend primarily on the number of ignition points, but we do not expect this to be the case in general. The simulations with few ignition points release more nuclear energy Enuc, have larger kinetic energies EK, and produce more 56Ni than those with many ignition points, and differ in the distribution of 56Ni, Si, and C/O in the ejecta. For these reasons, the simulations with few ignition points exhibit higher peak B-band absolute magnitudes MB and light curves that rise and decline more quickly; their MB and light curves resemble those of under-luminous SNe Iax, while those for simulations with many ignition points are not.
An Exactly Solvable Discrete Stochastic Process with Correlated Properties

We propose a correlated stochastic process of which the novel non-Gaussian probability mass function is constructed by exactly solving moment generating function. The calculation of cumulants and auto-correlation shows that the process is convergent and scale invariant in the large but finite number limit. We demonstrate that the model consistently explains both the distribution and the correlation of discrete financial time-series data, and predicts the data distribution with high precision in the small number regime.
Impact of Interface Traps in Floating-Gate Memory Based on Monolayer MoS

Two-dimensional materials (2DMs) have found potential applications in many areas of electronics, such as sensing, memory systems, optoelectronics, and power. Despite an intense experimental work, the literature is lacking of accurate modeling of nonvolatile memories (NVMs) based on 2DMs. In this work, using technology CAD simulations and model calibration with experiments, we show that the experimental program/erase characteristics of floating-gate (FG) memory devices based on monolayer molybdenum disulphide can be explained by considering bandgap trap states at the dielectric–semiconductor interface. The simulation model includes a classical approach based on drift-diffusion longitudinal channel transport and on nonlocal Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin (WKB) tunneling for transversal transport (responsible of FG charging/discharging) and for tunneling at contacts. From hysteresis and pulse programming simulations on scaled devices, we find that the long-channel programming window is still maintained at $\sim 100$ nm and that process improvements aimed at reducing the concentration of interface traps in the semiconducting bandgap could significantly optimize memory operation.
Training Data Selection and Dimensionality Reduction for Polynomial and Artificial Neural Network MIMO Adaptive Digital Predistortion

In 5G and beyond radios, the increased bandwidth, the fast-changing waveform scenarios, and the operation of large array multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmitter architectures have challenged both the polynomial and the artificial neural network (ANN) MIMO adaptive digital predistortion (DPD) schemes. This article proposes training data selection methods and dimensionality reduction techniques that can be combined to enable relevant reductions of the DPD training time and the implementation complexity for MIMO transmitter architectures. In this work, the combination of an efficient uncorrelated equation selection (UES) mechanism together with orthogonal least squares (OLS) is proposed to reduce the training data length and the number of basis functions at every behavioral modeling matrix in the polynomial MIMO DPD scheme. For ANN MIMO DPD architectures, applying UES and principal component analysis (PCA) is proposed to reduce the input dataset length and features, respectively. The UES-OLS and the UES-PCA techniques are experimentally validated for a $2 \,\times \, 2$ MIMO test setup with strong power amplifier (PA) input and output crosstalk.
Mixed precision applied on common mathematical procedures over GPU

Approximate Computing is a paradigm used by researchers as alternative to the diminishing of the evolution of hardware performance in the ongoing race for computational throughput in HPC. Precision reduction and mixed precision are the most studied among the existing techniques. In addition, some NVIDIA GPUs have Tensor Core architecture to speed up some classes of algorithms, such as matrix multiplication. This study aims to apply Approximate Computing techniques, like mixed precision, in matrix multiplication and stencil algorithms using OpenACC directives and cuTensor library to analyze performance gains versus accuracy losses. Results showed that it was possible to obtain a speedup of 16.60× with an optimized matrix multiplication algorithm present in the matmul intrinsic function using 16-bit floating-point data with Tensor Core, compared to a naive version using 64-bit floating-point. For this same case, accuracy loss went from 10−26 up to 10−1, approximately. For the stencil algorithm, it was possible to obtain a gain of 1.60× by only reducing variables precision from 64-bit to 16-bit floating-point, with accuracy loss from 0 to 10−9, for 300 iterations.