Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Seeing the wood for the trees

In his essay on the nature of science, Isaac Asimov warns us against what he calls "the fallacy of the growing edge", or in other words against the belief that only the frontiers of scientific advance count and that everything that has gone before is faded and dead. If science is seen as a growing tree then its frontiers correspond to the leaves, but it is the trunk and limbs which give to the tree its grandeur and to the leaves their meaning. If the growing edge is all that is presented, as it is in so much popular writing, then science loses its historical dimension and looks very much like magic.
Evaluation of the Turkish Population’s Perspective on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Routine Childhood Vaccine Applications: National Survey Study

Background: It is important to evaluate the attitude of society towards vaccines to understand the rates of acceptance and hesitance towards vaccination, which are essential components of public health and epidemiology. This study aimed to evaluate the perspective of the Turkish population on COVID-19 status, rate of vaccination, and also to evaluate the reasons for refusal to vaccinate, vaccine hesitancy, and related factors. Methods: A total of 4539 participants were included in this population-based descriptive and cross-sectional study. The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS-II) was used to obtain a representative sample and for this purpose Turkey was divided into 26 regions. Participants were randomly selected based on the demographic features and population ratios of the selected regions. The following parameters were evaluated: sociodemographic characteristics and perspectives on COVID-19 vaccines, Vaccine Hesitancy Scale Adapted to Pandemics (VHS-P), and Anti-Vaccine Scale-Long Form (AVS-LF) questions. Results: A total of 4539 participants, 2303 (50.7%) male and 2236 (49.3%) female, aged between 18 and 73 years, were included in this study. It was observed that 58.4% of the participants had hesitations towards COVID-19 vaccination, and 19.6% were hesitant about all childhood vaccinations. Those who did not have the COVID-19 vaccine, who did not think that the COVID-19 vaccine was protective, and who had hesitation to vaccinate against COVID-19 had significantly higher median scores on the VHS-P and AVS-LF scales, respectively (all p < 0.01). Those who did not have their children vaccinated in childhood and who were hesitant about childhood vaccinations, had significantly higher median scores on the VHS-P and AVS-LF scales, respectively (all p < 0.01). Conclusion: Although the rate of vaccination for COVID-19 was 93.4% in the study, hesitation to vaccinate was 58.4%. The median score of the scales of those who were hesitant about childhood vaccinations was higher than individuals who did not have any hesitation. In general, the source of concerns about vaccines should be clearly seen, and precautions should be taken.
Newton's Methods from a Geometric Point of View

The main problem we are going to analyze is the computation of the zeroes of an application f ∈ Ck(Rn,Rn). For many of the results in these pages we need only a small k (k = 1 or k = 2), but we are interested on the geometric behaviour of our applications, and so by convenience we always suppose k = ∞. The study of the system f(x) = 0 has a long history. The case best understood is the affine situation in which the system reduces to: A · x = b, A ∈Mn×n(R), b ∈ R. The equation is called “linear system” and there exists a lot of work made in its comprehension [18]. However, for the general problem: f(x) = 0 with f ∈ C(R,R), (1.1) unless we do suppose some restriction on the behaviour of f the problem becomes unsolvable. Being this the situation it is normal to simplify the problem by looking for points verifying weaker conditions as: x ∈ Z2(f), (1.2) with Z2(f) = {x ∈ Rn : exists x0 ∈ Rn such that f(x0) = 0 and ‖x−x0‖ < 2}, or more frequently: x ∈ Z 2 (f), (1.3) with Z 2 (f) = {x ∈ Rn : exists x0 ∈ Rn such that f(x0) = 0 and ‖f(x)‖ < 2}.
Evaluating Tropical Cyclone Forecasts from the NCEP Global Ensemble Forecasting System (GEFS) Reforecast Version 2

AbstractTropical cyclone (TC) forecasts from the NCEP Global Ensemble Forecasting System (GEFS) Reforecast version 2 (1985–2012) were evaluated from the climate perspective, with a focus on tropical cyclogenesis. Although the GEFS captures the climatological seasonality of tropical cyclogenesis over different ocean basins reasonably well, large errors exist on the regional scale. As different genesis pathways are dominant over different ocean basins, genesis biases are related to biases in different aspects of the large-scale or synoptic-scale circulations over different basins. The negative genesis biases over the western North Pacific are associated with a weaker-than-observed monsoon trough in the GEFS, the erroneous genesis pattern over the eastern North Pacific is related to a southward displacement of the ITCZ, and the positive genesis biases near the Cape Verde islands and negative biases farther downstream over the Atlantic can be attributed to the hyperactive Africa easterly waves in the GEFS. Th.
Lab to Multiscene Generalization for Non-Line-of-Sight Identification With Small-Scale Datasets

Ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless indoor positioning systems rely on time-of-flight to estimate distances but can be biased and miscalculated due to non-line-of-sight (NLOS) transmission channels in complex environments. Therefore, to remove errors, several machine learning (ML) techniques have been proposed for identifying NLOS signals from channel impulse responses (CIRs). However, as CIR signals could be heavily influenced by various environments, current NLOS classifiers are not universal to provide satisfactory accuracy for new scenarios and require detailed measurements on a large number of CIRs for training. Hence, we propose a generalization method based on the data augmentation via noise injection and transfer learning to allow the deep neural network (DNN) trained under a lab condition to be applied to various and even harsh practical scenarios with the need to measure massive training data minimized. This article presents the first demonstration that it is effective to utilize a lab-based pretrained DNN for real-world transfer and white Gaussian noise data augmentation for ML-based NLOS identification on UWB CIRs to address the problem when it is not feasible to measure sufficient training data. Our testing results show that, in two scenarios, corridor and parking lot, with only 50 CIR signals as the training set, the accuracy of the NLOS identification model after applying the proposed method is increased from 84.4% to 98.8% and from 81.1% to 97.1%, respectively.
Magnetic field sensing based on tilted fiber Bragg grating coated with nanoparticle magnetic fluid

A magnetic field sensor based on a tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) coated with magnetic fluid is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. The sensing element is made by injecting the magnetic fluid into a capillary tube which contains a TFBG. The resonant wavelengths of the cladding modes of TFBG shift by varying the magnetic field which is perpendicular to the axis of TFBG. The results indicate that the resonant wavelength shifts of the cladding modes show a nonlinear dependence on the magnetic field. As the magnetic field increases to 32 mT, the largest resonant wavelength shift reaches to 106 pm. Moreover, this sensor shows good repeatability when it is used for magnetic field sensing.
Proposal for identity-based key distribution systems

Key distribution systems based on identification information are presented. The systems are analogous to the Diffie-Hellman public key distribution systems in which the former use each user's identification information instead of public files used in the latter. The systems do not require centres to distribute work keys or users to keep directories of key-encrypting keys. Therefore, key management in cryptosystems can be simplified by the identity-based key distribution systems.
“One button in my pocket instead of the smartphone”: A methodological assemblage connecting self-research and autoethnography in a digital disengagement study

In this article we present a “methodological assemblage” and technological prototype connecting autoethnography to the practices of self-research in personal science. As an experimental process of personal data gathering, one of the authors used a low-tech device for the active registration of events and their perception, in a case study on disengaging from his smartphone. For the visualization of this data the other author developed a novel treatment of fieldnotes in analytic autoethnography through an open source, interactive notebook. As a proof of concept, we provide a detailed description of the corresponding protocol and prototype, also making available the notebook source code and the quantitative-qualitative open dataset behind its visualization. This highly personalized methodological assemblage represents a technological appropriation that combines self-research and autoethnography—two disciplinary perspectives that share a type of inquiry based on situated knowledge, departing from personal data as empirical basis. Despite recent autoethnographic literature on the phenomenon of self-tracking and the Qualified Self, our contribution addresses a lack of studies in the opposite direction: how the practice of self-research mediated by technology can lead to bridges with digital autoethnography, validating their hybrid combination. After addressing diverse conceptual, ontological and methodological similarities and differences between personal science and autoethnography, we contextualize the case study of digital disengagement and provide a detailed description of the developed self-protocol and the tools used for data gathering.
Presence of Multi-Morbidities and Colorectal Cancer Screening Utilization among Breast Cancer Survivors

Simple Summary Breast cancer survivors have an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) due to shared risk factors; thus, adherence to CRC screening recommendation should be prioritized for breast cancer survivors. Further, breast cancer survivors with multiple chronic diseases commonly experience poorer survival outcomes. These together highlight the need for evaluation and management of their chronic disease conditions. Understanding their chronic disease conditions may assist providers offering appropriate screening recommendations for CRC. Through our cross-sectional study, we sought to examine the association between the presence of multiple chronic disease conditions (e.g., diabetes and coronary heart disease) and guideline-concordant CRC screening utilization. Further, we determined the factors in sociodemographic characteristics, quality of life, and cancer-related factors associated with screening uptake among breast cancer survivors. Findings from this study suggest the importance of chronic disease management considering mental/physical health status and other factors (race/ethnicity or receipt of follow-up care plans) in cancer survivorship care. Abstract Purpose: Our study aimed to examine the association between the presence of chronic diseases with guideline-concordant colorectal cancer (CRC) screening utilization among breast cancer survivors. Methods: We analyzed data among women with a history of breast cancer from the 2016, 2018, and 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Receipt of guideline-concordant CRC screening was the outcome of interest. Diabetes, coronary heart disease/myocardial infarction, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema/chronic bronchitis, arthritis, depressive disorder, or kidney diseases were included in chronic disease conditions. Results: Among 1324 survivors, those with multi-morbidities (3+ chronic diseases; 88.3%) had higher CRC screening use compared to those with one (84.4%) or two (85.4%) diseases (p-value < 0.05). In multivariable analysis, survivors with multi-morbidities were two times more likely to have CRC screening compared to those with only one disease (OR, 2.10; 95% CI, 1.11–3.98). Among survivors with multi-morbidities, Black women (OR, 14.07; 95% CI, 5.61–35.27), and those with frequent poor physical health (OR, 3.32; 95% CI, 1.57–7.00) were positively associated with CRC screening use. Conversely, survivors with frequent poor mental health were 67% less likely to receive CRC screening (OR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.14–0.74). Conclusion: Among breast cancer survivors, multi-morbidities were positively associated with CRC screening.
Locating car license plates using neural networks

The authors present a method for locating car license plates using neural networks. Neural networks are used as filters for analysing small windows of an image and deciding whether each window contains a license plate. A post-processor combines these filtered images and gives the final location of the license plates. The method offers robustness when dealing with noisy images. Tests with car images travelling on the road and at the entrance of a car park showed extraction rates of 99 and 97.5%, respectively. These results suggest that the proposed method works well with real-world situations.
Weighted Histogram Color Image Retrieval Based on Color Complexity Measure

According to the human visual system(HVS), a weighted histogram color image retrieval based on color complexity measure(CCM) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the color complexity measure(CCM) of pixels are calculated, which reflecting the image local variation. Secondly, all pixels are weighed by the color complexity measure, and the weighted histogram are cumulated. Finally, the similarity between color images is computed by using the weighted histogram. Experimental experiments, including comparisons with state-of-the-arts, show the effectiveness of our algorithm in improving the retrieval performance.
Comparison of Police Data on Animal Cruelty and the Perception of Animal Welfare NGOs in Hungary

Simple Summary The public often expresses a high level of dissatisfaction with the work of the animal welfare authorities. On the one hand, we investigated the police’s procedural practices in relation to animal cruelty and on the other hand, we asked animal protection non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for their views on animal cruelty and the related police and judicial activities. We found that the police generally act quickly and with caution. However, the most sensitive section of the public is practically unaware of animal cruelty and forms its opinion on the basis of its concerns. Although most police officers consider the crime of animal cruelty to be somewhat more important than the average, the vast majority of animal welfare NGOs consider this crime to be extremely important. Three emotions play a prominent role for animal welfare NGOs in relation to animal cruelty: anger, disgust and sadness. For this very reason, it would be beneficial if the police were to provide more detailed information to the public, because the prejudices that give rise to dissatisfaction with them are largely unjustified. Abstract Animal cruelty has been a criminal offence in Hungary since 2004 and the legislator has tightened and differentiated the regulations in several waves since then. However, it is not an exaggeration to say that the public is often impatient and dissatisfied with the actions of the authorities in relation to animal cruelty. In our research, based on the data of the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police Headquarters, we examined the opinions of 99 out of a total of 155 police stations in Hungary whose staff currently working there had experience in dealing with animal cruelty. The investigators gave their opinion on a total of 1169 cases in which some kind of police action was taken, either following a report to the police or as a result of their own investigative actions. In another survey, we questioned those members of society who are most committed to animal protection using a self-completion questionnaire. The questionnaire sent to the 116 Hungarian animal welfare non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on the publicly available lists was also posted for a short period on the social networking site of NGO activists. Among those who responded, a total of 150 identified as active participants in the animal protection work of these NGOs. The picture of the police treatment of animal cruelty, as perceived by NGOs working in the field of animal protection, is significantly less favourable than suggested by the police data. According to the official data, 77.7% of reports initiated an investigation, while the vast majority of animal welfare activists (81.3%) suspects that only 25% of the reports result in action by the prosecuting authority.
Influence of Stagger Angle on Aerodynamic Sound Performance of Compressor Cascade

The turbulent flow through an axial compressor cascade and the sound induced by the flow are computed based on a large eddy simulation(LES) model and the boundary element method.The influence of the freestream angle of attack and Reynolds number on sound generation and radiation in the cascade at different stagger angles are analyzed.The results indicate that the total sound pressure level first decreases,then increases when the stagger angle and Reynolds number are constant while the angle of attack changes from-5° to 20°. The minimum sound pressure level appears at the angle of attack of 0°. At stagger angle of 45°,the total sound pressure level of the cascade changes varying with angle of attack,the trend is similar to that of the stagger angle of 30°. However,at the stagger angle of 60°,the total sound pressure level changes more gently.At the angle of attack of 0°,the sound pressure level increases about 6 dB comparing with the case of the stagger angle of 30°and 45°. At other positive angles of attack,the changes are not obvious.The minimum sound pressure level appears at the direction of the cascade chord.The positions of the minimum sound pressure level vary with change of stagger angles.With a constant stagger angle,surface separation and flow loss decrease with the increase of the Reynolds number.However,the surface pressure fluctuation of cascade and the far-field radiation sound increase.
Optimal Sensor Set for Decoding Motor Imagery from EEG

Brain-computer interfaces can be used to operate devices by detecting a person's intention from their brain activity. Decoding motor imagery (MI) from electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is a commonly used approach for this purpose. To reliably identify MI from EEG signals, a sufficient number of sensors is usually required. However, a large number of sensors increases the computational cost of discriminating MI classes. Furthermore, consumer-grade devices that measure EEG signals often employ a reduced number of sensors compared to medical- or research-grade devices. In this experimental study, we investigate the tradeoff between accuracy and complexity when decoding MI from a restricted number of EEG sensors. For this purpose, several decoding pipelines were trained on EEG data using different subsets of electrode locations employing well-established decoding methods. We found that there is no significant difference $\boldsymbol{(\mathrm{p}=[0.18-0.91])}$ in average decoding accuracy when using fewer sensors. The largest loss in performance for a single individual was a reduction in mean decoding accuracy of 0.1 when using 8 out of 64 available sensors. Decoding MI from a limited number of sensors is therefore feasible, highlighting the potential of using commercial sensor devices for this purpose to reduce both monetary and computational costs.
Alteration of Substrate Specificity and Transglucosylation Activity of GH13_31 α-Glucosidase from Bacillus sp. AHU2216 through Site-Directed Mutagenesis of Asn258 on β→α Loop 5

α-Glucosidase catalyzes the hydrolysis of α-d-glucosides and transglucosylation. Bacillus sp. AHU2216 α-glucosidase (BspAG13_31A), belonging to the glycoside hydrolase family 13 subfamily 31, specifically cleaves α-(1→4)-glucosidic linkages and shows high disaccharide specificity. We showed previously that the maltose moiety of maltotriose (G3) and maltotetraose (G4), covering subsites +1 and +2 of BspAG13_31A, adopts a less stable conformation than the global minimum energy conformation. This unstable d-glucosyl conformation likely arises from steric hindrance by Asn258 on β→α loop 5 of the catalytic (β/α)8-barrel. In this study, Asn258 mutants of BspAG13_31A were enzymatically and structurally analyzed. N258G/P mutations significantly enhanced trisaccharide specificity. The N258P mutation also enhanced the activity toward sucrose and produced erlose from sucrose through transglucosylation. N258G showed a higher specificity to transglucosylation with p-nitrophenyl α-d-glucopyranoside and maltose than the wild type. E256Q/N258G and E258Q/N258P structures in complex with G3 revealed that the maltose moiety of G3 bound at subsites +1 and +2 adopted a relaxed conformation, whereas a less stable conformation was taken in E256Q. This structural difference suggests that stabilizing the G3 conformation enhances trisaccharide specificity. The E256Q/N258G-G3 complex formed an additional hydrogen bond between Met229 and the d-glucose residue of G3 in subsite +2, and this interaction may enhance transglucosylation.
A positive definite advection scheme obtained by nonlinear renormalization of the advective fluxes

Abstract A new method is developed to obtain a conservative and positive definite advection scheme that produces only small numerical diffusion. Advective fluxes are computed utilizing the integrated flux form of Tremback et al. These fluxes are normalized and then limited by upper and lower values. The resulting advection equation is numerically solved by means of the usual upstream procedure. The proposed treatment is not restricted to the integrated flux form but may also be applied to other known advection algorithms which are formulated in terms of advective fluxes. Different numerical tests are presented illustrating that the proposed scheme strongly reduces numerical and diffusion and simultaneously requires only small computational effort. For Corant numbers with absolute values not exceeding one, the scheme preserves numerical stability except in strong deformational flow fields where slight instabilities may occur.