Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Haloferax mediterranei Strain R4 Capabilities for Cadmium Removal from Brines

Haloferax mediterranei has revealed a high bioremediation potential for several inorganic anions (e.g., nitrates and nitrites) and metals from hypersaline waters and brines. However, it is unclear, to date, whether this microorganism allows Cd (II) bioremediation. Consequently, the main objective of this work was to assess the Cd (II) bioremediation potential of Hfx. mediterranei R4. To this end, Hfx. mediterranei cell growth rate and metal bioaccumulation were investigated using different culture media (complex, CM, and defined medium, DM) containing Cd (II) up to 1 mM. In addition, the elemental profile of the biomass (i.e., Al, Ba, Ca, Co, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Sr and Zn) has also been monitored to gain insight into the metabolic processes that may be taking place at the intracellular level for Cd (II) removal. Because of the formation of CdS precipitate, CM is not a suitable culture media for evaluating Cd bioremediation since metal concentration could not be appropriately controlled. When operating in DM, it was observed that the cell doubling time increases three times in the presence of Cd (II). Hfx. mediterranei can bioaccumulate Cd, showing the highest significant accumulation at concentrations of 0.4 mM (108 ± 12 mg Cd/g dry tissue). Finally, the presence of Cd (II) affects the content of K, Mg, Mn and Zn in the biomass, by increasing K levels up to 27 ± 18% and Mn up to 310 ± 140% and reducing Mg levels up to 55 ± 36% and Zn up to 30 ± 4%. These results suggest that different mechanisms are involved in Cd (II) tolerance by Hfx. mediterranei, resulting in increasing the cell concentration of stress-tolerant elements in the biomass (K and Mn), while lowering the concentration of elements which Cd (II) competes with (Mg and Zn), and that all affects the physiological response of the organism by decreasing its growth rate.
Nitrogen Fixation by an Arc Plasma at Elevated Pressure to Increase the Energy Efficiency and Production Rate of NOx

: Plasma-based nitrogen fixation for fertilizer production is an attractive alternative to the fossil fuel-based industrial processes. However, many factors hinder its applicability, e.g., the commonly observed inverse correlation between energy consumption and production rates or the necessity to enhance the selectivity toward NO 2 , the desired product for a more facile formation of nitrate-based fertilizers. In this work, we investigated the use of a rotating gliding arc plasma for nitrogen fixation at elevated pressures (up to 3 barg), at different feed gas flow rates and composition. Our results demonstrate a dramatic increase in the amount of NO x produced as a function of increasing pressure, with a record-low EC of 1.8 MJ/(mol N) while yielding a high production rate of 69 g/h and a high selectivity (94%) of NO 2 . We ascribe this improvement to the enhanced thermal Zeldovich mechanism and an increased rate of NO oxidation compared to the back reaction of NO with atomic oxygen, due to the elevated pressure.
A Novel Multi-Indicator Evaluation Algorithm for Identifying the Important Nodes in Complex Networks

Identification of important nodes is an emerging hot topic in complex networks over the last few years. Various measures have been proposed to characterize the importance of nodes in complex networks, such as the degree, betweenness, closeness, etc. At present, most algorithms of important node evaluation are based on the single-indicator, which can't reflect the whole condition of the complex network. Therefore, in this paper, after choosing multiple indicators from degree centrality, closeness centrality, eigenvector centrality, information centrality, density/clustering coefficient, mutual-information centrality, etc., and a new multi-indicator evaluation algorithm based on Locally Linear Embedding (LLE) for identifying important nodes in complex network is proposed. This proposed algorithm is compared with some single-indicator algorithms and other mainstream multi-indicator algorithms based on real-world networks. Through comprehensive analysis, the experimental results show that the proposed method performs quite well in evaluating the importance of nodes, and it is rational, effective, integral and accurate.
Cerebrovascular impedance estimation with near-infrared and diffuse correlation spectroscopy

Abstract. Significance Cerebrovascular impedance (CVI) is related to cerebral autoregulation (CA), which is the mechanism of the brain to maintain near-constant cerebral blood flow (CBF) despite changes in cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP). Changes in blood vessel impedance enable the stabilization of blood flow. Due to the interplay between CVI and CA, assessment of CVI may enable quantification of CA and may serve as a biomarker for cerebral health. Aim We developed a method to quantify CVI based on a combination of diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) and continuous wave (CW) near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Data on healthy human volunteers were used to validate the method. Approach A combined high-speed DCS-NIRS system was developed, allowing for simultaneous, noninvasive blood flow, and volume measurements in the same tissue compartment. Blood volume was used as a surrogate measurement for blood pressure and CVI was calculated as the spectral ratio of blood volume and blood flow changes. This technique was validated on six healthy human volunteers undergoing postural changes to elicit CVI changes. Results Averaged across the six subjects, a decrease in CVI was found for a head of bed (HOB) tilting of −40 deg. These impedance changes were reversed when returning to the horizontal (0 deg) HOB baseline. Conclusions We developed a combined DCS-NIRS system, which measures CBF and volume changes, which we demonstrate can be used to measure CVI. Using CVI as a metric of CA may be beneficial for assessing cerebral health, especially in patients where CPP is altered.
Immune-Related Thyroiditis in Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Imaging Features and Clinical Implications

Simple Summary An immune-related adverse event (irAE) is a unique side effect related to immunotherapy involving many different organs. Immune-related thyroiditis is one of the irAEs, and some patients experience permanent hypothyroidism requiring hormone replacement therapy. There are not many articles investigating the imaging findings of immune-related thyroiditis. We aimed to investigate the incidence and imaging characteristics of restaging chest CT scans, which are routinely performed per oncologic protocol. We found that approximately 10% of patients showed radiologically evident thyroiditis. The gland showed diffuse hypoattenuation or heterogeneous attenuation changes, with enlargement or atrophy of the gland on CT scans. In addition, among patients with thyroiditis, the patients with positive imaging findings were managed more frequently with hormone replacement therapy compared with the patients without positive imaging findings. This article provides an imaging finding of thyroiditis on restaging chest CT scans during immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy that may alert clinicians to the presence of clinically relevant thyroiditis. Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are widely used in advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment, and the immune-related adverse events involving many organs have been recognized. This article investigated the incidence and imaging characteristics of immune-related thyroiditis in NSCLC patients and correlated the findings with clinical features. A total of 534 NSCLC patients treated with ICI were included. Imaging findings indicative of thyroiditis included changes in morphology and attenuation on restaging chest CT scans and FDG uptake on PET/CT during ICI therapy. Fifty patients (9.4%) had imaging findings indicative of thyroiditis. The median time to onset was 9.5 weeks (range: 0.9–87.4 weeks). The most common finding was diffuse hypoattenuation of the gland (72%), with enlargement in 15 and atrophy in 12 patients. Heterogeneous attenuation of the gland was noted in 12 patients (24%), with enlargement in 7 and atrophy in 1 patient. Two patients (4%) showed increased FDG uptake in the gland on PET/CT without changes in the CT scan. Twenty-two patients who had both clinical and radiologic diagnoses of thyroiditis were more frequently managed with hormone replacement than those with thyroiditis without an imaging abnormality (p < 0.0001). Therefore, awareness of the imaging findings of immune-related thyroiditis may alert clinicians to the presence of clinically relevant thyroiditis.
Solar coronal heating by magnetic cancellation – II. Disconnected and unequal bipoles

Two-dimensional numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a cancelling magnetic feature (CMF) and the associated coronal X-ray bright point (XBP) are presented. Coronal magnetic reconnection is found to produce the Ohmic heating required for a coronal XBP. During the BP phase where reconnection occurs above the base, about 90-95 per cent of the magnetic flux of the converging magnetic bipole cancels at the base. The last ≈5 to 10 per cent of the base magnetic flux is cancelled when reconnection occurs at the base. Reconnection happens in a time-dependent way in response to the imposed converging footpoint motions. A potential field model gives a good first approximation to the qualitative behaviour of the system, but the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) experiments reveal several quantitative differences: for example, the effects of plasma inertia and a pressure build-up in-between the converging bipole are to delay the onset of coronal reconnection above the base and to lower the maximum X-point height.
Unsourced Random Access Pilot-Assisted Polar Code Construction for MIMO Channel

Massive machine-type communications became the new communication paradigm of the future wireless networks, connecting millions of devices per one base station. Here, with the large number of sensors, device identification becomes infeasible, and existing grant-based transmission protocols should be replaced with grant-free ones or random access protocols. As a result, in this approach the same codebook should be used for all active users, which results in the unsourced random access (URA) paradigm, suitable for many Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios. This paper investigates URA problem over Rayleigh block-fading channels with multiple antenna receivers. We compare several Rayleigh fading channel MIMO approaches. A pilot-based treat interference as noise with successive interference cancellation (TIN-SIC) technique that works well in a MIMO environment with unknown channel coefficients is mainly considered. T− fold ALOHA scheme is used as random access technique. We compare our investigation with a coded compressed sensing (CCS) scheme. We describe our findings with the help of minimum energy per bit (Eb/N0) necessary to reach the desired per-user probability of error(PUPE).
Exploring the possibility of synthesis of Tin-SiC ultrafine powder composition during combustion in Si-Ti-NaN3-(NH4)2TiF6-C System

The application of the method of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) for producing a highly dispersed powder ceramic composition TiN-SiC using the combustion process of mixtures of powder reagents: sodium azide (NaN3), halide salt (NH4)2TiF6, titanium, silicon and carbon at different ratios of reagents, in an atmosphere of nitrogen gas at a pressure of 4 MPa was considered. Thermodynamic calculations using the THERMO computer program confirmed the possibility of synthesis of TiN-SiC compositions of different compositions in the combustion mode. However, experimental studies of combustion products using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction phase analysis have yielded other results. The use of the azide SHS method did not allow synthesizing the target composition of TiN-SiC powders in its pure form, without the secondary nitride phase of silicon of two modifications (a-Si3N4 and β-Si3N4) in the composition. However, for the first time, the possibility of using combustion for the synthesis of compositions of ultrafine ceramic powders TiN-Si3N4 and TiN-Si3N4-SiC with a particle size from 100 to 500 nm was experimentally demonstrated.
U.S. vs. Foreign Nativity and 10-Year Trajectories of Mental Health after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Model Systems Study

Background: Previous research has found racial and ethnic disparities in life satisfaction, depression, and anxiety after traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, limited studies have examined differences in these variables between U.S.- and foreign-born individuals with TBI. The purpose of this study was to examine whether differences exist in mental health outcomes between U.S.- and foreign-born individuals with TBI at 1, 2, 5, and 10 years after injury, as well as examine whether demographic and injury-related characteristics account for these differences. Method: Participants were 8289 individuals with TBI who identified as U.S.-born and 944 who identified as born outside the U.S. in the TBI Model Systems study. Participants completed measures of mental health outcomes at 1, 2, 5, and 10 years after injury. Results: Foreign-born individuals with TBI had comparable levels of depression and anxiety trajectories to U.S.-born individuals, yet higher life satisfaction trajectories, even after controlling for demographic and injury-related variables. Conclusion: Rehabilitation professionals should consider in their clinical work the mechanisms that likely influence mental health outcomes among foreign-born individuals, including family-based values that increase resilience, as well as the possible under-reporting of mental health symptoms along the lines of cultural norms.
How Complex Are Complex Predicates

This paper argues that clause union/restructuring constructions such as verb clusters in German do not involve head clustering in the form of (lexical or derived) complex head formation. I provide several arguments showing that clause union properties are licensed in the absence of complex head formation and that complex head formation hence cannot be seen as a condition on clause union/restructuring. Complex head approaches are compared to syntactic complementation approaches—in particular, to an approach where the verbs of a restructuring construction project independent VPs that include all the internal arguments associated with the particular verbs. A series of empirical facts are considered (constituency, word order, modification, event structure properties, and nominalizations) that all point to the conclusion that these constructions involve regular VPs rather than complex V-V heads. Although it is not excluded that complex head approaches could be adjusted to accommodate these facts, the main advantage of the VP-complementation approach is that the sum of the properties discussed follows without additional assumptions from the structure suggested and that this approach also correctly predicts which constructions are excluded.
Robust image hashing based on quaternion polar complex exponential transform and image energy

Abstract. To apply the quaternion moments to the image feature extraction process and improve the performance of the image hashing algorithm, we propose a hashing algorithm based on quaternion polar complex exponential transform and image energy. First, the input color image is preprocessed to form a secondary image. The secondary image is subjected to fast quaternion generic polar complex exponential transform to obtain the mixed low-order moment coefficients as the global features of the image. Second, the algorithm extracts energy change features on the edges of the secondary image and energy point features in the center of the image as energy features of the image under the YCbCr color space. Finally, the image’s mixed low-order moment and energy features are combined and scrambled to form the final hash sequence. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm balances robustness and differentiation well. Moreover, the hash sequence is the shortest, and the algorithm has better check-all and check-accuracy rates compared with other algorithms in the copy detection experiments.
Mannitol Is a Good Anticaking Agent for Spray-Dried Hydroxypropyl-Beta-Cyclodextrin Microcapsules

Agglomeration is an undesirable phenomenon that often occurs in spray-dried microcapsules powder. The objective of this work is to determine the best solution for spray-dried hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) microcapsules from four anticaking agents, namely calcium stearate (CaSt), magnesium stearate (MgSt), silicon dioxide (SiO2), and mannitol (MAN), and to explore their anticaking mechanisms. Our results showed that MAN was found to be the superior anticaking agent among those tested. When the MAN ratio is 12%, the microcapsules with a special Xanthium-type shape had higher powder flowability and lower hygroscopicity and exhibited good anticaking properties. Mechanism research revealed that CaSt, MgSt, and SiO2 reduce hygroscopicity and caking by increasing the glass transition temperature of the microcapsules, while MAN prevents the hydroxyl group of HP-β-CD from combining with water molecules in the air by a crystal outer-layer on the microcapsule surface.
Smart Shoe Insole Based on Polydimethylsiloxane Composite Capacitive Sensors

Nowadays, the study of the gait by analyzing the distribution of plantar pressure is a well-established technique. The use of intelligent insoles allows real-time monitoring of the user. Thus, collecting and analyzing information is a more accurate process than consultations in so-called gait laboratories. Most of the previous published studies consider the composition and operation of these insoles based on resistive sensors. However, the use of capacitive sensors could provide better results, in terms of linear behavior under the pressure exerted. This behavior depends on the properties of the dielectric used. In this work, the design and implementation of an intelligent plantar insole composed of capacitive sensors is proposed. The dielectric used is a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based composition. The sensorized plantar insole developed achieves its purpose as a tool for collecting pressure in different areas of the sole of the foot. The fundamentals and details of the composition, manufacture, and implementation of the insole and the system used to collect data, as well as the data samples, are shown. Finally, a comparison of the behavior of both insoles, resistive and capacitive sensor-equipped, is made. The prototype presented lays the foundation for the development of a tool to support the diagnosis of gait abnormalities.
Deep Reinforcement Learning Based Link Adaptation Technique for LTE/NR Systems

Outdated channel quality indicator (CQI) feedback causes severe performance degradation of traditional link adaptation (LA) techniques in long term evolution (LTE) and new radio (NR) systems. This paper puts forth a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based link adaptation (LA) technique, referred to as deep reinforcement learning link adaptation (DRLLA), to select efficient modulation and coding scheme (MCS) in the presence of the outdated CQI feedback. The goal of DRLLA is to maximize the link throughput while achieving a low block error rate (BLER). We first give explicit definitions of state, action, and reward in DRL paradigms, thereby realizing DRLLA. Then, to trade off the throughput against the BLER, we further develop a new experience replay mechanism called classified experience replay (CER) as the underpinning technique in DRLLA. In CER, experiences are separated into two buckets, one for successful experiences and the other for failed experiences, and then a fixed proportion from each is sampled to replay. The essence of CER is to obtain different trade-offs via adjusting the proportion among different training experiences. Furthermore, to reduce the signaling overhead and the system reconfiguration cost caused by frequent MCS switching, we propose a new action selection strategy termed as switching-controlled <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\epsilon$</tex-math></inline-formula>-greedy (SC-<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\epsilon$</tex-math></inline-formula>-greedy) for DRLLA. Simulation results demonstrate that compared with the state-of-the-art OLLA, LTSLA, and DRLLA with other experience replay mechanisms, DRLLA with CER can achieve higher throughput and lower BLER in various time-varying scenarios, and be more robust to different CQI feedback delays and CQI reporting periods. Furthermore, with the SC-<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\epsilon$</tex-math></inline-formula>-greedy policy, DRLLA can capture better trade-offs between the link transmission quality and the MCS switching overhead compared with other baselines.
Vehicle-track coupled dynamics model for superconducting electrodynamic suspension train

In the previous studies of superconducting EDS train, the magneto-electric coupling between superconducting magnets (SCMs) and null-flux coils (NFCs), was equivalent to a vibration system with constant stiffness. This premise has decoupled the magnetic/track interaction and is not able to study the dynamics issues in an accurate and comprehensive level. Therefore, the vehicle-track coupled dynamics model of superconducting EDS train, with magneto-electric-force coupling fully considered, was established to explore the vehicle-track interaction relationship in this paper. A mathematical model based on Newton’s laws and 3-D dynamic co-simulation model were built respectively by Simulink and MATLAB-SIMPACK to compare the operating performances with the time/frequency domain. Meanwhile, the dynamic electromagnetic forces were calculated by dynamic circuit theory rather than merely assuming the constant stiffness. The dynamic responses of suspension vehicle show that, the vibration of carbody and frame are mainly concentrated about 1 Hz and 5 Hz respectively. The use of equivalent model in the previous studies has overestimated the negotiation capacity of superconducting EDS train. Furthermore, the vertical vibration accelerations of frame in the coupled model are relatively larger, whereas the lateral vibration is comparatively smaller. Therefore, the electromagnetic calculation of superconducting EDS train with constant stiffness overestimates/underestimates the dynamic performances.
LMI-based approach for asymptotically stability analysis of delayed neural networks

This paper derives some sufficient conditions for asymptotic stability of neural networks with constant or time-varying delays. The Lyapunov-Krasovskii stability theory for functional differential equations and the linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach are employed to investigate the problem. It shows how some well-known results can be refined and generalized in a straightforward manner. For the case of constant time delays, the stability criteria are delay-independent; for the case of time-varying delays, the stability criteria are delay-dependent. The results obtained in this paper are less conservative than the ones reported so far in the literature and provides one more set of criteria for determining the stability of delayed neural networks.