Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Advance Publication by J-STAGE Mechanical Engineering Journal

Two-phase thermosyphons, which use sodium at 960 K as a refrigerant for heat transportation in small nuclear reactors, are promising for manned exploration to Mars. This is because the concentric-tube type thermosyphon may not have a flooding limit, and so the heat transfer performance per unit volume is comparatively large. Moreover, since its external form is a single tube by inserting a pipe through which the liquid flows into a pipe through which the gas flows, the reactor core can be made smaller. Experimental investigations of heat transport characteristics using water, R113, ethanol, and nitrogen as refrigerants and development of prediction formulas are progressing for establishing the design of the concentric-tube two-phase thermosyphon. However, it is necessary to use sodium at 960 K for application to heat transportation of a reactor, and further elucidation of the flow phenomenon is necessary to establish its performance prediction model. We have proposed a model based on bubble pump theory in order to take into consideration the rise of liquid level of the heating section. We conducted an experimental study on the flow inside a thermosyphon made of transparent material, and evaluated the maximum heat transfer rate using a low boiling point refrigerant, HFE-7100. As a result, even when the heat transfer rate was close to the maximum, it was shown that the flow regime in the outer tube of the adiabatic section of the concentric tube is two-phase flow. However, the experimental value of the maximum heat transfer rate was found to be about 17 % smaller than the calculated value. We therefore investigated the cause of this difference by making pressure measurements and flow observations, and found that bubble entrainment in the inner tube of the concentric tube of the adiabatic section greatly influences the pressure distribution. It is thought that taking mixing into consideration would help improve the model.
Search and Pursuit with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Road Networks

Abstract : Across many rescue, surveillance, and scientific applications, there exists a broad need to perform wide-area reconnaissance and terrain surveys for which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly popular. This thesis considers the task of using one or more UAVs to locate an object of interest, provide continuous viewing, and rapidly re-acquire tracking should it be lost for any reason. For both the common class of small field-launched UAVs as well as larger UAVs, this is a difficult task due to a small available sensor field of view, uncertain estimates of UAV pose, and limited maneuverability relative to the scale of the environment, requiring constant processing of observations and recomputation of flight paths or sensor aiming to best find the object or keep it in view. Existing strategies for accomplishing this provide poor estimates of the object's location and rely on grossly heuristic or computationally intensive trajectory generation for both pursuit and search. This thesis proposes careful representation of observation uncertainty and exploitation of environmental structure -- with a particular focus on road networks typical of urban-like areas -- as a means to simplify and better model the problem. For the case of actively tracked objects, greatly improved location estimates are demonstrated through filter representations designed for high-uncertainty observations, and improved pursuit performance is achieved by modeling terrain-constrained space reduction in object location and motion. Objects having no or only a roughly known prior location require an initial search, for which both classical Bayesian probabilistic search and novel road network coverage strategies are considered. Finally, this is extended to search and local recapture of evasive adversaries in road networks through novel mappings of pursuit-evasion tactics that are well-studied in abstract or ground-based domains, but have yet to see use in aerial applications.
The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context

School coexistence/violence is often the subject of social alarm. There is no consensus on the prevalence of violent behavior in the classroom, but there does seem to be about its differences according to sex, socioeconomic level, or the importance of preventive interventions for its reduction. Models consider attitudes towards violence as an indicator of risk for its expression. The objectives of this study are to explore the psychometric properties of the revised version of Cuestionario de Actitudes Hacia la Violencia [Attitudes towards Violence Questionnaire] (CAHV-25) in primary and secondary education students, proposing a version of four scales and a total of 28 items, along with the exploration of their significance as a function of sex and academic cycle. A qualitative review of CAHV-25 and a psychometric study of the revised version in each of its original dimensions was carried out, obtaining the fit indicators of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. In addition, the scale was studied as a function of sex and educational stage se in school children (N = 600) of the Region of Murcia (Spain). The four dimensions show better psychometric properties in their revised version. Attitudes towards violence are more present in males and in secondary school. As conclusions, the proposed version optimizes the detection of attitudes towards violence in schoolchildren and suggests more specific school violence prevention programs. Cuestionario de Actitudes hacia la Violencia Escolar, versión revisada: CAHV-28
Three-day Forecasting of Solar Wind Speed Using SDO/AIA Extreme-ultraviolet Images by a Deep-learning Model

In this study, we forecast solar wind speed for the next 3 days with a 6 hr cadence using a deep-learning model. For this we use Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly 211 and 193 Å images together with solar wind speeds for the last 5 days as input data. The total period of the data is from 2010 May to 2020 December. We divide them into a training set (January–August), validation set (September), and test set (October–December), to consider the solar cycle effect. The deep-learning model consists of two networks: a convolutional layer–based network for images and a dense layer–based network for solar wind speeds. Our main results are as follows. First, our model successfully predicts the solar wind speed for the next 3 days. The rms error (RMSE) of our model is from 37.4 km s−1 (for the 6 hr prediction) to 68.2 km s−1 (for the 72 hr prediction), and the correlation coefficient is from 0.92 to 0.67. These results are much better than those of previous studies. Second, the model can predict sudden increase of solar wind speeds caused by large equatorial coronal holes. Third, solar wind speeds predicted by our model are more consistent with observations than those by the Wang–Sheely–Arge–ENLIL model, especially in high-speed-stream regions. It is also noted that our model cannot predict solar wind speed enhancement by coronal mass ejections. Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of deep learning for solar wind speed prediction, with potential applications in space weather forecasting.
Two-photon microscopy for microrobotics: Visualization of micro-agents below fixed tissue

Optical microscopy is frequently used to visualize microrobotic agents (i.e., micro-agents) and physical surroundings with a relatively high spatio-temporal resolution. However, the limited penetration depth of optical microscopy techniques used in microrobotics (in the order of 100 μm) reduces the capability of visualizing micro-agents below biological tissue. Two-photon microscopy is a technique that exploits the principle of two-photon absorption, permitting live tissue imaging with sub-micron resolution and optical penetration depths (over 500 μm). The two-photon absorption principle has been widely applied to fabricate sub-millimeter scale components via direct laser writing (DLW). Yet, its use as an imaging tool for microrobotics remains unexplored in the state-of-the-art. This study introduces and reports on two-photon microscopy as an alternative technique for visualizing micro-agents below biological tissue. In order to validate two-photon image acquisition for microrobotics, two-type micro-agents are fabricated and employed: (1) electrospun fibers stained with an exogenous fluorophore and (2) bio-inspired structure printed with autofluorescent resin via DLW. The experiments are devised and conducted to obtain three-dimensional reconstructions of both micro-agents, perform a qualitative study of laser-tissue interaction, and visualize micro-agents along with tissue using second-harmonic generation. We experimentally demonstrate two-photon microscopy of micro-agents below formalin-fixed tissue with a maximum penetration depth of 800 μm and continuous imaging of magnetic electrospun fibers with one frame per second acquisition rate (in a field of view of 135 × 135 μm2). Our results show that two-photon microscopy can be an alternative imaging technique for microrobotics by enabling visualization of micro-agents under in vitro and ex ovo conditions. Furthermore, bridging the gap between two-photon microscopy and the microrobotics field has the potential to facilitate in vivo visualization of micro-agents.
Anatomic variations in retaining ligaments during minimally invasive resection of subcutaneous lipomas

Objective: Lipomas are common, benign tumors usually located in the subcutaneous tissue. The “one-inch method” is a minimally invasive technique for resecting large subcutaneous lipomas through a one-inch incision after blunt dissection of the lipoma from its peripheral retaining ligaments. The limitations of this method are currently unclear. Materials and methods: We assessed twenty-five patients with large lipomas, defined as a tumor diameter greater than 5 cm. The location of the lipoma was at the shoulder in fifteen patients, the extremity in six patients, and the torso in four patients. Results: The mean operative time for all lesions was 28.3 minutes, with a mean time of 25.9 minutes for lipomas at the shoulder, 21.8 minutes for the extremities, and 47.0 minutes for the torso. We classified patients into three groups according to operative time: the short group (10–29 min), middle group (30–49 min), and long group (50–70 min). For lipomas of the shoulder, there were eleven patients (73%) in the short group, three patients (20%) in the middle group, and one patient (7%) in the long group. For lipomas of the extremity, the groups contained five patients (83%), one patient (17%), and no patients (0%), respectively. For lipomas of the torso, the groups contained one patient (25%), no patients (0%), and three patients (75%), respectively. Conclusions: Lipomas of the torso require a longer operative time than those of the shoulder or extremity; this difference could be due to the number of retaining ligaments present, which is reportedly higher in the back than in the anterior or side body. Lipomas of the back are less amenable to the one-inch method, and posterior shoulder lipomas may take more time than those at other parts of the shoulder or at the extremities.
Staphylococcus aureus isolates from children with clinically differentiated osteomyelitis exhibit distinct transcriptomic signatures

There is substantial genomic heterogeneity among Staphylococcus aureus isolates of children with acute hematogenous osteomyelitis (AHO) but transcriptional behavior of clinically differentiated strains has not been previously described. This study evaluates transcriptional activity of S. aureus isolates of children with AHO that may regulate metabolism, biosynthesis, or virulence during bacterial growth and pathogenesis. In vitro growth kinetics were compared between three S. aureus clinical isolates from children with AHO who had mild, moderate, and severe illness. Total RNA sequencing was performed for each isolate at six separate time points throughout the logarithmic phase of growth. The NASA RNA-Sequencing Consensus Pipeline was used to identify differentially expressed genes allowing for 54 comparisons between the three isolates during growth. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment pathways were used to evaluate transcriptional variation in metabolism, biosynthesis pathways and virulence potential of the isolates. The S. aureus isolates demonstrated differing growth kinetics under standardized conditions with the mild isolate having higher optical densities with earlier and higher peak rates of growth than that of the other isolates (p<0.001). Enrichment pathway analysis established distinct transcriptional signatures according to both sampling time and clinical severity. Moderate and severe isolates demonstrated pathways of bacterial invasion, S. aureus infection, quorum sensing and two component systems. In comparison, the mild strain favored biosynthesis and metabolism. These findings suggest that transcriptional regulation during the growth of S. aureus may impact the pathogenetic mechanisms involved in the progression of severity of illness in childhood osteomyelitis. The clinical isolates studied demonstrated a tradeoff between growth and virulence. Further investigation is needed to evaluate these transcriptional pathways in an animal model or during active clinical infections of children with AHO.
High risk of virologic failure among HIV-infected children and adolescents routinely followed-up in Littoral region of Cameroon

Virological response to antiretroviral therapy (ART) remains a challenge for HIV-infected children and adolescents due to non-optimization of pediatric ART for resource-limited settings. In this study, we aimed to investigate factors associated with virologic failure (VF) in HIV-infected-children and adolescents on ART in Cameroon. A prospective patient-based cohort study was conducted among HIV-infected children (0–9 years) and adolescents (10–19 years) followed-up between November 2018 and October 2019 in 38 healthcare centers located in the Littoral region of Cameroon. The 1st viral load (VL) was assessed after 6 months of ART initiation and the 2nd VL between 3 and 6 six months later in patients with VL ≥1000 copies/ml in accordance with the national algorithm using Abbott Real-Time HIV-1 Viral Load Assay. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify the determinants of higher risk of VF. Of 1,029 HIV-infected children and adolescents (393 children and 636 adolescents), 801 (77.8%) cumulatively presented with VL <1000 copies/mL within 12 months on ART. Adolescents were more likely to have VF than children (24.5% vs 18.3%, OR: 1.39; 95%CI: 1.00–1.93; p = 0.047). Patients followed-up in decentralized care units were significantly more likely to have VF compared to those attending the accredited treatment centers (26.1% vs 16.6%, OR: 1.88, 95%CI: 1.37–2.58; p<0.001). Our findings show a high rate of VL suppression (VLS, 77.8%) among HIV-infected children and adolescents, albeit lower than the established target of 90%. Being adolescent and patients followed in the decentralized care units are high risk factors for VF, thereby necessitating routine therapeutic education of patients and guardians in resource limited countries to improve VLS.
Feasibility, acceptability and potential helpfulness of the PROACTIVE intervention in Flanders, Belgium: A survey study

Background/objectives This study aimed to explore the feasibility of a Flemish adaptation of the New York University Caregiver Intervention (i.e., PROACTIVE intervention) modifying the recruitment and intervention content for informal caregivers of people with early cognitive decline, and across different subgroups. A feasibility study is necessary in order to reduce research waste for intervention adaptation and evaluation. Methods Researchers constructed, tested, and sent out a survey consisting of 43 questions on the following topics: awareness of symptoms of early cognitive decline, levels of cognitive performance using the updated Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS2), acceptability, and potential helpfulness of the intervention, and sociodemographic characteristics. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression with SAS 9.4©. Qualitative data were analyzed using an inductive content analysis. Results A total of 463 informal caregivers completed the survey (mean age 58.8 ± 11.8, 83.6% female). Among them, 230 respondents who cared for people with cognitive decline indicated they would probably or certainly participate in the study. Identified factors influencing the recruitment were cognition, co-habitation, education, and employment status. Over half of the target caregivers indicated almost all services from the intervention could satisfy their needs. A majority perceived the PROACTIVE intervention would be helpful (69.4%), especially the CPS2 = 3 (76.1%) and CPS2 = 4 (74.1%) subgroups. Conclusion The recruitment of target participants for a subsequent RCT evaluation study is feasible, and identified associated factors should be considered during the recruitment process. The PROACTIVE intervention and core components except ‘peer-group participation’ were perceived as helpful by most caregivers. The CPS2 = 3–4 subgroups were most accepting of the intervention and were most likely to benefit from the intervention.
Public health concerns for food contamination in Ghana: A scoping review

Nutrition is sturdily and rapidly becoming the foremost determinant of health in today’s Sars-Cov-2 and climate change ravaged world. While safe food sustains life, contamination obliterates its values and could result in death and short to long term morbidity. The purpose of this scoping review is to explore food contamination in Ghana, between 2001–2022. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s procedure, a systematic literature search from PubMed, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, Scopus, Emeralds Insight, Google Scholar, and Google was carried out. Following the inclusion criteria, 40 published and grey literature were covered in this review. The review revealed the following: Studies on food contamination involving Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central, and Eastern Regions alone account for over 50% of the total number of such studies conducted in Ghana; regulators failed in enforcing regulations, monitoring and supervision; managers failed to provide adequate infrastructure and facilities. The most common food safety risks of public health concern are: i) micro-organisms (E. coli/faecal coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp, Bacillus cereus, and Viral hepatitis); ii) drugs (Amoxicillin, Chlortetracycline, Ciprofloxacin, Danofloxacin, and Doxycycline) and; iii) chemicals (Chlorpyrifos). Salad, vegetables, sliced mango, meat pie, and snail khebab are of high public health risks. The following deductions were made from the review: Highly contaminated food results in death, short to long term morbidity, economic loss, and threatens to displace Ghana’s efforts at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2. Thus, Government must resource key regulatory bodies to enhance their operational capacity, regulators must foster collaboration in monitoring and supervision of food vendors, and managers of food service outlets must provide adequate facilities to engender food safety culture.
Vector autoregression: Useful in rare diseases?—Predicting organ response patterns in a rare case of secondary AA amyloidosis

Background Statistical analyses of clinical data are a cornerstone in understanding pathomechanisms of disorders. In rare disorders, cross-sectional datasets of sufficient size are usually not available. Taking AA amyloidosis as an example of a life-threatening rare disorder resulting from of uncontrolled chronic inflammation, we propose techniques from time series analysis to predict organ response to treatment. The advantage of time-series analysis is that it solely relies on temporal variation and therefore allows analyzing organ response to treatment even when the cross-sectional dimension is small. Methods The joint temporal interdependence of inflammatory activity and organ response was modelled multivariately using vector autoregression (VAR) based on a unique 4.5 year spanning data set of routine laboratory, imaging data (e.g., 18F-Florbetaben-PET/CT) and functional investigations of a 68-year-old patient with multi-organ involvement of AA amyloidosis due to ongoing inflammatory activity of a malignant paraganglioma in stable disease for >20 years and excellent response to tocilizumab). Results VAR analysis showed that alterations in inflammatory activity forecasted alkaline phosphatase (AP). AP levels, but not inflammatory activity at the previous measurement time point predicted proteinuria. Conclusion We demonstrate the feasibility and value of time series analysis for obtaining clinically reliable information when the rarity of a disease prevents conventional prognostic modelling approaches. We illustrate the comparative utility of blood, functional and imaging markers to monitor the development and regression of AA amyloidosis.
Prognostic role of vitamin D receptor in digestive system tumours: A systematic review and preliminary meta-analysis

The prognostic value of vitamin D receptor (VDR) in a variety of digestive system tumours remains controversial. In view of this, we conducted a meta-analysis. Published studies (as of Mar 30, 2023) assessing the prognostic role of VDR in digestive system tumours were retrieved. Pooled analyses were conducted based on the hazard ratios (HRs) of high VDR expression extracted from the included studies. If heterogeneity was detected, the random-effects model was used; otherwise, the fixed-effects model was used. Subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis and meta-regression were performed to explore the sources of heterogeneity. Eight studies with 3,109 patients were included. The pooled results indicated that patients with high VDR expression generally had better overall survival (OS) (pooled HR = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.53–0.85; P = 0.001). Subgroup analyses showed that tumour type was the variable affecting the association between VDR expression and OS. VDR expression in colorectal cancer was not associated with OS (pooled HR = 0.84; 95% CI = 0.68–1.03; P = 0.086). We eliminated publication bias using the “trim and fill” method and found that high VDR expression remained an indicator of good OS (P = 0.001). Only a few studies explored the relationship between VDR expression and cancer-specific survival (CSS) or progression-free survival (PFS), and the pooled results indicated no association between them (P>0.05). VDR expression is a prognostic indicator in digestive system tumours and may also be used as a reference for vitamin D supplementation. Detection of VDR expression not only helps to evaluate prognosis but also to formulate more precise treatment plans for patients with digestive system tumours.