Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep Learning-Based Classification of Dermoscopic Images for Skin Lesions

Skin cancer has emerged as a grave health concern leading to significant mortality rates. Diagnosis of this disease traditionally relies on specialist dermatologists who interpret dermoscopy images using the ABCD rule. However, the integration of computer-aided diagnosis technologies is gaining popularity as a means to assist clinicians in accurate skin cancer diagnosis, overcoming potential challenges associated with human error. The objective of this research is to develop a robust system for the detection of skin cancer by employing machine learning algorithms for skin lesion classification and detection. The proposed system utilizes Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), a highly accurate and efficient deep learning technique well-suited for image classification tasks. By using the power of CNN, this system effectively classifies various skin diseases in dermoscopic images associated with skin cancer The MNIST HAM10000 dataset, comprising 10015 images, serves as the foundation for this study. The dataset encompasses seven distinct skin diseases falling within the realm of skin cancer. In this study, diverse transfer learning methods were used and evaluated to enhance the performance of the system. By comparing and analyzing these approaches, the study aimed to identify the most effective strategies for accurate skin disease classification in dermoscopic images.
Search for point sources of gamma-rays above 50 TeV with the GRAPES-3 experiment.

The GRAPES-3 is an extensive air shower array located in Ooty (11.4 ◦ N, 76.7 ◦ E), designed to study cosmic rays and gamma rays at TeV-PeV energies. The compact array of scintillator detectors coupled with a mid-latitude location and shower front curvature corrections enable an angular resolution of ∼ 0.5 degrees above 50 TeV energies, as verified using the Moon shadow method. Furthermore, GRAPES-3 is equipped with a large area (560 m 2 ) muon telescope (called G3MT) to determine the muon content of the recorded air showers. Since large muon content is a defining feature of cosmic ray initiated air showers, G3MT is useful in estimating the muon content and rejecting the overwhelming cosmic ray background. Using both the features of good angular resolution and gamma-hadron separation using the muon content, a search for very high energy (E > 50 TeV) gamma rays from the Crab Nebula is under progress. We have used ten years (2013-2022) of air shower data for this analysis. The detailed methodology, current status
Efficient Numerical Methods for Analysis of Square Ratio of κ-μ and η-μ Random Processes with Their Applications in Telecommunications

We will provide statistical analysis of the square ratio of and random processes and its application in the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) based performance analysis of wireless transmission subjected to the influence of multipath fading, modelled by fading model, and undesired occurrence of co-channel interference (CCI), distributed as random process. First contribution of the paper is deriving exact closed expressions for the probability density function (PDF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF) of square ratio of and random processes. Further, a verification of accuracy of these PDF and CDF expressions was given by comparison with the corresponding approximations obtained by the high-precision quadrature formulas of Gaussian type with respect to the weight functions on . The computational procedure of such quadrature rules is provided by using the constructive theory of orthogonal polynomials and the MATHEMATICA package OrthogonalPolynomials created by Cvetkovic and Milovanovic (2004). Capitalizing on obtained expression, important wireless performance criteria, namely, outage probability (OP), have been obtained, as functions of transmission parameters. Also, possible performance improvement is observed through a glance at SC (selection combining) reception employment based on obtained expressions.
Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Athletes’ Received Support Questionnaire

Objective The aim of this study was to translate the Athletes’ Received Support Questionnaire (ARSQ) for Chinese athletes and examine the reliability and validity of the ARSQ with Chinese subjects. Methods In this study, we conducted a forward-backward translation of the ARSQ and used data collected from Chinese athletes to perform exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. A total of 580 Chinese athletes completed the formal ARSQ for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), while 230 athletes participated in the preliminary survey. Of the 580 athletes, 571 provided valid questionnaires for assessing validity and reliability. Additionally, we assessed test–retest reliability using data from 200 participants randomly selected after 1 month. The criterion measurement used in this study was the Social Support Rate Scale (SSRS). Results Results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that the Chinese version of the ARSQ with 22 items had four-dimensional structures including emotional support, esteem support, information support, and tangible support. CFA showed that the Chinese version of the ARSQ had adequate structural validity (χ2/df = 2.315, CFI = 0.971, GFI = 0.902, NFI = 0.959, AGFI = 0.878, RMSEA = 0.064, SRMR = 0.032). Cronbach’s α coefficient, McDonald’s omega coefficient and the test–retest reliability were 0.956, 0.957, and 0.953 for the total scale. Conclusion The study provides evidence in support of construct (factorial) validity, convergent validity, internal-consistency and test–retest stability for the use of the ARSQ among Chinese athletes in the Jiangsu and Shandong Provinces, China. However, it is important to note that the conclusion is delimited to the current context, and further studies are needed to verify and promote the applicability of the ARSQ in other regions and sports projects.
The Effect of Fuel Aerosol Particle Size on Aerosol Release Potential in Energetic Core Disruptive Accident Studies

Abstract In nuclear reactor accident safety studies, the radiological source term is a metric that quantifies the release of radiological material from the reactor to the environment. The present work evaluates heat transfer between high-temperature vapor bubbles and the surrounding coolant and the effect these interactions have on the source term for postulated core disruptive accident scenarios associated with an oxide-fueled, liquid metal–cooled fast reactor class. It is shown that aerosol particle size can influence heat transfer, and it is suggested that the extent of the influence depends on the fineness of the particles in the aerosol. The results are consistent with legacy experiments conducted in the Fuel Aerosol Simulant Test (FAST) facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and offer a more comprehensive assessment of vapor condensation by treating the bubble constituents, in the context of radiation heat transfer, as participating media. The model, which couples classical scattering theory to the equation of radiative transfer and the energy equation, provides a means for estimating size-affected radiative cooling times. Solutions are obtained via the P-1 method of spherical harmonics with improved, higher-order boundary conditions. Outcomes include the development of an “extinction-time ratio” criterion for assessing whether ejection of aerosol from the bubble to the cover region is likely. Aerosol release from the coolant pool is evaluated using this criterion with the potential to extend this work to reactor-scale accidents. A baseline evaluation is provided that shows that omission of participatory effects could lead, in a relative sense, to cooling time offsets in excess of 14%. In addition to enhancing previous evaluations of FAST results, these modeling outcomes contribute to knowledge management efforts aimed at developing a more mechanistic assessment of the source term while suggesting potential enhancements to severe accident safety analysis through the use of more comprehensive radiative heat transfer models.
Improving the ideal and human observer consistency: a demonstration of principles

In addition to being rigorous and realistic, the usefulness of the ideal observer computational tools may also depend on whether they serve the empirical purpose for which they are created, e.g. to identify desirable imaging systems to be used by human observers. In SPIE 10136-35, I have shown that the ideal and the human observers do not necessarily prefer the same system as the optimal or better one due to their different objectives in both hardware and software optimization. In this work, I attempt to identify a necessary but insufficient condition under which the human and the ideal observer may rank systems consistently. If corroborated, such a condition allows a numerical test on the ideal/human consistency without routine human observer studies. I reproduced data from Abbey et al. JOSA 2001 to verify the proposed condition (i.e., not a rigorous falsification study due to the lack of specificity in the proposed conjecture. A roadmap for more falsifiable conditions is proposed). Via this work, I would like to emphasize the reality of practical decision making in addition to the realism in mathematical modeling. (Disclaimer: the views expressed in this work do not necessarily represent those of the FDA.)
The efficacy and safety of haloperidol for the treatment of delirium in critically ill patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Purpose Delirium is common during critical illness and is associated with poor outcomes. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to investigate the efficacy and safety of haloperidol for the treatment of delirium in critically ill patients. Methods Randomized controlled trials enrolling critically ill adult patients to compare haloperidol with placebo were searched from inception through to February 20th, 2023. The primary outcome were delirium-free days and overall mortality, secondary outcomes were length of intensive care unit stay, length of hospital stay, and adverse events. Results Nine trials were included in our meta-analysis, with a total of 3,916 critically ill patients. Overall, the pooled analyses showed no significant difference between critically ill patients treated with haloperidol and placebo for the delirium-free days (MD −0.01, 95%CI −0.36 to 0.34, p = 0.95, I2 = 30%), overall mortality (OR 0.89, 95%CI 0.76 to 1.04, p = 0.14, I2 = 0%), length of intensive care unit stay (MD −0.06, 95%CI −0.16 to 0.03, p = 0.19, I2 = 0%), length of hospital stay (MD −0.06, 95%CI −0.61 to 0.49, p = 0.83, I2 = 0%), and adverse events (OR 0.90, 95%CI 0.60 to 1.37, p = 0.63, I2 = 0%). Conclusion Among critically ill patients, the use of haloperidol as compared to placebo has no significant effect on delirium-free days, overall mortality, length of intensive care unit and/or hospital stay. Moreover, the use of haloperidol did not increase the risk of adverse events.
Uniqueness of Optimal Control of Nonlinear Infinite Neutral Functional Differential Systems with Distributed Delays in the Control

of the form: A ABSTRACT In this paper, Nonlinear Infinitely Neutral Functional Differential Systems with Distributed Delays in the Control was presented for controllability analysis. The system was linearized using Chukwu (1992)-like arguments. After linearization, we obtained the mild solution of the system using variation of constant formula and the Unsymmetric Fubuni Theorem to establish the results. The set functions (reachable set, target set, attainable set and controllability grammian) upon which our study hinged were extracted. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the establishment of the uniqueness of the system were derived. Use was made of some controllability standards to establish results. The establishment of the uniqueness of the optimal control provided a new approach for the proof of the existence of an optimal control of any dynamical control system. Original Research Article
An efficient sampling method for fast and accurate Monte Carlo Simulations*

Abstract Currently, there are two published Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS) methods for estimating design floods in Australia: The Cooperative Research Centre – Catchment Hydrology (CRC-CH) method and the Total Probability Theorem (TPT) method. The CRC-CH method uses variable storm durations, which makes it an attractive option compared with the TPT method. However, the CRC-CH method suffers from a large variance in design flood estimates for large to extreme events, i.e. events with low annual exceedance probabilities (AEP). This means two successive MCS runs may provide significantly different design flows, which makes the method unreliable for large to extreme events. Decreasing this variance to an acceptable level may require millions of hydrological model simulations. We introduced an alternative sampling technique, known as ‘importance sampling’, in the CRC-CH method to address this shortcoming. In a pilot study we demonstrate that this results in a significantly reduced variance in design flood estimates for large to extreme events. At the same time, computation times are significantly shortened. This creates opportunities for greater use of the CRC-CH method and similar Monte Carlo methods in applications where they were previously considered infeasible, such as dam design.
Xanthoceras sorbifolia Husk Extract Incorporation for the Improvement in Physical and Antioxidant Properties of Soy Protein Isolate Films

With the increasing awareness of ecological and environmental protection, the research on eco-friendly materials has experienced a considerable increase. The objective of our study was to explore a novel soy protein isolate (SPI) film functionalized with antioxidants extracted from Xanthoceras sorbifolia husk (XSHE) as bio-based active packaging films. The films were evaluated in light of their structure, physical machinery, and antioxidant performance using advanced characterization techniques. The FTIR and microscopy results revealed the hydrogen-bond interaction between the SPI and XSHE and their good compatibility, which contributed to the improvement in various properties of the composite films, such as tensile strength (TS), UV blocking, and the water barrier property. As the XSHE content increased to 5%, the TS of the films dramatically increased up to 7.37 MPa with 47.7% and the water vapor permeability decreased to 1.13 × 10−10 g m m−2 s−1 Pa−1 with 22.1%. Meanwhile, the introduction of XSHE caused further improvement in the antioxidant capacity of films, and the release of active agents from films was faster and higher in 10% ethanol than it was in a 50% ethanol food simulant. Overall, SPI-based films functionalized with XSHE demonstrated promising potential applications in food packaging.
Secure identity key and blockchain‐based authentication approach for secure data communication in multi‐WSN

Blockchain technology is an effective way to protect data that is handled by wireless sensor network (WSN). The traditional authentication protocol relies on trusted third parties, and most of the WSN paradigm does not allow these conditions, which results in single‐point failure. Sometimes the authentication process is slower, eventually hampers user experience, and thus users are inclined towards other alternatives that can offer multi‐factor authentication. To solve such issues, a secure identity key and blockchain‐based authentication framework is designed using a hybrid blockchain system in multi‐WSN to enhance the system's security. The nodes cooperate in the network to perform specific tasks such that interaction between nodes ensures the legitimacy of node's identity. With hybrid blockchain technology, nodes' identity information is authenticated and stored in the network after verification to establish communication among ordinary nodes and between the ordinary nodes and end user. The proposed method obtains higher security by achieving less computation time, higher detection rate, and limited memory usage of 0.072 s, 92.48%, and 3.925 MB, respectively. The developed authentication method is proved capable of proving resistance in case of different attacks in the network.
Fast birefringence measurement and compensation for KAGRA and future gravitational waves detectors

To reduce the impact of thermal noises, KAGRA gravitational wave detector is operated at cryogenic temperature. This makes the use of crystalline substrates mandatory since non-crystalline materials have worst performances. Within the KAGRA experiment, the crystalline material of choice is sapphire. Next generation of gravitational wave detectors will also use crystalline substrates, possibly sapphire or silicon. All these materials are birefringent which can spoil both the sensitivity and duty-cycle of the detectors and therefore substrates with lowest possible bire-fringence are mandatory. Within the KAGRA collaboration, we have two experiments able to measure the birefringence of the 22kg sapphire substrates with a duration of weeks. It is planned to increase the mass of the test-masses to the hundred-kg scale making the current birefringence characterization measurements not realistic to use. Here, we propose to use a pair of identical liquid crystals to measure and compensate birefringence of substrates with arbitrary size. We are now developing such experiment which will decrease the characterization duration by about ten times and possibly down to the second scale for any substrates size. This experiment will also demonstrate the possibility to compensate birefringence in gravitational waves detectors.
An investigation on tribological properties of advanced microwave synthesized molybdenum disulfide as anti-friction additives in commercially available lubricating oils

The frictional stress between opposing contact surfaces will damage the mechanical parts of a machine. An appropriate lubricant can significantly reduce this. Blending nanoadditives with base oil is claimed to be an effective technique to increase the anti-friction qualities of lubricants using nanotechnology. Advanced microwave synthesized molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) anti-friction nanoadditive was employed in various lubricating oils namely fully synthetic, semi-synthetic, mineral, and hydraulic oil to formulate the nanolubricant. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and a physical stability observation test were used to study the nanoadditives (MoS2) physicochemical characteristics. The tribological analysis of the MoS2 nanolubricant was measured using the four-ball tribotester. The coefficient of friction (COF) and average wear scar diameter (WSD) of the anti-friction additives were analyzed. The experimental results revealed improvements in COF and WSD in the range of 7.47–15.81% and 6.57–16.07% after the addition of MoS2 nanoparticles in the various lubricating oils. This study discovered that engine oil with advanced microwave-synthesized MoS2 nanoparticles has a significantly lower COF and WSD than engine oil that is not added with the anti-friction additives.
Prospective study on observations of γ-ray sources using the HADAR experiment

The High Altitude Detection of Astronomical Radiation (HADAR) experiment is a refracting terrestrial telescope array based on the atmospheric Cherenkov imaging technique. It is a hybrid array consisting of four water-lens telescopes and a surrounding scintillation detector array for observing Cherenkov light induced by cosmic rays and gamma rays in the atmosphere from 10 GeV to 10 TeV . The HADAR experiment possesses the advantages of a large field-of-view and low energy threshold, so it can continuously scan large sky area and easily observe the galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray sources. In this study, we will present the prospects of using the HADAR experiment for the sky survey of gamma-ray sources based on Fermi-LAT sources, and provides a one-year operation of statistical significance. Through simulated analyses of these sources, it is anticipated that HADAR will detect a total of 93 gamma-ray sources with a significance exceeding 5 standard deviations during one year of operation. These sources comprise 45 galactic sources, 39 extragalactic sources, 3 sources of unknown type, and 6 unassociated sources.
Implementation of stimulated Raman scattering microscopy for single cell analysis

In this work, we present successfully realization of a nonlinear microscope, not purchasable in commerce, based on stimulated Raman scattering. It is obtained by the integration of a femtosecond SRS spectroscopic setup with an inverted research microscope equipped with a scanning unit. Taking account of strength of vibrational contrast of SRS, it provides label-free imaging of single cell analysis. Validation tests on images of polystyrene beads are reported to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach. In order to test the microscope on biological structures, we report and discuss the label-free images of lipid droplets inside fixed adipocyte cells.
A Framework to Overcome Challenges in the Management of Infections in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Abstract Infections remain one of the leading causes of death in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), despite awareness of factors contributing to increased susceptibility to infectious diseases in SLE. Clinicians report challenges and barriers when encountering infection in SLE as certain infections may mimic a lupus flare. There are no evidence-based practice guidelines in the management of fever in SLE, with suboptimal implementations of evidence-based benefits related to infectious disease control and/or prevention strategies in SLE. Vigilance in identifying an opportunistic infection must be stressed when confronted by a diagnostic challenge during a presentation with a febrile illness in SLE. A balanced approach must focus on management of infections in SLE, and reduction in the glucocorticoids dose, given the need to control lupus disease activity to avoid lupus related organ damage and mortality. Clinical judgement and application of biomarkers of lupus flares could reduce false positives and overdiagnosis and improve differentiation of infections from lupus flares. Further precision-based risk and screening measures must identify individuals who would benefit most from low dose immunosuppressive therapy, targeted immune therapy, and vaccination programs.
The Role of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) in the Management of Tuberculosis: Practical Review for Implementation in Routine

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has modernized the field of tuberculosis (TB) research by enabling high-throughput sequencing of the entire genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), which is the causative agent of TB. NGS has provided insights into the genetic diversity of MTB, which are crucial for understanding the evolution and transmission of the disease, and it has facilitated the identification of drug-resistant strains, enabling rapid and accurate tailoring of treatment. However, the high cost and the technical complexities of NGS currently limit its widespread use in clinical settings. International recommendations are thus necessary to facilitate the interpretation of polymorphisms, and an experimental approach is still necessary to correlate them to phenotypic data. This review aims to present a comparative, step-by-step, and up-to-date review of the techniques available for the implementation of this approach in routine laboratory workflow. Ongoing research on NGS for TB holds promise for improving our understanding of the disease and for developing more efficacious treatments.