Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modulation of turbulence by dispersed solid particles in a spatially developing flat-plate boundary layer

Direct numerical simulations of particle-laden spatially developing turbulent boundary layers over a flat plate have been performed to investigate the effect of inertial particles on turbulence modulation, using the Eulerian–Lagrangian point-particle approach with two-way coupling. The particles are smaller than the Kolmogorov length scale of the dilute flow, and inter-particle collisions are not considered. The simulation results show that the addition of small solid particles increases the mean streamwise fluid velocity, which in turn leads to a reduction in the boundary layer integral parameters and an increase in the skin-friction drag. These effects become more pronounced as the particle Stokes number and mass loading increase. The streamwise turbulence intensity is slightly enhanced in the close vicinity of the wall but damped in the outer layer. In contrast, the Reynolds stress and the turbulence intensities in the wall-normal and spanwise directions are substantially attenuated across the entire boundary layer, and the levels of attenuation increase monotonically with both particle Stokes number and mass loading. The exchange of kinetic energy between particles and fluid indicates that particle–fluid interactions cause extra energy dissipation, which plays a crucial role in turbulence modulation.
Exploring Purification Methods of Exosomes from Different Biological Samples

Objective Exosomes were extracted from a variety of biological samples using several different purification processes, and our goal was to determine which method and sample were the most effective for exosome extraction. Methods We used ExoQuick-TC combined with ultrafiltration to separate and purify exosomes from the supernatant of gastric cancer cells, while we used the ExoQuick kit and ultracentrifugation to purify exosomes from human serum samples. Furthermore, exosomes were isolated and purified from human urine samples by diafiltration and from postparturition human breast milk samples by the filtration-polyethylene glycol precipitation method. The isolated exosomes were morphologically analyzed using a transmission electron microscope, the particle size was measured by NanoSight, and the protein content was analyzed by western blotting. Results The isolated exosomes showed an obvious cup holder shape, with a clear outline and typical exosome morphological characteristics. The sizes of exosomes derived from gastric cancer cell supernatant, serum, urine, and milk were 65.8 ± 26.9 nm, 87.6 ± 50.9 nm, 197.5 ± 55.2 nm, and 184.1 ± 68.7 nm, respectively. Western blot results showed that CD9 and TSG101 on the exosomes were expressed to varying degrees based on the exosome source. Exosome abundance was higher in the serum, urine, and breast milk than in the supernatant. It is suggested that its exosomes can be extracted to obtain an excellent potential biological source of exosomes. Conclusion In this study, the extraction and separation methods of foreign bodies from different biological samples were obtained, and it was found that human breast milk was a potential excellent material for administration because of its high abundance.
‘I am surrounded by people who are not motivated to do research’: harnessing collegiality for developing research active academics in a teaching-focused institution

ABSTRACT In order to achieve a university status, a teaching-focused private Malaysian University College promoted collaboration as an institution-wide strategy for developing the research capacity of staff. Enhancing collegiality was key to this strategy since resources for building research capacity were insufficient. Limited research exists on the role of collegiality in developing research capacities among academics, especially in the Global South and under such constraints. In Malaysia, a high-power distance country, difficulties arise in the practice of collegiality due to hierarchy and other socio-cultural expectations. In this qualitative study, insights into and experiences of this transition were sought in interviews with 18 academics. Collegial leadership and intellectual collegiality were identified as pivotal. Collegial leadership, which addressed the relationship between academics and institutional leaders, was lacking and participants mostly felt unsupported and disengaged under the dominant top-down, hierarchical, leadership style. Intellectual collegiality, which refers to the relationships participants had or wished to have with colleagues, was also challenging in that environment but held more promise. Actively promoting this through a process of assimilation and compromise could have been prioritised. Achievable and tangible research targets could have been negotiated so that becoming research active was a shared vision.
Classification of urban areas from GeoEye-1 imagery through texture features based on Histograms of Equivalent Patterns

Abstract A family of 26 non-parametric texture descriptors based on Histograms of Equivalent Patterns (HEP) has been tested, many of them for the first time in remote sensing applications, to improve urban classification through object-based image analysis of GeoEye-1 imagery. These HEP descriptors have been compared to the widely known texture measures derived from the gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM). All the five finally selected HEP descriptors (Local Binary Patterns, Improved Local Binary Patterns, Binary Gradient Contours and two different combinations of Completed Local Binary Patterns) performed faster in terms of execution time and yielded significantly better accuracy figures than GLCM features. Moreover, the HEP texture descriptors provided additional information to the basic spectral features from the GeoEye-1's bands (R, G, B, NIR, PAN) significantly improving overall accuracy values by around 3%. Conversely, and in statistic terms, strategies involving GLCM texture derivatives did not improve the classification accuracy achieved from only the spectral information. Lastly, both approaches (HEP and GLCM) showed similar behavior with regard to the training set size applied.
Flow of dilute polymer solutions about circular cylinders

Experiments on fully attached flows of aqueous solutions of Polyox WSR-301 and pure solvent (tap and distilled water) about circular cylinders were carried out in the range 5 × 104 < Re < 3 × 105 for the initial purpose of providing definitive experimental information on drag reduction with additives in external flows. During the course of the investigation, a critically degraded polymer solution was observed to cause, at a particular Re, an unforseen instability in the separation line, similar to that first observed by Brennen (1970 in fully developed cavity flows. This instability, which most easily manifest edit self in the form of an abrupt drag-force jump (here called a drag crisis) from a high subcritical to a low supercritical value, became the central issue in the investigation. Efforts to isolate the causes of this instability led to further experiments with suspensions of nearly neutrally buoyant spherical and non-spherical particles. The measurements have shown that fibres and polymer hasten transition, spherical particles do not appreciably affect the characteristics of the flow and that neither the spherical particles nor fibres give rise to a drag crisis.
Meta-analysis of commonly mutated genes in leptomeningeal carcinomatosis

Background Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LMC) is a rare type of cancer that settles at the meninges through metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), breast cancer and melanoma. The molecular mechanism underlying LMC is not known, therefore molecular studies investigating the development of LMC are needed. Here, we aimed to identify commonly mutated genes in LMC caused by NSCLC, breast cancer, and melanoma using an in-slico approach and their interactions using integrated bioinformatic approaches/tools in this meta-analysis. Methods We conducted a meta-analysis using information from 16 studies that included different sequencing techniques of patients with LMC caused by three different primary cancers: breast cancer, NSCLC, and melanoma. All studies that assessed mutation information from patients with LMC were searched in PubMed, from their inception to February, 16 2022. Studies that performed NGS on LMC patients with NSCLC, breast cancer, or melanoma were included, while studies that did not apply NGS to CSF samples, did not provide information on altered genes, were reviews, editorials, or conference abstracts, or whose main goal was the detection of malignancies were all excluded. We identified commonly mutated genes in all three types of cancer. Next, we constructed a protein-protein interaction network, then performed pathway enrichment analysis. We searched National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Drug-Gene Interaction Database (DGIdb) to find candidate drugs. Results We found that TP53, PTEN, PIK3CA, IL7R, and KMT2D genes were commonly mutated genes in all three types of cancer via our meta-analysis that consisted out of 16 studies. Our pathway enrichment analysis showed that all five genes were primarily associated with regulation of cell communication and signaling, and cell proliferation. Other enriched pathways included regulation of apoptotic processes of leukocytes and fibroblasts, macroautophagy and growth. According to our drug search we found candidate drugs; Everolimus, Bevacizumab and Temozolomide, which interact with these five genes. Conclusion In conclusion, a total of 96 mutated genes in LMC were investigated via meta-analysis. Our findings suggested vital roles of TP53, PTEN, PIK3CA, KMT2D, and IL7R, which can provide insight into the molecular basis of LMC development and paving the door to the development of new targeted medicine and will encourage molecular biologists to seek biological evidence.
Color, Scale, and Rotation Independent Multiple License Plates Detection in Videos and Still Images

Most of the existing license plate (LP) detection systems have shown significant development in the processing of the images, with restrictions related to environmental conditions and plate variations. With increased mobility and internationalization, there is a need to develop a universal LP detection system, which can handle multiple LPs of many countries and any vehicle, in an open environment and all weather conditions, having different plate variations. This paper presents a novel LP detection method using different clustering techniques based on geometrical properties of the LP characters and proposed a new character extraction method, for noisy/missed character components of the LP due to the presence of noise between LP characters and LP border. The proposed method detects multiple LPs from an input image or video, having different plate variations, under different environmental and weather conditions because of the geometrical properties of the set of characters in the LP. The proposed method is tested using standard media-lab and Application Oriented License Plate (AOLP) benchmark LP recognition databases and achieved the success rates of 97.3% and 93.7%, respectively. Results clearly indicate that the proposed approach is comparable to the previously published papers, which evaluated their performance on publicly available benchmark LP databases.
A Study on Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields From User Equipment Antennas Above 100 GHz

The next-generation mobile communication technology may exploit the higher frequency spectrum beyond 100 GHz, while most studies on electromagnetic field exposure from mobile communication devices focus on frequencies below 100 GHz. In this article, the electromagnetic field exposure from subterahertz antennas designed for future mobile communication is evaluated with a multilayer flat tissue phantom. It is demonstrated that the deposited electromagnetic fields can be evaluated by neglecting the deep tissue in the simplified phantom. Then, the temperature distribution in the full-size phantom can be evaluated using the solution to the simplified electromagnetic problem to reduce the overall computation time. Considering different sizes of the averaging area for absorbed power density, the results show a good correlation between the peak rising temperature and the peak absorbed power density averaged over a small area of around one square centimeter.
The natural satellites ephemerides facility MULTI-SAT

Context. There is a need in some research facilities for deriving ephemerides, controlling observations, verifying various models of motion, and calculating the coordinates in space of natural planetary satellites. Aims. The goal of our work is to elaborate the ephemerides of all natural satellites based upon all observations available to date and readily accessible for any user via the Internet. Methods. For all outer planetary satellites, original numerical models of motion are used that are based on all published observations. For other satellites, the theoretical models of the motion are taken from publications that are as recent as possible. Complete collection of the theories and models of motion is realized as a software for the ephemerides of natural satellites available on the web pages of the so-called server MULTI-SAT. Results. A new facility for producing ephemerides of all natural satellites of planets (except the Moon) has been created at IMCCE and SAI. Special features of the ephemerides are realized, such as predicting the phenomena and providing configurations useful for the observers. The server MULTI-SAT is accessible through the Internet. The URL addresses are http://www.imcce. fr/sat (English and French versions at IMCCE) and http://www.sai. msu.ru/neb/nss/index.htm (English, French, and Russian versions at SAI). This paper includes a complete review of the most precise theories of motion of all natural satellites that we used and an analysis of the precision of the proposed ephemerides.
Experiences of Advanced Health Assessment Simulation Based on the Education Needs of Gerontological Nurse Practitioner Students

There is an insufficient exploration of how simulation educational approaches improve the job performance of students in gerontological nurse practitioner (GNP) courses. To increase the effectiveness of simulation education in GNP courses, it is necessary to explore the advanced health assessment simulation curriculum. This study aimed to investigate GNP students’ educational experiences with the advanced health assessment simulation program by reflecting the needs of GNPs. A qualitative study design was employed for this study; focus group interviews were conducted among eight GNP students who participated in this simulation program. The focus group interview identified three theme clusters: ‘a high-fidelity simulator that reproduces a real-life setting’, ‘experience with standardized patients as a reference for normal older people’, and ‘application in the clinical field’. Through simulation education, GNP students were able to safely demonstrate knowledge and use what they learned for clinical practice. The development and utilization of simulation education for the GNP program would help to enhance the clinical competency of students.
A rapid diffusion simulation method of multiple‐fluid coupling combined with MPM and PFM

To solve the low diffusion efficiency in the multiple‐fluid coupling process by the Lagrangian method, the paper presents a multiple‐fluid coupling simulation algorithm based on MPM and PFM. First, based on the MPM, we model multiphase flow on Eulerian grids and capture the sharp interfaces between immiscible fluids combined with the PFM. The gas phase is further treated as fluid during the gas–liquid interaction. Second, to demonstrate the natural fluid moving evolution from the high energy state to the low energy state, the paper proposes the local minimize bulk energy function to control the low energy state. Finally, the paper designs and achieves various groups of multiple‐fluid coupling comparison experiments. Experimental results showed that the proposed approach can simulate various effects of rapid diffusion in the multiple‐fluid coupling, such as complete dissolution, mutual solubility, extraction, and other phenomena. Meanwhile, our approach is simple to integrate with existing state‐of‐the‐art MPM solvers.
Foreign direct investment and tax revenue mobilization in South Africa: an ARDL bound testing approach

ABSTRACT In addition to performing their basic fiscal functions, governments in developing economies are constantly challenged by new and re-emerging socioeconomic issues such as insecurity, hunger, natural disaster, collapsing infrastructure and disease outbreaks which have made the competition for limited resources fierce and hence the need to mobilize funds. Revenue mobilization forms a critical crux of development plans in any economy and the public finance literature is replete with an investigation of factors that motivate revenue mobilization. In spite of the documented indisputable roles of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the economic performance of developing economies and the resultant aggression in mobilizing FDI, its implications for tax revenue have not been well investigated. This study, therefore, assessed the role of FDI in mobilizing tax revenue in South Africa. Accounting for the potential structural break, the study used time series data from 1994 to 2021 within the Autoregressive Distributed Lag–Error Correction Model (ARDL-ECM). The results showed that FDI has a statistically significant negative effect on tax revenue. Following the outcomes of this study, it is recommended that in addition to sound public finance policies, the government should prioritize efficient investment policies in its FDI mobilization drive.
A Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer for Ground-Based Measurements of Nitric Acid

Abstract A chemical ionization mass spectrometer (CIMS) instrument has been developed for high-precision measurements of gaseous nitric acid (HNO3) specifically under high- and variable-humidity conditions in the boundary layer. The instrument’s background signals (i.e., signals detected when HNO3-free air is measured), which depend on the humidity and HNO3 concentration of the sample air, are the most important factor affecting the limit of detection (LOD). A new system to provide HNO3-free air without changing both the humidity and the pressure of the sampled air was developed to measure the background level accurately. The detection limit was about 23 parts per trillion by volume (pptv) for 50-s averages. Field tests, including an intercomparison with the diffusion scrubber technique, were carried out at a surface site in Tokyo, Japan, in October 2003 and June 2004. A comparison between the measured concentrations of HNO3 and particulate nitrate indicated that the interference from particulate nitrate .
Sur l'approximation, par éléments finis d'ordre un, et la résolution, par pénalisation-dualité d'une classe de problèmes de Dirichlet non linéaires

Supported catalyst compositions incorporating preformed materials comprising the reaction product of (1) organoborate compounds such as trialkyl borate, and (2) chromium trioxide. Typical supports constitute an inorganic material of moderate to high surface area, especially a high pore volume (greater than about 1.96 cc/g) silica xerogel. The supported catalysts are utilized alone or in conjunction with other catalytic ingredients such as organometallic and/or organo non-metallic reducing agents for the polymerization of 1-olefins.
Quantification of Physical Activities Simulated Exercise Therapy in Ambulatory Inpatients Using Surface Electromyogram from the Vastus Medialis

The present study aimed to assess whether surface electromyogram (sEMG) signal from the vastus medialis could be a candidate method to quantify physical activities during combined activities in ambulatory persons (ergometer exercise, treadmill walking, and squatting). In the first trial, twelve healthy men performed a graded cycle ergometer exercise at 0%, 30%, 60%, and 80% of peak oxygen consumption rate (VO 2peak ), followed by treadmill walking at 0, 2, 4, and 6 km/h for 3 min of each, and each exercise was intermitted by 3 min of rest. sEMG from the Vastus Medialis Oblique Longus (VML) was collected, and the integrated amplitude of spikes (sEMGAMP) were calculated every minute. Positive correlations were observed between ∆VO 2 and ΣsEMG AMP ; data at sampling frequency of 250Hz in both exercise types were plotted (r=0.888; P<0.0001; y=339.04x+4.0267). In the second trial, thirteen healthy participants (three women) performed the combined exercise comprising 3 min each for optimal walking (3 km/h), fast walking (5 km/h and 6 km/h for women and men, respectively), squatting, second optimal walking, and ergometer exercise at 30% VO 2peak , which were intermitted by 30 sec. Finally, they performed ergometer exercise at 100% VO 2peak for 1 min followed by 3-min cool-down (0W). Changes (∆) in VO 2 from the resting value and sEMG AMP during exercise were summed throughout the exercise period (Σ∆VO 2 and ΣsEMG AMP ). ΣΔsEMG AMP was positively correlated with ΣΔVO 2 (r=0.68, p=0.011, @250Hz). Monitoring sEMG from VML may be a candidate method for the evaluation of physical activities for exercise therapy in ambulatory persons.
Quality of Life in Teduglutide-Treated Patients with Short Bowel Syndrome Intestinal Failure—A Nested Matched Pair Real-World Study

Background: Quality of life (QoL) data of chronic intestinal failure (cIF) patients treated with the GLP-2 analogue teduglutide are scarce. This study aims to analyze QoL changes over time in teduglutide-treated patients and compare the results to a matched non-treated cIF control group in a real-world setting. Methods: QoL data (SF-36 and SBS-QoLTM) were obtained from adult cIF patients being treated with teduglutide and compared to previously collected QoL data from a PNLiver trial (DRKS00010993), during which patients had been therapy naive. The dataset was then extended by a pairwise matched control group (non-teduglutide-treated PNLiver trial patients) and follow-up data from this group were collected accordingly. Results: Median teduglutide treatment duration and the follow-up period of controls were both 4.3 years. SBS-QoLTM subscales and the SBS-QoLTM sum score showed significant improvements over time in teduglutide-treated patients, as well as for the SF-36 physical and mental component summary scores (all p < 0.02), while non-treated patients showed no significant changes in any of the mentioned scores. Significant differences of QoL changes between treated and non-treated patients were seen for both SF-36 summary scores (p = 0.031 and 0.012). Conclusions: We herein demonstrate for the first time that QoL significantly improved during teduglutide treatment in SBS-cIF patients in a real-world setting compared to individually matched non-treated SBS-cIF patients, indicating relevant clinical benefits.