Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Typical products for outside audiences: The role of typicality when products traverse countries

While organization theorists have established the importance of typicality, most studies examine situations where producers and audiences dwell within the same category system (e.g. a country, industry, or market). However, much less attention is paid to the role of typicality when products are introduced from one system to another. Since defining what is typical is commonly system-specific, typical products in one category system may be perceived as being atypical in others. It is therefore important to understand how typicality shapes market exchanges when products traverse category systems. To shed light on this, we introduce two key concepts—home typicality and host typicality—and examine specifically how they affect the performance of products distributed across countries. By analyzing a large sample of films, we find that films are more successful in international markets, when they are more typical of their home countries and/or more atypical of their host countries.
Laboratory Wavelengths of K-Shell Resonance Lines of O V and O VI

We present wavelength measurements of K-shell resonance lines of O V and O VI using the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory EBIT-I electron beam ion trap. The wavelength accuracy of better than 140 parts per million is sufficient to determine gas outflow velocities of warm absorbers associated with active galactic nuclei to within 40 km s-1 and better. Our measurements confirm that the outflow velocities associated with NGC 5548 and derived from the O V and O VI lines are similar to those derived from the O VII lines. These kinematic measurements make for further evidence that the X-ray and UV absorbers in these systems are truly two manifestations of the same physical outflow.
Knowledge of Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines is Not Associated with Physical Function in Dutch Older Adults Attending a Healthy Ageing Public Engagement Event

Purpose Evidence-based guidelines on nutrition and physical activity are used to increase knowledge in order to promote a healthy lifestyle. However, actual knowledge of guidelines is limited and whether it is associated with health outcomes is unclear. Participants and Methods This inception cohort study aimed to investigate the association of knowledge of nutrition and physical activity guidelines with objective measures of physical function and physical activity in community-dwelling older adults attending a public engagement event in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Knowledge of nutrition and physical activity according to Dutch guidelines was assessed using customized questionnaires. Gait speed and handgrip strength were proxies of physical function and the Minnesota Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess physical activity in minutes/week. Linear regression analysis, stratified by gender and adjusted for age, was used to study the association between continuous and categorical knowledge scores with outcomes. Results In 106 older adults (mean age=70.1 SD=6.6, years) who were highly educated, well-functioning, and generally healthy, there were distinct knowledge gaps in nutrition and physical activity which did not correlate with one another (R2=0.013, p=0.245). Knowledge of nutrition or physical activity guidelines was not associated with physical function or physical activity. However, before age-adjustment nutrition knowledge was positively associated with HGS in males (B= 0.64 (95% CI: 0.05, 1.22)) and having knowledge above the median was associated with faster gait speed in females (B=0.10 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.19)). Conclusion Our findings may represent a ceiling effect of the impact knowledge has on physical function and activity in the this high performing and educated population and that there may be other determinants of behavior leading to health status such as attitude and perception to consider in future studies.
Near-Field Imaging of Dielectric Components Using an Array of Microwave Sensors

Microwave imaging is a high-resolution, noninvasive, and noncontact method for detecting hidden defects, cracks, and objects with applications for testing nonmetallic components such as printed circuit boards, biomedical diagnosis, aerospace components inspection, etc. In this paper, an array of microwave sensors designed based on complementary split ring resonators (CSRR) are used to evaluate the hidden features in dielectric media with applications in nondestructive testing and biomedical diagnosis. In this array, each element resonates at a different frequency in the range of 1 GHz to 10 GHz. Even though the operating frequencies are not that high, the acquisition of evanescent waves in extreme proximity to the imaged object and processing them using near-field holographic imaging allows for obtaining high-resolution images. The performance of the proposed method is demonstrated through simulation and experimental results.
T-induced changes of magnetization profiles and reversal in exchange-coupled trilayers

Thermomagnetic phenomena are investigated in appropriate exchange-coupled trilayers at the basic of a magnetic amplification of the magnetically-induced super-resolution signal used for ultrahigh magneto-optical storage. The changes of the magnetization profiles and reversal behavior between room temperature and the Curie temperature are determined from the mean field theory and a micromagnetic model based on a discontinuous distribution of the magnetization and compared in bi- and trilayers F1/F3 and F1/F2/F3. These multilayers correspond to a TbFeCo layer F1 with perpendicular anisotropy exchange-coupled with either one GdFeCo (F3) or with a double GdFe/GdFeCo (F2/F3) in-plane magnetic layer. Depending on the magnetic parameters of the in-plane layers associated with appropriate choice of their composition, it is possible to stimulate sequential magnetic reorientation in the layers F2 and F3 at different switching temperatures Ts2 and Ts3 which can induce a dynamic expansion of the magnetic domains in t.
A DISTRIBUTED PARAMETER APPROACH TO THE DYNAMICS OF ROTARY DRYING PROCESSES

A nonequilibrium distributed parameter model for rotary drying and cooling processes described by a set of partial differential equations coupled with nonlinear algebraic constraints is developed in this work. These equations arise from the multi-phase heat and mass balances on a typical rotary dryer, A computational algorithm is developed by employing a polynomial approximation (orthogonal collocation) with a global spline technique leading to a differential-algebraic equation (DAE) system. The numerical solution is carried out by using a standard DAE solver. The two-phase-flow heat transfer coefficient is computed by introducing a correction factor to the commonly accepted correlations. Since interactions between the falling particles are considered in the correction factor, the results are more reliable than those computed by assuming that the heat transfer between a single falling particle and the drying air is unaffected by other particles. The heat transfer computations can be further justified via a study on the analogies between heat and mass transfer. The general model developed in this work is mathematically more rigorous yet more flexible than the lumped parameter models established by one of the authors (Douglas et al., (1993)). The three major assumptions of an equilibrium operation, perfect mixing and constant drying rate, are removed in the distributed parameter model. The simulation results are compared with the operational data from an industrial sugar dryer and predictions from earlier models. The model and algorithm successfully predict the steady state behaviour of rotary dryers and coolers. The generalized model can be applied to fertilizer drying processes in which the assumption of constant drying rate is no longer valid and the existing dynamic models are not applicable.
Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Skin Picking Disorder Symptoms Among Adults in an Arab Middle Eastern Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Skin Picking Disorder (SPD) is a skin-related disease, also recognized as psychogenic excoriation, dermatillomania, or excoriation disorder. SPD is defined as a habitual picking of skin, which in turn harms skin tissue. Given the paucity of information on SPD symptoms, their prevalence, and risk factors in Saudi Arabia, the present study seeks to fill this gap by investigating these factors in a community sample from Jeddah. Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Jeddah. The Skin Picking Scale-Revised (SPS-R) scale was administered to a convenience sample of 520 respondents. A partial least squares path model (PLS-PM) for “impairment” and “symptoms severity” subscales was assessed by evaluating the validity of measurement and structural models. Results Skin picking behavior was reported by 28.8% (n=150). A significant level of skin picking disorder symptoms was present in 1.2% (n=6). Skin picking visual effect, depressive symptoms, and being unmarried were the only positive independent predictors of the total SPS-R score. Conclusion SPD symptoms are relatively common among the adult population in Jeddah, but those with threshold symptoms indicative of SPD are relatively few. Such behavior is particularly common in vulnerable groups such as those with depressive symptoms and the unmarried. More attention to this condition by clinicians will improve the quality of life of those affected, and reduce the emotional and physical health consequences of this often unrecognized condition.
Serum unsaturated phosphatidylcholines predict longitudinal basal forebrain degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract Basal forebrain cholinergic neurons are among the first cell types affected by Alzheimer’s disease pathology, but the cause of their early vulnerability is unknown. The lipid phosphatidylcholine is an essential component of the cell membrane, and phosphatidylcholine levels have been shown to be abnormal in the blood and brain of Alzheimer’s disease patients. We hypothesized that disease-related changes in phosphatidylcholine metabolism may disproportionately affect basal forebrain cholinergic neurons due to their extremely large size, plasticity in adulthood and unique reliance on phosphatidylcholine for acetylcholine synthesis. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether serum phosphatidylcholine levels predicted longitudinal basal forebrain degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease. All data were collected by the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Participants were divided into a normal CSF group (controls; n = 77) and an abnormal CSF group (preclinical and clinical Alzheimer’s disease; n = 236) based on their CSF ratios of phosphorylated tau and amyloid beta at baseline. Groups were age-matched (t = 0.89, P > 0.1). Serum lipidomics data collected at baseline were clustered by chemical similarity, and enrichment analyses were used to determine whether serum levels of any lipid clusters differed between the normal and abnormal CSF groups. In a subset of patients with longitudinal structural MRI (normal CSF n = 62, abnormal CSF n = 161), two timepoints of MRI data were used to calculate grey matter annual percent change for each participant. Multivariate partial least squares analyses tested for relationships between neuroimaging and lipidomics data which are moderated by CSF pathology. Our clustering analyses produced 23 serum lipid clusters. Of these clusters, six were altered in the abnormal CSF group, including a cluster of unsaturated phosphatidylcholines. In the subset of participants with longitudinal structural MRI data, a priori nucleus basalis of Meynert partial least squares analyses detected a relationship between unsaturated phosphatidylcholines and degeneration in the nucleus basalis which is moderated by Alzheimer’s disease CSF pathology (P = 0.0008). Whole-brain grey matter partial least squares analyses of all 23 lipid clusters revealed that only unsaturated phosphatidylcholines and unsaturated acylcarnitines exhibited an Alzheimer’s disease-dependent relationship with longitudinal degeneration (P = 0.0022 and P = 0.0018, respectively). Only the unsaturated phosphatidylcholines predicted basal forebrain degeneration in the whole-brain analyses. Overall, this study provides in vivo evidence for a selective relationship between phosphatidylcholine and basal forebrain degeneration in human Alzheimer’s disease, highlighting the importance of phosphatidylcholine to basal forebrain grey matter integrity.
The Upregulation of Regenerative Activity for Extracellular Vesicles with Melatonin Modulation in Chemically Defined Media

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have been widely known to have therapeutic effects by representing characteristics of the origin cells as an alternative for cell-based therapeutics. Major limitations of EVs for clinical applications include low production yields, unknown effects from serum impurities, and relatively low bioactivities against dose. In this study, we proposed a cell modulation method with melatonin for human umbilical cord MSCs (hUCMSCs) cultured in serum-free chemically defined media (CDM) to eliminate the effects of serum-derived impurities and promote regeneration-related activities. miRNAs highly associated with regeneration were selected and the expression levels of them were comparatively analyzed among various types of EVs depending on culture conditions. The EVs derived from melatonin-stimulated hUCMSCs in CDM (CDM mEVs) showed the highest expression levels of regeneration-related miRNAs, and 7 times more hsa-let-7b-5p, 5.6 times more hsa-miR-23a-3p, and 5.7 times more hsa-miR-100-5p than others, respectively. In addition, the upregulation of various functionalities, such as wound healing, angiogenesis, anti-inflammation, ROS scavenging, and anti-apoptosis, were proven using in vitro assays by simulating the characteristics of EVs with bioinformatics analysis. The present results suggest that the highly regenerative properties of hUCMSC-derived EVs were accomplished with melatonin stimulation in CDM and provided the potential for clinical uses of EVs.
New Lyapunov function and extra information on membership functions for improving stability conditions of TS systems

Abstract This paper presents an improved stability condition for Takagi-Sugeno (TS) fuzzy systems based on a new fuzzy Lyapunov function. This new fuzzy Lyapunov function aggregates more information with respect to the membership function variation (time-derivative) via an augmented state vector. This new fuzzy Lyapunov function is not just parametrized by the membership functions variations but it is also based on a polynomial combination of them. To derive LMI based stability condition using the proposed new fuzzy Lyapunov function two ideas are invoked: i ) the inclusion of the membership function time-derivative information using a finite number of vectors and, ii ) the use of the so-called null term. Two numerical examples are presented to illustrate the improvements.
Developing mixed convection of a nanofluid in a horizontal tube with uniform heat flux

Purpose – This paper seeks to show the effect of using nanofluid on mixed convection heat transfer in a horizontal tube.Design/methodology/approach – Three‐dimensional elliptic governing equation has been solved using finite volume approach. Grid independence test has been performed to find the suitable grids. Obtained numerical results have been validated with the available experimental and numerical results in the literature. Parametric study has been done to see the effects of Reynolds number, Grashof number and volume fraction of the nanoparticles on the hydrodynamic and thermal parameters in a horizontal tube.Findings – The nanoparticles volume fraction does not have a direct effect on the secondary flow and the skin friction coefficient. However, its effect on the entire fluid temperature causes the strength of the secondary flow to reduce. For a given Grashof number, increasing the particles' concentration augments convective heat transfer coefficient. It does not have a significant effect on the s.
Covariance based moment equations for improved variance component estimation

ABSTRACT ANOVA-based estimators of variance components for nested-error regression models are always constructed based on moment equations through residual variance. We consider moment equations associated with residual covariance and construct improved ANOVA-based estimators. The proposed estimators have closed-form analytic expressions, which enables easy computation. Moreover, they are shown to be consistent, asymptotically unbiased, and robust to the choice of distribution of the random effects. These estimators have comparable and often better performances than many traditional estimators of variance components like the Prasad-Rao, maximum likelihood, and the restricted maximum likelihood estimators for almost all kinds of sample allocations. Their improved performances are demonstrated analytically as well as through detailed simulation studies and applications to real data sets.
Traffic Sign Recognition Based on the YOLOv3 Algorithm

Traffic sign detection is an essential component of an intelligent transportation system, since it provides critical road traffic data for vehicle decision-making and control. To solve the challenges of small traffic signs, inconspicuous characteristics, and low detection accuracy, a traffic sign recognition method based on improved (You Only Look Once v3) YOLOv3 is proposed. The spatial pyramid pooling structure is fused into the YOLOv3 network structure to achieve the fusion of local features and global features, and the fourth feature prediction scale of 152 × 152 size is introduced to make full use of the shallow features in the network to predict small targets. Furthermore, the bounding box regression is more stable when the distance-IoU (DIoU) loss is used, which takes into account the distance between the target and anchor, the overlap rate, and the scale. The Tsinghua–Tencent 100K (TT100K) traffic sign dataset’s 12 anchors are recalculated using the K-means clustering algorithm, while the dataset is balanced and expanded to address the problem of an uneven number of target classes in the TT100K dataset. The algorithm is compared to YOLOv3 and other commonly used target detection algorithms, and the results show that the improved YOLOv3 algorithm achieves a mean average precision (mAP) of 77.3%, which is 8.4% higher than YOLOv3, especially in small target detection, where the mAP is improved by 10.5%, greatly improving the accuracy of the detection network while keeping the real-time performance as high as possible. The detection network’s accuracy is substantially enhanced while keeping the network’s real-time performance as high as possible.
Dynamic wavefront coding using deformable mirror

Aiming at the problems of traditional wavefront coding system, such as single phase mask (modulation) and limited extended depth of field, a wavefront coding imaging system using deformable mirror (DM) is proposed to realize dynamic coding. In this paper, continuous pure phase coding based on Zernike polynomial is designed by the simulated annealing algorithm for different defocus distances, with the aim of thus getting the most suitable coding strength for different defocus distance. And in the decoding process, the PSF of the defocused position corresponding to the blurred image is used for restoration, which reduces the artifacts caused by using the PSF of the focal position to restore all the defocused images. The experiment shows that compared with the traditional fixed phase mask, the wavefront coding imaging system of DM can achieve dynamic coding and decoding, which increases the imaging flexibility of the wavefront coding system and improves the quality of the decoded image.
Price Transmission between Energy and Fish Markets: Are Oil Rates Good Predictors of Tuna Prices?

Because most food processes are fossil fuel–based, many food markets are more or less connected to the oil market. Fishing technology in the high seas being energy-intensive, higher oil prices should affect the fish markets. This research looks at price transmission between marine diesel oil and a global fishery commodity, frozen skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) through a time series analysis combining four different methods to look for possible structural breaks and regime shifts in the relationship (Bai-Perron, Lavielle, Gregory-Hansen, Markov-switching). Our results prove that the long-run equilibrium between both prices is weakening after the turn of the 2010s. Explaining the drivers of change is of great interest for short-term forecast but also to build long-term scenarios where both supply and demand variables are likely to affect tuna markets.
Effect of intoxication by gavage with pyrethroid and neonicotinoid insecticides on the liver in adult male rats of the Wistar strain

ABSTRACT The use of pesticides has been widespread throughout the world. The intensive and uncontrolled use of these chemical substances has harmful effects on human health and the environment. Imidacloprid and Deltametrin are among the insecticides most commonly used. Our study evaluated the potential effects on hepatic function of Imidacloprid and Deltametrin in rats after subacute toxicity. Forty adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups of 10 rats each: the 1st group was the control; the 2nd group was exposed to Imidacloprid (25 mg/kg); the 3rd group received Deltametrin (200 mg/kg) and the 4th group received a mixture (Imidacloprid + Deltametrin) with the same dose for 30 days. The results showed that subacute exposure of rats to these insecticides induced a decrease in relative liver weights. On the other hand, hepatic activity was altered; however, there was a significant rise at the level of hepatic enzymes, blood sugar and lipids versus decreased protein in treated rats. These modifications were accompanied by alterations of the hepatic tissue structure in the treated rats, compared to the controls which remained intact. The alterations and lesions were more marked in the animals receiving the Imidacloprid and Deltametrin mixture. Subacute toxicity of Imidacloprid and Deltametrin, used individually or together, disturb liver function in rats and the treatment with the combination of the two worsens the condition.
INVESTIGATING DIFFERENT SIMILARITY METRICS USED IN VARIOUS RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS TYPES: SCENARIO CASES

Abstract. A recommendation system represents a very efficient way to propose solutions adapted to customers needs. It allows users to discover interesting items from a large amount of data according to their preferences. To do this, it uses a similarity metric, which determines how similar two users or products are. In the case of recommender systems, similarity computation is a practical step. The calculation of similarity may be used for both items and users. Following the similarity calculation, a user or item with a comparable computation value can be recommended together with the goods to a user with similar preferences. The user’s requirements influence the choice of similarity metric. This paper explores various similarity measurement methods employed in recommender systems. We compare correlation and distance techniques to determine the capabilities of different similitude calculation algorithms and synthesize which similarity measure is adapted for which type of recommendation.