Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation of a German Version of the Stress Overload Scale and Comparison of Different Time Frames in the Instructions

Abstract: Introduction: The Stress Overload Scale (SOS; Amirkhan, 2012 , 2018 ) was introduced as a two-factorial self-report measure of stress to overcome limitations of other scales. Methods: We developed a German translation of the SOS and validated it in addition to a short version and an extra-short version. Furthermore, we tested whether manipulating the time frame introduced as retention interval in the instructions affected its psychometric properties. Results: Using two independent age-heterogeneous convenience samples ( Ntotal = 1,239), we found good psychometric properties for a modified German short version of the SOS-S (SOS-S-G) and a new extra-short version (SOS-XS-G), but not for the German long version of the SOS. Moreover, manipulating the time frame of the SOS did not affect its psychometric quality. Discussion The SOS enriches the repertoire of self-report measures of stress as it captures the nonpathological core facets of stress in line with theoretical stress conceptualizations.
Process optimisation of cold spray additive manufacturing of FeCoNiCrMn high-entropy alloy

The deposition window of cold spray additive manufacturing (CSAM) a high-entropy alloy (HEA) was optimised by investigating processing parameters on deposition efficiency and porosity. The optimal parameters were obtained with helium as the driving gas, gas inlet temperature was at 700°C, and spray distance at 25 mm, at which the deposit was the thickest and of the lowest porosity. The type of driving gas is critical as it affects the porosity and deposition efficiency, and helium is required to obtain high-quality HEA deposits. With it, gas inlet temperature and spray distance have a minimal effect. Furthermore, higher gas temperature and moderate spraying distance were selected to increase particle deformation and reduce the effect of shock waves at the plate front.
Pressure Driven Rapid Reconfigurable Liquid Metal Patterning

This paper proposes a method for pressure driven rapid reconfigurable liquid metal patterning. A sandwich structure of “pattern—film—cavity” is designed to complete this function. Both sides of the highly elastic polymer film are bonded with two PDMS slabs. One PDMS slab has microchannels patterned on the surface. The other PDMS slab has a large cavity on its surface for liquid metal storage. These two PDMS slabs are bonded together, face to face, with the polymer film in the middle. In order to control the distribution of the liquid metal in the microfluidic chip, the elastic film will deform under the high pressure of the working medium in the microchannels and then extrude the liquid metal into different patterns in the cavity. This paper studies the factors of liquid metal patterning in detail, including external control conditions, such as the type and pressure of the working medium and the critical dimensions of the chip structure. Moreover, both a single-pattern and a double-pattern chip are fabricated in this paper, which can form or reconfigure the liquid metal pattern within 800 ms. Based on the above methods, reconfigurable antennas of two frequencies are designed and fabricated. Meanwhile, their performance is simulated and tested by simulation and vector network tests. The operating frequencies of the two antennas are respectively significantly switching between 4.66 GHz and 9.97 GHz.
A NEW NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF SOME THERMO-PHYSICAL PROPERTIES ON UNSTEADY MHD NON-DARCIAN FLOW PAST AN IMPULSIVELY STARTED VERTICAL SURFACE

The behaviour of unsteady non-Darcian magnetohydrodynamic fluid flow past an impulsively started vertical porous surface is investigated. The effect of thermophoresis due to migration of colloidal particles in response to a macroscopic temperature gradient is taken into account. It is assumed that both dynamic viscosity and thermal conductivity are linear functions of temperature. The governing equations are non-dimensionalized by using suitable similarity transformation which can unravel the behaviour of the flow at short time and long time periods. A novel iteration scheme, called bivariate spectral local linearization method is developed for solving the corresponding systems of highly non-linear partial differential equations. The results of the numerical solutions obtained are presented graphically and analyzed for the effects of the various important parameters entering into the problem on velocity, temperature, and concentration field within the boundary layer.
On Maximizing the Number of Departures Before a Deadline on Multiple

CONSIDER A SET OF PROCESSORS `P(SUBSCRIPT)1,P(SUBSC)2,. ,P(SUBSC)N'' DIFFERING ONLY IN SPEED, A SET OF `M'' JOBS WITH EXPONENTIALLY DISTRIBUTED EXECUTION TIMES, AND AN EXPONENTIALLY DISTRIBUTED DEADLINE. THE PROBLEM WE CONSIDER IS TO SCHEDULE THE JOBS NON-PREEMPTIVELY SO AS TO MAXIMIZE THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF JOB COMPLETIONS BEFORE THE DEADLINE. WE PROVE THAT A THRESHOLD POLICY ACHIEVES THIS OBJECTIVE AND PROVIDE AN ALGORITHM TO CALCULATE THE VALUES OF THE THRESHOLDS.
Cooperative Assist-as-Needed Control for Robotic Rehabilitation: A Two-Player Game Approach

This letter presents an adaptive optimal control strategy for developing assist-as-needed robotic rehabilitation. The primary goal is to encourage patient participation and increase the effectiveness of training sessions by minimizing robot intervention while following a predefined path. To achieve this, the problem is modeled as a two-player non-zero-sum game, with cooperative and individual objectives for the human and robot specified as different cost functions. Policy iteration techniques are adopted for learning the optimal solution online. The shared autonomy feature is specifically achieved through seamless adaptation of the robot's autonomy according to its estimation of human intention. The performance of the proposed approach is illustrated in several simulations and experimental studies.
Calibration of inner orientation elements for camera by means of star points

To implement the single or batch calibrations of mapping cameras,a calibration method to find the inner orientation elements of the camera by star points was presented.The principles and calculation steps of the method were introduced,and the experimental process was described in detail.The method was based on a hole imaging and it established a relationship between celestial coordinate and pixel coordinate by the conversions of different coordinate frames to obtain the inner orientation elements.In comparison to the precision angle measurement method based on the collimator and precision rotating platform,this method greatly simplifies the calibration steps and requires no expensive experimental equipment.Finally,the calibration precision was analyzed,and the effects of noise disturbance and known errors of inner orientation elements on calibration results were discussed.Obtained results indicate that the principal point precision and principal distant precision are better than 3 μm(1/3pixel)and 7μm(1pixle),respectively,which meets the requirement of calibration precision.
Is Intermittent Abdominal Pressure Ventilation Still Relevant? A Multicenter Retrospective Pilot Study

Non-invasive ventilatory support (NVS) is a technique used to reduce respiratory work in neuromuscular diseases, preventing the progression of respiratory failure. NVS is usually administered via a nasal or an oronasal mask, causing discomfort, especially in patients ventilated for more than 16 h/day. Intermittent abdominal pressure ventilation (IAPV) differs completely from conventional NVS and consists of a portable ventilator and a corset with Velcro closures as the interface. In our study, the practicability and efficacy of IAPV were studied in three Italian centers monitoring 28 neuromuscular patients using IAPV who were then retrospectively analyzed. The primary outcomes were an improvement in hypoxemia and the normalization of hypercapnia, and the secondary outcome was an improvement in quality of life. Data were collected at baseline (T0) and after two hours of ventilation (T1), with follow-ups at three months (T2) and six months (T3). Statistical significance was found for PaCO2 over time (F (2.42) = 7.63, p = 0.001) and PaO2 (W = 0.539, p = 0.033). The time of NVS usage also significantly affected the quality of life (F (2.14) = 6.90, p = 0.010), as seen when comparing T0 and T3. As an alternative ventilation method, IAPV is still relevant today and could become a key part of daytime support, especially for patients who do not tolerate standard daytime NVS with an oral interface.
Probability and statistics for engineers

PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS FOR ENGINEERS provides a one-semester, calculus-based introduction to engineering statistics that focuses on making intelligent sense of real engineering data and interpreting results. Traditional topics are presented thorough an accessible modern framework that emphasizes the statistical thinking, data collection and analysis, decision-making, and process improvement skills that engineers need on a daily basis to solve real problems. The text continues to be driven by its hallmark array of engineering applications--thoroughly expanded and modernized for the 5th edition--which tackle timely, interesting, and illuminating scenarios that show students the rich context behind the concepts. Within the presentation of topics and applications the authors continually develop students' intuition for collecting their own real data, analyzing it with the latest graphical tools, and interpreting the results with a goal of improving quality control and problem-solving process. Students will not only gain solid understanding of concepts and their real-life practicality, but will learn to become active statistical practitioners for their own future careers.
The circular law for signed random regular digraphs

We consider a large random matrix of the form $Y=A\odot X$, where $A$ the adjacency matrix of a uniform random $d$-regular directed graph on $n$ vertices, with $d=\lfloor p n\rfloor$ for some fixed $p \in (0,1)$, and $X$ is an $n\times n$ matrix of iid centered Bernoulli signs (here $\odot$ denotes the matrix Hadamard product). We prove that as $n\rightarrow \infty$, the empirical spectral distribution of $\frac{1}{\sqrt{d}}Y$ converges weakly in probability to the uniform measure on the unit disk in the complex plane. A key component of our proof is a lower bound on the least singular value of matrices of the form $A\odot X+B$, with $X$ as above, $B$ deterministic, and $A$ a deterministic 0/1 matrix satisfying certain "quasirandomness" conditions.
The disintegration and electrification of charged water drops falling in an electric field

The spheroidal assumption employed by Taylor (1964) has been applied to a theoretical treatment of the deformation and disintegration of charged water drops falling through an electric field of strength F. Aerodynamic and hydrostatic pressure-difference terms were incorporated into equilibrium equations from which the fields required to produce instability were determined. Values of F (Ro/T)1/2 required for disintegration were computed as a function of the applied charge Q, undistorted drop radius Ro and surface tension T. The predicted values of F (Ro/T)1/2 have been tested experimentally for positively or negatively charged water drops of Ro ranging from 0·10 to 0·17 cm falling through horizontal or vertical fields at temperatures varying from + 20 to −18°C. The agreement between theory and experiment was found to be good; the maximum discrepancy of about 3 per cent was obtained with the largest drops utilized and is probably a consequence of the oscillation factor discussed by Ausman and Brook (1967). As predicted, the field required to disintegrate a falling drop was found to be markedly dependent upon the magnitude of the charge that it carried. It is shown that the field, F, required to effect the disintegration of the great majority of charged raindrops falling through the intense electric fields of a thunderstorm can be expressed in electrostatic units to within an accuracy of 2 per cent by the equation F (Ro)1/2 = 13·6 – 8Q. The mass loss accompanying the disintegration of falling drops was found to bear a similar relationship to the field strength as was previously observed by Latham (1965) and Matthews (1967). Measurements on suspended drops of water showed that the values of charge and mass loss, q and δM respectively, accompanying the disintegration are close to the theoretical maxima. The close parallelism between the experimental curves of q against Q and δM against Q suggests that instability occurs over a large fraction of the surface area of the lower hemispheroid.
Signal preprocessing routines for the detection and classification of human micro‐Doppler radar signatures

In this study, we introduce a radar sensor that we have developed for the micro‐Doppler signature measurements together with three consecutive signal preprocessing routines that are to be used for primary detection and classification of human gait and movements. The developed C‐band radar sensor has been used in a series of human walking and running experiments that were conducted at Mersin University facilities. First, the raw data collected in time domain are transformed to two‐dimensional (2D) time‐frequency plane to investigate the Doppler characteristics of human movements. To detect and extract the main body signature of the human, a Kalman filter‐based torso signature detection methodology is introduced as the first preprocessing tool. Then, to be able to better detect the other body parts’ signatures, the torso's response is thoroughly extracted from the 2D time‐Doppler image as the second preprocessing routine by applying a circular shift procedure along each time‐bin. As the last procedure, envelopes of the micro‐Doppler signatures on the 2D time‐Doppler image plane are determined by another routine based on human Doppler threshold method. To assess the success and the validity of the proposed pre‐signal processing tools, they are applied to the measured data collected via different experiments of human movements. After applying all these steps, the torso signature and envelopes of all other body parts’ signatures are marked and determined with good fidelity.
Normal mode propagation on conical shells

This paper presents a theoretical study on waves on elastic shells of conical shape. The shell motions are formulated according to thin shell theory and the technique of multiple scales is used to derive solutions for shells with small vertex angles. Solutions are decomposed into angular harmonics in the circumferencial direction, each mode propagating along the shell axis. In contrast to waves on cylindrical shells, waves on conical shells experience amplitude and phase variations as a result of the changing shell radius. Discussed in detail is the case where waves propagate toward the apex of the shell. In this event, the decreasing radius causes different modes to be cut off at different locations where the waves also show strong dispersive behavior. Also, as a result of the shrinking radius, the wave amplitudes grow, the growth being limited by blowup at cutoff. The locations of cutoff for different modes are identified and the nature of the amplitude singularities at cutoff is examined in detail.
On development of a finite dynamic element and solution of associated eigenproblem by a block Lanczos procedure

The paper first presents the details of the development of a new six-noded plane triangular finite dynamic element. A block Lanczos algorithm is developed next for the accurate and efficient solution of the quadratic matrix eigenvalue problem associated with the finite dynamic element formulation. The resulting computer program fully exploits matrix sparsity inherent in such a discretization and proves to be most efficient for the extraction of the usually required first few roots and vectors, including repeated ones. Most importantly, the present eigenproblem solution effort is shown to be comparable to that of the corresponding finite element analysis, thereby rendering the associated dynamic element method rather attractive owing to superior convergence characteristics of such elements, presented herein.
Eukv: Enabling Efficient Updates for Hybrid PM-DRAM Key-Value Store

Key-value store, a fundamental component in a variety of modern data-intensive applications, can benefit from the emerging persistent memory (PM) to achieve high performance. Recent research proposes hybrid PM-DRAM key-value stores, which persist key-value pairs to PM in a log-structured approach for efficient storage and maintain a volatile hash index in DRAM for fast indexing. However, they fail to achieve high performance under update-intensive workloads due to the unawareness of PM’s characteristics. We propose Eukv, a hybrid PM-DRAM key-value store that supports efficient updates. Eukv: 1) leverages out-of-place updates and lazy deletions to reduce small random PM reads and writes; 2) performs concurrency control only in a volatile hash index to further reduce small random PM reads and writes introduced by persistent lock operations; 3) uses cacheline-aligned writes to take full advantage of PM’s write performance; 4) improves garbage collection efficiency through hot and cold data separation; 5) employs multi-threaded garbage collection technology to reduce the impact of inefficient garbage collection on updates at high-capacity utilization. We conduct extensive evaluations on an 18-core machine equipped with Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory Modules. Experimental results demonstrate that Eukv obtains up to $5.6\times $ speedup than the state-of-the-art hybrid PM-DRAM key-value store.
Cancer Spheroids and Organoids as Novel Tools for Research and Therapy: State of the Art and Challenges to Guide Precision Medicine

Spheroids and organoids are important novel players in medical and life science research. They are gradually replacing two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures. Indeed, three-dimensional (3D) cultures are closer to the in vivo reality and open promising perspectives for academic research, drug screening, and personalized medicine. A large variety of cells and tissues, including tumor cells, can be the starting material for the generation of 3D cultures, including primary tissues, stem cells, or cell lines. A panoply of methods has been developed to generate 3D structures, including spontaneous or forced cell aggregation, air–liquid interface conditions, low cell attachment supports, magnetic levitation, and scaffold-based technologies. The choice of the most appropriate method depends on (i) the origin of the tissue, (ii) the presence or absence of a disease, and (iii) the intended application. This review summarizes methods and approaches for the generation of cancer spheroids and organoids, including their advantages and limitations. We also highlight some of the challenges and unresolved issues in the field of cancer spheroids and organoids, and discuss possible therapeutic applications.
N-Type Ca Channel in Epileptic Syndromes and Epilepsy: A Systematic Review of Its Genetic Variants

N-type voltage-gated calcium channel controls the release of neurotransmitters from neurons. The association of other voltage-gated calcium channels with epilepsy is well-known. The association of N-type voltage-gated calcium channels and pain has also been established. However, the relationship between this type of calcium channel and epilepsy has not been specifically reviewed. Therefore, the present review systematically summarizes existing publications regarding the genetic associations between N-type voltage-dependent calcium channel and epilepsy.
Spatially Resolved Very Large Array 74 MHz Observations Toward the Galactic Center

We present the highest resolution and sensitivity low frequency image (<300 MHz) of the Galactic center to date using the Very Large Array at 74 MHz in its A, B, C, & D configurations. The resulting images have a resolution of 2.1′ × 1.2′ and a dynamic range of ∼400 From this data we have been able to identify a region of enhanced 74 MHz emission about 5° in extent that is coincident with the high density molecular gas surrounding the Galactic center known as the Central Molecular Zone. In addition to giving an unprecedented view of the extended nonthermal emission surrounding the Galactic center, the 74 MHz image shows deep free-free absorption across the Galactic center itself, as well as, part of the Galactic center radio lobe, and a number of H II regions in the field. This absorption is due to ionized thermal gas in front of, or in some cases embedded in, the nonthermal Galactic center (GC) emission. Such absorption allows us to unambiguously place some of the H II regions in the direction of the GC along the line of sight for the first time. The morphology, nature, and relationship to the Galactic center of the 74 MHz absorption and emission is discussed.
Identification of Natural Compounds of the Apple as Inhibitors against Cholinesterase for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease: An In Silico Molecular Docking Simulation and ADMET Study

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common type of dementia in older people, causes neurological problems associated with memory and thinking. The key enzymes involved in Alzheimer’s disease pathways are acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE). Because of this, there is a lot of interest in finding new AChE inhibitors. Among compounds that are not alkaloids, flavonoids have stood out as good candidates. The apple fruit, Malus domestica (Rosaceae), is second only to cranberries regarding total phenolic compound concentration. Computational tools and biological databases were used to investigate enzymes and natural compounds. Molecular docking techniques were used to analyze the interactions of natural compounds of the apple with enzymes involved in the central nervous system (CNS), acetylcholinesterase, and butyrylcholinesterase, followed by binding affinity calculations using the AutoDock tool. The molecular docking results revealed that CID: 107905 exhibited the best interactions with AChE, with a binding affinity of −12.2 kcal/mol, and CID: 163103561 showed the highest binding affinity with BuChE, i.e., −11.2 kcal/mol. Importantly, it was observed that amino acid residue Trp286 of AChE was involved in hydrogen bond formation, Van Der Walls interactions, and Pi–Sigma/Pi–Pi interactions in the studied complexes. Moreover, the results of the Molecular Dynamics Simulation (MDS) analysis indicated interaction stability. This study shows that CID: 12000657 could be used as an AChE inhibitor and CID: 135398658 as a BuChE inhibitor to treat Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders.
Dielectrophoretic assembly of reversible and irreversible metal nanowire networks and vertically aligned arrays

We demonstrate the dielectrophoretic control of metallic nanowires (NWs) in liquid suspensions. By varying a range of parameters including the magnitude and frequency of the applied electric field, the liquid suspending the NWs, and the flow conditions, we demonstrate control over NW network formation and dissolution, as well as ordering of NWs into vertically aligned arrays. These results suggest a straightforward strategy for NW assembly and integration in devices.