Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Terahertz interface physics: from terahertz wave propagation to terahertz wave generation

Terahertz (THz) interface physics as a new interdiscipline between the THz technique and condensed matter physics has undergone rapid development in recent years. In particular, the development of advanced materials, such as graphene, transitional metal dichalcogenides, topological insulators, ferromagnetic metals, and metamaterials, has revolutionized the interface field and further promoted the development of THz functional devices based on interface physics. Moreover, playing at the interface of these advanced materials could unveil a wealth of fascinating physical effects such as charge transfer, proximity effect, inverse spin-Hall effect, and Rashba effect with THz technology by engineering the charge, spin, orbit, valley, and lattice degrees of freedom. In this review, we start with a discussion of the basic theory of THz interface physics, including interface formation with advanced materials, THz wave reflection and transmission at the interface, and band alignment and charge dynamics at the interface. Then we move to recent progress in advanced materials from THz wave propagation to THz wave generation at the interface. In THz wave propagation, we focus on THz wave impedance-matching, Goos–Hänchen and Imbert–Fedorov shifts in THz region, interfacial modulation and interfacial sensing based on THz waves. In THz wave generation, we summarize ongoing coherent THz wave generation from van der Waals interfaces, multiferroic interfaces, and magnetic interfaces. The fascinating THz interface physics of advanced materials is promising and promotes novel THz functional devices for manipulating propagation and generation of THz waves at interfaces.
Human Adenovirus Serotype 3 Infection Modulates the Biogenesis and Composition of Lung Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles

Adenovirus (Ad) is a major causal agent of acute respiratory infections. However, they are a powerful delivery system for gene therapy and vaccines. Some Ad serotypes antagonize the immune system leading to meningitis, conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and/or acute hemorrhagic cystitis. Studies have shown that the release of small, membrane-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) may offer a mechanism by which viruses can enter cells via receptor-independent entry and how they influence disease pathogenesis and/or host protection considering their existence in almost all bodily fluids. We proposed that Ad3 could alter EV biogenesis, composition, and trafficking and may stimulate various immune responses in vitro. In the present study, we evaluated the impact of in vitro infection with Ad3 vector on EV biogenesis and composition in the human adenocarcinoma lung epithelial cell line A549. Cells were infected in an exosome-free media at different multiplicity of infections (MOIs) and time points. The cell viability was determined using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and fluorometric calcein-AM. EVs were isolated via ultracentrifugation. Isolated EV proteins were quantified and evaluated via nanoparticle tracking, transmission electron microscopy, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and immunoblotting assays. The cell viability significantly decreased with an increase in MOI and incubation time. A significant increase in particle mean sizes, concentrations, and total EV protein content was detected at higher MOIs when compared to uninfected cells (control group). A549 cell-derived EVs revealed the presence of TSG101, tetraspanins CD9 and CD63, and heat shock proteins 70 and 100 with significantly elevated levels of Rab5, 7, and 35 at higher MOIs (300, 750, and 1500) when compared to the controls. Our findings suggested Ad3 could modulate EV biogenesis, composition, and trafficking which could impact infection pathogenesis and disease progression. This study might suggest EVs could be diagnostic and therapeutic advancement to Ad infections and other related viral infections. However, further investigation is warranted to explore the underlying mechanism(s).
A NOVEL IMPROVING ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM USING BIDIRECTIONAL ISOLATED CONVERTER APPLICATION TO GRID CONNECTED SYSTEM

Bidirectional power flow capability is a key feature of dc-dc converters, permitting flexible interfacing to energy storage devices. Although the proposed converter has an inherent soft-switching attribute, it is limited to a reduced operating range depending on voltage conversion ratio and output current as in conventional. Here proposed novel bidirectional dc-dc converters (BDC) have recently received a lot of attention due to the increasing need to systems with the capability of bidirectional energy transfer between two dc buses. A wide input range bi-directional dc-dc converter is described along with the phase-shift modulation scheme and phase-shift with duty cycle control for photovoltaic cell, in different modes. The delivered power and peak current are analyzed and calculated. The key parameters of the bi-directional dc-dc converter, the relationships between the input voltage, phase-shift angle, ratio of the transformer and leakage inductance are analyzed and optimized. The proposed scheme is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK software. Index Terms—Bidirectional dc-dc converter, current-fed, fuel cell (FC), phase shift, super capacitor (SC).
Sleep problems predict next-day suicidal thinking among adolescents: A multimodal real-time monitoring study following discharge from acute psychiatric care

Abstract Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are major public health concerns among adolescents, and research is needed to identify how risk is conferred over the short term (hours and days). Sleep problems may be associated with elevated risk for STBs, but less is known about this link in youth over short time periods. The current study utilized a multimodal real-time monitoring approach to examine the association between sleep problems (via daily sleep diary and actigraphy) and next-day suicidal thinking in 48 adolescents with a history of STBs during the month following discharge from acute psychiatric care. Results indicated that specific indices of sleep problems assessed via sleep diary (i.e., greater sleep onset latency, nightmares, ruminative thoughts before sleep) predicted next-day suicidal thinking. These effects were significant even when daily sadness and baseline depression were included in the models. Moreover, several associations between daily-level sleep problems and next-day suicidal thinking were moderated by person-level measures of the construct. In contrast, sleep indices assessed objectively (via actigraphy) were either not related to suicidal thinking or were related in the opposite direction from hypothesized. Together, these findings provide some support for sleep problems as a short-term risk factor for suicidal thinking in high-risk adolescents.
Built-in EMC for Integrated Power Electronics Systems

Abstract Power electronics is today the most common way for electrical power conversion. However, a set of new problems, linked to ElectroMagnetic Compatibility (EMC) arises from the generalization of this very attractive technology: high frequency disturbances, generated from power switching, must be mitigated to avoid the disturbance of the device itself, or its environment. This paper proposes an investigation of several available solutions to reduce the ElectroMagnetic Interferences (EMI) of power electronics devices (power modules and associated interconnections), by using cost free solutions, lying on a proper choice of layout and on the exploitation of some technological properties of the module. Both internal and external EMC will be considered.
Clinical Features and Prognosis of B-cell Lymphoma-associated Hemophagocytic Syndrome: A Retrospective Single Center Study

Secondary Hemophagocytic Syndrome (HPS), also known as Hemophagocytic Lymphohistocytosis (HLH), is a life-threatening syndrome caused by secondary overstimulation of the immune system, with a high mortality rate even after appropriate treatment. HLH is often triggered by malignancies, infections or autoimmune diseases with the Malignancy-Associated Hemophagocytic Syndrome (MAHS) accounting for the highest proportion of secondary HLH (about 48%), and Lymphoma Associated Hemophagocytic Syndrome (LAHS) being the most common [1–3]. Among the LAHS cases, T/NK-cell lymphoma is much more common than the rarely seen B-cell lymphoma [4]. B-cell LAHS (B-LAHS) is predominantly described in Asian populations but larger sets are rare. Early clinical manifestations of HLH are nonspecific, mostly manifesting in persistent fever, pancytopenia and hepatosplenomegaly with an aggressive disease progress [5]. Therefore, early diagnosis and immediate introduction of appropriate treatment are crucial for these patients.
Mitochondrial And Myogenic Gene Expression Pathways Are Influenced By The Exercise Mimetic Formoterol In Human Myotubes

Background: Exercise is an effective treatment for establishing and maintaining skeletal muscle (SKM) health. The interconnected cascade of gene expression pathways related to myogenesis, mitochondrial homeostasis, and thyroid hormone metabolism are critical to SKM health. This in vitro study was conducted to investigate the effects of exercise mimetic (formoterol) stimulation on human SKM cell signaling during myogenesis, and to provide insight on potential targets for future studies exploring therapies for SKM atrophy.Methods: Human myoblasts were cultured and differentiated to evaluate the effects of exercise mimetic stimulation on gene expression during mid and late myogenesis. We characterized the expression of 24 genes related to myogenesis, mitochondrial biogenesis, thyroid hormone metabolism, and cellular homeostasis.Results: Formoterol stimulated the gene expression for SKM pathways related to mitochondrial biogenesis, thyroid metabolism, and cellular homeostasis. Additionally, formoterol resulted in a myogenic program that appears to favor prolonged myoblast proliferation and delayed myotube maturation.Conclusion: Robust, yet differential effects of exercise mimetic stimulation on gene expression during mid-myogenesis and at terminal differentiation were found. The results of our study support the groundwork for establishing further experiments utilizing exercise signaling as a therapeutic treatment in models targeting dysfunctional SKM cell growth.
RF system concepts for highly integrated RFICs for W-CDMA mobile radio terminals

The standardization phase for third-generation wide-band CDMA systems like the universal mobile telecommunication system, which will add broad-band data to support video, Internet access, and other high-speed services for untethered devices is running toward its finalization. As is typical for mobile communication systems standardization, sufficient RF performance has been assumed and most efforts have been put to digital baseband issues. This is especially true for the mobile phone transceivers, the RF part of which is (although its baseband part is much more complex in terms of number of devices) still the bottleneck of the entire system. Meanwhile, in the RF concept engineering of today's commercial products, an accurate prediction of the needed RF performance by using RF system simulation is indispensable. This is, in particular, the case with third-generation wireless systems, which, from the RF design point-of-view, are quite different from second-generation time-division multiple access/frequency-division multiple-access systems due to the fact that the user signals are now separated in the code domain rather than in the time and/or frequency domain. The paper gives an insight of how to derive receiver requirements for third-generation mobiles in terms recognizable by microwave designers, reports on the system simulation-based design, and performance of silicon-based RF integrated circuits for mobile terminal use, and discusses some future technologies and techniques and their possible impact on portable wireless devices.
Agent-Based Modelling of Urban District Energy System Decarbonisation – A Systematic Literature Review

There is an increased interest in the district-scale energy transition within interdisciplinary research community. Agent-based modelling presents a suitable approach to address variety of questions related to policies, technologies, processes, and the different stakeholder roles that can foster such transition. This state-of-the-art review focuses on the application of agent-based modelling for exploring policy interventions that facilitate the decarbonisation (i.e., energy transition) of districts and neighbourhoods while considering stakeholders’ social characteristics and interactions. We systematically select and analyse peer-reviewed literature and discuss the key modelling aspects, such as model purpose, agents and decision-making logic, spatial and temporal aspects, and empirical grounding. The analysis reveals that the most established agent-based models’ focus on innovation diffusion (e.g., adoption of solar panels) and dissemination of energy-saving behaviour among a group of buildings in urban areas. We see a considerable gap in exploring the decisions and interactions of agents other than residential households, such as commercial and even industrial energy consumers (and prosumers). Moreover, measures such as building retrofits and conversion to district energy systems involve many stakeholders and complex interactions between them that up to now have hardly been represented in the agent-based modelling environment.
Distributions of extinction times from fossil ages and tree topologies: the example of mid-Permian synapsid extinctions

Given a phylogenetic tree that includes only extinct, or a mix of extinct and extant taxa, where at least some fossil data are available, we present a method to compute the distribution of the extinction time of a given set of taxa under the Fossilized-Birth-Death model. Our approach differs from the previous ones in that it takes into account (i) the possibility that the taxa or the clade considered may diversify before going extinct and (ii) the whole phylogenetic tree to estimate extinction times, whilst previous methods do not consider the diversification process and deal with each branch independently. Because of this, our method can estimate extinction times of lineages represented by a single fossil, provided that they belong to a clade that includes other fossil occurrences. We assess and compare our new approach with a standard previous one using simulated data. Results show that our method provides more accurate confidence intervals. This new approach is applied to the study of the extinction time of three Permo-Carboniferous synapsid taxa (Ophiacodontidae, Edaphosauridae, and Sphenacodontidae) that are thought to have disappeared toward the end of the Cisuralian (early Permian), or possibly shortly thereafter. The timing of extinctions of these three taxa and of their component lineages supports the idea that the biological crisis in the late Kungurian/early Roadian consisted of a progressive decline in biodiversity throughout the Kungurian.
Effectiveness of Scenarios and the Socratic Method in Teaching Law to Construction Students

Is the use of scenarios combined with the Socratic method an effective method to teach legal subjects to nonlaw students on a building and construction program? The scenarios are intended to (1) enable students to understand the legal theories through the practical application of those theories to problems posed in a scenario and (2) stimulate reasoning, analysis, and critical thinking through the Socratic method among students accustomed to memorizing handouts of PowerPoint slides. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered and analyzed to determine the effectiveness of using scenarios and the Socratic method in a required, first-year, entry-level, law module. Preliminary data of this ongoing research appears to indicate that the former goal (of providing a practical application and understanding of theories) was generally achieved while the latter goal (of promoting analysis and critical thinking skills among the students) was achieved to a lesser degree. As a subgroup of the subject, students will be repeating the module, a rare opportunity presents itself to delve into this question in more detail in the future.
Finite-Time Dissipative Fuzzy State Estimation for Jump Systems With Mixed Cyber Attacks: A Probabilistic Event-Triggered Approach

This article addresses the finite-time dissipative fuzzy state estimation for Markov jump systems under mixed cyber attacks. A probabilistic event-triggered mechanism (PETM) is proposed to reduce the unwanted network traffic by using the statistic information of network-induced delays. The dual asynchronizations characterized by asynchronous modes and mismatched premise variables are tackled simultaneously. Under the PETM, Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy state estimators are first constructed based on the imperfect measurements subject to mixed cyber attacks and exogenous disturbances. Less conservative criteria relying on both fuzzy rules and jumping modes are established to achieve the strictly <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(\mathcal {Q},\mathcal {S},\mathcal {R})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\vartheta $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dissipative finite-time state estimation performance. Furthermore, a synthesis algorithm is derived to calculate the fuzzy state estimator gains by virtue of an improved matrix decoupling technique. Finally, two examples are utilized to validate the effectiveness and advantage of the proposed results.
Miniature vibration isolation system (MVIS)

In recent years, there has been a significant interest in, and move towards using highly sensitive, precision payloads on space vehicles. In order to perform tasks such as communicating at extremely high data rates between satellites using laser cross-links, or searching for new planets in distant solar systems using sparse aperture optical elements, a satellite bus and its payload must remain relatively motionless. The ability to hold a precision payload steady is complicated by disturbances from reaction wheels, control moment gyroscopes, solar array drives, stepper motors, and other devices. Because every satellite is essentially unique in its construction, isolating or damping unwanted vibrations usually requires a robust system over a wide bandwidth. The disadvantage of these systems is that they typically are not retrofittable and not tunable to changes in payload size or inertias. The technology of smart materials enables an unprecedented level of integration of sensors, actuators, and structures; this integration provides the opportunity for new structural designs that can adaptively influence their surrounding environment. The Air Force Research Laboratory along with its partner DARPA, have initiated a program to develop a Miniature Vibration Isolation System (MVIS) (patent pending) for space applications. The MVIS program is a systems-level demonstration of the application of advanced smart materials and structures technology that will enable programmable and retrofittable vibration control of spacecraft precision payloads. The current effort has been awarded to Honeywell Satellite Systems Operation. AFRL is providing in-house research and testing in support of the program as well. The MVIS program will culminate in a flight demonstration that shows the benefits of applying smart materials for vibration isolation in space and precision payload control.
Impacts of Hybrids and Electric Vehicles in Connecticut: Retrospective and Prospective

This paper examines the diffusion of three classes of non-fossil fuel light vehicles, and the macroeconomic impacts of transitioning from internal combustion engines towards low-carbon transportation among counties in Connecticut. This paper establishes high market penetration patterns by including intermodal access among state’s counties and then use a region-specific computable general equilibrium model to establish dynamic economic impacts inclusive of amenities. Results shed light on the long- and medium-term impacts of non-fossil fuel vehicle diffusion, identifying new paths of research and informing policymakers of the impacts of these new technologies over a regions’ power and socioeconomic infrastructures.
Xanthohumol reduces inflammation and cell metabolism in HT29 primary colon cancer cells

Abstract Xanthohumol (XN) is a prenylated flavonoid known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects and has been studied as an anti-cancer agent. In this study, we aimed at analysing the effect of XN on a primary colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line, HT29, on cell viability, inflammatory and antioxidant gene expression, and metabolism. For this purpose, cells were treated with 10 nM and 10 µM XN, and cell viability, H2O2 production, lipid peroxidation and gene expression of inflammatory, antioxidant, and mitochondrial-related genes, as well as protein levels of metabolic enzymes, were determined. Results showed no significant effects on cell viability and a general decrease in pro-inflammatory, antioxidant and mitochondrial biogenesis gene expression with the lower concentration of XN. Furthermore, glucose and oxidative metabolism enzymes were also reduced. These results suggest that XN treatment, at low doses, could stop the proliferation and progression of HT29 cells by downregulating inflammatory signals and cell metabolism.
Time-varying inverse filtering of narrowband ultrasonic signals

Active strategies for structural health monitoring using ultrasonic guided waves mainly deal with excitation signals that are band limited in order to minimize the effect of dispersion. The underlying idea is to activate only the fundamental wave modes so that the signal complexity decreases and individual wave packets in the sensor signals can be identified separately. However, it would be advantageous to increase the temporal resolution of the signal in order to enhance the performance of the post-processing algorithms, for example, travel-time-based damage localization algorithms that need precise arrival time estimations or imaging approaches processing the deconvolved signals directly. This article suggests a new technique to deconvolve narrowband and nonstationary ultrasonic signals by means of a time-varying inverse filter. This filter is realized through the application of the matching pursuit decomposition algorithm. The properties of this methodology are quantitatively compared with several onset-time estimation approaches and evaluated with experimental pitch-catch and differential signals between the pristine and the damaged structure.
Enhanced pruning algorithm for improving visual quality in MPEG immersive video

The moving picture experts group (MPEG) immersive video (MIV) technology has been actively developed and standardized to efficiently deliver immersive video to viewers in order for them to experience immersion and realism in various realistic and virtual environments. Such services are provided by MIV technology, which uses multiview videos as input. The pruning process, which is an important component of MIV technology, reduces interview redundancy in multiviews videos. The primary aim of the pruning process is to reduce the amount of data that available video codec must handle. In this study, two approaches are presented to improve the existing pruning algorithm. The first method determines the order in which images are pruned. The amount of overlapping region between the source views is then used to determine the pruning order. The second method considers global region‐wise color similarity to minimize matching ambiguity when determining the pruning area. The proposed methods are evaluated under common test condition of MIV, and the results show that incorporating the proposed methods can improve both objective and subjective quality.