Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanism and kinetics of the pseudomorphic replacement of anhydrite by calcium phosphate phases at hydrothermal conditions

Abstract Mineral replacement reactions mediated by fluids are common in sedimentary basins, where they influence geochemical cycles. Phosphorous (P) pollution of soils, sediments and water bodies is currently a widespread problem. Some apatite accumulations in sediments may have formed through the interaction of P-bearing aqueous solutions with mineral surfaces that result in mineral replacement reactions. Here, we investigate the pseudomorphic replacement of anhydrite single crystals by aggregates of β-tricalcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite upon interaction with a P-bearing solution at temperatures between 120 and 200 °C. SEM imaging is used to study the texture of the aggregates. Rietveld refinement of the X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman spectra analysis of the reacted samples provide information on the kinetics of the replacement. At all temperatures β-tricalcium phosphate forms alongside hydroxyapatite at early stages of the replacement reaction. At T ≥ 180 °C, hydroxyapatite/β-tricalcium phosphate ratio rapidly increases, and hydroxyapatite is the only phase in fully replaced samples. At T < 180 °C hydroxyapatite/β-tricalcium phosphate ratio increases slowly and fully replaced samples still contain significant amounts of β-tricalcium phosphate. The progress of the replacement is facilitated by the formation of porosity. The evolution of the hydroxyapatite/β-tricalcium phosphate ratio and the crystal habit of both phases strongly influence the arrangement of this porosity. The empirical activation energy Ea (kJ/mol) of the replacement reaction is determined by the Avrami and the iso-conversion methods. Both approaches yield an Ea of ~40 kJ/mol. Anhydrite dissolution appears as the rate-limiting process and the overall kinetics of the replacement reaction is controlled by the rate diffusion of dissolved species through the porosity network. The ripening of the metastable β-tricalcium phosphate into hydroxyapatite affects the characteristics of the porosity network and further modulates the kinetics of the replacement. These results may improve the understanding of the mechanisms of P-sequestration by mineral surfaces through coupled dissolution–precipitation reactions and shed light on the origin of apatite accumulations associated to evaporitic sedimentary rocks.
Modelling Allostery using a Computational Analysis of Side-Chain Interactions

Allostery refers to the regulation of protein activity arising from an effector molecule, such as a ligand, binding to a protein. The exact mechanisms that take place in allosteric regulation are still a source of debate within the protein research community. To gain a better understanding of allosteric mechanisms, we devised a computational model of allostery that focused on simple protein structures that have a fixed backbone but dynamic side-chains. Our model relied on a statistical analysis of side-chain couplings to determine the effect of side-chain fluctuations. To obtain the side-chain dataset required for the statistical analysis, we used an energy minimization procedure contained within the UCSF Chimera molecular modelling software to evaluate concerted side-chain movements. We also derived residue networks and designed graph algorithms that mimicked allosteric signal propagations. These techniques enabled us to identify highly fluctuating sites within a protein structure and to uncover potential functionally important residues. We evaluated our methods by applying them to the PDZ3 domain of the PSD-95 protein. This protein structure was chosen due to its relatively small size and rigid backbone. We identified residues that experienced high levels of side-chain fluctuations, and our results agreed with experimentally determined functionally important residues. Comparing the results for the apo and holo forms of the protein also revealed structural elements, such as side-chain fluctuations within alpha helices, that are important for allosteric signal transmissions.
On Particle Verbs and Similar Constructions in German

Linguistic distinctions between the notions of a phrase, a word and their components are challenged by so-called particle verbs in German and similar features in other languages. Particle verbs look like single words, yet are typically assembled from word-like fragments that together behave more like components of a phrase than a word. Particle verbs have previously been analyzed as morphological objects or as phrasal constructions, but neither approach fits cleanly within its chosen framwork. The resolution presented in this book, is that particle verbs should be seen as lexicalized phrasal constructions. Emphasizing morphological and sytactic testability, over 100 colloquial examples are shown to break the rules of previous approaches while remaining consistent to the book's proposition. Preverb constructions (PVCs) are introduced and diagrammed to help distinguish particle verbs from similar constructions, and to demonstrate how structural and morphological factors have been misidentified in the past. All this reveals the roles of listedness and non-transparency in word formation and clarifies the conclusion that particle verbs do not form a definable class of words.
Extracting Business Insights through Dynamic Topic Modeling and NER

: Companies need the data from multiple sources for analysis and to find meaning in deriving valuable business insights. Online news articles are one of the main data sources that present up-to-date business news offered by various companies in the market. Topic modeling, i.e. a key player in the Natural Language Processing (NLP) domain, helps businesses to drive value from news articles. Also, it supports the extraction of business insights from news articles to facilitate the identification of trends (topics) in the market and their evolution over time. These insights can help businesses not only automate routine tasks but also in building new marketing policies, decision-making, and customer support. It is also important to find the linked semantic information (i.e. key persons, organizations, or regions called named entities) involved in generating these topics for the identification of news sources. This paper presents the application of a hybrid approach based on dynamic topic modeling and Named-Entity Recognition (NER) for extracting business trends along with the related entities. To show the functionality of the proposed approach, the news articles collected from the websites that published the content related to company interests were from 2017 to 2021 inclusive. The proposed approach can serve as the foundation for future exploratory trend analysis to study the evolution of information not only in the business domain but also applicable in other domains.
Development of an x-ray radiography platform to study laser-direct-drive energy coupling at the National Ignition Facility.

A platform has been developed to study laser-direct-drive energy coupling at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) using a plastic sphere target irradiated in a polar-direct-drive geometry to launch a spherically converging shock wave. To diagnose this system evolution, eight NIF laser beams are directed onto a curved Cu foil to generate Heα line emission at a photon energy of 8.4 keV. These x rays are collected by a 100-ps gated x-ray imager in the opposing port to produce temporally gated radiographs. The platform is capable of acquiring images during and after the laser drive launches the shock wave. A backlighter profile is fit to the radiographs, and the resulting transmission images are Abel inverted to infer radial density profiles of the shock front and to track its temporal evolution. The measurements provide experimental shock trajectories and radial density profiles that are compared to 2D radiation-hydrodynamic simulations using cross-beam energy transfer and nonlocal heat-transport models.
Antibody Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Rickettsia spp. in a Pediatric Cohort: SFGR Remains Underdiagnosed and Underreported in El Salvador

Spotted fever group rickettsioses (SFGR) are caused by a group of tick-borne pathogens that are increasing in incidence globally. These diseases are typically underreported and undiagnosed in low- and middle-income countries, and thus, have been classified as neglected bacterial pathogens. Countries with high poverty, low human development index score, and limited health infrastructure—like El Salvador in Central America—lack necessary surveillance for SFGR and other tick-borne pathogens. This paucity of baseline SFGR infection prevalence leaves vulnerable populations at risk of misdiagnosis. Further, tick-borne disease burdens in El Salvador are severely limited. To lay the foundation for tick-borne disease epidemiology in El Salvador, our team conducted two different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) on banked human sera samples from a cohort of approximately 1000 pediatric participants from a high-risk vector-borne disease population. Eleven percent of all tested banked pediatric sera were positive for at least one ELISA assay at the time of enrollment: 10.7% were positive for only IgM antibodies (acute SFGR infection), and 2.5% were positive for IgG antibodies (a past SFGR infection). Older, male, children enrolled during the wet season, with a household history of infectious disease and higher maternal education level had higher odds of SFGR antibodies. Additionally, children from households with domestic poultry birds and previous knowledge of other vector-borne diseases had significantly reduced odds of SFGR antibodies. The large percentage of acute SFGR infections indicates that it continues to remain an underreported and undiagnosed issue in El Salvador and the Central American region. Much is still unknown regarding the complexity of the tick, animal host, and human host ecology transmission cycle of SFGR in El Salvador.
FBST for Cointegration Problems

In order to estimate causal relations, the time series econometrics has to be aware of spurious correlation, a problem first mentioned by Yule [21]. To solve the problem, one can work with differenced series or use multivariate models like VAR or VEC models. In this case, the analysed series are going to present a long run relation i.e. a cointegration relation. Even though the Bayesian literature about inference on VAR/VEC models is quite advanced, Bauwens et al. [2] highlight that “the topic of selecting the cointegrating rank has not yet given very useful and convincing results. ”This paper presents the Full Bayesian Significance Test applied to cointegration rank selection tests in multivariate (VAR/VEC) time series models and shows how to implement it using available in the literature and simulated data sets. A standard non‐informative prior is assumed.
The 3Rs principles and genetic pain disenhancement

William Russell and Rex Burch's 3Rs principles were developed 1959 before animal ethics emerged as a scientific discipline in the 1970s and before many ground-breaking developments in modern biotechnology, such as genetic engineering. From this starting point we sought to analyse the normative foundations of the 3Rs principles in contemporary terms and concepts of animal ethics. After establishing the normative groundwork of the 3Rs, we will look at their practical implications within the context of present-day biotechnology. To this end, we shall investigate whether the genetic disenhancement of research animals to limit their ability to feel pain (GPD) complies with the original 3Rs principles. We use GPD as a practical example, since it is being discussed today as a promising way of solving one of the key moral issues raised by animal research, notably animal pain and suffering. By discussing GPD in the context of the 3Rs we aim also not only to gain insights into whether GPD is compatible with one or more of the 3Rs, but also to develop a better understanding of the specific normative foundation of the 3Rs principles and the conceptual limitations and practical implications of that foundation. We argue that reducing moral concerns about animal research to those that are intelligible within a sentientist framework (eg harm and suffering), as the 3Rs do, represents an oversimplification of the moral issues involved. We suggest that interference with abilities, instrumentalisation, flourishing, and death are all important aspects of animal ethics requiring consideration.
EVALUATING CARDIAC OXYGEN LIMITATION AS A MECHANISM FOR FEMALE-BIASED MORTALITY IN COHO SALMON (ONCORHYNCHUS KISUTCH)

Female-biased mortality has been consistently reported in Pacific salmon during their adult upriver migration. We collected coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum 1792)) upon arrival at their spawning grounds to test whether females are more prone to cardiac oxygen limitations following exercise stress. We used a surgical approach to periodically sample arterial and venous blood over 48 h following recovery from a chase protocol to induce maximum metabolic rate. We found no significant differences in arterial or venous partial pressures of O2 between males and females. Female salmon had significantly elevated plasma cortisol levels but there were no effects of sex on either plasma lactate or K+. Our data show that female coho salmon do not suffer oxygen limitations to the spongy myocardium after a single exercise event at moderate temperatures (14°C) — at least not when arriving to their spawning grounds. This study found no clear support for a cardiac oxygen limitation underlying elevated female mortality in Pacific salmon. Neither, however, does our study design and specific findings allow us to rule out cardiac limitations in these fish. Future work should address whether potential oxygen limitations to the spongy myocardium at high temperatures or oxygen limitations to the compact myocardium via coronary blood flow contribute to female-biased mortality earlier on the migratory route.
Parameter Theory and Linguistic Change

1. Parameter Theory and Dynamics of Change 2. parameters in Old Romance Word order: A comparative minimalist analysis 3. Micro-parameters in the Verbal Complex: Middle High German and some modern varieties 4. Language Acquisition in German and Phrase Structure Change in Yiddish 5. Extraposition of Restrictive Relative Clauses in the History of Portuguese 6. Doubling-que Embedded Constructions in Old Portuguese: A diachronic perspective 7. Brazilian Portuguese and Caribbean Spanish: Similar changes in Romania Nova 8. macroparametric Change and the Synthetic-analytic Dimension: The case of Ancient Egyptian 9. A Diachronic Shift in the Expression of Person 10. The Formal Syntax of Alignment Change 11. The Diachronic Development of the Irish Comparative Particle 12. Deictic Locatives, Emphasis, and Metalinguistic Negation 13. Negative Changes: Three factors and the diachrony of Afrikaans negation 14. Romanian 'Can': Change in parametric settings 15. Prepositional Genitives in Romance and the Issue of parallel Development: From Latin to Old French 16. Parameter Theory, Historical Convergences, and the implicational Structure of UG 17. Macroparameters and Minimalism: A programme for comparative research References Index
Enhanced mixing of a rectangular supersonic jet by natural and induced screech

The influence of shear layer excitation on the mixing of supersonic rectangular jets was studied experimentally. Two methods of excitation were used to control the jet mixing. The first used the natural screech of an underexpanded supersonic jet from a converging nozzle. The level of the screech excitation was controlled by the use of a pair of baffles located to block the acoustic feedback path between the downstream shock structure and the nozzle lip. A screech level variation of over 30 decibels was achieved and the mixing was completely determined by the level of screech attained at the nozzle lip. The second form of self-excitation used the induced screech caused by obstacles or paddles located in the shear layers on either long side of the rectangular jet. With sufficient immersion of the paddles intense jet mixing occurred and large flapping wave motion was observed using a strobed focused Schlieren system. Each paddle was instrumented with a total pressure tap and strain gages to determine the pressure and drag force on the square cross-section paddle. Considerable drag was observed in this initial exploratory study. Future studies using alternate paddle geometries will be conducted to maximize jet mixing with minimum drag.
Hybridized indirect excitons in MoS2/WS2 heterobilayers

Ensembles of indirect or interlayer excitons (IXs) are intriguing systems to explore classical and quantum phases of interacting bosonic ensembles. IXs are composite bosons that feature enlarged lifetimes due to the reduced overlap of the electron-hole wave functions. We demonstrate electric Field control of indirect excitons in MoS2/WS2 hetero-bilayers embedded in a field effect structure with few-layer hexagonal boron nitrite as insulator and few-layer graphene as gate-electrodes. The different strength of the excitonic dipoles and a distinct temperature dependence identify the indirect excitons to stem from optical interband transitions with electrons and holes located in different valleys of the hetero-bilayer featuring highly hybridized electronic states. For the energetically lowest emission lines, we observe a field-dependent level anticrossing at low temperatures. We discuss this behavior in terms of coupling of electronic states from the two semiconducting monolayers resulting in spatially delocalized excitons of the hetero-bilayer behaving like an artificial van der Waals solid. Our results demonstrate the design of novel nano-quantum materials prepared from artificial van der Waals solids with the possibility to in-situ control their physical properties via external stimuli such as electric fields.
New topologies in the fundamental diagram of a one dimensional traffic flow

We propose a traffic flow model in which the vehicles are filed from their maximal velocities, the fast cars run with $Vmax{1}$, whereas the slow ones run with $Vmax{2}$. Using new overtaking rules which deals with deterministic NaSch model, it is found that the fundamental diagram exhibits three new topologies, depending on the fractions $f_{fast}$ and $f_{slow}$ of fast and slow vehicles respectively, in which the current profile displays two branches with negative slopes and two branches with positive ones. Moreover, in the second branch of the fundamental diagram, the model exhibits an absorbing phase transitions in which the behaviour of the order parameter $f_{d}$ and the current J is described by the power laws. In this case, it'is found that the system present a universel scaling law. On the other hand, a simple change in the rule of overtaking induce the metastability which depends on the state of the chain instead of external parameters \cite{4,5,6}. Furthermore, in the case of random fractions of vehicles, the fundamental diagrams are similar to the experiments results \cite{7,8}} .
Agile in Higher Education: How Can Value-based Learning Be Implemented in Higher Education?

The corona pandemic has shown how important it is to be able to react quickly to changing conditions. In many organizations, agile process models and agile practices are used for this purpose. This paper examines how agility can be implemented in higher education. Using two case studies, we analyze how agile practices and agile values are implemented for knowledge and skills development. Our results present a student-centered approach where lecturers supported self-organized learning. In the student-centered approach, prior knowledge and experience of learners are taken into account, and the learning process is adjusted through continuous feedback. With the introduction of agility, a value shift towards value-based learning is taking place. Value-based learning supports competency-based teaching since the focus is less on imparting technical knowledge and more on imparting competencies. Copyright © 2022 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved.
Playing with Mobile Phones: Investigation from Pedestrian Flow Experiments

-In order to investigate the pedestrian behaviors, four large-scale pedestrian flow experiments were organized from 2016 to 2019, and different corridor widths of ring road were adopted. During the uni-directional experiments, it was observed that some pedestrians played with mobile phones (PPM). And then, some statistical results under high densities are collected, and the average proportions of PPM (AP-PPM) are calculated. It is found that in most runs, the numbers of PPM keep nearly constant and the AP-PPMs gradually decrease with the growth of densities. At the same time, the AP-PPMs increase with the growth of flow rates, which implies that AP-PPM could be considered as one important indicator for the states of pedestrian flow. This work can help to build the relationship between microscopic behaviors and macroscopic dynamics in the field of pedestrian flow.
SENN: Self-evolving Neural Network to Recognize Motor Imagery Thought Patterns

: The EEG-based motor imagery task classification has been a challenge for researchers due to the complex nature of EEG data. Human thoughts are a complex combination of different body limb activations and it is difficult to capture only one thought at a time. The data belonging to different motor imagery thought classes are also not separable linearly. In this paper, a novel technique for efficient and improved motor imagery task classification is proposed. Two major issues in motor imagery task classification of EEG data are addressed - channel selection and radial basis function neural network centers. The channel selection is posed as a combinatorial problem and an evolutionary nature-inspired algorithm PSOCS is proposed to select the most informative and discriminative channels using the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm. The features are extracted using the selected channels and are subjected to classification. In this paper, a self-evolving radial basis functions neural network (SENN) is proposed based on sub-clusters within each motor imagery task class. The number, centers, and spread of hidden neurons are obtained by the k-means clustering algorithm. The proposed algorithm is validated using the benchmarked datasets BCI Competition IV 2a and BCI Competition IV 2b data set. The proposed technique outperforms some of the existing techniques and classifies the motor imagery tasks efficiently.