Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved k-nearest neighbor classifier for biomedical data based on convex hull of inversed set of points

We present the improved k-nearest neighbor (kNN) classifier and its application for biomedical data. Our method limits the number of considered neighbors from the training set by selecting only those samples that are neighbors in the computed Voronoi diagram of the training set plus classified sample. The method is based on convex hull calculation of inversed set of points. A very important feature of presented method is the stability of results (in terms of recall and precision values) in broad range of the neighborhood size as opposed to the regular kNN classifier. The classification performance was confirmed on three biomedical benchmark data sets.
Study of Candelilla Wax Concentrations on the Physical Properties of Edible Nanocoatings as a Function of Support Polysaccharides

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) based on candelilla wax were prepared using the hot homogenization technique. The resulting suspension had monomodal behavior with a particle size of 809–885 nm; polydispersity index < 0.31, and zeta potential of −3.5 mV 5 weeks after monitoring. The films were prepared with SLN concentrations of 20 and 60 g/L, each with a plasticizer concentration of 10 and 30 g/L; the polysaccharide stabilizers used were either xanthan gum (XG) or carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) at 3 g/L. The effects of temperature, film composition, and relative humidity on the microstructural, thermal, mechanical, and optical properties, as well as the water vapor barrier, were evaluated. Higher amounts of SLN and plasticizer gave the films greater strength and flexibility due to the influence of temperature and relative humidity. The water vapor permeability (WVP) was lower when 60 g/L of SLN was added to the films. The arrangement of the SLN in the polymeric networks showed changes in the distribution as a function of the concentrations of the SLN and plasticizer. The total color difference (ΔE) was greater when the content of the SLN was increased, with values of 3.34–7.93. Thermal analysis showed an increase in the melting temperature when a higher SLN content was used, whereas a higher plasticizer content reduced it. Edible films with the most appropriate physical properties for the packaging, shelf-life extension, and improved quality conservation of fresh foods were those made with 20 g/L of SLN, 30 g/L of glycerol, and 3 g/L of XG.
Geometric Optimization for Developable Panel Approximation

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a type of surface approximation problem that commonly arises in relation to design for manufacturing of complex architectural surfaces. The engineering context of the problem is introduced by a real-world example. The problem requires approximation of each facet of a surface subdivision by a simpler surface that is economical to fabricate into a panel. However, apart from the fitting accuracy, it is also required to manage the gaps between neighboring panels. We show that the concept of shape features is useful in modeling such problems into a global optimization problem. When such non-linear optimization formulations can be solved, we obtain better solutions that the two stage method currently used by the industry.
Examining superoxide dynamics in irradiated natural waters

Superoxide ( O2− ) is a reactive oxygen species (ROS) that is primarily produced by the one‐electron transfer of photooxidized chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) to O2 in sunlit natural waters. Here we examine the environmental and chemical parameters (pH, ionic strength, buffer, and halides) that may influence O2− photochemical production rates and decay pathways in natural water. Using the enzyme superoxide dismutase and H2O2 measurements, we present results from an irradiated freshwater CDOM source indicating that O2− reductive decay pathways (P/PSOD) dominate with increased pH and NaCl additions and maximal photoproduction rates ( RO2− ) increase with carbonate compared to borate buffer. Over 2 h of irradiation, a significant decline in RO2− was seen for all samples along with a minor increase in oxidative pathways. These results imply shifts in O2− decay pathways and production rates that seem to vary across natural waters and as a function of irradiation history.
Chaotic cryptographic scheme and its randomness evaluation

We propose a new cryptographic scheme based on the Lorenz chaos attractor and 32 bit bent Boolean function. We evaluated the keystream generated by the scheme with batteries of the NIST statistical tests. We also applied a number of statistical analysis techniques, such as calculating histograms, correlations between two adjacent pixels, information entropy, and differential resistance, all refer to images encrypted by the proposed system. The results of the analysis show that the new cryptographic scheme ensures a secure way for sending digital data with potential applications in real-time image encryption.
Many-to-Many Task Offloading in Vehicular Fog Computing: A Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach

Vehicular fog computing (VFC) has emerged as a promising solution to mitigate vehicular network computation load. In the hierarchical VFC, vehicles are employed as mobile fog nodes at the edge to provide reliable and low-latency services. Particularly, since privately-owned vehicles are rational nodes, their intentions for both computation provision and service demand should be considered instead of overestimating their willingness. To remunerate the participation intentions of vehicles as well as improve vehicular fog resource utilization in the large-scale VFC, the trading-based mechanism is a potential solution. In this article, we propose a many-to-many task offloading framework based on the vehicular trading paradigm. This framework enables computational resource trading across different VFC subsystems and decides the multi-tier task offloading results based on the trading consensus. The trading process is viewed as a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) and a Multi-Agent Gated actor Attention Critic (MA-GAC) approach is designed to reach an effective and stable offload-and -serve cooperation among vehicles. Theoretical analyses and experiments verify the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed framework, and simulation results demonstrate that the coordinated MA-GAC approach not only benefits vehicles with higher long-term rewards but also optimizes the system social welfare in a distributed manner.
Use of passive seismic to identify oil-bearing reservoirs in the Udmurt Republic, Russia

Currently, the level of oil production in the Udmurt Republic is on a declining trend, due to the depletion of large and medium-sized oil fields that have been operated for a long time. Therefore the main challenge in this region is to stabilize & increase oil extraction by means of exploring more promising oil fields of small size. However, some issues cause difficulties. Firstly, 2D and 3D seismic data often do not provide the reliable mapping of small fields. Secondly, geological prospecting and exploration, along with exploratory drilling, make these works costly. Also, the reserves’ estimation for such deposits often contains errors. Passive seismic is proposed to solve these problems, reducing exploratory and exploitation drilling in cost, with the time required for geological exploration being diminished.
Retrieval of Normalized Gamma Size Distribution Parameters using Precipitation Imaging Package (PIP) Snowfall Observations during ICE-POP 2018

Parameters of the normalized gamma particle size distribution (PSD) have been retrieved from the Precipitation Image Package (PIP) snowfall observations collected during the International Collaborative Experiment - PyeongChang Olympics and Paralympic (ICE-POP 2018). Two of the gamma PSD parameters, the mass weighted particle diameter (Dmass) and the normalized intercept parameter NW, have median values of 1.15-1.31 mm and 2.84-3.04 log(mm−1 m−3), respectively. This range arises from the choice of the relationship between the maximum versus equivalent diameter, Dmx−Deq, and the relationship between the Reynolds and Best numbers, Re-X. Normalization of snow water equivalent rate (SWER) and ice water content (W) by NW reduces the range in NW resulting in well fitted power law relationship, between SWER/NW and Dmass and between W/NW and Dmass. The bulk descriptors of snowfall are calculated from PIP observations and from the gamma PSD with values of the shape parameter (μ) ranging from −2 to 10. NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, which adopted the normalized gamma PSD, assumes μ = 2 and μ = 3 in its two separate algorithms. The mean fractional bias (MFB) of the snowfall parameters changes with μ, where the functional dependence on μ depends on the specific snowfall parameter of interest. The MFB of the total concentration was underestimated by 0.23−0.34 when μ = 2 and by 0.29−0.40 when μ = 3, while the MFB of SWER had a much narrower range (−0.03 to 0.04) for the same μ values.
Quasi-experimental evaluation of national border closures on COVID-19 transmission

With over 200 pandemic threats emerging every year, the efficacy of closing national borders to control the transmission of disease in the first months of a pandemic remains a critically important question. Previous studies offer conflicting evidence for the potential effects of these closures on COVID-19 transmission and no study has yet empirically evaluated the global impact of border closures using quasi-experimental methods and real-world data. We triangulate results from interrupted time-series analysis, meta-regression, coarsened exact matching, and an extensive series of robustness checks to evaluate the effect of 166 countries’ national border closures on the global transmission of COVID-19. Total border closures banning non-essential travel from all countries and (to a lesser extent) targeted border closures banning travel from specific countries had some effect on temporarily slowing COVID-19 transmission in those countries that implemented them. In contrast to these country-level impacts, the global sum of targeted border closures implemented by February 5, 2020 was not sufficient to slow global COVID-19 transmission, but the sum of total border closures implemented by March 19, 2020 did achieve this effect. Country-level results were highly heterogeneous, with early implementation and border closures so broadly targeted that they resemble total border closures improving the likelihood of slowing the pandemic’s spread. Governments that can make productive use of extra preparation time and cannot feasibly implement less restrictive alternatives might consider enacting border closures. However, given their moderate and uncertain impacts and their significant harms, border closures are unlikely to be the best policy response for most countries and should only be deployed in rare circumstances and with great caution. All countries would benefit from global mechanisms to coordinate national decisions on border closures during pandemics.
LEPTOSPIROSIS AND LIVER ABSCESS: AN UNUSUAL ASSOCIATION

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic infection infrequently reported in non-tropical regions. Although classically described as a biphasic illness, unusual clinical manifestations have been reported, including a previous case of a lung abscess associated with this causative agent. We present the case of a 49-year-old man with a new diagnosis of two liver abscesses associated with leptospirosis. LEARNING POINTS Leptospirosis is a zoonosis caused by spirochetes of the genus Leptospira; the infection is more commonly reported in tropical regions. Leptospirosis classically manifests as a biphasic illness, the first phase characterized by high fever that coincides with leptospiraemia, followed by a brief period when the patient is afebrile. In the second phase, fever returns, accompanied by jaundice and renal failure. The unusual clinical manifestations of leptospirosis include a previous report of a lung abscess, but despite frequent liver involvement, liver abscess in this context has not previously been described.
Static and dynamic interaction of superconducting vortices with a periodic pinning potential

A model is developed which describes the static and dynamic interaction of the vortex lattice with the pinning potential due to harmonic one-dimensional variations of the thickness of superconducting films. Using a London-Pearl approach, an expression is derived for the free energy of the mixed state in thin modulated films from which static equilibrium configurations of the vortex lattice and the corresponding deformations due to the harmonic pininng force are deduced. Lattice configurations of lowest energy are found when the magnetic induction B corresponds to matching of the (undistorted) triangular vortex lattice to the periodic pinning structure. Particular attention is devoted to lattice configurations slightly deviating from a matching situation. The flux-flow regime is also investigated when steady-state vortex motion results from the equilibrium of the Lorentz driving force, the viscous damping force, the harmonic pinning force and the pinning-induced lattice restoring force. A highly coherent flux-flow regime with rf properties similar to those of series arrays of resistively shunted Josephson junctions acting in phase and frequency coherence (super-radiant state) is found in the dynamic matching state. For nonmatching configurations we study the influence of dynamically excited lattice deformation modes on the current-voltage characteristics when vortex motion is driven bymore » dc or by superimposed dc and rf transport currents. In particular, for nearly matching configurations the width of the rf-induced interference transitions is related to the shear modulus of the vortex lattice and to the flux-flow resistivity. « less
Source–sink impulsive bioeconomic models: Seasonal closures with fixed length

The dynamics of four source–sink models for an exploited resource under a constant fishing effort are here presented. Two models are described by ordinary differential equations; the other two are expressed by impulsive differential equations systems. A continuous time growth function for the resource is assumed for each of the four model. The impulsiveness in the harvest activity among fixed seasonal closures were considered in the models expressed by impulsive differential equations. We note that all our models show the possibility of getting a sustainable resource exploitation. The results obtained using both techniques are compared. These metapopulation models suggest the convenience of considering the source patches as marine reserves, in order to preserve the renewable resources.
Numerical Analysis of a Transtibial Prosthesis Socket Using 3D-Printed Bio-Based PLA

Lower-limb prosthesis design and manufacturing still rely mostly on the workshop process of trial-and-error using expensive unrecyclable composite materials, resulting in time-consuming, material-wasting, and, ultimately, expensive prostheses. Therefore, we investigated the possibility of utilizing Fused Deposition Modeling 3D-printing technology with inexpensive bio-based and bio-degradable Polylactic Acid (PLA) material for prosthesis socket development and manufacturing. The safety and stability of the proposed 3D-printed PLA socket were analyzed using a recently developed generic transtibial numeric model, with boundary conditions of donning and newly developed realistic gait cycle phases of a heel strike and forefoot loading according to ISO 10328. The material properties of the 3D-printed PLA were determined using uniaxial tensile and compression tests on transverse and longitudinal samples. Numerical simulations with all boundary conditions were performed for the 3D-printed PLA and traditional polystyrene check and definitive composite socket. The results showed that the 3D-printed PLA socket withstands the occurring von-Mises stresses of 5.4 MPa and 10.8 MPa under heel strike and push-off gait conditions, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum deformations observed in the 3D-printed PLA socket of 0.74 mm and 2.66 mm were similar to the check socket deformations of 0.67 mm and 2.52 mm during heel strike and push-off, respectively, hence providing the same stability for the amputees. We have shown that an inexpensive, bio-based, and bio-degradable PLA material can be considered for manufacturing the lower-limb prosthesis, resulting in an environmentally friendly and inexpensive solution.
A Cross-Sectional Study on the Associations between Economic, Social, and Political Resources and Subjective Caregiver Burden among Older Spousal Caregivers in Two Nordic Regions

Inspired by the caregiver stress process model emphasising the role of resources for caregiving outcomes, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of subjective caregiver burden (SCB) and its associations with individual social, economic, and political resources among older spousal caregivers in a Nordic regional setting. Cross-sectional survey data collected in 2016 in the Bothnia region of Finland and Sweden were used, where 674 spousal caregivers were identified and included in the analyses. The descriptive results showed that about half of the respondents experienced SCB. SCB was more common among Finnish-speaking caregivers. Results from the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that none of the assessed political resources were significantly associated with SCB when controlling for other variables. Experiencing financial strain was associated with SCB, while personal income was not. Frequent contact with family members was statistically significantly associated with SCB. Future research could use longitudinal data to determine causal relationships, and when data allow, test the full caregiver stress process model to investigate the role of mediating factors in different comparative settings. Accumulated evidence on risk factors for negative outcomes of informal caregiving can contribute to effective screening tools for identifying and supporting vulnerable caregivers, which is becoming increasingly important with the ageing population.
Specificity Proteins (SP) and Krüppel-like Factors (KLF) in Liver Physiology and Pathology

The liver acts as a central hub that controls several essential physiological processes ranging from metabolism to detoxification of xenobiotics. At the cellular level, these pleiotropic functions are facilitated through transcriptional regulation in hepatocytes. Defects in hepatocyte function and its transcriptional regulatory mechanisms have a detrimental influence on liver function leading to the development of hepatic diseases. In recent years, increased intake of alcohol and western diet also resulted in a significantly increasing number of people predisposed to the incidence of hepatic diseases. Liver diseases constitute one of the serious contributors to global deaths, constituting the cause of approximately two million deaths worldwide. Understanding hepatocyte transcriptional mechanisms and gene regulation is essential to delineate pathophysiology during disease progression. The current review summarizes the contribution of a family of zinc finger family transcription factors, named specificity protein (SP) and Krüppel-like factors (KLF), in physiological hepatocyte functions, as well as how they are involved in the onset and development of hepatic diseases.
p16 Immunohistochemical Expression as a Surrogate Assessment of CDKN2A Alteration in Gliomas Leading to Prognostic Significances

Simple Summary The 2021 WHO classification of central nervous system tumors is a histomolecular classification system that takes into account numerous molecular data in order to better stratify patient prognoses and treatments. CDKN2A homozygous deletion appears to be associated with poor prognosis in many types of gliomas. The search for this deletion requires complex techniques. As CDKN2A encodes the p16 protein, a reliable, reproducible, and clinically meaningful IHC stain would be useful as a surrogate test. This study attempts to describe the clinical impacts of p16 immunohistochemical expression in a wide variety of gliomas, as well as its correlation with CDKN2A homozygous deletion. Abstract CDKN2A is a tumor suppressor gene encoding the p16 protein, a key regulator of the cell cycle. CDKN2A homozygous deletion is a central prognostic factor for numerous tumors and can be detected by several techniques. This study aims to evaluate the extent to which immunohistochemical levels of p16 expression may provide information about CDKN2A deletion. A retrospective study was conducted in 173 gliomas of all types, using p16 IHC and CDKN2A fluorescent in situ hybridization. Survival analyses were performed to assess the prognostic impact of p16 expression and CDKN2A deletion on patient outcomes. Three patterns of p16 expression were observed: absence of expression, focal expression, and overexpression. Absence of p16 expression was correlated with worse outcomes. p16 overexpression was associated with better prognoses in MAPK-induced tumors, but with worse survival in IDH-wt glioblastomas. CDKN2A homozygous deletion predicted worse outcomes in the overall patient population, particularly in IDH-mutant 1p/19q oligodendrogliomas (grade 3). Finally, we observed a significant correlation between p16 immunohistochemical loss of expression and CDKN2A homozygosity. IHC has strong sensitivity and high negative predictive value, suggesting that p16 IHC might be a pertinent test to detect cases most likely harboring CDKN2A homozygous deletion.
Geographic Differentiation of Essential Oil from Rhizome of Cultivated Atractylodes lancea by Using GC-MS and Chemical Pattern Recognition Analysis

The rhizome of Atractylodes lancea (RAL) is a well-known Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) that has been applied in clinical settings for thousands of years. In the past two decades, cultivated RAL has gradually replaced wild RAL and become mainstream in clinical practice. The quality of CHM is significantly influenced by its geographical origin. To date, limited studies have compared the composition of cultivated RAL from different geographical origins. As essential oil is the primary active component of RAL, a strategy combining gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and chemical pattern recognition was first applied to compare the essential oil of RAL (RALO) from different regions in China. Total ion chromatography (TIC) revealed that RALO from different origins had a similar composition; however, the relative content of the main compounds varied significantly. In addition, 26 samples obtained from various regions were divided into three categories by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Combined with the geographical location and chemical composition analysis, the producing regions of RAL were classified into three areas. The main compounds of RALO vary depending on the production areas. Furthermore, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that there were significant differences in six compounds, including modephene, caryophyllene, γ-elemene, atractylon, hinesol, and atractylodin, between the three areas. Hinesol, atractylon, and β-eudesmol were selected as the potential markers for distinguishing different areas by orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). In conclusion, by combining GC-MS with chemical pattern recognition analysis, this research has identified the chemical variations across various producing areas and developed an effective method for geographic origin tracking of cultivated RAL based on essential oils.