Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Temperature dependence of dielectric and ferroelectric properties for (1−x)Bi0.5(Na0.8K0.2)0.5TiO3-xBaZn0.5W0.5O3 lead-free piezoelectric ceramics

ABSTRACT The ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of (1−x)Bi0.5(Na0.8-K0.2)0.5TiO3-xBaZn0.5W0. 5O3 ((1−x)BNKT-xBZW) ceramics have been studied to clarify the temperature dependence of the polarization-electric field (P-E) hysteresis and dielectric properties. Based on the temperature dependence of the dielectric constant, it was found that the depolarization temperature (Td) shifted to lower temperatures, depending on the composition x. The crystal structure refinement of (1−x)BNKT-xBZW ceramics with rhombohedral and tetragonal phases revealed that the fraction of tetragonal phase to rhombohedral phase increased in the composition range of 0-0.05, which implies a formation of a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB). The piezoelectric constant (d33) of the (1−x)BNKT-xBZW ceramics increased with the composition x up to x = 0.05 and the maximum value was 168 pC/N. Such an increase in d33 is attributed to the increase in the dielectric constant at room temperature which is due to the shift of Td; a pinched P-E hysteresis loop was obtained at x = 0.05. The temperature dependence of the P-E hysteresis loops indicated that the shape of the hysteresis loop is closely related to the coexistence of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases.
The Association between the L3 Skeletal Muscle Index Derived from Computed Tomography and Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Urinary Tract Infection in the Emergency Department

The occurrence of a critical event during a urinary tract infection (UTI) can have a significant impact on mortality. This study aimed to investigate the association between the skeletal muscle index (SMI) and critical events in patients with a UTI. From April 2019 to March 2022, a total of 478 patients who met the diagnostic criteria of a UTI and underwent an abdominal CT were included in this study. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to assess independent predictors of critical events. The primary outcome was any critical event, defined as the initiation of dialysis, invasive ventilation, initiation of vasoactive medications, cardiac arrest, or death. The UTI patients were divided into two groups: those with a low SMI (n = 93) and those with a high SMI (n = 385). In multivariate analysis, a low SMI, diabetes mellitus, altered mentality, lactate levels, and creatinine levels were identified as significant predictors of critical events. A low SMI is an independent factor associated with the occurrence of critical events in UTI patients during hospitalization. Patients with a low SMI, indicating muscle wasting, may have less resilience to infections and a higher risk of experiencing severe complications. Considering the SMI along with other clinical factors can help health care providers assess and manage UTI patients.
Estimation of structured tensor models and recovery of low-rank tensors

In the first part of this thesis, we formulate two methods for computing a canonical polyadic decomposition having linearly structured matrix factors (such as, e.g., Toeplitz or banded factors): a general constrained alternating least squares (CALS) algorithm and an algebraic solution for the case where all factors are circulant. Exact and approximate versions of the former method are studied. The latter method relies on a multidimensional discrete-time Fourier transform of the target tensor, which leads to a system of homogeneous monomial equations whose resolution provides the desired circulant factors. Our simulations show that combining these approaches yields a statistically efficient estimator, which is also true for other combinations of CALS in scenarios involving non-circulant factors. The second part of the thesis concerns low-rank tensor recovery (LRTR) and, in particular, the tensor completion (TC) problem. We propose an efficient algorithm, called SeMPIHT, employing sequentially optimal modal projections as its hard thresholding operator. Then, a performance bound is derived under usual restricted isometry conditions, which however yield suboptimal sampling bounds. Yet, our simulations suggest SeMPIHT obeys optimal sampling bounds for Gaussian measurements. Step size selection and gradual rank increase heuristics are also elaborated in order to improve performance. We also devise an imputation scheme for TC based on soft thresholding of a Tucker model core and illustrate its utility in completing real-world road traffic data acquired by an intelligent transportation
Solid Mechanics of Lungs

In this paper a subarea of biomechanics in solid mechanics of lungs is described with the intention of familiarizing those working in the broad field of solid and structural mechanics so that they may explore this new and fascinating field of study. The materials contained in this paper are organized into four parts. First the functional anatomy of the respiratory system is briefly introduced. It is then followed by analysis of the properties and modeling of lung tissue. Next, some recent studies of lung elasticity problems are presented. Finally, consideration is given on potential research directions of this new and challenging field in biomechanics.
Saliva-Based Test as an Alternative Diagnosis for SARS-CoV-2 Patient

Respiratory system is affected by a novel type of virus known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The gold standard for its identification is the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) test, despite being invasive and dangerous to medical workers during the sample-collecting process. However, major salivary glands including the parotid, submandibular, and sublingual, as well as smaller glands dispersed throughout the mouth cavity, release saliva, a hypotonic fluid, containing biomarkers that can be used to identify both local and systemic disorders, including SARS-CoV-2. This fluid can be utilized as a non-invasive, low-risk diagnostic test by medical professionals since it provides insights into patient's overall health. This study aims to determine the potential of saliva as a substitute for other SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic methods. The results from analysis of 5 scientific publications, showed that saliva contained SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA, making it suitable for patient diagnostic testing. Considering the results, the fluid was discovered to be an alternative diagnostic test for patient with the virus.
Sub-50-nm wide slot waveguides with good optical isolation on silicon on insulator

Abstract. Although slot waveguide structures are widely used in all kinds of optical devices, very few articles focus on the issue of optical isolation of slot waveguides. This article, in an effort to bridge the gap in the available literature, focuses on the aspect of optical isolation of slot waveguides and provides definitive rules for application of different slot waveguides in dense integration of optical links. A slot waveguide with a 48-nm-wide slot was fabricated with electron beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching.
Comparison of physicochemical properties and general acceptance of flavored drinking yogurt containing date and fig syrups

Milk and dairy products have a rich nutritional value and they are the main constituents of a human diet. In recent years, the consumption of dairy drinks containing water, sugar syrups and flavorings has been common. So it is important to find a natural alternative sweetener to remove sugar. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to produce flavored drinking yogurt with natural sweeteners like date syrup and fig syrup as a sugar substitute. The study was made of the comparing physicochemical properties and also of opinions about the general acceptance of flavored drinking yogurt with date and fig syrups. The physicochemical properties such as pH, titratable acidity, viscosity, total solid, syneresis and the sensory evaluation of samples were determined weekly at 4°C for 28 days. The results showed that the samples that contained fig syrup had a lower acidity and syneresis percentage while their viscosity was higher compared to the samples that contained date syrup. It can be concluded that flavored drinking yogurt with 10% fig syrup and 1% pectin was chosen as the best treatment since it was rated the highest in general acceptance compared to other samples.
RFI subspace smearing and projection for array radio telescopes

Active Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) mitigation becomes a necessity for radio astronomy. The solution commonly applied by the community consists in monitoring the statistics of the received signal, and flag out the detected corrupted data. Subspace projection with array radio telescopes has been suggested as an alternative to data excision to avoid important losses of data and overcome its inherent ineffectiveness with continuous interference. Spatial filtering relies on the estimation of the RFI spatial contribution, and the projection of the subspace spanned by the RFI out of the observed data vector space. To perform well, the dimensionality of the RFI subspace is constrained. RFI subspace estimation techniques assume the source of RFI to be spatially stationary over the sample covariance matrix evaluation. When the relative movement between the telescope and the interferer becomes significant, the RFI subspace gets smeared over the whole data vector space. The subspace projection can then no longer be applied without affecting the source of interest recovery. This paper addresses the effect of RFI subspace smearing on the subspace projection approach, and suggests an alternative technique based on a covariance matrix subtraction, improving the performance of spatial filtering in the case of high subspace smearing.
Bulbar Onset Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in an African American Older Adult

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neuromuscular disease, affects the motor tracts and anterior horn cells of the spinal cord, causing both upper and lower motor neuron dysfunction. ALS typically involves progressive peripheral weakness and mobility issues. Case Report: An African American male in his early 70s presented to his primary care provider (PCP) with bulbar weakness and urinary tract symptoms. At presentation, and even later in the disease course, he ambulated well and did not report any limb issues. After some months of worsening symptoms of dyspnea, dysarthria, dysphagia, and urinary incontinence, a diagnosis of ALS was made via collaborative work between the PCP, a medical student, and various medical specialists including a neurosurgeon and neurologist. Because of the absence of limb abnormalities, the patient had difficulty accepting a diagnosis of ALS, thus delaying treatment onset. Conclusion: Clinicians must consider the patient's presentation holistically so that they do not miss insidious, complex, or unique presentations. ALS can present with bulbar symptoms early in the disease course with no upper motor neuron/lower motor neuron involvement. Older adult African American males can present with ALS. Mistrust of health care systems and resistance to science based on religious beliefs can impact patient acceptance of diagnoses and engagement in treatments. Having a long-term relationship with a PCP who also represents the patient's community can influence patient willingness to accept diagnoses, especially those that are life-limiting.
Excess negative charge of an electron-photon shower and its coherent radio emission

We investigate the excess of electrons in an electron-photon shower. This excess is caused by annihilation of the positrons in flight and by the Compton and $\delta$-electrons in the cascade. It is shown that at the maximum of the shower the excess may comprise ten percent of the total number of shower particles. The Cerenkov radiation from this excess charge in a dense medium is estimated. It is indicated that this radio emission from showers produced by high-energy accelerator particles or cosmic rays in blocks of dense matter can be recorded and used. The possibility of recording radio waves from penetrating particle . showers in the moon's ground, by apparatus dropped on the lunar surface, and in underground layers on the Earth in which radio waves can propagate, is also noted.
A new filter for dimensionality reduction and classification of hyperspectral images using GLCM features and mutual information

Dimensionality reduction is an important preprocessing step of the hyperspectral images classification (HSI), it is inevitable task. Some methods use feature selection or extraction algorithms based on spectral and spatial information. In this paper, we introduce a new methodology for dimensionality reduction and classification of HSI taking into account both spectral and spatial information based on mutual information. We characterise the spatial information by the texture features extracted from the grey level cooccurrence matrix (GLCM); we use Homogeneity, Contrast, Correlation and Energy. For classification, we use support vector machine (SVM). The experiments are performed on three well-known hyperspectral benchmark datasets. The proposed algorithm is compared with the state of the art methods. The obtained results of this fusion show that our method outperforms the other approaches by increasing the classification accuracy in a good timing. This method may be improved for more performance.
Deep convolutional recurrent neural network with transfer learning for hyperspectral image classification

Abstract. The deep learning methods have recently been successfully explored for hyperspectral image classification. However, it may not perform well when training samples are scarce. A deep transfer learning method is proposed to improve the hyperspectral image classification performance in the situation of limited training samples. First, a Siamese network composed of two convolutional neural networks is designed for local image descriptors extraction. Subsequently, the pretrained Siamese network model is reused to transfer knowledge to the hyperspectral image classification tasks by feeding deep features extracted from each band into a recurrent neural network. Indeed, a deep convolutional recurrent neural network is constructed for hyperspectral image classification by this way. Finally, the entire network is tuned by a small number of labeled samples. The important characteristic of the designed model is that the deep convolutional recurrent neural network provides a way of utilizing the spatial–spectral features without dimension reduction. Furthermore, the transfer learning method provides an opportunity to train such deep model with limited labeled samples. Experiments on three widely used hyperspectral datasets demonstrate that the proposed transfer learning method can improve the classification performance and competitive classification results can be achieved when compared with state-of-the-art methods.
Giant negative thermal expansion in Fe-Mn-Ga magnetic shape memory alloys

Fe-Mn-Ga magnetic shape memory alloys can undergo martensitic transformation (MT) from a paramagnetic cubic phase to a ferromagnetic tetragonal phase. The MT is accompanied by a large volume change; yet, these alloys have never been explored for technological applications as negative thermal expansion (NTE) materials. Here, by careful chemical modification, tunable NTE characteristics including wide operating temperature windows (ΔT) and large negative linear coefficients of thermal expansion (αl) have been achieved in Fe44−xMn28Ga28+x (x = 1, 2, and 2.5) alloys. Typically, a giant NTE ΔT of 81 K and αl = −50.2 × 10−6 K−1 were realized in the Fe43Mn28Ga29 alloy upon cooling from 290 K. The relationships between the NTE features, the MT, and the substitution of Ga for Fe were discussed. Furthermore, the Fe-Mn-Ga alloys possess excellent mechanical properties, high electrical conductivity and high thermal conductivity. With these advantages, the Fe-Mn-Ga magnetic shape memory alloys show promising prospects for use as advanced NTE materials.Fe-Mn-Ga magnetic shape memory alloys can undergo martensitic transformation (MT) from a paramagnetic cubic phase to a ferromagnetic tetragonal phase. The MT is accompanied by a large volume change; yet, these alloys have never been explored for technological applications as negative thermal expansion (NTE) materials. Here, by careful chemical modification, tunable NTE characteristics including wide operating temperature windows (ΔT) and large negative linear coefficients of thermal expansion (αl) have been achieved in Fe44−xMn28Ga28+x (x = 1, 2, and 2.5) alloys. Typically, a giant NTE ΔT of 81 K and αl = −50.2 × 10−6 K−1 were realized in the Fe43Mn28Ga29 alloy upon cooling from 290 K. The relationships between the NTE features, the MT, and the substitution of Ga for Fe were discussed. Furthermore, the Fe-Mn-Ga alloys possess excellent mechanical properties, high electrical conductivity and high thermal conductivity. With these advantages, the Fe-Mn-Ga magnetic shape memory alloys show promising prospects.
Antioxidative Defense, Suppressed Nitric Oxide Accumulation, and Synthesis of Protective Proteins in Roots and Leaves Contribute to the Desiccation Tolerance of the Resurrection Plant Haberlea rhodopensis

The desiccation tolerance of plants relies on defense mechanisms that enable the protection of macromolecules, biological structures, and metabolism. Although the defense of leaf tissues exposed to solar irradiation is challenging, mechanisms that protect the viability of the roots, yet largely unexplored, are equally important for survival. Although the photosynthetic apparatus in leaves contributes to the generation of oxidative stress under drought stress, we hypothesized that oxidative stress and thus antioxidative defense is also predominant in the roots. Thus, we aimed for a comparative analysis of the protective mechanisms in leaves and roots during the desiccation of Haberlea rhodopensis. Consequently, a high content of non-enzymatic antioxidants and high activity of antioxidant enzymes together with the activation of specific isoenzymes were found in both leaves and roots during the final stages of desiccation of H. rhodopensis. Among others, catalase and glutathione reductase activity showed a similar tendency of changes in roots and leaves, whereas, unlike that in the leaves, superoxide dismutase activity was enhanced under severe but not under medium desiccation in roots. Nitric oxide accumulation in the root tips was found to be sensitive to water restriction but suppressed under severe desiccation. In addition to the antioxidative defense, desiccation induced an enhanced abundance of dehydrins, ELIPs, and sHSP 17.7 in leaves, but this was significantly better in roots. In contrast to leaf cells, starch remained in the cells of the central cylinder of desiccated roots. Taken together, protective compounds and antioxidative defense mechanisms are equally important in protecting the roots to survive desiccation. Since drought-induced damage to the root system fundamentally affects the survival of plants, a better understanding of root desiccation tolerance mechanisms is essential to compensate for the challenges of prolonged dry periods.
Evaluating the Translational Potential of Bacteriocins as an Alternative Treatment for Staphylococcus aureus Infections in Animals and Humans

Antibiotic resistance remains a global threat to human and animal health. Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen that causes minor to life-threatening infections. The widespread use of antibiotics in the clinical, veterinary, and agricultural setting combined with the increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant S. aureus strains makes it abundantly clear that alternatives to antibiotics are urgently needed. Bacteriocins represent one potential alternative therapeutic. They are antimicrobial peptides that are produced by bacteria that are generally nontoxic and have a relatively narrow target spectrum, and they leave many commensals and most mammalian cells unperturbed. Multiple studies involving bacteriocins (e.g., nisin, epidermicin, mersacidin, and lysostaphin) have demonstrated their efficacy at eliminating or treating a wide variety of S. aureus infections in animal models. This review provides a comprehensive and updated evaluation of animal studies involving bacteriocins and highlights their translational potential. The strengths and limitations associated with bacteriocin treatments compared with traditional antibiotic therapies are evaluated, and the challenges that are involved with implementing novel therapeutics are discussed.
Natural Polymeric Nanobiocomposites for Anti-Cancer Drug Delivery Therapeutics: A Recent Update

Cancer is one of the most common lethal diseases and the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Effective cancer treatment is a global problem, and subsequent advancements in nanomedicine are useful as substitute management for anti-cancer agents. Nanotechnology, which is gaining popularity, enables fast-expanding delivery methods in science for curing diseases in a site-specific approach, utilizing natural bioactive substances because several studies have established that natural plant-based bioactive compounds can improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Bioactive, in combination with nanotechnology, is an exceptionally alluring and recent development in the fight against cancer. Along with their nutritional advantages, natural bioactive chemicals may be used as chemotherapeutic medications to manage cancer. Alginate, starch, xanthan gum, pectin, guar gum, hyaluronic acid, gelatin, albumin, collagen, cellulose, chitosan, and other biopolymers have been employed successfully in the delivery of medicinal products to particular sites. Due to their biodegradability, natural polymeric nanobiocomposites have garnered much interest in developing novel anti-cancer drug delivery methods. There are several techniques to create biopolymer-based nanoparticle systems. However, these systems must be created in an affordable and environmentally sustainable way to be more readily available, selective, and less hazardous to increase treatment effectiveness. Thus, an extensive comprehension of the various facets and recent developments in natural polymeric nanobiocomposites utilized to deliver anti-cancer drugs is imperative. The present article provides an overview of the latest research and developments in natural polymeric nanobiocomposites, particularly emphasizing their applications in the controlled and targeted delivery of anti-cancer drugs.
The impact of heat stress on the gastrointestinal tract integrity of poultry

HS) endangers the quality and yield of poultry products and compromises the sustainability of poultry production. Birds are particularly sensitive to HS due to the absence of sweat glands, limited respiratory and cardiovascular systems development, and increased metabolic rates. The gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is one of the main organs affected by HS via numerous pathways, including organ ischemia and hypoxia, resulting from superficial vasodilation and excessive panting. Additionally, HS damages epithelial cells, negatively affects the GIT function in nutrient resorption and digestion, causes immunosuppression, destroys microbial balance, and damages the intestinal barrier and microstructure. Thus, HS disrupts intestinal homeostasis and induces gut permeability (leaky gut), causing systemic inflammation and infection. Heat stress induces the disruption of tight junctions and oxidative stress by the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), damaging intestinal tissues. Heat stress decreases the creation of digestive enzymes owing to high levels of ROS that augment lipid peroxidation. Increasing the production of heat shock proteins can be considered a sign of intestinal tissue injury. This review aims to deliver a profound view of the effect of thermal stress on the integrity and function of the gastrointestinal tract.