Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Cádiz-Alicante Fault: an important discontinuity in the Betic Cordillera

During the Burdigalian and the middle Miocene the Cadiz-Alicante Fault facilitated the continuity of the westward displacement of the Betic Internal Zone, simultaneously dragging part of the Subbetic. Its position locally coincides with the contact between the Internal Zone and the External, but especially in the west part affects only the Subbetic. From the late Miocene the crustal discontinuity formed by this fault aided the subsidence of the depocentres controlled by NNW-SSE faults, acting as a backstop for the extension to the north. This fault constitutes an important discontinuity in the Betic Cordillera and, although there is no proof of earthquakes deeper than 7 km linked to the fault, a volcanoclastic emission occurred during the Burdigalian, apparently related to the fault. This implies that the fault cut deeply, a proposition easily assumed if it is considered that the subsidence of some of the depocentres limited by the fault is on the order of 3 km and even more, requiring a compensation depth greater than 10 km.
Étude de dispositifs photovoltaïques à hétérojonctions a-Si˸H/c-Si : caractérisations vs. simulations en régime modulé de structures planaires et modélisations optoélectroniques de nanofils à structure radiale

Dans le contexte de la recherche sur l’amelioration des performances et la reduction des couts des cellules solaires a base de silicium, nous nous sommes interesses dans cette these aux heterojonctions entre le silicium amorphe hydrogene (a-Si:H) et le silicium cristallin (c-Si). Nous avons etudie d’une part l’application de la technique de mesure du PhotoCourant Module (MPC) comme outil de caracterisation de l’interface a-Si:H/c-Si et que nous avons couple a la technique de mesure de PhotoLuminescence Modulee (MPL) deja largement utilisee pour etudier la qualite de passivation de l’interface. Nous avons alors caracterise par ces deux techniques une serie d'echantillons composees de (p)a-Si:H/(i)a-Si:H/(n)c-Si d'epaisseur de (i)a-Si:H allant de 2 a 50 nm. Une partie importante de cette etude a ete realisee par simulations numeriques en 2D afin d’interpreter nos resultats experimentaux. Une coherence dans l'estimation de la densite d'etat de defauts a l'interface a-Si:H/c-Si a ete obtenue par les deux techniques. Nous avons concu d’autre part un outil de couplage des simulations electriques et optiques pour le design de cellules a base de nanofils a heterojonction. Grâce a cet outil nous avons realise une etude plus realiste et plus complete qu'auparavant ou ces deux simulations etaient effectuees de maniere separee. Nous montrons notamment comment les conditions sur les contacts electriques des nanofils affectent les performances de la cellule solaire.
A Biopsychosocial Model Predicting Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial infarction is one of the main causes of death, and cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) are always considered when studying it. However, although it is known that other social and psychological variables, and especially frailty, can increase the risk of infarction, their simultaneous effect has not been extensively studied. This study is based on data from the SHARE project (latest wave, Wave 8), with a representative sample of 46,498 participants aged 50 or older (M = 70.40, SD = 9.33), of whom 57.4% were females. Statistical analyses included a full structural equation model that predicts 27% of infarction occurrence and evidences the significant effect of well-being, depression, and social connectedness on frailty. Frailty, in turn, explains 15.5% of the variability of CVRFs. This work supports the need to study these physical, social, and mental health factors together to intervene on frailty and, in turn, improve cardiovascular outcomes.
The Effect of Market-Entry Timing on a Firm’s Speed and Cost of Entry

This paper examines the effect of market-entry timing on a firm’s speed and cost of entry in a setting where a firm needs to build a plant for market entry. Based on our developed analytical model, we provide seven scenarios of the market-entry timing effect on a firm’s entry speed and cost. We test hypotheses in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. We use Wooldridge’s three-step instrumental variable (IV) approach to account for endogeneity bias. We find that a late entrant has (1) a shorter time-to-build and (2) a higher cost-to-build relative to an early entrant. Further, (3) the late entrant positively moderates the negative relationship of time-to-build and cost-to-build (i.e., the negative relationship of time-to build and cost-to-build becomes less negative for the late entrant). These empirical results are consistent with the prediction of when both revenue effect (i.e., revenue curve shift) and cost effect (i.e., cost curve leftward shift) exist.
Maladaptive and Adaptive Perfectionism Impact Psychological Wellbeing Through Mediator Self-Efficacy Versus Resilience

The transition through university is often challenging and can negatively impact students’ mental health. Identifying protective factors and opportunities aimed at promoting students’ psychological wellbeing is therefore paramount. Maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism have been found to impact students’ psychological wellbeing. However, less is known about how sociocognitive factors such as self-efficacy and resilience impact this relationship. The current study investigated whether self-efficacy and resilience mediate the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism, adaptive perfectionism and psychological wellbeing, controlling for gender, study mode, study method and COVID-19 lockdowns. Australian university students (N = 193; 86.53% female) aged 18–66 (M = 27.80, SD = 10.45) studying full-time (68.39%) and online (72.02%) completed the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Brief Resilience Scale and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. The indirect effect of maladaptive perfectionism on psychological wellbeing through self-efficacy was significant (b = -0.09, SE = .03, 95% CI [-0.15, -0.04]). The indirect effect of adaptive perfectionism on psychological wellbeing through self-efficacy was also significant (b = 0.09, SE = .04, 95% CI [0.02, 0.18]). However, resilience did not indirectly impact the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism, adaptive perfectionism and psychological wellbeing. This study demonstrates the importance of building self-efficacy for maladaptive and adaptive perfectionist students and highlights an opportunity for universities to create self-efficacy-based programs to promote students’ psychological wellbeing.
High-Performance Ag2Se Film by a Microwave-Assisted Synthesis Method for Flexible Thermoelectric Generators

Flexible Ag2Se thermoelectric (TE) films are promising for wearable applications near room temperature (RT). Herein, a Ag2Se film on a nylon membrane with high TE performance was fabricated by a facile method. First, Ag2Se powders were prepared by a microwave-assisted synthesis method using Ag nanowires as a template. Second, the Ag2Se powders were deposited onto nylon via vacuum filtration followed by hot pressing. Through modulating the Ag/Se molar ratio for synthesizing the Ag2Se powders, an optimized Ag2Se film demonstrates a high power factor of 1577.1 μW m−1 K−2 and good flexibility at RT. The flexibility of the Ag2Se film is mainly attributed to the flexible nylon membrane. In addition, a six-leg flexible TE generator (f-TEG) fabricated with the optimized Ag2Se film exhibits a maximum power density of 18.4 W m−2 at a temperature difference of 29 K near RT. This work provides a new solution to prepare high-TE-performance flexible Ag2Se films for f-TEGs.
Smart Spending for Health: How to Make Each Dollar Count

Aging populations, rising rates of chronic conditions, and the COVID-19 global pandemic have all intensified the demand for more healthcare. Yet, resources for healthcare are highly constrained and mobilizing new resources for health is a difficult challenge. Now more than ever, the LAC region needs to spend smarter on healthcare. This report introduces the main concepts, tools, and strategies for making smarter healthcare spending decisions, and guides readers to resources that provide practical examples and detailed explanations.
Macroeconomic Drivers of Foreign Direct Investment Inflows to Nigeria: Analysis of Shocks and Long-Run Causation

This study seeks to underscore the extent to which macroeconomic vectors cause foreign direct investment inflows using cointegration, vector error correction, impulse response functions, and variance decomposition techniques against annual Nigerian data from 1986 through 2020. It also attempts to unravel how FDI inflows respond to macroeconomic shocks. The results indicate that, in the long-run, interest rate, inflation, exchange rate, level of economic activity and growth, and degree of trade openness of the economy significantly cause FDI inflows to Nigeria. Whereas the direction of causation is positive for inflation, exchange rate and trade openness of the economy, it was negative for level of economic activity and interest rate. FDI inflows responded to shocks in the above independent variables in different directions, some positively for a designated time, while some negatively at other periods. Generally, shocks in the independent variables jointly affected the shocks in FDI from the second through the tenth periods of innovations. Policy implications favor government action to lower interest rate, maintain mild inflation and moderate devaluation of the Naira against the currencies of trading partners, among others.
Medial and lateral knee contact forces during walking, stair ascent and stair descent are more affected by contact locations than tibiofemoral alignment in knee osteoarthritis patients with varus malalignment

Introduction: Knee OA progression is related to medial knee contact forces, which can be altered by anatomical parameters of tibiofemoral alignment and contact point locations. There is limited and controversial literature on medial-lateral force distribution and the effect of anatomical parameters, especially in motor activities different from walking. We analyzed the effect of tibiofemoral alignment and contact point locations on knee contact forces, and the medial-lateral force distribution in knee OA subjects with varus malalignment during walking, stair ascending and stair descending. Methods: Fifty-one knee OA subjects with varus malalignment underwent weight-bearing radiographs and motion capture during walking, stair ascending and stair descending. We created a set of four musculoskeletal models per subject with increasing level of personalization, and calculated medial and lateral knee contact forces. To analyze the effect of the anatomical parameters, statistically-significant differences in knee contact forces among models were evaluated. Then, to analyze the force distribution, the medial-to-total contact force ratios were calculated from the fully-informed models. In addition, a multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate correlations between forces and anatomical parameters. Results: The anatomical parameters significantly affected the knee contact forces. However, the contact points decreased medial forces and increased lateral forces and led to more marked variations compared to tibiofemoral alignment, which produced an opposite effect. The forces were less medially-distributed during stair negotiation, with medial-to-total ratios below 50% at force peaks. The anatomical parameters explained 30%–67% of the variability in the knee forces, where the medial contact points were the best predictors of medial contact forces. Discussion: Including personalized locations of contact points is crucial when analyzing knee contact forces in subjects with varus malalignment, and especially the medial contact points have a major effect on the forces rather than tibiofemoral alignment. Remarkably, the medial-lateral force distribution depends on the motor activity, where stair ascending and descending show increased lateral forces that lead to less medially-distributed loads compared to walking.
Dynamic Inversion-Based Real-Time Trajectory Planning Method for Wheeled Inverted Pendulum Using Asymptotic Expansion Technique

This paper presents a real-time trajectory planning method for highly dynamic tracking control of wheeled inverted pendulum (WIP) systems. A generic form of dynamic inversion problem for the class of WIPs is defined by combining a set of kinematic and dynamic differential constraints related to the system’s output expressed by the state variables, whose time evolution is to be sought as the solution of the trajectory planning. Instead of simply integrating forward the set of differential equations, which would lead only to an unbounded solution due to its non-minimum phase nature, an asymptotic expansion technique, transforming the original differential equations into a sequence of algebraic equations parameterized by the system’s characteristic constant, is used to allow for a stable and asymptotically exact solution of the dynamic inversion problem. To implement the proposed method for a real-time application where the reference command is not previously known, a command input filter is designed and applied to adjust the real-time input into a sufficiently differentiable reference command suitable for the inversion. Simulation and experimental studies are provided to validate the proposed method using our experimental WIP system.
Home-Based Individualized Alpha Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation Improves Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Preliminary Evidence from a Randomized, Sham-Controlled Clinical Trial

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating mental health condition that is largely resistant to conventional treatments, such as pharmacotherapy and behavioural interventions. Individualized noninvasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) might be capable of successfully treating OCD through modulation of dysfunctional neural circuitry. A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, pilot clinical trial involving 25 OCD patients was conducted to investigate the efficacy of tACS in improving OCD severity. Treatments targeting the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) were self-administered at home for 6 weeks with a 3-month follow-up. Within the active group, each treatment was delivered at an individualized peak alpha frequency for 30 minutes, while the sham group received 2 blocks of 2-minute treatments at 25 Hz. The clinical severity of OCD and potential symptom improvements were quantified using serial measurements of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), and a linear mixed model analysis was performed to estimate the time-condition effect. There was a significant time-condition interaction in the YBOCS from baseline to 6 weeks ( p < 0.0001 ), indicating that active alpha-tACS was significantly superior to sham in improving OCD severity. A trend-level effect remained at the 3-month follow-up, suggestive of a sustained level of improvement. Additionally, depressive symptoms also showed a significant improvement from baseline to follow-up. Our findings suggest that a six-week, home-based treatment course of individualized alpha-tACS targeting the mPFC is capable of improving OCD symptoms. Further large-scale clinical trials are required to definitively establish tACS as a therapy for OCD.
Optimization of eco-friendly materials by alkali activation of the sewage sludge ash (SSA) to reduce carbon footprint

ABSTRACT To address climate change and promote sustainable development in the building materials industry, this study aimed to develop eco-friendly geopolymer products to replace the high carbon footprint cement industry. The study evaluated the production of geopolymer by partially substituting slag with sewage sludge ash (SSA) and testing different alkaline activator ratios. The ratio of GGBS to SSA was 70:20% by weight, and Na2SiO3 and NaOH were the utilized activators with varying percentages by weight. The geopolymer pastes were cured by using a thermal bath with a temperature of 38°C at 100% relative humidity in a controlled humidity chamber for 3 months. The chemical composition, the mechanical strength at specific testing times, and the microstructure of the materials and the pastes have been analyzed through XRD, XRF, FTIR and SEM. The valuable results have been achieved at a ratio of (10:10%) Na2SiO3 to NaOH, with a strength of 285.6 kg/cm2 at 90 days. XRD and FTIR of the mix A1 showed the formation of amorphous phases of geopolymer gel. Also, a dense microstructure was observed in the SEM micrograph of the mix A1. Consequently, the study results demonstrated that sewage sludge ash can be reused as a value-added product through the potential use in the synthesis of geopolymer products with an optimum alkaline activator of (10:10%) sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide. SSA – geopolymer products will help in the reduction of the carbon footprint and maintain the natural resources in addition to the achievement of climate goals.
Aquatic food production and resource management : Freshwater use in Chinese aquaculture

Aquaculture will play an important role for future seafood supply, but its increasing dependency on freshwater resources may pose a challenge for its growth. This thesis explores the freshwater footprint of cultured aquatic animals, using the global aquaculture giant, China, as a case study. Main objectives were to: a) perform a preliminary estimation of the freshwater footprint (m3 tonne-1) at the national/regional scale, using the conceptual framework and methodology of the Water Footprint Network (WFN), b) identify key methodological aspects and variables specifically related to measuring the water footprint in aquaculture, c) analyse and discuss water consumption to inform future sustainable water management strategies, through a deeper understanding of Chinese aquaculture as a social-ecological system (SES). Results show that aquaculture’s freshwater footprint is similar to terrestrial animal production systems, with an average of 14 952 m3 tonne-1. Water consumption mainly takes place at the farm through evaporation from freshwater ponds, and dilution of freshwater in brackish water ponds. Indirect water footprint through feed consumption is mainly influenced by the composition of ingredients, and the assimilation efficiency of the different species. The trend is towards intensification of production, and this has the potential to lower water consumption per yield, however, increased consumption of higher quality feed in such systems may work in the opposite direction. Key sustainability aspects that require further attention within the WFN’s methodology include cross-scale interactions between the focal scale and its upper and lower scales, and the interconnectedness of water scarcity issues to other resource uses and associated impacts. An integrated framework is needed to allow the comparison and aggregation of indices across the three pillars of sustainability. Here, the transdisciplinarity of the SES approach can help create sustainability criteria that reflect water consumption impacts in a more integrated way.
Immune Response Profile Induced by Combined Alum and Glycyrrhizin Liposomes in Balb/c Mice Immunized with Ovalbumin

Objective: Saponin compounds, including Glycyrrhizin, can enhance immune responses. The current investigation was conducted to study the effects of alum and Glycyrrhizin Liposomes (GL) as adjuvants on the humoral and cellular responses of the immune system in mice immunized with ovalbumin (OVA). Materials and Methods: Male Balb/c mice were immunized with OVA adjuvant with alum, GL, or alum-GL combination twice at two-week intervals. Two weeks after the last immunization, the specific immune responses against OVA were assessed. Results: The adjuvant formulated with alum and GL induced a Th1 cytokine pattern against OVA, while alum alone induced a Th2 cytokine pattern. The combined adjuvant increased the potential of OVA to induce a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction and IgG2a antibody titer compared to other groups (p<0.05). OVA-specific lymphocyte proliferation did not show significant differences among the three groups receiving adjuvant (p=0.11). Conclusion: Unlike alum, the combination of alum and GL synergistically increased the cellular and humoral immune responses after immunization with an antigen and therefore had the ability to be used as an adjuvant to induce cellular immune responses.
Carbon Fluxes in Potato (Solanum tuberosum) Remain Stable in Cell Cultures Exposed to Nutritional Phosphate Deficiency

Simple Summary Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants. It is usually available in the form of inorganic phosphate in the plant environment. Yet, most environments contain extremely low amounts of phosphate, causing a major nutritional deficiency for plant life. During their evolution, plants have acquired a number of adaptations that help them to survive chronic phosphate deficit. Many of these adaptations are documented in the scientific literature and show changes in gene expression and modifications in the levels of enzymes and metabolites involved in plant carbon and respiratory metabolism. This research uses potato cells cultivated in vitro to measure major metabolic carbon fluxes (rates at which molecules are processed, consumed or degraded) in response to two phosphate regimes (normal and deficiency). Our results show a remarkable stability of several metabolic fluxes in cells regardless of their phosphate regime. This is the case for the rate at which the carbon source is taken up from the medium. Two important metabolic fluxes used to fuel cell respiration are also not affected by phosphate. In all the experiments, cell age is the main factor affecting carbon metabolic fluxes. These findings lead us to conclude that potato cells maintain stable carbon fluxes during phosphate deficiency. Abstract Nutritional phosphate deficiency is a major limitation to plant growth. Here, we monitored fluxes in pathways supporting respiratory metabolism in potato (Solanum tuberosum) cell cultures growing in control or limiting phosphate conditions. Sugar uptake was quantified using [U-14C]sucrose as precursor. Carbohydrate degradation through glycolysis and respiratory pathways was estimated using the catabolism of [U-14C]sucrose to 14CO2. Anaplerotic carbon flux was assessed by labeling with NaH14CO3. The data showed that these metabolic fluxes displayed distinct patterns over culture time. However, phosphate depletion had relatively little impact on the various fluxes. Sucrose uptake was higher during the first six days of culture, followed by a decline, which was steeper in Pi-sufficient cells. Anaplerotic pathway flux was more important at day three and decreased thereafter. In contrast, the flux between sucrose and CO2 was at a maximum in the mid-log phase of the culture, with a peak at Day 6. Metabolization of [U-14C]sucrose into neutral, basic and acidic fractions was also unaffected by phosphate nutrition. Hence, the well-documented changes in central metabolism enzymes activities in response to Pi deficiency do not drastically modify metabolic fluxes, but rather result in the maintenance of the carbon fluxes that support respiration.