Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tuning the Refractive Index Sensitivity of LSPR Transducers Based on Nanocomposite Thin Films Composed of Noble Metal Nanoparticles Dispersed in TiO2

This work reports on the development of nanoplasmonic thin films consisting of Au, Ag, or Au-Ag nanoparticles dispersed in a TiO2 matrix and the optimization of the deposition parameters to tune their optical response. The thin films were produced by reactive DC magnetron sputtering of a Ti target with Au and/or Ag pellets placed on the erosion zone. The thicknesses (50 and 100 nm) of the films, the current density (75 and 100 A/m2) applied to the target (titanium), and the number of pellets placed on its surface were the deposition conditions that were used to tailor the optical (LSPR) response. The total noble metal content varied between 13 and 28 at. % for Au/TiO2 films, between 22 and 30 at. % for Ag/TiO2 films, and 8 to 29 at% for the Au-Ag/TiO2 systems with 1:1, 1:1.5, and 1:2 Au:Ag atomic ratios. After thermal annealing at 400 and 600 °C, LSPR bands were found for all films concerning the Au-TiO2 and Au-Ag/TiO2, while for Ag/TiO2, only for thin films with 28 and 30 at. % of Ag concentration. Refractive index sensitivity (RIS) was evaluated for Au and Au-Ag/TiO2 thin films. It was found that for bimetallic nanoparticles, the sensitivity can increase up to five times when compared to a monometallic nanoplasmonic system. Using Au-Ag/TiO2 thin films can decrease the cost of fabrication of LSPR transducers while improving their sensitivity.
Troubles with Turtles

". the book has a number of things to recommend it, particularly for undergraduate teaching, as its scale and readability would be an ethnographic asset for courses on, for example, anthropology and the environment. Its material also provides a number of teachable opportunities, both critically and historically. " * Human Ecology "Though predominantly informative about Greek rural life, the book constitutes an illustrative and informative account about human relationships with the natural world more generally. " * H-Environment The people of Vassilikos, farmers and tourist entrepreneurs on the Greek island of Zakynthos, are involved in a bitter environmental dispute concerning the conservation of sea turtles. Against the environmentalists' practices and ideals they set their own culture of relating to the land, cultivation, wild and domestic animals. Written from an anthropological perspective, this book puts forward the idea that a thorough study of indigenous cultures is a fundamental step to understanding conflicts over the environment. For this purpose, the book offers a detailed account of the cultural depth and richness of the human environmental relationship in Vassilikos, focusing on the engagement of its inhabitants with diverse aspects of the local environment, such as animal care, agriculture, tourism and hunting. Dimitris Theodossopoulos is a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Bristol and a senior research fellow at St Peter's College, Oxford. In the early nineties he carried out fieldwork on environmental politics and the indigenous perceptions of the environment in rural Greece. He is currently teaching anthropology and writing on a variety of themes, ranging from the human-environmental relationship to the ethnography of conflict and nationalism in the Balkans. His most recent field of interest focuses on Greek attitudes towards the Turks and the Greco-Turkish politics of friendship.
Automatic time-domain calculation of source parameters for the analysis of induced seismicity

A time-domain methodology for the automatic (on-line) calculation of source parameters is introduced. The method is based on applying Parseval's theorem to the spectral equations proposed by Andrews (1986). The appropriateness of the technique for the analysis of induced seismicity was tested by comparing on-line values of seismic moment, seismic energy, and static stress drop with those obtained in the frequency domain (off-line) for an aftershock sequence of events recorded underground at Creighton mine, Ontario. Our analysis shows that the calculated on-line and off-line source parameters are in good agreement, with an average slope offset of 4% from the 1:1 line, suggesting that the proposed method is reliable. Additionally, by applying empirical on-line attenuation corrections (coda Q), similar results are obtained to those calculated using off-line corrections (spectral decay), improving the average slope offset to 1%.
Serological evidence of virus infection in Eidolon helvum fruit bats: implications for bushmeat consumption in Nigeria

Introduction The Eidolon helvum fruit bat is one of the most widely distributed fruit bats in Africa and known to be a reservoir for several pathogenic viruses that can cause disease in animals and humans. To assess the risk of zoonotic spillover, we conducted a serological survey of 304 serum samples from E. helvum bats that were captured for human consumption in Makurdi, Nigeria. Methods Using pseudotyped viruses, we screened 304 serum samples for neutralizing antibodies against viruses from the Coronaviridae, Filoviridae, Orthomyxoviridae and Paramyxoviridae families. Results We report the presence of neutralizing antibodies against henipavirus lineage GH-M74a virus (odds ratio 6.23; p < 0.001), Nipah virus (odds ratio 4.04; p = 0.00031), bat influenza H17N10 virus (odds ratio 7.25; p < 0.001) and no significant association with Ebola virus (odds ratio 0.56; p = 0.375) in this bat cohort. Conclusion The data suggest a potential risk of zoonotic spillover including the possible circulation of highly pathogenic viruses in E. helvum populations. These findings highlight the importance of maintaining sero-surveillance of E. helvum, and the necessity for further, more comprehensive investigations to monitor changes in virus prevalence, distribution over time, and across different geographic locations.
Articular Cartilage Reconstruction with Hyaluronate-Based Scaffold Significantly Decreases Pain and Improves Patient’s Functioning

Articular cartilage lesions negatively affect patients’ well-being, causing severe pain and significantly limiting functioning. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a one-stage reconstruction, performed arthroscopically using a hyaluronate-based scaffold. Pain reduction and functional improvement were assessed. The study also evaluated if postoperative vitamin D supplementation and rehabilitation protocol impact obtained outcomes. A group of 29 patients was included in a retrospective study. All the participants underwent arthroscopic reconstruction of osteochondral lesions using hyaluronate-based scaffolds. The study group used standard questionnaires to self-assess their condition before surgery and at the time of completion. Despite the aforementioned, all the participants fulfilled two original questionnaires on postoperative rehabilitation and vitamin D supplementation. Significant pain reduction (mean NRS 1.83 vs. 7.21, p < 0.0001) and functional improvement (mean Lysholm score 82.38 vs. 40.38, p < 0.0001; mean OKS 40.2 vs. 23.1, p < 0.0001) were found. No differences in pain reduction and functional improvement were seen between genders. The impact of post-operative rehabilitation and vitamin D supplementation on clinical outcomes was found to be statistically nonsignificant. The results obtained in this study clearly confirm the effectiveness of osteochondral reconstruction using hyaluronate-based scaffolds. The outcomes were equally favorable, regardless of postoperative rehabilitation and vitamin D supplementation.
Milling Chatter Monitoring based on Improved Deep Residual Network and Transfer Learning Approach*

The multi-cavity and thin-wall parts commonly utilized in aerospace have suffered from chatter during cavity milling. This paper proposes an online chatter monitoring method for the cavity milling process based on an improved deep residual network and transfer learning. First, input the time-frequency maps obtained by the short-time Fourier transform approach into the deep residual network, and fuse the trained deep features with artificial chatter features to build the chatter monitoring model for low-speed processes. Then, using the established model and small sample data, a new model suitable for high-speed operations is quickly set up through the parameter transfer learning method. The experimental results demonstrate that the classification accuracy of the above two models is 99.06% and 99.38%, respectively, which is superior to the threshold model based on artificial features and can be applied to the chatter monitoring of cavity milling under complex cutting paths and variable process parameters.
Transforming material relationships: 13th century revitalization of Cahokian religious-politics

The rise and eventual decline of Cahokia, the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico, reverberated deeply within the historical trajectories of the North American mid-continent and southeast. The 11th century emergence of this multi-ethnic, multi-vocal metropolis appears to have been deeply entangled within a social-religious movement that spread rapidly throughout the region. By A.D. 1100, however, that initial movement seems to have become highly politicized. This increased politicization occurred shortly before an outbreak of violence throughout the mid-continent around A.D. 1150. The transition from the 12th to the 13th century is marked by rapid large scale changes to spaces and objects that were part of the 12th century Cahokian religious-politics. Archaeological evidence from two thirteenth century villages in the uplands outside of Cahokia, the Olin and Copper sites, supports the supposition that these changes were intentional and targeted toward highly politicized Cahokian “elite” spaces and objects. At the same time, people maintained and/or re-integrated other practices, objects, and buildings reminiscent of the early Cahokian movement, with an increased emphasis on inclusivity. These changes suggest perhaps something akin to a revitalization movement – an intentional, material push for change – led to the return of certain religious practices, and production of their related objects, to the hands of local communities. Objects and spaces typically associated with warfare or violence, specifically fortifications, compounds, and imagery of warfare, appeared in conjunction with these changes. Given the timing and location of these materials of violence, they appear to be part of the 13th century revitalization movement in the American Bottom region. iii These two upland sites, Olin and Copper, demonstrate clearly different practices and regional relationships, indicating that people living at these sites were maintaining a certain amount of autonomy while participating within this revitalized Cahokian religious sphere. This decentralization of certain practices and material objects may have occurred at the expense of disentangling the social-political-religious relationships and obligations that may have tied these local communities to each other and to Cahokia. Furthermore, the material aspects of violence that appear during the 12th century to 13th century transformation form key elements of the so-called Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC) that spread throughout the greater southeast.
Questioning the evidence for Earth's earliest life—Akilia revisited

It has been argued that apatite crystals containing inclusions of isotopically light graphite in a quartz-pyroxene rock from the island of Akilia, southwest Greenland, represent the earliest (older than 3.85 Ga) traces of life on Earth. Although the age and protolith of this rock have been subjects of vigorous discussions, the occurrence of isotopically light graphite inclusions in Akilia apatite has so far not been debated in the literature. We present here the results of petrographic analysis of 17 different Akilia samples, including the actual sample (G91-26) used in the original study. Our finding that none of the apatite crystals in these samples contain graphite inclusions indicates that the Akilia apatite has no bearing on claims pertaining to a past record of life on Earth.
A Two-stage Sparse Optimization Algorithm for Gated Recurrent Units Estimators

Industrial processes are always with sophisticated characteristics in particular highly nonlinear, multivariate coupling, and dynamic time lag. To overcome these dilemmas, a gated recurrent unit (GRU) neural network based on ℓp - regularization is proposed to design effective prediction algorithms for the processes. Firstly, a primordial GRU model is trained from the given data. Secondly, a two-stage regularization algorithm is integrated into the fundamental model to simplify the input gate and the hidden layers of the GRU, respectively, which simultaneously achieves input variable selection and structural optimization. Finally, the performance of the proposed double ℓp-regularized GRU is verified through a practical industrial dataset and compared with other machine learning algorithms. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can extract relevant features and simplify the model structure, therefore improving the prediction accuracy of the model.
Osteogenic Potential of Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells (hDPSCs) Growing on Poly L-Lactide-Co-Caprolactone and Hyaluronic Acid (HYAFF-11TM) Scaffolds

Bone tissue engineering using different scaffolds is a new therapeutic approach in regenerative medicine. This study explored the osteogenic potential of human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) grown on a hydrolytically modified poly(L-lactide-co-caprolactone) (PLCL) electrospun scaffold and a non-woven hyaluronic acid (HYAFF-11™) mesh. The adhesion, immunophenotype, and osteogenic differentiation of hDPSCs seeded on PLCL and HYAFF-11™ scaffolds were analyzed. The results showed that PLCL and HYAFF-11™ scaffolds significantly supported hDPSCs adhesion; however, hDPSCs’ adhesion rate was significantly higher on PLCL than on HYAFF-11™. SEM analysis confirmed good adhesion of hDPSCs on both scaffolds before and after osteogenesis. Alizarin red S staining showed mineral deposits on both scaffolds after hDPSCs osteogenesis. The mRNA levels of runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), collagen type I (Coll-I), osterix (Osx), osteocalcin (Ocn), osteopontin (Opn), bone sialoprotein (Bsp), and dentin sialophosphoprotein (Dspp) gene expression and their proteins were higher in hDPSCs after osteogenic differentiation on both scaffolds compared to undifferentiated hDPSCs on PLCL and HYAFF-11™. These results showed that PLCL scaffolds provide a better environment that supports hDPSCs attachment and osteogenic differentiation than HYAFF-11™. The high mRNA of early osteogenic gene expression and mineral deposits observed after hDPSCs osteogenesis on a PLCL mat indicated its better impact on hDPSCs’ osteogenic potential than that of HYAFF-11™, and hDPSC/PLCL constructs might be considered in the future as an innovative approach to bone defect repair.
Runoff into the Sea of the Yellow River: Characteristics and Its Response to Climate Change

Based on the observed( 1950—2012) runoff data of the Lijin Hydrometric Station in the Yellow River estuary,an analysis was made on the variation characteristics of runoff into the sea including yearly runoff,interdecadal runoff in the past 63 years by using Mann-Kendall rank correlation test method and multiple regression method. Combining annual mean precipitation and annual mean temperature data collected from the Yellow River basin,this paper discussed the response of runoff into the sea to the climate change. Results show that: the annual variability of the runoff is violent,and the distribution of yearly runoff into the sea is extremely uneven,mainly concentrated in the period of July- October. The interannual variation is large,showing obvious phased change characteristics. Runoff shows oscillatory changes over time,the annual runoff coefficient of variation varies from 0. 185 to 0. 481. Overall,the downward trend in runoff is significant. Meteorological factors and runoff correlation analysis show that: there is a significant negative correlation between runoff into the sea and air temperature,while correlation analysis between runoff into the sea and precipitation reflects a significant positive correlation characteristic,and the relationship between temperature and runoff into the sea is more closely.
The Relationship among Re-Entry Shock, Coping Modes, and Psychological Re-Adjustment of Adult Latvian Return Migrants

Research has shown that it is more difficult to emotionally adjust to change when returning home compared to going abroad. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship among re-entry shock, modes of coping, and the indicators of psychological re-adjustment in a group of return migrants – Latvian nationals returning home. Coping modes and demographic indicators predicting re-entry shock were also addressed and the indicators of psychological re-adjustment (depression, anxiety, and stress). The group being studied consisted of 84 adults aged from 20 to 69 years (M = 39.59; SD = 10.37) who took part in an anonymous online survey. Re-entry shock was measured using the 16-item Re-entry shock scale (RSS; Seiter & Waddell, 1989). The coping modes regarding re-entry shock were determined using Re-entry Coping Modes (Adler, 1981), and psychological re-adjustment was measured using a shortened version of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1999, adapted by Vanags & Raščevska in 2015). Return migrants who reported higher re-entry shock also showed higher symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. More difficulties with readjusting after returning to Latvia were reported by younger people, females, those who had lived abroad for a lengthy period, those who had recently returned, and those who had chosen ineffective coping strategies. It was concluded that important predictors for re-entry shock are age, the length of time spent abroad, and coping modes. In turn, important psychological re-adjustment predictors are gender and coping modes.
The Concept of a Substance and Its Linguistic Embodiment

My objective is a better comprehension of two theoretically fundamental concepts. One, the concept of a substance in an ordinary (non-Aristotelian) sense, ranging over such things as salt, carbon, copper, iron, water, and methane—kinds of stuff that now count as (chemical) elements and compounds. The other I will call the object-concept in the abstract sense of Russell, Wittgenstein, and Frege in their logico-semantical enquiries. The material object-concept constitutes the heart of our received logico/ontic system, still massively influenced by Aristotle after almost 2.5 millennia. On such an account, the fundamentality of material objects and their attributes are the metaphysical basis of the cosmos, as reflected in our received logic, Quine’s ‘canonical notation’—derived via the empiricism of Russell from Frege’s function-based Begriffschrifft, and consisting of concrete singular terms and variables, quantifiers and predicate-expressions. The inadequacy of Frege’s approach to understanding concepts is reflected in his initial question. Frege enquires of ‘what it is that we are calling an object’, remarking that he regards a regular definition as impossible: “we have here something too simple to admit of logical analysis”. The imagined ultimacy or simplicity of the idea of a single object (arithmetically, just a unit—one as opposed to two, three, four, etc.) as foundational to the calculus is just that—imagined. It is also guaranteed to block the comprehension of the substance-concept.
Reverse-Time Migration for Microseismic Sources Using the Geometric Mean as an Imaging Condition

Time reversal is a powerful tool used to image directly the location and mechanism of passive seismic sources. This technique assumes seismic velocities in the medium and propagates timereversed observations of ground motion at each receiver location. Assuming an accurate velocity model and adequate array aperture, the waves will focus at the source location. Because we do not know the location and the origin time a priori, we need to scan the entire 4D image (3D in space and 1D in time) to localize the source, which makes time-reversal imaging computationally demanding. We have developed a new approach of time-reversal imaging that reduces the computational cost and the scanning dimensions from 4D to 3D (no time) and increases the spatial resolution of the source image. We first individually extrapolate wavefields at each receiver, and then we crosscorrelate these wavefields (the product in the frequency domain: geometric mean). This crosscorrelation creates another imaging condition, and focusing of the seismic wavefields occurs at the zero time lag of the correlation provided the velocity model is sufficiently accurate. Due to the analogy to the active-shot reverse time migration (RTM), we refer to this technique as the geometric-mean RTM or GmRTM. In addition to reducing the dimension from 4D to 3D compared with conventional time-reversal imaging, the crosscorrelation effectively suppresses the side lobes and yields a spatially high-resolution image of seismic sources. The GmRTM is robust for random and coherent noise because crosscorrelation enhances signal and suppresses noise. An added benefit is that, in contrast to conventional time-reversal imaging, GmRTM has the potential to be used to retrieve velocity information by analyzing time and/or space lags of crosscorrelation, which is similar to what is done in active-source imaging.
A Multifaceted Approach for Evaluating Hepatitis E Virus Infectivity In Vitro: Cell Culture and Innovative Molecular Methods for Integrity Assessment

Simple Summary In Western countries, Hepatitis E virus (HEV) can infect humans when they consume contaminated food. In most cases, the infection resolves on its own with mild symptoms. However, for some individuals, especially those with weakened immune systems, it can lead to severe and long-lasting health problems. Currently, primary detection of the virus RNA in food is performed, but it does not allow for distinguishing between infectious and inactivated viruses. Another approach consists in detecting virus growth in vitro, but it is presently slow and requires specific skills. All these render the assessment of effectively inactivated HEV challenging. In our research, we explored (1) in vitro HEV cultivation methods and (2) alternative molecular methods that can distinguish between intact and damaged viruses. These newly developed methods will help to assess the virus infectivity along the food chain, thereby identifying risk factors and mitigation strategies (e.g., food processing techniques) enhancing food safety. Abstract Hepatitis E virus is a prominent cause of viral hepatitis worldwide. In Western countries, most infections are asymptomatic. However, acute self-limiting hepatitis and chronic cases in immunocompromised individuals can occur. Studying HEV is challenging due to its difficulty to grow in cell culture. Consequently, the detection of the virus mainly relies on RT-qPCR, which cannot differentiate between infectious and non-infectious particles. To overcome this problem, methods assessing viral integrity offer a possible solution to differentiate between intact and damaged viruses. This study aims at optimizing existing HEV cell culture models and RT-qPCR-based assays for selectively detecting intact virions to establish a reliable model for assessing HEV infectivity. In conclusion, these newly developed methods hold promise for enhancing food safety by identifying approaches for inactivating HEV in food processing, thereby increasing food safety measures.