Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic Taping Improves Landing Biomechanics in Young Volleyball Athletes

Poor landing biomechanics such as hip adduction, internal rotation, and knee valgus have been recognized as modifiable risk factors of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Dynamic taping is a newly developed technique with better elasticity and extensibility, which could change the landing biomechanics. The purpose of this study was to identify whether dynamic taping could improve lower limb biomechanics in athletes. Forty-two high school volleyball athletes (21 males and 21 females) participated in the study. Biomechanical properties, including the landing error scoring system (LESS) and anterior–posterior knee laxity, were evaluated before and after the application of dynamic tape while athletes performed the jump-landing task. As a result, we found that dynamic tape significantly reduced the faulty landing strategy by an average of 0.64 errors in all volleyball athletes. The effect induced by dynamic tape was more prominent in female athletes and high-risk athletes (1.1 errors). Furthermore, the application of dynamic tape improved anterior–posterior knee laxity, especially in female athletes (p < 0.001). In conclusion, we found that dynamic tape provided a short-term, passive, and clinically significant means to normalize inadequate biomechanics during landing in athlete groups, which could have a protective effect and further alleviate the risk of ACL injury.
A Metamaterial Inspired AMC Backed Dual Band Antenna for ISM and RFID Applications

This work presents the design and fabrication of a metamaterial-based stimulated dual band antenna on FR4 material (dielectric constant 4.3) to operate in Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) and Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) applications. The antenna model had an overall dimension of 70 × 31 × 1.6 mm3 with etched T-slots and L-slots for dual band resonance. The main objective of this work was to enhance the gain performance characteristic at the selected dual band frequencies of 0.915 GHz and 2.45 GHz. Initially, it achieved a narrow bandwidth of 0.018 GHz with a gain of 1.53 dBi at a lower frequency, and 0.13 GHz of bandwidth featuring 4.49 dBi of gain at a higher frequency. The antenna provided an impedance bandwidth of 2% (0.905–0.923 GHz) and 5% (2.382–2.516 GHz) at two resonating frequencies. The antenna was integrated with a designed novel AMC structure to enhance the gain in CST Microwave Studio software with the finite integration method. The characteristic features of the AMC unit cell were observed at 0.915 GHz and 2.45 GHz frequencies and after antenna integration, the final prototype achieved a gain of 2.87 dBi at 0.915 GHz and 6.8 dBi at 2.45 GHz frequencies.
MHD simulations of ram pressure stripping of a disc galaxy

The removal of the interstellar medium (ISM) of disk galaxies through ram pressure stripping (RPS) has been extensively studied in numerous simulations. Nevertheless, the role of magnetic fields (MF) on the gas dynamics in this process has been hardly studied, although the MF influence on the large-scale disk structure is well established. With this in mind, we present a 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of face-on RPS of a disk galaxy to study the impact of the galactic MF in the gas stripping. The main effect of including a galactic MF is a flared disk. When the intracluster medium (ICM) wind hits this flared disk, oblique shocks are produced at the interaction interface, where the ISM is compressed, generating a gas inflow from large radii towards the central regions of the galaxy. This inflow is observed for $\sim 150$ Myr and may supply the central parts of the galaxy with material for star formation while the outskirts of the disk are being stripped of gas, thus the oblique shocks can induce and enhance the star formation in the remaining disk. We also observed that the MF alters the shape and structure of the swept gas, giving a smooth appearance in the magnetized case and clumpier and filamentary-like morphology in the hydro case. Finally, we estimated the truncation radius expected for our models using the Gunn-Gott criterion and found that is in agreement with the simulations.
EXISTENCE OF STRONG SOLUTIONS FOR NEURONAL NETWORK DYNAMICS DRIVEN BY FRACTIONAL BROWNIAN MOTIONS

We study the existence of strong solutions for a class of stochastic differential equations in an infinite dimensional space. Our investigation is specially motivated by the stochastic version of a common model of potential spread in a dendritic tree. We do not assume the noise in the junction points to be Markovian. In fact, we allow for long-range dependence in time of the stochastic perturbation. This leads to an abstract formulation in terms of a stochastic diffusion with dynamic boundary conditions, featuring fractional Brownian motion. We prove results on existence, uniqueness and asymptotics of weak and strong solutions to such a stochastic differential equation.
Nondestructive prediction of fire performance in fire retardant-treated wood using x-ray computed tomography

The fire performance of fire retardant-treated wood can be evaluated based on how much of the chemical retardant is used. Therefore, methods for identifying chemical content in wood are needed. Stereo images of wood samples before and after the fire retardant treatment were captured using micro-focus X-ray computed tomography. Image brightness values, indicating concentration, were calculated using binarized images sliced from the X-ray images. Changes in integrated brightness values before and after treatment showed a strong positive correlation with chemical content at a 1% significance level. The chemical content of the retardant-treated wood was predicted based on the relationship between the two. The predicted values were in agreement with the values measured using the leaching method. Fire performance tests of the fire retardant-treated wood were conducted using a cone calorimeter. The treated wood was classified as fire-retardant and non-combustible wood. In addition, the fire performance predicted by the relationship between changes in integrated brightness values and chemical content agreed with the classification by the fire performance test. These findings suggest that X-ray computed tomography can be potentially used to predict the chemical content of fire retardant-treated wood.
The FeH Wing-Ford Band in Spectra of M Stars

We study the FeH Wing-Ford band at 9850-10200 Å by fitting synthetic spectra to the observations of M stars, employing recent model atmospheres. On the basis of the spectral synthesis, we analyze the dependence of the band upon atmospheric parameters. FeH lines are a very sensitive surface gravity indicator, being stronger in dwarfs. They are also sensitive to metallicity. The blending with CN lines, which are stronger in giants, does not affect the response of the Wing-Ford band to surface gravity at low resolution (or high velocity dispersions), because CN lines, which are spread all along the spectrum, are smeared out at convolutions of FWHM ≳ 3 Å. We conclude that the Wing-Ford band is a suitable dwarf/giant indicator for the study of composite stellar populations.
Mechanisms Underlying the Virulence Regulation of Vibrio alginolyticus ND-01 pstS and pstB with a Transcriptomic Analysis

Vibrio alginolyticus is a common opportunistic pathogen of fish, shrimp, and shellfish, and many diseases it causes can result in severe economic losses in the aquaculture industry. Causing host disease was confirmed by several virulence factors of V. alginolyticus. To date, there have been no reports on the effect of the pstS gene on its virulence regulation of V. alginolyticus. The virulence mechanism of target genes regulating V. alginolyticus is worthy of further study. Previous studies found that Fructus schisandrae (30 mg/mL) inhibited the growth of V. alginolyticus ND-01 (OD600 = 0.5) for 4 h, while the expressions of pstS and pstB were significantly affected by F. schisandrae stress. So, we speculated that pstS and pstB might be the virulence genes of V. alginolyticus, which were stably silenced by RNAi to construct the silencing strains pstS-RNAi and pstB-RNAi, respectively. After the expression of pstS or pstB gene was inhibited, the adhesion capacity and biofilm formation of V. alginolyticus were significantly down-regulated. The chemotaxis and biofilm formation ability of pstS-RNAi was reduced by 33.33% and 68.13% compared with the wild-type strain, respectively. Sequence alignment and homology analysis showed that pstS was highly conserved, which suggested that pstS played a vital role in the secretion system of V. alginolyticus. The pstS-RNAi with the highest silencing efficiency was selected for transcriptome sequencing. The Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) and GO terms were mapped to the reference genome of V. alginolyticus, including 1055 up-regulated genes and 1134 down-regulated genes. The functions of the DEGs were analyzed by GO and categorized into different enriched functional groups, such as ribosome synthesis, organelles, biosynthesis, pathogenesis, and secretion. These DEGs were then mapped to the reference KEGG pathways of V. alginolyticus and enriched in commonalities in the metabolic, ribosomal, and bacterial secretion pathways. Therefore, pstS and pstB could regulate the bacterial virulence of V. alginolyticus by affecting its adhesion, biofilm formation ability, and motility. Understanding the relationship between the expressions of pstS and pstB with bacterial virulence could provide new perspectives to prevent bacterial diseases.
Appealing to Individual Fears or Social Norms: How Can the Public Be Persuaded to Accept COVID-19 Vaccination through Risk Communication?

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, improving the public’s understanding of the increased efficacy and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines through scientific risk communication campaigns, promoting the public’s acceptance and willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines, and forming collective actions at the social level will deeply impact on the effect of COVID-19 prevention in various countries, which is also a key factor that governments need to address urgently. Previous research on risk communication has mostly focused on microscopic perspectives of how to stimulate individual self-protection behaviors by awakening threat and efficacy perceptions; however, a lack of observation of social collective actions means there is a risk of failure regarding COVID-19 epidemic reduction and prevention. In this regard, this study was based on the issue of vaccination in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic through a highly regulated and controlled research experiment in China (n = 165), which was designed to examine the impact of two risk communication frameworks, appealing to individual fears and appealing to social norms, on the public’s acceptance and recommendations of COVID-19 vaccines, thus outlining the path of action from individual protection to collective epidemic prevention. Both the “fear appeals” framework and the “social norms” framework were found to have a positive effect on the Chinese public’s vaccination acceptance. Specifically, social norms information may increase vaccination acceptance by enhancing the public’s perceptions of social responsibility, while fear appeals information may reduce their perceptions of threat and social pressure to get the vaccine. Female and highly educated groups were more likely to refuse to recommend vaccination after reading the risk communication information. These results can be a useful supplement to the theory and practice of risk communication.
Individuals with Sickle Cell Disease Using SBAR as a Communication Tool: A Pilot Study

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a hemoglobinopathy that causes debilitating pain. Patients often report dissatisfaction during care seeking for pain or a sickle cell crisis (SCC). The Theory of Self-Care Management for SCD conceptualizes assertive communication as a self-care management resource that improves healthcare outcomes. Objectives: This pilot study aimed to determine whether adults with SCD could learn to use the Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation (SBAR) communication method using a web-based trainer, and it aimed to determine their perceptions of the training. Methods: The participants included n = 18 adults with SCD. Inter-rater reliability (IRR) among three reviewers was used to evaluate the participants’ ability to respond as expected to prompts using SBAR communication within the web-based platform. Content analysis was used to describe the participants’ perspectives of the acceptability of using the SBAR patient–HCP communication simulation. Results: The SBAR IRR ranged from 64 to 94%, with 72% to 94% of the responses being evaluated as the using of the SBAR component as expected. The predominant themes identified were (1) Patient–Provider Communication and Interaction; (2) Patients want to be Heard and Believed; (3) Accuracy of the ED Experience and Incorporating the Uniqueness of each Patient; and (4) the Overall Usefulness of the Video Trainer emerging. Conclusions: This pilot study supported the usefulness and acceptability of a web-based intervention in training adults with SCD to use SBAR to enhance patient–HCP communication. Enhancing communication may mitigate the barriers that individuals with SCD encounter during care seeking and improve the outcomes. Additional studies with larger samples need to be conducted.
Nonstationary time-frequency analysis for machine condition monitoring

In this paper, three main time-frequency/time-scale (TF/TS) analysis algorithms: windowed Fourier transform (WFT); Wigner-Ville distribution (WFD); and wavelet analysis (WA), have been studied and implemented. The authors compare these algorithms using an identical set of synthetic signals, from which one can realize their individual features. To justify the effectiveness and to highlight the importance of using TF/TS analysis, two experimental case studies have been conducted and investigated. One is the vibratory analysis of a robot motor with gear transmission noise and the other is the investigation of nonstationary phenomena of a rotor dynamics system with both an electromechanical clutch and brake.
Numerical methods in economics

To harness the full power of computer technology, economists need to use a broad range of mathematical techniques. In this book, Kenneth Judd presents techniques from the numerical analysis and applied mathematics literatures and shows how to use them in economic analyses. The book is divided into five parts. Part I provides a general introduction. Part II presents basics from numerical analysis on R^n, including linear equations, iterative methods, optimization, nonlinear equations, approximation methods, numerical integration and differentiation, and Monte Carlo methods. Part III covers methods for dynamic problems, including finite difference methods, projection methods, and numerical dynamic programming. Part IV covers perturbation and asymptotic solution methods. Finally, Part V covers applications to dynamic equilibrium analysis, including solution methods for perfect foresight models and rational expectation models. A web site contains supplementary material including programs and answers to exercises.
Impact of Soil Fertilized with Biomass Ash on Depth-Related Variability of Culturable Bacterial Diversity and Selected Physicochemical Parameters in Spring Barley Cultivation

This study investigated the effect of different doses of fertilization with biomass combustion ash (Salix viminalis L. willow) on changes in the biological, chemical, and physical properties of soil. The experiment was carried out on podzolic and chernozem soils in a one-way field experiment (fertilization dose: control (without fertilization), NPK (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)), 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 kg K2O ha−1). The biomass ash was characterized by a pH value of 12.83 ± 0.68 and a high content of macronutrients. The samples were collected from 0–5, 10–15, and 20–25 cm soil layers under the cultivation of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L) cv. Planet in April and August 2021. Mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was used for microbiological analyses, which revealed the presence of 53 culturable species from 11 genera: Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Paenibacillus, Lysinibacillus, Pseudarthrobacter, Arthrobacter, Staphylococcus, Paenarthrobacter, Micrococcus, Rhodococcus, and Flavobacterium. The podzolic and chernozem soils exhibited the presence of 28 and 44 culturable species, respectively. The study showed an increase in the number of microorganisms in the top layer of the soil profile. However, the number of bacteria decreased at the depths of 10–15 cm and 20–25 cm. With depth, the bulk density (BD) and moisture increased.
Ideal engine durations for gamma-ray-burst-jet launch

Aiming to study GRB engine duration, we present numerical simulations to investigate collapsar jets. We consider typical explosion energy ($10^{52}$ erg) but different engine durations, in the widest domain to date from 0.1 to 100 s. We employ an AMR 2D hydrodynamical code. Our results show that engine duration strongly influences jet nature. We show that the efficiency of launching and collimating relativistic outflow increases with engine duration, until the intermediate engine range where it is the highest, past this point to long engine range, the trend is slightly reversed; we call this point where acceleration and collimation are the highest "sweet spot" ($\sim$10 -- 30 s). Moreover, jet energy flux shows that variability is also high in this duration domain. We argue that not all engine durations can produce the collimated, relativistic and variable long GRB-jets. Considering a typical progenitor and engine energy, we conclude that the ideal engine duration to reproduce a long GRB is $\sim$10 -- 30 s, where the launch of relativistic, collimated and variable jets is favored. We note that this duration domain makes a good link with Lazzati et al. (2013), which suggested that the bulk of BATSE's long GRBs is powered by $\sim$10 -- 20 s collapsar engines.
A systematic literature review on technology in online doctoral education

ABSTRACT Alongside the growing demand for doctoral degrees, there has been an increasing number of online doctoral programmes and online doctoral students enrolled across the globe. While the importance of mediating roles that communication technology plays in online doctoral education has been extensively documented, a comprehensive account of how and for what purpose online doctoral students use different technological tools has been lacking in the literature. To address the gap, the present authors have conducted a systematic literature review on doctoral students’ use of technology in distance programmes. The review results suggest that the range of technology used by online doctoral students is limited – asynchronous and synchronous communication technology for discussing and community building being predominantly top. Arguably more advanced technology was rarely discussed in the reviewed literature. How online doctoral students learn and use other information technology to support their research activities was largely unknown. Based on the results, the directions of future research efforts have been suggested.
On the MAC layer Optimal Power Allocation in NOMA Uplink Networks

R´esum´e – Dans cet article, nous proposons des nouvelles expressions analytiques de la capacit´e effective (EC) des utilisateurs NOMA. Ensuite, l’analyse asymptotique des performances de NOMA et de OMA montre que le NOMA n´ecessite une bonne allocation de puissance pour ˆetre meilleur que le OMA dans les RSB (rapport signal-sur-bruit) faibles et moyens pour l’utilisateur faible U 1 , et dans les RSB ´elev´es pour l’utilisateur fort U 2 . Nous proposons une politique d’allocation de puissance aux RSB extrˆemes pour optimiser le NOMA, mais cela se fait au d´etriment de la r´eduction du d´elai dans les RSB ´elev´es. Abstract – In this paper, we propose new analytical expressions for the effective capacity (EC) of NOMA users. Then, the asymptotic performance analysis of NOMA and OMA shows that NOMA requires good power allocation to be better than OMA in low and medium SNRs (signal-to-noise ratio) for the weak user U 1 , and in high SNRs for the strong user U 2 . We propose a power allocation policy at extreme SNRs to optimize NOMA, but this comes at the expense of delay reduction in high SNRs.
Sustainable Tourism Research Progress: A Bibliometric Analysis

In recent years, scientific research on sustainable tourism has attracted wide attention, which has fueled the concomitant need to comprehend the current state of research in sustainable tourism. In order to identify the research status of sustainable tourism and explore the direction for future research, this paper presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 2,184 academic literature related to sustainable tourism. By using five bibliometric methods of citation analysis, co-analysis, co-occurrence analysis, burst detection analysis and timeline view analysis, this paper reviews and analyzes the study of sustainable tourism from three perspectives of performance analysis, collaboration networks analysis and keywords analysis. The popular issues in the current study, future research and limitations are also discussed in this paper. By systematically reviewing the academic literature on sustainable tourism, this paper deepens the understanding of relevant topics, and provides a reference for scholars to carry out research on sustainable tourism in the future.
Unconventional superconductivity induced in Nb films by adsorbed chiral molecules

Motivated by recent observations of chiral-induced magnetization and spin-selective transport we studied the effect of chiral molecules on conventional BCS superconductors. By applying scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the singlet-pairing s-wave order parameter of Nb is significantly altered upon adsorption of chiral polyalanine alpha-helix molecules on its surface. The tunneling spectra exhibit zero-bias conductance peaks embedded inside gaps or gap-like features, suggesting the emergence of unconventional triplet-pairing components with either d-wave or p-wave symmetry at the Nb organic–molecules interface, as corroborated by simulations. These results may open a way for realizing simple superconducting spintronics devices.
How bright should a virtual object be to appear opaque in optical see-through AR?

Reproduction of occlusions and opaque surfaces are the major challenges of additive optical see-through (OST) displays. This is because the user of an OST display sees a linear mixture of display and environment light, which creates an impression of transparency unless the displayed color is sufficiently bright. The primary goal of this work is to determine how bright a displayed surface needs to be in relation to environment light to be perceived as opaque. We test multiple factors that could affect the perception of opacity: background luminance, contrast, spatial frequency, and accommodation depth in foveal vision. The subjective results, collected on a high-dynamic-range multi-focal stereo display, indicate that a virtual object needs to be, on average, 60 times brighter than the background environment light to be perceived as opaque. A higher contrast of the texture of the virtual object and a background that is out of focus can reduce the required luminance ratio. We demonstrate that a model of visual perception based on Weber’s law and accounting for contrast masking and defocus blur can predict the experimental data with an averaged prediction error of 8.29%. Existing perceptual image difference metrics (PSNR, FovVideoVDP and HDR-VDP-3) can also predict the effect of major factors, but with lower accuracy (e.g. prediction error of 34% for PSNR with PU21 encoding).