Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impacts of the Tropical Pacific Cold Tongue Mode on ENSO Diversity Under Global Warming

The causes of ENSO diversity, although being of great interest in recent research, do not have a consistent explanation. This study provides a possible mechanism focused on the background change of the tropical Pacific as a response to global warming. The second empirical orthogonal function mode of the sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the tropical Pacific, namely the cold tongue mode (CTM), represents the background change of the tropical Pacific under global warming. Using composite analysis with surface observations and subsurface ocean assimilation datasets, we find ENSO diversity in its spatial structure appears closely associated with the CTM. A positive CTM tends to cool the SST in the eastern equatorial Pacific and warm the SST outside, as well as widen (narrow) zonal and meridional scales for El Nino (La Nina), and vice versa. Particularly in the positive CTM phase, the air-sea action center of El Nino moves west, resembling the spatial pattern of CP-El Nino. This westward shift of center is resulted from the weakened Bjerknes feedback (BF) intensity by the CTM. By suppressing the SSTA growth of El Nino in the eastern equatorial Pacific, the CTM is responsible for more frequent occurrence of CP-El Nino under global warming.
Kosten eines gesetzeskonformen Schutzes der Biotope von nationaler Bedeutung. Technischer Bericht

Estimating the costs of providing legal conservation for biotopes of national importance The starting point of the present study is the fact that the quality of biotopes in Switzerland that are nationally protected is deteriorating and some are also shrinking in size. There are nearly 6000 biotopes in Switzerland, covering about 2% of the country’s surface area. They belong to five categories: raised bogs, fens, floodplains, dry meadows and pastures, and spawning areas for amphibians. The declining quality and quantity of biotopes may be due to insufficient funding to ensure their protection and maintenance. Nine different cost categories, ranging from contracts with land owners to maintenance and performance reviews, were used to calculate the costs of providing legal biotope conservation. The annual costs were estimated to amount to between148 and 183 million Swiss francs. A further 697 to 1427 million Swiss francs would be needed to restore heavily damaged biotopes. Estimates varied, depending on what measures were assumed to be needed. The estimated annual cost of conserving Swiss biotopes is twice the current expenditure.
Case report: An N-of-1 study using amplitude modulated transcranial alternating current stimulation between Broca's area and the right homotopic area to improve post-stroke aphasia with increased inter-regional synchrony

Over one-third of stroke survivors develop aphasia, and language dysfunction persists for the remainder of their lives. Brain language network changes in patients with aphasia. Recently, it has been reported that phase synchrony within a low beta-band (14–19 Hz) frequency between Broca's area and the homotopic region of the right hemisphere is positively correlated with language function in patients with subacute post-stroke aphasia, suggesting that synchrony is important for language recovery. Here, we employed amplitude-modulated transcranial alternating current stimulation (AM-tACS) to enhance synchrony within the low beta band frequency between Broca's area and the right homotopic area, and to improve language function in a case of chronic post-stroke aphasia. According to an N-of-1 study design, the patient underwent short-term intervention with a one-time intervention of 15 Hz-AM-tACS with Broca's and the right homotopic areas (real condition), sham stimulation (sham condition), and 15 Hz-AM-tACS with Broca's and the left parietal areas (control condition) and long-term intervention with sham and real conditions (10 sessions in total, each). In the short-term intervention, the reaction time and accuracy rate of the naming task improved after real condition, not after sham and control conditions. The synchrony between the stimulated areas evaluated by coherence largely increased after the real condition. In the long-term intervention, naming ability, verbal fluency and overall language function improved, with the increase in the synchrony, and those improvements were sustained for more than a month after real condition. This suggests that AM-tACS on Broca's area and the right homotopic areas may be a promising therapeutic approach for patients with poststroke aphasia.
Contract preferences and psychological determinants of participation in agri‑environment schemes

[Extract] Paying farmers for environmental services is a novel concept in the vast landscapes of northern Australia. These landscapes remain sparingly used and the tropical savannas vegetation has been largely retained (Greiner et al. 2009a). But degradation is occurring, and pressures for agricultural development and intensification are mounting. The opportunity still exists to prevent the scale of environmental decline and species extinctions that has been experienced in other parts of Australia. Could agri-environment schemes be an effective policy instrument to safeguard northern Australia's biodiversity, and, if so, what should an effective agri-environment scheme look like?
Cysteine Is the Only Universally Affected and Disfavored Proteomic Amino Acid under Oxidative Conditions in Animals

Oxidative modifications of amino acid side chains in proteins are a hallmark of oxidative stress, and they are usually regarded as structural damage. However, amino acid oxidation may also have a protective effect and may serve regulatory or structural purposes. Here, we have attempted to characterize the global redox role of the 20 proteinogenic amino acids in animals by analyzing their usage frequency in 5 plausible evolutionary paradigms of increased oxidative burden: (i) peroxisomal proteins versus all proteins, (ii) mitochondrial proteins versus all proteins, (iii) mitochondrially encoded respiratory chain proteins versus all mitochondrial proteins, (iv) proteins from long-lived animals versus those from short-lived animals, and (v) proteins from aerobic, free-living animals versus those from facultatively anaerobic animals. We have found that avoidance of cysteine in the oxidative condition was the most pronounced and significant variation in the majority of comparisons. Beyond this preeminent pattern, only local signals were observed, primarily increases in methionine and glutamine as well as decreases in serine and proline. Hence, certain types of cysteine oxidation appear to enforce its proteome-wide evolutionary avoidance despite its essential role in disulfide bond formation and metal ligation. The susceptibility to oxidation of all other amino acids appears to be generally unproblematic, and sometimes advantageous.
Major Depressive Disorder Prediction Based on Sleep-Wake Disorders Symptoms in US Adolescents: A Machine Learning Approach from National Sleep Research Resource

Background There is substantial evidence from previous studies that abnormalities in sleep parameters associated with depression are demonstrated in almost all stages of sleep architecture. Patients with symptoms of sleep-wake disorders have a much higher risk of developing major depressive disorders (MDD) compared to those without. Objective The aim of the present study is to establish and compare the performance of different machine learning models based on sleep-wake disorder symptoms data and to select the optimal model to interpret the importance of sleep-wake disorder symptoms to predict MDD occurrence in adolescents. Methods We derived data for this work from 2020 to 2021 Assessing Nocturnal Sleep/Wake Effects on Risk of Suicide Phase I Study from National Sleep Research Resource. Using demographic and sleep-wake disorder symptoms data as predictors and the occurrence of MDD measured base on the center for epidemiologic studies depression scale as an outcome, the following six machine learning predictive models were developed: eXtreme Gradient Boosting model (XGBoost), Light Gradient Boosting mode, AdaBoost, Gaussian Naïve Bayes, Complement Naïve Bayes, and multilayer perceptron. The models’ performance was assessed using the AUC and other metrics, and the final model’s predictor importance ranking was explained. Results XGBoost is the optimal predictive model in comprehensive performance with the AUC of 0.804 in the test set. All sleep-wake disorder symptoms were significantly positively correlated with the occurrence of adolescent MDD. The insomnia severity was the most important predictor compared with the other predictors in this study. Conclusion This machine learning predictive model based on sleep-wake disorder symptoms can help to raise the awareness of risk of symptoms between sleep-wake disorders and MDD in adolescents and improve primary care and prevention.
Impact of Subject Specialists on Teaching: Application to Physiology

The study investigated the impact of teachers on the teaching of a physiology course to performing arts students of the University of Ilorin. Questionnaires and personal observations were used to assess students’ perception of the course and performance, the examination results in the two years before and after the takeover of the course by physiology teachers were obtained and analysed. The results showed that the students appreciated the teaching by core physiology teachers than the teaching by performing arts teachers and the initial phobias of the students were significantly doused. The average performance by the students did not change significantly and this further justified the taking over of the course by physiology teachers.
Nonlinear Optimal Control for Stochastic Dynamical Systems

This paper presents a comprehensive framework addressing optimal nonlinear analysis and feedback control synthesis for nonlinear stochastic dynamical systems. The focus lies on establishing connections between stochastic Lyapunov theory and stochastic Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman theory within a unified perspective. We demonstrate that the closed-loop nonlinear system’s asymptotic stability in probability is ensured through a Lyapunov function, identified as the solution to the steady-state form of the stochastic Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation. This dual assurance guarantees both stochastic stability and optimality. Additionally, optimal feedback controllers for affine nonlinear systems are developed using an inverse optimality framework tailored to the stochastic stabilization problem. Furthermore, the paper derives stability margins for optimal and inverse optimal stochastic feedback regulators. Gain, sector, and disk margin guarantees are established for nonlinear stochastic dynamical systems controlled by nonlinear optimal and inverse optimal Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman controllers.
Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators

Biological species can walk, swim, fly, jump, and climb with fast response speeds and motion complexity. These remarkable functions are accomplished by means of soft actuation organisms, which are commonly composed of muscle tissue systems. To achieve the creation of their biomimetic artificial counterparts, various biomimetic stimuli-responsive materials have been synthesized and developed in recent decades. They can respond to various external stimuli in the form of structural or morphological transformations by actively or passively converting input energy into mechanical energy. They are the core element of soft actuators for typical smart devices like soft robots, artificial muscles, intelligent sensors and nanogenerators. Significant progress has been made in the development of bioinspired stimuli-responsive materials. However, these materials have not been comprehensively summarized with specific actuation mechanisms in the literature. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in biomimetic stimuli-responsive materials that are instrumental for soft actuators. Firstly, different stimuli-responsive principles for soft actuators are discussed, including fluidic, electrical, thermal, magnetic, light, and chemical stimuli. We further summarize the state-of-the-art stimuli-responsive materials for soft actuators and explore the advantages and disadvantages of using electroactive polymers, magnetic soft composites, photo-thermal responsive polymers, shape memory alloys and other responsive soft materials. Finally, we provide a critical outlook on the field of stimuli-responsive soft actuators and emphasize the challenges in the process of their implementation to various industries.
THE EVALUATION OF SURGICAL HAND RUBBING COMPLIANCE WITH THE USE OF FLUORESCENT ALCOHOL BASED HAND ANTISEPTIC ULTRAVIOLET LAMP METHOD

Aims: This study aims to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and compliance of the students working in the sterile area of the operating room on the surgical hand preparation procedure using the ultraviolet lamp method. Methods: The study was planned as a cross-sectional research and was carried out at the surgical technology department. This study was conducted with a total of 94 first-and second-year surgical technology students. The data was collected through “the introductory information, hand hygiene, and attitude form”, and photographs were taken under a ultraviolet lamp after a surgical hand preparation procedure using fluorescent alcohol-based hand antiseptic. Compliance with surgical hand rubbing was evaluated based on the duration, technique, and efficiency of this procedure. Results: The study was conducted on a total of 94 first-and second-year surgical technology students. Of the students, 67 (71.3%) were female, 52 (55.3%) were in the first year, and the most preferred surgical hand preparation procedure was surgical hand scrubbing (n=89, 94.7%). Only 19 (20.2%) of the students stated that they fully complied with the surgical hand preparation procedure. The students’ knowledge was moderate, and their attitudes were positive. The median value for students’ surgical hand preparation duration was 1.5 (1.24-2.51) minutes. The median alcohol-based hand antiseptic uncovered area percentage was larger for the left-and right-hand dorsal surfaces than the palmar surface. In both arms, the median percentage of the uncovered area was higher in the proximal than in the distal regions, whereas alcohol-based hand antiseptic intensity was lower in the proximal regions. The duration of surgical hand preparation was negatively correlated with the percentage of the area and positively correlated with the effectiveness of the procedure. Conclusion: Students had a lack of knowledge and practice regarding the surgical hand rubbing/scrubbing procedure. Since the duration of surgical hand preparation was closely related to the technique and effectiveness, prolonging this period may improve the correct execution of this procedure. This is the first study to evaluate the effectiveness of UV lamps in surgical hand preparation procedures, and additional studies are needed.
On Hardware Security and Trust for Chiplet-Based 2.5D and 3D ICs: Challenges and Innovations

The relentless pace of transistor miniaturization has enabled developers to continuously increase chip complexity since the beginning of the information age. However, as transistors get smaller and chips become larger, the cost of manufacturing ICs becomes increasingly prohibitive. As Moore’s Law is coming to an end, industry and academia have been exploring new paradigms to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for performance and functionality while dealing with the constraints of power consumption, area, and yield constraints. In this context, 3DICs are considered the future of the IC industry as they enable designers to fulfill both the “More Moore” and the “More than Moore” paradigm. A key feature of the 3DIC is that it can be manufactured by assembling multiple chiplets. Chiplets are single-purpose dies that must be assembled with other chiplets to form a complete system. Researchers and industry leaders believe that a chiplet market will form and that products with off-the-shelf chiplets will emerge. This scenario offers many economic opportunities. However, it also raises concerns regarding the security and trust (S&T) of chiplet-based designs. Malicious chiplets, Hardware trojans, and chiplet intellectual property theft are threats that must be addressed as the industry moves towards the “chiplet age”. In this survey, we introduce the different types of 3DICs and their production chain. We then define the threats that threaten the different steps of the 3DIC manufacturing process. Finally, we present and discuss the state of the art in hardware S&T techniques for chiplet-based 3DICs.
Good and bad news: Climate science affirmation and cable news coverage

ABSTRACT Despite the consensus that exists in scientific literature on the reality of anthropogenic climate change, the American public still has doubts. Research shows that mass media play a role in how this gap developed and why it persists. We assessed cable news coverage from 2013 to ascertain if and how it covered climate science and compared this to a similar study using coverage from 2007 and 2008. We further compared the percentage of coverage affirming climate change in the scientific community to the percentage of coverage affirming climate change in cable news coverage to see if there is a statistically significant difference between the two groups. For the news data we used a Union of Concerned Scientists dataset on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News. Our results reveal good and bad news regarding cable news coverage of climate science. We found that while the overall level of affirmation was higher in the scientific community than it was in cable news coverage, MSNBC offered the highest number of media segments and all of them affirmed climate science. Fox News featured segments that challenge climate science, but the overall number of Fox News segments discussing climate science declined compared to 2007–2008 data.
Tomographic depth seismic velocity model below the plain of Norcia (Italy) for site effect studies

This work represents a seismic investigation of the Norcia plain (Perugia, central Italy) for the characterization of the shallower structures for site effect studies. In particular, the aim of this analysis is to define the velocity model, down to 500-600 m below the topographic surface, and to identify the shape and depth of any reflective horizon and fault in the investigated area, with particular attention towards locating the boundary between bedrock and sedimentary cover. These features are of primary importance to evaluate the seismic response of the plain of Norcia. The tomographic inversion of the picked events, applied to this data set, allowed us to obtain a detailed depth model of the geological structures in correspondence of the acquired seismic lines.
Evaluating SST Analyses with Independent Ocean Profile Observations

The difficulty in effectively evaluating sea surface temperature (SST) analyses is finding independent observations, since most available observations have been used in the SST analyses. In this study, the ocean profile measurements [from reverse thermometer, CTD, mechanical bathythermograph (MBT), and XBT] above 5-m depth over 1950–2016 from the World Ocean Database (WOD) are used (data labeled pSSTW). The biases of MBT and XBT are corrected based on currently available algorithms. The bias-corrected pSSTW over 1950–2016 and satellite-based SST from the European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) over 1992–2010 are used to evaluate commonly available SST analyses. These SST analyses are the Extended Reconstructed SST (ERSST), versions 5, 4, and 3b, the Met Office Hadley Centre Sea Ice and SST dataset (HadISST), and the Japan Meteorological Administration (JMA) Centennial In Situ Observation-Based Estimates of SST version 2.9. 2 (COBE-SST2). Our comparisons show that the SST from COBE-SST2 is the closest to pSSTW and CCI in most of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans, which may result from its unique bias correction to ship observations. The SST from ERSST version 5 is more consistent with pSSTW than its previous versions over 1950–2016, and is more consistent with CCI than its previous versions over 1992–2010. The better performance of ERSST version 5 over its previous versions is attributed to its improved bias correction applied to ship observations with a baseline of buoy observations, and is seen in most of the Pacific and Atlantic.
Cloud Optical Properties Over West Antarctica From Shortwave Spectroradiometer Measurements During AWARE

A shortwave spectroradiometer was deployed on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program ARM West Antarctic Radiation Experiment (AWARE). This instrument recorded 1‐min averages of downwelling hemispheric spectral irradiance covering the wavelength range 350–2,200 nm with spectral resolution 3 and 10 nm for wavelengths shorter and longer than 1,000 nm, respectively. Using simultaneous micropulse lidar data to identify the thermodynamic phase of stratiform clouds, a radiative transfer algorithm is used to retrieve optical depth and effective droplet (or particle) size for single‐phase liquid water and ice water clouds. The AWARE campaign on the WAIS first sampled typical climatological conditions between 7 December 2015 and 9 January 2016 and then a much warmer air mass with more moisture associated with a surface melt event between 10 and 17 January 2016. Before the melt event most liquid cloud effective droplet radii were consistent with pristine polar maritime clouds (mode radius 13.5 μm) but showed a second local maximum in the distribution (at 8 μm) consistent with colder, moisture‐limited conditions. Most ice clouds sampled occurred before the melt event (mode optical depth 4 and effective particle size 19 μm). During the melt event liquid water cloud optical depth nearly doubled (mode value increasing from 8 to 14). AWARE therefore sampled on the WAIS two cases relevant to climate model simulations: typical current climatological conditions, followed by warmer meteorology possibly consistent with future increasing surface melt scenarios.
Demonstration of 120 Gbit/s 64-QAM Wireless Link Operating in the 300 GHz Band

This paper demonstrates a 120 Gbit/s 64-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (64-QAM) transmission link using all-electronics sub-harmonic mixers for the transmitter and the receiver operating in the 300 GHz band. The wireless signal is propagated through a non-line-of-sight free space link where reflections from 2 mirrors provide a channel length of 3 m over-the-air transmission between the transmitter and the receiver modules. Here, we demonstrate that an accurate correction of different error sources such as channel impairments of the 300 GHz wireless link as well as the combined effects of hardware amplitude and phase impairments can successfully be achieved for the high spectral-efficiency 64-QAM modulation scheme. The measured bit error ratio of the calibrated testbed is under the soft-decision forward error correction (SD-FEC) threshold of $2.7\times 10^{-2}$ up to 120 Gbit/s with 20% overhead giving a net data rate of 100 Gbit/s post-FEC. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest 64-QAM performance achieved using an electronics-based transmitter in the 300 GHz band.
Microfabrication technologies used for creating smart devices for industrial applications

Abstract: The purpose of this chapter is to provide the reader with a general overview of microsystems technology. It introduces the design and process flow in the microfabrication of a device: the materials used in the microfabrication, the essential microfabrication processes and the simulation tools involved in the design towards smart devices.