Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adoption of Machine Learning Techniques to Enhance Classification Performance in Reactive Brain-Computer Interfaces

This paper proposes the adoption of an innovative algorithm to enhance the performance of highly wearable, reactive Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), which exploit the Steady-State Visually Evoked Potential (SSVEP) paradigm. In particular, a combined time-domain/frequency-domain processing is performed in order to reduce the number of features of the brain signals acquired. Successively, these features are classified by means of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with a learnable activation function. In this way, the user intention can be translated into commands for external devices. The proposed algorithm was initially tested on a benchmark data set, composed by 35 subjects and 40 simultaneous flickering stimuli, obtaining performance comparable with the state of the art. Successively, the algorithm was also applied to a data set realized with highly wearable BCI equipment. In particular, (i) Augmented Reality (AR) smart glasses were used to generate the flickering stimuli necessary to the SSVEPs elicitation, and (ii) a single-channel EEG acquisition was conducted for each volunteer. The obtained results showed that the proposed strategy provides a significant enhancement in SSVEPs classification with respect to other state-of-the-art algorithms. This can contribute to improve reliability and usability of brain computer interfaces, thus favoring the adoption of this technology also in daily-life applications.
Cellular Chondroitin Sulfate and the Mucin-like Domain of Viral Glycoprotein C Promote Diffusion of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 While Heparan Sulfate Restricts Mobility

The diffusion of viruses at the cell membrane is essential to reach a suitable entry site and initiate subsequent internalization. Although many viruses take advantage of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) to bind to the cell surface, little is known about the dynamics of the virus–GAG interactions. Here, single-particle tracking of the initial interaction of individual herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) virions reveals a heterogeneous diffusive behavior, regulated by cell-surface GAGs with two main diffusion types: confined and normal free. This study reports that different GAGs can have competing influences in mediating diffusion on the cells used here: chondroitin sulfate (CS) enhances free diffusion but hinders virus attachment to cell surfaces, while heparan sulfate (HS) promotes virus confinement and increases entry efficiency. In addition, the role that the viral mucin-like domains (MLD) of the HSV-1 glycoprotein C plays in facilitating the diffusion of the virus and accelerating virus penetration into cells is demonstrated. Together, our results shed new light on the mechanisms of GAG-regulated virus diffusion at the cell surface for optimal internalization. These findings may be extendable to other GAG-binding viruses.
Sources of Nitrogen-, Sulfur-, and Phosphorus-Containing Feedstocks for Prebiotic Chemistry in the Planetary Environment

Biochemistry on Earth makes use of the key elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur (or CHONPS). Chemically accessible molecules containing these key elements would presumably have been necessary for prebiotic chemistry and the origins of life on Earth. For example, feedstock molecules including fixed nitrogen (e.g., ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), accessible forms of phosphorus (e.g., phosphate, phosphite, etc.), and sources of sulfur (e.g., sulfide, sulfite) may have been necessary for the origins of life, given the biochemistry seen in Earth life today. This review describes potential sources of nitrogen-, sulfur-, and phosphorus-containing molecules in the context of planetary environments. For the early Earth, such considerations may be able to aid in the understanding of our own origins. Additionally, as we learn more about potential environments on other planets (for example, with upcoming next-generation telescope observations or new missions to explore other bodies in our Solar System), evaluating potential sources for elements necessary for life (as we know it) can help constrain the potential habitability of these worlds.
Human-Cyber-Physical Ubiquitous Intelligent Communication: System Architecture, Key Technologies, and Challenges

The ternary-integration of human-cyber-physical (HCP) has the potential to enable beneficial applications. Intelligent communication is the key technology to ensure a deep ternary integration. However, existing communication schemes focus on facilitating dual integration and cannot be directly used for ternary integration due to the wider and increased dimensionality of the variability in terms of data type, wireless environment, and task requirement. To this end, we propose a human-cyber-physical ubiquitous intelligent communication system (HCP-UICS) by coupling the cross-modal information pre-processing module, intelligent transmission module, and multi-dimensional evaluation module to form a closed-loop system. This system is promising to cope with multi-dimensional variability throughout the communication process. To further activate the application potential of this system, we analyze and discuss its potential key technologies in terms of cross-modal information pre-processing, intelligent transmission, and multi-dimensional assessment. Specifically, to deal with the various data types, more complex transmission environments, and more diverse task requirements, we analyze the key challenges, provide partial solutions, and discuss insights of the HCP-UICS.
Evidence of Stable Isotope 13C Causing All Cancers

Evidence for a general mechanism of genesis of all cancers is given by presenting a puzzle and using recent results of aspartame and acesulfame-K to fit the pieces of the cancer puzzle together for proof of the mechanism of oncogenesis. Aspartame and acesulfame-K have been linked to cancer. Aspartame is a modified dipeptide (methylated phenylalanine (modified) and aspartic acid), so modified amino acids were thought to be more innocuous. The author previously noted isotopically enriched and/or clumped bond-specific amino acids and oligonucleotides have different biochemical reactions for different biology. Acesulfame-K is not a peptide or oligonucleotide but it has some similar chemical structure to oligonucleoside and reversibly decomposes to affect oligonucleosides and affect cells and bacteria cells like E Coli for producing isotopically enriched amino acids indirectly. E. Coli is present in the human digestive system and is known to accelerate stable isotope enrichment of amino acids with 13C, 15N, and/or 17O. Thereby acesulfame-K and aspartame induce isotopic enrichments and excessive 13C, 15N, and/or 17O introductions into proteins and nucleic acids. Such effects of 13C isotopes as induced by the bacteria and these chemicals like aspartame and acesulfame-K may be coupled to effects of static magnetic field(s) and radio frequency electromagnetic waves for explaining the complexity of results and inconsistent results from separating these effects. Thereby the 13C isotope enriched phenylalanine and/or aspartic acid may be the basis of malfunctioning normal cells for the genesis of cancer. Further support for this theory of 13C causing cancer by ingestion of aspartame is given by also noting the mystery and confounding results of monosodium glutamate causing cancer as the glutamate is synthesized by bacterial culture and the resulting ingested glutamic acid enriched with 13C and 15N and possibly 17O causes adverse biochemistry and enzymatics (relative to glutamate from healthy plants and animals rather than the bacterial industrial glutamate in MSG) for cancer and other diseases as explaining the observation of cancer and other diseases from acute and chronic MSG ingestion over months and years. The third case of bacterial production of insulin during the last 25 years for recent correlation to insulin causing cancer relative to less cancer from older methods of insulin production is more evidence of bacterial production of amino acids and peptides causing enriched heavy isotopes and the resulting enriched amino acids and peptides causing cancer relative to ingestion of 13C enriched carbohydrates.
An Orthogonally-Fed, Active Linear Phased Array of Tapered Slot Antennas

AN ORTHOGONALLY-FED, ACTIVE LINEAR PHASED ARRAY OF TAPERED SLOT ANTENNAS MAY 2008 ANDREW R. MANDEVILLE, B.S.E.E. , VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY M.S.E.C. E. , UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Robert W. Jackson An active, broadband antenna module amenable for use in low cost phased arrays is proposed. The module consists of a Vivaldi antenna integrated with a frequency conversion integrated circuit. A method of orthogonally mounting endfire antennas onto an array motherboard is developed using castellated vias. A castellated active isolated Vivaldi antenna package is designed, fabricated, and measured. An 8x1 phased array of castellated, active Vivaldi antenna packages is designed and assembled. Each element has approximately one octave of bandwidth centered in X-band, and each is mounted onto a coplanar waveguide motherboard. Radiation patterns of the array are measured at several frequencies and scan angles.
Multicultural Education: Components and Necessities

The educational systems of different countries have committed to addressing/respond to the existing racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural variations. Multicultural education is an approach adopted to respond to cultural diversity in society. This paper aims at analyzing the concept of multicultural education and identifies its components and necessities in so doing, the author employed qualitative and content analysis. To collect the required information, all available sources of multicultural education in print and electronic libraries (valid databases) were used and were analyzed using the inductive category. The findings of this research, along with specifying the concept of multicultural education, also showed that attention to multicultural curriculum, in the global and national situations is an inevitable necessity. At the end of the study, the components and needs of multicultural education were identified. In short, acceptance of diversity and plurality, peaceful coexistence respect to educational justice, flexibility in educational programmes, variety in methods, variety in using educational materials, using a variety of evaluation methods, training of human resources, who promote and strengthen the differences, the human tendency to create social trends rather than a specific, positive attitude to different cultures, helping to develop a positive self-concept, to protection of minority languages, strengthening intercultural cross-cultural communication and so on can be ways to ensure multicultural education.
Analysis of Countercyclical Policy Factors in The Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Financial Statement Fraud Detection of Banking Companies in Indonesia

This research is motivated by the application of countercyclical policy, such as credit restructuring, by banking companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The credit restructuring that the banks carried out had the potential to affect their financial performance and increase the tendency of financial statement manipulations. The purpose of this study is to review the significance of the changes in banks’ financial performance before and after the implementation of the credit restructuring, as well as its relationship to the potential for fraudulent financial statements. The population in this study was the financial sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2020, a total of 105 companies. The 96 samples consisted of 32 banking companies in the commercial banking category that have implemented countercyclical policies in the form of credit restructuring during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research method was a quantitative method using secondary data obtained from the official website of the Indonesia Stock Exchange and the official websites of the related companies. The results showed no significant change in the banks’ financial performance. Although the credit restructuring had an impact, such as a decrease in their profits, it did not encourage them to manipulate their financial statements.
Ultra Low Loss and Low Crosstalk MCF with Standard Cladding Diameter

An uncoupled 125-µm-cladding 4-core multicore fiber (MCF) with low attenuation loss of 0.155dB/km is reported. Span loss of 60.2km MCF is reduced to less than 10dB including fan-in and fan-out. Inter core crosstalk of the MCF is less than −60dB/100km.
Discovery of Ircinianin Lactones B and C—Two New Cyclic Sesterterpenes from the Marine Sponge Ircinia wistarii

Two new ircinianin-type sesterterpenoids, ircinianin lactone B and ircinianin lactone C (7 and 8), together with five known entities from the ircinianin compound family (1, 3–6) were isolated from the marine sponge Ircinia wistarii. Ircinianin lactones B and C (7 and 8) represent new ircinianin terpenoids with a modified oxidation pattern. Despite their labile nature, the structures could be established using a combination of spectroscopic data, including HRESIMS and 1D/2D NMR techniques, as well as computational chemistry and quantum-mechanical calculations. In a broad screening approach for biological activity, the class-defining compound ircinianin (1) showed moderate antiprotozoal activity against Plasmodium falciparum (IC50 25.4 μM) and Leishmania donovani (IC50 16.6 μM).
Use of Organic Materials to Limit the Potential Negative Effect of Nitrogen on Maize in Different Soils

This study was launched to test organic materials in the form of humic acids (HA) applied to soil to improve the effect of nitrogen on maize, and to determine an optimal dose of HA, which will be ecologically safe and will counteract potential negative (phytotoxic) influences of excessive nitrogen fertiliser doses, on two soils with different textural composition. The maize plants grown on the loamy sand were characterised by a higher value of the SPAD leaf greenness index, yields, and a lower content of total-N and sulphate sulphur in maize. Urea, and especially UAN, promoted higher SPAD leaf greenness index values during the stem elongation stage and particularly during the tassel emergence stage. The effect of urea on maize yields was positive on both soils, but UAN had a positive effect on this parameter only on the loamy sand. HA tended to increase the SPAD leaf greenness index. The impact of HA on plant height and yields (especially medium dose) was generally positive. However, a negative effect of the interaction of HA with UAN on the plant height and maize yield on the sand was observed. HA caused an increase in the total-N content, and their highest dose also decreased the sulphate sulphur content in maize. The application of HA to soil has a positive influence on the growth and development of plants and can create positive effects by mitigating adverse consequences of intensive agricultural production in the natural environment.
Evaluation of the CMIP6 Performance in Simulating Precipitation in the Amazon River Basin

The Brazilian Amazon provides important hydrological cycle functions, including precipitation regimes that bring water to the people and environment and are critical to moisture recycling and transport, and represents an important variable for climate models to simulate accurately. This paper evaluates the performance of 13 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) models. This is done by discussing results from spatial pattern mapping, Taylor diagram analysis and Taylor skill score, annual climatology comparison, cumulative distribution analysis, and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. Precipitation analysis shows: (1) This region displays higher rainfall in the north-northwest and drier conditions in the south. Models tend to underestimate northern values or overestimate the central to northwest averages. (2) The southern Amazon has a more defined dry season (June, July, and August) and wet season (December, January, and February) and models simulate this well. The northern Amazon dry season tends to occur in August, September, and October and the wet season occurs in March, April, and May, and models are not able to capture the climatology as well. Models tend to produce too much rainfall at the start of the wet season and tend to either over- or under-estimate the dry season, although ensemble means typically display the overall pattern more precisely. (3) Models struggle to capture extreme values of precipitation except when precipitation values are close to 0. (4) EOF analysis shows that models capture the dominant mode of variability, which was the annual cycle or South American Monsoon System. (5) When all evaluation metrics are considered, the models that perform best are CESM2, MIROC6, MRIESM20, SAM0UNICON, and the ensemble mean. This paper supports research in determining the most up-to-date CMIP6 model performance of precipitation regime for 1981–2014 for the Brazilian Amazon. Results will aid in understanding future projections of precipitation for the selected subset of global climate models and allow scientists to construct reliable model ensembles, as precipitation plays a role in many sectors of the economy, including the ecosystem, agriculture, energy, and water security.
Drug-Loaded Polymeric Micelles Based on Smart Biocompatible Graft Copolymers with Potential Applications for the Treatment of Glaucoma

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world. Despite the fact that many treatments are currently available for eye diseases, the key issue that arises is the administration of drugs for long periods of time and the increased risk of inflammation, but also the high cost of eye surgery. Consequently, numerous daily administrations are required, which reduce patient compliance, and even in these conditions, the treatment of eye disease is too ineffective. Micellar polymers are core–shell nanoparticles formed by the self-assembly of block or graft copolymers in selective solvents. In the present study, polymeric micelles (PMs) were obtained by dialysis from smart biocompatible poly(ε-caprolactone)-poly(N-vinylcaprolactam-co-N-vinylpyrrolidone) [PCL-g-P(NVCL-co-NVP)] graft copolymers. Two copolymers with different molar masses were studied, and a good correlation was noted between the micellar sizes and the total degree of polymerisation (DPn) of the copolymers. The micelles formed by Cop A [PCL120-g-P(NVCL507-co-NVP128)], with the lowest total DPn, have a Z-average value of 39 nm, whereas the micellar sizes for Cop B [PCL120-g-P(NVCL1253-co-NVP139)] are around 47 nm. These PMs were further used for the encapsulation of two drugs with applications for the treatment of eye diseases. After the encapsulation of Dorzolamide, a slight increase in micellar sizes was noted, whereas the encapsulation of Indomethacin led to a decrease in these sizes. Using dynamic light scattering, it was proved that both free and drug-loaded PMs are stable for 30 days of storage at 4 °C. Moreover, in vitro biological tests demonstrated that the obtained PMs are both haemo- and cytocompatible and thus can be used for further in vivo tests. The designed micellar system proved its ability to release the encapsulated drugs in vitro, and the results obtained were validated by in vivo tests carried out on experimental animals, which proved its high effectiveness in reducing intraocular pressure.
Radar and multispectral remote sensing data accurately estimate vegetation vertical structure diversity as a fire resilience indicator

The structural complexity of plant communities contributes to maintaining the ecosystem functioning in fire‐prone landscapes and plays a crucial role in driving ecological resilience to fire. The objective of this study was to evaluate the resilience to fire off several plant communities with reference to the temporal evolution of their vertical structural diversity (VSD) estimated from the data fusion of C‐band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter (Sentinel‐1) and multispectral remote sensing reflectance (Sentinel‐2) in a burned landscape of the western Mediterranean Basin. We estimated VSD in the field 1 and 2 years after fire using Shannon's index as a measure of vertical heterogeneity in vegetation structure from the vegetation cover in several strata, both in burned and unburned control plots. Random forest (RF) was used to model VSD in the control (analogous to prefire scenario) and burned plots (1 year after fire) using as predictors (i) Sentinel‐1 VV and VH backscatter coefficients and (ii) surface reflectance of Sentinel‐2 bands. The transferability of the RF model from 1 to 2 years after wildfire was also evaluated. We generated VSD prediction maps across the study site for the prefire scenario and 1 to 4 years postfire. RF models accurately explained VSD in unburned control plots (R2 = 87.68; RMSE = 0.16) and burned plots 1 year after fire (R2 = 80.48; RMSE = 0.13). RF model transferability only involved a reduction in the VSD predictive capacity from 0.13 to 0.20 in terms of RMSE. The VSD of each plant community 4 years after the fire disturbance was significantly lower than in the prefire scenario. Plant communities dominated by resprouter species featured significantly higher VSD recovery values than communities dominated by facultative or obligate seeders. Our results support the applicability of SAR and multispectral data fusion for monitoring VSD as a generalizable resilience indicator in fire‐prone landscapes.
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon-Enabled Wet Chemical Prelithiation and Presodiation for Batteries

The current mainstream energy storage systems are in urgent need of performance improvements to meet novel application requirements. In pursuit of a higher energy density in Li-ion and Na-ion batteries, the conventional electrode materials have reached the upper limit of their theoretical specific capacities. Hence, facile methods of reducing irreversible lithium-ion/sodium-ion loss are developed to further boost the battery energy density. Herein, we review studies that use polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons for wet chemical prelithiation and presodiation. The molecular structures of arenes and solvents used for solution-based prelithiation/presodiation have a substantial impact on the prelithiation/presodiation power and effectiveness. Multiple reports have already shown excellent initial Coulombic efficiency and streamlined processes by using this type of wet chemical prelithiation/presodiation strategy. This review article will cover how to select appropriate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon prelithiation/presodiation reagents for various materials/electrodes and provide possible directions and guidelines for future works.
Experimental Design of a Mobile Landing Platform to Assist Aerial Surveys in Fluvial Environments

Sampling aquatic ecosystems is a laborious and expensive task, especially when covering large areas. This can be improved using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with various remote sensing sensors. However, the UAV performance and autonomy may vary due to external factors when it is operated outdoors. In some cases, an emergency landing maneuver is necessary to avoid an accident, since in fluvial environments, the UAV control landing becomes a difficult operation. Therefore, it is important to have a backup platform on the water to fix this problem. This paper presents the design and development of a custom-built unmanned surface vehicle using open-source tools and with two types of operation—remotely piloted and autonomous—to support remote sensing practices with UAVs in fluvial environments. Finally, part of the software developed within this project was released in an open-source repository.