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Often, various modalities capture distinct aspects of particular mental states or activities. While machine learning algorithms can reliably predict numerous aspects of human cognition and behavior using a single modality, they can benefit from the combination of multiple modalities. This is why hybrid BCIs are gaining popularity. However, it is not always straightforward to combine features from a multimodal dataset. Along with the method for generating the features, one must decide when the modalities should be combined during the classification process. We compare unimodal EEG and eye tracking classification of internally and externally directed attention to multimodal approaches for early, middle, and late fusion in this study. On a binary dataset with a chance level of 0.5, late fusion of the data achieves the highest classification accuracy of 0.609–0.675 (95%-confidence interval). In general, the results indicate that for these modalities, middle or late fusion approaches are better suited than early fusion approaches. Additional validation of the observed trend will require the use of additional datasets, alternative feature generation mechanisms, decision rules, and neural network designs. We conclude with a set of premises that need to be considered when deciding on a multimodal attentional state classification approach.

There has been a growing environmental and economic concern about the final destination of industrial waste. This paper aims to evaluate the effect of incorporating iron ore tailing and steel slag on red ceramic bricks. The procedure for producing the fired bricks includes forming the bricks by compressing them into a mold under a specified pressure, and calcination (950 ºC). In this study, the influence of high substitution (50 %) of clay with IOT and BOF slag are investigated using flexural strength and scanning electron microscope (SEM). To the clay mass different proportions of residues were added, being: 25 % of slag and 25 % of tailing in T25.I25; 50 % slag and 0 % tailing at T50.I0; 0 % slag and 50 % tailing at T0.I50; 35 % slag and 15 % tailing in T35.I15; and, 15 % of slag and 35 % of tailing in T15.I35. Results show that IOT and BOF slag can be used together to produce fired clay brick with high level substitution, however some adjustments are required depending on the final application. This study contributes to the valorization of the waste, contributing to the planning and management of waste based on sustainability principles and aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Die Erde : journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin 152(2), 126-144 (2021). doi:10.12854/erde-2021-533 Published by Gesellschaft für Erdkunde, Berlin

Background: Insufficient reductions in maternal and neonatal deaths and stillbirths in the past decade are a deterrence to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3. The majority of deaths occur during the intrapartum and immediate postnatal period. Overcoming the knowledge-do-gap to ensure implementation of known evidence-based interventions during this period has the potential to avert at least 2.5 million deaths in mothers and their offspring annually. This paper describes a study protocol for implementing and evaluating a multi-faceted health care system intervention to strengthen the implementation of evidence-based interventions and responsive care during this crucial period. Methods: This is a cluster randomised stepped-wedge trial with a nested realist process evaluation across 16 hospitals in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. The ALERT intervention will include four main components: i) end-user participation through narratives of women, families and midwifery providers to ensure co-design of the intervention; ii) competency-based training; iii) quality improvement supported by data from a clinical perinatal e-registry and iv) empowerment and leadership mentoring of maternity unit leaders complemented by district based bi-annual coordination and accountability meetings. The trial's primary outcome is in-facility perinatal (stillbirths and early neonatal) mortality, in which we expect a 25% reduction. A perinatal e-registry will be implemented to monitor the trial. Our nested realist process evaluation will help to understand what works, for whom, and under which conditions. We will apply a gender lens to explore constraints to the provision of evidence-based care by health workers providing maternity services. An economic evaluation will assess the scalability and cost-effectiveness of ALERT intervention. Discussion: There is evidence that each of the ALERT intervention components improves health providers' practices and has modest to moderate effects. We aim to test if the innovative packaging, including addressing specific health systems constraints in these settings, will have a synergistic effect and produce more considerable perinatal mortality reductions. Trial Registration: Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (www.pactr.org): PACTR202006793783148. Registered on 17th June 2020.

We present predictions for the photon energy spectrum in inclusive $B\to X_s\gamma$ decays mediated by the electromagnetic penguin operator $O_7$ to N$^3$LL$'$. We use soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) to resum the singular contributions in the peak region at large photon energy. In the tail region the resummed predictions are matched to fixed order at N$^3$LO, where we include the known fixed-order contributions for $O_7$ up to $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^2)$. We develop a method to suitably parametrize the still unknown $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^3)$ nonsingular corrections in terms of theory nuisance parameters, whose variations provide an estimate of the associated theory uncertainty. In this context, we also study different ways to treat higher-order cross terms in the matching. Another important aspect of our analysis is the short-distance scheme used for the $b$-quark mass $m_b$. We find that in the present context, the 1$S$ mass scheme, which was previously used up to 2-loop order, fails to work at 3-loop order, because the mass scheme enters at a soft scale much smaller than $m_b$ here, for which the 1$S$ scheme was not devised. Using instead the MSR mass scheme with $R\sim 1\,\mathrm{GeV}$, we obtain stable results with good perturbative convergence up to N$^3$LL$'$. Journal of high energy physics 07(7), 214 (2023). doi:10.1007/JHEP07(2023)214 Published by SISSA, [Trieste]

The species Acrocinus longimanus, popularly called harlequin beetle, is one of the most emblematic beetles of Neotropical fauna. In the presente study we report on the first record of Acrocinus longimanus (Linnaeus, 1758) in the city of Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The specimen was registered in November 2018 in the urban zone of Montes Claros in a residential and commercial area. This is the first record of Acrocinus longimanus in the city of Montes Claros, Minas Gerais and represents only the fourth record of the species in the Brazilian Cerrado region. Our study reinforces the occurrence of this species in the Brazilian Cerrado and the use of urban areas by this longhorned beetle.

The control and manipulation of the antiferromagnetic order in insulating magnetic thin films is of paramount importance for advancing the development of possible high-speed, energy-efficient spintronic devices. The field of antiferromagnetic insulatronics has great potential to overcome the limitations of conventional electronic devices due to the inherent advantages of insulating antiferromagnets. These materials exhibit intrinsic frequencies in the THz range, surpassing ferromagnets, and possess the ability to transport information through pure spin currents. Thus, allowing for the mitigation of Joule heating issues commonly encountered in current devices. However, the absence of a net magnetic moment poses a significant challenge for writing the antiferromagnetic order, thereby hindering further exploration of their properties and their practical implementation as active elements. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to investigate and establish mechanisms to control and manipulate the magnetic order in insulating antiferromagnets. Here, we investigate three different mechanisms to manipulate the domain structure in antiferromagnetic NiO and CoO thin films. First, we explore current-induced switching in bilayers of heavy metals and insulating antiferromagnets. Using birefringence imaging, we optically study the current-induced changes in the domain structure. By examining different device and pulse geometries, we identify a heat- and strain-based switching mechanism, thereby resolving previously conflicting switching interpretations based on spin-orbit torque mechanisms. Second, we investigate the influence of the patterning geometry on a device. Although shape anisotropy, as it is established in ferromagnets due to dipolar interactions, is not expected, theoretical studies suggest that analogous effects may occur in antiferromagnets due to magnetoelastic coupling. We use the X-ray magnetic linear dichroism effect in photoemission electron microscopy to reveal a strain-induced antiferromagnetic shape ...

Presentation given to the University of the Highlands and Islands on 5 October 2022. This is an introduction to Open Scholarship principles, providing Open Education and Open Access publishing as two examples of Open practices.