Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Delay-range-dependent robust BIBO stabilization of 2D discrete delayed systems via LMI approach

Abstract This paper focuses on delay-dependent bounded input bounded output (BIBO) stabilization of a class of two-dimensional (2D) discrete delayed systems described by Fornasini and Marchesini (FM) state-space models. The main contribution is to propose a linear matrix inequality (LMI) method to construct sufficient conditions on delay-range-dependent 2D BIBO stability, where the stability criterion guarantees that bounded input can lead to bounded output though the time delay has a direct effect on the system stability. To solve the problem, a novel relevant concept of 2D BIBO stability is first introduced. Then, the condition is formulated in terms of LMIS through the Lyapunov–Krasovskii function. Subsequently, the existence condition can be extended to the uncertain case. Meanwhile, the relation between BIBO stability and asymptotical stability is expatiated. The generality of the proposed design method is shown by results through constant delay case. Finally, an illustrative example of a causal 2D system is selected to demonstrate the effectiveness and merits of the proposed method.
Automatic Building Extraction based on Boundary Detection Network in Satellite Images

Extracting geographic information of buildings from remote sensing imagery has been an important task for many applications. Combined with deep learning techniques, pixel-wise semantic segmentation has reached high recognition accuracy. In practical applications, however, the structure and shape of the buildings vary and have low contrast between surroundings, which make the automatic extraction of the building challenging. To extract boundaries more accurately, we introduce an end-to-end boundary extraction network called multi-scale boundary detection network (MBDNet), which aims to improve building extraction by boundary awareness. We combine a multi-level neural network structure with the boundary detector to optimize the boundary information extraction ability. To strengthen the consistency between the different features and realize the joint extraction of semantic and boundary information, we design two loss functions for MBDNet. Experiments show that the proposed method is effective in building extraction and outperforms several peer methods on the dataset of CrowdAI Mapping Challenge.
Modelling of Streamer Propagation Velocity in Ester Group Insulating Oil by Considering Electron Velocity Saturation

Ester group insulating oil is an environmentally friendly dielectric liquid. Its physical, chemical and electrical properties can meet the requeirements of transformer oil. In order to understanding the formation and development mechanism of streamers in ester group insulating oil, the simulation analysis of streamer discharge is an essential research method. However, a major drawback of the existing positive streamer photocharge drift models is the overestimation of electron velocities. In this paper, we use a nonlinear electric field-dependent electron velocity model that more accurately describes streamer velocity. The results show that under the voltage amplitudes of 50kV, 70kV and 90kV, the average propagation velocities of streamers are 2.08km/s, 3.2km/s and 4.53km/s, respectively, which are consistent with experimental findings in the literature.
Inception and Breakdown Voltage of Selected Dielectric Liquids under Insulated Electrodes Configuration

This article presents the results of the studies concerning initiation and breakdown in biodegradable dielectric liquids and two types of mineral oils under the lightning impulse voltage of negative polarity. The electrode system, in which a high voltage electrode as well as a grounded one were insulated with solid insulation, are adopted for the present study. Within the analysis made, the inception voltage and breakdown voltage as well as time to breakdown and intensity of light emitted by developing discharges are compared. The results show that under present experimental conditions (insulated electrodes and negative lightning impulse voltage), the behaviour of ester liquids is inferior. Both the inception voltage as well as the lightning impulse breakdown voltage are lower in the case of esters as compared to the mineral oils.
Meta-Heuristic Algorithms for the Generalized Extensible Bin Packing Problem With Overload Cost

In this paper, we consider a generalized extensible bin packing problem with overload cost, first proposed by Denton et al. in 2010, in which the total size of items packed into a bin is allowed to exceed its capacity, and the cost incurred each bin is equal to the fixed cost plus the overload cost, the objective is to minimize the total cost of all bins. According to the characteristics of the problem, we first propose an improved ant colony optimization algorithm (IACO), which enhances the positive feedback effect of ACO by improving the update method of pheromone and the adaptive adjustment parameters. We also introduce a variable neighborhood search method in ACO to improve the convergence of the algorithm and get rid of the phenomenon of local extrema. Then, we present a discrete particle swarm optimization algorithm (DPSO) to solve the problem. In order to ensure the uniform distribution and high quality of the initial particle swarm, we use some heuristic methods in the initialization process of the swarm, so that the initial particle can cover the entire search space with a large probability, which effectively improves the performance of DPSO algorithm. Finally, we compare and analyze the performance of these proposed algorithms through two sets of computational experimental frameworks. Compared with some algorithms in the literature, computational results signify that the improved ACO algorithm and MDPSO algorithm are more competitive than some other metaheuristic algorithms.
Simulation-Compatible Capacitive Coupler Modeling and Analysis for Wireless Power Transfer Applications

This study examines and compares several electrical models of capacitive-couplers (CC), which are a fundamental unit in capacitive power transfer (CPT) systems, responsible for the power transfer between the transmitter and the receiver. The applicability and implementation of the models under study in static and dynamic simulation analyses are presented and discussed in detail. The study further explores a series (Thevenin) model of CC, which consists of a dependent voltage source in series with a capacitor, on both receiver and transmitter sides, and shows its advantages over other models in simplifying system analysis and dynamic simulations. The model has been verified by FEA simulations and by experiments. The experimental results are in a good agreement with the theoretical analysis and the simulations.
Multifrequency Liver Shear Wave Absolute Vibro-Elastography with an xMATRIX Array - 2D vs. 3D Comparison Study

Shear wave absolute vibro-elastography (S-WAVE) is a quantitative technique that can provide volumetric hepatic stiffness measurements to aid the diagnosis and monitoring of chronic liver diseases. In our previous studies, we have shown that xMATRIX based 3D S-WAVE imaging system can generate large field of view shear wave phasors, and the volumetric reconstruction results are comparable to Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE). In recent literature, 2D vibro-elastography techniques are still the current state-of-the-art, and no study has compared inherent performance differences between the 2D and 3D approaches in a controlled setting. In this study, we address this gap in the literature. With an updated S-WAVE imaging setup, a set of four liver tissue phantoms and five healthy subjects were imaged. 3D MRE was used as the reference method for a cross-comparison study. Our results show that the 2D reconstruction with S-WAVE phasor data showed a consistent overestimation pattern in both the phantom and in vivo dataset, resulting in a lower agreement to the MRE results when compared to the 3D reconstruction in a similar setting.
Automatic Scoring of COVID-19 LUS Videos Using Cross-correlation-Based Features Aggregated from Frame-Level Confidence Levels Obtained by a Pre-trained Deep Neural Network

The emergence of COVID-19 has encouraged researchers to seek a method to detect and monitor patients infected with SARS-CoV 2. The use of lung ultrasound (LUS) in this setting is rapidly spreading because of its portability, cost-effectiveness, real-time imaging, and safety. LUS has demonstrated the potential to be widely used to assess the condition of the lungs in COVID-19 patients. Given frame-level labels provided by a pre-trained deep neural network (DNN), our goal is to identify an aggregation strategy that allows to move from frame-level to video-level, which is the output required by physicians for clinical evaluation. To achieve this goal, we propose a novel aggregation method based on the cross-correlation coefficients. The logic behind this idea is that, based on the similarity between the score's variables (at frame level), the cross-correlation should be informative as to how to discriminate at video level. We applied our approach to the LUS data from a multi-center study comprising of 283, 231, and 448 LUS videos from Lodi General, Gemelli, and San Matteo Hospital, respectively. Results show that the video-level agreement with clinical experts is obtained in 87.6% of the cases, which represents a promising video-level accuracy.
Thermal plasma modelling

Electrical arcs and, more generally thermal plasmas, are widely used in many applications and the understanding or the improvement of the corresponding processes or systems, often requires precise modelling of the plasma. We present, here, a double approach to thermal plasma modelling, which combines the scientific procedure with an engineering point of view. First, we present the fundamental properties of thermal plasmas that are required in the models, followed by the basic equations and structures of the models. The third part is devoted to test cases, and its objectives are the study of some basic phenomena to show their influence on arc behaviour in simple configurations, and the validation of the models: we point out the roles of radiation, thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity for a stationary or transient wall-stabilized arc and we validate a three-dimensional model for a free-burning arc. Sections 4–6 deal with several industrial configurations and the model is useful in each case for studying important phenomena or processes in greater detail. For transferred arcs, such as those used in metallurgy, the energy transfer from the arc to the anode, and the presence of metallic vapour and pumping gas are essential. For a non-transferred plasma torch used for plasma spraying, we illustrate the relevance of a three-dimensional model and we present the interaction of the plasma with powders. Problems related to high- and low-voltage circuit-breakers are then presented, and various typical mechanisms are modelled. Finally, several non-equilibrium models useful for quasi-thermal conditions are presented in detail, showing how they take into account the chemical kinetics and two-temperature plasmas occurring under particular conditions, such as decaying arcs or inductively coupled plasmas.
Native English speakers and Arabic pharyngealization contrasts: Perceptual and acoustic data

Arabic contrasts nonpharyngealized (e.g., /t/) and pharyngealized (e.g., /T/, with a secondary pharyngeal articulation) consonants. These contrasts are manifested acoustically by native Arabic speakers primarily via manipulation of F2 onset and steady‐state values for adjacent vowels (vowels adjacent to pharyngealized consonants have lower F2 values than those adjacent to nonpharyngealized consonants). Additionally, consonant duration, following vowel onset and steady‐state F1 and F3 values, and burst duration have also been reported in the literature as relevant cues. Because vowels adjacent to pharyngealized consonants tend to have lower F2 values, native English listeners may be able to exploit their sensitivity to English front‐back vowel contrasts to detect Arabic pharyngealization contrasts. For example, the vowel in /ta:/ may be perceived by English listeners as closer to English /ae/ and the vowel in /Ta:/ may be perceived as closer to English /a/. We report the results of discrimination and vowel identification experiments in native English listeners’ ability to discriminate pharyngealization contrasts. These experiments examine the contributions of several acoustic cues, in particular those relevant to English vowel contrasts. We also report intertalker/dialect differences among Arabic speakers in the manipulation of acoustic cues to pharyngealization contrasts.
Clean two‐ and three‐dimensional analytical solutions of Richards' equation for testing numerical solvers

This technical note derives clean analytical solutions of Richards' equation for three‐dimensional unsaturated groundwater flow. Clean means that the boundary conditions and steady state solutions are closed form expressions and the transient solutions have relatively simple additional Fourier series terms. Two‐dimensional versions of these solutions are also given. The primary purpose for the solutions is to test linear and nonlinear solvers in finite difference/volume/element computer programs for accuracy and scalability using architectures ranging from PCs to parallel high‐performance computers. This derivation starts from the quasi‐linear assumption of relative hydraulic conductivity varying exponentially with pressure head and the separate approximation that relative hydraulic conductivity varies linearly with moisture content. This allows a transformation to be used to create a linear partial differential equation. Separation of variables and Fourier series are then used to obtain the final solution. Physically reasonable material properties are also used. A total of four solutions are given in this technical note (steady state and transient solutions for two different boundary conditions of the sample problem).
Predicting Growth of Individual Trees Directly and Indirectly Using 20-Year Bitemporal Airborne Laser Scanning Point Cloud Data

Reviewing forest carbon sinks is of the utmost importance in efforts to control climate change. This study focuses on reporting the 20-year boreal forest growth values acquired with airborne laser scanning (ALS). The growth was examined on the Kalkkinen research site in southern Finland as a continuation of several earlier growth studies performed in the same area. The data for the study were gathered with three totally different airborne laser scanning systems, namely using Toposys-I Falcon in June 2000 and Riegl VUX-1HA and miniVUX-3UAV in June 2021 with approximate point densities of 11, 1360, and 460 points/m2, respectively. The ALS point cloud was preprocessed to identify individual trees, from each of which different features were extracted either for direct or indirect growth measurement. In the direct method, the growth value is predicted based on differences of features, whereas in the indirect method, the growth value is obtained by subtracting the results of two independent predictions of different years. The growth in individual tree attributes, such as growth in height, diameter at breast height (DBH), and stem volume, were calculated for direct estimation. Field reference campaigns were performed in the summer of 2001 and in November 2021 to validate the obtained growth values. The study showed that long-term series growth of height, DBH, and stem volume are possible to record with a high-to-moderate coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.90, 0.48, and 0.45 in the best-case scenarios. The respective root-mean-squared errors (RMSE) values were 0.98 m, 0.02 m, and 0.17 m3, and the biases were −0.06 m, 0.00 m, and 0.17 m3. The direct method produced better metrics in terms of RMSE-% and bias, but the indirect method produced better best-fit lines. Additionally, the mean growth values for height, diameter, and stem volume intervals were compared, and they are presumed to be usable even for forest modelling.
Variational methods for nonlinear perturbations of singular φ-Laplacians

Motivated by the existence of radial solutions to the Neumann problem involving the mean extrinsic curvature operator in Minkowski space div(EQUATION PRESANT) where 0 ≤ R 1 2 , A = {x a R N : R 1 ≤ |x| a R 2 } and g: [R 1 ; R 2 ]x R → R is continuous, we study the more general problem [r N - 1 φ{u')]' = r N - 1 g(r;u); u'(R 1 ) = 0 = u'{R 2 ); where φ:= φ′: (-a;a) → R is an increasing homeomorphism with φ(0) = 0 and the continuous function φ: [-a; a] → R is of class C 1 on (-a; a). The associated functional in the space of continuous functions over [R1; R 2 ] is the sum of a convex lower semicontinuous functional and of a functional of class C 1 . Using the critical point theory of Szulkin, we obtain various existence and multiplicity results for several classes of nonlinearities. We also discuss the case of the periodic problem.
Asongu, Simplice and Meniago, Christelle and Salahodjaev, Raufhon

This study investigates: (i) the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on total factor productivity (TFP) and economic growth dynamics, and (ii) the relevance of value added from three economic sectors in modulating the established effect of FDI on TFP and economic growth dynamics. The geographical and temporal scopes are respectively 25 SubSaharan African countries and the period 1980–2014. The empirical evidence is based on non-interactive and interactive Generalised Method of Moments. The following main findings are established. First, FDI has a positive effect on GDP growth, GDP per capita and welfare real TFP. Second, the effect of FDI is negative on real GDP and TFP, while the impact is insignificant on real TFP growth and welfare TFP. Third, values added to the three economic sectors largely modulate FDI to produce negative net effects on TFP and growth dynamics. Policy implications are discussed with particular emphasis on the need to complement added value across various economic sectors in order to leverage on the benefits of FDI in TFP and economic growth. To the best of knowledge, this is the first study to assess how value added from various economic sectors affect the relevance of FDI on macroeconomic outcomes. JEL Classification: E23; F21; F30; F43; O55
Analysis of Erosion Characteristics and Erosion Mechanism of Polypropylene Fiber Tailings Recycled Concrete in Salt Spray Environment

Economic development and infrastructure improvement will inevitably lead to the accumulation of construction waste and tailings, which has not only a huge impact on the environment but is also a waste of resources. Recycling these resources and making green concrete is an effective way to solve these problems. In this study, the salt spray erosion characteristics and erosion mechanism of tailings recycled concrete (TRC) with polypropylene fibers were studied through macro and micro methods. The results showed that its compressive strength and splitting tensile strength increased at first and then decreased, with the optimum content of 0.6–0.9%, and the strength increase coefficient reached its maximum value at the erosion period being 14 d to 28 d. Under the same erosion cycle, when the fiber content was low (≤0.6–0.9%), the erosion depth hardly fluctuated. While the fiber content changed from 0.6% to 1.2%, the erosion depth and curing ability (erosion for 90 days) increased by 16.29% and 11.20%, which implied that its erosion resistance decreased sharply. Through SEM microscopic analysis, it could be observed that when the fiber content was low, the matrix structure and porosity had little change; while the fiber content was excessive, the porosity increased greatly. The longer the erosion period was, the greater the cumulative expansion of salt crystals was, and the larger the porosity was, whose results were in good agreement with the experimental results. This research provides a significant theoretical basis for the application of TRC in engineering.
Shaking Table Testing of a Low-Rise Reinforced Concrete Intermediate Moment Resisting Frame

Multi-level shaking table tests were performed on a 1:3 reduced scale two-story reinforced concrete (RC) intermediate moment resisting frame (IMRF) conforming to the requirements given in the ACI-318-19. The exterior joints lacked shear reinforcement to assess the viability of the ACI model recommended for determining the design shear strength of the beam–column joint panel. One of the horizontal components of the 1994 Northridge earthquake accelerogram (090 CDMG Station 24278, Source: PEER strong motion database) was input to the frame for multi-level shaking table testing. Plastic hinges developed in beams under base input motion with a maximum acceleration equal to 0.40 g. The exterior joints incurred extensive damage under base input motion with a maximum acceleration equal to 0.70 g. The frame achieved displacement ductility and overstrength factors (determined as the ratio of the maximum resistance of the frame to the design base share force) equal to 2.40 and 2.50, respectively. This gives a response modification factor equal to 6. The satisfactory performance of the frame is attributed to the high efficiency of the beam–column joint, which was confined by spandrel beams on two faces and the high strength of the concrete. The inherent minimal confinement is sufficient to ensure satisfactory seismic behavior. The analysis confirmed overstrength equal to 1.58 for joint shear strength in comparison to the design strength determined using the ACI model. The data might serve as a reference for calibrating and validating numerical modeling techniques for performance evaluation, which are crucial in the context of performance-based engineering.
Static structure factor and quantum melting of vortex lattices in two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates

The first-order quantum corrections to the static structure factor of vortex lattices in a rapidly rotating quasi-two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate are calculated. Furthermore, we estimate the melting filling fraction by using a criterion similar to that used in thermal melting related to the Debye-Waller factor of the smallest reciprocal lattice vector.
Mitigation of Negative Effects of Chromium (VI) Toxicity in Faba Bean (Vicia faba) Plants through the Supplementation of Kinetin (KN) and Gibberellic Acid (GA3)

The present study was carried out to explore the possible role of kinetin and gibberellic acid (GA3) on faba bean under chromium (Cr) stress. Cr treatment negatively affected growth and biomass production, reduced photosynthetic pigments, and inhibited photosynthesis, gas exchange parameters, antioxidant enzymes, and the glyoxylase cycle. Moreover, Cr stress enhanced the production of malondialdehyde (MDA, 216.11%) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, 230.16%), electrolyte leakage (EL, 293.30%), and the accumulation of proline and glycine betaine. Exogenous application of kinetin and GA3 increased growth and biomass, improved pigment contents and photosynthesis, as well as up-regulated the antioxidant system by improving the antioxidant enzyme activities and the content of nonenzymatic components, and the glyoxylase cycle. Additionally, kinetin and GA3 application displayed a considerable enhancement in proline (602.61%) and glycine betaine (423.72), which help the plants to maintain water balance under stress. Furthermore, a decline in Cr uptake was also observed due to kinetin and GA3 application. Exogenous application of kinetin and GA3 ameliorated the toxic effects of Cr in faba bean plants, up-shooting the tolerance mechanisms, including osmolyte metabolism and the antioxidant system.
PSR_2200009 1325..1339

doi:10.1017/S0003055422000090 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.