Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Partial State Constraints-Based Control for Nonlinear Systems With Backlash-Like Hysteresis

This paper focuses on the adaptive control problem for a class of nonlinear single-input single-output lower triangular systems with partial state constraints and unknown backlash-like hysteresis. To prevent the partial states from transgressing the predefined constrained region, a barrier Lyapunov function is presented, whose values will increase to infinity when any of its parameters grows to a given boundary value. To counteract the effect caused by the backlash-like hysteresis, an auxiliary variable with its adaptive mechanism is introduced in the backstepping technique. At the same time, the output of the considered systems can track the reference signal, and all the variables in the design procedure are uniformly ultimate boundedness. In the end, a numerical example is employed to validate the efficiency of the developed theoretical method.
Singularidades en el diseño de soluciones de protección frente a gas radón = Singularities in the design of protection solutions against radon gas

Resumen El isótopo del radón Rn-222, aparece en la naturaleza como producto de la desintegración natural del radio-226, común en la corteza terrestre. El potencial de exhalación de un terreno viene definido, por un lado, por el contenido de radio del sustrato (por ejemplo, los graníticos), y por otro, por la permeabilidad del mismo que permite la movilidad a través de los poros (fracturados). El radón, como elemento gaseoso, posee una alta movilidad y puede penetrar en los edificios a través de fisuras o grietas por advección o por difusión a través de la propia permeabilidad de los materiales de la envolvente que estén en contacto con el terreno. La acumulación de este gas en los recintos cerrados puede elevar las concentraciones y constituir un riesgo para la salud de las personas que lo inhalen. La OMS advierte de sus efectos, situándolo como agente cancerígeno de grado uno, siendo la segunda causa de contracción de cáncer de pulmón (la primera sería el tabaco). En esta comunicación se ofrecen pautas de diseño, y las particularidades asociadas a las estrategias de actuación, basándose en los estudios llevados a cabo a través de proyectos de investigación. Abstract The isotope of radon Rn-222, appears in nature as a product of the natural disintegration of radio-226, common in the earth's crust. The exhalation potential of a terrain is defined, on the one hand, by the radio content of the substrate (for example granitic), and on the other, by the permeability of the same that allows mobility through the pores (fractured). Radon, as a gaseous element, has a high mobility and can penetrate buildings through fissures or cracks by advection or diffusion through the permeability of the materials of the envelope that are in contact with the ground. The accumulation of this gas in enclosed areas can increase concentrations and constitute a risk to the health of people who inhale it. The WHO warns of its effects, placing it as a carcinogen of grade one, being the second cause of lung cancer contraction (the first would be tobacco). This communication offers design guidelines, and the particularities associated with the strategies of action, based on the studies carried out through research projects.
Global stability of a delayed viral infection model with nonlinear immune response and general incidence rate

In this paper, a delayed viral infection model with nonlinear immune response and general incidence rate is discussed. We prove the existence and uniqueness of the equilibria. We study the effect of three kinds of time delays on the dynamics of the model. By using the Lyapunov functional and LaSalle invariance principle, we obtain the conditions of global stabilities of the infection-free equilibrium, the immune-exhausted equilibrium and the endemic equilibrium. It is shown that an increase of the viral-infection delay and the virus-production delay may stabilize the infection-free equilibrium, but the immune response delay can destabilize the equilibrium, leading to Hopf bifurcations. Numerical simulations are given to verify the analytical results. This can provide a possible interpretation for the viral oscillation observed in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients.
The Dynamics of Viscous Fibers

This work deals with the mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of the dynamics of a curved inertial viscous Newtonian fiber, which is practically applicable to the description of centrifugal spinning processes of glass wool. Neglecting surface tension and temperature dependence, the fiber flow is modeled as a three-dimensional free boundary value problem via instationary incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. From regular asymptotic expansions in powers of the slenderness parameter leading-order balance laws for mass (cross-section) and momentum are derived that combine the unrestricted motion of the fiber center-line with the inner viscous transport. The physically reasonable form of the one-dimensional fiber model results thereby from the introduction of the intrinsic velocity that characterizes the convective terms. For the numerical simulation of the derived model a finite volume code is developed. The results of the numerical scheme for high Reynolds numbers are validated by comparing them with the analytical solution of the inviscid problem. Moreover, the influence of parameters, like viscosity and rotation on the fiber dynamics are investigated. Finally, an application based on industrial data is performed.
MixProp: Towards High-Performance Image Recognition via Dual Batch Normalisation

Recently, Adversarial Propagation (AdvProp) improves the standard accuracy of a trained model on clean samples. However, the training speed of AdvProp is much slower than vanilla training. Also, we argue that the use of adversarial samples in AdvProp is too drastic for robust feature learning of clean samples. This paper presents Mixup Propagation (MixProp) to further increase the standard accuracy on clean samples and reduce the training cost of AdvProp. The key idea of MixProp is to use mixup to generate samples for the auxiliary batch normalisation layer. This approach provides a moderate dataset as compared with adversarial samples and saves the time used for adversarial sample generation. The experimental results obtained on several datasets demonstrate the merits and superiority of the proposed method.
Accelerating cold dark matter cosmology (ΩΛ ≡ 0)

A new accelerating flat model with no dark energy that is fully dominated by cold dark matter (CDM) is investigated. The number of CDM particles is not conserved and the present accelerating stage is a consequence of the negative pressure describing the irreversible process of gravitational particle creation. A related work involving accelerating CDM cosmology has been discussed before the SNe observations (Lima et al 1996 Phys. Rev. D 53 4287). However, in order to have a transition from a decelerating to an accelerating regime at low redshifts, the matter creation rate proposed here includes a constant term of the order of the Hubble parameter. In this case, H0 does not need to be small in order to solve the age problem and the transition happens even if the matter creation is negligible during the radiation and part of the matter-dominated phase. Therefore, instead of the vacuum dominance at redshifts of the order of a few, the present accelerating stage in this sort of Einstein–de Sitter CDM cosmology is a consequence of the gravitational particle creation process. As an extra bonus, in the present scenario the coincidence problem does not exist which plagues models with dominance of dark energy. The model is able to harmonize a CDM picture with the present age of the universe, the latest measurements of the Hubble parameter and the supernovae observations.
Assessment of Shear Bond Strength of Different Veneering Materials to Polyetherketonketon (PEKK)

Aim: is to assess the bond strength of different veneering materials to polyetherketonketon (PEKK). Material and Methods: Thirty PEKK discs (n=30) were fabricated from PEKK blanks. According to the kind of the veneering materials used, they were assigned into three major groups: Group A: PEKK discs veneered with hybrid ceramics (Vita Enamic), Group B: PEKK discs veneered with Lithium disilicate (IPS E.max CAD), Group C: PEKK discs veneered with zirconia(BruxZir). The surfaces of PEKK specimen in all groups were subjected to sandblasting according to the manufacture instructions. After the surface treatment method had been completed, visio.link was applied to all treated PEKK specimens. The veneering materials in each group were adhered onto the surface of the treated PEKK specimens using universal dual cure self- adhesive resin cement (TheraCem ™). Following the creation of the specimens, thermocycling (5°C to 55°C at 10,000 cycles) was applied to half of each group (n=5) before testing. A universal testing machine was used to assess the shear bond strength, and the failure modes were evaluated using stereomicroscope. Data were collected, tabulated and statistically analyzed. Results: The highest shear bond strength values were observed for BruxZir shaded zirconia (27.4±2), followed by Vita Enamic and IPS E.max CAD (21.2±2.2& 21±1.5 respectively). After thermocycling, IPS E.max Cad showed a marked decrease in the shear bond strength value (6.5±0.8), followed by BruxZir and Vita Enamic(15.3±2.2, 17±2.2 respectively). Conclusions: material type and thermo-cycling significantly affected the shear bond strength values of the three veneering materials to PEKK specimens.
THE EXACT RECOVERY OF SPARSE SIGNALS VIA ORTHOGONAL MATCHING PURSUIT

This paper aims to investigate sufficient conditions for the r of sparse signals via the orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm. In the noiseless case, we present a novel sufficient condition for the exact recovery of allk-sparse signals by the OMP algorithm, and demonstrate that this condition is sharp. In the noisy case, a sufficient condition for recovering the support of k-sparse signal is also presented. Generally, the computation for the restricted isometry constant (RIC) in these sufficient conditions is typically difficult, therefore we provide a new condition which is not only computable but also sufficient for the exact recovery of all k-sparse signals.
Manipulator trajectories during orbital servicing mission: numerical simulations and experiments on microgravity simulator

It is considered to use a manipulator-equipped satellite for performing On-Orbit Servicing (OOS) or Active Debris Removal (ADR) missions. In this paper, several possible approaches are reviewed for end-effector (EE) trajectory planning in the Cartesian space, such as application of the Bezier curves for singularity avoidance and method for trajectory optimization. The results of numerical simulations for a satellite equipped with a 7 degree-of-freedom (DoF) manipulator and results of experiments performed on a planar air-bearing microgravity simulator for a simplified two-dimensional (2D) case with a 2-DoF manipulator are presented. Differences between the free-floating case and the case where Attitude and Orbit Control Systems (AOCS) keep constant position and orientation of the satellite are also shown.
6 DCenterPose : Multi-object RGB-D 6 D pose tracking with synthetic training data

Tracking the 6D poses of objects is essential in robotics applications. Known poses can be used in behavioural cloning to teach the robot a desired policy, and they are crucial in manipulation tasks. Current methods either estimate the poses of all objects in a scene given a single image or track the pose of a single object in a sequence of images. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is currently no online method which tracks the poses of multiple objects in a sequence of images. This thesis aims to close this research gap. To this end, a fully convolutional neural network, called 6DCenterPose, is proposed. Given the current RGB-D observation and a synthetic image showing the previous pose predictions, the method aims to predict the changes of poses to the current frame. A greedy matching algorithm based on sparse optical flow is used to associate the pose changes to the respective objects. Disentanglement of the input feature encodings allows training 6DCenterPose exclusively on synthetic images. A synthetic data generation pipeline is proposed to generate photorealistic and physically plausible images, which are used to train and evaluate the method. Experiments on real and synthetic videos of the board game Ubongo3D are conducted and show that the reality gap is successfully bridged. 6DCenterPose is online and runs at around 12.8 Hz, making it a valuable tool for multi-object 6D pose tracking tasks in robotic applications.
Anti-Inflammatory Effect of L-carvone on Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Acute Lung Injury

Acute lung injury is among the most serious conditions that affect the lung which is characterized by an exacerbation of inflammatory response that can result from a severe lung infection. The enantiomers of carvone (L and D) are found in various plants species each with special pharmacological effects; where, the levo (L)-carvone is chiral monoterpenoid ketone present in the essential oils of dill, caraway, and spearmint and possess many pharmacological properties like antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, and anticonvulsant effects. In a previous study, L-carvone inhibited mucositis induced by irinotecan. This study is the first to evaluate the lung anti-inflammatory protective effects, and potential mechanism of action of L-carvone in acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide by measuring the gene expression level of inflammatory mediators (tumor necrosis factor-alpha, cyclooxygenase-2 and nuclear factor-kappa of activated B cells) by conducting real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction test.
Zoledronic Acid Treatment in Infants and Toddlers with Osteogenesis Imperfecta is Safe and Effective: A Tertiary Care Centre Experience

Context: Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic disorder of the extracellular matrix of bone characterized by low bone mass manifesting as frequent fractures, delayed motor development, pain, and impaired quality of life. The intravenous bisphosphonate, pamidronate is an established treatment for OI. Recently, zoledronic acid (ZA) has been used for the management of OI. Aim: To assess the efficacy and safety of ZA in children below five years of age with OI. Settings and Design: A hospital-based prospective observational study. Methods and Material: Patients with OI aged less than five years attending our centre were treated with intravenous ZA at a dose of 0.05 mg/kg every six months. Subjects were closely monitored for clinical and biochemical variables, adverse events, and new-onset fractures. The response to therapy was assessed by monitoring clinical variables including the degree of bony pains, number of fractures, height/length standard deviation score (SDS), and motor developmental milestones. All patients were analysed at baseline and at the end of two years for biochemical parameters and clinical severity score (CSS) as proposed by Aglan et al. with modifications. Results: After two years of treatment, OI patients showed a significant decline in the rate of fractures (p < 0.001), improvement in ambulation (p = 0.005), alleviation of pain (p < 0.001), and improvement in height SDS (p < 0.05). There was a significant improvement in CSS after two years of therapy. Apart from mild flu-like symptoms and mild asymptomatic hypocalcaemia immediately post-infusion, no other adverse effect was noted. Conclusion: ZA therapy in infants and children below five years of age with OI was effective and safe and a more convenient alternative to pamidronate.
Evaluation of the Effects of Peritonsillar Infiltration of Tramadol–Ketamine Combination Versus Tramadol Alone on Posttonsillectomy Pain in Children

Introduction: Tonsillectomy is associated with significant pain and post-operative pain control is often unsatisfactory. This study sought to evaluate the effect of peritonsillar infiltration of tramadol–ketamine combination, tramadol alone and ketamine alone on post-tonsillectomy pain in children. Patients and Methods: A randomized double-blinded interventional study involving 90 patients aged 3-15 years of American society of anesthesiologists I or II physical status scheduled for elective adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy at JUTH was conducted. Patients were randomized into one of three groups: group I received tramadol 2mg/kg, group II received ketamine 1mg/kg plus tramadol 2mg/kg and group III received ketamine 1mg/kg only all made up to 2mls with normal saline and 1ml given per tonsillar bed. All patients had standard general anaesthesia with endotracheal intubation and monitoring. Data was analyzed using Epi-info version 7.1. 5 with p £ 0.05. Result: The analysis of data showed that the mean ages of the participants in group I, II and III were 5.70±2.00, 5.69±3.22 and 4.47±2.01 years respectively (p-value=0.091). Group II had significantly lower pain scores, longer time to first request of analgesia, earlier oral intake and discharge from the hospital compared to the group that received either tramadol or ketamine alone. Minimal side effects were noted across all the groups in the study. Conclusion: Peri-tonsillar infiltration of tramadol-ketamine combination immediately after tonsillectomy (but before extubation of patients) significantly decreased post-tonsillectomy pain without increasing the incidence of side effects compared to tramadol or ketamine alone in children undergoing adenotonsillectomy.
On Nagy-Foias Characteristic Function in Extensions Theory of Hermitian Operators

For a densely defined in a Hilbert space closed Hermitian operator with infinite defect numbers its maximal extensions are discussed. The Nagy-Foias characteristic function of an arbitrary maximal dissipative extension is derived. Mutually complementary classes of such extensions, referred to as inherited and acquired are introduced, and the peculiarity of characteristic function, as determining the class of extensions it corresponds to, is noted. In the setting of Calkin's abstract boundary conditions theory abstract analogs of Nagy-Foias and Weyl functions are presented in similar manner, as operator functions involved in boundary operators, describing the class of inherited extensions. Existence and analyticity of these functions are proved.
An evaluation of gender bias and pupils’ attitude towards STEM disciplines in the transition between compulsory and voluntary schooling

Tackling the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) skills shortage is an ongoing challenge for governments and policymakers worldwide. While the last decade has seen an increase in student enrolment into STEM degree courses in the UK, the gender gap remains a persistent issue in academia. In order to understand the causes underpinning female under-representation in STEM, it is essential to consider the whole academic pipeline and identify its “leaky points”. As the transition between compulsory and voluntary schooling represents a critical attrition point in the STEM educational pipeline, we conducted a survey to investigate the attitude of a cohort of year 11 and year 12 pupils towards STEM disciplines. Our results indicate that a gender bias is already evident at General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) level, where only 25% of girls expressed the intention to pursue a career in STEM. In both age groups, girls expressed a considerably lower preference for chemistry, physics and ICT, and a higher preference for biology compared to boys in the same year group. Participation in extracurricular activities and parents’ educational status both showed a strong correlation with pupils’ intention to undertake STEM studies in higher education and pursue a career in a related field. A recurring theme emerging from the survey is that pupils are eager to gain more knowledge about “real life” applications of science and are inspired by interactions with visiting scientists. These results corroborate the notion that outreach activities have a crucial role in promoting engagement in STEM subjects amongst young learners, and are essential towards the endeavour of “mending the pipeline” at an early stage.
A Six-Year Retrospective Analysis of Skin Biopsies in the Pediatric and Adolescent Population Performed at a Tertiary Health Care Center in India

Background: Hesitancy to perform skin biopsies in children or adolescents may lead to delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis and relatively, few studies analyzing pediatric skin biopsies exist. Aim and Objectives: This study aims to analyze the spectrum of skin diseases biopsied and demographic data of pediatric patients underwent skin biopsies at a tertiary health care center in India. Materials and Methods: Biopsy records over six years were analyzed, noting demographic data, disease duration, clinical differential diagnoses (CDD), final diagnosis after histopathology, disease categorization, and agreement between clinical and final diagnosis. The mean, range, and statistical significance of differences between proportions were calculated. Results: A total of 1308 biopsy records were analyzed. A male preponderance was noted (males - 55.1%; n = 721, females - 44.9%; n = 587). Most biopsies were performed in adolescents (12–18 years; 55.2%) followed by school-age children (5–12 years; 31.4%). Preponderant disease groups biopsied comprised papulosquamous (17.7%; n = 231) and infectious diseases (14.1%; n = 184). Leprosy was the most common infectious disease (37.5%; n = 69) with most patients belonging to borderline tuberculoid spectrum. The overall diagnostic agreement was 74.7%. No correlation of final diagnosis was noted with the number of CDD offered. In more than a fifth of cases, biopsy averted misdiagnosis. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of skin biopsies in pediatric patients and the relatively high clinico-histopathologic agreement. Leprosy and papulosquamous diseases were preponderant in the pediatric dermatopathology caseload.
Spectrum of Oral and Maxillofacial Tissue Biopsies at the Foremost Tertiary Institution in The Gambia: A Retrospective Review

Introduction: Sub-Saharan Africa has a heavy burden of oral diseases and cancers. Also, there is a dearth of published records of oral pathology services in The Gambia. Therefore, this review aimed to determine the prevalence of biopsied oral and maxillofacial lesions in order to ascertain the uptake of oral histopathology services at the foremost tertiary institution in The Gambia. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study performed at the Pathology Department of Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital. Reports of all oral and maxillofacial biopsies submitted for the period 2012 to 2021 were reviewed and data were extracted. Descriptive analysis was done using SPSS software, version 26. Results: Total number of biopsy reports was 158 representing 0.02% over the study period. The mean age of patients was 34.3 ± 19.7 years, the 3rd decade was the peak age of presentation and male-to-female ratio was 1:1.6. Majority (65/41.1%) of the cases were benign neoplastic lesions, and the mandible was the most (21/13.3%) common site of biopsy. Reactive lesions were the predominant (34/21.5%) group and squamous cell carcinoma had the highest (24/15.3%) number of lesions while odontogenic tumours constituted six cases only (3.8%). Conclusion: The findings of this study showed low uptake of oral histopathology services while biopsied oral and maxillofacial lesions were prevalent in female patients in the third decade of life. Also, the mandible was the most affected site whereas benign neoplastic diagnoses were most common. However, this study recorded a higher proportion of malignancies than some previous studies.