Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis and design of a microstrip reflectarray using patches of variable size

In a great number of microwave applications a highly directive antenna with a main beam scanned to a certain angle is required. To achieve this a certain aperture illumination with progressive phasing is used. The two primary ways to do this are reflectors and arrays. The reflector antenna uses its geometry to create the desired phase across the aperture, while the array employs distinct elements fed with progressive phasing. Reflector antennas are advantageous in the fact that they typically exhibit large bandwidth and low loss. The main disadvantage of the reflector is the geometrical constraint it imposes on the design. The most popular reflector, the parabolic reflector, also exhibits inherently high cross polarization levels. Microstrip patch arrays are lightweight, low-profile antennas that are capable of low cross polarization levels but typically have small bandwidth and fairly large loss at microwave frequencies. The more attractive features of reflectors and arrays are combined in the reflectarray. The steps taken in the design of a microstrip reflectarray using patches of variable size are outlined. Measured and theoretical results are shown for the finished design, and several important performance criteria are compared with the microstrip reflectarray.
Comments on use of the Barcelona Basic Model for unsaturated soils

The paper discusses some aspects of the Barcelona Basic Model (BBM), which is one of the most widely used elasto‐plastic models for unsaturated soils. In addition to modelling those unsaturated soils where the collapse potential increases with increasing net stress (as envisaged by the original authors), the BBM can also be used to model soils where the collapse potential decreases with increasing net stress, by selecting suitable values for the model parameters r and pc. A practical procedure is suggested for selecting a value for the important model parameter pc from laboratory test data. Problems with use of the BBM are discussed, including the difficulty of correctly matching the locations of the normal compression lines for different values of suction and the possibility of non‐convexity of the yield curve. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Wired collimator for single photon emitter

The aim of this study is to develop a new light collimator with almost the same efficiency in terms of photon penetration as that of the conventional collimator. Generally, the conventional collimator is an over specification in terms of the path length in the material forming the collimator. If the path length of a gamma-ray in the septum is short, many photons may pass through the septum and the septum does not work as a shielding material. On the other hand, if we consider a path located near the center of the septum, it is sufficient to shield from undesirable gamma-rays. So we gave up using the plane-septum structure that is used in the conventional collimator. In the new collimator we made several spaces where the septa located in the conventional collimator. One realistic form of the collimator is composed of many rods whose cross-section is square or circular. The collimator is composed of rod-shaped lead or tungsten in x- and y-directions alternately with spacing in the z-direction (direction of thickness). Even though we align many rods alternately without spacing in z-direction, we can achieve a collimator with less than half the weight of a conventional collimator. Performance of the proposed collimator was confirmed by Monte Carlo simulation and experiments with a handmade collimator.
Herpes simplex virus interference with immunity: Focus on dendritic cells

ABSTRACT Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) are highly prevalent in the human population. These viruses cause lifelong infections by establishing latency in neurons and undergo sporadic reactivations that promote recurrent disease and new infections. The success of HSVs in persisting in infected individuals is likely due to their multiple molecular determinants involved in escaping the host antiviral and immune responses. Importantly, HSVs infect and negatively modulate the function of dendritic cells (DCs), key immune cells that are involved in establishing effective and balanced immunity against viruses. Here, we review and discuss several molecular and cellular processes modulated by HSVs in DCs, such as autophagy, apoptosis, and the unfolded protein response. Given the central role of DCs in establishing optimal antiviral immunity, particular emphasis should be given to the outcome of the interactions occurring between HSVs and DCs.
Efficacy and safety of plasma exchange in interstitial lung diseases with anti-melanoma differentiation-associated 5 gene antibody positive clinically amyopathic dermatomyositis

Objective Clinically amyopathic dermatomyositis (CADM) patients frequently develop refractory interstitial lung disease (ILD), with a poor prognosis. We aimed to verify the efficacy and safety of plasma exchange (PE) treatment for ILD in CADM. Method A retrospective case–control study was conducted to compare clinical outcomes with and without PE treatment in CADM-ILD patients refractory to combination therapy of high-dose glucocorticoids, calcineurin inhibitors, and cyclophosphamide. Among 19 enrolled patients, 11 were further treated with PE. We compared survival rates and other clinical characteristics. PE consisted of either fresh-frozen plasma or albumin as a replacement solution. Results Basal clinical characteristics at diagnosis, including age, gender, serum ferritin, Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6), C-reactive protein, and respiratory function tests, did not differ between the two groups. The survival rate for treatment with PE was higher than for treatment without PE (91% and 50%, respectively, p < 0.05). Among PE-treated patients, anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene-5 (anti-MDA-5) antibody titre, ferritin, and KL-6 as serological activity markers were sustainably reduced only after initiating PE. Therapeutic intervention with PE reduced the frequency of exacerbation of ILD requiring methylprednisolone pulse therapy. The occurrence of bacterial, fungal, and cytomegalovirus infection did not differ between the groups with and without PE, and adverse events associated with PE resolved with appropriate intervention. Conclusion Combination therapy with PE was associated with an improved survival rate, and may be effective for the management of refractory ILD in CADM patients. A personalized therapeutic strategy including PE could be introduced for fatal rapidly progressive ILD.
FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF PEEL OFF GEL FACIAL MASK FROM ARABICA COFFEE FRUIT PEEL EXTRACT (COFFEA ARABICA L.)

Objective: The aim of this study was to obtain a peel off gel facial mask preparation from Arabica coffee fruit peel extract that meets the requirements and to determine the antioxidant activity of Arabica coffee fruit peel extract and peel off gel facial mask preparation from coffee fruit peel extract Methods: In this study, three formulations of peel off gel facial mask were made with 3 variations in the concentration of coffee fruit peel extract, namely F1 (1%), F2 (2%), and F3 (3%). Furthermore, the preparation was evaluated for 28 d of storage at room temperature (25-30 °C) and cold temperature (8 °C) which included organoleptic, pH, spreading ability, homogeneity, viscosity, dry time, and antioxidant activity. Results: The results of the evaluation showed that F1, F2, and F3 met the requirements which included organoleptic, pH, spreading ability, homogeneity, viscosity, and dry time. The antioxidant activity of the coffee fruit peel extract was very strong (IC50 17.36 µg/ml). The antioxidant activity in the peel off gel facial mask sample of formula F1 (IC50 75.63 µg/ml) and formula F2 (IC50 50.71 µg/ml) was strong, and for formula F3 was very strong (IC50 21.44 µg/ml). Conclusion: All formulas met the evaluation requirements, arabica coffee fruit peel extract and peel of gel facial mask preparation (F3) have very strong antioxidant activity.
DESIGN OF ADAPTIVE FUZZY FRACTIONAL ORDER PID CONTROLLER FOR AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLE (AUV) IN HEADING AND DEPTH ATTITUDES

This paper deals with the design of new self-tuning Fuzzy Fractional Order PID (AFFOPID) controller based on nonlinear MIMO structure for an AUV in order to enhance the performance in both transient state and steady state of traditional PID controller. It is particularly advantageous when the effects of highly nonlinear processes, like high maneuver, parameters variation, have to be controlled in presence of sensor noises and wave disturbances. Aspects of AUV controlling are crucial because of Complexity and highly coupled dynamics, time variety and difficulty in hydrodynamic modeling. In this try, the comprehensive nonlinear model of AUV is derived through kinematics and dynamic equations. The scaling factor of the proposed AFFOPID Controller is adjusted online at different underwater conditions. Combination of adaptive fuzzy methods and PID controllers can enhance solving the uncertainty challenge in the PID parameters and AUV parameter uncertainty. The simulation results show that developed control system is stable, competent and efficient enough to control the AUV in path following with stabilized and controlled speed. Obtained results demonstrate that the proposed controller has good performance and significant robust stability in comparison to traditional tuned PID controllers.
GenU-Net++: An Automatic Intracranial Brain Tumors Segmentation Algorithm on 3D Image Series with High Performance

Automatic segmentation of intracranial brain tumors in three-dimensional (3D) image series is critical in screening and diagnosing related diseases. However, there are various challenges in intracranial brain tumor images: (1) Multiple brain tumor categories hold particular pathological features. (2) It is a thorny issue to locate and discern brain tumors from other non-brain regions due to their complicated structure. (3) Traditional segmentation requires a noticeable difference in the brightness of the interest target relative to the background. (4) Brain tumor magnetic resonance images (MRI) have blurred boundaries, similar gray values, and low image contrast. (5) Image information details would be dropped while suppressing noise. Existing methods and algorithms do not perform satisfactorily in overcoming these obstacles mentioned above. Most of them share an inadequate accuracy in brain tumor segmentation. Considering that the image segmentation task is a symmetric process in which downsampling and upsampling are performed sequentially, this paper proposes a segmentation algorithm based on U-Net++, aiming to address the aforementioned problems. This paper uses the BraTS 2018 dataset, which contains MR images of 245 patients. We suggest the generative mask sub-network, which can generate feature maps. This paper also uses the BiCubic interpolation method for upsampling to obtain segmentation results different from U-Net++. Subsequently, pixel-weighted fusion is adopted to fuse the two segmentation results, thereby, improving the robustness and segmentation performance of the model. At the same time, we propose an auto pruning mechanism in terms of the architectural features of U-Net++ itself. This mechanism deactivates the sub-network by zeroing the input. It also automatically prunes GenU-Net++ during the inference process, increasing the inference speed and improving the network performance by preventing overfitting. Our algorithm’s PA, MIoU, P, and R are tested on the validation dataset, reaching 0.9737, 0.9745, 0.9646, and 0.9527, respectively. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model outperformed the contrast models. Additionally, we encapsulate the model and develop a corresponding application based on the MacOS platform to make the model further applicable.
THE PSYCHOMETRIC STRUCTURE OF PEDAGOGICAL AGENT PERSONA

This paper describes the development and validation of an instrumentfor measuring learner perception of pedagogical agent persona. Aftercollating items from other empirical studies, exploratory andconfirmatory factor analyses were conducted with three samples ofundergraduate students working within the Multiple Intelligent MentorsInstructing Collaboratively (MIMIC) agent-based research environment.The final model identified four pedagogical agent persona factors(Credible, Facilitating Learning, Engaging, and Human-like) and twolatent variables (Informational Usefulness and Affective Interaction). Results suggest that there are two primary aspects to student perceptionof a pedagogical agent’s persona: 1) its role as a knowledgeableinstructor that facilitates learning; and, 2) its provision of affective,human-like interactions in the process. The final model is discussed withrespect to its implications for pedagogical agent research and computer-based instructor characteristics.
Cost Attribution in Unlimited Access Transit Programs: Case Study on the UConn Prepaid Fare Program Failure

Abstract Using a case study approach, this article explores the potential to increase public transit ridership via the expansion of Unlimited Access (UA) from a university- or employer-based program to a community-based program. UA partners universities or employers with regional transit organizations to provide free or discounted public transit service to students as well as employees and, potentially, to local community residents. A case study on the only known UA program failure highlights the importance of equitable cost attribution as well as stakeholder coordination and dedicated operations funds to the long-term success of community-based UA programs.
CD40L protects against mouse hepatitis virus-induced neuroinflammatory demyelination

Neurotropic mouse hepatitis virus (MHV-A59/RSA59) infection in mice induces acute neuroinflammation due to direct neural cell dystrophy, which proceeds with demyelination with or without axonal loss, the pathological hallmarks of human neurological disease, Multiple sclerosis (MS). Recent studies in the RSA59-induced neuroinflammation model of MS showed a protective role of CNS-infiltrating CD4+ T cells compared to their pathogenic role in the autoimmune model. The current study further investigated the molecular nexus between CD4+ T cell-expressed CD40Ligand and microglia/macrophage-expressed CD40 using CD40L-/- mice. Results demonstrate CD40L expression in the CNS is modulated upon RSA59 infection. We show evidence that CD40L-/- mice are more susceptible to RSA59 induced disease due to reduced microglia/macrophage activation and significantly dampened effector CD4+ T recruitment to the CNS on day 10 p.i. Additionally, CD40L-/- mice exhibited severe demyelination mediated by phagocytic microglia/macrophages, axonal loss, and persistent poliomyelitis during chronic infection, indicating CD40-CD40L as host-protective against RSA59-induced demyelination. This suggests a novel target in designing prophylaxis for virus-induced demyelination and axonal degeneration, in contrast to immunosuppression which holds only for autoimmune mechanisms of inflammatory demyelination.
Data association algorithm for large-scale multi-object tracking with complex interactions

Abstract. We present an online multi-object tracking algorithm to track multiple objects across a large number of image frames. Our work is motivated by the need to study evolution of nanoscale objects by transmission electron microscopy. The proposed approach is based on the existing multi-way data association tracking algorithm that is capable of tracking interacting objects with complex behaviors (i.e., merge, split, overlap, and appearance or disappearance). The multi-way data association is an offline algorithm to associate objects across all image frames at one step with a global optimization, which does not scale very well for large number of image frames. The proposed online tracking algorithm processes image frames as they arrive by detecting all objects in the newly arrived image frame and making the associations of the objects to those detected from the previous frame by the multi-way data association. This frame-by-frame association scheme can cause fragmented traces of the objects that are occasionally misdetected for some image frames. We overcome this issue by allowing previously unassociated objects to be associated when the objects reappear within a fixed number of future image frames, namely the frame-delayed association. We combine the multi-way data association with the frame-delayed association to be able to track interacting objects with accurate handling of object disappearance events. The proposed method is validated through applications to simulated multi-object tracking problem and a real multi-object tracking problem. The outcome of the proposed method is compared with four state-of-the-art algorithms.
The Use of Some Bio-Agents in The Control of Varroa Mite, Varroa destructor Infected Honey Bee Colonies إستخدام بعض المواد الحيوية فى مکافحة حلم الفاروا الذى يصيب طوائف نحل العسل

This work was conducted in the experimental laboratory and apiary of the Plant Production Department of the Faculty of Technology and Development Zagazig University , Egypt. The main purpose of this work was to throw the light on the control of varroa mite, Varroa destructor infected honey bee colonies using some biological control agents. Six essential oils were used: Cinnamon oil, Clove oil, Jasmine oil, Eucalyptus oil, Peppermint oil, in addition to Formic acid 65% , Oxalic acid and Di stop. The obtained results reported that the increase percentages of dropped varroa numbers, comparing with check , were the highest with the treatments of Cinnamon oil 78% ,while the least percentages was 61 % at Oxalic acid treatment. The decrease percentages of infected sealed broods per 100 cell , comparing with check , were the highest with Distop 38 % , while the least percentages was 25 % at Cinnamon oil. The highest increase percentages of infested bee workers , comparing with control treatment , was the highest with the treatment of Oxalic acid 41 % , while the least percentages was recorded with Di stop giving 22%. The highest increases in sealed brood area were noticed with Di stop 28 % , while the least increase percentages were recorded with jasmine . The highest increase percentages in honey bee production , in comparison with control hives, were registered with the treatments of Clove oils giving 171.4 %.
RICE PRODUCTION UNDER ORGANIC AND INORGANIC FERTILIZATION

Two field experiments were carried out at the Farm of Rice Research and Training Center (RRTC), Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt during 2004 and 2005 season to study the effect of organic and inorganic fertilizers on growth, yield and its attribute, and grain quality characters of Giza 177 and Giza 178 rice varieties. Each experiment involved eight treatments which were the combination of straw, compost and urea with different rates. (Control, 164 kg N/ha, 6 tons compost/ha alone and with 82 and 123 kg N/ha, 6 tons rice straw/ha alone and with 82 and 123 kg N/ha). The results could be summarized as follows: Application of 164 kg N/ha or 6 tons compost/ha plus 124 kg N/ha gave the highest number of tillers, dry matter yield (g/hill), leaf area index, number of panicles/hill, number of grains per panicle, filled grains percentage, panicle weight, straw yield and grain yield compared to other treatments. Regarding grain quality hulling and milling rice percentage were not affected by organic and inorganic application, while the head rice percentage was affected by them. Also, the results indicated that the use of straw alone or combined with inorganic nitrogen had no significant effect on the studied traits. According to the previous results it could be concluded that application of compost plus inorganic fertilizers gave the best results compared with the other treatments. The use of compost either alone or combined with nitrogen was better than that of straw mainly due to the fast decomposition of compost. Recently, compost plays a major role in crop production, science it minimizes the use of chemical fertilizer and decreases environmental pollution.
Evaluation of Oxidative Stress Status in Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Background: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder characterizied by elevated levels of circulating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) which is an important source of substrates to be oxidized by different oxidative agents. Subsequently, the oxidized LDLs (oxLDLs) induce further oxidative reactions in FH patients, which contributes to the development of atherosclerosis and advanced cardiovascular events in these patients. This study aimed to investigate the association of oxidant/antioxidant markers with FH. Methods: This case-control study comprised 18 HoFH, 18 HeFH, and 20 healthy subjects. Oxidant/antioxidant markers including MDA, MPO, thiol, nitric oxide (NO), myeloperoxidase (MPO), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), SOD, and CAT were assessed by colorimetric methods. Prooxidant-antioxidant balance was also measured by pro-oxidant antioxidant balance (PAB) assay. Results: The levels of MDA (p < 0.001), MPO activity (p < 0.001), thiol (p < 0.001), NO (p < 0.01), and PAB (p < 0.001) were notably higher in HoFH group in comparison with healthy subjects. HeFH group also showed significantly higher levels of thiol (p < 0.001) and PAB (p < 0.001) when compared to healthy subjects. Elevated levels of MDA (p < 0.001) and PAB (p < 0.001) were also observed in HoFH relative to HeFH. No significant differences were found between the studied groups in the case of antioxidant enzyme activities. The results of binary logistic regression showed that PAB (OR: 0.979; p = 0.033), and MDA (OR: 0.996; p = 0.018) levels were inversely associated with HoFH, although, after adjustment for age and LDL-C levels, these associations were diminished. Conclusion: Several oxidant/antioxidant differences were found between FH patients and healthy individuals as well as between HoFH and HeFH patients. These differences might be strongly dependent on plasma LDL-C levels.
Voltage Distortion Influence on Flicker Severity Measurement by AMI Energy Meters

This article addresses the problem of proper flicker severity assessment by smart energy meters. Flicker severity occurs for a typical voltage “clipped cosine” distortion caused by operation of power electronic devices in the power grid. The voltage distortion caused only by higher harmonics does not cause voltage fluctuations, and therefore does not cause flicker. This article presents the research results for some models of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) smart meters, for which irregularities are observed in the voltage variation severity assessment if the typical voltage distortion occurs in the power grid. Possible mistakes in implementation of flickermeter signal chain as defined by International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in smart meters that influence the measurement results have been explained. The analysis of the influence of typical voltage distortion on the indicator $P_{st}$ measurement has been carried out analytically and in numerical simulation studies using the modeled flickermeter signal chain.