Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Innovation Studies Utrecht ( ISU ) Working Paper Series Why does Renewable Energy diffuse so slowly ? A review of innovation system problems

According to many energy policy plans, the future energy system should contain a large share of renewable energy sources. This requires the development and diffusion of renewable energy technologies (RET). Even though large policy efforts have been allocated to speed up the development and diffusion of RET, the results are disappointing. Apparently, it is a difficult process to influence. In this paper we present a literature review of studies that have analysed the troublesome trajectory of RET development and diffusion in different countries. We present an overview of typical systemic problems in the development of innovation systems around RET. We make use of the literature on innovation system failures to develop a categorisation of typical systemic problems.
In situ Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori Infection Using the Endoscopic Kyoto Scoring System

Background/Aims: This study aimed to investigate the possibility of in situ diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection during endoscopic examination. The predictive infection value was estimated using the endoscopic Kyoto scoring system (EKSS), and specific endoscopic findings were evaluated for diagnosing H. pylori infection in H. pylori naïve patients and those with a eradication history.Materials and Methods: A total of 836 patients with H. pylori infection were analyzed. The state of the infection was predicted using the EKSS and specific endoscopic findings.Results: Patients were classified into two groups: the H. pylori naïve group and the group with a the bacterial eradication history. The area under the curve (AUC) on receiver operating characteristics analysis was 0.90 for EKSS in H. pylori naïve patients and 0.83 for the other group patients. For patients with open type atrophy and/or intestinal metaplasia, EKSS (24.4%; 95% CI, 12.4~0.3%) and regular arrangement of collecting venules (RAC) (46.3%; 95% CI, 30.7~62.9%) showed low specificities. Mucosal swelling (66.2%; 95% CI, 62.5~69.7%) and sticky mucus (80.5%; 95% CI, 74.8~85.2%) presented relatively high positive predictive values for H. pylori infection in naïve patients, whereas reflux esophagitis, hematin, red streak, and duodenitis exhibited high negative predictive values in patients with a H. pylori eradication history (98.0%; 95% CI, 96.4~99.1%). Conclusions: EKSS and RAC are excellent tools for predicting H. pylori infection. However, they have a limited role in patients with open type atrophy and/or intestinal metaplasia. Specific endoscopic findings could help predict the infection state.
Population and Politics: The Impact of Scale. By John Gerring and Wouter Veenendaal. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 508p. $99.99 cloth, $34.99 paper.

bal South host states, Global North states, and international organizations. It considers issues of law, diplomacy, security, cultural proximity, political economy, and international relations. It is attentive to change over time and across space. It singles out key drivers such as state interests and geopolitics without simplifying complexity and neglecting other factors of causal import. Most of all, it teaches us howmuchwe can learn about migration management when we view it from the perspective of the Global South in general, and transit-turned-host states in particular. One of the book’s unexpected pleasures is the ethnographic detail woven throughout. Every chapter begins with a captivating vignette that anchors its main analytical takeaway. Demonstrating how indifference creates both opportunities and constraints for migrants, Norman introduces us to a Senegalese man selling items on the streets of Rabat and his acquired knowledge about which police officers joke around and which mean trouble. Revealing how international and state actors negotiate their competing interests, she takes us inside a workshop in Cairo, where International Organization of Migration representatives and Egyptian officials speak past each other. These and many other stories offer a model for how political scientists can present rigorous research while also bringing to life its significance for the people under study. In the concluding chapter, a wonderful reflection on “accidental ethnography” elaborates on this dimension of the book, suggesting how 300 pages of fieldnotes documenting informal interactions and observations deepened Norman’s understanding in ways that formal interviews alone could not. Such care for what is at stake in migration debates for real lives creates a book whose analytical insight is matched by tremendous humanity and even beauty. Students of migration, North-South relations, Mediterranean politics, and Middle East and North Africa studies will all gain something new from its novel take on a topic that is as essential and timely as it is understudied. They will also find it a delight to read.
Evaluation of cooling effects: outdoor water mist fan

Evaporative spray cooling systems can be used to provide thermal relief on hot days, even in a subtropical climate such as in Japan. An experiment combining a water mist spray with a fan was conducted to cool an outdoor space and ascertain the comfort of 141 participants on hot summer days. Each participant was surveyed for ‘thermal sensation', ‘general comfort' and ‘feeling of wettedness' and skin temperature was measured before and after entering a mist. To characterize more directly the cooling effect of this particular mist system, a dry silicone rubber skin analogue including embedded heat flux sensors was heated to near-body temperature to measure the near-surface heat flux due to natural convection, forced convection by the fan alone, and the fan and mist together. It was found that the cooling effect of the mist and fan combination is highly efficient and easily exceeds the thermal load of pedestrians, yielding nearly instant decreases in skin temperature. Such outdoor technology has potential to reduce heat stress and discomfort, particularly at large outdoor events and festivals. It could also reduce the required cooling loads within individual buildings by providing inhabitants with thermal relief outdoors.
Fast response low harmonic distortion control scheme for voltage source inverters

A fast response low harmonic distortion control scheme is proposed that combines the useful features of the sliding mode control and the repetitive control to achieve excellent transient and steady-state system performances in voltage source inverters. The principle of s domain equivalent control is adopted to integrate the two methodologies and to facilitate the design and analysis of the proposed scheme. An optional specific low-pass filter can be introduced into the system to improve the transient response of the regulation. Experimental results show that fast dynamic responses are achieved through the sliding mode control, whereas low harmonic distortions are achieved through the repetitive control.
Driving Ambulances Safely: Findings of Ten Years of Japanese Ambulance Crash Data

Abstract Objective Rules and regulations for ambulance operations differ across countries and regions, however, little is known about ambulance crashes outside of the United States. Japan is unique in several aspects, for example, routine use of lights and sirens during response and transport regardless of the urgency of the case and low speed limits for ambulances. The aim of this study was to describe the incidence and characteristics of ambulance crashes in Japan. Methods We retrospectively analyzed data from the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA) that include all traffic crashes resulting in injury or death in Japan. The study included all ambulance crashes from 2009 to 2018. We compared crashes that occurred during emergency operations with lights and sirens (i.e., when responding to a call or transporting a patient) to those that occurred during non-emergency operations without lights or sirens. We also used data on total number of ambulance dispatches from the Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency to calculate ambulance crash risk. Results During the 10-year period, we identified a total of 486 ambulance crashes out of 59,208,761 ambulance dispatches (0.82 in every 100,000 dispatches or one crash for every 121,829 dispatches) that included two fatal crashes. Among all ambulance crashes, 142 (29.2%) occurred during emergency operations. The incidence of ambulance crashes decreased significantly over the 10-year period. Ambulance crashes at an intersection occurred more frequently during emergency operations than during non-emergency operations (72.5% vs. 58.1%; 14.4% difference, 95% CI 5.0–22.9). Conclusions Ambulance crashes occurred infrequently in Japan with crash rates much lower than previously reported crash rates in the United States. Ambulance crashes during emergency operations occurred more frequently at intersections compared to non-emergency operations. Further investigation of the low Japanese ambulance crash rates could provide opportunities to improve ambulance safety in other countries.
Temporal dynamics of biodiversity effects and light‐use‐related traits in two intercropping systems

Introduction: Intercropping systems can be more productive than their respective monocultures and this positive net biodiversity effect is caused by complementarity and selection effects. While the complementarity effect is caused through resource partitioning or facilitation, the selection effect operates via the greater probability that a more diverse community contains a dominant and high ‐ yielding species which will account for the majority of productivity in that community. Here, we investigated how light ‐ use ‐ related traits contribute to the net biodiversity effect via complementarity or selection effects and how these qre-lationships change throughout an annual growing season. Materials and Methods: We conducted weekly destructive harvests to examine temporal dynamics of biodiversity effects in two crop mixtures (oat – lupin and oat – camelina) and their respective monocultures. We linked the biodiversity effects to traits related to light use (i.e., light interception, plant height, photosynthetic efficiency and photosynthetic capacity) and investigated how these relationships changed over time. Results: We found that the net biodiversity and selection effect increased over time in both mixtures, while complementarity effects increased only in the oat – lupin mixture. More intercepted light and taller plants in mixtures compared to monocultures positively contributed to biodiversity effects in both mixtures. Strategies for shade tolerance differed between the mixtures, that is, increased photosynthetic capacity and increased photosynthetic efficiency contributed to a positive net biodiversity effect in the oat – lupin and oat – camelina mixture, respectively. Conclusion: By linking the temporal dynamics of the net biodiversity effect and its two additive components to light ‐ use ‐ related traits in two different crop mixtures, this study demonstrates that complementary light use contributes to overyielding in intercropping systems. Such understanding is important for the design of effective intercropping systems and developing new crop cultivars suited to these environments.
Analytical Solution Proposal to Vehicle Dynamic Handling Properties

One very important aspect of the vehicle handling behaviour is how it reacts to dynamic inputs from the driver. While much has been done in the analytical realm to describe the vehicle steady state handling properties, the transient and dynamic behaviour of the vehicle have been studied mostly through multibody software packages, as the analytical solution is usually more difficult to be achieved. Taking into consideration that the analytical approach provides the engineer a deeper understanding of the underlying physical phenomena being studied, bringing more simplicity to the overall solution at the same time, this paper proposes an analytical solution for the vehicle lateral acceleration response to periodic excitation at the steering wheel. In the sequence, a comparison of the results between this analytical model and a detailed multibody model is performed, showing that the proposed analytical model is capable of reproducing the more detailed multibody model with good accuracy.
Volume, Effusion Rate, and Lava Transport During the 2021 Fagradalsfjall Eruption: Results From Near Real‐Time Photogrammetric Monitoring

The basaltic effusive eruption at Mt. Fagradalsfjall lasted from 19 March to 18 September 2021, ending a 781‐year repose period on Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland. By late September 2021, 33 near real‐time photogrammetric surveys were completed using satellite and airborne images, usually processed within 3–6 hr. The results provide unprecedented temporal data sets of lava volume, thickness, and effusion rate. This enabled rapid assessment of eruption evolution and hazards to populated areas, important infrastructure, and tourist centers. The lava flow field has a mean lava thickness exceeding 30 m, covers 4.8 km2 and has a bulk volume of 150 ± 3 × 106 m3. The March–September mean bulk effusion rate is 9.5 ± 0.2 m3/s, ranging between 1 and 8 m3/s in March–April and increasing to 9–13 m3/s in May–September. This is uncommon for recent Icelandic eruptions, where the highest discharge usually occurs in the opening phase.
Availability and Use of Vaccines against COVID-19 in Pregnancy

Pregnant women when infected with SARS-CoV-2 infection are more at risk of having severe outcomes including ICU admission, adverse cardiac and thromboembolic events and preterm delivery. Immunization in pregnancy has certain ethical dilemmas and vaccination seems to be challenging. Preliminary data regarding the use of mRNA based vaccines against this virus in pregnant women is promising. Recently, RCOG and WHO have widened the scope of use of vaccines among pregnant women against COVID-19. Similarly, ACOG has also given the go-ahead to the use of two mRNA based and one viral vector based vaccine in pregnant women. The scope of vaccination among pregnant and lactating women being realized in developed part of world is a promising prospect in prevention of COVID-19 infections. However, developing nations require attention from private stakeholders, health and social care organizations to ensure right of health for all.
Teachers’ and students’ perspectives on teaching and learning through virtual learning environments

The aim of this investigation was to get an insight into how teachers and students responded to the use of virtual learning environments (VLE) in engineering education and what their expectations were from online courses. Teachers designed their online courses with the assistance of a support e-learning team and questionnaires were used for teachers and students to express their views on the online courses. Teachers pointed out that the online courses by themselves would be able to tackle limited lecture time and strengthen the students’ background knowledge. Students, on the other hand, stated that their difficulties regarding the courses could be facilitated by using a more interactive teaching approach with the use of collaboration tools and receiving individual feedback. Thus, students suggested that teachers adopt a more student-centred approach by using VLE. Teachers’ and students’ perspectives were related to their personal characteristics, as students were more familiar with everyday e-communication tools.
Pharmacotherapy of obesity in complex diseases

More than 40% of adults in the United States suffer from obesity. Obesity is inextricably linked to many chronic illnesses like type‐2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, heart disease, sleep apnea, stroke, and cancers. When used in combination with lifestyle modifications, pharmacotherapy has a vital role in treating obesity and improves short‐term and long‐term outcomes. A growing number of physicians are now interested in obesity medicine, and many of them are seeking guidance on how to treat complex patients with co‐morbidities. This review provides a practical guide to the use of anti‐obesity medications across various obesity‐related comorbidities. It provides a general review of the currently approved anti‐obesity medications and effective combinations. It discusses the highlights of the major trials and recent studies assessing the benefits of anti‐obesity medications in comorbid conditions such as type‐2 diabetes mellitus, psychiatric disorders, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, renal diseases, and liver diseases. This review briefly examines the aspects of recognizing and addressing iatrogenic weight gain; discusses the precautions and prescribing considerations of anti‐obesity medications, including side effects and possible dose adjustments in various comorbid conditions; and provides an expert opinion on an individualized choice of the best anti‐obesity medication.
Laboratory Attenuation of Earmuffs and Earplugs Both Singly and in Combination

For very high-level noise exposures, especially when 8-hour, time-weighted averages are greater than 105 dBA, the attenuation of a single hearing protection device may be inadequate. For such exposures, double hearing protection, i.e. muffs plus plugs, may be called for. It is well recognized that double hearing protection does not simply yield overall attenuation equal to the sum of the individual attenuation of each device due to the bone-conduction flanking paths and the acoustical-mechanical interaction between two such closely spaced devices. The incremental performance to be gained by double protection was investigated experimentally by measuring the real-ear attenuation at threshold for a number of combinations, according to ANSI S3.19-1974. All tests were conducted on 10 subjects, three replications per subject. Devices included foam plugs (partial, standard and deep insertion), fiberglass down, V-51R earplugs, medium and large volume commercially available earmuffs, and an experimental large-volu.
Automatic Design System With Generative Adversarial Network and Convolutional Neural Network for Optimization Design of Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor

The optimal design of interior permanent magnet synchronous motors requires a long time because finite element analysis (FEA) is performed repeatedly. To solve this problem, many researchers have used artificial intelligence to construct a prediction model that can replace FEA. However, because the training data are generated by FEA, it takes a very long time to obtain a sufficient amount of data, making it impossible to train a large-scale prediction model. Here, we propose a method for generating a large amount of data from a small number of FEA results using machine learning. An automatic design system with a deep generative model and a convolutional neural network is then constructed. With its sufficient data, the proposed system can handle three topologies and three motor parameters in a wide range of current vector regions. The proposed system was applied to multi-objective optimization design, with the optimization completed in 13–15 seconds.
Estimating Potential Effect of Speed Limits, Built Environment, and Other Factors on Severity of Pedestrian and Cyclist Injuries in Crashes

Road facilities in urban areas are a major source of injury for nonmotorized road users despite the benefits of nonmotorized transportation. In particular, large Canadian cities such as Montreal face serious problems with pedestrian and cyclist safety. To address these problems, funds are continually allocated through different safety improvement programs such as reduction of speed limits, improvement of intersections, and increased traffic enforcement. However, few analytical tools help to identify and quantify the benefits of countermeasures (e.g., roadway design, speed management strategies, or land use policies) in reducing accident frequency and severity. Injury severity models were developed to determine the effects of road design, built environment, speed limits, and other factors (e.g., vehicle characteristics and movement type) on injury severity levels of pedestrians and cyclists involved in collisions with motor vehicles. Sources of data included police reports describing vehicle–pedestrian and vehicle–cyclist collisions, as well as information on land use, transit network, and road design attributes from the city of Montreal. The impacts of road design, land use, built environment, and other strategies on the injury severity levels of vulnerable road users were investigated. Factors such as darkness, vehicle movement, whether an accident occurred at an intersection, vehicle type, and land use mix affected the severity of pedestrian injuries from collisions. For cyclists, however, only vehicle movement and whether the accident occurred at a signalized intersection had significant effects on the severity of the injury.
Evaluation of the Pathways for Survivors Program to Address Breast Cancer Survivorship–Associated Distress: Survey Study

Background Patients with breast cancer frequently experience escalation of anxiety after completing curative treatment. Objective This study evaluated the acceptability and psychological impact of a 1-day workshop to emphasize behavioral strategies involving intention and self-efficacy. Methods Breast cancer survivors who attended a 1-day Pathways for Survivors workshop provided feedback and completed electronic quality of life (QOL) questionnaires at baseline, 1 and 6 weeks, and 6 months after the workshop. Attendees’ baseline QOL scores were compared to follow-up (FUP) scores. Scores from patients receiving routine FUP care were also compiled as a reference population. Results In total, 77 patients attended 1 of 9 workshops. The mean satisfaction score was 9.7 out of 10 for the workshop and 9.96 out of 10 for the moderator. Participants’ baseline mean Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) anxiety and depression scores were 57.8 (SD 6.9) and 55.3 (SD 7.5), respectively, which were significantly higher than those of patients receiving routine FUP care (49.1, SD 8.3 and 47.3 SD 8.0, respectively). PROMIS anxiety and depression scores decreased, and the Happiness Index Profile (HIP-10) score—measuring intention and resiliency—increased significantly at 1- and 6-week FUPs. Conclusions The Pathways for Survivors program was favorably received. Anxiety and depression decreased significantly at 1- and 6-weeks after the workshop and remained below baseline at 6 months. Increased HIP-10 scores suggest that patients acquired and implemented skills from the workshop. A 1-day workshop led by a lay moderator significantly improved several psychological measures, suggesting that it may be a useful and time-efficient strategy to improve QOL in breast cancer survivors. We are investigating whether an abbreviated “booster” of the intervention at a later date could further improve and maintain QOL gains.
Effect of Monetary Policy on Investment in Russian Regions

This paper assesses the effect of monetary policy on investment in Russian regions. In the first stage of the research, we estimate the responses of regional investment to interbank market rate shocks using structural vector autoregressions. In the second stage, we estimate regression models using impulse responses as dependent variables and explanatory factors as independent variables. The regression calculations are performed using the Elastic Net regularisation technique. We find that regions with higher shares of manufacturing, agriculture and construction are more responsive to monetary policy shocks. In addition, we identified the high importance of these sectors in explaining the different effects of monetary policy on investment. The results also show that the larger is the share of the mining and quarrying sector in the gross regional product (GRP) and the greater the imports to GRP ratio, the smaller is the absolute change in investment from a monetary policy shock.