Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Molecular Dynamics Approach to the Impacts of Oxidative Aging on the Engineering Characteristics of Asphalt

Oxidative aging is an inevitable environmental factor that accelerates asphalt pavement deterioration. This study employed a molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the impact of aging on asphalt cement from the perspectives of thermodynamic properties, and diffusion and adhesion characteristics. Results indicate that aging increased bulk density from 1.008 to 1.081 g/cm3 and cohesive energy density by 15.6%, which was attributed to the promoted molecular polarity and intermolecular attractiveness. The enhanced molecular interactions also reduced molecular mobility, which led to an increase in the glass transition temperature by 30 K, suggesting that aging diminished the resistance of asphalt to thermal cracking. Simulations of the diffusion behaviors across different temperatures demonstrated that the Arrhenius relationship described well the temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficient, and that aging considerably slowed down the diffusion process as represented by Arrhenius prefactor D0, which dropped by 38.2%. The asphalt–aggregate adhesion was assessed using layered models with and without a water interlayer of different thicknesses. The adhesion was enhanced upon aging due to the significantly improved electrostatic interactions at the interface. Evaluation of the residual adhesion with the presence of interfacial water suggested that aging would raise the moisture susceptibility of asphalt pavement. The increase in molecular polarity was considered to be highly responsible for these aging consequences, and was thus further investigated via the electrostatic potential surface and dipole moment.
High-Temperature HEMT Model

Taking into account the impact of self-heating and temperature rise effects, this work presents a physics-based analytical model for HEMTs, operating continuously from room temperature to high temperatures in linear and saturation regimes. Relying on the core École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) HEMT model, the temperature dependence of various parameters including mobility, saturation velocity, critical electric fields, access region resistance, threshold voltage, and subthreshold slope was taken into account in the model. The accuracy of the developed model is validated by the TCAD simulation results and experimental data over a wide range of ambient temperatures from −20 °C to 500 °C.
Paths, Cycles and Mechanism Design

The incentive compatability 1 constraints of mechanism design (with quasi-linear utilities) can be interpreted as being the dual inequalities of a shortest path problem. I believe this interpretation provides an intuitive and powerful lens through which to view the implications of incentive compatabil-ity. This document provides an (incomplete) account of the main results in mechanism design from this point of view. They assume familiarity with mechanism design and basic linear programming and convex analysis. I welcome suggestions for additions, deletions and improvements to this material. This point of view is the product of collaborations with many individuals. However they are not responsible for any errors of commision or omission. The impetus for putting this down on paper in one place was an invitation from S. Pekec, L. Rigotti and P. Lopomo to talk about these matters at Fuqua.
Perceptions of aging and wellness engagement among life plan community residents

ABSTRACT Despite the availability, some residents choose not to participate in wellness offerings at their residential communities. Perceptions of aging can influence engagement in healthy behaviors. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between perceptions of aging and wellness engagement among Life Plan Community residents. A total of 447 residents (ages 59 to 97; M = 81.82, SD = 6.55) of 10 Life Plan Communities completed surveys that measured their perceptions of aging, self-reported wellness, interest in improving wellness, participation in wellness programs, and barriers to wellness participation. Multiple regression analyses revealed that more positive perceptions of aging were associated with better wellness, higher interest, more frequent participation, and fewer barriers. Follow-up analyses revealed that these effects could be accounted for by specific types of aging attitudes (i.e. psychological growth, psychosocial loss, and physical change). These findings have implications for the development, implementation, and promotion of wellness programs for older adults.
Factors influencing peer referencing behavior during an online learning activity

Cultivating critical thinking skills in referencing a plethora of information epitomizes the learning objectives of technology in education. However, different social influences in a classroom, such as academic prestige, friendship, and gender, may impact students’ referencing behavior. Specifically, we investigated how various factors affect pupils’ referencing of peer-generated questions during an online test-construction learning activity and perceptions. Three fifth-grade classes (n = 75, Mage = 11.08, SD age = 0.28) participated in a two-stage mixed methods research for 12 weeks. We found significant effects of friendship and inferred task-specific ability on online referencing behavior based on the multiple regression quadratic assignment procedures, simple regressions, and two-step hierarchical linear regressions. The survey data further revealed that students considered the content of their peers' questions most frequently among a mixture of other factors influencing online referencing decisions. The implications and suggestions for instruction, future studies, and system designs involving behavior connoting intent to endorse are provided to help create meaningful, reflective, and impartial online learning spaces.
Modifications of Epitaxial Graphene on SiC for the Electrochemical Detection and Identification of Heavy Metal Salts in Seawater

The electrochemical detection of heavy metal ions is reported using an inexpensive portable in-house built potentiostat and epitaxial graphene. Monolayer, hydrogen-intercalated quasi-freestanding bilayer, and multilayer epitaxial graphene were each tested as working electrodes before and after modification with an oxygen plasma etch to introduce oxygen chemical groups to the surface. The graphene samples were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and van der Pauw Hall measurements. Dose–response curves in seawater were evaluated with added trace levels of four heavy metal salts (CdCl2, CuSO4, HgCl2, and PbCl2), along with detection algorithms based on machine learning and library development for each form of graphene and its oxygen plasma modification. Oxygen plasma-modified, hydrogen-intercalated quasi-freestanding bilayer epitaxial graphene was found to perform best for correctly identifying heavy metals in seawater.
Risk of Rash in PD-1 or PD-L1-Related Cancer Clinical Trials: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background Given that immune-related rash was the most frequently reported PD-1 or PD-L1-related skin toxicity, this systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to elucidate its incidence risk. Methods The meta-analysis was carried out according to the PRISMA guidelines. The random effect model was used in the process of all analyses. Skin rash of all grades and grades 3–5 were calculated and gathered in the final comprehensive analyses. Results The study included 86 clinical trials classified into 15 groups. Compared with chemotherapy, PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors significantly strengthened the risk of developing rash across all grades (OR = 1.66, 95% CI: [1.31, 2.11]; p < 0.0001). This trend was significantly stronger when the control group was placebo (OR = 2.62, 95% CI: [1.88, 3.65]; p < 0.00001). Similar results were observed when PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors were given together with chemotherapy (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: [1.59, 2.20]; p < 0.00001), even in patients with grades 3–5. As with other combination therapies, the risk of developing rash for all grades was enhanced when PD-1 or PD-L1 was given together with chemotherapy as the second-line option (OR = 2.98, 95% CI: [1.87, 4.75]; p=0.05). No statistically significant differences could be found in skin rash between the PD-1 and PD-L1-related subgroups. Conclusion Whether PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors were given alone or together with others, the risk of developing rash would be enhanced. Furthermore, the risk of developing rash appeared to be higher when PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors together with other antitumor drugs were given as the second-line options. No statistically significant results of developing rash between PD-1 and PD-L1 subgroups were obtained owing to the participation of PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors.
WORKING CONTEXT IN A HEMODIALYSIS SERVICE: EVALUATION OF NURSING STAFF

El estudio tuvo como objetivo evaluar el contexto de trabajo y relacionarlo con sufrimiento psiquico entre el personal de enfermeria en un servicio de hemodialisis del sur de Brasil. Estudio cuantitativo realizado en 2011, con 46 trabajadores. Criterios de inclusion: trabajar en la enfermeria al menos 6 meses. Fueron excluidos los trabajadores apartados en el periodo de la colecta de datos. Utilizaron un formulario auto-rellenable con datos sociodemograficos, laborales y la Escala de Evaluacion del Contexto de Trabajo. Se realizo el analisis descriptivo y bivariado con niveles de confianza del 95%, utilizando los programas Epi-info(r) y Predictive Analytics Software. La organizacion del trabajo fue considerada critica, las relaciones socio profesionales y condiciones de trabajo satisfactorias. Los trabajadores menos satisfechos con el sueldo y los que sufrieron accidente de trabajo evaluaron las relaciones socios profesionales. El contexto investigado no es favorable habiendo necesidad de intervenciones con la finalidad de evitar a la salud de los trabajadores.
The Ineffectiveness of CSR: Understanding Garment Company Commitments to Living Wages in Global Supply Chains

ABSTRACT In the face of pressure from civil society, unions and consumers to improve labour standards for the workers producing their goods, companies at the helm of global garment supply chains have made commitments to pay living wages within their supply chains. Harnessing insights from the critical political economy literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR), we investigate the actions of garment companies to meet these commitments. We do so through analysis of original data from a survey of 20 leading garment companies, which we co-developed in 2018–2019, as well as publicly available information for garment companies and relevant multi-stakeholder initiatives. Based on this data, we argue there is very little evidence to suggest companies have made meaningful progress towards achieving commitments to pay living wages in their supply chains, challenging widespread assumptions about CSR’s benefits to workers. We argue that in the face of mounting evidence of CSR ineffectiveness, including our own, there is a need for new political economy research into the benefits that companies derive from CSR commitments that deflect attention from their core business models and the uneven value distribution within global supply chains.
Vortex Collapse for the L2-Critical Nonlinear Schr\

The focusing cubic nonlinear Schrodinger equation in two dimensions admits vortex solitons, standing wave solutions with spatial structure, Q(m)(r, θ) = eimθR(m)(r). In the case of spin m = 1, we prove there exists a class of data that collapse with the vortex soliton profile at the log-log rate. This extends the work of Merle and Raphael (the case m = 0) and suggests that the L2 mass that may be concentrated at a point during generic collapse may be unbounded. Difficulties with m ⩾ 2, or when the spin symmetry is broken, are also discussed.
Increasing Health Risks During Outdoor Sports Due To Climate Change in Texas: Projections Versus Attitudes

Extreme heat is a recognized threat to human health. This study examines projected future trends of multiple measures of extreme heat across Texas throughout the next century, and evaluates the expected climate changes alongside Texas athletic staff (coach and athletic trainer) attitudes toward heat and climate change. Numerical climate simulations from the recently published Community Earth System Model version 2 and the Climate Model Intercomparison Project were used to predict changes in summer temperatures, heat indices, and wet bulb temperatures across Texas and also within specific metropolitan areas. A survey examining attitudes toward the effects of climate change on athletic programs and student athlete health was also distributed to high‐school and university athletic staff. Heat indices are projected to increase beyond what is considered healthy/safe limits for outdoor sports activity by the mid‐to‐late 21st century. Survey results reveal a general understanding and acceptance of climate change and a need for adjustments in accordance with more dangerous heat‐related events. However, a portion of athletic staff still do not acknowledge the changing climate and its implications for student athlete health and their athletic programs. Enhancing climate change and health communication across the state may initiate important changes to athletic programs (e.g., timing, duration, intensity, and location of practices), which should be made in accordance with increasingly dangerous temperatures and weather conditions. This work employs a novel interdisciplinary approach to evaluate future heat projections alongside attitudes from athletic communities toward climate change.
Does making less effort entail satisfaction? A large empirical study on client relationship services

The customer effort score has become one of the indicators most monitored by companies in recent years. The idea is that the less effort customers exert when interacting with a brand, the more satisfied they will be, the more likely they will recommend and continue interacting with the brand. In this article, we explore the actual relationship between the client’s effort to solve the problem that led them to contact the brand and the satisfaction derived from this interaction. We present a weekly survey conducted over 2 years, covering 314 194 interactions with 96 brands from 2016 to 2017. The results show a negative effect of client effort intensity on satisfaction, except in some situations where effort intensity increases satisfaction, with an interaction effect of the interaction channel, and the business sector.
A critical review and assessment of the last 15 years of experience design research in a nature-based tourism context

ABSTRACT This paper delivers a critical review and assessment of the last 15 years of experience design research in an NBT context. We employed a systematic approach to review the literature and identified 99 relevant out of 1378 studies published in selected databases. The analysis has demonstrated that research on NBT experience design is cross-disciplinary and faces increasing interest. Despite significant progress, the concept of the NBT visitor experiences is still vague and lacks systematic understanding. Destination managers must focus on structuring visitor opportunities in line with market requirements and consistent with their legal and organizational mandates. This requires understanding the linkages between visitor participation, expectation, and outcomes from NBT activities to influence settings and co-design memorable experiences, reduce hassles, and promote proenvironmental behaviour and visitor commitment. Monitoring visitor experiences remained poorly defined, with few advances to its definition and measurement. Major lessons learned and new avenues for research are discussed.
Optimizing Inter-Core Communications Under the LET Paradigm using DMA Engines

Modern automotive applications are increasingly characterized by the need to transfer massive amounts of data in a predictable and deterministic way, possibly leveraging the Logical Execution Time (LET) paradigm. However, current proposals for LET communications are limited to core-commanded data transfers, which may result in large delays for data-intensive systems. To address this issue, we explore the use of Direct Memory Access (DMA) to handle LET communication with improved parallelism. Each DMA transfer operates on a contiguous memory area, thus calling for an optimized memory mapping to maximize performance. Modern DMA engines offer also advanced configurations, such as linked-lists of data transfers, which may provide more flexibility at the expenses of an increased (initial) programming overhead. Leveraging all such features of DMA engines, we propose a set of designs and protocols for LET communications with trade-offs between latency and space requirements. For each option we present the formulation to compute the optimal scheduling and memory allocation solution as a mixed-integer linear programming problem. Experimental results show the feasibility of the approach and a comparison of the solutions obtained using the proposed methods, showing a considerable improvement in terms of data acquisition latency when compared to LET communication without DMA.
A Derivative PBFT Blockchain Consensus Algorithm With Dual Primary Nodes Based on Separation of Powers-DPNPBFT

The Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerant (PBFT) consensus algorithm has many advantages, which makes PBFT utilized widely. Nonetheless, PBFT is not suitable for large-scale node scenarios due to its high communication complexity and it also has an apparent disadvantage of inadequate fault tolerance. The typically derived PBFT algorithms focus on reducing communication complexity at the cost of diminished system security or fault tolerance. In this paper, Dual-Primary-Node derived Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (DPNPBFT) is proposed to achieve the best balance of the above three performances. First, DPNPBFT selects dual master nodes based on the idea of power separation. The two master nodes check balance and supervise each other to avoid excessive centralization as a single master node system. It also reduces the communication complexity of the replica node, which only communicates with the master node. Furthermore, we designed the architecture of DPNPBFT to get a practical 49% fault tolerance rate, and it is close to the current mainstream Proof of Work and Proof of Stake algorithms. Experimental results demonstrate that DPNPBFT has O(N) level communication complexity and excellent anti-host node malicious performance. The Transactions Per Second of DPNPBFT is stable at 1700. It proves DPNPBFT has the best performance balance and excellent comprehensive performance for large-scale Internet of Things application scenarios.
Blind Source Separation for MT-InSAR Analysis With Structural Health Monitoring Applications

Monitoring large areas of the Earth's surface is possible thanks to the availability of remote sensing data obtained by a large collection of diverse satellites orbiting the Earth. Specifically, multitemporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (MT-InSAR) techniques supply the structural community with time series of line-of-sight displacements of terrain or structures, such as bridges or buildings, resulting from causes such as thermal expansion, contraction, and terrain deformation. The analysis of the different deformation signals observed is crucial in order to identify the different phenomena that cause the deformation. In this article, we explore the possibility of applying blind source separation algorithms to MT-InSAR, with the aim of developing methods towards automatic identification of different deformation patterns both in buildings and structures. We validate the proposed methodology using both synthetically generated datasets and real MT-InSAR data. We also provide a comparison with other similar methods. Our results demonstrate that InSAR time-series analysis can benefit from the use of the proposed blind source separation approach. Furthermore, the proposed technique is robust to the noise which is usually present in MT-InSAR data. This opens the door for monitoring infrastructure at scale over very large areas, helping to monitor civil infrastructures, and providing relevant insights to asset owners regarding the performance of such structures over time.
Sequential approximate optimization with adaptive parallel infill strategy assisted by inaccurate Pareto front

Sequential Approximate Optimization (SAO) has been widely used in engineering optimization design problems to improve efficiency. The infilling strategy is one of the critical techniques of the SAO, which is of paramount importance to the surrogate model accuracy and optimization efficiency. In this paper, an adaptive parallel infill strategy for surrogate-based single-objective optimization is proposed within a multi-objective optimization framework to balance exploration and exploitation during the optimization process. Within this method, an inaccurate Pareto Front is adopted to assist the infilling of the sampling points. The proposed SAO method with its adaptive parallel sampling strategy is tested on several numerical test cases and an engineering test case with the optimization results compared to state-of-the-art optimization algorithms. The results show that the proposed SAO with the adaptive parallel sampling strategy possesses excellent performance and better stability.
Effectiveness of Golimumab as Second Anti-TNFα Drug in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis and Axial Spondyloarthritis in Italy: GO-BEYOND, a Prospective Real-World Observational Study

In this prospective observational study, data were collected from 34 rheumatology clinics in Italy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) who started golimumab (GLM) as a second anti-TNFα drug. The primary objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of GLM after 6 months. Changes in quality of life using the EQ-5D-5L were also assessed. A total of 194 patients aged 53.2 ± 12 years started GLM as a second anti-TNF drug: 39 (20.1%) with RA, 91 (46.9%) with PsA and 64 (32.9%) with axSpA. After 6 months of GLM treatment, 68% of RA patients achieved low disease activity (LDA; DAS28-CRP ≤ 3.2), 31.9% of PsA patients achieved minimal disease activity and 32.5% of axSpA patients achieved LDA (ASDAS-CRP < 2.1). Good/moderate EULAR response was achieved in 61.9% and 73.8% of patients with RA and PsA, respectively, and 16% of axSpA patients achieved a 50% improvement in BASDAI. Across all indications, improvements in disease activity measures and EQ-5D-5L domains were observed over 6 months. The main reasons for GLM interruption were lack/loss of efficacy (7.2%) or adverse events (2%). This study confirms the effectiveness of GLM as a second-line anti-TNF for the treatment of RA, PsA and axSpA in a real-world setting in Italy.
Energy efficient service placement in fog computing

The Internet of Things (IoT) concept evolved into a slew of applications. To satisfy the requests of these applications, using cloud computing is troublesome because of the high latency caused by the distance between IoT devices and cloud resources. Fog computing has become promising with its geographically distributed infrastructure for providing resources using fog nodes near IoT devices, thereby reducing the bandwidth and latency. A geographical distribution, heterogeneity and resource constraints of fog nodes introduce the key challenge of placing application modules/services in such a large scale infrastructure. In this work, we propose an improved version of the JAYA approach for optimal placement of modules that minimizes the energy consumption of a fog landscape. We analyzed the performance in terms of energy consumption, network usage, delays and execution time. Using iFogSim, we ran simulations and observed that our approach reduces on average 31% of the energy consumption compared to modern methods.