Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Performance Improvement Mechanism of Cross-Border E-Commerce Grassroots Entrepreneurship Empowered by the Internet Platform

In the cross-border e-commerce industry, millions of small and medium-sized sellers have emerged in recent years. With the empowerment of the Internet platform, these grassroots entrepreneurs, which are generally disadvantaged in terms of resources, capabilities, costs, etc., have overcome a number of barriers and acquired more equitable participation opportunities in the fierce market competition. This study explores the performance improvement mechanism of platform empowerment for grassroots entrepreneurs and tests the mediating effect of resource bricolage. After descriptive statistical analysis, applying the common method variance test, and reliability and validity verification of the 336 valid questionnaire sample data, a path analysis of the structural equation model and an intermediary effect test were conducted. The results indicated that the structural empowerment of the platform could significantly and positively improve the entrepreneurial performance of grassroots entrepreneurs, while the psychological empowerment of the platform has no significant effect. In addition, the resource bricolage played a completely mediating role in the impact of platform empowerment on entrepreneurial performance. By deepening our understanding of the platform empowerment mechanism and grassroots entrepreneurs’ resource bricolage behavior, this study provided guidance and reference for the platform to better play its empowerment role and for the grassroots entrepreneurs to achieve their own growth.
Prototype measurements of pressure fluctuations in The Dalles Dam stilling basin

At The Dalles Dam on the Columbia River, fish are believed to sustain injury from exposure to turbulence and from collisions with baffle blocks and end sills in the stilling basin at high spillway discharges. Because taking velocity measurements would be exceedingly difficult in this environment, a system of pressure transducers was installed to record high-frequency pressure data for a range of spillway discharges. The sensors were mounted below two of the spillbays on the tops, faces, and sides of baffle blocks; in the gaps between baffle blocks; and on the top and face of the end sill. Statistical analyses on results from three sensors below one of the two spillways showed that mean pressure increased during head-on flow, decreased in flow separation zones, and was proportional to water depth. Power spectra indicate increased low-frequency spectral power with increased discharge, typical spectral decay rates, and the existence of spectral peaks of possible hydraulic origin. The high-frequency pressure data collected at full scale in extremely turbulent environments will contribute to efforts to improve fish passage and to develop and validate three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models.
Deep Multi-Look Sequence Processing for Synthetic Aperture Sonar Image Segmentation

Deep learning has enabled significant improvements in semantic image segmentation, especially in underwater imaging domains such as side scan sonar (SSS). In this work, we apply deep learning to synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) imagery, which has an advantage over traditional SSS in which SAS produces coherent high- and constant-resolution imagery. Despite the successes of deep learning, one drawback is the need for abundant labeled training data to enable success. Such abundant labeled data are not always available as in the case of SAS where collections are expensive and obtaining quality ground-truth labels may require diver intervention. To overcome these challenges, we propose a domain-specific deep learning network architecture utilizing a unique property to complex-valued SAS imagery: the ability to resolve angle-of-arrival (AoA) of acoustic returns through $k$ -space processing. By sweeping through consecutive incrementally advanced AoA bandpass filters (a process sometimes referred to as multi-look processing), this technique generates a sequence of images emphasizing angle-dependent seafloor scattering and motion from biologics along the seafloor or in the water column. Our proposal, which we call multi-look sequence processing network (MLSP-Net), is a domain-enriched deep neural network architecture that models the multi-look image sequence using a recurrent neural network (RNN) to extract robust features suitable for semantic segmentation of the seafloor without the need for abundant training data. Unlike previous segmentation works in SAS, our model ingests a complex-valued SAS image and affords the ability to learn the AoA filters in $k$ -space as part of the training procedure. We show the results on a challenging real-world SAS database, and despite the lack of abundant training data, our proposed method shows superior results over state-of-the-art techniques.
Total least squares problem - computational aspects and analysis

Introduction Basic principles of the total least squares problem Extensions of the basic total least squares problem Direct speed Improvement of the total least squares computations Iterative speed Improvement for solving slowly varying total least squares problems Algebraic Connections Between total least squares and least squares problems Sensitivity analysis of total least squares and least squares problems in the presence of errors in all data Statistical properties of the total least squares problem Algebraic connections between total least squares estimation and classical linear regression in Multicollinearity problems Conclusions.
Submicrosecond electro‐optic switching in the liquid‐crystal smectic A phase: The soft‐mode ferroelectric effect

A new liquid‐crystal electro‐optic modulating device similar to the surface‐stabilized ferroelectric liquid‐crystal device is described. It uses the same kind of ferroelectric chiral smectics and the same geometry as that device (thin sample in the ‘‘bookshelf ’’ layer arrangement) but instead of using a tilted smectic phase like the C* phase, it utilizes the above‐lying, nonferroelectric A phase, taking advantage of the electroclinic effect. The achievable optical intensity modulation that can be detected through the full range of the A phase is considerably lower than for the surface‐stabilized device, but the response is much faster. Furthermore, the response is strictly linear with respect to the applied electric field. The device concept is thus appropriate for modulator rather than for display applications. We describe the underlying physics and present measurements of induced tilt angle, of light modulation depth, and of rise time.
Unicity theorems for meromorphic functions sharing four small functions

Let / and g be transcendental meromorphic functions in the complex plane having properties N(r, f) < uT(r, f) + S(r, f) and N(r, g) < vT(r, g) + S(r, g) for some constants u and v satisfying (u,v) e [0,1/19) x [0,1/19). If there exist four distinct small meromorphic functions shared by / and g, then f = g.
Chronic Illness Patients’ Perceptions of Quality of Care During Hospitalization: A Qualitative Study

Introduction The rising prevalence of patients living with chronic illnesses and frequent hospitalizations represent many challenges in delivering high-quality care. Assessing patients’ perceptions and needs regarding the quality of health care services is a critical step in improving quality of care. Objective This study sought to explore the perception of quality of care from the perspectives and experiences of chronically ill patients during hospitalization. Methods This study was conducted using a qualitative descriptive design. Face-to-face semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 15 chronically ill patients at their bedside during their current hospital admission. Analysis followed Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis approach. Results Overall patients were pleased with their hospitalization experience; however, they highlighted many aspects of care that can be addressed to improve the quality of care provided. Five themes were identified from the analysis as follows: defining quality of care; aspects related to the healthcare providers; unmet care needs; patient's involvement in healthcare decisions and care expectations and outcomes. Conclusion A key finding of this study was the association between quality of care and healthcare providers’ skills, clinical competence, and attitudes. Poor communication and discoordination of care were the most significant impediment expressed. Actively involving patients in care may be effective when combined with meeting expectations. The findings of this study helped to identify the strength points and areas of improvement that are the cornerstone for developing tailored and patient-centered strategies to improve the quality of care during hospitalizations among chronically ill Saudis.
Coherent structure formation and magnetic field line reconnection in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

The effects produced by the occurrence of both ideal and resistive instabilities in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence are discussed, from the point of view of the formation of coherent structures. It is shown that MHD equations spontaneously develop spatially flat or elongated structures, a fact that might be related with the intermittency of the magnetic field observed in some numerical simulations. It is suggested that these flat structures are perhaps unstable with respect to reconnecting (tearing mode type) perturbations. Such instabilities give rise to a nonlocal energy transfer in the wave number space, which modifies the usual inertial spectrum of MHD turbulence, and increases the rate of energy and correlation dissipation. An explicit nonlinear cascade model that qualitatively takes into account such a nonlocal energy transfer is built up, in order to study dynamically the balance between nonlinear energy cascade and linear tearing mode instability. Finally, an attempt is made to interpret some of the peculiar behavior of published MHD simulations on the basis of the results obtained using the present model.
Prediction of industrial, biophysical and extreme geophysical flows using particle methods

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how simulation of the flow of particulates and fluids using discrete element modelling (DEM) and smoothed particle dynamics (SPH) particle methods, offer opportunities for better understanding the dynamics of flow processes.Design/methodology/approach – DEM and SPH methods are demonstrated in a broad range of computationally‐demanding applications including comminution, biomedical, geophysical extreme flow events (risk/disaster modelling), eating of food by humans and elite water‐based sports.Findings – DEM is ideally suited to predicting industrial and geophysical applications where collisions between particles are the dominant physics. SPH is highly suited to multi‐physics fluid flow applications in industrial, biophysical and geophysical applications. The advantages and disadvantages of these particle methods are discussed.Research limitations/implications – Research results are limited by the numerical resolution that can currently be afforded.Practical i.
Assessment of abuse potential of carfentanil

Carfentanil, as a fentanyl analogue, is a potent synthetic opioid. It has been controlled in many countries, and its emergence has been highlighted by many recent reports. However, although discriminative stimulus effects of carfentanil in rats had been reported, its abuse potential has not been fully evaluated. In this study, we evaluated the abuse potential of carfentanil via the tests of conditioned place preference (CPP), drug self‐administration and naloxone‐precipitated opioid withdrawal assay, compared with fentanyl and heroin. Carfentanil exhibited significant place preference at a minimum dose of 1 μg/kg in mice, whereas fentanyl and heroin induced significant place preference at the minimum doses of 100 μg/kg and 1000 μg/kg, respectively. In the drug‐substitution test in heroin self‐administered rats (50 μg/kg/infusion), carfentanil and fentanyl acquired significant self‐administrations above saline levels from 0.05–0.1 and 0.1–10.0 μg/kg/infusion, respectively. Carfentanil induced the maximum number of infusions at 0.1 μg/kg, whereas fentanyl and heroin at 1 and 25 μg/kg, respectively. In short, carfentanil showed the highest potency to induce CPP and self‐administration. Furthermore, repeated treatment with escalating doses of carfentanil, fentanyl or heroin induced typical withdrawal symptoms in mice, including a greater number of jumping and weight loss than saline group. This indicated that carfentanil could produce physical dependence similar to fentanyl and heroin. Taken together, the present study demonstrated the higher abuse potential of carfentanil compared with fentanyl and heroin. The rank order of abuse potential for these compounds is carfentanil > fentanyl > heroin.
Results of Field Experiments for the Creation of Artificial Updrafts and Clouds

This study documents results from a series of field experiments on the creation of artificial updrafts and convective clouds at a test site in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The proposed method incorporates a vertically directed jet from an aircraft turbojet engine saturated with active hygroscopic aerosols for the purpose of energetically feeding the jet with water vapor condensation heat below cloud base level. This paper presents the description and main characteristics of the experimental equipment, methodology of experiments and atmospheric conditions, analysis of the obtained results, and prospects for further development of the proposed method. On the whole, the experiments showed that under the conditions of low air humidity, typical for the UAE, and the slowness of the condensation process, the replenishment of the jet energy by the heat of condensation is too small, and the power of the used jet engine in the experiments is insufficient to overcome surface temperature inversions, horizontal winds, and initiation of deep convection. Nevertheless, the results of field experiments and numerical simulation made it possible to outline promising directions for further research on improving the considered method for creating artificial clouds and precipitation.
Raman scattering study of thermally reduced stabilized cubic zirconia

We investigated the Raman spectra of thermally reduced and untreated Y- and Ca-stabilized cubic zirconia. A substantial decrease in Raman activity was observed in the acoustic mode region upon reduction. Analyses of these spectra as a phonon density of states and of the observed spectral changes indicate that the reduced states are more ordered than the untreated one. This is consistent with a nonrandom arrangement of vacancies, which produces the superposition of periodic sequences of vacancies within domains. This, in turn, causes the increment in coherence length of phonons that is manifested as a decrease in acoustic mode activity.
Unusual Saharan dust events in the Carpathian Basin (Central Europe) in 2013 and early 2014

W ether – Nvem er 214, ol. 9, o. 11 Tyhoon Hiyan conditions became unfavourable, running into subsiding air on the eastern side of high pressure over China. Nonetheless, six people died on Hainan Island (China) and several more in northern Vietnam, although some of these died while making preparations for the storm’s landfall. Although an extreme storm by any standards, comparable storms took a similar track across the Philippines on 15 October 1912 (Coronas, 1912) and 12 October 1897 (Luces, 2013), causing great loss of life and property, so it is by no means unprecedented. Indeed, an earlier typhoon in the Philippines, in September 1881, cost about 20 000 lives.
Management of convulsive status epilepticus: recent updates

Convulsive status epilepticus (SE) is a medical emergency associated with high morbidity and mortality. Recently, clinical trials and meta-analyses investigating medical treatment of SE have been published. Benzodiazepine is well known as the first-line treatment for SE. Recent evidence suggests the equivalence of intravenous fosphenytoin, valproate, and levetiracetam for treatment of established SE. There is lack of evidence regarding treatment for refractory SE. Intravenous midazolam is commonly used, and recent evidence supports the use of ketamine. Additional studies are needed to improve the management of convulsive SE.
Doubly-periodic Floquet theory

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory for differential equations with doubly-periodic coefficients analogous to the classic Floquet theory for differential equations with singly periodic coefficients. Unlike the classical theory the role of the exponent v of the differential equation is fundamental. If v takes integral values the analogous theory is well known and goes back to the work of Hermite in 1877. When v is rational the theory depends essentially on whether a certain number theoretic conjecture proposed by F. M. Arscott and G. P. Wright in 1969 is true. The paper resolves the conjecture and brings the doubly-periodic Floquet theory to some degree of completion.
In-beam PET measurements of β+ radioactivity induced by proton beams

Our first in-beam PET measurements of the β+ activation induced by proton irradiation are presented. Monoenergetic proton beams in the energy and intensity range suited for the treatment of deep-seated tumours were delivered by the synchrotron of the Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung Darmstadt (GSI). They were stopped in PMMA blocks placed in the centre of the field of view of the positron camera that is installed in the heavy ion tumour treatment facility at GSI. The β+ activity signal was found to be three times larger than that produced by carbon ions at the same range and applied physical dose. The reconstructed spatial β+ activity distributions were analysed and compared with the production of positron emitters predicted by a calculation based on experimental cross-sections and on the proton flux given by the FLUKA Monte Carlo code. The shape of the depth-activity profiles was well reproduced by the model and the correlation with the proton range and the depth-dose distributions was carefully investigated. Despite the non-trivial range determination from the β+ activity distribution in the proton case, our experimental investigation supports the feasibility of an in situ proton therapy monitoring by means of in-beam PET, as already clinically implemented for the monitoring of carbon ion therapy at GSI Darmstadt.
The influence of desorption gas to high power microwave window multipactor

Gas desorbed by electrons plays a key role in multipactor saturation and final plasma breakdown at the vacuum side of the window in high power microwave systems. A multipactor model involving electron-neutral collision and ionization is established. When desorption gas pressure reaches 1Torr, the electron impact energy apparently decreases, multipactor saturates at a lower surface charging field, and multipactor saturation meets easier, compared to vacuum. Experiments for different material windows of high power microwave, with the power of 1GW, frequency of 9.4GHz, and 20ns single and multiple pulses was conducted. It was discovered that gas pressure rose prominently in the horn, when breakdown occurred. The increase in local gas pressure during the 20ns pulse is estimated from the experiment to reach several Torr, a pressure that is consistent with the presented dynamic model.
Augmenting full colour-fused multi-band night vision imagery with synthetic imagery in real-time

We present the design and first field trial results of an all-day all-weather enhanced and synthetic-fused multi-band colour night vision surveillance and observation system. The system augments a fused and dynamic three-band natural-colour night vision image with synthetic 3D imagery in real-time. The night vision sensor suite consists of three cameras, sensitive in, respectively, the visual (400–700 nm), the near-infrared (NIR, 700–1000 nm) and the long-wave infrared (LWIR, 8–14 µm) bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The optical axes of the three cameras are aligned. Image quality of the fused sensor signals is enhanced in real-time through dynamic noise reduction, super resolution and local adaptive contrast enhancement. The quality of the LWIR image is enhanced through scene-based non-uniformity correction. The visual and NIR signals are used to represent the fused multi-band night vision image in natural daytime colours, using the Colour-the-Night colour remapping technique. Colour remapping can also be deployed to enhance the visibility of thermal targets that are camouflaged in the visual and NIR range of the spectrum. The dynamic false-colour night-time images are augmented with corresponding synthetic 3D scene views, generated in real-time using a geometric 3D scene model in combination with position and orientation information supplied by the Global Positioning System and inertial sensors of the system. Initial field trials show that this system provides enhanced situational information in various low-visibility conditions.
On the neutral stability of cross‐waves

The neutral stability of parametrically excited cross‐waves in a rectangular tank is studied. Model equations considered include complex coefficients describing dissipation of the side walls of the tank and at the wavemaker. The results of this study are compared with the available experimental data. It is shown that for certain experimental conditions, the dissipation at the wavemaker becomes important and sometimes dominant. Analysis of the experimentally obtained neutral stability curves and their comparison with the present theory provide an opportunity to estimate the complex dissipation coefficients.
WAVE-MECHANICAL MODEL FOR THE NONADIABATIC LOSS OF PARTICLES FROM MAGNETIC- MIRROR TRAPS.

A model is presented which describes the nonadiabatic loss of particles from magnetic mirror traps through a Schrodinger-like equation where the role of ∓ is played by the "first action invariant. " The process is thus found to be analogous to the "tunneling effect" in quantum mechanics. The predictions of the model for the lifetimes compare very well with the experimental results.
The Joule–Thomson and Joule–Thomson‐Like Effects of the Black Holes in a Cavity

When a black hole is enclosed in a cavity in asymptotically flat space, an effective volume can be introduced, and an effective pressure can be further defined as its conjugate variable. By this means, an extended phase space is constructed in a cavity, which resembles that in the anti‐de Sitter (AdS) space in many aspects. However, there are still some notable dissimilarities simultaneously. In this work, the Joule–Thomson (JT) effect of the black holes, widely discussed in the AdS space as an isenthalpic (constant‐mass) process, is shown to only have cooling region in a cavity. On the contrary, in a constant‐thermal‐energy process (the JT‐like effect), there is only heating region in a cavity. Altogether, different from the AdS case, there is no inversion temperature or inversion curve in a cavity. Our work reveals the subtle discrepancy between the two different extended phase spaces that is sensitive to the specific boundary conditions.