Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robot Path Planning via Neural-Network-Driven Prediction

This article presents a novel heuristic method named neural-network-driven prediction (NEED) for robot path planning problems. Different from classical heuristic methods, NEED is not designed for some specific environments, which can be applied to various environments. NEED has an encoder–decoder structure, which consists of three modules: convolutional neural network backbone, spatial pooling module, and decoder module. By learning from a number of successful path planning cases, NEED can learn to analyze the environment structure and predict the promising search region for the new path planning problem. This predicted region serves as a heuristic to guide the search direction of path planning algorithms. A series of simulation experiments are conducted to demonstrate that NEED significantly improves the algorithm performance on solving new path planning problems. Meanwhile, NEED can also be applied to highly dynamic environments since it can output the prediction results at a speed of over 100 Hz on a laptop.
Do corporate governance practices restrain earnings management in banking industry? Lessons from India

Purpose This study aims to investigate the role of corporate governance practices in restraining earnings management in Indian commercial banks. Design/methodology/approach Estimation of earnings management is based on discretionary loan loss provision and discretionary realised security gains and losses using Beatty et al. (2002) model. The effect of corporate governance on earnings management is examined by performing two-way least square dummy variable regression. Data for a period of five years (2016–2020) is collected from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy ProwessIQ database, Reserve Bank of India website, annual report of banks, National Stock Exchange and bank’s website. Findings Regression results exhibit that number of board committees, size and independence of audit committee and joint audit are significantly effective in curbing earnings management. Other board-related variables (size, independence, meetings and diligence) and audit committee variables (meetings and diligence) are not effective in restraining earnings management in Indian banks. Practical implications The findings may prove to be helpful to regulators, board of directors and investors. It shows the weak area of corporate governance in India that is lack of autonomy to independent directors, which needs regulators attention and it also suggests that the number of independent auditors should be adequate for audit purposes. The board of directors must ensure the formulation of an adequate number of committees, which perform their own super specialised functions. This study brings an alarm to investors not to rely on reported earnings alone as they may be manipulated. Originality/value This paper substantiates the scant literature on the role of corporate governance practices in restraining earnings management in banks of emerging markets and to the best of the authors’ knowledge impact of joint audits on earnings management is previously unexplored in Indian banks, which are examined in this study.
Biomechanical Behavior Evaluation of a Novel Hybrid Occlusal Splint-Mouthguard for Contact Sports: 3D-FEA

Background: Orofacial injuries are common occurrences during contact sports activities. However, there is an absence of data regarding the performance of hybrid occlusal splint mouthguards (HMG), especially during compressive loading. This study amid to evaluate the biomechanical effects of wearing a conventional custom mouthguard (MG) or the HMG on the teeth, bone, and the device itself. Methods: To evaluate the total deformation and stress concentration, a skull model was selected and duplicated to receive two different designs of mouthguard device: one model received a MG with 4-mm thickness and the other received a novel HMG with the same thickness. Both models were subdivided into finite elements. The frictionless contacts were used, and a nonlinear analysis was performed simulating the compressive loading in occlusion. Results: The results were presented in von-Mises stress maps (MPa) and total deformation (mm). A higher stress concentration in teeth was observed for the model with the conventional MG, while the HMG design displayed a promising mechanical response with lower stress magnitude. The HMG design displayed a higher magnitude of stress on its occlusal portion (7.05 MPa) than the MG design (6.19 MPa). Conclusion: The hybrid mouthguard (HMG) reduced (1) jaw displacement during chewing and (2) the generated stresses in maxillary and mandibular teeth.
Control of Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis: A Success Case Based on Deltamethrin 4% Collars

The effect of employing collars impregnated with deltamethrin 4% (DM4) to control canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) was evaluated. as were the individual factors associated with this infection. A cohort study that included household dogs was conducted between 2002 and 2006. The presence of pathognomonic signals, peridomiciliary sleep habits and breed were the main factors associated with the infection. The use of DM4 collars contributed to the reduction of CVL with an effectiveness of 66%, and the dogs’ survival rate was greater than 90% at 50 months. In conclusion, the adoption of DM4 collars reduced the number of euthanized canines and in the incidence of CVL, and this reduction was sustained for one year after discontinuing the use of the collar.
Ionic Polymer Transducers in sensing: the streaming potential hypothesis

Accurate sensing of mechanical strains in civil structures is critical for optimizing structure reliability and lifetime. For instance, combined with intelligent control systems, electromechanical sensor output feedback has the potential to be employed for nondestructive damage evaluation. Application of Ionic Polymer Transducers (IPTs) represents a relatively new sensing approach with more than an order of magnitude higher sensitivity than traditional piezoelectric sensors. The primary reason this sensor has not been widely used to date is an inadequate understanding of the physics responsible for IPT sensing. This paper presents models and experiments defending the hypothesis of a streaming potential sensing mechanism.
Statistical analysis supports UTR (untranslated region) deletion theory in SARS-CoV-2

ABSTRACT It was noticed that the mortality rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection experienced a significant declination in the early stage of the epidemic. We suspect that the sharp deterioration of virus toxicity is related to the deletion of the untranslated region (UTR) of the virus genome. It was found that the genome length of SARS-CoV-2 engaged a significant truncation due to UTR deletion after a mega-sequence analysis. Sequence similarity analysis further indicated that short UTR strains originated from its long UTR ancestors after an irreversible deletion. A good correlation was discovered between genome length and mortality, which demonstrated that the deletion of the virus UTR significantly affected the toxicity of the virus. This correlation was further confirmed in a significance analysis of the genetic influence on the clinical outcomes. The viral genome length of hospitalized patients was significantly more extensive than that of asymptomatic patients. In contrast, the viral genome length of asymptomatic was considerably longer than that of ordinary patients with symptoms. A genome-level mutation scanning was performed to systematically evaluate the influence of mutations at each position on virulence. The results indicated that UTR deletion was the primary driving force in alternating virus virulence in the early evolution. In the end, we proposed a mathematical model to explain why this UTR deletion was not continuous.
The exploration potential of shale oil reservoirs in Jiyang depression, Bohai Bay Basin: Revaluations based on old oil wells data

Reevaluations of original oil well data are an effective method for fine reservoir evaluation. In this study, two methods of generation conditions and hydrocarbon expulsion characteristics are used to reevaluate the data of five original oil wells in Shahejie Formation Lower Third Sub-member (Lower Es3) and Upper Fourth Sub-member (Upper Es4) of Jiyang depression, Shahejie Formation, Bohai Bay Basin. The results showed that: (1) Lower Es3 of Zhanhua sag and Dongying sag have certain shale oil development potential, however, the overall evaluation of hydrocarbon generation potential is not very high; (2) in Zhanhua sag, the hydrocarbon expulsion peak appears in Lower Es3, while in Dongying sag, the hydrocarbon expulsion peak occurs in Upper Es4; and (3) among the five oil wells, the hydrocarbon expulsion peak of Y187 Well overlaps with the positive value of hydrocarbon generation potential evaluation, and the reservoir thickness in the enrichment area is relatively large, which has a good development effect. The evaluation results are consistent with the actual development situation, which makes up for the weakness of previous shale oil reservoir research in this area, and has a certain reference value for shale oil reservoir cognition.
Effects of surfactants on aqueous foams properties: a step towards mineral foams

Abstract This study focus on foaming properties of three surfactants: α-olefin sulphonate sodium salt (Hostapur OSB), Trimethyl tetradecyl ammonium bromide (Cetrimide) and Hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) usable for mineral foaming. The ability of these surfactants to reduce surface tension is evaluated. Foamability and foam stability of aqueous foams made up with these surfactants are assessed at different concentrations, using the Dynamic Foam Analyzer providing parameters which describe the foaming and decay phases. They considerably depend on the type of surfactant and its concentration. By analysing the bubble size distribution, the relationship between the stability and the foam structure can be observed. The Hostapur OSB appears to be the most efficient surfactant in terms of stability and foamability, representing the thinnest foam structure and the highest characteristic times (deviation, transition and half-life) at CMC (critical micelle concentration).
Crop plans and yield predictions for Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and birch (Betula pendula Roth & Betula pubescens Ehrh.) mixtures

In young Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst. ) stands containing an even-aged component of self-propagated birches (Betula pendula Roth and B. pubescens Ehrh.) the forest manager has the choice of removing all broad-leaved trees or of accepting a mixed stand of Norway spruce under a birch shelter. Results of stand growth simulations show that the total stand yield will be higher if the broad-leaved trees are retained. The spatial distribution pattern of trees had little influence on the outcome of the growth simulation. The simulations also showed that spruce yields will be similar, regardless of whether the spruce is grown in pure stands or is grown under a birch shelter (either 600 birches ha-', all removed at age 25, or 1 200 birches ha-', removed in two steps at age 20 and 30). The simulations showed that the highest total yield was obtained when a shelter of 2 000 birches ha-' was left after the pre-commercial thinning, then thinned at a e 20 and finally all birch was removed at age 30. The birch shelter can produce ca. 100 mf ha-' in middle Sweden if it is composed of B. pendula. The corresponding yield for a shelter of B. pubescens will be 80 m3 ha-' or less. Although height growth of the spruce will be suppressed by the birch shelter, the growth rate will increase once the shelter has been removed. Estimates of biomass production were made for both Norway spruce and birch. Mean annual dry matter production increases from 1.4 tonne ha-' yr-P with a shelter of 600 birches, to 2.4 tonne ha-' yr-' for 3 000 birches. All yield estimates refer to age 20. The harvesting cost, based on manual felling and tractor extraction, was estimated at ca. 40 SEK/MWh (200 SEK/ton dry matter). By comparison, a commercially harvested Salix plantation costs about 24 SEK/MWh. However, the cost of establishing and maintaining a Salix plantation is ca. 35 SEK/MWh, while no such costs are incurred in the production of fuelwood under the birch shelterwood system.
Genome-Wide Identification of the 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic Acid Synthase (ACS) Genes and Their Possible Role in Sand Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) Fruit Ripening

Ethylene production is negatively associated with storage life in sand pear (Pyrus pyrifoliaNakai), particularly at the time of fruit harvest. 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase (ACS) is the rate-limiting enzyme in ethylene biosynthesisand is considered to be important for fruit storage life. However, the candidate ACS genes and their roles in sand pear remain unclear. The present study identified 13ACS genes from the sand pear genome.Phylogenetic analysiscategorizedthese ACS genesinto four subgroups (type Ⅰ, type Ⅱ, type Ⅲ and putative AAT), and indicated a close relationship between sand pear and Chinese white pear (P. bretschneideri). According to the RNA-seq data and qRT-PCR analysis, PpyACS1, PpyACS2, PpyACS3, PpyACS8, PpyACS9, PpyACS12 and PpyACS13 were differently expressed in climacteric and non-climacteric-typepear fruits,‘Ninomiyahakuri’ and ‘Eli No.2′, respectively, during fruit ripening. In addition, the expressions of PpyACS2, PpyACS8, PpyACS12 and PpyACS13 werefound to be associated with system 1 of ethylene production, while PpyACS1, PpyACS3, and PpyACS9 werefound to be associated with system 2, indicating that these ACS genes have different roles in ethylenebiosynthesis during fruit development. Overall, our study provides fundamental knowledge onthe characteristics of the ACS gene family in sand pear, in addition to their possible roles infruit ripening.
Critical torque and speed of eddy current brake with widely separated soft iron poles

A theoretical model ss derived for eddy current disc brakes with iron pole shoes with a wide spacing. The eddy current in the disc is not a simple periodic function allowing representation by sine functions. In the high speed region, the current distribution around the polo shoe occupies a limited zone width proportional to the air gap. The theory based on this effect leads to reasonably accurate values of the critical torque and speed compared with experimental data. The predicted air gap dependency of the critical values agrees better with experimental results than Rudenberg's theory. < >
Low power SEU immune CMOS memory circuits

The authors report a design improvement for CMOS static memory circuits hardened against single event upset (SEU) using a recently proposed logic/circuit design technique. This improvement drastically reduces static power consumption, reduces the number of transistors required in a D flip-flop design, and eliminates the possibility of capturing an upset state in the slave section during a clock transition. >
Occurrence and molecular characterization of a 16SrI-R subgroup phytoplasma associated with Aquilegia vulgaris phyllody disease

During 2016–2017 surveys, carried out for phytoplasma diseases in ornamental plants in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces, Iran, found symptoms of virescence, phyllody, reduced size of leaves and flowers in columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris). Total DNAs extracted from symptomatic and symptomless plants were tested for the presence of phytoplasma using P1/P7 and R16F2n/R16R2 primers in direct and nested PCR producing amplicons of about 1.8 and 1.2 kb, respectively, from all symptomatic A. vulgaris plants, but not from symptomless ones. The consensus sequence of the detected phytoplasma named Aquilegia phyllody (APh) was 100% identical with strains clustering to phytoplasmas enclosed in the 16SrI group as also confirmed by phylogenetic analyses. Both real and virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of R16F2n/R16R2 amplicons showed profiles that were identical to each other and indicated the affiliation of the APh phytoplasma to the 16SrI-R subgroup. This is the first report of a 16SrI-R phytoplasma associated with this A. vulgaris phyllody disease.
Improved predictive performance of cyanobacterial blooms using a hybrid statistical and deep-learning method

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) threaten ecosystem functioning and human health at both regional and global levels, and this threat is likely to become more frequent and severe under climate change. Predictive information can help local water managers to alleviate or manage the adverse effects posed by CyanoHABs. Previous works have led to various approaches for predicting cyanobacteria abundance by feeding various environmental variables into statistical models or neural networks. However, these models alone may have limited predictive performance owing to their inability to capture extreme situations. In this paper, we consider the possibility of a hybrid approach that leverages the merits of these methods by integrating a statistical model with a deep-learning model. In particular, the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and long short-term memory (LSTM) were used in tandem to better capture temporal patterns of highly dynamic observations. Results show that the proposed ARIMA-LSTM model exhibited the promising potential to outperform the state-of-the-art baseline models for CyanoHAB prediction in highly variable time-series observations, characterized by nonstationarity and imbalance. The predictive error of the mean absolute error and root mean square error, compared with the best baseline model, were largely reduced by 12.4% and 15.5%, respectively. This study demonstrates the potential for the hybrid model to assist in cyanobacterial risk assessment and management, especially in shallow and eutrophic waters.
Transnational political economic structures: explaining transnational environmental movements against dams in the lower Mekong region

Abstract Influenced by regional economic integration and politics, the transboundary common water resources in the lower Mekong River are being exploited by the riparian states for hydroelectric dam development at the expense of local livelihoods and the environment. Affected communities and non-governmental organisations – formed into ‘transnational environmental movements’ (TEMs) in the framework of transnational activism – have challenged these riparian states to abandon dam construction on the main stream of the Mekong River. This paper explores the conditions that undermine TEMs’ ability to cancel dam projects in the region. This paper argues that, among several other factors, TEMs were unable to halt construction of the dam primarily due to the transnational political economic structures (TPES) of the riparian states that possess hydroelectric dams on the Mekong mainstream. TPES shape the sovereign power of the riparian states in making decisions regarding extracting economic value from the common water resource of the Mekong at the expense of the environment rather than complying with the demands of TEMs. By factoring TPES into understanding the outcomes of TEMs, this paper contributes to the understanding of political opportunity structures and transnational networks of transboundary movements, and of the political economy of the Mekong transboundary resources.
Modernization of large‐scale irrigation systems: is it an achievable objective or a lost cause

Despite the probability of a new food crisis, which was partly delayed by the explosive use of groundwater, not much attention has been given to improving performance of large‐scale irrigation systems during the last two decades. Technologies exist and training materials are available. In most cases, the causes of poor performance and the solutions to improving performance are technical, managerial and policy reforms. This paper discusses the diversity of large schemes in developing countries and their historical background, the conditions favourable to the modernization in developed and emerging countries and the constraints to modernization in developing countries. The paper identifies the models of large‐scale development which could be technically improved, those which have less potential or would mainly benefit from institutional reforms. The paper concludes with recommendations on how to remove the constraints to modernization of large schemes in developing countries. Otherwise, irrigation modernization may not take place at the pace required to meet food requirements in the future. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Opportunity Costs of Residential Best Management Practices for Stormwater Runoff Control

Excess stormwater runoff is a serious problem in a large number of urban areas, causing flooding, water pollution, groundwater recharge deficits, and ecological damage to urban streams. Solutions currently proposed to deal with this problem often involve large centralized infrastructure and high expense. Phase II of the Environmental Protection Agency’s stormwater regulation is now requiring smaller communities nationwide to make important decisions about the potentially expensive management of excess stormwater runoff. This paper builds on research investigating the use of economic incentives to promote dispersed placement of smaller-scale best management practices (BMPs) for water detention to control excess runoff. We estimate a hedonic price function for houses in the area of a pilot project, and include the estimated part worth of yard area as our lower bound for opportunity cost in the cost function of the residential BMPs. We then show the effects of the inclusion of opportunity cost on two potenti.
Magnetic Refrigeration Technology for High Efficiency Air Conditioning

Magnetic refrigeration was investigated as an efficient, environmentally friendly, flexible alternative to conventional residential vapor compression central air conditioning systems. Finite element analysis (FEA) models of advanced geometry active magnetic regenerator (AMR) beds were developed to minimize bed size and thus magnet mass by optimizing geometry for fluid flow and heat transfer and other losses. Conventional and magnetocaloric material (MCM) regenerator fabrication and assembly techniques were developed and advanced geometry passive regenerators were built and tested. A subscale engineering prototype (SEP) magnetic air conditioner was designed, constructed and tested. A model of the AMR cycle, combined with knowledge from passive regenerator experiments and FEA results, was used to design the regenerator beds. A 1.5 Tesla permanent magnet assembly was designed using FEA and the bed structure and plenum design was extensively optimized using FEA. The SEP is a flexible magnetic refrigeration platform, with individually instrumented beds and high flow rate and high frequency capability, although the current advanced regenerator geometry beds do not meet performance expectations, probably due to manufacturing and assembly tolerances. A model of the AMR cycle was used to optimize the design of a 3 ton capacity magnetic air conditioner, and the system design was iterated to minimize external parasitic losses such as heat exchanger pressure drop and fan power. The manufacturing cost for the entire air conditioning system was estimated, and while the estimated SEER efficiency is high, the magnetic air conditioning system is not cost competitive as currently configured. The 3 ton study results indicate that there are other applications where magnetic refrigeration is anticipated to have cost advantages over conventional systems, especially applications where magnetic refrigeration, through the use of its aqueous heat transfer fluid, could eliminate intermediate heat exchangers or oil distribution issues found in traditional vapor compression systems.