Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A 1-MHz Series Resonant DC–DC Converter With a Dual-Mode Rectifier for PV Microinverters

The photovoltaic (PV) output voltage varies over a wide range depending on operating conditions. Thus, the PV-connected converters should be capable of handling a wide input voltage range while maintaining high efficiencies. This paper proposes a new series resonant dc–dc converter for PV microinverter applications. Compared with the conventional series resonant converter, a dual-mode rectifier is configured on the secondary side, which enables a twofold voltage gain range for the proposed converter with a fixed-frequency phase-shift modulation scheme. The zero-voltage switching turn-on and zero-current switching turn-off can be achieved for active switches and diodes, thereby, minimizing the switching losses. Moreover, a variable dc-link voltage control scheme is introduced to the proposed converter, leading to a further efficiency improvement and input-voltage-range extension. The operation principle and essential characteristics (e.g., voltage gain, soft-switching, and root-mean-square current) of the proposed converter are detailed in this paper, and the power loss modeling and design optimization of components are also presented. A 1-MHz 250-W converter prototype with an input voltage range of 17–43 V is built and tested to verify the feasibility of the proposed converter.
Antecedents and Moderators of Promotion Messages for Trust in Mobile Banking Services: An Elaboration Likelihood Model Perspective

ABSTRACT This paper applies a theory of persuasion using the elaboration likelihood model to explain how communication messages from mobile banking services are interpreted by receivers to increase their trust in mobile banking. We explain how users’ security and privacy concerns moderate the central route persuasion relationship between argument quality and trust. A questionnaire survey is employed to test a research model. The findings indicate that central and peripheral route persuasion cues enforce users’ trust in mobile banking services. Users with strong privacy and security concerns are more likely to rely on the quality of arguments of the messages. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the paper.
Dynamic Modeling of Passively Draining Structures for Aerial–Aquatic Unmanned Vehicles

In the design of hybrid unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles, buoyancy management and weight are two major factors. Large wing volumes used by unmanned air vehicles to fly efficiently drive vehicle buoyancy up, preventing them from submerging. Heavy active buoyancy control systems can overcome this, but cost weight, energy, and time to transition between underwater operation and flight. An alternative design, consisting of a passively flooding and draining wing, is presented in this paper. Relevant dynamic parameters for a full vehicle dynamic model are identified. A dynamic model of a draining structure is developed and verified experimentally on both a simple cylinder and a full wing structure. With proper tuning, the model captures the salient dynamic behavior of passive draining during vehicle egress. A prototype unmanned aerial and underwater vehicle was built, flown, and used to collect flight test data. The model is used to accurately predict the takeoff performance of the vehicle. As given, the model can be incorporated into a full vehicle dynamic model to aid in the design, simulation, and control of hybrid unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles with passively draining components.
Numerical Experiments on Time Step Selection in Linear Dynamic Analysis of Structures

ABSTRACT The complex nature of the exciting force in earthquake engineering applications mandates employing numerical methods to obtain the response of structures to ground motions. Several numerical methods are in use in the field of earthquake engineering and structural dynamics to solve the ordinary differential equation of motion. Previous studies assumed that the appropriate time step for numerical schemes can be selected as a constant fraction of natural period of the system disregarding the period range. This study is concerned with assessing, through a comprehensive numerical experiment; the numerical error of the most commonly used schemes in structural dynamics applications and assessing the appropriateness of each method for different excitations and damping conditions using different natural period ranges. The current investigation involved testing the central difference method, Newmark, HHT, and HHT1 methods. The four methods were tested for linear single degree of freedom (SDOF) oscillator. Three different exciting forces were used to test the schemes; half-sine pulse wave, harmonic force, and actual ground motion record. Three natural periods were used to conduct the experiment, representing short, medium, and long period systems including the resonant condition. Three structural damping ratios, representing lightly, moderately, and heavily damped systems, were used to assess the structural damping effect on the accuracy associated with selected time steps. A new displacement error norm was introduced to define the accuracy of numerical schemes. The results of this investigation indicated that the commonly used assumption of time step as a constant fraction of natural period of the system, even for SDOF linear oscillator, disregarding the period range could result in significant numerical errors. The study also confirmed the significant effect of structural damping ratio on the accuracy of the numerical schemes. The paper also presents a recommendation matrix for the most appropriate time step for each scheme for different applications and structural conditions. The results of the current investigation are strictly limited to linear systems.
Adaptive Fuzzy Fixed-Time Tracking Control for Switched High-Order Multi-Agent Systems With Input Delay

This paper investigates the adaptive fuzzy fixed-time-based distributed consensus tracking control for non-strict feedback nonlinear switched high-order multi-agent systems (MASs) with completely unknown function, input delay, switched behavior dynamics (possibly asynchronous) and high powers (possibly different). In this work, the “explosive of complexity” issue is overcome by designing an improved fixed-time-based nonlinear filter. Unlike traditional linear filters, this paper skillfully introduces auxiliary terms (tanh function and cubic function) into each filter, which can completely compensate the effects resulted by filter errors and ensure the closed-loop system fixed-time convergence. Meanwhile, input delay is deal with a robust compensation signal constructed via a finite integral of the past control values. Besides, this paper adopts separable function technique to avoid the control gain of each virtual controller appearing in the next virtual controller, thus reducing the complexity of control actions. In the backstepping framework, a distributed fixed-time-based control scheme was presented, which can ensure that all the closed-loop signals are bounded within a fixed-time. Numerical simulation and practical example further verify the effectiveness of the developed control scheme.
Collagen Membrane Derived from Fish Scales for Application in Bone Tissue Engineering

Guided tissue/bone regeneration (GTR/GBR) is currently the main treatment for alveolar bone regeneration. The commonly used barrier membranes in GTR/GBR are collagen membranes from mammals such as porcine or cattle. Fish collagen is being explored as a potential substitute for mammalian collagen due to its low cost, no zoonotic risk, and lack of religious constraints. Fish scale is a multi-layer natural collagen composite with high mechanical strength, but its biomedical application is limited due to the low denaturation temperature of fish collagen. In this study, a fish scale collagen membrane with a high denaturation temperature of 79.5 °C was prepared using an improved method based on preserving the basic shape of fish scales. The fish scale collagen membrane was mainly composed of type I collagen and hydroxyapatite, in which the weight ratios of water, organic matter, and inorganic matter were 20.7%, 56.9%, and 22.4%, respectively. Compared to the Bio-Gide® membrane (BG) commonly used in the GTR/GBR, fish scale collagen membrane showed good cytocompatibility and could promote late osteogenic differentiation of cells. In conclusion, the collagen membrane prepared from fish scales had good thermal stability, cytocompatibility, and osteogenic activity, which showed potential for bone tissue engineering applications.
Low level laser therapy versus polarized light therapy on healing of foot burn

Purpose: to evaluate the efficacy of the low level laser therapy (LLLT) versus polarized light therapy (BLT) on healing of foot burn. Methods of evaluation (Burn surface area and colony count). Methods: Forty patients who had partial thickness thermal burn affecting foot with the percentage of total body surface area (TBSA) ranging from 1% to 5%. Their ages were ranged from 25 to 35 years, diagnosis was clinically by physician, the patients were randomly divided into two equal groups in number; two study groups (one for LLLT and the other for BLT). The first study group (A) was composed of twenty patients who received the LLLT in addition to the traditional physical therapy routine and conservative treatment of the burn wound for one month. The second study group (B) was composed of twenty patients who received the BLT in addition to traditional physical therapy routine and conservative treatment for the burn wound. Duration of treatment was session (10 minutes) once daily, three times per week for one month or until wound healing. Results and Conclusion: Results showed that the application of both polarized light therapy and Ga-As laser had a valuable healing effect.
On Design of a Triple Elliptical Super wideband Antenna for 5G Applications

A novel compact triple elliptical monopole antenna has been designed, analyzed and fabricated for super wideband applications. To enhance the impedance bandwidth, the author proposed a monopole antenna with a triple elliptical patch excited by a 50Ω triangular tapered microstrip feedline. Further improvement is achieved by optimally modifying the Defected Ground Structure (DGS) of the antenna. The proposed patch structure is mounted on a Roger’s RT-Duroid 5880 substrate (ϵr= 2.2, tan δ = 0.0009) and has compact physical dimensions of 27 mm × 29.5 mm. The fabricated antenna covers the frequency band from 1.91 GHz to 43.5 GHz for S11 ≤ -10 dB with a fractional bandwidth of >183.17% and has a ratio bandwidth of 22.77:1. This extended bandwidth coverage permits the antenna to operate for wide range of application including 5G and Internet of Things (IoT). The proposed antenna has a very Bandwidth Dimension Ratio (BDR) of 5761.87 which makes it the best candidate for superwideband antenna. Far field measurements disclose an omnidirectional radiation pattern across the frequency of operation. Further, the farfield Radar Cross Section (RCS) is analyzed through simulation and it is to be noted that relatively low values are obtained through out the frequency of operation. In addition, the compactness of the proposed antenna is theoretically verified with the aid of fundamental dimension limit theorem.
Outcome of Laparoscopic Management of Undisturbed Ectopic Pregnancy Versus Medical Management

Background: Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is major health problem that women experience during reproductive years. The most frequent type of EP is tubal pregnancy, while non-tubal and heterotopic extra-uterine pregnancies are rare. Recently; ectopic pregnancy can be diagnosed before patient's clinical state is worsened. Aim: was to compare outcome of laparoscopic therapy of undisturbed adenexial ectopic pregnancy versus medical therapy by methotrexate. Methods: This randomized controlled clinical study on 50 patients attending outpatient clinic and inpatient at Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology -Tanta University Hospital. The study participants included women who underwent laparoscopy or underwent medical therapy with MTX for undisturbed adenexial ectopic pregnancy. We analyzed data of 50 women 25treated with single dose MTX and 25 cases treated with laparoscopy for undisturbed adenexial ectopic pregnancy between 2020and 2021. Success of treatment in laparoscopy group was deﬁned as significant decrease in one week post-therapeutic quantitative β- HCG, while in MTX group success of treatment was defined as decrease in BHCG level more than15% between day 4 and day 7, with no need for surgical intervention. Results: Success of treatment in laparoscopy group (23cases, 92%) and (18 cases, 72%) in methotrexate group, no statistically significant difference between two groups (p=0.306). In methotrexate group the 7 cases who had failed medical therapy, underwent laparoscopy. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding persistent trophoblast (p=0.490), as two (8%) cases in laparoscopy group, while no cases in methotrexate group. Conclusions: Laparoscopic surgery is as effective as methotrexate therapy for conservative therapy of undisturbed adenexial ectopic pregnancy and methotrexate has advantage of being non-invasive procedure.
Promoter Gene Methylation Regulates Clooxygenase-2 Expression in Androgen-Dependent and Independent Prostate Cancer Cells

Background Clooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression is overexpressed in human prostate cancer, and aberrant methylation of the COX-2 promoter has also been elucidated. However, how the methylation of CpG islands at COX-2 regulates its expression in prostate cancer is still unclear. We will determine the methylated 5′ CpG island of the COX-2 gene and its role in the expression of COX-2 in prostate androgen-dependent and androgen-independent cancer cells, LNCaP and DU145. Methods We used western blotting and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to confirm the COX-2 expression in prostate cancer cell lines, including LNCaP (androgen-dependent) and DU145 (androgen-independent) cells. To investigate whether the COX-2 expression was regulated by the methylation status of the 5′ CpG island, we treated LNCaP and DU145 cells with the DNA methylation inhibitor, 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine, and determined COX-2 expression in the treated/untreated cells by western blotting and qRT-PCR. Subsequently, bisulfite sequencing was performed to study the methylation sites in the treated/untreated cells. The effects of 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine to cell proliferation, cell migration and cell cycle process in DU145 and LNCaP cells were determined using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, transwell assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Results The results revealed that the expression of COX-2 in androgen-dependent LNCaP cells was 5.44-fold (in protein level) and 2.46-fold (in mRNA level) higher than that in androgen-independent DU145 cells. After 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine treatment, COX-2 expression in DU145 cells was elevated significantly, but no change was found in LNCaP cells. The A and C regions of the COX-2 CpG island exhibited reduced methylation along with that an increased expression of COX-2 was noted in DU145 cell after 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine treatment. Also, the treatment with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine inhibited cell proliferation, cell migration and influenced the cell cycle progression in both DU145 and LNCaP cells. Conclusions Our results reveal that androgen receptor (AR)-dependent/independent prostate cancer cell lines exhibit different regulation of methylation in COX-2 that regulate its expression. Additionally, 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine treatment of DU145 and LNCaP cells inhibits their ability of tumor progression.
A Novel Multi-User Codebook Design for 5G in 3D-MIMO Heterogeneous Networks

The 2D precoding technology can only adjust the beam in a horizontal direction through data processing, which will cause serious problems for multiuser systems, especially at the edge of the base station it will cause serious inter-cell interference. To solve this problem, in the frequency-division duplex (FDD) 3D-MIMO Heterogeneous network system, the influence of feedback overhead on system performance under limited feedback mechanism is studied using random geometry. Based on the deployment of a uniform planar array (UPA) at the base station, a 3D-MIMO multiuser codebook design scheme based on horizontal transmission angle and the vertical down-tilt angle is proposed, and the codebook design scheme is simulated and analyzed. The results show that the feedback overhead and the micro base station density affect the system throughput and even affect the bit error rate (BER) of the 3D precoding scheme. Compared with the precoding scheme based on 2D and 3D discrete Fourier transform (DFT) codebooks, this scheme greatly reduces the system’s BER, improves the system’s throughput, and optimizes system performance.
Flexible minds make more moderate views: Subtractive counterfactuals mitigate strong views about immigrants’ trustworthiness

Public discourse on immigration has seemed to polarize over recent years—with some people strongly trusting, but others strongly distrusting immigrants. We examined whether a cognitive strategy could mitigate these biased outgroup judgments. Given that subtractive counterfactual thoughts (“If only I had not done X. . .”) facilitate cognitive flexibility and especially a relational processing style, we hypothesized that these thoughts (vs. additive counterfactuals “If only I had done X. . .” and no counterfactuals) would weaken the relationship between people’s political orientation and the perceived trustworthiness of immigrants. In five experiments (two preregistered; total N = 1,189), we found that inducing subtractive (but not additive) counterfactuals—either via rhetorical questions in a political speech or via mindset priming—had the predicted debiasing effect. Taken together, subtle means such as using subtractive counterfactual questions in political communication seem to be a promising way to reduce biased outgroup judgments in heated public debates.
Impaired Kallikrein-Kinin System in COVID-19 Patients' Severity

COVID-19 has emerged as a devastating disease in the last 2 years. Many authors appointed to the importance of kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) in COVID-19 pathophysiology as it is involved in inflammation, vascular homeostasis, and coagulation. We aim to study the bradykinin cascade and its involvement in severity of patients with COVID-19. This is an observational cohort study involving 63 consecutive patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and 27 healthy subjects as control group. Clinical laboratory findings and plasma protein concentration of KKS peptides [bradykinin (BK), BK1-8], KKS proteins [high–molecular weight kininogen (HK)], and KKS enzymes [carboxypeptidase N subunit 1 (CPN1), kallikrein B1 (KLKB1), angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and C1 esterase inhibitor (C1INH)] were analyzed. We detected dysregulated KKS in patients with COVID-19, characterized by an accumulation of BK1-8 in combination with decreased levels of BK. Accumulated BK1-8 was related to severity of patients with COVID-19. A multivariate logistic regression model retained BK1-8, BK, and D-dimer as independent predictor factors to intensive care unit (ICU) admission. A Youden’s optimal cutoff value of −0.352 was found for the multivariate model score with an accuracy of 92.9%. Multivariate model score-high group presented an odds ratio for ICU admission of 260.0. BK1-8 was related to inflammation, coagulation, and lymphopenia. Our data suggest that BK1-8/BK plasma concentration in combination with D-dimer levels might be retained as independent predictors for ICU admission in patients with COVID-19. Moreover, we reported KKS dysregulation in patients with COVID-19, which was related to disease severity by means of inflammation, hypercoagulation, and lymphopenia.
Effectiveness of interventions to address obesity and health risk behaviours among people with severe mental illness in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): a systematic review and meta analysis

Abstract Introduction People with severe mental illness (SMI) are more likely to have obesity and engage in health risk behaviours than the general population. The aims of this study are (1) evaluate the effectiveness of interventions that focus on body weight, smoking cessation, improving sleeping patterns, and alcohol and illicit substance abuse; (2) Compare the number of interventions addressing body weight and health risk behaviours in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) v. those reported in published systematic reviews focusing on high-income countries (HICs). Methods Intervention studies published up to December 2020 were identified through a structured search in the following database; OVID MEDLINE (1946–December 2020), EMBASE (1974–December 2020), CINAHL (1975–2020), APA PsychoINFO (1806–2020). Two authors independently selected studies, extracted study characteristics and data and assessed the risk of bias. and risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool V2. We conducted a narrative synthesis and, in the studies evaluating the effectiveness of interventions to address body weight, we conducted random-effects meta-analysis of mean differences in weight gain. We did a systematic search of systematic reviews looking at cardiometabolic and health risk behaviours in people with SMI. We compared the number of available studies of LMICs with those of HICs. Results We assessed 15 657 records, of which 9 met the study inclusion criteria. Six focused on healthy weight management, one on sleeping patterns and two tested a physical activity intervention to improve quality of life. Interventions to reduce weight in people with SMI are effective, with a pooled mean difference of −4.2 kg (95% CI −6.25 to −2.18, 9 studies, 459 participants, I2 = 37.8%). The quality and sample size of the studies was not optimal, most were small studies, with inadequate power to evaluate the primary outcome. Only two were assessed as high quality (i.e. scored ‘low’ in the overall risk of bias assessment). We found 5 reviews assessing the effectiveness of interventions to reduce weight, perform physical activity and address smoking in people with SMI. From the five systematic reviews, we identified 84 unique studies, of which only 6 were performed in LMICs. Conclusion Pharmacological and activity-based interventions are effective to maintain and reduce body weight in people with SMI. There was a very limited number of interventions addressing sleep and physical activity and no interventions addressing smoking, alcohol or harmful drug use. There is a need to test the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of context-appropriate interventions to address health risk behaviours that might help reduce the mortality gap in people with SMI in LMICs.
“Part of My Daily Life”: The Importance of Public Libraries as Physical Spaces

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to gauge how much, and why, people value visiting public libraries by asking them about the impact of the library closures. A questionnaire survey was administered to users of four library networks in New South Wales, Australia. About 19% of 1,295 respondents missed their library “a great deal,” another 28% “quite a lot. ” Most commonly respondents missed browsing the shelves, taking children for visits, studying, reading, and socializing there. They also missed the quiet, relaxing, and friendly environment, and the resources provided. For many, the closures impacted their lives in a critical way.