Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis and Design of Electrodes for Deep Brain Stimulation

Analysis and Design of Electrodes for Deep Brain Stimulation by Xuefeng Frank Wei Department of Biomedical Engineering Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Warren M. Grill, Supervisor ___________________________ Jeffrey T. Glass ___________________________ Craig S. Henriquez ___________________________ Dennis A. Turner ___________________________ Patrick D. Wolf An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the Graduate School of Duke University
Battling the Emerging Epidemic of Rhino-Orbital-Cerebral Mucormycosis (ROCM) in COVID-19 Pandemic: A Prospective Interventional Study

Purpose: The most recent challenge being faced by the healthcare system during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is increase in the incidence rate of coinfection or superinfection; one of the most fatal being mucormycosis. This study aimed to estimate the risk factors, symptoms and signs, treatment outcome and prognosis of COVID-19-associated mucormycosis (CAM) patients. Methods: This is a prospective, interventional study of 35 patients diagnosed and managed as CAM at a tertiary care centre in New Delhi, India. Results: The mean age of patients was 40.45± 6 years with a male preponderance. CAM did not affect healthy individuals; the major risk factors included diabetes in 65.7% and injudicious steroid use in 51.4% patients. Orbital/facial edema was the most common presenting symptom (25.7%) as well as sign (28.57%). 68.5% patients were stage 3 (involvement of orbit) at presentation; 33.3% showed medial wall involvement. Treatment included intravenous amphotericin and oral posaconazole in all patients, paranasal sinus (PNS) debridement in 94.2%, orbital exenteration was done in 8 patients. Adjuvant retrobulbar amphotericin B injection was administered in 12 patients with radiological resolution seen in 50% after 1 cycle. In patients with Stage 4 disease who underwent exenteration along with PNS debridement, survival rate was 100% at 30 days, and disease reduction occurred in 87.5% patients (P<0.01). Overall, 68.5 % responded to therapy, 8.5 % showed progression and mortality rate was 22.85 %, at a mean follow up period of 59.5 days.Conclusion: A multidisciplinary and aggressive approach is essential in the management of CAM patients.
Extraneous matter versus cane loss: finding a balance in chopper harvestered green cane.

ane harvesting and trash blanketing are important agronomic production techniques in the sugar producing areas of Australia. Cane losses are accepted to be higher with green-cane g and extraneous matter levels can be high, especially in difficult conditions. Harvester s were conducted throughout the north in an effort to quantify the performance characteristics of rrent harvesters. Samples taken in the field and at the mill were assessed to determine the effect of rvester pour rate and extractor fanspeed on extraneous matter. Yield data and collection of scrap cane from the extractor systems were used to assist in the determination of cane loss. Results indicate that current harvester designs are limited in their ability to effectively clean cane, whilst minimising cane loss, at high harvesting rates. The results of trials at commercial pour rates imply that significant sugar losses are occurring in the harvesting process. From the work, harvester operator guidelines were developed to produce good quality cane without sustaining excessive cane losses in the process.
FIELD PERFORMANCE OF A GEOGRID-REINFORCED EMBANKMENT

The field performance of a geogrid-reinforced levee test section built in Marrero, Louisiana, is discussed. The section was a full-scale model for a 1-mi-long levee built to protect a subdivision in Marrero from hurricane tidal waves. The section was built and monitored to assess the behavior of reinforced embankments on the extremely soft clays found in the Lower Mississippi Valley. The section was fully instrumented with inclinometers, settlement plates, and piezometers. Two rolls of geogrids were instrumented with strain gauges. Measurements were taken during and for a long period of time after construction. Field measurements included horizontal movements, vertical settlements, pore pressures, and strains in geogrids. Analyses of the data from the test section indicate that the geogrids allowed the use of smaller stabilizing berms. This conclusion was applied to the final design, resulting in appreciable savings. In addition, such large-scale tests are useful in developing design guidelines for the use of geosynthetics in protection levees in the Lower Mississippi Valley region.
The Effect of Battlefield Combat Identification System Information on Target Identification Time and Errors in a Simulated Tank Engagement Task.

Abstract : Thirty enlisted men served as subjects in an experiment to determine how availability of target identification information, such as friend or unknown, might affect human performance of a simulated tank engagement task. For half the subjects, target identification information was available if requested, while for the other half, additional information was unavailable. Accuracy and response time measures of the two groups were no different when targets were not interrogated. When target information was available, however, subjects interrogated targets on only one-seventh of the presentations. Receipt of target information led to considerable gain in accuracy and loss in response time. False alarm rate (calling enemies friends) was highly inflated when target identification was unavailable. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Energy Conservation of Cooperative Communication over Composite Channels

The studies about the effects of multipath fading and shadowing for wireless cooperative networks are insufficient. Almost all real wireless networks can be modeled by changing the parameters of the composite distribution which models both multipath and shadow fading. This composite distribution makes the analytical calculation of bit error rate (BER) difficult. In this thesis report, an approximation for this composite distribution has been introduced. A cooperative method, based on decode and forward (DF) for forwarding, is studied. For a required BER, for instance 10? 2, the gain in terms of power with using the cooperation with one relay is 4 dB in comparison to a case with same amount of energy to send a same message for a non cooperative network. The impact of parameters of composite distribution on the gain of cooperative communications (CC) in terms of power is discussed. In this work, the optimum value for power allocation in the relay and sender for a cooperative network is found in the simulations. The different position of a relay in a parallel line with respect to the line of sight (LOS) of the sender and the receiver; and its impact on the BER is investigated. The random deployment of the relays in the network is also investigated.
Understanding students’ (non)use of information and communications technology in university

Six years after the Dearing Report’s call for IT to established as a ‘key skill’ throughout university curricula, overall use by university students remain inconsistent and often ‘low level’. This paper therefore presents an overview of why students do - and perhaps more importantly why students do not - make use of information and communications technology (ICT) in university settings. After briefly considering established social science explanations concerned with material or cognitive deficits on the part of the individual, the paper offers an alternative, sociologically-focused explanation rooted in the theoretical premise that technologies are socially sha ped. From this basis the paper presents a synthesis of empirical evidence suggesting that students’ (non)use of ICTs is complex, fluid and ambiguous - guided by pragmatic and strategic concerns over the ‘goodness-of-fit’ with their academic and non-academic lives. The fact that sustained use of ICT remains neither advantageous or is required in many academic situations leaves students in little doubt over its place; at best a short-term criterion to fulfil and ‘box to tick’ before commencing with the ‘real’ part of their studies. The paper then considers how ICT may be more meaningfully integrated into university curricula – offering three different scenarios for future practice.
Pupils, Parents and Teachers Perceptions on Causes of Low Achievements in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Examination: A Case Study in a Public School in Mandera County, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to find out the pupils, parents and teachers’ perceptions on causes of low achievement in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (K.C.P.E) examination by public school pupils in Mandera County, Kenya. The study has employed qualitative research method. Semi-structured interview guides have been used to collect responses from the interviewees. Fifteen (15) participants who were grouped into three sets (six pupils, their six parents and three teachers) participated in the study. The interviewees gave a number of challenges they thought were the contributory factors and mitigation measures to the low pupils’ achievement in the national examinations. A review of the school records has been used to collect data on the pupils’ performance in the year 2015 K.C. P.E examinations as well the participants’ demographic information. Theoretically, this study has been guided by an integration of the conflict theory of education (Collins, 1971) and the education production function theory (Coleman S, 1966). The conflict theory of education helped in explaining the role of socioeconomic status of parents and pupils on the learners’ academic achievement. Education production theory on the other hand was used to explain how the school system is seen as a ‘market' where the society invests by use of ‘input and output’. The study found that parents’ low socioeconomic status, low parents’ educational background, no learning follow up at home, insufficient teaching and learning resources, large class size & shortage of teachers, pupils’ low motivation to learn, poor learning International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and
THE ROLE OF AUTOMATICITY IN DRIVING

One of the dominant concepts in the theory of driver behaviour has been that driving is an automatic process. This paper presents some research on whether hazard perception may become an automatic process after years of driving practice. To explore this possibility, both experienced and novice drivers were considered; a 'novice' is here defined as a driver with less than three years' driving experience, who has passed a driving test, and an 'experienced' driver as having over ten years' driving experience. 18 drivers and 18 novices, all of whom held a British driving licence, took part in the study. Two perception tests were used, each of which consisted of seven scenes with an identifiable hazard present and two scenes with no hazard present. The scenes were from a driver's perspective, and the drivers were instructed to respond as fast as possible by pressing a button when they detected a hazard. They performed a hazard test both alone and while performing a simple secondary task. The results were analysed using a related analysis of variance with interference (control versus task) and driving experience as independent variables and response latency and number of misses as dependent variables. The secondary task interfered with hazard perception for both novice and experienced drivers. For the covering abstract see ITRD E105257.
Computers as roommates: the ohio university residence hall computer project and the lives of first-year students

The study examines and describes the impact of the Ohio University Residence Halls Computer project on first-year students' academic work and social lives. The study investigates students' perceptions and attitudes towards the Ohio University computer project, and how they use computers in their dormitory rooms for their academic work and in their social activities. The study also, examines faculty members' perceptions on the computer project at OU and describes their point of view of its impact on teaching and learning process. A qualitative research methodology was employed and an in-depth interview technique was used to collect data from participants. In this study a total of twenty four interviewees were participated: sixteen first-year students, four faculty members and four staff members. Whereas the main target group for this study was first-year students from the University College, the study included faculty and staff members to triangulate students' perceptions. The findings presented in this study show that the OU residence halls computer project is impacting students' academic work and social lives in a positive manner. Concepts of computer ownership, computer privacy, immediate access, and convenience are behind the students' positive attitude towards the OU computer project. While men were found to be using computers more than women in playing games, the study finds that both men and women are equally using computers with the same intensity for academic work. However, there is unanimous agreement among students that the OU computer project provides all students with equal access to computers on Ohio University main campus. This study presents strong evidence that an informal learning community is developing as the result of the SCE in Ohio University's residence halls. A enriched-computer environment is not only providing opportunities for online interactions between students, but also is found to be promoting face-to-face meetings. Accordingly, new forms of learning are taking shape in OU residence halls, presenting new opportunities and challenges to faculty members.
Decoherence

The parameter estimation of a complex exponential waveform observed under white noise is typically tackled in two stages. In the �rst stage, a coarse frequency estimate is found by the application of an N-point DFT to the input of length . In the second stage, a �ne search around the peak determined in the �rst stage is conducted. The method proposed in this paper presents a simpler alternative. The method suggests a nonlinear relation involving three DFT samples already calculated in the �rst stage to produce a real valued, �ne resolution frequency estimate. The estimator approaches Jacobsens estimator for large and presents a bias correction which is especially important for small andmedium values of . Index TermsFrequency estimation, �ne doppler estimation, radar signal processing, DFT.
Gravity Driven Instabilities of Transient Diffusive Boundary Layers in Porous Media

Title of Dissertation: GRAVITY DRIVEN INSTABILITIES OF TRANSIENT DIFFUSIVE BOUNDARY LAYERS IN POROUS MEDIA Don Daniel, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Dissertation directed by: Assistant Professor Amir Riaz Department of Mechanical Engineering This study is motivated by the geological storage of carbon dioxide in subsurface saline aquifers. After injection in an aquifer, CO2 dissolves in brine to form a diffusive solute boundary layer that is gravitationally unstable leading to natural convection within the aquifer. The exploration of the underlying hydrodynamic instability is of practical importance because of enhanced CO2 dissolution and storage in aquifers. In comparison to the classical Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a heated fluid cell, the analysis is not straightforward because the CO2 boundary layer is unsteady and nonlinear. The physics of the convective instability is described by a mathematical operator that is both non-autonomous and non-normal. Consequently, it is uncertain whether classical stability results for the onset of convection are valid. In addition, it is unclear how theoretical predictions compare with experiments. To explore these issues, the physical mechanisms and perturbation structures of transient, diffusive boundary layers are examined using multiple theoretical and computational tools. Traditional schemes based on linear stability theory, due to unique physical constraints, are unlikely to produce physically relevant perturbation structures. Therefore, a novel optimization procedure is formulated such that the optimization is restricted to physically admissible fields. The new method is compared with traditional stability approaches such as quasi-steady eigenvalue and classical optimization procedures along with fully resolved nonlinear direct numerical simulations. After establishing a suitable analytical framework, the role of viscosity and permeability variation is examined on the onset of natural convection. Onset of convection occurs sooner when viscosity decreases with aquifer depth. These effects of viscosity variation are in contrast to observations in classical viscous fingering problems. When the porous medium is horizontally layered, qualitatively different instability characteristics can occur depending on the relative length scales of the boundary layer and the permeability variation. For sufficiently high permeability contrast, small changes in the permeability field can lead to large variations in the onset times for convection. Resonance effects are observed only when the porous medium is vertically layered. The current study provides a framework to explore gravity driven instabilities arising both in pure fluid and porous media applications. The framework can be extended to study more complex systems such as those involving chemically reacting species and random anisotropic permeability fields.
Multi-Barge Flotilla Impact Forces on Bridges

Bridge piers located in navigable inland waterways are designed to resist impact forces from barges and flotillas in addition to other design considerations (e.g., scour, dead and live loads, etc.). The primary design tool for estimating these forces is the AASHTO Guide Specification which provides a simple hand calculation method for determining an “equivalent impact force”. The simplicity comes at a cost of excluding the effect of the pier shape, impact duration, and interaction between barges in a flotilla. The objective of this report is to present a hand calculation method for determining barge or flotilla equivalent static impact forces on bridge piers. The primary advantage of this approach lies in its incorporation of pier geometry, interaction between barges, and impact duration. The proposed method is derived from the conduct of hundreds of finite element dynamic simulations of barges and various flotilla configurations impacting rigid and flexible rectangular and circular (or rounded end) bridge piers at different velocities. Results are presented and compared with ones derived from the AASHTO method and detailed finite element modeling. The results generated by the proposed method compare very well with ones derived from the FE modeling, while the AASHTO results are up to twice as large as one from the proposed method for the examples presented in this report.
Metropolitan Comfort: Biomimetic interpretation of hygroscopic botanical mechanisms into a smart textile for the management of physiological discomfort during urban travel.

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Uniconazole increases starch content in duckweed (Lemna aequinoctialis Welw.)

Uniconazole has been used to improve starch production in plants through the regulation of endogenous hormone levels. Here, we reported the effect of this compound on the starch accumulation in a duckweed plant ( Lemna aequinoctialis ). L. aequinoctialis was grown in Hoagland medium supplemented with different uniconazole concentrations: 400, 800, and 1600 mg/L. The results showed that treatment with 800 mg/L uniconazole significantly increased plant growth rate, doubling time and its chlorophyll content. Consequently, the starch content also increased by 1.5 fold upon treatment with 800 mg/L uniconazole. We, therefore, concluded that uniconazole treatment offers an effective means to enhance the production of starch in L. aequinoctialis .
Examination of three candidate technologies for high-lift devices on an aircraft wing

A research programme was initiated to examine three candidate high-lift technologies, which would, if implemented, simplify the mechanical complexity of the multiple component trailing-edge devices traditionally employed on civil transport aircraft. Experimental studies were undertaken with the aim of examining each technology in terms of its potential to favourably influence boundary layer development and improve the aerodynamic characteristics of a high-lift configuration. Preliminary studies of triangular serrated geometries, at the trailing edge of a modified flat plate, highlighted that the ability of the serrations to favourably influence the flow field development over an aft positioned single slotted flap was critically dependent upon the flap lap/gap and deflection angle. Under the test conditions, the serrations were most effective at low flap deflection angles, particularly serrations with a length corresponding to 13% flap chord. Extending these studies to a representative high-lift configuration significantly limited the range of flap laps/gaps and deflection angles over which the serrations were favourable. Furthermore, oil flow visualisation provided evidence of wake structures emanating from serration vertices, corroborating earlier hypotheses and suggesting the flow mechanism by which serrations favourably influenced boundary layer development over the upper surface of the downstream flap. Experiments indicated that when optimised, blowing tangentially from a slot at the trailing edge of the main element over the upper surface of a flap within a three-element high-lift configuration, provided a highly effective means of preventing boundary layer separation and increasing lift. This was corroborated by oil flow visualisation and computational simulations. Maintaining the same momentum coefficient and blowing through discrete orifices at the trailing edge of the main element, proved highly favourable, heightening the increment in lift in comparison to the corresponding tangential slot blowing configuration. Hence, the mass flow rate could be reduced in comparison to the tangential slot blowing configuration, without compromising the aerodynamic performance.