Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two-Stage Maximum Likelihood Estimation Procedure for Parallel Constant-Stress Accelerated Degradation Tests

The parallel constant-stress accelerated degradation test (PCSADT) is a popular method used to assess the reliability of highly reliable products in a timely manner. Although the maximum likelihood (ML) method is commonly utilized to estimate the PCSADT parameters, the explicit forms of the ML estimators, and their corresponding Fisher information matrix are usually difficult to obtain. In this article, we propose a two-stage ML (TSML) estimation procedure for a time-transformed model. In the proposed procedure, all the TSML estimators not only have explicit expressions but also possess consistency and asymptotic normality. Hence, this method is tractable for reliability engineers. Furthermore, the TSML estimators can provide constructive information about the unknown accelerated relationship law. The proposed method is also applied to analyze light-emitting diode data and compare the performance of our estimation procedures with the ML method via simulations.
Allelochemical effect of gramine under temperature stress and impact on fat transesterification

ABSTRACT Invading microorganisms can hinder productivity of biofuel algae cultures. We utilise allelochemical gramine as a model to better understand allelopathic effects against Chlorella sorokiniana and invasive alga Coelastrella sp. Coelastrella itself inhibits C. sorokiniana via allelopathy. Both algae were exposed to 0, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 mg gramine L−1 (n = 8) in wellplates at 18, 25 and 32°C to observe temperature effects on gramine’s allelopathic influence. We also grew C. sorokiniana in 500 mL flasks (n = 3) in 0, 4, 8 and 16 mg gramine L−1 at 25°C to obtain enough biomass to measure fatty acid content. Growth was estimated by measuring optical density at 750 nm and fatty acid content of flask-grown algae via high-lipid performance chromatography (HLPC) after 30 days. Gramine impacted both algae species most strongly, even at low gramine dosages, when grown under sub-optimal temperatures (18 and 32°C). At 25°C, only the highest gramine concentration showed a significant reduction in C. sorokiniana growth compared to other treatments. Gramine concentrations above 16 mg L−1 significantly impacted Coelastrella. Gramine effected algae growth over only a few days. Low concentrations of gramine (<16 mg L−1) were not effective stressors to increase lipid accumulation.
SNUNet-CD: A Densely Connected Siamese Network for Change Detection of VHR Images

Change detection is an important task in remote sensing (RS) image analysis. It is widely used in natural disaster monitoring and assessment, land resource planning, and other fields. As a pixel-to-pixel prediction task, change detection is sensitive about the utilization of the original position information. Recent change detection methods always focus on the extraction of deep change semantic feature, but ignore the importance of shallow-layer information containing high-resolution and fine-grained features, this often leads to the uncertainty of the pixels at the edge of the changed target and the determination miss of small targets. In this letter, we propose a densely connected siamese network for change detection, namely SNUNet-CD (the combination of Siamese network and NestedUNet). SNUNet-CD alleviates the loss of localization information in the deep layers of neural network through compact information transmission between encoder and decoder, and between decoder and decoder. In addition, Ensemble Channel Attention Module (ECAM) is proposed for deep supervision. Through ECAM, the most representative features of different semantic levels can be refined and used for the final classification. Experimental results show that our method improves greatly on many evaluation criteria and has a better tradeoff between accuracy and calculation amount than other state-of-the-art (SOTA) change detection methods.
Design Oxygen Saturation Monitoring in Telemedicine Smartphone System (TmSS)

Oxygen Saturation alludes to the measure of oxygen that is in your circulatory system. The body requires a particular measure of oxygen in your blood to work appropriately. The typical scope of oxygen immersion for grown-ups is 94 to 99 percent. The reason for this examination is to plan oxygen Saturation with the Android interface. This gadget permits the Patient’s to get a particular measure of oxygen in the blood. This gadget utilized a utilizations a fingertip sensor to recognize oxygen Saturation in the blood. The microcontroller utilizes an Arduino chip combining with AT-Mega328P. Bluetooth HC-05 used to send Oxygen Saturation information to Android, MIT application creator utilized for the android program. In view of the consequences of testing and estimation at that point contrast and another gadget, the after effects of the average were 2.22%.
Adaptive step size based drift‐free P&O algorithm with power optimiser and load protection for maximum power extraction from PV panels in stand‐alone applications

Funding information Ministry of New and Renewable Energy India Abstract This paper presents an adaptive step size based drift-free perturb and observe algorithm with power optimiser and load protection for maximum power extraction from photovoltaic panels in stand-alone applications. The proposed algorithm consists of an adaptive step-size technique, drift mitigation technique and power optimiser and load protection technique for fast maximum power extraction with less steady-state power loss and protection features. The adaptive step-size technique continuously monitors the absolute value of change in power (|ΔP|) to adjust the perturbation step size (ΔD) for fast tracking of maximum power point, and the drift mitigation technique mitigates the confusion in selecting the correct perturbation direction that exists in the conventional perturb and observe algorithm for a sudden change in irradiance conditions. Besides, the presented power optimiser and load protection uses a closed-loop duty cycle (D) value for detecting possible underloading and overloading conditions, wherein, in case of underloading or overloading, it turns off the power optimiser to protect itself and the connected load from any damage or malfunctioning. The overall performance of the proposed algorithm, in terms of its dynamic operations, reduced steady-state power loss, and protection features are evaluated using MATLAB simulations and verified with an experimental prototype. Comparative analysis of the proposed algorithm with state-of-the-art perturb and observe techniques is carried out for validating its effectiveness and feasibility in real-time applications.
Automatic far‐field camera calibration for construction scene analysis

The use of cameras for safety monitoring, progress tracking, and site security has grown significantly on construction and civil infrastructure sites over the past decade. Localization of construction resources is a crucial prerequisite for many applications in automated construction management. However, most existing vision‐based methods perform the analysis in the image plane, overlooking the effect of perspective and depth. The manual and labor‐intensive process of traditional calibration techniques, as well as the busy and restrictive construction environment, makes this a challenging task. This study proposes a framework for automatic camera calibration with no manual intervention. The framework utilizes convolutional neural networks for geometrical scene analysis and object detection, which are used to estimate the location of horizon line, vertical vanishing point, as well as objects with known height distributions. This enables automatic estimation of camera parameters and retrieval of scale. The proposed framework is evaluated on images from two major construction projects in Melbourne, Australia. Results show that the proposed method achieves a minimum accuracy of 90% in estimating proximity of points on the ground and can facilitate further development of vision‐based solutions for safety and productivity analysis.
Characterization of biogenic nanobubble for molecular ultrasound imaging and therapy

This thesis is protected by copyright, with all rights reserved. By reading and using the thesis, the reader understands and agrees to the following terms: 1. The reader will abide by the rules and legal ordinances governing copyright regarding the use of the thesis. 2. The reader will use the thesis for the purpose of research or private study only and not for distribution or further reproduction or any other purpose. 3. The reader agrees to indemnify and hold the University harmless from and against any loss, damage, cost, liability or expenses arising from copyright infringement or unauthorized usage.
Perceived social support and depressive symptoms in Chinese patients with ovarian cancer and the mediating role of resilience

BackgroundPatients with ovarian cancer (OC) often suffer from depressive symptoms, but there is little research on coping style such as perceived social support and resilience. The aim of the present study was to explore whether resilience plays a mediating role between perceived social support and depressive symptoms. MethodsA cross-sectional study was performed between August 2018 and March 2019. Perceived social support, resilience, and depressive symptoms were measured with the Multi‐dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale and the Connor‐Davidson Resilience Scale (CD‐RISC). Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to assess the mediating role of resilience between these variables. ResultsOf 230 consecutive patients identified, a total of 217 completed questionnaires. After controlling for covariates, perceived social support was negatively correlated with depressive symptoms (β = -0.482, p < 0.01) and explained 22.8% of the variance. In addition, after controlling for covariates and perceived social support, resilience was also negatively associated with depressive symptoms (β = -0.492, p < 0.01) and explained 18.1% of the variance. Bootstrapping test confirmed that the BCa 95% CI for resilience excludes 0 in Table 4 (BCa95% CI: -0.342, -0.143), therefore resilience partially mediated the associations of perceived social support with depressive symptoms. ConclusionsResults revealed that resilience could mediate the association between social support and depressive symptoms, and concluded that it was critical to focus on social support as well as resilience in the management strategy of OC.
Estimation of stress–strength reliability for Marshall–Olkin distributions based on progressively Type-II censored samples

ABSTRACT We are mainly interested in estimating the stress–strength parameter, say , when the parent distribution follows the well-known Marshall–Olkin model and the accessible data has the form of the progressively Type-II censored samples. In this case, the stress–strength parameter is free of the base distribution employed in the Marshall–Olkin model. Thus, we use the exponential distribution for simplicity. The maximum likelihood methods as well as some Bayesian approaches are used for the estimation purpose. The corresponding estimators of the latter approach are obtained by using Lindley's approximation and Gibbs sampling methods since the Bayesian estimator of cannot be obtained as an explicit form. Moreover, some confidence intervals of various types are derived for and then compared via a Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, the survival times of head and neck cancer patients are analyzed by two therapies for illustrating purposes.
Visual and Visual-Inertial SLAM: State of the Art, Classification, and Experimental Benchmarking

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping is now widely adopted by many applications, and researchers have produced very dense literature on this topic. With the advent of smart devices, embedding cameras, inertial measurement units, visual SLAM (vSLAM), and visual-inertial SLAM (viSLAM) are enabling novel general public applications. In this context, this paper conducts a review of popular SLAM approaches with a focus on vSLAM/viSLAM, both at fundamental and experimental levels. It starts with a structured overview of existing vSLAM and viSLAM designs and continues with a new classification of a dozen main state-of-the-art methods. A chronological survey of viSLAM’s development highlights the historical milestones and presents more recent methods into a classification. Finally, the performance of vSLAM is experimentally assessed for the use case of pedestrian pose estimation with a handheld device in urban environments. The performance of five open-source methods Vins-Mono, ROVIO, ORB-SLAM2, DSO, and LSD-SLAM is compared using the EuRoC MAV dataset and a new visual-inertial dataset corresponding to urban pedestrian navigation. A detailed analysis of the computation results identifies the strengths and weaknesses for each method. Globally, ORB-SLAM2 appears to be the most promising algorithm to address the challenges of urban pedestrian navigation, tested with two datasets.
Assessing and Benchmarking Learning Outcomes of Robotics-Enabled STEM Education

Experienced middle school mathematics and science teachers were recruited for a pilot study. The teachers separately responded to a survey related to determining expected learning outcomes based on their traditional teaching, classroom experiences and observations, and self-brainstorming. The teachers then received training on how to design, develop, and implement robotics-enabled lessons under a design-based research approach for experiential learning, and taught robotics-enabled lessons to a selected student population in classroom settings. The teachers then responded to the survey for the robotics-enabled teaching. For each case (traditional and robotics-enabled), the survey responses were analyzed, and a set of expected learning outcomes of math and science lessons was derived separately. The thematic analysis results showed that the expected learning outcomes for the robotics-enabled lessons were not only related to the educational gains (content knowledge) observed in traditional teaching, but also to the improvements in the behavioral, social, scientific, cognitive, and intellectual aptitudes of the students. Then, a set of metrics and methods were proposed for assessing the learning outcomes separately. To validate the assessment metrics and methods, teachers from different schools taught two selected robotics-enabled lessons (one math, one science) to same grade students, and separately assessed the learning outcomes of each student using the proposed metrics and methods. The learning outcomes were then compared and benchmarked between schools and subjects. The results of a user study with the teachers showed user acceptance, effectiveness, and suitability of the assessment metrics and methods. The proposed scheme of assessing learning outcomes can be used to assess and justify the benefits and advantages of robotics-enabled STEM education, benchmark the outcomes, help improve teaching preparations, motivate decision-makers to confer on robotics-enabled STEM education and curricula development, and promote robotics-enabled STEM education.
Power Factor Preregulation in Interleaved Luo Converter-Fed Electric Vehicle Battery Charger

This work deals with the design and implementation of a new interleaved Luo power factor preregulator (PFP)-based electric vehicle (EV) battery charger, which is suitable for low-cost and improved power quality (PQ)-based EV charging. By interleaving two Luo converter cells, the input current is divided between them, which provides reliable and efficient charging of the battery at high-power discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) operation. This reduces the switch conduction loss due to reduced device current stress and thus, the charger efficiency is improved. The interleaved Luo converter incorporates low input and output current ripple due to ripple cancellation. This charger operates in constant current mode up to certain battery state of charge (SOC). However, for higher SOC range, it maintains constant voltage charging using a flyback converter at the next stage. Two converters are designed in DCM to provide inbuilt zero current switching and circuit diodes show good reverse recovery. An inherent PF preregulation is obtained at input mains over a wide range of supply voltages as well as dc-link voltage. The total harmonic distortion of input current is obtained as per PQ regulations. Its prototype is built and tested to validate its improved performance over two-stage solutions.
Non-target effects of insecticides commonly used against lepidopteran pests on the predator, Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter, 1895) (Hemiptera: Miridae), under greenhouse conditions

Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter, 1895) (Hemiptera: Miridae), basta Domates guvesi olmak uzere domates zararlilarina karsi en yaygin kullanilan biyolojik mucadele etmenidir. Bu calismada, 2018 yili yaz ve sonbahar donemlerinde Malatya Ili sera kosullarinda spinetoram, chlorantraniliprole + abamectin, chlorantraniliprole + thiamethoxam, emamectin benzoate ve dimethoate etken maddeli 5 farkli pestisitin N. tenuis ’e yan etkilerinin belirlenmesi amaclanmistir. Insektisit uygulamalari yapildiktan sonra 1, 4, 7, 14, 21 ve 28. gunlerde N. tenuis sayimlari yapilmistir. Insektisitlerin yan etkileri IOBC toksisite kategorisine gore siniflandirilmistir. Iki sezonun ortalamasi dikkate alindiginda, spinetoram, sirasiyla yaz ve sonbahar denemelerinde %24 ve 52 olume neden olmus ve ayni zamanda N. tenuis ile de uyumlu oldugu saptanmistir. Boylece IPM programlarinda onerilebilir. Chlorantraniliprole + abamectin yaz denemesinde %45 olum orani ile zararsiz veya az zararli sinifinda yer alirken, sonbahar denemesinde ise %79 olume neden olmus ve zararli olarak siniflandirilmistir. Serin sartlarda gorulen bu etki IPM programlari hazirlanirken dikkate alinmalidir. Chlorantraniliprole + thiamethoxam yaz ve sonbahar denemelerinde, ozellikle sonbahar denemesinde son sayim gunune kadar artmaya devam eden %62 ve 63 olume neden olmusken, emamectin benzoate ise %86 ve 87 oraninda yuksek olume neden olmustur. Bu yuzden, bu iki insektisitin de N. tenuis ile uyumlu olmadigi dusunulmektedir.
Synthesis and Deposition of Thermochromic VO2 Thin Films from Peroxide-based Chemical Solutions

In this paper, a novel synthesis for a chemical precursor for nanocrystalline VO2 coatings is elaborated. The compatibility of the precursor towards the substrate is optimized for spin coating. This is done by subjecting multiple solvents to contact angle measurements. A suitable thermal treatment is developed to densify the coating and to induce crystallization. Afterwards the microstructure of the coating is investigated using X-Ray diffraction, electron microscopy and ellipsometry techniques. To assess the thermochromic properties of the fabricated device, optical transmission experiments were conducted both at room temperature and at elevated temperature. A correlation between these thermochromic properties and coating thickness was investigated in order to obtain an optimized thermochromic device, where both high visual transparency and prominent thermochromic switching abilities are aimed for. In this work, an optimal coating thickness is proposed for a thermochromic coating with high switching ability and solar modulation.
Chemical Composition, Antioxidant, and Antibacterial Activities of Essential Oil of Atriplex semibaccata R.Br. Aerial Parts: First Assessment against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria

Atriplex semibaccata R.Br. is a perennial halophyte that has received much attention for studies of revegetation of marginal lands in arid and semi-arid environments. It was, recently, demonstrated that there are no risks in terms of contamination of essential oil (EO) from growing plant on such land. Interest in exploring the antibacterial and antioxidant potential of A. semibaccata EO has consequently been renewed. The objective of this study was to investigate the chemical composition, as well as the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of A. semibaccata EO. The antibacterial activity was evaluated against native (drug-sensitive) and multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria by testing the EO alone and in combination with conventional antibiotics. The chemical composition of EO was analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, 52 chemical compounds were identified, and 2-Methoxy-4-vinyl phenol (48.9%), benzaldehyde (6.7%), and benzyl alcohol (6.3%) were found to be the main constituents of EO. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity was evaluated using a 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl reducing–scavenging test. The EO from this species possessed high antioxidant activity (938.65 μg TE/g EO). The antibacterial test demonstrated an inhibitory effect on six native and MDR bacterial strains. We found that Staphylococcus aureus (Gram+), Klebsiella pneumoniae (Gram−), and Escherichia coli (Gram−) were more sensitive than MDR strains, with an inhibition zone ranging from 11.16 mm to 12 mm. Moreover, the minimum inhibitory concentration ranged from 3.12 mg/mL to 6.25 mg/mL. The combination of gentamicin and EO revealed a high synergistic effect. The effect on S. aureus and K. pneumoniae showed lower fractional inhibitory concentration indices of 0.39 and 0.27, respectively. The results also revealed that A. semibaccata EO contained compounds with antibacterial potential against MDR bacteria, with antioxidant properties, and with a moderate synergistic effect in combination with gentamicin. The EO from A. semibaccata could be considered a new and potential source of natural antioxidant and antibacterial agents. These findings make A. semibaccata an excellent choice for the revegetation of marginal lands with the subsequent use of biomass for the production of EO with significant potential in the control of microbial infection.
The effect of GSK-3β in arsenic-induced apoptosis of malignant tumor cells: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Purpose Arsenic has been reported to induce apoptosis in malignant tumor cells. Therefore, it has been investigated as a chemotherapy. From a mechanistic standpoint, the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway, mediated by GSK-3β, plays an important role in tumor cell apoptosis. Nonetheless, the regulation of GSK-3β by arsenic remains controversial. The study aimed to clarify the mechanism of GSK-3β in arsenic-induced apoptosis of tumor cells. Materials and methods We included 19 articles, which conducts the role of GSK-3β in the process of arsenic-induced tumor cell apoptosis by the meta-analysis. Results Compared with that of control group, the expression of GSK-3β (SMD= −0.92, 95% CI (−1.78, −0.06)), p-Akt (SMD= −5.46,95% CI (−8.67, −2.24)) were increased in the arsenic intervention group. Meanwhile, the combined treatment of arsenic and Akt agonists can inhibit p-GSK-3β. Using the dose and time subgroup analysis, it was shown that the low-dose (<5 μmol/L) and sub-chronic (>24 h) arsenic exposure could inhibit the expression of p-Akt (P < 0.05). In the subgroup analysis of GSK-3β sites, arsenic could inhibit p-Akt and GSK-3β (Ser9) (SMD = −0.95, 95% CI (−1.56, −0.33)). There was a positive dose-response relationship between arsenic and p-GSK-3β when the dose of arsenic was less than 8 μmol/L. The expression of Mcl-1 and pro-caspase-3 were decreased, while the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and cleaved-caspase-3 increased significantly when arsenic stimulated GSK-3β (Ser9) (P < 0.05). Conclusion The study revealed that arsenic could induce tumor cell apoptosis, by inhibiting p-Akt/GSK-3β, and triggering the Mcl-1-dependent mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.