Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global optimization with a new method based on the gradient direction vector without constrained derivable objective functions

Abstract Gradient descent is a popular method in optimization. This method can be used in the case of a derivable and without constraint function. But it encountered several obstacles (the choice of initial point and the type of objective function, the solution, global or local). In this work, we propose an optimization method that is used to calculate the global optimization of mono-objective optimization functions that can be derived without constraints. This method is inspired by the gradient descent method. Their principle is to use a new entity based on the gradient direction instead of gradient. Unlike the gradient method and other methods inspired by gradient descent (conjugate gradient method and Newton method) where the choice of initial point is made in a random way. In our case, the choice of initial point is fixed at the beginning and also the form of the objective function curve is not a problem. Finally, we will end by applying our method to some examples (nonlinear function, quadratic function (not-convex, convex).
High-G testing of MEMS mechanical non-volatile memory and silicon re-entry switch.

Two different Sandia MEMS devices have been tested in a high-g environment to determine their performance and survivability. The first test was performed using a drop-table to produce a peak acceleration load of 1792 g's over a period of 1.5 ms. For the second test the MEMS devices were assembled in a gun-fired penetrator and shot into a cement target at the Army Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg Mississippi. This test resulted in a peak acceleration of 7191 g's for a duration of 5.5 ms. The MEMS devices were instrumented using the MEMS Diagnostic Extraction System (MDES), which is capable of driving the devices and recording the device output data during the high-g event, providing in-flight data to assess the device performance. A total of six devices were monitored during the experiments, four mechanical non-volatile memory devices (MNVM) and two Silicon Reentry Switches (SiRES). All six devices functioned properly before, during, and after each high-g test without a single failure. This is the first known test under flight conditions of an active, powered MEMS device at Sandia.
Compact planar multiband antenna for GPS, DCS, 2.4/5.8 GHz WLAN applications

A compact single-feed multiband planar antenna configuration suitable for GPS, DCS, 2.4/5.8 GHz WLAN applications is presented. The antenna has dimensions 38/spl times/3/spl times/1.6 mm and offers good radiation and reflection characteristics in the above frequency bands. The antenna has a simple geometry and can be easily fed using a 50 /spl Omega/ coaxial probe.
Dielectric selection for a robotic electrostatic gripping device

Researchers have been applying electrostatic force to the handling and restraint of materials for a large part of the twentieth century. The principle has recently been applied to the robotic handling of non-rigid materials, for which it shows a number of advantages over other gripping methods. This paper introduces the concepts and requirements of electrostatic gripping of such materials, and then details selection procedures for dielectric materials. It is found that analysis of the gripping technique produces dielectric material requirements quite different from those expected from a preliminary study of the device. Implementation and manufacture of these robotic devices are then described for a potential application. A robotic cell has been constructed and integration of the electrostatic gripping device into the cell is detailed. The paper concludes with a summary of the scope, advantages and limitations of the resultant system.
The Relationship Between the Strategic and Growth Factors of Enterprise: Data of Mexico (Empirical Evidence)

The growth has been studied from multiple angles and varied approaches so it is a factor that must be evaluated in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to make decisions that improve their results. In the same way, the creation of strategies need a deep situational analysis, it is equally important to the efficiency and effectiveness of such strategies so they become operational. The central question addressed in the present study was identifying the variables that provide its own validity and, secondly, to determine which variables have a higher impact on the response variable (sales). The survey contains 159 items in 58 grouped questions. The collected data from a sample of 109 enterprises from different sectors and sizes were codified in order to carry out general descriptive procedures. The reliability of the instrument showed a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.8. The main statistical method used was the regression analysis. In order to carry it out, six compound variables were entered for the factors of information technologies, innovation, trading efforts, human resources, quality and technology. The results reveal that the more prepared the manager is and the more effectiveness obtained from the training program then the better indicators of growth will be obtained as a result (i.e. sales). The more integration among quality indicators (development of specifications and cost reduction programs) is, the better levels of growth (i.e. sales and growth perception) will be. The information technologies must be analyzed by the enterprises because once they are classified by their size, it is possible to observe a positive and significant correlation in any of the two ways of measuring the company’s growth. The results can be useful for the people in charge of key decisions in any kind of enterprise as it displays a theoretical background for identify their main competitive variables.
Advances in the Field of Micro- and Nanotechnologies Applied to Extracellular Vesicle Research: Take-Home Message from ISEV2021

Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are naturally secreted nanoparticles with a plethora of functions in the human body and remarkable potential as diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Starting from their discovery, EV nanoscale dimensions have hampered and slowed new discoveries in the field, sometimes generating confusion and controversies among experts. Microtechnological and especially nanotechnological advances have sped up biomedical research dealing with EVs, but efforts are needed to further clarify doubts and knowledge gaps. In the present review, we summarize some of the most interesting data presented in the Annual Meeting of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV), ISEV2021, to stimulate discussion and to share knowledge with experts from all fields of research. Indeed, EV research requires a multidisciplinary knowledge exchange and effort. EVs have demonstrated their importance and significant biological role; still, further technological achievements are crucial to avoid artifacts and misleading conclusions in order to enable outstanding discoveries.
Adaptive control system techniques applied to inertial stabilization systems

Inertial stabilization systems are designed to maintain the angular orientation of an optical system or other device in inertial space. Applications include surveillance, target tracking, flight control, weapon pointing, navigation, communication and others. Typically, some variation of a closed loop control system is employed which uses feedback from a gyro. The object of this paper is to consider the potential benefits and some approaches to adaptive control algorithms. Ideally, an adaptive control system would adjust itself to achieve "optimal performance" with respect to some criteria in the presence of changing plant characteristics, changing noise characteristics and a changing disturbance environment. Potentially, such a design could provide robust control for a variety of system configurations, mission conditions and applications resulting in significant reductions in both development and production costs as well as improved performance. First, the general stabilization problem and some conventional control system designs are briefly reviewed. Then a variety of adaptive techniques are surveyed. Finally, the current status and results of a joint research project between Texas Instruments and the University of Texas at Arlington whose goal is to develop an adaptive stabilization control system is discussed.
Strain and Age Effects on Behavior of a Concrete Pavement Joint Sealant Material

A one-part self-leveling silicone joint sealant material was experimentally investigated in the laboratory. It was found that strain and age had apparent effects on the relaxation modulus of the material. Relaxation tests were conducted under different strain levels. The test samples were exposed to ultraviolet radiation and moisture for artificial aging before testing. For this largely deformable material, finite strain formulas were used in analysis of experimental data. Strain and age effects were successfully normalized in the relaxation master curve by using the superposition principle. On the basis of the master curve, a material model of the generalized Maxwell model in parallel type was constructed. The real time was scaled to the reduced time by time-strain shift and time-age shift factors so as to characterize the strain and age effects. This model is mathematically simple and can be easily applied in finite element programs for concrete pavement joint analysis.
An open‐label, dose‐escalation study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of single doses of GSK2586881 in participants with pulmonary arterial hypertension

Abstract Preclinical and early clinical studies suggest that angiotensin‐converting enzyme type 2 activity may be impaired in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH); therefore, administration of exogenous angiotensin‐converting enzyme type 2 (ACE2) may be beneficial. This Phase IIa, multi‐center, open‐label, exploratory, single‐dose, dose‐escalation study (NCT03177603) assessed the potential vasodilatory effects of single doses of GSK2586881 (a recombinant human ACE2) on acute cardiopulmonary hemodynamics in hemodynamically stable adults with documented PAH who were receiving background PAH therapy. Successive cohorts of participants were administered a single intravenous dose of GSK2586881 of 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, or 0.8 mg/kg. Dose escalation occurred after four or more participants per cohort were dosed and a review of safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and hemodynamic data up to 24 h postdose was undertaken. The primary endpoint was a change in cardiopulmonary hemodynamics (pulmonary vascular resistance, cardiac index, and mean pulmonary artery pressure) from baseline. Secondary/exploratory objectives included safety and tolerability, effect on renin‐angiotensin system peptides, and pharmacokinetics. GSK2586881 demonstrated no consistent or sustained effect on acute cardiopulmonary hemodynamics in participants with PAH receiving background PAH therapy (N = 23). All doses of GSK2586881 were well tolerated. GSK2586881 was quantifiable in plasma for up to 4 h poststart of infusion in all participants and caused a consistent and sustained reduction in angiotensin II and a corresponding increase in angiotensin (1–7) and angiotensin (1–5). While there does not appear to be a consistent acute vasodilatory response to single doses of GSK2586881 in participants with PAH, the potential benefits in terms of chronic vascular remodeling remain to be determined.
Effects of emotional healing on organisational learning and radical innovation: a leadership-based approach

PurposeThe objective of this study was to provide empirical evidence of the relationship between emotional healing, analysed as a leader behaviour and radical innovation.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypotheses, structural equations were used, with organisational learning capability as an explanatory variable. The study was conducted in a population of 402 Spanish companies. A sample frame of 292 questionnaires was obtained from 146 different organisations. The fieldwork took place in two stages, in 2010 and again in 2015.FindingsResults confirm the hypotheses proposed in the model. Emotional healing promotes organisational learning capability and, in turn, radical innovation.Practical implicationsOur results provide some guidelines for companies that are trying to develop radical innovations by improving the workplace conditions.Originality/valueTo our knowledge, there are no previous studies which studied the relationship between emotional healing and its effect on radical innovation. Therefore, providing empirical evidence of such a relationship is the main contribution of this paper.
Foreign ownership and centralized collective bargaining: Direct and indirect influences

Using firm-level data from Germany, this study examines the link between foreign ownership and the coverage by centralized (multi-employer) bargaining agreements. Conforming to theoretical considerations, the empirical analysis shows that it is important to distinguish between a direct and an indirect influence of foreign ownership on centralized collective bargaining. The direct influence of foreign ownership lowers the probability that a firm is covered by a centralized agreement. The indirect influence works through the unionization of the workforce. If the size of the firm does not exceed a critical level, the indirect influence counteracts the direct influence. Foreign ownership leads to a higher share of union members which, in turn, has a positive influence on the coverage by a centralized agreement. However, in very large firms the indirect influence appears to be negative. Foreign ownership is associated with a lower share of union members.
Role of Nitrogen containing heterocyclic compounds in Acyl co-A carboxylase carboxyltransferase: Docking with dynamic simulation studies

: Acyl Co-A carboxylase carboxyltransferase (AccD5) is essential for cell wall lipid biosynthesis and its disruption leads to mycobacterial death. Acyl CoA is the key regulation point for fatty acid synthesis and therefore AccD5 has become a good target for mycobacterial disease. Herein, docking and Molecular dynamic simulations with other computational techniques and softwares has been used to select the best compound. The heterocyclic compounds were indole, n-methylpiperazine, piperidine, and pyrrolidine derivatives. Among which, the docking results showed Ib5, an indole containing heterocyclic compound, as a potent inhibitor with good binding affinity with -20.23 kcal/mol of energy as compared with the standard NCI-65828 (8-amino-5-(4’-hydroxybiphenyl-4ylazo)naphthalene-2-sulfonate molecule with -19.24 kcal/mol of binding energy. Additionally, MD simulations showed less fluctuations with depiction of root means square deviation and root mean square fluctuation graphs in 2A7S-Ib5 complex. Wherein, this molecular modeling of AccD5 with Ib5 provided an insight to use it as an anti-tubercular drug. Therefore, this method has helped to prove the nitrogen containing heterocyclic compounds can be used against Mycobacterium tuberculosis .
Efficient Sample Location Selection for Query Zone in Geo-Social Networks

While promoting a business or activity in geo-social networks, the geographical distance between its location and users is critical. Therefore, the problem of Distance-Aware Influence Maximization (DAIM) has been investigated recently. The efficiency of DAIM heavily relies on the sample location selection. Specifically, the online seeding performance is sensitive to the distance between the promoted location and its nearest sample location, and the offline precomputation performance is sensitive to the number of sample locations. However, there is no work to fully study the problem of sample location selection for DAIM in geo-social networks. To do this, we first formalize the problem under a reasonable assumption that a promoted location always adheres to the distribution of users (query zone). Then, we propose two efficient location sampling approaches based on facility location analysis, which is one of the most well-studied areas of operations research, and these two approaches are denoted by Facility Location based Sampling (FLS) and Conditional Facility Location Based Sampling (CFLS), respectively. FLS conducts one-time sample location selection, and CFLS extends the one-time sample location selection to a continuous process, so that an online advertising service can be started immediately without sampling a lot of locations. Our experimental results on two real datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed methods. Specifically, both FLS and CFLS can achieve better performance than the existing sampling methods for the DAIM problem, and CFLS can initialize the online advertising service in a matter of seconds and achieve better objective distance than FLS after sampling a large number of sample locations.
Drone Wireless Charging Station using Multiple Transmitter Coils of Different Sizes with Degrees of Freedom in the Air gap

This paper proposes a multiple transmitter system composed of transmitter coils of different sizes for charging drones. Combining different sized transmitter coils can reduce the sensitivity of the coupling coefficient to air gap with the receiver coil. This paper also proposes a coil select algorithm for securing higher power transfer efficiency (PTE) in the proposed multi-transmitter system by using the LCC topology on the primary side. The proposed system and coil selection algorithm are verified through circuit simulation. When the proposed system was used, the efficiency was 3.81% higher at 125 mm of the air gap than when the transmitter coil system of the same size was used. Although proposed system in this paper is designed as a target for drones, higher efficiency can be obtained in 3D when charging applications of various sizes.
Marketing To Hispanics: Eco-Friendly Behavior Patterns

This research compares the eco-friendly habits of Hispanics to the general population based upon self reported activities by residents of California. The findings indicate that Hispanics are participating in eco-friendly activities, which include recycling, buying eco-friendly products, using fewer natural resources, and support green causes. However, they are more likely to only participate in a few of these activities, primarily those around the home and those requiring less personal commitment in time and money. There is a gap between the general population and the Hispanic population where it relates to the sales of green products and services. This discovery represents an opportunity for a call to action to the 50 million United States Hispanic residents on the topics of recycling, natural products and services and causes.
Behavior of an embedded piezoceramic transducer for Lamb wave generation in mechanical loading

The concept of a built-in structural health monitoring system has attracted great interest as such systems may allow reduced maintenance cost and increased safety. One attractive technique to realize such a system in composites is to use embedded transducers to generate Lamb waves. The damage in the structure is detected by determining the change in the character of the Lamb waves as an effect of damage. In this paper, the performance of embedded piezoceramic transducers used as Lamb-wave generators was investigated. The composite specimens with a piezoceramic transducer embedded in the mid- plane were subjected to tensile and compressive static loading as well as fatigue loading. A surface-attached acoustic emission sensor further detected the Lamb waves. Measurements of the impedance were also performed during static loading to evaluate the electrical conduction of the piezoceramic transducer. During static loading, the embedded piezoceramic transducers functioned near to the final failure of the composite without significant changes in the generated Lamb waves, although the microscopic examination indicated damage. Debonding between the surfaces of the piezoceramic element and the interconnectors as well as failure in the piezoceramic element had occurred. In fatigue, for a stress ratio of -1, the piezoceramic transducers also showed a large working range. The amplitude and frequency of the Lamb waves, generated by the piezoceramic transducers, were not significantly changed after a large number of cycles, around 50,000 - 100,000 cycles at strain levels of ± 0.20%. The changes in terms of amplitude and frequency of the Lamb waves, occurring after a large number of cycles, were associated with increasing matrix cracks in the specimen.
Full-wave analysis of traveling-wave electrodes with finite thickness for electro-optic modulators by the method of lines

In order to optimize broadband electrooptic modulators with traveling-wave electrodes, detailed information about the propagation constant, the field distribution, and the wave impedance of the modulating field is needed. To get accurate results for these characteristic values, the numerically efficient method of lines (MoL) is used. The MoL takes advantage of the planar structure by discretizing the wave equation in the directions parallel to the metallization plane, whereas an analytical formulation is retained for the transverse direction. Thus, not only the hybrid character of the modulating field but also the finite conductor thickness and anisotropy of the substrate are taken into account. Results for asymmetric coplanar stripline electrodes with typical dimensions on SiO/sub 2/ buffered LiNbO/sub 3/ are presented. >
A Design of DSPIC Based Microfluidic PCR Chip Temperature Controlling System

In this paper a dsPIC microcontroller based temperature control system is developed for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on-chip. PCR is one of the most important techniques in molecular biology and temperature control is the key technique of PCR. Yet, most of the works are based on PC, through an RS 232 interface to set and control the temperature. Here we design a temperature control system based on DSPIC Microcontroller. It can be much portable and cheaper than PC based systems. The system configuration mainly consists of a high precision, stable performance sensor PT1000, a signal amplification circuit, a PID algorithm. And then, we use MAX1978 to improve the accuracy of temperature control. After that we choose thermoelectric cooler (TEC) modules as actuator to improve system heating and cooling rate. It is believe that the portable PCR temperature control system will play an important role in the development of the Microfluidic PCR.