Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of angular and polarization stable modified circular ring frequency selective surface for satellite communication system

In this paper, a simple synthesis technique to obtain the geometrical parameters of the modified circular ring for angular and polarizations (perpendicular and parallel) stable frequency selective surface (FSS) has been discussed. The geometrical parameters of the modified circular ring FSS structure have been achieved using the proposed synthesis technique, which is based on the equivalent circuit (EC) approach. In addition to this, the numerical analysis is also discussed to determine the values of EC parameters, which depends on the basic system level characteristics such as frequency of operation and reflection/transmission coefficients. The analytical results are supported using the full-wave three-dimensional electromagnetic (EM) simulators such as CST Microwave Studio and Ansoft HFSS. The sensitivity of the structure to the perpendicular and parallel polarized EM wave up to 50° angle-of-incidences (AOIs) has been discussed. The stability over different AOI is attributed to the appropriate thickness of the structure with its small unit-cell dimensions. We have also fabricated and experimentally tested the proposed FSS structure.
Comment on acp-2022-74

authors present an interesting work merging retrievals from several satellites to investigate enhancement ratios of CO 2 , CO, and NO 2 from a large number of cities around the world. The methodology used to calculate the enhancement ratio appears robust, building off work previously presented in the literature, and applied to newer satellite datasets. Given the growing access to greenhouse gas measurements from space, I find the work an important study as the scientific community strives to find the appropriate analyses and interpretations to deploy with such global measurements.
Evaluation of the Potency of Anti-HIV and Anti-HCV Drugs to Inhibit P-Glycoprotein Mediated Efflux of Digoxin in Caco-2 Cell Line and Human Precision-Cut Intestinal Slices

The inhibition of P-glycoprotein (ABCB1) could lead to increased drug plasma concentrations and hence increase drug toxicity. The evaluation of a drug’s ability to inhibit ABCB1 is complicated by the presence of several transport-competent sites within the ABCB1 binding pocket, making it difficult to select appropriate substrates. Here, we investigate the capacity of antiretrovirals and direct-acting antivirals to inhibit the ABCB1-mediated intestinal efflux of [3H]-digoxin and compare it with our previous rhodamine123 study. At concentrations of up to 100 µM, asunaprevir, atazanavir, daclatasvir, darunavir, elbasvir, etravirine, grazoprevir, ledipasvir, lopinavir, rilpivirine, ritonavir, saquinavir, and velpatasvir inhibited [3H]-digoxin transport in Caco-2 cells and/or in precision-cut intestinal slices prepared from the human jejunum (hPCIS). However, abacavir, dolutegravir, maraviroc, sofosbuvir, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, and zidovudine had no inhibitory effect. We thus found that most of the tested antivirals have a high potential to cause drug–drug interactions on intestinal ABCB1. Comparing the Caco-2 and hPCIS experimental models, we conclude that the Caco-2 transport assay is more sensitive, but the results obtained using hPCIS agree better with reported in vivo observations. More inhibitors were identified when using digoxin as the ABCB1 probe substrate than when using rhodamine123. However, both approaches had limitations, indicating that inhibitory potency should be tested with at least these two ABCB1 probes.
FLEXotendon Glove-III: Voice-Controlled Soft Robotic Hand Exoskeleton With Novel Fabrication Method and Admittance Grasping Control

This article presents a voice-controlled soft robotic hand exoskeleton for hand assistance. Cervical spinal cord injury results in a disruption of the nerve signals, causing paralysis and limited upper extremity function. The impairment significantly limits the completion of activities of daily living (ADL) due to the importance of hand function. Recently, there has been an increase in hand exoskeleton studies to provide active assistance for effective ADL completion. However, the design, control, and user interface (UI) of the devices remain a challenging issue. This article proposes a novel fabrication method for the wearable glove using high consistency rubber silicone and biomimetic tendon routing. The developed glove provides a robust, deformable, and optimal-fitting design for an individual’s hand with a weight of 131 g and five-degree-of-freedom motion for various ADLs. It provides a pinch force of 6.3 N and an object-level admittance controller was implemented for virtual grasping modalities. A smartphone app-based voice UI was developed to provide a truly portable and intuitive control system. Grasping experiments with a healthy participant were conducted to evaluate the system.
Effects of Mulberry Branch and Leaves Silage on Microbial Community, Rumen Fermentation Characteristics, and Milk Yield in Lactating Dairy Cows

This study investigated the effects of mulberry branch and leaves (MBL) silage on milk yield, ruminal fermentation, and bacteria composition in dairy cows. Thirty-six mid-lactation cows were selected and randomly allocated into three groups. The control group (C) was fed on a total mixed ratio (TMR) diet, while the experimental groups were fed on TMR supplemented with 5% (L) and 10% (H) MBL silage. The experiment lasted for eight weeks, including two weeks of adaption. The results showed that Group H had an increased milk yield, milk fat content (p < 0.05), and 4% feed conversion ratio (p = 0.10). In addition, rumen propionic acid was significantly increased (p < 0.05), while acetate/propionate was significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in the high MBL silage group. The microbiome analysis showed that Bacteroides, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria were the predominant phyla. Compared with Group C, the abundance of Bacteroides was significantly decreased (p < 0.01), while the Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were increased but not significantly different in Groups L and H. Prevotella was significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in the MBL silage groups, and Succinivibrionaceae_UCG-001 was increased in Group H. The correlation analysis showed that eight bacterial species belonging to Firmicutes were positively correlated with propionic acid. However, four bacterial species belonging to the Bacteroides group were negatively correlated with propionic acid. In conclusion, feed supplementation with about 5–10% of MBL silage could modulate the rumen microbiota and fermentation, and increase the abundance of fiber-digesting, propionic acid synthesis and milk fat-related microorganisms, thus improving milk yield in dairy cows.
Reprocessability of PLA through Chain Extension for Fused Filament Fabrication

As additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have been gaining popularity in the plastic processing sector, it has become a major concern to establish closed-loop recycling strategies to maximize the value of the materials processed, therefore enhancing their sustainability. However, there are challenges to overcome related to the performance of recycled materials since, after mechanical recycling, the molecular degradation of thermoplastics shifts their performance and processability. In this work, it was hypothesized that the incorporation of a chain extender (CE) during the reprocessing would allow us to overcome these drawbacks. To attest this conjecture, the influence of 1,3-Bis(4,5-dihydro-2-oxazolyl)benzene (PBO), used as a CE, on mechanical, thermal, and rheological properties of polilactic acid (PLA) was studied. Furthermore, a closed-loop recycling system based on Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) was attempted, consisting of the material preparation, filament extrusion, production of 3D components, and mechanical recycling steps. PBO partially recovered the recycled PLA mechanical performance, reflected by an increase in both tensile modulus (+13%) and tensile strength (+121%), when compared with recycled PLA without PBO. Printability tests were conducted, with the material’s brittle behavior being the major constraint for successfully establishing a closed-loop recycling scheme for FFF applications.
Modeling Sustainability of Participatory Information Systems for Urban Communities: A Mixed-Method Approach

In the face of the growing challenge of low civic participation, various technology-based endeav- ors, such as hyper-local social media and open government initiatives, have emerged to facilitate citizens’ involvement with their local communities. However, evidence-based guidelines about how to start and maintain viable information systems for urban communities are scarce and in- conclusive. My dissertation aims to identify factors that affect the sustainability of these systems by conducting a mixed-method empirical investigation of the E-Democracy platform, a pioneer platforms of its kind. With this goal, I proposed a framework to model the influence of offline characteristics of the target urban communities, system design, and residents’ online behaviors on the sustainability of participatory information systems for urban communities. Guided by this framework, I conducted analyses of urban communities’ public data; longitudinal studies, con- tent classification and social network analysis of archival data of the system; and a cross-sectional study of user surveys. The results indicate that (1) certain community characteristics, such as neighborhood instability, play a crucial role in the sustainability of these information systems, (2) both on-site and off-site communication among residents is key for the systems to have an impact on community involvement, and (3) particular design decisions can foster participation of under- represented populations. My work bridges the gap between research on social computing and community informatics by providing a framework to analyze the sustainability of participatory in- formation systems for urban communities. The findings have implications for information experts and technology developers seeking to study or design technologies for local communities.
SURVEY ON DURABILITY OF PRESTRESSED CONCRETE STRUCTURES IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND PACIFIC AND FAR EASTERN COUNTRIES

Upon the request of Professor Franco Levi, President of the Federation Internationale de la Precontrainte, it was decided at the meeting of the FIP Commission on Durability, held in Milan in February 1968, to form a subcommittee to investigate the actual performance of prestressed concrete structures. The main objectives of this worldwide survey on the durability of prestressed concrete structures were: 1. To obtain an estimate on the total number of prestressed . concrete structures built. 2. To determine the prevailing practice in each country regarding the materials and construction techniques used for various types of prestressed concrete structures. 3. To assess the number of prestressed concrete structures which have shown signs of serious deteriorations or failures. 4. To investigate, if possible, the causes of the damage and to recommend preventive measures. The survey used two types of questionnaires obtained from the Commission on Durability. The primary purpose of the "short form" was to compare the number of prestressed concrete structures actually built with the number of prestressed concrete structures which have shown signs of distress. The "long form" detailed the materials and techniques used in the construction of these structures, including their age, environmental conditions, etc.; this form obtained more information on the causes of serious damage or failure than was obtained in the short form. The survey presented herein covers the performance of prestressed concrete structures in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, Ceylon, and other Pacific and Far Eastern countries.
The Multifaceted Roles of Fungal Cutinases during Infection

Cuticles cover the aerial epidermis cells of terrestrial plants and thus represent the first line of defence against invading pathogens, which must overcome this hydrophobic barrier to colonise the inner cells of the host plant. The cuticle is largely built from the cutin polymer, which consists of C16 and C18 fatty acids attached to a glycerol backbone that are further modified with terminal and mid-chain hydroxyl, epoxy, and carboxy groups, all cross-linked by ester bonds. To breach the cuticle barrier, pathogenic fungal species employ cutinases—extracellular secreted enzymes with the capacity to hydrolyse the ester linkages between cutin monomers. Herein, we explore the multifaceted roles that fungal cutinases play during the major four stages of infection: (i) spore landing and adhesion to the host plant cuticle; (ii) spore germination on the host plant cuticle; (iii) spore germ tube elongation and the formation of penetrating structures; and (iv) penetration of the host plant cuticle and inner tissue colonisation. Using previous evidence from the literature and a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic tree of cutinases, we discuss the notion whether the lifestyle of a given fungal species can predict the activity nature of its cutinases.
Classifying Urban Sounds using Time Series Motifs

The aim of this work is to describe a SAX-based Multiresolution Mo- tif Discovery approach to generate features for Urban Sound Classification. The idea is to discover relevant frequent motifs in the audio signals and use the dis- covered motifs and their frequency as characterizing attributes. We also describe different configurations of motif discovery for defining attributes. For classifi- cation we use a decision tree based algorithm, random forests and SVM. We compare the results obtained with the results using Mel-Frequency Cepstral Co- efficients (MFCC) for feature generation. MFCCs are commonly used in envi- ronmental sound analysis. Experiments were performed on the publicly available Urban Sound dataset. The results obtained suggest that the motif approach is able to identify discriminating features especially in the cases where MFCC failed.
Towards understanding the dependencies of deep learning classification of anatomical sites from CBCT x-ray projections

Deep learning (DL) applications strongly depend on the training dataset size; however, it is unclear how to objectively select this parameter. This work investigates the dependence of the classification performance of a DL model on the dataset size for the anatomic classification of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) projections. CBCT scans from 1055 patients were collected and manually classified into 5 anatomic classes and used to develop a DL model to predict the anatomic class from 0º x-ray projections. A VGG-16 convolutional neural network (CNN) was trained with 75% of the data, while the remaining 25% was used for testing and evaluation. The training dataset was downsampled to various sizes. The training dataset size could be reduced to ~50% of its initial size, without compromising the classification performance.
Anti-Obesity Effects of Polymethoxyflavone-Rich Fraction from Jinkyool (Citrus sunki Hort. ex Tanaka) Leaf on Obese Mice Induced by High-Fat Diet

Polymethoxyflavones (PMFs) are flavonoids exclusively found in certain citrus fruits and have been reported to be beneficial to human health. Most studies have been conducted with PMFs isolated from citrus peels, while there is no study on PMFs isolated from leaves. In this study, we prepared a PMF-rich fraction (PRF) from the leaves of Citrus sunki Hort ex. Tanaka (Jinkyool) and investigated whether the PRF could improve metabolic decline in obese mice induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) for 5 weeks. The HFD-induced obese mice were assigned into HFD, OR (HFD + orlistat at 15.6 mg/kg of body weight/day), and PRF (HFD + 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg of body weight/day) groups. Orlistat and PRF were orally administered for 5 weeks. At the end of the experiment, the serum biochemical parameters, histology, and gene expression profiles in the tissues of each group were analyzed. The body weight gain of the obese mice was significantly reduced after orlistat and PRF administration for 5 weeks. PRF effectively improved HFD-induced insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. Histological analysis in the liver demonstrated that PRF decreased adipocyte size and potentially improved the liver function, as it inhibited the incidence of fatty liver. PRF activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) in HFD-induced obese mice. Moreover, liver transcriptome analysis revealed that PRF administration enriched genes mainly related to fatty-acid metabolism and immune responses. Overall, these results suggest that the PRF exerted an anti-obesity effect via the modulation of lipid metabolism.
Effect of a Four-Week Vegan Diet on Performance, Training Efficiency and Blood Biochemical Indices in CrossFit-Trained Participants

This interventional study examined the effect of a four-week vegan diet (VegD) during a four-week high-intensity functional training (HIFT) on performance, training results and blood biochemical indices in female (n = 12) and male (n = 8) moderate-trained CrossFit participants. The whole study group performed the maximum number of repetitions with a load of 70% one repetition-maximum (1RM) and a modified Fight Gone Bad (FGBMod) test before and after a dietary intervention (the group was divided to follow a VegD or a traditional mixed diet (MixD)) in a randomised and parallel design. Pre-exercise resting blood samples were also analysed. There was a significant improvement in the number of repetitions performed at a load corresponding to 70% of 1RM in the classic squat in the MixD group (p < 0.001), and in the classic deadlift in the VegD group (p = 0.014). Furthermore, there was a significant improvement in the results of the FGBMod performance test after a MixD. Moreover, an improvement in some exercises in the modified FGBMod test (Wall Ball after the VegD and the MixD, and rowing after the MixD) was also observed. However, differences between the MixD and the VegD groups were not clinically relevant. In conclusion, the short-term study conducted here indicated that a VegD in HIFT training positively affects strength endurance in the classic deadlift but is unlikely to be more beneficial in improving performance than a MixD.
A first-principles study of electronic and optical properties of the tetragonal phase of monolayer ZnS modulated by biaxial strain

Modulation of the electronic and optical properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials is of great significance for their practical applications. Here, by using first-principles calculations, we study a tetragonal phase of monolayer ZnS, and explore its associated electronic and optical properties under biaxial strain. The results from phonon dispersion and molecular dynamics simulation demonstrate that the tetragonal phase of monolayer ZnS possesses a very high stability. The monolayer ZnS has a direct band gap of 4.20 eV. It changes to an indirect band gap under both compression and tension, exhibiting a decrease in band gap. However, the band gap decreases more slowly under compression compared to the tension process such that the direct band gap remains within −8%, demonstrating excellent endurance under pressure. Fortunately, tetragonal ZnS exhibits a good absorption ability in the ultraviolet (UV) range regardless of strain. Our research results enrich the understanding of monolayer ZnS, which is helpful for the design and application of optoelectronic devices using the material.
A Study on the Validity of a Physical Model for Fish Behavior

In this paper, a physical model is presented for describing the behavior of fish in a water tank. The system equation includes several nonlinear terms representing the main causes for fish motion, which are introduced under the physical consideration. The model parameters are estimated by applying the least squares algorithm. It is observed from a water tank experiment that, in the case of small school, an individual acts as a leader and the others as followers. The parameter values estimated reflect the role of each individual in the school. Three models are proposed as an appropriate functional form of the interactive force. The best form is determined by examining a simulation result for the behavior of fish school encountered by a leader net.
Data Packet Optimization Incognitive Radio Sensor Network Using Ofdm

Cognitive Radio (CR) is a novel concept that enables wireless devices to detect and adapt to their surroundings in order to enhance communication quality. The cognitive radio sensor network (CRSN) has proved to be a cost-effective solution to the spectrum constraints that wireless sensor networks (WSN). Optimizing the optimum packet size is regarded to be an essential energy constrained issue to address the practical implementation of CRSN out of all the difficulties. Small packets generate data traffic in device-to-device communication, a flexible way for transferring data in wireless networks, while big packets may cause data bit corruption, requiring retransmission at a greater frequency. This will not allow access from the secondary network to the main network, since it may cause further disturbance. To maximise the WSN's energy efficiency, the optimum packet size for CRSN should be utilised while keeping the same degree of interference as the primary licenced users (PU). The purpose of this article is to examine formulations for small, medium, and large packet sizes in order to determine the optimum packet size for adaptive CRSN. To do so, CR requires a flexible physical layer capable of carrying out the necessary tasks. This article examines the performance of CR systems that use the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technique, which is a possible transmission technology for CR. Interference delays are minimised, and the channels are ultimately utilised effectively. This article shows that medium-sized packets are the optimum choice for achieving the greatest performance on the Cognitive Radio Sensor Network (CRSN). The Jellyfish Search Optimization algorithm (JSO) and the hybrid Momentum Search Algorithm (MSA) are hybridised, and results are achieved. This makes it possible to calculate precise packet sizes. The suggested approach decision outperforms existing methods like the Group Sparse Optimization algorithm and the Throughput Maximization Algorithm. The MATLAB / SIMULINK Platform were used to get the results.
Research and Implementation of Feature Points Detection of Automobile Headlights

In order to meet the increase of vehicle detection items and detailed testing contents, the detection methods of automobile headlight feature points were studied. The classification ways of automobile headlights were described and a detection system of headlight feature points was designed and realized by using digital image processing technologies according to the characteristics of headlight shapes. The front end image of automobile was analyzed, the front license plate was located precisely, the headlight detection areas were pre-located, and the headlight feature points were extracted based on modified Hough transform. The experimental results showed that the regional centers of circular headlights were extracted and the corners of rectangular and alien shaped headlights were detected. This method could automatically detect the feature points of automobile headlights and lay good foundation for next vehicle testing and fault diagnosis.
What a Clinical Hematologist should Know about B Cells?

B cells are very crucial part of our immune system. They protect us from various infections by secreting antigen-specific antibodies, which neutralize the infectious agents. It is important for a clinical hematologist to know about the B cell development, function and the diseases developing from the quantitative or qualitative defects in B cells. This simple and short review is focused on the basic understanding and clinical hematologist’s perspective of B cells.