Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using temporal convolution network for remaining useful lifetime prediction

Because Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) can extract spatial feature, while Long Short‐Term Memory (LSTM) can learn temporal features, many methods combining CNN with LSTM are proposed for remaining useful lifetime prediction. In practice, it is better to learn temporal features from long history sequence data because of the slow inherently long‐term degradation process. However, LSTM is less efficient in processing long history sequence. To solve this problem, in this work, a temporal convolution network combining causal filters with dilated convolutions is used to expand the receptive field length of network. The network structure can be fixed through three key parameters, and the size of time window adopted for time sequence processing is the same as the receptive field length. These two characteristics allow the network to easily be applied for engineering purposes. The method is tested and evaluated using two well‐known datasets, namely the “Turbofan Engine Degradation Simulation Dataset C‐MAPSS” and “Milling Dataset. ” The performance analysis shows that the proposed method outperforms more classical methods in terms of prediction accuracy.
Effects of road-salt application on Cladocera assemblages in shallow Precambrian Shield lakes in south-central Ontario, Canada

Road-salt application is an integral part of winter road maintenance and safety in many cold regions. However, chloride (Cl−) runoff from salting activities may have adverse ecological effects. Lakes affected by road salt, particularly in urban areas, may have Cl− concentrations up to 300% higher than natural conditions. Zooplankton are sensitive to changes in water chemistry; however, little research has been conducted thus far into the biological effects of elevated Cl− concentrations from road-salt runoff. Using paleolimnological analyses, we studied the long-term effects of Cl− from road salt runoff on shallow, soft-water lakes within the southern Canadian Shield. Specifically, we examined Cladocera subfossils in dated sediment cores from 6 lakes within the Muskoka River Watershed of south-central Ontario, Canada. We compared long-term changes in cladoceran assemblages in the 5 lakes with the highest regional Cl− concentrations (32.8–90.9 mg/L) with a reference lake (0.91 mg/L). Prior to salting (ca. 1950), all of the lakes were dominated by Bosmina spp. , and cladoceran assemblages showed little variation over time. After salting began, species assemblages in the 5 impacted lakes showed distinct taxonomic shifts, including increases in relative abundances of Chydorus brevilabris (Frey, 1980), Eurycercus spp. , and the Daphnia pulex complex, and decreases in the relative abundance of Bosmina spp. and Alona spp. In 2 of the lakes, these changes were distinct and coincided with the onset of salting activities. In contrast to the species changes observed in the affected lakes, we recorded minimal directional changes in cladoceran assemblages in the nearby reference site. Overall, biological changes in the impacted lakes were best explained by changing Cl− concentrations associated with road-salt application. Among lakes, the severity of impact may have been indirectly mediated by differences in food quantity through its effect on Cl− toxicity.
Scaling of species diversity and body mass in mammals: Cope’s rule and the evolutionary cost of large size

Abstract Equations are constructed describing the inverse correlation of species diversity and body mass in extant and Cenozoic mammals. Cope’s rule, the tendency for many mammal clades to increase in body size through time, through phyletic change in single lineages or turnover within species groups, is interpreted as a probability function reducing diversity potential as a tradeoff for ecological/evolutionary gains. The inverse rule predicts that large species in clades will be less diverse than smaller species and, unless origination rates remain high among smaller clade members, clades conforming to Cope’s rule will decline in diversity, moving towards extinction. This proposition is evaluated in the Cenozoic histories of five North American mammal clades; cotton rats, felids, canids, hyaenodontids, and equids. Diversity potential of different size classes within the 3.75 million year phyletic history of the muskrat, Ondatra zibethicus, is also examined. A corollary prediction of the inverse rule, that large species should have longer durations (species lifespans) than small species, is unresolved. Successful clades maintain small size or a significant number of smaller species relative to clade average size. The potential loss of unique extant large mammal species justifies the conservation effort to protect them. The similarity of scaling exponents of species diversity to mass around a slope of -1.0 suggests that species diversity is correlated with home range size, the latter related to the probability of population fragmentation.
Quantifying and Numerically Representing Recharge and Flow Components in a Karstified Carbonate Aquifer

Karstified carbonate aquifers are highly heterogeneous systems characterized by multiple recharge, flow, and discharge components. The quantification of the relative contribution of these components, as well as their numerical representation, remains a challenge. This paper identifies three recharge components in the time and frequency domain. While the analysis in the time domain follows traditional approaches, the analysis of the power spectrum allows frequencies associated with specific spectral coefficients and noise types to be distinguished more objectively. The analysis follows the presented hypothesis that the different frequency‐noise components are the result of aquifer heterogeneity transforming the random rainfall input into a sequence of non‐Gaussian signals. The distinct signals are then numerically represented in the context of a semidistributed pipe network model in order to simulate recharge, flow, and discharge of an Irish karst catchment more realistically. By linking the power spectra of the modeled recharge components with the spectra of the spring discharge, the information usually gained by classical performance indicators is significantly widened. The modeled spring discharge is well matched in the time and frequency domain, yet the different recharge dynamics explain the signal of the aquifer outlet in different noise domains across the spectrum. This study demonstrates the conjunctive use of frequency analysis in conceptualization of a hydrological system together with modeling and evaluation.
Development, factor structure, and reliability of the Shared Instructional Leadership Scale in public secondary schools

Shared instructional leadership may support informed decision making on matters of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Given the various organizational processes and outcomes associated with this construct, it is important to be able to measure the degree to which it exists in schools. In this article we propose the Shared Instructional Leadership Scale and report its reliability and the validity of its factor structure. The scale was designed to assess the extent to which faculty perceive that principals, teachers, and school staff collaborate on instructional leadership practices. Drawing from a sample of 422 teachers nested in 107 schools, we generated four sub-samples to examine its psychometric properties. Next, using exploratory factor analysis techniques, we found the Shared Instructional Leadership Scale factor structure to be stable across all four sub-samples. Finally, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis on a second school-level sample (n = 103) and the results confirmed the Shared Instructional Leadership Scale had a unidimensional structure. We conclude with a discussion of the potential of the Shared Instructional Leadership Scale to inform practice and implications for future research, including directions for further scale validation.
Oviposition deterrent and ovicidal properties of Calotropis gigantea (L.) leaf extract to Paraeucosmetus pallicornis (Dallas) in rice

Paraeucosmetus pallicornis (Dallas) is a new pest in Indonesia which decreases rice production and quality. This pest causes the grains to become flat, hollow, brownish, break easily when milled, and bitter. This research represents the first study on Calotropis gigantea extract as an oviposition deterrent and ovicide against P. pallicornis. The study was conducted under laboratory conditions using four extract concentrations i.e. 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0%. The oviposition deterrent effect was determined by counting the number of eggs laid and hatched. Percent reproductive control (PRC) and ovicidal activity was calculated using Tennyson’s formula. Results indicated that all concentrations of C. gigantea leaf extract reduced the number of eggs laid and hatched. The PRC also showed a gradual reduction of oviposition of the P. pallicornis and the ovicidal activity ranged between 86.5 and 100%. The extract concentration which showed the highest potential as an oviposition deterrent and ovicide against P. pallicornis was in the range of 1.0–2.0%. The overall results indicated that C. gigantea leaf extract has the potential to be used as an oviposition deterrent and ovicide against P. pallicornis.
Systemic and Intracellular Trafficking of Long-chain Fatty Acids in Lactating Dairy Cattle

Marine oils are used as ration additives to provide omega-3 fatty acids to dairy cows. Supplementing dairy cows with omega-3 fatty acid-rich feeds does not easily increase quantities in milk fat of dairy cows because polyunsaturated fatty acids are biohydrogenated in the rumen. Lipid encapsulation of omega-3 fatty acids provides protection from biohydrogenation in the rumen and allows them to be available for absorption and utilization in the small intestine. Lactating cows were supplemented with rumen protected algae biomass or algal oil in a 4 × 4 Latin Square. Feeding lipid encapsulated algae supplements increased docosahexaenoic acid content in milk fat while not adversely impacting milk fat yield; however, docosahexaenoic acid was preferentially esterified into plasma phospholipid, limiting its incorporation into milk fat. In the second study, triglyceride emulsions of oils enriched in either oleic, linoleic, linolenic, or docosahexaenoic acids were intravenously infused to avoid confounding effects of triglyceride esterification patterns in the small intestine and to compare mammary uptake. Milk transfer of fatty acids delivered as intravenous triglyceride emulsions was reduced with increased chain length and unsaturation. Increased target fatty acids were evident in plasma phospholipid, suggesting re-esterification in the liver. Transfer efficiencies were
“Some of us actually choose to do this”: The meanings of sex work from the perspective of female sex workers in Denmark

ABSTRACT Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate how female sex workers perceive and describe meaning when engaging in the non-sanctioned occupation of sex work. Method: In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with six sex workers aged 26 to 56 years who were working either part-time or full-time at a brothel or worked “privately & discreetly. ” Interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied to develop themes representing the subjective perspectives of the participants. Findings: Mostly, the participants perceived and described their engagement in sex work as holding positive meanings and contributing to their well-being and quality of life. Participants perceived and described the society’s view on sex work as the most challenging part of their engagement in sex work. Six themes emerged from the data: 1) sexual beings, 2) personal development, 3) interpersonal relationships, 4) proud professionals, 5) the public view on sex work and 6) well-being and quality of life. Conclusion: Engagement in sex work was found to be meaningful to the participants as their doing was intrinsically motivated by their being, making them become more knowledgeable, skilled, confident, and empowered and contributed to a sense of belonging. Engagement in sex work was also found to hold negative meaning, as a limited sense of belonging to society was described. Despite this negative aspect, engagement in sex work was deemed to be meaningful and engaging and contributed to their well-being and quality of life. Further research is required to develop knowledge about other sex workers.
The Quality of Vote Tallies: Causes and Consequences

The credibility of election outcomes hinges on the accuracy of vote tallies. We provide causal evidence on the drivers and the downstream consequences of variation in the quality of vote tallies. Using data for the universe of polling stations in Mexico in five national elections, we document that over 40% of polling-station-level tallies display inconsistencies. Our evidence strongly suggests these inconsistencies are nonpartisan. Using data for more than 1.5 million poll workers, we show that lower educational attainment, higher workload, and higher complexity of the tally cause more inconsistencies. Finally, using an original survey of close to 80,000 poll workers together with detailed administrative data, we find that inconsistencies cause recounts and recounts lead to lower trust in electoral institutions. We discuss policy implications.
Examination of Turkey’s PISA 2018 reading literacy scores within student-level and school-level variables

The purpose of the current study was to investigate both student-level and school-level factors influencing reading literacy of students in Turkey by using PISA 2018 data. The study focused on reading literacy since the main subject of PISA 2018 was selected as reading literacy. The design of the study is a correlational research examining the relationship between student and school variables and reading literacy. The stratified random sample consisted of 6890 15-year students from 186 different schools. Data coming from PISA 2018 dataset were analysed by Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) at student and school levels. Student-level variables of disciplinary climate in test language lessons, enjoyment of reading, information and community technologies (ICT) competence, parental emotional support, perceived discriminating climate, and perceived cooperation significantly predicted reading literacy, while reading literacy was also predicted by school-level variables of proportion of parents involved in the school, shortage of educational material, student behaviour hindering learning, and teacher behaviour hindering learning. Fifty-seven percent of variance between reading literacy scores of the students were caused by differences between schools. Student-level variables which are disciplinary climate in test language lessons, enjoyment of reading, ICT competence, parental emotional support, perceived discriminating climate, and perceived cooperation significantly predicted reading literacy. On the other hand, school-level variables predicting reading literacy significantly were proportion of parents involved in the school, shortage of educational material, student behaviour hindering learning, and teacher behaviour hindering learning. By considering results of the current study, collaboration between school stakeholders is recommended to increase performance of the students.
Optimization method of diffuse optical tomography reconstruction based on neural network

Diffuse Optical Tomography (DOT) is a promising non-invasive optical imaging technology that can provide structural and functional information of biological tissues. Since the diffused light undergoes multiple scattering in biological tissues, and the boundary measurements are limited, the reverse problem of DOT is ill-posed and ill-conditioned. In order to overcome these limitations, two types of neural networks, back-propagation neural network (BPNN) and stacked autoencoder (SAE) were applied in DOT image reconstruction, which use the internal optical properties distribution and the boundary measurement of biological tissues as the input and output data sets respectively to adjust the neural network parameters, and directly establish a nonlinear mapping of the input and output. To verify the effectiveness of the methods, a series of numerical simulation experiments were conducted, and the experimental results were quantitatively assessed, which demonstrated that both methods can accurately predict the position and size of the inclusion, especially in the case of higher absorption contrast. As a whole, SAE can get better reconstructed image results than BPNN and the training time was only a quarter of BPNN.
Formulation and Evaluation of Sustained Release Tablets Using Prunus armeniaca (L.) and Prunus domestica (L.) Gums

The plant gums obtained from Prunus armeniaca and Prunus domestica (Family Rosaceae) were studied for their sustained release potential in comparison with hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), a semi-synthetic matrix polymer, using diclofenac sodium. Matrix tablets of diclofenac sodium were prepared using different ratios of gum alone and in combination (i.e. 1:1) with diclofenac sodium and other excipients. The formulated matrix tablets were evaluated for their thickness, hardness, weight variation, friability, drug content and in vitro release studies. These studies demonstrated that P. armeniaca and P. domestica gums used alone could not control drug release efficiently, however, extended drug release (up to 10 hours) was obtained when both gums were used in combination (1:1). The dissolution data was fitted into zero order, first order, Higuchi and Korsmeyer equation, which dictated that the release mechanism is diffusion as well as erosion controlled-drug release. FTIR studies showed that there was no interaction between drug and plant gums used. Among various formulated batches, F-5 did not significantly differ from F-7 and commercially available formulation (Voltral SR®, Novartis Pharma, Pakistan) with respect to drug release.
Digital ethnography of home use of digital personal assistants

ABSTRACT Commercialised voice user interface devices for the home, like Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod, with integrated digital personal assistants have rapidly grown in popularity. These devices embody intelligent software agents that support users in their everyday life through easy and intuitive conversational interactions. While their use in everyday activities is largely unexplored, the proliferation in home use presents a valuable opportunity to add to understanding around the use of in-home digital personal assistants. In this paper, we investigate their home use in a broad context to learn more about people’s experiences, attitudes, interactions and expectations with these devices contributing new insights to current knowledge around this use. Applying the digital ethnography method, we collected 3542 reviews and comments about Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod on Amazon, eBay, and Reddit. Six main themes and 29 categories were derived through filtering, thematic analysis and affinity diagramming. These findings constitute a conceptual framework characterising the current landscape of home use of digital personal assistants. Additionally, we identify and discuss unique issues discovered around the invisible interface, interactive freedom, and creative appropriation. We use our findings to propose implications for interaction design of DPAs for home use.
Virtual semi-active damping learning control for robot manipulators interacting with unknown environment

Position controllers are used for free motion, whereas force controllers are used for constrained motion of robotic manipulators. The hybrid controller switches between position and force control modes depending on whether the manipulator is in contact with the environment. To improve production efficiency, the velocity of contact between the manipulator and environment is not set to zero. However, the high impact force due to the nonzero contact velocity might damage the environment surface or manipulators. In this article, we propose a virtual semi-active damping learning method to suppress force overshoot without decreasing the contact velocity. Virtual semi-active damping is adjusted according to the manipulator position in force control. The limited-memory BFGS method is used to obtain the ideal impedance model for the unknown environment. By minimizing the defined cost function, we get the desired interaction performance. The correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified by conducting simulations and experiments.
A new approach to classification of 40 years of Antarctic sea ice concentration data

In this paper, we present a characterization of Antarctic sea ice based on the classification of annual sea ice concentration (SIC) data from 1979 to 2018. A clustering algorithm was applied to provide a climatological description of significant annual cycles of SIC and their spatial distribution around the Southern Ocean. Based on these classification results, we investigate the variability of SIC cycles on decadal and inter‐annual time scales. First, we discuss significant spatial shifts of SIC cycles during 1979–1998 and 1999–2018. In the Weddell Sea and in large parts of the Ross Sea, we observed higher SIC during the summer season, and an extension of sea ice cover in winter compared to the long‐term average. Second, we introduce the Climatological Sea Ice Anomaly Index (CSIAI), which is an annual measure for year‐round sea ice anomalies of the Southern Ocean and its regional sub‐sectors. By relating selected years of significant sea ice conditions (1981, 2007 and 2014) with atmospheric influences, we demonstrate that the CSIAI is very useful for assessing inter‐annular Antarctic SIC variability. Positive and negative sea ice anomalies can be qualitatively explained by atmospheric circulation anomalies in the years 1981 and 2007. However, in 2014, the year with the largest observed sea ice extent in our time series, we found that this positive sea ice anomaly was surprisingly not associated with a stationary and inter‐seasonally persistent pattern of circulation anomaly. This suggests that sub‐seasonal to seasonal circulation anomalies and ocean‐related processes favoured the formation of the sea ice maximum in 2014. With this study we provide additional information on the long‐term annual SIC variability around Antarctica. Furthermore, our classification approach and its results have potential for application in the evaluation of sea ice model results.
Basis and effects of ion migration on photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells

Halide perovskite materials, which are emerging as some of the most promising candidates for photovoltaics, have been widely studied and have been certified as demonstrating a comparable efficiency to single-crystal silicon solar cells. However, their low stability poses a challenge for commercialization. External impediments, like moisture, heat, and UV light, can be addressed by strict encapsulation; nevertheless, ion migration remains. The migrated ions will bring in a growing number of charged defects and phase segregation to bulk perovskite; they will cause interfacial band doping and degradation of the carrier transport layer, which will greatly hinder carrier transportation. Those effects are the origins of perovskite intrinsic instability. Thus, a thorough understanding of the operational mechanism of ion migration is urgent for the fabrication of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with improved stability. Here, we systemically summarize the factors governing ion migration in perovskite film and the associated impact on the performance of PSCs. Light illumination, organic cations, grain boundaries, residue lattice strain and moisture have been found to make ion migration easier. Strategies developed to suppress the ion migration are also interspersed in each section.