Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Formulation intégrale de volume magnétostatique et calcul des densités de force magnétique - Application au couplage magnéto-mécanique

Les travaux de cette these portent sur la modelisation du couplage magneto-mecanique qui est du aux forces d'origine magnetique. Pour des dispositifs contenant une forte proportion d'air, la methode classique des elements finis peut s'averer inadaptee pour la resolution du probleme magnetostatique. Les methodes integrales constituent une alternative particulierement interessante puisque seuls les materiaux actifs doivent etre mailles. Ainsi, un outil de modelisation, qui combine une formulation integrale de volume pour la partie magnetique et une formulation elements finis pour la partie mecanique, est propose. Dans une premiere partie, la resolution de problemes magnetostatiques lineaires et non lineaires par une formulation integrale de volume est abordee. Les avantages et inconvenients de cette formulation sont mis en evidences, parmi lesquels l'assemblage et le stockage de matrices pleines. Afin de palier a ces limitations, la methode de compression par approximation en croix adaptative est utilisee pour reduire l'espace memoire et le temps de calcul requis. La seconde partie concerne l'implementation du couplage magneto-mecanique. Les methodes du tenseur de maxwell et des travaux virtuels sont d'abord mises en œuvre pour le calcul des forces d'origine magnetique dans le cadre d'une formulation integrale de volume. Un premier essai sur la modelisation d'un micro-actionneur est ensuite mene.
Adults Do Not Appropriately Consider Mass Cues of Object Brightness and Pitch Sound to Judge Outcomes of Collision Events

Adults judge darker objects to be heavier in weight than brighter objects, and objects which make lower pitch sounds as heavier in weight than objects making higher pitch sounds. It is unknown whether adults would make similar pairings if they saw these object properties in collision events. Two experiments examined adults’ judgements of computer-generated collision events based on object brightness and collision pitch sound. These experiments were designed as a precursor for an infant study, to validate the phenomenon. Results from the first experiment revealed that adults rated the bright ball likely event (where the bright ball displaced a stationary object a short distance after colliding with it) higher than the bright ball unlikely event. Conversely, adults rated the dark ball unlikely event (where the dark ball displaced a stationary object a short distance after colliding with it) higher than the dark ball likely event. Results from the second experiment demonstrated that adults judged the low pitch unlikely event (where the ball displaced a stationary object a short distance with a low pitch sound) higher than the low pitch likely event. Moreover, adults judged the high pitch likely event (where the ball displaced a stationary object a short distance with a high pitch sound) higher than the high pitch unlikely event. Results of these experiments suggest adults do not appropriately consider object brightness and pitch sound in collision events.
Examining the distribution of green roofs in New York City through a lens of social, ecological, and technological filters

Green roofs provide multiple benefits including reducing the urban heat island effect, absorbing stormwater and air pollution, and serving as habitat for wildlife. However, many cities have not taken advantage of green roofs as a nature-based solution. In New York City (NYC), approximately 20% of the landscape is covered by buildings, thus rooftops present a substantial opportunity for expanding green infrastructure. Spatial data on green roofs are critical for understanding their abundance and distribution, what filters may drive spatial patterns, and who benefits from them. We describe the development of a green roof dataset for NYC based on publicly available data and classification of aerial imagery from 2016. Of the over one million buildings in NYC, we found only 736 with green roofs (<0.1%), although there may have been others we did not detect. These green roofs are not evenly distributed in NYC - they are most common in midtown and downtown Manhattan, while most other areas have few to none. Green roofs tend to be more prevalent in parts of NYC with combined sewer systems, but some such areas, and those with the most heat-vulnerable communities, have few if any despite their potential to help ameliorate stormwater and urban heat challenges. Though green roofs are providing some benefits within NYC, we anticipate they are filtered based on dynamics of infrastructure, institutions, and perceptions, rather than targeted to address climate and weather-related challenges. There is substantial opportunity in NYC to increase green roofs, and equity of them. The dataset we developed is publicly available and can serve as a baseline for tracking these assets through time, while supporting further research, conversations, and policies related to the benefits and distribution of green roofs. The underlying methods can also be applied to help fill similar data gaps in other cities.
Exploring the Therapeutic Potential of Ectoine in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: Comparison with Taurine, a Supplement with Known Beneficial Effects in the mdx Mouse

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a debilitating muscle disorder that condemns patients to year-long dependency on glucocorticoids. Chronic glucocorticoid use elicits many unfavourable side-effects without offering satisfying clinical improvement, thus, the search for alternative treatments to alleviate muscle inflammation persists. Taurine, an osmolyte with anti-inflammatory effects, mitigated pathological features in the mdx mouse model for DMD but interfered with murine development. In this study, ectoine is evaluated as an alternative for taurine in vitro in CCL-136 cells and in vivo in the mdx mouse. Pre-treating CCL-136 cells with 0.1 mM taurine and 0.1 mM ectoine prior to exposure with 300 U/mL IFN-γ and 20 ng/mL IL-1β partially attenuated cell death, whilst 100 mM taurine reduced MHC-I protein levels. In vivo, histopathological features of the tibialis anterior in mdx mice were mitigated by ectoine, but not by taurine. Osmolyte treatment significantly reduced mRNA levels of inflammatory disease biomarkers, respectively, CCL2 and SPP1 in ectoine-treated mdx mice, and CCL2, HSPA1A, TNF-α and IL-1β in taurine-treated mdx mice. Functional performance was not improved by osmolyte treatment. Furthermore, ectoine-treated mdx mice exhibited reduced body weight. Our results confirmed beneficial effects of taurine in mdx mice and, for the first time, demonstrated similar and differential effects of ectoine.
Advanced Co-Simulation Platform for UAV Simulations Under Virtual Wireless Network Environments

In this paper, we propose an advanced co-simulation platform that performs the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) simulation and the wireless network simulation concurrently. As UAV-based applications become more advanced and complicated and the commands and data transmitted between UAV and ground control station significantly increase, it is vital to safely and robustly transmit the packets carrying commands and data in a wireless network environment. However, the conventional UAV simulation platforms do not take into account the wireless network conditions encountered in the real-world flight so they cannot sufficiently simulate packet transmission. To address this issue, co-simulation platforms have been developed to verify UAV-based applications under a virtual wireless network environment. However, they still cannot effectively support the co-simulation needed to develop the UAV-based applications. In this paper, we have derived a list of improvements to the conventional co-simulation platform based on analysis of the conventional ones. Based on these improvements, we have developed an advanced co-simulation platform consisting of a UAV simulation part, a wireless network simulation part, and an integration part. In this platform, a two-channel approach was introduced to parallelize the synchronization required for performing the UAV simulation and the wireless network simulation simultaneously. The experimental results carried out on three test scenarios demonstrate that the proposed platform accurately performs co-simulation by efficient interoperation of its three parts and by remarkable reduction of the processing time delay, and that it is extendible due to its modularized software architecture.
AN ANALYSIS OF INTEGRATION OF BUSINESS CONTENT AND SKILLS IN ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC ACADEMIC PURPOSES (ESAP) COURSE AT A HIGHER VOCATIONAL COLLEGE VIA CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING (CLIL) PERSPECTIVE

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) theory emphasizes the mutually integrated and symbiotic relations between language and disciplinary knowledge. Based on this perspective, this study analyses the “Double Focus” teaching mode implementation that combined business knowledge with English language skills. This is implemented in a Business English course at higher vocational college to enable talent cultivation focus to shift to the internalization of business knowledge while continuing to improve English proficiency. The “Double Focus” teaching strategy adapted authentic business tasks simulation and practice from actual Foreign Reception Training Course like airport pick-up task via a plan, do, check, action (PDCA) approach. This study found that the integrative element promoted better association between language and business knowledge, raise awareness of using English in situational contexts and foster effective internalization of content knowledge among students. The successful implementation of such integrated CLIL can serve as a reference for the cultivation of language as well as business skills among undergraduates of English at higher vocational colleges
Theoretical study of optically induced forces on spherical particles in a single beam trap. I: Rayleight scatterers

In a former paper [1] we described to optically induced forces on Rayleigh scatterers using a vector diffraction theory for the electromagnetic field. In this paper we will use the same diffraction theory to describe the forces exerted on Mie scatterers (dimensions wavelength) in a single beam trap. We considered the influence of the wavelength and numerical aperture (N.A.) of the lens. The axial force, that is the force directed along the optical axis, exerted on spherical Mie scatterers (dimensionswavelength) shows a complicated behavior but the results indicate that single beam optical beam optical trapping of large dielectric spheere is indeed possible
Improving reconstruction-based coding methods for image classification: a visual dictionary refining method

Abstract. The reconstruction-based coding methods utilize a dictionary to approximate an input feature as a sparse representation in image classification tasks by solving a least-squares problem with constraints. The input feature can be a handcrafted feature calculated over a small patch or a deep feature extracted by a pre-trained convolutional neural network model. As known, the contribution degrees of features extracted within different regions are distinct to the same classification task. Given this, we argue that for features with a large contribution degree, if their reconstruction errors induced by a reconstruction-based coding method can be decreased, more discriminative information will be retained to improve classification accuracy. Considering that different coding methods have the same lower bound of reconstruction error, we propose a visual dictionary refining method that adjusts only the lower bounds of the errors of features according to their contribution degrees. Concretely, given an initial dictionary used by a reconstruction-based coding method, the indexes (coding indexes) of the words from the dictionary for encoding each feature are obtained. Then, the initial dictionary is updated according to the contribution degrees and coding indexes of features. The highlight of our method is that it can be applied to many reconstruction-based coding methods without damaging their original constraints. Experimental results on 15-Scenes, Caltech-101, and UIUC-Sports show that the classification accuracies of four representative coding methods are improved by 0.17% to 1.5% after applying our method. These results exhibit the effectiveness and universality of our method.
Impact of Perceived Barriers on Patient Engagement and Attitudes towards Transition and Transfer

Objective: This study is a preliminary evaluation of how perceived barriers towards transition might impact patient attitudes towards their own readiness and ability to transition, self-efficacy towards their IBD, and the allocation of treatment responsibility. Methods: A sample of 81 young adults with IBD were seen for standard care in a Young Adult Clinic (YAC). Patients completed questionnaires on perceived transition barriers; perceived confidence, importance, motivation, and readiness towards transition and transfer; IBD self-efficacy; and allocation of treatment responsibility. Path model analyses were conducted. Results: Not knowing how and who to transfer to and not understanding insurance details were the most commonly endorsed perceived barriers to transition. A significant relationship was found between the attitude toward transition and allocation of treatment responsibility, but no meaningful indirect effects were found from perceived barriers to the allocation of treatment responsibility, using attitudes toward transition as an intervening variable. The relationship between perceived barriers and allocation of treatment responsibility was at least partially explained by examining the intervening effects of attitudes toward transfer and self-efficacy. Conclusions: The study findings carry important implications for targets of clinical intervention to assist young adults with IBD in engaging in their health care and ultimately transferring into adult care.
Few-shot rolling bearing fault classification method based on improved relation network

In practical applications, it is difficult to obtain enough fault samples to train a fault classification model for rolling bearings, and the specifications of bearings used in different mechanical equipment may be different. The diagnosis model trained on a certain specification of bearing may not be applicable to another specification. To solve the above problems, a few-shot rolling bearing fault classification method is proposed, based on an improved relation network (RN). First, a Fourier transform is applied to the vibration signals of different specifications of bearings. The data from different specifications are divided into a meta-train set and a meta-test set according to the meta-learning training strategy, and each set is further divided into a support set and a query set. Second, an improved RN is built. The residual shrinkage module and the scaled exponential linear unit activation function are introduced into the embedding module of the RN. The improved embedding module is used to extract the sample features of the support set and query set, and then the features of the two are combined and input into the relation module to get the relation score. The query set samples are classified according to the score. Finally, the rolling bearing fault classification model is obtained after multiple episodes. The experimental results show that, compared with the partial transfer learning and meta-learning methods, the proposed method only needs a few or even a single sample to achieve the fault classification of different specifications of rolling bearings under different loads. In the case of one-shot, the average classification accuracy can reach 93.3%.
Efficacy and Safety of Cheong-A-Won Gagambang (JCE003) on Knee Osteoarthritis: Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Cheong-A-Won Gagambang (JCE003) treatment for degenerative knee osteoarthritis.Methods: This was a single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot clinical trial. There were 36 adults with degenerative knee osteoarthritis who were randomly allocated into JCE003 1,000 mg, JCE003 2,000 mg, or the placebo group (in a 1:1:1 ratio). The participants received 12 weeks of treatment and had scheduled tests every 6 weeks. The primary outcomes were measured using the Korean Western Ontario and McMaster Universities scale, and the secondary outcomes were measured using the visual analog scale, European quality of life-5-dimensions, patient global impression of change, C-reactive protein, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Changes between baseline scores and scores following study completion were analyzed.Results: There were 29 participants whose data were analyzed in this study. The change of Korean Western Ontario and McMaster Universities, visual analog scale, European quality of life-5-dimensions scores showed significant improvement in the JCE003 1,000 mg group. The change of patient global impression of change was significantly improved in the placebo group. There were 14 adverse events, but there was no clinically significant relationship with the intake of JCE003 compared with the placebo.Conclusion: Taking JCE003 may be effective at improving knee pain in patients with degenerative knee osteoarthritis and appears to be safe. Based on this study, the concentration and feasibility of the test group may be used when conducting a large-scale clinical trial of degenerative knee osteoarthritis in the future.
Popular Beliefs in the Palestinian Society: An Analytic Study

The present study addressed the popular beliefs in the Palestinian society. Popular belief practices were evaluated using an index of a 39-item scale developed by the researchers, and were administrated to 1,066 Palestinians in the West Bank, Palestine, during 2022. The sample population was selected via the stratified random selection method. Study findings revealed that almost three quarters of the participants (71.6%) experienced a moderate level of popular belief practices in their daily life. The study indicated that gender, educational level, age and the degree of religiosity were significant predictors of popular belief practices. The consequences of the study findings for practice were highlighted.
Application of functional polymer materials for marine anti-fouling

Marine organisms adsorb and grow on the surface of underwater facilities. This process, known as fouling, has a detrimental impact on marine shipping and development. Currently, in order to prevent marine biofouling, the most efficient and economical method is the application of antifouling coatings that synthesized by a diverse of different functional polymer materials. For this reason, this research will introduce the progress in five types of functional polymer materials, which are polymers with catechol groups, polysulfide-based polymers, polymer quaternary ammonium salts, hydrogels and silicone resin. Due to different functional groups properties as well as mechanisms of action, they have their own advantages in the application of antifouling coatings. Meanwhile, the future trend of antifouling coatings development and their application in real sea environment are prospected.
Analysis of Pre-Monsoon Convective Systems over a Tropical Coastal Region Using C-Band Polarimetric Radar, Satellite and Numerical Simulation

Analysis of pre-monsoon convective systems over the southern peninsular India has been performed using C-band radar and numerical simulation. Statistics on the radar polarimetric measurements show that the distribution of differential reflectivity (Zdr) and specific differential phase (Kdp) have much higher spread over convective regions. The distribution of Kdp is almost uniform across the vertical over the stratiform regions. The mean profile of Zdr over stratiform regions shows a distinct local maxima near melting level. A comprehensive analysis has been done on an isolated deep convective system on 13 May 2018. Plan position indicator (PPI) diagrams and satellite measured cloud top temperature demonstrate that pre-monsoon deep convective systems can develop very rapidly within a very short span of time over the region. Heavy precipitation near the surface is reflected in the high value of Kdp (>5° km−1). High values of Zdr (>3 dB) were measured at lower levels indicating the oblate shape of bigger raindrops. A fuzzy logic-based hydrometeor identification algorithm has been applied with five variables (Zh, Zdr, ρhv, Kdp, and T) to understand the bulk microphysical properties at different heights within the storm. The presence of bigger graupel particles near the melting layer indicates strong updrafts within the convective core regions. The vertical ice hydrometeor signifies the existence of a strong electric field causing them to align vertically. Numerical simulation with the spectral bin microphysics (SBM) scheme could produce most of the features of the storm reasonably well. In particular, the simulated reflectivity, graupel mixing ratio and rainfall were in good agreement with the observed values.
The climbing flora of India: A comprehensive checklist

The climbing plants in India are listed in detail in this data note. This comprehensive list of climbers was compiled using more than 100 published and unpublished sources that span more than a century. It includes a total of 2,608 species representing 585 genera and 104 spermatophyte plant families. Each species listed in the dataset is categorised according to its degree of woodiness and climbing strategies. The dataset also includes information on The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) status of all climber species from India. The botanical nomenclature used in the data has been updated to reflect Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) IV classification. Researchers who are conducting ecological, taxonomic, phylogenetic, and evolutionary studies on climbers will be particularly interested in this dataset.
Beneficial Effects of Empagliflozin Are Mediated by Reduced Renal Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats Expressing Human C-Reactive Protein

Gliflozins (inhibitors of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2) show many beneficial actions beyond their antidiabetic effects. The underlying mechanisms of these additional protective effects are still not well understood, especially under non-diabetic conditions. Therefore, we analyzed the effects of empagliflozin in young (3-month-old) and adult (12-month-old) male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) expressing human C-reactive protein (CRP) in the liver. SHR-CRP rats are a non-diabetic model of metabolic syndrome, inflammation, and organ damage. Empagliflozin was given in a daily dose of 10 mg/kg body weight for 8 weeks. Both age groups of SHR-CRP rats treated with empagliflozin had lower body weight, decreased weight of fat depots, reduced ectopic fat accumulation in the liver and kidneys, and decreased levels of plasma insulin and β-hydroxybutyrate. Empagliflozin effectively reduced ectopic renal fat accumulation, and was associated with decreased inflammation. Exclusively in young rats, decreased microalbuminuria after empagliflozin treatment was accompanied by attenuated oxidative stress. In adult animals, empagliflozin also improved left ventricle function. In conclusion, in young animals, the beneficial renoprotective effects of empagliflozin could be ascribed to reduced lipid deposition in the kidney and the attenuation of oxidative stress and inflammation. In contrast, hepatic lipid metabolism was ameliorated in adult rats.