Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High performance Ti:Sa amplifier for 10PW front-end system

Introduction A new front-end system has been developed in phase I of the Vulcan 10 PW OPCPA project . This new front-end system has been tested and characterized. It is demonstrated that an amplified spectral band width of >100 nm FWHM was obtained at the output energy of ~0.4 J. This amplified pulse was compressed down to <30 fs. However, the preliminary measurement using a commercial third-order auto-correlator (SEQUOIA) shows that the pulse contrast is only 107 . This value is much lower than the required specification. This is the critical and key issue to be addressed in phase I of the Vulcan 10 PW OPCPA project.
Antecedents and outcomes of ICTs adoption by mompreneurs: Empirical evidence from Brazil

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been an ally of women wishing to engage in entrepreneurial activity, especially of the mompreneurs. Within this context, this study aims to investigate the antecedents and outcomes of the use of ICTs by mompreneurs. The data were collected in Brazil through an online questionnaire and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that perceived usefulness, social influence, and trust are antecedent factors of the use of ICTs by these women. Moreover, the use of ICTs has a positive impact on the perception of mompreneurs regarding the financial performance of their ventures in relation to competitors. The results also show that more than 97% of the mompreneurs use smartphones and WhatsApp to manage their business, suggesting that social media and mobile devices have assumed a predominant role in female ventures, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, period in which the data were collected.
Candidate Ideology and Small Donor Contributions

Candidate Ideology and Small Donor Contributions by Ryan Kobe, Master of Science Utah State University, 2021 Major Professor: Dr. Michael Lyons Department: Political Science While individual contributors are the biggest source of campaign fundraising, previous research has focused on individuals donating over the reporting limit of $200. With the emergence of publicly available data on individual contributors who donate under $200, and as these donors become more significant in congressional fundraising, a new analysis of donor motivations is needed. This thesis investigates if and how candidate ideology is related to amount contributed. Specifically, I query whether the dollar amount of contributions changes depending on the extremity of candidate ideology. These results have important implications for campaign financing reforms and for candidate positioning strategies.
Multi-lane detection based on omnidirectional camera using anisotropic steerable filters

Automated lane detection is a vital part of driver assistance systems in intelligent vehicles. In this study, a multi-lane detection method based on omnidirectional images is presented to conquer the difficulties stemming from the limited view field of the rectilinear cameras. The contributions of this study are twofold. First, to extract the features of the lane markings under various illumination and road-surface scenarios, a feature extractor based on anisotropic steerable filter is proposed. Second, a parabola lane model is used to fit the straight as well as curved lanes. According to the parabola lane model, the straight lines and curves of feature maps can be represented as straight lines in a linear space coordinate system. Then lane modelling can be treated as an optimisation question in linear space and the parameters of lanes can be estimated by minimising the objection function. The method has been tested on publicly available data sets and the real car experiments. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-arts approaches and obtains a detection accuracy of 99% in real world scenes.
A Hybrid Method of NSGA-II and TOPSIS to Optimize the Performance of Friction Stir Extrusion

This study investigates the effect of friction stir back extrusion (FSBE) input parameters such as traverse speed, rotational speed, and wire diameter on the mechanical and microstructural properties of the produced wire. Numerous experiments were performed with different input parameters, and the grain size, hardness, and ultimate pressure strength (UPS) of each of the produced wires were investigated. In addition, to better understand the effect of input parameters, the process was simulated using the finite element method (FEM) model, and the temperature, material flow, and strain distributions in the wires were investigated. Then, using the artificial neural network (ANN), a relationship was obtained between the input parameters of the process, such as traverse speed, rotational speed, and wire diameter, with the mechanical and microstructural properties of the produced wires. This relationship was then used in a hybrid multi-objective optimization to find the optimal process parameters. Due to the higher importance of UPS in comparison to the grain size and microhardness, the weighting of 0.6, 0.2, and 0.2 were used in the TOPSIS model, and the optimum input parameters were achieved as 6 mm, 36.35 mm/min, and 456 rpm, for the traverse speed, rotational speed, and wire diameter, respectively.
Simultaneous Presentation of Autoimmune Hepatitis and Wilson's Disease: A Systematic Review Study

Background: The specialists should identify the features of Wilson disease and autoimmune hepatitis when both affect a patient to adopt appropriate treatment. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine features of the patient, disease, diagnostic studies, and therapeutic measures in cases of simultaneity of Wilson disease and autoimmune hepatitis. Methods: To find evidence related to the study objectives, we searched databases such as Barakat knowledge network system, SID, Magiran, Google Scholar, Web of Science, ProQuest, Springer, ScienceDirect, Medline via PubMed, and Scopus with specified Persian and English keywords, including “Wilson’s Disease”, “Autoimmune”, and “Hepatitis”. The inclusion criteria for the studies were 1) the study was observational and 2) the study was published in Persian or English. The exclusion criteria included low-quality studies based on the score obtained from the checklist. The obtained studies were screened in terms of titles, abstracts, and full text, and finally, the qualified studies entered the review process. The relevant data were extracted according to a designed checklist. Results: Finally, 10 studies were included in the review process. Information about 14 patients was reported. The Mean±SD age of the participants in the studies was 19±11 years. The direction of diagnosis was from autoimmune hepatitis to Wilson disease in 8 cases and from Wilson disease to autoimmune hepatitis in 3 cases. The simultaneity of autoimmune hepatitis and Wilson disease was considered in 3 patients with no primary and secondary diagnosis. Conclusions: The comorbidity of Wilson disease and autoimmune hepatitis is uncommon but is important. In the presence of relevant symptoms in these patients, the comorbidity of these two diseases should be considered. Accordingly, additional assessments such as serum ceruloplasmin, urinary 24-h copper, molecular genetic testing, MRI, serological tests, anti-nuclear antibody, anti-mitochondrial antibody, anti-smooth muscle antibody, complement level, gamma globulin, IgG, albumin, Kayser-Fleischer ring eye examination, and liver biopsy should be considered for correct diagnosis. If appropriate treatment was started for the disease with a diagnosis of Wilson disease or autoimmune hepatitis, but the response to treatment was insufficient, it is better to consider the simultaneous occurrence of two diseases or the initial misdiagnosis.
Implication of Sphingolipid Metabolism Gene Dysregulation and Cardiac Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Accumulation in Heart Failure

Disturbances in sphingolipid metabolism lead to biological function dysregulation in many diseases, but it has not been described in heart failure (HF). Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) levels have not ever been measured in the myocardium. Therefore, we analyze the gene dysregulation of human cardiac tissue by mRNA-seq (n = 36) and ncRNA-seq (n = 50). We observed most major changes in the expression of genes belonging to de novo and salvage pathways, and the tight gene regulation by their miRNAs is largely dysregulated in HF. We verified using ELISA (n = 41) that ceramide and S1P accumulate in HF cardiac tissue, with an increase in the ceramide/S1P ratio of 57% in HF. Additionally, changes in left ventricular mass and diameters are directly related to CERS1 expression and inversely related to S1P levels. Altogether, we define changes in the main components of the sphingolipid metabolism pathways in HF, mainly de novo and salvage, which lead to an increase in ceramide and S1P in cardiac tissue, as well as an increase in the ceramide/S1P ratio in HF patients. Therapeutic gene modulation focused on restoring ceramide levels or reversing the ceramide/S1P ratio could be a potential therapy to be explored for HF patients.
Cultivated Random Forests: Robust Decision TreeLearning through Tree Structured Ensembles

We propose a robust decision tree induction method that mitigates the problems of instability and poor generalization on unseen data. In the spirit of model imprecision and robust statistics, we generalize decision trees by replacing internal nodes with two types of ensemble modules that pool together a set of decisions into a soft decision: (1) option modules consisting of all reasonable variable choices at each step of the induction process, (2) robust split modules including all elements of a neighbourhood of an optimal split-point as reasonable alternative split-points. We call the resulting set of trees cultivated random forest as it corresponds to an ensemble of trees which is centered around a single tree structure, alleviating the loss of interpretability of traditional ensemble methods. The explicit modelling of nonprobabilistic uncertainty about the tree structure also provides an estimate of the reliability of predictions, allowing to abstain from predictions when the uncertainty is too high. On a variety of benchmark datasets, we show that our method is often competitive with random forests, while being structurally substantially simpler and easier to interpret.
MONETARY UNION FEASIBILITY IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY: EVIDENCE FROM GPPP

This study utilises the generalised purchasing power parity (GPPP) to assess the feasibility of a monetary union in the East African Community (EAC) region. Time series and panel vector error correction models (VECM) were used to analyse monthly data from 1996-2016 for the five EAC countries. The cointegration results support the existence of a long-run relationship between the tested variables, providing evidence for the optimum currency area (OCA) and the feasibility of monetary union in the EAC region. The VECM results indicate some differences in the size of the coefficients, suggesting that any change/shock of real exchange rate in the region may cause unintended currency flow from one country to the other in the short-run, and this may constrain the possibility of an effective and efficient monetary union. Therefore, member countries should harmonise their monetary policies well ahead of the implementation of the monetary union the region.
An Investigation into Pronunciation Representation in an EFL Textbook Series Utilized in a Turkish State University

Textbooks play a crucial role in language education even in a digital age where education tends to be digitalized. It has been claimed that pronunciation is underrepresented in EFL textbooks, notwithstanding its significance in spoken interaction. To this end, this research investigated the treatment of pronunciation in a multilevel EFL textbook series along with such components as teacher’s book, pronunciation extra, and MyEnglishLab. Following the analysis of a total of 264 units in student’s book and other textbook components individually, it was found that suprasegmental features predominated the textbook series compared to segmentals. It was also discovered that controlled practice activities prevailed, pursued respectively by description and analysis, and listening discrimination activities. The findings suggest that the analyzed textbook series contain a sufficient amount of pronunciation practice, albeit not including adequate guided and communicative practice. The research concluded that pronunciation is not underrepresented in this textbook series. It might accordingly be inferred that there might be other causes of ignoring pronunciation than its treatment in EFL textbooks in the Turkish context, such as teacher cognition (i.e. beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge, etc.), institutional policies, time constraints, or psychological reasons.
Modular Multilevel Converter with Thyristor DC-Link Switch for Full-Torque Variable-Speed Drives

—The modular multilevel converter (MMC) is a promising topology for medium-voltage drive applications due to its high-quality output waveforms, low device switching frequency and voltage rating. However, the large cell capacitor voltage ripple is a severe challenge faced by MMC at low motor speeds. Recently, a hybrid MMC (HMMC) topology is proven to be a competitive solution because of its lower cell capacitor voltage ripple and no common-mode voltage (CMV) problem compared with other methods. However, the dc-link switch with IGBT limits HMMC to be applied for high-voltage applications. This paper uses the thyristor instead of IGBT as the dc-link switch. To ensure the thyristor can be softly turned on and safely turned off, a new control scheme is proposed. When using this proposed scheme, HMMC can also tolerate the failure of thyristor’s turning-off without shutting down the system, improving the reliability effectively. The cell capacitor voltage ripple analysis is presented considering the effects of the thyristor switching process. In addition, a decoupled energy balancing control is utilized to suppress the fluctuation of dc current. Experimental results obtained from a 380 V/7.5 kW downscaled prototype validate the effectiveness of starting up a motor from the standby mode to rated speed with full-torque.
DIAGRID STRUCTURAL SYSTEM: STRATEGIES TO REDUCE LATERAL FORCES ON HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS

The evolution of tall building structural systems based on new structural concepts with newly adopted high strength materials and construction methods have been towards “stiffness” and “lightness”. Structural systems are become “lighter” and “stiffer”. It is common knowledge that rather than directly standing the forces, it is better to reduce them and dissipate the magnitude of vibrations. Structure design of high rise buildings is governed by lateral loads due to wind or earthquake. Lateral load resistance of structure is provided by interior structural system or exterior structural system. The selected structural system should be such that it should be effectively utilized for structural requirements. Recently diagrid structural system is adopted in tall buildings due to its structural efficiency and flexibility in architectural planning. Diagrid structure consists of inclined columns on the exterior surface of buildings compared to closely space vertical columns in framed tubes. The lateral loads are resisted by axial action of the diagonal. In this paper, the comparison study of 20-storey simple frame building and diagrid structural system building is presented here. The comparison of analysis of results in terms of top storey displacement, storey drift, steel and concrete consumption is presented here.
Cutting the Wire: Gaming Prohibition and the Internet

Cutting the Wire examines the American experience with gambling through the lens of the 1961 Wire Act. The book is a well-researched history of federal gambling policy, focusing on the Wire Act as part of Robert F. Kennedy's initiative against organized crime. The evolution of gambling, illicit and legal, in the U.S. is traced from premodern times through the advent of the Internet, with a discussion of the Department of Justice's reliance on the Wire Act in its response to this development. Professor Schwartz's well-researched study of the Wire Act is a unique and valuable contribution to the literature. His careful examination of (unsuccessful) Congressional attempts to ban interstate wagering on horse races in 1910 and again in the early 1950s is particularly useful. This often forgotten legislation is the precursor of not only the Wire Act of 1961 but also the Interstate Horseracing Act (1978) and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (2006).
A Descent Four-Term of Liu and Storey Conjugate Gradient Method for Large Scale Unconstrained Optimization Problems

The conjugate gradient (CG) method is a useful tool for obtaining the optimum point for unconstrained optimization problems since it does not require a second derivative or its approximations. Moreover, the conjugate gradient method can be applied in many fields such as machine learning, deep learning, neural network, and many others. This paper constructs a four-term conjugate gradient method that satisfies the descent property and convergence properties to obtain the stationary point. The new modification was constructed based on Liu and Storey's conjugate gradient method, two-term conjugate gradient method, and three-term conjugate gradient method. To analyze the efficiency and robustness, we used more than 150 optimization functions from the CUTEst library with different dimensions and shapes. The numerical results show that the new modification outperforms the recent conjugate gradient methods such as CG-Descent, Dai and Liao, and others in terms of number of functions evaluations, number of gradient evaluations, number of iterations, and CPU time.
Examining the Need for Social Approval as a Predictor of Attitudes Towards the Teaching Profession

The aim of the study is to reveal the effect of the need for social approval on the prediction of attitudes towards the teaching profession, which has an important role in teachers’ behaviors in educational settings. In this way, the effect and importance of the need for social approval such as sensitivity to the judgments of others, social retreat, and making a positive impression on others were examined. The research model was carried out according to relational scanning patterns from quantitative research methods. The population of the study has consisted of university students studying at the Faculty of Education in a university located in the Southeastern Anatolia Region, and the sample has consisted of 478 pre-service teachers. The sample of the study was determined according to the non-selective sampling method. The data in the study were obtained by “Attitude scale towards the teaching profession” and “Social approval needs scale”. Independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson Moments Correlation, and linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data. As a result of the research, it was determined that the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession were “high” and social approval needs were “moderate”. In the study, it was determined that the variables of the teachers’ sensitivity to the judgments of others, social retreat, and leaving a positive impression on others had a significant relationship with the attitude of the pre-service teachers towards the teaching profession. These variables explain 10% of the total variance in pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching profession. It has been determined that the variables of sensitivity to the judgments of others and leaving a positive impression on others are significant predictors of attitudes towards the teaching profession, while the social retreat variable does not predict significantly.
Aeroacoustics of Vertical Lift Ducted Rotors

Aeroacoustic experiments were conducted on a ducted lift fan model designed for new VSTOL vehicle applications. Such ducted fan models are being investigated with wind tunnel experiments at Penn State predominantly to determine their aerodynamic characteristics. A series of aeroacoustic experiments were also undertaken in an anechoic chamber. It is anticipated that the duct surrounding a rotor can potentially provide shielding for the aerodynamic noise produced by the rotor. The experiments measured the radiated noise on a circular arc of approximately 3 rotor diameters from the nozzle. Three microphones were mounted on a boom that could be easily rotated over selected polar apertures. As expected, the acoustic spectra are dominated by tones at the blade passage frequency and its harmonics. The directivity of the noise is consistent with a mixture of dipole and quadrupole generated noise by the rotor blades, and the duct has little effect on the levels. When expressed on an equivalent thrust basis, the noise of the ducted fan is very close to the un-ducted one. It appears that noise reduction will only result from the installation of a perforated liner on the inside of the duct.
Effective Depth of Soil Compaction in Relation to Applied Compactive Energy

The determination of appropriate lift thickness used in the embankment construction has important economic and engineering implications in the design, construction, and performance of transportation systems. Department of Transportations (DOTs) across the United States require lift thicknesses ranging from 0.2 to 0.3 m (8 to 12 in.) depending on soil types, regardless of compaction equipment used. However, modern earthmoving and compaction equipment with much larger footprints and weight could potentially compact thicker soil layers without sacrificing the mechanical performance of embankments while reducing construction costs. This research program presents a series of field monitoring, testing, and numerical studies used to evaluate the response of coarse and fine-grained soils during compaction operations at various soil depths under the action of the smooth-drum vibratory roller, rubber-tired roller, padfoot roller, and scraper. Different soil property profiles were used to assess the effectiveness of different compaction methods, including shear-induced displacement and rotation monitoring, dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP), soil stiffness gauge (SSG), pressure plate, sand cone, nuclear density gauge (NDG), and P-wave propagation. Numerical modeling using a hardening soil model was used to expand the results of the compaction effectiveness in depth. The experimental and numerical results provided ranges to evaluate the compaction effectiveness of increasing lift thickness for different compactive energies. The results provide a better understanding of the compaction effectiveness as a function of depth and showed an evidence of the potential for an increase in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT)’s lift thickness specification. The results indicate that 0.3-m (12-in) loose lifts for coarse-grained and fine-grained soils could be implemented when using Quality Management Program (QMP). If standard compaction is used, 0.2-m (8-in) loose lifts for coarse-grained and fine-grained soils should remain the state of practice for WisDOT. These recommendations should be further studied by WisDOT officials before they are implemented in embankment construction projects.