Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a rating system for sustainable bridges

One of the latest trends in engineering is sustainable design, which is designing so that resources are available for many generations to come. Sustainable design considers the ecological, economic, and socio-cultural environments and works to balance all three. Sustainable bridge design is still in development, and clear standards and recommendations have not been formalized as they have in building design. The U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDTM) Green Building Rating System evaluates sustainable building design by awarding points based on measurable criteria. The LEEDTM rating system deals with buildings, but a similar system could be developed that would apply to bridge design. This report proposes a rating system for sustainable bridge design based on current practices and emerging technologies. Three bridges (either new or under construction) were rated using the system and the results are presented. Also discussed are steps and obstacles for implementation. Thesis Supervisor: Jerome J. Connor Title: Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Thesis Supervisor: John Ochsendorf Title: Assistant Professor of Architecture ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Nothing in this world is accomplished alone, and I would like to thank some influential people who have had an effect on my education. I would like to thank Professor John Ochsendorf for inspiring me to make a difference, introducing me to the culture of sustainability, and daring me to think big. I would also like to thank Professor Jerome Connor, Lisa Grebner, and Todd Radford. They are the core of the High Performance Structures program and it wouldn't have been the same without them. Finally, I would like to thank my Mom and Bob for supporting my education, goals, and dreams, my dad for giving me the foundation to grow from, my grandparents for giving me wings, Lexi and Jordan who constantly amaze me with their accomplishments, and Chris who is my sounding board, editor, and partner, and who has supported all my endeavors.
Design of High-Gain Metasurface Antenna Based on Characteristic Mode Analysis

A design method of the high-gain metasurface antenna based on characteristic mode analysis is proposed in this letter. The metasurface with uniform cells on the grounded dielectric substrate is used for controlling the modal significance of a specified characteristic mode. The metasurface containing two types of scatterers is investigated, and the interaction of the different scatterers has a significant impact on the eigenvalues of characteristic modes. The unwanted high-order characteristic modes can be effectively suppressed with the use of the interaction. When only the fundamental mode is effectively excited, the metasurface antenna shows high-gain performance. A high-gain metasurface antenna operating at 5.8 GHz is designed, fabricated, and measured. The antenna with dimensions of 1.5<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda _{0}\times 0.83\lambda _{0}\times 0.11\lambda _{0}$</tex-math></inline-formula> (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda _0$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the vacuum wavelength at 5.8 GHz) has a bandwidth of 4.6% with <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$|S_{11}|< $</tex-math></inline-formula><inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$-$</tex-math></inline-formula>10 dB. The realized peak boresight gain of 11.5 dBi within the passband and the half-power beamwidth of 28<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\circ }$</tex-math></inline-formula>–37<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\circ }$</tex-math></inline-formula> in the E-plane are obtained.
The 3D simulation and recognition method of oil/water well casing defects

Pattern recogniti on of casing defect and its forecasting is an important issue in the process of real-time monitoring and forecasting of casing damages. Combined with specific examples (the photos of casing defects from a region of Zhongyuan oil field), th e 2D mathematical model that can restore the photos of casing defects is constru cted firstly by using coordinate transformation and image processing methods, wh ich by using Visual C~ ++ programming technology and the 2D simulation o f casing defects is presented and analyzed. Then, the 3D simulation of casing d efects of oil/water well is presented in the light of Photoshop software and gra yscale function, and the photos of casing defects of oil/water well are restored effectively. Finally, the casing defects are classified by using the properties of grayscale function, and the lifetime of casing is forecasted. A new way is g iven to recognize casing defects of oil/water wells and to forecast the lifetime of casing.
Evaluation of Antimicrobial and Phytochemical Properties of Agro-Waste and their Potential Applications as Bio-Preservatives and Natural Dyes

Around 40% of agro-waste is generated globally every year most of which is not composted due to improper disposal methods, this increases the carbon footprints which in turn causes a great deal of harm to the environment. The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the antimicrobial and phytochemical properties of extracts prepared of lemon peel (Citrus limon), onion peel (Allium cepa) and potato peels (Solanum tuberosum). The project was an attempt to increase sustainability and decrease waste generation by complete utilization of agro-products prior to disposal. The peels were collected from local restaurants and food joints to aid in reduced waste generation. The extracts were prepared using home-based methods; laboratory extraction using Soxhlet apparatus was carried out for lemon peel extract. For the antimicrobial analysis, four organisms were used, two of which were gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus) and two were gram negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas putida). S.aureus was isolated from a poultry source whereas E.coli was isolated from fish drain water. The lemon peel extracts showed a high degree of antimicrobial activity against all the test organisms, whereas the onion peel extracts positively retarded the growth of both the gram-positive test isolates and consecutively, potato peel extracts showed bactericidal effects against E.coli. The extracts were analyzed for presence of phytochemicals namely, tannins, phenols, saponins, flavonoids, vitamin C; promising results were obtained proving the importance and medicinal relevance of the extracts. To check for preservative attributes of the extracts, quantitative and qualitative examinations were conducted, wherein, efficacious results were noted for the lemon peel extracts, however, actions of onion peel extracts and a combination of extracts was culminated to be inconclusive due to excess coloration/ pigmentation. Lastly textile/ fabric dyes were yielded from the prepared extracts, and as observed, the color was retained by the cloth after addition of mordants.
Drosophila D-idua Reduction Mimics Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I Disease-Related Phenotypes

Deficit of the IDUA (α-L-iduronidase) enzyme causes the lysosomal storage disorder mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I), a rare pediatric neurometabolic disease, due to pathological variants in the IDUA gene and is characterized by the accumulation of the undegraded mucopolysaccharides heparan sulfate and dermatan sulfate into lysosomes, with secondary cellular consequences that are still mostly unclarified. Here, we report a new fruit fly RNAi-mediated knockdown model of a IDUA homolog (D-idua) displaying a phenotype mimicking some typical molecular features of Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSD). In this study, we showed that D-idua is a vital gene in Drosophila and that ubiquitous reduction of its expression leads to lethality during the pupal stage, when the precise degradation/synthesis of macromolecules, together with a functional autophagic pathway, are indispensable for the correct development to the adult stage. Tissue-specific analysis of the D-idua model showed an increase in the number and size of lysosomes in the brain and muscle. Moreover, the incorrect acidification of lysosomes led to dysfunctional lysosome-autophagosome fusion and the consequent block of autophagy flux. A concomitant metabolic drift of glycolysis and lipogenesis pathways was observed. After starvation, D-idua larvae showed a quite complete rescue of both autophagy/lysosome phenotypes and metabolic alterations. Metabolism and autophagy are strictly interconnected vital processes that contribute to maintain homeostatic control of energy balance, and little is known about this regulation in LSDs. Our results provide new starting points for future investigations on the disease’s pathogenic mechanisms and possible pharmacological manipulations.
Academics of colour in elite universities in the UK and the USA: the ‘unspoken system of exclusion’

ABSTRACT This article explores the experiences of academics of colour in elite universities in the UK and the USA. Drawing on interviews with 34 respondents and using a critical race theory perspective, the findings indicate that academics of colour experience racism in the White space of an elite university. To counter the racism they experience, they develop ‘safe spaces’ in which they find empathy and support from other academics of colour. A key finding from the study suggests that despite having negative experiences in elite universities, academics of colour have contradictory feelings about their positions. They disassociate themselves from the racism by recognising the status and prestige associated with working at an elite university. This article suggests that in order for academics of colour to be fully included in elite universities, institutions must acknowledge racism and their own Whiteness to work towards cultural change.
The role of heat wave events on the occurrence and persistence of thermal stratification in the southern North Sea

Abstract. Extremes in temperatures not only directly affect the marine environment and ecosystems but also have indirect impacts on hydrodynamics and marine life. The role of heat wave events responsible for the occurrence and persistence of thermal stratification was analysed using a fully coupled hydrodynamic and wave model within the framework of the Geesthacht Coupled cOAstal model SysTem (GCOAST) for the North Sea. The model results were assessed against satellite reprocessed data and in situ observations from field campaigns and fixed MARNET stations. To quantify the degree of stratification, a potential energy anomaly over the water column was calculated. A linear correlation existed between the air temperatures and the potential energy anomaly in the North Sea excluding the Norwegian Trench and the area south of 54° N latitude. Contrary to the northern part of the North Sea, where the water column is stratified in the warming season each year, the southern North Sea is seasonally stratified in years when a heatwave occurs. The influences of heatwaves on the occurrence of summer stratifications in the southern North Sea are mainly in the form of two aspects, i.e., a rapid rise in sea surface temperature at the early stage of the heatwave period and a relatively higher water temperature during summer than the multiyear mean. Another factor that enhances the thermal stratification in summer is the memory of the water column to cold spells earlier in the year. Differences between the seasonally stratified northern North Sea and the heatwave-induced stratified southern North Sea were attributed to changes in water depth.
Model of UAV and Downwash for Multi-UAV Path Planning

This paper develops a method to model the air ﬂow downwash eﬀect generated by the quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and its eﬀect on the neighboring UAVs. The down-wash model derives the resultant downwash force and torque and takes the UAV attitude into the account. Each UAV is shaped by a virtual structure for collision-free path planning. The shape is modiﬁed from a standard spherical body to a proposed cylinder to better minimize downwash impact. A ﬂock-based path planning algorithm and an optimal reciprocal collision avoidance (ORCA) algorithm are implemented and investigated in this study to analyze the downwash eﬀect and the performance of the proposed cylindrical shape UAV model. The downwash model simulation shows how the UAV can be aﬀected when it counters the down-wash air ﬂow. A ﬂock-based algorithm and an ORCA algorithm along with the spherical and cylindrical shape UAV models are simulated to demonstrate the cylindrical model can improve path planning performance
Event-Triggered Cost-Guaranteed Control for Linear Repetitive Processes Under Probabilistic Constraints

In this article, the event-triggered cost-guaranteed control problem is investigated for a class of shift-varying linear repetitive processes (LRPs) with multiplicative noises under probabilistic constraints. First, in order to relieve the communication burden and improve the communication efficiency, the event-triggered mechanism is exploited for the shift-varying LRPs over the communication network of limited bandwidth. By constructing a novel event generator function, the order of the event triggering sequence is identified on two independent directions. Then, the probabilistic constraint is enforced onto the shift-varying LRPs under the influence of the event-triggered mechanism. With the aid of the Chi-square distribution and the completing-the-square technique, a controller design algorithm is proposed to ensure that both the probabilistic constraints and the quadratic cost index are satisfied by using the actual information at the triggering instants. Sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee the existence of event-based controllers, and the controller gains are obtained at each step by solving a series of matrix inequalities. Finally, an illustrative example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller design method.
Local assembly of long reads enables phylogenomics of transposable elements in a polyploid cell line

Animal cell lines cultured for extended periods often undergo extreme genome restructuring events, including polyploidy and segmental aneuploidy that can impede de novo whole-genome assembly (WGA). In Drosophila, many established cell lines also exhibit massive proliferation of transposable elements (TEs) relative to wild-type flies. To better understand the role of transposition during long-term animal somatic cell culture, we sequenced the genome of the tetraploid Drosophila S2R+ cell line using long-read and linked-read technologies. Relative to comparable data from inbred whole flies, WGAs for S2R+ were highly fragmented and generated variable estimates of TE content across sequencing and assembly technologies. We therefore developed a novel WGA-independent bioinformatics method called “TELR” that identifies, locally assembles, and estimates allele frequency of TEs from long-read sequence data (https://github.com/bergmanlab/telr). Application of TELR to a ∼130x PacBio dataset for S2R+ revealed many haplotype-specific TE insertions that arose by somatic transposition in cell culture after initial cell line establishment and subsequent tetraploidization. Local assemblies from TELR also allowed phylogenetic analysis of paralogous TE copies within the S2R+ genome, which revealed that proliferation of different TE families during cell line evolution in vitro can be driven by single or multiple source lineages. Our work provides a model for the analysis of TEs in complex heterozygous or polyploid genomes that are not amenable to WGA and yields new insights into the mechanisms of genome evolution in animal cell culture.
Study of bacterial attachment on the rough surfaces

Bacterial attachment is a menace in medical implants that inevitably demands revision surgery, increasing the patient morbidity and cost involved. Numerous strategies such as use of antibodies, combination of antibiotics, contact killing surfaces, coatings with functional DNase I, glycoside hydrolase, surface derivatization and functionalization are practiced to combat biomaterial associated infections. Generally, coatings with bioactive compounds have limited shelf-life and require cold-chain. This study aims to develop nano-scale architectures on two-dimensional surface and, test their efficiency in reducing bacterial attachment. In this study, surface architectures were generated on the glass coverslip by rasping with different grits of silicon carbide paper, and were characterized using Atomic Force Microscope. Common human pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus epidermidis were tested for their attachment on the coverslips. The results indicate that the nano-scale surface architecture developed by rasping the coverslip with p1000 grit reduced bacterial attachment by 50-80% compared to control (unmodified coverslip). Ironically, surface architecture developed by rasping the coverslip with p80 grit increased the bacterial attachment under both static and dynamic conditions to about 30-40% compared to control. The study suggests that knowledge on bacterial attachment on different surface architectures would facilitate fabrication of medical implants with defined surface structures that restricts bacterial colonization.
Structural Damage Prognosis on Truss Bridges with End Connector Bolts

AbstractThe successful development of structural damage prognosis (SDP) capability requires the further development and integration of many technology areas, such as hardware, software, modeling capabilities, and so forth. By combining the damage-sensitive feature extraction, the higher statistical moments of structural responses and the fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm with the traditional time-series analysis-based SDP method, an integrated method is proposed for the SDP of a truss bridge model with end connector bolts under environmental and operational variability simulated in laboratory. The theoretical formulation of the integrated method is developed first. A six-bay truss bridge model is then designed and fabricated in laboratory for assessing the performance of the proposed method. Various damage cases are simulated by partially or completely loosening some end connecter bolts of the truss bridge under the environmental variability. The performance of the integrated SDP method is assessed.
Application of Gaussian Complex Wavelet Transform in Fault Diagnosis of Gears

A method for analysis on fault vibration signals of gears based on Gaussian complex envelope wavelet was presented.By making phase spectrum analysis using the Gaussian mother wavelet,the fault sidebands were extracted clearly and fault pattern was identified.The analysis results of simulation and experiment show that the proposed method has better robustness to noise in comparison with conventional power spectrum.
Economic & Ecological Implications of Hydraulic Fracturing

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that the United States has abundant shale gas deposits and estimates it to be more than 1,744 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of technically recoverable shale gas, including 211 tcf of proved reserves. Technically recoverable unconventional gas (shale gas, tight sands, and coalbed methane) accounts for 60% of the onshore recoverable resource. At the U.S. production rates for 2007, about 19.3 tcf, the current recoverable resource estimates provide enough natural gas to supply the U.S. for the next 90 years. Separate estimates of the shale gas resource extend this supply to 116 years. The EIA says that shale gas production has increased 17-fold since 2000 to reach nearly 30% of dry gas production in 2011 in the United States. IPCC (2001), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, reported that most of global warming in recent decades could be attributed to human activities causing significant increases in the amount of greenhouse gasses’ concentration in the atmosphere. IPCC also projected that the average global surface temperatures will continue to increase between 1.4 centigrade degrees and 5.8 centigrade degrees above 1990 levels, by the year 2100. Scott Kell, President of the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC), said that “water and energy are two of the most basic needs of society. Our use of each vital resource is reliant on and affects the availability of the other. Water is needed to produce energy and energy is necessary to make water available for use. As our population grows, the demands for both resources will only increase. �?
Comparison between 3D-reconstruction optical methods applied to bulge-tests through a feed-forward neural network

The mechanical behaviour of rubber-like materials can be investigated through numerous techniques that differ from each other in costs, execution times and parameters described. Bulge test method proved helpful for hyperelastic membranes under plane and equibiaxial stress state. In the present study, bulge tests in force control were carried out on SBR 20% CB-filled specimens. 3D reconstructions of the dome were achieved through two different stereoscopic techniques, the epipolar geometry and the Digital Image Correlation. Through a Feed-Forward Neural Network (FFNN), these reconstructions were compared with the measurements by a laser triangulation sensor taken as reference. 3D-DIC reconstruction was found to be more accurate. Indeed, bias errors of the 3D-DIC and epipolar techniques with respect to the relative reference values, under creep condition, were 0.53 mm and 0.87 mm, respectively.
Diagnostic Value of Endoscopic Ultrasound after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Gastric Cancer Restaging: A Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Test

This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) after neoadjuvant therapy (NT) for gastric cancer restaging by meta-analysis. We conducted a systematic search of studies published on PubMed and Web of Science up to 30th August 2021. Assessing the risk of bias in the included studies was done with the QUADAS-2 tool. We used R and Review Manager 5.4. 1 for calculations and statistical analysis. To evaluate the diagnostic value of EUS after NT for gastric cancer restaging, we performed a meta-analysis on six studies, with a total of 283 patients, including true-positive, true-negative, false-positive, and false-negative results for T1-T4, N0. EUS as a diagnostic test for GC patients after chemotherapy has a relatively low DOR for the T2 (3.96) and T4 stages (4.79) and a relatively high partial AUC for the T2 (0.85) and T4 (0.71) stages. Our results reveal that the pooled sensitivity for T stages after chemotherapy is rather low (29–56%), except for the T3 stage (71%). A potential limitation of our study was the small number of included studies, but no significant heterogeneity was found between them. Our meta-analysis concludes that EUS is not recommended or is still under debate for GC restaging after NT.
Ameliorative Effects of Schizandra chinensis Extracts and Their Soybean Powder Blends to Diabetes Mellitus

Schisandrae chinensis (Omija) is traditionally used as a food-based medicinal/pharmaceutical resources including antidiabetic agent in worldwide. In this study, the optimal combined formula of Omija extract and soybean mixture (OSM) were investigated for its effects on type 2 diabetes model expressed in in Vitro and in Vivo animal model. Using whole extracts, we confirmed inhibitory effects to α-glucosidase, α-amylase and the DPPH scavenging in Vitro and examined glucose tolerance in mice. The combined optimum formulation of OSM were significantly ameliorated type 2 diabetes-related. Furthermore, activation of p-Akt, p-AMPK, p-IRS and GLUT2 expression level is pivotal roles of in this anti-diabetic molecular mechanism on in Vivo without side effects. Therefore, these results suggest that OSM is good resources for improves of type 2 diabetes and its complications.