Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Seismic reliability analysis of reinforced concrete framed buildings deteriorated by chloride ingress

The main purpose of this study is to propose an evaluation method that can be used for analysing the time-dependent seismic reliability of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings located in a corrosive environment with high seismic hazard. In this study, several models have been developed to investigate the deterioration induced by chloride ingress in order to estimate the initiation stage and rate of corrosion and to analyse the structural capacity of columns and beams with corroded reinforcing bars; then, the seismic evaluation for RC framed buildings was used for calculating the story shear capacity of each floor in a building. In addition, the hazard curve of the story shear demand for each floor obtained from the seismic hazard analysis was adopted; consequently, a Monte Carlo simulation was carried out for estimating the annual failure probability and seismic reliability index of the concerned building; in other words, a time-dependent seismic reliability function could be built.
Up to Date Issues on Modeling the Nervous Control of the Cardiovascular System on Short-Term

Abstract Physiological control mechanisms are receiving an increasing amount of attention due to their primary role in homeostasis, while systems theory is becoming an indispensable tool for understanding the dynamic behaviors that emerge. In this context, a topic that has been intensively studied is the nervous control of the cardiovascular system on short term. This paper tries to develop a common framework for future efforts in modeling the nervous control of the cardiovascular system in orthostatic stress, through a systemic analyze of the roles and interactions of the regulatory mechanisms identified in the literature.
Community Medical Leadership Workshop: An Introduction to Physician Leadership for Resident Physicians

Objective The Community Medical Leadership Workshop (CMLW) aims to prepare residents to become effective physician leaders through medical leadership lectures and case scenario discussions. By the end of the CMLW, participants will be able to define leadership in medicine, employ strategies to manage conflict and differences of opinions in the workplace, demonstrate effective communication skills while working with others, and describe the role of power in effective leadership. Methods A total of 32 resident physicians participated in our workshop that is based on the leadership practice inventory (LPI) and the Medical Leadership Competency Framework (MLCF). Our evaluation assessed communication strength, conflict resolution, time management, negotiation, delegation, teamwork, and community service. Results Most participants were satisfied with the course. They rated the workshop's contents the highest. In addition, over 90% of learners would recommend this workshop to others. We found a statistically significant increase in learners’ ability to provide opportunities to include patients in quality improvements. Conclusion Our workshop was designed and tailored for resident physicians to introduce them to physician leadership. The workshop was well received and could serve as a model to promote qualities in residents that define effective physician leaders.
PROJECT OF AN EXPERIMENTAL SIMULATOR DESIGNED TO ANALYSE PESTICIDE SPRAYING TECHNIQUES IN VINEYARD USING DRONES

– This paper presents the study and the project of an innovative experimental simulator useful to experiment pesticide spraying techniques in vineyard using drones. The project was about: the study of the hydraulic circuit used to spray the pesticide, the drone characteristics, the vineyard characteristics and dimensions. This experimental simulator allows to modify and to test the flight height of the drone from the soil, the advancement velocity of the drone, the effect of the drone rotors, the number and the position of the spraying nozzles, their supply pressure and flowrate, using an original and innovative vineyard simulator designed by the authors. The dimensions of the experimental simulator is suitable to use it in a laboratory. The control of this experimental simulator was designed following a specific flowchart that allows preliminary to configurate the bench and to carry out the tests. The vine leaves were simulated using hydro sensible papers or real vine leaves. Using both these solutions authors want to test the performance of the hydraulic circuits and the distribution of the droplets in the crop. The vineyard is simulated with a structure designed in real scale (1:1), whose dimensions was obtained from a real crop. This structure allows to change the collocation of the devices used to test the hydraulics circuits and simulating the vine leaves.
Multistage Inverters Control Using Surface Hysteresis Comparators

An alternative technique to control multilevel inverters with vector approximations has been presented. The innovative control method utilizes specially designed two-dimensional hysteresis comparators to simplify the implementation and improve the resultant waveform. The multistage inverter designed with maximum number of levels is operated in such a way to approximate the reference voltage vector by exploiting the large number of multilevel inverter vectors. A three-stage inverter with the main high voltage stage made of three phase, six-switch and singly-fed inverter is considered for application to the proposed design. The proposed control concept is to maintain a higher voltage stage state as long as it can lead to a target vector. High and medium voltage stages controllers are based on surface hysteresis comparators to hold the switching state or to perform the necessary change to achieve its reference voltage with minimal switching losses. The low voltage stage controller is designed to approximate the target reference voltage to the nearest inverter vector using the nearest integer rounding and adjustment comparators. Model simulation and prototype test results show that the proposed control technique clearly outperforms the previous control methods.
Inhibition of Quorum Sensing and Virulence Factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by Biologically Synthesized Gold and Selenium Nanoparticles

The development of microbial resistance requires a novel approach to control microbial infection. This study implies the microbial synthesis of nanometals and assessment of their antivirulent activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Streptomyces isolate S91 was isolated from soil with substantial ability for growth at high salts concentrations. The cell-free supernatant of S91was utilized for the synthesis of Au-NPs and Se-NPs. The 16S rRNA sequence analysis of Streptomyces S91 revealed that S91 had a high similarity (98.82%) to Streptomyces olivaceous. The biosynthesized Au-NPs and Se-NPs were characterized using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray diffraction and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The quorum sensing inhibitory (QSI) potential of Au-NPs and Se-NPs and the antivirulence activity was examined against P. aeruginosa. The QSI potential was confirmed using RT-PCR. The synthesized Au-NPs and Se-NPs were monodispersed spherical shapes with particle size of 12.2 and 67.98 nm, respectively. Au-NPs and Se-NPs eliminated QS in P. aeruginosa at a concentration range of 2.3–18.5 µg/mL for Au-NPs and 2.3–592 µg/mL for Se-NPs. In addition, Au-NPs and Se-NPs significantly inhibited QS-related virulence factors, such as pyocyanin, protease and, elastase in P. aeruginosa. At the molecular level, Au-NPs and Se-NPs significantly suppressed the relative expression of QS genes and toxins. Hence, the biosynthesized Au-NPS and Se-NPS could be substantial inhibitors of QS and virulence traits of P. aeruginosa.
Predictive direct torque control for the PM-synchronous machine

The paper shows that a predictive digital control combined with the principle of the direct torque control leads to an excellent dynamic behavior of the permanent magnet excited synchronous machine and is a real alternative to the classical field orientated control. The advantages are the constant switching frequency and the predictable torque ripple. The set up times of the torque are reduced compared with the classical control. The application in servo-drives in which the rotor position is always measured can be easily realized using a commercial DSP. Numerous simulations and measurements confirm the theoretical work.
A Reappraisal of the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake in the Northwestern Himalaya Syntaxis

massive surface uplift and formed the Himalayas. Throughout the 2500-km long Himalaya mountain range, significant earthquake hazards have occurred either on the interface between the plates, above the interface at the Himalayan wedge, or below the interface within the subducting Indian plate (Bai et al., 2019; Bilham et al., 2019; Shi et al., 2020). Future destructive earthquakes will continue to be major sources of seismic hazard to millions of people in the region. It is thus important to examine the properties of large earthquakes that have occurred along the Himalayan orogenic belt. Here we revisit the source parameters of the 2005 Mw7.6 Kashmir earthquake and its aftershock sequence that have occurred at the western Himalaya syntaxis. The major tectonic feature for source area of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake is the rapid shift of the Himalayan orogenic belt from southeast to southwest direction.
Foundation Features Tall Buildings and Braced Excavations in Houston

Examples of braced excavation and foundation systems of tall buildings in the Houston Area are presented through a case study of the recently completed B G Group Place, Houston's tallest building to start the 21 st millennium. The building is considered one of the tallest soil-supported buildings in the world at 48 stories from basement to top when compared to the 75 story Chase Tower. The presentation is expanded by performance information from other local braced excavation projects (Ulrich, 1989) in the Texas Gulf Coast to capture the broad character of excavation behavior. Properly designed and built Houston Area excavations enjoy behavior characteristics unique to those reported in other locations.
Modeling the effect of planting date on Maize (Zea mays L.) crop in Sabour region of Bihar using DSSATv3.5 crop simulation model

CERES-Maize model calibrated for local conditions of Sabour has been used to evaluate the relevance medium range weather forecast relative to the maize crop growth period. The procedure is to place the reference year's daily weather into the model up to the time the yield prediction is to be made and sequences of historical data (one sequence per year) after that time until the end of growing season to give yield estimates. A procedure that makes use of historical weather data, medium range weather forecast (mrwf) and current weather data in conjunction with the CERES-Maize model was developed to arrive at a probable distribution of predicted yields. The lower temperature and more solar radiation in tassel emergence to dough stage silk emergence to physiological maturity phase and lower maximum temperature are found favorable to contribute more in increasing the grain yields. The CERES- Maize model correlated for the genetic coefficient predicts the silking dates and physiological maturity very well. Kharif maize gave the highest grain yield of 3490 kg/ha in 1999 and the lowest of 2474 kg/ha in 1979. Among eight different sowing dates the lowest average grain yield was 3190 kg/ha for the last sowing date and the highest average grain yield was 3313 kg/ha in 2nd sowing date. The 25 percentiles were less than the mean grain yields and also 75 percentiles.
Sistem Informasi Geografis Daerah Rawan Kriminalitas di Kabupaten Garut

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah membangun sebuah Sistem Informasi Geografis dimana setiap tindakan kriminal yang bersifat umum ditampilkan di titik kejadian perkara, selain itu dibutuhkan pula sebuah kanal yang memungkinkan masyarakat untuk melaporkan kejadian yang perlu ditangani oleh kepolisian, dengan penelitian ini pula mencangkup fitur untuk masyarakat memberikan kritik dan saran kepada kepolisian guna evaluasi bagi kepolisian untuk meningkatkan pelayanan. Metodologi yang digunakan untuk mencapai tujuan tersebut menggunakan metodologi Rational Unified Proccess (RUP) yang tahapannya terdiri dari Inception, Elaboration, Contruction dan Transition serta pemodelan yang akan digunakan adalah Unified Modelling Language (UML) yang terdiri dari diagram Use Case Diagram, Activity Diagram, Squence Diagram, dan Class Diagram. Penelitian ini berfokus pada tindak kejahatan pencurian kendaraan bermotor dengan menggunakan data pada tahun 2019 yang berasal dari Kepolisian Kabupaten Garut. Hasil dari penelitian berupa sistem yang dapat melihat titik lokasi kejadian tindak kriminal pencurian kendaraan bermotor dan melaporkan tindakan pidana dan menyampaikan kritik dan saran kepada kepolisian oleh masyarakat yang dikelola oleh kepolisian.
Development and Validation of a Machine Learning Model Predicting Arteriovenous Fistula Failure in a Large Network of Dialysis Clinics

Background: Vascular access surveillance of dialysis patients is a challenging task for clinicians. We derived and validated an arteriovenous fistula failure model (AVF-FM) based on machine learning. Methods: The AVF-FM is an XG-Boost algorithm aimed at predicting AVF failure within three months among in-centre dialysis patients. The model was trained in the derivation set (70% of initial cohort) by exploiting the information routinely collected in the Nephrocare European Clinical Database (EuCliD®). Model performance was tested by concordance statistic and calibration charts in the remaining 30% of records. Features importance was computed using the SHAP method. Results: We included 13,369 patients, overall. The Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC-ROC) of AVF-FM was 0.80 (95% CI 0.79–0.81). Model calibration showed excellent representation of observed failure risk. Variables associated with the greatest impact on risk estimates were previous history of AVF complications, followed by access recirculation and other functional parameters including metrics describing temporal pattern of dialysis dose, blood flow, dynamic venous and arterial pressures. Conclusions: The AVF-FM achieved good discrimination and calibration properties by combining routinely collected clinical and sensor data that require no additional effort by healthcare staff. Therefore, it can potentially enable risk-based personalization of AVF surveillance strategies.
High speed submicron BiCMOS memory

This paper reviews device and circuit technologies for submicron BiCMOS memories, especially for high speed and large capacity SRAM's with 0.8 /spl mu/m, 0.55 /spl mu/m and 0.4 /spl mu/m design rules. First, poly-silicon emitter structure and triple-well structure are described as key submicron BiCMOS device technologies for achieving high transistor performance and minimized process complexity, as well as high reliability. Next, submicron CMOS and BiCMOS inverter gate delays are compared. In addition, memory circuit techniques including BinMOS logic gates and bipolar sense amplifiers are discussed, respectively for ECL I/O asynchronous, TTL I/O asynchronous and super high speed synchronous submicron BiCMOS SRAM's. Future prospects for submicron BiCMOS memories are also forecasted. >
Comparative analysis of Signal Processing Techniques for Transmitter Detection for spectrum sensing in cognitive radio

Today's wireless communication systems follow fixed spectrum assignment policies that leads to overall inefficient spectrum use. Further the scarcity of spectrum is an issue for service providers with emerging mobile services and such a large number of consumer with even higher bandwidth requirement. Spectrum sensing enable secondary user to use frequency spectrum which is provided for primary user without affecting his data. In this paper, we are going to provide various spectrum sensing methods in cognitive radio (CR).
Leaky‐wave antenna design using quarter‐mode substrate‐integrated waveguide

A leaky‐wave antenna (LWA) is designed using quarter‐mode substrate‐integrated waveguide (QMSIW). The LWA unit cell is miniaturized because the QMSIW size is quarter of SIW cavity. A traveling wave leaks away from open edges of the QMSIW. Its performance is verified with full‐wave simulation and measurements. The main beam direction varies from 0 to 28° when frequency varies from 12.5 to 15.4 GHz. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:1234–1236, 2015
Design and implementation of a substrate integrated waveguide phase shifter

The design and implementation of a phase shifter based on the substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technique operating at 10 GHz are presented. The proposed phase shifter consists of a SIW section with two inserted metallic posts. The phase shifting in this configuration is achieved by changing the diameter and the position of these posts. Numerical simulations have been carried out for different diameters and positions, which have shown good agreement with the theory. A parametric study was also conducted to assess the impact of errors made on the diameter and position of the two metallic posts. To prove the concept, prototypes were fabricated and measured. Experimental results agree well with simulations and SII was better than -14 dB, S21 better than -1.08 dB and the phase error was less than 1.5deg.
Does long-term fire suppression impact leaf litter breakdown and aquatic invertebrate colonization in pine flatwoods wetlands?

Ephemeral wetlands are commonly embedded within pine uplands of the southeastern United States. These wetlands support diverse communities but have often been degraded by a lack of growing-season fires that historically maintained the vegetation structure. In the absence of fire, wetlands develop a dense mid-story of woody vegetation that increases canopy cover and decreases the amount of herbaceous vegetation. To understand how reduced fire frequency impacts wetland processes, we measured leaf litter breakdown rates and invertebrate communities using three common plant species (Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris), Pineland Threeawn Grass (Aristida stricta), and Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica)) that occur in pine flatwoods wetlands located on Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. We also tested whether or not the overall habitat type within a wetland (fire maintained or fire suppressed) affected these processes. We placed leaf packs containing 15.0 g of dried leaf litter from each species in both fire-maintained and fire-suppressed sections of three wetlands, removing them after 103–104 days submerged in the wetland. The amount of leaf litter remaining at the end of the study varied across species (N. sylvatica = 7.97 ± 0.17 g, A. stricta = 11.84 ± 0.06 g, and P. palustris = 11.37 ± 0.07 g (mean ± SE)) and was greater in fire-maintained habitat (leaf type: F2,45 = 437.2, P < 0.001; habitat type: F1,45 = 4.6, P = 0.037). We identified an average of 260 ± 33.5 (SE) invertebrates per leaf pack (range: 19–1,283), and the most abundant taxonomic groups were Cladocera, Isopoda, Acariformes, and Diptera. Invertebrate relative abundance varied significantly among litter species (approximately 39.9 ± 9.4 invertebrates per gram of leaf litter remaining in N. sylvatica leaf packs, 27.2 ± 5.3 invertebrates per gram of A. stricta, and 14.6 ± 3.1 invertebrates per gram of P. palustris (mean ± SE)) but not habitat type. However, both habitat (pseudo-F1,49 = 4.30, P = 0.003) and leaf litter type (pseudo-F2,49 = 3.62, P = 0.001) had a significant effect on invertebrate community composition. Finally, this work was part of ongoing projects focusing on the conservation of the critically imperiled Reticulated Flatwoods Salamander (Ambystoma bishopi), which breeds exclusively in pine flatwoods wetlands, and we examined the results as they relate to potential prey items for larval flatwoods salamanders. Overall, our results suggest that the vegetation changes associated with a lack of growing-season fires can impact both invertebrate communities and leaf litter breakdown.
A Meta-Knowledge Transfer-Based Differential Evolution for Multitask Optimization

Knowledge transfer plays a vastly important role in solving multitask optimization problems (MTOPs). Many existing methods transfer task-specific knowledge, such as the high-quality solution from one task to other tasks to enhance the optimization ability, which, however, may not work well or even have a negative effect if the tasks have very different task-specific knowledge. Hence, this article proposes a meta-knowledge transfer (MKT)-based differential evolution (MKTDE) algorithm by using a more general MKT method to solve MTOPs more efficiently. The meta-knowledge defined in this article refers to the knowledge that can evolve task-specific knowledge during the evolutionary search. That is, the meta-knowledge is a kind of “knowledge of knowledge,” which denotes the knowledge of “how to solve problem via evolution” and “the feature/way/method of evolving high-quality solution. ” The evolutionary search for solving different tasks can share common meta-knowledge even though these tasks involve heterogeneous data and have very different task-specific knowledge. Therefore, the MKT can associate the heterogeneous multisource data of different tasks via transferring the meta-knowledge to help solve MTOPs more efficiently in a more general way. Moreover, to further enhance the MKTDE, two novel and efficient methods are proposed. One is multiple populations for the multiple tasks framework using a unified search space for making knowledge transfer flexibly. The other is an elite solution transfer method for achieving positive high-quality solution transfer. The superior performance of the proposed MKTDE is verified via extensive numerical experiments on both widely used MTOP benchmark problems and real-world robot navigation problems, with comparisons with some state-of-the-art and the latest well-performing algorithms.
Temperature variability and trends over Pune

In the present study, daily maximum and minimum temperature data of Pune for 25 years (19762000) have been examined to study characteristics of maximum and minimum temperature during summer and winter seasons. Between March to May the threshold of maximum temperature observed as ≥ 40 °C was considered. While for winter season, a threshold of ≤ 8 °C was used between January and February. Actual number of days with temperature in selected intervals were determined and analysed to study severity of the season. Climatic effects of industrialization in and around Pune on temperature and rainfall have also been explored. Industrialisation at Pune has been found to result in fall in temperature (maximum, minimum and annual), at this location.
The complete mitochondrial genome of the cocoa tussock moth Orgyia postica Walker, 1855 (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)

Abstract The high-throughput sequencing method was used for the first time to determined complete mitochondrial genome of Orgyia postica. The complete mitochondrial genome was a circular molecule with 15,258 bp in full-length, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs) and 2 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs). The nucleotide composition of O. postica mitogenome was A: 37.6%, C: 7.9%, G: 14.8%, T: 39.7%. In addition, the results of the phylogenetic analysis indicate that O. postica had the closest relationship with Laelia suffusa. Our study will contribute to further research on the evolution of Lymantriidae and the identification of larva species.