Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SARS, MERS and CoVID-19: An overview and comparison of clinical, laboratory and radiological features

In the 21st century, we have seen a total of three outbreaks by members of the coronavirus family. Although the first two outbreaks did not result in a pandemic, the third and the latest outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) culminated in a pandemic. This pandemic has been extremely significant on a social and international level. As these viruses belong to the same family, they are closely related. Despite their numerous similarities, they have slight distinctions that render them distinct from one another. The Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) cases were reported to have a very high case fatality rate of 9.5 and 34.4% respectively. In contrast, the CoVID-19 has a case fatality rate of 2.13%. Also, there are no clear medical countermeasures for these coronaviruses yet. We can cross information gaps, including cultural weapons for fighting and controlling the spread of MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, and plan efficient and comprehensive defensive lines against coronaviruses that might arise or reemerge in the future by gaining a deeper understanding of these coronaviruses and the illnesses caused by them. The review thoroughly summarises the state-of-the-art information and compares the biochemical properties of these deadly coronaviruses with the clinical characteristics, laboratory features and radiological manifestations of illnesses induced by them, with an emphasis on comparing and contrasting their similarities and differences.
A framework for the rapid assessment of seismic upgrade viability using performance-based earthquake engineering

The performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) methodology allows designers to deaggregate expected seismic losses in a building to a component level. This deaggregated information provides the opportunity to tailor upgrade strategies to individual structures based on sources of losses. However, the optimization of an upgrade strategy becomes difficult because of the relationship between a structure and its nonstructural components; hence, multiple competing upgrade options must be considered. To address this obstacle, this article proposes a framework to guide the assessment of the viability of both structural and nonstructural upgrade strategies, while accounting for limited design resources likely encountered in the early stages of the design process. The framework utilizes the median shift probability (MSP) method, a modified version of the PBEE method introduced in this article, to rapidly summarize the effects of structural upgrades on nonstructural components by considering the impacts of structural modifications on the floor hazards. While accounting for this relationship, the MSP method utilizes the deaggregation of loss across different source categories to identify the benefit of combined structural and nonstructural upgrades, increasing a designer’s understanding of the impact of structural upgrades on losses and allowing for the rapid determination of optimized upgrade strategies unique to the owner’s conditions. A case study example of the implementation of the framework is provided, and the results obtained from the MSP method are compared with those obtained from more rigorous but resource-intensive optimization analysis. An implementation of the MSP method in Microsoft Excel is provided with this article.
Principle of Georadar and simulation of its operation by the Reflexw software

This paper is devoted to the study by simulating the propagation of electromagnetic waves of ground radar (GPR) in geological environments (heterogeneous). The latter is used as a method of geophysical prospecting based on the analysis of the spread of the diffraction and reflection of electromagnetic waves in high frequency (0.1 MHz to 2.6 GHz). A number of models have been designed to simulate the varieties of geological conditions. We used the method of finite differences in the time domain FDTD method [1], which is based on the code of scientific computing software Reflexw simulation [2]. During the spread of radar signal in a geological environment, we note that the signal decreases because of the phenomenon of absorption and reflection, and we find that the physical setting that has a great influence on the conduct of the wave in different geological environments is the effective permittivity.
Fast-Spherical-Projection-Based Point Cloud Clustering Algorithm

Roadside LiDAR (light detection and ranging) is a solution to fill in the gaps for connected vehicles (CV) by detecting the status of global road users at transportation facilities. It relies greatly on the clustering algorithm for accurate and rapid data processing so as to ensure effectiveness and reliability. To contribute to better roadside LiDAR-based transportation facilities, this paper presents a fast-spherical-projection-based clustering algorithm (FSPC) for real-time LiDAR data processing with higher clustering accuracy and noise handling. The FSPC is designed to work on a spherical map which could be directly derived from the instant returns of a LiDAR sensor. A 2D-window searching strategy is specifically designed to accelerate the computation and alleviate the density variation impact in the LiDAR point cloud. The test results show the proposed algorithm can achieve a high processing efficiency with 24.4 ms per frame, satisfying the real-time requirement for most common LiDAR applications (100 ms per frame), and it also ensures a high accuracy in object clustering, with 96%. Additionally, it is observed that the proposed FSPC allows a wider detection range and is more stable, tackling the surge in foreground points that frequently occurs in roadside LiDAR applications. Finally, the generality of the proposed FSPC indicates the proposed algorithm could also be implemented in other areas such as autonomous driving and remote sensing.
Vývoj zložiek hydrologickej bilancie za obdobia 1931–1980 a 1961–2000

In the paper there the questions of selection of representative period for the hydrological characteristics assessment are discussed. Also the characteristics of runoff and precipitation for the periods 1931–1980 and 1961–2000 are presented. The main components of water balance in Slovakia are the basis for comparison of both periods. The assessment of development of runoff condition during the last decades is presented.
Systematic Single Cell Pathway Analysis (SCPA) reveals novel pathways engaged during early T cell activation

Next generation sequencing technologies have revolutionized the study of T cell biology, capturing previously unrecognized diversity in cellular states and functions. Pathway analysis is a key analytical stage in the interpretation of such transcriptomic data, providing a powerful method for detecting alterations in important biological processes. Current pathway analysis tools are built on models developed for bulk-RNA sequencing, limiting their effectiveness when applied to more complex single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) datasets. We recently developed a sensitive and distribution-free statistical framework for multisample distribution testing, which we implement here in the open-source R package Single Cell Pathway Analysis (SCPA). After demonstrating the effectiveness of SCPA over commonly used methods, we generate a scRNA-seq T cell dataset and characterize pathway activity over early cellular activation and between T cell populations. This revealed unexpected regulatory pathways in T cells, such as an intrinsic type I interferon system regulating T cell survival and a reliance on arachidonic acid metabolism throughout T cell activation. A systems level characterization of pathway activity in T cells across multiple human tissues also revealed alpha defensin expression as a hallmark of bone marrow derived T cells. Overall, our work here provides a widely applicable tool for single cell pathway analysis, and highlights unexpected regulatory mechanisms of T cells using a novel T cell dataset.
Kadsura japonica fruits exert immunostimulatory and anti-obesity activity in RAW264.7 and 3T3-L1 cells

ABSTRACT Under the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in immune enhancement and anti-obesity is increasing. Thus, in this study, we investigated whether Kadsura japonica fruits (KJF) exhibits immunostimulatory activity and anti-obesity activity. KJF increased the production of immunostimulatory factors and phagocytosis in RAW264.7 cells. Inhibition of TLR2 and TLR4 blocked KJF-mediated production of immunostimulatory factors in RAW264.7 cells. In addition, the inhibition of MAPK and PI3 K/AKT signaling pathway reduced KJF-mediated production of immunostimulatory factors, and the activation of MAPK and PI3 K/AKT signaling pathway by KJF suppressed the inhibition of TLR2/4. KJF attenuated the lipid accumulation and the protein expression such as CEBPα, PPARγ, perilipin-1, adiponectin, and FABP4 related to the lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 cells. In addition, KJF inhibited excessive proliferation of 3T3-L1 cells and protein expressions such as β-catenin and cyclin D1 related to cell growth. These findings indicate that KJF may have immunostimulatory activity and anti-obesity activity.
Numerical Simulation of Icing on the Rotating Blade

The physical processes involved in ice accretion on the rotating blade are complex. It is important to develop high fidelity numerical method and simulate the icing process on the blade under icing conditions. This paper presents a numerical study on the icing process on the rotating blade. The flow field around the blade is obtained using ANSYS FLUENT. The trajectories of supercooled water droplets and the collection efficiency are calculated by Eulerian approach. Heat and mass balance on the rotating blade surface is taken into account in icing process simulations. The NASA Rotor 67 blade is chosen as the computational model. The collection efficiency on the blade surface is computed and the impingement characteristics are analyzed. The 3D icing accretion on Rotor 67 blade is predicted at design point. The ice shapes of accretion time of 5s, 10s and 15s are simulated and the ice shapes at different span positions of the rotating blade are compared.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Discovering taxonomic structure in design archives with application to risk-mitigating actions in a large engineering organisation

ABSTRACT This paper demonstrates a general iterative technique for discovering a taxonomy that categorises information contained within a weakly structured design project archive. It is common for large engineering organisations to maintain archives about past design projects. In principle, engineering organisations could mine these archives to extract useful lessons and relationships that would improve future design projects. However, this is difficult in practice, since archives often consist of weakly structured data formats, such as plaintext documentation. This restricts the use of many useful analysis tools. The taxonomy-discovery process presented here is a critical first step towards unlocking the value of such archives. The technique is based on methods from the qualitative research literature. We demonstrate this process by creating a taxonomy of risk-mitigating actions in design projects based on a design project archive from a large engineering organisation. We discuss practical considerations such as missing contextual information as part of the case study. The taxonomy is sufficiently generic to be of use to other organisations. Furthermore, individual organisations can use the iterative technique introduced in this paper to tailor the taxonomy to their own project archives. Thus, this research provides an important foundation for unlocking the value of archived design project information.
Theory of filtered type-II parametric down-conversion: A method for single-mode EPR-entanglement generation

Parametric down-conversion (PDC) forms one of the basic building blocks for quantum optical experiments. However, the intrinsic multimode spectral-temporal structure of pulsed PDC often poses a severe hindrance for the direct implementation of the heralding of pure single photon states or, for example, continuous-variable entanglement distillation experiments. To get rid of multimode effects narrowband frequency filtering is frequently applied to achieve a single-mode behaviour. To date, the theoretical models of filtered PDC, however, only account for filtering in the low gain regime, where only a few photon-pairs are emitted at any single point in time. In this paper we extend these theoretical descriptions and present a rigorous theoretical model for filtered type-II PDC. Our theoretical investigations reveal that filtering a multimode type-II PDC state, followed by a careful optimization of the measurement basis, effectively achieves a single-mode behaviour and further enables the generation of single-mode EPR-entanglement. Considering the ever increasing brightness of PDC sources our developed theoretical framework, enables the accurate description of filtered PDC in quantum optical experiments.
When and Where to Go Next: Deep Learning Framework for Modeling Drivers’ Behaviors Using Automatic Vehicle Identification Data

In recent years, automatic vehicle identification (AVI) systems have rapidly developed in many countries, which provides an excellent opportunity to understand drivers’ mobility patterns in urban road networks. Few efforts have been devoted to fully utilizing the AVI data to address the prediction issue in behaviors modeling. This paper proposes a deep learning (DL) framework driven by AVI data to model drivers’ behaviors and further incorporate travel time prediction in the next location prediction problem. Specifically, DeepWalk encoder and DeepWalk + Time long short-term memory (DT-LSTM) were proposed to capture the spatial and temporal correlations simultaneously. By learning the spatial relationship between the sensors from the historical trajectories, the DeepWalk encoder converted the sensors into low-dimensional numerical vectors essential for DL. As a vector form, the spatial relationship of the sensor can be adequately measured. Besides, a new long short-term memory (LSTM) variant, DT-LSTM, was designed to memorize drivers’ short-term and long-term interests, respectively. By adding additional time gates, DT-LSTM facilities the location and travel time consistency in the trajectories sequences with different time intervals. Experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of the model, which achieved the state-of-the-art performance (SOTA) compared with other benchmark methods, with the Acc-1 of 82%, Acc-5 of 95%, and MAPE of 17%.
How Interpretation of Metaphors Change People’s Understanding of Others

Metaphors are implicit comparisons that are widely used in everyday language all over the world. Metaphors can be defined as applying the speech to another action and they are figures of speech that are used to refer to something but mean another. The aim of this study is to show how people interpret metaphors differently from each other. Expecting people to understand a metaphor, in the same manner, may cause misunderstandings in real life. This applies to the therapist-patient relationship as well, because if a therapist misunderstands their client, the therapy cannot benefit the patient. Therefore, measuring whether the interpretation of metaphors changes from person to person will be beneficial for having mutual understanding in the communication, which will be a significant topic for therapists to consider while they are doing therapy. To measure whether people interpret metaphors differently, an online self-report questionnaire with 10 questions was created by using the Zayed et al. (2020) article and data was gathered from 132 participants. According to the results, the hypothesis of this study has been supported, which is that every individual interprets metaphors in a unique way and their understanding of metaphors is different from each other.
MMITSS Impacts Assessment: Field Testing and Simulation Results

The paper evaluates the potential network-wide impacts of the Multi-Modal Intelligent Transportation Signal System (MMITSS) based on a field data analysis utilizing data collected from a MMITSS prototype and a simulation analysis. The Intelligent Traffic Signal System (I-SIG), Transit Signal Priority (TSP), Freight Signal Priority (FSP), and TSP/FSP bundle applications were evaluated. The field data analysis demonstrated that MMITSS applications effectively improved the travel time and the delay of the equipped vehicles. In particular, FSP reduced the delay of connected trucks by up to 20% and I-SIG reduced travel time variability by up to 56%, compared to the base case. The simulation study found that I-SIG achieved vehicle delay reductions of 20% and TSP effectively saved travel time for both transit and passenger vehicles on the corridor where TSP was operated; but occasionally increased the system-wide delay, due to reduced green times on the side streets. FSP simulation results indicated that FSP successfully reduced travel times by up to 20% for connected trucks. However, the FSP application also increased system-wide delay, due to increased delays on side streets. The simulation study found that the TSP/FSP bundle application was effective in assigning priority to trucks based on a pre-defined hierarchy of control. The study concludes that the MMITSS I-SIG, TSP, FSP, and TSP/FSP bundle applications improve vehicle travel time, delay, and travel time reliability for equipped passenger cars, trucks, and transit vehicles on the test facility, but the tradeoff is that it may produce overall system-wide negative impacts.
Reevaluating the risk minimization utility of Islamic stocks and bonds (Sukuk) in international financial markets

We examine the risk minimization utility of Islamic stock and Sukuk (bond) indices by studying their linkages against traditional global counterparts. We first employ an asymmetric power ARCH-based ADCC model on an extended dataset employed by Kenourgios et al. (2016). Our sample ranges from July 2007 to June 2021 covering the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the European Sovereign Debt Crisis (ESDC), and the COVID-19 pandemic. Econometric tests suggest strong evidence of coupling in the bulk of Islamic equity indices. A handful of emerging market indices constitute exceptions. Qualitatively similar results emerge from time–frequency analysis via wavelet tools, revealing pervasive coupling in both returns and volatility series. The linkages are scale-dependent in only a few pairs. In contrast, Sukuk indices are uncoupled from their global fixed income counterparts and relevant risky debt portfolios. In sum, the risk-return characteristics of Islamic equities (especially in developed economies) remain coupled to major global benchmarks and therefore are unlikely to appeal as safe haven candidates. The converse applies to Sukuk, which promises potential portfolio diversification benefits and safe haven status in ‘normal’ and crisis periods.
EFFECT OF SALINITY AND HUMIC ACID TREATMENTS ON GROWTH AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF Jatropha curcas

This investigation was carried out at Antoniades Research Branch, Horticulture Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Alexandria, Egypt during 2012 and 2013 seasons. The study was a trial to investigate the effect of different levels of salinity (0, 3000, 6000 and 9000 ppm) and different concentrations of humic acid sprayed on the leaves (0, 500, 1000 and 1500 ppm) and their combinations on the vegetative growth and some chemical constituents of Jatropha curcas plants grown in plastic pots 30 cm filled with sandy soil. The results revealed that the irrigation salinity level was more effective than humic acid concentrations on all the studied characteristics of Jatropha curcas plant. Additionally, using tap water (control) combined with humic acid at 1000 ppm gave the highest significant values of plant height, stem diameter, stem dry weight, leaf number, leaf dry weight, leaf area, root length, root dry weight, chlorophyll, proline and carbohydrate contents of the leaves. Generally, the results obtained recommend irrigating the cultivated plants in the sandy soil three times per week using irrigation water with salinity level not more than 6000 ppm combined with humic acid at the rate of 1000 ppm gave good improvements in the vegetative growth and some chemical constituents of Jatropha curcas plants grown in sandy soil.
A Simple Analytical Fuselage-Induced Velocity Model for Comprehensive Rotor Codes

A simple analytical model to account for fuselage-induced velocities at rotor blade elements and at rotor wake nodes is described. The method is applied to three different fuselages. Results obtained with a comprehensive rotor code show the fuselage effect on rotor trim controls, comparing the isolated rotor with inclusion of the fuselage for the same trim. This is compared to a simple analytical estimate of the fuselage effect using blade element/momentum theory. It is found that in forward flight the lateral control is mainly affected by fuselage effects. Rotor thrust can be increased or reduced by the presence of the fuselage, depending on its angle of attack, and the fuselage influence generally increases with flight speed.
ISPH Numerical Modeling of Nonlinear Wave Run-up on Steep Slopes

Non-breaking tsunami waves run-up on steep slopes can cause severe damages to coastal structures. The estimation of the wave run-up rate caused by tsunami waves are important to understand the performance and safety issues of the breakwater in practice. In this paper, an Incompressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method (ISPH) method was utilized for the 2DV numerical modeling of nonlinear wave run-up on steep slopes. SPH is a meshless method based on particles, which is capable of high accurate modeling of free surface flows with large deformations. In developed model, mass and momentum conservation equations were solved in a Lagrangian form using a two-step fractional method. In the first step, Navier-Stokes equations were solved to compute velocity components by omitting pressure term and in the absence of incompressible condition. In the second step, the continuity constraint was satisfied and the resulting Poisson equation was solved to calculate pressure terms. Velocity values were then corrected and surface positions were computed. In the present model, a new technique was applied to allocate density to the particles for the calculations. By employing this technique, ISPH model was stablized. The developed ISPH model was first validated by the solitary wave propagation on the constant water depth and the corresponding results showed good agreement with analytical results. The convergence of the method and the sensitivity of relevant model parameters were discussed. Then, validated model was used to study the run-up of solitary waves on steep slopes by considering a coastal
Full Ka-band right-angle transition from substrate integrated waveguide to air-filled rectangular waveguide

A full Ka-band right-angle transition from a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) to an air-filled rectangular waveguide is proposed. A two-step ridged waveguide and the SIW with an etched slot are jointly designed to obtain a better electric field and impedance matching between the SIW and the air-filled rectangular waveguide. To verify the method, a back-to-back transition prototype at Ka-band is designed, fabricated and measured. The measured results show that the insertion loss of a single transition is <;0.55 dB over the entire Ka-band from 26.5 to 40 GHz. Moreover, the 15 dB fractional bandwidth is increased from 25.7 to 40.9% compared with conventional right-angle SIW-to-waveguide transition. This broadband transition can be a good candidate for broadband millimetre-wave applications.