Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating the impacts of accelerated incident clearance tools and strategies by harnessing the power of microscopic traffic simulation

Traffic incidents cause Americans delay, waste fuel, cause injuries, and create toxic emissions. Transportation professionals have implemented a variety of tools to manage these impacts and researchers have studied their effectiveness, illustrating a wide range between different tools and locations. To improve this state of knowledge, this dissertation sought to 1) identify prominent and effective incident management strategies, 2) model six selected incident management strategies within five highway corridors in South Carolina, and 3) apply benefitcost analysis to evaluate the impact of various combinations of these strategies. To meet these objectives, the author evaluated published literature of the selected strategies, administered a nationwide survey of these strategies, conducted traffic simulation, and performed benefit-cost analysis. The literature review guided the author to fill gaps in knowledge regarding the effectiveness and expense of identified strategies. The nationwide survey identified effective incident management tools, the extent of their adoption, and their common problems. The author then applied PARAMICS traffic simulation software to evaluate the impact of six tools at five sites on metropolitan interstates throughout South Carolina. Finally, benefit-cost analysis was used to evaluate the benefits against costs at each study site. The survey provided many insights into both the effectiveness and collaboration within and among traffic incident management agencies and guided the author in selecting tools for evaluation. While the simulation study found that as the severity and duration of incident increases, so does the potential benefit of incident management tools, the frequency of incidents also produces significant impact on annual benefits. The benefit-cost analysis indicated that while all the incident management tools evaluated provided more benefits than costs, freeway service patrols and traffic cameras produced the highest return for incidents of varying severity. It was also found more advantageous to select one expensive but efficient incident management technology, rather than engage in the incremental deployment of various systems that might provide redundant benefits. Departments of transportation across the United States see the need to manage incidents more efficiently, consequently this dissertation developed data and analysis to compare benefits with costs to aid decision makers in selecting tools and strategies for future incident management endeavors.
Low plasticity burnishing improves fretting fatigue resistance in bone-anchored implants for amputation prostheses.

Fretting fatigue is a common problem for modular orthopedic implants which may lead to mechanical failure of the implant or inflammatory tissue responses due to excessive release of wear debris. Compressive residual stresses at the contacting surfaces may alleviate the problem. Here we investigate the potential of a surface enhancement method known as low plasticity burnishing (LPB) to increase the fretting fatigue resistance of bone-anchored implants for skeletal attachment of limb prostheses. Rotation bending fatigue tests performed on LPB treated and untreated test specimens demonstrate that the LPB treatment leads to statistically significantly increased resistance to fretting fatigue (LPB treated test specimens withstood on average 108,780 load cycles as compared with 37,845 load cycles for untreated test specimens, p = 0.004). LPB treated test specimens exhibited less wear at the modular interface as compared with untreated test specimens. This surface treatment may lead to reduced risk of fretting induced component failure and a reduced need for revision of implant system componentry.
Knowledge Translation of Scholarly Publishing Impacts on Public Health

BACKGROUND: Although scholarly publishing plays a key role in learning, the role of knowledge translation of scholarly publishing with education and income on public health has not been well established. The objective was to describe how knowledge translation of scholarly publishing impacts on public health. METHODS: The correlations between the input data and the target data were firstly calculated. After the input data that is not correlated to the target have been removed, the principal component analysis will be performed to avoid multicollinearity problems in the input data. Finally, the multivariate regression method is used to fit the relationship between the principal components and the target data. Thus both dimensionality reduction and personalized optimization oriented a target can be done.RESULTS: After the public health in China is measured by Life expectancy and Death rate, the Pearson correlation coefficient, principal component analysis, and linear regression method have been performed. It proved that some activities of knowledge translation of scholarly publishing with a focus on health and well-being have the highest correlations with the first principal component. Results are also presented on that the first and the second principal component explain 99.3% of the variation (p<0.01) in Life expectancy and 92.8 % of the variation (p<0.01) in Death rate, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Scholarly publishing, education, income, health expenditure, nurses, and midwives appear to have a similarly important effect on public health.
Dendrobium nobile Lindl. alkaloids decreases the level of intracellular β‐amyloid by improving impaired autolysosomal proteolysis in APP/PS1 mice

As the major degradation pathway for long‐lived proteins and organelles, macroautophagy is a decisive factor for the survival and longevity of cells. The existing evidence indicates that the disruption of substrate proteolysis in autolysosomes is the main mechanism underlying autophagy failure in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thus, the restoration of normal lysosomal proteolysis and autophagy efficiency is a novel therapeutic strategy in the treatment of AD. In this study, 9‐month‐old APPswe/PS1ΔE9 transgenic (APP/PS1) mice were administered Dendrobium nobile Lindl. alkaloids (DNLA, 40 and 80 mg/kg) or Metformin (80 mg/kg), and age‐matched wild‐type mice were administered an isovolumic vehicle orally once a day for 4 months. The results demonstrated that DNLA significantly improved learning and memory in APP/PS1 transgenic mice in the Morris water maze. Furthermore, DNLA could increase the expression of the v‐ATPase A1 subunit to facilitate lysosomal acidification, prompt the dissociation of the cation independent‐mannose‐phosphate receptor from cathepsin (cat) D, promote the proteolytic maturation of cat D, increase the degradation of accumulated autophagic vacuoles (AVs) and β‐amyloid (Aβ) contained in the AVs, and alleviate neuronal and synaptic injury. These findings demonstrate that DNLA improves learning and memory function in APP/PS1 mice, and the mechanisms appear to be due to the promotion of intracellular Aβ degradation by increasing the protein level of v‐ATPase A1 and then improving autolysosomal acidification and proteolysis.
THRUST GENERATION OF A FIN ATTACHED TO A SHIP IN WAVES

This is a study of the thrust generation of a fin attached to a ship in waves. A high aspect ratio fin which is held by a spring system is placed horizontally in front of the bow. It can generate considerable thrust due to its vertical motion and wave orbital velocities. The increase in resistance in waves can be reduced, since a fin has the effect of reducing ship motion. Ship and fin motion, the resistance increase of the hull, and thrust generation by a fin are calculated. Important relationships between thrust generation and some factors such as fin location are clarified.
Social inequality and the risk of being in a nursing home during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUNDAll available evidence suggests that the number of deaths linked to COVID-19 among those living in nursing homes is extremely high. Yet, it remains unknown to what extent there are socio-economic differences among nursing home residents, which can lead, in turn, to social inequality in mortality linked to COVID.OBJECTIVEWe investigate whether there are educational differences in the likelihood of living in a nursing home across 13 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.METHODSWe use SHARE data (waves 5-7). We compute logistic regression models for rare events.RESULTSWe find that there are sizeable differences in the probability of being in a nursing home, with low-educated individuals more likely to live in this kind of arrangement. This general pattern holds in all the European countries considered. There is considerable uncertainty in our estimates due to small Ns problems and firm conclusions on how the effect of education varies across countries cannot be drawn. Still, there is some indication that the largest educational differences are found in the Scandinavian countries and the smaller ones, even close to zero, in Southern European Countries, with countries in Continental Europe and Eastern Europe laying in between. CONTRIBUTIONTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that provides country specific evidence of educational differences in the probability of being in a nursing home in recent years. In this way, we also provide indirect evidence on social inequality in mortality linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Candidate genes for productivity identified by genome-wide association study with indicators of class in the Russian meat merino sheep breed

Genome-wide association studies allow identification of loci and polymorphisms associated with the formation of relevant phenotypes. When conducting a full genome analysis of sheep, particularly promising is the study of individuals with outstanding productivity indicators – exhibition animals, representatives of the super-elite class. The aim of this study was to identify new candidate genes for economically valuable traits based on the search for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with belonging to different evaluation classes in rams of the Russian meat merino breed. Animal genotyping was performed using Ovine Infinium HD BeadChip 600K DNA, association search was performed using PLINK v. 1.07 software. Highly reliable associations were found between animals belonging to different evaluation classes and the frequency of occurrence of individual SNPs on chromosomes 2, 6, 10, 13, and 20. Most of the substitutions with high association reliability are concentrated on chromosome 10 in the region 10: 30859297–31873769. To search for candidate genes, 15 polymorphisms with the highest association reliability were selected (–log10(р) > 9). Determining the location of the analyzed SNPs relative to the latest annotation Oar_rambouillet_v1. 0 allowed to identify 11 candidate genes presumably associated with the formation of a complex of phenotypic traits of animals in the exhibition group: RXFP2, ALOX5AP, MEDAG, OPN5, PRDM5, PTPRT, TRNAS-GGA, EEF1A1, FRY, ZBTB21-like, and B3GLCT-like. The listed genes encode proteins involved in the control of the cell cycle and DNA replication, regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis, lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, the development of the inflammatory process and the work of circadian rhythms. Thus, the candidate genes under consideration can influence the formation of exterior features and productive qualities of sheep. However, further research is needed to confirm the influence of genes and determine the exact mechanisms for implementing this influence on the phenotype.
A Simple Approach to Air-Gap Armature Reaction Field Computation in Fractional-Slot SPM Multiphase Machines

Fractional-slot concentrated-coil electric machines are often used in those applications where a number of rotor poles close to the number of stator slots is required. A major criticality of such machines is the occurrence of large air-gap field harmonics due to winding distribution and to slotting effects. Predicting such harmonics analytically with adequate accuracy is a good way to significantly speed-up subsequent investigations, concerning the rotor effects of the field harmonics in terms of rotor losses. This paper proposes different analytical formulations for this purpose, covering the case of a generic number of stator phases and differing by how slotting effects are taken into account. The various approaches proposed are evaluated by comparing analytical results with finite-element analysis computations on a sample machine geometries.
Bacterial transport in variably saturated porous media.

A new method, utilizing radiolabeled eH-leucine) cells and l-cm columns packed with 40-llm borosilicate glass beads was used to estimate bacterial collision efficiency by directly measuring the retention of cells in porous media. At a fractional retention of 0.051 (n=3), the coefficient of variation was 0.037, permitting meaningful estimation of collision efficiencies as low as 3xlO-5• Collision efficiency was a function of the ionic strength and species identity; a increased from 1.6x 1 0-3 to l.4x 1 0-2 for A. paradoxus in 10-5 and 10-3 M NaCI solutions, respectively, and from 8.9xlO-3 to 6.2xlO-2 for P. fluorescens in the same solutions. Results were not sensitive to test parameters such as velocity, volume filtered and rinse volume. The new procedure provides a convenient, reliable, accurate method for estimating low-end biocolloid collision efficiencies in porous media. In the range a<O.O 1, the method is economical, significantly faster, and much more reliable than other procedures based on measurement of colloid attenuation in porous media. Its application may accelerate efforts to establish functional relationships between biocolloid collision efficiency and governing physical-chemical variables. Key words-bacteria, biocolloid, porous media, transport, filtration, radiolabel, collision
Investigation into the use of smartphone as a machine vision device for engineering metrology and flaw detection, with focus on drilling

This study investigates the use of a Smartphone and its camera vision capabilities in Engineering metrology and flaw detection, with a view to develop a low cost alternative to Machine vision systems which are out of range for small scale manufacturers. A Smartphone has to provide a similar level of accuracy as Machine Vision devices like Smart cameras. The objective set out was to develop an App on an Android Smartphone, incorporating advanced Computer vision algorithms written in java code. The App could then be used for recording measurements of Twist Drill bits and hole geometry, and analysing the results for accuracy. A detailed literature review was carried out for in-depth study of Machine vision systems and their capabilities, including a comparison between the HTC One X Android Smartphone and the Teledyne Dalsa BOA Smart camera. A review of the existing metrology Apps in the market was also undertaken. In addition, the drilling operation was evaluated to establish key measurement parameters of a twist Drill bit, especially flank wear and diameter. The methodology covers software development of the Android App, including the use of image processing algorithms like Gaussian Blur, Sobel and Canny available from OpenCV software library, as well as designing and developing the experimental set-up for carrying out the measurements. The results obtained from the experimental set-up were analysed for geometry of Twist Drill bits and holes, including diametrical measurements and flaw detection. The results show that Smartphones like the HTC One X have the processing power and the camera capability to carry out metrological tasks, although dimensional accuracy achievable from the Smartphone App is below the level provided by Machine vision devices like Smart cameras. A Smartphone with mechanical attachments, capable of image processing and having a reasonable level of accuracy in dimensional measurement, has the potential to become a handy low-cost Machine vision system for small scale manufacturers, especially in field metrology and flaw detection.
Digital Microfluidic Lab-on-a-Chip Platform for the Culture and Analysis of Three-Dimensional Multicellular Spheroids

Cell spheroids are compact, multicellular aggregates grown in vitro that mimic the three-dimensional morphology of in vivo tissues, thereby providing a more physiologically relevant tissue and disease model than cells cultured in two-dimensional monolayers. Despite the advantages of cell spheroids, their use in routine biomedical research has been limited, in part by the lack of automated, user-friendly, and flexible techniques for cell spheroid culture and analysis. Digital (droplet) microfluidics (DmF) enables the manipulation of discrete drops of liquid through the controlled application of electric fields. Because it allows automated and flexible liquid handling, DmF has the potential to address many of the shortcomings associated with current cell spheroid culture techniques. This dissertation describes the design, fabrication, and operation of a DmF platform that enables the culture and analysis of three-dimensional, multicellular spheroids.To enable spheroid culture on a DmF device, a novel device architecture was developed that incorporates through-holes, or `wells', in the bottom plate of the device that allow for the formation of hanging drops of controlled volume and composition. With the ability to create and address hanging drops in situ , protocols for automated cell spheroid culture were developed. Using DmF liquid handling, spheroids can be initiated and maintained on the device for at least 96 hours, exhibiting good viability (>90%) and size uniformity (~8% CV intra-experiment, ~16% CV inter-experiment). Automated spheroid-based drug screening and migration assays were also performed, demonstrating the ability to create and assay spheroids with higher-order tissue properties as well as stimulate relevant physiological processes. An optimized DmF peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) sample preparation technique that could be useful for the in situ preparation and analysis of spheroid protein secretions was also developed. The platform described here advances the field of digital microfluidics by introducing a novel functionality, hanging drop formation, which enables the culture of large, three-dimensional micro-tissues on a DmF device. Improvements to the handling of biological solutions on a digital microfluidic device are also presented. This DmF platform also represents an advance in the field of tissue engineering by providing a novel means of automating the culture and analysis of individually addressable cell spheroids. A DmF platform that facilitates the culture and analysis of cell spheroids can potentially lower the barriers to adoption for the use of cell spheroids in routine biomedical research. Ultimately, broader use of spheroids in cell-based assays and screens has the potential to improve pre-clinical drug development efficiency and provide more physiologically relevant insights into our basic understanding of tissues and diseases.
Radiation from curved (conical) frequency selective surfaces

The thesis deals with the analysis of a microwave Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) on a conical dielectric radome illuminated by a feed hom located at the base. Two approaches have been adopted to solve this problem. The first approach is to calculate the element currents under the assumption that the surface is locally flat. Consequently, the element current at that locality can be determined by employing Floquet modal analysis. The local incidence has been modelled from the radiation pattern of the source or the aperture fields of the feed. Three types of feed model were used to account for the field illumination on the radome. The transmitted fields from the curved surface are obtained from the sum of the radiated fields due to the equivalent magnetic and electric current sources distributed in each local unit cell of the conical surface. This method treats the interaction of neighbouring FSS elements only. In the second approach the curvature is taken into account by dividing the each element into segments which conform to the curved surface. An integral formulation is used to take into account the interaction of all the elements. The current source in each FSS element from the formulation is solved using the method of moments (MOM) technique. A linear system of simultaneous equations is obtained from the MOM and has been solved using elimination method and an iterative method which employs conjugate gradients. The performance of both methods has been compared with regard to the speed of computations and the memory storage capability. New formulations using quasi static approximations have been derived to account for thin dielectric backing in the curved aperture FSS analysis. Computer models have been developed to predict the radiation performance of the curved(conical) FSS. Experiments were performed in an anechoic chamber where the FSS cone was mounted on a jig resting on a turntable. The measuring setup contained a sweep oscillator that supplied power to a transmitting feed placed at the base of the cone. Amplitude and phase values of the far field radiation pattern of the cone were measured with the aid of a vector network analyser. Cones with different dimensions and FSS element geometries were constructed and the measured transmission losses and radiation patterns compared with predictions.
Experimental investigation on self-similar heat sinks for liquid cooled electronics

The high heat transfer coefficients in microchannels are attractive for direct cooling of electronic systems requiring high heat-flux removal. In this work we are presenting the results of a study on self-similar heat sinks for liquid cooled electronics, made from copper, designed for industrial application and for large scale production. The internal structures, where the most part of the active cooling takes place, have been designed in order to achieve high heat transfer coefficients. As it is almost impossible to validate the design and describe the flow characteristics inside the device via analytical solutions, a well known numerical code was employed to have an insight of the thermal-fluid distributions. It is clear from the simulation that even if copper is characterized by a high thermal conductivity, most of the heat is removed in the overflow-structure, on the side of the device adjacent to the source of heat. This paper attempts to critically analyse a comprehensive list of data as well as plots in order to illustrate the significant characteristics of this type of device.
Assessment of the accuracy of 3D models obtained with DSLR camera and Kinect v2

3D modeling of objects such as statues, moldings or ornaments, answers to a need of documentation and analysis in the field of cultural heritage. Several sensors based on different technologies are used to obtain information on the geometry of an object in form of point clouds: laser scanners, digital cameras or more recently RGB-D cameras. Among them, the recent Kinect v2 sensor looks promising and therefore its use has been studied in this paper. The aim of this paper is to compare two methodologies for 3D models acquisition: photogrammetry-based models and models obtained using a RGB-D camera. Since the quality of the meshed models is obviously correlated to the quality of the point cloud, the result will be more or less faithful to reality. To quantify this reliability, several comparisons to a reference model have been carried out. Regarding the results of the comparisons, we will be able to conclude about the strengths and weaknesses of photogrammetry and RGB-D cameras for 3D modeling of complex objects.