Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microwave characterization of a microstrip line using a two-port ring resonator with an improved lumped-element model

A two-port ring resonator is used to characterize the microwave properties of a microstrip line printed on Ferro A6-S low-temperature co-fired ceramic. The ring and its coupling gaps are simulated using a simple lumped-element model. The coupling gaps are modeled as capacitors, the values of which are extracted using a commercial two-and-one-half-dimensional electromagnetic simulator. The validity of the lumped-element model is assessed by comparing the simulated and experimental resonant frequencies and, for the first time, the simulated magnitudes of both the reflection and transmission coefficients are also compared with those obtained experimentally. A correction for the frequency pushing due to the capacitive loading of the coupling gaps is also presented. The resulting model is then shown to predict the resonant frequencies to within 0.11% from 5 to 40 GHz. The simulated and experimental reflection magnitudes are within 0.5 dB across the band, whereas the transmission magnitudes are within 3.5 dB up to 22 GHz. Experimental results indicate that the loss of the microstrip ranges from approximately 0.11 to 0.42 dB/cm across the band and that the relative permittivity of the substrate is nearly constant versus frequency with an average value of 6.17.
Exact solution of the low-frequency coplanar loops shielding configuration

An analytical formulation is presented for the evaluation of the shielding effectiveness of a planar shield in the low-frequency, low-impedance antenna configuration described by IEEE Std. 299. The magnetic field computed in various shield configurations by means of the proposed closed-form expressions is presented. The finite size of both the transmitting and the receiving antenna is taken into account accurately. Finally, the exact solutions is compared with that deriving from the use of the so-called transmission line (TL) approximation, in various conditions.
The Optimum Presentation of Cognitive Training during a Flight Training Program

Four groups of subjects (N = 8 in each group) were presented training, based on the cognitive aspects of a basic flight maneuver, at different times during the acquisition of the motor skills needed to perform that maneuver. Results indicate that the performance of the group that received extensive cognitive training prior to attempting the associated motor skills was significantly better (p<.05) than the groups that received the same cognitive training interspersed during the initial learning of the motor skills. This was true even when the interspersed training was preceded by extensive cognitive pretraining. Results also show that cognitive training interspersed with motor skill learning produced a deterioration in performance as the performance of the two groups receiving the training was below that of the control group which received no cognitive training whatsoever. Transfer of training to a similar maneuver indicated that the groups that were initially trained using extensive cognitive pretraining performed significantly better than the groups that received only interspersed cognitive training and the control group.
The Causal Impact of the Rapid Czech Interest Rate Hike on the Czech Exchange Rate Assessed by the Bayesian Structural Time Series Model

I have employed the Bayesian Structural Time Series model to assess the recent interest rate hike by the Czech Central Bank and its causal impact on the Koruna exchange rate. By forecasting exchange rate time series in the absence of the intervention we can subtract the observed values from the prediction and estimate the causal effect. The results show that the impact was little and time limited in one model specification and none in the second version. It implies that the Czech Central Bank possesses the ability to diverge significantly from the Eurozone benchmark interest rate at least in the short term. It also shows that the interest rate hike will not be able to curb global inflation forces on the domestic price level.
Screening and Characterization of Nitrite Degrading Lactobacillus plantarum in Chinese Traditional Pickles

A Gram-positive, non-spore, round ended, straight rod Lactic acid bacteria were screened. The strain was screened out from the traditional pickle jar in Yutang soy sauce garden of Jining. In order to degrade the nitrate content in the fermentation process of traditional pickles and improve the quality of pickles, it is necessary to screen out nitrite degrading strains from pickles, and preliminarily locate nitrite reductase, and find out the most suitable pH, temperature and culture time to degrade nitrite. Lactobacillus plantarum was screened by MRS medium in advance. After 48 hours of culture in a shaking table with Bacillus subtilis, the cell components were separated by centrifugation, wall breaking and other operations. After 20 hours at 30 ̊C, the content of nitrite in each component was determined by the naphthalene ethylenediamine hydrochloride method (NIR). The culture conditions were as follows: inoculation amount 3%, 6%, 9%, 12%, 15%; salinity 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%; temperature 15 ̊C, 20 ̊C, 25 ̊C, 30 ̊C, 35 ̊C for 20 h. The results showed that the best degradation effect of nitrite was obtained under the conditions of 9% inoculum, salinity 5% and 30 ̊C. Under the conditions of 9% inoculum, 5% salinity and 30 ̊C for 5 h, 10 h, 20 h, 48 h, 66 h and 78 h, the results showed that the degradation amount gradually increased with the extension of time, and gradually maintained a stable state. Lactobacillus plantarum JBA-3 is a new type of lactic acid bacteria which can degrade nitrite and produce nitrite reductase.
Testing asset pricing models on the Pakistan Stock Exchange

This study investigates the performance of CAPM, three-factor and five-factor asset pricing models on the Pakistan Stock Exchange using monthly data of 896 companies from November 2000 to December 2016. The results from the time-series approach show that the three-factor model performs relatively better than the CAPM and the five-factor model, whereas the cross-sectional approach establishes the superiority of the five-factor model. It can thus be concluded that it is important to incorporate factors, such as size, value, profitability and investment when predicting returns on securities in the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
Scribe: A Large-Scale and Decentralized

This paper presents Scribe, a scalable application- level multicast infrastructure. Scribe supports large numbers of groups, with a potentially large number of members per group. Scribe is built on top of Pastry, a generic peer-to-peer object lo- cation and routing substrate overlayed on the Internet, and lever- ages Pastry's reliability, self-organization, and locality properties. Pastry is used to create and manage groups and to build efficient multicast trees for the dissemination of messages to each group. Scribe provides best-effort reliability guarantees, and we outline how an application can extend Scribe to provide stronger relia- bility. Simulation results, based on a realistic network topology model, show that Scribe scales across a wide range of groups and group sizes. Also, it balances the load on the nodes while achieving acceptable delay and link stress when compared with Internet pro- tocol multicast.
Axial loading during supine MRI for improved assessment of lumbar spine: comparison with standing MRI

Background There are no studies comparing the morphologic changes of lumbar spines between supine axial-loaded and 90° standing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations of patients with spinal stenosis. Purpose To determine whether axial-loaded MRI using a compression device demonstrated similar morphology of intervertebral disc, dural sac, and spinal curvature as those detected by 90° standing MRI in individuals with suspected spinal stenosis. Material and Methods A total of 54 individuals suspected of having spinal stenosis underwent both axial-loaded and standing MRI studies. The outcome measures included seven radiologic parameters of the lumbar spine: measures of the intervertebral disc (i.e. cross-sectional area [DA], disc height [DH], and anteroposterior distance [DAP]), dural sac (cross-sectional area [DCSA]), spinal curvature (i.e. lumbar lordosis [LL] and L1-L3-L5 angle [LA]), and total lumbar spine height (LH). Results For agreement between the two methods, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) ≥ 0.8 was found for all seven radiologic parameters. Supine axial-loaded MRI underestimated LL but remained correlated (ICC = 0.83) with standing MRI. Minor differences between the two methods (≤5.0%) were observed in DA, DCSA, DAP, LA, and LH, while a major difference was observed in LL (8.1%). Conclusion Using a compression device with the conventional supine MRI to simulate weight-bearing on the lumbar spine generated MRI morphology, which was strongly correlated with those from a standing MRI.
Decline of Eastern Black Rails (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis) within the Chesapeake Bay Region, USA

Abstract. Eastern Black Rails (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis) were surveyed during 1990, 2007, 2014 within the Chesapeake Bay region in Maryland and Virginia, USA. A network of point count locations (n = 182) was established and surveyed within tidal salt marshes. Occupancy declined during the study period from 0.84 ± 0.13 (ψ ± SE) in 1990 to 0.06 ± 0.02 in 2014. The annualized rate of decline was estimated to be 6.5%. Extinction and colonization rates between 1990 and 2014 were 0.81 ± 0.09 and 0.04 ± 0.02 respectively. Abundance declined from 1.98±0.05 Black Rails/point in 1990 to 0.26 ± 0.02 in 2014 with a 3.2% annualized rate of decline. Recruitment was 1.32 ± 1.35 between 1990 and 2007 and 0.003 ± 0.05 between 2007 and 2014. Species detection was negatively influenced by advancing season and waxing moon phase while individual detection was most strongly influenced by survey year and advancing season. Anecdotal observations of range-wide strongholds within the Chesapeake Bay suggest that sites have experienced significant declines with birds being extirpated by 2016. Declines throughout the core breeding area and within individual strongholds in the Chesapeake Bay are consistent with Black Rail declines in tidal habitats throughout the broader Northeast region.
Gereon Müller (2020). Inflectional morphology in harmonic serialism. (Advances in Optimality Theory.) Sheffield & Bristol, CT: Equinox Publishing. Pp. x + 350.

In Inflectional morphology in harmonic serialism (IMHS), Gereon Müller provides proof of concept for a new theory of the morphology–phonology interface. IMHS proposes a lexicalist (presyntactic), realisational theory of morphology, built around the tenets of Harmonic Serialism (McCarthy 2008): the derivation begins with the root and proceeds through the affixes, whereby the optimal exponent is selected at each step. The monograph goes through a range of data in different languages, developing and refining the theory in order to account for increasingly complex empirical scenarios. The book holds together well. IMHS is a young theory, still finding its bearings in a world full of counterbleeding, multiple exponence and root suppletion. It would be harsh to expect it to provide thorough accounts of many different phenomena. The monograph takes the challenge head on, though, applying the serialist framework to case after case. What we get as a result is the first systematic overview of the theory, delivering more than it originally promised. This achievement makes it possible to dig into the architecture of IMHS, comparing it with other approaches in a way that a theory this novel would not usually facilitate. I devote the first half of this review to outlining IMHS itself (§2), before considering it on its own terms (§3) and highlighting points of contrast with other approaches (§4).
Tool for testing of phasor measurement units: PMU performance analyser

Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are one of the key sensor technologies for real-time wide area monitoring to realise the smart power grid vision. Before deploying the PMUs, it is important to test and validate performance of this sensor to ensure high reliability and accuracy under different operating scenarios of the power system. However, PMU testing needs to be made simpler, easier, automated and cost-effective to encourage the PMU vendors and utilities to get their PMUs tested. This has been the driving motivation for the development of a new procedure and tool for testing PMUs in this study. The results and findings of PMU testing and analysis using a newly developed software application named ‘PMU Performance Analyzer' (PPA) have been discussed in this study. PPA can work with a real-time digital simulator and a phasor data concentrator to make the PMU testing simple, easy, mostly automated, less time-consuming, highly accurate and cost-effective.
A Study on the Impact of Different Tumbler Inlet Conditions on the Clothes Dryer’s Tumbler Efficiency

Following the trend of energy saving and carbon reduction, many countries have been developing various energy-saving products to aggressively upgrade or replace electrical products with high energy consumption. Household clothes dryer has become an indispensable home appliance to family life. However, its energy efficiency is low. As tumbler inlet conditions and tumbler efficiency have great effects on clothes dryer performance, this study discuss the clothes drying effect and impact of different tumbler inlet conditions (including air temperature, humidity, and flow rate) on the tumbler efficiency and moisture removal rate (MER) values of the clothes tumbler dryer. The results can provide a reference for clothes dryer system design and performance.
Electrostatic parallelogram actuators

Surface micromachined actuators composed of polysilicon, parallelogram flexible supports are described. The parallelogram actuators transform both the direction and the magnitude of the attractive, electrostatic force developed between the drive electrodes. In a typical configuration, one vertex of the parallelogram is fixed, two opposing, suspended vertices are pulled by the attractive electrostatic force, and the fourth, suspended vertex moves towards the fixed vertex. Parallelogram actuators with beam lengths of 200 approximately 600 mu m and beam widths of 2 approximately 7 mu m were fabricated in 4- mu m-thick LPCVD (low-pressure chemical vapor deposited) polysilicon. Best device yields were obtained when a t-butyl alcohol freeze-dry rinse was used. A parallelogram actuator with 283- mu m-length and 2.5- mu m-width beams moved repeatably and showed 5- mu m displacement by an applied voltage of 19 V. <<ETX>>
Fabrication of micro-tube arrays in photopolymer SZ2080 by using three different methods of a direct laser polymerization technique

In this paper we demonstrate femtosecond laser fabrication of micro-tubes with a height of several tens of micrometers in the photopolymer SZ2080 by three different methods: direct laser writing, using the optical vortex beam and holographic lithography. The flexibility of direct laser writing and dramatic increase of production efficiency by applying the vortex-shaped beam and four-beam interference approaches are presented. Sample arrays of micro-tubes were successfully manufactured applying all three methods and the fabrication quality as well as efficiency of the methods is compared. The processing time of a single micro-tube with 60 µm height and 3 µm inner radius is reduced 400 times for the holographic lithography technique and 500 times for the optical vortex method compared with the direct laser writing technique. The processing time of a micro-tube array containing 400 micro-tubes is the shortest for the holographic lithography method but not for the optical vortex method as in the case of a single micro-tube, because the holographic lithography method does not require time for sample translation. Additionally, the holographic lithography enables manufacturing of the whole micro-tube array by a single exposure. Although point-by-point photo-structuring ensures unmatched complexity of manufactured microstructures, employing nowadays high repetition rate amplified femtosecond lasers combined with beam shaping or several beam interference can envisage industrial applications for practical demands.
WDM‐OFDMA‐PON uplink optical transmission using bandwidth enhanced injection‐locked FP‐LD

We propose a scalable support WDM‐based orthogonal frequency division multiple access‐passive optical network uplink transmission system using an injection‐locked Fabry–Perot laser diode (IL‐FP‐LD). This system uses an injection‐locking technique to enhance the usable bandwidth by making stable channel states. By properly controlling the IL‐FP‐LD operation, the number of optical network units (ONU) within a wavelength can be increased, which improves the optical bandwidth efficiency for the uplink transmission. The experimental results show an enhanced modulation bandwidth of 3.5 GHz. Compared with a conventional RSOA which has a modulation bandwidth of 1.5 GHz, our scheme improves the number of ONUs that can be accommodated within a wavelength more than two times. The total discrete multitone signal received from the ONUs, with QPSK mapping on the subcarriers was 6.77 Gbps over a 23‐km standard single mode fiber transmission. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:1727–1732, 2015
Mass customization of medical devices and implants: state of the art and future directions

The medical field is one in which the need for customization can be clear cut, as providing tailored devices and implants for unique physiologies can provide for a better overall treatment than the use of ‘off the shelf’ devices and implants. Customization in the production of medical products can be roughly divided into consideration of medical devices, and of implantable parts or systems. The present paper outlines the current state of the art in both of these areas, presents details of projects that are ongoing at the University of Leeds and outlines future research directions.
Nanostructured Materials and Architectures for Advanced Optoelectronic Synaptic Devices

Neuromorphic photonics system based on the principle of biological brain is emerging as one of the potential solutions to the bottleneck inherent in classical von Neumann computing system. Optoelectronic synaptic devices, used to mimic the visual function of bio‐synapse by adapting synaptic weights, can construct a highly efficient brain‐inspired computing system, in which the nanostructured materials and device architectures are attracting extensive interests, giving many potential benefits in confined light‐matter interaction, fast carrier dynamics, and photocarriers trapping. Moreover, the conjunction of traditional nanostructured photodetectors and newly realized electronic synapses also exhibit appealing performance for many practical applications including information processing and computing. This review focuses and summarizes on recent achievement in developing advanced optoelectronic synaptic devices based on nanostructured materials as 0D (quantum dots), 1D, and 2D materials, as well as, the rapidly evolving hybrid heterostructures. In addition, challenges and promising prospects in this research field are also discussed.
On the Use of the Sparse Property of the Cyclic Autocorrelation Function to Blindly Estimate the Cyclostationarity

Abstract Based on the sparse property of the Cyclic Autocorrelation Function (CAF) in the cyclic frequency domain, we propose in this paper a new blind estimator using compressed sensing, which better estimates the Cyclic Autocorrelation Function at a given delay compared to the classical non blind estimator when using the same number of samples. Two metrics are used to evaluate this estimation: the Mean Square Error of type one and that of type two (MSE1 andMSE2). The first metric compares the estimated Cyclic Autocorrelation Vector (CAV) which is a particular vector of the CAF for a fixed delayτ, with the theoretical reference vector obtained using the CAF. The second metric compares the value of the estimated cyclic frequency with the theoretical one. Simulation results show lower (MSE1 andMSE2 for the new proposed estimator compared to the classical one under the same conditions, from the simplest scenario to the more realistic one that uses a filter at the transmission side, a reception noise, and fading channel.
An Architecture and Application

The field of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) has led to many advances in both the study of cooperative work groups and the development of collaboration technologies. However, a number of key research issues remain. Two of these issues are (1) the seamless integration of support for asynchronous and synchronous cooperative work and (2) the ability for individual users to flexibly change or tailor their mode of collaboration while engaged in real time interaction. This paper describes a new approach to handling both these issues. The approach is called the Flexible Collaborative Support (FLECS) framework. It relies on the use of active database technology, an explicit organizational model, and flexible transaction management. This approach bridges the gap between CSCW and multi-user database systems. It does so by supporting awareness of other users’ presence in the information space as well as providing visualization of other users’ actions, thus fulfilling the most fundamental requirement of CSCW systems. At the same time, the FLECS framework capitalizes on the data security and consistency management methods which have formed the foundation of multi-user database systems. This paper also presents Citycollab and its evaluation by a community of users. Citycollab is a collaborative system, which supports the processing of Requests for Work in the context of civil infrastructure management. Citycollab represents an instantiation of the more general FLECS archi tecture/framew ork.
Androgen deprivation therapy, comorbidity, cancer stage and mortality from COVID-19 in men with prostate cancer

Abstract Background Androgens facilitate entrance of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 into respiratory epithelial cells, and male sex is associated with a higher risk of death from corona virus disease (COVID-19). Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) could possibly improve COVID-19 outcomes. Methods In a case–control study nested in the Prostate Cancer data Base Sweden (PCBaSe) RAPID 2019, we evaluated the association between ADT and COVID-19 as registered cause of death in men with prostate cancer. Each case was matched to 50 controls by region. We used conditional logistic regression to adjust for confounders and also evaluated potential impact of residual confounding. Results We identified 474 men who died from COVID-19 in March–December 2020. In crude analyses, ADT exposure was associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 death (odds ratio [OR] 5.05, 95% CI: 4.18–6.10); however, the OR was substantially attenuated after adjustment for age, comorbidity, prostate cancer characteristics at diagnosis, recent healthcare use, and indicators of advanced cancer (adjusted OR 1.25, 95% CI: 0.95–1.65). If adjustment has accounted for at least 85% of confounding, then the true effect could be no more than a 5% reduction of the odds for COVID-19 death. Conclusions The increased mortality from COVID-19 in men with prostate cancer treated with ADT was mainly related to high age, comorbidity, and more advanced prostate cancer. There was no evidence to support the hypothesis that ADT is associated with improved COVID-19 outcomes.