Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Drops forming in inkjet printing of flexible electronic circuits

Purpose This paper aims to study drop formation in piezoelectric industrial printheads during the inkjet printing processes. It presents how the piezoelectric printhead forms drops of nanoparticle ink and how the problems with different values of drop parameters may influence the printed pattern’ defects and quality. Design/methodology/approach A piezoelectric printhead with 128 nozzles was activated to operate in a controlled manner, and the droplets ejected from the nozzles were observed during falling and analysed in the printview system. The effect of varying the values of drop parameters on print quality and pattern defects has been analysed and discussed. Findings The obtained results allow the identification of the sources of the technological problems in obtaining repeatable performance drops with the desired properties, and indicate the importance of choosing the appropriate individually chosen strategy of controlling the printing for each individual application to get good-quality and free-from-defects patterns. Research limitations/implications Because of the chosen research method (arbitrary selected printhead type and ink manufacturer), this study could have limited universality. Authors encourage the study of other kinds of piezoelectric heads or other conductive inks. Practical implications This study includes practically useful applications for users to improve the inkjet print quality. Originality/value This study presents results of original empirical research works on problems of the drops forming in the inkjet printing process, and finally, it identifies problems that must be resolved to disseminate this technology.
Use of a Novel Detection Tool to Survey Orthohantaviruses in Wild-Caught Rodent Populations

Orthohantaviruses are negative-stranded RNA viruses with trisegmented genomes that can cause severe disease in humans and are carried by several host reservoirs throughout the world. Old World orthohantaviruses are primarily located throughout Europe and Asia, causing hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, and New World orthohantaviruses are found in North, Central, and South America, causing hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS). In the United States, Sin Nombre orthohantavirus (SNV) is the primary cause of HCPS with a fatality rate of ~36%. The primary SNV host reservoir is thought to be the North American deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus. However, it has been shown that other species of Peromyscus can carry different orthohantaviruses. Few studies have systemically surveyed which orthohantaviruses may exist in wild-caught rodents or monitored spillover events into additional rodent reservoirs. A method for the rapid detection of orthohantaviruses is needed to screen large collections of rodent samples. Here, we report a pan-orthohantavirus, two-step reverse-transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) tool designed to detect both Old and New World pathogenic orthohantavirus sequences of the S segment of the genome and validated them using plasmids and authentic viruses. We then performed a screening of wild-caught rodents and identified orthohantaviruses in lung tissue, and we confirmed the findings by Sanger sequencing. Furthermore, we identified new rodent reservoirs that have not been previously reported as orthohantavirus carriers. This novel tool can be used for the efficient and rapid detection of various orthohantaviruses, while uncovering potential new orthohantaviruses and host reservoirs that may otherwise go undetected.
Road markings: important aspects related to retroreflec vity performance and the use of 3-D prin ng for dosage

Recebido: 15 dezembro de 2020 Aceito para publicação: 28 de junho de 2021 Publicado: 24 de março de 2022 Editor de área: Jorge Barbosa Soares ABSTRACT Road markings are con7nuously present on the path taken by users, making it essen7al that they present adequate retroreflec7vity. In this context, the present paper sought to evaluate factors related to the retroreflec7vity of road markings, using field evalua7ons. In addi7on, the study used three-dimensional printed plates to iden7fy the effect of macrotexture on retroreflec7vity. The results indicate that the geometry of the retroreflectometer (15 and 30 m), the color of the markings (white and yellow) and the periodic cleaning of the markings significantly affect retroreflec7vity. Furthermore, the study aimed to find a correla7on between the marking’s retroreflec7vity performance and its microtopography (surface micro and macro textures). Pearson's correla7on coefficients indicated a moderate associa7on between the microtopography parameters and retroreflec7vity. For macrotexture, the results from the 3D prin7ng plates showed a significant rela7onship between macrotexture and retroreflec7vity, with higher values of retroreflec7vity for smaller mean texture depth. Results also indicated that the ideal applica7on rate of drop-on glass beads is inconstant and varies depending on the macrotexture.
Effects of Sub-Aerial Weathering on Hydrocarbon Distributions in Oil Sands (Athabasca Oil Sand, Canada and Parana Basin, Brazil)

Sub-aerial weathering plays a significant role in the reduction of low molecular weight hydrocarbons in surface exposed oils. In order to investigate the detailed effects of sub-aerial weathering as opposed to sub-surface biodegradation, a suite of ten (10) oil sand samples were solvent extracted and analyzed in the laboratory using liquid column chromatography separation, gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The gas chromatograms showed total loss of n-alkanes and isoprenoids while the ion mass chromatograms showed alternation in steranes, little loss of hopanes and no pronounced loss of higher molecular weight of triaromatic steroids; thus, they were at between levels 5-8 on the Peters and Moldowan (PM) scale of biodegradation. GC-MS analysis was performed to analyze biological markers. Among the biological markers, the most important and noticeable effects were a decrease in the 20S/20R diastereomer ratio of the C29 steranes. There were also evident effects on the overall distributions and abundance of pentacyclic terpanes thus, leading to alteration of biomarker parameters which could result in erroneous interpretation of source depositional environments, source correlation and maturity.
Activity Recognition for Healthcare Based on Slow Intelligence Systems

Activity recognition has many potential applications, ranging from healthcare, security monitoring to human-computer interaction. The deployment of sensors is required either in the human body or in an environment where the subject lives to identify activities. However, due to the fact that sensors are subjected to a variety of errors and the nature of human activities are dynamic and uncertainties, it is a challenging task to develop an accurate activity recognition system merely with sensor readings. In this study, we present a novel approach to activity recognition with scene information captured from a wearable camera. The scene information is obtained by analyzing image inputs using speed-up robust features. With the scene information, some unlikely activities can be ruled out to help identify the performed activity. Our experiments showed that the recognition accuracy can be increased from various test scenarios.
Microsoft Word-83039602-file00.docx

Several studies have shown that renal failure decreases cytochrome P450 (CYP)3A activity and that uremic toxins may play a role via transcriptional or translational modifications of CYP enzymes and direct inhibition of CYP-mediated metabolism. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between CYP3A activity using plasma concentration of 4β-hydroxycholesterol as a biomarker and clinical characteristics including plasma concentrations of indoxyl sulfate (3-INDS) and indole-3-acetic acid (3-IAA) in stable kidney transplant recipients. Forty-five Japanese kidney transplant recipients who underwent transplantation more than 90 days prior to the study were included. Morning blood samples were collected and plasma concentrations of 4β-hydroxycholesterol, 3-INDS and 3-IAA were measured. Plasma concentrations of 4β-hydroxycholesterol were 57.1 ± 11.2, 42.1 ± 11.8 and 34.5 ± 7.3 ng/mL in recipients with CYP3A5*1/*1 (n = 5), *1/*3 (n = 15) and *3/*3 (n = 25) genotypes, respectively, with significant differences between three genotypes. A significant correlation was observed between plasma concentrations of 4β-hydroxycholesterol and 3-INDS but not 3-IAA. Multiple regression analysis identified the number of CYP3A5*3 allele in genotype, plasma concentration of 3-INDS and body weight as independent variables associated with plasma concentration of 4β-hydroxycholesterol. In conclusion, these results suggest that CYP3A5 polymorphism and plasma concentration of 3-INDS may account for the inter-individual variability of CYP3A activity, and that plasma concentration of 3-INDS may partially explain the gap in CYP3A activity that cannot be explained by genetic contribution in patients with renal MOL #54171 This article has not been copyedited and formatted. The final version may differ from this version. DMD Fast Forward. Published on October 17, 2013 as DOI: 10.1124/dmd.113. 054171 at A PE T Jornals on M arch 7, 2022 dm d.aspurnals. org D ow nladed from
Binding of C4b-binding protein: A molecular mechanism of serum resistance of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

We screened 29 strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and found 16/21 strains that resisted killing by normal human serum and 0/8 serum sensitive strains that bound the complement regulator, C4b-binding protein (C4bp). Microbial surface–bound C4bp demonstrated cofactor activity. We constructed gonococcal strains with hybrid porin (Por) molecules derived from each of the major serogroups (Por1A and Por1B) of N. gonorrhoeae , and showed that the loop 1 of Por1A is required for C4bp binding. Por1B loops 5 and 7 of serum-resistant gonococci together formed a negatively charged C4bp-binding domain. C4bp–Por1B interactions were ionic in nature (inhibited by high salt or by heparin), whereas the C4bp–Por1A bond was hydrophobic. Only recombinant C4bp mutant molecules containing the NH 2 -terminal a -chain short consensus repeat (SCR1) bound to both Por1A and Por1B gonococci, suggesting that SCR1 contained Por binding sites. C4bp a -chain monomers did not bind gonococci, indicating that the polymeric form of C4bp was required for binding. Using fAb fragments against C4bp SCR1, C4bp binding to Por1A and Por1B strains was inhibited in a complement-dependent serum bactericidal assay. This resulted in complete killing of these otherwise fully serum resistant strains in only 10% normal serum, underscoring the importance of C4bp in mediating gonococcal serum resistance. serum and cell and alka-line (Sigma-Aldrich).
Investigating the Impact of Connected and Automated Vehicles on Signalized and Unsignalized Intersections Safety in Mixed Traffic

Road traffic crashes are a major safety problem, with one of the leading factors in crashes being human error. Automated and connected vehicles (CAVs) that are equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are expected to reduce human error. In this paper, the Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) traffic simulator is used to investigate how CAVs impact road safety. In order to define the longitudinal behavior of Human Drive Vehicles (HDVs) and CAVs, car-following models, including the Krauss, the Intelligent Driver Model (IDM), and Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) car-following models were used to simulate CAVs. Surrogate safety measures were utilized to analyze CAVs’ safety impact using time-to-collision. Two case studies were evaluated: a signalized grid network that included nine intersections, and a second network consisting of an unsignalized intersection. The results demonstrate that CAVs could potentially reduce the number of conflicts based on each of the car following model simulations and the two case studies. A secondary finding of the research identified additional safety benefits of vehicles equipped with collision avoidance control, through the reduction in rear-end conflicts observed for the CACC car-following model.
The free energy of compressed lattice knots

A compressed knotted ring polymer in a confining cavity is modelled by a knotted lattice polygon confined in a cube in ${\mathbb Z}^3$. The GAS algorithm [17] is used to sample lattice polygons of fixed knot type in a confining cube and to estimate the free energy of confined lattice knots. Lattice polygons of knot types the unknot, the trefoil knot, and the figure eight knot, are sampled and the free energies are estimated as functions of the concentration of monomers in the confining cube. The data show that the free energy is a function of knot type at low concentrations, and (mean-field) Flory-Huggins theory [12,15] is used to model the free energy as a function of monomer concentration. The Flory interaction parameter of knotted lattice polygons in ${\mathbb Z}^3$ is also estimated.
The Effect of Antibiotics on the Infant Gut Fungal Microbiota

Antibiotics are commonly used drugs in infants, causing disruptions in the developing gut microbiota with possible detrimental long-term effects such as chronic inflammatory diseases. The focus has been on bacteria, but research shows that fungi might have an important role as well. There are only a few studies on the infant gut fungal microbiota, the mycobiota, in relation to antibiotic treatment. Here, the aim was to investigate the impact of antibiotics on the infant gut mycobiota, and the interkingdom associations between bacteria and fungi. We had 37 antibiotic-naïve patients suffering from respiratory syncytial virus, of which 21 received one to four courses of antibiotics due to complications, and 16 remained antibiotic-naïve throughout the study. Fecal samples were collected before, during and after antibiotic treatment with a follow-up period of up to 9.5 months. The gut mycobiota was studied by Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the ITS1 region. We found that antibiotic use affected the gut mycobiota, most prominently seen as a higher relative abundance of Candida (p < 0.001), and a higher fungal diversity (p = 0.005–0.04) and richness (p = 0.03) in the antibiotic-treated infants compared to the antibiotic-naïve ones at multiple timepoints. This indicates that the gut mycobiota could contribute to the long-term consequences of antibiotic treatments.
Observation of topological transition in high-T$_{c}$ superconductor FeTe$_{1-x}$Se$_{x}$/SrTiO$_{3}$(001) monolayers

Superconductors with topological surface or edge states have been intensively explored for the prospect of realizing Majorana bound states, which obey non-Abelian statistics and are crucial for topological quantum computation. The traditional routes for making topological insulator/superconductor and semiconductor/superconductor heterostructures suffer fabrication difficulties and can only work at low temperature. Here, we use angleresolved photoemission spectroscopy to directly observe the evolution of a topological transition of band structure nearby the Fermi level in two-dimensional high-Tc superconductor FeTe1-xSex/SrTiO3(001) monolayers, fully consistent with our theoretical calculations. Furthermore, evidence of edge states is revealed by scanning tunneling
Strathprints Institutional Repository

The coalgebraic approach to modal logic provides a uniform framework that captures the semantics of a large class of structurally diﬀerent modal logics, including e.g. graded and probabilistic modal logics and coalition logic. In this paper, we introduce the coalgebraic µ -calculus, an extension of the general (coalgebraic) framework with ﬁxpoint operators. Our main results are completeness of the associated tableau calculus and Exptime decidability for guarded formulas. Technically, this is achieved by reducing satisﬁability to the existence of non-wellfounded tableaux, which is in turn equivalent to the existence of winning strategies in parity games. Our results are parametric in the underlying class of models and yield, as concrete applications, previously unknown complexity bounds for the probabilistic µ -calculus and for an extension of coalition logic with ﬁxpoints.
DYNAMIC INTRUSION DETECTION TECHNIQUE FOR DYNAMIC MOBILE AD HOC NETWORK

In this paper, we present the architecture and operation of a dynamic agent-based intrusion detection technique in Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET). The proposed technique has cooperative agents’ architecture. Traditional intrusion detection techniques have trouble dealing with dynamic environments such as collecting real-time attack related audit data and cooperative global detection. The proposed detection technique comprises a set of static and mobile agents. Autonomous agents can perform speci(cid:12)c intrusion detection tasks which are used to collect data, detect intrusions, distribute aggregated intrusion information to all other mobile nodes in MANET in an intelligent way, and collaborate with other agents
A Systematic Approach to Generate 3D Path Loss Heat Maps for WIFI Indoor Positioning

: To estimate the location of an object in an indoor environment, many indoor positioning techniques have been developed in recent decades. The popularity of indoor positioning systems has increased nowadays to enable the implementation of indoor location-based services. WIFI-based ﬁngerprinting is one the most promising techniques to estimate the user or robot’s location in an indoor environment. Fingerprinting-based indoor positioning systems require the laborious task of environmental surveys to generate the ﬁngerprinting database. This calibration process of a ﬁngerprinting database causes the adaptability problem due to the high cost of the survey of the WIFI environment. Researchers have proposed different techniques to minimize the survey cost by means of the automatic generation of a ﬁngerprinting database and its calibration. Most of these techniques only generate 2D path loss heat maps, while ignoring the height information of transmitting and receiving devices. In this paper, a systematic approach is presented to generate 3D path loss heat maps in which height information is also incorporated in the generation of more realistic 3D heat maps. The results show that the proposed technique for 3D environment generation outperformed the existing techniques, and the root mean square error (RMSE) is 2.17. Moreover, the proposed technique generated 3D heat maps effortlessly and its accuracy is almost equivalent to the real maps.
Automated PCB Inspection System

– Development of an automated PCB inspection system as per the need of industry is a challenging task. In this paper a case study is presented, to exhibit, a proposed system for an immigration process of a manual PCB inspection system to an automated PCB inspection system, with a minimal intervention on the existing production flow, for a leading automotive manufacturing company . A detailed design of the system, based on computer vision followed by testing and analysis was proposed, in order to aid the manufacturer in the process of automation.
Laboratory experiments on the stability of concrete cubes: a comparison of testing methodologies

An important step in the design process of breakwaters is the laboratorial tests which show the performance of the breakwater. One of the important aspects in the performance is the stability of the armour layer. A common methodology for breakwater testing is a method in which the design wave conditions are simulated in four steps of 1000 or more waves. These steps start at 60% of the design conditions and every step the severity is increased. This test methodology is already applied for many years, but never has it been verified. Also in this methodology damage the evolution of a storm is not taken into account. In this MSc thesis research laboratory tests are conducted with a rubble mound breakwater structure with an armour layer of randomly placed cubes. A storm that was measured at the coast of Spain has been chosen to use and test on the breakwater structure. With a theoretical model a theoretical storm was calculated which based on literature should induce the same damage evolution as the measured storm, this theoretical storm is also tested on the breakwater structure. And the explained methodology is conducted on the same breakwater structure. The target of the tests was to judge the performance of the methodology, to indicate if the theoretical model produces correct theoretical storms and if based on the theoretical storm and the characteristics of a storm at which damage happens, recommendations can be given to improve/replace the methodology. The storms showed that mainly damage happened around the peak of the storm and in the build-up, but the tail of the storm (when the wave height is only decreasing) is of no importance for the damage development. An interesting aspect is that the build-up of a storm seems to be very important for the stability. The testing methodology performed really well, but the duration of the 100% step is an important consideration since a longer duration will cause more damage. Also was found that the safety factors that are used in the design of cubic armoured breakwaters are quite conservative. Finally the damage evolution due to the theoretical storm was not comparable compared to the damage evolution due to the simulated real storm, both in final damage as in the incremental damage. This led to the conclusion that the theoretical model describe by the literature was not a correct model to produce a theoretical storm for this chosen storm. As a general conclusion it can be said that the methodology that is already used for many years is performing well, but improvement is possible by considering durations of storms which at the moment is not done in the design process.
Geometric Camera Calibration Using 3D Spherical Target

For close range Photogrammetry or vision based 3D metrology systems, camera calibration has emerged as an important research topic in Photogrammetry and Machine Vision communities, since the quality of performance delivered by such systems primarily depends on the accuracy of calibration parameters. In 2000, Heikkila proposed a method of geometric camera calibration which is very popular and widely used. In this paper, a novel approach was adopted towards the implementation of Heikkila's method with an expectation to achieve greater accuracy than the traditional ways of implementing it. The outcomes of this endeavor suggest that the method itself does not give the desired repeatability. At this stage of the investigation, it would be premature to draw a quick conclusion, but this work certainly warrants taking a closer look at Heikkila's method.
Design and simulation of a control continuum for tetherless underwater vehicles

xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS USED . xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . xv CHAPTER
Incorporating research in professional bachelor programmes

This conceptual paper describes the role of research in bachelor programs at Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) . It presents a model for the integration of research activities into student assignments. The model makes it possible to distinguish between different levels of research. The model can be helpful in designing research education for professional bachelor students and developing practice-based assignments to assess research competences.