Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polyester Microplastic Fibers affect Soil Physical Properties and Erosion as a Function of Soil Type

Abstract. Microplastic is recognized as a factor of global change affecting many environmental compartments. Agricultural soils are likely hotspots of microplastic contamination in terrestrial ecosystems and are of particular concern due to their role in food production. Microplastic has already been shown to be able to affect soil properties, but its effect on different soil types is poorly understood. Moreover, no information is available on how the presence of this pollutant can affect soil water erosion processes, which are extremely important issues in many environments. In the light of this, we performed two experiments (a microcosm and a mesocosm study) to investigate how the presence of polyester microplastic fibers affects soil physical and hydrological parameters and processes such as aggregate formation and soil erosion in three different agricultural soil types. Our data show that the effects of polyester microplastic on soil physical parameters (including soil aggregation and erosion) are strongly dependent on soil type. We found that microplastic contamination can decrease the formation of new aggregates but at the same time increase their stability in water, with effects on soil erosion stronger as the intrinsic erodibility of soil increases. Overall, our results highlight the importance of broadly exploring soil properties such as texture, mineralogy, and organic carbon content to better understand how the various soil types respond to microplastic contamination.
Nonlinear dynamic load models with recovery for voltage stability studies

Motivated by projects in Sweden on voltage stability analysis and associated load modeling, a simple dynamic load model is proposed which captures the usual nonlinear steady-state behavior plus load recovery and overshoot. The parameters of the model can be related to physical devices depending on the time zone following a disturbance. A simple but important dynamic voltage stability analysis is developed based on the model. >
Changes of FGF23 and the Renin-Angiotensin-System in Male Mouse Models of Chronic Kidney Disease and Cardiac Hypertrophy

Abstract Serum fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) levels and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) are elevated in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, and their association with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) has been reported. However, whether the FGF23 elevation is the cause or result of LVH remains unclear. At 10 weeks, male C57BL/6J mice were divided into 4 groups: sham, CKD (5/6 nephrectomy), LVH (transaortic constriction), and CKD/LVH group. At 16 weeks, the mice were euthanized, and blood and urine, cardiac expressions of FGF23 and RAAS-related factors, and cardiac histological analyses were performed. Heart weight, serum FGF23 levels, and cardiac expression of FGF23 and RAAS-related factors, except for angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, were more increased in the CKD/LVH group compared to the other groups. A significant correlation between LVH and cardiac expressions of FGF23 and RAAS-related factors was observed. Furthermore, there was a significantly close correlation of the cardiac expression of FGF23 with LVH and RAAS-related factors. The coexisting CKD and LVH increased serum and cardiac FGF23 and RAAS-related factors, and there was a significant correlation between them. A close correlation of cardiac, but not serum FGF23, with LVH and RAAS suggests that local FGF23 levels may be associated with LVH and RAAS activation.
Work design and patient safety

This paper describes the linkages between work design and patient safety. The focus is on nursing work; however, many of the concepts and methods are equally applicable to other healthcare professions. Work design relies on a large body of knowledge, including ergonomics, job stress and job/organizational design. First, a general framework of work design and patient safety is proposed. The proposed framework assumes that when designing or redesigning work one needs to examine different elements of a work system, i.e. the individual, the tasks, tools and technologies, the physical environment and organizational conditions. The second part of the report discusses the work design process, i.e. what it consists of, the ‘toolbox’ of tools and methods used to evaluate the work system and design and implement solutions, and principles for successful work (re)design projects. Finally, a number of recommendations to healthcare decision makers are proposed. §An extended version of this paper was written for the US Institute of Medicine Committee on the Work Environment for Nurses and Patient Safety (Carayon et al . 2003b). It was used by the Institute of Medicine for its report on Keeping Patients Safe – Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses (Institute of Medicine 2004).
SAFETY CLIMATE IN CONSTRUCTION SITE ENVIRONMENTS

This paper discusses empirical research aimed at examining the relationship between the safety climate and safe work behavior in construction site environments. A literature review has identified a number of independent constructs with the potential to affect the safety climate. A research model was developed based on the hypothesis that safe work behaviors are consequences of the existing safety climate, which, in turn, is determined by the identified independent constructs. A questionnaire survey was used in order to facilitate the collection of information from construction sites. The model was tested using structural equation modeling. The paper presents the results of testing the research model. The results corroborate the importance of the role of management commitment, communication, workers’ involvement, attitudes, competence, as well as supportive and supervisory environments, in achieving a positive safety climate.
Urban weather data to estimate reference evapotranspiration for rural irrigation management

AbstractWeather data measured in urban areas are generally more easily available than those in rural areas. If the urban weather data are used to calculate the reference crop evapotranspiration (ET0) for rural irrigation management or spatial and temporal trend analysis, the results may be biased because of the differences in weather variables. We collected daily data for mean, maximum, and minimum temperatures; relative humidity; average wind speed; and sunshine duration from two stations: Kaifeng Station in the City of Kaifeng and Huibei Station in the nearby irrigation scheme for 1984–2009. ET0 for both stations were calculated using the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith method and then compared. The results indicated that the difference in daily ET0 was remarkable [with relative error (RE) of 52.6%], the difference between monthly average ET0 increased gradually during the last three decades and the temporal trends in annual average daily ET0 were opposite. There were significant differences in ETC (with RE of 3.
Pharmacoethics and pregnancy: Overcoming the therapeutic orphan stigma

There is paucity of evidence to support clinical decision making and counselling related to medication use in pregnancy. Despite multiple efforts from legislative bodies and advocacy groups, the inclusion of pregnant women in clinical drug trials assessing efficacy and safety remains scarce. Pregnancy can be complicated by multiple comorbidities that require pharmacological intervention; these interventions primarily target the pregnant woman but also sometimes have secondary effects for the foetus. The US Food and Drug Administration has issued multiple guidance documents on incorporating pregnant women in clinical trials to aid pharmaceutical companies in designing a protocol to ensure safety and adherence to ethical standards. Advances in paediatric pharmacology studies provide lessons for researchers on the best practice of designing clinical trials with inclusion of patients from special populations. In this review, we present the status of pregnant women in clinical trials, highlighting the ethical stigma and possible future directives.
SMART MATERIALITY IN ARCHITECTURAL ASSEMBLIES

Digital Materiality paradigme enhances the architecture products fabrication for construction. It develops the communication between Materials, data, design, construction, structure and fabrication. The integration of advanced digital computationnel Tools into architecture materialization results in enhanced performance systems. The produced system from this paradigm reduce waste, reduce energy consumption and increase the sustainability of construction aspect which all coincides with sustainable development goals SDGs. Digital materiality led to production of complex 3D configurations and deployable structures by exploiting the material dimension. Smart material systems evolves from the programming of the material properties. Smart materials are programmable materials with engineered performances. The research aims to identify the materialization process of the paradigm in recent architecture projects, as well as identifying and classifying material programming methods. This paper presents an up to date review on Digital Materiality and material programming applications. The research classifies material programming into bending active and interactive stimuli active architecture methods. A digital architecture materialization production framework is deduced which utilizes the material dimensions of the system.
Determination of Turbine Blade Life from Engine Field Data

It is probable that no two engine companies determine the life of their engines or their components in the same way or apply the same experience and safety factors to their designs. Knowing the failure mode that is most likely to occur minimizes the amount of uncertainty and simplifies failure and life analysis. Available data regarding failure mode for aircraft engine blades, while favoring low-cycle, thermal mechanical fatigue as the controlling mode of failure, are not definitive. Sixteen high-pressure turbine (HPT) T-1 blade sets were removed from commercial aircraft engines that had been commercially flown by a single airline and inspected for damage. Each set contained 82 blades. The damage was cataloged into three categories related to their mode of failure: (1) Thermal-mechanical fatigue, (2) Oxidation/Erosion, and (3) "Other. " From these field data, the turbine blade life was determined as well as the lives related to individual blade failure modes using Johnson-Weibull analysis. A simplified formula for calculating turbine blade life and reliability was formulated. The L(sub 10) blade life was calculated to be 2427 cycles (11 077 hr). The resulting blade life attributed to oxidation/erosion equaled that attributed to thermal-mechanical fatigue. The category that contributed most to blade failure was Other. If there were there no blade failures attributed to oxidation/erosion and thermal-mechanical fatigue, the overall blade L(sub 10) life would increase approximately 11 to 17 percent.
Wildfire catalyzes upward range expansion of trembling aspen in southern Rocky Mountain beetle‐killed forests

Climate warming is expected to drive upward and poleward shifts at the leading edge of tree species ranges. Disturbance has the potential to accelerate these shifts by altering biotic and abiotic conditions, though this potential is likely to vary by disturbance type. In this study, we assessed whether recent wildfires and spruce beetle outbreaks promoted upward range expansion of trembling aspen.
Glutamate as a Stressoric Factor for the Ex Vivo Release of Catecholamines from the Rabbit Medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC)

One of the major roles of glutamic acid (Glu) is to serve as an excitatory neurotransmitter within the central nervous system (CNS). This amino acid influences the activity of several brain areas, including the thalamus, brainstem, spinal cord, basal ganglia, and pons. Catecholamines (CAs) are synthesized in the brain and adrenal medulla and by some sympathetic nerve fibers. CAs, including dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE), and epinephrine (E), are the principal neurotransmitters that mediate a variety of CNS functions, such as motor control, cognition, emotion, memory processing, pain, stress, and endocrine modulation. This study aims to investigate the effects of the application of various Glu concentrates (5, 50, and 200 µM) on CAs release from rabbit medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) slices and compare any resulting correlations with CAs released from the hypothalamus during 90 min of incubation. Medial prefrontal cortex samples were dissected from decapitated, twelve-week-old female rabbits. The results demonstrated that Glu differentially influences the direct release of CAs from the mPFC and the indirect release of CAs from the hypothalamus. When under stress, the hypothalamus, a central brain structure of the HPA axis, induces and adapts such processes. Generally, there was an inhibitory effect of Glu on CAs release from mPFC slices. Our findings show that the effect arises from Glu’s action on higher-order motivational structures, which may indicate its contribution to the stress response by modulating the amount of CAs released.
Nursing staff’s experiences of how weighted blankets influence resident’s in nursing homes expressions of health

ABSTRACT Purpose The most common treatment for resident’s health problems is pharmacological. Little research has been done on how an intervention with a non-pharmacological method, such as a weighted blanket, Through the nursing staff view, we can learn how weighted blankets influence resident’s health in nursing homes. The aim of this study was to explore nursing staff’s experiences of how an intervention with weighted blankets influenced resident’s expressions of health. Methods The study had a descriptive qualitative design with semi-structured interviews with 20 nursing staff working in nursing homes, and an inductive content analysis was applied. Results The nursing staff expressed that the weighted blanket positively influenced resident’s health in the areas of sleep, physical activity, and psychological behaviour. The weighted blanket made them fall asleep faster, sleep was uninterrupted andthey felt more rested in the morning. The nursing staff observed an increased level of activity as the resident became more energetic . The nursing staff also experienced reduced negative psychological behaviours like anxiety and worrying. Conclusion This study indicated that the weighted blanket changed the health expression of resident in several crucial areas. Deep pressure treatment indicates an alternative health-improved treatment for resident in nursing homes.
A decoder for a 30-m height resolution ST radar

A new hardware decoder-coherent integrator, which will allow a 30 m height resolution with a UHF radar, is described. By using quasi-complementary codes, the decoding is performed in real time before the coherent integration. This device consists of 20 identical PC boards, as many as the number of subpulses in the transmitted pulse, and is able to process simultaneously 20 gates; 40 additions or substractions and memory accesses are performed in 200 ns. This decoder-coherent integrator is very modular and simple in its design, with its 20 identical boards which enhance the overall reliability of the system.
Blade Control for Surface Profile Tracking by Heavy-Duty Bulldozers

The bulldozer is a heavy-duty earthmoving machine used in ground surface profiling and soil manipulation. Tracking the desired surface gradients with the hydraulically actuated manipulator while compensating for the mobile base motion is important in high-performance surface grading and traction control. In this paper, we present an approach for surface elevation tracking control for earthmoving work done by bulldozers using inertial measurement units (IMUs) and roof mounted global navigation satellite system (GNSS) antennas. We use mapping between the desired surface profile and hydraulic actuator velocities using the elevation surface and its gradient, the mobile manipulator Jacobian, and mobile base pose estimation by the extended Kalman filter (EKF) framework. With the proposed method, a relatively simple low-level actuator space control scheme can produce sufficient accuracy in varying elevation requirements besides leveling work. In an experimental setup, flat and uneven surface profiles were followed with average errors below 2 cm computed using kinematics. An external GNSS survey gave a coarse verification of the actual surface profile, showing average errors below 4 cm. This paper demonstrates a blade controller on a heavy-duty tracked vehicle with high manipulator inertia, hydraulic dynamics, and body vibrations. The experimental results validate the efficacy of the proposed method, also revealing the needs for further development.
Interference exposure System for unauthorized User in Wide Network

Wide network play a crucial role in the lives of pe ople at work, home, and public places. Because of the widespread implementation of wide network, providers deploy Wide Local Area Network (WLANs) to provide broadband access to the Internet. The rapid growth rate of public wide LANs is making the Inter net available to people at areas where people tend to congregate. Users within range of a public wide LAN hotspot, such as an airport or hotel, can access e-mail and brows e the Internet either free or mostly for a fee when it is not offered freely. However, as the number of users soars, so does the risk of possible unauthorized. Unauthorized user can sub stantially increase his share of the bandwidth, at the expense of other paid users, by s lightly modifying the driver of the network adapter. As the uses of such networks grow, users will demand secure yet efficient, low-latency communications. Interference exposure is one of the key techniques behind protecting a network against intruders. Many Interference Exposure Systems (IESs) have been designed for wired networks. Most of these IES systems did not produce the expected results when applied to wide n etworks.
A FDTD algorithm for the analysis of short optical pulse second harmonic generation in dispersive media

A time‐domain nonlinear model representing the propagation of ultra‐short optical pulses in dispersive materials containing second order nonlinearity is presented. The model accounts for material dispersion through Lorentz model in addition to the spatiotemporal coupling between the pulsed fundamental and second harmonic beams. Numerical results for the generated second harmonic pulse clearly demonstrate the pulse break‐up phenomenon. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 1097–1100, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24213
A Novel Attitude Measurement While Drilling System Based on Single-Axis Fiber Optic Gyroscope

Aiming at the inability to achieve high-precision real-time magnetic heading angle estimation under single degree of freedom rotation, a novel attitude measurement while drilling (MWD) system is designed, which consists of a single-axis fiber optic gyroscope (FOG), a tri-axial micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometer, and a tri-axial magnetometer. The magnetometer bias calibration model based on uniform rotation is established and verification experiments are carried out. The uniform rotation experiment shows that six calibration results fluctuate within 5% of the mean. A real-time estimation model of the magnetic heading angle under random rotation is established, of which the theoretical error is less than 0.38°. Three real-time estimation experiments of magnetic heading angle are carried out, and the overall estimation error did not exceed 0.35°, and the average estimation error did not exceed 0.3°. Under continuous rotation of large angle, the bias estimation of the $X$ -axis and $Y$ -axis magnetometers can be achieved. The results show that the estimated value of the bias of the magnetometer under dynamic conditions can provide a reference for the initial magnetic heading angle measurement under static conditions. The experimental results prove the effectiveness of the proposed method, which provides a reference for the further improvement of the attitude MWD system.
Comments on "A Symmetrical Four-Port Microstrip Coupler for Crossover Application

In the paper of Chen and Yeo (2007), the authors demonstrate a four-port coupler for crossover application. In their eigenmode model analysis, the entire circuit is decomposed into tapers and two rings with four external arms. In formulation, the eigenadmittance of the inner substructure is taken account as the load of that of the outer one. A cascade of P short sections is then used to approximate the taper and incorporated into the model of the composite structure by successively applying the input admittance formula of a loaded transmission line. Finally, one prototype circuit solution obtained by an optimization process is demonstrated. In this paper, the transmission line theory is applied to the circuit analysis. It is found that the circuit structure is so versatile for the crossover application that infinite numbers of solutions can be simply obtained by solving two simultaneous equations. In addition, the tapers for input/output matching can be saved, leading not only to circuit area reduction, but also to formulation simplification. A microstrip coupler is fabricated and measured for confirmation.
Use of negative control outcomes to assess the comparability of patients initiating lipid‐lowering therapies

Clinical trials have demonstrated efficacy of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors (PCSK9i) in reducing risk of cardiovascular disease events, but effectiveness in routine clinical care has not been well‐studied. We used negative control outcomes to assess potential confounding in an observational study of PCSK9i versus ezetimibe or high‐intensity statin.
Making Sense of Cybersecurity in Emerging Technology Areas

Shortening technology development cycles in information and communication technology (ICT) make it imperative to anticipate the emergence and evolution of new computing technologies and ecosystems. A wide range of questions must be answered to ensure that new technology environments are viable, including the examination of usability, efficiency, usage models, security, and privacy. These contextual aspects of new technologies are essential for their adoption. They are also important to understanding the potential of new types of cybercrime and requirements for the development of mitigation techniques. However, we lack methodologies to model and predict the features of the evolving ICT ecosystems, and the requirements their evolution places on legal systems and regulatory frameworks. The absence of such models is a significant obstacle to creating consistent approaches necessary to forecast both the technology development and the trends in cybercrime. The chapter discusses which potential methodologies could be used for forecasting cybersecurity concerns in disruptive technology areas and trends in cybercrime in complex environments. It proposes that a unified approach should be developed for predicting cybersecurity effects of innovative technologies and trends in cybercrime. It first examines concepts associated with emerging technologies and their impact on cybersecurity. It then looks at approaches to modelling and analysis already developed in adjacent spaces, with a focus on knowledge representation and risk engineering, and analyses representative examples to illustrate the benefits these approaches can bring.