Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a two-stage Lau-Wan Wankel pump/mixer

A two-stage Wankel pump/mixer device has been designed and prototyped as part of a final-year undergraduate project. Based on the concept of the Wankel rotary engine, the device features a ‘two-apex’ rotor instead of the conventional ‘three-apex’ rotor. The novelty of the device addresses a unique axis of rotation for the rotor, driven by a crankshaft. In particular, in order for the motion of the rotor to exhibit a trajectory to consistency with an epitrochoid, the rotational motion is guided by the linear motion of a pin sliding along a groove within the rotor; this novel linear-to-rotational motion approach is known as the Lau-Wan design. The feasibility of the Lau-Wan design has been demonstrated in an earlier project. Here, the prototype comprises two Lau-Wan pump/mixers serially connected to form a two-stage system—the aim is to study the effectiveness of the mixing of fluids as the fluids flow from one stage to the other when both rotors are rotating ‘in phase’. A simple drive system was implemented by (a) coupling the two crankshafts using a timing belt and (b) coupling a low-speed motor to one of the two stages using a timing belt. Experiment was conducted to analyze the flow pattern of liquids in both stages using two types of liquid with different colors (and a slight variation in the viscosity). The flow pattern within the chamber of the first stage shows somewhat similar mixing patterns to those predicted by computational fluid models. We note that (1) the extent of drawing the fluid into the chamber, followed by compressing the fluid, depends on the rotor position, (2) laminar flow dominates the flow pattern during the suction and compressive actions of the rotor but micro-turbulence occurs in the regions adjacent to the rotor, (3) when the rotor rotates, the number of laminar layers somewhat increases with time. On the other hand, the second stage appears to be very efficient at drawing one of the two fluids; this may be attributed to the viscosity of the fluids. Within the limitations of the preliminary design, these characteristics suggest that the prototype exhibits a positive displacement pumping action, as well as mixing action.
The Effects of a Morphed Trailing-Edge Flap on the Aeroacoustic and Aerodynamic Performance of a 30P30N Aerofoil

This paper presents initial results on the aeroacoustic and aerodynamic effects of morphing the trailing-edge flap of the 30P30N aerofoil, over five flap deflections (5–25°), at an 8° angle of attack and a Reynolds number of Re=9.2×105. The Ffowcs-Williams–Hawkings acoustic analogy estimates the far-field noise, whilst the flow field is solved using URANS with the four-equation Transition SST model. Aerodynamic and aeroacoustic simulation data for the 30P30N’s full configuration compare well with experimental results. A Courant number (C) ≤ 1 should be used for resolving tonal noise, whilst a C of up to 4 is sufficient for broadband noise. Sound pressure level results show an average 11% reduction in broadband noise across all flap deflections and frequencies for the morphed configuration compared with the conventional, single-slotted flap. The morphed flap eliminates the multiple tonal peaks observed in the conventional design. Beyond 15° flap deflection, the morphing flap achieves higher stall angles, but with increased drag, leading to a maximum reduction of 17% in Cl/Cd ratio compared with the conventional flap. The methodology reported here for the 30P30N is a quick tool for initial estimates of the far-field noise and aerodynamic performance of a morphing flap at the design stage.
Optical gain and photostability of different laser dyes, quantum dots and quantum rods for liquid crystal micro lasers

Since the discovery of dye lasers, constant efforts are made towards developing optical gain materials with improved performance. Choosing an optical gain material for application in high-performance cholesteric liquid crystal micro-lasers requires a dedicated screening method. We employ Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE), and time-dependent fluorescence under pulsed excitation to study the optical gain parameter and photo-stability of laser dyes pyrromethene 567, pyrromethene 580, pyrromethene 597, pyrromethene 650, DCM, and Nile Red, dissolved in a nematic liquid crystal 5CB. Optical gain of CdSe/ZnS coreshell quantum dots dispersed in dodecene and CdSe/CdS coreshell quantum rods, dispersed in toluene was also measured and found to be much lower compared to the gain of fluorescent dyes. Pump energy and polarization dependence of ASE from dye molecules incorporated in the planar-aligned liquid crystal matrix is addressed. We determine the optical gain coefficient for different laser dyes by using the variable laser stripe illumination method using the small-signal gain model. The polarization dependence of ASE is determined in various geometries. We depict photostability from the half-life of emission intensity decay over a large number (106-107) of repeated laser pulses for fluorescent dyes, quantum rods and quantum dots. We find that quantum rods and quantum dots are much more stable compared to fluorescent dyes. Based on the photophysical characterization, we select pyrromethene 567 and pyrromethene 597 as efficient laser dyes for nematic liquid crystal micro-lasers.
Seed Germination Behavior, Growth, Physiology and Antioxidant Metabolism of Four Contrasting Cultivars under Combined Drought and Salinity in Soybean

Drought and salinity stresses are persistent threat to field crops and are frequently mentioned as major constraints on worldwide agricultural productivity. Moreover, their severity and frequency are predicted to rise in the near future. Therefore, in the present study we investigated the mechanisms underlying plant responses to drought (5, 10 and 15% polyethylene glycol, PEG-6000), salinity (50, 100, and 150 mM NaCl), and their combination, particularly at the seed germination stage, in terms of photosynthesis and antioxidant activity, in four soybean cultivars, viz., PI408105A (PI5A), PI567731 (PI31), PI567690 (PI90), and PI416937 (PI37). Results showed that seed germination was enhanced by 10% PEG and decreased by 15% PEG treatments compared to the control, while seed germination was drastically decreased under all levels of NaCl treatment. Furthermore, combined drought and salinity treatment reduced plant height and root length, shoot and root total weights, and relative water content compared with that of control. However, the reductions were not similar among the varieties, and definite growth retardations were observed in cultivar PI5A under drought and in PI37 under salinity. In addition, all treatments resulted in substantially reduced contents of chlorophyll pigment, anthocyanin, and chlorophyll fluorescence; and increased lipid peroxidation, electrolyte leakage, and non-photochemical quenching in all varieties of soybean as compared to the control plants. However, proline, amino acids, sugars, and secondary metabolites were increased with the drought and salinity stresses alone. Moreover, the reactive oxygen species accumulation was accompanied by improved enzymatic antioxidant activity, such as that of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase. However, the enhancement was most noticeable in PI31 and PI90 under both treatments. In conclusion, the cultivar PI31 has efficient drought and salinity stress tolerance mechanisms, as illustrated by its superior photosynthesis, osmolyte accumulation, antioxidative enzyme activity, and secondary metabolite regulation, compared to the other cultivars, when stressed.
Using genetic data to advance stream fish reintroduction science: a case study in brook trout

Widespread extirpation of native fish populations has led to a rise in species reintroduction efforts worldwide. Most efforts have relied on demographic data alone to guide project design and evaluate success. However, the genetic characteristics of many imperiled fish populations including low diversity, local adaptation, and hatchery introgression emphasize the importance of genetic data in the design and monitoring of reintroduction efforts. Focusing on a case study of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in North Carolina, we show how the combined use of genetic and demographic data can support reintroduction efforts by improving source population selection and providing opportunities to evaluate genetic viability and adaptive potential in restored populations. Using this combined approach, we reintroduced brook trout into a restored stream from two source populations and monitored changes in genetic diversity and population size in source and recipient populations. Three years after the initial translocation, the reintroduced population had comparable density, but higher genetic diversity, than either source population. This study demonstrates the utility of genetic and demographic data for reintroduction efforts, particularly when extant populations are genetically depauperate and maintaining adaptive potential is a primary restoration goal. However, we emphasize the value of continued monitoring at longer temporal and spatial scales to determine the effects of stochastic process on the long‐term adaptive capacity and persistence of reintroduced populations. Overall, inclusion of genetic data in reintroduction efforts offers increased ability to meet project goals while simultaneously conserving critical sources of adaptive variation that exist across the landscape.
BRAND REFERRAL BEHAVIOUR AMONG MILLENIALS’ CONSUMERS: THE CASE OF COSMETIC BRANDS

Millennials or Y generation are brand-conscious and recognised as an influential group in inducing others' purchase decision process. Millennials through their brand referral behaviour could be an effective mechanism for marketers in promoting their products and services in today’s digital era. Despite the importance of brand referral behaviour as a part of consumer’s post-purchase behaviour, little is known on how and what influence Millennials to engage in brand referral behaviour. Past studies in the context of customer-based brand equity systematically focus on brand loyalty, repeat purchase, commitment and engagement. Little is known on how consumers especially Millennials engage in brand referral behaviour in the context of cosmetics brands. This study employed a quantitative approach. A total of 335 students based on random sampling from one of management-based university in Malaysia revealed that brand knowledge significantly affect brand referral behaviour. Surprisingly, the present study indicates that brand personality and brand experience statistically not significant in explaining brand referral behaviour among Millennials’ consumer towards cosmetics brands. Implication and recommendation of the study is addressed at the end of the article.
The Application of Parallel Bi-fuzzy Controller in Friction Compensation

The paper proposes a principal and subordinate parallel bi-fuzzy controller used to compensate for the nonlinear friction.The principal controller is used to reach fast response and steady-state accuracy.Subordinate controller parallelled with principal one is used to reduce further system's tracking error.The control strategy proposed is simple and practice.It is really realized the purpose of multi-level reducing errors.Theory design and simulation comparison experiment in the DC motor velocity control system with the effect of nonlinear friction show the controller can reach excellent steady-state accuracy besides fast rise time and no overshoot.
Prehospital Translation of Chest Pain Tools (RESCUE Study): Completion Rate and Inter-rater Reliability

Introduction Chest pain is a common reason for ambulance transport. Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and pulmonary embolism (PE) risk assessments, such as history, electrocardiogram, age, risk factors (HEAR); Emergency Department Assessment of Chest Pain Score (EDACS); Pulmonary Embolism Rule-out Criteria (PERC); and revised Geneva score, are well validated for emergency department (ED) use but have not been translated to the prehospital setting. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the 1) prehospital completion rate and 2) inter-rater reliability of chest pain risk assessments. Methods We conducted a prospective observational cohort study in two emergency medical services (EMS) agencies (April 18, 2018 – January 2, 2019). Adults with acute, non-traumatic chest pain without ST-elevation myocardial infarction or unstable vital signs were accrued. Paramedics were trained to use the HEAR, EDACS, PERC, and revised Geneva score assessments. A subset of patients (a priori goal of N = 250) also had the four risk assessments completed by their treating clinicians in the ED, who were blinded to the EMS risk assessments. Outcomes were 1) risk assessments completion rate and 2) inter-rater reliability between EMS and ED assessments. An a priori goal for completion rate was set as >75%. We computed kappa with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for each risk assessment as a measure of inter-rater reliability. Acceptable agreement was defined a priori as kappa ≥ 0.60. Results During the study period, 837 patients with acute chest pain were accrued. The median age was 54 years, interquartile range 43–66, with 53% female and 51% Black. Completion rates for each risk assessment were above goal: the HEAR score was completed on 95.1% (796/837), EDACS on 92.0% (770/837), PERC on 89.4% (748/837), and revised Geneva score on 90.7% (759/837) of patients. We assessed agreement in a subgroup of 260 patients. The HEAR score had a kappa of 0.51 (95% CI, 0.41–0.61); EDACS was 0.60 (95% CI, 0.49–0.72); PERC was 0.71 (95% CI, 0.61–0.81); and revised Geneva score was 0.51 (95% CI, 0.39–0.62). Conclusion The completion rate of risk assessments for ACS and PE was high for prehospital field personnel. The PERC and EDACS both demonstrated acceptable agreement between paramedics and clinicians in the ED, although assessments with better agreement are likely needed.
Occult Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: An Underappreciated Disease

Background: The number of researches on occult non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is modest. Herein, we defined the clinicopathological features, prognosis and survival outcome of this underappreciated tumor, with purpose of obtaining a clearer picture on this disease. Methods: The entire cohort was categorized into two groups (occult NSCLC and other NSCLC) and further into five groups (occult, T1, T2, T3 and T4). A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) penalized Cox regression model was performed to identify the prognostic indicators. A nomogram and a risk-classifying system were formulated. Kaplan–Meier with Log-rank method was carried out to compare overall survival (OS) and cancer specific survival (CSS) differences between groups. Results: 59,046 eligible NSCLC cases (occult NSCLC: 1158 cases; other NSCLC: 57,888 cases) were included. Occult NSCLC accounted for 2.0% of the included cases. Multivariate analysis revealed that age, sex, tumor location, histology, grade and surgery were prognostic factors for OS. The corresponding prognostic nomogram classified occult NSCLC patients into low-risk and high-risk group, and its performance was acceptable. Survival curves demonstrated that occult NSCLC patients exhibited worse survivals than other NSCLC. In further analyses, the survival of low-risk occult NSCLC and stage T3 NSCLC were comparable, and the high-risk occult NSCLC patients still owned the worst survival rate. Conclusions: Occult NSCLC was an aggressive tumor with poor prognosis, and surgery was the preferred treatment. More attention should be paid to this overlooked disease due to no evidence of tumor imaging.
Improved MRI-based Pseudo-CT Synthesis via Segmentation Guided Attention Networks

In this paper, we propose 2D MRI-based pseudo-CT (pCT) generation approaches that are inspired by U-Net and generative adversarial networks (GANs) and that additionally utilize coarse bone segmentation guided attention (SGA) mechanisms for better image synthesis. We first introduce and formulate SGA and its extended version (E-SGA), then we embed them into our baseline U-Net and conditional Wasserstein GAN (cWGAN) architectures. Since manual bone annotations are expensive, we derive coarse bone segmentations from CT/pCT images via thresholding and utilize them during the training phase to guide image-to-image translation attention networks. For inference, no additional segmentations are required. The performance of the proposed methods regarding the image generation quality is evaluated on the publicly available RIRE data set. Since MR and CT image pairs in this data set are not correctly aligned with each other, we also briefly describe the applied image registration procedure. The results of our experiments are compared to baseline U-Net and conditional Wasserstein GAN implementations and demonstrate improvements for bone regions.
Beaming displays: towards displayless augmented reality near-eye displays

Augmented Reality (AR) near-eye displays promise new human-computer interactions that can positively impact people’s lives. However, the current generation of AR near-eye displays fails to provide ergonomic solutions that counter design trade-offs such as form factor, weight, computational requirements, and battery life. Unfortunately, these design trade-offs are significant obstacles on the path towards an all-day usable near-eye display. We argue that a new way of designing AR near-eye displays that remove active components from a near-eye display could be a key to solving trade-off related issues. We propose the beaming display,1 a new near-eye display system that uses a projector and an all passive wearable headset. In our proposal, we project images from a distance to a passive wearable near-eye display as we track the location of that near-eye display. This presentation will present the latest version of our prototype while we discuss the potential future directions for beaming displays
Network Utility Maximization for Information Frequency Adaptation in Vehicular Networks

The increment in traffic jams in vehicular environments has a vital influence on the wireless channel. This is due to broadcasting many application messages among communicated vehicles. This has generated a data wireless channel congestion problem. This problem influences the efficiency and performance of the network due to the large data collision, high messages loss, and low throughput which in turn decreases the awareness and safety in the vehicular environments. In this paper, a new efficient broadcast approach has been developed based on the network utility maximization method to adjust vehicle broadcasting rate and mitigate overhead on the wireless channel. The results from the simulation scenario have shown that the developed broadcast protocol enhances vehicular network performance by reducing channel congestion and improves network attributes such as delay, throughput, messages loss, and total channel occupation time as compared to other tested approaches.
IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF YEAST ISOLATES FROM MAPRANG (Bouea macrophylla Griffith) GROWING IN VIETNAM

Fifteen yeast strains isolated from maprang (Bouea macrophylla Griffith) were characterised using standard microbiological procedures. The species were identified belonging to three genera Saccharomyces, Hanseniaspora and Pichia and their abilities for wine production were tested by analysing the alcohol produced and remaining sugar. The best biochemically active strain was used along with commercial yeast (S. cerevisiae) to produce wine from maprang juice. Fermenting activity of isolated yeasts was higher than commercial yeast. The isolated yeast strain namely 3.5B and 5.5A showed the best fermenting activity such as fast fermentation by Durham test and highest alcohol percentage (11.5 and 11.83% v/v). Based on the 28S rRNA sequences, yeast strain 5.5A and 3.5B showed 99% similarity to S. cerevisiae (KP723678.1 and KF728774.1, respectively). Using isolated yeast strain 5.5A for wine fermentation at pH 4.0, total soluble solid content 24% and inoculated with yeast density of 107 cells/mL, the alcohol content produced was 14.5% v/v and the wine had favorable color and flavor. Our work constitutes a foundation for strain selection for future applications as starter cultures in fruit wine fermentations. This work is the first ever on yeast diversity from maprang which is the special fruit of Vinh Long province, Vietnam.
A multimodal semantic segmentation for airport runway delineation in panchromatic remote sensing images

Monitoring airport runways in panchromatic remote sensing images is helpful for both civil and strategic communities in effective utilization of the large-area acquisitions. This paper proposes a novel multimodal semantic segmentation approach for effective delineation of the runways in panchromatic remote sensing images. The proposed approach aims to learn complementary information from two modalities, namely, panchromatic image and digital elevation model (DEM) to obtain discriminative features of the runway. The fusion of image features and the corresponding terrain information is performed by stacking the image and DEM by leveraging the merits of both Transformers and U-Net architecture. We perform the experiments on Cartosat-1 panchromatic satellite images with the corresponding Cartosat-1 DEM scenes. The experimental results demonstrate a significant contribution of terrain information to the segmentation process in achieving the contours of airport runways effectively.
Coenzyme A Restriction as a Factor Underlying Pre-Eclampsia with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome as a Risk Factor

Pre-eclampsia is the most common pregnancy complication affecting 1 in 20 pregnancies, characterized by high blood pressure and signs of organ damage, most often to the liver and kidneys. Metabolic network analysis of published lipidomic data points to a shortage of Coenzyme A (CoA). Gene expression profile data reveal alterations to many areas of metabolism and, crucially, to conflicting cellular regulatory mechanisms arising from the overproduction of signalling lipids driven by CoA limitation. Adverse feedback loops appear, forming sphingosine-1-phosphate (a cause of hypertension, hypoxia and inflammation), cytotoxic isoketovaleric acid (inducing acidosis and organ damage) and a thrombogenic lysophosphatidyl serine. These also induce mitochondrial and oxidative stress, leading to untimely apoptosis, which is possibly the cause of CoA restriction. This work provides a molecular basis for the signs of pre-eclampsia, why polycystic ovary syndrome is a risk factor and what might be done to treat and reduce the risk of disease.
Microfiltration of Municipal Wastewater for Disinfection and Advanced Phosphorus Removal: Results from Trials with Different Small‐Scale Pilot Plants

The Berliner Wasserbetriebe have been conducting a research project on microfiltration of municipal wastewater for disinfection and advanced phosphorus removal since 1992. The goal of this project is to examine whether microfiltration (MF) is a technically feasible and economically competitive process for disinfection and advanced phosphorus removal for secondary effluent. Different smallscale MF systems under investigation performed well. Microfiltration is suitable for reaching low target concentrations of total coliforms (<100/100 mL) and total phosphorus (<50 m g/L). Significant virus removal was also noted, which was unexpected when the trials commenced. This report summarizes a survey of dead‐end MF systems using different membranes and modules. The competitive trial period, with the most suitable polymeric dead‐end MF unit used in parallel with a ceramic dead‐end MF unit showed no advantage over an inorganic membrane. Based on the MF data for operational costs presented and an estimation for capital costs, total costs were estimated to range between U. S. 27–0.54/m3 filtrate. A final evaluation as to which MF system is the most suitable for municipal wastewater treatment will be provided following the conclusion of current large‐scale trials.