Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimum Design of Tractor Clutch PTO Finger by Using Topology and Shape Optimization

Tractors are one of the most important agricultural machinery in the world. They provide agricultural activities in challenging conditions by using various agricultural machineries which are added on them. Therefore, there has been a rising demand for tractor use for agricultural activities. During the power transmission, tractor clutches are exposed to high static and cyclic loading directly. Thus, most of clutch parts fail before completing their design life which is under 106 cycles. Especially, because of the high stress, there are a number of fractures and breakages are observed around the pin area of the finger mechanisms. Due to these reasons, it is necessary to re-design these fingers by using modern optimization techniques and finite element analysis.This paper presents an approach for analysis and re-designs process of tractor clutch PTO finger. Firstly, the original designs of the PTO fingers are analyzed by using finite element analysis. Static structural analyses are applied on these fingers by using ANSYS static structural module. The boundary conditions are determined according to the data from the axial fatigue test bench. Afterwards, the stress-life based fatigue analyses are performed with respect to Goodman criterion. It is seem that the original design of the PTO finger, failed before the design life. Hence, the PTO finger is completely re-designed by using topology and shape optimization methods. Topology optimization is used to find the optimum material distribution of the PTO fingers. Topology optimization is performed in solidThinking Inspire software. The precise dimensions of the PTO fingers are determined by using shape optimization and response surface methodology. Two different design parameters, which are finger thickness and height, are selected for design of experiment and 15 various cases are analyzed. By using DOE method three different equations are obtained which are maximum stresses, mass, and displacement depending on the selected design parameters. These equations are used in the optimization as objective and constraint equations in MATLAB. The results indicate that the proposed models predict the responses adequately within the limits of the parameters being used. The final dimensions of the fingers are determined after shape optimization. The new designs of the PTO fingers are re-analyzed in terms of static and fatigue analysis. The new design of the PTO finger passed the analysis successfully. As a result of the study, the finger mass is increased 7% but it is quite small. Maximum Equivalent Von-Misses stress reduction of 25.3% is achieved. Fatigue durability of the PTO finger is improved 53.2%. The rigidity is improved up to 27.9% compared to the initial design. The optimal results show that the developed method can be used to design a durable, low manufacturing cost and lightweight clutch parts.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
A Techno-Economic Analysis of Energy Storage Components of Microgrids for Improving Energy Management Strategies

Microgrids are essential elements of the energy transition because they allow optimal use of renewable energy sources (photovoltaic panels, wind turbines) and storage devices (batteries, supercapacitors) by connecting them to consumption poles (e.g., buildings, charging stations of electric vehicles). Lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors are the main electrical storage devices usually used by microgrids for energy and power transient management. In the present paper, microgrid simulations have been performed. Electrothermal and aging models of storage components are presented. Strategies and scenarios for the batteries are presented either based on the state of charge limitation or hybrid association with supercapacitors. The contribution of this study is to provide a management strategy which considers the aging of storage systems in the real-time management of the microgrid in order to extend their life, while minimizing installation costs. The first approach for a techno-economic study provided in that study enables us to improve the strategies by optimizing the use of the battery. The results obtained in this paper demonstrate the key role of the techno-economic approach and knowledge of the aging processes of storage devices in improving the energy management and global feedback costs of microgrids. The simulation results show that battery life can be improved by 2.2 years. The improvement in battery life leads to a reduction in the total cost of the installation by reducing the cost of the batteries.
Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Employees of Three Hospitals of a Secondary Care Hospital Network in Germany and an Associated Fire Brigade: Results of a Repeated Cross-Sectional Surveillance Study Over 1 Year

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are playing a vital role in the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This study investigated how infection spreads within three local hospitals and an associated fire brigade in Germany by testing employees for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies over one year. The three observational periods corresponded to the initial three pandemic waves: first wave: June–September 2020, second wave: October 2020–January 2021, and third wave: February–June 2021. We analysed 3285 serum samples of 1842 employees, which represents 65.7% of all employees. Altogether, 13.2% employees were seropositive: 194/1411 HCWs (13.7%) and 49/431 non-HCWs (11.4%) with a clear increase of seroprevalence from the first (1.1%) to the second (13.2%) and third (29.3%) pandemic wave. HCWs presumably had an additional occupational risk for infection in the second and third wave due to an increase of infection pressure with more COVID-19 patients treated, showing possible weak points in the recommended infection prevention strategy.
PRIP: A Protein-RNA Interface Predictor Based on Semantics of Sequences

RNA–protein interactions play an indispensable role in many biological processes. Growing evidence has indicated that aberration of the RNA–protein interaction is associated with many serious human diseases. The precise and quick detection of RNA–protein interactions is crucial to finding new functions and to uncovering the mechanism of interactions. Although many methods have been presented to recognize RNA-binding sites, there is much room left for the improvement of predictive accuracy. We present a sequence semantics-based method (called PRIP) for predicting RNA-binding interfaces. The PRIP extracted semantic embedding by pre-training the Word2vec with the corpus. Extreme gradient boosting was employed to train a classifier. The PRIP obtained a SN of 0.73 over the five-fold cross validation and a SN of 0.67 over the independent test, outperforming the state-of-the-art methods. Compared with other methods, this PRIP learned the hidden relations between words in the context. The analysis of the semantics relationship implied that the semantics of some words were specific to RNA-binding interfaces. This method is helpful to explore the mechanism of RNA–protein interactions from a semantics point of view.
A CIRCULAR SECTOR WITH AN INVERTED L SHAPED MONOPOLE ANTENNA FOR TRI-BAND APPLICATIONS

In this paper, a quarter circular sector with an inverted L shaped monopole antenna for tri-band applications is proposed. The antenna is designed from a U shaped ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna. The number of higher-order modes, each with wide bandwidth, gets excited in a monopole, which electromagnetically couple to provide UWB. In the proposed tri-band antenna the electromagnetic coupling between higher-order modes is reduced by selectively removing the symmetrical portion and decreasing the thickness of the UWB radiator. An inverted L strip is added to a quarter circular sector, and a similarly shaped parasitic element is placed close to the radiator to achieve the desired tri-band. The antenna provides S11 ≤ −10 dB over 2.1–2.5GHz, 5.0–5.6GHz and 8.4–9.0GHz which covers 3G, Wi-Fi, LTE, Bluetooth, WLAN, and X-band applications. The antenna offers nearly omnidirectional radiation pattern in the lower band and directional radiation pattern in the other two bands. The prototype antenna is fabricated on a 0. 147λ0 × 0. 22λ0 FR4 substrate, where λ0 is the free-space wavelength corresponding to 2.1GHz. The measured results agree with simulation ones.
Generalized ordered logit analysis on the injury severity of traffic crashes by older drivers: the case of South Korea

ABSTRACT With a case of South Korea, this study attempts to analyze how the severity of traffic crashes for which older drivers are at fault is associated with road/environmental/seasonal/weather conditions, driver’s attributes, and crash/violation types. It analyzes the ordinal variable of injury severity by specifying conventionally used ordered logit and its statistical alternatives, multinomial logit, generalized ordered logit, partial proportional odds models. Based on the assumptions and fits of the models, this study finds that relative to the poor, but conventional ordered logit model, the best-fit generalized ordered logit model reports more accurate results in terms of the coefficient significance, direction, and magnitude. Among its major findings, although the severity decreases by year (conventional model), it does not apply to the minor injury level (alternative). The higher severity in the picnic season (conventional) is also limited to the level of minor injury or less. The times of the day at which the severity is higher (4–6) and lower (8–21) (conventional) are specific to fatal and serious injuries, respectively (alternative). Several variables have double-edged effects. Single-vehicle crashes do not always result in higher severity. They also reduce it to the lowest report-only level. Likewise, age and alcohol use change the severity to the most severe fatal level as well as to the most minor report-only level. These results are compared with the accumulated findings of crash frequency studies and interpreted in relation to older drivers’ high cautiousness and low physical/cognitive ability.
Multiscale Geometric Analysis Fusion-Based Unsupervised Change Detection in Remote Sensing Images via FLICM Model

Remote sensing image change detection is widely used in land use and natural disaster detection. In order to improve the accuracy of change detection, a robust change detection method based on nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) fusion and fuzzy local information C-means clustering (FLICM) model is introduced in this paper. Firstly, the log-ratio and mean-ratio operators are used to generate the difference image (DI), respectively; then, the NSCT fusion model is utilized to fuse the two difference images, and one new DI is obtained. The fused DI can not only reflect the real change trend but also suppress the background. The FLICM is performed on the new DI to obtain the final change detection map. Four groups of homogeneous remote sensing images are selected for simulation experiments, and the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed homogeneous change detection method has a superior performance than other state-of-the-art algorithms.
Design and Evaluation of an Ultra-light Extendible Mast as an Inflatable Structure

Space inflatable actuated rod (SPINAR) has been developed as an ultra-light onedimensional extendible structure driven by an inflatable actuator. SPINAR satisfies everintensifying requirements such as lightweight, high rigidity, high strength, high packaging efficiency, favorable antenna performance and simple extension mechanisms. Performed were the analysis of the requirements for structural design of one-dimensional extendible antenna structure and the detailed conceptual design for a scientific mission under consideration in ISAS/JAXA, and the advantages of the inflatable-assisted structure were evaluated. The rod of SPINAR consists of tri-axially woven fiber composite materials and thin inflatable tube. The extension tests were successful at any direction with respect to the gravity. Spin extension tests on a turntable also showed smooth extension. Spin extension test of SPINAR on a turntable under micro-gravity environment using airplane parabolic flight was performed in August 2005, and the test showed that SPINAR would satisfy the requirements for the science mission. The composite rod was tested as an antenna in radio wave environment, and the material was selected to use as a dipole antenna for a highresolution electric-field sensor. SPINAR is expected not only to use as an antenna rod, but also to explore a broad range of application opportunities as an excellent substitute for conventional mechanical deployable structures.
SER analysis based on different modulation techniques in MIMO system

Physical limitations of the wireless medium create a technical challenge for reliable wireless communication. Moreover, the need for high-speed wireless Internet has led to the demand for technologies delivering higher capacities and link reliability than achieved by current systems. Multiple -input multiple-output (MIMO) based communication systems are capable accomplishing these objectives. Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems take advantage of spatial diversity obtained through the spatially separated antennas in a dense multipath scattering environment. Spatial diversity can increase the gain diversity consequently increase the reliability of the wireless link. Theoretical studies indicate that the capacity of MIMO systems grows linearly with the number of transmit antennas used. In this paper Space Time Coding techniques is covered which leads to much improvement in Symbol Error Rate within the same spectrum and bandwidth. Also a comparison is made between different modulation techniques.
Printing Drugs onto Nails for Effective Treatment of Onychomycosis

Inkjet printing (IJP) is an emerging technology for the precision dosing of medicines. We report, for the first time, the printing of the antifungal drug terbinafine hydrochloride directly onto nails for the treatment of onychomycosis. A commercial cosmetic nail printer was modified by removing the ink from the cartridge and replacing it with an in-house prepared drug-loaded ink. The drug-loaded ink was designed so that it was comparable to the commercial ink for key printability properties. Linear drug dosing was shown by changing the lightness of the colour selected for printing (R2 = 0.977) and by printing multiple times (R2 = 0.989). The drug loads were measured for heart (271 µg), world (205 µg) and football (133 µg) shapes. A disc diffusion assay against Trpytophan rubrum showed inhibition of fungal growth with printed-on discs. In vitro testing with human nails showed substantial inhibition with printed-on nails. Hence, this is the first study to demonstrate the ability of a nail printer for drug delivery, thereby confirming its potential for onychomycosis treatment.
Examining Scaffolding Support in a Computer-Based Learning Environment for Elementary School Learners

This study explores the use of different scaffolds in the computer-based learning environment (CBLE) watweetjeoverevolutie.be, designed from a pedagogical view and based on theories to promote self-regulated learning as well as knowledge about evolution theory. First, general theoretical constructs underlying the CBLE are described, in which the focus lies on the concept of scaffolding. Then the interface and the content of the CBLE are illustrated. Finally, the scaffolds implemented in the CBLE are described. Results showed a generally high use of the scaffolds by elementary school learners. However, a decrease in scaffolding use was found over time. Next to that, no differences were found between embedded and non-embedded scaffolding use. Relating these findings to the time learners spent in the CBLE, conclusions towards future designs and use of the CBLE and its scaffolds can be made.
Patients with Obesity and a History of Metformin Treatment Have Lower Influenza Mortality: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Obesity is a risk factor for the development of influenza by leading to a chronic inflammatory state and T-cell dysfunction. Based upon preclinical research, metformin has influenza activity by restoring T-cell function and improving the immune response. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the potential drug repurposing of metformin for the management of influenza among patients with obesity utilizing national claims data in an electronic health record database. Methods: The VA Informatics and Computing Infrastructure (VINCI) was utilized to obtain individual-level information on demographics, administrative claims, and pharmacy dispensation. A cohort was created among individuals with laboratory confirmed diagnosis of influenza with a diagnosis of fever, cough, influenza, or acute upper respiratory infection in an outpatient setting. The study outcome was death after diagnosis of influenza. Cohorts were formed using diabetes status and metformin exposure prior to a positive influenza diagnosis. Hazard ratios for mortality were estimated using a cox proportional hazards model adjusting for baseline covariates and a sub-analysis was conducted utilizing propensity score matching. A greedy nearest neighbor algorithm was utilized to match 1 to 1 non-metformin diabetic controls and non-diabetic controls to diabetic patients receiving metformin. Results: A total of 3551 patients met the inclusion criteria and were evaluated in our study. The cohorts consisted of 1461 patients in the non-diabetic cohort, 1597 patients in the diabetic / metformin cohort, and 493 patients in the diabetic no metformin cohort. Compared to non-diabetic patients, diabetic patients with metformin had a lower rate of death (aHR 0.78, 95% CI 0.609–0.999). There was not a statistical difference between the non-diabetic patients and the diabetic patients without metformin (aHR 1.046, 95% CI 0.781–1.400). The propensity score matched cohorts revealed consistent results with the primary analysis. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated patients with obesity and a history of metformin treatment have lower influenza mortality.
The Inflammatory Pattern of Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia in Muscles: The TNF-α Hypothesis

Abstract Background: Vascular inflammation plays a crucial role in peripheral arterial disease (PAD), although the role of the mediators involved has not yet been properly defined. The aim of this work is to investigate gene expression and plasma biomarkers in chronic limb-threating ischemia (CLTI). Methods: Using patients from the GHAS trial, both blood and ischemic muscle samples were obtained to analyze plasma markers and mRNA expression, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed by using univariate (Spearman, t-Student, and X2) and multivariate (multiple logistic regression) tests. Results: A total of 35 patients were available at baseline (29 for mRNA expression). Baseline characteristics (mean): Age: 71.4 ± 12.4 years (79.4% male); TNF-α: 10.7 ± 4.9 pg/mL; hsCRP:1.6 ± 2.2 mg/dL; and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR): 3.5 ± 2.8. Plasma TNF-α was found elevated (≥8.1) in 68.6% of patients, while high hsCRP (≥0.5) was found in 60.5%. Diabetic patients with a high level of inflammation showed significantly higher levels of NOX4 expression at baseline (p = 0.0346). Plasma TNF-α had a negative correlation with NOS3 (eNOS) expression (−0.5, p = 0.015) and plasma hsCRP with VEGFA (−0.63, p = 0.005). The expression of NOX4 was parallel to that of plasma TNF-α (0.305, p = 0.037), especially in DM. Cumulative mortality at 12 months was related to NLR ≥ 3 (p = 0.019) and TNF-α ≥ 8.1 (p = 0.048). The best cutoff point for NLR to predict mortality was 3.4. Conclusions: NOX4 and TNF-α are crucial for the development and complications of lower limb ischemia, especially in DM. hsCRP could have a negative influence on angiogenesis too. NLR and TNF-α represent suitable markers of mortality in CLTI. These results are novel because they connect muscle gene expression and plasma information in patients with advanced PAD, deepening the search for new and accurate targets for this condition.
Research Progress of Heavy Ion Radiotherapy for Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has a high incidence and poses a serious threat to human health. However, the treatment outcomes of concurrent chemoradiotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer are still unsatisfactory, especially for high grade lesions. As a new cancer treatment, heavy ion radiotherapy has shown promising efficacy and safety in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer. This article discusses the clinical progress of heavy ion radiotherapy in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer mainly from the different cancer stages, the different doses of heavy ion beams, and the patient’s individual factors, and explores the deficiency of heavy ion radiotherapy in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer and the directions of future research, in order to provide reference for the wider and better application of heavy ion radiotherapy in the future.
Screen-printed bismuth telluride nanostructured composites for flexible thermoelectric applications

We herein report the results of a facile two-step surfactant assisted reflux synthesis of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) nanowires (NWs). The as-synthesised NWs had diameters ranging from 70 to 110 nm with a length varying between 0.4 and 3 µm and a preferential lattice orientation of (0 1 5) as determined by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction. We demonstrate for the first time that a solvent/binder paste formulation of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is suitable for screen-printing the Bi2Te3 NWs with the potential for the fabrication of flexible thermoelectric (TE) materials. The wt% of PVDF in the composite films was varied from 10% to 20% to identify the optimal composition with a view to achieving maximum film flexibility whilst retaining the best TE performance. The films were screen-printed onto Kapton substrates and subjected to a post-printing annealing process to improve TE performance. The annealed and screen printed Bi2Te3/PVDF NW composites yielded a maximum Seebeck coefficient −192 µV K−1 with a power factor of 34 µW m−1K−2 at 225 K. The flexible screen printed composite films were flexible and found to be intact even after 2000 bending cycles.