Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiresolution Preconditioners for Solving Realistic Multi-Scale Complex Problems

In this work, the hierarchic multiresolution (MR) preconditioner is combined with the multilevel fast multipole algorithm-fast Fourier transform (MLFMA-FFT) and efficiently parallelized in multicore computers for computing electromagnetic scattering and radiation from complex problems exhibiting deep multi-scale features. The problem is formulated using the thin-dielectric-sheet (TDS) approximation for thin dielectric materials and the electric and combined field integral equations (EFIE/CFIE) for conducting objects. The parallel MLFMA-FFT is tailored to accommodate the MR hierarchical functions, which provide vast improvement of the matrix system conditioning by accurately handling multi-scale mesh features in different levels of detail. The higher (coarser) level hierarchical functions are treated by an algebraic incomplete LU decomposition preconditioner, which has been efficiently embedded into the parallel framework to further accelerate the solution. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the precision and efficiency of the proposed approach for the solution of realistic multi-scale scattering and radiation problems.
Alternative Tracks: The Constitution of American Industrial Order, 1865–1917 by Gerald Berk (review)

"Gerald Berk's Alternative Tracks is a lean but provocative, timely, insightful, and forcefully written challenge to the conventional wisdom about industrial America's political economy". -- Review of Politics At the heart of Alternative Tracks is the historical relationship between democracy. and the modern corporation. Gerald Berk uses the case of the railroad industry to show that industrial centralization and corporate hierarchy did not follow a course solely determined by the efficiency imperatives of modern technology. Rather, collective choice and the state had lasting influence on the development of corporate capitalism. Moreover, the role of government depended less on the exercise of interest-group or class power than it did on the protracted struggle over constitutional norms of fairness and justice relating to corporation and the market. Mediated through the court, Congress, and the bureaucracy, this struggle had profound effects on the organization of railroads, the pattern of urbanization, and the practice of business regulation. "A very impressive work . Offers the reader real insight into the technical factors and financial arrangements involved in the development of American railroads". -- Perspectives on Political Science "Berk has offered some powerful questions for future scholars to keep in mind, and no student of railroad history or the history of business can afford to overlook this book". -- American Historical Review "An ambitious effort to make sense of how the modern American state was fashioned". -- American Political Science Review
Exploring Latinx social work graduate students’ self-awareness by integrating Johari window, Photovoice and Mandala

ABSTRACT Numerous researchers have addressed the role of self-awareness in personal and professional development over decades. Recent studies have addressed the effectiveness and outcomes of gaining self-awareness. In this study, the goal was to explore individuals’ self-awareness elements in relationship to the views of others. Thirteen graduate social work students agreed to participate in this qualitative study for a duration of a semester. The exploration was framed within the Johri window model and supplemented by Photovoice and Mandala. The main finding indicated that all identified self-awareness elements were not viewed as equally important and were not equally noticeable by others. Others particularly paid attention to the participants’ Other-Oriented Traits. Cognition and Emotion-Oriented traits were only noticed by others if the participants strongly focused on them. An additional finding revealed that there was a solid and complementary relationship between traits that were hidden from others (Façade) and individuals’ unconscious (Mystery). The final finding confirmed the role of experiential learning in promoting self-awareness.
Conception and realization of spectral sorters

The advancement and scaling effect in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) and micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology has made possible to make smaller image sensors with higher density of imaging pixels to respond at the demand of low cost imagers. Generally, the higher pixel density in imaging system is achieved by shrinking the size of each pixel in an array. The shrinking of pixel dimension however deteriorates the optical efficiency and therefore impose the tradeoff between the performance and minimum achievable pixel size. As the pixel size continues to shrink and approach the dimensions comparable to the wavelength, the spectral separation techniques used in current generation imaging system should be revised and new design methodologies have to be explored. This dissertation explored different techniques that could be used to efficiently sort the band of different wavelengths, mainly in far-infrared (8µm - 12µm) and visible (0.4 µm – 0.7 µm) spectrum in different spatial locations. We introduced the concept of spectral sorting based on normalized optical efficiency (NOE). For given number of pixels (N) or detectors, we define the phenomenon of sorting if NOE of individual pixels, considering incidence power from all pixel domain, is greater than 1/N. First we study differently sized optical patch antenna to efficiently sort the infrared light in different spatial locations using numerical techniques. Using array of such antennas we find the near perfect absorption of multiple wavelengths in infrared spectrum. The antenna arrays are fabricated and characterized in CEA-LETI platform to validate our study. We also report our study on using two differently sized Metal-Semiconductor-Metal (MSM) nanostructures to achieve absorption higher than 50% in individual silicon detector for visible spectrum. Finally we present our study on grating based dielectric multilayer structure for sorting of visible light which could enable to shrink the pixel size of visible imaging system to submicron dimension. We derived the comprehensive design strategy of such sorting structure and present the sorting structure designed to achieve optical efficiency as high as 80% in pixel size of as less as 0. 5µm.
Techniques for CAD Tool Parameter Auto-tuning in Physical Synthesis: A Survey (Invited Paper)

As the technology node of integrated circuits rapidly goes beyond 5nm, synthesis-centric modern very large-scale integration (VLSI) design flow is facing ever-increasing design complexity and suffering the pressure of time-to-market. During the past decades, synthesis tools have become progressively sophisticated and offer countless tunable parameters that can significantly influence design quality. Nevertheless, owing to the time-consuming tool evaluation plus a limitation to one possible parameter combination per synthesis run, manually searching for optimal configurations of numerous parameters proves to be elusive. What's worse, tiny perturbations to these parameters can result in very large variations in the Quality-of-Results (QoR). Therefore, automatic tool parameter tuning to reduce human cost and tool evaluation cost is in demand. Machine-learning techniques provide chances to enable the auto-tuning process of tool parameters. In this paper, we will survey the recent pace of progress on advanced parameter auto-tuning flows of physical synthesis tools. We sincerely expect this survey can enlighten the future development of parameter auto-tuning methodologies.
A collaborative planning support system for a multi-touch tabletop : the effect of number of touch inputs on collaboration and output quality

This thesis describes the design and evaluation of a collaborative urban planning support system for an interactive multi-touch tabletop display. The system facilitates the design of spatial patterns of proposed development in a co-located collaborative manner. We worked closely with faculty in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia and employed an iterative, user-centered development process to create a tabletop system to support landscape architect’s primary urban planning steps. The prototype system is designed for use by urban planners, stakeholders, or private citizens: users with a variety of backgrounds and expertise. The collaborative urban planning support system was designed for use on a multi-touch tabletop following lessons learned about considerations for planning support systems, tabletop applications, and encouraging collaboration. The system contains a limited yet adequate set of functions for arranging various building types on a development site map. It has an intuitive and highly interactive interface and uses input data that comes directly from the elementsLAB team. A primary focus of the pattern creation application is ensuring equity of collaboration among users. Urban planners believe that it is important that all members of a group contribute equally to produce a neighbourhood that meets predefined quantitative and qualitative targets. We conducted a controlled experiment that investigated how varying the number of simultaneous touch inputs in the application affects collaboration and output quality. We tested hypotheses that users would (i) collaborate more, (ii) produce higher quality output, and (iii) complete their task faster with a multi-touch application than with a single-touch application. We also tested the hypothesis that (iv) multi-touch interactions with application elements will be preferred over traditional single-touch interactions. The number of touches accepted did not affect the amount of collaboration, output quality, or time. However, participants perceived the multitouch tasks to be faster and to produce neighbourhood patterns of higher quality. Participants seemed to be more cognitively absorbed in the multi-
Microbiological Diagnoses on Clinical Mastitis—Comparison between Diagnoses Made in Veterinary Clinics versus in Laboratory Applying MALDI-TOF MS

The present study compares the diagnoses on clinical bovine mastitis made in veterinary clinics using conventional diagnostic methods with diagnoses on the same samples made by a veterinary reference laboratory using MALDI-TOF MS as diagnostics. The study enables targeted and evidence-based consulting on prudent mastitis diagnostics and related antibiotic usage. In total, 492 samples from clinical mastitis were included. When applying MALDI-TOF MS as gold standard, only 90 out of 492 diagnoses made in veterinary clinics, equal to 18%, were correct. Four main findings were important: (1) the veterinary clinics overlooked contamination in mastitis samples; (2) the veterinary clinics only assigned 2 fully correct diagnoses out of 119 samples with mixed growth cultures; (3) the veterinary clinics made close to half of their diagnoses on pure culture erroneously; (4) the veterinary clinics applied a limited number of the relevant pathogen identifications on pure culture samples. Altogether, the present study shows that a large part of Danish clinical mastitis cases are misdiagnosed. Lack of correct diagnoses and diagnostic quality control may lead to the choice of wrong treatment and thus hamper prudent use of antibiotics. Hence, the present study warns a risk of overuse of antibiotics in Denmark. Consequently, the present study calls for training of veterinary clinics in diagnostics of mastitis pathogens and national guidelines on quality assurance of mastitis diagnostics.
Distributed Fusion Estimation in Network Systems Subject to Random Delays and Deception Attacks

This paper focuses on the distributed fusion estimation problem in which a signal transmitted over wireless sensor networks is subject to deception attacks and random delays. We assume that each sensor can suffer attacks that may corrupt and/or modify the output measurements. In addition, communication failures between sensors and their local processors can delay the receipt of processed measurements. The randomness of attacks and transmission delays is modelled by different Bernoulli random variables with known probabilities of success. According to these characteristics of the sensor networks and assuming that the measurement noises are cross-correlated at the same time step between sensors and are also correlated with the signal at the same and subsequent time steps, we derive a fusion estimation algorithm, including prediction and filtering, using the distributed fusion method. First, for each sensor, the local least-squares linear prediction and filtering algorithm are derived, using a covariance-based approach. Then, the distributed fusion predictor and the corresponding filter are obtained as the matrix-weighted linear combination of corresponding local estimators, checking that the mean squared error is minimised. A simulation example is then given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Estimating Genotypic Diversity of Streptococcus mutans Isolated From Caries-Active and Caries-Free Individuals Among Indian Population

Purpose To identify the genetic characterization of S mutans strains isolated from the caries-free and caries-active population using arbitrarily primed -polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR). Materials and methods Thirty-five subjects with a decayed missing and filled teeth (DMFT) score of 0 were allocated to the caries-free group and 35 subjects with a DMFT score greater than four were allocated to the caries-active group and salivary samples were collected. The samples were processed and the colony forming units (CFU) of S mutans were determined for all the samples. About three colonies resembling S mutans from each subject were subjected to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) isolation, a purification process was performed, and DNA was analyzed by AP-PCR. Results Among the 210 isolates from 35 caries-active and 35 caries-free subjects that were analyzed by AP-PCR, 41.9% had a single genotype, 25.8% had two genotypes, 19.4% had three genotypes, 9.7% had four genotypes and 3.2% had more than four genotypes among the caries-free group. Among the caries-active group, 54.3% had a single genotype, 25.7% had two genotypes, 14.3% had three genotypes and 5.7% had four genotypes. Conclusion The study concluded that different genotypic pattern was present in caries-free and caries-active subjects which indicate the occurrence of genetic polymorphism among the S mutans strains. There was no particular genotype of S mutans that was uniquely present in subjects in caries-active and caries-free individuals.
Moderate hyperuricaemia ameliorated kidney damage in a low‐renin model of experimental renal insufficiency

Uric acid has promoted renal fibrosis and inflammation in experimental studies, but some studies have shown nephroprotective effects due to alleviated oxidative stress. We studied the influence of experimental hyperuricaemia in surgically 5/6 nephrectomized rats. Three weeks after subtotal nephrectomy or sham operation, the rats were allocated to control diet or 2.0% oxonic acid (uricase inhibitor) diet for 9 weeks. Then blood, urine and tissue samples were taken, and renal morphology and oxidative stress were examined. Inflammation and fibrosis were evaluated using immunohistochemistry and real‐time PCR (RT‐PCR). Remnant kidney rats ingesting normal or oxonic acid diet presented with ~60% reduction of creatinine clearance and suppressed plasma renin activity. Oxonic acid diet increased plasma uric acid levels by >80 μmol/L. In remnant kidney rats, moderate hyperuricaemia decreased glomerulosclerosis, tubulointerstitial damage and kidney mast cell count, without influencing the fibrosis marker collagen I messenger RNA (mRNA) content. In both sham‐operated and 5/6 nephrectomized rats, the mast cell product 11‐epi‐prostaglandin‐F2α excretion to the urine and kidney tissue cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) levels were decreased. To conclude, hyperuricaemic remnant kidney rats displayed improved kidney morphology and reduced markers of oxidative stress and inflammation. Thus, moderately elevated plasma uric acid had beneficial effects on the kidney in this low‐renin model of experimental renal insufficiency.
Effects of Different Inter-Row Soil Management and Intra-Row Living Mulch on Spontaneous Flora, Beneficial Insects, and Growth of Young Olive Trees in Southern Italy

Conservation agriculture (i.e., minimized soil disturbance and permanent soil covering) and living mulches represent two agroecological practices that can improve soil fertility, spontaneous flora, and beneficial insect communities. This research studied the effect of these practices in a young olive orchard in the Mediterranean area. Two Sicilian olive cultivars (‘Nocellara del Belice’ and ‘Nocellara etnea’) were used for the field experiment; inter-row minimum and zero tillage and four species of aromatic plants as living mulch along the row were tested. Spontaneous flora and beneficial insect communities, as well as tree growth, were monitored. The inter-row management did not influence the spontaneous flora dynamics. The species adopted for living mulch showed a very different degree of development and soil cover; 69 insect species (pollinators and predators) belonging to five orders (Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Neuroptera, and Coleoptera) and 17 families were recorded. The growth of the olive trees was not affected by the conservative strategies. : In the inter-row, the growth of the spontaneous flora was limited by the high temperatures during the summer. Among the living mulch species, sage and lemongrass guaranteed an almost full soil cover, reducing the need for weed management along the row, as well as increasing the beneficial insects without influencing the young tree growth.
Technologies for GQM-Based Metrics Recommender Systems: A Systematic Literature Review

Purpose: With this Systematic Literature Review (SLR), we aim to discover technologies to construct a Goal-Question-Metrics (GQM) based metrics recommender for software developers. Since such a system has not yet been described in the literature, we decided to analyse the technologies used in three main components of recommender systems - data sets, algorithms, and recommendations - independently. Methods: To achieve our goal we performed - following the best norms in our discipline - a systematic literature review (SLR). We first identified, through searches aptly performed, 422 potentially relevant papers, from which we selected - after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria - 30 papers, which we eventually included in our final log. Results: Systems with textual data set preprocess information in nearly the same way and the majority use similarity scores to create recommendations. Systems with GQM-based algorithms consist of questionnaires and require users to explicitly answer questions to produce suggestions. With respect to the recommendations of reviewed systems, they range from application programming interfaces (APIs) to requirements, but no system presently recommends metrics. Conclusion: In our SLR we: (a) identified a sequence of the most popular steps for preprocessing in recommender systems; (b) proposed an optimisation strategy for such steps; (c) found out that the most promising approach includes both ranking and classification; and (d) established that there are no recommendation systems developed to date to process metrics.
Assessing Patient Safety Culture in United States Hospitals

A positive patient safety culture plays a major role in reducing medical errors and increasing productivity among healthcare staff. Furthermore, understanding staff perceptions of patient safety culture and effective patient safety factors is a first step toward enhancing quality of care and patient safety. The objectives of this study were to assess patient safety culture in hospitals in the United States and to investigate the effects of hospital and respondent characteristics on perceived patient safety culture. An analysis of 67,010 respondents in the 2018 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) comparative database was conducted with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed that perceptions of patient safety culture had a positive influence on the overall perceptions of patient safety and frequency of event reporting. Moreover, staff position, teaching status, and geographic region were found to have varying influence on the patient safety culture, overall perceptions of patient safety, and frequency of event reporting.
A study of ovine β-lactoglobulin transgene expression in the mouse mammary gland

Lines of mice carrying an ovine f-lactoglobulin (BLG) transgene secrete large quantities of BLG protein into their milk. To explore the stability of transgene expression, a systematic study of expression levels in three BLG transgenic mouse lines was performed. Unexpectedly, two of these lines exhibited variable levels of transgene expression. Copy number within lines appeared to be stable and there was no evidence of transgene rearrangement. Studies on the most variable line showed that BLG production levels were stable within individual mice in two successive lactations. Backcross experiments demonstrated that the genetic background did not contribute significantly to the variation of expression levels. Tissue in situ hybridisation experiments revealed mosaic patterns of transgene expression within individual mammary glands from the two variable lines; in low expressing animals, discrete patches of cells expressing the transgene were observed. The concentration of transgene protein in milk reflected the proportion of mammary epithelial cells expressing BLG mRNA. Furthermore, in situ hybridisation to metaphase chromosomes indicated that the transgene arrays in both these lines are situated close to the centromere. These experiments suggest that variable mosaicism of transgene expression among individuals within a transgenic line is a consequence of the chromosomal location and/or the nature of the primary transgene integration event.