Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gaussian process regression for active sensing probabilistic structural health monitoring: experimental assessment across multiple damage and loading scenarios

In the near future, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technologies will be capable of overcoming the drawbacks in the current maintenance and life-cycle management paradigms, namely, cost, increased downtime, less-than-optimal safety management paradigm and the limited applicability of fully-autonomous operations. One of the most challenging tasks is structural damage quantification. Existing quantification techniques face accuracy and/or robustness issues when it comes to varying operating and environmental conditions. In addition, the damage/no-damage paradigm of current industrial frameworks does not offer much information to maintainers on the ground for proper decision-making. In this study, a novel structural damage quantification framework is proposed based on the widely-used Damage Indices (DIs) and Gaussian Process Regression Models (GPRMs) in order to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings. The proposed framework takes a simple approach to the damage quantification problem by using DI values for training, and provides confidence bounds on the estimated states. In addition, the proposed method is shown to quantify multiple structural states simultaneously from incoming DI test points. This framework is applied to three test cases: a Carbon Fibre-Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) coupon with attached weights as simulated damage, an aluminum coupon with a notch and an aluminum coupon with attached weights as simulated damage under varying loading states. The novel state prediction method presented herein is applied to single-state quantification in the first two test cases, as well as the third one assuming the loading state is known. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the third test case assuming neither the damage size nor the load is known in order to predict both simultaneously from incoming DI test points. In applying this framework, two forms of GPRMs (standard and variational heteroscedastic) are used in order to critically assess their performance with respect to the three test cases.
Secure reporting features for a low cost multiparametric PC-based patient simulator

Preventive maintenance of biomedical devices is of particular concern to avoid failures and breakdowns, especially for critical care and life supporting devices. Signs of potential failures are not always visible and so, they should be inspected and tested periodically using the appropriate technology. Patient simulators have become one of the essential tools for any biomedical department on every health institution, but its cost is still high to be afforded by everyone. The Labview interactive virtual instrument SIMPAC, a simple PC-based patient simulator, showed to be a low cost powerful tool for simulation of healthy and pathological conditions using signals repositories of different biomedical devices such as EEG, ECG, etc., and also to record the output signals of devices like pacemakers, defibrillators, etc. Here we present an enhancement of the tool which consists of adding a secure reporting feature using XML for presenting tests results, applying digital signature for granting report integrity, assuring this way that reports can not be altered by intentional or accidental manipulation of the data contained on it. In addition, SIMPAC brings a low cost solution for teaching and practical purposes.
Modelling the performance of the vernier hybrid machine

Variable reluctance permanent magnet machines exhibit shear stresses higher than conventional machine topologies. However, analysis and design of these machine topologies is not straightforward owing to the nature of the flux paths in the machine. In a transverse flux machine flux flows in all three dimensions and the machine structure is non-conventional. The vernier hybrid machine is another member of this family, but the flux paths are restricted to two dimensions, and can therefore be constructed using laminations. Significant leakage flux paths exist in the vernier hybrid machine, which must be modelled accurately during machine design. The use of flux-linkage maps to determine the performance of a linear vernier hybrid machine is described. Experimental results are presented to verify the model. The technique can be applied to any variable reluctance permanent magnet machine topology.
Vibration Dynamics and Control

Dynamics of Linear, Time Invariant, Systems. - Conservative Discrete Vibrating Systems. - Equations in the Time, Frequency, and Laplace Domains. - Damped Discrete Vibrating Systems. - Free Vibration of Conservative Systems. - Free Vibration of Damped Systems. - Forced Response in the Frequency Domain: Conservative Systems. - Forced Response in the Frequency Domain: Damped Systems. - Response to Nonperiodic Excitation. - Short Account of Random Vibrations. - Reduction of the Number of Degrees of Freedom. - Controlled Linear Systems. - Vibration of Beams. - General Continuous Linear Systems. - Discretization of Continuous Systems. - The Finite Element Method. - Dynamics of Multibody Systems. - Vibrating Systems in a Moving Reference Frame. - Dynamics of Nonlinear and time Variant Systems. - Free Motion of Conservative Nonlinear Systems. - Forced Response of Conservative Nonlinear Systems. - Free Motion of Damped Nonlinear Systems. - Forced Response of Damped Nonlinear Systems. - Time Variant and Autoparametric Systems. - Dynamics of Rotating and Reciprocating Machinery. - Elementary Rotordynamics: The Jeffcott Rotor. - Dynamics of Multi-Degrees-of-Freedom Rotors. - Nonisotropic Rotating Machines. - Nonlinear Rotors. - Dynamic Problems of Rotating Machines. - Rotor Balancing. - Torsional Vibration of Crankshafts. - Vibration Control in Reciprocating Machines.
Extended direct power control for multilevel inverters including DC link middle point voltage control

A novel extended direct power control (EDPC) algorithm for multilevel inverters is presented. Based on the well known direct power control (DPC) of two-level inverters, DPC has been extended to multilevel inverters using geometrical considerations of inverter voltage vectors based on active and reactive power at the output. Voltage control at the middle point of DC link is based on the same considerations for direct control. Thus, three hysteresis controllers are used to control active power, reactive power and voltage at the middle point of the DC link. The algorithm inputs are power and voltage references and also line voltages and currents. On account of the possibility of redundancy of inverter voltage vectors in fulfilling control requirements, a decision algorithm has also been developed. Several optimisation criteria can be implemented, depending on different control priorities, for example, active and reactive power control, middle point voltage control, minimisation of switchings, and so on. The algorithm has been applied to a three-level neutral point clamped voltage source inverter (VSI) connected to the grid and results show the good performance of the proposed control method in terms of improving the dynamic response of multilevel VSI.
Driving Style-based Conditional Variational Autoencoder for Prediction of Ego Vehicle Trajectory

Trajectory prediction of the ego vehicle is essential for advanced driver assistance systems to function properly. By recognizing various driving styles and predicting trajectories reflecting them, the prediction performance is enhanced, and a personalized trajectory can be generated. Therefore, we propose to combine driving style recognition and trajectory prediction tasks using only in-vehicle CAN-bus sensor data for possible application to normal vehicles. The DeepConvLstm network was utilized for driving style recognition, and a generative-based model was used for trajectory prediction. The classified driving style was added as a condition to the network. In addition, the past trajectory of the ego vehicle is estimated and utilized as an additional input for performance improvement. The performance of the proposed method is analyzed in terms of the root mean squared error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) compared with the case wherein the driving style and the past trajectory are not conditioned or given, respectively. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Compact portable 1064-nm laser system for field calibration of laser detectors

A rugged, portable Nd:YAG standard has been developed to calibrate Navy laser detectors or systems from 0.05 mj to 120 mj at 1064 nm. The Laser Transmitter Support Standard was designed as a versatile calibration standard for accurate energy and pulsewidth measurements. It has excellent polarization ratio characteristics and can be configured to perform boresight testing. The Class IV laser system was designed to enable eye safe calibrations. The prototype standard has been used in a range of field applications including the calibration of laser transmitter test sets. The paper explains the performance specifications, capabilities, and uses of the LTSS-1064, as well as the polarization, noise, portability, and safety issues that were overcome.
9.2.1 Developing Product Lines in Engine Control Systems: Systems Engineering Challenges

Rolls‐Royce is developing a Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) product line for helicopter and light turboprop applications. This is driven by market demand to reduce the proportional cost of control systems relative to the engine, and to field applications in timescales that preclude traditional clone‐and‐own approaches. The goal is to develop reusable control system architectures, requirements, and verification evidence, which can be used on a variety of applications. Key challenges include addressing military and commercial constraints with the same architecture, designing in flexibility for future applications, and leveraging global company capability in processes, tools, and supply chain strategy. This paper describes Rolls‐Royce's experience adapting existing software product line principles to apply at the control system (hardware and embedded software) level in light of certification guidelines from DO‐178B and ARP4574A. Lessons learned from moving through the “V” life cycle provide insight into how Systems Engineering adds value in this context.
Reliability Evaluation of Cyber–Physical Power Systems Considering Supply- and Demand-Side Uncertainties

To reach effective monitoring and control, a physical power grid couples with a communication network and evolves into cyber–physical power systems (CPPS), but this cyber–physical interdependence may exacerbate failure on the physical/cyber side and may turn into a cascading failure. Furthermore, distributed generators (DGs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) introduced into CPPS add uncertainties to both the supply side and demand side of power energy. In this paper, we detail the model of CPPS and its coupling mechanism in operation and discuss the propagation mechanism of cascading failure within and across a physical power grid and a communication network. For uncertainties of power energy in the supply and demand sides, the generation and load of each day are divided into 24 time segments for modeling. In the case study, the well-being criteria and reliability indexes are employed to analyze the effect of DGs and cyber–physical interdependence on the reliability of CPPS when DGs suffer aging failure and cyber attacks, and the simulations indicate that introducing DGs can effectively enhance the period of healthy and marginal states. Furthermore, cyber attacks can sharply destroy the CPPS compared with aging failure.
Regulating and equalizing DC capacitance voltages in multilevel STATCOM

Because of the high MVA ratings, it would be expensive to provide independent, equal, regulated DC voltage sources to power the multilevel converters which are proposed for STATCOMs. DC voltage sources can be derived from the DC link capacitances which are charged by the rectified AC power. This paper addresses two control issues: (1) regulation of the DC capacitance voltages and (2) their equalization. Equalization is necessary (i) to ensure the even sharing of voltage stresses in the gate-turn-off thyristors (GTOs), and (ii) to prevent the degradation of total harmonic distortion (THD) factors, as all harmonic elimination strategies depend on equal voltages in their assumptions. The strategies considered are: (a) the fundamental frequency method, and (b) the sinusoidal pulse width modulation method. Digital simulations are used to confirm the feasibility of the control methods.
Transcriptome Analysis of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Casuarina glauca in Damage Mitigation of Roots on NaCl Stress

Casuarina glauca grows in coastal areas suffering long-term damage due to high salt stress. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can colonize their roots to alleviate the effects of salt stress. However, the specific molecular mechanism still needs to be further explored. Our physiological and biochemical analysis showed that Rhizophagus irregularis inoculation played an important role in promoting plant growth, regulating ion balance, and changing the activity of antioxidant enzymes. Transcriptome analysis of roots revealed that 1827 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were affected by both R. irregularis inoculation and NaCl stress. The enrichment of GO (Gene Ontology) and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) showed that most of these DEGs were significantly enriched in ion transport, antioxidant enzyme activity, carbohydrate metabolism, and cell wall. HAK5, KAT3, SKOR, PIP1-2, PER64, CPER, GLP10, MYB46, NAC43, WRKY1, and WRKY19 were speculated to play the important roles in the salt tolerance of C. glauca induced by R. irregularis. Our research systematically revealed the effect of R. irregularis on the gene expression of C. glauca roots under salt stress, laying a theoretical foundation for the future use of AMF to enhance plant tolerance to salt stress.
Biological and Molecular Evidence for the Existence of Bruchid Ecotypes in the Nigerian Cowpea Ecosystem

The oviposition, growth and development of six populations of Callosobruchus maculatus (IT, PH, UM, MD‐1, MD‐2, MD‐3) from different localities in Nigeria were studied on a resistant (TVu 2027) and susceptible (Ife Brown) cowpea cultivar and four cultivars of African yam bean, Progenies obtained by cross‐mating individuals from the different populations were also studied. Oviposition was highest in the MD insect beetle population and lowest in the UM population. IT and PH populations had the highest adult emergence and shortest development times on the resistant control. Genomic differences among bruchid populations were confirmed by the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting technique with PH population being the most distant. All progenies with IT as the female parent also had better emergence and shorter development time than their reciprocal crosses or those involving other populations, but this varied with the fitness of the male parent. The UM population averaged <10% adult emergence on TVu 2027 compared to 71.9 % on the susceptible control, but was better adapted to the AYB (66 % emergence) than were other populations. These results suggest possible existence of ecotypes, of this bruchid species in Nigeria with potentially important implications for the development and deployment of resistant cowpea varieties.
Impactless biped walking on a slope

Walking without impacts has been considered in dynamics as a motion/force control problem. In order to avoid impacts, an approach for both the specified motion of the biped and its ground reaction forces was presented yielding a combined motion and force control problem. As an application, a walker on a horizontal plane has been considered. In this paper, it is shown how the control of the ground reaction forces and the energy consumption depend on the gradient of a slope. The biped dynamics and the constraints within the biped system and on the ground are discussed. A motion control synthesis is developed using the inverse dynamics principle proven to be most efficient for human walking research, too. The impactless walking with controlled legs is illustrated by a seven-link biped. The “flying” biped has nine degrees of freedom, with six control inputs. During locomotion, the standing leg has three scleronomic constraints, and the trunk has three rheonomic constraints. However, there are three rheonomic constraints for the prescribed leg motion or three scleronomic constraints for reaction forces of the trailing leg, respectively. The nominal control action for impactless walking can be precomputed and stored. The model proposed allows the investigation of several problems: uphill and downhill walking, optimization of step length, stiction of the feet on the slope and many more. All these findings are also of interest in biomechanics.
Extracellular Vesicles in Musculoskeletal Regeneration: Modulating the Therapy of the Future

Tissue regeneration is a hot topic in health sciences, particularly because effective therapies promoting the healing of several cell types are lacking, specifically those of the musculoskeletal system. Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells (MSCs) have been identified as crucial players in bone homeostasis, and are considered a promising therapy for diseases such as osteoarthritis (OA) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). However, some known drawbacks limit their use, particularly ethical issues and immunological rejections. Thus, MSCs byproducts, namely Extracellular Vesicles (EVs), are emerging as potential solutions to overcome some of the issues of the original cells. EVs can be modulated by either cellular preconditioning or vesicle engineering, and thus represent a plastic tool to be implemented in regenerative medicine. Further, the use of biomaterials is important to improve EV delivery and indirectly to modulate their content and secretion. This review aims to connect the dots among MSCs, EVs, and biomaterials, in the context of musculoskeletal diseases.
Radiation induced leakage current and stress induced leakage current in ultra-thin gate oxides

Low-field leakage current has been measured in thin oxides after exposure to ionising radiation. This Radiation Induced Leakage Current (RILC) can be described as an inelastic tunnelling process mediated by neutral traps in the oxide, with an energy loss of about 1 eV. The neutral trap distribution is influenced by the oxide field applied during irradiation, thus indicating that the precursors of the neutral defects are charged, likely to be defects associated with trapped holes. The maximum leakage current is found under zero-field condition during irradiation, and it rapidly decreases as the field is enhanced, due to a displacement of the defect distribution across the oxide towards the cathodic interface. The RILC kinetics are linear with the cumulative dose, in contrast with the power law found on electrically stressed devices.
Student Motivation to Learn Foreign Languages Through Song in Malaysia

The study was conducted to identify the effects of using song as a teaching aid for students studying foreign language at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Global language or foreign language is a compulsory course for students in Universiti Putra Malaysia. Students are required to learn this foreign language for two semesters, which is up to level two. Should they progress to level three, they will be awarded a certificate. As such, students will definitely need to have high motivation for learning the foreign language. Hence this study is undertaken to learn whether the approach is suitable to guide and enhance student’s learning capabilities. This research was conducted on 105 students who were selected at random as respondents and were given online questionnaires to complete. The questionnaire was developed based on Dörnyei's (1994) theory, which is course specific motivational components involving four constructs (interest; relevance; expectancy; satisfaction). The findings showed that students strongly agree that learning foreign language using song has the following effect: (i) it does not make them bored, (ii) the lyrics trigger their interest to learn the foreign language, (iii) the use of songs in learning helps to reinforce vocabulary, and (iv) the students feel proud when they pronounce the words correctly.
Factors influencing the performance of rapid SARS‐CoV‐2 antigen tests under field condition

Globally, real‐time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (rRT‐PCR) is the reference detection technique for SARS‐CoV‐2, which is expensive, time consuming, and requires trained laboratory personnel. Thus, a cost‐effective, rapid antigen test is urgently needed. This study evaluated the performance of the rapid antigen tests (RATs) for SARS‐CoV‐2 compared with rRT‐PCR, considering different influencing factors.
The first report of the seroprevalence of antibodies against Bartonella spp. in water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) from South Thailand

Abstract Background and Aim: Bartonellosis is an emerging worldwide zoonosis caused by bacteria belonging to the genus Bartonella. Several studies have been conducted on the prevalence of Bartonella infections from animals and humans, including reports from wild and domestic ruminants. However, there has been only one report of Bartonella infection in water buffaloes from the northeastern part of Thailand. Moreover, the seroprevalence of Bartonella spp. in water buffaloes still remains unknown. This study was conducted to explore the prevalence of Bartonella spp. among water buffaloes from South Thailand using molecular and serological techniques. Materials and Methods: A total of 312 samples (156 blood and 156 sera) of 156 water buffaloes from 29 farms in Phatthalung Province, South Thailand, were collected from January to March 2021. All samples were screened for Bartonella spp. using polymerase chain reaction and indirect immunofluorescence assay. Results: The seroprevalence of antibodies against three Bartonella spp. was 16.03% (25/156, 95% confidence interval: 10.65-22.74%), and among 25 water buffaloes with seroprevalence, 56%, 20%, and 24% were positive for antibodies against Bartonella henselae, Bartonella vinsonii subspp. berkhoffii, and Bartonella tamiae, respectively. No significant difference was detected among seroprevalence, gender, age, and ectoparasite infestation. Conclusion: This is the first report of the seroprevalence of antibodies against B. henselae, B. vinsonii subspp. berkhoffii, and B. tamiae in water buffaloes from South Thailand. Further studies are required on the epidemiology of Bartonella infection among water buffaloes, related personnel, and ectoparasites.
Differentiation filter-based technique for robust estimation of single-phase grid voltage frequency under distorted conditions

This study proposes a robust estimation technique for the single-phase grid voltage fundamental frequency under grid disturbances. The technique relies on a demodulation method and a finite-impulse-response-based differentiation filter (DF). A frequency domain analysis for designing the DF is presented and is used to estimate the time-varying fundamental frequency from the instantaneous phase angle obtained by the demodulation method. The technique can reject the negative effects caused by the presence of DC offset and harmonics. The proposed DF shows less sensitivity to the presence of oscillations caused by the demodulation method when compared to a similar finite-impulse-response-based DF. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the performance of the proposed technique.