Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design and experimental verification of ridge gap waveguides in bed of nails for parallel plate mode suppression

− This paper describes the design and experimental verification of the ridge gap waveguide, appearing in the gap between parallel metal plates. One of the plates has a texture in the form of a wave-guiding metal ridge surrounded by metal posts. The latter posts, referred to as a pin surface or bed of nails, is designed to give a stopband for the normal parallelplate modes between 10 and 23 GHz. The hardware demonstrator includes two 90° bends and two capacitively coupled coaxial transitions enabling measurements with a VNA. The measured results verify the large bandwidth and low losses of the quasi-TEM mode propagating along the guiding ridge, and that 90° bends can be designed in the same way as for microstrip lines. The demonstrator is designed for use around 15 GHz. Still, the ridge gap waveguide is more advantageous for frequencies above 30 GHz, because it can be realized entirely from metal using milling or molding, and there is no requirements for conducting joints between the two plates that otherwise is a problem when realizing conventional hollow waveguides.
Advanced polarimetric optimization for DInSAR applications with Ground-Based SAR

In this paper, the applications of advanced polarimetric optimization techniques for Differential Interferometric SAR (DInSAR) pixel selection are explored in the framework of deformation map retrieval in landslides. Unfortunately, most of high mountain landslides occur on vegetated areas with a poor density of coherent scatterers that with a fast decorrelation at X-band. The objective of the techniques proposed in this paper is to increase the number of pixels with good quality, and thus the robustness of DInSAR algorithms, by exploiting the larger density of coherent scatterers present in polarimetric SAR data. Using Ground-Based SAR zero-baseline fullypolarimetric data sets, the relationship between optimum coherences and its corresponding phase in terms of DInSAR application is carefully analyzed. In the paper, different coherence optimization methods available in the literature are studied. The main advantages and drawbacks of the different approaches are drawn. Deformation information cannot be extracted from all the pixels within the area under study since, due to decorrelation, only part of them would have enough phase quality along the temporal data set. Two main criteria are employed for the estimation of the pixels quality: the coherence stability and the amplitude dispersion. In the first case, the pixel accuracy for each multi-looked interferogram is given by the coherence value that is related directly with the standard deviation of the phase [1] [2]. In the second approach, the quality of the phase information along the whole stack of images is associated to the amplitude dispersion index DA [3]. Due to the lack of multi-pass satellite PolSAR data (with the exception of RADARSAT-2), the formulation of the techniques has been usually limited to the single-polarization data. In this paper, the potentials of coherence optimization techniques [4][5][6] is studied with the objective of enhancing the quality and the density of pixels in terms of deformation map retrieval. A description of the different approaches is first given and then, deformation results, based on Ground-Based SAR zerobaseline fully-polarimetric data, are presented. In Section 2, a general description of the system and the data-processing chain is given. Section 3 describes the test site selected for the field campaign. In Section 4 a brief explanation of the different optimization approaches is presented. The main advantages and drawbacks of the different optimization techniques are studied in detail with real zero-baseline PolSAR data sets acquired at X-band using the UPC ground-based SAR sensor. An analysis of the dispersion of the optimized differential phases, with respect to the expected deformation phase component, is then carried out. Finally, in Section 5, deformation results are discussed in terms of its phase quality and density.
Optimization of cationic polymer-mediated transfection for RNA interference

Abstract Transfection efficiency was estimated to optimize the conditions for RNA interference (RNAi), including transfection time, validity, and nucleic acid concentration and type, using the EZ Trans Cell Reagent, a cationic polymer. An shRNA against GFP was designed and transfected into cells using the EZ transfection reagent. The shRNA significantly decreased the expression of GFP. In addition, pre-diluted transfection reagent at room temperature and small nucleic acids increased the transfection efficiency, which peaked at 24 h. Compared with circular nucleic acids, linear nucleic acids showed higher transfection efficiency and a higher genome integration rate. We optimized cationic polymer-mediated RNAi conditions, and our data will be useful for future RNAi studies.
Annual Research DNA methylation as a mediator in the association between risk exposure and child and

Background : DNA methylation (DNAm) is a potential mechanism for propagating the effects of environmental exposures on child and adolescent mental health. In recent years, this field has experienced steady growth. Methods : We provide a strategic review of the current child and adolescent literature in order to evaluate evidence for a mediating role of DNAm in the link between environmental risks and psychopathological outcomes, with a focus on internalising and externalising difficulties. Results : Based on the studies presented, we conclude that there is preliminary evidence to support that (i) environmental factors, such as diet, neurotoxic exposures and stress, influence offspring DNAm, and that (ii) variability in DNAm, in turn, is associated with child and adolescent psychopathology. Overall, very few studies have examined DNAm in relation to both exposures and outcomes, and almost all analyses have been correlational in nature. Conclusions : DNAm holds potential as a biomarker indexing both environmental risk exposure and vulnerability for child psychopathology. However, the extent to which it may represent a causal mediator is not clear. In future, collection of prospective risk exposure, DNAm and outcomes – as well as functional characterization of epigenetic findings – will assist in determining the role of DNAm in the link between risk exposure and psychopathology. generations, beginning with (empirically-supported) direct effects to hypothesised (but not empirically verified) indirect intergenerational effects. The middle of the figure depicts DNAm as the mediator, how it is embedded into the wider machinery of epigenetic regulation, and how it varies across multiple factors. Together, these epigenetic changes are shown to influence gene activity and function, which in turn contribute to the programming of wider, interconnected biological systems (e.g. immune, neural and stress function). The bottom of the figure shows how this biological cascade modulates adaptation to the environment and disease susceptibility over the lifespan, shifting developmental trajectories (typical to atypical) and contributing to the phenotypic manifestations reviewed in this article, including internalising and externalising difficulties in childhood and adolescence. Of note, the trajectories depicted are only examples from a wide range of possible trajectories, and are modelled around findings regarding the development of conduct problems (Barker & Maughan, 2009). E-E, environment-environment; G-E, gene-environment;
Review : Mental health and resilience in HIV / AIDS-affected children : a review of the literature and recommendations for future research

T. S. Betancourt, S. E. Meyers-Ohki, A. Charrow, and N. Hansen Department of Global Health and Population/François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA; François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
Influence of heat treatment on microstructure, mechanical and corrosion behavior of WE43 alloy fabricated by laser-beam powder bed fusion

Magnesium (Mg) alloys are considered to be a new generation of revolutionary medical metals. Laser-beam powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) is suitable for fabricating metal implants with personalized and complicated structures. However, the as-built part usually exhibits undesirable microstructure and unsatisfactory performance. In this work, WE43 parts were firstly fabricated by PBF-LB and then subjected to heat treatment. Although a high densification rate of 99.91% was achieved using suitable processes, the as-built parts exhibited anisotropic and layered microstructure with heterogeneously precipitated Nd-rich intermetallic. After heat treatment, fine and nano-scaled Mg24Y5 particles were precipitated. Meanwhile, the α-Mg grains underwent recrystallization and turned coarsened slightly, which effectively weakened the texture intensity and reduced the anisotropy. As a consequence, the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength were significantly improved to (250.2 ± 3.5) MPa and (312 ± 3.7) MPa, respectively, while the elongation was still maintained at a high level of 15.2%. Furthermore, the homogenized microstructure reduced the tendency of localized corrosion and favored the development of uniform passivation film. Thus, the degradation rate of WE43 parts was decreased by an order of magnitude. Besides, in-vitro cell experiments proved their favorable biocompatibility.
Educational Technology: The Development of a Concept

Foreword Introduction Chapter 1: Forerunners to Educational Technology Chapter 2: 1963-The Official Inception Chapter 3: 1972-The Struggle for Identity Chapter 4: 1977-The Systemization of Educational Technology Chapter 5: 1994-The Full Circle Chapter 6: Problems with Definitions of Educational Technology
Exploiting Texture-Motion Duality in Optical Flow and Image Segmentation by

This thesis develops an algorithm that combines color and motion information to produce superior optical flow and segmentation output. The algorithm’s main contribution is its ability to exploit the duality of segmentation and flow information. In areas where color/texture segmentation is well-defined, optical flow is under-constrained, and vice-versa. The thesis offers a review of relevant literature, a detailed description of the algorithm, and information about its performance on a variety of natural images. Thesis Supervisor: Paul A. Viola Title: Associate Professor
Modeling the Impacts of Rail Transit Investment on the Values of Residential Property: A Hedonic Price Approach in the Case of Izmir Subway, Turkey ∗

Location theory states that accessibility benefits will be capitalized into property values. This study attempts to model the relationship between residential property values and changes in accessibility caused by a rail transit investment in public transportation in the case of Izmir Subway, Turkey. To test the research question, hedonic price model was used to determine whether improved accessibility due to a public transportation investment has had any effect on residential property values. The effects associated with accessibility have been measured using distance and travel times. The models indicate that proximity to the subway stations is a statistically significant determinant of the market price of residential property units. Each additional meter a way from subway station decreased the price of residential units.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth Strain Partitioning and Present-Day Fault Kinematics in NW Tibet From Envisat SAR Interferometry

An 8 year archive of Envisat synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data over a 300 × 500 km 2 wide area in northwestern Tibet is analyzed to construct a line-of-sight map of the current surface velocity ﬁeld. The resulting velocity map reveals (1) a velocity gradient across the Altyn Tagh fault, (2) a sharp velocity change along a structure following the base of the alluvial fans in southern Tarim, and (3) a broad velocity gradient, following the Jinsha suture. The interferometric synthetic aperture radar velocity ﬁeld is combined with published GPS data to constrain the geometry and slip rates of a fault model consisting of a vertical fault plane under the Altyn Tagh fault and a shallow ﬂat décollement ending in a steeper ramp on the Tarim side. The solutions converge toward 0.7 mm/yr of pure thrusting on the décollement-ramp system and 10.5 mm/yr of left-lateral strike-slip movement on the Altyn Tagh fault, below a 17 km locking depth. A simple elastic dislocation model across the Jinsha suture shows that data are consistent with 4–8 mm/yr of left-lateral shear across this structure. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar processing steps include implementing a stepwise unwrapping method starting with high-quality interferograms to assist in unwrapping noisier interferograms, iteratively estimating long-wavelength spatial ramps, and referencing all interferograms to bedrock pixels surrounding sedimentary basins. A speciﬁc focus on atmospheric delay estimation using the ERA-Interim model decreases the uncertainty on the velocity across the Tibet border by a factor of 2.
Breeding sites of culicidae in Akwa Ibom state, Nig eria

Integrated Vector Management (IVM) is contributing significantly to the reduction in morbidity and mor tality from malaria and bancroftian filariasis. An aspect of IV M is Larval Source Management (LSM). A prerequisite to success with LSM is knowledge of preferred breeding sites o f important vectors. A study was therefore undertak en to identify preferred breeding sites of malaria, bancroftian fi lariasis and yellow fever vectors in Akwa Ibom Stat e. Investigations were conducted in eight towns/villag es in urban/rural environments, across four eco-veg etational zones (Mangrove Swamp Forest, Freshwater Swamp Fore st, Lowland Rainforest, and Moist Savanna Woodland) in the State. The following breeding sites (streams, p onds, rivers, ground/rock pools, discarded containe rs, ditches, drains, holes in plants/leaf axils, domesticated co ntainers, pit latrines) were examined. Collected im matures (with the exception of those from pit latrines) were rear ed to adulthood. In pit latrines, adults emerged in situ. Adults were identified with relevant keys. There was no signifi cant difference in numbers of immatures collected f rom rural and urban locations. Wet season collections were approx imately 4-fold the dry season numbers of immatures. Mangrove swamp forest produced 40.0% of all immatures and lo wland rainforest about 15.0%. The other eco-vegetat ion zones (Freshwater swamp forest, Moist savanna woodland) p roduced virtually equal numbers. Anopheles gambiae s.l. preferred natural waters (streams, rivers, ponds an d ground/rock pools) yielded 35%, while containers produced 40%. The polluted sites (pit latrines, drains/ditch es) were preferred by Culex quinquefasciatus. Other Culex spp. avoided pit latrines. Aedes spp. preferred sites in the container category (discarded/domestic contain ers, holes in plants). Data obtained will be useful in larval sou rce management, as a component of integrated vector management for malaria, Bancroftian filariasis and yellow fever control.
Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and Myocardial Infarction-A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and Objective: An increasing amount of epidemiological original studies suggested that long-term exposure to particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ) could be associated with the risk of myocardial infarction(MI), but the results were inconsistent. We aimed to synthesized available cohort studies to identify the association between ambient air pollution (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ) and MI risk by a meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed and Embase were searched through September 2019 to identify studies that met predetermined inclusion criterion. Reference lists from retrieved articles were also reviewed. A random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled relative risk ( RR ) and 95% confidence intervals ( CI ). Results: Twenty-two cohort studies involving 6,567,314 participants and 865,98 patients with MI were included in this systematic review. The pooled results showed that higher levels of ambient air pollution (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ) exposure were significantly associated with the risk of MI. The pooled relative ratio ( RR) for each 10-μg/m 3 increment in PM 2.5 and PM 10 were 1.20 (95% CI : 1.11–1.29), and1.03 (95% CI :1.00-1.07) respectively. Exclusion of any single study did not materially alter the combined risk estimate. Conclusions: Integrated evidence from cohort studies supports the hypothesis that long-term exposure to PM 2.5 and PM 10 as a risk factor for MI.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR STANDARDISATION ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE DE NORMALISATION ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 CODING OF MOVING PICTURES AND AUDIO ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 MPEG/M15338

During its 110 th meeting, MPEG issued the Study of the Carriage of Still Image and Image Sequences [1]. During the same period, an alternative proposal for the storage of HEVC images, called BPG (Better Portable Graphics) was released [2] and demonstrated using open source encoder and JavaScript decoder [3]. The purpose of this contribution is to raise awareness of this release amongst MPEG members, to study the differences between the MPEG format and the BPG format, and to determine if/how the MPEG format should evolve.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR STANDARDISATION ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE DE NORMALISATION ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 CODING OF MOVING PICTURES AND AUDIO ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 MPEG/M15175

Although currently our software can be used only for generation of disparity maps from stereo pairs and cannot exploit information from multi-view video sequences, it is worth to notice that both components may be easily extended to support extraction of depth maps from more than two views. Block matching can be extended by simple modification of SAD-based matching scheme that reflects relative positions of cameras. SAD computation must respect pixel values in all images and disparity changes over views. Optical flow can be upgraded by extension of gradient computation equations.
Imaging pre‐existing natural fractures using microseismic data

In hydraulic fracturing treatments, locating not only hydraulic fractures but also any pre‐existing natural fractures and faults in a subsurface reservoir is very important. Hydraulic fractures can be tracked by locating microseismic events, but to identify the locations of natural fractures, an additional technique is required. In this paper, we present a method to image pre‐existing fractures and faults near a borehole with virtual reverse vertical seismic profiling data or virtual single‐well profiling data (limited to seismic reflection data) created from microseismic monitoring using seismic interferometry. The virtual source data contain reflections from natural fractures and faults, and these features can be imaged by applying migration to the virtual source data. However, the imaging zone of fractures in the proposed method is strongly dependent on the geographic extent of the microseismic events and the location and direction of the fracture. To verify our method, we produced virtual reverse vertical seismic profiling and single‐well profiling data from synthetic microseismic data and compared them with data from real sources in the same relative position as the virtual sources. The results show that the reflection travel times from the fractures in the virtual source data agree well with travel times in the real‐source data. By applying pre‐stack depth migration to the virtual source data, images of the natural fractures were obtained with accurate locations. However, the migrated section of the single‐well profiling data with both real and virtual sources contained spurious fracture images on the opposite side of the borehole. In the case of virtual single‐well profiling data, we could produce correct migration images of fractures by adopting directional redatuming for which the occurrence region of microseismic events is divided into several subdivisions, and fractures located only on the opposite side of the borehole are imaged for each subdivision.
Molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium in ruminants and observation of natural infection by Cryptosporidium andersoni in sheep from Paraná, Brazil

Abstract The aim of this study was to identify Cryptosporidium species found in cattle and sheep in Paraná, southern region of Brazil. Individual fecal samples from 458 bovines and 101 sheep were submitted for molecular analysis by PCR and nested PCR using specific primers for sequences of the 18S ribosomal unit (rRNA). Positive samples were analyzed using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), followed by genetic sequencing for species confirmation. The occurrence of Cryptosporidium was 11.27% (63/559). The highest occurrence was detected in lambs (12/59, 20.33%). From the 63 positive samples, it was possible to identify the species in 58 of them by RFLP and genetic sequencing. Five species of Cryptosporidium were identified: Cryptosporidium andersoni, Cryptosporidium bovis, Cryptosporidium ryanae, Cryptosporidium xiaoi, and Cryptosporidium parvum. The most prevalent species was C. andersoni (41.38%) and the least predominant was C. parvum (10.34%). The most abundant species of Cryptosporidium in dairy calves were C. andersoni (11/25) and C. ryanae (6/25). Of the 17 positive sheep, nine (52.94%) were infected with C. andersoni. This finding is the first report on the occurrence of C. andersoni in naturally infected sheep in Brazil and the first observation of a high absolute occurrence of this Cryptosporidium species in sheep.
STCON System for the CHiME-7 Challenge

This paper describes the STCON system for the CHiME-7 challenge Task 1 (DASR) aimed at distant automatic speech transcription and segmentation with multiple recording devices. The system is generally similar to the Speech Technology Center (STC) system for the CHiME-6 challenge but uses more sophisticated and advanced models for diarization and ASR. Care-fully designed pipeline provides significant improvements compared to the baseline system.
Predicted frequency of wet and dry soil conditions in Tasmanian dairy regions under future climate scenarios

Durations of wet and dry periods are significant factors that influence pasture management on dairy farms. Historical and future simulated daily climate data for two dairy regions of Tasmania (Flowerdale and Ringarooma) was accessed from the ‘Climate Futures for Tasmania’ project and used to simulate a perennial ryegrass sward growing on a clay loam soil. The simulated soil moisture content to a depth of 400mm was used as the criteria for determining number of wet (soil moisture > 160mm) and dry (soil moisture <120mm) days per annum. The predicted mean number of dry and wet days for each region for six general circulation models (GCMs; CSIRO-Mk3.5, ECHAM5, GFDL 2.0, GFDL 2.1, MIROC3.2 and UKHad), was computed for the baseline period (years 1971 to 2000) and three future climate periods (years of 2001 to 2030, 2031 to 2060 and 2061 to 2090). By years 2061 to 2090, the predicted mean number of wet days at Flowerdale and Ringarooma is predicted to decline by 8.5 and 4.5 days per annum, respectively. In contrast, the mean number of dry days for Flowerdale and Ringarooma is predicted to increase by 7.5 and 4.8 days, respectively. While there was little change in the mean number of wet and dry days when averaged over each GCM, there was substantial variation between GCMs for any particular period and region. This paper discusses the implication of these results and also highlights the potential influence of inter-annual climate variability on dairy farming systems.