Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coordinate-Unet 3D for segmentation of lung parenchyma

Lung segmentation is an initial step to provide accurate lung parenchyma in many studies on lung diseases based on analyzing the Computed Tomography (CT) scan, especially in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) detection. In this work, Coordinate-UNet 3D, a model inspired by UNet, is proposed to improve the accuracy of lung segmentation in the CT scan. Like UNet, the proposed model consists of a contracting/encoder path to extract the high-level information and an expansive/decoder path to recover the features to provide the segmentation. However, we have considered modifying the structure inside each level of the model and using the Coordinate Convolutional layer as the final layer to provide the segmentation. This network was trained end-to-end from a small set of CT scans of NSCLC patients. The experimental results show the proposed network can provide a highly accurate segmentation for the validation set with a Dice Coefficient index of 0.991, an F1 score of 0.976, and a Jaccard index (IOU) of 0.9535.
Compression-based nonnegative tensor CP decomposition of hyperspectral big data

New hyperspectral missions will collect huge amounts of hyperspectral data. Besides, it is possible now to acquire time series and multiangular hyperspectral images. The process and analysis of these big data collections will require common hyperspectral techniques to be adapted or reformulated. The tensor decomposition, a.k. a. multiway analysis, is a technique to decompose multiway arrays, that is, hypermatrices with more than two dimensions (ways). Hyperspectral time series and multiangular acquisitions can be represented as a 3-way tensor. Here, we apply Canonical Polyadic tensor decomposition techniques to the blind analysis of hyperspectral big data. In order to do so, we use a novel compression-based nonnegative CP decomposition. We show that the proposed methodology can be interpreted as multilinear blind spectral unmixing, a higher order extension of the widely known spectral unmixing. In the proposed approach, the big hyperspectral tensor is decomposed in three sets of factors corresponding to spectral signatures, their spatial distribution and temporal/angular changes. We provide experimental validation using a study case of the snow coverage of the French Alps during the snow season.
Black holes in a magnetic universe

We present a general procedure for transforming asymptotically flat axially symmetric solutions of the Einstein–Maxwell equations into solutions resembling Melvin’s magnetic universe. Specific applications yield metrics associated with black holes in a magnetic universe. It is hoped that these solutions will be of interest to astrophysicists studying gravitational collapse in the presence of strong magnetic fields.
The comparison of two structures of wide band horn antenna

ABSTRACT This study reports the two different wide band horn antennas which operate in 6.5–20.5 GHz range. The first antenna is a simple double ridged horn (one-step flare) and the second antenna is a novel dual section flare horn (two-step flare). Flare of the second antenna comprises of two sections, ridged flare and radiating flare. This two-step antenna is designed to have 10 dB similar beamwidth for the two main polarisations at the rotation state of 45°. For better comparison in the design of antennas, similarity of the gain is considered. The dimensions of these two antennas are approximately the same. The performances of two designs are investigated in terms of VSWR and location of the phase centre. Moreover, similarities of the patterns for both vertical and horizontal polarisations over 10 dB beam width (at 45° slant rotation) for the two designs are compared. The results show that the patterns of one-step flare antenna for the two main polarisations over the 10 dB beamwidth are not the same. Simulations of these antennas are done by HFSS Ansoft designer software and Microwave studio CST software. One prototype of each antenna is fabricated and tested with exceptional comparison between measured and simulated results.
Low Muscle Mass Is Associated with Poorer Glycemic Control and Higher Oxidative Stress in Older Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Body composition changes that occur during aging, such as loss of lean mass, are unfavorable at metabolic level and they can explain, in part, the appearance of certain age-associated diseases such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). Separately, T2D is associated with an increase in oxidative stress (OS) which negatively affects skeletal muscle. Our aim was to study the differences in clinical and nutritional parameters, disease control, and OS in a cohort of older patients with T2D classified according to the amount of lean mass they had. We included 100 adults older than 65 years with T2D. We found that women with low fat-free mass and muscle mass have worse T2D metabolic control. Moreover, the patients with a low percentile of muscle mass present a high value of OS. The study shows that the presence of low lean mass (LM) in the geriatric population diagnosed with T2D is associated with poorer glycemic control and greater OS.
Self-Powered Wireless Condition Monitoring for Rotating Machinery

Condition monitoring has played a significant role in reducing downtime and maintenance costs for key rotating machinery. However, traditional methods to power wireless sensor nodes depend highly on capacity-limited batteries or wiring from external source. Although the rotational energy harvesting technologies have been widely considered as a promising self-powered method, the output power under low-frequency occasions fails to supply the usable energy to wireless sensor nodes for condition monitoring. Therefore, a self-powered wireless condition monitoring system for rotating machinery in low-frequency occasions is presented in this article. A variable reluctance energy harvester is designed to convert rotational motion into electrical power. The ring-shaped stator contains magnets and tile silicon steel, while the rotor is composed of teethed silicon steel and coils. Besides, a ring-shaped circuit for low-speed occasions is designed to achieve power management and storage, signal detection and wireless transmission. In addition, an experimental test is carried out to verify the performance of the proposed self-powered wireless condition monitoring system. The results show that the output power of the proposed harvester reaches 336.7–851.8 mW at 200–328 rpm, while the average power after rectification and filtering is 203.3–602.5 mW. Moreover, the power test results show that the broadcasting, connecting, collecting and transmitting, and sleep modes of WiFi consume around 450, 206, 313, and 46 mW, respectively. By properly prolonging sleep mode, the average power consumption of wireless sensor networks can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, the condition monitoring performance of the proposed self-powered system is verified by acceleration detection.
Quantitative CT Analysis Based on Smoking Habits and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Patients with Normal Chest CT

Purpose To assess normal CT scans with quantitative CT (QCT) analysis based on smoking habits and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Materials and Methods From January 2013 to December 2014, 90 male patients with normal chest CT and quantification analysis results were enrolled in our study [non-COPD never-smokers (n = 38) and smokers (n = 45), COPD smokers (n = 7)]. In addition, an age-matched cohort study was performed for seven smokers with COPD. The square root of the wall area of a hypothetical bronchus of internal perimeter 10 mm (Pi10), skewness, kurtosis, mean lung attenuation (MLA), and percentage of low attenuation area (%LAA) were evaluated. Results Among patients without COPD, the Pi10 of smokers (4.176 ± 0.282) was about 0.1 mm thicker than that of never-smokers (4.070 ± 0.191, p = 0.047), and skewness and kurtosis of smokers (2.628 ± 0.484 and 6.448 ± 3.427) were lower than never-smokers (2.884 ± 0.624, p = 0.038 and 8.594 ± 4.944, p = 0.02). The Pi10 of COPD smokers (4.429 ± 0.435, n = 7) was about 0.4 mm thicker than never-smokers without COPD (3.996 ± 0.115, n = 14, p = 0.005). There were no significant differences in MLA and %LAA between groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion Even on normal CT scans, QCT showed that the airway walls of smokers are thicker than never-smokers regardless of COPD and it preceded lung parenchymal changes.
Search for magnetic monopoles with the ANTARES neutrino telescope

Magnetic monopoles are hypothetical particles predicted to be created in the early Universe in the framework of Grand Unified Theories (GUTs). The signature of the passage of relativistic magnetic monopole in a Cherenkov telescope like ANTARES (Astronomy with a Neutrinos Telescope and Abyss environmental RESearch) [1] is expected to be evident and unambiguous because of the large amount of light emitted compared to that from muons.
Nut consumption and urogenital and genital, gastrointestinal and women‐related cancers: Assessment and review

Abstract The prevalence of cancer, especially in industrial countries, is a major problem for health and treatment systems. Cancer can affect the quality of life of all family members and has many negative effects on the community. Despite many advances in cancer treatment, this disease is still a major worldwide problem. There is strong evidence that dietary habits are effective in protecting against cancer and even helping in the disease treatment progress. Nuts with various biologically‐active compounds, such as vitamins, phytosterols, isoflavones, flavonoids, and polyphenols have been reported to possess anticarcinogenic properties. Accordingly, this review provides an insight into the association between nut consumption and the prevention of some cancers. We considered the cancers related to the urogenital and genital tract, gastrointestinal tract, as well as women‐related cancers. Both cell culture examinations and experimental animal studies alongside observational epidemiological studies demonstrated that regular consumption of a nut‐enriched diet is able to reduce the risk of these cancers.
Simulation of multiplying electron distribution in electron multiplier layer for EBAPS

The multiplying electron distribution within the electron multiplier layer for electron bombarded active pixel sensor (EBAPS) was simulated. The photoelectron scatting trajectories in electron multiplier layer were simulated based on the low-energy electron-solid interaction model and Monte Carlo method. According to semiconductor theory, the influence factors (the incident electron energy, depth and beam diameter) how affecting the energy loss rate were studied. Therefore, the photoelectron scatting trajectories and multiplying electron distribution in electron multiplier layer can be simulated, which will provide theoretical basis to further simulate the charge collection efficiency of EBAPS.
A Black-Box Adversarial Attack Method via Nesterov Accelerated Gradient and Rewiring Towards Attacking Graph Neural Networks

Recent studies have shown that Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are vulnerable to well-designed and imperceptible adversarial attack. Attacks utilizing gradient information are widely used in the field of attack due to their simplicity and efficiency. However, several challenges are faced by gradient-based attacks: 1) Generate perturbations use white-box attacks (i.e., requiring access to the full knowledge of the model), which is not practical in the real world; 2) It is easy to drop into local optima; and 3) The perturbation budget is not limited and might be detected even if the number of modified edges is small. Faced with the above challenges, this article proposes a black-box adversarial attack method, named NAG-R, which consists of two modules known as Nesterov Accelerated Gradient attack module and Rewiring optimization module. Specifically, inspired by adversarial attacks on images, the first module generates perturbations by introducing Nesterov Accelerated Gradient (NAG) to avoid falling into local optima. The second module keeps the fundamental properties of the graph (e.g., the total degree of the graph) unchanged through a rewiring operation, thus ensuring that perturbations are imperceptible. Intensive experiments show that our method has significant attack success and transferability over existing state-of-the-art gradient-based attack methods.
Estimating stability boundaries of distributed-delay oscillators via two-stage numerical integration

A procedure based on the concept of full-discretization and numerical integration is established in this work for the stability analysis of periodic distributed-delay oscillators governed by delay integro-differential equations (DIDEs). DIDEs can be found as models of mechanical systems suffering from distributed-delay feedback, such as regenerative machine tool vibrations modeled by distributed force and wheel shimmy. Unstable vibrations in such systems are systematically avoided/controlled if the boundaries between the stable and unstable subspaces are established. The presented method involves the two-stage application of numerical integration to the governing DIDE. While the first-stage application discretizes and converts the distributed delay to fine series of short discrete delays, the second-stage application results in discrete solutions paving the way for a new method of constructing a finite monodromy operator. The error and convergence of the method are studied. It is found that the presented method is of the same convergence as that of the well-accepted first-order semi-discretization method, but more computationally efficient in terms of time savings. A number of case study DIDEs that have already been studied in the literature using methods of semi-discretization and spectral finite elements are studied with the presented method. It is seen that the presented method is valid as it produces stability results that compare well with those of the earlier works.
Adsorption Features of Tetrahalomethanes (CX4; X = F, Cl, and Br) on β12 Borophene and Pristine Graphene Nanosheets: A Comparative DFT Study

The potentiality of the β12 borophene (β12) and pristine graphene (GN) nanosheets to adsorb tetrahalomethanes (CX4; X = F, Cl, and Br) were investigated using density functional theory (DFT) methods. To provide a thorough understanding of the adsorption process, tetrel (XC-X3∙∙∙β12/GN)- and halogen (X3C-X∙∙∙β12/GN)-oriented configurations were characterized at various adsorption sites. According to the energetic manifestations, the adsorption process of the CX4∙∙∙β12/GN complexes within the tetrel-oriented configuration led to more desirable negative adsorption energy (Eads) values than that within the halogen-oriented analogs. Numerically, Eads values of the CBr4∙∙∙Br1@β12 and T@GN complexes within tetrel-/halogen-oriented configurations were −12.33/−8.91 and −10.03/−6.00 kcal/mol, respectively. Frontier molecular orbital (FMO) results exhibited changes in the EHOMO, ELUMO, and Egap values of the pure β12 and GN nanosheets following the adsorption of CX4 molecules. Bader charge transfer findings outlined the electron-donating property for the CX4 molecules after adsorbing on the β12 and GN nanosheets within the two modeled configurations, except the adsorbed CBr4 molecule on the GN sheet within the tetrel-oriented configuration. Following the adsorption process, new bands and peaks were observed in the band structure and density of state (DOS) plots, respectively, with a larger number in the case of the tetrel-oriented configuration than in the halogen-oriented one. According to the solvent effect affirmations, adsorption energies of the CX4∙∙∙β12/GN complexes increased in the presence of a water medium. The results of this study will serve as a focal point for experimentalists to better comprehend the adsorption behavior of β12 and GN nanosheets toward small toxic molecules.
A Review of TVET Quality Assurance Practice in Uganda

The movement towards internationalisation of education and training practices to facilitate the global flow of labour, technology, trade, and industry; has brought to the forefront the discussions of national TVET strategies, the issues of credibility of qualifications in regard to national economic growth and graduates’ mobility nationally and internationally in search of employment opportunities. This pressure to internationalise TVET systems and qualifications has mainstreamed the development and implementation of national and regional frameworks for quality assurance through which the comparability of standards and qualifications can be achieved. Document analysis research methodology has been used to review and analyse existing regulatory frameworks on quality assurance of education and training in Uganda so as to establish: 1) Existing quality TVET assurance governance entities, 2) Regulatory frameworks that guide TVET quality assurance, and 3) Progress on future opportunities for quality assurance. The findings showed that: numerous loopholes exist in the quality assurance processes of the education sector as a whole; the TVET sub-sector in Uganda is still being guided by the BTVET Act of 2008 lacks a regulatory structure to oversee quality assurance throughout the entire TVET sub-sector in the country; lack of a policy implementation action plan for the TVET Policy; governance of TVET quality assurance in the country is scattered among many government departments and agencies; and existing quality assurance guiding frameworks never encompassed investment and financing of TVET. The paper recommends that the Government of Uganda prioritises the: establishment of the TVET council as envisaged in the TVET Policy, the development and operationalisation of the TVET qualifications framework and TVET qualifications registry system, and the development of a TVET policy implementation Action Plan.
Design of a wound-field flux switching machine with dual-stator to reduce unbalanced shaft magnetic force

Abstract This paper presents the design and experimental verification of an outer-rotor, wound-field flux switching machine for in-wheel traction applications. The 12-stator slot, 7-rotor pole topology was selected because it produces higher torque and fewer back-electromotive force voltage harmonics than the other topologies. The machine was designed on the basis of the physical dimension limitations for in-wheel traction in a lightweight electric scooter. Because this machine exhibits shaft radial magnetic force caused by the odd rotor poles, a novel dual-stator motor structure is proposed to reduce this force. The finite element analysis calculation results demonstrated that the shaft radial force can be reduced to nearly 0 with this design, whereas the generated torque reduced only by 3%. The effectiveness of the design was also verified through the experiments that compared the vibrations of the original and the dual-stator motors. The vibration of the dual-stator motor was substantially lower than that of the original motor.
Dynamics of PO2 and VO2 in resting and contracting rat spinotrapezius muscle

This study examined changes in interstitial PO2, which allowed calculation of VO2 during periods of rest, muscle contraction and recovery using an in situ rat spinotrapezius muscle preparation. The PO2 was measured using phosphorescence quenching microscopy and the muscle VO2 was calculated as the rate of O2 disappearance during brief periods of muscle compression to stop blood flow with a supra-systolic pressure. The PO2 and VO2 measurements were made during “5 s compression and 15 s recovery” (CR) cycles. With all three stimulation frequencies, 1, 2 and 4 Hz, the fall in interstitial PO2 and rise in VO2 from resting values occurred within the first 20 s of contraction. The PO2 during contraction became lower as stimulation frequency increased from 1 to 4 Hz. VO2 was higher at 2 Hz than at 1 Hz contraction. With cessation of stimulation, PO2 began increasing exponentially towards baseline values. After 1 and 2 Hz contraction, the fall in muscle VO2 was delayed by one CR cycle and then exponentially decreased towards resting values. After 4 Hz stimulation, VO2 increased for 2 cycles and then decreased. The post-contraction transients of PO2 and VO2 were not synchronous and had different time constants. With further analysis two distinct functional responses were identified across all stimulation frequencies having PO2 during contraction above or below 30 mmHg. The corresponding VO2 responses were different - for “high” PO2, muscle VO2 reached high levels, while for the “low” PO2 data set muscle VO2 remained low. Recovery patterns were similar to those described above. In summary, local microscopic PO2 and VO2 were measured in resting and contracting muscle in situ and the post-contraction transients of PO2 and VO2 were all much slower than the onset transients.
Interactions between gaussian processes and bayesian estimation

Model learning and state estimation are crucial to interpret the underlying phenomena in many real-world applications. However, it is often challenging to learn the system model and capture the latent states accurately and efficiently due to the fact that the knowledge of the world is highly uncertain. During the past years, Bayesian modeling and estimation approaches have been significantly investigated so that the uncertainty can be elegantly reduced in a flexible probabilistic manner. In practice, however, several drawbacks in both Bayesian modeling and estimation approaches deteriorate the power of Bayesian interpretation. On one hand, the estimation performance is often limited when the system model lacks in flexibility and/or is partially unknown. On the other hand, the modeling performance is often restricted when a Bayesian estimator is not efficient and/or accurate. Inspired by these facts, we propose Interactions Between Gaussian Processes and Bayesian Estimation where we investigate the novel connections between Bayesian model (Gaussian processes) and Bayesian estimator (Kalman filter and Monte Carlo methods) in different directions to address a number of potential difficulties in modeling and estimation tasks. Concretely, we first pay our attention to Gaussian Processes for Bayesian Estimation where a Gaussian process (GP) is used as an expressive nonparametric prior for system models to improve the accuracy and efficiency of Bayesian estimation. Then, we work on Bayesian Estimation for Gaussian Processes where a number of Bayesian estimation approaches, especially Kalman filter and particle filters, are used to speed up the inference efficiency of GP and also capture the distinct input-dependent data properties. Finally, we investigate Dynamical Interaction Between Gaussian Processes and Bayesian Estimation where GP modeling and Bayesian estimation work in a dynamically interactive manner so that GP learner and Bayesian estimator are positively complementary to improve the performance of both modeling and estimation. Through a number of mathematical analysis and experimental demonstrations, we show the effectiveness of our approaches which contribute to both GP and Bayesian estimation.