Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and I Need a Job: A Qualitative Exploration of Mid-Year Engineering Students’ Future Possible Careers

PhD a BS in Electrical Engineering Her research interests are in undergraduate engineering student motivations and undergraduate engineering problem solving skill development and strategies. Lisa Benson and the of the Journal of Engineering Education. Her research focuses on the interactions between student motivation and their learning experiences. Her projects focus on student perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards becoming engineers and scientists, development of problem solving skills, self-regulated learning, and epistemic beliefs. She earned a B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of Vermont, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Clemson University. Abstract This research paper on students’ future possible careers is situated in a larger mixed methods study exploring mid-year engineering students’ motivations related to their future possible careers. Previous work has demonstrated the importance of motivation in engineering for improved academic performance and retention. Our work is situated in the future-oriented motivation frameworks of future time perspectives (FTP) and future possible selves (FPS). In this study we further qualitatively explore the perception of a group of students who have been quantitatively identified as having shortened future time perspectives and unattainable ideal future possible selves, in terms of their future careers. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, we interviewed eight mid-year engineering students who quantitatively demonstrated a focus on short-term goals and a belief that they will not achieve their ideal future career. Those interview transcripts were analyzed using directed content analysis (DCA), an a priori coding based on a previously developed codebook, while also allowing for new qualitative codes to emerge. Participants primarily described a focus on the near-future, general lack of future-oriented motivation and lack of connection between the present and future. The short extension into the future was described by students as being affected by their basic wellbeing and a sense of feeling overwhelmed by their current workload. Participants also described a fear of or feelings of being stuck in engineering. When considering inclusivity in our course or policy decisions, we can also consider different student motivations and perceptions of the future. By allowing for some flexibility in engineering curricula, we can provide safe opportunities for each student to find the career path that is the best fit for their future goals, and potentially reduce the fear, discomfort, or feelings of being stuck they might associate with thinking about the future.
Status of Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis Among Adolescents in Anaocha Local Government Area, Anambra State, Nigeria: Prevalence, Associated Factors, and Future Directions After a Decade of Ongoing Mass Administration of Medicines

Over the past decade, Anambra State, Nigeria, has implemented mass administration of medicines (MAMs) to combat soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), a significant public health challenge in low-income regions. Nevertheless, these efforts have predominantly focused on pre-school and school-aged children, leaving a notable gap in understanding STH infection rates and the efficacy of these campaigns among secondary school adolescents, who have been excluded from this initiative. Our study aimed to address this critical knowledge gap by assessing soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) prevalence and contextual factors hindering effective control among adolescents in Anambra State, Nigeria. We actively engaged 443 adolescents with a mean age of 14 years in a school-based cross-sectional study in selected communities within the Anaocha Local Government Area from 8 February to 7 July 2023, following informed consent and assent procedures. Employing a stratified random sampling technique, we collected demographic data and assessed STH risk factors using a structured questionnaire hosted on the Kobo Toolbox platform. For quantitative analysis of STH infections, the Kato-Katz technique was used. Analysis was performed using SPSS version 25, incorporating descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression, with statistical significance set at p<0.05. Of the 443 (213 males (48.0%) and 230 females (52.0%) adolescents studied, the overall prevalence of STH observed was 35.2% (156/443). Ascaris lumbricoides was the prevalent STH species (16.9%), followed by Trichuris trichiura (1.4%) and hookworm (0.5%). Only light-intensity infection was observed. Mixed infections were observed in 16.5% of adolescents, involving A. lumbricoides and hookworm (10.8%), followed by A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura (3.2%) and all three STH (2.5%). The observed overall prevalence was not statistically significant with respect to gender (OR: 0.961; 95% CI: 0.651-1.420; p > 0.05) or age (OR: 0.686; 95% CI: 0.459-1.025; p>0.05). Class (grade level) (OR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.25 - 2.45, p = 0.003), knowledge and transmission of STH infection (OR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.42 - 0.86, p = 0.008), parental occupation (OR = 1.90, 95% CI: 1.35 - 2.67, p < 0.001), parents' literacy level (OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.48 - 0.96, p = 0.027), and the type of toilet (OR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.54 - 3.00, p < 0.001) were all significantly correlated with STH infection. These findings highlight the role of adolescents in sustaining soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) transmission. Coupled with school-based deworming expansion, innovative improvements in water, sanitation, hygiene, and awareness can provide a cost-effective, sustainable solution for combatting STH infections in Anambra State.
Projected Langevin dynamics and a gradient flow for entropic optimal transport

The classical (overdamped) Langevin dynamics provide a natural algorithm for sampling from its invariant measure, which uniquely minimizes an energy functional over the space of probability measures, and which concentrates around the minimizer(s) of the associated potential when the noise parameter is small. We introduce analogous diffusion dynamics that sample from an entropy-regularized optimal transport, which uniquely minimizes the same energy functional but constrained to the set $\Pi(\mu,\nu)$ of couplings of two given marginal probability measures $\mu$ and $\nu$ on $\mathbb{R}^d$, and which concentrates around the optimal transport coupling(s) for small regularization parameter. More specifically, our process satisfies two key properties: First, the law of the solution at each time stays in $\Pi(\mu,\nu)$ if it is initialized there. Second, the long-time limit is the unique solution of an entropic optimal transport problem. In addition, we show by means of a new log-Sobolev-type inequality that the convergence holds exponentially fast, for sufficiently large regularization parameter and for a class of marginals which strictly includes all strongly log-concave measures. By studying the induced Wasserstein geometry of the submanifold $\Pi(\mu,\nu)$, we argue that the SDE can be viewed as a Wasserstein gradient flow on this space of couplings, at least when $d=1$, and we identify a conjectural gradient flow for $d \ge 2$. The main technical difficulties stems from the appearance of conditional expectation terms which serve to constrain the dynamics to $\Pi(\mu,\nu)$.
Draft & Verify: Lossless Large Language Model Acceleration via Self-Speculative Decoding

We present a novel inference scheme, self-speculative decoding, for accelerating Large Language Models (LLMs) without the need for an auxiliary model. This approach is characterized by a two-stage process: drafting and verification. The drafting stage generates draft tokens at a slightly lower quality but more quickly, which is achieved by selectively skipping certain intermediate layers during drafting Subsequently, the verification stage employs the original LLM to validate those draft output tokens in one forward pass. This process ensures the final output remains identical to that produced by the unaltered LLM, thereby maintaining output quality. The proposed method requires no additional neural network training and no extra memory footprint, making it a plug-and-play and cost-effective solution for inference acceleration. Benchmarks with LLaMA-2 and its fine-tuned models demonstrated a speedup up to 1.73$\times$.
The Dynamics of Synthesis and Localization of Jumbo Phage RNA Polymerases inside Infected Cells

A nucleus-like structure composed of phage-encoded proteins and containing replicating viral DNA is formed in Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells infected by jumbo bacteriophage phiKZ. The PhiKZ genes are transcribed independently from host RNA polymerase (RNAP) by two RNAPs encoded by the phage. The virion RNAP (vRNAP) transcribes early viral genes and must be injected into the cell with phage DNA. The non-virion RNAP (nvRNAP) is composed of early genes products and transcribes late viral genes. In this work, the dynamics of phage RNAPs localization during phage phiKZ infection was studied. We provide direct evidence of PhiKZ vRNAP injection in infected cells and show that it is excluded from the phage nucleus. The nvRNAP is synthesized shortly after the onset of infection and localizes in the nucleus. We propose that spatial separation of two phage RNAPs allows coordinated expression of phage genes belonging to different temporal classes.
Biosensor Förster resonance energy transfer detection by the phasor approach to fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy

We present here the phasor approach to biosensor Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) detection by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) and show that this method of data representation is robust towards biosensor design as well as the fluorescence artifacts inherent to the cellular environment. We demonstrate this property on a series of dual and single chain biosensors, which report the localization of Rac1 and RhoA activity, whilst performing concomitant ratiometric FRET analysis on the acquired FLIM data by the generalized polarization (GP) approach. We then evaluate and compare the ability of these two methods to quantitatively image biosensor FRET signal as a function of time and space. We find that with lifetime analysis in the phasor plot each molecular species is transformed into a two‐dimensional coordinate system where independent mixtures of fluorophores can be distinguished from changes in lifetime due to FRET. This enables the fractional contribution of the free and bound state of a dual chain biosensor or the low and high FRET species of a single chain biosensor to be quantified in each pixel of an image. The physical properties intrinsic to each biosensor design are also accurately characterized by the phasor analysis; thus, this method could be used to inform biosensor optimization at the developmental stage. We believe that as biosensors become more sophisticated and are multiplexed with other fluorescent molecular tools, biosensor FRET detection by the phasor approach to FLIM will not only become imperative to their use but also their advancement. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Age‐related changes in P2Y receptor signalling in mouse cochlear supporting cells

Our sense of hearing depends on the function of a specialised class of sensory cells, the hair cells, which are found in the organ of Corti of the mammalian cochlea. The unique physiological environment in which these cells operate is maintained by a syncitium of non‐sensory supporting cells, which are crucial for regulating cochlear physiology and metabolic homeostasis. Despite their importance for cochlear function, the role of these supporting cells in age‐related hearing loss, the most common sensory deficit in the elderly, is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the age‐related changes in the expression and function of metabotropic purinergic receptors (P2Y1, P2Y2 and P2Y4) in the supporting cells of the cochlear apical coil. Purinergic signalling in supporting cells is crucial during the development of the organ of Corti and purinergic receptors are known to undergo changes in expression during ageing in several tissues. Immunolabelling and Ca2+ imaging experiments revealed a downregulation of P2Y receptor expression and a decrease of purinergic‐mediated calcium responses after early postnatal stages in the supporting cells. An upregulation of P2Y receptor expression was observed in the aged cochlea when compared to 1 month‐old adults. The aged mice also had significantly larger calcium responses and displayed calcium oscillations during prolonged agonist applications. We conclude that supporting cells in the aged cochlea upregulate P2Y2 and P2Y4 receptors and display purinergic‐induced Ca2+ responses that mimic those observed during pre‐hearing stages of development, possibly aimed at limiting or preventing further damage to the sensory epithelium.
A Model Predictive Control for Renewable Energy Based AC Microgrids without Any PID Regulators Shan,

In renewable energy systems, fluctuating outputs from energy sources and variable power demand may deteriorate the voltage quality. In this paper, a model predictive control strategy without using any proportional-integral-derivative (PID) regulators is proposed. The proposed strategy consists of a model predictive current and power (MPCP) control scheme and a model predictive voltage and power (MPVP) control method. By controlling the bidirectional dc-dc converter of the battery energy storage system based on the MPCP algorithm, the fluctuating output from the renewable energy sources can be smoothed, while stable dc-bus voltage can be maintained. Meanwhile, the ac/dc interlinking converter is controlled by using the MPVP scheme to ensure stable ac voltage supply and proper power flow between the microgrid and the utility grid. Then, a system-level energy management scheme (EMS) is developed to ensure stable operation under different operation modes by considering fluctuating power generation, variable power demand, battery state of charge (SOC), and electricity price. Compared with the traditional cascade control, the proposed method is simpler and shows better performance, which is validated in simulation based on a 3.5 MW pv-wind-battery system with realworld solar and wind profiles.
Title : Tracking niche change through time : simultaneous inference of 1 environmental niche evolution and estimation of contemporary niches 2 3

21 The environmental niche of a species is often studied from two different perspectives. Niche 22 modelling correlates a species’ niche to known observations from contemporary species 23 distribution. Niche evolution applies phylogenetic methods on summary statistics of species 24 distribution to infer the patterns of changing niche over time. Even though the two areas of 25 research are fundamentally linked and are typically both based on the same species 26 distribution data, modelling the contemporary niche and inferring niche history are never 27 combined in the same analytical framework. Here we provide a new way to combine both 28 niche modelling and niche evolution, using distribution data and phylogenies. Doing so 29 allows us to simultaneously infer the history of niche evolution and estimate the 30 environmental niche of each tip species on the phylogeny. It also avoids some limitations of 31 the separate methods, such as the failure of environmental niche models to account for the 32 role of history in shaping current species distribution, and the use of unrealistic models of 33 change in phylogenetic comparative methods. The novelty of our method is that it explicitly 34 models three fundamental processes of niche evolution − adaptation, speciation, and dispersal 35 − applying a reversible jump algorithm to infer the occurrences of these processes on 36 phylogeny. Simulations demonstrate high accuracy of our method for estimating the 37 environmental niche of tip species and reasonable power to identify the occurrences of the 38 three processes on phylogeny. We also prove the efficacy of our approach using real-world 39 data. We show that our method of combining niche modelling with niche evolution is far 40 more effective at predicting salt tolerance in Australian Acacia species than using 41 environmental niche modelling alone. We also show that we can correctly infer periods of 42 evolutionary change in response to changing climate: our method identified two peak times in 43 drought adaptation events in the evolutionary history of Australian Acacia, which correspond 44 to the two drying periods in Australia during the Cenozoic. Therefore, we believe our method 45 (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted December 30, 2019. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2019.12. 29.890608 doi: bioRxiv preprint
Automatic FSM Synthesis for Low-Power Mixed Synchronous / Asynchronous Implementation

Power consumption in a synchronous FSM (Finite-State Machine) can be reduced by partitioning it into a number of coupled sub-FSMs where only the part that is involved in a state transition is clocked. Automatic synthesis of a partitioned FSM includes a partitioning algorithm and sub-FSM synthesis to an implementation architecture. In this paper, we first introduce an implementation architecture for partitioned FSMs that uses gated-clock technique for disabling idle parts of the circuits and asynchronous controllers for communication between the sub-FSMs. We then describe a new transformation procedure for the sub-FSM. The FSM synthesis flow has been automated in a prototype tool that accepts an FSM specification. The tool generates synthesizable RT-level VHDL code with identical cycle-to-cycle input/ output behavior in accordance with the specification. An average power reduction of 45% has been obtained for a set standard FSM benchmarks.
Rapid flapping and fiber-reinforced membrane wings are key to high-performance bat flight

Bats fly using significantly different wing motions than other fliers, stemming from the complex interplay of their membrane wings’ motion and structural properties. Biological studies show that many bats fly at Strouhal numbers, the ratio of flapping to flight speed, 50-150% above the range typically associated with optimal locomotion. We use high-resolution fluid-structure interaction simulations of a bat wing to independently study the role of kinematics and material/structural properties on aerodynamic performance and show that peak propulsive and lift efficiencies for a bat-like wing motion require flapping 66% faster than for a symmetric motion, agreeing with the increased flapping frequency observed in zoological studies. In addition, we find that reduced membrane stiffness is associated with improved propulsive efficiency until the membrane flutters, but that incorporating microstructural anisotropy arising from biological fiber reinforcement enables a tenfold reduction of the flutter energy whilst maintaining high aerodynamic efficiency. Our results indicate that animals with specialized flapping motions may have correspondingly specialized flapping speeds, in contrast to arguments for a universally efficient Strouhal range. Additionally, our study demonstrates the significant role that the microstructural constitutive properties of the membrane wing of a bat can have on its propulsive performance.
An explainable language model for antibody specificity prediction using curated influenza hemagglutinin antibodies

Despite decades of antibody research, it remains challenging to predict the specificity of an antibody solely based on its sequence. Two major obstacles are the lack of appropriate models and inaccessibility of datasets for model training. In this study, we curated a dataset of >5,000 influenza hemagglutinin (HA) antibodies by mining research publications and patents, which revealed many distinct sequence features between antibodies to HA head and stem domains. We then leveraged this dataset to develop a lightweight memory B cell language model (mBLM) for sequence-based antibody specificity prediction. Model explainability analysis showed that mBLM captured key sequence motifs of HA stem antibodies. Additionally, by applying mBLM to HA antibodies with unknown epitopes, we discovered and experimentally validated many HA stem antibodies. Overall, this study not only advances our molecular understanding of antibody response to influenza virus, but also provides an invaluable resource for applying deep learning to antibody research.
Large scale inverse problems : computational methods and applications in the earth sciences

This book is the second volume of three volume series recording the "Radon Special Semester 2011 on Multiscale Simulation & Analysis in Energy and the Environment" taking place in Linz, Austria, October 3-7, 2011. The volume addresses the common ground in the mathematical and computational procedures required for large-scale inverse problems and data assimilation in forefront applications.
Wage expectations for higher education students in Spain ∗

We assess the ability of students to forecast future earnings, by using data on expected wages selfreported by college students with di erent graduation horizons. We nd a signi cant gender e ect, by which wages expectations are systematically lower for women than for men, this e ect being di erent with di erent degree type in the case of junior students. However, the gender gap in actual wages exceeds the gender gap in wage expectations, suggesting that women do not fully account for the gender gap in their future earnings. Also, junior students with low college performance unrealistically predict higher expected wages. The comparison between students' wage expectations and actual wages for college graduates indicates that college students tend to over predict future wages, and overprediction is higher for women and for fresher students.
Pattern Reconfigurable Wideband Loop Antenna for Thorax Imaging

A unidirectional loop antenna that can achieve wideband pattern reconfigurability from −40° to +40° in the azimuth plane is presented. The antenna is designed to fulfill the multislice (level) scanning requirements of electromagnetic imaging systems for thorax imaging. To overcome the need for positioning of several antenna arrays, and hence eliminate the mutual coupling related complications, a square loop antenna with reconfigurable pattern is designed. To create a unidirectional radiation, the loop is loaded with capacitive gaps, which convert its radiation mechanism to that of two virtual dipole arrays with quadrature phase excitation. By utilizing this feature, the location of the gaps is varied on the loop’s structure to form virtual dipole arrays in different directions, thus rotating the radiation pattern without physically moving the structure of the antenna. As a proof of concept, six gaps were created on the loop and each gap is loaded with a p-i-n diode to electronically switch between the positions of the designed gaps, thus enabling changing the radiation direction. The proposed antenna can achieve a compact size of $0.32\lambda \times 0.32\lambda \times 0.002\lambda $ ( $\lambda $ is the wavelength of the lowest resonance of the antenna) and a wide fractional bandwidth of 32% at 0.8–1.15 GHz, with a peak gain and front-to-back ratio of 2.1 dBi and 8 dB, respectively. The antenna is successfully tested on a thorax imaging platform to detect small volume of water (5 mL) inside lungs as an emulation of early pulmonary edema.