Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Numerical Assessment of a One-Mass Spring-Based Electromagnetic Energy Harvester on a Vibrating Object

The paper is an exploration of the optimal design parameters of a space-constrained electromagnetic vibration-based generator. An electromagnetic energy harvester is composed of a coiled polyoxymethylen circular shell, a cylindrical NdFeB magnet, and a pair of helical springs. The magnet is vertically confined between the helical springs that serve as a vibrator. The electrical power connected to the coil is actuated when the energy harvester is vibrated by an external force causing the vibrator to periodically move through the coil. The primary factors of the electrical power generated from the energy harvester include a magnet, a spring, a coil, an excited frequency, an excited amplitude, and a design space. In order to obtain maximal electrical power during the excitation period, it is necessary to set the system’s natural frequency equal to the external forcing frequency. There are ten design factors of the energy harvester including the magnet diameter $(D_m)$, the magnet height $(H_m)$, the system damping ratio $(\zeta_{\rm sys})$, the spring diameter $(D_s)$, the diameter of the spring wire $(d_s)$, the spring length $(\ell_s)$, the pitch of the spring $(p_s)$, the spring’s number of revolutions $(N_s)$, the coil diameter $(D_c)$, the diameter of the coil wire $(d_c)$, and the coil’s number of revolutions $(N_c)$. Because of the mutual effects of the above factors, searching for the appropriate design parameters within a constrained space is complicated. Concerning their geometric allocation, the above ten design parameters are reduced to four ($D_m$, $H_m$, $\zeta_{\rm sys}$, and $N_c$). In order to search for optimal electrical power, the objective function of the electrical power is maximized by adjusting the four design parameters ($D_m$, $H_m$, $\zeta_{\rm sys}$, and $N_c$) via the simulated annealing method. Consequently, the optimal design parameters of $D_m$, $H_m$, $\zeta_{\rm sys}$, and $N_c$ that produce maximum electrical power for an electromagnetic energy harvester are found.
Local and global stability indices for a riddled basin attractor of a piecewise linear map

ABSTRACT We consider a piecewise expanding linear map with a Milnor attractor whose basin is riddled with the basin of a second attractor. To characterize the local geometry of this riddled basin, we calculate a stability index for points within the attractor as well as introducing a global stability index for the attractor as a set. Our results show that for Lebesgue almost all points in attractor, the index is positive and we characterize a parameter region, where some points have negative index. We show there exists a dense set of points for which the index is not converge. Comparing to recent results of Keller, we show that the stability index for points in the attractor can be expressed in terms of a global stability index for the attractor and Lyapunov exponents for this point.
Whole genome sequencing of Canadian Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from spontaneous wine fermentations reveals a new Pacific West Coast Wine clade

Abstract Vineyards in wine regions around the world are reservoirs of yeast with oenological potential. Saccharomyces cerevisiae ferments grape sugars to ethanol and generates flavor and aroma compounds in wine. Wineries place a high-value on identifying yeast native to their region to develop a region-specific wine program. Commercial wine strains are genetically very similar due to a population bottleneck and in-breeding compared to the diversity of S. cerevisiae from the wild and other industrial processes. We have isolated and microsatellite-typed hundreds of S. cerevisiae strains from spontaneous fermentations of grapes from the Okanagan Valley wine region in British Columbia, Canada. We chose 75 S. cerevisiae strains, based on our microsatellite clustering data, for whole genome sequencing using Illumina paired-end reads. Phylogenetic analysis shows that British Columbian S. cerevisiae strains cluster into 4 clades: Wine/European, Transpacific Oak, Beer 1/Mixed Origin, and a new clade that we have designated as Pacific West Coast Wine. The Pacific West Coast Wine clade has high nucleotide diversity and shares genomic characteristics with wild North American oak strains but also has gene flow from Wine/European and Ecuadorian clades. We analyzed gene copy number variations to find evidence of domestication and found that strains in the Wine/European and Pacific West Coast Wine clades have gene copy number variation reflective of adaptations to the wine-making environment. The “wine circle/Region B”, a cluster of 5 genes acquired by horizontal gene transfer into the genome of commercial wine strains is also present in the majority of the British Columbian strains in the Wine/European clade but in a minority of the Pacific West Coast Wine clade strains. Previous studies have shown that S. cerevisiae strains isolated from Mediterranean Oak trees may be the living ancestors of European wine yeast strains. This study is the first to isolate S. cerevisiae strains with genetic similarity to nonvineyard North American Oak strains from spontaneous wine fermentations.
Concurrent measurement of perfusion parameters related to small blood vessels and cerebrospinal fluid circulation in the human brain using dynamic dual‐spin‐echo perfusion MRI

Accumulating evidence from recent studies has indicated the importance of studying the interaction between the microvascular and lymphatic systems in the brain. To date, most imaging methods can only measure blood or lymphatic vessels separately, such as dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MRI for blood vessels and DSC MRI‐in‐the‐cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (cDSC MRI) for lymphatic vessels. An approach that can measure both blood and lymphatic vessels in a single scan offers advantages such as a halved scan time and contrast dosage. This study attempts to develop one such approach by optimizing a dual‐echo turbo‐spin‐echo sequence, termed “dynamic dual‐spin‐echo perfusion (DDSEP) MRI”. Bloch simulations were performed to optimize the dual‐echo sequence for the measurement of gadolinium (Gd)‐induced blood and CSF signal changes using a short and a long echo time, respectively. The proposed method furnishes a T1‐dominant contrast in CSF and a T2‐dominant contrast in blood. MRI experiments were performed in healthy subjects to evaluate the dual‐echo approach by comparing it with existing separate methods. Based on simulations, the short and long echo time were chosen around the time when blood signals show maximum difference between post‐ and pre‐Gd scans, and the time when blood signals are completely suppressed, respectively. The proposed method showed consistent results in human brains as previous studies using separate methods. Signal changes from small blood vessels occurred faster than from lymphatic vessels after intravenous Gd injection. In conclusion, Gd‐induced signal changes in blood and CSF can be detected simultaneously in healthy subjects with the proposed sequence. The temporal difference in Gd‐induced signal changes from small blood and lymphatic vessels after intravenous Gd injection was confirmed using the proposed approach in the same human subjects. Results from this proof‐of‐concept study will be used to further optimize DDSEP MRI in subsequent studies.
Decomposition decreases molecular diversity and ecosystem similarity of soil organic matter

Significance Diversity indices are widely used in ecology to describe differences in microbial or plant communities, but are rarely applied to investigate variability in decomposing soil organic matter (SOM) composition. We hypothesized that SOM molecular diversity of SOM decreases primarily due to microbial decomposition of plant litter, by transforming dissolved organic matter into molecularly similar microbially derived organic molecules as they move through the soil profile. We found that increased microbial decomposition decreased the total number of molecules and increased the similarity of molecular composition. However, we also found that SOM composition found in deeper soil layers is increasingly dissimilar across different ecosystems, suggesting that microbial decomposition further drives differences across ecosystems.
Active Vibration Control of Scaled Wing Box Model Using Piezoelectric Stack Actuators

The paper presents a numerical and experimental study aimed at investigating the potential of pre-stressed piezoelectric stack actuators for vibration control of a typical aircraft wing box structure with a tip store. The focus of the study is to assess, through simulation, the control authority of the stack actuators for effectively controlling specific modes of interest and experimentally verify the same. Towards this, a geometrically similar, 1:1.6 scaled model of a typical wing box structure has been designed from data available for a actual aircraft wing box with attached tip store. The model is designed and fabricated such that the first three natural frequencies of the actual wing box and the corresponding mode shapes were replicated closely in the model. Finite element analyses of the actuated structure are performed using ANSYS®. The piezoelectric stack is modeled as a beam element and a thermal analogy concept has been used to simulate the electro-mechanical coupling in the stack actuator. A finite element model is created for the fabricated scaled model along with its mounting rig to include the effects of the rig flexibility. Experimental modal testing results show a good match with numerical computations. Sensitivity studies carried out to study the effectiveness of a single stack actuator at different locations on the front and rear spar of the wing box suggest the different locations where the stack has highest actuation authority over the individual bending and torsion modes. This was verified by the open loop experiments. Comparison between open loop dynamic response simulations and corresponding experimental results establish the validity of the simplified modeling of the stack actuator fairly well within experimental uncertainties. The closed loop model is formulated in state space using experimentally validated modal model for the system characteristics as well as the modal generalized piezoelectric actuation forces. Accelerometers are used for response sensing. The closed loop implementation is aimed at achieving maximum damping of the controlled modes, through a negative velocity feedback control law. The acceleration output is integrated once to obtain the combined velocity signal from all the modes that are sensed. However, the rate gain is designed assuming only first three vibration modes to be significant. Simulations are carried out in SIMULINK® to characterize the effect of control gains on the overall response of the close loop control to a disturbance input, with the constraint on the stack actuator voltage to be within 0-150V. The results show significant improvement in the damping of the first three modes. Closed loop experiments are being implemented.
Risk factors of menopause after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in premenopausal adult women

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem‐cell transplantation (HCT) is the only curative option for most hematologic malignancies. However, HSCT can cause early menopause and various complications in premenopausal women. Therefore, we aimed to investigate risk factors predicting early menopause and its clinical implications among survivors post HCT.
Finite element model updating of a prestressed concrete box girder bridge using subproblem approximation

This paper presents the implementation of an updating procedure for the finite element model (FEM) of a prestressed concrete continuous box-girder highway off-ramp bridge. Ambient vibration testing was conducted to excite the bridge, assisted by linear chirp sweepings induced by two small electrodynamic shakes deployed to enhance the excitation levels, since the bridge was closed to traffic. The data-driven stochastic subspace identification method was executed to recover the modal properties from measurement data. An initial FEM was developed and correlation between the experimental modal results and their analytical counterparts was studied. Modelling of the pier and abutment bearings was carefully adjusted to reflect the real operational conditions of the bridge. The subproblem approximation method was subsequently utilized to automatically update the FEM. For this purpose, the influences of bearing stiffness, and mass density and Young’s modulus of materials were examined as uncertain parameters using sensitivity analysis. The updating objective function was defined based on a summation of squared values of relative errors of natural frequencies between the FEM and experimentation. All the identified modes were used as the target responses with the purpose of putting more constrains for the optimization process and decreasing the number of potentially feasible combinations for parameter changes. The updated FEM of the bridge was able to produce sufficient improvements in natural frequencies in most modes of interest, and can serve for a more precise dynamic response prediction or future investigation of the bridge health.
Time Series Analysis of 3D Coordinates Using Nonstochastic Observations

Abstract Adjustment and testing of a combination of stochastic and nonstochastic observations is applied to the deformation analysis of a time series of 3D coordinates. Nonstochastic observations are constant values that are treated as if they were observations. They are used to formulate constraints on the unknown parameters of the adjustment problem. Thus they describe deformation patterns. If deformation is absent, the epochs of the time series are supposed to be related via affine, similarity or congruence transformations. S-basis invariant testing of deformation patterns is treated. The model is experimentally validated by showing the procedure for a point set of 3D coordinates, determined from total station measurements during five epochs. The modelling of two patterns, the movement of just one point in several epochs, and of several points, is shown. Full, rank deficient covariance matrices of the 3D coordinates, resulting from free network adjustments of the total station measurements of each epoch, are used in the analysis.
Human locomotion over obstacles reveals real-time prediction of energy expenditure for optimized decision-making

Despite decades of evidence revealing a multitude of ways in which animals are adapted to minimize the energy cost of locomotion, little is known about how energy expenditure shapes adaptive gait over complex terrain. Here, we show that the principle of energy optimality in human locomotion can be generalized to complex task-level locomotor behaviours requiring advance decision-making and anticipatory control. Participants completed a forced-choice locomotor task requiring them to choose between discrete multi-step obstacle negotiation strategies to cross a ‘hole’ in the ground. By modelling and analysing mechanical energy cost of transport for preferred and non-preferred manoeuvres over a wide range of obstacle dimensions, we showed that strategy selection was predicted by relative energy cost integrated across the complete multi-step task. Vision-based remote sensing was sufficient to select the strategy associated with the lowest prospective energy cost in advance of obstacle encounter, demonstrating the capacity for energetic optimization of locomotor behaviour in the absence of online proprioceptive or chemosensory feedback mechanisms. We highlight the integrative hierarchic optimizations that are required to facilitate energetically efficient locomotion over complex terrain and propose a new behavioural level linking mechanics, remote sensing and cognition that can be leveraged to explore locomotor control and decision-making.
A giant armoured skink from Australia expands lizard morphospace and the scope of the Pleistocene extinctions

There are more species of lizards and snakes (squamates) alive today than any other order of land vertebrates, yet their fossil record has been poorly documented compared with other groups. Here, we describe a gigantic Pleistocene skink from Australia based on extensive material that includes much of the skull and postcranial skeleton, and spans ontogenetic stages from neonate to adult. Tiliqua frangens substantially expands the known ecomorphological diversity of squamates. At approximately 2.4 kg, it was more than double the mass of any living skink, with an exceptionally broad, deep skull, squat limbs and heavy, ornamented body armour. It probably filled the armoured herbivore niche that land tortoises (testudinids), absent from Australia, occupy on other continents. Tiliqua frangens and other giant Plio-Pleistocene skinks suggest that small-bodied groups that dominate vertebrate biodiversity might have lost their largest and often most morphologically extreme representatives in the Late Pleistocene, expanding the scope of these extinctions.
Association between arginine vasopressin receptor 1A (AVPR1A) polymorphism and inequity aversion

Although numerous studies have focused on brain functions related to inequity aversion, few have examined its genetic basis. Here, we show the association between estimated inequity aversion and polymorphisms in three genes associated with human sociality. Non-student adult participants took part in five economic game experiments on different days. Disadvantageous inequity aversion (DIA) and advantageous inequity aversion (AIA) were calculated from behavioural responses using Bayesian estimation. We investigated the association between genetic polymorphisms in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR rs53576), arginine vasopressin receptor 1A (AVPR1A RS3) and opioid receptor mu 1 (OPRM1 rs1799971) and inequity aversion. Regarding AVPR1A RS3, participants with the SS genotype had higher AIA than those with the SL or LL genotypes, but no association was found for DIA. Moreover, we observed no aversion associations for OXTR rs53576 or OPRM1 rs1799971. The results suggest that AVPR1A plays an important role in aversion when one's own gain is greater than that of others. Our findings may provide a solid theoretical basis for future studies on the relationship between genetic polymorphisms and inequity aversion.
A STATISTICAL META-ANALYSIS OF LITHOLOGIC AND OTHER POTENTIAL CONTROLS ON FOSSIL BONE CELLULAR AND SOFT TISSUE PRESERVATION

Abstract: Demineralization assays, utilizing weak acids to isolate organics from biomineralized tissues, have recently been applied with increasing frequency to explore soft tissue preservation in fossils, revealing frequent retention of cells and other pliable microstructures in fossil bones. However, factors controlling long-term preservation of such labile structures remain mysterious. To address this, we compiled a database of bone demineralization results from 29 studies, then conducted a statistical meta-analysis of these data to evaluate the importance of specimen age, taxonomy, entombing lithology, and bone tissue type on microstructure recovery. Our database encompasses results from 137 bones from 44 formations spanning the Permian to the Holocene. Osteocytes, blood vessels, and fibrous/proteinaceous matrix each exhibit bimodal recovery patterns in which most fossil bones either yield many or none of these microstructures. Though their relative abundances in any given fossil bone are extremely variable, statistically significant Fisher's Exact tests found that if a bone yields one of these types of microstructures in abundance then the others are usually also abundant. None of the variables examined significantly influence osteocyte recovery, but Kruskal-Wallis and subsequent pairwise Mann-Whitney tests revealed that bones collected from unconsolidated sediments, of Paleocene age, and/or deriving from birds, amphibians, marine reptiles, or crocodylians often yield few or no vessels and fibrous matrix. Although these findings hint at possible controls on cellular and soft tissue preservation in fossil bones, they should be viewed cautiously as they are demonstrably biased by uneven sampling. For example, many of the apparent trends are substantially controlled by overrepresentation of data from nonavian dinosaur specimens from Cretaceous fluviolacustrine deposits. Future demineralization assays should therefore focus on non-mammalian specimens from the Cenozoic and Jurassic-and-older nondinosaurian specimens, especially those preserved in less-common depositional environments (e.g., eolian settings).
Selecting and ranking leading cases in Brazilian Supreme Court decisions

Abstract This work studies quantitative measures for ranking judicial decisions by the Brazilian Supreme Court [Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF)] and selecting leading cases, which are understood as those with broadness of influence on different legal fields. The measures are based on a network built over decisions whose cases were finalized in the Brazilian Supreme Court between 01/2001 and 12/2019, which were obtained by crawling publicly available STF records. Three ranking measures are proposed; two are adaptations of the PageRank algorithm, and one adapts Kleinberg’s algorithm. Such measures are compared with respect to agreement on top 100 rankings; we also analyze each robustness measure based on self-agreement under perturbation. We examine whether the resulting quantitative ranking is congenial to a qualitative intuition of what the legal community usually considers as relevant precedents. We also discuss some possible criteria of relevance in the seek for patterns that suggest how quantitative and qualitative measures would better align. The ranking of leading cases and relevant decisions improved after building decision networks without irrelevant appeals and decisions that overflow the court offers a starting point to discuss the role of STF in the Brazilian judicial system. In our last work, both versions of PageRank and Kleinberg algorithms produced different rankings and all of them were robust with respect to 10% and 20%-perturbation levels, but none of them retrieved leading cases at the top of these rankings. Then, we took a further step in the studies of the STF decision network and we introduced better filtering of network nodes guided by legal expertise on the works of the Supreme Court. We also introduced more fine-grained perturbance levels to understand the impact of such filters in the STF decision network. We concluded that after filtering low-relevance decision types, the STF decision network is still robust under 10%-perturbation, but it presents higher degradation by increasing perturbation levels. The two versions of PageRank still produce different rankings. Kleinberg’s algorithm provides a different ranking, with many relevant criminal cases. Although we improved algorithms rankings filtering decisions from the network, which represents an important methodological step, there is still room for improvement. Given that relevant decisions are well ranked after filtering out a large amount of irrelevant decisions, the results set a starting point to discuss the role of STF in the Brazilian judicial system.