Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Infrared search and track and imaging system: testing in the laboratory and during flight

The PIRATE, short for Passive Infra Red Airborne Tracking Equipment, multi mode Infrared Sensor, has been developed and manufactured by the Eurofirst consortium for the Eurofighter 2000 Aircraft. The consortium is led by SELEX Galileo, contract award, from Italy, and includes THALES UK, and TECNOBIT from Spain. Testing of the unit has been performed either in the laboratory and in flight. In the laboratory, sophisticated measurement techniques to verify optical parameters like the MTF, the NETD and the MRTD in the different Field of View have been employed, as well as for the detection, tracking and identification functions. On top of that, a flight test campaign has started to verify the performance, when operating in real scenarios, with cooperative and opportunity targets, across different weather conditions, like clean sky, but also misty and cloudy weather, haze and hail, generally not ideal to the infrared wavelength operation, either during tracking or imaging.
Social network analytics and visualization: Dynamic topic‐based influence analysis in evolving micro‐blogs

Influence Analysis is one of the well‐known areas of Social Network Analysis. However, discovering influencers from micro‐blog networks based on topics has gained recent popularity due to its specificity. Besides, these data networks are massive, continuous and evolving. Therefore, to address the above challenges we propose a dynamic framework for topic modelling and identifying influencers in the same process. It incorporates dynamic sampling, community detection and network statistics over graph data stream from a social media activity management application. Further, we compare the graph measures against each other empirically and observe that there is no evidence of correlation between the sets of users having large number of friends and the users whose posts achieve high acceptance (i.e., highly liked, commented and shared posts). Therefore, we propose a novel approach that incorporates a user's reachability and also acceptability by other users. Consequently, we improve on graph metrics by including a dynamic acceptance score (integrating content quality with network structure) for ranking influencers in micro‐blogs. Additionally, we analysed the topic clusters' structure and quality with empirical experiments and visualization.
A Weighted OMP Algorithm for Compressive UWB Channel Estimation

We investigate ultra-wideband (UWB) channel estimation based on compressive sampling (CS), where the orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm is employed to recover the channel waveform from noisy measurements. In order to boost the robustness of OMP in the presence of additive Gaussian noise (AWGN), we propose a weighted OMP (WOMP) algorithm. For a given sparse dictionary, weighting factors are assigned to the atoms and a weighted matching process is performed by WOMP. Simulation results show that the proposed WOMP is more robust than the original OMP and can be used to gain better channel estimation precision.
Community assembly of tropical Fagaceae-dominated forests in Thailand dates back at least to the Late Palaeogene

The Late Oligocene to Early Miocene flora of the Ban Pa Kha Subbasin (Li Basin, northern Thailand) provides a record of montane dry tropical oak-pine forests. The rich ensemble of Fagaceae typical of these forests might have existed in the wider region of Southeast Asia since Eocene times and various fossil plant assemblages represented both lowland (Fagaceae, Dipterocarpaceae) and upland (Fagaceae, Pinaceae) tropical forests. These findings are in conflict with previous interpretations of vegetation development in northern Thailand, which stressed that stratigraphically older (possibly Late Oligocene) spore and pollen assemblages in northern Thailand were markedly different from the modern tropical flora and had a distinct northern temperate character. A major change in climate would have caused a dramatic shift to tropical conditions since the Mid-Miocene. Considering palaeobotanical data from adjacent regions in Southeast Asia, we suggest that differences in spore and pollen assemblages in intermontane basins in northern Thailand are more likely to represent different facies and lowland/upland settings. Assembly of these forest ecosystems, typically comprising Quercus sections Cyclobalanopsis, Ilex and Quercus, pollen of Castaneoideae with affinities to Castanopsis and Lithocarpus, and extinct fagaceous genera such as Eotrigonobalanus, most probably dates back to the Eocene. The absence of oaks of Quercus section Cerris in the spore and pollen assemblage of the Ban Pa Kha Subbasin, despite this group being part of the modern vegetation, might reflect the late arrival (secondary radiation) of this chiefly temperate group in tropical Southeast Asia.
A Review of Magnetic Gear Technologies Used in Mechanical Power Transmission

This paper presents a literature review on magnetic gears, highlighting the advantages of using these technologies for mechanical power transmission applications in wind energy conversion systems and transportation, such as in electric vehicles. Magnetic gear technologies have important advantages over their mechanical counterparts. They can perform the speed change and torque transmission between input and output shafts by a contactless mechanism with a quiet operation and overload protection without the issues associated with conventional mechanical gears. The paper describes the fundamentals and operating principle of the field-modulated magnetic gear topologies and investigates the magnetic torque transmission mechanism. However, despite all the advantages highlighted in different research and development reports, there is still no convincing evidence to show that magnetic gear technologies are an acceptable alternative for industrial applications. The aim of this paper is to summarize previous work on magnetic gears to identify the topologies most suited for mechanical power transmission systems in wind energy conversion systems and electric vehicle applications. These applications will show that research and development of magnetic gear technologies contribute significantly to solutions for sustainable systems, a subject to which our current civilization must pay a lot of attention.
Simple But Powerful, a Language-Supervised Method for Image Emotion Classification

Image emotion classification is an important computer vision task to extract emotions from images. The methods for image emotion classification (IEC) are primarily based on label or distribution as a supervision signal, which neither has enough accessibility nor diversity, limiting the development of IEC research. Inspired by psychology research and the recent booming of large-scale pretrained language models. We figure out a language-supervised paradigm, which can cleverly combine the features of language and visual emotion to drive the visual model to gain stronger emotional discernment with language prompts. To practice the paradigm, we present a conceptually simple while empirically powerful framework for image emotion classification, SimEmotion. That we propose a prompt-based fine-tuning strategy to learn task-specific representations by composing a template with the emotion-level concept and entity-level information. Evaluations on four widely-used affective datasets, namely, Flickr and Instagram (FI), EmotionROI, Twitter I, and Twitter II, demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods with a large margin (i.e., <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$8.42\%$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:mn>8</mml:mn><mml:mo>.</mml:mo><mml:mn>42</mml:mn><mml:mo>%</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="deng-ieq1-3225049.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> absolute accuracy gain on EmotionROI) on image emotion classification tasks. Our codes will be publicly available for research purposes.
Hypofractionated radiotherapy for renal cell carcinoma with inferior vena cava tumour thrombus

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) constitutes about 3% of all malignant neoplasms in adults. Clear cell carcinoma is the most frequent type, accounting for about 65% of cases. It tends to invade the veins and form tumour thrombi in inferior vena cava (IVC-TT), occasionally reaching the right atrium. Nephrectomy and thrombectomy are standard therapeutic procedures performed in RCC-IVC-TT. Despite proven effectiveness of surgery, this entity in IVC-TT is associated with poor outcome. The role of palliative radiotherapy in this entity is undetermined. We present a case of a 43-year-old female patient after right-sided nephrectomy due to advanced RCC which invaded the IVC, hepatic veins, and right atrium. The patient has been treated with postoperative, hypofractionated radiotherapy on the residual disease.
Generalized mathematical formulation for active vibration control of rotating machines with voltage‐driven electrodynamic actuators between machine feet and steel frame foundation

In the paper, a generalized mathematical formulation for active vibration control of rotating machines with voltage‐driven electrodynamic actuators between machine feet and steel frame foundation is derived. This generalized mathematical formulation is based on a state space description in the Laplace domain, where the state space vector is lead back, for considering the actuator forces. The aim of the paper is that this generalized mathematical formulation can be used now for arbitrarily models of rotating machines—1D‐, 2D‐, and 3D‐models—with voltage‐driven electrodynamic actuators between machine feet and steel frame foundation, and where the vertical vibration acceleration at each machine foot is lead back to a separate controller. Of course, this mathematical formulation can also be adopt easily to other boundary conditions. As an example, the generalized mathematical formulation is used here for a 1D‐model of a rotating machine, to calculate the poles and the frequency response functions.
Reactor modeling of magnetically enhanced capacitive RF discharge

Magnetic and collisional effects on capacitive radio frequency (RF) discharges for magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching (MERIE) are investigated. Using simplified plasma and sheath models, a collisional magnetic-sheath equation that governs the sheath dynamics under a de magnetic field crossed with a sinusoidal RF electric field is obtained. The sheath equation includes global effects of the bulk plasma. Together with the power-balance equation and the particle-conservation equation, the sheath equation is used to extract a circuit model and predict the electrical behavior of MERIE reactors. Numerical results on the plasma density and the power in MERIE reactors agree well with reported experimental results and the circuit model describes the repeated discharge properties well.
Approximation of integro-differential equations associated with piecewise deterministic process

Aim of this paper is to present an approximation scheme for optimal control problems of piecewise deterministic processes and corresponding integro-differential Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equations. The method is based on a discrete dynamic programming approach. We discretize the continuous process and the cost functional obtaining a discrete time optimal control problem. The corresponding dynamic programming equation gives an approximation of the integro-differential equation. The main feature of the method is the uniform convergence to the value function of the continuous control problem, which can be characterized as the unique weak solution (in viscosity sense) of the dynamic programming equation. Moreover, under appropriate assumptions, an error estimate on the truncation error is derived. It is worth noting that the method provides approximate feedback controls at any point of the grid without extra computations. An application of the approximation scheme to the numerical solution of an optimal control problem for a storage process is also detailed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Can the Belt and Road Initiative Promote the Dezombification of Firms?

ABSTRACT Based on China’s supply-side structural economic reforms, this paper examines the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on the formation of zombie firms. We find that the BRI significantly inhibits the formation of zombie firms by easing financial constraints and optimizing investment efficiency. Our findings are robust to different model specifications and samples. Further investigations find that the impact of the BRI is pronounced for private enterprises, manufacturing enterprises and enterprises with more intense market competition. Overall, our results provide clear policy implications by shedding light on the role of the BRI in optimizing the allocation of resources.
Some Simple Robust Methods for the Analysis of Recurrent Events

Nelson discussed a method of estimating the cumulative mean function for identically distributed processes of recurrent events. We show that a similar approach can be used with more general models, including regression, The key idea is to use point estimates based on Poisson models and to develop robust variance estimates that are valid more generally. The methods are illustrated on reliability and warranty data.
Electronegative LDL Is Associated with Plaque Vulnerability in Patients with Ischemic Stroke and Carotid Atherosclerosis

Owing to the high risk of recurrence, identifying indicators of carotid plaque vulnerability in atherothrombotic ischemic stroke is essential. In this study, we aimed to identify modified LDLs and antioxidant enzymes associated with plaque vulnerability in plasma from patients with a recent ischemic stroke and carotid atherosclerosis. Patients underwent an ultrasound, a CT-angiography, and an 18F-FDG PET. A blood sample was obtained from patients (n = 64, 57.8% with stenosis ≥50%) and healthy controls (n = 24). Compared to the controls, patients showed lower levels of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, apolipoprotein B (apoB), apoA-I, apoA-II, and apoE, and higher levels of apoJ. Patients showed lower platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH) and paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) enzymatic activities in HDL, and higher plasma levels of oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and electronegative LDL (LDL(−)). The only difference between patients with stenosis ≥50% and <50% was the proportion of LDL(−). In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, the levels of LDL(−), but not of oxLDL, were independently associated with the degree of carotid stenosis (OR: 5.40, CI: 1.15–25.44, p < 0.033), the presence of hypoechoic plaque (OR: 7.52, CI: 1.26–44.83, p < 0.027), and of diffuse neovessels (OR: 10.77, CI: 1.21–95.93, p < 0.033), indicating that an increased proportion of LDL(−) is associated with vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque.
Dispersion of waves and transmission–reflection in blood vessels with structured stents

A new model is proposed for elastic waves induced by a pulsating flow in a stenotic artery containing several stents. Dispersion properties of the waves depend on the stent structure—this feature is addressed in the present paper. Several vascular stenting procedures include overlapping stents; this configuration is also included in the model. The dispersion and transmission properties are analysed; the analytical derivations are accompanied by illustrative numerical examples.
Stability of Extra Dimensions in the Inflating Early Universe

Cosmic inflation is an attractive paradigm to explain the initial conditions of the universe. It can be conveniently described by the dynamics of a single scalar field within N = 1 supergravity. Due to the high energy scale during the inflationary epoch, which is favored by recent observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation, and the flatness of the inflaton potential it is necessary to consider inflation in the context of a UV-complete theory like string theory. To this end, we study the effects of moduli stabilization on inflation models in supergravity, focussing on Kähler moduli in type IIB string theory which govern the size of extra dimensions. For generic models of Fterm inflation we calculate back-reaction terms by integrating out the moduli at a high energy scale. When the moduli are stabilized supersymmetrically, all effects decouple in the limit of very heavy moduli. The corrections, however, may be sizeable for realistic moduli masses above the Hubble scale and affect the predicted observables of many models like chaotic inflation and hybrid inflation. If, on the other hand, moduli stabilization entails spontaneous supersymmetry breaking, there are non-decoupling effects like soft mass terms for the inflaton. By the example of chaotic inflation we show that a careful choice of parameters and initial conditions is necessary to reconcile largefield inflation with popular moduli stabilization schemes like KKLT stabilization or the Large Volume Scenario. Furthermore, we study the interplay of moduli stabilization and D-term inflation. If inflation is driven by a constant Fayet-Iliopoulos term, the backreaction decouples but the gravitino mass in the vacuum is surprisingly constrained. For a field-dependent Fayet-Iliopoulos term associated with an anomalous U(1) symmetry we discuss a number of obstructions to realizing inflation. Moreover, we propose a way to evade them using a new mechanism for supersymmetric moduli stabilization with world-sheet instantons.
Improvement and Validation of a Multi-Locus Variable Number of Tandem Repeats Analysis (MLVA8+) for Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella variicola, and Klebsiella quasipneumoniae

The genotyping of the multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex is essential to identify outbreaks and to track their source and spread. The aim of this study was to improve and extend the typeability, availability, cost and time efficiency of an existing multi-locus VNTR analysis (MLVA). A modified scheme (MLVA8+) was adopted and validated for strain-level differentiation of the three Klebsiella species involved in human pathology. A diverse set of 465 K. pneumoniae clinical isolates from 22 hospitals and 3 outpatient laboratories in Bulgaria were studied, where 315 were carbapenem-resistant. The MLVA8+ typeability was significantly improved and the typing data were validated against 158 isolates which were previously typed by WGS. The MLVA8+ results were highly concordant with the classic 7-locus MLST and the novel K. variicola MLST, but had greater congruency coefficients (adjusted Wallace). A major advantage was the differentiation of the hybrid cluster ST258 into its corresponding clades. Furthermore, the applicability of MLVA8+ was demonstrated by conducting a retrospective investigation of the intra-hospital spread of blaKPC-, blaNDM- and blaOXA-48-like producers. The MLVA8+ has improved utility and extended typing scope to K. variicola and K. quasipneumoniae, while its cost and time-to-result were reduced.
Marginal homogeneity, symmetry, and independence

A contingency table of the mc form provides a convenient summary of data when c individuals in a matched set9 each belonging to a different one of c classifications, are identified as belonging to one of m categories, A study in which matched sets (c=3) of 1 case, 1 hospital control, and 1 neighborhood control are classified into one of m=4 occupational categories would be an example, Independence in the cxm tables for each of the matched sets implies symmetry in the summary mc table with consequent marginal homogeneity. Adaptation of the Mantel-Haenszel procedure for testing independence to the case of many cxm tables so as to yield a chi square with (cl)(ml) degrees of freedom (DF) provides a test of marginal homogeneity in the summary mc table. This can be viewed as a test of symmetry directed against alternatives which would make for marginal inhomogeneity and can differ
Recycling habits, recycling attitudes and beliefs and awareness of individual consequences in Brazilians living in Portugal

Abstract Many constructs based on the research on habits, could be explored in order to explain recycling habits, however, in the present paper it is intended to analyze the importance of the following variables: attitudes and beliefs in recycling (ACR) and awareness of individual environmental consequences (CCI). This study decided to investigate these constructs due to the evidence in the literature on the topic, which points to their positive association influencing habitual recycling behaviors (Meng et al., 2019; Abd'Razack, Medayese, Shaibu, & Adeleye, 2017; Rodrigues & Girandola, 2017; Halvorsen, 2012).
Understanding Flex-Route Transit Adoption from a Stage of Change Perspective

Given the potential benefits of flex-route transit for the environment and traffic congestion, many cities have goals for diffusing flex-route transit. However, previous studies have focused on practical experience, strategic planning, and operational planning of flex-route transit. Few studies have identified the determinants of flex-route transit adoption. This study aims to address the effect of demographic characteristics and psychological factors on flex-route transit adoption by employing a stage of change framework. First, the transtheoretical model is applied to divide respondents into five ordered stages (i.e., Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance). Second, a survey was conducted in Beijing, China, using an online platform to obtain the demographic characteristics and measurement items of the respondents in the five ordered stages. Then, a structural equation model is applied to quantify psychological factors. In addition, the partial proportional odds (PPO) model is employed to estimate the best model and identify the determinants of flex-route transit adoption. Finally, an elasticity analysis is conducted to uncover the effect of determinants on flex-route transit adoption in the five ordered stages. The results suggest that the PPO model has the best fit and validity. The model reveals the significant implications of psychological factors and demographic characteristics for transport policy in various stages. These findings show that, regardless of the initial stage, interventions concentrating on psychological factors and demographic characteristics appear to have the potential to transfer the stage of individuals from one to another. To make policies as effective as possible for promoting flex-route transit adoption, the targeted interventions should be complemented in the specific stage.
A gamma‐thionin protein from apple, MdD1, is required for defence against S‐RNase‐induced inhibition of pollen tube prior to self/non‐self recognition

Summary Apple exhibits S‐RNase‐mediated self‐incompatibility. Although the cytotoxic effect of S‐RNase inside the self‐pollen tube has been studied extensively, the underlying defence mechanism in pollen tube in Rosaceae remains unclear. On exposure to stylar S‐RNase, plant defence responses are activated in the pollen tube; however, how these are regulated is currently poorly understood. Here, we show that entry of both self and non‐self S‐RNase into pollen tubes of apple (Malus domestica) stimulates jasmonic acid (JA) production, in turn inducing the accumulation of MdMYC2 transcripts, a transcription factor in the JA signalling pathway widely considered to be involved in plant defence processes. MdMYC2 acts as a positive regulator in the pollen tube activating expression of MdD1, a gene encoding a defence protein. Importantly, MdD1 was shown to bind to the RNase activity sites of S‐RNase leading to inhibition of enzymatic activity. This work provides intriguing insights into an ancient defence mechanism present in apple pollen tubes where MdD1 likely acts as a primary line of defence to inhibit S‐RNase cytotoxicity prior to self/non‐self recognition.