Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ALD of in-doped ZnO

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) windows for ZnO and ZnS films using DEZn, H2S and H2O as precursors were determined and the deposited films were characterized. Doping of ZnO with In during ALD by periodic exposure to TMIn was studied with an emphasis on the structural properties of the films. XRD results show compressive stress in the film induced by the larger In atom, which leads to smaller grain size. Based on these results stacked layers of ZnOS/ZnO:In and sputtered ZnOS/ZnO:Al were deposited on CIGS thin films to compare the performance of the ALD TCO to that of our standard TCO. The finished cell with ZnO:In as TCO shows relatively low JSC and Rse compared with the cell using sputtered ZnO:Al as TCO.
The Effect of Service and Test Conditions on Water Tree Growth in XLPE Cables

Experimental studies of tree growth are often performed under one single set of test conditions. The aim of this work has been to systematically vary the test conditions to study their influence on tree growth in one type of XLPE cable. It was found that water in the conductor dramatically increases the number, size and growth rate of trees. In such tests the temperature of the outer screen should be controlled as well as that of the conductor, because the temperature gradient determines the degree of supersaturation in the insulation wall. Stationary temperatures are found to cause more severe tree growth than cycling temperatures. This is contrary to the situation with dry conductor where cycling of both the conductor and outer screen temperature greatly enhances tree growth.
Clinical correlates to assist with chronic traumatic encephalopathy diagnosis: Insights from a novel rodent repeat concussion model.

INTRODUCTION Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repetitive head injuries. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy symptoms include changes in mood, behavior, cognition, and motor function; however, CTE is currently diagnosed only postmortem. Using a rat model of recurrent traumatic brain injury (TBI), we demonstrate rodent deficits that predict the severity of CTE-like brain pathology. METHODS Bilateral, closed-skull, mild TBI was administered once per week to 35 wild-type rats; eight rats received two injuries (2×TBI), 27 rats received five injuries (5×TBI), and 13 rats were sham controls. To determine clinical correlates for CTE diagnosis, TBI rats were separated based on the severity of rotarod deficits and classified as "mild" or "severe" and further separated into "acute," "short," and "long" based on age at euthanasia (90, 144, and 235 days, respectively). Brain atrophy, phosphorylated tau, and inflammation were assessed. RESULTS All eight 2×TBI cases had mild rotarod deficiency, 11 5×TBI cases had mild deficiency, and 16 cases had severe deficiency. In one cohort of rats, tested at approximately 235 days of age, balance, rearing, and grip strength were significantly worse in the severe group relative to both sham and mild groups. At the acute time period, cortical thinning, phosphorylated tau, and inflammation were not observed in either TBI group, whereas corpus callosum thinning was observed in both TBI groups. At later time points, atrophy, tau pathology, and inflammation were increased in mild and severe TBI groups in the cortex and corpus callosum, relative to sham controls. These injury effects were exacerbated over time in the severe TBI group in the corpus callosum. CONCLUSIONS Our model of repeat mild TBI suggests that permanent deficits in specific motor function tests correlate with CTE-like brain pathology. Assessing balance and motor coordination over time may predict CTE diagnosis.
Validation of EQ-5D and 15D in the assessment of healthrelated quality of life in chronic pain.

Chronic pain has a significant impact on quality of life. Measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is essential in the assessment of pain management outcomes, but different instruments have produced varying results. We assessed the validity of two HRQoL instruments, EQ-5D and 15D, in patients with challenging chronic pain. 391 chronic non-cancer pain patients referred to tertiary pain clinics completed EQ-5D, 15D and a broad set of questionnaires mapping socioeconomic factors, self-rated health, pain intensity and interference, depression, pain acceptance, pain-related anxiety, and sleep. The two HRQoL instruments were compared with each other, and head-to-head comparisons were made with self-rated health and the symptomspecific questionnaires.15D and EQ-5D showed moderate agreement (rho = 0.66), but there were also considerable differences between the instruments. 15D correlated better with self-rated health than EQ-5D (rho = -0.62 vs. -0.45, p < 0.001). EQ-5D appeared less sensitive than 15D especially in those chronic pain patients who had a better health status.The principal component constructed from measures of pain intensity and interference, anxiety, pain acceptance, depression, and sleep, had higher standardized beta coefficients with 15D than with EQ-5D (p = 0.038). The principal component explained more variance in the 15D (R2 = 0.65) than in the EQ-5D (R2 = 0.43). The study identified differences in the pain-related variables between the EQ-5D and the 15D. In patients with chronic pain, both instruments are valid, but 15D appears somewhat more sensitive than EQ-5D.
Estimating Mumbai's rooftop PV potential through mobilization of IEEE student community

Generating fine grain data about the rooftop PV potential of a city can help the city planning and administration authorities to effectively draft and execute regional rooftop PV policies. A quick and ‘holistic’ rooftop potential estimation approach was developed and tried out in the city of Mumbai, India. Students from IEEE student branches of twelve engineering institutes in the city were trained as surveyors for estimating the rooftop PV potential of buildings. They were taught how to use GIS tools and simulation software to measure the rooftop area suitable for PV installation. They did site surveys to measure the roof area of selected buildings and validated their GIS based study. They also interviewed building owners to understand their perspective towards PV. Different areas within the city were assigned to different teams of students and finally the data was consolidated and used to estimate city level potential. The study concluded that there is a potential to install 1.72 GW over various buildings in the city.
Do Altruists Like Equity?

Altruism and inequity aversion are often conceptually interrelated, which implies that altruistic and selfish humans may respond differently to disadvantageous inequity conditions. However, a correlation between altruism and inequity responses has thus far not been directly tested experimentally. We have addressed this question using an experimental paradigm inspired by animal experiments in which adult humans work for real food rewards. We have studied whether subjects' responses to different reward distributions were altered by being exposed to equitable or non-equitable situations. In the control conditions, subjects expressed either a strong altruistic attitude, choosing to work for their partner's welfare in the majority of trials, or mostly rejected this course of action. These purely altruistic and selfish behaviors were also expressed after being exposed to disadvantageous inequity, but priming with equitable conditions significantly reduced their occurrence. This implies an important role of inequity pressure, which is presumably present in modern society, in shaping human-helping attitudes.
Forefronts of the Sharing Economy: Uber in Cape Town

Abstract The sharing economy, often phrased as ? platform capitalism? , enables firms such as Uber and Airbnb to monetize, through specific technologies of mediation, the networks, the assets and the precarious labour of those who are described as ? the entrepreneurs of sharing? This article explores the urban geographies of ride-sharing in the marketization of Uber in Cape Town, South Africa. I use empirical evidence collected during the first phase of its operations in the city, between 2013 and 2015, to show how Uber relied upon the developmental entrepreneurialism of Cape Town to embed its ride-sharing market locally, and how the drivers enacted multiple technical, economic and ethical regimes within and without the constraints of the software platform. The research presented in this article thus contributes to understanding how the discourses of millennial development, with its promises of entrepreneurial empowerment, are adopted by global sharing-economy firms to enact their markets in the global South. It also reveals how a different genealogy of Uber's urban transactions offers an alternative perspective on the normative rationalities of the sharing economy and on the diverse economies that exist in relation to platform capitalism in the global South.
Embedded Analog-to-Digital Converters

Systems-on-Chips (SoCs) have become a reality in the past decade. Several dozens of different functional blocks are being integrated on a single die, reaching transistor counts of up to half a billion. From the Analog portion of an SoC the Data Converters are probably among the most challenging blocks, often limiting system performance and dominating power dissipation. However, requirements regarding yield, die-size, scalability, noise immunity, power and the fact that logic is almost for free, cause distinct differences between embedded Data Converters and their stand-alone, usually general purpose, counterparts. This paper describes these differences and provides an overview of the state-of-the art in Analog-to-Digital Conversion.
Role of Obesity on the Risk for Total Hip or Knee Arthroplasty

We asked whether there was an association between obesity levels and subsequent THA or TKA using data from 54,406 THA and TKA patients entered into the Canadian Joint Replacement Registry. We compared these patients with a sample of the Canadian population using the Canadian Community Health Survey of 2006. We analyzed information from the Canadian Joint Replacement Registry to quantify the relative risk for THA or TKA in Canada for specific body mass index categories. In reference to the acceptable weight category of body mass index less than 25 kg/m2, the risk for TKA and THA was 3.20- and 1.92-fold higher, respectively, for overweight individuals (body mass index 25-29.9 kg/m2); 8.53- (TKA) and 3.42-fold (THA) higher for those in the obese Class I (body mass index 30-34.9 kg/m2) category; 18.73- (TKA) and 5.24-fold (THA) higher for those identified in obese Class II (body mass index 35-39.9 kg/m2); and 32.73- (TKA) and 8.56-fold (THA) higher for people in obese Class III group (body mass index > 40 kg/m2). Thus, our data support an association between obesity and subsequent THA and TKA.Level of Evidence: Level II, prognostic study. See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Optimal feature and decision tree based classification of power quality disturbances in distributed generation systems

Summary form only given. Penetration of distributed generation (DG) systems in conventional power systems leads to power quality (PQ) disturbances. This paper provides an improved PQ disturbances classification, which are associated with load changes and environmental factors. Various forms of PQ disturbances, including sag, swell, notch and harmonics, are taken into account. Several features are obtained through HS-transform, out of which optimal features are selected using a genetic algorithm (GA). These optimal features are used for PQ disturbances classification by employing support vector machines (SVM) and decision tree (DT) classifiers. The study is supported on three different case studies, considering experimental set-up prototypes for wind energy and photovoltaic (PV) systems, as well as the modified Nordic 32-bus test system. The robustness and precision of DT and SWM is performed with noise and harmonics in the disturbance signals, thus providing comprehensive results.
Correcting Timolol Prescribing in Glaucoma Management

In our study, we investigated the efficacy of a single instillation of timolol 0.1% gel to prevent significant intraocular pressure (IOP) increase after uncomplicated cataract surgery, a well-known complication that frequently occurs in glaucomatous eyes, but is also seen in healthy eyes (1). The design of our study (3 parallel groups receiving a single instillation of timolol 0.1% gel or timolol 0.5% or no treatment) was also aimed to identify the most appropriate formulation of timolol in this new therapeutic indication. Our results support the assumption that a single administration of 0.1% timolol gel is at least as effective as a standard 0.5% timolol eyedrops formulation in controlling postoperative IOP increase over a 24-hour post-cataract surgery period. In our study, we selected 0.1% timolol gel formulation because in the literature it is well-established that its prolonged ocular residence provides effective 24-hour IOP reduction in glaucoma patients (2) and it has at least the same 24-hour efficacy as the 0.5% timolol solution administered twice daily (3-5). The vehicle selected for 0.1% timolol gel is a carbomer gel combined with PVA, which has several advantages: it allows the effective concentration of the active ingredient to be reduced from 0.5% to 0.1% (2) due to prolonged contact time with the mucous membrane (6-7), and the dosage can be limited to a single daily dose (2). The potential benefits can be summarized as reduced systemic absorption of timolol, better local tolerability, and an improvement in patient compliance (8, 9). Khan et al considered our study additional evidence in favor of a low timolol posology approach in the management of chronic ocular hypertension, but it was reported that 0.1% timolol gel IOP reduction is comparable to a conventional 0.5% timolol solution, but superior to a 0.1% timolol solution (10). Therefore the data available for a 0.1% timolol gel formulation should not be extrapolated to any kind of low-dose timolol standard solution.
Wild band edges: The role of bandgap grading and band-edge fluctuations in high-efficiency chalcogenide devices

Band-edge effects — including grading, electrostatic fluctuations, bandgap fluctuations, and band tails — affect chalcogenide device efficiency. These effects now require more careful consideration as efficiencies increase beyond 20%. Several aspects of the relationships between band-edge phenomena and device performance for NREL absorbers are examined. For Cu(In,Ga)Se2 devices, recent increases in diffusion length imply changes to the optimum bandgap profile. The origin, impact, and modification of electrostatic and bandgap fluctuations are also discussed. The application of the same principles to devices based on CdTe, kesterites, and emerging absorbers (Cu2SnS3, CuSbS2), considering differences in materials properties, is examined.
Contributions to Leg Stiffness in High- Compared with Low-Arched Athletes

Purpose High-arched (HA) athletes exhibit greater lower extremity stiffness during functional tasks than low-arched (LA) athletes. The contributions of skeletal and muscular structures to stiffness may underlie the distinct injury patterns observed in these athletes. The purpose of this study was to compare skeletal and muscular contributions to leg stiffness in HA and LA athletes during running and landing tasks. Methods Ten HA and 10 LA female athletes performed five overground running trials at a self-selected pace and five step off bilateral landing trials from a height of 30 cm. Three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics were collected using a motion capture system and a force platform. Leg stiffness and its skeletal and muscular contributions were calculated. Independent t-tests were used to compare variable means between arch type groups and Cohen's d were computed to assess effect sizes of mean differences. Results In running, HA athletes had greater leg stiffness (P = 0.010, d = 1.03) and skeletal stiffness (P = 0.016, d = 0.81), although there are no differences in muscular stiffness (P = 0.134). During landing, HA had greater leg stiffness (P = 0.015, d = 1.06) and skeletal stiffness (P < 0.001, d = 1.84), whereas LA athletes had greater muscular stiffness (P = 0.025, d = 0.96). Conclusions These findings demonstrate that HA athletes place a greater reliance on skeletal structures for load attenuation during running and landing, whereas LA athletes rely more greatly on muscle contributions during landing only. These findings may provide insight into the distinct injury patterns observed in HA and LA athletes.
Semi-supervised Domain Adaptation using Prediction Models in Associated Domains

Semi-supervised domain adaptation which trains a prediction model so that it adapts to novel domains from a few labeled and relatively large unlabeled observations. In this talk, we consider semi-supervised domain adaptation and propose a model embedding method. Unlike the conventional semi-supervised domain adaptation, our work utilizes prediction models in source domains. Moreover, our method can generate a pseudo label to unlabeled data without any special assumption on data distribution. Through experiments, we confirm the effectiveness of our proposed model embedding approach.
An ultra-wide range Bi-directional transceiver with adaptive power control using background replica VCO gain calibration

A novel transceiver with adaptive power control (APC) using a process and frequency monitor (PFM) based on a new adaptive power optimization concept is proposed. The PFM employs gain calibration with a replica VCO and operates in the background. A test chip, employing adaptive amplitude scaling (AAS), adaptive bias scaling (ABS), and adaptive supply-voltage scaling (AVS), achieved adaptive power over a wide frequency-range (0.05–3.4Gbps). At 100Mbps the measured power with APC was reduced by 75% compared to conventional architecture without APC.
The effect of protocol- based education on number of errors in radiotherapy

Abstract The education in every field of science is important and plays a vital role. It may happen during radiotherapy some errors that may have detrimental effects on treatment outcome. We designed this study to investigate the effect of using a protocol on range of errors. Materials and Methods A check list including 5 sets of errors was designed to investigate whether having a certain protocol has any effect on workflow. To reach that, 106 patient profiles compiled randomly to ascertain those five factors in two radiotherapy and oncology centers. Results Based on concluded data from statistical analyze, all 5 factors including MU, shield, coach rotation, field size and second phase had a significant changes in terms of statistic (p<0.05). Conclusion Education has utmost importance in any type of skill, especially when it comes to patients’ affairs. Radiotherapy, however, has its errors sets in which the rate of human uncertainty must be reduced. Furthermore, having certain rules based on every one has his or her kind of responsibility, seems to be essential.
A novel VLSI architecture for full-search variable block-size motion estimation

Variable block-size motion estimation (VBSME) has become an important technique in H.264/AVC to improve video quality. In this paper, we propose a scalable VLSI architecture for VBSME in H.264/AVC based on full-search motion estimation algorithm. The proposed architecture reuses the sum of absolute differences (SAD) to reduce the calculation complexity, thus minimizes the number of registers. A new scan order is introduced to produce the distributed SAD outputs, so the number of output buses is reduced. The architecture in this paper has scalability to compute VBSME with variable size of searching windows and PEs. Compared to the conventional approaches, the architecture shows a high throughput rate with less hardware. After logic synthesis using the DonbuAnam 0.18um standard cell library, the number of gate counts is 39K (16 PEs) and the maximum operating clock frequency is 416 MHz (256 fps@CIF).
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One of the key building blocks for SDR transceivers is an analog baseband, in which the filter characteristics such as cut-off frequency, selectivity, filter-order, pass-band ripple and stop-band ripple should be changed to meet specific application requirements. Conventional filters with analog tuning schemes are small in area and have low power consumption, but their tuning range is limited; it is usually designed to compensate for process variations, especially with low supply voltages. Filters configured in an array have a certain level of flexibility, but the die size is large [2-3]. Charge-domain discrete-time filtering techniques with passive switched capacitors have good flexibility; however, they can not achieve high selectivity [4].
Operational strategies for a portfolio of wind farms and CHP plants in a two-price balancing market

In this paper, we explore the portfolio effect of a system consisting of a combined heat and power (CHP) plant and a wind farm. The goal is to increase the overall profit of the portfolio by reducing imbalances and, consequently, their implicit penalty in a two-price balancing market for electricity. We investigate two different operational strategies, which differ in whether the CHP plant and the wind farm are operated jointly or independently, and we evaluate their economic performance on a real case study based on a CHP-wind system located in the western part of Denmark. We present a comprehensive mathematical model for describing the different heat and power production units of the CHP plant and suggest different ways of determining its operation in a setup with two trading floors: a day-ahead market and a balancing market. We build a simulation framework that runs in a rolling-horizon fashion, so that forecasts for heat demand, wind power production, and market prices are updated at each iteration. We conclude that the portfolio strategy is the most profitable due to the two-price structure of the balancing market. This encourages producers to handle their imbalances outside the market.
Relation of Entomological Parameters and Dengue Transmission to Develop the Optimal Model and Threshold for Dengue Epidemics

An observational analytical study, year-long entomological surveys were carried out in selected villages in Tirunelveli district. The vector breeding indices were compared with the incidence of cases in each of the selected sites. Concurrent epidemiological data were used to relate the entomological risk. The values at lower 95% confidence limit of 1.34% of St. aegypti positive water storage containers, 7.85 St. aegypti positive water storage containers per 100 houses and 18.02 St. aegypti pupae per 100 houses in water storage breeding sources have been determined to be the threshold level above which the chances in dengue transmission would be higher. The lower 95% confidence limit of 19.9 St. aegypti pupae per 100 houses can also be considered as threshold level when the estimates were made irrespective of the type of breeding habitats. Proof-of-concept of how to search for the optimal model and threshold for dengue epidemics is determined.