Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual Perception Based Situation Analysis of Traffic Scenes for Autonomous Driving Applications

The major challenges for analyzing the situation of traffic scenes include defining proper metrics and achieving computation efficiency. This paper proposes two new situation metrics, a multimodality scene model, and a metrics computing network for traffic scene analysis. The main novelty is threefold. (1) The planning complexity and perception complexity are proposed as the situation metrics of traffic senes. (2) A multimodality model is proposed to describe traffic scenes, which combines the information of the static environment, dynamic objects, and ego-vehicle. (3) A deep neural network (DNN) based computing network is proposed to compute the two situation metrics based on scene models. Using the Nuscenes dataset, a high-level dataset for traffic scene analysis is developed to validate the scene model and the situation metrics computing network. The experiment results show that the proposed scene model is effective for situation analysis and the proposed situation metrics computing network outperforms than traditional CNN methods.
Four-Wheel Independent Drive Electric Vehicle Stability Control Using Novel Adaptive Sliding Mode Control

Four-wheel independent drive is an important research topic for the future development of pure electric vehicles (EVs) due to its fast response and great flexibility of path tracking. One of the critical issues is to maintain the vehicle motion stability of the four-wheel independent drive (4WID) EV (4WID EV) by appropriately distributing the torque of each wheel. The article presents a hierarchical control structure to counteract the stability problems caused by the actuator faults and road friction uncertainties. Instead of using linear control at the top-level (i.e., the outer control loop), a novel sliding mode controller with adaptive proportional-integral (PI) sliding surface is designed to achieve the required virtual control signal. For the bottom-level controller (or the inner loop controller), dynamic control allocation is employed to optimally allocate the required actual torque for each wheel. The stability of the overall closed-loop system is successfully achieved and proved by using the Lyapunov method. The proposed controller has been tested via simulation and experiments with various actuator faults and road conditions. All the test cases showed the superiority of the proposed method compared to some of the currently existing 4WID control strategies.
Infection Risks and Antimicrobial Resistance in Tertiary Hospitals in Benin: Study Cases of Sakété-Ifangni and Menontin Hospitals

Background: Antimicrobial resistance surveillance and infection risk assessment are important for optimizing the quality of healthcare in hospitals. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial resistance and infection risks in Tertiary hospitals in Benin. Methods: Bacteriological examinations were carried out on swab samples from the hospital environment at Sakete-Ifangni Hospital and Menontin Hospital in Benin. The environmental swabs were supplemented with wound swabs from Menontin Hospital. In both hospitals, antibiotic susceptibility of the isolated strains was determined by the agar diffusion method. Results: The results showed that coagulase-negative staphylococci (45%) comprised the most isolated species in the environment of the Surgery and Operating Departments of Sakete-Ifangni Hospital, followed by Staphylococcus aureus (27.50%) and Proteus spp. (15%). At Menontin Hospital, only one specimen was sterile from wound swabs. From environmental swabs, 29 out of 45 samples were positive. Staphylococcus aureus (31%), Escherichia coli (15%), and coagulase-negative staphylococci (12%) were the most isolated species from wounds. Strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci (29%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15%), and Proteus mirabilis (12%) were the most common strains in swabs. The study of the adequacy of treatment of infections caused by bacteria responsible for wound suppuration showed that 52% of the wounded received appropriate antibiotic treatment. At Menontin Hospital, many isolated strains from room environment samples were found in the wounds of the patients. In both hospitals, the isolated strains were multiresistant to conventional antibiotics. Conclusions: These data show how surveillance of infection risks and antimicrobial resistance is important to prevent healthcare-associated infections.
Neural mechanisms in chronic pain relevant for psychiatric interventions

Chronic pain is a medical health problem affecting almost 20% of the population in Europe, with an important impact on patients’ function, quality of life, social interactions, and mental health. This chapter reviews the current understanding of the processes and neural mechanisms involved in nociception and the regulation of pain perception. Factors susceptible to affect the transition from acute to chronic pain are discussed. Neural and psychological factors, which may participate in maintaining chronic pain states and could be targets for psychiatric intervention, are also presented. These different points together clarify why optimal care for chronic pain patients requires a multi-disciplinary team, with an important role for the psychiatrist.
Asian longhorned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann (Arachnida: Acari: Ixodidae)

The Asian longhorned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann, also known as the longhorned tick, bush tick (Australia), and cattle tick (New Zealand), is a three-host tick native to East Asia. This tick has been categorized as an invasive species in Australia, New Zealand, and several Pacific Islands. In the U.S., an Asian longhorned tick infestation was recorded in New Jersey during the fall of 2017. This tick is somewhat unique in that females are capable of parthenogenesis, meaning that females can produce offspring without having mated with males. The Asian longhorned tick feeds on a wide range of hosts including birds and mammals, including humans. This tick is considered a medical and veterinary vector due to its ability to transmit pathogens that cause disease in humans and other animals.https://edis.ifas. ufl.edu/in1263
Synthesis and phase stability of zirconia-lanthania-ytterbia-yttria nanoparticles; a promising advanced TBC material

ABSTRACT Advanced thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) developed by incorporating multicomponent rare earth oxide dopants into zirconia are promising alternative to replace yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thermal barrier coatings. In this study, a zirconia-based nanopowder coating doped by multiple rare earth oxides (YLaYbZr: 5.86 Mol.%Y2O3-1.99 Mol.%La2O3-1.98 Mol.%Yb2O3-ZrO2) was synthesized using co-precipitation technique which is advantageous in terms of simplicity and cost-effectiveness. The product was then characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) method and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The stability of YLaYbZr compound was studied after a heat treating the product at 1300°C for 50 h. The results indicated that the initially obtained powder was a metastable tetragonal (t-prime) zirconia. Rietveld refinement of the XRD data from YLaYbZr powder after 50 h of heat treatment at 1300°C confirmed stabilization of zirconia in the t-prime phase with around 15 wt. % monoclinic impurity. Furthermore, FESEM results (before and after heat treatment) indicated orderly particles of uniform shape and size with a small tendency toward agglomeration.
The Empirical Investigation and Study of College Students’ Autonomous English Learning and Learning Method Under the Environment of Multimedia and Network

: In recent years, most investigation studies on the autonomous-learning mode based on multimedia and network are practiced in many universities of China. Based on the analysis on account of the differences of the college students' autonomous learning attitude and learning environment and apply different learning methods. This research project was conducted in Bohai University, Jinzhou City of LiaoNing Province, this study lasts from July 2017 to January 2018, the research participants are made up of 90 college students from different majors and three classes from the same professional class of the same grade, They are respectively class A, B, C, the number of classes are 28, 29, 33 people respectively. This study aimed at college students using the Internet platform to learn autonomously English, the above participants were carried on the detailed investigation, and the data from the study was analyzed in detail and appropriately. This research adopts research journal and the questionnaire and investigates the situation of students' autonomous learning from the view of the college students' learning styles. Research results show that under the multimedia network environment, students can learn different ways to reinforce learning motivation and improve personal ability of autonomous learning. These findings are hoped to improve students’ and teachers’ awareness of autonomous learning on the Internet. The shortcomings, suggestions and influence are also stated in the paper.
A New Power Sharing Scheme of Multiple Microgrids and an Iterative Pairing-Based Scheduling Method

As the numbers of microgrids (MGs) and prosumers are increasing, many research efforts are proposing various power sharing schemes for multiple MGs (MMGs). Power sharing between MMGs can reduce the investment and operating costs of MGs. However, since MGs exchange power through distribution lines, this may have an adverse effect on the utility, such as an increase in peak demand, and cause local overcurrent issues. Therefore, this paper proposes a power sharing scheme that is beneficial to both MGs and the utility. This research assumes that in an MG, the energy storage system (ESS) is the major controllable resource. In the proposed power sharing scheme, an MG that sends power should discharge at least as much power from the ESS as the power it sends to other MGs, in order to actually decrease the total system demand. With these assumptions, methods for determining the power sharing schedule are proposed. Firstly, a mixed integer linear programming (MILP)-based centralized approach is proposed. Although this can provide the optimal power sharing solution, in practice, this method is very difficult to apply, due to the large calculation burden. To overcome the significant calculation burden of the centralized optimization method, a new method for determining the power sharing schedule is proposed. In this approach, the amount of power sharing is assumed to be a multiple of a unit amount, and the final power sharing schedule is determined by iteratively finding the best MG pair that exchange this unit amount. Simulation with a five MG scenario is used to test the proposed power sharing scheme and the scheduling algorithm in terms of a reduction in the operating cost of MGs, the peak demand of utility, and the calculation burden. In addition, the interrelationship between power sharing and the system loss is analyzed when MGs exchange power through the utility network.
Decentralized State-Driven Multiple Access and Information Fusion of Mission-Critical IoT Sensors for 5G Wireless Networks

In this paper, we consider a mission-critical control system, where an unstable dynamic plant is monitored by multiple distributed IoT sensors over a wireless communication network with shared common spectrum. To reduce the complexity of Kalman filtering, we consider a constant gain filter at the remote controller. We propose a decentralized dynamic scheduling and information fusion of the IoT sensors to stabilize the unstable dynamic plant. The proposed scheme has a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\textit {state-driven}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> multiple access structure, where a large state estimation MSE (high <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\textit {transmission urgency}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) and good wireless channel conditions (good <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\textit {transmission opportunities}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) promote the active mode of the sensors. Using the Lyapunov techniques, we provide the closed-form sufficient condition for stability and closed-form characterizations on the trade-off between the state estimation MSE and average power consumption of the sensors. We also propose a design guideline for the constant filter gain via minimizing the state estimation MSE. The proposed scheme is also compared with various representative literature and we show that significant performance gains can be achieved.
Compact bidirectional circularly polarized dedicated short range communication antenna for on‐board unit vehicle‐to‐everything applications

This article presents a newly circularly polarized (CP) antenna for V2X's dedicated short range communications applications. Its CP characteristic is enabled by a 70 Ω sequential phase feeding network and sequential rotation technique designed on top of the substrate. It has features of ≈90° phase difference in sequence between ports of S21 = 2.4°, S31 = −87°, S41 = −180°, and S51 = −276°, resulting in a 2.19 dB axial ratio centered at 5.9 GHz. The length of the SP feeding network to each ports designed in the different form of meander lines are the key to control the generated phase at the center frequency It also contributes to the smaller final size of 0. 59λ × 0. 59λ. The proposed antenna operated from 5.850 to 5.925 GHz with a gain between 4 and 6 dBi. The gains are radiated in bidirectional mode due to the presence of the complimentary dipoles located on the opposite side of the substrate. These features indicate the suitability of the proposed antenna in compliance to the ITS‐G5 OBU V2X standard.
Performance based design optimization of an intrinsically compliant 6-dof parallel robot

Abstract Parallel robots are preferred over serial robots owing to their enhanced accuracy and rigidity which comes from their higher stiffness. However, there are applications both in industry and in healthcare where higher accuracy is required alongside high compliance (reduced stiffness). Accuracy and compliance being conflicting to each other are difficult to achieve simultaneously. To address this issue, an intrinsically compliant 6-dof parallel robot is proposed in this work. Kinematic and analytical modeling is performed for its conceptual design to obtain the Jacobian matrix and thereby map the joint and Cartesian spaces. Robot’s structure design is analyzed, and the wrench analysis is also carried out to estimate the link forces and stiffness. It is shown that by small changes in the proposed robot design; its compliance can be altered making it suitable for a range of applications. It is also shown mathematically that the robot design can be optimized to maintain higher accuracy together with higher compliance. To carry out design optimization, three important performance criteria, namely; global condition number (for higher accuracies), norm of link forces (to reduce actuator power requirement) and robot compliance (for response to an external wrench) are mathematically formulated. Later, a multi-criteria optimization is performed using an evolutionary algorithm to simultaneously optimize these performance criteria. From the final robot design selected, it is evident that a higher robot compliance with optimal condition number and link forces can be achieved.
A study of factors determining outcome of acute kidney injury patients requiring hemodialysis

Background: High mortality rate in acute kidney injury (AKI) has interested many authors to conduct studies about factors predicting its outcome. The need for both dialysis and ICU care defines a group of critically ill patients who may have poor prognosis and consume vast amounts of resources. In this study we determine the variables predicting the outcome of patients with severe acute kidney failure requiring haemodialysis and to ascertain the aetiology of acute kidney injury in this group. Methods: We prospectively analysed 114 patients admitted with severe renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy over a period of one year. The influence of various factors such as demographic variables, pre morbidities, details of admission, clinical presentation and extent of organ dysfunction on the clinical outcome such as mortality and progression to end stage kidney disease were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 12 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill). Results: Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that parameters such as chronic liver disease, preexisting heart disease, mechanical ventilation and vasopressor requirement, oliguria, sepsis, hepatorenal syndrome, cardiogenic shock and admission in ICU were associated with high mortality (p<0.05). Of the 114 patients, 49 died (42.98%), 61 (53.5%) were dialysis independent and 4 patients (3.5%) progressed to end stage renal disease (ESRD). Conclusions: AKI patients requiring hemodialysis were associated with high hospital mortality. Patients who were diagnosed to have acute glomerulonephritis especially rapidly progressing glomerulonephritis as the cause of AKI were more prone to ESRD. Most survivors were dialysis independent at the time of discharge.
Impact of pH on succession of sourdough lactic acid bacteria communities and their fermentation properties

Sourdough, a traditional fermented dough, is made via natural fermentation by lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Its pH changes from near neutral to acid during the subculture process. However, the product quality of subcultured sourdough depends on the unpredictable succession of LAB communities, the influential factors of which are still unclear. To elucidate one end of the LAB community succession mechanism, we evaluated the effect of pH by designing four subculture experiments using a model medium adjusted to pH 6.7, 5.5, and 4.5, as well as a natural sourdough subculture. All experiments began by inoculating a sourdough LAB mixture, and both bacterial successions and fermentative properties were monitored until ten subculture steps. In media subcultures, lactic acid production was higher in higher pH media. Three LAB genera, Weissella, Pediococcus, and Lactobacillus, each represented by one operational taxonomic unit (OTU), were successively detected in all subcultures. In later steps with lower pH media, an OTU closely related to Lactobacillus brevis dominated, replacing an OTU closely related to the Weissella cibaria-confusa group that was more dominant than the L. brevis OTU in the near-neutral pH medium. In the sourdough subculture, the three genera were also detected, while Lactobacillus was dominant in earlier steps due to the emergence of an OTU closely related to Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis. These results suggest that a lower pH is favorable for the sequence of sourdough bacterial community evolution finalizing with Lactobacillus domination. Further research is needed to elucidate additional factors other than pH that influence the pattern of LAB community shift.
Role of Hope and Resilience in the Outcome of Depression and Related Suicidality

Depression is a common disease that reduces the quality of life and limits seriously patient’s psychosocial functioning. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of hope and resilience in depressive disease outcomes and suicidality. Seven rating scales (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Enhanced Snyder Hope Scale, Scale of Connor and Davidson-10, Scale for Suicide Ideation) have been administered to 75 subjects with the following features: diagnosis of unipolar depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder reporting a major current depressive episode according to DSM-V criteria, age between 18 and 75 years, no history of drug addiction, major medical condition or mental retardation. An inverse correlation has been found between higher levels of hope and resilience and lower severity of depression (p p = 0.037). Furthermore, an inverse correlation between age and levels of resilience (p = 0.020), an association between age and years of disease (p p < 0.0001) were found. Hope and resilience both seem to have a positive role in the outcome of depressive illness reducing the severity of psychopathology and related suicidality.
Business Startups and Development of South Korean Women Entrepreneurs in the IT Industry

The Problem Research on South Korean women entrepreneurs in the information technology (IT) industry is limited, and thus learning how they start and develop their businesses will address a gap in the literature. In addition, as our previous study on women entrepreneurs in Korea encompassed all industries, we did not sufficiently capture how women entrepreneurs in the IT industry started and developed their businesses. We feel a strong need to conduct a follow-up study on three women entrepreneurs who (a) started an IT business to become independent; (b) have stayed in their businesses for approximately 20 years; and (c) became role models as women entrepreneurs in the industry. The Solution We conducted semi-structured interviews with three women entrepreneurs in the IT industry and analyzed each case on three themes: motivation, challenges, and success factors. Although each case has its distinctive features, we found that all cases had success factors in common: technical expertise, positive outlook, adherence to business principles, work centrality, and networking. Particularly, the three women entrepreneurs’ positive outlook was the key success factor that helped them overcome challenges they faced in business development. The Stakeholders Given the study findings on women entrepreneurs’ personal factors (e.g., positive outlook, technical expertise) and external factors (e.g., networking), human resource development (HRD) practitioners can develop leadership programs to share those success factors with aspiring women entrepreneurs in Korea and other countries so that they can develop their own competencies and strategies from early on.
Simulation Studies On Performance Analysis Of Variable Frequency Induction Motor Drive And Incipient Fault Diagnosis Using Wavelets

: The advent of Power Electronic Devices capable of handling high currents, aided the design of Variable frequency drive (VFD) with Induction motor or inverter fed induction motor drive, which can be characterized by increased reliability and reduced cost. Though taken care highly, such type of drive system is prone for different kinds of faults. When fault occurs, the drive operation has to be stopped if it is designed for general fault detection. The cost of this schedule can be high, and this justifies the development of incipient fault diagnosis. Finding the fault immediately after it occurs is general method of diagnosing the fault. In this case the damage occurs to component or system. If the fault is detected just before it damages the component or system is much better than general fault diagnosis. i.e. diagnosing the fault at developing stage. It saves the system or component from damage. In turn the cost of damage is reduced. This is called the incipient fault detection. In this paper, general fault detection as well as incipient fault detection using the wavelets has been simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK package. Simulation results are presented showing both the general fault detection and incipient fault detection using the Wavelets.