Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Health and Well-Being of Children and Youth in Nova Scotia: Youth and Parent Perspectives

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures, cancellations of major events, and loss of in-person social interactions for children and youth. These restrictions undoubtedly impacted the lives of children and youth. This study describes the well-being of children and youth in Nova Scotia during the COVID-19 pandemic and their thoughts and feelings about the return to school, from the perspectives of both youth and parents. Methods: A province-wide survey was conducted in August 2020 with parents of school-age children and youth and youth to measure youth well-being since the pandemic began. Results: Parents of children and youth in grades pre-primary to 12 (n = 699; 53% girls) and youth in grades 3–12 (n = 279; 69% girls) completed the online survey. Perceptions of parents about children's emotions during the pandemic were: bored, safe, lonely, happy, and anxious. Youth reported feeling bored, relaxed, depressed, safe, and worried. Sixty-three percent of youth and 72% of parents reported that they/their child felt they were missing important life events. Parents reported that being with parents, being physically active and being with friends made their child feel positive. Youth reported that being with friends, pets and watching TV made them feel good during this time. Seventy-six percent of parents and 62% of youth reported they/their child were getting more screen time than before the pandemic. With schools closed, participants most frequently shared that they missed friends and social interactions, in-person learning, and extra-curricular activities. Youth and parents expressed worries about COVID-19 outbreaks and related restrictions when schools re-opened to in-person learning. Conclusion: The well-being of children and youth in Nova Scotia was greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and related school closures in 2020. It is essential that pandemic recovery plans prioritize the health and well-being of children and youth.
Long-Term Efficacy of Low-Intensity Single Donor Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Ulcerative Colitis and Outcome-Specific Gut Bacteria

Aims: To assess the long-term efficacy and safety of single-donor, low-intensity fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in treating ulcerative colitis (UC), and to identify the outcome-specific gut bacteria. Design: Thirty-one patients with active UC (Mayo scores ≥ 3) were recruited, and all received FMT twice, at the start of the study and 2∼3 months later, respectively, with a single donor and a long-term follow-up. The fecal microbiome profile was accessed via 16S rRNA sequencing before and after FMT. Results: After the first FMT, 22.58% (7/31) of patients achieved clinical remission and endoscopy remission, with the clinical response rate of 67.74% (21/31), which increased to 55% (11/20) and 80% (16/20), respectively, after the second FMT. No serious adverse events occurred in all patients. During 4 years of follow-up, the mean remission period of patients was 26.5 ± 19.98 m; the relapse rate in the 12 remission patients was 33.33% within 1 year, and 58.3% within 4 years. At baseline, UC patients showed an enrichment in some proinflammatory microorganisms compared to the donor, such as Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium difficile, and Ruminococcus gnavus, and showed reduced amounts of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) producing bacteria especially Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. FMT induced taxonomic compositional changes in the recipient gut microbiota, resulting in a donor-like state. Given this specific donor, UC recipients with different outcomes showed distinct gut microbial features before and after FMT. In prior to FMT, relapse was characterized by higher abundances of Bacteroides fragilis and Lachnospiraceae incertae sedis, together with lower abundances of Bacteroides massiliensis, Roseburia, and Ruminococcus; Prevotella copri was more abundant in the non-responders (NR); and the patients with sustained remission (SR) had a higher abundance of Bifidobacterium breve. After FMT, the NR patients had a lower level of Bifidobacterium compared to those with relapse (Rel) and SR, while a higher level of Bacteroides spp. was observed in the Rel group. Conclusion: Low-intensity single donor FMT could induce long remission in active UC. The gut microbiota composition in UC patients at baseline may be predictive of therapeutic response to FMT.
Testing Quantum Programs using Q# and Microsoft Quantum Development Kit

As the quantum software matures, the quantum codebases grow both in size and in complexity, and so does the task of testing them and verifying their correctness. In this paper we show how to test and validate several common types of quantum programs written in the quantum programming language Q# using the tools provided by the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit. Our approach uses multiple simulators and library tools for program testing and resource estimation, performing these steps before running the programs on quantum hardware. The demonstrated approach is illustrated with code examples from the Quantum Katas, a collection of quantum programming tutorials that provide immediate feedback for the learner’s solution.
‘Care co-ordinator in my pocket’: a feasibility study of mobile assessment and therapy for psychosis (TechCare)

Objectives The aim of the project was to examine the acceptability and feasibility of a mobile phone application-based intervention ‘TechCare’, for individuals with psychosis in the North West of England. The main objectives were to determine whether appropriate individuals could be identified and recruited to the study and whether the TechCare App would be an acceptable intervention for individuals with psychosis. Methods This was a mixed methods feasibility study, consisting of a test-run and feasibility evaluation of the TechCare App intervention. Setting Early Intervention Services (EIS) for psychosis, within an NHS Trust in the North West of England. Participants Sixteen participants (test-run n=4, feasibility study n=12) aged between 18 and 65 years recruited from the East, Central and North Lancashire EIS. Intervention A 6-week intervention, with the TechCare App assessing participants’ symptoms and responses in real-time and providing a personalised-guided self-help-based psychological intervention based on the principles of Cognitive Behaviorual Therapy (CBT). Results A total of 83.33% (n=10) of participants completed the 6-week feasibility study, with 70% of completers achieving the set compliance threshold of ≥33% engagement with the TechCare App system. Analysis of the qualitative data suggested that participants held the view that the TechCare was both an acceptable and feasible means of delivering interventions in real-time. Conclusion Innovative digital clinical technologies, such as the TechCare App, have the potential to increase access to psychological interventions, reduce health inequality and promote self-management with a real-time intervention, through enabling access to mental health resources in a stigma-free, evidence-based and time-independent manner. Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02439619.
Identifying women’s preferences for treatment of urinary tract infection: a discrete choice experiment

Objective To identify the preferences of women regarding management of urinary tract infections (UTIs). Design A discrete choice experiment of the preferences for certain treatment attributes was conducted by survey. Attributes included treatment duration, time to complaint resolution, complication risk, side effect risk and contribution to antimicrobial resistance. Setting General population in the Netherlands, recruited via social media. Participants Women aged 18 years or older. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome was the relative importance of the attributes for treatment choice, using a conditional logit model. The secondary outcome was the heterogeneity in these preferences. Results The discrete choice experiment was completed by 833 women. Most attributes were important to decisions for UTI treatment. Women were willing to accept management with, for example, a higher chance of complications or longer time to resolution, if it could help avoid antimicrobial resistance. However, there was heterogeneity in the preferences. Women who had one previous UTI had a stronger preference for faster symptom resolution compared with those who had no previous UTI. Younger women also preferred faster symptom resolution. Finally, women with a low or middle education level gave less importance to preventing antimicrobial resistance than women with a high education level. Conclusions The current study indicated that a considerable part of women valued alternatives to antimicrobial treatment and were prepared to tolerate management that was less optimal in certain respects to avoid antimicrobial treatment.
Comparing Sliding-Mode Control and PID Approaches for Vehicle Stability Control

In this paper, the problem of vehicle yaw control using differential braking is investigated. The proposed control structure employs the wheel slip controller to apply differential braking to generate the yaw moment calculated by the yaw controller. A fuzzy logic based target slip allocation method is also designed. Due to system uncertainties and wide range operation conditions, two different yaw controller which are based on sliding-mode control and PID control are designed, and their performances are compared by hardware in loop simulation. The obtained results show the effectiveness of the proposed control structure with both yaw controllers, but the sliding mode based yaw controller can be more robust.
Validation of a fast voltage stability analysis method on the Hydro-Quebec system

This paper reports on tests validating a fast voltage stability analysis method, envisaged for operational planning and real-time applications. The simulation method relies on quasi-steady-state approximation, replacing the transient dynamics with equilibrium equations and focusing on the long-term dynamics. Various comparisons have been performed with full time simulation, on the 514-bus Hydro-Quebec system. The accuracy is equivalent while the new method is up to 3 orders of magnitude faster.
A Semantic-Driven Framework for Enterprise Integration

To meet enterprise-class application, the paper constructs a general distributed value-added logistics services platform for real-time tracking and querying the goods during storage and shipping process. Based on RFID, GPS and GSM/GPRS to improve storage and transport efficiency, the whole project consists of vehicle-mounted terminals, control center, and warehouse management system. Focused on the onboard system, architecture design and software implementation of terminals are given. The result shows that the system can provide some references for addressing the transparency of the third party logistics and efficient collaboration.
Expression of correlation coefficient for two omnidirectional antennas using conventional mutual impedances

The correlation coefficient of two vertically-polarised omnidirectional antennas in a typical rich multipath environment is expressed in terms of the conventional mutual impedances. This provides a convenient formula for the calculation of the correlation coefficient based on existing data available in the literature. Numerical results on two monopole antennas demonstrate the validity of this expression.
Vehicle Dynamics Estimation Using Kalman Filters

This paper deals with the application of stochastic state estimators in vehicle dynamics control. It is often unrealistic to assume that all vehicle states and the disturbances acting on it can be measured. System states that cannot be measured directly, can be estimated by a Kalman Filter. The idea of the Kalman filter is to implement a model of the real system in an on-board computer in parallel with the system itself. This paper will give 3 examples of this principle applied to automotive systems.
Models of optical characteristics of barrel-vault skylights: development, validation and application

By admitting natural light deep into a building and connecting occupants with the outside, skylights can improve the aesthetic look of buildings and increase occupant satisfaction. In addition, by allowing the entry of natural light electric light levels can be reduced thereby leading to energy savings. However, the potential energy benefits and amenities of skylights have not been fully exploited in today’s building design due to some theoretical and technical challenges. The lack of design tools is one of the major hurdles building designers face to adopt such products and quantify their energy benefits. The optical characteristics of skylights are the significant factors affecting their energy benefits. Recognizing this gap, the SkyVision tool was developed to assist skylight manufacturers and building designers in developing appropriate skylight designs for given building types and daylighting applications. This paper describes the models implemented in SkyVision to compute the optical characteristics of barrel-vault skylights with clear, fully translucent or partially diffusing glazing under beam and diffuse light. The models are based on the ray-tracing technique. Under diffuse light, two models are developed: (1) a luminance-based model when the sky luminance distribution is known; and (2) an illuminance-based model when the illuminance on a horizontal surface is known. The second model is simpler and faster and more suitable for annual performance calculation. Experimental measurements of the skylight transmittance were conducted under real sky conditions to validate the model predictions. The actual measurements compared reasonably well with the model predictions. The predictions from the luminance-based and illuminance-based models showed good agreement with each other. When applied to an example study, the models predicted that vault skylights with clear glazing are more effective than flat skylights with similar glazing in boosting the beam light transmittance, particularly in winter days. Translucent vault skylights are more effective than flat skylights with similar glazing in reducing solar heat gains, particularly in summer days. Translucent skylights may out-perform transparent skylights, particularly during sunny days in winter.
Radial Distortion Invariant Factorization for Structure from Motion

Factorization methods are frequently used for structure from motion problems (SfM). In the presence of noise they are able to jointly estimate camera matrices and scene points in overdetermined settings, without the need for accurate initial solutions. While the early formulations were restricted to affine models, recent approaches have been show to work with pinhole cameras by minimizing object space errors.In this paper we propose a factorization approach using the so called radial camera, which is invariant to radial distortion and changes in focal length. Assuming a known principal point our approach can reconstruct the 3D scene in settings with unknown and varying radial distortion and focal length. We show on both real and synthetic data that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art factorization methods under these conditions.1
Microfluidique des milieux poreux : application au génie tissulaire osseux

En orthopédie, l’utilisation d’un implant hybride constitué d’un substrat poreux dans lequel sont cultivées des cellules osseuses provenant du patient est une technique de greffe actuellement développée. La culture des cellules est effectuée au sein d’un bioréacteur, où l’implant est perfusé pendant plusieurs semaines. La perfusion permet l’apport d’oxygène nécessaire aux cellules pour leur développement. La maîtrise des phénomènes de transport au sein de l’implant est donc essentielle à la réussite d’une telle culture cellulaire. L’étude ici présentée, a abouti à la mise en place d’un modèle simplifié permettant de résoudre par simulation numérique un problème de transport d’oxygène stationnaire en milieu poreux. Ce modèle prend en compte l’influence de la géométrie complexe de l’implant sur les vitesses locales du fluide nutritif perfusé et un terme « puits » non linéaire imposé par la spécificité de la consommation cellulaire. La résolution numérique faiblement couplée de l’équation de convection-diffusion et celles de Navier Stokes est alors nécessaire. Une longueur de pénétration de l’oxygène dans le milieu poreux est calculée, l’hétérogénéité locale chimique et mécanique de l’environnement de culture mise en évidence, et l’influence de différents paramètres tels que la vitesse de perfusion ou la concentration initiale en oxygène du fluide nutritif est analysée de manière théorique. Bien qu’il soit nécessaire de compléter ce modèle, nous pouvons ainsi envisager de choisir une taille d’implant adaptée et de définir des conditions de culture optimales préalables à la réalisation d’un processus de culture performant.
Point to-Point and Path Following Navigation of Mobile Robot in Farm Settings

A fully integrated navigation strategy of a wheeled mobile robot in farm settings and off-road terrains is described here. The proposed strategy is composed of four main actions which are: sensor data analysis, obstacle detection, obstacle avoidance, and goal seeking. Using these actions, the navigation approach is capable of autonomous row-detection, row-following and path planning motion in outdoor settings such as farms. In order to drive the robot in off-road terrain, it must detect holes or ground depressions (negative obstacles), that are inherent parts of these environments, in real-time at a safe distance from the robot. Key originalities of the proposed approach are its capability to accurately detect both positive (over ground) and negative obstacles, and accurately identify the end of the rows of trees/bushes in farm/orchard and enter the next row. Experimental evaluations were carried out using a differential wheeled mobile robot in different farm settings. The mobile robot, used for experiments, utilizes a tilting unit which carries a laser range finder to detect objects in the environment, and a RTK-DGPS unit for localization. The experiments demonstrate that the proposed technique is capable of successfully detecting and following rows (path following) as well as robust navigation of the robot for point-to-point motion.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Comparison of ICON/MIGHTI and TIMED/TIDI Neutral Wind Measurements in the Lower Thermosphere

This study cross‐compares ICON/MIGHTI and Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics & Dynamics (TIMED)/TIMED Doppler Interferometer (TIDI) MLT region neutral winds from middle Northern Hemisphere to low Southern Hemisphere latitudes. We utilized MIGHTI level‐2.2 (v4) and TIDI level‐3 (v11) neutral winds from January 2020 to November 2020 and found their conjunctions using a space‐time window of LST ± 15 min, latitude ± 4°, and longitude ± 4° around each TIDI wind measurement. Due to the nature of their orbital geometry, frequent conjunctions occurred between MIGHTI and TIDI. These conjunctions are spread in longitudes and they occur at approximately fixed LSTs and latitudes, which allows us to compare their observed diurnal variability. MIGHTI and TIDI wind observations agree well (except on the TIDI coldside during forward flight) and show similar large amplitude longitudinal variations that can reach more than 100 m/s. MIGHTI and TIDI zonal and meridional winds show moderate correlations of 0.60 and 0.55, respectively. The slopes of regression fits for zonal and meridional winds are 0.92 and 0.91, respectively. The root mean square differences in zonal and meridional winds are 56 and 66 m/s, respectively. We found that TIDI coldside measurements in forward flight show a systematic bias and this behavior is repetitive as the instrument pointing direction is changed by the periodic TIMED yaw maneuver. The nature of this systematic bias suggests that the TIDI zero‐wind references (at least for the coldside telescopes) need revision. This investigation can provide guidance toward improving the TIDI data analysis. In addition, the results of this study act as a validation of MIGHTI MLT winds.
Structural Design, Simulation and Experiment of Quadruped Robot

This paper carried out a series of designs, simulations and implementations by using the physical-like mechanism of a bionic quadruped robot dog as a vehicle. Through an investigation of the walking mechanisms of quadrupeds, a bionic structure is proposed that is capable of omnidirectional movements and smooth motions. Furthermore, the kinematic and inverse kinematic solutions based on the DH method are explored to lay the foundation for the gait algorithm. Afterward, a classical compound pendulum equation is applied as the foot-end trajectory and inverse kinematic solutions are combined to complete the gait planning. With appropriate foot–ground contact modeling, MATLAB and ADAMS are used to simulate the dynamic behavior and the diagonal trot gait of the quadruped robot. Finally, the physical prototype is constructed, designed and debugged, and its performance is measured through real-world experiments. Results show that the quadruped robot is able to balance itself during trot motion, for both its pitch and roll attitude. The goal of this work is to provide an affordable yet comprehensive platform for novice researchers in the field to study the dynamics, contact modeling, gait planning and attitude control of quadruped robots.
Association Between Perceived Stress and Prenatal Depressive Symptoms: Moderating Effect of Social Support

Purpose Prenatal depressive symptoms are an important mental health problem during pregnancy. We aimed to explore the moderating role of social support on the association between perceived stress and prenatal depressive symptoms. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at an obstetrics clinic. A total of 1846 women completed a self-administered questionnaire, with a response rate of 91.8%. Results Of the 1846 participants, 28.2% reported prenatal depressive symptoms (Edinburgh postnatal depression scale score ≥ 9). After adjusting for demographic characteristics, gestational age, exercise, and passive smoking, both perceived stress (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.210, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.178–1.242) and social support (AOR: 0.950, 95% CI: 0.932–0.968) were associated with prenatal depressive symptoms. Moreover, social support had a moderating effect on the association between perceived stress and prenatal depressive symptoms (p < 0.001), and pregnant women with low social support were more likely to be affected by stress and experience prenatal depressive symptoms. Conclusion Our study suggests that higher social support reduces the impact of stress on pregnant women, which in turn, decreases the risk of prenatal depressive symptoms. Therefore, interventions aimed at improving social support should be considered for the prevention and treatment of prenatal depressive symptoms.