Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High Time Resolution Time-Lapse Imaging Reveals Continuous Existence and Rotation of Stress Fibers under Cyclic Stretch in HUVEC

Cells under cyclic stretch sense their environments and induce responses such as actin stress fiber (SF) reorientation and morphological changes. These physiological responses are thought to occur when cells sense incompatibility between SF orientation and stretching direction. This hypothesis requires existence of SFs. However, such existence of SFs in cells under cyclic stretch remains unclear since few studies attempted to track the existence of SFs throughout cyclic stretch. In order to track the existence of SFs throughout cyclic stretch, high time resolution time-lapse imaging was improved in two points. First, SFs were clearly imaged with coexpression of DsRed-zyxin and GFP-actin. Second, time resolution was improved so that fluorescence images were obtained every 28 sec. With the improved high time resolution time-lapse imaging, it was revealed, for the first time, that SFs could exist continuously throughout cyclic stretch. Moreover, physiological responses including morphological change as well as SF reorientation occurred during the time when SFs formed incompatibility between SF orientation and stretching direction. These results demonstrated that SFs continuously existed in cells under cyclic stretch and in turn suggested that continuous presence of incompatibility between orientation of long-lasting SFs and the stretching direction might be important for mechanosensing which induces physiological responses.
Implementation of real-time displacement precision measurement technology for the sinusoidal phase-shifting laser self-mixing interferometer

An advanced sinusoidal phase-shifting technique and a time-domain phase demodulation method were used to improve the measurement accuracy and realize the real-time measurement speed of the laser self-mixing interferometer in a large range of displacement. An electro-optic crystal modulator (EOM) was used to realize the sinusoidal phase-shifting on the laser beam in the external cavity. The interference signal was demodulated using a time-domain phase demodulation method. The speed requirement could be met by combining the two together in a wide range of displacement measurement processes together with the real-time measurement requirement as an interferometer at the same time. It was experimentally verified that the displacement measurement precision of a sinusoidal phase-shifting laser self-mixing interferometer could reach less than 0.5 μm in the hundred mm large-scale displacement measuring process. In addition, the factors affecting the interferometer’s measurement speed in the real-time displacement measurement process is analyzed and the maximum speed of our system was obtained as well. Keywords: self-mixing interference; phase modulation; time-domain phase demodulation
Frog: Form Follows Emotion

"Form follows emotion" is the mantra of Frog's founder, Hartmut Essinger. The words are hardly unexpected from the man who was responsible for the Apple Mac's revolutionary user-friendly styling and was a leading light in the invention of curvy, "biomorphic" product design. Founded in Germany's Black Forest in 1969, Frog is now a creative global network designing products, corporate identities and new media for a vast range of international clients including Disney, Levis, Lufthansa and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This work looks at the creative process behind a wide range of innovative and highly successful designs.
A simple stepped‐impedance transmission line load network for inverse Class F power amplifiers

In this article, a novel simple load network with harmonic tuning, which is based on a stepped‐impedance transmission line is presented.Based on effect of a spectrum narrowing when poles of the reactance function are approaching adjacent zeros with higher transmission line impedance ratio, an open circuit at the second harmonic and a short circuit at the third harmonic are achieved, thus satisfying inverse Class F conditions. Design example of the load network with second and third harmonic tuning and effect of the device output shunt capacitance Cout and series inductance Lout with design equations are described and analyzed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:1157–1160, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.25923
Gain and radiation pattern enhancement of balanced antipodal Vivaldi antenna

Balanced antipodal Vivaldi antennas normally suffer from tilted beams and low axial gains. A simple technique, based on the substrate end shaping, is used to correct both problems. Consequently, the resulting antennas provide high axial gains, within a wide frequency band. Their performance is compared with the conventional Vivaldi antenna, and the improvements are discussed.
Seasonal Variation of Moisture and Subsurface Layer Moduli

In 1995 the Montana Department of Transportation initiated a study on the seasonal variation of pavement strength, with an emphasis on spring thawing. Ten sites representing a cross section of Montana subgrade soil and pavement structure were selected and instrumented with moisture and temperature sensors. Field measurements of surface deflections, moistures, and temperatures were initiated in autumn 1996 and continued through the spring of 1997. The moisture and deflection data were used to determine the thaw-weakening characteristics of the sites and to develop subgrade modulus values for use in the future design of pavement structures using AASHTO mechanistic design methodology. Results indicated that in several areas not only the subgrade but also the base course layers were prone to thaw weakening. The length of thaw weakening varied from 4 days to a 3-week period. In addition, it was found that in almost all cases the subsurface moisture content began to increase rapidly when the subsurface temperature rose to around–2°C during the spring. In some cases it was found that when the subsurface temperature finally warmed to 0°C, the moisture content had reached its prefreeze value. This research provides a general description of the test sites and measurements; it quantifies the effects of thaw weakening on typical roads in Montana based on deflection and surface and subsurface moisture and temperature.
Avaliação funcional multivariada em jogadores de futebol profissional: uma metanálise

O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar, de modo amplo, o comportamento de variáveis importantes para a saúde preventiva e o desempenho atlético, em jogadores de futebol profissional. Além disso, o estudo tece comentários, através de longa revisão bibliográfica, sobre os resultados de nossos atletas e os observados na literatura especializada, nessa modalidade esportiva. Os futebolistas foram submetidos a uma bateria de testes clínicos, laboratoriais e de aptidão cardiorespiratória, metabólica e muscular, pré-participação ao Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol de 1996, que constou das seguintes variáveis: consumo de oxigênio, limiar anaeróbio ventilatório, eletrocardiografia em repouso e no exercício, potência muscular ( wingate), flexibilidade, hemograma, reações sorológicas para doença de Chagas, protoparasitológico, glicose, uréia, creatinina, colesterol total e frações, hormônios, eletrólitos, minerais, composição corporal, avaliação fisioterápica, odontológica e nutricional. Os resultados obtidos indicaram que o emprego de uma avaliação multifatorial, em atletas de alto rendimento, é um procedimento importante para verificar se o nível de aptidão física está adequado e/ou detectar possíveis deficiências, que possam interferir no desempenho atlético dos futebolistas, durante os treinamentos e jogos.
MODEL FOR PUBLIC SECTOR DESIGN-BUILD PROJECT SELECTION

Public sector owners are rapidly identifying new construction procurement methods. Changing procurement laws and documented project success are encouraging owners to attempt the design-build method of project procurement. Design-build is a radical departure from the traditional design-bid-build method. This paper reports on the analysis of 122 case studies and the resulting automated tool for public sector design-build project selection. Prediction models are developed for five performance criteria that correlate specific project characteristics to success. Performance criteria and associated models include budget variance, schedule variance, conformance to expectations, administrative burden, and overall user satisfaction. Project characteristics are categorized as project, owner, market, and relationship variables. Statistically significant correlations with success include scope definition, schedule definition, budget definition, project complexity, agency experience, agency staffing, owner design input, design-build market, design-builder prequalification, and method of selection.
Conetividade de baixa frequência no cérebro humano associada ao movimento voluntário

The ability to perform a voluntary movement is considered crucial to human nature. However, despite its importance, the understanding of the neuronal mechanisms underlying its preparation is still unclear. In this study, the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) signals of 25 healthy subjects were examined through a time-domain analysis of functional connectivity, where 3 components of Wavelet coherence were calculated: magnitude, phase and phase-locking, for 32 brain regions. Each subject performed 3 tasks: rest, movement (button press) in free will and induced by a visual stimulus, enabling the comparison of the neural networks involved in each one. To obtain these comparisons, and their topological measurements of graphs, the GraphVar software was used. A final goal was to study the coupling between the oscillations of the fMRI and heart rate beat-to-beat interval (acquired simultaneously) signals. Given the strong role of slow oscillations (<0.1Hz) in the initiation of voluntary movements, all methodologies were applied according to 3 frequency bands: 0.01-0.027Hz; 0.027-0.073Hz; 0.07-0.13Hz. The results obtained in the comparisons between tasks revealed a great similarity between the measure of magnitude and phase-locking, suggesting that when two signals are very synchronous in a given time window, that is, there was little variation of phase, they also present a high magnitude of coherence . Of all the regions whose connections were more significant in voluntary movements, there was great prominence of the right partitions of thalamus and pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus. Regarding the phase measurement, a strong pattern of alternation between inhibition and excitation was observed in both hemispheres of each region. In the relationship between fMRI and cardiac signals, the activation of regions involved in the control of cardiovascular function was confirmed, as is the case of insula. Globally, the results demonstrated the usefulness of these measures of functional connectivity to elucidate the role of slow oscillations in the preparation and execution of voluntary movements.
Optimal capacity allocation of standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power system based on improved particle swarm optimisation algorithm

A standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power system, making full use of the nature complementarity between wind and solar energy, has an extensive application prospect among various newly developed energy technologies. The capacity of the hybrid power system needs to be optimised in order to make a tradeoff between power reliability and cost. In this study, each part of the wind/solar/battery hybrid power system is analysed in detail and an objective function combining total owning cost and loss of power supply probability is built. To solve the problems with non-linearity, complexity and huge computation, an improved particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm is developed, which integrates the taboo list to broaden the search range and introduces ‘restart’ and ‘disturbance’ operation to enhance the global searching capability. The simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm is more stable and provides better results in solving the optimal allocation of the capacity of the standalone wind/solar/battery hybrid power system compared with the standard PSO algorithm.
Slot antenna for mobile base station using AMC

In this paper, a new configuration of dual-band, dual-polarized microstrip antenna applicable to mobile base stations is proposed. The concept behind the new design is the use of an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) structure that operates in the required two bands beneath a radiating diamond shaped slot. The choice of the diamond-shaped slot is due to its support of an infinite number of resonant modes where the dimensions of the diamond shape have more degree of freedom that controls the excited modes when compared to the rectangular slot. The proposed antenna works over the 870–960 MHz (GSM850/GSM900) band and the 1710–2170 MHz (DCS1800/PCS1900/UMTS2100) bands for mobile communication systems. The antenna is suitable for transmitting and receiving mobile signals since it has two ports of orthogonal polarization. The antenna is fabricated on a combination of FR4 dielectric substrate and foam layers in order to achieve low cost. The proposed antenna yields high isolation between its two ports not exceeding −30 dB and a front-to-back ratio exceeding 15 dB. The average antenna gains are about 6.6 dBi at the GSM850/GSM900, 7.1 dBi at the DCS1800/PCS1900, and 6.8 dBi at the UMTS2100 bands. The theory of radiation is proved analytically and verified by comparing its results with some simulated results. Finally, a good agreement between the simulated and measured results is noticed.
Epidemiology of Eimeria acervulina infections in broilers : an integrated approach

Understanding of factors that influence the epidemiology of Eimeria acervulina infections was increased by combined theoretical, experimental and field work. First, a simulation model was developed. Second, principles and phenomena as observed in simulation results were validated by conducting experiments in broilers. The research described in this thesis was focused on (qualitative) validation of the simulation model. The model was, in contrast to expectation, relatively insensitive to the sporulation rate of oocysts. Host immunity and anticoccidial drug efficacy, however, influenced model outcomes substantially. These aspects were tested experimentally. Simulation results showed existence of an optimal initial contamination level. This hypothesis was also tested in an experiment. From a qualitative perspective the simulation model behaves realistically. Quantitative agreement between simulation and experimental results was less satisfactory, which illustrates the need for better calibration of parameters and change of relationships in the current model. Finally, environmental and management factors that are associated with coccidiosis were studied using field data.
Assessment of particle filter and Kalman filter for estimating velocity using odometery system

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose multisensory integration for train positioning application, to support recent automatic train control systems and also moving block signaling systems.Design/methodology/approach – Reducing the cost and at the same time improving the reliability and accuracy of the overall positioning system, are primary goals of the researches going on in this field.Findings – This paper designs and evaluates two different algorithms of Kalman filtering (KF) and particle filtering (PF), on a set of low cost positioning systems, as tachometers, Doppler radar and balises.Originality/value – This paper's research outcomes introduce considerable improvements upon the results when compared to the current utilization of the stand‐alone tachometer and Doppler radar sensors, and slight improvements in comparison with the KF algorithm, and also upon results in recent publications on the subject.
DIAGNÓSTICO DA QUALIDADE DE VIDA NO TRABALHO (QVT) DE FRENTISTAS DE POSTOS DE COMBUSTÍVEIS E SUAS INTERFACES COM A QUALIDADE DOS SERVIÇOS PRESTADOS

The quality of gas station attendant work life was diagnosed taking into account their profile to characterize attendant performance in QWL terms, in accordance with the Fernandes model (1996) and perceive relationships between QWL and quality of services rendered. The total was comprised of 886 people with 283 selected as a sample. Data was collected by a structured questionnaire, based on the model, which had only one subjective question. The closed questions were processed by statistics software SPSS and results for the open question were grouped according to the model cited. Results showed a poorer performance on Compensation and Work Conditions as opposed to Image of the Company and Communication, which had a positive aspect. The survey points out that, despite increasing investments in gas station appearance, only minimum emphasis has been placed on development of attendants. Considering that the attendant is the first and often only contact a client has with a gas station, results show limitations in the QWL, with a negative impact on the service quality.
Establishing community and research trust in public health using service-oriented architecture (SOA)

ESTABLISHING COMMUNITY AND RESEARCH TRUST IN PUBLIC HEALTH USING SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE (SOA) by Juanita H. Mah One of the major challenges of community-based research is recruitment of community members who will participate in clinical trials, continue for the duration of the t rial, and provide accurate sensitive personal information. This challenge can be overcome by establishing greater trust between researchers and communities. This study focuses on a system to address trust issues between the San Jose Hispa nic community and clinical researchers. It describes a methodology for transl a ing nonfunctional wants and needs into technical requirements that are used as input to a Ser viceOriented Architecture (SOA) approach to design a solution. Unlike a typical SOA that is derived from a single enterprise’s business goals and processes, this soluti on is based on multiple stakeholder goals and general clinical trial processes. The resulting architecture focuses on improving communication between researc hers and communities and is validated by mapping the technical requirements against a trustbuilding model and modeling the solution using Petri nets.
The Empirical Study on the Relationships among the Times of Lane-Changing, Speed and Density of Traffic Flow - For Level of Service Two in Different Lanes of Weaving Area of Urban Expressway

This paper analyzed the statistical relationships among lane-changing, speed and density of traffic flow in different lanes of urban expressway weaving area under a given traffic condition and LOS two. A series of models was recommended. And then, the effectiveness between the recommended model and the existing model was compared. Although the optimization effect not very clear, but it shows that the lane-changing factors have some effects .
Safety Performance Improvement Through Culture Change

Achieving exemplary safety performance requires more than attention to systems and procedures. More and more companies are pursuing culture change as the key to delivering and sustaining safety improvement. In order to achieve culture change, it is vital that the right issues are tackled, but culture is complex and it can be difficult to have confidence with regard to what is the right kind of intervention. This paper introduces an approach to safety climate assessment that has been developed to enable cost-effective assessment of an organization. The tool that is described has also been used to track changes in safety climate, allowing improvement plans to be updated and refocused to maximize the effective use of resources. Some real examples of safety climate assessment and culture change in industry are reviewed.
Older drivers risks and countermeasures: source book

This report describes the results of a research project undertaken to investigate older driver risks and countermeasures. The literature on crash involvement of older drivers has been reviewed, crash statistics from the Federal Office of Road Safety database and elsewhere have been analysed, and qualitative research has been carried out with older drivers themselves as well as other relevant stakeholders. The report discusses the physical changes relating to aging and how this affects driving skills, including the types of crashes in which old people are involved. A number of countermeasures that may help reduce older driver crashes are canvassed, as well as communication strategies appropriate to this group.
A Large Motion Suspension System for Simulation of Orbital Deployment

This paper describes the design and implementation of a vertical degree of freedom suspension system which provides a constant force off-load condition to counter gravity over large displacements. By accommodating motions up to one meter for structures weighing up to 100 pounds, the system is useful for experiments which simulate the on-orbit deployment of spacecraft components. A unique aspect of this system is the combination of a large stroke passive off-load device augmented by electromotive torque actuated force feedback. The active force feedback has the effect of reducing breakaway friction by an order of magnitude over the passive system alone. The paper describes the development of the suspension hardware and the feedback control algorithm. Experiments were performed to verify the suspensions system's ability to provide a gravity off-load as well as its effect on the modal characteristics of a test article.
Topologies for wound-field three-phase segmented-rotor flux-switching machines

Topologies for three-phase segmented-rotor flux-switching machines employing a DC field winding are presented and examined on the basis of the peak armature flux linkage, induced phase EMF and torque capability. The basic principle of these types of machines is based on an unconventional configuration, using a segmental rotor to modulate and switch polarity of the flux linkages in the armature windings. Both the field and armature systems are located on the stator, with clear advantages. The three-phase topologies are examined using finite element simulations. It is found that the 12/8 configuration is the optimal topology on the balance of the considered characteristics. Other topologies may warrant consideration depending on application and tolerance of the EMF waveform distortion and unbalanced magnetic side-pull. The EMF waveforms and torque predicted in the simulations are validated experimentally for the 12/8 topology.
Hexagonal Boron Nitride Passivation Layer for Improving the Performance and Reliability of InGaN/GaN Light-Emitting Diodes

We introduce a low temperature process for coating InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with h-BN as a passivation layer. The effect of h-BN on device performance and reliability is investigated. At −5 V, the leakage current of the h-BN passivated LED was −1.15 × 10−9 A, which was one order lower than the reference LED’s leakage current of −1.09 × 10−8 A. The h-BN layer minimizes the leakage current characteristics and operating temperature by acting as a passivation and heat dispersion layer. With a reduced working temperature of 33 from 45 °C, the LED lifetime was extended 2.5 times following h-BN passivation. According to our findings, h-BN passivation significantly improves LED reliability.