Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Causal Effect of Serum Magnesium on Osteoporosis and Cardiometabolic Diseases

Serum magnesium is associated with osteoporosis and cardiometabolic diseases, but their causal associations remain elusive. We used the two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study to explore the causal roles of serum magnesium on osteoporosis and cardiometabolic diseases by using the aggregated genome-wide association studies (GWASs). Six single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, p < 5 × 10−8) associated with serum magnesium concentrations were all used as instrumental variables. A genetic predisposition to higher serum magnesium concentrations was inversely associated with lower lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD, beta-estimate: −1.982, 95% CI: −3.328 to −0.635, SE: 0.687, p = 0.004), which was further confirmed by multiple sensitivity analyses. There was limited evidence of associations between serum magnesium and type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation. This work provided strong evidence that genetically increased serum magnesium concentrations were causally associated with low lumbar spine BMD and suggested that serum magnesium concentrations may be crucial to prevent osteoporosis.
Heavy metals in shallow groundwater of the urban area in Suzhou, northern Anhui Province, China

Urbanization and related human activities have brought bad effects to the environment, especially shallow groundwater systems in urban areas. In this study, sixty-three shallow groundwater samples in the urban area of Suzhou, northern Anhui Province, China were collected and analyzed for the concentrations of eight heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cr, Cd, Cu, Pb and Ni). The results indicate that some of the heavy metals (Zn, Ni, Cr, Cd and Fe) are present below the international drinking water standards but more than half of the sources sampled do not meet the requirements for Mn, Cu and Pb. Quality assessment suggests that all of the samples have heavy metal pollution indices (HPI) lower than 100, implying that they can be used for drinking directly. However, the degrees of contamination ( C d) observed suggest that about one third of the samples are classified as heavily polluted. Heavy densities of population and traffic in the old quarter of the city are considered responsible for the pollution of the groundwater system in the city. Moreover, Cd, Pb, Ni and Mn are identified as metals affected by human activities, whereas Fe, Zn, Cu and Cr are considered to originate from the natural environment, based on the comparison of spatial distributions of HPI, C d and heavy metal concentrations, as well as factor analysis.
Diversity gain from a single-port adaptive antenna using switched parasitic elements illustrated with a wire and monopole prototype

A new concept in single-port adaptive antennas using parasitic elements with switched terminating impedances is presented including results from a concept prototype. Each parasitic element can be effectively terminated in three impedance values. The antenna concept provides multiple radiation patterns with a single RF signal port without the need for RF switches or phase shifters in the direct RF signal path. Impedance variations in the active antenna element are minimized by use of only rotationally symmetric configurations. Measured patterns are used to demonstrate the performance improvement expected using switched diversity combining in a simulated uniform scattering scenario. The concept prototype having one active element and four parasitic elements, is shown to have equivalent diversity performance to between three and four uncorrelated branches.
Terahertz (THz) Applications in Food and Agriculture: A Review

Abstract. Terahertz (THz) rays interact with materials at intermolecular levels, and because of this they are the focus of many active research areas. The developments in THz technology were hindered by lack of hardware, but the advent of the femtosecond laser in the 1980s started the advancement in THz generation and detection technologies. THz technology is transitioning from laboratory scale to many practical applications, including security screening, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and others, but there are few studies pertaining to food and agricultural applications. This study reviews the articles related to food and agriculture applications of THz spectroscopy and THz imaging. It also briefly introduces important THz techniques. The survey of the literature reveals great potential for this emerging and promising technology in agriculture. Food inspection, crop inspection, and material characterization could be potential research areas.
Pay‐off selection criteria for quality and improvement initiatives

Purpose – The variety of possible quality management (QM) and continuous improvement (CI) initiatives and their various possible permutations can make it difficult for a company to choose the best approach for their requirements. This paper aims to address the selection issue by presenting a method to compare popular QM and CI initiatives from the perspective of the pay‐offs, or expected benefits, to an organisation which successfully adopts the approach.Design/methodology/approach – The relevant QM and CI literature was analysed, examining key initiatives and their reported pay‐offs to the organisation. A matrix diagram approach is introduced which presents the extent and credibility of arguments advanced for these initiatives, in seven categories of pay‐off. A system of assessment is proposed, which quantifies the extent and weight of empirical evidence and estimates the strength of the claim for each pay‐off.Findings – The pay‐off matrix summarises the claims in each of the pay‐off categories, assesses.
Scoping review to identify and map non-pharmacological, non-surgical treatments for dysphagia following moderate-to-severe acquired brain injury

Introduction Dysphagia is a common and critical consequence of acquired brain injury (ABI) and can cause severe complications. Dysphagia rehabilitation is transforming from mainly compensatory strategies to the retraining of swallowing function using principles from neuroscience. However, there are no studies that map interventions available to retrain swallowing function in patients with moderate-to-severe ABI. Objective To systematically map the accessible research literature to answer the research question: Which non-surgical, non-pharmacological interventions are used in the treatment of dysphagia in patients with moderate and severe ABI in the acute and subacute phase? Design Scoping review based on the methodology of Arksey and O’Malley and methodological advancement by Levac et al. Data sources MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, OTseeker, speechBITE and PEDro were searched up until 14 March 2021. Eligibility criteria All studies reporting rehabilitative interventions within 6 months of injury for patients with moderate-to-severe ABI and dysphagia were included. Data extraction and synthesis Data was extracted by two independent reviewers and studies were categorised based on treatment modality. Results A total of 21 396 records were retrieved, and a final of 26 studies were included. Interventions were categorised into cortical or non-cortical stimulation of the swallowing network. Cortical stimulation interventions were repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation. Non-cortical were complex swallowing interventions, neuromuscular electrical stimulation, pharyngeal electrical stimulation (PES), sensory stimulation, strengthening exercises and respiratory muscle training. Conclusion This scoping review provides an overview of rehabilitative dysphagia interventions for patients with moderate and severe ABI, predominantly due to stroke, in the acute and subacute phase. Positive tendencies towards beneficial effects were found for rTMS, complex swallowing interventions, PES and cervical strengthening. Future studies could benefit from clear reporting of patient diagnosis and disease severity, the use of more standardised treatment protocols or algorithms and fewer but standardised outcome measures to enable comparison of effects across studies and interventions.
The radiating properties of end-fire aerials

An end-fire aerial, such as a Yagi or a dielectric-rod aerial, can be regarded as a structure which supports the dipole type of surface wave. Radiation occurs at the end of the aerial, the radiation pattern being determined by the transverse field distribution of the surface wave. It is shown that this leads to a simple relation between the beam width of the pattern and the ratio of the wavelength of the surface wave to that in free space. Further, this approach shows that the beam width tends to a non-zero value as the aerial length increases, in contrast with previous theories which predict that it decreases to zero with increasing length. In applying the theory to practical aerials, allowance must be made for the radiation which also occurs from the end of the aerial at which the surface wave is excited. Theoretical and experimental patterns for several end-fire aerials are compared, and it is shown that good agreement can be obtained.
Bow-tie microstrip antenna analysis and design using the FDTD method

This paper presents the design simulation and measured performance of a coplanar-fed bow-tie antenna for monolithic wireless communication applications. A 3D-FDTD method is used in the design simulation of this planar antenna structure. Numerical and measured results of the antenna radiation characteristics, including return loss and input impedance are presented and compared. A wideband quarter wave balun is used for impedance transformation of the unbalanced coaxial cable feed line to a balanced coplanar microstrip line. The used substrate is FR4 with /spl epsiv//sub T/=4.8 and thickness of 1.6 mm. Also some investigations are made on the shape of two poles in order to get different characteristics for the antenna.
Risk factors for progression of juvenile-onset non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis to juvenile-onset ankylosing spondylitis: a nested case–control study

Objective To evaluate the clinical characteristics of juvenile-onset non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) and to investigate risk factors associated with progression to juvenile-onset ankylosing spondylitis (JoAS). Methods A nested case–control study was conducted using the retrospectively collected data of 106 patients with juvenile-onset nr-axSpA (age at disease onset, <16 years) in the Clinical characteristic and Outcome in Chinese Axial Spondyloarthritis study cohort. Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics and prognosis were reviewed. Logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate risk factors associated with progression to JoAS. Results Overall, 58.5% of patients with juvenile-onset nr-axSpA presented with peripheral symptoms at disease onset. In 82.1% of these patients, axial with peripheral involvement occurred during the disease course. The rate of disease onset at >12 years and disease duration of ≤10 years were significantly higher in those with progression to JoAS than in those without progression to JoAS (83.0% vs 52.8%, p=0.001; 92.5% vs 56.6%, p<0.001, respectively). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that inflammatory back pain (IBP) (OR 13.359 (95% CI 2.549 to 70.013)), buttock pain (OR 10.171 (95% CI 2.197 to 47.085)), enthesitis (OR 7.113 (95% CI 1.670 to 30.305)), elevated baseline C reactive protein (CRP) levels (OR 7.295 (95% CI 1.984 to 26.820)) and sacroiliac joint-MRI (SIJ-MRI) positivity (OR 53.821 (95% CI 9.705 to 298.475)) were significantly associated with progression to JoAS. Conclusion Peripheral involvement was prevalent in juvenile-onset nr-axSpA. IBP, buttock pain, enthesitis, elevated baseline CRP levels and SIJ-MRI positivity in patients with the disease are associated with higher risk of progression to JoAS.
Experimental Investigation of a Double Expansion Chamber Reactive Muffler for Stationary Diesel Engine

The increasing need to control noise levels in our environment produced by internal combustion engines, demands the accurate designing of mufflers to meet specific noise emission norms. This paper describes a theoretical and experimental study of a circular double expansion chamber reactive muffler designed specifically for a stationary generator engine. For the theoretical approach, the equations are solved by four pole transfer matrix method using MATLAB software to obtain optimized dimensions of three mufflers at desired maximum transmission loss and at frequencies at which highest sound level is observed. MATLAB software is also used to obtain the graphs for transmission loss versus frequency. In the experimental method a white noise 1D plane wave is generated in the impedance tube attached on both sides of the muffler to obtain the transmission loss. The theoretical results obtained are then compared with experimental results for validation. The theoretical results are well correlated with the experimental results.
TCPLS: modern transport services with TCP and TLS

TCP and TLS are among the essential protocols in today's Internet. TCP ensures reliable data delivery while TLS secures the data transfer. Although they are very often used together, they have been designed independently following the Internet layered model. This paper demonstrates the various benefits that a closer integration between TCP and TLS would bring. By leveraging the extensible TLS 1.3 records, we combine TCP and TLS into TCPLS to build modern transport services such as multiplexing, connection migration, stream steering, and bandwidth aggregation. These services do not modify the TCP wire format and are resistant to middleboxes. TCPLS offers a powerful API enabling applications to precisely express the required transport services, ranging from a single-path single-stream connection to a multi-stream connection over several network paths, enabling choices between aggregated bandwidth and head-of-line blocking avoidance. Compared to MPTCP, our TCPLS prototype offers more control to the application and can be easily deployed as an extension to user-space TLS libraries, while being implemented at a low cost. Measurements demonstrate that it offers higher performance than existing QUIC libraries with a super set of transport services.
Propagating and Mitigating Uncertainty in the Design of Complex Multidisciplinary Systems

As humanity has developed increasingly ingenious and complicated systems, it has not been able to accurately predict the performance, development time, reliability, or cost of such systems. This inability to accurately predict parameters of interest in the design of complex multidisciplinary systems such as automobiles, aircraft, or spacecraft is due in great part to uncertainty. Uncertainty in complex multidisciplinary system design is currently mitigated through the use of heuristic margins. The use of these heuristic margins can result in a system being overdesigned during development or failing during operation. This thesis proposes a formal method to propagate and mitigate uncertainty in the design of complex multidisciplinary systems. Specifically, applying the proposed method produces a rigorous foundation for determining design margins. The method comprises five distinct steps: identifying tradable parameters; generating analysis models; classifying and addressing uncertainties; quantifying interaction uncertainty; and determining margins, analyzing the design, and trading parameters. The five steps of the proposed method are defined in detail. Margins are now a function of risk tolerance and are measured relative to mean expected system performance, not variations in design parameters measured relative to heuristic values. As an example, the proposed method is applied to the preliminary design of a spacecraft attitude determination and control system. In particular, the design of the attitude control system on the Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft cruise stage is used. Use of the proposed method for the example presented yields significant differences between the calculated design margins and the values assumed by the Mars Exploration Rover project. In addition to providing a formal and rigorous method for determining design margins, this thesis provides three other principal contributions. The first is an uncertainty taxonomy for use in the design of complex multidisciplinary systems with detailed definitions for each uncertainty type. The second is the modification of two simulation techniques, the mean value method and subset simulation, that can significantly reduce the computational burden in applying the proposed method. The third is a set of diverse application examples and various simulation techniques that demonstrate the generality and benefit of the proposed method.
Machine tool thermal state representation using modal analysis

Thermally induced deformations degrade the performance of machine tools leading to dimensional errors in manufactured products. Therefore, models are often used to map related observed data such as temperature of key points of the structure to the resultant thermal errors. Predictions from these models are then factored in to the controller commands to offset the errors. However, these data driven models can only learn from the experiences recorded in their training data. Therefore, being able to quantify the state of the machine tool from the data can lead to better modelling results. This work proposes a novel approach for representing the thermal state of a machine tool. Modal analysis and K-Means clustering are used to extract the descriptor Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) modes in the temeprature data which encode the thermal state of the machine tool. These descriptor POD modes identify the different conditions experienced during machining. These features are then used in determining whether any future observed data contains thermal states in the training process. The results obtained show that the appraoch is able to quantify the differences in the machine’s thermal state. These finding will be used to improve thermal error modelling in machine tools.
Study On The Effect Of Influencer Advertising (Sponsored And Non-Sponsored) Message Types And Trust On The Consumer Perceived Purchase Intention in Saudi Arabia

297 1.0 Introdation . 298 1.1 Problem Statement . 300 1.2 Research Objectives . 300 2.0 Literature Review . 301 3.0 Theoretical Framework . 306 4.0 Recommendations . 307 5.0 Future Scope. 307 6.0 Canclusion . 308 7.0 References . 309
Mechatronics for a new robot generation

The paper outlines the DLR's mechatronic developments in the robotics area over the last five years. They aim at designing a new multisensory, modularly configurable lightweight robot generation in a unified and integral way. A first step in this direction has been the development of a complex multisensory gripper. It turned out to be a key element in ROTEX, the first real robot in space that flew with shuttle Columbia in early 1993. Sensors and actuators in DLR's new ultra-lightweight robot show up miniaturized integration of mechanics, electronics, and microprocessor control. Joint torque control based on inductive sensing is realized in the compact, highly reducing rotational gearings. With optimized carbon-fiber grid structures, optical high-speed information transfer between the joints and all power and signal electronics integrated into the arm, a new extremely lightweight type of robot arises. Joint control concepts are outlined and a 7 degree-of-freedom version of such a lightweight arm is described. The paper also outlines the concept of the artificial muscle and its use in the fingers of a new modular articulated robot hand. Sensor-based man-machine interfaces and automatic camera guidance by robots in minimal invasive surgery are other topics covered in the paper.
A framework for combining risk-management and performance-based building approaches

Models and frameworks used for managing construction projects are typically inspired in business ‘cultures’ that prevail within industrial contexts. The conceptual backgrounds of quality, performance, and risk environments are explored to ascertain whether these ‘cultures’ can complement each other. A new general approach towards Risk-Managed Performance-Based Building (RM-PBB) is presented, including the principles and inputs used for designing and implementing an RM-PBB framework. Such a framework envisages the fulfilment of end-users' (society and individuals) and other interested parties' requirements relating to the building product, as well as the agile interaction between and within the building, manufacturing, property, and capital and insurance markets, at both national and international levels. Les modèles et les cadres utilisés pour gérer les projets de construction trouvent habituellement leur inspiration dans les « cultures » d'entreprise qui prévalent dans les contextes industriels. Les arrière-plans conceptuels en matière de qualité, de performance et de milieux à risques sont examinés afin d'établir si ces « cultures » peuvent être complémentaires les unes des autres. Il est présenté une nouvelle approche générale visant à une Construction Performancielle à Risques Maîtrisés, incluant les principes et les apports utilisés pour l'élaboration et la mise en œuvre d'un cadre de référence performanciel dans le bâtiment. Un tel cadre permet d'envisager la satisfaction des exigences des utilisateurs finaux (société et individus) comme des autres parties intéressées par rapport à ce produit qu'est le bâtiment, ainsi qu'une souplesse d'interaction entre et au sein des marchés du bâtiment, de la production, de l'immobilier, des capitaux et des assurances, aussi bien au niveau national qu'au niveau international. Mots clés: performance des bâtiments qualité des bâtiments réglementation des constructions normes de construction construction utilisateurs finaux construction performancielle gestion de la qualité gestion des risques
Walking speed of visually impaired people with two talking electronic travel systems

Two electronic systems for indoor use were tested as a way-finding aid by 25 visually impaired people. The Blind Orientation System (BOS) is a system with talking sign posts that point to a selection of destinations; the Easy Walker (EW) is a talking route system that guides the user to the destination which is entered into the personal receiver at the start. Both systems make use of ceiling-mounted beacons and infrared communication between the beacons and the personal receiver. Results were compared to the way-finding performance after a verbal route description by a passer-by. The walking speed was slower (0.74x) using BOS and faster (1.18x) using EW than after a verbal route description. EW was easy to use in combination with a guide dog. The number of times that additional information was needed or correction was given was about equal with the verbal route instruction and BOS, but about three to four times less with EW. Statements on items of appreciation of the systems were scored in favor of EW by .