Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stress induced by the COVID-19 health situation in a cohort of 111 subjects present in the Bataclan concert hall during the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris

ABSTRACT Background: The management of the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is all the more difficult when subjects suffer from a prior psychiatric illness. BV13 is a 54-month prospective longitudinal cohort study of 111 subjects who were present in the Bataclan concert hall during the November 2015 terrorist attack in Paris. Objectives: Our first objective was to investigate the association between stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic and PTSD symptoms, notably with respect to two positive risk factors: trait mindfulness and social support. The second was to explore how PTSD severity mediated the relationship between trait mindfulness and COVID-19-induced stress. Method: The primary endpoint was evaluated using the COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI). PTSD symptoms were evaluated using the PTSD Check List Scale (PCL-5) during the sanitary crisis and two years before. Social support was assessed with a Likert scale that measured perceived support from family, friends and the workplace. Trait mindfulness was measured with the 14-item Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI). Results: 54 months after the attack, a univariate analysis identified a significant positive correlation between COVID-19 stress (CPDI) and PCL-5 (r=0.77, p<0.01) scores, on the one hand, and significant negative correlations with FMI (r=–0.59, p<0.01), and social support (r=–0.28, p<0.01) scores, on the other hand. In the multivariate model, CPDI scores were closely associated with PCL-5 scores (p<0.01) after adjustment for FMI and social support scores. CPDI and FMI scores were significantly associated (p=0.05), but not CPDI and social support scores (p=0.89). The PTSD score was a strong mediator of the relationship between trait mindfulness (FMI) and COVID-19 stress (CPDI) scores. Conclusion: PTSD symptoms diminished the beneficial impact of trait mindfulness on stress related to COVID-19. Our finding highlights that subjects with previous experience of trauma need specific treatment for PTSD symptoms during the COVID-19 crisis. HIGHLIGHTS Trait mindfulness may be protective against COVID-19 crisis-induced stress. This protection could be compromised by the presence of PTSD symptoms. Patients with PTSD should receive special psychological monitoring during the health crisis.
Thermal studies on heterostructure bipolar transistors using electroluminescence

We have studied electroluminescence (EL) emission from fully fabricated GaAs based heterostructure bipolar transistors. The EL emission occurs due to minority carrier injection into the base and collector layers. Under normal device operation, i.e. with reverse bias on the collector/base junction, collector emission does not occur since holes are not injected into this layer. In this case, only base emission is observed. When a forward bias is applied to the base/collector junction, EL from both the collector and the base is observed. The spectral characteristics of the two EL signals are different since the bandgap of the heavily p-doped base is smaller than that of the lightly n-doped collector. Since the bandgap depends strongly on temperature, the spectral characteristics are used to determine the heating of the HBT due to power dissipation.
An Approximate Model for Field Service Territory Planning

Abstract Field service managers are often faced with the problem of balancing the number of technicians, territory size, and field service quality. This paper presents an approximate state-dependent queuing model that can help field service managers make these tradeoffs. Simulation experiments over a variety of field service environments demonstrate that this model is quite accurate for predicting mean travel time and mean response time. The approximate queuing model has been imbedded in a decision support system and implemented by a Fortune 100 company. Management found the decision support system very useful in making important field service decisions.
A novel flow visualization technique using bioluminescent marine plankton II. Field studies

The broad scope of this study is to investigate whether the flow induced stimulation of naturally occurring luminescent plankton can be effectively utilized as a method of flow visualization in the field. The primary goal is to determine the nature of flow around a moving dolphin based on the luminescent response of in situ plankton to hydrodynamic stimulation. >
Influence of non-ideal chirped fibre grating characteristics on dispersion-compensated analogue optical links in presence of fibre-induced SPM

The impairments produced by fibre nonlinearities and non-ideal chirped fibre grating (CFG) characteristics in dispersion-compensated analogue optical systems are investigated. The simulation results show that the non-ideal CFG reflectivity and group delay characteristics give rise to amplitude ripple in the compensated system frequency response, whereas the fibre nonlinear effects set a maximum achievable performance that is dependent on the residual dispersion.
U.S. Air Force development of a high-altitude laser crosslink

12 The requirement to send ever increasing amounts of tactical military information between sensor aircraft and information processing facilities for command and control purposes has begun to reach the physical limits of present RF data links, even when data compression is employed. Use of laser data links is under consideration by the United States Air Force and Directorate. This technology development program is being conducted in two phases.
Perceptions of Pedestrians and Shopkeepers in European Medium-Sized Cities: Study of Guimarães, Portugal

Planning pedestrian environments requires assumptions about how pedestrians will respond to characteristics of the walking environment in city centers. European city centers, especially medieval ones, have been more and more pedestrianized in the last two decades. Two major groups, shopkeepers and pedestrians profit from this enlargement of public space. The perception of shopkeepers is to attract more buyers from walkways and from adjacent places in the city centers. At the same time, the perception of pedestrians is to walk on pleasant and peaceful way without confronting other pedestrians in a chaotic situation. This paper considers the perceptions of shopkeepers and pedestrians in a medium-sized Portuguese city center using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model. A field survey was conducted in January 2010 to summarize different perceptions of using sidewalks and to know the responses of shopkeepers and pedestrians. Both were interviewed during the field survey. Results show that there are seve.
The planning and analysis of a new group rapid transit system: the SkyCabs monobeam system in Auckland

This paper examines a case study of the SkyCabs system as a way to alleviate some of the traffic problems of Auckland, New Zealand. SkyCabs is an elevated two-way monobeam carrying light eight-seater cabs on tracks on each side of the beam, available on demand, providing fast, pollution-free, unimpeded travel above the footpath with panoramic views of the city. The aim of this study is to investigate the attractiveness of implementing the SkyCabs system to and from Auckland central business district (CBD) and Auckland international airport by examining four variables: different routes, different number of stops/stations, different passenger demand levels, and different number of cabs in the system. The analysis utilizes geographical information system and simulation tools for the various scenarios considered. The results show that it is possible to assess the cost–benefit of alternative routes in terms of those four variables and rate of return on investment.
Microstrip bandpass filter with new type of capacitive coupled resonator

An ultra-small microstrip bandpass filter with a new type of capacitive coupled resonator is presented. The filter is more than two times smaller compared to the smallest known filters of the same class. The filter is designed for a centre frequency of 5.3 GHz. The agreement between the predicted and measured results is excellent.
Acupuncture for heart failure: a Bayesian network systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.

BACKGROUND Heart failure (HF) is the final stage of cardiovascular disease development, and clinical studies on acupuncture for the treatment of HF are increasing. However, the efficacy and safety of these acupuncture methods are unclear. The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis of the relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to explain their efficacy and safety through high-quality evidence. METHODS The databases of the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, SinoMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan-fang, and VIP will be searched from inception date to June 2021. The search will not be restricted by language. This study will include RCTs of various acupuncture methods for HF. Study selection, data extraction, and research quality assessments will be conducted independently by two researchers. The primary outcome is the efficacy rate and heart function, the secondary outcomes are quality of life scores, rehospitalization, and adverse reactions/events. The software RevMan 5.3 and Aggregate Data Drug Information System (ADDIS) will be used for network meta-analysis (NMA). Risk of bias, meta-regression, subgroup analysis, and sensitivity analysis will be performed, and the quality of evidence will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) framework. DISCUSSION This study will confirm the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in improving the clinical symptoms and heart function of HF, or elucidate which method of acupuncture is better suited to this purpose.
Development of a Lower Limb Orthosis to Form Neuromuscular Patterning

In this paper, a lower limb orthosis is proposed to form the human gait neuromuscular patterns in patients with myelomeningocele. The orthosis has two lower limbs of 2–DOF each which reduces the motion of the hip and knee to the sagittal plane. The orthosis are assembled in a back support which also supports the patients weight. The control system for the orthosis allows to reproduce in a repetitive, controlled and autonomous way the human gait cycle at different velocities according to the patient requirements; so that, the neuromuscular patterning can be supervised by a therapist. The development of these orthosis seeks to improve the quality of life of those infants with myelomenigocele and to introduce a lower cost Mexican technology with Mexican anthropometric dimensions.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
ANFIS-based approach to studying subthreshold behavior including the traps effect for nanoscale thin-film DG MOSFETs

A fuzzy framework based on an adaptive network fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is proposed to evaluate the relative degradation of the basic subthreshold parameters due to hot-carrier effects for nanoscale thin-film double-gate (DG) MOSFETs. The effect of the channel length and thickness on the resulting degradation is addressed, and 2-D numerical simulations are used for the elaboration of the training database. Several membership function shapes are developed, and the best one in terms of accuracy is selected. The predicted results agree well with the 2-D numerical simulations and can be efficiently used to investigate the impact of the interface fixed charges and quantum confinement on nanoscale DG MOSFET subthreshold behavior. Therefore, the proposed ANFIS-based approach offers a simple and accurate technique to study nanoscale devices, including the hot-carrier and quantum effects.
Automatic Manufacturing Feature Extraction of CAD Models for Machining

Currently CAD/CAM systems have become more common in automated manufacturing to enhance accuracy and efficiency. However, machining efficiency and accuracy are mainly relied on the experience of the engineer. Therefore, in this research the main aim is to propose the system which automatically analyzes the characteristics of a CAD model and to extract manufacturing features. The method for analyzing shapes of a CAD model represented by triangle mesh is studied. The system can extract planar, spherical, cylindrical, hole, arc, and other curved regions. This research will improve the integration of CAD, CAM system, and is supposed to have a great potential in the application of manufacturing and other engineering fields.
Clustered defects in IC fabrication: Impact on process control charts

In IC fabrication, standard process control charts for defects often sound many false alarms, i.e. the chart incorrectly indicates that the process is out of control. It is pointed out that when non-Poisson behavior is encountered in defect data, it is necessary to determine whether this is due to an out-of-control manufacturing process or a manufacturing or data collection procedure that yields clustered defect counts. A procedure that includes the outlier removal method to discriminate between clustered defect data and a process that is out of control is proposed, and its application to two sets of real-world data is shown. One is an example from IC manufacturing where true clustering exists, and the other is a manufacturing example where persistent out-of-control conditions give the appearance of clustering. Simulation results indicate that the procedure works well within reasonable boundaries. A method for constructing defect control charts for processes that yield clustered defects is also presented. >
Efficiency of a Compact Elliptical Planar Ultra-Wideband Antenna Based on Conductive Polymers

A planar antenna for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications covering the 3.1–10.6 GHz range has been designed as a test bed for efficiency measurements of antennas manufactured using polymer conductors. Two types of conductive polymers, PEDOT and PPy (polypyrrole), with very different thicknesses and conductivities have been selected as conductors for the radiating elements. A comparison between measured radiation patterns of the conductive polymers and a copper reference antenna allows to estimate the conductor losses of the two types of conductive polymers. For a 158 μm thick PPy polymer, an efficiency of almost 80% can be observed over the whole UWB spectrum. For a 7 μm thick PEDOT layer, an average efficiency of 26.6% demonstrates, considering the room for improvement, the potential of this type of versatile materials as flexible printable alternative to conductive metallic paints. The paper demonstrates that, even though the PEDOT conductivity is an order of magnitude larger than that of PPy, the thicker PPy layer leads to much higher efficiency over the whole UWB frequency range. This result highlights that high efficiency can be achieved not only through high conductivity, but also through a sufficiently thick layer of conductive polymers.
Design of a new impedance tuning network by using RC mutator

The design of broadband active‐compensated antenna system is an important problem in commercial satellite, military, and high‐speed communication systems. And so, impedance matching networks are used extensively in radio transmission and receiving systems. In this paper, broadband impedance matching is proposed as a method to improve the matching level of microstrip antennas. The theoretical design, fabrication, and experimental implementation of compensated rectangular microstrip antenna with new configuration π‐matching network were presented. A new compensation network consisting of RC mutator circuit and discrete capacitors are employed at the input of the microstrip antenna operating at 2.5 GHz. The performance parameters of the designed microstrip antenna with and without compensation network were compared. The results show that compensation network can improve the return loss level from −5.9 to −13.01 dB and the resonant frequency can be controlled in a wide RF band. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 298–302, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.22118
Structural optimization of a large-displacement electromagnetic Lorentz force microactuator for optical switching applications

This paper discusses optimization of an electromagnetic microactuator for large-displacement optical switching. The microactuator used in this research is a laterally driven electromagnetic one that provides parallel actuation to the silicon substrate surface (in-plane motion) using the Lorentz force. When the microactuator is driven by the distributed Lorentz force induced along the arch-shaped leaf springs, a buckling phenomenon in two leaf springs enables a large displacement with a relatively small actuation load. An important design objective of a microactuator is to achieve a large displacement with a low actuating force. In this research, two optimization formulations have been performed to improve the displacement capabilities of the microactuator. In the first, the actuation load to obtain a specific displacement is minimized, subject to constraints on the first natural frequency and maximum allowable stress. In the second, the actuation displacement for a given actuation load is maximized, subject to the same constraints as in the first formulation. These optimizations have generated considerably improved designs, making the actuators capable of large-displacement actuations with small actuating loads.
Guest editorial for special issue on metamaterials and special materials for electromagnetic applications and telecommunications

: We report results of microwave second-harmonic generation in ceramic samples of MgB 2 , prepared by different methods. The SH signal has been investigated as a function of the temperature and the static magnetic ﬁeld. The results are discussed in the framework of models reported in the literature. We show that the peculiarities of the SH signal are related to the speciﬁc properties of the sample. A comparison with the results obtained in ceramic and crystalline YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 shows that the second-harmonic emission in MgB 2 is weaker than that observed in ceramic YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 . © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
High-performance harmonic extraction algorithm for a 25 kV traction power quality conditioner

Many single-phase 25 kV electrified railway systems carry a large number of conventional thyristor-based locomotives, which draw current rich in harmonic content. A possible solution to mitigate this harmonic complication is to connect a power quality conditioner based on voltage detection at the end of the traction feeder. However, the performance of the installed power quality conditioner depends strongly on the accuracy and stability of the harmonic extraction algorithm used to generate the command harmonic current reference to be tracked by the inverter inner current control loop. A high performance, computationally efficient harmonic extraction algorithm is presented, implemented using delta-operator-based digital resonant filters for traction applications. Unlike most other extraction algorithms, the implementation of the algorithm presented does not require complex mathematical transformations, and therefore has a significantly faster computation speed and is suitable for single-phase traction applications. Also, through delta-operator-based implementation, the proposed algorithm exhibits improved accuracy and robustness over a wider range of operating conditions. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed algorithm have been verified by both simulation and experiment.
A Precise and Sensitive X-Band Reflecto"meter" Providing Automatic Full-Band Display of Reflection Coefficient

A simple waveguide system has been made for the instantaneous measurement of the magnitude of the reflection coefficient as a function of frequency for the 8.2-12.4 Gc band. Reflection coefficients in the range 1 to 0.001 can be measured on linear scales; above 0.01 the error is less than /spl plusmn/3 per cent, below 0.01 it is estimated to be in the order of /spl plusmn/5 per cent. By using a long line between the unknown impedance and the two wall-current detectors, which act as measuring probes, an audio-frequency voltage has been obtained which is linearly proportional to the amplitude of the unknown reflection coefficient. A third wall-current detector is used as a leveler. The principle is quite simple and can easily be applied for other frequencies or transmission lines.
Wave propagation in soils : Multi-mode, wide-band testing in a waveguide device

This paper presents the development of a waveguide device and the corresponding processing methodology to study wave propagation in particulate materials. Its main advantages are: the cancellation of biasing transfer functions (e.g., transducer, coupling, and electronics); the determination of both velocity and attenuation in a wide frequency range; the evaluation of torsional, flexural, and longitudinal propagation modes; and the computation of field propagation parameters from laboratory multi-mode data. Fundamentals of signal processing are reviewed, followed by a discussion of design considerations including boundary effects and geometric dispersion. Typical results are presented.
Primary Dysmenorrhoea: Prevalence and Knowledge assessment in 10 – 18-year-old Syrian female teenagers: A cross-sectional study with pre-post analysis.

Introduction: Gynaecological complaints and primary dysmenorrhoea among young females are usually managed using popular myths, and have a wide spectrum of consequences on everyday life. Methods: A cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence of dysmenorrhea and basic knowledge, with a pre-post analysis after the intervention was applied. The study was carried in randomly selected female public schools in Damascus on a randomly selected sample of female students aging between 10 and 18 years old. We used a self-report questionnaire immediately before the awareness sessions and two weeks later. The questionnaire included multiple-choice questions on various aspects of the menstrual cycle, dysmenorrhoea and common myths in the Syrian society. The data were analyzed using SPSS ® , Microsoft Excel ® , and Microsoft Access ® software. Results: A total of 579 vs. 261 female students participated. The prevalence of dysmenorrhoea was 87.2%. Only 47.3% of participants knew the correct origin of menstruation blood, and most of them did not consult a doctor regarding the pain (91.6%). The answers were weighed and compared, resulting in an insignificant p-value for the students’ knowledge after the awareness campaign (p = 0.687, CI = 95%). Discussion and conclusion: Dysmenorrhoea is highly prevalent among Syrian school students. The modest knowledge on this condition, the use of home remedies and the insignificant improvement after the sessions indicate the need to focus on creatively improving information delivery methods in a long sustainable timeframe.