Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
/spl mu/-synthesis of a robust voltage controller for a Buck-Boost converter

This paper proposes the structured singular value (/spl mu/) approach to the problem of designing an output voltage regulator for a buck-boost power converter with current mode control. This approach allows a quantitative description of the effects of reactive component tolerances and operating point variations, which strongly affect the power converter dynamics. At first, a suitable linear power converter model is derived, whose parameter variations are described in terms of perturbations of the linear fractional transformation (LFT) class. Then, /spl mu/-analysis is used to evaluate the robustness of a conventional PI voltage regulator with respect to the modeled perturbations. Finally, the approximated /spl mu/-synthesis procedure, known as D-K iteration, is used to design a regulator ensuring robust performance. Simulated results are presented, describing the small and large signal behaviour of a reduced-order approximation of the /spl mu/-synthesised controller.
Crime prevention through environmental design: a case study of multi-agency collaborationin Sydney, Australia

Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) has been legislated in every State and Territory of Australia despite the lack of clear empirical evidence that it is successful (Homel, 2005). Despite a commitment in the literature surrounding CPTED to isolate ‘what works’ (Cherney and Sutton, 2007), there is a distinct lack of empirical evidence in Australia that details how CPTED theory operates in practice. To address this gap in the existing literature, this paper presents the findings of a case study that was conducted on Martin Place, a major pedestrian thoroughfare located in Sydney, Australia. Following on from the research conducted by Zahm (2005) that explored the transference of CPTED knowledge from criminologists to those involved with the design of public places, this paper analyses how CPTED theory was understood and utilised as part of the multi-agency implementation of CPTED-based initiatives that occur in Martin Place. Furthermore, this paper presents a brief history of the development of CPTED in New South Wales (NSW), and a unique framework for understanding the application of CPTED within these contexts. With the help of this case study, this paper addresses the absence of research and evaluation of how CPTED has been implemented in Australia.
VISION AIDED STATE ESTIMATOR FOR HELICOPTER SLUNG LOAD SYSTEM

Abstract This paper presents the design and verification of a state estimator for a helicopter based slung load system. The estimator is designed to augment the IMU driven estimator found in many helicopter UAV's and uses vision based updates only. The process model used for the estimator is a simple 4 state acceleration driven pendulum. Sensor input for the filter is provided by a vision based system that measures the position of the slung load. The estimator needs no prior knowledge of the system as it estimates the length of the suspension system together with the system states. Finally the estimator is verified using flight data and it is shown that it is capable of reliably estimating the slung load states.
A high-performance polysilicon thin-film transistor using XeCl excimer laser crystallization of pre-patterned amorphous Si films

A high-performance polysilicon thin-film transistor (TFT) fabricated using XeCl excimer laser crystallization of pre-patterned amorphous Si films is presented. The enhanced TFT performance over previous reported results is attributed to pre-patterning before laser crystallization leading to enhanced lateral grain growth. Device performance has been systematically investigated as a function of the laser energy density, the repetition rate, and the number of laser shots. Under the optimal laser energy density, poly-Si TFT's fabricated using a simple low- temperature (/spl les/600/spl deg/C) process have field-effect mobilities of 91 cm/sup 2//V/spl middot/s (electrons) and 55 cm/sup 2//V/spl middot/s (holes), and ON/OFF current ratios over 10/sup 7/ at V/sub Ds/=10 V. The excellent overall TFT performance is achieved without substrate heating during laser crystallization and without hydrogenation. The results also show that poly-Si TFT performance is not sensitive to the laser repetition rate and the number of laser shots above 10.
Extended Field Equations for Conformally Curved Spacetime

The recent Planck Legacy release has confirmed the presence of an enhanced lensing amplitude in the cosmic microwave background power spectra, which prefers a positively curved early Universe with a confidence level greater than 99%. In addition, the spacetime curvature of the entire galaxy differs from one galaxy to another due to their diverse energy densities. This study considers both the implied positive curvature of the early Universe and the curvature across the entire galaxy as the curvature of ‘the background or the 4D bulk’ and distinguishes it from the localized curvature that is induced in the bulk by the presence of comparably smaller celestial objects that are regarded as ‘relativistic 4D branes’. Branes in different galaxies experience different bulk curvatures, thus their background or bulk curvature should be taken into consideration along with their energy densities when finding their induced curvatures. To account for the interaction between the bulk and branes, this paper presents extended field equations in terms of brane-world modified gravity consisting of conformal Einstein field equations with a boundary term, which could remove the singularities and satisfy a conformal invariance theory. A visualization of the evolution of the 4D relativistic branes over the conformal space-time of the 4D bulk is presented.
Atezolizumab-Induced Hypothyroidism in a Patient With Pre-existing Triiodothyronine (T3) Thyrotoxicosis Due to Graves’ Disease: A Case Report and Literature Review

The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors has improved the management and prognosis of many solid tumors. Because of their mechanism of action, and as checks on the immune systems are reduced, immune-related adverse events are common, including the exacerbation of the pre-existing autoimmune disease. The literature is scanty regarding reports of the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with pre-existing Graves’ disease. We report a case of a woman with pre-existing triiodothyronine (T3) thyrotoxicosis (hyperthyroidism) secondary to Graves’ disease, who developed thyroiditis followed by severe hypothyroidism after receiving an immune checkpoint inhibitor (atezolizumab) for the treatment of small-cell lung cancer. She had been on an anti-thyroid drug for Graves’ disease for two and a half years and was on the waiting list for a total thyroidectomy. However, the discovery of the severe hypothyroidism following atezolizumab-induced thyroiditis resulted in the need for long-term thyroid replacement therapy, and the planned surgery was no longer required. This case is one of the very few published reports of the use of atezolizumab in a patient with pre-existing Graves’ disease, resulting in the conversion from pre-existing T3-thyrotoxicosis to overt hypothyroidism. A multidisciplinary team approach is required when using immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with pre-existing Graves’ disease or any other autoimmune disease.
Knowledge Building by Full Integration With Virtual Reality Environments and Its Effects on Personal and Social Life

It is primordial to insist on a continuous education that is open, flexible, and personalized, allowing the individual to update and make his or her knowledge adequate throughout life. The creation of distributed environments for constructivist learning is a challenge. Research in this field is needed for the development of cooperative learning tools able to facilitate and motivate learning. The development of intelligent didactic systems is complex, demanding the support of knowledge coming from different fields. That is why to develop this class of systems a multidisciplinary team is needed, including pedagogues; educational psychologists; specialists in the knowledge domain; and technicians in computer graphics, programming, multimedia, virtual reality, project management, and so forth. Virtual immersion introduces new resources for interindividual communications that deal with reality interpretation. The authors outline the beginning of a long journey on how imagination power can be used for the collective creation of worlds able to improve learning.
Permanently calibrated interpolating time counter

We propose a new architecture of an integrated time interval counter that provides its permanent calibration in the background. Time interval measurement and the calibration procedure are based on the use of a two-stage interpolation method and parallel processing of measurement and calibration data. The parallel processing is achieved by a doubling of two-stage interpolators in measurement channels of the counter, and by an appropriate extension of control logic. Such modification allows the updating of transfer characteristics of interpolators without the need to break a theoretically infinite measurement session. We describe the principle of permanent calibration, its implementation and influence on the quality of the counter. The precision of the presented counter is kept at a constant level (below 20 ps) despite significant changes in the ambient temperature (from −10 to 60 °C), which can cause a sevenfold decrease in the precision of the counter with a traditional calibration procedure.
Novel Compact Multiband MIMO Antenna for Mobile Terminal

A novel compact MIMO antenna for personal digital assistant (PDA) and pad computer is proposed. The proposed antenna is composed by two multipatch monopole antennas which are placed 90° apart for orthogonal radiation. To strengthen the isolation, a T-shaped ground branch with proper dimension is used to generate an additional coupling path to lower the mutual coupling (below −15 dB), especially at GSM850/900 band. The proposed MIMO antenna is fabricated and tested, both the simulated and the measured results are presented, and some parametric studies are also demonstrated. In addition, there are some advantages about the proposed antenna such as simple structure, easy fabrication, and low cost.
Kinetic networks identify key regulatory nodes and transcription factor functions in early adipogenesis

Sequence‐specific transcription factors (TFs) bind DNA, modulate chromatin structure, regulate gene expression, and orchestrate transcription cascades. Activation and repression of TFs drive tightly controlled regulatory programs that lead to cellular processes such as differentiation. We measured chromatin accessibility and nascent transcription at seven time points over the first four hours of induced adipogenesis of preadipocytes to construct dynamic gene regulatory networks. Regulatory networks describe successive waves of TF binding and dissociation followed by direct regulation of proximal genes. We identified 14 families of TFs that coordinate with and antagonize each other to regulate early adipogenesis. We developed a compartment model to quantify individual TF contributions to RNA polymerase initiation and pause release rates. Network analysis showed that the glucocorticoid receptor and AP1 drive immediate gene activation, including induction of Twist2. Twist2 is a highly interconnected node within the network and its expression leads to repression of target genes. Although Twist2's role in adipogenesis has not been previously appreciated, both Twist2 knockout mice and Setleis syndrome (Twist2‐/‐) patients lack subcutaneous and brown adipose tissue. We found that kinetic networks integrating chromatin structure and nascent transcription dynamics identify key genes, TF functions, and coordinate interactions within regulatory cascades.
Reference state, structure, regime shifts, and regulatory drivers in a coastal sea over the last century: The Central Baltic Sea case

The occurrence of regime shifts in marine ecosystems has important implications for environmental legislation that requires setting reference levels and targets of quantitative restoration outcomes. The Baltic Sea ecosystem has undergone large changes in the 20th century related to anthropogenic pressures and climate variability, which have caused ecosystem reorganization. Here, we compiled historical information and identified relationships in our dataset using multivariate statistics and modeling across 31 biotic and abiotic variables from 1925 to 2005 in the Central Baltic Sea. We identified a series of ecosystem regime shifts in the 1930s, 1970s, and at the end of the 1980s/beginning of the 1990s. In the long term, the Central Baltic Sea showed a regime shift from a benthic to pelagic‐dominated state. Historically, benthic components played a significant role in trophic transfer, while in the more recent productive system pelagic–benthic coupling was weak and pelagic components dominated. Our analysis shows that for the entire time period, productivity, climate, and hydrography mainly affected the functioning of the food web, whereas fishing became important more recently. Eutrophication had far‐reaching direct and indirect impacts from a long‐term perspective and changed not only the trophic state of the system but also affected higher trophic levels. Our study also suggests a switch in regulatory drivers from salinity to oxygen. The “reference ecosystem” identified in our analysis may guide the establishment of an ecosystem state baseline and threshold values for ecosystem state indicators of the Central Baltic Sea.
Study on Localized Surface Plasmon Coupling with Many Radiators

Localized surface plasmon (LSP) coupling with many radiators are investigated. The LSP is generated by excitation of laser or electron beam on the random Ag nano particles (NPs) and arrayed ones embedded in the p-GaN of green LEDs. They couple with the excitons or radiative recombination in the quantum well (QW) and electron beam, which enhance or suppress the luminescence of the radiators. The photoluminescence (PL) intensity of periodic Ag NPs can get as much as 4.5 times higher than that of bare LED. In addition to the periodic structure, the morphology of Ag NPs also affects the localized SP (LSP) resonance intensity and light scattering efficiency. In the finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation, five x-polarized dipoles are approximated to five quantum wells. Considering the interaction between the five dipoles and their feedback effect on LSP, the enhancement effect of SP dipole coupling with Ag NPs is amplified and the energy dissipation is reduced. The enhancement of cathodoluminescence (CL) was also found in green LEDs with Ag NPs. The three-body model composed of two orthogonal dipoles and an Ag NP is used for 3D FDTD simulation. The LSP-QWs coupling effect is separated from the electron beam (e-beam)-LSP-QW system by linear approximation. Under the excitation of electron beam, the introduction of z-dipole greatly reduces the energy dissipation. In the cross-sectional sample, z-polarized dipoles in QWs show more coupling strength to the dipole and quadrupole modes of LSP. The perturbation theory is used to separate the LSP coupling effects to x-dipole and z-dipole. At last, the resonator and the antenna effects are discussed for LSP coupling at different positions to the Ag NP.
Numerical study of a PIFA with dispersive material fillings

The effects of different dispersive material fillings on the input return loss of a planar inverted‐F antenna (PIFA) are explored. In particular, we consider magnetic fillings, which allow the resonant frequency of the PIFA to be reduced while approximately maintaining the relative bandwidth. Uniaxially anisotropic magnetic fillings are also investigated and interesting features are revealed. A PIFA with an infinite ground plane is numerically studied using finite‐difference time‐domain (FDTD) method. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 45: 5–8, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20706
Levenberg-Marquardt method for absolute value equation associated with second-order cone

In this paper, we suggest the Levenberg-Marquardt method with Armijo line search for solving absolute value equations associated with the second-order cone (SOCAVE for short), which is a generalization of the standard absolute value equation frequently discussed in the literature during the past decade. We analyze the convergence of the proposed algorithm. For numerical reports, we not only show the efficiency of the proposed method, but also present numerical comparison with smoothing Newton method. It indicates that the proposed algorithm could also be a good choice for solving the SOCAVE.
Cryptography of e-beam generated digital pixel holography

The application of digital pixel hologram (DPH) as anti-counterfeiting technology to consumer products is growing important nowadays. Recently, a very high-resolution DPH has been fabricated successful using the electron beam lithography (EBL) facilities housed in Optoelectronics Research Center, City University of Hong Kong. In this paper, we propose an optical encryption technique, called Optical Transform Coding (OTC), which can be used to further enhance the anti-counterfeiting performance of DPH. Details in coding and decoding processes are described. Two DPHs of resolution 2540 dpi are fabricated to demonstrate the technique using a City University (CityU) and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) logos as examples.
General Equilibrium Impacts of New Energy Technologies on Sectoral Energy Usage

The dissertation examines conditions under which gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology penetration shifts the crude oil-natural gas price ratio. Empirical research finds long-run relationships between crude oil and natural gas prices. Some studies include time trends that steadily evolve the pricing relationship, while others show a long-run relationship that occasionally shifts significantly. A common hypothesis is that technologies that increase substitutability or complementarity between fuels are the source of the price linkage. However, empirically measuring the effects of a gradually-penetrating technology across narrow time frames is not possible due to intervening economic shocks. This thesis examines the effects of an energy conversion technology penetration on the crude oil-natural gas price ratio through its influence on sectoral energy use in the U.S. GTL must be less expensive and more efficient, and natural gas prices must be lower, than currently forecast for an effect to be measured. In the absence of a technology that explicitly allows for substitution between natural gas and petroleum-based fuels, different rates of demand growth result in a steadily-rising oil-gas price ratio. If a viable GTL technology successfully competes against petroleum-derived refined fuels, it dampens crude oil price increases and brings the oil-gas price ratio below the levels found in cases without a viable GTL technology. Doctoral Committee Chair: Mort D. Webster Title: Associate Professor Thesis Supervisor: John E. Parsons Title: Senior Lecturer, Sloan School of Management Doctoral Committee Member: Jessika E. Trancik Title: Atlantic Richfield Career Development Assistant Professor in Energy Studies Doctoral Committee Member: John Reilly Title: Director, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
Liver function tests in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increasing day by day. Smoking is the major causative agent for COPD. The present study undertaken to estimate the deterioration of liver functions in COPD patients due to smoking. Aims and Objectives: This study aims to investigate various liver function tests (LFTs) such as total bilirubin, alanine amino transferase/serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), aspartate amino transferase/SGPT, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), serum ammonia, and serum albumin among COPD patients. To correlate LFTs with forced expiratory volume at end of 1 second (FEV1) and FEV1/Forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio. Materials and Methods: In our present study, we selected 86 cases of COPD in the age group of 41–60 years. All subjects were smokers and having FEV1 <80% and FEV1/FVC <70%. A control group consists of 55 healthy individuals. LFTs were studied. FEV1 and FEV1/ FVC ratio were correlated with LFTs. Statistical analysis done using SPSS software 20.0 Windows version. Results: Mean level of SGPT among cases was 117 ± 10.23 IU/L against controls who had mean SGPT 11.16 ± 8.32 which was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Likewise, mean level of s. ammonia among cases was 154 ± 10.22 mcg/dl as compare to controls who had mean 24.43 ± 7.97 mcg/dl (P < 0.05). However, no significant difference was found in rest of the LFTs. Furthermore, there was no correlation between altered LFTs and severity of COPD. Conclusion: LFTs are significantly altered in COPD patients due to smoking. Corticosteroids treatment must not be initiated without investigating LFTs among COPD patients.
Application of Simulators and Simulation Tools for the Functional Design of Mechatronic Systems

This paper considers the application of simulators or demonstrators in the development of mechatronic products. It is shown at what step of the mechatronic design process a simulator or demonstrator can be used to significantly improve a products quality and thus identify possible errors and provide potential workarounds. Cost reduction is achieved by the use of simulators or demonstrators in the early design stage and less real product tests have to be carried out which also could be hazardous for the test person.
Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Chinese Herbal Decoction Combined with Glucocorticoid in Treating Primary Nephrotic Syndrome in Children

Background To investigate the clinical effects of Chinese medicine decoction combined with glucocorticoid in treating children with primary nephrotic syndrome. Methods A total of 70 children with pediatric nephritis nephrotic syndrome treated at Weifang People's Hospital from January 2019 to December 2019 were randomly allocated to the therapy group and the control group, each with 35 cases. The control group was treated with conventional Western medicine, and the therapy group received Western medicine and Chinese medicine. After 12 weeks of treatment, the therapeutic effect of the two groups was compared. Results After receiving the treatment, the levels of urine protein (UPro), triglyceride, and cholesterol were significantly decreased in the two groups (p < 0.05), and these levels in the therapy group were much lower than those of the control group (p < 0.05). However, the level of albumin (ALB) was predominantly increased in the two groups after treatment (p < 0.05), and this level in the therapy group was much higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). Moreover, the immune indicators, coagulation function, and recurrence rate were noticeably improved after treatment (p < 0.05), and the therapy group was better than the control group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the comparison of renal function indexes, liver function indexes, and blood routine between the two groups showed no statistical significance in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions For the treatment of refractory nephrotic syndrome in children, based on conventional shock therapy, the addition of traditional Chinese medicine (Liuwei Dihuang pill decoction) remedy can significantly improve the disease symptoms in children and improve the efficacy, and the incidence of adverse reactions is low.