Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of nano-alumina on the mechanical characterization of PVA fibre-reinforced geopolymer composites

In this paper, four groups of polyvinyl alcohol fibre-reinforced geopolymer composites containing various content of nano-alumina particles were investigated. Results showed an improvement in geopolymer fracture toughness, compressive, impact and flexural strength with the added nano-alumina particles as compared to the control specimen. Flexural strength increases as the weight ratio of nano-alumina particles increases from 0.0 to 2.0 wt% and then decreases to 6.50 MPa at 3.0 wt%. Geopolymer reinforced by 2.0 wt% of nano-alumina (PVAGNC-2) displayed the highest flexural and compressive strength of 7.51 and 23.48, respectively. PVAGNC-2 exhibited the highest mechanical (compressive, flexural, impact and hardness) properties. Scanning Electron Microscopy examination showed that the PVAGNC-2 microstructure is compacted with fewer pores indicating the probability of PVAGNC-2 to display great compressive strength and excellent mechanical resistance to the external force needed for construction.
Mixed /spl Hscr//sub 2/ and /spl Hscr//sub /spl infin// performance objectives. I. Robust performance analysis

This paper introduces an induced-norm formulation of a mixed /spl Hscr//sub 2/ and /spl Hscr//sub /spl infin// performance criterion. It is shown that different mixed /spl Hscr//sub 2/ and /spl Hscr//sub /spl infin// norms arise from different assumptions on the input signals. While most mixed norms can be expressed explicitly using either transfer functions or state-space realizations of the system, there are cases where the explicit formulas are very hard to obtain. In the later cases, examples are given to show the intrinsic nature and difficulty of the problem. Mixed norm robust performance analysis under structured uncertainty is also considered in the paper. >
Technology Mediated Education in Sri Lanka: Expectations, Challenges and Strategies

The integration of technology into education aims at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of education in its organization, implementation and achievements. This remains valid for all countries across the globe irrespective of stratifications and hierarchies. The mediation of technology functions on the assumption that it leads to positive developments to education. Sri Lanka as a developing country in the South Asian region can be considered as one of the few countries that have always prioritized education in its national agenda. The development of technology in education is a key objective of the Sri Lankan development plan to cater to the local and global economy and its advancement. This chapter attempts to emphasize the aims and objectives for technology mediated education in Sri Lanka by the state, the challenges faced by various stakeholders in the field of education in planning, implementing and sustaining a technology mediated education system in the primary, secondary and tertiary tiers of education in Sri Lanka and the strategies used to overcome the key challenges in schools and universities through the implementation of local and international projects. A cross sectional study was conducted to investigate the technology mediated educational landscape in the country. A mixed method approach was used where both primary and secondary data was utilized. Secondary data was gathered under the thematic orientation of the chapter. In selecting the primary data, a stratified purposive sample was selected to gather data from key stakeholders involved in education in Sri Lanka including parents, school students, school teachers, university teachers, university students, planners through structured interviews. The findings reveal that while there has been a considerable development in technology mediated education in Sri Lanka, there are many challenges on the grass-root level that has to be tackled for an equitable system of technology education
Protective Function of Malus baccata (L.) Borkh Methanol Extract against UVB/Hydrogen Peroxide-Induced Skin Aging via Inhibition of MAPK and NF-κB Signaling

Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation induces ROS production, which activates activator protein (AP)-1 and nuclear factor (NF)-κB signaling and downstream molecules, ultimately triggering the generation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and degradation of collagen. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of methanol extract from Malus baccata (L.) Borkh (Mb-ME) against aging. DPPH and ABTS assays showed that Mb-ME had a significant antioxidant capacity. Flow cytometry results indicated that Mb-ME attenuated UVB and H2O2-stimulated apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. RT-PCR analysis in HaCaT and HDF cells suggested that Mb-ME treatment blocked the expression of MMPs, COX-2, IL-1β, IL-6, HYALs, and p53 while promoting the levels of TGM1, FLG, HASs, Sirt1, and Col1A1. Mechanically, Mb-ME inhibited the phosphorylation of MAP kinases and NF-κB signaling. Overall, these results strongly suggest that Mb-ME can be developed as an antiaging therapy.
Supporting and Enhancing Research on Cultural Heritage in France: the PATRIMA Project

In this paper, we first overview the French project on heritage called PATRIMA, launched in 2011 as one of the Projets d'investissement pour l'avenir , a French funding program meant to last for the next ten years. The overall purpose of the PATRIMA project is to promote and fund research on various aspects of heritage presentation and preservation. Such research being interdisciplinary, research groups in history, physics, chemistry, biology and computer science are involved in this project. The PATRIMA consortium involves research groups from universities and from the main museums or cultural heritage institutions in Paris and surroundings. More specifically, the main members of the consortium are the two universities of Cergy-Pontoise and Versailles Saint-Quentin and the following famous museums or cultural institutions: Musée du Louvre, Château de Versailles, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Musée du Quai Branly, Musée Rodin. In the second part of the paper, we focus on two projects funded by PATRIMA named EDOP and Parcours and dealing with data integration. The goal of the EDOP project is to provide users with a data space for the integration of heterogeneous information about heritage; Linked Open Data are considered for an effective access to the corresponding data sources. On the other hand, the Parcours project aims at building an ontology on the terminology about the techniques dealing with restoration and/or conservation. Such an ontology is meant to provide a common terminology to researchers using different databases and different vocabularies.
Solving the Einstein Podolksy Rosen puzzle: a possible origin of non-locality.

Department of Physics, University of LiverpoolL69 3BX Liverpool, United KingdomSo far no mechanism is known, which could connect the two measurements in a Bell-type experi-ment with a speed beyond the speed of light, commonly considered the ultimate limit of propagationof any ﬁeld-like interaction. Here, we suggest such a mechanism, based on the phase of a photonﬁeld during its propagation. We show that two measurements, corresponding to two independentrotations of the ﬁelds, are connected, even if no signal passes from one point of measurement tothe other. The non-local connection of a photon pair is the result of its origin at a common source,where the two ﬁelds acquire a well deﬁned phase diﬀerence. Therefore, it is not actually a non-localeﬀect in any conventional sense.
Adopting a Holistic Parenting Experience for Children with Autism

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) transcends across social class and cultural background. As a developed country, Singapore continues to face challenges pose by ASD. Beyond the family unit, parents of children with ASD experience social stigmatization and difficulties seeking communal support. Caregiving becomes increasingly burdensome. Parents may cultivate negative parenting that further complicates their children’s growth development. This paper presents a holistic approach for parents managing challenging behaviors influenced by ASD. Responsive parenting holds key in aiding parents with their daily struggles. The authors posit five components that contribute to effective parenting, namely mind-set, techniques, time, relational context and parental love. Together, they assist parents to assess and reflect their relational experience. Parents learn to customize their approach to meet the child’s unique needs. This will shape the parent-child interactional pattern and foster positive family relationship.
Assessment of symptoms and complications in treatment of naive newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus and their correlation with glycemic parameters

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder that occurs in the body because of decreased insulin activity and/or insulin secretion. Pathological changes such as nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular complications inevitably occur in the body with the progression of the disease. DM is mainly categorized into 2 sub-types, type I DM and type II DM. While type I DM is generally treated through insulin replacement therapy, type II DM is treated with oral hypoglycaemics.
New trajectory linearization control for nonlinear systems undergoing harmonic disturbance

This paper presents a new trajectory linearization control scheme for a class of nonlinear systems subject to harmonic disturbance. It is supposed that the frequency of the disturbance is known, but the amplitude and the phase are unknown. A disturbance observer dynamics is constructed to estimate the harmonic disturbance, and then the estimation is used to implement a compensation control law to cancel the disturbance. By Lyapunov's direct method, a rigorous poof shows that the composite error of the closed-loop system can approach zero exponentially. Finally, the proposed method is illustrated by the application to control of an inverted pendulum. Compared with two existing methods, the proposed method demonstrates better performance in tracking error and response time.
Simulation of Mercury-Driven Diffusion Pumps for Torus Exhaust Pumping

A new, continuous pumping train has been proposed for the European demonstration fusion power plant (DEMO). Mercury-driven linear diffusion pumps (LDPs) are suggested for use as high-vacuum pumps in this pumping train. In this work, we validate a 2-D simulation framework based on the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method with experimental data of a two-stage mercury-driven LDP that was operated at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the 1950s. The simulation setup and assumed boundary conditions are described and their appropriateness discussed. Numerical results are compared to available experimental data for four different positions of the upper nozzle pipe. We find acceptable agreement between experimental and numerical results for the air pumping speed. This validation paves the way for using the simulation framework as a design and optimization tool in the further development process of the DEMO LDPs.
Silicon-Induced Mitigation of NaCl Stress in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), Associated with Enhanced Enzymatic and Non-Enzymatic Antioxidant Activities

Salt stress obstructs plant’s growth by affecting metabolic processes, ion homeostasis and over-production of reactive oxygen species. In this regard silicon (Si) has been known to augment a plant’s antioxidant defense system to combat adverse effects of salinity stress. In order to quantify the Si-mediated salinity tolerance, we studied the role of Si (200 ppm) applied through rooting media on antioxidant battery system of barley genotypes; B-10008 (salt-tolerant) and B-14011 (salt-sensitive) subjected to salt stress (200 mM NaCl). A significant decline in the accumulation of shoot (35–74%) and root (30–85%) biomass was observed under salinity stress, while Si application through rooting media enhancing biomass accumulation of shoots (33–49%) and root (32–37%) under salinity stress. The over-accumulation reactive oxygen species i.e., hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an inevitable process resulting into lipid peroxidation, which was evident by enhanced malondialdehyde levels (13–67%) under salinity stress. These events activated a defense system, which was marked by higher levels of total soluble proteins and uplifted activities of antioxidants enzymatic (SOD, POD, CAT, GR and APX) and non-enzymatic (α-tocopherol, total phenolics, AsA, total glutathione, GSH, GSSG and proline) in roots and leaves under salinity stress. The Si application through rooting media further strengthened the salt stressed barley plant’s defense system by up-regulating the activities of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant in order to mitigate excessive H2O2 efficiently. The results revealed that although salt-tolerant genotype (B-10008) was best adopted to tolerate salt stress, comparably the response of salt-sensitive genotype (B-14011) was more prominent (accumulation of antioxidant) after application of Si through rooting media under salinity stress.
Pre‑existing renal insufficiency synchronous with high preoperative neutrophil‑to‑lymphocyte ratio as a risk factor of intravesical recurrence in patients with pure upper tract urothelial carcinoma after radical nephroureterectomy

The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of pre-treatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) on bladder recurrence in patients with impaired renal function following radical nephrouretectomy (RNU) to treat pure upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Retrospective data of 362 patients with pure UTUC who underwent RNU between 2008 and 2019 were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier analyses were performed to evaluate the association of preoperative NLR and estimation of the glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) with intravesical recurrence-free survival (IVRF). Furthermore, multivariate analyses were conducted to determine independent factors for predicting IVRF. In the retrospective cohort study of 362 patients, 103 patients (28%) had intravesical recurrence in a median follow-up of 50.1 months; among those, 85 (83%) developed bladder recurrence within two years after RNU. The Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients exhibiting lower eGFR and higher NLR showed significantly poor IVRF rates (P=0.044). The simultaneous presence of eGFR <45 and NLR >3.8 was an independent factor for the shorter IVRF time in multivariate analysis with Cox's proportional hazards model. Most intravesical recurrences occurred within two years after RNU, particularly in pre-existing poor eGFR patients with preoperative high NLR. Moreover, pre-existing moderate to severe CKD synchronous with pre-operative NLR >3.8 was demonstrated as an independent factor for subsequent bladder recurrence in patients with pure UTUC following RNU. Therefore, such high-risk patients ought to be provided with close bladder monitoring during the follow-up.
Ultra-Low Phase Noise X-Band BiCMOS VCOs Leveraging the Series Resonance

The most effective way to reduce phase noise in integrated harmonic oscillators is by rising the active power in the resonator, i.e., scaling down the tank impedance and increasing power consumption. However, in widespread parallel-tank oscillators, a lower bound is readily set by the smallest inductance that can be implemented without incurring into excessive degradation of the quality factor. Emerging multicore oscillators circumvent the issue only partially. In this article, a circuit topology that breaks the phase noise barrier of parallel-tank oscillators is presented. By exploiting the same tank at the series resonance, the remarkably lower tank resistance allows to considerably rise the active power for given voltage swing. As a result, the phase noise is radically reduced without the need for aggressive scaling of the resonator inductor. Two voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) in a BiCMOS 55-nm technology exploiting the concept at 10-GHz center frequency are presented. The first design targets an ultra-low phase noise and, with 9% tuning range, demonstrates −138 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset with 1.2-V supply and an excellent −190-dBc/Hz figure of merit (FoM). The second design leverages a different implementation of the tank to expand the frequency tuning range and to trade phase noise for power consumption. The tuning range is 16% with a minimum phase noise of −133 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz and −188-dBc/Hz best FoM. To the authors’ knowledge, the presented VCOs demonstrate experimentally the lowest phase noise ever reported with fully integrated oscillators in silicon technology.
Lattice Boltzmanns metod för diffusion.

Solving partial differential equations, PDE, with the help of numerical methods have become essential in the last century. There are different methods available and the lattice Boltzmann method, LBM has proven to be a powerful tool for solving the NavierStokes, N-S, equation. The method is efficient with regard to the number of calculations needed to solve the N-S equation compared to other numerical methods. The amount of computer power used for solving partial differential equations is important and this makes the LBM very interesting since it is effective in this regard. A study of the possibilities for further use of the LBM in solving PDEs other than the N-S equation is both intriguing and educational. In this paper we investigate if LBM could be used to model and solve the diffusion equation, and if so validate that the results are adequate. Furthermore, if LBM could be used to model and solve the diffusion equation, can it also solve the anisotropic diffusion equation? We start by deriving the LBM equation for diffusion in one spatial variable. During the work process we are also looking at the order of convergence and numerical stability of the method. When this has been accomplished and the method has been numerically implemented, it is validated using the exact solution, which is an analytical one. In two spatial variables we proceed in a very similar manner and the solution is again validated using an analytical solution. The solution to the anisotropic diffusion equation is hard to validate and we have limited our paper to only explaining the theory. Still, we plot a few graphs to confirm that the derived LBM does indeed display anisotropic behavior. The paper is also limited to solving only the diffusion and not the advection of a flow. The results from the theoretical and numerical solutions show that LBM is a stable and precise solution to the diffusion equation.
Development of optical projection tomography for mesoscopic 3-D biomedical imaging

1 Acknowledgements . 2 Author declaration . 4 List of Figures. 9 List of Tables . 18 List of Videos . 19 Abbreviations . 20 Chapter 1: Thesis Overview . 22 Chapter 2: Background overview of fluorescence and 3-D mesoscopic imaging . 24 2.1. Fluorescence . 24 2.2. Physical properties of fluorescence . 26 2.2.1. Intensity . 26 2.2.2. Absorption and emission spectra . 27 2.2.3. Fluorescence lifetime . 28 2.3. Fluorescence imaging . 30 2.3. 1. Intensity imaging . 30 2.3. 2. Spectrally resolved fluorescence imaging . 30 2.3. 3. Temporally resolved fluorescence imaging . 30 2.4. Time-resolved Fluorescence imaging techniques . 31 2.4. 1. Time-domain FLIM: Time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) . 31 2.4. 2. Time-domain FLIM: Wide-field time-gated FLIM . 32 2.4. 3. Wide-field frequency-domain FLIM . 34 2.4. 4. Fluorescence lifetime data fitting . 35 2.5. Time gating acquisition using a GOI . 36 2.5. 1. GOI design . 37 2.5. 2. Time gating . 38 2.6. Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) . 39 2.7. 3-D mesoscopic imaging techniques . 41
Parameter estimation of an induction machine using a chaos particle swarm optimization algorithm

This paper proposes a new application of a chaos particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for parameter estimation of an induction machine. A chaos PSO with a logistic map has been used for initializing random values of the estimated parameters, as well as the inertia weight in the velocity update equation of the PSO. This creates the best balance for the inertia weight during the evolution process of the PSO which results in the best convergence capability and search performance. Additionally, the algorithm has also been improved with regards to the diversity in the solution space through two independent chaotic random sequences. The algorithm uses the measurements of the three-phase stator currents, voltages and the speed of the induction machine as the inputs to the parameter estimator. The experimental results obtained compare the estimated parameters with the induction machine parameters achieved using traditional tests such as the DC, no-load and locked-rotor tests. There is also a comparison of the solution quality between a genetic algorithm (GA), standard PSO and chaos PSO. The results show that the chaos PSO is better than the GA and standard PSO for parameter estimation of the induction machine.
Some characterizations of frames in ℓ²(I; H) and topological applications

We propose in this article some characterizations of the notion of frame in ℓ²(I; H). The first one is general, and depends on a procedure of inserting a family of vectors instead of x in the definition of a frame. This allows us to define the analysis, synthesis and frame operator on the space ℓ²(I; H) instead of H. The second one is specific to ℓ² (I; Ck) and relate it to the freeness of the finite set of components of the frame. The third one concerns normalised tight frames in ℓ²(I; Ck). Afterwards, we give an example of a frame in ℓ²(I; C²) using another sufficient condition in dimension 2. We conclude with some topological applications of these characterizations.