Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimization of nanofiber scaffold properties towards nerve guidance channel design

Nerve guidance channels are limited by lack of topographical guidance: Treatment of sizeable nerve gaps remains problematic following peripheral nerve injury. Functional outcomes are good when neurorrhaphy, or direct end-to-end suture repair, is possible. The problem arises when there is significant segmental loss, which can occur following trauma as well as oncological procedures. In such scenarios, it is often not possible to appose severed nerve ends without causing significant tension. The current gold standard for management is to utilize autologous nerve grafts, commonly obtained from the sural nerve, to bridge these defects. This inevitably results in loss of cutaneous sensation over the lower limb, and the risk of donor site morbidities including infection and scarring. Suitable donor nerves remain finite in supply, and are often not ideally matched with recipient sites in terms of calibre and length. Nerve guidance channels have been designed to address these limitations, with proximal and distal nerve stumps telescoped and sutured to the ends of the artificial conduit during operative repair. Design objectives of nerve guidance channels have evolved over time with the emergence of new materials (Gaudin et al., 2016). Silicone represents a first-generation channel utilized to restore continuity and to prevent fibrous ingrowth from surrounding tissues. In being non-resorbable, silicone tubes frequently had to be removed as they caused extrinsic compression, offsetting their usefulness despite promising functional recovery. Thus, second-generation conduits shifted towards usage of biodegradable materials. These include commercially available products composed of collagen (Neuragen, Neuroflex, NeuroMatrix), polyglycolic acid (Neurotube), polylactide-caprolactone (Neurolac) and polyvinylalcohol-based hydrogel (SaluTunnel). It is essential that the next generation of guidance channels can facilitate repair across larger nerve gaps, with 2 cm representing a critical threshold beyond which the performance of artificial conduits remains fair. The present generation of nerve guidance channels are lacking in microstructure to provide physical guidance of the regenerative process. Provision of nanotopography within the channel lumen serves to minimize aberrant sprouting, and potentially enhance regeneration along the intended axis. Electrospinning is a means of generating aligned nanofibers to mimic the nerve microstructure and thus guide axonal growth and cellular migration within nerve guidance channels. Here, we emphasise how determination of appropriate physical and biological properties of the nanofiber scaffold can optimize neural regeneration, and in doing so, contribute towards design of a new generation of nerve guidance channels.
MACsec Extension over Software-Defined Networks for in-Vehicle Secure Communication

The automotive industry has recently introduced Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) for safety and better driving. Many Electronic Control Units (ECUs) have been installed in the vehicle to support ADAS, and massive data stream flows over the in-vehicle network. Therefore, the Ethernet backbone, which can guarantee the high bandwidth, has emerged as an in-vehicle communication technology. However, security on automotive Ethernet has not yet been proposed. The IEEE MACsec with IEEE 802.1X Authentication and Key Management (AKM) may be applied for the in-vehicle secure communication, but it has a constraint that its security scope is based on a point-to-point approach. Whenever a frame arrives at the switches in the transmission path, the decryption and re-encryption of the frame are repeated. It may adversely affect the performance of ADAS related to the driver's safety by increasing the end-to-end latency. We therefore propose a new MACsec extension over the Software-Defined Networks (SDN) for an in-vehicle secure communication, which is based on IEEE 802.1X authentication mechanism. The proposed scheme extends the security scope of MACsec from point-to-point to end-to-end by delegating AKM process of ECUs and switches to SDN controller. It could minimize the cryptographic processes of the ECUs and switches without any modification of the existing MACsec standard, and could protect an automotive system from any manipulation by unauthorized third parties. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme is applicable for an in-vehicle secure communication.
LOWER SALMON RIVER CULTURAL CHRONOLOGY: A REVISED AND EXPANDED MODEL

Results of recent excavations at six sites along the lower Salmon River Canyon of westcentral Idaho shed new light on its culture history. Butler's original lower Salmon River Canyon cultural chronology is expanded and modified to account for new discoveries. A revised culture history model is presented here and includes six phases that span nearly 11,500 14 C years, including the Cooper's Ferry I (11,500-11,000 [? ] BP), Cooper's Ferry II (11,000 [? ]-8400 BP), Craig Mountain (8400-3500 BP), Grave Creek (3500-2100 BP), Rocky Canyon (2100-600 BP), and Camas Prairie (600-150 BP) Phases. The implications of this revised model are wide ranging and address issues of technoevolutionary development, adaptive diversity, and cultural chronology in the southern Plateau region.
Turbulent mixing in experimental ecosystem studies

Turbulent mixing is an integral aspect of aquatic ecosystems Turbulence affects ecosystem features ranglng from phytoplankton blooms at large scales through microscale interactions in the plankton. Enclosed experimental ecosystems, if they are to mimic the function of natural ecosystems, also must mimic natural turbulence and its effects. Large-scale velocity gradients and unstable buoyancy fluxes generate turbulent mixing in nature, most often at the surface and bottom boundaries and in the pycnocline. Large eddy sizes are controlled by the mixed layer depth, boundary layer thickness, or overturning length in the pycnocl~ne. Turbulent energy cascades through smaller and smaller eddy scales until it can be dissipated by molecular viscosity at the smallest scales. In contrast, artificial apparatuses frequently are used to generate turbulent m ~ x i n g in the interior of experimental ecosystem enclosures Large eddy sizes are controlled by the size of the generation apparatus, and they usually are much smaller than in nature Mismatched large eddy length scales and differences in turbulence generation mechanisms are responsible for the difficulties in mimicking natural turbulent mixing in experimental enclosures. The 2 most important turbulence parameters to consider in experimental ecosystem research are overall mixing time, T,,,, and turbulence dissipation rate, E . If the levels, spatial dlstribut~ons, and temporal variability of T,,, and E can be matched between an enclosure and the natural system it IS to model, then potential mixing artifacts can be minimized. An important additional consideration is that benthic ecosystems depend on the time-averaged boundary layer flow as much as the turbulence. Existing designs for mix~ng experimental ecosystems are capable of reasonably representing some aspects of natural turbulent mixing Paddle and grid stirring are the best available techniques for water column mixing, and flumes are best for benthic turbulence. There is no design at present that represents both environments adequately. More work also is needed on mixing of flexiblewall in situ enclosures. A more serious problem, however, is that turbulent mixing in experimental ecos)~stem studies too often is ignored, inadequately characterized, or unreported. Several methods are available for reasonable characterlzation of mixing in enclosures without sophisticated technology, and the technology for direct velocity measurements is becoming more accessible. Experimental ecosystem researchers should make a concerted effort to implement, characterize, and report on turbulent mixing In t h e ~ r enclosures.
CROSS-FERTILIZATION UPDATE What Might Psychologists Learn From Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Physics?

In this article I (a) note that psychologists have made outstanding contributions to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, (b) bemoan the failure of psychologists to develop a Psychology Concept Inventory, (c) point to evidence from pre/post testing with the Force Concept Inventory for the approximately 2-SD superiority in average pre- to post-course normalized gains in conceptual understanding for interactive engagement over traditional passive-student lecture courses, (d) provide crucial operational definitions of “average normalized gain,” “interactive engagement methods,” “traditional methods,” and “direct instruction,” (e) list 14 hard-won lessons from SoTL in physics that may be of value to psychologists, and (f) conclude that it is conceivable that psychologists might learn something from SoTL in physics.
Optimal Operation of Battery Storage for Peak Shaving Applications - A Norwegian Case Study for a Medium-Scale Swimming Facility

With the vast implementation of power-demanding devices, the grid is facing supply challenges. A promising solution could be to implement a peak demand charge, thus encouraging end users to reduce their power demand. Commercial users are already subject to this demand charge, and are billed for the highest peak power drawn from the grid each month. A special type of customer are sports facilities, as they tend to have high, continuous load demand with extreme peak power periods during busy hours or events. The resulting cost of peak power may be substantial, and contribute to a large share of the total cost of electricity. As such, there is an incentive for the facilities to reduce their power demand. However, doing so in terms of shifting the load to off-peak hours is not always an available option, as the load demand may be highly dependent on external factors. An alternative solution may be to implement battery storage, where energy is bought from the grid during off-peak hours, and discharged to supply the load during on-peak hours. This is called peak shaving, and could both relieve the grid of stress as well as reduce the cost of peak power for the facility. In this thesis, the economic benefits of implementing battery storage into an existing grid-connected PV system for a medium-scale swimming facility is studied. The objective is to minimize the total cost of electricity, including the cost of energy and peak power demand, while ensuring longevity of the battery. The degradation of the battery is modelled as an operational cost, and is included in the objective function. An optimization model based on multi integer linear programming is built, and simulated using a one year time horizon in GAMS and Matlab. Several studies are carried out using an hourly real-time pricing scheme and data from Holmen swimming facility, however the model can easily be adapted to fit any load and production profile. The main results reveal that installing a battery storage system is economically attractive today, with a net savings on the total system cost of 0.64% yearly. The cost of peak power is reduced by 13.9%, and the savings from peak shaving operation alone is enough to compensate for the yearly cost of the battery. Moreover, the battery ensures additional revenue by performing price arbitrage operations. The yearly degradation of the battery is found to be 7.15%, and the optimal battery size is 150 kWh. When simulating the system for an assumed 2030 scenario, the battery is found to be even more profitable with a yearly net savings of 4.15%.
Speech, Texts, and Choices from the Modal System: Mood Distribution in Old English Sermons

The present paper investigates the alternation between the imperative and the subjunctive mood in speech representations in Old English. Both imperative and subjunctive mood form relatively fully inflected and robust modal categories in Old English, and a systematic alternation is assumed between both in speech and writing in the period. The imperative is formally restricted to the second person. Thus, it seems plausible to assume a functional restriction as well, that is, a restriction in usage as a deictic (modal) element with direct reference to a particular addressee. As such, its most natural habitat may be speech and speech representations in writing. By contrast, the subjunctive, with a full formal inventory for person and number, seems much less restricted in terms of functions, and may therefore occur in both speech and writing,—or even preferably in writing, considering the various levels of abstraction and detachment that writing allows. To my knowledge, there are no previous studies devoted to the topic. Sermons lend themselves to such an investigation for two important reasons: they frequently report speech, e.g. when preachers relate to the congregation Jesus’ words to his disciples from the Bible, and as speech-based texts, they provide frequent instances of direct speech to the congregation. This forms another level of speech representation, which may be contrasted very fruitfully to the speech reported (almost exclusively) from the Bible. The study is corpus-based with a selection from the extant Old English sermon material. The aims of this exploratory study are mainly qualitative. However, in quantitative terms, I will show that the distribution of imperative and subjunctive in Old English sermons follows the various levels of speech representation in texts.
A convergence rates result for Tikhonov regularization in Banach spaces with non-smooth operators

There exists a vast literature on convergence rates results for Tikhonov regularized minimizers. We are concerned with the solution of nonlinear ill-posed operator equations. The first convergence rates results for such problems were developed by Engl, Kunisch and Neubauer in 1989. While these results apply for operator equations formulated in Hilbert spaces, the results of Burger and Osher from 2004, more generally, apply to operators formulated in Banach spaces. Recently, Resmerita and co-workers presented a modification of the convergence rates result of Burger and Osher which turns out to be a complete generalization of the rates result of Engl and co-workers. In all these papers relatively strong regularity assumptions are made. However, it has been observed numerically that violations of the smoothness assumptions of the operator do not necessarily affect the convergence rate negatively. We take this observation and weaken the smoothness assumptions on the operator and prove a novel convergence rate result. The most significant difference in this result from the previous ones is that the source condition is formulated as a variational inequality and not as an equation as previously. As examples, we present a phase retrieval problem and a specific inverse option pricing problem, both previously studied in the literature. For the inverse finance problem, the new approach allows us to bridge the gap to a singular case, where the operator smoothness degenerates just when the degree of ill-posedness is minimal.
A Methodology to Develop Design Support Tools for Stand-alone Photovoltaic Systems in Developing Countries

As pointed out in several analyses, Stand-Alone Photovoltaic systems may be a relevant option for rural electrification in Developing Countries. In this context, Micro and Small Enterprises which supply customized Stand-Alone Photovoltaic systems play a pivotal role in the last-mile-distribution of this technology. Nevertheless, a number of issues limit the development of these enterprises curbing also potential spinoff benefits. A common business bottleneck is the lack of technical skills since usually few people have the expertise to design and formulate estimates for customers. The long-term solution to tackle this issue implies the implementation of a capacity building process, but this solution rarely matches with time-to-market urgency of local enterprises. Therefore, we propose in this study a simple, but general methodology which can be used to set up Design Support Tools for Micro and Small Enterprises that supply Stand-Alone Photovoltaic systems in rural areas of Developing Countries. After a brief review of the techniques and commercial software available to design the targeted technology, we describe the methodology highlighting the structure, the sizing equations and the main features that should be considered in developing a Design Support Tool. Then, we apply the methodology to set up a tool for use in Uganda and we compare the results with two commercial codes (NSolVx and HOMER). The results show that the implemented Design Support Tool develops correct system designs and presents some advantages for being disseminated in rural areas. Indeed it supports the user in providing the input data, selecting the main system components and delivering estimates to customers.
Comparison of Transparency Techniques in PSNRs Based on Deferred Rendering Using Multiple Render Targets

In three dimensional (3D) computer games, the deferred rendering is an effective way to process realistic visual effects such as dynamic lights, shadow, depth of field (DOF), and high dynamic range (HDR) using multiple geometric buffers(G-buffers) regardless of the scene complexity. However, the G-buffer only stores information about a single pixel in each texel, so transparency with alpha blending on deferred rendering is difficult compared to forward rendering. The conventional way to process transparency on deferred rendering is to separate opaque and transparent renderings. But the object sorting required in it causes the speed degradation. Nevertheless the transparency techniques without object sorting such as screen door, interfaced, and stochastic can reduce the rendering time, but those cause the image quality degradation. This paper compares transparency techniques on deferred rendering. The Game Institute 3D game engine is modified to measure the rendering speeds of transparency techniques. The deferred rendering can speed up the rendering time of about 1.48 times than the forward rendering. The transparency techniques without object sorting can also speed up the rendering time of about 1.1 times than the conventional technique. Plus, six 4K ultra high definition (UHD) game images are used to measure the extent of quality degradation of the transparency techniques without object sorting in terms of peak noise signal ratio (PSNR). Consequently, the interlaced technique can get better PSNRs of about 124.8% in the same than both the screen door and the stochastic techniques.
Big Data Concept in the Food Supply Chain: Small Markets Case

Abstract The strategies of competitive advantage are changing dramatically because of high technology development. The data size in the world is multiplying rapidly - the amount of information in the world doubles every 12 months. Therefore, the authors analyzed Big data in the food supply chain. The methodology used in the paper consists of a review of global competitiveness reports and secondary data analysis together with document-based literature synthesis; a competitiveness maximization methodology was modelled referring to a case of small markets. The supply of food industry is complicated, because of various regulations and a demand for high quality products just on time. Various companies are transporting partial freight; therefore, the visibility, lead-time and cost minimization is essential for them. However, they are unable to use all the gathered information and are not utilizing the potential that is possible. The problem of data analysis is a bigger concern to the smaller markets. Many of the small markets are less developed countries that still are not using Big data in their enterprises. In addition, new technologies are developing in the Big data industry. Therefore, the gap of technology will increase even more between large and small markets. The analysed innovation level and technology usage indicated a need for the food industry to change competitiveness strategies. Therefore, the authors developed a competitiveness strategy that is orientated to the food industry of small markets.
Neuromuscular assessment of trunk muscle function in loaded, free barbell back squat : implications for development of trunk stability in dynamic athletic activity

Traditional core stability training was developed as a method of treating and preventing back pain. It was however, seamlessly applied to healthy and athletic populations without scientific evidence supporting its efficacy. Traditional core stability focussed on isolating and training the anatomical region between the pelvis and diaphragm, using isometric or low load exercises to enhance spinal stability. Scientific research challenged this approach for healthy function and athletic performance, resulting in a more functional anatomical definition, which included pelvic and shoulder girdles. Hence, a revised definition of dynamic trunk stability; the efficient coordination, transfer and resistance by the trunk, of force and power generated by upper and lower appendicular skeletal extremities during all human movement. This led to an integrated exercise training approach to dynamic trunk stability. Although early evidence suggested loaded compound exercises preformed upright, in particular back squat, were effective in activating and developing trunk muscles, evidence was inconclusive. Accordingly, the aims of this PhD were to investigate neuromuscular trunk function in loaded, free barbell back squat to understand training implications for trunk stability in dynamic athletic activity. Five research studies were conducted; 4 are published and 1 is being prepared for re-submission. The literature review revealed evidence that back squat was an effective method of activating trunk stabilzers and showed that these muscles were load sensitive (study 1). A survey of practitioners reported an understanding and appreciation of the challenge against core stability training for athletic populations. Furthermore, perceptions were aligned with growing evidence for dynamic and functional trunk stability training (study 2). A test-retest neuromuscular study established interday reliability and sensitivity of electromyographical measurement of trunk muscle activity in squats (study 3). Trunk muscle activation in back squat was higher than hack squat at the same relative, but lower absolute loads (study 4). Trunk muscle activation was lower in squats and bodyweight jumps in the strong compared to weak group (study 5). Furthermore, activation of the trunk muscles increased in each 30o segment of squat descent and was highest in first 30o segment of ascent for all loads (study 5). In conclusion, this series of studies confirmed acute effect of squats on trunk stabilizers and demonstrated that external load increases activation in these muscles. Parallel squat depth is important in optimizing trunk muscle activation. Finally, high levels of squat strength result in lower trunk muscle activation in loaded squats and explosive jumps.