Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SEISMIC RETROFIT OF COLUMNS IN BUILDINGS FOR FLEXURE USING CONCRETE JACKET

To prevent disaster in future earthquakes, the existing deficient buildings need to be retrofitted. One way of retrofitting the columns in reinforced concrete multistoreyed buildings is concrete jacketing. The present study has investigated the effect of jacketing on the flexural strength and performance of columns. First, slant shear tests were conducted to study the interface between the old and new concrete. Second, column specimens were tested to study the strength. Third, beam-column-joint sub-assemblage specimens were tested to study the ductility (or energy absorption) and energy dissipation. Analytical investigations were carried out to predict the experimental results. A lamellar approach and a simplified method of analysis were used for the prediction of the axial load versus moment interaction curves and moment versus curvature curves for the retrofitted columns. An incremental nonlinear analysis was adopted to predict the lateral load versus displacement behaviour for a retrofitted sub-assemblage specimen. Guidelines for the retrofitting of columns by concrete jacketing are provided.
A nomogram model based on peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets to assess the prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

Background The primary aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Methods From 2018 to 2019, 82 patients diagnosed with stage IIIB–IV NSCLC at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital were recruited for this study. Peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets of NSCLC patients were analyzed using flow cytometry before and after ICI treatment. The relationship between the percentage of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets, clinicopathological features, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) was identified by correlation heat map, Kaplan-Meier curve, log-rank test, and Cox regression analysis. Results The CD4/CD8 ratio and the percentage of B cells was decreased after ICI treatment. Furthermore, the percentage of CD3+ T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and natural killer T (NKT) cells before ICI treatment was associated with brain metastases, the proportion of CD3+CD4+ T cells before ICI treatment was related to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) status, the CD4/CD8 ratio before ICI treatment was correlated to pathology, the ratio of B cells before ICI treatment was related to therapeutic regimen, and the percentage of NKT cells before ICI treatment was associated with use of radiotherapy. Furthermore, univariate survival analysis revealed that low percentage of B cells forecasted a poor OS for NSCLC patients with ICI treatment. In addition, the nomogram developed by percentages of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets could determine survival probability and survival time of NSCLC patients with immunotherapy. Conclusions ICI treatment induced changes in the percentage of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets, which had prognostic value for brain metastases, radiotherapy, EGFR status, pathology, and therapeutic regimen, along with prognostic value, for NSCLC patients treated with ICIs.
A coupled computational framework for bone fracture healing and long‐term remodelling: Investigating the role of internal fixation on bone fractures

In this study, a coupled computational modelling framework for bone fracture repair is presented that enables predictions of both healing and remodelling phases of the fracture region and is used to investigate the role of an internal fixation plate on the long‐term healing performance of a fracture tibia under a range of different conditions. It was found that introduction of a titanium plate allowed the tibia to undergo successful healing at higher loading conditions and fracture gaps, compared with the non‐plated versions. While these plated cases showed faster rates of repair in the healing phase, their performance was substantially different once they entered the remodelling phase, with substantial regions of stress shielding predicted. This framework is one of the few implementations of both fracture healing and remodelling phases of bone repair and includes several innovative approaches to smoothing, time‐averaging and time incrementation in its implementation, thereby avoiding any unwanted abrupt changes between tissue phenotypes. This provides a better representation of tissue development in the fracture site when compared with fracture healing models alone and provides a suitable platform to investigate the long‐term performance of orthopaedic fixation devices. This would enable the more effective design of permanent fixation devices and optimisation of the spatial and temporal performance of bioabsorbable implants.
AN EXPLORATION OF THE NATURE OF THE SCATTER IN GROUND-MOTION PREDICTION EQUATIONS AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR SEISMIC HAZARD ASSESSMENT

This paper reviews the modelling of the scatter in ground-motion prediction equations, and also explores the nature of scatter in strong ground-motion, using an extended database of European accelerograms and newly derived predictive equations. Several statistical tests are used to confirm that the distribution of the residuals is genuinely lognormal over a certain range but appears to deviate from this model significantly in the tails of the distribution. An alternative model, the upper limit lognormal (ULLN) distribution is found to provide a good fit to the data; the parameters of this model include an upper-bound on the distribution, which is effectively inferred from the statis-tics of the data itself. However, it is clear that upper bounds established in this way do not provide a reliable ceiling on ground-motion amplitudes and physical constraints are required. Investigative tools that could be used to explore the physical limits of ground-motion amplitudes are discussed. In line with the underlying focus of the work, which is to explore the sometimes almost dominant influence that the scatter can exert on PSHA, and also to provide new data to prevent the overestimation of strong-motion parameters for design, the covariance in the scatter of different strong-motion parameters is also explored.
Innovations for protection and control of high voltage capacitor banks on the Virginia power system

This paper describes capacitor bank design, transient studies, protective relaying considerations, and operating experience. Associated with an application of high voltage capacitor banks. A 500 kV capacitor application and a 230 kV fuseless capacitor bank are presented as examples of developments in the design and protection of shunt capacitor banks. In addition, this paper presents the most significant findings of a large transient study completed to evaluate the impact of the 500 kV application. Operation experience is presented for a 500 kV zero voltage closing relay in combination with a preinsertion resistor used for transient suppression during closing. Analysis of a restrike failure of a 500 kV arrester is discussed along with field testing of a fuseless capacitor bank. <<ETX>>
On the use of NRZ, RZ, and CSRZ modulation at 40 Gb/s with narrow DWDM channel spacing

The use of nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ), return-to-zero (RZ), and carrier-suppressed return-to-zero (CSRZ) modulation formats in an ultradense wavelength-division multiplexing (UDWDM) scenario at 40 Gb/s is investigated. The results of a simulative analysis on back-to-back setups are presented. Narrow optical filtering at the receiver and at the transmitter, as well as the orthogonal polarization launch of adjacent channels, is studied in order to improve spectral efficiency. We demonstrate that standard setups do not allow acceptable performances with 50-GHz channel spacing for all the considered modulation formats, while the use of a transmission optical filter may dramatically improve the performance of RZ and CSRZ modulation formats that become suitable for the use in UDWDM systems. We show that, due to the narrow transmission filtering, the RZ pulse becomes NRZ-like, and the CSRZ modulation is duobinary coded. Furthermore, we demonstrate that NRZ modulation does not benefit from the introduction of a transmission optical filter, while it takes advantage of the orthogonal polarization launch of adjacent channels, but its performance is still worse than the RZ and CSRZ performance in a UDWDM scenario.
A Survey of Circuit Level Techniques for Designing Ultra Low Power, Low Frequency OTA

With the advent of portable and implantable gadgets especially in biomedical field, low power analog circuit design is gaining utmost importance now a days. The study of various circuit level low power techniques like Bulk Driven (BD), Source Degeneration (SD), and class AB configuration is carried out. The advantages and the disadvantages of each of these techniques have been discussed along with the tabulation of the technology used and the power dissipation in each technique.
A new tool for selecting appropriate home care devices for elderly persons suffering from dementia

We have developed a consultation tool for social welfare and health care professionals that can help in choosing the most appropriate technology to be used by elderly persons living at home. The tool consists of a database of commercially available home care aids and devices. Each device in the database is given a “Device profile” that describe the technology in question. This profile was drawn up by using a set of 15 evaluation questions chosen by combining various clinically approved evaluation tools. A structured evaluation form was also developed for individual evaluation of the elderly person. Once the individual evaluation is complete, the database will match the personal profile with the technologies that most closely match the needs of the elderly person. An internet version of the tool is under development.
Achieving profitably, operationally, and environmentally compromise flow‐sheet designs by a single‐criterion optimization

Compromise designs that can be achieved to a certain extent in process flow-sheet optimization not only by multicriteria but also by single-criterion optimization are described. A well-balanced compromise between the profitability, operational, and environmental efficiencies can be achieved using a suitable economic criterion. From the financial point of view, the net present value (NPV) is the correct criterion for selection from among mutually exclusive solutions and, hence, for evaluating different designs in process optimization. Other criteria are also often used in engineering practice. It is shown that optimal designs obtained using different economic objectives vary not only in their investment and other financial indicators, but also in operational efficiencies and environmental indicators. Operationally more efficient and environmentally less harmful solutions can be obtained at lower profitability, by increasing the invested funds. The net present value generates the best compromise between these objectives, as illustrated by three flow-sheet synthesis problems.
iDRBP-EL: Identifying DNA- and RNA- Binding Proteins Based on Hierarchical Ensemble Learning

Identification of DNA-binding proteins (DBPs) and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) from the primary sequences is essential for further exploring protein-nucleic acid interactions. Previous studies have shown that machine-learning-based methods can efficiently identify DBPs or RBPs. However, the information used in these methods is slightly unitary, and most of them only can predict DBPs or RBPs. In this study, we proposed a computational predictor iDRBP-EL to identify DNA- and RNA- binding proteins, and introduced hierarchical ensemble learning to integrate three level information. The method can integrate the information of different features, machine learning algorithms and data into one multi-label model. The ablation experiment showed that the fusion of different information can improve the prediction performance and overcome the cross-prediction problem. Experimental results on the independent datasets showed that iDRBP-EL outperformed all the other competing methods. Moreover, we established a user-friendly webserver iDRBP-EL (http://bliulab.net/iDRBP-EL), which can predict both DBPs and RBPs only based on protein sequences.
Analyzing the Correlation Between Ideal L2 Self and Willingness to Communicate in L2 among EFL Learners

This study aimed to investigate the learners’ levels of ideal L2 self and Willingness to Communicate (WTC) not only inside but also outside the EFL classrooms and the correlation between these two constructs. Thus, the research was designed as a qualitative study, and the correlational research design was implemented to seek answers to research questions. The participants were 61 EFL learners who studied at the preparatory school of a state university. The data collected by conducting the ideal L2 self scale and WTC survey for inside and outside the classroom were analyzed through descriptive statistics, and Pearson correlation test after the normality of the data was ensured. The findings showed that the vast majority of learners had moderate levels of ideal L2 self and WTC, and a small minority reported low levels of WTC and ideal L2 self. Besides, the findings pointed out that WTC and ideal L2 self are correlated with a statistically significant relationship in a positive manner. The study first discusses the contradictory and concurrent findings with respect to previous studies conducted in different contexts like Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Iran and Turkey, then concludes with recommendations for teachers and further research.
Adaptive lane finding in road traffic image analysis

The application of image processing and computer vision techniques to the analysis of video sequences of traffic flow offers considerable improvements over the existing methods of traffic data collection. The key to the development of a road monitoring system based upon IA is adaptability. An adaptive system would ease installation of the equipment by aiding with its own initialisation. Such auto-initialisation is considered in this paper. Specifically the automatic location of road lanes. This task has benefits not just in the installation stage but throughout the operating period of the unit, as the ability to automatically locate lanes allows the system to re-calibrate itself in response to changing circumstances without the need for human intervention.
The CRISPR-Cas system: its origin, functions and applications in biotechnology: A Review

The CRISPR-Cas system is a genome editing system seen in prokaryotic immune system. Bacteria and archaea protect itself against invading viruses and plasmid by targeting RNA or DNA of the invading element predominantly using this gene-editing tool. The CRISPR- Cas defense mechanism is carried out in three stages; adaptation stage where the spacers are inserted into the CRISPR locus, the expression stage where crRNA is formed by transcription of the CRISPR loci and the interference stage where the invading element is destroyed by the crRNA and cas proteins. The CRISPR-cas has been involved in many other functions apart from the immune defense they include; DNA repair, regulation of virulence, genome evolution, inhibit biofilm formation etc. The application of CRISPR-Cas system include genome engineering, agriculture to efficiently target and mutate plants, improve crop yield and crop resistance, in medicine to eradicate genetic diseases. However, ethical considerations are a major setback of CRISPR-Cas application especially in medicine. CRISPR-Cas has been used in variety of species including cultured human cell, rice, drosophila and mice.
A new ZVS-PWM unity power factor rectifier with reduced conduction losses

This paper introduces a new single-phase high power factor rectifier, which features regulation by conventional PWM, soft commutation and instantaneous average line current control. Furthermore, thanks to the use of a single power converter, instead of the conventional configuration composed by a four-diode front end rectifier followed by a boost converter, a significant reduction in conduction losses is achieved. A prototype rated at 1.6 kW, operating at 70 kHz, with an input AC voltage of 220 Vrms and an output voltage of 400 VDC has been implemented in laboratory. An efficiency of 97.8% at 1.6 kW has been measured. Analysis, design and the control circuitry are also presented in the paper. <<ETX>>
1.5 nm direct-tunneling gate oxide Si MOSFET's

In this paper, normal operation of a MOSFET with an ultra-thin direct-tunneling gate oxide is reported for the first time. These high current drive n-MOSFET's were fabricated with a 1.5 nm direct-tunneling gate oxide. They operate well at gate lengths of around 0.1 /spl mu/m, because the gate leakage current falls in proportional to the gate length, while the drain current increases in inverse proportion. A current drive of more than 1.0 mA//spl mu/m and a transconductance of more than 1,000 mS/mm were obtained at a gate length of 0.09 /spl mu/m at room temperature. These are the highest values ever obtained with Si MOSFET's at room temperature. Further, hot-carrier reliability is shown to improve as the thickness of the gate oxide is reduced, even in the 1.5 nm case. This work clarifies that excellent performance-a transconductance of over 1,000 mS/mm at room temperature-can be obtained with Si MOSFET's if a high-capacitance gate insulator is used.
Stochastic modeling and performance monitoring of wind farm power production

We present a new stochastic approach to describe and remodel the conversion process of a wind farm at a sampling frequency of 1Hz. When conditioning on various wind direction sectors, the dynamics of the conversion process appear as a fluctuating trajectory around an average IEC-like power curve, see section II. Our approach is to consider the wind farm as a dynamical system that can be described as a stochastic drift/diffusion model, where a drift coefficient describes the attraction towards the power curve and a diffusion coefficient quantifies additional turbulent fluctuations. These stochastic coefficients are inserted into a Langevin equation that, once properly adapted to our particular system, models a synthetic signal of power output for any given wind speed/direction signals, see section III. When combined with a pre-model for turbulent wind fluctuations, the stochastic approach models the power output of the wind farm at a sampling frequency of 1Hz using only ten-minute average values of wind speed and directions. The stochastic signals generated are compared to the measured signal, and show a good statistical agreement, including a proper reproduction of the intermittent, gusty features measured. In parallel, a second application for performance monitoring is introduced in section IV. The drift coefficient can be used as a sensitive measure of the global wind farm performance. When monitoring the wind farm as a whole, the drift coefficient registers some significant deviation from normal operation if one of twelve wind turbines is shut down during less than 4% of the time. Also, intermittent anomalies can be detected more rapidly than when using ten-minute averaging methods. Finally, a probabilistic description of the conversion process is proposed and modeled in appendix A, that can in turn be used to further improve the estimation of the stochastic coefficients.
Flexible temperature sensor integrated with RFID tag

Storage and transportation conditions of goods need to be often controlled because of their sensitivity for elevated temperature or other environmental factors (like for example humidity). Nowadays, such a control is carried out mostly using indicators or complicated and expensive sensors. The last one contains batteries and other electronic components and performs a function of a recorder. Because of this, such sensors are not flexible. On the other hand, indicators can be bended multiple times without any damage in their structure but their state is read optically. In this study, a flexible temperature sensor read wirelessly integrated with RFID tag was described. It was fabricated with silver pastes applied by screen printing techniques on low cost flexible substrate. Antenna of a RFID tag worked in UHF frequency range in order to provide a read distance up to 1m. Its parameters were evaluated by reflection coefficient measurements and compared with simulation results. Assembly of a RFID chip was carried out with a conductive adhesive. Properties of elaborated temperature sensor were investigated depending on applied materials and a level of a testing environment temperature.
Research on Energy Efficiency Management of Forklift Based on Improved YOLOv5 Algorithm

As an important tool for loading, unloading, and distributing palletized goods, forklifts are widely used in different links of industrial production process. However, due to the rapid increase in the types and quantities of goods, item statistics have become a major bottleneck in production. Based on machine vision, the paper proposes a method to count the amount of goods loaded and unloaded within the working time limit to analyze the efficiency of the forklift. The proposed method includes the data preprocessing section and the object detection section. In the data preprocessing section, through operations such as framing and clustering the collected video data and using the improved image hash algorithm to remove similar images, a new dataset of forklift goods was built. In the object detection section, the attention mechanism and the replacement network layer were used to improve the performance of YOLOv5. The experimented results showed that, compared with the original YOLOv5 model, the improved model is lighter in size and faster in detection speed without loss of detection precision, which could also meet the requirements for real-time statistics on the operation efficiency of forklifts.
FDA requirements for clinical investigations of medical devices: A review for European manufacturers

The purpose of this article is to provide European manufacturers with a review of the USA's requirements for clinical investigations of medical devices. It is an introductory guide to what European manufacturers need to plan for and what is expected from them when conducting a clinical investigation in the USA. The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) process is outlined and specific FDA and other web pages are listed to enable the reader to obtain official documentation that provides more detailed information on the IDE process. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.