Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High-Aspect-Ratio Microfluidic Channel with Parallelogram Cross-Section for Monodisperse Droplet Generation

Droplet-based microfluidics has been widely used as a potent high-throughput platform due to various advantages, such as a small volume of reagent consumption, massive production of droplets, fast reaction time, and independent control of each droplet. Therefore, droplet microfluidic systems demand the reliable generation of droplets with precise and effective control over their size and distribution, which is critically important for various applications in the fields of chemical analysis, material synthesis, lab-on-a-chip, cell research, diagnostic test, and so on. In this study, we propose a microfluidic device with a high-aspect-ratio (HAR) channel, which has a parallelogram cross-section, for generating monodisperse droplets. The HAR channel was fabricated using simple and cheap MEMS processes, such as photolithography, anisotropic wet etching, and PDMS molding, without expensive equipment. In addition, the parallelogram cross-section channel structure, regarded as a difficult shape to implement in previous fabrication methods, was easily formed by the self-alignment between the silicon channel and the PDMS mold, both of which were created from a single crystal silicon through an anisotropic etching process. We investigated the effects of the cross-sectional shape (parallelogram vs. rectangle) and height-to-width ratio of microfluidic channels on the size and uniformity of generated droplets. Using the developed HAR channel with the parallelogram cross-section, we successfully obtained smaller monodisperse droplets for a wider range of flow rates, compared with a previously reported HAR channel with a rectangular cross-section.
Vitamin D Status and Health Outcomes in School Children in Northern Ireland: Year One Results from the D-VinCHI Study

(1) Background: Vitamin D status has never been investigated in children in Northern Ireland (UK). (2) Methods: Children (4–11 years) (n = 47) were recruited from November 2019 to March 2020 onto the cross-sectional study. Anthropometry was assessed. Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) was analysed. Vitamin D intake, parental knowledge and perceptions, participant habits, physical activity and sedentary behaviour were established via questionnaire. Muscle strength was assessed via isometric grip strength dynamometry and balance via dominant single-leg and tandem stance. Parathyroid hormone, bone turnover markers (OC, CTX and P1NP), glycated haemoglobin and inflammatory markers (CRP, IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-13, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α) were analysed. (3) Results: Mean (SD) 25(OH)D was 49.17 (17.04) nmol/L (n = 47); 44.7% of the children were vitamin D sufficient (25(OH)D >50 nmol/L), 48.9% were insufficient (25–50 nmol/L) and 6.4% were deficient (<25 nmol/L). 25(OH)D was positively correlated with vitamin D intake (µg/day) (p = 0.012, r = 0.374), spring/summer outdoor hours (p = 0.006, r = 0.402) and dominant grip strength (kg) (p = 0.044, r = 0.317). Vitamin D sufficient participants had higher dietary vitamin D intake (µg/day) (p = 0.021), supplement intake (µg/day) (p = 0.028) and spring/summer outdoor hours (p = 0.015). (4) Conclusion: Over half of the children were vitamin D deficient or insufficient. Wintertime supplementation, the consumption of vitamin D rich foods and spring/summer outdoor activities should be encouraged to minimise the risk of vitamin D inadequacy.
Modelling of Kinematics and Dynamics of the IPAnema 3 Cable Robot for Simulative Analysis

This paper covers the kinematics and dynamics modelling of the mechatronic model for a 6 DOF cable-driven parallel robot and derives a real-time capable simulation model for such robots. The governing equations of motion for the platform are derived using Newton-Euler formalism, furthermore, the pulley kinematics of the winches and a linear spring-damper based cable model is introduced. Once the equations of motion are derived, closed-form force distribution is implemented and simulation results of the real-time capable model for the cable-driven parallel robot IPAnema3 are presented. Given the real-time capability, the presented model can be used for hardware-in-the-loop simulation or controller design, but also for case studies of highly dynamic or large-scale robots.
Experimental and Numerical Study on the Failure Characteristics of Brittle Solids with a Circular Hole and Internal Cracks

A stress analysis of a circular hole is one of the classical problems in mechanics. Internal cracks are inherent properties of materials, and they are mostly three-dimensional in form. However, studies on hole problems with three-dimensional internal cracks are still lacking. In this paper, internal cracks were generated in brittle materials containing circular holes based on 3D internal laser-engraved crack technology. Then, uniaxial compression tests were performed. The experimental results were compared with the existing literature, and theoretical and numerical simulation studies were carried out. The results show that: (1) The main crack shapes are the primary cracks and remote cracks. (2) The dynamic fracture characteristics existed in the formation of primary cracks and the surface of remote cracks. The tips of primary cracks were arc-shaped, and the surfaces of the remote cracks were curved. Remote cracks were tangential to the orifice where type III spear-like characteristics appeared. (3) The stress birefringence technology can be combined with 3D internal laser-engraved crack technology for internal crack stress information monitoring, the moire around the orifice was “flamboyant”, and the moire at the tip of the prefabricated crack was “petallike”. (4) The existence of internal cracks reduced the cracking and breaking load of the specimen, and compared with the intact orifice specimen, the upper primary crack, the lower primary crack, the remote crack and the failure load were reduced by 41.2%, 31.7%, 15.9%, and 32.3%, respectively. (5) The results of qualitative stress analysis of the orifice specimen were consistent with the initiation law of primary cracks and remote cracks. The K distribution based on M integral and the numerical simulation of crack propagation process based on the maximum tensile stress criterion were consistent with the law of primary crack growth. Compared with the current mainstream method of transparent rock research, 3D internal laser-engraved crack technology has certain advantages in terms of brittleness, crack authenticity, stress field visualization, and fracture characteristics, and the result will provide experimental and theoretical references for research on three-dimensional problems and internal cracks in fracture mechanics.
Recognition of material status in workshop and logistics automatic scheduling technology based on RestNet

Material transfer and material status monitoring have always been an important part of operation and maintenance in the workshop. Too much reliance on manual operation will greatly reduce work efficiency and cause frequent errors. This article is based on Residual Neural Network (ResNet) transfer learning (TL) for model training. The status of material points in the workshop, namely empty frame, no frame, and full-frame, has been well recognized by using a small amount of surveillance video stream data for image analysis, which realizes the reverse optimization of the model. The accuracy of material point status recognition is as high as 99.7%. Based on the material point status recognition technology, the manufacturing operation management system interface can be called through the HTTP protocol to issue tasks, and the intelligent logistics system can be combined to realize the automatic circulation of materials in the workshop and improve production efficiency.
From the desk of the CEO

It's a pleasure to once again have an opportunity to be in contact with our members and readers through this platform. We are in the sector that never "sleeps" and this quarter has been equally busy and hectic. As this is the first quarter of 2015/16 financial year, a lot of our members were very busy closing year end and starting processes of preparing annual financial statements. We wish all our members all of the best and believe that we are going to see some increase in the number of municipalities and municipal entities getting clean audit outcomes for 2014/15 financial year.
Factors Distinguishing Proximal and Distal Internal Carotid Artery Occlusions in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke

Acute internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusions cause extensive brain ischemia. Accurate determination of the occlusion site facilitates rapid revascularization interventions and improves prognosis. However, proximal ICA occlusions, as determined with computed tomography (CT) angiography, often are located more distally. Therefore, we assessed clinical and imaging factors associated with the accurate determination of occlusion sites. In this observational study, we evaluated 102 patients who presented acute ischemic stroke symptoms and had a CT angiography within 6 h, showing proximal ICA occlusion. The participants were divided into two groups, depending on whether there was correspondence between digital subtraction angiography and CT angiography regarding the occlusion location. Proximal occlusions were, accordingly, categorized as “true” (correspondence) or “false” (no correspondence; distal). Demographic, clinical, and imaging features were analyzed. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify factors predicting the correspondence between actual ICA occlusion sites and those detected by CT angiography. The shape (Odds ratios, OR = 646.584; Confidence interval, CI = 21.703–19263.187; p < 0.001) and the length (OR = 0.696; CI = 0.535–0.904; p = 0.007) of the ICA occlusion and atrial fibrillation (OR = 0.024; CI = 0.002–0.340; p = 0.006) were significant factors. The cut-off length of ICA stump at 6.2 mm, the sensitivity was 71%, and the specificity was 70% (area under the ROC curve = 0.767).
Impact of long-term climate change on Moluccella bucharica (B. Fedtsch.) Ryding population decline in Uzbekistan

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of long-term climate change trends in the distribution of the endemic population of Moluccella bucharica (B. Fedtsch.) Ryding in southern Uzbekistan. Based on the analysis of daily data of 2 meteorological sources (NASA POWER and Boysun (M-II), reliable long-term trends in changes in the amounts of atmospheric precipitation and air temperatures (average, average minimum, absolute minimum, average maximum and absolute maximum) for different periods (1982–2020) of the year (year, half-year, season) have been established, which are actively manifested in the dynamics of the M. bucharica population. The results of this study serve to substantiate and explain that the conditions that lead to the M. bucharica crisis - changes in the reproductive phase and damage to seeds by insects - are the result of the effects of climate change. We found that the amplitude of the change of sediments is 59.8%, the amplitude of the change of the average temperature of the air is 19.3–53.76%, the amplitude of the change of the average maximum temperature of the air is 9.75–47.54%, the average minimum temperature of the air is 29–59%. These coefficients of change indicate that the climate of the region where the species grows has changed and is changing towards a sharp aridization.
A Systematic Review on Osmotic Computing

Osmotic computing in association with related computing paradigms (cloud, fog, and edge) emerges as a promising solution for handling bulk of security-critical as well as latency-sensitive data generated by the digital devices. It is a growing research domain that studies deployment, migration, and optimization of applications in the form of microservices across cloud/edge infrastructure. It presents dynamically tailored microservices in technology-centric environments by exploiting edge and cloud platforms. Osmotic computing promotes digital transformation and furnishes benefits to transportation, smart cities, education, and healthcare. In this article, we present a comprehensive analysis of osmotic computing through a systematic literature review approach. To ensure high-quality review, we conduct an advanced search on numerous digital libraries to extracting related studies. The advanced search strategy identifies 99 studies, from which 29 relevant studies are selected for a thorough review. We present a summary of applications in osmotic computing build on their key features. On the basis of the observations, we outline the research challenges for the applications in this research field. Finally, we discuss the security issues resolved and unresolved in osmotic computing.
L0 and L1 Guidance and Path-Following Control for Airborne Wind Energy Systems

For an efficient and reliable operation of an Airborne Wind Energy System, it is widely accepted that the kite should follow a pre-defined optimized path. In this article, we address the problem of designing a trajectory controller so that such path is closely followed. The path-following controllers investigated are based on a well-known nonlinear guidance logic termed L1 and on a proposed modification of it, which we termed L0. We have developed and implemented both L0 and L1 controllers for an AWES. The two controllers have an easy implementation with an explicit expression for the control law based on the cross-track error, on the heading angle relative to the path, and on a single parameter L (L0 or L1, depending on each controller) that we are able to tune. The L0 controller has an even easier implementation since the explicit control law can be used without the need to switch controllers. Since the switching of controllers might jeopardize stability, the L0 controller has an important theoretical advantage in being able to guarantee stability on a larger domain of attraction.The simulation study shows that both nonlinear guidance logic controllers exhibit appropriate performance when the L parameter is adequately tuned, with the L0 controller showing a better performance when measured in terms of the average cross-track error.
DataOps-4G: On Supporting Generalists in Data Quality Discovery

Data preparation has become a necessary but labor and resource-intensive step to perform data analytics. To date, such activities still require considerable manual effort from experts. In this paper, we focus on a specific data preparation activity, namely data quality discovery. We explore different settings in which data workers undertake data quality discovery tasks and the implications of those settings for the efficiency and effectiveness of data workers. To this end, we propose DataOps-4G, a data quality discovery platform for generalists that allows users to interact with data without the need to write code. We wrap up pre-defined code snippets that implement useful functionalities to explore data quality and bundle the code into so-called DataOps. Then, we conduct a lab-based user study to evaluate our DataOps-4G platform from two perspectives: (i) effectiveness, the accuracy of the outcomes achieved by participants; and (ii) efficiency, their effort and strategies in task completion. Our experimental results uncover how effectiveness and efficiency can be affected by their task completion patterns and strategies. This opens up the possibility of popularizing data quality discovery processes by employing non-experts (e.g., from crowdsourcing platforms) and consequently allowing experts to focus on more complex activities (e.g., building machine learning models).
EMRA-Net: A Pixel-Wise Network Fusing Local and Global Features for Tiny and Low-Contrast Surface Defect Detection

The problem of tiny and low-contrast surface defect detection is a nontrivial one. To solve the problems, this article proposes an edge and multi-scale reverse attention network (EMRA-Net), of which includes feature extraction and feature fusion. In the process feature extraction, the global dynamic convolution features, global dynamic multi-scale fusion (MSF) feature, and local pyramid edge feature are obtained through the pre-training backbone Resnet 34, the fresh MSF module, and the innovative pyramid edge module, respectively. In the process of feature fusion, these features are blended by a new self-learning scale module and a novel spatial channel domain reverse attention (SCRA) module step by step. The experimental results of five widely used datasets show that the EMRA-Net outperforms the existing methods. In addition, the mean intersection of union (mIoU)12 on the printed circuit board (PCB) industry dataset reaches 95.31%. Moreover, the results of EMRA-Net indicated that the local edge feature can improve the performance of the defect detection network. The EMRA-Net has great potential in the application in the detection of tiny and low-contrast defects.
Administration of an Acidic Sphingomyelinase (ASMase) Inhibitor, Imipramine, Reduces Hypoglycemia-Induced Hippocampal Neuronal Death

Severe hypoglycemia (below 35 mg/dL) appears most often in diabetes patients who continuously inject insulin. To rapidly cease the hypoglycemic state in this study, glucose reperfusion was conducted, which can induce a secondary neuronal death cascade following hypoglycemia. Acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase) hydrolyzes sphingomyelin into ceramide and phosphorylcholine. ASMase activity can be influenced by cations, pH, redox, lipids, and other proteins in the cells, and there are many changes in these factors in hypoglycemia. Thus, we expect that ASMase is activated excessively after hypoglycemia. Ceramide is known to cause free radical production, excessive inflammation, calcium dysregulation, and lysosomal injury, resulting in apoptosis and the necrosis of neurons. Imipramine is mainly used in the treatment of depression and certain anxiety disorders, and it is particularly known as an ASMase inhibitor. We hypothesized that imipramine could decrease hippocampal neuronal death by reducing ceramide via the inhibition of ASMase after hypoglycemia. In the present study, we confirmed that the administration of imipramine significantly reduced hypoglycemia-induced neuronal death and improved cognitive function. Therefore, we suggest that imipramine may be a promising therapeutic tool for preventing hypoglycemia-induced neuronal death.
Articular spacers in two-stage revision arthroplasty for prosthetic joint infection of the hip and the knee

Use of articular antibiotic-eluting cement spacers during two-stage revision arthroplasty for prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a long-established and proven adjunctive technique during first-stage surgery. Articular spacers come in many forms, either static or dynamic. The authors present an instructional review of current evidence regarding their use. A total of 45 studies (for spacer use in PJI involving either hip or knee) were analysed for data regarding eradication rate, functional outcomes, mechanical complications and the impact on second-stage surgery. A large number of case series and retrospective cohort studies were retrieved, with only a small number of prospective studies (2). High levels of infection eradication were commonly reported (>80%). Outcome scores were commonly reported as indicating good-to-excellent function and pain levels. Second-stage procedures were often not required when dynamic spacers were used. Static spacers were associated with more mechanical complications in both the hip and the knee. In the hip, dynamic spacers were more commonly associated with instability compared to static spacers. Consideration should be given to the use of dual-mobility or constrained definitive acetabular components in these cases at second-stage surgery. The use of antibiotic-eluting polymethylmethacrylate articular spacers in two-stage revision for PJI of hip and knee arthroplasty achieves a high rate of infection eradication. Dynamic spacers may confer a variety of benefits compared to static spacers, with a similar rate of infection eradication.
Dual-band 3-way power divider and combiner based on CRLH-TLs

In this paper, by using composite right and left handed transmission lines and non-radiating CRLH-TLs, a dual-band 3-way series power divider (SPD) is presented. The proposed dual-band divider is designed and fabricated on an inexpensive FR4 substrate of thickness h = 0.79 mm and a relative dielectric constant of εr = 4.4 to work at 0.915 and 2.440 GHz. Also, in order to improve the isolation characteristics of this divider, three isolation resistors are implemented among output ports. Derived formulas are presented in details. The dual-band nature of the designed SPD, good input return loss, as well as equal power split among the three output ports, flexibility of spacing the output ports arbitrarily apart, and easy integration with planar devices make the proposed divider well suited for feeding many dual-band microwave circuits, such as multipliers, mixers, and planar array antennas. In addition, due to its excellent return-loss at the output ports and its high isolation, the proposed divider in this paper can be used as a power combiner.
Do Natural Resources Really Cause Civil Conflict? Evidence from the New Global Resources Dataset

Scholars have long examined the relationship between natural resources and conflict at the country level. More recently, researchers have turned to subnational analyses, using either individual countries or subnational data for a small number of resources in sub-Saharan Africa. We introduce a new sub-national dataset of 197 resources that adds many resource types, locations, and countries from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. To demonstrate the value of the new dataset, we examine how conflict incidence varies with the value of the collective set of resources in a given location using world prices. We then introduce new country-specific price data, which are more relevant for conflict dynamics. Since country-specific prices can be endogenous to conflict, we instrument country-specific prices using U.S. and world prices. We find that sub-national resource wealth is associated with higher levels of conflict using some specifications, though the results vary widely by data source and world region. Using an instrumental variables strategy lends the strongest support to this positive relationship, but only for African countries. Notably, across all of our models, we find that resources are negatively associated with conflict in Latin America, suggesting heterogeneity of effects worth future exploration.