Standard Output Research Articles

On the impact off(Q) gravity on the large scale structure

ABSTRACTWe investigate the exponential f(Q) symmetric teleparallel gravitation, namely $f(Q)=Q+\alpha Q_0(1-e^{-\beta \sqrt{Q/Q_0}})$ using ME-GADGET code to probe the structure formation with box sizes LBox = 10/100 Mpc h–1 and middle resolution $N_p^{1/3}=512$. To reproduce viable cosmology within the aforementioned modified gravity theory, we first perform Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling on OHD/BAO/Pantheon data sets and constrain a parameter space. Furthermore, we also derive theoretical values for deceleration parameter q(z), statefinder pair {r, s} and effective gravitational constant Geff, perform Om(z) diagnostics. While carrying out N-body+SPH simulations, we derive CDM+baryons over density/temperature/mean molecular weight fields, matter power spectrum (both 2/3D, with/without redshift space distortions), bispectrum, two-point correlation function and halo mass function. Results for small and big simulation box sizes are therefore properly compared, halo mass function is related to the Seth–Tormen theoretical prediction and matter power spectrum to the standard CAMB output.

On-Chip Fast Signal Generation and Low-Power SAR ADC for SiPM Readout

This article presents an ON-chip fast signal generator and a successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital data converter (ADC) for silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout applications. The high-pass filter (HPF)-based fast-signal generator sharpens the rising edge of the standard SiPM output signal reducing time jitter due to the dark counts of the detector. It is implemented by leveraging the equivalent resistance of the current mirror transistor and the ac-coupling capacitor between the current mirror and the current discriminator to avoid hardware and power consumption overhead. Compared with OFF-chip solutions, the ON-chip approach eliminates the packaging pins and high-speed buffers needed for carrying the fast signals reducing packaging complexity and power consumption of the readout system. The energy quantizer utilizes the SiPM charge integrator as the ADC track-and-hold (T/H) circuit to improve the front-end power efficiency. The fast signal generator and the SAR ADC are implemented in a current-mode application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designed in a 0.18- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS technology. Measurement results show that the ON-chip fast signal generator is effective in improving the timing performance of the readout system. The timing resolutions are measured using SensL’s <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$3\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 3 mm2 SiPM device with a terminal capacitance of 850 pF using an ultrashort laser pulser. Measurement results show that the fast signal generator improves the timing resolution by 23.4% compared with timing measurement using the standard output signal when the output charge is 300 pC. The ASIC achieved a measured ADC signal-to-noise-distortion ratio (SNDR) of 53.08 dB and a spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 62.74 dB at 1 MS/s and a maximum front-end gain nonlinearity of 3.3% over 20–800-pC input charge range while dissipating 4.1 mW of power from a 1.8-V supply.

Integration of the Kansei engineering method and quality function deployment in the design of a food dough mixer machine

The Apple Dodol home industry, located in Tegalwaru village, Dau, Batu City, is an apple Dodol home industry because the raw material for apples is relatively abundant in Batu city. This snack results from more efficient apples with higher economic value. The increase in the use value of apples is through processing various souvenir products, including apple cider, apple Dodol, and apple chips. The process of making Dodol is still using the manual method. The mixing of the ingredients is still using workers with manual equipment, causing the condition of workers to feel fatigued quickly because the mixing process takes 4-5 hours. Therefore, a proper machine is needed to help the Dodol mixing process. The method used is Kansei Engineering Type I with the following stages: determining the Kansei Word, testing its validity and reliability, compiling the Semantic Differential (SD) Scale Structure, and compiling SD 1 Kansei Word. The scale used is a 5-point scale, as it is easier for respondents to understand. Illustrations of similar or uniform products to be designed are put together, and sorted items and categories are then applied to make technical specifications using the Quality Function Deployment method. Based on the test results, the difference in the standard output of the two tools was 0.33 kg/hour, so an increase in the percentage of standard output was obtained by 49%. The use of this semi-automatic Dodol mixer is practical and convenient. The mixer can be removed, making it easier to clean the machine and easy to move as it has wheels on the tool frame.

Analysis of Work System Design to Increase Production Productivity Using the MOST (Maynard Operation Sequence Technique) Method (Case Study of PT. Segar Murni Utama)

PT. Segar Murni Utama is a company engaged in the mineral water industry, especially the production of MOJO TRAS demineralized water. PT. Segar Murni Utama introduces demineralized water products widely and is marketed among the general public to meet the needs of the community. This company prioritizes the quality of demineralized water very well.The purpose of this study was to optimize the production operator time for the cup section and optimize the packing process time for the cup section using the MOST (Maynard Operation Sequence of Technique) method. MOST (Maynard Operation Sequence Tecnique) is one of several ways of timing sub-operations or movements. The BEST method includes basic sort patterns.The results of this study in the cup production operator section showed that the right hand and left hand maps were known to have 8 activities, and 8 activities on the process flow map. The total time is 1410, the normal time (WN) is 0.85 minutes, the standard time (WS) is 0.017 hours, the standard output (OS) is 59 cartons/hour, and the final calculation result is 413 cartons/day. While the results of improvements in the packing cup section obtained the following results: Right hand and left hand maps are known to have 11 activities, and 11 activities on the process flow map. The total time is 2110, the normal time (WN) is 1.26 minutes, the standard time (WS) is 0.023 hours, the standard output (OS) is 43 cartons/hour, and the final calculation result is 301 cartons/day.

Coincidence time resolution of radiation detector based on 6×6 mm2 ToF SiPM detectors with different readout schemes

Introduction: Nowadays, attention is growing on the Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) detector for many applications, especially in nuclear medicine. In Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner, timing performance of a PET detector plays a significant role in image reconstruction.Methods: This work mainly aims at the processing of timing signal for the purpose of achieving a good timing performance. We applied a timing detector made up of a 3 × 3 × 10 mm3 LYSO crystal directly coupled with a large-size SensL SiPM with a sensitive area of 6 × 6 mm2. The standard output of the SiPM was used for energy calculation while the fast output was for timing pickoff. Three different readout configurations for fast timing signals were used for timing performance evaluation: 1) the recommended RF transformer-based readout, 2) the cascaded Common Emitter Amplifier (CEA), 3) the commercial RF amplifier.Results: Experiment results show that the best FWHM CTR values for the three were 228.3 ± 1.4 ps, 235.4 ± 1.1 ps and 231.1 ± 1.5 ps for the RF transformer-based, the CEA-based and the RF amplifier-based readout configurations respectively. The schemes based on the CEA-based and the RF amplifier-based configurations have a good uniformity at different trigger thresholds.Discussion: For practical application, the amplified timing signal based on the CEA circuit is more desirable because it is more feasible for trigger threshold selection in multichannel readout electronics system.

The Deuterium Calculator: An Open-Source Tool for Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry Analysis.

Hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) is a powerful protein footprinting technique to study protein dynamics and binding; however, HDX-MS data analysis is often challenging and time-consuming. Moreover, the HDX community is expanding to investigate multiprotein and highly complex protein systems which further complicates data analysis. Thus, a simple, open-source software package designed to analyze large and highly complex protein systems is needed. In this vein, we have developed "The Deuterium Calculator", a Python-based software package for HDX-MS data analysis. The Deuterium Calculator is capable of differential and nondifferential HDX-MS analysis, produces standardized data files according to recommendations from the International Conference on Hydrogen-Exchange Mass Spectrometry (IC-HDX) to increase transparency in data analysis, and generates Woods' plots for statistical analysis and data visualization. This standard output can be used to perform time dependent deuteration studies and for the study of protein folding kinetics or differential uptake. Moreover, The Deuterium Calculator is capable of performing these analyses on large HDX-MS data sets (e.g., LC-HDX-MS from cell lysate digest). The Deuterium Calculator is freely available for download at https://github.com/OUWuLab/TheDeuteriumCalculator.git. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD036813.

Applying ensemble ecosystem model projections to future-proof marine conservation planning in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Climate change is altering marine ecosystems across the globe and is projected to do so for centuries to come. Marine conservation agencies can use short- and long-term projections of species-specific or ecosystem-level climate responses to inform marine conservation planning. Yet, integration of climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resilience into marine conservation planning is limited. We analysed future trajectories of climate change impacts on total consumer biomass and six key physical and biogeochemical drivers across the Northwest Atlantic Ocean to evaluate the consequences for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) in Atlantic Canada. We identified climate change hotspots and refugia, where the environmental drivers are projected to change most or remain close to their current state, respectively, by mid- and end-century. We used standardized outputs from the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project and the 6th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. Our analysis revealed that, currently, no existing marine conservation areas in Atlantic Canada overlap with identified climate refugia. Most (75%) established MPAs and more than one-third (39%) of the established OECMs lie within cumulative climate hotspots. Our results provide important long-term context for adaptation and future-proofing spatial marine conservation planning in Canada and the Northwest Atlantic region.

Vasopressin in vasoplegic shock in surgical patients: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Vasoplegia, or vasoplegic shock, is a syndrome whose main characteristic is reducing blood pressure in the presence of a standard or high cardiac output. For the treatment, vasopressors are recommended, and the most used is norepinephrine. However, new drugs have been evaluated, and conflicting results exist in the literature. This is a systematic review of the literature with meta-analysis, written according to the recommendations of the PRISMA report. The SCOPUS, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases were used to select the scientific articles included in the study. Searches were conducted in December 2022 using the terms "vasopressin," "norepinephrine," "vasoplegic shock," "postoperative," and "surgery." Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager (RevMan) 5.4. The endpoint associated with the study was efficiency in treating vasoplegic shock and reduced risk of death. In total, 2,090 articles were retrieved; after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, ten studies were selected to compose the present review. We found no significant difference when assessing the outcome mortality comparing vasopressin versus norepinephrine (odds ratio = 1.60; confidence interval 0.47-5.50), nor when comparing studies on vasopressin versus placebo. When we analyzed the length of hospital stay compared to the use of vasopressin and norepinephrine, we identified a shorter length of hospital stay in cases that used vasopressin; however, the meta-analysis did not demonstrate statistical significance. Considering the outcomes included in our study, it is worth noting that most studies showed that using vasopressin was safe and can be considered in managing postoperative vasoplegic shock.

Impact of Talent Management on Employee Performance in Construction Industry of Eastern Nepal

The construction industry requires competent and skilled talent to achieve set milestones. Talent management is a human resource strategy designed to attract, develop, and retain manpower. This study aims to explore the impact of talent management on employee performance in the construction industry. The three factors of talent management strategies taken into consideration for this study are training and development, talent retention strategies, and performance management systems. A simple random sampling technique was used to distribute questionnaires to working professionals in Province 1. Linear regression analysis was used to find the correlation between talent management strategies and employee performance. The findings revealed that talent retention strategies and performance management systems significantly affect employee performance in the construction industry, while training and development moderately affect employee performance. The dependent variables were correlated with R2 values of 0.816, 0.793, and 0.549 for talent retention strategies, performance management systems, and training and development, respectively. All independent variables were correlated with an R2 value of 0.896. Succession planning, career development, management feedback, and employee appraisal were identified as key factors in achieving standard quality output in the construction industry. This study highlights the importance of talent management strategies in enhancing employee performance in the construction industry. The findings suggest that organizations should focus on talent retention strategies and performance management systems to improve employee performance. Keywords: training and development, talent retention strategies, performance management system, employee performance

On-farm or off-farm? Diversification processes in the livelihood strategies of farming families in Poland

We discuss the factors that have influenced the increase in the importance of non-agricultural sources of income in the budget of family farms with well-established contacts with the market. We analyse these phenomena in farms of different sizes, bearing in mind that decisions on diversification of income sources are made within the family, taking into account income opportunities inside and outside agriculture. In the study we used panel data on 3754 individual farms for the years 2009–2016. It has been proved that only relatively small farms (with economic size below EUR 8000 Standard Output) show tendenciesto undertake diversification of agricultural activities. Farms with a larger economic size have already developed strong relations with the market, which influences family members’ decision to engage in agricultural activity, excluding non-agricultural sources of income and the relatively decreasing importance of public support in this respect.

Standardizing Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging using Generative Adversarial Networks: A Multisite Study Approach

ABSTRACT Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) intensities vary across sites due to differences in acquisition protocols and hardware. Resolution also differs across centers. This hampers developing multisite deep learning models on MRI data. Objective: To standardize MRI intensities and resolution to enable multisite deep learning. Materials and Methods: T2-weighted brain MRI from 500 subjects across sites were split into training, validation and test sets. A generative adversarial network (GAN) model was developed to convert 64x64 low-resolution inputs to 256x256 standardized outputs. Preprocessing involved skull stripping, interpolation and intensity scaling. The generator used convolutional layers and residual blocks. Discriminator classified real/fake images. VGG perceptual loss was incorporated along with MSE and adversarial losses. Results: The GAN model achieved a structural similarity index of 0.9937 and feature similarity of 0.00122 versus ground truth. Intensity distribution was retained. The proposed pipeline reduced interpolation noise by 94% in extracted features. Conclusion: The proposed GAN pipeline can effectively standardize multisite brain MRI for intensity and resolution. By enabling multi-center data harmonization, this approach facilitates developing deep learning models through federated learning on MRI big data.

The Impact of a Permeation Grouting Technique Quantitatively Assessed Through a Process-Focused Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract Permeation grouting treatments can be considered a well-established ground improvement strategy in urban built environments, where an accurate fine-tuning of its components can lead to tailored and efficient interventions. However, how to improve its overall environmental impact remains an open question. Using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach emphasizing the construction phase, this research highlights the leverages that can improve the environmental performance of this geotechnical construction process. The alternative approaches in terms of materials and processes are identified, quantified, and compared using the standard output of the LCA analysis and represent the ideal input for the three-phased sustainability assessment method for geotechnical infrastructure developed by the authors.

The development of 1 MW ECRH system on J-TEXT

A 1 MW electron cyclotron resonance heating system has been designed and developed for J-TEXT tokamak not only to enhance the total heating power but also to provide another possible way to control the plasma parameters. The system is composed of two gyrotrons, both with an output power of 500 kW electron cyclotron wave power. The development progress of the system is elaborated and discussed. The commissioning tests for the gyrotrons were implemented, and each gyrotron realized its standard output successfully. With the assistance of this system, a variety of experiments have been carried out on J-TEXT, mainly related to plasma heating, plasma disruption, plasma start-up, current drive and so on.

Characterization and Clinical Use of Bone Conduction Transducers at Extended High Frequencies

Measurement of bone conduction (BC) hearing thresholds at extended high frequencies (EHF; above 8 kHz) is of clinical interest but is technically complicated by limitations in standard BC transducer output, a lack of calibration standards and sparse clinical data from human subjects. A recently described calibration scheme using an artificial mastoid and interposed accelerometer is applied in this study to characterize and compare acceleration and computed force outputs over the 4–20 kHz range of two standard BC transducers: the RadioEar® B71 and B81, as well as two non-standard, commercially available BC transducers: the Tascam® HP-F200 and the Aftershokz® AS400. Measures of linear output growth, harmonic distortion and acoustic radiation are assessed and compared across devices. A maximum linear input voltage is established for each BC transducer using measurements of linear output growth and total harmonic distortion. At maximum linear input level, the Tascam shows superior force output by 25 to 40 dB above 8 kHz and the widest dynamic EHF range. Acoustic radiation per output force was lowest for the Tascam, whereas the AS400 behaved more like an air conduction earphone than a force generator. In a cohort of 15 normal hearing volunteers, BC thresholds, measured with the Tascam and reported in dB re 1 rms μN, were consistent with historical measures of EHF BC thresholds in similar subjects using an alternative BC transducer.

TAMPA: interpretable analysis and visualization of metagenomics-based taxon abundance profiles.

Metagenomic taxonomic profiling aims to predict the identity and relative abundance of taxa in a given whole-genome sequencing metagenomic sample. A recent surge in computational methods that aim to accurately estimate taxonomic profiles, called taxonomic profilers, has motivated community-driven efforts to create standardized benchmarking datasets and platforms, standardized taxonomic profile formats, and a benchmarking platform to assess tool performance. While this standardization is essential, there is currently a lack of tools to visualize the standardized output of the many existing taxonomic profilers. Thus, benchmarking studies rely on a single-value metrics to compare performance of tools and compare to benchmarking datasets. This is one of the major problems in analyzing metagenomic profiling data, since single metrics, such as the F1 score, fail to capture the biological differences between the datasets. Here we report the development of TAMPA (Taxonomic metagenome profiling evaluation), a robust and easy-to-use method that allows scientists to easily interpret and interact with taxonomic profiles produced by the many different taxonomic profiler methods beyond the standard metrics used by the scientific community. We demonstrate the unique ability of TAMPA to generate a novel biological hypothesis by highlighting the taxonomic differences between samples otherwise missed by commonly utilized metrics. In this study, we show that TAMPA can help visualize the output of taxonomic profilers, enabling biologists to effectively choose the most appropriate profiling method to use on their metagenomics data. TAMPA is available on GitHub, Bioconda, and Galaxy Toolshed at https://github.com/dkoslicki/TAMPA and is released under the MIT license.

Psm_utils: A High-Level Python API for Parsing and Handling Peptide-Spectrum Matches and Proteomics Search Results.

A plethora of proteomics search engine output file formats are in circulation. This lack of standardized output files greatly complicates generic downstream processing of peptide-spectrum matches (PSMs) and PSM files. While standards exist to solve this problem, these are far from universally supported by search engines. Moreover, software libraries are available to read a selection of PSM file formats, but a package to parse PSM files into a unified data structure has been missing. Here, we present psm_utils, a Python package to read and write various PSM file formats and to handle peptidoforms, PSMs, and PSM lists in a unified and user-friendly Python-, command line-, and web-interface. psm_utils was developed with pragmatism and maintainability in mind, adhering to community standards and relying on existing packages where possible. The Python API and command line interface greatly facilitate handling various PSM file formats. Moreover, a user-friendly web application was built using psm_utils that allows anyone to interconvert PSM files and retrieve basic PSM statistics. psm_utils is freely available under the permissive Apache2 license at https://github.com/compomics/psm_utils.

Convergence rate analysis of Galerkin approximation of inverse potential problem

In this work we analyze the inverse problem of recovering a space-dependent potential coefficient in an elliptic / parabolic problem from distributed observation. We establish novel (weighted) conditional stability estimates under very mild conditions on the problem data. Then we provide an error analysis of a standard reconstruction scheme based on the standard output least-squares formulation with Tikhonov regularization (by an H 1-seminorm penalty), which is then discretized by the Galerkin finite element method with continuous piecewise linear finite elements in space (and also backward Euler method in time for parabolic problems). We present a detailed error analysis of the discrete scheme, and provide convergence rates in a weighted for discrete approximations with respect to the exact potential. The error bounds explicitly depend on the noise level, regularization parameter and discretization parameter(s). Under suitable conditions, we also derive error estimates in the standard and interior L 2 norms. The analysis employs sharp a priori error estimates and nonstandard test functions. Several numerical experiments are given to complement the theoretical analysis.

Optical Inline-Sagnac Current Sensor, Part II: Performance and Applications

The performance and applications of the optical inline-Sagnac current sensor/transducer in utility high voltage alternating current measurements (metering and protection) and high voltage direct current measurements (control, metering, and protection) are presented. New measurements of commercially available sensors are presented for a 216 kA <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">peak</sub> transient current, scale factor linearity for alternating currents from 5 mA <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">rms</sub> to 32 kA <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">rms</sub> and for direct currents from 100 mA to 27 kA, and temperature performance of ±0.11% over the temperature range of −60 °C to +65 °C. New properties of polarizer temperature-wavelength effects on the scale factor of the sensor are presented. Power quality measurements are discussed over the frequency range of 16.66 Hz to 5 kHz. A discussion of the limitations of optical noise on low current measurements is given. The experimental and calculated sensor response functions are compared. The limitations for low current measurements due to the IEC 61869 standard digital output are presented.

Perbaikan Metode Kerja Menggunakan Maynard Operation Sequence Technique (MOST) dan Metode 5S Untuk Meningkatkan Kapasitas Produksi

Industrial competition in the era of increasingly fierce globalization forces the industry to struggle to maintain competition. In order to be able to compete in the modern industrial era, not only in terms of the products that will be sold in the market in a short estimated time, but also in terms of all aspects of the industry in it. In this research, the problem that arises is the production process that has not been effective and efficient so that it affects the production time, which is slightly hampered, causing consumer demand not to be fulfilled at CV. Bewrsama's Noble Grace. This study aims to determine the ineffective movements performed by the operator when doing work. Calculating the standard work process time using the Maynard Operation Sequence Technique (MOST) method, to calculate the resulting standard output. Reduction in ineffective processes with 5S work methods. Research was conducted in several divisions starting from the process of receiving milk, processing, milling, and packaging by comparing the effects of MOST between before and after the implementation of 5S. The results obtained are that there are several ineffective movements such as searching, selecting and inspecting which can be reduced by implementing 5S. There was a decrease in the receiving division by 4.7%, processing 0.67%, milling 4.2% and packaging 14.17%. The resulting raw output increased by 4.96% in the packaging division, 2.04% in the processing division, 6.02% in the milling division, and 15.2% in the packaging division.

Small Farms in Italy: What Is Their Impact on the Sustainability of Rural Areas?

Small farms are gaining space and importance within the agricultural policies implemented by the European Union, mainly for the role that they play for the preservation of the territory and for the economic development of local rural areas. Small farms represent a new opportunity to guarantee the permanence of populations and agricultural workers in rural areas, contributing to the formation of the income of farming families. Therefore, in this study, after identifying small farms as those farms that have a Standard Output (SO) of less than EUR 25,000, their structural characteristics were defined, as well as their economic and financial situation. The analysis was performed using the Italian FADN data for the years 2018–2020 and using a set of structural and economic–financial indicators. Furthermore, the study analyzes the relationship between farm performance and agricultural resources and also with farmer demographics and farm size. The principal Component analysis was used to reduce the number of variables used in the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model which was applied to identify the factors contributing to the small farms’ profitability. The territorial distribution of small farms shows a polarization: 37% of them are in Southern Italy, and more than 34% of them are in Northern Italy. The analysis also reveals that about 67% of the Italian small farms are specialized, in particular, in arable land (37.6%) and herbivores (16.8%). They are mainly conducted by men with a high school education level and with an age that is between 40 and 65 years. The economic results also show a good performance, however, there is a wide district differentiation: while the Northern regions have the best results in terms of farm net income, those of Southern Italy are more dependent on the public support they receive. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis revealed which variables (e.g., land size, labor, public aid, etc.) had a direct relationship with the profitability of small farms. The research provides interesting insights to stakeholders on the public support (specific measures) that needs to be designed and implemented to favor the survival of small farms in rural areas.