Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Task Offloading and Resource Allocation for IoV Using 5G NR-V2X Communication

Vehicular edge computing (VEC) is an innovative computing paradigm with an exceptional ability to improve the vehicles’ capacity to manage computation-intensive applications with both low latency and energy consumption. Vehicles require to make task offloading decisions in dynamic network conditions to obtain maximum computation efficiency. In this article, we analyze computation efficiency in a VEC scenario, where a vehicle offloads its tasks to maximize computation efficiency as a tradeoff between computation time and energy consumption. Although, it is quite a challenge to ensure the quality of experience of the vehicle due to diverse task requirements and the dynamic wireless conditions caused by vehicle mobility. To tackle this problem, a computation efficiency problem is formulated by jointly optimizing task offloading decision and computation resource allocation. We propose a mobility-aware computational efficiency-based task offloading and resource allocation (MACTER) scheme and develop a distributed MACTER algorithm that provides the near-optimal solution. We further consider the fifth-generation new-radio vehicle-to-everything communication model, i.e., cellular link and millimeter wave, to enhance the system performance. The simulation outcomes demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can efficiently enhance computation efficiency while satisfying computing time and energy consumption constraints.
Determination of twenty chemical element contents in macro-and micro-follicular colloid goiter using neutron activation analysis and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

Background: Colloid nodular goiter (CNG) is the most common disease of the thyroid, even in non-endemic regions, but an etiology of CNG is unclear. It is known that not only iodine (I) but other chemical elements (ChE) are involved in goitrogenesis. The present study was performed to clarify the preferential accumulation of some ChE either in the colloid or in cells of the thyroid gland. Methods: Twenty ChE (Al, B, Ba, Br, Ca, Cl, Cu, Fe, I, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Si, Sr, V, and Zn) in the thyroid tissues with diagnosed CNG were prospectively evaluated in 16 patients with macro-follicular CNG and 13 patients with micro-follicular CNG. Control group included thyroid tissue samples from 105 healthy individuals. Measurements were performed using a combination of non-destructive instrumental neutron activation analysis with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Results: It was found that with a goitrous transformation the Al, B, Br, Cl, Cu, Fe, I, Na, S, and Zn level in thyroid tissue can be significantly changed, and these changes depend on CNG histology. An association between I content and colloid volume, as well as between B level and cell volume of CNG was observed. Conclusions: There are considerable changes in ChE contents in the goitrous transformed tissue of thyroid, which depend on the histology of goiter.
COLD PLASMA AT ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE FOR ELIMINATING BRETTANOMYCES FROM OAK WOOD

In the oenological industry, the maintenance and sanitation of oak barrels has become a fundamental task. The wood has a porous structure that facilitates the penetration not only of the wine, but of the microorganisms it contains, such as the alterative yeast Brettanomyces bruxellensis. Although the most widely used method of sanitizing barrels is the burning of sulfur tablets, there is a European directive that will limit this practice, even when an effective alternative has not yet been found. This research is part of a project that studies the application of cold plasma at atmospheric pressure (APCP) to sanitize oak wood staves. This alternative technology to sulfur is respectful with the
On the Synergism of Biogenic Gold Nanoparticles and Hydroxyaluminum Phthalocyanines in the Photoeradication of Staphylococcus aureus

Due to the unusual properties of gold nanoparticles, these structures are widely used in medicine and biology. This paper describes for the first time the synthesis of colloidal gold nanoparticles by the cell-free filtrate obtained from the Coriolus versicolor biomass and the use of these biogenic nanostructures to increase the photosensitizing efficiency of di- (AlPcS2) and tetrasulfonated (AlPcS4) hydroxyaluminum phthalocyanines in antibacterial photodynamic therapy. The obtained monodisperse particles were extremely stable, and this remarkable stability was due to the presence of phosphoprotein as a capping agent. The studied gold nanoparticles had a spherical shape, were uniformly distributed, and were characterized by a single plasmon band at wavelength of 514–517 nm. Almost 60% of the gold particles were found to be in the range of 13 to 15 nm. In accordance with the regulations of the American Microbiological Society, indicating that any antimicrobial technique must kill at least 3 log CFU (99.9%) to be accepted as “antimicrobial”, this mortality of Staphylococcus aureus was shown to be achieved in the presence of AlPcS4 + AuNPs mixture and 4.8 J cm−2 light dose compared to AlPcS4 alone, which required a light dose of 24 J cm−2. The best effect of increasing the effectiveness of combating this pathogen was observed in the case of AlPcS2 + AuNPs as a photosensitizing mixture. The light dose of 24 J cm−2 caused a lethal effect of the studied coccus in the planktonic culture.
Advances in Irrigation: Select Works From the 2010 Decennial Irrigation Symposium

This paper is an introduction to the Advances in Irrigation Special Collection in this issue of Transactions ASABE and the next issue of Applied Engineering in Agriculture of 14 papers selected from 88 papers and presentations at the ASABE 5th Decennial National Irrigation Symposium, December 2010, in Phoenix, Arizona. This symposium followed the objectives of the previous four decennial events to provide a forum to assess progress of research endeavors to advance the effectiveness of irrigation practices during the past 10 years, leading to further research priorities that respond to future challenges. The papers in this Collection address a wide range of topics grouped into broad categories: microirrigation, center pivot irrigation, crop water use for improved irrigation management, and smart irrigation controllers for landscape irrigation. While these papers are not inclusive of all irrigation work since the last decennial symposium, they do provide a snapshot of work considered important by researchers, funding agencies and other stakeholders. Many aspects of irrigation have changed since the first symposium in 1970. Although microirrigation is a small proportion of irrigated acreage, it will continue to increase in highly technical commercial food and fiber production as well as in subsistence farming. Center pivot irrigation systems have been an important tool to deliver water more efficiently in diverse settings. Advanced telemetry and control systems, developed during the past 10 years, are now common options for center pivots, but challenges remain to integrate those hardware developments into crop management practices. Possibilities are emerging for adding monitoring devices to center pivots to match crop water needs with water delivery. Energy balance models continue to be refined as tools to estimate crop water use from both ground and satellite based data. Evapotranspiration estimates are evolving from single location weather stations to whole-field or regional scopes. Finally, “smart” irrigation controllers have coupled evapotranspiration estimation or soil-water sensing with automated irrigation system water delivery. These controllers can increase the precision of irrigation to match crop or landscape water needs. Irrigation will continue to be an important practice for producing the world’s food. The irrigation research and education professions will need to respond to food production challenges with even more refined irrigation systems and water management in the next 10 years. However, research investment in irrigation continues to decline when important issues exist, such as: maintaining agricultural profitability with declining water supplies, integrating sensor-based information for real-time autonomous or semi-autonomous management, competition for limited water supplies between agriculture and other sectors, increasing energy cost, environmental impacts of irrigation, and use of alternative water sources (i.e., lower quality) for irrigation.
Metal-insulator-semiconductor transmission lines

This paper investigates the one-dimensional metal-insulator-semiconductor transmission line. It develops closed-form expressions for equivalent-circuit parameters, compares them to exact calculations, and explores their limitations. It also investigates the usual assumption of single-mode propagation and shows that, in certain fairly common circumstances, the fundamental mode of propagation becomes so lossy that it can no longer be considered to be the dominant propagating mode.
L'informalité des micro- et petites entreprises en Égypte: une analyse transversale

Despite the socioeconomic importance of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Egypt, most of them are running on an informal basis. This paper uses an instrumental variable approach to estimate the impact of informality on the performance of 5000 Egyptian MSEs in 2003. The results of our Probit model show that the productivity increases when the firm operates formally. However, this positive effect is subject to the improvement of MPEs’ human & financial capitals. These findings highlight the importance of formalization policies.
Gender as a factor affecting NK cell activity in patients successfully treated for chronic hepatitis C with direct-acting antivirals

Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) affects the activity of natural killer (NK) cells, but successful interferon- free treatment partially restores it. The goal of this study was to assess whether gender influences NK functionality. We examined 21 post-menopausal women and 24 men with CHC who were treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAA) and 33 healthy volunteers. Using flow cytometry, we analysed KIR2DS4, NKG2D, NKp30, KIR2DL2/DL3, NKG2A and TRAIL on the surface of NK cells. Intracellular granzyme B was also assessed and serum CXCL10 was quantified via ELISA. Overall, patients with CHC had higher expression of KIR2DS4, NKG2A, and NKp30 relative to the control group. Further, CHC patients had a lower percentage of NK cells among lymphocytes relative to the control group. After treatment, KIR2DS4, KIR2DL2/DL, NKG2A, TRAIL and NKp30 on NK cells were decreased whilst the percentage of NK cells and the expression of granzyme B and NKG2D increased. Prior to treatment, serum CXCL10 was elevated, but it was inhibited post-treatment. We observed gender-specific differences in the expression of KIR2DL2/DL3 (higher in women) and NKp30 (elevated in men) compared to CHC/control groups. After treatment, KIR2DL2/DL3, NKp30 and CXCL10 dropped only in the female group while granzyme B increased in the male group. In conclusion, the response of NK cells among men and women of post-menopausal ages with CHC differs. Our research may lead to more studies on the different nature of female and male immune systems in the context of HCV infection and treatment.
TURKISH VERSION OF THE MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY SCALE: PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES

Mental disorders are major health problems that negatively affect people's health and quality of life. It is important for individuals to have mental health literacy to identify and treat the mental disorders early and seek professional help. The present study aims to conduct the Turkish validity and reliability study of the O'Connor and Casey Mental Health Literacy Scale. We performed a methodological study with 266 first-grade university students. The reliability of the scale was examined using invariance and internal consistency. Test-retest analysis (n=53) was conducted two weeks later. Test-retest stability was measured using Pearson's coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient. Scale validity was assessed with validity analyses of language, interface, content, criteria, and construct. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted for construct validity. The study population included 266 participants (age, mean±sd: 20.34±1.83, female: %84.2). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin coefficient was 0.762, and the Bartlett Sphericity Test was 2243.887 and p<0.001. The Cronbach's alpha of the scale was 0.805; the test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.828; p<0.001; the interclass correlation was 0.805. Factor loadings ranged from 0.417 to 0.761, indicating a single-factor structure. The unidimensional structure of the scale was consistent with the confirmatory factor analysis. This study showed the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of MHLS. Broader generalizability of the results requires testing a more diverse population setting.
Penerapan Motif Batik Pesisir Utara Jawa pada Perhiasan Logam (Studi Kasus: Warak Ngendog)

— Jewelry has been known to humans since prehistoric times made of rocks and animal bones. Jewelry not only has an aesthetic function, but also a social status for the wearer. Along with the development of human civilization, jewelry processing technology has also progressed in terms of manufacture, one of them being the discovery of metalworking techniques. One of the developed metalworking techniques and widely used by metal jewelry craftsmen is electroplating or gilding techniques. Through this article, we will describe the design of metal jewelry combined with the application of several North Coast Java batik motifs, one of them are Batik Semarang, namely Warak Ngendog motifs, as a culture result of Javanese, Chinese, and Arabic acculturation through the depiction of mythological animals as symbols of harmony according to Semarang’s people beliefs. The main jewelry material used is copper due to its electroplating reactivity. The metal processing technique with the electroplating method was chosen because this technique has been widely used in the metal craft industry, especially jewelry in Indonesia. The research method is descriptive experimental through electroplating technique experiments on copper accompanied by a structured identification and documentation process. The final result of this experiment is a set of jewelry products with the application of the Warak Ngendog motif in the form of earrings, bracelets, and necklace pendants.
Understanding the Impacts of Chinese Undergraduate Tourism Students’ Professional Identity on Learning Engagement

Under the background of higher education reform, undergraduate tourism students’ professional identity may play an important role in affecting students’ learning engagement and the sustainable development of tourism higher education. Data were collected from 551 Chinese undergraduate tourism students to investigate the potential relationships between professional identity and learning engagement. Based on the theory of social identity, professional identity is perceived as a progressive, dynamic process including professional cognition, professional appraisal, and professional emotion. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), and the findings confirmed that professional identity was in positive correlation with employee engagement. Furthermore, the results showed that professional cognition has positive influences on professional appraisal, professional emotion, and learning engagement, and professional appraisal has positive influences on professional emotion and learning engagement. In addition, the mediating effects of professional appraisal and professional emotion between professional cognition and learning engagement were analyzed, respectively. This study contributes to the understanding of the impacts of tourism students’ professional identity on learning engagement. Both theoretical and practical implications are provided.
Prediction of Sewer Condition Grade Using Support Vector Machines

Assessing the condition of sewer networks is an important asset management approach. However, because of high inspection costs and limited budget, only a small proportion of sewer systems may be inspected. Tools are therefore required to help target inspection efforts and to extract maximum value from the condition data collected. Owing to the difficulty in modeling the complexities of sewer condition deterioration, there has been interest in the application of artificial intelligence-based techniques such as artificial neural networks to develop models that can infer an unknown structural condition based on data from sewers that have been inspected. To this end, this study investigates the use of support vector machine (SVM) models to predict the condition of sewers. The results of model testing showed that the SVM achieves good predictive performance. With access to a representative set of training data, the SVM modeling approach can therefore be used to allocate a condition grade to sewer assets with reasonable confidence and thus identify high risk sewer assets for subsequent inspection.
E-plane steps in rectangular waveguide

The classical problem of interacting E-plane step discontinuities is reconsidered. New, frequency-independent equivalent circuits are derived by explicitly considering the edge condition in the rigorous Ritz-Galerkin variational approach. A dramatic reduction of the numerical effort has also been achieved; in fact, in no case were more than two basis functions needed. The theoretical results have been compared with those reported by M. Marcuvitz (1951) as well as with experimental tests, always with excellent agreement. The very high accuracy, the reduced numerical effort, and the absence of relative convergence phenomena make this method ideally suited for the full-wave analysis of interacting discontinuities in efficient computer-aided design routines for small desk-top computers. >
Kinematic Mapping and Calibration of the Thumb Motions for Teleoperating a Humanoid Robot Hand

Mapping and calibration from a human hand to a robot hand pose a challenge due to their differences in kinematic structures. This paper uses the CyberGlove® as the input device for telemanipulating an object with the thumb and the index finger of the Shadow® Dexterous Hand™, with the focus not only on the position but also on the orientation of the thumb fingertip because it is found through experiments conducted on the Shadow Hand that the calibration of tip position alone can lead to unacceptable grasping postures. This paper develops an experiment protocol and proposes a nonlinear optimization formulation that makes the normals of the surfaces of the thumb and index fingertips within the friction cone while subject to fingertip position constraint. The results are verified to be accurate enough to conduct the telemanipulation.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
The India–EU FTA and Its Potential Impact on India’s Dairy Sector: A Quantitative Analysis

The present study attempts to quantify ex-ante the impact on trade flows, revenue and welfare of the India–EU FTA on India’s dairy sector. In light of the fact that the EU is the world’s largest exporter of dairy products and India’s dairy sector is highly protected, it is important to assess the potential impact that an FTA with EU can have on this sector. Using a partial equilibrium set-up, our simulation results reveal that the estimated increase in India’s imports of dairy products is mainly driven by trade creation rather than trade diversion, implying that the FTA does not promote inefficient dairy trade at the cost of other countries outside the trade bloc. We augment our analysis using the gravity model to estimate the potential increase in dairy sector imports due to trade liberalisation. PPML estimates suggest that a 10% decline in tariff rates leads to a 3.4% increase in the value of imports. While the estimated increase in dairy imports is significant, our analysis indicates that the increased value of imports, expressed as a fraction of India’s domestic output of dairy products, would still be less than 1%. JEL Codes: F13, F14, F17
Using Learning Analytics to Explore Responses from Student Conversations with Chatbot for Education

Chatbot simulates humans' conversations through computer programs using natural language. They are developed for various reasons and purposes, such as virtual characters and entertainers or as an interactive game component. Nowadays, Chatbots for education are using widely to enable students to engage with learning content constantly. In this study, students use Chatbot to query the Web Programming learning contents such as code description, coding and problem-solving. However, the successful responses of Chatbot to student queries is unknown. The lecturers also do not know the desired learning content of students who use the Chatbot. Thus, the purposes of this study are to explore the probability of a student getting successful responses in each conversation and to identify the students desired learning content. The learning analytics method is used to analyse the learning data of Chat-bot. The data analysis performed is descriptive analysis and binomial probability testing. The finding of the studies showed that the value of successful responses of Chatbot is high. The most desired learning content by the students is related to three categories of Web Programming contents, which is the hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), database & structured query language (SQL) and hypertext markup language (HTML). The Chatbot is updated based on proposed actions to provide more successful responses.
Mitigating behavioral supply risk under dual sourcing: Evidence from an order allocation game

We consider an order allocation game in which a manufacturer sources from two suppliers due to supply capacity limitations and allocates uneven orders to take advantage of incremental quantity discount. Laboratory experiments are conducted to examine empirical decisions by all three members in this dual sourcing channel. We observe that the supplier who receives large orders mostly agrees to supply; however, the supplier who receives small orders frequently refuses to supply. Consequently, the manufacturer experiences severe supply shortage, which hurts its profit and the supply chain efficiency. We develop behavioral models to explain the empirical decisions, and find that fairness concerns of the small‐order supplier cause supply rejections and shortages. To mitigate this behavioral supply risk, we apply the modeling results to design a subsidy mechanism and conduct a validation experiment. The experiment shows that the proposed subsidy mechanism successfully reduces supply rejections, and that the channel efficiency is significantly enhanced at no additional cost to the manufacturer. The study demonstrates the viability of the behavioral mechanism design approach in addressing issues in empirical decision‐making, and offers insights for manufacturers to manage asymmetric sourcing with two suppliers.