Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coordinate interleaved orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with index modulation‐based orthogonal cooperative system

In this paper, coordinate interleaved orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with index modulation‐ (CI‐OFDM‐IM) based orthogonal cooperative system (OCS) is proposed, where the source activates half of the subcarriers to convey the symbols in the first time slot (TS). The subcarrier activation patterns (SAPs) are also exploited to convey additional information. In the second TS, the relay amplifies and forwards the received signal to the destination, meanwhile, the source activates the remaining half of the subcarriers to convey the new symbols to the destination. Since the source and relay transmit different symbols to the destination on the different subcarriers in the second TS, the mutual interference is avoided at the destination. Compared with the current OFDM based OCS, the proposed CI‐OFDM‐IM‐based OCS can achieve a higher spectral efficiency, since the SAPs are exploited to convey additional information. Furthermore, the CI‐OFDM‐IM‐based OCS can achieve additional power gain for a certain average transmit power, since the power of inactive subcarriers can be reallocated on the active subcarriers. The optimal constellation rotation, in the sense of maximizing the minimum Euclidean distance between the symbols conveyed on a subcarrier over two TSs, is provided to optimize the performance of CI‐OFDM‐IM‐based OCS. Simulation results show that the proposed CI‐OFDM‐IM‐based OCS achieves a better trade‐off between spectral efficiency and bit error ratio performance.
Investigating pedagogical challenges of mobile technology to English teaching

ABSTRACT Digital education with mobile technology is becoming a global trend. This study considers language teachers’ challenges related to open distance teaching in higher education. Twenty-eight university lecturers participated in the semi-structured interviews and expressed their opinions on how mobile technologies impacted the nature of teaching and learning in tertiary education. In particular, four themes associated with teaching English in the context of mobile technologies were discussed: (1) technology mediation, (2) disruptive pedagogy, (3) English teaching, and (4) learning flexibility. The results show that mobile technology and pedagogical innovation are not challenging for teachers. Instead, psychological anxiety, extended pedagogical roles, and learning flexibility are the challenging issues. Based on the results, a theoretical framework for digital education and a learning model for digital native students are proposed. This study suggests further work to promote pedagogy that connects students with higher-level thinking.
Metrological Characterization of an Aerosol Exposure Chamber to Explore the Inhalation Effects of the Combination of Paraquat and TiO2 Nano-objects

ABSTRACT Agriculture is a main source of airborne contaminants and the perspective of a potential environmental release of a new type of pesticides - the nanopesticides - raises questions about the inhalation effects of these agrochemicals. These innovative products, whose inhalation effects are still not explored, encompass engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) used either directly as active substances, or mixed as ENMs additives within a pesticide formulation. If the adverse effects of pesticides are extensively studied, the potential toxic synergy involving ENMs and pesticides is rarely explored. To this end, toxicological models are essential to assess the health consequences of such aerosols. The present study reports the characterization of a new exposure chamber, which is dedicated to inhalation toxicology using rodents, in order to assess the effects of the combination of titanium dioxide nano-objects (nTiO2) and paraquat (PQ). A dynamic whole-body chamber was developed in order to comply with animal welfare and the OECD guidelines for inhalation toxicology studies. The generated aerosols were first metrologically characterized in terms of mass and number concentration, size distribution and atmosphere homogeneity. The facility reproducibility and proper functioning were then evaluated during a preliminary campaign on the field. It allowed the validation of the animal exposure sessions consistency with the metrological characterization in terms of mass and number particle concentrations. Finally, we demonstrate the suitability of this new exposure chamber to explore aerosol inhalation effects on rodents.
When is greenwashing an easy fix?

ABSTRACT Greenwashing has long been considered a viable strategy in the literature and academic research has explored its drivers from an institutional viewpoint. This paper extends the literature by considering greenwashing from a financial management viewpoint. It is found that when firm stock volatility is low, when the weighted average cost of capital is high, when firm pricing power is strong, and when information asymmetry is high, that the financial incentives for greenwashing are strong. The potential returns to greenwashing are weakly related to the level of systemic risk of the firm. The simulation results of the model indicate that in the current era that the returns to greenwashing are quite limited without a lot of information asymmetry. The results indicate that in previous eras, there were more opportunities for greenwashing. Overall, the results suggest that for low-and average-beta firms that organizational-level drivers and individual-level psychological drivers are more important in driving greenwashing decisions. The results also show why stock-based incentives do not support corporate social responsibility.
Low cycle fatigue analysis of heat treated duplex stainless steel

ABSTRACT Duplex stainless steels (DSS) have become more attractive than single-phase austenitic and ferrite grades in industrial application due to their high strength and corrosion resistance in chloride-containing media. Due to low ductility region under hot working conditions these materials require special attention during processing. As heat treatments influence low cycle fatigue characterisation. The characteristics and properties of the industrially employed duplex grades has been discussed, moreover the presence and precipitation of sigma phases has been highlighted through ageing treatments. Based on up to date achieved outcomes, it appears that a quite homogeneous and good mechanical properties can be obtained by controlled composition and heat treatments . and it also enhances the wear properties. The most commonly formed and observed pernicious phase in DSS is sigma phase particles precipitation in a short period of time over a wide range of temperature. Hence an attempt has been made in our investigation to evaluate the low cycle fatigue changes when they are subjected to temperature 1100°C for a shorter duration for about 60 minutes. The low-cycle fatigue behaviour of a DSS was comparatively studied in standard heat-treated and aged at 800°C for 4 h.
Pendulum tuned mass dampers and tuned mass dampers: Analogy and optimum parameters for various combinations of response and excitation parameters

This study deals with the optimisation of pendulum tuned mass damper parameters for different types of excitations and responses of the host structure to which it is attached. The study considers force excitation and base excitation with different types of output quantities to be minimised on the host structure. It also considers both harmonic motion with H ∞ optimisation of the different transfer functions and random white noise excitation where the variance of the output signal is minimised, leading to H2 optimisation. Although a lot of work has been done on optimisation of tuned mass dampers, there exists in the literature only a few solutions for optimisation of the pendulum tuned mass dampers not covering all possible types of loads and output quantities. The analogy between the mass spring tuned mass damper and pendulum tuned mass damper presented in this study allows to use all the tuning rules developed for tuned mass dampers in the case of pendulum tuned mass dampers. In addition, the existing tuning rules for tuned mass dampers are extended to cases which were not previously solved in the literature for H2 optimisation and validated by comparing with numerical optimisation. Finally, a discussion is presented where the different tuning rules are compared, and the performance degradation is assessed when the wrong tuning rule is used. This is representative of the case where, for example, both wind and earthquake excitation exist on the structure, and the pendulum tuned mass damper is tuned for just wind excitation.
Water Quality of Streams and Springs around a Municipal Landfill Surrounded by Intense Agricultural Activities in a Tropical Environment

In Cameroon waste disposal by open dumping and landfilling are the most practised options. The siting, operation and after-care of landfills remain a challenging task. In this study we assessed water quality of stream, spring and leachate samples around/from the Mussaka landfill through physicochemical, heavy metal, microbial, phytoplankton, and benthic algae analyses. HCO3 , NH4 , NO3 concentrations are all above permissible limits EPA and WHO standards for freshwater systems. Concentrations of Ca and Mg in stream samples were far below standards but far greater (>480 mg/L) in spring and leachate samples. Nickel, lead and cadmium concentrations were above required standards. Contamination factors of all stream samples (CF<3) imply low to moderate contamination but pollution load index for spring sample (PLI>1) imply the spring is polluted. Generally, the obtained concentrations of most of these parameters were far higher for leachate than water samples. Total coliform counts ranged from 3.5 MPN/100mL to 1.1x10 MPN/100 mL. Five E. coli species were detected in all samples in counts ranging from 3.0x10 2 to 1.0x10CFU/mL. Thirty phytoplankton species belonging to 5 divisions were identified with Original Research Article Fonge et al.; IJECC, 11(1): 166-181, 2021; Article no.IJECC. 66120 167 Bacillariophyta (19 species) having the highest abundance and Euglenophyta (1 species) with least. Ten genera were identified as pollution indicator species. Results of this study justify the assertion that if upgrading options are not sought for the Mussaka landfill, it will become a major source of pollution of aquatic and soil ecosystems within the landfill area and downstream.
Responses of soil erosion to land‐use changes in the largest tableland of the Loess Plateau

Soil erosion is a global environmental problem, and land‐use changes have significantly altered soil erosion processes. However, soil erosion processes and their major influencing factors vary among different landforms. Dongzhiyuan (DZY), that is, the largest tableland in the Loess Plateau (LP), has experienced significant land‐use changes in previous decades. However, little is known about impacts of land‐use changes on soil erosion across different landforms in the DZY tableland. LANDSAT images from 1987, 1997, 2007, and 2017 were used to extract information on the land‐use changes in DZY. The decreases of farmland amount to 2.57 × 104 ha from 1987 to 1997, forest by 1.30 × 104 ha from 1997 to 2007, and grassland by 2.74 × 104 ha from 2007 to 2017. Urban areas increased by 1.41 × 104 ha from 1987 to 2017. The soil erosion estimated by the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) and Chinese soil loss equation (CSLE) was 11.3 and 5.8 t ha−1 yr−1, respectively. The conversion from urban areas to farmland and grassland increased soil erosion. Changes from farmland to grassland and forest to grassland, intensified soil erosion; the severity of soil erosion depended on the intensity of the land‐use changes. Urban expansion caused a smaller decrease in soil erosion in the loess tableland, whereas vegetation restoration, to a large extent, decreased soil erosion in the loess gully area. Anthropogenic activity accelerated soil erosion before 1997, but slowed its influence after 1997. This study provides a reference for land‐use planning and soil water conservation in the LP.
Latency and Energy Efficient Bio-Inspired Conic Optimized and Distributed Q Learning for D2D Communication in 5G

The next-generation communication, i.e. fifth generation (5G), will be manifesting the advertisers in near future. The Device to Device communication would be a proportion of 5G to provide communication requirements for trillions of devices connected in a significant manner to hold immense data rate. Optimization and Machine learning are said to be the most promising mechanisms for furnishing the best solutions to master the predominant aspects and explicit parameters of 5G communication. In this work, a Bio-inspired Conic Optimized and Distributed Latency Q Learning method is proposed for D2D communication in 5G with higher energy efficiency and minimum latency. Initially, a Bio-inspired Conic Particle Swarm Optimization model is to provide resource efficiency and energy efficiency by calculating the fitness function in terms of transmission power and data loss rate through updating the position and velocity to achieve optimized D2D communication. After that, the Distributed Latency Managed Q Learning model is employed for better connectivity with minimal latency which is achieved by two factors. They are SINR function to measure probability factor when choosing corresponding actions and design of reward function assuming neighbor device and communication range. With these two functions, a latency enhanced with minimum data loss is achieved to attain better connectivity for D2D communication. At last, the neighbor device and communication range for corresponding data stream are employed to reduce data loss and latency for D2D communication. The simulation result illustrates that the BCO-DLQL method increases the energy efficiency by 7% and reduces the latency by 24% as compared to state-of-the-art works.
Governance for urban resilience in popular settlements in developing countries: a case-study review

ABSTRACT Building urban resilience in popular settlements in developing countries is an urgent task driven by the compounded effects of climate change and rapid substandard urbanization. Urban resilience tends to be seen in the international development sphere as a governance outcome. Nonetheless, the vulnerability of these settlements results in part from the exclusion of their residents from the very governance structures that should address their vulnerability. Most of the literature on governance for resilience reports cases from developed regions, which cannot be generalized to developing regions. In this article, we present the results of a systematic review of 31 empirical cases of governance for urban resilience in popular settlements in developing countries. We find that although governance structures exist, and most cases report local groups collaborating to address vulnerability, residents of popular settlements are excluded from formal decision-making. This is a lost opportunity for the governance of urban resilience.
Managing liquid digestate to support the sustainable biogas industry in China: Maximizing biogas‐linked agro‐ecosystem balance

Biogas industry in China is developing rapidly. This is particularly the case for livestock farm biogas plants, which are built to treat manure and wastewater. Managing the liquid digestate (LD) generated by anaerobic digestion of livestock wastes is becoming a bottleneck, restricting the sustainable development of the biogas industry in China. The separation of livestock breeding and arable farming, caused by rapid intensive animal husbandry development, is the main reason for the LD problem. Researchers, government representatives, and biogas plant operators in China have invested significant research efforts to maximize biogas‐linked agro‐ecosystem balance, which is considered as an important solution to the LD problem. This article reviewed these studies and proposed several solutions from the following four aspects: breeding mode, waste treatment mode, LD transportation mode, and LD utilization mode. One proposal is to reduce the scale of newly built livestock farms and disperse them in farmland, by promoting the “company + agent” livestock breeding mode. In this approach, farm scale would be based on the size of available farmland, and would allow for the use of LD in the near farmland. The second approach involves the intense separation of the livestock slurry and further transportation of the LD produced by the thick slurry. The third one is to expand the possible distances for transferring LD, using a pipe network or vehicle supervised by a professional third party. Finally, the development of high value‐added products and bringing them to market is the ultimate solution for the future.
Electrochemical Techniques for Evaluation of Expired Megavit Drugs as Corrosion Inhibitor for Steel in Hydrochloric Acid

Basic Science Department, Preparatory Year, University of Ha’il, 1560, Hail, KSA. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, AlAzhar University,11884, Cairo, Egypt. 3 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk 71491, KSA. 4 Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of pharmacy, AlAzhar University,11884, Cairo, Egypt. Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of pharmacy, University of Ha’il, 1560, Hail, KSA. Petrochemical Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt. Chemistry department, Faculty of Science, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, KSA. E-mail: mredars2@yahoo.com
The Concept of Strategic Control in Marketing Management in Connection to Measuring Marketing Performance

This study deals with the issue of marketing control (the function that ties together the process of marketing management). More directly, we aim to provide a scientific reflection on the model presentation of the strategic level of such control. We present the views discussed in the literature on marketing control, which can be treated as its model conceptual and structural solutions. The main objective of the study was to define key factors in individual areas (the market area, the area of the customer’s value, the financial area) that are connected to business activities and show their interconnection. We further analyzed the relevance of marketing and business activities in connection to performance evaluation in three areas: market, customer, and financial performance. The empirical evidence of the study came from quantitative, firm-level data gathered through an email questionnaire, which yielded 708 qualified responses from companies in the Czech Republic. The analysis employed factor analysis on the way to identify the key marketing indicators supporting corporate strategy marketing in specific areas. Furthermore, Pearson’s chi-square test was used to find possible dependencies between observed factors. According to the obtained results and the application of the chosen statistic methods, we identified seven factors of which five factors were acceptable. For these five factors, we identified seven statistical dependencies. The obtained results show that companies primarily use financial indicators to monitor and check their activities in the marketing area. The usage of financial indicators in connection to the marketing area is based mainly on the traditional approach of companies in the measuring process. The whole control mechanism in the company requires continuous control of all corporate activities, with relevant changes in implementation, and a comparison of obtained results to competitors or a company’s results in previous years.
Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior of Pediatricians toward oral health of children in Tanta city

Objectives: To assess knowledge, attitudes and behavior of pediatricians in Tanta city Egypt regarding children oral health, and to determine their will to integrate preventive dental education and procedures in their daily clinical practice. Background: Increasing pediatrician’s involvement in oral health promotion during child check up visits will improve children oral health especially those difficulty getting professional dental care. However, pediatricians’ knowledge about preventive oral health, their readiness to participate in prevention and pediatricians’ perceived barriers in professional dental referral are not clear. Study design: An observational cross-sectional study was carried on 63 pediatricians working in the clinics of 14 primary health care centers in Tanta city, Gharbiya Governorate, Egypt. Results: Response rate of pediatricians was 82.54%. Mean of 23.07% of respondents were willing to apply fluoride varnish, 11.53 % consider white spots as a marker of early dental decay. All participants (100%) stated they had not been instructed in oral health neither in medical school, during residency nor through CME courses. Fifty percent of respondents reported having seen caries in school-aged children at least once per month. Percentage of pediatricians found difficulty to refer patients who are tow years old or less was 67.30%, followed by difficulty in referring patients who had developmental delay (61.53%). Conclusion: Based on the result of the current study, it becomes clear that pediatricians suffer from lack of knowledge and time to take greater role in the oral health promotion of children furthermore they face many barriers for professional dental refer. (1044) Mohamed Hassan El Bayoumi E.D. J. Vol. 67, No. 2
Effect of water absorption on mechanical and tribological properties of Indian ramie/epoxy composites

In the present work, the water absorption behaviour of Indian ramie/epoxy composites and its effect on mechanical and tribological behaviour have been investigated. The composites fabricated using the hand layup technique were immersed in distilled water at room temperature for water absorption test for a period of 120 days. Mechanical and tribological properties were evaluated for composites with 30 wt. % ramie fibre loading. The results obtained were compared with that of the dry specimen. Mechanical properties including tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength and hardness were evaluated. A reduction of 16.85%, 13.63%, 21.02% and 3.33% in tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength and hardness was observed after the water immersion, respectively. Friction and wear behaviour was also investigated for water immersed specimen. Frictional coefficient decreased for the developed composites and wear performance reduced after the water absorption test. Fractured surfaces post to mechanical testing and worn out surfaces of tribological test samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The weakening of fibre–matrix interface was observed in the scanning electron microscopy micrographs, which appears to be the main cause for the degradation of properties.