Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrocatalysis for direct alcohol–alkaline fuel cells

Due to the limited supply of fossil fuels and the increased concern for carbon emissions and global warming, Direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) have been identified as promising potential candidates. With advances in alkaline direct alcohol fuel cells, direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) have currently garnered a lot of attention. In this thesis, the temperature effect and the mechanism of Pd electrocatalyst towards alcohol (methanol, ethanol butanol and glycerol) electrooxidation reaction in alkaline media were compared and explored. Pd-based electrocatalysts with high activity and stability performance were designed for ethanol electrooxidation reaction(EOR) in alkaline media and were further characterized using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry(CA). Moreover, the kinetics of alcohol oxidation reaction on Pd-based electrocatalysts were obtained from the activation energy calculated by Arrhenius plots and compared. For all the alcohol electrooxidation reactions, the catalyst actives and kinetic were facilitated with increasing temperature from 25 to 60 oC. In comparison of the different alcohols electrooxidation reactions, the positive peak current densities(Jp) at 30 ˚C are following such order: JGlycerol > JButanol > JEthanol > JMethanol while the activation energy(Ea) are following order: EaGlycerol < EaButanol < EaMethanol < EaEthanol. For Ethanol Electrooxidation Reaction(EOR) in alkaline media, the catalytic reactivity of bulk Pd is significant enhanced by being decorated with a second metal(Pb, Ag, AuNPs, Sb). Activation energy(Ea) of X/Pd(X= Pb, Ag, AuNPs, Sb) at an optimal coverage of X is following the order: EaSb(θ=20%)/Pd JAuNPs(3nm) (θ=16%)/Pd ≈ JAg(θ=37%)/Pd > JPb(θ=29%)/Pd > JAuNPs(30nm) (θ=45%)/Pd > Jabulk Pd. Among all these catalyst, Sb(θ=20%)/Pd and Ag(θ=37%)/Pd contribute much more than others with the relative lowest Activation energy and highest peak current density.
Secure User Data in Cloud Computing Using Encryption Algorithms

Cloud Computing is transforming information technology. As information and processes are migrating to the cloud, it is transforming not only where computing is done, but also fundamentally, how it is done. As increasingly more corporate and academic worlds invest in this technology, it will also drastically change IT professionals’ working environment. Cloud Computing solves many problems of conventional computing, including handling peak loads, installing software updates, and, using excess computing cycles. However, the new technology has also created new challenges such as data security, data ownership and trans-code data storage. In this paper we have discussed about cloud computing security issues, mechanism, challenges that cloud service provider face during cloud engineering and presented the metaphoric study of various security algorithms.
Inexact Proximal Gradient Methods for Non-convex and Non-smooth Optimization

In machine learning research, the proximal gradient methods are popular for solving various optimization problems with non-smooth regularization. Inexact proximal gradient methods are extremely important when exactly solving the proximal operator is time-consuming, or the proximal operator does not have an analytic solution. However, existing inexact proximal gradient methods only consider convex problems. The knowledge of inexact proximal gradient methods in the non-convex setting is very limited. To address this challenge, in this paper, we first propose three inexact proximal gradient algorithms, including the basic version and Nesterov’s accelerated version. After that, we provide the theoretical analysis to the basic and Nesterov’s accelerated versions. The theoretical results show that our inexact proximal gradient algorithms can have the same convergence rates as the ones of exact proximal gradient algorithms in the non-convex setting. Finally, we show the applications of our inexact proximal gradient algorithms on three representative non-convex learning problems. Empirical results confirm the superiority of our new inexact proximal gradient algorithms.
In-flight alignment method of navigation system based on microelectromechanical systems sensor measurement

Inertial navigation systems based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors offer advantages that include small size, light weight, low power consumption, strong environmental adaptability, and low cost. These advantages make these sensors particularly suitable for application to precision-guided munitions, which commonly have poor launching environments, strict volume and power consumption requirements, and high cost sensitivity. In this article, the key technologies required for missile-borne integrated navigation systems and the solutions for the problems with each of these technologies are analyzed. An attitude angle estimation method for satellite-assisted MEMS measurement information is proposed that solves the in-flight alignment problem. A high-precision combination of satellite positioning and microinertial navigation is realized through design of a new integrated algorithm framework. The experimental results show that the proposed methods can effectively solve the current problems in guided ammunition navigation.
Driver drowsiness detection through HMM based dynamic modeling

Drowsiness is one of the main causes of severe traffic accidents occurring in our daily life. In order to reduce the number of drowsiness-induced accidents, various researches have been conducted with the aim of finding practical and non-invasive drowsiness detection systems by using behavioral measuring techniques. Many of the previous works on behavioral measuring techniques have mainly focused on the analysis of eye closure and blinking of the driver. It is recently that more attention started to shift to inclusion of other facial expressions and only few, among those researches, have been done on the analysis of temporal dynamics of facial expressions for drowsiness detection. In this paper we propose a new method of analyzing the facial expression of the driver through Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based dynamic modeling to detect drowsiness. We have implemented the algorithm using a simulated driving setup. Experimental results verified the effectiveness of the proposed method.
ParallelPC: an R package for efficient constraint based causal exploration

Discovering causal relationships from data is the ultimate goal of many research areas. Constraint based causal exploration algorithms, such as PC, FCI, RFCI, PC-simple, IDA and Joint-IDA have achieved significant progress and have many applications. A common problem with these methods is the high computational complexity, which hinders their applications in real world high dimensional datasets, e.g gene expression datasets. In this paper, we present an R package, ParallelPC, that includes the parallelised versions of these causal exploration algorithms. The parallelised algorithms help speed up the procedure of experimenting big datasets and reduce the memory used when running the algorithms. The package is not only suitable for super-computers or clusters, but also convenient for researchers using personal computers with multi core CPUs. Our experiment results on real world datasets show that using the parallelised algorithms it is now practical to explore causal relationships in high dimensional datasets with thousands of variables in a single multicore computer. ParallelPC is available in CRAN repository at this https URL
Coping with Ambiguity using Bounded-Variation Assumptions

Despite dozens of studies, research on crime in the United States has struggled to reach consensus about the impact of right-to-carry (RTC) gun laws. Empirical results are highly sensitive to seemingly minor variations in the data and model. How then should research proceed? We think that policy analysis is most useful if researchers perform inference under a spectrum of assumptions of varying identifying power, recognizing the tension between the strength of assumptions and their credibility. With this in mind, we formalize and apply a class of assumptions that flexibly restrict the degree to which policy outcomes may vary across time and space. Our bounded variation assumptions weaken in various respects the invariance assumptions commonly made by researchers who assume that certain features of treatment response are constant across space or time. Using bounded variation assumptions, we present empirical analysis of the effect of RTC laws on violent and property crimes. We allow the effects to vary across crimes, years and states. To keep the analysis manageable, we focus on drawing inferences for three states – Virginia, Maryland, and Illinois. In this setting, we first illustrate how the empirical findings are sensitive to assumptions, and can vary over crimes, years, and states. Then, imposing specific bounded-variation assumptions that we believe worthy of consideration, we find that RTC laws increase some crimes, decrease other crimes, and have effects that vary over time for others. In Virginia, for example, the data combined with these assumptions imply that the RTC law reduced murder and larceny rates in nearly every year after 1989, increased assaults after 1997 and, for other crimes, had generally negative effects in the 1990s but positive or indeterminate effects in the 2000s.
Line and continuum variability of two intermediate-redshift, high-luminosity quasars

Context. It has been shown that the luminosity of active galactic nuclei and the size of their broad line region obey a simple relation of the type R-BLR = aL(gamma), from faint Seyfert nuclei to bright quasars, allowing single-epoch determination of the central black hole mass M-BH = bL(gamma) Delta(2) H-beta from their luminosity L and width of H-beta emission line. Adopting this mass determination for cosmological studies requires the extrapolation to high redshift and luminosity of a relation whose calibration relies so far on reverberation mapping measurements performed for L less than or similar to 1046 erg s(-1) and redshift z less than or similar to 0.4. Aims. We initiated a campaign for the spectrophotometric monitoring of a few luminous, intermediate redshift quasars whose apparent magnitude, V < 15.7, allows observations with a 1.8 m telescope, aimed at proving that emission lines vary and respond to continuum variations even for luminosities less than or similar to 1047 erg s(-1), and determining eventually their MBH from reverberation mapping. Methods. We have repeatedly performed simultaneous spectrophotometric observations of quasars and reference stars to determine relative variability of continuum and emission lines. We describe the observations and methods of analysis. Results. For the quasars PG 1634+ 706 and PG 1247+ 268 we obtain light-curves respectively for CIII](lambda lambda 1909 angstrom), MgII(lambda lambda 2798 angstrom) and for CIV(lambda lambda 1549 angstrom), CIII](lambda lambda 1909 angstrom) emission lines with the relevant continua. During 3.2 years of observation, in the former case no continuum variability was detected and the evidence for line variability is marginal, while in the latter case both continuum and line variability are detected with high significance and the line variations appear correlated with continuum variations. Conclusions. The detection of the emission line variability in a quasar with L similar to 10(47) erg s(-1) encourages the continuation of the monitoring campaign which should provide a black hole mass estimate in another 5-6 years, constraining the mass-luminosity relation in a poorly explored range of luminosity.
Compound words prompt arbitrary semantic associations in conceptual memory

Linguistic relativity theory has received empirical support in domains such as color perception and object categorization. It is unknown, however, whether relations between words idiosyncratic to language impact non-verbal representations and conceptualizations. For instance, would one consider the concepts of horse and sea as related were it not for the existence of the compound seahorse? Here, we investigated such arbitrary conceptual relationships using a non-linguistic picture relatedness task in participants undergoing event-related brain potential recordings. Picture pairs arbitrarily related because of a compound and presented in the compound order elicited N400 amplitudes similar to unrelated pairs. Surprisingly, however, pictures presented in the reverse order (as in the sequence horse–sea) reduced N400 amplitudes significantly, demonstrating the existence of a link in memory between these two concepts otherwise unrelated. These results break new ground in the domain of linguistic relativity by revealing predicted semantic associations driven by lexical relations intrinsic to language.
Determination of the Success Orientations and Self-Consciousness Levels of the Students from the Faculty of Sports Science

The aim of this study is to determine the success orientations and self-consciousness levels of the students in the higher education institutions providing sports education and to examine these according to some variables. The sample of the study consists of 202 students, 90 female and 112 male students, attending Gazi University Faculty of Sports Sciences at different departments and class levels. In the direction of the findings obtained in the research, it is seen that the participants got the highest mean scores from the “learning approach” and “learning avoidance” sub-dimensions of “Success Orientation Scale” (=3.80, =3.05). In this respect it can be stated that the participants are eager to improve their knowledge and skill levels, they take into account the learning process and try to avoid making mistakes. When the sub-dimensions of the Self-Consciousness Scale are examined, it appears that the self-consciousness levels of participants are above the mean (=2.22). This result shows that participants have awareness of their own thoughts and feelings and that they think more towards themselves in their daily lives. In addition, it was determined that the participants' success orientations did not show any significant difference according to gender, department, class and age variables (p>.05). Furthermore, self-consciousness levels of participants did not show any significant difference according to gender, department, age variables, but they were significance in favor of the 1st grade participants according to class variable (p <.05).
Refining Grit in Academic Performance: The Mediational Role of Psychological Capital

Recent popular and academic attention is being given to the role that grit plays in important student outcomes. While gritty individuals are more likely to engage in deliberate practice and maintain commitment in the face of setbacks, what remains unclear are the cognitive processes linking grit and academic performance. Identifying the cognitive processes can play an important role in helping both students and educators apply grit in productive ways. The purpose of this study is to explore the mediational role that psychological capital (PsyCap) may play in the relationship between grit and student academic performance. Drawing from a sample (N = 176) of business students, the results indicate their PsyCap largely mediates the relationship between their grit and grade point averages. In other words, Academic PsyCap consisting of the psychological resources of hope, efficacy, resiliency, and optimism seem to help drive gritty students toward more successful academic performance. A discussion concerning the significance of these findings, as well as implications for management education, are provided.
Remarks on Emotion Recognition from Bio-Potential Signals

This paper proposes an emotion recognition system from multi-modal bio-potential signals. For emotion recognition, support vector machines (SVM) are applied to design the emotion classifier and its characteristics are investigated. Using gathered data under psychological emotion stimulation experiments, the classifier is trained and tested. In experiments of recognizing five emotion: joy, anger, sadness, fear, and relax, recognition rate of 41.7% is achieved. The experimental result shows that using multi-modal bio-potential signals is feasible and that SVM is well suited for emotion recognition tasks.
65 nm HR SOI CMOS Technology: emergence of Millimeter-Wave SoC

Today, measurement of 65 nm CMOS and 130 nm-based SiGe HBTs technologies demonstrate both Ftau (current gain cut-off frequency) and Fmax (maximum oscillation frequency) higher than 200 GHz, which are clearly comparable to advanced commercially available 100 nm III-V HEMT. Consequently, the integration of full transceiver at 60 GHz has been achieved both in SiGe bipolar and CMOS technology. In the same time passive circuits working at 220 GHz have been achieved and characterized on high resistivity SOI demonstrating state-of-the-art performances and good agreement with electrical simulations using developed models. Moreover, HR SOI has also demonstrated some advantages concerning the performances of integrated antennas and a first fully integrated prototype with amplifier, filter and antenna has already been achieved using STMicroelectronics 130 nm CMOS HR SOI technology. This paper will review the MMW performances of STMicrolectronics 65 nm CMOS HR SOI technology from device up to circuit level and discuss the opportunities of MMW SoC integrated on CMOS HR SOI technology.
Cardiotrophin-1, a Muscle-Derived Cytokine, Is Required for the Survival of Subpopulations of Developing Motoneurons

Developing motoneurons require trophic support from their target, the skeletal muscle. Despite a large number of neurotrophic molecules with survival-promoting activity for isolated embryonic motoneurons, those factors that are required for motoneuron survival during development are still not known. Cytokines of the ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF)–leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) family have been shown to play a role in motoneuron (MN) survival. Importantly, in mice lacking the LIFRβ or the CNTFRα there is a significant loss of MNs during embryonic development. Because genetic deletion of either (or both) CNTF or LIF fails, by contrast, to perturb MN survival before birth, it was concluded that another ligand exists that is functionally inactivated in the receptor deleted mice, resulting in MN loss during development. One possible candidate for this ligand is the CNTF–LIF family member cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1). CT-1 is highly expressed in embryonic skeletal muscle, secreted by myotubes, and promotes the survival of cultured embryonic mouse and rat MNs. Here we show that ct-1deficiency causes increased motoneuron cell death in spinal cord and brainstem nuclei of mice during a period between embryonic day 14 and the first postnatal week. Interestingly, no further loss was detectable during the subsequent postnatal period, and nerve lesion in young adultct-1-deficient mice did not result in significant additional loss of motoneurons, as had been previously observed in mice lacking both CNTF and LIF. CT-1 is the first bona fide muscle-derived neurotrophic factor to be identified that is required for the survival of subgroups of developing motoneurons.
A smart color image retrieval method based on multiresolution features

This paper proposes a novel technique of color image retrieval based on multi-resolution image features and similarity measures, which extracts the color and texture features at optimum level of multi-resolution pyramid image. Here, Wavelet technique is employed to derive a multi-resolution pyramid image. Such extraction at an optimum level helps in formation of a feature vector. The rotation invariant based Bhattacharyya measure (BM) and orthogonal Cosine distance method are employed on the feature vectors of the query and target images for finding a similar image. The proposed method is conceptually simple, memory efficient, and suitable for fast response requirements, since the features extracted at optimum level image contain only a few dominant wavelet coefficients. The efficiency of the proposed feature vector is experimented with standard Vistex and Corel image databases. The proposed system compares with other recently developed methods such as orthogonal polynomial model, Multi-resolution with BDIP(Block Difference of Inverse Probabilities)-BVLC(Bock Variation of Local Correlation coefficients) and Wavelet moment methods.
Profiling of Olfactory Receptor Gene Expression in Whole Human Olfactory Mucosa

Olfactory perception is mediated by a large array of olfactory receptor genes. The human genome contains 851 olfactory receptor gene loci. More than 50% of the loci are annotated as nonfunctional due to frame-disrupting mutations. Furthermore haplotypic missense alleles can be nonfunctional resulting from substitution of key amino acids governing protein folding or interactions with signal transduction components. Beyond their role in odor recognition, functional olfactory receptors are also required for a proper targeting of olfactory neuron axons to their corresponding glomeruli in the olfactory bulb. Therefore, we anticipate that profiling of olfactory receptor gene expression in whole human olfactory mucosa and analysis in the human population of their expression should provide an opportunity to select the frequently expressed and potentially functional olfactory receptors in view of a systematic deorphanization. To address this issue, we designed a TaqMan Low Density Array (Applied Biosystems), containing probes for 356 predicted human olfactory receptor loci to investigate their expression in whole human olfactory mucosa tissues from 26 individuals (13 women, 13 men; aged from 39 to 81 years, with an average of 67±11 years for women and 63±12 years for men). Total RNA isolation, DNase treatment, RNA integrity evaluation and reverse transcription were performed for these 26 samples. Then 384 targeted genes (including endogenous control genes and reference genes specifically expressed in olfactory epithelium for normalization purpose) were analyzed using the same real-time reverse transcription PCR platform. On average, the expression of 273 human olfactory receptor genes was observed in the 26 selected whole human olfactory mucosa analyzed, of which 90 were expressed in all 26 individuals. Most of the olfactory receptors deorphanized to date on the basis of sensitivity to known odorant molecules, which are described in the literature, were found in the expressed olfactory receptors gene set.
Composite Sensitivity Matrix for Reducing the Influence of Medium Electrification on Electrical Capacitance Tomography

The electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is an image-based technology which has been widely used for gas–solid two-phase flow measurement. The solid-phase electrification is an inevitable phenomenon during pneumatic conveying. To reduce the influence of medium electrification on the ECT image reconstruction, a composite sensitivity matrix (CSM) which takes into account the effect of charge electrification is developed in this paper, so that the image reconstruction error can be well suppressed. This paper first analyzes how the medium electrification affects ECT sensitivity field from the perspective of electromagnetic theory. The CSM is then derived accordingly. Simulations and physical experiments are carried out to validate the proposed method. The experimental results show that the relative error and the correlative coefficient of the reconstructed images have been significantly improved comparing with that in traditional approaches. The results support the effectiveness of the proposed method.