Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ignitron performance at high Coulomb ratings

The authors examine the effect of various ignitron parameters when the device operates at high energy and Coulomb levels. The relationship between peak current and coulombs is considered, and results are given in the form of a graph showing an effective working region. Results of high-Coulomb operation, above the manufacturers rated values, are also given. Curves are presented giving the resistive arc drops for a range of pulse-duty ignitrons (sizes A, D, and E) currently in general use, covering the peak current from 10 kA to 80 kA. Information on ignitron selection, predicted life, and methods of connection is also included. <<ETX>>
A Novel Deep Learning-based Online Proctoring System using Face Recognition, Eye Blinking, and Object Detection Techniques

Distance and online learning (or e-learning) has become a norm in training and education due to a variety of benefits such as efficiency, flexibility, affordability, and usability. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has made online learning the only option due to its physical isolation requirements. However, monitoring of attendees and students during classes, particularly during exams, is a major challenge for online systems due to the lack of physical presence. There is a need to develop methods and technologies that provide robust instru-ments to detect unfair, unethical, and illegal behaviour during classes and exams. We propose in this paper a novel online proctoring system that uses deep learning to continually proctor physical places without the need for a physical proctor. The system employs biometric approaches such as face recognition using the HOG (Histogram of Oriented Gradients) face detector and the OpenCV face recognition algorithm. Also, the system incorporates eye blinking detection to detect stationary pictures. Moreover, to enforce fairness during exams, the system is able to detect gadgets including mobile phones, laptops, iPads, and books. The system is implemented as a software system and evaluated using the FDDB and LFW datasets. We achieved up to 97% and 99.3% accuracies for face detection and face recognition, respectively.
Modified Nanodiamonds as a Means of Polymer Surface Functionalization. From Fouling Suppression to Biosensor Design

The development of different methods for tuning surface properties is currently of great interest. The presented work is devoted to the use of modified nanodiamonds to control the wetting and biological fouling of polymers using optical sensors as an example. We have shown that, depending on the type of modification and the amount of nanodiamonds, the surface of the same fluorinated polymer can have both bactericidal properties and, on the contrary, good adhesion to the biomaterial. The precise control of wetting and biofouling properties of the surface was achieved by the optimization of the modified nanodiamonds thermal anchoring conditions. In vitro and in vivo tests have shown that the fixation of amine functional groups leads to inhibition of biological activity, while the presence of a large number of polar groups of mixed composition (amide and acid chloride) promotes adhesion of the biomaterial and allows one to create a biosensor on-site. A comprehensive study made it possible to establish that in the first 5 days the observed biosensor response is provided by cells adhered to the surface due to the cell wall interaction. On the 7th day, the cells are fixed by means of the polysaccharide matrix, which provides much better retention on the surface and a noticeably greater response to substrate injections. Nevertheless, it is important to note that even 1.5 h of incubation is sufficient for the formation of the reliable bioreceptor on the surface with the modified nanodiamonds. The approach demonstrated in this work makes it possible to easily and quickly isolate the microbiome on the surface of the sensor and perform the necessary studies of its substrate specificity or resistance to toxic effects.
The Benefits of the use of induction virtual communities in supporting new students in distance education universities

The present paper aims to show evidence about the benefits of the use of induction virtual communities to support new students’ integration and adaptation to a distance education university. The Spanish National Distance Education University (UNED) offers a whole induction program to its new students, which covers three different phases. The second phase is mainly focused in the training of those competences that are required to be a higher distance education student. These goals are developed through several actions: Open Educational Resources and courses, face-to-face programmes and the so-called Induction Virtual Communities (Plan de Acogida Virtual, PAV). This last action is very relevant, taking into account that the UNED is the largest university in Spain with more than 60.000 new students each year. Each Faculty and Engineering School has its own community, summing up a total of 15. New students are registered in their own community. In the communities, students are guided towards the acquisition of knowledge and skills about the university, distance education methodology and self-regulated learning development. This is accomplished through the delivering of specific material in different formats, proposal of activities and the use of forums in order to guide their first steps at the university. Also, students are asked to give response to several questionnaires in order to analyze the perception of their own evolution through the first semester and their opinions about the usefulness of the community. Main findings of the results obtained through the first three years of experience are presented
Use of EHRs in a Tertiary Hospital During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multi-Purpose Approach Based on Standards

This work aims to describe how EHRs have been used to meet the needs of healthcare providers and researchers in a 1,300-beds tertiary Hospital during COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, essential clinical concepts were identified and standardized with LOINC and SNOMED CT. After that, these concepts were implemented in EHR systems and based on them, data tools, such as clinical alerts, dynamic patient lists and a clinical follow-up dashboard, were developed for healthcare support. In addition, these data were incorporated into standardized repositories and COVID-19 databases to improve clinical research on this new disease. In conclusion, standardized EHRs allowed implementation of useful multi- purpose data resources in a major Hospital in the course of the pandemic.
Comparison of Mobile Laboratory screening method for the detection of high explosives with EPA SW 846 method 8330

The current EPA SW-846 method for High Explosives (HE) analysis is not well suited to on-site analytical work. The method in general is too complex and time dependent to function well in a quick turn around mode. The Mobile Chemical Analytical Laboratory project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has used a modified analytical method to generate quick turn around data to address Department of Transportation (DOT) shipping requirements, and with appropriate modifications to the QA/QC oversight of the method is well suited to deliver high quality quantitative data.
A solder joint inspection system for surface mounted pin grid arrays

A solder joint visual inspection system for surface mounted pin grid arrays has been developed. An XYZ-robot controls the optical fiber scope (OFS), 0.9 mm in diameter, and obtains an OFS image of the inspected solder joints. A virtual data fuzzy clustering algorithm has also been developed for extracting, from the OFS image, the data regarding joint locations, and the data are then used in defect detection. In an experiment carried out on 7104 solder joints, of which 4 were defective, the system successfully detected all the 4 defects, while the number of "good joints" mistakenly identified as being defective was only 0.8% of the total. <<ETX>>
Variability of measured sonic boom signatures. Volume 1: Technical report

Sonic boom signatures from two databases, the BOOMFILE and the XB-70, were analyzed in terms of C-weighted sound exposure level (CSEL), A-weighted sound exposure level (ASEL), and Stevens Mark VII perceived level (PLdB), as well as the more traditional peak positive overpressure and rise time. The variability of these parameters due to propagation through atmosphere was analyzed for different aircraft Mach number and altitude groups. The low Mach number/low altitude group had significantly greater variation in rise time, overpressure, and loudness level than the high Mach number/high altitude group. The loudness of measured booms were found to have a variation of up to 25 dB relative to the loudness of boom predicted for a non-turbulent atmosphere. This is due primarily to the steeper ray paths of the high Mach number/high altitude group and the corresponding shorter distances traveled by these rays through the lower atmosphere resulting in reduced refraction effects. The general trend of decreased overpressure and loudness level with increasing lateral distance was also seen. Sonic boom signatures from early morning flights had less variation in rise time and overpressure than afternoon flights because of reduced turbulence. Measures of asymmetry (difference between compression and expansion portion of the signature) showed that the variability in Delta loudness level was greater than the variability in Delta overpressure due to the large influence of turbulence on rise time. Lastly, analysis of data within 50 percent of lateral cutoff showed that the mean value for overpressure and loudness level was independent of time of day but that the frequency with which it occurred was greater in the morning. This is a clear indicator of increased turbulence in the afternoon.
Cost-Effective Dynamic Optimisation for Multi-Cloud Queries

The provision of public data through various Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) providers has recently emerged as a significant trend, backed by major organisations. This paper introduces Nebula, a non-profit middleware providing multi-cloud querying capabilities by fully outsourcing its users' queries to the involved DBaaS providers. First, we propose a quoting procedure for those queries, whose need stems from the pay-per-query policy of the providers. Those quotations contain monetary cost and response time estimations, and are computed using provider-generated tenders. Then, we present an agent-based dynamic optimisation engine that orchestrates the outsourced execution of the queries. Agents within this engine cooperate in order to meet the quoted values. We evaluated Nebula over simulated providers by using the Join Order Benchmark (JOB). Experimental results showed Nebula's approach is, in most cases, more competitive in terms of monetary cost and response time than existing work in the multi-cloud DBMS literature.
On Generating Fact-Infused Question Variations

To fully model human-like ability to ask questions, automatic question generation (QG) models must be able to produce multiple expressions of the same question with different levels of detail. Unfortunately, existing datasets available for learning QG do not include paraphrases or question variations affecting a model’s ability to learn this capability. We present FIRS, a dataset containing human-generated fact-infused rewrites of questions from the widely-used SQuAD dataset to address this limitation. Questions in FIRS were obtained by combining a given question with facts of entities referenced in the question. We study a double encoder-decoder model, Fact-Infused Question Generator (FIQG), for learning to generate fact-infused questions from a given question. Experimental results show that FIQG effectively incorporates information from facts to add more detail to a given question. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first study to present fact-infusion as a novel form of question paraphrasing.
Cooperative Multi-robot Patrolling: A study of distributed approaches based on mathematical models of game theory to protect infrastructures

Game theory principle allows to developing stochastic multi-robot patrolling models to protect critical infrastructures. Critical infrastructures protection is a big concern for countries around the world, mainly due to terrorist attacks in the last decade. In this document, the term infrastructures includes airports, nuclear power plants, and many other facilities. The patrolling problem is defined as the activity of traversing a given environment to monitoring any activity or sensing some environmental variables If this activity were performed by a fleet of robots, they would have to visit some places of interest of an environment at irregular intervals of time for security purposes. This problem is solved using multi-robot patrolling models. To date, literature works have been solving this problem applying various mathematical principles.The multi-robot patrolling models developed in those works represent great advances in this field. However, the models that obtain the best results are unfeasible for security applications due to their centralized and predictable nature. This thesis presents five distributed and unpredictable multi-robot patrolling models based on mathematical learning models derived from Game Theory. These multi-robot patrolling models aim at overcoming the disadvantages of previous work. To this end, the multi-robot patrolling problem was formulated using concepts of Graph Theory to represent the environment. Several normal-form games were defined at each vertex of a graph in this formulation. The multi-robot patrolling models developed in this research work have been validated and compared with best ranked multi-robot patrolling models in the literature.Both validation and comparison were preformed by using both a patrolling simulator and real robots. Experimental results show that the multi-robot patrolling models developed in this research work improve previous ones in as many as 80% of 150 cases of study. Moreover, these multi-robot patrolling models rely on several features to highlight in security applications such as distribution, robustness, scalability, and dynamism. The achievements obtained in this research work validate the potential of Game Theory to develop patrolling models to protect infrastructures.
Virtual Screening to Identify the Protein Network Interactions of Triclosan with Streptococcus mutans and Enterococcus faecalis

Introduction: Triclosan is considered to be an important ingredient in toothpastes and mouth rinses. Several studies have reported contradictory results regarding the antimicrobial effect of triclosan. Hence, the present in silico study intends to identify the potential targets of triclosan in two common dental pathogens Streptococcus mutans and Enterococcus faecalis. Aim: To identify the protein network interactions of triclosan in Streptococcus mutans and Enterococcus faecalis by virtual screening method. Materials and Methods: The STITCH v5.0 database was initially used for identifying drug-protein interactions followed by VICMPred and VirulentPred which was employed to identify functional class of the proteins and its virulence property. Finally, BepiPred v1.0 Linear Epitope Prediction tool was used to identify the potential epitopes of the virulent proteins. Results: Triclosan was found to interact with crucial proteins in S. mutans and E. faecalis which could contribute to severe forms of periodontitis and endodontic diseases. Conclusion: Taken together, the present study provides the preliminary data on the potential targets of triclosan in common dental pathogens. Further experimental validation is warranted to provide concrete evidence on the molecular targets of dental pathogens.
Characterization and analysis of novel natural cellulosic fiber extracted from Strelitzia reginae plant

The purpose of this study is to evaluate in detail the usability of new cellulosic fibers extracted from the stem of the plant Strelitzia reginae, as a potential reinforcement for polymer composites. The morphological, physical, thermal, and mechanical properties of fibers were addressed for the first time in this paper. Both untreated and alkali-treated fibers were characterized, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), optical microscope, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and applying tensile test for determining the mechanical behavior. For both fiber treated at one hour (T1H) and at four hours (T4H), the stem anatomy and fiber SEM micrographs showed a strong presence of fiber cells. Thermogravimetry and DSC showed that the fiber was thermally stable up to 233°C for untreated fiber, 254 and 240°C, respectively, In single-fiber tensile tests, it was observed that the fibers extracted from the stem of Strelitzia reginae were strong. The mean values of Young’s modulus exhibited by untreated fibers and treated (T1H) and (T4H) are, respectively, 9.89 GPa, 12.08, and 18.39 GPa. Also mean values of tensile strength are 271.79, 306.23, and 421.39 MPa. The XRD reveals the presence of cellulose with a Crystallinity Index of 70% for raw fiber and 72% for the treated one. Fourier-transform infrared analysis well demonstrated the effect of chemical treatment. It can be concluded from the results of all above experiments that the Strelitzia reginae fibers (SR) could serve as a possible reinforcement in composite materials.
Biomechanical Evaluation of the Lumbar Spine by Using a New Interspinous Process Device: A Finite Element Analysis

Minimally invasive decompression is generally employed for treating lumbar spinal stenosis; however, it results in weakened spinal stability. To augment spinal stability, a new interspinous process device (NIPD) was developed in this study. The biomechanical features of the NIPD were evaluated in this study. Three finite-element (FE) models of the entire lumbar spine were implemented to perform biomechanical analysis: the intact, defect (DEF), and NIPD models. The DEF model was considered for lumbar spines with bilateral laminotomies and partial discectomy at L3–L4. Range of motion (ROM), disc stress, and facet joint contact force were evaluated in flexion, extension, torsion, and lateral bending in the three FE models. The results indicated that ROM in the extension increased by 23% in the DEF model but decreased by 23% in the NIPD model. In the NIPD model, the cephalic adjacent disc stress in flexion and extension was within 5%, and negligible changes were noted in the facet joint contact force for torsion and lateral bending. Thus, the NIPD offers superior spinal stability and causes only a minor change in cephalic adjacent disc stress in flexion and extension during the bilateral laminotomy and partial discectomy of the lumbar spine. However, the NIPD has a minor influence on the ROM and facet joint force for lateral bending and torsion.
The interference between struts in various combinations

This report presents the results of wind tunnel tests made to determine the interference drag arising from various arrangements of streamline struts and round struts, or cylinders. Determinations were made of the interference drag of struts spaced side by side, struts in tandem, tandem struts encased in a single fairing, a strut intersecting a plane, and struts intersecting to form a v. Three sizes of struts were used for most of the tests. These tests show that the interference drag arising from struts in close proximity may be of considerable magnitude, in some instances amounting to more than the drag of the struts themselves.
Mixed-Fidelity Design Optimization of Hull Form Using CFD and Potential Flow Solvers

The present paper proposes a new mixed-fidelity method to optimize the shape of ships using genetic algorithms (GA) and potential flow codes to evaluate the hydrodynamics of variant hull forms, enhanced by a surrogate model based on an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to account for viscous effects. The performance of the variant hull forms generated by the GA is evaluated for calm water resistance using potential flow methods which are quite fast when they run on modern computers. However, these methods do not take into account the viscous effects which are dominant in the stern region of the ship. Solvers of the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations (RANS) should be used in this respect, which, however, are too time-consuming to be used for the evaluation of some hundreds of variants within the GA search. In this study, a RANS solver is used prior to the execution of the GA to train an ANN in modeling the effect of stern design geometrical parameters only. Potential flow results, accounting for the geometrical design parameters of the rest of the hull, are combined with the aforementioned trained meta-model for the final hull form evaluation. This work concentrates on the provision of a more reliable framework for the evaluation of hull form performance in calm water without a significant increase of the computing time.
Overview of End-to-End WiMAX Network Architecture

WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access , is a telecommunications technology that provides for the wireless transmission of data in a variety of ways, ranging from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular-type access. The WiMAX forum describes WiMAX as a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). WiMAX network operators face a big challenge to enable interoperability between vendors which brings lower costs, greater flexibility and freedom. So it is important for network operators to understand the methods of establishing interoperability and how different products, solutions and applications from different vendors can coexist in the same WiMAX network. This chapter aims to assist readers in understanding the end-to-end WiMAX network architecture in detail including the different interface specifications and also the various interoperability issues of the WiMAX network. Section 1.1 gives an overview of different wireless communications technologies. WiMAX technology is introduced in section 1.2. Section 1.3 describes the concept of mobile WiMAX. An overview of the end-to-end WiMAX network architecture is discussed in section 1.4. Radio interface specifications