Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design and performance of a data acquisition system for VUB-PET

A flexible and high-speed VME-based data acquisition system (DAQ) has been designed to process data from the University of Brussels (VUB) small-animal positron emission tomography (PET) system. The core tasks of the system are performed by two custom VME modules: a trigger module and a fast readout module (FRO). Following the detection of a valid coincidence event by the trigger unit, the raw data from all analog-to-digital converter channels involved are read out simultaneously via a FRO. An onboard digital signal processor (DSP) processor checks and calibrates these data. To increase the transfer throughput of the list mode data to a SUN Ultra Sparc 1 workstation, the DSP processor compresses the data format to a 6-byte data packet per event. The maximum average sustained acquisition rate of the system is 200000 counts per second (cps), while peak rates up to 2 Mcps can be handled. The DAQ also provides online measurement of the random event rate, the single event rate and event losses due to electronic dead time.
First observations of power MOSFET burnout with high energy neutrons

Single event burnout was seen in power MOSFETs exposed to high energy neutrons. Devices with rated voltage /spl ges/400 volts exhibited burnout at substantially less than the rated voltage. Tests with high energy protons gave similar results. Burnout was also seen in limited tests with lower energy protons and neutrons. Correlations with heavy-ion data are discussed. Accelerator proton data gave favorable comparisons with burnout rates measured on the APEX spacecraft. Implications for burnout at lower altitudes are also discussed.
Contrasting genetic responses to habitat fragmentation for two Lycaenid butterfly species

Biodiversity is currently declining at the global scale. Apart from species declines and lowered abundances, the loss of genetic diversity is equally concerning as it may undermine fitness and the potential to adapt to future environmental change. We compared genetic diversity of historical and recent Alpine populations of two butterfly species, Lycaena helle and L. hippothoe, over a period of about 10 years. Using microsatellite markers, we found no changes over time in L. helle, while genetic diversity decreased, and differentiation increased in L. hippothoe. Lycaena helle inhabits peat bogs and wetland fallows with populations being strongly isolated, while L. hippothoe used to occur in population networks on hay meadows, with the latter being strongly exposed to agricultural intensification. We conclude that currently L. hippothoe populations are strongly declining due to changes in land use, resulting in genetic erosion potentially due to the collapse of population networks.
The political consequences of housing (un)affordability

The enormous growth in house prices in Europe since the 1990s has led to increasing concerns about the affordability of housing for ordinary citizens. This article explores the relationship between housing affordability – house prices relative to incomes – and the demand for redistributive and housing policy, using data drawn from European and British social surveys and an analysis of British elections. It shows that, as unaffordability rises, citizens appear in aggregate to become less supportive of redistribution, interventionist housing policy and left-wing parties. However, this aggregate rise, driven by the predominance of homeowners in most European countries, masks a growing polarization in preferences between renters and owners in less affordable regions.
Assessment of flutter speed on long span bridges

In this paper it is shown how to calculate flutter speed on the example of the Great Belt East Bridge in Denmark. Two numerical approaches are shown for prediction of the aeroelastic phenomena on bridges. In the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation turbulence model based on Reynolds Average Navies Stokes (RANS) approach, two-equation shear stress turbulence (SST) models were chosen. Although the SST model needs more computer resources compared to the k-ω and k-e models, it is still affordable with multi-processing personal computers. In this paper extracted flutter derivatives in the force vibration procedure are shown. Flutter derivatives are later used in the hybrid method of flutter. Final flutter speed was calculated based on flutter derivatives from fluid structure interaction extraction and experimental extraction. Flutter velocity was also determined with a free vibration of deck at the middle of the bridge. The deck section of unit length was clamped into springs and dampers. Flutter speed was reached with time increasing of wind speed until large oscillations occurred. The general procedure of how to formulate the fluid structure interaction and necessary stapes for flutter analysis of the bridge is shown in this paper. Numerically extracted flutter derivatives are compared based on the final flutter speed to experimental measurements of the deck section.
Demystifying the Hegemony of the English Language: Scrutiny of ‘Gak Bisa Bahasa Inggris!’ Advertisement within a Semiotics Lens

Due to its overarching status and power, the English language has dominated and influenced nearly in various means of communication, and one of which is instantiated in advertisements. However, studies concerning the hegemony of the English language represented in an advertisement were found to be under-explored. Thereby, the present study aimed to scrutinise the domination and power of the English language, particularly in Indonesia, represented in one of the advertisements, which is a remake video of a viral video from 2017 to date, entitled ‘Gak Bisa Bahasa Inggris! ’ from a Youtube Channel named Pahamy. Semiotic analysis was employed to analyse the advertisement. The findings revealed only five out of eight types of syntagma found comprising descriptive syntagma, bracket syntagma, episodic syntagma, autonomous shot, and scene. The present study concluded that it seemed not possible to have the eight syntagmatic types in a very short advertisement video, and some signs found in the advertisement could be used to shed light on the hegemony of the English language in Indonesia, which might result in either positive or negative effect; hence, any thoughtful consideration and action through multilingual education was advocated to solve or at least mitigate this issue.
Isolating and Testing Antibiotic-Producing Bacteria from Marine and Terrestrial Samples from St. Petersburg, FL

Many current antibacterial agents on the market are derived from compounds naturally produced by bacteria. This experiment was conducted to isolate and assess possible antibacterial strains, namely Actinomycetes, from 50 mL of marine and terrestrial samples collected from nine locations around the St. Petersburg area. The agar plates were prepared with Jensen’s AMM agar and inoculated with bacterial samples which had been diluted by factor 1:100 and heated. Three plates were initially assigned to a sample to test against three laboratory bacteria by the overlay method. Then isolates were selected and inoculated onto TSA and BHI agar plates to test against ten common pathogenic bacteria, or relatives of pathogenic bacteria, by lateral streaking. Overlays were also done for some isolates on AMM agar, and a test was performed to measure inhibition over time. The strains yielded from the terrestrial samples appeared to have far greater effectiveness against the test bacteria than those from the marine samples. One terrestrial isolate in particular showed effectiveness against all ten bacteria, whereas the marine samples showed little to no effectiveness against any of the bacteria with the exception of one. The Gram stains performed for four best terrestrial isolates revealed purple rods, indicating Gram-positive Bacillus species but not Actinomycetes. The strains were identified via DNA extraction, amplification and sequencing, as Brevibacillus choshinensis, Brevibacillus laterosporus, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. plantarum and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Extraction of the unknown compounds with dichloromethane and subsequent IR spectroscopy revealed a similar-looking molecule produced by all four isolates, with amine, arene and ketone or ester groups.
Teenage pregnancy and associated factors in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT This article reports on teenage pregnancy and associated factors in Ethiopia. All studies available to the year 2020 conducted on teenage pregnancy in Ethiopia were included. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to synthesize evidence on the prevalence and associated factors with teenage pregnancy in Ethiopia. The preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines to conduct this meta-analysis were followed by the reviewers. The pooled estimated prevalence of teenage pregnancy in Ethiopia was 23.59% (95% CI: 14.75, 32.43). Sexual practice before the age of 15 years (OR = 1.75(95%CI 1.06, 2.44), no history of contraceptive use OR =3.53 (95%CI 1.94, 5.12) and Marital status OR=2.35 (95%CI1.36, 3.34) were factors associated with teenage pregnancy. Sex education in schools and enhanced contraceptive utilization among adolescents are recommended. Future quantitative as well as qualitative researches should focus on personal as well as social determinants to teenage pregnancy.
Dictionary learning framework for fabric defect detection

We present a new approach using dictionary learning framework to address textile fabric defect detection. Textile fabrics are textured materials whose images exhibit high periodicity among the repeated sub-patterns determined by weaving structure. Inspired by the image de-noising using the learned dictionary, we learn a dictionary from patches of textile fabric images, such a dictionary is able to approximate training samples well through a linear summation of its elements. Fabric defects can be regarded as a local anomaly against the relatively homogeneous texture. When modelling new samples with the dictionary learned from only the examples containing normal fabrics, the approximated version of an abnormal or defective sample will no longer contain defective region, resulting in a larger dissimilarity than a normal one, since the learned dictionary has been tuned to normal fabric structural features. Therefore, simply measuring the similarity between the original and its approximation is able to efficiently discriminate defective samples from normal, and a recently developed novelty detection algorithm, the support vector data description, is used to handle classification task. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can control both false alarm rate and missing detection rate within 5%, and extensions are also conducted.
Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm Merging Simulated Annealing and Mountain-Climb Searching

To solve the problem of standard particle swarm optimization (PSO) easy turn to premature convergence and poor ability in local search, this paper present a hybrid particle swarm optimization algorithm merging simulated annealing (SA) and mountain-climb. During the running time, the algorithm use the pso to find the global optimal position quickly, take advantage of the Gaussian mutation and mountain-climb strategy to enhance local search ability, and combine with SA to strengthen the population diversity to enable particles to escape from local minima. Test results on several typical test functions show that this new algorithm has a significant improve in searching ability and effectively overcome the premature convergence problem.
Recent Advances in Consumer Behavior Theory: Shocks from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The COVID-19 pneumonia epidemic has had an enormous impact on people’s lives, particularly aspects of life such as consumption, and has therefore brought new elements to the expansion of Consumer behavior theory. Methods: This paper searches the literature on consumption research conducted from 1981 to 2021, including sources such as CNKI, Wanfang, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. Through the exploration of the existing relevant literature, this article found that the COVID-19 pneumonia epidemic has had a profound impact on consumption willingness, consumption patterns, and consumption objects, and, as such, has newly expanded the theoretical model of consumer behavior. Results: Through reviewing the literature, this paper found some results. For example with regard to consumption patterns, early studies and the impact of COVID-19 was focused on online consumption, however in the context of COVID-19, scholars proposed paying attention to the combination of online and offline development. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pneumonia epidemic has had a profound effect on consumer behavior worldwide. Under the current economic depression, the government should take adequate measures in order to respond to the new changes in consumer behavior and therefore promote economic growth. For example, the government should encourage the combination of online and offline business operation modes to break the boundaries of customer groups and supply chains, so that consumers can buy anytime and anywhere.
The Novel Monoacylglycerol Lipase Inhibitor MJN110 Suppresses Neuroinflammation, Normalizes Synaptic Composition and Improves Behavioral Performance in the Repetitive Traumatic Brain Injury Mouse Model

Modulation of the endocannabinoid system has emerged as an effective approach for the treatment of many neurodegenerative and neuropsychological diseases. However, the underlying mechanisms are still uncertain. Using a repetitive mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) mouse model, we found that there was an impairment in locomotor function and working memory within two weeks post-injury, and that treatment with MJN110, a novel inhibitor of the principal 2-arachidononyl glycerol (2-AG) hydrolytic enzyme monoacylglycerol lipase dose-dependently ameliorated those behavioral changes. Spatial learning and memory deficits examined by Morris water maze between three and four weeks post-TBI were also reversed in the drug treated animals. Administration of MJN110 selectively elevated the levels of 2-AG and reduced the production of arachidonic acid (AA) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in the TBI mouse brain. The increased production of proinflammatory cytokines, accumulation of astrocytes and microglia in the TBI mouse ipsilateral cerebral cortex and hippocampus were significantly reduced by MJN110 treatment. Neuronal cell death was also attenuated in the drug treated animals. MJN110 treatment normalized the expression of the NMDA receptor subunits NR2A and NR2B, the AMPA receptor subunits GluR1 and GluR2, and the GABAA receptor subunits α1, β2,3 and γ2, which were all reduced at 1, 2 and 4 weeks post-injury. The reduced inflammatory response and restored glutamate and GABA receptor expression likely contribute to the improved motor function, learning and memory in the MJN110 treated animals. The therapeutic effects of MJN110 were partially mediated by activation of CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors and were eliminated when it was co-administered with DO34, a novel inhibitor of the 2-AG biosynthetic enzymes. Our results suggest that augmentation of the endogenous levels of 2-AG can be therapeutically useful in the treatment of TBI by suppressing neuroinflammation and maintaining the balance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission.
Sub-angstrom surface metrology with a virtual reference interferometer

Non-contact, 3D optical interferometric profilers provide detailed topography measurements of super-smooth surfaces such as hard disk substrates and super-polished optics. However, the contribution of the interferometer system to the measurement can be significant for surfaces with an RMS roughness of one Angstrom and below. Special care must be taken to minimize random noise as well as to remove the systematic instrument error from the measured data. While the random noise can be addressed by low-noise design and averaging of measurements, the systematic instrument error is more difficult to eliminate. In this paper an interferometer configuration is presented that eliminates the mid to higher spatial frequencies from the reference beam. This configuration is called a virtual-reference interferometer, since there is no physical surface in focus conjugate to the test surface. This provides very smooth systematic instrument errors with essentially no contribution in the mid to high spatial frequencies of surface waviness and roughness. The virtual-reference interferometer has a midsize measurement area of 20x20 mm, is fully compensated for white light, extended source illumination, and enables data acquisition for both phase shifting and coherence scanning modes. Current performance data show a residual systematic tool waviness error of < 0.2 Angstrom RMS, with potential for improvement. Efficient stitching of subaperture measurements accommodates high resolution roughness and waviness maps of test surfaces up to 150 mm x100 mm.
Crystal Structure, Microstructure and Electronic Properties of a Newly Discovered Ternary Phase in the Al-Cr-Sc System

This study focused on the crystal and electronic structures of a newly discovered phase in the Al-Cr-Sc system. The latter two species do not mix in a binary alloy, but can be alloyed with aluminium in the vicinity of the Al2−xCrxSc composition, where 0.3 < x < 0.5. After preparation of the pure constituents via arc melting, high-temperature annealing at 990 °C for 240 h was required to achieve full mixing of the elements. A detailed characterisation of the crystal structure, alloy microstructure and stability was obtained using single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), in addition to transmission electron microscopy (TEM), especially in high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) mode, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements. The crystal structure was refined to a hexagonal unit cell of the MgZn2 type, space group no. 194, P63/mmc, which belongs to the Laves phases family. Special attention was paid to the occupancy of the crystallographic sites that were filled by both Cr and Al atoms. First-principles calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT) were performed to investigate the electronic structure of this ternary phase. The total density of states (DOS) exhibited a pronounced sp character, where a shallow pseudo-gap was visible 0.5 eV below the Fermi energy that brought a small but definite contribution to the thermodynamic stability of the compound.
Synthetic Benchmarks for Power Systems

Power system benchmarks are transmission and distribution networks used to evaluate novel control algorithms and simulate grid evolution scenarios. These benchmarks range in size, system characteristics, and use cases. Although active working groups have created and published many benchmarks, these networks are not all representative of a given region and may not consider certain aspects such as increased penetration levels of distributed energy resources. To address these issues, synthetic benchmark networks and methodologies for generating them have been developed by various research groups. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of procedures commonly used to generate synthetic networks and a detailed account of the various metrics used to define and validate benchmarks. Existing models are categorized into different approaches, including expert design, anonymized clustering, statistical sampling, and heuristic algorithms. Deep graph generation based techniques are also presented and recommended for the network generation problem. A comparative summary is provided to highlight the different existing works in this area and reveal research gaps, along with a list of published datasets and their characteristics.
Large scale security analysis of embedded devices' firmware

Embedded systems are omnipresent in our everyday life and are becoming increasingly present in many computing and networked environments. For example, they are at the core of various Common-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) devices such as printers, video surveillance systems, home routers and virtually anything we informally call electronics. The emerging phenomenon of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) will make them even more widespread and interconnected. Cisco famously predicted that there will be 50 billion connected embedded devices by 2020. Given those estimations, the heterogeneity of technology and application fields, and the current threat landscape, the security of all those devices becomes of paramount importance. In addition to this, manual security analysis does not scale. Therefore, novel, scalable and automated approaches are needed. In this thesis, we present several methods that make feasible the large scale security analysis of embedded devices. We implemented those techniques in a scalable framework that we tested on real world data. First, we collected a large number of firmware images from Internet repositories. Then we unpacked a large subset of them and performed simple static analysis. This resulted in the discovery of many new vulnerabilities. Also, this allowed us to identify five important challenges. Embedded devices often expose web interfaces for remote administration. Therefore, we developed techniques for large scale static and dynamic analysis of such interfaces. This allowed us to find a large number of new vulnerabilities and to identify the limitations of emulation and web security tools. Finally, identifying and classifying the firmware files is difficult, especially at large scale. For these reasons, we proposed Machine Learning (ML) techniques and features for firmware files classification. Also, we developed multi-metric score fusion approaches to fingerprint and identify embedded devices at the web interface level. Using these techniques, we were able to discover a large number of new vulnerabilities in dozens of firmware packages, affecting a great variety of vendors and device classes. We were also able to achieve high accuracy in fingerprinting and classification of both firmware images and live embedded devices.
Survey on Effect of EMF Emitted by CRT Computer Monitors in Bangladesh

As the world is being industrialized and technological revolution continues, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number and diversity of electromagnetic sources. While all these devices have made our lives richer, comfortable and easier, they have been accompanied by concerned possible health risks due to their electromagnetic field (EMF) emission. Electro-Magnetic Fields commonly known as Non Ionizing Radiation is emitted from high power transmission lines, computer monitor/video display unit, radio waves of different frequencies (extremely low frequency to microwaves), telecommunication, satellite, radar etc. which causes health hazards to living system and environment. CRT monitors are still being used in various computer composing shops, photocopy machine shops. Their EMF health effects have not been studied in Bangladesh. The data were collected from various places in Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banani Super Market, Mohakhali, Farmgate Green Road, Nilkhet and Uttara. Both Electric and Magnetic fields were measured for CRT monitors. These results showed that in many cases the magnetic field radiated from the different sources are greater than the threshold limit.