Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lightweight differential mobility analyzers: Toward new and inexpensive manufacturing methods

The Differential Mobility Analyzer (DMA) is the most commonly used instrument for sizing sub-micron particles suspended in gases. Numerous design variations, each of which aims toward optimizing a certain aspect of its performance such as the size range and resolution, have been proposed since the DMA was first introduced in the mid-70s (e.g., Zhang et al. 1995; Rossell-Lompart et al. 1996; de Juan and de la Mora 1998; Giamarelou et al. 2011). Despite the wide variety of DMA designs, however, little attention has been paid to other practical aspects such as their weight and manufacturing cost. The weight of conventional DMAs is in the order of a few kg, limiting their portability and use in nanoparticle exposure studies or in airborne measurements using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). What is more, their manufacturing cost is in the order of several thousand USD, which is significant, especially when a number of DMAs is needed for distributed measurements of atmospheric aerosols. Although recent efforts have led to simple and inexpensive tools for sizing aerosol particles (Bezantakos et al. 2015), using a DMA offers many advantages. An effort to reduce the manufacturing cost of DMAs was made by Mei et al. (2011) who designed and built a DMA consisting of fewer parts. By doing so, they managed to produce a DMA that costs less than 50% to build compared to the classical design, and weighs ca. 350 g (D. R. Chen 2015, personal communication). Existing DMAs are exclusively manufactured out of metal due to the necessary electrical conductivity for establishing a well-defined electric field. Using metals as building materials, however, is the very reason of their high weight and manufacturing cost. The possibility of manufacturing DMAs out of polymers, therefore, would be highly advantageous since many simple and inexpensive techniques (e.g., room temperature molding and three-dimensional (3D) printing) are available. In addition, avoiding using metals would allow one to choose from a vast number of materials with significantly lower density, thereby reducing instrument weight. Here we describe an alternative method for manufacturing DMAs using low-cost and low-density polymers to build their body, and metal coatings for providing conductivity only where needed (i.e., on the inner DMA surface). More specifically, we have built a DMA using polyurethane and spray-coated the inner surface with a 0.5-mm thick conductive Nickel film. The weight of the polyurethane DMA (referred to as the PU-DMA from this point onward) is 95% lower compared to that of its metallic counterpart, while its cost is also reduced substantially. The performance of the PU-DMA is tested in comparison to that of an identical stainless-steel DMA (SS-DMA).
Aging research in the era of -omics ~ experiences at the National Institute on Aging

Aging is a complex process that is influenced by various biological and environmental factors. In the last few decades, advancements in high-throughput technologies have enabled comprehensive assessment of biomarkers including genetic variation, DNA methylation, gene expression, and protein and metabolite concentrations. This has facilitated a rapid rise in -omics research aimed at identifying key molecular biomarkers of aging and thus providing the foundation for identifying risk factors for age-related diseases and developing effective preventative strategies. To date, most studies have taken a reductionist approach and examined each layer of molecular data independently. The future challenge in -omics studies is to implement methods that can simulataneously examine different levels of molecular data to uncover the complex network of molecular and cellular changes that occur with aging.
Real-Time Hamilton-Jacobi Reachability Analysis of Autonomous System With An FPGA

Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) reachability analysis is a powerful technique used to verify the safety of autonomous systems. HJ reachability is ideal for analysing nonlinear systems with disturbances and flexible set representations. A drawback to this approach is that it suffers from the curse of dimensionality, which prevents real-time deployment on safety-critical systems. In this paper, we show that a customized hardware design on an Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) could accelerate 4D grid-based HJ reachability analysis up to 14 times compared to an optimized implementation and 103 times compared to state-of-the-art MATLAB toolboxes on a 16-thread CPU. Because of this, we are able to achieve guaranteed real- time collision avoidance in dynamic environments that abruptly change with a 4D car model by re-solving the HJ partial differential equation (PDE) at a frequency of 4Hz on an FPGA. Our design can overcome the complex data access pattern while taking advantage of the parallel nature of the computations for solving the HJ PDE. The low latency of our computation is consistent, which is crucial for safety-critical systems. The methodology presented here is without loss of generality: it can potentially be applied to different systems dynamics, and more- over, leveraged for higher dimensional systems. We validate our approach in real world collision avoidance experiments with a robot car in a changing environment. We also provide the code of our hardware design and an AWS AFI image.
Analysis of pulsed electric field pre-treatment for beet juice extraction: Evaluation of treatment chambers configuration effects

The major challenge today for the application of Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) in the industry has interest to increase the production capacity and improve the quality of food products. PEF pre-treatment is a multifactorial process. In addition to the electric field intensity, pulses number and the capacitor value, the configuration of the treatment chamber now presents a significant parameter in this process. The main objective of this work is to show that it is possible to give more juice by cylindrical treatment chamber with a good quality of betanine. For this purpose, cylindrical and square parallelipedic treatment chambers (TC) are compared and their effect is studied with variation of electric field, number of pulses and capacitor value at frequency of 1Hz. The results show that the cylindrical treatment chamber showed higher beet juice yield with all studied parameters. The quality of extracted juice estimated in terms of absorbance at 530 nm wavelength were determined for each sample and results show that using a cylindrical treatment chamber configuration in PFE technology gives a good juice quality compared with the square parallelipedic treatment chamber. The energy consumption during PEF treatment is reduced in the cylindrical treatment chamber due to the low values of the electric field, pulses number and capacitor value compared with square parallelipedic treatment chamber.
Vlerick Leuven Gent Working Paper Series 2004/04 DO INTANGIBLE ASSETS AND PRE-FOUNDING R&D EFFORTS MATTER FOR INNOVATION SPEED IN START-UPS? ANS HEIRMAN Ans.Heirman@vlerick.be BART CLARYSSE Bart.Clarysse@vlerick.be 2 DO INTANGIBLE ASSETS AND PRE-FOUNDING R&D EFFORTS MATTER FOR INNOVATION SPEED IN ST

The launch of the first product is an important event for start-ups, because it takes the new venture closer to growth, profitability and financial independence. However, entrepreneurship literature lacks theory and data on new product development and innovation speed. Integrating insights form new product development literature with resource-based theory, we construct a conceptual framework concerning the antecedents of innovation speed in start-ups. In particular, we argue that pre-founding R&D efforts and intangible assets such as team tenure, experience of founders, and collaborations with third parties are important for innovation speed. We collected a unique dataset on 99 research-based start-ups (RBSUs) and use an event-history approach to test our model. We find that RBSUs differ significantly in their starting conditions and that these differences have a significant effect on the time it takes to launch the first product. The impact of starting conditions on innovation speed differs however between software, medical-related, telecom and other technologies. Although intuition suggests that start-ups that are further in the product development cycle at founding launch their first product faster, we find that software firms starting with a beta-version experience slower product launch. Next, it is shown that team tenure and experience of founders leads to faster product launch. Contrary to expectations, alliances with other firms do not significantly affect innovation speed and collaborations with universities lead to longer development times. The insights of this study enhance our understanding of product development processes in start-ups and the differences between slow growers and fast growers.
Long-term climate-influenced land cover change in discontinuous permafrost peatland complexes

Abstract. The discontinuous permafrost zone is undergoing rapid transformation as a result of unprecedented permafrost thaw brought on by circumpolar climate warming. Rapid warming over recent decades has significantly decreased the area underlain by permafrost in peatland complexes. It has catalysed extensive landscape transitions in the Taiga Plains of northwestern Canada, transforming forest-dominated landscapes to those that are wetland dominated. However, the advanced stages of this landscape transition, and the hydrological and thermal mechanisms and feedbacks governing these environments, are unclear. This study explores the current trajectory of land cover change across a 300 000 km2 region of northwestern Canada's discontinuous permafrost zone by presenting a north–south space-for-time substitution that capitalizes on the region's 600 km latitudinal span. We combine extensive geomatics data across the Taiga Plains with ground-based hydrometeorological measurements collected in the Scotty Creek basin, Northwest Territories, Canada, which is located in the medial latitudes of the Taiga Plains and is undergoing rapid landscape change. These data are used to inform a new conceptual framework of landscape evolution that accounts for the observed patterns of permafrost thaw-induced land cover change and provides a basis for predicting future changes. Permafrost thaw-induced changes in hydrology promote partial drainage and drying of collapse scar wetlands, leading to areas of afforestation forming treed wetlands without underlying permafrost. Across the north–south latitudinal gradient spanning the Taiga Plains, relatively undisturbed forested plateau–wetland complexes dominate the region's higher latitudes, forest–wetland patchwork are most prevalent at the medial latitudes, and forested peatlands are increasingly present across lower latitudes. This trend reflects the progression of wetland transition occurring locally in the plateau–wetland complexes of the Scotty Creek basin and informs our understanding of the anticipated trajectory of change in the discontinuous permafrost zone.
Method to explore visual design and their influence on players' performance

We describe a design research method to explore visual designs in a game and the effects designs have on player’s performance. We address the merits of this approach through a case study involving the creation of a new design tool, evaluation and verification by expert game designers, and a follow-up user study. The study evaluates the effects of visual designs by analyzing play and eye performance in addition to a workload assessment survey.
INTELLIGENT LIGHTS: AN EFFECTIVE AUTOMATED TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

- In the world full of rapid growing technologies, automated smart systems are designed to play significant role in management and prevention of traffic congestion. The current traffic management system in many urban cities are not at their best version for efficient management of traffic. Although with the current technologies, we can build advanced systems with superlative techniques, they might require expensive equipment with complex operation procedures. Hence, we propose a smart automated traffic management system which reuses the existing roadside cameras to capture traffic scenes, automatically examines the traffic and aids in controlling traffic congestion. Our approach begins with capturing of image sequence and analyzing them using digital image processing techniques. With the vehicles detected, traffic density is computed which is then fed to our designed algorithm to obtain optimized traffic signal time. By focusing on traffic density of all the roads at each instant and the mean waiting time of a vehicle at the traffic junction, our algorithm computes the green light time to be set at the traffic signal to control and manage traffic congestion. With this proposed approach of determining traffic light time, the management of traffic in urban cities can be vastly improved
Knowledge, Perception and Attitude towards Agroforestry Contribution to Environmental Conservation among Tambunan Community of North Borneo in Malaysia

The integration approach between trees with crops and livestock in systematic land management through Agroforestry practices contribute to climate-smart agriculture for food security and climate change sustainability. Agroforestry system support crop diversification, which reduce farmer’s vulnerability and increase rural livelihood. The rural communities residing in the Sunsuron division in Tambunan district, North Borneo’s knowledge degree o f Agroforestry and Agroforestry practices, contribution perception were assessed by conducting a random survey, visual aids, interview and observation. The questionnaire was randomly distributed to 167 residents, mainly from eight villages which are Sunsuron, Kinabaan, Tontolob, Pantai, Tombotuon, Kapayan Baru, Kipaku and Kapayan Lama. The majority of the respondents belong to the Dusun ethnic group. Most of the respondents practiced Agroforestry and only half of the respondents had heard the term Agroforestry. Although, Agroforestry practitioner knowledge on Agroforestry was at the moderate level, a third quarter of the practitioners have been practicing Agroforestry more than ten years. Majorities were practicing agrosilvopastural including home garden, which maximize soil utilization and crop yield through crop diversification. Other Agroforestry systems that were applied at Sunsuron were silvopastoral and agrisilvicultural. Agroforestry practices contributions, which were selected by respondents, were determined by Factor Analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that ecological factors had the highest eigenvalues, 1.82 and followed by economic factors (1.28) and social factors (1.18). Respondents perceived that Agroforestry practices contribute towards sustainable environmental protection more than socioeconomic. Income from Agroforestry practices was not a significant contribution in the socioeconomic development of local communities in Tambunan because edible crops were mostly for their own consumption and only excess was sold to supplement their income. Agroforestry contributions ensure sustainable development in Tambunan by preventing environmental degradation, achieving food security and poverty alleviation.
Effects of the Adoption of Forest Conservation Practices by Farmers in Kaiama Local Government Area, Kwara State

1 Ganiyu, L. , 2 Akinola, M.O. , Usman, M.B. , Olagunju, O.E. , Abdulkareem, S.B. , Olafemi, S.O. and 1 Ademola, T.O. 1 Department of Agricultural Technology, Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna, Nigeria. 2 Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. 3 Agricultural Extension and Management Department, FCFM, Afaka, Kaduna, Nigeria. Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Agriculture, FCFM, Afaka, Kaduna.
Development Of Tersoff Potential Models To Study Silicon Dopant Activation In Indium Gallium Arsenide

A parameterization of the Abell-Tersoff potential is presented for all pairwise interactions of silicon atoms with each of the elemental components comprising InGaAs. That is, Tersoff models are provided for Si-In, Si-Ga and Si-As. Data obtained using ab initio pseudopotential calculations (DFT+GGA) were used as the reference information against which the Tersoff parameters were fitted, since experimental data are unavailable for the Si-X systems considered here. These sets of Tersoff parameters are optimized to describe the structural and elastic properties of the mostly theoretical alloys Si-As, Si-Ga and SI-In. We demonstrate the transferability of these parameters by partially predicting the defect formation energies of extrinsic point defects of Si across ternary InGaAs alloys with different local configurations. Comparison is made to a newly created DFT/GGA database of defect formation energies, showing that correct trends can be reproduced by the Tersoff models, given sensitive adjustments to a Tersoff model parameter, .
Chapter 33 Be a Hero through Gamified-learning: A PowerPoint Revolution

The demand of the current world is not only limited to developing 21st-century skills but also imposing a necessity for everyone to equip themselves with adequate proficiency in the English language. Regardless of that, English as a second language (ESL) learners are facing difficulties in terms of vocabulary acquisition, which could hinder the success of ESL learning. One of the stand-out tools to be used in curbing the issue is games. With an abundance of technologies to choose from, it is vital to design, develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative and creative tool to be used as a game in teaching ESL vocabulary. An innovation of PowerPoint is the main product, whereby three games were created through PowerPoint incorporating ESL vocabulary as the key element. A number of 37 secondary school students in Malaysia were chosen to participate in this quasi-experimental study, whereby a pre and post-test were given complimenting an intervention of gamified-learning using PowerPoint. Based on the findings, it can be seen that there was an improvement in students’ vocabulary acquisition in the post-test, which was caused by the students’ engagement in the lesson through gamified-learning. This innovation implied that it is vital to incorporate games into ESL lessons, as games are a source of motivation, which could capture students’ attention and engage them in learning. Future research can look into the different types of games suited to different group of students. Thus, the benefits of gamified-learning are undeniable and it could bridge the gap between traditional and modern methods of learning for the millennial students.
Energy-Efficient Networking : Random Access Compressed Sensing Approach

Monitoring environmental phenomena is crucial in shaping our knowledge of the environment and its evolution. The wireless sensor network technology has enabled affordable large coverage and long term monitoring of the natural environment such as climate monitoring, ocean observation, etc. In a general setup, sensor nodes are scattered over a region and monitor a slowly varying field. Each node employs a sensing scheme, which dictates the frequency of measurements, then communicates its observation to a central processing unit, referred to as the fusion center (FC). Once the network is deployed, there can be little access to the sensors and recharging batteries becomes difficult. This is especially of concern in underwater networks, where sensor nodes are hundreds of meters below the surface, or in wireless networks where a hostile environment prohibits access to the sensor nodes. Therefore, enabling long term deployment calls for energy aware sensing and efficient communication architecture.
“Assess the Awareness of Evidence Based Practice among Nurses at Tertiary care Hospital”

Background: Evidence-Based Nursing a process of making clinical decisions on the basis of the best available evidence supported by research, their clinical experience and patient preferences in the context of available resources. Material and Methods: A descriptive Cross-sectional study carried out at LUMHS Hyderabad / Jamshoro for three months after the approval of synopsis. Participants in the study filled questionnaires which comprises in two sections: the demographic and EBP-related data. For this analysis, the demographic data questionnaire was developed by the authors and included: age, gender, educational achievement, current work role, overall years of experience and period and duration of nursing profession. Results: The study included a total of 350 subjects which consisted of 100 males (28.6%) and 250 females (71.4%) with mean age 30. A significant relation was found between knowledge about evidence based nursing practice (P value =<0.001) and many variables of interest. Conclusion: Evidence based practice among nurses has been inadequate in tertiary care facility of Hyderabad. Most of the nurses felt difficulty in providing nursing care and facing stress during nursing care delivery. Lack of facilities and manpower at public hospital affect the evidence based practice. [Aftab Ahmed Memon, Parveen Akhter, Zohaib Hassan Memon and Awais Ahmed. “Assess the Awareness of Evidence Based Practice among Nurses at Tertiary care Hospital”. Biomedicine and Nursing 2021;7(1): 13-21]. ISSN 2379-8211 (print); ISSN 2379-8203 (online). http://www.nbmedicine. org. 2. doi:10.7537/marsbnj070121.02.
Measurement Of Albedos For Small Areas Of Soil

Soil albedo (α) is the ratio of reflected (K↑) to incoming (K↓) hemispherical radiation fluxes (wavelength, λ 0.3 to 3 μm) measured by inverted and upright pyranometers positioned directly over the soil. The research on soil albedo described in this paper was part of a larger soil classification study relating albedo with soil color and spectral reflectances for 26 samples of soil collected throughout the United States. Specifically, this paper describes (i) a method for measuring the albedos of small homogeneous areas of soil placed on square trays surrounded by either black painted plywood or field soil and (ii) experiments performed to evaluate the method using data from a subset of the 26 soils studied. Measurement of albedo of a small area of soil surrounded by a dissimilar surface may be confounded by light reflected to the inverted pyranometer from the surrounding surface and by light reflected from the soil shaded by the pyranometer. To determine the albedo of the small soil area, the fractional amount of reflected radiation received by the inverted pyranometer from each component area of the heterogeneous surface within the 180° field-of-view of the pyranometer must be modeled using view factor relationships taken from the literature. Measurements of α were made at two heights (0.18 m and 0.25 m) over five smoothed soil surfaces (dry and wet) placed on square trays with areas of 1.4 m 2 and 13 m 2 . Two measurement heights and two soil areas were used to provide a wide range of view factors and surface conditions for evaluating the method. Black painted plywood surrounded the 1.4 m 2 areas, and field soil surrounded the 13 m 2 areas. Albedos of these surrounding areas were known. Results indicate good agreement between soil albedos (α 1 4 and α 13 ) measured at the same height over the two areas. Linear regression analysis showed that α 1 4 = 0.951 α 13 + 0.011 (r 2 = 0.989, n = 20) based on K↑ data measured at the two heights above the two areas of the soils. These results indicate that the albedo of a small homogeneous area within a heterogeneous surface can be measured to a reasonable level of accuracy if the fractional amount of radiation reflected from each surface component is known.