Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Symmetric Dual-Switch Converter

High step-up dc/dc converters are widely used in many industrial applications, especially in green energy power generation and uninterruptible power systems. The circuit configuration of a dual-switch high step-up dc/dc converter is very simple and the converter can achieve a high step-up voltage gain by operating in parallel charge and series discharge. However, this converter has a strict requirement of the parameter's consistency or it will lead to the high voltage stress of switches due to parasitic capacitance and inductor's resonance. Although passive lossless clamp circuit can be adopted to realize the voltage balance of switches in steady state, unbalance voltage still exists in dynamic state owing to an unsymmetrical structure. Therefore, this article proposed a dual-switch converter with symmetric topology, which can realize the voltage balance of switches and capacitors in both steady and dynamic states. According to the proposed converter, a prototype rated at 200 W has been established in the lab and the experimental results verify the accuracy of the analysis.
SYNTHESIS OF ACETYL AND BENZOYL ESTERS OF XANTHORRHIZOL AND ITS OXIDATION PRODUCTS AND EVALUATION OF THEIR INHIBITORY ACTIVITY AGAINST NITRIC OXIDE PRODUCTION

Objective: Xanthorrhizol is known to have anti-inflammatory activity. However, new xanthorrhizol derivatives with improved anti-inflammatoryactivity and reduced toxicity are needed.Methods: In this study, the derivatives of xanthorrhizol were synthesized and spectroscopically characterized, and their inhibitory activities againstnitric oxide (NO) production were evaluated in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells.Results: The first stage of synthesis produced compounds 2a and 2b in 58.49% and 63.26% yields, respectively. Compounds 2a and 2b were oxidizedusing potassium permanganate, giving compounds 3a and 3b in yields of 51.92% and 43.78%, respectively. Compounds 1, 2a, 3a, and 3b alongwith diclofenac sodium (the positive control) exhibited IC50 values for NO production of 31.82, 73.85, 354.05, 97.19, and 78.43 μM, respectively. Incontrast, compound 2b did not show any inhibitory activity. Based on cytotoxicity assay, compounds 1, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, and diclofenac sodium had LD50values of 30.97, 65.15, 31.15, 117.86, 53.40, and 51.67 μM, respectively. The NO inhibitory activities of compounds 2a, 3a, and 3b were lower than thatof xanthorrhizol (compound 1). However, cytotoxicity tests showed that compounds 2a, 3a, and 3b had reduced toxicities compared to xanthorrhizol.Conclusion: The modification of xanthorrhizol through esterification and oxidation produced derivative compounds with weaker anti-inflammatoryactivity but reduced cytotoxicity.
Increasing the Resistance of GPS Receivers by Using a Fuzzy Smart Estimator in Weak Signal Conditions

Global satellite navigation systems (GNSS) are nowadays used in many applications. GNSS receivers experience limitations in receiving weak signals in a degraded environment. Hence, tracking weak GNSS signals is a topic of interest to researchers in this field. Different methods have been proposed to address this issue, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. In this paper, a method based on the vector tracking method is proposed for weak signal tracking. This method has been developed based on a strong Kalman filter instead of the extended Kalman filter used in conventional vector tracking methods. In order to adjust important parameters of this filter, the fuzzy method is used. The results of tests performed with both simulated data and real data demonstrate that the proposed method performs better than previous ones in weak signal tracking.
Effect of the invasive common reed on the abundance, richness and diversity of birds in freshwater marshes

The Eurasian genotype of common reed Phragmites australis subsp. australis is rapidly invading freshwater marshes in North America. Several bird species depend upon particular plant assemblages for feeding and reproduction and could be adversely affected by the expansion of this invader. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of common reed on the abundance, richness, diversity and site occupancy of bird assemblages in freshwater marshes recently invaded by the plant (southern Quebec, Canada). We conducted fixed‐distance point counts for songbirds (passerines and rails) and visual surveys for waterbirds (ducks, geese and waders) during two nesting seasons (2009 and 2010). There were major structural differences between common reed stands and marsh vegetation assemblages dominated by other plant species (bulrushes, cattails, sedges). However, there was a little difference in abundance, richness, diversity and site occupancy for songbirds. Marsh wren Cistothorus palustris, a wetland specialist, was the only nesting bird that preferred a native plant (cattail) over common reed, probably because common reed stands have low plant diversity and few appropriate nest materials. No major differences were observed in the abundance of waterbirds between invaded and non‐invaded marshes. For most bird species, the water depth of the marsh had more influence on the abundance of individuals and on site occupancy than the composition of the plant assemblage. Common reed stands can therefore be used by generalist and specialist marsh passerines as feeding and reproduction sites. However, it is possible that in southern Quebec, the number and extent of common reed populations have not yet reached a threshold beyond which adverse effects of the invader on avian species could be significant. This study adds to a growing body of evidence showing that the relationship between invasive plants and birds is not straightforward.
A Systematic Approach for Stator MMF Harmonic Elimination Using Three-Layer Fractional Slot Winding

A systematic approach based on a novel space-shifted three-layer winding (SSTLW) to eliminate both the sub- and superharmonics of fractional slot concentrated winding ac machines is presented. In this proposed three-layer fractional slot winding, the number of turns in one layer and the relative positions of other two layers are optimized to cancel subharmonics. The cancellation of superharmonics is achieved through series connection of two SSTLWs through effective doubling of the number of slots. The cancellation of the dominant sub- and superharmonics using this approach leads to reducing the total harmonic distortion, torque ripple, PM eddy current loss, and rotor core loss, while simultaneously improving power factor and saliency ratio. The proposed design methodology and ensuring improvements have been validated through finite element analysis for the widely used 12-slot/10-pole and 18-slot/14-pole permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) configurations. A prototype three-layer winding is built for a 10-pole PMSM to validate the simulation results experimentally.
Automated Vulnerability Detection in Source Code Using Minimum Intermediate Representation Learning

Vulnerability is one of the root causes of network intrusion. An effective way to mitigate security threats is to discover and patch vulnerabilities before an attack. Traditional vulnerability detection methods rely on manual participation and incur a high false positive rate. The intelligent vulnerability detection methods suffer from the problems of long-term dependence, out of vocabulary, coarse detection granularity and lack of vulnerable samples. This paper proposes an automated and intelligent vulnerability detection method in source code based on the minimum intermediate representation learning. First, the sample in the form of source code is transformed into a minimum intermediate representation to exclude the irrelevant items and reduce the length of the dependency. Next, the intermediate representation is transformed into a real value vector through pre-training on an extended corpus, and the structure and semantic information are retained. Then, the vector is fed to three concatenated convolutional neural networks to obtain high-level features of vulnerability. Last, a classifier is trained using the learned features. To validate this vulnerability detection method, an experiment was performed. The empirical results confirmed that compared with the traditional methods and the state-of-the-art intelligent methods, our method has a better performance with fine granularity.
Effects of Land Use and Topographic Position on Soil Organic Carbon and Total Nitrogen Stocks in Different Agro-Ecosystems of the Upper Blue Nile Basin

Soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) are key ecological indicators of soil quality in a given landscape. Their status, especially in drought-prone landscapes, is associated mainly with the land-use type and topographic position. This study aimed to clarify the effect of land use and topographic position on SOC and TN stocks to further clarify the ecological processes occurring in the landscape. To analyze the status of SOC and TN, we collected 352 composite soil samples from three depths in the uppermost soil (0–50 cm) in four major land-use types (bushland, cropland, grazing land, and plantation) and three topographic positions (upper, middle, and lower) at three sites: Dibatie (lowland), Aba Gerima (midland), and Guder (highland). Both SOC and TN stocks varied significantly across the land uses, topographic positions, and agro-ecosystems. SOC and TN stocks were significantly higher in bushland (166.22 Mg ha−1) and grazing lands (13.11 Mg ha−1) at Guder. The lowest SOC and TN stocks were observed in cropland (25.97 and 2.14 Mg ha−1) at Aba Gerima, which was mainly attributed to frequent and unmanaged plowing and extensive biomass removal. Compared to other land uses, plantations exhibited lower SOC and TN stocks due to poor undergrowth and overexploitation for charcoal and firewood production. Each of the three sites showed distinct characteristics in both stocks, as indicated by variations in the C/N ratios (11–13 at Guder, 10–21 at Aba Gerima, and 15–18 at Dibatie). Overall, land use was shown to be an important factor influencing the SOC and TN stocks, both within and across agro-ecosystems, whereas the effect of topographic position was more pronounced across agro-ecosystems than within them. Specifically, Aba Gerima had lower SOC and TN stocks due to prolonged cultivation and unsustainable human activities, thus revealing the need for immediate land management interventions, particularly targeting croplands. In a heterogeneous environment such as the Upper Blue Nile basin, proper understanding of the interactions between land use and topographic position and their effect on SOC and TN stock is needed to design proper soil management practices.
An ACT-R Based Humanoid Social Robot to Manage Storytelling Activities

This paper describes an interactive storytelling system, accessible through the SoftBank robotic platforms NAO and Pepper. The main contribution consists of the interpretation of the story characters by humanoid robots, obtained through the definition of appropriate cognitive models, relying on the ACT-R cognitive architecture. The reasoning processes leading to the story evolution are based on the represented knowledge and the suggestions of the listener in critical points of the story. They are disclosed during the narration, to make clear the dynamics of the story and the feelings of the characters. We analyzed the impact of such externalization of the internal status of the characters to set the basis for future experimentation with primary school children.
Genetic Analysis of Jordanian Olive (Olea europea L.) Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

Sixteen genotypes of the Jordanian olive were analyzed using RAPD to identify and study the genetic relationships among them. The results confirmed the usefulness of RAPD markers as a powerful tool for olive genotypic identification. All the examined genotypes were clearly identified using six primers (OPA-05, OPA-09, OPA-11, OPA-13, OPZ-11, OPZ-13) out of forty primers tested. The total number of amplification products produced with these primers was 247, where fragment size ranged between 300 to 1500 bp. The similarity among the sixteen genotypes ranged from 32% between genotypes ‘Khodeiry’ and ‘Mary Abu Shuka’ to 91% between genotypes ‘Nabali baladi’ and ‘Raseei’. The constructed dendrogram showed two main clusters. The first cluster included ten genotypes that have medium to large fruit size; with exception of ‘Nabali’, they have low oil content. The second cluster included six genotypes that have small fruit size and growing mainly for oil production. A relationship was found between the genetic materials from one side, and the fruit size and oil contents from the other side. Pairwise comparisons and cluster analysis of the similarity values confirm the usefulness of RAPD markers for investigation of genetic variations among olive genotypes.
Experienced Gender Discrimination at workplace of teaching Personnel from Private Schools in Pampanga

Understanding gender discrimination relationships is essential, particularly in the workplace context where it may impact on employee relationships and their opportunities for career advancement. The study described the gender discrimination experiences, and career advancement of instructors in terms of salary, promotion and training and development. Also, the study determined the significant gender differences in terms of discrimination experiences and career advancement. The descriptive method of research was used in this study. A total of 93 teaching personnel (37 females, 25 males, and 31 LGBTs) were surveyed using a questionnaire with likert-scale responses. Based on the results of the study, the researcher concluded that teaching personnel from private schools, in general, rarely experienced gender discrimination in their schools. But there were specific experiences that they sometimes experienced like their gender influences their profession and their suggestions and opinions are sometimes unaccounted. There was also career advancement in terms of salary and promotion but not in training and development. And, there was no significant gender difference in terms of discrimination experiences and career advancement among male, female and LGBT teaching personnel from private school. It is then recommended by the researcher that private schools should have capacity building in dealing with gender discrimination among their teacher personnel and also the schools must have focal person to talk to for the career advancement of the teaching personnel especially in terms of training and development. Support from other staff of the schools is highly encouraged. Keywords— Gender Discrimination, Career Advancement, Gender, Gender Discrimination Experiences.
A1 Resonators in 128° Y-cut Lithium Niobate with Electromechanical Coupling of 46.4%

In this work, we present first-order antisymmetric (A1) mode resonators in 128° Y-cut lithium niobate (LiNbO<sub>3</sub>) thin films with electromechanical coupling coefficients (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) as large as 46.4%, exceeding the state-of-the-art. The achievable <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of A1 in LiNbO<sub>3</sub> substrates of different orientations is first explored, showing X-axis direction in 128° Y-cut LiNbO<sub>3</sub> among the optimal combinations. Subsequently, A1 resonators with spurious mode mitigation are designed and fabricated. In addition to the large <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, the implemented devices show a maximum quality factor (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) of 598 at 3.2 GHz. Upon further optimization, the reported platform can potentially deliver a wideband acoustic-only filtering solution in 5G New Radio. [2020–0003]
Non-Uniform Network Mapping and Localization

The purpose of this paper is to establish a new simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) framework, which can make better use of the spatial structure of the environment, to improve the robustness and reliability of the system. To locate, a good map should be not only a representation of the real environment, but also a highly compressed and intelligently organized geography information of the environment. Furthermore, the map structure should be stable and robust to inevitable errors. Inspired by human positioning ability, we developed a non-uniform network mapping and localization algorithm (NU-SLAM) based on the complex network theory. Landmarks are classified and sparsely connected according to their localization ability. Therefore, data association and information transmission can be carried out hierarchically with low computational cost and robustness to data association errors. In this paper, a new visual to the mapping and localization problem is proposed. Simulation results show that the algorithm can achieve good results.
Do diversification models of Madagascar’s biota explain the population structure of the endemic bat Myotis goudoti (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)?

Aim Three mechanisms have been proposed to explain the adaptive radiations and species diversifications of Madagascar’s biota: the ecogeographical constraint, the riverine barrier and the micro‐endemism models. On the intraspecific level, each model predicts different patterns of gene flow across the island’s physical and ecological features. To evaluate these models, phylogeographical analyses were conducted on a widespread and endemic species of bat, Myotis goudoti (Vespertilionidae).
Three-Octave Supercontinuum Generation Using SiO2 Cladded Si3N4 Slot Waveguide With All-Normal Dispersion

We investigate a silicon nitride (Si3N4) horizontal slot waveguide with silicon dioxide (SiO2) cladding, which can achieve a flat and low normal dispersion of −15.56 ps/(nm•km) over a 3270-nm wavelength range from 1170 to 4440 nm, covering a 1.9 octave bandwidth. By launching a 100-fs 90-kW hyperbolic secant input pump pulse, a three-octave supercontinuum (SC) from 504 to 4229 nm can be generated using a 5-mm long waveguide. The generated SC spectrum is highly coherent, as it is mainly expanded by self-phase modulation (SPM) and optical wave breaking (OWB) in all-normal dispersion regime. The degree of coherence can achieve >0.99 from 1250 to 4300 nm. Therefore, the proposed waveguide could potentially serve as a key element in the on-chip broadband source for silicon photonic platform.
A Hybrid Machine Learning Model for Demand Prediction of Edge-Computing-Based Bike-Sharing System Using Internet of Things

The rapid development of Internet-of-Things technologies (such as edge computing) has promoted the development of numerous emerging urban applications, particularly smart transportation. As an anticipated aspect of smart transportation, bike-sharing systems have recently been deployed in many cities and are considered an efficient way to address the issue of “the last mile. ” In a bike-sharing system, the supply and demand of shared bikes at each bike station frequently change over time. Consequently, one of the most challenging issues of a bike-sharing system is predicting the required number of shared bikes at each station. In this article, we take the real aspects of a bike-sharing system into account, e.g., the high complexity, nonlinearity, and uncertainty of the traffic flow, and propose a hybrid edge-computing-based machine learning model. Notably, our proposed model, which combines a self-organizing mapping network with a regression tree (RT), is applied to predict the bicycle demand of a certain station through the following steps: 1) the proposed model adopts self-organization mapping to assemble the original samples in the form of clusters and 2) each cluster is then built as an RT to forecast the required number of bikes at each station. Experiments based on real data from the Washington and London bike-sharing systems show that our proposed method achieves a higher prediction accuracy and better generalization than previous approaches.
Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Green Hybrid Nanocomposites for Application as Proton Exchange Membranes in Direct Borohydride Fuel Cells

Organic–inorganic nanocomposite membranes for potential application in direct borohydride fuel cells (DBFCs) are formulated from sulfonated poly(vinyl alcohol) (SPVA) with the incorporation of (PO4-TiO2) and (SO4-TiO2) nanotubes as doping agents. The functionalization of PVA to SPVA was done by using a 4-sulfophthalic acid as an ionic crosslinker and sulfonating agent. Morphological and structural characterization by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the successful synthesis of the doping agents and their incorporation into the polymer. The influence of PO4-TiO2 and SO4-TiO2 doping and their content on the physicochemical properties of the nanocomposite membranes was evaluated. Swelling degree and water uptake gradually reduced to 7% and 13%, respectively, with increasing doping agent concentration. Ion exchange capacity and ionic conductivity of the membrane with 3 wt. % doping agents were raised 5 and 7 times, respectively, compared to the undoped one. The thermal and oxidative stability and tensile strength also increased with the doping content. Furthermore, lower borohydride permeability (0.32 × 10−6 cm2 s−1) was measured for the membranes with higher amount of inorganic doping agents when compared to the undoped membrane (0.71 × 10−5 cm2 s−1) and Nafion®117 (0.40 × 10−6 cm2 s−1). These results pave the way for a green, simple and low-cost approach for the development of composite membranes for practical DBFCs.
Practical asymptotic stability of stochastic systems driven by Lévy processes and its application to control of TORA systems

Two Lyapunov-type theorems are developed to investigate global (practical) asymptotic stability in probability for SDEs driven by (non-vanishing) Lévy processes, which can be either affine or non-affine or both in the states. These theorems provide sufficient conditions for the stability, which are relatively easy to be verified, and thus have a potential application in control design. The theoretical development is then applied to design feedback stabilisers for global (practical) asymptotic stability in probability for a translating oscillator with a rotating actuator (TORA) system.
A novel method for sexing live adult Alphitobius diaperinus

This work aimed to identify discriminant morphological characteristics in Alphitobius diaperinus Panzer (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) adults that enable live males and females to be distinguished. The method of sexing proposed here is based on dimorphism of the 8th abdominal sternite and is 100% accurate. The method allows differentiation of the sexes non‐destructively.
Your money or your life? The carbon-development paradox

The relationship between human health and well-being, energy use and carbon emissions is a foremost concern in sustainable development. If past advances in well-being have been accomplished only through increases in energy use, there may be significant trade-offs between achieving universal human development and mitigating climate change. We test the explanatory power of economic, dietary and modern energy factors in accounting for past improvements in life expectancy, using a simple novel method, functional dynamic decomposition. We elucidate the paradox that a strong correlation between emissions and human development at one point in time does not imply that their dynamics are coupled in the long term. Increases in primary energy and carbon emissions can account for only a quarter of improvements in life expectancy, but are closely tied to growth in income. Facing this carbon-development paradox requires prioritizing human well-being over economic growth.