Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Practical Energy Harvesting for Batteryless Ambient Backscatter Sensors

This work studies the performance of two methods for providing power to an ultra-low power, ambient backscatter tag, omitting the need for any battery. RF energy harvesting from a dedicated source and energy harvesting from ambient light using a single photodiode are compared. Extensive measurement results from tests conducted under real world conditions are offered for both harvesting methods. It is concluded that for a total cost of under 7 Euros the need for a battery can be eliminated, by using a single photodiode element along with a suitable boost converter. The ultra-low power character of the utilized tag enables the use of multiple harvesting methods and paves the way towards truly battery-less wireless sensor systems.
Holistic Approaches to Develop Sustainability and Research Competencies in Pre-Service Teacher Training

Since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) came into effect, both UNESCO and other international organisations recommend empowering youth to implement the SDGs in universities. Getting started with the SDGs at university level is of special relevance in pre-service teacher training since future teachers are powerful agents of change in the lives of young people. Future teachers need to acquire competencies in sustainability to be able to promote meaningful changes in sustainable behaviour. To that end, holistic approaches to facilitate their acquisition need to be developed. The aim of this study is to explore which teaching methodologies are suitable for the development of competencies in sustainability and research in Higher Education (HE). The participants taking part in the study are students in pre-service teacher training. The experimental educational model used for the development of competencies in sustainability and research consists of a methodological sequence of Project-Oriented Learning (POL) and a Cross-disciplinary Workshop on Sustainable Food. This study provides evidence that POL is an excellent methodology for developing competencies in sustainability and facilitates the relationship between sustainability and research competencies.
Analysis of Energetic Performance of Glass Melting Processes as a Basis for Advanced Glass Production

The experimental and theoretical knowledge of the industrial glass melting process, acquired during two last decades, opens a way to new melting concepts, characterized by smaller size, high performance and flexibility, low energy consumption and by producing high quality glasses. This work presents a method to evaluate the effect of temperature, process time, flow conditions and insulation in a model melting space (simulating melting tanks) on energy consumption, melting performance and flexibility of the process in terms of sand dissolution and bubble removal (fining). The condition of complete accomplishment of both homogenization processes just prior to the glass leaving the space was kept in all calculations. The calculations applying the laboratory sand dissolution times and fining times aimed at finding theoretical optimum conditions of dissolution and bubble fining processes during glass melting. The results obtained under isothermal conditions provide a way to improve fundamentally both processes; particularly by process separation, application of controlled glass melt flows and special conditions for bubble removal. Several examples show the increase in performance of the model melting space when applying the suggested intensification factors.
Children of depressed mothers 1 year after remission of maternal depression: findings from the STAR*D-Child study.

OBJECTIVE Maternal major depressive disorder is an established risk factor for child psychopathology. The authors previously reported that 1 year after initiation of treatment for maternal depression, children of mothers whose depression remitted had significantly improved functioning and psychiatric symptoms. This study extends these findings by examining changes in psychiatric symptoms, behavioral problems, and functioning among children of depressed mothers during the first year after the mothers' remission from depression. METHOD Children were assessed at baseline and at 3-month intervals with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version, the Child Behavior Checklist, and the Children's Global Assessment Scale for 1 year after their mothers' remission or for 2 years if the mothers did not remit. The authors compared children of early remitters (0-3 months; N=36), late remitters (3-12 months; N=28), and nonremitters (N=16). RESULTS During the postremission year, children of early-remitting mothers showed significant improvement on all outcomes. Externalizing behavioral problems decreased in children of early- and late-remitting mothers but increased in children of nonremitting mothers. Psychiatric symptoms decreased significantly only in children of mothers who remitted, and functioning improved only in children of early-remitting mothers. CONCLUSIONS Remission of mothers' depression, regardless of its timing, appears to be related to decreases in problem behaviors and symptoms in their children over the year after remission. The favorable effect of mothers' remission on children's functioning was observed only in children of early-remitting mothers.
How to estimate time-varying Vector Autoregressive Models? A comparison of two methods

The ubiquity of mobile devices led to a surge in intensive longitudinal (or time series) data of individuals. This is an exciting development because personalized models both naturally tackle the issue of heterogeneities between people and increase the validity of models for applications. A popular model for time series is the Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model, in which each variable is modeled as a linear function of all variables at previous time points. A key assumption of this model is that the parameters of the true data generating model are constant (or stationary) across time. The most straightforward way to check for time-varying parameters is to fit a model that allows for time-varying parameters. In the present paper we compare two methods to estimate time-varying VAR models: the first method uses a spline-approach to allow for time-varying parameters, the second uses kernel-smoothing. We report the performance of both methods and their stationary counterparts in an extensive simulation study that reflects the situations typically encountered in practice. We compare the performance of stationary and time-varying models and discuss the theoretical characteristics of all methods in the light of the simulation results. In addition, we provide a step-by-step tutorial for both methods showing how to estimate a time-varying VAR model on an openly available individual time series dataset.
STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF NH 4F CONCENTRATION ON THE STRUCTURE OF ELECTROCHEMICALLY PREPARED TiO 2 NANOTUBES

In this study Titania nanotube arrays were prepared at room temperature (~25 oC) via electrochemical anodization process of pure titanium foil in glycerol base electrolyte, different concentrations of ammonium fluoride salt (0.5 and 1.5wt.%) were added to the electrolyte as a tube enhancing agent. When anodizing Ti in 0.5 wt. % NH 4F, nanotubes are formed with 54 ± 10 nm tube diameter, 20 ± 3 nm wall thickness and 1.76 <m tube length. When anodizing Ti in 1.5 wt. % NH 4F, nanotubes are formed with 69 ± 10 nm tube diameter, 29 ± 3 nm wall thickness and 2.71 <m tube length. The morphology and structure of the Titania films were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). PACS numbers: 81.65. Mg, 82.45. +z, 81.10. -h.
[Evaluation of soft tissue reactions to three nonabsorbable suture materials in a rabbit model].

OBJECTIVES We evaluated the inflammatory reactions induced by three commonly used nonabsorbable suture materials in a rabbit model. METHODS Three suture materials were tested: braided polyester suture (Ethibond), braided blend of polyester and polyethylene suture (FiberWire), and monofilament polypropylene suture (Polypropylene). Thirty-six rabbits were randomly allocated to three suture groups, equal in number. Each suture type was placed bilaterally in the quadriceps muscle, patellar tendon, knee joint capsule, and Achilles tendon. Six animals in each group were sacrificed in the third and sixth weeks. The inflammation induced by each suture was assessed using light microscopy and the width of the inflammation zone (WIZ) was measured. RESULTS Ethibond was found to cause the most severe reaction in the muscle and tendon in the third week; in the sixth week, however, it showed the lowest inflammatory reaction in all tissue types. Reaction to Propylene was moderate in the third week, whereas it caused the largest WIZ in all tissue types in the sixth week, such that the eventual size of the WIZ induced by Propylene (6.6 + or - 2.1 mm) was significantly greater than that of Ethibond (1.6 + or - 0.9 mm) in muscle specimens (p<0.05). Except for the largest WIZ seen in joint capsule specimens in the third week, inflammatory reactions associated with FiberWire were low or moderate in all tissue specimens throughout the study. FiberWire was associated with some necrotic areas in two muscle and one tendon specimens. CONCLUSION The extent of inflammatory reaction to nonabsorbable suture materials depends on the type of suture material, tissue type, and the duration of postoperative time.
eScholarship Title Novel sulI binary vectors enable an inexpensive foliar selection method in Arabidopsis Permalink

Background: Sulfonamide resistance is conferred by the sulI gene found on many Enterobacteriaceae R plasmids and Tn21 type transposons. The sulI gene encodes a sulfonamide insensitive dihydropteroate synthase enzyme required for folate biosynthesis. Transformation of tobacco, potato or Arabidopsis using sulI as a selectable marker generates sulfadiazine-resistant plants. Typically sulI-based selection of transgenic plants is performed on tissue culture media under sterile conditions. Findings: A set of novel binary vectors containing a sulI selectable marker expression cassette were constructed and used to generate transgenic Arabidopsis. We demonstrate that the sulI selectable marker can be utilized for direct selection of plants grown in soil with a simple foliar spray application procedure. A highly effective and inexpensive high throughput screening strategy to identify transgenic Arabidopsis without use of tissue culture was developed. Conclusion: Novel sulI-containing Agrobacterium binary vectors designed to over-express a gene of interest or to characterize a test promoter in transgenic plants have been constructed. These new vector tools combined with the various beneficial attributes of sulfonamide selection and the simple foliar screening strategy provide an advantageous alternative for plant biotechnology researchers. The set of binary vectors is freely available upon request.
The Automation of Jobs: A Threat for Employment or a Source of New Entrepreneurial Opportunities?

New and emerging technologies pose a serious challenge for the future of employment. As machines learn to accomplish increasingly complex production tasks, the concern arises that automation will wipe out a great number of jobs. This paper investigates the relationship between the risk posed by the automation of jobs and individual-level occupational mobility using a representative German household survey. It provides an overview of current trends and developments on the labor markets due to the automation of jobs. It also describes the most recent dynamics of self-employment and relates it to the risk of the automation of jobs. The results suggest that the expected occupational changes such as losing a job, demotion at one’s current place of employment, or starting a job in a new field are likely to be driven by the high occupation-specific risk of automation. However, the switch to self-employment, both with and without employees, is more likely to occur from paid employment in occupations with a low risk of automation. Hence, the rising level of entrepreneurial activities is less likely due to jobs becoming obsolete over the course of automation, but rather due to the high number of opportunities offered by the digital age. The issues addressed within the paper provide room for further investigation. Particularly, an important question concerns which additional skills workers in jobs with a high risk of automation should acquire in order to make themselves less susceptible to the negative consequences of such a change. More research is needed in order to develop educational strategies to make workers less susceptible to job loss due to automation.
Inundation mapping based on reach-scale effective geometry

Abstract. The production of spatially accurate representations of potential inundation is often limited by the lack of available data as well as model complexity. We present in this paper a new approach for rapid inundation mapping, MHYST, which is well adapted for data-scarce areas; it combines hydraulic geometry concepts for channels and DEM data for floodplains. Its originality lies in the fact that it does not work at the cross section scale but computes effective geometrical properties to describe the reach scale. Combining reach-scale geometrical properties with 1-D steady-state flow equations, MHYST computes a topographically coherent relation between the “height above nearest drainage” and streamflow. This relation can then be used on a past or future event to produce inundation maps. The MHYST approach is tested here on an extreme flood event that occurred in France in May–June 2016. The results indicate that it has a tendency to slightly underestimate inundation extents, although efficiency criteria values are clearly encouraging. The spatial distribution of model performance is discussed and it shows that the model can perform very well on most reaches, but has difficulties modelling the more complex, urbanised reaches. MHYST should not be seen as a rival to detailed inundation studies, but as a first approximation able to rapidly provide inundation maps in data-scarce areas.
Optimal laser marking of 2D data matrix codes on Cavendish bananas

Nasution I.S. , Rath T. (2017): Optimal laser marking of 2D data matrix codes on Cavendish bananas. Res. Agr. Eng., 63: 172–179. A traceability system is an effective tool to guarantee safety in horticultural products and to improve supply chain transparency. A direct data matrix (DM) code created with carbon dioxide laser (wavelength 10.6 μm) can be used as a trust mark on bananas. In this study, green bananas were marked with the above-mentioned CO2 laser. Subsequently, the samples were held under storage conditions. Images of the codes on bananas were captured by using two different cameras; i.e. hyperspectral imaging camera and charge-couple device (CCD) camera. Image processing was used for evaluating print quality of 2D codes based on the ISO/IEC 15415 standard. The quality of the codes on bananas mainly depends on some parameters: laser power, laser energy, marking time per module and storage time. The best readability results were achieved by using laser power of 1.8 W and marking time of 0.09 s per data matrix module, whereby an 80–100% readability of DM codes after the storage was obtained.
A niche comparison of Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica and potential effects of climate change

Coccolithophore responses to changes in carbonate chemistry speciation such as CO 2 and H + are highly modulated by light intensity and temperature. Here we fit an analytical equation, accounting for simultaneous changes in carbonate chemistry speciation, light and temperature, to published and original data for Emiliania huxleyi , and compare the projections with those for Gephyrocapsa oceanica . Based on our analysis, the two most abundant coccolithophores in today’s oceans appear to be adapted for a similar fundamental light niche but slightly different ones for temperature and CO 2 , with E. huxleyi having a tolerance to lower temperatures and higher CO 2 levels than G. oceanica . Based on growth rates, a dominance of E. huxleyi over G. oceanica is projected below temperatures of 22 °C at current atmospheric CO 2 levels. This is similar to a global surface sediment compilation of E. huxleyi and G. oceanica coccolith abundances suggesting temperature dependent dominance shifts. For a future RCP 8.5 climate change scenario (1000 μatm f CO 2 and +4.8 °C) we project a niche contraction for G. oceanica then being restricted to regions of even higher temperatures. Finally, we compare satellite derived particulate inorganic carbon estimates in the surface ocean with a recently proposed metric for potential coccolithophore success on the community level i.e. the temperature, light and carbonate chemistry dependent CaCO 3 production potential (CCPP). Excluding the Antarctic province from the analysis we found a good correlation between CCPP and satellite derived PIC in the other regions with an R 2 of 0.73 for Austral winter/Boreal summer and 0.85 for Austral summer/Boreal winter.
APPLICATION OF TAGUCHI METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING THE ADSORPTION OF LEAD IONS ON NANOCOMPOSITE SILICA AEROGEL ACTIVATED CARBON

Using the Taguchi method, this study analyzes the optimum conditions for removal of lead from aqueous solution in batch method by Nanocomposite Silica Aerogel Activated Carbon (SA–AC), which is prepared using the sol gel method. The controllable factors used in this study consisted of the following: (1) pH of the solution(A); (2) adsorption temperature(B); (3) lead initial concentration(C); (4) adsorbent dosage(D); (5) contact time (F). The effects of each factor were studied at four levels on the removal efficiency of lead from aqueous solution.L 16 orthogonal array (OA) has been used for experimental design. Concentrations of lead were assessed by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The statistical analysis revealed that the most important factors contributing to the removal efficiency are pH of the solution and adsorption temperature. The study shows that the Taguchi's method is suitable to optimize the experiments for total lead ions removal. The total optimum adsorptive removal of leadions were obtained with C 0 = 10 mgL 1 , T = 65°C, pH = 6, m = 0.16 g and t = 6 h.
SCAPULO-THORACIC INTERACTION USING NATURAL COORDINATES FOR SHOULDER GIRDLE BIOMECHANICAL MODEL

This work aims to comparetwo algorithms to perform a kinematic consistency formodeling the scapulo-thoracic interaction (ST) using natural coordinates. The rib cage is usually represented by a fixed ellipsoid on the thorax reference system, while the scapula movement remains limited by aholonomic constraintmodeled by two fixed points to the scapula reference system that belong to the ellipsoid surface. A movement acquisition,using a motion analysis system that captured the anatomical landmarks tracking of the thorax and shoulder girdle, was performed. The natural coordinates were calculated through the anatomical landmarks coordinates and used to perform an optimization to make the movement kinematically consistent. The calculus of the ellipsoid constraint is trivial, unlike the Jacobian matrix. It is proposed a way for calculate the Jacobian of the constraint that model ST. The optimization for kinematic consistency was performed through the MatLab Optimization Toolbox and through the Augmented Lagrangian approach.Both approaches were able to make the constraint violation remainbelow the tolerance. The first one needed more iterations (11.26±11.91 - mean±SD) leading to a higher CPU-time (0.18±0.17) when compared with the second one (0.03±0.01) which, in turn, needed less iterations (7.81±0.38). The inverse kinematics was performed to compare each approach and they were similar when compared with the tolerance. Despite the fact the first approach is more robust, as usually motion analysis acquisition provides a good first approximation for the solution, the use of the Augmented Lagrangian approach seems to be more convenient due to its efficiency.
Degree of Esan Women’s Involvement in FarmLabour: Implication for Food Security

Drive towards women empowerment is gaining momentum in recent years. Despite the obvious success recorded among women generally, the case of rural women farmers in particular remains controversial. Some studies have reported increase in women’s access to agricultural productive resources such as land, farm technologies and credit facilities. But the extent to which women continue to engage in farm labour remains scarcely studied. Understanding the current degree to which women engage in farm labour is important for the future of women empowerment and food security. This study was conducted among Esan rural women farmers in Edo State, Nigeria. The sample size consisted of 457 women and the survey questionnaire was used to elicit responses from them on their level of involvement in farm labour. Also, the qualitative method of data collection involving focus group discussion was adopted. Data analysis involved the use of descriptive statistics. Result showed that women engage in every facet of food production from the point of land preparation to distribution, although at different degrees. The paper recommends among others, that women empowerment efforts should be intensified among rural women farmers to enable them contribute maximally to food security.
Evaluation of a Non-contact Diode Laser Coagulation vs. Electrocautery in Hemostasis in Lid Surgery

Appropriate hemostasis is a fundamental principle of modern surgery. The operations of the eyelids are very demanding in terms of precision of the equipment used to induce hemostasis. Nowadays one of the most frequently used methods for inhibition of intraoperative bleeding is bipolar electrocoagulation. However, this method has its limitations, of which the process of charred tissue adhesion to the tip of the probe, what significantly hinders the surgery, is the most vital one. With the increasing use of lasers in medicine, more and more often systems of laser contact cutting and coagulation are used. Unfortunately, despite the higher precision of performance, they have the same drawback as electrocogulation, namely the adhesion of charred tissue. In our study we compare the efficacy of a bipolar contact electrocoagulation with the non-contact method using a diode laser during dermatochalasis surgery of 60 eyes in 30 patients. There have been shown a clear shortening of time to achieve hemostasis in the eyes treated with laser coagulation. With no contact with the bleeding tissue, laser coagulation precisely and without delay inhibits bleeding, which significantly shortens the time of surgery. Cost-efficiency of diode lasers, as well as no need for sterilization of the laser probe further enhance the advantages of this method, which in the case of eyelid surgery has better performance results than electrocoagulation.
Coupled Thermoelasticity Impact Response Analysis of Composite Plates with SMA Wires in Thermal Environments

Impact responses of rectangular composite plates with embedded shape memory alloy (SMA) wires are investigated in the present research. The plate is assumed to be placed in a thermal environment; so that in contrast to the available researches in the field, the shape memory and ferroelasticity effects have to be considered also in addition to the superelasticity. The governing equations are derived based on a proposed enhanced free energy function and refined constitutive equations with coupled thermoelasticity expressions and solved by the finite element method. The resulting governing equations are solved through an iterative solution scheme, a bridging law, and a special phase transformation tracing algorithm. A special case of the results is verified by the experimental results extracted by the authors. Results showed that the volume change rate, impact-induced temperature rise, and ambient temperature may significantly affect the phase transformations mechanism and the non-linear indentation phenomenon.