Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimized Authentication System with High Security and Privacy

Authentication and privacy play an important role in the present electronic world. Biometrics and especially fingerprint-based authentication are extremely useful for unlocking doors, mobile phones, etc. Fingerprint biometrics usually store the attributes of the minutia point of a fingerprint directly in the database as a user template. Existing research works have shown that from such insecure user templates, original fingerprints can be constructed. If the database gets compromised, the attacker may construct the fingerprint of a user, which is a serious security and privacy issue. Security of original fingerprints is therefore extremely important. Ali et al. have designed a system for secure fingerprint biometrics; however, their technique has various limitations and is not optimized. In this paper, first we have proposed a secure technique which is highly robust, optimized, and fast. Secondly, unlike most of the fingerprint biometrics apart from the minutiae point location and orientation, we have used the quality of minutiae points as well to construct an optimized template. Third, the template constructed is in 3D shell shape. We have rigorously evaluated the technique on nine different fingerprint databases. The obtained results from the experiments are highly promising and show the effectiveness of the technique.
Catalytic cracking of Jatropha curcas oil using aluminosilicate prepared from rice husk silica and aluminium metal through electrochemical method

In this study, a series of synthetic aluminosilicate (ALS) was prepared from rice husk silica using electrochemical method. To produce ALS with different Si/Al ratios, the preparation was carried out at constant pH of 4 and constant time of 30 minutes and with varied potentials of 4, 6, 8, and 10 volts . Before use, the catalysts were subjected to calcination treatments at temperature of 500 °C for 5 hours. All ALSs were then tested as catalysts for pyrolytic cracking of Jatropha curcas oil. The liquid fuels produced were analyzed by GC-MS to identify the components of the liquid fuels. The results showed that the four synthetic ALSs exhibited good catalytic activity where the best activity was shown to be ALS prepared at the potential of 4, assigned as ALS 4:4 which produced liquid fuel with hydrocarbon content of 78.28%. Keywords : electrochemical method, J. curcas, pyrolysis, rice husk silica, synthetic ALS
A Hybrid Ensembled Double-Input-Fuzzy-Modules Based Precise Prediction of PV Power Generation

BackgroundAs one of the most widespread renewable energy technologies, photovoltaic power generation system provides great environmental and economic benefits. Uncertain output of the photovoltaic power generation system gets a lot of concern, due to its randomicity and intermittence features. Achieving precise prediction for the PV power generation will greatly improve the quality of electric energy and enhance the stability of power system operation. Inspired by the powerful ability of fuzzy logic to deal with uncertainty and the superiority of machine learning to handle the time series prediction, a hybrid ensembled model consisted of the Double-Input-Fuzzy-Modules (DIFM) and Extreme Learning Machine is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the PV power generation data is taken as the input of each DIFM in order to efficiently handle the uncertainties. Then, the outputs of each DIFM are used as the input of ELM. Moreover, the least square estimation is applied to train the parameters of the hybrid ensembled model to further enhance the predict precision. Finally, the proposed hybrid ensembled model is applied to achieve a real-world PV power generation forecasting. ResultsThe case study and comparisons results indicate that the proposed hybrid ensembled model outperforms other methods, including the adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system, the single-input-rule-modules connected fuzzy model, the support vector regression and the multiple linear regression, in terms of the mean absolute error, the root means square error, the mean absolute error percentage and the mean relative error. ConclusionsThis study fully took the advantages of fuzzy logic to deal with uncertainty and the superiority of machine learning to handle the time series prediction, then combined the DIFM and Extreme Learning Machine to propose a hybrid ensembled DIFM based PV power generation prediction model. Experimental results demonstrated the superiorities of the proposed model over the other comparisons, in both prediction accuracy and calculation speed.
Effects of water pilates on urinary loss, genital self-image and sexual function of elderly women

Descriptive, quasi experimental study with pre and post-test, which aimed to investigate the effects of Water Pilates (PA) on urinary incontinence, genital self-image and sexual function of elderly women. The sample consisted of seventeen elderly women aged 60 years or over, from a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul. The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form (ICIQSF) was used as instruments to assess the impact of UI in quality of life and qualify urinary loss, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) to assess sexual function and Female Genital Self-Image Scale (FGSIS) to assess women's perception of their own genitalia. The PA protocol was performed twice a week for 50 minutes performed for eight weeks, totaling 16 sessions. The protocol was divided into warm-up, strengthening exercises and stretching. It was observed that the sample was composed of young elderly women (69.5 ± 5.9 years), overweight and with low FSFI and FGSIS scores. There was no significant change in the mean values before and after the intervention of the ICIQ-SF, FGSIS and FSFI scores. It was concluded that the PA method had no effect on urinary loss, sexual function and genital self-image.
Digital-free tourism intention: a technostress perspective

ABSTRACT Digital-free tourism limits tourists’ access to information and communication technologies during vacation. It is an emerging trend but tourists’ motivation to take digital-free tourism has not been fully understood. Anchoring on technostress literature, this study examines the effects of the exhaustion from workplace information technology and off-work social network services on tourists’ intention to take digital-free tourism. Survey data involving 300 full-time working individuals show that both techno-exhaustion and social-network-services-exhaustion have positive impacts on tourists’ digital-free tourism intentions. It contributes to the literature by introducing technostress related constructs in understanding tourists’ digital-free tourism intentions.
The Effect of Occupational Stress and Coping Strategies on Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being Among University Academic Staff During the COVID-19 Outbreak

The level of stress among academics in higher education institutions has significantly increased over the past decade Mental health and well-being of academics can be affected once they are exposed to stressful work conditions and use negative coping strategies This study was set against the backdrop of the pandemic disease, COVID-19, which has challenged the daily work of academics and risen to the various new stressors This study aims to investigate the current status of occupational stress, coping styles, mental health and emotional well-being of university academics during the COVID-19 outbreak in Northern Ireland, and examine the effect of stress and coping strategies on mental health and emotional well-being A cross-sectional online survey was conducted using a sample size of 87 academic staff working in a university in Northern Ireland SPSS version 25 was used to analyse the collected data The results showed academics experienced moderate stress levels, and distraction behaviours were the most common form of coping mechanism Academics were in the moderate status of mental health and poor emotional well-being Occupational stress has a significant effect on mental health and emotional well-being Positive reframing and acceptance coping styles have an impact on emotional well-being This study contributes to the understanding of occupational stress, coping strategies, mental health and emotional well-being of academics in higher education in Northern Ireland The findings can help to develop reliable methods to inform policy on health and well-being for university academics, which in turn lead to increased productivity at work
Facile synthesis of chitosan assisted multifunctional magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2@CS@pyropheophorbide-a fluorescent nanoparticles for photodynamic therapy

Novel chlorin photosensitizer pyropheophorbide-a (PPA) coated multifunctional magneto-fluorescent nanoparticles Fe3O4@SiO2@CS@PPA (MFCSPPA) about 50 nm in diameter were strategically designed and prepared for photodynamic therapy (PDT) based on the good solubility and magnetic targeting of Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles, excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability of chitosan (CS) polymer, and the unique fluorescence and photodynamic activity of pyropheophorbide-a. In this work, we found that magneto-fluorescent MFCSPPA has high saturation magnetization of 23.7 emu g−1, and showed super-paramagnetic properties, good dispersion in alcohol and water, excellent water-solubility, improved biocompatibility and good photoluminescence properties. In addition, we demonstrated MFCSPPA mediated singlet oxygen production in solution conditions by using 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran (DPBF) as a fluorescence detector. Moreover, the in vitro PDT activities against human HeLa cervical cancer cells were investigated by MTT assay. The phototoxicity experiments showed that MFCSPPA has strong photodynamic therapy activity and low dark toxicity, and the cancer cell viability was reduced to 18% after treatment with PDT. Phagocytosis of MFCSPPA experiments indicated that it could be successfully taken up to some extent by HeLa cells with a suitable lipo-hydro partition coefficient and biocompatibility. Acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) double fluorescence staining suggested that the cells are all in a state of apoptosis or necrosis after PDT treatment for 6 h. In addition, we studied the formation of reactive oxygen species in HeLa cells after MFCSPPA-PDT treatment; the results suggested that type I and type II photodynamic reactions can occur simultaneously, yet type I photodynamic reactions have a slight edge over type II. The as-prepared magneto-fluorescent MFCSPPA nanoparticles are suitable for simultaneous PDT and medical fluorescence imaging.
A Comparison Of Regularized Linear Discriminant Functions For Poorly-Posed Classification Problems

For statistical classification problems where the total sample size is slightly greater than the feature dimension, regularized statistical discriminant rules may reduce classification error rates. We review ten dispersion-matrix regularization approaches, four for the pooled sample covariance matrix, four for the inverse pooled sample covariance matrix, and two for a diagonal covariance matrix, for use in Anderson’s (1951) linear discriminant function ( LDF ). We compare these regularized classifiers against the traditional LDF for a variety of parameter configurations, and use the estimated expected error rate ( EER ) to assess performance. We also apply the regularized LDF s to a well-known real-data example on colon cancer. We found that no regularized classifier uniformly outperformed the others. However, we found that the more contemporary classifiers (e.g., Thomaz and Gillies, 2005; Tong et al., 2012; and Xu et al., 2009) tended to outperform the older classifiers, and that certain simple methods (e.g., Pang et al., 2009; Thomaz and Gillies, 2005; and Tong et al., 2012) performed very well, questioning the need for involved cross-validation in estimating regularization parameters. Nonetheless, an older regularized classifier proposed by Smidt and McDonald (1976) yielded consistently low misclassification rates across all scenarios, despite the shape of the true covariance matrix. Finally, our simulations showed that regularized classifiers that relied primarily on asymptotic approximations with respect to the training sample size rarely outperformed the traditional LDF , and are thus not recommended. We discuss our results as they pertain to the effect of high dimension, and offer general guidelines for choosing a regularization method for poorly-posed problems.
Guests’ Happiness in Luxury Hotels in Jordan: The Role of Spirituality and Religiosity in an Islamic Context

ABSTRACT This study uses Stephenson’s model of Islamic-spiritual hotels to examine how spiritual practices and Islamic Shari’a compliant approach (i.e., religious obligations) inside luxury hotels may increase guests’ subjective happiness (GSH). In total, 248 guests from luxury hotels in Jordan participated in this study. The findings show that high levels of guests’ spirituality and religiosity decrease their happiness during their stay in luxury hotels, while the existence of spiritual facilities inside this class of hotels enhances their happiness. In total, 83.8% of the participants contend their preference to stay in an Islamic hotel wherever they travel. The empirical study highlights the contextual applicability and extension of Stephenson’s framework by presenting a fresh understanding of the linkages between spiritualities at hotels and guests’ happiness. This warrants a range of future directions for further studies.
Tracking and short-term forecasting of mesoscale convective cloud clusters over southeast Brazil using satellite infrared imagery

This paper presents the tracking and short-term forecasting of mesoscale convective cloud clusters (CCs) that occurred over southeast Brazil and the adjacent Atlantic Ocean during 2009–17. These events produce intense rainfall and severe storms that impact agriculture, defence, hydroelectricity and offshore oil production. To identify, track and forecast CCs, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite infrared imagery and the Forecasting and Tracking the Evolution of Cloud Clusters method are used. The forecast performance is investigated by applying statistical analyses between the observed and forecasted CCs’ physical properties. A total of 7139 mesoscale convective CCs were identified, tracked and selected for the short-term forecasting at their maturation phases. The CC tracking showed a high frequency of CCs over the Atlantic Ocean and mainly over continental and coastal southeast Brazil during the wet season. This indicates an important role played by the cold fronts and convective diurnal forcing on the organisation of convective cloudiness over that region. The majority of the CCs reached their maturation phases within the first 2h of life cycle, which occurred mostly between the late afternoon and evening. The CCs had short lifetimes and were predominantly in meso-β scales, followed by meso-α convective CCs. The CCs showed cloud-top temperatures typical of clouds with strong vertical development and potential to produce rainfall. The short-term forecasting of CCs at their maturation phases revealed different behaviours of the statistical indices with forecast range. For the 30–60-min timeframe, the forecasts performed relatively well. For longer forecast lead times (90–120min), the forecasts overestimated the occurrences, intensities and growth of the CCs and forecasted the CCs to be further north and east of their actual observed locations. Overall, our results may contribute to improving the forecast quality of these intense weather events.
Influence of Late Holocene climate on Lake Eggers hydrology, McMurdo Sound

Abstract Ice-covered lakes in Antarctica preserve records of regional hydroclimate and harbour extreme ecosystems that may serve as terrestrial analogues for exobiotic environments. Here, we examine the impacts of hydroclimate and landscape on the formation history of Lake Eggers, a small ice-sealed lake, located in the coastal polar desert of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica (78°S). Using ground penetrating radar surveys and three lake ice cores we characterize the ice morphology and chemistry. Lake ice geochemistry indicates that Lake Eggers is fed primarily from local snowmelt that accreted onto the lake surface during runoff events. Radiocarbon ages of ice-encased algae suggest basal ice formed at least 735 ± 20 calibrated years before present (1215 C.E.). Persisting through the Late Holocene, Lake Eggers alternated between periods of ice accumulation and sublimation driven by regional climate variability in the western Ross Sea. For example, particulate organic matter displayed varying δ15N ratios with depth, corresponding to sea ice fluctuations in the western Ross Sea during the Late Holocene. These results suggest a strong climatic control on the hydrologic regime shifts shaping ice formation at Lake Eggers.
Sociocultural Implications of Infertility and Challenges in Accessing Assisted Reproductive Technology: Experiences of Couples from Two Health Facilities in Southern Ghana

Abstract Introduction In most traditional societies in Ghana, infertility is unacceptable and every couple is expected to conceive children by any means. This study explores the sociocultural implications of infertility in Ghana and the challenges couples encounter in accessing assisted reproductive technology. Methods The study used a qualitative descriptive design in two health facilities in an urban community in Southern Ghana. The study recruited 20 participants: 16 individuals who had accessed assisted reproductive technology, two nurses and two gynecologists. Participants were purposely selected and data were analyzed thematically. Results Culturally, couples who are unable to give birth are considered witches, discriminated against in decision making and are believed to be rejected by the ancestral world when they die. It was found that these sociocultural implications of infertility compelled couples to access assisted reproductive technologies and were faced with social challenges, psychological implications, economic constraints, and medical complications. Conclusions Children born through assisted reproductive technologies are not accepted by some sections of the society despite the challenges couples encounter in accessing these technologies. Public sensitization should be intensified in Ghana to accept the use of assisted reproductive technologies to limit stigmatization of couples with fertility problems and children born through assisted reproductive technology. Abbreviations: ART: assisted reproduction technology
Design and Validation of BAT Algorithm-Based Photovoltaic System Using Simplified High Gain Quasi Boost Inverter

Owing to the intermittent nature of renewable energy systems, an improved power extraction technique and modernized power modulators are to be designed to overcome power quality challenges. Attesting to this fact, this work aims to enhance the efficiency of the photovoltaic (PV) system using the BAT algorithm (BA) and enhances the overall performance of the system using modified inverter topology. Specifically, a new power electronic modulator, i.e., a simplified high gain quasi-boost inverter (SHGqBI), is implemented to eliminate the downsides of the conventional system. The proposed inverter reduces the additional components that can condense the volume of the design with reduced conduction and switching losses. The combination of BA-based PV rated 250 W and novel inverter configuration pick the global peak power with enhanced power quality. Notably, BA extracts the maximum power from the panel meritoriously with about 98.8% efficiency. This is because BA uses the global input parameters to track the maximum power of the PV panel, whereas other conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques used limited parameters. Further, the current and voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) of the proposed inverter are recorded, which show a commendable range of 2.7% and 10.2%, respectively. In addition, the efficiency of the inverter is found to be 97%. Consequently, the overall system efficiency is calculated and found to be 97.9%, providing greater advantages over a conventional system. The system is mathematically modelled using MATLAB/Simulink and validated through an experimental setup with the laboratory prototype model.
Protective role of cortistatin in pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis

Acute lung injury (ALI), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and pulmonary fibrosis remain major causes of morbidity, mortality and a healthcare burden in critically ill patient. There is an urgent need to identify factors causing susceptibility and for the design of new therapeutic agents. Here, we evaluate the effectiveness of the immunomodulatory neuropeptide cortistatin to regulate pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis in vivo.
Assessment and reform of greywater reuse policies and practice: a case study from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

This article presents an assessment of one of the earliest greywater reuse (GWR) experiences in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE). In 2003, the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) imposed a compulsory GWR program on various categories of new buildings in the city. However, implementation of the program faced significant resistance and setbacks and remained limited to about 200 buildings, representing less than 2% water savings. In the analysis presented in this study, the need for GWR was assessed through analyzing SEWA’s water supply and demand projections, conducting a 12-month water use survey of 285,000 Sharjah residents from about 140 nationalities, and identifying the areas in the city with intense water use. In addition, analysis and reforms of the various aspects of SEWA’s GWR reuse policies and practice were presented and discussed. Reforming the policy to increase GWR to about 10% water savings can lead to significant reductions in desalinated water consumption and wastewater generation and consequently significant reductions in desalination cost (35 million USD/y), energy consumption (225,840 MWh/year) and CO2 emissions (120 ton/year). The case study presented in the article can serve as a reference to guide GWR policies and practice, especially for local authorities in developing countries.
Inertial accelerated algorithms for the split common fixed-point problem of directed operators

In this paper, we introduce two inertial accelerated algorithms for solving the split common fixed-point problem of directed operators in real Hilbert space. The proposed iterative algorithms combine the primal-dual method and the inertial method with the self-adaptive stepsizes such that the implementation of our algorithms does not need any prior information about bounded linear operator norms. Under suitable conditions, the weak and strong convergence results of the algorithms are obtained. Numerical results which involve image restoration problems are reported to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Crosstalk between lymphoid and myeloid cells orchestrates glioblastoma immunity through Interleukin 10 signaling

Despite recent advances in cancer immunotherapy, its efficacy in Glioblastoma (GBM) is limited due to poor understanding of molecular states and cellular plasticity of immune cells within the tumor microenvironment. Here, we combined spatial and single-cell transcriptomics of 47.284 immune cells, to map the potential cellular interactions leading to the immunosuppressive microenvironment and dysfunction of T cells. Computational approach identified a subset of IL10 releasing HMOX1+ myeloid cells which activates transcriptional programs towards a dysfunctional state in T cells, and was found to be localized within mesenchymal dominated subregions of the tumor. These findings were further validated by a human ex-vivo neocortical GBM model (n=6) coupled with patient derived peripheral T-cells. Finally, the dysfunctional transformation of T cells was shown to be rescued by JAK/STAT inhibition in both our model and in-vivo. We strongly believe that our findings would be the stepping stone towards successful development of immunotherapeutic approaches in GBM.