Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thermal Conductivity and Microstructure Properties of Porous SiC Ceramic Derived from Silicon Carbide Powder

Porous SiC ceramic were prepared with silicon carbide powder as the aggregate, silicone resin as the binder and pore agent by the process of mixing, iso-static pressure molding, and calcination. The mechanical properties and microstructures of the samples were characterized with a universal testing machine, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and mercury injection. Two main factors, molding pressures and silicone resin mass ratio were studied in the experiments. The thermal conductivity of the samples was tested. The compressive strength was up to 19.4 MPa, and the porosities up to 30%. The thermal conductivities, mainly influenced by porosities, increased from 0.68 W.m-1.K-1 to 1.03 W.m-1.K-1 with the porosity decreasing from 41.96% to 31.30%.
Constituting Histories Through Culture In Iraqi Kurdistan

: Today, Kurds in Northern Iraq are employing a narrative of the Kurdish nation that bears strong ethnic roots and includes the memory of the victimization of the Kurdish nation. This essay examines the repurposing of the National Museum at Amna Suraka in Iraqi Kurdistan, from its former role as a Ba’ath site for detention, torture and execution, into a site for the preservation of Kurdish history and culture. In doing so, this essay locates the National Museum at Amna Suraka, and its role as a museum for Kurdish history and culture and as a national memorial,within the historical context of the Iraqi state. Such an examination, demonstrates the intersectional nature of the struggle for national identity within Iraqi Kurdish society, non-Kurds outside of Iraqi Kurdistan and for transnational Kurdish publics.
Le dématriçage par sélection spectrale revisité

Nous mettons en lumiere certaines proprietes nouvelles du dematricage lineaire par selection spectrale. Ainsi, cette approche, simple et rapide, fournit une solution directe au probleme du dematricage par minimisation d'un critere quadratique variationnel. La linearite de la methode la rend robuste dans les conditions reelles d'aliasage et de bruit, une qualite que l'on ne retrouve pas chez les methodes non lineaires de dematricage de la litterature.
EMR a Scalable Graph-Based Ranking Model

Recently, Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) has received a great consideration by researchers. It becomes one of the fascinating topics in image processing and computer vision. In this paper, Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) is employed which is widely adopted for efficient image feature description and simplicity to extract the features from the separated image. Before the extraction, RGB component is separated. to describe the colour images, it is required to combine the GLCMs from each channel of the image. Finally, K-Nearest Neighbor (K-NN) is employed for applying Euclidean distance to retrieve the image. Experimental results show a significantly higher retrieval accuracy compared with previous research.
Transforming African Education Systems in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Using ICTs: Challenges and Opportunities

This paper presents the role of ICTs in transforming Africa’s Education Systems (AES) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects/courses. The paper highlights on a positive shift across Africa in using ICT to improve the quality of teaching and learning through activities such as intensive ICT skills training to teachers, increase in ICT equipments and applications in schools, and emergence of living labs (LLs) and innovation spaces/centres (InnoSpace). We first provide some of the challenges of integrating ICTs in education followed by a description of key past and current ICT initiatives supporting the adoption of ICTs in schools using a number of case studies in sub-Saharan Africa. We further present various ICT-based models for education, as a transformational approach towards integrating ICTs in AES. Moreover, we provide various ICT platforms deployed for education service delivery in disadvantaged African society (e.g., rural areas) including LLs and InnoSpace across the continent. Finally, we highlight our main findings and observations in terms of opportunities and future ICT for education research directions in Africa. Our aim is to provide some guidelines and ensure that Africa uniformly meet the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 4, which is to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning, particularly using ICTs.
Die Bedeutung der HWS für Gleichgewicht und Sport

Zusammenfassung Die Auslöser für Nackenschmerzen kennen viele Sportler: einmal zu hart trainiert, vom Gegner unsanft zu Fall gebracht – die Ursachen sind vielfältig. Was aber kaum jemand weiß: Nackenschmerzen können auch die Leistung beinträchtigen. Hier erfahren Sie, warum das so ist und welche Aspekte beim Training zu beachten sind.
Adaptive FISTA for Nonconvex Optimization

In this paper we propose an adaptively extrapolated proximal gradient method, which is based on the accelerated proximal gradient method (also known as FISTA), however we locally optimize the extrapolation parameter by carrying out an exact (or inexact) line search. It turns out that in some situations, the proposed algorithm is equivalent to a class of SR1 (identity minus rank 1) proximal quasi-Newton methods. Convergence is proved in a general non-convex setting, and hence, as a byproduct, we also obtain new convergence guarantees for proximal quasi-Newton methods. The efficiency of the new method is shown in numerical experiments on a sparsity regularized non-linear inverse problem.
Se comportan más éticamente las consejeras que los consejeros de las comisiones de auditoría respecto a la calidad de la información contable

In this analysis, we aim at investigating how audit committees (ACs) gender diversity impacts on the quality of financial information, calculated with the opinion that external auditors give firms in the audit report. We hypothesize that there is a negative relation between gender diversity on ACs and the likelihood of receiving a qualification with errors, non-compliance and the omission of information, and a positive association between gender diversity on ACs and the probability of disclosing qualifications with uncertainties. The results show a negative association between the proportion of women directors on ACs, the proportion of institutional women directors on ACs and ACs chaired by women and the probability of receiving qualifications with errors, noncompliance and the omission of information. Additionally, the findings also report a positive relationship between gender diversity on ACs, except for the proportion of executive women directors, and the likelihood of disclosing qualifications with uncertainties. These conclusions suggest that gender diversity on ACs enhance financial reporting quality, but the improvement depends on the type of women director making up ACs.
Measurements of iodine monoxide at a semi polluted coastal location

Abstract. Point source measurements of IO by laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy were made at a semi-polluted coastal location during the Reactive Halogens in the Marine Boundary Layer (RHaMBLe) campaign in September 2006. The site, on the NW French coast in Roscoff, was characterised by extensive intertidal macroalgae beds which were exposed at low tide. The closest known iodine active macroalgae beds were at least 300 m from the measurement point. From 20 days of measurements, IO was observed above the instrument limit of detection on 14 days, of which a clear diurnal profile was observed on 11 days. The maximum IO mixing ratio was 30.0 pptv (10 s integration period) during the day, amongst the highest concentrations ever observed in the atmosphere, and 1–2 pptv during the night. IO concentrations were strongly dependent on tidal height, the intensity of solar irradiation and meteorological conditions. An intercomparison of IO measurements made using point source and spatially averaged DOAS instruments confirms the presence of hot-spots of IO caused by an inhomogeneous distribution of macroalgae. The co-incident, point source measurement of IO and ultra fine particles (2.5 nm≥d≥10 nm) displayed a strong correlation, providing evidence that IO is involved in the production pathway of ultra fine particles at coastal locations. Finally, a modelling study shows that high IO concentrations which are likely to be produced in a macrolagae rich environment can significantly perturb the concentrations of OH and HO2 radicals. The effect of IO on HOx is reduced as NOx concentrations increase.
On-line and off-line data assimilation in palaeoclimatology: a case study

Abstract. Different ensemble-based data assimilation (DA) approaches for palaeoclimate reconstructions have been recently undertaken, but no systematic comparison among them has been attempted. We compare an off-line and an on-line ensemble-based method, with the testing period being the 17th century, which led into the Maunder Minimum. We use a low-resolution version of Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Earth System Model (MPI-ESM) to assimilate the Past Global Changes (PAGES) 2k continental temperature reconstructions. In the off-line approach, the ensemble for the entire simulation period is generated first and then the ensemble is used in combination with the empirical information to produce the analysis. In contrast, in the on-line approach, the ensembles are generated sequentially for sub-periods based on the analysis of previous sub-periods. Both schemes perform better than the simulations without DA. The on-line method would be expected to perform better if the assimilation led to states of the slow components of the climate system that are close to reality and the system had sufficient memory to propagate this information forward in time. In our comparison, which is based on analysing correlations and differences between the analysis and the proxy-based reconstructions, we find similar skill for both methods on the continental and hemispheric scales. This indicates either a lack of control of the slow components in our setup or a lack of skill in the information propagation on decadal timescales. Additional experiments are however needed to check whether the conclusions reached in this particular setup are valid in other cases. Although the performance of the two schemes is similar and the on-line method is more difficult to implement, the temporal consistency of the analysis in the on-line method makes it in general preferable.
Advances in Radio Science Non-linear behaviour of charge-pump phase-locked loops

The analysis of the mixed analogue and digital structure of charge-pump phase-locked loops (CP-PLL) is a challenge in modelling and simulation. In most cases the system is designed and characterized using its continuous linear model or its discrete linear model neglecting its nonlinear switching behaviour. I.e., the time-varying model is approximated by a time-invariant representation using its average dynamics. Depending on what kind of phase detector is used, the scopes of validity of these approximations are different. Here, a preeminent characterization and simulation technique based on the systems event-driven feature is presented, merging the logical and analogue inherent characteristics of the system. In particular, the high-grade nonlinear locking process and the dead-zone are analyzed.
A Virtual Presence System Design with Indoor Navigation Capabilities for Patients with Locked-In Syndrome

—In this article, we present a prototype of a virtual presence system combined with an eye-tracking based communication interface and an indoor navigation component to support patients with locked-in syndrome. The common locked-in syndrome is a state of paralysis of all four limbs while a patient retains full consciousness. Furthermore, also the vocal tract and the respiration system are paralyzed. Thus, the virtually only possibility to communicate consists in the utilization of eye movements for system control. Our prototype allows the patient to control movements of the virtual presence system by eye gestures while observing a live view of the scene that is displayed on a screen via an on-board camera. The system comprises an object classiﬁcation module to provide the patient with different interaction and communication options depending on the object he or she has chosen via an eye gesture. In addition, our system has an indoor navigation component, which can be used to prevent the patient from navigating the virtual presence systems to critical areas and to allow for an autonomous return to the base station using the shortest path. The proposed prototype may open up new possibilities for locked-in syndrome patients to regain a little more mobility and interaction capabilities within their familiar environment.
Chapter 2 Phosphorus Fertilizing Effects of Biomass Ashes

The reutilization of biomass ashes in agriculture is important to create nutrient cycles. In field and pot experiments we investigated the fertilizing effects of different biomass ashes (rape meal ash, straw ash, and cereal ash) for eight different crops on a loamy sand and a sandy loam. Special emphasis was given to phosphorus (P). The ashes showed large differences in their elemental composition. The highest P contents (10.5%) were measured in the cereal ash, and lowest in straw ash (1% P). The solubility of P in water was low; however, about 80% of P was soluble in citric acid. Generally, the P fertilizing effect of ashes was comparable to that of highly soluble P fertilizers such as triple superphosphate. The ash supply resulted in an increase of P uptake of cultivated crops as well as in increased soil P pools (total P, water-soluble P, double-lactate-soluble P, oxalate-soluble P) and P saturation. The ash effects depended also on the cultivated crop. Good results were found in combination with phacelia, buckwheat, and maize. Provided that biomass ashes are low in heavy metals and other toxic substances, the ashes can be applied in agriculture as a valuable fertilizer.
Impact of small variations in temperature and humidity on the reproductive activity and survival of Aedes aegypti (Diptera, Culicidae)

In short space of time increase in temperature and rainfall can affect vector populations and, consequently, the diseases for them transmitted. The present study analyzed the effect of small temperature and humidity variations on the fecundity, fertility and survival of Aedes aegypti. These parameters were analyzed using individual females at temperatures ranging from 23 to 27 °C (mean 25 °C); 28 to 32 °C (mean 30 °C) and 33 to 37 °C (mean 35 oC) associated to 60±8% and 80±6% relative humidity. Females responded to an increase in temperature by reducing egg production, oviposition time and changing oviposition patterns. At 25 oC and 80% relative humidity, females survived two-fold more and produced 40% more eggs when compared to those kept at 35 oC and 80% relative humidity. However, in 45% of females kept at 35 oC and 60% relative humidity oviposition was inhibited and only 15% females laid more than 100 eggs, suggesting that the intensity of the temperature effect was influenced by humidity. Gradual reductions in egg fertility at 60% relative humidity were observed with the increase in temperature, although such effect was not found in the 80% relative humidity at 25 o C and 30 o C. These results suggest that the reduction in population densities recorded in tropical areas during seasons when temperatures reach over 35 oC is likely to be strongly influenced by temperature and humidity, with a negative effect on several aspects of mosquito biology.
Consistency of variational Bayes inference for estimation and model selection in mixtures

Mixture models are widely used in Bayesian statistics and machine learning, in particular in computational biology, natural language processing and many other fields. Variational inference, a technique for approximating intractable posteriors thanks to optimization algorithms, is extremely popular in practice when dealing with complex models such as mixtures. The contribution of this paper is two-fold. First, we study the concentration of variational approximations of posteriors, which is still an open problem for general mixtures, and we derive consistency and rates of convergence. We also tackle the problem of model selection for the number of components: we study the approach already used in practice, which consists in maximizing a numerical criterion (the Evidence Lower Bound). We prove that this strategy indeed leads to strong oracle inequalities. We illustrate our theoretical results by applications to Gaussian and multinomial mixtures.
Catalase activity in Smicridea McLachlan, 1871 (Insecta, Trichoptera) collected from natural and altered/impacted streams

Aim: We compare catalase activity in SmicrideaMcLachlan, 1871 (Insecta, Trichoptera) collected in natural and agricultural streams and correlates the enzyme pattern with metal content in the water.MethodsOrganisms were collected in sites classified as natural (riparian vegetation in buffer zone) and altered/impacted (agricultural land use in drainage area) environments, located at Cravo River and Campo River sub-basins (RS, Brazil). Next the collected larvae were identified and used to proteins quantification and catalase activity measure. The concentration of Mg, Cr, Cu, Pb and Cd in the water was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry.ResultsCatalase activity in Smicridea ranged from 1.5 to 6 U, with mean values about 2.63 ± 0.096 U (SEM). The presence of metals was higher in the streams located at agricultural drainage area, except for Mg at the Cravo sub-basin and Cu at the Campo sub-basin. Catalase was higher in Smicridea collected in natural streams as compared to that agriculture streams and was correlated with Pb and Cd levels.ConclusionsThe data showed the potential of this biomarker as a useful tool for complementation of water quality biomonitoring studies using Smicridea as bioindicator.
Temporal variability, sources, and sinks of C 1 -C 5 alkyl nitrates in coastal Ne

Abstract. Seven C1-C5 alkyl nitrates were measured both on the mainland and off the coast of New Hampshire using gas chromatographic techniques. Five separate data sets are presented to characterize the seasonal and diurnal trends and the major sources and loss processes of these compounds. Based on in situ measurements conducted at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Atmospheric Observing Station at Thompson Farm (TF) located in southeast NH during winter (January–February) 2002, summer (June–August) 2002, summer (July–August) 2004, and on daily canister samples collected at midday from January 2004–February 2008, the median total alkyl nitrate mixing ratio (ΣRONO2) was 23–25 pptv in winter and 14–16 pptv in summer. During summers 2002 and 2004, MeONO2 decreased overnight and reached minimum hourly average mixing ratios in the early morning. Comparison with wind speed and trace gas trends suggested that dry deposition contributed to the early morning MeONO2 minimum which is a previously unaccounted for removal mechanism. The mean dry deposition rate and velocity of MeONO2 was estimated to be −0.5 nmol m−2 hr−1 and 0.13 cm s−1, respectively. Results from ambient air and surface seawater measurements made onboard the NOAA R/V Ronald H. Brown in the Gulf of Maine during the 2002 New England Air Quality Study and from ambient canister samples collected throughout the Great Bay estuary in August 2003 are also presented. Comparisons between the alkyl nitrate trends with anthropogenic and marine tracers suggest that a marine source of alkyl nitrates is not significant in coastal New England. Given the apparent prominence of a secondary source, comparisons between observed and predicted alkyl nitrate/parent hydrocarbon ratios were made which demonstrated that background mixing ratios have a continuous and prevalent influence on the alkyl nitrate distribution.
Detección de objetos en entornos dinámicos para videovigilancia

La videovigilancia por medios automaticos es un campo de investigacion muy activo debido a la necesidad de seguridad y control. En este sentido, existen situaciones que dificultan el correcto funcionamiento de los algoritmos ya existentes. Esta tesis se centra en la deteccion de movimiento y aborda varias de las problematicas habituales, planteando nuevos enfoques que, en la gran mayoria de las ocasiones, superan a otras propuestas pertenecientes al estado del arte. En particular estudiamos: - La importancia del espacio de color de cara a la deteccion de movimiento. - Los efectos del ruido en el video de entrada. - Un nuevo modelo de fondo denominado MFBM que acepta cualquier numero y tipo de rasgo de entrada. - Un metodo para paliar las dificultades que suponen los cambios de iluminacion. - Un metodo no panoramico para detectar movimiento en camaras no estaticas. Durante la tesis se han utilizado diferentes repositorios publicos que son ampliamente utilizados en el ambito de la deteccion de movimiento. Ademas, los resultados obtenidos han sido comparados con los de otras propuestas existentes. Todo el codigo utilizado ha sido colgado en la Web de forma publica. En esta tesis se llega a las siguientes conclusiones: - El espacio de color con el que se codifique el video de entrada repercute notablemente en el rendimiento de los metodos de deteccion. El modelo RGB no siempre es la mejor opcion. Tambien se ha comprobado que ponderar los canales de color del video de entrada mejora el rendimiento de los metodos. - El ruido en el video de entrada a la hora de realizar la deteccion de movimiento es un factor a tener en cuenta ya que condiciona el rendimiento de los metodos. Resulta llamativo que, si bien el ruido suele ser perjudicial, en ocasiones puede mejorar la deteccion. - El modelo MFBM supera a los demas metodos competidores estudiados, todos ellos pertenecientes al estado del arte. - Los problemas derivados de los cambios de iluminacion se reducen significativamente al utilizar el metodo propuesto. - El metodo propuesto para detectar movimiento con camaras no estaticas supera en la gran mayoria de las ocasiones a otras propuestas existentes. Se han consultado 280 entradas bibliograficas, entre ellas podemos destacar: - C. Wren, A. Azarbayejani, T. Darrell, and A. Pentl, “Pﬁnder: real-time tracking of the human body,” IEEE Trans. on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 19, pp. 780–785, 1997. - C. Stauﬀer and W. Grimson, “Adaptive background mixture models for real-time tracking,” in Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, 1999. - L. Li, W. Huang, I. -H. Gu, and Q. Tian, “Statistical modeling of complex backgrounds for foreground object detection,” Image Processing, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 13, pp. 1459–1472, 2004. - T. Bouwmans, “Traditional and recent approaches in background modeling for foreground detection: An overview,” Computer Science Review, vol. 11-12, pp. 31 – 66, 2014.
Elicitación de requerimientos educativos en un serious game

El presente artículo describe el mecanismo de Elicitación de requerimientos para Serious Games (SG) propuesto por el grupo de Investigación en Tecnologías Interactivas (GTI), para su Modelo de Proceso de Desarrollo de Serious Game (MPDSG). El trabajo se concentra en la Elicitación de los requerimientos pedagógicos y su relación con el resto de los requerimientos. Se presenta el mecanismo a través de la experiencia obtenida por parte del grupo, en el desarrollo del serious game “Power Down The Zombies”. El enfoque ha sido útil para especificar los requerimientos pedagógicos del SG. Por otra parte esta metodología se convirtió en una herramienta que mejoró la comunicación entre los diseñadores del serious game y los expertos.