Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Renewable Resource Use with Imperfect Self-Control

We investigate renewable resources when the harvesting agents face self-control problems. Individuals are conceptualized as dual selves. The rational long-run self plans for the infinite future while the affective short-run self desires to maximize instantaneous profits. Depending on the degree of self-control, actual behavior is partly driven by short-run desires. This modeling represents impatience and present bias without causing time inconsistent decision making. In a model of a single harvesting agent (e.g. a fishery), we discuss how self-control problems affect harvesting behavior, resource conservation, and sustainability and discuss policies to curb overuse and potential collapse of the resource due to present-biased harvesting behavior. We then extend the model to several harvesting agents and show how limited self-control exacerbates the common pool problem. Finally, we investigate heterogenous agents and show that there are spillover effects of limited self-control in the sense that perfectly rational agents also behave less conservatively when they interact with agents afflicted by imperfect self-control.
Trends in domestic energy use reduction and private renewable energy production

Domestic energy use can be directly influenced by personal choices. These choices include the selection of equipment (efficiency), mode of equipment use, consumer behaviour but also by self-production of electricity, space heating and/or cooling. Intelligent meters showing the actual use of electricity give insight in domestic energy use and is crucial in decreasing domestic energy use. However, households need better access to knowledge and experiences of experts to understand the potential choices to decrease their use of energy. Housing and equipment ‘labelling’ can give some support with these choices, but need to be more uniform and clear. Households controlling their own usage of energy and home production of electricity can make substantial savings on their energy bills. The paper describes experiences in practical situations using long term scientific and professional experiences.
Development of a Wireless Displacement Estimation System Using IMU-based Device

Article history: Received: 14 August, 2020 Accepted: 28 September, 2020 Online: 12 October, 2020 Estimation of displacement is an information required for daily operation monitoring systems to monitor human health or to locate users in buildings, basements, tunnels and similar places which under the same conditions that the global positioning signal (GPS) level is from very weak to completely absent; and is the measurement technique by using multimetric data fusion. Most current displacement estimation methods require a lot of infrastructures and devices such as UWB, wifi access points, cameras. Hence, estimation methods that ultilize inertial measurement unit (IMU) and integrate acceleration to get diplacement are effective alternatives since the three-axis accelerometer embedded in IMU usually low cost, easy to adjust and low noise. The advantage of this approach is that the IMU-based device is compact, easy to install and put on user’s body. However, these methods expose some weaknesses when used in large-scale indoor structures such as multistorey buildings due to the need to compensate azimuth estimation which is drifted overtime and is employed for calculating displacement with refer to earth frame as a base station. This article proposes a low-cost wireless displacement estimation system developed with IMU. The system employs a Kalman-filter type in indirect form for orientation estimates and Median-filter algorithm for classification of motion modes. In order to verify the proposed system in terms of accuracy and feasibility, a device was designed in a wearable form and tetsted on a multi-storey building in university. The wearable device ultilized IMU model MPU9250 and results recored wirelessly via Xbee devices in order to test the system performance in such senarios as climbing/descending staircases only, climbing/descending staircases through one floor combined with walking. Experiments are repeated for root mean square error (RMSE) computation based on the ground-truth. The proposed system performance is evaluated accordingly to RMSE. The experimental results demonstrate RMSE of 3.56%, 1.43%, for climbing/descending staircases only, climbing/descending staircases one floor combined with walking, respectively.
A review of ion projection lithography

Although optical lithography has been extended to far smaller dimensions than was predicted 15 years ago, there are definite physical barriers to extending it to the minimum dimensions of 70 nm that are projected to be required 15 years from now. Both focused, point electron beams and ion beams have been used to write dimensions in resist well below 20 nm, albeit at speeds far too slow for production lithography. Projection systems, which employ a mask and, in effect, produce a large array of beams, can provide both small minimum dimensions and high throughput. Ions are particularly well suited for this because they suffer little or no scattering in the resist, the linewidth is not a strong function of dose (good process latitude), and the resist sensitivity is relatively independent to resist thickness or ion energy. IMS in Vienna, Austria has built two generations of ion projection lithography systems which have demonstrated many of the features needed for high throughput lithography. In these systems a.
Combustion Systems for Biomass Fuel

Abstract Biomass is one of humanity's earliest sources of energy. Traditionally, biomass has been utilized through direct combustion, and this process is still widely used in many parts of the world. Biomass thermo-chemical conversion investigations are certainly not the most important options at present; combustion is responsible for over 97% of the world's bio-energy production. Biomass combustion is a series of chemical reactions by which carbon is oxidized to carbon dioxide, and hydrogen is oxidized to water. Biomass fired domestic stoves are commonly used for space heating and cooking in the rural areas. Biomass residues are now widely used in many countries to provide centralized, medium and large-scale production of process heat for electricity production. Biomass is burned by direct combustion to produce steam, the steam turns a turbine and the turbine drives a generator, producing electricity.
AB INITIO AND NMR STUDY OF PEROXYNITRITE AND PEROXYNITROUS ACID : IMPORTANT BIOLOGICAL OXIDANTS

The peroxy isomers of nitrate and nitric acid, peroxynitrite and peroxynitrous acid, are studied with ab initio and density functional methods. The results are compared to the observed Raman and 15N NMR spectra. The harmonic vibrational frequencies, NMR chemical shifts, and energies clearly favor cis ONOO- as the most stable and predominant ONOO- isomer. Peroxynitrite has a large rotational barrier of ∼24 kcal/mol because of partial π-bonding in the central bond. This is confirmed by a bond order of 1.5 for cis and trans ONOO- computed by electron density analysis. Electron correlation is critical in accurately predicting the relative energies for this system, as Hartree−Fock predicts a lower triplet state. The intense, broad band in the solution Raman spectrum centered at 642 cm-1 is predicted to be too low by 100−150 cm-1 if the vibration is the cis torsion. Resolution of this discrepancy is attempted by estimating the effects of solvent and anharmonicity. The results on ONOO- are compared to those for .
Improvement of Neural Reverse Dictionary by Using Cascade Forward Neural Network

: A reverse dictionary maps a description to the word speciﬁed by the description. The neural reverse dictionary (NRD) learns to map word embeddings for an input deﬁnition into an embedding of the word deﬁned by the deﬁnition using neural networks. Such a function encodes phrasal semantics and bridges the gap between them and lexical semantics. However, previous NRD has a limitation in accuracy due to its insu ﬃ cient capacity. To solve this problem, we used novel combinations of neural networks, which are e ﬀ ective in neural machine translation and image processing, with su ﬃ cient capacities. We found that, an LSTM output adjustment by using a multi-layer fully connected network with bypass structures (CFNN) was more e ﬀ ective for reverse dictionary tasks than using more complicated LSTM. BiLSTM + CFNN was comparable to the commercial system OneLook Reverse Dictionary in some metrics, and noised biLSTM + CFNN which we tuned by a noising data augmentation outperformed OneLook Reverse Dictionary in almost all metrics. We also examined the reasons for the success of biLSTM + CFNN and revealed that a bypass structure of the CFNN and balance in the capacity of LSTM and the CFNN contribute to the improved performance of the NRD.
Emission Spectroscopy of OH Radical in Water-Argon Arc Plasma Jet

Emission spectra of OH radical are studied in the plasma jet generated by a plasma torch with hybrid water-argon stabilization. Plasma jet is located in a chamber with pressures 4 kPa and 10 kPa. In spite of high temperatures of produced plasma, OH spectra are observed in a large area of the jet. OH spectra are used to obtain rotational temperatures from the Boltzmann plots of resolved rotational lines. Due to line-of-sight integration of radiation, interpretation of the temperatures is not straightforward. It seems that excited OH molecules can be formed by various mechanisms, mainly in the outer parts of the jet, where thermal processes are not as dominant as in the hot central region.
Disruption Behavior of Aggregates in a Rotating/Oscillating Cylindrical Tank and Implications for Particle Transport in the Ocean

Particle size and settling speed determine the rate of particulate mass transfer from the ocean surface to the sea bed. Turbulent shear in the ocean can act on large, faster-settling flocculated particles to break them into slower-settling primary particles or sub-aggregates. However, it is difficult to understand the disruption behavior of aggregates and their response to varying shear forces due to the complex ocean environment. A study was conducted to simulate the disruption behavior of marine aggregates in the mixed layer of the ocean. The breakup process was investigated by aggregating and disrupting flocs of bentonite clay particles in a rotating and oscillating cylindrical tank 10 cm in diameter filled with salt water. This laboratory tank, which operated based on an extension of Stokes’ second problem inside a cylinder, created laminar oscillating flow superimposed on a constant rotation. This motion allowed the bentonite particles to aggregate near the center of the tank but also exposed large aggregates to high shear forces near the wall. A high-speed camera system was used, along with particle tracking measurements and image processing techniques, to capture the breakup of the large particle aggregates and locate their radial position. The breakup response of large aggregates and the sizes of their daughter particles after breakup were quantified using the facility. The disruption strength of the aggregated particles is presented and discussed relative to their exposure to varying amounts of laminar shear.
High-Isolation In-Band Full-Duplex Cavity-Backed Slot Antennas in a Single Resonant Cavity

High-isolation in-band full-duplex (IBFD) cavity-backed slot antennas (CBSAs) in a single resonant cavity are presented in this article. The TE101 and TE011 cavity modes combined with a modified orthogonal feeding structure are first used to design the duplex antenna. The proposed feeding structure can reduce the port-to-port coupling strength and produce a very high isolation. By replacing the crossed radiation slots with two pairs of parallel radiation slots, enhanced radiation gain is achieved. To tackle the narrow bandwidth for the single-mode operation, two orthogonal resonant-iris modes produced by the two feeding slots are introduced to design a dual-mode wideband IBFD antenna. The simulated bandwidth is increased from 0.8% to 5.7%. All the presented antennas with improved performances are designed and realized in a single full-metal resonant cavity. Compared with the conventional design method, high isolation, enhanced gain, and enhanced bandwidth are simultaneously achieved without enlarging the antenna size. Finally, the prototype of the wideband IBFD slot antenna is measured and presented to validate the design concept, which has a 5.8% bandwidth, higher than 95% total efficiency, especially an isolation higher than 72 dB.
High quality passivation for heterojunction solar cells by hydrogenated amorphous silicon suboxide films

In this letter, we report on our investigations of hydrogenated amorphous silicon suboxides (a-SiOx:H) used as a high quality passivation scheme for heterojunction solar cells. The a-SiOx:H films were deposited using high frequency (70MHz) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition by decomposition of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and silane at a substrate temperature of around 155°C. High effective lifetimes of outstanding 4ms on 1Ωcm n-type float-zone material and a surface recombination velocity of ⩽2.6cm∕s have been repeatedly obtained. Optical analysis revealed a distinct decrease of blue light absorption in the a-SiOx:H films compared to commonly used intrinsic amorphous silicon passivation used in heterojunction cells.
Approach of the critical point of gas–liquid transitions in an electrostatically stabilized colloidal suspension

We report on the study of the critical point of gas–liquid transitions in an electrostatically stabilized colloidal suspension. Suspensions are constituted of spherical magnetic nanoparticles dispersed in water and stabilized by electrostatic repulsions. The coexistence line is constructed on the Π-V diagram (Π: osmotic pressure, Φ: volume fraction) by the determination of transitions’ threshold by optical microscopy on a large range of volume fractions. This coexistence line presents a maximum that corresponds to a “critical area” where density fluctuations are seen at the microscopic scale. The measurement of these density fluctuations when reaching transitions by small angle neutron scattering (SANS) shows that the transition is of the second order in the critical area and of the first order out of the critical area. SANS measurements also allow to conclude that the interparticle potential is attractive at long range near the coexistence lines of the phase diagram. Long-range attractions are due to dip.
EVALUATION OF MODIFIED RICE STARCH, A NEW EXCIPIENT FOR DIRECT COMPRESSION

AbstractThe compression characteristics of modified rice starch (PrimotabRET), a new excipient for the preparation of tablets by direct compression is evaluated. Modified rice starch is an agglomerated rice starch product. It has excellent flowing and disintegration properties. In contrast to other starch-based filler-binders, after mixing with a lubricant, the binding properties were sufficient.Tablets containing oxazepam as a model drug were prepared with modified rice starch as unique filler-binder or with a blend of equal parts of modified rice starch and a commonly used filler-binder. The tablet properties show that modified rice starch is a useful product for the preparation of tablets by direct compression. It can be used as a unique filler-binder, or in combination with other excipients such as α-lactose monohydrate or anhydrous lactose. Combinations with microcrystalline cellulose should be avoided because of the poor flowability of the blends and the slow disintegration of the tablets.
Variational Treatment of Hydrodynamic Interaction in Polymers

It has recently been pointed out by several authors that the Kirkwood–Riseman diffusion tensor normally used to treat hydrodynamic interactions in polymer molecules is not necessarily positive definite, an unphysical behavior which results from the neglect of short‐range contributions to the interaction between chain segments. The problem can be reformulated as a minimization of the rate at which energy is dissipated by the motion of the suspending fluid, and in this way we have obtained an approximate diffusion tensor which (1) is positive definite for all configurations of the polymer molecule, (2) approaches the Kirkwood–Riseman diffusion tensor at large separations between the interacting segments, and (3) can be written as the true diffusion tensor plus a positive definite correction. The last feature can be used to obtain variational bounds on relaxation times and sedimentation rates.
Promotion of unproved and potential dangerous measures in fighting COVID-19 pandemic: urgent need for vigilant appropriate public communication and generation of scientific evidence

The ultimate cure for COVID-19 has not yet been discovered, but there is a lot of promoted traditional and food supplements claimed to be effective against the disease. Some of the promoted measures are not only associated with other adverse health outcome, but also create a sense of false protection; leading to failure to follow appropriate measures. It is crucial to identify, correct this misinformation, and to conduct clinical trials to generate evidence among those which are scientifically sound.
Copula-based Correlation Structure for Multivariate Emission Distributions in Hidden Markov Models

The hardware in the UMBC High Performance Computing Facility (HPCF) is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation through the MRI program (grant nos. CNS–0821258, CNS–1228778, and OAC–1726023) and the SCREMS program (grant no. DMS–0821311), with additional substantial support from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). See hpcf.umbc. edu for more information on HPCF and the projects using its resources. HMM estimation has been carried out using the MVNHMM toolbox (http://www.sergeykirshner.com/software/mvnhmm) developed by Sergey Kirshner; ancillary scripts developed by Jonathan N. Basalyga and Gerson C. Kroiz have also been used. Reetam Majumder was supported by JCET and as HPCF RA.
Automatic Virtual Test Technology for Intelligent Driving Systems Considering Both Coverage and Efficiency

The testing of the intelligent driving systems is faced with the challenges of efficiency because real traffic scenarios are infinite, uncontrollable and difficult to be precisely defined. Based on the complexity index of scenario that designed to measure the test effect indirectly, a new combinational testing algorithm of test cases generation is proposed to make a balance among multiple objects including test coverage, the number of test cases and test effect. Then a joint simulation platform based on Matlab, PreScan and Carsim is built up to realize the construction of 3D test environment, execution of test scenarios and evaluation of test results automatically and seamlessly. The strategy proposed in this paper is validated by applying it to a traffic jam pilot system. The result shows that the proposed strategy can improve the overall complexity of the designed test scenarios effectively, which can help us detect system faults faster and easier. And the time required to conduct tests is reduced obviously by means of automation.
Phishing for Awareness

Phishing ist eine Gefahr, bei der man ohne die Mitarbeiter eher wenig ausrichten kann. Entsprechende Awareness-Masnahmen werden nicht selten durch Kampagnen eingelautet, begleitet oder evaluiert, bei denen man die eigene Belegschaft mit fingierten Phishing- Nachrichten konfrontiert. Unsere Autorinnen warnen jedoch davor, dass hier mehr Schaden droht als Nutzen zu erwarten ist.
Microspheres of new alternating copolyesters derived from glycolic acid units for controlled drug release

Two new copolyesters consisting of an alternating disposition of glycolic acid units and 4-hydroxybutyric or 6-hydroxyhexanoic units were assayed in the form of microspheres as drug delivery systems. Despite their similar chemical constitutions, great differences in properties such as the melting point and glass-transition temperature were found between the two polymers. Microspheres could be successfully prepared by the oil/water emulsification/solvent evaporation method and revealed different morphological features depending on the polymer matrix. The encapsulation and release of triclosan in a cell medium and in a Sorensen solution were evaluated. The release profiles, which were clearly different in both polymers when the hydrophobic cell medium was employed, indicated that the release reached an asymptotic value that was always lower than the maximum release expected for the drug loading. No significant degradation occurred during drug release. The charged microspheres of both polymers were highly crystalline, and the incorporation of drug particles into the polymer crystalline domains was feasible. No trace of single triclosan crystals was found in differential scanning calorimetry or X-ray synchrotron experiments. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008
An X‐ray powder investigation of catena‐poly[copper(II)‐di‐μ‐chloro‐κ41:2Cl‐μ‐1,5‐dimethyl‐1H‐tetra­zole‐κ2N3:N4]

The crystal structure of the polymeric title complex, [CuCl2(C3H6N4)]n, has been solved from laboratory X-ray powder diffraction data collected at room temperature. The structural model obtained was refined with the Rietveld method using geometric soft restraints. There are two Cu atoms, two Cl atoms and one 1,5-dimethyl­tetra­zole ligand in the asymmetric unit. Both Cu atoms lie on inversion centres and adopt essentially elongated octa­hedral coordination. Within the octa­hedra, the elongated axial positions are occupied by Cl atoms, while two Cl and two N atoms (N3 and N4 of the tetra­zole ring) are in equatorial sites. Each Cl atom forms an asymmetric bridge between neighbouring Cu atoms, which are also bridged via the N3—N4 bond of the tetra­zole ring. These bridges result in the formation of polymeric chains, running along the a axis, with weak C—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds crosslinking the chains.
Behavior of 3-vinylpyridine in nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization: The influence of nitroxide concentration, solvent, and temperature

The influence of nitroxide concentration, solvent, and temperature on the nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization of 3-vinylpyridine (3VP) was examined. Long-chain poly(3-vinylpyridine)s with low polydispersities were synthesized. The initial 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-oxyl concentration had no influence on the kinetics of the polymerization but was responsible for the obtained molar weights. Compared with the polymerization of styrene, the polymerization of 3VP proved quite fast. The influence of temperature on the reaction rate was also demonstrated, and the polymerization could be controlled even at 110 °C. Some polymerizations were also performed in solution to test the influence of a solvent such as ethylene–glycol, whose effect on the polymerization of 3VP was dependent on temperature. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 3067–3073, 2000