Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fabrication et caractérisation de cellules solaires organiques nanostructurées par la méthode de nanoimpression thermique

The morphology of active layers in organic solar cells plays an important role on the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of these devices. The planar heterojunction and the bulk heterojunction are the most commonly used. However, the ideal morphology for efficiency would be halfway between the two. Indeed, the so called nanostructured heterojunction would increase the surface between active layers of solar cells while promoting the transport of charge carriers. The objective of this thesis is to study the impact of the implementation of nanostructures in organic solar cells on their performance. To this end, we used the thermal nanoimprint lithography (T-NIL) process to nanostructure a layer of P3HT, the donor material, so that it forms a nanostructured interface with PCBM, the acceptor material. To perform nanoimpressions, nanoporous anodized aluminium oxide (AAO) molds were manufactured using the two-step anodization process developed by Masuda et al. These were treated with mold-release agents to facilitate separation with P3HT. FTDS and PDMS were used for this purpose. The results have demonstrated the complexity of execution of the nanoimprinting process. It has been shown that the pressure applied during the process, the surface tension of engaging elements and the dimensions of the mold’s nanopores are critical parameters to achieve successful nanoimpressions. They therefore had to be optimized to achieve this task. Thus, cells having an interface covered with 25% of nanorods 35 nm high could be fabricated successfully. Nanostructured cells showed efficiencies 2.3 ± 0.6 times higher than cells without nanostructures, with so called planar morphology. Furthermore, a solvent has been proposed to reduce interdiffusion between P3HT and PCBM layers capable of altering the nanostructures. This well-known phenomenon occurs during the deposition of PCBM layer with dichloromethane, an orthogonal solvent with these materials. TOF-SIMS measurements showed that limonene acts also as an orthogonal solvent which reduces the interdiffusion between P3HT and PCBM layers. This makes limonene a better orthogonal solvent than dichloromethane with these materials.
Influence of Oxidation Processing Temperature on the Structure, Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Titanium Using Carbon Sheets

Surface processing of pure titanium was performed using a carbon sheet to increase the surface hardness and improve tribological property. The effect of processing temperature (750–950 °C) for 2 h on the structure, mechanical and room-temperature tribological properties of the treated samples was investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and ball-on-disk tribometry, respectively. The Gibbs free energy was also calculated to evaluate the compounds generated at different processing temperatures. As a result of the examination, the hardened layer was mainly composed of titanium oxide and titanium carbide. With the increasing processing temperatures, the thickness of the hardened layer increased first and then decreased gradually. It was also revealed that the surface hardness was increased first and then decreased as the processing temperature increased. The fricative value of the treated samples showed a minimum value of 84.1 dB for a processing temperature of 850 °C. The depth and width of the wear tracks increased first and then decreased gradually with the increasing processing temperatures. The worn surface of the treated samples at higher temperatures showed a very good wear resistance. A processing temperature at 850 °C is considered optimal as it provides sufficiently high hardness and a low coefficient of friction to reduce fricative during practical use.
The effect of Confucius Institutes on Chinese outward foreign direct investment: A province-level analysis

From the perspective of cultural impetus from home country, this study examines the effects of Confucius Institutes (CIs) on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) based on the panel data of 29 Chinese provinces from 2007 to 2016. The findings are as follows: Organizing CIs abroad has a positive and significant effect on OFDI, which can promote a province's OFDI, radiate adjacent provinces, and moderate the relationship between some factors and OFDI like opening-up and human capital; moreover, CIs have a hysteresis effect on promoting OFDI, and provinces in different regions organizing CIs abroad form a different driven force of OFDI. Chinese provinces should give full play to CIs in their OFDI.
Comparing the relationship between using educational technology in mathematics and student achievement in South Africa and Germany

Abstract This study explored the relationship between educational technology and the mathematics achievement of South African and German students. Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM) showed that the availability of computers at school and using computers in the mathematics classroom in South Africa positively associated with the mathematics achievement of students. In Germany, the shared use of a computer/tablet with others at home and internet connection correlated positively with students’ mathematics performances while students who owned mobile phones achieved lower mathematics results than their counterparts. Similarly, in both countries, students owning a computer/tablet, students using computers/tablets “every or almost every day” for schoolwork at home, school and other places achieved lower mathematics results than their counterparts.
Removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution using magnetite/non-oxidative graphene composites: Synergetic effect of Cr(VI) on dyes removal

ABSTRACT Non-oxidative graphene (nOG) synthesized from natural graphite powder was modified with magnetite (Fe3O4) for removal of Cr(VI) and dyes in aqueous solution. The adsorption behavior of Cr(VI) on Fe3O4/nOG (M-nOG) was systematically investigated, and the simultaneous adsorption of Cr(VI) and dyes such as methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB) was evaluated. Adsorption kinetic and isotherm of Cr(VI) were fitted well with pseudo-second-order model and Sips model, respectively. For the binary system, Cr(VI) removal was not affected with increasing the dye concentration, whereas the adsorption capacity of both MB and RhB was enhanced with increasing the concentrations of Cr(VI).
A Low-Cost Method to Assess the Performance of Surface Guidance Imaging Systems at Non-Zero Couch Angles

A procedure is presented to assess performance at non-zero couch angles and perform routine quality assurance (QA) on surface-guided radiotherapy (SGRT) imaging systems used for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). A low-cost anthropomorphic phantom was used to assess the system under patient-like conditions. The phantom is embedded with a tungsten ball bearing (BB) to facilitate the use of surface imaging (SI) with concurrent megavoltage (MV) imaging to cross-compare and validate SI-reported offsets. Data analysis is done via in-house software that utilized the SGRT system’s log files for automated analysis. This procedure enables users to assess and inter-compare MV-reported offsets with their SGRT system. The analysis provides SGRT system residual error so that users are aware of inherent offsets present in addition to increases in translational offsets due to couch walkout. The procedure was validated with two commercial SGRT systems. The procedure can be used with any surface imaging system and linear accelerator system.
Textile pattern recommendations with convolutional neural networks and autoencoder

Textile pattern design is a time‐consuming and tedious work. Mihui, our ongoing developing system, employs deep‐learning techniques to automatically generate huge volumes of patterns with the help of human guidance. However, trained as a black box, Mihui cannot provide customized service for each individual designer who shows unique aesthetics preferences. In this article, we introduce the recommendation module of Mihui. The module forwards all generated pattern images to a deep encoding network, where images are mapped into 128‐dimension vectors. For each user of Mihui, we create a profile by his/her purchased or downloaded history. A novel encoder network is proposed to learn a personal taste vector for each user, based on which, we recommend new patterns to him/her. Our records in Mihui show that the recommendation module effectively improve users' experience on Mihui.
Optimization of processing parameters in green synthesis of gold nanoparticles using microwave and edible mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) extract and evaluation of their antibacterial activity

Abstract Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were synthesized using edible mushroom Agaricus bisporus extract as both reducing and stabilizing agents via microwave irradiation method. The effects of the microwave exposure time and the amount of HAuCl4 solution (1 mm) on the mean particle size, concentration, and polydispersity index (PDI) of the synthesized AuNP solution were investigated using response surface methodology. Mushroom extract was characterized by Fourier transform infrared. The synthesized AuNPs were characterized by dynamic light scattering, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Well-dispersed and spherical AuNPs with the minimum mean particle size and PDI, and maximum concentration and zeta potential of 33.56±1.8 nm, 0.855±0.02 ppm, 148.88±2.7 ppm, and +17.2 mV, respectively, were obtained using 2.62 ml of HAuCl4 and 0.2 ml of mushroom extract for 55 s. The antibacterial activity of the fabricated AuNPs was assessed against both Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria and was found to be possessing high bactericidal effects.
High Prevalence of viral and bacterial coinfections in malaria in Venezuela

Background Malaria remains a significant public health problem worldwide. Simultaneous infections with other pathogens complicate its diagnosis and can also change the clinical course of the disease. The similarities in the clinical presentation of malaria and other infections and the superimposed endemicity result in underdiagnosis of coinfections and increase mortality. No studies have focused on the presence of coinfections in patients with malaria in Venezuela. Methods Between June and November 2018, we conducted a cross-sectional study in patients with malaria who presented to any of the three reference medical centers in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela. A clinical and laboratory evaluation searching for coinfections with Dengue (DENV), Chikungunya (CHIKV), Viral Hepatitis (VH) (A, B, and C), and Leptospirosis (LEP) was performed using ELISA to test each patient. Results We studied a total of 161 patients of whom 106 (65.8%) presented P. vivax infection, 43 (26.7%) P. falciparum, and 12 (7.5%) had mixed malaria infections. Coinfections were found in 55/161 (34.2%) patients and were more frequent in patients with P. falciparum (48.8%) than in those with P. vivax (29.2%), or mixed infection (25%) [OR = 2.43; 95% CI = 1.39–4.25; p = 0.018]. The most prevalent coinfection was with DENV (14.9%), followed by HAV (11.8%), HBV (6.2%), CHIKV (5.5%), and LEP (3.7%). Coinfection with HCV was absent. Complicated malaria was significantly more frequent in coinfected individuals (56.4%) than those without coinfection (35.8%) [OR: 2.31; 95% CI = 1.18–4.92; p = 0.013]. Conclusion We found a high prevalence of coinfections in patients with malaria in this region, which was related to a worse outcome. Further prospective studies with samples at different points of infection and the use of molecular tools are needed.
Substantive representation of women and policy-vote trade-offs: does supporting women’s issue bills decrease a legislator’s chance of reelection?

ABSTRACT The paper investigates how parliamentary efforts to represent the interests of female electorates influence the legislators’ re-election chances. Taiwan is chosen as the case study and, for empirical analysis, I utilise an original bill co-sponsorship dataset that consists of roughly 400,000 cosponsors for all bills submitted between 1992 and 2016. The findings, based on regression analyses, show that making more legislative effort on women’s issues – by prioritising them over other issues – results in electoral losses, and this negative effect is more pronounced among female legislators. The paper contributes to the gender politics literature by theorising and testing a hitherto underexplored relationship between two representational processes: how the substantive representation women by female legislators affects their descriptive representation. It also contributes to legislative and electoral studies by demonstrating that legislators’ policy-vote trade-offs are policy-sensitive and gendered, thus calling for a more nuanced approach to be taken in future research.
Effects of nitrite and nitroxyl on human vascular and platelet function.

x! Declaration! xii! Publications, presentations and awards related to the work conducted towards this thesis! xiii! Acknowledgements! xv! List of abbreviations! xvii! Chapter 1:! Introduction! 1! 1.1 Nitric oxide physiology! 2! 1.1.
High Performance Composite Polymer Electrolytes for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

Today, there is an urgent demand to develop all solid‐state lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) with a high energy density and a high degree of safety. The core technology in solid‐state batteries is a solid‐state electrolyte, which determines the performance of the battery. Among all the developed solid electrolytes, composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs) have been deemed as one of the most viable candidates because of their comprehensive performance. In this review, the limitations of traditional solid polymer electrolytes and the recent progress of CPEs are introduced. The effect and mechanism of inorganic fillers to the various properties of electrolytes are discussed in detail. Meanwhile, the factors affecting ionic conductivity are intensively reviewed. The recent representative CPEs with synthetic fillers and natural clay‐based fillers are highlighted because of their great potential. Finally, the remaining challenges and promising prospects are outlined to provide strategies to develop novel CPEs for high‐performance LIBs.
Robust Quadrotor Control through Reinforcement Learning with Disturbance Compensation

In this paper, a novel control strategy is presented for reinforcement learning with disturbance compensation to solve the problem of quadrotor positioning under external disturbance. The proposed control scheme applies a trained neural-network-based reinforcement learning agent to control the quadrotor, and its output is directly mapped to four actuators in an end-to-end manner. The proposed control scheme constructs a disturbance observer to estimate the external forces exerted on the three axes of the quadrotor, such as wind gusts in an outdoor environment. By introducing an interference compensator into the neural network control agent, the tracking accuracy and robustness were significantly increased in indoor and outdoor experiments. The experimental results indicate that the proposed control strategy is highly robust to external disturbances. In the experiments, compensation improved control accuracy and reduced positioning error by 75%. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to achieve quadrotor positioning control through low-level reinforcement learning by using a global positioning system in an outdoor environment.
Application of Far Infrared Radiation and Ethanol Vapor as Alternative Treatment Methods for Reduction of Salmonella enterica Tennessee in Dried, Ground Spices

The consumption of spiced food is steadily increasing, subsequently leading to increased incidence of spice-related food illnesses. Many outbreaks can be traced to human pathogens that can survive in low moisture content of spices, prompting development of additional inactivation treatments that reduce bacterial pathogens while maintaining spice quality. Spices are currently treated by fumigation with ethylene oxide, pasteurization with ionizing radiation, or steam treatment. However, these treatments exhibit flaws pertaining to consumer preference, regulatory issues, and quality degradation. In this study, two novel treatments were evaluated for reduction of Salmonella enterica Tennessee: far infrared radiation (FIR), a short time – high temperature treatment, and pasteurization with ethanol vapor (EV). Both treatments were effective in reducing levels of Salmonella Tennessee between 3-5 logs. FIR treatment showed increased efficacy at longer treatment times with a maximum reduction of 5 log CFU/g in paprika at 24s. EV reduced Salmonella Tennessee by 3 log CFU/g within 120s when applied to inoculated paprika and black pepper without detrimentally affecting spice quality. However, the samples receiving FIR treatments suffered reductions in volatile content and color changes to the spices. High levels (up to 1% w/w) of residual ethanol were also detected on samples treated for 300s. Concluding, both treatment show similar results when comparing efficacy; however, based on the magnitude of change in volatile content associated with FIR being significantly greater than those samples receiving EV, FIR treatment requires additional research before recommending for use with dried, ground paprika, black pepper, or sage.
Full coverage of a reader's interests in context‐based information filtering

We present a collection of algorithms to filter a stream of documents in such a way that the filtered documents will cover as well as possible the interest of a person, keeping in mind that, at any given time, the offered documents should not only be relevant, but should also be diversified, in the sense of covering all the interests of the person. We use a modification of the WEBSOM algorithm to create a user model based on a self‐organizing network trained using a collection of documents representative of the person's interests. We introduce the concepts of freshness and coverage. A document is fresh if it belongs to a semantic area of interest to a person for which no documents were seen in the recent past; a group of documents has coverage to the extent to which it is a good representation of all the interests of a person. Our tests show that these algorithms can effectively increase the coverage of the documents that are shown to the user without overly affecting precision.
Impact of participating in global value chain on the carbon dioxide emissions of China's equipment manufacturing industry

As the pillar industry in China's post-industrial era, the equipment manufacturing industry has played an important role of providing technical equipment for downstream industries, which also brought about a substantial increase in CO2 emissions. Therefore, in order to find ways to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of the equipment manufacturing industry, this paper based on the global value chain production length decomposition model, improved the CO2 emission effect model and the STIRPAT model to study the different impact of the GVC production length on the CO2 emissions of China's equipment manufacturing industry under different GVC participation modes. The study found that extending GVC production length can effectively reduce CO2 emissions, and the CO2 reduction effect of the simple GVC production length is the most significant. Besides, with the extension of the GVC production length, the CO2 emissions of high-tech industries have decreased, while the CO2 emissions of medium-technology industries have increased. In addition, the improvements of policy regulations, factor structure and foreign investment will also reduce CO2 emissions, but the expansion of production scale and R&D investment will increase CO2 emissions.
Estimating Sea Surface pCO2 in the North Atlantic based on CatBoost

Sea surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) is a critical parameter in the quantification of air-sea CO2 flux, which plays an important role in calculating the global carbon budget and ocean acidification. In this study, we use chlorophyll-a concentration (Chla), sea surface temperature (SST), absorption due to dissolved and particulate detrital matter (Adg), diffuse attenuation coefficient of downwelling irradiance at 490nm (Kd) and mixed layer depth (MLD) as input data for retrieving the sea surface pCO2 in the North Atlantic based on a remote sensing empirical approach with the Categorical Boosting (CatBoost) algorithm. The results show that the root mean square error (RMSE) is 8. 25μatm, the mean bias error (MAE) is 4. 92μatm and the coefficient of determination (R2) can reach 0.946 in the validation set, which mean that the CatBoost model makes an improvement compared to other models in the published studies. In the further analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution of the sea surface pCO2 in the North Atlantic, it can be found that the North Atlantic sea surface pCO2 has a clear trend with latitude variations and have strong seasonal changes. Furthermore, the sea surface pCO2 in this area is mainly affected by sea temperature and salinity, and influenced by biological activities in some sub-regions.
Advanced Placement and Concurrent Enrollment Substitution Effects

Advanced placement (AP) and concurrent enrollment (CE) provide high school students with rigorous coursework and possible college credit. Theoretical modeling predicted students would substitute CE for AP courses conditional on their probability of earning university credit, passing AP tests, and college selectivity despite CE costing more than AP. In the current study, CE costs to families drop to zero and students should be expected to maximize substitution. This study uses multiple years of school-level data from Colorado, a state with a growing CE sector to test substitution effects. Using a school fixed-effect Poisson regression of the most commonly taken AP exams, results indicate limited evidence of widespread substitution. The continued preference for AP may increase costs to families and reduce potential college credits.
Considering sampling bias in close‐kin mark–recapture abundance estimates of Atlantic salmon

Abstract Genetic methods for the estimation of population size can be powerful alternatives to conventional methods. Close‐kin mark–recapture (CKMR) is based on the principles of conventional mark–recapture, but instead of being physically marked, individuals are marked through their close kin. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of CKMR for the estimation of spawner abundance in Atlantic salmon and how age, sex, spatial, and temporal sampling bias may affect CKMR estimates. Spawner abundance in a wild population was estimated from genetic samples of adults returning in 2018 and of their potential offspring collected in 2019. Adult samples were obtained in two ways. First, adults were sampled and released alive in the breeding habitat during spawning surveys. Second, genetic samples were collected from out‐migrating smolts PIT‐tagged in 2017 and registered when returning as adults in 2018. CKMR estimates based on adult samples collected during spawning surveys were somewhat higher than conventional counts. Uncertainty was small (CV < 0.15), due to the detection of a high number of parent–offspring pairs. Sampling of adults was age‐ and size‐biased and correction for those biases resulted in moderate changes in the CKMR estimate. Juvenile dispersal was limited, but spatially balanced sampling of adults rendered CKMR estimates robust to spatially biased sampling of juveniles. CKMR estimates based on returning PIT‐tagged adults were approximately twice as high as estimates based on samples collected during spawning surveys. We suggest that estimates based on PIT‐tagged fish reflect the total abundance of adults entering the river, while estimates based on samples collected during spawning surveys reflect the abundance of adults present in the breeding habitat at the time of spawning. Our study showed that CKMR can be used to estimate spawner abundance in Atlantic salmon, with a moderate sampling effort, but a carefully designed sampling regime is required.