Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Size Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Indoor Airborne Particulates

A survey of the particle-size distribution of 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in indoor and outdoor air was performed in 20 homes in several Japanese cities. Highest PAH concentrations were found in the fine-parti cle fraction (smaller than 2.5 μm in diameter). The pro portion of indoor PAH concentrations in fine particles was found to be higher than that of outdoors. For 4-ring PAHs, indoor sources elevated the indoor PAH concen trations in the 2.5- to 10-μm and >10-μm fractions, whereas the indoor PAH concentrations in particles smaller than 2.5 μm were comparable with or lower than the outdoor concentrations. In contrast, for PAHs with more than 5 rings, the indoor concentrations were deter mined essentially by outdoor concentrations. The in door/outdoor benzo[a]pyrene concentration ratio varied considerably in homes with smokers because the resi dents opened the windows of the room in which smok ing took place.
A Cantilever-based Non-volatile Memory Utilizing Vibrational Reset for High Temperature Operation

This paper proposes a cantilever-based memory structure for storing binary data at extreme operating temperature (up to 300 C) in rugged electronics. The memory bit (0/1) is formed by opening/closing of an electrostatic switch. Permanent retention is obtained by adhesive force between two smooth surfaces in contact, eliminating leakage observed in all types of storage-layer-based NVMs. The Reset utilizes a train of short pulses to break the adhesion between the electrodes. This allows the Nano-electromechanical switch (NEMS) memory to be implemented using a simple bi-layer design and easily integrated with CMOS platforms. We propose an array structure where each memory cell consists of a NEMS memory device and one NMOS transistor for full random-access operation. Keywords—NEMS, NVM, cantilever-based, vibrational reset.
Assessing Conceptual Complexity and Compressibility Using Information Gain and Mutual Information

In this paper, a few basic notions stemming from information theory are presented with the intention of modeling the abstraction of relevant information in categorization tasks. In a categorization task, a single output variable is the basis for performing a dichotomic classification of objects that can be distinguished by a set of input variables which are more or less informative about the category to which the objects belong. At the beginning of the experiment, the target classification is unknown to learners who must select the most informative variables relative to the class in order to succeed in classifying the objects efficiently. I first show how the notion of entropy can be used to characterize basic psychological processes in learning. Then, I indicate how a learner might use information gain and mutual information –both based on entropy– to efficiently induce the shortest rule for categorizing a set of objects. Several basic classification tasks are studied in succession with the aim of showing that learning can improve as long as subjects are able to compress information. Referring to recent experimental results, I indicate in the Conclusion that these notions can account for both strategies and performance in subjects trying to simplify a learning process.
Mycosynthesis of iron nanoparticles by Alternaria alternata and its antibacterial activity

Nanotechnology is one of the most emerging fields in the recent years. In the current investigation, we report the biosynthesis of iron nanoparticles (Fe-NPs) employing Alternaria alternata fungus, which is an eco-friendly process for the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles. Fe-NPs were synthesized through the reduction of aqueous Fe3+ ion in the dark conditions. Ultraviolet–visible spectrum of the aqueous medium containing iron ion showed a peak at 238 nm and another peak at 265 nm. The forming of nanoparticles was confirmed by transmission electron microscope, scanning electron microscope and energy-dispersive x-ray. The morphology of nanoparticles is found to be cubic shapes mostly and the average particle diameter as determined by scanning electron microscope was found to be 9±3 nm. Fe-NPs showed antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria used in this study due to its oxidative damage for bacterial cell wall. Iron nanoparticles show more antimicrobial activity to Bacillus subtilis than Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Key words: Mycosynthesis, Alternaria alternata, iron nanoparticles, antibacterial.
UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF THE GUT-ASSOCIATED MICROBIAL COMMUNITY ON THE GROWTH OF THE EASTERN SPRUCE BUDWORM THESIS PRESENTED AS PARTIAL REQUIREMENT OF THE MASTERS OF BIO LOG Y BY MELBERT SCHWARZ

viii Résumé . ix INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTERI INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF THE GUT-ASSOCIATED MICROBIAL COMMUNITY ON THE GROWTH OF THE EASTERN SPRUCE BUDWORM. 10 1.
Full-waveform based microseismic source mechanism studies in the Barnett Shale: Linking microseismicity to reservoir geomechanics

ABSTRACTSeismic moment tensors (MTs) of microearthquakes contain important information on the reservoir and fracturing mechanisms. Difficulties arise when attempting to retrieve complete MT with conventional amplitude inversion methods if only one well is available. With the full-waveform approach, near-field information and nondirect waves (i.e., refracted/reflected waves) help stabilize the inversion and retrieve complete MT from the single-well data set. However, for events which are at far field from the monitoring well, a multiple-well data set is required. In this study, we perform the inversion with a dual-array data set from a hydrofracture stimulation in the Barnett Shale. Determining source mechanisms from the inverted MTs requires the use of a source model, which in this case is the tensile earthquake model. The source information derived includes the fault plane solution, slip direction, VP/VS ratio in the focal area and seismic moment. The primary challenge of extracting source parameters fro.
Studying the Mental Health Status of Soldiers and Related Factors: A Descriptive Study

Introduction: Mental health is one of the pillars of health and a prerequisite for a useful, effective, and satisfying individual life. Since the main body of the Armed Forces consists of Iranian youth, the present research aimed to study the mental health status of soldiers. Methodology: The present research was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The statistical population included 100 soldiers who were selected by the total enumeration method. The required data and information were collected using the standard 28-item General Health Questionnaire, known as Goldberg’s GHQ28. The obtained data and information were analyzed using descriptive tests and Chi-square in SPSS-16 software. Results: The mean age of soldiers was 22.6±1.9 (years). Evaluation of mental health in four dimensions in the studied population of soldiers showed that the mean score of mental health is 55 out of 112. In addition, the mean score of physical health, anxiety and sleep disorders, social dysfunction, and depression were obtained 13±4.7, 14±5.8, 15±4.9, and 13.1±6 (out of 28), respectively. According to Pearson test, there is a significant relationship between mental health and years of service (p<0.001). In addition, the results of t-test showed that there is a significant relationship between marital and residential status and general health (p<0.001). The results of ANOVA suggested no significant relationship between mental health and education degree. Discussion and conclusion: The mean score of mental health indicates a moderate level of mental disorder. According to the results of this study, the officials of mental health in the armed forces are recommended to provide counseling and psychological services for soldiers and also develop a database for mental health of soldiers for timely prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of vulnerable people.
Performance Measurement and Management: What is Next?

The paper reviews the literature in the field of performance measurement and management (PMM) for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large companies. The methodology adopted for reviewing the literature relies on the citation/co-citation analysis of research on PMM and on the analysis of the frameworks/models developed in the last twenty years both for large and SMEs. The evolution of the research field is discussed and future areas of research are identified. The results of the literature review carried out reveal a certain maturity of the literature related to large companies and a significant lack of PMM literature for SMEs.
Influence of Arm Motion on Spatio-temporal Gait Parameters and on Force Data

Computational models of walking are not often coherent with experimental design. Although the upper extremities have an active role in human gait, their swing is often neglected or restricted in contrast with the experiments where the subjects are asked to walk freely. The purpose of this study is to assess differences on gait parameters and force data, comparing five arm swing patterns during walking. Motion analysis was performed on six healthy males, using a 10 cameras capture system and two AMTI force plates. Stride time and length, step time and length as well as ground reaction forces and free vertical moment were compared among groups. Results included no statistically difference (p> 0.05) for the gait parameters and the ground reaction forces. However, the main influence of the arm swing was found on the free vertical moment induced by lower limb swing to counterbalance trunk torque. In fact, restraining arms from swinging caused an increase of peak magnitude in the vertical toque between foot and ground. This suggested that although the arms have a little effect on the sagittal and frontal plane, their contribution is relevant in the transversal one. Therefore, an agreement between experiment-modelling is required, especially when upper body inverse dynamic problems are investigated.
Semi-Strong Information Efficiency of the Polish Stock Exchange Market in Various Market Situations

During a crisis a higher price changeability is noticeable on the financial market. Capital investment on the stock market is a problem concerning more and more people in this context. An attempt to determine effective decision making methods is an issue for both physical and legal persons including instructions managing investment portfolios.The aim of this paper is determining the level of information efficiency at the semi-strong stage of the largest Polish companies on the stock market (covered by WIG20 index) in different market conditions.To achieve this aim the author decided to create a graphic representation of semi-strong information efficiency. In the next section of the paper the author analyses the Polish stock market from the point of view efficiency in the years 2005-2008.The hypotheses tested by the author in the article: 1.The efficiency of the Polish stock market is dependent on the condition of the financial market.2. The Polish stock market is efficient in the time of crises, which means that information about companies is reflected in their share prices.Financial market efficiency is an element of considerations concerning capital investments. Satisfactory ROI (return on investment) is correlated with market efficiency. It is therefore important to conduct research on stock market efficiency and compare results. It is the basis for taking effective investment decisions on different markets.The conducted in this paper research demonstrates that there is a correlation between capital market prosperity and information efficiency on this market. The outcome of the research referring the level of fundamental analysis ratios P/E and P/BV to the rate of return in the following period prove that the situation on the capital market influences semi-strong information efficiency.
Modelling Water Flow and Solute Transport in Heterogeneous Soils: A Review of Recent Approaches☆

A quantitative description of water flow and solute transport in the unsaturated zone of the soil is required to predict the impact of human influences on the environment. This paper starts with the basic concepts of the mathematical descriptions of transport processes in homogeneous media. However, water flow and solute transport in natural soils are significantly influenced by the occurrence of (1) macropores and structured elements (micro-heterogeneity), (2) spatial variability of soil properties (macro-heterogeneity) or (3) a combination of (1) and (2). In these cases, the classical representations of water flow and solute transport are not adequate. The paper presents an overview of some recent modelling concepts dealing with water flow and solute transport in heterogeneous media. For each model, we first introduce the underlying physical concept, and then translate the concept into a mathematical model. Each model is illustrated for a specific water flow and solute transport problem. Finally, some applications of the models are discussed. At this moment, it is difficult to specify which model should be used to solve a particular problem since no extensive validation of the models has been performed. Additional research is required to develop accurate and rapid measurement techniques for the necessary input parameters. To be useful in real environmental problems, modelling concepts for micro- and macro-heterogeneity should be coupled in one overall mathematical framework.
Embedding critique in the university: a new role for critical marketing education?

Purpose – The role of the university as a site of social, cultural and political critique appears to be in terminal decline with the inexorable “commodification” of the university in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Yet, although scholars have identified the dangers of such a scenario, few attempts have been made to offer a pragmatic solution to preserve, or even rejuvenate, the university as an agent of critique. This paper proposes that a critical marketing education can take over this role in the academy where traditional critical agents like the arts and humanities are widely acknowledged to have failed.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a historical‐critical approach, and conceives of “critique” as a heterogeneous, multidimensional amalgam of both business and the humanities.Findings – The paper shows how a critical marketing education offers a pragmatic means of preparing university students to become active and critical voices of society.Originality/value – Few attempts have been made to o.
The Impact of Investors’ Sentiment on the Equity Market: Evidence from Ghanaian Stock Market

Investor’s Sentiment plays a major role in choosing which stocks we invest. Investors’ sentiment can be defined as investors’ attitude and opinion towards investing in the Stocks. The aim of this research is to analyse the individual investor’s sentiment and also to analyse the influence of Market Specific Factors on investors’ sentiment. The investor’s attitude towards investing is influenced by rumours, intuition, herd behaviour among investors and media coverage of the stock. 100 investors in Ghana were chosen for the study. These investors were administered a Structured Schedule, containing pre-validated scales to measure the investor sentiment. Once the constructs were found to be both reliable and valid, the impact of Herd Behaviour, Internet Led Access to Information and Trading, Macro Economic Factors, Risk and Cost Factors, Performance Factors and Confidence Level of Institutional Investors, Best Game in Town Factors were tested by using the Bootstrapping method. Few Market Specific Factors had a significant impact on the investors’ sentiment in Ghana.
TravelWithFriends : a Hybrid Group Recommender System for Travel Destinations

Recommender systems have proven their usefulness in many classical domains such as movies, books, and music to help users to overcome the information overload problem. But also in more challenging fields, such as tourism, recommender systems can act as a supporting tool for decision making when planning a trip. This paper proposes such a system providing group recommendations for travel destinations based on the users’ rating profile, personal interests, and specific demands for their next destination. The proposed solution follows a hybrid approach, combining contentbased, collaborative filtering, and knowledge-based strategies. Since traveling is often a group activity, families and groups of friends can receive group recommendations based on their combined profiles. The recommender system is tested in a prototype web application and evaluated by a group of test users. The results prove the usefulness of recommendations for travel destinations and show that the hybrid system outperforms each individual technique.
Identifying the sets of parallel lines in 3 D space

An image line is a very reliable feature in the feature-based structure-from-motion (SFM) problem. It has at least three advantages: (1) it is not easily affected by occlusion. (2) It can achieve subpixel accuracy. (3) The correspondence problem is easier and less ambiguous. Although some generalized SFM algorithms using image line features have been recently developed, they usually suffer from high error sensitivity and large matrix size. Besides, in order to make their estimations more robust, many line correspondences (much more than the least requirement in theory) are usually needed. These shortages are not beneficial for practical use. Because many sets of parallel lines are frequently encountered in an artificial 3D environment and can be easily identified, we try to utilize these identified parallel lines to simplify the generalized SFM problem and improve the performance of parameter estimation. A fast and reliable algorithm is proposed in our paper. Both computer-generated and real-world images are tested and several satisfactory results have been obtained. In addition, its error sensitivity and data degeneracy will be discussed. Parallel lines Quaternion Perspective projection
SIMULATION OF MULTI INPUT DC-DC BOOST CONVERTER FOR HYBRID PV / FC / SUPER CAPACITOR POWER SYSTEMS

This paper proposes a three-input DC–DC boost converter consisting of two unidirectional input ports and a bidirectional port which is used as a storage port. It is applied in the hybrid system with energy sources such as photovoltaic (PV) source, fuel cell (FC) source and super capacitor. The PV and FC has the ability to deliver to the output load and also for the charging or discharging the super capacitor. This can be done by these sources individually or simultaneously. Four power switches has been used and are controlled by four different duty ratios. Based on the charging and the discharging state of the super capacitor three different power operation modes are defined for the converter and are verified by MATLAB Simulink.
Spatialization of political action applied to waterways management an overview of Parisian urban small rivers

Les petites rivieres urbaines de l'agglomeration parisienne sont caracterisees par une segmentation territoriale de pratiques et de gestion qui doivent elles-memes s'inscrire dans une dynamique d'ajustement entre politique urbaine et politique environnementale. Actuellement l'obligation d'une restauration de ces cours d'eau (mise en application de la DCE) pose la question de la coordination des acteurs et de leur capacite a agir pour une prise en charge collective de cette renaturation. Dans cet article, il s'agit de rendre explicite les convergences et divergences dans la representation commune de la relation des acteurs locaux au cours d'eau a travers un certain nombre de trajectoires spatio-temporelles propres a chaque petite riviere. Nous montrerons que l'enjeu d'une gestion commune de la riviere n'est pas seulement celui d'une gestion de la ressource mais d'un espace commun. Choisir de modeliser la relation entre les societes locales et leur riviere dans le temps et dans l'espace, autour d'une figure territorialisee, fournit aux acteurs locaux et regionaux une explication de leurs interactions avec la riviere et ses milieux, revelatrice d'une capacite a agir ensemble.
Ab-Initio Calculation of the Optical Properties of Surfaces

The recent development of computational methods using very large plane-wave basis sets, together with the large increase in computer performance, have now made it possible to compute the optical properties of real surfaces within a parameter-free approach. In this work, we describe a scheme for such a calculation, based on the state-of-the-art techniques for the computation of the ground and excited electronic states. We outline the advantages and the drawbacks related to the
Kink power in weakly index guided semiconductor lasers

A periodic dependence of kink power on laser length is observed and explained. Weakly index guided high power stripe lasers in the AlGaAs, InGaAlP, and InGaAs–AlGaAs material systems are studied and oscillation periods of 100–350 μm are found. Relative kink power differences exceeding a factor of 4 are observed. Facet coatings lead to differences in the oscillation amplitude but not in the oscillation period. The observations indicate that phase‐locked fundamental and first‐order modes exist at certain preferred laser lengths. This general model fully explains the oscillatory behavior of the kink power and the correlated changes in lateral far field distributions at the front and rear mirrors. It is concluded that the optimum diffraction limited power output can be obtained by choosing the proper laser length.
Annual sea level amphidromes in the South China Sea revealed by merged altimeter data

Annual phase‐amplitude characteristics of sea level anomaly (SLA) in the South China Sea (SCS) are investigated by a merged SLA data set derived from simultaneous measurements of Envisat, Geosat‐Follow‐on (GFO), Jason‐1, and TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) from January 2004 to December 2005. Four annual amphidromes instead of two are revealed and their locations, surrounding the Vietnam eddy, distinguish two distinctive regimes of annual variations in the SCS, a basin scale monsoon regime and a local Vietnam eddy regime. Their existence suggests that the annual amphidrome is not only a common feature on global scale, but also a phenomenon in regional seas. However, the locations of these amphidromes in the SCS vary considerably from year to year, in contrast to the annual amphidomes found in the tropical ocean basins, which are much more stable.
Expansion history and f(R) modified gravity

We attempt to fit cosmological data using f(R) modified Lagrangians containing inverse powers of the Ricci scalar varied with respect to the metric. While we can fit the supernova data well, we confirm the behaviour at medium to high redshifts reported elsewhere and argue that the easiest way to show that this class of models are inconsistent with the data is by considering the thickness of the last scattering surface. For the best fit parameters to the supernova data, the simplest 1/R model gives rise to a last scattering surface of thickness Δz∼530, inconsistent with observations.
Constrained Optimization With Integer And Continuous Variables Using Inexact Restoration And Projected Gradients

Inexact restoration (IR) is a well established technique for continuous minimization problems with constraints that can be applied to constrained optimization problems with specific structures. When some variables are restricted to be integer, an IR strategy seems to be appropriate. The IR strategy employs a restoration procedure in which one solves a standard nonlinear programming problem and an optimization procedure in which the constraints are linearized and techniques for mixed-integer (linear or quadratic) programming can be employed.