Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An investigation of H2S adsorption mechanisms on Tire Derived Rubber Particles (TDRP TM )

VIII CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW 1 1.1 Hydrogen sulfide 1 1.2 Tire Derived Rubber Particles (TDRP) 2 1.2.1 Used tires and potential environmental problems 2 1.2.2 Tire Derived Rubber Particles (TDRP) 3 1.3 H2S removal by TDRP 4 1.4 Objectives 4 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 6 2.1 Adsorption 6 2.1.1 Adsorption and absorption 6 2.1.2 Equilibrium isotherms and diffusion 7 2.2 Surface characteristics and analysis methods 8 2.2.1 Langmuir isotherm 8 2.2.2 BET theory 9 2.2.3 Oxygen containing functionalities 10 2.2. 4 Metal concentration 11 2.2. 5 Acid-base properties 13 2.2. 6 Summary 13 2.3 Tire rubber compositions and properties 13
Retinal and Cortical Determinants of Cortical Magnification in Human Albinism

The human fovea lies at the center of the retina and supports high-acuity vision. In normal visual system development, foveal acuity is correlated with both a high density of cone photoreceptors at this location and a magnified retinotopic representation of the fovea in the visual cortex. Both cone density and the cortical area dedicated to each degree of visual space—the latter known as the cortical magnification function—steadily decline with increasing eccentricity from the fovea. In albinism, peak cone density at the fovea and visual acuity are reduced but appear to be normal in the periphery, thus providing a model to explore the correlation between retinal structure, cortical structure, and behavior. Here, we used adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy to assess retinal cone density and functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure cortical magnification in primary visual cortex of normal controls and individuals with albinism. We find that retinotopic organization is more varied in albinism than previously appreciated, yet cortical magnification outside the fovea is similar to that in controls. Moreover, cortical magnification in albinism and controls exceeds that which might be predicted based on cone density alone, suggesting that reduced foveal cone density in the albinotic retina may be partially counteracted by central connectivity. Together, these results emphasize that central as well as retinal factors must be included to provide a complete picture of aberrant structure and function in genetic conditions such as albinism.
A Decentralized Location Privacy-Preserving Spatial Crowdsourcing for Internet of Vehicles

With the rapid development of Internet of Vehicles (IoV), vehicle-based spatial crowdsourcing (SC) applications have been proposed and widely applied to various fields. However, location privacy leakage is a serious issue in spatial crowdsourcing because workers who participate in a crowdsourcing task are required to upload their driving locations. In this paper, we propose a decentralized location privacy-preserving SC for IoV, which allows vehicle users to securely participate in SC with ensuring the task’s location policy privacy and providing multi-level privacy preservation for workers’ locations. Specifically, we introduce blockchain technology into SC, which can eliminate the control of vehicle user data by SC-server. We combine the additively homomorphic encryption and circle-based location verification to ensure the confidentiality of task’s location policy. To achieve multi-level privacy preservation for workers’ driving locations, we only reveal a grid where workers are located in. The size of the grid represents the level of privacy preservation. We leverage the order-preserving encryption and non-interactive zero-knowledge proof to prevent workers from illegally obtaining rewards by forging their driving locations. The security analysis results show that our framework can satisfy the above requirements. In addition, the experiment results demonstrate that our framework is efficient and feasible in practice.
Spray Cooling Processes for Space Applications

The present paper reports ongoing work to develop numerical and modeling tools used to design efficient and effective spray cooling processes and to determine characteristic non-dimensional parametric dependence for practical fluids and conditions. In particular, we present data that will delineate conditions towards control of the impingement dynamics of droplets upon a heated substrate germane to practical situations.
Human-powered vehicle capable of movement in the longitudinal and lateral directions

Human - powered vehicles, especially conventional wheelchairs, are essential tools for people with lower body disability. But their movement in a lateral direction is limited or impossible, which burdens users who want to change directions, especially in a narrow space. Thus, a human - powered vehicle that can move in a lateral direction is required. To move in any direction, many motor - driven omnidirectional vehicles have been proposed, but humans cannot manually power their mechanisms. To solve this problem, we are developing a human - powered vehicle, that is, driven by hands of the rider, that can move in both the longitudinal and lateral directions. This paper proposes such a vehicle, which has a mechanism to move in the lateral direction like people can do while walking. We designed it so that riders can operate its mechanism by analyzing the space reachable by the rider’s palms where they can effectively exert power. We constructed a prototype and conducted experiments to confirm that the vehicle moves as expected with relatively low effort. In the experiments, we confirmed the validity of vehicle operation by comparing the moving time of the vehicle with and without the lateral translation function for different travel distances and passage widths. Our results showed that the proposed vehicle moves more quickly or requires shorter moving distance in comparison with a conventional wheelchair because of the lateral movement function. In addition, we found that the threshold for utility of the function is whether the passage width is larger than the vehicle diagonal length.
Trait Evolution in Invasive Species

One of the most exciting recent developments in the field of invasion biology has been the growing realisation that evolution can determine invasive species’ success. Here, we review research on contemporary evolution in invasive populations, with a focus on traits that have the potential to contribute to invasive spread. Evidence available so far indicates adaptive divergence in quantitative traits predominates, although the contribution of non-adaptive processes should not be easily discounted. Further, contemporary evolution of invasive populations appears to be more frequently spurred by abiotic factors, rather than escape from natural enemies. Important progress remains to be made on the role of hybridisation in invasion success, or the conditions under which rapid evolution of phenotypic plasticity at key traits leads to invasions. Also, we do not yet have a firm grasp on how often expansion load limits invasive spread. While convincing examples of adaptation along geographic or climatic gradients are available, we highlight conditions under which such clines would arise irrespective of biotic or abiotic conditions. We propose potentially important future lines of investigation that can illuminate the mechanistic basis of invasion success while maximising the value of invasive species for understanding evolutionary processes.
Impact of Demonstrations on Productivity and Profitability of Greengram in Gandhinagar district of Gujarat

The present study was conducted by KVK during 2017 to 2019 in the summer seasons with 172 demonstrations across 13 villages of Gandhinagar district of Gujarat. The improved technologies consisted use of disease resistant variety, seed treatment with bio-fertilizers, integrated nutrient and weed management, pest and disease management. The results revealed that the highest seed yield was obtained in demonstrated plot with an average of 963.3kg/ha as compared to 733.3kg/ha. Higher net return (Rs 29056/ha) was obtained in the demonstration plots compared to farmers’ practice plot (Rs 20766/ha). The increase in the demonstration yield over farmer's practices was 31.3 per cent. The average extension gap was 230kg/ha and average technology gap 536.6kg/ha was recorded.
A Millimeter Wave Dual-Lens Antenna for IoT-Based Smart Parking Radar System

With a rapid increase in the number of vehicles over recent years, urban parking systems have encountered more and more challenges. In this article, a dual-lens millimeter wave (MMW) radar antenna is designed for a smart parking system in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT). A flat dielectric punch lens is used to increase the gain of the transmitting antenna in order to compensate for the penetration loss in MMW. In addition, a dielectric rod lens is used to correct beam direction and maintain a wide beamwidth in order to overcome received energy loss due to scattering of the car chassis. The combined dual-lens antenna can improve the accuracy and stability of MMW radar operating at 24 GHz. The measured gain is 15.8 dBi for the transmitting antenna and 7.9 dBi for the receiving antenna, and the 3-dB beamwidth is approximately 65°. The system measurement results show that the proposed antenna has stable measurement effect and is suitable for the MMW radar smart parking system.
An Integrated Framework for Managing Information Technology Security Uncertainty

Information security to date has been driven a lot of attention in business world. The cyber security standards play significant and crucial role in promoting feasible approaches to organizations while making comprehensive strategical planning. This paper aims at providing a systematic overview of information technology (IT) security management in organizations. Conducted a structured literature from academic database and industry whitepapers, we review a number of the critical issues and challenges facing the industry today and in the future. In line with the fundamental elements of information security, we propose an integrated framework to understand the current situation of IT security management. In particular, we focus on several critical fundamental functions of IT security management: Security and Risk Management, Security Operations, and Security Assessments and Testing. Then, we use the proposed framework as a lens to discuss and solve the security issues in bring your own device (BYOD) in organizations. Keywords: IT security, IT security framework, bring your own device DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/12-18-01 Publication date :June 30th 2020
Contribution « K » à l'effet biologique des rayonnements ionisants

Le but de ce travail est de determiner l'importance des ionisations « K » sur l'ADN en tant qu'evenements physiques critiques a l'origine des effets biologiques des rayonnements ionisants en particulier dans les cellules humaines. Les rayons X ultra-mous sont utilises comme sonde des evenements d'ionisations de cœur. Un test decisif consiste a comparer les effets biologiques a 250eV et 350eV (avant et apres le seuil K du carbone). Les resultats montrent un fort accroissement de l'efficacite biologique pour l'inactivation cellulaire et la production d'aberrations chromosomiques d'echange au passage du seuil K du carbone, correle avec celui des evenements de cœur produits dans les atomes de l'ADN. L'irradiation en ions lourds a permis de retrouver le comportement paradoxal des sections efficaces d'inactivation cellulaire en fonction du TEL. La contribution des evenements « K » a l'inactivation cellulaire des rayonnements usuels de bas TEL est estimee a ~75%.
Phased Array With Low-Angle Scanning and 46:1 Bandwidth

An extremely wideband (EWB) antenna array is presented that covers the UHF to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-bands (0.13–6 GHz). The array has dual-linear polarization and is capable of wide-angle scanning. Notably, this array achieves a 46:1 contiguous impedance bandwidth at broadside with VSWR < 3.1 across most of the band and VSWR < 4 when scanning down to 60° in the E-plane across the band. In the H-plane, the VSWR worsens when scanning down to 60°. In addition to building on the tightly coupled dipole array concept, the enabling novelty of this EWB array is the use of a frequency-selective surface (FSS) resistive card (R-card) within the substrate that suppresses periodic ground plane interference. Also, a highly improved impedance matching network with tapered stripline balun is employed. A <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$12\times12$ </tex-math></inline-formula> array prototype was fabricated and tested to verify the bandwidth and gain performance of a finite array. The simulated radiation efficiency was demonstrated to be 72% on average across the band.
Secure and Energy Efficient Transmission for RSMA-Based Cognitive Satellite-Terrestrial Networks

Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) has recently received considerable attention due to its high efficiency in both spectral utilization and energy consumption. Inspired by this emerging technique, this letter presents a secure beamforming (BF) scheme for RSMA-based cognitive satellite terrestrial networks in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers. Assuming that the system operates in the millimeter wave band and only imperfect wiretap channel state information is available at the satellite and terrestrial base station, our objective is to maximize the secrecy-energy efficiency of the earth station (ES) while meeting the constraints on the ES secrecy rate, the cellular users’ rate requirements, and transmit power budgets of the satellite and base station. As the formulated optimization problem is mathematically intractable, by applying successive convex approximation and Taylor expansion methods, we propose a robust BF scheme to convert the nonconvex objective and constraints into convex ones, which can be iteratively solved. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed scheme are confirmed through simulation results.
Effects of an outflow regime adoption of the São Francisco River reservoir system to meet water demands for multiple uses

The establishment of reservoir operation rules is a strategy used to increase storage volumes and satisfy water demands. However, these rules are not always compatible with the flow regime required to meet environmental needs. This paper aims to evaluate the effects of an outflow regime adopted by the São Francisco River reservoir system, which includes environmental water requirements, in the current laws for meeting water demands for multiple uses, according to Resolution 2081/2017 of Agência Nacional de Águas ANA. The methodology adopted was the construction and simulation of alternative outflow operation scenarios, for a regular and a dry hydrological period, which were the following: 1) Outflow scenario according to Resolution 2081/17 and (2) Outflow scenario that considers a proposed environmental flow hydrogram for the low course of the São Francisco river. The operation effects in the meeting of multiple water uses were quantified in each scenario and compared with each other. The results suggest that when the maintenance of the aquatic ecosystems is a priority, the system demonstrated low water security in meeting the reservoirs target volumes and satisfying water demands, including the environmental flows.
Flexible Combination and Switching Control for Robust Wireless Power Transfer System With Hexagonal Array Coil

Multitransmitter structure can improve the misalignment tolerance of wireless power transfer (WPT) system, but some new problems such as a sharp drop in transmission efficiency will occur when the receiver moves to the boundary situation between transmitters. It is very crucial to solve this problem for an efficient and stable WPT system. In this article, a flexible combination multitransmitter coupling structure based on hexagonal array coil and auxiliary switch is proposed, and the coupling characteristics under misalignment conditions has been deeply analyzed with mutual inductance model. Unlike using coupling coefficient, a convenient switching control strategy is proposed based on the primary current to activate the optimal coil working mode, and the experimental results favorably verified the theoretical analysis. Compared with the circular array coil and the square array coil, the proposed coupling structure and control method can greatly improve the transmission efficiency of the WPT system at the coil boundary, and has stronger robustness under different misalignment conditions.
Effect of prepartum diet on sub-clinical Hypocalcaemia and milk production in dairy cows

B. McLachlan, P. Watson, J. Ternouth , W. Fulkerson and T. Cowan A Australian Tropical Dairy Institute, University of Queensland, Gatton, Qld 4345. B Mail Service 16, Conondale, Qld 4552. C School of Animal Studies, University of Queensland, Gatton, Qld 4345. D NSW Agriculture, Wollongbar Agricultural Institute, Wollongbar, NSW 2477. __________________________________________________________________________________________
CSI-Fuzz: Full-Speed Edge Tracing Using Coverage Sensitive Instrumentation

Coverage-guided fuzzing is one of the most effective solutions for vulnerability discovery. Among coverage-guided fuzzing, full-speed fuzzing, such as UnTracer, traces test cases only when they discover new coverage. Due to the high expense of tracing test cases, full-speed fuzzers improve the efficiency of fuzzing by tracing only coverage-increasing test cases. However, the existing full-speed fuzzer (i.e., UnTracer) is based on basic block coverage, suffering a severe problem called edge collision. Moreover, such fuzzers neglect the path frequency, which affects fuzzing effectiveness. In this article, we propose CSI-Fuzz, a fuzzer utilizing coverage sensitive instrumentation to address the problems of existing full-speed fuzzing. CSI-Fuzz directly instruments at edges, which solves the problem of edge collision. Meanwhile, CSI-Fuzz sets path identifiers to count the frequency of covered paths. Our CSI-Fuzz can be recognized as an add-on and seamlessly applied to existing coverage-guided fuzzers. We accordingly implement CSI-Fuzz based on two widely-adopted fuzzers, AFL and AFLFast, to evaluate its performance. The experiments demonstrate that CSI-Fuzz discovers more edges than AFL, AFLFast, and UnTracer. Additionally, CSI-Fuzz exposes more bugs than the other fuzzers.
Ecological strategy and genetic load in the shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) from the core and the limit of its natural range

Species range expansion is a complex process whose outcome depends on the interplay of demographic, environmental and genetic factors. In plants, self-fertilizing species that do not require a mate to reproduce usually show higher invasive ability. However, this comes at a cost as both selfing and bottlenecks occurring during colonization lead to an increase in deleterious mutations accumulation (genetic load). Although they are theoretically clearly spelled out, the relationships between genomic and phenotypic characteristics of expanding populations have hitherto rarely been characterized. In the present study we analyzed how different accessions of the shepherd’s purse, C. bursa-pastoris, coming from the front of colonization or from the core of the natural range performed under increasing density of competitors. We first showed that, as expected, accessions from the front of colonization performed the worst for most life history traits compared with accessions from core populations. Second, competitor density had a negative impact on both vegetative growth and reproductive output in term of fruits production for all accessions. However, somewhat unexpectedly given their higher genetic load and their lower absolute performance, accessions from the front of colonization were less affected by competition than accessions from the core of the species range. This could be due to phenotypic tradeoffs and a shift in phenology that allow the accessions from the front of colonization to avoid competition. These results are discussed in terms of ecological strategies of expanding populations.
Design and Experimental Verification of Real-Time Nonlinear Predictive Controller for Improving the Stability of Production Vehicles

Vehicle stability control under extreme conditions is influenced by the coupled nonlinear characteristics of vehicle dynamics, corresponding safety constraints, and rapid response requirements. To address these problems, this brief proposes a real-time nonlinear predictive controller for a distributed drive electric vehicle. First, nonlinear lateral dynamics of the vehicle are applied to develop the stability controller on low friction coefficient surfaces. Second, the requirement for suppressing the sideslip angle is integrated into the objective function to prevent the vehicle from destabilizing due to excessive sideslip angles. Finally, a fast solution algorithm is proposed by solving the transformed two-point boundary value problem, making it possible to apply nonlinear predictive controller to experimental road tests. The experiments with a production vehicle are conducted on the snow-covered dynamic roads of the DongFeng’s winter test center. The test results on low friction coefficient roads show that the overall passing speed can be improved from 50–55 to 60–70 km/h with the proposed controller.
Conductivity inversion of unidirectional CFRP laminate based on ECT using neural network

For the electrical anisotropy of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), conductivity of unidirectional CFRP laminate in three directions was inverted in this paper. The three-dimensional eddy current electromagnetic model of unidirectional composites was constructed by ANSYS software, and the influence of the electrical conductivity of the material on the detection signal of the probe in the longitudinal, transverse and thickness directions was studied. In order to improve the amplitude of the probe output signal induced by the change of conductivity, the optimal detection angle of the eddy current probe was determined. On this basis, the relationship between the conductivity and the detection signal was studied to estimate the initial values of the conductivity based on the experimental data obtained by the eddy current testing (ECT). According to the forward model, the theoretical probe voltage under the estimated conductivity were calculated. The database consisting of conductivity and corresponding theoretical results was built for the neural network to construct the mapping that can estimate conductivity by experimental results. Using neural network for iteration, the conductivity was inverted quickly and precisely.
Technological Innovation and Sustainable Development

Industrial competitiveness is linked to sustainable business practices if firms want to be competitive and position themselves as sustainable companies. This chapter analyses how the knitwear industry integrates the sustainable concerns into their strategy and mission and how they adopt new ways of production, performance, and product definition, mainly through technological innovation and therefore improve their industrial competitiveness. The study is exploratory applied into all the knitwear industries of two counties of the Centre Region of Portugal. The innovation, mainly technical, adopted expresses the sustainable concern to the limit of the law and business revenue. It seems that the business environmental concerns showed have a paradoxical behaviour as they don't translate into a clear contribution for the sustainable development and to an industrial competitiveness concern.