Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Sodium Sulfate Supporting Electrolyte in Ammonium Transport and Reduction at Interface Between Platinum Cathode and Solution

Ammonium is a potential hydrogen fuel and can be recovered from high ammonium wastewater via electrodeionization (EDI) process. Since NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> is a weak acid ion, sodium sulfate (Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>) is used as a supporting electrolyte to improve electrolyte’s conductivity. This manuscript investigated the NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> behaviors in high Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> solution through electrochemical analysis methods and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Ionic strength increased, leading to a decreased ionic activity, and thus negatively influenced NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> transportation with the increasing concentration of Na2<sub>S</sub>O<sub>4</sub> solution. Na<sup>+</sup> competitively occupied the place of electric double layer (EDL) and impeded NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> to get closer to the electrode surface. Besides, water molecules played a critical role in determining the net charge density and the potential drop. The experimental tests and theoretical simulation demonstrated that NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> reduction (<i>NH<sub>4(aq)</sub><sup>+ </sup>+ e<sup>- </sup>→ 0.5 H<sub>2(g) </sub>+ NH<sub>3(g)</sub></i>) in the cathode was strengthened in the low concentration range (0-0.25 M Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>) but inhibited in the concentration range of 0.5-1.5 mol L<sup>-1</sup>.
Climate change, transport and environmental policy : empirical applications in a federal system

Introductory chapter, Stef Proost, John Braden Alternative CO2 abatement strategies for the European Union, Christoph Bohringer et al National economic impacts of an EU environmental policy - an applied general equilibrium analysis, Klaus Conrad , Tobias Schmidt Environmental fiscal reforms in a federal Europe, Carlo Carraro, Marzio Galeotti Coordinated versus non-coordinated European energy/carbon tax solutions analyzed with GEM-E3 linking the EU-12 countries, P. Capros et al Who's in the driver's seat? mobile source policy in the U.S. federal system, Winston Harrington et al Deriving and selecting policy instruments to meet air quality standards in the European Union, Zeger Degraeve et al central versus local regulation of gasoline related automobile emissions - the contrasting cases of lead, CO and precursors, Jane V. Hall regional and federal interests in transport and environmental policy making - the case of Belgium, S. Ochelen et al.
Robust Two-Sample Statistics for Testing Equality of Means: A Simulation Study

When testing the equality of the means from two independent normally distributed populations given that the variances of the two populations are unknown but assumed equal, the classical two-sample t-test is recommended. If the underlying population distributions are normal with unequal and unknown variances, either Welch's t-statistic or Satterthwaite's Approximate F-test is suggested. However, Welch's procedure is non-robust under most non-normal distributions. There is a variable tolerance level around the strict assumptions of data independence, homogeneity of variances and normality of the distributions. Few textbooks offer alternatives when one or more of the underlying assumptions are not defensible.
COVID-19 treatment modalities

COVID-19 infections virus spread worldwide and impact many countries with sever economical sequences. The effective antiviral medication or vaccination for the virus is unavailable until the present date and it takes months or years to discover the effective treatment or test the efficacy of the discovered treatment.Based on these facts, the human immune system against the virus may have an effective role to regulate the infection and reduce the mortality rate among the infected patients. This proposed research article aims to explore the available medication/ natural supplementation to boost the immunity system of the patients against COVID-19 infections and reduce the mortality rate among infected patients. Methods: a proposed clinical trial will be carried out to investigate the effect of the different treatment modalities on the human immune system against COVID-19 infection.
Performance Optimization of Persistent Memory Systems Through Phase-Based Transactional Memory

The emerging persistent memory technologies (PM) are aimed to eliminate the gap between main memory and storage. Nevertheless, its adoption requires measures to guarantee consistency, since crash failures might render the program in an unrecoverable state. In this context, the usage of durable transactions is one of the main investigated approaches to ease the adoption of PM. However, today's implementations are based exclusively on software (SW) or hardware (HW), which might degrade system performance. This paper presents NV-PhTM, a transactional system for PM that delivers the best out of both HW and SW transactions by dynamically changing the execution according to the application's characteristics.
Ingroup cooperation among Japanese baseball fans using the one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game

ABSTRACT This study aimed to examine the external validity of social identity theory (SIT) and the bounded generalised reciprocity hypothesis (BGR) to generate ingroup cooperation in real groups. Previous research has demonstrated the existence of ingroup cooperation predicted by both theories in the minimal group, whereas neither theory was supported in real groups. However, ingroup cooperation predicted by both theories was revealed among Japanese baseball fans after controlling for confounding factors. Furthermore, previous research showed that ingroup cooperation was better explained by the BGR than by the SIT when the cost of cooperation was high. The limitation of these studies is that ingroup cooperation was measured in terms of behavioural intention (a vignette experiment). This study employed a one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game to measure ingroup cooperation among Japanese baseball fans. The results supported only BGR in that ingroup cooperation was enhanced in situations wherein participants could expect a reciprocal relationship with their game partner.
Correlation between quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI parameters and molecular typing and related immune proteins in gastric cancer

Background To analyze the correlation between quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) parameters and molecular typing and related immune proteins in gastric cancer. Methods Forty-three patients confirmed as gastric adenocarcinoma by histopathology were enrolled in this prospective study. DCE-MRI were performed before surgery, and quantitative DCE parameters (Ktrans, Kep, Ve) were measured. The specimens were stained with biomarkers EBER-ISH, MLH1, PMS2, E-Cadherin, P53 and HER-2. According to the different dyeing results, they were divided into five molecular types and four HER-2 expression grades. The quantitative DCE parameters among five molecular types was compared using the ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test, and pairwise comparison was performed using the LSD test. The quantitative DCE parameters between positive and negative expressions of related immune proteins were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. The correlations between quantitative DCE parameters and HER-2 expression grades were evaluated using Spearman rank correlation test. Results Among 43 cases, 3 cases were EBV-positive groups, 9 cases were MSI groups, 2 cases were aberrant E-Cadherin groups, 23 cases were aberrant P53 groups, and 6 cases were normal P53 groups. There were significant differences of quantitative DCE parameters in Ktrans and Kep among five molecular types (P < 0.05). The Ktrans value of Aberrant P53 group was lower than that of EBV-positive group, MSI group and Normal P53 group, the Kep value of E-Cadherin group was lower than that of EBV-positive group, and the Kep value of Aberrant P53 group was lower than that of EBV-positive group and MSI group, and all differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). Aberrant E-Cadherin group has the lowest Ktrans value (0.28/min) and Kep value (0.26/min) in five groups, respectively. There were no significant differences in quantitative DCE parameters between positive and negative expressions of all related immune proteins (all P > 0.05). There were no significant correlation between HER-2 expression grades and Ktrans, Kep, Ve values (r=-0.08, -0.03, -0.16, P = 0.63, 0.84, 0.31, respectively). Conclusion Quantitative DCE-MRI parameters can assess some molecular types of gastric cancer in a certain extent, and not assess related immune protein expressions, and not related to HER-2 expression grades.
Report of the Workshop on Aviation Safety/Automation Program

As part of NASA's responsibility to encourage and facilitate active exchange of information and ideas among members of the aviation community, an Aviation Safety/Automation workshop was organized and sponsored by the Flight Management Division of NASA Langley Research Center. The one-day workshop was held on October 10, 1989, at the Sheraton Beach Inn and Conference Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Participants were invited from industry, government, and universities to discuss critical questions and issues concerning the rapid introduction and utilization of advanced computer-based technology into the flight deck and air traffic controller workstation environments. The workshop was attended by approximately 30 discipline experts, automation and human factors researchers, and research and development managers. The goal of the workshop was to address major issues identified by the NASA Aviation Safety/Automation Program. Here, the results of the workshop are documented. The ideas, thoughts, and concepts were developed by the workshop participants. The findings, however, have been synthesized into a final report primarily by the NASA researchers.
Participant Assessments of Aviation Safety Inspector Training for Technically Advanced Aircraft

Technically advanced “glass cockpit” aircraft are making their way into general aviation. Aside from technical challenges presented by learning any new system, pilots report some difficulty in acquiring a conceptual understanding of the functions offered by the avionics, developing system monitoring skills and habits, developing mode management and awareness skills, understanding when and when not to use automation, and maintaining manual flying skills. Operating aircraft with advanced avionics requires an additional set of knowledge elements and skills. Currently, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aviation safety inspectors are required to inspect technically advanced aircraft, check certified flight instructors, and conduct surveillance of designated pilot examiners who are certifying pilots operating technically advanced aircraft. Therefore, the FAA collaborated with researchers from National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to develop and implement training for aviation safety inspectors on technically advanced aircraft. This paper reports initial participant evaluations of the course.
HOW DO FAKE NEWS PROPAGATORS EXPLOIT SOCIAL ALGORITHMS TO PROMOTE THEIR CONTENTS?

Social media has currently become a primary platform to consume and exchange information. Instead of browsing through media source websites we are interested, we have enabled social media to deliver related contents to us. As a black box, social algorithms were designed and trained to pick up, filter, and rank the most relevant and desired contents to be delivered to each individual one of us. In addition, social media allows us to add more contents as a comment on an original post, which we call user-created content. Unfortunately, a lot of fake news contents have been created and disseminated in Facebook fan pages. Many of them could draw many attentions from users. Our research question is how do fake news propagators successfully make their contents be more visible and disseminate it to many users through social algorithms? In this work, we explored behavior and activities of fake news propagators and their trapped recipient to understand how social algorithms widely delivered those contents to many users on Facebook fan pages. From our SINCERE data, we extracted top 300 fake news comments that got the highest number of participants as our data set. We statistically analyzed the data set based on our hypotheses, which were mainly from our previous work of reverse-engineering for content delivery algorithms in social media and from what we observed from the SINCERE data. Our main contribution for this work is to understand behaviors, activities, and strategies of fake news propagators who successfully disseminated their contents to many users through social algorithms on Facebook.
EVALUATION OF MOTIVATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF CURRICULUM FOR AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION (CASE) LEAD AND MASTER TEACHERS

OF THESIS EVALUATION OF MOTIVATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF CURRICULUM FOR AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION (CASE) LEAD AND MASTER TEACHERS Curriculum for Agricultural Science EducationTM (CASE) is an instructional system of support that provides professional development, curriculum, and assessments to agricultural educators. Through the CASE model, two CASE Lead or Master Teachers facilitate professional development, known as a CASE Institute. This study utilizes three sets of surveys to describe the motivation for CASE certified teachers applying to become CASE Lead and Master Teachers, determine the effectiveness of the professional development provided to Lead and Master Teachers during the Lead Teacher Orientation, and determine the Lead and Master Teachers’ demographic information.
An Easy-to-use Clinical Nomogram for Predicting the Prognosis of Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Concomitantly Suffer from Severe Fibrosis or Cirrhosis: A Population-based Analysis.

Background Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) concomitantly suffer from liver cirrhosis may have worse prognosis. Based on Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, we evaluated the overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) of these patients. Methods A total of 2,369 patients were selected from the SEER database. They were classified into F0 (n=691) and F1 (n=1,678) groups by different Ishak fibrosis score. Propensity score matching (PSM) and Kaplan-Meier method were performed to evaluate the OS and CSS. The F1 group were randomized into training sub-set (n = 1,176, 70%) and validation sub-set (n = 502, 30%) for further construction and validation of nomogram . Results After matched, there were statistically significant worse outcome for F1 group patients compared with F0 group (n=587, OS: P<0.001, CSS: P<0.001). Six independent predictors for both OS and CSS were identified to construct the nomograms by COX regression analyses. The nomogram performed well concerning its ability of discrimination and calibration and its net benefits compared with the conventional staging system. Conclusions Patients with HCC concomitantly suffer from severe fibrosis or cirrhosis has a significant worse survival compared with none or moderate fibrosis patients. The validated nomograms provided useful prediction of survival.
Design and Analysis of Blast Induced Traumatic Brain Injury Mechanism Using a Surrogate Headform: Instrumentation and Outcomes

Design and Analysis of Blast Induced Traumatic Brain Injury Mechanism Using a Surrogate Headform: Instrumentation and Outcomes Eyitejumade A. Sogbesan, M.S. University of Nebraska, 2011 Advisor: Carl A. Nelson Brain injury cases in military personnel exposed to improvised explosive devices (IED) in combat have been on the rise. In Iraq and Afghanistan improved helmets and body armor are not enough protection against blast wave threats. The United States military are sponsoring researchers and scientists around the globe to find the associations between pressure waves and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Lack of accurate data and blast wave exposure information in returning soldiers has slowed the innovation needed to effectively diagnose TBI and other related brain injury as a result of pressure waves. More detailed data will be required to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for blast-induced TBI and to design and develop a more effective head protection system. Understanding the impacts of blast wave in the brain could lead to understanding the best form of protection the head needs in such a scenario. Developing an accurate model suitable for the simulation of the mechanical behavior of the human brain under blast loading conditions could lead to significant advances. This thesis introduces a research study on blast waves, the development of a realistic surrogate human head and brain, the data acquisition system which include the instruments needed to correctly identify and measure the attenuation of the pressure/blast waves in the head/brain and the analysis of the data acquired. In designing the experiments, the RED Head (Realistic Explosive Dummy Headform) was fixed with strain gauges on the exterior to check for stress waves in the surrogate skull, and with a fiber optic sensor inside the brain for pressure measurement. Making use of a shock tube facility, there were 11 shots fired at different breech pressures, the lowest using a 0.01-inch Mylar® burst membrane and the highest using ten 0.01-inch Mylar® burst membranes. The results were then tabulated and presented; the aim is to study the propagation of blast waves and their attenuation within the experimental headform with a simulated brain.
Waveform generation in phase shift oscillators using harmonic programming techniques

A novel harmonic management technique in Phase Shift Oscillators (PSO) is proposed. The technique can be used to generate multi-phase, square waves, low distortion sine waves or perform frequency multiplication or division for frequency synthesis. The technique involves weighted-summation of the PSO’s outputs to obtain an overall output that consists of the desired harmonics. A detailed derivation is provided that allows the user to choose the weights for the desired harmonic content. Robustness of the proposed technique is demonstrated using systematic analysis and simulations. In this work, the focus is on using the proposed technique to generate low distortion sine waves. A bread board prototype of a low distortion sine generator has been implemented using the proposed technique. The sine wave generator can generate 100dB Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) sine waves using extremely low cost discrete components. Simulations of on-chip sine wave generators implemented in a 0.13um CMOS technology process demonstrate using the proposed technique to generate -80dB THD sinusoids with large voltage swing. The second part of the dissertation focuses on testing of Integral non-linearity (INL) of Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADC). The proposed algorithms reduce test cost associated with expensive hardware, and test cost associated with test time. Low cost voltage-shift generators that can enable testing of High resolution ADCs are investigated. It is shown that with the proposed shift generator and low linearity stimuli, INL of ADCs with resolution as high as 16-bit can be characterized.
A Physical Training Program to Reduce Musculoskeletal Injuries in U.S. Marine Corps Recruits, Version 1.0.

Abstract : Recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego are at risk for training- related musculoskeletal injuries due to their relatively low baseline fitness levels and the sudden increase in vigorous physical activity associated with boot camp training. The annual fiscal and operational costs of recruit musculoskeletal injuries at MCRD San Diego were estimated at $16.5 million and 53,000 lost training days. Stress fractures were the single most costly injury, with an estimated annual cost in excess of $5 million.
Online Process Rheometry Using Oscillatory Squeeze Flow

Abstract The flow of complex fluids is routinely encountered in a variety of industrial manufacturing operations. Some of these operations use rheological methods for process and quality control. In a typical process operation small quantities of the process fluid are intermittently sampled for rheological measurements and the efficiency of the process or the quality of the product is determined based on the outcomes of these measurements. The large number of sample-handling steps involved in this approach cost time and cause inconsistencies that lead to significant variability in the measurements. These complications often make effective process/ quality control using standard rheometric techniques difficult. The effectiveness of control strategies involving rheological measurements can be improved if measurements are made online during processing and sampling-steps are eliminated. Unfortunately, online instruments capable of providing sufficiently detailed rheological characterisation of process fluids have been difficult to develop. Commercially available online instruments typically provide a single measurement of viscosity at a fixed deformation rate. This dependence on a single pre-determined shear rate restricts these instruments from identifying changes in the product or the process, especially if the viscosity at the pre-determined shear rate remains unaltered during these changes. We introduce an Online Rheometer (OLR) that uses small amplitude oscillatory squeeze flow to measure the viscoelastic properties of process fluids in-process and in real time under typical processing conditions. We demonstrate that with an appropriate measuring geometry and amplitude of oscillation, the frequency response of typical non-Newtonian fluids can be accurately measured in a process pipe. We also compare our results with other techniques that are typically used for process rheometry, critically evaluating the utility of the OLR technology for advanced process and quality control.
Roadrunner '98: Training Effectiveness in a Distributed Mission Training Exercise

Abstract : RoadRunner '98 was successfully conducted at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Mesa, AZ; the Theater Air Command and Control Simulation Facility, Kirtland AFB, NM; and the 522d Air Control Wing, Tinker AFB, OK, from 13-17 July 1998 to evaluate the training effectiveness of Distributed Mission Training (DMT) systems. RoadRunner '98 combined virtual (man-in-the-loop) training events at DMT platforms with computer-generated constructive models. The systems were integrated over a wide geographic area through secure networks carrying voice, video, data, and image information. The objectives of RoadRunner '98 were to: (a) demonstrate the state-of-the-art DMT technologies, (b) identify the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies, (c) explore how to best use this new training environment for desired and enhanced levels of team training effectiveness, and (d) develop a research and development agenda for the future. This report describes the RoadRunner '98 DMT system, the training missions included in the exercise, and results in terms of mission performance and feedback from participants. DMT strengths and areas for improvement are discussed together with recommendations for future training research exercises.
Different Medical Modelling Strategies in a Single Collaborative Immersive Virtual Environment

Visualisation and simulation systems are becoming increasingly popular nowadays in medical planning and training. These tools are built using various technologies, such as computer graphics, Virtual Reality, and three dimensional (3D) modelling. The latter is an important element to these systems, because it governs how models are represented and how they can be manipulated. In this paper, we investigate the use of various 3D modelling techniques in a virtual immersive collaborative environment. We highlight the merits and limitations of these techniques, explain how they can be used in a virtual medical context, and demonstrate a practical application. Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.6. 3 [Simulation and Modeling]:Applications