Low-PAPR Joint Channel Estimation and Data Detection in ZP-OTFS System

Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) systems face significant challenges in channel estimation due to high pilot overhead and peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). To address these issues, we propose a two-step channel estimation method for Zero-Pad OTFS (ZP-OTFS), a modified OTFS system characterized by multiple zero rows along the delay axis. This method strategically inserts pilot sequences into the zero bins of the ZP-OTFS system, effectively mitigating overhead and PAPR. Comprehensive simulation results validate the effectiveness of our proposed method, demonstrating its superior performance over traditional embedded pilot estimation in high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) scenarios. Specifically, our method achieves a lower normalized mean square error (NMSE) and better bit error rates (BER) at high SNRs

Accidental release of Liquefied Natural Gas in a processing facility: Effect of equipment congestion level on dispersion behaviour of the flammable vapour

An accidental leakage of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) can occur during processes of production, storage andtransportation. LNG has a complex dispersion characteristic after release into the atmosphere. This complexbehaviour demands a detailed description of the scientific phenomena involved in the dispersion of the releasedLNG. Moreover, a fugitive LNG leakage may remain undetected in complex geometry usually in semi-confined orconfined areas and is prone to fire and explosion events. To identify location of potential fire and/or explosionevents, resulting from accidental leakage and dispersion of LNG, a dispersion modelling of leakage is essential.This study proposes a methodology comprising of release scenarios, credible leak size, simulation, comparison ofcongestion level and mass of flammable vapour for modelling the dispersion of a small leakage of LNG and itsvapour in a typical layout using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach. The methodology is applied to acase study considering a small leakage of LNG in three levels of equipment congestion. The potential fire and/orexplosion hazard of small leaks is assessed considering both time dependent concentration analysis and areabased model. Mass of flammable vapour is estimated in each case and effect of equipment congestion on sourceterms and dispersion characteristics are analysed. The result demonstrates that the small leak of LNG can createhazardous scenarios for a fire and/or explosion event. It is also revealed that higher degree of equipmentcongestion increases the retention time of vapour and intensifies the formation of pockets of isolated vapourcloud. This study would help in designing appropriate leak and dispersion detection systems, effective monitoring procedures and risk assessmen

Exploring the shortcomings of the Iranian MSRT English Proficiency Test

The Iranian Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology (MSRT) English Proficiency Test (EPT) has been in use since 1992. While the MSRT-EPT is generally claimed to be reliable, valid, and practical, it does not assess speaking and writing skills. In this exploratory study, a qualitative approach was used to examine the MSRT-EPT testtakers experiences and language education experts’ beliefs about the test as well as their congruence with each other through semi-structured telephone interviews. Convenience and purposive sampling procedures were used to select 15 participants. Inductive coding method was applied to determine invariant constituents. Then, the constituents were reduced to categories, and finally the categories were clustered into 11 themes. Dependability and validity of the study were established through triangulation, inter-coder agreement, and member checking technique. The problems associated with the MSRT-EPT and a lack of productive skills included a lack of correspondence between the test content and Ph.D. Candidates' needs, negative washback effect, non-theory-based content, inappropriate listening conditions, and a lack of test items originality. On the other hand, the candidates’ and experts’ perspectives were highly congruent. In light of these findings, the importance of designing a more comprehensive test including all facets of the language proficiency construct was highlighted, and some suggestions were made for future research

Nanoparticle or conventional adjuvants: which one improves immune response against Brucellosis?

Objective(s): Brucellosis is a common infectious disease among animals and humans. While subunit vaccines could be used as an efficient strategy against pathogens, they usually seem to be less immunogenic than live or killed vaccines. However, the use of a suitable adjuvant accompanied by subunit vaccines can be a good alternative to enhance the immune response.Materials and Methods: To find a proper adjuvant against Brucellosis, the immune response of induced mice by Aluminum Hydroxide (AH), Incomplete Freund (IFA), and Chitosan Nanoparticle (CS) adjuvants in individuals and in combination with CS were assessed.Results: Immunization with CS stimulated higher interferon gamma (IFN-γ) immunity, while there were no significant differences between rOMP25 (IFA), rOMP25 (AH), rOMP25 (AH-CS) and rOMP25 (IFA-CS) recombinant proteins. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) analysis revealed there were no significant differences between immunized groups and the positive control group, except for the treatment formulated in single IFA. Furthermore, unlike IFN-γ, there was a reverse interleukin-4 (IL-4) immune response trend for treatments, as rOMP25 (CS) displayed the lowest response. rOMP25 (CS) induced higher titer of total antibody than the other ones. Although the recombinant proteins emulsified in different adjuvants induced similar titer of IgG1 antibody, the ones that were formulated in CS, IFA and IFA-CS showed a higher titer of IgG2a. The cell proliferation assay demonstrating the antigen-specific cell proliferative response could be promoted after immunization with CS. Conclusion: CS whether single or in combination with IF adjuvants has potential to improve Th1-Th2 responses

Study of the Hydroponic Barley Effect on the Performance of Feedlot of Calves in the Region Souss Massa (Southern Morocco)

The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of the introduction of hydroponic barley; produced as feed supplement in the ration, on the performance of feedlot calves. This study was performed in the Taroudant region (South of Morocco), during a trial period between July and October 2017). A total of 100 calves were used in a feeding trial, which were divided into two groups. The calves of the first group received a total mixed ration (control), while the calves of the second group received a similar ration with the addition of hydroponic barley.Similar growth performance is observed for the two groups, which is easily explained by the equivalent rationing. In the finishing phase, however, a higher average daily gain is observed for the group fed with an enriched diet in hydroponic green fodder. In fact, the average daily gain for this group amounts to 1.48 Kg/Day compared to 1.42 Kg/Day for the control group.The slaughter results confirm those noted in terms of growth performance, with a relatively similar carcass yield for the two groups.However, since hydroponic fodder reveals a positive impact especially at the level of the finishing phase, it seems judicious to introduce it in the key phases of fattening and finishing in order to perfect the weight gain of the species benefiting from this contribution.The test results suggest that hydroponic barley based rationing is to deepen, and that it would be desirable to repeat the experiment by testing different levels of hydroponic barley intake, adjusting both the type and the level of complementation, with a more accurate monitoring of feeding. Keywords: Feedlot calves; Growth, Hydroponic barley, Performance, DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-14-05 Publication date:July 31st 202

HyperDbg: Reinventing Hardware-Assisted Debugging (Extended Version)

Software analysis, debugging, and reverse engineering have a crucial impact in today's software industry. Efficient and stealthy debuggers are especially relevant for malware analysis. However, existing debugging platforms fail to address a transparent, effective, and high-performance low-level debugger due to their detectable fingerprints, complexity, and implementation restrictions. In this paper, we present HyperDbg, a new hypervisor-assisted debugger for high-performance and stealthy debugging of user and kernel applications. To accomplish this, HyperDbg relies on state-of-the-art hardware features available in today's CPUs, such as VT-x and extended page tables. In contrast to other widely used existing debuggers, we design HyperDbg using a custom hypervisor, making it independent of OS functionality or API. We propose hardware-based instruction-level emulation and OS-level API hooking via extended page tables to increase the stealthiness. Our results of the dynamic analysis of 10,853 malware samples show that HyperDbg's stealthiness allows debugging on average 22% and 26% more samples than WinDbg and x64dbg, respectively. Moreover, in contrast to existing debuggers, HyperDbg is not detected by any of the 13 tested packers and protectors. We improve the performance over other debuggers by deploying a VMX-compatible script engine, eliminating unnecessary context switches. Our experiment on three concrete debugging scenarios shows that compared to WinDbg as the only kernel debugger, HyperDbg performs step-in, conditional breaks, and syscall recording, 2.98x, 1319x, and 2018x faster, respectively. We finally show real-world applications, such as a 0-day analysis, structure reconstruction for reverse engineering, software performance analysis, and code-coverage analysis

Prognostic health management of repairable ship systems through different autonomy degree; From current condition to fully autonomous ship

Maritime characteristics make the progress of automatic operations in ships slow, especially compared to other means of transportation. This caused a great progressive deal of attention for Autonomy Degree (AD) of ships by research centers where the aims are to create a well-structured roadmap through the phased functional maturation approach to autonomous operation. Application of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) requires industries and authorities to think about the trustworthiness of autonomous operation regardless of crew availability on board the ship. Accordingly, this paper aims to prognose the health state of the conventional ships, assuming that it gets through higher ADs. To this end, a comprehensive and structured Hierarchal Bayesian Inference (HBI)-based reliability framework using a machine learning application is proposed. A machinery plant operated in a merchant ship is selected as a case study to indicate the advantages of the developed methodology. Correspondingly, the given main engine in this study can operate for 3, 17, and 47 weeks without human intervention if the ship approaches the autonomy degree of four, three, and two, respectively. Given the deterioration ratio defined in this study, the acceptable transitions from different ADs are specified. The aggregated framework of this study can aid the researchers in gaining online knowledge on safe operational time and Remaining Useful Lifetime (RUL) of the conventional ship while the system is being left unattended with different degrees of autonomy.</p