Lithium conducting solid electrolyte Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3 obtained via solution chemistry

NaSICON-type lithium conductor Li_1.3Al_0.3Ti_1.7(PO₄)₃ (LATP) is synthesized with controlled grain size and composition using solution chemistry. After thermal treatment at 850 °C, sub-micronic crystallized powders with high purity are obtained. They are converted into ceramic through Spark Plasma Sintering at 850–1000 °C. By varying the processing parameters, pellet with conductivities up to 1.6 × 10^?4 S/cm with density of 97% of the theoretical density have been obtained. XRD, FEG-SEM, ac-impedance and Vickers indentation were used to characterize the products. The influence of sintering parameters on pellet composition, microstructure and conductivity is discussed in addition to the analysis of the mechanical behavior of the grains interfaces.     

Using immersive virtual reality and anatomically correct computer-generated characters in the forensic assessment of deviant sexual preferences

Penile plethysmography (PPG) is the gold standard for the assessment of sexual interests, especially among sex offenders of children. Nonetheless, this method faces some ethical limitations inherent to the nature of its stimuli and could benefit from the improvement of its ecological validity. The use of computer-generated characters (CGC) in virtual immersion for PPG assessment might help address these issues. A new application developed to design made-to-measure anatomically correct virtual characters compatible with the Tanner developmental stages is presented. The main purpose of this study was to determine how the virtual reality (VR) modality compares to the standard auditory modality on their capacity to generate sexual arousal profiles and deviance differentials indicative of sexual interests. The erectile responses of 22 sex offenders of children and 42 non-deviant adult males were recorded. While both stimulus modalities generated significantly different genital arousal profiles for sex offenders of children and non-deviant males, deviance differentials calculated from the VR modality allowed for significantly higher classification accuracy. Performing receiver operating characteristic analyses further assessed discriminant potential. Auditory modality yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.79 (SE = 0.059) while CGC in VR yielded an AUC of 0.90 (SE = 0.052). Overall, results suggest that the VR modality allows significantly better group classification accuracy and discriminant validity than audio stimuli, which provide empirical support for the use of this new method for PPG assessment. Additionally, the potential use of VR in interventions pertaining to self-regulation of sexual offending is addressed in conclusion.     

Interruption modelling in medium voltage electrical networks

Failures frequently occur in developing countries' electrical energy distribution networks. This paper proposes an approach to network reliability through modelling the interruptions on medium voltage lines. This modelling is based on a representative feeder sampling of a source station in an urban area. In order to determine the probability law governing these interruptions, statistical techniques were used: density estimation using the kernel method and approximation by the least squares. The results we obtained show that, from the quality of the equipment and their maintenance, interruptions for a given network follow a truncated and shifted gamma distribution or a truncated normal law. For the managers of such systems, these results would allow, amongst other things, reduction in the probability of failure, thus improving operational safety on electricity distribution with medium voltage lines.     

SinFP,unification of active and passive operating system fingerprinting

The ubiquity of firewalls using Network Address Translation and Port Address Translation (NAT/PAT), stateful inspection, and packet normalization technologies is taking its toll on today’s approaches to operating system fingerprinting. Hence, SinFP was developed attempting to address the limitations of current tools. SinFP implements new methods, like the usage of signatures acquired by active fingerprinting when performing passive fingerprinting. Furthermore, SinFP is the first tool to perform operating system fingerprinting on IPv6 (both active and passive modes). Thanks to its signature matching algorithm, it is almost superfluous to add new signatures to its current database. In addition, its heuristic matching algorithm makes it highly resilient against signatures that have been modified by intermediate routing and/or filtering devices in-between, and against TCP/IP customization methods. This document presents an in-depth explanation of techniques implemented by SinFP tool.     

Representations by Contact and Intersection of Segments

A necessary and sufficient condition is given for a connected bipartite graph to be the incidence graph of a contact family of segments and points. We deduce that any four-connected three-colorable plane graph is the contact graph of a family of segments and that any four-colored planar graph without an induced C₄ using four colors is the intersection graph of a family of straight line segments.     

Minimum Initial Marking Estimation of Labeled Petri Nets Based on GRASP Inspired Method (GMIM)

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of estimating the Minimum Initial Marking (MIM) of Labeled Petri Nets (L-PN). By the observation of a sequence of labels, we determine the set of possible MIMs related to a given L-PN through an approach based on GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure) inspired method – GMIM. The objective is to get the maximum of feasible MIMs by exploring the search space and giving best solutions for real time cyber systems in short time. We consider four basic assumptions during the reasoning: (i) the L-PN structure is known; (ii) for each transition of L-PN, a label is associated, (iii) the label sequence is known, and (iv) all transitions of L-PN are observable. We show the validity and efficiency of our approach by applying the proposed GMIM metaheuristic to two validation examples: Initialization of two parallel machines (example widely cited in literature) and resources allocation in a monitoring problem via mobile robot network.     

State-space caching revisited

State-space caching is a verification technique for finite-state concurrent systems. It performs an exhaustive exploration of the state space of the system being checked while storing only all states of just one execution sequence plus as many other previously visited states as available memory allows. So far, this technique has been of little practical significance: it allows one to reduce memory usage by only twoo to three times, before an unacceptable blow-up of the run-time overhead sets in. The explosion of the run-time requirements is due to redundant multiple explorations of unstored parts of the state space. Indeed, almost all states in the state space of concurrent systems are typically reached several times during the search.In this paper, we present a method to tackle the main cause of this prohibitive state matching: the exploration of all possible interleavings of concurrent executions of the system which all lead to the same state. Then, we show that, in many cases, with this method, most reachable states are visited only once during state-space exploration. This enables one not to store most of the states that have already been visited without incurring too much redundant explorations of parts of the state space, and makes therefore state-space caching a much more attractive verification method. As an example, we were able to competely explore a state space of 250,000 states while storing simultaneously no more than 500 states and with only a three-fold increas of the run-time requirements.     

Sulphated polysaccharides from Indian samples of Enteromorpha compressa (Ulvales,Chlorophyta): Isolation and structural features

Heteroglycan and xyloglucan rich fractions were extracted from Indian samples of Enteromorpha compressa in 25% yield by sequential extractions with water and alkali. This heteroglycan is sulfated and has an apparent molecular mass of 55 kDa. Chemical structural analysis of this polysaccharide revealed a branched structure having 1,4- and 1,2,4-linked rhamnose 3-sulphate, 1,4-linked glucose, 1,3- and 1,6- linked galactose, 1,4- and terminally linked glucuronic acid and 1,4-linked xylose partially sulfated on O-2. Chemical and spectroscopic analysis showed that the 4-M KOH extracted hemicellulosic fraction contained an unusual β-(1,4)-linked linear xyloglucan. Enzyme hydrolysis and analysis of the resulting fragments by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) showed that this linear polymer contained partially sulfated Glc₃Xyl₂ or Glc₄Xyl₂ as oligomeric building subunits.