Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Welcoming Workplace: Rapid Design Intervention to Determine the Office Environment Needs of Older Knowledge Workers

This book chapter details the context, methods, findings and implications of the Welcoming Workplace project (RCA, 2006–8), which was part of Phase 2 of the Designing for the 21stCentury Research Programme (AHRC-EPSRC), directed by Professor Tom Inns, University of Dundee. It describes (pp. 208–24) an interdisciplinary study to determine the office environment needs of older workers in the knowledge economy. Myerson was principal investigator on the project. The research uses a mix of architectural, anthropological and design techniques to give older workers a ‘voice’ in the workplace. At the heart of the study is a series of ‘rapid design interventions’ on sites in the UK, Japan and Australia to create temporary experiential work settings for testing and evaluation. It discusses how the research team worked with academic partners (Universities of Melbourne and Kyushu) to create these within the time and operational constraints imposed by large organisations. The study generated evidence-based design guidance on the needs of older workers and significantly advanced the idea of inclusive office design. As a result, Myerson was invited to join the Workplace Productivity Group of the British Council for Offices (BCO), the professional body responsible for writing the BCO’s Guide to Specification (2009). Findings were also submitted to the Department of Work and Pensions and incorporated into its major strategy paper on an ageing society (2009). In addition, Myerson was asked by the Royal Institute of British Architects to contribute to its Good Office Design publication (RIBA Publishing, 2009, ed. David Littlefield). Myerson led a masterclass at the British Library as part of the ‘WorkTech London 2008’ conference to launch the Welcoming Workplace study, and he accepted a number of international invitations to speak on the research: at the Office and Facility Conference Warsaw, Norwegian Design Council Oslo and Tongji University Shanghai (all 2010).
Workforce Attitude on Technology Adoption and Diffusion

Understanding why a workforce adopts or rejects new technologies has proven to be one of the most challenging issues for organisations to exploit new technologies. Workforce perception of, and attitude towards, new technology is a crucial element in the implementation of new technology projects. If the workforce primarily considers the new technology will decrease work time/ process and its adoption will not affect their positions, then they will adopt it. However, if they perceive it as threat to their future jobs, then they will be likely to resist the adoption of this technology. Thus the aim of this paper is to understand workforce’s attitude towards new technology adoption.
The evaluation of some hematological parameters of human tuberculosis in Thi-Qar Province

The present study aimed to evaluation of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), hemoglobin (Hb.) levels, white blood cell count (WBCs) in active and latent tuberculosis patients in Thi-Qar province,Iraq. This study included 210 samples (70 patients, 70 household contacts and 70 control ) with age's ≤10 to ≥70 years who were referred to AL-Nasiriya Center of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases from the period September 2012—July 2013.The study showed that the values erythrocyte sedimentation rate indicated a significant increase (P≤0.05) in patients and HHCs groups when compared with the value of control group (42.64, 22.93 vs . 8.79 mm/h , respectively). While the results showed a significant decrease (P≤0.05) in the hemoglobin, (Hb.) levels of patients group and HHCs when compared with control group (8.63 and 11.84 vs .13.17 gm/dl, respectively). The means of white blood cell (WBCs), showed a significant increase in patient and household when compared with correspondent value of control groups.
Multicenter study of pediatric alimentary tract magnetic foreign body ingestion in China

Abstract Background: To investigate the alimentary tract Buckyball injuries in Chinese pediatric patients, and describe the managements and precautionary measures through multicenter investigation. Methods: Medical records of 74 pediatric patients from 9 large Chinese third-grade class-A hospitals were included in this study. Questionnaires were distributed online, and medical records were reviewed. Follow-ups were through telephone and outpatient service. Results: Among the 74 cases were 50 boys (68%) and 24 girls (32%). The age was 36.00 (21.75, 77.00) months, range from 7 months to 11 years old, and it showed two peaks, between one and three years old, and from six to eleven years old. The annual case numbers showed sharp increase, and Hebei Province had the largest number of 23 cases. Only 3 of them had exact reasons for swallowing the balls, the rest 71 patients had no intension for the ingestion. From onset to the emergency department time was 2.00 (1.00, 5.25) days, varied from 4 hours to 40 days. Twenty-one patients had no symptoms, and abdominal pain, vomiting, fever, abdominal distension, fiercely crying, melena, and flatus and defecation stopped were in 40 (54.05%), 36 (48.65%), 11 (14.86%), 3 (4.05%), 3 (4.05%), 2 (2.70%), 1 (1.35%) cases. Gastroscope, coloscope, laparoscopic operation, and laparotomy operation were adopted. Gastrointestinal perforation, ischemia and necrosis of gastrointestinal wall, abscess, ileus, fistula was found in 38 (51.53%), 14 (18.92%), 7 (9.46%), 6 (8.11%), 2 (2.70%), other 28 (37.84%) patients had gastrointestinal mucosa erosion. The numbers of Buckyball ingested was 4 (2, 8), with a range from 1 to 39. During the follow-up period of 6 (1, 15) months, three patients had ileus, and one suffered a second operation. The remaining 71 patients were uneventful. None of the 74 patients reported a second time swallowing of Buckyballs or other magnetic foreign bodies. Conclusions: Pediatric alimentary tract magnetic foreign body ingestion in China is still increasing. Treatments and managements are of great significance, while prevention is more important and time critical. Precautionary measures toward the issue should be taken from three levels. Keywords: Pediatric, Alimentary tract, Magnetic foreign body, Buckball
The power system failure on July 23, 1987 in Tokyo

A power system failure occurred at 1:19 p.m. on July 23, 1987, in the service area of the Tokyo Electric Power Company Inc. The unusually hot weather led to concentrated mass consumption of electricity, causing a failure which affected 2.8 million customers in the area. There were three major causes of this failure: the power demand level on that day was unusually high; the rate of demand increase exceeded previous levels; and air conditioners which have characteristics such that a fall in voltage leads to a rise in current are in widespread use in Japan. The failure is analysed and countermeasures to mitigate future power failures are presented. <<ETX>>
Stress Path Tests with Controlled Rotation of Principal Stress Directions

University College London (UCL) has developed a new flexible boundary plane strain shear apparatus for investigating stress-strain-strength anisotropy in sands. Called the Directional Shear Cell (DSC), it has the unique capability of controlling the major principal stress direction by varying the normal stress and shear stress acting on four faces of a cubical sample constrained between two rigid end plattens. The paper describes the device and its use, and presents results from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) test program run on dense and loose Leighton Buzzard Sand to independently evaluate the device and for comparison with data obtained at UCL to investigate the effects of induced anisotropy due to prestraining. The DSC has now been used to measure inherent anisotropy in loose sand. These data are presented and MIT's progress in modifying the DSC to enable K 0 consolidated-undrained testing of soft clays is described.
Microbial contamination of laptop/ keyboards in dental settings

Background: Computers/ laptops are ubiquitous in the healthcare setting and have been shown to be contaminated with potentially pathogenic microorganisms. Aims & Objectives: To determine the degree of pathogenicity on the computer/laptops keyboards. Materials & Methods: Specimens were collected from 25 laptops that were located in the clinical section of a dental college. To determine the level of microbial contamination for the disinfection efficacy testing, a single sterile swab moistened with trypticase soy broth (TSB) was wiped over the entire keyboard surface of the laptop. Results: Potential pathogens cultured from more than 80% of the computers. These organisms included coagulase-negative staphylococci (88% of keyboards), diphtheroids (80% of keyboards), Micrococcus species (40% of keyboards), and Bacillus species (60% of keyboards). Other pathogens cultured included Oxacillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (ORSA) (8% of keyboards), Oxacillin Susceptible Staphylococcus Aureus (OSSA) (4% of keyboards), vancomycin-susceptible Enterococcus species (16% of keyboards), Streptococci (29% of keyboards) and Aspergillus (36% of keyboards). Conclusions: The data from the study suggests that microbial contamination of keyboards is prevalent and that keyboards may be successfully decontaminated with disinfectants. Keyboards should be disinfected daily or when visibly soiled or if they become contaminated with blood.
Forming New ICT Industry Clusters in Victoria

There are several ways Victorian industries, R&D organisations and universities could benefit from the formation of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry clusters around intelligent transport systems or project lifecycle technical data and knowledge management for collaborative engineering. This paper explains the "industry cluster" concept, reviews the current state of incipient local ICT clusters, points to some case studies where companies have benefited, and suggests practical things that local organisations may do to encourage and exploit cluster development activities for their own benefits.
Understanding user's perceived playfulness toward mobile information and entertainment services in New Zealand

vii The convergence of mobile commerce and internet technologies has promised users unprecedented convenience and greater enjoyment. Over the past few years, the development of mobile information and entertainment services (MIES) has been phenomenal. Recently, research has been conducted into ways toward better acceptance of these services by users. However, many of these studies are technical driven, without discussing important end user needs. To understand users perception associated with mobile information and entertainment services the author extended and empirically tested a new antecedent model of Perceived Playfulnessan intrinsic motivator toward technology acceptance by users, based on previous research. It has been shown that users Perceived Playfulness toward information technologies has a direct impact on his/her subsequent use. Using the new antecedent model of Perceived Playfulness, the author argues users Autotelic Personality, Perceived Service Quality, Perceived Technology Compatibility, their Motivation for Using and tolerance of Social Influence affect their Perceived Playfulness when interacting with MIES. A questionnaire was administered to students in business and computing schools at Auckland University of Technology. The closed-ended questions within the questionnaire were used to validate the proposed research model. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares. Most of the proposed hypotheses were supported, rendering several significant findings in this thesis.
Introduction to Embedded Systems - A Cyber-Physical Systems Approach

The most visible use of computers and software is processing information for human consumption. The vast majority of computers in use, however, are much less visible. They run the engine, brakes, seatbelts, airbag, and audio system in your car. They digitally encode your voice and construct a radio signal to send it from your cell phone to a base station. They command robots on a factory floor, power generation in a power plant, processes in a chemical plant, and traffic lights in a city. These less visible computers are called embedded systems, and the software they run is called embedded software. The principal challenges in designing and analyzing embedded systems stem from their interaction with physical processes. This book takes a cyber-physical approach to embedded systems, introducing the engineering concepts underlying embedded systems as a technology and as a subject of study. The focus is on modeling, design, and analysis of cyber-physical systems, which integrate computation, networking, and physical processes. The second edition offers two new chapters, several new exercises, and other improvements. The book can be used as a textbook at the advanced undergraduate or introductory graduate level and as a professional reference for practicing engineers and computer scientists. Readers should have some familiarity with machine structures, computer programming, basic discrete mathematics and algorithms, and signals and systems.
Lightweight mutual authentication, owner transfer, and secure search protocols for RFID systems

RFID technology can potentially be applied almost everywhere. A typical RFID system involves a reader and a number of tags, which may range from the battery-powered ones with Wi-Fi capabilities, to the low-cost ones that are constrained in resources with even no internal power. Keeping RFID systems secure is important, because they are vulnerable to a number of malicious attacks. As for low-cost RFID systems, security problems become much more challenging, as many traditional security mechanisms are inefficient or even impossible due to resource constraints. Some existing solutions utilize traditional cryptographic primitives such as hash or encryption functions, which are often too expensive in hardware to be implemented on low-cost RFID tags. Furthermore, some other lightweight solutions have been reported to be broken, revealing their keys and ID numbers to the attackers. In this thesis, we propose lightweight solutions to Mutual Authentication and Ownership Transfer for RFID systems. Mutual Authentication mitigates the issues of eavesdropping and cloning of tags. Only authenticated readers and tags will successfully communicate with each other. Furthermore, we adapt our Mutual Authentication scheme to secure the Ownership Transfer of RFID tags, which is a pertinent issue in the scope of RFID. When an item passes from one owner to another, it is undesirable for the old owner to be able to access the tag or read data from it. The new user must therefore update the access-granting information without revealing this to the old owner. Tag search is another important functionality that a RFID system should provide. In this thesis, we study how to secure tag search with a focus on low-cost RFID systems for which existing solution is not efficient. These protocols are all realized by utilizing minimalistic cryptography such as Physically Unclonable Functions (PUF) and Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSR). PUFs and LFSRs
A novel four-legged loaded element thick-screen frequency selective surface with a stable performance

A thick-screen frequency selective surface(FSS) has not only a broad bandwidth but also the advantages of overcoming the multilayer FSS shortcoming of complex structure and low transmittance of centre frequency due to the cascade of FSSs,and this means it could potentially be applied in a stealth curved streamlined radome.However,there is an unsteadiness of centre frequency in a wide range of incident angles and another unsteadiness of polarization in a big incident angle.In order to solve these problems,in this paper we provide a novel four-legged loaded element thick-screen FSS.The structure is analysed and simulated using the mode matching method and moment method.The centre frequency,the transmittance of centre frequency,and bandwidth of the structure are investigated when some parameters including the polarization at a big incident angle and the incident angles of TE & TM waves are changed. The novel four-legged loaded element thick-screen FSS has better transmission properties with a better steadiness of polarization and incident angle independence.The novel structure of the four-legged loaded element thick-screen FSS provides a valuable reference for their application in a stealth curved streamlined radome.
Microchannel heat sinks

Microchannel heat sinks useful in the cooling of diode laser arrays have been fabricated from InP and exhibit a thermal resistance as low as 0.072 C/(W/sq cm), corresponding to the dissipation of heat loads in excess of 1 kW/sq cm and representing a two-orders-of-magnitude reduction of levels achievable by current methods. The pumping power required to force liquid coolants through microchannel heat sinks can be kept as low as as 10 W/sq cm. Attention is presently given to a thermal- and fluid-performance model for these heat sinks, as well as to illustrative examples of microchannel fabrication for both InP and aluminum. 19 references.
Hambatan Pelaksanaan Praktikum Ipa Fisika Yang Dihadapi Guru SMP Negeri Di Kota Pekanbaru

A survey has been done on 46 teachers who taught Physics in grade VII and VIIIon 12 junior high schools within Pekanbaru. The respondents were selected from the schools thathad already have science laboratories. This survey was aimed to know the intensity and somedifficulties faced by the teachers in doing lab works while teaching science, especially Physics.The data of this research was collected by using questionnaires, and analyzed descriptively. Theresult of the research showed that the implementation of experiments while learning Physicswere rarely done by teachers. It was identified that there were some things causing teachersreluctant to do the experiments in the laboratory, according to the teachers’ perception. Someconstraints were include: 1. The intensity of teachers in joining laboratory workshops was stilllow, 2. The availability of the laboratory equipment was still not enough, 3. The material ofscience in high schools was very tight, therefore teachers were forced to give lecture than havingexperiments in the laboratory, 4. The learning objectives were quite difficult to be achievedthrough lab works, 5. Doing experiment was needed much time in preparation, 6. The time ofdoing experiment in each meeting always not enough, 7. The teachers’ knowledge on using thelaboratory equipment was still low, 8. The teachers faced difficulties in designing their ownworksheets, 9. Having no laboratory assistant to help teachers to do Physics experiments.
Seroprevalence of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia in cattle of Punjab, Pakistan and assessment of risk factors

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is an important infectious disease of respiratory system of cattle, caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies mycoides. A cross sectional study was conducted in Lahore, Kasur and Jhang districts of Punjab to determine the prevalence of CBPP. A total of 560 serum samples were examined for the specific antibodies against M. mycoides subspecies mycoides, using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Associated risk factors that were evaluated include age, gender and breed. In this study, the overall seroprevalence was 8.75%. The seroprevalence of CBPP in Lahore, Kasur and Jhang were 8.26, 8.20 and 10.06%, respectively, but no significance difference (P less than 0.05) was observed. Among the assessed potential predisposing factors, gender and breed were not significantly associated with the serological status of the animal (P greater than 0.05), in which the age affected significantly the positivity to CBPP (P less than 0.05). The highest seropositivity was observed in animals of more than 7 years of age (32.08%) followed by in 4-7 years of age (8.16%) and lowest in animals of less than 4 years old (0.79%). This study confirms the presence of CBPP in the state which could be a threat to livestock export market and warrants the implementation of control measures to mitigate the economic losses associated with the disease.
Cross layer hybrid ARQ2 : cooperative diversity.

Cooperative communication allows for single users in multi user wireless network to share their antennas and achieve virtual antenna transmitters, which leads to transmit diversity. Coded Cooperation introduced channel coding into cooperative diversity over traditional pioneer cooperative diversity methods which were based on a user repeating its partner's transmitted signals in a multi-path fading channel environment in order to improve Bit Error Rate (BER) performance. In this dissertation the Coded Cooperation is simulated and the analytical bounds are evaluated in order to understand basic cooperation principles. This is done using Rate Compatible Punctured Convolutional Codes (RCPC). Based on the understanding of these principles a new protocol called Cross Layer Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) 2 Cooperative Diversity is developed to allow for improvements in BER and throughput. In Cross Layer Hybrid ARQ 2 Cooperation, Hybrid ARQ 2 (at the data-link layer) is combined with cooperative diversity (at the physical layer), in a cross layer design manner, to improve the BER and throughput based on feedback from the base station on the user's initial transmissions. This is done using RCPC codes which partitions a full rate code into sub code words that are transmitted as incremental packets in an effort to only transmit as much parity as is required by the base station for correct decoding of a user's information bits. This allows for cooperation to occur only when it is necessary unlike with the conventional Coded Cooperation, where bandwidth is wasted cooperating when the base station has already decoded a user's information bits. The performance of Cross Layer Hybrid ARQ 2 Cooperation is quantised by BER and throughput. BER bounds of Cross Layer Hybrid ARQ 2 Cooperation are derived based on the Pairwise Error Probability (PEP) of the uplink channels as well as the different inter-user and base station Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) states. The BER is also simulated and confirmed using the derived bound. The throughput of this new scheme is also simulated and confirmed via analytical throughput bounds. This scheme maintains BER and throughput gains over the conventional Coded Cooperation even under the worst inter-user channel conditions.