Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On computer simulation of dry particle systems using discrete element method and the development of dem contact force-displacement models

Particle systems are involved in a lot of engineering processes. Particle science and technology deal with the production, characterization, modification, handling, and utilization of a wide variety of particles, in both dry and wet conditions. In investigations of the behavior of dry particle systems, considerations of cost, time, and equipment may prohibit experimental works. Even in the absence of these constraints, successful experiments often yield only limited information. Computer simulation using the discrete element method (DEM) can provide more information and can be performed more quickly and at a lower cost than that of experiments. A DEM simulation requires that the interactive forces between simulated particles must be evaluated accurately as the driving factor of the motion behavior of particle systems. Therefore, to obtain reliable simulation results efficiently, it is necessary to develop simple and accurate particle-particle interactive force-displacement (FD) models. Most existing FD models, however, implement oversimplified versions of contact mechanics and do not correctly account for the plastic deformation near the contact point between particles, thus result in inaccurate simulation results. We present here the DEM simulation algorithms, the geometric modelling of nonspherical particles, and the development of a set of realistic and consistent particle-particle contact FD models that can correctly account for the effect of both the elastic and plastic deformation. The DEM simulations, implemented with the present elasto-plastic FD models, can correctly predict the motion behavior of particles. In the development of the present elasto-plastic FD models, we carried out a series of finite element analyses (FEA) of nonlinear elasto-plastic contact problems. The modelling and results of these FEA, including the dynamic FEA of elasto-plastic sphere collisions, are also presented in this dissertation. We implemented the present FD models into DEM software to carry out the simulations of experimental granular flows of nonspherical particles. Close agreement is observed between the experimental results and the results from DEM simulation on the boundary of the flow domain. Besides, additional information of the granular flow inside the flow domain, which cannot be obtained from traditional experiments, are obtained from the DEM simulation results.
Clinico-Epidemiological Profile of Dermatophyte Infections in Children at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Mathura

Clinico-Epidemiological Profile of Dermatophyte Infections in Children at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Mathura Harsh Sharma, Rakesh Kumar Chawla Assistant Professor, K.D. Medical College Hospital and Research Center, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India, Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, K.D. Medical College Hospital and Research Center, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India. Background: Dermatophytosis is one of the most common cutaneous fungal infections of public health concern affecting children, adolescents and adults. Thus, the present study was undertaken to assess the clinico-epidemiological profile of dermatophyte infections in children. Subjects and Methods: This study was conducted among 80 clinically suspected cases of dermatophytoses. Patients under antifungal treatment for >4 weeks and non-dermatophytic fungal infections were excluded from the study. Samples were collected from affected lesions. The statistical analysis was done using chi square test and p value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Most common age group in the study was 8-10 years. Tinea cruris was observed most common dermatophyte condition in boys whereas Tinea unguium was predominant in girls. Tinea unguium infections were common in age group 8-10 years. This study shows that most dermatophyte infections were prevalent in age group of 8-10 years. Conclusion: There are several risk factors which can cause dermatophytoses. Poor hygiene and topical steroid usage were the major risk factors which was responsible for spreading dermatophytoses. People should be educated regarding personal hygiene and sanitary control to reduce the risk of dermatophytoses.
Reverse Stackelberg Games: Theory and Applications in Traffic Control

One of the major challenges in optimization-based control of large-scale intelligent infrastructural networks such as traffic networks is to find efficient multilevel optimization schemes through which decisions can be made by agents or controllers of different interacting layers. The hierarchical game on which this dissertation is focused can be used to model this interaction. In particular, the so-called reverse Stackelberg game is considered, in which players act sequentially. Moreover, a leader player in this game proposes a leader function to the followers, which maps a follower's decision space to the leader's decision space. The leader thus influences a follower by making her decision dependent on a follower's decision, aiming to obtain the desired values of the decision variables. An example of such a function is by proposing monetary incentives associated with different routes in a traffic network, under the objective to induce the drivers to adopt those routes that lead to a system-optimal traffic distribution. The contributions described in this dissertation can be summarized as the development of existence conditions and solution methods for the general reverse Stackelberg game and the application of the game in order to mitigate traffic problems like congestion and vehicular emissions.
Gestational

5 of all pregnancies maternal and perinatal morbidity. fluctuations in blood glucose concentrations maternal thus the risk of fetal hyperglycemia and its consequences, fetal and excess fetal growth.In a retrospective pilot study comparing the outcomes of pregnancy among women with gestational diabetes who were followed with preprandial or postprandial glucose measurements, we found that the women's glycosylated hemoglobin values were lower and that there was less macrosomia (defined as a birth weight greater than 4000 g) among their infants when treatment was based on the results of postprandial measurements. Abstract: Seventy-two patients with gestational diabetes were randomly treated with insulin (20 units NPH and 10 units regular) and diabetic diet, diet alone, or neither. Of the 27 patients treated with insulin and diet, 2 (7%) had babies weighing more than 81/2 pounds. Of the 11 patients treated with diet alone, 4 (36.4%) had babies weighing more than 81/2 pounds. Of the 34 patients treated with neither diet nor insulin, 17
Air data position-error calibration using state reconstruction techniques

During the highly maneuverable aircraft technology (HiMAT) flight test program recently completed at NASA Ames Research Center's Dryden Flight Research Facility, numerous problems were experienced in airspeed calibration. This necessitated the use of state reconstruction techniques to arrive at a position-error calibration. For the HiMAT aircraft, most of the calibration effort was expended on flights in which the air data pressure transducers were not performing accurately. Following discovery of this problem, the air data transducers of both aircraft were wrapped in heater blankets to correct the problem. Additional calibration flights were performed, and from the resulting data a satisfactory position-error calibration was obtained. This calibration and data obtained before installation of the heater blankets were used to develop an alternate calibration method. The alternate approach took advantage of high-quality inertial data that was readily available. A linearized Kalman filter (LKF) was used to reconstruct the aircraft's wind-relative trajectory; the trajectory was then used to separate transducer measurement errors from the aircraft position error. This calibration method is accurate and inexpensive. The LKF technique has an inherent advantage of requiring that no flight maneuvers be specially designed for airspeed calibrations. It is of particular use when the measurements of the wind-relative quantities are suspected to have transducer-related errors.
80 GHz automotive radar

The idea of equipping cars with radar has been around for a long time, but it is only with the arrival of low cost, compact millimetre-wave radars, that such systems have become practicable. The availability of suitable radar sensors and of sophisticated digital signal processing has opened up two important applications for millimetre-wave radar in cars: one is as a relatively simple forward-looking sensor for an intelligent cruise control (ICC) and the other is as a more sophisticated obstacle warning radar (OWR), to warn the driver of potential hazards in his path in degraded visibility. The author describes some of the background technology for millimetre-wave automotive radar and presents experimental results both for an ICC and for a radar sensor for an OWR. >
Developing Guidelines for Median Barrier Installation

Guidelines for the installation of median barriers presented in the AASHTO Roadside Design Guide have remained essentially unchanged for more than 30 years. In recent years, the need for improved guidance has prompted several states to reevaluate their guidelines and has also precipitated a nationwide research project administered by the Transportation Research Board. The objective of the study, on which this paper is based, was to develop improved guidelines for the use of median barriers on new and existing high-speed, multilane, divided highways in Texas. The purpose here is to present some modeling and benefit–cost analysis results from that study, with a focus on the results from a particular data set developed under a cross-sectional with–without study design. The highways of interest are those classified as Interstates, freeways, and expressways with four or more lanes and posted speed limits of 55 mph (88 km/h) or higher. The models employed to estimate median-related crash frequencies and severities, including the Poisson-gamma and ordered multinomial logit models as well as modeling results from a full Bayes estimation method, are presented. From the modeling results, a preliminary benefit–cost analysis is described, in conjunction with some sensitivity analyses, for developing the guidelines for concrete and high-tension-cable barriers. A discussion of the limitations of this study and potential future extensions is provided.
The Comparison of the adverse events of Pentavalent and DPT vaccines in 2-6 months infants in Iran: A national study

Background Vaccination is the most remarkable intervention in public health and is an effective strategy in order to control infectious diseases among infants. This study attempted to compare the adverse events of Pentavalent and DPT vaccines together. Methods This is a cross sectional (analytical-descriptive) study in which the 2-6 months healthy infants, having received DPT in 2013 and Pentavalent in 2015, were studied for their experienced adverse events related to these vaccines. Percentage, mean, standard deviation and chi-square tests were used to describe and analyze the data. Results The results showed that 10464 and 17561 adverse events, which are associated with DPT and Pentavalent respectively, were recorded in the infants who received these vaccines throughout Iran. Mazandaran, Qazvin and Golestan provinces reported the highest number of adverse events, respectively (15.74%, 11.25%, and 9.12%). Moreover, Pentavalent seemed to have more recorded adverse events compared to DPT, high fever had the highest record rate for DPT (47.4%) and mild localized complications was the highest for Pentavalent (31.68%). There was a significant relationship between the kind of vaccine and the type of reaction, adverse event categorization, the country produced the vaccine and the infants' place of residence (p<0.05). Conclusion Severe localized adverse events including high fever, vomiting, diarrhea and restlessness seemed to be less in Pentavalent compared to DPT vaccine. Therefore, substituting Pentavalent for DPT in infants seems to reduce the adverse events among them.
On the Emerging Role of GPS in Structural Health Monitoring

The following study discusses the application of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in an existing full-scale monitoring program focused on several tall buildings in the City of Chicago. In the context of this program, the efficacy of GPS as a viable technology for structural health monitoring has been demonstrated in both controlled field validations and full-scale deployments. This paper discusses the performance of this full-scale installation with a sampling of full-scale displacement data. As an extension of this program, a second phase of GPS development is then introduced and the prototyping of an integrated GPS and terrestrial positioning system (TPS) for structural health monitoring using scalable networks of instrumentation and next-generation event notification/sensor management software is discussed. The study concludes with an evaluation of this Phase II system’s potential for structural health monitoring in urban zones.
DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE MAGNETOSTRICTIVE ENERGY HARVESTING DEVICE

Abstract : To enhance performance and safety, structures of all types are made smart with the addition of sensors. These sensors require power, but in some cases conventional power supply methods are inadequate. Ideally, these sensors would convert the available ambient energy into electrical energy. This thesis develops and examines a prototype energy harvesting transducer which converts mechanical vibration into electrical energy. The transducer utilizes the coupling between the magnetic and elastic state of magnetostrictive materials along with a flux-linked coil for conversion of mechanical energy to electrical energy. The examined transducer doesn t affect the stiffness characteristics of the host structure, but as a result its performance is dependant on a resonance condition. Experimental results led to coupled optimization of prestress and magnetic bias. An electric circuit model is proposed and compared to test results. Efficiency calculations prove the current transducer to be inefficient, but possible areas of significant improvement were identified.
Experiences and Health-seeking Behaviour of Couples in Ekiti-State Nigeria towards Infertility

Background: Infertility has been described as the most important reproductive health concerns of Nigerian women. Based on the importance placed on offspring in the African context, infertility contributes to high level of psychological distress, conflicts between couples and subject those faced with the challenge to hazardous sexual behaviors. This study therefore explored the experiences and health-seeking behaviors of couples towards infertility.Methods: The study employed a qualitative research design. In-depth interviews were conducted with fifteen participants who had been diagnosed with primary or secondary infertility, who were currently receiving treatment at a tertiary health institution in the Ekiti State. Thematic categorization and content analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: Majority of the participant were Female (14 out of 15), between the ages of 20-35(80%) and are Christian (100%). All the participants reported negative emotional and psychological effects of infertility as they all expressed their unhappiness on the issue of infertility and claimed that the issue has affected them in all spheres of life (socially, marital relationship and psychologically). Two of the participants claimed that their husbands had abandon them because of their inability to conceive. Majority of the participants also claimed that there is social stigma associated with the condition as almost all (14 of 15) said the society is not doing anything to support women facing infertility issue. All the participants utilized medical treatments in combination with religious activities as a form of treatment. Conclusion: The society is not doing enough to support couples with infertility issue. Supports group should be created in the society where couples with similar challenge can come together to freely discuss and share their experiences as this could help in alleviating the psychological distress associated with infertility.
Reconfigurable Tactical Operations Simulator (RTOS) Operational Demonstration in 5-52 Air Defense Artillery

Abstract : During the combat operations phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Patriot air and missile defense units were involved in two fratricide incidents involving coalition aircraft. Patriot's unacceptable fratricide rate during OIF (18% of engagements) prompted the commanding general of the Army Air and Missile Defense Center to request a high-performance-oriented assessment of the fratricide incidents to complement the official Army board if inquiry investigation. This report summarizes the results and recommendations from that assessment. Recommendations for a solution to the fratricide problem involved both command and control and training modifications. The paper's primary focus is the demonstration and evaluation of modified training practices in an operational Patriot unit, 5-52 Air Defense Artillery (ADA).
Organisational culture and effectiveness: a three perspective analysis

Although a number of studies have examined organisational culture and effectiveness, such studies have often resulted in inconclusive findings. Through an intensive ethnographic case study, this study explores and analyses this relationship in the context of a knowledge-intensive firm. The study adopts the three perspective framework of organisational culture (see Martin 1992, 2002) as the theoretical framework through which the links between organisational culture and effectiveness are examined. The adoption of the three perspective framework throws rich insights into the nature of organisational life. However, although the study finds overall support for the three perspective framework, it suggests that this framework could be strengthened in regard to the conceptualisation of integration and fragmentation, particularly in the context of an organisation based in a developing country undertaking work for the MNCs. Similarly, the adoption of the different theoretical approaches to effectiveness leads to the identification of a series of interesting measures of effectiveness. In this regard, an integration based analysis highlights the certainty of the measures of effectiveness whereas the differentiation and fragmentation analyses show the problematic, inconsistent and transient nature of effectiveness. The adoption of the three perspective framework sheds interesting insights into culture effectiveness relationship. While the integration perspective presents a positive relationship, the differentiation perspective holds that the inherent inconsistencies and conflicts have a negative influence on effectiveness. The fragmentation based analysis shows that culture is a neutral factor vis-a-vis effectiveness. Furthermore, the ironies, contradictions and ambiguities are shown to have a negative influence in this regard. This work therefore concludes that the argument that there is a relationship between culture and effectiveness is the result of adopting a particular analytical lens (generally, integration perspective). This study also shows that the proposition that non-financial aspects of effectiveness mediate the relationship between organisational culture and financial performance can work only in the case of adopting an integration perspective.
Effects of Date of Planting on the Lint Yield of Several Cotton Varieties Planted at Four Locations in Arizona, 1988

Field experiments were carried out at 4 locations in Arizona to evaluate the effects of planting date on the lint yield of several varieties of cotton. One pima and eleven upland varieties were planted on 5 dates at 2 locations and 1 pima and nine upland varieties were planted on 5 dates at a third location. At a fourth location, 1 pima and 3 upland varieties were planted on 4 dates. General trends in lint yields indicate an advantage in yield potential from fullseason type varieties, particularly when they are planted early. Full season varieties, however, diminish rather quickly with regard to yield potential, when planting is delayed in comparison to varieties that are considered mid -or shorter season varieties.
Stabilization three-dimensional refractive-index reconstruction system of single suspension cell

Live cell microscopy technology, especially cell three-dimensional refractive-index reconstruction, is one of the important single-cell analysis methods, which can investigate subcellular organelles and biological mechanisms. Compared with the method of rotating the illumination light, rotating cells can obtain the complete internal structure information of the cell. However, cell rotation based reconstruction methods typically rotate cells in low operation throughput and image unstably in a low sensitivity. To bridge this gap, we demonstrate a combination strategy that uses acoustically oscillating bubble array based acoustofluidic device to simultaneously rotate cells in large-scale, and sets up a wDPM module to record cell quantitative phase maps with a high temporal and spatial phase sensitivity due to the common-path geometry and white light illumination. Result shows the phase accuracy of this system is less than 6.7%, the phase spatial consistency does not exceed 4%.
How do three-year-olds use relevance inferencing to interpret indirect speech

If a child asks a friend to play football and the friend replies “I have a cough”, the requesting child must make a ‘relevance inference’ to determine the communicative intent. Relevance inferencing is a key component of pragmatics, that is, the ability to integrate social context into language interpretation and use. We tested which cognitive skills relate to relevance inferencing. Additionally, we asked whether children’s lab-based pragmatic performance relates to children’s parent-assessed pragmatic language skills. We tested 3½- to 4-year-olds (Study 1: N = 40, Study 2: N = 32). Children were presented with video-recorded vignettes ending with an utterance requiring a relevance inference, for which children made a forced choice. Study 1 measured children’s Theory of Mind, their sentence comprehension and their real-world knowledge and found that only real-world knowledge retained significance in a regression analysis with children’s relevance inferencing as the outcome variable. Study 2 then manipulated children’s world-knowledge via priming but found this did not improve children’s performance on the relevance inferencing task. Study 2 did, however, find a significant correlation between children’s relevance inferencing and a measure of morpho-syntactic production. In both studies parents rated their children’s pragmatic language usage in daily life, which was found to relate to performance in our lab-based relevance inferencing task. This set of studies is the first to empirically demonstrate that lab-based measures of relevance inferencing are reflective of children’s pragmatic abilities ‘in the wild’. We argue that real-world knowledge is a necessary (but not sufficient) for relevance inferencing.