Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Probability laws of consensus in a broadcast-based consensus-forming algorithm

Abstract The consensus attained in the consensus-forming algorithm is not generally a constant but rather a random variable, even if the initial opinions are the same. In the present paper, we investigate the probability laws of the consensus in a broadcast-based consensus-forming algorithm. First, we derive a fundamental equation on the time evolution of the opinions of agents. From the derived equation, we show that the consensus attained by the algorithm is given as a fixed-point solution of a linear equation. We then focus on two extreme cases: consensus forming by two agents and consensus forming by an infinite number of agents. In the two-agent case, we derive several properties of the distribution function of the consensus with an algorithm for computing the distribution function of the consensus numerically. In the infinite-number-of-agents case, we show that if the initial opinions follow a stable distribution, then the consensus also follows a stable distribution. In addition, we derive a closed-form expression of the probability density function of the consensus when the initial opinions follow a Gaussian distribution, a Cauchy distribution, or a Lévy distribution.
Water Thermodynamics and Its Effects on the Protein Stability and Activity

We discuss a phenomenon regarding water that was until recently a subject of scientific interest: i.e., the dynamical crossover, from the fragile to strong glass forming material, for both bulk and protein hydration water. Such crossover is characterized by a temperature TL in which significant dynamical changes like the decoupling (or the violation of the Stokes-Einstein relation) of homologous transport parameters, e.g., the density relaxation time τ and the viscosity η, occur in the system. On this respect we considered the dynamic properties of water-protein systems. More precisely, we focused our study on proteins and their hydration water, as far as bulk and confined water. In order to clarify the effects of the water dynamical crossover on the protein properties we considered and discussed in a comparative way previous and new experimental data, obtained from different techniques and molecular dynamic simulation (MD). We pointed out the reasons for different dynamical findings from the use of different experimental techniques.
Dynamic Deformation Monitoring of Tall Structure Using GPS Technology

Dynamic deformation monitoring of structures such as long bridges, towers, and tall buildings, for the purpose of determining structural vibrations, is now possible using global-positioning-system (GPS) technology. Current non–GPS techniques for measuring structural vibrations (these include vibration measurement with accelerometers, vibration measurement with a laser interferometer, and vibration measurement with an electronic distance measurement instrument) are first briefly outlined, with advantages and disadvantages noted. The specific application, measurement of structural vibrations in the Calgary Tower, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, using GPS receivers in differential mode, is then described. The results show that the Calgary Tower, under wind loading, vibrates with a frequency of about 0.3 Hz in both north-south and east-west directions. The 0.3 Hz vibration frequency measured on the Calgary Tower is within the range of 0.1 Hz to 10Hz expected for structures of this type. When the capability of GPS to monitor structural vibrations is verified by further tests, it could be adopted as a standard technique.
Encapsulated Plant-Derived Antimicrobial Reduces Enteric Bacterial Pathogens on Melon Surfaces during Differing Contamination and Sanitization Treatment Scenarios

This study aimed to quantify survival in Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium isolates on melon rind surface samples achieved by sanitizer treatment under three differing melon contamination and sanitization scenarios. Sanitizing treatments consisted of the plant-derived antimicrobial (PDA) essential oil component (EOC) geraniol (0.5 wt.%) entrapped in the polymeric surfactant Pluronic F-127 (GNP), 0.5 wt. % unencapsulated geraniol (UG), 200 mg/L hypochlorous acid at pH 7.0 (HOCl), and a sterile distilled water wash (CON). The experimental contamination and sanitization scenarios tested were: (1) pathogen inoculation preceded by treatment; (2) the pathogen was inoculated onto samples twice with sanitizing treatment applied in between inoculation events; or (3) pathogen inoculation followed by sanitizing treatment. Reductions in the numbers of surviving pathogens were dependent on the sanitizing treatment, the storage period, or the interaction of these effects. GNP treatment provided the greatest reductions in surviving pathogen counts on melon rinds, but these did not regularly statistically differ from those achieved by HOCl or UG treatment. GNP treatment provided the best pathogen control under differing conditions of pre- and/or post-harvest cross-contamination and can be applied to reduce the risk of pathogen transmission on melon rinds.
Zero average current error controlled power flow for AC-DC power converters

Unity and controlled power factor AC-DC power converters require a current control technique with zero average current error (ZACE) in each switching period. Acting on the current error signal alone, a ZACE controlled converter offers complete real and reactive power flow control with negligible low order current harmonics, a narrow switching frequency band, and relative immunity to DC link or AC line voltage harmonics. Slope-generated hysteresis, a new ZACE current control method is introduced. Simulation and experimental results in a three phase converter are presented. >
Field Measurement of Approach Delay at Signalized Intersections Using Point Data

Delay is considered one of the most important measures of effectiveness used to design, optimize, and evaluate the operation of signalized intersections. Many methods have been proposed to measure delay; however, none of those found in the literature has been tested against delay derived from tracking vehicles to evaluate accuracy. A new point detection-based method to measure approach delay in the field is presented. In contrast to other methods, this method produces more detailed delay measurements because it measures the delay by turning movement and does so with simple point data. Data for this research were collected from video footage for signalized intersections, where vehicle tracking was used as the benchmark and the Highway Capacity Manual queue delay was collected for comparison purposes. Results of the comparison indicate that the proposed method accurately measures delay.
Online Education in the Post COVID-19 Era: Students’ Perception and Learning Experience

Students’ learning experiences and perceptions are markedly influenced by the use of digital technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Exploring students’ perception of blended online learning, amid the adaptations of the higher education sector in the wake of uncertainty, has become more critical than ever. This paper reflects on the experience of learning and teaching the Research Methods and Techniques subject in the postgraduate programme of MA Urban Design at Cardiff University during COVID-19 in the UK. To do so, we designed and carried out an online survey to explore students’ perception of online teaching and learning activities, feedback and assessment, and digital platforms based on their experience during the subject delivery period in the 2020–2021 academic year. One of the significant findings of this paper was that students agreed with the impact of eye contact on their virtual learning experience but as long as this was aligned with their rights to see others, including their peers and instructors, rather than reciprocal rights to be seen. In addition, students felt that facilitating synchronous communication through effective interaction among diverse peers has been quite challenging in small-group online reading seminars. The majority of respondents also reported that attending live online lectures was more helpful than watching pre-recorded lectures. Online formative feedback and synchronous interim reviews also allowed students to reflect on their progress and develop their projects further before their summative assessment. The outcomes of this paper can effectively assist educators who consider delivering programmes, adopting a blended online learning environment design model, in the post COVID-19 era. The findings of this study can also provide guidance for further developments and improvements in using digital technology and blended online learning in urban design education and pedagogy.
Teaching Through Contemporary Art - A report on innovative practices in the classroom

This book is based on a one-year research project undertaken by Goldsmiths, Tate and their partnership teachers. Funded by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), the project set out to discover and test innovative approaches to teaching and learning in schools through contemporary art practices. The project was initiated in response to previous research by the National Foundation for Educational Research and the National Association for Gallery Education, both of whom established the need for, and the benefits of, teaching through contemporary art. Consequently the research focused on the practical application of new teaching methods with contemporary art in the classroom. Schools taking part were state funded primary, secondary and special schools in London and Liverpool.
On dynamic stability evaluation methods for long combination vehicles

The dynamic stability of long combination vehicles (LCVs) is an important part of vehicle safety. An LCV, its driver and the road constitute a unique closed-loop dynamic system. Assessing the dynamic stability is difficult due to the complex interactions of driver-tractor-trailers-road. Rearward amplification (RA) is an effective performance measure of the dynamic stability; various methods are applied for evaluating the RA. However, the measures from different methods may differ significantly. What are the root causes for the disparity of evaluation results? This paper tackles the problem by investigating the typical methods for evaluating the measure of two LCVs, i.e. an A-train double and a B-train double. To this end, simulations of the LCVs are conducted using TruckSim software. The study discloses the main causes for the disparity of the measures from different methods, and recommends the effective approaches to the assessment of the RA.
Geomorphology and shallow sub-sea floor structures underneath the Ekström Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Abstract. The Ekström Ice Shelf is one of numerous small ice shelves that fringe the coastline of western Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Reconstructions of past ice-sheet extent in this area are poorly constrained, due to a lack of geomorphological evidence. Here, we present a compilation of geophysical surveys in front of and beneath the Ekström Ice Shelf, to identify and interpret evidence of past ice sheet flow, extent and retreat. The sea floor beneath the Ekström Ice Shelf is dominated by an incised trough, which extends from the modern day grounding line on to the continental shelf. Our surveys show that Mega-Scale Glacial Lineations cover most of the mouth of this trough, terminating 11 km away from the continental shelf break, indicating the most recent maximal extent of grounded ice in this region. Beneath the front ~30 km of the ice shelf, the sea floor is characterised by an acoustically transparent sedimentary unit, up to 45 m-thick. This is likely composed of subglacial till, further corroborating the presence of past grounded ice cover. Further inland, the sea floor becomes rougher, interpreted as a transition from subglacial tills to a crystalline bedrock, corresponding to the outcrop of the volcanic Explora Wedge at the sea floor. Ice retreat in this region appears to have happened rapidly in the centre of the incised trough, evidenced by a lack of overprinting of the lineations at the trough mouth. At the margins of the trough uniformly spaced recessional moraines suggest ice retreated more gradually. We estimate the palaeo-ice thickness at the calving front around the Last Glacial Maximum to have been at least 305 m to 320 m, based on the depth of iceberg ploughmarks within the trough and sea-level reconstructions. Given the similarity of the numerous small ice shelves around the Dronning Maud Land coast, these findings are likely representative for other ice shelves in this region and provide essential boundary conditions for palaeo ice-sheet models in this severely understudied region.
Management innovation and firm innovation performance: a moderated moderation effects of absorptive capacity and environmental dynamism

Innovation plays an influential role in the firm's development and sustainability in an exhaustively aggressive business environment. Yet extant literature has not considered the influence of management innovation (MI) on firm innovation performance (FIP) in emerging economies. Building upon the dynamic capabilities view, we construct a moderated moderation model to address how MI affects FIP. Explicitly, we investigate whether the linkage amongst MI and FIP is contingent on absorptive capacity (AC) and environmental dynamism (ED). Using a dataset from 314 firms operating in the manufacturing and service industries in China. Our findings through hierarchical linear modelling reveal that: (1) MI affects FIP positively; (2) AC affects the linkage amongst MI and FIP positively; (3) AC impacts on the linkage amongst MI and FIP upsurges when ED is high than low. Our research offers new insights on how MI enhances the innovation performance of firms operating in emerging economies.
Inventory decision-making models for a closed-loop supply chain system

A closed-loop supply chain system is investigated. This system consists of a retailer, a manufacturer, a supplier, and a collector. The demand of the retailer is satisfied either by newly manufactured products or by remanufactured products which are comparable to the new ones in function and quality. We apply one manufacturing cycle and at least one remanufacturing cycle policy and at least one manufacturing cycle and one remanufacturing cycle policy to the manufacturer's manufacturing and remanufacturing operations, and give the corresponding procedures to determine the optimal system policy in the completely decentralised decision-making case and the completely centralised decision-making case by elimination theory and the difference function. A numerical comparison of our results with those of Chung et al. (2008. Optimal policy for a closed-loop supply chain inventory system with remanufacturing. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 48 (5–6), 867–881) is also performed. The results are general since the manufacturer tends to adopt one manufacturing cycle and at least one remanufacturing cycle policy when the return rate is higher; otherwise, the manufacturer tends to adopt at least one manufacturing cycle and one remanufacturing cycle policy.
Integrated transportation and energy activity-based model

There is a long history of projects and regulations that have had limited or even counterproductive results. These unforeseen effects are due to the failure of planners to capture all of the complexity inherent in urban dynamics. With the increasing risks of global warming, policymakers and planners need to make optimal or close-to-optimal decisions on how to use the available resources in order to reduce energy and fuel consumption. This thesis develops the framework for an urban model that serves as a decision support tool to inform sustainable policies and investments. The model discussed integrates the modeling of land use, transportation, and energy consumption by micro-simulating the behavior of households and firms in an urban area. This approach derives transport and energy consumption from human activities and includes the two-way feedback between each agent's behavior and the area's overall dynamics. We build upon complex systems theory and make an analogy with epidemiology modeling to derive the properties of heterogeneity-based, organized complex systems. We then translate the properties of these models with respect to the spatial and temporal resolutions of transportation, land market and energy systems' models. To achieve the integration of the three complex systems with activities in our framework, we present three different extensions to activity-based modeling in the household context. We first expand the scope of activities considered in activity-based modeling to fit the integrated transportation and energy scope. We then present the econometric techniques of latent variable and latent class modeling to capture individual heterogeneity. Third, we formulate the motivation behind activity participation and model the shortand long-term activity dynamics by operationalizing the concept of stress. We illustrate the potential of iTEAM in modeling different scenarios to demonstrate the role of our integrated transportation and energy model as a decision support tool for sustainable urban planning. Thesis Supervisor: Moshe E. Ben-Akiva Title: Edmund K. Turner Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Thesis Co-Supervisor: P. Christopher Zegras Title: Ford Career Development Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and Planning
Modular dispersion compensation scheme for high bit rate single channel and WDM transmission with varying channel power

We describe a modified link design which is suitable to compensate group velocity dispersion (GVD) in long distance, long repeater spacing single channel and WDM links and also minimises the influence of nonlinearities. The scheme leads to a modular link design facilitating the planning of optical point to point transmission systems and optical networks. Additionally it enables transmission with varying channel power caused by changing channel count in constant EDFA output power WDM systems or by component degradation. We introduce the design and compare it with the pre- and post-compensation techniques. We demonstrate the improvement due to modified link design in simulation and measurement for a 2/spl times/100 km link at 10 Gbit/s.
Experiments and Modelling of Producer Gas Based Reciprocating Engines

A 20 kW reciprocating engine is operated using producer gas derived from a modern open top downdraft re-burn biomass gasifier that has been evaluated by rigorous laboratory performance testing over several hundred hours. The engine is operated at varying compression ratio (CR) from 11.5 to 17.0 and ignition timings from 30 to 6° before Top Centre (TC). The engine – alternator system is characterised for its performance by the simultaneous measurement of gas and airflow rates, gas composition (on-line), emission levels and power delivered. It is also instrumented to obtain the in-cylinder behaviour in the form of pressure-crank angle (p – θ) diagram to assess the thermodynamic behaviour of the engine. Three-dimensional (3-D) simulation of the flow field in the combustion chamber (involving piston-bowl arrangement) through the cycle up to the start of the combustion is used to obtain inputs on the turbulence intensity (u′) and length scale (l T ) for the modelling of the flame propagation process in a zero-dimensional model (0-D) designed to predict the p – θ curve. The flame propagation and heat release processes make use of eddy entrainment and laminar burn-up model. The data on u′ extracted from the 3-D flow calculations match reasonably well with experiments till compression stroke but are in contradiction with trends close to TC. This is reasoned to be due to limitation of the k-e model to capture transient effects due to reverse squish phenomenon. The 0-D model took into account the experimental behaviour of the u′ in the post-TC period to attempt to match the observed p – θ data over a range of CRs and ignition timing advances. While these predictions match well with the experimental data at advanced ignition timing at both higher and lower CRs, the peak pressure is under-predicted at lower ignition advances; reason are traced to increase in flame area and propagation speed due to reverse squish effect. When these are accounted in the model, the p – θ curves are predicted better. © 2002 ASME
Do secondary hemiepiphytes exist?

For decades, tropical ecologists distinguished primary (PH) and secondary hemiepiphytes (SH) as two structurally dependent life forms with an epiphytic phase at, respectively, the beginning or the end of their ontogeny. However, the use of these terms has been criticized repeatedly because the term “hemiepiphyte” suggests an unsubstantiated biological similarity in ontogeny, and worse, because it is often used without a qualifier, which makes unambiguous interpretation of the life history of such species impossible. In this paper, we go one step further and ask the question whether an ontogenetic trajectory as described by the term “secondary hemiepiphyte” does exist at all. We show that until now all evidence available for the three families that were traditionally listed as taxa with SHs (Araceae, Cyclanthaceae, Marcgraviaceae) falsifies such claims, but critically discuss reports of possible SHs in other families. In all these cases unambiguous conclusions about the existence of any SH are difficult, but our detailed discussion of potential candidates is meant to provide the basis for focused field studies. Irrespective of the outcome of these studies, we urge researchers to abandon the use of the term SH for the time being: Terminological issues can be discussed once there are data.
The Probability of Error Due to Intersymbol Interference and Gaussian Noise in Digital Communication Systems

The error rate or the probability of error is an important parameter in the design of digital communication systems. In this paper a Gram-Charlier expansion is used to compute the error rate in the presence of intersymbol interference and additive Gaussian noise. The method presented is very useful for numerical computations. We also present expressions for the truncation errors. Rigorous proofs are presented in the Appendix.
The Anthropocene and ecological awareness in Poland: The post-socialist view

Dynamic and unrestrained socio-economic development is upsetting the balance of nature’s mechanisms, causing a climate stalemate, or even climate destabilisation. After the Second World War a new political system – real socialism – was enforced on Poland. It brought about changes of a social, cultural, economic and environmental nature. Its immanent feature was the application of top-down decisions that did not take into account environmental components. There was also little ecological awareness within Polish society at that time. The transformations of the 1990s resulted not only in the liberalisation of the Polish economy, but also in the permeation of new trends oriented towards pro-environmental activities. The aim of the article is to find an answer to the question: How is ecological awareness currently shaped in the context of Anthropocene in Poland during the transition from a socialist economy to a capitalist economic system?
Constructing a Technology Readiness Scale for Sports Center RFID Door Security System Users

This study was based on the technology readiness (TR) theory proposed by Parasuraman & Colby (1997) and the modified scale of willingness to use mobile services proposed by Sun (2010). It involves reviewing confirmatory factory analysis (CFA) to construct a technology readiness scale for sports center RFID door security system users. The research participants consisted of students from Feng Chia University’s sports teams from whom a total of 280 valid questionnaires were collected. The study results show that the proposed scale possesses adequate convergent validity, discriminate validity, and composite reliability. Therefore, the proposed scale is a multi-factorial first-order model with four factors: optimism, innovativeness, discomfort, and insecurity.