Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pre-apprenticeships in Australia: differing orientations and their policy implications

Little has been published in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) literature on the topic of pre-apprenticeships, which are a loose type of preparatory courses for apprenticeships available in some trades. Nevertheless, pre-apprenticeships have been in existence for several decades. With continuing concern over skill shortages in Australia, the research study on which this paper is based investigated the role of pre-apprenticeship courses in addressing skill shortages in the electrotechnology, automotive and engineering trades, some of the largest ‘traditional trades’ in Australia, and those with sizeable numbers in pre-apprenticeships. The principal objective of the overall study was to determine whether the use of pre-apprenticeships increased the size and suitability of the supply of entrants to the traditional apprenticeships and whether pre-apprenticeships do or might increase completion rates in apprenticeships. The paper uses findings from the study to develop a typology of pre-apprenticeship courses, proposing two fundamental orientations and discussing whether different orientations towards pre-apprenticeships are compatible with one another.
CRC Aided Short-Cycle Free BP Decoding for Polar Codes

In this paper, a novel scheme that utilizes soft decision LLR values of CRC bits to aid BP decoding in polar codes is proposed. We show that the proposed periodic CRC scheduling for the factor graphs of BP decoding, combined with relaxation operations can prevent short cycles and improve FER performance of BP decoding. The proposed scheme provides around 0.75 dB gain over CASCL decoder and 1 dB gain over conventional BP decoder at a FER of 10^-4 for N=1024 and R=0.5.
Stability analysis of self-injection-locked oscillators

This paper addresses the stability analysis of the self-injection-locked oscillators. The analysis is developed for arbitrary self-injection feedback loops and illustrated with the specific case of a simple time-delay cable. It is shown that the output phase stability in self-injection-locked oscillators depends on the feedback loop delay and the types of oscillator circuits, which are represented by equivalent parallel- or series-resonant oscillator models. The self-injection-locked technique can also be used to test the oscillator circuit model when the self-coupling phase is known. The theory is verified by using a self-injection-locked GaAs MESFET oscillator operating at X-band with delay loops.
Properties of a field-reduced twisted three-phase power cable of finite length

The object of investigation is a twisted three-phase power cable of finite length. It, contains N uniform packs built up by 3 conductors, where each of the packs carries an identical three-phase current system. With respect to the 3 arbitrary phase-currents of a pack the cable forms a closed system. The cross-sections of the 3 wires belonging to a pack are arranged along straight lines which start under corresponding angles from the center of the cable. Compared with the field of a common 3-wire cable the superposition of the N magnetic three-phase fields of the single packs leads to a reduced overall field caused by compensation effects. We express the induction of the cable analytically by the help of integrals. The numerical results are displayed as 3D-plots, induction maps and diagrams of the attenuation for cables with different pack numbers N.
International Workshop on Mining Software Repositories

The goal of this one-day workshop is to bring together researchers and practitioners to consider methods that use data stored in software repositories (such as source control systems, defect tracking systems, and archived project communications) to further understanding of software development practices. 1 WORKSHOP THEME AND GOALS Software repositories contain a wealth of valuable information for empirical studies in software engineering: • source control systems store changes to the source code as development progresses, • defect tracking systems follow the resolution of software defects, and • archived communications between project personnel record rationale for decisions throughout the life of a project.
Design and stability test of a 2-40 GHz frequency doubler with active balun

An ultra-broadband PHEMT MMIC frequency doubler is designed. It comprises a FET active balun stage and a push-pull doubler in common-source configuration. Due to the purely lumped-element concept, the required chip area is very low. Using broadband compensation and matching networks, a nearly flat output power performance up to a limit of 2/3 f/sub T/ with acceptable conversion loss is predicted in circuit simulations and confirmed with broadband waveform measurements. The stability of the entire circuit is investigated including hidden instabilities and arbitrary passive input and output load conditions based on a direct stability circle calculation.
Effects of low‐cycle fatigue on a 10‐storey steel building

Following the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, the SAC project was initiated as a joint venture between Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC), Applied Technology Council (ATC), and Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake engineering (CUREe) to investigate the causes of widespread damage observed in the connections of steel moment frame buildings. The published results of these studies concentrated on local connection defects that potentially initiated the observed cracks. It was also considered that much of the observed connection damage was the result of yielding of the material in the connection region and the formation of plastic hinges. However, damage to some buildings could not be reconciled by the use of these failure mechanisms. This has led to a renewed interest in the effects of low‐cycle fatigue on the members and connections in steel buildings that are either elastic or have been driven into the weakly nonlinear range.
Developing Competitive Advantages in Political Risk Management for International Construction Enterprises

AbstractInternational construction projects invariably involve political risks. This has been a persistent and pernicious problem encountered by international contractors. Various sets of variables have been suggested in the literature focusing on different aspects of political risk management (PRM) for international construction enterprises (ICEs). It is crucial to identify the relative importance and groupings of these variables. This paper aims to identify critical variables associated with PRM in international construction projects, and to analyze their rankings and underlying relationships. A total of 17 variables were identified through a literature review and consolidated by pilot studies with professionals in the international construction industry. Questionnaire instruments containing the 17 variables were sent out to the practitioners and academics, and 138 completed questionnaires were received. The top five ranked variables for PRM were (1) relationship with governments, (2) misconduct of cont.
Teflon Bearings in Base Isolation II: Modeling

A mathematical model of the factional behavior of Teflon sliding bearings for conditions of interest in base isolation is developed. The calibration of the model is based on extensive experimental data that were presented in an accompanying paper. The model is capable of accounting for: (1) Unidirectional and multidirectional motion at the Teflon‐steel interface; (2) velocity and pressure dependence of the coefficient of sliding friction; and (3) breakaway (or static) friction effects. The model is characterized by four parameters. These are the minimum and maximum values of the sliding coefficient of friction, the ratio of breakaway to sliding coefficient of friction at initiation of sliding and a parameter that describes the variation of the sliding coefficient of friction with velocity. Values of these parameters are presented for sixteen combinations of type of Teflon, bearing pressure and condition (surface roughness) of mating steel surface. Applications of the model in the analysis/design of a slid.
A Convolutional Neural Network Pipeline For Multi-Temporal Retinal Image Registration

A sequence of images is usually captured to observe the change of health status in medical diagnosis. However, an image sequence taken over year usually suffers from severe deformation, making it time-consuming for physicians to match corresponding patterns. In this paper, we propose a coarse-to-fine pipeline for retinal image registration based on convolutional neural network. By leveraging the three components of the pipeline: feature matching, outlier rejection, and local registration, we recover the deformation and accurately align multi-temporal image sequences. Experimental results show that the proposed network is robust to severe deformation as well as illumination and contrast variations. With the proposed registration pipeline, the change of image patterns over time can be identified through visual analysis.
TEMSEP: Threshold-oriented and Energy-harvesting enabled Multilevel SEP protocol for improving energy-efficiency of heterogeneous WSNs

Energy-saving in WSN-based monitoring systems has drawn considerable interest lately. Further investigations and real efforts are needed to reduce the rapid energy consumption in such networks that commonly use battery-operated nodes. In this paper, we propose TEMSEP (Threshold-oriented and Energy-harvesting enabled Multi-level Stable Election Protocol) for improving energy of large-scale WSNs. TEMSEP is a reactive protocol basing on hierarchical clustering, energy-harvesting relay nodes, and multilevel sensor nodes’ heterogeneity that supports unlimited levels of battery initial energy. Instead of continuous data transmission, the network nodes in TEMSEP send their data only when it is necessary by responding reactively to the changes in relevant parameters or events of interest. We introduce a new thresholding model that provides an ideal mechanism for such reactive behaviour in detecting events, based on the values of heterogeneous thresholds and the sliding window formulated. This efficiently regulates the data reporting frequency, and hence, directly achieves significant reductions in the network traffic-load, optimizes the energy consumption of battery-powered nodes, and maximizes the network lifetime. The extensive simulations show that TEMSEP highly improves the network performance by reducing up to 53% of the network traffic-load and save up to 73% of the total dissipated energy, on average. The stability period and overall network lifetime are increased, at least, by 69% and 56% respectively, compared to other tested protocols.
Stiffened steel box columns. Part 2: Ductility evaluation

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ultimate strength and ductility capacity of stiffened steel box columns failed by local and overall interaction instability under a constant compressive axial force and cyclic lateral loading. In a companion paper, a finite element formulation accounting for both geometrical and material non-linearity was developed to obtain cyclic hysteretic behaviour of such columns. In this paper, the effect of loading patterns on the cyclic inelastic behaviour is first studied; then, a parametric study is carried out to investigate the effects of flange plate width–thickness ratio parameter, column slenderness ratio parameter, stiffener's equivalent slenderness ratio parameter, magnitude of axial load, and material type of stiffeners on the strength and ductility of the columns. Last but not least, empirical formulae of both the ultimate strength and ductility capacities are proposed for stiffened steel box columns, and the limit values of various parameters for the required ductility demand are also discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Piezoelectric Materials, A Review of Progress

This paper is a review of the properties of the more important piezoelectric materials. Section I discusses the basic principles of the phenomena of piezoelectricity and elasticity from the standpoint of crystal physics. Section II is a brief account of the electrical measurements of piezoelectric vibrators which are required to determine the basic parameters defining the piezoelectric, elastic and dielectric properties of the material. Sections III and IV, respectively, give the properties of a range of piezoelectric crystals and ceramics including, in the most important cases, some of the derived properties which affect the use of the materials in practical devices. It is concluded that it is unlikely that new piezoelectric crystals will be found to replace those in use at present for frequency control and selection but that there is greater scope for new piezoelectric ceramics for use as electromechanical transducers or as frequency selective elements where the highest stability is not required.
Energy loss mechanisms in SMR-type BAW devices

Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) filters owe their performance advantages particularly to the excellent Q-values of the acoustic resonators. Solidly Mounted Resonator (SMR) type BAW devices achieve Q-values greater than 1500 when acoustic mirror layers with a large impedance ratio and, hence, a high reflectivity are used. Tungsten and Silicon Oxide are the materials of choice for low loss BAW resonators. This paper describes the loss mechanism still present in low loss BAW resonators and presents comprehensive methods to acquire quantitative data about energy losses. These methods are based on electrical measurements, 1D transmission line models and higher dimensional FEM simulations, and laser interferometer measurements. The lateral currents across the electrodes and the resulting ohmic power dissipation are derived from surface vibration measurements and an inverse calculation of local charge distribution. It is demonstrated that combining these methods allows to detect acoustic leaks and to analyze resistive losses and, thus, the major energy losses in the respective operating conditions can be identified.
Image-based with Peak Load Ensemble Prediction System for Demand Response in Smart Grid

This paper proposes an image-based peak load prediction system for demand response in smart grids. Our aim is to enhance the prediction outcome especially during the season-changing days, also called shoulder-season. These days do not have a specific time throughout the year so we cannot use the season as a variable in the training set. We hypothesize that the approximate curve of the daily power consumption graph has some specific patterns that can be used to separate each day into different groups based on the pattern of the energy consumption curve. To this end, we use a convolution neural network model to classify and extract the features of the curve image. Then, we apply the k-means mechanism for image clustering to select better training sets and optimize the forecasting mechanism. Our results show an overall improvement of prediction during the season-changing period.
Flexural waves transmitted by rectangular piezoceramic transducers

Rectangular piezoceramic transducers are widely used in ultrasonic evaluation and health monitoring techniques and structural vibration control applications. In this paper the flexural waves excited by rectangular transducers adhesively attached to isotropic plates are investigated. In view of the difficulties in developing accurate analytical models describing the transfer characteristics of the transducer due to the complex electromechanical transduction processes and transducer-structure interactions involved, a combined theoretical-experimental approach is developed. A multiple integral transform method is used to describe the propagation behaviour of the waves in the plates, while a heterodyne Doppler laser vibrometer is employed as a non-contact receiver device. This combined theoretical-experimental approach enables the efficient characterization of the electromechanical transfer properties of the piezoelectric transducer which is essential for the development of optimized non-destructive evaluation systems. The results show that the assumption of a uniform contact pressure distribution between the transducer and the plate can accurately predict the frequency spectrum and time domain response signals of the propagating waves along the main axes of the rectangular transmitter element.
Optimization of Variable Speed Limits for Efficient, Safe, and Sustainable Mobility

In an envisioned variable speed limit system, speed limits vary strategically and periodically in accordance with traffic and weather conditions to achieve better safety, efficiency, and environmental sustainability on a traffic network. For such a variable speed limit system, a three-objective, bi-level programming model is proposed to design optimal link-specific speed limits that minimize system travel time, number of expected accidents, and traffic exhaust emissions simultaneously for each specific strategic scenario. A solution framework is developed to solve the model that implements a nondominated sorting genetic algorithm and integrates various tools for performance evaluation. The proposed model and solution framework are demonstrated with the road network within the second ring road in Beijing.
A Study of Albuminuria and Fundus Changes in Newly Detected Hypertensive Patients in Pravara Rural Hospital, Loni

Objectives: To study the proportion of albuminuria and fundus changes in the eyes in newly detected hypertensive patients and to look for the evidence of target organ damage in newly detected hypertensive patients. Methodology: Two hundred twenty five newly detected hypertensive cases were evaluated for albuminuria and fundus changes after applying both inclusion and exclusion criteria. albuminuria was measured in these patients by urine analyzer and retinal changes by fundoscope. Results: Significant albuminuria was found to occur in essential hypertensive patients. The prevalence of albuminuria in this study was 56.4%. A positive correlation between albuminuria and target organ damage was found in these patients. Significant correlation between albuminuria and hypertensive retinopathy. (P value=0.001). Conclusion: Significant albuminuria and fundus changes was found to occur in essential hypertensive patients. Hence this significant correlation of albuminuria with essential hypertension makes it a prime importance to look for it much before it affects the targetorgan.
PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF KASHK AS INFLUENCED BY QUINOA FLOUR ADDITION

The current work was aimed to study the application of quinoa flour in the production of kashk, fermented dairy product and the resulting physicochemical and sensory properties. Three kashk samples were formulated with quinoa flour (1,2 and 3)%. Pretreatment of the kashk samples with quinoa flour had significantly increased the viscosity (from 4040 to 4127 cP), acidity value (increased 0.3) and reduced the syneresis of the samples (P < 0.05). Concerning color, no significant changes were observed in the “b” and “L” values in all the samples which remained constant following 60 days of storage whereas an increase in the “a” value was observed upon supplementation of quinoa flour (from -3.00 ± 0.50 to -0.11 ± 0.51). Sensory analysis revealed that increasing the quinoa concentration increased consistency but decreased flavor. Scanning electron micrographs revealed that the denser microstructure was seen in kashk containing quinoa flour. This could suggest that quinoa flour could be used to improve the microstructure of the kashk. Moreover, adding quinoa flour to kashk could compensate lysine depleted in the kashk thermal process. These results indicated that kashk supplementation with quinoa flour could be suggested as an effective means to improve the functional properties of kashk.
Using dendrochronology to identify species-specific ice storm damage in Delaware

Using Dendrochronology to Identify Species-Specific Ice Storm Damage in Delaware Matthew John Smolnik Ice storms are recurrent disturbances that alter forest succession and retard tree growth rates throughout North America. Following a 1994 ice storm in Delaware, the Delaware Forest Service established seventy-five study plots to sample four species of trees (southern red oak [Quercus falcate], white oak [Quercus alba], loblolly pine [Pinus taeda], and yellow poplar [Liriodendron tulipifera]) affected by the ice storm. The objectives of this study are to: 1) explore the species-specific growth rates and responses to the ice storm; and 2) determine which of the four species is best suited to provide dendroecological records of past ice storms, using tree-ring measurements of growth reductions from 1994 to 1998. A ground survey was performed to assess the damage to individual trees. The damaged trees were classified into damage class categories based on the percentage of crown limbs broken. Dendrochronology was used to identify the radial growth signature of the ice storm in the tree rings of the four species studied. Overall, yellow poplar was most susceptible to ice storm damage followed by loblolly pine, red oak, and white oak. In general, damage class three trees experienced the greatest reduction in annual radial growth in 1994 followed by damage class two, damage class one, and control plot trees respectively. Yellow poplar had the fastest recovery rate following the storm, followed by white oak, red oak, and loblolly pine respectively. The results of this study suggest that dendrochronology can be a promising method to explore the relationship between ice damage and reduction in tree growth rates at a speciesspecific level.
Influence of Irrigation on Diurnal Mesoscale Circulations: Results From GRAINEX

In order to understand the impact of irrigation on weather and climate, the 2018 Great Plains Irrigation Experiment collected comprehensive observations straddling irrigated and non‐irrigated regions in southeast Nebraska. Using these observations, we examine how irrigation affects diurnal terrain‐generated slope circulations, specifically the slope wind. We find that irrigation applied to upslope regions of gently sloping terrain reduces terrain‐induced baroclinicity and the associated pressure gradient force by up to two‐thirds. This leads to the reduction in the afternoon and evening upslope wind and is supported through comparisons to the High‐Resolution Rapid Refresh operational model, which does not explicitly account for irrigation. Additionally, the presence of irrigation decreases daytime sensible heat flux (Bowen ratio reduced 40% compared to non‐irrigated regions), weakening turbulent transport of momentum. Modifications to the terrain‐forced circulation by irrigation has the potential to affect moisture transport and thus cloud and precipitation formation over the Great Plains.