Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interrogation of single asperity electrical contacts using atomic force microscopy with application to nems logic switches

Energy consumption by computers and electronics is currently 15% of worldwide energy output, and growing. Aggressive scaling of the fully-electronic transistor, which is the fundamental computational element of these devices, has led to significant and immutable energy losses. Ohmic nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) logic switches have been recognized as a potential transistor replacement technology with projected energy savings of one to three orders of magnitude over traditional, fully-electronic transistors. However, the use of conventional, adhesive contact materials (i.e. metals) in NEMS switches electrical contacts leads to permanent device seizure or the formation of insulating tribofilms that inhibits commercialization of this technology. Of critical need is a method to efficiently identify and interrogate low adhesion, chemically stable electrical contact material pairs under conditions and scales relevant to NEMS logic switch contacts. This thesis presents the development of two electrical contact testing methods based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) to interrogate electrical contact materials under contact forces and environments representative of NEMS logic switch operating conditions. AFM was used to mimic the interaction of Pt/Pt NEMS logic switch electrical interfaces for up to two billion contact cycles in laboratory timeframes. Contact resistance before cycling significantly exceeded theoretical predictions for clean Pt/Pt interfaces due to adsorbed contaminant films and increased up to six orders of magnitude due to cycling-induced insulating tribopolymer growth. Sliding of the contact with microscale amplitudes lead to significant recovery of conductivity through displacement of the insulating films. Based on this observation, AFM was then used to investigate the role of load, shear, electrical bias, and environment on the electrical robustness of Pt/nitrogen-incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond (N-UNCD) and Pt/Pt interfaces. N-UNCD was selected because similar diamond films have demonstrated low adhesion, chemical inertness, and compatibility with NEMS logic device fabrication. Pt/N-UNCD interfaces subjected to low loads during sliding demonstrated significant increases in contact resistance due to insulating film formation that was not observed at larger loads. Taken in concert, these finding demonstrate the capability of AFM to investigate nanoscale electrical contact phenomena without the need for time-consuming and expensive integration of unproven materials in NEMS logic switches. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics First Advisor Robert W. Carpick This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/edissertations/935 Second Advisor Gianluca Piazza
A comparison study of water impact and water exit models

Abstract In problems of global hydroelastic ship response in severe seas including the whipping problem, we need to know the hydrodynamic forces acting on the ship hull during almost arbitrary ship motions. In terms of ship sections, some of them can enter water but others exit from water. Computations of nonlinear free surface flows, pressure distributions and hydrodynamic forces in parallel with the computations of the ship motions including elastic vibrations of the ship hull are time consuming and are suitable only for research purposes but not for practical calculations. In this paper, it is shown that the slamming forces can be decomposed in two components within three semi-analytical models of water entry. Only heave motion is considered. The first component is proportional to the entry speed squared and the second one to the body acceleration. The coefficients in these two components are functions of the penetration depth only and can be precomputed for given shape of the body. During the exit stage the hydrodynamic force is proportional to the acceleration of the body and independent of the body shape for bodies with small deadrise angles.
French TGV network development

The 1981 opening of the French TGV SudEst linking Paris and Lyon was a milestone in both the history of transportation and the history of railways with similar importance to the 1964 unveiling of the shinkansen in Japan. Since that first ‘bullet train,’ high-speed rail has continued to enjoy great technical and commercial success in all countries that have adopted the technology. Not only is high-speed rail fast, it has also proved to be a safe, comfortable and efficient transport mode for the general population. In short, it has revitalized railway transport and has become a symbol of modern society. High-speed rail is a well-proven system that has become a landmark in world transport and railway history. The TGV Sud-Est was Europe’s first high-speed line and there is no doubt about the TGV’s technical excellence after the world wheel-on-rail speed record of 515.3 km/h was set in 1990 on the south-western section of the TGV Atlantique. The 20 years from 1981 to 2001 have seen the progressive opening of the TGV Atlantique (1990), the TGV Nord Europe (1993), and the TGV Mediterranee (2001), substantiating the reliability of the TGV technologies in actual operations. This article discusses the high-speed railway in France with focus on past development of the TGV network, the present construction of the TGV Est, and future prospects based on the French master plan for high-speed railways adopted in December 2003.
Increasing throughput: factors affecting the academic performance of entry-level undergraduate taxation students at an ODL institution in South Africa

In this article, the academic performance of undergraduate taxation students at a South African open and distance learning (ODL) tertiary institution is analysed. The analysis was conducted on various exogenous and endogenous factors which impact on academic performance. The factors included in the study were identified on the basis of national and international studies in the field in question and related fields of study. Statistical analysis was performed to identify whether the selected factors had a statistically significant impact on students' performance. With the exception of gender, all of the following factors had a statistically significant impact on students' academic performance: employment status, language, current and previous academic performance, status of residential area, age and access to technology. Although some of the exogenous factors identified cannot be specifically addressed in an academic programme, the results of the study are used to make several recommendations to assist students and lecturers to improve the throughput rate of taxation students.
Factors Predicting Motivational Intensity in Japanese EFL Engineering Majors

aminations to enter the university. Thus, English is considered one of the most important subjects in high school and many high school students have great motivation to improve their English, especially in their third year (Hayashi, 2005). However, after completing the entrance examination, many, especially non-English majors, are likely to lose their motivation to study English. For example, Berwick and Ross (1998) state that after being admitted to the university, Japanese students are often left with “a motivational vacuum. ” Hayashi (2005) and Sawyer (2007) also report a decrease in university students’ motivational intensity toward learning English because students are more interested in their major subjects and/or extracurricular activities. However, English is important in the present internationalized society, and to acquire a second language, learners need to make substantial and continuous effort. What, then, stimulates non-English majors to make efforts to improve their English proficiency after completing their entrance examinations? In this study, I examined 315 engineering majors and investigated the psychological factors that predict Motivational Intensity.
Planning and implementation of the University of Ghana library automation project

The paper reviews the three-year Carnegie Corporation funded library automation project of the University of Ghana Library System, two and a half years into the project. It highlights the automation environment before the Carnegie project and describes essential factors that have contributed to the automation process to date. The contribution made by external players is emphasised while challenges posed by the project and lessons learned are presented. The paper concludes by assessing experience gained and the challenges that lie ahead before the system takes off. West African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science Vol. 16(2) 2006: 101-108
The Innovation Journey of Wi-Fi: The Road to Global Success

Wi-Fi has become the preferred means for connecting to the internet - at home, in the office, in hotels and at airports. Increasingly, Wi-Fi also provides internet access for remote communities where it is deployed by volunteers in community-based networks, by operators in 'hotspots' and by municipalities in 'hotzones'. This book traces the global success of Wi-Fi to the landmark change in radio spectrum policy by the US FCC in 1985, the initiative by NCR Corporation to start development of Wireless-LANs and the drive for an open standard IEEE 802.11, released in 1997. It also singles out and explains the significance of the initiative by Steve Jobs at Apple to include Wireless-LAN in the iBook, which moved the product from the early adopters to the mass market. The book explains these developments through first-hand accounts by industry practitioners and concludes with reflections and implications for government policy and firm strategy.
Residential Broadband Competition in the United States

This paper uses a new FCC dataset on residential broadband subscribership and speeds at the census tract level combined with data from a number of additional sources to explore the state of broadband competition in the U.S. and test the effects of competition on speeds, penetration, and prices. We find that the number of wireline providers in a census tract is positively correlated with the highest available broadband speeds, even when controlling for housing density, household income, state fixed effects, and endogenizing the number of providers. That is, we find that DSL, cable, and fiber speeds are each significantly higher where there is more than one provider than when there is only a single provider. We also find evidence that prices for broadband subscriptions, especially for slower speeds, are lower where there are more wireline providers. Prices for slower DSL (768 kbps and lower) are the most strongly negatively correlated in terms of magnitude to the number of other providers. Unfortunately, the low quality of our price data makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Indeed, the overall analysis points to the need for better data to conduct more rigorous competition analyses.
Assessment of Economics Curriculum Implementation in Colleges of Education and Secondary Schools in Oyo State

Teaching is a noble profession as well as an art of assisting students to learn through a painstaking effort from passionate instructors. It is a complex activity that emanates from fundamental knowledge requires for proficient teaching which is grounded in the liberal arts and sciences. The understanding of the art of transforming subject matters into concrete term and effective art of teaching as well as learning process is crucial to successful implementation of any curriculum. The enormity of teaching requires that teachers (lecturers/secondary schools teachers) are capable of demystifying concepts, terminology and theories in clear terms, also be able to diversify his/her methods of teaching to accommodate for diverse students in terms of individual differences, readiness, intelligent quotient, families, exposure, developments, cognitive and emotional differs greatly of which adequate provision to manage all those is central in teaching activities.
Continuum Scale Non Newtonian Particle Transport Model for Hæmorheology

We present a continuum scale particle transport model for red blood cells following collision arguments, in a diffusive flux formulation. The model is implemented in FOAM, in a framework suitable for haemodynamics simulations and adapted to multi-scaling. Specifically, the framework we present is able to ingest transport coefficient models to be derived, prospectively, from complimentary but independent meso-scale simulations. For present purposes, we consider modern semi-mechanistic rheology models, which we implement and test as proxies for such data. The model is verified against a known analytical solution and shows excellent agreement for high quality meshes and good agreement for typical meshes as used in vascular flow simulations. Simulation results for different size and time scales show that migration of red blood cells does occur on physiologically relevany timescales on small vessels below 1 mm and that the haematocrit concentration modulates the non-Newtonian viscosity. This model forms part of a multi-scale approach to haemorheology and model parameters will be derived from meso-scale simulations using multi-component Lattice Boltzmann methods. The code, haemoFoam, is made available for interested researchers.
Regulation of power output during self-paced cycling exercise

Fatigue is a universal phenomenon with functional and perceptual consequences. The study of fatigue in the exercise sciences has historically focussed on factors that limit performance during exercise. More recent proposals have shifted the focus of this understanding to examine how intensity is regulated during exercise through the study of the pacing strategy, which has both physiological and practical consequences. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the biological basis of self-pacing and the optimum pacing strategy for endurance time-trial events. Study 1 assessed the reproducibility of the pacing strategy and the consistency of the performance, perceptual and physiological response during self-paced time-trial exercise in well-trained cyclists. This study demonstrated the existence of a global pacing strategy that was reproducible on repeat 20 km cycling time-trials (TTs), and consistent between 4, 20 and 40 km TTs. The performance, perceptual and physiological response was also reproducible, confirming the feasibility of studying manipulations of the self-pacing strategy and the subsequent impact on these variables. Studies 2 and 3 adopted a model whereby participant’s best self-paced TT performance was used to set time- and work-matched exercise bouts to study the effect of even- and variable-pacing. These studies revealed that a variable-pacing strategy that contains frequent periods of high-intensity exercise resulted in an augmented physiological response and higher perception of exertion compared to time- and work-matched even- and self-paced exercise. Conversely, even-pacing resulted in attenuation in the metabolic and perceptual cost of the bout, but only when the self-selected pacing strategy was sub-optimal. When self-pacing was optimal, time- and work-matched even-pacing resulted in cumulative metabolic stress that caused early exercise termination. In study 4 the biological basis to fatigue during 4, 20 and 40 km TTs was assessed. This study demonstrated that the contribution of central and peripheral mechanisms of fatigue during self-paced exercise is task-dependent. Specifically, the shorter, higher intensity 4 km time-trials were characterised by a greater degree of peripheral fatigue and less central fatigue compared to longer, lower intensity 20 and 40 km time-trials where less peripheral and more central fatigue was observed. The supraspinal contribution to fatigue was alsomgreater during longer TT exercise. These studies have provided novel insight in to the biological factors that underpin the regulation of self-paced exercise, and the optimum pacing strategy for endurance TT events.
The Global Fur Industry: Trends, Globalization and Specialization

The fur industry and the entire fur cluster are in many ways an interesting and instructive example from which many lessons can be learned. Up to now, the international fur industry has not been thoroughly described or analyzed. A major reason is the rather limited availability of national and international statistics about the fur sector. This article analyzes the production and international trade in fur based on information from official statistics, trade associations, companies, scientific papers and reports, interviews with experts, etc. Markets and market conditions play a very important role with regards to the fur sector, and the price of fur is volatile in the short and long run. A new world trade pattern and international specialization have emerged in recent years. The comparative advantages of the fur sector change along the fur value chain, while China's position on the global fur market has changed significantly.
Characterisation of micromechanically coupled U-shaped cantilever-based oscillators with and without micromechanical elements for synchronised oscillation-based applications

Two novel oscillation systems, consisting of a U-shaped cantilever and a beam-shaped cantilever, were designed, fabricated and comparatively characterised for synchronised oscillation-based applications. In the case of without mechanical elements, two geometrically different cantilevers, with resonant frequencies of 182.506 kHz (detecting) and 372.503 kHz (sensing), respectively, are coupled by two coupling overhangs. Under synchronised oscillation, the frequency response was found to double from 182.850 to 365.713 kHz from a low-frequency cantilever (U shaped) to a high-frequency cantilever (beam shaped). A plateau with a frequency ratio of 2.000 was observed for both systems, which corresponds to a stable synchronisation region. This demonstrates the possibility of increasing the frequency response signal from the low-frequency cantilever to the high-frequency cantilever based on this super harmonic synchronisation. However, based on the comparative studies of two systems with and without mechanical systems, it is found that enhancing the nonlinearity without increasing energy loss (support loss in the present study) seems to be necessary to widen the frequency entrainment range for real applications.
Nd-doped waveguide amplifiers for heterogeneous integration in optical backplanes

The optical amplifier performance of Nd3+-doped polymer and amorphous Al2O3 channel waveguides with single-mode and multi-mode behavior around 880 nm is compared. Internal net gain in the wavelength range 865-930 nm is investigated under continuous-wave excitation near 800 nm, for Nd3+ dopant concentrations typically in the range of 0.6- 1.0 × 1020 cm-3. A peak gain of 2.8 dB at 873 nm is obtained in a 1.9-cm-long polymer waveguide at a launched pump power of 25 mW. The small-signal gain measured in a 1-cm-long sample is 2.0 dB/cm. In Al2O3, a peak gain of 1.57 dB/cm in a short and 3.0 dB in a 4.1-cm-long waveguide is obtained at 880 nm. Tapered multi-mode Nd3+-doped amplifiers are embedded into an optical backplane and a maximum 0.21 dB net gain is demonstrated in a structure consisting of an Al2O3:Nd3+ amplifier placed between two passive polymer waveguides on an optical backplane. The gain can be further enhanced by increasing the pump power and improving the waveguide geometry, and the wavelength of amplification can be adjusted by doping other rare-earth ions.
Institutionalisation of technology-supported organisational processes: A structurational perspective on IT service management support technology.

Increasing emphasis on strategic and operational IT-business alignment and best-practice frameworks (e.g. ITIL) has promoted the deployment of cross-functional process-based IT Service Management (ITSM) technologies within a wide range of organisations. Such technologies underpin core IT support processes such as Incident, Problem, and Change Management within a Service Management framework, promoting greater visibility and evaluation of IT contribution to the business. However, strategic and operational improvement of cross-functional ITSM processes requires effective embedding of process-supporting software in the organisation's ITSM process infrastructure. This research is based on an in-depth interpretive case-study of the use made of an ITSM software package in an IT Services department of a major UK university. In particular, this thesis examines the roles of organisational context, specific software functionality and design features, and organisational process infrastructure to develop an understanding of how particular ways of working with the software are embedded in various organisational routines. This research identifies a number of prevalent IT support working practices as organisational routines, and analyses the interrelationship between the working practices, organisational processes, the ITSM software artefact, and the immediate and wider organisational context. This thesis makes a number of contributions, including developing a theoretical framework for studying the role of technological artefact and organisational context and processes from the perspective of organisational routines and structuration theory.
Recovery of Oils and Fats from Oilseeds and Fatty Materials

A summary of many methods for removing fats and oils from a variety of oilseeds and fatty materials, starting with some early methods and arriving at modern state-of-the-art methods. The summary covers preparation, including cracking, flaking, cooking and drying, and extrusion preparation. Hydraulic crushing is covered and screw pressing, both prepressing and fullpressing. Many early and modern screw presses of different manufacture are described. Batch rendering systems for animal fats are described as well as the more efficient continuous systems for dry rendering and systems for slurry rendering using multiple effect evaporators. Digestive rendering is also discussed. Solvent extraction is described, starting with theories behind solvent extraction, various solvents used, early equipment, and state-of-the-art modern extractors. Also discussed are solvent recovery from miscella, marc, and the air and water effluents from the extraction system. The chapter ends with methods for obtaining oil from olives and from palm fruit. Keywords: cracking; flaking; cooking; extrusion; hydraulic press; screw press; crushing cages; barrel bars; foots; screening tank; dry rendering; slurry rendering; soybean; cottonseed; olive; palm fruit; hexane; acetone; ethanol; isopropanol; batch extractors; total immersion extractor; percolation extractor; rotary extractor; perforated belt extractor; sliding belt extractor; rectangular loop extractor; miscella; marc; desolventizer; evaporator; stripper; solvent-water separator; refrigerated vent; mineral oil vent; charcoal absorber; solvent to meal ratio