Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Real time traffic management in junction areas and bottleneck sections on mainline railways

The author of this thesis deals with the issues of real time traffic management in junction areas and bottleneck sections on mainline railways in the event of service disturbances. A systematic methodology is proposed for modelling and solving real time train rescheduling problems in junction areas and bottleneck sections, including train re-sequencing and train re-timing. A formal mathematical model, the Junction Rescheduling Model (JRM) is proposed, based on a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) to minimise a Weighted Average Delay (WAD). An innovative algorithm based on Differential Evolution algorithm, named DE_JRM is proposed for solving real time train rescheduling problems formulated with JRM. The performance of the algorithm DE_JRM has been evaluated with a stochastic method based on Monte-Carlo simulation methodology. The evaluation results show a good performance for both flyover and flat junctions compared with First Come First Served (FCFS) and a conventional ARS strategy. The author also extends the proposed methodology, including JRM and the algorithm DE_JRM, to model and solve real time train rescheduling problems for bottleneck sections of railway networks. Finally, an integrated system architecture for the traffic management and train control is introduced for system implementation of the proposed methodology of train rescheduling in junction areas and bottleneck sections on mainline railways.
Design and Safety Assessment of Critical Systems

Safety-critical systems, by definition those systems whose failure can cause catastrophic results for people, the environment, and the economy, are becoming increasingly complex both in their functionality and their interactions with the environment. Unfortunately, safety assessments are still largely done manually, a time-consuming and error-prone process. The growing complexity of these systems requires an increase in the skill and efficacy of safety engineers and encourages the adoption of formal and standardized techniques. An introduction to the area of design and verification of safety-critical systems, Design and Safety Assessment of Critical Systems focuses on safety assessment using formal methods. Beginning with an introduction to the fundamental concepts of safety and reliability, it illustrates the pivotal issues of design, development, and safety assessment of critical systems. The core of the book covers traditional notations, techniques, and procedures, including Fault Tree Analysis, FMECA, HAZOP, and Event Tree Analysis, and explains in detail how formal methods can be used to realize such procedures. It looks at the development process of safety-critical systems, and highlights influential management and organizational aspects. Finally, it describes verification and validation techniques and new trends in formal methods for safety and concludes with some widely adopted standards for the certification of safety-critical systems. Providing an in-depth and hands-on view of the application of formal techniques to advanced and critical safety assessments in a variety of industrial sectors, such as transportation, avionics and aerospace, and nuclear power, Design and Safety Assessment of Critical Systems allows anyone with a basic background in mathematics or computer science to move confidently into this advanced arena of safety assessment.
Wet Night Visibility of Pavement Markings

Thirty-three participants, all 60 years of age and older, evaluated the visibility of six different pavement marking materials under a simulated rain system operating at 0.8 in. (20 mm) of rain per h at night. Evaluation consisted of counting the number of skip lines visible from both a sedan and truck tractor, under headlight illumination only. Participants also evaluated markings from the sedan under dry conditions at night. Visual observations were compared with measured retroreflectivity of pavement marking materials, measured luminance of pavement marking materials at 30 m, and calculated retroreflectivity at 30 m, on the basis of measured luminance and illuminance provided by vehicle headlights. Data showed a high degree of correlation between the visibility distance of a marking material and the log of both the measured retroreflectivity and the calculated retroreflectivity. A definitive level of retroreflectivity required to meet drivers’ needs in wet night conditions was not found in the investigation and is now the subject of further study. There was also a high degree of correlation between measured and calculated values of retroreflectivity under simulated rain and measurements with the use of two current ASTM test methods, E2176 and E2177. In a second experiment, six original participants evaluated the visibility of the pavement marking materials for a 10-min interval following cessation of simulated rain. Results of the second experiment indicated significant differences in the time required for the visual performance of a pavement marking material to recover from rain for paint and bead products versus that of other pavement marking materials under evaluation.
Design of Multi-Receptive Field Fusion-Based Network for Surface Defect Inspection on Hot-Rolled Steel Strip Using Lightweight Dataset

With the advancement of industrial intelligence, defect recognition has become an indispensable part of facilitating surface quality in the steel manufacturing process. To assure product quality, most previous studies were typically trained with many defect samples. Nonetheless, a large quantity of defect samples is difficult to obtain, owing to the rare occurrence of defects. In general, deep learning-based methods underperformed as they have inherent limitations due to inadequate information, thereby restraining the application of models. In this study, a two-level Gaussian pyramid is applied to decompose raw data into different resolution levels simultaneously filtering the noises to acquire compact and representative features. Subsequently, a multi-receptive field fusion-based network (MRFFN) is developed to learn the hierarchical features and synthesize the respective prediction scores to form the final recognition result. As a result, the proposed method is capable of exhibiting an outstanding performance of 99.75% when trained using a lightweight dataset. In addition, the experiments conducted using the disturbance defect dataset showed the robustness of the proposed MRFFN against common noises and motion blur.
“Dissemination of Class 1 Integron among Different MBL Producing Acinetobacter Baumannii in ICU of DMCH, Dhaka, Bangladesh”

Introduction: Infection with the metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) producing organisms is associated with higher rates of mortality, morbidity, and health care costs. MBL producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa was first reported in Japan in 1991 and since then has been found in various parts of the world. Objective: To Assess the Dissemination of Class 1 integron among different MBL producing Acinetobacter baumannii In ICU of DMCH, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methodology: This Cross sectional study was conducted between July 2013 to June 2014 in the department of Microbiology, Dhaka Medical College (DMC), Dhaka, Bangladesh to determine the frequency and susceptibility patterns of MBL-producers among carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative rods (GNRs) from clinical isolates of a tertiary care hospital. All clinical samples were processed according to standard microbiological methods. Isolated GNRs were subjected to susceptibility testing against various antibiotics by disc diffusion method according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Carbapenem-resistant isolates were subjected to the detection of MBL production by the E-test MBL strip method. Hospitalized patients who did not give consent were excluded in this study. Data regarding age, sex, duration of hospitalization, antibiotic history were collected using a prescribed data collection form. Results: Out of 22 imipenem resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. 21 (95.45%) were positive for MBL production. The distribution of MBL genes among imipenem resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Out of 22 imipenem resistant strains, 21 (95.45%) were positive for blaNDM-1, 20 (90.91%) for blaNDM-like, 16 (72.72%) for blaVIM and all the 22 (100%) were negative for blaIMP and distribution of class I integron among the MBL producers. Among the 21 MBL producing Acinetobacter baumannii, 17 (80.95%) had class I integron. This study presence of class I integron and conserved segment of class 1 integron among the different MBL producing Acinetobacter baumannii. Among 16 blaVIM positive Acinetobacter baumannii. 13 (81.25%) carried class 1 integron and 11 (68.75%) carried conserved segment of class I integron. Out of 21 blaNDM-1 positive strains. 17 (80.95%) carried class I integron and 13 (61.9%) carried conserved segment of class 1 integron. Out of 20 blaNDM-like positive strains, 16 (80%) carried class 1 integron and 12 (60%) carried conserved segment of class I integron. Conclusion: The findings strongly suggest that there is a need to track the detection of MBL producers and that judicious use of imipenem is necessary to prevent the further spread of these organisms.
Fair Value Opinion Shopping or Unbiased Reporting?

Insurers frequently change the pricing sources of their fixed income securities. We study the causes and consequences of the pricing switch. We hypothesize that pricing switch could be driven by both managerial opportunism to inflate fair value estimate (i.e., FV opinion shopping) and/or effort to more faithfully report asset values (i.e., unbiased reporting). We categorize pricing switch as upward switch — where the firm switches to a new source that prices the security at a higher level than the current pricing source does, and downward switch — where the opposite occurs. We find that upward switch can be explained by both unbiased reporting and FV opinion shopping, whereas downward switch is mostly driven by unbiased reporting. Further, the manager is less likely to correct a prior upward bias than a prior downward bias. Pricing switch exhibits a pattern more consistent with FV opinion shopping when it is engaged by insurers with strong concerns for regulatory capital and for securities with high probability of other-than-temporary impairments (OTTI). Next, we examine the consequences of pricing switch from three perspectives. First, an upward switch results in greater magnitude of adjustment to fair value estimate and a more biased fair vale estimate than a downward switch does. The increase in FV estimate bias following an upward switch is mitigated by the presence of Big 4 auditors and external asset managers, but is exacerbated for insurers with strong regulatory capital constraints and securities with high probability of OTTI. Second, an upward switch effectively reduces both the likelihood and the magnitude of OTTI recognition, especially for securities with high probability of impairment. Third, the auditor charges higher audit fees for upwardly switched securities. Such increase in audit fees further depends on whether the pricing switch seems justified. Additionally, the credit rating agency assigns greater credit risks on upwardly switched securities. In sum, we provide evidence that insurers strategically change the pricing source of fixed income securities in order to achieve certain reporting objectives, and that there are certain costs associated with FV opinion shopping.
Fundamental design principles of novel mems based "Landau" switches, sensors, and actuators : Role of electrode geometry and operation regime

Jain, Ankit Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2014. Fundamental Design Principles of Novel MEMS based “Landau” Switches, Sensors, and Actuators : Role of Electrode Geometry and Operation Regime. Major Professor: M. A. Alam. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are considered as potential candidates for “More-Moore” and “More-than-Moore” applications due to their versatile use as sensors, switches, and actuators. Examples include accelerometers for sensing, RFMEMS capacitive switches in communication, suspended-gate (SG) FETs in computation, and deformable mirrors in optics. In spite of the wide range of applications of MEMS in diverse fields, one of the major challenges for MEMS is their instability. Instability divides the operation into stable and unstable regimes and poses fundamental challenges for several applications. For example: Tuning range of deformable mirrors is fundamentally limited by pull-in instability, RF-MEMS capacitive switches suffer from the problem of hard landing, and intrinsic hysteresis of SG-FETs puts a lower bound on the minimum power dissipation. In this thesis, we provide solutions to the application specific problems of MEMS and utilize operation in or close to unstable regime for performance enhancement in several novel applications. Specifically, we propose the following: (i) novel device concepts with nanostructured electrodes to address the aforementioned problems of instability, (ii) a switch with hysteresis-free ideal switching characteristics based on the operation in unstable regime, and (iii) a Flexure biosensor that operates at the boundary of the stable and unstable regimes to achieve improved sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio. In general, we have advocated electrode geometry as a design variable for MEMS, and used MEMS as an illustrative example of “Landau” systems to advocate operation regime as a new design variable.
Toward understanding and modeling compressibility effects on velocity gradients in turbulence

Toward Understanding and Modeling Compressibility Effects on Velocity Gradients in Turbulence. (December 2009) Sawan Suman, B.Tech., Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, India Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Sharath S. Girimaji Development of improved turbulence closure models for compressible fluid flow simulations requires better understanding of the effects of compressibility on various underlying processes of turbulence. Fundamental studies of turbulent velocity gradients hold the key to understanding several non-linear processes like material element deformation, energy cascading, intermittency and mixing. Experiments, direct numerical simulation (DNS) and simple mathematical models are three approaches to study velocity gradients. With the goal of furthering our understanding of the effects of compressibility on turbulent velocity gradients, this dissertation (i) employs DNS results to characterize some of the effects of compressibility on turbulent velocity gradients, and (ii) develops simple mathematical models for velocity gradient dynamics in compressible turbulence. In the first part of the dissertation, effects of compressibility on velocity gradient invariants and the local topology of compressible turbulence are characterized employing DNS results of compressible decaying isotropic turbulence. Joint statistics of second and third invariants of velocity gradient tensor and the exact probability of occurrence of associated topologies conditioned upon dilatation (degree of compression/expansion of fluid) are computed. These statistics are found to be (i) highly dependent on dilatation and (ii) substantially different from the statistics observed in incompressible turbulence. These dilatation-conditioned statistics of compressible turbulence, however, are found to be fairly independent of Mach number and Reynolds
Weight of Evidence: Participatory Methods and Bayesian Updating to Contextualize Evidence Synthesis in Stakeholders’ Knowledge

Mixed methods research is well-suited to grapple with questions of what counts as valid knowledge across different contexts and perspectives. This article introduces Weight of Evidence as a transformative procedure for stakeholders to interpret, expand on and prioritize evidence from evidence syntheses, with a focus on engaging populations historically excluded from planning and decision making. This article presents the procedure’s five steps using pilot data on perinatal care of immigrant women in Canada, engaging family physicians and birth companions. Fuzzy cognitive mapping offers an accessible and systematic way to generate priors to update published literature with stakeholder priorities. Weight of Evidence is a transparent procedure to broaden what counts as expertise, contributing to a more comprehensive, context-specific, and actionable understanding.
Electrostatic Radio Frequency (RF) Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Switches With Metal Alloy Electric Contacts

Abstract : RF MEMS switches are paramount in importance for improving current and enabling future USAF RF systems. Electrostatic micro-switches are ideal for RF applications because of their superior performance and low power consumption. The primary failure mechanisms for micro-switches with gold contacts are becoming stuck closed and increased contact resistance with increasing switch cycles. This dissertation reports on the design, fabrication, and testing of micro-switches with sputtered bi-metallic (i.e., gold (Au)-on-Au-(6.3at%)platinum (Pt)), binary alloy (i.e., Au-(3.7at%)palladium (Pd) and Au-(6.3at%)Pt), and ternary alloy (i.e., Au-(5at%)Pt-(0.5at%)copper (Cu)) contact metals. Performance was evaluated, in-part, using measured contact resistance and lifetime results. The micro-switches with bi-metallic and binary alloy contacts exhibited contact resistance between 1 - 2 ohms and, when compared to micro-switches with sputtered gold contacts, showed an increase in lifetime. The micro-switches with tertiary alloy contacts showed contact resistance between 0.2-1.8 and also showed increased lifetime. Overall, the results presented in this dissertation indicate that micro-switches with gold alloy electric contacts exhibit increased lifetimes in exchange for a small increase in contact resistance.
Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness and the Usage of Computerized Accounting Systems: A Performance of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in China

Computerized Accounting Systems (CAS) has been used as a tool to help the accountants and the business owner to record daily business transactions and produce accounting reports in no time. The adoption of CAS among the users, however, varies especially in term of the factors that influence the usage and the level of the adoption. This paper aims, among other factors, to investigate the relationship between the model of technology acceptance (TAM) and the use of CAS. The main purpose is to examine the connection between the two variables of TAM, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, and use of CAS among accountants in micro and small enterprises (MSEs). The scope of this study is businesses in Xi’an, Shaan Xi of China. An online survey has been used to obtain feedback from 400 respondents. However, only 201 responseshave been returned and available for further analysis. This study discovers a beneficial connection between perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and CAS use. This study could guide the accountants and business owners as well as the research communities to understand the correlation of technology acceptance and the use of CAS.
Intravenous administration of triptonide attenuates CFA-induced pain hypersensitivity through inhibiting AKT signaling pathway in mice

Background: Triptonide (TPN) is a major component of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook.f. , and reportedly has anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. Recent studies have demonstrated that the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway plays an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory pain. Here we investigated the anti-nociceptive effect of systemic treatment with TPN on mouse models of chronic inflammatory pain and explored possible mechanisms. Results: Unilateral hind paw injection of complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) induced paw edema and persistent pain hypersensitivity. Intravenous treatment with TPN attenuated CFA-induced paw edema, mechanical allodynia, and thermal hyperalgesia. Western blotting and immunofluorescence results showed that CFA induced AKT activation in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, which was inhibited by TPN treatment. Furthermore, TPN treatment inhibited mRNA increase of proinflammatory cytokines [tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), and Interleukin 6 (IL-6)] induced by CFA. Finally, pretreatment with AKT inhibitor, AKT inhibitor Ⅳ, attenuated CFA-induced mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia, and decreased the mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Conclusions: These data indicate that TPN attenuates CFA-induced pain potentially via inhibiting AKT-mediated pro-inflammatory cytokines production in DRG. TPN may be used for the treatment of chronic inflammatory pain.
Production planning of biopharmaceutical manufacture.

Multiproduct manufacturing facilities running on a campaign basis are increasingly becoming the norm for biopharmaceuticals, owing to high risks of clinical failure, regulatory pressures and the increasing number of therapeutics in clinical evaluation. The need for such flexible plants and cost-effective manufacture pose significant challenges for planning and scheduling, which are compounded by long production lead times, intermediate product stability issues and the high cost - low volume nature of biopharmaceutical manufacture. Scheduling and planning decisions are often made in the presence of variable product titres, campaign durations, contamination rates and product demands. Hence this thesis applies mathematical programming techniques to the planning of biopharmaceutical manufacture in order to identify more optimal production plans under different manufacturing scenarios. A deterministic mixed integer linear programming (MILP) medium term planning model which explicitly accounts for upstream and downstream processing is presented. A multiscenario MILP model for the medium term planning of biopharmaceutical manufacture under uncertainty is presented and solved using an iterative solution procedure. An alternative stochastic formulation for the medium term planning of biomanufacture under uncertainty based on the principles of chance constrained programming is also presented. To help manage the risks of long term capacity planning in the biopharmaceutical industry, a goal programming extension is presented which accounts for multiple objectives including cost, risk and customer service level satisfaction. The model is applied to long term capacity analysis of a mix of contractors and owned biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. In the final sections of this thesis an example of a commercial application of this work is presented, followed by a discussion on related validation issues in the biopharmaceutical industry. The work in this thesis highlighted the benefits of applying mathematical programming techniques for production planning of biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, so as to enhance the biopharmaceutical industry's strategic and operational decision-making towards achieving more cost-effective manufacture.