Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Allocation of emission permits using DEA: centralised and individual points of view

This paper discusses mechanisms for the allocation of emission permits (AEP) among a group of manufacturing companies aiming at controlling the total emission level of the group. Data envelopment analysis is adopted and extended to construct the AEP models. Proposed methods allocate the permits on the basis of the current input and output levels of individual firms, rather than historical records. Two variations of AEP mechanisms are considered. One situation is that one of the member firms dominates the responsibility of allocating emission permits on behalf of the group (individual AEP scenario). This dominating firm will maximise its own emission permit before allocating permits among other members in the group. The other situation is that a third-party central governing body is centrally responsible for coordinating the AEP among all group members (Central AEP scenario). Proposed mechanisms are applied to analyse efficiencies of a group of paper mills. The result shows that the mode of central AEP mechanism is a better choice than that of the individual AEP mechanism. Central AEP not only maximises the whole efficiency of the group but also improves efficiencies of individual firms. In contrast, with individual AEP, one firm gains efficiency at the loss of others.
A Stepper Image Monitor For Precise Setup And Characterization

The Stepper Image Monitor(SIM) system tests the resolution and overlay performance of complete stepper systems by measuring the aerial image intensity profile at many wafer locations and focus offsets. Overlay error vectors can be measured with a precision of . 02μm and best focus can be determined to a precision of O. lμm without exposing test wafers. New data will be presented on lens heating effects, along with a simple model. Imagery of high NA steppers will be explored by observing image profiles of various sub-micron lines. A new poly-on-oxide process to fabricate permanent SIM reference wafers will be described. This paper will describe other recent developments which have made SIM techniques broadly applicable to many practical problems of stepper setup and characterization.
Consumo consciente como determinante da sustentabilidade empresarial: respeitar os animais pode ser um bom negócio?

DOI: 10.5902/198346599022 The main objective of this study was to understand consumer behavior regarding cruelty against animals, practiced in industrial processes of meat production. The study used quantitative methodology, with a survey over the internet that was illustrated by a video showing some industrial practice on animal growing, such as little space and amputation of some limbs, which cause pain, fear and stress. Besides trying to evaluate the level of knowledge that consumers have about these procedures, the research intended to identify the potential for consuming habit changes as results of the contact with the new information. The study shows that consumers are not aware of the current meat producing standards. After having access to the industrial farms images, they change their perception, which may raise a threat to companies that keep current business models ignoring the claim for animal welfare. In addition to that, they show themselves to be willing to pay higher prices for certified products, indicating the companies the existence of a steady market opportunity.
Lifetime limitations of ohmic, contacting RF MEMS switches with Au, Pt and Ir contact materials due to accumulation of ‘friction polymer’ on the contacts

We present lifetime limitations and failure analysis of many packaged RF MEMS ohmic contacting switches with Au–Au, Au–Ir, and Au–Pt contact materials operating with 100 µN of contact force per contact in hermetically sealed glass wall packages. All metals were tested using the same switch design in a controlled environment to provide a comparison between the performance of the different materials and their corresponding failure mechanisms. The switch lifetimes of the different contact materials varied from several hundred cycles to 200 million cycles with different mechanisms causing failures for different contact materials. Switches with Au–Au contacts failed due to adhesion when thoroughly cleaned while switches with dissimilar metal contacts (Au–Ir and Au–Pt) operated without adhesion failures but failed due to carbon accumulation on the contacts even in a clean, packaged environment as a result of the catalytic behavior of the contact materials. Switch lifetimes correlated inversely with catalytic behavior of the contact metals. The data suggests the path to increase switch lifetime is to use favorable catalytic materials as contacts, design switches with higher contact forces to break through any residual contamination, and use cleaner, probably smaller, packages.
CORRELATION BETWEEN SERUM PERIOSTIN LEVEL AND BRONCHIAL ASTHMA IN CHILDREN

Background: Asthma is a major public health problem that affects nearly 350 million people worldwide. It is also the most common chronic disease in childhood and adolescence. Periostin is a cell matrix protein secreted by bronchial fibroblasts and epithelial cells, which is involved in fibrogenesis. Significant periostin expression has been noted in the bronchial epithelial cells of children with asthma and could be used as a biomarker of eosinophilic airway inflammation Aim of the study: To evaluate the role of measurement of serum periostin level in children with bronchial asthma Subject and Methods: This case control prospective study was conducted at Pediatric Department of Zagazig University Hospitals, included 104 cases (eighty-four asthmatic group and twenty healthy children as control group), aged from 5-14 years and excluded cases with other chronic diseases that affect other system as any Cardiopulmonary diseases, kidney diseases, bone diseases. All patients were subjected to full history taking, meticulous general examination, local chest examination and investigations: included serum periostin level. Creactive protein, and IGE level. Results: Serum Periostin concentrations were significantly increased in asthmatic children when compared to controls. Level of Periostin was statistically higher in moderate and severe asthmatics than the other two subgroups. There was a significant positive correlation between asthmatic Periostin level and IgE level. and absolute eosinophilic count, while there were significant negative correlations between level Periostin and pulmonary function tests (FEV1, FVC) as we suggest that the inflammatory response of airways most likely influences the decrease in lung functions. Conclusions: Periostin level was higher in asthmatic children than controls and correlated with asthma severity. Therefore, serum Periostin can be considered as a possible biomarker for diagnosis, grading of asthma severity and the degree of airway inflammation.
TOPOLOGICAL CONDITIONS FOR A RESISTIVE CIRCUIT CONTAINING NEGATIVE NON-LINEAR RESISTORS TO HAVE A UNIQUE SOLUTION.

Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for resistive circuits containing both monotone-increasing non-linear resistors and monotone-decreasing non-linear resistors (called negative non-linear resistors), in addition to controlled sources and op-amps, to have a unique solution for all circuit parameters. Several theorems are given for various classes of circuits containing different combinations of active circuit elements. the theorems are couched mostly in topological terms and can therefore be checked by inspection.
Converting computer-integrated manufacturing into an intelligent information system by combining CIM with concurrent engineering and knowledge management

Some industrial organizations using computer‐integrated manufacturing (CIM) for managing intelligent product and process data during a concurrent processing are facing acute implementation difficulties. Some of the difficulties are due to the fact that CIM – in the current form – is not able to adequately address knowledge management and concurrent engineering (CE) issues. Also, with CIM, it is not possible to solve problems related to decision and control even though there has been an increasing interest in subjects like artificial intelligence (AI), knowledge‐based systems (KBS), expert systems, etc. In order to improve the productivity gain through CIM, EDS focused its information technology (IT) vision on the combined potential of concurrent engineering (CE), knowledge management (KM) and computer‐integrated manufacturing (CIM) technologies. EDS – through a number of IT and CIM implementations – realized that CE, KM and CIM do go hand‐in‐hand. The three together provide a formidable base, which is called intelligent information system (IIS) in this paper. Describes the rationales used for creating an IIS framework at EDS, its usefulness to our clients and a make‐up of this emerging IIS framework for integrated product development.
Assess the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Propose Solutions for Sustainable Development for Textile Enterprises: An Integrated Data Envelopment Analysis-Binary Logistic Model Approach

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many socio-economic areas of countries around the world. It has made the production and business situations of enterprises face substantial difficulties. In this study, the authors used data envelopment analysis (DEA) models to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Vietnam’s textile and garment enterprises. The authors have used the binary logistic model to determine the factors affecting employees’ decision to change jobs in the textile industry. The research results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected the business performance of the textile and garment enterprises in Vietnam. Moreover, the results helped identify the factors affecting employee turnover and proposed solutions to help businesses stabilize their personnel situation and develop sustainable businesses in the post-COVID-19 era.
Influencers and Major Themes in a Gifted Education Community of Practice on Twitter

Twitter is a valuable resource for research because of its potential to provide insight into public opinion as well as to identify the most influential sources of information. Mixed-methods exploratory analysis was used to evaluate the discourse on Twitter regarding gifted education. The results of the quantitative analysis of the matrix of connections using NodeXL Pro indicate that gifted education Twitter is a cohesive network and that the top influencers are organizations and educational consultants. Sentiment analysis using Linguistics Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC2015, Pennebaker et al., 2015) software indicates that tweets related to gifted education have a mix of positive and negative emotive tone. The qualitative analyses suggest that gifted education professionals and parents engage in Twitter in similar ways to what has been described in past research: to share interesting articles and videos, to discuss current issues, promote one's ideas, and seek opportunities.
Prevalence of Rheumatic Disorders and Related Disabilities in Bangladeshi Adults: A Cross-Sectional National Survey

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of rheumatic disorders and related disabilities in the adult population of Bangladesh.Methods: A total of 2000 individuals aged 18 years or older were targeted where 1843 (92.1%) participated from 20 primary sampling units (urban and rural) of all former seven divisions of Bangladesh in 2015. Modified Community Oriented Program for Control of Rheumatic Disorders questionnaire was used to detect positive respondents. Standard criteria were used for diagnosing rheumatic disorders by residents of rheumatology and expert rheumatologists. A Bangla version of the Health Assessment Questionnaire was used to determine disability.Results: Among the respondents, 892 men and 951 women participated from rural (n=716) and urban (n=1127) areas. Their mean age was 40.5 (standard deviation 14.7) years. Almost a third did not have any formal schooling. Overall, 30.4% (95% confidence interval, 28.3-32.5) had rheumatic disorders. Nonspecific low back pain (12.7%, 11.2-14.2) and knee osteoarthritis (7.3%, 6.1-8.5) were the two top-ranking rheumatic disorders followed by lumbar spondylosis 6.0% (4.9-7.1) and soft tissue rheumatism 3.8% (2.9-4.7). Rheumatoid arthritis (1.6%, 1.0-2.1), spondyloarthritis (1.2%, 7-1.8) and frozen shoulder (1.4%, 0.9-1.9) are relatively uncommon. Among those who had rheumatic disorders, 24.8% (21.3-28.6) had some degree of disability. Of them, 24.4% (21.0-28.1) had history of work loss during last 12 months. Being overweight, having history of physical trauma and diabetes mellitus, age and female sex were positively but education was negatively associated with rheumatic disorders. Conclusions: The high burden of rheumatic disorders and related disabilities in Bangladesh warrants public health and clinical interventions.Highlights1. This is the first national level study using primary sampling units of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics engaging rheumatology residents for data collection. The diagnoses have been validated or confirmed by rheumatologists in the field in partnership with divisional level medical college hospitals.2. Prevalence of rheumatological disorders (low back pain, knee osteoarthritis and lumbar spondylosis are commonly prevalent), associated pain, disability (as determined using B-HAQ) and work loss are so common that warrants public health and clinical intervention. Name of department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed:Department of Rheumatology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, BangladeshThe source(s) of support in the form of grants or industrial support:This work was supported by World Health Organization, Bangladesh (Agreement Reference: SEBAN140895).
Capacity planning for waste management systems

Abstract The capacity planning problem examined in this paper has a number of applications in the environmental management area including municipal solid waste management, hazardous waste treatment and disposal, and municipal wastewater sludge management. A dynamic programming formulation is presented for the specific capacity planning problem, and considerations of problem structure that allow computational efficiencies are discussed. This long-term planning model is applied to hypothetical and case-study problems from the municipal solid waste management area. The problem is generalized and compared to other problem types in the capacity planning literature.
A Study on Driving Detection Performance by Virtual-Environment Technologies

The purpose of the present research was to examine the effects of gender, field dependence and background complexity on driving detection performance to enhance the training efficiency of a driving simulator. The experiment was conducted through the use of virtual-environment technologies to evaluate driving detection performance of 48 subjects (24 males and 24 females). The results not only showed similar main effects of gender, field dependence and background complexity on detection performance as past studies indicated, but also demonstrated strong evidence in those interactions of multiple experimental factors on driving detection performance in different ways. The implications for designing VE simulators and the related training programs were also discussed.
Performance of a stress-laminated-timber arch bridge

For the past three years the authors have been involved in the optimisation of the performance of stress-laminated-timber arch (SLTA) structures by utilising the strength properties of timber in an arching action for use as vehicle and pedestrian bridges. During this time over 20 permanent bridges have been built and eight have been load tested. The overall aim of this extensive research programme has been to develop structural uses for low-grade, UK-grown, timber and it has been shown that arches, using timber in compression, are an extremely effective technique for bridges. Timber structures have a very high sustainability value while being low cost and employing less early capital. These bridges on public roads can help increase public confidence in timber as a viable structural material. As part of a series of field and laboratory tests on SLTA bridges, a 20 m span arch bridge was designed and constructed at the Glentress Forestry Commission site near Peebles, in August 2004. The bridge has since been.
Regulation of blood pressure by the central nucleus of the amygdala in dynamically changing appetitive and aversive classical conditioning tasks in rats

In an environment of dynamically changing conditions, humans and animals can determine whether a current situation is favorable to them and accordingly select actions. Autonomic cardiovascular tuning is as important as motor control for this function. However, neuronal mechanisms underlying the dynamic adjustments of autonomic cardiovascular responses remain unclear. In this study, we hypothesized that the amygdala plays a role in autonomic cardiovascular tuning in a dynamically changing situation. We recorded the blood pressures and heart rates of head-restrained rats during appetitive and aversive classical conditioning tasks. Rats learned varying associations between conditioned stimuli and unconditioned stimuli in appetitive, neutral, and aversive blocks. Blood pressure and heart rate in the appetitive block gradually increased in response to reward-predicting cue, preceded by a vigorously increased response to the actual reward. The predictive response was significantly higher than the responses in the neutral and aversive condition blocks. Blood pressure and heart rate responses to the air puff-predicting cue in the aversive block were significantly lower than that of the responses in the neutral block. The conditioned blood pressure response rapidly changed through condition switching. Furthermore, bilateral pharmacological inactivation of the central nucleus of the amygdala has significantly decreased reward-predictive pressor responses in the latter phase, but not in the initial phase of block change. These results suggest that blood pressure is adaptively tuned by positive and negative conditioned stimuli and that the central nucleus of the amygdala likely assists in maintaining pressor response in dynamically changing situations.
AN INELASTIC FINITE DISPLACEMENT FORMULATION OF THIN-WALLED MEMBERS

The stiffness equation of linearized finite displacements for straight thin-walled members with inelastic material is derived. An arbitrary orthogonal coordinate system with a single reference point across the section need be introduced in the formulation, which is a clear distinction from the elasticity problem. Also distinct from the elastic analysis is a need to evaluate the magnitude of strains from time to time because of the dependence of the tangent modulus on strain levels. Illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the proposed method for the inelastic finite displacement analysis of spatial thin-walled members, with a simplified consideration on the effect of shear stresses.
A Clue to Discovering Unstable Hemoglobin Variants via Abnormal WBC Differential Scattergrams Using the Sysmex Automated Hematology Analyzer

eISSN 2093-6338 surements. At our institution, 38 patients were found to have Hb variants from a total of 29,398 HbA1c results obtained between January 2017 and December 2017 using two different types of HbA1c measuring instruments (Bio-Rad D100, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA, USA; and Tosoh G8 System, Tosoh, Tokyo, Japan). Out of 36 patients whose complete blood count (CBC) results were determined using the Sysmex XN-9000 automated hematology analyzer (Sysmex, Kobe, Japan), 1 patient was agged for an abnormal white blood cell (WBC) scattergram with an abnormally low uorescent signal. However, this patient did not obtain a differential WBC count, whereas the remaining 35 patients were agged unremarkably with respect to differential WBC counts. Generally, abnormal WBC scattergrams in Sysmex analyzers are agged when WBC clusters are observed or more than a certain level of cell dots between cell clusters are present, which is caused by an interference in the white blood cell differential (WDF) channel. The purpose of this study was to present a possible cause for The presence of hemoglobin (Hb) variants can have variable clinical symptoms ranging from none to mild or compensated hemolysis to severe hemolytic anemia [1]. Hb variants can be detected using isoelectric focusing or high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and con rmed by sequencing the globin genes. Incidentally, Hb variants can also be identi ed using HbA1c mea불안정헤모글로빈을 Sysmex 자동혈구분석기에서 백혈구 이상 산포도를 통해 발견할 수 있는 단서 A Clue to Discovering Unstable Hemoglobin Variants via Abnormal WBC Differential Scattergrams Using the Sysmex Automated Hematology Analyzer
Individual differences in daytime sleepiness after night sleep extension versus afternoon napping and caffeine

Recent research has suggested that 7.5h sleep a night may not be sufficient to maintain adequate levels of alertness during the day. Two of the main arguments used in support of this theory are the ease with which many individuals fall asleep during the day and the ability of many to extend their nocturnal sleep length on demand. The first argument has been used to indicate an elevated level of daytime sleepiness, which may lead to decrements in performance throughout the waking day. The second argument uses the concept that all sleep is as a result of a physiological need, and so the ability to obtain additional sleep could indicate the repayment of a previous sleep debt. The first part of this thesis addresses the benefit of nocturnal sleep extension in terms of objective and subjective sleepiness in a group of young, healthy adults. [Continues. ]
Results from Empirical Testing of the System for Tactile Reception of Advanced Patterns (STRAP)

The System for Tactile Reception of Advanced Patterns (STRAP) is capable of displaying complex information through tactile actuators on a user's torso. Non-verbal communication requirements from a Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) task and tactile design guidelines resulted greater than 60 distinct tactile symbols for communication and a context free grammar. This empirical evaluation is the first step in validating the STRAP system as a complement to traditional communication methods such as military hand and arm signals and radio. Nine participants were trained on the entire tactile language to a 90% criterion and were asked to utilize a small subset of the vocabulary while completing room clearing tasks using a virtual desktop simulation. The results show no significant difference in room clearing performance when haptic versus verbal communications were provided, indicating that the STRAP system shows promise as a complementary communication device. Improvements to both the tactile display and symbols are discussed as a means to improve recognition of haptic commands and overall system utility.