Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring Safety Attitude Differences in the Construction Supply Chain

Construction worker safety is normally a construction activity in the United States, even though there is an emerging body of literature discussing the positive effects of considering safety earlier in the construction lifecycle. This literature has discussed the fragmentation in terms of safety attitudes between owners and designers and those carrying out the construction of a project. Quantitatively identifying the specific areas that the differences exist in terms of safety attitudes between common roles on a construction project could be a step toward reducing the fragmentation that currently exists in the work system and promoting safety to be more of a consideration earlier in the project lifecycle. One common technique for measuring safety attitudes is the use of safety climate survey instruments, but in the construction industry these have historically focused on just construction personnel. This research will discuss the development of a survey instrument to measure differences in safety attitudes between typical members of the entire construction project work system in order to identify specific areas that gaps exist. Phase I of the research include the development of an instrument using Mohammed’s (2002) survey as a base, validation of the measurement model using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and using applied nonparametric statistics to analyze the data and identify significant differences. These results will be used in Phase II to develop a training tool to educate relevant project personnel on differences that were identified in Phase I, and to determine the best mediums for conveying this type of information.
Should Biomass be Used for Power Generation or Hydrogen Production

In the last several years, gasification has become an interesting option for biomass utilization because the produced gas can be used as a gaseous fuel in different applications or burned in a gas turbine for power generation with a high thermodynamic efficiency. In this paper, a technoeconomic analysis was carried out in order to evaluate performance and cost of biomass gasification systems integrated with two different types of plant, respectively, for hydrogen production and for power generation. An indirectly heated fluidized bed gasifier has been chosen for gas generation in both cases, and experimental data have been used to simulate the behavior of the gasifier. The hydrogen plant is characterized by the installation of a steam methane reformer and a shift reactor after the gas production and cleanup section; hydrogen is then purified in a pressure swing adsorption system. All these components have been modeled following typical operating conditions found in hydrogen plants. Simulations have been performed to optimize thermal interactions between the biomass gasification section and the gas processing. The power plant consists of a gas-steam combined cycle, with a three-pressure-levels bottoming cycle. A sensitivity analysis allowed to evaluate the economic convenience of the two plants as a function of the costs of the hydrogen and electrical energy.
Investigating the Impact of Information Technology, Absorptive Capacity, and Dynamic Capabilities on Firm Performance: An Empirical Study

In today’s dynamic market environment, information technology (IT) enables firms to obtain knowledge they need to achieve superior performance. To this end, the present study explores the effects of IT, absorptive capacity (ACAP), and dynamic capabilities (DCs) on firm performance (FP) by employing empirical research design. In addition, the study focuses on the DCs perspective and ACAP as a firm knowledge-based view focusing on those firms where technology involved in either a particular unit of the firm or as a whole in operational processes. The data (total 241) was analyzed through AMOS, a mathematical analysis methodology focused on structural equation modeling (SEM). Moreover, through Sobel test we further verify the indirect impact of IT on FP.
Longitudinal Cognitive Decline in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment or Dementia Due to Alzheimer’s Disease

Sensitive cognitive assessments accurately detect and track cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease. The Cogstate battery was used to measure cognitive change in cognitively normal participants and in individuals with mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer’s disease enrolled in the Australian Imaging, Biomarker and Lifestyle Rate of Change Substudy. Over 18 months, verbal episodic memory performance declined for mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzeheimer’s disease groups when compared to cognitively normal participants. Frequent assessments of episodic memory may facilitate early detection of cognitive decline due to Alzheimer’s disease.
Variable structure control of electronic throttle valve

The use of an electronic controlled throttle valve can increase the efficiency and performance of an engine since the control of the throttle valve, which is determined according to the desired amount of air flow calculated from the desired speed and engine torque, is independent from the position of the accelerator. In this paper, a variable structure (VS) controller is designed for the electronic throttle valve. The model of the electronic throttle valve is discussed at first. Then the VS controller is proposed by using the backstepping approach. Finally, simulation and experimental results are given.
Laboratory implementation of a microprocessor-based fuzzy logic tracking controller for motion controls and drives

A laboratory implementation of a fuzzy logic-tracking controller using a low-cost Motorola MC68HC11E9 microprocessor is described in this paper. The objective is to design the most optimal yet practical controller that can be implemented and marketed and which gives respectable performance, even when the system loads, inertia, and parameters are varying. A distinguishing feature of this work is the by-product goal of developing a marketable, simple, functional, and low-cost controller. The proposed fuzzy-logic controller (FLC) is inherently robust and is based on simple rules that are derived from engineering and experimental results. Several test cases have been conducted to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed controller. The results indicate excellent tracking performance for both speed and position trajectories. For the purpose of comparison, a bang-bang controller has been tested. The FLC performs significantly better than the traditional bang-bang controller. The bang-bang controller has been shown to be relatively inaccurate and lacking in robustness. A description of the implementation hardware system is also given.
Recent advances in thin-film microoptics (Invited Paper)

Novel types of thin-film microoptical components have been found very advantageous for beam shaping of high-power and ultrashort-pulse lasers. Measuring techniques, nonlinear optics, materials processing, and further advanced photonic applications, will benefit from specific advantages. Compared to conventional microoptics, low dispersion and absorption as well as added degrees of freedom in structure and functionality are accessible. Single or multilayer designs, spherical and non-spherical profiles, extremely small angles, and flexible substrates enable key components for the tailoring of lasers in spatial, temporal, and spectral domain at extreme parameters. By vacuum deposition and selective etching transfer, a cost-effective fabrication of single or array-shaped refractive, reflective, or hybrid components is possible. During the last decade significant progress in this field could be achieved. Including very recent applications for spatio-temporal shaping and characterization of complex and non-stationary laser fields, the state of the art is presented here. Particular emphasis is put on the generation of localized few-cycle wavepackets from Ti:sapphire laser beams by the aid of broadband microaxicons. Special microoptics are capable of transforming vacuum ultraviolet radiation. Wavefronts of strongly divergent sources can be analyzed by advanced Shack-Hartmann sensors based on microaxicon-arrays. Single-maximum nondiffractive beams are generated by different approaches for self-apodizing systems. Prospects for future developments, like robust multichannel information processing with arrays of self-reconstructing X-pulses, are discussed.
Projecting armed conflict risk in Africa towards 2050 along the SSP-RCP scenarios: a machine learning approach

In the past decade, several efforts have been made to project armed conflict risk into the future. This study broadens current approaches by presenting a first-of-its-kind application of machine learning (ML) methods to project sub-national armed conflict risk over the African continent along three Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios and three Representative Concentration Pathways towards 2050. Results of the open-source ML framework CoPro are consistent with the underlying socioeconomic storylines of the SSPs, and the resulting out-of-sample armed conflict projections obtained with Random Forest classifiers agree with the patterns observed in comparable studies. In SSP1-RCP2.6, conflict risk is low in most regions although the Horn of Africa and parts of East Africa continue to be conflict-prone. Conflict risk increases in the more adverse SSP3-RCP6.0 scenario, especially in Central Africa and large parts of Western Africa. We specifically assessed the role of hydro-climatic indicators as drivers of armed conflict. Overall, their importance is limited compared to main conflict predictors but results suggest that changing climatic conditions may both increase and decrease conflict risk, depending on the location: in Northern Africa and large parts of Eastern Africa climate change increases projected conflict risk whereas for areas in the West and northern part of the Sahel shifting climatic conditions may reduce conflict risk. With our study being at the forefront of ML applications for conflict risk projections, we identify various challenges for this arising scientific field. A major concern is the limited selection of relevant quantified indicators for the SSPs at present. Nevertheless, ML models such as the one presented here are a viable and scalable way forward in the field of armed conflict risk projections, and can help to inform the policy-making process with respect to climate security.
The paradox of ICT integration in secondary education in Tanzania: Assessment of teachers’ ICT knowledge and skills in Tanga and Mwanza regions

The purpose of this study was to assess the status of secondary school teachers’ knowledge and skills necessary for the implementation of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) policy for basic education in Tanzania. In particular, the study examined Tanga Municipality and Mwanza region secondary school teachers’ ability to use computers (the basic ICT tool) for the professional practices; and solicited teachers’ opinions on the integration of ICT in secondary education. Self-administered questionnaires with closed-ended and open-ended questions were used to gather data from the respondents. The sample consisted of 26 schools; 11 schools drawn from Tanga Municipality and 15 drawn from Mwanza region. From 26 surveyed schools, a total of 124 respondents were recruited, both males and females. The study found several gaps which exist between the ICT policy and the real practice or implementation of ICT objectives in education such as limited teachers’ awareness and training in ICT integration, and electricity and ICT facilities supply in most schools. Education sector, in Tanzania, should strive to work shoulder to shoulder with other sectors in the country for the improvement of education in general and integration of ICT in teaching and learning processes.
Changes in Physical Activity Among University Students in Indonesia from Before to During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Cohort Study

University life is an important phase for forming healthy physical activity habits among university students. However, little is known about the change in physical activity level during the COVID-19 pandemic among university students in Indonesia, which has a low stringency index. A retrospective cohort study was conducted among students of Universitas Gadjah Mada (n=153) from October to November 2020, where there were asked to recall their physical activity level and type of physical activity engaged in at four points of time: before the pandemic, early pandemic, Ramadan period, and relaxation period. Then, we conducted three-way mixed analyses of variance followed by Bonferroni’s post hoc comparisons tests to compare the mean difference of total moderate-vigorous physical activity with a subject over time and between subgroups in a similar time. Containment measures during the pandemic resulted in a 69.4-minute drop (95% confidence interval: 40.1 to 98.7 minutes, p<.001) of total moderate-vigorous physical activity. While the relaxation of containment measures could restore non-health natural science students’ physical activity to the pre-pandemic amount, it did not influence health science students’ physical activity. Our findings provide evidence that pandemic situations in a low stringency index country also affected physical activity behavior among university students. More efforts are needed to increase university students’ physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among health science students.
Impact of AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications on the design of Type C and AASHTO Type IV girder bridges

Impact of AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications on the Design of Type C and AASHTO Type IV Girder Bridges. (December 2005) Safiuddin Adil Mohammed, B.E. , Osmania University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Mary Beth D. Hueste This research study is aimed at assisting the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in making a transition from the use of the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges to the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications for the design of prestressed concrete bridges. It was identified that Type C and AASHTO Type IV are among the most common girder types used by TxDOT for prestressed concrete bridges. This study is specific to these two types of bridges. Guidelines are provided to tailor TxDOT’s design practices to meet the requirements of the LRFD Specifications. Detailed design examples for an AASHTO Type IV girder using both the AASHTO Standard Specifications and AASHTO LRFD Specifications are developed and compared. These examples will serve as a reference for TxDOT bridge design engineers. A parametric study for AASHTO Type IV and Type C girders is conducted using span length, girder spacing, and strand diameter as the major parameters that are varied. Based on the results obtained from the parametric study, two critical areas are identified where significant changes in design results are observed when comparing Standard and LRFD designs. The critical areas are the transverse shear requirements and interface shear requirements, and these are further investigated. The interface shear reinforcement requirements are observed to increase significantly when the LRFD Specifications are used for design. New provisions for interface shear design that have been proposed to be included in the LRFD Specifications in 2007 were evaluated. It was observed that the proposed interface shear provisions will significantly reduce the difference between the interface shear reinforcement requirements for corresponding Standard and LRFD designs.
Kanban number optimisation in a supermarket warehouse feeding a mixed-model assembly system

Following just-in-time principles, a growing number of manufacturers are adopting the so-called supermarket concept. Supermarkets are decentralised storage areas scattered throughout the shopfloor that serve as an intermediate store for parts required by nearby assembly lines. From these stores, a certain number of handling operators deliver parts from the supermarket to, and collect empty bins from, assembly stations. Finally, they return to the supermarket and are refilled for their next tours. The assembly stations are typically refilled from the supermarket through the constant replacement of the consumed parts pulled by the kanban system. Considering a mixed model assembly system composed of different assembly lines, feeding problems can occur as an effect of the replenishment lead time, of the production mix variation, of the commonality between the different models assembled. The aims of this paper are (i) to highlight how the supermarket/multi-mixed assembly-line system presents specific attributes that prohibit the simple application of well-known kanban dimensioning formulations and (ii) to provide an innovative procedure to optimally set all decision variables related to such a feeding system.
Super-radiation hard particle tracking at the CERN SLHC

The proposed upgrade of the CERN Large Hadron Collider to ten times brighter luminosity poses severe challenges to semiconductor detectors within the CERN experiments. We investigate a silicon "3-D" detector design for these conditions and semiconductors alternative to silicon, namely silicon carbide and gallium nitride. Charge collection measurements suggest some degree of additional radiation tolerance over conventional detector geometry and materials.
Diagnostic Accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography to Detect Benign and Malignant Biliary Strictures

Background: Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is a noninvasive method to detect pancreaticobiliary strictures. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of MRCP and detect sensitive and specific radiologic features in distinguishing malignant and benign pathologies. Materials and Methods: In this study, 50 patients with biliary obstruction and a confirmed diagnosis using histopathology were included. The pathologies were evaluated using MRCP which were categorized into malignant and benign strictures. The etiology of strictures was detected using histopathology and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. The diagnostic performance of MRCP was calculated using SPSS software. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Of 50 patients, 23 patients (46%) had malignant strictures based on MRCP and histopathology. The sensitivity and specificity of MRCP to detect malignancy were 95.7% and 96.3%, respectively. The most sensitive MRCP features to detect malignancy were upstream biliary duct dilation, abrupt tapering, and the presence of a solid mass with sensitivity 100%, 95.7%, and 78.2%, respectively. The malignancy rate was significantly higher in the strictures with length >11.5 mm or wall thickness >2.75 mm (P < 0.05). Conclusion: MRCP is a sensitive method to differentiate malignant lesions from benign pathologies. A long and thick stricture with the presence of a solid mass, upstream biliary duct dilation, and abrupt tapering is highly suggestive of malignancy.
Load transfer behaviour of a tapered rigid pile

Based on Mohr–Coulomb theory and the load transfer method, a new method of analysing the load–settlement relation and the axial force distribution model in a tapered pile is suggested. The method proposed in the paper considers the influence of the pile–soil radial interaction on the bearing capacity and settlement behaviour. The calculation results show that the pile–soil radial interaction is strengthened and the bearing capacity of a single pile is increased when the taper angle of a rigid pile is increased. The reliability was verified by two model tests. Calculated results obtained by the proposed method were compared with the test data. The close agreement between the calculated and measured values confirmed that the method is reasonably accurate for analysing the behaviour of tapered rigid piles.
Application of Benford's Law on Cryptocurrencies

Blockchain-based currencies or cryptocurrencies have become a global phenomenon known to most people as a disruptive technology, and a new investment vehicle. However, due to their decentralized nature, regulating these markets has presented regulators with difficulties in finding a balance between nurturing innovation, and protecting consumers. The growing concerns about illicit activity have forced regulators to seek new ways of detecting, analyzing, and ultimately policing public blockchain transactions. Extensive research on machine learning, and transaction graph analysis algorithms has been done to track suspicious behaviour. However, having a macro view of a public ledger is equally important before pursuing a more fine-grained analysis. Benford’s law, the law of first digit, has been extensively used as a tool to discover accountant frauds (many other use cases exist). The basic motivation that drove our research presented in this paper was to test he applicability of the well established method to a new domain, in this case the identification of anomalous behavior using Benford’s law conformity test to the cryptocurrency domain. The research focused on transaction values in all major cryptocurrencies. A suitable time-period was identified that was long enough to sport sufficiently large number of observations for Benford’s law conformity tests and was also situated long enough in the past so that the anomalies were identified and well documented. The results show that most of the cryptocurrencies that did not conform to Benford’s law had well documented anomalous incidents, the first digits of aggregated transaction values of all well known cryptocurrency projects were conforming to Benford’s law. Thus the proposed method is applicable to the new domain.
Novel dual-band multistrip monopole antenna with defected ground structure for WLAN/IMT/BLUETOOTH/WIMAX applications

In the present work, a novel multistrip monopole antenna fed by a cross-shaped stripline comprising one vertical and two horizontal strips has been proposed for wireless local area network (WLAN)/Industrial, Scientific, and Medical band (ISM)/International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT)/BLUETOOTH/Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) applications. The designed antenna has a small overall size of 20 × 30 mm2. The goal of this paper is to use defected ground structure (DGS) in the proposed antenna design to achieve dual-band operation with appreciable impedance bandwidth at the two operating modes satisfying several communication standards simultaneously. The antenna was simulated using Computer Simulation Technology Microwave Studio (CST MWS) V9 based on the finite integration technique (FIT) with perfect boundary approximation. Finally, the proposed antenna was fabricated and some performance parameters were measured to validate against simulation results. The design procedure, parametric analysis, simulation results along with measurements for this multistrip monopole antenna using DGS operating simultaneously at WLAN (2.4/5.8 GHz), IMT (2.35 GHz), BLUETOOTH (2.45 GHz), and WiMAX (5.5 GHz) are presented.