Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Condition Monitoring of Fatigue Cracks in Machinery Blades

A novel generic approach to fatigue crack diagnostics in machinery blades is proposed and employed. The approach consists of simultaneously using two new diagnostic features: the real and imaginary parts of the Fourier transform of vibroacoustical signal generated from a blade. This approach is more generic than traditional approach based on the power spectral density; the power spectral density is a particular case of the proposed approach. Numerical examples are given based on the processing of signals generated using a nonlinear model of a blade. The signals generated are the resonant vibroacoustical oscillations of cracked and uncracked blades under narrowband vibration excitation. The numerical examples show that the crack detection is more effective when using the new approach than when using the power spectral density approach. The presented experimental results are matched with the numerical results. The proposed approach offers an effectiveness improvement over the traditional approach based on power spectral density.
Shear Performance of RC Bridge Girders Reinforced with Carbon FRP Stirrups

One of the main components in girder-type bridges is bridge girder. This paper presents experimental data on the behavior and shear strength of concrete bridge girders reinforced with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer CFRP stirrups. A total of four large-scale reinforced concrete beams with a total length of 7,000 mm and a T-shaped cross section were constructed and tested up to failure. The test variables were the type and ratio of shear reinforcement stirrups. The test beams included three beams reinforced with sand-coated CFRP stirrups of 9.5-mm-diameter spaced at d /2, d /3, and d /4 where d is the beam depth and a control beam reinforced with conventional steel stirrups of 9.5-mm-diameter spaced at d /2. The geometry of the test prototypes were selected to simulate the New England Bulb Tee NEBT beams that are being used by the Ministry of Transportation of Quebec, Canada. As designed, three beams failed in shear due to CFRP stirrup rupture or steel stirrup yielding. While, the forth one, reinforced with CFRP stirrups spaced at d /4, failed in flexure due to yielding of longitudinal reinforcement. The test results were compared to predictions provided by different codes and design guidelines. The current ACI 440.1R-06 design method provides conservative predictions; however, the CAN/CSA S6-06 and JSCE 1997 underesti- mate the contribution of the FRP stirrups due to low strain limits.
Survival after lymphadenectomy of nodal metastases from melanoma of unknown primary site

Abstract Although the vast majority of melanomas have a primary site, 3%–4% of all melanomas in distant sites display no known primary site (MUP). This phenomenon is not fully understood and various hypotheses have been introduced. The prognostic significance of MUP has been unclear, with some studies showing no survival benefit while others find improved survival compared to stage-matched patients with melanoma of known primary site (MKP). Between 1997 and 2014, 864 patients underwent an en bloc resection of clinical nodal metastases at a referral centre for metastatic melanoma in Norway. The MUP (n = 113) and MKP (n = 751) patients were graded with stage III or IV. The overall survival (OS) was calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method, and multivariate analysis identified factors of significance for the two groups. A significant five-year OS emerged for stage III, MUP = 58% and 42% for MKP, but not for stage IV. The five-year relapse-free survival (RFS) was 41% and 31% for MUP and MKP respectively (p = 0.049). The statistically significant inter-group differences (MUP/MKP) were observed in the univariate and multivariate analyses of age, gender, number of affected nodes, tumour size and perinodal growth within stage III and tumour size within stage IV. After regional lymphadenectomy, MUP patients with clinical nodal metastases had a better outcome than MKP patients. This finding supports the theory that an endogenously mediated immune response may promote the regression of a cutaneous melanoma.
Unlocking the Benefits of Credit Through Saving

Author(s): Warrier Mukherjee, Sanghamitra; Bergquist, Lauren F; Burke, Marshall; Miguel, Edward | Abstract: Access to microcredit has been shown to generate only modest average benefits for recipient households. We study whether other financial market frictions – in particular, lack of access to a safe place to save – might limit credit’s benefits. Working with Kenyan farmers, we cross- randomize access to a simple savings product with a harvest-time loan. Among farmers offered a loan, the additional offer of a savings lockbox increased farm investment by 11% and household consumption by 7%. Results suggest that financial market frictions can interact in important ways and that multifaceted financial access programs might unlock dynamic household gains.
Helicopter flight around a ship's' superstructure

Abstract A computational fluid dynamics model of a hovering helicopter main rotor is developed to examine air flow in the presence of ship structures and side winds. An illustration of the problem is given. The rotor is modelled by modifying the governing Navier-Stokes equations in the region of the disc. The extra terms added to the governing equations apply a downward force to the fluid; these forces are independent of the flow around the rotor and are equal to the helicopter weight. The helicopter rotor model and the ship model are combined to yield one flow solution, which, due to the severe non-linearities of the problem, cannot be achieved by superposition. The resultant flow yields valuable data about the induced velocities at the rotor, which ultimately determine the control pitch and power required to maintain the hover in a given location. Indeed, the interactions between the rotor downwash and ship air flow are known to produce unexpected and adverse flight dynamic behaviour of the aircraft.
Reducing transportation CO2 emissions through pooling of supply networks: perspectives from a case study in French retail chains

Consolidation of shipments is an old subject in logistics, however as the supply chain concept spreads amongst firms, a few of them are still thinking about using collaboration to reduce the environmental logistic footprint. How much reduction will there be in CO2 emissions if members of a supply chain start a collaboration to share supply networks? First, we present the difference between well-known consolidation principles and the proposed concept of logistical network pooling; then we apply this difference to several scenarios. As they were driven by logistical data from real firms, they represent a good estimate of the potential savings from emissions. The main finding of this research is a potential saving of at least 25% of CO2 emissions from pooled networks versus the current setup. Also discussed are the other effects of the different scenarios on delivery frequencies and collaboration viability.
Aspects of the dynamic wind-induced response of structures and codification

This paper describes the work of the International Association for Wind Engineering Working Group E -Dynamic Response, one of the International Codification Working Groups set up at the Tenth International Conference on Wind Engineering in Copenhagen. Comparisons of gust loading factors and wind-induced responses of major codes and standards are first reviewed, and recent new proposals on 3-D gust loading factor techniques are introduced. Then, the combined effects of along-wind, crosswind and torsional wind load components are discussed, as well as the dynamic characteristics of buildings. Finally, the mathematical forms of along-wind velocity spectra for along-wind response calculation and codification of acceleration criteria are discussed.
Active islanding detection method using d-axis disturbance signal injection with intelligent control

An active islanding detection method using d -axis disturbance signal injection with intelligent control is proposed in this study. The proposed active islanding detection method is based on injecting a new disturbance signal into the system through the d -axis current that leads to a frequency deviation at the terminal of the resistance inductance and capacitance (RLC) load when the grid is disconnected. The feasibility of the proposed method is evaluated under the UL1741 anti-islanding test configuration. The proposed d -axis disturbance signal-injection method is intended to achieve a reliable detection with quasi-zero non-detection zone, minimum effects on power quality and easy implementation without additional sensing devices or equipments. Moreover, in order to achieve accurate tracking control of active and reactive power and rapid response of the islanding detection of the distributed generator (DG) system, a wavelet fuzzy neural network (WFNN) intelligent controller is proposed to replace the conventional proportional-integral controller for the control of the DG system. Furthermore, the network structure and the online learning algorithm of the WFNN are introduced in detail. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed d -axis disturbance signal-injection method are verified with experimental results.
Labour flexibility and assignment policies in a job shop having incommensurable objectives

This study evaluates operating policies for offering a near-perfect delivery performance for vital customers in dual resource-constrained (DRC) job shop environments. Prior studies have considered this problem in machine-limited settings, and shown that dispatching rules that help realise a near-perfect delivery performance for vital customers necessarily deteriorate delivery performance for other customers served by the shop. This study extends prior work, and considers additional tools that can be used by managers in DRC shops such as labour flexibility, and assignment rules that incorporate customer-based information to deploy workers to departments containing high-priority jobs. Results show that labour flexibility in conjunction with appropriate decision rules allows for enhanced delivery performance for both vital and normal priority customers. These results hold even under conditions where 80% of the shop's workload is compromised of high-priority orders.
Physical interpretation of coarse-grained bead-spring models of complex fluids

Bulk properties and morphology of block copolymers and polymer blends are highly sensitive to processing history due to small free energy differences among various stable and metastable states. Consequently, modeling these materials requires accounting for both thermal fluctuations and non-equilibrium processes. This has proven to be challenging with traditional approaches of energy minimization and perturbation in field theories. At the same time, simulations of highly coarse-grained particle-based models, such as lattice chain Monte Carlo and bead-spring simulations, have emerged as a promising alternative. The application of these methods, however, has been hampered by a lack of clear physical interpretation of model parameters.This dissertation gives a rigorous interpretation to such coarse-grained models. First, a general thermodynamic approach to analyzing and comparing coarse-grained particle models is developed. Second, based on the analysis, a specific particle-based model is constructed so that it is unambiguously related to the standard Gaussian chain model and related field theories at realistic molecular weights. This model is complementary to field theoretic polymer simulations, which are computationally prohibitive for realistic molecular weights. Several applications of the model are demonstrated, including: fluctuation corrections to mean-field theories of block copolymers as well as a detailed investigation of the key effects governing the self-assembly of diblock copolymers confined in cylinders such as fibers or pores. The latter application introduces a novel impenetrable wall boundary model designed to attenuate effects of the walls on the total monomer density. The general approach and the specific models proposed here will find immediate application in modeling effects of flow, metastability, and thermal fluctuations on the morphology of complex fluids with molecular weights of 104 - 106 g/mol using lattice and continuous space molecular simulations.
Traffic Safety Attitudes and Driving Behavior of University Students: Case Study in Kuwait

Road safety has become one of the most important traffic issues in Kuwait, along with traffic congestion. On average, one person dies daily in Kuwait because of road accidents; this is in addition to scores of major and minor injuries. A deeply worrying aspect of road accidents in Kuwait is that a vast majority of the dead and seriously injured are young Kuwaiti drivers. The Kuwait government has implemented new and stiffer traffic rules and regulations since November 2001, and the Ministry of the Interior has installed several speed cameras at midblock and intersection locations. Analysis of accident patterns and driving habits in Kuwait reveals that enforcement and engineering alone may not be able to help alleviate the high rate of traffic accidents in Kuwait today. Driver education is probably as important as engineering and enforcement measures. This paper presents the results of a study undertaken to investigate the driving behavior and traffic safety attitudes of young university student drivers. It also examines road traffic accident statistics in Kuwait. Findings of the study indicate that although most students affirm their awareness of traffic rules and claim to be following them usually, a significant number appeared to be oblivious to the disastrous consequences of higher travel speeds. Driver education measures should be effectively used to improve the extremely dangerous traffic safety situation in Kuwait. Education and training before issuing the license and graduated driver licensing policies should also be investigated for implementation in Kuwait.
CINDOOR: an engineering tool for planning and design of wireless systems in enclosed spaces

This paper presents the program CINDOOR. This program is an engineering tool for aiding in the design, planning, and effective implementation of wireless systems in general enclosed spaces. The method underlying CINDOOR is a flexible approach to the propagation process, allowing analysis of indoor and outdoor environments and the interaction between them. The method is based on a full three-dimensional implementation of GO/UTD. Ray tracing is efficiently carried out by combining image theory with binary space partitioning algorithms. The space-time distribution of the electromagnetic field is processed to obtain a set of magnitudes that form a basis for planning a wireless system: coverage (mean power), fading statistics, power delay profile and associated parameters, such as the rms delay spread and the coherent bandwidth.
INELASTIC FORCE-DEFORMATION RESPONSE OF JOINT SHEAR PANELS IN BEAM-COLUMN MOMENT CONNECTIONS TO CONCRETE-FILLED TUBES

In the design of beam-to-column subassemblies in concrete-filled steel tubular column systems, a design formula established by the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) is applied. However, in the current AIJ standard, the scope of the design formula is limited to ordinary material strengths; i.e. up to an unconfined compression strength of 36 MPa for concrete and tensile strength of 490 MPa for structural steel tubes. So, the effect of higher material strengths on subassembly behavior is studied in this investigation. The experimental results presented in this paper verified that the above-mentioned AIJ design formula is applicable up to an unconfined compression strength of 110 MPa for concrete and tensile strength of 809 MPa for structural steel tubes. An analytical model for the restoring force characteristics of the shear panel in the subassemblies was also proposed, and was found to reproduce the experimental results with good accuracy.
Estimating Periods of Vibration of Buildings with Coupled Shear Walls

In this paper the resulting equation for natural vibration of buildings with coupled shear walls is proved to be the forth-order Sturm–Liouville differential equation, and a hand method for determining the first two periods of natural vibration of the buildings is presented. The method is accurate and simple, compared with other calculating methods. Once the structural parameters αH and μ of coupled shear wall building are computed, the periods of the buildings can be readily obtained. The value of the method is that it will allow a more consistent and accurate use of code formulas for calculating the earthquake induced maximum base shear in a building. Use of the method is economical with respect to both computer time and equipment, e.g., a hand calculator would suffice to handle the calculations of periods of the buildings. This paper is thought to be useful for the practicing engineer.
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SOME INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS FROM VAPI INDUSTRIAL AREA, GUJARAT, INDIA

Physicochemical characteristics of some industrial effluents collected from various industries in and around Vapi Industrial Area. Industrial effluents were studied for five months intervals during Sep 2008-Jan 2009, however in this paper data is presented for the month of Jan 2009. In all 17 parameters were studied. These includes Colour, temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, TDS, TSS, BOD, COD, Chloride, sulphate, Nitrate, Phosphate, Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium and Potassium ions. The pollution levels from these industries were found to be very high and alarming and hence proper care must be taken for the treatment of these effluents before they are released to the sewage. Many big industries have their own effluent treatment plants, but small scale industries are not following the guidelines prescribed for the industrial effluents. The study has shown that almost all the parameters are on the higher levels than the prescribed limit and hence proper treatment methods are needed.
Built-in longitudinal field effects in sub-100-nm graded Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ channel PMOSFETs

Simulations and experiments have been conducted to study the built-in longitudinal field effects in sub-100-nm graded Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ channel vertical PMOSFETs. Results are compared for two operation modes with the source/drain (S/D) contacts interchanged, i.e., the "normal" mode, in which the built-in field is favorable to the drift, and the "reverse" mode, in which the built-in field is a retarding one. The linear drain current at V/sub DS/=-0.1 V is found to he very similar between the two modes. Furthermore, if the body is grounded, the saturation drain current, as simulated, in the normal mode is 20% lower than that of the reverse mode. With floating body effects, however, experimentally it is observed that the saturation drain current in the normal mode is 14% higher than in the reverse mode. The simulation reveals that in the linear condition, the benefits of the accelerating built-in field in the channel is negated by a weaker source injection resulting from a larger source-side built-in potential at the Si source junction, and also by a reduced or even reversed diffusion current in the normal mode; in the saturation condition, the built-in field is overshadowed by the large external field due to high drain biases. The measured off-state leakage current at T/sub DS/=-1.6 V in the normal mode is 100 times higher than in the reverse mode due to the floating body effects.
Field Evaluation of Dynamic Compaction on Granular Deposits

The dynamic compaction (DC) method is a versatile ground treatment technique with growing popularity. It is applicable to a wide variety of soil types and conditions, particularly sandy materials and granular fills. This study presents a case history of the dynamic compaction with a high energy level of 6,000 kN·m on granular deposits at a site in China. The reclaimed site featured loose backfill with heterogeneity and saturated silt. In order to properly deal with such soil conditions and to optimize the DC design, field tests were conducted to determine the influencing factors in DC. Deformation tests were performed to ascertain the rational spacing of impacts and the optimal number of drops and to provide proofs to the adjustment of the original DC procedure. Monitoring of the pore water pressure helped obtain the time delay between passes. The approach to assess the depth of improvement was discussed based on interpretations of the spectral analysis of surface waves (SASW) test. Analysis of the SASW and plate-load tests demonstrated significant improvement in the soils at the site, with no obvious weak layers. Following dynamic compaction, the allowable ground-bearing capacity and the depth of improvement at the site were no less than 270 kPa and 7.4 m, respectively.
An instrument for measuring TQM implementation for Chinese manufacturing companies

From an extensive review of the literature in the field of total quality management (TQM), 11 constructs of TQM implementation were identified. An instrument measuring these constructs was developed. The reliability and validity of the instrument were tested and validated using data from 212 Chinese manufacturing companies. Various methods were employed for this test and validation. Comparisons between this instrument and the three other quality management instruments were made. It was concluded finally that the instrument presented in this paper was reliable and valid. Researchers will be able to use this instrument for developing quality management theory. Industrial practitioners will be able to use this instrument to evaluate their TQM implementation so as to target improvement areas.
Analysis of the relationship between chlorophyll-a and sea surface temperature on marine capture fisheries production in Indonesia: 2018

Fishery production in Indonesia is still relatively high, dominated by the marine capture fisheries. Oceanographic dynamics can affect the high and low levels of marine fishery production. Sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a are oceanographic parameters that are often used as indicators for determining fishing areas, especially pelagic fish which are associated with ocean fertility. This study aims to identify the effect of chlorophyll-a and sea surface temperature (SST) on the production of fish catches in Indonesia: 2018. Data on marine capture fisheries production (skipjack, mackerel tuna, tuna and shrimp) in 2018 were obtained from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP). Data of Chlorophyll-a and sea surface temperature (SST) are satellite observations from Marine Copernicus. The relationship between chlorophyll-a and sea surface temperature (SST) with marine capture fisheries production was analyzed using logistic regression analysis. The results showed that chlorophyll-a significantly affected the yield of skipjack and tuna in Indonesia with coefficients of -5.7066 and -4.3760, respectively. A higher concentration of chlorophyll-a had the possibility to produce high fish production of 0.0033 times than an area with a lower concentration of chlorophyll-a.