Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reinforcement of earth slopes and embankments

This report provides a comprehensive compilation of information on various earth reinforcement systems used to construct embankments and stabilize existing slopes. The report includes an all-inclusive overview of earth reinforcement and details on specific earth reinforcement systems covering their mechanisms, behavior, applications, designs, and durability. The guiding objective in the preparation of this document has been to make it sufficiently complete to be a valuable handbook-type reference source for the researcher and the practicing engineer in considering applications of earth reinforcement.
Assisted-Launch Performance Analysis: Using Trajectory and Vehicle Optimization

55 years have passed since the launch of the first man-made space vehicle, Sputnik 1. While spaceflight has changed significantly in many ways, further improvement in rocket technology is still being pursued. Launch-assist systems, which give the launch vehicle a combination of initial velocity and initial altitude, could create such an improvement. There are two factors that come into play when determining if this might be true. Firstly, the cost of building and operating both the assist platform and the launch vehicle and secondly, the total system performance. This thesis focuses on the performance of the entire system. The definition of the performance of a system utilizing the assisted launch technique was chosen to be the payload mass-to-initial mass ratio of the launcher. This was maximized by optimizing various parameters of the launch vehicle and the launch trajectory using a differential evolution algorithm. Optimization was performed for launchers using either kerolox propellant or hydrolox propellant using a variety of initial altitude and initial velocity combinations. To show continuous trends of the vehicle design parameters through the whole range of simulated launchers, all launchers consist of only one stage. The end result of the thesis provides insight of the relationships between the performance, the launch vehicle design, the trajectory profile and the magnitude and type of the assist. It also provides a comparison between the performance of launchers using low specific impulse and high density propellant, such as kerolox, and high specific impulse and low density propellant, such as hydrolox. The results are intended to be used as a tool to base design decisions on during future concept studies.
The Influence of Training and Structure Transitioning On Command and Control Team Performance: A Final Report

Abstract : The work described in this report is part of an ongoing research program looking at the effects of team structure on the effectiveness of decision making teams. Team structures are investigated with respect to their fit to situational demands and to the characteristics of team members. Fit is considered both statically and dynamically. In the latter case, teams performing under one structure encounter situational demands that either are or are not consistent with the structure and, in the latter case, must reconfigure their structure to fit better the situations. During the time period intra-team processes of teamwork and learning also were investigated along with team task performance.
Performance Evaluation of Pavements Constructed on EPS Geofoam Backfill Using Repeated Plate Load

EPS Geofoam is introduced as a suitable material for reducing dead loads and alleviation of settlements in road pavements constructed over poor ground conditions. It has been used successfully in many projects since its appearance in 1960’s, yet, there are still pitfalls regarding its application and design, requiring deeper investigations. A serious problem is related to insufficient functionality of such backfills in preventing ruts on the pavement surface. In this paper, results of a series of cyclic plate load tests are presented, describing the influence of soil thickness, as an influential factor, on the performance of these embankments. Nevertheless, this thickness is not an independent factor. It is also dependent on the density of EPS in the subsequent layers. In practical applications, two layers of EPS with different densities are used and the density of the bottom layer should be minimized in order to reduce overall cost of the pavement along the highway. It has been observed that improper thickness for upper EPS layer (less than 200 mm) significantly reduces the ability of such pavements to tolerate against rutting when a noticeable number of cycles of loading is applied.
Modeling and control of swimming gaits for fish-like robots using coupled nonlinear oscillators

xviii Abstract Fish have perfect body mechanisms and swimming modes for underwater locomotion, and provide ideal models for the propulsor design of fish robots. This thesis investigates modeling and control of swimming gaits for multiple degree of freedom (DOF) fish-like robots. An experimental-based approach is conducted, i.e. online generation and tuning of swimming gaits for fish robots according to its locomotion performance. The online modeling aims to achieve fish-like swimming locomotion on robots, and optimal swimming gaits associated to fast swimming speed and high energy efficiency of locomotion. The investigation consists of two parts. Firstly, the online gait generators are formulated by using artificial central pattern generators (CPGs). Secondly, the gait is tuned by using a closed-loop swimming control system incorporated with the CPG model. In order to obtain diversified gait patterns and gait transitions, different structure and coupling ways of CPGs are discussed so that feedback control laws can be imposed on the CPGs to shape the swimming pattern. The parameters of the oscillators are tuned as fish robots swims, without causing jerks or losing coordination of motions. The implementation of the system includes the combination of CPGs and closed-loop swimming control, which is initially applied in a special case of adaptive swimming: the station-holding control in adverse unsteady flow. Subsequently, the system is utilized, together with genetic algorithm (GA), to produce fast or energy-efficient swimming gaits for multi-DOF fish robots. Three types of fish robots have been deployed as experimental platforms for the research work here. Experiments are conducted to assess the CPG-based gait generation and the closed-loop swimming control system, including sine function based gait generators, robust gait generation and station-holding control of fish robots, multi-DOF swimming gait coordination and gait transition by using artificial CPGs, robust swimming gait tracking control, and online optimization of swimming performance by using GA and CPGs. 1 Chapter
Increased procalcitonin indicates antibiotic escalation in ICU patients: an observational study

Background: Empirical antibiotic therapy often fails to cover all pathogens for patients with critical infection without pathogen identification. In these patients, progressive infection can manifest as a “procalcitonin (PCT) alert”. Delayed proper antibiotic escalation could worsen their prognosis. We hypothesized that for these patients, escalating antibiotics after a “PCT alert” would improve their outcomes.Methods: This was a single-center retrospective study including patients with suspected infection who were admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2014 to June 2018. Patients were labelled as “antibiotic escalation” or “nonescalation” according to their antimicrobial use 48 h before and after the "PCT alert". “PCT alert” was defined as PCT ≥1.0 ng/mL that had not decreased by at least 10% from the previous day or from baseline, or a single measurement ≥ 1.0 ng/ml. Indicators that possibly influenced the prognosis were collected. 28-day intensive care unit (ICU)-free days were calculated; ICU stays >20 days and ≤20 days were considered nonprolonged ICU stays (nPISs) and prolonged ICU stays (PISs), respectively. Difference analysis and binary logistic regression were performed to determine the factors that influenced the 28-day ICU-free days . Results: A total of 1109 patients were included, 654 in the PIS group, other 455 in nPIS group. The PIS group had higher rates of pathogen identification (33.94% vs 28.13%, P=0.047) and escalated antibiotic therapy (35.47% vs 20.66%, P<0.001) but a lower proportion of surgical patients (39.45% vs 54.95%, P<0.001) than the nPIS group. Regarding PCT, the values on the 1st day (20.36±43.89 vs 14.89±30.37 ug/L, P=0.014) and on the “alert day” (24.24±46.38 vs 18.75±32.69 ug/L; P=0.021) were higher in the PIS group than nPIS group, but no significant difference in the white blood cell (WBC) count was revealed. According to the binary logistic regression model, antibiotic escalation (OR=0.552, 95% CI 0.347-0.877, P=0.012) was a negative factor for PIS, while postsurgical status (OR=1.959, 95% CI 1.269-3.023, P=0.002) and age (OR=1.020, 95% CI 1.007-1.034, P=0.003) were positive factors. Conclusions Escalating antibiotics in high-risk infection patients whose PCT does not decrease expectedly after administering broad-spectrum antimicrobials may reduce their ICU stay.
The magnetostrictive sensor technology for long range guided wave testing and monitoring of structures

A technical background on and applications of a guided wave technology called the magnetostrictive sensor are described. The magnetostrictive sensor technology is for long range global testing and condition monitoring of structures such as piping, plates and steel cables. For long range testing of piping in processing plants, such as refineries and chemical plants, the magnetostrictive sensor system, including the probe, instrument and data analysis software, is matured for use in commercial testing services. Capabilities of the present magnetostrictive sensor system for pipe testing are presented together with an example of testing data and their analysis.
Exploring the Latent Manifold of City Patterns

Understanding how cities evolve through time and how humans interact with their surroundings is a complex but essential task that is necessary for designing better urban environments. Recent developments in artificial intelligence can give researchers and city developers powerful tools, and through their usage, new insights can be gained on this issue. Discovering a high-level structure in a set of observations within a low-dimensional manifold is a common strategy used when applying machine learning techniques to tackle several problems while finding a projection from and onto the underlying data distribution. This so-called latent manifold can be used in many applications such as clustering, data visualization, sampling, density estimation, and unsupervised learning. Moreover, data of city patterns has some particularities, such as having superimposed or natural patterns that correspond to those of the depicted locations. In this research, multiple manifolds are explored and derived from city pattern images. A set of quantitative and qualitative tests are proposed to examine the quality of these manifolds. In addition, to demonstrate these tests, a novel specialized dataset of city patterns of multiple locations is created, with the dataset capturing a set of recognizable superimposed patterns.
Custom Fit, is it Fit for the Customer?

A global organisation of fashion schools hold this annual conference dedicated to the advancement of education, research and development in fashion design, technology, business and related industries. My research is in producing robust 2-D pattern profiles that can be passed onto the 3-D virtual environment. My new approach to custom fit uses different pattern drafting coordinates cooperating with fabric stretch characteristics, conforming to the shape of a person, using a personally extended set of traditional measurements. The research hypothesis argued that adapting traditional garment pattern coordinates for stretch fabric is not an appropriate starting point for developing a custom-fit stretch pattern. I posit that when a traditional pattern is adapted the profile becomes increasingly distorted as the fabric is incrementally stretched around the body contours. It is the inconsistent garment-to-body fit, relationship within the conventional pattern profile geometry, combined with arbitrary fabric stretch factors, that ultimately undermines the fit potential of custom-fit stretch garments. To contextualise and develop the theory. First garment fit was defined using the anatomical terms 'distal' and 'proximal', which I have adopted to describe the proximity of the garment to the body. The aetiology of traditional methods of pattern design was outlined then how patterns are adapted for stretch fabric. It was highlighted how little objective information on stretch fabrics parameters for pattern construction is available, and how current garment-sizing systems do not accommodate variations in bodyshapes. The development of virtual technology to date, and whether the garment offering was a true custom fit or just a coincidental fit, was questioned. I then illustrated my research method to objectively analyse and evaluate the stretch garment-to-body fit relationship by applying a 25mm grid on a bodysuit. A video clip of a dancer demonstrated the bodysuit fit and how the stretch fabric did not become displaced during movement.
Optimization of the drive train of city buses

In terms of energy consumption the bus is at present the most economical means of transport. This fact has led MAN to examine it with a view to optimising its design by means of modifications to the engine, the gearbox, the mode of operation and the vehicle as a whole, taking into account the different conditions of operation in town and country so that even more fuel can be saved. The aim is to meet the demand for transport in urban centres and in rural areas more cheaply, more flexibly and more quickly.
Senatus - Implementation and Performance Evaluation

Traffic anomaly detection in backbone networks has received increased at- tention from the research community over the last years. A variety of tech- niques and implementations has been proposed in this area, some which has become commercial products. However, studies have revealed that these products are hardly used, mainly because of high false-positive rates and the fact that manual inspection of alarms is a time consuming task for the network administrator. Senatus is a recently proposed technique for combined anomaly detection and root-cause analysis, originally proposed by Atef Abdelkefi. In this the- sis, we provide a complete high-performance implementation of Senatus, including a web Dashboard with overview of anomalies and the possibil- ity for manual fine-tuning of parameters. Furthermore, we have verified Senatus performance by comparing Senatus with a implementation of a well-known histogram-based anomaly detection technique. Our results show that Senatus performs very well for detection scans, and that it matches the histogram-based anomaly detector for Denial of Service- attacks.
Methodology for Modeling Building Energy Performance across the Commercial Sector

This report uses EnergyPlus simulations of each building in the 2003 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) to document and demonstrate bottom-up methods of modeling the entire U.S. commercial buildings sector (EIA 2006). The ability to use a whole-building simulation tool to model the entire sector is of interest because the energy models enable us to answer subsequent 'what-if' questions that involve technologies and practices related to energy. This report documents how the whole-building models were generated from the building characteristics in 2003 CBECS and compares the simulation results to the survey data for energy use.
The Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis

Abstract : This paper presents a novel model of intrusion analysis built by analysts, derived from years of experience, asking the simple question, What is the underlying method to our work? The model establishes the basic atomic element of any intrusion activity, the event, composed of four core features: adversary, infrastructure, capability, and victim. These features are edge-connected representing their underlying relationships and arranged in the shape of a diamond, giving the model its name: the Diamond Model. It further defines additional meta-features to support higher-level constructs such as linking events together into activity threads and further coalescing events and threads into activity groups. These elements, the event, thread, and group all contribute to a foundational and comprehensive model of intrusion activity built around analytic processes. It captures the essential concepts of intrusion analysis and adversary operations while allowing the model flexibility to expand and encompass new ideas and concepts. The model establishes, for the first time, a formal method applying scientific principles to intrusion analysis - particularly those of measurement, testability, and repeatability - providing a comprehensive method of activity documentation, synthesis, and correlation. This scientific approach and simplicity produces improvements in analytic effectiveness, efficiency, and accuracy. Ultimately, the model provides opportunities to integrate intelligence in real-time for network defense, automating correlation across events, classifying events with confidence into adversary campaigns, and forecasting adversary operations while planning and gaming mitigation strategies.
Pengaruh Pemanfaataan Teknologi Informasi Dan Sistem Pengendalian Intern Pemerintah Terhadap Kinerja Instansi Pemerintah Di Kota Solok (Studi pada SKPD Kota Solok)

This study aimed to determine the effect of Utilization of Information Technology and Government Internal Control System for Government Performance Solok. This study was conducted in 27 regional work units Solok. The data of this study was collected by using study survey techniques, where the reasearcher distributed quetionnaires to each SKPD’s Chairman and chif of financial SKPD. Processing and analysis of data using multiple linear regression analysis with SPSS (Statistical Product and Service Solutions). The test data used for linear regression is data quality test and classical assumption. The results showed that the utilization of information technology has a positive influence on Government Performance with regression coefficient of 3.676 with 0.001 significance (alpha 0.05). Government Internal Control System has a positive influence on Government Performance with regression coefficient 1.792 and 0.049 significance (alpha 0.05). While the R-square value is equal to 0.437, which means 43.7% of independent variables in this study could affect the dependent variable. Keywords : Utilization of Information Technology, Government Internal Control System, Government Performance
Distributed Deep Web Search

The World Wide Web contains billions of documents (and counting); hence, it is likely that some document will contain the answer or content you are searching for. While major search engines like Bing and Google often manage to return relevant results to your query, there are plenty of situations in which they are less capable of doing so. Specifically, there is a noticeable shortcoming in situations that involve the retrieval of data from the deep web. Deep web data is difficult to crawl and index for today’s web search engines, and this is largely due to the fact that the data must be accessed via complex web forms. However, deep web data can be highly relevant to the information-need of the end-user. This thesis overviews the problems, solutions, and paradigms for deep web search. Moreover, it proposes a new paradigm to overcome the apparent limitations in the current state of deep web search, and makes the following scientific contributions: 1. A more specific classification scheme for deep web search systems, to better illustrate the differences and variation between these systems. 2. Virtual surfacing, a new, and in our opinion better, deep web search paradigm which tries to combine the benefits of the two already existing paradigms, surfacing and virtual integration, and which also raises new research opportunities. 3. A stack decoding approach which combines rules and statistical usage information for interpreting the end-user’s free-text query, and to subsequently derive filled-out web forms based on that interpretation. 4. A practical comparison of the developed approach against a well-established text-processing toolkit. 5. Empirical evidence that, for a single site, end-users would rather use the proposed free-text search interface instead of a complex web form. Analysis of data obtained from user studies shows that the stack decoding approach works as well as, or better than, today’s top-performing alternatives.
Digital design optimisation: new methods and tools for design and manufacturing of architectural objects

The integration in the design process of high-level objectives, such as those requirements directly related to functional performance and lightness or the efficient use of materials, is especially difficult and can no longer be directly and intuitively perceived by the designer. This is particularly true in the conceptual phase of a design process. Methods and design tools that take in account personal preference and cultural acceptance, and can combine the interactive behavior inherent to conceptual designing with the formal rigor of optimisation are therefore desirable. The aim of the work presented in this dissertation is to develop and test a method that could be employed to model and manage the design process individually, adapted to a particular design problem and along with the personal preferences of the designer. The method is part of a digital design process where simulation and analysis does not only support the project development process, but interacts and contributes with novel proposals, promotes a more creative exploration of the solution space and aims to integrate computational models in the reasoning process and the activities of the designer during the complete design process A digital design process allows for integration of simulation and analysis software right in the beginning of the project, but it will be the task of the designer to build his own software construct combining all necessary software programs with the intent to introduce optimisation efficiently and goal orientated into the design process. In this thesis a design method is presented based on a software construct combines parametric design with evolutionary principles with the intent to maximise explorative search in an iterative design process. This application consists of a loose combination of commercially available software programs and property scripts united towards a
Post-secularism muting controversy: school-NGO interactions in Israel through the prism of stakeholder salience theory

ABSTRACT Elaborating on stakeholder salience theory, this study aims to explore the different agendas and modus operandi of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) within the Israeli public education system. This article is part of a larger study, focused on NGOs that offer services within the secular state education sector in the field of ‘Jewish (religious) identity. ’ Through a case study of one such organisation in particular comprised of several units, we attempt to understand the different processes, actors and interests at play, based on data from semi-structured interviews with NGO representatives, school leadership and parents. Using a dynamic view of stakeholder salience theory, we identify the different actors involved and classify their roles in the various relationships. The complex Israeli context and focus on religious NGOs offer us a unique perspective on the role of organisations offering services within the Israeli school system and society in general. We find the expected controversy over these NGOs’ presence in secular schools to have been muted by a convergence of opinions resulting from Israeli ‘post-secularism. ’