Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling and Control of Plate Mill Processes

In this thesis two processes have been modeled and controlled, namely the plate thickness control and the slab temperature control. The classical solution for the thickness control problem can't handle asymmetric hardness variations and the estimation of the controlled output introduces stability problems. A nonlinear multivariable model for the thickness control system is derived. The parameters of the model for the rolling mill are identified using data from The Danish Steel Works Ltd. and the model is used for designing a nonlinear multivariable thickness control algorithm. The algorithm is evaluated using computer simulations and the new controller is able to handle the asymmetric case and gives a more accurate thickness control compared to the existing control system. The new control strategy is also found to be stable. The task of the slab temperature controller is to ensure a high furnace throughput, and a proper heating quality while minimizing the energy consumption. Models for the slab and furnace temperatures are identified using data collected during normal production at The Danish Steel Works Ltd. A new way of obtaining parameters for the existing slab temperature control system is described. Furthermore, a nonlinear controller is designed which it is shown to be is globally asymptotically stable. The performance of the linear and nonlinear controller are compared using computer simulations which show that the performance of the nonlinear controller is superior to the performance of the linear controller. The linear slab temperature controller design has been implemented in the slab temperature control system at The Danish Steel Works Ltd. The experimental results indicate that the new controller parameters have lead to a 10% increase in furnace capacity, with unchanged heating quality. Data from the reheat furnace no. 2 indicate that the energy consumption has not been increased by the adjustments. (Less)
Overcoming Hard-Faults in High-Performance Microprocessors

As device density grows, each transistor gets smaller and more fragile leading to an overall higher susceptibility to hard-faults. These hard-faults result in permanent silicon defects and impact manufacturing yield, performance, and lifetime of semiconductor devices. In this thesis, we propose comprehensive, low-cost solutions to tackle reliability problems in high-performance microprocessors. These microprocessors mainly consist of on-chip caches and core pipeline. We first present two flexible cache architectures, ZerehCache and Archipelago, to protect regular SRAM structures against high failure rates. ZerehCache virtually reorganizes the cache data array using a permutation network to provide higher degrees of freedom for spare allocation. In order to study the impact of fault patterns on the redundancy requirements in a cache, we propose a methodology to model the collision patterns in caches as a graph problem. Given this model, a graph coloring scheme is employed to minimize the amount of additional redundancy required for protecting the cache. Archipelago targets failures in near-threshold region. It resizes the cache to provide redundancy for repairing faulty cells. Furthermore, a near optimal minimum clique covering configuration algorithm is introduced to minimizes the cache capacity loss. With proper solutions in place for caches, a robust and heterogeneous core coupling execution scheme, Necromancer, is presented to protect the general core area against hard-faults. Although a faulty core cannot be trusted, we observe that for most defects, execution traces on a defective core coarsely resemble those of fault-free executions. Necromancer exploits a functionally dead core to improve system throughput by supplying hints regarding high-level program behavior. We partition the cores into multiple groups. Each group shares a lightweight core that can be substantially accelerated. However, due to the presence of defects, a perfect data or instruction stream cannot be provided by the dead core. This necessitates employing low-cost recovery mechanism and generic hints that are more resilient to local abnormalities.
Electromagnetic Scattering Model for Far Wakes of Ship with Wind Waves on Sea Surface

A comprehensive electromagnetic scattering model for ship wakes on the sea surface is proposed to study the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery for ship wakes. Our model considers a coupling of various wave systems, including Kelvin wake, turbulent wake, and the ocean ambient waves induced by the local wind. The fluid–structure coupling between the ship and the water surface is considered using the Reynolds–averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equation, and the wave–current effect between the ship wake and wind waves is considered using the wave modulation model. The scattering model can better describe the interaction of the ship wakes on sea surface and illustrates well the features of the ship wakes with local wind waves in SAR images.
Clean and improved cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa : a landscape report

Evidence from the most recent World Health Organization (WHO) survey on the global burden of disease shows that nearly 600,000 Africans die annually and millions more suffer from chronic illnesses caused by air pollution from inefficient and dangerous traditional cooking fuels and stoves. This tragic and avoidable first-order public health crisis disproportionately harms women and children. Moreover, cooking with wood, charcoal, crop waste, dung, coal, and potentially dangerous and polluting modern fuels, such as kerosene, also imposes tremendous direct costs on economies and households in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and contributes to a wide range of negative environmental and climate change effects.This overview report, prepared in support of the World Bank’s Africa Clean Cooking Energy Solutions (ACCES) initiative, builds on earlier reports from the World Bank and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC). The report establishes a baseline for the SSA cooking landscape and offers an overview of emerging opportunities to encourage increased investment in clean and improved cooking businesses across the region. This report covers the full range of clean and improved cooking solutions in SSA that can enhance the fuel efficiency and emissions performance of traditional technologies, each varying widely in terms of fuel feedstock, design, construction materials, methods of production, and harm mitigation potential.
MULTIPLE CHANNEL MONITORING

This experiment investigated the effect of channel load in a one-, two- and three-meter vigilance task. Also investigated was the effect of training under one of the three-channel load conditions when subjects were later transferred to a two-channel condition. Subjects monitored a voltmeter display for 64 minutes. Results showed that the overall performance of the two- and three-channel groups was virtually identical, and considerably inferior to the single-channel group in the initial session. A time decrement was exhibited by all three groups. In the second session when all subjects monitored two channels, no significant differences between groups wore found. The results are discussed in terms of time-sharing load on the monitor, and implications for equipment design and training.
Biosynthesis of Poly-ß-Hydroxybutyrate (PHB) from Different Bacterial Strains Grown on Alternative Cheap Carbon Sources

Thirty bacterial isolates were tested on three different media for Poly-ß-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) production. The best bacterial isolates for producing PHB were screened and identified based on molecular biology; then, using three different alternative carbon sources (dried whey, sugar beet molasses and date molasses), physical properties were evaluated by Infrared (IR) spectrometry and Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) analysis. Our results showed that the best isolates identified based on molecular biology were Bacillus paramycoides MCCC 1A04098, Azotobacter salinestris NBRC 102611 and Brevundimonas naejangsanensis BIO-TAS2-2. The addition of sugar beet molasses to the medium of A. salinestris increased the cell dry weight (CDW), PHB concentration, PHB% and conversion coefficient (4.97 g/L, 1.56 g/L, 31.38% and 23.92%, respectively). The correlation coefficient values between PHB g/L and CDW g/L varied between very strong and moderate positive correlation. IR of the produced PHB from B. paramycoides and A. salinestris showed similar bands which confirmed the presence of PHB; however, B. naejangsanensis showed weak bands, indicating lower PHB concentration. The chemical composition obtained showed that the GC-MS of the PHB extracted represents 2, 4-ditert-butylphenol for B. paramycoides and isopropyl ester of 2-butenoic acid for both of A. salinestris and Brevundimonas naejangsanensis. Therefore, PHB produced by microorganisms can be considered a biodegradable polyester, and represents a promising technique for the development of eco-friendly and fully biodegradable plastics.
Efficient Control of Zika Virus Infection Induced by a Non-Replicating Adenovector Encoding Zika Virus NS1/NS2 Antigens Fused to the MHC Class II-Associated Invariant Chain

It is generally believed that a successful Zika virus (ZIKV) vaccine should induce neutralizing antibodies against the ZIKV envelope (E) protein to efficiently halt viral infection. However, E-specific neutralizing antibodies have been implicated in a phenomenon called antibody-dependent enhancement, which represents an ongoing concern in the flavivirus-vaccinology field. In this report, we investigated the vaccination potential of replication-deficient adenoviral vectors encoding the ZIKV non-structural proteins 1 and 2 (NS1/NS2) and employed the strategy of linking the antigens to the MHC-II associated invariant chain (li) to improve immunogenicity and by inference, the level of protection. We demonstrated that li-linkage enhanced the production of anti-NS1 antibodies and induced an accelerated and prolonged polyfunctional CD8 T cell response in mice, which ultimately resulted in a high degree of protection against ZIKV infection of the CNS.
No Evidence for Constitutive Innate Immune Senescence in a Longitudinal Study of a Wild Bird

Aging is associated with declines in physiological performance; declining immune defenses particularly could have consequences for age-related fitness and survival. In aging vertebrates, adaptive (memory-based) immune responses typically become impaired, innate (nonspecific) responses undergo lesser declines, and inflammation increases. Longitudinal studies of immune functions in wild animals are rare, yet they are needed to understand immunosenescence under evolutionarily relevant conditions. Using longitudinal data from a tropical passerine (Malurus coronatus) population, we investigate how population trends emerge from within-individual changes and between-individual heterogeneity (e.g., selective disappearance) in immune status. We quantified constitutive immune indexes (haptoglobin [inflammation associated], natural antibodies, complement [lytic] activity, and heterophil-lymphocyte ratio; n=505–631) in individuals sampled one to seven times over 5 yr. Unexpectedly, longitudinal analyses showed no age-related change within individuals in any immune index, despite sufficient power to detect within-individual change. Between individuals, we found age-related declines in natural antibodies and increases in heterophil-lymphocyte ratios. However, selective disappearance could not adequately explain between-individual age effects, and longitudinal models could not explain our data better than cross-sectional analyses. The lack of clear within-individual immunosenescence is itself notable. Persistent levels of haptoglobin, complement activity, and natural antibodies into old age suggests that these immune components are maintained, potentially with adaptive significance.
Carbonation of fly ash concrete: laboratory and field data

The present study consists of investigating the carbonation resistance of two series of concrete mixtures designed for three classes of concrete (25, 35, and 45 MPa compressive strength at 28 d) and using American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) type I Portland cement and two commercially used fly ashes meeting the ASTM standards at the level of 20%, 35%, and 50% of the total weight of cementitious materials. The carbonation resistance was determined on samples moist cured for 3, 7, and 10 d and exposed to a CO2-enriched environment (3% CO2 at 23 °C and 65% relative humidity) for 140 d to accelerate the carbonation; it was also determined on samples moist cured for 7 d and exposed to an indoor and outdoor natural environments for 4 years. A mathematical model allowing the prediction of the depth of accelerated carbonation of fly ash concrete mixtures is presented.
Compositae.

Germination of Leucanthemum maestracense and L. gracilicaule, Compositae. 2007. Bot. Complut. 31: 127-131. We have studied the germination of Leucanthemum maestracense Vogt & Hellwig and L. gracilicaule (Dufour) Pau. Two hemicriptophyt of big ornamental valour, they are considered by UICN as LRlc. Seeds were positive germinated best at Leucanthemum maestracense.
Early tree performances, precocity and fruit quality attributes of newly introduced apricot cultivars grown under western Serbian conditions

: In this work, 19 newly introduced and some traditional apricot cultivars were evaluated by 20 phenological and agronomical traits and fruit quality attributes. The results showed a wide variation in phenological data, tree vigour (TCSA), productivity [yield per tree, cumulative yield (CY) and yield efficiency (YE)], and fruit quality attributes such as fruit and stone weight, flesh/stone ratio, fruit dimensions, size, shape index, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA) and ripening index (RI). The average onset of blossoming varied from 16 March to 20 March, whereas harvest was between 1 June and 12 September. The most vigorous trees were ‘Ketch Pshar’. The best productivity was observed in ‘Fardao’ and the poorest in ‘Farbaly’. More apricots were relatively small to medium in fruit size, whereas ‘Candela’ had very large fruits. Most cultivars tended towards a round shape, whereas some had round/ flat and/or ovoid-shaped fruits. The highest values for SSC were observed in ‘Ketch Pshar’, ‘Candela’ and ‘Fardao’, TA in ‘Candela’ and RI in ‘Hungarian Best’. There was a medium to high correlation between yield properties, fruit and stone size and flesh/seed ratio, also between SSC versus acidity and RI. As observed by PCA, the first three components represented 74.3% of total variance (38.3%, 22.1% and 19.8% for PC1, PC2 and PC3, respectively).
Asymmetric Effects of Quality of Life on Residents’ Satisfaction: Exploring a Newborn Natural Disaster Tourism Destination

Developing disaster tourism has become an important means of post-disaster recovery, but the relationship between attributes of quality of life (QOL) and residents’ satisfaction toward newborn natural disaster destination (NNDD) development has not been explored. This study examines the asymmetric effects of QOL on residents’ satisfaction using the dummy variable regression approach based on the Three-Factor Theory. A mixed-method approach was used to develop QOL scale, and a questionnaire was developed to survey 379 residents from China’s Wenchuan. This study identifies the types (positive asymmetric, symmetric, and insignificant effect) of seven QOL attributes that influence residents’ satisfaction. This study provides a valuable supplement to the literature on residents’ QOL by focusing on the NNDD context, and is a pioneering attempt to apply the Three-Factor Theory from the perspective of local residents. Practically, some implications for policy optimization are proposed to help NNDD development.
Investigating Masking Effects of Age Trends on the Correlations among Tree Ring Proxies

Age-related trends are present in tree-ring widths (TRW), but their presence in tree rings isotope is debated. It is unclear how cambial age influences the relationships between TRW and isotopes. Tree-ring isotopes of alpine larch and cembran-pine trees showed only trends in the juvenile period (>100 years), which might mask the inter-relations between tree-ring proxies during cambial age. This work tries to unmask the age-trend influences by examining the correlations in TRW—stable isotopes with and without age-trend correction. The non-detrended and linear-detrended values of TRW, of δD and δ18O showed significant correlations for ages up to 100 years, but not afterward. However, the correlation values, after spline or first-difference time-series detrending, were not age-related. Thus, detrending methods affect the correlations in the juvenile phase and may affect climate-related interpretations. The correlations between TRW and δ13C were not age-related, while those among the isotopes were significant throughout the ages. The correlation between δ13C and δD was the exception, as it became significant only after age > 100 years, suggesting a different use of reserves in the juvenile phase. In conclusion, the relationships among the tree-ring parameters are stable in all the different detrend scenarios after the juvenile phase, and they can be used together in multi-proxy paleoclimatic studies. The data of the juvenile phase can be used after spline-detrending or first-difference time-series calculation, depending on the purpose of the analysis to remove age-related trends. The work also provides clues on the possible causes of juvenile age trends.
Variation in male‐built nest volume with nesting‐support quality, colony, and egg production in whiskered terns

Abstract Nest building can represent an energetically costly activity for a variety of animal taxa. Besides, the determinants of within‐species variation in the design of nests, notably with respect to natural and sexual selection, are still insufficiently documented. Based on an observational study, we examined the influence of nesting conditions (nesting‐support quality, colony, laying date, and year) on male‐built nest volume and also its potential role as a postmating sexually selected display in the whiskered tern Chlidonias hybrida. This tern species is a monogamous colonial bird with obligate biparental care breeding on aquatic vegetation. Hence, large nesting platforms are expected to be a selective advantage because they would better withstand adverse environmental conditions and provide a secure structure for eggs. Nest size may also serve as a postmating sexual trait, and variation in egg production would be positively associated with nest size. We found that nest volume was adjusted to different environmental cues. A positive relationship was found between nest volume and nesting‐support quality, indicating that the leaf density of white waterlily is essential for nest stability. Variation in nest volume was not correlated to colony size but varied among colonies and years. Male‐built nest volume was also positively associated with mean egg volume per clutch but not with clutch size. The fitness consequences of building a large nest are yet to be studied, and additional investigations are recommended to better understand whether the activity of males early during breeding season (e.g., nest building and courtship feeding performance) really serves as postmating sexually selected signals.
LMI versus non-linear techniques for the design of FACTS controller

Most countries in different parts of the world have already deregulated their power industry (or are in the process of doing so). Deregulation has often resulted in a significant increase in power transfers across transmission lines. For weak interconnection, this situation may lead to more constraints on power system oscillations. One of the most constraining type of oscillations is the inter-area oscillation where two groups of coherent machines oscillate against each-other. This paper explores the opportunity of damping inter-area oscillating modes: (1) in a stressed network using a supplementary control loop of FACTS devices; (2) where the proposed solution uses linear matrix inequalities design techniques; (3) where the obtained performances are compared with those obtained when using nonlinear techniques; and (4) where the proposed design methods are verified via small-signal analysis and dynamic simulations on a 4-machine test power system.
Adoption of Social Media Marketing for Sustainable Business Growth of SMEs in Emerging Economies: The Moderating Role of Leadership Support

Social media marketing (SMM) plays an important role in business communication, marketing, operations, and other activities. There is a growing interest among researchers, academicians, and practitioners to understand the role of SMM in business sustainability in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in an emerging economy, like India. Few studies have attempted to understand this role. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the impact of adopting social media marketing for sustainable business growth of SMEs in an emerging economy. The study also investigates the moderating role of SME leadership support on the relationship between SMM usage and sustainable business growth of SMEs. After reviewing the existing literature and technology adoption model, a theoretical model is developed, which is then validated using a structural equation modeling technique to analyze 304 samples of Indian SMEs that use different social media marketing applications in their enterprises. This study confirmed that SMM tools significantly and positively improve the sustainable growth of SMEs in an emerging economy. Additionally, the study also found that SME leadership team plays a vital role in supporting actual usage of SMM tools that accelerate sustainable business growth of SMEs.