Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Generalization of wind-induced interference effects for two buildings

Wind-induced interference effects on a building are the result of one or more adjacentrnbuildings modifying the flow of wind around it, which may result in a significant increase or decrease inrnwind loads on the building. Wind loading standards and codes of practice offer little guidance to therndesigner for assessing the effects of interference. Experimental results on interference effects indicate thatrncode recommendations may be significantly low (unsafe) or uneconomically conservative. The paper presentsrnresults of an extensive experimental program to study the wind flow mechanisms and to quantify thernextent of wind load modifications on buildings due to interference effects. These results have beenrnsimplified and presented from the point-of-view of design and codification for the case of two buildings.rnBased on these results, general guidelines and limiting conditions defining wind interference are formulatedrnand discussed.
Candidate gene modifiers of dystrophinopathy identified by the uniform application of genome-wide datasets to novel GWAS-identified loci

Although the major determinant of disease severity in patients with severe Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) or milder Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is whether their dystrophin gene (DMD) mutation disrupts the mRNA reading frame or allows expression of a partially functional protein, other genes have been proposed or demonstrated to modify the severity of disease progression. In a companion paper to this one, we describe our novel approaches to genome-wide association study (GWAS) of loss of ambulation (LOA) in the largest genome-wide search to date for loci influencing disease severity in DMD patients. Candidate regulatory SNPs that modify disease progression were identified using an evidential statistical paradigm and here we present a uniform application of recent functional genomic datasets to explore the potential functional impact of the top six candidate regions with PPLD scores of [≥]0.4. The results of this analysis of the largest DMD GWAS survey to date elucidate recurrent and potentially new pathways for intervention in the dystrophinopathies.
Introducing Adjuvants for Dendritic Cell Algorithm to Detect Stealthy Malware

The increase in stealth of malware has brought the Dendritic Cell Algorithm (DCA) many difficulties in malware detection. To solve this problem, in this paper we take inspiration from immunological adjuvant which can enhance the immune responses to weak antigens, and propose its counterpart namely artificial adjuvant as an improvement for the DCA. Artificial adjuvants are capable of increasing the immunogenicity of stealthy malware and accelerating the reaction of the dendritic cells (DCs). In such a way, they shed some lights for the DCA on improving the performance of stealthy malware detection in respect of not only improving the detection rate, but also helping detecting hidden malware as soon as possible.
Daylight Ratio, Luminance, and Visual Comfort Assessments in Typical Malaysian Hostels

Conventional tropical building designs are experiencing a new paradigm in their environmental response to improve lighting ambiance and occupants’ visual comfort through the exploitation of daylighting. However, it is important for architects to understand that flaws in daylighting strategies could lead to disadvantages as they could hinder vision, cause discomfort, increase interior heat gain, and result in excessive energy demands. The objective of this study was to assess how occupants’ perceived their visual conditions through daylight ratio and luminance level measurements. Measurements were conducted throughout a 2-month period starting from 12th May to 3rd July 2007. Three case studies were conducted at typical Malaysian hostels located in the Klang Valley. Those selected were: the Twelfth Residential College, Universiti Malaya (H1); the Eleventh Residential College, Universiti Putra Malaysia (H2); and Murni Student Apartments, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (H3). The daylighting source in all these case studies were from side-lit windows. Overall, the findings suggested that occupants were at ease with the level of daylighting available in their rooms even though rooms that were shaded by projecting balconies (i.e.,: H1) were dimmer than the rooms that were not shaded (i.e.,: H2 and H3).
Creep of high–strength concrete and normal–strength concrete

The development and use of high–strength concrete has been evolutionary. High–strength concrete is used for tall buildings, bridges, long–span structures and offshore platforms. Very little information is available on the creep of high–strength concrete compared with that of normal concrete at room and low temperatures. Test results are presented of creep strains at room temperature of high–strength concrete (70 Mpa) and normal concrete (40 MPa) subjected to stresses of 25, 50 and 75% of their 28 day strength for one year. Also provided are creep results of test specimens exposed to temperatures of 20, 0 and — 10°C for 91 days. In general, creep strains of high–strength concrete are smaller than those of normal concrete at all corresponding stress/strength ratios. The relation of creep to stress–strength ratio at room temperature was found to be linear for the two grades of concrete. Test results revealed that low temperatures had a minor effect on the magnitude of creep strains for both types of concrete.
Effects of torsional degree of freedom, geometric nonlinearity, and gravity on aeroelastic behavior of large-scale horizontal axis wind turbine blades under varying wind speed conditions

Modern horizontal axis wind turbine blades are long, slender, and flexible structures that can undergo considerable deformation, leading to blade failures (e.g., blade-tower collision). For this reason, it is important to estimate blade behaviors accurately when designing large-scale wind turbines. In this study, a numerical analysis considering blade torsional degree of freedom, geometric nonlinearity, and gravity was utilized to examine the effects of these factors on the aeroelastic blade behavior of a large-scale horizontal axis wind turbine. The results predicted that flapwise deflection is mainly affected by the torsional degree of freedom, which causes the blade bending deflections to couple to torsional deformation, thereby varying the aerodynamic loads through changes in the effective angle of attack. Edgewise deflection and torsional deformation are mostly influenced by the periodic gravitational force on the wind turbine blade.
Conventional and High-Strength Headed Bars—Part 2: Data Analysis

Equations to characterize the anchorage strength of headed bars were developed, incorporating key factors affecting anchorage strength: concrete compressive strength; embedment length; bar diameter; spacing between the bars; and confining reinforcement parallel to the headed bars. Results from tests of 138 exterior beam-column joints, 64 without and 74 with confining reinforcement within the joint region, were used to develop the equations. Concrete compressive strengths ranged from 4050 to 16,030 psi (27.9 to 110.6 MPa) and bar stresses at failure ranged from 33,100 to 153,160 psi (228 to 1056 MPa). The bearing area of the headed bars ranged from 3.8 to 9.5 times the area of the bar. Some headed bars contained obstructions adjacent to the head that exceeded the dimensions permitted for HA heads in ACI 318-14 and ASTM A970-13a but are now permitted by ASTM A970-18. The test results show that headed bar anchorage strength is proportional to the concrete compressive strength raised to the power 0.24. The contribution of confining reinforcement is proportional to the area of confining reinforcement parallel to the headed bar within eight to 10 bar diameters of the headed bar. Headed bars with obstructions larger than those permitted in ACI 318-14 that meet the provisions in ASTM A970-18 exhibit anchorage strengths that are similar to those that meet the provisions in ACI 318-14.
Reduction of blade-vortex interaction noise through higher harmonic pitch control

An acoustics test using an aeroelastically scaled rotor was conducted to examine the effectiveness of higher harmonic blade pitch control for the reduction of impulsive blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise. A four-bladed, 110 in. diameter, articulated rotor model was tested in a heavy gas (Freon-12) medium in Langley's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. Noise and vibration measurements were made for a range of matched flight conditions, where prescribed (open-loop) higher harmonic pitch was superimposed on the normal (baseline) collective and cyclic trim pitch. For the inflow-microphone noise measurements, advantage was taken of the reverberance in the hard walled tunnel by using a sound power determination approach. Initial findings from on-line data processing for three of the test microphones are reported for a 4/rev (4P) collective pitch control for a range of input amplitudes and phases. By comparing these results to corresponding baseline (no control) conditions, significant noise reductions (4 to 5 dB) were found for low-speed descent conditions, where helicopter BVI noise is most intense. For other rotor flight conditions, the overall noise was found to increase. All cases show increased vibration levels.
Investigating Mode Switch from SI to HCCI using Early Intake Valve Closing and Negative Valve Overlap

This study investigates mode switching from spark ignited operation with early intake valve closing to residual gas enhanced HCCI using negative valve overlap on a port-fuel injected light-duty diesel engine. A mode switch is demonstrated at 3.5 bar IMEPnet and 1500 rpm. Valve timings and fuel amount have to be selected carefully prior to the mode switch. During mode transition, IMEPnet deviates by up to 0.5 bar from the set point. The time required to return to the set point as well as the transient behavior of the engine load varies depending on which control structure that is used. Both a model-based controller and a PI control approach were implemented and evaluated in experiments. The controllers were active in HCCI mode. The model-based controller achieved a smoother transition and while using it, the transition could be accomplished within three engine cycles. The initial deviation in load is unacceptable but can most likely be improved with a predictive mode transition model compared to empirically selected mode transition parameters. Changing the fuel injection method to direct injection instead of port injection is another possible improvement. (Less)
Quantifying foot kinematics inside athletic footwear: a review

Movement of the foot and ankle are essential for human locomotion. Recent in vivo research using invasive techniques has highlighted the complexity of joint kinematics of the foot and ankle. Consequently, a detailed quantification of foot bone motion is often required. This presents challenges if non-invasive methods are used; even more so if footwear is incorporated into these investigations. A description of foot movement within footwear (in-shoe foot kinematics) is particularly valuable due to the plethora of potential applications in foot and ankle biomechanics. The objective of this review is to appraise existing literature and describe methods for quantifying foot kinematics inside athletic running type footwear and to provide a perspective on future directions for research. A number of methods were identified that have been implemented in an attempt to quantify in-shoe foot kinematics. Although varied, these all present threats to the validity of measurement in the form of either structural modification of footwear or surface marker application to the external shoe surface. Due to discrepancies in foot kinematics measured with markers applied on the external shoe surface compared to skin or bone mounted markers, it appears inappropriate to rely on external shoe markers to infer in-shoe foot motion. The impact of footwear modification on shoe structure and foot kinematics to gain access to anatomical landmarks of the foot requires further investigation. The recognition of the limitations imposed by these methods and the emergence of new non-invasive methods that allow for investigation during shod activity will facilitate more realistic representation and accurate investigation of foot motion inside the shoe.
Field-weakening performance of brushless synchronous AC motor drives

The paper examines the theoretical and practical limitations to the field-weakening performance of surface permanent magnet, synchronous reluctance and interior permanent magnet motors when driven from an inverter with a limited volt-ampere rating. It is shown that the 'optimal' field-weakening performance consists of an infinite constant-power speed range but is limited to an inverter utilisation of about 0.7. The new concept of the interior permanent magnet parameter plane is introduced. This graphically illustrates the effect of varying the drive parameters on the shape of the field-weakening characteristic. The interior permanent magnet parameter plane is used to show that there are three types of optimal field-weakening designs. When practical factors and considerations are taken into account, the optimal high-saliency interior permanent magnet motor design is the most promising for applications requiring a wide field-weakening range. A 7.5 kW design was built and a constant-power speed range exceeding 7.5:1 was demonstrated.
Correlation of ride comfort evaluation methods for railway vehicles

Abstract Ride comfort is one of the most important dynamic performance characteristics of railway vehicles and is affected by various factors, such as vibration, acoustic sound, smell, temperature, visual stimuli, humidity and seat design. In general, vibration is known to be a major factor that affects ride comfort. There are many studies on methods for evaluating ride comfort in railway vehicles, and many standards or criteria have been developed and used in many countries. Most of the evaluation methods, however, recommend different evaluation methods and criteria, so users should carefully choose a ride comfort evaluation method and must examine whether it can be applied to their railway vehicles or not. The present study has looked at relationships between several evaluation methods using a vibration model resulting from frequency analysis and statistical analysis of acceleration measurements of railway vehicles. The present vibration model yields abundant data for correlation of the ride comfort indices, resulting in reliable relations between the ride comfort indices.
Effect of basic motivational factors on construction workforce productivity in turkey

Abstract Human resource today has a strategic role for productivity increase of any organization, and this makes it superior in the industrial competition. With the effective and optimum usage of it, all the advantages supplied by the productivity growth can be obtained. This usage is just possible by establishing clear and understandable criteria for the factors affecting labour. Therefore, it is aimed in this study that the factors influencing construction labour productivity in Turkey are determined, defined, and examined in detail. A survey was applied to 82 firms to obtain required data. According to results, the most effective factors group is organizational factors.
Comparative analysis of expulsion and current-limiting fuse operation in distribution systems for improved power quality and protection

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the effects of expulsion and current-limiting fuse (CLF) operations in distribution systems on power quality and power system protection. This analysis included field tests of both types of fuses on a distribution system in Florida, USA. To further analyze fuse effects on the voltage dip duration and spread of the overvoltages created during the fuse operations throughout the power system, computer simulations were also performed. Unique digital fuse models were developed for use with the EMTP/ATP program. This paper shows that CLFs improve power quality by supporting power system voltage during faults, reducing the voltage dip duration, and do not affect load operation. Additionally, CLFs reduce the fault let-through I/sup 2/t.
Numerical observability method for optimal phasor measurement units placement using recursive Tabu search method

Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are essential tools for monitoring, protection and control of power systems. The optimal PMU placement (OPP) problem refers to the determination of the minimal number of PMUs and their corresponding locations in order to achieve full network observability. This paper introduces a recursive Tabu search (RTS) method to solve the OPP problem. More specifically, the traditional Tabu search (TS) metaheuristic algorithm is executed multiple times, while in the initialisation of each TS the best solution found from all previous executions is used. The proposed RTS is found to be the best among three alternative TS initialisation schemes, in regard to the impact on the success rate of the algorithm. A numerical method is proposed for checking network observability, unlike most existing metaheuristic OPP methods, which are based on topological observability methods. The proposed RTS method is tested on the IEEE 14, 30, 57 and 118-bus test systems, on the New England 39-bus test system and on the 2383-bus power system. The obtained results are compared with other reported PMU placement methods. The simulation results show that the proposed RTS method finds the minimum number of PMUs, unlike earlier methods which may find either the same or even higher number of PMUs.
Computation of the propagation characteristics of TE and TM modes in waveguides with the use of the generalized differential quadrature method

A new technique, generalized differential quadrature (GDQ), is applied to determine the propagation characteristics of hollow metallic waveguides of square, rectangular, circular, and elliptical cross sections. The results show excellent agreement with theoretical values. The GDQ is compared with surface integral formulation (SIF) and the conjugate-gradient method (CGM), and is shown to have high accuracy, speed, simplicity, and efficiency. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Tunable dual-mode microstrip patch resonators and filters

In this study, tunable dual-mode microstrip patch resonators are presented and utilised to design microstrip bandpass filters (BPFs). The novelty of the designs lies in that the performance of frequency agility can be realised by using either the signal line or the return path (the ground) of microwave transmission line. For the proposed resonators, the resonant frequencies of two coupled degenerate modes can be tuned using a square-loop slot with loaded tunable capacitors on the ground plane or on the patch. The locations of the capacitors are determined according to the electric field distributions of the two orthogonal modes. The variations of the modes in spectrum are studied. Finally, two types of demonstration compact tunable BPFs are designed and fabricated, and the simulated and measured results show good agreement.
Long Term Left Ventricular Reverse Remodeling and Functional Outcome after Cardiac Resynchronization in Advanced Heart Failure

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess long-term outcomes of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) on left ventricular reverse remodeling and functional recovery in patients with advanced heart failure and to establish predictors for positive response to cardiac resynchronization. Methods: The study population consisted of 48 patients (age 68 ± 8.51 years, 79.55% male). Patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography, electrocardiogram, the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and NYHA functional class evaluation before biventricular pacemaker implantation and during follow-up. Results: Median follow-up was 21.89 ± 9.21 months. 4 (7.7%) patients died from heart failure. Reverse left ventricular remodeling was observed in 77.08% (N=37) patients. CRT resulted in statistically significant improvement of NYHA functional class (p=0.015) and the increased results of 6MWT (p=0.000). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated lower pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) (OR 1.152, 95% CI 1.026-1.293; p=0.017) and more severe mitral regurgitation (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.018-0.769; p=0.025) prior to device implantation as significant predictors of positive response to CRT. Poor response cut-off value of PASP ≥ 46 mmHg was established in ROC analyses, with 78% of sensitivity and 62% of specificity. Conclusions: Our study confirmed the reversible cardiac remodeling and improvement in systolic left and right ventricular function and functional condition in advanced heart failure patients treated with CRT. According to our study, lower pulmonary artery pressure and more severe mitral regurgitation prior to device implantation predicted favorable long-term response to CRT.
Annular hydraulic jumps

A stream of swirling water descending a vertical Perspex tube was obstructed near its exit from the apparatus. In this way hydraulic ‘jumps’ were formed with an unbroken air core extending on both sides of the discontinuity. As in an open horizontal channel, three kinds of jump were seen: (i) purely undular, (ii) partly undular and partly turbulent, (iii) fully turbulent. Photographs were taken and simple measurements made. The motion was very unsteady, and little accuracy can be claimed for the readings, but they were found to be fairly consistent with the assumptions of solid-body rotation and uniform axial velocity.
Comparison of low-frequency piezoceramic shunt techniques for structural damping

In this paper, the performances of two novel low frequency piezoceramic shunt techniques for structural damping are compared to the traditional passive tuned resonant shunt circuit techinque. The first novel technique, state switching, is a semi-active variable stiffness technique in which bonded piezoceramic actuators are switched from the short circuit to open circuit states. This technique changes the stiffness of the structure for two quarters of its vibration period, thus dissipating energy. The second novel technique, synchronized switching, is a semi-active continuous switching technique in which a resistor/inductor shunt circuit is periodically connected to the bonded piezoceramic actuators. This technique applies charges to the piezoceramic actuators in a manner similar to the Direct Velocity Feedback and Bang-Bang time optimal control techniques. A brief description of each of the damping techniques is given. Numerical simulations of the switching techniques are shown and compared to the resonant shunt damping technique. Finally, preliminary experimental results are presented for the resonant shunt, state, and synchronized switching techniques on a simply supported beam.
Settlement and tilt of low-rise buildings

Where deep foundations are not an economically viable solution, foundation problems may occur at low-rise housing developments on poor ground. It is usually feasible to provide a raft foundation relatively cheaply for lightly loaded buildings. When differential settlement occurs, foundations of adequate stiffness will cause the building to tilt as a rigid body, and will prevent significant distortion of the building and consequent cracking of the walls. A number of case histories of tilted buildings are presented to illustrate the magnitude of tilt that has been observed with different ground conditions, and the remedial actions that have been undertaken. Noticeability is a key factor in assessing the acceptability of tilt for low-rise residential buildings and their occupants, and tilt typically is noticed when it is in the region of 1/250 to 1/200. Where tilts of the magnitude of 1/100 or greater are measured, or the measured rate of increase of tilt indicates that this degree of tilt will be exceeded, .