Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Study of Chainsaw Kickback

Abstract Chainsaw kickback is a serious safety concern for both experienced and novice operators. A key to developing improved kickback control systems is a better understanding of saw motion during kickback and the development of improved methods for distinguishing kickback from normal saw operation. In this study, accelerometers and gyroscopes were mounted to a battery-powered electric chainsaw and to a midsize, gasoline-powered chainsaw, and data were collected during normal cutting and kickbacks. These sensors measured accelerations along the guide bar and perpendicular to the bar as well as rotational velocities toward the operator's torso. Results from the battery-powered saw showed that accelerations during normal cutting and kickbacks had peak magnitudes of from ~2 to ~6 g and from ~6 to ~8 g, respectively, and that rotational velocities typically reached over 600°/s during a kickback. Analysis of these results showed that the gyroscope alone, using a threshold value of 300°/s, was effective in di.
Activity and Stability of Linear Networks

The stability criterion of linear four-terminal networks is given in a compact form similar to the activity criterion. The reduction of the Llewellyn criterion [2] to this new form is presented. By means of the stability and activity criteria in their compact form, an activity-stability diagram is derived, which is shown to be useful in the analysis of nonreciprocal networks, indicating stability, activity and nonreciprocity, and in the field of synthesis of nonreciprocal, passive and active networks. The new insight that is gained, indicates a novel way of achieving nonreciprocal stable amplification, using reciprocal active elements such as tunnel diodes and varactor diodes
Diffraction of Electromagnetic Waves by a Conducting Screen Perforated Periodically with Holes

The reflection and transmission of a plane wave incident on a thin perfectly conducting screen perforated periodically with circular holes are considered. The spacings between holes may be comparable to or less than the wavelength. The metal screen is assumed to be either backed by a flat dielectric sheet, or sandwiched between two or more dielectric sheets that are used to match the susceptsnce of the screen. The techniques of transmission line analysis and the method of moments are employed to obtain a solution for this general class of boundary-value problems. Numerical results for several cases of interest in both X and Ku bands were obtained and shown to be in good agreement with experimental measurements.
Commutativity of up/down sampling

A technique for the construction of perfect reconstruction filter banks with division into non-uniform channels has been introduced. This construction uses the commutativity of subsampling and upsampling. Explicit conditions for commutativity have been presented only for the 1-D and 2-D cases. The Letter generalises the conditions for commutativity of subsampling and upsampling to arbitrary dimensions.
Implementation of a building foundation heat transfer model in EnergyPlus

In this article, a two-dimensional transient ground-coupled numerical model for slab-on-grade foundation is developed and integrated into EnergyPlus. A verification analysis is first presented to ensure that the developed building foundation heat transfer module is properly implemented within EnergyPlus. Then, predictions from the developed model are compared with those obtained from a simplified building foundation model currently used in EnergyPlus. Finally, the impact of several foundation insulation configurations on the annual variation of both heating and cooling loads is investigated for a one-storey single-family ranch house. The results show that the developed foundation heat transfer module accounts more accurately for the effects of the ground thermal mass than the foundation model currently used in EnergyPlus. In particular, it was found that annual heating and cooling loads can be overestimated by over 20% for a typical residential building if ground-coupled heat transfer calculations are not fully integrated in EnergyPlus.
Banks’ Governance, Capital Structure and Performance in Ghana

The paper explores the mechanisms through which banks rely on good governance to attract more equity capital towards the improvement of their profitability. The study employed a panel data for twenty-nine commercial banks in Ghana between the years from 2003 to 2015, using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), Fixed Effects and Random Effects estimators. The results are robust notwithstanding the estimation method employed, that bank governance affects banks’ performance in Ghana. Larger board size improves return on the banks’ equity just as large proportion of directors with finance expertise induces bank performance. All estimates also show that equity funding has a negative and significant effect on bank performance. The paper also found evidence that good bank governance attracts equity capital which, in turn, induces greater profitability. The study recommends for managers and policymakers of banks to adopt policies that will position the banks to improve governance structure, to improve managerial expertise to drive bank performance. Admonitions to expand bank capitalisation should not be encouraged without recourse to the improvement in bank governance effectiveness.
Effect of Street Pattern on Road Safety: Are Policy Recommendations Sensitive to Aggregations of Crashes by Severity?

In the past 50 years, the loops-and-lollipops design has become the basic building block of many urban neighborhoods. In the field of traffic engineering, this combination of cul-de-sacs and loop streets is designed to discourage through traffic and improve road safety, and thus it has the support of many traffic engineers. Perhaps because of its intuitive appeal, few studies have examined the impact of this design on road crashes. The city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was used as a case study to examine the effects of neighborhood street patterns on the number of reported crashes. In the study, crashes were converted into equivalent property-damage-only crashes using various weighting factors to check the sensitivity of the finding. Results suggest that currently popular road patterns such as warped parallel, loops, and lollipops are safer than the traditional gridiron pattern. Moreover, this result is quite robust regarding severity weights or aggregation schemes, albeit with some variations in the absolute values of the estimated effects. However, changing the aggregation scheme had a significant effect on some of the control variables used in the model, especially the socioeconomic characteristics, although most of the road features and land use estimates remained robust.
Analytically describing the temperature-dependent constitutive parameters of an electromagnetic metamaterial

Analogous to mechanical systems, modeling the electromagnetic (EM) performance of large and complex metamaterial structures requires the use of effective-medium/constitutive properties. Constitutive properties are critical for efficiently bridging the gap between subwavelength geometry and performance at the mesoscale. In this article, the temperature-dependent effective medium properties for a metamaterial electric-inductive-capacitive (ELC) resonator are described analytically. ELC structures are commonly used in metamaterial designs to provide a tailored electric response to EM waves. An equivalent circuit model, coupled with analytic expressions for the capacitances, inductance, and resistance of the ELC resonator, is utilized to describe how thermally induced mechanical strain and changes in material properties manifest as temperature-dependent permittivity and permeability curves for the metamaterial. The resulting analytic expressions account for the effects of spatial dispersion and losses. This article also details how the process may be expanded to similarly describe the temperature-dependent constitutive properties of metamaterial magnetic resonators.
Cryogenic, X-band and Ka-band InP HEMT based LNAs for the Deep Space Network

Exploration of the Solar System with automated spacecraft that are more than ten astronomical units from Earth requires very large antennae employing extremely sensitive receivers. A key figure of merit in the specification of the spacecraft-to-earth telecommunications link is the ratio of the antenna gain to operational noise temperature (G/Top) of the system. The Deep Space Network (DSN) receivers are cryogenic, low-noise amplifiers (LNAs). InP HEMT LNA modules are demonstrating noise temperatures less than ten times the quantum noise limit (10 hf/k) from 1 to 100 GHz. To date, the lowest noise LNA modules developed for the DSN have demonstrated noise temperatures of under 4 K at 8.4 GHz and 11 K at 32 GHz. The development and demonstration of cryogenic, InP HEMT based front-end amplifiers for the DSN requires accurate component and module characterization, and modeling from 1 to 100 GHz at physical temperatures down to and below 12 K, because of the broad band frequency response of InP HEMTs. The characterization and modeling begins with the HEMT chip, proceeds to the multi-stage HEMT LNA module, and culminates with the complete front-end cryogenic receiver package for the antenna. This paper presents an overview of this development process with emphasis on comparison between modeled and measured results at 8.4 GHz. Results are shown for devices, LNA modules, front-end receiver packages employing these modules, and antennae employing these packages.
Analysis of carbon nanotube reinforced composite plate using finite element method with higher order zigzag theory

ABSTRACT Static investigation of slim to tolerably thick composite plate built up by single-walled cabon nanotubes (CNT) is examined utilising the limited component technique dependent on higher order zigzag theory. The efficient material properties of nanocomposite plate have been dictated by the rule of mixture. It is seen that there are no outcomes accessible in the open writing on static investigation of nanocomposite plate dependent on refined theories. Point-by-point parametric investigations have been conveyed to uncover the impacts of the volume parts of the CNT, the edge to thickness proportions and different edge conditions on the bending behaviour of plate. To approve the current examination, some mathematical outcomes were compared with those accessible in the open literature, thus numerous outcomes have been created for future reference.
Relationship between the Built Environment in the Community and Individual Health in Incheon, Korea

With increasing global interest in creating healthy communities, research in urban planning and public health has been progressing on this topic. While discussions and researches in South Korea are beginning to occur at the urban planning level, most studies hitherto have centered round public health, with very few considerations of built environments. This paper aims to explore how individual characteristics and built environments in the community are correlated to individual health levels in Incheon, Korea. This study establishes a conceptual model to examine the relationship between public health, individual attributes, and built environments and analyze the effect of built environments on health level using a multilevel regression model. The results reveal that, with the exception of some variables, the correlations between individual health levels and built environment variables are statistically significant.
Ardisia japonica inhibits airway remodeling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in rats through inhibiting Wnt signaling pathway

Background The effects of Ardisia japonica (AJ) on airway remodeling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rats, and the mechanisms have not been verified. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a Miao medicine, AJ on airway remodeling in COPD rats, and to assess the mechanisms.Methods COPD model was produced by cigarette smoke and intratracheal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The experiments were divided into a normal group, a COPD group, different doses of AJ treatment groups and a positive control group. After treatments, matrix metalloprotein (MMP)-9, platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) levels in inferior lobes of the right lung tissues were detected by ELISA. Expression of Wnt signaling pathway was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. To verify the function of Wnt signaling pathway in airway remodeling, airway fibroblasts obtained from COPD rats were treated with Wnt signaling pathway agonists. The cell proliferation, apoptosis, and MMP-9, PDGF, TGF-β1 levels were determined.Results The pathological changes of COPD were confirmed by haematoxylin eosin (H&E) staining. MMP-9, PDGF and TGF-β1 levels were promoted in COPD rats, which were significantly reduced by different doses of AJ treatment. Importantly, components of Wnt signaling pathway, including Wnt5a, β-catenin and RhoA were up-regulated in COPD model, which were also significantly reduced by treatment with different doses of AJ. The airway fibroblasts were obtained from COPD rats and verified based on vimentin expression. Wnt signaling pathway agonists, lithium chloride (Licl), 4-Ethyl-5,6-Dihydro-5-methyl-[1, 3] dioxolo[4,5-j] phenanthridine (HLY78), TPA and epidermal growth factor (EGF) promoted cell proliferation, reduced apoptosis, and promoted MMP-9, PDGF and TGF-β1 levels.Conclusions Our data implicated that AJ could prevent airway remodeling in COPD rats, likely via depressing Wnt signaling pathway.
Comparison of the Geometric Accuracy by DSIF Toolpath with SPIF Toolpath

As there is no sufficient support between the single moving tool and fixture, the formed metal sheet is easy to bend in single point incremental forming (SPIF). Double sided incremental forming (DSIF) is proposed in which two tools are used on each side of the sheet to improve the components forming accuracy. Element finite method is introduced to simulate the forming process with both DSIF and SPIF toolpaths and the component geometric accuracies are compared. The simulation result shows the DSIF toolpaths can obtain better geometric accuracy than SPIF.
Inferences about Built Form, Construction, and Fabric in the Nondomestic Building Stock of England and Wales

Methods are described for making inferences as regards the geometrical and physical characteristics of all nondomestic buildings in England and Wales. Estimates are made of the floor areas in built forms with framed and load-bearing structures, respectively, and of the typical numbers of floors in built forms of different types. Calculations are made of the total areas of exposed walls, roof surfaces, and glazing, and of the breakdown of the wall and roof areas by material. The results are being used by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions to gain a better understanding of the patterns of energy use associated with nondomestic buildings. The “inference model” described here has been installed at the Building Research Establishment, where it forms one component of the National Non-Domestic Energy and Emissions Model (N-DEEM), whose purpose is to monitor the use of fossil fuels, estimate the emission of greenhouse gases, and evaluate fuel conservation measures (Pout, 2000). The paper is concluded with a discussion of possible refinements and tests of the inference methodology, and potential future extensions.
Impact Of Trade Facilitation On Extensive Margin: A Ppml Panel Gravity Equation Approach

This paper examines the link between trade facilitation and extensive margin for 111 countries over the period of 2008 to 2014. The study employs a panel pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) method to estimate the model. We measure trade facilitation using more comprehensive measures of enabling trade index (ETI); market access, border administration, transport and communication infrastructure, and business environment. The novelty in using ETI is a comprehensive index that takes into account the effects of factors, policies, and services facilitating the free flow of goods over borders and to the destination. The paper has four major findings. Our results highlight that better trade facilitation leads the countries to export, import more diversified, and a wider range of products. Second, improvement in the business environment and transport and communication infrastructure in trade facilitation yield the highest return in terms of increasing the number of exported products. Third, border administration coming as the second most important factor in affecting extensive margin. Forth and most interestingly, despite economic integration, there is a considerably stronger effect on the side of exporter’s trade facilitation, which shows large unexploited gains, to be reaped on the side of exporter countries trade facilitation.
Computational Theories of Alcohol Use Disorder: Mapping Learning and Choice Mechanisms on Symptoms

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is characterized by a combination of symptoms including excessive craving, loss of control, and progressive neglect of alternative pleasures. A mechanistic understanding of what drives these symptoms is needed to improve diagnostic stratification and to develop new treatment and prevention strategies for AUD. To date, there is no consensus regarding a unifying mechanistic framework that accounts for the different symptoms of AUD. Reinforcement learning (RL) and economic choice theories may be key to elucidating the underlying processes of symptom development and maintenance in AUD. These algorithms may account for the different behavioral and physiological phenomena and are suited to dissect mechanisms linked to different symptoms of AUD. We here review different RL and economic choice models and how they map onto three symptoms of AUD: (1) cue-induced craving, (2) neglect of alternative rewards, and (3) consumption despite adverse consequences. For each symptom and theory, we describe findings from animal and human studies. In humans, we focus on empirical studies that investigated RL models in the context of treatment outcome in AUD. The review indicates important gaps to be addressed in the future by highlighting the challenges in transferring findings from RL and economic choice studies to clinical application. We also critically evaluate the potential and pitfalls of a symptom-oriented approach and highlight the importance of elucidating the role of learning and decision-making processes across diagnostic boundaries.
Service life prediction of existing reinforced concrete bridges exposed to chloride environment

There is a need to develop a calculation method to aid in the making of reliable predictions for the service life of bridge structures. This paper examines the basis for making service life predictions for existing reinforced concrete (RC) bridges in chloride-laden environments based on mathematical modeling. The corrosion process has two stages, the initiation time (t1) including depassivation time (tp) and the corrosion (propagation) time (tcor). The total service life of existing RC bridges can be expressed as t=t1+tcor. Many mathematical models were applied to calculate each t1 and tcor. The AJMF (2) and modified Bazant methods are suggested to estimate the values of t1 and tcor, respectively. The Chung-shan Bridge, 69 years old, in Taipei, was offered as an illustrative example for the modeling approach and service life predictions. The predicted results, such as B, E, F, and H zones, for the service life of the old Chung-shan Bridge using the proposed method showed that it is serviceable and reliabl.
The European Project Semester at ISEP: the challenge of educating global engineers

Current engineering education challenges require approaches that promote scientific, technical, design and complementary skills while fostering autonomy, innovation and responsibility. The European Project Semester (EPS) at Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) (EPS@ISEP) is a one semester project-based learning programme (30 European Credit Transfer Units (ECTU)) for engineering students from diverse scientific backgrounds and nationalities that intends to address these goals. The students, organised in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, are challenged to solve real multidisciplinary problems during one semester. The EPS package, although on project development (20 ECTU), includes a series of complementary seminars aimed at fostering soft, project-related and engineering transversal skills (10 ECTU). Hence, the students enrolled in this programme improve their transversal skills and learn, together and with the team of supervisors, subjects distinct from their core training. This paper presents the structure, implementation and results of the EPS@ISEP that was created in 2011 to apply the best engineering practices and promote internationalisation and engineering education innovation at ISEP.
Differential-mode ultra-wideband bandpass filter on microstrip line

A differential-mode ultra-wideband (UWB) bandpass filter on a microstrip line is proposed and implemented with good common-mode suppression. A sixth-stage branch-line differential-mode bandpass filter is designed with the specified UWB passband. By introducing two pairs of open-circuited stubs in the symmetrical plane, the differential-mode frequency response remains unchanged but its common-mode counterpart is reshaped to achieve the stopband in the overall UWB. A filter is then fabricated for experimental verification of the proposed technique.
A geospatial model to determine patterns of ice cover breakup along the Slave River1

Spring floods have become less frequent along the Slave River and Slave River Delta. As a result, prolonged dry periods have occurred leading to an influx of invasive vegetation more tolerant to dry conditions (e.g., willows). Ice cover breakup and ice jamming can be important mechanisms in river flooding. A clear understanding of spatial and temporal patterns of the spring ice cover breakup along the Slave River could identify possible causes of reduced flood magnitude and frequency in the Slave River Delta. Few attempts have been made to examine the patterns of ice cover breakup along this river. A geospatial model has been introduced in this study to pinpoint the most likely areas of breakup initiation and persistent ice and ice cover at the end of the breakup period along the river. Relatively narrow river sections are responsible for initiation of breakup and relatively wide sections of the river have a strong predisposition for persistent ice along the Slave River. Daily time series of MODIS satelli.