Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pricing and remanufacturing decisions in two competing supply chains

This paper considers the pricing and remanufacturing decisions in a duopoly market with two competing supply chains, which compete at both manufacturer and retailer levels. There are one manufacturer and one retailer in each supply chain, one manufacturer produces the new product directly from raw material, while the other manufacturer has incorporated a remanufacturing process for used product into the original production system. Based on different industry organisation structures and the chain members’ competing forms, five game decision models are established to explore the chain members’ optimal strategies on price and/or remanufacturing, and the corresponding equilibrium solutions are obtained. Finally, we carry out the sensitivity analysis through numerical studies of some key parameters for examining their influences on the pricing decisions and chain members’ maximum profits. On the basis of comparison and analysis, some managerial insights are derived.
Series array of highly hysteretic Josephson junctions coupled to a microstrip resonator

We have tested a new device based on a 12 junction array coupled to a resonator. We have explored the feasibility of the phase lock for all the junctions at the same biasing current, which yields voltage quantization across each junction, eliminating the need to individually bias the junctions. The whole rf structure has been realized by stripline technology. The resonator is fed by a 50‐Ω line and is decoupled from the dc circuit by elliptical low‐pass filters inserted in the bias leads.
Malacological news from the Czech and Slovak Republics in 2020

This paper presents important faunistic records including location data with all details conducted in the Czech and Slovak Republics during 2020. Four new non-native species, Arion intermedius, Ambigolimax valentianus, Clathrocaspia knipowitschii and Krynickillus melanocephalus, were recorded outdoors in Slovakia. Radix lagotis was genetically confirmed for the first time from several sites in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Corbicula fluminea, recorded in Moravia for the first time in 2018, was found in another river, ca 50 km far from the first occurrence. Cepaea nemoralis, recorded in Slovakia for the first time in 2015, seems to have started spreading. New sites of Cornu aspersum were noticed in Prague and Bratislava; for the first time it was also found in Brno. There are also new records of several endangered species, e.g. Vertigo moulinsiana, Pisidium hibernicum, P. globulare, and Pseudanodonta complanata, presented.
Practical Advanced Analysis for Unbraced Steel Frame Design

This paper presents practical advanced analysis methods for two-dimensional unbraced steel frame design. Three methods for practical design are developed and refined: (1) an explicit imperfection modeling method; (2) an equivalent notional load method; and (3) a further-reduced tangent modulus method. The magnitudes of geometric imperfections for unbraced frames are proposed. The strengths predicted by the proposed methods are compared with those predicted by the exact plastic-zone method as well as the conventional load resistance factor design (LRFD) method. The displacement predictions are also compared with those of the plastic-zone solutions. Analysis and design guidelines in using the proposed methods are given in detail. Member sizes determined by the proposed methods are compared with those determined by the LRFD method. A good agreement is generally observed. The proposed methods can be used for unbraced frame design without the tedious separate member capacity checks, including the calculation o.
Satisfaction and continuance with a learning management system

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the perceptions of educators and students with a learning management system (LMS). The comparison is based on survey data collected from 185 educators and 249 students in a Finnish university who use a popular LMS, Moodle. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis of the survey data follows a two-phase strategy. In the first phase, perceptions of educators and students regarding ease of use, result demonstrability, usefulness, access, reliability, compatibility, satisfaction, and continuance intention were compared using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). In the second phase, partial least squares (PLS) technique is employed to compare the path values and explained variances of satisfaction, and continuance intention by putting relevant variables as predictors. Findings – The ANOVA results suggest that students have higher positive perceptions regarding ease of use, usefulness, access, reliability, and compatibility of the LMS than the educators. The P.
Learning under Imperfections by Networked Agents

Author(s): Zhao, Xiaochuan | Advisor(s): Sayed, Ali H. | Abstract: Distributed learning deals with the problem of optimizing aggregate cost functions by networked agents from streaming data. This scenario arises in many contexts including distributed estimation, machine learning, resource allocation, and in the modeling of flocking and swarming behavior by biological networks. Among several available solutions such as consensus and incremental strategies, the class of diffusion strategies has proven to be particularly attractive because these techniques are scalable, robust, fully-distributed, and endow networks with real-time adaptation and learning abilities.One key challenge in real applications is that networked agents generally face many types of asynchronous imperfections, such as random link failures, random data arrival times, noisy links, random topology changes, agents turning on and off randomly, and even drifting objectives. This dissertation provides a detailed analysis of the stability and performance of asynchronous diffusion strategies for solving distributed optimization and adaptation problems over networks in the presence of such imperfections. Conditions are developed to ensure the stability of the mean-square and mean-fourth-order moments of the network error vectors; closed-form expressions are derived to reveal how the network parameters influence the learning behavior; and the performance of the asynchronous networks is then compared against centralized solutions and synchronous networks. One notable conclusion is that the mean-square performance of asynchronous networks degrades only in the order of amu, which is a small step-size parameter, while the convergence rate remains largely unaltered. A second notable conclusion is that even under the influence of asynchronous events, all agents in the adaptive network can still reach an O(amu1+agammal\superg)$ near-agreement with some constant agamma g 0, while approaching the desired solution within O(amu) accuracy. These theoretical results provide a solid justification for the remarkable resilience of cooperative networks in the face of random imperfections at multiple levels: agents, links, data arrivals, and topology. The dissertation also examines a second challenging form of uncertainty arising from agents in a network pursuing different objectives or observing data arising from different unknown models. In these cases, indiscriminate cooperation will lead to undesired results. A useful adaptive clustering and learning strategy is developed in order to allow agents to learn which neighbors should be trusted and which other neighbors should be ignored. The resulting procedure enables agents to identify their grouping and to attain improved learning performance.
GENETIC ALGORITHMS AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR DESCRIPTION OF THERMAL DETERIORATION PROCESSES

ABSTRACT Two novel approaches to modelling of thermal deterioration processes have been proposed in the paper. In the first approach, the genetic programming is used and in the second one, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) structures are investigated. The models developed were verified on the basis of experimental data obtained from the process of vitamin C thermal degradation. Both approaches provide an excellent process description. In the case of ANN modelling, the proposed method is simpler to implement when compared to classical models.
Monitor setups for IT helpdesk workers: a comparison study

In the hectic world of an IT helpdesk with an ever increasing number of applications and tasks on the go, managing the intricacies of how to navigate these is a cause of frustration for helpdesk workers. I had noticed while working on a helpdesk that the workspace area particularly the monitor setups that IT helpdesk workers have to use makes doing their job difficult. The number of applications open, the number of tasks on the go at once and the added pressure of customer contact, all call for applications and data to be accessed quickly but the set up of the users workspace generally does not allow for this. The main objective of this research is to compare the difference between the use of a single screen, a dual screen and the new Multi-Layer Display (MLDTM) and the complications of having multiple applications and multiple monitors operating at one time for IT Helpdesk Workers. This research looked at how the users’ monitor setup influenced the performance, efficiency, satisfaction, ergonomics and learning of the participants. The research showed that there was a clear dislike of the current set up of single screens; all participants felt that the single screen setup limited what they could do at once and it rated the least favourite of all. The dual and MLDTM screens showed positive outcomes for increasing multi-tasking abilities and raising users’ perceived performance and satisfaction levels. The added screen real estate of both the dual and MLDTM over the single screen meant that users consistently had more information available to them
Radiation and temperature effects on electronic components investigated under the CSTI high capacity power project

The effects of nuclear radiation and high temperature environments must be fully known and understood for the electronic components and materials used in both the Power Conditioning and Control subsystem and the reactor Instrumentation and Control subsystem of future high capacity nuclear space power systems. This knowledge is required by the designer of these subsystems in order to develop highly reliable, long‐life power systems for future NASA missions. A review and summary of the experimental results obtained for the electronic components and materials investigated under the power management element of the CSTI high capacity power project will be presented in this paper: (1) Neutron, gamma ray, and temperature effects on power semiconductor switches, (2) Temperature and frequency effects on soft magnetic materials; and (3) Temperature effects on rare‐earth permanent magnets.
An Integrated Multi-model Approach for Predicting the Impact of Household Travel on Urban Air Quality and Simulating Population Exposure

The population and economic growth experienced by Canadian metropolitan areas in the past twenty years, has been associated with increased levels of car ownership and vehicle kilometres travelled leading to a deterioration of air quality and public health and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The need to modify urban growth patterns has motivated planning agencies in Canada to develop a broad range of policies aiming at achieving a more sustainable transportation sector. The challenge however, remains in the ability to test the effectiveness of proposed policy measures. This situation has led to a renewed interest in integrated land-use and transport models to support transport policy appraisal. This research is motivated by the need to improve transport policy appraisal through the use of integrated land-use and transport models linked with a range of sub-models that can reflect transport externalities. This research starts with an exploration of the transport policy environment in Canada through a questionnaire-based survey conducted with planners and policy-makers. The survey results highlight the need for tools reflecting the sustainability impacts of proposed policies. While the second part of this research explores sustainability indicators and recommends a set of social, economic, and environmental measures, linked with integrated land-use and transport models; effort is iii dedicated to estimate the environmental indicators as part of this thesis. As such, the third part of this research involves the development of an emission-dispersion-exposure modelling framework. The framework includes a suite of sub-models including an activity-based travel demand model (TASHA), an emission factor model (Mobile6.2C), a meteorological model (CALMET), and a dispersion model (CALPUFF). The framework is used to estimate link-based emissions of light-duty vehicles in the Greater Toronto Area under a base scenario for 2001. Dispersion of emissions is then conducted and linked with population in order to estimate exposure to air pollution.
Review of traffic data estimations extracted from cellular networks

One of the main characteristics of modern society is the never-ending increase in mobility. This leads to a series of problems such as congestion and increased pollution. To resolve these problems, it is imperative to have a good road network management and planning. To efficiently identify the characteristics of traffic in the road network, it would be necessary to perform a permanent monitorisation of all roadway links. This would involve an excessive cost of installation and maintenance of road infrastructure. Hence, new alternatives are required which can characterise traffic in a real time with good accuracy at an acceptable price. Mobile telephone systems are considered as a promising technology for the traffic data collection system. Its extensive use in converting its subscribers in a broad sample to draw information from phones becomes anonymous probes to monitor traffic. It is reviewed how to obtain parameters related to traffic from cellular-network-based data, describing methods used in existing simulation works as well as field tests in the academic and industrial field.
ANALISIS SISTEM PENCATATAN DAN PELAPORAN PUSKESMAS (SP3) DENGAN PENERAPAN SIMPUS DI PUSKESMAS KARANGMALANG SEMARANG TAHUN 2012 - 2013

ABSTRAK ANALISIS SISTEM PENCATATAN DAN PELAPORAN PUSKESMAS (SP3) DENGAN PENERAPAN SIMPUS DI PUSKESMAS KARANGMALANG SEMARANG TAHUN 2012 – 2013 AISIYAH TRI ANNISA PUTR Informasi atau laporan merupakan kualitas yang relevan, tepat waktu, dan efesien agar dapat bermanfaat bagi yang membutuhkan sebagai dasar pengambilan keputusan. Sistem Pencatatan dan Pelaporan Terpadu Puskesmas SP2TP / SIMPUS didalam pelaksanaannya masih terbatas pada data yang merupakan hasil dari interaksi antara masyarakat dengan fasilitas kesehatan. Khususnya Mengetahui sistem Pencatatan dan Pelaporan di Puskesmas. Tujuan penelitian mengetahui sistem Pencatatan dan Pelaporan Puskesmas dengan penerapan SIMPUS di Puskesmas Karangmalang Semarang. Penelitian ini bersifat deskriptif dengan metode observasi dan pendekatan cross sectional. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu data yang diperoleh pada saat penelitian dilakukan. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian didapatkan bahwa pengiriman SIMPUS ke DKK tidak bisa dikirim secara online dikarenakan bahwa sistem internet belum ada dan di Puskesmas Karang Malang Semarang tidak memakai modem untuk mengirimkan laporan secara online dan juga pengirim masih menggunakan satu komputer dan terkadang komputer yang ada sering bergantian dengan petugas lain yang ada di Puskesmas sehingga petugas harus mengirimkan sendiri laporan secara langsung datang dan sering terjadi keterlambatan. Kegiatan untuk pencatatan dan pelaporan data di Puskesmas dilakukan secara mengelompokkan semua data agar bisa di proses setelah itu di masukkan ke dalam komputer, akan tetapi kendala yang di timbulkan ketika hendak memasukkan data yaitu petugas harus bergantian menggunakan komputer yang disediakan, karena komputer yang di sediakan hanya ada satu komputer saja, jadi proses pencatatan dan pelaporan data sedikit terhambat di karenakan harus bergantian menggunakan komputer yang ada dengan petugas yang lain yang terdapat di bagian Pendaftaran. Kesimpulan yang diperoleh adalah Penerapan SIMPUS dalam mengirimkan laporan belum menggunakan sistem Online dan Sistem pencatatan dan pelaporan dilakukan secara komputerisasi, akan tetapi komputer yang disediakan hanya ada satu Unit yaitu hanya terdapat dibagian pendaftaran saja, sehingga disarankan sebaiknya menggunakan SIMPUS secara Online untuk mempermudah pengiriman laporan ke DKK Semarang dan sebaiknya melengkapi fasilitas Komputer disetiap unit untuk memudahkan dalam pelaporan.
Analysis of Rotor Dynamic by One-Dimensional Variable Kinematic Theories

In this paper, Carrera's unified formulation (CUF) is used to perform free-vibrational analyses of rotating structures. The CUF is a hierarchical formulation which offers a procedure to obtain refined structural theories that account for variable kinematic description. These theories are obtained by expanding the unknown displacement variables over the beam section axes by adopting Taylor's polynomials of N-order, in which N is a free parameter. Linear case (N = 1) permits us to obtain classical beam theories while higher order expansions could lead to three-dimensional description of dynamic response of rotors. The finite element method is used to derive the governing equations in weak form. These equations are written in terms of few fundamental nuclei, whose forms do not depend on the approximation used (N). In order to assess the new theory, several analyses are carried out and the results are compared with solutions presented in the literature in graphical and numerical form. Among the considered test cases, a rotor with deformable disk is considered and the results show the convenience of using refined models since that are able to include the in plane deformability of disks.
Four FET active integrated microstrip antenna

In this article, an active integrated microstrip antenna combining the output power of four field‐effect transistors (FETs) is described. The radiation pattern is similar to a four‐element phased array. The antenna is fed along its nonradiating edge thereby permitting the FETs to be connected directly to it. A prototype operating at 2.455 GHz demonstrates the feasibility of the antenna. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 2997–3000, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24768
State-of-art CW power density achieved at 26 GHz by AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

The DC and microwave power performance of metal organic chemical vapour deposition-grown AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on SiC substrate is reported. The devices exhibited high maximum current density of 1.1 A/mm with high peak extrinsic transconductance of 234 mS/mm. At 26 GHz, the devices achieved continuous-wave (CW) power density of 5 W/mm with power-added-efficiency of 30.1%, which represents the highest output power density and associated power-added efficiency reported above 20 GHz.
Efficient and low cost inverted hybrid bulk heterojunction solar cells

In this study, hybrid bulk heterojunction solar cells with an inverted architecture were fabricated using solution processing techniques. ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticles were then incorporated to the active layer which primarily consists of poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6] phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). The devices were prepared with varying ratios of PCBM to nanostructured inorganic oxides (ZnO and TiO2) while keeping a fixed amount of P3HT. Various characterization techniques were used to understand the effect of metal oxide nanoparticles on structure, morphology, and performance of resulting devices. It was observed that incorporating an optimum amount of nanoparticles to the active layer increased charge carrier mobility, surface roughness of the active layer, and absorption in visible region leading to a significant increase in power conversion efficiency. However, a significant agglomeration of nanoparticles was observed as their ratio relative to PCBM increased and they completely .
Explainable Deep-Learning-Based Path Loss Prediction from Path Profiles in Urban Environments

This paper applies a deep learning approach to model the mechanism of path loss based on the path profile in urban propagation environments for 5G cellular communication systems. The proposed method combines the log-distance path loss model for line-of-sight propagation scenarios and a deep-learning-based model for non-line-of-sight cases. Simulation results show that the proposed path loss model outperforms the conventional models when operating in the 3.5 GHz frequency band. The standard deviation of prediction error was reduced by 34% when compared to the conventional models. To explain the internal behavior of the proposed deep-learning-based model, which is a black box in nature, eight relevant features were selected to model the path loss based on a linear regression approach. Simulation results show that the accuracy of the explanatory model reached 72% when it was used to explain the proposed deep learning model. Furthermore, the proposed deep learning model was also evaluated in a non-standalone 5G New Radio network in the urban environment of Taipei City. The real-world measurements show that the standard deviation of prediction error can be reduced by 30–43% when compared to the conventional models. In addition, the transparency of the proposed deep learning model reached 63% in the realistic 5G network.
A transient-based real-time scheduling algorithm in FMS

Real-time scheduling in flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) is a difficult problem because of the complexities and dynamic behaviour of FMS. In this paper, a transient-based real-time scheduling algorithm which selects a dispatching rule dynamically for a next short time period in order to respond to changes of system state is proposed. In this algorithm, the scheduling interval associated with the selected dispatching rule is defined based on the system transient state as predicted by discrete event simulation. Simulation is also applied to evaluate the performance of the candidate dispatching rules for the next scheduling interval.
Designing novel reversible BCD adder and parallel adder/subtraction using new reversible logic gates

Reversible logic has received much attention in recent years when calculation with minimum energy consumption is considered. Especially, interest is sparked in reversible logic by its applications in some technologies, such as quantum computing, low-power CMOS design, optical information processing and nanotechnology. This article proposes two new reversible logic gates, ZRQ and NC. The first gate ZRQ not only implements all Boolean functions but also can be used to design optimised adder/subtraction architectures. One of the prominent functionalities of the proposed ZRQ gate is that it can work by itself as a reversible full adder/subtraction unit. The second gate NC can complete overflow detection logic of Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) adder. This article proposes two approaches to design novel reversible BCD adder using new reversible gates. A comparative result which is presented shows that the proposed designs are more optimised in terms of number of gates, garbage outputs, quantum costs and unit delays than the existing designs.