Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of the energy efficiency design index on very large crude carrier design and CO2 emissions

This paper studies the impact of the energy efficiency design index (EEDI) on very large crude carriers’ (VLCCs) CO2 emissions. In competitive sectors such as the VLCC market, this analysis must be performed over a market cycle adjusting a ship's steaming speed to the market rate and bunker cost. Our numbers indicated that, over a market cycle, imposition of EEDI will result in a slight increase in VLCC CO2 emissions, relative to no regulation at all. The problem is two-fold: (1) For VLCCs, EEDI effectively limits installed power. But at current and expected Bunker Fuel Oil prices, a non-EEDI VLCC owner uses all his installed power only in a full boom. For the great bulk of her life, a non-EEDI VLCC uses little or no more power than an EEDI-compliant ship. (2) In limiting installed power, EEDI induces owners to use smaller bore, higher revolutions-per-minute engines. These engines have a higher specific fuel consumption and, more importantly, require a smaller and less efficient propeller. This means the EEDI-compliant VLCC consumes more fuel when the market is not in boom, which is 90% of the time. In contrast, we find that a $50 per ton CO2 bunker tax will reduce VLCC CO2 emissions by more than 6% over a market cycle. Moreover, it will do so without forcing the world to devote 30% more resources to a greatly expanded, under-powered, overdriven VLCC fleet.
Condition Monitoring of Power Transformer On-Load Tap-Changers. Part 1: Automatic Condition Diagnostics

Automatic diagnostics for an on-load tap-changer (OLTC) requires a reliable technique that can classify vibration signals measured using an accelerometer mounted on the tank. In the paper, the authors investigate the automatic classification of OLTC vibration signatures using a self-organising map (SOM) and develop a feature extraction procedure that can extract essential features from the original vibration signature. The proposed SOM signature classifier is evaluated with a database established for one type of distribution class OLTC. The application results reveal the practical advantages of SOM for a number of tasks in OLTC condition diagnostics.
Optimisation of maintenance track possession time: A tamping case study

Optimum allocation and efficient utilisation of track possession time are becoming important topics in railway infrastructure management due to increasing capacity demands. This development and other requirements of modern infrastructure management necessitate the improvement of planning and scheduling of large-scale maintenance activities such as tamping. It is therefore necessary to develop short-, medium- and long-term plans for performing tamping on a network or track section within a definite time horizon. To this end, two key aspects of infrastructure maintenance planning are considered in this paper, deterioration modelling and scheduling optimisation. An exponential deterioration function is applied to model the geometry quality of a series of 200 m segments of a 130 km line section, and an empirical model for recovery after tamping intervention is developed. These two models are subsequently used to generate a methodology to optimise a schedule for tamping intervention by minimising the total cost of intervention including the cost of track possession while geometry quality is ascertained to be within a desirable limit. The modelling considers two types of tamping interventions, preventive and corrective, with different intervention limits and tamping machines. The result of this paper suggests a tamping plan which will lead to optimum allocation of track possession time while maintaining the track geometry quality within specified limits.
Understanding the role of inhabitants in innovative mechanical ventilation strategies

The causes and implications are explored for why some inhabitants choose to avoid or abandon usage of their mechanical ventilation system. Over half of respondents in four LEED-certified high-rise residential buildings in Toronto, Canada, were found not to use their heat recovery ventilators (HRV). Questionnaire scores, comments and interview results found the following reasons: acoustic dissatisfaction, difficulty with the accessibility of filters, inhabitant knowledge and preferences, and lack of engagement with training materials. A disconnect also exists between the expectations of designers and the thinking and behaviours of inhabitants. The implications of inhabitants' ventilation behaviours were also explored though metered energy data as well as noise and indoor air quality (IAQ) measurements within their dwellings. Results suggest that abandoning mechanical ventilation in favour of passive ventilation can actually lead to greater satisfaction with IAQ and to decreased energy consumption. It is recommended that designers employ resilient design strategies that allow for varied preferences (e.g., for passive ventilation) to be exercised by inhabitants without undermining suite- or building-level performance. The study also highlights the importance of using post-occupancy evaluation methodology to understand how inhabitants interact with (new) technology in order to optimize performance and satisfaction in high-rise residential buildings.
INFLUENCE OF AGGREGATE SHAPE ON BASE BEHAVIOR

A re-examination and simplification of the original rut index concept for predicting rut susceptibility in aggregate bases is presented to eliminate some of the disadvantages of the original approach. The rut index can be determined from the results of a single cyclic load triaxial test performed at a confining stress of 6 psi, rather than at two confining stresses as originally proposed. The principal stress ratio to be used in the test varies from 2 to 6, depending on the structural strength of the pavement section. The resilient and permanent deformation characteristics of river gravel, granitic gneiss, shale, limestone, and quartzite aggregates were determined using the cyclic load triaxial test. Variables investigated included density, gradation, moisture content, and aggregate shape and surface characteristics. The revised rut index concept was used to evaluate and compare the relative permanent deformation behavior of these various unbound aggregates. The cubic-shaped, smooth rounded river gravel was found to be more than two times as susceptible to rutting as the crushed aggregates tested. The crushed aggregates were angular, blade, and disc shaped and had relatively rough surfaces. These aggregates generally performed similarly with respect to permanent deformation, although the visual appearance of the two blade-shaped aggregates was not as nice as the others. The use of a simple, slow triaxial shear test as a practical alternative to the conventional dynamic test was studied for evaluating the resilient and permanent characteristics of unbound base materials. The slow triaxial shear test was found to be suitable for evaluating the resilient modulus, but appeared not to be appropriate for evaluating permanent deformation characteristics.
Optimal design of a hybrid air stripping/pervapouration system for removal of multicomponent VOCs from groundwater

Groundwater streams contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) require proper treatment to comply with drinking requirement restrictions. Air stripping and pervapouration are two common treatment technologies for groundwater contaminated with VOCs. An attractive alternative for VOC treatment may be to combine these two technologies together within the same circuit since this offers potential advantages over the operation of either of these systems alone. The current study focuses on the important issue of determining in an objective and systematic manner how to combine these two technologies to meet the drinking water requirements in the most cost-effective manner. Superstructure optimisation is the framework for hybridisation investigated in this study to determine the optimal treatment network and operating conditions for the treatment units to achieve desired water qualities. Two case studies illustrating the proposed approach are presented and the sensitivity of their optimal solutions to perturbations in certain operating conditions is discussed.
Simulation methods for the temporal and frequency dynamics of optical communication systems

I examine two methods for modeling the temporal dynamics of optical communication networks that rapidly and accurately simulate the statistics of unlikely but physically significant system configurations. First, I implement a fiber emulator based upon a random uniform walk over the Poincare sphere that reproduces the expected polarization temporal autocorrelation statistics with a small number of emulator sections. While easy to implement numerically, the increased computational efficiency afforded by this approach allow simulations of the PMD temporal dynamics to be preferentially biased towards regions of low probability using standard multicanonical methods for the first time. Then, in a subsequent study, I present a general transition matrix formalism that additionally applies to other time-dependent communication systems. I compare the numerical accuracy of several transition matrix sampling techniques and show that straightforward modifications of the acceptance rule can significantly increase computational efficiency if the numerical parameters are chosen to ensure a small self-transition probability within each discretized histogram bin. The general applicability of the transition matrix method is then demonstrated by calculating the outage dynamics associated with the hinge model of polarization evolution and, separately, fading in wireless communication channels. Further, I develop a Magnus expansion formalism for the rapid and accurate estimation of the frequency dynamics of optical polarization that extends the work of Ref. [94] to systems with PMD and PDL. My approach reproduces the power-series expansion and differential equation solution techniques of previous authors while also preserving the required symmetries of the exact solution in every expansion order. This significantly improves the bandwidth of high estimation accuracy, making this method well-suited to the stochastic analysis of PMD and PDL induced system penalty while also yielding physically realizable operator expansions applicable to the joint compensation of PMD and PDL. Finally, I employ high-speed polarimetery to demonstrate experimentally that low-amplitude mechanical excitations of commercially available dispersion compensation modules can excite high-frequency, > 75,000 rotations/s, polarization transients that are nearly invariant between successive measurements. I extend this procedure to measurements of the transient evolution of PMD.
Development of the standardised precipitation index for Greece

The use of standardised precipitation index (SPI) may lead to an understanding of a droughts magnitude and duration and thus contributing to integrated drought management options. Greece, a semi-arid country, has very often faced the hazardous impacts of droughts. The worst drought on record lasted from 1989 to 1993, and affected all the country, particularly the urban water supply of Athens metropolitan area. Rainfall time series from 41 rain stations were used to calculate SPI, for time scales of 3, 6, 12 and 24 months. Forty eight (48) interpolation surfaces were produced and assessed using historical data and statistical parameters for the SPI spatial visualisation through GIS kriging of the 1989–1993 drought. The results suggest the use of SPI as a drought monitoring tool, namely in areas with a distinct dry season, supporting drought forecasting and assisting integrated strategies for drought management.
Supporting Students with or at Risk of Emotional Disturbance within the Response to Intervention Model: A Systematic Review

This research was not supported by any grants. Abstract The response to intervention (RtI) model is a pre-referral model adopted by schools in the United States to prevent academic failure and enhance students’ academic outcomes. Recent research in the educational field suggests that integrating behavioral components into this model can support students with or at risk of emotional disturbance (ED). This study provides a systematic review of studies published between January 2004 and April 2020 that employ experimental research designs to examine the implementation of RtI to support students with or at risk of ED. A total of seven studies were identified and reviewed. Results vary for the implementation of RtI to support students with or at risk of ED. Although some studies reported potential positive effects of implementing RtI to reduce disruptive behaviors among students, other studies reported that students were unresponsive to the received behavioral intervention within RtI. Further studies are thus needed to fill the gap in the literature on how students with or at risk of ED can be supported by schools adopting the RtI model.
Analysis of the effect of two-wheeler lane-sharing behavior on macroscopic traffic flow modeling

AbstractSmall size motorized vehicles such as the motorized two-wheelers are predominantly present in the traffic observed in the developing countries. Presence of these smaller vehicles invalidates the concept of lane discipline commonly observed in the homogeneous traffic streams. In this paper an attempt has been made to understand the Motorized Two-Wheeler (MTW) lane-sharing behavior and its effects on traffic flow modeling. The objectives of this attempt are to analyze the lane-sharing behavior of MTWs at microscopic and macroscopic level, and to propose a methodology to incorporate this behavior in the macroscopic modeling concepts. Effect of the MTW lane-sharing behavior on the microscopic and macroscopic traffic characteristics and the corresponding models is discussed. A plausible way to incorporate this behavior, specifically in macroscopic modeling, is discussed. From a specific analysis based on VISSIM (version 5.20) it has been observed that the MTW lane-sharing behavior significantly influen.
Estimation of bulk DON content of small grain samples for comprehensive evaluation of Fusarium head blight resistance in wheat

Abstract. Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat is caused by Fusarium graminearum and several other Fusarium species. FHB causes significant grain yield and quality losses due to accumulation of mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON) in infected kernels. Host resistance is considered the most practical and effective means of controlling FHB. DON levels in harvested grains are often used to assess FHB reaction of wheat varieties. A non destructive single kernel method was developed to estimate DON content in wheat grain samples using single kernel DON levels estimated by our single kernel near infrared (SKNIR) system. We estimated DON in 500-kernel grain samples from FHB screening trials conducted in 2010 and 2011 and compared those with DON determined by the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. Results showed that DON levels of small kernel samples can be estimated by the SKNIR method using an estimate of single kernel weight and predicted DON levels. This method estimated DON levels in 90% of 160 samples within 6.7 ppm of DON levels determined by GC-MS. Single kernel DON analysis showed that DON content among DON containing kernels (DCK) varied considerably. Distribution of single kernel DON levels among kernels was used to compare Fusarium head blight (FHB) reaction of wheat varieties. Study of the DON distribution among all kernels as well as among DCK of a grain sample is helpful for an in-depth evaluation of FHB reaction of wheat varieties. The SKNIR single kernel DON analysis and study of single kernel DON distribution patterns demonstrated in this study may help wheat breeders to comprehensively screen varieties in relation to their resistance to spread of disease and resistance to DON accumulation.
The design and fabrication of a porous polymer-based three-dimensional cell culture device for drug screening

A porous polymer-based three-dimensional (3D) cell culture device was developed to test the cytotoxicity of anticancer drugs. The device had two chambers that were connected in tandem, each containing a 3D tissue engineering scaffold made of biodegradable poly(lactic acid) (PLA). The system was driven by a peristaltic pump to realise perfusion. In this paper, we present the design and fabrication of the 3D cell culture device and the selection of the cell culture method and perfusion flow rate. The 3D cell culture device was used to test the cytotoxicity of a cancer treatment drug, Temozolomide (TMZ) to liver cells and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cancer cells. As a comparison, the same test was conducted with a two-dimensional (2D) cell culture system. The results show that the cells cultured in 3D were much more resistant to TMZ than those in 2D. Since 3D cell cultures promote the formation of tissue-mimicking structures, the device developed in this study could be used as a more realistic in vitro platform for drug screening.
Lessons learnt from humanitarian negotiations with the Taliban, 1996-2001

This rapid literature review finds that humanitarian actors responded in a variety of ways to Taliban actions limiting principled aid in the country during the period of their rule (1996-2001). The report is focused on the findings around humanitarian negotiation and the strategy of humanitarian actors in response to Taliban policies limiting women's ability to work for humanitarian organisations or access services. The findings are not intended to imply parallels with the current situation in Afghanistan. Evidence is in the form of a number of evaluations, academic articles and lessons learned papers on negotiating with the Taliban. It discusses the methods of negotiating with the Taliban (e.g. co-ordination, working with the leadership or rank-and-file), the content of negotiations and particularly the question of reaching agreement on women’s rights, as well as humanitarian actors’ negotiating capacity. There is less discussion on the negotiation of specific programmes (e.g. anti-gender-based violence programmes). Due to the different goals and principles of humanitarian actors, as well as different ideas of feasibility, conclusions on the effectiveness of negotiating tactics vary. Strategies therefore cannot be judged as 'successful' without reference to a conception of what is most important in humanitarian programming, and the constraints of the situation. The review highlights lessons on good negotiating practices. The main issue being negotiated was the clash between the Taliban's restrictions on women and humanitarian actors' aim of providing aid to all, including women, according to need. Various strategies were used to persuade the Taliban to consent to principled aid. This review considers aid agency negotiating strategy and tactics, as well as the underlying interests and constraints that may make negotiations more or less successful.
Tip-Disturbance Effects on Asymmetric Vortex Breakdown Around a Chined Forebody

An experimental study about the tip-disturbance effects on the asymmetric vortex breakdown of a chined forebody was conducted using a wing-body model. The vortices of the chined forebody could produce an asymmetric breakdown at high angles of attack when adding an artificial disturbance onto the nose tip. The forebody vortex with asymmetric breakdown would further interact with the vortices of the strake and wing, consequently inducing significant differential loads on two sides of the wing. When the tip disturbance was located on the leeward side and approached the nose tip, the disturbance had a more prominent effect on the asymmetric breakdown. Moreover, the asymmetry level of the vortex breakdown would increase with increasing geometric sizes of the tip disturbance. However, when a splitter plate was placed in the leeward symmetry plane of the model, the asymmetry of the vortex breakdown would disappear, even adding a tip disturbance.
Social Capital and Success of Minority Entrepreneurs

Scholars and policymakers can use this research to understand the relationship between successful performance of minority entrepreneurs and social capital. Entrepreneurship is a driving force that can create a society of self-supporting individuals. Minority entrepreneurship is an avenue for individuals to lift themselves out of poverty and create job opportunities for others. Social capital is economic and social networks used by people to promote transactions and alliances as a means to produce goods and services for themselves and for a common good. Social capital involves networking and political and social skills. Social capital networks consist of operations that include mutual benefits, trust, and cooperation. A quantitative analysis was conducted of a sample that included 287 minority male and female business owners to measure business revenues, company size, and self-reported assessment. The findings noted political and social skills significantly impact internal or intrinsic success measure. However, social networking did not relate to external or extrinsic success (revenue and size of company) among minorities in this study. Explanations are included about the findings and future research suggestions are also provided.
Industrial Constructions: The Sources of German Industrial Power

1. Introduction: problems with the German model 2. Blending in: decentralized industrialization in Germany 3. Repositioning organized capitalism into regions: autarkic industrial order in Germany 4. The national context: 1871-1945 5. Return to regions: the development of the decentralized industrial order since 1945 6. Autarkic industrial order: 1945-1994 7. The national context: 1945-1994 Notes List of interviewees Bibliography Appendix: Maps.
How can regime characteristics of catchments help in training of local and regional LSTM-based runoff models?

Abstract. In the field of Deep Learning, the long short-term memory (LSTM) networks lie in the category of recurrent neural network (RNN) architectures. The distinctive capability of the LSTM is learning non linear long term dependency structures. This makes the LSTM a good candidate for prediction tasks in non linear time dependent systems such as prediction of runoff in a catchment. In this study, we use a large sample of 740 gauged catchments with very diverse hydro-geo-climatic conditions across France. We present a regime classification based on three hydro-climatic indices to identify and classify catchments with similar hydrological behaviors. We do this because we aim to investigate how regime derived information can be used in training LSTM-based runoff models. The LSTM-based models that we investigate include local models trained on individual catchments as well as regional models trained on a group of catchments. In local training, for each regime, we identify the optimal lookback, i.e. the length of the sequence of past forcing data that the LSTM needs to work through. We then use this length in training regional models that differ in two aspects: 1) hydrological homogeneity of the catchments used in their training, 2) configuration of the static attributes used in their inputs. We examine how each of these aspects contributes to learning of the LSTM in regional training. At every step of this study, we benchmark performances of the LSTM against a conceptual model (GR4J) on both train and unseen data. We show that the optimal lookback is regime dependent and homogeneity of the train catchments in regional training has a more significant contribution to learning of the LSTM than the number of the train catchments.