Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Satisfaction with job and life and remote work in the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of perceived stress, self-efficacy and self-esteem

BACKGROUND The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between performing remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic and the level of job and life satisfaction, as well as the assumed, intermediary role of the level of perceived stress and such resources as self-efficacy and self-esteem. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE The study, implemented with the use of an internet application, included 283 employees. Data were gathered using a job and life satisfaction scale, the Short Scale for Measuring General Self-Efficacy Beliefs, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Perceived Stress Scale PSS-4 and a demographic information form. RESULTS The results showed the existence of a relationship between performing remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic and job and life satisfaction, and that the level of perceived stress, self-efficiency and self-esteem plays an intermediary role in this relationship. Remote working is associated with life and job satisfaction, and this relationship is mediated by levels of experienced stress, self-efficacy and self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS Findings indicate that remote working is associated with higher levels of job and work satisfaction. This relationship is mediated by levels of perceived stress, self-efficacy and self-esteem.
FusionVLP: The Fusion of Photodiode and Camera for Visible Light Positioning

The previous Photodiode-only (PD-only) VLP systems might not provide an accurate positioning solution in an interference environment. Meanwhile, the previous camera-only VLP systems might need a specific camera with a high resolution and a large Field Of View (FOV). This article proposes a Visible Light Positioning (VLP) system (FusionVLP) based on the fusion of the measurements from a standard PD and a low-cost camera to compensate their individual deficiencies, thus improving VLP accuracy and achieving great potential for low-cost deployment. FusionVLP has an Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) module for real-time positioning and a Fixed-Lag Ensemble Kalman Smoother (FLEnKS) module for semi-real-time positioning for different application requirements. Furthermore, a new two-step adjusted PD Received Signal Strength (RSS) model with adaptive parameter training is proposed to mitigate the model error of the traditional model, thus improving VLP accuracy. To further enhance the positioning accuracy, a novel positioning method based on a typical rectangular ceiling pattern is proposed, thus providing a camera-based specific position measurement for data fusion and improving the positioning by 36.27% (2D) and 35.61% (3D). The field experiments in an interference environment show that FusionVLP achieves the accuracy of 8.67 cm (2D)/12.15 cm (3D) using FLEnKS.
Study on a Countermeasure Using Walls Made of Perforated Plate for High Level Sound

Vortices occur when gas flow passes through a duct with a tube bank of heat exchangers, such as a gas heater and/or a boiler. Very high level noise called a “self-sustained tone” occurs due to the interference of the vortices and the sound field in the duct. In general, baffle plates are used to suppress the self-sustained tone. However, it is difficult to use them effectively, because insertion conditions are vague. Then, perforated plates are used in both sides of the duct walls to suppress the self-sustained tones. Because we thought that the perforated plate might have acoustic damping and resonance mode of the duct perpendicular direction to the flow may be suppressed by its damping effect, when the self-sustained tone occurred. Some experiments were carried out to examine the suppression effect of the perforated plates installed. As a result, the suppression effect appeared in all cases. The purpose of this study is to clarify the effectiveness of the perforated plates for self-sustained tones. © 2015 ASME
Optimized transmission-line impedance transformers for petawatt-class pulsed-power accelerators

We have developed 1D analytic and 2D fully electromagnetic models of radial transmission-line impedance transformers. The models have been used to quantify the power-transport efficiency and pulse sharpening of such transformers as a function of voltage pulse width and impedance profile. For the cases considered, we find that in the limit as $\ensuremath{\Gamma}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ (where $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ is the ratio of the pulse width to the one-way transit time of the transformer), the transport efficiency is maximized when the impedance profile is exponential. As $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ increases from zero, the optimum profile gradually deviates from an exponential. A numerical procedure is presented that determines the optimum profile for a given pulse shape and width. The procedure can be applied to optimize the design of impedance transformers used in petawatt-class pulsed-power accelerators.
Modeling the risk of introducing non-indigenous species through ship hull biofouling: case study of Arzew port (Algeria)

Biofouling of ship hulls is one of the most important vectors for the transfer of aquatic invasive species. These species cause widespread impacts to native environments and ecological communities, in addition to imposing financial costs for industry. Targeted surveillance and effective adaptive management require knowledge on the likelihood of new introductions of non-indigenous species (NIS). We develop a model of the likelihood of introduction and invasion of NIS for the port of Arzew (Algeria), based on the length of stay of vessels in the ports of call, the latitude of these ports, the geographical distance from the port of Arzew, ship’s speed, effectiveness of the antifouling system and antifouling strategy used in port of origin. We identified areas that represent a source of high risk species invasion, according to the environmental similarity of the ports of origin with the Arzew port using the Mahalanobis distance. We show that over one year, 738 trips have been made at the port of Arzew, inflicting a very high risk of invasion, in particular from six coastal ecoregions, (the Western Mediterranean ecoregion, the Northern and Central Red Sea, the South European Atlantic Shelf, the Ionian Sea ecoregion, the North Sea, and the Aegean Sea). These results can be used for invasive species management purposes, such as: the application of specific regulations to high-risk vessels and ports in order to minimize the transfer of these species. The methods and models developed here are transferable to any region around the world with similar data availability.
Experimental Modelling Studies on the removal of crystal violet, methylene blue and malachite green dyes using Theobroma cacao (Cocoa Pod Powder).

The adsorption characteristics of basic dyes (crystal violet, CV), (methylene blue, MB) and (malachite green, MG) using Theobroma cacao (Cocoa pod powder), an alternative adsorbent were evaluated. Batch experiments were carried out by varying parameters such as pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, initial dye concentration and temperature. The optimal conditions for the adsorption of CV, MB and MG on Cocoa pod powder, CCP were found have contact time (180 min), pH (4,8 and steady 6-10), temperature (333K) for an initial dye concentration of 60ppm using adsorbent dosage of 0.2g respectively. The adsorption capacity of CV, MB and MG dyes decreased with increasing CPP dosage, while there was increase with contact time and initial dye concentration. Eleven Isotherm parameters were tested with experimental data showed that CV, MB and MG dyes best fitted for Dubnin – Radushkevich, Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Adsorption Kinetic were modelled with Pseudo first-order, Pseudo second-order, Weber- Morris Intra-Particle diffusion, Boyd, Elovich, and Bangham. The data fitted well with Pseudo second order kinetic model compared to other kinetic models with correlation coefficient of 0.9933, 0.9981 and 0.9953 for CV, MB and MG dyes respectively. Thermodynamic parameter such as ΔG, ΔS and ΔH were calculated using van’t hoff’s and Arrhenius equations. The adsorption of CV, MB and MG increased with decreasing temperature as the process was exothermic, spontaneous and favourable in nature. Finally, the process parameter of each adsorption system is useful for developing environmental management and modelling matrices to understand best suitable system.
Shipper Willingness to Pay to Increase Environmental Performance in Freight Transportation

Reduction of the environmental impact of freight transport becomes more crucial as the worldwide volume of freight transport increases. Not only technological improvements are needed but also organizational and operational changes designed to optimize logistic chains, including the allocation of goods to transport modes. Such changes often imply an increase in transport prices and are therefore realistic only if an explicit demand of shippers for environmental improvements can be observed. A shipper survey was administered in Switzerland to evaluate relevant factors in shipper demand for land transport services (including the role of freight transport's environmental performance). The survey included stated-choice experiments based on real-world transport chains. A set of logit models was estimated to quantify shippers' willingness to pay for reducing the environmental impact of their shipments. Special focus was given to differences between types of commodities shipped and to the impact on choice behavior of conventional quality aspects (on-time reliability, transit time, etc.). Results support the hypothesis that the closer a shipper is linked to the end consumer, the higher the sensitivity to environmental concerns.
Performance of an OFDM-CDMA HF modem

Transmission in the high frequency (HF) band is considered not to be reliable, due to channel's highly dispersive characteristics, frequency selectivity, Doppler spread and multipath propagation. Briefly, it can be stated that all inconveniences of a wireless channel are present, making this channel a very hostile environment. Some innovations used in presented HF modem design are described. Orthogonal multicarrier modulation, specifically, orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM), was applied, and utilization of code division multiple access (CDMA) leads to good use of channel's frequency diversity. A convenient receiver design for this type of modulation is presented as well. With Reed-Solomon channel coding possible modem's useful data rates are approximately 2400 and 3600 bps. Long interleaving and channel coding was avoided in order to achieve interactive transmission of digital voice. This, however, leaves an additional possibility of modem's performance enhancement if interactivity is not the primary goal.
Microwave circuits modeling using neural networks: overview of the results achieved at the faculty of electronic engineering in Nis

This paper is an overview of the results in neural networks application in the microwave circuits modeling achieved within the Laboratory for Microwave Technique and Satellite Television at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Nis, Yugoslavia. Neural networks are applied in modeling either of passive or active structures. Modeling is performed using not only simple multilayer perceptron network but also advanced knowledge based neural network structures.
The More Electric Aircraft: the past and the future?

The concept of the More/All Electric Aircraft, where the majority/all of the aircraft's secondary power needs are supplied in an electrical form, is far from new. There have been almost continual studies and demonstrations of the technologies and equipment required over the past 20 years and yet we are still to see a More Electric Aircraft (MEA) enter service. Is the MEA concept to remain a concept for the future or is its adoption immanent and, if so, what has changed to make its adoption more likely in the near future? This paper aims to give a brief history of the MEA concept to provide a context for the papers covering current work that follow. It also is intended to put forward some of the reasons why the author believes aircraft using the concept are likely in the near future.
Study of silicon carbide for X-ray detection and spectroscopy

This work presents an analysis of silicon carbide (SiC) as semiconductor for the realization of detectors for soft X-rays (<20 keV). On the basis of experimental data on prototype SiC junctions, the performance in X-ray spectroscopy using planar diode and drift detectors in SiC have been estimated in a wide range of operating temperature (up to 150/spl deg/C). It has been derived that, due to their extremely low reverse current density (4.7 pA/cm/sup 2/ at 300 K and 17 pA/cm/sup 2/ at 340 K and at electric field of 100 kV/cm), SiC detectors can potentially reach superior performance with respect to all the other semiconductors presently employed at or above room temperature. In particular, a comparative theoretical analysis, based on experimental data on state-of-the-art silicon and SiC junctions, shows that SiC detectors with areas larger than 1 mm/sup 2/ have the potentiality to offer higher energy resolution when operating at temperature above 25/spl deg/C. An energy resolution of about 700 and 1300 eV FWHM have been estimated for 1 mm/sup 2/ and 10 mm/sup 2/ SiC pad detectors operating at 100/spl deg/C with a silicon front-end FET. The contribution of a standard silicon front-end electronics on the system performance has been analyzed. The open issues in SiC technology for X-ray detector development are highlighted.
Perception of Customer about Significance of Nutritional Information in the Menu of Restaurants: A Study of Restaurants in

This paper examines the perception of customers about significance of nutritional information in the menu of restaurants of Chandigarh (U.T) and also to examine the influence of age on the nutritional significance of customers’ in UT, Chandigarh. To address the objectives of the study 100 respondents were questioned from various restaurants in Chandigarh. The results reveal customers are inclined towards having nutritional information in the menu’s and moreover it is identified that all the age groups were having a similar perception towards three items and for rest of the factors opinion of customers differed from one another. It is suggested that restaurant operators need to consider nutritional information as a significant factor while planning menu.
microRNA regulation of fruit development, quality formation and stress response

Fruits, as the reproductive organs of many higher plants, are an integral part of a balanced diet, providing rich nutrients and bioactive substances for our health. Over the years, the research on fruit development, quality formation and stress response has deepened, which sheds light on the regulatory mechanism and application of fruit quality improvement. Among the many regulatory factors, microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of short non-coding RNAs, ranging from 20 to 24-nt, which post-transcriptionally regulate target gene expression. miRNAs and their functions have been extensively examined in plants especially in model species, and they play critical roles in the regulation of diverse biological processes in response to endogenous developmental signals and external environmental cues, respectively. In fruit crops, the function of miRNAs and their regulation have also been under intensive study. In particular, the novel roles of miRNAs that have not been revealed in the model annual species have been unraveling, which reflect the genetic, physiological, and developmental complexity of gene regulation in fruit crops. Here we review the current research progress achieved, specifically in fruit crops, with a focus on the function of miRNAs in the control of fruit development and quality as well as response to various stresses. The future prospects of miRNAs for quality-targeted fruit breeding are also discussed.
Laser phase noise induced error-rate floors in differential n-level phase-shift-keying coherent receivers

A simple and illustrative analytical model for the phase noise influence in differential n-level phase shift keying (nPSK) systems is presented. Results for the phase noise sensitivity are given for a dual polarisation system configuration with basic baud-rate of 25 GS/s. Results emphasise the need for highly phase stable optical signal sources in higher constellation configurations as needed for total system capacities of 400 Gbit/s or more. Classical distributed feedback laser diodes with linewidth of 200 kHz-10 MHz are not feasible beyond the order of 200 Gbit/s capacity. 2n-level circular quadrature amplitude modulated (2nQAM) systems may increase the capacity by 50 Gbit/s compared to nPSK with no added phase noise penalty.
Parameters Analysis of Hydraulic-Electrical Energy Regenerative Absorber on Suspension Performance

To recycle the vibration energy of vehicles over rough roads, a hydraulic-electricity energy regenerative suspension (HEERS) was designed in the present work, and simulations were performed with focus on its performance. On the basis of the system principle, the mathematical model of hydraulic-electrical energy regenerative absorber (HEERA) and two degrees of freedom (DOF) suspension dynamic model were constructed. Using the model of HEERA, simulations on force-displacement and force-velocity characteristics were performed with a 1.67 Hz frequency and a sinusoidal input adopted. And then in combination with HEERA model and two DOF suspension models, simulations on the performance of HEERS also were carried out. Finally, the influences of charging pressure and volume of the accumulator, hydraulic motor displacement, orifice area of check valve, and inner diameter of hydraulic pipelines on the performance of HEERA and HEERS were investigated in depth. The simulation results indicated that (i) the damping characteristic of HEERA was coincident with the damping characteristics of traditional absorber; (ii) the most remarkable influencing factor on the performance of HEERS was the hydraulic motor displacement, followed by orifice area of check valve, inner diameter of pipelines, and charging pressure of accumulator, while the effects of charging volume of accumulator were quite limited.
Design and Optimization of a Shape Memory Alloy-Based Self-Folding Sheet

Origami engineering—the practice of creating useful three-dimensional structures through folding and fold-like operations on two-dimensional building-blocks—has the potential to impact several areas of design and manufacturing. In this article, we study a new concept for a self-folding system. It consists of an active, self-morphing laminate that includes two meshes of thermally-actuated shape memory alloy (SMA) wire separated by a compliant passive layer. The goal of this article is to analyze the folding behavior and examine key engineering tradeoffs associated with the proposed system. We consider the impact of several design variables including mesh wire thickness, mesh wire spacing, thickness of the insulating elastomer layer, and heating power. Response parameters of interest include effective folding angle, maximum von Mises stress in the SMA, maximum temperature in the SMA, maximum temperature in the elastomer, and radius of curvature at the fold line. We identify an optimized physical realization for maximizing folding capability under mechanical and thermal failure constraints. Furthermore, we conclude that the proposed self-folding system is capable of achieving folds of significant magnitude (as measured by the effective folding angle) as required to create useful 3D structures.
Aeration performance of rectangular planform labyrinth weirs

A high level of dissolved oxygen is vital for the maintenance of healthy streams and rivers. Structures in rivers can increase dissolved oxygen levels by creating turbulent conditions where small air bubbles are carried into the bulk of the flow. Plunging overfall jets from weirs are a particular instance of this, and the aeration properties of such structures have been studied widely in the laboratory and field over a number of years. On the other hand, labyrinth weirs, where the weir sill is cranked in planform thus increasing their length, have received little or no attention in this context. They have a proven hydraulic advantage over straight weirs of increased discharge at the same head for design conditions. However, they also serve to modify the combined overfall jet as individual jets from adjacent sections of the weir collide. This paper describes an experimental investigation into the nature of these jets and how they affect the aeration performance of a triangular plan labyrinth weir. It is demonstrated that the aeration efficiency of these labyrinth weirs generally is better than their equivalent-length linear weir and that this advantage becomes more pronounced as the weir included angle becomes smaller and also at lower overfall drop heights and higher discharges. These results point to the possible advantage of these type of weir in situations where both hydraulic and aeration performance needs to be optimized.
Identification and evaluation of success factors for public construction projects

Achieving success in public construction projects is difficult because it requires economy, efficiency, quality, fairness and transparency. Such projects are taken up on the requisition of owners/clients and almost always involve multiple entities and are also accountable to external financial audit and vigilance agencies. Identification of the success factors is considered the key to achieving success in these projects. Through an extensive literature review, 36 success attributes were identified and a questionnaire-based survey was undertaken to elicit views of professionals on these success attributes. The responses from 105 professionals with an average of 22 years of experience in public construction projects in India were collected and analysed. The factor analysis yielded four success factors: awareness of and compliance with rules and regulations; pre-project planning and clarity in scope; effective partnering among project participants; and external monitoring and control. These four success factors were also used in multivariate linear regression in order to explore their relative significance for overall performance, and compliance with anti-corruption and financial norms. The most significant factor for overall performance is awareness of and compliance with rules and regulations. The results would be helpful to public construction project professionals in taking proactive measures for successful completion of public projects.
Composition of Urine, Feaces, Greywater and Biowaste for Utilisation in the URWARE Model

When analysing new types of sewage systems, knowledge is needed on the composition of the different wastewater fractions. The computer model URWARE, developed from the model ORWARE, is intended to analyse and compare different wastewater system structures, e.g. to compare wastewater systems where urine and/or faeces are source separated with conventional wastewater systems, where the different wastewater fractions are mixed with each other. To use URWARE for this purpose, knowledge was needed on the composition of the wastewater fractions urine, faeces and household greywater. Sometimes the compostable household waste is mixed into the wastewater by use of a food waste disposer and thus also the composition of the solid compostable household waste is needed. Thus, the objective of the present report was to collect the knowledge on the mass and composition of urine, faeces, greywater and compostable household waste in Sweden. (Less)