Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cooperative Highway Traffic

As cooperative systems (connected vehicles) enable communication and the exchange of information between vehicles and infrastructure, the communication capabilities are expected to lead to better active traffic management on urban motorways. Technological constraints must be the basis for any management strategy. If communication has been analytically proved to help stabilize traffic flow at a microscopic level, then realistic communication strategies should be evaluated by taking into consideration multiple perturbations such as sensor faults and driver cooperation. In this study, a three-layer multiagent framework was used to model and control the homogenization of traffic flow. The physical layer coordinated vehicle dynamics on the basis of a cooperative car-following model. This layer included cooperation derived from the communication and trust layers that, respectively, managed information and its reliability. Simulation results highlight the positive impacts of communication and control on the stability of traffic flow.
Field Measurements for Investigating the Dynamics of the Tidal Prism during a Spring-Neap Tidal Cycle in Jiaozhou Bay, China

ABSTRACT Xiao, K. ; Li, H. ; Song, D. ; Chen, Y. ; Wilson, A.M.; Shananan, M. ; Li, G. , and Huang, Y. , 2019. Field measurements for investigating the dynamics of the tidal prism during a spring-neap tidal cycle in Jiaozhou Bay, China. Journal of Coastal Research, 35(2), 335–347. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The tidal prism is a crucial environmental index for evaluating the water self-purification capacity in semi-enclosed bay systems, but quantitative studies linking spring-neap tidal variations are few. In this paper, field measurements of the tidal level and tidal flux were conducted in Jiaozhou Bay (JZB) to estimate the hydrodynamic and tidal prism variations during a spring-neap tidal cycle. JZB is located on the south coast of Shandong Peninsula, China, with a narrow inlet of 3.1 km width, which was accessible for continuous shipboard Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler measurements over 15 days. Unfortunately, due to the violent sea induced by typhoon “Chan-hom,” the measurements were suspended for 2 days. However, the fluxes during the temporary suspension were reproduced using the significant linear relationship between the inlet fluxes and the changes in tidal level (r2 = 0.94, P < 0.001), without considering the storm surge. The relationship between tidal range and tidal prism was also linearly correlative (r2 = 0.69, P < 0.001), indicating that the tidal prism was primarily controlled by the tidal range in JZB. These linear relationships are well verified by historical data in JZB. Compared with previous studies in JZB, the tidal prism has decreased 26% from 1928 to 2008. The decreased intertidal areas, caused by large-scale land reclamations, were likely responsible for the decrease in the tidal prism, which in turn weakened the self-purification capability and triggered the chronic pollutant enrichment. However, the tidal prism increased 4% from 2008 to 2015 as the restoration of water area through protective policies formulated by government. These findings will contribute to designing maintenance strategies for reducing human activity impacts on the health of JZB in the future.
Impact of a spirometry expert system on general practitioners(cid:146) decision-making

This study assessed the impact of computerised spirometry interpretation expert support on the diagnostic achievements of general practitioners (GPs), and on GPs(cid:146) decision-making in diagnosing chronic respiratory disease. We performed a cluster-randomised controlled trial in 78 GPs who completed 10 standardised paper case descriptions each. Intervention consisted of support for GPs(cid:146) spirometry interpretation either by an expert system (expert support group) or by sham information (control group). Agreement of GPs(cid:146) diagnoses were compared with an expert panel judgement, which served as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were additional diagnostic test rates, width of differential diagnosis, certainty of diagnosis, estimated severity of disease, referral rate, and medication or non-medication changes. Effects were expressed as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. There were no differences between the expert support and the control group in the agreement between GP and expert panel diagnosis of COPD (OR=1.08 [95% CI 0.70-1.66]), asthma (OR=1.13 [95% CI 0.70-1.80]), and absence of respiratory disease (OR=1.32 [95% CI 0.61-2.86]). A higher rate of additional diagnostic tests was observed in the expert support group (OR= 2.5 [95% CI 1.17-5.35]). Computerised spirometry expert support had no detectable benefit on GPs(cid:146) diagnostic achievements and decision-making process when diagnosing chronic respiratory disease.
An Assessment on the Informatization of Brazilian Industrial Companies

This paper reports on a study about the adoption and use of Information Technology by Brazilian industrial companies, related to technology infrastructure, information systems, Internet, human resources and investments. Concepts related to the subject are discussed and the results of a descriptive survey carried out in 326 small, medium and large Brazilian industries are presented. The results indicate that there are statistically significant differences among the three sizes of companies considered in the research. There are evident differences in the adoption and use of the technology and these differences seem to be related to the size of the company. These differences do not result from economic shortcomings or difficulties the companies have in accessing the investigated resources. Although the paper does not specifically address problems of policy making regarding the reduction of these differences, it presents a framework for analyzing the patterns of informatization in industrial companies, and the results themselves offer parameters for comparing IT utilization in industries in other countries.
Hiatus‐like decades in the absence of equatorial Pacific cooling and accelerated global ocean heat uptake

A surface cooling pattern in the equatorial Pacific associated with a negative phase of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation is the leading hypothesis to explain the smaller rate of global warming during 1998–2012, with these cooler than normal conditions thought to have accelerated the oceanic heat uptake. Here using a 30‐member ensemble simulation of a global Earth system model, we show that in 10% of all simulated decades with a global cooling trend, the eastern equatorial Pacific actually warms. This implies that there is a 1 in 10 chance that decadal hiatus periods may occur without the equatorial Pacific being the dominant pacemaker. In addition, the global ocean heat uptake tends to slow down during hiatus decades implying a fundamentally different global climate feedback factor on decadal time scales than on centennial time scales and calling for caution inferring climate sensitivity from decadal‐scale variability.
Deep Reinforcement Learning Framework for Thoracic Diseases Classification via Prior Knowledge Guidance

The chest X-ray is commonly employed in the diagnosis of thoracic diseases. Over the years, numerous approaches have been proposed to address the issue of automatic diagnosis based on chest X-rays. However, the limited availability of labeled data for related diseases remains a significant challenge in achieving accurate diagnoses. This paper focuses on the diagnostic problem of thorax diseases and presents a novel deep reinforcement learning framework. This framework incorporates prior knowledge to guide the learning process of diagnostic agents, and the model parameters can be continually updated as more data becomes available, mimicking a person's learning process. Specifically, our approach offers two key contributions: (1) prior knowledge can be acquired from pre-trained models using old data or similar data from other domains, effectively reducing the dependence on target domain data; and (2) the reinforcement learning framework enables the diagnostic agent to be as exploratory as a human, leading to improved diagnostic accuracy through continuous exploration. Moreover, this method effectively addresses the challenge of learning models with limited data, enhancing the model's generalization capability. We evaluate the performance of our approach using the well-known NIH ChestX-ray 14 and CheXpert datasets, and achieve competitive results. More importantly, in clinical application, we make considerable progress. The source code for our approach can be accessed at the following URL: https://github.com/NeaseZ/MARL.
Film thickness measurement with high spatial and temporal resolution planar capacitive sensing in oil-water pipe flow = Medida da espessura de filme usando sensor capacitivo de alta resolução espacial e temporal para escoamentos óleo-água em tubos

Neste trabalho, e apresentado o desenvolvimento de uma nova tecnica para a medicao da espessura do filme de agua com alta resolucao espacial e temporal em escoamento oleo-agua. E proposto o uso de um sistema de medicao de capacitância eletrica para medir filmes finos de agua na proximidade da parede do tubo. O sistema conta com um sensor planar e foi necessario determinar a melhor geometria via simulacoes baseadas no Metodo de Elementos Finitos (FEM) para o caso de escoamento oleo-agua. As caracteristicas comparadas foram a profundidade de penetracao do campo eletrico no filme de agua, a sensibilidade, a resolucao espacial minima e a resposta quase-linear. Padroes de escoamento oleo-agua disperso e anular instavel foram estudados numa tubulacao vertical de 12 m de comprimento, feita de vidro, com 50,8 milimetros de diâmetro interno. Os fluidos usados foram oleo mineral (com densidade 828 kg/m3 e viscosidade 220 mPas) e agua da torneira. O trabalho experimental foi realizado nas instalacoes de escoamento multifasico do Laboratorio de Engenharia Termica e Fluidos (NETeF) da EESC-USP. Foi medida a espessura media do filme de agua usando o sistema capacitivo e uma câmera de video de alta velocidade. Para obter a espessura do filme de agua a partir das imagens, foi proposto um algoritmo de pre-processamento e um algoritmo de segmentacao que combina varios metodos disponiveis na literatura. Os resultados experimentais do sensor capacitivo mostraram que o sistema pode medir espessuras entre 400 µm e 2200 µm. O escoamento anular instavel e caracterizado por grandes flutuacoes na no sentido do escoamento e na direcao do perimetro, e estruturas interfaciais grandes (gotas). Por sua vez, o escoamento disperso tem flutuacoes menores no sentido do escoamento e na direcao do perimetro, e estruturas interfaciais menores (goticulas). Uma estrutura interfacial media no espaco e no tempo e proposta para modelar a interface entre a regiao proxima a parede do tubo e a regiao do nucleo, e sua analise foi feita no dominio do tempo e da frequencia. Foram estudadas a amplitude, velocidade e o comprimento da estrutura interfacial em cada par transmissor-receptor do sensor. Foi possivel estabelecer correlacoes para a velocidade das estruturas em escoamento de oleo em agua. Abstract
Mass Refugee Inflow and Long-Run Prosperity: Lessons from the Greek Population Resettlement

This paper investigates the long-term consequences of mass refugee inflow on economic development by examining the effect of the first large-scale population resettlement in modern history. After the Greco-Turkish war of 1919–1922, 1.2 million Greek Orthodox were forcibly resettled from Turkey to Greece, increasing the Greek population by more than 20% within a few months. We build a novel geocoded dataset locating settlements of refugees across the universe of more than four thousand Greek municipalities that existed in Greece in 1920. Exploiting the spatial variation in the resettlement location, we find that localities with a greater share of refugees in 1923 have today higher earnings, higher levels of household wealth, greater educational attainment, as well as larger financial and manufacturing sectors. These results hold when comparing spatially contiguous municipalities with identical geographical features and are not driven by pre-settlement differences in initial level of development across localities. The long-run beneficial effects appear to arise from agglomeration economies generated by the large increase in the workforce, occupational specialization, as well as by new industrial know-hows brought by refugees, which fostered early industrialization and economic growth.
A continental record of the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) from the Mercia Mudstone Group (UK): palynology and climatic implications

The generally arid Late Triassic climate was interrupted by a wet phase during the mid-Carnian termed the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE). Quantitative palynological data from the Mercia Mudstone Group in the Wessex Basin (UK) reveal vegetation changes and palaeoclimate trends. Palynostratigraphy and bulk organic carbon isotope data allow correlation to other Carnian successions. The palynostratigraphy indicates that the Dunscombe Mudstone is Julian and the lowest part of the overlying Branscombe Mudstone Formation is Tuvalian. The Aulisporites acme characterizing the CPE in Tethyan successions and the Germanic Basin is missing in the UK. The quantitative palynological record suggests the predominance of xerophyte floral elements with a few horizons of increased hygrophytes. A humidity signal is not seen owing to the dry climate in central Pangea. Also, the signal might be masked by the overrepresentation of xerophyte regional pollen and the predominance of xerophyte hinterland flora. The bias towards regional pollen rain is enhanced by the potential increase in continental runoff related to seasonally humid conditions and differences in pollen production rates and transport mechanisms. The vegetation of British CPE successions suggests a more complex climate history during the Carnian, indicating that the CPE is not recognized by the same changes everywhere. Supplementary material: A detailed lithological log of the Strangman's Cove (Devon) outcrop with the description of the Mercia Mudstone Group lithostratigraphical units, a description of the laboratory techniques, seven photoplates with selected spores and pollen grains, a list of all identified palynomorphs, Excel sheets with the palynological and palynofacies counts, bulk organic carbon isotope ratios and total organic carbon values of the Strangman's Cove outcrop are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare. c.4138085
AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for adoption of onshore and offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) by firms. Our analysis of data from 244 firms publicly traded in the United States indicates that firms with a stronger information technology infrastructure and business process knowledge are more likely to engage in onshore and offshore BPO. We also find a positive association between offshore BPO and cost-cutting business strategy, and between offshore BPO and IT department focus on innovation. This study makes three contributions. First, we integrate multiple streams of literature (transaction cost economics and capabilities) to create a theoretical framework to understand the drivers of BPO. This theoretical framework extends the emerging literature on BPO. Second, we establish a link between IT infrastructure and BPO, using contributions from the information systems literature on IT outsourcing and business process management. Third, we distinguish between onshore and offshore BPO, including contributions from the international business literature on internationalization, to identify any differences between onshore and offshore BPO.
Accuracy Required in Measurements of Refractive Index and Hygroscopic Response to Reduce Uncertainties in Estimates of Aerosol Radiative Forcing Efficiency

The magnitude of aerosol radiative forcing resulting from the scattering and absorption of radiation is still uncertain. Sources of uncertainty include the physical and optical properties of aerosol, reflected in uncertainties in real and imaginary refractive indices (n and k) and relative humidity (RH). The effect of RH on the geometrical size of aerosol particles is often reported as a hygroscopic kappa parameter (κ). The objective of this study is to explore the sensitivity of radiative forcing efficiency (RFE) to changes in particle properties in order to better define the accuracy with which optical and hygroscopic measurements must be made to reduce uncertainties in RFE. Parameterizations of precise values of n and k are considered as functions of RH for ammonium sulfate (AS) and brown carbon (BrC). The range of the RFE estimated for typical uncertainties of n and κ for AS of 0.1 μm dry radius is less than ±7% and is not affected by an increase of RH. For typical sizes of AS in the atmosphere (0.35 μm dry radius), the range of the RFE increases to ±20% at 90% RH and ±15% at 99% RH. Absorbing small BrC particles (0.1 μm dry radius) cause cooling at the top of the atmosphere, and as RH and κ increase, the RFE is more negative compared to the usual assumptions of dry unhygroscopic BrC. For larger BrC particles (0.35 μm dry radius), the change in RFE for RHs ~100% compared to dry conditions can take values around −100%.
AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)

Organizations have made significant investments in information systems (IS) implementation. However, more than half of these IS implementations have reported failures due to underutilization. Although it is known that IS infusion is required for realizing expected returns on investments, most IS research has focused on initial adoption and continuance with only a handful examined infusion. These few IS infusion studies have produced inconclusive results as they have employed models and factors that are used for adoption and continued use. Compare to adoption and continuance, IS infusion requires authentic motivation of users. Thus, this study examines IS infusion using user empowerment as the authentic motivation based on the psychological empowerment theory which can explain employee’s behavior beyond management prescription. Results show that the four user empowerment dimensions have significant effects on the three IS infusion subtypes. Further, results show that habit attenuates the importance of user competence for extended use and integrative use but reinforces the importance of usage meaning for extended use and user self-determination for integrative use. This study advances our theoretical understanding of IS infusion and offers suggestions to organizations in achieving IS infusion.
Impacts of SST Patterns on Rapid Intensification of Typhoon Megi (2010)

Typhoon Megi (2010), a very intense tropical cyclone with a minimum central pressure of 885 hPa, was characterized by especially rapid intensification. We investigated this intensification process by a simulation experiment using a high‐resolution (0.02° × 0.02°) three‐dimensional atmosphere‐ocean coupled regional model. We also performed a sensitivity experiment with a time‐fixed sea surface temperature (SST). The coupled model successfully simulated the minimum central pressure of Typhoon Megi, whereas the fixed SST experiment simulated an excessively low minimum central pressure of 839 hPa. The simulation results also showed a close relationship between the radial SST profiles and the rapid intensification process. Because the warm sea increased near‐surface water vapor and hence the convective available potential energy, the high SST in the eye region facilitated tall and intense updrafts inside the radius of maximum wind speed and led to the start of rapid intensification. In contrast, high SST outside this radius induced local secondary updrafts that inhibited rapid intensification even if the mean SST in the core region exceeded 29.0°C. These secondary updrafts moved inward and eventually merged with the primary eyewall updrafts. Then the storm intensified rapidly when the high SST appeared in the eye region. Thus, the changes in the local SST pattern around the storm center strongly affected the rapid intensification process by modulating the radial structure of core convection. Our results also show that the use of a high‐resolution three‐dimensional atmosphere‐ocean coupled model offers promise for improving intensity forecasts of tropical cyclones.
ÇUKUROVA UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES MSc. THESIS

I ÖZ. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. III NOMENCLATURE . IV TABLE OF CONTENTS.VI LIST OF FIGURES.VIII 1.INTRODUCTION. 1 1.1. Shallow Water.1 1.2. Turbulent Wakes Generated by Side-by-Side Cylinders in Deep Water.2 1.3. Flopping Regime.7 2.PREVIOUS STUDIES.10 2.1. Kelvin-Helmholtz and Karman Vortices.10 2.2. Shallow Water.12 2.3. Turbulent Wakes Generated by Side-by-Side Cylinders in Deep Water.20 2.4. Flopping Regime.23 3. MATERIAL AND METHOD . 27 3.1. Experimental Arrangement.27 3.1.1. Water Channel System.27 3.1.2. Experimental Model.28 3.2. Measurement Techniques.30 3.2.1. Particle Imaging Techniques.30 3.2.2 Image Acquisition.32 3.2.2.1. Seeding.33 3.2.2.2. Illumination.33 3.2.2.3. Image capturing.34 3.2.3.Image Evaluation.35 3.3. Cross-Correaltion Process . 37
13th ICCRTS: C2 for Complex Endeavors

Open source software development (OSSD) is a community-oriented, network-centric approach to building complex software systems. OSSD projects are typically organized as edge organizations that lack an explicit management regime to control and coordinate decentralized project work. However, a growing number of OSSD projects are developing, delivering, and supporting large-scale software systems that are displacing proprietary software alternatives. The U.S. Department of Defense is now committed to the adoption and deployment of software-intensive systems with open architectures and OSS components for application areas including command and control systems. Recent empirical studies of OSSD projects reveal that OSS developers often self-organize into organizational forms we characterize as evolving socio-technical interaction networks (STINs). These STINs emerge in ways that effectively control semi-autonomous OSS developers and coordinate project activities to produce reliable and adaptive software systems. In this paper, we examine how practices and processes enable and govern edge organizations like OSSD projects when coalesced and configured as contingent, sociotechnical interaction networks. In so doing, we draw on results from two ongoing case studies of governance activities and elements in a small and a large OSSD project.
Long-term impacts of tillage, crop rotation and cover crop systems on soil bacteria, archaea and their respective ammonia oxidizing communities in an Ontario agricultural soil

LONG-TERM IMPACTS OF TILLAGE, CROP ROTATION AND COVER CROP SYSTEMS ON SOIL BACTERIA, ARCHAEA AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AMMONIA OXIDIZING COMMUNITIES IN AN ONTARIO AGRICULTURAL SOIL Ian McCormick Advisor: University of Guelph, 2013 Professor Kari Dunfield This research assessed the seasonal effects of contrasting tillage and crop rotation systems on soil ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA). Four different cropping systems under till and no-till were analyzed in a 30 year-old agricultural field trial. Samples were collected during the 2010 growing season at times corresponding with agronomic events. Nucleic acids were preserved in the field and subsequently analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions (qPCR). Tillage decreased AOB activity and abundance in the plow layer (0-15 cm) immediately after fall moldboard plow events, but observed AOB dynamics at other times suggest tillage had a long-term distribution effect across depth (0-30 cm). AOA abundance was significantly greater in no-till plots at all times indicating tillage had longer-term effects on these communities. Crop rotation had minimal effect on AOB and AOA, but there was a noted yield advantage for corn following wheat, regardless of tillage treatment.