Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quality assurance in higher education : a case study of Kuwait University experience with total quality management approach : a panacea or a placebo?

This study explores the new quality assurance policy in Kuwait University. It aims to portray its positive development with the constraints and even the dysfunctions. A case study method is employed to focus on the new policy as it has been experienced in the science and education colleges. The QA policy at KU is an all-embracing approach that encompasses many aspects of institutional life. This study attempts to reflect the breadth of the strategy. The early chapters review the literature about quality assurance in higher education. This indicates that quality issues are of high priority worldwide. In this sense KU' s policy reflects an international trend but naturally the specific approach reflects the national context. Data were primarily taken from KU audiences, which include; academic administrators, faculty and students. Documents and questionnaires are also primary sources, which support the numerous interviews with KU informants. This diverse material provides for the triangulation of methods. After reporting the findings from the empirical investigations, an attempt is made to interpret the data through the employment of organisational metaphors. Four main metaphors were employed: KU as a system; KU as a political organisation; KU as an unstable changing organisation and KU as an organisational culture: an academic community. Metaphors as such provide an open-ended approach to the reader to perceive the new policy from different angles and perspectives relevant to the institution at large. The generalisations reached in the conclusions chapter support the fact that the institutionalisation of the new policy is influenced by external as well as internal factors that need to be considered by the various stakeholders of KU. These are the political and socio-economic local and international climate, the organisational structure of the institution and the cultural aspects of the academic community. Educational implications/recommendations are provided to further guide the ultimate development and success of the QA programme. Nonetheless, the new policy is still in its early stages of development to make confident judgements of its success or failure, as this study is exploratory rather than judgmental.
A New Model for Image Segmentation Based on Deep Learning

Image segmentation of the medical image and its conversion into anatomical models is an important technique and main point in computer vision (CV) and image processing (IP), training tools that are used routinely in the fields of medicine and surgery. Segmenting images and converting them into a model that depends on its work on the different algorithms and the extent of technological advancement and method of application. The advancement of segmentation algorithms has led to the possibility of creating three-dimensional models for the patient to study without endangering his life. This paper describes a combination of two fields of solving segmentation problem to convert through the workflow of a hybrid algorithm structure Convolutional neural network (CNN, Active Contour & Deep Multi-Planar) and seg3d2 to switch DICOM medical rays “Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine” into a 3Dimintional model, using data from active contour to be the input of deep learning. This research will be using are human liver DICOM images and is divided into two stages (medical image segmentation - retinal model optimization). This is to help doctors and surgeons to study the patient’s condition with accuracy and efficiency through the use of mixed reality technology in liver surgery [living donor liver transplantation (LDLT)], all implement by Seg3D2 and Python.
Experience Prototyping: Gathering Rich Understandings to Guide Design

In this chapter, the authors discuss Experience Prototyping as an appropriate research tool for capturing people's stories related to physical places. It is difficult to explore subjective experiences through strict conventional prototyping methods within a lab; therefore, the authors argue the need for innovative research techniques especially when designing interactive systems where mobility, context, and people play a fundamental role. They discuss the methodology of " Experience Prototyping, " which is used to gather insight in a research project, and also what advantages such method brings to a user-centered process. The authors present some reflections and themes that emerged from using experience prototypes, and how they contribute to our understanding of the relationship between spatial narrative and place, and in particular how they may be used as an interaction resource towards discovery and sharing of " place. " In doing so, they offer a basis for discussion on how to co-design technologically mediated experiences together with users of such spaces. Finally, the authors discuss how this method informed the design of " The Breadcrumbs " application.
Soluble dodecylsulfanylphthalocyanines as sensitive coatings for chemical sensors in gas phase

In this study, a series of new soluble dodecylsulfanylphthalocyanines are investigated as sensitive coatings for organic vapors by utilizing modified and conventional electrode quartz crystal resonators (QCR) based on changes in dielectric properties (electrical loading) and the well-known mass loading effect. These sensing properties were investigated by measuring both seriesand parallel-resonant frequencies (f/sub s/ and f/sub p/). The results showed that the sensor signals are completely reversible and reproducible at room temperature. Differences between f/sub s/ and f/sub p/ were observed for all investigated analytes. The two sets of data appear to be linearly independent, thus providing the possibility of implementing chemical sensors with improved selectivity using pattern recognition. In addition, the interaction mechanisms between the volatile organic molecules and the investigated phthalocyanine (Pc) coatings are discussed utilizing the partition coefficients of the vapor molecules, and possible changes in the electrical properties of the coatings. In order to study all possible interaction mechanisms as well as the properties of the Pc materials, thin coatings of the Pc materials are deposited on interdigital transducers on glass substrates and are being studied using impedance spectroscopy methods. The dc conductivities of the Pc materials exposed to Cl/sub 2/ and Br/sub 2/ were also investigated.
Developing indicators to detect changes in the seasonality, frequency and duration of medium and high river flows

Indicators specifically designed to detect changes in the seasonality, frequency and duration of medium and high river flows have been developed to monitor river flow regimes. Four primary methods to display and interpret the indicator results have been developed to meet the needs of different target audiences. The variability in annual indicator values is accommodated by comparing the probability distributions of the annual values rather than seeking to identify trends in annual values themselves. Changes in the distribution of indicator values are consistent with those anticipated to arise as a result of climate change. This finding is confirmed by calculating the indicators from example flow data for catchments across England and Wales, which has been perturbed to reflect climate change scenario model outputs.
IN VITRO CALLUS INDUCTION AND SHOOT FORMATION OF JUNIPERUS EXCELSA OF ZIARAT, BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN

Effect of Activated Charcoal (AC), Yeast Extract (YE), L-glutamine (L-G), Polyethylene glycol (PEG), 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP), 2,4-Dichlorphenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) was checked to optimize protocol for in-vitro growth of Juniperus excelsa. The young plant shoots of J. excelsa were cultured in Woody Plant (WP) and Murashige and Skoogs (MS) media with five optimal concentration of different phyto-hormones (BAP, 2,4-D, IBA, AC, PEG 1000, YE and L-G). The results showed that BAP, 2,4-D, IBA and AC in both media showed statistically significant regeneration of root and shoot callus. However, PEG 1000 did not affect growth in both media and negatively affected at high concentration. YE and L-G enhanced growth of callus and shoot for 4 weeks in both media after that the callus and shoot formation stopped and no further growth was observed.
Texas AM Oilspill Calculator (TAMOC): Modeling Suite for Subsea Spills

The Texas A&M Oilspill Calculator (TAMOC) is a new, freely available modeling suite for predicting fate and transport of oil and gas released from subsea accidents. The model is coded in Python and Fortran and is freely available from http://github.com/socolofs/tamoc. The model contains general modules for handling ambient water column data, hydrocarbon equations of state, and bubble and droplet dynamics, including particle rise velocity, shape, surface area, and heat and mass transfer rates. Three simulation models are included with the modeling suite. The Single Bubble Model (SBM) tracks the fate of a single bubble or droplet as it rises through the water column, advected by the three-dimensional ambient currents, and undergoing dissolution and heat transfer. For larger scale releases, two different integral plume models are provided. In weak currents, the Stratified Plume Model (SPM) predicts multiple subsurface intrusions; when currents are larger and the plume trajectory is deflected in the downstream direction, the suite applies the Bent Plume Model (BPM), which yields one intrusion layer and tracks separation between the released oil droplets and gas bubbles and the entrained seawater. All modeling components have been thoroughly validated to available laboratory and field data. This paper demonstrates some of the key validation metrics and applies the model to explore the dynamics of the Deepwater Horizon accident. The hot oil and gas released from the wellhead quickly cool to near ambient temperature (within 25 m above the release), and dissolution is generally faster than gas ebullition. Model predictions agree well with observations from 2010, including calculations for the depth of the intrusion layer and the flux of chemical components to the atmosphere.
Freeway: An Order-less User-space Framework for Non-real-time Applications

The demand for high network capacity has been rapidly increasing, that is why network infrastructures with multi-Tbps connection speeds are being carefully designed. However, the transport over the network with high bandwidth and delay such as inter-DC WANs, cannot fully utilize the bandwidth because of the inevitable packet loss. We theoretically analyze the problem and found that the root cause is the flow control bottleneck caused by the out-of-order data blocked in the receive buffer because of TCP ordering guarantee. We further found that a lot of applications over inter-DC WANs such as server mirrors and data backups are nonreal-time, which means they don’t quite care about the data arriving sequence. Thus, we design and implement Freeway to improve the bandwidth of these non-real-time applications over inter-DC WANs. Freeway is a user-space bulk-data network transfer framework, including a server consisting of a user-level transport layer together with a non-real-time application built on an order-less socket API, and an optional user-space bulk-transfer client. The order-less socket API can directly deliver out-of-order data to the non-real-time application, so that the transport layer can safely extend the receive window to avoid the flow control bottleneck. The Freeway server and client are both full compatible with commodity Linux TCP stack, so they can be deployed only at the server side or the client side, but get best performance when they are both enabled. We evaluate the Freeway’s performance comparing with Linux TCP stack, and show that Freeway achieves 100% more bandwidth utilization than Linux TCP stack, and significantly reduces memory cost.
A novel compact interembedded AMC structure for integrated circuits and antenna arrays

A novel compact interembedded artificial magnetic conductor (IE‐AMC) structure is introduced in this paper. For a desired bandgap frequency, the cell size of this novel IE‐AMC structure is only 30% to 40% of the conventional Sienvenpiper structure with the same substrate used. The IE‐AMC structure is very suitable to microwave integrated circuits and antenna‐arrays applications, especially in wireless‐communication bands (GSM, PCS, and ISM). © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 45: 303–305, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20803
Inductor implementation using a canonical number of active and passive elements

There is quite a large number of active simulated inductor realizations in the literature, but all of these presented topologies except the recently proposed inductor simulators have either more than one active component or more than a minimum number of passive components. Two resistors and one capacitor are the required canonical number of passive elements to implement a simulated inductor. In this study, a new topology using a single minus-type modified inverting first-generation current conveyor (MICCI-) as a novel active device and a minimum number of passive elements is proposed. The MICCI- is a voltage gain-variable current conveyor (GVCC). Simulation results and non-ideal voltage and current gains effects for the proposed circuit are given.
Distortional Buckling Solutions for Continuous Composite Beams

The paper presents a theoretical analysis of fixed-ended composite steel-concrete beams, representative of members continuous over an internal support. The analysis is elastic, and allows for the variation of sagging and hogging bending along the member. The stress resultants obtained from the virtual work analysis are used for an extensive finite element study of lateral-distortional buckling of fixed-ended composite beams. The details of the computer program adopted are described elsewhere. Based on the elastic buckling solutions, a design method is proposed to calculate the strength of the composite beam with respect to the buckling limit state. This design method is less conservative than that implied in current design codes, and leads to economies of material. The analysis for continuous composite beams provides a benchmark study for future studies.
Impedance spectroscopy on a digital microfluidic platform

Digital microfluidics combines the advantages of low consumption of reagents with a high flexibility of processing fluid samples automatically. For applications in life sciences not only the processing but also the characterization of fluid analytes is crucial. In this contribution a microfluidic platform combining the actuation principle of electro wetting on dielectrics for droplet manipulations and the sensor principle of impedance spectroscopy for the characterization of fluid composition and condition is presented. The fabrication process of the microfluidic platform comprises physical vapor deposition and structuring of the metal electrodes onto a substrate, the deposition of a dielectric isolator and a hydrophobic top coating. The key advantage of this microfluidic chip is the common electric nature of the sensor and the actuation principle, so no additional sensor integration is necessary. Multiple measurements on fluids of different composition (including rigid particles and biologic cells) and of different conditions (temperature, sedimentation) were performed as well as online monitoring of in process parameters changing over time. These sample applications demonstrate the versatile applications of this combined technology.
Experimental study of a bellows‐type reciprocating‐mechanism driven heat loop

The reciprocating‐mechanism driven heat loop (RMDHL) is a novel two‐phase heat transfer device that could find many important applications in energy systems and electronic cooling. However, the previous RMDHL is based on a solenoid driver that may have difficulty in handling a large amount of heat transfer rate over a long distance due to the driver's inability to provide a large displacement volume.
Participant motivation to engage in a citizen science campaign: the case of the TESS network

Citizen science involves laymen in some steps of a scientific experiment: citizens are volunteers devoting their free time to citizen science projects. Therefore it is important to investigate the factors influencing their motivation and engagement. In this paper, we present our study to investigate the motivation factors of the TESS photometer network participants, an initiative to collect light pollution data. We present the results and insight of our investigation and the instrument we adopted, which can be useful for the broad citizen science community.
Electronic equalization of transmission impairments

We have reviewed experimental and numerical results on electrical signal processing for the reduction of penalty induced in the optical domain. Since a few years integrated electronic equalizer circuits are available for 10 Gb/s operation. Penalty reduction of signal distorted by chromatic dispersion, PMD, and self-phase modulation has experimentally been demonstrated. First studies on equalization of DWDM typical crosstalk have already been conducted. Nevertheless, as compared to the decade long experience with dynamic equalization of thermal noise limited signal, for amplified optical signal limited by the optical signal-to-noise-ratio (OSNR) the residual penalty after equalization roughly doubles and the fast responding LMS adaptation leads to a sub-optimum setting of the equalizer failing the optimum by up to 0.8 dB which can be avoided by the slower steepest-descend scheme which optimising Q-factor related criteria at equalizer output.
Effect of Gate Wet Reoxidation on Reliability and Channel Mobility of Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors Fabricated on 4H-SiC(000-1)

The channel mobility and oxide reliability of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) on 4H-SiC (0001) carbon face were investigated. The gate oxide was fabricated by using dry-oxidized film followed by pyrogenic reoxidation annealing (ROA). Significant improvements in the oxide reliability were observed by time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) measurement. Furthermore, the field-effect inversion channel mobility (μFE) of MOSFETs fabricated by using pyrogenic ROA was as high as that of conventional 4H-SiC (0001) MOSFETs having the pyrogenic-oxidized gate oxide. It is suggested that the pyrogenic ROA of dry oxide as a method of gate oxide fabrication satisfies both channel mobility and oxide reliability on 4H-SiC (0001) carbon-face MOSFETs.
Slender-Body Hypervelocity Boundary-Layer Instability

With novel application of optical techniques, the slender-body hypervelocity boundary-layer instability is characterized in the previously unexplored regime where thermo-chemical effects are important. Narrowband disturbances (500-3000 kHz) are measured in boundary layers with edge velocities of up to 5~km/s at two points along the generator of a 5 degree half angle cone. Experimental amplification factor spectra are presented. Linear stability and PSE analysis is performed, with fair prediction of the frequency content of the disturbances; however, the analysis over-predicts the amplification of disturbances. The results of this work have two key implications: 1) the acoustic instability is present and may be studied in a large-scale hypervelocity reflected-shock tunnel, and 2) the new data set provides a new basis on which the instability can be studied.
The research on the active vibration isolator

The effect on the high-precision imaging load because of the vibrations from the satellite platforms is becoming more and more non negligible. In the paper, the bi-layer structure mixed with passive part and active part is adopted for the leg and the location of the actuator is studied. As for the control algorithm, the loop-shaping approach is introduced. Additionally, the cross-coupling control strategy is adopted to improve the vibration isolation performance for the vibration isolator with two legs.
Situation awareness and home energy reduction:a study

Reducing home energy consumption is a complex activity involving commitment, planning, monitoring and revision. In other domains (aviation, emergency response), feedback devices supporting similarly complex activities have been shown to have multiple points of failure (Endsley 1995). Importantly for our academic- industrial-local government collaboration on the ENLITEN project, the identification of those failure points has been used as the basis for extending the support provided to the users of complex feedback systems. In this paper we examine the applicability (or otherwise) of literature describing situation awareness failure to home energy. We report on a focus group set up to consider domestic energy reduction from the perspective of the situation awareness (SA) literature. The participants in that focus group reported multiple under-researched SA failures that impede their ability to reduce domestic consumption. We also report on the mitigation strategies that they employ/envisage when working around those failures. The paper draws upon a multi-disciplinary research base (SA, human-computer interaction, design science), investigates failures in home energy reduction and proposes amendments to home energy feedback devices as a result. It contributes to discussions of home energy reduction and its impact on consumers economic, health and sustainability concerns.
Modeling and performance evaluation of a DC/DC SEPIC converter

The use of the CC-PWM switch model for the average large and small-signal modeling of a current-programmed control DC-to-DC SEPIC converter, operating in the continuous conduction mode is presented. Derivation of the model and its use in the performance evaluation of a practical 5 V regulator are shown. Predicted simulation results are confirmed by measurements for both load transient and the loop-gain frequency response for stability conditions. <<ETX>>
Large-Scale Emulation of Anonymous Communication Networks

Tor is the most popular low-latency anonymous communication system for the Internet, helping people to protect their privacy online and circumvent Internet censorship. Its lowlatency anonymity and distributed design present a variety of open research questions related to — but not limited to — anonymity, performance, and scalability, that have generated considerable interest in the research community. Testing changes to the design of the protocol or studying attacks against it in the live network is undesirable as doing so can invade the privacy of users and even put them in harm’s way. Traditional Tor research has been limited to emulating a few hundred nodes with the ModelNet network emulator, or, simulating thousands of nodes with the Shadow discrete-event simulator, both of which may not accurately represent the real-world Tor network. We present SNEAC (Scalable Network Emulator for Anonymous Communication; pronounced “sneak”), a large-scale network emulator that allows us to emulate a network with thousands of nodes. Our hope is that with such large-scale experimentation, we can more closely emulate the live Tor network with half a million users.