Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modular Power Electronic Converters in the Power Range 1 to 10 kW

Thanks to CO2 emission reduction policies and increasing prices of fossil fuels a significant growth in field of sustainable energy sources (SES) is being observed during last decade. A government support and take-off projects in Europe and US shall ensure an increasing trend in future too. Some of SES based plants , like hydro-, geothermal-, biofuel-plants, use synchronous generators directly connected to the grid. But some other SES technologies, like fuel cell or photovoltaic, require a power electronic converter between the energy source and the load or the grid. Work presented in this thesis concentrates on dc-dc non-isolated converters suitable for high voltage gain applications, like uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and some of sustainable energy sources. A special attention is on reduction of power losses and efficiency improvements in non-isolated dc-dc step-up converters. During literature study many different non-isolated dc-dc step-up topologies were found, however not all of them are desired for high voltage gain applications. It’s found that converters based on an inductor and a coupled-inductor principle (a boost and a center tapped boost converters) as well as converters derived from isolated converters (a non-isolated flyback-boost, a non-isolated push-pull-boost and a non-isolated two-inductor-boost converters) are good candidates for future investigation. Analysis and comparison of selected, most promising topologies indicated that a non-isolated push-pull-boost and a non-isolated two-inductor-boost converters are the best candidates for applications requiring a high voltage gain. Design of a high efficiency converter requires a detailed knowledge and accurate prediction of power losses. For this purpose average steady-state models of selected topologies and component loss models are developed and implemented in MATLAB. Converter models base on analysis of ideal waveforms and are built-up from set of equations describing values essential for power loss calculation, e.g. average or rms current values. These data are used by component models to calculate losses in particular components. It’s important that component models use parameters from datasheets in most cases. It enables performance comparison of different topologies as well as comparison of different components. The proposed modeling approach was verified using a basic boost converter breadboard. With small modification these models may be used for design purposes, like search for optimum output power and optimum switching frequency for given topology and given MOSFETs. Using developed tools and models the converter breadboard was designed. The breadboard demonstrated a very high efficiency, comparable with present state-ofthe-art isolated converters. A modular converter concept and its influence on a fuel cell converter overall efficiency were investigated too. Based on simulation and measurement results it
Emerging Advances in Integrated Technology

large quantities of information. Abstract: The development and rapid popularization of the internet has led to an exponential growth of data in the network, thus, the text mining becomes more important. Users search for the information from the immense information available online. The ways to obtain valuable information, and to classify, organize and manage vast text data automatically make the text processing even more difficult. Therefore, in order to solve those problems and requirements, intelligent information processing has been extensively studied. Topic modelling has been widely employed in the field of natural language processing. Current research directions are more focused on ways to improve the classification speed and accuracy of text classification and topic detection as well as selecting feature methods in achieving better dimension reduction operations. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model works well on data noise reduction. The LDA is widely used as a feature model combined with the classifier design in order to achieve a good classification effect. This study aims to conduct data mining and save load from the huge database. Thus, three supervised learning algorithms are run, which are Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree and Random Forest. Random Forest classifier outperforms the other two classifiers with 99.99% accuracy. Seven clusters for topic modelling have been revealed using Random Forest classifier. Each output has been set to four highest word and shows the highest term and its weight. The highest term used in the dataset is term ‘Ebola’. Based on the finding of this study, it shows that the combination of the LDA and supervised learning algorithm effectively solve the problem of data sparseness in short text sets. The method of selecting microblogs that are most likely to discuss news topics will significantly reduce the size of data objects of concern, and to a certain extent eliminate the interference of non-news blogs.
The Usability Business: Making the Web Work

From the Publisher: A follow-up to the successful 'Politics of Usability', this book shows how to apply HCI expertise in the pressured environment of a modern organisation. Quite apart from the need to provide a good usability service cheaply and efficiently, most HCI practitioners also have to deal with day-to-day concerns such as funding, budgets, project and people management, teamwork, communication and promoting an HCI ethos within the company. How to achieve this and still find new ways to make modern technology more usable is the central message of this book. The Usability Business offers a unique insight into usability issues. The book deals with real work situations focussing on practical, workable approaches to professional responsibilities.
PLL charge pump with adaptive body-bias compensation for minimum current variation

A novel charge pump with adaptive body-bias compensation to minimise the current variation over a wide output voltage range is proposed. With 1.2 V supply voltage, the proposed charge pump demonstrates a constant current of 140 μA across the output voltage from 0.2 to 1.0 V. The current variation is less than 1.20 μA or 0.9 over output range, which helps keep the loop bandwidth of the charge pump phase-locked loop (PLL) fixed and maximise the dynamic range. Extremely low power adaptive bias circuits are proposed to provide body-bias compensation at different output voltage levels. It is believed that the current variation is the minimum among the published results of PLL charge pumps.
Refined autoregressive moving average modeling of underwater heave process

Earlier treatments of the underwater dynamic motion effects including the heave, or vertical dynamic motion, phenomenon relied on frequency response methods and Kalman filtering for the compensation task. An alternative model of the heave process is proposed. The model is based on transforming the underlying time series using exponential operations and then finding autoregressive integrated moving-average (ARIMA) representations of the time series. A refined ARMA model based on modeling of a series of innovations is also proposed. A computational comparison of the performance of two estimators is conducted using a real heave record as a base case. The refined ARMA model gives better results than the other alternative models investigated. >
LIO-Vehicle: A Tightly-Coupled Vehicle Dynamics Extension of LiDAR Inertial Odometry

We propose LIO-Vehicle, a new tightly-coupled vehicle dynamics extension of LiDAR inertial odometry (LIO) method that provides highly accurate, robust, and real-time vehicle trajectory estimation. Since most existing LiDAR-based localization methods are not specifically proposed for vehicles, they do not take the motion constraints of ground robots into account. And they may not work well in structure-less areas, such as tunnels and narrow corridors. For LIO in these LiDAR-degraded circumstances, inertial sensors alone are unable to sustain reliable long-term accuracy due to the accumulation of errors without external periodic corrections. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce other low-cost sensors and vehicle motion constraints to build a more accurate and robust odometry algorithm. In this letter, we use wheel speedometer and steering angle sensor measurements to establish a two-degree-of-freedom vehicle dynamics model and then construct a preintegration factor based on the model’s output. At the backend, we add the vehicle dynamics preintegration results, IMU preintegration measurements, and LiDAR odometry results to a factor graph and get the optimized result with the help of sliding window optimization. The experiments show that the proposed method can achieve higher positioning accuracy compared with the existing LiDAR inertial odometry methods and it can significantly mitigate navigation error in harsh areas where environmental features are insufficient for LiDAR odometry.
The Effect of Single Sessions of Music Therapy on the Level of Anxiety in Older Persons with Psychiatric Disorders: A Pilot Study

This pilot study examined the effects of single sessions of music therapy on the level of anxiety in older persons with psychiatric disorders. The studied intervention was a 30 minute music therapy group and the control intervention was a verbal therapeutic intervention in the form of a reminiscence group. Participants acted as their own control. The measurement tool was the state part of a "State Trait Anxiety Inventory". It was administered a total of four times, pre- and post- the music therapy intervention and pre- and post- the reminiscence therapy (control) group. A total of 9 participants were recruited for the study. The results indicated that single sessions of music therapy significantly reduced the level of anxiety for older persons with psychiatric disorders [t(8)=4.626, p<0.0017] as compared to the control intervention as measured by the state part of the "State Trait Anxiety Inventory". There was no evidence for a significant carryover effect since the baselines prior to each intervention did not differ significantly (p=0.55). These results can be considered to be a part of a pilot study and early inquiry into this field since methodological difficulties and the time limitation of the research resulted in some necessary deviations from the original protocol. A major limitation of the study was the choice of a measurement tool, which required the client to be cognitively high functioning. Thus these results are limited to cognitively able clients, which is a relatively small proportion of this client group that could potentially benefit from music therapy. It is suggested that for future research with this client group the measured variable be physical relaxation, rather than anxiety.
Programming of Energy Storage System in an Island Microgrid with Photovoltaic and Fuel Cell

Photovoltaic (PV) systems in island microgrids (MGs) are becoming increasingly attractive as a means of energy generation, due to new developments in technologies, environmental concerns, and transmission congestion management. Usually, the energy storage system (ESS) is used to store the excess power generated during off-peak hours, and to return it to the system when power from PV is not enough for the system, or generation is more expensive. A real-time dynamic programming algorithm for energy storage in a PV/battery system, based on the battery charge and discharge characteristics, and current and temperature dependence of the capacity of the battery, is presented in this paper. The work aims to extend existing battery- aware programming techniques. It differs from previous works, as it takes into consideration many aspects of battery characteristics that were not considered previously. This allows better use of the battery bank and can prolong the battery service time. This paper also builds a simple PV/battery system in an island microgrid. In this paper, fuel cell power plants (FCPPs) are permanently used to operate in island microgrids, and 2 batteries are used as reserves for charge and discharge in various hours. doi: 10.14456/WJST.2015. 28
CORROSION EVALUATION OF POST-TENSIONED TENDONS ON THE MID-BAY BRIDGE IN DESTIN, FLORIDA

Several segmental box girder bridges in Florida have experienced corrosion and corrosion-related tendon failures. One of these is the Mid-Bay Bridge near Destin, where as many as 11 tendons were replaced. Additionally, many other tendons exhibited cracking of the polyethylene duct. Visual inspection of this bridge revealed: 1) corrosion of tendons and individual wires ranging from minimal to severe; 2) presence of broken wires; and 3) cracking of the polyethylene duct. Extensive cracking of the polyethylene ducts was not the main cause of tendon corrosion problems. However, it does serve as a corrosion promoter by providing greater moisture, oxygen, and chloride access to the steel. Based on the various field and lab findings, a mechanism of tendon corrosion is proposed. Susceptibility of a particular tendon to deterioration by this cause should vary depending on the extent to which deleterious conditions are present.
Investigating risk, reliability and return period under the influence of large scale modes, and regional hydrological variability in hydrologic extremes

ABSTRACT Due to the present climate change scenario, it is necessary to interpret return period, risk, and reliability of hydrological extremes under non-stationary conditions. The present study aims to understand the crucial design parameters by introducing physically based covariates in the location parameter of the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution. The analysis is carried out over 30 streamflow gauging stations located across the Godavari River basin, India. To compare the return period, risk and reliability between the stationary and non-stationary conditions, the Expected Waiting Time (EWT) approach is used. The analysis reveals that half of the gauging stations are impacted by large-scale modes/oscillations and regional hydrological variability, primarily by the Indian Summer Monsoon Index (ISMI) and precipitation. The EWT interpretation estimates that the non-stationary return period, risk, and reliability are significantly different from under the stationary condition. Hence, a non-stationary approach can be useful to water managers and policymakers in order to devise sustainable and resilient water resource infrastructure under a climate change scenario.
Optimization of the Warpage of Fused Deposition Modeling Parts Using Finite Element Method

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most affordable and widespread additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. Despite its simplistic implementation, the physics behind this FDM process is very complex and involves rapid heating and cooling of the polymer feedstock. As a result, highly non-uniform internal stresses develop within the part, which can cause warpage deformation. The severity of the warpage is highly dependent on the process parameters involved, and therefore, currently extensive experimental studies are ongoing to assess their influence on the final accuracy of the part. In this study, a thermomechanical Finite Element model of the 3D printing process was developed using ANSYS. This model was compared against experimental results and several other analytical models available in the literature. The developed Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model demonstrated a good qualitative and quantitative correlation with the experimental results. An L9 orthogonal array, from Taguchi Design of Experiments, was used for the optimization of the warpage based on experimental results and numerical simulations. The optimum process parameters were identified for each objective and parts were printed using these process parameters. Both parts showed an approximately equal warpage value of 320 μm, which was the lowest among all 10 runs of the L9 array. Additionally, this model is extended to predict the warpage of FDM printed multi-material parts. The relative percentage error between the numerical and experimental warpage results for alternating and sandwich specimens are found to be 1.4% and 9.5%, respectively.
Miniaturization of MMIC inductors using a 3D FDTD approach with a SI method

An alternative design for a MMIC inductor as a compromise between a galvano plastic coil and a thin one using an evaporated layer (gate metallization) is investigated. As a method for the analysis of such a component the three-dimensional finite difference time-domain technique has been applied. Due to a problem with convergency of the transfer function in frequency domain the System Identification method has been used for S-parameter extraction. The method is verified by a comparison of measured and simulated results for selected inductors incorporating specific properties of the investigated structure. <<ETX>>
Collapse behaviour of steel columns in fire

The three years' work undertaken in this project is a purely numerical analysis of the inelastic behaviour of steel columns in fire. This is made up of three main parts, each devoted to the development and use of a numerical technique to study the behaviour of steel columns in fire. The first two chapters report on the state of the art on plate analysis, plasticity theories, column behaviour at room temperature, finite strip method and the behaviour of columns at elevated temperature. Part 1, consisting of Chapters 3 to 5, reports on the development of the small deflection finite strip method which includes the effect of plastification of component plates using deformation theory of plasticity. The validity of the method is tested by comparing with published test data on steel columns at ambient and elevated temperature. The comparisons show that the method gives good correlation with test data. Parametric studies have been carried out to assess the effects of slenderness ratios, different stress-strain-temperature representations, residual stresses, eccentricity of loading and local budding of columns. In addition the inelastic behaviour of an H-section under uniform end couples is studied. Part 2, consisting of Chapters 6 and 7, reports on the development of a finite element method which includes the effect of thermal gradients over the member cross-section. The method is compared with test data on both uniformly and non-uniformly heated columns. This shows a good correlation between the method and experiment. Parametric studies have been carried out to assess the effects of initial out-of-straightness, different end conditions, thermal gradients and interaction of eccentricity of loading with thermal gradients on columns. In addition a simple Shanley's column theory is utilised to demonstrate the interaction effect of eccentricity of loading with thermal gradients on columns. Part 3, consisting of Chapter 8, reports on the development of a large deflection finite strip method which includes flow theory of plasticity. The method has not been used for any parametric study. Finally, general conclusions and recommendations for future works are presented in Chapter 9. It is hoped that the valuable information provided in this thesis will be useful in providing a better understanding on the real behaviour of steel columns in fire.
Suitability of surficial media for Ni–Cu–PGE exploration in an established mining camp: a case study from the South Range of the Sudbury Igneous Complex, Canada

A geochemical study over the southwestern part of the South Range of the Sudbury Igneous Complex was completed to assess the suitability of surficial media (humus, B-horizon soil and C-horizon soil) for delineating geochemical anomalies associated with Ni–Cu–PGE (platinum group element) mineralization. Another objective was to test whether Na pyrophosphate can eliminate the effects of anthropogenic contamination in humus. Results of this study suggest that the natural geochemical signature of humus is strongly overprinted by anthropogenic contamination. Despite no indication of underlying or nearby mineralization, metal concentrations in humus samples by aqua regia collected downwind from smelting operations are higher compared to background, including up to 13 times higher for Pt, 12 times higher for Cu and nine times higher for Ni. The high anthropogenic background masks the geogenic signal such that it is only apparent in humus samples collected in the vicinity of known Ni–Cu–PGE deposits. Results of this study also demonstrate that anthropogenically derived atmospheric fallout also influences the upper B-horizon soil; however, lower B-horizon soil (at >20 cm depth) and C-horizon soil (both developed in till) are not affected. Glacial dispersal from Ni–Cu–PGE mineralization is apparent in C-horizon till samples analysed in this study. Compared to the background concentrations, the unaffected C-horizon till samples collected immediately down-ice of the low-sulfide, high precious metal Vermilion Cu–Ni–PGE deposit are enriched over 20 times in Pt (203 ppb), Au (81 ppm) and Cu (963 ppm), and over 30 times in Ni (1283 ppm). Supplementary material: supplementary tables and figures are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare. c.5691080
Empirical tests of parametric and non-parametric Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) measures for the Brazilian stock market index

This study aims to verify empirically the accuracy of parametric and non-parametric approaches in estimating Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) measures of the Brazilian stock market index (Ibovespa). The period of analysis goes from the first day of trade of 1995 to the last day of trade of 2004, which is used for estimation and test of the risk parameters. Parametric approaches assume that daily returns follow a normal and at-distribution. Non-parametric approaches are the historical simulation and the volatility-weighted historical simulation technique. The binomial test is applied to verify if the failure rates predicted by VaR measures given by the models are acceptable and the sample differences paired test is used to evaluate the accuracy of the CVaR measures in forecasting tail losses. The results point out that the volatilityweighted historical simulation approach gives better estimates of both measures of risk. The rates of losses exceeding volatility-weighted historical simulation VaRs (VWHSVaRs) ranged between 4.7-6.0%, at the 95% cl, and between 0.9-1.2%, at the 99% cl. For all periods of estimation used (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years), at the 95% cl, the sample differences paired test indicated no statistically significant differences between the VWHS-CVaR estimates and the losses beyond its VaR estimates. Risk lines for the normal and historical simulation VaR (HS-V aR) estimates presented flatness, or excessive smoothness, for large periods of estimation, and the student t VaR (T-VaR) estimates were sometimes too low or too high. For these models, short periods of estimation gave more accurate VaR estimates. For the CVaR estimates, the normal and tdistribution assumptions caused overestimation of the value of the tail losses. Finally, the HS-CVaR had similar performance of HS-VaR providing, at the 95% cl, good estimates of tail losses when short periods of estimation were used.