Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influences of Field Immersion, Disciplinary Projects, and Extra-Disciplinary Activities on Transformative Learning in an Experiential Learning Project

This paper presents a case study of an experiential learning project, an analysis of its transformative learning effects, and a description of the aspects most influential on transformative learning. The project is an eight-day houseboat excursion with students at the University of North Florida. Student work products were evaluated for evidence for transformative learning. The most powerful factors causing transformative learning were the experiential aspect of studying in the field, projects done strictly within a student's major discipline, and extra-disciplinary projects done intentionally outside a student's major discipline.
Evaluating the Effect of Computational Time Steps on Livestock Odor Dispersion Using a Computation Fluid Dynamics Model

A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model with Eulerian-Lagrangian approach was applied to predicted odour dispersion from a 3000-sow farrowing operation. Eulerian-Lagrangian approach solved turbulent air flow within Eulerian reference frame, and then calculated trajectories of discrete particles in continuous flow field within Lagrangian reference frame. Weather variables were taken every minute by the on-site weather station. The measured weather variables were synthesized into meteorological data with time intervals of 1, 10, 20, 30, and 60 min by Meteorological Processor for Regulatory Models (MPRM). Odour concentrations predicted by CFD model with different model computational time intervals were compared to evaluate the effects of time interval on odour dispersion. Predictions with 1 h time interval overestimated downwind odour concentration and travel distance compared with the predictions with sub-hour time intervals. The longer the time interval, the higher the odour concentration and the longer travel distance would be. Short time intervals (e.g. Δ t = 1 min) used in the prediction were more sensitive to wind direction shift and provided more accurate instantaneous odour plumes than longer time intervals. However application short time interval required more refined meteorological data. Keyword. Computational Fluid Dynamics, Odour, Swine, Air dispersion model, Time interval.
A new probabilistic power flow analysis method

A method for the simulation of the composite power system is proposed for the purpose of evaluating the probability distribution function of circuit flows and bus voltage magnitudes. The method consists of two steps. First, given the probabilistic electric load model, the probability distribution function of the total generation of generation buses is computed. Second, circuit flows and bus voltage magnitudes are expressed as linear combinations of power injections at generation buses. This relationship allows the computation of the distribution functions of circuit flows and bus voltage magnitudes. The method incorporates major operating practices such as economic dispatch and nonlinearities resulting from the power flow equations. Validation of the method is performed via Monte Carlo simulation. Typical results are presented, showing that the proposed method matches the results obtained with the Monte Carlo simulations very well. Potential applications of the proposed method are: composite power system reliability analysis and transmission loss evaluation. >
Individual vs. Team Sports—What’s the Better Strategy for Meeting PA Guidelines in Children?

There is insufficient evidence from previous studies dealing with structure of sport preferences referring to the interconnection between individual factors (socio-economic status, organized/structured physical activity (PA), location, etc.), although these factors can considerably influence total level of PA as well as the structure of sport preferences. The study investigated associations between PA frequency and specific sports activities according to the intensity with the impact on leisure, sport, and education domain, using data from an international health behavior in school-aged children survey. Participants were fifth and ninth grade students in the Czech Republic (seven schools) and Slovakia (nine schools). The results showed a significant association between intensity in team sports and PA frequency per week. Those who participated in high-intensity team sports were 2.5 times more likely to be more physically active.
Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease with Ensemble Learning Classifier and 3D Convolutional Neural Network

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common type of dementia, is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss, possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to environments. It can seriously affect a person’s ability to carry out daily activities. Therefore, early diagnosis of AD is conducive to better treatment and avoiding further deterioration of the disease. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become the main tool for humans to study brain tissues. It can clearly reflect the internal structure of a brain and plays an important role in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. MRI data is widely used for disease diagnosis. In this paper, based on MRI data, a method combining a 3D convolutional neural network and ensemble learning is proposed to improve the diagnosis accuracy. Then, a data denoising module is proposed to reduce boundary noise. The experimental results on ADNI dataset demonstrate that the model proposed in this paper improves the training speed of the neural network and achieves 95.2% accuracy in AD vs. NC (normal control) task and 77.8% accuracy in sMCI (stable mild cognitive impairment) vs. pMCI (progressive mild cognitive impairment) task in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
Determination of Sovereign Credit Rating Model for European Countries

Credit rating agencies play a key role in financial markets, as they help to reduce asymmetric information among market participants via credit ratings. The credit ratings determined by the credit rating agencies reflect the opinion of whether a country can fulfil the liability or its credit reliability at a particular time. Therefore, credit ratings are a very valuable tool, especially for investors. In addition, the issue that credit rating agencies are generally criticised is that they are unsuccessful in times of financial crisis. Credit rating methodologies of credit rating agencies have been subject to intense criticism, especially after the 2007/08 Global Financial Crisis. Some of the criticised issues are that credit rating agencies’ methodologies are not transparent; they are unable to make ratings on time, and they make incorrect ratings. In order to create a more reliable credit rating methodology, the credit rating industry and the ratings determined by rating agencies need to be critically examined and further investigated in this area. For this reason, in this study credit rating model has been developed for countries. Supervisory and regulatory variables, political indicators and macroeconomic factors were used as independent variables for the sovereign credit rating model. As a result of the study, the new sovereign credit rating calculates exactly the same credit rating with Fitch Rating Agency for developed countries, but there are 1 or 2 points differences for developing countries. In order to better understand the reason for these differences, credit rating agencies need to make their methodologies more transparent and disclose them to the public.
Definition of spacing constraints for the car sequencing problem

A car sequencing problem deals with the ordering of a list of vehicles to be produced on an assembly line so that the overall capacity of each work station is not exceeded. Some types of vehicles require several time-consuming operations to be done on a work station and will naturally overload that work station. Such vehicles are spaced out in the sequence, by means of a set of spacing constraints, in order to cope with the momentary increase of workload that they create. Two questions arise: which type of vehicles should be subject to the spacing constraints and by which distance should they be spaced out in the sequence. In practice as well as in the car sequencing literature, there does not exist a methodical way to answer the first question and the existing methods for the second one is no longer adequate due to the increased diversity of cars produced in an assembly line. In this paper, we propose two new methods to answer these questions with a special emphasis on the first one. The performance of the proposed methods is illustrated using a real case study.
Design and experience with a fuzzy logic controller for automatic generation control (AGC)

This paper describes the design, implementation and operational performance of a fuzzy controller as part of the automatic generation control (AGC) system in Eskom's National Control Centre. The fuzzy controller was implemented in the area control error calculation, which determines the shortfall or surplus generation that has to be corrected. This paper sets out the problems associated with secondary frequency control and AGC. The difficulties associated with optimising the original standard AGC controller, the design, implementation and optimisation of the fuzzy controller and the operational performance of the new controller over two years, are discussed. The fuzzy controller was integrated into the existing off-the-shelf AGC system with only a few modifications. The operational performance over two years showed an overall improvement of over 50% in the reduction of control compared to the original AGC controller, and an initial improvement of 20% in the quality of control of the optimised original controller.
Crow Search Algorithm with Improved Objective Function for Test Case Generation and Optimization

Test case generation and optimization is the foremost requirement of software evolution and test automation. In this paper, a bio-inspired Crow Search Algorithm (CSA) is suggested with an improved objective function to fulfill this requirement. CSA is a nature-inspired optimization method. The improved objective function combines branch distance and predicate distance to cover the critical path on the control flow graph. CSA is a search-based technique that uses heuristic information for automation testing, and CSA optimizers minimize test cases generated by satisfying the objective function. This paper focuses on generating test cases for all paths, including critical paths. The control flow graph covers the information flow among all the classes, functions, and conditional statements and provides test paths. The number of test cases examined through graph path coverage analysis. The minimum number of test paths is counted through complexity metrics using the cyclomatic complexity of the constructed graph. The proposed method is evaluated as mathematical optimization functions to validate their effectiveness in locating optimal solutions. The python codes are considered for evaluation and revealed that our approach is time-efficient and outperforms various optimization algorithms. The proposed approach achieved 100% path coverage, and the algorithm executes and gives optimum results in approximately 0.2745 seconds.
Ultrasonic guided wave-based debond identification in a GFRP plate with L-stiffener

This paper presents a robust assessment of debond in a glass fibre-reinforced polymer composite structure with L-stiffener attachment. Towards this, the ultrasonic guided wave (GW) propagation based laboratory experiments have been carried out on a stiffened composite panel with piezoelectric transducers for the excitation of GWs and a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer for sensing the GW propagation. To study the changes caused by the stiffener and debond a signal processing based multi-point analysis has been carried out. The proposed methodology consists of two steps. Step 1 using the full wavefield root mean square energy map-based approach to check the presence of debond. Step 2 using point-wise measurements to study debond localization and size estimation using a baseline free signal coefficient difference algorithm (SCDA). The proposed processing approaches are applied for an in-depth analysis of the experimental signals that provide information about the interaction of GWs with stiffener and debond. The mentioned approaches take advantage of the asymmetry caused by the damage. For the applied SCDA methodology there is no need for full-wavefield measurements, healthy case measurements, as only a few measurement points can be enough for the assessment of stiffener debond in such structures.
Framework Setupof a National Customer Satisfaction Barometer with an Application to Vocational Training Corporation

The idea of this paper was to develop a national barometer for Customer Satisfaction (CS) in Jordan and to derive its theory using the Generalized Maximum Entropy (GME). During the course of this research, we conducted a pilot study based on a CS index basket in order to select the main factors that comprise the Jordanian Customer Satisfaction Index (JCSI). As a result, we include: Loyalty, Complaint, Expectation, Image and Service Quality as the main CS factors of the proposed model. Moreover, we conducteda practical implementation of our findings on the Vocational Training Corporation in order to evaluate the proposed JCSI. The results indicated that the suggested components of the proposed model are significant and form a good fitted model.
Design and modeling of a mixed mode magnetorheological (MR) fluid mount

Noise and vibration have always affected not only the operation of various devices but also people's comfort. These issues are highly present in currently emerging technologies like hydraulic launch assist vehicles. While the switching mechanisms in hydraulic hybrid vehicles enhance fuel efficiency, they cause complicated patterns of noise and vibration. This, combined with a wider range of frequencies excited by this mechanism requires advanced vibration isolators that can provide variable damping and stiffness. A solution to this problem can be provided by MR fluid based mounts. An MR fluid mount is capable of changing its stiffness and damping characteristics to accommodate various input excitation amplitudes and frequencies. This paper presents simulated results for a mixed mode magnetorheological (MR) fluid mount. If the MR mount is only working in one mode, either flow or squeeze mode, the range of isolation force provided by the damping and spring rate of the mount is constrained by the geometry of the respective mode. However, when the mount operates in both modes simultaneously, their effects are combined to accommodate a wider range of amplitudes and frequencies of excitation. The mathematical governing equations of the mount are derived to account for its operation with mixed flow modes. These equations implemented in MATLAB/Simulink(c), with a specific set of parameters, predict the response of the mount for various excitations. The simulated results indicate that the combination of modes is beneficial for the mount performance in the low frequency range of operation.
CYCLE-TIME EVALUATION AND DETERMINISTIC MODELLING FOR SOLID WASTE COLLECTION BY HAUL- CONTAINER SYSTEM IN EXPANDING MUNICIPALITY

Time study was applied to evaluate the cycle time for solid waste collection in Uyo by haul container system under ongoing urban development and expansion. Continuous running stop watch method was applied as a novel approach to record elemental activities (task) time for evaluating cycle time in simultaneous developing and expanding municipality. The results showed that cycle time and its activity components times vary with truck, route zone area, week day, and order tripe. Overall cycle per haulage varied in the order of 19.77 min for truck 046 16.95 min for truck 060 16.54 min for truck 053 < 15.39 min for truck 072. Predictive regression model for cycle time correlated very significantly (P <0.01) and perfectly with component time predictors at R 2 = 0.988 to 0.998. Only cycle for truck 046 satisfied linear relationships, the other three models as well as the overall municipality cycle time and the loss time relationship for the other trucks satisfied semi-log relationship. Significant contribution of activities component times to cycles time gave a discrimination which information should be investigated in future research to improve and equalize cycle time in the route zones under the industrial services ensuring.
ANTHROPOMETRIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF IRANIAN JUNIOR ELITE GYMNASTS

Gymnastics requires explosive sprinting, jumping, pushing and pulling skills, along with balance and artistry. The aim of this study was to determine the anthropometric and physiological profiles of light weight male Iranian gymnasts. The study sample consisted of 20 professional male gymnasts, eight of which were members of the Iranian National Gymnastics Team. The results were as follows: anthropometrics characteristics, Age (15.20±3.4 years), weight (51.35±5.2 kg), height (161.8±5.9 cm), BMI (19.6±0.82 kg/m 2 ), upper extremity length (69.60±4.2 cm), lower extremity length (87.15±5.4 cm), shoulder width (35.55±4.1 cm), elbow diameter (6.27±3.8 cm), knee diameter (8.87±3.3 cm), wrist diameter (5.65±0.8 cm), ankle diameter (6.62±2.5 cm), percentage of body fat (10.8±2.8); and fitness characteristics: plantarflexion (150.2±15.3 deg), pull up (19.1±2.9 rep), shoulder flexibility (40.6±6.5 cm), sit-ups (58.8±7.3 rep), Sargent (49.3±4.3 cm), 40-yd sprint (5.2±0.3 s), sit and reach (45.7±5.6 cm), medicine ball throw (414.2±25.5 cm), Burpee test (6.5±0.8 s), Flamingo balance (29.5±4.8 s), dynamic balance (69.7±6.3 s). These data profiles of gymnastics can be used in evaluating for talent identification and the importance for the optimal construction of training programs to improve gymnastic performance by the coaches.  Acknowledgement. We thank all of the Iranian National Junior Gymnastics who participated in this study.
Responses of Alpine Grassland Plant Functional Groups To Environmental Changes In The Altunshan At North Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Purpose: In grassland ecosystems, plant functional group (PFG) is an important bridge connecting individual plant to community system. Grassland ecosystem is the main ecosystem type on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, so the change of community structure of grassland vegetation.Methods: The Altun Mountains in the northern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were used as the study area to investigate the PFGs of a high-altitude (> 3700m) grassland in desert areas and their response to temperature and moisture.Results: The main functional groups were forbs and grasses, and the importance values (IV) accounted for more than 50%. Plant species diversity of the community was influenced by the functional groups of legumes IV, and the increase of legumes would promote the increase of plant community diversity. The C, N, P of plant communities were mainly influenced by forbs and grasses, and the relationship between forbs and C, N, P was opposite to that of grasses. There was a positive correlation between forbs and soil TP; a negative correlation between grasses and soil TP; a positive correlation between legumes with soil SOC and TN; and a positive correlation between sedge and soil SOC. However, under the influence of different hydrothermal conditions, forbs and grasses as dominant functional groups had stronger correlation with community and soil nutrients. Conclusions: This indicated that the PFGs with the largest proportion in the community had the greatest influence on the community. This provides a basis for the study of alpine grassland community development and ecosystem function under alpine grassland.
Forecasting energy prices in a competitive market

Deregulation is intended to encourage competition among utilities and power marketers to reduce energy prices. The pricing system is very critical in restructuring the electrical industry and depends upon market rules and the function of the independent system operator (ISO). The locational marginal pricing (LMP) system is in use in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland (PJM) Interconnection ISO and is proposed for the New York ISO, which is expected to be in operation in 1999. This article provides fundamental concepts of the LMP and outlines the basic requirements for a computer simulation tool to accurately forecast prices in an LMP-based market. Examples are used to demonstrate the concepts, and some preliminary results for the Eastern Interconnection are presented.
Experimental verification of a bright-speckle algorithm of compensation for turbulent wandering of a repetitively pulsed CO2 laser beam

A novel algorithm of compensation for repetitively-pulsed laser beam wandering at propagation paths, caused by the atmospheric turbulence and mirror vibrations has been proposed and verified in experiments with a TE-CO2 laser. The algorithm is based on the precise temporal control of triggering each of the TE-laser pulses at the moments when the auxiliary probe cw-laser beam modified by a modal-type adaptive optics system and having exactly the same wavefront profile, as the pulsed radiation, hits the remote object (retroreflector in the pre-set point at the path exit) by its brightest speckle.
Emphysema-Predominant COPD Had a Greater 5-Year Mortality and a Worse Annual Decline in Lung Function Than Airway Obstruction-Predominant COPD or Asthma at Initial Same Degree of Airflow Obstruction

Background and Objectives: We studied whether the extent of exertional oxygen desaturation and emphysema could cause greater mortality in COPD and asthma independent of airflow obstruction. Materials and Methods: We performed a 5-year longitudinal observational study in COPD and asthma patients who matched for airflow obstruction severity. All subjects performed a 6-min walk test (6MWT) and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and followed spirometry and oxygen saturation (SpO2) during the 6MWT every 3–6 months. Overall survival was recorded. Cumulative survival curves were performed according to the Kaplan–Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. Results: The COPD group had higher emphysema scores, higher Δinspiratory capacities (ICs) and lower SpO2 during the 6MWT, which showed a greater yearly decline in FEV1 (40.6 mL) and forced vital capacity (FVC) (28 mL) than the asthma group (FEV1, 9.6 mL; FVC, 1.2 mL; p < 0.05). The emphysema-predominant COPD group had an accelerated annual decline in lung function and worse survival. The nadir SpO2 ≤ 80% and a higher emphysema score were the strong risk factors for mortality in COPD patients. Conclusions: The greater structural changes with a higher emphysema score and greater desaturation during the 6MWT in COPD may contribute to worse yearly decline in FEV1 and higher five-year mortality than in asthma patients with a similar airflow obstruction. The lowest SpO2 ≤ 80% during the 6MWT and emphysema-predominant COPD were the strong independent factors for mortality in chronic obstructive airway disease patients.