Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Curating Automatic Vehicle Location Data to Compare the Performance of Outlier Filtering Methods

Agencies use a variety of technologies and data providers to obtain travel time information. The best quality data can be obtained from second-by-second tracking of vehicles, but that data presents many challenges in terms of privacy, storage requirements and analysis. More frequently agencies collect or purchase segment travel time based upon some type of matching of vehicles between two spatially distributed points. Typical methods for that data collection involve license plate re-identification, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or some type of rolling DSRC identifier. One of the challenges in each of these sampling techniques is to employ filtering techniques to remove outliers associated with trip chaining, but not remove important features in the data associated with incidents or traffic congestion. This paper describes a curated data set that was developed from high-fidelity GPS trajectory data. The curated data contained 31,621 vehicle observations spanning 42 days; 2550 observations had travel times greater than 3 minutes more than normal. From this baseline data set, outliers were determined using GPS waypoints to determine if the vehicle left the route. Two performance measures were identified for evaluating three outlier-filtering algorithms by the proportion of true samples rejected and proportion of outliers correctly identified. The effectiveness of the three methods over 10-minute sampling windows was also evaluated. The curated data set has been archived in a digital repository and is available online for others to test outlier-filtering algorithms.
Writing ‘dark fiction’: an autoethnographic reflection

ABSTRACT An earlier version of this paper was presented at a multidisciplinary conference on ‘dark heritage’ in 2019. It describes and reflects on my experience of writing a short story for submission to a commercial ‘dark fiction’ anthology and discusses the social, personal, and linguistic factors which contribute to the production of a popular literary text. In particular, it examines to what extent negative connotations of ‘darkness’ as well as stereotypical representations of the monstrous can be avoided or subverted, while at the same time adhering to the genre requirements of a commercial publisher’s brief and writing to a deadline. The approach I take is broadly autoethnographic: my ‘data’ includes ‘field notes’ that I kept throughout the writing process and daily captures of the story as it progressed toward completion. By bringing to light the process through which a dark text is produced, I offer a means for thinking about the deployment and interpretation of tropes of darkness in scholarly and imaginative writing. It is hoped that the autoethnographic methods I employ could be suitably adapted for use in creative writing studies as a means of developing students’ and teachers’ writerly self-awareness.
Molten Steel Level Control Based on an Adaptive Fuzzy Estimator in a Continuous Caster

In this paper, we propose a molten steel level controller for a continuous caster that is based on an adaptive fuzzy estimator. The main objective of the proposed controller is to reject the bulging disturbance that occurs in the continuous casting process. If we know the bulging frequencies and phases, and the system time delay, then we can efficiently reject the bulging disturbance by using an adaptive fuzzy estimator. It generates the estimated bulging compensation signal taking the system nonlinearities and delay into account and this signal is added with the PID output to reject the real bulging disturbance efficiently. Computer simulations and experiments were executed with one-to-four-scale H/W simulator.
Server-Customer Interaction Tracker: Computer Vision-Based System to Estimate Dirt-Loading Cycles

AbstractReal-time monitoring of heavy equipment can help practitioners improve machine-intensive and cyclic earthmoving operations. It can also provide reliable data for future planning. Surface earthmoving job sites are among the best candidates for vision-based systems due to relatively clear sightlines and recognizable equipment. Several cutting-edge computer vision algorithms are integrated with spatiotemporal information, and background knowledge to develop a framework, called server-customer interaction tracker (SCIT), which recognizes and measures the dirt loading cycles. The SCIT system detects dirt loading plants, including excavator and dump trucks, tracks them, and then uses captured spatiotemporal data to recognize loading cycles. A novel hybrid tracking algorithm is developed for the SCIT system to track dump trucks under visually noisy conditions of loading zones. The developed framework was evaluated using videos taken under various conditions. The SCIT system with novel hybrid tracking eng.
Generalized Framework for Developing a Corridor-Level Infrastructure Health Index

Current practice in condition rating varies between states. Agencies use methods customized to meet the needs of the individual state. A lack of consistency in the methodology, data collection, and rating calculation techniques makes it difficult to compare assets across state borders and across asset types. To improve the overall condition of National Highway System (NHS) routes, a unified method of condition rating is needed. This paper presents a generalized framework for the rating of infrastructure assets at the corridor level. The paper provides steps that can be used for any asset type to calculate the health rating of the asset and the overall health of a corridor by combining the health ratings of all individual assets and asset types. The paper also presents results of a pilot demonstration of the proposed framework with data for Interstate 81, which were provided by the Virginia Department of Transportation. The health ratings can help engineers, planners, and policy makers to see the current condition of NHS routes and to monitor the results of using different maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation techniques at the state, regional, and national levels. The ratings can help to ensure that the condition of the nation's highway system is consistently at an acceptable level to the governing agency and users alike.
Estimation of Urban Imperviousness and its Impacts on Storm Water Systems

Imperviousness is an important indicator of the impact of urbanization on storm water systems. A hydrologic analysis was performed to evaluate long-term impacts from an apartment area in Miami. The result shows that the directly connected impervious area (DCIA), which covers 44% of the catchment, contributes 72% of the total runoff volume during 52 years. Few studies have actually measured the DCIA with a high level of accuracy for residential areas that constitute the largest proportion of urban land. A detailed analysis of urban imperviousness was performed using geographic information systems and field investigations on a 5.81 ha residential area in Boulder, Colo. For this study area, the total impervious area is 35.9% and the DCIA is 13.0%. Transportation-related imperviousness comprises 97.2% of the DCIA. Hydrologic modeling of this area shows about a 265% difference in estimates of peak discharge with imperviousness measured at five different levels of accuracy. These results suggest the need to foc.
Varactor‐tuned microstrip bandpass filter with wide tuning range

In this study, a tunable bandpass filter with a hairpin line resonator and loading capacitors using varactor diodes was proposed. The filter was modified by adding varactor diodes to the coupling part to compensate for losses. The designed filter had a simple structure and the characteristics of wide tuning range of 87.9% from 430 to 1105 MHz and low insertion loss of less than 4.42 dB. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 2574–2577, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23745
Deriving bathymetries from unmanned aerial vehicles: a case study of a small intermittent reservoir

ABSTRACT Small reservoirs have traditionally been used worldwide to store surface water, but they are complex to manage. Accounting for a water resource scattered across thousands of water bodies remains challenging. Images acquired using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are already used in different ways in hydrology, could provide additional support. We evaluated the use of UAVs as an alternative way to derive bathymetric data from the topography of a small reservoir. Digital elevation models (DEMs, 58) were produced from UAV imagery and in-situ differential global positioning system (DGPS) points using standard structure from motion (SfM) and interpolation methods. Image processing was able to produce DEMs with 10 times the vertical accuracy of DGPS-point interpolation methods for similar accuracy in determining the relationships between the water height, surface area, and reservoir volume. These results suggest that the SfM photogrammetry can be used to derive bathymetry data from UAV images.
Exercise-Induced Irisin Decreases Inflammation and Improves NAFLD by Competitive Binding with MD2

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a global clinical problem. The MD2-TLR4 pathway exacerbates NAFLD progression by promoting inflammation. Long-term exercise is considered to improve NAFLD but the underlying mechanism is still unclear. In this study, we examined the protective effect and molecular mechanism of exercise on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced liver injury. In an HFD-induced NAFLD mouse model, exercise training significantly decreased hepatic steatosis and fibrosis. Interestingly, exercise training blocked the binding of MD2-TLR4 and decreased the downstream inflammatory response. Irisin is a myokine that is highly expressed in response to exercise and exerts anti-inflammatory effects. We found that circulating irisin levels and muscle irisin expression were significantly increased in exercised mice, suggesting that irisin could mediate the effect of exercise on NAFLD. In vitro studies showed that irisin improved lipid metabolism, fibrosis, and inflammation in palmitic acid (PA)-stimulated AML12 cells. Moreover, binding assay results showed that irisin disturbed MD2-TLR4 complex formation by directly binding with MD2 but not TLR4, and interfered with the recognition of stimuli such as PA and lipopolysaccharide with MD2. Our study provides novel evidence that exercise-induced irisin inhibits inflammation via competitive binding with MD2 to improve NAFLD. Thus, irisin could be considered a potential therapy for NAFLD.
Electromagnetic interference from a three phase double circuit 765-kV test line

This paper presents the results of long-term electromagnetic interference (EMI) measurements on the bundle of 6 Cardinal conductors tested at Korea's Kochang 765-kV full-scale test line. The instrumentation and the most important features of the facilities are also described. This new 3-phase double circuit test line can be energized at line-to-line voltages up to 850 kV. The analysis of the data shows that the 6-Cardinal conductor bundle meets the radio and television interference guidelines of the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).
Prognostic Factors and a Nomogram Predicting Survival in Patients with Breast Ductal Carcinoma in situ with Microinvasion: A Population-Based Study

Purpose Ductal carcinoma in situ with microinvasion (DCISM) can be challenging to balance the risks of overtreatment versus undertreatment. We aim to identify prognostic factors in patients with DCISM and construct a nomogram to predict breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS). Materials and Methods A retrospective cohort study of women diagnosed with DCISM from 1988 to 2015 who were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database. Clinical variables and tumor characteristics were evaluated, and Cox proportional-hazards regression was performed. A nomogram was constructed from the multivariate logistic regression to combine all the prognostic factors to predict the prognosis of DCISM patients at 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years. Results We identified 5438 total eligible breast cancer patients with a median and max survival time of 78 and 227 months, respectively. Here, patients with poorer survival outcomes were those diagnosed between 1988 and 2001, African-American race, under 40 years of age, higher tumor N stage, progesterone receptor-negative tumor, and received no surgery. The nomogram was constructed by the seven variables and passed the calibration and validation steps. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of both the training set and the validating set (5-year AUC: 0.77 and 0.88, 10-year AUC: 0.75 and 0.73, 15-year AUC: 0.72 and 0.65). Receiving chemotherapy was associated with a better BCSS (hazard ratio, HR=0.45, 95% confidence interval, 95% CI = 0.23–0.89), especially in patients with estrogen receptor (ER) negative, progesterone receptor (PR) negative (HR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.13–0.97) and ER+PR-/ER-PR+ DCISM (HR = 0.07, 95% CI = 0.01–0.59). Conclusion Our current study is the first to construct nomograms of patients with DCISM which could help physicians identify breast cancer patients that more likely to benefit from more intensive treatment and follow-up. Chemotherapy might benefit patients with ER-PR- and ER+PR-/ER-PR+ DCISM.
Determinants of Positive and Negative Affect among Adolescents and Young Adults in Indonesia: A Population-Based Survey

Positive and negative affect are crucial for mental health. However, the determinant factors of positive and negative affect have yet to be examined between adolescents and young adults. This study aimed to explore the determinant factors of positive and negative affect, comparing their effects among adolescents and young adults and among the two sexes in Indonesia. We undertook secondary data analyses of the Indonesia Family Life Survey for this cross-sectional study. Questionnaires on sociodemographic characteristics, physical and mental health-related variables, and childhood family experiences from 2014 were used as independent variables, and positive and negative affect were used as the dependent variables. Hierarchical linear regression was performed to investigate the factors associated with positive and negative affect and to compare their effects between adolescents and young adults. The hierarchical linear regression revealed that sociodemographic characteristics, perceived health, smoking, chronic condition, acute morbidity, sleep, childhood family experiences, depression, personality type, life satisfaction, happiness, and experience of disasters were associated with positive and negative affect among adolescents and young adults in Indonesia. Identification of positive and negative affect as well as their associated factors among adolescents and young adults should be considered when developing preventive programs in the community.
A STUDY ON HUMAN EAR DETECTION FOR BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION

3 ABSTRACT: This paper proposes an efficient and template based technique for automatic ear detection in a side face image. The technique first separates skin regions from non-skin regions and then searches for the ear within skin regions. Ear detection process involves three major steps. First, Skin Segmentation to eliminate all non-skin pixels from the image, second Ear Localization to perform ear detection using template matching approach, and third Ear Verification to validate the ear detection using the Zernike moments based shape descriptor. To handle the detection of ears of various shapes and sizes, an ear template is created considering the ears of various shapes and resized automatically to a size suitable for the detection.
Asymmetrical understandings of the value of time between Taiwanese Working Holiday Makers and the Australian government: Cultural exchange or serving time?

The impact temporary visa status has on the lives of migrants and their experience of time has been widely discussed. Fewer studies, however, focus discussion on the competing interpretations of the value of Working Holiday Makers’ (WHMs) time and the complexities of disruption and (un)certainties: more specifically the contrast between the value the Australian government places on time spent doing agricultural work in rural areas to become eligible for a second visa, and how this time is perceived by WHMs. This article seeks to fill this gap by comparing data drawn from the government’s rhetoric and interviews with Taiwanese WHMs who had worked in regional areas of Australia for three months. I argue that the government selectively highlights to prospective WHMs the value of cultural exchange and tourism (life-value) while downplaying the labor value (money-value) to WHMs’ time. Furthermore, the government and WHMs are not always talking about the same ‘time units’ (working time and holiday time) when applying these values. This article demonstrates that WHMs are conscious of how their time is spent and perceive the three months of specified work as being ‘suspended’, ‘immobile’, and ‘disrupted’, which undermines their life-values and migration flow in Australia.
Accurate experimental characterization of interconnects: a discussion of 'Experimental electrical characterization of interconnects and discontinuities in high-speed digital systems'

Two issues concerning the accuracy of electrical characterizations of interconnect transmission lines, particularly in regard to a recently published paper (S.B. Goldberg et al., ibid., vol.14, pp.761-5, Dec. 191) are discussed. The error in the characteristic impedance may be reduced through an alternative approximation to the capacitance of the transmission line. Furthermore, measurements of both the propagation constant and characteristic impedance, the two primary parameters characterizing the line, may be improved by the use of a well-conditioned algorithm. >
Deformation Characteristics of Aluminum-Clad Stainless Steel Sheet Under Uniaxial Tension

Clad sheets are now widely used in a wide variety of industrial practices, however, determination of deformation characteristics are difficult. In this research, the unique deformation characteristics and properties of aluminum-clad stainless steel sheets produced by hot rolling process are discussed. The tensile test and characteristics of necking appearing on the clad sheet and the separate materials composing the clad sheet are examined. The results of the experiments for the stress-strain curves of the separate materials compared well with the estimated values. The stress-strain relationship of the separate materials can thus be determined from the tensile test of clad sheet.
A sonar aid to enhance spatial perception of the blind: engineering design and evaluation

The design of an air sonar device with a new form of binaural display is described which aids the blind in perceiving their environment. Some of the limitations of knowledge of human perception and the influence this has on a specification for the device are discussed. Inherent limitations in the binaural aid both in terms of technology development and performance are also explained. The paper described what is expected of the man-machine control system in a mobility setting and discusses the technique of evaluating a manmachinesystem so as to assess the machine performance.
Reconstructing Attitudes towards Work from Home during COVID-19: A Survey of South Korean Managers

This article explores how after almost two years of government-imposed work from home (WFH) for the purpose of curbing the spread of COVID-19, South Korean managers’ general attitudes towards WFH may have been reconstructed and if this change influenced their expectations that WFH would persist for the long run. Before COVID-19, WFH was rare, and the country was well known for having one of the most hierarchical and rigid work cultures, with long hours at the office being the norm. The results of this study are based on survey responses from 229 South Korean managers and executives. Using means comparisons and hierarchical linear multiple regression models to answer three research questions, the present study evaluates theorized predictors of WFH take-up, general attitudes towards WFH, and the likelihood that WFH will continue post-COVID-19. The results indicate that forced WFH adoption during COVID-19 had statistically significant positive effects on the attitudes of South Korean managers and their intentions to continue working from home in the future. This study has practical implications for companies and governments that are interested in taking advantage of WFH and implementing it more permanently. It provides interesting findings on how managers from a country with minimal WFH prior to COVID-19 perceive the benefits of WFH and how they respond to its mandated adoption.
Pedestrian safety enhancement using numerical methods

This study aims at investigating head injury mechanisms for brain injuries, subdural or subarachnoidal haematoma (SDH or SAH) and skull fractures in adult pedestrian real world accidents by in-depth accident analysis and accident numerical reconstruction. Nine accident cases were carried out using a multi-body system pedestrian and cars' models to acquire the head impact conditions such as head impact velocity, position and orientation against the car's bonnet or windscreen. These impact conditions were then imposed on a head, car's windscreen and bonnet finite element model in order to calculate different mechanical parameters that are sustained by each victim during the impact. These calculated head stresses, strains and energies were then correlated with the observed injury patterns and compared to existing and available head injury mechanisms and tolerance limits. The accident investigation reports and pedestrian kinematics before the head impact came from the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom), INSIA (Spain) and DaimlerChrysler (Germany). They were worked out in the framework of an FP6 Integrated Project on Advanced Protection Systems (APROSYS). The head, the bonnet and the windscreen finite element method (FEM), the injury mechanisms and tolerance limits have been developed at the University of Strasbourg (France) in a recent past. The reconstruction results show that the numerical tools employed predicted the observed injuries well. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the numerical tools used can only predict injuries reliably if both the pedestrian and vehicle side are modeled appropriately, i.e. with detailed finite element structures with well validated material and contact stiffness data. Brain neurological injuries were well correlated with brain Von Mises stress. Brain contusions occurred through high brain pressures. Skull fractures and SDH or SAH were well correlated with the global strain energy of the skull and of the brain/skull interface respectively. It has been concluded that these results showed that such numerical models are good tools to predict human head injuries. They will therefore be useful to improve the head protection devices i.e. the design, the conception, the evaluation and the optimization of carsi windscreens and bonnets against well defined injury criteria.