Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Numerical Modelling of Building Vibrations due to Railway Traffic: Analysis of the Mitigation Capacity of a Wave Barrier

Transmission of train-induced vibrations to buildings located in the vicinity of the track is one of the main negative externalities of railway transport, since both human comfort and the adequate functioning of sensitive equipment may be compromised. In this paper, a 3D FEM model is presented and validated with data from a real track stretch near Barcelona, Spain. Furthermore, a case study is analyzed as an application of the model, in order to evaluate the propagation and transmission of vibrations induced by the passage of a suburban train to a nearby 3-storey building. As a main outcome, vertical vibrations in the foundation slab are found to be maximum in the corners, while horizontal vibrations keep constant along the edges. The propagation within the building structure is also studied, concluding that vibrations invariably increase in their propagation upwards the building. Moreover, the mitigation capacity of a wave barrier acting as a source isolation is assessed by comparing vibration levels registered in several points of the building structure with and without the barrier. In this regard, the wave barrier is found to effectively reduce vibration in both the soil and the structure.
Level of Disclosure of Environmental Information in the Electricity Sector: An Empirical Study of Brazil and the Iberian Peninsula

Electricity markets currently face shared global challenges in the search for sustainable energy: security of energy supply, protection of the environment and maintenance of competitiveness. Together these three factors help produce cleaner and more compatible energy with sustainable development. One way of assessing the environmental performance and disclosure level of a company is the use of metrics. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators are the most accepted ones in previously published literature. In the first decade of this century there was an increase in social and environmental disclosure in the electricity sector in Brazil, following trends set elsewhere in the world. The stakeholdersâ€™ request for both environmental information and accountability resulted in the dissemination of sustainability reports, especially in the more environmentally sensitive industries. During the privatization of the Brazilian electricity sector, some of Iberiaâ€™s largest energy firms began to invest more in Brazil as a result of the European liberalization process that was already under way. This paper aims to identify the Environmental Information Disclosure Level (EIDL) of Brazilian companies and Iberian companies, which published sustainability reports using the GRI indicators. The main conclusions show that Brazilian companies are in the process of improving their disclosure level while Iberian companies have remained constant at a higher level. An analysis of the level of disclosure of different firms and their different locations suggests that Iberian companies have better performance than their Brazilian counterparts when it comes to environmental issues.
Emergency Alert for Disaster Management Using Big Data Analytics

In recent days people are interested in using social network applications in smart phones. Text messaging consumes less network resources than voice or wireless broadband. In this paper we propose an emergency alert response system. In reality, there is no proper alert system in place to report disaster related events and hence there is no way for immediate rescue. In our proposed system, we have implemented an emergency alert for disaster management using Big Data analytics by using tweets posted by users on the social networks. Here an emergency alert will be sent to appropriate people and disaster related keywords are used to identify the specific location of the worst hit area due to disaster. This can enable the rescue team to focus on the worst hit
FOCUS: ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Global failures to reach a sustainable development within present-day societies as well as recent breakthroughs within technoscience pose new challenges to engineering education. The list of competencies which engineers should have to rise to these challenges is long and divers, and often encompasses radically new attributes. The task of engineering education for sustainable development is to address these competencies and to prepare engineers for their active role in society. Besides, while competencies correspond to optional behavior, actual behavior must be accounted for as well to fulfil the requirements for a transi tion towards sustainable development. Such an approach calls for new modes of teaching and learning as well as for their meaningful integration in existing educational contexts. This paper presents the diversity of competencies needed, introduces a focus on actual performance, and identifies five appropriate modes of learning. The combination of these different modes (their prevalence, sequence, and balance) within university curricula is discussed referring to empirical examples.
Variations in Engineering Features of the Nests of Several Species of Birds in Relation to Nest Sites and Nesting Materials

During about thirty-five years of field work in bird ecology in eastern and central North America, I have examined in the field or collected and analyzed about 20,000 nests of 169 species of birds. This list represents nearly a third (31.3% of the 533 species listed by Pough for the entire region of eastern and central North America from southern Texas to central Greenland. All of my studies have been confined within the region between the latitude of 30° and 50° north and between the 100th meridian and the Atlantic Ocean. The largest amount of my field work and study has been done in five counties of southeastern Michigan and three counties of southwestern Ontario where 25,379 nesting records have been established for 143 species of birds by about fifty field observers of the Detroit Audubon Bird Survey in the last 12 years. In the course of these studies, I have been impressed repeatedly by the ability of several species of birds to construct successful nests on sites which from a structural standpoint have exhibited considerable variability. When sites, nests and nesting materials are carefully examined, the facts suggest that most birds are unable to vary to any great degree from instinctive engineering activities and patterns of building. A breakdown of the nest types and sites of the 533 species listed by Pough, 1946, 1951, shows that 496 species (93.5% ) build statant or standing nests either in trees, other vegetation, artificial sites, or on the ground. Of these statant nest-builders, about 51% construct nests on or in the ground, or lay their eggs on the ground without gathering nest materials. The remaining 49% of the statant nest-builders construct or use nests in trees, shrubs, or forbs. Of these species nesting above ground in vegetation about 60 species build nests that are attached to their sites by grasses, bark, lichens, spider webs, and other fibrous materials. About a third of the attached nests are usually pensile or pendulous. Twelve
Subclinical naming errors in mild cognitive impairment

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the transitional stage between normal aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Impairments in semantic memory have been demonstrated to be a critical factor in early AD. The Boston Naming Test (BNT) is a straightforward method of examining semantic or visuo-perceptual processing and therefore represents a potential diagnostic tool. The objective of this study was to examine naming ability and identify error types in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Methods: Twenty aMCI patients, twenty AD patients and twenty-one normal controls, matched by age, sex and education level were evaluated. As part of a further neuropsychological evaluation, all subjects performed the BNT. A comprehensive classification of error types was devised in order to compare performance and ascertain semantic or perceptual origin of errors. Results: AD patients obtained significantly lower total scores on the BNT than aMCI patients and controls. aMCI patients did not obtain significant differences in total scores, but showed significantly higher semantic errors compared to controls. Conclusion: This study reveals that semantic processing is impaired during confrontation naming in aMCI.
Developing fiber lasers with Bragg reflectors as deep sea hydrophones

The present paper will discuss the work in progress at the Department of Physics of the University of Pisa in collaboration with the IFAC laboratory of CNR in Florence to develop pressure sensors with outstanding sensitivity in the acoustic and ultrasonic ranges. These devices are based on optically-pumped fiber lasers, where the mirrors are Bragg gratings written into the fiber core.
Lack of hemocyanin in Oriental Plecoptera and multifunctionality of the protein in Larvae

Abstract Thus far, data on the hemocyanin are available only for European Plecoptera, present study reports on this from the Oriental fauna. Six species of the family Perlidae and one species of Peltoperlidae from Thailand studied did not reveal mRNA hemocyanin sequences, confirming that not all Plecoptera species universally have mRNA hemocyanin sequences. All species show hexamerins similar to the ones previously found in European species of the same families. Results also suggest that the presence of hemocyanins, at least in quantitative terms, does not depend on the body size, life cycle or trophic role, as had been hypothesized in the past. Also, the specific role of this protein in Plecoptera is yet to be completely understood. The hemocyanin expression pattern obtained across the entire order could be explained also by hypothesizing its other functions besides respiratory.
PP-Menus: Localizing Pie Menus by Pressure

We present PP-Menus, a novel technique for enhancing the performance of pen-based interfaces. PP-Menus are pressure-based pie menus, which are implemented by using pen input pressure values to localize traditional pie menus. PP-Menus possess two states, i.e. stationary state and tracking state. A variation of pen input pressure can switch PP-Menus between the two states. A quantitative experiment shows that PP-Menus significantly outperformed tracking menus on task speed, and there was no significant difference between the two types of menus on accuracy.
Community Context and Strip Mall Retail

Strip malls (or mini-malls) are a common land use, historically promoted by U.S. zoning practices that concentrate retail and commercial development in a narrow band along urban arterials and major streets. They are an entry-level retail niche offering opportunity for independent, start-up businesses that serve a limited market. Communities have begun to question land uses that enable efficient ingress and egress of vehicles in retail and commercial districts but give little attention to multimodal motility. Some communities are redeveloping small mall zones on the basis of “complete street” principles, expanding landscape plantings, and redeveloping the character of a business district. This study assessed public response to one element of small mall (re)development: landscape and vegetation. Prior studies indicated that consumer behavior is positively associated with city trees (urban forest) on multiple cognitive and behavioral dimensions. In mail surveys depicting varied roadside treatments, residents of three major cities in the Pacific Northwest were asked to indicate preferences and perceptions about proposed changes. Survey stimulus materials addressed visual quality, retail perceptions, patronage behavior, wayfinding, and willingness to pay for goods and services. Combined econometrics and psychometrics indicated that respondents prefer landscaped roadsides and report positive retail behavior, such as willingness to pay 8.8% more for goods and services in well-landscaped malls. Redevelopment and roadside management guidelines are proposed based on the research results, with implications for the economics of local communities.
LMI-Based Model Predictive Control for a Class of Constrained Uncertain Fuzzy Markov Jump Systems

An extended model predictive control algorithm is proposed to address constrained robust model predictive control. New upper bounds on arbitrarily long time intervals are derived by introducing two external parameters, which can relax the requirements for the increments of the Lyapunov function. The main merit of this new approach compared to other well-known techniques is the reduced conservativeness. The proposed method is proved to be effective for a class of uncertain fuzzy Markov jump systems with partially unknown transition probabilities. A single pendulum example is given to illustrate the advantages and effectiveness of the proposed controller design method.
The influence of various aspects of enjoyment on participation in leisure time physical activity

Abstract This study examines the direct and indirect influence of various aspects of enjoyment, including activity enjoyment, enjoyment conceptualised as physical/environmental, and enjoyment conceptualised as social interaction, on regular participation in leisure-time physical activity (LTPA). The study was cross-sectional and used self-report questionnaires to collect data from a random sample of 250 people aged 19–87 years living in an Australian city. Questionnaires included demographic items and scales to measure enjoyment of LTPA, prioritisation of LTPA and regularity of participation in LTPA. The findings suggest that the influence of enjoyment on participation in LTPA is complex. Aspects of enjoyment have varying levels of influence on participation in LTPA and this influence is indirect through preference for LTPA, life priority of LTPA and making time for LTPA. Policies, programs and strategies by government and practitioners that aim to increase participation in LTPA should primarily aim to enhance activity enjoyment, rather than focusing on other aspects of participation. Theoretically, this study suggests that enjoyment is a multidimensional concept and that enjoyment is a part of a larger decision-making process influencing participation in LTPA.
GPS TEC fluctuations over Tromsø, Norway, in the solar minimum

This study investigated GPS TEC fluctuations over the high-latitude site, Tromsø, Norway (69.66°N, 18.94°E), in the solar minimum 2007 2008. The TEC fluctuation index Fp that defined by Mendillo et al. (Radio Science 2000) was adopted to quantify TEC fluctuations, in which 50 ≤ Fp < 200 and Fp ≥ 200 respectively represent moderate and strong irregularities. The investigations include the seasonal and temporal variation of Fp; the correlation between Fp and the magnetic indices Kp and AE; the comparisons between Fp and the ionospheric electron density observed by the Tromsø incoherent scatter radar and COSMIC. The results are that Fp ≥ 50 occurred frequently in all seasons but Fp ≥ 200 occurred more frequently in the equinoctial months; Fp ≥ 50 mainly occurred in 18 04 LT, and maximized around 22 LT in the equinoctial months. The linear correlation between Fp and Kp was poor but that between Fp and AE was moderate. The maximal Fp and the percentages of Fp ≥ 50 and Fp ≥ 200 increased with Kp and AE; Fp ≥ 200 is nearly negligible when Kp < 4. The high electron density structure that resulted from the auroral activity caused Fp ≥ 50 when it located in the E region or extended from the E region to the F region. The findings are that Fp ≥ 50 at auroral region mainly relates to the auroral activity. The Fp seasonal variation can be explained by the effect of sunlight and the geometry of the magnetotail. Occurrence of irregularities and their maximal intensity are increased with Kp and AE. Strong irregularities almost only occur in the magnetic disturbance period. Irregularities in the E region or in the E and F regions both can cause Fp ≥ 50. Article history: Received 1 July 2016 Revised 18 April 2017 Accepted 24 April 2017
No-means clustering: A Stochastic variant of \(k\)-means

Simple, intuitive, and scalable to large problems, k-means clustering is perhaps the most frequently-used technique for unsupervised learning. However, global optimization of the k-means objective function is challenging, as the clustering algorithm is highly sensitive to its initial value. Exploiting the connection between k-means and Bayesian clustering, we explore the benefits of stochastic optimization to address this issue. Our “no-means” algorithm has provably superior mixing time to a natural Gibbs sampler with auxiliary cluster centroids. Yet, it retains the same computational complexity as the original k-means approach. Comparisons on two benchmark datasets indicate that stochastic search usually produces more homogeneous clusters than the steepest descent algorithm employed by k-means. Our no-means method objective function has multiple modes which are not too far apart.
A new method to diagnose the contribution of anthropogenic activities to temperature: temperature tagging

Abstract. This study presents a new methodology, called temperature tagging. It keeps track of the contributions of individual processes to temperature within a climate model simulation. As a first step and as a test bed, a simple box climate model is regarded. The model consists of an atmosphere, which absorbs and emits radiation, and of a surface, which reflects, absorbs and emits radiation. The tagging methodology is used to investigate the impact of the atmosphere on surface temperature. Four processes are investigated in more detail and their contribution to the surface temperature quantified: (i) shortwave influx and shortwave atmospheric absorption ("sw"), (ii) longwave atmospheric absorption due to non-CO2 greenhouse gases ("nC"), (iii) due to a base case CO2 concentration ("bC"), and (iv) due to an enhanced CO2 concentration ("eC"). The differential equation for the temperature in the box climate model is decomposed into four equations for the tagged temperatures. This method is applied to investigate the contribution of longwave absorption to the surface temperature (greenhouse effect), which is calculated to be 68 K. This estimate contrasts an alternative calculation of the greenhouse effect of slightly more than 30 K based on the difference of the surface temperature with and without an atmosphere. The difference of the two estimates is due to a shortwave cooling effect and a reduced contribution of the shortwave to the total downward flux: the shortwave absorption of the atmosphere results in a reduced net shortwave flux at the surface of 192 W m−2, leading to a cooling of the surface by 14 K. Introducing an atmosphere results in a downward longwave flux at the surface due to atmospheric absorption of 189 W m−2, which roughly equals the net shortwave flux of 192 W m−2. This longwave flux is a result of both the radiation due to atmospheric temperatures and its longwave absorption. Hence the longwave absorption roughly accounts for 91 W m−2 out of a total of 381 W m−2 (roughly 25%) and therefore accounts for a temperature change of 68 K. In a second experiment, the CO2 concentration is doubled, which leads to an increase in surface temperature of 1.2 K, resulting from a temperature increase due to CO2 of 1.9 K, due to non-CO2 greenhouse gases of 0.6 K and a cooling of 1.3 K due to a reduced importance of the solar heating for the surface and atmospheric temperatures. These two experiments show the feasibility of temperature tagging and its potential as a diagnostic for climate simulations.
Fast Registration of Remote Sensing Image Based on Corner Feature

In this paper, because the traditional registration algorithms for remote sensing image are slower and don’t meet the requirements of real-time problem, a new method is proposed based on the combination of improved AGAST and FREAK for fast remote sensing images registration. Firstly, the improved AGAST is used to detect the feature points between reference image and image that is to be registered; Secondly, FREAK algorithm is used to obtain a binary string descriptor, and hamming distance between features vector is computed by using a cascade match to get matching feature points; Finally, wrong match pairs are eliminated by using the improved similar triangle method, and the optimal spatial geometric transform parameters are estimated using the least square method to accomplish the two images registration. Experimental results show that the proposed method improves the registration rate compared to the traditional registration methods, and ensures accuracy at the same time.
FORMULATION AND IN-VITRO EVALUATION OF MUCOADHESIVE BUCCAL TABLET OF FAMOTIDINE

Shri B. M. Shah College of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, College Campus, Dhansura Road, Modasa, Dist. Sabarkantha, 383350, Gujarat, India. ABSTRACT Famotidine is histamine –H2 receptor antagonist. It has bioavailability of 40 to 45% and it has shorter plasma half-life of 2.5 to 3.5 hrs. The effective treatment of erosive esophagitis and Zolinger-Elisons syndrome requires administration of 20 mg of Famotidine 4 times a day. A conventional dose of 20 mg can inhibit gastric acid secretion up to 5 hours but not up to 10 hours. An alternative dose of 40 mg leads to plasma fluctuations; thus a sustained release dosage form of famotidine is desirable. Direct access to the systemic circulation bypasses drugs from the hepatic first pass metabolism leading to high bioavailability. Moreover, the buccal route is easily accessible, has a good patient compliance and can be used in patients who can’t swallow. Bilayer buccal tablet was prepared by using mucoadhesive polymers combination of Sodium CMC and Carbopol934P, by direct compression with backing layer of Ethyl cellulose. The formulation was optimized by 3 full factorial statistical design by selecting independable variables Ratio of polymer as factor X1 and Concentration of polymer as factor X2. The prepared formulations were evaluated for various evaluation studies. Statistical analysis as well as kinetic studies performed. Statistical study showed that both factors X1 and X2 had significant effect on dependable variables Q4 (P=0.005), Q8 (P=0.013), Mucoadhesive strength (P=0.000) and Swelling index (Except factor X1 for swelling index) (P=0.001). Formulation F1 was selected as an optimum formulation as it shows more similarity in dissolution profile with theoretical profile (f2 = 65.76 and f1 = 7.04). The optimized formulation F1 had given release of 102.57% in 8hrs and it had optimum swelling, mucoadhesive property and permeation from buccal mucosa. It also had desired drug release kinetics and found to be stable for the period of 1 month.
Development of the frequency PID tuning method with filter

In the previous research authors developed tunable method for PID controllers to achieve the desired phase margin. Crossover frequency is used as a parameter that allows correcting time response of closed-loop system. The aim of the research is to find proportional, integral, derivative and filter coefficients of PID controller that will provide desired characteristics (phase margin and crossover frequency) in the system. The analytical approach of proposed PID tuning method is presented. The comparison proposed method with conventional was done. Practical approach contains developing the control system of extraction process. This system is a part of Russian Federation large project – closed-loop nuclear fuel cycle. The plant was linearized and digital control system was developed.