Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Bayesian Varying Coefficient Models for the Development of Nonergodic Ground-Motion Models

A nonrgodic ground-motion model explicitly takes systematic local source, path and site effects on the predicted ground-motion into account. With an increasing number of ground-motion records, it s possible to estimate these effects. Landwehr et al. (2016) proposed a varying coefficient model as a tool to estimate nonergodic ground-motion models, based on Gaussian processes. Gaussian processes are computationally expen- sive, so for large data sets, some approximations have to be made. Here, we compare different Bayesian implementations of varying coefficient models, using the probabilistic programming language Stan (Carpenter et al., 2017), and the integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) (Rue et al., 2009). The models are used to fit nonergodic models on the California subset of the NGA-West2 data set (Ancheta et al., 2014). We find that both implementations lead to very similar results, both in the estimated parameters and the predicted ground motions.
Diagnosis of Bearing Based on Probability Neural Network

It is important to monitor and diagnosis for the health of ball bearing. We use the wavelet package to decompose the vibration of running bearing. The energies in frequency domain are input into a probability neural network. The output of the neural network is employed to justify the health of bearing and detect locations of fault. The experimental shows a good result of this method.
Overexpression of LncRNA-PVT1 promotes proliferation migration, invasion and fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy via suppressing miR-93-5p

Background : This research aimed to explore the molecular mechanism of LncRNA- plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) in diabetic nephropathy (DN). Methods: Mouse mesangial cells (MMCs) were obtained from diabetic model mice. The real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), Western blot, luciferase reporter gene assay, EdU assay, flow cytometry analysis, AnnexinV-PI double staining, scratch assay, Transwell assay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and luciferase reporter gene assay were performed to reveal the effect of PVT1 on the proliferation, migration, invasion and fibrosis of MMCs cultured in high glucose. Results: PVT1 was overexpressed in both mice kidney tissue and high glucose cultured MMCs. Meanwhile, PVT1 could not only promoted proliferation, migration, invasion and fibrosis of high glucose cultured MMCs, but also regulated the cell cycle from G0/G1 to S phase. Moreover, PVT1 negatively regulated the expression of miR-93-5p in MMCs. Furthermore, the PVT1-miR-93-5p regulatory relation activated the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, which in turn regulated cell proliferation and insulin signaling in high glucose cultured MMCs. Conclusions: PVT1 might promoted proliferation, migration, invasion and fibrosis in high glucose cultured MMCs, which further affected the development of DN. Furthermore, PVT1-miR-93-5p regulatory relation might take part in DN progression via activating the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway.
Functional and Qualification Testing of the InflateSail Technology Demonstrator

Figure 1. InflateSail deploys two structures from a 3U CubeSat: a 1 m long inflatable mast, and a 10 m2 drag augmentation sail supported by four CFRP booms. InflateSail is a technology demonstration mission for a drag deorbiting system. Two gossamer structures are deployed from a 3U CubeSat: a 1 m long inflatable-rigidisable mast, and a 10 m drag sail supported by bistable CFRP deployable booms; see Figure 1. The InflateSail satellite will be launched as part of the European QB50 mission in 2016. The objectives of the InflateSail mission are to verify the functionality of the deployable structures on board, and to illustrate the potential of the sailmast system as an end-of-life deorbiting solution for larger satellites. The deployable sail would increase a host satellite’s aerodynamic drag, thus reducing its orbital decay time. The inflatable mast provides an offset between the centre-of-mass of the host satellite and the centre-of-pressure of the gossamer sail, which facilitates passive attitude stabilisation and thereby maximises the presented drag area. Additionally, InflateSail will demonstrate the use of an aluminium-polymer laminate inflatable cylinder as a lightweight deployable structural member, and use a Cool Gas Generator (CGG) for storage and release of the inflation gas. This paper describes the InflateSail payloads, and focuses on the functional and qualification testing performed to ensure the gossamer payloads will survive launch, and will deploy successfully in space.
Actuarial Theory for Dependent Risks: Measures, Orders and Models

The increasing complexity of insurance and reinsurance products has seen a growing interest amongst actuaries in the modelling of dependent risks. For efficient risk management, actuaries need to be able to answer fundamental questions such as: Is the correlation structure dangerous? And, if yes, to what extent? Therefore tools to quantify, compare, and model the strength of dependence between different risks are vital. Combining coverage of stochastic order and risk measure theories with the basics of risk management and stochastic dependence, this book provides an essential guide to managing modern financial risk. * Describes how to model risks in incomplete markets, emphasising insurance risks. * Explains how to measure and compare the danger of risks, model their interactions, and measure the strength of their association. * Examines the type of dependence induced by GLM-based credibility models, the bounds on functions of dependent risks, and probabilistic distances between actuarial models. * Detailed presentation of risk measures, stochastic orderings, copula models, dependence concepts and dependence orderings. * Includes numerous exercises allowing a cementing of the concepts by all levels of readers. * Solutions to tasks as well as further examples and exercises can be found on a supporting website.
Computer-Aided Diagnosis for Pneumoconiosis Based on Texture Analysis on Digital Chest Radiographs

In this paper, texture analysis was used to discriminate digital chest radiographs of pneumoconiosis patients from normal ones. First, lung fields in each chest radiograph were segmented by using the morphological reconstruction and Otsu-thresholding. Second, several texture features based on the histogram and co-occurrence matrix of grey levels were extracted. Finally, a neural network based classifier was trained with features extracted from 66 chest images to distinguish pneumoconiosis patients from normal cases. Another 29 images were used to assess the diagnosis performance of the classifier, giving an overall accuracy of 79.3%.
Short-term work team scheduling models for effective road repair and management

Abstract In this study, we focus on the development of work team routing/scheduling models incorporating stochastic travel and repair times. Robust and expected optimization concepts, combined with a time–space network technique, are used to develop the models. We perform numerical tests based on operational data for Taoyuan County in Taiwan. The test results show the good performance of the models.
Near-field wideband 2D and 3D radar imaging using an extended chirp scaling algorithm

This paper presents a new near-field 3-D synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging algorithm. This algorithm is an extension of the 2-D chirp scaling algorithm (CSA). First, the original formulation of the CSA has been extended to the 3-D case. Then, some processing steps have been reformulated in order to incorporate additional terms (up to n-th order) in the approximations assumed by the algorithm. These extra terms are required to maintain the accuracy of the method in the so-called near-field conditions (large coherent integration angle and/or high bandwidth-to-center-frequency ratio), but do not entail a significant increase of the computation time. The algorithm has been also optimized for stepped-frequency radars. The performance of the method has been illustrated with numerical simulations and experiments.
Some Properties of the Matched, Symmetrical Six-Port Junction

Based on the S-matrix element-eigenvalue relations, the basic features of the matched, symmetrical, reciprocal six-port junction are derived. It is shown to be unsuitable for use in a six-port measurement system but can be used to build a five-way power devider. The equivalent admittance of the junction is derived, and, as an application, a stripline five-way power divider is designed. The theory is confirmed by the close agreement between computed and measured performance of an experimental one-to-five power divider.
Effect on the Structure in Elevation of Wood Deterioration on Small-Pile Foundation: Numerical Analyses

ABSTRACT Wooden pile foundations are quite common in Venice historical building. Very short, small-diameter piles are embedded into the soft shallowest soil layer under the groundwater level, but wood degradation is not prevented as anaerobic bacteria can flourish even in anoxic condition. This study couples the behavior of the masonry structure and the foundation as result of pile degradation. The numerical analyses, relative to the ancient piling, consider wood decay and secondary settlement of soil. The effect of deterioration as a function of the pile spacing and the possible presence of a stiff layer under pile tips are also investigated. The geotechnical results are then used as input for the structural model. The behavior of the masonry as result of different states of wood conservation along the wall is studied numerically.
Evolutionary computation technology and its application

As efficient utilization of computational resources is increasing, evolutionary computation (EC) based on the genetic algorithm (GA), genetic programming (GP), evolution strategy (ES) and other evolutionary algorithms (EAs) is making rapid progress, and its social recognition and the need as applied technology are increasing. This is explained by the facts that EC offers higher robustness for knowledge information processing systems, intelligent production and logistics systems, most advanced production scheduling and other various real-world problems compared to the approaches based on conventional theories, and EC ensures flexible applicability and usefulness for any unknown system environment even in a case where accurate mathematical modeling fails in the formulation. For complicated problems that have been difficult to resolve conventionally, attempts have been actively made both at home and abroad to find the best possible solutions of high quality by making use of the characteristics of EC, and many research results have been reported [1,2]. This section discusses the recent trend of EC and the outline of EC-applied researches.
Error Analysis of Mechanism with Clearances and Fuzzy Control

The mechanism with clearance is a nonlinear system, then using classical control theory and modern control theory cannot obtain satisfactory control effect. Therefore，In order to control the nonlinear error cause by clearance, the conventional fuzzy control and parameter self-regulation fuzzy control are considered by using the fuzzy control’s humanization and intelligent. The results of test show that: the nonlinear error got smaller and the stability of system got obvious improvement as the introduction of intelligent control system.
Analysis of energy demand in residential buildings for different climates by means of dynamic simulation

The aim of the present paper is to propose an analysis of energy consumption of a standard building in different climates. The analysis is developed by simulating the dynamic behaviour of the building subjected to different climatic conditions according to the considered location. Simulations are performed by means of an in-house developed code, validated by comparison with the outcomes from leading software, particularly TRNSYS and EnergyPlus. The use of a self-developed code guarantees a high flexibility and allows the implementation of new capabilities if necessary. The impact on the energy consumption of various parameters, namely internal and external wall insulation, window surface areas, thermal capacity and orientation, is investigated. Results show that the insulation of external walls has a fundamental role in reducing energy consumption, because it allows to exploit the thermal capacity of the walls. This is particularly useful for buildings which necessitate to keep the internal temperature constant.
Decision rules for a maintenance database

In the present time, there are large databases with parameters related to the maintenance of different equipment and installations. Given that manual analysis of sensors connected to machines is practically impossible, maintenance decisions from these databases can be difficult if the information automatically updated from these sensors is huge. Those great amounts of information are essentially useless if the knowledge contained inside cannot be extracted. Rough set theory facilitates this work by detecting those parameters that are truly significant for establishing the decision rules of the maintenance. In order to show the power of rough sets this paper contains a real case of a plastic injection installation for the analysis. Practical implications. An effective use of resource allocation in manufacturing processes could be achieved by using certain decision rules to indicate where and when maintenance decisions and tasks should be undertaken. This paper illustrates how the powerful theory of rough sets handles these issues. Therefore, the use of this technique is highly recommended for those industrial processes with a great amount of data and time (or in general, any resource) limitations.
Defects Prediction of Early Phases of Software Development Life Cycle using Fuzzy Logic

In this paper, a model is proposed to predict the software Defects indicator of early phases of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) using the top most reliability relevant metrics at each artifacts. Failure data is not available in the early phases of SDLC. Therefore qualitative values of software metrics are used in this model. Defect indicator predicated in the requirement analysis, Design and Coding phases are very helpful for testing and maintenance of the software. Requirement analysis phase Defect Indicator value is relatively greater than that of the design and coding artifacts. Model is validated with the existing literature. Validation result are satisfactory.
Golden opportunities for resolving students’ emotional disturbance in learning social work values: A 3Ps approach in f ieldwork practicum

The term golden opportunities to discuss with supervisees about social work values refers to the episodes of struggles and conflicts encountered by students in fieldwork. They are so-called golden opportunities to discuss social work values with students. Limited attention has been paid as to how to seize these golden opportunities. This study explores the causes of emotional disturbance and the methods applied by supervisors to discuss social work values with their students. In total, 22 Hong Kong students in Higher Diploma Social Work programmes at three higher education institutes were interviewed. Themes identified include ambivalent feelings, methods and expectations of students. An emotionally interactive approach which consists of 3Ps (‘perceived safe and trusting supervisory relationship’, ‘process of supportive supervision’ and ‘positive and accepting attitudes of supervisors’) is proposed.
Imagery adds stimulus-specific sensory evidence to perceptual detection

Internally generated imagery and externally triggered perception rely on overlapping sensory processes. This overlap poses a challenge for perceptual reality monitoring: determining whether sensory signals reflect reality or imagination. In this study, we used psychophysics to investigate how imagery and perception interact to determine visual experience. Participants were instructed to detect oriented gratings that gradually appeared in noise while simultaneously either imagining the same grating, a grating perpendicular to the to-be-detected grating, or nothing. We found that, compared to both incongruent imagery and no imagery, congruent imagery caused a leftward shift of the psychometric function relating stimulus contrast to perceptual threshold. We discuss how this effect can best be explained by a model in which imagery adds sensory signal to the perceptual input, thereby increasing the visibility of perceived stimuli. These results suggest that, in contrast to changes in sensory signals caused by self-generated movement, the brain does not discount the influence of self-generated sensory signals on perception.
Measurement placement design and reinforcement for state estimation purposes

This paper presents a method for designing or upgrading measurement placement plans for state estimation purposes. The method allows a measurement placement plan to be obtained that besides making the associated system observable, maintains the observability against loss of one or two measurements. In order to do that, the redundancy level of the available measurements are evaluated and, if necessary, increased. The redundancy level of the measurements is identified from the relationship between the measurements and the equivalent states, that are obtained from a convenient exchange of basis in the state space. One numerical example illustrating the proposed method is given. The method is successfully tested in several measurement configurations, considering the IEEE-14-bus and a system of 121 buses of the ELETROSUL, a Brazilian utility.
The effect of duration time on the efficacy and safety during endoscopic papillary balloon dilation for choledocholithiasis treatment

Background Endoscopic papillary balloon dilation (EPBD) has been widely accepted as an alternative to endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) during therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for choledocholithiasis treatment. No consensus has been established to define the precise duration of EPBD. Methods The PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library database were systematically searched up to 31 May 2019 for research comparing short duration (≤ 30 seconds) and long duration (≥ 1 minute) of EPBD. Results Seven studies demonstrated that EPBD with long duration was superior than short duration in the stone clearance rate during the first ERCP (OR 0.61, 95%CI [0.48, 0.77], P < 0.001). Long duration exhibited a trend of higher efficacy in total stone removal across all ERCP sessions (OR 0.98, 95%CI [0.73, 1.31], P = 0.89), less frequency of mechanical lithotripsy use (OR 1.22, 95%CI [0.79, 1.89], P = 0.37). Compared with long duration, short balloon time had lower rate of overall complications (OR 0.85, 95%CI [0.70, 1.04], P = 0.11) and post-ERCP pancreatitis (OR 0.81, 95%CI [0.63, 1.03], P = 0.09). No significance was identified in hemorrhage (OR 0.86, 95%CI [0.30, 2.44], P = 0.77), perforation (OR 0.54, 95%CI [0.14, 2.14], P = 0.38) and cholangitis (OR 1.15, 95%CI [0.80, 1.66], P = 0.44). Conclusion Long duration (≥ 1 minute) could significantly increase the efficacy of EPBD in stone removal rate during first ERCP session, manifesting higher rate of total CBD stone clearance and less mechanical lithotripsy. Short EPBD contributed to less overall complications than long EPBD but not significantly.
Development of Bill of Service Framework for Modular Housing Construction

Abstract : Modular construction is one of the arising issues in the Korean construction industry due to shorter construction period and higher productivity on site. It is also expected that modular construction market would expand rapidly because of increasing demand of small houses by nuclear families and eco-friendly construction. However modular construction cases have been limited in Korea because of little demand in the market and the construction prices are even higher that the regular reinforced concrete methods. Even worse, because there is no standard bill of services exists in the industry, it may lead to the risk of construction expenses. So, the purpose of this study is focused on the development of bill of services which reflects characteristics and process of modular construction. In order to do this, the concepts and process of modular construction, WBS and CBS are analyzed. Analyses of the case studies and experts interview were executed so that proper principles for organizing bill of service of modular construction is established. Finally according to the 3 steps of modular construction, factory manufacturing, on-site modular construction and on-site general construction, the standard bill of services were suggested with the related coding system.
Active Metal-Insulator-Metal Plasmonic Devices

As the field of photonics constantly strives for ever smaller devices, the diffraction limit of light emerges as a fundamental limitation in this pursuit. A growing number of applications for optical "systems on a chip" have inspired new ways of circumventing this issue. One such solution to this problem is active plasmonics. Active plasmonics is an emerging field that enables light compression into nano-structures based on plasmon resonances at a metal-dielectric interface and active modulation of these plasmons with an applied external field. One area of active plasmonics has focused on replacing the dielectric layer in these waveguides with an electro-optic material and designing the resulting structures in such a way that the transmitted light can be modulated. These structures can be utilized to design a wide range of devices including optical logic gates, modulators, and filters. This thesis focuses on replacing the dielectric layer within a metal-insulator-metal plasmonic waveguide with a range of electrically active materials. By applying an electric field between the metal layers, we take advantage of the electro-optic effect in lithium niobate, and modulating the carrier density distribution across the structure in n-type silicon and indium tin oxide. The first part of this thesis looks at fabricating metal-insulator-metal waveguides with ion-implantation induced layer transferred lithium niobate. The process is analyzed from a thermodynamic standpoint and the ion-implantation conditions required for layer transfer are determined. The possible failure mechanisms that can occur during this process are analyzed from a thin-film mechanics standpoint, and a metal-bonding method to improve successful layer transfer is proposed and analyzed. Finally, these devices are shown to naturally filter white light into individual colors based on the interference of the different optical modes within the dielectric layer. Full-field electromagnetic simulations show that these devices can preferentially couple to any of the primary colors and can tune the output color of the device with an applied field. The second part of this thesis looks at fabricating metal-insulator-metal waveguides with n-type silicon and indium tin oxide. With the silicon device, by tuning the thicknesses of the layers used in a metal-oxide semiconductor geometry, the device we call the "plasMOStor" can support plasmonic modes as well as exactly one photonic mode. With an applied field, this photonic mode is pushed into cutoff and modulation depths of 11.2 dB are achieved. With the indium tin oxide device, the doping density within the material is changed and as a result, the plasma frequency is shifted into the near-infrared and visible wavelengths. Using spectroscopic ellipsometry, the structure is characterized with and without an applied electric field, and measurements show that when an accumulation layer is formed within the structure, the index of refraction within that layer is significantly changed and as a result, will change the optical modes supported in such a structure.