Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Backcalculation of Flexible Pavement Structural Properties Using a Restart Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy

Various backcalculation methods have been proposed to calculate pavement structural properties from surface deflection measurements by falling weight deflectometer (FWD) nondestructive monitoring devices. However, no unique technique has proved to yield a globally optimum solution to this complex, non-differentiable problem. The most successful methods generally calculate elastic moduli of pavement layers based on known layer thicknesses and interface bond conditions, which may not be available accurately. This study explores development of an effective and reliable backcalculation strategy with attention to variable layer thickness and interface bond condition factors. An artificial neural network (ANN) was initially trained and tested using synthetic databases for typical three-layer flexible pavement structures, created using the 3-D finite element EverStressFE®. To minimize the error between the FWD-measured deflections and ANN-calculated deflections, a restart covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES) was implemented. Preliminary testing of the developed methodology (RCMA-BC) on the synthetic database demonstrated its effectiveness and reliability in backcalculating moduli and AC layer thickness. However, RCMA-BC cannot reliably backcalculate base thickness and interface shear stiffness because the forward calculation routine does not have significant sensitivity to these parameters. While the backcalculated subgrade modulus appeared to be insensitive to change in interface bond, base layer modulus was highly affected by erroneous assumptions for interface stiffness. The RCMA-BC models and Evercalc® backcalculation software were applied to data from FHWA’s Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database; RCMA-BC exhibited consistently lower errors in deflections. The backcalculated layer thicknesses were also compared to available ground penetrating radar (GPR) and coring information.
Cable TV: Regulation or Competition?

In 1984, Congress simultaneously eliminated state-local regulation of cable television rates and banned telephone companies from offering cable service in their own franchise areas. Five years later, the General Accounting Office discovered that basic cable rates had risen more than four times as rapidly as the overall consumer price level since rate deregulation. As a result, Congress began to move to reimpose cable rate regulation once again, finally succeeding (over President Bush's veto) in 1992. In this book, Robert Crandall and Harold Furchtgott-Roth examine the case of reregulating cable television and find that viewers gained far more than they lost during the brief deregulatory era because cable services expanded so rapidly in the deregulated environment. Moreover, they show that new technologies, such as direct-broadcast satellites, are likely to provide considerable market discipline for cable operators in the next few years, weakening any case for rate regulation. Given regulation's history of impeding innovation, they conclude that economic welfare is more likely to be enhanced by policies aimed at encouraging new entry into video services than by rate regulation.
Guidelines for the Load and Resistance Factor Design and Rating of Riveted and Bolted Gusset-Plate Connections for Steel Bridges

This report presents the findings of an experimental and analytical investigation exploring the failure modes of steel truss bridge gusset plated connections. This research was conducted based on a recommendation provided by the National Transportation Safety Board at the conclusion of the I-35W Bridge collapse investigation. In particular, they recommended that gusset plates be included in the load rating process and the data produced in this project provides the justification to support the resistance equations for the various failure modes. Primarily the research focused on buckling and shear failure modes of gusset plates, including the effects of section loss, multi-layered plates, and edge stiffening. The project also presented a comprehensive review of past literature on the strength of hot-driven rivets. Resistance equations were defined and calibrated φ-factors are provided for each equation according to a load and resistance factor philosophy. Two-column draft specification language is provided for ready adoption into the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) LRFD Bridge Design Specifications and the AASHTO Manual for Bridge Evaluation.
Cross-Task and Cross-Participant Classification of Cognitive Load in an Emergency Simulation Game

Assessment of cognitive load is a major step towards adaptive interfaces. However, non-invasive assessment is rather subjective as well as task specific and generalizes poorly, mainly due to methodological limitations. Additionally, it heavily relies on performance data like game scores or test results. In this study, we present an eye-tracking approach that circumvents these shortcomings and allows for effective generalizing across participants and tasks. First, we established classifiers for predicting cognitive load individually for a typical working memory task (n-back), which we then applied to an emergency simulation game by considering the similar ones and weighting their predictions. Standardization steps helped achieve high levels of cross-task and cross-participant classification accuracy between 63.78 and 67.25 percent for the distinction between easy and hard levels of the emergency simulation game. These very promising results could pave the way for novel adaptive computer-human interaction across domains and particularly for gaming and learning environments.
A Meta-Analysis of Driving Performance and Crash Risk Associated with the Use of Cellular Telephones while Driving

This paper addresses the effects of cell phones on driving by means of a review of the literature and an analysis of scientifically credible epidemiological and driver performance studies. A total of 84 articles were obtained covering the period from 1969 to 2004. Sixty-eight articles were research papers measuring driving performance while using a cell phone and 16 articles were epidemiological studies that examined cell phone usage and their relationship to vehicular crashes. Epidemiological findings consistently showed an increase in crashes associated with use of cell phones. However, these studies did not control for exposure to cell phone use or to driving. The negative impact of cell phone usage is larger for responses to critical events than for vehicular control. Drivers responded about a quarter of a second later to stimuli in the presence of a cell phone distractor for all studies that were analyzed. Hands-free cell phones produced similar performance decrements to hand-held phones.
Assembly and trafficking of nicotinic and 5HT3 receptors.

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and 5-hydroxytryptamine type 3 receptors (5HT3R.S) are pentameric ligand-gated ion channels which form both heteromeric and homomeric complexes. Aspects of the assembly and pharmacological properties of the a 7 nAChR and 5HT3R were examined through three independent studies. The first study examined the mechanism by which the 5HT3B subunit, when expressed alone, is retained within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The 5HT3R forms both homomeric (composed of 5HT3A subunits) and heteromeric (composed of 5HT3A and 5HT3B subunits) complexes. In contrast to 5HT3A, the 5HT3B subunit cannot form a functional homomeric receptor. An ER retention motif (RAR) was identified in the 5HT3B subunit, which appears to be masked by the 5HT3A subunit. Evidence to support this conclusion was obtained from co-expression of the subunits, which resulted in the presence of 5HT3B on the cell surface. The a 7 nAChR and 5HT3R have similar N-terminal ligand binding domains and cross-reactivity of some ligands is observed. Both mouse 5HT3A and a 7 are potentiated by the aromatic moiety of 5-HT, 5-hydroxyindole (5-HI), whereas human 5HT3A is not. In an attempt to define the 5-HI binding site, human/mouse 5HT3A subunit chimeras were constructed. Studies using the chimeras suggest that the action of 5-HI may be mediated by both the N- and C-terminal domains of 5HT3A. In the final study, the effects of the putative chaperone protein, RIC3, on ct7 receptor expression were examined. The efficient functional expression of the cc7 nAChR has been shown to be critically dependent on host-cell type, unlike the 5HT3R. RIC3 was shown to facilitate the efficient cell-surface expression of al in a mammalian cell line, where functional expression was not previously observed. The RIC3 protein has been identified as an a7-interacting protein which promotes the efficient assembly and folding of the subunit. RIC3 was also shown to promote 5HT3aR assembly.
The Efficiency of Tanzanian Macroeconomic Policies in Adhering to Its International Budget Constraints

This study used yearly time series data for imports and exports from 1976 to 2018. These data were obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) data portal. The present paper analyzes whether Tanzanian total imports and total exports share a long run relationship which means testing if they are cointegrated or not. The implication is that if exports and imports share the long run relationship (cointegrated), then the Tanzanian macroeconomic policies are not violating country’s international budget constraints. On the other hand, if the two time series variables are not cointegrated, then Tanzanian macroeconomic policies are in violation of its international budget constraints. The series for both variables were found to be integrated of order one i.e. I(1). Thus, the two variables are not stationary in their levels but were found stationary in their first difference. The residuals saved from the estimated long run) equation (cointegration regression between the two variables were found to be stationary at 5% significance level which suggests the existence of long run relationship (cointegration) between total imports and total exports in Tanzania. Moreover, the error correction model (ECM) results suggested that exports have more impact in correcting disequilibria in imports since about 26.49% of the disequilibrium in imports are corrected each year. Also, findings show that about 16.43% of the disequilibrium in exports are corrected each year. On the other hand, a bidirectional causal reference was found between the two variables based on causality results of the specified ECM.
Enterprise Risk Management

Abstract The current literature on the adoption of enterprise risk management (ERM) abstracts from the issue of its strategic context. Accounting for the interplay between ERM and various individual risk management (IRM) practices, this paper presents a theoretical basis to study the strategic determinants, risk integration, and value creation of ERM. We tested hypotheses with data from the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry. Our results show that insurers with more reinsurance purchase and greater geographic diversification are more likely to adopt ERM. After ERM initiation, the magnitude of certain IRM adjustments is substantial. The market responds negatively to ERM adoption. ERM displays a strong negative correlation with firm value with a discount of 5% (4%) in terms of Tobin’s Q (ROA).
Customer Experience Management: A Revolutionary Approach to Connecting with Your Customers

Chapter 1. Taking the Customer Seriously-Finally. Chapter 2. An Overview of the CEM Framework. Chapter 3. Analyzing the Experiential World of the Customer. Chapter 4. Building the Experiential Platform. Chapter 5. Designing the Brand Experience. Chapter 6. Structuring the Customer Interface. Chapter 7. Engaging in Continuous Innovation. Chapter 8. Delivering a Seamlessly Integrated Customer Experience. Chapter 9. Organizing for Customer Experience Management. Notes. Index.
History and innovation: Looking back to look forward in English language teaching

Although it is a cliche to say that you don’t know where you are going if you don’t know where you have been, this truth is often ignored by those with ambitions to be innovators because revealing historical precedents might cast doubt on the claim to originality. This tendency is especially true in English language teaching (ELT), a field in which rapid growth has created a heady impression of novelty, and this has been easily exploited by those who could first lay claim to ‘new’ discoveries. This paper illustrates how historical knowledge has been lacking in foreign language teaching, and argues for the benefits and possibilities of authentic innovation that would come with more attention focused in this area. The historical perspective sheds light on a time when language teaching was an integral part of other fields of knowledge, and thus this paper also argues for greater cross-disciplinary awareness and training in the sciences that have become increasingly relevant to language studies and education in general. Part 1 reviews the only thorough history of language teaching that has been
Advances in heat and mass transfer in biotechnology, 1999 : presented at the 1999 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, November 14-19, 1999, Nashville, Tennessee

Presents 41 contributions from the November 1999 conference exploring applications of thermal engineering knowledge to fields of medical science, especially the treatment of excessive heat or cold damage. The papers are organized into sections treating advances in modeling bioheat and mass transfer, bioheat and mass transfer in microgravity conditions, biophysical mechanisms for cellular and subcellular alterations, freezing of tissue and tissue engineered equivalents, thermal therapies, and emerging technologies in thermal management.
A hybrid implementation of the TLM method for the analysis of high frequency interference

An efficient hybrid method is presented for the analysis of the interference phenomenon in high frequency communication circuits. The method is based on the transmission line matrix (TLM) method, augmented with a time domain integral formulation using the free space Green's function to account for the radiation of equivalent sources on boundary surfaces. The method is highly effective in reducing the dispersion effects in the TLM method and drastically reduces its computational intensity.
Substituting Wood with Nonwood Fibers in Papermaking: A Win-Win Solution for Bangladesh

Bangladesh is facing an acute shortage of fibrous raw materials for the production of pulp and paper. On the other hand, the demand for paper and paper products is increasing day by day. This study reviews the availability and suitability of nonwood raw materials for pulp production in Bangladesh. It shows that Bangladesh has a huge amount of unused jute fiber, which is highly suitable for papermaking in Bangladesh. Other agricultural wastes like rice straw, dhaincha, golpata fronds, cotton stalks, corn stalks, and kash are also available and may be used for some pulp production. Given the different properties of these different nonwood fibers, jute pulp can be used as a reinforcing agent with other nonwood pulps for the production of high quality paper in Bangladesh.
Kelvin Waves Structure Analysis of a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Tip Vortices

The optimization of the wind energy conversion is one of the most important domains which was widely interested researchers. The instabilities in the wind turbine wake are one of the sources of energy loss which strongly influenced the helical tube vortex structure and are generally difficult to be quantified using experimental facilities. This paper presents a numerical investigation on the wake downstream of a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) model using the Fluent software. Results were validated using experimental measurements conducted in the CRTEn wind tunnel. The Kelvin wave’s theory was, also, used to analyze the deformations acting on the tip vortices. The cartography of the velocity gradient tensor components of the first tip vortex and the different families of Kelvin wave’s were studied and classified according to the azimuth wavenumber. The obtained results confirm that the tip vortices meandering correspond to the helical mode of Kelvin wave’s and the stretching-compression phenomenon is the most important deformation acting on the tip vortex tubes during the development of HAWT wake.
Time Variation and Mechanism of Determining Power Distribution in Electrodes during EDM Process

The aim of this study is to determine the mechanism of the power distribution in electrodes during the electrical discharge machining (EDM) process. The time variation of the power distribution is first measured by comparing the measured temperatures of the electrodes with the calculated results. It is found that, in the earlier stage of each pulse discharge, the measured power distribution in electrodes is at most two thirds of the total discharge power. As the discharge duration increases, however, the power distribution in electrodes approaches the total discharge power, which coincides with the solution of the magnetohydrodynamic equations for the EDM discharge plasma when the plasma is assumed to be in local thermodynamic equilibrium and in a steady state. It is concluded that, during the discharge duration normally used in the EDM process, the gap condition is not in equilibrium and a large fraction of the discharge power is consumed in transient phenomena such as evaporating, dissociating and ionizing of the dielectric fluid.
Nonlinear carbon structures for mode-locking of fiber lasers

Both solid-state and fiber lasers have successfully been passive mode-locked using carbon structures, such as carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene as saturable absorbers (SA). In order to get the correct amount of SA onto the substrate a trial and error approach is used today. The main goal of this project is therefore the creation of an optical setup for characterizing an all fiber module and measuring the nonlinear response of the sample. By using a probe laser of 100 mW at 1046 nm, with 160 fs pulse duration, the transmission data of the substrate was acquired. The SA material used in this thesis were CNTs, with concentrations of 0.1 mg/ml dispersed in 1.2-dichlorobenzene (DCB), which were centrifuged to separate any ash-residuals from the CNTs and allow easy extraction of the top layer with the CNTs. The first objective was to fabricate a SA fiber sample. Two fiber types were investigated in this thesis, a two holed fibers and a commercial single mode fiber. Using pressure in order to fill the fiber with a solution of CNTs and measure the evanescent field interaction, the preliminary study did not give any conclusive results. Instead a CNT attachment process on the single mode fiber-end was conducted in order to deposit CNTs on the fiber-end surface for a direct interaction between the CNTs and the guided light. The attached CNTs where confirmed both visually with a microscope and an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA), where the change of lower transmission was observed with more attached CNTs. The second objective was to create the characterization setup which was developed, to work using two set of measurements, one of a reference fiber and second of the substrate, in order to obtain their transmission data for comparison. The transmission measurement was performed by measuring a fraction of the laser output and the guided light output from the fiber using a single diode. The dynamic range reached 44 dB with this method and some nonlinear effects where measurable at 2000 μJ/cm2. The high fluence required was most probable due to the CNTs got deposited around the core where only evanescent field interaction occurred, therefore also never completely saturating the SA. A higher laser output is therefore required in order to get hold of the saturation fluence, non-saturable loss and the saturation depth for this case. But the CNTs where also expected to detach themselves over time since the CNTs were not fixated from the CNT deposition process. Therefore a long time stability measurement was conducted by repeating the measurements after waiting a couple of days. The results where consistent with the expectations and the setup showed the nonlinear effects of the SA to gradually disappear.
Seleção de cultivares de soja na região do ecótono cerrado-pantanal

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o desempenho de dezesseis cultivares de soja e indicar aqueles com melhor adaptação para o cultivo na região de Aquidauana, MS. O trabalho foi realizado na área experimental da Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul, Unidade de Aquidauana, no ano agrícola 2014/2015, em sistema plantio convencional. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado, com 16 tratamentos (RR: 97R21, 97R71, 97R73, 97Y07, AS3610, AS3730, AS3797, B4184, B4377, CD238, MOSOY6410, P98Y11, POTÊNCIA, SYN1163, SYN13671 e SYN9070) e 4 repetições. As parcelas consistiram de sete linhas com 5 m de comprimento, com espaçamento de 0,45 m entre linhas e densidade de 15 plantas por metro. Foram avaliados os caracteres agronômicos altura de planta na maturação, altura de inserção de primeira vagem, número de ramificações, número de vagens por planta, número de grãos por vagens, massa de cem grãos e produtividade de grãos. Após a coleta dos dados foi verificado o ajuste dos erros pelo teste de Liliefors e a homogeneidade das variâncias pelo teste de Bartlett, e os dados foram submetidos a analise de variância e ao agrupamento de médias pelo teste de Skott-Knott á 5% de probabilidade. Conclui-se que a cultivar B4377 obteve o melhor desempenho analisando as variáveis AP, AIV, NR e NVP em conjunto. As cultivares que obtiveram melhor desempenho analisando as variáveis NGV, MCG e PROD em conjunto foram AS3730 e P98Y11. Altura de planta NVP e MCG não influenciaram na melhor produtividade de grãos. Considerando a produtividade de grãos, todos os materiais avaliados podem ser recomendados para a região.
Uncooled Thermal Imaging Arrays, Systems, and Applications

The development of uncooled infrared focal plane arrays began with the military's need to see the battlefield at night without any form of illumination. The earliest detector arrays required cryogenic cooling. The move to uncooled systems began in the late 1970s and early 1980s with work at Honeywell Technological Center on thin film resistive bolometer arrays and at Texas Instruments on pyroelectric arrays and ferroelectric bolometer arrays. The author worked at Honeywell during the technology's formative period. Like all "Tutorial Texts", this work is intended as an introduction for professionals and students. Topics covered include the principal uncooled thermal detection mechanisms; fundamental performance limits and theoretical performance; the state of the art in uncooled thermal detection; and applications, technical trends, and systems employing uncooled arrays.
An Analytical Framework Considering the Effects of Online Teaching Quality on Student Satisfaction

COVID-19 spreads across the world in late 2019 has affected to several aspects of social life. One of the most important sectors, which face difficulties was education, thus most universities have transferred from traditional education to online education through the internet to make their academic year going. This study aims to review the effects of online teaching quality on student satisfaction, a positive attitude resulting from an evaluation of students’ online teaching experience in higher education. Through applying the SERVQUAL model to measure the effects of online teaching quality on students’ satisfaction, it can be expected to get better the online teaching quality of higher education institutions in Vietnam.