Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thermo-mechanically tunable Bragg grating filters on silicon-on-insulator rib waveguide bridges

This thesis explores the integration of an optical device within a micromechanical structure to enhance its performance and enable behaviour it would otherwise be incapable of. Thermo-mechanically tunable Bragg grating filters on silicon-on-insulator rib waveguide bridges have been designed, fabricated and characterised to demonstrate what happens when an optical device, and the actuator used to tune its optical response, are physically the same structure. The process flow developed to fabricate the device was a five mask process that included a bridge waveguide, integrated filter, and integrated heater. A surface micromachining technique was developed to release up to 4000 /am long, 5 /um thick waveguide bridges. The device has three distinct operating regimes: pre-buckle, buckle, and postbuckle. The pre-buckle experimental thermal sensitivity of the filter was 76 pm/°C and the theoretical sensitivity was 83 pm/°C. During the transient buckle regime, the Bragg filter wavelength was measured to shift 0.95 nm, and theorised to shift 0.55 nm. The post-buckle experimental thermal sensitivity of the filter was 88 pm/°C and the theoretical sensitivity was 99 pm/°C. The rib waveguide bridge was observed to possess a meta-stable regime between the preand post-buckle regimes. Before the critical buckle temperature could be attained, the bridge deflected 0.5 /jm out-of-plane and remained static over a range of 7.5 °C, whereupon it deflected to its full 15.1 /jm buckling mode height. This metastable deflection caused a Bragg wavelength shift of 0.39 nm. The thermal sensitivity of the Bragg filter wavelength in this meta-stable regime was 62 pm/°C. Rectangular crosssection beams did not produce this behaviour.
Using a limited set of MR dampers for improving structural seismic response

Control is one of the methods used for reducing structural response to earthquakes. Optimal active control algorithms allow calculating the forces that should be applied by supplemental devices in order to yield desired structural behavior during an earthquake. However, active devices require large amounts of external power, which are not always available in the real time. Therefore, more economical semiactive devices, combining the best features of passive and active control systems, are used for protecting structures against earthquakes. This study is aimed at finding a simple and effective method for optimal control of structures using magnetorheological dampers. An algorithm for finding effective dampers' locations is used. Additionally, high‐efficiency amplifiers are used for connecting the dampers while decreasing the number of damping units. The location of dampers is found by simulating the structural response to a white noise ground motion. A number of equivalent damping units with amplifiers are obtained assuming equal energy dissipation at minimum amplifying ratio. The effectiveness and performance of the proposed method are further demonstrated by simulating the response of the structure to natural earthquake records. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food (review)

The core of Enriching the Earth comprises an account of the discovery of ammonia synthesis by Fritz Haber and its subsequent commercialization by Carl Bosch and his coworkers at BASF. Preceding this is a detailed consideration of the place of nitrogen in agriculture, its acquisition from traditional sources in what Vaclav Smil terms “preindustrial agricultures,” and an account of efforts during the nineteenth century to secure new sources of the nutrient—for example, guano. There follow chapters on the diffusion of ammonia synthesis and its technical development since World War I, the varieties and applications of synthetic fertilizers, the extent of dependence on nitrogenous fertilizers in different agricultural regimes, and the consequences of human interference in the nitrogen cycle. The final substantive chapter reflects on the implications for human populations of the ability to manage the nitrogen cycle, reprising the argument introduced at the outset that the transformation of world food production made possible by the industrial synthesis of ammonia deserves to be regarded as the most important technical invention of the twentieth century. A brief epilogue outlines the careers of Haber and Bosch after 1918. Although the book is presented as interdisciplinary, this is meant in the sense that it includes the perspectives of various disciplines within its covers rather than integrating these within individual sections. This ensures, as Smil readily admits, that many readers will pick and choose which sections to consult. Historians of technology will probably head first for the central chapters on the work of Haber and Bosch. These draw on existing accounts in both English and German, including two substantial recent German biographies of Haber, as well as archival material held by BASF. The approach is primarily narrative, and there is little attempt to engage with the existing literature or to present new conclusions. The enlistment of ammonia production capacity in the German war machine is covered briefly, mainly as a technical triumph. The earlier sections on securing sources of nitrogen in traditional agricultures and the nineteenth-century search for additional supplies from both natural and synthetic sources may also be of interest, since they bring together material from a disparate range of sources. Those with an interest T E C H N O L O G Y A N D C U L T U R E
Kitsch Is Dead, Long Live Kitsch: The Production of Hyperkitsch in Las Vegas

This study investigates the production ofhyperreality and kitsch in the latest generation of hotel-casino developments in Las Vegas. In these environments, visual imagery is manipulated for the creation of spectacle and a sense of alienation from time and reality. This suspension of real time and space is aimed at both facilitating the production of a simulated environment as "natural" and producing ideal sites for pleasure and consumption. Building upon the concepts of hyperreality and kitsch, this study proposes the framework of hyperkitsch to understand Las Vegas ' contribution to contemporary urbanization. Through four case studies, this paper suggests that the iconographies of hyperkitsch allow visitors to enact fantasy lives that ease the estrangement that is the result of conflicted urban identities and impoverished citizenship in today ' alienating cities. The first two are Rome and New York at Caesar s Palace and the New York-New York Hotel/Casinos respectively, which established the new prototype of the hotel-casino complex. The latter two case studies are the urban microcosms of the Venetian and Aladdin, which among the newer hotels feature the perfected "naturalized" cityscape ever more prominently. Breaking ranks with popular dismissive critiques of the Las Vegas prototype, this study argues that ifhyperkitsch is here to stay, we need to explore its pedagogical, liberating, and redemptive potential. At a time when meaningful urban citizenship struggles tofindfooting in a culture increasingly defined by spectacle, hedonism, and consumerism, the hope for this study is to suggest a way out of the impasse imposed by the crises of social urban identity formation.
The study on knowledge - attitude - practice of primarycare physician toward anticoagulant therapy in patients with Non-valvular atrial fibrillation in Shanghai of China

Background: As the large number of Community Health Service (CHS) centers in China face the majority of non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients, primary care physicians (PCPs) play the primary role in the prevention of embolization. Therefore，an awareness of anticoagulant management in NVAF patients must be brought into focus among PCPs in China. This study will investigate PCPs’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice toward anticoagulant therapy in patients with NVAF and help PCPs increase their awareness of oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy for NVAF to prevent embolization. Method: This was a cross-sectional observational study of 462 PCPs in CHS centers across Shanghai. We used a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from September to December 2017. A stratified random cluster sampling was adopted in the 90 CHS centers with the family medicine residency program. Result: Among 462 participants, 69.3% (320/462) of females got a medical bachelor’s degree and over 50% participants had more than 10 years of work experience. According to similar study, each section for knowledge, attitude, and practice were categorized as poor (≤39.0%), fair (40.0%–69.0%), and good (≥70.0%) [18] . The level of knowledge of OAC therapy in patients with NVAF among PCPs was insufficient in over half (75.8%) of participants. The majority (89.8%) of PCPs had a positive attitude and 68.0% had modest performance in the anticoagulant management of patients with NVAF. Conclusion: The knowledge and behaviors of PCPs were insufficient in OAC therapy to prevent embolization in patients with NVAF. The study also revealed there is good potential for PCPs’ educational interventions to positively impact on the care of patients with NVAF.
An Attempt to Disperse the Italian Interlocking Directorship Network: Analyzing the Effects of the 2011 Reform

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects on the Italian directorship network of the corporate governance reform that was introduced in Italy in 2011 to prevent interlocking directorships in the financial sector. Interlocking directorships are important communication channels among companies and may have anticompetitive effect. We apply community detection techniques to the analysis of the networks in 2009 and 2012 to ascertain the effect of the reform. We find that, although the number of interlocking directorships decreases in 2012, the reduction takes place mainly at the periphery of the network whereas the network core is stable, allowing the most connected companies to keep their strategic position.
Progress in ANITA2, the Upcoming High Performance ISS Air Monitor for Continuous In-Orbit Operation

Following the successful European precursor mission ANITA1 (Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Air) operating on ISS for 11 months in 2007 and 2008, the next generation system ANITA2 is in the design and breadboarding phase. The complementary ANITA1 information on ISS air conditions has shown the advantages of an optical sensor with high time resolution and the simultaneous detection and quantification of the most important trace gases in the ISS atmosphere. The data have delivered surprising results on the dynamics of the crewed cabin atmosphere. Events occurring during the system operation like e.g. Shuttle docking, leakage in the Russian cooling system, detection of an unknown gas, and variable activity levels for the crew, could be identified, analysed, and assigned to the different happenings.
A Design of an Ultra-Wideband Coplanar Waveguide Antenna

A kind of the small Ultra-wideband antenna is proposed in this paper. Its size is 34 mm x 30 mm x 1.6 mm, which is smaller than the other normal ultra-wideband antennas. And this design uses a shape of the annular umbrella to substantially increase the bandwidth. Its impedance bandwidth is from 1.1 GHz to 9.6 GHz. The antenna feed through coplanar waveguide. And its structure is simple and integration is easy. In addition, the HFSS simulation results show that this kind of antenna has the very good impedance and radiation characteristics within the whole working frequency band, which is used in the broadband wireless communication system. Keywords—Ultra-wideband antenna; Annular umbrella; Coplanar waveguide feed; Wireless communication
Unsteady specific work and isentropic efficiency of a radial turbine driven by pulsed detonations

Abstract : There has been longstanding government and industry interest in pressure-gain combustion for use in Brayton cycle based engines. Theoretically, pressure-gain combustion allows heat addition with reduced entropy loss. The pulsed detonation combustor (PDC) is a device that can provide such pressure-gain combustion and possibly replace typical steady deflagration combustors. The PDC is inherently unsteady, however, and comparisons with conventional steady deflagration combustors must be based upon time-integrated performance variables. In this study, the radial turbine of a Garrett automotive turbocharger was coupled directly to and driven, full admission, by a PDC in experiments fueled by hydrogen or ethylene. Data included pulsed cycle time histories of turbine inlet and exit temperature, pressure, velocity, mass flow, and enthalpy. The unsteady inlet flowfield showed momentary reverse flow, and thus unsteady accumulation and expulsion of mass and enthalpy within the device. The coupled turbine-driven compressor provided a time-resolved measure of turbine power. Peak power increased with PDC fill fraction, and duty cycle increased with PDC frequency. Cycle-averaged unsteady specific work increased with fueled fraction and frequency. An unsteady turbine efficiency formulation is proposed, including heat transfer effects, extensively weighted total pressure ratio, and ensemble averaging over multiple cycles. Turbine efficiency increased with frequency but was lower than the manufacturer reported conventional steady turbine efficiency.
Use of High-Power Brayton Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) for a 2033 Mars Round-Trip Mission

The Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts (RASC) team, led by the NASA Langley Research Center, is tasked with exploring revolutionary new approaches to enabling NASA to achieve its strategic goals and objectives in future missions. This paper provides the details from the 2004–2005 RASC study of a point‐design that uses a high‐power nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) based space transportation architecture to support a manned mission to Mars. The study assumes a high‐temperature liquid‐metal cooled fission reactor with a Brayton power conversion system to generate the electrical power required by magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters. The architecture includes a cargo vehicle with an NEP system providing 5 MW of electrical power and a crewed vehicle with an NEP system with two reactors providing a combined total of 10 MW of electrical power. Both vehicles use a low‐thrust, high‐efficiency (5000 sec specific impulse) MPD system to conduct a spiral‐out of the Earth gravity well, a low‐thrust heliocentric trajectory, and a spiral‐in at Mars with arrival late in 2033. The cargo vehicle carries two moon landers to Mars and arrives shortly before the crewed vehicle. The crewed vehicle and cargo vehicle rendezvous in Mars orbit and, over the course of the 60‐day stay, the crew conducts nine‐day excursions to Phobos and Deimos with the landers. The crewed vehicle then spirals out of Martian orbit and returns via a low‐thrust trajectory to conduct an Earth flyby. The crew separates from the vehicle prior to Earth flyby and aerobrakes for a direct‐entry landing.
Planning and Implantation of NetFPGA Platform on Network Emulation Testbed

The concepts of cloud computing and Internet applications have expanded gradually and have become more and more important. Researchers need a new, high-speed network to build experimental environments for testing new network protocolswithout affecting existing traffic. In this paper, we describe a way to integrate NetFPGA platform, OpenFlow concept and NetFPGA reference designs into anetwork testbed to improve the packet processing speed and the dynamic adjustability for network emulation experiments. Furthermore, combined with Tunneling and VPLS, the proposed network testbed can be connected to distributed network, thus providing researchers a traffic-controllable and NIC-programmable experimental networking testbed in intra-communicating part.
Zastosowanie termografii aktywnej do badań nieniszczących połączeń lutowanych

W artykule opisano zastosowanie termografii aktywnej do badan nieniszczących polączen lutowanych. Omowiono metodologie badan oraz zastosowane stanowisko badawcze wlasnej konstrukcji. Uzyskane obrazy termograficzne probek zostaly porownane z wynikami badan radiograficznych. na podstawie wynikow stwierdzono, ze zaproponowana metoda badawcza moze byc z powodzeniem zastosowana do nieniszczącej analizy jakości zakladkowych polączen lutowanych. The application of active thermography for non-destructive testing of brazed joints Abstract The application of active thermography for non-destructive testing of brazed lap joints was presented in this article. The methodology and applied self-constructed apparatus were discussed. Thermal images of the specimens obtained during experiments were compared with radiography examination results. On the basis of obtained results, it was summarized that the proposed testing me- thod can be successfully applied for non-destructive quality analysis of brazed lap joints.
Overt attentional correlates of scene memorability and their relationships to scene semantics

Studying factors that contribute to scene memorability is important for understanding human vision and memory. Here we demonstrated in two different eye-tracking datasets that the higher the fixation map consistency (also called inter-observer congruency of fixation maps) of a scene, the higher its memorability is. Fixation map consistency and, more importantly, its correlation to scene memorability were the highest in the first 2 s of viewing, suggesting that scene features (other than center bias) that contribute to producing more consistent fixation maps early in viewing may also be important for scene encoding. We also found that although fixation count was positively correlated with scene memorability, it was not significantly correlated with fixation map consistency, suggesting that these eye-tracking measures reflect different attentional mechanisms. Using the proxies of scene semantics and mediation analyses, we found that the relationship between scene semantics and scene memorability was partially (but not fully) mediated by attentional mechanisms. Finally, we found that fixation map consistency, fixation count, and scene semantics all significantly and differently contributed to scene memorability. Together, these results suggest 2 s of eye-tracking can complement computer vision-based algorithms in better predicting scene memorability.
Phytochemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of Extracts from Different Parts of Brocchia cinerea (Vis.)

Brocchia cinerea (Vis.) is an Asteraceae-family plant widely used in traditional medicine in Southeastern Morocco to treat several ailments. The aqueous extracts of flowers, leaves, stems and aerial parts of B. cinerea were subjected to a preliminary phytochemical screening test for various constituents. The polyphenols, flavonoids, and tannins contents were determined. Moreover, the antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH scavenging assay and ferric reduction antioxidant power. However, the antibacterial activity was evaluated against six pathogenic bacteria. Phytochemical screening of different parts of B. cinerea revealed alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, and terpenoids. The leaves extract showed the highest polyphenols concentration (27.15±0.92 mg GAE/g of Ext) and flavonoids (17.46±0.66 mg QE/g of Ext), while flowers extract was highest in tannin (9.57±1.24 mg TAE/g of Extract). All extracts of B. cinerea showed moderate to high antioxidant power, among which the leaves extract demonstrated the strongest antioxidant activity, with an IC50 value of 0.99 mg/mL and an optical density of 1.15. In the case of antibacterial activity screening, leaves extract showed the highest inhibition zone diameters ranging from 9 to 27 mm against the tested bacteria. The results demonstrate that the aqueous extracts of different parts of B. cinerea, especially the leaves, could be developed as pharmaceutical products.
Effective Strain-Fatigue Life of Dual Phase 590 Steel

Dual phase 590 steel belongs to the family of advanced high strength steels (AHSS) that has gained popularity in the automotive industry as lightweight vehicle components. An experimental study on dual phase (DP) 590 as-received steel was conducted to study the effect of variable amplitude loading on the fatigue life and construct the effective strain-life curve for the material. Overloads were applied in the form of large near yield stress cycles that decreased the crack opening stress for the subsequent smaller cycles. An effective strain-life curve was derived from constant amplitude and overload tests, and a crack opening stress equation was calibrated by a comparison of constant amplitude and effective strain ranges at given fatigue lives. It was also noticed that the material even at a life of 107 cycles exhibited significant plastic strain amplitudes that deviated from the single slope behavior of a Coffin-Manson equation.
A novel material for grounding resistance reduction agent

Abstract Basic oxygen furnace slag is a major by‐product of steel‐manufacturing plants, yet is often wasted. Over one million metric tons of basic oxygen furnace slag are generated annually. Recycled basic oxygen furnace slag is generally used in the cement industry, road construction and agriculture. The disposal of large amounts of basic oxygen furnace slag is a big problem for both steel‐makers and government agencies. However, the recycling of basic oxygen furnace slag still faces numerous technical, economical and environmental challenges. This study proposes using basic oxygen furnace slag as the main material in a grounding resistance reduction agent. Adding different proportions of water, cement and salt, the resistivity and clot strength of grounding resistance reduction agent was considered to find an effective combination. The effectiveness of the identified combination in reducing grounding resistance was experimentally verified.
Sustainable product development in practice: an international survey

Purpose – Improved environmental performance of products and services have lately become one of the main strategic and operational goals of manufacturers. This is due to influences from various stakeholders including government, consumers, societies and the business partners. Evidently, different manufacturers differently implement their environmental practices for sustainable product development depending on various driving factors such as customer awareness, legislation, economic benefits and competitive strategies, etc. In theory, manufacturers can efficiently undertake sustainable product development by implementing life cycle thinking into their system. This way, they can monitor the environment hot spots throughout a product life cycle and be able to minimise the environmental impact effectively. Therefore, several researchers have focused on developing tools and strategies to support the manufacturers in implementing sustainable manufacturing and product development studies. However, in reality, ea.