Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Encouraging Adoption of Protective Behaviors to Mitigate the Spread of COVID-19

This rapid expert consultation is intended to help decision makers identify strategies for increasing adherence to protective behaviors that can mitigate the spread of COVID-19 Ultimately, the focus is on increasing knowledge, reducing barriers, and emphasizing efforts that make healthier choices easier and rewarding, to complement communication interventions It was produced through the Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN), an activity of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that is sponsored by the National Science Foundation SEAN links researchers in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences with decision makers to respond to policy questions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic © National Academy of Sciences All rights reserved
Opportunities and Challenges to Sustainable Manufacturing and CMP

Today the requirements for reducing the impact of our manufacturing activities are increasing as the world awakes to and addresses the environmental impacts of our society. Energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, materials availability and use, environmental impact levels, etc. are all topics of interest. Semiconductor manufacturing in general and process steps such as CMP are not exempt from this and, in many cases, the industry has led the efforts in reducing impacts. This paper will first review some of the drivers for sustainable manufacturing, then define some of the terms that will be useful for determining the engineering aspects of sustainability and sustainable manufacturing, as well as metrics for assessing the impact of manufacturing in general and CMP in particular. An assessments of CMP will be given to illustrate the potential for “design for the environment” in CMP and related processes. Consideration will be given to research opportunities, including process modeling, that this focus provides to CMP researchers, consumable suppliers and industry.
Transit-Oriented Development in the States

This report looks at the increasing demand for public transit and the emergence of transit-oriented development (TOD). An outline of federal and state legislative and funding support of TOD is provided. Several examples of TOD case studies are provided, including: innovative funding and increased ridership in Utah; funding in Minnesota; the creation of regional transit districts in New Mexico; affordable housing near transit in Massachusetts; and TOD and greenhouse gas reductions in California. In addition, this report looks at incorporating carsharing and bikesharing programs in TOD and creating affordable housing in TOD areas. An appendix lists select state TOD statutes and programs.
Co-designing playful interactions for public health in green spaces

Public green spaces such as parks are key contributors to peoples’ health and wellbeing. Users often underutilise these green spaces in terms of undertaking casual physical activities and are recognised as having the most to gain from participating in their use and development. The Active Parks project aimed to co-design a concept for a playful and interactive ‘health trail’ in a green space to explore the effects of playful interactive experiences on the casual physical activity of park users. In a series of co-design workshops with local residents, the Lancaster City Council and NHS Lancashire Public Health, a numbers of ideas and concepts were developed, which informed the design proposition of the health trail offering new ways of motivating and taking physical activity specific to local people in their park. Three versions of a proof-of-concept digital prototype - large-scale musical instrument - were developed to explore how it could be used and implemented in the park. Pilot testing showed that the prototypes encouraged positive experiences of intergenerational casual physical activity among young children and teenagers, their parents and grandparents. Users described the experience as ‘fun’, ‘magical’ and ‘brilliant’ and were positive in their feedback about the prospect of the idea becoming a reality in their park. Reflecting on the co-design process the paper recognises the successes of the project while questioning a lack of opportunity for participants to engage in the rich knowledge generation experience of prototyping in the evaluative design phase as a barrier to further innovation.
Wavelength conversion devices and techniques

Wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) networks are currently subject to an immense interest because of the extra capacity and flexibility they provide together with the possibilities for graceful system upgrades. For full network flexibility it is very attractive to be able to translate the channel wavelengths in an easy way and preferably without opto-electronic conversion. Here, we will first briefly look at advantages of employing optical wavelength converters in WDM networks and next review the optical wavelength conversion devices with emphasis on recent developments.
Integration of passive components in thin film multilayer MCM-D technology for wireless front-end applications

In the current trend towards portable applications, the integration of passive components has become very important. This paper introduces high quality integrated passive components in thin film multilayer MCM-D technology. The main characteristics and modeling issues for use at RF and microwave frequencies are discussed. Also, a number of circuits applicable in wireless front-ends using the integrated passives are presented. These show that MCM-D may be used for the integration of miniature systems for wireless applications.
The first University E-learning Study Programme Based on the Adaption of the EUPC: Portuguese Implementation Study

BACKGROUND: The training curriculum has been developed by a European project (UPC-Adapt) cofounded by the European Commission. Eleven partners adapted the Universal Prevention Curriculum to suit the European context. AIMS: The aims of the implementation study were to adapt the EUPC into a standardised university course delivered by distance learning by Universidade Aberta (UAb) and develop a process evaluation study focused on this adaptation process. METHODS: The methodology was inspired by the WHO guidelines for the evaluation of prevention and treatment programmes and combined with qualitative research strategies and methods (observation and qualitative content analysis). PARTICIPANTS: It features distance learning, without geographical borders or physical barriers, which is particularly important for prevention professionals working in the far-flung Portuguese-speaking environment. RESULTS: Enrolment has been difficult, probably for three reasons: i) people tend to believe that they know everything about prevention, ii) the prevention of substance use might be too narrow a field, and iii) there is no perceived need for a specific qualification in order to do prevention work in Portugal. CONCLUSIONS: EMCDDA staff with proficiency in Portuguese had access to the training course and followed the development of the e-activities and the interaction within the virtual community as part of the evaluation protocol. The course represents the first real e-learning-based university adaptation running in a standard regime in Europe, and UAb (Portugal) has joined Charles University (Prague) in making effective use of programmes and materials based on the original UPC curricula in the university context.
The U.S. Men’s Razor-Blade Market: A Competitive Profile

This paper follows the footsteps of five studies: the U.S. Men’s Shaving Cream, the U.S. Beer, the U.S. Shampoo, the U.S. Shredded/Grated Cheese, and the U.S. Refrigerated Orange Juice markets.Porter links high market share with cost leadership strategy which is based on the idea of competing on a price that is lower than that of the competition. However, customer-perceived quality—not low cost—should be the underpinning of competitive strategy, because it is far more vital to long-term competitive position and profitability than any other factor. So, a superior alternative is to offer better quality vs. the competition.In most consumer markets a business seeking market share leadership should try to serve the middle class by competing in the mid-price segment; and offering quality better than that of the competition: at a price somewhat higher, to signify an image of quality, and to ensure that the strategy is both profitable and sustainable in the long run. Quality, however, is a complex concept consumers generally find difficult to understand. So, they often use relative price, and a brand’s reputation as a symbol of quality.In 2008—and 2007—the Gillette brand dominated the U.S. Men’s Razor-Blade market like a colossus, with a 90%, and 78% share, respectively, in Blades and Razors in 2008. In 2008 sales for the U.S. were $111 million for Men’s Razors, and $591 million for Men’s Blades.We tested two hypotheses: (1) That a market leader is likely to compete in the mid-price segment, and (2) That the unit price of the market leader is likely to be somewhat higher than that of the nearest competition. Employing U.S. retail sales data for 2008 and 2007, we found that for both 2008 and 2007 the market leader in the Razor market was not a member of the mid-price segment, but the premium segment. Likewise, in the Blade market the leader was part of the premium segment, not the mid-price segment.Several arguments can be offered to explain this deviation: (1) Gillette had a virtual monopoly of the industry because it was pursuing “First to market” strategy of innovation and on-going improvement, (2) The technology of producing Razors and Blades has become more complex and consequently more expensive, (3) Producers are now offering many more new feature—and benefits--than ever before that further raise the cost of production, and (4) Many men regard shaving an important part of personal grooming which they regard an “affordable luxury”. Whereas Gillette had positioned itself as a premium brand in the past, it stepped up the ladder and placed Fusion Blades in the Super-premium segment in 2007 and 2008.We also found strong support for the idea, that relative price is a strategic variable.Finally, we discovered three strategic groups in the industry.
Genetic Programming Applied to Base-Metal Prospectivity Mapping in the Aravalli Province, India

Mineral prospectivity mapping of an area involves demarcation of potentially mineralized zones based on geologic features associated with the targeted mineral deposits. These features are sometimes directly observable and mapped; more often, their presence is inferred from their responses in various geoscience datasets, which are appropriately processed, generally in a GIS software environment, to derive their spatial proxies, also called predictor maps layers. Most approaches to mineral prospectivity mapping use mathematical models to approximate the relation between predictor map layers and the presence (or absence) of the targeted mineral deposits and to label unique combinations of spatially coincident predictor map layers as mineralized or barren. Essentially, the procedure involves recognizing and distinguishing the patterns of predictor map layers associated with mineralized locations from those associated with barren locations.
Inspection and Cleaning Manual for Equipment and Vehicles to Prevent the Spread of Invasive Species

This manual provides uniform guidelines for inspection and thorough cleaning of vehicles and equipment that come in contact with pest and invasive species during Reclamation work. The information in this manual will help personnel to understand how pest and invasive plants and animals are spread and will provide instructions and recommendations to reduce their spread. The general types of equipment described in this manual are: rubber-tired land vehicles, tracked land vehicles, personal use equipment, construction and facility equipment, and watercraft. In addition to inspection and cleaning procedures, a section with descriptions of species of concern is included.
A Random Sampling Strategy for Tuning Contact Parameters of Underplatform Dampers

All numerical models of friction damped bladed arrays require knowledge of contact-friction parameters, which are established either through direct frictional measurements, done with the help of a separate single contact test arrangement, or by fine tuning the parameters in the numerical model of the real damping device and comparing the experimental response of a damped blade against its computed response. Recent results from direct measurements on underplatform dampers and the subsequent cross-comparison of experimental and numerical results have put into evidence several features which are usually neglected in FE models of damper-blade systems:– markedly different friction coefficients at different contact points;– friction coefficients evolving with time and cycle number towards a stable shape, in a systematic and repeatable manner with dramatic consequences on the shape of the hysteresis cycle and on dissipated energy;– particular cases where minimal variations in the friction coefficients lead to gross changes of the damper behavior;Identifying the contact parameters to assure the best match between model and experimental results becomes crucial to guarantee that the validated damper model will produce the correct cyclic forces on the blades during vibrational motion. While the tuning process described in the previous papers was a search based on the progressive refinement whose results depended on the operator’s ability to match different patterns of the model and experimental results, this paper dwells on a more objective and controllable method based on properly chosen indicators. The latter method is based on a sampling technique (Latin Hyper-cube) which produces a large number of solutions (in the present case 5000) on the basis of randomized extractions of contact parameters (in the present case 5) between given boundaries.An advantage of this method is a systematic exploration of the influence of each input contact parameter on the collection of output indicators, considered acceptable according to predetermined criteria.The main indicators suited for the purpose are three, i.e., the relative errors on the real and imaginary parts of the HBM complex spring equivalent to the hysteresis cycle and a measure of shape similarity between the experimental and simulated cycle. The paper shows the selection procedure which has been adopted to produce the final set of eligible solutions, which are further reduced by applying a secondary indicator based on the similarity of a kinematical parameter. In this paper this parameter is chosen to be a measure of the shape similarity of the damper rotation during the hysteresis cycle.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Understanding Flicker in Airfield Lighting Applications

Nearly all electric light sources produce flicker, especially when operated from mains power. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can use a wide variety of driving methods, including constant direct current, pulse width modulation, or from mains power using simple rectifiers, each resulting in different amounts of perceived flicker. Quantifying the effects of flicker from light sources is important in specifying light source performance in many lighting applications, including airfield lighting. With funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and from the Alliance for Solid State Illumination Systems and Technologies (ASSIST), researchers at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) conducted a series of studies to develop a model to predict the detection and acceptability of stroboscopic effects from light source flicker. Further studies looked at new and efficient electrical LED circuit designs to produce light output waveforms with reduced perception of stroboscopic effects. The present paper summarizes these efforts.
Using Thermal Profiling to Monitor Optical Feedback in Semiconductor Lasers

x Chapter 1  INTRODUCTION . 1 Chapter 2  BACKGROUND.4 2.1  Semiconductor Physics . 4 2.1.1  Edge Emitting Semiconductor Lasers (EEL) . 5 2.1.1.1  Gain Mechanism . 6 2.1.1.2  Fabry-Perot Resonator.12 2.1.1.3  Mirrors.16 2.1.2  Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) . 19 2.2  Optical Feedback.20 2.2.1  Effects of Optical Feedback . 21 2.2.1.1  The Effect of Optical Feedback on the Spectral Characteristics of an EEL (The 5 Regimes) . 22 2.2.2  Uses of Optical Feedback.28 2.2. 4  Quantifying Optical Feedback.28 2.3  Thermal Profiling . 29
Dynamic Relationship between Interest Rate and Tourism Stock Performance: Empirical Evidence from Egyptian Exchange

274 Dynamic Relationship between Interest Rate and Tourism Stock Performance: Empirical Evidence from Egyptian Exchange Nagla Harb Sayed Ahmed Alexandria University, MUST University, Egypt Abstract Tourism industry plays a significant role in the economic development in Egypt. Identifying the effects of macroeconomic variables on the performance of tourism companies is important and of great interest to decision-makers and investors. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the dynamic relation between interest rate and the stock performance of tourism companies, as measured by the stock price, in the Egyptian Exchange (EGX). The linear Granger causality test, Cointegration analysis and Error Correction Model (ECM) are employed to establish the relationship between the tested variables. Findings show that a unidirectional causal relationship exists between the variables evaluated from interest rate to tourism stock price. A positive longrun cointegration between the tested variables is observed and a rise in interest rate by 1% triggers stock price rise of 26.8%. The coefficient of error correction indicates that 0.03% of the deviation of stock price is adjusted in the short-run. The study ends with implications for decision-makers, financial executives in tourism companies and researchers in the field.
Statistical modelling and uncertainty reduction of monitoring data in geomechanics

The analysis of field data often shows unwanted trends, quasi periodical variations at the daily and/or yearly frequency and other fluctuations and noises which are not related to the phenomenon being monitored. For field instruments based on long hydraulic circuit (e.g. hydraulic settlement gages) or rods and wire gauges (e.g. extensometers), the temperature may have significant effects on the uncertainty of the measuring system. In this paper, we show how to reduce temperature drifts and the highly non Gaussian uncertainty by means of an appropriated computerized post-processing of the field data based on robust statistical methods. To do this routinely, we propose an easy-to-use software which helps the user in the data analysis and in the choice of the appropriate modelling technique.
HOW INJURY CRITERIA CORRELATE WITH THE INJURY RISK - A STUDY ANALYSING DIFFERENT PARAMETERS WITH RESPECT TO WHIPLASH INJURY

This study analyses the significance of different injury criteria by comparing results obtained in sled test experiments to real world accident data. Standard rear-end sled test conditions (sled velocity 16km/h, 6g trapezoidal pulse) and recent car seats were used in the tests. A BioRID and a RID 2 dummy were utilised. Various parameters including the head and neck acceleration, neck bending moments, the shear forces as well as the head-to-head restraint distance were derived from the tests. The neck injury criteria NICmax, Nkm and the rebound velocity were calculated. In a next step, the results from the sled tests were compared with the risk of neck injury as determined from an accident data base. This data base contains several thousand files collected by a major German insurance company and records technical aspects as well as medical outcome (e.g. duration of symptoms). Thus, it was possible to specifically assign the neck injury risk to a certain seat tested in the sled tests. Finally, the correlation of the injury risk with several of the parameters obtained from the sled tests is presented. It was observed that for the BioRID, the Nea component of the Nkm correlated best. Although for the NICmax a trend of increasing values for increasing injury risk was observed, the effect was less pronounced than for Nea. Using the RID 2, it was shown that the parameters analysed correlate in a similar fashion, but on different absolute levels. Consequently, it is recommended not to rely on a single criterion but to analyse different criteria in order to assess the protection potential of car seats in rear-end collisions. For the covering abstract see ITRD E825082.
Assessment and development of novel transition metal oxide radiation detectors

New radiation detector materials based on transition metal oxides [TMOs] are being developed for applications in radiation protection. The TMOs are cheap, simple to manufacture and have semiconducting properties, indicating either p-type or n-type characteristics. Thus, p-n hetrojunction diodes may be formed by combining p-type and n-type specific TMOs to produce radiation sensitive detectors. This is done by layering the materials in a flame-spraying process. Work by Mott on amorphous semiconductors has inspired this work to addressing the theoretical analysis of the disordered TMOs. It is found that charge carriers are polarons due to the presence of localised states in the TMOs. Moreover, the charge transport mechanism is ―Mott Hopping‖, whereby conductivity obeys the relationship of log σ ~ -[1/T]1/4. Practically, early studies have shown that TMO detectors perform successfully at room temperature as ionising radiation detectors. However, limitations existed in their very early design, which used Cu tape electrodes and, though demonstrated acceptable levels of response. This response did not meet the full expectation of the TMO detectors. New electrode deposition and materials, therefore, are sought to form ohmic and well-deposited electrodes. In this work, electrodes of Ag and Al were physically vapour deposited on either side of the detector. The electron microscope was used to fully evaluate the structure of the TMO materials. It is found that the flame-spray deposition is uniform with 3.56% of surface variation. Bulk and surface were scanned and were found to vary by 3.18% with variation in oxygen level of 0.55%. Mechanical polishing has shown a high level of validity to improve the surface by 94%. TMOs have demonstrated superior absorption efficiency of 19%, compared to Si [5%] of 200 μm thickness with 33 keV of incident photon energy. In contrast, CZT showed a superior intrinsic efficiency of 0.47%, compared to TMOs [0.02%] at 33 keV. In terms of x-ray and UV radiation tests, excellent correlations between TMO detectors, and IC and Si photodiode were observed. Also, detection was found to be uniform as expected across the p-n hetrojunction with a variation of 6% as an average. Finally, the TMO detectors were claimed to be feasible for detection of photons in the energy range of UV up to diagnostic x-ray.