Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wind energy resource, wind energy conversion system modelling and integration: a survey

In this paper, critical review of various work done in the areas of wind energy resource, modelling of wind energy conversion system (WECS) and issues regarding wind power integration into the grid are presented with the aim of examining the development, progress, achievements and direction of research. Some of the findings show that every site is unique; therefore, no generic conclusion can be drawn with regards to wind characteristics and the wind power potential of locations. The study also reveals that there is no single model of WECS. The model to be adopted will depend on the problem to be solved. This paper is useful in providing background details for wind turbine designers, researchers and practical engineers who are new in the field of wind energy.
Mesoporous Thin Films: Thermoelectric Application

The efficiency of a thermoelectric device depends on material properties through the figure of merit, Z = σS2/κ, where σ, S, and κ are electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity, respectively. To maximize the thermoelectric figure of merit of a material, high electrical conductivity, high Seebeck coefficient, and low thermal conductivity are required. This work has focused on the synthesis of a mesoporous titania films for its application in thermoelectric generation. The mesoporous titania film was synthesized with titanium tetraisopropoxide. The triblock copolymer, Pluronic P-123 (EO20 PO 70EO 20) was used as surfactant in 1-propanol. As a result, an improvement of electrical conductivity and reduced annealing with a lowering of thermal conductivity by distributions of pores were found to be effective to enhance the thermoelectric property.
Switching frequency reduction in pulse-width modulated multilever converters and systems

Multilevel converters have attracted a great deal of interest in recent years since they offer a number of advantages in many high voltage and high power applications, such as adjustable speed electric motor drives and power systems through Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) controllers and active harmonic filters. They can reach high voltages with low harmonics without the use of transformers or series-connected synchronised switching devices by their unique structures. Along with proper Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) control scheme, they can also provide lower cost, higher performance, lower Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI), and higher efficiency than the traditional PWM converters. However, switching losses become a serious issue in high power applications. In order to improve the efficiency and reliability of the system, and reduce the size of the output filter, the stresses on the semiconductors and the development and manufacturing costs, reducing the switching frequency and associated losses of multilevel PWM converters and systems needs to be properly addressed. The thesis gives an overview on multilevel converter topologies and control schemes. It then presents mathematical analysis towards further understanding of the Neutral-Point-Clamped (NPC) and the Flying Capacitor (FC) converters. The Fundamental Frequency Sinusoidal PWM (FF-SPWM) control method is examined as a potential "carrier" based approach in reducing the converter switching frequency and associated losses. The performance of multi-modular parallel connected systems based on the NPC and FC converters as a building block is reported along with the influence of the multicarrier PWM techniques. The voltage-unbalancing problem of the FC converter is addressed and a solution is provided. DSP based controllers for the three-level and the five-level FC converters have been developed and experimentally verified. Results taken from the laboratory prototype are presented to support the theoretical part of the project.
Head versus aircraft oriented air-to-air target location symbology using a helmet-mounted display

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different candidates transparent head- coupled helmet-mounted display (HMD) target location symbology orientations on search and intercept performance during an air-to-air task. Orientation, as it refers to HMD symbology, is the method by which the information is referenced and related to the observer. HMD symbology can be coded so that it responds to ownship maneuvering (within the world coordinate system) as well as observer head movement (within the ownship coordinate system). Three symbology orientations were compared to the traditional head-up-display target location symbology: One of the candidate symbologies was referenced to ownship maneuvering, a second was referenced to head movement, and the last was referenced both ownship and head movement. The objective and subjective findings suggest that HMD target location information is advantageous and that ownship referenced information presented via a HMD may be more useful than previously believed.
A novel approach for segmentation of touching characters on the license plate

In this paper, a novel algorithm is proposed for segmentation of touching characters on the license plate. In our method, rough and precise segmentation of characters proceeds in sequence. At first, characters on the license plate are roughly classified as segmented and touching characters by vertical projection on the edge map. Next, segmentation points of touching characters are evaluated using fixed ratio relations of width, interval and height of characters. Finally, the touching characters are segmented by a path created by A* pathfinding algorithm. The proposed method is tested on 238 license plate images and the successful segmentation rate of 97.06% is achieved with only 62ms. And the experiment result demonstrates the effectiveness and efficient of our suggestion.
Microwave Domain Fiber Optic Based Signal Processing

Single optical fiber can be used as a delay line to perform signal processing functions in the microwave frequency range. In this paper, we present a novel architecture which overcomes fundamental bending loss limitations prevalent in recirculating type delay lines. Design examples for a band pass filter, coded sequence generator and matrix multiplier are presented.
Fabrication of integrated inductors on silicon for fully integrated DC-DC microconverters

The market of portable instruments is growing more and more. For applications such as computers, cellular phones and microsystems, it is essential to reduce size and weight of electronic devices, including power unit supplies associated with these products. This evolution will require high efficiency on-chip DC-DC converters providing low voltage for the various Ics. Therefore, fabrication of magnetic components dedicated to power conversion becomes necessary. To miniaturize inductors, the micromachining techniques provide solutions based on low-temperature process compatible with active part of the converter. In this paper, a "spiral type" inductor topology designed for power electronics application is investigated. Thick resist molds photolithography and electroplating techniques are used to achieve the copper conductor and the NiFe laminated magnetic core.
Analysis of back-gate effect on breakdown behaviour of over 600V SOI LDMOS transistors

A novel concept of SOI BG REBULF (back-gate reduced bulk field), which breaks through the limitation of vertical breakdown voltage of lateral high-voltage SOI transistors, is proposed. The mechanism of the improved breakdown behaviour is the reduction of bulk electric field in silicon due to field-modulated effect of the interface charges induced by the back-gate voltage. The impact of the back-gate bias on the breakdown behaviour of over 600 V SOI LDMOS transistors is discussed. When the back-gate bias is 330 V,the breakdown voltage of the BG REBULF SOI LDMOS is 1020 V, which is 47.8% greater than that of the conventional SOI LDMOS.
Improvement of TA Cloning Method to Facilitate Direct Directional Cloning of PCR Products

Directional cloning is a prerequisite for the construction of expression vectors in molecular biology laboratories. Although TA cloning is widely used to clone unmodified PCR (polymerase chain reaction) products, a major disadvantage of this technique is that cloning is not directional. Here we reported a novel PCR products cloning vector with one deoxythymidine overhang and one deoxycytidine overhang at two 3'-ends respectively. With the choice of nucleotides of 5'-ends of PCR primers, PCR products can be cloned to this vector both directly and directionally. The feasibility and efficacy of this cloning method were confirmed by using a pET-17b derivative vector and a green fluorescent protein gene (EGFP) and a red fluorescent protein reporter (Ds-Red) gene. This cloning strategy may be useful in the high-throughput construction of expression vectors and could be viewed as an interesting improvement of existing TA cloning method.
Image intensifier system resolution based on laboratory measured parameters

Abstract : Suitability of any analytical model is entirely dependent on how well the model prediction fits the actual measured data under real conditions. The primary intent of formulating this laboratory version of an image intensifier performance model considered the following premise. If an image intensifier model cannot accurately predict laboratory measured performance (where all test conditions and parameters are controlled and known), then it cannot be viable for predicting field performance (where conditions cannot be controlled nor are well known). The report details the basis of the model and its complete derivation. The Appendix presents numerous examples that compare the model's output with actual performance data measured by observers. The reader is referred to a planned update of the NVESD Image Intensifier Performance Model to be released in early calendar year 1994. The revised performance model will include this work on limiting resolution and establish the link between limiting resolution and the traditional Minimum Resolvable Contrast utilized for the prediction of observer performance in field conditions.
Software Acquisition Capability Maturity Model (SA-CMM)

In response to a long history of software development problems, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) developed the Capability Maturity Model for Software (SW-CMM) to address these problems from a software developers viewpoint. The SW-CMM describes five levels of organizational software engineering maturity. A primary use of the model is by software-related industries in assessing their software engineering processes as a part of a process improvement program. The SA-CMM describes the acquirers or buyers role in software-intensive system acquisition. Its purpose is to provide a framework for benchmarking and improving an organization’s software acquisition process. It supports goal setting for senior management and prediction of potential performance. A capability maturity model is an organized collection of best practices, termed activities in the model. These practices are those agreed to by the affected community through a peer review process. They are organized in key process areas (KPAs), which are collections of practices with common purposes and goals. To support goal setting and improvement planning, the SA-CMM, like the SW-CMM, defines stages (maturity levels) through which organizations evolve as they improve their processes. These levels using the SA-CMM is detailed are discussed. Keywords: software acquisition capability maturity model(SA-CMM); purposes; key areas; process management; use
Determination of preconsolidation pressure with artificial neural network

The correct determination of preconsolidation pressure is significantly important for settlement analysis in clay deposits. Many graphical methods have been developed by researchers for determining of preconsolidation pressure up to date. Some of these methods are Casagrande, Tavenas, Butterfield, Schmertmann and Janbu. Over the last few years, the use of artificial neural network (ANN) has increased in many areas of engineering. In particular, ANNs have been applied to many geotechnical engineering problems and have demonstrated some degree of success. In this study, using professional software called Statistica, an ANN model was developed to determine preconsolidation pressures in clay soils. Results from the model and graphical methods (Casagrande, Tavenas, and Butterfield) were compared with actual (experimental) preconsolidation pressures and each other. In comparison with the statistical results of the graphical methods, the ANN model yielded larger determination coefficient (R 2=0.961), lower standard deviation ratio (0.198), lower mean absolute error (36.933) and lower root mean square error (48.169).
Concepts for designing environment scanning information systems

Environment information systems that supply managers with timely and actionable information about the environment of their firm, so that they can make suitable strategic decisions, are increasingly critical because of the rising turbulence, complexity and disruptiveness of business environments. Regrettably, existing research lacks a conceptual framework that can be used to support the design and development of such system. This article tries to fill this gap by proposing a framework defining a set of concepts that such systems should cover, integrating them in a formal conceptual model and identifying some tools that can be used to analyse various parts of the model.
Empirical Studies of Transferability of Helsinki Metropolitan Area Travel Forecasting Models

The temporal transferability of mode choice and trip distribution models was studied by using the data based on traffic surveys in the Helsinki, Finland, metropolitan area in 1981 and 1988. The updating procedures examined were the Bayesian updating, combined transfer estimation, transfer scaling, and joint context estimation procedures. The results of model updating indicated that finding the correct method and sample size for each case is not an unambiguous task. The best method depends on the difference in model coefficients between the initial and the final stages as well as the quality of the data. According to the statistical tests, no differences could be discerned between the models at all. However, the sample enumeration test proved that the models’ ability to predict changes in behavior can vary greatly according to the method used. On the basis of this research the transfer scaling seems to be the method best suited for simple models. In particular, the method is quite useful if the transfer bias is large. The combined transfer estimation procedure performs best when there is a great number of observations and the transfer bias is small. With small sample sizes the Bayesian approach and the joint context estimation give the best results.
A mink (Neovison vison) model of self injury: effects of CBP-CREB axis on nerve injury and behavior

BackgroundSelf-injurious behavior (SIB) is a clinically challenging problem within both the general population and several clinical disorders. However, the precise molecular mechanism of SIB is still confused, and few animal models exist. Here, we systematic investigated the genesis and development of SIB based on behavioral and pathophysiology study in mink (Neovison vison) models.MethodWe used night-vision video to observe the mink behavior for four weeks,HE stain was performed to characteristic the pathology change of brain. We performed IHC assay to detect the protein level of Iba-1、p-CREB 、CBP and p300 in the brain tissues. Elisa assay used to examined the levels of NfL and NfH in serum and CSF of mink. qRT-PCR assay was mused to detected the expression of Bcl2, NOR1, FoxO4、c-FOS、CBP and p300 in brain tissues. Western blot was used to detect the protein levels of p-CREB、CBP and p300 in brain tissues. We also used Evans Blue as a tracer to detect whether the blood brain barrier was impaired in the brain of mink.RusultFirst we combine behavioral testing, histopathological and molecular biology experiments found that CBP was related with SIB. Mechanism analysis showed that the dysregulation of CBP in brain activated CREB signaling, resulting in nerve damage of brain and SIB symptoms in minks. Importantly, the CBP-CREB interaction inhibitor helped to relieve SIB and nerve damage in brain tissues.ConclusionOur results illustrate an induction of CBP and an activation of CREB, as a novel mechanism in the genesis of SIB. These finding indicate that CBP-CREB axis is critical for SIB and demonstrate the efficacy of the CBP-CREB interaction inhibitor in treating these behaviors.
Reply to Comment on 'Electro-thermal device and circuit simulation with thermal nonlinearity due to temperature dependent diffusivity'

For original paper see ibid., vol. 36, no. 23, p. 1966-8 (2000). The comments made by Krabbenhoft and Damkilde [for comment see ibid., vol. 37, no. 24, p. 1481-2 (2001)] help clarify the approximation involved in the thermal impedance matrix implementation of the time variable transformation.
Reduction of periodic speed ripples in PM synchronous motors using iterative learning control

PM synchronous motor drives are widely used for high-performance servo applications where torque smoothness is an essential requirement However, parasitic torque pulsations do exist in PMSM drive due to nonsinusoidal flux distribution, cogging and errors in current measurement. A consequence of these torque ripples is speed oscillations that deteriorate the drive performance particularly at low speeds. The outer loop PI speed controller does suppress these periodic speed ripples to a certain extent, but is not adequate enough for many high performance applications. In this paper, the authors propose a simple iterative learning control (ILC) scheme for generating a compensation reference current to augment the PI speed controller output to further reduce the speed ripples. The proposed ILC controller is applied in conjunction with the outer loop PI speed controller and therefore can be easily integrated to any of the existing PMSM drive system. Experimental verification of the proposed scheme is carried out, and test results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in reducing speed ripples.
Association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms of NKX2.5 and congenital heart disease in Chinese population: A meta-analysis

Abstract NKX2.5 is a transcription factor that plays a key role in cardiovascular growth and development. Several independent studies have been previously conducted to investigate the association between the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) 606G >C (rs3729753) in the coding region of NKX2.5 and congenital heart disease (CHD). However, the results of these studies have been inconsistent. Therefore, the present study aimed to reveal the relationship between NKX2.5 SNP 606G >C and the risk of CHD as possible in the Chinese population through meta-analysis. After retrieving related articles in PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of science, Cochrane, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang DATA, and VIP database until August 2021, a total of eight studies were included in the present meta-analysis. The qualified research data were then merged into allele, dominant, recessive, heterozygous, homozygous, and additive models. Overall results of the current meta-analysis showed that 606G >C was not associated with CHD of the Chinese population in any model. In addition, subgroup analysis based on CHD type gave the same negative result. Results of sensitivity analysis showed that there was no significant correlation after the deletion of each study. Furthermore, it was noted that the results were negative and the heterogeneity was not significant. In conclusion, it was evident that NKX2-5 SNP 606G >C may not lead to the risk of CHD in Chinese population.
Anomaly detection for advanced military aircraft using neural networks

Automated Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) is a requirement for the advanced military aircraft. PHM is the key to achieving true condition-based maintenance. PHM processing strategies include modules for the detection, diagnosis and prognosis of known fault conditions. However in real operations there will also occur faults and other off-nominal operations that were never anticipated nor ever encountered before. We call these events anomalies. Missing the presence of an anomaly could potentially be catastrophic with the loss of the pilot and aircraft. We have developed a neural net approach for performing anomaly detection. The neural net anomaly detector 'learns' to recognize consistent sets of multiple input sensor signal patterns from known nominal data. It is generic and has been applied to a variety of aircraft subsystems and for fusion with other detectors with excellent results. Presented are a description of the neural net anomaly detector and the application to advanced military aircraft.
Bayesian Compressive Sensing of Images Based on Effective Blocking

The traditional reconstruction method of Compressive Sensing (CS) was mostly depended on L1-norm linear regression model. And here we propose Bayesian Compressive Sensing (BCS) to reconstruct the signal. It provides posterior distribution of the parameter rather than point estimate, so we can get the uncertainty of the estimation to optimize the data reconstruction process adaptively. In this paper, we employ hierarchical form of Laplace prior, and aiming at improving the efficiency of reconstruction, we segment image into blocks, employ various sample rates to compress different kinds of block and utilize relevance vector machine (RVM) to sparse signal in the reconstruction process. At last, we provide experimental result of image, and compare with the state-of-the-art CS algorithms, it demonstrating the superior performance of the proposed approach.
Composite beams and floor systems fully integrated with building services

This paper reviews the latest design developments in composite beams and floor systems fully integrated with building services. A number of composite floor systems developed specifically for integration of building services in commercial buildings are presented, namely, fabricated beams with tapered webs, haunched beams, trusses, stub girders, parallel beam grillage systems and slim floor systems. Furthermore, the design and construction of steel and composite beams with large web openings is also discussed. Recent design developments for steel beams with web openings of various shapes and composite beams with large web openings to Eurocode 4 are also reported.
Corrugated board containers design methods

In this paper, a brief review of design methods for corrugated board containers subjected to compressive loads is presented. The main request for a corrugated board package is the capability to resist stacking loads. The principal tool used in industrial application is actually a simplified formula derived from theoretical considerations. In this work, the authors compare results obtained from the simplified formula, an extended formula and two numerical models developed by authors using finite elements (FE): an FE model realised with homogenised elements and an FE model representing the entire corrugation geometry. Results obtained using FE model where validated using experimental data found in literature for simple supported corrugated board panels. The goal is the prediction of buckling and ultimate load for a given container starting from the knowledge of global geometry of the box, local geometry of corrugated board and mechanical characteristics of building material. Numerical results obtained with FE models and complete and simplified formulas are compared with experimental results obtained testing virgin (i.e., not worked) boxes and production (i.e., worked) boxes.