Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Outsourcing in Local Public Transport: A Hidden Eciency Determinant

This paper evaluates cost eciency and some of its determinants in Germany’s local public transport. A heteroscedastic Stochastic Frontier approach reveals that high degrees of vehicle utilization and outsourcing positively influence the eciency estimates. Mean eciencies lie between 84.9% and 95.13%, depending on the applied panel data model. In this context, the modeling of the heterogeneous output characteristics of rail-bound services with tram, light railway and metro seems to be particularly important. The results impact corporate strategies and point to the need of a comprehensive and nationwide regulation.
Wavelet based robust sub-band features for phoneme recognition

Wavelet transform has been found to be an effective tool for the time-frequency analysis of non-stationary and quasi-stationary signals. Recent years have seen wavelet transform being used for feature extraction in speech recognition applications. In the paper a sub-band feature extraction technique based on an admissible wavelet transform is proposed and the features are modified to make them robust to additive white Gaussian noise. The performance of this system is compared with the conventional mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) under various signal to noise ratios. The recognition performance based on the eight sub-band features is found to be superior under the noisy conditions compared with MFCC features.
Adaptive sliding mode control method for DC–DC converters

This study presents an adaptive sliding mode control method for DC–DC converters. In the state space model of DC–DC converters, there are always some unknown coordinate components of the desired equilibrium point (static working point), which are necessary to obtain the error vector and then build the sliding surface. To obtain the unknown coordinate components of the equilibrium point, an adaptive law is proposed. The adaptive law and the error response are formulated in a single equation, which determines the system performance. A systematic sliding mode control design procedure of a class of DC–DC converters is hence carried out. To verify the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed adaptive sliding mode control method, the negative output elementary super lift Luo converter is used as a design example. Simulation and experimental results are reported to confirm the proposed approach.
Condensed Matter and Interphases

In the temperature range ΔT ≈ 321 K ÷ 322 K, the kinetics of the nonequilibrium domain structure of triglycine sulphate crystals, both pure and with specially introduced defects, has been studied by means of piezoresponse force microscopy technique. The temporal change in the domain structure as a set of regions with a scalar order parameter of P (r, t) = +1 and −1 for oppositely polarized domains was analysed by the behaviour of the space-time correlation function C(r,t) = ·Р(r,t)Р(0,t)Ò. At different distances from the Curie point Tc, the characteristic length Lc, as a scale measure of the average domain size, increases with time according to the power law Lc(t)~(t−t0) a. A decrease of the exponent a with distance from Tc can be a consequence of the transition of the domain structure of TGS crystals from a non-conservative state to a conservative one.
Design and Implementation of a 3 X 3 Orthogonal Beam-Forming Network for Pattern-Diversity Applications

An orthogonal beam-forming network (BFN) is proposed for 4G pattern-diversity applications. Different from the traditional Butler beam-forming networks with 2 N orthogonal beams, the orthogonal BFN, composed of three 180 ◦ hybrids and a 90 ◦ phase shifter, provides three orthogonal beams. Design procedure of the orthogonal BFN based on the factorization of its transmission matrix is derived. Moreover, in order to implement the proposed orthogonal BFN with low insertion loss, a rat- race has been used to realize unequal power distribution between its two output ports. The measured scattering parameters of the orthogonal BFN are compared with the analytical and the simulated scattering parameters, validating the expected behavior. In addition, by varying the output power ratio of the non-equi-amplitude 180 ◦ hybrid, the performance of the orthogonal BFN is improved when the proposed orthogonal BFN is used in an antenna array.
New frequency comparisons using GPS carrier-phase time transfer

In October 2002, experiments were conducted to assess the frequency accuracy available from GPS carrier-phase time transfer (GPSCPTT). In these experiments, two GPS receivers, NIST/spl I.bar/A and NIST/spl I.bar/B, were operated in close proximity with one clock, UTC(NIST), serving as the receiver clock for both. Because the same clock was used for both receivers, the resultant time series Clk(NIST/spl I.bar/A)-Clk(NIST/spl I.bar/B) is expected to have a slope (frequency difference) of zero. The experiment yielded mixed results. Data recorded 22-25 October 2002 yielded slopes in the 12-24 ps/d range with both positive and negative signs, indicating that if one averaged long enough, the frequency error obtained from GPSCPTT might average out to zero. However, data recorded 5-9 October 2002 yielded slopes in the 45-77 ps/d range, with all of the slopes having the same sign. Thus, it appears that some sort of systematic frequency error is arising in either the measurement or data-analysis process. Attempts have been made to determine the cause of this systematic error. Potential sources investigated include (a) unequal sampling rates at the two receivers, (b) the analysis technique of fixing satellite-clock corrections to predetermined values rather than estimating them, and (c) errors in the estimation of the tropospheric delay. None of these appear be the root cause of the problem. Future work will include the investigation of site- and receiver-specific effects such as temperature sensitivity and multipath.
Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans in umbilical cord and peripheral blood, saliva, colostrum from women with gingivitis

This study investigated and compared the presence of Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) in biological samples of women submitted to the term delivery diagnosed with gingivitis and healthy periodontium. Oral clinical exams were performed in 48 puerperal women including 28 women with healthy periodontium, 15 with gingivitis and 5 with periodontitis (that were excluded of analysis). Samples of umbilical cord blood (CB), peripheral blood (PB), saliva (SA) and colostrum (C) were collected from eligible women after delivery. DNA extraction was accomplished, and the presence of bacteria was detected by PCR with primers and specific probes for each microorganism. Data about previous and current pregnancies and known risk factors were obtained from patients’ medical records. Social, demographic, and oral care data was analyzed by interview. All salivas of participants with gingivitis presented Pg and Aa, while a minority of samples of with healthy periodontium had those bacteria (P<0.05 for each). Sixty percent of the women with gingivitis presented Pg in the blood samples (PB and CB, p<0.05) and 46.6% presented in C. Aa did not present in the blood samples, but 46.6% of women with gingivitis had Aa in the C. No association between socioeconomic and oral health data, detection of microorganisms and presence of the disease. Gingivitis was related to the positive detection of both microorganisms in saliva. Women with gingivitis presented Pg in PB and CB. The presence of Pg and Aa in colostrum occurred only in pregnant women with gingivitis. Research, Society and Development, v. 10, n. 16, e372101623791, 2021 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.33448/rsd-v10i16.23791 2
Broadband modeling and measurement of the signal behavior in S/390 MCM packages

In this work, we investigate the electrical performance of critical signal paths in IBM's S/390 MCM packages. We present lumped RLC-models suitable for standard circuit simulators like e.g. SPICE. The models are developed from finite element simulations of typical signal path segments. By comparing S-parameters from simulations of the models to two-port network analyzer measurements we validate the models in a frequency range up to 3 GHz.
CMOS retinal prosthesis with on-chip electrode impedance measurement

A retinal prosthesis device with built-in self-test capability is proposed and demonstrated. The measurement of electrode impedance as a self-test is achieved without increasing the chip area by employing analogue multiplexers to allow the electrodes to be used for both stimulation of retinal cells and measurement of impedance. Measurement is performed using a four-terminal method to ensure good accuracy. A prototype stimulus chip with 16/spl times/16 channels is fabricated using standard 0.6 /spl mu/m CMOS technology, and is demonstrated to provide self-test functionality with error of as little as 0.05% in the frequency range of 100 Hz to 100 kHz.
Corporate Investment Behavior and Level of Participation in the Global Value Chain: A Dynamic Panel Data Approach

This study was conducted to comprehensively identify factors that potentially influence corporate investment behavior, including micro, macro, and sectoral variables. Furthermore, investment behavior was studied across nations based on their participation in the global value chain (GVC), which was evaluated based on commodities, limited manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, and innovative activities. The study uses the dynamic panel data analysis and Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) estimation for a sample of 800 corporations, with data spanning over 2000−2019. The study result shows that in all types of countries, the coefficient lag indicator of capital expenditure statistically has a significant effect on capital expenditure. Sales growth, exchange rate, and GDP have a significant positive effect on corporate investment growth, while DER has a negative effect. In commodity countries, corporate investment is influenced by sales growth, exchange rate, and FCI. The variables that influence corporate investment in manufacturing countries are the FCI, exchange rate, sales growth, GDP, and DER. In innovative countries, variables that significantly affect capital expenditure are DER, GDP, and Tobin Q. In each type of country, the interaction terms between exchange rate and commodity price are positive and statistically significant.
COPD_A_331658 3503..3512

1Department of Pulmonology and Sleep Disorders Centre, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 2Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 3Centre of Competence Sleep & Health, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Purpose: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are particularly vulnerable to hypoxia-induced autonomic dysregulation. Hypoxemia is marked during sleep. In COPD, altitude exposure is associated with an increase in blood pressure (BP) and a decrease in baroreflex-sensitivity (BRS). Whether nocturnal oxygen therapy (NOT) may mitigate these cardiovascular autonomic changes in COPD at altitude is unknown. Materials and Methods: In a randomized placebo-controlled cross-over trial, 32 patients with moderate-to-severe COPD living <800 m were subsequently allocated to NOT and placebo during acute exposure to altitude. Measurements were done at low altitude at 490 m and during two stays at 2048 m on NOT (3 L/min) and placebo (3 L/min, ambient air) via nasal cannula. Allocation and intervention sequences were randomized. Outcomes of interest were BP, BRS (from beat-to-beat BP measurement), BP variability (BPV), and heart rate. Results: About 23/32 patients finished the trial per protocol (mean (SD) age 66 (5) y, FEV1 62 (14) % predicted) and 9/32 experienced altitude-related illnesses (8 vs 1, p < 0.05 placebo vs NOT). NOT significantly mitigated the altitude-induced increase in systolic BP compared to placebo (Δ median −5.8 [95% CI −22.2 to −1.4] mmHg, p = 0.05) but not diastolic BP (−3.5 [95% CI −12.6 to 3.0] mmHg; p = 0.21) or BPV. BRS at altitude was significantly higher in NOT than in placebo (1.7 [95% CI 0.3 to 3.4] ms/mmHg, p = 0.02). Conclusion: NOT may protect from hypoxia-induced autonomic dysregulation upon altitude exposure in COPD and thus protect from a relevant increase in BP and decrease in BRS. NOT may provide cardiovascular benefits in COPD during conditions of increased hypoxemia and may be considered in COPD travelling to altitude.
Intelligent Infrastructure: Neural Networks, Wavelets, and Chaos Theory for Intelligent Transportation Systems and Smart Structures

Introduction Artificial Neural Networks Wavelets Chaos Theory Freeway Incident Detection Micro-Simulation Model for Traffic Delay And Queue Length Estimation in Freeway Work Zones Traffic Delay Estimation and Cost Optimization In Freeway Work Zones Neuro-Fuzzy Logic Model for Work Zone Capacity Estimation Clustering Neural Network Models for Work Zone Capacity Estimation and Parametric Study Object-Oriented Model for Work Zone Capacity And Delay Estimation Wavelet Analysis of Traffic Flow Time Series Wavelet Neural Network for Traffic Flow Forecasting Dynamic Fuzzy Wavelet Neural Network For Structural System Identification Nonlinear System Identification of High-Rising Building Structures Damage Detection and Health Monitoring Of Structures Nonlinear Control of Smart Structures Neuro-Genetic Algorithm for Nonlinear Control Of Smart Structures
Micro electro-discharge machining and its applications

A micro electro-discharge machining (MEDM) technology is presented. It allows machining of micro holes and shafts as small as 5 mu m in diameter with a best surface roughness of 0.1 mu m R/sub max/ and of roundness of 0.5 mu m, as well as a variety of complex shapes of equivalent accuracy. In the MEDM, machining for silicon with 10-100 Omega -cm resistivity is possible; machining up to a depth of 10 times the electrode diameter is easy, and the electrode wear is small. A prototype microair turbine of 2.2 mm external diameter, which is able to rotate at a speed of approximately 1000 r.p.m. , is discussed. <<ETX>>
Numerical analysis of chemically foamed thick-walled PA66 GF30 moldings

The paper presents a numerical analysis of thick-walled PA66 GF30 moldings with the addition of a chemical blowing agent with a content of 1-3 wt%, and the obtained results were compared with the real object. Computer simulations were performed using Moldex3D software. Based on the numerical analysis, it was found that regardless of the dose of the blowing agent used, the largest pores were place in the core of the sample. Moreover, it was found that the size of the pores depends on their number in the cross-section of moldings. Compositions containing a higher crosssectional pore density were characterized by smaller pore sizes. The results of the computer simulation also showed that increasing the blowing agent dose above 2 wt% does not significantly affect the size of the pores in the structure. The experimentally determined pore size of the composition containing 3 wt% chemical blowing agent slightly differs from the pore size obtained based on numerical analysis.
Using Floating Cars to Measure Travel Time Delay: How Accurate Is the Method?

In practice, partial floating car runs (runs in the direction of the traffic flow of interest) plus a measured or assumed controlling bottleneck capacity could be used to estimate the total travel time delay along a freeway segment. The floating car's travel time in excess of that of user-specifiedfree flow travel is defined as the floating car's measured travel time delay. This delay, along with the bottleneck capacity, could be used to estimate excess traffic demand. The total freeway segment delay could then be determined on the basis of the fundamental queuing diagram. To examine the quality of this estimation method, an explicit evaluation of the accuracy level of the estimated delay was conducted. Trajectory data for thousands of vehicles on six freeway facilities across the United States were analyzed, and a floating car's travel time and delay were generated (simulated) as the average travel time and delay of all its neighboring vehicles within a specified duration. This was found to be an inaccurate method. Although performance is influenced by the combination of such factors as the user-specified free flow speed (delay definition), the floating car intervals, the floating car generation method, and facility-specific traffic conditions, the assumed bottleneck capacity is observed to be the primary contributor to inaccuracy. Until a practicable method is found for determining the true flow between any two consecutive floating cars to supersede the assumed capacity, the estimation should be interpreted only in its comparative sense, such as tracing the trend of delay development for a freeway facility.
An Intelligent Fire Leaning and Detection System

In this paper, we propose intelligent fire learning and detection system using hybrid visual attention mechanism of human. Proposed fire learning system generates leaned data by learning process of fire and smoke images. The features used as learning feature are selected among many features which are extracted based on bottom-up visual attention mechanism of human, and these features are modified as learned data by calculating average and standard variation of them. Proposed fire detection system uses learned data which is generated in fire learning system and features of input image to detect fire
SEMANTIC REPRESENTATION OF MUSIC DATABASE USING NEW ONTOLOGY-BASED SYSTEM

The Semantic Web is suffering from a lack of tools used to facilitate its users’ work when extracting structured data. The development of a system that facilitates the extraction of data from databases and converts them into useful information is of great interest. In this paper, a new ontology-based method is proposed to extract the structured data from a database based on a target ontology. The main focus here is on dealing with music databases because of their popularity on the web. Since the Semantic Web built upon reusing existing ontologies, this system is going to use the existing musical ontology defined in the Music Ontology Specification. This specification provides the concepts and properties used to describe music besides other ontologies that could use in conjunction with it, such as (foaf, dc, timeline, event, etc.). The resulting music data, in RDF format, can be published and linked with existing musical data on the web. This method contributes to the music web of data and allows the Semantic Web clients to access detailed structured information about musical data easily.
Failure Mechanisms of Structural Bamboo Using Microstructural Analyses

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Dhofar University, Salalah, Oman School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, George Town, 14300 Penang, Malaysia Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Civil Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, BP 655, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia
Radar High-Resolution Range Profile Target Recognition by the Dual Parallel Sequence Network Model

Using traditional neural network algorithms to adapt to high-resolution range profile (HRRP) target recognition is a complex problem in the current radar target recognition field. Under the premise of in-depth analysis of the long short-term memory (LSTM) network structure and algorithm, this study uses an attention model to extract data from the sequence. We build a dual parallel sequence network model for rapid classification and recognition and to effectively improve the initial LSTM network structure while reducing network layers. Through demonstration by designing control experiments, the target recognition performance of HRRP is demonstrated. The experimental results show that the bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) algorithm has obvious advantages over the template matching method and initial LSTM networks. The improved BiLSTM algorithm proposed in this study has significantly improved the radar HRRP target recognition accuracy, which enhanced the effectiveness of the improved algorithm.
IITP-CUNI@3C: Supervised Approaches for Citation Classiﬁcation (Task A) and Citation Signiﬁcance Detection (Task B)

Citations are crucial to a scientiﬁc discourse. Besides providing additional contexts to research papers, citations act as trackers of the direction of research in a ﬁeld and as an important measure in understanding the impact of a research publication. With the rapid growth in research publications, automated solutions for identifying the purpose and inﬂuence of citations are becoming very important. The 3C Citation Context Classiﬁcation Task organized as part of the Second Workshop on Scholarly Document Processing @ NAACL 2021 is a shared task to address the aforemen-tioned problems. In this paper, we present our team, IITP-CUNI@3C’s submission to the 3C shared tasks. For Task A, citation context purpose classiﬁcation, we propose a neural multi-task learning framework that harnesses the structural information of the research papers and the relation between the citation context and the cited paper for citation classiﬁcation. For Task B, citation context inﬂuence classiﬁcation, we use a set of simple features to classify citations based on their perceived signiﬁcance. We achieve comparable performance with respect to the best performing systems in Task A and superseded the majority baseline in Task B with very basic features.
Some recriticality studies with SIMMER-II. [LMFBR]

The SIMMER-II code was applied to the problem of evaluating the potential for recriticality in an LMFBR HCDA. The phenomenology examined was based on the post SAS3D behavior in a CRBR LOF accident. The SIMMER-II results were found to be sensitive to the development of fuel blockages. If blockages were formed close to the core, the core-disruption phase of the behavior resulted from the significant energy required following SAS3D termination to raise the average steel temperature to saturation conditions; also material deposition near heat sinks eliminated condensation surfaces and induced core pressurization and fuel collapse. Excessive ramp rates (greater than $100/s) were judged to be unlikely, but improved knowledge and calculational treatments of the applicable phenomenology would be desirable.
IMPACT OF POROSITY TYPE ON MICROSTRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES IN SELECTIVELY LASER MELTED IN718 LATTICE STRUCTURES

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), one of the most employed additive manufacturing techniques for metals, has opened new dimensions in realizing strong and weight reducing structures. In this study, Inconel 718 (IN718) unit cell designs, were fabricated through the LPBF technique and analyzed. Among the plethora of lattice structures in existence, BCC, BCC-Z, FCC, FCC-Z, Gyroid, Diamond and Schwarz structures have been selected to focus on. A relationship between the mechanical properties including yield strength, failure stress and strain, and hardness with each type of unit cell was established. Also, the effect of the possible defects on the hardness value was examined using microstructural analysis on samples. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis was also performed to examine the possible defects and its effect on the hardness of the as-built part. The SEM images of the grain structures indicated higher levels of isotropy in Gyroid, and Diamond samples compared to the rest of the samples which relates to the load bearing capacities of each unit cell structure. A similar trend was observed in terms of the uniformity of meltpool which can be linked with the consistency in yield characteristics. Further, Diamond and BCC-Z structures displayed high values of hardness in comparison with rest of the samples.