Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comprehensive circuit model for evaluating the response of silicon photomultipliers in continuous wave light regime

In this paper, a comprehensive dynamic model for silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) detectors is proposed to investigate their response when exposed to the light of any wavelength and relatively high intensity. Also, a procedure is proposed to perform reliable circuit‐level simulations to predict the response of these detectors under various photon rates. The approach of dynamic model is based on the state of microcells in terms of overvoltage, elapsed recharging time, and their effect on the triggering probability with which the detector current and voltage can be accurately simulated. Using the proposed model, the SiPM behaviour is examined under various continuous illumination power in simulation. The effectiveness of the proposed model and the simulation method are verified by experimental results extracted from two SiPM detectors.
Study on the Impact of Nonlinearity and Noise on the Performance of High-Capacity Broadband Hybrid Raman-EDFA Amplified System

We experimentally demonstrated the transmission of 312 $\times {}$ 35 GBd DP-256QAM over 9 $\times {}$ 70 km spans using hybrid distributed Raman-EDFA (HRE) amplifiers with a continuous 91 nm gain bandwidth. A total throughput of 120 Tbit/s over 630 km is demonstrated, with a net achievable information rate after SD-FEC of 10.99 bit/symbol. An extensive, theoretical investigation of the noise contributions originating from amplifier, transceiver sub-system and fiber nonlinearity were carried out using the Gaussian noise model in the presence of inter-channel stimulated Raman scattering (ISRS GN model). The ISRS GN model accounts for arbitrary, wavelength dependent signal power profiles along fiber spans, which is vital for the modeling of ultra-wideband transmission, particularly for hybrid Raman-amplified links. The analysis serves to quantify the relative noise contributions and explain the performance achieved. It was found that, due to the low noise HRE amplifier and a transmission distance of 630 km, the noise originating from the transceiver sub-system imposed a penalty of 6 dB in SNR. For this system, the transceiver noise is, therefore, the main limitation to the system throughput.
A Unified Distributed Control Strategy for Hybrid Cascaded-Parallel Microgrid

Hybrid cascaded-parallel microgrid is becoming a new emerging structure to integrate multiple low-voltage power sources. This paper presents a unified distributed control strategy to implement power sharing control in hybrid cascaded-parallel microgrid under both resistive-inductive (RL) and resistive-capacitive (RC) load, where a sign function is introduced to automatically match load characteristic. Active power and reactive power regulators without frequency drop are developed, and low bandwidth communication network is employed to support power management and improve system redundancy. Furthermore, small signal model of hybrid cascaded-parallel microgrid with RL load and RC load is established. Also, small signal stability and dynamic performance of the proposed distributed control strategy is investigated. Simulation results show that the unified distributed control strategy is able to implement desirable power sharing under different load types with superior control performance. Also, the proposed control strategy is able to improve system redundancy and support plug-and-play operation of microgrid.
Load Adaptation of Capacitive Power Transfer System with a Four-Plate Compact Capacitive Coupler

This paper proposes an LCL-L compensated capacitive power transfer (CPT) system with a four-plate compact capacitive coupler to achieve load adaptation. The resonant frequency is designed to be unchanged whether the pick-up is removed or moved back to simplify system control. The model of the coupler and AC impedance model of CPT system are established and the parameters design method is given. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed topology and its parameters design method are verified by simulation experimental results.
Self‐similarity analysis of vehicle driver's electrodermal activity

This paper characterizes stress levels via a self‐similarity analysis of the electrodermal activity (EDA) collected in a real‐world driving context. To characterize the EDA richness over scales, the fractional Brownian motion (FBM) process and its corresponding exponent H, estimated via a wavelet‐based approach, are used. Specifically, an automatic scale range selection is proposed in order to detect the linearity in a log scale diagram. The procedure is applied to the EDA signals, from the open database drivedb, originally captured on the foot and the hand of the drivers during a real‐world driving experiment, designed to evoke different levels of arousal and stress. The estimated Hurst exponent H offers a distinction in stress levels when driving in highway versus city, with a reference to restful state of minimal stress level. Specifically, the estimated H values tend to decrease when the driving environmental complexity increases. In addition, the estimated H values on the foot EDA signals allow a better characterization of the driving task than that of hand EDA. The self‐similarity analysis was applied to various physiological signals in literature but not to the EDA so far, a signal which was found to correlate most with human affect. The proposed analysis could be useful in real‐time monitoring of stress levels in urban driving spaces, among other applications.
Small Time-Step FPGA-Based Real-Time Simulation of Power Systems Including Multiple Converters

This paper presents an FPGA-based Digital Real-Time Simulation (DRTS) environment for the analysis of Electromagnetic Transients (EMTs) of power systems that include multiple Power Electronic Converters (PECs). The main features of the proposed DRTS platform are that it i) employs two-value resistor switch model for PECs and thus avoids inaccuracies of Associate Discrete Circuit (ADC) model and ii) does not require separation of PECs by transmission lines (stub lines) and thus accurately represents PECs in close electrical proximity of each other. These features respectively result in a time-variant and large system admittance matrix which significantly increases the computation burden in each simulation time-step and can render it infeasible for real-time applications. To overcome this problem this paper introduces i) Switching-Network Partitioning (SNP) method which is tailored for PECs representation in FPGA and ii) Reformulated Modified Nodal Analysis (RMNA) method to enable computational parallelism between the solution of network and component models in FPGA. SNP enables solution-level partitioning of the PECs and the rest of the system. The developed DRTS platform enables sub-microsecond simulation time-step and provides a fixed hardware irrespective of the system configuration. Performance of the platform is evaluated for a study system and verified versus off-line simulation studies.
A Project Management Competency Framework for Industrialised Building System (IBS) Construction

The Malaysian government has been promoting the use of the industrialised building system (IBS) for construction projects since 2003. Worldwide, there are a number of project management competency standards available, but they are generic in nature. This study was conducted to devise a competency framework suitable for industrialised building system (IBS) construction projects. A three-pronged mixed research method comprising qualitative interviews, a quantitative questionnaire survey and face-to-face validation was adopted. The competencies generated were classified as primary and secondary, and assigned to the various initial, planning, implementation, monitoring and closing construction life cycle phases. The proposal fills a gap in the project management landscape by testing and combining academic and non-academic literature with the ‘emergent’ competencies from the interviews. These are used in conjunction with conventional project management wisdom. IBS is increasingly being applied worldwide, although under different terminologies; therefore, the framework could also potentially be of use beyond Malaysia.
Examining the Relationship Between Comparative and Self-Focused Academic Data Visualizations in At-Risk College Students' Academic Motivation

Abstract This qualitative study focuses on capturing students' understanding two visualizations often utilized by learning analytics-based educational technologies: bar graphs, and line graphs. It is framed by Achievement Goal Theory—a prominent theory of students' academic motivation—and utilizes interviews (n = 60) to investigate how students at risk of college failure interpret visualizations of their potential academic achievement. Findings suggest that visualizations only containing information about students themselves (i.e., self-focused affordances) evoked statements centered on mastering material. Visualizations containing information about students and a class average (i.e., comparative information), on the other hand, evoked responses that disheartened students and/or made them feel accountable to do better. Findings from this study suggest the following guidelines for designing visualizations for learning analytics-based educational technologies: (1) Never assume that more information is better; (2) anticipate and mitigate against potential misinterpretations—or harmful alternative interpretations—of visualizations; and (3) always suggest a way for students to improve. These guidelines help mitigate against potential unintended consequences to motivation introduced by visualizations used in learning analytics-based educational technologies. (Keywords: motivation, visualizations, learning analytics, Achievement Goal Theory, college students, educational technologies)
Carbon Dioxide Capture from Flue Gas Using Tri-Sodium Phosphate as an Effective Sorbent

Fossil fuels are dominant as an energy source, typically producing carbon dioxide (CO2) and enhancing global climate change. The present work reports the application of low-cost tri-sodium phosphate (TSP) to capture CO2 from model flue gas (CO2 + N2) mixture, in a batch mode and fixed-bed setup. It is observed that TSP has a high CO2 capture capacity as well as high CO2 selectivity. At ambient temperature, TSP shows a maximum CO2 capture capacity of 198 mg CO2/g of TSP. Furthermore, the CO2 capture efficiency of TSP over a flue gas mixture was found to be more than 90%. Fresh and spent materials were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Preliminary experiments were also conducted to evaluate the performance of regenerated TSP. The spent TSP was regenerated using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and its recyclability was tested for three consecutive cycles. A conceptual prototype for post-combustion CO2 capture based on TSP material has also been discussed.
Development of cultivation schema and automated gully convey-spacing system for multilayer plant factory

Cultivation of leafy vegetables with hydroponic gullies in multilayer plant factories is one of the initiatives used to increase the plant production in artificially controlled indoor environments. Multistage mobile or dynamic cultivation with variable row spacing between gullies, used in single-layer cultivation, is another option to increase the average crop density and more efficient utilization of available area. Employment of dynamic cultivation in multilayer growing units can further increase the plant production rate, if an appropriate cultivation plan is adopted and executed during the process. To this end, developing a model for i) evaluating the performance of multilayer dynamic cultivation plans and comparing their performances with alternative static option, and ii) finding the details of the procedure used for executing the evaluated cultivation plan is a major objective in the first part of this study. Indices such as plant production rate, turning point day, and total number of produced plants during a certain period of time were defined and used to measure the performance of cultivation plans. Using the Labview programming, the model is then converted into a simulation module with visual input-output panel which represents a cultivation schema after the end of each simulation. In this way, a cultivation schema includes the characteristics and performance of a cultivation plan as well as the procedure to execute it. The visual panel was used to obtain the cultivation schemas of all dynamic and static cultivation plans applicable for continuous crop production in total eight cultivation layers during a maximum 180day period. Various input conditions such as dissimilar clustering conditions, zigzag and square planting arrangements, and two crop types (Romaine and Korean lettuce cultivars) with different canopy growth behaviors were used in different simulations. A combinational cultivation plan including a dynamic plan with 1-2-3 clustering optimized with one static-dynamic hybrid layer, and two independent static layers was selected as the best cultivation plan with highest plant production for zigzag planting of Romaine lettuce. The increase in total plant production by this plan was
Material Characterization and Warpage Modeling for Power Devices Active Metal Brazed Substrates

The metallized insulating substrates work as mechanical supports for the circuitry of Power Module Packages. Due to their specific functions, substrates for power electronics are made by different materials. The conductive metal layers can assume different functions: the top metal serves as power circuitry routing while the bottom metal improves the mechanical robustness and thermal efficiency. Ceramic layer provides excellent electrical insulation. These features play an essential role in the operation of power modules, which are often operated at high voltage and high current density. The substrates, composed by materials with different thermal expansion coefficients, are subjected to cyclic stresses due to temperature variations induced by operative working conditions. The substrate layouts typically include differences in shape and/or thickness between the top and the bottom side; this generates asymmetrical distributions of stress/strain resulting in overall warpage. The variations of this warpage induce mechanical fatigue during lifetime and represent a limiting factor for reliability. The scope of the presented work is the characterization of the out of plane warpage of Active Metal Brazed substrates (AMB) by means of numerical approach. The elastoplastic properties of metal and ceramic have been measured, evaluating the thermal softening of the copper as well. These characteristics are needed to calculate AMB warpage through Finite Element Models (FEM), simulating the warpage induced by a passive temperature cycling. Warpage computed from numerical model have been benchmarked and validated with optical warpage measurements. The validated numerical model has been developed to optimize the substrate warpage variation during cycling improving the whole package reliability.
Importance analysis considering time‐varying parameters and different perturbation occurrence times

Importance measures are integral parts of risk assessment for risk‐informed decision making. Because the parameters of a risk model, such as the component failure rates, are functions of time and a perturbation (change) in their values can occur during the mission time, time dependence must be considered in the evaluation of the importance measures. In this paper, it is shown that the change in system performance at time t, and consequently the importance of the parameters at time t, depends on the parameters perturbation time and their value functions during the system mission time. We consider a nonhomogeneous continuous time Markov model of a series‐parallel system to propose the mathematical proofs and simulations, while the ideas are also shown to be consistent with general models having nonexponential failure rates. Two new measures of importance and a simulation scheme for their computation are introduced to account for the effect of perturbation time and time‐varying parameters.
A Vertical Superjunction MOSFET With n-Si and p-3C-SiC Pillars

A vertical superjunction (SJ) MOSFET with n-Si and p-3C-SiC pillars is introduced. Since 3C-SiC has <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> higher breakdown electric field than Si, the sensitivity of the breakdown voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {B}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) to charge imbalances is weakened, which helps to improve the tradeoff between the specific ON -resistance (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${R}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON},\text {sp}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {B}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. In addition, since the n-Si/p-3C-SiC junction stays off at the ON -state of the body diode and the hole mobility in 3C-SiC is low, the reverse recovery charge (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${Q}_{\text {rr}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) is reduced and the resistance of the p-pillar is increased, which suppresses electric oscillations during reverse recovery. With the optimum design, the proposed SJ MOSFET obtains a 2%–11% lower <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${R}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON},\text {sp}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> than the conventional SJ MOSFET. Numerical simulation results of 600-V designs show that the proposed SJ MOSFET has a 7% lower <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${R}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON},\text {sp}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, a 39% lower <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${Q}_{\text {rr}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and much smaller electric oscillations during reverse recovery compared to the conventional SJ MOSFET.
A Ripple Reduction Method for Switched-Capacitor DC–DC Voltage Converter Using Fully Digital Resistance Modulation

The output ripple of switched-capacitor dc–dc voltage converter (SCVC) severely degrades the energy efficiency, performance, and robustness of the VLSI system. In this paper, a fully digital resistance modulation (FDRM) technique is proposed to reduce the output ripple of SCVC, which is scalable and compatible with the exiting ripple reduction methods. The proposed FDRM technique suppresses the impulsive charging and discharging effects in the SCVC operation by dynamically modulating its equivalent switch resistances, resulting in a reduced output ripple. The FDRM control signals can be generated from simple logic gates with the interleaved clock signals, realizing a low implementation complexity. The proposed FDRM technique was verified by a fully integrated SCVC in 180-nm CMOS process with an active area of 0.93 mm2. The measurement results show that the SCVC prototype with the proposed FDRM technique achieves an averaged ripple reduction of 31.6% and a peak conversion efficiency of 88.96% under a loading range of 95–190 $\mu \text{A}$ .
Analysis of Control System of Fuel Combustion in Boilers with Oxygen Sensor

The method of fuel quality control is considered, which is based on the using of the oxygen sensor (without sensors of incomplete fuel combustion products). An algorithm for the electric drive of a fan is proposed, which is based on a step changing in the rotation speed. The choice of broadband oxygen sensor as a basis for the development of a fuel combustion control system is determined. In the course of experimental studies, the possibility of reconstructing the boiler by replacing a burner with an installed control system was demonstrated. The commissioning works were carried out with the installed system, the optimum operating conditions of the boiler were determined (with the formation of CO in the flue gases at a minimum level <50 ppm). The technical characteristics of the boiler operation under different loads (from 10 % to 100 %) are considered. Ecological and economic analysis of the developed fuel combustion control system was carried out.
Molecular advances on agricultural crop improvement to meet current cultivating demands

Sunflower, maize and potato are among the world’s principal crops. In order to improve various traits, these crops have been genetically engineered to a great extent. Even though molecular markers for simple traits such as, fertility, herbicide tolerance or specific pathogen resistance have been successfully used in marker-assisted breeding programs for years, agronomical important complex quantitative traits like yield, biotic and abiotic stress resistance and seed quality content are challenging and require whole genome approaches. Collections of genetic resources for these crops are conserved worldwide and represent valuable resources to study complex traits. Nowadays technological advances and the availability of genome sequence have made novel approaches on the whole genome level possible. Molecular breeding, including both transgenic approach and marker-assisted breeding have facilitated the production of large amounts of markers for high density maps and allowed genome-wide association studies and genomic selection in sunflower, maize and potato. Marker-assisted selection related to hybrid performance has shown that genomic selection is a successful approach to address complex quantitative traits and to facilitate speeding up breeding programs in these crops in the future.
Design and fabrication of a miniaturized lowpass-bandpass diplexer with wide tuning range and high isolation

ABSTRACT In this article, a compact lowpass-bandpass (LP-BP) diplexer with high isolation for wireless telecommunication applications is presented. The −3 dB cut-off frequency of the lowpass filter (LPF) is equal to 1 GHz. The roll-off-rate (ROF or ζ) parameter is sharp and equal to 108.8 dB/GHz, and the rejection level in the stopband is 20 dB. The center frequency of bandpass filter (BPF) is 2.4 GHz. The tuning range of −3 dB cut-off frequency of the LPF is wide and ranges from 0.3 to 0.89 GHz. The tuning range of center frequency of the BPF is wide and ranges from 2.65 to 3.1 GHz. The obtained isolation between the two output ports is better than 30 dB. The proposed tunable LP-BP diplexer is designed, simulated, fabricated and measured. The results of measurement and simulation are in good agreement with each other. The proposed diplexer has a compact size of 64 × 38 mm2.
Adaptive Prognosis of Hybrid Dynamical System for Dynamic Degradation Patterns

In hybrid dynamical systems, degradation evolution of components depends on the operating modes of the system, which are activated by discrete events. In a hybrid system's dynamics, some parameter degradations may not be observable from the measured variables in every state of the discrete components. Thus, the degradation model identifications (DMI) for hybrid components’ parameters are difficult and challenging due to unobservable conditions in some particular working modes of the system. This article proposes a distributed parameter estimation-based adaptive prognosis for multicomponent hybrid system by using bond graph modeling as a unified framework. Here, degradation states of different parameters are progressively estimated by including the information of operating modes of the system. A bank of mode-dependent degradation models are identified and extrapolated for remaining useful life (RUL) prediction of the degrading components. In this article, special emphasis is given to DMI and RUL prediction for hybrid components. The results are supported by an in-depth experimental study.