Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
System islanding considerations for improving power system restoration at Manitoba Hydro

System islanding and load shedding concepts have been discussed throughout the industry and considered for years at Manitoba Hydro. The aim is to preserve stable areas of load and generation to aid in system restoration following a major outage. If the islanding scheme operates correctly system restoration may be less complex and overall restoration time reduced by one hour or more. This paper documents studies pertaining to the islanding scheme currently in service. Following a total loss of Manitoba Hydro HVDC, considered to be one of the more significant outages that can be experienced on the power system, the system naturally forms an island due to existing relays. Due to severe undervoltages, the island may disintegrate almost Immediately after its formation. Results show that if high speed under-frequency relays are installed at the natural islanding locations, forcing the island to form at a predetermined system frequency of 59.0 Hz, and prior to its natural formation, a relatively stable northern island can be formed and preserved. The integrity of this island is sensitive to the chosen islanding frequency and speed at which separation can occur in forming the island, TRVs across associated circuit breakers must be considered.
Multi-Kernel Relevance Vector Machine With Parameter Optimization for Cycling Aging Prediction of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Aging prediction plays a vital role in battery prognostics and health management, which contributes to preventing unexpected failure and evaluating battery systems’ residual value. In this study, a reliable cycling aging prediction based on a data-driven model is proposed to address the urgent issue of adaptive and early prediction of lithium-ion battery remaining useful life (RUL). First, to enhance the learning and generalization abilities of standard relevance vector machines (RVMs), a multi-kernel RVM model containing two kernel functions with different characteristics is constructed, followed by the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for determining the kernel and weight parameters. Then, a similarity criterion of the battery capacity curves is proposed to screen battery offline data for model training to achieve early life prediction. Battery cycling aging data from two types of batteries under different aging conditions are used for model training and verification. Quantitative experimental results demonstrate that the proposed multi-kernel RVM model can realize the accurate prediction of the failure cycle and capacity attenuation trajectory of different types of batteries. Moreover, the proposed method has also been proved to be able to learn the general fading characteristics from other types of batteries.
DOA estimation of wide-band signals based on time-frequency analysis

A numerical study on an approach based on the time-frequency analysis is performed for the high-resolution direction finding applications of wide-band signals. In this method, the direction of arrival (DOA) is estimated using a subband of the incoming signal instead of the whole signal spectrum. This treatment forces the DOA of the wide-band signals to be similar to that of the DOA of the narrow-band signals. The reason behind this can be thought of as the after effects of reducing the signal bandwidth, which constrains the signal subspace. An empirical analysis of the performance of the DOA estimator Is also investigated. This is done to compare the correct and estimated angles of separation between the targets, and it is demonstrated that there is a good agreement which implies that the use of prefiltering does not affect the resolution of the DOA estimator.
Magnetorheological Elastomer Based Flexible Metamaterials Coupler for Broadband Longitudinal Vibration Isolation: Modeling and Experimental Verification

Longitudinal vibrations due to different external excitations are omnipresent in almost every machine, eventually leading to unplanned downtime, and in some cases, catastrophic failures. The passive approach to isolate such vibration has some limitations. Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) typically consist of micron-sized magnetic particles dispersed in an elastomeric matrix. Their mechanical and rheological properties can be altered under the influence of magnetic field. Thus, the distinctive behavior of magnetorheological elastomers paved the way for successful employment in vibration isolation. In this study, an MRE-based metamaterial coupler is designed for broadband vibration attenuation with distinctive characteristics unattainable by conventional couplers in longitudinal vibration. The vibration control performance of the proposed model is investigated in terms of its transmissibility factor. Sweep vibration test is conducted to examine the transmissibility factor for single, double, and triple-layer MRE metamaterial couplers accompanied by different activation scenarios. The results reveal that the stiffness of the MRE layers increases with the strength of the applied magnetic field. Utilizing more than one layer of MRE increases the ability to isolate longitudinal vibration at different frequency bands. The maximum reduction curves achieved by single, double, and triple-layer MREs are approximately 84.5%, 97%, and 99.6%, respectively. The findings of this study demonstrate that the proposed MRE-based metamaterial couplers can attenuate vibrations at broadband frequencies.
Drill-String Torsional Vibration Suppression Using GA Optimized Controllers

Failure of drill-strings is very costly in terms of money and time and occurs more frequently than oil companies would like to see. There are many reasons for drill-string failure, such as vibration, fatigue, and buckling. This paper addresses the problem of suppression of stick-slip oscillations in oil well drill-strings using proportional integral derivative (PID) and lead-lag controllers in conjunction with genetic algorithms. Simulation results are presented to validate the proposed control schemes.
Implementation of the Wireless Activity Monitoring System Using Accelerometer and Fuzzy Classifier

The rapid development of information communication technologies has changed people’s perception on public health and medicine and this is, in turn, increasing demand for improved medical services. The real-time monitoring about the activity of the human provides useful information about the activity quantity and ability. The present study implemented a small-size and low-power acceleration monitoring system for convenient monitoring of activity volume and recognition of emergent situations such as falling during daily life. For the wireless transmission of acceleration sensor signal, we developed a wireless transmission system based on a sensor network. In addition, we developed a program for storing and monitoring wirelessly transmitted signals on PC in real-time. The performance of the implemented system was evaluated by assessing the output characteristic of the system according to the change of posture, and parameters and a context recognition algorithm were developed in order to monitor activity volume during daily life and to recognize emergent situations such as falling. In particular, recognition error in the sudden change of acceleration was minimized by the application of a falling correction algorithm.
‘Figuring it out’. Continuity or discontinuity of work in young rural-urban migrants’ education to work transition in Kathmandu, Nepal

ABSTRACT Although youth research has highlighted the importance of a holistic understanding of the changing nature of youth education to work transitions, few studies have examined these transitions from a process perspective. In this study on continuity and discontinuity of work, the process perspective proved to be useful to analyse the education to work transition of rural-urban migrants in Kathmandu, Nepal. Qualitative longitudinal data, consisting of two consecutive in-depth interviews, with twenty-one participants, reveal how they shift choices, negotiate positions, embrace changes and decisions. A reemphasis on the understanding of rural-urban migrant youth education to work transition as part of a process is suggested calling for a holistic understanding of rural-urban migrant youth education to work transition among scholars and policymakers in Nepal and also in other contexts.
Automatic parameters measurement of lenticular-lens array for autostereoscopic three-dimensional display based on deep reinforcement learning

Abstract. Autostereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) display has attracted considerable attention in recent years. To achieve high-quality 3D display with the lenticular-lens array, the accurate 3D display parameters of the lenticular-lens array need to be measured, including lines per inch (LPI) and slanted angle. Traditional methods generally measured the 3D display parameters by manually observing white-black characteristic 3D images synthesized based on the LPI and slanted angle. However, these methods have problems with time-consuming, inaccurate estimations, or limited applications. To address these problems, a method based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed, which can automatically measure the 3D display parameters of the lenticular-lens array. In our method, the white-black characteristic 3D image is initialized based on the coarse LPI and slanted angle. Then the 3D image is captured by a camera from a 3D display device and input into a convolutional neural network (CNN) based on DRL. Finally, the CNN is used to optimize the LPI and slanted angle, and the accurate 3D display parameters can be measured. Experimental results show that our method can efficiently measure accurate 3D display parameters with roughly initial parameter values. We hope our study will make a valuable contribution to the field of autostereoscopic 3D display.
An all-silicon single-wafer fabrication technology for precision microaccelerometers

This paper reports a novel all-silicon single-wafer fabrication technology for high precision capacitive accelerometers. This technology combines both surface and bulk micromachining to attain a large proofmass, controllable/small damping, and a small airgap for large capacitance variation. The microfabrication process provides large proofmass by using the whole wafer thickness, and a large sense capacitance by utilizing a thin sacrificial layer. The sense/feedback electrodes are formed by a deposited 2 /spl mu/m polysilicon film with embedded 20-30 /spl mu/m thick vertical stiffeners. These electrodes, while thin, are made very stiff by the thick embedded stiffeners so that force rebalancing of the proofmass becomes possible. The polysilicon electrodes are patterned to create damping holes. Several prototype microaccelerometers are fabricated successfully. Sensitivity of the devices with 2 mm/spl times/1 mm proofmass and full-bridge support are measured to be 2pF/g.
Oxide charge modeling with CEA-TRAPPOX code version 4. Comparison of trapping models on desktop computer

The charge trapped in oxides depends on a large number of parameters (spatial and energetic distributions of traps, voltage and dose-rate profiles, internal space-charge effect, etc.). We demonstrate that 1D simulations with personal computers can be effective in extracting oxide parameters from experimental data, thus enabling prediction of MOS degradation in various mission profiles.
Crosslinking hyaluronic acid soft-tissue fillers: current status and perspectives from an industrial point of view

ABSTRACT Introduction Hyaluronan (HA)-based soft-tissue fillers are injectable crosslinked hydrogels aimed to counteract facial skin aging signs via minimally invasive procedures. The crosslinking step is required to drastically improve HA residence time in vivo and provide the gel with specific viscoelastic properties matching the clinical indications. While HA as a raw material and HA fillers are widely studied, little is reported about crosslinkers themselves used in commercial fillers. Areas covered This article introduces the specifications of the ideal crosslinker in HA fillers. The properties of commercially used crosslinkers are reviewed. An up-to-date review of innovative hydrogel fabrication alternatives is conducted, and advantages and drawbacks are discussed. Expert opinion HA fillers are predominantly manufactured using 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE) which is considered as the gold standard crosslinker worldwide due to its proven and unrivaled clinical track record of more than 20 years. Extensive studies have been published covering BDDE-crosslinked HA fillers’ chemistry, gel properties, and clinical effectiveness and safety. However, new hydrogel fabrication strategies have emerged, paving the way for innovative alternatives potentially bringing novel features to HA fillers. Nevertheless, major efforts must still be implemented to assess their safety, efficacy, stability and suitability for industrialization.
A Fog Computing Orchestrator Architecture With Service Model Awareness

Fog Computing can facilitate the adoption of the Everything-as-a-Service paradigm in infrastructure segments that are located closer to the end user, or to the data source, compared to typical Cloud solutions. This enables combining the advantages of flexible service deployment models with the need to cope with the strict requirements–especially in terms of latency–of emerging applications in softwarized networks. Along comes the need to consider aspects of service orchestration specific to the Fog environment and its intrinsically dynamic nature. In this paper we propose an architecture for flexible Fog Computing service orchestration, with a particular focus on the awareness of service deployment models. We discuss the design choices and describe the components and operations of the proposed orchestration system. We then present a complete working implementation of such architecture, including insights on its ability to handle critical orchestration functions such as service discovery and resource monitoring. We also report on the experimental validation of the system and the performance evaluation on real-world equipment, proving the feasibility and the effectiveness of the approach on a dynamic Fog infrastructure. We complement the work by presenting the results of a combinatorial analysis, validated by simulation, of the service model-aware resource selection process. As a result of our investigation, we show that Fog services can be effectively deployed in a matter of a few seconds, or even in less than one second when suitable Fog nodes are available, taking advantage of the awareness of the available service models.
GIS is/and Knowledge: Documenting and Managing Catania's Historic Urban Heritage

The present study shows the results of a research aimed at the knowledge of the significant features of Catania's urban environment. The complexity of the different features of the city, the several scales of representation, the multi-dimensional objects and the historical, anthropic, formal relations have produced different kinds of information requiring a flexible instrument that is able to transcribe images, charts, texts and symbols in a single model of representation. In the perspective of creating a fundamental cognitive framework, the research team paid attention at drawing up a GIS (Geographic Information System) for documenting and managing historic urban heritage. The idea is to have a structure able to collect data like a logic archival system or an open database, which can immediately be consulted and constantly implemented. Indeed, the aim of this GIS is to organize, manage, query and visualise the peculiar aspects which characterize Catania's architectures. Thanks to multi-directional "access-windows" it is possible to navigate through its contents (texts, drawings, 3D rendering, pictures, historical documents). The system will also allow the integration of several documents in a common geo-database up to visualise the most meaningful details. Its use could assure suitable proposals of urban transformations and coherent plans in using and/or managing heritage goods for a sustainable city development.
A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of the Effectiveness of Peer- versus Faculty-led Simulation for Clinical Skills Acquisition in Undergraduate Student Nurses. MSc Project Findings

Clinical skills learning is an integral part of undergraduate nursing programmes in United Kingdom nurse education. Faculty staff teach some elements of clinical skills, and some are taught by clinicians in practice. International evidence indicates that some students feel overly anxious when taught by faculty members but less so with their peers, meaning that peer-led clinical skills teaching and learning might reduce anxiety and facilitate the acquisition and retention of skills education. The objective of this systematic review was to explore the research relating to undergraduate student nurses’ acquisition of skills within the simulation setting, particularly the associations between peer-led and lecturer-led learning. A systematic review of the literature was used to find all available evidence. A search of nine healthcare databases using Boolean and MeSH search terms including ‘Peer-to-peer’, ‘Clinical Skill*’, ‘Simulat*’, and ‘Student Nurs*’ was undertaken. Due to the heterogeneity of the research found, statistical meta-analysis was not possible, and so a narrative synthesis based on thematic analysis was conducted, which involved three-person research team critically appraising nine articles for inclusion in the review. Articles were located from worldwide sources. Three main themes in the findings were: psychological factors, motor skills, and educational issues. The use of peers can help to increase students’ motor skills, improved the psychological impact of skills and learning, and offered students a chance to be active participants in their education. Having explored the literature, we conclude that peer-to-peer teaching and learning could have a place in undergraduate nursing education; however, it is not clear if student nurses’ skills acquisition is more effective if mediated by peer- or lecturer-led teaching. Further research is required in this area to quantify and compare outcomes.
3D Placement of a New Tethered UAV to UAV Relay System for Coverage Maximization

In this paper, a new relay system that uses the UAV as a relay station between the tethered UAV and ground user (TU2U2G) is proposed. The TU2U2G system replaces the base station (BS) in the cellular system with a tethered UAV (TUAV). The TUAV is a UAV that receives power over a cable from a ground control station. It has advantages of high and variable altitude up to (100m) compared to BS. In addition, it overcomes the UAV drawback of the batteries' limited capacity. After that, a 3D placement Algorithm of the UAV as a relay station in the TU2U2G system is proposed. It is presented to maximize the coverage by jointly optimizing the transmitting power and relaying distance. The TU2U2G system shows better results than the traditional cellular system in terms of optimum UAV height, maximum coverage radius, and maximum distance between BS and UAV.
Anatomical Reconstruction for Chronic Posterolateral Instability Combined with Posterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Surgical Technique

Introduction We present surgical techniques for the anatomical reconstruction of the popliteus tendon and the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) with use of a tibialis posterior allograft for posterolateral corner insufficiency combined with anterolateral transtibial single-bundle posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) reconstruction with use of an Achilles tendon-bone allograft with a one-incision technique. Step 1 Create the Portals Use a parapatellar high anteromedial portal, a far anterolateral portal, and a high posteromedial portal. Step 2 Prepare the Tibial Tunnel and Femoral Socket for the PCL Reconstruction To reduce the graft/socket divergence, (1) flex the knee >100°, (2) push the proximal part of the tibia backward as much as possible, and (3) introduce the cannulated headed reamer through the far anterolateral portal with a smooth plastic sheath and push up posteriorly to make contact with the lateral femoral condyle. Step 3 Prepare Pass and Fix the Graft for the PCL Reconstruction Tie a 9-mm EndoPearl device securely to the tip of the tendon to improve the fixation strength. Step 4 Make the Skin Incision and Develop the Surgical Plane for the Posterolateral Corner Reconstruction Create a 7-mm fibular tunnel in a counterclockwise direction to avoid breaking the lateral cortex of the fibular tunnel or injuring the peroneal nerve. Step 5 Prepare Pass and Fix the Graft for the Posterolateral Corner Reconstruction Change the patient's position to a lateral or semi-lateral decubitus position to prevent an inappropriate posterolateral corner reconstruction by the posterolateral corner of the knee sagging in the supine position due to gravity. Step 6 Postoperative Rehabilitation Immobilize the knee in extension, with the proximal part of the tibia supported with cotton pads to prevent posterior drooping, which may lead to graft stretch or failure. Results We performed a two-year follow-up study comparing the procedures described here (Group A) with the same PCL reconstruction technique combined with a modified biceps rerouting tenodesis to address the posterolateral corner deficiency (Group B). What to Watch For IndicationsContraindicationsPitfalls & Challenges.
CLEARING THE HIRING HURDLES: ENSURING TRIPLE FITS

This concept paper discusses the dire need to hire right talent in a competitive environment, and the difficulties organizations have to face in doing so. The author proposes hiring to be considered as match-making and to ensure triple fits, namely task-talent fit, person-position fit and individual-institution fit. The rationale for each fit with requisites from HR professionals and organizations are also discussed. Citing previous work done locally, the author cautions the decision makers on the rush and urgency that might undermine the accuracy. The paper also argues for the need to use right tools such as a well-designed assessment center to assess the triple fits in the proper manner.
The pipeline and valve location problem

This paper, proposes an exact algorithm for the problem of locating a pipeline between two points of a network, as well as a set of safety valves which help control the damage caused by possible spills along the pipeline. A labelling approach is developed to determine simultaneously the optimal pipeline and valve locations, with the objective of optimising an impact measure that depends on the average number of accidents and their cost. Computational experiments on grid and random instances are presented in order to evaluate the algorithm's performance and to compare its results to the solutions provided by sequential approaches. [Received 11 May 2010; Revised 10 October 2010; Accepted 21 November 2010]