Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TOWARDS QUANTIFICATION OF MICROSTRUCTURAL DAMAGE IN AAR DETERIORATED CONCRETE. FRACTURE OF CONCRETE AND ROCK: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS. PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, UNIVERSITY OF WALES, COLLEGE OF CARDIFF, SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, SEPTEMBER 20-22, 1989

For the structural appraisal and cost effective management of alkali aggregate reaction (AAR) damaged structures, Mott MacDonald have developed a range of physical testing techniques on concrete cores. One such test, the Stiffness Damage Test, is aimed at giving a quantitative assessment of the amount of microstructural damage within a concrete core. This is a non-destructive stress/strain measuring technique to provide a measure of concrete material damage which can be related to compressive and tensile strength changes, tree expansion to date, and petrographical changes. This paper reports the development of this technique, and compares it with more traditional strength tests. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 829348.
Image Texture and Fourier Analysis in a Polar Spatial Frequency System: methods illustration

AbstractWe illustrate the connection between image-texture and defined regions in a polar spatial frequency coordinate system. This is provided within the context of describing a non-parametric method for characterizing two-dimensionalspectra of gray scaled images, described in part previously. The spectrum is divided into concentric radial bands of fixed bandwidth. Each band is summarized, producing a set of measures characterizing the image as a function of radial spatial frequency. This set of measures has a parallel multiscale description as texture in the image domain. This approach was modified to capture texture with directional attributes. This is a data reduction technique that gives a full accounting of the image variance as function of image texture and direction indexed to regions in the polar frequency plane. Application examples include analyzing the summarized spectrum graphically, making inter/intra image spectral comparisons, and evaluating spectral models. Simulated noise images, an image of peppers, and a gray scale image with well-defined linear structure were used to illustrate the principles.
Adopting agile approach: A case in Malaysia

Agile methodology continues to evolve due to business and technological demands.However, there are few studies reported related to encouraging new organizations to adopt agile practices especially in Asian countries.This paper presents the initial findings from an action research study on agile-extreme programming (XP) adoption amongst software engineering (SE) teams.The results showed that the agile-XP approach received positive feedbacks amongst team members during the software project, even though the level of adoption was mixed.These findings offer valuable insights into aspects related to agile approach to suit an organizational culture.
Dyeing and colour fastness in cotton and wool, using natural extracts of sunflower petals, onion peel and cocoa shell

ABSTRACT At the present time, the sustainable use of natural products in textiles is sought, in this work the dyeing of cotton and wool was carried out, with the extracts of sunflower petals, purple onion peel and cocoa shell. Applying concentrations of 50, 75 and 100% on the weight of the fiber to be dyed (cotton and wool), with three replicas. The color in each dyed fiber was measured, performing an ANOVA analysis and 5 color fastness tests were performed, with three replicates each. The ΔE value was obtained and a factorial statistical analysis was performed. As a result of dyeing, lighter colors were obtained in cotton than in wool. Regarding the color fastness, it was observed that they depended on the coloring extract applied. In the case of sunflower petals, the strength tests that most affected both fibers were washing at high temperatures and basic pH. For the purple onion peel a greater change in the wool fiber was observed. For the cocoa shell it was observed that the tests where there was more change for both fibers were those of domestic washing and at high temperatures.
Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions

"Universal Methods of Design is an immensely useful survey of research and design methods used by today's top practitioners, and will serve as a crucial reference for any designer grappling with really big problems. This book has a place on every designer's bookshelf, including yours! " -David Sherwin, Principal Designer at frog and author of Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills "Universal Methods of Design is a landmark method book for the field of design. This tidy text compiles and summarizes 100 of the most widely applicable and effective methods of design-research, analysis, and ideation-the methods that every graduate of a design program should know, and every professional designer should employ. Methods are concisely presented, accompanied by information about the origin of the technique, key research supporting the method, and visual examples. Want to know about Card Sorting, or the Elito Method? What about Think-Aloud Protocols? This book has them all and more in readily digestible form. The authors have taken away our excuse for not using the right method for the job, and in so doing have elevated its readers and the field of design. UMOD is an essential resource for designers of all levels and specializations, and should be one of the go-to reference tools found in every designer's toolbox. " -William Lidwell, author of Universal Principles of Design, Lecturer of Industrial Design, University of Houston This comprehensive reference provides a thorough and critical presentation of 100 research methods, synthesis/analysis techniques, and research deliverables for human centered design, delivered in a concise and accessible format perfect for designers, educators, and students. Whether research is already an integral part of a practice or curriculum, or whether it has been unfortunately avoided due to perceived limitations of time, knowledge, or resources, Universal Methods of Design serves as an invaluable compendium of method
COME EXPLORE WITH US BE A MASTER OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS

We analyze the implications of linking the compensation of fund managers to the return of their portfolio relative to that of a benchmark – a common solution to the agency problem in delegated portfolio management. In the presence of such relative-performance-based objectives, investors have reduced expected utility but markets are typically more informative and deeper, provided that information is free. Furthermore, in a multiple asset/market framework, we show that (i) relative performance concerns lead to financial contagion; (ii) benchmark inclusion increases price volatility; and (iii) home bias emerges as a rational outcome. When information is costly, however, information acquisition is hindered and this attenuates the effects on informativeness and depth of the market. 1 The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the International Monetary Fund or its policy, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Board members, or members of the staff. We would like to thank Franklin Allen, Markus Brunnermeier, Giovanni Dell’Ariccia, Aureo de Paula, Gaston Gelos, and Helene Rey for helpful discussions. All remaining errors are our own. Investment
Leveraging Lean in Healthcare: Transforming Your Enterprise into a High Quality Patient Care Delivery System

Section I: Lean Overview and History Chapter 1: Introduction to Lean Chapter 2: History of Lean Chapter 3: Batching vs. Lean Thinking and Flow Chapter 4: Can the Toyota Model be Applied to Hospitals? Section II: Lean Tools, Methodology and Application Chapter 5: Lean and Change Management Chapter 6: Lean Foundation Chapter 7: Basic Lean Concepts Chapter 8: Basic Lean Tools Chapter 9: Putting It All Together Chapter 10: Implementing Lean in a Healthcare Environment Chapter 11: Executives and Lean Chapter 12: Roles and Responsibilities of Managers and Supervisors Chapter 13: Finance, Marketing, and Our Hospitals Chapter 14: What It Means to Have a Lean Culture Section III: Selected Lean Implementation Case Studies Chapter 15: Surgical Services Chapter 16: Nutritional Services Chapter 17: Pharmacy Chapter 18: Emergency Department Chapter 19: Laboratories Chapter 20: Inpatient Floors Chapter 21: Gastrointestinal Outpatient Clinic Chapter 22: Primary Care Clinics Chapter 23: Radiology Section IV: Appendices Lean Practitioner Quiz Lean Formulas Bibliography and Suggested Readers and References Glossary
Approximate Synthesis of 5-SS Multi Link Suspension Systems for Steering Motion

This paper presents an approximate synthesis of 5-SS multi link suspension for 2 D.O. F motions. In the proposed synthesis method, alteration curves of camber, toe, kingpin and caster angles are optimized during the bump rebound and the steering motions. And joint positions can be located within desired boundari es. Especially, steering motions are considered for control of kingpin offset and caster trail. Prescribed motions contain both wheel center positions and imaginary kingpin axes in the multi link type suspension. Constraint equations are formulated with di splacement matrix and velocity matrix using instantaneous screw axis.
ABDOMINAL INJURY RISK TO CHILDREN AND ITS PREVENTION

Several crash investigation studies recently produced opposing conclusions on the importance of abdominal injury risk to children. This paper deals with an in-depth and synthetic analysis of new accidentological data. In particular, the risk is studied by isolating parameters such as age and crash type, as well as restraining systems. The abdominal risk appears higher above 2 or 3 years old for children using poorly designed booster cushions or adult belts alone. The prevention of such a risk for protected children should be given by a pertinent restraint system assessment in frontal impact simulation. Unfortunately, the lack of biofidelity of the pelvic-abdominal segment of the current child dummies does not allow this child restraint assessment. Data for the improvement of dummy pelvises and for the definition of an abdominal criterion are provided in this paper. The authors propose the use of geometrical criteria to differentiate poor and acceptable booster cushions, as a temporary measure, until effective abdominal injury assessment becomes possible. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E203597.
Verification on the Measurement Uncertainty for Surface Roughness

Evaluation of uncertainty is an ongoing process that can consume time and resources. It can also require the service of someone who is familiar with data analysis techniques. Therefore, it is important for laboratory personnel who are approaching uncertainty analysis for the first time to be aware of the resources required. International inclination of measurement filed to guarantee the traceability and confidence of measurement results discards the error concept and instead analyzes the measurement uncertainty. In this paper, we analyzed the elements of measurement uncertainty on surface roughness test which are the important things in mechanical parts test. Repeat the test by 3 men, the measurement uncertainty could be calculated.
Modelling the initiation of a hydrothermal eruption-- the shock tube model : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics at Massey University, Manawatu Campus, New Zealand

Modelling of hydrothermal eruption phenomenon has been a growing topic of research for the past 20 years. To date, models have focussed on the underground quasi-steady flow and on the above ground eruption jet including particle deposition. Very little has been able to be said about the first few seconds of an eruption, nor has much modelling work been done on eruption causes. In this thesis we develop a shock tube model for the initiation of a hydrothermal eruption which aims to answer some of the remaining questions about causality of a hydrothermal eruption. The new shock tube model reported in this thesis is the first model able to simulate the initiation of a hydrothermal eruption. We take into account the three phases present during the eruption; in the geothermal reservoir below ground, liquid water and water vapour are present, in the above ground flow we also include air. The fact that the flow below ground is moving through a porous medium is accounted for, and new numerical methods using the finite volume framework are developed to solve the arising system of equations. Numerical simulations are described which simulate various eruptions, including ones with steam caps and rapidly developing cracks in the geothermal reservoir. Results from numerical simulations will be able to guide the design of future lab experiments of hydrothermal eruptions. The work of this thesis results in the first model able to simulate the initiation of a hydrothermal eruption.
THE DARK SIDE OF LITERARY TRANSLATION: AN ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION TRAINEES’ PERFORMANCE

The paper focuses on an analysis of translation testees’ performance in the in-class translation of an unseen literary text excerpt from English into Slovak. The paper aims to probe into the most common deficiencies observable in students’ translations and reflects on them by means of a linguistic-translatological commentary. The testees include both the students of translation and interpretation as well as British and American studies students, pursuing their first year at the master’s level, who picked Literary Translation as an optional module in the summer semester in the academic year 2013/2014. The results of the study revealed that both examined student groups manifested the very same problems when tackling literary translation. Shortcomings in the translation of adjectives, flaws in the rendering of more complicated syntactic structures, problems with the recognition of culture-specific terms, the lack of the comprehension of the original caused by misinterpretation or underestimating the influence of context, were elicited. The paper also draws attention to the most common errors that the translation trainees make and suggests which areas of their theoretical preparation should be improved in order to guarantee smooth, adequate and above all, equivalent translations.
Variational Hierarchical User-based Conversation Model-Appendix

This document is an appendix of Variational Hierarchical User-based Conversation Model paper. It contains the description of our new Twitter conversation corpus and the parameter settings of VHUCM. It also has experiment results which are not shown or reduced size in the paper. 1 Twitter Conversation Corpus This section describes our new conversation corpus from Twitter. 1.1 Building Twitter Conversation At the starting point to crawl the tweets, we initialize the set of users by randomly sampling twentyone users who reply to other users in English from the Twitter public streams named Gardenhose. Then we crawl each user’s public tweets in his/her timeline and look at users who are mentioned in those tweets. It is a breadth-first search in the conversation network which is defined by users as nodes and edges as conversations. We run this search for conversation dyads until the depth of five, and filter out users who tweet in a nonEnglish language by using an open source tool (Garcı́a-Pablos et al., 2015). We filter out dyads with fewer than ten conversations and the users who have less than three conversation friends. To protect users’ privacy, we replace Twitter usernames and URLs in tweets with random strings. Table 1 shows the basic statistics of our new corpus and other conversation corpora. 1.2 Getting the Corpus We open the new Twitter conversation data in public. However, due to the privacy issues, we cannot open the utterance text directly even we anonymize the user personal information such as usernames and URLs. So, we decide to open the partial data used in new user experiments in the paper. We upload the data in GitHub repository. Please get in touch with the first author if you want to access the data more.
Optimisation d'un réseau de capteurs par techniques MIMO coopératives

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have a wide range of applications in various fields and consist of a large number of low-cost, low-power distributed sensors. Energy efficiency of sensors is the most critical issue in the system design of the network. The aim of this thesis is to study the application of recent MIMO techniques in the context of cooperative MIMO forWSN in order to reduce energy consumption. These techniques are based on the max−dmin and P-OSM precoders which require the knowledge of the channel state information (CSI) at transmitter. To make the use of the CSI realistic in WSN, we quantized these two precoders. The idea is to reduce the information sent on the feedback channel while still having a good performance of the precoders. We used some techniques from the literature and proposed others to perform this quantization. We then proposed various energy-efficient cooperative schemes that allow the implementation of max−dmin and P-OSM precoders with a quantized feedback channel. Performances of the proposed schemes in terms of energy consumption and transmission delay are evaluated and analyzed by comparing them with the space-time block codes (STBC) based cooperative scheme used in literature. Results show that our proposed systems provide more energy savings than the STBC one even in the presence of synchronization errors between the sensors. We are further interested in the application of sensor networks in high-voltage substations in the context of the Smart Grid. The objective is to evaluate the performance of proposed cooperative systems in the presence of impulsive noise and in a real environment of high-voltage substation in Quebec. By using measured data of impulsive noise obtained from the Ecole de Technologie Superieure of Montreal, we determined a statistical model of the impulsive noise. In order to use the multi-antenna system, we propose an extension of this model.
Reliability engineering handbook

This volume, the second of two devoted to the subject, covers the range of reliability engineering, from product and system design through manufacturing, implementation and maintenance. Illustrated with practical examples, the books show how to specify components, equipment and system reliability - and how to implement these requirements. Comprehensive and easy to understand, these books demonstrate how to analyze time-to-failure data from components, systems and equipment to obtain their distribution, reliability, failure rate and mean lifespan; provide theoretical and practical tools for designing, testing and implementing the probability and capacity of parts, components, equipment, products and systems performance; and include applications to purchasing, engineering, research, development, manufacturing and quality control.
No-reference noisy image quality assessment incorporating features of entropy, gradient, and kurtosis

Noise is the most common type of image distortion affecting human visual perception. In this paper, we propose a no-reference image quality assessment (IQA) method for noisy images incorporating the features of entropy, gradient, and kurtosis. Specifically, image noise estimation is conducted in the discrete cosine transform domain based on skewness invariance. In the principal component analysis domain, kurtosis feature is obtained by statistically counting the significant differences between images with and without noise. In addition, both the consistency between the entropy and kurtosis features and the subjective scores are improved by combining them with the gradient coefficient. Support vector regression is applied to map all extracted features into an integrated scoring system. The proposed method is evaluated in three mainstream databases (i.e., LIVE, TID2013, and CSIQ), and the results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method according to the Pearson linear correlation coefficient which is the most significant indicator in IQA.
Antikoagulation bei Vorhofflimmern

Abstract Anticoagulation with oral antagonists without vitamin K (NOACs) is the preferred therapy for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) should only be prescribed if there are contraindications to NOAC (e. g. mechanical heart valves, rheumatic mitral stenosis). The guideline recommendations are based on dedicated NOAC development programs with large randomized clinical phase III studies. Data from observational studies on the efficacy and safety of NOACs compared to VKA are in general complementary to data stemming from the phase III studies. Due to their pharmacokinetic and dynamic properties, NOACs are much easier to handle than VKA. Amongst other advantages, this implies that in case of short interruptions in anticoagulation therapy (e. g. for surgical procedures), bridging therapy with heparin is no longer required. This will reduce bleeding complications dramatically.
Path tracking of autonomous vehicle based on adaptive model predictive control

In most cases, a vehicle works in a complex environment, with working conditions changing frequently. For most model predictive tracking controllers, however, the impacts of some important working conditions, such as speed and road conditions, are not concerned. In this regard, an adaptive model predictive controller is proposed, which improves tracking accuracy and stability compared with general model predictive controllers. First, the proposed controller utilizes the recursive least square algorithm to estimate tire cornering stiffness and road friction coefficient online. Then, the estimated tire cornering stiffness is used to update vehicle dynamics model and the estimated road friction coefficient is used to update the road adhesion constraint. Moreover, the control parameters consist of prediction horizon, control horizon, and sampling time, all of which are set according to vehicle speed. A co-simulation based on MATLAB/Simulink and CarSim is conducted. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed controller has a great adaptive ability to changing working conditions, especially to speed and road conditions.
Social IoT

-An emerging paradigm of IoT is Social IoT (SIoT). In SIoT, different IoT devices interact and create relationship with each other to achieve a common goal. In essence, Social IoT adapts a service-oriented architecture where heterogeneous IoT devices can request or offer autonomous services and collaborate on behalf of their owners. Operating Systems (OS) are employed in IoT devices because they offer threading support, access to development libraries and portability; thus allowing simplicity in IoT application development. Several OS are available for IoT devices, but selecting a hardware and OS befitting for a particular IoT application is a crucial task. In case of SIoT, the selection of specific OS for hardware devices in various applications is even more challenging due to their collaborative nature. Existing surveys on OS are mostly lack the discussion on domain oriented and hardware architectural features. As a consequence, it results in under performance in many application scenarios as it is infeasible for developers to choose best-suited OS for various hardware platforms. This paper provides an OS-to-hardware architectures features-mapping while searching the unique requirements of SIoT applications and considers quality features of OS as well as hardware IoT platforms. In doing so, resource-constrained IoT devices are particularly highlighted due to their power limitations and memory constraints. Further, OS architecture model is associated open research challenges and proposed for devices in SIoT applications are identified. This research will benefit developers to utilize IoT platform resources and to envisage an efficient OS for futuristic SIoT applications.