Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic and energy analysis of domestic ground source heat pump systems in four Canadian cities

This study provides an economic and energy analysis of the implementation of geothermal systems to meet the needs of a typical 130 m2 dwelling of a Canadian individual. The objective is to determine the monetary balance after 22 years, the net present value, the internal return rate, and annual savings for the same system operating under different climatic conditions and in different provinces (legislations, costs of fuel) to determine whether or not an individual should implement such a system in 2014. The geothermal system is used for both space heating and cooling, and to provide for 25% of the total amount of domestic hot water. The simulations are performed with RETScreen® for four Canadian cities: Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. For the investigated configurations, it appeared that the cost of energy and its sources, which varied greatly according to the location, are the factors that most strongly influenced the economic viability of the proposed geothermal system, while climate was only a secondary impact. The impact of carbon taxes and equivalent monetary subsidies does not significantly modify the economic outcomes for Halifax and Montreal. However, for Toronto and Vancouver, these would need to reach between 280 and 300 Can$/tCO2eq to attain economic balance.
Bulanık Dematel Yöntemiyle Makine Seçimini Etkileyen Kriterlerin Değerlendirilmesi

Isletmeler icin makine secimi uretim sistemlerinin performansini etkileyen kritik bir karardir Makine secimine yonelik karar verme surecinde goz onunde bulundurulan kriterlerin birbiri uzerindeki etkilesimleri ve kriterlerin bagimlilik dereceleri karar verme surecinde onemlidir Bu calismada tekstil firmasi icin makine secim probleminde kriterlerin birbirleri ile olan iliskileri ortaya koymak amaciyla cok kriterli karar verme yontemlerinden biri olan DEMATEL yontemi onerilmistir Ayrica karar almadaki belirsizligin ustesinden gelebilmek ve insan yargilarinin da sayisal degerlerle degerlendirilebilmesi amaciyla DEMATEL yonteminde bulanik kume teorisinden faydalanilmistir Uygulamada onerilen modelle kriterlerin birbirleri arasindaki iliskiler sebep sonuc diyagrami ile ortaya konulmustur Anahtar Kelimeler: DEMATEL Makine Secimi Cok Kriterli Karar Verme EVALUATION OF MACHINE SELECTON CRITERIA BY METHOD OF FUZZY DEMATEL
Transforming the supply chain

Purpose – Today's business environment emerges the need for organizations to continuously transform themselves, in order to maintain and reinforce their ability to compete successfully. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the transformation process of supply chain in order to provide a modular structured management tool for planning, implementing and measure the effectiveness of supply chain transformation process (SCTP), in relation to overall organizational performance and business strategy.Design/methodology/approach – The focal concepts upon which the overall approach is based are the strategic planning process, the human resources management techniques, the link between organizational structure and culture, the marketing integration and the importance of quality evaluation.Findings – The success of such efforts depends on a number of correlated parameters, among which, those of top management commitment and behavioural issues of human resources are the most critical. The tool propo.
Single‐Crystalline Vanadium Dioxide Actuators

Actuators that convert other forms of energy to mechanical energy have attracted extensive interest for their critical applications in microelectromechanical systems and miniature robotics. Recently, it is discovered that vanadium dioxide (VO2)‐based microscale bimorph actuators demonstrate comprehensive superiority of actuation performances, taking the good of the giant theoretical power density (7 J cm−3) and ultrafast response (∼picosecond) of crystalline VO2, while they still suffer from the intrinsic shortcomings of complex structures. Here, “single‐crystalline VO2 actuators” (SCVAs) that have unique self‐bending behavior upon temperature change are reported. This is realized by facilely and precisely controlling the phase structures via lateral stoichiometry‐engineering in VO2 nanobeams at the nanoscale level. These SCVAs exhibit remarkable actuation performances and admirable stability, which are equivalent or even superior to the reported VO2‐based conventional bimorph actuators. It is noteworthy that the gradual, reversible, and predictable bending of SCVAs enables a precise actuation control of related mechanics, such as the quantitative wind detector and thermal micromechanical claw. This work demonstrates the possibility of this strategy to enable single crystalline actuators excellent performance by internally lateral and gradual strain‐engineering.
Kinematic reconfigurability control for an environmental mobile robot operating in the Amazon rain forest

This paper addresses the active control problem of reconfigurable mobile robots on irregular terrain. Different kinematic control strategies to improve robot mobility are proposed based on (a) ground clearance and orientation, (b) ground clearance and stability margin, and (c) wheel traction efficiency. Owing to conflicting objectives associated with these strategies, a multi‐objective optimization approach is formulated to determine a set of optimal solutions and establish a trade‐off optimal solution. The proposed control is validated through numerical simulations and experimental tests using an amphibious wheel‐legged robot, named Environmental Hybrid Robot, designed for environmental monitoring in the Amazon rain forest. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
NEREUS Nemertes: Embedded Mass Spectrometer Control System

In this thesis, I present Nemertes System, a software suite to control an embedded autonomous mass spectrometer. I first evaluate previous control systems for the hardware and evaluate a set of software design goals. The NSystem software builds upon the previous functionalities by offering text-file based scheduling and subroutines, as well as customizable scanning and data reporting. I also implement a new calibration technique that is suitable for auto-calibration while in autonomous operation. Overall, the system is designed to be modular and flexible with the expectation of hardware upgrades and changing needs. Thesis Supervisor: Harold F. Hemond Title: William E. Leonhard Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Identifying people from gait pattern with accelerometers

Protecting portable devices is becoming more important, not only because of the value of the devices themselves, but for the value of the data in them and their capability for transactions, including m-commerce and m-banking. An unobtrusive and natural method for identifying the carrier of portable devices is presented. The method uses acceleration signals produced by sensors embedded in the portable device. When the user carries the device, the acceleration signal is compared with the stored template signal. The method consists of finding individual steps, normalizing and averaging them, aligning them with the template and computing cross-correlation, which is used as a measure of similarity. Equal Error Rate of 6.4% is achieved in tentative experiments with 36 test subjects.
Estimating Future Harmonic Distortion Levels In Distribution Systems Due To Single-Phase Adjustable-Speed-Drive Air Conditioners: A Case Study

The increasing application of power electronics in residential, commercial, and industrial loads is gradually increasing current and voltage distortion levels in distribution systems. This trend will accelerate il large loads such as air conditioners are. in the future, powered by electronic drive systems. The objective of this paper is to present the results of a simulation case study in which feeder distortion levels are predicted as adjustable-speeddrive (ASD) air Conditioners become an appreciable fraction of the total load.
Space-division multiplexed transmission over few-mode- and coupled-core fiber based on coherent MIMO digital signal processing

The capacity of optical transmission systems has increased dramatically since their first deployments in the mid 1970s . However, studies show that the theoretical capacity limit of single-mode fiber is about to be reached, and space-division multiplexing has been proposed to overcome this limit. With the high levels of integration needed for economic deployment, space-division multiplexing may exhibit large crosstalk between the supported fiber modes. We propose to use coherent multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) digital signal processing (DSP), a technique widely used in wireless communication, to compensate crosstalk present in spatial multiplexing over fibers. According to MIMO theory, crosstalk in multi-mode transmission systems can be completely reversed if the crosstalk is described by a unitary transformation. For optical fibers this is fulfilled if all available fiber modes can be selectively excited and if all the modes are coherently detected at the end of the fiber, provided that mode-dependent loss is negligible. We successfully applied the technique to demonstrate the transmission of six independent mode-multiplexed 20-Gbaud QPSK signals over a single, optically amplified span of 137-km few-mode fiber (FMF). Further, in a multi-span experiment, we reach 1200 km by transmitting over a 3-core coupled-core fiber (CCF). Details for both experiments will be presented, including the description of the supported polarization- and spatial modes of the fiber, the mode multiplexers used to launch and detect the modes, and the MIMO DSP algorithm used to recover the channels.
Achieving Equilibrium as a Semi‐Alluvial Channel: Anthropogenic, Bedrock, and Colluvial Controls on the White Clay Creek, PA, USA

Based on well‐developed hydraulic geometry relations for width and depth, classic studies initially interpreted the Mid‐Atlantic White Clay Creek (WCC) as a quasi‐equilibrium, alluvial channel. Subsequent studies document the legacy of colonial‐age watershed disturbances and urban development, confounding earlier classifications. To investigate this matter, we contribute new data from reach‐scale geomorphic mapping, and observations and modeling of bed material transport. WCC's longitudinal profile reflects a history of bedrock incision, while hydraulic geometry equations for width and depth indicate quasi‐equilibrium cross‐sectional adjustment. Alluvial landforms such as pools and riffles, bars, and actively forming floodplains occur at all 12 study sites, but exposures of bedrock and colluvium are also common. The ratio of bankfull to threshold Shields stress averages 1.41 (range: 0.41–2.63), suggesting that WCC is an alluvial, threshold, gravel‐bed river. However, a numerical model of WCC bed material transport and grain size, calibrated to bedload tracer data, demonstrates that 22% (range: 8%–73%) of bed material is composed of immobile, locally sourced cobbles and boulders, while the remaining bed material represents mobile, sand to cobble‐sized alluvium; this leads us to classify WCC as a semi‐alluvial river. Additional computations suggest that channel morphology is insensitive to bed material supply. Field observations imply that bankfull Shields stresses do not represent channel adjustments to achieve stable banks; rather, width adjustment likely reflects cohesive bank processes. Despite the numerous and contradictory labels applied to WCC (i.e., quasi‐equilibrium, Anthropocene, bedrock, semi‐alluvial, and gravel‐bed), each term contributes insight that any single conceptual model would be unable to provide alone.
Effect of READ1 on latent profiles of reading disability and comorbid attention and language learning disability subtypes

Recent studies of co-occurring reading disability (RD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and co-occurring RD and language learning disability (LLD), support a core disability plus co-occurrence model focused on language and attention. Genetic factors have been associated with poor reading performance. However, little is known about whether different genetic variants independently contribute to RD co-occurrence subtypes. We aimed to identify subgroups of struggling readers using a latent profile analysis (LPA) in a sample of 1,432 Hispanic American and African American youth. RD classes were then tested for association with variants of READ1, a regulatory element within the candidate RD risk gene, DCDC2. Six groups were identified in the LPA using RD designation as a known-class variable. The three RD classes identified groups of subjects with neurocognitive profiles representing RD+ADHD, specific phonological deficit RD, and RD+LLD. Genetic associations across RD subtypes were investigated against functional groupings of READ1. The RU1-1 group of READ1 alleles was associated with RD cases that were marked by deficits in both processing speed and attention (RD + ADHD). The DCDC2 microdeletion that encompasses READ1 was associated with RD cases showing a phonological deficit RD profile. These findings provide evidence for differential genetic contribution to RD subtypes, and that previously implicated genetic variants for RD may share an underlying genetic architecture across population groups for reading disability.
An Ethnoarchaeological Study of the Zizia Pottery Factory in Jizza, Jordan

This study of the Zizia Pottery Factory in Jizza, central Jordan, offers empirical data and sociocultural observations of a modern industrialized system comprised of interrelated aspects: artisans, scale and technology of production, spatial and social organization, and distribution. Since the factory processes, with a few exceptions, are not far removed from those known from antiquity, the modern quantitative data and on-site observations in this report may be used to interpret archaeological evidence or to reconstruct the framework of an industrialized pottery workshop from a limited archaeological record.
Mining Algorithm for the Core Node in the Complex Network of E-Commerce

Through digging out the core suppliers and core customers from the numerous suppliers and customers in the complex network of E-commerce, it contributes to reducing the adverse selection for the consumers and moral hazards for the operators caused by information asymmetry. Meanwhile, it is very meaningful for the credit risk protection in the complex network of E-commerce. On the basis of the references to the White and Smyth algorithms, in this paper, improvements from the White and Smyth algorithms are made herein, combining several features of the E-commerce complex network such as competitiveness, incomplete information and unsymmetrical information. In addition, an algorithm for mining the key nodes in E-commerce complex network is put forward, and applications are explained by instances.
Effect of Oral Creatine Supplementation on Near‐Maximal Strength and Repeated Sets of High‐Intensity Bench Press Exercise

This study examined the effects of 26 days of oral creatine monohydrate (Cr) supplementation on near-maximal muscular strength, high-intensity bench press performance, and body composition. Eighteen male powerlifters with at least 2 years resistance training experience took part in this 28-day experiment. Pre and postmeasurements (Days 1 and 28) were taken of near-maximal muscular strength, body mass, and % body fat. There were two periods of supplementation: Days 2 to 6 and Days 7 to 27. ANOVA and t-tests revealed that Cr supplementation significantly increased body mass and lean body mass with no changes in % body fat. Significant increases in 3-RM strength occurred in both groups, both absolute and relative to body mass; the increases were greater in the Cr group. The change in total repetitions also increased significantly with Cr supplementation both in absolute terms and relative to body mass, while no significant change was seen in the placebo (P) group. Creatine supplementation caused significant changes in the number of BP reps in Sets 1, 4, and 5. No changes occurred in the P group. It appears that 26 days of Cr supplementation significantly improves muscular strength and repeated near-maximal BP performance, and induces changes in body composition.
Quantification of uncertainties in flood risk assessments

Abstract By a common definition, flood risk assessments are comprised of two parts: a hazard and vulnerability assessment. The hazard assessment investigates the extent and magnitude of usually large flood events, which are associated to a certain exceedance probability, whereas the vulnerability part assesses the impact of the flooding on specified targets, e.g., building, people or infrastructure. Being inherently speculative flood risk assessments should always be accompanied by an uncertainty assessment in order to assist consequent decision properly. In this paper a dynamic‐probabilistic method is proposed, which enables a cumulated flood risk assessment of a complete river reach considering dike failures at all dike locations. The model uses simple but computational efficient modules to simulate the complete process chain of flooding. These modules are embedded into a Monte Carlo framework thus enabling a risk assessment which is physically based thus mapping the real flooding process, and which is also probabilistic and not based on scenarios. The model also provides uncertainty estimates by quantifying various epistemic uncertainty sources of the hazard as well as the vulnerability part in a second layer of Monte Carlo simulations. These uncertainty estimates are associated to defined return intervals of the model outputs, i.e., the derived flood frequencies at the end of the reach and the risk curves for the complete reach, thus providing valuable information for the interpretation of the results. By separating single uncertainty sources a comparison of the contribution of different uncertainty sources to the overall predictive uncertainty in terms of derived flood frequencies and monetary risks could be performed. This revealed that the major uncertainties are extreme value statistics, resp. the length of the data series used and the discharge‐stage relation used for the transformation of discharge into water levels in the river.
Statistical Optimization by Response Surface Methodology to Enhance Lipase Production by Aspergillus fumigatus

Lipases have various commercial applications and microorganisms serve as a potential source of production.The aim of this paper was to study the effect of interactions among different production parameters on lipase yield ofAspergillus fumigatus.Plackett Burman and Central Composite Design (CCD) were established by using Design Expert software 10.0. In the present study, interactions were studied for six different variables such as inoculum size, pH, temperature, galactose concentration, peptone concentration and incubation time. In Plackett-Burman design, galactose concentration, peptone concentration, pH and incubation time were found to be important factors. Using the statistical approach, the optimum factors were found to be as: galactose concentration (1.5%), peptone concentration (1.8%), pH (10.0) and incubation time (72 h) at 45°C under response surface curves. Upon statistical analysis, the coefficient of determination (R2) obtained was 0.9318 which showed that the model was significant.The statistical tools used predicted the optimal conditions for the production of the lipase. The optimized parameters were galactose concentration 1.5%, peptone concentration 1.4%, temperature 45°C, pH 10.0 and incubation time of 72 h for obtaining a maximum lipase activity of 6.22 U/ml.
What can’t be ignored in service quality evaluation: Application contexts, tools and factors

This paper locates a Relevant Literary Space (RLS) about service quality evaluation, between 2006 and 2011, in order to characterise the following: service typologies, evaluation approaches, measurement models, reliability indexes, scales, quantitative techniques, factors (or quality dimensions) and likely variables affected by them. For this we use a systematic literature review methodology, taking the Scopus database to browse the research papers. The procedure was carried out through the plan-do-check-act cycle. The findings show that the e-service is the most studied typology; the hybrid models are the most used as well as the 7-point Likert scale and Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha (average value of 0.87). Also, the findings show that the majority of the research community applies Structural Equation Modeling. From a holistic interpretation, a general structure of service quality is proposed. This article offers findings about the application of reproducible methods, open-to-scrutiny, and free of inclusion/exclusion biases of studies.
RELAÇÃO ENTRE COMPETÊNCIAS EMPREENDEDORAS E DESEMPENHO: UM ESTUDO EM EMPRESAS PRESTADORAS DE SERVIÇOS CONTÁBEIS

The purpose of this article is to explain the relationship between the performance of 103 companies providing of accounting services, in the State of Santa Catarina, and the entrepreneurial competencies of its owners, according to Lenzi approach (2008). The theoretical framework presents the essential themes that are associated with the problematic of the study, namely: entrepreneurial competences and organizational performance. For the analysis of these relationships the approach of this article, of an applied nature, was mainly quantitative. Due to its characteristics the article is positioned as having descriptive purpose, and the technical procedures adopted were: bibliographic research, multicases study and the survey with questionnaire. For data processing were applied descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Multivariate methods (correspondence analysis and cluster analysis) and univariate methods (Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Pearson's correlation) were used, employing the SPSS™ and STATISTICA™ softwares. The companies were segmented into four groups taken into consideration the competencies that owners manifested and based on these data differences on average performance were proven. It was also observed that, according to the group where organizations were, the entrepreneurial competencies that relate to performance change. When considering the four groups, the five competencies that make up the realization set only two show significant relationships with performance: seeking opportunities and initiatives; demand for quality and efficiency. The three competencies that form the planning set (search for information, goal setting, and planning and systematic monitoring) and one of the two that makes up the power set (independence and self-confidence), also have significant relationship with performance.