Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Manufacturing lines under surplus-based control: multiple products and bounded buffers

Challenged by the scheduling complexity for production flow processes in industrial facilities, we study the performance of multi-product producing lines. We analyse the performance of multi-product lines that consist a number of machines and bounded buffers with preselected base stock levels. It is assumed that each manufacturing machine in the line is capable of working with several product types, but only operate on one product at a time. The network is operated under a surplus-based production control policy in the presence of perturbations and production demand fluctuations. We derive bounds on the demand tracking accuracy for each product type, regardless its flow direction in the multi-product line. In addition, for a multi-product line with unidirectional product flow, we obtain a quantitative relation between demand tracking accuracy, its inventory levels, numbers of product types, buffer capacity limits and perturbations. The accuracy of the obtained demand tracking bounds is illustrated by numerical simulations. By means of simulation experiments, we show that the obtained results have a valuable meaning and can be used as a reference tool in practice.
Analysis total and better the Boneh-Shaw Fingerprinting codes

Digital fingerprinting is a forensic method against illegal copying. The distributor marks each individual copy with a unique fingerprint. If an illegal copy appears, it can be traced back to one or more guilty pirates due to this fingerprint. To work against a coalition of several pirates, the fingerprinting scheme must be based on a collusion– secure code. This paper addresses binary collusion–secure codes in the setting of Boneh and Shaw (1995/1998). We prove that the Boneh-Shaw scheme is more efficient than originally proven, and we propose adaptations to further improve the scheme. We also show how to use these codes to construct binary fingerprinting codes with
A FUZZY BASED PV FED BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR

Renewable energy sources have now become common much more owing to its necessity rather than effectiveness. Of the various renewable energy sources, Solar Photovoltaic is one among the cheapest and widely used. Maximum Power Point Techniques are used to extract the maximum power from a PV module and the fuzzy based MPPT technique has been found to provide better results for randomly varying atmospheric conditions as compared to other methods. Induction Motors have been in use for years and now are being replaced by Brushless DC Motors owing to their advantages. The main advantages being a higher efficiency and noiseless operation. For the effective regulation of MPPT, we make use of DC – DC converters. Sepic converters has found to extract more power as compared to other buck – boost converters such as Cuk or fly back. In this work, a Fuzzy based MPPT uses a Sepic converter which drives a BLDC motor.
The optimal system for series systems with mixed standby components

Purpose – The main objective of this paper is to study the optimal system for series systems with mixed standby (including cold standby, warm standby and hot standby) components.Design/methodology/approach – The paper deals with the reliability and availability characteristics of four different series system configurations. The failure time of the operative, hot standby and warm standby are assumed to be exponentially distributed with parameters λ, λ, and α respectively. The repair time distribution of each server is also exponentially distributed with parameter μ. Findings – The mean time to failure, MTTFi, and the steady‐state availability Ai(∞) for four configurations are examined and comparisons made. For all four configurations, the configurations are ranked based on: MTTFi, Ai(∞), and Ci/Bi where Bi is either MTTFi or Ai(∞). Obviously, the system with height MTTFi and Ai(∞), do not need frequent maintenance, i.e. less maintenance.Originality/value – Numerical results for the cost/benefit measure have.
Optimization of full‐wave EM models by low‐order low‐dimension polynomial surrogate functionals

A practical formulation for EM‐based design optimization of high‐frequency circuits using simple polynomial surrogate functionals is proposed in this paper. Our approach starts from a careful selection of design variables and is based on a closed‐form formulation that yields global optimal values for the surrogate model weighting factors, avoiding a large set of expensive EM model data, and resulting in accurate low‐order low‐dimension polynomials interpolants that are used as vehicles for efficient design optimization. Our formulation is especially suitable for EM‐based design problems with no equivalent circuital models available. The proposed technique is illustrated by the EM‐based design optimization of a Ka‐band substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) interconnect with conductor‐backed coplanar waveguide (CBCPW) transitions, a low crosstalk PCB microstrip interconnect structure with guard traces, and a 10–40‐GHz SIW interconnect with microstrip transitions on a standard FR4‐based substrate. Three commercially available full‐wave EM solvers are used in our examples: CST, Sonnet, and COMSOL. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Improving road transport energy efficiency through driver training

Fuel consumption by road vehicles is the most significant component of total road transport energy use and is significantly affected by driving style. This research was aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of driver training for fuel economy for drivers involved in the management and operations of a road network in England. A unique approach to driver training was designed and tested with 94 drivers of heavy, medium and light vehicles. The improvement in fuel economy (in terms of MPG) for the first month after the training was observed to improve by up to 7%. The improvements reduced at varying rates after the training suggesting the need for regular refresher training. The behaviours of the drivers were also observed to change as a result of the training, towards styles more suited to achieving a better fuel economy. The results suggest that both linear and logarithmic models could be suited to predicting the drivers' performances and could be integrated in models of the type of HDM-4 which currently lack such capability. The driver training methodology was found to be more cost effective than the Safe And Fuel Efficient Driving (SAFED) training method recommended by the Department for Transport (DfT).
Online Deep Learning Hyperparameter Tuning based on Provenance Analysis

Training Deep Learning (DL) models require adjusting a series of hyperparameters. Although there are several tools to automatically choose the best hyperparameter configuration, the user is still the main actor to take the final decision. To decide whether the training should continue or try different configurations, the user needs to analyze online the hyperparameters most adequate to the training dataset, observing metrics such as accuracy and loss values. Provenance naturally represents data derivation relationships (i.e., transformations, parameter values, etc.), which provide important support in this data analysis. Most of the existing provenance solutions define their own and proprietary data representations to support DL users in choosing the best hyperparameter configuration, which makes data analysis and interoperability difficult. We present Keras-Prov and its extension, named Keras-Prov++, which provides an analytical dashboard to support online hyperparameter fine-tuning. Different from the current mainstream solutions, Keras-Prov automatically captures the provenance data of DL applications using the W3C PROV recommendation, allowing for hyperparameter online analysis to help the user deciding on changing hyperparameters’ values after observing the performance of the models on a validation set. We provide an experimental evaluation of Keras-Prov++ using AlexNet and a real case study, named DenseED, that acts as a surrogate model for solving equations. During the online analysis, the users identify scenarios that suggest reducing the number of epochs to avoid unnecessary executions and fine-tuning the learning rate to improve the model accuracy.
Probability of error for optimal codes in a Gaussian channel

A study is made of coding and decoding systems for a continuous channel with an additive gaussian noise and subject to an average power limitation at the transmitter. Upper and lower bounds are found for the error probability in decoding with optimal codes and decoding systems. These bounds are close together for signaling rates near channel capacity and also for signaling rates near zero, but diverge between. Curves exhibiting these bounds are given.
Performance of U-tube solar water heater with vertical and inclined panels

A conventional natural convection flat plate solar collector needs to be placed at an incline to the horizontal and exposed to the sun in order for the solar hot water heater system to work. This arrangement is satisfactory where there is ample roof top space to locate the collector and storage tank. In a high-rise apartment, space is at a premium and also the hot-water recticulation requires long lengths of piping to distribute the hot water supply to the individual apartment. Most every modern high-rise apartment has a balcony facing outward from the wall structure. Balcony-type solar water heaters (SWHs) are catching up fast in China. Their performance would depend on collector and storage tank designs and sizes, weather conditions (solar radiation intensity and ambient temperature) and direction in which the balconies are facing. This article compares the outdoor performance of two SWH systems incorporating the evacuated glass U-tube solar collectors operating under natural convection. The panels were tested in both the vertical and inclined positions using the same tank but at different times of the year. It was found that the inclined panel system performed better than the system with the vertical panel system.
A new fiber Bragg grating based accelerometer

A new fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based accelerometer is developed for monitoring seismic activities induced by moving vehicles. A theoretical model of the sensor is established, and analytical formulas of describing the sensitivity and resonant frequency are provided. Sensors of this type are fabricated and tested. The experimental results show that they have a sensitivity of 162.8 pm/G and a resonant frequency of 242.9Hz. The minimum detectable signal of the whole sensing system is about 12.1 &mgr;g. A field test is carried out to find out that for tracked vehicles' monitoring, a single sensor has a detection range of about 300 meters, indicating a promising future in practical use.
Realization of a Compact Branch-Line Coupler Using Quasi-Fractal Loaded Coupled Transmission-Lines

An extremely compact branch-line coupler operating at 900MHz is presented without the use of via-holes, multilayered technique, or air-bridged. The technique presented here uses the concept of fractals to load a coupled transmission-line in order to realize a compact quarter-wavelength transmission-line, which forms the couplers arms. It is shown that the proposed branch-line coupler's performance is analogous to a conventional branch-line coupler with the beneflt of substantially reduced physical dimensions by a factor of 78%. The measured result of the fabricated microstrip branch- line coupler is compared with the simulation data. The agreement of the measurement and simulated conflrms the theory and validates the proposed coupler design.
The iron roof trusses of the New Hermitage in St. Petersburg - Structural Survey, analysis and assessment of a masterpiece of structural steelwork from the 1840s.

The New Hermitage of St. Petersburg, planned from 1839 and opened in 1852, is the last building erected in the collection of the former imperial palace complex. Commissioned by Tsar Nicholas 1st and designed by the German architecht Leo von Klenze as a museum for the imperial art collection, with its impressive sets of rooms and its pure classical fassades it now forms the core of the exhibition rooms of the State Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg (fig.1) along with the 18th century baroque buildings of the Winter Palace, the little and the big Hermitage (fig.2). The collection and the buildings have recently been recognized as Cultural Heritage of the World by UNESCO. The iron roof trusses of the New Hermitage in St. Petersburg, erected in 1844-45, are for the most part preserved in their original state (fig.3). They are mainly composed of closely aligned trusses without purlins, following the principle of the “cable-trussed girder” similar to the later well known “Polonceau”System. This load-bearing system has been systematically recorded and precisely analysed for the first time. The existing method of “Historische Bauforschung” (architectural historical research), itself a branch of construction history, which has become established in Germany over the past few decades, has for this purpose been expanded with engineering-specific components. A structural survey was added to the existing elements of the geometrical survey of construction and the documentation and analysis of the available archive material. This development allows additional information on the function and structural behaviour of components, the origin and manufacture of the material used as well as the planning and assembly process to be recorded. This in-situ research combined with the analysis of materials forms the basis for further practical as well as academic analysis. This paper presents an overview of the survey and an initial assessment and analysis of the results. In addition to a statical analysis of the current state of the structure, a comparison and assessment of the different types of roof trusses extant in the State Hermitage complex is included. These trusses were designed by 3 different engineers in under a 10 year period, using the same structure but varying details, prompting a discussion of the quality of the engineering design.
A Generalized Pooling for Brain Tumor Segmentation

As a common malignant disease, brain tumor has high mortality. The automatic segmentation of brain tumor has significance for clinical diagnosis and surgery treatment. With the development of deep learning, CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) achieves remarkable performance in image processing and computer vision. Researchers have proposed a large number of CNN-based segmentation models such as FCN (Fully Convolutional Network) and Unet from the perspective of network architecture, loss function and attention mechanism. However, most of them are based on the traditional pooling operations such as average pooling and maximum pooling, which will lead to the loss of significant features or average features. Especially in brain tumor segmentation, tissues are usually quite small, so feature losing is more serious. More importantly, the fixed pooling patterns such as maximum pooling and average pooling, which cannot accommodate to varying data, may not be able to accurately express their features in down-sampling. In this study, we first unify maximum pooling and average pooling, and then propose a novel generalized pooling (GP) method with adaptive weights. This is the first work to improve models from the perspective of pooling operations for brain tumor segmentation. The experimental results show that our generalized pooling method is effective to segment brain tumors, outperforming the traditional pooling methods.
FACTORS AFFECTING THE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM IN DELTA STATE TEACHERS' TRAINING COLLEGES

The study investigated the factors affecting the effective implementation of Social Studies curriculum in Teachers' Training Colleges inDelta State. Three research questions and related hypotheses were raised to guide the study. The design used for the study was descriptive survey. Questionnaire was used to generate data for the study. The data were analyzed using Pearson Moment Correlation and Regression Analysis. The factors affecting effective implementation of Social Studies curriculum in Delta State Teachers Training Colleges stemed from inappropriate use of teaching methods, inability of social studies teachers to implement the curriculum adequately to the understanding of the students and teachers' inability to use good constructive questions during teaching and learning process in the classroom. The continued and persistent presence of these factors affected negatively the quality of academic standard of Social studies education in the colleges. For these reasons, it was recommended that good constructive questions to facilitate teaching and learning should be practised and used by the teachers. Also, Social Studies teachers should display professional competence to be effective in the school system.
Network Intrusion Detection and Mitigation Against Denial of Service Attack

The growing use of Internet service in the past few years have facilitated an increase in the denial of service (DoS) attacks. Despite the best preventative measures, DoS attacks have been successfully carried out against high-prole organizations and enterprises, including those that took down Chase, BOA, PNC and other major US banks in September 2009, which reveal the vulnerability of even well equipped networks. These widespread attacks have resulted in signicant loss of service, money, and reputation for organizations, calling for a practical and ecient solution to DoS attack detection and mitigation. DoS attack detection and mitigation strengthens the robustness and security of network or computer system, by monitoring system activities for suspicious behaviors or policy violations, providing forensic information about the attack, and taking defensive measures to reduce the impact on the system. In general, attacks can be detected by (1) matching observed network trac with patterns of known attacks; (2) looking for deviation of trac behavior from the established prole; and (3) training a classier from labeled dataset of attacks to classify incoming trac. Once an attack is identied, the suspicious trac can be blocked or rate limited. In this presentation, we present a taxonomy of DoS attack detection and mitigation techniques, followed by a description of four representative systems (Snort, PHAD, MADAM, and MULTOPS). We conclude with a discussion of their pros/cons as well as challenges for future work.
Job Motivation as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Job Stress And Job Performance of Police Officers at the Federal Territory Police Headquarters

Effectiveness of an organization is largely dependent on its employees’ job performance. Job performance is influenced by job stress and job motivation, whereby job motivation is believed to have a mediation effect in the relationship between job stress and job performance. Hence, this paper is aimed at identifying the relationship between these three variables among Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) officers at the Federal Territory Police Headquarters. This is a quantitative study for which data has been collected from 341 police officers through a survey. Data was analyzed statistically using PLS-SEM. Findings showed that there was a significant, negative relationship between job performance and job stress; and between job stress and job motivation. Job motivation was found to be a significant mediator in the relationship between job stress and job performance.
The irrationalities of rationality in police data processes

ABSTRACT This paper explores how police bureaucracies, in their pursuit of greater accountability and management efficiencies, create what are intended to be rational data collection and use processes. However, these processes often produce unintended consequences: namely, behaviours, practices, and policies that confound an organisation’s goals. Drawing on Ritzer’s McDonaldization thesis and qualitative data from two Canadian police organisations, we argue that although police bureaucracies focus on maintaining efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control when it comes to their data processes, not only do inaccuracies occur, but they happen because an over-emphasis on rational processes can produce forms of irrationality.
Numerical analysis of supercontinuum generation in cascaded photonic crystal fiber tapers

The concept of cascading Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) tapers is proposed, and the numerical model of supercontinuum (SC) generation in cascaded PCF tapers is clarified. Using self-compiled program, the SC generation in cascaded PCF tapers with identical and different structural parameters are numerically simulated. Hence the function of cascading is illustrated. Via cascading PCF tapers with same structural parameter, we can overcome the limitation of the tapering rig to enhance the nonlinear interaction length. Via cascading PCF tapers with different structural parameter, we can not only enhance the interaction length, but also obtain higher nonlinearity and more manageable dispersion to increase the qualities of SC, such as spectral range and flatness.
Differential Responses of Neural Retina Progenitor Populations to Chronic Hyperglycemia

Diabetic retinopathy is a frequent complication of longstanding diabetes, which comprises a complex interplay of microvascular abnormalities and neurodegeneration. Zebrafish harboring a homozygous mutation in the pancreatic transcription factor pdx1 display a diabetic phenotype with survival into adulthood, and are therefore uniquely suitable among zebrafish models for studying pathologies associated with persistent diabetic conditions. We have previously shown that, starting at three months of age, pdx1 mutants exhibit not only vascular but also neuro-retinal pathologies manifesting as photoreceptor dysfunction and loss, similar to human diabetic retinopathy. Here, we further characterize injury and regenerative responses and examine the effects on progenitor cell populations. Consistent with a negative impact of hyperglycemia on neurogenesis, stem cells of the ciliary marginal zone show an exacerbation of aging-related proliferative decline. In contrast to the robust Müller glial cell proliferation seen following acute retinal injury, the pdx1 mutant shows replenishment of both rod and cone photoreceptors from slow-cycling, neurod-expressing progenitors which first accumulate in the inner nuclear layer. Overall, we demonstrate a diabetic retinopathy model which shows pathological features of the human disease evolving alongside an ongoing restorative process that replaces lost photoreceptors, at the same time suggesting an unappreciated phenotypic continuum between multipotent and photoreceptor-committed progenitors.