Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals in Building Projects

Building designers are struggling to deeply integrate the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in projects. The review of the literature revealed that the available research is focused on linking the current practices, including sustainable building practices, with the SDGs. This has, in turn, limited the development of novel approaches as well as new building design methodologies that specifically aim at attaining the agenda’s targets. To help building design teams achieve the meaningful integration of the agenda’s five Ps, this paper proposes two analytical mapping tools which can be used during the integrated design process to track the integration of SDGs in the building projects, and to analyze the building design approaches and visions in reference to the topics of the goals. The research uses a case study for an energy-positive building in Quebec to test the proposed tools. The analysis focuses on the integration of 8 of 17 SDGs, discusses the specific building features which were used to achieve this integration, and analyzes the team’s design visions regarding the goals. The results reveal that in the case studied, the integration of the 8 SDGs moves beyond the current standards by mostly applying design approaches which are future-driven and focused on products and technologies. This research provides important practical tools that can inform building practices in the private and the public sector and contributes to the theory and practice of sustainable building design. It also supports the current effort towards the implementation and localization of the SDGs.
An Analysis of Some Learning Management Systems

The use of modern information and communication technology as a means of training pupils and students has become a popular trend. For this purpose, a special type of web-based content management systems, called Learning Management Systems (LMSs), has been used. Due to their wide implemented, lots of LMSs have been developed in recent years. All those platforms often provide similar features and users can hardly choose the most appropriate for them. There is a variety of methodologies for the quality evaluations of e-learning in the scientific literature. However, there are no good explanations and detailed studies of most of the modern LMS platforms. This article proposes an analysis of the usability and software functionality of the LMS frameworks. Based on the survey of the state-of-art science research, the criteria for analysis of the LMS platforms in this paper are summarized in three categories: Learning skills tools, Communication tools, and Productivity tools. The main goal is to present a wide-range comparative analysis of 36 electronic learning management systems. All of them support the use of multimedia elements, creating and editing the lectures, exercises and course assignments. The lack of communication support leads to using web forums and social networks out of the LMS. The contribution of this paper presents an enriched modern trend of the software methodologies of the web-based oriented learning management systems from the perspective of design and development.
Improving the Performance of a Dual Kalman Filter for the Identification of PEM Fuel Cells in Impedance Spectroscopy Experiments

In this paper, the Dual Kalman Filter (DKF) is used for the parametric identification of an RC model of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (FC) stack. The identification is performed for diagnostic purposes, starting from time-domain voltage and current signals in the framework of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) tests. Here, the sinusoidal input of the tests makes the identification of DKF parameters challenging. The paper analyzes the filter performance and proposes a possible approach to address the filter tuning to let it work with FC operating either in normal conditions or in the presence of drying and flooding fault conditions, or in fuel starvation mode. The analysis is mainly performed in a simulated environment, where the Fouquet model is used to simulate the FC. Some criteria to tune the filter are derived from the analysis and used also with experimental data produced by some EIS tests, to achieve the best estimate in constrained conditions. The results show that the DKF can be turned into a valuable tool to identify the model parameters even with signals developed for other scopes. The identification results envisage the possibility of assisting the model-based FC diagnosis by means of a very simple tool that can run on a low-cost embedded device. Indeed, the simplicity of the filter approach and a lightweight implementation allow the deployment of the algorithm in embedded solutions.
CAE v1.1—A Code for the Magnetic Field Due to Arbitrary Electromagnets

The Code for the magnetic field due to Arbitrary Electromagnets (CAE) v1.1 is a feature-rich version of CAE v1.0 code to simulate the magnetic fields generated by arbitrary electromagnetic systems. The code calculates the magnetic field due to straight and circular segments of zero thickness or rectangular cross section and cylindrical wire. The magnetic field calculations use a combination of analytical and numerical integration methods based on the Biot–Savart law. The design philosophy of CAE is to reduce the complexities while generating the inputs, and provide the visuals of the given inputs as 3-D plots of the electromagnets and magnetic field components as outputs in the Excel format. The code is successfully verified with the standard examples and the EFFI implementation on BETA, ADITYA-U, and SST-1 tokamaks.
Thermoacoustic interplay between intrinsic thermoacoustic and acoustic modes: non-normality and high sensitivities

This study analyses the interplay between classical acoustic modes and intrinsic thermoacoustic (ITA) modes in a simple thermoacoustic system. The analysis is performed using a frequency-domain low-order network model as well as a time-domain spatially discretised model. Anti-correlated modal sensitivities are found to arise due to a pairwise interplay between acoustic and ITA modes. The magnitude of the sensitivities increases as the interplay between the modes grows stronger. The results show a global behaviour of the modes linked to the presence of exceptional points in the spectrum. The time-domain analysis results in a delay-differential equation and allows the investigation of non-normal behaviour and its consequences. Pseudospectral analysis reveals that energy amplification is crucially linked to an interplay between acoustic and ITA modes. While higher non-orthogonality between two modes is correlated with peaks in modal sensitivity, transient energy growth does not necessarily involve the most sensitive modes. In particular, growth estimates based on the Kreiss constant demonstrate that transient amplification relies critically on the proximity of the non-normal modes to the imaginary axis. The time scale for transient amplification is identified as the flame time delay, which is further corroborated by determining the optimal initial conditions responsible for the bulk of the non-modal energy growth. The flame is identified as an active and dominant contributor to energy gain. The frequency of the optimal perturbation matches the acoustic time scale, once more confirming an interplay between acoustic and ITA structures. Flame-based amplification factors of two to five are found, which are significant when feeding into the acoustic dynamics and eventually triggering nonlinear limit-cycle behaviour.
Hydrogels for targeted waveguiding and light diffusion

Advances in photomedicine and optogenetics have defined the problem of efficient light delivery in vivo. Recently, hydrogels have been proposed as alternatives to glass or polymer fibers. These materials provide remarkable versatility, biocompatibility and easy fabrication protocols. Here, we investigate the usability of waveguides from poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate for targeted light delivery and diffusion. Different hydrogel compositions were characterized with regard to water content, chemical stability, elasticity, refractive index and optical losses. Differences in refractive index were introduced to achieve targeted light delivery, and scattering polystyrene particles were dispersed in the hydrogel samples to diffuse the incident light. Complex constructs were produced to demonstrate the versatility of hydrogel waveguides.
Connecting Enterprise Architecture and Project Portfolio Management: A Review and a Model for IT Project Alignment

Enterprise architecture (EA) and project portfolio management (PPM) are key areas when it comes to connecting enterprise strategy and information technology (IT) projects. Both management disciplines enhance business capabilities, integrate skilled resources, and govern affiliated processes and functions. A skillful comprehension of the links between these managerial areas is essential for effective IT planning. This article elaborates on the common grounds and structural attachment of EA and PPM, showing the substantiated relations between them and demonstrating their cohesiveness. From strategic planning to solution delivery, a conceptual model for IT project alignment integrates these IT management disciplines over two levels. EA ascertains the technical goals and constraints, whereas PPM determines the organizational goals and constraints. The results from both sides are combined to jointly propose, select, prioritize, and schedule IT projects. Roadmapping is a suitable approach to bring EA and PPM together.
Research on Function Addition Decomposition and Function Moments

In order to study some statistical characteristics of matrix addition decomposition, the concept of function addition decomposition and its moments is defined. Theoretically, if the function can be decomposed into the addition of the function sequence, the sum of the moments of the function sequence can be found to be equal to the moments of the original function under certain conditions. Then the property of function decomposition is applied to matrix addition decomposition. If a matrix can be decomposed into the addition of matrix sequence, the sum of matrix sequence moments is equal to that of the original matrix. Finally, the normalized central moments and local normalized central moments of image are calculated. These normalized central moments have scaling and translation invariance, which shows that the function sequence moments can be used to extract local features of images.
Numerical solutions to a class of scalar elliptic BVPs for anisotropic quadratically graded media

Boundary value problems (BVPs) governed by a class of elliptic equations for anisotropic quadratically graded media are solved using Boundary Element Method (BEM). The variable coefficient governing equation is transformed to a constant coefficient equation which is then transformed to a boundary integral equation. The results show the convergence, consistency, and accuracy of the BEM solutions.
Non-Ideal Proportional Resonant Control for Modular Multilevel Converters Under Sub-Module Fault Conditions

The Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) has become the most promising topology for high-voltage and high-power applications. Sub-Module (SM) fault ride-through capability is one of the most important features of the MMC. To study the approach of controlling SM faults, the differences between hot-backup and cold-backup configuration of redundant SMs are analyzed. After that, an internal asymmetrical dynamic model for the MMC is analyzed, which shows that unexpected fundamental and 3rd harmonic components in the circulating current result in fluctuation of DC current. Based on this model and by integrating the conventional circulating current suppression method and the SM-fault tolerant approach, a non-ideal proportional-resonant (PR) controller is proposed and analyzed. This control scheme can suppress the fluctuation of the DC current of the MMC under SM faults without the knowledge of the number of faulty SMs and extra communication system. Its effectiveness is verified by both PSCAD/EMTDC simulations and scaled-down prototype experiments.
Paving the Way for Higher-Volume Cost-Effective Space Antennas: Designing for manufacturing, assembly, integration, and test

The commercial satellite industry, which has primarily been focused on highly customized geostationary satellites, is seeing increasing interest in constellations of small satellites (smallsats) operating in nongeostationary orbits. These smallsat constellations require larger quantities of antennas that are cost-/mass-effective and compact. Ideally, this is achieved by designing for manufacturing, assembly, integration, and test (DFMAIT). Maxar Technologies Company (MDA), a global leader in antenna systems, developed its expertise through R&D, establishing itself as a key supplier for antennas on constellations such as Iridium-NEXT, O3b, and OneWeb. These capabilities range from innovative steerable antenna designs, fastener-free feedchains, 3D-printed antennas as well as automated assembly and test setups. MDA is also leveraging this acquired knowledge to develop new products for future geostationary missions. This article describes the different antenna designs developed at MDA using the DFMAIT approach and presents automated test and integration setups developed for higher-volume production.
Dual-Input Quasi-Z-Source PV Inverter: Dynamic Modeling, Design, and Control

In the conventional photovoltaic (PV) fed quasi-<italic>Z</italic> (qZ) network-based impedance-source converters (ISCs), the PV array is connected to their input, whereas in the proposed topology in this article, an additional array is paralleled to the second qZ-network's capacitor (<italic>C</italic><sub>2</sub>). This modification allows harvesting more PV power through full utilization of the employed qZ-network in the classical ISCs. Moreover, the proposal offers higher conversion efficiency since the current in the second qZ-network's inductor (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$i_{L2}$</tex-math></inline-formula>) is smaller. The voltage of the added PV array (PV<sub>2</sub>) is independent of the voltage of the primary array (PV<sub>1</sub>) in a wide range, which promotes tracking their maximum power points (MPPs) separatly, achieving a higher efficiency even under partial shading. The use of two separate maximum power point trackings (MPPTs) in one converter is a challenge since the perturbation done by the first MPPT alters the power in PV<sub>2</sub> as well, and vice versa. Therefore, a two MPPs tracker algorithm, which perturbs two parameters and observes four variables, is proposed for the presented converter. The theoretical analysis is validated through real-time hardware-in-the-loop tests, and it demonstrates that at least 11% more power can be harvested compared to the conventional qZ-network-based ISC.
The Analysis of the Systems Stability of Linear Differential Equations Based on the Transformation of Difference Schemes

The approach to the analysis of Lyapunov systems stability of linear ordinary differential equations based on multiplicative transformations of difference schemes of numerical integration is presented. As a result of transformations, the stability criteria in the form of necessary and sufficient conditions are formed. The criteria are invariant with respect to the right side of the system and do not require its transformation with respect to the difference scheme, the length of the gap and the step of the solution. A distinctive feature of the criteria is that they do not use the methods of the qualitative theory of differential equations. In particular, for the case of systems with a constant matrix of the coefficients it is not necessary to construct a characteristic polynomial and estimate the values of the characteristic numbers. When analyzing the system stability with variable matrix coefficients, it is not necessary to calculate the characteristic indicators. The varieties of criteria in an additive form are obtained, the stability analysis based on them being equivalent to the stability assessment based on the criteria in a multiplicative form. Under the conditions of a linear system stability (asymptotic stability) of differential equations, the criteria of the systems stability (asymptotic stability) of linear differential equations with a nonlinear additive are obtained. For the systems of nonlinear ordinary differential equations the scheme of stability analysis based on linearization is presented, which is directly related to the solution under study. The scheme is constructed under the assumption that the solution stability of the system of a general form is equivalent to the stability of the linearized system in a sufficiently small neighborhood of the perturbation of the initial data. The matrix form of the criteria allows implementing them in the form of a cyclic program. The computer analysis is performed in real time and allows coming to an unambiguous conclusion about the nature of the system stability under study. On the basis of a numerical experiment, the acceptable range of the step variation of the difference method and the interval length of the difference solution within the boundaries of the reliability of the stability analysis is established. The approach based on the computer analysis of the systems stability of linear differential equations is rendered. Computer testing has shown the feasibility of using this approach in practice.
Geometry: Ancient and Modern

Preface 1. History and philosophy 2. Drawings and constructions 3. Plane geometry 4. Triangles, and triangle formulae 5. Isometries of R^2 6. Isometries of R'1 7. Circles, and other conics 8. Beyond isometry 9. Infinity 10. Complex geometry Bibliography List of notation Index
Experimental Study of Polarized Radar Scattering from the Tree Canopy at the Ka-Band

In this study, experimental measurements were carried out to estimate the polarized backscattering coefficient at the Ka-band through deciduous and coniferous trees. By utilizing a ground-based scatterometer, the returned signal was obtained in three polarized states at an incident angle ranging from 30 to 80 degrees. The scattering coefficients were estimated from the radar equation for the distributed target under narrow beam approximation. Radiometric calibration was conducted using a metal sphere, and a set of corner reflectors was used as the calibration target to ensure measurement accuracy. Both frequency and angular response of backscattering coefficients with three polarizations were analyzed for the cases of deciduous (banyan) and coniferous (pine) trees. The results indicated that the dynamic range for HV polarization is higher than that of HH and VV polarizations for both banyan and pine trees. Comparatively, the dynamic range for the pine tree is larger than that of the banyan tree.
Evolutionary Network Embedding Preserving Both Local Proximity and Community Structure

The complex network is an important tool to represent relational data in nature and human society, which has been widely applied in various real-world application scenarios. A key issue for analyzing the features of networks is to represent the characteristic information in the network with rationality. Network embedding, attracting plenty of attention recently, aims to convert network information into a low-dimensional space while maintaining the structure and properties of the network maximally. Most of the existing network embedding methods intend to preserve the pairwise relationship or similarity between nodes, but the community structure, which is one of the most important features of complex networks, is largely ignored. In this article, we propose a novel network embedding method based on evolutionary algorithm (EA), termed as EA-NECommunity, which can preserve both the local proximity of nodes and the community structure of the network by optimizing a carefully designed objective function. The number of communities in the network can be automatically determined without any prior knowledge. Moreover, taking the intrinsic properties of the network embedding problems in mind, we design a local search operator based on multidirectional search which can effectively find feasible solutions. In the experiments, we first visualize the embedding representation obtained by different algorithms, and then use the problems of node clustering, node classification, and link prediction to further validate the quality of the embedding representation obtained. The experimental results show that EA-NECommunity outperforms other state-of-the-art algorithms on both the real life and synthetic networks.
Internet of Things Applications as Energy Internet in Smart Grids and Smart Environments

Energy Internet (EI) has been recently introduced as a new concept, which aims to evolve smart grids by integrating several energy forms into an extremely flexible and effective grid. In this paper, we have comprehensively analyzed Internet of Things (IoT) applications enabled for smart grids and smart environments, such as smart cities, smart homes, smart metering, and energy management infrastructures to investigate the development of the EI based IoT applications. These applications are promising key areas of the EI concept, since the IoT is considered one of the most important driving factors of the EI. Moreover, we discussed the challenges, open issues, and future research opportunities for the EI concept based on IoT applications and addressed some important research areas.
Investigating Critical Success Factors of Project Management in Global Software Development: A Work in Progress

Global software development (GSD) business model has gained recognition over the years for achieving competitiveness in the global market. However, its implementation is not easy due to its complex nature and the various challenges it faces. Project management is a vital area in software development with significant impact to the GSD process. Companies adopt GSD without knowing its implications which lead to failure of their project management processes. Existing project management practises do not address the core issues of GSD, which makes the process more intricate. This research paper investigates the project management practices in GSD and identifies its critical success factors with the development of a framework that will facilitate software companies to implement GSD successfully.