Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DEEP IMPACT: an investigation of the use of information and communication technologies for teacher education in the global south: Researching the issues

The scale of the demand and need for primary school teachers if the Millenium Development Goal of Universal Basic Education (UBE) is to be achieved far outstrips existing provision. The countries of sub-Saharan Africa face particular challenges: over 40 million children of primary school age are without school experience and the numbers are growing. The Digital Education Enhancement Project (DEEP) is an applied research project exploring the ways in which information and communications technology (ICT) can improve access to, and the quality of, teacher education in the global south. * It is focused upon three key research questions: • What is the impact of ICT use on the pedagogic knowledge and practice of teachers and the communities in which they live and work? • What is the impact of ICT-enhanced teaching on student achievement and motivation? • How can teacher education and training be developed to ensure that teachers have the capacity to exploit the potential for ICT? There is a dearth of research on the application of ICT to teaching and learning in developing country contexts, specifically in the key areas of literacy, numeracy and science at the primary level. In addition there are currently few, if any, examples of planned investigations into how mobile technologies can be used to support teacher education in sub-Saharan Africa. The project’s aim is to inform policy makers, educational researchers and others interested in ways in which new forms of technology can enhance teachers’ capabilities and improve knowledge and professionalism in the global south. DEEP was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and co-ordinated by the Open University (UK), with the University of Fort Hare (UFH), South Africa and the Programme, Planning and Monitoring Unit (PPMU), Egypt. The research was carried out in 12 primary schools in Egypt and 12 in South Africa with 48 teachers (two per school) and involved over 2,000 primary school students. Teachers worked in pairs to implement and evaluate a short, curriculum-focused, school-based professional development programme, using a range of new technologies including hand-held computers. Activities focused on the teaching of literacy, numeracy and science. ICT was used in some significant ways by schools as a whole, as well as many of the communities in which project teachers lived and worked.
Online Active Set-Based Longitudinal and Lateral Model Predictive Tracking Control of Electric Autonomous Driving

Autonomous driving is a breakthrough technology in the automobile and transportation fields. The characteristics of planned trajectories and tracking accuracy affect the development of autonomous driving technology. To improve the measurement accuracy of the vehicle state and realise the online application of predictive control algorithm, an online active set-based longitudinal and lateral model predictive tracking control method of autonomous driving is proposed for electric vehicles. Integrated with the vehicle inertial measurement unit (IMU) and global positioning system (GPS) information, a vehicle state estimator is designed based on an extended Kalman filter. Based on the 3-degree-of-freedom vehicle dynamics model and the curvilinear road coordinate system, the longitudinal and lateral errors dimensionality reduction is carried out. A fast-rolling optimisation algorithm for longitudinal and lateral tracking control of autonomous vehicles is designed and implemented based on convex optimisation, online active set theory and QP solver. Finally, the performance of the proposed tracking control method is verified in the reconstructed curve road scene based on real GPS data. The hardware-in-the-loop simulation results show that the proposed MPC controller has apparent advantages compared with the PID-based controller.
Modelling a linear and limited travel solenoid

This paper proposes an efficient dynamic model for a solenoid. The magnetic characteristics in the model are based on piecewise approximation with the linear and saturation sections approximated by first order and second order functions respectively. A typical solenoid valve is used to validate the model. Preliminary results show that the model is both accurate and efficient. The model is used to design a proportional solenoid valve. <<ETX>>
A Comparison of Approaches Toward Reusable Aspects

Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP) is designed to reduce maintenance and improve reuse of software components by separating crosscutting concerns from core concerns. In current most mature and widely used AOP approach, such as AspectJ, crosscutting concerns are modularized in aspects and connected to main program using pointcuts. However, the way that aspects and main program are associated leads to tightly coupling between aspects and the target classes and thus the aspects may not be reusable as might be expected. This paper introduces four different AOP approaches that have achieved reusable aspects to a certain extent and makes a comparison of them on four different criteria. Additionally, we put forward two future research directions for better reusable aspects.
Simulation of radio wave propagation in urban microcellular environments

A powerful and versatile software was developed to investigate the radio wave propagation in urban microcellular environments. The two dimensional layout of the buildings and streets is given to the software in terms of segments which define the building walls. The propagation through and over the buildings is neglected. After having chosen the location of a transmitter, the various rays which reach a receiver are determined and the received wave field is computed. Currently, the rays considered include the effects of specular reflections and diffraction. The results show the limitations of models based only on specular reflections. The software is used to investigate various combinations of reflected and diffracted rays in several building layouts and transmitter locations.
Infrasonic observations of bolides on October 4, 1996

During the evening of October 3, 1996, at least six bright fireballs were observed over the western United States with reports from California to Louisiana. The event over California produced tremendous sonic boom reports in the Los Angeles area. This event was also detected locally by 31 seismometers which are part of a network of seismic stations operated by the California Institute of Technology. Subsequent investigations of the data from the four infrasound arrays used by LANL (Los Alamo National Laboratory) and operated for the DOE (Department of Energy) as part of the CTBT Program (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) Research and Development program showed the presence of an infrasonic signal from the proper direction at the correct time for this bolide from two of our four arrays (Nevada Test Site; NTS and Pinedale, WY; PDL). Both the seismic and infrasound recordings indicated that an explosion occurred in the atmosphere, having its epicenter near Little Lake, Calif. for possible sources heights from 40 - 60 km. The infrasonic arrays are each composed of four elements, i.e., low frequency pressure sensors that are in near-continuous operation. The nominal spacing between elements is 150 - 200 m depending on the specific site. The basic sensor is a Globe Universal Sciences Model 100C microphone whose amplitude response is flat from 0.1 to 300 Hz. Each sensor is connected to 12 porous hoses which act to reduce wind noise. The signal characteristics, analyzed from 0.1 to 5.0 Hz, includes a total duration of 5 (NTS) to 20 minutes (PDL) for a source directed toward 230 - 240 degrees from true North. The signal trace velocities ranged from 300 - 360 m/sec with a signal velocity of 0.30 plus or minus 0.03 km/sec, implying a stratospheric (S type) ducted path (with a reflection altitude of from 40 - 60 km). The dominant signal frequency is from 0.20 to 0.80 Hz, with a peak near 0.2 to 0.25 Hz. These highly correlated signals had a maximum amplitude of 1.0 microbars (0.1 Pa) at PDL and 4.0 microbars (0.4 Pa) at NTS. Our analysis indicates that the bolide had a probable, maximum source energy in the range from 150 - 390 tons (TNT equivalent).
The influence of ballast on the vibrations of railway bridges

This thesis investigates two aspects concerning the influence of the ballast on vibrations of railway bridges. The first one is the additional stiffness due to the ballast. For that, a special finite beam element with a non-linear longitudinal stiffness associated to the slip at the interface between the ballast and the bridge is implemented and used to calculate vertical accelerations during and after the passage of a train. The second one is the load distribution of the axle loads through the ballast. To investigate this, a parametric study is carried out on a two dimensional model with plane elements. Based on this load distribution, different load shapes are created, which are used in dynamic analyses in Matlab on three different bridge models. The conclusions are that a linear and a bi-linear longitudinal stiffness at the interface give similar maximum accelerations. Moreover, the critical train velocities are increased with the additional stiffness of the ballast. The study also shows that distributed loads, in general, lowers the maximum accelerations, especially on short bridges.
The road to fatigue: circumstances leading to fatigue accidents

The author describes a study which examined the characteristics of road accidents where fatigue was a factor. Drivers who had had an accident or near accident were interviewed over the telephone about various aspects of their journey. Questions covered a) trip purpose, b) who they were travelling with, where to and when, c) fatigue prevention measures and risk behaviour, d) driving time and e) knowledge about driver fatigue and awareness of advertising. The results are discussed. Most accidents occurred at night and after five hours of driving although many were a lot sooner. Of particular interest was the fact that although drivers were aware of the risk of fatigue they did not act to avoid it. For the covering abstract see IRRD 876074.
Bulk Density of Wet and Dry Wheat Straw and Switchgrass Particles

Bulk density is a major physical property in designing the logistic system for biomass handling. The size, shape, moisture content, individual particle density, and surface characteristics are few factors affecting the bulk density. This research investigates the effects of true particle lengths ranging from 6 to 50 mm and moisture contents ranging from 8% to 60% wet basis (wb) on the bulk density of wheat straw and switchgrass. Three types of particle densities of straw and switchgrass measured were: a hollow particle density assuming a hollow cylindrical geometry, a solid particle density assuming a solid cylindrical geometry, and a particle density measured using a gas pycnometer at a gas pressure of 40 kPa. The bulk density of both loose-fill and packed-fill biomass samples was examined. The calculated wet and dry bulk density ranged from 24 to 111 kg m-3 for straw and from 49 to 266 kg m-3 for switchgrass. The corresponding tapped bulk density ranged from 34 to 130 kg m-3 for straw and 68 to 323 kg m-3 for switchgrass. The increase in bulk density due to tapping the container was from 10% for short 6-mm particles to more than 50% for long 50-mm particles. An equation relating the bulk density of stems as a function of moisture content, dry bulk density, and particle size was developed. After the validation of this bulk density equation, the relationship would be highly useful in designing the logistics system for large-scale transport of biomass to a biorefinery. The bulk density and particle density data of uniform particles would be important, if straw and switchgrass is used for pulping and paper making.
METODOLÓGIA PARA LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DE UN MIGRADOR UNIVERSAL DE BASES DE DATOS

This article talks about the proposal and application of a methodology to build a database migrator that will serve as a very useful tool for those who evaluate the efficiency of data migration processes between multiple platforms, these processes are now being identified as emerging pillars of modern organizations. The main purpose is to show the building process of a database migration system geared towards consumer goods and services companies; it involves the development of the conceptual background and research involved on migration systems, the proposed methodology to build the suggested prototype, as well as the use case and class diagrams that demonstrate the analysis and design supported by the application, it also exposes the graphical interface built to manage the database migration processes.
The Future of Semiconductor Lithography? Look to Flash

Thirty years ago, when I began working in lithography for semiconductor manufacturing, the bellwether of our industry was DRAM. Resolution was defined by the smallest DRAM half-pitch, and our technology nodes were named after DRAM densities. DRAM costs often determined the affordability of a personal computer, and everyone wanted more memory. By the 1990s, microprocessors began to dominate the business, and the frequency wars pushed gate length as the most important feature size (smaller gate lengths meant faster transistors). Logic gate lengths shrank faster than pitch, and two resolution measures were needed: minimum feature size and minimum half pitch. Nodes came to be named after the feature size.
Time-frequency analysis of frequency-coded signals

Application of time-frequency based techniques on the analysis of frequency-coded signals is considered. Their performance are compared on the frequency-coded signals with optimal Costas (1984) sequence. For signals with constant frequencies, within one coding interval (CW signals), satisfactory results can be achieved by using the spectrogram with appropriate lag window. For time-varying (including linear frequency modulated) elementary signals the spectrogram exhibits poor time-frequency resolution and estimation accuracy. The estimation accuracy and time-frequency concentration improvement for this kind of signals can be achieved by using the cross-terms reduced version of the Wigner distribution, the S-method. In the case of linear frequency modulated elementary signals very accurate results can be obtained by using adaptive fractional Fourier transform, introduced in this paper. It is based on the concentration measure of the time-frequency representations. In order to improve the estimation accuracy in a high noise environment a post median filtering is applied to the resulting, estimate.
Assessing the shading performance of climbing plant canopies

There are many examples of integrating external climbing plants as shading devices to glazed building facades. Apart from providing solar shading, plants can improve the environmental quality such as noise reduction, better air quality and alleviating the urban ‘heat island’ effect. In temperate climates such as the UK, deciduous plants can be used to take the additional advantage of allowing beneficial solar penetration in the winter. There are very limited studies of the shading performance of plant canopies mainly due to the difficulties of measuring the dynamic growth behaviour of plants that influence the solar transmission. The research reported in this paper proposes methodologies and techniques to provide an assessment of the shading performance of a deciduous climbing plant canopy. The research involved the development of the methodologies, the measurement of area coverage of different leaf layers, the measurement of solar transmittances of leaf layers and the integration of experimental results to establish the proposed shading coefficient. The experimental canopy, on which Virginia Creeper was planted, was setup at the University of Brighton and monitored for two years. The research outcomes are reported and significance of the results, potential applications and future work are discussed.
Reliability Case Notes No. 9. Autosub Long Range risk assessment report: expert elicitation and risk discussion record

A Risk Assessment Workshop was convened on the 17th November 2014, in Southampton, to quantify the likelihood of loss of Autosub Long Range (ALR) autonomous underwater vehicle in the forthcoming campaign for the UK FASTNEt (Fluxes Across Sloping Topography of the North East Atlantic) science project. The ALR is an autonomous underwater vehicle developed by the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton; its development is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, UK. This report presents a summary of the discussions, which comprises a review and assessment of potential failure modes and a summary of the risk mitigation actions.
Design and analysis of a 10GHz LC-VCO using MEMS inductor

This paper presents design and analysis of a 10GHz inductance-capacitance (LC)-Voltage-Controlled Oscillators (VCO) implemented with a very high quality (Q) factor on-chip Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) inductor using 0. 25μm silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) technology. A new symmetric topology of suspended MEMS inductor is proposed to reduce the length of the conductor strip and achieve the lowest series resistance in the metal tracks. This MEMS inductor has been suspended above the high resistivity SOS substrate to minimise the substrate loss and therefore, achieve a very high Q-factor inductor. A maximum Q-factor of 191.99 at 11.7GHz and Q-factor of 189 at 10GHz has been achieved for a 1.13nH symmetric MEMS inductor. The proposed inductor has been integrated with a VCO on the same substrate using the Metal layers in SOS technology removing the need for additional bond wire. The 10GHz LC-VCO has achieved a phase noise of -116.27dBc/Hz and -126.19dBc/Hz at 1MHz and 3MHz of offset frequency, respectively. It consumes 4.725mW of power from 2.5V supply voltage while achieving a Figure of Merit (FOM) of -189.5dBc/Hz.
Optimal acquisition price management in a remanufacturing system

Return items received from end customers for remanufacturing is uncertain in nature. In this paper, we considered that return demand function is uncertain and sensitive to the acquisition price and the availability of used products in the market. A mathematical model was developed to investigate the impact of the availability of return items in the market on acquisition price management. Here, three different methods of collection of return items from the market are considered: direct method, indirect method and coordinated method. A numerical study was conducted to illustrate the mathematical model, and an extensive sensitivity analysis was carried out for the three different methods of collection to examine the impact of market size and the available dependency factor on acquisition price and the channel profit. The results show that the total channel profit increases when the acquisition price increases for the direct method of collection. Furthermore, the results reveal that the total channel profit increases when the market size increases for the coordinated method of collection compared with the other two methods of collection.
Multiscale simulation of organic heterojunction light harvesting devices

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a computational model for the simulation of heterojunction organic photovoltaic devices with a specific application to a light harvesting capacitor (LHC) consisting of a double layer of organic materials connected in series with two insulating layers and an external resistive load. Design/methodology/approach – The model is based on a coupled system of nonlinear partial and ordinary differential equations describing current flow throughout the external resistive load as the result of exciton generation in the bulk, exciton dissociation into bonded pairs at the acceptor-donor material interface, and electron/hole charge generation and drift-diffusion transport in the two device materials. Findings – Numerical simulation results are shown to be in good agreement with measured on-off transient currents and allow for novel insight on the microscopical phenomena which affect the external LHC performance, in particular, the widely different time scales at which .
Flocking of autonomous unmanned air vehicles

Abstract The use of large numbers of unmanned air vehicles in a given air space presents a challenge for conventional air traffic control methods. Flocking (or schooling, swarming or herding) in nature arises when mobile organisms find benefit in living at high densities. The present paper applies rules of flocking (cohesion, alignment, separation, and migration) to the problem of managing the flight of a number of autonomous unmanned air vehicles. A six-degree of freedom aerodynamic model of an existing UAV is used to simulate the flocking flight vehicles. It is found that application of the cohesion and alignment rules is sufficient to generate true flocking behaviour in that the flight vehicle density is increased and the flock members converge on a common heading. Increasing rule strength reduces the time taken to achieve flocking behaviour. However increasing rule strength too far leads to oscillatory or unstable flight paths. It is found that flock behaviour can be adequately described using the time histories of two statistical parameters: the mean radius between flock members and the standard deviation of the flock members’ heading angles.
Interrupting Colors: Reading the Visual Culture of Urban Indonesia through its Revitalized Rainbow Slums (Case Study: Malang)

In the recent decade there has been a trend of slum revitalization by using rainbow colors in various urban cities in Indonesia. is movement intends to present slums, as a desirable tourist attraction of the city, and the reproductions of this Rainbow Village throughout the country is a manifestation of the desirability of its visual aesthetic. Drawing on ethnographic fl! neur observations and images representation of the slums in tourist mediums of a rainbow revitalization project in an urban slum in Malang, this paper aims to show how this pocket of slum has become an interrupting scene in the urban landscape of Indonesia. Aesthetic experience is integral to the (re)distribution of power, this paper argues that the Visual Culture and Visual Aesthetic of the Rainbow Village can increase the visibility of slums and transform the way urban residents experience the commons—through slums. Furthermore, the existence of the visual aesthetic of the color village acts as an interrupting force to the flattening of our visual culture and pushes back against the homogenization of urban space. &'()*+,-. colors, ethnographic flâneur, pockets, rainbow village, tourism, visual culture
Response of Drone Electronic Systems to a Standardized Lightning Pulse

This paper presents the results of experimental tests of the impulse response of selected, essential components of a drone. A standardized lightning pulse that is often used during immunity tests of electronic devices in the aviation industry was applied. A single-stroke voltage impulse generator, MIG0618SS, was capable of producing the desired pulses. The input voltage was injected into selected electronic circuits of the drone system and pulses were observed in different parts of the machine. This allowed us to build a model based on the transmittance of the circuits most exposed to lightning overvoltages. The conducted tests were supported by impedance measurements carried out with an LCR-8110G meter. The obtained results made possible the development of a preliminary drone simulation model, allowing us to determine the size of the disturbances arising in individual circuits during nearby lightning. A discussion of the influence of close lightning discharges on expected induced overvoltages in a drone electronics system is also conducted in the paper.