Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of a piezoelectric transformer converter and its matching networks

The feasibility of using the piezoelectric material for power transformation has been investigated for low profile DC/DC power converter design. This paper presents a systematic way to design a DC/DC power converter with a piezoelectric transformer (PT). The electrical equivalent circuit for the PT is developed. This model explains why the loss of the PT strongly depends on load and switching frequency. The two-port power flow method is employed to calculate the maximum efficiency of the PT. A complete PT converter, composed of amplifier, the PT and its matching networks, is built. Both experimental and simulated results of PT converter demonstrated that the above study is truly useful for designing the PT converters. <<ETX>>
CONDUCTING HANDS-ON TASK IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: TEACHING METHOD IN AUTOMOTIVE COURSES

This paper discusses the findings from a study on teaching in practical work on automotive courses at Vocational Colleges in Malaysia. The random sampling technique was used in selecting 283 students and 63 teachers as respondents from the automotive courses. The findings of the research indicate that teachers have strong preference in using the demonstration and questioning technique during the set induction stage of teaching. Teachers also prefer group monitoring and problem solving during the teaching phase, and re-explaining and report writing in the post-teaching stage. This research provides the combination of teaching techniques that could be used in teaching vocational skills in general and automotive practical work in particular. This study has concluded that vocational teaching method in automotive practical work to be applied in teaching for other practical courses to improve current practices. Thus, teachers are proposed to use this method to improve students’ knowledge in automotive and to develop skills for the current and future workforce.
The Diabetic Athlete

Part 1 The diabetic athlete's toolbox: training for sports and fitness balancing exercise blood sugars the ups and downs of insulin supplements and eating for exercise guidelines for type I athletes guidelines for type II athletes. Part 2 Sports and fitness activities: endurance sports power sports fitness activities recreational sports diabetic athletes and sports organisations sports nutrition web sites of interest diabetic athletes activity. Questionnaire.
Autogenous Shrinkage and Hydration Kinetics of SH-UHPFRC under Moderate to Low Temperature Curing Conditions

Keywords: UHPFRC ; UHPC ; DSP ; RPC ; bridge rehabilitation ; autogenous shrinkage ; eigenstresses ; TSTM ; low temperature ; early age ; activation energy ; silica fume ; degree of hydration ; maturity ; 1H-NMR ; 29Si solid NMR ; Jensen’s model ; Powers's model ; Danish model These Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne EPFL, n° 5681 (2013)Programme doctoral StructuresFaculte de l'environnement naturel, architectural et construitInstitut d'ingenierie civileLaboratoire de maintenance, construction et securite des ouvragesJury: J.-P. Lebet (president), B. Lothenbach, K. Scrivener, J.-M. Torrenti Public defense: 2013-4-25 Reference doi:10.5075/epfl-thesis-5681Print copy in library catalog Record created on 2013-04-17, modified on 2016-08-09
ON THE INFORMAL HISTORY OF IMAGE EVALUATION TECHNIQUES AND PRACTICE

Abstract : The advances in camera and lens design and the availability of remarkable new emulsions have emphasized the problems of testing photographic systems. The discussion in this paper is de signed to furnish some perspective on the development of camera-lens-system testing techniques, and urges restraint before we get committed to new test methods which may produce more arguments than universally agreed-on results. In addition, questions are raised on the fundamental meaning and purpose of tests.
A study on the application of digital logic operating technique to extraction of speckle noise in optical fiber

In order to apply the speckle noise in optical fiber to sensor, a speckle noise pattern due to deformation of an optical fiber was measured by using the digital logic operating technique. As a result, the characterization of the speckle noise pattern could be made possible, when the distortion of the fiber was changed.
Environmental leadership plus total quality management equals continuous improvement

Xerox was one of the first U.S. companies to discover that environmentally sound practices not only result in good community relations, but also often more than pay for themselves. This case study describes the application of the quality process to environmental management at Xerox and shows how a focus on prevention, employee involvement, teamwork, and the use of quality principles and tools can improve profitability for any company.
The Mindful Lawyer

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Objectives: Two studies were conducted to determine whether mindfulness meditation could be an effective tool for improving well-being among legal professionals—a population plagued by high rates of depression, anxiety, and stress. Methods: Study 1. Legal professionals completed questionnaires before and after an 8-week mindfulness program. Study 2. Lawyers were randomly assigned to either an experimental or waitlist condition. Questionnaires were administered at the beginning of the study and after experimental participants had completed a 30-day intervention. Results: Study 1. Participants reported significant improvements in mood, resilience, trait mindfulness, stress, anxiety, and depression over time. Study 2. Post-intervention, experimental participants reported better mood, lower levels of stress, and higher levels of non-reactivity and observing than waitlist participants. Conclusions: Mindfulness and meditation may effectively improve well-being among legal professionals.
Towards an atrio-ventricular delay optimization assessed by a computer model for cardiac resynchronization therapy

In this paper, lumped-parameter models of the cardiovascular system, the cardiac electrical conduction system and a pacemaker are coupled to generate mitral ow pro les for di erent atrio-ventricular delay (AVD) con gurations, in the context of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). First, we perform a local sensitivity analysis of left ventricular and left atrial parameters on mitral ow characteristics, namely E and A wave amplitude, mitral ow duration, and mitral ow time integral. Additionally, a global sensitivity analysis over all model parameters is presented to screen for the most relevant parameters that a ect the same mitral ow characteristics. Results provide insight on the in uence of left ventricle and atrium in uence on mitral ow pro les. This information will be useful for future parameter estimation of the model that could reproduce the mitral ow pro les and cardiovascular hemodynamics of patients undergoing AVD optimization during CRT.
Coordinated Voltage Control in Electric Power Systems

This thesis deals with various aspects of coordinated voltage control in electric power systems. It consists of an introduction and six papers. The introduction contains a summary of the thesis and tutorials on voltage control and the search methods that have been applied. The first part deals with the coordination of cascaded tap changers in radial distribution feeders. A tuning rule for the conventional (local) controllers as well as two new (centralized) schemes are proposed: firstly, an optimal controller based on on-line optimization and secondly, a rule based controller based on a fuzzy inference system. A prototype of the fuzzy-rule based controller has been installed and successfully tested in a distribution feeder in the south of Sweden. The second part of the thesis describes a coordinated system protection scheme (SPS) against voltage collapse based on model predictive control. Using combinatorial optimization and predictions of the system's future behaviour, the SPS optimally coordinates dissimilar and discrete controls such as generator, tap changer and load shedding controls in presence of load dynamics and constraints on controls as well as voltages and currents in the network. Modelling of power systems has also been addressed. The third part describes a freely available power system library called ObjectStab intended for voltage and transient stability analysis and simulation written in Modelica--a general-purpose object-oriented modelling language. All component models are transparent and can be modified or extended. Power system topology and parameter data are entered in one-line diagram form using a graphical editor. The component library has been validated using comparative simulations with Eurostag.
Risk Perception and Safety in the UK Offshore Oil and Gas Industry

This paper presents a selection of the final results from a study of risk perception and safety attitudes in workers on UKCS offshore oil and gas platforms, which was sponsored by the HSE Offshore Safety Division, Amerada Hess, British Gas, BP, Conoco, Elf Enterprise and Total Oil Marine. The study was designed in conjunction with Dr Rundmo of Trondheim University who was carrying out a matched survey with Norwegian offshore workers for the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate`. A representative sample of 622 UKCS workers on six production platforms were surveyed about their job characteristics, perceived risks, safety attitudes, safety satisfaction, accidents and injuries and the Safety Case. The results indicate that the relative feelings of safety in relation to major hazards (e.g. explosion, blow-out) are aligned with QRA calculations. In general, the workforce feel safe but are aware of the hazards in their environment. Further analyses and statistical modelling indicates that organizational factors (e.g. management commitment to safety, safety attitudes) have the greatest direct effect on workers perception of risk and their satisfaction with safety measures. The British and Norwegian data sets are now being merged and preliminary findings will be mentioned. To explore the emerging issues further, a new studymore » on human factors in UK offshore safety has just been launched with the support of OSD, OCA and six operating and contractor companies. A brief outline will be presented. « less
Virtual water quality tests with an electronic tongue

The concept of the "electronic tongue" has been used in some experiments to establish the needs of fast and virtual monitoring of aqueous samples, e.g., in the monitoring of drinking water quality. More specifically, the performance of a proposed multi-electrode sensor system, used for voltammetric analysis of aqueous samples, is described. It is, for example, shown how such an "electronic tongue" can be used to monitor the quality of water in a production plant for drinking water. It is pointed out that conventional techniques often determine single concentration of the measured test while in many areas of measurement technology the methodology to extract adequate information from the environment, e.g., the electronic tongue, makes a total water quality estimate based on predetermined constraints extracted from complicated pattern structures. In this approach, experiments are conducted using an electronic tongue to virtually monitor the drinking water quality, measured from the raw water in the river to the tap water of the consumer. It can be shown that a system based on the proposed multi-electrode virtual sensor system is able to detect water quality changes. In these experiments, with the use of signal analysis and statistical multivariate methods we are able to estimate the water quality.
Success Factors of Rubberwood as a Furniture Stock in South East Asia

The study evaluated the consumer perceptions towards Rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis) as a premier furniture material. The data for this study was collected from a questionnaire survey, completed by 250 buyers who attended the international furniture fairs in Malaysia. Correlation analysis showed that the success factors of Rubberwood as a furniture stock are primarily its low cost and ample availability. According to 82% of the respondents, the three major advantages of Rubberwood as a furniture stock in comparison to other furniture wood species are its lower cost, environmental friendliness and workability. Inadvertently, Rubberwood furniture is also plagued by the perception of being low-cost.
Ferroelectric and SiGe device development for high data rate communications

Future broadband wireless communication systems will require hardware that is capable of processing and tuning high RF power microwave signals K-band frequencies. Integration of ferroelectric and SiGe technologies is proposed for developing low-cost hardware that is capable of providing this functionality. Ferroelectric thin film phase shifters demonstrated 140/spl deg/ of analog tuning at 20 GHz, and computer simulations show the feasibility of K-band SiGe amplifiers. However, minor deviations from ideal film quality make these performance goals difficult to attain, and integration of the two technologies requires that the quality of both materials be maintained.
In-package P/G planes analysis and optimization based on transmission matrix method

Power integrity (PI) has become a limiting factor for the chip’s overall performance, and how to place in-package decoupling capacitors to improve a chip’s PI performance has become a hot issue. In this paper, we propose an improved transmission matrix method (TMM) for fast decoupling capacitance allocation. An irregular grid partition mechanism is proposed, which helps speed up the impedance computation and complies better with the irregular power/ground (P/G) plane or planes with many vias and decoupling capacitors. Furthermore, we also ameliorate the computation procedure of the impedance matrix whenever decoupling capacitors are inserted or removed at specific ports. With the fast computation of impedance change, in-package decoupling capacitor allocation is done with an efficient change based method in the frequency domain. Experimental results show that our approach can gain about 5× speedup compared with a general TMM, and is efficient in restraining the noise on the P/G plane.
Quo vadis Inhaltserschließung der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek? Herausforderungen und Perspektiven

Seit der Ausweitung des Pflichtexemplarrechts auf sog. unkorperliche Medienwerke im Jahr 2006 steht die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (DNB) vor der Herausforderung, uber neue Wege zur Erzeugung bibliografischer Metadaten nachzudenken. Die steigende Menge an Publikationen, die es zu bearbeiten gilt, aber auch deren zunehmende Diversitat, machen dies erforderlich. Fur die Inhaltserschliesung der DNB bedeutet das, dass andere Verfahren neben die intellektuelle Erschliesung treten mussen. Die Entwicklung und Einfuhrung automatischer Verfahren fur Klassifikation und Beschlagwortung gehoren ebenso dazu wie die Nutzung von Fremddaten oder die Gewinnung inhaltserschliesender Daten uber Konkordanzen. Dies hat Auswirkungen auf Arbeitsablaufe, Erschliesungsinstrumente und -standards sowie Datenformate. Die DNB strebt ein Konzept fur die Inhaltserschliesung an, das zum Ziel hat, so viele Publikationen als moglich angemessen zu erschliesen, um thematische Recherchen erfolgreich zu unterstutzen. Since the extension of the legal deposit mandate to so-called non-physical publications in 2006, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (DNB) has to deal with the challenge of finding new ways to create bibliographic metadata. This is due to the growing amount of publications and their increasing diversity. Consequently, in the area of subject cataloguing in DNB, intellectual cataloguing must be complemented by additional methods. These include the development and implementation of automated procedures for classification and indexing as well as the use of third party data or the production of subject data via mappings. All this has effects on the workflows, tools and standards for subject cataloguing and data formats. DNB aims at a concept for subject cataloguing which will make it possible to catalogue as many publications as possible in an appropriate way in order to successfully support topical searches
Habitat Suitability Study of Hylomecon Japonica Based on Maxent Model in China

Background: To understand the potential distribution and habitat suitability of H. japonica in China. And to provide guidance for the wild cultivation and standardized planting of H. japonica. Methods: The maximum entropy model (Maxent) and geographic information system (ArcGIS) were applied to predict the potential suitable habitat of H. japonica species, and the contribution of variables were evaluated by using the jackknife test. Results: The AUC value confirmed the accuracy of the model prediction based on 101 occurrence records. The potential distributions of H. japonica were mainly concentrated in Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi and other provinces (adaptability index>0.6). Jackknife experiment showed that the precipitation of driest month (35.6%), precipitation of wettest quarter (13.4%), the mean annual temperature (7.8%) and the subclass of soil (7.8%) were the most important factors affecting the potential distribution of H. japonica. Conclusion: The niche parameters of the most suitable growth area (adaptability index>0.8) for H. japonica were precipitation of driest month (5 mm), precipitation of wettest quarter (400-490 mm), the mean annual temperature (-2-4 °C) and the subclass of soil (Glossy Chernozem, Gleyic Lime, Haplic Gypsisols).
Bio-inspired visuomotor convergence in navigation and flight control systems

Insects exhibit incredibly robust closed loop flight dynamics in the face of uncertainties. A fundamental principle contributing to this unparalleled behavior is rapid processing and convergence of visual sensory information to flight motor commands via spatial wide-field integration, accomplished by retinal motion pattern sensitive interneurons (LPTCs) in the lobula plate portion of the visual ganglia. Within a control-theoretic framework, an inner product model for wide-field integration of retinal image flow is developed, representing the spatial decompositions performed by LPTCs in the insect visuomotor system. A rigorous characterization of the information available from this visuomotor convergence technique for motion within environments exhibiting non-homogeneous spatial distributions is performed, establishing the connection between retinal motion sensitivity shape and closed loop behavior. The proposed output feedback methodology is shown to be sufficient to give rise to experimentally observed insect navigational heuristics, including forward speed regulation, obstacle avoidance, hovering, and terrain following behaviors. Hence, extraction of global retinal motion cues through computationally efficient wide-field integration processing provides a novel and promising methodology for utilizing visual sensory information in autonomous robotic navigation and flight control applications.
Structural Characteristics and Functional Analysis of Gut Microbiome in Patients with Osteoarthritis

ObjectiveRecent studies illustrated that changes of gut microbiome in human body may be related to the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). We aimed to determine the difference of gut microbiome between patients with osteoarthritis and normal people.MethodsThe samples were collected from 56 patients with osteoarthritis (34 females) and 52 healthy subjects (28 females). High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene was used to analyze the classification and composition of gut microbiome in OA patients, and then we used Linear discriminant analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) to find out the main differential bacteria and biomarkers in OA patients. At last, PICRUSt was applied to predict the genomic function of gut microbiome in OA patients, and we explored its mechanism in the development of the OA.ResultsThe association between gut microbiome and osteoarthritis has not been demonstrated in detail. Herein, we investigated the gut microbiome of OA patients and its relationship with the disease to evaluate the potential of the gut microbiome in the diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis. And we identified that there are significant differences in the β diversity of the gut microbial composition between the control group and OA patients (p＜0.05, respectively), and Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium and Alistipes have the potential to become biomarkers of osteoarthritis. Besides, the genomes of gut microbiome in OA patients are enriched in metabolic pathways and lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis (p=0.049, p=0.005), but in signal pathways related to apoptosis, the degree of enrichment was significantly higher than that of healthy people (p=0.006). ConclusionOur research identified that the community composition of gut microbiome in OA patients was different from that in normal groups and explored the role of gut microbiome in the development of osteoarthritis, which may provide a new theoretical basis for the study of osteoarthritis.
Six Districts Begin the Principal Pipeline Initiative

This first report of an ongoing evaluation of The Wallace Foundation’s Principal Pipeline Initiative describes the six participating school districts’ plans and activities during the first year of their grants. The evaluation, conducted by Policy Studies Associates and the RAND Corporation, is intended to inform policy makers and practitioners about the process of carrying out new policies and practices for school leadership and about the results of investments in the Principal Pipeline Initiative. This report is based on collection and analysis of qualitative data, including the districts’ proposals, work plans, and progress reports and semi-structured interviews in spring 2012 with 91 administrators employed by districts and their partner institutions. Leaders in all districts report wanting to enlarge their pools of strong applicants for principal positions and to identify and cultivate leadership talent as early as possible in educators’ careers. Districts are actively working on all required pipeline components: (1) with stakeholder participation, they have developed standards and identified competencies for principals, which they plan to use to guide principal training, hiring, evaluation, and support; (2) they are initiating or strengthening partnerships with university training programs; (3) for hiring, they have standard performance tasks and are developing systems to capture data on candidates’ experience; (4) they have diagnostic evaluation tools and are working to build the capacity of principal supervisors and mentors to support principals’ skill development. In addition, all are also bolstering district-run training programs for graduates of university training programs who aspire to become principals. Po icy tu d es A so cites, In c.
MetroFission: New high-temperature references and sensors for the nuclear industry

The European metrology research programme (EMRP) allows funding for metrology-oriented projects in the frame of targeted calls aimed at improving metrology for important contemporary and future needs in different fields such as energy, environment and industry. A joint research project (JRP), called "MetroFission", was selected for funding in the "Energy" call of 2010. This JRP, led by NPL (UK), aims to anticipate and to start addressing the metrological needs of the next generation of nuclear power plants. The need for improving the accuracy and reliability of temperature measurements at temperatures higher than those currently measured in nuclear power plants is dealt with in the first workpackage of the project. This project started in September 2010 and will last for three years. This paper summarizes the activities of the first half of the project and the expected final achievements, which will be essentially oriented towards new temperature references and new devices, adapted to the high temperature.