Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elastic plastic finite element analysis of bolted joint during tightening process

Mechanical behavior of bolted joints during the tightening process with torque control is analyzed by FEM as elastic plastic contact problems. Three-dimensional analysis was conducted employing two-dimensional model with each node having three degrees of freedom that attains high computation efficiency. Such important factors as development of plastic zones, variations of load distributions along engaged threads, the relationships between axial bolt stress and nut rotation angle were analyzed in order to provide an effective guideline when tightening critical structures with high bolt preloads. It was also shown that the proposed numerical method can be applied to evaluate the tightening process by plastic region tightening used extensively in recent years. The validity of the numerical method is demonstrated by comparing the calculated bolt elongation with that obtained from experiment.
A 10 Gb/s equalizer with integrated clock and data recovery for optical communication systems

A 10 Gb/s analog continuous-time equalizer with integrated clock and data recovery circuit is presented. It is designed to recover signals degraded by chromatic and polarization mode dispersion. The key components in the design are a feedforward equalizer and a decision feedback equalizer, the parameters of which are electronically adjustable. Both circuit blocks are fully described and characterized with emphasis on minimizing self-induced distortion and maximizing high-speed performance. In addition to the equalizer and the clock and data recovery, the circuit also includes an integrated automatic gain control. The circuit is implemented in a commercial 0.18 μm SiGeBiCMOS technology and consumes 900 mW. The capacity of the equalizer to mitigate signal impairments is demonstrated using three electrically generated channels.
Design and fabrication of a locomotive mechanism for capsule-type endoscopes using shape memory alloys (SMAs)

Endoscopes are medical devices to diagnose various kinds of diseases throughout the whole gastrointestinal tracks. Generally, they are divided into conventional push-type endoscopes and more recently developed wireless capsule-type endoscopes. The conventional endoscopes cannot reach the small intestines and generate pain and discomfort to patients due to the stiffness of their body. Such disadvantages do not exist in wireless capsule-type endoscopes. However, commercialized capsule-type endoscopes move passively by peristaltic waves (and the gravity), which makes it impossible for doctors to diagnose the areas of his or her interest more thoroughly and actively. To address this problem of passivity, a locomotive mechanism is proposed for wireless capsule-type endoscopes. Prototypes with micro brushless dc motors, ionic polymer metal composite actuator, and shape memory alloy (SMA) wires are designed and fabricated for preliminary tests. Based on the tests, spring-type SMA actuators are selected to be microactuators for capsule endoscopes. Thus, two-way linear actuators using a pair of SMA springs are developed based on a static analysis on them. Moreover, a simple and effective clamping device is developed based on biomimetic approach. A prototype endoscope with four pairs of SMA springs and four clampers was developed. It has 13 mm in diameter and 33 mm in total length, with a hollow space of 7.6 mm in diameter to house other parts that are needed for endoscopy such as a camera, an RF module, sensors, e.g., for endoscopic ultrasound, and a battery. A sequential control of the four actuators improves the efficiency of locomotion up to four times. To validate the performance of the proposed locomotive mechanism, a series of experiments were carried out including in-vitro tests. The results of the experiments indicate that the proposed locomotion mechanism is effective to be used for micro capsule-type endoscopes.
Efficacy of attractants for detecting eastern spotted skunks: an experimental approach

Estimates of abundance and occupancy are essential for wildlife management, particularly for species of conservation concern such as eastern spotted skunks Spilogale putorius. Most studies of eastern spotted skunks rely on limited evidence for best monitoring practices, and while many studies use attractants to increase detections, previous studies have not tested attractants against a control of no attractant to determine their effectiveness. We tested two common attractants (sardines and fatty acid tablets) and one uncommon attractant (wild boar carcasses) against a control of no attractant to determine if any attractant increased detections of eastern spotted skunks or changed their temporal activity. Based on our model, sardines and wild boar carcasses improved detections by three and eight times that of the control, respectively. Further, for every 100 trap nights, we detected eastern spotted skunks 10.67 times with wild boar carcasses, 1.02 times with sardines, 0.53 times with fatty acid tablets and 0.44 times with no attractant. Wild boar carcasses also substantially decreased latency to detection, with skunks detected two times faster than at other attractants and almost three times faster than at the control. Eastern spotted skunks were most active in the early morning before sunrise, and their temporal activity did not vary significantly by attractant. This study is the first to use an experimental framework to test attractants for eastern spotted skunks, and our results showed that choice of attractant matters. Large animal carcasses, although rarely used, may be most effective for detecting eastern spotted skunks, while fatty acid tablets were no different than the control, and we recommend against their use in future studies. Monitoring plans should incorporate our results as increasing detections is essential to understanding the abundance, range and demographics of eastern spotted skunks.
DIBL in short-channel NMOS devices at 77 K

Detailed experimental and two-dimensional numerical simulation results on drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL) versus channel length at 300 and 77 K in short-channel NMOS devices are presented. It is found that by decreasing the temperature from 300 to 77 K. DIBL in NMOS devices with effective channel lengths (L) from 0.5 to 2.0 mu m is improved for the range of L 1.2 mu m, but is worse for L between 0.6 and 1.2 mu m. The new version of the two-dimensional device numerical simulation program MINIMOS 4.0, which includes device modeling at cryogenic temperatures, was used to investigate this unique characteristic. The measured DIBL characteristics can be explained physically as the transition from surface DIBL through the subsurface DIBL to the bulk DIBL or punchthrough effect at 300 K, but almost a surface DIBL for the whole range of channel length variation at 77 K. Design considerations for the channel doping profile for low-temperature operation based on keeping the same DIBL and V/sub TH/ as required for room-temperature operation are briefly discussed. >
Assurance quality, disclosed connectivity of the capitals and information asymmetry – An interaction analysis for the case of integrated reporting

Purpose Credibility concerns regarding integrated reports can harm the intended decrease of information asymmetry between a firm and its investors. Therefore, it is crucial to examine whether voluntary third-party assurance enhances the credibility of integrated reports and, thus, decreases information asymmetry. Furthermore, this study aims to investigate the interaction effect between assurance quality and the disclosed connectivity of the capitals, a distinguishing feature of integrated reports. Design/methodology/approach Content analysis is performed of the 176 assurance statements included in the 269 integrated reports of Forbes Global 2000 firms disclosed from 2013 to 2015 and the 269 integrated reports themselves. Regression analyzes are applied to examine the associations between assurance, the disclosed connectivity of the capitals and information asymmetry. Findings The presence of an assurance statement in an integrated report significantly decreases information asymmetry. Surprisingly, assurance quality is not significantly associated with information asymmetry. However, an interaction analysis reveals that combining high assurance quality with high disclosed connectivity of the capitals allows a significant decrease in information asymmetry. Research limitations/implications The paper demonstrates that the connectivity of the capitals of integrated reports and assurance quality are connected and together are associated with information asymmetry. Practical implications The results imply, both for report preparers and standard setters, that assurance quality is advantageous only when combined with disclosed connectivity of the capitals. Social implications More information on non-financial information measured by the connectivity of the capitals of integrated reporting has an interaction effect together with assurance quality on information asymmetry. Originality/value This paper builds on a unique data set derived from the contents of integrated reports and accompanying assurance statements. Furthermore, it extends the integrated reporting literature by investigating the interaction between assurance quality and the disclosed connectivity of the capitals, which had not previously been examined in combination.
Analysis and Modeling of Uncertain System in Complex Environment

In complex battlefield environment all kinds of the uncertainties for target tracking make the analysis and modeling of tracking system irresolvable. Aiming at different levels of system uncertainty, the correspondent modeling methods are introduced. First, the stochastic process model is investigated which includes target process equation and sensor measurement equation. Second, joint state-class probabilistic density is given for realizing target tracking and classification simultaneously. Finally, the joint target detection, tracking and identification based on finite-set statistics theory is represented for multi-sensor multi-target tracking.
An Improved RANSAC Algorithm Based on Adaptive Threshold for Indoor Positioning

The smart city is an important direction for the development of the highly information-based city, and indoor navigation and positioning technology is an important basis for the realization of an intelligent city. In recent years, indoor positioning technology mainly relies on WiFi, radio frequency identification (RFID), Bluetooth, and so on. Yet, the implementation of the above method requires the relevant equipment to be laid out in advance, and it is only suitable for indoor positioning with low accuracy requirements owing to interference and fading of the signal. The visual-based positioning technology can achieve high-precision positioning in enclosed, semienclosed, and multiwalled indoor environments with strong electromagnetic interference by means of epipolar geometry and image matching. The visual-based indoor positioning mostly uses the random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm to estimate the fundamental matrix to acquire the user’s relative position. The traditional RANSAC algorithm determines the set of inliers by artificially setting a threshold to estimate the model. However, since the selection of the threshold depends on experience and prior knowledge, the reliability of the positioning results is not robust. Therefore, in order to improve the universality of the algorithm in indoor environments, this paper proposed an improved RANSAC algorithm based on the adaptive threshold and evaluated the real-time and accuracy of the algorithm by using an open-source image library. Results of the experiment show that the algorithm is more accurate than the traditional RANSAC algorithm in an enclosed and semienclosed multiwalled indoor environment, with fewer iterations.
Cross-Sensor Remote-Sensing Images Scene Understanding Based on Transfer Learning Between Heterogeneous Networks

Over the past decades, the successful invention and employment of multiple sensors have marked the advent of a new era in multisensor remote-sensing (RS) images acquisition. To effectively utilize the massive multisensor images for RS scene understanding, we expect that a scene classification model learned with particular sensor data can generalize well to other sensor data. However, this is a very challenging task due to the cross-sensor data differences. In the deep learning (DL) pipeline, a common way to handle this challenging task is to fine-tune the models pretrained on source sensor data with limited labeled data from the target sensor. Unfortunately, fine-tune technique is usually applied between homogeneous networks, which may not be the best choice if the source and target data are largely different. To address these issues, we formulate the cross-sensor RS scene understanding problem as a heterogeneous network-oriented transfer learning problem, in which the source and the target networks are different and data-oriented selected. Afterward, the knowledge between heterogeneous networks is transferred using the pseudo-label recursive propagation mechanism inspired by the concept of knowledge distillation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to investigate the cross-sensor scene classification problem by constructing such a heterogeneous networks’ transfer scheme in RS fields. Our experiments using two cross-sensor RS datasets [aerial images $\rightarrow $ multispectral images (MSIs) and aerial images $\rightarrow $ hyper-spectral images (HSIs)] demonstrated that the proposed transfer learning strategy based on heterogeneous networks outperforms the supervised learning (SL) and fine-tune scheme for cross-sensor scene classification.
Food in the city: urban food movements and the (re)- imagining of urban spaces

Ethical food movements are growing in number throughout Australia. Amongst these diverse movements are urban agriculture initiatives, which articulate a multitude of social and environmental values. Yet, despite the long history of production and exchange of food in urban areas, planners (and others) often overlook its significance. To assist in addressing this oversight, we take the case study of Melbourne to examine the ways in which participants in urban agriculture are re-imagining urban spaces and the future of agriculture and food systems in Australia. We demonstrate that urban food advocates' politics and practices both challenge and resist the enclosure of urban spaces. This creates new frontiers that transgress social, political, ecological and economic boundaries and edges. These transgressions or counter-enclosures articulate new visions for secure and just food systems and, in so doing, offer insights to assist planners in ensuring Australian cities support socially just and environmentally responsible food systems.
Indirect Organogenesis from Stem Derived Callus of Dregea Volubilis (L.F) Benth

In vitro propagation methods offer a powerful tool for germplasm maintenance and multiplication. This report established the methodology for callus regeneration of Dregea volubilis from stem explants. The effect of various concentrations and combinations of IAA, NAA, 2,4-D, BAP, KIN and IBA were tested for in vitro callus induction, plant regeneration, and rooting of D. volubilis. The maximum number of greenish, organogenic callus was achieved on the MS medium containing 1.5 mg/L 2,4-D+ 0.5 mg/L KIN and then subsequent shoot regeneration was obtained on MS medium supplemented with 3.0 mg/L KIN from stem derived callus. The highest frequency of shoot regeneration (81.93%) with the maximum number of shoots (10.56 + 0.44) was achieved in this medium. In vitro raised micro shoots showed a 90% response with the maximum number of roots (5.31 ± 0.66) per shoot on MS medium supplemented with 2.5 mg/L IBA after 15 days. Then in vitro rooted plantlets were moved to mud pot bearing soil and vermiculite mixture in 1:1 ratio for hardening and hardened plantlets showed 90% survivability in field conditions. Using this protocol, it is possible to clonally produce viable, uniform and healthy plants with a maximal survival rate that can be used for large scale cultivation, genetic transformation and biopharmaceuticals applications.
Analysis of uncertainty on water distribution hydraulics and water quality

System modeling can be used as a basis of planning and operation decisions. However, model accuracy and uncertainty will impact the confidence in, thus the conservatism built into, model based decisions. Model prediction uncertainty results from uncertainty in model parameters that are determined through calibration or are based upon modeler judgment. Uncertainty in pressure head has been evaluated from the perspective of system reliability (Xu and Goulter (1999) and Bao and Mays (1990) and in design. However, the relative impact of alternative data has not been compared to assess the need for estimating parameters. In addition, water quality within a distribution is strongly affected by the selection of water quality model parameters such as bulk and wall decay coefficients. In addition, since water quality is dominated by advective transport, hydraulic parameters and conditions also impact water quality. This is most clearly seen in the effects of tanks due to flows to and from the storage facility. The hydraulic system representation will also affect the flow distribution and travel times within the system. Many modelers suggest that all pipe models are required to adequately represent the true flow patterns. To date, only anecdotal evidence through analysis of simple networks under deterministic conditions has been presented justifying this conclusion. However, as more pipes are introduced, more uncertain parameters must be defined or calibrated for those components. This paper begins to examine the impact of alternative sources of uncertainty on water quality predictions by examining steady state conditions for a well-documented mid-sized system. The objective is to study the effect of alternative uncertain
Effectiveness of Multifunctional Margins in Insect Biodiversity Enhancement and RTE Species Conservation in Intensive Agricultural Landscapes

Starting in the 1950s, agricultural production has been remarkably intensified, resulting in modern management systems where a severe increase in field size led to an elimination of edges and other ecologically valuable structural elements. The resulting habitat loss caused dramatic changes in natural communities. The aim of this work is to test whether there are statistically significant differences in insect abundance over time by using multifunctional margins that are seed mixtures of autochthonous species planted in combined strips, which are the fastest way to provide significant biodiversity benefits within farmed landscapes, enhancing the diversity and abundance of insects, birds, and small mammals, offering resources and reservoirs. This study was carried out in three intensive fruit farms in Spain over a three-year period (2013–2015). Each field was divided into two zones: the margin where a multifunctional margin was planted, and another that remained unchanged in the field. A clear trend to increase RTE species throughout the years in all farms was observed. Moreover, the margin showed a significant difference with respect to the field in the average number of insect species and individuals. The use of margins improves the appearance of RTE species in mean percentages ranging between 12.06 and 25.26% according to the sampling area. Margins also favour the increase in species (148.83–232.84%) and individuals (207.24–586.70%) in agricultural landscapes. These results clearly show that margins are an essential tool to fight insect decline in intensive farming areas.
Mechanical Switch Based Adaptive Fault Ride-through Strategy for Power Quality Improvement Device

Cascaded H-bridge power quality improving device (PQID) has garnered extensive attention for its flexible electric energy conversion and fast voltage response. However, the failure rate of PQID is relatively high due to the use of large numbers of power electronic devices. This paper proposes a mechanical-switch based adaptive fault ride-through strategy for improving the operational stability and power supply reliability of PQID. According to the features of the topology and working principle of PQID, this paper summarized the types of internal faults and analyzed the characteristics of different types of faults. Based on the shortcomings of existing mechanical switches as a bypass method, corresponding adaptive fault ride-through strategies are proposed for different types of faults, and a comprehensive simulation test has been carried out. The results show that the proposed strategy can adaptively ride through unit faults and effectively improve the output waveform quality during the ride through time.
Retention and Dimensional Changes of Supplemental Evergreen Brush Piles within a Flood Control Reservoir

Brush piles (i.e., trees and large woody debris) are often installed in reservoirs to supplement fish habitat. The retention and dimensional change of brush piles after installation is important information that can be used to maximize the effectiveness of this management action. We evaluated the retention and dimensional change of 70 eastern red cedar Juniperus virginiana and bald cypress Taxodium distichum brush piles in an embayment of a drawdown reservoir up to four annual cycles of submergence and exposure. We used satellite imagery to supplement our onsite measurements of retention. We also examined spatial patterns of brush pile retention and dimensional change. Brush piles were lost at 10% per year and their volume at 14% per year. We compared our rates of brush pile retention and dimensional change with those from a holdout data set of 50 brush piles. Estimates between data sets did not differ statistically. Spatial patterns of retention and dimensional change coincided with morphological features in our study area, suggesting that retention and dimensional change is influenced by variable physical forces (e.g., wave action and flow) at installation locations. Our estimates of brush pile retention and dimensional change can be used to generally sustain desirable brush densities. For example, to maintain a fixed total volume of brush in our study embayment roughly 23% of the total brush volume installed would need to be replaced annually. Similar research in reservoirs managed for other purposes is needed as length and cycle of inundation could lead to variable rates of retention and dimensional change. Additionally, advancements into computer-assisted detection and volume estimation could reduce the time and effort needed to monitor brush piles.