Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
USING VIDEOS TO RECORD LESSONS LEARNED FROM PRODUCTION AND AFTERMARKET PHASES: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Learning from experience has turn out to be the basis of every manufacturing company in creating and sustaining competitive differentiation. Many companies put effort in capitalizing these experiences through continuous improvement initiatives such as lessons learned practices. However, these practices are failed to address the distinct, complex settings available in manufacturing, serial production, use, and maintenance phases, where much of the learning is still tacit nature and difficult to articulate. In this context, based on three case studies in the aerospace industry, the author previously proposed a lesson learned methodology using videos as an enabling media. This paper presents some preliminary results based on the validation activities performed in the aero-engine component manufacturing company.
Bearing capacity of surface strip footings on layered soils

vi ABSTRACT Estimating the bearing capacity of shallow foundations on layered soils is frequently required both in off-shore and onshore geotechnical engineering applications. The conventional bearing capacity theory, developed for homogeneous soils is not valid for such layered systems. Granular working platforms for tracked plant is a good example of footings on layered soils with relatively thin top layer. This problem is currently treated in practice, using a simplified method, presented in the Building Research Establishment publication BRE470-2004. Available bearing capacity solutions are mainly based on empirical models, interpreted from experimental test results that cover limited range of material parameters. While it is generally accepted that such models may be applicable to soil properties and footing geometries outside the range tested experimentally, they offer limited insights on how the assumed failure mechanism affects their range of application. This research considers the problem of estimating the ultimate bearing capacity of rigid strip footings on layered soil profiles, comprising a finite thickness of dense sand, overlaying deep layer of different weak soils i.e. very soft to stiff clay and very loose to medium dense sand. Rigid strip footings resting on the surface of the top layer were selected for analyses, as they resemble tracked plant. The ultimate bearing capacity of the footings were estimated from the average of rigorous upper and lower limit loads on the footing, calculated using the FELA method, developed in University of Newcastle. Adaptive remeshing was employed to obtain upper and lower bounds that closely bracket the true collapse loads. The geometry of the collapse mechanisms was interpreted from upper bound FELA analyses to gain insight into contribution of layered soils parameters in the shape of the mechanism. Detailed investigations indicated that the assumed punching shear failure mechanism of Meyerhof (1974) cannot accurately describe the geometry of the shear planes for all studied material parameters. For layered soils with cohesive subgrades, it was found that the direction of failure planes beneath the footing drift from the assumed vertical in Meyerhof’s model, as strength of the bottom layer increases relative to the top layer. As such, a more detailed investigation was undertaken that resulted in a new bearing capacity model that considers variable geometry of the failure mechanism as a function of the key parameters of the problem. The model provides results that are in close agreement with published experimental studies, and allows treating simple problems, such as the design of working platforms, without having to resort to numerical simulations. The model is extended to clays with increasing shear strength with depth, using expressions derived for bearing capacity factor as a simple function of the dimensionless rate of increase of soil strength.
Analyzing the effects of information technology on supply chain integration: The role of ERP success mediator

Article history: Received October 28, 2013 Received in revised format 25 November 2013 Accepted 29 January 2014 Available online February 2 2014 This research analyzes the effects of Information Technology (IT) on Supply Chain Integration (SCI) through ERP mediator by proposing a conceptual model among these components. We also hypothesize that three constructs of IT influence on enterprise resource planning (ERP) success and one construct of ERP success influences on SCI. To clarify the relationships among the constructs, structural equation model (SEM) is conducted to examine the model fit and seven hypotheses. The data was collected from three Iranian firms through questionnaire with 23 questions adopted by past researches. The results confirmed that top management support of IT and employees’ general IT skills factors of IT enhance ERP success, and ERP success positively influences on Supply Chain Integration, so these two IT factors influence Supply Chain Integration through ERP success. Our data unsupported negative impact of satisfaction with legacy IT system on ERP success. © 2014 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Knowledge and Perception of Secondary School Students in Belgrade about Earthquakes as Natural Disasters

The aim of this quantitative research is to determine the perception and actual knowledge of secondary school students in the Belgrade region with respect to earthquakes as a natural disaster and security threat, and to identify the factors that influence their knowledge and perceptions. The authors used a method of surveying students to identify and describe the factors that influence student knowledge and perceptions about earthquakes. For the purpose of this research, a sample of 3,063 students was drawn from the total population of secondary school students in Belgrade (65,561 students), which equates to 4.67% of the population. The results show that the sources of information on natural disasters and their threatening consequences influence the perceptions of secondary school students. In view of the evident lack of education about natural disasters in Serbia, the results of this study can be used when creating a strategy for educational programs. This research is the first step in developing and realizing a future strategy for natural disaster management by informing and including public (school population), scientific, and administrative communities in the process.
A Method for SINS Alignment with Large Initial Misalignment Angles Based on Kalman Filter with Parameters Resetting

In the initial alignment process of strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS), large initial misalignment angles always bring nonlinear problem, which causes alignment failure when the classical linear error model and standard Kalman filter are used. In this paper, the problem of large misalignment angles in SINS initial alignment is investigated, and the key reason for alignment failure is given as the state covariance from Kalman filter cannot represent the true one during the steady filtering process. According to the analysis, an alignment method for SINS based on multiresetting the state covariance matrix of Kalman filter is designed to deal with large initial misalignment angles, in which classical linear error model and standard Kalman filter are used, but the state covariance matrix should be multireset before the steady process until large misalignment angles are decreased to small ones. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by simulation and car test, and the results indicate that the proposed method can fulfill initial alignment with large misalignment angles effectively and the alignment accuracy of the proposed method is as precise as that of alignment with small misalignment angles.
Coaching Teachers to Promote Social Interactions With Toddlers

Children with or at risk of disabilities engage in fewer and less complex social interactions (SIs) than their typically developing peers. The playground is an ideal setting for teachers to promote SIs among children. However, few studies have examined practical and meaningful strategies for supporting teachers in effectively facilitating SIs. Also, there is a critical dearth of research examining classroom practices for infants and toddlers. A single-case multiple probe design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief training and email performance feedback on toddler teachers’ SI prompts on the playground. Results indicated functional relations between training plus general and specific feedback, teachers’ use of SI prompts, and levels of child SIs.
Effects of Need for Cognitive Closure and Age on Medical-Related Beliefs of African Americans

Given the accessibility to medical resources in urban areas, one possible barrier to African Americans’ participation in clinical research and medical services is their medical-related beliefs. Such beliefs may partially explain various health disparities in the African American community – including HIV. However, the dynamic of psychosocial and demographic factors underlying these beliefs are less understood. Forty-nine urban-residing African Americans completed the Need for Cognitive Closure Scale (NFCS), the Medical Mistrust Index (MMI), and a HIV conspiracy belief questionnaire to determine the differences among these factors. While there was no significant interaction between NFCC and age on medical mistrust towards healthcare organizations, there was a significant interaction between NFCC and age on HIV conspiracy beliefs. Results suggest there may be an association between NFCC and the level of endorsement in HIV conspiracy beliefs among young urban African Americans. Future studies should examine this relationship within a larger population to determine possible strategies for decreasing such beliefs among this vulnerable population.
Effects of Flotage on Immersion Indentation Results of Bone Tissue: An Investigation by Finite Element Analysis

In reality, nanoindentation test is an efficient technique for probing the mechanical properties of biological tissue that soaked in the liquid media to keep the bioactivity. However, the effects of flotage imposed on the indenter will lead to inaccuracy when calculating mechanical properties (for instance, elastic modulus and hardness) by using depth-sensing nanoindentation. In this paper, the effects of flotage on the nanoindentation results of cortical bone were investigated by finite element analysis (FEA) simulation. Comparisons of nanoindentation simulation results of bone samples with and without being soaked in the liquid media were carried out. Conclusions show that the difference of load-displacement curves in the case of soaking sample and without soaking sample conditions varies widely based on the change of indentation depth. In other words, the nanoindentation measurements in liquid media will cause significant error in the calculated Young’s modules and hardness due to the flotage. By taking into account the effect of flotage, these errors are particularly important to the accurate biomechanics characterization of biological samples.
Comparison of Model Reliabilities from Single-Step and Bivariate Blending Methods

Model based reliabilities in genetic evaluation are compared between three methods: animal model BLUP, single-step BLUP, and bivariate blending after genomic BLUP. The original bivariate blending is revised in this work to better account animal models. The study data is extracted from the production trait evaluation of Nordic Red dairy cattle. Genotyped bulls with daughters are used as training animals, and genotyped bulls and producing cows as candidate animals. For simplicity, size of the data is chosen so that the full inverses of the mixed model equation coefficient matrices can be calculated. Model reliabilities by the single-step and the bivariate blending methods were higher than by animal model due to genomic information. Compared to the single-step method, the bivariate blending method reliability estimates were, in general, lower. Computationally bivariate blending method was, on the other hand, lighter than the single-step method.
PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF ASYMMETRIC HEAT EXCHANGER

Heat exchange is a classical thermal process which occurs in a wide range of industrial technologies, particularly in the energetic and chemical industry. The paper is focused on a problem of production of liquid (water) with a given temperature course in time. Heating or cooling of inflow water is realized by a heat exchanger which is equipped with heating element and a spiral tube which can serve as a cooling element. The water inside the exchanger can serve as a tank for various chemical or technological operations. The need for tempered water is quite common in many industry branches. From the control point of view, the controlled system is asymmetrical; it has two inputs (cooling and heating) and one output – temperature of water inside the exchanger. A set of predictive controllers were designed to cope with the problem and these controllers were verified and compared by a realtime control of Multifunction Process Control Teaching System (MPCTS) – the Armfield PCT 40.
Dispersal and distribution of Phytophthora megakarya in young cacao plantations

The arrival and subsequent dispersal of Phytophthora megakarya within young cacao plantations, previously free of black pod and containing cacao germplasm that is evaluated for its resistance to P. megakarya, is the subject of an ongoing study in Cameroon. A total of 12 plantations, established in 2006 on lands free of cacao cultivation for at least 20 years have been closely monitored on a weekly basis since June 2009. Near the end of 2009, the first infections were observed in three plantations, with a slow but gradual increase over 2010 and 2011 in the number of plantations, trees and pods that were affected. The spatial as well as temporal distributions of infections seem to indicate that multiple P. megakarya introductions occurred and that dispersal by humans plays an important role. Moreover, spatial distribution is not only a function of dispersal mechanism(s) but also depends on other factors such as microclimate and cacao genotype. Understanding the factors that govern the establishment and subsequent dispersal of P. megakarya in newly established cacao plantations will help farmers to delay the onset of cacao black pod epidemics. (Resume d'auteur)
What a difference does it make? Understanding the empirical literature on taxation and international capital flows

This study explains the variation in empirical estimates in the literature on the elasticity of foreign direct investment with respect to company tax levels. To that end, the meta analysis of De Mooij and Ederveen (2003) is extended by considering an alternative classification of the literature and by including new studies that have recently become available. Specific attention is paid to two new dimensions: the spatial and the time dimension of the underlying studies.
Do competition, regulation and stability matter for eﬃciency in Sub-Saharan African banking sectors?

Abstract The excessive cost of financial intermediation in the Sub-Saharan African banking sectors motivates the investigation of whether competition, regulation and stability matter for efficiency in the banking system. Data from 440 commercial banks for the periods 2006–2015 were collected and analysed by seven-variable panel structural vector autoregressive model. There was evidence to show that efficiency responds positively and significantly to shocks in capital, liquidity and asset quality regulations and competition. However, the results reveal all the variables responding to one standard deviation shock in efficiency, suggesting that while the variables matter for efficiency, they all also require efficiency for their effective operation. Hence, the conclusion is that efficiency is central to the effective running of the banking system.
Spread of ice mass loss into northwest Greenland observed by GRACE and GPS

Greenland's main outlet glaciers have more than doubled their contribution to global sea level rise over the last decade. Recent work has shown that Greenland's mass loss is still increasing. Here we show that the ice loss, which has been well‐documented over southern portions of Greenland, is now spreading up along the northwest coast, with this acceleration likely starting in late 2005. We support this with two lines of evidence. One is based on measurements from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite gravity mission, launched in March 2002. The other comes from continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements from three long‐term sites on bedrock adjacent to the ice sheet. The GRACE results provide a direct measure of mass loss averaged over scales of a few hundred km. The GPS data are used to monitor crustal uplift caused by ice mass loss close to the sites. The GRACE results can be used to predict crustal uplift, which can be compared with the GPS data. In addition to showing that the northwest ice sheet margin is now losing mass, the uplift results from both the GPS measurements and the GRACE predictions show rapid acceleration in southeast Greenland in late 2003, followed by a moderate deceleration in 2006. Because that latter deceleration is weak, southeast Greenland still appears to be losing ice mass at a much higher rate than it was prior to fall 2003. In a more general sense, the analysis described here demonstrates that GPS uplift measurements can be used in combination with GRACE mass estimates to provide a better understanding of ongoing Greenland mass loss; an analysis approach that will become increasingly useful as long time spans of data accumulate from the 51 permanent GPS stations recently deployed around the edge of the ice sheet as part of the Greenland GPS Network (GNET).
Simulation of Perovskite Membrane for Integration Into a Chemical Looping Air Separation Unit

The Chemical Looping Air Separation (CLAS) process was developed at the University of Newcastle for tonnage oxygen production. CLAS has a much lower energy intensity than conventional processes, requiring only 12 % of the specific power consumption; however, there are still some energy penalties associated with the CLAS process. The most significant being the large amounts of energy consumed in the steam generation and condensation processes. The aim of this study is to increase the energy efficiency of the CLAS process via membrane integration. If a high temperature oxygen transport membrane is introduced in the reduction reactor of the CLAS system, pure oxygen is produced without the need for a steam condenser. The most attractive oxygen transport membrane is Ba0.5Sr0. 5Co0.8Fe0. 2 (BSCF) owing to its high oxygen permeation flux. The BSCF membrane was utilised to study the oxygen permeation flux, oxygen recovery and energy saving of the integrated process compared to the typical CLAS process. A mathematical model was developed for the BSCF disk membrane to predict the oxygen permeation flux and oxygen recovery over a range of temperatures. Constants of the model were fitted using experimental data. The modelling results showed almost 10 % and 13 % energy savings in the low and high temperature membrane integrated CLAS processes over the typical CLAS, respectively.
Evaluation of the Diphtheria Toxin A Subunit Gene ( DT-A ) as a Non-conditional Negative Selectable Marker in Tobacco and Rice

The diphtheria toxin A subunit gene (DT-A) from Corynebacterium diphtheriae inhibits protein synthesis in eukaryotes. In this study, toxicity of the DT-A gene was evaluated by a transgenic approach in tobacco and rice. The DT-A gene was cloned under transcriptional control of the CaMV 35S promoter and transformed into tobacco. Similarly, CaMV 35S and the maize Ubi1 promoter-driven DT-A gene constructs were transformed into rice. The deployment of the DT-A gene in both tobacco and rice drastically reduced the recovery of transgenic plants in comparison to pCAMBIA1301 (without DT-A). Southern blot analyses of the transgenic plants were done using the hph- and DT-A gene-specific probes to check the presence of the hph and DT-A genes. All the tobacco and rice transgenic plants showed hybridization to junction fragments upon using the hph gene probe. Southern blotting with the DT-A probe revealed that all the transgenic plants either did not have the DT-A gene or harboured truncated DT-A gene in the integrated T-DNAs. None of the transgenic plants carried the complete DT-A gene. The results showed that the DT-A gene can be used as a good non-conditional negative selectable marker in both tobacco and rice. Both CaMV 35S promoter- and Ubi1 promoter-driven DT-A genes were effective as non-conditional negative selectable markers in rice.
gpuMF: a framework for parallel hybrid metaheuristics on GPU with application to the minimisation of harmonics in multilevel inverters

Metaheuristics are non-deterministic optimisation algorithms used to solve complex problems for which classic approaches are unsuitable or unable to generate satisfying solutions in a reasonable time. Despite their effectiveness, metaheuristics require considerable computational power. Multiple efforts have been made on the development of parallel metaheuristics on graphics processing units (GPUs). Based on a massively parallel architecture, the GPU offers remarkable computing power and can provide significant speedup. However, there currently exists no software project that unites these research initiatives into a comprehensive and reusable tool. To address this shortcoming, we developed gpuMF, a framework for parallel hybrid metaheuristics on GPUs. GPU metaheuristic framework (gpuMF) exploits the intrinsic parallelism found in metaheuristics and fully utilises the massively parallel architecture of GPUs. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework, we use gpuMF to minimise the harmonics of multilevel inverters while providing a speedup of 276x.
Ownership Structure and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure in Bangladesh

The quest of this research paper is to look into the association between corporate ownership structure variables and corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). Seventy annual reports for the year 2010 of non financial companies with listed Dhaka Stock Exchange in Bangladesh have been considered as sample to find the empirical result of this study. The study reveals that the mean score of CSRD is 6.41 and 75 percent sample companies disclose seven items voluntarily which is 16 percent and 20 percent of total disclose-able items respectively. In general, companies have not responded enough to disclose CSR items in the annual reports. The multivariate analysis of this study shows that the ownership concentration of firm has a positive association with CSRD. But this study does not find any association of other variables of ownership structure such as number of shareholders, foreign ownership and board size on CSRD. It is expected that the contribution of this research work will be acknowledged by potential and present investors, stakeholders, policy makers, potential researchers and regulatory bodies of the country.