Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Book Review: Digital Signal Processing, Theory and Application of Digital Processing

Una nota sobre la aplicacion de los metodos operacionales a ciertos problemas no lineales Durante los ultimos afios, se ha consagrado un cierto esfuerzo a la obtencion de soluciones analfticas aproximadas de una cierta clase de problemas no lineales utilizando la teoria de la transformacion de Laplace multidimensional Esta nota demuestra que la teorfa ordinaria de la transforrnacion de Laplace es, muy a menudo, adecuada para esa labor, y que incluso resulta superior en muchos de esos problemas.
Transient dynamics of an excavator tyre rolling over speed bump

Analysis of tyre transient dynamics is an important aspect in the study of vehicle ride comfort and handling performance. A three-dimensional finite element excavator tyre model considering intricate tread patterns and reinforced inner layers was developed in this paper. For the validation of the finite element tyre model, simulation and experimental results of tyre stiffness and contact pressure on the tyre–road interaction interface were studied and compared. The validated tyre model was further applied to simulate the tyre–speed bump impact, and transient dynamic responses of the excavator tyre such as tyre acceleration were analysed in the time and frequency domain. The influences of the inflation pressure, the translational velocity and the axle load on the tyre transient dynamics were studied and analysed based on the simulation results.
Impact of Perceived Value on Customer Satisfaction among Mobile Phone Users in Selected Public Universities in Kenya

Organizations need to understand what kind of service or products it offers, and for whom and as such organizations have embraced the concept customer relationship management practices since it focuses on managing relationship between its current and prospective customer base hence helping in building long lasting relationships which consequently give the organization the joy of retained customers. The specific objectives of study were; to determine the influence of Perceived Value on customer satisfaction. The study was guided by the social exchange theory which focused on the fundamental principle that humans in social situations choose behaviors that maximize their likelihood of meeting self-interests in those situations. Descriptive and explanatory research designs were utilized in this study and the following networks were sampled; Safaricom, Airtel, Orange and, yuMobile A questionnaire was used to collect data from sample size of 250 respondents who were sampled from the staff of public universities in the Western region which included Moi, Masinde Muliro, Maseno, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, University of Eldoret and Kisii University. Data collected was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Multiple regressions were used to establish the effect between customer relationship management practices, customer satisfaction and customer Retention. The results revealed that Perceived value had significant effect on Customer satisfaction. Also, it was established that, Customer satisfaction was significant in predicting customer retention. The study recommends that service providers should put more emphasis on Customer Relationship Management Practices since they influence customer satisfaction and hence customer retention. The study provides new theoretical insight into factors influencing customer retention by incorporating customer satisfaction as a mediator in the relationship between Customer Relationship Management Practices and customer retention.
Species‐specific responses to landscape features shaped genomic structure within Alaska galliformes

Connectivity is vital to the resiliency of populations to environmental change and stochastic events, especially for cold‐adapted species as Arctic and alpine tundra habitats retract as the climate warms. We examined the influence of past and current landscapes on genomic connectivity in cold‐adapted galliformes as a critical first step to assess the vulnerability of Alaska ptarmigan and grouse to environmental change. We hypothesize that the mosaic of physical features and habitat within Alaska promoted the formation of genetic structure across species.
EFFECT OF PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF CORN BY BISCUIT WASTE (BW) ON NUTRIENTS DIGESTIBILITY, MILK PRODUCTION AND ECONOMICAL EVALUATION IN LACTATING DAMASCUS GOATS

wentyfour Damascus goats at late pregnancy period with live body weight on the average (44 ± 2 Kg). Were divided into three similar groups according to their body weight (8 goats each) for 90 days trial. The experimental concentrate feed mixture (CFM) offered to animals without or with the rate of replacement 20 (R2) and 40% (R3) Biscuits waste (BW ) of corn. The basal rations composed of 60% concentrate feed mixture (CFM) and 40% clover hay. Digestibility trials were carried out at the end of experiment using acid insoluble ash (AIA) technique. Data showed that significant higher digestibility (P <0.05) of DM, CP, EE and NFE for BW supplementation compared with control, while decrease digestibility (P <0.05) of CF. Milk yield was higher significantly in R2 ( 20% replacement) than the control, there was no significant difference on fat% while decrease in protein % in the same treatment . Values of concentrations of blood plasma total protein and Albumin , cholesterol, triglycerides and total lipids of experimental goats were higher with feeding on 20 and 40% corn replacement than the control. Generally, it could be concluded that the replacement of corn by BW at level 20% in rations for dimishki goats improved digestibility, feeding values and milk yield and its composition.
An Analysis on the Impact of Choice Overload to Consumer Decision Paralysis

As consumers make purchase decisions, they often encounter a large number of options from which they base their choices. Traditional theories such as the Rational Choice theory imply that the more options involved, the more beneficial for the consumer. However, recent studies suggest otherwise. One such study is that of Choice Overload, a phenomenon in which individuals encounter difficulty when they are presented with too many options. Some studies show that Choice Overload causes paralysis in analysis in different industries. Decision Paralysis is the abandonment of making a decision due to overanalysis. The paper focused on proving if Decision Paralysis would take place when there is Choice Overload by analyzing whether the different antecedents of Choice Overload, namely Decision Task Difficulty, Choice Set Complexity, Preference Uncertainty, Decision Goal, and Asymmetric Information, would be affected by the number of options available. A survey was used to measure the different variables, and the data were analyzed through logistic regression and ordinary least squares regression. The results of this study indicate that Decision Task Difficulty and Asymmetric Information directly impact Choice Overload, which then contributes to the high probability of the occurrence of Decision Paralysis. It is difficult for consumers to choose when more options are offered; thus, abandoning their purchasing decision.
Smart about cities: visualizing the challenge for 21st century urbanism

The discourse on ‘Smart Cities’ is everywhere. It promises an era of innovative urban planning, driven by smart urban technologies that will make cities safer, cleaner and, above all, more efficient. Efficiency seems uncontroversial but does it make for great cities? In this book, Maarten Hajer, Director-general of PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and Ton Dassen, urban sustainability researcher at PBL, plea for a ‘smart urbanism’ instead of uncritically adopting ‘smart cities’.
Branding effects on small and medium sized enterprises performance in Malaysia: A conceptual framework

Small to medium sized enterprises is growing tremendously in Malaysia and has great potential to improve in terms of performance by utilizing the resources meritoriously and implementing the right strategy. The businesses in Malaysia are still struggling with branding even though there are commercial establishments in the SME category. Realizing the importance of branding, firms in this country need to strengthen branding implementation to be in a better position to build strong brands because businesses here are in general lack of branding appreciation and suffer from branding misconceptions. Hence, this study proposes an empirical study to examine the relationship between branding involving different dimensions such as brand trust, orientation and brand equity in affecting SMEs in Malaysia. The aim of this article is gather and review the growing visibility of these branding dimensions notions among firms from different studies, social theorists and author’s perspectives to conceptualize into a framework that responds to the performance of SME. It is considered the first research that measures the branding among SMEs in Malaysia and its impact to the performance of the smaller firms in Malaysia. The insights from this research may implicate other emerging markets with similar situations and further creates an understanding of the subject matter.
Uji Fitokimia dan Uji Antibakteri dari Akar Mangrove Rhizopora Apiculata terhadap Bakteri Escherichia coli dan Staphylococcus aureus

Senyawa golongan metabolit sekunder adalah senyawa metabolit yang tidak esensial bagi pertumbuhan organisme dan ditemukan dalam bentuk unik. Senyawa metabolit yang digunakan pada penelitian ini merupakan hasil uji fitokimia dari akar mangrove Rhizopora apiculata. Tanaman mangrove Rhizopora apiculata banyak tumbuh di kawasan pesisir. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui senyawa golongan metabolit sekunder dan mengetahui daya hambat antibakteri yang terkandung pada ekstrak metanol akar mangrove Rhizopora apiculata terhadap bakteri Escherichia coli dan Staphylococcus aureus. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode maserasi, kromatografi lapis tipis, uji fitokimia dan uji antibakteri. Hasil penelitian ini didapatkan senyawa alkaloid, flavonoid, dan triterpenoid pada uji fitokimia. Ekstrak metanol akar Rhizopora apiculata konsentrasi 500 µg/well memberikan daya hambat sedang pada bakteri Staphylococcus aureus, namun tidak memberikan daya hambat pada bakteri Escherichia coli. Hal ini terjadi karena bakteri Escherichia coli merupakan bakteri gram negatif yang resisten terhadap beberapa antibakteri.
An Elitist Ants-Search Based Method for Optimum Synthesis of Rigid-Linkage Mechanisms

Mechanical linkages are widely used in the industry and the synthesis of such mechanisms may require optimization depending on the number of precision positions required. Many intelligent optimization techniques (Genetic, Tabu, Simulated Annealing, etc) have been proposed in the literature, one of them being the Ant-Search which was first proposed by the authors in 2007. In this paper, a Modified Ant-Search (MAS) technique is proposed to optimize the synthesis of a four-bar mechanism with a path generation task. Two major improvements are applied over the previous algorithm: ants pheromone update and exploration/exploitation techniques are both modified. Unlike the previous work where a constant quantity of pheromones was added during each iteration, in this paper, the pheromone deposit rate is proportional to the error of the objective function. Such a modification in the pheromone update rule is expected to differentiate between the behaviors of different ants and better govern their motion in the subsequent iterations. Moreover, the second major improvement targets the exploration/exploitation techniques followed by the ants. Unlike the previous work where exploration dominates during the early iteration stages and exploitation during the late ones, this work implements a more dynamic strategy where ants enter and leave the exploration/exploitation processes as governed by parameters related to the objective function error and pheromone deposit levels. Such modifications applied to the Ant-Search (AS) technique are expected to ensure a better chance of converging to a global minimum. The MAS technique is applied for a few path generation tasks with prescribed timing along with a set of linear constraints. Results are compared with previous work in the literature where the newly proposed technique showed appreciable improvement as evaluated by the structural error objective function. Future work possibilities are also introduced.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Sustainable performance assessment: A systematic literature review

Current development trends are driving ubiquitous sustainability requirements, pushing organizations to achieve new sustainability goals and targets. To this effect, continuous and continual performance measurements are the key to any business-related success. Therefore, the sustainable performance of an organization can be defined as the performance that takes a long time to achieve its goals. The outcome is a well-balanced balance of context, strategy, management processes, resources, and intangibles especially since it is closely related to the notion of sustainable development (TBL). The goal of this paper is two-fold. Firstly, a systematic literature review is conducted to highlight the importance and the need to assess the three pillars of sustainability and, finally, to encircle the sustainability concept by identifying the most used techniques and approaches in its evaluation. This paper can be considered as basic support for future studies in the application of sustainable performance measurement/assessment systems.
A method to measure the gasoline engine's speed by igniting impulse

This paper introduces a method to measure the speed gasoline engine by igniting impulse and hardware.The hardware circuit adopts the technology of phase locked loop to realize multi frequency and CMOS components of low dissipation.The power source of the hardware circuit is directly from the igniting impulse, it doesn′t need external power and internal power. The experiments show that its powor dissipation is very low and its measuring error is within ±1 r/min. Accordingly,it meets actual meed sufficiently.In addition,its convenient installation,simplicity and reality facilitate wide using.
SUBSTATION LIFE CYCLE COST MANAGEMENT SUPPORTED BY STOCHASTIC OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM

SUMMARY Life cycle cost (LCC) calculation is a major topic for substation management but often focuses upon the LCC of individual substation components rather than of the entire substation. However, effective substation management should take into account all potential cost influences including substation layout, substation maintenance, and substation failure. Taking account of all such cost parameters creates a complex, multi-dimensional problem which can be better solved as by conventional techniques based on cost comparison of various fixed solutions. A new approach using cost optimization algorithms and sensitivity analysis is much better suited to this type of question. This paper presents a method of applying an optimization algorithm to identify the lowest LCC substation management solution considering a wide range of possible combinations of all cost parameters. The optimization algorithm can also be used to explore sensitivities to particular variables. The optimization algorithm can identify the substation solution with the lowest LCC and can provide information regarding those cost parameters which have the highest impact on the LCC result. The innovation of this idea is to utilize a single optimization algorithm to assess the LCC of the substation as a whole. The use of the Genetic Algorithm (GA) to cater for all cost parameters will be described and a case study will be presented in support of the developed methodology. In the case study, aspects such as the level of penalty costs at which higher redundancy in the substation layout becomes cost effective, and the optimal nature of the redundancy will be identified and discussed. The case study will include the cost parameters of different switchgear technologies, and component failure probabilities such that a power utility could analyse where to insert redundancy into a substation to generate lower LCC.
A new decade for social changes

The implementation of innovative experiences within the educational context is part of a transformation process where new information and communication technologies (hereafter, ICT) promote the use of methodological tools that contribute to conventional classroom systems, through the creation of virtual training environments that establish the development of audiovisual language and facilitate communication. The objective of the following article is to reflect on the implementation of the inverted classroom as a learning tool for social change that breaks the traditional paradigms of education and represents an option for redesign the curriculum model. It is also part of the Education Research project and Literacy in Communication and Audiovisual and Interactive Arts applied in intercultural contexts for the conservation and diffusion of cultures and ancestral knowledge in conflict or isolation. The study presents a qualitative-quantitative and documentary methodology, and a case of study uses a bibliographic investigation that contrasts the information with the data obtained from the application of data collection instruments such as surveys, and observation; that will allow establishing the appropriate parameters, and discussing the results that show the importance of the use of the inverted classroom in the teaching-learning processes to strengthen resilient, autonomous and meaningful learning, recognizing students as the main protagonists of new knowledge.
Optimization of Ice Thermal Storage Systems Design for HVAC Systems

Ice thermal storage is promising technology to reduce energy costs by shifting the cooling cost from on-peak to off-peak periods. The paper discusses the optimal design of ice thermal storage and its impact on energy consumption, demand, and total energy cost. A tool for optimal ice storage design is developed, considering the charging and discharge times and optimal sizing of ice thermal storage system. Detailed simulation studies using real office building located near Orlando, FL including utility rate structure are presented. The study considers the effect of the ice thermal storage on the chiller performance and the associated energy cost and demonstrates the cost saving achieved from optimal ice storage design. A whole building energy simulation model is used to generate the hourly cooling load for both design day and entire year. Other collected variables such as condenser entering water temperature, chilled water leaving temperature, outdoor air dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures are used as inputs to a chiller model based on DOE-2 chiller model to determine the associated cooling energy use. The results show a significant cost energy saving can be obtained by optimal ice storage design through using the tool proposed in this paper.
Extensive ethnolinguistic diversity at the crossroads of North China and South Siberia reflects multiple sources of genetic diversity

North China and South Siberia, populated by Altaic‐ and Sino‐Tibetan‐speaking populations, possess extensive ethnolinguistic diversity and serve as the crossroads for the initial peopling of America and western–eastern transcontinental communication. However, the population genetic structure and admixture history of northern East Asians remain poorly understood due to a lack of genome‐wide data, especially for Mongolic‐speaking people in China. We genotyped genome‐wide single nucleotide polymorphisms for 510 individuals from 38 Mongolic, Tungusic, and Sinitic‐speaking populations. We first explored the shared alleles and haplotypes within the studied groups. We then merged with 3508 published modern and ancient Eurasian individuals to reconstruct the deep evolutionary and natural selection history of northern East Asians. We identified genetic substructures within Altaic‐speaking populations: Western Turkic people harbored more western Eurasian‐related ancestry; Northern Mongolic people in Siberia and eastern Tungusic people in Amur River Basin (ARB) possessed a majority of Neolithic ARB related ancestry; Southern Mongolic people in China possessed apparent genetic influence from Neolithic Yellow River Basin (YRB) farmers. Additionally, we found the differentiated admixture history between western and eastern Mongolians and geographically close Northeast Hans: the former received a genetic impact from western Eurasians, and the latter retained the primary Neolithic YRB and ARB ancestry. Moreover, we demonstrated that Kalmyk people from the northern Caucasus Mountains possessed a strong genetic affinity with Neolithic Mongolian Plateau (MP) people, supporting the hypothesis of their eastern Eurasian origin and long‐distance migration history. We also illuminated that historical pastoral empires in the MP contributed considerably to the gene pool of northern Mongolic people but rarely to the southern ones. We finally found natural selection signatures in Mongolians associated with alcohol metabolism. Our results demonstrated that the Neolithic ancestral sources from the MP or ARB played an important role in spreading Altaic populations and languages. The observed multisources of genetic diversity contributed significantly to the extensive ethnolinguistic diversity in northern East Asia.
Performance Optimization of Steam Power Plant through Energy and Exergy Analysis

This article aims to identify the magnitude, location and source of thermodynamic inefficiencies in thermal power plant. It is hoped that this examination as it includes both energy and exergy analysis will yield new insights in to the performance of steam power plant. Exergy analysis can be particularly effective in identifying ways to optimize the performance of existing operations and designing the plant while energy balance gives h eat transfer between the system and its surrounding.
A Coupled Thermal and Mechanical Model of a Thermal Energy Harvesting Device

In this paper, a two-step thermal energy harvester is analyzed. “Two-step” refers to thermal to mechanical energy conversion followed by mechanical to electrical conversion. A numerical code is developed to predict the behavior and thermomechanical performance of the device. The physical motion of the device is dependent on both temperature and the position of an actuator plate, so equations based on multiple physical forces are solved simultaneously to find the operational characteristics. To verify the accuracy of the code, numerical predictions of device frequency are compared to experimental results. Furthermore, four parameters are varied in a parametric study to observe the effect on the predicted temperature, power output, and efficiency of the device. © 2009 ASME