Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design in the Age of Prosumption: The Craft of Design after the Object

ABSTRACT This article establishes a taxonomy of consumer response to the possibility of becoming a producing consumer (prosumer), through an analysis of the prosumer's relationship to the tools and materials that facilitate production. I have developed three characterizations of the prosumer dependent on how the tools, materials, and advice provided by companies who incite consumer creativity are used: the prosumer who follows the rules; those who reject such provision and pursue self-sufficiency; and the prosumer who adapts tools and materials in processes of ad hoc bricolage. This emphasis on how prosumers harness their potential productivity will help us challenge boisterous claims of consumer sovereignty in light of increasingly accessible and powerful technologies, which have proliferated since Alvin Toffler's first enthusiastic assessment of the prosumer in The Third Wave (1980). With reference to case studies from a broad geographical and chronological range, my intention is to develop characterizations that help designers and theorists navigate the complex impact of the consumer-as-designer today, avoiding both denigration of the consumer as naive and unskilled, or their promulgation as the savior of modern production.
Integrated multidisciplinary engineering early design project: approach and reflections

This paper presents the implementation of vertical and horizontal integration of engineering education in an early design project. In this project, multi discipline first year engineering students were asked to design, build and test a device which can generate electricity from green energy sources. The project is embedded in the undergraduate mechanical engineering science course which is a core course for mechanical, automotive, engineering and management and civil engineering students. The structure of the project involves horizontally four first year students from different engineering departments and vertically a fourth year student as a group leader. The primary aims of this study were to investigate the applicability, efficiency and reflections of the early design project in developing the design skills and enhancing the student learning experience. Quantitative and qualitative surveys were conducted and analyzed to capture the reflections of the students and the project supervisors involved. The obtained results showed that the proposed early design project contributed to the personal gain of knowledge of students, improved their design skills and engaged them in constructive multi-disciplinary collaborative work. Also it demonstrated the importance of this design project in attaining the learning from practice and developing self-learning and presentation skills.
Clinico-epidemiological profile of chronic urticaria at tertiary care center of Gujarat: A cross-sectional study

Background and Aim: Urticaria is one of the most common skin diseases. Depending on the length of symptoms, acute (lasting less than 6 weeks) and chronic urticaria (CU) (> 6 weeks) are distinguished. Present study was done with an aim to evaluate the clinical and epidemiological features of chronic urticaria. Material and Methods: The Present Descriptive study group included 150 consecutive patients with chronic urticaria attending the dermatology outpatient department of Tertiary care institute of Gujarat. A preformed questionnaire was used to collect detailed history of disease onset, duration, morphology and distribution of chronic urticaria. Severity of itching and number of wheals were noticed and urticaria activity score (UAS) was calculated by adding pruritus and wheal score. Duration of individual wheals, presence of angioedema, and systemic symptoms like malaise, headache, abdominal pain, arthralgia and wheezing were noted. Results: Angioedema was seen in 78 and dermographism in 66 patients. Duration of individual wheal was 30 minutes in 24 patients and one hour in 29 patients. One hundred and twenty patients had wheals which occurred daily per week. Diurnal variation of urticarial wheals was not seen in 51 patients. Out of the 98 patients who showed diurnal variation 65 had wheals at night. Whole body was involved in 25 patients and trunk and limbs were involved in 9 patients. Sparing of palms and soles were seen in 22 patients. Food was the aggravating factor in 51 patients, exposure to house dust in 42, sweat in 54, pressure in 56, sunlight in 25, drugs in 33, stress in 54, heat in 20, water in 30, cold in 7, infection in 46, dental caries in 54, and infestations in 30 patients. Conclusion: Exacerbation of chronic urticaria by food, drugs and pressure was more in our study. Thyroid disorder was more common and atopic diathesis was less common in our patients. Chronic urticarias among family members were also more common in our study.
Application of variational principle for calculation of resonant frequencies of cylindrical dielectric resonators

In the letter we present a new method for the calculations of resonant frequencies of cylindrical dielectric resonators using the variational principle. This method is applicable for determining the resonant frequencies of cylindrical isolated and shielded dielectric resonators. Computations for all modes (TE, TM and HEM) are given.
AFEX: An Automated Fault Explorer for Faster System Testing

Fault injection is an often overlooked component of the software test cycle, yet it is critical for building robust systems. The main reasons for this neglect are ineffectual tools, an overwhelmingly large number of possible faults to inject, and extensive manual labor required to do such tests. We present AFEX, a system that automates fault injection for software systems, finds and ranks important faults faster and more accurately than random injection, and automatically characterizes the quality of the resulting fault sets. AFEX is parallelized, such that test time decreases linearly with the number of test nodes available. AFEX also includes four fault injectors that simulate faults in major layers in the system stack: hardware, network, libraries, and human operators. We show how AFEX uses metric-driven search algorithms to efficiently find top-ranked faults in real systems like MySQL cluster and rsync.
Research on Typical Wireless Hoc Routings for Vehicular Network

In the market, there was only specific software for network simulation or traffic simulation. They were expensive and could not support the routing simulation for vehicular network. In order to solve the problem, typical wireless ad hoc routings for vehicular network was researched in the free network simulation software NS2. The obstacle model and node mobile model were added. The nodes moved in random speed and direction on the road. Then the typical wireless ad hoc routings such as DSR (dynamic source routing), DSDV(destination sequenced distance vector) and AODV (ad hoc on-demand distance vector routing) were researched in the environment. The network packet loss rate and end to end delay time were compared and analyzed under the different situation whether obstacles block the radio. If obstacles did not block the radio and number of nodes was enough, DSDV had higher packet loss rate and the three routings had relatively low delay time. So DSR and AODV were more suitable for vehicular network. If the obstacles blocked the radio, the three routing routings had high packet loss rate. They needed to further advancement. This study provided a routing research idea for vehicular network and laid a foundation for further research.
Numerical analysis of the beam quality and spectrum of wavelength-beam-combined laser diode arrays

In this paper, a numerical model is presented to simulation the performance of the wavelength-beam-combined laser diode arrays (LDA) system. The eigen mode expansion method is used to describe the two-dimensional optical amplification and the strength of field feedback of external cavity. To describe the mode competition in laser diodes, the gain saturation effect is considered. The two-dimension distributions of the carrier concentration, recombination rates, and optical gain are calculated for solving the laser dynamic equation. The Fresnel integration, grating equation and mode overlap integration are used to obtain the feedback coefficient of extent cavity diffraction. Quantum noise is considered to evaluate the spectral linewidth of semiconductor laser. Based on the numerical model, the impact of the mutual optical feedback on the beam quality and spectrum of the LDA is present and analysis.
Determinants Affecting the Use of the Internet by Older People

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to detect and analyze some factors which hinder or contribute to the positive use of the Internet by older people living in Central Europe, specifically in one region of the Czech Republic. Methods: The key method is a questionnaire whose results were processed by using a model of logistic regression. The research sample includes 432 seniors from senior houses, municipal ICT courses and the University of the Third Age, all coming from the region of Hradec Kralove in the Czech Republic. Findings: The findings of the proposed model confirmed that the key determinants in the Internet use by older people were age, previous experience with IT in their past occupation and active use of IT enhanced by some kind of training, in this case attending IT courses of the University of the Third Age. Education and gender have not proved to be significant determinants in this study. Novelty/ improvement: The introduced model of logistic regression enriches current literature on the subject by emphasizing the possible factors that influence the use of the Internet by seniors in the region. The survey also investigates which factors in comparison with each other act more and which less, and which factors are significant within the model and which are not. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01317 Full Text: PDF
Why do teachers code-switch when teaching English as a second language?

In post-apartheid South Africa, 11 languages, including English and indigenous languages, were given equal status as official languages. Yet, more than 25 years after democracy, Black parents still believe that their children’s wealth and success depend on English, and therefore, send them to English-medium schools where they take English as a second language (ESL), known in South Africa as English First Additional Language (FAL). Many circumstances compel teachers to code-switch between English and learners’ first language. In the study reported on here we explored the reasons behind teachers’ code-switching in FAL classrooms in 4 rural high schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Concept maps, open-ended questionnaires and open-ended telephone interviews were used to generate data. Findings indicate that FAL teachers use code-switching to clarify difficult concepts, enhance understanding of the content presented, and keep learners engaged during lessons. We argue that the use of learners’ first language may be crucial in the teaching and learning of a second language.
Mechanistic Laboratory Evaluation and Field Construction of Recycled Concrete Materials for Use in Road Substructures

Given the renewal of urban infrastructure and the increased costs of landfilling concrete rubble materials, opportunities exist to optimize the reclamation and recycling of portland cement concrete (PCC) and hot-mix asphalt concrete (HMAC) rubble through their innovative use in road rehabilitation. The primary objective of this study was to demonstrate the ability to reclaim, process, and recycle stockpiled concrete materials to provide improved structural mechanistic–climatic material properties and to meet or exceed the mechanical properties of conventional granular road materials. This research was based on advancements made in 2009 as part of the Green Streets Infrastructure Program in the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. A second objective of this research was to pilot the field application of reclaimed and recycled HMAC and PCC rubble in typical urban road reconstruction applications. Recycled HMAC and PCC materials were used in the pilot reconstruction of a road that was exhibiting substructure moisture problems and structural failure. This study showed that recycled HMAC and PCC rubble materials could be processed to achieve mechanistic laboratory properties that exceeded those of conventional granular-based materials. This study also demonstrated efficient constructability and high end-product structural asset value of a typical rehabilitated urban road structure test section in the city of Saskatoon by using recycled HMAC and PCC rubble. On the basis on these findings, the use of quality processed HMAC and PCC rubble materials for road reconstruction was found to be a technical and environmentally sustainable solution.
Experimental Investigation of Self-Centering Steel Plate Shear Walls

AbstractA series of subassembly tests were conducted to investigate the behavior of the self-centering steel plate shear wall (SC-SPSW) system under cyclic loading. The SC-SPSW system utilizes thin steel web plates to provide energy dissipation and the primary strength and stiffness of the system, whereas posttensioned (PT) beam-to-column connections provide recentering capabilities. In this new system, the web plate is intended to yield under cyclic loading, whereas the boundary elements and PT connection elements remain undamaged. The web plate can then be replaced relatively easily following significant inelastic cycles. This experimental program studies the effects of various design parameters on the system and connection response and compares the response with approximate analytical formulas. The experimental results show that the SC-SPSW system has high ductility, high initial stiffness, recentering capabilities, an overall system response as anticipated, and more energy dissipation than expected.
Using Recursive Multibit ΣΔ Modulators to Reduce the Quantization Noise Power

This paper discusses a recursive multibit ΣΔ architecture that enables a high effective quantizer resolution while needing only a limited number of DAC elements. The recursive architecture consists of a set of ΣΔ modulators, whereby each stage cancels the quantization noise of the preceding stage. Conventional DEM algorithms can be used in each stage to reduce the sensitivity to mismatch. The architecture enables a significant reduction of both the signal-band and out-of-band quantization noise power, compared to conventional multibit ΣΔ converters.
Uncertainty models for switch-mode DC-DC converters

Uncertainty models for the three basic switch-mode converters, buck, boost, and buck-boost, are given in this paper. The resulting models are represented by linear fractional transformations (LFTs) with structured dynamic uncertainties. Uncertainties are assumed for the load resistance R=R/sub o/(1+/spl delta//sub R/), inductance L=L/sub o/(1+/spl delta//sub L/), and capacitance C=C/sub o/(1+/spl delta//sub C/), The interest in these models is clearly motivated by the need to have models for switch-mode DC-DC converters that are compatible with robust control design, which require a model structure consisting of a nominal model, and a norm-bounded modeling uncertainty. Therefore, a robust controller design under parameter uncertainties can be obtained instead of the deterministic approach widely used.
Large-area stretchable organic transistor integrated circuits for sensor and display applications

Stretchability significantly expands the scope of electronic applications-particularly large-area electronics such as displays, sensors, and actuators-because stretchable electronics can cover arbitrary surfaces and movable parts, which is impossible with conventional electronics. However, the realization of stretchable electronics for the manufacturing of electrical wiring with high conductivity, high stretchability, and large-area compatibility is a major hurdle. We manufactured printable elastic conductors comprising single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) uniformly dispersed in fluorinated rubber. Using ionic liquid and jet milling, we produced longer and finer SWNT bundles that formed well-developed conducting networks in rubber. A conductivity and stretchability greater than 100 S/cm and 100%, respectively, were obtained. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the elastic conductors for electrical wiring, we manufactured a rubber-like large-area organic transistor active matrix comprising printed organic transistors and elastic conductors. The effective area of the matrix was 20 × 20 cm2. The active matrix sheet was uniaxially and biaxially stretched to 70% without incurring mechanical or electrical damage. Furthermore, we constructed a rubber-like stretchable active matrix display comprising integrated printed elastic conductors, organic transistors, and organic light-emitting diodes. The display could stretch by 30-50% and spread over a hemisphere without being mechanically or electrically damaged.
Loquacious modulates flaviviral RNA replication in mosquito cells

Arthropod-borne viruses infect both mosquito and mammalian hosts. While much is known about virus-host interactions that modulate viral gene expression in their mammalian host, much less is known about the interactions that involve inhibition, subversion or avoidance strategies in the mosquito host. A novel RNA-Protein interaction detection assay was used to detect proteins that directly or indirectly bind to dengue viral genomes in infected mosquito cells. Membrane-associated mosquito proteins SEC61A1 and Loquacious (Loqs) were found to be in complex with the viral RNA. Depletion analysis demonstrated that both SEC61A1 and Loqs have pro-viral functions in the dengue viral infectious cycle. Co-localization and pull-down assays showed that Loqs interacts with viral protein NS3 and both full-length and subgenomic viral RNAs. While Loqs coats the entire positive-stranded viral RNA, it binds selectively to the 3’ end of the negative-strand of the viral genome. In-depth analyses showed that the absence of Loqs did not affect translation or turnover of the viral RNA but modulated viral replication. Loqs also displayed pro-viral functions for several flaviviruses in infected mosquito cells, suggesting a conserved role for Loqs in flavivirus-infected mosquito cells. Author Summary There is a wealth of information that dictates virus-host interactions in flavivirus-infected mammalian cells, yet there is only sparse information on the mechanisms that modulate viral gene expression in the mosquito host. Using a novel RNA-protein detection assay, the interactions of SEC61A1 and Loqs with the dengue viral genome were found to have proviral functions in infected mosquito cells. In particular, Loqs forms complexes with the positive-strand of the viral RNA and the very 3’ end of the negative-strand viral RNA. Further analyses showed that Loqs modulates viral RNA replication of dengue virus and gene amplification of several other flaviviral genomes. These findings argue that Loqs is an essential proviral host factor in mosquitos.
HiPER target studies: towards the design of high gain, robust, scalable direct-drive targets with advanced ignition schemes

An essential element of the HiPER project is the design of high gain targets, compatible with high repetition-rate operation and that can be mass produced at low cost. HiPER WP9 (Work Package 9 Requirements analysis for the fusion programme) studied schemes based on direct laser irradiation and advanced ignition (fast ignition and shock ignition), which have potentials for gain in excess of 100 at laser energy of about 1 MJ. To begin with, a very simple target was designed, which could allow for ignition demonstration with a few hundred kJ laser, and can be scaled at higher energy and gain. The ignition requirements have been determined, and crucial issues have been identified. This led to select shock ignition as the main option, since it turns out that all the relevant issues could be tested experimentally at existing facilities in the present decade. WP9 investigated irradiation schemes, target symmetry and stability issues, sensitivity to parameter changes, requirements for beam delivery and focusing and target positioning. Current work is directed towards increasing target robustness, scaling to greater energy, and designing targets for full scale demonstration.
Algorithm of management based on treatment goals for calcifying tendonitis of the shoulder: rigidity, pain and size of calcification

Purpose: The objective of the present manuscript is to propose a step-by-step algorithm for the management of calcifying tendonitis (CT) of the shoulder based on treatment goals, from conservative to surgical approaches. Method: A clinical note to present the main treatments for the management of calcifying tendonitis of the shoulder based on pain, rigidity and size of calcification based on the clinical experience and previous publications of the authors has been performed. Arguments: Treatment is conservative and surgical although there is controversy on the most adequate treatment. Kinesiotherapy is the recommended therapy for shoulder rigidity. For pain management after NSAIDs; microwaves, short waves, TENS, ultrasounds and Interferentials are effective. For the management of size of calcification, Iontophoresis, Electroshock wave therapy, Ultrasound needle guided aspiration and arthroscopic surgeries are the recommended alternatives, in that order. Conclusions: CT of the shoulder must be treated based on specific goals, mainly pain, rigidity or size of calcification. The proposed step-by-step algorithm of treatment is suggested based on the effectiveness of available techniques. If rigidity is present, kinesiotherapy is the recommended technique. For pain management, physical therapy such as microwaves, short waves, TENS, Ultrasound and Interferentials are effective techniques. For the treatment of calcification, iontophoresis is the most common, safe and inexpensive technique. If all previous conservative techniques failed, advanced techniques such as ESWT, US guided aspiration and arthroscopy are recommended, although they are not exempt of risk factors and complications.
Application of computational fluid dynamics in building performance simulation for the outdoor environment: an overview

This article provides an overview of the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in building performance simulation for the outdoor environment, focused on four topics: (1) pedestrian wind environment around buildings, (2) wind-driven rain on building facades, (3) convective heat transfer coefficients at exterior building surfaces and (4) air pollutant dispersion around buildings. For each topic, its background, the need for CFD, an overview of some past CFD studies, a discussion about accuracy and some perspectives for practical application are provided. This article indicates that for all four topics, CFD offers considerable advantages compared with wind tunnel modelling or (semi-)empirical formulae because it can provide detailed whole-flow field data under fully controlled conditions and without similarity constraints. The main limitations are the deficiencies of steady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes modelling, the increased complexity and computational expense of large eddy simulation and the requirement of systematic and time-consuming CFD solution verification and validation studies.