Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of dietary protein levels on growth performance of female Holstein calves during the post-weaning period

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of different levels of dietary protein on growth of female Holstein calves during the post weaning period. An average of 60 days old 20 female Holstein Friesian calves were used for the experiment. Calves were divided into two groups; while first group received feed containing 18% CP, second group received feed containing 22% CP. The results showed that concentrate fed protein levels were did not affect live weight (LW) of the calves (138.45 vs 157.50 kg). The BM were found 100.65 vs 102.40 cm for body length (BL), 101.45 vs 106.60 cm for wither height (WH), 45.55 vs 45.80 cm for body depth (BD), 106.90 vs 109.20 cm for hip height (HH), 30.85 vs 31.95 cm for hip width (HW) and 115.85 vs 121.55 for chest girth (CG) (P> 0.05). The results showed that, better performance has observed in calves fed with %22 CP
Development of UHF micromechanical resonators and arrays based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology

A novel micromachining technology on SOI substrates is presented that is capable of producing on-chip high-Q resonators and resonator arrays equipped with high aspectratio (30:1) microstructures and nano-gap capacitive transducers filled with high-k dielectrics. The newly developed IC-compatible MEMS microfabrication process consists of merely three standard photolithography steps, which is much simpler than the other SOI-based resonator device technologies. In order to achieve the optimum performance and yield of the resonators and resonator arrays, this SOI-based fabrication process has been carefully designed and investigated step by step. For capacitively-transduced extensional mode (e.g., radial-contour and wine-glass mode) resonators, formation of nano-scale capacitive gaps and large resonator-toelectrode overlap area is essential for reducing the motional resistance Rx and DC bias voltage by strengthening the capacitive transduction. Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology with superb conformability and uniformity as well as outstanding thickness controllability is used to deposit the ultra-thin layer (~10 nm) of high-k dielectric material that acts as the solid capacitive gaps, which allows the mass production of on-chip capacitively-transduced resonators and resonator arrays with greatly enhanced
Device simulation for advanced Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ HBTs

Accurate simulations of advanced Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/ heterojunction bipolar transistors involve a range of different problems, whose solution demands different numerical approaches. In our simulation methodology, the complexity of each numerical method matches that of the problem at hand. We employ a 2D drift-diffusion solver for dc and ac characteristics, 1D full-band Monte Carlo for transport in the base-collector high electric field region, and a 3D heat-transport solver for device self-heating. Extrinsic parasitics are introduced as lumped circuit elements whose values are obtained from measurements. This approach not only reduces the computational cost of the simulation, but it also helps to differentiate the relevance of the intrinsic and extrinsic device parameters. Such information can then be used for device optimization and for guidance in generating compact models.
Modern Antenna Handbook

Find the most up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of classical and modern antennas and their related technologies in Modern Antenna Handbook. Have access to current theories and practices in the field of antennas, with topics like metamaterials, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), frequency selective surfaces (FSS), radar cross sections (RCS), and advanced numerical and computational methods targeted primarily for the analysis and design of antennas. Written by leading international experts, this book will help you understand recent developments in antenna-related technology and the future direction of this fast-paced field.
Using SMS as a way of providing connection and community for first year students

Technology provides one means of meeting the challenge of providing for frequent and meaningful interaction amongst students and staff which underpins students’ feelings of being valued, leading to deeper and more meaningful engagement university studies (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). The challenge lies in providing for interaction in an environment where students and casual academic staff are spending less time on campus as a result of busy and complex lives. This paper relates the experiences of one lecturer/tutor using texting to stay in contact with her students and how this contact has supported and encouraged students to persist. It also discusses some of the implications for using mobile telephony to provide connection and community for first year students in higher education.
Decision rule for switching the operation mode of a multipurpose reservoir.

A methodology for an Operational Mode Switch (OMS) system is developed for the operation of a reservoir in a typhoon-prone area. The decision whether or not and when to shift the operation back and forth between the long-term "normal mode" and short-term "emergency mode" is determined by the OMS model. The decision criterion to be maximized is an expected multiattribute utility trading off flood losses, water supply and hydropower production. The paper demonstrates the practical applicability of Bayes decision theory to this type of problem when the posterior probabilities are calculated on the basis of routinely available meteorological information. In a case study of the Feitsui reservoir in Taiwan, the OMS model appears to provide a better policy than the existing operating rule. Furthermore, it is simple enough to lead to a rapid transfer of theoretical knowledge into practice.
Children as engineers: Paired peer mentors in primary schools final report summary July 2015

◾It’s been forecast that a further 100,000 new professionals are needed to fill the skills gap by 2020. It is becoming increasingly important that student engineers gain opportunities to practise their public engagement and education outreach skills to influence public perceptions of engineering, and connect science with society (Research Councils UK, 2010; National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, 2010). ◾Teachers are a key audience with which to engage, as only 5% of primary school teachers have a science related degree (Department for Education, 2013). Although subject knowledge is not seen as essential for effective pedagogy, a lack of confidence and understanding can result in a style of teaching which reduces pupils’ performance, engagement and enjoyment with the subject (Ofsted, 2011). ◾In this project, student engineers and pre-service teachers were paired up to mentor each other and enact hands-on challenges designed to demonstrate the Engineering Design Process to primary schoolchildren. ◾The project appeared to be successful on all levels for the different participant groups. Quantitatively the student engineers showed an improvement in their perceived level of skills, with a 42% improvement in the proportion who felt they were now ‘fairly well equipped’ to undertake public engagement; over two-thirds (64%) of the engineers gave this rating following the project. Additionally, 70% of the engineers indicated that they thought they are now likely to be ‘more active’ in public engagement. Qualitatively, the student engineers indicated that that they had learnt organisational and communication skills through taking part, and felt that they had passed on some of their science and engineering subject knowledge and enthusiasm to the teachers and children. ◾The paired peer partnership model was also positively reviewed by the pre-service teachers. Quantitative data indicated that the teachers showed significant increases in their science and engineering subject knowledge confidence levels as well as in teaching self-efficacy for both subjects. 80% of the pre-service teachers who participated stated that they would undertake similar work with children in the future. Many teachers asserted that the ‘expert’ knowledge gained had also benefitted and influenced the pupils in their class. ◾Children who took part in the project had increased positive attitudes to the subjects of science and engineering in quantitative assessments. The project improved children’s knowledge of what an engineer does and their attitudes towards the profession through greater information about engineering and the experience of real life role models. The data also indicated a slight positive shift in children’s attitudes to science and engineering career aspirations along with gender and engineering identities.
Transmission and detection techniques for MIMO systems

It is well-known that Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) wireless systems are disposed by two conclusive goals: high data rate and high performance. This thesis is concerned with transmission and detection techniques of MIMO systems, particularly on Spatial Modulation (SM). SM is a lately developed transmission technique for multiple antenna systems. The idea behind SM is to map a block of information bits into two parts, carried separately by the index of the active transmitter and the symbol chosen from constellation points. All four transmission techniques presented in this thesis are based on the SM principle. The first system, called spatial phase shift keying (SPSK) modulation, follows the idea of SM but uses multiple active transmitters and it shows a gain of 2 dB over a transmission technique based on SM. Antenna beam pattern modulation (ABPM) is the second proposed technique. In this technique, the antenna beam patterns are utilised to transmit information. The contribution of this scheme is to improve the data rate utilizing different beam patterns in order to generate another dimension to the constellation diagram. Optimization of the beam pattern design results in improved system performance. In addition to all the benefits of ABPM at the transmission design, a sub-optimal detection method based on lattice reduction (LR) is used to reduce the computational complexity in comparison to the optimal maximum likelihood (ML) method. The aim of this proposed sub-optimal detection method (LR) is to achieve performance similar to that of the ML scheme at affordable complexity. ABPM shows a gain of more than 2 dB over transmission techniques based on SM. The third scheme is called antenna pattern shift keying (APSK) modulation. This scheme combines the idea of SPSK and ABPM because the antenna beam patterns and the indices of the active transmitters carry the symbol chosen from a constellation diagram. APSK improves the data rate and the overall system performance. APSK has similar performance as a spatial multiplexing scheme but APSK reduces the number of RF chains and it has a gain of 3.5 dB in comparison to that of a technique based on SM. The last scheme included in this thesis, is a precoder technique based on LR. This novel LR pre-coder is applied to the generalised pre-coding aided spatial modulation (GPSM) scheme to improve the system’s performance and it shows a gain of more than 1 dB over the traditional GPSM. Additionally, a suboptimal detector scheme is proposed to achieve performance similar to that of the ML detector but with lower complexity. Using that in combination with the LR pre-coding technique means that the performance of the GPSM scheme is preserved with a much lower detection complexity.
On the use of PML for the computation of leaky modes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a complete analysis of leaky modes within a microstructured optical fibre (MOF). Some new numerical results illustrating the versatility and accuracy of our approach are to be given.Design/methodology/approach – A method involving both finite elements and perfectly matched layer (PML) is proposed.Findings – A rigorous definition of the leaky modes is proposed that leads to a proof of the validity of the PML approach together with a rule for the choice of the PML parameters.Originality/value – The choice of parameters associated with the PML are discussed in great detail. The accuracy of the constant of propagation (and especially the imaginary part) are highlighted.
It's Time to Clean Your Windows: Designing GUIs That Work

From the Publisher: Let's Face it, some of the best application developers and multi-media programmers are also some of the worst graphical user interface (GUI) designers. You can't really blame them though. With such powerful tools offering so many terrific options at their disposal it's hard for developers to resist the temptation to use as many as possible. Unfortunately, the end result is usually a cluttered screen with an interface that is unfriendly and functionally useless. In this book, internationally celebrated ergonomics expert Wilbert O. Galitz does for the art of GUI design what Leonardo did for the art of Renaissance painting - he explains what works and what doesn't and why. Galitz explains how the eye reacts to colors, cascading windows, overlays, and text placement. With the help of dozens of examples of well-designed as well as poorly designed screens, he lays out clear and easy-to-follow guidelines that enable all programmers and multimedia developers to design functional, picture-perfect GUIs.
Context-Aware Driver’s Behaviour Monitoring System in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network

The number of deaths resulting from road accidents and mishaps has increased at an alarming rate over the years. Road transportation is the most popularly used means of transportation in developing countries like Nigeria and most of these road accidents are associated with reckless driving habits. Context-aware systems provide intelligent recommendations allowing digital devices to make correct and timely recommendations when required. Furthermore, in a Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET), communication links between vehicles and roadside units are improved thus enabling vehicle and road safety. Hence, a non-intrusive driver behaviour detection system that incorporates context-aware monitoring features in VANET is proposed in this study. By making use of a one-dimensional highway (1D) road with one-way traffic movement and incorporating GSM technology, irregular actions (high speed, alcohol while driving, and pressure) exhibited by drivers are monitored and alerts are sent to other nearby vehicles and roadside units to avoid accidents. The proposed system adopted a real-time VANET prototype with three entities involved in the context-aware driver’s behaviour monitoring system namely, the driver, vehicle, and environment. The analytical tests with actual data set indicate that, when detected, the model measures the pace of the vehicle, the level of alcohol in the breath, and the driver's heart rate in-breath per minute (BPM). Therefore, it can be used as an appropriate model for the Context-aware driver’s monitoring system in VANET.
A study into prolonging Wireless Sensor Network lifetime during disaster scenarios

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) has wide potential for many applications. It can be employed for normal monitoring applications, for example, the monitoring of environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, light intensity and pressure. A WSN is deployed in an area to sense these environmental conditions and send information about them to a sink. In certain locations, disasters such as forest _res, oods, volcanic eruptions and earth-quakes can happen in the monitoring area. During the disaster, the events being monitored have the potential to destroy the sensing devices; for example, they can be sunk in a ood, burnt in a _re, damaged in harmful chemicals, and burnt in volcano lava etc. There is an opportunity to exploit the energy of these nodes before they are totally destroyed to save the energy of the other nodes in the safe area. This can prolong WSN lifetime during the critical phase. In order to investigate this idea, this research proposes a new routing protocol called Maximise Unsafe Path Routing Protocol (MUP) routing using IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoWPAN). The routing protocol aims to exploit the energy of the nodes that are going to be destroyed soon due to the environment, by concentrating packets through these nodes. MUP adapts with the environmental conditions. This is achieved by classifying four di_erent levels of threat based on the sensor reading information and neighbour node condition, and represents this as the node health status, which is included as one parameter in the routing decision. High priority is given to a node in an unsafe condition compared to another node in a safer condition. MUP does not allow packet routing through a node that is almost failed in order to avoid packet loss when the node fails. To avoid the energy wastage caused by selecting a route that requires a higher energy cost to deliver a packet to the sink, MUP always forwards packets through a node that has the minimum total path cost. MUP is designed as an extension of RPL, an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard routing protocol in a WSN, and is implemented in the Contiki Operating System (OS). The performance of MUP is evaluated using simulations and test-bed experiments. The results demonstrate that MUP provides a longer network lifetime during a critical phase of typically about 20% when compared to RPL, but with a trade-o_ lower packet delivery ratio and end-to-end delay performances. This network lifetime improvement is crucial for the WSN to operate for as long as possible to detect and monitor the environment during a critical phase in order to save human life, minimise loss of property and save wildlife.
Biological proprieties of Pasteurella multocida isolate from sheep in Morocco

Background In Morocco, observations of pasteurellosis clinical cases reported by field veterinarian and lesions observed in abattoirs, suggest circulation of serotypes of pasteurellosis among small ruminants population. However, little is known on the prevalence of the main serotypes in this region and their pathogenicity. Results We investigated five suspected Pasteurella clinical cases from different provinces of Morocco. We succeeded to isolate 2 strains (S14 and S13) of Pasteurella Multocida A among the five isolates. Identification was achieved by biochemical and molecular biology methods. Phylogeny based on two genes sequence analysis (RNA16S and rpoB) suggested that the two isolates present similarity with others from different species. A pathogenicity study was conducted in mice, guinea pigs and sheep to set up a model for vaccine testing. The strain S14 was more virulent than S13 in laboratory animals and induced severe illness in sheep. Conclusion The high mortality of infected mice suggest that this animal may represent a good alternative for testing pathogenicity and vaccine efficacy.
The formative evaluation of a Web-based course-management system within a university setting

Web-based course-management systems (W-CMSs) are increasingly being used to address instructional and institutional programs in higher education and training. The design and development of these systems can be such a laborious and difficult process that most institutions choose to purchase or license a product from others rather than develop their own. For those who do develop their own, however, there is a need for formative evaluation and a methodology for such evaluation as the system is being developed. In this article, the contribution of formative evaluation in the process of design and development of high-quality W-CMSs is examined. First, to introduce the topic, the rise of W-CMSs in higher education and the nature of W-CMSs are briefly explored. After this, the concept of formative evaluation is reviewed, and methods and techniques that can be applied in formative evaluations are presented. To illustrate the application of formative evaluation to the design and development of W-CMSs,
Elevated Serum Chloride Levels Contribute to a Poor Prognosis in Patients with IgA Nephropathy

Introduction The identification of reliable prognostic factors is a crucial requirement for patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Here, we explored the relationship between serum chloride levels and prognosis in patients with IgAN. Methods We recruited all patients with primary IgAN, as diagnosed by renal biopsy, between 1st January 2015 and 1st April 2019. Patients were divided two groups (high chloride group and low chloride group) based on the best cut-off values from survival receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The baseline clinicopathological characteristics of two groups were then compared. Cox proportional hazard models were used to determine the prognostic value of serum chloride levels in patients with IgAN. Finally, we screened reliable prognostic indicators and built a clinical prediction model and validated the performance of the model. Results Compared with patients in the high chloride group, patients in the low chloride group had significantly lower levels of 24-hour urinary total protein (24 h-UTP), serum creatinine (sCr), and higher levels of hemoglobin (Hb), albumin (all p < 0.05), and less proportion of Oxford classification grade E1 (endothelial cell proliferation) and T2 (renal tubule atrophy or renal interstitial fibrosis). Cox analysis revealed that serum chloride level ≥ 105.4 mmol/L was a significant and independent risk factor for prognosis in patients with IgAN (p < 0.05). Serum chloride, sCr, T, hypertension, and Hb were used to generate a predictive model for prognosis. Thec-indices of our predictive model were 0.80, 0.86, and 0.78, for 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively; Brier scores were 0.06, 0.09, and 0.16, respectively. Conclusions A serum chloride level ≥ 105.4 mmol/l was identified as a significant and independent risk factor for the prognosis of patients with IgAN. A predictive prognosis model was generated using serum chloride, sCr, T, hypertension, and Hb; this model exhibited a good predictive effect.
Modeling of thermal energy demand in MDF production

Communicating the advantages of the whole wood material, including visual impressions, is increasingly important. The computer can be a useful tool in this effort. The overall aim of this study was to find out whether there was an experienced difference between wood seen physically and the picture of it on a computer screen. This was done by creating a situation like a memory game wherein the respondents first studied a physical picture (photograph) and then chose among similar pictures (12 variations and one original) on a computer screen. The variations were composed from properties found in earlier qualitative studies. The properties were Shadow, Light, Scale, Contrast, Saturation and Gleam, and they were varied in a plus and a minus level (more shadow/less shadow). After a contest, six variations were compared with the original in a side-by-side comparison.The results indicate that Contrast is the most important property when visualizing wood, both for good and bad visualization. Shadows seem to be the least critical property. The study also supports the hypothesis of smart exaggeration, with only 2 top votes for the Original picture. People seem to need more than just physically correctly recaptured wood to experience wood on a computer screen as true wood.
Analysis and implementation of derivative superposition for a power amplifier driver

A new expression is proposed to analyze the linearization effectiveness of derivative superposition (DS) with large and small signal inputs, and different optimization methods of DS are found for different input magnitudes. A power amplifier driver (PAD) with large-signal optimized DS was implemented in 0.13 μm technology within a reconfigurable RF transmitter. The PAD is compatible with the GSM band at 900 MHz and the WCDMA band at 1.95 GHz, and it has a gain range of 44 dB with a step of 2 dB. Measurement results show that the overall OIP3 of the transmitter is better than 19 dBm, and the output referred 1-dB compression point is better than 7.5 dBm.