Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Traffic Signal Control System Based on Inter-Vehicular Communication

Traffic signal control, which is an integral part of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), plays an important role in regulating vehicular flow at road intersections. With the increase of vehicular traffic, there has been a significant degradation in the functional efficiency of signal systems. Traditional systems are not capable of adjusting the timing pattern in accordance with vehicular demand. This results in excessive delays for road users. Hence it is necessary to develop dynamic systems that can adjust the timing patterns according to traffic demand. Of the various available techniques, Vehicular Adhoc Networks (VANETs) are attracting considerable attention from the research community and the automotive industry to implement dynamic systems. In this context, exchanging data among vehicles is one of the key technological enablers through which the density of vehicles approaching the intersection can be predicted. This requires extensive collaboration between vehicles. Inherent properties and limitations of VANETs, distributing information among the vehicles is a very challenging task. In this thesis, an adaptive traffic signal control system based on car-to-car communication (VANETs) is proposed. To achieve this, a data dissemination technique titled, Clustering in DiRectIon in Vehicular Environment (C-DRIVE) is implemented. In C-DRIVE, the formation of clusters is based on the direction metric. Precisely this metric defines the direction a vehicle will travel after crossing the intersection. To attain stability within the clusters and to have accurate estimation of the density of vehicles, two policies are adapted. In the first policy, a clusterhead switching mechanism is defined. In the second method, termed as Modified C-DRIVE (MC-DRIVE), the clusterhead election policy is modified. In this modification the election policy is based on the stable cluster length. Once the clusters are formed, the elected cluster head will compute the density in its clusters and transmits the information to the traffic signal controller (TSC). With the density information of different lanes approaching the intersection, at the TSC an optimal cycle length is computed using the modified Webster’s model and based on the demand, required green splits are allotted to the various phase. The efficiency of this method is advocated through simulation results which show that the waiting time for vehicles and queue length at intersections are considerably reduced. It is also shown that the proposed solution is collision free at intersections. The proposed system is compared with a classic pre-timed system and an adaptive fuzzy logic system. The simulations also show that the data convergence time and the communication delay between vehicles and traffic signals do not compromise the efficiency of the system.
Environmental Barriers and Functional Outcomes in Patients with Schizophrenia in Taiwan: The Capacity-Performance Discrepancy

Environmental factors are crucial determinants of disability in schizophrenic patients. Using data from the 2014–2018 Certification of Disability and Care Needs dataset, we identified 3882 adult patients (46.78% females; age, 51.01 ± 13.9 years) with schizophrenia. We found that patients with severe schizophrenia had lower capacity and performance than those with moderate schizophrenia. The chances of having an access barrier to environmental chapter 1 (e1) products and technology in moderate schizophrenic patients and in severe schizophrenic patients were 29.5% and 37.8%, respectively. Logistic regression analyses demonstrated that the performance score was related to accessibility barriers in the categories described in e1, with adequate fitness of models in category e110 for personal consumption, e115 for personal usage in daily living activities, and e120 for personal outdoor and indoor mobility and transportation. Furthermore, the capacity-performance discrepancy was higher in moderate schizophrenic patients with accessibility barriers in the e110, e115, and e120 categories than that in moderate schizophrenic patients without accessibility barriers. However, severe schizophrenic patients with category e120 accessibility barriers were prone to a lower discrepancy, with institutional care a potentially decreasing factor. In conclusion, providing an e1 barrier-free environment is necessary for patients with schizophrenia to decrease their disability.
Application of Multibody Simulation for Fatigue Life Estimation

In automobile design, the safety of passengers is of prime concern to the manufacturers. Suspension is one of the safety-related automotive systems which is responsible for maintaining traction between the road and tires, and offers a comfortable ride experience to the passengers by absorbing disturbances. One of the critical components of the suspension system is the knuckle, which constantly faces cyclic loads subjecting it to fatigue failure. This paper presents an evaluation of the fatigue characteristics of a knuckle using a gravel road profile acquired using a data acquisition system and standard SAE profiles for the suspension (SAESUS), bracket (SAEBRAKT) and transmission (SAETRN). The gravel road profile was applied as the input to a multi body simulation (MBS), and the load history for various mounting points of the knuckle is extracted. Fatigue life is predicted using the strain-life method. The instantaneous stress distributions and maximum principal stress are used for fatigue life predictions. From the results, the strut connection is found to be the critical region for fatigue failure. The fatigue life from loading extracted from gravel road MBS agreed well with the life prediction when standard SAE profiles were used. This close agreement shows the effectiveness of the load extraction technique from MBS. This method can also be effectively used for more complex loading conditions that occur during real driving environments.
Perceptual Uncertainty Alternates Top-down and Bottom-up Fronto-Temporal Network Signaling during Response Inhibition

Response inhibition is a primary executive control function that allows the withholding of inappropriate responses, and requires appropriate perception of the external environment to achieve a behavioral goal. It remains unclear, however, how response inhibition is achieved when goal-relevant information involves perceptual uncertainty. Twenty-six human participants of both sexes performed a go/no-go task where visually presented random-dot motion stimuli involved perceptual uncertainties. The right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC) was involved in response inhibition, and the middle temporal (MT) region showed greater activity when dot motions involved less uncertainty. A neocortical temporal region in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) specifically showed greater activity during response inhibition in more perceptually certain trials. In this STS region, activity was greater when response inhibition was successful than when it failed. Directional effective connectivity analysis revealed that, in more coherent trials, the MT and STS regions showed enhanced connectivity to the rIFC, whereas in less coherent trials, the signal direction was reversed. These results suggest that a reversible fronto-temporal functional network guides response inhibition and perceptual decision-making under perceptual uncertainty, and in this network, perceptual information in the MT is converted to control information in the rIFC via STS, enabling achievement of response inhibition. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Response inhibition refers to withholding inappropriate behavior and is important for achieving goals. Often, however, decision must be made based on limited environmental evidence. We showed that successful response inhibition is guided by a neocortical temporal region that plays a hub role in converting perceived information coded in a posterior temporal region to control information coded in the PFC. Interestingly, when a perceived stimulus becomes more uncertain, the PFC supplements stimulus encoding in the temporal regions. Our results highlight fronto-temporal mechanisms of response inhibition in which conversion of stimulus-control information is regulated based on the uncertainty of environmental evidence.
Classroom Assessment for EFL Learning to Speak at Junior high School

The present study investigated the current practice of EFL Classroom assessment focusing on speaking skills in Junior High School. Speaking Assessment is a tool used to evaluate students’ oral skills in the formal system by the English teachers. The investigation of classroom speaking assessment in this school was based on its effectiveness in light of alternative assessment tool and pedagogical values. By using ADDIE model, we constructed an oral assessment in accordance with the needs and levels of students as well as components on the oral assessment. There were five commons models such as Oral Interview, Role Play, Guessing Games, Story Telling and Oral Report that are communicative, relevant, continues, simple and various forms. These models can be used to assess students’ speaking skills regardless of time and place as its validity and practicality tests appeared to be high (93.75 and 87.5). It can be concluded that these assessment models are applicable for teachers to assess students’ speaking skill. The paper further elaborates discussion on the utilizing of students’ ability, progress, and their learning process. In short, it is a high time for the teachers to apply these models in the classroom.
Analysis on Green Hotel Marketing Management under the Background of Circular Economy

With the accelerating of development of the society, science and technology innovation, circulation, and green environment protection has become the tendency; green hotel has become the marketing objective for tourism industry. In adhere to the path of sustainable development, in the global green wave driven, creating hotel green marketing model is the way, which the hotel industry must implement. Therefore, taking green marketing model has become the most important thing to do, the hotel has to strengthen the green marketing management, cultivate people’s green consciousness and consumption spirit, so as to achieve the common development of enterprise and society.
Milk Production of Dairy Cows Fed Grass-Clover Silage Pulp

Silage pulp (SP) is a byproduct from biorefinary of silage that can be used as forage source for ruminants. However, there is a lack of information regarding the complete replacement of dietary silage for SP on performance of dairy cows. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the complete substitution of dietary grass-clover silage for SP on milk production of dairy cows. Grass-clover mixture was harvested, wilted, and ensiled in bunker silos. The silage was screw pressed in a biorefinery for solid (SP) and liquid (protein-rich juice) separation. Seventy-two lactating cows were used in a completely randomized block design, receiving either the original silage- or SP-based diets. The SP-based diet had lower concentrations of water-soluble carbohydrates and crude protein but greater fibre concentration compared to the silage-based diet. Milk yield and energy corrected milk were generally greater for cows receiving the silage-based diet compared to the SP-based diet. Cows receiving the silage-based diet had a greater yields of milk protein and milk fat, and tended to have a greater yield of milk lactose than cows receiving the SP-based diet. Milk composition, body condition score and body weight were not affected by diets. The complete substitution of silage for SP reduced the lactation performance of dairy cows over time.
The Determinants of Users’ Behaviour on Social Media: The Role of Religion and Personal Values

The objective of this paper is to examine the role of religion and personal values as the determinants of users’ behaviour on social media. The role of religion refers to the level of religiosity and the perceptions towards Maqasid al-Shariah principles. Age factor regarding the behaviour was also explored. This study was an exploratory study which only involved one hundred and sixty Muslim users of social media in Kuala Terengganu who were chosen through random sampling. The Social Cognitive Theory was used to explain the users’ behaviour. The analysis shows that the level of religiosity, the perceptions towards Maqasid al-Shariah and personal values explain 33.6% variance in the behaviour of the respondents while using social media and the level of religiosity becomes the main determinant. This finding gives a significant implication to government, consumer movements and users so that the pillars of religion should be embedded in all education policies and programs to inculcate good behaviour among users of social media.
EFPI manufacturing improvements for enhanced performance and reliability

The recent progress in the performance and reliability of the fiber optic-based extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) strain sensor is reported. The developments include refined fabrication techniques and improved quality of constituent elements for enhanced durability and greater operating temperature range, higher strain sensitivity using high-finesse cavities, modified sensor-head for complete strain-field characterization, absolute, real-time and inexpensive measurements employing white light interferometry, and multipoint, distributed sensing using CDMA and path-matching multiplexing techniques. It is shown that these improvements have assisted in overcoming the limitations of the conventional EFPI sensor and made possible the large- scale commercialization of the state-of-the-art EFPI-based strain sensing system.
Delay Identification of the HVAC Project on West Madura Offshore Oil Company Using the House of Risk Method

Abstrak —This research is focused on the analysis of delays or risks to the implementation of the "Procurement and Installation HVAC Installation" contract at West Madura Offshore Oil Company, which has a working area in the Offshore area. This study uses the HOR (House of Risk) method as an alternative to the ISO31000: 2009 risk management method that has been used internally by West Madura Offshore Oil Company The basis for selecting the HOR (House of Risk) method is the existence of a tool to see the impact (severity) and relations (relations) between the event of a delay and the factoring agent. In identification of the cause of the delay the method used are collecting data primary through Focus Group Discussion between Internal Expert and Secondary data which use project data for Offshore HVAC Project in the period of the year 2016-2018. The HOR (House of Risk) method in conducting this process is presented as follow review historical data and related document, Focus Group Discussion as information gathering techniques, Risk analysis and Risk Register. There are five significant risks from the results of research using the HOR (House of Risk) method, namely Poor-quality shop and coordination drawings, weather constraints, limited quantity and quality of HR (contractors and subcontractors), Absence of duct fabrication workshops at the site and lack of communication between contractor and subcontractor. That’s why this study utilized Focus Group Discussion. Focus Group Discussion were conducted by Internal Expert from West Madura Offshore Oil Company for the purpose of identifying the risk which is part of risk management process. The risk management process begins by setting the scope of the "Procurement and Installation of HVAC Project" to be managed at risk. Furthermore, risk identification activities are carried out to determine the potential hazards that may arise
New developments in laser-induced photochemical anemometry (LIPA)

This paper introduces advances in LIPA (Laser Induced Photochemical Anemometry) and LIPA's application to the induction flow of a four-stroke internal combustion (IC) engine employing these advances. The IC engine is represented by a one-valve axisymmetric water analog model which was manufactured from quartz in order to achieve complete visual access since LIPA is an optical measurement concept. Two flow visualization techniques are used to obtain a qualitative picture of the induction flow. Reduction of LIPA data is done for the realization of the intake flow of one engine cycle at 20 RPM of obtain quantitative information of the flow field--velocity and vorticity maps for several crank-angles during the early phase of intake will be presented. These results which characterize the flow field in terms of fluid dynamic quantities are compared to the those results attained by flow visualization. A strong correlation between the two data sets (visualization and LIPA) will be denoted.
Characteristics and Applications of Technology-Aided Hand Functional Assessment: A Systematic Review

Technology-aided hand functional assessment has received considerable attention in recent years. Its applications are required to obtain objective, reliable, and sensitive methods for clinical decision making. This systematic review aims to investigate and discuss characteristics of technology-aided hand functional assessment and their applications, in terms of the adopted sensing technology, evaluation methods and purposes. Based on the shortcomings of current applications, and opportunities offered by emerging systems, this review aims to support the design and the translation to clinical practice of technology-aided hand functional assessment. To this end, a systematic literature search was led, according to recommended PRISMA guidelines, in PubMed and IEEE Xplore databases. The search yielded 208 records, resulting into 23 articles included in the study. Glove-based systems, instrumented objects and body-networked sensor systems appeared from the search, together with vision-based motion capture systems, end-effector, and exoskeleton systems. Inertial measurement unit (IMU) and force sensing resistor (FSR) resulted the sensing technologies most used for kinematic and kinetic analysis. A lack of standardization in system metrics and assessment methods emerged. Future studies that pertinently discuss the pathophysiological content and clinimetrics properties of new systems are required for leading technologies to clinical acceptance.
‘Becoming’ and ‘Being’ a student: understanding the educational journey of social work students on work-based learning degrees in universities

ABSTRACT Based on a PhD study, this article explores the experiences of students living in Cumbria and North East England who were undertaking one of two work-based learning social work degrees, one at a local face-to-face university the other at a national distance learning university. Whilst there is a long history of universities in England providing work-based learning routes in social work education, 2010 witnessed a revitalisation with the introduction of graduate schemes followed by apprenticeships in 2018, all situated within local authorities. The article focuses in particular on the significance of identity for work-based learners during their educational journey of ‘becoming’ and ‘being’ a student. By drawing on identity theory, the article analyses how identity is an important concept in understanding the challenges and opportunities for this group of students on their educational journeys into and through higher education. This includes learning for social work education providers about understanding the particular experiences of work-based learners and how to deliver social work education effectively for this group of students. The findings are relevant beyond England particularly as universities move to a more socially distanced mode of delivery as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bone Damage during Dental Implant Insertion: A Pilot Study Combining Strain Gauge and Histologic Analysis

Besides alveolar bone quality, the drilling protocol applied in conjunction with the design of an implant are the major determinants of primary implant stability. Surgical trauma and bone compression resulting from implant insertion may constitute one cause for marginal bone resorption. Inserting two current bone-level implant designs (Astra; Straumann; n = 5) in bovine ribs, primary stability, strain development on the buccal bone plate and histologic signs of bone damage were recorded. Besides comparing the implant designs (Welch t-tests), all measurement parameters were checked for potential correlations (Pearson product moment correlation coefficients) with the level of significance set at α = 0.05. Considerable numbers of crack formation and plastic deformation of bone were observed after implant insertion. Straumann implants showed slightly greater values for insertion torque (p = 0.772), strain development (p = 0.893) and implant stability (p = 0.642). Significantly greater bone to implant contact (cortical p = 0.014; trabecular p = 0.016) was observed in Straumann implants, while Astra implants caused a significantly greater number of microcracks in cortical bone (p = 0.020). In Straumann implants, insertion torque correlated with bone to implant contact in the cortical area (p = 0.029) and the number of macrocracks in trabecular bone correlated with bone to implant contact (p = 0.029). In Astra implants, insertion torque and bone to implant contact in the trabecular area correlated (p = 0.007) as well as the number of macrocracks in trabecular bone and implant stability (p = 0.016). Additionally, in the area of cortical bone, the number of macrocracks correlated with bone to implant contact (p = 0.019). Implant placement results in bone damage of varying magnitude, which is governed by the drill protocol, implant macrodesign and bone quality.
Enhanced optical design by distortion control

The control of optical distortion is useful for the design of a variety of optical system. The most popular is the F-theta lens used in laser scanning system to produce a constant scan velocity across the image plane. Many authors have designed during the last 20 years distortion control corrector. Today, many challenging digital imaging system can use distortion the enhanced their imaging capability. A well know example is a reversed telephoto type, if the barrel distortion is increased instead of being corrected; the result is a so-called Fish-eye lens. However, if we control the barrel distortion instead of only increasing it, the resulting system can have enhanced imaging capability. This paper will present some lens design and real system examples that clearly demonstrate how the distortion control can improve the system performances such as resolution. We present innovative optical system which increases the resolution in the field of view of interest to meet the needs of specific applications. One critical issue when we designed using distortion is the optimization management. Like most challenging lens design, the automatic optimization is less reliable. Proper management keeps the lens design within the correct range, which is critical for optimal performance (size, cost, manufacturability). Many lens design presented tailor a custom merit function and approach.