Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of the Energy Drink “Red Bull” on the Amateur Football Players’ Aerobic and Anaerobic Performances

This study was conducted to investigate effect of 250 ml of Red Bull energy drink consumed 60 minutes before an intensive exercise on aerobic and anaerobic performances of amateur football players (subjects were PE students). In this study, a crossover research design was applied. Test subjects were divided into two groups, namely A and B. In the first experiment, group A was provided Red Bull, and group B was given apple juice (placebo) and tests were carried out. In the second experiment, the same tests were carried out by interchanging the drinks provided to the groups previously. The aerobic performance assesment was performed with the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test (Level 1) while the anaerobic performance assesment was carried out with the Wingate test. The differences between the groups were analyzed by Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test, and the significance level was accepted as p<0.05. As a result of the tests applied to Red Bull and Placebo groups; there was seen no significance difference between the maximal VO2 values of the groups (Red Bull, x̅=49.50±3.14 ml/kg/min; Placebo, x̅=48.81±3.07 ml/kg/min, z=-1.244, p>0.214). Additionally, according to the Wingate test results, no significant difference was found between the Red Bull and Placebo groups. (Peak Power: Red Bull x̅=877.56±164.82 W, Placebo x̅=841.67±162.23 W (z=-1.48, p>0.13), Average Power: Red Bull x̅=616.70±99.17 W, Placebo x̅=603.69±92.05 W (z=-1.59, p>0.11), Time at Peak Power: Red Bull x̅=2.21±0.95 sec, Placebo x̅=1.97±1.00 sec (z=-0.29, p>0.76). As a result, it was observed that the performances of amateur footballers did not show a significant increase when Red Bull energy drink was consumed one hour before Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test (Level 1) and Wingate Anaerobic Power Test. Considering unconscious consumption of caffeinated drinks and its possible side effects, it is not recommended for athletes who are not used to it.
Saudi Women’s Health Beliefs about Cardiovascular Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD), a major worldwide public health issue, is of significant concern as several studies confirm the high prevalence of CVD risk in Saudi women. However, limited has focused on how these risks are affected by health beliefs and socioeconomic variables. The Health Belief Model was used to compare Saudi women’s perceived health beliefs with their calculated Framingham Risk Score (FRS) to determine their risk for a future CVD event and the influence of socio-economic variables on the prevalence of CVD risk.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on women attending the primary care clinics in a university hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A non-random convenience sample was selected of adult women without pre-existing CVD. Health belief and sociodemographic data were collected, and FRS calculated.Results A total of 503 Saudi females participated, the majority of whom significantly underestimated their actual risk of CVD as measured by their individual FRS. 43.4% had a high CVD risk but a low perception of susceptibility. 63.5% understood the severity of CVD, while 75.2% had a low to moderate perception of the benefits of healthy behaviours. 86.7% did not know how to perform CVD risk-reducing exercises, and 65.9 % stated that they did not have access to exercise facilities. Pearson correlations suggest a weak linear relationship between the FRS and the subscales of each health belief. However, there was a significant relationship between the Framingham scores across income, marital status, education and occupational status categories (p<= 0.001) in Chi-Square tests. Significant differences were found when comparing perceived benefits of healthy behaviours with marital status; perceived severity and benefits with the level of education; perceived severity and benefits with occupation; and perceived severity and benefits with financial income. Conclusions This study is the first in Saudi Arabia to examine the correlation between health beliefs, calculated CVD risk, and socioeconomic variables among Saudi women. Education and income were vital elements affecting their CVD risk and health beliefs, and these have implications for public health policy-making.
Preliminary performance characteristics of a microfabricated turbopump

The demonstration micro turbopump was designed to prove the feasibility of pumping a liquid using a turbopump on the micro scale. This thesis presents the first data indicating positive pumping from the demonstration micro turbopump. Data pertaining to both the turbomachinery as well as the bearing systems for these preliminary tests is shown and discussed. The pressure rise through the pump, turbine pressure ratio, respective powers, and a system efficiency are presented. Bearing theory and static flow test data are discussed. The pump design is detailed. Modelling data is presented to help describe the operational difficulties with the highly coupled aft bearing system. These operational difficulties lead to the redesign of the aft bearing system, which is described in detail. Other operational procedures developed and discussed include the pump start up procedure and the use of the inverted journal bearing. Thesis Supervisor: Professor Alan H. Epstein Title: R.C. Maclaurin Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation of Self-Driving Electric Vehicles by Dynamic Path Planning and Model Predictive Control

This paper applies a dynamic path planning and model predictive control (MPC) to simulate self-driving and parking for an electric van on a hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) platform. The hardware platform is a simulator which consists of an electric power steering system, accelerator and brake pedals, and an Nvidia drive PX2 with a robot operating system (ROS). The vehicle dynamics model, sensors, controller, and test field map are virtually built with the PreScan simulation platform. Both manual and autonomous driving modes can be simulated, and a graphic user interface allows a test driver to select a target parking space on a display screen. Three scenarios are demonstrated: forward parking, reverse parking, and obstacle avoidance. When the vehicle perceives an obstacle, the map is updated and the route is adaptively planned. The effectiveness of the proposed MPC is verified in experiments and proved to be superior to a traditional proportional–integral–derivative controller with regards to safety, energy-saving, comfort, and agility.
Seismic evaluation and innovative retrofit of a historical building in Tunisia

This paper summarizes work conducted within the framework of a European Commission funded project on the use of appropriate modern seismic protective systems in the conservation of Mediterranean historical buildings in earthquake‐prone areas. The case study is the one‐and‐a‐half‐century‐old Palace of Ksar Said, located near the Capital of Tunisia. At the center of the palace, a collection of portraits and furniture are preserved in a room of great architectural and historical value which is the most precious part of the building to be protected. Ambient vibration tests were conducted to measure the acceleration at selected locations of the building. Output‐only modal identification techniques were applied to extract the modal signature of the structure. A finite element model of the palace was elaborated based on the measured characteristics of stone and mortar and updated according to its measured vibratory response. Seismic vulnerability assessment of the building was carried out via three‐dimensional time‐history dynamic analyses of the structure. Results indicate a high vulnerability that confirms the need for intervention. A retrofit scheme is proposed that consists of a steel frame directly, attached to the portrait room structure with added fluid viscous dampers. Vulnerability assessment of the retrofitted building reveals a substantial improvement especially in the vicinity of the portrait room. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A product information and knowledge exchange framework: a multiple viewpoints approach

The design and development of complex products invariably involves many actors who have different points of view on the problem they are addressing, the product being developed and the process by which it is being developed. The actors' viewpoints (VPs) approach was designed to provide an organisational framework in which these different perspectives/points of views, and their relationships, could be explicitly gathered and formatted (by actor activity's focus). The approach acknowledges the inevitability of multiple interpretations of product information as different views and promotes gathering of actors' interests. It also helps in providing support for the information integration through the lifecycle of the products and for the collaboration between the supply chain actors. In this paper, we present the multiple VPs approach, and we illustrate it by an industrial example on cyclone vessel products.
Buoyancy Control for Low-Speed Under-Actuated AUVs

An engineering buoyancy control scheme was proposed to compensate the change of residual buoyancy for low-speed under-actuated AUVs. The buoyancy control system is made up of buoyancy controller and two sets of buoyancy control devices include: water tank, sea water pump, valve grouping, pipeline etc. Buoyancy control devices were configured to both head and tail part of the AUV symmetrical to its buoyant center. Depth control algorithm and buoyancy control algorithm were proposed separately. In the process of voyage at a constant depth, the real time speed, pitch angle and depth error were detected to evaluate the residual buoyancy indirectly, and then the real time buoyancy control was executed by pumping the water into or out of the tanks. The buoyancy control scheme was applied to the type of low-speed under-actuated AUV and simulation and experiments results show that the buoyancy control approach and the control laws are feasible and effective.
A direct method for determining meshing surfaces of globoidal cams with tapered roller followers

Abstract For determining the globoidal cam profile with tapered rollers radially mounted at its turret, a direct and relative simple approach is presented. The concept of the proposed procedure is based on the cam surfaces that can be represented as the swept surfaces of the tapered roller of the globoidal cam-turret mechanism in motion. For finding the swept surfaces of the tapered roller, the pitch surface yielded by the locus of the tapered roller is first generated through the rigid body transformation. Then, in the process of producing the swept surfaces for the cam surfaces, the meshing angles and meshing vectors are defined and identified by using the pitch surface of the tapered roller. Since it is not necessary to solve any non-linear contact equations usually encountered in traditional methods, such a procedure provides a convenient tool in determining the spatial cam surfaces. To demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed approach, its analytical formulations with numerical results are compared with those obtained by an earlier technique based on the theory of screws.
A NEW PARALLEL HYBRID MULTIOBJECTIVE ANT COLONY ALGORITHM BASED ON OPENMP

Parallel computing constitutes a growing area of interest in solving many complex combinatorial optimization problems. This paper presents a parallel implementation of a hybrid ant colony optimization metaheuristic for the multiobjective knapsack problem using the OpenMP framework. The hybrid algorithm coupled a MultiObjective Ant Colony Optimization (MOACO) algorithm with Tchebycheff based Local Search (TLS) procedure. The parallelization main idea is defined as assuming a shared-memory based on threads in which the initialization phase begins with a single thread called the master thread and executed sequentially. Afterward, a parallel region is defined where many threads are created, each one of them executing its own copy of the proposed ant colony algorithm independently. The threads cooperate through sharing a global archive holding all non-dominated solutions found so far. Experimental results show a significant efficiency of the solutions returned over the sequential implementation.
Mutual coupling of on-chip inductors in CMOS technology

Mutual coupling of spiral inductors is investigated comprehensively in this work. The topics include coupling between two spiral inductors by keeping identical self-inductance with different layout configurations such as separation distances, device location and relative current directions. The experimental results show that the inductor with special layout design exhibits low coupling inductance and capacitance. Results of this study will provide the layout guideline for a designer to implement more than one inductor in RFIC circuits.
Design of Automation Calibration for RF Unit of Wireless Transceiver System

Calibration of radio frequency (RF) unit is a must during researching and manufacturing of wireless transceiver system. Automation calibration plays an important role in promoting productivity effect. This paper focuses on the design of automation calibration of RF unit in wireless transceiver system. Design of automation calibration is separated by two parts, one is transmission (Tx) power calibration, the other is receive signal strength indicator (RSSI) calibration.
WIL-power

This article examines journalism students’ learning experience that is intercultural, immersive and intensive. Accounts of ‘intercultural’ experience date back to Herodotus of Halicarnassus; ‘immersion’ is integral to contemporary practice in language learning; and ‘intensive’ delivery has been refined to an art by postgraduate business education. Together they can be grouped under the broader pedagogical concept of work-integrated learning (WIL). This article examines two WIL projects that involved a field trip by University of Queensland journalism students to Vietnam in 2012 and 2014, and its implications for future WIL initiatives.
An Alternative Adaptation Mechanism for Model Reference Adaptive System Based Sensorless Induction Motor Drive

Abstract The model reference adaptive system is one of the methods for speed estimation of a sensorless induction motor drive. The model reference adaptive system comprises of tee blocks—the reference model, the adjustable model, and the adaptation mechanism. A proportional-integral controller is commonly used in the adaptation mechanism. In this article, an alternative structure of the adaptation mechanism is proposed. The model reference adaptive system with the proposed adaptation mechanism is simulated and experimentally validated tough a laboratory developed prototype.
The Construction Design Manager's Role in Delivering Sustainable Buildings

Abstract The emerging champion of the design process is arguably the design manager, increasingly playing a pivotal role in the delivery of sustainable buildings. This research aimed to assess the ability of construction design managers to integrate sustainability into building design, with particular emphasis on the importance of skills. Data were obtained from an extensive literature review, semi-structured interviews with experienced design managers and a survey of graduate design managers. The research identifies issues with construction design management generally, in addition to barriers to the delivery of sustainable buildings. Outcomes of the research contribute to the emergent dialogue on construction design management with regard to sustainable building design.
Assessment of physio-biochemical indicators for drought tolerance in different cultivars of maize (Zea mays L.)

Maize is an important cereal crop all-over the world and has been recently ranked at first among all cereal crops. However, growth of maize plants is negatively affected in arid and semi-arid areas of the globe due to scarcity of water, but genetically variable cultivars/lines differ considerably to respond to water limited conditions. To evaluate the response of some commercial cultivars of maize to water deficit conditions, a pot experiment was carried out. Eight maize cultivars (Sultan, Akbar, Pearl, MMRI, Maki Pak, Sahiwal 2002, Sadaf and Neelum) were subjected to varying [100%, 75% and 60% of field capacity (FC)] levels of water deficit conditions. Drought stress significantly decreased shoot fresh and dry weights, root fresh and dry weights and chlorophyll pigments (a and b) in all maize cultivars. However, free proline, glycinebetaine (GB), total phenolics, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, activities of enzymatic antioxidants (CAT, POD and SOD) and ascorbic acid (AsA) contents increased significantly under water deficit conditions. Of all maize cultivars, cv. Sadaf was superior in terms of plant growth, while, cv. Sultan proved to be inferior to the other cultivars examined in this study. It was concluded that osmoprotectants such as proline and GB can be used as stress tolerance indicators under drought stress conditions.
Process integration using the design structure matrix

A process, as a kind of system, derives its added value from the relationships among its elements (e.g., activities). For a group of activities to be truly integrated (versus merely aggregated), the flow of deliverables among them must be well defined, agreed to, and committed to. Engineering processes are especially complex because of the large number of interdependencies among the activities, as many types of information flow to many destinations. A process model of what actually flows must be extracted from the existing, implicit way work really gets done. Since this requires getting “close” to where work is actually done, it is beyond the ability of a single, centralized group to build the entire model. Instead, a number of process “puzzle pieces” must be integrated into a single process model that will have more holistic descriptive, analytical, and prescriptive value. (The systems engineering “V” model applies to processes as well as to products.) This paper applies a powerful technique for representing and analyzing complex processes, the design structure matrix (DSM). The paper shows how to use the DSM to display both internal and external inputs and outputs, thereby defining the “edges” of the process puzzle pieces so they can be assembled to form large, integrated processes where value can flow. Process definition and integration is akin to “mapping the genome” of how work is efficiently and effectively accomplished across disciplines and organizations. It is an important enabler of process understanding and improvement. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 5: 180–193, 2002
Distribution System Reliability with Distributed Generation Based on Customer Scattering

This paper presents the reliability improvement with effect of customer scattering on distribution system with Distributed Generation (DG). The test system is studied in six different cases based on different customer scattering patterns. Each customer scattering case is analyzed for finding the reliability indices of the distribution system without DG, and with installation of DG at various locations along the feeder. In addition, the algorithm for assessment of average restoration time of load point is presented when DG is installed. The proposed algorithm is tested on a simple system consists of nine load points. The reliability improvement is measured by reliability indices that include SAIFI, SAIDI, CAIDI, ENS and AENS. On the other hand it provides some useful conclusions such as the customer scattering and restoration time effect the optimal location of DG in terms of system reliability.
Application of PSO for Optimization of Power Systems under Uncertainty

The primary objective of this dissertation is to develop a black box optimization tool. The algorithm should be able to solve complex nonlinear, multimodal, discontinuous and mixed-integer power system optimization problems without any model reduction. Although there are many computational intelligence (CI) based algorithms which can handle these problems, they require intense human intervention in the form of parameter tuning, selection of a suitable algorithm for a given problem etc. The idea here is to develop an algorithm that works relatively well on a variety of problems with minimum human effort. An adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) is presented in this thesis. The algorithm has special features like adaptive swarm size, parameter free update strategies, progressive neighbourhood topologies, self learning parameter free penalty approach etc. The most significant optimization task in the power system operation is the scheduling of various generation resources (Unit Commitment, UC). The current practice used in UC modelling is the binary approach. This modelling results in a high dimension problem. This in turn leads to increased computational effort and decreased efficiency of the algorithm. A duty cycle based modelling proposed in this thesis results in 80 percent reduction in the problem dimension. The stern uptime and downtime requirements are also included in the modelling. Therefore, the search process mostly starts in a feasible solution space. From the investigations on a benchmark problem, it was found that the new modelling results in high quality solutions along with improved convergence. The final focus of this thesis is to investigate the impact of unpredictable nature of demand and renewable generation on the power system operation. These quantities should be treated as a stochastic processes evolving over time. A new PSO based uncertainty modelling technique is used to abolish the restrictions imposed by the conventional modelling algorithms. The stochastic models are able to incorporate the information regarding the uncertainties and generate day ahead UC schedule that are optimal to not just the forecasted scenario for the demand and renewable generation in feed but also to all possible set of scenarios. These models will assist the operator to plan the operation of the power system considering the stochastic nature of the uncertainties. The power system can therefore optimally handle huge penetration of renewable generation to provide economic operation maintaining the same reliability as it was before the introduction of uncertainty.
The Engineering Design of Systems: Models and Methods

From the Publisher: Systems engineering is the design of a complex interconnection of many elements to maximize performance. As such, the science relates to all fields of engineering. While systems engineering has always played an important role in industrial and military applications, advances in communications and computer technology have made this discipline especially relevant. This book introduces design methods and models used by systems engineers in the real world. It offer a comprehensive, integrated treatment that includes modeling, underlying design principles, and the process of optimization for peak performance.