Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of ASHRAM; A New Human-Reliability-Analysis Method for Aviation Safety

The primary purpose of the Aviation Safety Human Reliability Analysis Method, or ASHRAM is to predict plausible aviation-accident scenarios before they occur. An underlying premise of ASHRAM, is that many significant human errors can occur as a result of a combination of situational factors, or “error-forcing context” that can trigger cognitive ‘error mechanisms’ in personnel. , which can lead to the execution of unsafe acts. The method allows aviation researchers to analyze accidents and incidents retrospectively, by answering questions and filling in forms, or prospectively, by systematically generating families of plausible scenarios based on a small set of initiators. ASHRAM is packaged in a brief, readable format, with step-by-step instructions, and with real-world examples so that it can be utilized by a variety of researchers, modelers, analysts, trainers, and pilots with a variety of backgrounds.
Usability studies with virtual and traditional computer aided design environments

For both the CAVE™ and the adaptable technology possessed by the University of New Orleans, crystal eye glasses are used to produce a stereoscopic view, and an ascension flock of birds tracking system is employed for tracking of the user's head position and position of a wand in 3D space. It is argued that with these immersive technologies along the use of gestures and hand movements should provide a more natural interface with the immersive virtual environment. This allows a more rapid and efficient set of actions to recognize geometry, interaction with a spatial environment, the ability to find errors, or navigate through an environment. The wand interface is used to provide an improved means of interaction. This study quantitatively measures the differences in interaction when compared with traditional human computer interfaces. This work uses competitive usability in four different Benchmarks: (1) navigation, (2) error detection/correction, (3) spatial awareness, and (4) a "shopping list" of error identifications. This work expands on [Butler & Satter's, 2005] work by conducting tests in the CAVE™ system, rather than principally employing workbench technology. During testing, the testers are given some time to "play around" with the CAVE™ environment for familiarity before undertaking a specific exercise. The testers are then instructed regarding tasks to be completed, and are asked to work quickly without sacrificing accuracy. The research team timed each task, counted errors, and recorded activity on evaluation sheets for each Benchmark test. At the completion of the testing scenarios involving Benchmarks 1, 2, 3, or 4, the subjects were given a survey document and asked to respond by checking boxes to communicate their subjective opinions.
DEVELOPMENT OF AN UNSTABLE SLOPE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. FINAL REPORT

This report presents a prototype of an Unstable Slope Management System (USMS) and corresponding user's guide. The USMS is a computer program that prioritizes unstable slopes. The system is composed of two parts: a database and priority programs. The database was developed using dBASE III Plus, Ashton-Tate. The priority programs were developed using the expert shell system CLIPS, a NASA developed language. The resulting USMS, at this point, is not an expert system; it is a management system. The USMS was developed by the aid of conversations with Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) personnel. In addition, a questionnaire was sent to WSDOT personnel concerned with unstable slope maintenance. From the conversations and responses to the questionnaire, the factors concerned with site importance were identified. Also, a method to determine the total importance was proposed. The USMS identifies factors that determine the importance of a failure site. These factors pertain to the cause of instability, cost of repair, use of road, and safety to motorists. Data pertaining to these factors are collected for each failure site and stored in the data base. Priority ratings are assigned by the priority rating programs to the data for each site. The priority ratings are multiplied by a weight. The sum of the products represents the total priority. The total priority is a number from 0 to 100, where 100 indicates the highest importance. The total priority represents the importance of the failure site based on the factors identified in the USMS. The total priority of a failure site is independent of all other failure sites.
Millennial vs Non-Millennial Teachers: Understanding the Ongoing Battle Occurring in Classrooms Around the World

The purpose of this multicase study is to understand the millennial teachers’ perceptions of challenges in secondary-schools and to explore their views and beliefs on how non-Millennial educational leaders influence these challenges. A sample of 15 millennial secondary educators was interviewed to explore their perceptions of various challenges and opportunities. Transcribed interview data were coded as patterns and themes were identified. The findings from this study revealed millennial secondary education teachers pay close attention to how their relationships with non-millennial leaders impact their professional development and indicated that an environment supportive of professional growth is their utmost desire.
The Pieter Schippers story : Almost 40 years of developments in sonar performance modelling in the Netherlands

This paper is dedicated to the work of Pieter Schippers and gives an overview of his achievement in sonar performance modelling over his career. This publication is the last of a long list, many of which published at UDT [1-5]. A historical review is presented of the sonar performance modeling work at TNO in Underwater Acoustics since the mid-seventies. At that time, sonar performance was a hot topic for the upcoming receiver technique using passive low frequencies towed arrays. The aim was entirely focused on detection of hostile submarines, being practically undetectable with other systems. The main challenge was the modeling of propagation, first for deep water, and later also for shallow water. The developed propagation modeling is based on eigenrays. This enabled fast semi-analytical solutions, which was a strong requirement at that time. In the late eighties active sonar regained interest [1,2], and the active and passive sonar performance model ALMOST of TNO got under development. Sonar modeling got included and source and receiver vertical directivity patterns are applied. Furthermore, ambient noise and reverberation were modelled, based on noise sources at the sea surface, and scatterers at sea surface, volume and bottom, respectively. For active and passive detection performance, detection probability is computed from the modelled SNR for different types of signal processing in the receiver. After the Cold War the sonar bandwidth increased to enable shallow water operations [3]. Targets could no longer be considered as point targets and extended target modeling was started [4]. More attention was paid to input parameters, to properly model the complex environments is shallow water. Recently, graphical user interfacing got more attention [5]. This allows even unskilled operators to get their sonar performance prediction in due time and presented in an intuitive way. The future of sonar performance modeling is both in improving models and inputs, at the same time evaluating errors and uncertainty in the modeling. Pieter will watch this development from this lazy chair.
ASTM Test Methods for Self-Consolidating Concrete

This article briefly summarizes three American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) test methods that have been developed for the measurement of slump flow, passing ability, and static segregation of self-consolidating concrete (SCC). The author notes that SCC must have the ability to flow under its own weight, to pass reinforcing bars or other obstacles without segregation, and not segregate during or after casting. The author then details ASTM C1611, the Slump Flow of Self-Consolidating Concrete; ASTM C1621, the Passing Ability of Self-Consolidating Concrete by J-Ring; and ASTM C1610, the Static Segregation for Self-Consolidating Concrete Using Column Technique. Readers are referred to www.selfconsolidatingconcrete. org for more information.
Activelets: Light Weight Architecture for Special Operations Forces (SOF) Planning and Scheduling

Abstract : This project aimed at delivering continuous planning and scheduling capabilities to support crisis response for Special Operations Forces. The principal accomplishment of this effort has been the development of Comirem (COntinuous Mixed-Initiative REsource Management tool), an interactive planning/scheduling system designed to more directly match the iterative user-centered nature of planning and scheduling in practical domains by providing the means to represent evolving scenarios; define and reuse operational templates; maintain problem consistency in response to execution monitoring and information updates; and detect inconsistencies and signal appropriate alerts in response. This report describes the design of Comirem and summarizes the capabilities that it provides.
Managing Information in the Public Sector

This first-of-its-kind textbook addresses the new NASPAA curriculum requirements on Information Management. It is designed as a stand-alone text for an Information Management course in a Public Administration program, and can also serve as a professional resource for public managers. "Managing Information in the Public Sector" covers both the basics of information technology and the managerial and political issues surrounding the use of these technologies. Unlike other works on information systems that are written for MBA programs and require a general survey course in MIS, this book is written specifically for the public sector and addresses unique public sector issues and concerns. The technical basics are explained in clear English with as little technical jargon as possible so that readers can move on to informed analysis of the public policy issues surrounding government's use of MIS. This timely learning tool includes end of chapter summaries with bridges to upcoming chapters, numerous boxed exhibits, thorough end-of-chapter notes, and a bibliography for further reading.
Models for the electronic transport properties ofthermoelectric materials

This report looks into the current model being used for simulating the electrical part of thermoelecric materials. In addition it makes an overview over the relevant parameters for choosing a model for nano inclusions. Followed by an outline of the steps needed to implement the model as a simulation. With a conclusion on further steps needed as last part.
Exploring Bandit Algorithms for Automatic Content Selection

Multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem is derived from slot machines in the casino. It is about how a gambler could pull the arms in order to maximize total reward. In this sense, the gambler needs to decide which arm to explore in order to gain more knowledge, and which arm to exploit in order to guarantee the total payoff. This problem is also very common in real world, such as automatic content selection. The website is like a gambler. It needs to select proper content to recommend to the visitors, trying to maximize click through rate (CTR). Bandit algorithms are very suitable for this kind of issue. Because they are able to deal with exploration and exploitation trade-off with high churning data. When context is considered during content selection, we model it as contextual bandit problems. In this thesis, we evaluate several popular bandit algorithms in different bandit settings. And we propose our own approach to solve a real world automatic content selection case. Our experiments demonstrate that bandit algorithms are efficient in automatic content selection.
Assessment of User Satisfaction Following the Transformations Resulting From Encroachment on Social Amenities in Buruburu Estate, Nairobi CityCounty, Kenya

Transformations have led to questionable environmental qualities in housing neighbourhoods. Urban areas in Africa, and Kenya in particular are faced with an increased growth of planned settlements transforming into unplanned housing units. Most researches on housing transformations have concentrated on the dwelling units but little has been done on other aspects such as social amenities. The study therefore draws attention to this neglected aspect of transformation in housing and the reactions of dwellers towards the same. Buru Buru in Nairobi city formed the location of the empirical study. The study assessed user satisfaction following transformations of social amenities in Buruburu Estate, Nairobi City County. Data was collected using interview schedules from respondents drawn from residents and architects responsible for the transformation. Qualitative and quantitative data that used various techniques including structured interviews, digital photography and analyses of archival drawings and satellite maps were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The findings showed that the user were very unsatisfied with the different social amenities in the estate. The conclusion was that social amenities should be developed at the beginning of the scheme. The study recommends inclusion of a possible model and clarification on the roles that professionals, developers and authorities need to play in any housing development in order to mitigate the phenomenon.
Motor Vehicle Wealth Taxes and Fleet Age: Air Quality Implications

The objective of this dissertation is to determine whether motor vehicle wealth taxes have unintended consequences for fleet turnover, emissions and air quality. Twenty-eight U.S. states have an annual motor vehicle wealth tax that is based on either the age or value of the vehicle, which results in tax liabilities that decrease with age. Given this structure, households have an incentive to make adjustments to their vehicle stocks in favor of older vehicles. These adjustments may be harmful to the environment as older vehicles have higher emissions. To achieve this objective I have divided this dissertation into three separate empirical analyses. In the first analysis, I use data from the 2001 National Household Travel Survey to identify the effects of motor vehicle wealth taxes on households’ vehicle purchase and age decisions. I estimate a binary choice model to examine the effects of various measures of the motor vehicle wealth tax on households’ decisions to purchase a vehicle in a given year while controlling for household demographics, the availability of public transportation and transaction taxes. I then estimate an ordinary least squares regression model to examine the effects of wealth taxes on the vehicle age decision for those households that purchased at least one vehicle in 2001. The results indicate that motor vehicle wealth taxes have a statistically significant negative but rather modest effect on the probability that a household purchases a vehicle in a given year. However, once a household has decided to make a purchase, the presence of a wealth tax does not affect its vehicle age decision.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

What we expect, all too often, is exactly what we get. Nowhere is this more true than in education, where teachers' expectations of students are crucial. The self-fulfilling prophecy should be of great interest to teachers, both those in training and those in service. Whether or not a teacher is aware of it, the self-fulfilling prophecy is at work, impacting students either to their benefit or their detriment. It follows that teachers should be made aware of the SFP and how it can be used effectively in education. Using the new on-line research facilities, Dr. Tauber has compiled over 700 doctoral dissertations and countless journal articles on stereotyping, perception of social differences, race, gender, ethnicity, body features, age, socioeconomic levels, special needs, and other personal and situational factors. The last part of the book presents a collection of testimonials written from the viewpoint of practitioners.
An Insight of comparison between COVID-19 (2019-nCoV disease) and SARS in pathology and pathogenesis

COVID-19, a novel pathogenic coronavirus (2019-nCoV, now named SARS-CoV2) induced disease, emerged in China and spread globally rapidly. 2019-nCoV(SARS-CoV2) shares above 85% identity in genome with SARS-CoV. Patients infected by 2019-nCoV and SARS-CoV also reveal similar clinical characteristics. Here we compare the clinical and pathological features between patients of COVID-19 and SARS respectively. Conclusions:1. Older patients refer to a higher case fatality rate (CFR) than young. 2. Males show a higher CFR than females, and this difference may converge as age increase.3. COVID-19 may cause a kidney and testis damage. Combined with higher CFR in males, genitourinary system disorder caused by the COVID-19 needs to be cautioned.4. It is critical to control the cytokine release syndrome(CRS) in COVID-19. IL-6, IL-10 and their receptors may be the drugable target.5. Consistently to decrease of CD4+T and CD8+T cells, spleen damage, and lymphocyte depletion may exist inCOVID-19 patients. Approaches for T cell rescued may be considered. 6. Compared with SARS-CoV’s Spike protein, 2019-nCoV(SARS-CoV2) Spike protein present a higher binding affinity to ACE2, which suggests that soluble ACE2 might be a potential candidate for COVID-19 treatment. Other receptors, such as L-SIGN and DC-SIGN, need to be investigated in the future.
Novel Pattern Reconfigurable Antenna Arrays Using Engineered Metamaterials and Microfluidic Principles

This dissertation proposes novel solutions for important drawbacks of antenna arrays. One of the main contributions of the presented work is size reduction and nulling performance improvement of traditionally large anti-jam global positioning system (GPS) arrays using miniature antennas and electrically small resonators emulating an engineered metamaterial. Specifically, a miniaturized coupled double loop (CDL) dual band antenna is first introduced as a small antenna element of the compact GPS array. The loops that are capacitively coupled using lumped element capacitor, and employ metallic pins around their perimeter to improve the radiation efficiency by achieving a volumetric current distribution. This design is employed for the implementation of a compact 2×2 GPS array by reducing the inter-element spacing between the adjacent elements. However, having the antenna elements in close proximity of each other yields to a high mutual coupling and potentially degrades the nulling performance. The mutual coupling is performed by observing the magnetic field distribution within the array. It is noticed that the mutual coupling can be reduced by using metamaterial resonators. The right hand circular polarization (RHCP) radiation nature of the array complicates the mutual coupling suppression as compared to linear arrays. It is determined that split ring resonator (SRRs) are effective to mitigate the mutual coupling problem if placed strategically around the antenna elements. The study is verified experimentally where the mutual coupling is reduced by more than 10 dB. Lowering the mutual coupling improved the array’s nulling capability by increasing the nulls’ depth by 8 dB as well as enhancing the accuracy of the nulls’ locations.
Optimal sensing matrices

Location information is of extreme importance in every walk of life ranging from commercial applications such as location based advertising and location aware next generation communication networks such as the 5G networks to security based applications like threat localization and E-911 calling. In indoor and dense urban environments plagued by multipath effects there is usually a Non Line of Sight (NLOS) scenario preventing GPS based localization. Wireless localization using sensor networks provides a cost effective and accurate solution to the wireless source localization problem. Certain sensor geometries show significantly poor performance even in low noise scenarios when triangulation based localization methods are used. This brings the need for the design of an optimum sensor placement scheme for better performance. The optimum sensor placement optimizes the underlying Fisher Information Matrix(FIM) . This thesis will present a class of canonical optimum sensor placements that produce the optimum FIM for N dimensional source localization (N ≥ 2) for a case where the source location has a radially symmetric probability density function within an N dimensional sphere and the sensors are all on or outside the surface of a concentric outer N dimensional sphere. While the canonical solution that we designed for the 2D problem represents optimum spherical codes, the study of 3 or higher dimensional design provides great insights into the design of measurement matrices with equal norm columns that have the smallest possible condition number.
Qualitative Data Sharing: Participant Understanding, Motivation, and Consent

Expectations to share data underlying studies are increasing, but research on how participants, particularly those in qualitative research, respond to requests for data sharing is limited. We studied research participants’ willingness to, understanding of, and motivations for data sharing. As part of a larger qualitative study on abortion reporting, we conducted interviews with 64 cisgender women in two states in early 2020 and asked for consent to share de-identified data. At the end of interviews, we asked participants to reflect on their motivations for agreeing or declining to share their data. The vast majority of respondents consented to data sharing and reported that helping others was a primary motivation for agreeing to share their data. However, a substantial number of participants showed a limited understanding of the concept of “data sharing. ” Additional research is needed on how to improve participants’ understanding of data sharing and thus ensure fully informed consent.
Freight Distribution Based on Delivery Area Booking

The authors present the results of a project known as ALF (Aires de Livraison du Futur, Next Generation Delivery Areas) conducted by three academic research teams, two SMEs, one large group and a local authority. Its goal was to increase the use of delivery areas by prior booking and dynamic adjustment, if necessary. Information technologies with mobile communicating devices and in-roadway sensors are used in front of the information management process system. The authors present in turn: the problem and the methodology; information and communication technology (ICT) system architecture and human interaction-based delivery round preparation based on delivery area booking and real-time adjustment; a computational process using distributed multi-agent based negotiation, allowing static delivery round preparation and dynamic adjustments of such rounds, if necessary; an in-the-street information system. The conclusion summarizes the main configurations of the proposed system, presents different mutualization and pooling approaches, and lists various innovative services which can be added to delivery areas.
Management and technology solutions for improving milk quality

OF THESIS MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING MILK QUALITY Mastitis is one of the most common and expensive dairy cattle diseases. Mastitis prevention and management are key factors in herd health and improved milk quality. One objective of this research was to evaluate management solutions to maintain a low somatic cell count, based on survey responses from Kentucky dairy producers. Because hyperkeratosis may increase mastitis incidence, another objective of this research was to examine changes in teat end hyperkeratosis in a herd transitioning from a standard pulsation milking system to an individual quarter pulsation milking system. The last objective of this research was to evaluate technologies that monitored rumination time, neck activity, reticulorumen temperature, and milk yield as potential mastitis detection devices.