Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unearthing Causative Factors of Cost Overrun on Ghanaian Road Projects

When determining the success of a road project, cost is one of the most important variables to consider. This is because cost is the project’s backbone and driving force throughout the construction process. As a result, to assess the cost performance of a road project, the actual cost is compared to the planned cost. This research aims at uncovering the causal variables that contribute to cost overruns on road projects using Accra, Ghana as a case study. Relevant literature was thoroughly reviewed to extract identified factors. This study adopted a quantitative research approach, using a questionnaire developed to collect data from the target audience. The questionnaire survey was conducted using civil engineers and quantity surveyors working in the Ghanaian construction sector. The data that were retrieved were analysed using descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis. According to the findings, the main reasons driving cost overruns on road projects include consultant/ contractor-related, environment-related, economy-related, risk/uncertainty-related, technical-related, owner/client-related, and other project-related factors. It was determined that cost overruns in construction projects occurred because of a lack of professionalism on the part of the stakeholders engaged in the construction process from start to finish. Future research may therefore be conducted utilising all of Ghana’s regions to obtain a broad view of the research.
Triple star evolution and the formation of short-period, low mass X-ray binaries

Pour expliquer la presence d'un trou noir relativement massif dans 2A 0620-00, on propose un nouveau scenario d'evolution pour la formation du binaire RX de faible masse, a courte periode. A l'origine, on a une etoile triple dans laquelle une binaire serree massive est accompagnee, a grande distance, par une naine avancee
Impact of the Empathic Understanding of People and Type D Personality as the Correlates of Social Skills of Primary Health Care Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

Efficient functioning at work depends on social skills. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship among empathy, type D personality traits, and the level of social skills among Primary Health Care (PHC) nurses. A cross-sectional study was carried out involving 446 PHC nurses. In the multidimensional model, after taking into account disruptive variables (age, place of residence, postgraduate education and self-assessment of health), as in one-dimensional models, respondents with a higher level of empathic understanding of other people were found to have a higher level of social skills (b = 0.76; SE = 0.11; p < 0.001), while a lower level of social skills was observed among respondents with traits which are characteristic of type D personality (b = −11.86; SE = 2.28; p < 0.001). The results of the study show that personal predispositions, such as empathy or type D personality, may support or hinder the shaping of social skills of nurses. Therefore, it is essential to create an individualised approach when nurses are undergoing social skills training.
Unusual stability of a one-parameter family of dissipative solitons due to spectral filtering and nonlinearity saturation

The stability of a one-parameter family of dissipative solitons seen in the cubic-quintic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation is studied. It is found that an unusually strong stability occurs for solitons controlled by the spectral filtering and nonlinearity saturation simultaneously, consistently with the linear stability analysis and confirmed by large-perturbation numerical simulations. Two universal types of bifurcations in the spectrum structure are demonstrated.
1/f noise in amorphous silicon nip and pin diodes

In this article noise measurements on amorphous silicon nip and pin diodes are presented and discussed with regard to standard models for flicker noise. It is shown that 1/f noise is present in the dark forward current of a‐Si:H diodes as well as in the photocurrent at low forward or reverse bias. The dependence of the noise power spectral density on dark current and photocurrent density, diode area, thickness, and current aging leads us to the conclusion that fluctuations in the electron injection current at the n+ contact are the reason for 1/f noise. This model is further supported by the current and frequency dependence of the shot noise in the photocurrent. We assume that the trapping of carriers switches on and off current filaments in the diode interface layer.
Video Feedback and Instructor Social Presence in an Asynchronous Online Course

Understanding best practices in online learning environments has become an important area of research in recent years, both before and during the pandemic. Video feedback has been studied as a way to enhance instructor social presence and create classroom community, though more research is needed to understand these constructs in various contexts. The current study sought to understand the extent to which video feedback enhanced instructor social presence in an asynchronous online course. Participants included five sections of an advanced educational psychology course for pre-service teachers. A qualitative, descriptive design using both surveys (n = 63) and interviews (n = 10) was employed to explore student perceptions of video feedback. Findings demonstrate that video feedback enhanced instructor social presence and that weekly videos improved students’ overall experience in the course. The video-based feedback led students to develop a better relationship with the course instructor and improved their overall experience in the course. Implications for student outcomes and instructor planning in online courses are discussed.
The Depleting Impact of Helping Behavior on Career Satisfaction: The Buffering Role of Strengths Use

Recent studies have explored the dark side of helping behavior from an actor-centric perspective. Consistent with this stream of research, this study linked helping behavior to career satisfaction. In this study, we adopted perceived task demands and job strain as two sequential mediators to elaborate the underlying depletion path through which helping behavior undermines career satisfaction. We collected data using a two-wave questionnaire completed by 203 full-time workers in China. By applying path analysis using R software, the results revealed the following: (1) helping behavior undermines career satisfaction by enhancing perceived task demands and job strain; (2) the use of strengths buffers the relationship between perceived task demands and job strain; and (3) the indirect depleting impact of helping behavior on career satisfaction only emerges when the use of strengths is low. This highlights important implications for practitioners to leverage helping behavior in their management practices.
Vision based terrain reconstruction for planet rover using a special binocular bundle adjustment

This paper presents a pure vision based technique for 3D reconstruction of planet terrain. The reconstruction accuracy depends ultimately on an optimization technique known as ‘bundle adjustment’. In vision techniques, the translation is only known up to a scale factor, and a single scale factor is assumed for the whole sequence of images if only one camera is used. If an extra camera is available, stereo vision based reconstruction can be obtained by binocular views. If the baseline of the stereo setup is known, the scale factor problem is solved. We found that direct application of classical bundle adjustment on the constraints inherent between the binocular views has not been tested. Our method incorporated this constraint into the conventional bundle adjustment method. This special binocular bundle adjustment has been performed on image sequences similar to planet terrain circumstances. Experimental results show that our special method enhances not only the localization accuracy, but also the terrain mapping quality.
Practical experience with test-driven development during commissioning of the multi-star AO system ARGOS

Commissioning time for an instrument at an observatory is precious, especially the night time. Whenever astronomers come up with a software feature request or point out a software defect, the software engineers have the task to find a solution and implement it as fast as possible. In this project phase, the software engineers work under time pressure and stress to deliver a functional instrument control software (ICS). The shortness of development time during commissioning is a constraint for software engineering teams and applies to the ARGOS project as well. The goal of the ARGOS (Advanced Rayleigh guided Ground layer adaptive Optics System) project is the upgrade of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) with an adaptive optics (AO) system consisting of six Rayleigh laser guide stars and wavefront sensors. For developing the ICS, we used the technique Test- Driven Development (TDD) whose main rule demands that the programmer writes test code before production code. Thereby, TDD can yield a software system, that grows without defects and eases maintenance. Having applied TDD in a calm and relaxed environment like office and laboratory, the ARGOS team has profited from the benefits of TDD. Before the commissioning, we were worried that the time pressure in that tough project phase would force us to drop TDD because we would spend more time writing test code than it would be worth. Despite this concern at the beginning, we could keep TDD most of the time also in this project phase This report describes the practical application and performance of TDD including its benefits, limitations and problems during the ARGOS commissioning. Furthermore, it covers our experience with pair programming and continuous integration at the telescope.
The scale-transformation of electromagnetic theory and its applications

The scale-transformation of electromagnetic theory is investigated in detail based on the form of Maxwell equations in scale-transformation being unchanged in different coordinate systems. The relations of electromagnetic parameters in a rectangular coordinate system and in a spherical coordinate system are presented respectively. The scale-transformation invariants for electromagnetic field are derived and their physical meaning is also presented. It is indicated by simulation that the electromagnetic waves located in medium can be considered to be isotropic due to the fact that the size of propagating vector affected by the scale factors and observing azimuth is on a size of 10−9, which provides a new approach for investigating the electromagnetic characteristics of ellipsoidal targets.
Improved Deep Learning-Based Energy Management Strategy for Battery-Supercapacitor Hybrid Electric Vehicle With Adaptive Velocity Prediction

The uncertainties and disturbances in the actual driving conditions of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) complicate the design of energy management strategy (EMS). To achieve better EMS performance for a battery-supercapacitor HEV, this paper proposes an improved and adaptive deep learning-based velocity prediction control EMS that can prolong the battery lifetime through efficient utilization of both the battery and supercapacitor. First, feature engineering techniques are used to extract and increase the key features from the historical driving cycle data of known driving conditions. With the extracted features, an improved long short-term memory (LSTM) velocity predictor was developed to predict future driving cycles for a real-time EMS under an unknown driving condition. Second, a real-time EMS based on the rule-based framework optimized with a neural network is proposed to optimize the power allocation online. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy smoothens battery peak power (i.e. prolongs battery life span) by approximately 26.85% on average and increases supercapacitor participation in the EMS, as evidenced by its increased energy throughput. Furthermore, compared with other EMS approaches, the proposed strategy improved the efficiency by significantly reducing total energy losses by approximately 22.25%. These results validate the reliability and robustness of the proposed strategy.
Simulations of multipactor thresholds in shielded microstrip lines

A particular software ‘MuSLi’ has been developed and applied for simulations of the multipactor effect in shielded microstrip lines with cross-sections that are partially filled with dielectric material. The software combines an electromagnetic field solver, determining the electric field structure in the microstrip line, and a Monte Carlo algorithm, calculating the corresponding electron trajectories taking into account a spread of the electron initial velocity and different secondary emission properties of the metal and dielectric surfaces. The simulations were carried out for a number of structures of interest for communication systems, currently being discussed for application in coming space missions. The microstrip line system is shown to be strongly resistant to multipactor growth and the main reason for this is identified as the ponderomotive (or Miller) force, which governs the average electron motion in non-uniform rf fields and which tends to push the electrons out of regions with strong rf fields.
Fabrication of micro-scale speckle pattern and its applications for deformation measurement

A novel and effective method of fabricating a micro-scale speckle pattern applied to metallic and polymeric materials is described. It can be used for measuring deformation under an optical microscope or other high magnification imaging systems. In this paper, the mean intensity gradient (MIG) is used to evaluate the quality of speckle pattern under different fabrication conditions, such as proportion of compound, spinning rates and centrifugal solidifying time, and the optimal fabrication parameters are proposed. Finally, deformation of a PET thin film and interface of an optical fiber device are measured with fabricated micro-scale speckle pattern. Further, it is proved that the speckle pattern produced by the novel method can be used with digital image correlation to measure deformation at micro-length scale.
Polarization mode dispersion in chirped fiber Bragg grating and its impact on 10-Gb/s fiber optical transmission systems

Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) is experimentally studied in detail. The effects on PMD characteristics of fiber birefringence, group velocity dispersion and group delay ripples in CFBG are investigated experimentally. Simultaneously, the impairments on 10Gb/s optical fiber transmission system due to PMD in CFBG are also demonstrated experimentally.
Molecular Epidemiology of Group B Streptococcus Colonization in Egyptian Women

(1) Background: Streptococcus agalactiae or Group B Streptococcus (GBS) causes severe neonatal infections with a high burden of disease, especially in Africa. Maternal vaginal colonization and perinatal transmissions represent the common mode of acquiring the infection. Development of an effective maternal vaccine against GBS relies on molecular surveillance of the maternal GBS population to better understand the global distribution of GBS clones and serotypes. (2) Methods: Here, we present genomic data from a collection of colonizing GBS strains from Ismailia, Egypt that were sequenced and characterized within the global JUNO project. (3) Results: A large proportion of serotype VI, ST14 strains was discovered, a serotype which is rarely found in strain collections from the US and Europe and typically not included in the current vaccine formulations. (4) Conclusions: The molecular epidemiology of these strains clearly points to the African origin with the detection of several sequence types (STs) that have only been observed in Africa. Our data underline the importance of continuous molecular surveillance of the GBS population for future vaccine implementations.
Evaluation of Biofilm formation capacity of Pasteurella multocida and its relationship with antibiotic resistance

Pasteurella multocida is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes haemorrhagic septicaemia in cattle and buffaloes. These organisms are involved in the formation of biofilm and can evade treatment. There is no definitive study to screen the genes associated with biofilm production associated with Pasteurella multocida. The present study describes the real-time PCR based approach for screening of genes associated with biofilm formation. Out of 10 isolates screened for biofilm formation, five of them produced biofilm on Congo red agar of which all are resistant to major antibiotics especially cotrimoxazole, nalidixic acid, enrofloxacin and tetracyclines. All the isolates show presence of genes associated with biofilm formation indicating that other factors influencing the biofilm production. We suggest that the future studies may be targeted to unravel the other factors that influence the biofilm production.
Spin Glass Theory and Beyond

This book contains a detailed and self-contained presentation of the replica theory of infinite range spin glasses. The authors also explain recent theoretical developments, paying particular attention to new applications in the study of optimization theory and neural networks. About two-thirds of the book are a collection of the most interesting and pedagogical articles on the subject.
On the behaviour of liquid dispersions in mixing vessels

The present paper is concerned with the conditions of flow in tanks containing stirred fluids. An attempt is made to apply the theoretical concepts of local isotropy to explain the behaviour of liquid in liquid dispersions, subjected to turbulent agitation. Relations describing quantitatively the influence of turbulence on both break-up and coalescence of individual droplets are derived and are compared with experimental evidence. A special type of dispersion is described in which droplet size is controlled by the prevention of coalescence due to turbulence. The dependence of droplet size on energy dissipation per unit mass, as predicted by the theory of local isotropy, is put to an experimental test using geometrically similar vessels of different sizes. Though the results are not entirely conclusive, experimental evidence suggests that the hypothesis of locally isotropic flow may be applicable to the flow conditions described in the paper, and that statistical theories of turbulence can be of practical value in estimating droplet sizes in agitated dispersions.
Advances in Mobile Health for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Mobile health has the potential to transform the management of chronic illnesses, expanding treatment from a purely clinic-based approach to a more patient-centered delivery of care. For patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a condition characterized by a relapsing and remitting course, adoption of mobile health strategies can promote improved quality of care delivery and clinical outcomes. Benefits of mobile health applications for IBD include tracking symptoms to guide disease management, coordinating data exchange across clinical care providers, increasing communication between patients and the care team, and providing educational materials to increase patient engagement and satisfaction. In this review, we present the current offerings for telemedicine systems and mobile applications designed for patients with IBD and discuss the potential advantages and limitations of utilizing mobile health in the care of these patients.
Strong Effects during close encounters of a Star with a massive Black Hole

Using a three-dimensional Eulerian hydrodynamical code we consider close encounters of a star with a massive black hole that are accompanied by stripping of matter from the star, or disruption of it. An estimate is made of the critical pericentric distance at which the deposited energy is equal to the binding energy of the stellar model. Stripping of the outer layers and strong squeezing of the star by tidal forces are discussed
The Nonparametric Confidence Interval for the Process Capability Index C*pmk

The process capability index which is a generalization of is defined by the use of the idea of Chan et al. [ for asymmetric tolerance. In this paper, we proposed a Jackknife confidence interval for and compare its coverage probability with the other three Efron and Tibshiranis [ bootstrap interval estimate techniques. The simulation results show that the Jackknife method has higher chance of reaching the nominal confidence coefficient for all cases considered in this paper. Therefore this method is recommended for used. One numerical example to demonstrate the construction of confidence interval for the process capability index is also given in this paper.
Optimized active-matrix drives for liquid crystal displays

A combination of computer simulation and experimental methods is used to provide a reliable and systematic means of optimizing the response time of active-matrix liquid crystal displays. Optical transients are measured and simulated (within a continuum elastic framework including hydrodynamic backflow) and are thereby related to director reorientation processes under various driving conditions. We find that an unconventional “overdrive” method, in which the device is briefly biased to a voltage exceeding the target voltage, leads to dramatic improvements in device response time which approach a factor of 6 in some cases. The computational model is capable of accurately predicting the optimum overdrive voltage. The physical origins of these findings and the importance of hydrodynamic backflow are discussed.