Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Capacitated lot-sizing problem with one-way substitution: A robust optimization approach

This paper focuses on a closed-loop production planning and inventory control problem commonly encountered in the real manufacturing practice. We firstly present a deterministic model for this particular problem with several features such as remanufacturing and one-way substitution. Then we take into consideration the uncertainty of the new item demand, the remanufactured item demand and the returned item flow simultaneously, which have rarely been integrated in a single model in the existing literature. A robust optimization approach based on the uncertain budget is adopted to leverage the robustness. Numerical experiments are conducted to generate some managerial insights into this closed-loop logistics system, and the results show that the proposed model is a flexible tool which enables us to better balance the optimal solutions and the robustness.
Processing of Degraded Documents for Long-Term Archival Using Waferfiche™ Technology

Adaptive binarization techniques are proposed for the restoration of degraded documents for WaferficheTMarchival. WaferficheTMis a compact archival solution for long-term preservation of documents in a human-accessible image based format. Bi-level images are preferable for the lithographic fabrication utilized in WaferficheTMproduction. Binarization of degraded documents poses challenges due to the tonal variations in the foreground text and background paper. Using dispersion and edge based measures, our methods are specifically optimized for preserving information while eliminating unwanted noise. In addition, we present several pre/post-processing techniques that improve image quality. The effectiveness of our methodology is experimentally demonstrated by images captured from Waferfiches. Adaptive binarization using dispersion and edge based noise elimination thus provide an effective restoration method for degraded documents for WaferficheTMarchival.
ANAHESS, A NEW SECOND ORDER SUM OF EXPONENTIALS FIT ALGORITHM, COMPARED TO THE TIKHONOV REGULARIZATION APPROACH, WITH NMR APPLICATIONS

The problem of fitting a sum of exponentials to second order data is often called the second order (or two dimensional) inverse Laplace transform (2D-ILT). The present work describes ANAHESS, a new inverse Hessian algorithm which handles this ill-posed numerical problem. The algorithm uses numerical expressions for the gradient and the Hessian matrix, and has performed well on various artificial and experimental data sets. The new algorithm is presented in a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) context.
PVDF copolymer transducers used to evaluate microparticle suspensions

The ability of using high frequency ultrasonic transducers made from piezoelectric polymers, to characterize microparticle suspensions, has been investigated both in an experimental setup and in a numerical model. Both investigations, which consider microparticles settled on a glass substrate, show that the backscattered frequency spectra contain a number of minima values arising from wave resonances in the microparticles. The locations of these resonances are in the experiments, found to be independent of the particle concentration, but strongly dependent on the particle size. A comparison to previous results for floating microspheres, show that the material properties of the glass substrate, also has to be included for obtaining the correct resonance frequencies for settled particles.
Rooftop and indoor reception with transmit diversity applied to DVB-T networks: A long term measurement campaign

Although transmit Delay Diversity (DD) can provide a gain in indoor and other Non Line of Sight situations (NLOS), it can introduce degradation in rooftop reception. In fact, when the Ricean K factor of the channel is significantly high (e.g. Line of Sight reception), the channel performs similar to an AWGN channel where the performance degrades due to DD that artificially increase the fading. This paper investigates through practical evaluation the impacts of Transmit DD on LOS and NLOS stationary reception. Then, it studies 2 techniques to reduce the degradation performance in LOS while aiming to keep the same diversity gain in NLOS reception.
Quality or mere formality? Food for thought in the use of teacher-made tests in Masvingo rural secondary schools in Zimbabwe

The purpose of this study was to determine the quality, effectiveness and sustainable use of teacher-made tests among rural secondary school pupils. A cost-benefit analysis on the quality of teacher-made tests will be explored assessing whether their administration is of quality or a mere formality in the classroom setting in Zimbabwe. Teacher-made tests are highly vulnerable to misuse by teachers who adopt a haphazard approach to test planning, administration and scoring. The qualitative descriptive survey design was used with questionnaires, interviews, observations and document analysis as data collection instruments. Findings from this research study established that teacher-made classroom tests remain invaluable assessment devices for generating vital information which will ultimately be used to enhance educational practices. In rural secondary schools in Masvingo, a variety of factors, some concerning the individual taking the test, others inherent in design and content of the test itself, administration and test conditions have been noted to affect the validity, reliability and quality of test scores. This has a bearing on the effective assessment, teaching and learning in rural secondary schools in Zimbabwe. Efforts are being made to minimise errors though it is difficult to entirely eliminate errors in assessment. This study recommends in- service training programmes to sharpen the item writing skills of classroom practitioners to improve the quality of teacher-made tests. Moreover, an understanding of sources of errors in test scores help to minimise them in constructing, designing and administering of tests, thereby ensuring test validity and reliability.
On-chip antennas in silicon ICs and their application

The feasibility of integrating antennas and required circuits to form wireless interconnects in foundry digital CMOS technologies has been demonstrated. The key challenges including the effects of metal structures associated with integrated circuits, heat removal, packaging, and interaction between transmitted and received signals, and nearby circuits appear to be manageable. This technology can potentially be applied for implementation of a true single-chip radio for general purpose communication, on-chip and inter-chip data communication systems, RFID tags, RF sensors/radars, and others.
Suppression of Antimicrobial Defense and Stabilization of STAT3 by IRAK-M Expression in Tumor Cells Promotes Colorectal Carcinogenesis

Different environmental and genetic factors have been attributed to the etiology of colorectal cancer. Dysbiotic gut microbiota is associated with initiation and progression of colon carcinogenesis. Hyperactivation of STAT3 promotes carcinogenesis by upregulating cell proliferation, survival, tumor-induced immunosupression and angiogenesis. IRAK-M is a negative regulator of toll-like receptor signaling and inhibits innate immune response. The cancer cell may exploit this property of IRAK-M and evade host immune surveillance. Recently, it has been found that IRAK-M provide controlled feed back to bacteria involved in colorectal cancer by reducing antibacterial response in mice. Furthermore, IRAK-M increased the stability of STAT3 in tumor cells that support tumor promotion by upregulating cell proliferation and survival. Thus, it is suggested that IRAK-M promotes colitis associated colon cancer by enhancing bacterial colonization and stabilization of STAT3.
Design and Experimental Tests of a Superconducting Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker

Direct current (DC) circuit breakers are a key enabling technology for fault management in multiterminal high-voltage DC (HVDC) systems. DC fault isolation is challenging due to the high rate of rise of the fault current and the lack of natural current zero-crossings found in ac systems. In this paper, we present a novel superconducting hybrid dc circuit breaker that utilizes the intrinsic characteristics of the superconductor material. The automatic quench of the superconductor coil as a result of a high fault current transfers the current from the mechanical switch to the semiconductor switch. The isolating mechanical switch is able therefore to open at low current and recover its dielectric capability rapidly. A low voltage DC circuit breaker prototype has been built using a multistrand magnesium diboride (MgB2) coil, a vacuum interrupter, and an insulated-gate bipolar transistor module. This prototype successfully demonstrated interruption of 500 A DC within 4.4 ms. This paper presents the design of the superconducting hybrid breaker prototype and a detailed analysis of the experimental results. This superconducting hybrid dc circuit breaker has significant potential for scaling up the high-voltage and high-current applications.
A prospective evaluation of the established criteria for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction using the Alberta HEART cohort

Heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction (HF‐PEF) remains a difficult clinical diagnosis. The aim of this study was to test the utility of established criteria to classify patients with HF‐PEF. We prospectively enrolled patients into one of five groups across a spectrum of cardiac disease and applied three different criteria for HF‐PEF and calculated diagnostic metrics.
The Value of Life

The economic approach to valuing risks to life focuses on risk-money tradeoffs for very small risks of death, or the value of statistical life (VSL). These VSL levels will generally exceed the optimal insurance amounts. A substantial literature has estimated the wage-fatality risk tradeoffs, implying a median VSL of $7 million for U.S. workers. International evidence often indicates a lower VSL, which is consistent with the lower income levels in less developed countries. Preference heterogeneity also generates different tradeoff rates across the population as people who are more willing to bear risk will exhibit lower wage-risk tradeoffs.
Fault type recognition of High-speed train bogie based on dual-channel integration of information entropy

Traditional High-speed train fault diagnosis methods only simply considers characters of a certain single domain to conduct information fusion. Aimed at improving that, a new approach to discriminate the fault type is brought forward, using dual-channel multiple domain information entropy to analysis the vibration signals of the high-speed train bogie. In the model based on dual-channel information fusion, singular spectrum entropy, power spectrum entropy, wavelet energy entropy as well as wavelet space feature entropy are extracted and figured, to conduct certain fault recognition, such as 8 locations of resist sinusoidal vibration damper fault, 4 positions of Lateral damper failure and 2 places of the air spring failure. Examples of diagnostic results show that the fault diagnosis model, combined with the data fusion theory and information entropy features, can effectively improve the accuracy of fault diagnosis, almost getting close to 100%.
Design of a smart sprinkler system

This paper describes the design and implementation of a smart sprinkler system, utilizing a mesh capable wireless sensor network for monitoring and controlling field irrigation systems. Soil types and their characteristics with regards to water retention were investigated. The hardware and software for the sensor and sink nodes were implemented using the core of the WSN communication Xbee Series II Zigbee modules. A user interface to monitor the sprinkler system and change control parameters was developed. The system was tested for accuracy by comparing sensory field data with comparable data from alternative sensors from agricultural field test laboratories. It was successful in controlling the soil moisture levels in the test field by keeping the moisture levels between the desired thresholds. A relatively inexpensive way to automate water irrigation was established using low cost components for small scale irrigation applications.
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE An Analysis of the Nonhydrostatic Dynamics in Numerically Simulated Antarctic Katabatic Flows

A series of two-dimensional numerical experiments was conducted in order to describe the role of nonhydrostatic dynamics in simple Antarctic katabatic flows. The results presented include a comparison of the thermodynamic and dynamic fields produced by hydrostatic and nonhydrostatic numerical simulations. The source of the differences in the simulations was diagnosed based on an analysis of the model equation tendencies as well as calculated components of the pressure gradient force. Over most of the terrain slope, the nonhydrostatic effects were found to be insensitive to the model horizontal resolution, for a grid spacing ranging from 5 to 100 km.
Frequency-Tunable Tri-Function Filter

In this paper, we present a reconfigurable filter capable of having three different responses, such as bandstop, bandpass, and all-pass responses. For designing the tri-function filter, we have developed a new topology containing coupled resonators and a switch-embedded transmission line running from the input to output ports. A bandpass response can be obtained by opening the switches embedded in the transmission line. On the other hand, closing the switches produces bandstop and all-pass responses. The details of the coupling structure design satisfying three sets of the coupling coefficients for the three responses are presented. In addition, we also discuss in detail an approach for incorporating the measured parameters of the nonideal switch in our filter design. For demonstration, a frequency-tunable tri-function filter has been designed using substrate-integrated waveguide resonators. It is shown that the designed filter is able to exhibit three responses over a 1.2:1 frequency tuning range.
Phase-shifted fiber Bragg gratings and their application for wavelength demultiplexing

It is shown that the transmission spectrum of a fiber Bragg grating can be tailored by incorporating single or multiple phase-shift regions during the fabrication process. Phase shifts open up narrowband transmission windows inside the stop band of the Bragg grating; transmitted wavelength can be changed by adjusting the amount of phase shift. As a specific application, we discuss how phase-shifted Bragg gratings can be used to make an all-fiber demultiplexer for multichannel lightwave systems. <<ETX>>
Psychosocial and quality of life impact on patients with failed back surgery syndrome

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Triggering and chronicity of failed back surgery syndrome should consider psychosocial and emotional factors which impair quality of life. This study aimed at identifying such factors and at evaluating quality of life of failed back surgery syndrome patients. METHODS: This is a descriptive, exploratory, comparative, cross-sectional study with quantitative approach. Sample was made up of a test group (I) diagnosed with failed back surgery syndrome (n=16) and a control group (II) undergoing inter-consultation in the Pain Clinic (n=15). Tools were the visual analog scale and Fischer dolorimeter. WHOQOL-Bref questionnaire was used to evaluate quality of life and Beck Anxiety Inventory and Depression Inventory were used to evaluate emotional factors anxiety and depression. RESULTS: There has been predominance of females on both groups, mean age was 42.3±5.8 (group I), most were married and mean education was 8.4±3.0 years. Mean pain duration was 0.7±0.3 months after surgery in group I with lower pain threshold. Physical dimensions and social relations were the most affected on quality of life, as well as anxiety and depression levels. CONCLUSION: Our results have shown worse pain, quality of life, anxiety and depression in group I, suggesting a better knowledge of potential postoperative complications aiming at preventing the establishment of an abnormal functionality pattern.
An Improved Dual-Mode Microstrip Ring Resonator Filter with Simple Geometry

An improved dual-mode microstrip ring resonator bandpass filter is presented. The new technique has a very simple geometry which leads to lower insertion loss, and makes the design less sensitive to fabrication tolerances and easier for accurate computer simulations. It allows the implementation of two transmission poles and two transmission zeros by using only one ring resonator. The measured results show excellent performance with 300 MHz 3dB bandwidth centred at 5.4 GHz and only 1dB insertion loss.
Balancing Multiple Competing Objectives with a Balanced Scorecard

This paper investigates how multiple and competing objectives are managed within an organisation, and the role that the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) plays in balancing organisational objectives. The issue of achieving multiple objectives, those which represent the interests of various stakeholders, has come to the forefront of the corporate agenda, as companies are seen increasingly as more than a source of profit for shareholders, but rather as ‘citizens’ playing a broader role in society. This study adopts an exploratory case study approach to understand how the BSC is used in management decision and control processes to assist with the balancing of objectives. The case organisation is a state-owned electricity company, and provides a unique setting where multiple and equally important strategic objectives exist. The results demonstrate that the BSC has the potential to help in making trade-offs and balancing objectives, but there are certain requirements for this to succeed. The paper provides insights into issues of balanced strategic management, as it discusses ‘balance’ in terms of both process and outcomes.
Wideband push-pull amplifier for high gradient cavity

A high gradient cavity (HGC) using high permeability magnetic alloy (MA) cores has been developed at KEK for the JHF (Japan Hadron Facility) proton synchrotrons. In this paper, we describe two types of push-pull amplifiers to drive the cavity, which were constructed for verifying the cavity performance. An accelerating voltage of 20 kV across the gap of the HGC was generated by the high power push-pull amplifier. This is equivalent to high gradient field of 50 kV/m. The other amplifier and the cavity were prepared for accelerating heavy ions at the HIMAC (Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba). For this purpose, it is necessary to sweep the frequency over the wide range from 1 MHz to 8 MHz.
Substrate Integrated Waveguide miniaturization using Slow Wave and Half Mode techniques

Here in this paper we present a new miniaturized SIW using two techniques together, the first is the Slow-Wave SIW and the second is the Half-Mode SIW. Combining these two techniques shows that we can miniaturize our SIW with a factor of 70%. Comparing to other published papers we have miniaturized the usual SW-SIW without decreasing the quality factor or increasing losses. Also a model for calculating the effective permittivity of these type of transmission line is proposed.
Do Inada Conditions imply Cobb-Douglas Asymptotic Behavior or only a Elasticity of Substitution equal to one

Barelli and De Breu Passoa proved that Inada conditions imply asymptotic Cobb-Douglas behavior of the production function. This was corrected by Litina and Palivos by putting that only the elasticity of substitution is equal to one. We will correct both proof and arguments and come up with a proof without limitations, leaving the conclusion of Barelli unaltered but with a less restrictive proof. Furthermore if Inada conditions apply then the elasticity of substitution is bounded.
Comparison of awareness of risk factors for coronary artery disease in medical and non-medical students of Karachi

Case presentation: A 66-year-old male presented to us with 3 days history of chest pain and difficulty breathing. He is known to be hypertensive. In the emergency room, patient has systolic blood pressure >190. Chest X-ray showed widening of mediastinum. CT angiography of chest and abdomen showed an acute dissection of the thoracic aorta extending from the mid ascending aorta to the infra-renal aorta suggestive of Stanford type A aortic dissection. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a calcified intimal flap just beyond the distal arch. Moreover, large partially calcified intimal flap was present in the abdominal aorta with no proximal clear cut extension. Normal ejection fraction was reported with dilated aortic root, dilated aortic arch, and large pericardial effusion with no evidence of cardiac tamponade. Trans-esophageal echocardiography was done later, and it revealed a partially calcified intimal flap in the distal portion of the arch and in the descending thoracic aorta in concordance with the trans-thoracic echocardiogram findings and no abnormalities were reported in the ascending aorta. These findings were significantly consistent with Stanford type B aortic dissection. Due to the discrepancy of these tests, imaging studies were reviewed, and repeated CT chest with contrast was obtained and surprisingly confirmed that he had Stanford type B aortic dissection, with the dissection starting distal to the left subclavian artery and intact ascending aorta. Medical treatment started, and repeated CT angiography was obtained and it confirmed type B aortic dissection. One week after discharge, patient was readmitted with severe neck pain and difficulty breathing. CT chest without contrast showed grossly stable appearance of type A dissection consistent with the first CT angiography. Cardiothoracic surgery immediately reevaluated the situation and recommended surgical intervention.
Orthogonal waveforms for multistatic and multifunction radar

Modern radar include more and more multiple functions and multiple channels as in the case of MPAR (Multifunction Phased Array Radar) and MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) radar. In this context sophisticated waveforms and related processing (pulse compression, extraction of information) are needed. Moreover, to avoid changes in target RCS and undesirable Doppler effects, the encoded waveforms (one for each channel) have to be transmitted simultaneously and at the same carrier frequency. The orthogonal property is required for the transmitted signals to separate them in reception. A good candidates to design signals that satisfy the orthogonal requirements are the Costas codes (CS) and the Phase Noise (PhaNo) signals. In this paper we present a comparison of the main characteristics of the CS and PhaNo considering as a reference the pair of "up" and "down" chirp (Linear-FM and Non-LFM).
Simulation and analysis of energy consumption for S-MAC and T-MAC protocols on wireless sensor network

The need for the energy consumption of wireless sensor networks (WSN) is a major and fundamental issue. Each node in a wireless sensor network is only supplied by a battery that it has a limited energy reserve. Each node in a wireless sensor network is also scatteredly laid on the sensor field that the contention-based MAC protocol scheme in WSN should be able to establish a communication link to transfer data. This research focused on analyzing the amount of energy consumption required for S-MAC protocol and T-MAC protocol. It continued with 802.11 MAC protocol. The simulation results show that the contention-based MAC protocol which can save energy or use low energy consumption is T-MAC protocol. Its ability to save energy is at least 25% better than that of S-MAC protocol. Its ability can be even better when compared with the 802.11 MAC protocol. If we use duty cycle as a variable which affects the energy consumption, the T-MAC protocol can save energy consumption 10% more than the S-MAC protocol can.