Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Piezo- and ferroelectric P(VDF-TrFE) films with inkjet-printed PEDOT:PSS electrodes: Preparation parameters and property evaluation

Thin layers of, poly-(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) with polystyrene sulfonic acid (PEDOT:PSS) were inkjet printed on polymer films of poly(vinylidene fluoride — trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)). Different ink formulations and the printing parameters were studied in order to optimize PEDOT:PSS layer deposition and the resulting film properties such as the layer homogeneity and conductivity. Printed PEDOT:PSS films were deposited at a temperature of only 30°C, they were partially transparent and they can be deposited with a unique shape or form. Electrical poling and piezoelectric properties of P(VDF-TrFE) layer with inkjet printed PEDOT:PSS electrodes were investigated. It was determined that layers printed from PEDOT:PSS inks with special surfactants and additives are suitable electrodes for ferroelectric polymers and piezoelectric transducers.
Compact dual-band bandpass filter using stepped impedance resonators

A modified λ /4 stepped impedance resonator (SIR) is proposed, in which a shunt open stub is loaded between the low impedance line and high impedance line of a conventional λ /4 SIR. Based on this modified λ/4 SIR a compact dual-band bandpass filter (BPF) with high selectivity is presented. Two transmission zeros (TZs) are generated near each passband for high selectivity. To demonstrate this method, a 2.4/5.2 GHz dual-band BPF for WLAN application has been designed, fabricated and measured. The measurement result shows four finite TZs in the stopband, located at 1.82, 3.14, 5.35, and 7.63GHz, respectively. The circuit only occupies 0.06 λg×0.09 λg.
Setting Headways on a Bus Route under Uncertain Conditions

Urban public transport is a sustainable transportation strategy. Promoting public transport is an important means of urban transport sustainable development. Reasonable operation scheduling can increase the attractiveness of public transit systems and be conducive to the sustainability of transportation systems. Setting headways on a bus route is the key work of bus scheduling. For the refined management requirements of bus scheduling, this paper comprehensively considers the influence of three uncertainties on the bus route headway: passenger demand elasticity, which is an elasticity with respect to the supply of service, the randomness of the bus travel time between bus stops, and the abandoned passengers flow. A bus route headway allocation model is established. Considering the attractiveness of bus traveling and the interests of passengers, the objective functions are the maximum number of passengers waiting for the bus at each stop and the minimum number of passengers who fail to board. An enumeration combining a recursive algorithm under Monte Carlo random simulation conditions is designed to solve the problem. A comparison of the optimal bus departure interval (headway of the origin stop) under different conditions is studied using a numerical case. Under the same conditions, the results show that the model proposed in this paper can reduce the passengers waiting time and attract more passengers traveling by bus and it also meets the goal of sustainable public transport well. These findings are significant references for optimizing bus operations considering these uncertain factors.
A Phase Locked Loop-Based Approach to Real-Time Modal Analysis on Synchrophasor Measurements

This paper presents a phase locked loop-based approach for real-time estimation of electro-mechanical modal properties of slow-frequency oscillations in a power grid. The approach utilizes a closed-loop feedback control system to automatically adjust a locally generated signal to optimally fit the targeted signal from real-time measurements in order to obtain modal properties directly from the local signal. The paper tests the approach on a variety of datasets including simulated and real synchrophasor data. Compared to a traditional spectral analysis based approach, this new approach has better adaptability and accuracy especially when the length of a measured signal is limited, or the signal contains modes with close frequencies or has floating modal properties, which is not unusual in a power grid due to its nonlinearity. Applied to wide-area synchrophasor measurements, the new approach may help system operators monitor slow-frequency oscillations, especially inter-area modes, which is important for a smart grid to maintain angular stability under disturbances.
Electrical characterization of millimeter-wave interconnects on low-k and low-loss oxides for advanced 3D silicon interposers

This paper presents electrical characterization of millimeter wave interconnects on oxides to realize routing layers and through-Silicon-Vias interconnections in 3D silicon interposers. As a compromise has to be found between good RF performances and temperature compliant with 3D integration technology, a wide variety of oxide insulators are tested using coplanar waveguide transmission lines. Effects increasing microwave losses are discussed, mainly losses due to the presence of charge carriers at the silicon/oxide interface but also due to light radiation and environment.
Modeling and optimization of a separator for granular mixtures composed of multiple insulating materials

The aim of this work is to validate the two-stage design of an electrostatic separator for recycling of plastics from granular waste electrical and electronic equipment WEEE. This separator, which combines two different methods of tribocharging, is specially built for processing ternary mixtures of granular materials. The experiences were performed on a mixture of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), High impact polystyrene (HIPS) and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS). The purity of the obtained products was analyzed by using a program of image processing written in MATLAB. High purities (more than 81% for the PVC, 75% for the HIPS, and 97% for PA) were obtained at a recovery rate higher than 80%.
Next‐generation integrated drive: A high power density permanent magnet synchronous drive with flooded stator cooling

The next-generation integrated drive (NGID) is an 80 kW demonstrator showcasing the latest innovations in high power density electric drive technology. A prototype 30 krpm maximum speed permanent magnet synchronous machine for an automotive traction application is under construction. This study describes several aspects of the detailed design and how these fit together in the complete drive package to increase the power density of the NGID.
REAL-TIME CONFOCAL LASER MICROSCOPY FOR DIAGNOSTICS OF THYROID DISEASES (FIRST EXPERIENCE)

In this study were the results of application of the first real-time laser confocal microscopy in intraoperative study at various thyroid diseases. The study was conducted in 34 patients aged from 24 to 55 years. Among them were 20 (58.8%) patients with nontoxic multinodular goiter, 8 (23.5%) with thyroid adenoma and 6 (17.6%) patients with thyroid carcinoma.
Gap Waveguide With Interdigital-Pin Bed of Nails for High-Frequency Applications

A new kind of contactless electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure in the form of interdigital-pin bed of nails is introduced for the first time in this paper. It consists of two metal plates with interdigital-pin bed of nails face to face with each other, where each pin is surrounded by four pins on the other plate. The working mechanism of the interdigital-pin contactless EBG structure is suppressing the modes supported by the parallel plate waveguide (PPW) by loading interdigital pins inside the PPW. The advantage of the interdigital-pin lattice is there is a significant pin gap increase. This lattice makes the minimum pin gap that could be processed by the machining center, after assembling, reduced from the diameter of the milling clutter to its radius. It provides a way to process EBG structures at higher frequency band with the same milling cutter. The cases the pins allocated between the two plates in a random manner are also studied. Compared to its traditional counterpart, the stopband is stable with a small variation. A W-band groove gap waveguide (GGW) prototype with interdigital-pins and a Ka-band GGW with randomly allocated pins are designed, manufactured, and tested. The measured results agree well with the simulation.
Characteristics comparison of a conventional and modified spoke-type ferrite magnet motor for traction drives of low-speed electric vehicles

Rare-earth magnets have been widely employed for traction drive motors of hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) due to high energy density. Nevertheless, the magnets have critical problems such as unstable supply and high cost. Recently, in order to solve the problems, a variety of motors not using rare-earth materials have been reviewed such as an induction motor, a switched reluctance motor, and a spoke-type ferrite magnet motor (FMM). In this paper, a modified spoke-type FMM with a novel rotor configuration is presented for a traction motor of low-speed EVs. The characteristics of the modified spoke-type FMM are numerically compared with a conventional spoke-type FMM at the same design condition. Finally, the modified spoke-type FMM is fabricated and tested in order to verify its performance and feasibility.
Surgical Risk Assessment and Prevention in Elderly Spinal Deformity Patients

Introduction: Prevalence of adult deformity surgery in the elderly individuals continues to increase. These patients have additional considerations for the spine surgeon during surgical planning. We perform an informative review of the spinal and geriatric literature to assess preoperative and intraoperative factors that impact surgical complication occurrences in this population. Significance: There is a need to understand surgical risk assessment and prevention in geriatric patients who undergo thoracolumbar adult deformity surgery in order to prevent complications. Methods: Searches of relevant biomedical databases were conducted by a medical librarian. Databases searched included MEDLINE, Web of Science, CINAHL, IPA, Cochrane, PQ Health and Medical, SocINDEX, and WHO’s Global Health Library. Search strategies utilized Medical Subject Headings plus text words for extensive coverage of scoliosis and surgical technique concepts. Results: Degenerative scoliosis affects 68% of the geriatric population, and the rate of surgical interventions for this pathology continues to increase. Complications following spinal deformity surgery in this patient population range from 37% to 62%. Factors that impact outcomes include age, comorbidities, blood loss, and bone quality. Using these data, we summarize multimodal risk prevention strategies that can be easily implemented by spine surgeons. Conclusions: After evaluation of the latest literature on the complications associated with adult deformity surgery in geriatric patients, comprehensive perioperative management is necessary for improved outcomes. Preoperative strategies include assessing physiological age via frailty score, nutritional status, bone quality, dementia/delirium risk, and social activity support. Intraoperative strategies include methods to reduce blood loss and procedural time. Postoperatively, development of a multidisciplinary team approach that encourages early ambulation, decreases opiate use, and ensures supportive discharge planning is imperative for better outcomes for this patient population.
A LITERATURE REVIEW OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM (1990-2016)

Purpose of the study—Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world. Just like an enterprise today, sustainability is the long-term objective pursued by tourism industry. However, little effort has been made to systematically provide sufficient information to academicians and practitioners who have great research interests in sustainable tourism. Therefore, this paper aims to figure out the knowledge mapping of sustainable tourism and to indicate its research hot spots and trends for future research. Methodology—This paper surveys the development trajectory of sustainable tourism using a literature review and classification of articles retrieved from 5 online databases with solo keyword “sustainable tourism” from 1900 to 2016. Main findings—Based on the scope of 641 articles, this study reveals that the number of publication on sustainable tourism has significantly increased since 2006. In addition, these articles are scattered across 125 journals and mostly published in 23 academic journals. The majority of targeted countries/regions for sustainable tourism focus on Asia, Europe and America. Limitation—Restricted to limited knowledge, we make a brief literature survey on sustainable tourism from 1990-2016 to explore how sustainable tourism and its applications have developed in this period. Originality/value—In fact, sustainable tourism is a belief and an overall concept in every tourism activities. Though this research has done lots, it still has rooms to make more complete. Finally, we present a conceptual framework integrating 13 classifications criteria derived from our analysis with 3247 keywords. Most interestingly, we further present a conceptual framework with a visual effect to operationalize the coverage of sustainable tourism. Based on our analysis, any researcher can easily find the popular and right journal to get into it, if he/she is in need, he/she also can roughly know its applications so far and completely get a whole picture of sustainable tourism quickly.
Reduction of injection voltage in signal injection sensorless drives using capacitor-integrated inverter

In signal injection sensorless drives, the injection voltage can't be reduced under a certain value. The lower limit of the injection voltage mainly comes from the inverter nonlinearity that distorts the injection voltage and degrades the position estimation performance. After analyzing the inverter nonlinearity during the voltage injection, it is revealed that the parasitic capacitances of IGBT switches have a positive effect on sensorless control. Based on this analysis, this paper proposes a method to reduce the injection voltage by connecting additional capacitors to the inverter output. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed idea. In the experiment, using the capacitor-integrated inverter, the injection voltage can be reduced to less than a half without degrading sensorless control performance.
The Impact of Greenways and Trails on Proximate Property Values: An Updated Review

In the 1980s a “perfect storm” emerged that enabled trails and greenways to move to a central role in contemporary discussions of urban planning. It was comprised of three elements: Railbanking legislation that preserved railroad corridor rights-of-way and authorized their conversion to trails; federal funding for trails in transportation bills; and a public perception of trails as a priority urban infrastructure amenity. When trails are retrofitted through communities, they are invariably opposed by some proportion of proximate property owners who fear a devaluation of their property. To address this issue, a number of opinion surveys were administered between 1978 and 2006 to residents living proximate to trails. 16 such studies were reviewed. They revealed that in both urban and rural contexts only 6% perceived the trail to negatively impact their property value. However, while 47% of the 2,647 respondents living close to one of the 22 urban trails believed it increased their property’s value, this was believed by only 16% of the 1,212 who resided proximate to one of 10 rural trails. Opinion data provide general impressions, but they lack empirical verification and quantitative dollar amounts. The emergence of GIS technology and hedonic analysis in the post-2000 era remedied these limitations. Twenty hedonic analyses were identified and their results showed that proximity to a trail resulted in home prices that typically were between 3% and 5% higher than those of comparable homes in the area. In the past decade, several cities have developed urban mega-trails which are defined as large-scale investments that receive enduring visibility, have long-term mass appeal, and have a substantial impact on a community’s image and identity. Reviews of hedonic analyses undertaken at the three most prominent mega-trails in New York City, Chicago, and Atlanta confirmed the proximate premiums were generally much higher than those of ordinary trails. Invariably, this created a need to address issues of gentrification and social justice. The review’s findings suggest that future research on trails should focus on two nuances. First, it is clear that trails are not homogeneous. There is a need for studies to differentiate among trails with diverse characteristics. Second, the use of electronic data bases has resulted in hedonic analyses incorporating larger samples drawn from more expansive geographical areas. A consequence of this “scaling up” is that potentially substantial differences in the local impact of trails are obscured because only average values are reported. The averages likely underrepresent the impact of some trails and over-represent that of others. The need is for trail specific studies that disaggregate the data by specifying the characteristics of both trail type and abutting demographics. Subscribe to JPRA
Dynamic Estimation of the Auditory Temporal Response Function from MEG in Competing-Speaker Environments.

OBJECTIVE A central problem in computational neuroscience is to characterize brain function using neural activity recorded from the brain in response to sensory inputs with statistical confidence. Most of existing estimation techniques, such as those based on reverse correlation, exhibit two main limitations: first, they are unable to produce dynamic estimates of the neural activity at a resolution comparable with that of the recorded data, and second, they often require heavy averaging across time as well as multiple trials in order to construct statistical confidence intervals for a precise interpretation of data. In this paper, we address the above-mentioned issues for estimating auditory temporal response function (TRF) as a parametric computational model for selective auditory attention in competing-speaker environments. METHODS The TRF is a sparse kernel which regresses auditory MEG data with respect to the envelopes of the speech streams. We develop an efficient estimation technique by exploiting the sparsity of the TRF and adopting an `1-regularized least squares estimator which is capable of producing dynamic TRF estimates as well as confidence intervals at sampling resolution from singletrial MEG data. RESULTS We evaluate the performance of our proposed estimator using evoked MEG responses from the human brain in an auditory attention experiment with two competing speakers. The TRFs are estimated dynamically over time using the proposed technique with multi-second resolution, which is a significant improvement over previous results with a temporal resolution of the order of a minute. CONCLUSION Application of our method to MEG data reveals a precise characterization of the modulation of M50 and M100 evoked responses with respect to the attentional state of the subject at multi-second resolution. SIGNIFICANCE Our proposed estimation technique provides a high resolution real-time attention decoding framework in multispeaker environments with potential application in smart hearing aid technology.
High thermal conductivity epoxy/BN composites with sufficient dielectric breakdown strength

Various types of epoxy/BN composites were prepared to optimize material conditions for high thermal conductivity and high breakdown strength. The best composite was found to be epoxy/conglomerated h-BN/nano silica nano micro composite with thermal conductivity 12 W/m·K and BD strength 15 kVpeak/0.2 mm. One of the most important factors to obtain high values of the two performances is to reduce void content. Surface treatment of fillers and nano filler addition are also useful.
Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA)

Meta-analysis of panel data is uniquely suited to uncovering phenomena that develop over time, but extant approaches are limited. There is no straightforward means of aggregating findings of primary panel studies that use different time lags and different numbers of waves. We introduce continuous time meta-analysis (CoTiMA) as a parameter-based approach to meta-analysis of cross-lagged panel correlation matrices. CoTiMA enables aggregation of studies using two or more waves even if there are varying time lags within and between studies. CoTiMA thus provides meta-analytic estimates of cross-lagged effects for a given time lag regardless of the frequency with which that time lag is used in primary studies. We describe the continuous time underpinnings of CoTiMA, its advantages over discrete-time, correlation-based meta-analysis of structural equation models (MASEM), and how CoTiMA would be applied to meta-analysis of panel studies. An example is then used to illustrate the approach. We also conducted Monte Carlo simulations demonstrating that bias is larger for time category–based MASEM than for CoTiMA under various conditions. Finally, we discuss data requirements, open questions, and possible future extensions.
T-S model based fuzzy logic controller for AGC system after deregulation considering DPM

A novel fuzzy logic controller based on T-S model is proposed for automatic generation control (AGC) system after deregulation. In this paper, the traditional AGC is modified to take into account the effect of the nonlinearity and bilateral contracts on the dynamics, since the restructured AGC system is now exposed to sudden, larger changes and the bilateral contracts are concerned. The generation rate constraint (GRC) is firstly constructed in T-S model to design the fuzzy logic controller, while the valve position limits on the governor are under consideration as well. The concept of DISCO participation matrix (DPM) is introduced to simulate the bilateral contracts. Sufficient conditions for the asymptotic convergence of the whole system are provided in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMI). The current control scheme is compared with conventional proportional and integral (PI) controller in case 1, which indicates the proposed controller has better performance than the other while nonlinearity is concerned. The effect of bilateral contracts is simulated in case 2.