Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Observer-Based Adaptive Control

The work present in this master thesis relates to output feedback adaptive control and observer design of nonlinear systems, and in particular of robot manipulators. A continuous-time velocity observer and a discrete-time adaptive velocity observer for robots are shown, and an observer backstepping controller is also proposed, which can be used together with both the observers. The resulting closed-loop system is proven to be semiglobally asymptotically stable with respect to both the velocity observation error and the tracking error, and stable with respect to the parameter estimation error. Furthermore an on-line parameter estimation method for a class of nonlinear system is presented, which can be easily extended for the robot equation. Unfortunately the way to use it in combination with the previous observer-controller has not been found and it has not been used in the experiments. In the Appendix A some technical details about the al-gorithm implementation are included, and in the Appendix B a paper already submitted to the 2002 Conference in Decision and Control is included, in which the adaptive output-feedback control scheme is extended for ship control. All the work has been conducted in the Department of Automatic Control, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund University. (Less)
Hysteresis in Two-Dimensional Liquid Crystal Models

We make a numerical study of hysteresis loop shapes within a generalized two-dimensional Random Anisotropy Nematic (RAN) model at zero temperature. The hysteresis loops appear on cycling a static external ordering field. Ordering in these systems is history dependent and involves interplay between the internal coupling constant J, the anisotropy random field D, and the ordering external field H. Here the external field is represented by a traceless tensor, analogous to extension-type fields in continuum mechanics. The calculations use both a mean field approach and full lattice simulations. Our analysis suggests the existence of two qualitatively different solutions, which we denote as symmetric and symmetry breaking. For the set of parameters explored, only the symmetric solutions are stable. Both approaches yield qualitatively similar hysteresis curves, which are manifested either by single or double loops. But the quantitative differences indicate that mean field estimates are only of limited predictive value.
Structural identification of Humber Bridge for performance prognosis

Structural identification or St-Id is ‘the parametric correlation of structural response characteristics predicted by a mathematical model with analogous characteristics derived from experimental measurements’. This paper described a St-Id exercise on Humber Bridge that adopted a novel two-stage approach to first calibrate and then validate a mathematical model. This model was then used to predict effects of wind and temperature loads on global static deformation that would be practically impossible to observe. The first stage of the process was an ambient vibration survey in 2008 that used operational modal analysis to estimate a set of modes classified as vertical, torsional or lateral. In the more recent second stage a finite element model (FEM) was developed with an appropriate level of refinement to provide a corresponding set of modal properties. A series of manual adjustments to modal parameters such as cable tension and bearing stiffness resulted in a FEM that produced excellent correspondence for vertical and torsional modes, along with correspondence for the lower frequency lateral modes. In the third stage traffic, wind and temperature data along with deformation measurements from a sparse structural health monitoring system installed in 2011 were compared with equivalent predictions from the partially validated FEM. The match of static response between FEM and SHM data proved good enough for the FEM to be used to predict the un-measurable global deformed shape of the bridge due to vehicle and temperature effects but the FEM had limited capability to reproduce static effects of wind. In addition the FEM was used to show internal forces due to a heavy vehicle to to estimate the worst-case bearing movements under extreme combinations of wind, traffic and temperature loads. The paper shows that in this case, but limitations, such a two-stage FEM calibration/validation process can be an effective tool for performance prognosis.
Transformational responses to climate change: beyond a systems perspective of social change in mitigation and adaptation

There is a growing imperative for responses to climate change to go beyond incremental adjustments, aiming instead for society‐wide transformation. In this context, sociotechnical (ST) transitions and social–ecological (SE) resilience are two prominent normative agendas. Reviewing these literatures reveals how both share a complex‐systems epistemology with inherent limitations, often producing managerial governance recommendations and foregrounding material over social drivers of change. Further interdisciplinary dialogue with social theory is essential if these frameworks are to become more theoretically robust and capable of informing effective, let alone transformational, climate change governance. To illustrate this potential, ideas from Deleuze and Guattari's political writing as well as other approaches that utilize the notion social fields (as opposed to sociosystems) are combined to more fully theorize the origins and enactment of social change. First, the logic of systems is replaced with the contingency of assemblages to reveal how pluralism, not elitism, can produce more ambitious and politicized visions of the future. In particular, this view encourages us to see social and ecological tensions as opportunities for thinking and acting differently rather than as mere technical problems to be solved. Secondly, the setting of social fields is introduced to situate and explain the power of ideas and the role of agency in times of uncertainty. The potential of such insights is already visible in some strands of climate change mitigation and adaptation research, but more needs to be done to advance this field and to bring it into dialogue with the mainstream systems based literature. WIREs Clim Change 2016, 7:251–265. doi: 10.1002/wcc.384
Fragility Fractures in the Osteoporotic Patient: Special Challenges

Some physicians still give insuffi cient consideration to the long-term consequences of osteoporosis, even though affected patients who suffer one fragility fracture are three to fitimes more likely to incur another. Mechanical fi xation devices and bone graft substitutes are being used effectively by orthopedic surgeons to restore ambulation for many patients, but the best course of action to treat osteoporosis for the long term, and to maintain patients’ mobility, is a multidisciplinary program involving family internists, orthopedists, and other caregivers. BACKGROUND The statistics are staggering: in the U.S. today osteoporosis is estimated to affect 20 to 30 million individuals. One-third of all women between 60 and 70 years of age, and two-thirds of all women over 80 years of age develop osteoporosis. Their delicate bones carry a 50 percent lifetime risk of a fragility fracture, one-third of which (16 percent) involve the hip. The current annual incidence of fragility fractures approaches 1.7 million (400,000 hip fractures), with an annual healthcare expenditure of approximately $15 billion. These numbers are expected to quadruple by 2050, due, in part, to the aging of our population. 1 The number of North Americans more than 55 years old is expected to increase by at least 35 million in the next 20 years. 2 Yet, how well this population is
The Technological Bias Against Production Workers in United States Manufacturing 1949 – 1996

This paper presents quantitative estimates of the effects of technological change on the composition of production and non-production workers in manufacturing in the United States for the period 1950 – 1995. The paper separates the effects of relative wage change, biased technological change and changes in sectoral composition and estimates the effect of upward pressure on relative pay exerted by biased technological change.
Quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease undergoing respiratory rehabilitation

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease characterized by chronic airflow limitation, with significant systemic effects, which causes disability that results in the progressive deterioration of the patients’ quality of life. In addition to the pharmacological treatment, respiratory rehabilitation is one of the fundamental pillars of their treatment. Methods: This study aimed to measure the quality of life level of patients with COPD, who are undergoing respiratory rehabilitation. The empirical research was based on a cross-sectional, with correlation guidance, based on a quantitative approach and on the application of the SGRQ questionnaire to each participant. The study included 80 patients with COPD. From these, 38 did respiratory rehabilitation and 42 did not. All belonging to the area of influence of the Sousa Martins Hospital (ULS Guarda, EPE). The results were processed in SPSS (version 19). Results: Among the 80 patients who participated in the study, there were 65 male and 15 female. The average age was 70.89 years. The results obtained showed that all the participants in this study have decreased their quality of life in all domains (symptoms, activity, impact). In general, the quality of life, according to its average values, corresponds to 60.38%. In addition, there is a greater decrease of quality of life in those patients who did not undergo respiratory rehabilitation. These present average values higher in all domains: symptoms (58.87%), activity (78.31%), impact (53.58%) and total quality of life (62.16%). Conclusion: This study found that patients who did not undergo respiratory rehabilitation have a worse quality of life when compared with patients receiving this therapy.
Islamic Banking in Theory and Practice

Two aspects shape the relationship between Islam and finance. One is that Islamic law, the shari'a, claims to regulate all aspects of life, ethical and social, and to encompass criminal as well as civil jurisdiction. Every act of believers must conform to Islamic law and observe ethical standards derived from Islamic principles. These ethical principles define what is true, fair and just, the nature of corporate responsibilities and the priorities to society (Lewis, 2001). Second, in addition to providing a set of business ethics, certain Islamic economic and financial principles have a direct impact upon financial systems. These principles include, most importantly, the institution of zakat (the religious levy), and the prohibition of riba (usury) and the institution of an interest free economic system.
A Review of ICT Applications in Construction

In this review paper we compiled and demonstrated the trends and patterns of the research published on ICT Applications in the construction industry over the past two decades (1996-2016), through employing a five phases profiling methodology which generated an acceptable set of 68 out of 202 articles and papers indexed by Elsevier’s Scopus database. This paper reviews the utmost academic ICT applications and proposals/ initiatives in the construction industry taking an advantage of a previously generated research journal on ICT Technologies and Construction Tasks. A resulting classification of 11 categories of ICT Applications as appeared in literature along with their corresponding authors and dates was provided and discussed.
Using K-MADe for learning task modeling: interests and difficulties

Teaching user-centred software design covers many aspects. One of the most important ones is task modeling. Since task modeling contributes largely to the ergonomic quality and acceptance of the resulting software, it is essential for task modeling concepts to be well understood by future software designers. To this end, this study aims at evaluating a task model (K-MAD) and its associated tool (K-MADe) as regards the task modeling training. This article describes the rationale of the study, the model and the software tool used, the teaching steps, and the experience feedback on the practical use of the software. The latter identifies the benefits and disadvantages of this practical use from the teaching point of view, but also from a practical standpoint, including in terms of evolution of the models obtained and of their edition.
Impact of Instructional Object Based Card Game on Learning Mathematics: Instructional Design Nettle

This paper describes the design process of an Instructional Object Based Game (IOBG) which was designed using Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) principles and assesses its impact on the performance of students learning in mathematics as investigated from two sets of subjects. The unit of analysis consists of two hundred (200) Junior Secondary School 2 (JSS 2) students selected from 20 co- educational schools within Lagos Island and Eti-Osa educational Zones of Lagos State, Nigeria. Multi stage stratified random sampling was used to avoid interclass mixed situation. A fifty percent (50%) proportionate on each zone and stratified simple random sampling technique was adopted to give non mixed schools within the zones equal chance of being taken. A quasiexperimental control group design with repeated measures analysis of covariance was adopted. Two separate summary results of ANCOVA showed that F (1,199) = 12.88 @ p = 0.013 and F (1,193) = 13.00 at p = 0.00 implied that the use of OBG (game) in teaching and learning had significant effect on the performance of learners in Mathematics. The calculated mean scores and 2-way ANCOVA results also showed that gender has no significant influence on the performance of learners in either the used of IOBG or MAT.
The effect of pH on the slow-release behaviour of 1- and 2-naphthol from chitosan film

Abstract Chitosan (CTS) film was prepared by solution casting technique and characterized by means of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Besides swelling index, the CTS film was investigated as a slow-release matrix for 1- and 2-naphthol (pesticide precursors) under different pH conditions. Swelling index of the CTS film was determined in different pH conditions i.e. pH 2.59, 6.84 (distilled water) and 11.02. The swelling order was found; pH 2.59 > 6.84 > 11.02. Similarly, the slow-release study was carried out at pH 2.59, 6.84 and 11.02. Over all, the release amount was found higher in acidic medium followed by neutral and basic medium. This behaviour might be due to higher swelling and dissolution of CTS film in acidic medium whereas in neutral and basic medium CTS film swells moderately.
An Analysis of Exports and Growth in Pakistan

The paper examines the export-led growth (ELG) paradigm for Pakistan, using data of the period from 1970-71 to 2003-04. The paper uses a number of analytical tools, including Unit Root Test, Phillips- Perron Tests, Co-integration Johansen Test, and the Granger Tests. The paper sets three hypotheses for testing the ELG paradigm for Pakistan; (a) whether GDP and exports are cointegrated, (b) whether exports Granger cause growth, and (c) whether exports Granger cause investment. The time series data on GDP growth, export growth and investment GDP ratio (proxy for capital formation), and the labour employed were used. The data were tested for stationarity using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test and Phillips-Perron test (1988), and then the relationship between GDP growth rate and the growth rate of other variables was determined using OLS with AR (1). The major finding of the present study is that growth rate of export, total investment, and labour employed have positively affected the GDP growth rate
The Effect of HydroAlcoholic Extract of Strawberry Leaf on Sugar and Lipids in Serum of Diabetic Rats

Summary As rich sources of natural antioxidants, Herbs are used to cure many diseases in traditional medicine. The researches have shown that some herbal extracts have anti8 diabetic effect, so they can be used to lower blood sugar in people with diabetes. For elucidating the effects of strawberry on diabete, 24 male adult rats were randomly selected and divided into three groups as nondiabetic control; diabetic control and diabetic rats treated with hydroalcoholic extract of strawberry leaf. In diabetic groups, alloxan monohydrate (120 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally to develop diabetes. Then the Test group received intraperitoneal injection of hydro8alcoholic extract of strawberry leaf (100 mg/kg). At last, glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, and LDL contents of the rats' serum sample were determined. The findings show that using hydro8alcoholic extract of strawberry leaf decreased meaningfully glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride contents of diabetic rats' blood serum (p 0.05), but it didn't effected noticeably on LDL content. Considering these findings, it is found that strawberry leaf can be effective in decreasing blood sugar and fat in diabetic people due to presence of flavonoids and their antioxidant properties.
A NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF COMBUSTION PROCESS IN AN AXISYMMETRIC COMBUSTION CHAMBER

Combustion phenomenon is one of the most important problems involved in different industries, such as gas turbines, combustion chamber, melting of metals, etc. In this paper, combustion process of methane downstream of an axisymmetric sudden expansion in a circular pipe with a constant wall temperature has been studied. The conservation equations of mass, momentum, energy, and species as well as additional equations due to turbulence modeling have been numerically solved. The standard k-ε model and eddy dissipation combustion model has been used to simulate the turbulence and combustion phenomenon, respectively. Properties of gaseous mixture have been computed using the ideal gas equation of state. The governing equations have been discretized using a finite volume approach and power law scheme and the resulting set of algebraic equations has been solved simultaneously using the SIMPLER algorithm on a non-uniform staggered grid system. The numerical results have been compared with the other’s numerical results and experimental data.
Maximal supersymmetry, light-front dynamics and exceptional symmetries

In this talk I describe some recent work by Kim, Ramond and myself where we formulate N = 8 Supergravity in the light-front form. In this form the E 7(7) symmetry, which in the covariant formulation is just a duality symmetry and a non-linear σ-model symmetry in the bosonic fields at the level of the equations of motion, is shown to be a genuine symmetry much like the SuperPoincare symmetry and it is found that they are spanned on the same multiplet. Hence in this formulation the E 7(7) symmetry transforms all the physical degrees of freedom. Finally I argue that this formalism is well suited to discuss possible counterterms in order to examine the divergence properties of the perturbation expansion, a much discussed issue these days.
Seasonal variation in chemical composition, aroma volatiles and antioxidant capacity of pomegranate during fruit development

This study was conducted to investigate compositional changes and antioxidant capacities of pomegranate fruit (‘Bhagwa’ and ‘Ruby’) at five distinct stages of maturity over two growing seasons. Total soluble solids (TSS), pH, titratable acidity (TA), phenolic concentrations, antioxidant capacity and aroma volatile constituents were investigated. Principal component analysis (PCA) and Pearson correlation were used to visualize the changes in major chemical indices and the relationship among them. Results show that major compositional changes in fruit are developmentally regulated. Significant increases in total soluble solids (TSS), coupled with significant decline in titratable acidity (TA) and total phenolics (TP) occurred with advancing maturity. Fruit at advanced maturity stages were characterized by intense pigmentation of peel and aril, which coincided with maximum accumulation of anthocyanins. TSS and TA showed strong relationships with most of the chemical indices, each showing significantly (p < 0.05) strong correlations with phenolic components as well as with the antioxidant capacity (FRAP and DPPH) measured. There were no significant (p < 0.05) seasonal effects on juice absorbance (colouration) and TA for ‘Bhagwa’ as well as juice absorbance, TSS, TSS/TA and BrimA for ‘Ruby’. In combination, the identified maturity indices (absorbance, TSS, TSS:TA and BrimA level) would account for the evolution of juice colour, flavour and taste. The identified maturity indices for each cultivar could aid the search for reliable maturity markers to determine fruit readiness for harvest. Keywords: Antioxidant capacity, BrimA, ripeness, seasonality, pomegranate, South Africa. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(25), pp. 4006-4019
Risk aversion relates to cognitive ability: Preferences or Noise?

Recent experimental studies suggest that risk aversion is negatively related to cognitive ability. In this paper we report evidence that this relation may be spurious. We recruit a large subject pool drawn from the general Danish population for our experiment. By presenting subjects with choice tasks that vary the bias induced by random choices, we are able to generate both negative and positive correlations between risk aversion and cognitive ability. Our results suggest that cognitive ability is related to random decision making rather than to risk preferences. (JEL: C81, C91, D12, D81)