Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Offsite construction in the Australian low-rise residential buildings application levels and procurement options

PurposePrefabricated housing has become a boom industry across the world; however, the uptake of offsite construction (OSC) approaches in Australian low-rise buildings is rather low compared with high-rise buildings in other countries. This study aims to investigate and analyse the adoption of different levels of OSC approaches and the selection of different procurement options in Australian low-rise residential buildings.Design/methodology/approachThe research objectives were pursued through a mixed research method. An empirical questionnaire survey was carried out with 35 professionals in the Australian building and construction industry. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 interviewees and analysed using thematic analysis method in NVivo software.FindingsThe research results found that the most suitable OSC level for Australian low-rise buildings is components-based prefabrication and identified the barriers to OSC uptake for each OSC level. The study also showed that the best option of procuring prefabricated products is from Australian manufacturers, followed by Australian suppliers/dealers and overseas manufacturers. Panelised prefabrication and components-based prefabrication are ranked as the most suitable OSC approaches for Australian manufacturers. Modular prefabrication is regarded as the most suitable for overseas manufacturer, while components-based prefabrication is the most suitable for Australian suppliers/dealers.Originality/valueThe selection of various OSC approaches and different procurement options in the low-rise residential buildings are scarcely explored topic, and thus, this study provides knowledge of interest for both researchers and practitioners.
The Extended Alpha Power Transformed Family of Distributions: Properties and Applications

In this article, a new family of lifetime distributions by adding an additional parameter to the existing distributions is introduced. The new family is called, the extended alpha power transformed family of distributions. For the proposed family, explicit expressions for some mathematical properties along with estimation of parameters through Maximum likelihood Method are discussed. A special sub-model, called the extended alpha power transformed Weibull distribution is considered in detail. The proposed model is very flexible and can be used to model data with increasing, decreasing or bathtub shaped hazard rates. To access the behavior of the model parameters, a small simulation study has also been carried out. For the new family, some useful characterizations are also presented. Finally, the potentiality of the proposed method is showen via analyzing two real data sets taken from reliability engineering and bio-medical fields.
Output feedback control for quadratic systems: A Lyapunov function approach

This article deals with the design of quadratic and linear dynamic output feedback controllers for quadratic systems to ensure, on the one hand, local exponential stability of the origin in the closed‐loop form and, on the other hand, to increase an estimate of the basin of attraction of the origin as large as possible. The introduction of a quadratic term in the controller allows us to consider a controller in the same class of dynamics as the studied system. Here, our approach is to consider a Lyapunov function with respect to the extended state gathering the states of the system and the controller. The induced nonlinear inequalities are treated thanks to an auxiliary vector repeating the extended state adequately and by combining distinct linearization techniques to finally obtain linear matrix inequalities. For comparison purposes, we also provide another approach characterizing the extended state as belonging to a polytope in the state space. Numerical examples illustrate the results.
Green synthesised ZnO nanoparticles mediated by Olea europaea leaf extract and their antifungal activity against Botrytis cinerea infecting faba bean plants

Abstract This study evaluated the antifungal activity of NPs against Botrytis cinerea, the causal agent of grey mould, which is an important fungal diseases in several crops. In addition, a green method for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) employing aqueous extract of olive leaves (Olea europaea) was developed. Foliar extract was used as reducing biological agents for synthesising ZnO NPs. The ZnO NPs were characterised by a number of techniques, including UV–Vis spectrophotometry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDXMA). In addition, we determined the in vitro antifungal capacity of the synthesised ZnO NPs, by measuring the inhibitory effect on the growth of B. cinerea. Moreover, the protective and antifungal efficacy of ZnO NPs concentrations (0, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1000 μg/ml) was recorded under in vivo condition by foliar spray on detached leaves and whole faba bean (Vicia faba L. major) plants. Results showed that XRD analysis confirmed the presence of pure crystalline shapes of ZnO NPs. Spherical to hexagonal ZnO NPs, as depicted by SEM, were found to have diameters in the range of 11.0 to 60.0 nm, while XRD revealed a dominant average size of 17.41 nm in the sample. FTIR analysis suggested that phenols, flavonoids, glycosides and proteins may also play a major role in the formation of ZnO nanoparticles. According to the radial growth test, results showed that at the highest concentrations of ZnO NPs (400, 800 and 1000 ppm), the mycelial growth of B. cinerea was significantly inhibited after 12 days of incubation. Moreover, evaluation of the preventive effect of ZnO NPs foliar spray application on faba bean plants inoculated with B. cinerea, showed that the disease severity, the number of infected leaves, the shoot length, the shoot dry weight (DW), the total protein and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in leaves were negatively affected compared to the control (infected plants). Overall, the results of this study clearly indicate that the biosynthesized ZnO NPs have a promising antifungal activity which could be used as a fungicide for the protection of faba bean against B. cinerea.
Promotional Effects of Rare-Earth Praseodymium (Pr) Modification over MCM-41 for Methyl Mercaptan Catalytic Decomposition

Praseodymium (Pr)-promoted MCM-41 catalyst was investigated for the catalytic decomposition of methyl mercaptan (CH3SH). Various characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption–desorption, temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia (NH3-TPD) and carbon dioxide (CO2-TPD), hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR), and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), were carried out to analyze the physicochemical properties of material. XPS characterization results showed that praseodymium was presented on the modified catalyst in the form of praseodymium oxide species, which can react with coke deposit to prolong the catalytic stability until 120 h. Meanwhile, the strong acid sites were proved to be the main active center over the 10% Pr/MCM-41 catalyst by NH3-TPD results during the catalytic elimination of methyl mercaptan. The possible reaction mechanism was proposed by analyzing the product distribution results. The final products were mainly small-molecule products, such as methane (CH4) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Dimethyl sulfide (CH3SCH3) was a reaction intermediate during the reaction. Therefore, this work contributes to the understanding of the reaction process of catalytic decomposition methyl mercaptan and the design of anti-carbon deposition catalysts.
Morphology and Hemispheric and Gender difference of the Anterior Ascending Ramus and the Horizontal Ascending Ramus of the Lateral Sulcus

Broca’s area is composed of the pars opercularis (PO) and the pars triangularis (PTR) of the inferior frontal gyrus，which was separated by the anterior ascending ramus of lateral sulcus (aals) and the horizontal ascending ramus of the lateral sulcus (hals). The morphometry of these two sulci maybe have potential effects on the various functions of Broca’s area. To explore the morphology variation, hemispheric and gender difference of these two sulci, so as to enable better understanding of their patterns and the functions of the Broca’s area. BrainVISA was used to reconstruct and parameterize these two sulci with 3D MR images of 90 healthy right-handed subjects. The 3D anatomic morphology of these two sulci was presented using 4 sulcal parameters, including average depth (AD), average width (AW), top length (TL) and bottom length (BL). The aals could be identified in 98.89% of the hemispheres, while the hals could be identified in 98.33%. The morphological patterns of these two sulci were categorized into four main types. There were no statistically significant interhemispheric and gender differences in the frequency of the morphological patterns. There was statistically significant interhemispheric difference in BL of the aals and AW of the hals. Significant gender differences were found in the bilateral AD of the aals and the BL and TL of the hals in right hemisphere. Our results will not only provide structural basis for the functional studies that related to Broca’s area, but also be helpful for the precise positioning of special structures in neurosurgery.
In Planta Analysis of the Radial Movement of Minerals from Inside to Outside in the Trunks of Standing Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) Trees at the Cellular Level

Although the radial movement of minerals in tree trunks is a widely accepted phenomenon, experimental evidence of their movement in standing trees and underlying mechanisms is very limited. Previously, we clarified that cesium (Cs) artificially injected into the outer part of the sapwood of standing Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) trunks moved to the inner part of the sapwood, including the intermediate wood, via active transport by xylem parenchyma cells and diffusion through cell walls and then moved into the heartwood by diffusion. To understand the mechanism underlying the radial movement of minerals in the standing tree trunk, it is necessary to clarify their movement in the opposite direction. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the radial movement of minerals from inside to outside in the trunks of standing trees at the cellular level. For this, a long hole across the center part of the trunk, which reached the heartwood, intermediate wood, and sapwood, was made in standing Japanese cedar trunks, and a solution of stable isotope Cs was continuously injected into the hole for several days as a tracer. The injected part of the trunk was collected after being freeze-fixed with liquid nitrogen, and the frozen sample was subjected to analysis of Cs distribution at the cellular level using cryo-scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The Cs injected into the inner sapwood or intermediate wood rapidly moved toward the outer sapwood via xylem ray parenchyma cells together with diffusion through the cell walls. In contrast, the Cs injected into the heartwood barely moved to the sapwood, although it reached a part of the inner intermediate wood. These results suggest that minerals in xylem ray parenchyma cells in the sapwood are bidirectionally supplied to each other; however, the minerals accumulated in the heartwood may not be supplied to living cells.
Enhancing Students HIV/AIDS Prevention Skills through a Graphic Novel

South Carolina (SC) ranks 6th in the United States for new HIV cases (South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, DHEC, 2011). To reduce this troubling trend, education and prevention efforts are needed to raise young adults’ awareness of HIV/AIDS issues. Existing prevention information is rarely in a format that appeals to youth. Visuals in graphic novels can motivate students to read, and can aid in their understanding of text (see Carter, 2007, and Gavigan, 2011, for example). To meet this need, the researchers and a graphic illustrator, working with students in the SC Department of Juvenile Justice School District, developed an age-appropriate, culturally diverse graphic novel on HIV/AIDS, entitled, AIDS in the End Zone. It was tested with young adults in SC public libraries in 2013 using pre- and post- surveys to measure knowledge gains from reading the graphic novel. Preliminary results of the surveys will be discussed and focus group data will be presented. Ways in which the project could be replicated in other libraries and classrooms will also be discussed.
A new parameter identification method of a dual‐rotor flux‐modulation machine based on an adaptive differential evolution algorithm

With the wide applications of dual-rotor ﬂux-modulation machines for the growing wind power generations, research activities for the control of dual-rotor ﬂux-modulation machines are intensiﬁed in recent years. Most of the existing control schemes are based on indirect measurements of the d-axis inductance, the q-axis inductance and the stator resistance to achieve high torque density and low torque ripple for the dual-rotor ﬂux-modulation machines. However, conventional measurements of the d-axis inductance, the q-axis inductance and the stator resistance may suffer from (i) low accuracy and (ii) addi-tional sensor costs. To this end, an adaptive differential evolution algorithm is proposed to identify the machine parameters by considering the magnetic saturation and cross-coupling issue at low rotational speed of dual-rotor ﬂux-modulation machines. Finite element analysis is adopted in simulation to preliminarily monitor the actual machine parameter values based on the length and cross section area of the conductor and inductance matrix computation. Both simulation and experimental results reveal that the adopted adaptive differential evolution algorithm can identify the three parameters more steadily and accurately than the conventional genetic algorithm.
Nickel-Metal Hydride Batteries

AUGUST 2003 This information is generally descriptive only and is not intended to make or imply any representation, guarantee or warranty with respect to any cells and batteries. Cell and battery designs/specifications are subject to modification without notice. Contact Panasonic for the latest information. Overview As electronic products have come to feature more sophisticated functions, more compact sizes and lighter weights, the sources of power that operate these products have been required to deliver increasingly higher levels of energy. To meet this requirement, nickel-metal hydride batteries have been developed and manufactured with nickel hydroxide for the positive electrode and hydrogenabsorbing alloys, capable of absorbing and releasing hydrogen at high-density levels, for the negative electrode. Because Ni-MH batteries have about twice the energy density of Ni-Cd batteries and a similar operating voltage as that of Ni-Cd batteries, they have become a mainstay in rechargeable batteries. NICKEL METAL HYDRIDE BATTERIES
Short-term water demand predictions coupling an artificial neural network model and a genetic algorithm

The application of artificial neural network (ANN) models for short-term (15 min) urban water demand predictions is evaluated. Optimization of the ANN model's hyperparameters with a genetic algorithm (GA) and use of a growing window approach for training the model are also evaluated. The results are compared to those of commonly used time series models, namely the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model and a pattern-based model. The evaluations are based on data sets from two Canadian cities, providing 15 min water consumption records over respectively 5 years and 23 months, with a respective mean water demand of 14,560 and 887 m3/d. The GA optimized ANN model performed better than the other models, with Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiencies of 0.91 and 0.83, and relative root mean square errors of 6 and 16% for City 1 and City 2, respectively. The results of this study indicate that the optimization of the hyperparameters of an ANN model can lead to better 15 min urban water demand predictions, which are useful for many real-time control applications, such as dynamic pressure control.
Detecting Intra-Day Jumps in Stock Prices with High-Frequency Option Data

We develop a novel, option-based approach for detecting intraday jumps in stock prices. One of the components involved in intraday jump detection is instantaneous volatility, by which intraday returns are scaled. The existing intraday jump detection approaches assume that volatility does not change drastically over a short period, which, however, is in conflict with empirical evidence that volatility can exhibit large movements. We tackle this problem by introducing a method with a completely new proxy for instantaneous volatility, extracted from the option-implied volatility index. This allows us to detect jumps while there are large movements in volatility. We verify our approach with extensive ex-post Monte Carlo experiments. The results show that our approach is of high statistical power, is more robust to variation in volatility, and outperforms the baseline approaches from the literature in terms of both spurious and actual jumps. In the empirical part, we use eight years of high-frequency data on S&P 500 index options. We find that, in comparison with the conventional baseline approaches, our approach identifies fewer jumps, suggesting that true price variation coming from jumps is overstated. Moreover, our method identifies different locations for a large portion of jumps, which emphasizes the important role played by the volatility proxy.
Adsorption of lisinopril and chlorpheniramine from aqueous solution on dehydrated and activated carbons

Date palm leaflets were used as a precursor to prepare dehydrated carbon (DC) via phosphoric acid treatment at 150°C. DC, acidified with H3PO4, was converted to activated carbon (AC) at 500°C under a nitrogen atmosphere. DC shows very low surface area (6.1 m2/g) while AC possesses very high surface area (829 m2/g). The removal of lisinopril (LIS) and chlorpheniramine (CP) from an aqueous solution was tested at different pH, contact time, concentration, and temperature on both carbons. The optimal initial pH for LIS removal was 4.0 and 5.0 for DC and AC, respectively. However, for CP, initial pH 9.0 showed maximum adsorption on both carbons. Adsorption kinetics showed faster removal on AC than DC with adsorption data closely following the pseudo second order kinetic model. Adsorption increases with temperature (25°C–45°C) and activation energy (Ea) is in a range of 19–25 kJ mol/L. Equilibrium studies show higher adsorption on AC than DC. Thermodynamic parameters show that drug removal is endothermic and spontaneous with physical adsorption dominating the adsorption process. Column adsorption data show good fitting to the Thomas model. Despite its very low surface area, DC shows ~70% of AC drug adsorption capacity in addition of being inexpensive and easily prepared.
Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Academic Conferences by Online Participation: The Case of the 2020 Virtual European Consortium for Political Research General Conference

ABSTRACT This article investigates the impact that the decision to switch an academic conference to an online event had on its carbon footprint. Using the example of the biggest European Political Science conference, the European Consortium for Political Research General Conference, it comprehensively estimates the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the virtual event and by the hypothetical case, if the event had taken place physically, including emissions from electricity usage, travel, heating, and catering. The carbon footprint of the virtual conference turned out to be between at least 97 and 200 times smaller than it would have been if the meeting had taken place in person. Hybrid conferences, particularly if those participants from far away join the event online, combined with the promotion of land-bound travel for those attending in person—even if this means longer travel times than flying—could be a feasible compromise to reduce emissions by almost 90%.
Polymorphism of genes associated with infectious lung diseases in Northern Asian populations and in patients with community-acquired pneumonia

The innate immune system is the first to respond to invading pathogens. It is responsible for invader recognition, immune-cell recruitment, adaptive-immunity activation, and regulation of inflammation intensity. Previously, two single-nucleotide polymorphisms of innate-immunity genes – rs5743708 (Arg753Gln) of the TLR2 gene and rs8177374 (Ser180Leu) of the TIRAP gene – have been shown to be associated with both pneumonia and tuberculosis in humans, but the data are contradictory among different ethnic groups. It has also been reported that rs10902158 at the PKP3-SIGGIR-TMEM16J genetic locus belongs to a haplotype race-specifically associated with tuberculosis. Meanwhile, a gradient of its frequency is observed in Asia. The aim of this work was to assess the effect of selection for the genotypes of the above-mentioned SNPs on the gene pools of populations living in harsh climatic conditions that contribute to the development of infectious lung diseases. We estimated the prevalence of these variants in white and Asian (Chukchis and Yakuts) population samples from Northern Asia and among patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Carriage of the rs5743708 A allele was found to predispose to severe CAP (odds ratio 2.77, p = 0.021), whereas the GG/CT genotype of rs5743708/rs8177374 proved to be protective against it (odds ratio 0.478, p = 0.022) in white patients. No association of rs10902158 with CAP (total or severe) was found among whites. Stratification of CAP by causative pathogen may help eliminate the current discrepancies between different studies. No significant difference in rs5743708 or rs8177374 was found between adolescent and long-lived white samples. Carriage of the alleles studied is probably not associated with predisposition to longevity among whites in Siberia. Both white and Asian populations studied were different from Western European and East Asian populations in the variants’ prevalence. The frequency of the rs8177374 T (Ser180Leu) variant was significantly higher in the Chukchi sample (p = 0, χ2 = 63.22) relative to the East Asian populations. This result may confirm the hypothesis about the selection of this allele in the course of human migration into areas with unfavorable climatic conditions.