Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Grey Modeling Method and its Application in Prediction of Aviation Safety Time Series

To realize the reasonable and effective safety management and decision-making in aviation productive activity, the flight safety time series can be used to mine the statistical law for the assistant of accident prevention. Based on this purpose, Grey modeling theory is introduced in the field of the aviation safety analysis. The actual example shows that, the established GM (1, 1) model for flight mishap data of USAF has a good prediction for future years, especially for the accident data that follows or approximates the exponential law.
Affordable housing on contaminated land in Johannesburg : research article

The intention of this article is to look at radon contamination; the various housing design solutions that may be implemented to overcome the problem; as well as the possibility that private developers will buy into this form of development. It is not sufficient to have designs and a population willing to live on this land if private developers are not willing to take a risk and develop these sites (Simons et al., 2006). By addressing these issues, three questions shall be answered: 1. What are the potential complications in building housing on mining dumps? 2. What are the practical solutions for dealing with housing in such areas? 3. Are private developers willing to develop contaminated land? The actual cost of construction on the sites although important to the overall feasibility of development shall not be discussed. This component certainly needs further research in order to sufficiently grasp the willingness to develop on behalf of the developers. From the onset of this research, the developers showed some ignorance towards the issues of radon contamination. They did show willingness to develop certain types of designs, but the recommendation of the research is the need for education to facilitate the use of this contaminated sites. Die bedoeling van hierdie artikel is om na radon besmette terreine te kyk; die verskillende huis ontwerp oplossings wat geimplimenteer kan word om die probleem te oorkom; asook die moontlikheid van privaat ontwikkelaars wat in hierdie tipe ontwikkeling sal wil bele. Dit is nie genoeg om ontwerpe en 'n populasie gewillig om op hierdie grond te bly te he indien privaat ontwikkelaars nie bereid is om 'n risiko te neem en in hierdie terreine bele nie (Simons et al., 2006). Deur hierdie sake aan te spreek sal drie vrae beantwoord word: 1. Wat is die potensiele komplikasies om huise op ou mynhope te bou? 2. Wat is die praktiese oplossings wanneer met huise in hierdie areas gewerk word? 3. Is privaat ontwikkelaars gewillig om hierdie besmette terreine te ontwikkel? Die werklike konstruksiekoste van hierdie terreine alhoewel belangrik tot die oorhoofse lewensvatbaarheid van ontwikkeling sal nie bespreek word nie. Hierdie komponent vereis verdere navorsing om die bereidheid van ontwikkeling namens die ontwikkelaars genoegsaam aan te spreek. Uit die navorsing blyk dit dat ontwikkelaars die sake oor radon besmette terreine grootliks ignoreer. Ontwikkelaars het wel bereidwilligheid getoon om sekere tipes ontwerpe te ontwikkel. Die aanbeveling is dat daar 'n behoefte bestaan vir inligting rondom hoe om die gebruik van besmette land te fasiliteer.
Technology Review of Multi-Agent Systems and Tools

Abstract : This document provided a review of current intelligent multi-agent technologies. It presents agent frameworks and agent construction toolkits available in the market today. The Navy Web-based Marketplace is a suitable environment for intelligent multi-agent technologies, where a distributed peer-to-peer process is the essential model with inter-agent communications and coordination. Reasoning with rules of thumb and heuristics are currently common practice as commands define their preferences and detailers make job assignments. This report provides recommendations for agent system development, agent framework, inference engines, and agent construction toolkits. A high-level system architecture is proposed to meet Navy Web-based Marketplace functional requirements. There are three major components of the proposal: (1) a web services-based, front-end at the presentation layer that provides friendly access for Sailors, commands, detailers, and counselors; (2) a workflow layer that provides support for business processes of the various user groups; and (3) and intelligent agent layer that provides the framework through which the agents communicate and negotiate for optimal matches between available Navy jobs and Sailors.
Formazione delle classi scolastiche e guadagni d’efficienza

The paper illustrates and analyses the results of simulations meant to estimate - drawing upon data from the whole set of public primary and secondary schools - the efficiency gains coming from class sizing techniques and based on a decisionmaking level higher than the current one. Three different aggregation units are considered: a) Municipality b) post code belonging to a given school district, c) a particular mixture of the preceding two. In addition to the analysis of efficiency gains - expressed in terms of reductions in the number of classes - this study applies some criterions to obtain an initial evaluation of discomforts that the restructuring process provides by shifting part of the school population.
Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Agrifood System and Global Value Chains (GVCs); Perception of China and the World

Covid-19 is a global public health catastrophe with repercussions for all facets of life. This paper reviewed the impact of Covid-19 on the Agrifood System and Global Value Chains (GVCs) with respect to China and the world. Literature from Peer-reviewed articles, trending news and related authentic online reports was objectively gathered and used in this review. China has been playing a substantial role as both a supply and demand nucleus in traditional trade and simple Agrifood GVC networks. However, the review established that Covid-19 has had a substantial impact on the overall GVCs and the Agrifood system of both China and the world. While the impact on China was obvious through the decline in GDP growth rate in 2020, the decline in Agrifood annual growth and the rampant job losses in the Agrifood sector, its overall economy has been less affected relative to the global economy. This is essentially owing to the Chinese vigorous and effective counter-measures to control the outbreak and ensure food security and economic resilience. We, therefore, concluded that the world should emulate China’s Covid-19 counter-measures. Additionally, determinations to abate the disruption of Covid-19 on GVCs and encourage Agrifood trade can engender both short- and long-term paybacks.
The Influence of Environment Contexts on Purchase-Decision Involvement

Mobile devices are becoming increasingly entrenched in the on-line purchasing cycle. Thus the requirement for recommender systems to become truly context-aware remains an issue if they are to be effective under different situations atypical with mobility. We adopt a number of established theories to investigate the relationship between physical and modal contexts and levels of purchase-decision involvement as used for measuring a consumer’s state of mind towards a specific product purchase. We extend the understanding of the positive correlation between purchase-decision involvement and user affective state by demonstrating that different situations can reduce or increase this correlation for highinvolvement products. We explore environment stressors including noise, distractions and crowding together with levels of familiarity with people and environment to categorise unfavourable physical situations. We demonstrate that these situations can be used to inform context-aware systems to optimise engagement with consumer’s decision processes.
Investigating Soil Strength and Stress-strain Indices to Characterize Erodibility

Defining the factors that influence the erosion resistance of a soil and developing methods that aid in quantification is important to many aspects of engineering, conservation, and pollution control. In this study, initial soil strength indices and stress-strain characteristics were investigated as potential indicators for characterizing the erosion resistance of two compacted soils. Cone penetrometer, pocket penetrometer, and unconfined compressive strength and stress-strain measurements were obtained as a function of compaction water content percent and dry unit weight. Tests were conducted over a range from 8 to 22% water content and 1.0 to 1.9 Mg/m3 dry unit weight. Based on the results, initial soil strength alone was not a good indicator of erosion resistance. The measured stress-strain characteristics, however, appeared to have potential in providing useful information on erosion resistance.
Investigation of Thermoplastic Polyurethane Finger Cushion with Magnetorheological Fluid for Soft-Rigid Gripper

This paper presents a study of penetrating a pin into a magnetorheological fluid (MR) cushion focused on the force measurement. The research is supported by detailed finite element analysis (FEA) of the magnetic field distributions in several magnetic field exciters applied to control rheological properties of the MR inside the cushion. The cushion is a part of the finger pad of the jaw soft-rigid gripper and was made of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) using 3D printing technology. For the pin-penetrating setup, the use of a holding electromagnet and a magnetic holder were considered and verified by simulation as well as experiment. In further simulation studies, two design solutions using permanent magnets as the source of the magnetic field in the cushion volume to control MR fluid viscosity were considered. The primary aim of the study was to analyze the potential of using an MR fluid in a cushion pad and to investigate the potential for changing its viscosity using different magnetic field sources. The analysis included magnetic field simulations and tests of pin penetration in the cushion as an imitation of object grasping. Thus, an innovative application of 3D printing and TPU to work with MR fluid is proposed.
Sustainable Energy @ Puerto Rico

During the last 15 years a renewed interest and growth in renewable energy (RE) processes emerged. It was driven by strong environmental movements, oil dependence/depletion concerns and lately national security concerns. Several RE technologies such as wind, niche photovoltaic and biodiesel are presently very competitive in certain applications versus their oil counterparts especially in Europe and certain locations in the mainland United States. Others are slowly penetrating certain markets such as fuel cells. In the discussion section an overview of the most mature RE technologies will be given focusing on their potential implementation in Puerto Rico. The discussion section will also include findings from an ongoing study at the municipality of Caguas who is becoming the sustainable model for Puerto Rico including energy. The overall analysis includes some elements of social, technical, cultural, political and economic criteria. In the latter capital, operating costs and foot print will be considered. Also sensitivity analyses will be performed regarding the energy generation potential of these processes. The technologies included are photovoltaic, wind energy, fuel cells, concentrated solar power and solar thermal water heating. These are referred to as near term implementation technologies. Other medium/long term ocean energy technologies will be discussed including tide, waves and ocean thermal. The last discussion subsection will briefly consider the area of transportation fuels (gasoline and diesel). In the last section an implementation plan will be presented for these processes including the University of Puerto Rico @ Mayaguez (UPRM) capabilities and potential role in this puertorrican SAGA (Sol, Aire, Gente and Agua). Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Study on Comparative Analysis of Camera Calibration

Several error factors exist when restoring three-dimensional images from two-dimensional images acquired by cameras. In particular, studies that interpret error factors from camera parameters are critical to stereo convergence and three-dimensional image restoration performance. Several error factors exist when restoring three-dimensional images from two-dimensional images acquired by cameras. In particular, in order to interpret the error factors arising from the camera parameters, the camera inspection was performed by applying the methods of calibration of the Tsai camera and the Direct Linear Transformation (DLT) camera calibration using various images entered by the camera. The camera inspection was carried out by applying the method of calibration of the Tsai camera and the method of calibration of the DLT camera. The performance of each camera calibration method was compared by presenting the results of evaluating stereo convergence and restoration performance using camera parameters obtained through camera tests. Modeling techniques for the camera test process were presented through this study. In the future, it is believed that these findings will be used as basic data for image information correction when obtaining image information from the imaging system.
Tribology of Microball Bearing MEMS

Title of Document: TRIBOLOGY OF MICROBALL BEARING MEMS Brendan Michael Hanrahan, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Directed By: Professor Reza Ghodssi, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Institute for Systems Research This dissertation explores the fundamental tribology of microfabricated rolling bearings for future micro-machines. It is hypothesized that adhesion, rather than elastic hysteresis, dominates the rolling friction and wear for these systems, a feature that is unique to the micro-scale. To test this hypothesis, specific studies in contact area and surface energy have been performed. Silicon microturbines supported on thrust bearings packed with 285 μm and 500 μm diameter stainless steel balls have undergone spin-down friction testing over a load and speed range of 10-100mN and 500-10,000 rpm, respectively. A positive correlation between calculated contact area and measured friction torque was observed, supporting the adhesion-dominated hysteresis hypothesis. Vapor phase lubrication has been integrated within the microturbine testing scheme in a controlled and characterized manner. Vapor-phase molecules allowed for specifically addressing adhesive energy without changing other system properties. A 61% reduction of friction torque was observed with the utilization of 18% relative humidity water vapor lubrication. Additionally, the relationship between friction torque and normal load was shown to follow an adhesion-based trend, highlighting the effect of adhesion and further confirming the adhesion-dominant hypothesis. The wear mechanisms have been studied for a microfabricated ball bearing platform that includes silicon and thin-film coated silicon raceway/steel ball materials systems. Adhesion of ball material, found to be the primary wear mechanism, is universally present in all tested materials systems. Volumetric adhesive wear rates are observed between 4x10 -4 μm 3 /mN•rev and 4x10 -5 μm 3 /mN•rev were determined by surface mapping techniques and suggest a selflimiting process. This work also demonstrates the utilization of an Off-The-Shelf (OTS) MEMS accelerometer to confirm a hypothesized ball bearing instability regime which encouraged the design of new bearing geometries, as well as to perform in situ diagnostics of a high-performance rotary MEMS device. Finally, the development of a 3D fabrication technique with the potential of significantly improving the performance of micro-scale rotary structures is described. The process was used to create uniform, smooth, curved surfaces. Micro-scale ball bearings are then able to be utilized in high-speed regimes where load can be accommodated both axially and radially, allowing for new, high-speed applications. A comprehensive exploration of the fundamental tribology of microball bearing MEMS has been performed, including specific experiments on friction, wear, lubrication, dynamics, and geometrical optimization. Future devices utilizing microball bearings will be engineered and optimized based on the results of this dissertation. TRIBOLOGY OF MICROBALL BEARING MEMS
Monolithic 38 GHz dielectric resonator oscillator

A 38 GHz monolithic DRO (dielectric resonator oscillator) incorporating a 0.3 micron HEMT (high electron mobility transistor) has been designed using a small-signal design procedure. Ten DROs have been tested, seven of which were found to be fully working at RF and gave output powers up to 0 dBm. The temperature coefficient of the frequency of oscillation was -2.1 ppm/ degrees C and the phase noise was -68 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz from carrier. The DRO is potentially inexpensive when produced in high volume and is suitable for a local oscillator in a broadband telecommunications system. <<ETX>>
Flexible hierarchical control of an automated assembly line

The paper describes an application of three-level, hierarchical control to a simple assembly line for micro-bearings. This approach ensures that the whole control system is flexible, reliable, easily maintained, and inexpensively installed. Each work station controller, located at the lowest level, performs an individual assembly operation. The station controller is a dedicated small programmable logic controller (PLC) based on Petri nets. A number of separate assembly operations are formed into an assembly line which is controlled by an assembly line controller which is in the middle level. A low-cost local area network (LAN) is employed to interconnect the station controllers and line controllers. The lower-level communication is implemented at much reduced cost. To guarantee correct operations of the station controllers and the associated communication to their line controller, an emulation and simulation algorithm in the stations has been designed in order to test and verify the correctness of on-line control algorithms and their communication prior to direct transfer to running on the practical assembly line. <<ETX>>
Synthesis, Antibacterial Activity and DFT Calculation of Co(II) and Ni(II) Schiff Bases Complexes Derived from Acenaphthenequinon and Phenylenediamine

Tetra-dentate Schiff base ligands. L 1 = (2Z)-2,2((4-methyl-1,2-phenylene) bis (azoneylidine))) bis (acenaphthylene-1(2H)-one, L 2= (2Z,2E)-2,2'-((4-nitro-1,2-phenylene) bis azoneylylidene)) bis azoneylylidene)) bis (acenaphthylen-1(2H)-one, L 3 = 6.6 (((1E,2E)-acenphthylene -1,2diylidene) bis (azoanylidene)) bis (3-methylaniline), and L 4 = 6,6'-(acenaphthylene-1,2-diylidene) bis (azoneylyidene)) bis (3-nitroanilin), type (N 2 O 2 ) and (N 4 ) donor atoms obtained from condensation of acenaphthylenequinone with 4-methyl or nitro-o-phenylenediamine (2:1) and (1:2) (quinone:amine) molar ratio for the first and second type respectively. These ligands employed used to synthesis complexes in general molecular formula [ML n Cl 2 ], where M= Co(II) and Ni(II) and n=(1-4). The ligands and the complexes were characterized by ( 1 H-NMR, UV-Visible and FTIR) spectroscopy, metal content, elemental analysis C.H. N, magnetic and conductivity measurements. The low conductivity values reveal the non-electrolytic nature for their new complexes. All complexes are hexa co-ordinate with (octahedral geometry). Evaluation biological activity for the compounds tested against Gram(-) bacteria ( Escherichalcoli , Pseudoaerogenosa ) and Gram(+) bacteria ( Staphylococcus aureus, staphylococcus epidermidis ) and the optimized structure for the compounds carried out by using DFT calculation.
Is It Possible to Retain Customer Loyalty When a Service Has Failed?

This article aims to analyze the impact of recovery on loyalty in the context of a service chain characterized by the e‐quality–perceived value–loyalty relationship. A sample of 91 out of 1,201 respondents claimed to have had service problems with an online travel agency website. A causal model to test relationships was performed using structural equations modeling, and it was found that data fit with the proposed model. The really important point to retaining customers is quality. It is not so clear that the recovery effort might affect loyalty. Our findings underpin some previous stream of literature confirming that recovery does not always affect loyalty. Although the literature has not reached a consensus in this topic, we add new elements in this debate.
Big Data Reasearch on Smart Phone Unlock Crack

Big data is very useful for the computer science research. Nowadays smart phones are popular, and many of which are locked with nine pattern; it is very convenient to use, just draw what you can open the phone, rather than input a password. In this article, the unlock crack of smart phone is introduced, and the combined nine points crack is presented of different patterns, the research draw the conclusion that it is much more complex enough security for this unlock crack than we think.
Remaining Useful Life Estimation using Time Trajectory Tracking and Support Vector Machines

In this paper, a novel RUL prediction method inspired by feature maps and SVM classifiers is proposed. The historical instances of a system with life-time condition data are used to create a classification by SVM hyper planes. For a test instance of the same system, whose RUL is to be estimated, degradation speed is evaluated by computing the minimal distance defined based on the degradation trajectories, i.e. the approach of the system to the hyper plane that segregates good and bad condition data at different time horizon. Therefore, the final RUL of a specific component can be estimated and global RUL information can then be obtained by aggregating the multiple RUL estimations using a density estimation method.
Needs-based curriculum development: A case study of NCKU’s ESP program

Given the general consensus that maintaining competitive language capability in the age of globalization is a keystone to Taiwan’s future economic success, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) has re-conceptualized and redesigned its English programs at the undergraduate level. The university created the NCKU Eagle Project in 2005 to integrate major English learning programs such as required courses, English Week lectures and competitions, graduation/exit requirement, and teacher training resources.Within the project, an ESP program was established in 2007 in order to reform sophomore English. The team aims to develop a new sophomore English program based on the ESP approach, addressing the needs of students in their respective academic disciplines. Although many critical issues must be resolved in a pioneering program like this, this paper will focus on the planning and implementation of curriculum design. The main body of the paper discusses the needsbased approach in course design, EAP and pre-service EOP course offerings, inter-college resources, and other related issues. As the first Taiwan university to undertake such a large-scale project, we hope that our findings and experience will help facilitate further understanding and implementation of ESP in higher education.