Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Task and Peak Exposures to Solvents in the Microelectronics Fabrication Industry

Abstract Short-term exposures to six solvents used in microelectronic fabrication clean rooms were assessed. The solvents measured were: 2-ethoxyethylacetate, n-butyl acetate, xylene, isopropanol, acetone, and propylene glycol monomethylether acetate. Short-term exposures during production and maintenance tasks were measured using both charcoal tubes to obtain average task exposures and direct reading instrumentation to obtain real-time peak levels. All measured samples were considerably below current government or consensus standards for short-term exposures. Pharmacokinetic modeling was used to evaluate the toxicological significance of the highest real-time peaks measured, which in these clean rooms were to the solvent acetone. The model suggested that the peaks measured were below acetone levels associated with reproductive health risks in animals. Hallock, M.F. ; Hammond, S.K. ; Kenyon, E. ; Smith, T.J.; Smith, E.R. : Assessment of Task and Peak Exposures to Solvents in the Microelectronics Fabrication I.
Distributed project scheduling with information sharing in supply chains: part I—an agent-based negotiation model

Distributed project scheduling problem (DPSP) in supply chains is concerned with configuration and scheduling of multiple projects in a network of independent and autonomous enterprises. Individual enterprises must collaborate with each other during two main stages: the configuration of a project—selection of contractors for performing project operations and the project scheduling—determining when the operations start. However, the collaboration is especially difficult because none of these enterprises holds the global information about the entire supply chain and all constituent enterprises. Instead, they have to capitalize whatever information is shared between them in order to solve their own local problems in a distributed and autonomous fashion. It is essential for the solution process to strike an overall balance between effectiveness and efficiency. The research, reported in this two-part paper, is aimed at proposing a negotiation-based algorithm for solving DPSP. Its emphasis is how to improve the convergence and quality of the solution by taking advantage of inter-enterprise information sharing especially the sharing of schedule flexibility information (SFI). The first part of this paper describes a new agent-based approach to DPSPs in supply chains while the second part will present detailed discussion on the theoretical and experimental analysis.
Elucidation of molecular mechanisms of flower form development in tree peony ( Paeonia suffriticosa ) through comparative transcriptome analysis of floral parts

Background: Tree peony ( Paeonia suffruticasa ) is an economically, medicinally and ornamentally important woody flowering plant in East Asia. It is also a common ornamental shrub in Europe and North America. They are well known and prized for their beautiful flowers in many different shapes. Stamen petalody has been shown to be the most effective way to modify flower shapes. However, there is limited information on the molecular mechanisms of stamen petalody and flower shape formation in tree peony. Results: In this study, RNA sequencing was used to assemble and annotate the unigenes in tree peony to identify the critical genes related to flower parts formation and verify the key genes in different flower shapes of tree peony cultivars. A total of 76,007 high quality unigenes were assembled and 30,505 were successfully annotated. A total of 1,833 transcription factors (TFs) were identified in our study, among them 16 MADS-box genes were found and characterized. Six key genes were selected to verify their functions in stamen petalody. AG and SEP showed high expression level in carpels and sepals separately both in stamen petalody and non-stamen petalody groups. PI and AP3 s howed higher expression levels of inter-petals in the stamen petalody group, compared to stamens of non-stamen petalody. Conclusion: S ixteen MADS-box genes were identified in tree peony through RNA-seq. We identified six key genes based on their differential expression levels in different flower parts. These six key genes represented all categories in the ABCDE model to verify the functions in stamen petalody. We speculate that PI and AP3 may trigger the stamen petalody in tree peony. Our study has helped establish the flower development model in tree peony, to identify key molecular mechanisms in the development of different flower shapes, and to provide valuable information for improving the genetic diversity of tree peony and many other woody plants.
Ensino e orientação para projeto de conversores CC-CC através de aplicativos em java

Education and Oriented Design for DC to DC Convertes Using Java Applets Tools This paper presents a new set of interactive simulation tools dealing with the steady-state operation of idealized nonisolated DC to DC converters, in order to support the enhancement of power electronics education. These new interactive tools make use of a consolidated design approach where the benefits of Java language were utilized to provide a dynamic and interactive visualization of simulations in steady-state. Additionally, this paper discusses the main features of proposed simulation tools, and discusses its use as an oriented design tool for the lectures and laboratory experiments in the Power Electronics courses. In order to corroborate the proposed interactive simulation tools and to show its usefulness, comparisons of results from Buck converter on proposed tools and a well-known simulator package with those on experimental evaluation from laboratory classes are presented.
Fast simulation‐driven optimization of planar microstrip antenna arrays using surrogate superposition models

A technique for simulation‐driven design of excitation tapers for planar antenna arrays is presented. Our methodology exploits antenna array models constructed as a superposition of simulated radiation and reflection responses of the array under design, with only one radiator active at a time. Low computational costs of these models are ensured by using iteratively corrected electromagnetic‐simulation data computed with coarse meshes. Our technique allows for simultaneous control of the radiation pattern and the reflection coefficients of the array. Numerical efficiency as well as scalability of the technique is demonstrated using the design examples of various sizes and topologies, including a sixteen element and hundred element microstrip patch antenna arrays of the Cartesian lattice and a hundred element microstrip antenna array of the hexagonal lattice. The proposed technique is versatile as it also can be applied for simulation‐based optimization of antenna arrays comprising other types of individually fed elements, e.g., wires, strips, or dielectric resonator antennas. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:371–381, 2015.
LA FOTOGRAMETRÍA DIGITAL AUTOMATIZADA FRENTE A LOS SISTEMAS BASADOS EN SENSORES 3D ACTIVOS

The value of digital photogrammetry is being reassessed based on the use of automated methods which avoid the laborious production process and that meet the quality requirements photorealism demands. However, to what degree do its applications resemble the methods based on laser scanners? What are its strengths? What are its weaknesses? This article will attempt to answer these and other questions. Its approach is based on the comparison of process and result of two surveys performed using both systems, photogrammetric and laser scanner. The results of the comparative analysis will be shown, concentrating especially on matters such as the reduction of time and cost, the difficulty involved both in the data gathering phase and in post-production, the accuracy and quality of the result and its suitability of application.
Design Strategies to Postpone Consumers' Product Replacement: The Value of a Strong Person-Product Relationship

From an environmental perspective, the early replacement of durables is generally detrimental. This article examines ‘ensuring a strong person-product relationship’ as a design strategy to postpone product replacement. If a person experiences a strong relationship with his/her product, this can result in more protective behaviours towards this product and in product longevity. A crucial precondition for a long-lasting relationship is that consumers feel the product is irreplaceable. Such a condition is obtained only when a product's meaning is deeply anchored in a specific product and the product and its meaning are inseparable. Designers can encourage the product's irreplaceability by stimulating the formation of memories associated with a product or by creating unique and personal products. Several examples of design strategies are discussed.
Supply-chain networks: a complex adaptive systems perspective

In this era, information technology is revolutionizing almost every domain of technology and society, whereas the ‘complexity revolution’ is occurring in science at a silent pace. In this paper, we look at the impact of the two, in the context of supply-chain networks. With the advent of information technology, supply chains have acquired a complexity almost equivalent to that of biological systems. However, one of the major challenges that we are facing in supply-chain management is the deployment of coordination strategies that lead to adaptive, flexible and coherent collective behaviour in supply chains. The main hurdle has been the lack of the principles that govern how supply chains with complex organizational structure and function arise and develop, and what organizations and functionality are attainable, given specific kinds of lower-level constituent entities. The study of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), has been a research effort attempting to find common characteristics and/or formal distinctions among complex systems arising in diverse domains (like biology, social systems, ecology and technology) that might lead to a better understanding of how complexity occurs, whether it follows any general scientific laws of nature, and how it might be related to simplicity. In this paper, we argue that supply chains should be treated as a CAS. With this recognition, we propose how various concepts, tools and techniques used in the study of CAS can be exploited to characterize and model supply-chain networks. These tools and techniques are based on the fields of nonlinear dynamics, statistical physics and information theory.
Permanent Deformation Process of Asphalt Concrete Pavement Based on Neural Network Modeling

This paper numerically simulates the deflection response of layers on the cross section of a medium-strength subgrade (MFC) flexible pavement under repeating load, by a radial basic function (RBF) neural network model. The RBF modeling focuses on the functional relationship between the local points in the top deflection curves of pavement layers. The input and output data of the RBF model utilizes the last deflection profiles on the tops of four layers in the test. The deflection curve of the pavement surface is set as the input data since its developing process can been watched and measured in the test. The deflection curves of the other three layers are as the output data, because their deflection process was invisible in the test. Thus, the deflection process of the pavement layers invisible in the test can be simulated by the trained RBF neural network model, which results in a further analysis based on the obtained simulation data.
Particle Swarm Optimization of Suction and Blowing on Airfoils at Transonic Speeds

To improve the aerodynamic performance, the control applied to the transonic flow past an airfoil is optimized. The flow is simulated by solving the Navier–Stokes equations and a turbulence model. The control is applied using flow suction or blowing on the airfoil surface. The design variables are set to be the location and the angle of the suction/blowingport and themassflowcoefficient at this port. To validate the computationalmethodology, successful comparisons have beenmadewith available experimental data. The focus of the present study is on the application of a selected design optimization methodology. Therefore, the particle swarm optimization algorithm is also validated by comparing its results with those from a more traditional approach: that is, a gradient-based method with sequential quadratic programming. It is observed that the aerodynamic performance is increased by over 20% as a result of optimizing the location, angle, and mass flow coefficient of the suction and blowing control ports on the airfoil surface at transonic speeds.
Environmental monitoring using magnetoelastic sensors

Magnetoelastic thin film sensors can be considered the magnetic analog of surface acoustic wave sensors, with the characteristic resonant frequency of the magnetoeleastic sensor changing in response to different environmental parameters. We report on the application of the magnetoeleastic sensors for remote query measurement of pressure, temperature, liquid viscosity and, in combination with a glucose- responding mass-changing polymer, glucose concentrations. The advantage of using magnetoelastic sensors is that no physical connections, such as wires or cables are required to obtain sensor information allowing the sensor to be monitored from inside sealed containers. Furthermore since it is the frequency response of the sensor that is monitored, rather than the amplitude, the relative orientation of the sensor with respect to the query field is unimportant.
Taylorism, Targets and the Pursuit of Quantity and Quality by Call Centre Management

The paper locates the rise of the call centre within the context of the development of Taylorist methods and technological change in office work in general. Managerial utilisation of targets to impose and measure employees' quantitative and qualitative performance is analysed in four case-study organisations. The paper concludes that call centre work reflects a pardigmic re-configuration of customer servicing operations, and that the continuing application of Taylorist methods appears likely.
The Transonic Flow Through a Plane Turbine Cascade as Measured in Four European Wind Tunnels

Reliable cascade data are esssential to the development of high-speed turbomachinery, but it has long been suspected that the tunnel environment influences the test results. This has now been investigated by testing one plane gas turbine rotor blade section in four European wind tunnels of different test sections and instrumentation. The Reynolds number of the transonic flow tests was Re2 = 8 × 105 based on exit flow conditions. The turbulence was not increased artificially. A comparison of results from blade pressure distributions and wake traverse measurements reveals the order of magnitude of tunnel effects.
Subgroup Analysis of Investment Constraints: Evidence from Ugandan Microenterprises

Most microenterprises barely grow beyond subsistence level, as proﬁtable investments are not realized due to barriers like credit, savings, and managerial constraints. Using panel data, this study identiﬁes subgroups that would beneﬁt by an intervention aiming to alleviate constraints. Two obstacles are associated with lower investments: saving with others and no record keeping. Analyzing the eﬀects for subgroups shows that for lower and medium educated, both obstacles are associated with lower investments. The analysis does not allow for drawing causal conclusions, results underpin that interventions aiming to reduce savings or managerial constraints could be eﬀective when targeting the correct subgroups.
An Improved Ant Colony Optimization for the Vehicle Routing Problem in Logistics Distribution

The routing of a fleet of vehicles to service a set of customers is important in logistic distribution systems. The main objective of Vehicle routing problem (VRP) is to minimize the total required fleet size for serving all customers. Secondary objectives are to minimize the total distance traveled or to minimize the total route duration of all vehicles. In this paper, we present a hybrid ant colony System, named PACS, coupled with a pareto local search (PLS) algorithm and apply to the VRP and its variant, the VRP with Time Windows (VRPTW). The algorithm only chooses partial customers randomly to compute the transition probability and PLS can help to escape local optimum. Experiments on various aspects of the algorithm and computational results for some benchmark problems are reported. We compare our approach with some classic, powerful meta-heuristics and show that the proposed approach can obtain the better quality of the solutions.
Microfluidic active mixers employing ultra-high aspect-ratio rare-earth magnetic nano-composite polymer artificial cilia

We present a new micromixer based on highly magnetic, flexible, high aspect-ratio, artificial cilia that are fabricated as individual micromixer elements or in arrays for improved mixing performance. These new cilia enable high efficiency, fast mixing in a microchamber, and are controlled by small electromagnetic fields. The artificial cilia are fabricated using a new micromolding process for nano-composite polymers. Cilia fibers with aspect-ratios as high as 8:0.13 demonstrate the fabrication technique's capability in creating ultra-high aspect-ratio microstructures. Cilia, which are realized in polydimethylsiloxane doped with rare-earth magnetic powder, are magnetized to produce permanent magnetic structures with bidirectional deflection capabilities, making them highly suitable as mixers controlled by electromagnetic fields. Due to the high magnetization level of the polarized nano-composite polymer, we are able to use miniature electromagnets providing relatively small magnetic fields of 1.1 to 7 mT to actuate the cilia microstructures over a very wide motion range. Mixing performances of a single cilium, as well as different arrays of multiple cilia ranging from 2 to 8 per reaction chamber, are characterized and compared with passive diffusion mixing performance. The mixer cilia are actuated at different amplitudes and frequencies to optimize mixing performance. We demonstrate that more than 85% of the total volume of the reaction chamber is fully mixed after 3.5 min using a single cilium mixer at 7 mT compared with only 20% of the total volume mixed with passive diffusion. The time to achieve over 85% mixing is further reduced to 70 s using an array of eight cilia microstructures. The novel microfabrication technique and use of rare-earth permanently-magnetizable nano-composite polymers in mixer applications has not been reported elsewhere by other researchers. We further demonstrate improved mixing over other cilia micromixers as enabled by the high aspect-ratio, high flexibility, and magnetic properties of our cilia micromixer elements.
Developing Market-Based Incentives for Green Building Alternatives

Abstract As the 4th most populous and 2nd fastest growing region of the U.S., 70% of Florida's 16-million citizens reside along the coastline in areas served by shallow, fragile aquifers that have largely been destroyed by over-pumping and saltwater intrusion. Resulting wastewater discharge and runoff have contaminated natural waterways and aquifer recharge basins. A case study from the Tampa Bay, Florida (U.S.) region reveals that water suppliers are providing conservation incentives to consumers as a cost-effective alternative to expanding infrastructure capacity to meet the demands of population and economic growth. Research at the University of Florida shows the benefit-cost of several water saving alternatives and the corresponding “willingness-to-pay” for several consumer markets. Together, a methodology is introduced wherein the water supplier can create “optimal” market-based incentives for consumer investment in water saving measures that maximize water use reductions and minimize conservation pr.
Parallel Normal S-Iteration Methods with Applications to Optimization Problems

Abstract A large number of nonlinear and optimization problems can be reduced to altering point problems. This paper aims to introduce the parallel normal S-iteration technique and study its convergence rates for solving such problems in infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces under practical assumptions. We place particular emphasis on the parallel splitting method for the sum of two maximal monotone operators and that can apply for solving a class of convex composite minimization problems. Moreover, we present applications of our iterative methods to some nonlinear problems, such as a system of variational inequalities and a system of inclusion problems. Finally, to demonstrate the applicability of the altering point technique, the performances of our proposed parallel normal S-iteration methods are presented through numerical experiments in signal recovery problems.
Ensure Laser Fluence of Laser Ablated Copper Nanowire

This paper analyzes the micro-mechanism of interaction between femtosecond laser and one dimension material. It gets the figure of temperature change with time by calculating the Two Temperature Equation(TTE) in the process of the laser ablation. And it presents the surface characters of metal material. Additionally, the plasma is generated when the temperature of ion subsystem is far higher than the melting point of copper metal. The paper can give the laser ablation threshold by the numerical calculation. It will help the researchers ensuring the laser fluence for preparing the copper film better.
Modeling the Permeability of a Reservoir Using a New Hybrid Fuzzy-Neural Network Strategy

Knowledge of permeability is critical to developing an effective reservoir description. Permeability data can be obtained directly from well tests and cores or indirectly from logs. Normally, using well log data to derive estimates of permeability is the lowest cost method. This article proposes a structured multiple neural network that is constructed according to the structure of IF-THEN fuzzy inference rules and the fuzzy c-means clustering method, which combines the advantages of neural network and fuzzy systems. This multiple neural network shows that the predictive performance of the proposed model is superior to that of both the fuzzy logic and neural network.
39.1: Invited Paper: The Next Touch Evolution Advancing the Consumer Experience in Other Realms: Tasks and Tough Environments

Billions of people appreciate the simplicity of touch technology, but for the industrial sector, including home white goods and consumer goods, rugged conditions have been a roadblock to integrating this technology. The new evolution is the multi‐touch that works under rigorous conditions. Even though multi‐touch screens are widely popular on today's consumer phones and tablets the design principles for industrial applications and demanding environments are different for those in the rather controlled consumer environment for mobile phones and tablets. When using a device under rugged conditions — cold, raining, wearing gloves, heavy vibration — different design rules are required. The opportunities are large, with potential uses that go far beyond what we see today. Great opportunity brings great challenges. We explore the requirements and the design rules for overcoming them.
Space-time trellis codes with adaptive weighting

Novel space-time trellis codes (STTCs) combined with adaptive weighting at transmitter-weighted space-time trellis codes (WSTTCs) are proposed and a new design criterion is presented. Simulation results show that it outperforms both the optimum beamforming scheme and standard STTCs without weighting.