Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
IMPROVING QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION IN INDONESIAN CONSTRUCTION FIRMS: A RESEARCH PROJECT

This paper has two main sections, the first of which presents a summarized review of the literature concerning previous studies on the implementation of ISO 9000 quality management systems (QMSs) both in global construction companies as well as in Indonesian construction firms, and the perceived correlation between organisational culture and QMS practices in the construction sector. The first section of the paper contributes to the development of the second section, which presents details of the research project being undertaken. Based on the fundamental questions that led to the development of the main research objectives, suitable research methods have been developed in order to meet these objectives. Primary data will be collected by use of a mixed methods approach, i.e., questionnaire surveys and focus group discussions/interviews in order to obtain opinions from respondents drawn from targeted ISO construction firms. Most of the data expected to be obtained will be in future be analyzed using statistical software then the findings will be discussed in order to ultimately develop a culture-based QMS framework.
Submaximal isometric fatiguing exercise of the elbow flexors has no age-related effect on GABAB mediated inhibition.

Age-related changes in the neuromuscular system can result in differences in fatigability between young and older adults. Previous research has shown that single joint isometric fatiguing exercise of small muscle results in an age-related compensatory decrease in GABAB mediated inhibition. However, this has yet to be established in a larger muscle group. In 15 young (22 ± 4 years) and 15 older (65 ± 5 years) adults, long interval cortical inhibition (LICI; 100 ms ISI) and corticospinal silent period (SP) were measured in the biceps brachii during a 5% EMG contraction using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) before, during and after a submaximal contraction (30% MVC force) held intermittently to task failure. Both age groups developed similar magnitude of fatigue (~24% decline in MVC; P = 0.001) and ~28% decline in LICI (P = 0.001) post fatiguing exercise. No change in SP duration was observed during and immediately following fatigue (P = 0.909) but ~ 6% decrease was seen at recovery in both age groups (P<0.001). " Contrary to previous work in a small muscle, these findings suggest no age-related differences in GABAB mediated inhibition following single joint isometric fatiguing exercise of the elbow flexors, indicating that GABAB modulation with ageing may be muscle group dependent. Furthermore, variations in SP duration and LICI modulation during and post fatigue in both groups suggest that these measures are likely mediated by divergent mechanisms.
Effects of the Electromagnetic field, 60 Hz, 3 µT, on the hormonal and metabolic regulation of undernourished pregnant rats

Epidemiological studies have implicated maternal protein-calorie deficiency as an important public health problem in developing countries. Over the last decades, a remarkable diffusion of electricity and an increased level of the electromagnetic field (EMF) in the environment have characterized modern societies. Therefore, researchers are concerned with the biological effects of 50-60 Hz, EMF. The aim of this paper is to show the effects of EMF of 60 Hz, 3 µT, exposure for two hours per day in the regulation of the hormonal and metabolic concentrations in pregnant rats, which were fed by Regional Basic Diet (RBD) during their pregnancy as compared with pregnant rats fed a standard diet. Pregnant rats exposed to EMF of 60 Hz, 3 µT, over the pregnancy and fed with RBD presented an increase in glucose release when compared with the Group subjected only to the RBD ration. Rats fed RBD presented a decrease in their insulin and cortisol serum levels when compared with the Group fed with casein. The T 3 and T 4 concentrations presented the greatest variation among the Groups. The relation T 4 :T 3 was much exaggerated in the Group subjected to RDB and exposed to EMF when compared to the others. In conclusion, the group subjected to the association of EMF and undernutrition suffered a decrease in its serum concentration of T 4 and T 3 when compared to the well-nourished group and the relationship T 4 :T 3 in the former group was almost eighteen-fold the later one.
Enzyme‐enhanced bioremediation at Thule Air Base, Greenland

Thule Air Base (TAB) experienced a 23,000 gallon J-8 fuel release in March 1997. Versar mobilized an emergency response team to prevent the fuel from reaching locations where it could impact the arctic marine wildlife the indigenous population depends upon for sustenance level hunting. Versar excavated 16,000 cubic yards (CY) of fuel-contaminated soil, then placed 9,000 CY of backfill to reconstruct the riverbank impacted by the release. Human health and ecological risk assessments were performed to establish a risk-based cleanup criteria. Remediation technologies were screened for cost, logistical constraints and probability of success in an Arctic location. Enzyme-enhanced bioremediation was selected and a treatability study conducted during summer of 1998. The study assessed (1) applying a multienzyme compound break down the fuel into simple fatty acids; (2) adding nutrients to promote bacteria growth, and (3) watering and mixing the soil maintain suitable moisture and oxygen content to enhance the bioremediation process.
Platelet Activation Mechanisms and Consequences of Immune Thrombocytopenia

Autoimmune disorders are often associated with low platelet count or thrombocytopenia. In immune-induced thrombocytopenia (IIT), a common mechanism is increased platelet activity, which can have an increased risk of thrombosis. In addition, or alternatively, auto-antibodies suppress platelet formation or augment platelet clearance. Effects of the auto-antibodies are linked to the unique structural and functional characteristics of platelets. Conversely, prior platelet activation may contribute to the innate and adaptive immune responses. Extensive interplay between platelets, coagulation and complement activation processes may aggravate the pathology. Here, we present an overview of the reported molecular causes and consequences of IIT in the most common forms of autoimmune disorders. These include idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), drug-induced thrombocytopenia (DITP), heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), COVID-19 vaccine-induced thrombosis with thrombocytopenia (VITT), thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura (TTP), and hemolysis, the elevated liver enzymes and low platelet (HELLP) syndrome. We focus on the platelet receptors that bind auto-antibodies, the immune complexes, damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and complement factors. In addition, we review how circulating platelets serve as a reservoir of immunomodulatory molecules. By this update on the molecular mechanisms and the roles of platelets in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, we highlight platelet-based pathways that can predispose for thrombocytopenia and are linked thrombotic or bleeding events.
On applying Petri nets to determine optimal offsets for coordinated traffic light timings

Significant classes of transportation systems can be represented by Petri net models. In this paper, Petri nets are applied to provide a modular representation of urban traffic systems regulated by signalized intersections. The basic idea is to consider such systems to be composed of elementary structural components, namely, intersections and road stretches. In order to describe thoroughly the movement of vehicles in the traffic network, a microscopic representation is adopted and realized via timed Petri nets. An interesting feature of the designed model consists in the possibility of representing the offsets among different traffic light cycles as embedded in the structure of the model itself. In turn, that allows us to simply implement the coordination among traffic light timings, which facilitates the description and solution of the relevant optimization problems.
STUDY OF MID-LATITUDE POSITIVE BAYS DURING SUBSTORMS OVER SCANDINAVIA – A CASE STUDY

The purpose of this work is to study the midlatitude effects during substorms observed in different interplanetary conditions over Scandinavia. To identify the substorm disturbances, data from the magnetometer networks IMAGE, SuperMAG and INTERMAGNET in the range 31.8° - 75.25° CGMLat and 92° - 104° CGMLon were used. To verify the interplanetary and geomagnetic conditions, data from the CDAWeb OMNI (http://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/), the catalog of large-scale solar wind phenomena (ftp://ftp.iki.rssi.ru/omni/) and from the WDC for geomagnetism at Kyoto (http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index.html) were taken. Two isolated substorms were chosen, with different intensity: ALmin values ~ -270 nT and ~ -1300 nT, respectively. The first substorm occured on 6 February 2018, at 21:25 UT, under quiet conditions: during slow solar wind streams. The second substorm, at 19:10 UT on 27 September 2020, originated under moderately disturbed conditions: during a high-speed stream (HSS) in the solar wind, just after the passage of EJECTA by the Earth. It was found out, that the latitude of the bay sign conversion from negative to positive values in the case of quiet solar wind conditions, appeared at latitude, 7° higher than the one in the case of disturbed conditions. In both cases, the amplitude of the positive bays, after a maximum near the sign conversion latitude decreased gradually towards the lower latitudes, with a difference between the minimal and maximal amplitude of about 50%. The magnetic bays kept their duration throughout the whole latitudinal range, ~115 min. for the first case and ~ 60 min. for the second one. It was ascertained, that the mean positive bays amplitude in the case of disturbed conditions was 4 times higher than the amplitude during quiet conditions.
Shoulder Strength and Upper Body Field Performance Tests in Young Female Handball and Volleyball Athletes: Are There Differences Between Sports?

CONTEXT Volleyball and handball players have usually been studied collectively as "overhead athletes," since throwing present similarities in the proximal to distal movement sequencing and upper limb joints ranges of motion. However, each sport presents specificities in the objectives when accelerating the ball and a variety of possible throwing techniques. Therefore, it is expected there may be differences in the shoulder and upper body physical performance between sports. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine if there are differences in shoulder muscle strength and upper body field performance tests between volleyball and handball athletes. DESIGN Cross-sectional. METHODS Ninety-nine volleyball and handball female athletes aged between 13 and 20 years were evaluated for isometric shoulder abductor and rotator strength (handheld dynamometer) and upper body field performance tests: Y Balance Test-Upper Quarter, modified Closed Kinetic Chain Upper-Extremity Stability Test, and unilateral and bilateral Seated Medicine Ball Throw. RESULTS Handball athletes presented greater shoulder internal rotation strength (between-group difference: 2.84; effect size 0.70), higher medial (between-group difference: 9.54; effect size 0.90), superolateral (between-group differences: 8.9; effect size 0.68), and composite scores (between-group difference 5.7; effect size 0.75) of the Y Balance Test-Upper Quarter and higher unilateral (between-group difference: 41.92; effect size 0.91) and bilateral (between-group difference: 46.11; effect size 0.83) Seated Medicine Ball Throw performance. Groups were not different for Closed Kinetic Chain Upper-Extremity Stability Test, external rotation, and abduction isometric strength. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that young female handball athletes present greater internal rotator strength and better performance in Y Balance Test-Upper Quarter and Seated Medicine Ball Throw compared to volleyball players. These differences may be related to the different demands required in the throwing movements performed in each sport and should be considered when assessing these populations.
TOWARDS PEOPLE INDOOR LOCALIZATION C OMBINING WIFI AND HUMAN MOTION RECOGNITION

This work presents a general framework for people indoor localization. Firstly, a WiFi localization system implemented as a fuzzy rule-based classifier (FRBC) is used to deal with the intrinsic uncertainty of such environments. It consists of a set of linguistic variables and rules automatically generated from experimental data. As a result, it yields an approximate position at the level of discrete zones (room, corridor, toilet, etc). Secondly, a Fuzzy Finite State Machine (FFSM) mainly based on expert knowledge is used for human motion (activity, body posture and step length) recognition. The goal is finding out whether people is (or not) moving, in which direction, at which pace, etc. Finally, another FFSM combines both WiFi localization and human motion recognition with the aim of obtaining a robust, reliable, and easily understandable human-oriented localization system.
Single User and Multiuser Adaptive Transmitter Diversity for Rayleigh Channels

In transmitter diversity, the base station adjusts the complex weights of its transmit antennas to compensate for downlink channel gains in order to produce signal reinforcement – diversity – at a desired mobile that may have only a single antenna. To make the method adaptive, the complex weights are obtained from the instantaneous complex gains in the uplink; however, delay and frequency offset between uplink measurements and downlink transmission reduce the correlation between the gains in the two directions. This paper provides an analysis of the effects of gain decorrelation and of the number of antennas, and an assessment of the effect of fading when the method supports multiple users. It demonstrates that large reductions in downlink transmit power are achievable, and assesses simple channel models to see how well they support the technique.
Optimization of Focused Ion Beam Patterning Parameters for Direct Integration of Plasmonic Nanostructures on Silicon Photodiodes

The possibility of integrating plasmonic nanostructures directly on an active device, such as a silicon photodetector, is a challenging task of interest in many applications. Among the available nanofabrication techniques to realize plasmonic nanostructures, Focused Ion Beam (FIB) is surely the most promising, even if it is characterized by certain limitations, such as ion implantation in the substrate. In this work, we demonstrate the direct integration of plasmonic nanostructures directly on an active Si-photodetector by patterning a silver film with FIB. To avoid ion implantation and to therefore guarantee unaltered device behavior, both the patterning parameters and the geometry of the nanostructures were implemented by Montecarlo and Finite-Difference Time-Domain simulations.
An effective noise-reduction scheme for microwave amplifiers

An effective noise cancellation scheme, based on feedforward techniques after cancellation of the signal carrier, is presented. Experimental characterization of a proof-of-concept system applied to a 10 GHz linear amplifier yielded up to 20 dB of noise reduction for offset frequencies smaller than 100 kHz. The system described in this paper allows reducing both white and flicker noise. A thorough analysis of the canceling mechanisms supports the measurement results and allows considerations of the limits of the scheme.
Miniaturized and high-selectivity substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) bandpass filter loaded by complementary split-ring resonators (CSRRs)

This paper presents an effective technique to obtain miniaturized and high-selectivity substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) bandpass filters by loading complementary split-ring resonators (CSRRs) at the SIW cavities. The existence of the CSRR enables a considerable reduction of the resonance frequency of a conventional SIW cavity thanks to the coupling effect between CSRR and SIW cavity. Besides, a sharp roll-off is generated in a higher stopband due to the characteristics of CSRRs. To demonstrate the operation principal, the second- and third-order SIW bandpass filters are fabricated using standard printed circuit board technology, showing advantages of compact size, good selectivity, easy fabrication, and integration with other circuits. The measured -parameters agree well with the simulated ones.
Measurement of Soil Water Content Using a Simplified Impedance Measuring Technique

Abstract A probe has been designed which uses a simplified impedance measuring system to determine soil water content. Apart from cost and simplicity, a major advantage is its d.c. voltage output which allows continuous unattended recording by most field data loggers. The calculated soil water volumetric fraction (θ v ) determined by this new method compares well with results from the standard neutron probe.
Coupled vibration analysis of Maglev vehicle-guideway while standing still or moving at low speeds

Dynamic instability, that is, resonance, may occur on an electromagnetic suspension-type Maglev that runs over the elevated guideway, particularly at very low speeds, due to the flexibility of the guideway. An analysis of the dynamic interaction between the vehicle and guideway is required at the design stage to investigate such instability, setting slender guideway in design direction for reducing construction costs. In addition, it is essential to design an effective control algorithm to solve the problem of instability. In this article, a more detailed model for the dynamic interaction of vehicle/guideway is proposed. The proposed model incorporates a 3D full vehicle model based on virtual prototyping, flexible guideway by a modal superposition method and levitation electromagnets including feedback controller into an integrated model. By applying the proposed model to an urban Maglev vehicle newly developed for commercial application, an analysis of the instability phenomenon and an investigation of air gap control performance are carried out through a simulation.
Electromagnetic pulse environment of cloud-to-ground lightning for EMC studies

The characteristics of lightning electromagnetic pulse (LEMP) from individual processes in lightning such as return strokes, preliminary breakdown pulses, pulses associated with the leader process, K-changes and M-changes, the isolated narrow bipolar pulses, and the pulse bursts have been known. However, there is a need for a combined characterization of the total LEMP environment created during the entire duration of lightning. An attempt is made to provide such a description that gives the distribution of the LEMP characteristics, which is important in its ability to interfere with electronic systems, such as peak amplitude, peak time derivative, pulse duration, number of pulses, and time interval between pulses, during the entire duration of a cloud-to-ground lightning. Separate electromagnetic environment characterizations for negative cloud-to-ground lightning and positive cloud-to-ground lightning are proposed, including all the significant LEMP sources. Based on the LEMP characterization, models for negative and positive cloud-to-ground lightning flashes, that could be used in electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) studies are proposed. The electromagnetic environment models for cloud-to-ground lightning can be coupled to the locations of lightning given by the lightning location system to give comprehensive information about the electromagnetic environment at a desired geographical location.
Implementing Partisan Symmetry: A Response to a Response

Abstract Katz, King, and Rosenblatt recently wrote a broad survey developing and extending the theory of partisan symmetry. Our paper reviewed the implementability of the theory, focusing on simplified scores of symmetry—seemingly compatible with their formulation—that are in wide use. We analyzed these simplified scores and concluded that they are not suited for redistricting reform. By our reading of their response, Katz, King, and Rosenblatt agree.
Hydromethylthionine enhancement of central cholinergic signalling is blocked by rivastigmine and memantine

The prevention of tau protein aggregations is a therapeutic goal for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and hydromethylthionine (HMT) (also known as leucomethylthioninium‐mesylate [LMTM]), is a potent inhibitor of tau aggregation in vitro and in vivo. In two Phase 3 clinical trials in AD, HMT had greater pharmacological activity on clinical endpoints in patients not receiving approved symptomatic treatments for AD (acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors and/or memantine) despite different mechanisms of action. To investigate this drug interaction in an animal model, we used tau‐transgenic L1 and wild‐type NMRI mice treated with rivastigmine or memantine prior to adding HMT, and measured changes in hippocampal acetylcholine (ACh) by microdialysis. HMT given alone doubled hippocampal ACh levels in both mouse lines and increased stimulated ACh release induced by exploration of the open field or by infusion of scopolamine. Rivastigmine increased ACh release in both mouse lines, whereas memantine was more active in tau‐transgenic L1 mice. Importantly, our study revealed a negative interaction between HMT and symptomatic AD drugs: the HMT effect was completely eliminated in mice that had been pre‐treated with either rivastigmine or memantine. Rivastigmine was found to inhibit AChE, whereas HMT and memantine had no effects on AChE or on choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). The interactions observed in this study demonstrate that HMT enhances cholinergic activity in mouse brain by a mechanism of action unrelated to AChE inhibition. Our findings establish that the drug interaction that was first observed clinically has a neuropharmacological basis and is not restricted to animals with tau aggregation pathology. Given the importance of the cholinergic system for memory function, the potential for commonly used AD drugs to interfere with the treatment effects of disease‐modifying drugs needs to be taken into account in the design of clinical trials.
About the benefits of user-oriented requirements engineering

• A submitted manuscript is the author's version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Estimating Safety Benefits of Shoulder Rumble Strips on Two-Lane Rural Highways in Minnesota

Approximately 40% of all 2004 fatal crashes were single-vehicle, run-off-the-road (SVROR) crashes. The problem was even more significant on two-lane rural roads, where shoulder rumble strips were an important treatment in the prevention of these crashes and have proved effective on freeways. However, no studies have evaluated the effectiveness of shoulder rumble strips in reducing SVROR crashes on two-lane rural highways. An empirical Bayes before-and-after study was performed to evaluate the safety-effectiveness of milled-in continuous shoulder rumble strips on two-lane rural highways in Minnesota. The treatment was installed at 23 treatment sites (183 mi). This study reports a 13% reduction in all SVROR crashes and an 18% reduction in injury-producing SVROR crashes after installation of this treatment.