Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR PERFORMANCE WITH CHINESE COALS

The electrostatic precipitator (ESP) performance is sensitive to fly ash properties. The ESP size and design for a new installation has to be carefully selected based on coal and coal ash data together with operating conditions. Experiences from similar installations are utilized as base for new ESP sizes and for upgrading of existing ESP's. Chinese coals are now often seen in specifications for new plants together with other export coals from e.g. Australia, South Africa and Indonesia. In China new ESP's are built and existing ESP's are upgraded to encounter an increased power demand and comply with more stringent emission requirements. Knowledge about the properties of fly ashes from Chinese coals is necessary to provide a good basis for ESP performance predictions. Mineral analyses and laboratory combustion studies were made for selected Chinese coals to provide deeper knowledge about ash properties, which are of importance for the ESP operation. Some Chinese coals are characterized by high aluminum contents in the ash compared to other commonly used coals. These coals often generate back-corona conditions in the ESP. A high content of aluminum in comparison with silica indicates high contents of minerals like kaolinite and aluminosilicate, which often have fine mineral size distributions in the coals. Sodium and iron are generally known to be beneficial for the ESP operation. In some Chinese coals more sodium and iron are associated with aluminosilicates than for non-Chinese coals. The influence of sodium and iron on ESP performance is certainly dependent on in which form sodium and iron occur in the coal.
Structural and environmental aspects of bioethanol production in Colombia

In Colombia, the national fuel alcohol program was launched in September 2001, with the objective of producing ethanol from sugarcane and other agricultural. The program promotes the production and use of bioethanol with tax-related incentives regarding gasoline (exemption from the VAT, tax on gross revenue, and surcharge), and an effective reduction of CO 2 . emissions.Five distilleries were established in the Cauca River valley between October 2005 and March 2006. Jointly, these plants produce 1,050,000 liters per day. Vinasse resulting from distillation is concentrated to a dry matter content of 32%-55%. These ethanol plants form part of cane sugar mills and are characterized for their use of a diversity of raw materials such as juices, molasses, and syrup and state-of-the-art technology, a lower production of vinasse, an optimal waste management, and a production of biomanures (compost). Although the lessons learned can be used as reference, new projects would not necessarily be based on sugarcane or any of its products, nor would the facilities or infrastructure be located at cane sugar mills. The different schemes that will be analyzed in this paper could facilitate the visualization of strategies using other raw materials, such as potato, cassava, maize, sugar beet, banana, citric wastes, etc. This paper discusses the roles and contributions from the major players in the industry.
Visualizing Bus Schedule Adherence and Passenger Load Through Marey Graphs

The original Marey graph, published in 1885, has become a frequent example of innovative design in data visualization. It plots a French train timetable on a time-space diagram, intuitively depicting the paths of trains throughout the day. These graphs continue to be used in transit-related applications such as the Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) Schedule Viewer. This paper repurposes the original Marey graph for use in transit performance measurement by adding schedule adherence and passenger load information. APC data preprocessing steps are described and technological issues related to the development of the visualization are discussed. Finally, this paper demonstrates how the Marey graph enables quick visual identification of vehicle performance trends across space and time.
A hybrid forecasting model for Malaysian exports earning of natural rubber-based products

Natural rubber is one of the most important crops in Malaysia. Malaysia is the third largest producer of rubber in the world after Thailand and Indonesia. As Malaysiaâ€™s economic shifted from primary industries to manufacturing, Malaysia becomes one of the world biggest exporters of natural rubber-based products (NRP) such as gloves, catheters and latex threads. One of the major goals of agricultural policy in Malaysia is to increase foreign exchange earning through increasing exports of natural rubber-based products. However, fluctuation in the export earning will lead to the uncertainty in the level of foreign exchange earning. For example, in 2003, 2004 and 2005 the rubber product industry contributed RM 6.07, RM 7.88 and RM8.03 billion respectively to the country export earnings. Therefore, the aim of this study is to propose a hybrid forecasting model to predict the export earning for natural rubber based product. This hybrid model will consist of Multiple Regression (MR) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Several factors that will affect the export earnings such as the production of natural rubber-based product, the price of natural rubber and the price of synthetic rubber also will be considered. To benchmark the result produced by the propose model, comparison with traditional techniques (Multiple Regression) will be conducted.
Student Attendance Through Mobile Devices

Since ages, marking attendance has been one of the most important way to record and track the presence of students in schools, colleges. Attendance marking in different forms has been in use in various organization to record the presence of their human resource. This helps the organization in generating their month-end payroll, and other activities. Such systems may be manual or automated. Biometric-based system, card-based system are some of the examples of automated attendance system. In this project, an attempt has been made to record attendance through mobile devices. The aim of the project is to create an Android mobile application for attendance system that can be used by all teachers for their respective courses. This application fetches the details of the courses allotted to the respective faculty and the students enrolled in the courses from the server using the internet connection and stores it in the mobile database. This application stores the attendance in the mobile internal database and the faculty can view and update the attendance whenever required. At the end of the month, when the faculty is needed to upload the attendance, they can directly upload it from their mobile in the server provided the internet connection is available. This application uses Android application development toolkit. Android is a Linux-based operating system developed for smart phones or tablet computers. It is a stack of software that includes operating system, middleware and libraries and APIs written in C. The Android application is developed in Java-like language using the Android software development kit (SDK). The integrated development environment (IDE) which is officially supported for Android apps development and used in this project is Eclipse, which uses the Android Development Tools (ADT) plugin.
Advances in wind power generation, transmission, and simulation technology

Wind is an increasingly important piece of electricity generation portfolios worldwide. This dissertation describes advances related to the electromechanical energy conversion system of wind turbines, and the electric transmission system for offshore wind power plants. The contributions of this work are the following: (i) We propose that the power electronics topology commonly called the “Vienna rectifier” can be used for improved variable-speed wind energy conversion. Theoretical analysis is conducted to show how a Vienna rectifier could drive either a squirrel-cage induction generator or a permanent-magnet synchronous generator-based wind turbine. Computer simulations and experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed topology and potential improvements in energy conversion efficiency. (ii) We propose a novel low-frequency ac (LFAC) transmission system for offshore wind power plants. A system design and control method is set forth, and key system operational characteristics are illustrated via computer simulations. The LFAC system constitutes a promising option for mediumor long-distance transmission, and could be an alternative to high-voltage dc (HVDC) transmission. (iii) We develop a technique that utilizes a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) as a dynamic simulation platform for wind turbines. A doubly fed induction generator-based wind turbine simulation is implemented on an FPGA board, in order to verify the effectiveness and performance advantage of this approach.
Institutional lessons from the partnership to improve food safety management and livelihoods of street food vendors and consumers in Ghana

The growth in urban populations in Ghana offers both opportunities and risks for resource-poor groups in urban and peri-urban environments. One important opportunity has been the increase in sale and patronage of street-vended foods (SVFs). However, the livelihoods of these street-food vendors, their raw material input suppliers as well as the health of consumers could be jeopardized if problems of food safety are not addressed. This paper emanates from a project executed in 1999/2000 to establish whether food hazards occur in some popular Ghanaian foods sold along the streets of Accra and establish the contributions street-vended foods were making to the economy of Ghana. The coalition team formed was made up of partners from different interest groups. Conflicts resulting from vested interests involving key coalition partners in the project became evident and were addressed. A key lesson from the project is that while key partners may have all the technical capabilities to ensure the success of the project, their poor inter-personal relationships may present a major setback to the progress, timely execution and realization of the project’s goals. The ability of coalition members and the project leaders to effectively manage such conflicts was a key step in realizing the success of the project. Finally, it was also learnt that an unwieldy size of partnership impedes the smooth execution of the project.
Voice Controlled Smart Home Automation System

The home automation is the future and important part of a house. The home automation is highly reliable in system for controlling house electrical appliances. As technologies improves the home automation system are becoming smarter and can regulate certain tasks automatically and autonomously. The home automation systems are cost effective and reduces the consumption of energy of household and cut the cost of electricity bills. In this paper a home automation system is discussed, the system controls the electrical appliance of house by using user interface device and speech recognition technology by using micro-controller device via a Bluetooth module and a mechanical relay acting as a switch for controlling electrical appliances.
A data mining approach to improve the automated quality of data

This thesis describes the development of a robust and novel prototype to address the data quality problems that relate to the dimension of outlier data. It thoroughly investigates the associated problems with regards to detecting, assessing and determining the severity of the problem of outlier data; and proposes granule-mining based alternative techniques to significantly improve the effectiveness of mining and assessing outlier data.
Implementation of iterative multiuser joint detection techniques in a dvb-rcs satellite scenario

With the explosive growth of telecommunications, the efficient use of available spectrum is becoming increasingly important: tightened frequency reuse planning is a pressing need in satellite networks, as the frequency spectrum has become an extremely precious resource. The purpose of this work is to develop a novel methodology for improving the bandwidth utilization on the Reverse Link (RL) of a multibeam satellite. The proposed method permits the frequency reuse for adjacent beams (usually adjacent beams employ different modulation bands so as not to interfere at the satellite antennas) and mitigates the resulting Co-Channel Interference (CCI) using a suitable Multiuser Joint Detection (MUD) algorithm at the gateway side, that is all the channels are demodulated together in order to suppress the CCI interference. The reference scenario will be a satellite system where the gateway station supports a two-way communication with several interactive user terminals equipped with a relatively small aperture antenna and transmitting low power. The RL implements an enhanced DVB-RCS standard operating with low-rate TDMA users (data rates up to few Mbit/s), as this scheme is currently the most popular for the considered scenario. The selected MUD technique is based on the adaption of iterative (turbo) interference cancellation strategies presented in literature for CDMA systems. Complete demodulator simulations were performed in general scenarios representative of real cases. The simulations have demonstrated the proposed interference mitigation algorithm reasonable complexity and an effective CCI reduction. Detailed guidelines have been finally reported in the thesis.
An Integrated Spatio-Temporal Features Analysis Approach for Ocean Turbulence Using an Autonomous Vertical Profiler

Turbulent energy cascade and intermittency are very important characteristics in the turbulent energy evolution process. However, understanding the temporal–spatial features of kinetic energy transfer and quantifying the correlations between different scales of turbulent energy remains an outstanding challenge. To deeply understand the spatial–temporal features in the energy transfer process, an integrated features identification and extraction method is proposed to quantitatively investigate the correlations using the ocean shear turbulence measured by an autonomous vertical reciprocating profiler (AVRP). The proposed integrated method mainly contains two parallel features analysis modules: first, temporal multiscale features structures of the nonlinear and nonstationary turbulent cascade are identified by Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD); then, the ocean microstructure shear fluctuation data are decomposed into a series of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs), which are characterized by different time scales and frequency bandwidths. The local features of energy transfer are identified when the local intermittency peaks overlap and the phase-synchronization case occurs between two neighboring scales; second, the spatial statistical characteristics of the turbulent energy dissipation are quantitatively studied. The cumulative probability distribution functions (CPDFs) of kinetic energy dissipation are approximated well by a normal distribution, indicating that the turbulent dissipation process exhibits a robust spatial scaling correlation and a few intense dissipation locations dominate the integrated process. Finally, the proposed integrated method is evaluated through experiments using an autonomous vertical reciprocating profiler deployed in the South China Sea. Preliminary experimental results show that the proposed novel method is useful to improve our understanding of turbulent energy transfer and the evolution process in the ocean dynamic systems.
Experimental investigation of linear phased arrays

Übersicht: Phasengesteuerte, lineare, periodische Gruppenstrahler aus V-Dipolen und V-Unipolen über leitender Ebene wurden experimentell untersucht. Gemessen wurden die Elementfeldfunktion, der Gewinn und der Antenueneingangsleitwert; die Meßergebnisse zeigten gute Übereinstimmung mit der Rechnung. In diesem Zusammenhang wurde eine einfache, breitbandige Symmctrierschaltung zur Speisung der Dipole untersucht.
Leadership, diversity and decision making

This working paper reports on leadership decision making in the UK Further Education (FE) sector drawing on the Integrating Diversity in Leadership project funded by the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL). The project was undertaken by a team from the University of Southampton and Oxford Brookes University. The Full Report is available at: http://www.lums. lancs.ac. uk/leadership/cel/ The focus on leadership decision making arises from a conviction that increasing staff and student diversity in the sector brings unprecedented challenges and implications for leading and managing learning, learners and the learning community (Lumby with Coleman, 2007). Among the wide ranging challenges is that of enabling groups and teams to deliver ‘quality decisions’ (Hoffberg and Korver, 2006:2). The paper investigates the extent to which the increasing diversity in colleges impacts on the decision making capacity of leadership teams and groups within the sector. Our focus on this aspect of decision making is based on three key assumptions:
Dibenzo-Tetraphenyl Diindeno as Hole Transport Layer for Perovskite Solar Cells Fabrication

Semi-transparent perovskite solar cells have the competitive edge of being employed for building integrated photovoltaics due to their aesthetic benefits as light harvesting windows / facades. Perovskites have received considerable attention in recent years as a thin film photovoltaic alternative, that can also be tweaked for its transparency, evolving from potentially high bandgaps that are suited for semi-transparent solar cell fabrication. Due to the existing trade of between the efficiency and transparency of a perovskite solar cell, tuning the band gap can address this by making a bridge between the aforementioned parameters. We report our findings on the use of a wide-bandgap perovskite MAPbBr3, with a rational energetic level hole transport materials based on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules that can be a promising alternative class of p-type material. In the present work, DBP (Dibenzo{[f,f' ]-4,4',7,7'-tetraphenyl}diindeno[1,2,3-cd :1',2',3'-lm]perylene, was evaluated with high band gap as well as with (FAPbI3)0.85(MAPbBr3)0.15 perovskites for the fabrication of solar cell. DBP based solar cells yielded competitive power conversion efficiencies as compared to classical HTMs.
Tecniche innovative per la rivelazione e la separazione di segnali sovrapposti nel canale del radar secondario di sorveglianza

In questo lavoro e stato affrontato il problema della corretta ricezione di segnali a 1090 MHz in ambienti ad alta densita di traffico. I segnali oggetto degli studi sono quelli utilizzati dai sistemi per la sorveglianza del traffico aereo (ATC): il radar secondario di sorveglianza (SSR), il sistema ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast), i sistemi di multilaterazione (MLAT e WAM), il sistema TIS-B ed il sistema T-CAS (Traffic Collisions Avoidance System). Le sorgenti dei segnali sono: i transponder avionici, i transponder veicolari e le stazioni trasmittenti del sistema TIS-B (Traffic Information System – Broadcast). I transponder trasmettono segnali di modo convenzionale e di modo S a seguito di interrogazioni da parte del radar secondario di sorveglianza, da parte di sistemi MLAT/WAM attivi e da parte dei sistemi T-CAS. I transponder di modo S inoltre trasmettono anche dei segnali spontanei detti squitter. Le stazioni TIS-B trasmettono segnali di modo S con la funzione di aggiornare gli aeromobili dotati di ADS-B sul traffico di aeromobili non dotati di ADS-B. Un ricevitore a 1090 MHz collocato in un ambiente ad alta densita di traffico possiede una probabilita non trascurabile di ricevere segnali sovrapposti nel tempo, soprattutto se dotato di antenna ricevente omnidirezionale. Inevitabilmente una tale situazione impedisce la corretta ricezione e decodifica di tutti i segnali, pregiudicando l’integrita della sorveglianza. Le tecniche proposte per affrontare il problema della ricezione di segnali sovrapposti sfruttano la diversita di antenna per rivelare la presenza di segnali sovrapposti e separarli. Tali metodi prevedono l’uso di una antenna ad array ed un ricevitore multicanale. Viene proposta anche una soluzione basata sull’uso di un ricevitore mono canale ed antenna omnidirezionale. Gli algoritmi presentati sono stati valutati tramite dei test utilizzando segnali reali registrati. Infine viene mostrato come aumenta la capacita del canale a 1090 MHz grazie all’utilizzo delle tecniche proposte.
Performance of cavitating axial inducers with varying tip clearance and solidity.

The performance of a helical axial inducer pump was investigated in non-cavitating and heavily cavitating regimes over a wide range of tip clearance and solidity. It was found that cavity length is related to the occurrence of two cavitation phenomena: a non-steady or oscillating form of cavitation occurs when the cavity length is nearly equal to the spacing between the impeller blades, and complete pump failure is imminent if the cavity is nearly as long as the blade chord. The extent of the oscillating cavitation regime was little affected by the variation of tip clearance or solidity in the range investigated. However, an increase in tip clearance or a decrease in solidity definitely impairs cavitation performance at low inlet pressures. On the basis of these experiments a cavitation number limit is proposed for safe inducer operation.
Better Islet Function and Cardiovascular Autonomic Function in Type 2 Diabetic Patients With Pure Small Fibre Neuropathy Than With Mixed Neuropathy

BackgroundThe clinical characteristics and outcomes of small fibre neuropathy (SFN) in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes have not been thoroughly described, and we investigated metabolic and neurological indexes and the prognosis of type 2 diabetic patients based on skin biopsy. MethodsThirty-four healthy Chinese volunteers were recruited for skin biopsy to establish the reference range of intraepidermal nerve fibre density (IENFD). Eighty-nine patients with type 2 diabetes from the Department of Endocrinology at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital between December 2015 and April 2020 were included in the final study. Metabolic and neurological indexes were evaluated at baseline. Diabetic cardiovascular autonomic function was tested through cardiovascular autonomic reflex tests (CARTs). Seventeen pure SFN subjects and 9 mixed diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN) subjects were reassessed after the follow-up. ResultsLevels of HbA1c and postprandial blood glucose were lower (P=0.005 and P=0.041, respectively), while postprandial C-peptide and insulin were higher (P=0.001 and P=0.019, respectively) in the pure SFN group than in the mixed DPN group. Regarding the CARTs, the mixed DPN group obtained the highest score, indicating the worst cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN). Among the four CART items, postural BP change was lower while deep breathing max-min was higher in the pure SFN group than in the mixed DPN group (P=0.023 and P=0.040, respectively). A partial correlation showed that there was a negative correlation between IENFD of the distal leg and CART scores (r=-0.513, P=0.001) after adjusting for age and duration of diabetes. Only vitamin B12 (p=0.028) and motor nerve conduction velocity (MCV) of the common peroneal nerve (p=0.045) were increased in the 17 patients with pure SFN after the follow-up. However, MCVs of the common peroneal nerve (p=0.025) and tibial nerve (p=0.047) were decreased at the final visit in the mixed DPN group. ConclusionsBetter islet function and cardiovascular autonomic function were observed in patients with pure SFN compared with mixed DPN. CART scores were negatively correlated with IENFD in the distal leg even after adjusting for age and duration of diabetes. The metabolic and neurological indexes remained relatively stable in the follow-up of pure SFN subjects.