Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Étude expérimentale et numérique du renforcement des tabliers de ponts en béton armé par des rechargements adhérents

The work developed in this report is part of research programme of the University of Sherbrooke, the purpose of which is to make technical recommendations for the durable repair of slabs of bridge deck. Following a bibliographical synthesis, we led a study in laboratory to analyze the structural behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs repaired using an adherent overlaying. The experimentation rested on a pilot slab and four slabs overlay according to different configurations (thickness of concrete, reinforcemen steel, anchorings). These slabs underwent several cycles of static and cyclic loading in pure bending in order to follow their behaviors in time. The experimental results made it possible to appreciate the good performance of three of the four configurations on the debonding of repair and the structural behavior of the slabs. To consolidate the noted were used two computer codes by finite elements (MSC. , MARC/MENTAT, ABAQUS 6. 4. 1) for, on the one hand, reproducing and to validate structural slabs repaired and for, on the other hand, analysing comprise it the constraints generated on the interface support-overlaying. The whole of the work realised within the framework of this thesis makes it possible to propose new techniques of repair of slabs of reinforced concrete bridge decks
Information Resources

Based on collaborative research with Gartner analysts and consultants since the early 1990s, authors Cohen and Young believe that multisourcing is not an option for companies but, rather, “will be the new normal for successful business operations. ” They stress that multisourcing is not simply outsourcing improved; rather, it is an innovative discipline that takes organizations beyond “quick-fix” cost cutting to enable capability building, global expansion, increased agility and profitability, and competitive advantage. As such, they maintain that multisourcing requires a new mind-set and frameworks for communicating, interacting with, and overseeing service relationships both inside and outside the organization.
Improving Species Composition in Mismanaged Bottomland Hardwood Stands in Western Alabama

Forests of the Coastal Plain of Alabama are among the most diverse, productive, and complex in the United States. Long-term mismanagement, however, coupled with a lack of refined scientific knowledge on bottomland oak silvical characteristics and on their regeneration dynamics, has resulted in a reduction in both the quantity and quality of the oak component in many of these stands. A study was implemented in western Alabama to compare survival, growth, and animal browse of planted Nuttall oak seedlings using plastic tube shelters, wire browse protection, fertilization, mulch mats, and control. Treatment effects on seedling height and caliper growth indicate that fertilization application and type of seedling protection significantly affect both groundline diameter and height. The use of seedling protection positively affected tree growth form and protected seedlings from herbivory compared to those unprotected.
Performance and Impacts of Current Deicing and Anti-icing Products: User Perspective Versus Experimental Data

This paper reports on the relevant information collected to date through an ongoing two-year research project funded by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) with the goal of identifying alternative deicers to chlorides. A nation-wide survey was conducted of highway maintenance agencies to rank the advantages of specific deicers with respect to low cost per lane mile, low effective temperature, high ice melting capacity, ease of application, and overall safety benefits for winter roads based on field experience or research from the respondent’s agency. According to the results, most responding maintenance agencies still depend on chlorides and abrasives for snow and ice control. Less than 25% of the survey respondents used alternative deicers such as potassium acetate, calcium magnesium acetate, sodium acetate, and potassium formate. The average ranking results show agricultural product-based deicers being the most advantageous, abrasives being the least and no significant difference between chlorides and acetates/formates based on the perceived advantages. Users were also asked to rank the disadvantages of specific deicers with respect to corrosion to metal, impacts on concrete and asphalt pavements, impacts on water quality, impacts on soil, vegetation, wild life and human health, and overall effects to structures and the environment. The average ranking results show that acetates and formates in general were perceived to have the least impacts and chlorides the most. Literature and experimental data indicated that the negative impacts of acetates and formates were greater than perceived by survey respondents, especially with respect to damage to pavement, structures and water quality. As such, CDOT has decided not to use available potassium or other acetate compounds.
Coffee, Courage, and Cannabis: Leading Change in the Regulated Marijuana Market

As Washington approaches another anniversary of marijuana regulation, lessons learned serve as a reminder that courageous leadership is a critical component in successful forward movement in a complex, unstable authorizing environment. What does leadership look like in this context, and how is it experienced? Offered from the perspective of a pracademic and regulatory leader in the nascent marijuana industry in Washington State, this paper explores the underpinnings and practical application of complexity theory in both the public administration and leadership contexts, going beyond theoretical, metaphorical application, and actually engaging scholarship and complexity through the emerging theory of engaged complexity.
Perceptual Design of a Virtual Rigid Surface Contact.

Abstract : While the state of the art in visual and auditory information display for virtual environment systems has been advancing by leaps and bounds in recent years, the representation of virtual force information is still in its early infancy. Hindered by hardware limitations and safety considerations, most force reflection systems are unable to convincingly represent even the most basic of haptic precepts. What is probably the most frequently distorted sensory precept attempted by virtual force reflection systems is that of a rigid surface contact. Although most of the tactual interactions we encounter in our daily lives involve contact with rigid surfaces, most force reflecting systems are unable to realistically reproduce such a precept. Virtual rigid surface contacts are often described as "mushy," "sticky," or "bouncy" by even the most forgiving users. Jex (1991), in reporting on informal "rules of thumb" derived from experience with high-performance force reflecting aircraft simulators, suggested that the ability to produce a convincing rigid wall is a primary requirement of any general purpose haptic interface. Because of the basic importance of the realistic display of haptic rigid walls for even the most primitive force reflecting virtual environments, this study critically examines the "rigid-surface-contact" percept and attempts to develop guidelines for the convincing generation of such haptic sensations.
Performance Analysis of LMS, RLS, CMA Algorithms for Beamforming in Smart Antenna Systems

Smart antenna systems strengthen wireless mobile communication, with enhancement over conventional systems, by projecting the signal power in narrow beams towards the desired users and suppressing the signal power towards unwanted users or interferers. Different DOA estimation and beamforming algorithms play crucial role in smart antenna system. In beamforming algorithms, using different techniques complex weights are calculated and applied to the signals from the smart antenna array elements to enhance signals of interest and suppress signals not of interest. In this article Least Mean Square(LMS) technique, Recursive Least Square(RLS)technique and Constant Modulus (CMA)technique adaptive beamforming algorithms are implemented, analyzed and compared using MATLAB simulations to help users to choose amongst them as per the their need, ease and suitability
Interaction Between Optical and Neural Factors Affecting Visual Performance

The human eye suffers from higher order aberrations, in addition to conventional spherical and cylindrical refractive errors. Advanced optical techniques have been devised to correct them in order to achieve superior retinal image quality. However, vision is not completely defined by the optical quality of the eye, but also depends on how the image quality is processed by the neural system. In particular, how neural processing is affected by the past visual experience with optical blur has remained largely unexplored. The objective of this thesis was to investigate the interaction of optical and neural factors affecting vision. To achieve this goal, pathological keratoconic eyes were chosen as the ideal population to study since they are severely afflicted by degraded retinal image quality due to higher order aberrations and their neural system has been exposed to that habitually for a long period of time. Firstly, we have developed advanced customized ophthalmic lenses for correcting the higher order aberration of keratoconic eyes and demonstrated their feasibility in providing substantial visual benefit over conventional corrective methodologies. However, the achieved visual benefit was significantly smaller than that predicted optically. To better understand this, the second goal of the thesis was set to investigate if the neural system optimizes its underlying mechanisms in response to the long-term visual experience with large magnitudes of higher order aberrations. This study was facilitated by a large-stroke adaptive optics vision simulator, enabling us to access the neural factors in the visual system by manipulating the limit imposed by the optics of the eye. Using this instrument, we have performed a series of experiments to establish that habitual exposure to optical blur leads to an alteration in neural processing thereby alleviating the visual impact of degraded retinal image quality, referred to as neural compensation. However, it was also found that chronic exposure to poor optics caused neural insensitivity to fine
Playware soccer: flexibility through modularity and layered multi-modal feedback

We developed the Playware Soccer game and tested this with more than 1,000 users during the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa in townships, orphanages for HIV/AIDS children, markets, FIFA fan parks, etc. The playware game is set up to motivate players to engage in training of technical soccer skills by receiving motivating, immediate feedback on the soccer playing on a modular interactive wall composed of modular interactive tiles that respond with coloured light, sound and scores on the players performance. The flexibility of the system was designed for with the modular interactive tiles and the layered multi-modal feedback design, which together aimed at creating a system that could be setup and used by anybody anywhere within minutes. The modular interactive tiles can be viewed to provide hardware building blocks, and the layered multi-modal feedback design to provide feedback building blocks, and simple construction with these building blocks should give a high degree of flexibility for the designer and the user to create various set-ups and interaction possibilities in an easy manner.
Using a new HSPC aging model in vitro to explore the mechanism of cellular memory in aging HSPCs

Age-associated changes attenuate human blood system functionality through the aging of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Hematopoietic aging is manifested in human populations in the form of an increase in myeloproliferative disease,therefore, study on hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) senescence bears great significance to treat hematopoietic associated disease. However, the mechanism of HSPC aging is lacking, especially cellular memory mechanism. Here, we not only reported a new HSPC aging model in vitro, but also propose and verify the cellular memory mechanism of HSPC aging of Polycomb/Trithorax system. In this model cells, the senescence-related β-gal activity, cell cycle, colony-forming ability, aging-related cell morphology and metabolic pathway are significantly changed compare to the young group. Furthermore, we found the model HSPCs have more obvious aging manifestation than those of natural mice and IL3 is the major factor contributing to HSPC aging in the model. We also observed dramatically changes in the expression level of PRC/TrxG complexes. We further identified downstream molecules of PRC/TrxG complexes,Uhrf1 and TopII, which were found to play a critical role in HSPC aging based on the HSPC aging model. So, these findings proposed a new aging HSPC model in vitro which we forecasted could be used to preliminary screen the drugs of the HSPC aging related hemopathy and suggested cellular memory mechanism of HSPC aging.
THE EFFECT OF LOADING AND VELOCITY ON MUSCLE POWER OUTPUT

Muscular power is considered one of the main determinants of dynamic athletic performance. Two major methods for power training programs were low-resistance with fast speed and high-resistance with low speed. The purpose of this research was to investigating the influence of different intensities and velocity on muscle power output. The subjects were 10 males who had trained at least 3 month using bench press machine. All lifts were performed on a traditional ballistic bench press machine with a mass of 9.08-36.32 kg (increase in 9.08 kg steps). High-velocity lifting program (HI): The subjects performed 3 trials in each level load, as fast as possible from an elbow angle 90 degrees to full extension. Lower-velocity lifting program (LO): The metronome was used to keep movement speed at 20 rpm. The mean power and peak power were significantly different between HI and LO for all the loads, HI were significantly greater than LO (). In addition, the mean power of 18.16 kg at high speed was significantly greater than mean power of 27.24 kg at low speed. Besides, the displacement decreased with the load increased in the different velocities. In conclusion, High velocity may be considered to be more important than heavy load to produce power output. The heavy resistance may reduce joint ROM in exercise.
Improving the quality of dementia care through establishing a quality improvement collaborative of Agents of Change: an interrupted time series study

Background: Non-pharmacological interventions including physical activity programs, occupational therapy and caregiver education programs have been shown to lead to better outcomes for people with dementia and their care partners. Yet, there are gaps between what is recommended in guidelines and what happens in practice. The aim of this study was to bring together clinicians working in dementia care and establish a quality improvement collaborative. The aim of the quality improvement collaborative was to increase guideline adherence to three guideline recommendations. Methods: We recruited health professionals from community, hospital and aged care settings across Australia to join the collaborative. Members of the collaborative participated in a start-up meeting, completed an online learning course with clinical and quality improvement content, formed a quality improvement plan which was reviewed by a team of experts, received feedback following an audit of their current practice and were able to share experiences with their peers. The primary outcome was adherence to their guideline recommendation of interest which was measured using checklists. Data were collected monthly over a period of 18 months and the study used an interrupted time series design to evaluate changes in adherence. Results: A total of 45 health professionals (78% therapists) from different sites joined the collaborative and 28 completed all requirements. Data from 1717 checklists were included in the analyses. Over the duration of the project there was a significant increase in clinician adherence to guideline recommendations with a 42.1% immediate increase in adherence (Incidence Rate Ratio =1.42; 95% Confidence Interval =1.08-1.87; p=0.012). Conclusion: Health professionals working with people with dementia are interested and willing in joining a quality improvement collaborative with the goal of improving non-pharmacological aspects of care. Participation in the collaborative improved the quality of care for people with dementia as measured through adherence to guideline recommendations. Although there are challenges in implementation of guideline recommendations within dementia care the quality improvement collaborative method was well suited as it equipped and empowered clinicians to lead improvement activities and allowed for heterogeneity in terms of service and setting.
Experimental study of the interference of PLC transmission power levels on HF bands

With the growing deployment of PLC, EMC emissions are attracting great interest. In this paper, experimental study of the impact of emissions from indoor PLC systems on HF bands is carried out. Results from the measured radiated and conducted emissions are analysed in the frequency bands of 1–30MHz. These results show that the radiated field strength declines as the distance from a radiating source increases. Moreover, radiated field strength from a PLC network could be greater at places far away from the areas that benefit from the data. It is also shown that measured emissions do not meet all the specified limits.
pH Response of Silicon Nanowire Sensors: Impact of Nanowire Width and Gate Oxide

We present a systematic study of the performance of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with different widths when they are used as ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFETs) in pH-sensing experiments. The SiNW widths ranged from 100 nm to 1 mu m. The SiNW-ISFETs were successfully fabricated from silicon-on-insulator (SOT) wafers with Al2O3 or HfO2 as gate dielectric. All the SiNWs showed a pH Response close to the Nernstian limit of 59.5 mV/pH at 300 K, independent of their width, or the investigated gate dielectric or operating mode. Even nanowires (NWs) in the 100 nm range operated reliably without degradation of their functionality. This result is of importance for a broad research field using SiNW sensors as a candidate for future applications.
Modelado Visual de Procesos Industriales

En este articulo se describe una metodologia basada en tecnicas de reduccion de la dimension que permite la representacion concurrente de distintos tipos de conocimiento relativos a procesos continuos multivariables, tales como reglas, modelos fisicos, correlaciones o casos, en una visualizacion unica, mapa del proceso. La visualizacion simultanea de todos estos tipos de conocimiento permite contrastarlos entre si, validar hipotesis y descubrir modelos nuevos del proceso, lo que hace posible explotar de forma eficiente el conocimiento disponible asi como descubrir conocimiento nuevo acerca del proceso, constituyendo lo que podria denominarse modelado visual de procesos. El procedimiento aqui descrito permite ademas monitorizar en linea el estado del proceso de forma consistente con las representaciones anteriores, lo que facilita la identificacion del mismo con estados o condiciones conocidas.
MOSFET Replacement Devices for Energy-Efficient Digital Integrated Circuits

Abstract : Increasing power density is a daunting challenge for continued MOSFET scaling due to non-scalability of the thermal voltage kBT/q. To circumvent this CMOS power crisis and to allow for aggressive supply voltage reduction alternative switching device designs have been proposed and demonstrated to achieve steeper than 60mV/dec subthreshold swing (S). This dissertation begins with a general overview of the physics and operation of these MOSFET-replacement devices. It then applies circuit-level metrics to establish evaluation guidelines for assessing the promise of these alternative transistor designs. This dissertation then investigates the abrupt "pull-in" effect of an electrostatically actuated beam to achieve abrupt switching behavior in the nanoelectro-mechanical field effect transistor (NEMFET). To facilitate low-voltage NEMFET design, the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation is solved simultaneously with the Poisson equation in order to accurately model the switching behavior of a NEMFET. The impact of various transistor design parameters on the gate pull-in voltage and release voltage are examined. A unified pull-in/release voltage model is developed. Finally, this dissertation proposes the use of micro-relays for zero-standby-power digital logic applications. To mitigate the contact reliability issue, it is demonstrated that since relatively high on-state resistance can be tolerated while extremely high endurance is a necessity, hard contacting electrode materials and operation with low contact force are preferred for reliable circuit operation. Using this contact design approach, a reliable relay technology that employs titanium dioxide (TiO2) coated tungsten (W) electrodes is developed for digital logic applications.
Building a Virtual Model of a Baleen Whale

Abstract : This long term goal of this research is to eventually CT scan an adult baleen whale. The research effort will be subdivided into three phases. The current activity only covers Phase 1, the design and testing phase. No marine mammal specimens are needed in this initial design and testing phase. Going forward with Phases 2 and 3 will be dependant upon the success of Phase 1. Phase 1 will accomplish the following objectives: 1. Investigate, design, test, and purchase an insulated tow bag that will, in later phases, eventually be used to contain a whale carcass and transport it to a haul-out marina where it can be hoisted into a steel cradle. 2. Design, build, and test a recirculating sea water chilling system. This unit would be palletized and plumbed so that sea water can be recirculated into the insulated bag while the specimen is towed into the marina. This will help stave off decomposition. 3. Test towing and handling procedures with insulated bag and recirculating chilled sea water system. Measure the rate at which the sea water can be chilled while towing a bag full of sea water. 4. Design and build a steel cradle that used to hold specimen while hoisting it from the water and during transport from the marina to freezer unit. 5. Video documentation will be ongoing throughout the life of the project. If we succeed in Phase 1 of this project, we will be on track to revolutionize our understanding of the largest animals on Earth. As a consequence, this project will have demonstrated an innovative process that may serve the public interest and as a pattern for future studies.