Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Data Center Energy-Saving System and Method Based on Virtual IT Resource Distribution Technology

A data center energy-saving system and method based on virtual IT technology resource distribution technology is proposed in this paper. Through monitoring virtual environment resources in data center, the limited IT resources can be dynamically migrated and the auxiliary equipment resources such as air conditioner can be rationally managed. Then the resources can be reasonably and efficiently allocated by monitoring the virtual environment. With a closed-loop feedback control mechanism, it effectively improves the utilization of data center resources, and ultimately achieves the operation and maintenance for data center of green energy-saving target. This method was implemented in a true data center for cloud computing. Test results show that the total energy consumption of this system can be reduced by 13%, and the power usage effectiveness drops to 1.5.
Internal Active Antenna for FM Radio Reception in Mobile Handsets

A ferrite loaded multi-turn loop antenna is proposed and evaluated for reception of FM radio in mobile phones. By co- designing the antenna element with an amplifier and using varactor diodes for frequency tuning, a G/T degradation compared to an ideal dipole antenna in a realistic urban environment of less than 23 dB over the entire FM band 88 - 108 MHz has been achieved. The antenna element occupies 1.5 cm3 and the circuits' uses 1.5 cm2 PCB area. Theoretical and experimental results are presented together with design choice motivations and measurement procedures, including isolation measurements from a co-located GSM transmit antenna. (10 pages)
A GIS-Based Model to Assess the Risk of On-Site Wastewater Systems Impacting Groundwater and Surface Water Resources

On-site systems are successfully used across Ontario and Canada in rural areas to treat and disperse wastewater in areas without access to centralized sewer facilities. Ontario has detailed technical guidelines for the design and installation of on-site systems to help safeguard against contamination to public health and the environment. However, since on-site systems are managed by private users, there are significant risks to either surface and groundwater resources when the systems malfunction or are improperly operated and maintained. This research assesses and models these risks on a regional basis utilizing a GIS-based assessment tool. The developed risk assessment model uses nine pertinent parameters to account for contaminant loading and pathways, and system characteristics. Risk parameters included soil type, slope, lot size, surface water proximity, floodplain, groundwater intrinsic susceptibility, recharge areas and water supply proximity. When applied to Huron-Kinloss Township in Ontario, at-risk areas were successfully determined by the model and then confirmed and validated by local experts. Soil type, groundwater intrinsic susceptibility and system age were the greatest contributors to the overall risk for this area. The GIS-based model is useful for decision-makers in identifying at-risk areas for targeted management strategies such as prioritized re-inspection programs.
Electrical breakdown for uniform fields in compressed gases

The electrical breakdown and prebreakdown characteristics of uniform fields in compressed gases are described. The failure of Paschen's law and the dependence of the breakdown voltage on the material, preparation and area of the electrodes, on the dust content of the gas, and on the type of applied voltage are included. The failure of the Townsend and streamer mechanisms of low-pressure breakdown is discussed, and a summary is made of the many suggested breakdown mechanisms for compressed gases. These are divided into three groups: breakdown due only to field emission of electrons, breakdown due to electron-field emission and space charge in the gas, and breakdown due to electron-field emission and charge collection on an electrode. The breakdown and prebreakdown characteristics are interpreted in terms of the various breakdown mechanisms, and the areas indicated where further investigations are needed. The surface flashover of insulating spacers in compressed gases is also briefly reviewed.
A two-dimensional bin-packing problem with conflict penalties

In this paper, we address the two-dimensional bin-packing (2BP) problem with variable conflict penalties, which incur if conflicting items are loaded into the same bin. Such a problem is observed in applications such as supermarket chains and automobile components transportation. The problem not only focuses on minimisation of number of bins used, but also deals with the conflict penalties at the same time. We propose a heuristic method based on the IMA algorithm and adapt it to solve this problem. A local search procedure is also designed to further improve the solutions. For instances derived from benchmark test data, the computational results indicate that the adapted IMA heuristic algorithm with local search effectively balances the number of bins used and the conflict penalties. The algorithm outperforms several adapted approaches that are well known for the 2BP problems.
A Framework for Affective Customer Needs in Product Design

A systematic framework is proposed to conceptualize affective customer needs in product design. Customer needs were derived for current and future electronic devices in automobiles. Subjects rated their preferences for fifteen product attributes on 10-point semantic differential scales. Using factor analysis, three generic factors were extracted namely: holistic attributes, styling, and functional design. Depending upon the familiarity of the device there were clear differences among potential customers. Unknown devices such as navigation map were assessed first hand by using holistic attributes. Familiar design such as car radio and cell phone were assessed using styling and functionality attributes. Customer reactions and preferences may be caused by product design parameters that operate either through their perceptual attributes or from the experience they acquire in using the artifacts or interfaces. Functional (or cognitive) customer needs can be derived top-down using product design features. Affective customer needs are difficult to derive top-down – typically they are evaluated by looking at several design propositions.
Injection locking of microwave solid-state oscillators

Injection locking of microwave solid-state oscillators is discussed, based on the familiar theorem that the total impedance times the current is equal to the applied voltage. Both quasi-static and dynamic analyses of the locking range, large-signal injection, locking stability, and AM and FM noise are given, and recent experimental work is reviewed briefly. No applications of injection locking are discussed in detail.
TOOL PORTFOLIO PLANNING IN THE BACK-END PROCESS OF WAFER FABRICATION WITH SEQUENTIAL TIME CONSTRAINTS

ABSTRACT Time constraints related issues are unavoidable tasks in wafer fabrications, especially for back-end copper-interconnect process while the wafers are processed through sets of continuous operations associate with various time constraints. We shall address ourselves to capacity planning in order to eradicate the difficulties of sequential time constraints. This paper proposed a tool portfolio determination model to determine the required quantity and type of tools for ensuring pre-defined target yield could be achieved. The workstations are modeled as GI/G/m queuing network, and the analysis of rate of wafers exceeding queue time is adopted to determine the required capacity. Furthermore, a virtual customer was introduced into the model to adjust system service rate to character the machine failure. By this approach, the influence of downtime duration at fixed machine availability could be observed. The results support that the proposed model can more effectively resolve the issues of sequential time constraints. Moreover, the analysis results indicate that the current capacity expansion policy of the semiconductor industry should be re-examined.
Metro Thessaloniki: Tiefe Baugruben in Deckelbauweise

Die neue U‐Bahn in Thessaloniki befindet sich seit 2006 im Bau. Mit einer Streckenlänge von 9, 6 km umfasst sie, neben dem Schildvortrieb zweier Röhren, die Errichtung von 13 Bahnhöfen mit zentralem Bahnsteig. Zur Reduzierung von Verkehrsstörungen und zur Begrenzung der Setzungen in der Nachbarschaft wurde eine Deckelbauweise mit Schlitzwänden gewählt. Wegen der engen Platzverhältnisse musste dabei auf eine Innenschale verzichtet werden. Weitere erschwerende Randbedingungen sind der weiche inhomogene Untergrund, die große Aushubtiefe im Grundwasser und die Seismizität am Standort. Beginnend mit der Projektbeschreibung werden für zwei typische Bahnhöfe die erdstatischen Nachweise und die Maßnahmen zur dauerhaften Auftriebssicherung zusammengefasst sowie gemessene und prognostizierte Systemverformungen gegenübergestellt.
Defected-ground coupled microstrip lines and its application in wideband baluns

Defected-ground coupled lines (DCL) is introduced. It consists of edge coupled microstrip lines with a defected ground. The equivalent circuit model, which is based on separating the two modes of the coupled lines into the common and differential modes, is also developed. The model is validated by comparing the results of ten conventional coupled-line circuits using DCL with EM simulations and excellent agreement was achieved (error is less than or equal to 1.5%). In DCL, the propagation characteristics of the common and differential modes are controlled separately. This permits the design of novel wideband baluns that have a reduced area and a superior performance compared with the multisection quarter wavelength coupled-line baluns. Design guidelines of the proposed baluns are detailed, and single-section and three-section DCL-baluns are implemented. The single-section DCL total length is 0.16lambda, it provides 10% increase in fractional bandwidth, and it occupies 60% of the area when compared with the five-section quarter wavelength balun bandwidth and area, respectively. The single-section and three-section baluns have a fractional bandwidth of 40 and 70%, a maximum amplitude balance of 0.5 dB (for both) and a maximum phase balance of 10deg and 3deg, respectively. Measurements, circuit and EM simulations of one conventional coupled-line circuit with DCL and the two baluns are in excellent agreement.
Research on Environment Materials with Progress on Regeneration of Active Carbon

Now activated carbon has been used greatly in all walks of life, thus the regeneration of spent activated carbon is of great significance. The advantages and disadvantages of the regeneration methods of the spent activated carbon are introduced and discussed in this paper, mainly including thermal regeneration, chemical regeneration, electrochemical regeneration, microwave radiation regeneration, wet air oxidation and supercritical fluid regeneration etc. Then a new recycling method of the spent activated carbon is proposed.
Analytical computation of AC resistance of round and rectangular litz wire windings

A new modelling method for computing the AC resistance of litz wire in windings is presented. The method, being analytically based, is not subject to mesh limitations encountered with numerical methods and can handle multiturn windings with an unlimited number of strands. A feature of this approach is that, as analytical equations are used, it requires less computing power and can be implemented on smaller desktop computers. Experimental measurements are presented which support the validity of this method.
Ergonomic risk incorporated schedules (ERIS) – scheduling using genetic algorithm to reduce operator fatigue in flow-shop based cells

We address the task of scheduling jobs in a flow-line cell with due consideration to human fatigue at work. A method for sequencing tasks using principles of flow-shop with a procedure to shift tasks/jobs among workers is proposed. The aim is to attain sustained productivity in a labour intensive working environment over an entire shift and enhance long term safety of workers by focusing on human factors. We incorporate human factors into classical scheduling models and develop a GA based heuristic. These are tested over trial data-sets and found to give encouraging results. The model demonstrates how ergonomic factors can be incorporated and what modification it needs from the classical flow shop sequencing models.
Review Lecture - Electromagnetic suspension and levitation techniques

Defying gravity seems to have fascinated scientists and philosophers through the ages. Electromagnetic suspension and levitation, following on from aircushion vehicles, such as the Tracked Hovercraft and the Aerotrain, has been the focus of attention and research for passenger-carrying vehicles since the 1970s. Two major demonstration systems are now in operation: one in Germany and one in Japan. Besides application to passenger-carrying vehicles, controlled DC electromagnet technology has been applied to produce frictionless magnetic bearings, conveyor systems, flow meters, etc. This is becoming a rapidly expanding area, moving out of the realms of academe into one of considerable industrial importance. The applications now include high-speed machine tool spindles, ultra-centrifuges, turbo-alternators, corrosive-liquid pumps, gas compressors and high-vacuum pumps, fly wheels for energy storage, handling components for protective coating and weighing balances. New developments in superconducting materials have also aroused fresh interest in the electrodynamic levitation schemes such as the Japanese one.
Computer Networks and Scientific Work

This paper explores the relations between social context and technology by studying the incorporation of computer mediated communication (CMC) across several fields. Based on interviews with 67 scientists in four fields, we find that computer network use differs substantially by field, and we explain these differences in terms of the different social structures and work organizations of each field. The results suggest that fields that consist of tightly coupled but geographically dispersed work groups (for example, particle physics) tend to adopt CMC more heavily than those where work is performed within relatively autonomous groups (for example, experimental biology). Also, fields that are more buffered from the market (mathematics) tend to use informal CMC, while those more tightly linked to commercial markets (chemistry) tend to limit use to formal CMC. This study supports previous research in suggesting that the form of technological innovation depends on the context into which new technology is embedded.
OD MATRICES ESTIMATION FROM LINK FLOWS BY NEURAL NETWORKS AND PCA

Abstract The paper tackles OD matrix estimation starting from the measures of flow on road network links and proposes the application of soft-computing techniques. The application scenarios are two: a trial network and the real rural network of the Province of Naples both simulated by a micro-simulator dynamically assigning known OD matrices. A PCA (Principal Component Analysis) technique was also used to reduce the input space of variables in order to achieve better significance for input data and to study the possible eigengraphs of the road networks.
Performance Analysis and Power Allocation for NOMA-assisted Cloud Radio Access Network

With the assistance of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), the spectrum efficiency and the number of users in cloud radio access network (CRAN) can be greatly improved. In this paper, the system performance of NOMA-assisted CRAN is investigated. Specially, the outage probability (OP) and ergodic sum rate (ESR), are derived for performance evaluation of the system, respectively. Based on this, by minimizing the OP of the system, a suboptimal power allocation (PA) scheme with closed-form PA coefficients is proposed. Numerical simulations validate the accuracy of the theoretical results, where the derived OP has more accuracy than the existing one. Moreover, the developed PA scheme has superior performance over the conventional fixed PA scheme but has smaller performance loss than the optimal PA scheme using the exhaustive search method.
Atypical Radiographic Presentation of Cryptococcus Pneumonia in a Newly Diagnosed HIV Patient

Background Cryptococcus infection is an opportunistic infection that occurs primarily among immunocompromised patients, and the morbidity and mortality of this infection is high if left unrecognized and untreated. There are no clinical or radiographic characteristics typical of cryptococcal pneumonia, and its clinical and radiological presentations often overlap with other diagnoses. Case Presentation We present a case of a 25-year-old man from Ghana admitted for an altered mental state, weight loss, neck pain, fever, and photophobia. He was diagnosed with Cryptococcus neoformans meningitis by cerebrospinal fluid culture and with disseminated cryptococcal infection by a positive Cryptococcus blood test. Diffuse micronodular opacities were found in a miliary pattern in the upper portions of both lungs upon imaging, which suggested miliary tuberculosis; thus, the patient was started on antituberculosis therapy. The patient underwent flexible fiber optic bronchoscopy, and transbronchial biopsy of the right lung showed bronchopneumonia with fungal spores consistent with filamentous Cryptococcus neoformans, which grew in tissue culture of the right lung. Interferon-gamma release assay, Mycobacterium tuberculosis PCR, and acid-fast bacilli staining of the bronchoalveolar lavage were negative for the M. tuberculosis complex. Conclusion The similarities in clinical and imaging findings among patients with acute immunodeficiency syndrome with coinfections make diagnoses difficult; thus image-guided biopsies are essential to confirm diagnoses.
Sectionalized Motion Control for Automatic Guided Vehicle

In this work, an approach called sectionalized motion control (SMC) was proposed in order to achieve control with high precision and low energy consumption for the entire AGV tracking process. In this method, according to the characteristics of the AGV’s early, middle and terminal motion phases, the neural dynamics-based tracking, energy-efficient tracking, and model predictive technologies were adopted. Furthermore, a simulation using Matlab software was performed in order to verify the proposed approach. The simulation results showed that SMC is capable of providing smooth, energy-efficient, robust and globally stable control for the AGV system.
Powerful Owners and Powerful Legacies. What Drives Change in the World Rally Championship?

Abstract This study seeks to identify the impact of a commercial turning point in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1999 and the 2013 takeover by the current promoter’s media strategies. Drawing upon 21 qualitative interviews with key stakeholders in the WRC coupled with theories of institutional logics, mediatization and strategic legacy, the findings demonstrate that the decisions and culture of the sport can be powerful as the new owners seek to influence the direction of sport in their own image. Sport managers who are dealing with change processes and sport management researchers should identify where an organization’s self-reinforcing mechanisms and processes exist in order to balance sporting tradition with organizational culture.
A comparison of the exhaust emission from city buses fuelled with diesel oil and CNG

Due to a growing demand for fossil fuels such as crude oil or natural gas it became necessary to seek new alternative energy sources. A variety of scientific and research work has been targeted at finding and the exploitation of sources of shale gas. According to the estimates, only in Poland there can be as much as 5.3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas trapped in unconventional sources. Such a potential can be utilized by many branches of economy including transport. It has become reasonable to use natural gas as an alternative fuel for utility vehicles. This paper presents the results of exhaust emission tests conducted on city buses fueled with diesel oil and CNG. The tests were conducted under actual traffic conditions on a regular bus route in Poznan. For the measurement of the exhaust emissions a portable exhaust emission analyzer Semtech DS was used. The obtained data were used for the determination of the average values of the emission of individual exhaust components. These values have shown that using different types of fuel in public transportation leads to a reduction of air pollution, and thus a better quality of life in the city.
True random number generator resistant to frequency injection attacks

True random number generators (TRNGs) based on flip-flop (FF) metastability can suffer from sensitivity to frequency injection attacks. A dedicated attack can interfere with a FF's initial condition and influence the logical state or resolve time. These, in turn might result in significant keyspace reduction. Therefore, a novel TRNG utilising random timing of metastable FF is proposed. In this concept, a programmable delay line driven by a pseudo-random generator with a random seed, changes continuously the phase between triggering signals (data and clock) and the global system clock. Nevertheless, the relative interval of clock and data active slopes remains constant and violates FF timing to ensure metastable (truly random) operation.
Effects of artificial nitrogen addition and reduction in precipitation on soil CO2 and CH4 effluxes and composition of the microbial biomass in a temperate forest

To understand the effects of artificially increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) and decreased precipitation on the soil microbial community and soil CO2 and CH4 efflux, a two‐factorial field experiment was carried out with the following treatments: (a) control, (b) N addition (+50 kg N ha−1 year−1), (c) decreased precipitation (−30% of throughfall) and (d) combined N addition and decreased precipitation (+50 kg N ha−1 year−1, −30% of throughfall). The N addition and decreased precipitation treatments had a positive effect on mean CO2 efflux (2.61 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 for control, 4.26 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 for N addition, 3.62 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 for reduction in precipitation) and mean rates of CH4 uptake (0.00088 μmol CH4 m−2 s−1 for control, 0.00154 μmol CH4 m−2 s−1 for N addition, 0.00151 μmol m−2 s−1 for reduction in precipitation) during the growing season. The combined N addition and reduction in precipitation also led to increased soil CO2 efflux and CH4 uptake, but the combined response was weaker than the response to single variable treatments (3.10 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 and 0.00130 μmol CH4 m−2 s−1 interaction), indicating antagonistic effects of the combined treatment. At the seasonal scale, changes in soil CO2 and CH4 efflux were complex, especially in the spring freezing and thawing period, during which pulses of CO2 efflux and CH4 uptake occurred. Decreased precipitation altered the composition of the bacterial community in the winter and growing seasons, and composition of the microbial community also showed a seasonal change. However, changes in microbial community structure under N addition, precipitation reduction and their interaction might be important factors leading to an increase or decrease in soil carbon efflux.
Stable filter control of wavelength division multiplexed soliton systems

In wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) soliton transmission systems with frequency filter control, the growth of spontaneous emission from amplifiers due to excess gain near the central region of the filter is suppressed due to the spectral diffusion caused by cross-phase modulation by solitons in other WDM channels. It is numerically demonstrated that, for a canonical case of the map strength S of /spl sim/5, if there are six or more channels, then the spectral diffusion is sufficient to suppress the growth and stable filter control is achieved without sliding, phase and/or amplitude modulation.