Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ferroelectric Characterization of Single PZT Fibers

In a previous work, the authors have presented a comprehensive procedure for the direct characterization of single piezoelectric ceramic fibers in terms of butterfly and polarization loops and blocking force. The ability to investigate single fibers is relevant for optimizing their manufacturing processes, for quality control purposes, and for modeling the response of components and structures. In this study the novel testing procedure is used to characterize commercially available fibers distributed by Advanced Cerametrics Inc., CeraNova Corp., and Smart Material Corp., respectively, and to compare their performance with fibers developed at Empa. Their porosity, grain size and phase composition were investigated to correlate the ferroelectric properties with the microstructure. Fibers supplied by Smart Material Corp. exhibited the best ferroelectric performance, in particular the highest saturation and remnant polarization, the lowest coercive field and the highest P—E loop squareness. The said properties result from a low porosity, a sufficiently large grain size and a phase composition near the morphotropic phase boundary. After removing a surface layer dominated by a rhombohedral phase, Empa fibers developed maximum average free-strains 15% larger than any commercially available fiber. Better control of the sintering atmosphere thus promises to be the key to very high performance fibers.
Virtual-Reality graph visualization based on Fruchterman-Reingold using Unity and SteamVR

The paper describes a method for the immersive, dynamic visualization of undirected, weighted graphs. Using the Fruchterman-Reingold method, force-directed graphs are drawn in a Virtual-Reality system. The user can walk through the data, as well as move vertices using controllers, while the network display rearranges in realtime according to Newtonian physics. In addition to the physics behind the employed method, the paper explains the most pertinent computational mechanisms for its implementation, using Unity, SteamVR, and a Virtual-Reality system such as HTC Vive (the source package is made available for download). It was found that the method allows for intuitive exploration of graphs with on the order of 10 2 vertices, and that dynamic extrusion of vertices and realtime readjustment of the network structure allows for developing an intuitive understanding of the relationship of a vertex to the remainder of the network. Based on this observation, possible future developments are suggested.
Effect of Metformin on Anthropometric Measurements and Hormonal and Biochemical Profile in Patients with Prediabetes

Objectives Metformin is the most widely preferred first-line oral antidiabetic agent that results in clear benefits in blood sugar regulation and diabetes-related complications. This study is aimed at assessing the effect of metformin on anthropometric, hormonal, and biochemical parameters in patients with prediabetes or insulin resistance. Methods A prepoststudy was conducted among 52 patients with prediabetes or insulin resistance who met the inclusion criteria. Weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference were measured before and 12 months after metformin treatment. Serum concentrations of sex steroids, gonadotropins, and lipids were also assessed. Homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) index and quantitative sensitivity check (QUICKI) index scores were calculated before metformin treatment and after 12 months of use. Results After 12 months of metformin treatment, female patients had significant reduction in weight, BMI, and waist circumference after adjusting for age. Metformin use for 12 months resulted in significant reduction in mean fasting blood glucose and HbA1c in females only. Total cholesterol decreased significantly among men only and serum HDL-C showed a significant rise among females only. Serum LDL-C and triglycerides did not change significantly in females and males. Our study did now significant changes in ACTH and cortisol levels in both females and males after metformin treatment. Metformin use resulted in significant increase in luteinizing hormone (LH) and progesterone levels in males, while it was associated with significant increase in prolactin, follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), and dehydroepiandrostenedione-sulphate (DHEA-S) levels and significant decrease in total testosterone level in females. Conclusion Metformin treatment in females with prediabetes reduces BMI, waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, and HbA1c. The changes in the studied parameters differed significantly according to sex.
Of Strategic Management, Teams and Team-building

All societies, communities, institutions, organisations and organisational units are in a continuous, and far too often discordant, process of transformation. Change has become a permanent feature and a recurring force in contemporary times. Some of the changes occurring new paradigms for organisation management, changing social and political forces, rise and fall of people-based programmes, the spread of technologies, competitiveness, fluctuations in market demand and shifts in human values are a few of the conspicuous features that characterise contemporary organisations. For most decision-makers and managers, the key challenge is to design and develop new strategies, new services, new products, better relationships and improved organisational processes to deal with the continuous changes confronting organisations today. Managers today must design and develop organisational strategies that are able to assess the continuous changes facing contemporary and future managers, and develop proactive plans to implement the use of resource to accommodate these changes. This paper examines how teams and teambuilding, and consequentially capacity-building, can be used in the strategic management of an organisation.
Phytoremediation potential of Alocasia microrrhiza grown on soil collected from selected dumpsites in Ekiti State, Nigeria

This study investigates the effect of enhanced phytoextraction on the accumulation of heavy metals by Alocasia microrrhiza cultivated on soil collected from selected dumpsites in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The application of 1g/kg EDTA decreased the heights of plants relative to control, but significantly increased the concentration of heavy metals in various tissues of the plant. Notably, concentration of Pb and Cu were greater than the threshold value of 100mg/kg, indicative of the fact that Alocasia microrrhiza could be a good candidate for Pb and Cu- phytoextraction. BF, TF and RR values (1.1-1.6), (4.3-4.8) and (1.4-2.3) revealed the effectiveness of the plant to translocate Pb and Cu to their harvestable portion. RRs values greater than one also indicated the efficiency of plant under chelate-induced phytoextraction. However, the concentration of heavy metals did not vary significantly at p < 0.05 (LSD test) in all dumpsites investigated.
TOD and Multi-modal Public Transport

This article considers the role of transit-oriented development (TOD) in genuinely multi-modal public transport systems. In systems of this kind, railway stations are major interchange points with street-based public transport, which is frequently the dominant mode for station access. In such cases, TOD takes advantage of the very high level of accessibility provided by both the rail service and on-street feeder modes, in contrast with walk-on systems, where TOD is seen mainly as a way of expanding the number of walk-on patrons. Examples of both types of system are presented, including details of modal split for station access, and the importance of TOD in generating patronage is considered. The consequences for TOD planning and design are discussed, including trade-offs between park-and-ride patronage and TOD-generated patronage, and between commercial and transport benefits from TOD.
Flight Simulator Evaluation of Synthetic Vision Display Concepts to Prevent Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)

In commercial aviation, over 30-percent of all fatal accidents worldwide are categorized as Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) accidents, where a fully functioning airplane is inadvertently flown into the ground. The major hypothesis for a simulation experiment conducted at NASA Langley Research Center was that a Primary Flight Display (PFD) with synthetic terrain will improve pilots ability to detect and avoid potential CFITs compared to conventional instrumentation. All display conditions, including the baseline, contained a Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) and Vertical Situation Display (VSD) enhanced Navigation Display (ND). Each pilot flew twenty-two approach departure maneuvers in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) to the terrain challenged Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) in Colorado. For the final run, flight guidance cues were altered such that the departure path went into terrain. All pilots with a synthetic vision system (SVS) PFD (twelve of sixteen pilots) noticed and avoided the potential CFIT situation. The four pilots who flew the anomaly with the conventional baseline PFD configuration (which included a TAWS and VSD enhanced ND) had a CFIT event. Additionally, all the SVS display concepts enhanced the pilot s situational awareness, decreased workload and improved flight technical error (FTE) compared to the baseline configuration.
Experimental dual polarised phase-switched screen

A new experimental dual polarised phased-switched screen (PSS) is described. Measured data is used to synthesise the operation of the PSS when modulated with a periodic square wave. Results are presented to confirm the operation of the screen at normally incident polarisation angles of 0°, 45° and 90°.
Design and Practice of FSAE Car Dynamic Data Acquisition System

According to the requirement of Formula Student China (FSC), combined with the actual of 2012 Guangzhou Auto S - Power team of South China University of Technology, a set of data acquisition system was designed and developed, and performance of the car chassis was analysed with data acquisition system, effective adjustment scheme is put forward. program was designed with LabVIEW software and NI cRIO 9076 data collector. This is experiment demonstrated that data acquisition system help designer to understand the quantitative value of the car performance in the process of the car testing, and help us to improve accuracy of the chassis adjustment, and also help us to improve work efficiency of commissioning phase.
Performance Improvement of Parallel Robotics through Flexible Platform

Adoption of parallel robotics is to combine the dexterity of a serial robot and the rigidity of a machine tools to achieve high precise, heavy load, and less energy cost in machining operations. however, some disadvantages might also be brought in, and one of them is the great reduction of its workspace and flexibility. In this paper, the platform’s effects on robotic performance are analyzed systematically. It is our observation that the platform variants can affect the global performance of a parallel robot greatly. The idea of developing ‘flexible platform’ is initialized. This flexible platform is implemented by adopting external actuator(s) on the platform, which is shared by the parallel branches. The actuator can be designed to work either the off-line or the online way. The characteristics of parallel robots with flexible platform are discussed. A 2-DOF parallel robot with a flexible platform is illustrated as an example.
In search of a variational formulation of the relativistic Navier‐Stokes equations

Drawing an analogy with Maxwell theory a new Lagrangian is proposed for a variational formulation of the relativistic Navier‐Stokes equations which to‐date has remained elusive. A key feature is the use of tensor potentials, whose degrees of gauge freedom allow for the reformulation of the energy‐momentum equations in a self‐adjoint form. An already existing potential‐based representation of the relativistic field equations is a suitable starting point for the present considerations, which in turn are guided by the already successfully solved case of non‐relativistic, stationary and incompressible flow.
Impact of Internal Control Systems on Performance of Universal Banks: Evidence from Ghana

What could be panacea to the global failures and crises that the banking industry is experiencing over the years? Is it the case that the growth and development of financial institutions are dependent on the effectiveness and efficiency of its internal controls? Are the problems at the banking sector ema-nating as a result of control systems that are not effective? These have been a few questions that both scholars and practitioners have been seeking answers to. This study, therefore, sought to examine the impact of internal control systems on the performance of universal banks in Ghana. The study employed quantitative research approach. Questionnaire was used to collect data from 160 respondents from 20 branches of universal banks in Ghana. Data processing was done using SPSS version 21, and the analytical tool used was regression analysis.
Asymptotic analysis and precoding design of integrated access and backhaul in full-duplex mmWave networks

In this paper, we consider a full-duplex (FD) millimeter wave (mmWave) multiuser integrated access and backhaul (IAB) system with massive MIMO, and the system asymptotic performance and interference cancellation schemes are investigated. First, the asymptotic performance of the IAB system with massive MIMO is analyzed. As the number of macro base station (MBS) and small base station (SBS) antennas approaches infinity, the FD self-interference (SI), inter-tier interference and noise can be eliminated, which means that only multiuser interference remains in the system. Then, multiuser interference can be suppressed by the base band (BB) precoders. Since all interference and noise are suppressed, the spectral efficiency of the SBS and users are infinite in theory. Then, two interference suppression precoding schemes are proposed. A block diagonalization (BD)-based interference cancellation scheme is designed based on the channel characteristics and null space projection. The FD SI, intertier interference and multiuser interference are eliminated by BB precoders. Instead of eliminating interference completely, a signal to leakage and noise ratio (SLNR)-based precoding scheme is derived to suppress both interference and noise. By utilizing the Rayleigh-Ritz theorem, the SLNRs of the SBS and users are optimized. Simulation results show that all the interference can be effectively eliminated by the BD-based scheme at the cost of spectral efficiency performance loss, while the SLNR-based scheme can balance interference and noise and achieve higher spectral efficiency with comparatively low interference level. Therefore, the BD-based scheme is more suitable for interference elimination cases, and the SLNR-based scheme can improve the system performance in low interference scenarios.
Three Challenges of Artificial Intelligence for Antitrust Policy and Law

The following text addresses the challenges that the increasing use of artificial intelligence, in particular smart algorithms that collect and process large amounts of data for internet gatekeepers (i.e., the largest online service providers), poses for competition protection. The analysis focuses on three areas: the potential clash be-tween competition protection and consumer (privacy) protection that may be caused by the push for sharing and portability of client data in order to open up online markets; then the issue of super-dominance caused by internet gatekeepers escaping both their competitors and effective control due to the massive deployment of AI; and finally, the issue of the algorithmic price collusion that seemingly turns some existing competition protection paradigms on their head. These three challenges are critically analyzed regarding their reflection in the literature and in the existing decision-making practice of competition authorities.
Inflammatory Biomarker Levels After Propofol or Sevoflurane Anesthesia: A Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The perioperative inflammatory response may be implicated in adverse outcomes including neurocognitive dysfunction and cancer recurrence after oncological surgery. The immunomodulatory role of anesthetic agents has been demonstrated in vitro; however, its clinical relevance is unclear. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to compare propofol and sevoflurane with respect to biomarkers of perioperative inflammation. The secondary aim was to correlate markers of inflammation with clinical measures of perioperative cognition. METHODS: Databases were searched for randomized controlled trials examining perioperative inflammation after general anesthesia using propofol compared to sevoflurane. Inflammatory biomarkers investigated were interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, tissue necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and C-reactive protein (CRP). The secondary outcome was incidence of perioperative neurocognitive disorders. Meta-analysis with metaregression was performed to determine the difference between propofol and sevoflurane. RESULTS: Twenty-three studies were included with 1611 participants. Studies varied by surgery type, duration, and participant age. There was an increase in the mean inflammatory biomarker levels following surgery, with meta-analysis revealing no difference in effect between propofol and sevoflurane. Heterogeneity between studies was high, with surgery type, duration, and patient age contributing to the variance across studies. Only 5 studies examined postoperative cognitive outcomes; thus, a meta-analysis could not be performed. Nonetheless, of these 5 studies, 4 reported a reduced incidence of cognitive decline associated with propofol use. CONCLUSIONS: Surgery induces an inflammatory response; however, the inflammatory response did not differ as a function of anesthetic technique. This absence of an effect suggests that patient and surgical variables may have a far more significant impact on the postoperative inflammatory responses than anesthetic technique. The majority of studies assessing perioperative cognition in older patients reported a benefit associated with the use of propofol; however, larger trials using homogenous outcomes are needed to demonstrate such an effect.
Design and implementation of an extended Kalman filter for the state estimation of a permanent magnet synchronous motor

Practical considerations for implementing the discrete extended Kalman filter in real time with a digital signal processor are discussed. The system considered is a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) without a position sensor, and the extended Kalman filter is designed for the online estimation of the speed and rotor position by only using measurements of the motor voltages and currents. The algorithms developed to allow efficient computation of the filter are presented. The computational techniques used to simplify the filter equations and their implementation in fixed-point arithmetic are discussed. Simulation and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this estimation process. >
Series resonant converter with sandwich-type piezoelectric ceramic transducers

This paper presents the control method of the high-frequency-generator for supplying a sandwich-type piezoelectric ceramic transducers used in ultrasonic cleaning systems. This method makes it possible to obtain an optimal US cleaning system by varying the resonant frequency of the transducers. A power generator with the new control method was built and tested. The generator developed consists of a resonant MOSFET transistor converter, a group of sandwich-type piezoelectric ceramic transducers, and a full-bridge inverter circuit. Experimental results for the test conducted using the generator developed are given.
Mobile effect reduction in data-centric storage for wireless sensor networks

The future wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are usually scale to size of thousands to millions of sensors deployed in an area to sense events. Therefore, sensors have to manage a huge amount of data. The way how to store data in WSNs can influence the response time and the lifetime of the network. One of the existent works in this domain is called data-centric storage (DCS), and it is a recent research tendency in WSNs. DCS has to face with two problems. First, it uses hash function distribute the load uniformly over the network. When the hash value does not match the position of any node, DCS has to search for the nearest node of the hash value (called home node) to store the data. Sometimes, it can take many hops to find the home node. This process is a communication waste needed to be avoided. Second, in WSNs, there are often mobile nodes. They are one of the causes of routing errors in the network. Routing errors implies retransmissions and information lost. Hence, they are also an energy waste. In this paper, we try to solve those two problems in order to reduce energy waste and prolong the network lifetime. We propose a clustered architecture called C-DCS (clustered data-centric storage) in order to help WSNs to avoid the search for home node and minimising the mobility effect of mobile nodes in the network. Besides, we take advantage of clustered architecture to propose a two-level aggregation method to reduce the number of communication in the network. By theoretical and simulation result, we prove that C-DCS reduces the number of transmission which improves the network lifetime.
Second-Order Statistics-Based Multi-Parameter Estimation of Near-Field Acoustic Sources

In this paper, a new approach based on the second-order statistics (SOS) and acoustic vector sensor (AVS) array is proposed, for localization estimation of near-field acoustic narrowband sources. Firstly, we choose the centrosymmetric uniform linear-array as the AVS arrangement, and the array is consistent with the coordinate axis direction of the acoustic vector-sensor. This estimation method makes good use of the acquisition information from the AVS, such as one-dimensional sound pressure and three-dimensional particle velocity, and has shown preferable performance for the parameter estimation of direction-of-arrival (DOA) and range of target acoustic sources in the near field. The estimation algorithm expands the near-ﬁeld array manifold of one single acoustic vector sensor to the acoustic vector-sensor’s uniform linear-array, and the near-ﬁeld acoustic vector sensor linear array output model is deduced. The autocorrelation and cross-correlation function of the velocity field and the pressure field are used to construct the rotational invariance frame, which helps to extract the expected information. Consequently, the closed-form solutions of the incident source’s DOA and range are derived explicitly through the parameter pairing operation. The proposed method reduces the computational burden and has good spatial recognition ability and high resolution in the case of limited array elements. It also has better engineering application prospect. Eventually, the performance of the method is verified by Monte Carlo simulation experiments.
Passive Solar Tracking System

A Solar Tracker is a device onto which solar panels are fitted which tracks the motion of the sun across the sky ensuring that the maximum amount of sunlight strikes the panels throughout the day. The Solar Tracker helps to attempt to navigate to the best angle of exposure of light from the sun. Main focus of this device is to harvest the maximum solar energy. Gravity turns the tracker, using the heat from the sun to move liquid from one side to the other side in the container to reliably track the sun's path from east to west. There is no motors, no gears and no controls to fail. The work presented in this paper is concentrated around a solar tracker working in the Zomework principle, in which an increment in the electrical output of photovoltaic modules by 25% or more compared to modules on fixed mounts is expected. i.e. A 12-module tracking system delivers the same electric output as 15-modules mounted on fixed racks - a savings of three modules.