Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Untangling the Physical-Digital Knot When Designing Advanced IoT Ecosystems

Know-how from both the real world and digital domain must be combined when building advanced IoT ecosystems. Although app developers generally have in-depth expertise in one or more verticals, their competences on IoT infrastructure are often limited. This hampers the development of qualitative IoT ecosystems. This paper shows that an early-stage ontological effort incorporating the application domain as well as infrastructural conceptualizations and relations can facilitate the development and management of IoT apps within verticals. Developers can now define app behavior in terms of application-domain conceptualizations, after which infrastructural feedback can automatically be extracted.
Ethanol and co-products from cellulosic biomass.

Cellulosic biomass, because of its massive availability, represent a feedstock source for production of ethanol and other fuels. Proposed processes based on cellulase enzymes combined with yeast fermentation have received intensive study but are currently not economical due to high enzyme cost and lack of a high-value co-product. An alternative cellulosic ethanol platform, consolidated bioprocessing (CBP), is limited by poor ethanol yields and concentration, but recent research efforts have begun to yield results that support some of the platform's theoretical advantages. One potential benefit of CBP processes is the potential to produce higher value co-products, including a novel plywood adhesive, that would improve process economics.
Intermittent asynchronous peripheral operations

Energy harvesting enables battery-less sensing applications, but causes executions to become intermittent as a result of erratic energy provisioning. Intermittent executions pose challenges to peripheral consistency that threaten to leave peripheral-bound workloads in failed states or to impede forward progress of programs. Intermittent synchronous peripheral operations are supported in existing literature for specific kinds of peripherals. Asynchronous peripheral operations enable reactive concurrency in application implementations, which increases reactivity and improves energy consumption, but lack dedicated support in intermittent settings. We present Karma, the first general abstraction and system design to support both synchronous and asynchronous operations in an intermittent setting. Karma employs a novel combination of peripheral roll-forward and computation roll-back to a rendezvous point guaranteeing consistency. It remains transparent to application programmers and peripheral driver, which favours portability. Our evaluation, based on three applications running on prototype hardware and using diverse energy sources, indicates that intermittent asynchronous peripheral support provided by Karma boosts data throughput by 83% compared to existing literature.
Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes in Uncorrected Tetralogy of Fallot

Background: Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is the most common congenital heart disease in the population. Correction of TOF during infancy or childhood may increase the quality of patient’s life. Uncorrected TOF may cause further complications later on. Pregnancy with uncorrected TOF may cause complications on both maternal and fetal sides. Objective: to analyze maternal and perinatal outcomes in patients with uncorrected TOF during pregnancy. Methods: This is a retrospective study. A total of 8 pregnant women diagnosed with TOF registered in the Obstetric-Cardiac unit in 3 years (2016-2018). Medical records were reviewed for clinical assessment, echocardiography results, and therapy during hospitalization. Patients were contacted by telephone to provide an obstetric history, including details of pregnancy and delivery. Five of 7 patients able to be contacted, and home visits were done to evaluate their conditions. Results: There were 8 pregnant women with uncorrected TOF. Most cases (87,5%) were first diagnosed during pregnancy and delivery. Intra-Uterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) and abortion (62.5% and 25%, respectively) were the most obstetric complications. Cardiac complications were cardiogenic shock (12.5%), thromboembolic (12.5%), and various degree of heart failure (62.5%). The number of Small for Gestational Age (SGA) was 66.7%. Incidence of congenital heart disease (CHD) in the fetus was 20%. One death case and 2 abortions from a total of 8 cases were found. Conclusion: TOF may cause many maternal and fetal complications. The most common maternal complications are heart failure, cardiogenic shock and thromboembolic, while perinatal complications include IUGR, SGA and abortion.
An investigation of Passing Stop Signals at a Passenger Railroad

This report documents the findings and recommendations from an investigation into stop signal violations at an American passenger railroad. The investigation was requested by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the passenger railroad, and sponsored by FRA’s Office of Research & Development (ORD). This investigation assisted the passenger railroad in understanding why stop signal violations occurred in the terminal and helped it develop effective corrective actions to prevent or mitigate their occurrence in the future. In addition to making recommendations for the railroad, this report discusses opportunities for the FRA to improve the risk management of passing a stop signal (PASS) across railroads. These improvements include recommending more systematic collection and analysis of PASS data; changing FRA compliance and enforcement practices to encourage more open and complete reporting of PASS incidents; and performing additional field and simulator-based research to strengthen the empirical foundation for linking systemic factors to PASS.
An optimization of heuristic model of water supply system with genetic algorithm

Summary The paper presents the method of optimization of heuristic model of water supply system with Genetic Algorithm. This model is an essential part of intelligent diagnostic system of local water supply system. The main task of this system is water leakage detecting and localization. For inputs, this system uses information from pressure or flow sensors, mounted on the pipeline network, the output is a piece of information about leakage detection and localization. The main advantage of this system is a possibility of approximate leakage localization using only a limited number of installed sensors. The first problem which should be solved to apply this system in practice is to find the best localization of sensor which should be installed on water pipeline. The method of solving this problem was described in the paper.
Cooperative Defense Against DDoS Attack using GOSSIP Protocol

The ability to detect and prevent a network from DDoS attack and to ensure the high quality infrastructure is a back bone of today’s network security issues. In this thesis, we have successfully validated an algorithm using OmNet++ Ver. 4.0 simulation to show how a DDoS attack can be detected and how the nodes can be protected from such an attack using GOSSIP protocol.
Adaptive Gain Equalizer and Modulation Frequency Domain for Noise Reduction

Speech quality during the communication is generally e ected by the surrounding noise and interference. To improve the quality of speech signals and to reduce the amount of disturbing noise, speech enhancement is one of the emerging and most used branches of signal processing. For the reduction of noise from speech signals, methods are continuously developed, one method is the Adaptive Gain Equalizer (AGE) which is a single-channel speech enhancement, method that has the particular focus on enhancement of speech instead suppression of noise. Modulation decomposition of the speech signals brought the idea of a modulation system which is useful for modeling of speech and other signals. The purpose of this thesis is to implement the AGE within modulation system, for the purpose of enhancing speech signal, by reducing noise. The successful implementation of the system has been validated with di erent performance measurements, i.e., Signal to Noise Ratio Improvement(SNRI), Mean Opinion Score(MOS), Spectral Distortion(SD). The system has been checked with male and female speaker and with the noise signals Engine Noise(EN), Factory Noise(FN), Gaussian Noise(GN), Tonal Noise(TN) and Impulse Noise(IN) at 0dB, 5dB, 10dB and -5dB Signal to Noise Ratio(SNR). The system has provided the 10dB SNRI for the TN, and around 6dB SNRI for EN and FN. The system has some compromises on the GN and IN in a sense it gives good sound but low SNRI. MOS has been shown between 4 and 3 for all the test cases.
Sustainable Business Model Innovation vs. “Made in” for International Performance of Italian Food Companies

The quality of Italian food products, linked to Made in, has always been a competitive driver within foreign markets. However, today, getting quality choices also means engaging in responsible behavior. The paper investigates the relation between the choice of environmental and social standards and the international performance of a set of agri-food firms in Italy, examined through the multiple case study method and the tools of qualitative methodology. What role do standards play in attributing an added value to the quality of agroindustry products and differentiating sustainable products in foreign markets, thereby improving the international performance of the companies? These questions are investigated by the research in this paper. The results of the research show a significant correlation, in the interviewed companies, between corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, with reference to the adoption of standards, and international competitiveness, measured in terms of market performance as it regards the growth of foreign demand and opening to new markets.
Performance Evaluation of a Markovian Policy for Macro/Femto User Allocation Considering Aspects of QoS, QoE and Energy Efficiency

The advancement of wireless networks offers mobile users a diversity connectivity options, but the choice of the best connection should consider classics QoS aspects and, with increasing multimedia applications, should also consider QoE metrics. Another important parameter to choose the best connection is the energy efficiency by reducing the battery consumption of the devices and reducing CO2 emissions (green network). This paper validates a Markovian policy for distribution of user load balancing in femtocell/macrocell networks considering QoS/QoE and energy consumption providing quality for multimedia applications. The results obtained by simulation proved the benefits.
A critical evaluation of green roof substrate components

A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF GREEN ROOF SUBSTRATE COMPONENTS By Jason Michael Matlock Extensive green roofs are highly technical growing systems that must overcome environmental, physical, and biological challenges in order to function properly. Proper selection of materials for inclusion in the substrate layer is of particular importance. Compost is often included in green roof substrates to increase fertility and water holding capacity. However, compost is a highly variable material whose effects on many other aspects of green roof functionality are poorly understood. A green house experiment was performed to measure the effect of six different composts on the physical properties of substrates, the growth and development of plants grown in those substrates, and the water quality of run off during simulated rain events. Compost selection was found to be an important factor in all of those categories. Conventional substrate materials also represent a significant percentage of the total embodied energy and environmental impact of green roofs. The ecological role and overall sustainability of green roofs would be greatly improved by finding alternatives to the energy-intensive substrate components. Two materials from recycled sources, foamed glass and crushed bulk porcelain, were compared to heat-expanded shale in an outdoor field trial. Total plant coverage in both materials over a two-year observation period was equivalent to coverage in the conventional substrate. Foamed glass was half the density of the expanded shale and porcelain substantially reduced substrate temperature fluctuations.
Doing Real Time Research: Opportunities and Challenges

This paper emerges out of a programme of workshops on Real Time Research, funded by NCRM during 2011-12, which brought together a network of interdisciplinary scholars to discuss the possibilities and challenges of doing research in real time. As well as these discussions, we also engaged in various exercises designed to give us practical experience of doing research in real time. The past, present and future are always brought together in social science methods, contributing to temporally significant modalities of enquiry, such as the ethnographic present, prediction or genealogy. But the workshops were designed to address the implications of the ‘timeliness’ of research in the context of an increasingly digitised and informational culture that allows access to, and creates dependences on, quantities of data gathered from diverse sources, often as soon as they are produced. The main questions we sought to address were: How are the dynamics of an informational society and digital culture transforming the temporality of methods? What opportunities are offered for research by the ongoing expansion of the present? And how can social science make use of the availability of real-time (immediately and continuously accessible) information? This paper explores the opportunities and threats of doing research in real time.
Performance Evaluation of Wireless Mesh Networks Routing Protocols A Simulation Based Case Study for Rural and Urban Applications

The tremendous growth in the development of wireless networking techniques attracts growing attention to this research area. The ease of development, low installation and maintenance costs and self healing abilities are some of the qualities that make the multi-hop wireless mesh network a promising solution for both - rural and urban environments. Examining the performance of such a network, depending on the external conditions and the applied routing protocol, is the main aim of this research. It is addressed in an empirical way, by performing repetitive multistage network simulations followed by a systematic analysis and a discussion. This research work resulted in the implementation of the experiment and analysis tools, a comprehensive assessment of the simulated routing protocols - DSDV, AODV, OLSR and HWMP, and numerous observations concerning the simulation tool. Among the major findings are: the suitability of protocols for wireless mesh networks, the comparison of rural and urban environments and the large impact of conditions such as propagation, density and scale of topology on the network performance. An unexpected but valuable outcome is the critical review of the ns network simulator.
Effect of clamping conditions on the vibrational behavior of a designed-in-damped turning tool

Clamping conditions of a boring bar with designed in damping were altered and the effect of the alterations on the dynamic properties of the boring bar was studied. Three types of mechanisms each one having a VDI-turret-interface (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, the Association of German Engineers) were studied. Two of the mechanisms provided hydrostatic clamping of the bar (Hydro-grip and Hydrofix) and the third was a screw clamping mechanism. Testing was made through modal analysis and machining tests which suggested that a hydrostatic clamping of the damped boring bar was optimal over screw clamping. The optimal hydrostatic clamping mechanism was found to be the Hydro-grip. The clamping torque of the Hydro-grip could be adjusted from 6 Nm to 4 Nm to reduce vibrations when machining.
Load Identification of DC-DC Buck Converter

The thesis is to develop Signal Processing methods which increase the performance, functionality and reliability of dc-dc converters which is part of an ongoing project of Ericsson together with Blekinge Institute of Technology. The aim of this project is to model the buck converter system of Ericson’s BMR450 using MATLAB Simulink and develop methods to identify the capacitive load. Our first approach is to derive the equation which gives relation of capacitive load with output voltage in time domain analysis. Our second method deals with resonant point of frequency response of buck converter using Linearization method. Our final method deals in frequency domain analysis using FFT. For different values, we calculated the capacitive load values using proposed methods and compared them to the original values to observe the percentage of errors.
Occupant Behavior: Impact onEnergy Use of Private Offices

xxxxxx E RNEST O RLANDO L AWRENCE B ERKELEY N ATIONAL L ABORATORY Occupant Behavior: Impact on Energy Use of Private Offices Tianzhen Hong 1 , Hung-Wen Lin 2 Environmental Energy Technologies Division Green Energy and Environment Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan, ROC January 2013 This work was supported by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center for Building Energy Efficiency, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02- 05CH11231. This is a paper published at ASim 2012 - 1st Asia conference of International Building Performance Simulation Association.
The optimum design of a moving PM-type linear motor for resonance operating refrigerant compressor

Moving Permanent Magnet (PM) type Longitudinal Flux Linear Motors (LFLMs) are electromagnetic devices which can develop directly powerful linear motion. This paper deals with an effective analysis of PM-type LFLM by Finite Element Method (FEM) and optimum design for lightweight. This paper presents the statistical optimum design of PM-type LFLM to reduce the weight of a moving PM-type linear actuator with the constraint of avg. thrust force using the penalty method with characteristics function and kriging interpolation method. The contribution and effect of the each design variable on the characteristic function is evaluated by the analysis of means (ANOM) and optimum design set is determined. The generalized reduced gradient (GRG) algorithm is adopted in kriging model. Therefore, it is expected that the proposed optimization procedure using penalty method and kriging interpolation method can be easily utilized to solve the optimization problem with constraint of electric machine.
Investigation of Failure and Success Factors of Integration Process in Global Software Development : Literature Review and Delphi Survey

Software development work undertaken by virtual teams dispersed across time, space, and organizational boundaries is referred as Global Software Development (GSD) with emphasis on “globalization”. In GSD, teams within same organization (off-shore) or different organizations (outsource) from multiple geographic locations are involved. GSD is becoming a norm and more software projects are undertaken in GSD setting due to the benefits associated with it. However, there remain many challenges that can adversely affect the ability to realize those benefits. One of the challenges is to overcome the problems faced during integration of the functional components developed by different teams at different geographic locations. Incompatibilities and hidden issues surface during functional components integration which is very costly to fix at this stage and can lead to delay, lower product quality or even failure of a GSD project. In this regard, this study investigates integration problems that occurred due to different reasons during different phases/stages of GSD, along with successful integration practices with their relative importance. The study produces lists of failure and success factors, and then further prioritized that failure and success factors lists through Delphi experts. Failure and success factors present an extensive knowledge of integration problems and practical solutions. In addition, their relative importance highlights the severity and importance of each failure and success factor. The results of this study not only help to understand integration issues and solution, but provide a platform to develop a solid strategy at early stage of GSD.
Rearranging tasks and responsibilities of coordinators in a professional and flexible environment at a cultural organisation in Borne.Research on professional space as organisational concept.

This thesis covers a study which has been done at a cultural organisation in a flexible environment in Borne, the Netherlands. The organisation studied, has gone through some changes which led to the question which kind of structure the organisation would fit. Classification of the organisation has led to a mixture of structures. This mixture of structures asks for employees who can work functional as well as divisional. A concept which enables employees to do so, is the concept of professional space. Professional space is in need of employees who are empowered by the organisation, who are guided by a situational leadership style and who have the right competences to work with that professional space, based on self-managing behaviour and self-efficacy. In this study the following research questions have been answered: “In what way does the concept of professional space support the organisation’s aim for more flexibility and professionalism? ”, “Which requirements need to be met for the organisation to implement the concept of professional space? ”, “Which requirements are needed for the coordinators to work within the new situation? ”. The empirical part of the study focuses on the organisation and provides an answer to the question “How does the organisation satisfy the requirements stated in literature? ”. Results that came forward are: professional space supports the organisation’s aim for more flexibility and professionalism. It is needed for the employees to work within the mixture of structures beneficial for the organisation. There are different conditions which the organisation has to satisfy in order to enable employees, working with that space. The organisation satisfies them partly. Improvements can be made regarding indicators of clear goals, encouragement of teamwork, customised work, formalisation, challenging work, the use of reward systems and the situational leadership style. The requirements needed for the coordinators are requirements regarding their competences. A competences-profile has been developed, which includes all of the different categories of competences the coordinators need to have. Concepts including all of those competences are the concepts of self-managing behaviour and self-efficacy. This competences-profile can be used by the organisation to evaluate the coordinators’ competences. Final recommendations for the organisation include the development of an HR-strategy which supports the organisation in empowering the employees and enable them in dealing with professional space.