Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tuberculosis in the Healthcare Setting in the 1990s: From Bird Island to the Bronx

Our nation's attention has recently been focused on the resurgence of tuberculosis as a significant public health problem. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic has played a seminal role in this development. In addition, the concurrent increase in poverty and homelessness, particularly in our inner cities, and the changes in patterns of immigration into the United States have also played a contributing role. Finally, the deterioration of our public health infrastructure, together with decreasing access to medical care, served as the perfect breeding environment for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection to gain new and dangerous ground. The abrupt change in 1985 in the persistently downward trend in the incidence of tuberculosis cases in the U.S. signaled the first “shot across the bow” in what is now a full-scale war against this old enemy. In the 1990s, tuberculosis has now resumed its historical position of importance and danger in our inner cities. Tuberculosis control strategies -- once thought to be destined solely for the history books -- have regained public health and institutional attention, especially in settings serving inner-city, impoverished, or immunosuppressed populations.
Valve section capacitance for 660kV HVDC converter valves

HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) transmission is considered as a mature technology to meet the demand for the bulk power transmission over long distances and provide flexibility for the network interconnections. For ultra-high voltage HVDC applications, the significant effects of the stray capacitance on the voltage imbalance for thyristor converters have to be considered during the transient conditions. Stray capacitances of the valve configuration were obtained using the proposed analytical methods. The valve section capacitors are applied to improve the voltage sharing between different parts of the series-connected valve components at steep front impulse voltage type test conditions. The optimum valve section capacitance for a 660kV HVDC transmission system has been investigated using an EMTDC simulation-based system. The simulation confirmed that a minimum valve section capacitance of 3nF was required to restrict the steep front impulse voltage stresses across the critical components of the valve configuration, and the application of the valve section capacitor have been verified by the type tests for the valve design. (5 pages)
Cross-Polarisation Discrimination Studies of Single Trees at 20 and 62.4 GHz

This study addresses the characterisation of cross-polarisation discrimination of re-radiated signals from natural trees performed in the vicinity around deep signal fades. Results presented in this study will explain the signal behaviour observed in the various regions around the tree. This has been addressed in this study through a combination of analytical and experimental modelling based on thorough examination of the re-radiation functions of single trees and appropriate measurements performed under controlled environments, at 20 and 62.4 GHz. The identification of three distinct regions of interest in the scatter (re-radiated) field is discussed in this study, where it is shown that depolarisation, in addition to absorption and scatter, is an important factor formulating accurate models for propagation in vegetation media.
Development of a piezoelectric energy harvester for navigation support of railway transport

Исследованы параметры колебаний разных типов грузовых вагонов. Предложено несколько конструкций пьезогенераторов для эффективного преобразования механических колебаний в электроэнергию. На основе экспериментальных данных проведено сравнение разных типов и конструкций пьезогенераторов. Оценено количество энергии, необходимое для работы устройства приема-передачи информации. Полученные данные могут быть использованы для разработки пьезоэлектрического генератора тока, предназначенного для обеспечения автономным питанием грузовых вагонов и платформ. Investigation of vibration parameters of the freight cars is presented. Several designs of piezoelectric energy harvester are proposed for the efficient conversion of mechanical vibrations into electrical power. Based on experimental studies a comparison of different types and designs of energy harvester is performed. The amount of energy required for wireless transceiver for monitoring location of a vehicle is evaluated. Obtained data can be used for development of production technology of the piezoelectric energy harvester to provide autonomous power supply for freight cars.
Prediction of Time, Cost and Effort needed for software organizations to transit from ISO 9001:2008 to ISO 9001:2015. : A Survey

Context. Several quality standards have been developed over the years in order to define quality metrics for an organization’s product and even processes. One of the famous standards among them is the ISO 9000 standards which started several years ago. Since its beginning, ISO standards have seen several upgrades. Currently ISO 9001:2008 is in use which is being upgraded to ISO 9001: 2015. Companies have to migrate to the new scheme within three years of the prescribed time in order to retain certification to the ISO 9001 standards. The present thesis is targeted at finding the expected changes and the work improvements in the context of software engineering.Objectives. The main aim of the study is to find the expected changes and work improvements needed to migrate to the new version. This is done by fulfilling the following objectives, they are: analyze the expected changes and motivations for the changes in the new ISO 9001 version. Understand the required work and improvements needed for a software organization to successfully upgrade their certification to the new ISO 9001:2015 version. Predict the estimated cost/time /effort that could be incurred for organization to get certified to the forthcoming ISO version.Methods. In order to meet the objectives, a literature review was done and the changes incorporated in the new scheme are identified. A survey was conducted in order to predict the impact of cost, time and effort on the new changes in moving to ISO 9001:2008 to ISO 9001:2015. The survey was sent only to software organizations as the context of this study is only restricted to quality in software engineering. The collected data was analyzed using bi-variate analysis and Friedman test on SPSS tool.Results. From the literature review, the changes brought about in the new scheme were identified. These changes made were used in the survey questionnaire designed. The survey questionnaire was designed to investigate the expectations of the organizations on the time taken, cost incurred and the effort needed to implement these changes. A total of 63 responses were recorded from the survey.Conclusions. From the analysis it was found that several key changes were identified in the new scheme when compared to the old one. From the survey responses, the cost needed for implementing the changes is expected to be moderate, the time needed is predicted as less than 1 year and the effort needed for implementing the changes was estimated to be more. Along with this, the document also holds clear results about clause by clause expected time, cost and effort estimates and the reasons for these assumptions.
Hybrid RANS/LES simulation of sloshing flow in a rectangular tank with and without baffles

ABSTRACT Turbulence modelling is a key issue to be addressed in the numerical study of violent liquid sloshing. To improve the predictive accuracy of RANS and the computational efficiency of LES, a new hybrid RANS/LES approach is developed in this paper. This model is first validated against the available experimental data for liquid sloshing in a tank without baffle. The numerical results are compared to those obtained by experiment and other three turbulence models. The performances of present hybrid method are similar with that of the classical LES model, which can provide very accurate solutions. Then, the model is employed to study liquid sloshing in a tank with a vertical baffle and a horizontal baffle. The comparisons of numerical and experimental pressure histories further confirm the capability of the present method for sloshing simulation.
Direct drive motors in tape feeder applications:a feasibility study

Assembleon is a dutch manufacturer of pick-and-place machines, headquartered in Veldhoven. These machines are used to place all components on their positions on Printed Circuit Boards. In these machines the used components are delivered on tape. The unrolling and indexing of this tape is the task of the tape feeder. These tape feeders currently make use of a brushed DC motor and a gearbox to drive the sprocket wheel which transports the tape. It is this gearbox that has several drawbacks: it is expensive, subjected to wear, introduces gearing backlash and additional power losses. Therefore, a new direct-drive concept using the so called torque motor is proposed and analyzed. In this work, the design procedure of the direct drive torque motor for feeder applications is developed. A MEC model is created in Matlab, and validated with numerical magnetostatic FEM results. Using this design procedure, together with the MEC model, several design aspects are investigated. It is shown that the friction forces which are present in the system are a large limitation on the required motor torque, and thus dictate the required motor diameter. From these investigations, together with the cost analysis carried out by Ad Kieboom, a motor design is proposed. Furthermore, trends in future feeders are discussed, together with their impact on achievable motor torque. It is shown that for future feeders, having even smaller dimensions, it is needed to decrease the required pull force in order to come to a feasible solution.
United States: Report of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Questionable and Illegal Corporate Payments and Practices

The an teceden t s of t h i s SEC Report l i e in d i s c l o s u r e s of ques t i onab le and i l l e g a l payments mainly dur ing 1975 and 1976, in i n v e s t i g a t i o n s and h e a r ings conducted by va r ious agencies of the United S t a t e s Government, in both the execut ive and congres s iona l b r anches . Various s t e p s have been taken or proposed which a re r e l e v a n t t o the l e g i s l a t i o n proposed in the Report of t h e S e c u r i t i e s and Exchange Commission. On November 12, 1975, Senate Reso lu t ion 265 was adopted b y . t h e United S t a t e s Sena te . Di rec ted mainly a t the e f f e c t of such payments on i n t e r n a t i o n a l t r a d e , t h a t Resolu t ion reso lved t h a t the a p p r o p r i a t e governmental o f f i c i a l s " i n i t i a t e a t once n e g o t i a t i o n s wi th in the framework of the c u r r e n t m u l t i l a t e r a l t r a d e n e g o t i a t i o n s in Geneva, in o t h e r n e g o t i a t i o n s of t r a d e agreements pursuant t o t h e Trade Act of 1974 and in o the r a p p r o p r i a t e i n t e r n a t i o n a l forums with the i n t e n t of developing an ap p r o p r i a t e code of conduct and s p e c i f i c t r a d i n g o b l i g a t i o n s among governments,t o g e t h e r with s u i t a b l e procedures for the s e t t l e m e n t of d i s p u t e s , which would r e s u l t in' e l i m i n a t i o n of such p r a c t i c e s on an i n t e r n a t i o n a l , m u l t i n a t i o n a l b a s i s , i n c l u d i n g s u i t a b l e s anc t i ons t o cope with problems posed by n o n p a r t i c i p a t i n g n a t i o n s . "
The Use of Molecular Typing Techniques in the Epidemiologic Investigation of Resistant Enterococci

The Enterococcus has become an important nosocomial pathogen despite its low virulence. From 1986 to 1989, the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (NNIS) reported enterococci to be the third most common pathogen associated with bloodstream infections and the second most commonly isolated pathogen overall. This is due in part to the organism's ubiquitous nature and inherent antimicrobial resistance. Enterococcus faecalis is found in the stool of virtually all adults at concentrations in excess of 106 colony-forming units/g. Enterococcus faecium, the second most common species causing human infection, is found at lesser concentrations in the stool of approximately 25% of healthy adults. Enterococci also can be isolated from the mouth, anterior urethra, groin, and vagina.
Nonlinear structural behaviour of membrane-type LNG carrier cargo containment systems under impact pressure loads at −163 °C

ABSTRACT This paper is a sequel to the paper dealing with quasi-static responses previously studied by the authors. The structural failure of membrane-type liquefied natural gas carrier (LNGC) cargo tank is an important issue in the construction of ultra-large an LNG carrier. However, quasi-static analysis to investigate the structural failure is difficult and tends to give conservative results. To compensate the weak points of the quasi-static analysis, a procedure for the dynamic analysis was developed to assess the structural failure using nonlinear finite element method. A nonlinear finite element method is employed to model metal membrane, insulation and surface contacts. Various element formulations are tested at different points along a corrugated surface to optimise the accuracy of the model with respect to computation time. Material properties used in the model are calibrated based on experimentally measured values at cryogenic conditions (−163 °C). The model is used to predict the structural failure under different impact pressure loads and loading patterns. It is concluded that the structural damage is less likely to occur under 30 bar.
Development Of a Novel Multi-disciplinary Design Optimization Scheme For Micro Compliant Devices

The focus of this research is on the development of a novel multi-disciplinary design optimization scheme for micro-compliant devices. Topology optimization is a powerful tool that can address the need for a systematic method to design MEMS. It is expected that systematic design methods will make the design of micro devices transparent to the user and thus spur their use. Although topology optimization of MEMS devices with embedded actuation has received a great deal of attention among researchers recently, there is not a significant amount of literature available on the subject. The limited literature available addresses multi-physics topology optimization, which employs the homogenization method. However, the products of this method inherit the drawbacks of homogenized material discretization, including checkerboard pattern, gray-scale material and narrow flexural hinges in the optimum solution. In this thesis, a new topology optimization scheme is introduced that addresses the specific needs of MEMS domain. A new discretization approach with frame-ground structure is introduced. This approach offers significant conceptual and practical advantages to the compliant MEMS optimization problem, including compatibility with MEMS fabrication processes. The design spaces of compliant mechanisms are non-convex and it is critical to employ an algorithm capable of converging to the global optimum without the need to evaluate gradients of objective function. In this thesis, an efficient real-coded genetic algorithm is implemented, which shows a better repeatability and converges to very similar solutions in different runs. This new method of optimization facilitates the use of a coarse subdivision of the design domain rather than the homogenized material method, for the same resolution of shape definition. Therefore, the topology optimization scheme developed in this thesis significantly reduces the computational burden without compromising the sharpness of the shape definition. As the problem of compliant mechanism design is posed as a set of conflicting objectives, a well-posed multi-criteria objective function is introduced which avoids one objective dominating the solution. Moreover, the formulation is modified to incorporate electro-thermal boundaries and enables the optimization of the compliant mechanisms to transfer maximum motion or maximum force at the output. A number of design examples are used to demonstrate the ability of the procedure to generate non-intuitive topologies. Their performance is verified using ANSYS and compared with results from the homogenization method and designs reported in the available literature. iii
Usability testing throughout the application lifecycle

Objectives of the Study The aim of this master’s thesis is to evaluate if and how usability testing could be used as a part of Application Lifecycle Management. This thesis addresses the current lack of evaluation and strategic management methods for Application Lifecycle Management, especially during the later phases of the application lifecycle. Scholars have acknowledged that usability testing has potential for midlifecycle use, but mid-lifecycle usability testing is not yet widely applied by organizations. Methodology of the study Prior research was used to build a framework for usability testing throughout the application lifecycle. The framework presents application lifecycle management in terms of the duration of the lifecycle as well as the different aspects of organization that manage, develop, and use the application. After developing the framework, a set of usability testing methodologies is suggested to be used with the framework. The developed framework and the developed testing methodology were evaluated through applying the testing methodology in two separate company projects and collecting feedback from company representatives. Findings and conclusions Communicating with the users during the initial development and updating of applications is important and there is potential for usability testing as a part of Application Lifecycle Management. This research confirmed the notion that greatest utility from usability testing is gained at the initial development phase of the application lifecycle. The results suggest that usability metrics can be used to support decision making also during the later phases of the application lifecycle. The company interviews showed that usability metrics are suitable to some extent for strategic management of applications in form of evaluating vendors and applications in the long-term. However, in order to make usability testing more appealing as a supporting tool for Application Lifecycle Management, usability testing methodologies must be developed. Businesses have a need for objective usability testing results even with limited samples, as it is not easy for companies to find and engage real test users. Scholars must try to develop ways to introduce cost as a measure of severity of a given usability issue. This will add the value of usability testing outside of academia.
The Raising of Intelligence: A Selected History of Attempts to Raise

Contents: Introduction. Early Attempts at Rehabilitation. Disillusion and Overreaction. Intelligence Tests and the Heritability and Immutability of Mental Retardation. Early Intervention and Compensatory Education. E.B. Page, The Disturbing Case of the Milwaukee Project. Behavior Modification -- The Return of Radical Empiricism. Medical Intervention. Reuven Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment. A Potpourri of Claims and Issues.
Numerical investigations, development and control of a cartesian (3-PRRR) parallel manipulator

This paper focusses on the development of a Cartesian parallel manipulator (CPM) having multiple limb assembly configurations. An optimal configuration of the 3-PRRR CPM is identified after analysing the interference-free workspace of various limb assembly conditions, where each leg comprises an active prismatic joint followed by three revolute joints. The validation of the link interference detection algorithm is carried out using a virtual prototype. The Euler–Lagrange dynamic modelling of the CPM is validated using one of the well-known multi-body simulation packages namely, ADAMS. The paper proposes a detailed design and performance analyses of a motion controller for the proposed manipulator, based on a finite-time sliding mode scheme. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is also developed using the MATLAB App Designer, which ensures easier and intuitive synthesis of the CPM. The development of an in-house functional prototype is also presented in this work.
Stability analysis of a predator-prey system with Allee effect

This paper mainly studies the stability of a predator-prey model with and without Allee eﬀect on the prey population. Combined with numerical simulations, we found that after the introduction of Allee eﬀect, the stability of the equilibrium points changed slightly. Speciﬁ-cally, the equilibrium points of the system could be changed from saddle to saddle node, or otherwise the system will take much longer time to reach the stable state even when it is stable.
Evaluation of 3-Borono-l-Phenylalanine as a Water-Soluble Boron Neutron Capture Therapy Agent

Although 4-borono-l-phenylalanine (4-BPA) is currently the only marketed agent available for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), its low water solubility raises concerns. In this study, we synthesized 3-borono-l-phenylalanine (3-BPA), a positional isomer of 4-BPA, with improved water solubility. We further evaluated its physicochemical properties, tumor accumulation, and biodistribution. The water solubility of 3-BPA was 125 g/L, which is more than 100 times higher than that of 4-BPA. Due to the high water solubility, we prepared the administration solution of 3-BPA without a solubilizer sugar, which is inevitably added to 4-BPA preparation and has adverse effects. In in vitro and in vivo experiments, boron accumulation in cancers after administration was statistically equivalent in both sugar-complexed 3-BPA and 4-BPA. Furthermore, the biodistribution of 3-BPA was comparable with that of sugar-complexed 3-BPA. Since 3-BPA has high water solubility and tumor targetability equivalent to 4-BPA, 3-BPA can replace 4-BPA in future BNCT.
Porcine Intestinal Organoids: Overview of the State of the Art

The intestinal tract is a crucial part of the body for growth and development, and its dysregulation can cause several diseases. The lack of appropriate in vitro models hampers the development of effective preventions and treatments against these intestinal tract diseases. Intestinal organoids are three-dimensional (3D) polarized structures composed of different types of cells capable of self-organization and self-renewal, resembling their organ of origin in architecture and function. Porcine intestinal organoids (PIOs) have been cultured and are used widely in agricultural, veterinary, and biomedical research. Based on the similarity of the genomic sequence, anatomic morphology, and drug metabolism with humans and the difficulty in obtaining healthy human tissue, PIOs are also considered ideal models relative to rodents. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on PIOs, emphasizing their culturing, establishment and development, and applications in the study of host–microbe interactions, nutritional development, drug discovery, and gene editing potential.