Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consistency of the New York State Bridge Inspection Program

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) maintains an inventory of over 17,000 highway bridges across the state. As per New York State’s Uniform Code of Bridge Inspections, all bridges in New York State are inspected biennially, or more often as necessary. Bridge inspectors are required to assign a condition rating for up to 47 structural elements of each bridge, including 25 components of each span of a bridge, in addition to the general components common to all bridges based on visual inspection of these elements. The bridge condition rating scale ranges from 7 to 1, 7 being new and 1 being in failed condition. In addition to this, ratings 8 and 9 are assigned to cases “not applicable” and “condition and/or existence unknown”. The objectives of this research have been to (1) conduct a detailed evaluation of the consistency of inspection ratings, and (2) provide recommendations for improvements to bridge inspection procedures and training to improve consistency, whenever possible. A broader outcome of the research has been the development of knowledgebase on factors affecting consistency of bridge ratings. These research objectives have been achieved through a detailed and comprehensive literature review on inspection practices and the NYSDOT bridge inspection program and, development and evaluation of consistency of the bridge inspection ratings through the inspection of 4 selected bridges by 21 inspection teams. Numbers of bridges and inspection teams have been selected to generate statistically sufficient data for the evaluation of consistency of inspection of different bridge elements. A detailed and quantitative evaluation of consistency of inspection ratings of different bridge elements has been carried out through the analysis of inspection data. Results show that the overall consistency of ratings of different elements is more than 90%.
Energy-efficiency standards of electrical motor products

The energy-efficiency standards for electric motors, pumps and fans are presented in this chapter. The mandatory energy-efficiency standards for electric motors in the USA, the EU and China are introduced. The mandatory and voluntary energy-efficiency requirements for pumps in China and the EU are discussed. The ISO and AMCA energy-efficiency standards for fans are presented, while the mandatory requirements for fans in China and the EU are also given.
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Nutritional Security

Over three billion people are currently malnourished due to nutritional deficiencies (eg, iron, zinc, vitamin A), resulting in learning disabilities among children, increased morbidity and mortality rates, lower worker productivity, and high healthcare costs. • Most staple food crops can be enriched (biofortified) with micronutrients using crop improvement tools. • Access to plant genetic resources is essential for crop improvement. • Globally, over 7.4 million accessions of economically important species are conserved in 1,750 genebanks (about 0.74 million in 11 CGIAR genebanks).
Speech Acts of Some Jordanian Idioms

The primary aim of the study at hand is to investigate Jordanian idioms in light of Speech Act Theory. More specifically, it attempts to highlight and explore the speech acts and the illocutionary acts used in Jordanian idioms based on Searle’s classification of speech acts. In order to achieve this goal, the researcher interviewed 20 Jordanian Arabic language native speakers and asked them to give a Jordanian idiom and a context in which it occurs. After analyzing the data, the study reveals that there are four speech acts of Jordanian idioms. They are expressives , directives , representatives , and commssives . It also reveals that Jordanian idiomatic expressions perform many pragmatic functions (illocutions). They are insulting , blaming , criticizing , scorning , asking , advising , asserting , and threatening .
Management and characterization of stable fly larval habitats at round hay bale feeding sites in pastures

Stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), are a serious pest to beef cattle in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) by causing economic losses in the form of reduced feed intake and feed efficiency, resulting in reduced weight gain. Integration of sanitation, parasitoids, and residual insecticides offers a much-needed reduction of this pest’s impact on CAFOs. In the past two decades, stable flies have become the most important pest of pastured cattle. Further impact that stable flies have on cattle is when cattle seek protection from stable flies by standing in water, which results in water pollution with fecal matter, in addition to reduced foraging time. Sites of winter feeding of round hay bales have demonstrated to be important habitats for stable fly development during spring/summer. Cattle feeding on round bales can waste as much as 40% of the total amount of hay when fed in conventional ring feeders. Hay wastage is largely a function of the type of feeding method and the amount of agonistic behavior of the cattle. Feeding methods range from rolling hay directly onto the ground to the use of various types of feeders. Since traditional control methods utilized in CAFOs against stable flies have not been evaluated in pastures, producers rely heavily on organic insecticides in efforts to control this pest. At this time, there are no effective control methods available for stable fly management on pastured cattle. This research examined different management strategies that could minimize or eliminate stable fly larval habitats by reducing the amount of hay wasted being mixed with manure. In addition, different hay and manure mixtures were compared to characterize the larval habitat at these hay-feeding sites. Finally, the efficacy of boric acid, Metarhizium anisopliae, and tetrachlorvinphos in controlling the development of stable flies in hay substrates was evaluated. MANAGEMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF STABLE FLY LARVAL HABITATS AT ROUND HAY BALE FEEDING SITES IN PASTURES
Image based automatic vehicle damage detection

Automatically detecting vehicle damage using photographs taken at the accident scene is very useful as it can greatly reduce the cost of processing insurance claims, as well as provide greater convenience for vehicle users. An ideal scenario would be where the vehicle user can upload a few photographs of the damaged car taken from a mobile phone and have the dam- age assessment and insurance claim processing done automatically. However, such a solution remains a challenging task due to a number of factors. For a start, the scene of the accident is typically an unknown and uncontrolled outdoor environment with a plethora of factors beyond our control including scene illumination and the presence of surrounding objects which are not known a priori. In addition, since vehicles have very reflective metallic bodies the photographs taken in such an uncontrolled environment can be expected to have a considerable amount of inter object reflection. Therefore, the application of standard computer vision techniques in this context is a very challenging task. Moreover, solving this task opens up a fascinating repertoire of computer vision problems which need to be addressed in the context of a very challenging scenario. This thesis describes research undertaken to address the problem of au- tomatic vehicle damage detection using photographs. A pipeline addressing a vertical slice of the broad problem is considered while focusing on mild vehicle damage detection. We propose to use 3D CAD models of undamaged vehicles which are used to obtain ground truth information in order to infer what the vehicle with mild damage in the photograph should have looked like, if it had not been damaged. To this end, we develop 3D pose estimation algorithms to register an undamaged 3D CAD model over a photograph of the known dam- aged vehicle. We present a 3D pose estimation method using image gradient information of the photograph and the 3D model projection. We show how the 3D model projection at the recovered 3D pose can be used to identify components of a vehicle in the photograph which may have mild damage. In addition, we present a more robust 3D pose estimation method by minimizing a novel illumination invariant distance measure, which is based on a Mahalanobis distance between attributes of the 3D model projection and the pixels in the photograph. In principle, image edges which are not present in the 3D CAD model projection can be considered to be vehicle damage. However, since the vehicle body is very reflective, there is a large amount of inter object reflection in the photograph which may be misclassified as damage. In order to detect image edges caused by inter object reflection, we propose to apply multi-view geometry techniques on two photographs of the vehicle taken from different view points. To this end, we also develop a robust method to obtain reliable point correspondences across the photographs which are dominated by large reflective and mostly homogeneous regions. The performance of the proposed methods are experimentally…
Durability Assessment of Recycled Aggregate HVFA Concrete

The possibility of producing high-volume fly ash (HVFA) recycled aggregate concrete represents an important step towards the development of sustainable building materials. In fact, there is a growing need to reduce the use of non-renewable natural resources and, at the same time, to valorize industrial by-products, such as fly ash, that would otherwise be sent to the landfill. The present experimental work investigates the physical and mechanical properties of concrete by replacing natural aggregates and cement with recycled aggregates and fly ash, respectively. First, the mechanical properties of four different mixtures have been analyzed and compared. Then, the effectiveness of recycled aggregate and fly ash on reducing carbonation and chloride penetration depth has been also evaluated. Finally, the corrosion behavior of the different concrete mixtures, reinforced with either bare or galvanized steel plates, has been evaluated. The results obtained show that high-volume fly ash (HVFA) recycled aggregate concrete can be produced without significative reduction in mechanical properties. Furthermore, the addition of high-volume fly ash and the total replacement of natural aggregates with recycled ones did not modify the corrosion behavior of embedded bare and galvanized steel reinforcement.
Effect of early enteral nutrition and aggressive intravenous fluid resuscitation on clinical outcomes in pediatric severe acute pancreatitis

Background : Early enteral nutrition (EN) and aggressive intravenous fluid (IVF) resuscitation are recommended in adult patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Whether these recommendations influence the outcomes of pediatric SAP is unclear and need to be figured out. Methods : We performed a retrospective review of pediatric patients with SAP admitted to Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University from January 1, 2012 to September 30, 2019. Data regarding demographic and baseline characteristics of SAP patients were collected. The outcomes studied were abdominal pain duration, time for recovery of food intake, length of stay (LOS), number of attacks, complication rate, and fatality rate. Results : This study included 40 pediatric SAP patients. We divided all patients into the EN+IVF group, nil per os (NPO)+IVF group, and NPO+ no IVF group. There was no significant difference in demographic and baseline characteristics in the different groups. However, children who received EN and IVF treatment had the shortest abdominal pain duration, time for recovery of food intake, and LOS. Conclusion : Our study found that early EN and aggressive IVF resuscitation improved the outcome of pediatric patients with SAP.
Prediction of storage potential and firmness loss of 'Hayward' kiwifruit along the supply chains in India : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Food Technology, Massey University, Albany campus, New Zealand

i ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS . iii LIST OF FIGURES . vii LIST OF TABLES . xii LIST OF APPENDICES . xiii ABBREVIATIONS . xv 1.0 INTRODUCTION. 1 1.1 Main Objective . 2 1.2 Specific Objectives . 3 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW . 4 2.
On some Fatigue Problems Related to Steel Bridges

This thesis concerns three specific fatigue topics related to steel members in bridges, namely: (1) Modular Bridge Expansion Joints (MBEJs). Several premature fatigue failures of MBEJs have occurred in Europe and USA during the past decades. The principal cause of such failures has been an insufficient knowledge of the magnitude of the acting forces including dynamic effects. This has led to an inadequate design with respect to fatigue. In this thesis, a proposal for vertical and horizontal design loads acting on MBEJs is obtained by evaluating a large amount of field test data put at the author's disposal during his visit at Lehigh University, USA. A relatively simple model to describe the dynamic behaviour of MBEJs is also proposed. Reasonable load ranges based on traffic considerations as well as an adequate fatigue detail category based on laboratory tests is proposed for fatigue analysis of MBEJs. (2) Constant Amplitude Fatigue Limit (CAFL) for Riveted Connections. For old riveted steel bridge members an adequate estimate of the CAFL, i.e. the stress range level below which there will be no fatigue crack growing during cyclic loading, is essential, especially to determine whether previous traffic loading has produced fatigue damage accumulation or not. However, there is a lack of information concerning fatigue test data in the high-cycle region, i.e. for stress ranges close to the CAFL. Based on full-scale tests an adequate estimate of the CAFL for riveted connections is made by a proposed original method. (3) Web Breathing in Girders with Slender Webs. When a girder with slender web is subjected to in-plane cyclic loading, repeated web buckling deflections (so called: web breathing) may lead to fatigue cracks. Such cracks generally commence at the weld toe of the fillet welds that connect a web to its boundary elements. Four full-scale I-girders with slender webs were laboratory tested. The investigation mainly focused on gaining a better knowledge of the fatigue behaviour of slender girders with relatively large panel aspect ratios and subjected to combined bending and shear. Nonlinear FE-analyses of the test girders were performed to investigate the stress state along the boundary of the web during loading and good agreement with the results of laboratory measurements was found. The risk for fatigue cracking due to web breathing seems to increase with increasing panel aspect ratio. Moreover, web panels subjected to combined bending and shear are more prone to fatigue cracking due to web breathing than similar panels subjected to predominant shear. An analysis of a box section arch railway bridge, where a breathing tendency of some web panels was observed, is also presented. Finally, based on evaluations of experiments a new fatigue design approach for avoiding cracking due to web breathing is proposed.
Environmental impacts of alternative co-substrates for biogas production

In recent years, the production of biogas from animal manure has gained increased attention in Denmark, as it has been identified as an important resource to reach the goal of a fossil free society by 2050. In addition, manure management with biogas production has been recognized as a viable way to reduce environmental impacts from animal production systems. Yet, because the methane production potential of animal manure is low, biogas plants depend on the addition of high energy organic wastes as co-substrates to manure, to make their operations profitable. The latter are in short supply and are already being imported in countries like Denmark. The use of different co-substrates and their biogas potential has been investigated, but there is presently a lack of knowledge about the environmental impacts of using one cosubstrate versus another. Therefore, this study assessed the environmental impacts of three co-substrates to pig slurry, which are currently underexploited; namely extruded wheat straw, the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, and the solid fraction of liquid-solid separated slurry. A comparative LCA was carried out, where the conventional manure management scheme of slurry storage and subsequent application to arable fields was compared to this three different ways of biogas production. Upon the analysis, extruded wheat straw was identified as a superior co-substrate. This is due to its low nutrient content, high methane yield potential, and low water content, which resulted in the lowest environmental impacts for eutrophication and the most savings for climate change potential. The second best co-substrate was identified to be the solid fraction of separated slurry and lastly the OFMSW had the most environmental impacts out of all scenarios, due to its relationship to energy production from incineration. A sensitivity analysis, where different methane yield potentials were tested for each co-substrate, was performed and the results proved to be robust. However, increase detail to the model is necessary to provide more confidence to the results, since system expansion activities proved to be crucial for the performance of each scenario.
World Wide Web Unleashed

From the Publisher: This is the only book to cover the Web-its uses, resources, and tools-in complete detail. Readers explore the farthest, most exotic reaches of the Web, and find out how to create and maintain Web servers for all types and uses. Explores the Web's amazing world of electronic art museums, online magazines and catalogs, virtual malls, and video and music libraries Shows how to navigate the World Wide Web, find Web resources and create Web pages Includes a complete guide to using Mosaic and other Web tools
Cost functions in optical burst-switched networks

Optical Burst Switching (OBS) is a new paradigm for an all-optical Internet. It combines the best features of Optical Circuit Switching (OCS) and Optical Packet Switching (OPS) while avoidmg the mam problems associated with those networks . Namely, it offers good granularity, but its hardware requirements are lower than those of OPS. In a backbone network, low loss ratio is of particular importance. Also, to meet varying user requirements, it should support multiple classes of service. In Optical Burst-Switched networks both these goals are closely related to the way bursts are arranged in channels. Unlike the case of circuit switching, scheduling decisions affect the loss probability of future burst This thesis proposes the idea of a cost function. The cost function is used to judge the quality of a burst arrangement and estimate the probability that this burst will interfere with future bursts. Two applications of the cost functio n are proposed. A scheduling algorithm uses the value of the cost function to optimize the alignment of the new burst with other bursts in a channel, thus minimising the loss ratio. A cost-based burst droppmg algorithm, that can be used as a part of a Quality of Service scheme, drops only those bursts, for which the cost function value indicates that are most likely to cause a contention. Simulation results, performed using a custom-made OBS extension to the ns-2 simulator, show that the cost-based algorithms improve network performance
Underfilling BGA for harsh environment deployment

A method has been developed to allow use of mainstream commercial low CTE area array IC packages (CBGA) and high CTE area array IC packages (PBGA) side by side on electronics module assemblies intended for deployment in harsh environments such as automotive under-the-hood applications and military avionics applications. The solution leverages composite heatsink technology and underfilling technology to regulate solder joint stresses within acceptable levels. This method does not require any modification to the COTS area array IC packages.
The Influence of Human Factors on Access Management Design

Human factors are a critical component to appropriate access management design; however, current access management design techniques rarely consider the robust nature of the human element explicitly. For example, a constant perception-reaction time and deceleration rate are commonly used, yet the variation in facility function, speed, adjacent land-use, level of conflict, and transit / bicycle / pedestrian activity are excluded from direct consideration. In addition, a single height of object for stopping sight distance is assumed to be approximately 2 ft (0.6 m) based on current AASHTO standards, with the 0.5 ft (150 mm) basis retained by several states. For access management applications, object height could be represented better by vehicle headlight/taillight height or, for some situations, curb height (0.5 ft [150 mm]) or pavement surface (effectively an object height of 0 ft [0 mm]). One of the major techniques for determining driveway spacing and location is based on the stopping sight distance of approaching vehicles. Perception-reaction time is a direct component of stopping sight distance; however, the most frequently assumed 2.5-second perception-reaction time, shown by current research to be a conservative value, does not consider the level of conflict present at the location. This value also does not take into account road complexity, traffic volume, ambient lighting, vehicle mix, or similar known elements common to many road environments. In addition to the perception-reaction time, the expected driver performance is influenced by driver work load impacts such as intersection frequency, proximity to interchanges, driver fatigue level, presence of bicycles and pedestrians, as well as the presence of raised medians. The concept of decision sight distance is more appropriate for many access management applications since it directly reflects the increased level of complexity for different road environments (such as rural versus urban); however, decision sight distance also does not explicitly address the numerous and diverse characteristics common to the complex driving task and specific driver abilities. This paper addresses the various influences of driver characteristics on the optimal spacing, location, and design of access management facilities. These characteristics can include consideration of driver’s field of vision (based on perceived approach speed), visual ability, cognitive ability, mobility, and age and experience. To adequately consider the wide variation of these driver characteristics as they relate to specific access management decisions and unique contextual environments, the authors assess the effects of current design decisions, and how such assumptions contrast to more human-related specificity.