Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acoustic Propagation in a Water-Filled Cylindrical Pipe

This study was concerned with the physics of the propagation of a tone burst of high frequency sound in a steel water-filled pipe. The choice of the pulse was rather arbitrary, so that this work in no way can be considered as recommending a particular pulse form. However, the MATLAB computer codes developed in this study are general enough to carry out studies of pulses of various forms. Also, it should be pointed out that the codes as written are quite time consuming. A computation of the complete field, including all 5995 modes, requires several hours on a desktop computer. The time required by such computations as these is a direct consequence of the bandwidths, frequencies and sample rates employed. No attempt was made to optimize these codes, and it is assumed that much can be done in this regard.
Escaping from revulsion - disgust and escape in response to body-relevant autobiographical memories

ABSTRACT The term Repulsive Body Image (RBI) refers to a schematic construct combining body-directed self-disgust and other negative body image features, that is assumed to bias information processing, including autobiographical memory retrieval. When specific memories about the own body are retrieved, intense self-disgust may arise and trigger urges to escape from those memories. We asked 133 women with high (HRBI; n = 63) and low (LRBI; n = 70) levels of habitual body-directed self-disgust to recall autobiographical memories in response to 11 concrete body-related cue words in a minimal instructions Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). Despite an overall low level of memory specificity, we found that RBI levels were associated with stronger disgust reactions and stronger motivations to escape from body-related memories. In addition, disgust reactions to body-related memories accounted for the association between habitual levels of self-disgust and urges to escape from these memories. Thus, the findings indicated that women with body image concerns showed disgust-based urges to escape from body-related memories. This disgust-based urge to avert from body-related autobiographical memories might counteract the correction of an RBI, thereby contributing to the persistence of body image concerns and associated psychopathology.
Undergraduate Students Readiness Towards Online Teaching and Learning during COVID-19

The breakdown of COVID-19 has led to Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia which started on 18 March 2020. This partial lockdown is implemented to prevent COVID-19 pandemic from being overspread throughout Malaysia. MCO has affected many people around the world especially those in the education field. The closure of school and institute of higher education have given a great impact to the students. To make sure that educations are continuously being distributed to students at their own place during MCO, educators have applied online teaching and learning. This paper is done to study undergraduate students’ readiness towards online teaching and learning during COVID-19. A survey on students’ readiness has been distributed to 191 students from Faculty of Civil Engineering, UiTM Cawangan Pulau Pinang.
Dynamic QoS Configuration of a DVB-RCS Satellite Terminal for SIPbased Applications

Satellite systems were long-dedicated mainly to broadcast services as television whereas Internet access was offered by terrestrial networks as DSL technologies. However, the democratization of DVB-S terminal, the standardization of a return channel via satellite (DVB-RCS) and the significant breakthroughs leading to DVB-S2 standard have allowed them to represent an interesting alternative to terrestrial networks in remote areas. But, to be competitive, DVB-S2/RCS systems have to offer an appropriate support to the variety of current and future multimedia applications (VoIP, videoconferencing) by providing QoS guarantees in spite of its specific characteristics: a long transmission delay and a limited bandwidth. In this context, this paper considers a DiffServ architecture, compliant with the SatLabs recommandations, in which three classes are considered at the IP layer to differentiate the traffic: EF, dedicated to real-time applications with strong time-constraints, AF used for non real-time applications and BE. Each Diffserv classe is mapped on a specific MAC queue to take benefit of the DAMA (Demand Assignment Multiple Access) mechanisms which allow the ST to dynamically request capacity to the NCC (Network Control Center). The goal of this work is to configure dynamically the DiffServ classes of service of the Linux-based ST for interactive applications, as VoIP, by using the session descriptors contained in SIP messages. For that, a complete QoS architecture based on the communication between an enhanced SIP proxy and a QoS Server and/or an ARC (Access Resource Controller) has been designed, developed and evaluated on a satellite network emulation testbed (PLATINE), implemented in the SatIP6 and SatSIX IST projects.
Industry Convergence for Startup Businesses: Dynamic Trend Analysis Using Merger and Acquisition Information

It is beyond dispute that convergence drives innovation in the current business environment. In particular, industry convergence becomes critical because of the increased complexity of technology and diversified customer needs. This is especially true in many startups, where mergers and acquisitions are considered viable exit strategies. Despite the gravity of analyzing industry convergence, only a few studies have conducted quantitative approaches owing to the lack of comprehensive data available to analyze this. In response, this article analyzes the dynamic trends and phenomena of industry convergence using merger and acquisition information sourced from a Crunchbase dataset. How business startups integrate and merge together to create new value can be an important proxy for analyzing industry convergence. This article collected merger and acquisition data from 2010 to 2019 and divided it into three periods to analyze the dynamic trends of industry convergence and then visualized these trends using a network analysis. This article is expected to assist both managers and policymakers understand the dynamic changes in industry convergence and provide insight into future trends.
Technology Acceptance and Computerized Traffic Tests in the Emirate of Sharjah

This study applied the technology acceptance model (in its original form and in an extended form) to the case of the computerized traffic test administered in the Emirate of Sharjah. The authors collected their data using a questionnaire from a sample of 397 applicants who took the traffic test over a five-month period. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The results indicated significant correlation between perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (the two main variables of the TAM). In addition, the results showed significant positive effects for perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude, and computer skills on the applicant's choice of the computerized traffic test. However, there were no significant effects for the level of satisfaction with the system or enjoyment of the system on the applicant's choice of the computerized traffic test.
Modelling the Contribution of Knowledge Management towards Achieving Orgnisational Business Objectives

Knowledge management (KM) continues to receive mounting interest within the construction industry due to its potential to offer solutions for organisations seeking competitive advantage. This paper presents a KM input-process-output conceptual model comprising unique and well-defined theoretical constructs representing KM practices and their internal and external determinants in the context of construction. The paper also presents the underlying principles used in operationally defining each construct using extant KM literature, and offers a number of testable hypotheses that capture the inter-relationships between the identified constructs.
Power system frequency estimation using linear and nonlinear techniques

In an electrical power system frequency is an important parameter. The frequency of operation is not constant but it varies depending upon the load conditions. In the operating, monitoring and controlling of electric device power system parameters are having great contribution. So it is very important to accurately measure this slowly varying frequency. Under steady state conditions the total power generated by power stations is equal to system load and losses. Frequency can deviate from its nominal value due to sudden appearance of generation-load mismatches. Frequency is a vital parameter which influences different relay functionality of power system. This study was made to estimate the frequency of measuring voltage or current signal in presence of random noise and distortion. Here we are first using linear techniques such as complex least mean square (LMS), least square (LS) and recursive least square (RLS) algorithm for measuring the frequency from the distorted voltage signal. Then comparing these results with nonlinear techniques such as nonlinear least mean square (NLMS), nonlinear least square (NLS), nonlinear recursive least square (NRLS) algorithms. The performances of these algorithms are studied through simulation.
Regulating hazardous-waste incinerators under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

This paper discusses the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulation of incinerators that burn hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Following the history of current EPA regulations, the authors examine some preliminary results of applying cost and risk models to controls for hazardous waste incinerators. Finally, they discuss some of EPA's regulatory options for changing the current requirements. To achieve greater economic and administrative efficiency, they prefer an approach where EPA prescribes a risk methodology and determines an allowable level of risk based on a national risk-cost analysis, but gives wide latitude to the incinerator operators in how they will achieve these levels of safety. 24 references, 1 figure, 1 table.
Performance Evaluation of Direction Cosine Matrix and Madgwick’s as 3D Orientation Estimation Algorithm for Estimating Ground Contour

Contour interval is elevation difference between two contour lines that are adjacent and parallel. Ground Contour interval is an important information that must be provided in a construction. Ground contour interval estimation problem could be viewed as a 3D trajectory estimation problem. One framework, called dead reckoning, is often used for motion (position and orientation) tracking of a mobile systems over time. Dead reckoning requires a precise 3D orientation estimation algorithm. Two competing algorithms are Direction Cosine Matrix and Madgwick’s. To ensure the 3D trajectory estimation gives an accurate result, these two algorithms must be carefully and thoroughly evaluated. This research is part of a complete research on the development of a ground contour estimation and only focuses on comparison between two 3D orientation estimation algorithm.
Instantaneous heat transfer during compression and expansion in reciprocating gas handling machinery

In reciprocating gas handling machinery, there is both a net or average heat transfer over many cycles between the gas and the environment, and a cyclic heat exchange back and forth between the gas and the cylinder wall within each cycle. The latter phenomenon occurs both in open cylinder processes, and in closed cylinder processes, where it is sometimes referred to as ''gas spring loss''. This paper addresses the cyclic heat transfer as it occurs in a closed cylinder without combustion. A considerable number of experiments with a closed cylinder are discussed. For a given gas, work lost per cycle is correlated with an average Reynolds number for the cycle and the specific heat ratio of the gas. The T-S diagram of the cylinder contents is shown to be a sensitive indicator of the magnitude and timing of the heat transfer.
TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY OF SELECTED ERGOMETER GRINDING PERFORMANCE MEASURES

Reliability of grinding performance on a custom-built ergometer was assessed using 18 highly trained America’s Cup sailors. Sixteen grinding conditions varied by load, deck heel (tilt), and grinding direction (forward or backward) were examined. Performance measures were peak power (W) and external work over five seconds (kJ). Statistics were difference in mean (Mdiff), standard error of measurement (SEM) and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). External work (SEM = 1.6-6.9%; ICC = 0.91-0.99) was more reliable than peak power (SEM = 1.3-9.6%; ICC = 0.84-0.99). Performance was more consistent when varied by load than by heel condition, and was most reliable in lighter load conditions. Within heel conditions, downhill-uphill tilt was more reliable than right-left tilt. Grinding direction did not appear to affect performance reliability.
Enterprise modelling: the key to successful business systems integration

The Enterprise Modelling (EM) approach to systems design is followed to promote business information systems integration and a high degree of data integrity. This research reports on a comprehensive case study of one of Australia’s leading telecommunications carriers and service providers. The case study relates to the advent of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) into the Australian telecommunications market on 25 September 2001, a world’s first, real-time ‘Churn’ business process. Specifically, it reports on Service Level Agreement (SLA) and reporting performance of two similar systems evaluated in terms of accepted Information Systems Architectural Criteria. The researcher derived a number of architectural evaluation criteria from the literature, which provided insight into the ways of evaluating information systems. One purpose-built operational system, named the Mobile Number Portability System (MNPS) was designed and built using the latest object-oriented techniques and tools. The other system, named the Data Repository System (DRS) was designed using the EM approach. The MNPS failed to meet SLA functionality and reporting functionality. It performed poorly when evaluated in terms of accepted Information Systems Architectural Criteria. For example, the MNPS’ support of fundamental business rules was extremely poor. It should be noted that the SLA functionality was the most complex aspect of the system to design and implement, as it constantly changes according to the requirements of the Regulator (ACA). Hence, it was decided to build this functionality into a separate system, the DRS using a different approach based on EM. The new system was designed using this top-down approach. The DRS successfully met all SLA functionality and reporting functionality. It performed extremely well when evaluated against the Information Systems Architectural Criteria. The DRS significantly outperformed the MNPS confirming the claims made for the EM approach.
Slow and fast light using nonlinear processes in semiconductor optical amplifiers

Ability to control the velocity of light is usually referred to as slow or fast light depending on whether the group velocity of light is reduced or increased. The slowing of light as it passes through the glass to 2/3 rd its original value is a well known phenomenon. This slowing down happens due to the interaction of light with the electrons in the medium. As a general principle, stronger the interaction, larger is the reduction in velocity. Recently, a fascinating field has emerged with the objective of not only slowing down the velocity of light but also speeding it up as it goes through the medium by enhancing light-matter interaction. This unprecedented control opens up several exciting applications in various scientific disciplines ranging from nonlinear science, RF photonics to all-optical networks. Initial experiments succeeded in reducing the velocity of light more than a million times to a very impressive 17 m/s. This speed reduction is extremely useful to enhance various nonlinear processes. For RF photonic applications including phased array antennas and tunable filters, control of phase 2 velocity of light is required while control of group velocity serves various functionalities including packet synchronization and contention resolution in an optical buffer. Within the last 10 years, several material systems have been proposed and investigated for this purpose. Schemes based on semiconductor systems for achieving slow and fast light has the advantage of extremely high speed and electrical control. In addition, they are compact, operate at room temperature and can be easily integrated with other optical subsystems. In this work, we propose to use nonlinear processes in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) for the purpose of controlling the velocity of light. The versatility of the physical processes present in SOAs enables the control of optical signals ranging from 1GHz to larger than 1000 GHz (1 THz). First, we experimentally demonstrate both optical and electrical control of phase shifts near 1 GHz using four wave mixing (FWM) process. By operating the SOA in the gain region, the refractive index change achievable using four wave mixing processes can be greatly enhanced. Using this, we demonstrate both slowing down (by a factor of 150) and speeding up of light (by a factor of 40). For RF applications, we show electrically controllable phase shift of 1. 8π at 0.5 GHz bandwidth. Control of RF phase using FWM has the advantage of achieving true time delays (TTDs) which …
FPGA Acceleration of Monte Carlo-based Financial Simulation: Design Challenges and Lessons Learnt

The simulation of interest rate derivatives is a powerful tool to face the current market ﬂuctuations. However, the complexity of the ﬁnancial models and the way they are processed require exorbitant computation times, what is in clear conﬂict with the need of a processing time as short as possible to operate in the ﬁnancial market. To shorten the computation time of ﬁnancial derivatives the use of hardware accelerators becomes a must.
Long Range Dependence (LRD) in the Arrival Process of Web Robots

There is strong evidence to suggest that a significant proportion of traffic on Web servers, across many domains, can be attributed to Web robots. With the advent of the Social Web, widespread use of semantic Web technologies, and development of service-oriented Web applications, it is expected that this proportion will only rise over time. One of the most important distinctions between robots and humans is the pattern with which they request resources from a Web server. In this paper, we examine the arrival process of Web robot requests across Web servers from three diverse domains. We find that, regardless of the domain, Web robot traffic exhibits long range dependence (LRD) similar to human traffic. We discuss why, at least in some cases, LRD in robot traffic may not be generated by heavy-tailed response sizes as in the case of human traffic.
A Decision Support Tool for Allocating SAP Application Data

Large software corporations like SAP AG started offering their services in the cloud. Most companies using a SAP system run these systems on-premise. The step of SAP AG to bring services to the cloud caused companies to think about their systems. At the moment cloud computing is very popular because of the low costs and the flexibility. For companies running their SAP systems on-premise it is interesting to find out what this same system will cost for them in the cloud. We developed a decision support tool which can help companies performing this step. The tool enables the user to provide the costs involved on-premise and helps them completing the costs for in the cloud. By using a visual presentation of the SAP applications the user is able to drag its applications between the on-premise location and the cloud. The tool provides the costs involved for both storage locations to the user and shows a clear impact of moving an application. We show that we have made a user-friendly interface and a generic structure for such a decision support tool which can be extended and adjusted to the user’s needs.
Una Propuesta de Sistema de Diagnóstico de Fallos Robusto Ante la Presencia de Pérdida de Información y Ruido en Sistemas Mecánicos

Hoy en día, es un requisito de la industria moderna lograr elevados rendimientos económicos con un aumento continuo de la calidad de los productos finales, tener elevados niveles de seguridad industrial y reducir al mínimo las posibles afectaciones al medio ambiente; todo lo cual hace necesario la rápida detección e identificación de los fallos que se presenten en los sistemas industriales. La evolución de la Internet de las cosas y los avances tecnológicos en los medios técnicos de automatización, las redes industriales y las comunicaciones inalámbricas entre otros elementos, han permitido un crecimiento significativo del número de herramientas a usar para el tratamiento y gestión de la información obtenida por los sistemas de supervisión, control y adquisición de datos (SCADA) de los procesos industriales. Sin embargo, el desempeño de estas herramientas y en especial de los sistemas de diagnóstico de fallos se ve afectado por dos problemas concretos: la presencia de ruido en las mediciones y la pérdida de información de variables medidas. En el presente trabajo se propone una metodología para el diagnóstico de fallos en sistemas industriales mecánicos utilizando herramientas de inteligencia computacional que logra un comportamiento robusto ante la presencia de pérdida de información y el ruido logrando altos niveles de desempeño. La metodología propuesta se aplica al problema de prueba DAMADICS que representa a una válvula electro-neumática que es un tipo de actuador muy utilizado en los sistemas industriales modernos. Los resultados satisfactorios que se obtienen demuestran la efectividad y validez de la propuesta.
Development and Evaluation of a Cellular Phone Based Teen Driver Support System.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers with speeding, seat belt non-compliance, alcohol involvement, and distractions serving as the primary contributors to this unacceptably high crash rate. In an effort to mitigate this situation, a prototype teen driver support system (TDSS) has been designed and developed. This computer-based system provides real-time feedback to teens regarding speed limit violations and warns of upcoming speed zone changes. A unique feature of this system is that speed limit feedback is relative to the speed limit posted on the roadway on which the teen is driving. By informing teens of speeding behavior, it is hoped that this system will reduce teen crash rates. This project includes a description of the TDSS features and specifications for how the TDSS operates using the Smart Phone technology. A small usability study was completed as part of the project where teen drivers (aged 18-19) drove with and without the system. Overall, the pilot study demonstrated that the TDSS could operate effectively within a vehicle driven by a teen driver. Warnings and messages were presented to the drivers and corresponding text messages were sent when drivers failed to alter their behavior in relation to a warning. The performance data trended in the direction expected, with the TDSS encouraging lower speeds and less speeding overall. The teen participants reported that very little mental effort was required to interact with the TDSS while driving, but they also reported the system increased their perceptions of stress while driving. The second phase of the study proposed the information that should be presented in the real-time text messages and to parents in a weekly report. A potential weekly report format is described. Finally, the project identified the issues associated with using the TDSS as an additional tool to support graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs.