Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design and application of a membrane bioreactor unit to upgrade and enhance the required performance of an installed wastewater treatment plant

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are nowadays common solutions to improve the quality of streams and soils. However, there are still many issues required to be solved within these plants. We were commissioned to redesign a WWTP in Amarante, Portugal, which was not working properly. Among the several units we have designed, there is a membrane bioreactor representing one of the main units of this remodelled WWTP. The biological treatment stage at the upgraded WWTP will take place in the remodelled primary and secondary settlers and in the remodelled and improved biological reactor. Hence, the primary settler is readapted in such a way that it functions as the anoxic area of the biological treatment, while the aerobic treatment will be sequentially performed at the remodelled biological reactor and at the actual secondary settler. Membrane treatment will be performed by using ultrafiltration membranes. Copyright © 2009 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Nonlinear Coordinated Control for SVC and Generator Excitation Based on Sliding Mode Dynamic Surface Method

Based on sliding mode dynamic surface method and disturbance attenuation technique, the nonlinear adaptive robust controllers of power systems coordinated control for SVC and generator excitation is proposed in this paper. In the sliding mode dynamic surface method, parameter adaptive laws are not based on the certain equivalent criterion. Because during controller design procedure besides the external disturbances are considered, the parametric uncertainties are mainly considered also, thus it can guarantee the whole errors system asymptotically stable under the derived controller.
Near field multifocusing on antenna arrays via non-convex optimisation

An optimisation framework for near field multifocusing on antenna arrays is proposed. Its aim is to obtain the feeding weights that must be applied to the elements of the array so that the antenna focuses on two or more targets simultaneously. The method is based on the definition of a proper cost function, which is minimised using an optimisation algorithm over an equivalent least squares problem. The success of the technique is noted in the fact that different array parameters can be obtained: magnitude and phase of the array elements or only phase synthesis. In order to show the efficiency of the method, several tests are carried out using different arrays and optimisation parameters. The simulation, manufacture and measurement of an 8 × 8 planar array able to focus on two different targets is also performed. Results show how the framework can be applied to general arrays and demanding requirements, so it may be easily extended to different synthesis problems besides multifocusing.
Monopulse-radar angle measurement in noise

Angle-tracking accuracy in noise or noise jamming was quantified by this author in a previous paper for those monopulse radars which compute the monopulse ratio digitally from baseband signals, and which use those measurements only when the sum-channel envelope exceeds a detection threshold examined here in more detail is the impact of only receiver noise, in the absence of a hostile, electronic countermeasure (ECM) environment. Here, the target is not assumed to be positioned at, or very near, the null of the monopulse ratio. Furthermore, noise levels in the difference and sum channels are not taken to be necessarily equal, where inequality can occur from differences in noise figure between the two channels, or from applying separate and different aperture weighting for difference and sum antenna patterns in a phased-array radar. >
Simulation and Optimization Modeling for the Management of Groundwater Resources. I: Distinct Applications

AbstractThe management of groundwater resources is a critical issue against the backdrop of the increasing water demand for agricultural, industrial, and domestic uses and dwindling water resources. Various simulation and optimization approaches have been used to solve the groundwater management problems. This paper presents an overview of the simulation and optimization modeling approaches used in groundwater resources conservation and management. The main objective of this review is to analyze simulation and optimization modeling approaches and to provide an assessment of their applications reported in literature. Conclusions are provided based on this evaluation, which could be useful for system managers and planners for selecting the suitable modeling approach for their specific uses.
Extraction and refinement of building faces in 3D point clouds

In this paper, we present an approach to generate a 3D model of an urban scene out of sensor data. The first milestone on that way is to classify the sensor data into the main parts of a scene, such as ground, vegetation, buildings and their outlines. This has already been accomplished within our previous work. Now, we propose a four-step algorithm to model the building structure, which is assumed to consist of several dominant planes. First, we extract small elevated objects, like chimneys, using a hot-spot detector and handle the detected regions separately. In order to model the variety of roof structures precisely, we split up complex building blocks into parts. Two different approaches are used: To act on the assumption of underlying 2D ground polygons, we use geometric methods to divide them into sub-polygons. Without polygons, we use morphological operations and segmentation methods. In the third step, extraction of dominant planes takes place, by using either RANSAC or J-linkage algorithm. They operate on point clouds of sufficient confidence within the previously separated building parts and give robust results even with noisy, outlier-rich data. Last, we refine the previously determined plane parameters using geometric relations of the building faces. Due to noise, these expected properties of roofs and walls are not fulfilled. Hence, we enforce them as hard constraints and use the previously extracted plane parameters as initial values for an optimization method. To test the proposed workflow, we use both several data sets, including noisy data from depth maps and data computed by laser scanning.
Barriers and Facilitators of Physical Activity among Adolescents of Debre Berhan City Administration; Qualitative Study.

Background: Most adolescents are insufficiently physically active and it contributes to 3.2 million deaths each year. Environmental and systemic factors influence the level of physical activity. Sedentary work and living environments, socioeconomic status and limited access to facilities are barriers ofphysical activity. Objectives: The main objective of this study was to explore barriers and facilitators of physical activity among adolescents of Debre Berhan City Administration. Methodology: School based qualitative study was conducted among 64 adolescents in Debre Berhan City Administration from June 1-20 2019. Data was collected using eight focus group discussions with a focus group guide. Inductive analysis was done using ATLA.ti version 7. Result: A total of eight focus group discussion were conducted from June 1-20/2019. Three out of the sixty-four participants reported that they do physical activity on a regular basis. Social and personal factors (lack of role model, absence of family or friend influence, bad example, shortage of time, lack of interest and financial constraints) and environmental(Lack of access to play ground, lack of access to gymnasium, lack of conducive environment, poor school environment, harsh (polluted) environment, not friendly (girls) environment, poor urban planning and developmental activities) factors were reported to be barriers of physical activity while being member of a club, improving self-image and maintaining fitness are facilitators of physical activity. Conclusion and Recommendation: Lack of social support, lack of access to play ground and poor construction and developmental activities are the main barriers of physical activity. Therefore, Debre Berhan City Administration should work towards improving urban planning and avail girls’ friendly playground and gymnasium for every resident. Key Words Physical activity, Qualitative Study, Barriers, Facilitators
Development of a high speed wideband frequency tunable infrared laser source for real time wind turbine array sensing applications

This paper reports the development of an infra-red circa 193THz (~1.5μm) frequency tunable laser source selected and evaluated for photonic environment sensing systems. LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) offers a method of remote wind speed measurement. Widespread deployment of the technique has been limited by the expense and complexity of LIDAR systems. However development of systems based on optical fiber and photonic components from the telecommunications industry promises improvements in cost, compactness, and reliability, so that it becomes viable to consider deployment of such systems on large wind turbines for the advance detection of fluctuations of wind speed. A monolithic multi-section laser, originally designed as a tunable source for telecommunications applications, has been modified and re-evaluated as a source for sensing applications, based on the technique of coherent laser radar (CLR), and coherent doppler LIDAR (CDL). A tunable frequency optical source should fulfil specific technical criteria to fulfil the applications requirements; speed of frequency selection, absolute accuracy of emitted frequency, spectral purity, and stability. Custom electronics and firmware were developed to realise an improvement in frequency switching speed by a factor of 10 relative to equivalent commercially available telecoms (DBR) sources, satisfying the target application requirements. An overview of the sensing architecture is presented, a detailed description of the fast tuning process described, including the custom hardware and firmware, and specifically the laser energising sequence. The results of the laser module are then presented with detailed consideration of the target application.
INDUSTRIAL PHOTOGRAMMETRY: NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND RECENT APPLICATIONS

Over the past decade, photogrammetry has been increasingly applied as a precise three dimensional measuring tool in industrial and engineering works. Analytical photogrammetry is now routinely employed in tasks of measurement as diverse as machine tool inspection and fixture checking, structural deformation monitoring, the provision of control databases to guide industrial robots and the measurement of structures in earth orbit. Traditional photogrammetric techniques and instrumentation are usually inappropriate for industrial work and the development of complete, fully integrated close range photogrammetric systems has recently gained considerable impetus. This paper details some of the significant new developments in industrial photogrammetry, with particular reference to technological advances in the Simultaneous Triangulation and Resection System (STARS) designed by Geodetic Services, Inc. for industrial photograininetry. Practical aspects of industrial measurement are also presented in a review of some of the varying tasks that GSI has carried out in recent years. Emphasis is placed on demonstrating the flexibility, accuracy, reliability and economy of photogrammetry, as well as the progress made in automating this measurement technique.
EFFECTIVE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF IC ENGINES USING CYCLOSTATIONARITY. PART I-A METHODOLOGY FOR CONDITION MONITORING

Condition monitoring of IC engines through the analysis of their vibrations has been recognized to be a difficult issue, essentially because of the complexity of the signals that are involved. This paper introduces an original approach which explicitly takes into account the non-stationary nature of the vibration signals. The key idea is to rephrase the issue into the framework of cyclostationary processes, which is perfectly suited for describing physical phenomena generated on a cyclic basis. A general methodology is introduced that is based on angular sampling and cyclic signal processing. It serves as a strong basis for designing ad hoc diagnostic indicators.
Processing string fusion approach investigation for automated sea mine classification in shallow water

A novel sea mine computer-aided-detection / computer-aided-classification (CAD/CAC) processing string has been developed. The overall CAD/CAC processing string consists of pre-processing, adaptive clutter filtering (ACF), normalization, detection, feature extraction, feature orthogonalization, optimal subset feature selection, classification and fusion processing blocks. The range-dimension ACF is matched both to average mine highlight and shadow information, while also adaptively suppressing background clutter. For each detected object, features are extracted and processed through an orthogonalization transformation, enabling an efficient application of the optimal log-likelihood-ratio-test (LLRT) classification rule, in the orthogonal feature space domain. The classified objects of 4 distinct processing strings are fused using the classification confidence values as features and "M-out-of-N", or LLRT-based fusion rules. The utility of the overall processing strings and their fusion was demonstrated with new shallow water high-resolution sonar imagery data. The processing string detection and classification parameters were tuned and the string classification performance was optimized, by appropriately selecting a subset of the original feature set. Two significant improvements were made to the CAD/CAC processing string by employing sub-image adaptive clutter filtering (SACF) and utilizing a repeated application of the subset feature selection/LLRT classification blocks. It was shown that LLRT-based fusion of the CAD/CAC processing strings outperforms the "M-out-of-N" algorithms and results in up to an eight-fold false alarm rate reduction, compared to the best single CAD/CAC processing string results, while maintaining a constant correct mine classification probability.
Influence of Ground Slag on the Rheology of Mortar

The effects of ground slag with different specific surface area on the rheology of mortar at water-binder ratio of 0.25, 0.28 and 0.30 were investigated, and the combined effects of packing density and solid surface area on the rheology of mortar were evaluated in terms of the water film thickness. The results show that with the increasing of specific surface area of slag (220 m2/kg-784 m2/kg), plastic viscosity and yield stress decrease. The correlations of yield stress and plastic viscosity to the water film thickness are basically linear with high correlation R2 values. The action of the ground slag on the rheology of mortar can be characterized by water film thickness, and with the increasing of water film thickness the rheological parameters decrease.
Dynamic VM Provisioning for TORQUE in a Cloud Environment

Cloud computing, also known as an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), is attracting more interest from the commercial and educational sectors as a way to provide cost-effective computational infrastructure. It is an ideal platform for researchers who must share common resources but need to be able to scale up to massive computational requirements for specific periods of time. This paper presents the tools and techniques developed to allow the open source TORQUE distributed resource manager and Maui cluster scheduler to dynamically integrate OpenStack cloud resources into existing high throughput computing clusters.
Embedded System for Detection, Recognition and Classification of Traffic Signs

This study concerns the development of an embedded system with low computational resources and low power consumption. It uses the NXP LPC2106 with ARM7 processor architecture, for acquiring, processing and classifying images. This embedded system is design to detect and recognize traffic signs. Taking into account the processor capabilities and the desired features for the embedded system, a set of algorithms was developed that require low computational resources and memory. These features were accomplished using a modified Freeman Method in conjunction with a new algorithm "ear pull" proposed in this work. Each of these algorithms was tested with static images, using code developed for MATLAB and for the CMUcam3. The road environment was simulated and experimental tests were performed to measure traffic signs recognition rate on real environment. The technical limitations imposed by the embedded system led to an increased complexity of the project, however the final results provide a recognition rate of 77% on road tests. Thus, the embedded system features overcome the initial expectations and highlight the potentialities of both algorithms that were developed.
Statistical analyses of nuclear waste level measurements to estimate retained gas volumes

The Hanford site is home to 177 large, underground nuclear waste storage tanks. Numerous safety and environmental concerns around these tanks and their contents. One such concern is the propensity for the waste in these tanks to generate and retain flammable gases. The surface level of the waste in these tanks is routinely monitored to assess whether the tanks are leaking. For some of the tanks, the waste surface level measurements synchronously fluctuated with atmospheric pressure changes. The current best explanation for these synchronous fluctuations is that the waste contains gas-phase material that changes volume in response to the atmospheric pressure changes. This paper describes: (1) The exploratory data analysis that led to the discovery of the phenomena; (2) A physical mode based on the ideal gas law that explains the phenomena. Additionally, the model allows one to obtain estimates of the retained gas volume in the tank waste; (3) A statistical procedure for detecting retained gas based on the physical model and tank surface level measurements; and (4) A Kalman filter model for analyzing the dynamics of retained gas. It's also shown how the filter can be used to detect abrupt changes in the system.
Optimal Active Control of Nonlinear Vehicle Suspensions Using Neural Networks

This paper analyzes, theoretically and by computer simulation, the capabilities and limitations of neural networks to be used for the identification and optimal control of nonlinear dynamical systems. It is shown how neural networks can be efficiently trained to identify the forward and inverse dynamics of systems and also to work as optimal controllers which minimize some peformance measures of the system to be controlled. The performance of neural networks when applied to the optimal control of nonlinear vehicle suspensions is analyzed and compared with the performance of passive suspensions and that of active suspensions with linear (LQ) controllers designed by linearizing the nonlinear characteristics of the suspensions around the equilibrium point. It is found that nonlinear vehicle suspensions with neuro-control show better performance than suspensions controlled with conventional LQ regulators. Some issues about the implementation of neural networks to improve its convergence and generalization properties are analyzed.
Manufacturing production tooling using metal laminations

Lastform, a three year EPSRC (IMI) programme, has investigated metallic laminating techniques to produce large‐scale production capable tooling. This work is intended as an overview of the research and development performed at the University of Warwick’s Warwick manufacturing Group. The programme was a collaboration between seven industrial partners and three universities with each university having a discreet area of research. The focus at Warwick was to establish robust methods of joining metal sheets to form tools for different production processes. Bonding mediums, test parts for process evaluation, sample tools and production tools are described. The advantages of metal laminating for different processes are evaluated. Results include reduced lead‐time and cost savings and enhanced processing capability by the use of conformable heating or cooling channels.
Technology Adoption with respect to various Brands of Smart Phones

The new technology has led the development of the economic growth of the nation. The creators of the new technology keep in mind the need of the people and comes out with most reliable and feasible technology which is mostly diffused and used by the new technology adopters. The technology developed are innovative and user-friendly in the smart phone industry. Every aspect that is considered to build and develop a smart phone are through the research and development. This study focuses on the audience who adopt to use the new technology with respect to the smartphones. There are few studies to show the technology adoption life cycle and its types of adopters. Various smartphone brands keep updating the technology to give its users the best features, the technology adopters also keep up with the updated technology to adopt to the new developments. The smartphones not only develop the hardware but also keep updating their software as well. This study also concentrates and brings out the views about brands and technology adoption. The data collection for this study was conducted in Chennai city. The sampling technique used was judgmental sampling. The questionnaire was distributed to nearly 123 respondents. The study reveals that how the various technology adopters have to be targeted and to market the brand strategically, so the consumers can purchase the smartphones as per their requirement and social status.
Fast Tool Servo Driven by Electromagnetic Force Applied in Freeform Surfaces Machining

Fast tool servo is increasing applied to manufacture optical freeform surfaces, which are adopted in aerospace, imaging, bioengineering, energy fields to improve the performance of the system, simplify the structure of the system and lower cost. The existing FTS have limited stroke and bandwidth. FTS driven by electromagnetic force is discussed. The analysis of the magnetic circuit, the requirements of the system and the corresponding design parameters are studied. The designed FTS can realize the bandwidth of 0-100kHz with a special designed driver.
Use of statistical reference method to improve flight safety

Abstract Statistical comparison as a test of hypotheses about the coincidence of distribution parameters is considered. This allows defining whether the discrepancy in estimations of the distribution parameters of safety indicators is significant or can be justified by inessential changes in the conditions of the experiment-random drifts. Each adverse event is assigned a weight that reflects the probability that it can result in an adverse outcome in a particular flight. Risk (hazard) assessment is represented as a product of the mean value of weight n0 of adverse event Kn and frequency of occurrence Fn of events during the period of time analysed.
SISTEMA DE APOIO À PRÁTICA ASSISTIDA DE PROGRAMAÇÃO POR EXECUÇÃO EM MASSA E ANÁLISE DE PROGRAMAS

Assisting the practice of exercises in a course of programmi ng, especially in large classes, takes time and effort of teache rs. In order to assist teachers in programming exercises assessment, we developed PCo igo, an integrated system to Moodle that provides tools to run and an alyze programs in C Language. The PCodigo’s contributions to support the teach rs’ work and to encourage the programming learning are daily running a lot o f programs in a flexible way and providing analysis resources to recognize cl asses of solutions, to identify divergent solutions and to detect evidence of pl agiarism.