Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Garbarge collection for the autopilot C system

In this thesis, I designed and implemented a garbage collector for the Autopilot C compiler which is used with the Alewife machine. Autopilot C is an ANSI-C compatible language with features that facilitate parallel programming, while Alewife is an experimental parallel machine with a scalable number of nodes. The garbage collector is implemented as a mostly copying garbage collector that handles ambiguous roots. This algorithm reduces memory fragmentation and improves reference locality. The work consists of implementing the garbage collector as well as making changes to the compiler in the way it handles memory requests. Thesis Supervisor: David Kranz Title: Research Scientist
Aerospace Technical Support for DARPA Network Modeling and Simulation Program and Cognitive Networks

Abstract : The objective of this project was to provide technical support to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Network Modeling and Simulation (NMS) technical program. The effort acted as a facilitator for the NMS program by gathering information from program participants to build realistic network models. This effort studied traffic characterizations and mobility required to support future battlefield networking scenarios. Realistic mobility models for an urban battlefield scenario were developed. These models contained sensor nodes, ad hoc ground nodes, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and satellite nodes. This effort also evaluated the suitability for use in military networks, the traffic models and analysis techniques developed by other researchers in the NMS program.
Research on drought tolerance in common bean

Root growth of two drought tolerant and two drought sensitive bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) lines was compared at two locations in Colombia differing primarily in soil conditions. At Palmira, roots of drought tolerant lines reached a depth of 1.3 m, while drought sensitive lines only reached 0.8 m. These differences were associated with differences in seed yield, crop growth, canopy temperature and soil moisture extraction. Under acid soil conditions at Quili-chao, seed yields of supposedly drought tolerant genotypes were similar to those of the drought sensitive lines, and root growth of all four lines was restricted to less than 0.8 m. Drought avoidance through greater root growth and extraction of soil moisture appears to be an important drought tolerance mechanism in common beans, but its usefulness is limited where soil conditions restrict root growth.
Climate Change Adaptation in the Coastal Tourism Hotel Sector: The case of Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Cambodia is a country, which has seen very rapid tourism development over the last decade, while also being identified as very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (CC) by several key international agencies. This paper takes the form of a climate change-focused case study of the coastal tourism hotel sector in Cambodia’s Sihanoukville. It is based on semi-structured interviews with hotel managers and field observations. The paper’s aims are sequential and start by initially examining to what extent Sihanoukville’s hotel sector is vulnerable to CC, which is followed by an analysis of the hotel sector’s adaptation. Finally the type and nature of adaption is critically compared and contrasted by star rating and location relative to the seashore. Some interesting findings emerge that highlight paradoxes in the context of the vulnerability- adaptation dynamic. Future research should investigate the barriers and critical success factors (SF) for CC adaptation (CCA), as these factors will provide valuable insights into the vulnerability-adaptation dynamic in Sihanoukville, thereby contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 Climate Action.
The Role of Vision Algorithms for Micro Aerial Vehicles

This work investigates the research topics related to visual aerial navigation in loosely structured and cluttered environments. During the inspection of the desired infrastructure the robot is required to fly in an environment which is uncertain and only partially structured because, usually, no reliable layouts and drawings of the surroundings are available. To support these features, advanced cognitive capabilities are required, and in particular the role played by vision is of paramount importance. The use of vision and other onboard sensors such as IMU and GPS play a fundamental to provide high level degree of autonomy to flying vehicles. In detail, the outline of this thesis is organized as follows • Chapter 1 is a general introduction of the aerial robotic field, the quadrotor platform, the use of onboard sensors like cameras and IMU for autonomous navigation. A discussion about camera modeling, current state of art on vision based control, navigation, environment reconstruction and sensor fusion is presented. • Chapter 2 presents vision based control algorithms useful for reactive control like collision avoidance, perching and grasping tasks. Two main contributions are presented based on relative depth map and image based visual servoing respectively. • Chapter 3 discusses the use of vision algorithms for localization and mapping. Compared to the previous chapter, the vision algorithm is more complex involving vehicle’s poses estimation and environment reconstruction. An algorithm based on RGB-D sensors for localization, extendable to localization of multiple vehicles, is presented. Moreover, an environment representation for planning purposes, applied to industrial environments, is introduced. • Chapter 4 introduces the possibility to combine vision measurements and IMU to estimate the motion of the vehicle. A new contribution based on Pareto Optimization, which overcome classical Kalman filtering techniques, is presented. • Chapter 5 contains conclusion, remarks and proposals for possible developments.
The Influence of Hydrofoil Oscillation on Boundary Layer Transition and Cavitation Noise.

Abstract : Significant effects of boundary layer characteristics on cavitation and the effect of unsteady cavitation on noise have been widely observed experimentally. In order to better understand these effects, an experiment with a two-dimensional hydrofoil, under sinusoidal pitching oscillation, was conducted in the 36-inch water tunnel. Three pin-hole-type pressure transducers were installed on the foil surface to measure pressure fluctuations and a hydrophone was used to measure the radiated cavitation noise. Two subjects are discussed in this paper: relationship of boundary layer transition and pressure fluctuations with the hydrofoil in oscillation, and noise generated by unsteady cavitation. The magnitudes of pressure fluctuations in transition and turbulent regions are found to be independent of oscillation amplitude and frequency. However, the development of boundary layer and occurrence of transition are delayed with an increase in oscillation frequency. The influence of hydrofoil oscillation on cavitation inception is also discussed. With the occurrence of leading edge sheet cavitation, a significant effect of foil oscillation on cavitation noise is measured. At high reduced frequencies, extensive cloud cavitation is formed during the final phase of sheet cavity collapse and the noise level is significantly increased. (Author)
PENERAPAN STANDAR GRI DALAM LAPORAN KEBERLANJUTAN DI INDONESIA: SEBUAH EVALUASI

This study aims to investigate the level of conformity of economic, social, and environmental information on sustainability report in Indonesia as per GRI G4 guidelines. Content analysis has been applied to a sample of 29 companies listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Conformity and disclosure quality were analyzed descriptively using a specific scoring system for each dimensions. The findings of this research show that the level of conformity of GRI indicators in Indonesia is quite low at 18,9%. However, the weight of information disclosed by companies is relatively high, at 59,9% of the information. This wide gap occurred caused by the fact that many companies disclose only a few indicators of GRI G4. These findings indicate the GRI G4 Guidelines is not really suitable for company in Indonesia. One of the primary focuses of this research is the applicability of GRI indicators. However, not even a single study found while reviewing literature that studied the applicability GRI indicators in a country. Conformity can become a new topic when studying accounting information disclosure.
Fusarium and Alternaria mycotoxins present in Canadian wheat and durum harvest samples

Abstract The objectives of this work were to investigate the presence of a variety of mycotoxins in Canadian wheat and durum and to characterize the relationship between concentrations of the Fusarium-produced deoxynivalenol (DON) and the presence of visible Fusarium damage. There is a lack of reported mycotoxin surveillance data for Canadian wheat and durum; this work addresses this information gap. Wheat and durum harvest samples from the 2010, 2011 and 2013–2016 growing seasons were analysed for mycotoxins produced by a variety of fungal species, including Fusarium graminearum and Alternaria alternata. The Alternaria-produced tentoxin was observed the most frequently; it was present in 90% of the samples analysed at concentrations up to 0.063 mg kg−1. Fusarium-produced DON and enniatins B and B1 were present in over 70% of samples analysed. The plant transformation product DON-3-glucoside was quantified in up to 30% of samples. There was variability in the presence of the various mycotoxins amongst years. In particular, for DON, the variability reflected the level of visible Fusarium damage noted in grain samples. The geographic source of samples also influenced DON concentrations, which decreased from eastern to western growing regions on the Prairies. Concentrations of DON varied from 0.066 to 0.895 mg kg−1 in south central Manitoba and <0.03 to 0.053 mg kg−1 in central Alberta. DON concentrations were significantly correlated (P < 0.001) with visible Fusarium damage in Canada Western Red Spring wheat for all four years investigated. For Canada Eastern Soft Red Winter wheat and Canada Western Amber Durum, there were significant correlations (P < 0.001) in three of the four years investigated for each grain class. The years with no significant correlation between DON and Fusarium damage occurred when the presence of Fusarium species other than the DON-producing F. graminearum were predominant. This work provides a picture of the presence, and absence, of a number of mycotoxins in Canadian wheat and durum.
Efficient medium access control protocol for vehicular ad-hoc networks

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) have enjoyed a tremendous growth in the last decade and the advancement in communication technologies has played a big role behind the success of ITS. Inter-vehicle communication (IVC) is a critical requirement for ITS and due to the nature of communication, vehicular ad-hoc network technology (VANET) is the most suitable communication technology for inter-vehicle communications. In Practice,however, VANET poses some extreme challenges including dropping out of connections as the moving vehicle moves out of the coverage range, joining of new nodes moving at high speeds, dynamic change in topology and connectivity, time variability of signal strength, throughput and time delay. One of the most challenging issues facing vehicular networks lies in the design of e cient resource management schemes, due to the mobile nature of nodes, delay constraints for safety applications and interference. The main application of VANET in ITS lies in the exchange of safety messages between nodes. Moreover, as the wireless access in vehicular environment (WAVE) moves closer to reality, management of these networks is of increasing concern for ITS designers and other stakeholder groups. As such, management of resources plays a signi cant role in VANET and ITS. For resource management in VANET, a medium access control protocol is used, which makes sure that limited resources are distributed e ciently. In this thesis, an e cient Multichannel Cognitive MAC (MCM) is developed, which assesses the quality of channel prior to transmission. MCM employs dynamic channel allocation and negotiation algorithms to achieve a signi cant improvement in channel utilisaton, system reliability, and delay constraints while simultaneously addressing Quality of Service. Moreover, modi ed access priority parameters and safety message acknowledgments will be used to improve the reliability of safety messages.The proposed protocols are implemented using network simulation tools. Extensive experiments demonstrated a faster and more e cient reception of safety messages compared to existing VANET technologies. Finally, improvements in delay and packet delivery ratios are presented.
A state-of-the-art review of energy and climate effects of wood product substitution

In this report we address multiple aspects of wood substitution, which can be defined as “any use of wood that replaces other inputs of production in providing equivalent service or function. ” We focus on wood product substitution, or the use of wood to replace other materials such as concrete, steel or bricks, rather than wood fuel substitution. We briefly describe the historical uses of wood in the context of sustainable material cycles, and we suggest that wood material may increase in relative importance in the future, due to environmental concerns and the exhaustion of non-renewable raw materials and fuels. We conduct a comprehensive literature survey of previous studies on wood substitution, including fundamental research and case study analyses, as well as reviews and syntheses of previous works. We provide a brief synopsis of each item of literature. We then describe the methodological issues involved in wood substitution analysis, including the definition of functional units and the establishment of effective system boundaries in terms of activities, time, and space. We report on a meta-analysis of greenhouse gas displacement factors of wood substitution, in which 20 separate studies were analyzed and compared to determine the range of efficiency with which using wood instead of other materials can reduce net greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, we report the results of an analysis of large-scale wood substitution, in which we estimate the greenhouse gas emission reduction and energy use reduction resulting from a full substitution of wood-based materials in both single-family houses and multi-family apartment buildings at the country level (Sweden) and the regional level (EU-25).
Giving the green light : analysis of transition management within the Dutch energy transition

Investing in renewable energy sources (RES) is one pivotal way to ensure future energy sustainability that also mitigates climate change. The EU has committed to increase the share of renewable energy (RE), and has tasked member states with targets. The Netherlands has now issued the ‘Energy Agreement for Sustainable Growth’ to attain a share of 14% RE by 2020. Coincidentally the theoretical knowledge of transition management (TM) has been part of Dutch policy making since 2001. This thesis sets about analysing how TM has been incorporated in this policy to appraise its probable efficacy in meeting the objective. First the transition typology is assessed. Then, through using the analytical framework of TM as lens, the Energy Agreement is scrutinised. The policy’s strategic, tactical, and operational levels are discerned, as well as their respective objectives, actions and instruments. Co-evolution is furthermore examined. The study finds the energy transition to follow a targeted typology with much governmental interference and an integral approach. Overall, the Energy Agreement follows the theoretical ideas of TM to a large extent, where there is a multi-level and multi-actor approach. Nevertheless, there are some parts within the Energy Agreement that are worrisome and can prove detrimental to its own success. For example, co-evolution is hampered because the strategic level is locked due to supranational influence. The analysis also demonstrates a dominance of incumbent regime actors, as well as a strong focus on cost-effectiveness that hampers innovation and niche chances which are much needed for a longer-term energy transition. The findings also point towards drawbacks of TM in itself where too much faith is fostered in the dominant regime and government. As a result, enhanced niche participation and inclusion is warranted to ensure the regime is fundamentally challenged. Furthermore, parameters are needed for directed incrementalism to allow more time for niches to ripen. Finally, this study illustrates the need to add an external, supranational level to be incorporated in the analytical framework of TM to facilitate co-evolution.
Western Michigan University College of Engineering and College of Education collaborative effort to enhance student learning

This paper describes an ongoing project funded by the National Science Foundation Bridges for Engineering Education program at Western Michigan University (WMU). Six faculty members from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) and three faculty members from the College of Education (COE) are jointly developing an "Introduction to Engineering" course for elementary education students and first-year engineering students whose field of study is undecided. The "Introduction to Engineering" course: (1) Models the practice, behavior, and attitude of an engineer, and (2) Builds the skills necessary to perform the work of an engineer (problem solving, communication, teamwork, and engineering design). The outcomes of the course for the pre-service teacher training education students are that they are capable of describing the work of engineers and technologists to K-12 students, and can use stimulating examples of real-world engineering and technology in teaching the mathematics and science topics that are required of them. For the first-year engineering students, the outcomes include being motivated to continue in an engineering curriculum, and to provide opportunities to practice fundamental skills necessary to be successful in engineering studies.
A comparison of 8.415-, 32.0- and 565646-GHz deep space telemetry links

An economic and performance comparison is made of spacecraft telecommunication links at 8.415, 32.0, and 565646 GHz (0.53-micron wavelength) for the return of 3.43 x 10 to the 11th power bits from a Saturn Orbiter/Titan Probe mission in year 2000. Technical performance and costs for both ends of the links are included. Spacecraft antenna or telescope efficiencies, pointing losses, ground-based or Earth-orbiting relay terminals efficiencies, noise temperatures, recurring and nonrecurring engineering, and maintenance and operations costs are modeled. Weather effects, dc-to-RF or laser power conversion efficiencies, gravity and other environment distortions gain reductions, and the cost of pointing and tracking are analyzed. The effort is focused primarily on the microwave frequency links. There are large uncertainties in the cost results, but conclusions indicate that for a mid-1990's launch, the Ka-band system is as cost effective as X-band. The Ka-band system has a data rate advantage as compared to the X-band system for the same dc power input to the spacecraft. The magnitude of the advantage is a complex function of the weather at the DSN stations and the elevation angle of the ground antenna. A simple numerical comparison of the advantage is difficult and curves are provided. The optical frequency link is more costly based on the launch-to-orbit costs for the orbiting terminal. A more detailed study of the optical system is recommended to quantify astrometric tracking benefits and improve the accuracy of the cost estimate.
Water Reuse: An International Survey of current practice, issues and needs

Water Reuse: An International Survey of current practice, issues and needs examines water reuse practices around the world from different perspectives. The objective is to show how differently wastewater reuse is conceived and practised around the world as well as to present the varied needs and possibilities for reusing wastewater. In the first section water reuse practices around the world are described for regions having common water availability, reuse needs and social aspects. The second section refers to the "stakeholders" point of view. Each reuse purpose demands different water quality, not only to protect health and the environment but also to fulfil the requirements of the specific reuse. Reuses considered are agricultural, urban agriculture as a special case of the former, municipal and industrial. Alongside these uses, the indirect reuse for human consumption through aquifer recharge is also discussed. The third section deals with emerging and controversial topics. Ethical and economical dilemmas in the field are presented as a subject not frequently addressed in this field. The role of governments in respect of public policy in reuse is discussed as well as the different international criteria and standards for reusing wastewater. The importance of public acceptance and the way to properly handle it is also considered. The fourth section of the book presents contrasting case studies; typical situations in the developed world (Japan and Germany) are compared to those in developing countries (Pakistan and Brazil) for agricultural and industrial reuse. Indirect planned reuse for human consumption (Germany) is compared with an unplanned one (Mexico). The Windhoek, Namibia case study is presented to emphasize why if the direct reuse of wastewater for human consumption has been performed with success for more than 35 years it is still the only example of this type around the world. To illustrate the difficulties of having a common framework for regulating water reuse in several countries, the Mediterranean situation is described. Other case studies presented refer to the reuse situation in Israel, Spain, Cameroon, Nepal and Vietnam, these latter countries being located in water rich areas. This book will be an invaluable information source for all those concerned with water reuse including water utility managers, wastewater policy makers and water resources planners as well as researchers and students in environmental engineering, water resources planning and sanitary engineering. This title belongs to Scientific and Technical Report Series ISBN: 9781780401881 (eBook) ISBN: 9781843390893 (Print)
PROCEDURAL VIGNETTES IN STRUCTURAL HEART DISEASE Redo MitraClip Intervention – The Importance of Comprehensive Imaging Evaluation

Learning objectives: ● To understand and highlight the mechanisms of recurrent MR after prior transcatheter mitral valve edge-to-edge repair. ● To describe the comprehensive imaging evaluation of recurrent MR and guide redo intervention. ● To demonstrate the importance of advanced 3D TEE techniques in the pre-procedural imaging and intraprocedural guidance. ● To establish a helpful guide in the imaging assessment of such cases.