Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
System Level Simulation of Artificial Potential Function Guidance for a Neutrally Buoyant Autonomous Vehicle Equipped with Non-ideal Actuators

Path planning and trajectory generation in the presence of obstacles is of utmost importance in vehicle autonomy. While optimal trajectories are able to minimize an objective function for such an operation, they cannot be evaluated in “real time”, require global knowledge of the environment, are open loop in nature and are not resistant to vehicle and environmental disturbances. For this reason, Artificial Potential Functions (APF) will be explored for use as a guidance strategy on board an autonomous vehicle that does not have global knowledge of the environment or limited actuator capability and is subject to many forms of disturbance. System level simulations are necessary to analyze the interactions of a given control system in the presence of nonlinear dynamics of the vehicle, its actuator/sensor properties and the non deterministic interaction with the environment. A SIMULINK ® system level model of the Phoenix Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is constructed to evaluate the control system within the current scenario. A novel strategy to mitigate local minima in the APF is also explored. While the simulation is specific to the AUV, the architecture and guidance methodology is easily transferable to other autonomous vehicles used in air, space and terrestrial applications.
A New Constitutive Model of Superelastic SMA

The shape memory alloys (SMAs) have received increasing interest attributed to their unique superelastic effect and the shape memory effect. The existing models of superelastic SMAs are generally complex for practical use. In this paper, cyclic loading tests of superelastic SMA wires are first performed. Based on the experiments, a simple constitutive model is set up. Simulations testify that the model can approximately describe the hysteretic characteristics of the superelastic SMA and the simulated mechanical parameters agree well with the experimental values.
The thesis of leagility revisited

Both postponement and information decoupling have been considered as relevant initiatives in making the agile supply chain a reality. It is commonly argued that the two can be combined into “leagility”, which is the combination of agility with lean capabilities within one supply chain. Based upon a one‐year study of agility in the supply chain, this paper indicates that leagility might work well in operational terms as lean capabilities can contribute to agile performance and might often be a prerequisite. If the leagility approach is to work, though, it is required to fit within a purely agile supply chain strategy, rather than a purely lean approach. Thus it is concluded that the leagility thesis does not fundamentally challenge the agility concept. Specific suggestions on how to move forward in creating the agile supply chain are then developed.
Urban Flood Susceptibility Mapping of Kochi Taluk Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Urban flooding is a rising global issue which can cause significant environmental, social, economic and human losses. The primary reason for the occurrence of floods in Indian cities is high intensity rainfall. There are several other factors which play a vital role in the occurrence of urban floods like elevation, slope, land use/ land cover (LULC), etc. This project aims to identify the geospatial factors that are associated with urban flooding and produce an urban flood susceptibility map for Kochi taluk using remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS). The susceptibility mapping and its analysis was done from remotely sensed images with the help of GIS-based multi criteria decision making (MCDM) approach. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique in integration with Geographical Information System (GIS) and Weighted Overlay Analysis had been incorporated to classify the land for urban flood susceptibility. The percentage area of highly susceptible land in Kochi increased from 24.10 % to 58.91 % for the years 2008 and 2018
ERGONOMIC ANALYSIS OF COMPANY XYZ's DE-PALLETIZING WORKSTATION

Sorensen Michael J. (Writer) (Last Name) (First) (Initial) Ergonomic Analysis of Company XYZ’s De-palletizing Workstation (Title) M.S. Risk Control Brain Finder December, 2002 69 (Graduate Major) (Research Advisor) (Month/Year) (No. of Pages) APA 5 Edition (Name of Style Manual Used in this Study) Company XYZ is in the beverage industry producing, bottling, and distributing a variety of products. The starting point of the bottling process begins at the de-palletizing workstation where employees manually unload new cases of bottles from a pallet onto a conveyor. Workers at this station were complaining of discomfort in the shoulders/neck, elbows, hands, wrists, and lower back from excessive overhead reaching at the beginning of a new pallet and forward bending toward the end of the unloading process. The purpose of this study was to identify, via ergonomic assessment, if workstation design and work practice risk factors were exposing employees to injuries and illnesses at XYZ Company’s de-palletizing workstation. This ergonomic assessment was performed in three steps. First, the researcher began by identifying the extent of the
Developments in linear and nonlinear FET circuit design using derivative superposition

This paper describes a number of emerging results pertaining to a circuit design technique called derivative superposition. A number of different approaches to designing both linear and nonlinear circuits with derivative superposition are described. Limitations of currently available CAD models are identified. The measured performance of a 100 mW power amplifier, a broadband frequency doubler and a frequency tripler designed with derivative superposition are presented. (10 pages)
NAS Parallel Benchmarks with CUDA and beyond

NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB) is a standard benchmark suite used in the evaluation of parallel hardware and software. Several research efforts from academia have made these benchmarks available with different parallel programming models beyond the original versions with OpenMP and MPI. This work joins these research efforts by providing a new CUDA implementation for NPB. Our contribution covers different aspects beyond the implementation. First, we define design principles based on the best programming practices for GPUs and apply them to each benchmark using CUDA. Second, we provide ease of use parametrization support for configuring the number of threads per block in our version. Third, we conduct a broad study on the impact of the number of threads per block in the benchmarks. Fourth, we propose and evaluate five strategies for helping to find a better number of threads per block configuration. The results have revealed relevant performance improvement solely by changing the number of threads per block, showing performance improvements from 8% up to 717% among the benchmarks. Fifth, we conduct a comparative analysis with the literature, evaluating performance, memory consumption, code refactoring required, and parallelism implementations. The performance results have shown up to 267% improvements over the best benchmarks versions available. We also observe the best and worst design choices, concerning code size and the performance trade‐off. Lastly, we highlight the challenges of implementing parallel CFD applications for GPUs and how the computations impact the GPU's behavior.
Study on recipients’ brand attitudes considering the effect of Japan-visit experience

This study determines the impact of recipients' Japan-visit experience on the hierarchy of effects for Japanese confectionery brands. Many Chinese tourists purchase confectioneries as travel souvenirs for gift giving. This study focuses on recipients’ brand attitudes regarding the received travel souvenir. Attitudes comprise of three components: cognitive, affective, and conative. The hierarchy of effects concept is developed to explain the relative impact of the three components. The study focuses on the learning hierarchy pro cess, low involvement hierarchy process, and dissonance-attribution hierarchy process, develops three sequential models to clarify brand character related to the attitudes, and tests ten brands. The results show that the regional souvenir brands are associated with the dissonance-attribution hierarchy process, and affected by the recipients’ Japan-visit Experience, with their visiting frequency making a positive impact.
T Cell Interactions in Mycobacterial Granulomas: Non-Specific T Cells Regulate Mycobacteria-Specific T Cells in Granulomatous Lesions

Infections with pathogenic mycobacteria are controlled by the formation of a unique structure known as a granuloma. The granuloma represents a host–pathogen interface where bacteria are killed and confined by the host response, but also where bacteria persist. Previous work has demonstrated that the T cell repertoire is heterogenous even at the single granuloma level. However, further work using pigeon cytochrome C (PCC) epitope-tagged BCG (PCC-BCG) and PCC-specific 5CC7 RAG−/− TCR transgenic (Tg) mice has demonstrated that a monoclonal T cell population is able to control infection. At the chronic stage of infection, granuloma-infiltrating T cells remain highly activated in wild-type mice, while T cells in the monoclonal T cell mice are anergic. We hypothesized that addition of an acutely activated non-specific T cell to the monoclonal T cell system could recapitulate the wild-type phenotype. Here we report that activated non-specific T cells have access to the granuloma and deliver a set of cytokines and chemokines to the lesions. Strikingly, non-specific T cells rescue BCG-specific T cells from anergy and enhance the function of BCG-specific T cells in the granuloma in the chronic phase of infection when bacterial antigen load is low. In addition, we find that these same non-specific T cells have an inhibitory effect on systemic BCG-specific T cells. Taken together, these data suggest that T cells non-specific for granuloma-inducing agents can alter the function of granuloma-specific T cells and have important roles in mycobacterial immunity and other granulomatous disorders.
Enhancing student learning in sport management through applied research

Regarding business research methods, Zikmund (2002) differentiates between basic (pure) research, which is intended to expand the boundaries of knowledge through the development of concepts and theories, and applied research, which is undertaken to address specific problems or situations. As stated by the author, both types of research employ the scientific method to better understand business phenomena; albeit to varying degrees. Many student research projects in the area of sport have followed along traditional models of academic research (i.e. basic research) required of faculty seeking tenure and promotion within their institution. Applied research is an often forgotten type of research in which students may develop their research skills and provide value to the sport industry. In fact, the research processes involved in business and management research is often misunderstood even by those within the community (Remenyi, 2002). The highly competitive nature of today's sports marketplace requires educators to consider adjusting traditional teaching models when educating future sport managers. Specifically, the use of applied research needs to be incorporated to a greater degree in the classroom. The purpose of this presentation, therefore, is a) to discuss the value of applied research when developing students as researchers, b) to share examples of successful applied student research projects, c) to share innovative approaches to creating valuable applied research opportunities, and d) to demonstrate how applied research, with front-end planning, could also be framed as pure research. The presenters contend that applied research should be incorporated to a greater degree in contemporary sport management curriculums. This approach serves to expand or alter the thought process of students while also providing them with the critical skill sets and content knowledge needed to address specific problems facing sport organizations. In the end, students will be better prepared to enter the sport industry and will be valued more highly by sport organizations as job candidates.
A Parametric Framework to Generate Visual Illusions Using Python

Visual illusions are fascinating phenomena that have been used and studied by artists and scientists for centuries, leading to important discoveries about the neurocognitive underpinnings of perception, consciousness, and neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia or autism. Surprisingly, despite their historical and theoretical importance as psychological stimuli, there is no dedicated software, nor consistent approach, to generate illusions in a systematic fashion. Instead, scientists have to craft them by hand in an idiosyncratic fashion, or use pre-made images not tailored for the specific needs of their studies. This, in turn, hinders the reproducibility of illusion-based research, narrowing possibilities for scientific breakthroughs and their applications. With the aim of addressing this gap, Pyllusion is a Python-based open-source software (freely available at https://github.com/RealityBending/Pyllusion), that offers a framework to manipulate and generate illusions in a systematic way, compatible with different output formats such as image files (.png, .jpg, .tiff, etc.) or experimental software (such as PsychoPy).
Impact of the Main Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Plasma Extracellular Vesicles and Their Influence on the Heart’s Vulnerability to Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

The majority of cardiovascular deaths are associated with acute coronary syndrome, especially ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Therapeutic reperfusion alone can contribute up to 40 percent of total infarct size following coronary artery occlusion, which is called ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Its size depends on many factors, including the main risk factors of cardiovascular mortality, such as age, sex, systolic blood pressure, smoking, and total cholesterol level as well as obesity, diabetes, and physical effort. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-coated particles released by every type of cell, which can carry content that affects the functioning of other tissues. Their role is essential in the communication between healthy and dysfunctional cells. In this article, data on the variability of the content of EVs in patients with the most prevalent cardiovascular risk factors is presented, and their influence on IRI is discussed.
Concept of an advanced hyperspectral remote sensing system for pipeline monitoring

Areas occupied by oil pipelines and storage facilities are prone to severe contamination due to leaks caused by natural forces, poor maintenance or third parties. These threats have to be detected as quickly as possible in order to prevent serious environmental damage. Periodical and emergency monitoring activities need to be carried out for successful disaster management and pollution minimization. Airborne remote sensing stands out as an appropriate choice to operate either in an emergency or periodically. Hydrocarbon Index (HI) and Hydrocarbon Detection Index (HDI) utilize the unique absorption features of hydrocarbon based materials at SWIR spectral region. These band ratio based methods require no a priori knowledge of the reference spectrum and can be calculated in real time. This work introduces a flexible airborne pipeline monitoring system based on the online quasi-operational hyperspectral remote sensing system developed at Fraunhofer IOSB, utilizing HI and HDI for oil leak detection on the data acquired by an SWIR imaging sensor. Robustness of HI and HDI compared to state of the art detection algorithms is evaluated in an experimental setup using a synthetic dataset, which was prepared in a systematic way to simulate linear mixtures of selected background and oil spectra consisting of gradually decreasing percentages of oil content. Real airborne measurements in Ettlingen, Germany are used to gather background data while the crude oil spectrum was measured with a field spectrometer. The results indicate that the system can be utilized for online and offline monitoring activities.
Antecedents of customer loyalty in mobile telecommunication companies in Cameroon

The mobile telecommunication (telecom) sector has become the basic source of information nowadays, especially in Cameroon. It is used to transfer and deliver information through voice, video, data, graphics, and more at perpetually increasing speeds. The quality of mobile services does not only impact the attraction of new customers but also to maintain the existing ones. The study uses relationship marketing theory and a quantitative and cross-sectional method with 200 respondents. Information was obtained from users of MTN and Orange mobile telecommunication networks. The analyses were done using SPSS version 20. Tangibility, reliability, and assurance dimensions of staff service quality showed a positive relationship with customer loyalty in mobile telecom companies in Cameroon. The findings also highlight the influence of service quality dimensions on customer loyalty in the mobile telecom companies of the country.
How to Effectively Reduce the Job Burnout of Front-line Financial Practitioners—Research on the Intermediary Effect of Work Engagement

This paper analyzes the job burnout status of front-line financial practitioners and the direct impact of job crafting on job burnout, and examines the mediating role of job engagement between job crafting and job burnout. A questionnaire survey method was used to collect data for multi-level regression analysis. The results of the study found that front-desk staff, male employees, and young employees with relatively short working years who directly face customers are groups with high job burnout; job crafting can effectively reduce job burnout. Job burnout of front-line financial practitioners; job engagement has a partial mediating effect between job crafting and job burnout, that is, job crafting can reduce job burnout by increasing job engagement. Financial industry managers should make full use of the impact of job crafting, and use performance appraisal reforms and organizational culture construction to fully guide front-line financial practitioners to change all aspects of their work and reduce job burnout effectively.
The Design of Hybrid Carry-Lookahead/

In this paper, we present a general architecture for designing hybrid carry-lookahead/carry-select adders. Several previous adders in the literature are all special cases of this general architecture. They differ in the way Boolean functions for the carries are implemented. Based on the general architecture, we propose a new implementation of high-speed 56-bit hybrid adder. The new adder directly implements group carry propagates and group carry generators without individual carry generator/prop- agate signals. Moreover, the group carry generator/propagate signals are complemented to gain speed. The new implementation can be in static CMOS or dynamic logic style. The critical path length of our new design is about 2/3 of the critical path lengths of previous adders; therefore, higher speed can be gained. Index Terms—Adders, high-speed circuits, VLSI.
A high frequency 0.35 /spl mu/m gate length power silicon NMOSFET operating with breakdown voltage of 13 V

High frequency silicon power n-MOSFETs with 0.35 /spl mu/m gate length were fabricated. The symmetrical LDD structure was adopted for its source and drain junctions. Record high fT, 8.3 GHz, and fmax, 6.0 GHz, were obtained at 3.5 V supply voltage. High breakdown voltage of 13 V was achieved concurrently due to the optimizations of the process and devices parameters. The efficiency of output power for the 900 M/spl sim/2.0 GHz operation was also discussed.
Fundus Image Registration Technique Based on Local Feature of Retinal Vessels

Feature-based retinal fundus image registration (RIR) technique aligns fundus images according to geometrical transformations estimated between feature point correspondences. To ensure accurate registration, the feature points extracted must be from the retinal vessels and throughout the image. However, noises in the fundus image may resemble retinal vessels in local patches. Therefore, this paper introduces a feature extraction method based on a local feature of retinal vessels (CURVE) that incorporates retinal vessels and noises characteristics to accurately extract feature points on retinal vessels and throughout the fundus image. The CURVE performance is tested on CHASE, DRIVE, HRF and STARE datasets and compared with six feature extraction methods used in the existing feature-based RIR techniques. From the experiment, the feature extraction accuracy of CURVE (86.021%) significantly outperformed the existing feature extraction methods (p ≤ 0.001*). Then, CURVE is paired with a scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) descriptor to test its registration capability on the fundus image registration (FIRE) dataset. Overall, CURVE-SIFT successfully registered 44.030% of the image pairs while the existing feature-based RIR techniques (GDB-ICP, Harris-PIIFD, Ghassabi’s-SIFT, H-M 16, H-M 17 and D-Saddle-HOG) only registered less than 27.612% of the image pairs. The one-way ANOVA analysis showed that CURVE-SIFT significantly outperformed GDB-ICP (p = 0.007*), Harris-PIIFD, Ghassabi’s-SIFT, H-M 16, H-M 17 and D-Saddle-HOG (p ≤ 0.001*).
A high efficiency 500 W step-up Cuk converter

A design of a high efficiency, ultra low ripple 500 W converter is presented. The high efficiency and low ripple of the design is attributed to the use of the noninverting, step-up extension of the coupled-inductor Cuk converter. The comparable standard boost converter will have much more output ripple and lower efficiency. Detailed design descriptions, test data and comparison with the boost converter reveal the inherent efficiency and ripple advantages of the step-up coupled-inductor Cuk converter topology.