Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Model predictive control for freeway traffic networks

Traffic congestion on freeways is a critical problem due to higher delays, waste of fuel, a higher accident risk probability, negative impact on the environment, etc. Variable speed limits, ramp metering, and reversible lanes are some of the most often used examples of freeway traffic measures that can be used to dynamically control traffic. Nowadays, most of the dynamic traffic control systems operate according to a linear and local control loop. As explained in the thesis, the use of appropriate non-local and multivariable techniques can considerably improve the reduction in the total time spent by the drivers and other traffic performance indexes. Nonlinear centralized Model Predictive Control (MPC) is probably the best control algorithm choice for a small network as can be seen on previous references. The main practical problem of nonlinear centralized MPC is that the computational time quickly increases with the size of the network making diffcult to apply centralized MPC for large networks. Therefore, completely centralized control of large networks is viewed by most practitioners as impractical and unrealistic. The main objective of this thesis is the proposal of MPC techniques which can be applied, in practice, to real large traffic networks. Possible solutions are the use of distributed MPC (considering the network as a set of subsystems controlling each subsystem by one independent MPC), hybrid MPC (splitting the problem in a continuous optimization for the ramp metering signals and in a discrete optimization for speed limits) or genetic algorithms (finding the fittest individuals within a generation, applying genetic operators for the recombination of those individuals, and generating a good offspring). This thesis proposes and analyses these solutions. Other open problem in freeway traffic control is the dynamic operation of reversible lanes. Despite the long history and widespread use of reversible lanes worldwide, there have been few quantitative evaluations and research studies conducted on their performance. To address this problem, this thesis proposes a macroscopic model for reversible lanes and on-line controllers for the operation of reversible lanes. Moreover, a MPC controller for freeway traffic requires a model to make accurate and reliable predictions of the traffic flow. On the other hand, this model is required to be fast enough, so that it can be used for on-line based control applications. Therefore, it is imperative to select or develop appropriate models, i.e., models that are fast and that provide accurate predictions. In this thesis, the METANET model and its extensions have been selected to be used for the prediction of the traffic flow and, based on this model, new advances in freeway traffic modeling for optimal control strategies are proposed.
Development and Comparison of Centralized and Decentralized ATIS Models with Simulation Method

Traffic congestion is a source of significant economic and social costs in urban areas. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are a promising means to help alleviate congestion by utilizing advanced sensing, computing, and communication technologies. This paper proposes and investigates a basic and advanced ITS framework Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) using wireless Vehicle to Roadside (Centralized ATIS model: CA model) and Vehicle to Vehicle (DeCentralized ATIS model: DCA model) communication and assuming an ideal communication environment in the typical urban grid traffic network. Results of this study indicate that an ATIS using wireless communication can save travel time given varying combinations of system characteristics: traffic flow, communication radio range, and penetration ratio. Also, all tested metrics of the CA and DCA models indicate that the system performance of both models is almost identical regardless of varying traffic demand and penetration ratios. Therefore, DCA model can be a reasonable alternative to the fixed infrastructure based ATIS model (CA model).
Assessment of safety of additional transplantation of autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells in the combined treatment of coronary heart disease. Results from a randomized, blind, placebo-controlled trial (TAMIS)

Цель. Оценить безопасность трансплантации аутологичных мононуклеаров костного мозга при выполнении операции аортокоронарного шунтирования в комбинированном лечении ишемической болезни сердца у пациентов с коронарной и сердечной недостаточностью. Материалы и методы. За период с 2013-го по 2016 г. в работу включено 117 пациентов, соответствующих установленным критериям. Рандомизация в группы наблюдения: группа 0 – группа контроля (операция аортокоронарного шунтирования (АКШ) и интрамиокардиальное введение 0,9% раствора NaCl), группа 1 – операция АКШ и интрамиокардиальное введение аутологичных мононуклеаров костного мозга (АМНКМ), группа 2 – операция АКШ, интрамиокардиальное и внутришунтовое введение АМНКМ. В указанных группах проведена оценка: клинических, лабораторных (КФК МВ, миоглобин, тропонин I, HCT, Hb, К+, АВС), инструментальных (нагрузочные тесты – ишемические изменения, жизнеугрожающие нарушения ритма, эхокардиография, speсkle traсking (оценка степени деформации миокарда) – наличие дополнительных зон гипо-, акинезии, коронарография) данных. Выполнен анализ частоты послеоперационных осложнений (гидроторакс, гидроперикард, нарушения ритма); длительности пребывания в реанимационном отделении, длительности пребывания в стационаре (койко-день) и другие показатели. Через 6 и 12 месяцев оценивали общую летальность, крупные кардиальные события – развитие острого инфаркта миокарда, желудочковые нарушения ритма, онкологическую настороженность. Номер в международном регистре клинических исследований ClinicalTrial.gov Identifier:NCT02059512. Результаты. Статистический анализ показал отсутствие статистически достоверных различий в группах наблюдения по сравниваемым критериям. Заключение. Трансплантация аутологичных мононуклеаров костного мозга при выполнении операции аортокоронарного шунтирования в комбинированном лечении ишемической болезни сердца является безопасным методом.
Online Remaining Useful Life Prediction of Milling Cutters Based on Multisource Data and Feature Learning

A milling cutter is one of the most important parts of machine tools. Its working status significantly influences the precision of workpiece. Due to the complex wear mechanism, the single sensor may be difficult to acquire the complete degradation information of milling cutters. Therefore, in this article, a feature learning based method is proposed to automatically extract features from multisource data and predict the remaining useful life of cutting tools in real time. First, a statistic-based method is constructed to detect and delete the outliers hidden in the monitoring data. Second, the clean data are input into a multiscale convolutional attention network (MSAN) to learn features and fuse multisource data. At last, the fused data are used to predict the remaining useful life of cutting tools in a regression layer. Compared with traditional tool life prediction methods, the proposed method is able to fuse multisource data through an attention feature learning model to conduct the life prediction of tools. Additionally, the data cleaning and model optimization methods are also proposed to promote engineering practicability. To validate the effectiveness of such method, the life testing experiments on milling cutters are conducted to obtain run-to-failure data. In those experiments, multisensor monitor data are acquired, which are used to conduct validation experiments testing the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results indicate the superiority of the proposed method in remaining useful life prediction milling cutters.
Comparison of state-of-the-art atlas-based bone segmentation approaches from brain MR images for MR-only radiation planning and PET/MR attenuation correction

Introduction : Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging has emerged as a valuable tool in radiation treatment (RT) planning as well as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging owing to its superior soft-tissue contrast. Due to the fact that there is no direct transformation from voxel intensity in MR images into electron density, it's crucial to generate a pseudo-CT (Computed Tomography) image from MRI for the task of MR-guided attenuation correction and RT planning. This study set out to investigate the performance of two state-of-the-art atlas-based pseudo-CT generation approaches from MR brain images. Materials and Methods : Bone segmentation was performed on 43 brain CT and MR pairs using atlas-based local weighting (Atlas-LW) and atlas registration combined with pattern recognition (AT-PR) techniques. The accuracy of bone extraction performed by these two approaches was investigated for the entire bony structures as well as cortical bone using standard segmentation metrics such as Dice similarity (DSC). Moreover, the accuracy of the CT value estimated from MR images was evaluated using mean absolute error (MAE), and root mean square error (RMSE) metrics. Results: Overall, Atlas-LW technique exhibited higher segmentation accuracy resulting in DSC=0.79±0.61 and 0.84±0.03, while AT-PR method led to DSC=0.72±0.8 and 0.77±0.05 for cortical and total bone, respectively. Moreover, Atlas-LW approach estimated CT values for the total bone tissue with MAE=17.6±138.0 HU and RMSE=466.2±75.0 HU compared to MAE=-10.9±147.0 HU and RMSE=522.5±89.7 HU obtained from AT-PR approach. Conclusion: The Atlas-LW exhibited superior the performance in this study which demonstrates its potential to be employed in PET/MR attenuation correction (AC) and MR-only RT planning.
How to manage a successful software project : methodologies, techniques, tools

The Role of Project Manager Project Management Concepts Project Initiation and Justification Project Planning and Scheduling Why Projects Fail Why Projects Succeed Case Studies Iterative Project Development Methodology (IPDM) Project Resourcing Roles, Responsibilities, and Monitoring Outsourcing of Information Technology Projects Introduction to Microsoft Project 4 Creating the Project Plan Using Microsoft Project 4 Reporting and Monitoring the Project Plan Using Project 4 Appendices Bibliography Index.
Exploring the happiness and sense of purpose associated with older peoples' activities using ecological momentary analysis: an observational study

Background Older people have more leisure time, but many are physically inactive. Momentary feelings of pleasure or happiness and sense of purpose can be sources of intrinsic motivation. This study’s objective was to investigate how the type (sedentary, active) and context (social and environmental) of older peoples’ activities relate to momentary feelings of happiness and purpose. MethodsDetails of activities, contexts and feelings of retired or semi-retired adults (n=67, aged 50-78y) were captured over 7 days using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) via a smart phone app. Participants were prompted on their smart phone six times at random per day, resulting in 2,065 valid prompts. They wore an Actigraph accelerometer on the waist for 7 days to measure physical activity. Happiness and sense of purpose outcome variables were regressed on activities, context and potential confounding variables (e.g. age, gender, physical activity). Regression standard errors were clustered on participants to account for the hierarchically structured data. Interactions between activities and contexts were explored.ResultsParticipants were highly active: 98.5% met physical activity guidelines. Sedentary activities were negatively associated with sense of purpose, especially when indoors. Social sedentary activities (e.g. visiting friends and family) were, however, positively associated with feelings of happiness. Active, social outdoor activities were positively associated with both outcomes. Less sedentary participants experienced higher happiness and sense of purpose during all their activities: each 1 percentage point increase in percentage time sedentary was associated with a reduction of 2.78-points on the happiness scale and 3.34 on the purpose scale (p <0.05). Conclusions Context is important for happiness and purpose, with social and outdoor activities likely to have the widest appeal for older adults. The study needs to be replicated in larger and more representative samples of older adults.
Behaviour, welfare and nutrition of group-housed sows fed in an electronic sow feeding system

NICOLA JANE HODGKISS BEHAVIOUR, WELFARE AND NUTRITION OF GROUP-HOUSED SOWS FED IN AN ELECTRONIC SOW FEEDING SYSTEM A programme of study was undertaken to assess the welfare status of multiparous gestating sows housed in dynamic groups in a straw yard and fed by electronic sow feeders (ESF). Comparison of production figures from the Seale-Hayne herd with those nationally confirmed its status as a typical commercial unit. In an initial series of investigations, detailed ethograms were compiled to describe the animals' repertoire of activities and interactions. Lying and straw manipulation were found to be the predominant behaviours and attacks directed towards the head were the most commonly performed type of interaction. Although there was little evidence of aggressive behaviour, most interactions were found to occur in areas where there was an obvious source of competition, namely the feeding and lying areas. A recording scale was devised to assess the level of skin damage arising from aggressive interactions. Whilst data revealed a relationship between parity and the extent of injury, both the frequency and intensity of injury were found to be low for all animals and there was very little evidence of vulva biting, commonly cited as a major criticism of group-housing systems. Animals were observed to rest predominantly in the lying area. There was an association between parity and resting location, with older animals occupying those areas perceived to be more favourable. Recently introduced gilts and sows were observed to integrate gradually with the main group. An argument is put forward for the existence of sub-groups based upon parity within the main group, although it was concluded that it was difficult to prove such a theory. A series of voluntary feed intake (VFI) trials revealed that the animals' feeding motivation was not satisfied by the allowance fed in gestation. Results from a trial when animals were offered a high fibre, low energy diet in comparison with their conventional feed suggested that the animals had a requirement for a certain level of energy and were not motivated simply by a desire for gut-fill. However, a subsequent investigation into the animals feeding behaviour did not reveal any evidence of a frustrated feeding motivation; there was little evidence of nonfeeding visits and few animals were recorded in the feed queue throughout the day. It is concluded that sows can be group-housed in a dynamic system on a restricted feed intake without detriment to their welfare or productivity status. A number offactors were found to be critical to the success of such a system including the freedom for animals to behave as individuals, the regular provision of fresh straw and adequate space for newly introduced animals to integrate gradually with the herd.
Cost Efficient Educational Multimedia Delivery.

Mobile device usage has increased both in developed and developing countries. The pervasiveness of cell phones has made them an ideal platform to cater educational content informally (anywhere, anytime). Although mobile devices offer different advantages compared with desktop PCs, several challenges need to be tackled such that students can effectively use them for learning. One of these is the cost of content delivery which is considered to be one of the most important issues that hinders the adoption of mobile devices. The cost of content delivery is particularly high when information is delivered over wireless networks. This is accentuated when heavy content, such as multimedia (understood in the context of this thesis as video in combination with audio and possible text), is delivered. With the further increase in heavy content, network providers have concerns that the infrastructure will not manage to cope with it and some of the network providers, that initially had flat rate plans, are considering charging extra fees for heavy data users. Under these conditions reducing the cost of content delivery to suit the learners‘ budget, is necessary. Consequently, this research thesis proposes an adaptive mechanism that considers: learner willingness to pay for the multimedia content (and how it changes considering learner location, consumption history, billing plan, age and gender), learner device characteristics (resolution), and the wireless network type over which the multimedia content will be delivered, in order to personalise the cost of delivery for learners. The mechanism suggest to the learner unwilling to pay a high price, a lower quality (cheaper) version of the multimedia clip, and higher quality version to the rest of the users, based on a new model of assessing the learner willingness to pay. As a part of this research significant other contributions were made: an analysis of the characteristics of feature of the feature phones and smartphones, an analysis of the mobile data billing plans that exists on the European market, a resolution based division of the mobile phones in four resolutions classes and proposing of suitable bitrate values for multimedia clips based on the resolution classes the device belongs to and wireless network over which the multimedia will be delivered. The evaluation of the proposed mechanism has assessed the learner perceived multimedia quality,learning achievements, and the various savings obtained when the adaptive mechanism is used. The results have showed that the perceived quality and learning achievements have not been negatively affected for the learners who received the lower quality content. Moreover, savings are obtained in terms of amount of remaining data when a bundle based billing plan is used, and/or monetary cost.
Hybrid contracts in introductory linguistics

Wanting to shift the focus in the introductory linguistics classes in an access institution from teaching to learning, I created a tripartite (hybrid) contract that consists of three distinct tasks: labor-based tasks (collaborative forums and breakout activities); content-based tasks (assignments and final project on changing understandings about language) and self-regulated tasks (learning logs, metacognitive awareness surveys, capstone). This contract gives students agency and establishes a culture of “forgiveness” (while maintaining high standards), providing flexibility since my students’ life challenges can affect their academic performance.
Empirical Analysis of Construction Enterprise Information Systems: Assessing the Critical Factors and Benefits

Title of Document: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: ASSESSING THE CRITICAL FACTORS AND BENEFITS Mehmet Omer Tatari, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Directed By: A. James Clark Chair Professor, Mirosław J. Skibniewski, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Attaining higher levels of system integration is seen as the primary goal of enterprise information systems in construction (CEIS). Increased system integration resulting from CEIS implementation is expected to lead to numerous benefits. These benefits encompass information technology infrastructure as well as strategic, operational, organizational, and managerial aspects of the firm. By adopting CEIS, firms seek tangible and intangible benefits such as cost reduction, improved productivity, enhanced efficiency, and business growth. However, with the challenge of integrating various business functions within the firm, certain factors become critical for achieving higher levels of integration. Despite ample research on integrated IT systems, there are very few works in the construction field that empirically analyze the critical factors impacting the level of integration and the benefits thereof. This study seeks to address these gaps in the literature and analyzes the impact of critical factors on levels of integration and the ensuing benefits through a systematic and rigorous research design. The conceptual framework in this study draws heavily upon the theory of IT integration infrastructures, while also modifying and expanding it. This study quantifies the critical success factors that impact CEIS integration and the ensuing benefits. Furthermore, it analyzes the effects of system integration on CEIS induced benefits. It also investigates the impact of CEIS strategy on CEIS induced benefits, and identifies the relationship between CEIS strategy and system integration. Finally, it assesses the effects of CEIS induced benefits on user satisfaction and provides a CEIS implementation guide map for construction firms. The study uses multiple regression analysis and ANOVA to test these relationships. EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: ASSESSING THE CRITICAL FACTORS AND BENEFITS
Teaching und Training in der robotergestützten Chirurgie

Zusammenfassung Robotergestützte Operationsmethoden haben die minimalinvasive Chirurgie nachhaltig beeinflusst und werden auch in Zukunft ihren Stellenwert einfordern. In der Folge sind strukturierte Trainingsprogramme essenziell, um Chirurgen für den Operationssaal der Zukunft bestmöglich vorzubereiten. Eine Anlehnung an Programme aus dem Bereich der Aviatik scheinen hierbei sinnvoll und können die Ausbildung mit speziellem Augenmerk auf Effektivität, Effizienz sowie Patientensicherheit nachhaltig beeinflussen. In diesem Zusammenhang konnten simulationsgestützte Ausbildungskonzepte und OP-Workshops bereits ihre Sicherheit sowie positive Kosteneffektivität fachübergreifend aufzeigen. Proctoring und sog. Flying-Doctor-Modelle sind weitere wichtige Konzepte vor allem in der fortgeschrittenen Weiterbildung. Dieser Artikel gibt eine Übersicht der aktuellen Entwicklungen zum Thema Training und Teaching in der robotergestützten Chirurgie und möge als Grundlage für eine kontroverse Diskussion dienen.
Average Index Modelling of Campus Safety and Walkability: The Case Study of University of Sindh

A pedestrian-friendly area encourages the inhabitants to experience the place enjoyably on foot. A pedestrian's sense of comfort is defined by the environmental qualities that encourage walking. The city's environmental qualities also make them better for walking, encouraging both physical and social activities. This Study focuses on safety and walkability in the University of Sindh. According to a survey done by researchers at the University of Sindh, the important issue at the university is lacking pedestrian facilities. Therefore, this study covers major facets of walkability. It is envisioned for policymakers and planners who want to improve the walking spaces for their communities with the best current information on pedestrian facilities. This research identified basic details about the specific walking plans and project creation. It includes trail preparation, roads, street lighting, street repairs, path and track repair, public protection, personal security, etc. This research explores the improvement of university walkways to accommodate pedestrians through the Average Index Model. Besides, the study presents recommendations on the issue of pedestrian safety. Also, discusses how the University of Sindh’s road network aspects and addresses how campus roadway system could include sustainable transportation choices for inhabitants.