Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Decision Support System for Railway Timetabling (MOM): the Spanish Case

This paper describes how, given the complexity and number of constraints to be taken into account, train timetabling is a difficult and time-consuming task. A feasible train timetable should specify the departure and arrival time of each train to each location of its journey so that the line capacity and other operational constraints are met. Traditionally, train timetables have been generated manually by drawing trains on the time-distance diagram, where train schedules are manually adjusted so that all constraints are fulfilled. This process can take a long time and it usually stops once a feasible timetable is found. The difficulty of the process increases in complex and high-loaded networks and the resulting timetabling may be far from optimal. This paper presents MOM: a friendly, flexible, computer-based Decision Support System (DSS) whose main goal is to support the railway planner to efficiently obtain optimized train timetables. The system generates feasible and high quality timetables by considering the set of constraints of the problem and optimization criteria related to the use of railway infrastructures and operator requirements. The railway planner can obtain several solutions automatically, by modifying certain parameters (departure interval, frequencies, among others). Hence, the user can analyze them and take decisions about conditions related to railway traffic and infrastructure. Furthermore, an important feature of the DSS is the consideration of hard and soft constraints which makes the search process more flexible and reaches better solutions. The developed DSS offers assistance in train scheduling, conclusions about the maximum capacity of the network, identifying bottlenecks, determining the consequences of changes, providing support in the resolution of incidents, and alternative planning in on-line scheduling for real traffic control. This DSS software is being successfully used by the Spanish Manager of Railway Infrastructure (ADIF).
Biosurfactants-Biochar Facilitated Bioremediation of Metal Contaminated Sites: A New era of Sustainable Development

Rabail Zulekha, Riaz Bibi, Zulfiqar Ahmad*, Azhar Hussian, Aslam Farooqi, Shaista Andleeb Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 3804, Pakistan Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, South Korea Key Laboratory for Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China Department of Soil Science, University College of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100-Pakistan Department of Entomology, UCA & ES, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 4300723, China
MODELACIÓN DE ASPECTOS AMBIENTALES EN LA CADENA DE SUMINISTRO DEL BIOETANOL ♠ MODELINGENVIRONMENTALISSUESINTHESUPPLYCHAINOF BIOETHANOL

In this paper has been constructed a model that includes some environmental issues, associated with the supply chain of bioetanol in Colombia, such as stillage, bagasse and CO2 emissions. Considering that one of the most important issues today for company to be competitive, is the management of the supply chain, withth is one of the fundamental pillars to ensure the promise of value offered to customers. The chainis dynamic in nature, by the complex relation ships between the partner sand the constant flow of information, good sand materials. Therefore, it used the analysis methodology based on system dynamics, that is very useful in addressing complex and systemic problems in the associated external and environmental
Analysis and performance of three methods of human action recognition

 Abstract— Human action recognition is one of the most important emerging trend /technology . It has wide application such as surveillance (behavior analysis), security (pedestrian detection), control (human-computer interfaces), content based video retrieval, etc. There are many methods of human action recognition . The human action recognition problem is made difficult by the great variability in body part rotation and tilt, lighting intensity and angle, body part movement , aging, partial occlusion (e.g. Wearing Hats, scarves, glasses etc.), etc.Principal components from the body parts space are used for human action recognition to reduce dimensionality. A multiscale representation human action recognition is done to preserve the discriminate information prior to dimensionality reduction. In this paper, three multiscale representation techniques Gabor filter; Log Gabor filter and Discrete Wavelet Transform are applied prior to dimensionality reduction. PCA is then applied on the above techniques to find the human recognition accuracy rate and to compare the results of the three methods with PCA method. In this paper we have compared efficiency of three methods of human action recognition namely Gabor, Log Gabor and discrete wavelet transform.
The flow law of ice from measurements in glacier tunnels, laboratory experiments and the Jungfraufirn borehole experiment

The paper attempts to relate four recent sets of measurements on the flow laws of ice: (1) Glen’s laboratory compression tests, (2) Gerrard, Perutz & Roch’s pipe experiment on the Jungfraufirn, (3) measurements of contraction rate in a tunnel in Skauthöe Glacier by McCall, and (4) measurements of contraction rate in tunnels in the Z’Mutt and Arolla Glaciers reported by Haefeli & Kasser. When they are analyzed within the framework of a general flow theory, satisfactory agreement is found between all these results, with one exception: the reported rate of collapse of the Arolla tunnel is faster than would be given by the present theory. The paper includes the theory of the slow collapse of a cylindrical or a spherical hole in a medium showing non-Newtonian viscosity.
Accessing Assimilative Capacity through a Dual Discharge Approach

The historical development of environmental stressors in the watershed of Onondaga Lake (N.Y.) and the adjoining Seneca River is outlined as a prelude to the presentation of a novel approach for accessing assimilative capacity in this water quality-limited system. Proposed efforts to reclaim lost uses in the lake through heroic treatment at a major metropolitan wastewater treatment plant with continued discharge to the lake have been called into question. One option, diversion of the treatment plant effluent to the Seneca River, is complicated by phenomena impacting receiving water oxygen resources. A dual discharge strategy, which takes advantage of seasonal variations in assimilative capacity and the differing response times of the lake–river systems, is proposed as an alternative. In this approach, the effluent is routed to the river except when oxygen standards may be compromised, in which case all or part of the effluent is routed to the lake. Mathematical models demonstrate the feasibility of this o.
Feeder reconfiguration for load factor improvement

Power industry restructuring has created many opportunities for customers to reduce their electricity bills. Load aggregation allows customers to purchase electricity at a lower price. In some contracts, load factor is considered as one critical aspect of aggregation. Distribution systems supply electricity to different mixtures of customers. To facilitate load aggregation in distribution networks, a feeder reconfiguration application for improving the load factor in a distribution subsystem is illustrated in this paper. This application is based on binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) technique and customer load profiles data obtained from load survey. Test results based on a simple sample network have shown that the proposed feeder reconfiguration method can effectively improve the feeder load factors, and the BPSO technique is efficient in searching for the optimal solution.
Investigation of the applicability of current bridge health monitoring technology

Integrated health monitoring (HM) systems have been designed and installed in some long-span bridges around the world. One of the fundamental objectives of a bridge HM system is to gain a comprehensive knowledge of the structural condition, and usually it is required that early-stage damage in a bridge is detected within the monitored information. Yet the performance of the HM technology has not been evaluated in practice. The focus of this paper is to investigate the applicability of the current bridge HM technology for abnormality alarming. The deterioration and defects found from 16 cable-stayed bridges are summarized, and possible damage scenarios are simulated with a finite element model of a cable-stayed bridge. The changes in the static deformation and stress distribution as well as the dynamic characteristics of the bridge model due to damage are analysed. By comparison of the damage-caused changes in the structural behavior with the ability of the current monitoring techniques and the environmental effects, the workability of a typical bridge HM system is revealed. This may be helpful for the development of monitoring techniques and the design of HM systems.
A Usability Engineering approach to developing an e-commerce web application

Usability is an important aspect of product development that deals with the quality of interaction between the user and the product. Capturing requirements is aimed at understanding what the users expect the system to do. This report attempts to apply principles from both the Usability Engineering and the Requirements Engineering methodologies in the development of a subsystem for managing an e-commerce solution. The main focus is on the user interface design, which is developed by iterating the three phases of design, usability testing and evaluation, until the desired level of usability is achieved. Prototyping was central to the rapid development, but the use of software prototyping tools instead of paper-mockups would reasonably have improved the usefulness of the evaluations. The desired usability level was set to reach a specified fix point, instead of attempting to achieve some absolute usability metrics as is typically practiced. The former approach was apparently simpler to use without the broader experience otherwise needed to write reasonable requirements. The transition from the throw-away prototype to the implemented evolutionary prototype in ASP.NET posed some interesting problems that are further discussed.
Electrical design and characterization of differential pairs of low cost PBGA package for 10 Gbps applications

This paper describes comprehensive electrical design and characterization of differential pairs in low cost high frequency/speed electronic packages. A general methodology has been applied to differential pair design and characterization of several PBGA packages developed for 10 Ghps applications. The generalized mixed-mode S-parameter theory used in the characterization is presented along with a comparison of the broadband simulated models and the extracted empirical circuit models. These models are used in the transient analysis to show the performance improvement of differential signaling over single-ended signaling. A device level measument shows the validation of the design and characterization.
The Therapeutic Properties, Ethno pharmacology and Phytochemistry of Atriplex Species: A review

Atriplex species are prospective natural candidates for possible drug development because of their antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, molluscicidal and antifungal properties. These pharmacological actions are associated to the presence of valuable biochemicals such as terpenoids, hydroxyecdysone, flavonoids and phenolics. These plants also have nutritional properties being rich source of proteins, vitamin A, vitamin C, flavonoids and amino acids. The proper utilization of the substances obtained from these plants can enhance the finesse of these abilities. Atriplex species are used as conventional cure of diseases due to their exceptional therapeutic uses. Plants of this genus have been employed by the common folk in several regions of the world to treat diabetes, jaundice, thyroid and liver disorder, snake bite and against infections in digestive, respiratory and urinary tract which indicate the worth of the herbs belonging to the genus Atriplex. These plants are not only medicinally important but are also important to boost economy specifically due to insecticidal properties of some species which make them suitable to be used for insecticidal applications in agriculture. In view of the medicinal and scientific uses along with the bioavailability of precious chemicals of Atriplex species, a comprehensive review is compiled which focuses on the detailed profile of chemicals present, medicinal uses of extracts, pharmacological functions and biological activities of Atriplex species so as to correlate the available data and explore their potential uses in all possible aspects.
Research on Face Recognition Method based on Deep Learning

This With the popularization and development of information technology and big data technology, face recognition technology has gained more technical support, its technology continues to improve and mature, and there will be more and more applications related to face recognition. By analyzing the related technologies of face recognition and deep learning, this paper explains the traditional face recognition algorithms, focusing on the PCA and LDA algorithms based on dimensionality reduction and the LBP operator and HOG features based on hand-designed design, and briefly summarizes them. Basic principles and advantages and disadvantages. In academia, convolutional neural networks have always been a research hotspot and have been widely used. In the second half of this article, we mainly explain deep learning algorithms, and summarize several types of classic face recognition algorithms, such as the famous residual network that reduces network parameters. In different level ， these algorithms have improved face recognition to varying degrees.
No Recall of Weapon Discharge

It is possible for police officers to discharge their weapons in the line of duty yet have no memory of having done so. Case histories of such events are presented. Research on perceptual and memory distortions during critical incidents is reviewed, along with the research on involuntary discharges. Both areas of research offer explanations why it is possible for officers to fire their weapon during a critical incident yet have no memory of it. The implications for the training police officers and the investigations of officer-involved shootings are discussed. CASE HISTORIES The following are actual case histories of police officers who discharged their weapons during the line of duty but have no memory of having done so: Three patrol cars blocked in the car of suspect they were attempting to apprehend. The suspect began to ram the vehicles, presenting a deadly threat to some of the officers on the scene. Three officers opened fire on the suspect. The suspect jumped out of his vehicle, refused to show his hands, and continued to behave in suspicious manner. The officers continued to fire until the suspect gave up. He was taken into custody with minor injuries. A sergeant was standing in the vicinity of the three officers who initially opened fire. When the homicide detectives arrived the three officers who fired reported discharging their weapons. The sergeant did not report firing his weapon nor did any of the officers report hearing the sergeant’s weapon go off. After providing a brief description of his involvement in the incident, the sergeant went home and performed his cursory daily wipe down of his weapon then went to sleep. The next day he was called in by the detectives to explore the possibility that he had fired his weapon at the scene. The sergeant reported no recollection of firing his weapon but conceded it was, of course, possible. It became apparent that the detectives had obtained physical evidence indicating that the sergeant had indeed discharged his weapon. They did not believe the sergeant could not remember having done so and immediately suspected him of untruthfulness. They were further bothered by the fact that the sergeant admitted wiping down his gun and believed this was part of his cover-up. The sergeant was placed on administrative leave and within a week received a notice of intent to terminate letter based on the allegations that he had been untruthful and had attempted to cover up firing his weapon. His association informed the police department they intended to file legal action on the sergeant’s behalf for unlawful termination. A deal was struck to delay the sergeant’s termination and he was granted a stress-related medical retirement.
Fuel Cell Cost Study by Learning Curve

This paper presents a study of the PEM fuel cell cost for vehicle application in massive production by learning curve. The typical fuel cell stack consists of membranes, platinum, electrodes, bipolar plates and peripherals. In order to examine the progress ratios for each element, the readiness for automatic production in massive volume and the bottom line cost of each element are analyzed. After checking the present cost and the present volume of cumulative production of fuel cell, the learning curve was applied to cumulative production of 50 thousands and 5 millions. The results showed that the fuel cell stack cost could be reduced to the same level as that of internal combustion engine today and that power density improvement and cost reduction of bipolar plates and electrode are effective for reducing total cost of fuel cell stack.
Theoretical BER analysis of OFDM systems with ICI self-cancellation

Frequency offset is a common problem in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. This causes the orthogonality between subcarriers to be lost and results in intercarrier interference (ICI). A promising ICI self-cancellation scheme has been proposed (see Zhao, Y. and Haggman, S.-G., IEEE Trans. Commun., vol.49, no.7, p.1185-91, 2001) to reduce the effect of frequency offset error. The performance of the scheme, however, has not been fully analyzed. We analyze a theoretical performance of OFDM systems with ICI self-cancellation, where the ICI is treated as Gaussian noise. A tight bit error rate (BER) upper bound expression is derived and verified by simulation results.
Damage Assessment and Analysis of the 1997 Umbria-Marche Earthquakes

This paper reports the results of damage surveys carried out after the September 1997 Umbria-Marche earthquakes in collaboration with colleagues from the Italian Servizio Sismico Nazionale and the UK Earthquake Field Investigation Team. The extent of damage in the epicentral area and its relationship to the form of construction are described. The results of systematic damage studies in three towns damaged by the earthquake are presented, and conclusions are drawn on the relationship between damage and previous strengthening of masonry buildings. The paper also discusses the observed relationship between the level of ground motion recorded and the level of damage sustained, and the number of human casualties in comparison with estimations from existing models.
Flow Over Sharp‐Crested Plate Weirs

For flow past a two‐dimensional sharp‐crested weir located at the end of a horizontal rectangular channel, experimental results related to velocity and pressure distributions in the region of the nappe close to the weir crest section and the pressure distribution on the weir face were obtained. Based on experimental results and simplified theoretical considerations, a general relationship between the weir discharge coefficient Cd and the parameter H/W (or W/H) is determined using the momentum principle. The present experimental results corroborate the proposed relationship for the weir discharge coefficient.
Adaptive thermal comfort in Australian school classrooms

This survey of thermal comfort in classrooms aimed to define empirically the preferred temperatures, neutral temperatures and acceptable temperature ranges for Australian school children, and to compare them with findings from adult populations. The survey was conducted in a mixture of air-conditioned, evaporative-cooled and naturally ventilated classrooms in nine schools located in three distinct subtropical climate zones during the summer of 2013. A total of 2850 questionnaires were collected from both primary (grade) and secondary (high) schools. An indoor operative temperature of about 22.5°C was found to be the students’ neutral and preferred temperature, which is generally cooler than expected for adults under the same thermal environmental conditions. Despite the lower-than-expected neutrality, the school children demonstrated considerable adaptability to indoor temperature variations, with one thermal sensation unit equating to approximately 4°C operative temperature. Working on the industry-accepted assumption that an acceptable range of indoor operative temperatures corresponds to group mean thermal sensations of −0.85 through to +0.85, the present analysis indicates an acceptable summertime range for Australian students from 19.5 to 26.6°C. The analyses also revealed between-school differences in thermal sensitivity, with students in locations exposed to wider weather variations showing greater thermal adaptability than those in more equable weather districts.
AN INVESTIGATION INTO WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND BURNOUT IN A SOFTWARE COMPANY IN IRELAND

Work-life balance has been a key topic for both businesses and academic researchers for a number of years. Improving work-life balance has been seen as a way to reduce turnover and improve productivity. To date, no study has focused on the software industry in Ireland, which is not only important for employment and national exports, but possesses unique characteristics. Previous research points to managerial support and working hours as two of the most important factors for satisfactory work-life balance. Some research has also shown a link between work-life balance and job burnout. This study thus seeks to investigate the link between work-life balance and burnout, as well as the importance of managerial support and working hours, in a software company in Ireland. Quantitative research methods were used for the research. Data was collected from 70 participants using the self-selection method, and the sample included both males and females, of all ages, with and without children, and from all areas of the business. A questionnaire was used to gather data, using four reliable and tested scales which were identified in the literature. The data was analysed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. The results presented a clear negative link between work-life balance and burnout, while also demonstrating that work-life balance is only a small factor contributing to burnout. The positive impact of managerial support was confirmed, however the negative impact of long working hours was not confirmed. The research also showed that a wide range of policies were perceived to be available, and the perceived usefulness of each policy varied largely. Further research is recommended to uncover the factors leading to both satisfactory work-life balance and burnout.