Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combining persuasive technology and behaviour change techniques to support health behaviour change in people with COPD

Background: Persuasive technology is a term used to describe ‘any interactive computing system designed to change people’s attitudes or behaviours’ (Fogg, 2003, p.1). This thesis seeks to explore how persuasive technology could be combined with behaviour change techniques (BCTs) and used to help people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (PwCOPD) to make changes to their health behaviours. Methods: Two systematic reviews with meta-analyses were conducted to identify BCTs associated with effective interventions in this population (Study 1 and 2). A series of mixed-methods, N-of-1 studies were used to assess an existing persuasive technology (a mobile phone app) with PwCOPD (Study 3). And finally, interviews and surveys were used to collect the opinions of key stakeholders towards the use of persuasive technology to increase physical activity in PwCOPD (Study 4). Results: Study 1 identified that self-regulatory BCTs were effective in smoking cessation interventions for PwCOPD. Study 2 identified that intervention components that targeted physical activity delivered as part of a multi-faceted intervention were most effective. Study 3 showed that the mobile phone app was used daily, five of the seven participants increased their mean daily step count, although greater support would be needed to set independent physical activity goals. Study 4 found that there was support for persuasive technology to take a more active role to encourage physical activity. However, incorporating aspects such as competition divided opinion. Discussion: The findings reported illustrate the potential of combining persuasive technology with BCTs to support behaviour changes in PwCOPD. This approach was largely found to be acceptable and strategies to increase both the acceptance, and the utility, of this approach are suggested. Future research should continue to explore how best to use BCTs in conjunction with persuasive technology to support and encourage PwCOPD to makes changes to their health behaviours.
The handbook of project-based management : improving the processes for achieving strategic objectives

Demonstrates how to manage change through projects in order to achieve an organization's corporate strategy. Table of Contents--Introduction; Part I: The Context of Projects; Part II: Managing the Project Objectives; Part III: Undertaking Projects; Part IV: Managing Procedures and Systems; Part V: Applications. Index. 225 illustrations.
Sensorless DTC propulsion control of PM LSM vehicle

This paper presents a sensorless direct torque control (DTC) propulsion method of a 1/2-scale controlled-PM linear synchronous motor (LSM) Maglev model vehicle which is not levitated and used as a PM LSM vehicle supported by the wheel. This is the first experiment for DTC to be applied to linear propulsion without position and speed sensors, which is one of the most important problem to be solved in practical applications. DTC can control directly thrust force and the stator flux linkage by the switching commands of the six inverter-arms with a switching table. The DC voltage and three phase current are adapted instead of position and speed sensors. A 3-m-propelling-motion experiment with a constant speed of 0.4 m/s shows that the demanded position and speed can be traced accurately even though there is a strong detent force.
Modeling and levitation control of a novel M-DOF actuator based on neural network

Modeling andtorque characteristicsanalysisareimportantfor actuatorsor motorswithcomplicatedstructures. Based on the presented configuration design, the magnetic field and torque calculation for a multiple degrees-of-freedom (M-DOF) spherical actuator are performed using 3D FEM. To reduce the computation workload, a simplified torque calculation model and non-linear system dynamic model have been proposed, and magnetic levitation mechanism is developed for alleviating the friction and resistance to improve the dynamic performance of this M-DOF actuator. A linear mathematical model of the levitation force is deduced and corresponding control scheme with power drive unit is discussed. Then the diagonal recurrent neural network (DRNN) based control scheme is presented to improve the performance of levitation by adjusting parameters online as identifiers. Simulation and experiment results show that the actuator can effectively implement 3-DOF motion combined with levitation mode, and that the proposed approach can be applied to M-DOF actuators of the same kind effectively.
Building Web Reputation Systems

What do Amazon's product reviews, eBay's feedback score system, Slashdot's Karma System, and Xbox Live's Achievements have in common? They're all examples of successful reputation systems that enable consumer websites to manage and present user contributions most effectively. This book shows you how to design and develop reputation systems for your own sites or web applications, written by experts who have designed web communities for Yahoo! and other prominent sites. Building Web Reputation Systems helps you ask the hard questions about these underlying mechanisms, and why they're critical for any organization that draws from or depends on user-generated content. It's a must-have for system architects, product managers, community support staff, and UI designers. Scale your reputation system to handle an overwhelming inflow of user contributions Determine the quality of contributions, and learn why some are more useful than others Become familiar with different models that encourage first-class contributions Discover tricks of moderation and how to stamp out the worst contributions quickly and efficiently Engage contributors and reward them in a way that gets them to return Examine a case study based on actual reputation deployments at industry-leading social sites, including Yahoo! , Flickr, and eBay
Ontology-Based Information Extraction: Current Approaches

Th e purpose of Information Extraction (IE) is extracting information from unstructured, or semi structured machine readable documents by automatic means. Generally this means dealing with human language texts using natural language processing (NLP) techniques. Recently on the market of IE systems a new player emerged. Ontology-Based IE (OBIE) idea consequently gains more and more supporters. In this approach a crucial role in the IE process is played by ontology (formal representation of the knowledge by a set of concepts within a domain and the relationships between those concepts). Using Ontology as one of the IE tools makes OBIE very convenient approach for gathering information that can be later on used in construction of Semantic Web. In this paper I will explain the idea of OBIE with its fl aws and advantages. I will try not only to provide theoretical approach, but also to review current trends in this fi eld. Th is will be done to point out some common architecture in currently used systems and in the end classify them based on diff erent factors depending on their usability in real life application. As a conclusion an attempt to identify possible trends and directions in this fi eld will be made.
The CTRP5  Circulating Levels  and the Ratio of CTRP1 to CTRP5 in Plasma are Significant Predictors for Carotid Intima-Media Thickness(cIMT) value in Patients with type 2 diabetes: A Preliminary Study

Background: There is growing evidence that the C1qTNF-related protein (CTRP) family has a crucial role in the physiology and pathophysiology of metabolic disorders such as Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and obesity. We sought to identify the association of CTRP1 and CTRP5 circulating levels with various obesity parameters such as visceral adipose tissue (VAT) thickness, visceral adiposity index (VAI), and with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in patients with T2D and healthy subjects.Methods: This preliminary study consisted of men with T2D (n=42) and men without T2D (n=42) . cIMT and VAT thickness measurement was performed using an Accuvix XQ ultrasound. Circulating levels of CTRP1, CTRP5, and adiponectin were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: CTRP-1 and CTRP1/CTRP5 ratio were markedly higher in patients with T2D compared to controls (p < 0001 and p = 0004 respectively). Interestingly, binominal logistic regression revealed that a higher circulating level of CTRP1 was associated with the presence of T2D (odds ratio [OR]: 1.009 [95% CI: 1.004-1.015]; P=.001). CTRP1 circulating levels were correlated with WHR, VAT, and HOMA-IR in the whole population study. Also, we observed that the ratio of CTRP1 to CTRP5 in plasma (β = 0.648, P=0.005) and CTRP5 circulating levels (β = 0.444, P=0.049) are significant predictors for cIMT value.Conclusions: Our results indicated that CTRP1 and CTRP5 concentrations were correlated with atherosclerosis in men with T2D and these adipokines might have a causal role for cardiometabolic risk in T2D.However, more studies in large sample sizes are required to clarify the role of CTRPs in T2D pathogenesis.
Agile Manufacturing: Forging New Frontiers

Part 1 Agile manufacturing: a 21st century paradigm - agile manufacturing agile manufacturing - four core concepts. Part 2 Agile manufacturing and change management: the change implications of agile manufacturing the traditional management accounting paradigm the traditional organizational control, technological and design paradigms. Part 3 Agile manufacturing enterprise design: agile manufacturing enterprise design the enterprise design process for agile manufacturing interdisciplinary design management accounting and investment appraisal for agile manufacturing. Part 4 Skill and knowledge enhancing technologies for agile manufacturing: skill and knowledge enhancing technologies design of skill and knowledge enhancing technologies for machine tool systems. Part 5 Agile manufacturing - the future: agile manufacturing - issues, problems and future developments.
Non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of aerospace composites: structural health monitoring of aerospace structures using guided wave ultrasonics

Monitoring safety-critical structures over their lifetime in order to improve reliability and availability and reduce life-cycle costs is of vital importance in many technical fields. Aerospace, with zero catastrophic failure tolerance, is the leader in the development of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems and considering the constantly increasing use of composite materials in aerospace applications, the development of SHM systems for aerospace composite materials and structures is of particular interest. This chapter outlines the present progress of health monitoring of aerospace composite structures by compiling the technologies used and summarising significant contributions made. First the three major transducer systems used are briefly reviewed. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the current status in four main areas of guided waves ultrasonic SHM systems development, namely transducer integration, simulation techniques, transducer network optimisation and signal processing. The results show that SHM will be one of the key technologies to ensure the structural integrity of ageing and future composite aircraft structures. At the same time it is recognised that a step-by-step implementation strategy is required to ensure direct technological and economical benefits, in which SHM systems with increasing complexities are taking over more and more responsibility.
A modular torsional actuator using shape memory alloy wires

In this study, novel modular shape memory alloy wire–based torsional actuators were designed and fabricated. These shape memory alloy–based actuators provide rotational displacements. The mechanical and thermal properties of a single module shape memory alloy torsional actuator were characterized. Next, a modular shape memory alloy torsional actuator was configured by connecting single actuator modules in series. This modular actuator can be used directly as a soft or biologically inspired robot. Finally, the rolling motion and shape transformation of the modular shape memory alloy torsional actuator (soft robot) were demonstrated with a simple open-loop-based control scheme experimentally validating the novel mobility and actuation of the proposed actuator. For a control input, sequentially coordinated square waves of electric current were supplied to the shape memory alloy actuating units.
Business strategy in the Mexican flat glass industry : using technology as a source of competitive advantage

In today's business complexity and globalization of markets, management of technology can mean the difference between success and failure. Consequently it is very important to understand technology as a source for achieving and sustaining competitive advantage. In order to understand how technology plays this crucial role in the business strategy, the work presented in this thesis focuses on the appropriate diagnosis of the existing state of the technology utilization, and addresses the necessary changes through formulating a technology strategy for a real company. The study is based in the analytical framework developed by Arnoldo C. Hax and Nicolas S. Majluf in 1991. Using this methodology, the mission of the business is defined; then the flat glass industry is analyzed to identify opportunities and threats. Finally, an internal scrutiny of competitors is performed in order to assess their strengths and weaknesses. To formulate the technology strategy, I have defined the technological requirements implied in the business strategy, as well as identified the main sources of information needed to establish the strategic technology units (STUs). Then the technology environmental scan and the technology internal scrutiny are analyzed in order to define a set of action programs for the technology function as a source of competitive advantage. To demonstrate its use and prove its effectiveness, this methodology has been applied to Vitro Vidrio Plano, a real Mexican flat glass company that is one of the core glass business of the Vitro Group in Mexico. Thesis Supervisor: Arnoldo C. Hax Title: Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Management
Current Mode PWM Controller for a 42V/14V bidirectional DC/DC Converter

The conventional way to implement a bidirectional converter with boost/buck has been to use two general purpose PWM ICs with a single supply voltage In this case, when one direction mode is in operation, the other is disabled and the output of the error amplifier of the disabled IC may be saturated to a maximum value or zero. Therefore, during mode transition, a circuit which can disable the switching operation for a certain time interval is required making it impossible to get a seamless transition. In this paper, the limitations of the conventional 42V/14V bi-directional DC/DC converter implemented with general current mode PWM ICs with a single supply voltage are reviewed and a new current mode PWM controller circuit with an dual voltage system is proposed. The validity of the proposed circuit is investigated through simulation, and experiments.
ISIS: The State of Terror

The first major book on ISIS to be published since the group exploded on the international stage in summer 2014. Drawing on their unusual access to intelligence sources and material, law enforcement, and groundbreaking research into open source intelligence, Jessica Stern and J M Berger outline the origins of ISIS (known variously as ISIL and IS) as the formidable terrorist group it has quickly become. 'ISIS: The State of Terror' delves into the 'ghoulish pornography' of pro-jihadi videos, the seductive appeal of 'jihadi chic' and the startling effectiveness of the Islamic State's use of social media as a means of luring and recruiting citizens from countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and France-using recent examples such as Douglas McCain, the American citizen from Minnesota who joined ISIS and died in combat fighting on the side of the Islamic State. Although the picture Stern and Berger paint is bleak, 'State of Terror' also offers well-informed thoughts on potential government responses to ISIS - most importantly, emphasizing that we must alter our present conceptions of terrorism and react to the rapidly changing jihadi landscape, both online and off, as quickly as the terrorists do. 'ISIS: The State of Terror' is not only a compelling account of the evolution of a terrorist organization, but also a necessary book that attempts to answer the question of what our next move - as a country, as a government, as the world - should be.
The stress analysis of cracks handbook

Nearly double the size of the previous edition, the third edition of the classic reference provides a comprehensive, easy-to-access collection of elastic stress solutions for crack configurations. For each configuration, The Stress Analysis of Cracks Handbook presents crack-tip stress intensity formulas along with other relevant information, such as displacements, crack opening areas, basic stress functions source references, accuracy of solutions, and more. Throughout, it stresses formulas for application to test configurations. The introductory section details the methods of developing the information. A series of appendices presents special methods and special applications. The authors also provide 30 new solution pages, plus modifications of older solutions.
Coaxial Electrical Circuits for Interference-Free Measurements

The authors have between them more than 60 years of experience in making electrical measurements in National Measurement Laboratories. These laboratories are the source of measurement standards and techniques for science and engineering and are dedicated to maintaining the international system of units (SI) by establishing and disseminating the values of measurement standards with the lowest possible uncertainty. Careful attention to detail is required in designing measurement systems that eliminate electrical interference and are as simple and as close to first principles as possible. This book draws on their experience by offering guidance and best practice for designing sensitive electrical measurement circuits. In particular the book describes examples that demonstrate the elegance, flexibility and utility of balanced-current coaxial networks in obtaining the ultimate in noise-matching and interference elimination for precise and accurate voltage, current and power measurements. It also updates an earlier book on coaxial AC bridges by including recent AC measurements of quantum Hall resistance to establish a primary quantum standard of impedance and by extending impedance measurements in general to higher frequencies.
Evaluating the contamination level of polluted insulators based on the characteristics of leakage current

Summary Effective prediction of the contamination level of insulators is an important approach to the prevention of pollution flashover accidents, and the leakage current (LC) is an efficient factor to analyze and detect the contamination level of insulators. In order to predict how severe the contamination level of insulators is and prevent pollution flashover accidents, firstly, some artificial pollution tests have been investigated under different contamination levels, relative humidity (RH), and ambient temperature (T). Secondly, based on the experimental data, the three characteristics of LC, namely the maximum pulse amplitude (Ih), the energy ratio (K), and the energy (E), have been extracted. They reflect jointly the LC from different perspectives. Thirdly, the variation laws between the three characteristics and the contamination level, RH and T, have been obtained. Fourthly, the prediction of the contamination level by using least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) model has been presented, in which the three characteristics, RH and T are used as the inputs of model, and the contamination level is used as the output of model. Finally, this model has been verified with the test data obtained in the artificial climate chamber, and the prediction results are consistent with the test results. Therefore, the LS-SVM model is acceptable to predict the contamination level of insulators and is of significance for the prevention of pollution flashover accidents. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Positioning of Greek Feta Cheese in a Local UK Market

The survey aims at analysing the current positioning of Greek feta cheese. A regional UK market is selected as a typical research location. Four components of feta cheese's marketing mix (country of origin, brand name, type of milk used and price) are included in a conjoint task of product evaluation. Based on the importance assigned to these attributes, the survey identifies a number of consumer segments, and defines those that have a possibility to constitute regular feta cheese buyers. Feta cheese is seen by consumers of the sample as expensive compared to its perceived quality. This perception is attributed to the modest image of the product, which does not motivate a purchasing behaviour typical for a specialty cheese. Findings indicate the pressing need to reposition the product in the UK market.
An Overview of Genetic Programming:Current Trends and Applications

Genetic programming (GP) as an automatic programming method has been rapidly gaining more attention of researchers in the last few years. GP techniques rooted in biological evolution started effectively in early 90's with an attempt to evolve computer programs without being explicitly programmed to do so. This paper provides an extensive survey of genetic programming technique. Initially this paper deals with the fundamental theoretical issues associated with GP and later this emphasises on the diverse fields of its applications.
HERBERT: A Second Generation Mobile Robot

In mobile robot research we believe the structure of the platform, its capabilities, the choice of sensors, their capabilities, and the choice of processors, both onboard and offboard, greatly constrain the direction of research activity centered on the platform. We examine the design and tradeoffs in a low cost mobile platform we have built while paying careful attention to issues of sensing, manipulation, onboard processing, and debuggability of the total system. The robot, named Herbert, is a completely autonomous mobile robot with an onboard parallel processor and special hardware support for the subsumption architecture [Brooks (1986)], an onboard manipulator, and a laser range scanner. All processors are simple low speed 8-bit micro-processors. The robot is capable of real time three-dimensional vision, while simultaneously carrying out manipulator and navigation tasks.
Intermittent Incentives to Encourage Exercising in the Long Run

We report the results of a field experiment in which students are encouraged to exercise. We compare a no-incentive control with a treatment in which participants are paid per visit, and to two intermittent incentive schemes: monetary rewards at increasing intervals and monetary rewards with unpredictable timing. The advantage of irregular incentives, as already recognized in the psychology literature, leads individuals to hold two contradictory expectations simultaneously: that of being rewarded and that of not being rewarded. Individuals continue to pursue the reinforcement because the anticipation of a reward is greater than the anticipation of no reward. With repeated experience, they learn to live with the paradox and to cope with the frustration of sometimes not being rewarded for a proper response. This mechanism may facilitate the maintenance of the habit over the long run, after the incentives have been removed. In line with this theory, we find the two intermittent incentive schemes increased participants’ frequency of exercising after the incentives were stopped and over an extended period of time more than the per-visit scheme.