Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RESISTÊNCIA À FLEXÃO ESTÁTICA E À COMPRESSÃO PARALELA DO BAMBU-MOSSÔ (Phyllostachys pubescens)

O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o efeito da posicao do colmo e da idade nas propriedades mecânicas de flexao estatica e compressao paralela as fibras do bambu-mosso ( Phyllostachys pubescens ), correlacionando a densidade aparente com as propriedades avaliadas. Os corpos de prova utilizados nos ensaios foram produzidos de material laminado colado, adaptados segundo a norma para madeira solida ASTM D143-96, seguindo as proporcoes mantidas por Ahmad (2000). Os resultados apresentaram tendencia crescente da resistencia na flexao estatica com a idade e com a posicao do colmo em termos absolutos. Para os ensaios de compressao paralela as fibras, a resistencia a compressao (fc) e o MOE tiveram a mesma tendencia de aumento da resistencia com a idade e com a posicao. Os ensaios demonstraram estatisticamente que nao houve efeito significativo da interacao entre a idade e a posicao do colmo. A densidade aparente apresentou uma correlacao linear e positiva no teste de flexao estatica quanto aos valores do MOR e do MOE, assim como no teste de compressao paralela as fibras para a resistencia a compressao (fc) e para o MOE. Baixos coeficientes de correlacao foram obtidos entre a densidade aparente e as propriedades mecânicas estudadas. Abstract Compressive strength and flexure of Moso bamboo ( Phyllostachys pubescens ). The aim of this study was to determine the mechanical properties of bending and compression parallel to grain of Moso bamboo ( Phyllostachys pubescens ) and analyze the effect of stem position and age on these properties. It was also studied the correlation between the bulk density and mechanical properties. The tests used specimens produced in glued laminated material, adapted according to ASTM D143 solid wood-96 norm, following proportions maintained by Ahmad (2000). The results revealed increasing trend of resistance in bending with age and stem position in absolute terms. In relation to compression tests parallel to grain, the compression strength (fc) and the MOE had the same tendency to increase resistance with age and with the position. The tests revealed that there was no statistically significant interaction between age and culm position. The apparent density of bamboo revealed a positive and linear correlation in bending test at MOR and MOE, as well as at parallel compression test to the fibers for the compression force (fc) and the MOE. Low correlation coefficients had been obtained between the focused apparent density and mechanical properties. Keywords : Mechanical properties; age; position of the culm.
Commute Replacement and Commute Displacement

Working by telecommunication has been the subject of research attention in transportation studies for many years. Particular consideration has been given to occasional working from home (home working) by (full-time, paid) employees who represent a tangible removal of commute trips on days that people work from home. However, little recognition or attention has been given to the fact that home working not only may be undertaken for part of a week but also may be undertaken for parts of given days. This paper focuses particularly on part-day home working. It defines and uses the term “varied spatiotemporal (VST) working” to describe working days in which at least 30 min of continuous working takes place at home accompanied by work taking place at the workplace. Notably, such home working does not remove the commute trips but can temporally displace one or both of them. The research reported in this paper builds on preceding survey work that had established that the number of people who practice VST working and the number of VST days worked appear to be about double those for full-day home working (which has typically been the focus of research attention). The results presented in this paper are based on 25 in-depth interviews with individuals who practice VST working. The aim of the research was to examine more closely and to understand the nature of VST working and the motivations and constraints for its practice and to consider its potential contribution as a transportation demand management measure.
Series-Fed Microstrip Patch Arrays Employing Metamaterial Transmission Lines: A Comparative Study

The comparison of two different series-fed microstrip patch arrays, designed to radiate at broadside and occupy the same volume, is reported in this paper. The first array is composed of three radiating elements that are interconnected with conventional transmission lines. In the second array, spiral- based metamaterial transmission lines are employed for the series interconnection of the radiating elements. The small length of the metamaterial lines allows for the use of four radiating elements within the volume originally occupied by the first array. The latter approach provides a larger bandwidth of operation, reduced side lobe level and could be used for the synthesis of passive phased arrays with beam scanning properties. (5 pages)
Tradeoffs in the evaluation of light vehicle pre-collision systems

Pre-collision systems (PCS) use forward-looking sensors to detect the location and motion of vehicles ahead and provide a sequence of actions to help the driver either avoid striking the rear-end of another vehicle or mitigate the severity of the crash. The actions include driver alerts, amplification of driver braking as distance decreases (dynamic brake support, DBS), and automatic braking if the driver has not acted or has not acted sufficiently (crash imminent braking, CIB). Recent efforts by various organizations have sought to define PCS objective test procedures and test equipment in support of consumer information programs and potential certification. This paper presents results and insights from conducting DBS and CIB tests on two production vehicles sold in the US. Eleven scenarios are used to assess the systems' performance. The two systems' performance shows that commercial systems can be quite different. Also demonstrated is the experience with test equipment, including a towable target that has been designed for resiliency and radar signature, a braking robot, and bumper guard. While improvements continue in evaluation procedures, the community may still be a distance away from an ability to test these systems with realistic surrogate targets in speed conditions similar to those that lead to serious injury and fatalities. Recommendations are offered to help improve PCS evaluation. Language: en
regBase: whole genome base-wise aggregation and functional prediction for human non-coding regulatory variants

Predicting the functional or pathogenic regulatory variants in the human non-coding genome facilitates the interpretation of disease causation. While numerous prediction methods are available, their performance is inconsistent or restricted to specific tasks, which raises the demand of developing comprehensive integration for those methods. Here, we compile whole genome base-wise aggregations, regBase, that incorporate largest prediction scores. Building on different assumptions of causality, we train three composite models to score functional, pathogenic and cancer driver non-coding regulatory variants respectively. We demonstrate the superior and stable performance of our models using independent benchmarks and show great success to fine-map causal regulatory variants. We believe that regBase database together with three composite models will be useful in different areas of human genetic studies, such as annotation-based casual variant fine-mapping, pathogenic variant discovery as well as cancer driver mutation identification. regBase is freely available at https://github.com/mulinlab/regBase.
Improving the effectiveness of warehousing operations: a case study

The warehouse is the interface area for production lines, market, customers and suppliers, and the business environment in general. Goods inwards (GI), constituting part of the warehouse activities, is the department responsible for booking‐in the incoming parts from external suppliers. After the production process is improved, the resources in the warehouse are balanced to link the internal/ external transfer of physical items. With a broader view of the GI activities, and a look into its future, the actual problems may become clear, understandable, and hence easy to solve. The aim of this paper is to study the problem areas in GI and provide solutions to increase the performance of warehousing operations. First, a conceptual framework has been developed to improve the effectiveness of warehousing operations. Second, a case study has been conducted with the help of the model to minimize the through‐put time in warehousing operations. Finally, a summary of findings and recommendations are presented.
Stability and Robustness Analysis of Frequency-shaped Impedance Control for Reference Tracking and Compliant Interaction

Abstract There have been several design methodologies of impedance control without using force sensors, most of which use an observer to estimate external forces and conduct impedance control based on the observed external force. Since the external forces are estimated in a feedback way in this type of force observer-based impedance control, it has been impossible to achieve reference tracking performance when the impedance is designed low for compliant interaction. This paper proposes a novel frequency-shaped impedance control which can perform compliant motions and reference tracking simultaneously. The proposed algorithm is based on the disturbance observer design which allows a straightforward design of compliant interactive force and employs feedforward controller to compensate for the frequency bandwidth that can be sacrificed due to low impedance design. Experiments with an industrial robot verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller.
Wide band microstrip phased array for mobile satellite communications

A low profile, dual frequency, microstrip phased array has been designed and developed for INMARSAT (International Maritime Satellite organization) land mobile satellite communications. The purpose of the array was to provide a wide band coverage, right-hand circular polarization with a high gain and minimum sidelobe levels in the principal planes. The developed array has a measured frequency bandwidth of 10% with a VSWR of 1.5, a minimum gain of 12 dBic, a gain to noise temperature ratio of -8.98 dB/K, sidelobe levels 13 dB below the beam peak in both the principal planes. The size of the array was 47 cm in diameter and 1.3 cm thick including a flush mounted light weight radome with the elements and the feed lines on the same layer. >
Time-optimal control of the race car: influence of a thermodynamic tyre model

The robustness of an existing numerical method for the time-optimal control of the race car is demonstrated through its application to a model of a Formula 1 car equipped with a simplified thermodynamic tyre model. The tyre model includes a temperature- and frequency-dependent model of road/tyre friction. A lumped parameter approach is used to model the thermodynamics of the various parts of the tyre such as the tread, carcass and inflation gas. The influence of tyre, track surface and ambient temperatures on time-optimal manoeuvring is presented.
Centrifuge modelling as a consulting tool

Modelling is a primary tool for understanding complex engineering problems. In geotechnical engineering, physical and numerical modelling should be considered as complementary tools, both able to contribute substantially to the development of knowledge but one usually emerging as being the most effective or efficient for obtaining solutions for a certain class of problems. By considering past practice, recent progress, and amenability to modelling, the suitability of centrifuge modelling as a practical tool for solving various classes of geotechnical problems is discussed. Those problems for which the author considers centrifuge modelling to be a state-of-the-art consulting tool are delineated. Scale effects, boundary effects, and the concept of modelling of models are examined. Some known limitations in the physical modelling of natural phenomenon are noted. Centrifuge size, type, and complexity are discussed with reference to some of the more complex geotechnical problems, and some suggestions regarding.
Corporate Social Responsibility Practice in Shipping Logistics Industry: A Practitioners Perspectives

— Without doubt, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is vital to enhance corporate sustainability and competitiveness. In this study, Carroll’s CSR pyramid and Carter & Rogers theoretical framework of sustainability for supply chain management (SSCM) were adopted to analyze the views on CSR and sustainability of logistics and shipping corporates and industry in Hong Kong. Eight elements are adopted as internal and external elements. Five interviewees who have been working in the industry were interviewed to express what they thought on CSR and sustainability of their companies and the industry. They provided valuable views and examples aligned with the revised model. The findings would be helpful for filling the literature gap and provides a foundation for further studies of CSR practices in other sectors / industries. The limitation of this research is that it only focuses on qualitative research (i.e. personal interview and case study). Future research should be applied with quantitative approach using a large sample of companies in order to generalize results.
Aplicación de la metodología de huella ecológica como indicador de sostenibilidad en el uso de ensilaje de pescado en dietas para alimentación de aves

The main objectives of the present study are to determine the environmental impact of using red tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) viscera to produce chemical silage and to assess its implementation in poultry diets by using the ecological footprint methodology as a sustainability indicator. Global fish production has increased over the years due to population growth and consumer interest in this type of food. The results show that using viscera to produce chemical silage reduces the adverse effect of its discharge to the environment by 16%. In contrast, the use of natural resources for producing food processing raw materials and wastewater disposal are the main sources of environmental emissions by 39% and 60%, respectively. It is concluded that taking advantage of viscera by-products and implementing renewable and efficient energy sources in both industries significantly reduces environmental burden.
New release technique of a thick sacrificial layer and residue effects on novel half-coaxial transmission line filters

This paper presents a new release technique for efficient and complete removal of the thick sacrificial layer applicable to surface-micromachined devices and compares this with other conventional release methods. A fully surface-micromachined half-coaxial transmission line filter having a large air-filled gap of 100 µm in thickness is successfully demonstrated using the proposed release technique. The effects of the sacrificial layer residue on the RF responses of the filters, completed by a conventional oxygen plasma ashing process, are analyzed with the aid of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Experiments show that the proposed new release technique makes it possible to completely remove the thick sacrificial layer, shorten the process time, increase the after-fabrication yield and improve the process reproducibility of the large air-filled gap filters compared to the conventional oxygen plasma ashing method.
Three-leg inverter configuration for simultaneous dual-frequency induction hardening with independent control

Parts of certain objects need hardening. Hardening is a heat treatment process which can be achieved by induction heating. Certain objects like gears require alternating source with two different frequencies. Simultaneous application of dual frequencies is desirable for proper hardening of a gear. This study proposes a three-leg inverter topology with a load resonant circuit which can provide independent and simultaneous control of low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) currents through the load coil. The load circuit is a combination of two series resonant circuits which operates at the desired LF and HF. Power control is achieved with phase modulation and asymmetric duty cycle control techniques. A 240 W prototype of the proposed dual-frequency inverter is implemented and tested. Experimental results obtained are in good agreement with the simulation results.
Measuring the contribution of Bt cotton adoption to India's cotton yields leap

While a number of empirical studies have demonstrated the role of Bt cotton adoption in increasing Indian cotton productivity at the farm level, there has been questioning around the overall contribution of Bt cotton to the average cotton yield increase observed these last ten years in India. This study examines the contribution of Bt cotton adoption to long- term average cotton yields in India using a panel data analysis of production variables in nine Indian cotton-producing states from 1975 to 2009. The results show that Bt cotton contributed 19 percent of total yield growth over time, or between 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent per percentage adoption every year since its introduction. Besides Bt cotton, the use of fertilizer and the increased adoption of hybrid seeds appear to have contributed to the yield increase over time. However, if official Bt cotton adoption contributed to increased yield after 2005, unofficial Bt cotton might also have been part of the observed increase of yields starting in 2002, the year of its official introduction in India.
Electromagnetic compatibility of voltage source inverters for uninterruptible power supply system depending on the pulse-width modulation scheme

The pulse-width modulation (PWM) scheme is an algorithm for inverter switch control. A two-leg bridge and three-level PWM are typical solutions in voltage source inverters in uninterruptible power supply systems. The three PWM schemes that are used in inverters are compared herein. Each scheme has different features, including the level of noise generated and interference in the different frequency ranges. The aim of this study is to analyse the characteristics and electromagnetic interference that is generated by an inverter using different PWM schemes.
Perfluorocarbon nanodroplets can reoxygenate hypoxic tumors in vivo without carbogen breathing

Nanoscale perfluorocarbon (PFC) droplets have enormous potential as clinical theranostic agents. They are biocompatible and are currently used in vivo as contrast agents for a variety of medical imaging modalities, including ultrasound, computed tomography, photoacoustic and 19F-magnetic resonance imaging. PFC nanodroplets can also carry molecular and nanoparticulate drugs and be activated in situ by ultrasound or light for targeted therapy. Recently, there has been renewed interest in using PFC nanodroplets for hypoxic tumor reoxygenation towards radiosensitization based on the high oxygen solubility of PFCs. Previous studies showed that tumor oxygenation using PFC agents only occurs in combination with enhanced oxygen breathing. However, recent studies suggest that PFC agents that accumulate in solid tumors can contribute to radiosensitization, presumably due to tumor reoxygenation without enhanced oxygen breathing. In this study, we quantify the impact of oxygenation due to PFC nanodroplet accumulation in tumors alone in comparison with other reoxygenation methodologies, in particular, carbogen breathing. Methods: Lipid-stabilized, PFC (i.e., perfluorooctyl bromide, CF3(CF2)7Br, PFOB) nanoscale droplets were synthesized and evaluated in xenograft prostate (DU145) tumors in male mice. Biodistribution assessment of the nanodroplets was achieved using a fluorescent lipophilic indocarbocyanine dye label (i.e., DiI dye) on the lipid shell in combination with fluorescence imaging in mice (n≥3 per group). Hypoxia reduction in tumors was measured using PET imaging and a known hypoxia radiotracer, [18F]FAZA (n≥ 3 per group). Results: Lipid-stabilized nanoscale PFOB emulsions (mean diameter of ~250 nm), accumulated in the xenograft prostate tumors in mice 24 hours post-injection. In vivo PET imaging with [18F]FAZA showed that the accumulation of the PFOB nanodroplets in the tumor tissues alone significantly reduced tumor hypoxia, without enhanced oxygen (i.e., carbogen) breathing. This reoxygenation effect was found to be comparable with carbogen breathing alone. Conclusion: Accumulation of nanoscale PFOB agents in solid tumors alone successfully reoxygenated hypoxic tumors to levels comparable with carbogen breathing alone, an established tumor oxygenation method. This study confirms that PFC agents can be used to reoxygenate hypoxic tumors in addition to their current applications as multifunctional theranostic agents.
Non-Violence and the Strike Movements in Poland

Strikes which occurred in the summer of 1980 in Poland, leading to the establishment of independent trade unions and extensions of civic freedoms, are analyzed as a successful revolutionary reform achieved through non-violent means. In 1980, mass strike actions turned out to be an effective example of a fight without the use of violence, and thus should be assessed from the point of view of the theory of non-violent action. Resulting changes could not be attained within official politics and/or methods of coercion. Processes which occurred in Poland in 1980 indicate therefore a way in which non-violent protests can be effectively employed for a deep transformation of a political system. In this paper both factors responsible for bloody repressions of violent riots/uprisings taking place before 1980 and factors which facilitated non-violence in 1980 are analyzed, together with some consequences of the pre-1980 protest.
Food, Inc.: Mendel to Monsanto--The Promises and Perils of the Biotech Harvest

For most people the global war over genetically modified foods is a distant and confusing one. A handful of corporate 'life sciences' giants, such as Monsanto, are pitted against a worldwide network of anticorporate ecowarriors like Greenpeace. The companies claim to be leading a new agricultural revolution that will save the world with crops modified to survive frost, drought, pests, and plague. The greens warn that 'playing God' with plant genes is dangerous. It could create new allergies, upset ecosystems, destroy biodiversity, and produce uncontrollable mutations. In FOOD, INC., acclaimed journalist Peter Pringle shows how both sides in this overheated conflict have made false promises, engaged in propaganda science, and indulged in fear-mongering. In this urgent dispatch, he suggests that a fertile partnership between consumers, corporations, scientists, and farmers could still allow the biotech harvest to reach its full potential in helping to overcome the problem of world hunger, providing nutritious food and keeping the environment healthy.
Cognitive agent that delivers human-centric advice about system design

The design of new Navy ships that can be effectively manned with dramatically fewer sailors raises can be supported by a digital design environment. In this paper we will describe an effort currently underway to develop a software agent, the Executive Advisor, that can reason about human factors information accessible within the design environment. It will be able to alert and advise the engineering design team regarding human factors issues and analyses appropriate to the current stage of the system design process. The agent is being built with a cognitive modeling tool called iGENTM, in order to (1) give advice about human factors issues and analyses appropriate to the current stage of design and design team activity, (2) reason about when to deliver and how to filter advice, (3) explain its advice, and (4) monitor changes in the design environment and reason about their impact. The structure of the agent and the issues in creating it will be described.