Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential-Fed Pattern-Reconfigurable Dielectric Patch Antenna and Array With Low Cross-Polarization

A novel differential-fed dielectric patch (DP) antenna with beam steering capability is investigated in this communication. The TE<sub>mn</sub> mode in the DP resonator is theoretically analyzed to provide guidance for the subsequent antenna design. The high-order TE<sub>12</sub> mode that can be differentially excited is selected as the operating mode to further enhance the gain. Based on this, three parallel coupling slots loaded with p-i-n diodes are used as a beam steering structure. By controlling the ON-/OFF-state of the p-i-n diodes to change the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$E$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-field distribution of the TE<sub>12</sub> mode, the main beam can be switched to five directions. The measured gain of each state is higher than 7 dBi, and the peak value reaches 8.1 dBi. The beam steering structure and differential-fed scheme show good coordination, which effectively suppresses the deterioration of cross-polarization caused by structural asymmetry. The cross-polarization of each state is lower than −26 dB. To further verify the scalability of the proposed ideal, a 1 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 4 array fed by two dual Marchand baluns is implemented, which well maintains the beam steering capability and low cross-polarization. Reasonable agreement is obtained between the simulated and measured results. The proposed DP antenna provides a suitable candidate for indoor wireless communication.
Impact of lean strategy on operational performance: a study of Thai manufacturing companies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which lean management practices are adopted by manufacturing organizations in Thailand and their impact on firms' operational performance.Design/methodology/approach – Using a survey questionnaire, data were collected against 13 lean practices from 187 middle and senior managers belonging to 187 Thai manufacturing firms. Using factor analysis these lean practices were then clustered into three higher level constructs namely just in time (JIT), waste minimization and flow management. The responding firms were categorized into small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises (LEs) based on size and Thai‐owned, foreign‐owned and joint venture firms based on ownership. The multiple regression models were employed to investigate the effects of three lean constructs on operational performance in different categories of firms. The operational performance is measured by four parameters such as quick delivery compared to competitors, unit cos.
Energy Efficient QoS Aware Cluster Based Multihop Routing Protocol for WSN

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have become a hot research area owing to the unique characteristics and applicability in diverse application areas. Clustering and routing techniques can be considered as an NP hard optimization problem, which can be addressed by metaheuristic optimization algorithms. With this motivation, this study presents a chaotic sandpiper optimization algorithm based clustering with groundwater flow optimization based routing technique (CSPOC-GFLR). The goal of the CSOC-GFLR technique is to cluster the sensor nodes in WSN and elect an optimal set of routes with an intention of achieving energy efficiency and maximizing network lifetime. The CSPOC algorithm is derived by incorporating the concepts of chaos theory to boost the global optimization capability of the SPOC algorithm. The CSPOC technique elects an optimum set of cluster heads (CH) whereas the other sensors are allocated to the nearer CH. Extensive experimentation portrayed the promising performance of the CSPOC-GFLR technique by achieving reduced energy utilization, improved lifetime, and prolonged stability over the existing techniques.
Silver-Coated 45° Radiated Tilted Fiber Grating Based Interferometer and Its Sensing Applications

We proposed a silver-coated 45° radiated tilted fiber grating (45° RTFG) based interferometer, in which the 45° RTFG is working as a beam splitter and a coupler, and the light transmitting in the fiber core is radiated out and resonant in the cladding radial cavity formed by the fully coated silver film, which forms multiple beam interference. We have theoretically and experimentally investigated the proposed fiber interferometer in terms of polarization-dependent transmission spectra, the free spectral range (FSR), spectral visibility and sensing characteristics. Due to the single polarization radiation feature of 45° RTFG, only S-polarized light could form the multiple beam interference and P-polarized light would pass through the grating with low loss. And the FSR of the proposed fiber interferometer is around 6.8 nm, which is determined by the 125 μm cladding diameter. The theoretical results show that the spectral visibility of interference is proportional to the coupling efficient of 45° RTFG and when the coupling efficient reaches 0.92, the spectral visibility is the maximum. In the experiment, the fiber interferometer formed by the 45° RTFG with 11 dB polarization extinction ratio has the spectral visibility of 26 dB. Moreover, we have also investigated the temperature, strain and twist characteristics of the proposed interferometer. The experimental results show that the transmission peak has a red shift with increasing temperature, with a sensitivity of 10 ± 0.1 pm/°C; The strain causes a blue shift for the transmission peak with −0.42 ± 0.01 pm/μϵ sensitivity, and the twist sensitivity reaches 22.408 ± 0.2 dB/rad. The proposed silver-coated 45° RTFG based interferometer has an in-fiber and compact structure, which can be potentially used for optical fiber sensing.
D-Dimer Tests in the Emergency Department: Current Insights

Abstract In the Emergency Medicine setting, D-dimer is currently employed in the diagnostic assessment of suspected venous thromboembolism and aortic syndrome. The nonspecific symptoms reported by patients, like chest pain, dyspnea or syncope, uncover a wide range of differential diagnosis, spanning from mild to life-threatening conditions. Therefore, we assumed the perspective of the Emergency Physician and, in this narrative review, we reported a brief presentation of the epidemiology of these symptoms and the characteristics of patients, in whom we could suspect the aforementioned pathologies. We also reported in which patients D-dimer gives useful information. In fact, when the probability of the disease is high, the D-dimer level is futile. On the contrary, given the low specificity of the test, when the probability of the disease is very low, a false-positive value of the D-dimer only increases the risk of overtesting. Patients with low to moderate probability really benefit from the D-dimer testing, in order to prevent the execution of expensive and potentially dangerous imaging tests. In the second part of the review, we focused on the prognostic value of the test in septic patients. The early prognostic stratification of septic patients remains a challenge for the Emergency Physician, in the absence of a definite biomarker or score to rely on. Therefore, we need several parameters for the early identification of patients at risk of an adverse prognosis and the D-dimer may play a role in this demanding task. SARS COVID-19 patients represent an emerging reality, where the role of the D-dimer for prognostic stratification could be relevant. In fact, in patients with severe forms of this disease, the D-dimer reaches very high values, which appear to parallel the course of respiratory failure. Whether the test may add useful information for the management of these patients remains to be determined.
The effects of ionizing radiation on the functional and parametric performance of NMOS static RAMs

The degradation of both the functional and electrical parameter performance of integrated circuits has been under investigation for a number of years. Aims to demonstrate that statistical methods may be used to determine physical changes in these devices, rather than the time‐consuming and costly procedures of physical failure analysis. In addition, draws a comparison between the functional tests and the parametric tests. The data were obtained by stressing statistical samples of TMS2114L NMOS static RAMs to varying total doses of ionizing radiation. Presents and discusses the results obtained from these tests and suggests statistical and mathematical models to estimate performance degradation.
Attentional Tunneling and Task Management in Synthetic Vision Displays

This article discusses attentional tunneling as one cause of breakdowns in task management. The phenomenon is defined, and it is shown how it can be induced by head-up display location, and compelling 3-dimensional perspective displays. The results of 6 experiments using a synthetic vision display, with or without a highway in the sky (HITS) display are then summarized, as these reveal the attention tunneling phenomenon manifest in the failure to detect unexpected air hazards. Two factors that enhance this phenomenon are identified: location away from the center of visual scan and the presence of the HITS.
A simplified dynamic inflow model and its effect on the performance of free mean wind speed estimation

Model-based state space controllers require knowledge of states, both measurable and unmeasurable, and state estimation algorithms are typically employed to obtain estimates of the unmeasurable states. For the control of wind turbines, a good estimate of the free mean wind speed is important for the closed-loop dynamics of the system, and an appropriate level of modelling detail is required to obtain good estimates of the free mean wind speed. In this work, three aerodynamic models based on blade element momentum theory are presented and compared with the aero-servo-elastic code HAWC2. The first model, known as quasi-steady aerodynamics, assumes instant equilibrium of the wind turbine wake, a modelling approach often used by model-based control algorithms. The second model includes the dynamic wake also known as dynamic inflow and gives a more correct description of the actual physics of the wind turbine wake. The dynamic inflow model includes a number of dynamic states proportional to the number of radial points in the spatially discretised blade formulation. The large number of dynamic states inhibits the use of this model in model-based control and estimation algorithms. The lack of dynamic inflow in the first model and large number of dynamic states in the second model lead to a third model, a simplified dynamic inflow model, which with only a single dynamic state is still able to capture the most significant dynamics of the more advanced dynamic inflow model. Simulations in the aero-servo-elastic code HAWC2 compare the ability to estimate the free mean wind speed when either the first or third model is included in the estimation algorithm. Both a simplified example with a deterministic step in wind speed and full degrees-of-freedom simulations with turbulent wind fields clearly show that the inclusion of the dynamic inflow model in the free wind speed estimation algorithm is important for good free mean wind speed estimates. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Analytic LQR Design for Spacecraft Control System Based on Quaternion Model

AbstractIn this paper, linear-quadratic regulator (LQR) method is proposed for the design of nonlinear spacecraft control systems. The proposed design is based on the linearized spacecraft model that involves only three components of the quaternion. By using a simple and special structure of the linearized reduced quaternion model, an analytical solution for the controller. It is shown that the analytical solution of the state feedback matrix is an explicit function of the cost matrices Q and R. The analytic solution makes it convenient in design practice to tune the feedback matrix and the cost matrices Q and R to balance the requirements between response performance and fuel consumption. It is shown that the designed controller globally stabilizes the nonlinear spacecraft system, whereas it locally optimizes the spacecraft performance. A design example is provided to show the effectiveness of the design method.
18.5L: Late‐News Paper: Liquid Crystal Privacy‐Enhanced Displays for Mobile PCs

We have developed a 12.1‐inch, XGA Liquid Crystal Privacy‐Enhanced Display for mobile PCs. Only an authorized viewer with shutter glasses can see a private image while other viewers see a public image. The privacy enhanced display system is based on a high‐frame rate image switching technology. In general, it is difficult for LCD to achieve the high speed image switching because of its slow response speed. A high speed driving scheme and a high frame rate overdriving method made it possible to realize this function in LCD.
Material Characterisation and Radio Channel Modelling at D-Band Frequencies

As the throughput requirements for wireless communication links keep rising, characterization of sub-THz radio channels is necessary. This paper presents the results of a radio channel measurement campaign in which we characterize the full D-band, ranging from 110 to 170 GHz, for distances up to 5 m. We measured penetration and reflection loss for a broad set of materials that are commonly used in indoor environments, including wood, glass, acrylic and concrete, and measured corner diffraction losses. Measurements over the full 60 GHz bandwidth reveal frequency selectivity as well as a periodic variation of both penetration and reflection loss, which is attributed to the thin film effect. Based on measurements in a conference room and outdoors, we create a spatio-temporal channel model for the conference room and an outdoor path loss model. The channel models show that the radio channel is extremely sparse with respect to multipath components, containing only a Line-of-Sight path with signal attenuation close to path loss in free space, and first-order reflections with a measured attenuation that corresponds to the sum of the path and reflection loss.
Reliability-Based Approach to Multicriteria Decision Analysis for Water Resources

Analyses of water resource allocation problems can be undertaken using multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA), yet various sources of uncertainty exist in the application of MCDA methods, including the definition of criteria weights and the assignment of criteria performance values. Sensitivity analysis can be used to analyze the effects of these uncertainties on the ranking of alternatives; however, many existing methods have been found to have numerous limitations when applied to MCDA. In this paper, a reliability-based approach is proposed that enables the decision maker to examine the robustness of a solution, allowing a decision to be made with confidence that the alternative chosen is the best performing alternative under the range of probable circumstances. The proposed stochastic method involves defining the uncertainty in the input values using probability distributions, performing a reliability analysis by Monte Carlo simulation and undertaking a significance analysis using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The outcomes of the approach include a distribution of the total values of each alternative based upon the expected range of input parameter values. The benefits of the approach are illustrated by applying it to two water resources case studies.
Twyman–Green-type integrated laser interferometer array for parallel MEMS testing

In this paper the concept, design and realization of an integrated laser interferometer are presented. The integrated Twyman–Green-type interferometer is based on micro-optical diffraction gratings in the resonance domain. The fabrication process of these gratings and their assembly in the functional interferometer will be discussed in detail. The interferometer, available in array configuration of 5 × 5 channels, is part of a test set-up for a fast characterization of M(O)EMS devices at a wafer level. The first results of the interferometric measurements on an MEMS object are presented.
Comparative Analysis of Functional Wrist Brace and Wrist Angle on Maximal Grasp Strength

Wrist braces have been used in the industry with the notion that they would restrict the range of motion of the wrist to an extent that it would decrease the risk of CTS during forceful repetitive tasks and enhance productivity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the functional wrist brace, wrist angle, and fatigue on maximal grasp strength. Fourteen male and sixteen female college students participated in the study utilizing a soft brace, a hard brace, and no brace in three different static wrist positions (45° flexion, neutral, and 45° extension) prior to and after fatigue to determine the effect on maximal grasp strength measured by a computerized wrist dynamometer. The results of the ANOVA indicated that grasp strength was significantly greater when the wrist was in the flexion position followed by neutral, then wrist extension. However, brace type and fatigue states did not produce statistically significantly different grasp strengths overall. Therefore, the position a grasping task is performed at should be evaluated keeping in mind that the neutral and flexion positions allow for the greatest maximal grasp force with or without a wrist brace. Wrist braces are not recommended as a preventative or protective device during forceful repetitive tasks but the effects of their usage on maximal grasp strength must be evaluated with special consideration of the post-fatigue state.
Promises, premises and risks : sharing responsibilities, working up trust and sustaining commitment in participatory design projects

While participatory design crosses the boundaries between technology production and use, it does not erase them. In accounts of participatory projects, the work of negotiating and changing these boundaries often recedes into the background, yet it is crucial in shaping the very nature and scope of what is achievable. In this paper, we report on our various experiences of 'boundary crossing' in four very different participatory design contexts. We argue that in each setting a key task consists of enlisting the effort, imagination, trust and commitment of users, and the sharing of risks and responsibilities. We compare and discuss the different strategies, methods we have devised to achieve this within the local politics of each setting
Development of lightning-resistant overhead ground wire

Overhead ground wires (GW) are vulnerable to strand breakage due to lightning strikes. With the wider application of composite fiber optic ground wire (OPGW), it becomes more important to protect GW from such damage. In this paper, the authors present the results of various investigations made in developing lightning-resistant GW/OPGW. Investigations included field experiments using rocket-triggered lightning, studies on materials and designs to improve lightning characteristics and various evaluation tests, such as DC arc tests, of several prototypes. As a result, the authors have developed lightning-resistant GW/OPGW applicable for conventional transmission lines. >
Campylobacter Biofilms: Potential of Natural Compounds to Disrupt Campylobacter jejuni Transmission

Microbial biofilms occur naturally in many environmental niches and can be a significant reservoir of infectious microbes in zoonotically transmitted diseases such as that caused by Campylobacter jejuni, the leading cause of acute human bacterial gastroenteritis world-wide. The greatest challenge in reducing the disease caused by this organism is reducing transmission of C. jejuni to humans from poultry via the food chain. Biofilms enhance the stress tolerance and antimicrobial resistance of the microorganisms they harbor and are considered to play a crucial role for Campylobacter spp. survival and transmission to humans. Unconventional approaches to control biofilms and to improve the efficacy of currently used antibiotics are urgently needed. This review summarizes the use plant- and microorganism-derived antimicrobial and antibiofilm compounds such as essential oils, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), polyphenolic extracts, algae extracts, probiotic-derived factors, d-amino acids (DAs) and glycolipid biosurfactants with potential to control biofilms formed by Campylobacter, and the suggested mechanisms of their action. Further investigation and use of such natural compounds could improve preventative and remedial strategies aimed to limit the transmission of campylobacters and other human pathogens via the food chain.
Performance optimization of partially coherent CPM on multipath fading channel

Constant Envelope, Continuous Phase Modulation (CPM) is highly desirable for low-power, battery-operated systems as well as for small-profile vehicular and aircraft systems where large amplifiers won't fit. In the past, CPM was noted for increased demodulator complexity (over simple PSK or FSK receivers) but with modern computational power it is possible to continue to improve the power efficiency of CPM modulation at the receiver. In the specific case of multipath, there are several known methods (Rake Receiver is one example) to resolve and correct for inter-symbol interference and phase distortion. This paper develops a standard CPM demodulation and compares the optimal coherent performance with a partially coherent receiver. Several methods are developed to compensate and correct for ISI due to various types of multipath and the power efficiency is compared to the original, coherent demodulation.
Impact of high‐κ gate dielectric and other physical parameters on the electrostatics and threshold voltage of long channel gate‐all‐around nanowire transistor

High‐κ gate‐all‐around structure counters the Short Channel Effect (SCEs) mostly providing excellent off‐state performance, whereas high mobility III–V channel ensures better on‐state performance, rendering III–V nanowire GAAFET a potential candidate for replacing the current FinFETs in microchips. In this paper, a 2D simulator for the III–V GAAFET based on self‐consistent solution of Schrodinger–Poisson equation is proposed. Using this simulator, capacitance–voltage profile and threshold voltage are characterized, which reveal that gate dielectric constant (κ) and oxide thickness do not affect threshold voltage significantly at lower channel doping. Moreover, change in alloy composition of InxGa1‐xAs, channel doping, and cross‐sectional area has trivial effects on the inversion capacitance although threshold voltage can be shifted by the former two. Although, channel material also affects the threshold voltage, most sharp change in threshold voltage is observed with change in fin width of the channel (0.005 V/nm for above 10 nm fin width and 0.064 V/nm for sub‐10 nm fin width). Simulation suggests that for lower channel doping below 1023 m−3, fin width variation affects the threshold voltage most. Whereas when the doping is higher than 1023 m−3, both the thickness and dielectric constant of the oxide material have strong effects on threshold voltage (0.05 V/nm oxide thickness and 0.01 V/per unit change in κ). Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
EMTP simulation of a STATCOM using hysteresis current control

An alternative control strategy of a STATCOM, based on hysteresis current control of the switches is presented. It is shown that a STATCOM under hysteresis current control will have nearly sinusoidal output current for reactive power compensation while keeping the STATCOM in its simplest configuration. The proposed device was simulated using ATP-EMTP, and the results demonstrate the advantages of hysteresis control.