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The current‐limiting fuse uses silica (SiO2)‐sand as arc quenching medium to increase a current‐limiting performance during the DC arc quenching process. In order to increase the current‐limiting performance of the fuse, a detailed understanding of an arc resistance rarc$$ {r}_{\mathrm{arc}} $$ rise process is necessary. This paper first carried out a 1000 A DC Cu arc quenching experiment using the silica‐sand to obtain transient change in rarc$$ {r}_{\mathrm{arc}} $$, morphology of the arc, and arc temperature T$$ T $$ during the arc quenching process. As a result, a current decaying increased rarc$$ {r}_{\mathrm{arc}} $$. The arc was maintained in the cavity surrounded by the fulgurite during the current decaying process. The temperature of Cu/SiO2 arc was 25–8 kK at a current region of 950–400 A during the arc quenching process. Second, we theoretically calculated an electrical resistivity ρ$$ \rho $$, and a thermal diffusivity α$$ \alpha $$ as vapor properties for the Cu/SiO2 vapor mixture. As typical results, the admixing of the SiO2 vapor into the Cu arc less increased ρ$$ \rho $$ of the Cu/SiO2 vapor mixture at T$$ T $$ between 25 and 5 kK. The ρ$$ \rho $$ of the Cu/SiO2 vapor mixture drastically increased due to only decay in T$$ T $$. In contrast, the admixing of the SiO2 vapor into the Cu arc significantly increased α$$ \alpha $$ at T$$ T $$ between 15 and 8 kK. The present results indicate that an increase in α$$ \alpha $$ and consequent rise in thermal energy dissipation from the arc is the main role of the silica‐sand vapor mixed with Cu arc in the DC fuse during the arc quenching process. The increased thermal energy dissipation due to the SiO2 vapor admixing further decreases T$$ T $$ to rapidly rise ρ$$ \rho $$ and rarc$$ {r}_{\mathrm{arc}} $$ during the arc quenching process. © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'FUSE' is an anti-bullying and online safety programme developed to support schools in complying with the Action Plan Procedures (2013). Between 2019 and 2022, 56% of all Post-Primary Schools in Ireland registered for the programme. FUSE is designed to address two key concerns, (a) students tend not to report bullying, and (b) students are increasingly facing online risks. FUSE aims to increase student's self-efficacy to recognise and report bullying behaviour and online harms safely. The programme is informed by Latané and Darley's bystander intervention model which outlines five sequential steps that an individual needs to follow in order to take action. This paper reports on the implementation of FUSE in Post Primary Schools in Ireland, justifying its theoretical base and model, and conveying the results of an empirical study conducted amongst a sample of 1254 Post Primary students (14–15 years of age) in 41 schools upon completion of the programme. Upon completion of the programme students reported high levels of self-efficacy in relation to noticing, responding and willingness to report. Future research will implement a pre- and post-study design to draw firmer conclusions regarding the effectiveness of the intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an innovative configuration for steel braced frames, incorporating an energy absorption system proposed. The proposed bracing system features a dual-level slotted bolted connection (SBC) dampers with slipping performance and a horizontal shear panel system (H-SPS) integrated into eccentrically braced frames (EBF), referred to as CS-EBF. Consequently, the fuses within this system, allowing controlled slip in the first fuse and inelastic deformation in the second fuse. Hence, the proposed system concentrate damage within the fuses, preventing harm to other components. Numerical results demonstrate that the CS-EBF system exhibits greater ductility and energy dissipation compared to similar single-level systems. Additionally, the slip of the SBC fuse at low earthquake levels initiates the energy absorption process earlier than in other comparable dual-level systems, ultimately leading to smaller dimensions for the bracing frame sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Surgical procedures in contemporary practice frequently employ energy-based devices, yet comprehensive education surrounding their safety and effectiveness remains deficient. We propose an innovative course for residents that aims to provide basic electrosurgery knowledge and promote the safe use of these devices. Methods: We developed a simulated training course for first-year general surgery and orthopedic residents. First, a survey was conducted regarding their knowledge perception about energy devices. The course consisted of two online theoretical sessions, followed by three in-person practical sessions. First-year residents performed three video-recorded attempts using a cadaveric model and were assessed through a digital platform using the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill (OSATS), a Specific Rating Scale (SRS), and a surgical energy-based devices scale (SEBS). Third-year residents were recruited as a control group. Results: The study included 20 first-year residents and 5 third-year residents. First-year residents perceived a knowledge gap regarding energy devices. Regarding practical performance, both OSATS and checklist scores were statistically different between novices at their first attempt and the control group. When we analyzed the novice's performance, we found a significant increase in OSATS (13 vs 21), SRS (13 vs 17.5), and SEBS (5 vs 7) pre- and post-training scores. The amount of feedback referred to skin burns with the electro-scalpel reduced from 18 feedbacks in the first attempt to 2 in the third attempt (p-value = 0.0002). When comparing the final session of novices with the control group, no differences were found in the SRS (p = 0.22) or SEBS (p = 0.97), but differences remained in OSATS (p = 0.017). Conclusion: This study supports the implementation of structured education in electrosurgery among surgical trainees. By teaching first-year residents about electrosurgery, they can acquire a skill set equivalent to that of third-year residents. The integration of such courses can mitigate complications associated with energy device misuse, ultimately enhancing patient safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the future, smart cities will provide key services including seamless communication, intelligent transport systems, advanced healthcare platforms, urban and infrastructure management, and digital services for local and regional government. Therefore, a new service and networking paradigm, called the Intelligent Edge Environment, has been specified. As a key part of this system, a new secure service ecosystem must be developed to provide the secure real-time movement of services on different High-Performance Edge Cloud Systems. This paper explores these issues by introducing the following mechanisms: a Resource Allocation Algorithm, a Resource Allocation Secure Protocol and finally a Secure Service Protocol. These systems were integrated into the Basic Capability System Library and a multithreaded FUSE client connected to the Service Management Framework. Docker was used as the migration mechanism. A prototype was developed and implemented using a FUSE-Network Memory System in which the Network Memory Server was migrated as users moved around. The result shows that this approach was safe and could be used to develop new applications and services for smart cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the methods to reduce damages caused by earthquakes is to concentrate damages in predetermined members. During an earthquake, these members minimize the damage caused to other members of the structure by absorbing a major part of the earthquake force. These members act like an electrical fuse that is blown under an unauthorized current of electricity and prevents damage to the wiring and electrical appliances used; Therefore, these members are called "structural fuse" and sometimes abbreviated as "fuse". EBFs are one of the most important resistant systems for bearing lateral loads. Researchers, paying attention to the simple replace ability approach, have introduced a shear fuse with joint connection in the connection area, which is named as a simple replaceable fuse. In this project, a series of numerical and laboratory researches are carried out in full scale, and this article refers to the comparison of design parameters. In this article, a brief explanation of Young's, Presley-Pauli's and energy methods is presented in each section, and then the design parameters are determined and compared. ETABS software was used for frame design and ABAQUS was used for numerical analysis. The comparison results show that the use of this fuse in EBF has significantly improved the design parameters. Due to the simplicity of manufacturing and installing this fuse, using this method optimizes the design and saves the costs of construction and seismic improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Autonomy Research Roadmap was developed in 2020 and published in the first quarter 2021 special INSIGHT issue on Systems Engineering and AI. This roadmap development was heavily informed by the INCOSE Future of Systems Engineering (FuSE) initiatives. Following on in 2020, INCOSE and the SERC collaborated with the Association for Advancement of AI (AAAI) to execute two workshops entitled "AI meets Systems Engineering." These resulted in version two of the roadmap which was published as an introductory chapter to the book "Systems Engineering and Artificial Intelligence." In 2020 through 2023 the SERC hosted four SE4AI/AI4SE workshops with the U.S. Army that have further informed research and application at the intersection of AI and SE. This paper presents the updated version of the roadmap resulting from engagement across those four workshops. It is provided as a means to inform the SE community of the critical research needs and related applications emerging at the intersection of AI and SE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Held in Dublin, Ireland, IS2024 invites us to refresh understanding of contributions to systems engineering by Ireland's greatest mathematician–Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805 ‐ 1865), Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin and Royal Astronomer of Ireland. His profound contributions to STEM deserve greater systems community attention. Supporting theory and practice, they intersect Foundations and Applications streams of INCOSE's Future of Systems Engineering (FuSE) program. Strikingly, key aspects apply to systems of all types, including socio‐technical and information systems. Hamilton abstracted the energy‐like generator of dynamics for all systems, while also generalizing momentum. Applied to the INCOSE Innovation Ecosystem Pattern as dynamics of learning, development, and life cycle management, this suggests an architecture for integration of the digital thread and machine learning in innovation enterprises, along with foundations of systems engineering as a dynamical system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A current-limiting and consequent direct current (DC) arc interruption requires an increase in arc resistance r a r c for a DC fuse. Flattery silica (SiO2) sand has been used as an arc quenching medium in fuses for decades. However, there are few reports about a novel arc quenching medium which enables more r a r c increases compared to flattery SiO2 sand. This paper uniquely selected a novel arc quenching medium based on the following material properties: (1) electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity in the solid phase, (2) the possibility of r a r c increasing in the gas phase, (3) the possibility of electrical insulation after re-solidification, and (4) the cost of materials. As a result, we originally selected a powder mixture of silicon-nitride (Si3N4) and flattery SiO2 sand as a promising novel arc quenching medium. Therefore, DC interruption experiments were performed using a Si3N4/flattery SiO2 sand powder mixture under different Si3N4 concentration conditions. As a result of 1000 A DC arc quenching experiments, the utilization of Si3N4 powder with the flattery SiO2 sand successfully increased the arc resistance r a r c during the arc quenching process. The increasing Si3N4 concentration exhibited a further increase in r a r c during the arc quenching process. As a result of the r a r c increase, the arc quenching time was significantly shortened to 30 ms for 30 wt.% Si3N4 conditions from 54 ms for the SiO2 sand conditions. In addition, utilization of Si3N4 powder achieved high insulation resistance over few MΩ after DC arc interruption. The above results clearly indicate that utilization of Si3N4 powder with flattery SiO2 sand can increase the DC interruption performance of the fuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In multispan bridges excited by ground shaking, columns are usually the target ductile members. Although current practice is successful in attaining the no-collapse objective for bridges, columns are usually damaged at displacements associated with this performance level. Minor damage can be repaired, but excessive damage is usually beyond repair. A new design paradigm with minimal damage and repair need is gaining interest. The benefits of such a design can be increased if low-damage technologies are combined with accelerated bridge construction techniques. The main goal of the present study was to develop reinforced concrete bridge columns that are fully precast concrete, low damage, and repairable through component replacement. To achieve the project objectives, 20 repairable precast concrete alternatives were developed and ranked. Subsequently, the top three candidates were designed at 50% scale, constructed at a precast concrete plant, and tested in a laboratory. The precast concrete columns incorporated different exposed fuses, such as stainless steel bars and steel tendons, advanced materials such as ultra-high-performance concrete, a self-centering mechanism, or an accelerated bridge construction socket connection. A reference cast-inplace concrete column was included for comparison. Each precast concrete column was tested twice. It was found that the repair of the precast ultra-high-performance concrete columns with exposed tendons was easy, simple, and quick due to insignificant damage and minimal residual displacements. All precast concrete columns exhibited displacement capacities comparable to or higher than cast-in-place concrete columns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Computer Measurement & Control is the property of Magazine Agency of Computer Measurement & Control and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents the classification of fuses, breakers, circuit breakers and packet switches. The laws of change of probabilistic reliability characteristics of the studied devices, as well as low-voltage cable lines are determined. Types of functions of change of basic reliability parameters are determined and corresponding graphical dependences are shown. The comparison of the obtained results of the values of probability of failure-free operation time with the requirements of GOST and passport data is carried out. The investigated probabilistic parameters of lowvoltage devices and cable lines are checked for compliance with the accepted law of distribution of random variables.

After the Northridge earthquake, a set of prequalified connections were introduced by international design codes. Thease connections include reduced beam secrion (RBS) moment connection, bolted unstiffended and stiffended extended end-plate moment connection, bolted flange plate (BFP) moment connection, welded unreinforced flange-welded web (WUF-W) moment connection, kaiser bolted bracket (KBB) moment connection, conxtech conxl moment connection, sideplate moment connection, simpson strong tie strong frame moment connection, double tee moment connection, slottedweb (SW) moment connection. After ensuring the seismic performance of this set during earthquakes, concerns surfaced that forming plastic hinges in beam elements would result in either making repairs impossible or incredibly expensive in the event of a moderate or severe earthquake. Hence, a type of replaceable connections was introduced wherein plastic hinges would be placed in pre-determined elements. Their intuitive replaceability feature would make repairs and reutilization of the structure a much easier task. In this study, the experimental investigations of 4 full-scale samples of a replaceable rigid connection under cyclic loading were carried out. The results of the experiments demonstrated that in the proposed connection, the plastic hinge is formed in the fuse element while the beam and the column maintain their elasticity, allowing the connection to be replaced. Also, taking into account the early buckling of the fuse plates installed on the beam flanges, the moment capacity of the connection is decreased by 22 percent compared to the moment capacity of the fuse. According to the results obtained from the backbone diagrams, stiffness of the connection after replacing the fuse plates in P12 and P15 samples has decreased by 8.61% and 6.14%, respectively; this could be due to slight changes on the holes on the beam web and flanges as well as changes in the pre-tensioning forces of the bolts. Investigations have revealed that, the 20% increase in the moment capacity of the fuse (using 15 mm-steel plates instead of 12 mm in the fuse plates of the beam flanges) has increased the cumulative energy dissipation of the connection by 12%.

Fuse saving protection is usually applied in distribution networks, through auto-reclosing, to prevent fuse burning under transient faults. The modern fault ride-through (FRT) standards, which require distributed generators (DGs) to remain connected during the fault, may lead to the miscoordination of recloser-fuse. This paper proposes a discrete coordinate-descent (DCD) approach that optimizes the FRT of DGs so that the coordination between recloser and fuse is preserved. First, the method performs a short-circuit calculation (SCC) considering the currents contributed by the DGs, according to the FRT standards of each country. Then, if a miscoordination between recloser-fuses is observed, it optimally scales down the DG currents, until the coordination is restored. The proposed method has simple implementation, low communication requirements and offers adequate voltage support during the fault. Simulations were carried out in the IEEE 13-bus and the IEEE 8500-node network to highlight the distinct features of the proposed approach against the state-of-the-art current limiting approaches.

The seismic resilience has become a critical concern for power systems for high-impact, low-probability disasters such as severe earthquakes. In order to enhance seismic resilience for power systems, a novel protective device, the Passive Over-Current Trip (POCT), has been designed in this paper. In the design, the POCT integrates a fuse and a mechanical switch, able to trigger the breaker to interrupt the circuit to ensure effective protection. The POCT has the trip-free feature as it fulfills its protective function without the need for an electric relay requiring a continuous power supply. The proposed POCT provides an immediate and reliable solution for the protection in high and ultra-high voltage applications. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed POCT, shockproof and tripping tests were conducted. A seismic test waveform from the Fukushima earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011 was used to test POCT. Under such a severe earthquake, no structural or mechanical damage on the associated components in the POCT was found. Also, the POCT is also in compliance with IEEE 693 standard. Finally, various tripping tests show that the POCT can operate within 18 ms when a fault occurs in a power system, which is much shorter than that of a typical high-voltage fuse.

In the future, smart cities will provide key services including seamless communication, intelligent transport systems, advanced healthcare platforms, urban and infrastructure management, and digital services for local and regional government. Therefore, a new service and networking paradigm, called the Intelligent Edge Environment, has been specified. As a key part of this system, a new secure service ecosystem must be developed to provide the secure real-time movement of services on different High-Performance Edge Cloud Systems. This paper explores these issues by introducing the following mechanisms: a Resource Allocation Algorithm, a Resource Allocation Secure Protocol and finally a Secure Service Protocol. These systems were integrated into the Basic Capability System Library and a multithreaded FUSE client connected to the Service Management Framework. Docker was used as the migration mechanism. A prototype was developed and implemented using a FUSE-Network Memory System in which the Network Memory Server was migrated as users moved around. The result shows that this approach was safe and could be used to develop new applications and services for smart cities.

With the development of research on multi-modal data fusion and its combination with online data management, the application of multi-modal big data fusion in information management systems is more and more extensive. How to integrate multi-modal big data effectively is the key technology to building an efficient information management system. In this paper, based on the combination of a multi-support vector machine and convolution neural network, the feature-level data fusion of multi-source heterogeneous big data is implemented, and it is applied to the real data set to test the relevant model. Experimental results show that this method can not only realize heterogeneous integration of big data, but also has high accuracy and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the realization of sustainable society installing renewable energy sources, we have proposed a compact, low‐cost, versatile DC circuit breaker that combines a fuse and a power semiconductor. However, even under the same interruption conditions, there are cases where the interruption success and failure are observed probabilistically; the reason for this is still unknown. In the interruption failure, thermal reignition of an arc discharge occurs inside the fuse under transient recovery voltage. In this study, the spatiotemporal dynamics of the fuse arc was diagnosed for both interruption success and failure by a voltage–current waveform recording, high‐speed arc‐emission videography and borescope‐integrated optical emission spectroscopy, in order to identify the difference between the interruption success and failure. The waveform recording and videography demonstrated that at the arc initiation inside the fuse, the radial arc length for the interruption failure was longer than the interruption success. In the current interruption phase, the radial arc length was still longer, axial arc length was shorter, and arc column resistance was lower for the interruption failure. Further, the optical emission spectroscopy showed that localized regions with higher temperature and electrical conductivity existed for the failure in the current interruption phase. From these results, the dominant factors differentiating interruption success and failure were identified as the arc shape and electrical conductivity of the arc. To improve the interruption performance of the fuse and our DC circuit breaker, it is effective to increase the axial arc length, suppress the radial arc length, and reduce the electrical conductivity of the arc. © 2023 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Problems of Mechatronics. Armament, Aviation, Safety Engineering / Problemy Mechatroniki. Uzbrojenie, lotnictwo, Inżynieria Bezpieczeństwa is the property of Index Copernicus International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

الملخص: أهداف البحث: هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى تحديد ما إذا كان الجراحون في مختلف المستويات والتخصصات على دراية بالاستخدام الآمن والمقبول للجراحة الكهربائية. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، تهدف الدراسة إلى توفير فهم أساسي للجراحة الكهربائية والجراحة بالإنفاذ الحراري. طريقة البحث: تم اختيار ما مجموعه 83 طبيبا من مختلف التخصصات بشكل عشوائي من عدة مستشفيات في جميع أنحاء المملكة العربية السعودية. أجاب المشاركون على استبيان يحتوي على 16 سؤالا تتناول 10 أسئلة تتعلق بالاستخدام الآمن للجراحة الكهربائية. النتائج: كشفت دراستنا أن المرشحين إما يفتقرون إلى المعرفة أو لم يكونوا على دراية باستخدام وسلامة الجراحة الكهربائية أحادية القطب وجراحة القطبين من حيث التطبيق. لم يتمكن بعض المرشحين من التمييز بينهم، مما قد يؤدي إلى إصابة المريض تحت إشرافهم. الاستنتاجات: يجب تضمين الجراحة الكهربائية رسميا في برامج التدريب التخصصية في المستشفيات السعودية لزيادة خبرة الجراحة الكهربائية ويجب إعادة اختبار الجراحين بشكل دوري. يمكن استخدام النتائج الموضحة هنا لدفع التعلم. قد يحسن الجراحون مهاراتهم في الجراحة الكهربائية من خلال التقدم على طول منحنى التعلم للوصول إلى ذروتهم. أخيرا، يمكن للجراحين استخدام المحاكيات الجراحية للواقع الافتراضي لممارسة مهارات الجراحة الكهربائية الأساسية والمتطورة. Abstract: Objectives: To determine whether surgeons at different levels and in different specialties are aware of the safe and acceptable use of electrosurgery. In addition, we aimed to provide a fundamental understanding of electrosurgery and surgical diathermy. Materials and Methods: A total of 83 doctors from different specialties were randomly selected from several hospitals across KSA. The participants answered a questionnaire featuring 16 questions that addressed 10 domain questions regarding the safe use of electrosurgery. Results: Analysis revealed that the respondents either lacked knowledge or were unfamiliar with the use and safety of monopolar and bipolar electrosurgery in terms of application. Some respondents were unable to distinguish between the two protocols; this may have resulted in injuries being incurred by patients under their supervision. Conclusions: Electrosurgery should be formally included in specialty surgical Saudi hospital training programs to increase electrosurgery expertise and surgeons should be re-tested periodically. Our findings may be used to drive future learning. Surgeons may improve their electrosurgery skills by progressing along their learning curve to reach their peak. In addition, surgeons can use virtual reality surgical simulators to practice fundamental and sophisticated electrosurgery skills.

This paper was arranged a polymer cylinder around a Cu fuse‐element to increase both an arc resistance rarc$$ {r}_{\mathrm{arc}} $$ during a DC arc quenching process and an insulation resistance Rins$$ {R}_{\mathrm{ins}} $$ after the DC arc quenching. The used polymer cylinder equips a narrow‐section with a width wP$$ {w}_{\mathrm{P}} $$ made from the polymer. A position of the narrow‐section was around an arc‐ignition point of the Cu fuse‐element. Silica‐sand (SiO2‐sand) was filled inside the polymer cylinder. Then, a damping DC with a prospective peak of 1000 A was energized to the Cu fuse‐element. As an experimental result, rarc$$ {r}_{\mathrm{arc}} $$ was successfully increased with wP$$ {w}_{\mathrm{P}} $$ of the narrow‐section. In addition, the rise in wP$$ {w}_{\mathrm{P}} $$ of the narrow‐section also increased Rins$$ {R}_{\mathrm{ins}} $$ to more than 10 MΩ$$ \mathrm{M}\Omega $$ under the DC 1000 V application after the arc quenching. In order to interpret rarc$$ {r}_{\mathrm{arc}} $$ rise and high Rins$$ {R}_{\mathrm{ins}} $$ under the polymer cylinder arrangement, chemical composition, an electrical resistivity ρ$$ \rho $$, and a thermal diffusivity α$$ \alpha $$ of Cu/SiO2/Polymer vapor mixture was also calculated. Based on the experimental result and calculation result, rarc$$ {r}_{\mathrm{arc}} $$ rise can be interpreted based on rise in ρ$$ \rho $$ and α$$ \alpha $$ due to the polymer vapor admixing into Cu/SiO2 vapor mixture. In addition, increasing Rins$$ {R}_{\mathrm{ins}} $$ can also be interpreted by the polymer ablation of the narrow‐section of the cylinder. The results are useful to further increase the interruption capacity of the DC fuse. © 2023 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As advanced systems continue to advance and fuse functions expand, the demand for higher power supply requirements for fuses has increased. Consequently, researchers have turned their attention to the recovery of energy from the environment. Piezoelectric energy harvesting has gained significant popularity due to its advantageous characteristics, such as high energy density, ease of implementation, and compact size. However, the presence of various component types within the energy harvesting circuit inevitably results in the generation of reactive power, leading to a reduction in the circuit's power factor. To address this issue, this paper introduces the adoption of the third-order valley-fill circuit as the power factor correction circuit. The implementation process involves the utilization of Multisim software to simulate the double-limit zero-crossing detection circuit, pulse signal generation circuit, and power factor correction circuit. Furthermore, the aforementioned circuits were subjected to plate-level welding, followed by individual tests to evaluate the effectiveness of the double-limit zero-crossing detection, pulse signal test, and load voltage measurement. These findings unequivocally exemplify the successful accomplishment of the intended objective of augmenting the output power by the third-order valley-fill circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant share of global carbon emissions is related to marine vessels running solely on fossil fuels. The hybrid or fully electrified marine vessels using battery energy storage systems (BESS) both for onboard propulsion system and for cold-ironing during docking at harbor areas will significantly reduce marine related carbon emissions. However, the transformation of marine vessels’ operations from diesel engines to BESS will necessarily require charging stations and other electric power infrastructure at harbor areas. The sustainable and cheap energy of renewable energy sources like wind turbine generators (WTGs), photovoltaic (PV) systems and related BESS could be used at harbor areas for charging depleted vessel-BESS and supplying power to cold-ironing loads. For this purpose, two new harbor area smart grid or AC microgrid models have been developed by our research group. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of three-phase short-circuit faults for one of the proposed AC microgrid models using PSCAD/EMTDC simulations. The fault study of harbor area AC microgrid-1 is done for both grid-connected and islanded modes. The main purpose of the fault study is to check if grid-connected mode overcurrent settings of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) will also be valid for different islanded mode fault cases with different fault current contributions from converter-based distributed energy resources (DERs) including WTG, PV and BESS. The extent of fault current contribution from DERs and BESS to avoid adaptive protection settings and to ensure definite-time protection coordination and fast fuse operations during different islanded modes is investigated.

In order to solve the problems of poor image quality, low definition and loss of image information in traditional algorithms, a modeling research of fractional differential equation in cloud computing image fusion algorithm is proposed. Firstly, the method of image denoising and enhancement under the framework of fractional calculus theory and the improved algorithm based on it are discussed. A series of difficult problems in the image processing method based on fractional calculus are discussed. Then, the large data video image in cloud computing environment is fused in scale space through fractional differential equation, and the fused image is decomposed by lifting fractional differential equation to obtain the low-frequency subband coefficients and high-frequency subband coefficients in different scale space. For the low-frequency subband coefficients and high-frequency subband coefficients, their respective fusion schemes are given to obtain the lifting static small transform coefficients of the fused image. The fusion effect of the proposed algorithm is tested from both subjective and objective aspects.The results show that the entropy value of this algorithm is 7.1450, slightly higher than sparse coding algorithm and random walk algorithm, which shows that the fusion processing by this algorithm will not lose the amount of information contained in the image. Therefore, the image denoising and enhancement algorithm of fractional differential equation proposed in this paper has good subjective fusion effect, good clarity and quality of the fused image, and will not lose the information contained in the image.

This paper proposes a self‐conducting current bypass circuit for series‐connected diodes in high power semiconductor light source. This circuit enables the main circuit current flow continuously, even if several of the diodes connected in series are open because of breakdowns. Herein, the composition, operation, and circuit design method of the proposed circuit are described. Moreover, the development of a simulation model of the fuse, which is an element of the circuit, is described. Furthermore, the simulation result of the proposed circuit using the fuse model is presented, and the method of determining the circuit constant based on the simulation result is demonstrated. Finally, by connecting a prototype circuit based on this study in parallel with series‐connected diodes, we show that the main circuit current of 60 A flow continuously even when one of the diodes is open. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To allay excessive public concern about the safety of transgenic foods, and to optimize insect-resistant genes expression to delay the evolution of resistance in pests, we developed a promising strategy to fuse the GOI (gene of interest) with OsrbcS (rice small subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase) in transgenic rice, which acted as a carrier, driven by the OsrbcS native promoter to sequester its expression in green tissues. Using eYFP as a trial, we reported a high-level accumulation of eYFP in green tissue and almost none in the seed and root of the fused construct compared to the non-fused construct. After applying this fusion strategy in insect-resistant rice breeding, recombinant OsrbcS-Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac expressed rice plants conferred high resistance to leaffolders and striped stem borers, among which two single-copy lines possessed normal agronomic performance in the field. Specifically, Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac protein levels in single-copy construct transgenic lines ranged from 1.8 to 11.5 µg g−1 in the leaf, higher than the Actin I promoter-driven control, T51-1, about 1.78 µg g−1 in the leaf, but negligible (only 0.00012–0.00117 µg g−1) in endosperm by ELISA analysis. Our study provided a novel approach to creating Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac-free endosperm rice with a high level of insect-resistant protein in green tissues through the simultaneous usage of the OsrbcS promoter and OsrbcS as a fusion partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of the bulk density of arc‐extinguishing sand on arc extinction characteristics were investigated by using a model‐ type fuse box and high‐speed videography for visualization of the line spectrum emitted from Cu I and Si II during arc formation. The results showed that the higher the bulk density, the faster the Cu I radiation intensity decreased and the current interruption was facilitated. In addition, a verification test using actual fuse links demonstrated that arc‐extinguishing sand with a higher density showed better interruption performance than a lower density. © 2022 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A numerical model is presented for a rocking bridge bent specimen consisting of two precast concrete columns with posttensioning (PT) bars, two footings, and a cap beam, with or without a buckling restrained brace (BRB). First, a numerical model of the posttensioned bridge bent specimen without a BRB is developed; emphasis is placed on modeling the rocking mechanism at the joint between precast concrete members joined only through PT bars. The numerical model is extended to a hybrid specimen consisting of a two-column posttensioned bridge bent with a BRB as an external energy dissipation device. Experimental results obtained from quasi-static cyclic tests of the posttensioned and hybrid specimens are compared with the numerical models. Satisfactory agreement of the numerical models with the experimental results is observed in terms of structural response, hysteretic energy, and PT-bar forces. The numerical models are subsequently extended to a previously tested three-column bridge bent for two configurations: (1) a posttensioned bridge bent with PT bars, and (2) a hybrid bridge bent with PT bars and two BRBs. A fiber-based bridge bent model is built, which includes soil–structure interaction (SSI) using simplified springs. A comparison of the posttensioned and hybrid bridge bents using far-field and near-field ground motions shows that the hybrid bridge bent displays superior performance compared with the posttensioned-only bridge bent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human language is naturally fuzzy by nature, with words meaning different things to different people, depending on the context. Fuzzy words, are words with a subjective meaning, typically used in everyday human natural language dialogue; they are often ambiguous and vague in meaning depending on an individual’s perception. Fuzzy Sentence Similarity Measures (FSSM) are algorithms that can compare two or more short texts which contain fuzzy words and return a numeric measure of similarity of meaning between them. This paper proposes a new FSSM called FUSE (FUzzy Similarity mEasure). FUSE is an ontology-based similarity measure that uses Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Sets to model relationships between categories of human perception-based words. The FUSE algorithm has been developed over four versions and been compared to several state-of-the-art, traditional semantic similarity measures (SSM’s) which do not consider the presence of fuzzy words. The FUSE algorithm along with the other traditional SSM’s mentioned have been evaluated on several published, gold standard and newly created datasets. Results have shown the FUSE algorithm is able to improve on the limitations of traditional SSM’s by achieving a higher correlation with the average human rating (AHR) compared to traditional SSM’s that do not consider the presence of fuzzy words. The key contributions of this work can be summarised as follows: The development of a new methodology to model fuzzy words using Interval Type-2 fuzzy sets. This has led to the creation of a fuzzy dictionary for nine fuzzy categories, a useful resource which can be used by other researchers in the field of natural language processing and Computing with Words (CWW) with other fuzzy applications such as semantic clustering.

With the increasing installations of solar energy, electric vehicles, and other dc-nature power devices in modern power systems, the short-circuit protection of high-power dc circuits is critical in HVDC transmission and MVDC distribution networks. As a promising protective device, Z-source Circuit Breaker (ZCB) has some unique good features over other approaches. But, under the circumstance of slow-developing faults, the ZCB might be “blind” and fails to protect circuits. In this paper, a new method of coordinating ZCB and fuse is developed to specify the fuse properly to compensate ZCB’s functionality and thus introduce a complete “thermal-magnetic” function of a hybrid ZCB-fuse circuit breaker. By analyzing the current-limiting features of ZCB and fuse and their interactions, two constraints are identified for the proposed coordination method and two relevant thresholds of melting energy in fuse are formulated. A five-step coordination method is developed and verified by simulation tests with various fault current levels and fault changing time. It is proven that, by following the proposed coordination method, the fuse coordinates well to the ZCB as backup protection under the designated peak tolerable fault current. This research work helps to increase the reliability of short-circuit protection with ZCBs in modern dc power systems.

The article discusses and systematizes the causes of high values of short-circuit currents in electrical networks up to 1 kV and indicates their negative consequences. A brief analysis of some current limiting methods (both with and without additional investment) is given, which makes it possible to reduce the negative effects when significant short-circuit currents occur. The variants of the implementation of these current limiting methods recommended for study at the design stage or when replacing equipment that has exhausted its resource, are considered. The advantages and disadvantages of the methods of limiting short-circuit currents described in the article are indicated. Options for connecting equipment with low power consumption to nodes of the electrical network up to 1 kV with high values of short-circuit currents are also considered. Special attention is paid to current-limiting protection devices, a detailed description of the design of some of them is given, the advantages of their use in comparison with other current-limiting methods are indicated, the corresponding graphs of the limitation of the periodic component of the short-circuit current, shock short-circuit current and thermal pulse are presented. Based on the analysis of graphic materials, the issue of ensuring the selectivity of protections is considered. The degree of prevalence of equipment with the property of current limitation is determined. A method for determining selective current-limiting protection devices is given, viz. the method of energy selectivity, the corresponding graphs for determining energy selectivity are presented. The physics allowing to determine the degree of efficiency of limiting the short-circuit current is described. Recommendations on the use of current-limiting equipment are proposed.

Micro-scale control of liquid/droplet motion is crucial for chemical and biochemical analysis. There are several methods to manipulate droplet motion such as the Marangoni effect which can be triggered by introducing temperature gradients on suspended droplets in mineral oil.In this study, a focused continuous wave (CW) laser beam was used to induce the Marangoni force to separate, fuse, aggregate, and control droplets. Droplets experience a force due to an interfacial tension gradient near the locally heated area created by the laser beam. The work is done on a chamber and a microchannel platform.In order to fuse water droplets, we used an optical fiber (200-µm core and 220-µm glass cladding, which has a 0.065 numerical aperture (NA)) to direct focused laser beams into the oil medium, where the droplets were first moved to the heat source and then stopped at this point and merged a second time. Also, for the first-time droplet separation for different radii of 47 and 55 in the microchannel and droplet aggregation in the chamber was performed by the Marangoni effect. We have also examined the behavior of the droplets in relation to their size and distance from the hot spot.By controlling the incident laser power, we can manipulate the droplet to either fuse, separate or aggregate.

Multimedia content providers (such as cyberlockers) are overwhelmed by huge volumes and large sizes of multimedia files. Cyberlockers provide Quality-of-Service (QoS) downloading to end users as the files are split into fragments. However, merging these fragments on the fly for streaming harms Quality-of-Experience (QoE) of users and overwhelms computational capacity. As a solution, this paper proposes a FUSE based file system, namely fumy , for efficient storage of large multimedia files as small sized fragments (for downloading) and virtually unifying them for their efficient retrieval (for streaming). We discuss virtual unification, namespace manipulation and operation redirection employed by fumy to achieve its goal. We also discuss the implementation details of fumy as a FUSE file system. We evaluated fumy for its performance on extended file systems in various operational and benchmarking configurations. Our results suggest that fumy adds minimal performance overhead to extended file systems when the fragment size is 512 MiB or higher, imposes least performance tax on ext4 file system, and even enhances the performance of extended file systems for specific workloads and fragments sizes. We recommend using ext4 file system with fragment size of 512 MiB for different workloads to achieve optimal performance of fumy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coupled walls are a common lateral load resisting system for buildings located in seismic regions. Coupling beams create a ductile link between walls that increase the structure's resistance to lateral forces and its ability to dissipate seismic energy. During a major seismic event, coupling beams dissipate energy by yielding and acting as a fuse. Replaceable steel coupling beams are an alternative to conventionally and diagonally-reinforced concrete coupling beams and offer the advantage of improved constructability and post-earthquake reparability. Previous studies on replaceable steel coupling beams have focused on shear yielding beams, while this study focused on flexure-yielding beams. Five two-third-scaled, cantilever steel coupling beams with reduced beam sections (RBSs) were tested under fully reversed cyclic loading. The primary test variables were parallel or single steel coupling beams, RBS cut geometry, and moment end-plate to embedded plate wall connection. Coupling beams with and without RBS cuts had deformation capacities of 8% or greater and 6%, respectively. Using RBS cuts within the parameters of AISC 358-16 resulted in the largest ductility. The moment end-plate to embedded plate connection was determined to have a significant effect on the beam stiffness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, the only option for developers was to implement file systems (FSs) via drivers within the operating system kernel. However, there exists a growing number of file systems (FSs), notably distributed FSs for the cloud, whose interfaces are implemented solely in user space to (i) isolate FS logic, (ii) take advantage of user space libraries, and/or (iii) for rapid FS prototyping. Common interfaces for implementing FSs in user space exist, but they do not guarantee POSIX compliance in all cases, or suffer from considerable performance penalties due to high amounts of wait context switches between kernel and user space processes. We propose DEFUSE: an interface for user space FSs that provides fast accesses while ensuring access correctness and requiring no modifications to applications. DEFUSE achieves significant performance improvements over existing user space FS interfaces thanks to its novel design that drastically reduces the number of wait context switches for FS accesses. Additionally, to ensure access correctness, DEFUSE maintains POSIX compliance for FS accesses thanks to three novel concepts of bypassed file descriptor (FD) lookup, FD stashing, and user space paging. Our evaluation spanning a variety of workloads shows that by reducing the number of wait context switches per workload from as many as 16,000 or 41,000 with filesystem in user space down to 9 on average, DEFUSE increases performance 2× over existing interfaces for typical workloads and by as many as 10× in certain instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The FASTA file format, used to store polymeric sequence data, has become a bioinformatics file standard used for decades. The relatively large files require additional files, beyond the scope of the original format, to identify sequences and to provide random access. Multiple compressors have been developed to archive FASTA files back and forth, but these lack direct access to targeted content or metadata of the archive. Moreover, these solutions are not directly backwards compatible to FASTA files, resulting in limited software integration. Results We designed a linux based toolkit that virtualises the content of DNA, RNA and protein FASTA archives into the filesystem by using filesystem in userspace. This guarantees in-sync virtualised metadata files and offers fast random-access decompression using bit encodings plus Zstandard (zstd). The toolkit, FASTAFS, can track all its system-wide running instances, allows file integrity verification and can provide, instantly, scriptable access to sequence files and is easy to use and deploy. The file compression ratios were comparable but not superior to other state of the art archival tools, despite the innovative random access feature implemented in FASTAFS. Conclusions FASTAFS is a user-friendly and easy to deploy backwards compatible generic purpose solution to store and access compressed FASTA files, since it offers file system access to FASTA files as well as in-sync metadata files through file virtualisation. Using virtual filesystems as in-between layer offers format conversion without the need to rewrite code into different programming languages while preserving compatibility.