Tear Down This (Pay)Wall! Equality, Equity, Liberation for Archivists

This paper critically examines the practice of placing archival collections behind paywalls, starting with a microfilming decision that led to portions of collections stewarded by the author’s archives being offered for sale as part of large for-profit subject-based collections. The author uses economic and values-based arguments to illustrate how commodifying the archives by putting collections behind paywalls can be harmful for university libraries, archives, and the communities whose histories are hidden from them. The author then questions the existence of paywalled resources based on our professional associations’ codes of ethics.  The author offers a tool from the field of service-learning that might be used to evaluate how archives can interact ethically with communities, and uses a radical empathy lens to illustrate how various digital initiatives have wrestled with the ethics of paywalled resources and the marginalized communities they originate from. Finally, the author describes efforts to critically examine and disrupt current practices using a radical empathy framing, and offers practical solutions for archival institutions to take the first step toward a liberatory digital archive available to all. Pre-print first published online 04/14/202

Modellazione orientata al controllo degli scambi termici a parete per motori GDI sovralimentati ad alte prestazioni

I moderni motori a combustione interna hanno bisogno di funzionare con anticipi d’accensione che garantiscono un elevato rendimento di conversione dell’energia chimica in energia meccanica. Tuttavia, applicando l’anticipo d’accensione ottimo si può incorrere nel fenomeno della detonazione: si tratta di una combustione anomala che può portare alla rottura dei componenti interni del motore, a causa delle elevate pressioni e temperature che si generano. All’interno del dipartimento DIN è stato sviluppato un sistema di controllo della detonazione che è in grado di calcolare il danno indotto sul pistone, in modo tale che il motore possa funzionare sempre con un anticipo di accensione il più vicino possibile a quello di massima efficienza. Il controllo per operare ha bisogno di un modello di temperatura del pistone, che è in grado di calcolare la temperatura di alcuni punti di questo componente, noti i carichi termici. È qui che si inserisce il lavoro di tesi, all’interno del quale viene proposto un approccio fisico per il calcolo e la modellazione orientata al controllo del flusso termico agente sul pistone, sia in assenza che in presenza di detonazione. In precedenza, tale grandezza era stata modellata sfruttando misure di durezza fatte sui pistoni danneggiati. Per svolgere tutta l’attività sono stati utilizzati due software: MATLAB, per l’elaborazione di tutti i dati di combustione del motore utilizzato per le prove al banco dell’Università di Bologna, e GT-POWER, con il quale è stato calibrato un modello di combustione non predittivo e uno di scambio termico a parete. Per la calibrazione di quest’ultimo, è indispensabile imporre la temperatura delle pareti della camera di combustione, per cui viene introdotto anche un metodo per la stima del loro stato termico, sfruttando i dati di combustione

Advanced, Guided Procedure for the Calibration and Generalization of Neural Network-Based Models of Combustion and Knock Indexes

In the last few years, the artificial neural networks have been widely used in the field of engine modeling. Some of the main reasons for this are, their compatibility with the real-time systems, higher accuracy, and flexibility if compared to other data-driven approaches. One of the main difficulties of using this approach is the calibration of the network itself. It is very difficult to find in the literature procedures that guide the user to completely define a network. Typically, the very last steps (like the choice of the number of neurons) must be selected by the user on the base of his sensitivity to the problem. This work proposes an automatic calibration procedure for the artificial neural networks, considering all the main hyper-parameters of the network such as the training algorithms, the activation functions, the number of the neurons, the number of epochs, and the number of hidden layers, for modeling various combustion indexes in a modern internal combustion engine. However, the proposed procedure can be applied to the training of any neural network-based model. The automatic calibration procedure outputs a configuration of the network, giving the optimal combination in terms of hyper-parameters. The decision of the optimal configuration of the neural network is based on a self-developed formula, which gives a rank of all the possible hyper-parameter combinations using some statistical parameters obtained comparing the simulated and the experimental values. In the end, the lowest rank is selected as the optimal one as it represents the combination having the lowest error. Following the definition of this rank, high accuracy on the results has been achieved in terms of the root mean square error index, for example, on the combustion phase model, the error is 0.139°CA under steady-state conditions. On the maximum in-cylinder pressure model, the error is 1.682 bar, while the knock model has an error of 0.457 bar for the same test that covers the whole engine operating field

Cataloging-in-Publication Data Joint Bank-Fund Library

Managing volatile capital flows: experiences and lessons for Sub-Saharan African frontier markets / prepared by Trevor Alleyne [and eight others], under the guidance of Anne-Marie Gulde-Wolf. – Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 2014. pages.; cm Includes bibliographical references. ISBN: 978-1-61635-884-

An investigation to assess ankle mobility in healthy individuals from the application of multi-component compression bandages and compression hosiery

Background An investigation was undertaken to compare the effect of multi-component compression bandages and compression hosiery kits on individuals’ range of ankle motion whilst wearing typical and medical footwear, and barefoot. Methods A convenience sample of 30 healthy individuals recruited from the staff and student population at the University of Huddersfield, UK. Plantarflexion/dorsiflexion range of ankle motion (ROAM) was measured in participants over 6 steps in every combination of typical, medical and no footwear; and multi-component bandages, compression hosiery and no garments. Results Controlling for age, gender and garments, the use of typical footwear was associated with a mean increase in ROAM of 2.54° at best estimate compared with barefoot; the use of medical footwear was associated with a mean decrease in ROAM of 1.12° at best estimate compared with barefoot. Controlling for age, gender and footwear, the use of bandaging was associated with a mean decrease in ROAM of 2.51° at best estimate compared with no garments. Controlling for age, gender and footwear, the use of hosiery was not associated with a significant change in ROAM compared with no garments. Conclusions Bandages appear to restrict ROAM more than hosiery when used in conjunction with a variety of footwear types

Design and testing of innovative, artificial intelligence-based techniques to model and control the combustion process and to reduce the Co2 emissions in modern, high-performance, gasoline direct injection engines

This work deals with the development of calibration procedures and control systems to improve the performance and efficiency of modern spark ignition turbocharged engines. The algorithms developed are used to optimize and manage the spark advance and the air-to-fuel ratio to control the knock and the exhaust gas temperature at the turbine inlet. The described work falls within the activity that the research group started in the previous years with the industrial partner Ferrari S.p.a. . The first chapter deals with the development of a control-oriented engine simulator based on a neural network approach, with which the main combustion indexes can be simulated. The second chapter deals with the development of a procedure to calibrate offline the spark advance and the air-to-fuel ratio to run the engine under knock-limited conditions and with the maximum admissible exhaust gas temperature at the turbine inlet. This procedure is then converted into a model-based control system and validated with a Software in the Loop approach using the engine simulator developed in the first chapter. Finally, it is implemented in a rapid control prototyping hardware to manage the combustion in steady-state and transient operating conditions at the test bench. The third chapter deals with the study of an innovative and cheap sensor for the in-cylinder pressure measurement, which is a piezoelectric washer that can be installed between the spark plug and the engine head. The signal generated by this kind of sensor is studied, developing a specific algorithm to adjust the value of the knock index in real-time. Finally, with the engine simulator developed in the first chapter, it is demonstrated that the innovative sensor can be coupled with the control system described in the second chapter and that the performance obtained could be the same reachable with the standard in-cylinder pressure sensors

Sovereign Debt Restructuring and Debt Sustainability

Restoring a country's debt to a sustainable path after a sovereign debt restructuring is key to ensuring a credible and durable exit from the crisis. In recent years, a number of countries have restructured their sovereign liabilities, either following a default, or preemptively, to avoid a default. This Occasional Paper takes stock of the experiences of some of these countries--Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Moldova, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, and Uruguay--with debt-restructuring operations, with a view to assessing the outcomes and whether debt sustainability has been restored. The emphasis of the study is on sovereign debt owed to private creditors.

The Risk Premiumon Italian Government Debt, 1976-1988

This paper considers the behavior of the yield differential between government and nongovernment bonds in Italy between 1976 and 1988. It is shown that the trend increase of the differential observed in this period was significantly influenced by the deterioration of public finances, as reflected both by an increase in the relative supply of government with respect to nongovernment paper and by a worsening of selected default risk indicators. In addition, the effect of relative supply factors was found to be statistically more robust and quantitatively more important than the effect of risk indicators in explaining the movements of the yield differential.

The Risk Premium on Italian Government Debt, 1976-88

The behavior of the yield differential between government and nongovernment bonds in Italy between 1976 and 1988 is considered. The trend increase of the differential in this period was significantly influenced by the deterioration of public finances, as reflected both by an increase in the supply of government paper relative to nongovernment paper and by a worsening of selected default-risk indicators. The effect of relative supply factors, in turn, was found to be statistically more robust and quantitatively more important than that of risk indicators in explaining movements in yield differentials.