Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Survey of Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Microgrids using Networking Technologies

Intelligent buildings and microgrids are important parts of the future smart grid. The adoption and development process of the intelligent buildings has been slow. There are multiple technical and non-technical reasons. However, two recent trends have accelerated the research and application of the technologies related to this area. First, skyrocketing energy price and the global need for reducing fossil oil consumption for environmental sustainability combined with the fact that buildings are a significant source of energy consumption, making buildings intelligent and energy efficient will have huge impacts on the total CO2 emission and hence global sustainability. Second, rapid popularity and maturation of mobile smart phone technology and Internet technologies like cloud computing enable smart phone holders to be aware of their energy consumption and participate in controlling and running their buildings with seamless Internet connections. Cloud computing enables active interactions between the consumer-side (buildings) and the provider-side (smart grids). Hence, combining energy efficiency and networking perspectives, in this paper, we investigate the key research topics through a broad survey on the latest developments in intelligent buildings and our vision of microgrids formed by such buildings. Our aim is to draw an overall picture of the current research and potential future applications. Moreover, we further summarize and discuss in detail a series of key issues and trends that can potentially motivate and impact the adoption and development of the intelligent building and microgrid technologies in the near future.
The Costs of Favoritism: Is Politically Driven Aid Less Effective?

Governments provide foreign aid for both political and economic reasons, as is now well documented. Conventional wisdom holds that political motivations lower the effectiveness of aid in promoting developmental objectives. We test this claim by focusing on a setting in which we observe “effectiveness” with some precision, using the ex post performance ratings of World Bank projects. Our measures of “political importance” are plausibly exogenous: temporary membership on the UN Security Council or the World Bank Executive Board. We find that political motivations have a detrimental effect for Security Council members only when the country already faces excessive short-term debt or debt service. This finding suggests that political influence in aid allocation may impair aid’s effectiveness only when the recipient country faces a weak macroeconomic position.
Community Structure in Jazz

Using a database of jazz recordings we study the collaboration network of jazz musicians. We define the network at two different levels. First we study the collaboration network between individuals, where two musicians are connected if they have played in the same band. Then we consider the collaboration between bands, where two bands are connected if they have a musician in common. The community structure analysis reveals that these constructions capture essential ingredients of the social interactions between jazz musicians. We observe correlations between recording locations, racial segregation and the community structure. A quantitative analysis of the community size distribution reveals a surprising similarity with an e-mail based social network recently studied.
Epidemiology of acute viral gastroenteritis in children hospitalized in Rouen, France.

This study assessed the epidemiologic characteristics of acute viral gastroenteritis in hospitalized children. A stool sample obtained from each child was analyzed for the presence of astrovirus, calicivirus, rotavirus, adenovirus, enterovirus, and digestive bacteria. Of the 438 stool samples obtained, 138 tested positive for > or =1 pathogen during the winters of 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 (P<.001). Virologic tests revealed rotavirus in 17.3% of samples, calicivirus in 7.3%, astrovirus in 6.8%, adenovirus in 0.7%, and > or =1 virus in 5.4%. Median age was higher for patients with rotavirus gastroenteritis than it was for those with astrovirus or calicivirus gastroenteritis (P=.014). Mean duration of hospitalization was statistically significantly lower for children with rotavirus gastroenteritis (P=.022), despite the more-frequent dehydration observed among children with rotavirus versus those with astrovirus or calicivirus gastroenteritis (P=.007). In contrast, enteral rehydration was more rapidly achieved in patients with gastroenteritis due to rotavirus.
Intermediate Selection on a Developmental Journey

We examine the joint processes of organizational development and population selection to highlight a dynamic interaction overlooked when considering the processes in isolation. Selection does not operate on quasi-stable traits directly, but rather on contemporaneous performance. Consequently, stable search strategies may be favored by selection on bases other than long-run performance, such as intertemporal performance stability and the rate of performance improvement. Using a computational model of firm innovative efforts guided by stable search strategies under alternative selection regimes, we find that the relative efficacy of alternative search strategies is reversed depending upon the inclusion or exclusion of selection. -2
Learning Relational Sum-Product Networks

Sum-product networks (SPNs) are a recently-proposed deep architecture that guarantees tractable inference, even on certain high-treewidth models. SPNs are a propositional architecture, treating the instances as independent and identically distributed. In this paper, we introduce Relational Sum-Product Networks (RSPNs), a new tractable first-order probabilistic architecture. RSPNs generalize SPNs by modeling a set of instances jointly, allowing them to influence each other's probability distributions, as well as modeling probabilities of relations between objects. We also present LearnRSPN, the first algorithm for learning high-treewidth tractable statistical relational models. LearnRSPN is a recursive top-down structure learning algorithm for RSPNs, based on Gens and Domingos' LearnSPN algorithm for propositional SPN learning. We evaluate the algorithm on three datasets; the RSPN learning algorithm outperforms Markov Logic Networks in both running time and predictive accuracy.
Inner S‐cone bipolar cells provide all of the central elements for S cones in macaque retina

Synaptic terminals of cones (pedicles) are presynaptic to numerous processes that arise from the dendrites of many types of bipolar cell. One kind of process, a central element, reaches deeply into invaginations of the cone pedicle just below an active zone associated with a synaptic ribbon. By reconstruction from serial electron micrographs, we show that L‐ and M‐cone pedicles in macaque fovea are presynaptic to ∼20 central elements that arise from two types of inner (invaginating) bipolar cell, midget and diffuse. In contrast, S‐cone pedicles, with more synaptic ribbons, active zones/ribbon, and central elements/active zone, are presynaptic to ∼33 central elements. Moreover, all of these arise from one type of bipolar cell, previously described by others, here termed an inner S‐cone bipolar cell. Each provides ∼16 central elements. Thirty‐three is twice 16; correspondingly, these bipolar cells are twice as numerous as S cones. (Specifically, each S cone is presynaptic to four inner S‐cone bipolar cells; in turn, each bipolar cell provides central elements to two S cones.) These bipolar cells are presynaptic to an equal number of small‐field bistratified ganglion cells, giving cell numbers in 2G:2B:1S ratios. Each ganglion cell receives input from two or more inner S‐cone bipolar cells and thereby collects signals from three or more S cones. This convergence, along with chromatic aberration of short‐wavelength light, suggests that S‐cone contributions to this ganglion cell's coextensive blue‐ON/yellow‐OFF receptive field are larger than opponent L/M‐cone contributions via outer diffuse bipolar cells and that opponent L/M‐cone signals are conveyed mainly by inner S‐cone bipolar cells. J. Comp. Neurol. 457:185–201, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Field Tests of a Particulate Impaction Curtain on Emissions from a High-Rise Layer Barn

Particulate matter (PM) emission rates from two high-rise layer barns (barns 1 and 2) were measured from August 1, 2004 to January 31, 2005. A commercial particulate impaction curtain (PIC) installed parallel to the pit sidewalls of barn 2 removed PM by impaction. Particulate matter before and after the PIC were monitored with the Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM) for PM10 over a 48-hr period once or twice per week with a gravimetric sampler for total suspended particulate (TSP). Average untreated daily mean PM10 emission were 30 and 35 mg d-1 hen-1, while mean TSP emissions were 281 (control) and 152 mg/s (treated) from barns 1 and 2, respectively. The mean treated PM10 emission rate was 22 mg d-1 hen-1 and was decreased by 41% based on measurements before and after the PIC, but some dilution occurred from backflow through nonoperating fans. Some important practical issues currently hinder the use of PIC in high-rise layer barns.
Alexithymia and fibromyalgia: clinical evidence

This review proposes a critical discussion of the latest studies investigating the presence of alexithymia in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and its relation to other psychological disorders. The focus is on the most relevant literature exploring the relationship between FM, a chronic pain syndrome, and alexithymia, an affective dysregulation, largely observed in psychosomatic diseases. The articles were selected from the Medline/Pubmed database using the search terms “Fibromyalgia,” “Alexithymia,” and “Psychological Distress. ” Of the seven studies fulfilling these criteria, one found no differences between FM patients and the control group, four found significant differences, with higher levels of alexithymia in the FM sample, while two showed unclear results. Overall, the majority of findings highlighted the high prevalence of alexithymia in FM patients. Future studies should clarify the role of alexithymia in FM, paying attention to two principal aspects: the use, as a control group, of patients with chronic pain conditions but a low psychosomatic component, and the use of other measures, in addition to the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), to assess alexithymia.
Early and long term coronary artery bypass grafting outcomes in patients under 45 years of age.

BACKGROUND In Poland, mortality and morbidity rates due to ischaemic heart disease (IHD) remain high and concern the whole population. An interesting issue is rapid development of IHD in some younger subjects and uncertain treatment outcomes in this patient subset. Premature cessation of professional activity, along with worsening of quality of life due to IHD in the population under 45 years of age is a huge medical, economic, and social problem. Only few studies evaluated early and long-term outcomes of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) used for the treatment of IHD in young patients, especially in premenopausal women. AIM The purpose of the study was to analyse early and long-term outcomes of CABG in patients under 45 years of age. METHODS We studied 125 patients under 45 years of age who underwent a CABG procedure. The study group included 65 women aged 27-45 (mean 41.5 ± 3.5) years operated upon in 1990-1999, and 60 men aged 33-45 (mean 41 ± 3.2) years operated upon in 1993. We evaluated early postoperative outcomes. The two genders were compared in regard to survival free from death, recurrent angina, and repeated myocardial during long-term follow-up. We also evaluated other variables such as education level, professional activity, and exposure to IHD risk factors before and after the operation. RESULTS Seven women and two men died in hospital after CABG (p = 0.2). Analysis of major postoperative outcomes like myocardial infarction, low cardiac output syndrome requiring support with intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP), a lower limb amputation following the use of IABP, ischaemic stroke, and respiratory failure showed that these complications were significantly more frequent in women than in men (p < 0.01). Differences between the two groups regarding other adverse outcomes including atrial fibrillation, sternal instability, haemothorax, and pneumothorax were not significant. Analysis of long-term survival curves did not show any significant differences between men and women in regard to rates of death, recurrent angina, and the need for repeated myocardial revascularisation (p = 0.64, p = 0.93, and p = 0.13, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Young women who underwent CABG were burdened with higher early postoperative morbidity and mortality than young men. However, long-term outcomes (mortality, recurrent angina, and repeated myocardial revascularisation rates) did not differ significantly between the two groups. Regardless of gender, repeated myocardial revascularisation rate was significantly higher among those patients who continued to smoke after the surgery (p < 0.01).
STRONG FIELD EFFECTS ON PULSAR ARRIVAL TIMES: CIRCULAR ORBITS AND EQUATORIAL BEAMS

If a pulsar orbits a supermassive black hole, the timing of pulses that pass close to the hole will show a variety of strong field effects. To compute the intensity and timing of pulses that have passed close to a nonrotating black hole, we introduce here a simple formalism based on two “universal functions,” one for the bending of photon trajectories and the other for the photon travel time on these trajectories. We apply this simple formalism to the case of a pulsar in circular orbit that beams its pulses into the orbital plane. In addition to the “primary” pulses that reach the receiver by a more-or-less direct path, we find that there are secondary and higher-order pulses. These are usually much dimmer than the primary pulses, but they can be of comparable or even greater intensity if they are emitted when pulsar is on the side of the hole furthest from the receiver. We show that there is a phase relationship of the primary and secondary pulses that is a probe of the strongly curved spacetime geometry. Analogs of these phenomena are expected in more general configurations, in which a pulsar in orbit around a hole emits pulses that are not confined to the orbital plane.
Provider Perspectives on Sex Trafficking: Victim Pathways, Service Needs, & Blurred Boundaries

ABSTRACT This study examines service providers’ perspectives on survivors of trafficking using a purposeful sample of professionals specializing in intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and child maltreatment. Entry points into trafficking included recruitment by Romeo pimps, survival sex, kidnapping, and deceptive offers of employment. Service needs of survivors were described as more extreme and enduring than those of other types of victims served, with particular needs in long-term housing, health and mental health, substance use treatment, legal aid, and employment assistance. An overarching issue involved survivors’ dual identities as both victims and offenders, including self-identification and understanding/treatment by human service providers and law enforcement officers.
Transitional funding: Changing Ontario's global budgeting system

In 1988, Ontario introduced transitional funding, a collaborative process between the Ministry of Health and the hospitals to modify Ontario's global budgeting system. The goals are to achieve greater equity; encourage hospital efficiency, and promote a shift from inpatient to outpatient services. To implement these goals, inpatient care is being measured in terms of case-mix groups, i.e., a classification system comparable to the diagnosis-related groups. However, since there is no patient level cost data, cost weights are being derived from patient-level data from New York State. Transitional funding draws attention to both positive and negative aspects of global budgeting.
Bayesian Games and the Smoothness Framework

We consider a general class of Bayesian Games where each players utility depends on his type (possibly multidimensional) and on the strategy profile and where players' types are distributed independently. We show that if their full information version for any fixed instance of the type profile is a smooth game then the Price of Anarchy bound implied by the smoothness property, carries over to the Bayes-Nash Price of Anarchy. We show how some proofs from the literature (item bidding auctions, greedy auctions) can be cast as smoothness proofs or be simplified using smoothness. For first price item bidding with fractionally subadditive bidders we actually manage to improve by much the existing result \cite{Hassidim2011a} from 4 to $\frac{e}{e-1}\approx 1.58$. This also shows a very interesting separation between first and second price item bidding since second price item bidding has PoA at least 2 even under complete information. For a larger class of Bayesian Games where the strategy space of a player also changes with his type we are able to show that a slightly stronger definition of smoothness also implies a Bayes-Nash PoA bound. We show how weighted congestion games actually satisfy this stronger definition of smoothness. This allows us to show that the inefficiency bounds of weighted congestion games known in the literature carry over to incomplete versions where the weights of the players are private information. We also show how an incomplete version of a natural class of monotone valid utility games, called effort market games are universally $(1,1)$-smooth. Hence, we show that incomplete versions of effort market games where the abilities of the players and their budgets are private information has Bayes-Nash PoA at most 2.
Clustering and collisions of heavy particles in random smooth flows

Finite-size impurities suspended in incompressible flows distribute inhomogeneously, leading to a drastic enhancement of collisions. A description of the dynamics in the full position-velocity phase space is essential to understand the underlying mechanisms, especially for polydisperse suspensions. These issues are studied here for particles much heavier than the fluid by means of a Lagrangian approach. It is shown that inertia enhances collision rates through two effects: correlation among particle positions induced by the carrier flow and uncorrelation between velocities due to their finite size. A phenomenological model yields an estimate of collision rates for particle pairs with different sizes. This approach is supported by numerical simulations in random flows.
Motivation to Pursue Higher Education

by David W. Knutsen, Ed.D. Olivet Nazarene University May 2011 Major Area: Ethical Leadership Number of Words: 151 Non-traditional college students now comprise an ever increasing portion of the overall number of college students but little is known about the factors that motivate one to pursue higher education. The purpose of this study was to explore the motivating factors, both extrinsic and intrinsic, that lead U.S. workers to pursue higher education. This research was conducted using 200 students of Robert Morris University and the data were collected using a survey instrument that measures the extent to which various factors influenced one’s motivation to pursue higher education. Analysis of the data revealed that overall the most important extrinsic factor rated was “to increase my job opportunities”, and the most important intrinsic factor was “to advance my personal growth”. Additional analysis also revealed no main effect of gender though some interaction, a significant correlation between the survey items and age, and a main effect of ethnicity of participant and item rated. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page
POTENTIALS OF BIOENERGY FROM THE SAGO INDUSTRIES IN MALAYSIA

The sago palm grows without the need for any form of fertilization, apart from some ground clearing during its first year of growth. It thrives mainly on peat soil which is unsuitable for most other crops. These make sago palm the best option as the starch source for tropical countries. Although the initial waiting period is long (up to 10 years for the plant to be harvestable), sago is the world’s highest starch producer at 25t/ha/year. The effluent which flows into the rivers is potentially polluting to the environment, more due to the voluminous amount of liquid and suspended solids, than from the minor concentrations of starch and sugar residues. The focus of this project is the production of bio-ethanol on the wastewater and solid residues (fibres), on the average containing about 3% starch and 5% dry matter, respectively.
Warrick`s Principle, Implied Linkages and the Effect of Hand/Control Location~!2009-05-27~!2009-07-28~!2009-12-24~!

In two-dimensional display/control relationships, Warrick’s principle has been found to be an important factor in determining stereotype strengths. This principle has an ‘implied linkage’ that may bias the responses of persons such as engineers who have knowledge of mechanisms and hence produce stereotypes that are not representative of the general population. It is shown that such ‘implied linkages’ may also exist for three-dimensional display/control relationships, where the control is not in the same plane as the display. A further factor in such cases may be a ‘hand/control location’ (HCL) effect that is a physically-based factor related to the location of the control relative to the body, and hence to handedness, hand used and hand posture used in controlling. Several examples show the validity of this concept for both twoand three-dimensional display-control relationships.
The policy dilemma of the unitary patent

This paper provides new evidence about the budgetary consequences – for patent offices – of the coexistence of the forthcoming Unitary Patent (UP) with the current European Patent (EP). Simulation results illustrate a dilemma between (1) high UP renewal fees to ensure enough financial income for all national patent offices (NPOs) and (2) low UP renewal fees to make the UP system affordable, with very few NPOs losing on financial revenues. The simulations help to understand the positions of several patent offices, and underline an alternative way to proceed with the negotiations while reducing financial risks for the whole system.
Type _{∞} factors generated by purely infinite simple C*-algebras associated with free groups

Let Γ = G1 ∗G2 ∗ . ∗Gn ∗ . be a free product of at least two but at most countably many cyclic groups. With each such group Γ we associate a family of C*-algebras, denoted C∗ r (Γ,PΛ) and generated by the reduced group C*-algebra C∗ r Γ and a collection PΛ of projections onto the `2-spaces over certain subsets of Γ. We determine W ∗(Γ,PΛ), the weak closure of C∗ r (Γ,PΛ) in L(`2(Γ)), and use this result to show that many of the C*-algebras in question are non-nuclear.
Addressing interoperability in open hypermedia: The design of the open hypermedia protocol

Abstract Early hypertext systems were monolithic and closed, but newer systems tend to be open, distributed, and support collaboration. While this development has resulted in increased openness and flexibility, integration or adaptation of various different tools (such as content editors, viewers, services, or even other link servers) has remained a tedious task. Many developers were implementing essentially similar components, simply for the benefit of having their own platform on which to experiment with hypertexts. The open hypermedia community is addressing this issue of interoperability between open hypermedia systems. The goal of this effort is to provide an open framework that can be used by application developers outside the community to construct more powerful hypermedia-aware applications. The design and evolution of this framework is presented along with the requirements that drove its development. The framework has matured to the point where it has supported the creation of a number of researc.