Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Efficient Particle Swarm Optimization with Time Varying Acceleration Coefficients to Solve Economic Dispatch Problem with Valve Point Loading

This paper proposes a particle swarm optimization approach with time varying acceleration coeffi- cients(TVAC_PSO) for an extensive study of the economic dispatch problem with valve point loading(EDVPL). An optimal short-term thermal generation schedule for 24 time intervals has been presented for the same purpose. In this paper, trans- mission losses and valve-point loading(VPL) have been considered. The VPL effect results in higher order nonlinearities in the input-output characteristics of a generator. For demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method two test systems, first one comprising of three generators and the second one comprising of thirteen generators, have been considered. The performance of the proposed method has been compared with various PSO strategies. The results show that the proposed TVAC_PSO strategy provides comparatively better solutions in terms of total fuel cost as compared to other PSO strategies. Also, the global search capability is enhanced and premature convergence is avoided.
Measurement of Lung Diffusion and Cardiac Output with a Single Breath Gas Absorption Method During Graded Exercise Testing: Reference Values for Clinical Testing

Measurement of lung diffusion and cardiac output with a single breath gas absorption method during graded exercise testing: reference values for clinical testing. Objective: The evaluation of ventilation and gas exchange has become a standard part of clinical exercise testing. We sought to assess the practicality of integrating measurements of lung diffusion for carbon monoxide (DLCO) and non- invasive cardiac output (using pulmonary capillary blood flow QC) into our clinical graded exercise tests. Our objective was to define the responses in normal subjects so that impairment could be detected in patients suspected of having pulmonary or pulmonary vascular disease despite normal resting DLCO and QC. We conducted incremental exercise tests on 20 normal volunteers at 6 levels of exercise ranging between rest and 75% of their measured maximum. The investigational method is based on absorption of CO (for DLCO) and acetylene (for QC) into the pulmonary circulation during a single slow exhalation. The subjects averaged 35 years of age with a maximum work capacity of 76% of predicted maximum. Results: The values increased linearly with workload (QC in L/min = 3.5 + 6.5*VO2 in L/min, and DLCO in ml/min/mmHg = 18.7 + 10.2*VO2 in L/min). From baseline levels the QC increased more than two-fold and the DLCO increased by 50%. The mean deviation of individual measurements from the patient's regressed response was 9.9% and 6.6% respectively. Conclusions: We found the procedure easy to include in our standard graded exercise protocol and the single breath technique readily performed. Normative values were obtained for measurements expressed as a percentage of individual maximum and as actual VO2. At a moderate level of exercise (VO2 1.0 liter) the DLCO and QC should increase at least 20% and 65% respectively above baseline. Since the response of Qc and DLCO to progressive exercise offers pathophysiological information of clinical interest, its application can now be characterized in patients with different disorders including those with normal resting Qc and DLCO.
New Product Diffusion: A Dual Word-Of-Mouth Perspective

Word-of-Mouth plays its great important role on the base of social network in affecting consumers’ shopping behaviour. However, it is little known how firms make a self-suitable marketing strategy according to both online and offline WOM effect in their product diffusion. This article investigates a new product diffusion process taking both offline WOM and online WOM effect into consideration. Specifically, we compare three marketing strategies by predicting product diffusion level during its product life cycle and assist managers to improve cost efficiency. The findings indicate that product peak sales rate and cumulative sales at peak time would be highest when managers market their products only through the Internet. However, product peak adopting time is not determined by the strategy which the manager takes but impacted by the relationship between coefficients. Parameter analysis is further provided to extract more managerial insights.
Automated identification of insect vectors of Chagas disease in Brazil and Mexico: the Virtual Vector Lab

Identification of arthropods important in disease transmission is a crucial, yet difficult, task that can demand considerable training and experience. An important case in point is that of the 150+ species of Triatominae, vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease across the Americas. We present a fully automated system that is able to identify triatomine bugs from Mexico and Brazil with an accuracy consistently above 80%, and with considerable potential for further improvement. The system processes digital photographs from a photo apparatus into landmarks, and uses ratios of measurements among those landmarks, as well as (in a preliminary exploration) two measurements that approximate aspects of coloration, as the basis for classification. This project has thus produced a working prototype that achieves reasonably robust correct identification rates, although many more developments can and will be added, and—more broadly—the project illustrates the value of multidisciplinary collaborations in resolving difficult and complex challenges.
In Vitro Studies of Neuronal Networks and Synaptic Plasticity in Invertebrates and in Mammals Using Multielectrode Arrays

Brain functions are strictly dependent on neural connections formed during development and modified during life. The cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying synaptogenesis and plastic changes involved in learning and memory have been analyzed in detail in simple animals such as invertebrates and in circuits of mammalian brains mainly by intracellular recordings of neuronal activity. In the last decades, the evolution of techniques such as microelectrode arrays (MEAs) that allow simultaneous, long-lasting, noninvasive, extracellular recordings from a large number of neurons has proven very useful to study long-term processes in neuronal networks in vivo and in vitro. In this work, we start off by briefly reviewing the microelectrode array technology and the optimization of the coupling between neurons and microtransducers to detect subthreshold synaptic signals. Then, we report MEA studies of circuit formation and activity in invertebrate models such as Lymnaea, Aplysia, and Helix. In the following sections, we analyze plasticity and connectivity in cultures of mammalian dissociated neurons, focusing on spontaneous activity and electrical stimulation. We conclude by discussing plasticity in closed-loop experiments.
The influence of leadership styles (as per Lewin) on the strategy-formulation-implementation-performance gap : An exploratory case study of selected organisations in the South African wine industry

Purpose: The strategy-to-performance gap is a contemporary problem that causes organisations to perform less than optimal or fail. Leadership, strategy and performance are complex areas of research on the topic with lack of conclusive results, and solutions to the issue remain elusive. This study offered a clearer understanding of the problem. Design: This qualitative study explored leadership style in the context of strategy execution with the objective of offering a better understanding of performance and the strategy-to-performance gap. The study is a case study of selected organisations in the wine industry in South Africa. Data were collected via interviews on leadership figures and employees. Data were analysed qualitatively. Findings: The study confirmed the existence and issues surrounding the strategy-toperformance gap. Some findings concurred with previous studies on the gap and confirmed that it is intertwined with leadership and strategy execution issues. New themes were identified that contributed to the field of study and could prove to be valuable to narrow the strategy-to-performance gap in future. Value: Leadership is linked with performance in literature but there was limited research found on leadership style specifically in the context of the strategy-toperformance gap. This study confirmed issues surrounding the gap and it was found that the issue is a contemporary problem affecting organisational performance in various ways. This contributed to a better understanding of the problem. New themes that emerged could prove valuable to further research. Leadership and specifically leadership styles (as per Lewin) were found to influence and be interwoven with the strategy-to-performance gap. This study is original as it is the first study that explored leadership styles specifically in the context of the other key themes: strategy and the strategy-to-performance gap. The new themes that emerged are leadership style requirements from an employee satisfaction perspective as well as specific skills suggested to improve performance, all highlighted in the findings. Recommendations: Further research could explore leadership styles in more detail with regard to the strategy-to-performance gap. New themes in the context of strategy execution and leadership style could also be valuable. Future studies could also potentially evaluate the key themes with other measurement instruments such as different leadership styles or different performance criteria.
The Effects of a Four-Week Summer Bridge Program.

This study reports the results of the pre and post mathematics test administered to student participants of the 2001 Summer Bridge Program, sponsored by the Minority Engineering, Mathematics and Science Department (MEMS) at the University of New Mexico (UNM). There was a four-week time span between the administration of the standardized test, which was administered to 28 incoming science, engineering and mathematics (SEM) students by UNM's Testing Center. Results showed that there was an increase in the initial mathematics placement of approximately 42.9% of the students. There was also an increase in the mean, median and mode of the algebra component of the test, and a change in the correlations between several of the eight variables. (Author) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. The Effects of a Week-Four Summer Bridge Program
An Integrated Common Gate CTLE Receiver Front End with Charge Mode Adaptation

This work presents a first common gate continuous time linear equalizer (CG-CTLE) with charge mode adaptation in 1.1 V, 65 nm CMOS technology. The proposed equalizer is realized with a common gate topology and offers an input impedance of 50 Ω. It also acts as a first stage of current mode receiver and is made adaptive to varying channel loss. Therefore, the need for an external termination to avoid reflections and the need for a trans-impedance amplifier as receiver's first stage is eliminated. The proposed CG-CTLE is compared with conventional common source (CS) CTLE and it outperforms CSCTLE in terms of bandwidth and bit error rate (BER) for the same targeted output signal swing and power consumption. The post layout performance results show that it offers an input impedance of 44.6 Ω, input referred noise of 19.6 √pA/Hz, BER = 10-13 and consumes 13.9 mW power while operating at a data rate of 15 Gbps over a 7.5 inch FR4 PCB trace.
Meta-Analysis of the Relationships between Different Leadership Practices and Organizational, Teaming, Leader, and Employee Outcomes.

* This study was supported, in part, by funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (No. 325B120004) for the Early Childhood Personnel Center, University of Connecticut Health Center. The contents and opinions expressed, however, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy or official position of either the Department or Office and no endorsement should be inferred or implied. The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Cores of Vertex Transitive Graphs

A core of a graph X is a vertex minimal subgraph to which X admits a homomorphism. Hahn and Tardif have shown that for vertex transitive graphs, the size of the core must divide the size of the graph. This motivates the following question: when can the vertex set of a vertex transitive graph be partitioned into sets each of which induce a copy of its core? We show that normal Cayley graphs and vertex transitive graphs with cores half their size always admit such partitions. We also show that the vertex sets of vertex transitive graphs with cores less than half their size do not, in general, have such partitions.
Fostering social capital in a learning network: laying the groundwork for a peer-support service

In online learning environments, communities are desirable, or as is the case for a learning network, even essential. This raises the question of how to attain and sustain these communities. In this article, we argue that this can be achieved by fostering the social capital of the learning network. It is argued that this can be achieved by: 1) improving the relationship characteristics; 2) increasing the sense of belonging to the community; 3) heightening the mutual support. It is hypothesised that these improvements can be achieved by using so called Ad-Hoc Transient Groups (AHTGs). These groups are a means through which learners are brought together for a specific, learning-related goal ('ad-hoc') and for only a limited amount of time ('transience'). In order to deepen the concept of AHTGs, a relevant theoretical background as well as requirements for peer-support service that utilises Ad-Hoc Transient Groups is provided. This is followed by an example of how the service can be implemented in an existing learning network (eTwinning). Finally, conclusions are drawn and future research discussed.
CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES OF THE LEO II DWARF GALAXY

We use previously published moderate-resolution spectra in combination with stellar atmosphere models to derive the first measured chemical abundance ratios in the Leo II dwarf Spheroidal (dSph) galaxy. We find that for spectra with signal-to-noise ratio greater than 24, we are able to measure abundances from weak Ti, Fe, and Mg lines located near the calcium infrared triplet (CaT). We also quantify and discuss discrepancies between the metallicities measured from Fe i lines and those estimated from the CaT features. We find that while the most metal-poor ([Fe/H] <−2.0]) Leo II stars have Ca and Ti abundance ratios similar to those of Galactic globular clusters, the more metal-rich stars show a gradual decline of Ti, Mg, and Ca abundance ratio with increasing metallicity. Finding these trends in this distant and apparently dynamically stable dSph galaxy supports the hypothesis that the slow chemical enrichment histories of the dSph galaxies is universal, independent of any interaction with the Milky Way. Combining our spectroscopic abundances with published broadband photometry and updated isochrones, we are able to approximate stellar ages for our bright red giant branch stars to a relative precision of 2–3 Gyr. While the derived age-metallicity relationship of Leo II hints at some amount of slow enrichment, the data are still statistically consistent with no enrichment over the history of Leo II.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between lipoprotein lipase Asn291Ser variant and diseases Published, JLR Papers in Press, June 1, 2006.

This systematic review attempted to summarize the associations between the Asn291Ser variant in the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene and dyslipidemia, the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and coronary heart disease (CHD). In addition, the relationships between the Asn291Ser variant and other metabolic diseases such as obesity and high blood pressure were also investigated in this systematic review. We systematically reviewed the literature by means of a meta-analysis. Twenty-one articles, including 19,246 white subjects, were selected for this meta-analysis. The summary standardized mean difference (SMD) of plasma triglyceride (TG) for carriers compared with noncarriers of the Asn291Ser variant was 3.23 (P < 0.00001). The summary SMD of plasma HDL-cholsterol (HDL-C) for carriers compared with noncarriers of the Asn291Ser variant was −3.42 (P < 0.0001). The summary SMD of the association of the Asn291Ser variant with plasma TG increased with increasing age and weight gain. Significant interactions between the LPL Asn291Ser variant and fasting glucose, T2DM, and CHD were seen (P = 0.02, 0.04, and 0.01, respectively). No significant interactions were seen between the LPL Asn291Ser variant and body mass index, waist–hip ratio, and blood pressure (P > 0.05). This meta-analysis indicates that the Asn291Ser variant in the LPL gene is a risk factor for dyslipidemia, characterized by hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL-C levels. And the Asn291Ser variant in the LPL gene predisposes to more severe dyslipidemia with increasing age and weight gain. Also, this meta-analysis shows that the LPL Asn291Ser variant is associated with CHD and T2DM.
Who shouts louder?: exerting power across distance and culture

Despite the increasing attention to multi-cultural collaboration, power in global distributed teams is hardly discussed in research. We used a qualitative, interpretive research method to study four multi-cultural teams from three globally distributed companies in the electronics and software industry in Asia, US, and Europe. Geographic distance hindered remote leaders' power and achieving task compliance by creating competing lines of authority and diminishing visibility and awareness of team conditions. Cultural distance between leaders and team members challenged leaders in adapting leadership behavior according to cultural differences. Cultural awareness and language skills both in lingua franca and local language increased the power of remote leaders.
Temporal properties of visual motion signals for the initiation of smooth pursuit eye movements in monkeys.

1. Our goal was to assess whether visual motion signals related to changes in image velocity contribute to pursuit eye movements. We recorded the smooth eye movements evoked by ramp target motion at constant speed. In two different kinds of stimuli, the onset of target motion provided either an abrupt, step change in target velocity or a smooth target acceleration that lasted 125 ms followed by prolonged target motion at constant velocity. We measured the eye acceleration in the first 100 ms of pursuit. Because of the 100-ms latency from the onset of visual stimuli to the onset of smooth eye movement, the eye acceleration in this 100-ms interval provides an estimate of the open-loop response of the visuomotor pathways that drive pursuit. 2. For steps of target velocity, eye acceleration in the first 100 ms of pursuit depended on the "motion onset delay," defined as the interval between the appearance of the target and the onset of motion. If the motion onset delay was > 100 ms, then the initial eye movement consisted of separable early and late phases of eye acceleration. The early phase dominated eye acceleration in the interval from 0 to 40 ms after pursuit onset and was relatively insensitive to image speed. The late phase dominated eye acceleration in the interval 40-100 ms after the onset of pursuit and had an amplitude that was proportional to image speed. If there was no delay between the appearance of the target and the onset of its motion, then the early component was not seen, and eye acceleration was related to target speed throughout the first 100 ms of pursuit. 3. For step changes of target velocity, the relationship between eye acceleration in the first 40 ms of pursuit and target velocity saturated at target speeds > 10 degrees /s. In contrast, the relationship was nearly linear when eye acceleration was measured in the interval 40-100 ms after the onset of pursuit. We suggest that the first 40 ms of pursuit are driven by a transient visual motion input that is related to the onset of target motion (motion onset transient component) and that the next 60 ms are driven by a sustained visual motion input (image velocity component). 4. When the target accelerated smoothly for 125 ms before moving at constant speed, the initiation of pursuit resembled that evoked by steps of target velocity. However, the latency of pursuit was consistently longer for smooth target accelerations than for steps of target velocity. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The influence of chemical composition on the properties of Cepheid stars. II - The iron content ⋆

Context. The Cepheid period-luminosity (PL) relation is unquestionably one of the most powerful tools at our disposal for determining the extragalactic distance scale. While significant progress has been made in the past few years towards its understanding and characterization both on the observational and theoretical sides, the debate on the influence that chemical composition may have on the PL relation is still unsettled. Aims. With the aim to assess the influence of the stellar iron content on the PL relation in the V and K bands, we have related the V -band and the K -band residuals from the standard PL relations of Freedman et al. (2001, ApJ, 553, 47) and Persson et al. (2004, AJ, 128, 2239), respectively, to [Fe/H]. Methods. We used direct measurements of the iron abundances of 68 Galactic and Magellanic Cepheids from FEROS and UVES high-resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra. Results. We find a mean iron abundance ([Fe/H]) about solar ($\sigma $= 0.10) for our Galactic sample (32 stars), ~-0.33 dex ( σ = 0.13) for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) sample (22 stars) and ~-0.75 dex ( σ = 0.08) for the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) sample (14 stars). Our abundance measurements of the Magellanic Cepheids double the number of stars studied up to now at high resolution. The metallicity affects the V -band Cepheid PL relation and metal-rich Cepheids appear to be systematically fainter than metal-poor ones. These findings depend neither on the adopted distance scale for Galactic Cepheids nor on the adopted LMC distance modulus. Current data do not allow us to reach a firm conclusion concerning the metallicity dependence of the K -band PL relation. The new Galactic distances indicate a small effect, whereas the old ones support a marginal effect. Conclusions. Recent robust estimates of the LMC distance and current results indicate that the Cepheid PL relation is not Universal.
The unconventional myosin, Myo2p, is a calmodulin target at sites of cell growth in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Myo2p is an unconventional myosin required for polarized growth in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Four lines of evidence suggest that (a) Myo2p is a target of calmodulin at sites of cell growth, and (b) the interaction between Myo2p and calmodulin is Ca2+ independent. First, as assessed by indirect immunofluorescence, the distributions of Myo2p and calmodulin are nearly indistinguishable throughout the cell cycle. Second, a genetic analysis indicates that mutations in CMD1 show allele- specific synthetic lethality with the myo2-66 conditional mutation. Mutations that inactivate the Ca(2+)-binding sites of calmodulin have little or no effect on strains carrying myo2-66, whereas an allele with a mutation outside the Ca(2+)-binding sites dramatically increases the severity of the phenotype conferred by myo2-66. Third, Myo2p coimmunoprecipitates with calmodulin in the presence of Ca2+ or EGTA. Finally, we used a modified gel overlay assay to demonstrate direct interaction between calmodulin and fusion proteins containing portions of Myo2p. Calmodulin binds specifically to the region of Myo2p containing six tandem repeats of a motif called an IQ site. Binding occurs in either Ca2+ or EGTA, and only two sites are required to observe binding.