Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maximum power point tracking using Very high frequency resonant DC/DC converter for photovoltaic systems

A modified Very-high-frequency (VHF, 30-300 MHz) resonant converter has been introduced in this proposed system of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) to extract solar power out of PV arrays with greater stability. For the purpose of assessing the duty cycles of resonant, MPPT controller is used. The proposed modified design of this type of converter features reduced conduction loss at the load side, reduced core loss, low device voltage stress, high efficiency over a wide load range, and excellent transient performance. The conduction losses have been reduced based on soft switching technique by replacing the diode with MOSFET. For all kinds of simulation and development, MATLAB Simulink is used. The overall system efficiency, amount of ripple current on both PV side and load portion, power on both sides and investigation on system stability under several conditions have been considered. From the simulation result, it can be seen that the overall system efficiency has been improved. The significant advantage of this proposed system is that there are low ripple content in both the current of PV side and load side.
Laying the Foundations: Transitional Experiences of MatureStudents in an Irish Further Education Setting

The aim of this study is to explore the transitional experiences of mature students in an Irish Further Education (FE) setting. In exploring my research area, I decided upon two main areas for focus including; the motivation of mature students coming to FE as well as the first-term challenges experienced amongst mature students in relation to, confidence, assessments, digital competence and learning with younger peers. Qualitative research was the adopted methodology for this study. Semi-structured interviews were the chosen data collection method as they facilitated an in depth exploration of my areas of interest. Non-probable purposive sampling was used to recruit eight participants who were studying in Further Education at the time. Open-ended questions were used to ensure that the interviews kept in close alignment to the research questions throughout The findings in this study suggest that participants were both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to come to FE, with all participants indicating towards passion and interest for their subject area. In addition, participants indicated that a trigger of some form (such as unemployment) was responsible for leading them to FE at this point in time. Additionally, this study revealed other insights into the mature learner transition including; a fear of academic failure, lack of foresight about the workload, feelings of digital incompetence as well as tensions experienced when learning alongside younger peers. The findings of this research provides educators, providers of education and other stakeholders interesting insights into the area of transition for mature learners in an FE context. It is important to note that while these findings have accurately represented the accounts of eight participants, they cannot be deemed representative of the mature learner population. This research was refined to one college, and so was not comparable with other FE settings.
Upper bound analysis and routing in optical benes networks

Multistage Interconnection Networks (MIN) are popular in switching and communication applications. It has been used in telecommunication and parallel computing systems for many years. The new challenge facing optical MIN is crosstalk, which is caused by coupling two signals within a switching element. Crosstalk is not too big an issue in the Electrical Domain, but due to the stringent Bit Error Rate (BER) constraint, it is a big major concern in the Optical Domain. In this research dissertation, we will study the blocking probability in the optical network and we will study the deterministic conditions for strictly non-blocking Vertical Stacked Optical Benes Networks (VSOBN) with and without worst-case scenarios. We will establish the upper bound on blocking probability of Vertical Stacked Optical Benes Networks with respect to the number of planes used when the non-blocking requirement is not met. We will then study routing in WDM Benes networks and propose a new routing algorithm so that the number of wavelengths can be reduced. Since routing in WDM optical network is an NP-hard problem, many heuristic algorithms are designed by many researchers to perform this routing. We will also develop a genetic algorithm, simulated annealing algorithm and ant colony technique and apply these AI algorithms to route the connections in WDM Benes network.
Construction Of Critical Thinking Skills Test Instrument Related The Concept On Sound Wave

This study aimed to construct test instrument of critical thinking skills of high school students related the concept on sound wave. This research using a mixed methods with sequential exploratory design, consists of: 1) a preliminary study; 2) design and review of test instruments. The form of test instruments in essay questions, consist of 18 questions that was divided into 5 indicators and 8 sub-indicators of the critical thinking skills expressed by Ennis, with questions that are qualitative and contextual. Phases of preliminary study include: a) policy studies; b) survey to the school; c) and literature studies. Phases of the design and review of test instruments consist of two steps, namely a draft design of test instruments include: a) analysis of the depth of teaching materials; b) the selection of indicators and sub-indicators of critical thinking skills; c) analysis of indicators and sub-indicators of critical thinking skills; d) implementation of indicators and sub-indicators of critical thinking skills; and e) making the descriptions about the test instrument. In the next phase of the review test instruments, consist of: a) writing about the test instrument; b) validity test by experts; and c) revision of test instruments based on the validator.
Semi-hyperbolic patches of solutions of the pressure gradient system

We construct patches of self-similar solutions, in which one family out of two nonlinear families of characteristics starts on sonic curves and ends on transonic shock waves, to the two-dimensional pressure gradient system. This type of solutions is common in the solutions of two-dimensional Riemann problems, as seen from numerical experiments. They are not determined by the hyperbolic domain of determinacy in the traditional sense. They are middle-way between the fully hyperbolic (supersonic) and elliptic region, which we call semi-hyperbolic or partially hyperbolic. Our intention is to use the patches as building tiles to construct global solutions to general Riemann problems.
Domestic and sexual violence against patients with severe mental illness

Background Domestic and sexual violence are significant public health problems but little is known about the extent to which men and women with severe mental illness (SMI) are at risk compared with the general population. We aimed to compare the prevalence and impact of violence against SMI patients and the general population. Method Three hundred and three randomly recruited psychiatric patients, in contact with community services for ⩾1 year, were interviewed using the British Crime Survey domestic/sexual violence questionnaire. Prevalence and correlates of violence in this sample were compared with those from 22 606 general population controls participating in the contemporaneous 2011/12 national crime survey. Results Past-year domestic violence was reported by 27% v. 9% of SMI and control women, respectively [odds ratio (OR) adjusted for socio-demographics, aOR 2.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7–4.0], and by 13% v. 5% of SMI and control men, respectively (aOR 1.6, 95% CI 1.0–2.8). Past-year sexual violence was reported by 10% v. 2.0% of SMI and control women respectively (aOR 2.9, 95% CI 1.4–5.8). Family (non-partner) violence comprised a greater proportion of overall domestic violence among SMI than control victims (63% v. 35%, p < 0.01). Adulthood serious sexual assault led to attempted suicide more often among SMI than control female victims (53% v. 3.4%, p < 0.001). Conclusions Compared to the general population, patients with SMI are at substantially increased risk of domestic and sexual violence, with a relative excess of family violence and adverse health impact following victimization. Psychiatric services, and public health and criminal justice policies, need to address domestic and sexual violence in this at-risk group.
Provider-Initiated HIV Testing and Counselling in Rwanda: Acceptability among Clinic Attendees and Workers, Reasons for Testing and Predictors of Testing

Introduction Routine provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (PITC) may increase HIV testing rates, but whether PITC is acceptable to health facility (HF) attendees is unclear. In the course of a PITC intervention study in Rwanda, we assessed the acceptability of PITC, reasons for being or not being tested and factors associated with HIV testing. Methods Attendees were systematically interviewed in March 2009 as they left the HF, regarding knowledge and acceptability of PITC, history of testing and reasons for being tested or not. Subsequently, PITC was introduced in 6 of the 8 HFs and a second round of interviews was conducted. Independent factors associated with testing were analysed using logistic regression. Randomly selected health care workers (HCWs) were also interviewed. Results 1772 attendees were interviewed. Over 95% agreed with the PITC policy, both prior to and after implementation of PITC policy. The most common reasons for testing were the desire to know one’s HIV status and having been offered an HIV test by an HCW. The most frequent reasons for not being tested were known HIV status and test not being offered. In multivariable analysis, PITC, age ≥15 years, and not having been previously tested were factors significantly associated with testing. Although workload was increased by PITC, HIV testing rates increased and HCWs overwhelmingly supported the policy. Conclusion Among attendees and HCWs in Rwandan clinics, the acceptability of PITC was very high. PITC appeared to increase testing rates and may be helpful in prevention and early access to treatment.
Duality and operator algebras

We investigate some subtle and interesting phenomena in the duality theory of operator spaces and operator algebras. In particular, we give several applications of operator space theory, based on the surprising fact that certain maps are always $w^*$-continuous on dual operator spaces. For example, this yields a new characterization of the $\sigma$-weakly closed (possibly nonunital and nonselfadjoint) operator algebras, and it makes possible a generalization of the theory of $W^*$-modules to the framework of modules over such algebras. We also give a Banach module characterization of $\sigma$-weakly closed spaces of operators which are invariant under the action of a von Neumann algebra.
Effects of Examiners and Anxiety on Three Complex Learning Tasks

This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact ecommons@luc.edu. Acknowledgments The author wishes to express his deep gratitude to Dr. Ronald Walker, a friend and teacher, for the direction, encouragement and critical comments which brought this study to completion, The author also wishes to thank Dr, Patrick Laughlin who aided in the selection of the tasks and assisted in the design of the experiment, and Dr. Naomi Weisstein who graciously consented to be one of the readers of this dissertation. enthusiastic cooperation in making his students available for this investigation, Gratitude is also extended to Mr. Ronald Weber of the Gordon guidance department for his work in scheduling and supervising testing sessions, and to Dr, Vincent D. Pisani, consulting psychologist, for disposing the guidance department to cooperate so willingly in this study, Finally, the author wishes to thank Mr. John Keck, who acted as statistical consultant.
Intermediate addition multifocals provide safe stair ambulation with adequate ‘short‐term’ reading

A recent randomised controlled trial indicated that providing long‐term multifocal wearers with a pair of distance single‐vision spectacles for use outside the home reduced falls risk in active older people. However, it also found that participants disliked continually switching between using two pairs of glasses and adherence to the intervention was poor. In this study we determined whether intermediate addition multifocals (which could be worn most of the time inside and outside the home and thus avoid continual switching) could provide similar gait safety on stairs to distance single vision spectacles whilst also providing adequate ‘short‐term’ reading and near vision.
Implicit theories of intelligence, effort beliefs, and achievement goals as antecedents of learning motivation and engagement

[About the book] This book presents topical research in the study of the psychology of motivation. Topics discussed include motivation in the field of tourism; new perspectives in the psychology and economics of donating; commercial weight-loss programs and motivation; motivation for creativity in design and architecture; cognitive and motivational factors for reading; motivation to learn, self-regulation and academic achievement and the implicit theories of intelligence, effort beliefs, and achievement goals as antecedents of learning motivation and engagement.
Prediction of Symptomatic Vasospasm After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage by Rapidly Increasing Transcranial Doppler Velocity and Cerebral Blood Flow Changes

Background and Purpose Increased transcranial Doppler velocities and regional cerebral perfusion defects have been well demonstrated in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage, but the clinical significance of these changes has not been clearly defined, particularly in the presymptomatic stage of cerebral vasospasm. We have tested the hypothesis that a rapid, massive rise in Doppler velocity denotes progressive vasospasm by relating Doppler velocity increases to regional cerebral blood flow changes and to the subsequent clinical course. Methods Serial transcranial Doppler sonography was performed in 121 patients; 20 of these patients were selected for blood flow mapping on the basis of rapid increases (>50 cm/sec/24 hr) in blood flow velocity. Cerebral blood flow was mapped by single-photon emission computed tomography using technetium-99m hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime. Results Ten of IS patients studied before the onset of any deficit subsequently developed a focal neurological abnormality. In 14 of these 15 patients, and in a further five in which single-photon emission computed tomography was performed after the onset of a delayed neurological deficit, perfusion patterns were abnormal and correlated with sites of increased Doppler velocities. Four patients had zones of cerebral hypoperfusion but did not develop neurological deficit Conclusions Transcranial Doppler measurements can assist in identifying patients at risk of delayed ischemic deficit Selection of patients for regional cerebral blood flow mapping studies and for prophylactic anti-ischemic therapy may be considered on this basis.
Molecular data resolve placement of the Olympic marmot and estimate dates of trans-Beringian interchange

Abstract We reinvestigated the phylogeny of all 15 species of Marmota to resolve a conflict between 2 published analyses, one by Kruckenhauser et al. and another by Steppan et al., regarding the Olympic marmot (M. olympus) and to improve resolution in the genus. We acquired fresh samples of M. olympus, combined all available data on mitochondrial DNA (cytochrome b [Cytb] and ND3/ND4), new sequences for ND3/ND4, and 2,000 base pairs (bp) of the nuclear RAG1 gene. All analyses indicate that M. olympus is a much older, rather than more recent, offshoot of the widespread hoary marmot (M. caligata) or Vancouver Island marmot (M. vancouverensis). The mitochondrial data and some RAG1 results are largely congruent, but RAG1 differs on several points, including: the subgenus Marmota appears paraphyletic to Petromarmota, with reciprocally monophyletic Palearctic and Nearctic clades; and the long-tailed marmot (M. caudata) and Menzbier's marmot (M. menzbieri) are not sister species, suggesting mitochondrial introgression. Asia was colonized by Marmota from North America at approximately 4.6 million years ago (mya), followed by rapid diversification of several major lineages. M. olympus diverged from the M. caligata–M. vancouverensis lineage at approximately 2.6 mya, whereas M. vancouverensis and M. caligata diverged at only about 0.4–1.2 mya. M. olympus might have survived in isolation on the Olympic Peninsula in a nunatak refugium throughout a series of glacial maxima.
A Closer Look into Remote Work: Examining Resources within Remote Work Arrangements with Outcomes of Job Performance and Work-Family Conflict

vi Chapter One – Introduction 1 Conceptualization of Remote Work 4 Performance as an Outcome of Remote Work 6 Resources within Remote Work and Performance 8 Autonomy resources 9 Feedback 10 Access to information 11 Interaction with one’s supervisor 12 Motivation 13 Proactive Personality 14 Work-Family Conflict as an Outcome of Remote Work 14 Resources within Remote Work and Work-Family Conflict 17 Control over work schedule 18 Control over work process 19 Access to information 21 Interaction with one’s supervisor 21 Feedback 22 Chapter Two – Method 24 Pilot Study 24 Focal Study – Participants 25 Measures 27 Autonomy 27 Feedback 27 Access to information 27 Interaction with one’s supervisor 28 Motivation 28 Job performance 28 Work-family conflict 29 Proactive personality 29 Knowledge 29
Modeling Visual Representations : Sufficiency , Minimality , Invariance and Deep Approximation

Visual representations are defined in terms of minimal sufficient statistics of visual data, for a class of tasks, that are also invariant to nuisance variability. Minimal sufficiency guarantees that we can store a representation in lieu of raw data with smallest complexity and no performance loss on the task at hand. Invariance guarantees that the statistic is constant with respect to uninformative transformations of the data. We derive analytical expressions for such representations and show that they are related to “feature descriptors” commonly in use in computer vision, as well as to convolutional architectures. This link highlights the conditions tacitly assumed by these methods and suggests ways to improve and generalize them. This new interpretation draws connections to the classical theories of sampling, hypothesis testing and group invariance. The Supplementary Material empirically explores connections to generative modeling and perceptual organization.
Mobility-centric geocasting for mobile partitioned networks

We describe our design of a geocast service for mobile partitioned networks (MPNs). We focus mainly on minimizing the delivery latency. Our approach exploits the time-stability of the collective mobility pattern. In MPNs, in contrast to MANETs, the end-to-end path is frequently not available. Thus, communication in such networks becomes problematic. To overcome this difficulty, researchers propose a solution in which the nodepsilas mobility is exploited. This paradigm is often called mobility-assisted forwarding. In order to design routing protocols for MPNs, researchers study key mobility metrics, for example the inter-contact times between nodes. Based on the analysis of a real-life mobility trace, we show that the inter-contact time distribution is spatially dependent. This is a result of spatially heterogeneous mobility pattern that appears to be stable in time. We demonstrate that any georouting protocol designed to work in MPNs can benefit from knowing such an underlying mobility pattern. We propose an abstraction called mobility map that represents the collective mobility pattern. We also present how mobility maps can be used for georouting in MPNs and we also show a simple mechanism for the collaborative discovery of mobility maps. Finally, we propose a geocast protocol for MPNs - GeoMobCast - that explicitly uses mobility maps and is designed to minimize the expected message delay while maximizing the message delivery. We empirically evaluate the protocol by using simulations and we observe the improved performance, compared to other approaches.
On the evolution of the H i column density distribution in cosmological simulations

We use a set of cosmological simulations combined with radiative transfer calculations to investigate the distribution of neutral hydrogen in the post-reionization Universe. We assess the contributions from the metagalactic ionizing background, collisional ionization and diffuse recombination radiation to the total ionization rate at redshifts z = 0 5. We find that the densities above which hydrogen self-shielding becomes important are consistent with analytic calculations and previous work. However, because of diffuse recombination radiation, whose intensity peaks at the same density, the transition between highly ionized and self-shielded regions is smoother than what is usually assumed. We provide fitting functions to the simulated photoionization rate as a function of density and show that post-processing simulations with the fitted rates yields results that are in excellent agreement with the original radiative transfer calculations. The predicted neutral hydrogen column density distributions agree very well with the observations. In particular, the simulations reproduce the remarkable lack of evolution in the column density distribution of Lyman limit and weak damped Lyα systems below z = 3. The evolution of the low column density end is affected by the increasing importance of collisional ionization with decreasing redshift. On the other hand, the simulations predict the abundance of strong damped Lyα systems to broadly track the cosmic star formation rate density.
Fabrication, Characterization and Cellular Compatibility of Poly(Hydroxy Alkanoate) Composite Nanofibrous Scaffolds for Nerve Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering techniques using a combination of polymeric scaffolds and cells represent a promising approach for nerve regeneration. We fabricated electrospun scaffolds by blending of Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and Poly (3-hydroxy butyrate-co-3- hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) in different compositions in order to investigate their potential for the regeneration of the myelinic membrane. The thermal properties of the nanofibrous blends was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), which indicated that the melting and glass temperatures, and crystallization degree of the blends decreased as the PHBV weight ratio increased. Raman spectroscopy also revealed that the full width at half height of the band centered at 1725 cm−1 can be used to estimate the crystalline degree of the electrospun meshes. Random and aligned nanofibrous scaffolds were also fabricated by electrospinning of PHB and PHBV with or without type I collagen. The influence of blend composition, fiber alignment and collagen incorporation on Schwann cell (SCs) organization and function was investigated. SCs attached and proliferated over all scaffolds formulations up to 14 days. SCs grown on aligned PHB/PHBV/collagen fibers exhibited a bipolar morphology that oriented along the fiber direction, while SCs grown on the randomly oriented fibers had a multipolar morphology. Incorporation of collagen within nanofibers increased SCs proliferation on day 14, GDNF gene expression on day 7 and NGF secretion on day 6. The results of this study demonstrate that aligned PHB/PHBV electrospun nanofibers could find potential use as scaffolds for nerve tissue engineering applications and that the presence of type I collagen in the nanofibers improves cell differentiation.