Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smart valve actuation for dynamic fluid flow control with constraints in the power unit

Perfect reference tracking by peripheral subsystems is a common requirement in industry, but it is often limited by system non-linearities. In fluid flow control systems, non-linearities are mainly caused by the characteristic curve of a valve. Such a curve describes the steady state relation between the valve opening and the flow rate but is significantly modified when installing the valve in a pipeline. Traditionally, the valve is adjusted to the pipe by design, an expensive and very complicated approach. In contrast, in the mechatronic approach a powerful, high-dynamic actuator is used within a control loop to realize perfect tracking in dynamic conditions from the input of the overall process control system to the actual flow rate. This approach is cost-effective, easy exchangeable and allows a simple expansion of existing plants. In this paper, the mechatronic approach is developed and validated. Firstly, a modular, mathematical model of the hydraulic power unit, the hydraulic cylinder, the valve and the fluid flow in the pipe is derived. Subsequently, a model-based control concept is employed to invert the model and compensate system non-linearities in dynamic conditions. Finally, the approach is validated numerically with respect to challenging test cases employing industrial devices and recalling industrial needs. The results attained prove that the mechatronic approach allows extending the range of perfect tracking of valves, and that useful insights for the development of such systems can be provided.
On the multiuser diversity in SIMO interfering multiple access channels: Distributed user scheduling framework

Due to the difficulty of coordination in the cellular uplink, it is a practical challenge how to achieve the optimal throughput scaling with distributed scheduling. In this paper, we propose a distributed and opportunistic user scheduling (DOUS) that achieves the optimal throughput scaling in a single-input multiple-output interfering multiple-access channel, i.e., a multi-cell uplink network, with M antennas at each base station (BS) and N users in a cell. In a distributed fashion, each BS adopts M random receive beamforming vectors and then selects M users such that both sufficiently large desired signal power and sufficiently small generating interference are guaranteed. As a main result, it is proved that full multiuser diversity gain can be achieved in each cell when a sufficiently large number of users exist. Numerical evaluation confirms that in a practical setting of the multi-cell network, the proposed DOUS outperforms the existing distributed user scheduling algorithms in terms of sum-rate.
Higher Education in India: The Need for Change

Higher Education in India is currently passing through a very crucial phase under the framework of globalisation, privatisation and liberalisation. Significant pressures are being felt by the entire education sector during the period of economic reforms. Strong advocacy for withdrawal of subsidies from all sectors including education, which has been a major plank on which the reform initiatives have been put into effect, has led to a significant decline in the role of the government in funding higher education. In fact, higher education, to the dismay of idealists, was for some time, even termed as a de merit good! Realisation that there would be free entry of foreign institutions of higher learning into the country under the GATS has almost dissipated the indigenous institutions of higher learning. Thus, withering away of the patronage from the state and overpowering entry of foreign institutions is changing almost the very character and individuality of India’s higher educational system. At the same time, heavy demands made for the technical competencies in the developing economies in view of global competitive framework, can be considered as a blessing in disguise, as these forces might generate an impetus for overhauling of higher education and research in the country. The international negotiations at regular intervals under the WTO framework seem to provide a new agenda for creating the scientific and technical manpower for the country to facilitate these negotiations. In such a background, a great need is felt to monitor the developments in higher education, to work for its restructuring according to the needs of the situation, which has turned out to be much more fluid, if not hostile, than what it used to be before the economic reform, develop new courses and adopt new methodologies of student-teacher interactions, etc. Even though the recently appointed commissions, committees and study groups like the Planning Commission’s Working Groups, UGC’s Sub-Groups and Committees and Govt. of India’s working groups and finally the Knowledge Commission, etc., might serve some purpose in this direction, focused studies on the basis of in-depth examination of different aspects of higher education at frequent intervals appear to be very much needed.
High-frequency oscillations in human and monkey neocortex during the wake–sleep cycle

Significance We show in humans that in comparison to excitatory cells, inhibitory neurons have a stronger spiking activity during γ oscillations in the wake–sleep cycle. During β-oscillations in monkey neocortex, inhibitory cells show more active firing. Unlike excitatory cells, inhibitory cells show correlations during slow-wave sleep fast oscillations over several millimeters in the neocortex. During both wake and sleep, β- and γ-waves systematically propagate with a dominant trajectory across the array with similar velocities. These findings suggest that inhibition-driven β- and γ-oscillations may contribute to the reactivation of information during sleep through orchestrating highly coherent spiking activity patterns. Beta (β)- and gamma (γ)-oscillations are present in different cortical areas and are thought to be inhibition-driven, but it is not known if these properties also apply to γ-oscillations in humans. Here, we analyze such oscillations in high-density microelectrode array recordings in human and monkey during the wake–sleep cycle. In these recordings, units were classified as excitatory and inhibitory cells. We find that γ-oscillations in human and β-oscillations in monkey are characterized by a strong implication of inhibitory neurons, both in terms of their firing rate and their phasic firing with the oscillation cycle. The β- and γ-waves systematically propagate across the array, with similar velocities, during both wake and sleep. However, only in slow-wave sleep (SWS) β- and γ-oscillations are associated with highly coherent and functional interactions across several millimeters of the neocortex. This interaction is specifically pronounced between inhibitory cells. These results suggest that inhibitory cells are dominantly involved in the genesis of β- and γ-oscillations, as well as in the organization of their large-scale coherence in the awake and sleeping brain. The highest oscillation coherence found during SWS suggests that fast oscillations implement a highly coherent reactivation of wake patterns that may support memory consolidation during SWS.
Pengaruh Level Pemberian Tepung Kunyit (Curcuma domestica Val) dalam Ransum terhadap Karkas Itik Lokal

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh pemberian tepung kunyit dalam ransum terhadap karkas itik lokal. Penelitian ini menggunakan 80 ekor DOD itik Pitalah jantan yang ditempatkan pada 20 unit kandang boks. Metode penelitian secara eksperimen menggunakan Rancangan Acak Kelompok (RAK) dengan 4 perlakuan dan 5 kelompok bobot badan sebagai ulangan. Perlakuan yang diberikan dalam penelitian ini adalah A (tanpa pemberian tepung kunyit/kontrol), B (pemberian tepung kunyit 0,2%), C (pemberian tepung kunyit 0,4%) dan D (pemberian tepung kunyit 0,6%). Peubah yang diamati meliputi bobot karkas, persentase bagian – bagian karkas (dada dan paha) dan persentase karkas. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan pemberian tepung kunyit dalam ransum berpengaruh tidak nyata (P>0,05) terhadap bobot karkas, persentase bagian – bagian karkas (dada dan paha) dan persentase karkas. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian dapat disimpulkan bahwa pemberian tepung kunyit sampai dengan level 0,6% dalam ransum tidak mempengaruhi bobot karkas, persentase bagian – bagian karkas (dada dan paha) dan persentase karkas.
Identification of Genes Involved in Synaptogenesis Using a Fluorescent Active Zone Marker in Caenorhabditis elegans

Active zones are presynaptic regions where synaptic vesicles fuse with plasma membrane to release neurotransmitters. Active zones are highly organized structurally and are functionally conserved among different species. Synapse defective-2 (SYD-2) family proteins regulate active zone morphology in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila. Here, we demonstrate by immunoelectron microscopy that at C. elegans synapses, SYD-2 localizes strictly at active zones and can be used as an active zone marker when fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP). By driving expression of SYD-2::GFP fusion protein in GABAergic neurons, we are able to visualize discrete fluorescent puncta corresponding to active zones in living C. elegans. During development, the number of GABAergic synapses made by specific motoneurons increases only slightly from larvae to adult stages. In contrast, the number of SYD-2::GFP puncta doubles, suggesting that individual synapses accommodate the increasing size of their synaptic targets mainly by incorporating more active zone materials. Furthermore, we used this marker to perform a genetic screen to identify genes involved in the development of active zones. We recovered 16 mutants with altered SYD-2::GFP expression, including alleles of five genes that have been implicated previously in synapse formation or nervous-system development. Mapping of 11 additional mutants suggests that they may represent novel genes involved in active zone formation.
Inhibition of Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) Accumulation by Pyridoxamine Modulates Glomerular and Mesangial Cell Estrogen Receptor α Expression in Aged Female Mice

Age-related increases in oxidant stress (OS) play a role in regulation of estrogen receptor (ER) expression in the kidneys. In this study, we establish that in vivo 17β-estradiol (E2) replacement can no longer upregulate glomerular ER expression by 21 months of age in female mice (anestrous). We hypothesized that advanced glycation end product (AGE) accumulation, an important source of oxidant stress, contributes to these glomerular ER expression alterations. We treated 19-month old ovariectomized female mice with pyridoxamine (Pyr), a potent AGE inhibitor, in the presence or absence of E2 replacement. Glomerular ERα mRNA expression was upregulated in mice treated with both Pyr and E2 replacement and TGFβ mRNA expression decreased compared to controls. Histological sections of kidneys demonstrated decreased type IV collagen deposition in mice receiving Pyr and E2 compared to placebo control mice. In addition, anti-AGE defenses Sirtuin1 (SIRT1) and advanced glycation receptor 1 (AGER1) were also upregulated in glomeruli following treatment with Pyr and E2. Mesangial cells isolated from all groups of mice demonstrated similar ERα, SIRT1, and AGER1 expression changes to those of whole glomeruli. To demonstrate that AGE accumulation contributes to the observed age-related changes in the glomeruli of aged female mice, we treated mesangial cells from young female mice with AGE-BSA and found similar downregulation of ERα, SIRT1, and AGER1 expression. These results suggest that inhibition of intracellular AGE accumulation with pyridoxamine may protect glomeruli against age-related oxidant stress by preventing an increase of TGFβ production and by regulation of the estrogen receptor.
Energy efficient driving strategy for trains in MRT systems

This paper focus on energy efficient driving strategy for MRT trains. In MRT systems, Automatic Train Operation (ATO) has been widely used. The calculation of a reference trajectory seems more important, since it could improve the performance of ATO. The operation demands for MRT trains are different from freight trains, such as energy saving demand and the characteristic of traction. In this paper, based on the characteristic of traction and some results got by the former researchers, a new energy efficient strategy model is proposed by using nonlinear programming method. It is the first time to combine the analytical and numerical method together in this area. By applying the new method, it is unnecessary to pre-given any key value. Moreover, since it is easy to solve, it could be used in real-time operation adjustment. The feasibility and effectiveness are verified through simulation. Compared the simulation results with the actual operating data, our new method are efficient on energy saving with the guarantee of punctuality.
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES TIME PREFERENCES AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

We thank Will Mautz and Camden Sweed for valuable research assistance, GSU, UNCG, and the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis for funding, Darren Lubotsky for providing his code to implement the multiple proxies procedure, and Allen Bellas and conference and seminar participants at UNCG, GSU, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Midwest Economics Association meetings for helpful comments. Ruhm thanks the University of Virginia Bankard Fund for partial financial support. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Trade Commission. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Tightening LP Relaxations for MAP using Message Passing

Linear Programming (LP) relaxations have become powerful tools for finding the most probable (MAP) configuration in graphical models. These relaxations can be solved efficiently using message-passing algorithms such as belief propagation and, when the relaxation is tight, provably find the MAP configuration. The standard LP relaxation is not tight enough in many real-world problems, however, and this has lead to the use of higher order cluster-based LP relaxations. The computational cost increases exponentially with the size of the clusters and limits the number and type of clusters we can use. We propose to solve the cluster selection problem monotonically in the dual LP, iteratively selecting clusters with guaranteed improvement, and quickly re-solving with the added clusters by reusing the existing solution. Our dual message-passing algorithm finds the MAP configuration in protein side-chain placement, protein design, and stereo problems, in cases where the standard LP relaxation fails.
Microscopic evolution of social networks

We present a detailed study of network evolution by analyzing four large online social networks with full temporal information about node and edge arrivals. For the first time at such a large scale, we study individual node arrival and edge creation processes that collectively lead to macroscopic properties of networks. Using a methodology based on the maximum-likelihood principle, we investigate a wide variety of network formation strategies, and show that edge locality plays a critical role in evolution of networks. Our findings supplement earlier network models based on the inherently non-local preferential attachment. Based on our observations, we develop a complete model of network evolution, where nodes arrive at a prespecified rate and select their lifetimes. Each node then independently initiates edges according to a "gap" process, selecting a destination for each edge according to a simple triangle-closing model free of any parameters. We show analytically that the combination of the gap distribution with the node lifetime leads to a power law out-degree distribution that accurately reflects the true network in all four cases. Finally, we give model parameter settings that allow automatic evolution and generation of realistic synthetic networks of arbitrary scale.
Transient and steady-state analysis of filtered-x affine projection algorithms with imperfect secondary path estimate

This paper provides an analysis based on energy conservation arguments of the transient and steady-state behaviors of two filtered-x affine projection algorithms in presence of an imperfect estimation of the secondary paths of an active noise control system. Very mild assumptions are posed on the system model, which is only required to have a linear dependence of the output from the filter coefficients.
Microbial community diversity and heterotrophic production in a coastal Arctic ecosystem: A stamukhi lake and its source waters

Stamukhi lakes are vast but little‐explored Arctic ecosystems. They occur throughout winter, spring, and early summer near large river inflows along the Arctic coastline, and are the result of freshwater retention behind the thick barrier of rubble ice (stamukhi) that forms at the outer limit of land‐fast sea ice. We examined the molecular biodiversity within all three microbial domains (Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryota) and the heterotrophic productivity in Lake Mackenzie, a stamukhi lake in the western Canadian Arctic, and made comparative measurements in the freshwater (Mackenzie River) and marine (Beaufort Sea) source waters. Bacterial and eukaryotic communities in the stamukhi lake differed in composition and diversity from both marine and riverine environments, whereas the archaeal communities were similar in the lake and river. Bacteria 16S ribosomal RNA sequences from the lake were mostly within freshwater clusters of Betaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes and the Archaea were within the Lake Dagow sediment and Rice cluster‐V clusters of Euryarchaeota. The eukaryotes were mainly ciliates from the subclass Choreotrichia, and there was a notable lack of flagellates. Heterotrophic production rates in the lake were lower than in the river and more similar to those in the sea, despite much higher bacterial concentrations than in either. The lake samples had markedly higher ratios of 3H leucine to 3H thymidine incorporation than in the river and sea, implying some physiological stress. Lake Mackenzie is an active microbial ecosystem with distinct physical and microbiological properties. This circumpolar ecosystem type, vulnerable to the ongoing effects of climate change, likely plays a key functional role in processing riverine inputs to the Arctic Ocean.
A rare leucine codon in adpA is implicated in the morphological defect of bldA mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor

Streptomycetes are mycelial bacteria that produce sporulating aerial hyphae on solid media. Bald (bld) mutants fail to form aerial mycelium under at least some conditions. bldA encodes the only tRNA species able to read the leucine codon UUA efficiently, implying the involvement of a TTA‐containing gene in initiating aerial growth. One candidate for such a gene was bldH, because the bldH109 mutant of Streptomyces coelicolor resembles bldA mutants in some aspects. In the work reported here, adpAc, an S. coelicolor gene similar to the Streptomyces griseus A factor‐regulated adpAg, was found to complement the bldH109 mutant partially at both single and multiple copies. The sequence of adpAc from the bldH109 mutant revealed a frameshift. A constructed in frame deletion of adpAc conferred a bald colony phenotype, and the mutant behaved like bldA mutants and bldH109 in its pattern of extracellular signal exchange. Both adpAc and adpAg contain a TTA codon. A TTA‐free version of adpAc was engineered by replacing the TTA leucine codon with a cognate TTG leucine codon. The adpA(TTA→TTG) gene could partially restore aerial mycelium formation to a bldA mutant when it was followed in cis by the gene ornA, as in the natural chromosomal arrangement. This indicated that the UUA codon in adpAc mRNA is the principal target through which bldA influences morphological differentiation. It also implied that translational arrest at the UUA codon in adpAc mRNA caused a polar effect on the downstream ornA, and that the poor translation of both genes contributes extensively to the deficiency of aerial mycelium formation in bldA mutants. Unlike the situation in S. griseus, adpAc transcription does not depend on the host's γ‐butyrolactone signalling system, at least in liquid cultures. In addition, sigma factor BldN, which is the homologue of an S. griseus sigma factor AdsA that is absent from adpAg mutants of S. griseus, was present in the constructed adpAc null mutant of S. coelicolor.
A Study of the Impacts of Social Media Outlets on Generation-X and Millennial Consumers’ Beef Consumption, with an Emphasis on the Importance of Nutrition Information

Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. This study examines the impacts of social media outlets on Generation-X and Millennial consumers' purchase choices of meat (beef, chicken, and other meat options). The emphasis of this study is on the effectiveness of social media to deliver information regarding nutrition and food preparation of meat products that may alter their consumption habits. The Millennial consumers' now outnumber the Baby Boomer consumers. As result the Beef Checkoff Board has made special efforts to better understand the determinants of beef purchases made by Millennial consumers. The Beef Checkoff Board has tried to connect with these consumers through social media platforms by providing information about beef nutrition and meal preparation. This study aims to examine whether this information shared through social media platforms can influence Generation-X and Millennial consumers' beef purchasing decisions. To examine the impact of social media on Midwest Generation-X and Millennial consumers' meat choice, this study collected and compared the same consumers' household meat expenditure data in two time periods, with an injection of nutrition information in between two periods. To our knowledge, there is no empirical study of the influence of social media on consumers' meat consumption decisions by utilizing an Almost Ideal Demand model. By comparing the difference in resulting statistics, we are 3 able to examine how nutrition knowledge (delivered by selected social media) affects the Generation-X and Millennial consumers' choice (tradeoff) and their price and income elasticity of meat products. We also plan to utilize the data to identify potential consumer characteristics that play key roles in affecting consumers' meat consumption tradeoffs. Our findings can be used by the Beef Checkoff Board to better target the Millennial consumer segment. Beef holds the largest market share of the United States domestic meat market, accounting for 30.5% of the U.S market's total value. The annual average beef consumption per capita in the Midwest was 73 pounds in 2005, approximately 6-7 pounds higher than the national average. A limitation of this study is that only Midwest Generation-X and Millennial consumers were surveyed Consumer attributes (e.g., demographic background, socioeconomic status, food and nutrition) have been recognized as main determinants for consumers' preferences, purchase choices, and willingness-to-pay (WTP). Scholars and industry have long understood the effectiveness to adopt the consumer-profiling strategies to identify and promote demand …