Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Basic sensitivity analysis of conversion losses in a DC microgrid

This paper presents a basic sensitivity analysis of the conversion losses in a dc microgrid by varying the system parameters. A simple residential apartment with 20 units with a photovoltaic (PV) system is taken for the analysis. The conversion losses are calculated with the measured electricity consumption and the estimated output of the PV system. Modelica, an object-oriented modeling language, was used as a simulation tool because of the flexibility in changing the system configuration and parameters. The simulation results show that the efficiencies of the converters in the system are almost directly proportional to the total system losses. Additionally, the rated capacity of the grid converter influenced the total losses linearly. It is also shown that the total rated capacity of the PV system has a relation to the advantages of dc microgrids compared to ac microgrids. These results reveal that the dc microgrid has an advantage regarding the loss reduction under suitable conditions. Additionally, this basic analysis will contribute to the design of system configurations and parameters for new dc microgrids.
Attachment security in infancy and early adulthood: a twenty-year longitudinal study.

Sixty White middle-class infants were seen in the Ainsworth Strange Situation at 12 months of age; 50 of these participants (21 males, 29 females) were recontacted 20 years later and interviewed by using the Berkeley Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). The interviewers were blind to the participants' Strange Situation classifications. Overall, 72% of the infants received the same secure versus insecure attachment classification in early adulthood, K = . 44, p < . 001. As predicted by attachment theory, negative life events-defined as (1) loss of a parent, (2) parental divorce, (3) life-threatening illness of parent or child (e.g., diabetes, cancer, heart attack), (4) parental psychiatric disorder, and (5) physical or sexual abuse by a family member-were an important factor in change. Forty-four percent (8 of 18) of the infants whose mothers reported negative life events changed attachment classifications from infancy to early adulthood. Only 22% (7 of 32) of the infants whose mothers reported no such events changed classification, p < . 05. These results support Bowlby's hypothesis that individual differences in attachment security can be stable across significant portions of the lifespan and yet remain open to revision in light of experience. The task now is to use a variety of research designs, measurement strategies, and study intervals to clarify the mechanisms underlying stability and change.
Transforming animals in a cyber-behavioral biometric menagerie with Frog-Boiling attacks

While recent research has demonstrated how frequent updating of users' templates can enhance the performance of a biometric system, there has not been much work devoted to studying the effects of attacks against template update mechanisms. In this work, we present an attack which stealthily leverages the template update scheme of a keystroke verification system to poison users' templates. Using a publicly accessible dataset and some of the best performing individual and fusion verifiers in keystroke authentication, we show how the attack increases the error rates of the verifiers as it transforms groups of well performing users into ill performing users. In our experiments, depending on the template towards which the attack is made to converge, equal error rates of verifiers increased from between 9.9% and 18.9% to between 19.1% and 63.6% as a result of the attack. Results demonstrated in this paper call for research on new biometric sample attestation and validation techniques to augment template update mechanisms.
Brief strategic family therapy versus treatment as usual: results of a multisite randomized trial for substance using adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effectiveness of brief strategic family therapy (BSFT; an evidence-based family therapy) compared to treatment as usual (TAU) as provided in community-based adolescent outpatient drug abuse programs. METHOD A randomized effectiveness trial in the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network compared BSFT to TAU with a multiethnic sample of adolescents (213 Hispanic, 148 White, and 110 Black) referred for drug abuse treatment at 8 community treatment agencies nationwide. Randomization encompassed both adolescents' families (n = 480) and the agency therapists (n = 49) who provided either TAU or BSFT services. The primary outcome was adolescent drug use, assessed monthly via adolescent self-report and urinalysis for up to 1 year post randomization. Secondary outcomes included treatment engagement (≥2 sessions), retention (≥8 sessions), and participants' reports of family functioning 4, 8, and 12 months following randomization. RESULTS No overall differences between conditions were observed in the trajectories of self-reports of adolescent drug use. However, the median number of days of self-reported drug use was significantly higher, χ2(1) = 5.40, p < . 02, in TAU (Mdn = 3.5, interquartile range [IQR] = 11) than BSFT (Mdn = 2, IQR = 9) at the final observation point. BSFT was significantly more effective than TAU in engaging, χ2(1) = 11.33, p < . 001, and retaining, χ2(1) = 5.66, p < . 02, family members in treatment and in improving parent reports of family functioning, χ2(2) = 9.10, p < . 011. CONCLUSIONS We discuss challenges in treatment implementation in community settings and provide recommendations for further research.
Ieee Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters (accepted for Publication) Hyperspectral Image Compression Employing a Model of Anomalous Pixels

—We propose a new lossy compression algorithm for hyperspectral images, based on the spectral Karhunen-Lò eve transform followed by spatial JPEG 2000 , which employs a model of anomalous pixels during the compression process. Results on AVIRIS scenes show that the new algorithm provides better rate-distortion performance , as well as improved anomaly detection performance , with respect to the state-of-the-art .
Evaluation of adhesively bonded steel sheets using ultrasonic techniques

Adhesives have presently reached a stage where they have become part of everyday life both in a professional sense as well as for household applications. They offer advantages that in many respects surpass other joining processes such as bonding of large areas, joining a wide range and dissimilar materials; and without the need for special tooling or operator training, that is often required by many other joining processes. They are of course not a panacea to all fastening applications, but they can easily be described as the most versatile and most widely used joining method at present. Engineering applications have also benefited from the advantages offered by adhesives, but they are not as liberally used due to the severe consequences that may result from bond failure. Although adhesives can demonstrate their ability to fulfil the joining strength requirements under laboratory conditions, their application in industry proved to be not as reliable as expected. A number of parameters that can easily be controlled under laboratory conditions such as temperature, humidity, surface preparation and uniform adhesive application are not as easily observed in industry. Quality assurance during manufacturing can achieve excellent results; however even in these cases the probability of having adhesive bond defects is still present. Therefore, there is a need for post process inspection of adhesive bonds where risk levels require higher reliability than what is offered though process quality control. Adhesive bond inspection is a well researched area with respectable outcomes. Non destructive inspection techniques such as x-ray, thermal, and ultrasonic are well utilised in the inspection of adhesive bonds. However, despite all the effort in this area for more than forty years, there is still no singular technique that can achieve the confidence level required in some engineering applications. Therefore, the need for continuing research in the area of non-destructive evaluation of adhesive bonds is as necessary today as it’s ever been. The research presented in this thesis, continues in the same endeavour as many other researchers; that of achieving the ultimate technique in adhesive bond inspection, capable of reaching the confidence level required for all engineering applications.
Global SST/SLP waves during the 20th century

A discrete number of global signals in covarying sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level pressure (SLP) dominated climate variability from 40°S to 60°N during the 20th Century. They are the quasi‐biennial (∼2.2‐year period), interannual (3‐ to 7‐year period band), quasi‐decadal (∼11‐year period), and interdecadal (∼17‐year period) signals. A joint frequency‐domain analysis of SST and SLP anomalies over the global ocean finds these signals composed of mixed global standing modes and traveling waves that are similar in pattern and evolution. On each period scale, the global traveling wave is composed of global zonal wavenumbers‐1 and ‐2, directed eastward with a phase speed that takes 1 to 2 cycles to traverse the global ocean between 40°S and 20°N. The existence of these global traveling waves may enhance the predictability of regional climate variability.
30 Years on Selected Issues in the Prevention of HIV among Persons Who Inject Drugs

After 30 years of extensive research on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among persons who inject drugs (PWID), we now have a good understanding of the critical issues involved. Following the discovery of HIV in 1981, epidemics among PWID were noted in many countries, and consensus recommendations for interventions for reducing injection related HIV transmission have been developed. While high-income countries have continued to develop and implement new Harm Reduction programs, most low-/middle-income countries have implemented Harm Reduction at very low levels. Modeling of combined prevention programming including needle exchange (NSP) and antiretroviral therapy (ARV) suggests that NSP be given the highest priority. Future HIV prevention programming should continue to provide Harm Reduction programs for PWID coupled with interventions aimed at reducing sexual transmission. As HIV continues to spread in low- and middle-income countries, it is important to achieve and maintain high coverage of Harm Reduction programs in these locations. As PWID almost always experience multiple health problems, it will be important to address these multiple problems within a comprehensive approach grounded in a human rights perspective.
Proof-Carrying Hardware: Runtime Formal Verification for Secure Dynamic Reconfiguration

Dynamically reconfigurable platforms are the means of choice for combining the performance of hardware and the flexibility of software. Such systems can adapt to any situation by downloading software and hardware functionalities as needed, which makes them widely applicable. As downtime is increasingly unacceptable and most deployment scenarios for embedded systems are safety and security critical, it is of outmost importance to provide for a secure reconfiguration, especially with regard to the content of new hardware modules. With my PhD project I propose Proof-carrying Hardware (PCH) as a novel approach to bring formal verification to hardware security for reconfigurable platforms. The Proof-carrying Hardware combines a hardware module and a formal proof of safety which adheres to a previously established safety policy. These are produced by an untrusted external source and delivered in a unsecured way. The proof can then comparatively easily be verified by the reconfigurable platform, i.e., with a fraction of the effort that was required for computing the proof. The consumer can trust the module without any previous guarantees about any step of the production or the transmission.
Assessment of drip irrigation in Morocco with particular emphasis on the Plain of Tadla : research grant report

vii Title . 1 Author . 1 Objectives . 1 Problem statement . 1 Study methods . 3 Main features of the study area . 3 PNEEI targets for the Oum er Rbia basin . 5 Accomplishments at PIT . 5 Procedure for obtaining the government subsidy . 12 Drip irrigation design and installation . 13 Collective projects . 13 Challenges . 15 Collective projects . 15 Water conservation and environmental considerations . 17 Research, demonstration, and outreach . 18 Other considerations . 19 Conclusions and recommendations . 20 References . 22 Appendix . 25
Bioinformatics Approach Reveals Evidence for Impaired Endometrial Maturation Before and During Early Pregnancy in Women Who Developed Preeclampsia

Impaired uterine invasion by extravillous trophoblast in early gestation is implicated in the genesis of preeclampsia, a potentially lethal malady of human pregnancy. However, reasons for extravillous trophoblast dysfunction remain unclear because of virtual inaccessibility of early placental and uterine tissues from women who develop preeclampsia, and the absence of animal models in which the disease spontaneously occurs. Consequently, the possibility that deficient or defective maturation of the endometrium (decidualization) may compromise extravillous trophoblast invasion in preeclampsia remains unexplored. Using a bioinformatics approach, we tested this hypothesis identifying 396 differentially expressed genes (DEG) in chorionic villous samples from women at ≈11.5 gestational weeks who developed severe preeclampsia symptoms 6 months later compared with chorionic villous samples from normal pregnancies. A large number, 154 or 40%, overlapped with DEG associated with various stages of normal endometrial maturation before and after implantation as identified by other microarray data sets (P=4.7×10−14). One-hundred and sixteen of the 154 DEG or 75% overlapped with DEG associated with normal decidualization in the absence of extravillous trophoblast, ie, late-secretory endometrium (LSE) and endometrium from tubal ectopic pregnancy (EP; P=4.2×10−9). Finally, 112 of these 154 DEG or 73% changed in the opposite direction in microarray data sets related to normal endometrial maturation (P=0.01), including 16 DEG upregulated in decidual (relative to peripheral blood) natural killer cells that were downregulated in chorionic villous samples from women who developed preeclampsia (P<0.0001). Taken together, these results suggest that insufficient or defective maturation of endometrium and decidual natural killer cells during the secretory phase and early pregnancy preceded the development of preeclampsia.
An efficient and effective methodology on the multiple fault diagnosis

In this paper, we analyze failing circuits and propose a multiple-fault diagnosis approach. Our methodology has been validated experimentally and has proved to be highly efficient and effective in diagnosing multiple faults. We do not consider the multiple-fault behavior explicitly, but rather use an incremental simulation-based approach to diagnose failures one at a time. Furthermore, to improve the diagnosability, we propose a failing-primary-output partitioning algorithm. Experimental results show that our approach has approximately linear time complexity, and it achieves high diagnosability and resolution. Our approach has also been validated on data collected from manufactured chips. The diagnosis time is within minutes for real industrial chips that failed because of multiple faults.
Serotonin2C receptors tonically suppress the activity of mesocortical dopaminergic and adrenergic, but not serotonergic, pathways: A combined dialysis and electrophysiological analysis in the rat

The present study evaluated, via a combined electrophysiological and dialysis approach, the potential influence of serotonin (5‐HT)2C as compared to 5‐HT2A and 5‐HT2B receptors on dopaminergic, adrenergic, and serotonergic transmission in frontal cortex (FCX). Whereas the selective 5‐HT2A antagonist MDL100,907 failed to modify extracellular levels of dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA) or 5‐HT simultaneously quantified in single dialysate samples of freely‐moving rats, the 5‐HT2B/5‐HT2C antagonist SB206,553 dose‐dependently increased levels of DA and NA without affecting those of 5‐HT. This action was attributable to 5‐HT2C receptor blockade inasmuch as the selective 5‐HT2C antagonist SB242,084 likewise increased FCX levels of DA and NA, whereas the selective 5‐HT2B antagonist SB204,741 was ineffective. Further, the preferential 5‐HT2C receptor agonist Ro60‐0175 dose‐dependently depressed FCX levels of DA. The suppressive influence of 5‐HT2C receptors on DA release was also expressed on mesolimbic and nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathways, in that levels of DA in nucleus accumbens and striatum were likewise reduced by Ro60‐0175 and elevated, though less markedly, by SB206,553. In line with the above findings, Ro60‐0175 dose‐dependently decreased the firing rate of ventrotegmental dopaminergic and locus coeruleus (LC) adrenergic perikarya, whereas their activity was dose‐dependently enhanced by SB206,553. Furthermore, SB206,553 transformed the firing pattern of ventrotegmental dopaminergic neurons into a burst mode. In contrast to SB206,553, MDL100,907 had little affect on the firing rate of dopaminergic or adrenergic neurons. In conclusion, as compared to 5‐HT2A and 5‐HT2B receptors, 5‐HT2C receptors exert a tonic, suppressive influence on the activity of mesocortical — as well as mesolimbic and nigrostriatal — dopaminergic pathways, likely via indirect actions expressed at the level of their cell bodies. Frontocortical adrenergic, but not serotonergic, transmission is also tonically suppressed by 5‐HT2C receptors. Synapse 36:205–221, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Word Embedding Approach to Predicting the Compositionality of Multiword Expressions

This paper presents the first attempt to use word embeddings to predict the compositionality of multiword expressions. We consider both single- and multi-prototype word embeddings. Experimental results show that, in combination with a back-off method based on string similarity, word embeddings outperform a method using count-based distributional similarity. Our best results are competitive with, or superior to, state-of-the-art methods over three standard compositionality datasets, which include two types of multiword expressions and two languages.
A Comparison of Screening Methods to Identify Waterlogging Tolerance in the Field in Brassica napus L. during Plant Ontogeny

Waterlogging tolerance is typically evaluated at a specific development stage, with an implicit assumption that differences in waterlogging tolerance expressed in these systems will result in improved yield performance in fields. It is necessary to examine these criteria in fields. In the present study, three experiments were conducted to screen waterlogging tolerance in 25 rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) varieties at different developmental stages, such as seedling establishment stage and seedling stage at controlled environment, and maturity stage in the fields. The assessments for physiological parameters at three growth stages suggest that there were difference of waterlogging tolerance at all the development stages, providing an important basis for further development of breeding more tolerant materials. The results indicated that flash waterlogging restricts plant growth and growth is still restored after removal of the stress. Correlation analysis between waterlogging tolerance coefficient (WTC) of yield and other traits revealed that there was consistency in waterlogging tolerance of the genotypes until maturity, and good tolerance at seedling establishment stage and seedling stage can guarantee tolerance in later stages. The waterlogging-tolerant plants could be selected using some specific traits at any stage, and selections would be more effective at the seedling establishment stage. Thus, our study provides a method for screening waterlogging tolerance, which would enable the suitable basis for initial selection of a large number of germplasm or breeding populations for waterlogging tolerance and help for verifying their potential utility in crop-improvement.
A Dual-Polarization Radar Hydrometeor Classification Algorithm for Winter Precipitation

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to demonstrate the use of polarimetric observations in a radar-based winter hydrometeor classification algorithm. This is accomplished by deriving bulk electromagnetic scattering properties of stratiform, cold-season rain, freezing rain, sleet, dry aggregated snowflakes, dendritic snow crystals, and platelike snow crystals at X-, C-, and S-band wavelengths based on microphysical theory and previous observational studies. These results are then used to define the expected value ranges, or membership beta functions, of a simple fuzzy-logic hydrometeor classification algorithm. To test the algorithm’s validity and robustness, polarimetric radar data and algorithm output from four unique winter storms are investigated alongside surface observations and thermodynamic soundings. This analysis supports that the algorithm is able to realistically discern regions dominated by wet snow, aggregates, plates, dendrites, and other small ice crystals based solely on polarimetric data.
Evaluation of breast cancer risk assessment packages in the family history evaluation and screening programme

Introduction: Accurate individualised breast cancer risk assessment is essential to provide risk–benefit analysis prior to initiating interventions designed to lower breast cancer risk. Several mathematical models for the estimation of individual breast cancer risk have been proposed. However, no single model integrates family history, hormonal factors, and benign breast disease in a comprehensive fashion. A new model by Tyrer and Cuzick has addressed these deficiencies. Therefore, this study has assessed the goodness of fit and discriminatory value of the Tyrer–Cuzick model against established models namely Gail, Claus, and Ford. Methods: The goodness of fit and discriminatory accuracy of the models was assessed using data from 1933 women attending the Family History Evaluation and Screening Programme, of whom 52 developed cancer. All models were applied to these women over a mean follow up of 5.27 years to estimate risk of breast cancer. Results: The ratios (95% confidence intervals) of expected to observed numbers of breast cancers were 0.48 (0.37 to 0.64) for Gail, 0.56 (0.43 to 0.75) for Claus, 0.49 (0.37 to 0.65) for Ford, and 0.81 (0.62 to 1.08) for Tyrer–Cuzick. The accuracy of the models for individual cases was evaluated using ROC curves. These showed that the area under the curve was 0.735 for Gail, 0.716 for Claus, 0.737 for Ford, and 0.762 for Tyrer–Cuzick. Conclusion: The Tyrer–Cuzick model is the most consistently accurate model for prediction of breast cancer. The Gail, Claus, and Ford models all significantly underestimate risk, although the accuracy of the Claus model may be improved by adjustments for other risk factors.