Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Test Circuits for HVDC Circuit Breakers

High voltage direct current circuit breakers (HVDC CBs) are necessary for reliable and safe operation of future multi-terminal meshed HVDC grids. So far no commercially mature products of such equipment exist. A few industrial concepts as a result of advances in power electronics have been proposed and prototypes have been built. However, performances of these concepts have never been demonstrated under realistic operation conditions. Since these tests require construction of high power DC sources incurring significant investment costs, alternative test circuits providing equivalent stresses must be considered. In this paper various test methods and circuits used for testing HVDC CBs are investigated and their performance is evaluated against the stresses in a conceptual future HVDC grid. A novel method of testing an HVDC CB using existing installations in a high power ac test laboratory is proposed and its prospective fault current and voltage is experimentally demonstrated. It is concluded that adequate test circuits need to maintain the supply voltage not only up to the current zero in the main interrupter unit of the HVDC CB, but also during the entire energy dissipation phase of the interruption process.
A Survey on Hierarchical Attribute Set based Encryption (HASBE) Access Control Model for Cloud Computing

ABSTRACT Cloud computing refers to the application and service that run on a distributed system using virtualized resources and access by common internet protocol and networking standard. Cloud computing virtualizes system by pooling and sharing resources. System and resources can be monitored from central infrastructure as needed. It requires high security because of now a days companies going to put more essential and huge amount of data on cloud. That’s why the reason traditional access control is not enough For the High security . so that the attribute-based encryption (ABE) have been proposed for access control of outsourced data in cloud computing with the complex access control policy.in this paper, we have proposed hierarchical attribute-set-based encryption (HASBE) access control by extending cipher-text policy and attribute-set-based encryption (ASBE) with a hierarchical structure of users. HASBE provides Flexibility, scalability and fine-grained access control with efficient user revocation but the hierarchical structure of the domain hierarchy is to complex and there is no sub-domain level user hierarchy which increases system response time and decreases the system performance. So we are proposing HASBE scheme by creating a sub domain in to the user level Hierarchy that reduce the complexity of the hierarchy and also improve the system performance.
An improved Two Archive Algorithm for Many-Objective optimization

Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms have been deeply studied in the research community and widely used in the real-world applications. However, the performance of traditional Pareto-based MOEAs, such as NSGA-II and SPEA2, may deteriorate when tackling Many-Objective Problems, which refer to the problems with at least four objectives. The main cause for the degradation lies in that the high-proportional non-dominated solutions severely weaken the differentiation ability of Pareto-dominance. This may lead to stagnation. The Two Archive Algorithm (TAA) uses two archives, namely Convergence Archive (CA) and Diversity Archive (DA) as non-dominated solution repositories, focusing on convergence and diversity respectively. However, as the objective dimension increases, the size of CA increases enormously, leaving little space for DA. Besides, the update rate of CA is quite low, which causes severe problems for TAA to drive forth. Moreover, since TAA prefers DA members that are far away from CA, DA might drag the population backwards. In order to deal with these weaknesses, this paper proposes an improved version of TAA, namely ITAA. Compared to TAA, ITAA incorporates a ranking mechanism for updating CA which enables truncating CA while CA overflows. Besides, a shifted density estimation technique is embedded to replace the old ranking method in DA. The efficiency of ITAA is demonstrated by the experimental studies on benchmark problems with up to 20 objectives.
Common-mode data transmission using the binder sheath in digital subscriber lines

This paper presents the use of the common-mode signal in digital-subscriber-line (DSL) transmission. The DSL binder's metallic sheath is used as a common reference to obtain reliable channels for the common-mode signals. The direct and crosstalk channels for the common-mode signal are obtained using multi-conductor transmission line theory, and the data-rate improvement by exploiting these extra dimensions is presented. The lines in the binder are coordinated to cancel differential-mode crosstalk and also to avoid interference caused by radiation from the common-mode within the binder. The high level of common-mode noise is countered by exploiting the correlation between the differential- and common-mode noises. Numerical results based on the derived models show data-rate improvements of up to 100% compared to using only differential-mode transmission.
Seroprevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus antibodies among patients with lymphoid malignancies at a tertiary center in Lagos, Nigeria

Background There is a significant association of human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLV) with lymphoid malignancies. HTLV causes a lymphoproliferative malignancy of CD4-activated cells called adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) and a chronic myelopathy called tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (TSP/HAM). This study aims to determine the prevalence of HTLV among patients with lymphoid malignancies at a tertiary center in Lagos. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out at the hematology clinic of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. After obtaining consent, approximately 5 mL of venous blood was collected from each subject. The serum was separated and stored at −20°C. Sera were assayed for HTLV by an enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) for the determination of antibodies to HTLV-1 and -2. Western blot confirmatory testing was done on reactive samples. All patients were also screened for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) by rapid kits. Results A total of 39 patients with lymphoid malignancies were enrolled, consisting of 24 (61.5%) with solid malignancies, while 15 (38.5%) had leukemia. Only two patients (5.1%) with lymphoid malignancies were reactive on the ELISA test. On confirmatory testing with Western blot, two patients (5.1%) with lymphoid malignancies were also positive for HTLV. All patients were HIV negative, but four were positive to HBsAg and HCV. There was no association between history of previous blood transfusion and positivity to HTLV (P=0.544). Conclusion A prevalence of 5.1% of HTLV among patients with lymphoid malignancies was found in this study, and previous history of blood transfusion was not found to be a significant cause of HTLV infection.
Energy Efficient Spectrum Access for Cognitive Radio Sensor Networks

A dynamic spectrum allocation scheme is important for secondary users in cognitive radio sensor networks, which need to reduce collisions and increase efficiency. In order to allocate channel resources efficiently and reasonably, we use a greedy algorithm to select optimal secondary users, and propose a novel reverse auction bidding strategy based on non-cooperative game. The optional users are selected in this model, according to quantity of data, residual energy, privacy and preference. When an optimal Nash equilibrium is achieved, the channel resources would be allocated to primary and secondary users reasonably. The simulation results show that our algorithm can reduce energy consumption rate of secondary user, improve the network utility and prolong network lifetime.
Allometric Bark Biomass Model for Daphne bholua in the Mid-Hills of Nepal

Bark of Daphne bholua is an important non-timber forest product and makes a substantial contribution to the Nepalese economy. A precise estimate of the amount of D. bholua bark in mountain forests is possible using a biomass model. We developed an allometric bark biomass model for naturally grown D. bholua in Baglung District in the mid-hills of Nepal. The model was based on data from 101 destructively sampled D. bholua on 20 sample plots representing different growth stages (regeneration, established, and matured), site qualities, and stand densities, and we used diameter and height–diameter ratio as predictors. Among 9 functions evaluated, a simple power function showed the best fit to the data. This model described most of the variations in bark biomass with no substantial trends in the residuals. Leave-one-out cross-validation also confirmed the high precision of this model, because it described most of the variations in bark biomass with no substantial trends in the prediction errors. The model can be applied for a precise prediction of bark biomass for individuals of D. bholua with diameters and height–diameter ratios similar to those used in this study. It is site-specific, and its application should therefore be limited to sites with growth stage, site quality, stand density, and species distribution similar to those that formed the basis of this study. Further validation and verification of this model, with a larger dataset collected from sites with a wider range of these characteristics, is recommended.
The Evolution of Sex Ratio Adjustment in the Presence of Sexually Antagonistic Selection

Sex ratio adjustment (SRA) of broods has received widespread interest as a means for optimizing parental investment in offspring. Classical explanations for the evolution of SRA focus on improving offspring fitness in light of resource availability or mate attractiveness. Here, we use genetic models to demonstrate that SRA can evolve to alleviate sexual antagonism by improving the chance that the alleles of a sexually antagonistic trait are transmitted to the sex they benefit. In cases where the trait is autosomally inherited, this result is obtained regardless of whether SRA is based on the mother’s or the father’s genotype and irrespective of the recombination rate between the trait and SRA loci. SRA also evolves in this manner when the trait is sex‐linked, provided that SRA decisions are based on the homogametic genotype (XX mothers or ZZ fathers). By contrast, when based on traits in the heterogametic sex, SRA promotes fixation of the allele that is detrimental to that sex, preventing the evolution of substantial levels of SRA. Our models indicate that the evolution of SRA in nature should be strongly influenced by the genetic architecture of the traits on which it is based and the form of selection affecting them.
Miniprimer PCR, a New Lens for Viewing the Microbial World

ABSTRACT Molecular methods based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence are used widely in microbial ecology to reveal the diversity of microbial populations in environmental samples. Here we show that a new PCR method using an engineered polymerase and 10-nucleotide “miniprimers” expands the scope of detectable sequences beyond those detected by standard methods using longer primers and Taq polymerase. After testing the method in silico to identify divergent ribosomal genes in previously cloned environmental sequences, we applied the method to soil and microbial mat samples, which revealed novel 16S rRNA gene sequences that would not have been detected with standard primers. Deeply divergent sequences were discovered with high frequency and included representatives that define two new division-level taxa, designated CR1 and CR2, suggesting that miniprimer PCR may reveal new dimensions of microbial diversity.
Drug Cocktail Optimization in Chemotherapy of Cancer

Background In general, drug metabolism has to be considered to avoid adverse effects and ineffective therapy. In particular, chemotherapeutic drug cocktails strain drug metabolizing enzymes especially the cytochrome P450 family (CYP). Furthermore, a number of important chemotherapeutic drugs such as cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, tamoxifen or procarbazine are administered as prodrugs and have to be activated by CYP. Therefore, the genetic variability of these enzymes should be taken into account to design appropriate therapeutic regimens to avoid inadequate drug administration, toxicity and inefficiency. Objective The aim of this work was to find drug interactions and to avoid side effects or ineffective therapy in chemotherapy. Data sources and methods Information on drug administration in the therapy of leukemia and their drug metabolism was collected from scientific literature and various web resources. We carried out an automated textmining approach. Abstracts of PubMed were filtered for relevant articles using specific keywords. Abstracts were automatically screened for antineoplastic drugs and their synonyms in combination with a set of human CYPs in title or abstract. Results We present a comprehensive analysis of over 100 common cancer treatment regimens regarding drug-drug interactions and present alternatives avoiding CYP overload. Typical concomitant medication, e.g. antiemetics or antibiotics is a preferred subject to improvement. A webtool, which allows drug cocktail optimization was developed and is publicly available on http://bioinformatics.charite. de/chemotherapy.
Acoustic alarm signalling facilitates predator protection of treehoppers by mutualist ant bodyguards

Mutualism is a net positive interaction that includes varying degrees of both costs and benefits. Because tension between the costs and benefits of mutualism can lead to evolutionary instability, identifying mechanisms that regulate investment between partners is critical to understanding the evolution and maintenance of mutualism. Recently, studies have highlighted the importance of interspecific signalling as one mechanism for regulating investment between mutualist partners. Here, we provide evidence for interspecific alarm signalling in an insect protection mutualism and we demonstrate a functional link between this acoustic signalling and efficacy of protection. The treehopper Publilia concava Say (Hemiptera: Membracidae) is an insect that provides ants with a carbohydrate-rich excretion called honeydew in return for protection from predators. Adults of this species produce distinct vibrational signals in the context of predator encounters. In laboratory trials, putative alarm signal production significantly increased following initial contact with ladybeetle predators (primarily Harmonia axyridis Pallas, Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), but not following initial contact with ants. In field trials, playback of a recorded treehopper alarm signal resulted in a significant increase in both ant activity and the probability of ladybeetle discovery by ants relative to both silence and treehopper courtship signal controls. Our results show that P. concava treehoppers produce alarm signals in response to predator threat and that this signalling can increase effectiveness of predator protection by ants.
Memorability of cued-recall graphical passwords with saliency masks

Cued-recall graphical passwords have a lot of potential for secure user authentication, particularly if combined with saliency masks to prevent users from selecting weak passwords. Saliency masks were shown to significantly improve password security by excluding those areas of the image that are most likely to lead to hotspots. In this paper we investigate the impact of such saliency masks on the memorability of cued-recall graphical passwords. We first conduct two pre-studies (N=52) to obtain a set of images with three different image complexities as well as real passwords. A month-long user study (N=26) revealed that there is a strong learning effect for graphical passwords, in particular if defined on images with a saliency mask. While for complex images, the learning curve is steeper than for less complex ones, they best supported memorability in the long term, most likely because they provided users more alternatives to select memorable password points. These results complement prior work on the security of such passwords and underline the potential of saliency masks as both a secure and usable improvement to cued-recall gaze-based graphical passwords.
Orthogonal space division multiplexing through joint use of multi-user MIMO smart antennas

We address the problem of enhancing the performance (including the system capacity and average user bit error probability) of a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system for communication from one base station to many mobile stations in multipath Rayleigh fading channels. This problem arises in multi-user space division multiplexing (SDM) systems where multiple independent signal streams can be transmitted in the same frequency band and time slot, through the exploitation of multiple antennas at both the base and mobile stations. Our objective is to devise a multi-user linear space-time precoder for simultaneous channel diagonalization of multi-user channels enabling orthogonal space division multiplexing (OSDM). Our approach is based on diagonalizing the multi-user channel matrices and we use a variation of successive Jacobi rotations. The assumption for this scheme is that the BS knows all the channels and the channel dynamics are quasi-stationary over a block of precoded bits as is typical of indoor, low mobility high speed wireless communications.
Predictors of cure after hepatic resection of colorectal liver metastases: An analysis of actual 5‐ and 10‐year survivors

Hepatic resection of colorectal liver metastases (CLM) is now regarded the standard of care. Evaluation of true long‐term suvivors will demonstrate the curative potential of this therapy with cure being defined as actual 10‐year survival versus a satisfactory oncological outcome of 5‐year survival. Limited data exists on outcomes of patients beyond 5 years. Studying the rates of cure and predictive factors for cure are essential to define the true benefit of this therapy.
New Investigations of Early Prehistoric Settlement on Yap, Western Caroline Islands

Recent research on the prehistoric colonization of islands in western Micronesia (northwest tropical Pacific) has revealed a relatively clear picture of multiple, but chronologically disparate entries into Palau and the Mariana Islands between ca. 3200 and 2800 cal BP from groups in Island Southeast Asia (Clark 2004, 2005; Fitzpatrick 2003; Petchey et al. 2016; Rieth and Athens 2017). Despite an increased understanding of when these two major Micronesian archipelagoes were settled, initial human arrival in Yap—a group of four small islands situated between the two other island groups—is still unclear. A paucity of archaeological research and conflicting lines of other evidence (linguistic, paleoenvironmental) have resulted in a significant gap in
Stable computational dynamics for a class of circuits with O(N) interconnections capable of KWTA and rank extractions

A new dynamical system and computational circuit is described and analyzed. The dynamics permits the construction of a Lyapunov function that ensures global convergence to a unique stable equilibrium. The analog circuit realization is of the neural network type, with N cells represented by high-gain amplifiers, global feedback, and at most 2N interconnections, where N is the number of inputs. A specific application (called "the K-selector") which signals the ranks of the K largest elements of input list and, in parallel the rank of the (K+1)th element, is designed and numerically tested. For a given density of the input elements, one obtains feasible separation intervals of output signals, i.e., good processing performances. The circuit requires an appropriate control source and suitable scaling of the input data.
Probabilistic Spatial Filter Estimation for Signal Enhancement in Multi-Channel Automatic Speech Recognition

Speech recognition in multi-channel environments requires target speaker localization, multi-channel signal enhancement and robust speech recognition. We here propose a system that addresses these problems: Localization is performed with a recently introduced probabilistic localization method that is based on support-vector machine learning of GCC-PHAT weights and that estimates a spatial source probability map. The main contribution of the present work is the introduction of a probabilistic approach to (re-)estimation of location-specific steering vectors based on weighting of observed inter-channel phase differences with the spatial source probability map derived in the localization step. Subsequent speech recognition is carried out with a DNN-HMM system using amplitude modulation filter bank (AMFB) acoustic features which are robust to spectral distortions introduced during spatial filtering. The system has been evaluated on the CHIME-3 multichannel ASR dataset. Recognition was carried out with and without probabilistic steering vector re-estimation and with MVDR and delay-and-sum beamforming, respectively. Results indicate that the system attains on real-world evaluation data a relative improvement of 31.98% over the baseline and of 21.44% over a modified baseline. We note that this improvement is achieved without exploiting oracle knowledge about speech/non-speech intervals for noise covariance estimation (which is, however, assumed for baseline processing).
Performance Evaluation of Multicarrier Based Techniques for Single Phase Hybrid Multilevel Inverter using Reduced Switches

The multilevel inverters are very popular in high power high voltage applications. However the multilevel inverters has some demerits such as requiring higher number of components, PWM control method is complex and capacitor voltage balancing problem. The hybrid multilevel inverter presented in this paper has superior characteristics over conventional multilevel inverters. The hybrid multilevel inverter employs fewer components and less carrier signals when compared to conventional multilevel inverters. It consists of level generation and polarity generation stages which involves high frequency and low frequency switches. The complexity and overall cost for higher output voltage levels are greatly reduced. Implementation of single phase 7-level, 9-level and 11-level hybrid multilevel inverter has been performed using sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) strategies i.e., phase disposition (PD), alternate phase opposition disposition (APOD) and carrier overlapping (CO). Also the three techniques are compared in terms of total harmonic distortion (THD) for various modulation indices and observed to be greatly improved when compared to conventional topologies. The performance of single phase eleven level hybrid inverter is analyzed for different loads. Simulation is performed using MATLAB/ Simulink.
Enhancing attention in neurodegenerative diseases: current therapies and future directions

Abstract We all experience at least occasional lapses in attention but in some neurological conditions, loss of attention is pervasive and debilitating. Treating deficits in attention first requires an understanding of the neurobiology of attention, which we now understand to be a set of different cognitive processes. Cholinesterase inhibitors are already established as effective attentional enhancers used in the treatment of certain dementias. Other stimulant agents such as modafanil, amphetamine and methylphenidate have demonstrated limited success in healthy individuals where attention is already optimal and clinical trials in patients with neurological disease are sparse. Dietary and lifestyle changes are gaining increasing prominence, as are experimental treatments such as deep brain stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation. As the therapeutic arsenal widens, clinicians will be able to match specific treatments to selective deficits in attention, giving patients a tailored management plan. Here we review common diseases that impair attention and emphasise how an understanding of attentional processing within the brain might lead to improved therapeutic strategies.