Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficiency modeling in voltage source inverters with several PWM techniques: A unified approach

In this paper several PWM techniques have been studied and a unified approach allowing their implementation by using a general expression of the duty cycle is proposed. These techniques are experimentally investigated to evaluate their impact on power losses and efficiency in a VSI for AC variable speed drives. In particular, both continuous and discontinuous PWM methods have been addressed and experimentally tested. Moreover a power losses dynamic model for the VSI is developed and validated on the basis of experimental tests.
Application of Glass Transition in Food Processing

The phenomenon of glass transition has been employed to food products to study their stability. It can be applied as an integrated approach along with water activity and physical and chemical changes in food in processing and storage to determine the food stability. Also associated with the changes during agglomeration crystallization, caking, sticking, collapse, oxidation reactions, nonenzymatic browning, and microbial stability of food system. Various techniques such as Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, etc. have been developed to determine the glass transition temperature (Tg) of food system. Also, various theories have been applied to explain the concept of Tg and its relation to changes in food system. This review summarizes the understanding of concept of glass transition, its measurement, and application in food technology.
A possibilistic fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm

In 1997, we proposed the fuzzy-possibilistic c-means (FPCM) model and algorithm that generated both membership and typicality values when clustering unlabeled data. FPCM constrains the typicality values so that the sum over all data points of typicalities to a cluster is one. The row sum constraint produces unrealistic typicality values for large data sets. In this paper, we propose a new model called possibilistic-fuzzy c-means (PFCM) model. PFCM produces memberships and possibilities simultaneously, along with the usual point prototypes or cluster centers for each cluster. PFCM is a hybridization of possibilistic c-means (PCM) and fuzzy c-means (FCM) that often avoids various problems of PCM, FCM and FPCM. PFCM solves the noise sensitivity defect of FCM, overcomes the coincident clusters problem of PCM and eliminates the row sum constraints of FPCM. We derive the first-order necessary conditions for extrema of the PFCM objective function, and use them as the basis for a standard alternating optimization approach to finding local minima of the PFCM objective functional. Several numerical examples are given that compare FCM and PCM to PFCM. Our examples show that PFCM compares favorably to both of the previous models. Since PFCM prototypes are less sensitive to outliers and can avoid coincident clusters, PFCM is a strong candidate for fuzzy rule-based system identification.
Finite element analysis of a permanent magnet synchronous machine with an external rotor for a position sensorless control

Permanent magnet synchronous machines with an external rotor nowadays gain in significance for high performance electrical drive systems such as with hybrid electric vehicles. With these applications, the machine will operate in a wide speed range and on the other hand with very fast changing loads in both motor and generator operational modes. In order to achieve a robust machine design, a position-sensorless control scheme using the dependence of the stator inductances on the rotor position is of great interest. With this intent, the paper discusses finite element analyses for the optimization of such permanent magnet machines with external rotors. Regarding the geometry parameters, a magnetic saliency necessary for the sensorless control scheme has to be preserved in the whole range of the operational modes.
Lowering barriers to entrepreneurship and promoting small business growth in South Africa

Lowering high levels of unemployment and inequality are amongst the largest challenges facing South Africa. More entrepreneurs and thriving small businesses would contribute to inclusive growth. Measures of entrepreneurial activity are lower in South Africa than in other emerging economies. Barriers to entrepreneurship include bureaucratic procedures and licensing, which are also an ongoing burden on small firms. Public procurement is being used to overcome the dominance of large incumbents, but so far its net effect on small firms is not clear. An education system that better equipped students with basic skills as well as entrepreneurial skills would grow the pipeline of entrepreneurs. New forms of financing are slowly emerging in a system that is dominated by banks. A better evidence base is crucial for more effective financial and non-financial support programmes to boost start-up rates and small firms’ growth.
Joint Fronthaul Link Selection and Transmit Precoding for Energy Efficiency Maximization of Multiuser MIMO-Aided Distributed Antenna Systems

We jointly select the fronthaul links and optimize the transmit precoding matrices for maximizing the energy efficiency (EE) of a multiuser multiple-input multiple-output-aided distributed antenna system. The fronthaul link’s power consumption is taken into consideration, which is assumed to be proportional to the number of active fronthaul links quantified by using indicator functions. Both the rate requirements and the power constraints of the remote access units are considered. Under realistic power constraints, some of the users cannot be admitted. Hence, we formulate a two-stage optimization problem. In Stage I, a novel user selection method is proposed for determining the maximum number of admitted users. In Stage II, we deal with the EE optimization problem. First, the indicator function is approximated by a smooth concave logarithmic function. Second, a triple-layer iterative algorithm is proposed for solving the approximated EE optimization problem, which is proved to converge to the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions of the smoothened EE optimization problem. To further reduce the complexity, a single-layer iterative algorithm is conceived, which guarantees convergence. Our simulation results show that the proposed user selection algorithm approaches the performance of the exhaustive search method. Finally, the proposed algorithms are capable of achieving an order of magnitude higher EE than its conventional counterpart operating without considering link selection.
Applications of Data Mining in Banking Sector

The data mining (DM) is a great task in the process of knowledge discovery from the various databases. In the corporate sectors, every system has the tough competition with the other system with respect to their value for the business and the financial improvement. Data mining, a dynamic and fast-expanding field, which applies the advanced data analysis techniques, from machine learning, statistics, artificial intelligence or database systems to find out relevant trends, patterns and relations present within the data, information impossible to observe manually. This paper presents the applications of data mining in the banking sectors. It contains a general overview of data mining, providing a definition of the concept, primary data mining techniques and mentioning the main fields for which the data mining can be applied. It also presents the banking business sector which can benefit from the use of DM tools, along with their use cases i.e., retail and insurance banking sector. Also the commercially available DM tools and their key features are discussed within the paper. With the analysis of DM and the business areas that can successfully apply it, it also presents the main features of the DM solution by using the DM software and data languages i.e., based on survey of users throughout the world that can help to improve the customer experiences and decision making that can be applied for the banking system and the architecture, with its main components for the solution, customer segmentation, banking profitability factor, marketing, risk management and customer relations management and the fraud detection. Keywords: Architecture; Banking system; Business; Data mining; Data warehouse.
An auto‐calibrated, angularly continuous, two‐dimensional GRAPPA kernel for propeller trajectories

The k‐space readout of propeller‐type sequences may be accelerated by the use of parallel imaging (PI). For PROPELLER, the main benefits are reduced blurring due to T2 decay and specific absorption ratio (SAR) reduction, whereas, for EPI‐based propeller acquisitions, such as Turbo‐PROP and short‐axis readout propeller EPI (SAP‐EPI), the faster k‐space traversal alleviates geometric distortions. In this work, the feasibility of calculating a two‐dimensional (2D) GRAPPA kernel on only the undersampled propeller blades themselves is explored, using the matching orthogonal undersampled blade. It is shown that the GRAPPA kernel varies slowly across blades; therefore, an angularly continuous 2D GRAPPA kernel is proposed, in which the angular variation of the weights is parameterized. This new angularly continuous kernel formulation greatly increases the numerical stability of the GRAPPA weight estimation, allowing for generation of fully sampled diagnostic quality images using only the undersampled propeller data. Magn Reson Med 60:1457–1465, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Competitive Dynamics of MNE Market Entry on Host Country Incumbents: Word/Action Responses to Amazon’s Retail Entry Into the Australian Retail Sector

The primary aim of this study is to explore the competitive dynamics of the entry of an online Multinational Enterprise (MNE) into a new host economy, with a particular focus on rival responses. Competitive dynamics theory states that with the entry of a more prominent company an incumbent firm may choose to engage the competitor head-on or reposition (Wang & Shaver, 2014). Although much research has been conducted on entry strategies in international business, such as on post-entry firm performance, spillover impacts on technology transfer, and economic and employment benefits, there is scant research on the competitive response of local competitors when faced with international new entrants. In particular, the way in which the entry of online MNE affects both local brick-and-mortar and online competitors, and the way rivals respond to the entry, is not well understood. This research addresses this gap by analysing the reaction of the incumbents to new market entry, using the example of Amazon's entry into the Australian retail sector in December 2017. The research will incorporate theories of competitive dynamics and competitive response to assess how incumbents react to the new national market entrant. The research question for this study is: “How does the entry of foreign online retailer impact the incumbents in host country’s retail sector: The competitive dynamics and word/action response to Amazon’s entry into Australia’s retail sector”. The analysis of this study is based on developing and combining the approaches of Luoma, Falk, Totzek, Tikkanen and Mrozek (2018), Gao, Yu and Cannella (2017), and Wang and Shaver (2014), into a new framework, which was refined further after the analysis work was completed and new emergent themes identified. The research adopted a postpositivist paradigm and secondary qualitative approach focusing on the case study of Amazon’s entry into the Australian retail sector by focusing on the word/action responses of the incumbents. Word/action responses were systematically drawn from the data set contracted from publications such as media articles, the business press, and trade publications for the evidence of word/action responses from market incumbents to analyse the impact of Amazon on the competitive dynamics of Australia’s retail sector. The thematic analysis was used to present the findings of the research. The results of this research suggested that incumbents of the Australian retail sector were intimidated by the entry of Amazon. Incumbents reacted with a mixture of feelings to American MNE Amazon entering the market, from outright fear to defiance or stating that Amazon will have a limited effect on their business. The research identified six themes
REVISITING THE EMG-TORQUE RELATIONSHIP OF THE TRUNK MUSCULATURE : EFFECTS OF ANTAGONISTIC CO-CONTRACTION

The use of electromyographic signals in the modeling of muscle forces and joint loads requires an understanding of the relationship between the acquired electrical signals and their generated joint torques. This relationship has been studied for the trunk extensor musculature and predominantly been shown to be non-linear (Stokes et al., 1987; Potvin et al., 1996), with a reducing increase in torque output for a given increase in electrical activity. This relationship has been studied very limitedly in the abdominal musculature (rectus abdominis only), with similar results (Stokes et al., 1989). However, in neither case has the effect of torque produced by muscles acting antagonist to the dominant moment been thoroughly considered. Thus, the purpose of this study was to reveal the sensitivity of the EMG-torque relationship of the trunk musculature to the consideration of antagonist muscle torque.
An Empirical Study on Consumer Societalness and Perception towards Social Responsibility Activities of the Corporation

This study intends to measure the variation of societalness of the different segments of the consumers and their perception towards the corporate activity towards social responsibility. The present study also aims to explore the attitude of the consumer towards the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of the company. This article is based on a survey to evaluate the societalness and the perception of the consumers. A structured questionnaire was developed and administered to the respondents in the Durgapur City, West Bengal. Independent sample t-test has been employed to compare the means of the different groups in relation to measuring the significant variation in the degree of societalness among the consumers. The study reveals that responsible activities of the company favourably affect the consumers’ thinking and do augment their attitude positively towards it. Also, the results suggest that the knowledge of the responsible activities influences the perception of the consumer while taking purchasing decision.
Multichip RFID Epidermal Sensor for Body Temperature Monitoring

A dual chip UHF RFID epidermal sensor tag is here proposed for monitoring human body temperature. A multi-mode square loop configuration has been loaded by two orthogonal matching elements whose position and shape are such to simultaneously optimize the reading performance of both ICs. Thanks to the presence of two independent sensors, the device is able to perform differential measurements respect to the body position (the acquisition points are slightly delocalized) and to the external environment. The device is hence a concept of a single heat-flux thermometer to be used to estimate the core temperature of the body.
SPINAL α‐AMINO‐3‐HYDROXY‐5‐METHYL‐4‐ISOXAZOLEPROPIONIC ACID RECEPTORS MAY MEDIATE THE ANALGESIC EFFECTS OF EMULSIFIED HALOGENATED ANAESTHETICS

1 The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between spinal cord α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors and the analgesic effects of emulsified halogenated anaesthetics. 2 After having established the mouse model of analgesia by intraperitoneal or subcutaneous injections of appropriate doses of emulsified enflurane, isoflurane or sevoflurane, we injected different doses of AMPA intrathecally and observed effects on the pain threshold using the hot‐plate and acetic acid‐induced writhing tests. 3 The results showed that intrathecal injection of AMPA (0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 ng) did not affect the pain threshold on the hot‐plate test or the writhing times in conscious mice. In contrast, AMPA (0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 ng intrathecally) significantly and dose‐dependently decreased the pain threshold on the hot‐plate test and increased the writhing times in mice treated with emulsified anaesthetics. 4 These results suggest that spinal AMPA receptors may be important targets for the analgesic effects of emulsified enflurane, isoflurane and sevoflurane.
Salmonella Pathogenesis and Processing of Secreted Effectors by Caspase-3

Salmonella Stealth Bomber Salmonella secretes a virulence factor, SipA, which helps it to invade epithelial cells of the gut. During invasion, the host cell is triggered into synthesizing and secreting the apoptotic enzyme caspase-3. Srikanth et al. (p. 390) now show that instead of being extinguished as the host cell collapses into programmed cell death, during the early stages of infection, Salmonella diverts the host enzyme to its own use. The SipA protein has amino acid motifs that are recognized by caspase-3, which cleaves the bacterial protein into active virulence effectors: one stimulates actin polymerization to help cell entry and the other induces inflammation. If the caspase motif contains a single-point mutation, then virulence is lost in mouse models of infection. Conversely, caspase-deficient mice suffer less from Salmonella-induced gastroenteritis. A food-poisoning pathogen uses a host enzyme to activate its virulence factors. The enteric pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium causes food poisoning resulting in gastroenteritis. The S. Typhimurium effector Salmonella invasion protein A (SipA) promotes gastroenteritis by functional motifs that trigger either mechanisms of inflammation or bacterial entry. During infection of intestinal epithelial cells, SipA was found to be responsible for the early activation of caspase-3, an enzyme that is required for SipA cleavage at a specific recognition motif that divided the protein into its two functional domains and activated SipA in a manner necessary for pathogenicity. Other caspase-3 cleavage sites identified in S. Typhimurium appeared to be restricted to secreted effector proteins, which indicates that this may be a general strategy used by this pathogen for processing of its secreted effectors.
Respiratory Flexibility in Response to Inhibition of Cytochrome c Oxidase in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

ABSTRACT We report here a series of five chemically diverse scaffolds that have in vitro activities on replicating and hypoxic nonreplicating bacilli by targeting the respiratory bc1 complex in Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a strain-dependent manner. Deletion of the cytochrome bd oxidase generated a hypersusceptible mutant in which resistance was acquired by a mutation in qcrB. These results highlight the promiscuity of the bc1 complex and the risk of targeting energy metabolism with new drugs.
An Early Miocene bumble bee from northern Bohemia (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Abstract A new species of fossil bumble bee (Apinae: Bombini) is described and figured from Early Miocene (Burdigalian) deposits of the Most Basin at the Bílina Mine, Czech Republic. Bombus trophonius sp. n. , is placed within the subgenus Cullumanobombus Vogt and distinguished from the several species groups therein. The species is apparently most similar to the Nearctic B. (Cullumanobombus) rufocinctus Cresson, the earliest-diverging species within the clade and the two may be related only by symplesiomorphies. The age of the fossil is in rough accordance with divergence estimations for Cullumanobombus.
Prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) Non-B Subtypes in Foreigners Living in Madrid, Spain, and Comparison of the Performances of the AMPLICOR HIV-1 MONITOR Version 1.0 and the New Automated Version 1.5

ABSTRACT Plasma specimens collected in 1999 from 32 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected foreigners living in Madrid, Spain, were examined for the presence of non-B subtypes. Furthermore, plasma viremia was quantified using two different AMPLICOR HIV-1 MONITOR tests, version 1.0 and the new upgraded and automated version 1.5 (COBAS). Most patients came from Africa, where they most likely had acquired HIV-1 infection through sexual contact. HIV-1 genetic subtyping was based on the phylogenetic analysis of theprotease gene. Twenty-two subtype B, six subtype G, two subtype C, one subtype A, and one D subtype infection were found. Overall, non-B subtypes represented 31.25% of the study population. Irrespective of the HIV-1 variant, viral load values above the detection limit (200 HIV RNA copies/ml) increased from 56.2 to 71.9% for results obtained using MONITOR version 1.0 and COBAS, respectively. Moreover, significant differences in viral load values (>0.5 logs) were recognized in up to 37.5% of samples. In summary, COBAS seemed to be more reliable for testing plasma viral load in HIV-infected immigrants living in Spain, one third of whom carried non-B subtypes.
On the Fragile Relationship Between El Niño and California Rainfall

The failed influence of the 2015–2016 El Niño on California rainfall has renewed interest in the relationship between El Niño and U.S. rainfall variability. Here we perform statistical data analyses and simple model experiments to show that sufficiently warm and persistent sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) in the far eastern equatorial Pacific are required to excite an anomalous cyclone in the North Pacific that extends to the east across the U.S. West Coast and thus increases rainfall over California. Among the four most frequently recurring El Niño patterns considered in this study, only the persistent El Niño, which is often characterized by the warm SSTAs in the far eastern equatorial Pacific persisting throughout the winter and spring, is linked to such extratropical teleconnection patterns and significantly increased rainfall over the entire state of California. During the last 69 years, only three of the 25 El Niño events (i.e., 1957–1958, 1982–1983, and 1997–1998) are clearly identified as the persistent El Niño. In addition, the monthly rainfall variance explained by El Niño is less than half that caused by internal variability during the 25 El Niño. Therefore, the rarity of persistent El Niño events combined with the large influence of internal variability effectively explains the fragile relationship between El Niño and California rainfall.