Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PageRank algorithm and its variations: A Survey report

This survey report basically gives a comparison report on different page ranking algorithm on the basis of numerical analysis. Four popular algorithms used for this purpose PageRank, Weighted PageRank, PageRank using VOL and finally weighted PageRank using VOL. This report will give brief introduction of web mining concept because web mining is core content in page rank calculation . Many aspect related to the page ranking will be discussed by taking PageRank algorithm and its variation as a basis for this purpose. A detailed comparison table of PageRank, Weighted PageRank, PageRank using VOL and finally weighted PageRank using VOL will be used for better analysis.
A TAM-Based Study of the Attitude towards Use Intention of Multimedia among School Teachers

Multimedia teaching materials are widely applied in various disciplines. More resources are provided by authorities to encourage elementary school teachers to use them. The resources provide an opportunity for teachers to share teaching resources for students. In this study, the technology acceptance model (TAM) was used as the basic model to explore the effects of the information technology (IT) environment on the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude towards using multimedia, and the relevance and influence of these attitudes on behavioral intention. There are 2317 teachers in Chiayi county, and 460 participants were selected by stratified random sampling. The results showed that the ease of use of the multimedia material would enhance the intention to use. The attitude toward use also influences the intention to use.
Re-examining the value of infrastructure to support urban growth and liveability

Urban infrastructure systems form an essential component of the urban built environment to support flows of goods, people, information and resources, and diverse social and economic activities. Growing cities face an imperative to expand infrastructure service provision to accommodate greater populations, while also catering for liveability by providing for users’ needs and environmental sustainability. This thesis examines the ways in which infrastructure relates to growth and liveability, and the potential for infrastructure to be instrumentalised as a transformative means to support liveability while accommodating growth. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted, utilising qualitative content analysis, spatial econometrics and spatial growth analysis. These methods examine the ways in which infrastructure supports liveability and growth, testing existing agglomeration theory, planning paradigms and spatial strategies. Analysis of the instrumentalisation of infrastructure within spatial planning found that a more thorough consideration of how value is generated from infrastructure, and diverse types of value, can support transitions to improve liveability. Econometric analysis showed that infrastructure mediates socio-spatial relations, enabling agglomeration externalities to be generated across small spatial scales. Analysis of urban growth in Auckland, Melbourne and Vancouver revealed that the ‘compact city’ model for sustainable transitions does not consistently hold true, and supported alternative strategies which focus on flows generated, instead of the urban built environment. By examining urban infrastructure from multiple disciplinary perspectives, this thesis develops a more rigorous understanding of the value derived from infrastructure provision, to inform decision-making. Infrastructure planning can support growth and liveability by refocusing the frame of decision-making to the broader socio-technical system in which physical infrastructure systems are embedded. The uncertainty of urban growth implies that investment decisions may consider alternative interventions with lower requirements for physical capital expansion.
Explorative study on performance measurement systems’ usage practices and outcomes

Objective of the study: This study explores how performance measurement systems are used in practice, and how satisfied users are with their systems. Further, the study focuses on assessing benefits and challenges that users of performance measurement systems are experiencing, as well as identifies specific usage practices that influence the experienced benefits and challenges. The context of the study is QPR Software’s customer base. Research method: The research project was conducted in two phases; first a survey was prepared and sent to contacts in QPR Software’s customer relationship management (CRM) database. The objective of the survey was to explore how sophisticated and strategic usage practices the users have, what are the systems mainly used for, and how satisfied they are with their systems. The survey also categorized the respondents’ according to their usage practices. In the second phase, a multiple case study was conducted with selected respondents from the most represented usage category found in the survey. In total, seven interviews were conducted with interviewees from five different organizations. The multiple case study’s objective was to further increase understanding on what the systems are used for, what sort of benefits and challenges the users are experiencing, as well as recognize usage practices affecting the benefits and challenges. Findings of the study: Majority of the respondents were found to belong to a category where the usage practices were seen as operational; they combined both financial and non-financial measurements, but hadn’t separated the measurements into a specific framework for strategic performance measurement. Among the cases, the systems were used for a variety of purposes when assessed in organizational context. However, although the usage practices among the category were not seen to reflect strategic usage, in most cases, the systems were also used for developing and implementing strategy. The main benefits of PM were found to be related to supporting in decisionmaking and control, enabling and increasing communication and transparency, and promoting learning. Particularly, appropriate balance between interactive and diagnostic use of controls, the use of cause-and-effect relationships, standardized measurements, standardized terminology, and benchmarking, were found to be usage practices contributing to the benefits. It was however found in the interviews, that the organizations’ context was seen to affect the way in which specific usage practices contributed to the benefits and challenges experienced among the case organizations. Common main challenges with performance measurement among the case organizations were for the most parts, related to ambiguity of performance measurement objectives, and data quality.
Doxorubicin pharmacokinetics: Macromolecule binding, metabolism, and excretion in the context of a physiologic model.

The studies described herein were designed to determine whether doxorubicin (DOX) pharmacokinetics (PKs) could be described by a physiologically based PK model that incorporated macromolecule-specific binding and organ-specific metabolism and excretion. Model parameters were determined experimentally, or were gathered from the literature, in a species-specific manner, and were incorporated into a physiologically based description of DOX blood and tissue distribution for mice, dogs, and humans. The resulting model simulation data were compared with experimentally determined data using PK parameters calculated using compartmental or noncompartmental analysis to assess the predictability of the models. The resulting physiologically based PK model that was developed could accurately predict blood and tissue PKs of DOX in mice. When this model was interspecies extrapolated to predict DOX levels in dogs and humans undergoing treatment for cancer, predictions in dog plasma or human serum were also consistent with the actual clinical data. This model has potential utility for predicting the magnitude of PK interactions of DOX with other drugs, and for predicting changes in DOX PKs in any number of clinical situations.
A study on the impact of the short selling ban on FIBS

In this paper we investigate how the short selling ban affected stock markets in France, Italy, Belgium and Spain and whether the required response was really achieved and reflected in the market. Although some argue that the short selling ban was needed for the market to get back on its feet, others argue that short selling is a tool that improves market efficiency and banning such trading strategy might lead to detrimental effects on the market. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to show whether the short selling ban had a positive or negative effect, both in the short-term and long-term, on the financial markets. Moreover, to determine whether short selling is an effective tool and whether it really drives the stock prices down when the financial markets are going through bad moments. Consequently, uncover whether the short selling ban has had a permanent impact on the financial markets and whether it really had an effect on the FIBS. To do this we used market data and a selection of stock returns, which included banned stocks in the FIBS financial markets and non-banned financial stocks from non-FIBS before, during and after the short-selling ban in August 2011. It was found that the short selling ban led to higher volatility in the FIBS countries and also had a spill over effect on non-FIBS countries. Furthermore, the impact of the short selling ban on volatility was only deemed to be for a short-term period, with the exception of Spain. Also, the short selling ban slowed down price discovery in Belgium, France and non-FIBS countries, whereas the short selling ban did not affect Spain and Italy. Furthermore, all countries including the non-FIBS countries illustrated a better price discovery position after the ban was lifted; therefore the short selling ban only had a short-term impact on price discovery. Moreover, there was a long-term positive effect on prices with improvement in stock market prices for all FIBS countries with a positive impact on non-FIBS countries. However, liquidity in all FIBS and non-FIBS countries suffered a short-term negative impact.
An Annotation Framework for a Virtual Learning Portfolio

As a person learns, a significant amount of information and knowledge is accumulated, and a challenge faced by both instructors and learners is the ability to maintain a personal portfolio that manages this. Traditionally a variety of physical media such as, photocopies, images, and books were collected and personal observations and annotations were added. As electronic technology has advanced particularly on the Internet, this has created some interesting opportunities. Web based portfolio systems fulfil some of the requirements and allow for the acquisition, management and retrieval of the information and knowledge. Once the portfolio has been captured, how can the information and knowledge contained within be extended and updated? This paper describes a framework that can be used to enhance a portfolio that allows both the owner and users to add annotations both in and out of context. A prototype system is described that has been developed to demonstrate the feasibility of such a framework
Real-time detection algorithm for moving vehicles in dynamic traffic environment

As the video detection technology has become a hot issue in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), detecting the moving vehicles accurately in real-time is one of the challenging problems. This paper describes a real-time method for segmenting moving vehicles in dynamic scenes. An adaptive background update algorithm based on three-frame difference is proposed. By this method, the background is updated according to the dynamic change of surrounding light and external events. Meanwhile, for acquiring an accurate and whole segmentation result, an adaptive threshold algorithm which could adapt to real-time changes of light in the traffic environment is proposed. Experimental results of several traffic scenes are provided, which demonstrate the real-time and dynamic update of the background, and the effective segmentation by the presented method. The proposed method can be utilized in the complicated transportation environment, which lays the foundation of the practical application of the video detection technology.
Multiport Power Electronic Interface—Concept, Modeling, and Design

The continuous effort to improve efficiency, reduce particle, and greenhouse gase emissions leads to the emergence of the concept “more electric. ” This concept helps to boost the performance as well as the flexibility of the domestic and vehicular applications; however, on the other hand, it excessively burdens current power networks (including vehicle power systems). In order to remedy this problem, simultaneous usage of renewable sources and energy storages is encouraged. A multiconverter system is commonly adopted to process the renewable power in form of distributed generation. However, due to the discrete structure of such systems, power flow and load regulation are coordinated via communication channel, which inevitably reduces the reliability and dynamic response of the system. This paper presents the concept of multiport power electronic interface (MPEI) for renewable energy sources and storages. With a unified modular topology and highly integrated digital control system, controlled quasi-current source is achieved for each input port in both steady-state and transient power-sharing modes. MPEI analysis, modeling, design, and system operation are treated in a systematic manner in this paper. Both power stages and digital control system are implemented for a five-port MPEI. Experiments are conducted under meaningful operation scenarios. The results are presented to prove the feasibility of MPEI concept and system design methodology.
Growth-related Renal Type II Na/Pi Cotransporter*

Growth is critically dependent on the retention of a variety of nutrients. The kidney contributes to this positive external balance. In the present study, we isolated a cDNA from the human and rat kidney that encodes a growth-related Na+-dependent inorganic phosphate (Pi) cotransporter (type IIc). Microinjection of type IIc cRNA into Xenopus oocytes demonstrated sodium-dependent Pi cotransport activity. Affinity for Pi was 0.07 mm in 100 mm Na+. The transport activity was dependent on extracellular pH. In electrophysiological studies, type IIc Na/Pi cotransport was electroneutral, whereas type IIa was highly electrogenic. In Northern blotting analysis, the type IIc transcript was only expressed in the kidney and highly in weaning animals. In immunohistochemical analysis, the type IIc protein was shown to be localized at the apical membrane of the proximal tubular cells in superficial and midcortical nephrons of weaning rat kidney. Hybrid depletion experiments suggested that type IIc could function as a Na/Pi cotransporter in weaning animals, but its role is reduced in adults. The finding of the present study suggest that the type IIc is a growth-related renal Na/Pi cotransporter, which has a high affinity for Pi and is electroneutral.
Application of energy storage system for railway transportation in Japan

The electrical energy is easily controllable compared with other energy. In addition, the electrical energy has an advantageous feature for environment. The electrical energy is also used as the driving energy of the rolling stock in railway. On the other hand, to supply the electric energy with stability, the power supply system needs to have a sufficient supply capacity for demand. The feature of the electric power used in electric railways is that the peak power is large and the average power is low. This is a factor of the power cost increase. Moreover, electric railway is increasing effective use for the resurrection energy of the vehicle and the necessity of the voltage descent measures. In addition, an electric railway needs effective use of regenerating energy from rolling stock for energy conservation, and the measure against a voltage drop. To apply the energy storage system to electric railways is one method to solve these problems. This paper describes the example of application and future view of the energy storage system for DC-electric railway in Japan.
Perception of English compound vs. phrasal stress: natural vs. synthetic speech

The ability of listeners to distinguish between compound and phrasal stress in English was examined on the basis of a picture selection task. The responses to naturally and synthetically produced stimuli were compared. While greater overall accuracy was observed with the natural stimuli, the same pattern of greater accuracy with compound stress than with phrasal stress was observed with both types of stimuli.
Cone invariance and rendezvous of multiple agents

Abstract In this article is presented a dynamical systems framework for analysing multi-agent rendezvous problems and characterize the dynamical behaviour of the collective system. Recently, the problem of rendezvous has been addressed considerably in the graph theoretic framework, which is strongly based on the communication aspects of the problem. The proposed approach is based on the set invariance theory and focusses on how to generate feedback between the vehicles, a key part of the rendezvous problem. The rendezvous problem is defined on the positions of the agents and the dynamics is modelled as linear first-order systems. These algorithms have also been applied to non-linear first-order systems. The rendezvous problem in the framework of cooperative and competitive dynamical systems is analysed that has had some remarkable applications to biological sciences. Cooperative and competitive dynamical systems are shown to generate monotone flows by the classical Muller—Kamke theorem, which is analysed using the set invariance theory. In this article, equivalence between the rendezvous problem and invariance of an appropriately defined cone is established. The problem of rendezvous is cast as a stabilization problem, with a the set of constraints on the trajectories of the agents defined on the phase plane. The n-agent rendezvous problem is formulated as an ellipsoidal cone invariance problem in the n-dimensional phase space. Theoretical results based on set invariance theory and monotone dynamical systems are developed. The necessary and sufficient conditions for rendezvous of linear systems are presented in the form of linear matrix inequalities. These conditions are also interpreted in the Lyapunov framework using multiple Lyapunov functions. Numerical examples that demonstrate application are also presented.
Seven-Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Wilson Disease Using Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping for Measurement of Copper Accumulation

ObjectivesIn Wilson disease (WD), the copper content of cerebral tissue is increased, particularly in the basal ganglia. This study investigated whether a change in magnetic susceptibility can be detected using quantitative susceptibility mapping of the brain in patients with WD compared with healthy controls. Materials and MethodsEleven patients with WD (6 with the neurological form, 5 with the hepatic form) and 10 age-matched healthy controls who gave informed consent were examined at 7 T in a whole-body scanner (MAGNETOM; Siemens Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany) using a 24-channel phased array coil (Nova Medical). For imaging, a 3-dimensional spoiled gradient multiecho sequence (repetition time, 40 milliseconds; echo time, 9.76/19.19/28.62 milliseconds; bandwidth, 150 hertz per pixel; voxel size, 0.6 × 0.6 × 0.8 mm) was used. The susceptibility of selected regions (substantia nigra, red nucleus, pallidum, putamen, caudate nucleus) was analyzed in susceptibility maps. ResultsThe patients with WD showed significantly increased susceptibility (P value, 0.001–0.05) in all analyzed regions compared with healthy controls. This was evident not only in patients with a neurological syndrome but also, with lower values, in patients with isolated hepatic manifestations. The distribution patterns of copper accumulation were different between the patients with neurological and non–neurological manifestations of the disease. ConclusionsIn neurologically symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with WD, we found increased magnetic susceptibility in the brain tissue using quantitative susceptibility mapping.
Micro-Doppler Estimation and Analysis of Slow Moving Objects in Forward Scattering Radar System

Micro-Doppler signature can convey information of detected targets and has been used for target recognition in many Radar systems. Nevertheless, micro-Doppler for the specific Forward Scattering Radar (FSR) system has yet to be analyzed and investigated in detail; consequently, information carried by the micro-Doppler in FSR is not fully understood. This paper demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of FSR in detecting and extracting micro-Doppler signature generated from a target’s micro-motions. Comprehensive theoretical analyses and simulation results followed by experimental investigations into the feasibility of using the FSR for detecting micro-Doppler signatures are presented in this paper. The obtained results verified that the FSR system is capable of detecting micro-Doppler signature of a swinging pendulum placed on a moving trolley and discriminating different swinging speeds. Furthermore, human movement and micro-Doppler from hand motions can be detected and monitored by using the FSR system which resembles a potential application for human gait monitoring and classification.
Room Decontamination Using an Ultraviolet-C Device with Short Ultraviolet Exposure Time

Results:  UV-C Technology effectively reduces environmental contamination and should be considered when environmental transmission is significant.  The Optimum UV TM device achieved an overall 3.56-log10 reduction for MRSA in 5 minutes and an overall 2.78-log10 reduction for C. difficile spores in 10 minutes in typical patient rooms (not treated with UV reflective wall coating).  When the patient room walls were treated with Lumacept UV reflective wall coating, the Optimum UV achieved an overall 4.5-log10 reduction for MRSA in 5 minutes and an overall 3.05-log10 reduction for C. difficile spores in 10 minutes.  The use of UV reflective wall coating (Lumacept) significantly increased the overall Log reduction obtained, primarily by increasing the UV-C irradiation and Log reduction for indirect surfaces.
Consumer Perceptions towards Online Retailing in Botswana: A Case Study of the University of Botswana

The study was premised on assessing the existing customer perceptions towards online retailing in Botswana. In particular, the study used University of Botswana staff and students as a case study. Data for this study was collected through questionnaires given to students and staff of the University of Botswana. Descriptive statistics and Independent t-tests were used to analyse the results. The results from this study indicate that consumers in the University of Botswana utilise traditional shopping more than online shopping. Though accessible by people of all income, online shopping is perceived to be risky and needs a skillful internet user. Delivery concerns, technology specific innovativeness and financial risk were found to negatively influence online shopping behavior. On the other hand, subjective norms, good return policy and convenience were found to positively influence online shopping behavior. The findings from this study provide a first glance at existing customer perceptions in Botswana which should encourage further and more extensive research to yield more generalizable results that reflect consumer perceptions. Local retailers or businesses will find these results useful as these will help them narrow their focus on how to sway consumers to use their online shops.