Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Grid-connected power converters with distributed virtual power system inertia

Renewable energy generators, e.g. wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) arrays, have been increasingly employed to replace conventional gas/steam turbines so as to reduce greenhouse gas emission. However, such generators are normally coupled to the power grid through fast-response power converters without any inertia, leading to decreased power system inertia. As a consequence, system frequency deviations may easily go beyond the acceptable range under frequency events or contingencies, resulting in undesirable load-shedding or even blackouts. In order to address the inertia issue, this paper proposes a concept for all the grid-connected power converters to realize distributed virtual inertia. This can be achieved through regulating the dc-link voltages of power converters so that their dc-link capacitors are aggregated into an extremely large capacitor for frequency support. Moreover, the decisive factors of virtual inertia are identified and analyzed. Simulation and experiment results indicate that more than 10% frequency deviation reduction and 50% improvement of rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) can be expected with the proposed concept.
FilaminB is required for the directed localization of cell–cell adhesion molecules in embryonic epithelial development

Filamin proteins cross‐link F‐actin and form a scaffold for numerous signal transduction systems. In this study, we show that filaminB is apically enriched in avian embryonic epithelium, and colocalizes with cell adhesion molecules and circumferential F‐actin. FilaminB knockdown in the neural tube and somites decreases the accumulation of N‐cadherin and ZO‐1 protein at cell junctions, and promotes disruption of these tissues and the presence of neuronal aggregates within the lumen of the neural tube. This phenotype resembles that of human congenital condition, periventricular heterotopia (PH). FilaminB knockdown in MDCK cells suggests that filaminB is required for the apical accumulation of adhesion molecules in the junctional complex and subsequent epithelium formation. We further suggest that the reduction of structural integrity of the neural epithelium caused by the loss of Filamin function may also result in formation of the neuronal nodules found in PH patients. Developmental Dynamics, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Teaching approaches which support inclusive education: a connective pedagogy

In this article, Jenny Corbett, a Reader in Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, considers the factors which can help to support effective inclusive learning. She uses her reading of the growing body of literature on inclusion in order to reflect upon her own enquiries into practice at an inclusive primary school in London. Drawing upon the three key elements in the Index for Inclusion, she presents findings about school culture, school policy and school practice. Her conclusions will help policy-makers and practitioners to reflect upon the relationships between effectiveness and inclusivity.
The effect of sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate derived anolytes, and anolyte-catholyte combination on biofilms

Microbial biofilms are problematic in industrial environments where large areas of submerged surfaces are exposed to relatively high nutrient fluxes, providing niches for the formation of copious surface-associated growth. Biofilms growing in drinking water distribution pipes cause deterioration in the microbiological quality of water contributing to the occurrence of water-borne diseases. Many bacteria are resistant to moderate levels of biocides, with bacteria in biofilms being the most difficult to control. Electrochemical activation (ECA) technology provides an alternative way of controlling these micro-organisms. The main objective of this study was to evaluate an electrochemically activated solution, anolyte, as an environmentally safe disinfectant for the control of biofilms. Biofilms were grown using the Pederson device and then exposed to different concentrations of the biocide. Light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to view the effect of treatment on the biofilm structure. Re-growth of the biofilm after treatment with anolyte was detected through epifluorescence microscopy after DAPI staining of the coupons. Neat (undiluted) and mildly dilute anolyte removed the biofilm while the more dilute anolyte did not have any effect on the biofilm. Re-growth of the biofilm occurred after 24 h of biofilm treatment with anolyte and anolyte-catholyte combination, showed by the increase in colony forming units. Re-growth of planktonic bacteria however, occurred only after 72 h of treatment. Water SA Vol. 32(2) 2006: pp.237-242
Low-complexity lattice reduction-aided channel inversion methods for large multi-User MIMO systems

Low-complexity precoding algorithms are proposed in this work to reduce the computational complexity and improve the performance of regularized block diagonalization (RBD) based precoding schemes for large multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) systems. The proposed algorithms are based on a channel inversion technique, QR decompositions, and lattice reductions to decouple the MU-MIMO channel into equivalent SU-MIMO channels. Simulation results show that the proposed precoding algorithms can achieve almost the same sum-rate performance as RBD precoding, substantial bit error rate (BER) performance gains, and a simplified receiver structure, while requiring a lower complexity.
Bringing down the walls: young people's perspectives on peace‐walls in Belfast

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present young people's attitudes to peace‐walls in Belfast and whether they feel that these peace‐walls should be temporary or permanent structures.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on questionnaire responses from 125 young people between the ages of 14 and 15 from six schools located in areas in Belfast where Catholics and Protestants live side by side yet apart. The paper is also based on their responses to photo prompts, focus group discussions and images of peace‐walls drawn by some of the young people.Findings – The young people produced six discourses on peace‐walls in Belfast and these are outlined in the paper.Research limitations/implications – The paper endorses the necessity of incorporating young people's views of peace‐walls in Belfast as a prelude to finding ways in which to challenge taken‐for‐granted assumptions about the legacy of the conflict in Northern Ireland.Originality/value – The paper is original in that it addresses t.
Factors Predicting the Choice of an Online versus a Traditional Course

Universities sometimes offer students the choice of an online course as an alternative to the traditional classroom. We employed the theory of planned behavior (Azjen, 1991) to examine an individual's intention to enroll in an online experimental psychology class versus a traditional class. General attitudes and subjective norms significantly predicted students' reported enrollment intentions. We discuss suggestions for increasing interest in online courses.
The timely computing base: Timely actions in the presence of uncertain timeliness

Real-time behavior is specified in compliance with timeliness requirements, which in essence calls for synchronous system models. However systems often rely on unpredictable and unreliable infrastructures, that suggest the use of asynchronous models. Several models have been proposed to address this issue. We propose an architectural construct that takes a generic approach to the problem of programming in the presence of uncertain timeliness. We assume the existence of a component, capable of executing timing functions, which helps applications with varying degrees of synchrony to behave reliably despite the occurrence of timing failures. We call this component the Timely Computing Base, TCB. This paper describes the TCB architecture and model, and discusses the application programming interface for accessing the TCB services. The implementation of the TCB services uses fail-awareness techniques to increase the coverage of TCB properties.
Risk Maps for the Spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Poultry

Devastating epidemics of highly contagious animal diseases such as avian influenza, classical swine fever, and foot-and-mouth disease underline the need for improved understanding of the factors promoting the spread of these pathogens. Here the authors present a spatial analysis of the between-farm transmission of a highly pathogenic H7N7 avian influenza virus that caused a large epidemic in The Netherlands in 2003. The authors developed a method to estimate key parameters determining the spread of highly transmissible animal diseases between farms based on outbreak data. The method allows for the identification of high-risk areas for propagating spread in an epidemiologically underpinned manner. A central concept is the transmission kernel, which determines the probability of pathogen transmission from infected to uninfected farms as a function of interfarm distance. The authors show how an estimate of the transmission kernel naturally provides estimates of the critical farm density and local reproduction numbers, which allows one to evaluate the effectiveness of control strategies. For avian influenza, the analyses show that there are two poultry-dense areas in The Netherlands where epidemic spread is possible, and in which local control measures are unlikely to be able to halt an unfolding epidemic. In these regions an epidemic can only be brought to an end by the depletion of susceptible farms by infection or massive culling. The analyses provide an estimate of the spatial range over which highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses spread between farms, and emphasize that control measures aimed at controlling such outbreaks need to take into account the local density of farms.
Computational modeling of long-term depression of synaptic weights: insights from STDP, metaplasticity and spontaneous activity

Using the STDP rule with metaplasticity, we show that to evoke longterm depression (LTD) or depotentiation of synaptic weights in the spiking model of granule cell is not easy. This is in accordance with a number of experimental studies. On the other hand, heterosynaptic LTD which accompanies homosynaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) is induced readily both in the model as well as in experiments. We offer possible explanation of these phenomena from STDP, metaplasticity and spontaneous activity. We suggest conditions under which it would be possible to induce homosynaptic LTD and depotentiation.
Efficient mining of iterative patterns for software specification discovery

Studies have shown that program comprehension takes up to 45% of software development costs. Such high costs are caused by the lack-of documented specification and further aggravated by the phenomenon of software evolution. There is a need for automated tools to extract specifications to aid program comprehension. In this paper, a novel technique to efficiently mine common software temporal patterns from traces is proposed. These patterns shed light on program behaviors, and are termed iterative patterns. They capture unique characteristic of software traces, typically not found in arbitrary sequences. Specifically, due to loops, interesting iterative patterns can occur multiple times within a trace. Furthermore, an occurrence of an iterative pattern in a trace can extend across a sequence of indefinite length. Since a program behavior can be manifested in numerous ways, analyzing a single trace will not be sufficient. Iterative pattern mining extends sequential pattern and episode minings to discover frequent iterative patterns which occur repetitively both within a program trace and across multiple traces. In this paper, we present CLIPER (CLosed Iterative Pattern minER) to efficiently mine a closed set of iterative patterns. A performance study on several simulated and real datasets shows the efficiency of our mining algorithm and effectiveness of our pruning strategy. Our case study on JBoss Application Server confirms the usefulness of mined patterns in discovering interesting software behavioral specification.
Structured treatment can improve predicate argument structure impairment

Background: Complementation information is a type of lexical-syntactic information that determines which syntactic environments a verb can be inserted into. It includes information about the verb’s predicate argument structure (PAS), the thematic role of each argument, and the verb’s subcategorisation frames. Complementation information might be impaired in aphasia. Various procedures have been used in treatment studies aimed at improving the production of verbs or sentences (including the verb with its arguments); these have usually yielded an improvement in treated verbs, without generalisation to untreated verbs. Aims: In this study, we evaluated a structured treatment procedure, aimed at improving impaired PAS information, and examined whether it improved the production of verbs with their arguments in sentences. The research questions were these: (a) Will treatment improve the production of verbs with their arguments in sentences? (b) Will improvement generalise to untreated verbs? (c) Will improvement be maintained after the end of the treatment? and (d) Will improvement generalise to connected speech (in a task of telling a story in response to a series of pictures)? Methods & Procedures: Two chronic aphasic patients with impairment in PAS information participated in the study. Their complementation information, and specifically their PAS information, was assessed prior to treatment, immediately after treatment, and in follow-ups 6 weeks and 6 months after treatment. The treatment consisted of instruction and practice on the number of arguments different verbs select, and taught the participants a strategy they could use. The practice was organised hierarchically, with regard to the number of arguments a given verb requires and the amount of cueing given. Outcomes & Results: Following treatment, a significant improvement was found in the participants’ ability to produce sentences with the correct number of arguments. This improvement was generalised to untreated verbs and to connected speech and maintained for (at least) 6 months after treatment. However, neither participant showed improvement in other language skills, or even in other types of complementation information (i.e., subcategorisation frames). Conclusions: The findings suggest that structured treatment focusing on PAS information can improve the use of this specific type of information, manifested in the production of sentences including the verb with its arguments. Theoretically, the findings support the view that complementation information is represented separately from other types of language information, and they suggest that different types of complementation information might be represented separately.
Amino[(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)amino]methaniminium 4-methylbenzenesulfonate

The asymmetric unit of the title salt, C8H10N5 +·C7H7O3S−, consists of two amino[(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)amino]methaniminium cations and two 4-methylbenzenesulfonate anions. The cations are each stabilized by intramolecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds between the free amino groups and the imine N atoms of the benzimidazole units, forming S(6) ring motifs. In the crystal, cations and anions are linked by N—H⋯O and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming a three-dimensional supramolecular framework. Two strong π–π stacking interactions [centroid–centroid distances = 3.4112 (14) and 3.4104 (14) Å] also occur between the centroids of the imidazole rings of like cations.
Inhibition of lymphocyte cytotoxicity for human colon carcinoma by treatment with solubilized tumour membrane fractions

The in vitro cytotoxic action of patients' lymphocytes against colon carcinoma cells was evaluated following incubation of the lymphocytes with papain‐solubilized tumour‐membrane preparations. Soluble extracts of pooled colon carcinomas inhibited cytotoxicity by sensitized lymphocytes, but similar extracts of normal colon or melanoma had no inhibitory effect. The results suggest that soluble tumour antigen may play a role in abolishing lymphocyte reactivity, and this is interpreted as supporting the concept that cellular immunity against tumours in vivo may be inhibited by circulating antigen.
Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption

Access to capital, say the widows interviewed, is also vitally important. Since extended families were decimated and scattered in the Khmer Rouge era, widows may now look to local moneylenders charging usurious interest rates, rather than to family members, for small loans. If widows don’t lose their land outright to the lenders when they fail to repay the loan, they can find themselves paying interest for many years and never touching the principal. Thus, micro-credit schemes targeting women and charging reasonable interest rates show particular promise in this milieu. Rice Plus is a significant scholarly work— one of the first in which individual Cambodian widows have been given any chance at all to speak for themselves. As Lee reminds us (p. 13), “There are no generic widows. ” If it costs less, Rice Plus would make a nice textbook for a genderor area-studies class. It is certainly required reading for anyone planning fieldwork in Cambodia.
The Efficiency of an Artificial Stock Market with Heterogeneous Intelligent Agents

In this paper, we construct an artificial equity market using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Based on the heterogeneous beliefs and trading strategies prevailing in actual equity markets, we divide traders into three groups: value traders, momentum traders and noise traders. Characteristically, value traders are endowed with an ANN learning mechanism that allows them to forecast the dividend growth rate. A double-auction market setting is adopted as our market mechanism for simulating the market structure. Our artificial market is able to replicate several important features of real markets, including excess volatility, volatility persistence, and serial autocorrelation of stock returns. The profitability of three trading strategies are compared. On average, value traders exhibit the highest Sharpe ratio and significantly positive excess returns. The rational expectations equilibrium emerges for only one of the three experiments. I am grateful to my thesis supervisors Prof. Bryan Campbell and Prof. Lawrence Kryzanowski for their insightful advice and valuable supports. I would also like to thank Prof. Anastas Anastapoulos and Prof. Michael Sampson for their useful comments.
A Hierarchical Framework for Efficient Multilevel Visual Exploration and Analysis

The purpose of data visualization is to offer intuitive ways for information perception and manipulation, especially for non-expert users. Most traditional visualization tools and methods operate on an offline way, limited on accessing static (preprocessed) sets of data. They also restrict themselves on dealing with small dataset sizes, which can be easily visually analysed with conventional visualization techniques. However, the Web of Data has realized the availability of a great amount and variety of big datasets that are dynamic in nature; most of them offer query or API endpoints for online access and analysis. Modern visualization techniques must address the challenge of on-the-fly visualizations over large dynamic sets of data, offering efficient exploration techniques, as well as mechanisms for information abstraction and summarization. Moreover, they must take into account different user-defined exploration scenarios and user’s preferences. In this work, we present a generic model for personalized multilevel exploration and analysis over large dynamic sets of numeric and temporal data. Our model is built on top of a lightweight tree-based structure which can be efficiently constructed on-the-fly for a given set of data. This tree structure aggregates input objects into a hierarchical multiscale model. We define two versions of this structure, which adopts different data organization approaches, well-suited to exploration and analysis context. In the proposed structure, statistical computations can be efficiently performed on-the-fly. Considering different exploration scenarios over large datasets, the proposed model enables efficient multilevel exploration, offering incremental construction via user interaction, and dynamic adaptation of the hierarchies based on user’s preferences. A thorough theoretical analysis is presented, illustrating the efficiency of the proposed model. The proposed model is realized in a Web-based prototype tool, called rdf:SynopsViz that offers multilevel visual exploration and analysis over Linked Data datasets. Finally, we provide a performance evaluation and a empirical user study employing real datasets.
Maximum Rank Correlation Training for Statistical Machine Translation

We propose Maximum Ranking Correlation (MRC) as an objective function in discriminative tuning of parameters in a linear model of Statistical Machine Translation (SMT). We try to maximize the ranking correlation between sentence level BLEU (SBLEU) scores and model scores of the N-best list, while the MERT paradigm focuses on the potential 1best candidates of the N-best list. After we optimize the MER and the MRC objectives using an multiple objective optimization algorithm at the same time, we interpolate them to obtain parameters which outperform both. Experimental results on WMT French–English data set confirm that our method significantly outperforms MERT on out-of-domain data sets, and performs marginally better than MERT on in-domain data sets, which validates the usefulness of MRC on both domain specific and general domain data.
Why Use a 99 c / Reserve Price on eBay ?

The popularity of the 99c/ reserve price in auctions held on the eBay platform provides an interesting economic puzzle. That is, the seller’s receipts are maximized using a 99c / reserve price for many items. This paper presents a model showing that when the seller cannot commit to a reserve price, the best she can do is set the reserve low enough so as to be non-binding and allow the price to be determined by the bidding.
Adaptive postfiltering for enhancement of noisy speech in the frequency domain

A novel frequency-domain adaptive postfilter for enhancement of noisy speech is presented. The postfilter suppresses the noise in spectral valleys and allows more noise in the formant regions where it is masked by the speech signal. First, the authors perform an LPC (linear predictive coding) analysis of the noisy speech and calculate its log magnitude spectrum. After identifying the formants and spectral valleys, the log magnitude spectrum is modified to obtain the postfilter frequency response. This response has local maxima of equal magnitude at the formant frequencies. Experimental results show that this novel frequency-domain approach results in enhanced speech of better perceptual quality than obtained by a time-domain method. The proposed method is especially efficient in eliminating high frequency noise and in preserving the weaker, high frequency formants in sonorant sounds. <<ETX>>
Wikipedia-based Kernels for dialogue topic tracking

Dialogue topic tracking aims to segment on-going dialogues into topically coherent sub-dialogues and predict the topic category for each next segment. This paper proposes a kernel method for dialogue topic tracking to utilize various types of information obtained from Wikipedia. The experimental results show that our proposed approach can significantly improve the performances of the task in mixed-initiative human-human dialogues.