Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ampacity of Low-Voltage Power Cables Under Nonsinusoidal Currents

This paper investigates the ac resistance in the presence of harmonics and proposes ampacity derating factors for cables made according to CENELEC Standard HD603. These cables are widely used in low-voltage industrial and building installations. Four-conductor cables of small, medium, and large conductor cross sections are considered. The fourth conductor is used as the neutral conductor. The cables are modeled using finite-element analysis software. The ac/dc resistance ratio is shown to increase with the frequency of the current and the cross section of the conductor, the increase being much larger when zero-sequence harmonics are present. A derating factor is defined and calculated for five typical nonsinusoidal current loads, for example, computer equipment. The derating of the cable's ampacity is shown to be very large when zero-sequence harmonics are present. The cross section of the neutral conductor is shown to be significant only when zero-sequence harmonics are present. The validity of the method is verified by comparison with data given in IEEE Standard 519-1992 and with measurements conducted on a cable feeding a large nonlinear load
The Psychological Performance Inventory: Is the mental toughness test tough enough?

Mental toughness, stemming in part from Loehr's 1986 classic research, is widely alluded to as a critical variable in the popular media and applied sport psychology. We evaluated the construct validity of responses to Loehr's (1986) Psychological Performance Inventory (PPI) by 263 student-athletes from an elite sports high school. As confirmatory factor analysis yielded a poor model fit and an improper solution for the a priori model, we pursued exploratory factor analyses that resulted in a 5-factor model that fitted the data well. However, further analyses showed that key correlates of mental toughness were more strongly correlated with the factors based on the original structure than factors based on the alternative structure. In conclusion, neither the original PPI nor the subset of PPI items in the better-fitting alternative model was a sound measure of mental toughness, indicating that a good fit is a necessary but not sufficient condition for construct validation. Good instrumentation must be strong in terms of conceptual/theoretical considerations, psychometric properties, and relationships to key correlates hypothesised to be meaningfully related to it.
“I want to be a captain! I want to be a captain!”: gamification in the old weather citizen science project

Gamification is increasingly implemented in citizen science projects as a means of motivating and sustaining participation. In a survey and subsequent interviews we explored the appeal of gamification for participants in the Old Weather project, and its impact upon data quality. We found that the same competitive mechanisms which some volunteers found rewarding and motivating were either ignored by other participants, or contributed to a decision to discontinue participation. We also identified an opportunity to use gamification to exploit the narrative appeal of a project such as Old Weather. In contrast to previous citizen science research, much of which focuses on how to support the most active or prolific contributors, we offer new design recommendations which recognise varying levels of engagement with a project.
Dissimilatory sulphate reduction in hypersaline coastal pans: an integrated microbiological and geochemical study

Here, we report on the spatial and temporal variation in sulphate‐reducing bacterial community structure and activity in three hypersaline coastal pans. Community structure was determined using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Cluster analysis of DGGE patterns indicated that similar microbial populations were generally found in individual pans but varied from one pan to the other. Sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) were quantified by competitive polymerase chain reaction based on the amplification of the dsrAB genes. Cell numbers and in situ sulphate reduction activities varied between seasons and pans but in general showed low variation in depth. Sulphate reduction activity was not correlated with microbial population size indicating that community composition is relevant for specific microbial processes. Principal component analysis coupled with correlation analyses suggested that salinity, sulphate concentration, C/N ratio and pH were the most important factors in explaining variations in SRB community composition. Most sequences derived from DGGE amplicons belonged to members of the Desulfobacteraceae and Desulfohalobiaceae families.
Communication Performance of Wormhole Interconnection Networks

Fat trees and low dimensional toroidal cubes have raised a great interest in the scientiic community in the last few years and are emerging standards in the design of interconnection networks for massively parallel computers. In this thesis we compare the communication performance of these two classes of wormhole interconnection networks using a detailed simulation model. The comparison is made using a set of synthetic benchmarks and two collective communication patterns, the total-exchange and the h-relation, taking into account physical constraints, as pin and bandwidth limitations, and the router complexity. In our experiments we consider two networks with 256 nodes, a toroidal 16-ary 2-cube and 4-ary 4-tree. We also show an interesting property that relates the communication performance of the fat trees with the network abstraction provided by the Bulk-Synchronous Parallel (BSP) model. This property can be used to give a tight upper bound on the execution of many classes of h-relations. Acknowledgments Many people have helped me to make the years spent in Pisa some of the most signiicant of my life. Marco Vanneschi, my advisor, deserves special thanks not only due to his invaluable support, teaching, and guidance in his role as my advisor, but also for the supportive way he has helped me through the diicult moments of my thesis. The members of the P 3 L group have ooered their help and their advice. Special thanks go to A special thank goes to my reviewers, Prof. Jos e Duato and Prof. David B. Skillicorn for their help in improving the quality of the thesis and their comments. I am also indebt to Federico Malucelli for his friendship and insightful advice during the last period of my thesis. Finally, my parents have been an endless source of support, love, and encouragement. Without their guidance and motivation I would never have come so far.
Computational Phenotyping in Psychiatry: A Worked Example

Abstract Computational psychiatry is a rapidly emerging field that uses model-based quantities to infer the behavioral and neuronal abnormalities that underlie psychopathology. If successful, this approach promises key insights into (pathological) brain function as well as a more mechanistic and quantitative approach to psychiatric nosology—structuring therapeutic interventions and predicting response and relapse. The basic procedure in computational psychiatry is to build a computational model that formalizes a behavioral or neuronal process. Measured behavioral (or neuronal) responses are then used to infer the model parameters of a single subject or a group of subjects. Here, we provide an illustrative overview over this process, starting from the modeling of choice behavior in a specific task, simulating data, and then inverting that model to estimate group effects. Finally, we illustrate cross-validation to assess whether between-subject variables (e.g., diagnosis) can be recovered successfully. Our worked example uses a simple two-step maze task and a model of choice behavior based on (active) inference and Markov decision processes. The procedural steps and routines we illustrate are not restricted to a specific field of research or particular computational model but can, in principle, be applied in many domains of computational psychiatry.
Relating Software Component Models

A device for securing a pair of slideable window or door sashes in a fixed frame having first and second locking plungers longitudinally displaceable in a housing mounted on a first of said sashes so that said plungers are respectively displaceable into and out of securing relation with said frame and the second of said sashes. The first locking plunger is provided with a keyhole-shaped slot therethrough, while the second locking plunger is positioned to extend through said slot and dimensioned for receipt within the wider portion of said slot but not in the narrow portion thereof at a first locked orientation at which the first locking plunger is retained in securing relation with the frame. Further, the second locking plunger is dimensioned for receipt within the narrower portion of the slot at an opened orientation of said plunger. Lock means is provided for releaseably securing the second locking plunger in said locked orientation.
Time-Delay Estimation Using Source and Spectral Information from Speech

This paper proposes a method for estimating the time-delay between speech signals collected over two spatially distributed microphones using source and spectral information. For a given frame, the cross-correlation sequences obtained separately using the excitation source and spectral information are combined and the time-delay is estimated. The time-delay estimated from the combined cross-correlation sequence is found to be providing better performance compared to the time- delay estimated using individual cross-correlation sequences from source and spectral information. The improved performance by the proposed combined method demonstrates the complementary nature of the information exploited by the source and spectral based methods for time-delay estimation.
The Effects of Adjunct Questions on Prose Learning

The research literature on the effects of factual and higher order adjunct questions is reviewed. The influence of 13 design variables on the direction and size of adjunct-questions effects was investigated. Adjunct questions of all cognitive levels have a strong facilitative effect on repeated test questions and a weaker effect on test questions related to the adjunct questions. Unrelated test questions are affected negatively by factual prequestions and by factual postquestions when study time is controlled. Factual postquestions have a positive effect on unrelated questions only when no time restrictions are imposed. Effect sizes are found to be related to text length, density of adjunct questions, adjunct-question format, test-question format, and the level of performance in the control group; they are unrelated to subjects’ age, the interval between reading task and test, whether or not subjects are allowed to consult the text while answering the adjunct questions, and the average distance between adjunct questions and relevant text information. When compared to factual adjunct questions, higher order adjunct questions lead to improved performance on repeated, related, and unrelated higher order test questions, and possibly also on unrelated factual test questions. This indicates that higher order adjunct questions may have a more general facilitative effect than factual adjunct questions. The analysis of a recent adjunct-questions study illustrates the role that review results can play in (re)interpreting experimental findings.
The size distribution of innovations revisited: an application of extreme value statistics to citation and value measures of patent significance

This paper focuses on the analysis of size distributions of innovations, which are known to be highly skewed. We use patent citations as one indicator of innovation significance, constructing two large datasets from the European and US Patent Offices at a high level of aggregation, and the Trajtenberg (1990) dataset on CT scanners at a very low one. We also study self-assessed reports of patented innovation values using two very recent patent valuation datasets from the Netherlands and the UK, as well as a small dataset of patent license revenues of Harvard University. Statistical methods are applied to analyse the properties of the empirical size distributions, where we put special emphasis on testing for the existence of ‘heavy tails’, i.e., whether or not the probability of very large innovations declines more slowly than exponentially. While overall the distributions appear to resemble a lognormal, we argue that the tails are indeed fat. We invoke some recent results from extreme value statistics and apply the Hill (1975) estimator with data-driven cut-offs to determine the tail index for the right tails of all datasets except the NL and UK patent valuations. On these latter datasets we use a maximum likelihood estimator for grouped data to estimate the Pareto exponent for varying definitions of the right tail. We find significantly and consistently lower tail estimates for the returns data than the citation data (around 0.7 vs. 3-5). The EPO and US patent citation tail indices are roughly constant over time (although the US one does grow somewhat in the last periods) but the latter estimates are significantly lower than the former. The heaviness of the tails, particularly as measured by financial indices, we argue, has significant implications for technology policy and growth theory, since the second and possibly even the first moments of these distributions may not exist.
ATTITUDES OF CONSUMERS TOWARD BRAND OBSCURATION

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects on the “Non-Brand Obscuring TV Viewing Desires of TV Viewers” and “Positive Emotions Towards Obscured Brands of Viewers” of attitudes of consumers toward brand obscuration applications. A total of 874 questionnaires measured viewers’ brand obstruction attitudes. The questionnaire consisted of three parts was conducted on people living in Eskisehir which is a province of middle region of Turkey. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and regression analysis were applied. The results of analyses reveal five valid factors (TV watching pleasure, negative effect toward sponsorship, distract attention, ethics and commercial approach and brand acquaintance) and indicate significant effects between attitudes of consumers toward brand obscuration applications and non-brand obscuring TV viewing desires of TV viewers and positive emotions towards obscured brands of viewers.
Image plane interaction techniques in 3D immersive environments

This paper presents a set of interaction techniques for use in headtracked immersive virtual environments. With these techniques, the user interacts with the 2D projections that 3D objects in the scene make on his image plane. The desktop analog is the use of a mouse to interact with objects in a 3D scene based on their projections on the monitor screen. Participants in an immersive environment can use the techniques we discuss for object selection, object manipulation, and user navigation in virtual environments. CR Categories and Subject Descriptors: 1.3. 6 [Computer Graphics]: Methodology and Techniques - InteractionTechniques; 1.3. 7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism - VirtualReality. Additional Keywords: virtual worlds, virtual environments, navigation, selection, manipulation.
On the security region of best source indices in random wireless networks

The secrecy characteristics of random wireless networks considering a generalized fading model, where the communication nodes are equipped with multiple antennas is analyzed. Using stochastic geometric tools, we investigate the secrecy outage probability of such networks from the perspective of the kth best source, which has still not been well characterized in the literature. In particular, we derive the received path gain distributions of the typical destination and the eavesdropper from the k-th best source. Using these results, we derive the secrecy outage probability for two scenarios with respect to the received path gain from any best source and the k-th best source. Furthermore, we introduce a novel concept of security-region based on the k-th best source index. This is pragmatic in creating a protected communication zone for the typical destination. Tractable numerical and simulation results are presented under various assumptions of fading, path loss exponents and antenna figures.
Chapter 7 Robotic Ventral Hernia Repair

Approximately 350,000 to 500,000 ventral hernias are repaired yearly in the United States. These hernias include congenital umbilical hernias, incisional hernias from previous sur‐ geries, or epigastric hernias. The crux of hernia repair is honoring the principle of achiev‐ ing a tension‐free repair, often achieved with utilization of a synthetic mesh. Over the last quarter of this century, laparoscopic ventral hernia repair has established itself as a valuable tool in repair of ventral hernias, with the advantages of reduced postoperative complications. More recently, the adaptation of the robotic platform has given another tool to perform ventral hernia repairs. The aim of this chapter is to describe the evolution of ventral hernia repairs and highlight the robotic approaches to repair.
Listeria monocytogenes Differential Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Temperature-Dependent Agr Regulation and Suggests Overlaps with Other Regulons

Listeria monocytogenes is a ubiquitous, opportunistic pathogenic organism. Environmental adaptation requires constant regulation of gene expression. Among transcriptional regulators, AgrA is part of an auto-induction system. Temperature is an environmental cue critical for in vivo adaptation. In order to investigate how temperature may affect AgrA-dependent transcription, we compared the transcriptomes of the parental strain L. monocytogenes EGD-e and its ΔagrA mutant at the saprophytic temperature of 25°C and in vivo temperature of 37°C. Variations of transcriptome were higher at 37°C than at 25°C. Results suggested that AgrA may be involved in the regulation of nitrogen transport, amino acids, purine and pyrimidine biosynthetic pathways and phage-related functions. Deregulations resulted in a growth advantage at 37°C, but affected salt tolerance. Finally, our results suggest overlaps with PrfA, σB, σH and CodY regulons. These overlaps may suggest that through AgrA, Listeria monocytogenes integrates information on its biotic environment.
LEVELS OF DETAIL IN 3 D BUILDING RECONSTRUCTION FROM LIDAR DATA

3D models of buildings are useful for many applications such as urban planning and environmental simulation, cartography, tourism and mobile navigation. Automatically generating building models in the form of 3D CAD representation is the major part of city modeling and a challenge for many researchers. Airborne laser-scanning (ALS) results into high-quality geometrical information about the landscape. It is suitable for the reconstruction of 3D objects like buildings because of its high density and geometrical accuracy. In this paper a novel approach is proposed for automatically generating 3D building models based on definition of Levels of Detail (LOD) in the CityGML standard. Three levels of detail are considered in this paper. In the first LOD (LOD0), the Digital Terrain Model extracted from LIDAR data is represented. For this purpose the Digital Surface Model is filtered using geodesic morphology. A prismatic model containing the major walls of the building is generated to form the LOD1. The building outlines are detected by classification of non-ground objects and the building outlines are approximated by two approaches; hierarchical fitting of Minimum Boundary rectangles (MBR) and RANSAC based straight line fitting algorithm. LOD2 is formed by including the roof structures into the model. For this purpose, a model driven approach based on the analysis of the 3D points in a 2D projection plane is proposed. A building region is divided into smaller parts according to the direction and the number of ridge lines, which are extracted using geodesic morphology. The 3D model is derived for each building part. Finally, a complete building model is formed by merging the 3D models of the building parts and adjusting the nodes after the merging process.
Vocal fold disorder detection based on continuous speech by using MFCC and GMM

Vocal fold voice disorder detection with a sustained vowel is well investigated by research community during recent years. The detection of voice disorder with a sustained vowel is a comparatively easier task than detection with continuous speech. The speech signal remains stationary in case of sustained vowel but it varies over time in continuous time. This is the reason; voice detection by using continuous speech is challenging and demands more investigation. Moreover, detection with continuous speech is more realistic because people use it in their daily conversation but sustained vowel is not used in everyday talks. An accurate voice assessment can provide unique and complementary information for the diagnosis, and can be used in the treatment plan. In this paper, vocal fold disorders, cyst, polyp, nodules, paralysis, and sulcus, are detected using continuous speech. Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) are used with Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to build an automatic detection system capable of differentiating normal and pathological voices. The detection rate of the developed detection system with continuous speech is 91.66%.
Internal tandem duplication of fms‐like tyrosine kinase 3 is associated with poor outcome in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome

The prognostic significance of internal tandem duplication (ITD) of the fms‐like tyrosine kinase 3 gene (FLT3) for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is not clearly defined. In the current study, the authors sought to assess the value of FLT3/ITD mutation status as a prognostic genetic marker for patients with MDS.
Practical Ray Tracing of Trimmed NURBS Surfaces

Abstract A system is presented for ray tracing trimmed NURBS surfaces. While approaches to components are drawn largely from existing literature, their combination within a single framework is novel. This paper also differs from prior work in that the details of an efficient implementation are fleshed out. Throughout, emphasis is placed on practical methods suitable to implementation in general ray-tracing programs.
Implementing a Financial Management Curriculum With Survivors of IPV

There is a clear need for financial literacy programs specific to survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), as the skills and knowledge acquired during these programs stand to increase survivors’ ability to achieve economic independence. In order to understand advocates’ experiences in providing a financial literacy program, this study reports the findings of a qualitative study among 19 domestic violence advocates across 10 states. Findings revealed that advocates expressed complexities in providing financial literacy to survivors. Furthermore, advocates discussed the ways in which they incorporated the financial literacy curriculum into their own financial management behaviors. These findings provide critical information in regard to best practice approaches to incorporating financial literacy into IPV services.