Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impacts of Wind Power on Thermal Generation Unit Commitment and Dispatch

This paper proposes a new simulation method that can fully assess the impacts of large-scale wind power on system operations from cost, reliability, and environmental perspectives. The method uses a time series of observed and predicted 15-min average wind speeds at foreseen onshore- and offshore-wind farm locations. A Unit Commitment and Economic Dispatch (UC-ED) tool is adapted to allow for frequent revisions of conventional generation unit schedules, using information on current wind energy output and forecasts for the next 36 h. This is deemed the most faithful way of simulating actual operations and short-term planning activities for a system with large wind power penetration. The problem formulation includes ramp-rate constraints for generation schedules and for reserve activation, and minimum up-time and down-time of conventional units. Results are shown for a realistic future scenario of the Dutch power system. It is shown that problems such as insufficient regulating and reserve power-which are typically associated with the variability and limited predictability of wind power-can only be assessed in conjunction with the specifics of the conventional generation system that wind power is integrated into. For the thermal system with a large share of combined heat and power (CHP) investigated here, wind power forecasting does not provide significant benefits for optimal unit commitment and dispatch. Minimum load problems do occur, which result in wasted wind in amounts increasing with the wind power installed
Molecular characterization of a novel cryptic virus infecting pigeonpea plants

A new member of the genus Deltapartitivirus was identified containing three dsRNAs with an estimated size of 1.71, 1.49 and 1.43 kb. The dsRNAs were extracted from symptomless pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] plants cv. Erra Kandulu. This new virus with 4.64 kb genome was tentatively named Arhar cryptic virus-1 (ArCV-1). The genomic RNAs were amplified and characterized by sequence independent single primer amplification. The dsRNAs shared a highly conserved 16 nt 5’ non-coding region (5’-GATAATGATCCAAGGA-3’). The largest dsRNA (dsRNA-1) was identified as the viral RNA dependent RNA polymerase (replicase), predicted to encode a putative 55.34 kDa protein (P1). The two other smaller dsRNAs (dsRNA-2 and dsRNA-3) predicted to encode for putative capsid proteins of 38.50kDa (P2) and 38.51kDa (P3), respectively. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that ArCV-1 formed a clade together with Fragaria chiloensis cryptic virus, Rosa multiflora cryptic virus and Rose cryptic virus-1, indicating that ArCV-1 could be a new member of the genus Deltapartitivirus. ArCV-1 3Dpol structure revealed several interesting features. The 3Dpol in its full-length shares structural similarities with members of the family Caliciviridaeand family Picornaviridae. In addition, fourth dsRNA molecule (dsRNA-2A), not related to ArCV-1 genome, was found in the same plant tissue. The dsRNA-2A (1.6 kb) encodes a protein (P4), with a predicted size of 44.5 kDa. P4 shares similarity with coat protein genes of several cryptic viruses, in particular the bipartite cryptic viruses including Raphanus sativus cryptic virus-3. This is the first report of occurrence of a cryptic virus in pigeonpea plants.
Use and usefulness of the information systems measurement. A quality approach at the Mexican Northeastern Region

Information technologies have transformed organizations; therefore, identifying their entrepreneurial value has been one of the main concerns for both, managers and researchers. The purpose of this research is to determine the influence of the information systems’ quality on user satisfaction and perceived benefits, and these in turn on the use/usefulness of such technologies in small and medium-sized enterprises of the Mexican northeastern region. Data are collected from 169 questionnaires and analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Multi-Group Analysis. The results show that although the users feel satisfied with systems quality, it is not allowing them to make better use and usefulness of information systems. With the Multi-Group Analysis, a significant difference is detected between the relation of perceived benefits and system quality.
Assaying Blood Cell Populations of the Drosophila melanogaster Larva

In vertebrates, hematopoiesis is regulated by inductive microenvironments (niches). Likewise, in the invertebrate model organism Drosophila melanogaster, inductive microenvironments known as larval Hematopoietic Pockets (HPs) have been identified as anatomical sites for the development and regulation of blood cells (hemocytes), in particular of the self-renewing macrophage lineage. HPs are segmentally repeated pockets between the epidermis and muscle layers of the larva, which also comprise sensory neurons of the peripheral nervous system. In the larva, resident (sessile) hemocytes are exposed to anti-apoptotic, adhesive and proliferative cues from these sensory neurons and potentially other components of the HPs, such as the lining muscle and epithelial layers. During normal development, gradual release of resident hemocytes from the HPs fuels the population of circulating hemocytes, which culminates in the release of most of the resident hemocytes at the beginning of metamorphosis. Immune assaults, physical injury or mechanical disturbance trigger the premature release of resident hemocytes into circulation. The switch of larval hemocytes between resident locations and circulation raises the need for a common standard/procedure to selectively isolate and quantify these two populations of blood cells from single Drosophila larvae. Accordingly, this protocol describes an automated method to release and quantify the resident and circulating hemocytes from single larvae. The method facilitates ex vivo approaches, and may be adapted to serve a variety of developmental stages of Drosophila and other invertebrate organisms.
Product Importance Sampling for Light Transport Path Guiding

The efficiency of Monte Carlo algorithms for light transport simulation is directly related to their ability to importance‐sample the product of the illumination and reflectance in the rendering equation. Since the optimal sampling strategy would require knowledge about the transport solution itself, importance sampling most often follows only one of the known factors – BRDF or an approximation of the incident illumination. To address this issue, we propose to represent the illumination and the reflectance factors by the Gaussian mixture model (GMM), which we fit by using a combination of weighted expectation maximization and non‐linear optimization methods. The GMM representation then allows us to obtain the resulting product distribution for importance sampling on‐the‐fly at each scene point. For its efficient evaluation and sampling we preform an up‐front adaptive decimation of both factor mixtures. In comparison to state‐of‐the‐art sampling methods, we show that our product importance sampling can lead to significantly better convergence in scenes with complex illumination and reflectance.
The Role of Crowdfunding in Entrepreneurial Finance

The authors provide a broad overview of our knowledge on crowdfunding, particularly bridging two important issues in contemporary crowdfunding research: the ‘problem of riches’, that is, crowdfunding has been popular across scholarly disciplines and knowledge is embedded in disciplinary silos; and the ‘dearth of evidence’ in crowdfunding research, that is, although there exist thousands of platforms, most studies analyse funding patterns using data from a single platform.
Absence of Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Does Not Affect Motor Neuron Disease Caused by Superoxide Dismutase 1 Mutations

An increase in the expression of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) has been observed in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in the mice models of the disease. TNF-α is a potent activator of macrophages and microglia and, under certain conditions, can induce or exacerbate neuronal cell death. Here, we assessed the contribution of TNF-α in motor neuron disease in mice overexpressing mutant superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) genes linked to familial ALS. This was accomplished by the generation of mice expressing SOD1G37R or SOD1G93A mutants in the context of TNF-α gene knock out. Surprisingly, the absence of TNF-α did not affect the lifespan or the extent of motor neuron loss in SOD1 transgenic mice. These results provide compelling evidence indicating that TNF-α does not directly contribute to motor neuron degeneration caused by SOD1 mutations.
The Local and Global Knowledge Dynamics through Communities. The Case of Communities of Makers and Social Entrepreneurs in Barcelona

Previous research has underlined the multiscalar character of the knowledge dynamics that are involved in the localized innovation processes. The article studies two types of communities of practice (CoPs) outside organizations located in Barcelona, by taking a community-based view of their local and global linkages. At the local level, our results show that community members participate in a “local buzz” while engaging in the development of ‘local pipelines’ with other local actors. Similarly, at the global level, local communities exchange knowledge through a “global buzz” generated around networks of practice (NoPs) while creating “global pipelines” with distant actors external to the NoP.
Transcriptional regulation of the Arabidopsis thaliana chalcone synthase gene

We have cloned an Arabidopsis thaliana chalcone synthase (CHS) gene on the basis of cross-hybridization with a Petroselinum hortense CHS cDNA clone. The protein sequence deduced from the A. thaliana CHS DNA sequence is at least 85% homologous to the CHS sequences from P. hortense, Antirrhinum majus, and Petunia hybrida. Southern blot analysis indicated that CHS is a single-copy gene in A. thaliana. High-intensity light treatment of A. thaliana plants for 24 h caused a 50-fold increase in CHS enzyme activity and an accumulation of visibly detectable levels of anthocyanin pigments in the vegetative structures of these plants. A corresponding increase in the steady-state level of CHS mRNA was detected after high-intensity light treatment for the same period of time. The accumulation of CHS mRNA in response to high-intensity light was due, at least in part, to an increased rate of transcription of the CHS gene as demonstrated by nuclear runoff experiments.
Development of a biodegradable alginate carrier system for antibiotics and bone cells

This study presents a novel biodegradable alginate delivery system for antibiotics and bone cells to treat infected bone defects. About 2 × 107 New Zealand rabbit mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and 5 mL vancomycin solution (50 mg/mL) were added to 5 mL of 2.5% (w/v) sodium alginate solution to form biodegradable antibiotic and MSCs alginate beads 3 mm in diameter. The alginate beads were then cultured in an osteogenic medium for 14 days. The profiles of antibiotics released from the alginate beads were evaluated using the method of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The expression of osteogenic genes, including Cbfa1 and osteopontin, in the alginate beads was determined by reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) analysis. The alkaline phosphatase activity, calcium level, and mineral deposition of the cultured cells within the alginate beads were assessed. Analytical results demonstrated that the concentrations of vancomycin eluted from the alginate beads were, for 14 days, well above the minimal inhibitory concentration of Staphylococcus aureus. Osteopontin and mRNA of Cbfa1 were detected and increased alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium levels were noted, as was a substantial mineral deposition in cultured MSCs. The PKH 26‐labeled MSCs and vancomycin alginate beads were implanted in rabbit bony cavities for in vivo analysis. Implanted PKH 26‐labeled MSCs were identified in the newly formed bony trabeculae in all specimens at 2 and 4 months after implantation and there was abundant mineral deposition. The results of in vitro study demonstrated sustained elution of vancomycin from the alginate carrier for 14 days and good osteogenic differentiation of cultured MSCs in the alginate carrier matrix. The results of in vivo study demonstrated the implanted MSCs participating in new bone formation. Based on experimental evidence, development of a biodegradable alginate carrier system for antibiotics and bone cells is possible, providing a potential treatment procedure for infected bone defects. © 2006 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 25:62–72, 2007
SUBSCRIBERS ATTITUDE TOWARD UNSOLICITED TEXT MESSAGES (UTM) AMONG NIGERIAN TELECOMMUNICATION FIRMS

As more and more telecom firms turn to unsolicited text messages (UTM) to increase profits and capture new customers, the emphasis on UTM means more opportunities for telecom firms to disseminate info at the most reduced cost and to targets consumers on one-to-one basis. This paper investigates the consumers’ attitude towards unsolicited text messages (SMS spamming). The research is based on a wide and broad literature review of the latest trends in the Nigeria telecom industry. The study evaluates the effect of three components of attitude (cognitive, affective and conative) on the consumers’ preferences and loyalty to telephone services. To achieve the spelt objectives, the study utilizes survey design; and data was collected though a self-administered questionnaire from a number of 302 respondents who were subscribers of four major telecom operators (MTN, GLO, AIRTEL and ETISALAT) in Ogbomoso Metropolis, Oyo State Nigeria. Statistical technique software SPSS was employed to aid the data analysis. Having analyzed the data, the study found out that unsolicited text messages (UTM) impact on subscribers’ cognitive attitude for telecom services among telecom firms in Nigeria. It was also discovered that UTM have affective action (negative effect) on consumers’ preference for telephone services. The work among other things, recommends that mobile firms should be cautious about the information content of their advertising message. This is aimed at producing advertising message that contains sufficient, pleasant and valuable information needed to positively engage the cognition of the consumer. The work in addition to that also advised that telecom firms should reexamine the usefulness of UTM as a standalone mode because of the observed inherent limitations with regards to emotional appeal and shortage in information capacity, and they should possibly switch to a more effective mobile application. Article visualizations:
Fast Multi-Modal Unified Sparse Representation Learning

Exploiting feature sets belonging to different modalities helps in improving a significant amount of accuracy for the task of recognition. Given representations of an object in different modalities (e.g. image, text, audio etc.), to learn a unified representation of the object, has been a popular problem in the literature of multimedia retrieval. In this paper, we introduce a new iterative algorithm that learns the sparse unified representation with better accuracy in a lesser number of iterations than the previously reported results. Our algorithm employs a new fixed-point iterative scheme along with an inertial step. In order to obtain more discriminative representation, we also imposed a regularization term that utilizes the label information from the datasets. Experimental results on two real benchmark datasets demonstrate the efficacy of our method in terms of the number of iterations and accuracy.
XAP 5 CIRCADIAN TIMEKEEPER Regulates Ethylene Responses in Aerial Tissues of Arabidopsis 1 [ W ] [ OA ]

The phytohormone ethylene differentially regulates plant architecture and growth in both a lightand nutrient-dependent fashion. The modulation of plant development by ethylene in response to both external and internal signals can also generate tissue-specific differential responses. Here, we report that XAP5 CIRCADIAN TIMEKEEPER (XCT) is involved in blue lightdependent ethylene responses in the aerial tissues of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings. XCTwas first identified as a circadian clock mutant with a short free-running period. The xct mutation also causes sugar-specific hypocotyl growth defects, in which mutants are short in blue light when grown on a sucrose-rich medium but tall when grown on sucrose-deficient medium. Our data suggest that the hypocotyl defects in blue light are not directly caused by defects in clock or light signaling but rather by enhanced ethylene responses. In blue light, xct mutants have a more active ethylene response pathway and exhibit growth phenotypes similar to the constitutive ethylene signaling mutant constitutive triple response1 (ctr1). xct mutants also have reduced ethylene emission, analogous to plants that have lost CTR1 function. Genetic analysis suggests that XCT negatively regulates ethylene responses downstream of ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE3 in aerial tissues. However, XCT is not required for all ethylene-mediated processes, such as the inhibition of root growth. Thus, XCT acts downstream of a major transcriptional regulator in an organ-specific manner, playing an environment-dependent role in the regulation of plant growth.
Use of prescription and over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements among older adults in the United States.

CONTEXT Despite concerns about drug safety, current information on older adults' use of prescription and over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements is limited. OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence and patterns of medication use among older adults (including concurrent use), and potential major drug-drug interactions. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Three thousand five community-residing individuals, aged 57 through 85 years, were drawn from a cross-sectional, nationally representative probability sample of the United States. In-home interviews, including medication logs, were administered between June 2005 and March 2006. Medication use was defined as prescription, over-the-counter, and dietary supplements used "on a regular schedule, like every day or every week. " Concurrent use was defined as the regular use of at least 2 medications. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Population estimates of the prevalence of medication use, concurrent use, and potential major drug-drug interactions, stratified by age group and gender. RESULTS The unweighted survey response rate was 74.8% (weighted response rate, 75.5%). Eighty-one percent (95% confidence interval [CI], 79.4%-83.5%) used at least 1 prescription medication, 42% (95% CI, 39.7%-44.8%) used at least 1 over-the-counter medication, and 49% (95% CI, 46.2%-52.7%) used a dietary supplement. Twenty-nine percent (95% CI, 26.6%-30.6%) used at least 5 prescription medications concurrently; this was highest among men (37.1%; 95% CI, 31.7%-42.4%) and women (36.0%; 95% CI, 30.2%-41.9%) aged 75 to 85 years. Among prescription medication users, concurrent use of over-the-counter medications was 46% (95% CI, 43.4%-49.1%) and concurrent use of dietary supplements was 52% (95% CI, 48.8%-55.5%). Overall, 4% of individuals were potentially at risk of having a major drug-drug interaction; half of these involved the use of nonprescription medications. These regimens were most prevalent among men in the oldest age group (10%; 95% CI, 6.4%-13.7%) and nearly half involved anticoagulants. No contraindicated concurrent drug use was identified. CONCLUSIONS In this sample of community-dwelling older adults, prescription and nonprescription medications were commonly used together, with nearly 1 in 25 individuals potentially at risk for a major drug-drug interaction.
Resource allocation for audio and video streaming over the Internet

Streaming of compressed audio and video (AV) over the Internet is a very challenging task since the current Internet only provides best-effort services and lacks Quality of Service (QoS) guarantee. This paper addresses resource allocation of multiple compressed AV streams delivered over the Internet to achieve end-to-end optimal quality. A multimedia streaming TCP-friendly transport protocol (MSTFP) is proposed to adaptively estimate the network bandwidth and smooth the sending rate. The resources are then allocated dynamically according to the media encoding distortion and network degradation. MPEG-4 streams with multiple video objects are used in the simulation to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed scheme.
Effect of intravenous L‐NMMA on nitric oxide production in collagenous colitis

Background: Nitric oxide (NO) is greatly increased in the colon of patients with inflammatory bowel disease of different aetiology, including collagenous colitis. In man, NO can be generated from NO synthases as well as from non‐enzymatic sources. The source of the NO found in luminal intestinal gas has not been exactly pinpointed. We investigated the effect of the NO synthase inhibitor L‐NMMA on intestinal concentrations of NO in patients with clinically active collagenous colitis. In addition, we measured NO levels from the respiratory tract. Methods: Ten patients with active collagenous colitis were studied. NO levels were measured from the respiratory tract and in the rectum before and after i.v. administration of L‐NMMA (7.5 mg/kg) using a chemiluminescence method. Results: Airway NO release decreased markedly, and mean arterial blood pressure increased in all patients following L‐NMMA treatment. Basal rectal NO levels were high (median >10 000 ppb) and decreased markedly in 5 patients after L‐NMMA. In contrast, NO levels remained completely unchanged or even increased in the other 5 patients. Conclusion: Rectal levels of NO are greatly increased in patients with symptomatic collagenous colitis. Intravenous administration of an NO synthase inhibitor reduced rectal NO only in half of the patients despite clear evidence of effective systemic NO synthase inhibition. This could indicate alternative NOS‐independent sources of intestinal NO in this disease.
Fjärrvärme och fjärrkyla

Effektiv forflyttning av varme och kyla i stadsomraden ar det huvudsakliga syftet med fjarrvarme- och fjarrkylesystem. Genom att koppla samman kundernas varme- och kylbehov med olika tillgangliga v .
pKa values and redox potentials of proteins. What do they mean?

Abstract In this article, we review a microstate model that uses protonation and redox microstates in order to understand the complex pH and redox titration of proteins and other polyelectrolytes. From this model, it becomes obvious that it is impossible to assign pKa values or redox potentials to individual protonatable or redox-active sites in a protein in which many of such sites interact. Instead each site is associated with many microscopic equilibrium constants that may lead to irregular or even non-monotonic titration curves of some groups. The microstate model provides a closed theoretical framework to discuss such phenomena.