Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Joint Expansion Planning of Distributed Generation and Distribution Networks

This paper addresses the multistage expansion planning problem of a distribution system where investments in the distribution network and in distributed generation are jointly considered. Network expansion comprises several alternatives for feeders and transformers. Analogously, the installation of distributed generation takes into account several alternatives for conventional and wind generators. Unlike what is customarily done, a set of candidate nodes for generator installation is considered. Thus, the optimal expansion plan identifies the best alternative, location, and installation time for the candidate assets. The model is driven by the minimization of the net present value of the total cost including the costs related to investment, maintenance, production, losses, and unserved energy. The costs of energy losses are modeled by a piecewise linear approximation. As another distinctive feature, radiality conditions are specifically tailored to accommodate the presence of distributed generation in order to avoid the isolation of distributed generators and the issues associated with transfer nodes. The resulting optimization problem is a mixed-integer linear program for which finite convergence to optimality is guaranteed and efficient off-the-shelf software is available. Numerical results illustrate the effective performance of the proposed approach.
A vitamin B12 transporter in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Vitamin B12-dependent enzymes function in core biochemical pathways in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, an obligate pathogen whose metabolism in vivo is poorly understood. Although M. tuberculosis can access vitamin B12 in vitro, it is uncertain whether the organism is able to scavenge B12 during host infection. This question is crucial to predictions of metabolic function, but its resolution is complicated by the absence in the M. tuberculosis genome of a direct homologue of BtuFCD, the only bacterial B12 transport system described to date. We applied genome-wide transposon mutagenesis to identify M. tuberculosis mutants defective in their ability to use exogenous B12. A small proportion of these mapped to Rv1314c, identifying the putative PduO-type ATP : co(I)rrinoid adenosyltransferase as essential for B12 assimilation. Most notably, however, insertions in Rv1819c dominated the mutant pool, revealing an unexpected function in B12 acquisition for an ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-type protein previously investigated as the mycobacterial BacA homologue. Moreover, targeted deletion of Rv1819c eliminated the ability of M. tuberculosis to transport B12 and related corrinoids in vitro. Our results establish an alternative to the canonical BtuCD-type system for B12 uptake in M. tuberculosis, and elucidate a role in B12 metabolism for an ABC protein implicated in chronic mycobacterial infection.
Methods of Data Analysis Correlation functions, spectral estimation, filtering

Characterizing spatio-temporal properties of a signal. In the analysis of experimental signals, either scalar time series or spatio-temporal processes, oneand two-point statistics provide the basic description of the system that is usually sufficiently amenable to reliable estimation from data. Often (but as we will see shortly, not always), physically interesting phenomena – including collective behaviors or phase transitions – can be completely captured by a full characterization of statistical properties of up to second order. One-point statistics refer to the distribution of values that the single variables in the system take on. Two-point statistics refer to the correlation between pairs of variables: the propensity of one variable to fluctuate (deviate from its mean value) “up” or “down” inor out-of-phase with another variable; this gives us an estimate of how coupled, or correlated, a process is across time and space, and can help us identify important temporal and spatial scales. Higher-order correlations usually refer to correlations between three or more variables. Stationary signals. In case the system under study possesses certain nice statistical features (e.g., time or space translation invariance / stationarity), one can represent and analyze the correlation functions in the Fourier (frequency) space which is very convenient to work with. In this case, the system can be easily described in terms of power spectra, and methods of estimating these spectra from finite data are jointly known as “spectral estimation techniques. ” Signals, noise, filtering. Because experimental noise corrupts measurement signals and often has a spectral composition that differs from the real signal, working in frequency domain makes it easier to separate real signal from noise, using basic (linear) filtering.
The Solidification of PEEK. Part II: Kinetics

Crystallization at constant temperature and under nonisothermal conditions was analyzed using the time-temperature-transformation concept. The correlation between isothermal and continuous cooling curves allows the rate of cooling that is needed to manufacture a product with a specific microstructure to be determined The crystallization range (time or temperature), which has a major impact on the quality and quantity of crystallinity within the material, can be predicted for various heat treatments This con cept is universely applicable to any number of materials.
The Structure of Prosocial Behavior: A Comment on Richaud, Mesurado, and Cortada (2013)

The question of how many factors are required to explain prosocial behavior in adolescents was examined. Richaud, Mesurado, and Cortada (2013) have tested two alternative models of prosocial behaviors. In this Comment we (1) discuss the theoretical basis for prosocial behavior models in adolescents and (2) propose possible alternative models as suggestions for further studies.
Fatigue Damage Analysis of Drill Pipes Using FEM and Cox Regression Model

Drill pipe fatigue damage occurs under cyclic loading conditions due to, for instance, rotation in a dogleg region. This paper presents two approaches to evaluate damage in drillpipes; First, Finite Element Method is used to evaluate cumulative effects of fatigue damage with respect to the actual drilling conditions and the fatigue damage curves for smooth and die-marked drill pipes are obtained. Second, as a case study, the Cox Regression Model, a broadly applicable method of survival analysis is used to analyze the failure data of the southern oilfields of Iran. The resultant cumulative survival and hazard functions can reliably predict the time of failure.
Mutator dynamics in fluctuating environments

Populations with high mutation rates (mutator clones) are being found in increasing numbers of species, and a clear link is being established between the presence of mutator clones and drug resistance. Mutator clones exist despite the fact that in a constant environment most mutations are deleterious, with the spontaneous mutation rate generally held at a low value. This implies that mutator clones have an important role in the adaptation of organisms to changing environments. Our study examines how mutator dynamics vary according to the frequency of environmental fluctuations. Although recent studies have considered a single environmental switch, here we investigate mutator dynamics in a regularly varying environment, seeking to mimic conditions present, for example, under certain drug or pesticide regimes. Our model provides four significant new insights. First, the results demonstrate that mutators are most prevalent under intermediate rates of environmental change. When the environment oscillates more rapidly, mutators are unable to provide sufficient adaptability to keep pace with the frequent changes in selection pressure and, instead, a population of ‘environmental generalists’ dominates. Second, our findings reveal that mutator dynamics may be complex, exhibiting limit cycles and chaos. Third, we demonstrate that when each beneficial mutation provides a greater gain in fitness, mutators achieve higher densities in more rapidly fluctuating environments. Fourth, we find that mutators of intermediate strength reach higher densities than very weak or strong mutators.
Ultraviolet B (UVB) Irradiation-Induced Apoptosis in Various Cell Lineages in Vitro

Ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation acts as a strong apoptotic trigger in many cell types, in tumor and normal cells. Several studies have demonstrated that UVB-induced cell death occurs through the generation of reactive oxygen species. The consequent oxidative stress includes the impairment of cellular antioxidants, the induction of DNA damage and the occurrence of apoptosis. In this review, we investigated UVB apoptotic action in various cell models by using ultrastructural, molecular and cytofluorimetric techniques. Myeloid leukemia HL-60, T-lymphoblastoid Molt-4 and myelomonocytic U937 human cells, generally affected by apoptotic stimuli, were studied. Human chondrocytes and C2C12 skeletal muscle cells, known to be more resistant to damage, were also considered. All of them, when exposed to UVB radiation, revealed a number of characteristic apoptotic markers. Membrane blebbing, cytoplasm shrinkage and chromatin condensation were detected by means of electron microscopy. DNA cleavage, investigated by using agarose gel electrophoresis and TUNEL reaction, was observed in suspended cells. Differently, in chondrocytes and in skeletal muscle cells, oligonucleosomic DNA fragmentation did not appear, even if a certain TUNEL positivity was detected. These findings demonstrate that UVB radiation appears to be an ideal tool to study the apoptotic behavior.
A computer-supported methodology for recording and visualising visitor behaviour in museums

Developing user modelling and personalisation techniques for museums requires datasets about visitor behaviour in the physical museum space (i. e., visitor pathways). Advancing traditional paper-based tracking techniques, this demonstration presents a computer-supported methodology for (1) observationally recording visitors’ time-annotated pathways in physical museums, and (2) post-collection processing and visualising the gathered data. Our methodology was used to collect and post-process a dataset of more than 170 pathways of visitors to Melbourne Museum (Melbourne, Australia). In this paper, we report on our data collection and the lessons learnt from it.
Integration of 802.11 and third-generation wireless data networks

The third-generation (3G) wide area wireless networks and 802.11 local area wireless networks possess complementary characteristics. 3G networks promise to offer always-on, ubiquitous connectivity with relatively low data rates. 802.11 offers much higher data rates, comparable to wired networks, but can cover only smaller areas, suitable for hot-spot applications in hotels and airports. The performance and flexibility of wireless data services would be dramatically improved if users could seamlessly roam across the two networks. In this paper, we address the problem of integration of these two classes of networks to offer such seamless connectivity. Specifically, we describe two possible integration approaches - namely tight integration and loose integration and advocate the latter as the preferred approach. Our realization of the loose integration approach consists of two components: a new network element called IOTA gateway deployed in 802.11 networks, and a new client software. The IOTA gateway is composed of several software modules, and with cooperation from the client software offers integrated 802.11/3G wireless data services that support seamless intertechnology mobility, Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees and multiprovider roaming agreements. We describe the design and implementation of the IOTA gateway and the client software in detail and present experimental performance results that validate our architectural approach.
Influence of surface morphology on laser cleaning efficiency

Laser cleaning is an effective cleaning method that can be widely used in microelectronic industry. Mechanisms of laser induced removal of particulate contaminants from solid substrates, such as Si wafer, are of great concern. The previous works on laser cleaning are mostly based on perfectly flat surface model, while few of them are objected to the influence of surface morphology. In the IC process, however, the Si surface morphology will change dramatically after few steps of processing, therefore its influence to laser cleaning efficiency is inevitable.In this experiment, the cleaning efficiencies of 2.5 and 1.0 micrometers spherical silica particles from Si with different surface morphologies are investigated. These surfaces were achieved by anisotropic etching of Si wafers in KOH solvent, with etching times raging form 1 minute to 30 minutes. Atomic force microscope observation showed the Rp-v roughness of thus-processed Si surfaces ranges from 1.6 nm to 70 nm, and rms roughness ranges from 0.1 nm to 9.0 nm. For both kinds of particles, the cleaning efficiencies decrease with increasing surface roughness. The possible reason is that the rough surface may buffer the sudden thermal expansion of the substrate, making the particles more difficult to be removed.
SINR-based sufficient conditions for CMA desired-user-lock

The constant modulus (CM) criterion has become popular in the design of blind linear estimators of sub-Gaussian i.i. d. processes transmitted through unknown linear channels in the presence of unknown additive interference. The existence of CM local minima, however, makes it difficult for CM-minimizing schemes to generate estimates of the desired source (as opposed to an interferer) in multiuser environments. In this paper, we present three sufficient conditions under which gradient descent (GD) minimisation of CM cost will locally converge to an estimator of the desired source at a particular delay. The sufficient conditions are expressed in terms of statistical properties of the initial estimates, specifically, CM cost, kurtosis, and signal to interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR).
Tradeoff Between Lifetime and Rate Allocation in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Cross Layer Approach

This paper studies the tradeoff between energy consumption and application performance in wireless sensor networks by investigating the interaction between network lifetime maximization and rate allocation problems. To guarantee the individual performance of sensor nodes, we adopt the network utility maximization (NUM) framework to ensure certain fairness on source rates of sensor nodes. We formulate the network lifetime maximization problem and fair rate allocation problem as constrained maximization problems, and combine them by introducing a system parameter, which characterizes the tradeoff between the two problems. Using Lagrange dual decomposition, the original problem is vertically decomposed into three subproblems: a rate control problem at the transport layer, a contention resolution problem at the MAC Layer, and a cross-layer energy conservation problem. The first and second subproblems jointly solve the congestion problem in sensor networks via congestion prices, and fully distributed algorithms are derived. Furthermore, they are coupled with the cross layer energy conservation problem to solve the network lifetime maximization problem via energy prices. For the third subproblem, we first propose a partially distributed algorithm where network lifetime is a global information, and then by exploring the similarity between max-min rate allocation and network lifetime maximization in sensor networks, we approximate the latter by the NUM framework, and hence formulate the tradeoff problem in the unified NUM framework. As a result, a fully distributed algorithm is derived for the energy conservation problem.
14 J ul 2 00 6 Detecting Irregular Orbits in Gravitational N-body Simulations

We present a qualitative diagnostic based on the continuous wavelet transform, for the detection of irregular behaviour in time series of particle simulations. We apply the method to three qualitatively different gravitational 3-body encounters. The intrinsic irregular behaviour of these encounters is well reproduced by the presented method, and we show that the method accurately identifies the irregular regime in these encounters. We also provide an instantaneous quantification for the degree of irregularity in these simulations. Furthermore we demonstrate how the method can be used to analyze larger systems by applying it to simulations with 100-particles. It turns out that the number of stars on irregular orbits is systematically larger for clusters in which all stars have the same mass compared to a multi-mass system. The proposed method provides a quick and sufficiently accurate diagnostic for identifying stars on irregular orbits in large scale N -body simulations.
Understanding Big Data Analytic Workloads on Modern Processors

Big data analytics applications play a significant role in data centers, and hence it has become increasingly important to understand their behaviors in order to further improve the performance of data center computer systems, in which characterizing representative workloads is a key practical problem. In this paper, after investigating three most impor- tant application domains in terms of page views and daily visitors, we chose 11 repre- sentative data analytics workloads and characterized their micro-architectural behaviors by using hardware performance counters, so as to understand the impacts and implications of data analytics workloads on the systems equipped with modern superscalar out-of-order processors. Our study reveals that big data analytics applications themselves share many inherent characteristics, which place them in a different class from traditional workloads and scale-out services. To further understand the characteristics of big data analytics work- loads we performed a correlation analysis of CPI (cycles per instruction) with other micro- architecture level characteristics and an investigation of the big data software stack impacts on application behaviors. Our correlation analysis showed that even though big data ana- lytics workloads own notable pipeline front end stalls, the main factors affecting the CPI performance are long latency data accesses rather than the front end stalls. Our software stack investigation found that the typical big data software stack significantly contributes to the front end stalls and incurs bigger working set. Finally we gave several recommen- dations for architects, programmers and big data system designers with the knowledge acquired from this paper.
Transcriptional profiling of testosterone-regulated genes in the skeletal muscle of human immunodeficiency virus-infected men experiencing weight loss.

CONTEXT HIV-associated wasting and weight loss remain clinically significant concerns even in the era of potent antiretroviral therapy. Although androgen treatment increases muscle mass, the cell-intrinsic mechanisms engaged remain poorly understood. OBJECTIVE This study was an unbiased approach to identify expression profiles associated with testosterone treatment using genome-wide microarray analysis of skeletal muscle biopsies. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Forty-four HIV-positive men with weight loss were randomized to receive either 300 mg testosterone enanthate or placebo injections im weekly for 16 wk. Muscle biopsies were obtained at baseline and on treatment d 14. A subset of specimens was chosen for microarray analysis, with changes in selected genes confirmed by real-time PCR, Western blot analysis, and in vitro culture of muscle precursor cells. RESULTS Significantly greater gains in body mass (+2.05 and -1.07 kg, respectively; P = 0.003) and lean body mass by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (2.93 vs. 0.35 kg, respectively; P = 0.003) were observed in subjects treated with testosterone compared with placebo. Microarray analysis revealed up-regulation in genes involved in myogenesis and muscle protein synthesis, immune regulation, metabolic pathways, and chromatin remodeling. Representative genes were confirmed by real-time PCR and protein expression studies. In an independent analysis, gene networks that differentiate healthy young men from older men with sarcopenia had substantial overlap with those activated by testosterone treatment. CONCLUSIONS These data provide new insights into the mechanisms of androgen action and have implications for both development of muscle biomarkers and anabolic therapies for wasting and sarcopenia.
Superoxide radicals have a protective role during H2O2 stress

H2O2-stressed yeast cells increase superoxide radical production, dependent on the mitochondrial respiratory chain. This is protective during H2O2 stress at low levels; however, higher superoxide levels are deleterious. This hormesis may further elucidate the role of reactive oxygen species in oxidative stress and aging.
Comparison of plasma fentanyl concentrations by using three transdermal fentanyl patch sizes in dogs.

OBJECTIVE To compare plasma fentanyl concentrations attained after the application of three transdermal fentanyl patch sizes (50, 75, and 100 micrograms/hour) in dogs. DESIGN Repeated Latin square controlled study. ANIMALS Six intact, mixed-breed adult dogs (2 males, 4 females) weighing 19.9 +/- 3.4 kg. METHODS Each dog was randomly assigned to receive each of three treatments: 50 (P50), 75 (P75), or 100 (P100) micrograms/hour transdermal patches. Patches were left in place for 72 hours. Jugular venous blood was collected at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 hours after patch application and for 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12 hours after patch removal. Plasma fentanyl concentrations were measured using a radioimmunoassay technique. After a 96-hour washout period, each dog was moved to another treatment group and received a different patch size. RESULTS The following results were obtained (mean +/- SD): average plasma fentanyl concentration from 24 to 72 hours, 0.7 +/- 0.2 ng/mL (P50), 1.4 +/- 0.5 ng/mL (P75), 1.2 +/- 0.5 ng/mL (P100); the total area under the concentration versus time curve (0 hours to infinity), 46 +/- 12.2 ng/h/mL (P50), 101.2 +/- 41.4 ng/h/mL (P75), 80.4 +/- 38.3 ng/h/mL (P100); and the apparent elimination half-life, 3.6 +/- 1.2 hours (P50), 3.4 +/- 2.7 hours (P75), and 2.5 +/- 2.0 hours (P100). There was a high degree of variability in plasma fentanyl concentrations achieved. Plasma fentanyl concentrations declined rapidly after patch removal. CONCLUSIONS The attainment of steady-state plasma concentrations takes up to 24 hours, and there is a great deal of variability in the final concentrations reached in different individuals. In this study, the 100 micrograms/hour patches did not provide statistically increased plasma concentrations when compared with the 50 micrograms/hour patches. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Because of the interindividual and intraindividual variation in plasma fentanyl concentrations, patches should be applied 24 hours before the anticipated time that analgesia will be required. Adequacy of analgesia and potentially deleterious side effects, such as sedation and respiratory depression, should be monitored while the patches are in place. Skin reactions may occur, and the patches should be removed if such skin irritation is seen. After the patch is removed, it is expected that analgesia will wane rapidly because of the brief elimination half-life.