Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Power Curve Monitoring with Flexible EWMA Control Charts

EWMA control charts have been used by several authors to monitor residuals of power curves for fault detection in wind turbines. In this study, we analyze the effect of non-constant variance in the residuals of a power curve on the performance of an EWMA control chart. We show that the variance can be modelled as a function of wind speed and use this insight to derive wind speed-adjusted control limits. A subsequent application of this procedure to a real data set spanning 2.5 years and on simulated data shows that it is able to slightly reduce the false alarm rate of the EWMA control chart.
Polarimetric-Spatial Classification of SAR Images Based on the Fusion of Multiple Classifiers

Traditional image classification methods are undertaken using the pixel as the research unit. These methods cannot use semantic information, and their classification results may not always be satisfactory. To solve this problem, objected-oriented methods have been widely investigated to classify remote sensing images. In this paper, we propose an innovative objected-oriented technique that combines pixel-based classification and a segmentation approach for the classification of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) images. In the process of the pixel-based classification, a soft voting strategy is utilized to fuse multiple classifiers, which can, to some extent, overcome the drawback of majority voting. The experimental results are presented for two quad-polarimetric SAR images. The proposed classification scheme improves the classification accuracies after assembling the multiple classifiers, and provides the classification maps with more homogeneous regions by integrating the spatial information, when compared with pixel-based classification. By deploying multi-scale segmentation, we get a series of classification results, which again show that our method is superior to the conventional object-oriented methods.
Involvement of Noxa in Cellular Apoptotic Responses to Interferon, Double-stranded RNA, and Virus Infection*

Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) accumulates in virally infected cells, leading to induction of genes encoding proteins involved in signaling, apoptosis, protein synthesis/processing, and cell metabolism. Noxa is a BH3-containing mitochondrial protein that contributes to apoptosis by disrupting mitochondrial outer membrane integrity. Here we demonstrate potent induction of Noxa expression by exposure of cells to dsRNA, interferon (IFN), and virus. Noxa induction was confirmed by using reverse transcriptase-PCR and immunoblot analyses in multiple human tumor cell lines. Importantly, Noxa regulation by IFN and dsRNA was independent of p53, thereby identifying a novel mechanism of Noxa induction. Ectopic expression of Noxa in HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells enhanced cellular sensitivity to viral or dsRNA/actinomycin D-induced apoptosis, typified by enhanced cytochrome c release from the mitochondrial to the cytosolic fraction and increased cleavage of caspases 3 and 9. Point and deletion mutations of Noxa confirmed that both the BH3 domain and the mitochondrial-targeting domain were necessary for enhanced cellular apoptotic responses to dsRNA, IFN, or virus. Treatment of cells with dsRNA or virus, but not etoposide, induced interaction between Noxa and Bax that required an intact Noxa BH3 domain. Interestingly, the Noxa mitochondrial-targeting domain deletion mutant interacted with Bax in a dsRNA-dependent manner and redirected Bax away from the mitochondria, thus acting as a dominant-negative protein. Together, these data suggest that Noxa is an important component of the innate immune response of cells to viral infection, leading to enhanced cellular apoptosis that may play a role in limiting viral dissemination.
Nonviral Vector-Based Gene Transfection of Primary Human Skeletal Myoblasts

Low-level transgene efficiency is one of the main obstacles in ex vivo nonviral vector–mediated gene transfer into primary human skeletal myoblasts (hSkMs). We optimized the cholesterol:N-[1-(2, 3-dioleoyloxy)propyl]-N, N, N-trimethylammonium methylsulfate liposome (CD liposome) and 22-kDa polyethylenimine (PEI22)– and 25-kDa polyethylenimine (PEI25)–mediated transfection of primary hSkMs for angiogenic gene delivery. We found that transfection efficiency and cell viability of three nonviral vectors were cell passage dependent: early cell passages of hSkMs had higher transfection efficiencies with poor cell viabilities, whereas later cell passages of hSkMs had lower transfection efficiencies with better cell viabilities. Trypsinization improved the transfection efficiency by 20% to 60% compared with adherent hSkMs. Optimum gene transfection efficiency was found with passage 6 trypsinized hSkMs: transfection efficiency with CD lipoplexes was 6.99 ± 0.13%, PEI22 polyplexes was 18.58 ± 1.57%, and PEI25 polyplexes was 13.32 ± 0.88%. When pEGFP (a plasmid encoding the enhanced green fluorescent protein) was replaced with a vector containing human vascular endothelial growth factor 165 (phVEGF165), the optimized gene transfection conditions resulted in hVEGF165 expression up to Day 18 with a peak level at Day 2 after transfection. This study demonstrated that therapeutic angiogenic gene transfer through CD or PEI is feasible and safe after optimization. It could be a potential strategy for treatment of
The contagious effects analysis of Chinese Equity Market to South Asia’s emerging financial markets

To study the contagious effects of financial risks in South Asia’s emerging stock markets, the main stock indexes from China, Thailand, India, Vietnam and Malaysia are chosen during the period from 2006 and 2014. The paper used the dynamic conditional correlation GARCH model to examine the dynamic relevance, and introduced the dummy variable in order to test whether the structure change had occurred after the global financial crisis. The results showed that the degree of relevance of China, Thailand, India and Malaysia stayed in the high level. However, the Vietnam hardly had a dynamic relevance with other emerging markets. This indicated that the Vietnam stock market has apparent market segmentation with other markets, no matter which aspects we considered the dynamic correlation or the financial crisis contagion. At last we build models to analyze the relations between the dynamic conditional correlation of BSE & SSEC and macro-economic. The main reason is to understand which aspects may impact correlation. From the test results, we realize the India GDP and total export-import volume has a positive relation with the correlation, while China’s corresponding indexes has a negative impact on it. In the end, according to the results we got, the investors should pay more attention to the relevance between emerging countries, so that the idiosyncratic risks can be avoided. As for the supervision department, they should reinforce the stock market which has a higher correlation in order to guarantee the stable development of financial markets.
Evolution of sex chromosomes: dosage compensation of the Lcp1–4 gene cluster on the evolving neo‐X chromosome in Drosophila miranda

In Drosophila miranda the small multigene family of the larval cuticle protein (Lcp1–4) genes resides on the evolving neo‐X and neo‐Y sex chromosome pair while in the sibling species Drosophila pseudoobscura and Drosophila persimilis the gene cluster is inherited autosomally. The neo‐Y chromosomal Lcp1, Lcp2 and Lcp4 genes are, as previously shown by us, not expressed and only Lcp3 is expressed at a strongly reduced level. As a first step in understanding the evolutionary mechanism(s) transforming an autosome into a dosage compensated X we analysed the expression behaviour and promoter structure of the Lcp1–4 genes on the neo‐X. The normalized relative expression levels reveal that all four neo‐X chromosomal Lcp genes in D. miranda males, including Lcp3, are already dosage compensated.
Strategic Turning Points in ICT Business: The Business Development, Transformation, and Evolution in the Case of Nokia

This chapter is studying strategic turning points in ICT business using Nokia as an example. Though several transformational phases of Nokia, the business is going on and being profitable. The main branch in the business has changed several times, also during the last decades. The activities of Nokia are still in the ICT, however. The previous main branch of Nokia, mobile and smart phones, has changed into networks technology and business. The case of Nokia proved to be the good example about the business development, transformation and evolution possibilities in the ICT business. This chapter also introduces a long-term perspective strategic turning points and path dependency in the case of Nokia and considers the potential (unintentional) co-evolution development between Nokia and Ericsson.
A Low‐Cost, Innovative Methodology for Teaching Engineering Through Experimentation

Combining LEGO® Dacta building blocks with LabVIEWTM software produced a highly successful, low‐cost (less than $500 per station excluding computer) alternative method of teaching engineering through hands‐on experimentation. Dubbed LEGO® Data Acquisition and Prototyping System (or LDAPS), this combination of tools provides a highly capable workbench for students, yet brings a new level of creativity and fun into teaching engineering at the college level. In this paper we present the methodology and describe one class where it is currently in use. Student, faculty, and staff response to the class was very positive, partly due to the popularity of hands‐on engineering and partly because LEGO® blocks allow the students to exercise their creativity and innovation. The strength in the LDAPS methodology lies in the power of the LEGO® bricks and the LabVIEWTM software. LEGO® motors, sensors, and bricks are almost infinitely configurable, making each experiment unique. LabVIEWTM is a powerful, visual programming language in which students can perform advanced signal processing with relatively few programming skills. We are currently extending this methodology to teach engineering to liberal arts majors as well as precollege students.
Constitutive Activation of Caspase-3 in Non-Apoptotic Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells

Background: Although caspase-3 is a key molecule for apoptosis induction, recent evidence has suggested its protumoral role in various human malignancies. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of cleaved caspase-3 (the active form of caspase-3) in both clinical samples and cell lines from oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) and elaborate on its contribution to the protumor role in oral cancer. Methods: The expression of cleaved caspase-3 was immunohistochemically evaluated in samples from 30 patients with OSCCs. The samples were either from biopsies or surgically-resected specimens with a mix of clinical stages and tumor site origins. The expression of cleaved caspase-3 was further examined in three OSCC cell lines. Results: In addition to apoptotic cancer cells, all the cases of OSCCs demonstrated a surprisingly positive expression of cleaved caspase-3. A diffuse, cytoplasmic pattern was particularly prominent in in situ carcinoma cells, invasive carcinoma cells, and metastatic cancer cells that lacked apoptotic morphology. On the other hand, non-neoplastic, normal epithelial cells were completely negative for cleaved caspase-3. In all the OSCC cell lines studied, cleaved caspase-3 was expressed in the cytoplasm and nucleus of cancer cells. Flow cytometric analysis also confirmed that the activation level of caspase-3 in non-apoptotic cancer cells was relatively lower than that in apoptotic cancer cells. Moreover, caspase-3 inhibition by caspase-3 specific inhibitor decreased the proliferation of OSCC cells. Conclusions: Because cleaved caspase-3 is selectively expressed in non-apoptotic OSCC cells and is associated with cell proliferation, these findings implicate caspase-3 signaling in promoting the progression of oral cancer.
Sequence and genetic organization of a Zymomonas mobilis gene cluster that encodes several enzymes of glucose metabolism

The Zymomonas mobilis genes that encode glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (zwf), 6-phosphogluconate dehydratase (edd), and glucokinase (glk) were cloned independently by genetic complementation of specific defects in Escherichia coli metabolism. The identity of these cloned genes was confirmed by various biochemical means. Nucleotide sequence analysis established that these three genes are clustered on the genome and revealed an additional open reading frame in this region that has significant amino acid identity to the E. coli xylose-proton symporter and the human glucose transporter. On the basis of this evidence and structural analysis of the deduced primary amino acid sequence, this gene is believed to encode the Z. mobilis glucose-facilitated diffusion protein, glf. The four genes in the 6-kb cluster are organized in the order glf, zwf, edd, glk. The glf and zwf genes are separated by 146 bp. The zwf and edd genes overlap by 8 bp, and their expression may be translationally coupled. The edd and glk genes are separated by 203 bp. The glk gene is followed by tandem transcriptional terminators. The four genes appear to be organized in an operon. Such an arrangement of the genes that govern glucose uptake and the first three steps of the Entner-Doudoroff glycolytic pathway provides the organism with a mechanism for carefully regulating the levels of the enzymes that control carbon flux into the pathway.
A Hybrid Encryption Technique to Secure Bluetooth Communication

A proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from one device to another is not much secure. As in traditional method of Bluetooth communication between two or more devices a 128-bit symmetric stream cipher called E0 is used which seems to be week under some conditions it may be broken under certain conditions with the time complexity O (2). To improve security of data we propose a hybrid encryption technique. In this technique we use triple DES for encryption of the key for which we use Tiger algorithm. In Tiger algorithm there is double protection of Data using triple DES and with the help of this algorithm transmission of data will be more secure for exchanging data over short distances from one device to another.
Role of Parasitoids in Managing Diamondback Moth in the Cameron Highlands , Malaysia

Three major primary parasitoids of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), are found in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. Cotesia plutellae (Kurdjumov) was discovered in the early 1970s, Diadegma semiclausum (Hellén) and Diadromus collaris (Gravenhorst) were introduced in the mid 1970s from New Zealand and Australia. Field studies in the early 1980s showed that C. plutellae was the dominant parasitoid. This was contrary to laboratory studies which showed that D. semiclausum was an intrinsically superior parasitoid. In the Cameron Highlands, farmers sprayed insecticides frequently, often at concentrations far exceeding recommended dosages. In 1987, Singapore imposed restrictions on excessive levels of pesticide residues in crucifers. This together with high levels of insecticide resistance in the DBM resulted in farmers switching to the use of Bacillus thuringiensis, resulting in an unprecedented development for the management of diamondback moth. Even with reduced usage of chemical insecticides farmers were able to harvest good crops. Reduction in use of chemical insecticides allowed the primary parasitoids to realize their potential. The impact of biological control is manifested in: a) lower population of DBM despite less usage of insecticides; b) D. semiclausum became the dominant parasitoid; c) farmers realized that they need not be dependent on insecticides. Hence after more than 10 years, the impact of D. semiclausum, which was masked by excessive insecticide usage, was realized. Other parasitoids, predators and microbial agents probably act in consonance to suppress the DBM population. The experience in the Cameron Highlands emphasized the central role of parasitoids in managing diamondback moth, The strategy in managing this pest is to build up a core of effective parasitoids and supplement the action of parasitoids with use of B. thuringiensis when necessary. Introduction It was evident from reports of insecticide resistance in diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) (Henderson 1957; Lim 1972; Ooi and Sudderuddin 1978; Sudderudin and Kok 1978), that the approach adopted by cabbage farmers in the Cameron Highlands had to change. As the pest is an exotic insect, a likely approach was to import natural enemies of the DBM from its native home. This approach was attempted in New Zealand (Muggeridge 1930; Hardy 1938) and resulted in significant decline in DBM populations there (Todd 1959). Similarly, parasitoids of DBM were introduced into Australia and contributed to a useful level of control (Wilson 1960). Nearer home, an ichneumonid was introduced from New Zealand to Indonesia in 1950 and was an important parasitoid of DBM (Vos 1953; Sastrosiswojo and Sastrodihardjo 1986). These records suggested that biological control of DBM is feasible. With that in mind, a biological control program for DBM was initiated in 1975. This paper reviews the status of the biological control program for DBM in Malaysia with a view to establishing a strategy for the role of parasitoids in the overall management of DBM.
Highly Potent RANTES Analogues either Prevent CCR5-Using Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection In Vivo or Rapidly Select for CXCR4-Using Variants

ABSTRACT The natural ligands for the CCR5 chemokine receptor, macrophage inflammatory protein 1α (MIP-1α), MIP-1β, and RANTES (regulated on T-cell activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted), are known to inhibit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) entry, and N-terminally modified RANTES analogues are more potent than native RANTES in blocking infection. However, potent CCR5 blocking agents may select for HIV-1 variants that use alternative coreceptors at less than fully inhibitory concentrations. In this study, two N-terminal chemical modifications of RANTES produced by total synthesis, aminooxypentane (AOP)-RANTES[2-68] and N-nonanoyl (NNY)-RANTES[2-68], were tested for their ability to prevent HIV-1 infection and to select for coreceptor switch variants in the human peripheral blood lymphocyte-SCID mouse model. Mice were infected with a CCR5-using HIV-1 isolate that requires only one or two amino acid substitutions to use CXCR4 as a coreceptor. Even though it achieved lower circulating concentrations than AOP-RANTES (75 to 96 pM as opposed to 460 pM under our experimental conditions), NNY-RANTES was more effective in preventing HIV-1 infection. However, in a subset of treated mice, these levels of NNY-RANTES rapidly selected viruses with mutations in the V3 loop of envelope that altered coreceptor usage. These results reinforce the case for using agents that block all significant HIV-1 coreceptors for effective therapy.
Time based device clustering for domestic power scheduling

Article history: Received 5 September 2016 Received in revised form 14 October 2016 Accepted 18 October 2016 Domestic consumers can reduce their electricity expenditures by shifting their loads to slots of low power usage during demand response (DR) in a smart grid (SG) power system. Efficient shifting of loads can be used to reduce the peak-to-average (PAR) of power network, which is highly desirable for the reliability of SG. Methodologies available in literature only address the problem of power scheduling for a small set of consumers and underperforms for large population. This paper presents clustered community based home energy management system (CCHEMS), which performs better for a huge consumer set. CCHEMS is based on clustering consumer devices according to operating time overlap. Activation time slots (ATS) of clustered devices under user defined constraints are subjected to particle swarm optimization (PSO) to attain optimum power demand. Real time electricity price (RTEP) and modified inclined block rate (IBR) is employed to contain the power demand under appropriate limits. Results confirm that CCHEMS is better than non-clustered optimization, 9% in cost reduction and 24% in PAR trimming for a population of 1000 consumers.
An Integrated Safe and Fast Recovery Scheme from Soft Errors Moslem

An ideal soft error tolerance solution should hide the effect of soft errors from user and provide correct results at expected time. Software solutions are attractive because they can provide flexible reliability without imposing any hardware modifications. Our investigation of state-of-theart error recovery techniques reveals that they suffer from poor coverage (ability to detect and correctly recover from soft errors). This paper presents InCheck (In-application Checkpointing and Recovery) as an effective, safe and timely software technique for complete error coverage. The key features of InCheck are: verified register preservation, single memory location checkpoints, and safe & timely recovery. To evaluate the effectiveness of InCheck, we performed more than 210,000 fault injection experiments on different hardware components of an ARM cortex53-like processor running MiBench applications. The original and SWIFTR (state-of-the-art) protected programs suffered from 8000 and 1800 instances of wrong outputs respectively, but when protected by InCheck, there was no failure.
Absence of Insecticide Resistance in Anopheles gambiae s.l. (Diptera: Culicidae) After Four Decades of Residual House Spraying in Gokwe District, Zimbabwe

Abstract Field tests showed that Anopheles gambiae s.l. from 4 villages in Gokwe District, Midlands Province, Zimbabwe, were susceptible to 4% DDT, 0.025% deltamethrin, 0,025% alphacypermethrin, and 0.1% lambdacyhalothrin. In the laboratory, F1 progeny of field-caught females that were identified as Anopheles arabiensis Patton were completly susceptibile to deltamethrin, alphacypermethrin, lambdacyhathrin, and DDT. The use of insecticides in Gokwe district has not yet induced detectable resistance in An gambiae s.l.
Malicious Behavior Analysis of Android GUI Based on ADB

The Android application is part of people's lives, however the functionality required by various user has greatly exceeded its original design. As a result, one must seek other ways to gain permission that is not directly available to the user. A typical approach is using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB), a developer tool that is used to grant permission to critical system resources. There are millions of downloads on Google Play that using this method. However, we found that ADB level functionality is not well protected by Android. A striking example of our investigation is that the ADB tool can be used to get the system application logs. Based on this finding, malicious applications can intelligently gather logs of application activity and then perform hijacking attacks. To understand this threat, we have developed an application that can detect the login time of the target application and then carry out the Activity hijacking attack, so as to obtain his account and password.
Probability for disaster chains in emergencies

A series of secondary and derived events may occur after an emergency, which is called a disaster chain. The disaster chain makes the emergency event more complex; therefore, research is needed to improve emergency management of disaster chains. Theories of disaster science state that an emergency event consists of four elements: hazard formative factors, hazard affected bodies, hazard producing environment, and mutual functions. This paper presents a method to describe the disaster chains. The model is then used to describe the disaster chain of an earthquake with the results showing that the model accurately describes the emergency event and the event chain.