Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bayesian optimization for maximum power point tracking in photovoltaic power plants

The amount of power that a photovoltaic (PV) power plant generates depends on the DC voltage that is applied to the PV panels. The relationship between this control input and the generated power is non-convex and has multiple local maxima. Moreover, since the generated power depends on time-varying environmental conditions, such as solar irradiation, the location of the global maximum changes over time. Maximizing the amount of energy that is generated over time is known as the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) problem. Traditional approaches to solve the MPPT problem rely on heuristics and data-based gradient estimates. These methods typically converge to local optima and thus waste energy. Our approach formalizes the MPPT problem as a Bayesian optimization problem. This formalization admits algorithms that can find the maximum power point after only a few evaluations at different input voltages. Specifically, we model the power-voltage curve as a Gaussian process (GP) and use the predictive uncertainty information in this model to choose control inputs that are informative about the location of the maximum. We extend the basic approach by including operational constraints and making it computationally tractable so that the method can be used on real systems. We evaluate our method together with two standard baselines in experiments, which show that our approach outperforms both.
BK Channels Regulate Spontaneous Action Potential Rhythmicity in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

Background Circadian (∼24 hr) rhythms are generated by the central pacemaker localized to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus. Although the basis for intrinsic rhythmicity is generally understood to rely on transcription factors encoded by “clock genes”, less is known about the daily regulation of SCN neuronal activity patterns that communicate a circadian time signal to downstream behaviors and physiological systems. Action potentials in the SCN are necessary for the circadian timing of behavior, and individual SCN neurons modulate their spontaneous firing rate (SFR) over the daily cycle, suggesting that the circadian patterning of neuronal activity is necessary for normal behavioral rhythm expression. The BK K+ channel plays an important role in suppressing spontaneous firing at night in SCN neurons. Deletion of the Kcnma1 gene, encoding the BK channel, causes degradation of circadian behavioral and physiological rhythms. Methodology/Principal Findings To test the hypothesis that loss of robust behavioral rhythmicity in Kcnma1−/− mice is due to the disruption of SFR rhythms in the SCN, we used multi-electrode arrays to record extracellular action potentials from acute wild-type (WT) and Kcnma1−/− slices. Patterns of activity in the SCN were tracked simultaneously for up to 3 days, and the phase, period, and synchronization of SFR rhythms were examined. Loss of BK channels increased arrhythmicity but also altered the amplitude and period of rhythmic activity. Unexpectedly, Kcnma1−/− SCNs showed increased variability in the timing of the daily SFR peak. Conclusions/Significance These results suggest that BK channels regulate multiple aspects of the circadian patterning of neuronal activity in the SCN. In addition, these data illustrate the characteristics of a disrupted SCN rhythm downstream of clock gene-mediated timekeeping and its relationship to behavioral rhythms.
Apps with Habits: Adaptive Interfaces for News Apps

Reading the news on smartphones has become a significant activity for users. It is also a highly individual experience with marked differences in the way people read and access news. This work explores novel methods of "smart personalisation" of news apps. It is investigating smartphone users' news reading behaviour. It is developing a prototype news app able to recognise particular kinds of news reading behaviour and adapt its display and interaction methods, i.e. an app that forms "habits". A longitudinal evaluation of the deployed app is being conducted.
Simulation of complicated and diverse water system accompanied by human intervention in the North China Plain

The author simulated water/heat dynamics in the North China plain (NCP) by coupling the NIES Integrated Catchment‐based Eco‐hydrology (NICE) model series with dam/canal systems in the agricultural and urban areas (NICE‐CNL). This combined model was applied to the Hai River catchment and the lower reach of the Yellow River (530 km wide × 840 km long) at a resolution of 5 km. It satisfactorily reproduced river discharge, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, groundwater level, and crop production of summer maize and winter wheat, correctly estimating—without any detailed statistical data—the amount of crop water use. The simulation showed that irrigation and industrial use of groundwater has a marked effect on the water dynamics in the NCP because the river water volume is smaller than that necessary for irrigation, industrial and, domestic water use. The model reproduced, reasonably well, the trend of groundwater degradation over the previous half century, including cone depressions occurring around bigger cities, which the author was unable to reproduce in previous research. The simulation also clarified that this water shortage is related to the low flow discharge of the Hai River into the ocean. Furthermore, the simulated result for the density current and solute transport processes clarified that these water cycle changes have caused serious seawater intrusion and a decrease of crop productivity in the coastal area, as shown by the gradient of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) estimated from satellite images. This study has important implications for the evaluation of ecosystems and environments located on the moving edge of freshwater and marine areas. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Modelling Spatial Recall, Mental Imagery and Neglect

We present a computational model of the neural mechanisms in the parietal and temporal lobes that support spatial navigation, recall of scenes and imagery of the products of recall. Long term representations are stored in the hippocampus, and are associated with local spatial and object-related features in the parahippocampal region. Viewer-centered representations are dynamically generated from long term memory in the parietal part of the model. The model thereby simulates recall and imagery of locations and objects in complex environments. After parietal damage, the model exhibits hemispatial neglect in mental imagery that rotates with the imagined perspective of the observer, as in the famous Milan Square experiment [1]. Our model makes novel predictions for the neural representations in the parahippocampal and parietal regions and for behavior in healthy volunteers and neuropsychological patients.
Integrating Perceptual, Device and Location Characteristics for Wireless Multimedia Transmission

In this paper, we describe an investigation exploring user experiences of accessing streamed multimedia content, when that content is tailored according to perceptual, device and location characteristics. To this end, we have created pre-defined transmission profiles and stream perceptually tailored multimedia content to three different locations, each characterised by different infotainment requirements. In the light of our results, we propose that multimedia transmission to mobile and wireless devices should be made based on pre-defined profiles, which contains a combination of static (perceptual, device type, CPU speed, and display specifications) and dynamic information (streamed content type location of the device/user, context of the device/user). The evaluation of such a system showed that the users and service providers can gain from such an approach considerably, as user perceptions of quality were not detrimentally affected by QoS degradations. Consequently, service providers can utilise this information to effectively manage local network traffic and bandwidth
A Reflexive Formalization of a SAT Solver in Coq

We present a Coq formalization of an algorithm deciding the satisfiability of propositional formulas (SAT). This SAT solver is described as a set of inference rules in a manner that is independent of the actual representation of propositional variables and formulas. We prove soundness and completeness for this system, and instantiate our solver directly on the propositional fragment of Coq’s logic in order to obtain a fully reflexive tactic. Such a tactic represents a first and important step towards our ultimate goal of embedding an automated theorem prover inside the Coq system. We also extract a certified Ocaml implementation of the algorithm.
Operational Hydrology for Ungaged Streams by the Grid Square Technique

The grid square technique has been used extensively in Canada for assessing water resource potential as well as for planning hydrometric networks. The method can conveniently be extended to generate synthetic streamflow traces on ungaged streams. The grid square technique and its extension to operational hydrology are discussed, along with an example from the New Brunswick region of Canada.
Chertification in the Monterey Formation of California

Quartz cherts of the Miocene Monterey Formation of California are complex rocks that reflect varied environments, mechanisms, and timing of chertification. Because cherts do not reflect just the simple prograde diagenesis of siliceous sediments, it is important for sedimentologists and petroleum explorationists to understand their origin. Both early and late forming cherts exist; however, only cherts formed prior to tectonic deformation can become fractured reservoirs so important to oil production from the Monterey. Monterey cherts occur as beds, nodules, lenticular bodies, spheroids, dikes, and breccias. All are characterized by their hardness, density, vitreous luster, and smooth, conchoidal fracture. These properties result from localized addition of silica (silicification), or by closed-system changes in already siliceous rocks. Silicification includes (1) replacement of a compositionally distinct host, and (2) pore-filling cementation. Additional silica may be supplied to cherts from adjacent interlayered organic-rich and clayey lamina. Closed-system chert formation results from stratal compaction and porosity loss caused strictly by in-situ silica dissolution and reprecipitation during the opal-CT to quartz phase change; silicification can occur before or after the change. Rates and textures of chertification are controlled by local primary composition. Microscopically, quartz crystallite size varies inversely with the concentration of disseminated organic matter, pyrite,more » and secondary dolomite euhedra, reflecting different rates of quartz nucleation and growth. Megascopically, quartzification of opal-CT chert occurs preferentially along specific lamina, regardless of the degree of deformation indicating that primary composition is the principal control of quartz chert formation. « less
High Prevalence of Metallo-β-Lactamase and 16S rRNA Methylase Coproduction among Imipenem-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates in Brazil

ABSTRACT Rates of metallo-β-lactamase and 16S rRNA methylase production were investigated in 51 imipenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates collected from hospitals in São Paulo, Brazil. Of them, 57% and 75% produced SPM-1 and RmtD, respectively. Of note, 51% produced both enzymes, suggesting that their coproduction is already common in this geographic area.
MATERNAL EFFECTS ON GROWTH IN BEEF CATTLE

A basic principle of animal production is that individual performance is determined by genetic makeup and environmental conditions. Accordingly, individuals with above average phenotypes can result from superior genotypes, favourable environments, or both. Prior to weaning, it is the prenatal and then milking and mothering ability of the dam that provides an important component of a young animal’s environment. Although the milking and mothering ability of the dam is an environmental effect from the viewpoint of the young animal, it is affected by the genotype of the dam for milking and mothering ability. Thus, weaning weight is determined by individual genotype for preweaning growth (direct effect D), genotype of the dam for milking and mothering ability (maternal effect M) and effects of the environment (E).
A Brain–Computer Interface Controlled Auditory Event‐Related Potential (P300) Spelling System for Locked‐In Patients

Using brain–computer interfaces (BCI) humans can select letters or other targets on a computer screen without any muscular involvement. An intensively investigated kind of BCI is based on the recording of visual event‐related brain potentials (ERP). However, some severely paralyzed patients who need a BCI for communication have impaired vision or lack control of gaze movement, thus making a BCI depending on visual input no longer feasible. In an effort to render the ERP–BCI usable for this group of patients, the ERP–BCI was adapted to auditory stimulation. Letters of the alphabet were assigned to cells in a 5 × 5 matrix. Rows of the matrix were coded with numbers 1 to 5, and columns with numbers 6 to 10, and the numbers were presented auditorily. To select a letter, users had to first select the row and then the column containing the desired letter. Four severely paralyzed patients in the end‐stage of a neurodegenerative disease were examined. All patients performed above chance level. Spelling accuracy was significantly lower with the auditory system as compared with a similar visual system. Patients reported difficulties in concentrating on the task when presented with the auditory system. In future studies, the auditory ERP–BCI should be adjusted by taking into consideration specific features of severely paralyzed patients, such as reduced attention span. This adjustment in combination with more intensive training will show whether an auditory ERP–BCI can become an option for visually impaired patients.
Imitation learning with generalized task descriptions

In this paper, we present an approach that allows a robot to observe, generalize, and reproduce tasks observed from multiple demonstrations. Motion capture data is recorded in which a human instructor manipulates a set of objects. In our approach, we learn relations between body parts of the demonstrator and objects in the scene. These relations result in a generalized task description. The problem of learning and reproducing human actions is formulated using a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN). The posteriors corresponding to the nodes of the DBN are estimated by observing objects in the scene and body parts of the demonstrator. To reproduce a task, we seek for the maximum-likelihood action sequence according to the DBN. We additionally show how further constraints can be incorporated online, for example, to robustly deal with unforeseen obstacles. Experiments carried out with a real 6-DoF robotic manipulator as well as in simulation show that our approach enables a robot to reproduce a task carried out by a human demonstrator. Our approach yields a high degree of generalization illustrated by performing a pick-and-place and a whiteboard cleaning task.
Effects of Climate Change on Microbial Community Structure and Function in the Antarctic Glacier Lagoon

One of the dramatic effects of global warming is the retreat of glaciers. This phenomenon has intensified in the last two decades. Postglacial areas are quickly colonised by various groups of organisms. Auto- and heterotrophic microorganisms play an especially vital role in these processes. They thrive in shallow glacial lagoons which often form in front of retreating glaciers. These reservoirs are characterised by high dynamics of physicochemical parameters, including: salinity, temperature and concentrations of organic compounds and nutrients. The conducted microbiological studies have revealed rich structural and functional diversity of bacteria occurring in the ecosystem of Ecology Lagoon situated on King George Island. Bacteria found on the surface of algae and stones in the shore zone of the lagoon showed particularly intense metabolic activity. A molecular analysis has indicated that unique taxonomic groups of bacteria occur in the ecosystem of Ecology Lagoon.
Some intonational characteristics of discourse structure

and speech, following Grosz & Sidner 1986; average inter-labeler agreement for structural elements varied from 74.3%-95.1%, depending upon feature. These elements of global structure, together with elements of local structure such as parentheticals and attributive tags, were correlated with variation in intonational and acoustic features such as pitch range, contour, timing, and amplitude. We found statistically signiicant associations between aspects of pitch range, amplitude, and timing with features of global and local structure both for labelings from text alone and for labelings from speech. We further found that global and local structures can be reliably identiied from acoustic and prosodic features with (cross-validated) success rates of 86-97%.
XExt 3 : The Design and Implementation of a Security Enhanced Ext 3 File System

In this paper we develop an extended Ext3(XExt3) which means security enhanced file system. It can be used in generic Linux systems or trusted operating systems (TOS) as a file system. The XExt3 file system can protect data of a computer system from physical theft by encrypting them. We concentrate on balancing security, transparency and portability while minimizing computational overheads. For security and transparency, the XExt3 supports file protection, Linux group sharing, and the minimization of interactions between users and the system. In the aspect of performance, we minimize the overheads by implementing the proposed method on a native Ext3 file system in a Linux operating system. Finally we implement our system as a Linux kernel module for high portability. Our experimental results show that the XExt3 is about 3 or 4 times faster than previous cryptographic file systems.
Microdomain switch of cGMP-regulated phosphodiesterases leads to ANP-induced augmentation of β-adrenoceptor-stimulated contractility in early cardiac hypertrophy.

RATIONALE Cyclic nucleotides are second messengers that regulate cardiomyocyte function through compartmentalized signaling in discrete subcellular microdomains. However, the role of different microdomains and their changes in cardiac disease are not well understood. OBJECTIVE To directly visualize alterations in β-adrenergic receptor-associated cAMP and cGMP microdomain signaling in early cardiac disease. METHODS AND RESULTS Unexpectedly, measurements of cell shortening revealed augmented β-adrenergic receptor-stimulated cardiomyocyte contractility by atrial natriuretic peptide/cGMP signaling in early cardiac hypertrophy after transverse aortic constriction, which was in sharp contrast to well-documented β-adrenergic and natriuretic peptide signaling desensitization during chronic disease. Real-time cAMP analysis in β1- and β2-adrenergic receptor-associated membrane microdomains using a novel membrane-targeted Förster resonance energy transfer-based biosensor transgenically expressed in mice revealed that this unexpected atrial natriuretic peptide effect is brought about by spatial redistribution of cGMP-sensitive phosphodiesterases 2 and 3 between both receptor compartments. Functionally, this led to a significant shift in cGMP/cAMP cross-talk and, in particular, to cGMP-driven augmentation of contractility in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSIONS Redistribution of cGMP-regulated phosphodiesterases and functional reorganization of receptor-associated microdomains occurs in early cardiac hypertrophy, affects cGMP-mediated contractility, and might represent a previously not recognized therapeutically relevant compensatory mechanism to sustain normal heart function.
Astronomical centers of the world

Preface Acknowledgements A note on nomenclature 1. The Alexandrian Museum 2. Astronomical capitals of the Moslem world 3. Tycho Brahe's Observatory at Hven 4. Paris and Greenwich 5. Pulkovo Observatory 6. Harvard, Lick and Yerkes and the rise of astrophysics 7. Mt Wilson and Palomar 8. The present 9. The future Appendix Notes Index.
A Neural Networks Based Model for the Prediction of the Bottled Propane Gas Sales

This work presents an application of the artificial neural networks (ANN) in the prediction of the time series of the weekly wholesales of bottled propane gas (13 kg. Bottles). For this purpose several networks with different topologies were built. In order to reduce the error of the predictions, many schemas of ensembles were applied. Additionally, given the scarce data available, it was mandatory to minimize the input dimensionality of the networks and to do this, with a rational and systematic approach, considerations about stochastic dynamical systems were made and the Deyle and Sugihara's theorems for nonlinear state space reconstruction as long the generalizations of the Takens-Mañé's theorem for non-deterministic systems were used.
Robust control for a class of switched large-scale systems with value-bounded uncertainties and nonlinear disturbances

The problem of robust stabilization for a class of switched large-scale systems with value-bounded uncertainties and nonlinear disturbances is considered. Interconnection terms with uncertainties are divided into a linear part and a nonlinear part. Under the condition that any subsystem of each low-dimensional subsystem can not be stabilized by single controller, by using Lyapunov function technique and convex combination approach, robust decentralized controllers and decentralized switching laws are designed to guarantee closed-loop systems be stable. Finally, a numerical example illustrates the feasibility and validity of the presented method.
A novel virtual design platform for product innovation through customer involvement

Involving customers in the product design process on a virtual design platform is thought to be an effective way for new product innovation. However, few studies have been carried out to co-relate the theories developed in marketing and those proposed for product design to develop a viable product innovation platform. There is no widely accepted integrated conceptual model that integrates these views. In the proposed model, a conceptual link between the marketing domain and the product domain construct a virtual design platform for customer's desired value co-creation and knowledge co-production. The different levels of involvers are classified according to three dimensions of customer demographics, customer psychographics and customer expertise based on the customer information derived from marketing segmentation theory. Products are categorized according to explicit product characteristics and virtual product characteristics. Measurement scales for each of these dimensions will be investigated thoroughly. A design process for product innovation based on the theoretical model is proposed. The framework connects customer information and product orientation to provide a novel platform for future product innovation.