Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electricity market equilibrium model with voltage constraints

A conjectural-variation-based equilibrium model of a single-price electricity market is used to analyze the effect of voltage constraints on the generators' strategic behavior. The solution of the model is computed by means of a two-stage optimization procedure. In the first stage, the day-ahead market clearing process is modeled. In the second stage, an AC optimal power flow determines the active and reactive production changes of the generation units in order to meet the technical network constraints.
Towards an engine for coordination-based architectural reconfigurations

This work is partly funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028923. The second author is supported by an Individual Doctoral Grant from FCT, with reference SFRH/BD/71475/2010.
Efficiency and productivity in Botswana's financial institutions

The productivity and efficiency of the financial sector is pivotal to the attainment of economic growth and development in developed and developing economies alike, and is of particular interest in the wake of financial sector reform and restructuring. The financial system in Botswana has undergone major structural and institutional changes in recent years. Throughout the 1980s a series of financial reforms were introduced to boost the efficiency and productivity of financial institutions by enhancing the crucial role of market forces (BoB, 1999). New entrants to the system and new products such as Automated Teller Machines (ATM), credit and debit card services were permitted as a result. To date, no study has been carried out to assess the impact of these reforms on the efficiency of financial institutions in Botswana. The main aim of this study is to conduct an empirical investigation of financial institutions in Botswana with a view to assessing their technical efficiency and productivity. By investigating technical efficiency and productivity among financial institutions in Botswana, this study addresses the following three questions: a) What is the mean efficiency score of financial institutions in Botswana? b) What is the total factor productivity change for Botswana’s financial institutions? c) What are the major determinants of efficiency in the context of Botswana’s financial institutions? Data envelopment analysis, which is a non-parametric approach, is employed in this study to analyse empirically the technical efficiency and productivity of financial institutions in Botswana. In order to assess the robustness and sensitivity of the results, three approaches namely, value-added approach, intermediation approach and operating approach are employed in defining the inputs and outputs of the institutions. The results suggest an asymmetry between institutions regarding their technical efficiency under
Reversible Watermarking on the basis of Invariant Image Classification and Quality Preservation by Histogram Modulation Prof

The concept of reversible watermarking has been designed to achieve complete restoration of the image after its removalafterthe insertion of data in various part of the image.This originally is based on identifying parts of the image which are watermarked using two different Histogram Shifting (HS) modulations. One is Pixel Histogram shifting and other is Dynamic Prediction Error Histogram Shifting(DPEHS). In this paper a good PSNR ratio of about 1-2 db could be achieved.The first most important technique is the Histogram shifting modulation(HS),which accordingly consider and handles the local specifications of images Keywords-Psnr,EE,DPES
Does skill retention benefit from retentivity and symbolic rehearsal? – two studies with a simulated process control task

Abstract Two experiments were designed to compare two symbolic rehearsal refresher interventions (imaginary practice, a hidden introspective process) and investigate the role of retentivity in skill retention. Retentivity is investigated as the ability to memorise and reproduce information and associations that were learned a short time ago. Both experiments comprised initial training (week 1), a symbolic rehearsal for the experimental group (week 2) and a retention assessment (week 3). In the first study, the experimental group received a symbolic rehearsal, while the control group received no rehearsal. In the second study, the experimental group received the same symbolic rehearsal used in study 1, enhanced with rehearsal tasks addressing human–computer interaction. The results showed that both symbolic rehearsal interventions were equally likely to mitigate skill decay. The retentivity showed medium to high correlations with skill retention in both studies, and the results suggest that subjects high in retentivity benefit more from a symbolic rehearsal refresher intervention. Practitioner Summary: Skill decay becomes a problem in situations in which jobs require the correct mastery of non-routine situations. Two experimental studies with simulated process control tasks showed that symbolic rehearsal and retentivity can significantly mitigate skill decay and that subjects higher in retentivity benefit more from refresher interventions. Video abstract Watch the video on Vimeo
Assimilation of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Requires Periplasmic AphA Phosphatase in Salmonella enterica

ABSTRACT Salmonella enterica can obtain pyridine from exogenous nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) by three routes. In route 1, nicotinamide is removed from NMN in the periplasm and enters the cell as the free base. In route 2, described here, phosphate is removed from NMN in the periplasm by acid phosphatase (AphA), and the produced nicotinamide ribonucleoside (NmR) enters the cell via the PnuC transporter. Internal NmR is then converted back to NMN by the NmR kinase activity of NadR. Route 3 is seen only in pnuC* transporter mutants, which import NMN intact and can therefore grow on lower levels of NMN. Internal NMN produced by either route 2 or route 3 is deamidated to nicotinic acid mononucleotide and converted to NAD by the biosynthetic enzymes NadD and NadE.
Why Should Economists Be Interested in Cultural Policy?

Cultural policy is an area of public policy-making with significant economic content. This paper suggests five areas where the theories, tools, and methods of economic analysis can make a contribution to the formation of a rational cultural policy: support for the creative arts; cultural goods in international trade; the management of cultural assets; industry and innovation; and foreign policy.
Staying the Course

The use of peacekeeping to manage conflicts in the international system has grown since the end of the Cold War. While much attention has been devoted to what makes peacekeeping successful, the outcome of peacekeeping is ultimately tied to the willingness of the intervening actor(s) to “stay the course” and continue the mission until its objectives are complete. In this article we focus upon the empirical puzzle of peacekeeping missions’ sustainability. After states and international organizations overcome the collective action problem of forming a mission and deploying it, it is puzzling that so many missions drop out before completion. We adopt a competing risks framework in our analysis to identify the forces that determine whether peacekeepers stay until the end of a conflict or withdraw early. Our explanation argues that peacekeepers are more likely to stay the course as the capacity of the mission increases, the costs and risks of peacekeeping diminish, and traction towards peace is observed.
Herbicides and adjuvants: an evolving view

The present report examines the in vitro genotoxicity (micronucleus assay) of herbicides and adjuvants and reports on an in vivo human study on potential endocrine effects of pesticides, including herbicides. Adjuvants are used in conjunction with 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) and other herbicides. Earlier pesticide applier survey results (n = 709) show that 59% of the applicators used adjuvants, and the majority of this group used paraffinic oils and/or surfactant mixtures. As a beginning effort to explore the role of adjuvants and herbicides in hormonally based reproductive effects, a prospective, controlled study was performed to analyze blood specimens from three different exposure groups (applicators using herbicides only; applicators using both herbicides and insecticides; and applicators using fumigants in addition to herbicides and insecticides; and a control group composed of other agricultural workers including organic farmers). The applicators and controls were age- and smoking-matched. Study subjects (n = 78) were tested before, during, and after completion of pesticide application season for the effects of pesticide products on hormone levels in the bloodstream. Of the applicator exposure groups examined, only the herbicide group showed significant endocrinologic differences from controls. Free testosterone levels were significantly elevated in post-season measurements (p = 0.032), and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) was significantly decreased at the height of the season (p = 0.016) and in the post-season (p = 0.010) as compared to controls. These endocrinologic findings are discussed in terms of their possible relationship to potential endocrine effects of herbicides, herbicide contaminants, and adjuvants. In vitro genotoxicity examination compared four different commercially available surfactant mixtures with 12 different commercial herbicide products, including six different chlorophenoxy herbicides. Only one herbicide yielded a significant dose-response curve. All four adjuvants showed positive dose-response effects. These preliminary data suggest that adjuvants are not inert but are toxicologically active components added to herbicide mixtures. Whether adjuvant toxicant effects are additive or are independent of herbicide effects is poorly understood.
An indoor environment VLC-based localization algorithm for handset devices

Nowadays, VLC-based system has been widely and developed for usage of localization. However, some of them are impractical and inefficient. In this paper, we report a novel design of VLC-based system that not only deals with localization problem but also tries to improve the system practicality and efficiency. We focus on utilizing the capacity of handset devices to provide high precision indoor position. The system makes use of image sensor (IS) and acceleration sensor (AS), which are going to capture and demodulate the digital information transmitting from predetermined LED mounted on the ceiling. We describe the algorithm and get verified by the simulations.
Neuroprotective Effect of a CNTF-Expressing Lentiviral Vector in the Quinolinic Acid Rat Model of Huntington's Disease

Neurodegenerative diseases represent promising targets for gene therapy approaches provided effective transfer vectors. In the present study, we evaluated the effectiveness of LacZ-expressing lentiviral vectors with two different internal promoters, the mouse phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK) and cytomegalovirus (CMV), to infect striatal cells. The intrastriatal injection of lenti-beta-Gal vectors lead to 207, 400 +/- 11,500 and 303,100 +/- 4,300 infected cells in adult rats, respectively. Importantly, the beta-galactosidase activity was higher in striatal extracts from PGK-LacZ-injected animals as compared to CMV-LacZ animals. The efficacy of the system was further examined with a potential therapeutic gene for the treatment of Huntington's disease, the human ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF). PGK-LacZ- or PGK-CNTF-expressing viruses were stereotaxically injected into the striatum of rats, 3 weeks later the animals were unilaterally lesioned with 180 nmol of quinolinic acid (QA). Control animals displayed 148 +/- 43 apomorphine-induced rotations ipsilateral to the lesion 5 days postlesion as compared to 26 +/- 22 turns/45 min in the CNTF-treated group. The extent of the striatal damage was significantly diminished in the CNTF-treated rats as indicated by the 52 +/- 9.7% decrease of the lesion volume and the sparing of DARPP-32, ChAT and NADPH-d neuronal populations. These results further establish that lentiviruses may represent an efficient gene delivery system for the screening of therapeutic molecules in Huntington's disease.
Intrachromosomal duplications of 22q11 are not a common cause of isolated coloboma and coloboma with other limited features of cat eye syndrome

Cateye syndrome(CES) is adevelopmental disorder with a variable pattern of congenital anomalies (OMIM #115470). CES is clinically characterized by uveoretinal coloboma, preauricular pits or tags, anal anomalies, total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPRV), or other congenital heart defects, renal malformations, craniofacial malformations, skeletal anomalies, and mental retardation. The variability of clinical manifestations is large, ranging from marginally affected individuals, to those with the full pattern of malformations and a lethal outcome [Berends et al., 2001; Rosias et al., 2001]. The majority of patients with CES carry a supernumerary bisatellited dicentric chromosome derived from chromosome 22 and described as dic(22) (pter! q11.2::q11.2! pter). This supernumerary chromosome results in the presence of four copies (tetrasomy) of 22p and proximal 22q11 in affected individuals. CES can also be caused by an interstitial duplication within 22q11, which produces three copies of the cat eye syndrome critical region (CESCR). This form of duplication has been less frequently described, possibly because the interstitial duplication may not always be visible by conventional cytogenetic or FISH analysis. Additionally, patients with only one extra copy of the CESCR might showevenmoreof a variablephenotype. They are likely to be mildly affected or to have only isolated features of CES [Taylor et al., 1977; Reiss et al., 1985; Knoll et al., 1995; Lindsay et al., 1995; Fujimoto and Lin, 1996]. Six patients with features of CES and interstitial duplications have been reported to date [reviewed in Meins et al., 2003]. Only a patient described by Meins et al. [2003] showed all the major symptoms of CES including coloboma, preauricular anomalies, heart defect, kidney malformation, and anal atresia. Although tetrasomy and especially trisomy for the CESCR does not always present with the classic CES phenotype, patients with limited and isolated features of the syndrome are not routinely tested for abnormalities in the 22q11 region. We hypothesized that some of these patients could carry small intrachromosomal duplications of the CESCR that are missed using current clinical testing methodologies. To test this hypothesis, we examined individuals with coloboma with or without other limited clinical features of CES for duplications involving the 22q11 critical region, knowing that uveoretinal coloboma represents a common feature of CES. Coloboma is present in 60% of the patients with supernumerary dic(22) chromosome [Rosias et al., 2001] and was detected in two out of six reported cases with an interstitial duplication of the CESCR. This eye defect has also been described in a patient with mosaic trisomy22 [Thomas et al., 2004]. Therefore, increased dosage of genes on chromosome 22 can disturb eye development and result in coloboma. Patients with ocular coloboma were referred to our research study by geneticists, genetic counselors, and ophthalmologists. Peripheral blood samples
A genealogy of calculations at an early Queensland sugar mill

This study of a unique historic situation is sociologically framed and politically contextualized. It examines the technical and persuasive rhetorical dimensions of calculations employed at a nineteenth-century Queensland sugar plantation and mill in relation to the employment of indentured labour. Historical archival data is interpreted through the lens of the rhetoric of rationality. Queensland legislation permitted the employment of indentured Pacific islanders to assist in the development of its sugar industry. Accounting practices employed at the Colonial Sugar Refinery (CSR) Company’s Goondi Plantation and Mill focused on recording and controlling labour costs to maximize profits and maintain a healthy dividend to shareholders. The use of this single perspective, while it provides a restricted interpretation of events, nevertheless enables some unique insights about the practice of accounting in this historic context.
Metal-organic charge transfer can produce biradical states and is mediated by conical intersections

The present paper illustrates key features of charge transfer between calcium atoms and prototype conjugated hydrocarbons (ethylene, benzene, and coronene) as elucidated by electronic structure calculations. One- and two-electron charge transfer is controlled by two sequential conical intersections. The two lowest electronic states that undergo a conical intersection have closed-shell and open-shell dominant configurations correlating with the 4s2 and 4s13d1 states of Ca, respectively. Unlike the neutral-ionic state crossing in, for example, hydrogen halides or alkali halides, the path from separated reactants to the conical intersection region is uphill and the charge-transferred state is a biradical. The lowest-energy adiabatic singlet state shows at least two minima along a single approach path of Ca to the π system: (i) a van der Waals complex with a doubly occupied highest molecular orbital, denoted , and a small negative charge on Ca and (ii) an open-shell singlet (biradical) at intermediate approach (Ca⋯C distance ≈2.5–2.7 Å) with molecular orbital structure ϕ1ϕ2, where ϕ2 is an orbital showing significant charge transfer form Ca to the π-system, leading to a one-electron multicentered bond. A third minimum (iii) at shorter distances along the same path corresponding to a closed-shell state with molecular orbital structure has also been found; however, it does not necessarily represent the ground state at a given Ca⋯C distance in all three systems. The topography of the lowest adiabatic singlet potential energy surface is due to the one- and two-electron bonding patterns in Ca-π complexes.
Public Opinion and the Balanced Budget

While most Americans have long favored a balanced federal budget , not all do. This paper uses cross-sectional differences among respondents to two public opinion polls to try to discriminate among competing hypotheses about why Americans want the budget balanced. Logit models are fit to data from two different public opinion polls : a Gallup poll and a CBS/New York Times poll conducted , respectively, in March and April of 1980, a time when the proposed balanced budget amendment to the Constitution was very much in the news. In each case , a large majority favored a balanced budget requirement. However, they favor it for a smorgasbord of reasons and at unclear price. It appears that political affiliation, ideology and personal circumstances are far less important determinants of the choice than economic rationales.
Inter-sample iterative learning control for induction motor drives

Iterative learning control (ILC) is a simple technique devised for repetitive systems. In this work, an inter-sample ILC algorithm is proposed for the speed control problem of an induction motor. The proposed algorithm is mathematically analyzed and validated using a real-time experiment. Its performance is observed to be better than that of PI based Field Oriented Control (FOC) regarding convergence rate and overshoot. The proposed algorithm is different from the conventional ILC as we are not considering a repetitive control task in this work.
Proceedings of the 4th Joint Symposium on Computational Aesthetics, Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering, and Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling

Expressive is the joint symposium on Computational Aesthetics, Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering, and Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling. Expressive 2014 is the fourth annual Expressive event and we have returned to Vancouver, where the first Expressive was also held. Expressive's three subconferences have distinct but related agendas. Computational Aesthetics bridges the analytic and synthetic by integrating aspects of computer science, philosophy, psychology, and the fine, applied, and performing arts. CAe seeks to facilitate both the analysis and the augmentation of creative behaviors. Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering is concerned with computational techniques for visual communication; such techniques usually generate imagery and motion which is expressive, rather than photorealistic, although possibly including realistic elements. The goal of the Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling symposium is to explore the models, algorithms, and technologies needed to enable effective sketch-based interfaces. SBIM investigates novel methods for classification and recognition of hand-drawn shapes, and ways of using these techniques for creating or editing text, mathematics, and 3D shapes.
Exponential stabilization of a class of flexible microgrippers using dynamic boundary port Hamiltonian control

This paper deals with the control of a class of simplified models for flexible micro-grippers for DNA manipulation. The overall system is first modelled as a boundary controlled port Hamiltonian system made up as the interconnection of an infinite dimensional system (modelled as an undamped Timoshenko beam) representing the flexible arm of the gripper with two finite dimensional systems representing the DNA bundle and the suspension/actuator mechanism. The base of the arm is clamped on the suspension mechanism leading to under actuated system. The controller considered under strict dissipative port Hamiltonian format uses the velocity of the base of the tweezers arm as input and generates a force as output. The exponential stability of the closed loop system is derived by checkininfinite and finite dimensional system.g simple conditions on both the infinite and finite dimensional system.
Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Myocardial Infarction among Never-Smokers in the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program (SHEEP)

An increased risk for myocardial infarction (MI) related to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure has previously been reported, but several aspects of the association are still uncertain. We studied the MI risk associated with ETS exposure among 334 nonfatal never-smoking MI cases and 677 population controls, 45–70 years of age, in Stockholm County. A postal questionnaire with a telephone follow-up provided information on ETS exposure and other potential risk factors for MI. After adjustment for age, gender, hospital catchment area, body mass index, socioeconomic status, job strain, hypertension, diet, and diabetes mellitus, the odds ratio for MI was 1.58 (95% confidence interval = 0.97–2.56) for an average daily exposure of 20 cigarettes or more from the spouse. Combined exposure from spouse and work showed an increasing odds ratio for MI, up to 1.55 (95% confidence interval = 1.02–2.34) in the highest category of weighted duration, that is, more than 90 “hour-years” of exposure (1 “hour-year” = 365 hours, or 1 hour per day for 1 year). In addition, more recent exposure appeared to convey a higher risk. Our data confirm an increased risk of MI from exposure to ETS and suggest that intensity of spousal exposure, combined exposure from spouse and work, and time since last exposure are important.