Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Power management of Renewable mix in island mode using multiagent system

To overcome the challenges of less reliability, lack of efficient power management strategies and complex decision making a multiagent based application is proposed for smart power management and optimal sizing of renewable mix in island mode. Here paper discussed overall design concept of the system, modeling of agents models along with optimal sizing of hybrid system by applying optimization technique. LabVIEW software is appropriate for designing of multiagent architecture because of its parallel processing ability. The proposed model consists of various agents who work together for maintaining proper power management of the system. The methodology was constructed by using meteorological data from Renewable Energy laboratory of Electrical Engineering department, MANIT Bhopal situated in Madhya Pradesh, India. Optimal sizing of IHRES is done on the basis of solar irradiation, wind speed, demand load, reliability index and CO2 emission through diesel generator. Economic aspects of hybrid system and the overall performance can be improved by adopting the proposed method.
On boundedness and stability of solutions of nonlinear difference equation with nonmartingale type noise

Consider a stochastic difference equation with the Volterra type nonlinear main term G and Volterra type noise Functions Gf, σ supposed to be random, x;i is a martingale—difference. In general so Eq, (1) cannot be considered as a stochastic equation with respect to the discrete semimartingale because the term is not a martingale—difference. The main aim of this paper is to establish the sufficient conditions on the almost sure boundedness, asymptotic and exponential stability of the solutions. Equation (1) can be interpreted as a generalization of the equation describing the gain incurred by the insurance company in a year i+1. We therefore explore the possible application of our theory in this area
On the distributed binary consensus algorithm in wireless sensor networks

We consider the binary consensus problem over the wireless sensor networks (WSN), where each node of the network initially observes one of two states and the aim of each node is to decide which one of the two states was held by the majority of nodes. In this paper we consider the averaging of a measurement in a WSN composed of N nodes.We evaluate the distributed binary consensus algorithm by deriving the average convergence time of the algorithm. Since this time has been evaluated theoretically for mathematical aspects [1], we complete this work by considering real life environment including packet loss phenomenon and automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocol used in real message transmissions. In addition we compare the new analytical results with those obtained by a hardware emulation of the same binary consensus algorithm under TinyOS and TOSSIM. In performance evaluation, we consider the analysis of the average convergence time for node states. In the simulations, we apply the distributed binary consensus algorithm for fully connected, ring, path, Erdos Reny random, and star-shaped topologies.
Influence of the Environment on Participation in Social Roles for Young Adults with Down Syndrome

Background The concept of disability is now understood as a result of the interaction between the individual, features related to impairment, and the physical and social environment. It is important to understand these environmental influences and how they affect social participation. The purpose of this study is to describe the social participation of young adults with Down syndrome and examine its relationship with the physical and social environment. Methods Families ascertained from the Down syndrome ‘Needs Opinion Wishes’ database completed questionnaires during 2011. The questionnaires contained two parts, young person characteristics and family characteristics. Young adults’ social participation was measured using the Assessment of Life Habits (LIFE-H) and the influences of environmental factors were measured by the Measure of the Quality of the Environment (MQE). The analysis involved descriptive statistics and linear and logistic regression. Results Overall, participation in daily activities was higher (mean 6.45) than in social roles (mean 5.17) (range 0 to 9). When the physical and/or social environment was reported as a facilitator, compared to being no influence or a barrier, participation in social roles was greater (coef 0.89, 95%CI 0.28, 1.52, coef 0.83, 95%CI 0.17, 1.49, respectively). The relationships between participation and both the physical (coef 0.60, 95% CI −0.40, 1.24) and social (coef 0.20, 95%CI −0.47, 0.87) environments were reduced when age, gender, behavior and functioning in ADL were taken into account. Conclusion We found that young adults’ participation in social roles was influenced more by the physical environment than by the social environment, providing a potentially modifiable avenue for intervention.
Design and implementation of a contactless palm vein recognition system

This paper presents an innovative contactless palm vein recognition system. We design a hand sensor that could capture the palm vein image using low-resolution web camera. The design of the sensor is simple and low-cost, and we do not need to install specialized infrared sensor. We allow subjects to position their hands freely above the sensor and they can move their hands during the acquisition process. In order to obtain clear image of the palm vascular pattern, we propose a novel image processing technique called local-ridge-enhancement (LRE). The proposed method removes illumination error while keeping good contrast between the vein and the surrounding tissue. Apart from that, we present a new way to evaluate the image quality. Sometimes, the vein image does not appear clear due to the medical condition of the skin (like thick fatty tissue obstructing the subcutaneous blood vessels) and other environmental factor. These types of images are not suitable to be used for processing in our system. Therefore, we introduce the image quality checking procedure to evaluate the quality of the image before accepting it into our system. The proposed methodology improves the overall performance of the palm vein recognition system.
Effects of fumarates on circulating and CNS myeloid cells in multiple sclerosis

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF), a therapy for relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), is implicated as acting on inflammatory and antioxidant responses within both systemic immune and/or central nervous system (CNS) compartments. Orally administered DMF is rapidly metabolized to monomethyl fumarate (MMF). Our aim was to analyze the impact of fumarates on antiinflammatory and antioxidant profiles of human myeloid cells found in the systemic compartment (monocytes) and in the inflamed CNS (blood‐derived macrophages and brain‐derived microglia).
Development of Bacteria Analysis System v. 2 on the G-Language Genome Analysis Environmen

We have been developing a generic analysis environment called the G-language Genome Analysis Environment (G-language GAE) [1] to construct an integrated environment for the development of analysis software, to systematically accumulate existing analysis software and their results, and to construct generic analysis packages that allow users to avoid redundancy in the process of analysis. We are distributing the software system at our web site, http: //www. glanguage. org/. G-language GAE has over 200 methods installed; however, using them requires perl programming skills. Therefore we developed Bacteria Analysis System (BAS) in order to analyze easily via the Graphical User Interface. On G-language GAE, set of functions forming a protocol of analyses is called a "System". While BAS is one of such "Systems", version 2 of the BAS is made more generic in terms of analysis purposes, and is greatly enhanced in its extensibility and interconnectivity with other "Systems", in order to enable more complex analysis required in the post-genome era.
Invited: Who is the major threat to tomorrow's security? You, the hardware designer

More and more security attacks today are perpetrated by exploiting the hardware: memory errors can be exploited to take over systems, side-channel attacks leak secrets to the outside worlds, weak random number generators render cryptography ineffective, etc. At the same time, many of the tenets of efficient design are in tension with guaranteeing security. For instance, classic secure hardware does not allow to optimize common execution patterns, share resources, or provide deep introspection. We provide brief descriptions of three recently-exposed hardware vulnerabilities along with extensive references for background and to learn more about these areas. Specifically, we first discuss the Rowhammer problem in modern DRAM chips, which enables attackers to circumvent memory isolation, and other potential vulnerabilities due to aggressive memory technology scaling. We next describe hardware Trojans implemented below the gate level, which can resist most detection techniques, and other manufacturing vulnerabilities in security primitives. Finally, we explain side channels that can achieve very large information leakage capacities, and various potential defenses against them. We conclude by noting that the intersection of hardware design and security attacks and countermeasures will continue to present a rich area for research and development for many years to come.
Healthcare providers balancing norms and practice: challenges and opportunities in providing contraceptive counselling to young people in Uganda – a qualitative study

Background Pregnancies among young women force girls to compromise education, resulting in low educational attainment with subsequent poverty and vulnerability. A pronounced focus is needed on contraceptive use, pregnancy, and unsafe abortion among young women. Objective This study aims to explore healthcare providers’ (HCPs) perceptions and practices regarding contraceptive counselling to young people. Design We conducted 27 in-depth interviews with doctors and midwives working in seven health facilities in central Uganda. Interviews were open-ended and allowed the participant to speak freely on certain topics. We used a topic guide to cover areas topics of interest focusing on post-abortion care (PAC) but also covering contraceptive counselling. Transcripts were transcribed verbatim and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results The main theme, HCPs' ambivalence to providing contraceptive counselling to sexually active young people is based on two sub-themes describing the challenges of contraceptive counselling: A) HCPs echo the societal norms regarding sexual practice among young people, while at the same time our findings B) highlights the opportunities resulting from providers pragmatic approach to contraceptive counselling to young women. Providers expressed a self-identified lack of skill, limited resources, and inadequate support from the health system to successfully provide appropriate services to young people. They felt frustrated with the consultations, especially when meeting young women seeking PAC. Conclusions Despite existing policies for young people's sexual and reproductive health in Uganda, HCPs are not sufficiently equipped to provide adequate contraceptive counselling to young people. Instead, HCPs are left in between the negative influence of social norms and their pragmatic approach to address the needs of young people, especially those seeking PAC. We argue that a clear policy supported by a clear strategy with practical guidelines should be implemented alongside in-service training including value clarification and attitude transformation to equip providers to be able to better cater to young people seeking sexual and reproductive health advice.
Discovery of Multi-spread Portfolio Strategies for Weakly-cointegrated Instruments Using Boosting-based Optimization

Increasing complexity of the modern market dynamics requires new quantitative frameworks for the discovery of stable portfolio strategies. Important requirements include the ability of the coupled and self-consistent optimization of the dynamic strategies and asset allocations as well as robust built-in mechanisms for the strategy complexity control to ensure acceptable out-of-sample performance. Recently introduced boosting-based optimization naturally incorporates all these features. Originally, the framework was described as a generic tool for the discovery of compact portfolio strategies from a given pool of existing financial instruments and base trading strategies. Here I outline the important generalization of this framework that allows simultaneous discovery of new synthetic instruments represented as generalized spreads of existing financial instruments and dynamic trading strategies for each such spread. Detailed arguments and real-market example clarify the essence of this new framework as a powerful generalization of the exiting pairs trading strategies and cointegration-based techniques.
Inductor minimum calculation based on analysis of AC current ripple for PWM converter with dead-time effect

A calculation method of inductor minimum based on analysis of ac-side current ripples for three phase PWM converter with SVPWM control strategy is presented. Most inductors in used are far above the ideal minimum, while large inductors lead to difficulty in controller designing and bigger converter size and weight. The method in this paper abandons unnecessary approximation to get precise minimum and analyzes influencing factors such as DC-link voltage, grid voltage and switching time. Dead-time is taken into account as it affects the accuracy of quantities in inductor calculation. Analysis shows that the inductor minimum has three changing regulations in one main frequency cycle. With harmonic analysis, the inductor closed to the actual minimum rather than an excessively large one is suggested. Simulation shows the method is effective, so the conclusion can be used as theoretical basis of device selection and can be extended to other applications.
Revisiting the Distributed Key Generation for Discrete-Log Based Cryptosystems

A Distributed Key Generation (DKG) protocol is an essential component of any threshold cryptosystem. It is used to initialize the cryptosystem and generate its private and public keys, and it is used as a subprotocol, for example to generate a one-time key pair which is a part of any threshold El-Gamal-like signature scheme. Gennaro et al. showed [GJKR99] that a widely-known non-interactive DKG protocol suggested by Pedersen does not guarantee a uniformly random distribution of generated secret keys even in the static adversary model. Furthermore, Gennaro et al. proposed to replace this protocol with one that guarantees a uniform distribution of the generated key but requires an extra round of (broadcast) communication. We investigate the question whether some discrete-log based threshold cryptosystems remain secure when implemented using the more efficient DKG protocol of Pedersen, in spite of the fact that the adversary can skew the distribution of the secret key generated by this protocol. We answer this question in the positive. We show that threshold versions of some schemes whose security reduces to the hardness of the discrete logarithm problem, remain secure when implemented with Pedersen DKG. We exemplify this claim with a threshold Schnorr signature scheme. However, the resulting scheme has less efficient security reduction (in the random oracle model) to the hardness of the discrete logarithm problem than the same scheme implemented with the computationally more expensive DKG protocol of Gennaro et al. Thus our results imply a trade-off in the design of threshold versions of certain discrete-log based schemes between the round complexity of a protocol and the size of the modulus.
Optimal Data Structures for Spatially Localised Agent-based Automata and Hybrid Systems

Agent-based systems and cellular automata are two closely related model formulations that are heavily used in studying complex systems. They are both formulated as microscopically simple rule-based models that are applied to individual cells or agents in a collection, where the spatially localised neighbourhood of other cells or agents is used as input to update each one. We have experimented with a range of models including classic cellular automata, through more sophisticated multi-state automata, flocking models, and stochastic-agent models and animat agent-based predator-prey models. We discuss algorithmic commonalities and code implementation patterns that have emerged as common properties of these models and describe how we have experimented with optimal data structures to support spatially localised models of this class. We show how concurrency and model correctness issues are affected by different data structures in addition to their effect on model update computational efficiency.
Temporal recurrence hashing algorithm for mining commercials from multimedia streams

We propose a dual-stage algorithm for fully-unsupervised and super-fast TV commercial mining in this paper. The two stages involved in process include: 1) searching for recurring short segments, and 2) assembling these short segments into sets of long and complete commercial sequences. The first stage is achieved by frame hashing. Different from the related studies that depend on brute-force pairwise matching, we propose applying a second-stage hashing algorithm for the recurring segment assemblage, which is the key idea in this paper. A large-scale archive containing a 10-hour and a 1-month stream was used for the experimentation. The algorithm mined commercials from the 1-month stream in less than 50 minutes, which was ten times faster than that of related studies, with a 98.05% sequence-level and 97.39% frame-level accuracy. We demonstrate the performance consistency of the algorithm on both audio and video streams, and investigate the computational cost from both the theoretical and experimental viewpoints.
SELECTIVITY OF SUBSTRATE (TRIFLUOPERAZINE) AND INHIBITOR (AMITRIPTYLINE, ANDROSTERONE, CANRENOIC ACID, HECOGENIN, PHENYLBUTAZONE, QUINIDINE, QUININE, AND SULFINPYRAZONE) “PROBES” FOR HUMAN UDP-GLUCURONOSYLTRANSFERASES

Relatively few selective substrate and inhibitor probes have been identified for human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs). This work investigated the selectivity of trifluoperazine (TFP), as a substrate, and amitriptyline, androsterone, canrenoic acid, hecogenin, phenylbutazone, quinidine, quinine, and sulfinpyrazone, as inhibitors, for human UGTs. Selectivity was assessed using UGTs 1A1, 1A3, 1A4, 1A6, 1A7, 1A8, 1A9, 1A10, 2B7, and 2B15 expressed in HEK293 cells. TFP was confirmed as a highly selective substrate for UGT1A4. However, TFP bound extensively to both HEK293 lysate and human liver microsomes in a concentration-dependent manner (fuinc 0.20–0.59). When corrected for nonspecific binding, Km values for TFP glucuronidation were similar for both UGT1A4 (4.1 μM) and human liver microsomes (6.1 ± 1.2 μM) as the enzyme sources. Of the compounds screened as inhibitors, hecogenin, alone, was selective; significant inhibition was observed only for UGT1A4 (IC50 1.5 μM). Using phenylbutazone and quinine as “models,” inhibition kinetics were variously described by competitive and noncompetitive mechanisms. Inhibition of UGT2B7 by quinidine was also investigated further, because the effects of this compound on morphine pharmacokinetics (a known UGT2B7 substrate) have been ascribed to inhibition of P-glycoprotein. Quinidine inhibited human liver microsomal and recombinant UGT2B7, with respective Ki values of 335 ± 128 μM and 186 μM. In conclusion, TFP and hecogenin represent selective substrate and inhibitor probes for UGT1A4, although the extensive nonselective binding of the former should be taken into account in kinetic studies. Amitriptyline, androsterone, canrenoic acid, hecogenin, phenylbutazone, quinidine, quinine, and sulfinpyrazone are nonselective UGT inhibitors.
A Watermark Extraction Model to Enhance the Correlation of Digimarc Plug-ins in Photoshop

Considering the watermark as a noise, a watermark extraction model is proposed in this paper to enhance the correlation of Digimarc plug-ins in Photoshop. First, an estimation of the original image for a watermarked image is obtained by TV (Total Variation) denoising model based on the Partial Differential Equation. Second, watermark noise information is obtained by subtraction between the watermarked image and the estimated one. Finally, the correlation of watermark can be improved by magnifying the watermark noise. The experimental results show that the new watermark extraction model can enhance the correlation of the Digimarc plug-ins although its watermarking method is unknown.
An admission control scheme for continuous media servers using caching

In continuous media servers, disk load can be reduced by using buffer cache. In order to utilize the saved disk bandwidth by caching, a continuous media server must employ an admission control scheme to decide whether a new client can be admitted for service without violating the requirements of clients already being serviced. Since deterministic admission control is based on the worst case assumption, it causes the wastage of the system resources. In this paper, we propose a statistical admission control scheme for a continuous media servers where caching is used to reduce disk load. This scheme improves disk utilization and allow more streams to be serviced with reasonable computational overhead, while maintaining near-deterministic service. The scheme, called short-sighted prediction admission control (SPAC), combines exact prediction through on-line simulation and statistical estimation using a probabilistic model of future disk load in order to reduce computation overhead.
Direction-dependent control of balance during walking and standing.

Human walking has previously been described as "controlled falling. " Some computational models, however, suggest that gait may also have self-stabilizing aspects requiring little CNS control. The fore-aft component of walking may even be passively stable from step to step, whereas lateral motion may be unstable and require motor control for balance, as through active foot placement. If this is the case, walking humans might rely less on integrative sensory feedback, such as vision, for anteroposterior (AP) than for mediolateral (ML) balance. We tested whether healthy humans (n=10) exhibit such direction-dependent control, by applying low-frequency perturbations to the visual field (a projected virtual hallway) and measuring foot placement during treadmill walking. We found step variability to be nearly 10 times more sensitive to ML than to AP perturbations, as quantified by the increase in root-mean-square step variability per unit change in perturbation amplitude. This is not simply due to poorer physiological sensitivity of vision in the AP direction: similar perturbations applied to quiet standing produced reversed direction dependence, with an AP sensitivity 2.3-fold greater than that of ML. Tandem (heel-to-toe) standing yielded ML sensitivity threefold greater than that of AP, suggesting that the base of support influences the stability of standing. Postural balance nevertheless appears to require continuous, integrative motor control for balance in all directions. In contrast, walking balance requires step-by-step, integrative control for balance, but mainly in the lateral direction. In the fore-aft direction, balance may be maintained through an "uncontrolled," yet passively stabilized, series of falls.