Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A proposed resource development plan for the Department of Communication Studies, California State University San Bernardino

iii I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. v I CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION . 1 I Problem Statement. ,. 2 I Scope of Project.i. 6 Significance of Project . 1. 8 i CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED1 LITERATURE i
A high-speed and high-resolution CMOS comparator with three-stage preamplifier

The accuracy of A/D and D/A converters depend largely upon their inner comparators. To guarantee 12-bit high resolution for an A/D converter, a precise CMOS comparator consisting of a three-stage differential preamplifier together with a positive feedback latch is proposed. Circuit structure, gain, the principle of input offset voltage storage and latching time constant for the comparator will be analyzed and optimized in this article. With 0.5 μm HYNIX mixed signal technology, the simulation result shows that the circuit has a precision of 400 μV at 20 MHz. The test result shows that the circuit has a precision of 600 μV at 16 MHz, and dissipates only 78 μW of power dissipation at 5 V. The size of the chip is 210 × 180 μm2. The comparator has been successfully used in a 10 MSPS 12-bit A/D converter. The circuit can be also used in a less than 13-bit A/D converter.
Targets for the National Ignition Campaign

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a 192 beam Nd-glass laser facility presently under construction at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for performing inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and experiments studying high energy density (HED) science. When completed in 2009, NIF will be able to produce 1.8 MJ, 500 TW of ultraviolet light for target experiments that will create conditions of extreme temperatures (>108 K), pressures (10 GBar) and matter densities (>100 g/cm3). A detailed program called the National Ignition Campaign (NIC) has been developed to enable ignition experiments in 2010, with the goal of producing fusion ignition and burn of a deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel mixture in millimeter-scale target capsules. The first of the target experiments leading up to these ignition shots will begin in 2008. The targets for the NIC are both complex and precise, and are extraordinarily demanding in materials fabrication, machining, assembly, cryogenics and characterization. The DT fuel is contained in a 2-millimeter-diameter graded copper/beryllium or CH shell. The 75-μm-thick cryogenic ice DT fuel layer is formed to sub-micron uniformity at a temperature of approximately 18 Kelvin. The capsule and its fuel layer sit at the center of a gold/depleted uranium ‘cocktail’ hohlraum. Researchers at LLNL have teamed with colleagues at General Atomics to lead the development of the technologies, engineering design and manufacturing infrastructure necessary to produce these demanding targets. We are also collaborating with colleagues at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) at the University of Rochester in DT layering, and at Fraunhofer in Germany in nano-crystalline diamond as an alternate ablator to Beryllium and CH. The Beryllium capsules and cocktail hohlraums are made by physical vapor deposition onto sacrificial mandrels. These coatings must have high density (low porosity), uniform microstructure, low oxygen content and low permeability. The ablator capsule has a 5-μm-diameter hole laser drilled to permit removal of the mandrel and introduction of the DT fuel. A 10-μm-diameter fill tube is bonded to the capsule to enable filling with the DT gas. These components must then be assembled to tolerances of approximately 5—10 microns, with comprehensive characterization and metrology. The DT ice is formed through controlled seeding, aided by beta decay of the tritium to help smooth the layer, and differential heating of the hohlraum to counteract the effects of natural convection. We present an overview of the technologies for target fabrication, assembly and metrology and advances in growth and imaging of DT ice layers. The sum of these efforts represents a quantum leap in target precision, characterization, manufacturing rate and flexibility over current state-of-the-art. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48.
Analysis of catalytic growth of carbon nanotubes by ACCVD method

This article describes the influence of a co-catalyst interlayer and various diffusion barriers on growth of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) by Alcohol Catalytic Chemical Vapour Deposition (ACCVD) method. Silicon wafers covered with thermal oxide or polycrystalline diamond film were used as substrates. The catalyst was Ni thin film and the co-catalyst interlayer between the substrate and Ni catalyst film was one of the following metals: Al, Cu and Ti. All catalyst films, including metal interlayers, were deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition Technique (PLD). Comparison of the various types of the co-catalysts (Al, Cu, Ti) leads to the conclusion that Cu co-catalyst is suitable for producing very thin single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) whereas the combination of Al and Ni provides a good condition to the catalytic growth of CNTs. In addition, we observed also the influence of various diffusion barriers on growth of CNTs. One of the prepared samples had polycrystalline diamond layer instead of thermal oxide serving as diffusion barrier between Si substrate and catalyst. We can conclude that polycrystalline diamond thin film has good impact to the growth conditions. We also investigated the influence of surface roughness on growth of CNTs. Prepared samples were analysed by Raman Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).
Social and environmental risk management in resilient supply chains: A periodical study by the Grey-Verhulst model

As sustainability and allied concerns are at present gaining greater than before attention amongst stakeholders, enterprises are enforced to consider social and environmental risk assessments along with conventional economic risk assessments. Hence to advance sustainable competitive advantages, the property of resilience is becoming a success factor for enterprises. Resilience is the property of enterprises or their supply chains to resume operations after disruptions and to regain its sustainable competitive advantages quickly and effectively. This study essentially focuses on identifying drivers of social and environmental risk management (SERM) in resilient supply chains and to acknowledge the importance of these drivers towards the implementation of SERM practices of enterprises. Representative case studies of three electronics manufacturing firms were also considered in this research to gain practical insights. Periodical data analysis has been piloted for the collected datasets from these companies. Since the sequences of the collected data show saturated sigmoidal tendencies, the Verhulst model fits best with the data sequences. A Grey-Verhulst model has been implemented in this research and was practically tested for case firms to exemplify the data sequences of prediction and to effectually improve the SERM performances of firms.
An Inverter-Based, CMOS, Low-Power Optical Receiver Front-End

ABSTRACT In this paper, a low-power optical receiver front-end which consists of a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) and three stages of limiting amplifier (LA) for 2.5 Gb/s applications is proposed in 0.18 µm CMOS technology. The proposed TIA benefits from a modified inverter structure, in which the input resistance is properly reduced due to the use of diode-connected transistors in comparison with conventional inverter circuit. Also, an active inductor is used in parallel with a diode-connected transistor at the output node, which provides a low output resistance, while it resonates with the load capacitance to extend the −3 dB frequency bandwidth. Moreover, three stages of LAs are used to obtain extra gain, in which each LA cell uses active inductor load. However, HSPICE simulations for the proposed TIA circuit show a 42.24 dBΩ transimpedance gain, 1.96 GHz frequency bandwidth, 11.7 pA/√Hz input referred noise, and only 972 µW of power consumption at 1.5 V supply. Also, simulation results for the whole receiver system show a 75.6 dB gain, 1.7 GHz frequency bandwidth, and 6.54 mW of power consumption at 1.5 V supply. Finally, simulation results indicate that the proposed receiver system has good performances to be used as a low-power optical receiver front-end.
An Algorithm for the Automatic Detection and Quantification of Athletes’ Change of Direction Incidents Using IMU Sensor Data

Orientation tracking of a moving object has a wide variety of applications, including but not limited to military, surgical aid, navigation systems, mobile robots, gaming, virtual reality, and gesture recognition. In this paper, a novel algorithm is presented to automatically track and quantify change of direction (COD) incident angles or heading angles (i.e., turning angles) of a moving athlete using the inertial sensor signals from a microtechnology unit [an inertia measurement unit (IMU)] commonly used in elite sport. The algorithm is capable of automatically classifying a COD incident according to the degree of the turn and the direction of the turn (left or right). The system involves 1) the accurate determination of the heading angle using IMU sensor fusion and 2) the use of an algorithm to detect and categorize all changes in angle using various signal computation processing techniques. This paper presents the algorithm to detect changes in angle and subsequent categorization. The algorithm is intended to accurately quantify changes in mechanical loading (angle) during COD incidents, which may present a new perspective in the monitoring of athletes for performance enhancement and injury prevention purposes.
Peak Current Control-Based Power Ripple Decoupling of AC–DC Multichannel LED Driver

AC–DC light-emitting diode (LED) drivers suffer from short lifetime because of the low-lifetime electrolytic capacitors used for dc bus decoupling. In this paper, a primary-side peak current control method applied for driving a two-stage multichannel LED driver is proposed. The LED driver consists of an ac–dc boost power factor correction stage and an isolated dc–dc nonresonant stage. A long-lifetime and small film capacitor is used for implementing the intermediate dc bus. The proposed method, which controls the peak value of the primary-side current of the transformers, is applied to the dc–dc stage to ensure constant dc current output of LEDs in spite of the widely varying dc bus voltage due to low bus capacitance. The proposed method compensates the effect of the large dc bus voltage ripple by varying the switching frequency of the primary-side switches. Detailed design procedure, theoretical analysis, and experimental results of the LED driver operating at 180 W with the proposed method are provided. The LED driver with the proposed control method is proved to have high overall efficiency.
Multiple Outliers Detection Procedures in Linear Regression

Kertas kerja ini menghuraikan satu prosedur untuk mengenalpasti gandaan data terpenncil dalam regresi linear. Prosedur ini menggunakan kaedah penyesuan teguh iaitu kaedah kuasa dua trim terkecil dan kaedah berkelompok pautann tunggal untuk mengecam data terpencil yang mungkin. Kemudian, diagnostik kes berganda digunakan untuk mengenalpasti data terpencil. Prestasi prosedur ini dibandingkan dengan Serbert. Simulasi Monte Carlo digunakan untuk mengenalpasti prosedur yang terbaik dalam semua keadaan regresi linear. Katakunci: data terpencil berganda; regresi linear; penyesuain teguh; kuasa dua trim terkecil; pautan tunggal. This paper describes a procedure for identifying multiple outliers in linear regression. This procedure uses a robust fit which is the least of trimmed of squares (LTS) and the single linkage clustering method to obtain the potential outliers. Then multiple-case diagnostics are used to obtain the outliers from these potential outliers. The performance of this procedure is also compared to Serbert's method. Monte Carlo simulations are used in determining which procedure performed best in all of the linear regression scenarios. Keywords: Multiple outliers, linear regression, robust fit, Least trimmed of squares, single linkage. Keywords: Multiple outliers; linear regression; robust fit; least trimmed of squares; single linkage.
Low‐leakage current two‐stage transformerless grid‐connected converter for residential PV application

Conventional PV-fed three-level DC-DC converter has greater leakage current due to varying common mode (CM) voltage, and thus requires galvanic isolation if interfaced with on-grid inverters. To reduce the leakage current and eliminate the requirement of galvanic isolation, a low-leakage three-level DC-DC converter is proposed for residential application. Efficacy of the converter is demonstrated by proposing a two-stage single-phase on-grid PV system by interfacing with a three-level transformerless single-phase inverter topology. The DC-DC converter has reduced leakage current, which decreases the overall leakage current in the PV inverter system. In addition, smaller filter magnetics are required for both the three-level converter and three-level inverter. The CM analysis of the proposed system is presented. The proposed system is simulated using PSCAD and a laboratory prototype is developed for experimental evaluation. The experimental results show a part-load efficiency of >96% for the overall system. Furthermore, the measured leakage current in the proposed system is <;10 mA, which is below the prescribed RMS limit, as specified in German DIN VDE 0126-1-1 standard.
2 0 1 3 J I N S T 8 P 1 2 0 0 4

PETiPIX is an ultra high spatial resolution positron emission tomography (PET) scanner designed for imaging mice brains. Four Timepix pixellated silicon detector modules are placed in an edge-on configuration to form a scanner with a field of view (FoV) 15 mm in diameter. Each detector module consists of 256×256 pixels with dimensions of 55×55×300 μm3. Monte Carlo simulations using GEANT4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) were performed to evaluate the feasibility of the PETiPIX design, including estimation of system sensitivity, angular dependence, spatial resolution (point source, hot and cold phantom studies) and evaluation of potential detector shield designs. Initial experimental work also established that scattered photons and recoil electrons could be detected using a single edge-on Timepix detector with a positron source. Simulation results estimate a spatial resolution of 0.26 mm full width at half maximum (FWHM) at the centre of FoV and 0.29 mm FWHM overall spatial resolution with sensitivity of 0.01%, and indicate that a 1.5 mm thick tungsten shield parallel to the detectors will absorb the majority of non-coplanar annihilation photons, significantly reducing the rates of randoms. Results from the simulated phantom studies demonstrate that PETiPIX is a promising design for studies demanding high resolution images of mice brains.
Betamethasone Dipropionate Derivatization, Biotransformation, Molecular Docking, and ADME Analysis as Glucocorticoid Receptor

Betamethasone is an important glucocorticoids (GCs), frequently used to cure allergies (such as asthma and angioedema), Crohn's disease, skin diseases (such as dermatitis and psoriasis), systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatic disorders, and leukemia. Present investigation deals to find potential agonist of glucocorticoid receptors after biotransformation of betamethasone dipropionate (1) and to carry out the molecular docking and ADME analyses. Biotransformation of 1 was carried out with Launaea capitata (dandy) roots and Musa acuminate (banana) leaves. M. acuminate furnished low-cost value-added products such as Sananone dipropionate (2) in 5% yields. Further, biocatalysis of Sananone dipropionate (2) with M. acuminate gave Sananone propionate (3) and Sananone (4) in 12% and 7% yields, respectively. However, Sananone (4) was obtained in 37% yields from Launaea capitata. Compound 5 was obtained in 11% yield after β-elimination of propionic acid at C-17 during oxidation of compound 1. The structure elucidation of new compounds 2-5 was accomplished through combined use of X-ray diffraction and NMR (1D and 2D) studies. In addition to this, molecular docking and ADME analyses of all transformed products of 1 were also done. Compounds 1-5 showed -12.53 to -10.11 kcal/mol potential binding affinity with glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and good ADME profile. Moreover, all the compounds showed good oral bioavailability with the octanol/water partition coefficient in the range of 2.23 to 3.65, which indicated that compounds 1-5 were in significant agreement with the given criteria to be considered as drug-like.
Sector‐Based Top‐Down Estimates of NO x , SO2, and CO Emissions in East Asia

Abstract Top‐down estimates using satellite data provide important information on the sources of air pollutants. We develop a sector‐based 4D‐Var framework based on the GEOS‐Chem adjoint model to address the impacts of co‐emissions and chemical interactions on top‐down emission estimates. We apply OMI NO2, OMI SO2, and MOPITT CO observations to estimate NO x , SO2, and CO emissions in East Asia during 2005–2012. Posterior evaluations with surface measurements show reduced normalized mean bias (NMB) by 7% (NO2)–15% (SO2) and normalized mean square error (NMSE) by 8% (SO2)–9% (NO2) compared to a species‐based inversion. This new inversion captures the peak years of Chinese SO2 (2007) and NO x (2011) emissions and attributes their drivers to industry and energy activities. The CO peak in 2007 in China is driven by residential and industry emissions. In India, the inversion attributes NO x and SO2 trends mostly to energy and CO trend to residential emissions.
Trans-splicing facilitated by RNA pairing greatly expands sDscam isoform diversity but not homophilic binding specificity

The Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule 1 (Dscam1) gene can generate tens of thousands of isoforms via alternative splicing, which is essential for nervous and immune functions. Chelicerates generate approximately 50 to 100 shortened Dscam (sDscam) isoforms by alternative promoters, similar to mammalian protocadherins. Here, we reveal that trans-splicing markedly increases the repository of sDscamβ isoforms in Tetranychus urticae. Unexpectedly, every variable exon cassette engages in trans-splicing with constant exons from another cluster. Moreover, we provide evidence that competing RNA pairing not only governs alternative cis-splicing but also facilitates trans-splicing. Trans-spliced sDscam isoforms mediate cell adhesion ability but exhibit the same homophilic binding specificity as their cis-spliced counterparts. Thus, we reveal a single sDscam locus that generates diverse adhesion molecules through cis- and trans-splicing coupled with alternative promoters. These findings expand understanding of the mechanism underlying molecular diversity and have implications for the molecular control of neuronal and/or immune specificity.
Sensitivity Analysis of Multi-Temporal Sentinel-1 SAR Parameters to Crop Height and Canopy Coverage

The Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar technique has provided various opportunities and challenges in agricultural activities mainly on crop management. The aim of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of 10 parameters derived from multi-temporal Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, to crop height and canopy coverage (CC) of maize, sunflower, and wheat. The correlation coefficient values indicate a high correlation for maize during the early growing stage. The coefficient determinations (R2) of 0.82 and 0.81 indicate that there is a strong relationship between the maize height and SAR parameters including VV + VH and VV, respectively. The maize CC is well correlated with VV parameter (R2 = 0.73), but it is observed that at the later growing stage the correlation became weaker. This means that the sensitivity decreases with increasing vegetation cover growth. Compared to maize, the sensitivity of SAR parameters to wheat variables is often good at the early stage. However, the highest correlation with wheat height represented by Alpha (α) decomposition parameter (R2 = 0.67). The sunflower height has an insignificant correlation with the majority of SAR parameters and only VH polarization shows low sensitivity (R2 = 0.31). The sunflower CC shows relatively higher correlation with VV polarization (R2 = 0.46) at the early stage while no considerable correlation is observed at the later stage. It is found that Sentinel-1 has a high potential for estimation of crop height and CC of the maize as a broad-leaf crop. The same is not true for sunflower as another broad-leaf crop.
HPV‐CCDC106 integration promotes cervical cancer progression by facilitating the high expression of CCDC106 after HPV E6 splicing

Human papillomavirus (HPV) integration and high expression of HPV oncogenes (E6 and E7) are important mechanisms for HPV carcinogenesis in cervical cancer. However, the relationship between HPV integration and HPV E6 spliced transcripts, as well as the underlying mechanisms of HPV integration in carcinogenesis after HPV E6 splicing remains unclear. We analyzed HPV‐coiled‐coil domain containing 106 (CCDC106) integration samples to characterize the roles of HPV integration, E6 spliceosome I (E6*I), and high CCDC106 expression in cervical carcinogenesis. We found that E6 was alternatively spliced into the E6*I transcript in HPV‐CCDC016 integration samples with low p53 expression, in contrast to the role of E6*I in preventing p53 degradation in cervical cancer cells. In addition, CCDC106 was highly expressed after HPV‐CCDC106 integration, and interacted with p53, resulting in p53 degradation and cervical cancer cell progression in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, when E6*I was highly expressed in cervical cancer cells, overexpression of CCDC106 independently degraded p53 and promoted cervical cancer cell progression. In this study, we explored the underlying mechanisms of HPV‐CCDC106 integration in HPV carcinogenesis after HPV E6 splicing, which should provide insight into host genome dysregulation in cervical carcinogenesis.
A Normalized Output Error-Based Sliding-Mode Controller for the DC–DC Cascade Boost Converter

A normalized output error-based sliding-mode (SM) controller for the dc–dc cascade boost converter is proposed. In this controller, the reference inductor current trajectory used in the sliding surface is computed using the bounded normalized voltage error. As compared to the traditional hysteresis-based SM controller, the proposed controller provides more room for tuning the controller gains and thus significantly improves the transient responses in the presence of load, line, and reference voltage variations. The stability analysis of the proposed SM controlled system is provided. Also, a comparative study of the traditional and proposed SM controllers for the regulation of the cascade boost converter is presented. The experimental results show the superiority of the proposed controller in handling load, line, and reference voltage variations.