Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
VIBRO-ACOUSTIC SIGNATURE COMPARISON AND TIME-WARPING CORRECTION WITH MULTI-SCALE CORRELATION

A vibro-acoustic signature in the context of power transformer tap-changers comprises a burst of transients generated by a sequence of electromechanical events. Comparison of vibro-acoustic signatures lacks precision unless the events in the sequence are synchronised to make juxtaposition of the signatures possible. Time warping o! ers a solution of this problem in that it temporally reorganises the position of the elements of one of the signatures so that it matches the time frame of the other. Furthermore, the scale of the time warp has a useful diagnostic function. However, the dynamic time-warping (DTW) algorithm used in speech processing is inapplicable in the context of electrical switchgear since some discontinuities are present in the time frame. To overcome this DTW limitation, we propose a multi-scale correlation algorithm which processes these discontinuities adequately and allows us to "nd the time relationship between the events of two signatures. This paper presents the operating principle of both these algorithms along with results that bear witness to the sharp time-warping correction obtained with multi-scale correlation. This correlation can even correct the order of appearance of events so that the time sequences are juxtaposed and comparison of signatures can be undertaken. ( 1999 Academic Press
5G Trial Services Demonstration: IFoF-Based Distributed Antenna System in 28 GHz Millimeter-Wave Supporting Gigabit Mobile Services

In this paper, we demonstrate fifth-generation (5G) trial services using intermediate frequency-over-fiber (IFoF) based distributed antenna system (DAS) implemented in a 28-GHz millimeter-wave (mmWave) during Pyeongchang winter olympics. To extend mmWave-based 5G wireless coverage, IFoF-based DAS with 2 × 2 multiple-input multiple-output configuration is presented. Error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements of the 5G signal on the IF and mmWave bands are performed for both downlink and uplink transmissions over 5-km single mode fiber. The experimental results confirm that the minimum requirement for 5G signals, defined by the technical specification of the 3G partnership project, are satisfied by EVMs less than 9%. In addition, the developed IFoF-based DAS that supports 5G mobile service using 28-GHz mmWave was deployed in the city of Pyeongchang, during winter olympics. An ultra-high speed 5G data service was offered to the general public for 5G trial demonstration. The reference signals received power and data throughput of the 5G handset are measured while moving in a DAS section and 5G connected car section. We confirm that the downlink throughput of ∼1 Gb/s and uplink throughput of ∼200 Mb/s are achieved for the 5G trial service area in which an IFoF-based DAS is deployed. We also successfully demonstrate the 5G connected car service, which is one of the 5G key services, through deployed IFoF-based DAS. At the intersection of baseband unit and DAS deployed sections, a seamless handover is performed to smoothly support 5G-based autonomous driving service.
Approach to Yield Response of Young Almond Trees to Deficit Irrigation and Biostimulant Applications

Water is the most limiting resource in many semi-arid areas of Mediterranean countries. Among the strategies to improve water productivity, the implementation of deficit irrigation (DI) strategies and the introduction of drought-tolerant crops in irrigated areas (such as almond) are being widely studied. Recently, the use of biostimulants to enhance crop tolerance to drought under water-scarcity scenarios is increasing. This work examines the response of three almond cultivars (‘Guara’, ‘Marta’, and ‘Lauranne’) in terms of yield and associated physiological responses in the main phenological stages to biostimulants (HYT® A and HYT® B plus) applied to young trees subjected to different irrigation levels: (i) a full irrigation treatment (FI), irrigated at 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETC); and (ii) sustained-deficit irrigation (SDI75), irrigated at 75% of ETC. Significantly higher yields were obtained with HYT applications in 2 of 3 cultivars; these differences were most evident in the SDI75 treatment. In particular, ‘Guara’ registered the most significant improvements in nut yield when the HYT product was applied (15–20% higher). With regard to crop physiological responses, higher values of leaf water potential and stomatal conductance were noted with the HYT application in some cultivars and phenological stages. These results indicated that the use of biostimulants can be a feasible strategy for almond cultivation, especially when SDI is used.
Evidence on the Impact of Winter Heating Policy on Air Pollution and Its Dynamic Changes in North China

Environmental pollution, especially air pollution, is an alarming issue for the public, which is extensively debated among academic scholars. During the winter heating season, “smog” has become somewhat a normal phenomenon to local residents’ livelihood in northern China. Based on the daily air pollution data of regional cities in China from 2014 to 2016, and using a regression discontinuity design (RDD), the study finds that winter heating makes the air quality worse in the northern part of China. With the start of the winter heating, it increases the Air Quality Index (AQI) by 10.4%, particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) by 9.77%, particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) by 17.25%, CO by 9.84%, NO2 by 5.23%, and SO2 by 17.1%. Furthermore, dynamic changes demonstrate that air quality has gradually improved due to a series of heating policy changes implemented by the central government in recent years. Specifically, from 2014 to 2016, major indicators measuring the air pollution decrease dramatically, such as AQI by 92.36%, PM10 by 91.24%, PM2.5 by 84.06%, CO by 70.97%, NO2 by 52.76%, and SO2 by 17.15%.
SAFEPPP: a Simple And Fast method to Find and analyze Extreme Points of a metabolic Phenotypic Phase Plane

There are many algorithms that help us understand how genome-scale metabolic networks work and what are their capabilities. But unfortunately, the majority of these methods are based on integer linear programming suffer from long run times and high instrumental demand. Optimal solutions in any constraint-based modeling as genome-scale metabolic networks models are on the extreme points of the solution space. We introduce a fast and simple toolbox that reveals extreme characters of metabolic networks in desired situations which can unmask the hidden potentials of metabolic networks. Determining the possibility of coupling between two desired reaction and the capability of synergic substrate consuming are examples of the applications of this method. Fast enumeration of elementary flux modes that exist in extreme points of phase plane of any two reactions is another achievement of this study.
Multichannel remote polarization control enabled by nanostructured liquid crystalline networks

In this article, we demonstrate that a grating fabricated through nanoscale volumetric cross-linking of a liquid crystalline polymer enables remote polarization control over the diffracted channels. This functionality is a consequence of the responsivity of liquid crystal networks upon light stimuli. Tuning of the photonic response of the device is achieved thanks to both a refractive index and a shape change of the grating elements induced by a molecular rearrangement under irradiation. In particular, the material anisotropy allows for nontrivial polarization state management over multiple beams. The absence of any liquid component and a time response down to 0.2 ms make our device appealing in the fields of polarimetry and optical communications.In this article, we demonstrate that a grating fabricated through nanoscale volumetric cross-linking of a liquid crystalline polymer enables remote polarization control over the diffracted channels. This functionality is a consequence of the responsivity of liquid crystal networks upon light stimuli. Tuning of the photonic response of the device is achieved thanks to both a refractive index and a shape change of the grating elements induced by a molecular rearrangement under irradiation. In particular, the material anisotropy allows for nontrivial polarization state management over multiple beams. The absence of any liquid component and a time response down to 0.2 ms make our device appealing in the fields of polarimetry and optical communications.
Court actions and Boosting Domestic Revenue Mobilization in Uganda

The study analyzed how court actions particularly with respect to the operation of the Tax Appeals Tribunal (TAT), affect domestic revenue mobilisation in Uganda. Based on time series data combined with stakeholder analysis, the study aimed to analyze the performance of TAT in settling tax disputes, examine the source of tax disputes, identify legal and non-legal factors affecting dispute resolution, and propose policy options for improving the operations of TAT. The results revealed that tax disputes are resolved slowly, resulting into a large back log of outstanding disputes, very few cases are resolved by the High Court due to the back log of cases appearing in the this Court. Moreover, tax disputes are commonly settled through mutual consent or withdrawn by taxpayers due to lengthy legal bureaucracy. Disputes generally arise out of tax exemptions and excessive or aggressive assessments by the Uganda Revenue Authority. The study recommends introduction of mediation as a dispute resolution mechanism, limiting the frequency of amendments of tax laws as this contributes to undue complexity and expanding the jurisdiction of the tribunal to allow the awarding of damages to injured parties.
Developing improved techniques for GPR guided wave data analysis

This study was conducted to investigate how limiting the allowable velocity range when analyzing guided wave data will affect the results of dielectric permittivity and thickness estimation. We conducted four sets of Experiments: an underlying layer of saturated organic loam is covered by incremental layers of the dry organic loam; a base layer of dry organic loam covered by the saturated organic loam; a saturated basal layer of silt with overlying dry silt layers, and a base layer of dry silt overlain by saturated silt layers to conduct a comparative study and perform three surveys for each of these three frequencies at 250 MHz, 500 MHz, and 1000 MHz It is concluded that from the aspect of water content, the location of the selected points has no effect on the final result; and from the aspect of soil structure, in most cases, for organic loam layers, the lower the starting phase velocity, the more accurate the results; for silt layers, the pattern is the opposite, the higher the starting point, the more accurate the results. For the fundamental mode, choosing the maximum starting phase velocity is usually best or equivalent to choosing a lower starting phase velocity. For some wet soils that have low attenuation, it may be better to choose a lower starting phase velocity. The error of inversion is less for lower starting phase velocities, so this should be considered when evaluating the accuracy of inversion estimates.
Teachers' multiple roles and perceived loss of professionalism in Tanzanian secondary schools

The rapid increase in Tanzanian primary school enrolments in the last decade was prompted by the government to develop the Secondary Education Expansion Policy. My study, therefore, explored the impact of this policy on teachers’ professional lives. A qualitative approach was adopted to gain detailed insights into the phenomena under investigation. Data were collected from 30 participant teachers from four community secondary schools in Tanzania through interviews and document analysis. Overall the findings revealed that the government’s shortcomings in hiring support staff prompted teachers to perform extra duties alongside teaching. It also found that the lack of the government’s commitment to rewarding teaching quality exacerbated teachers’ engagement in other income-generating activities. Teachers’ engagement in these non-teaching tasks both in school and out of school affected their own professional identities which subsequently impacted on their teaching competence beliefs. These findings recommend that in order to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, the government of Tanzania must improve teachers’ welfare by employing enough support staff to assist in teaching and learning.
A rapid knowledge‐based partial supervision fuzzy c‐means for brain tissue segmentation with CUDA‐enabled GPU machine

The proposed work aims to quicken the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain tissue segmentation process using knowledge‐based partial supervision fuzzy c‐means (KPSFCM) with graphics processing unit (GPU). The proposed KPSFCM contains three steps: knowledge‐based initialization, modification, and optimization. The knowledge‐based initialization step extracts initial centers from input MR images for KPSFCM using Gaussian‐based histogram smoothing. The modification step changes the membership function of PSFCM, which is guided by the labeled patterns of cerebrospinal fluid portion. Finally, the optimization step is achieved through size‐based optimization (SBO), adjacency‐based optimization (ABO), and parallelism‐based optimization (PBO). SBO and ABO are algorithmic level optimization techniques in central processing unit (CPU), whereas PBO is a hardware level optimization technique implemented in GPU using compute unified device architecture (CUDA). Performance of the KPSFCM is tested with online and clinical datasets. The proposed KPSFCM gives better segmentation accuracy than 14 state‐of‐the‐art‐methods, but computationally expensive. When the optimization techniques (SBO and ABO) were included, the execution time reduces by 13 times in CPU. Finally, the inclusion of PBO yields 19 times faster than the optimized CPU implementation.
Paternal Death, Parental Divorce, and Timing of First Substance Use in an Ethnically Diverse Sample

Abstract We examined timing of first alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use as a function of paternal death or parental divorce during childhood. Data were drawn from a large ethnically diverse sample, including 4,880 Hispanic, Black, and White children and mothers. Survival analyses were conducted, predicting age at first substance use from parental loss, separately by substance class and child sex and racial/ethnic group. Results confirm risk of early use associated with parental divorce, especially among females, and highlight paternal death as a risk factor for some children. To inform prevention efforts, replication and extension of analyses to identify underlying mechanisms is necessary.
Neutronics Calculations for a Hypothetical Plasma-Jet-Driven Magneto-Inertial-Fusion Reactor

Abstract We present neutronics calculations for a hypothetical fusion reactor based on the repetitively pulsed concept of plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion (PJMIF). A PJMIF reactor is envisioned to have a replaceable, 3-m-radius spherical metal first wall exposed to 14.1-MeV neutrons; a fast-flowing FLiBe liquid blanket (with thickness 0.75 m) behind the first wall serving as the primary coolant and tritium-breeding medium; and finally an outer structural spherical wall shielded by the blanket. Cylindrical penetrations through both walls and the flowing blanket allow for hundreds of plasma gun drivers to inject hypersonic plasma jets that form both the deuterium-tritium plasma target and high-Z spherically imploding plasma liner to compress the target. This research is the first to conduct Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP6.2) and CINDER2008 neutronics calculations relevant to the PJMIF reactor configuration, with the primary objectives of determining (1) the neutron flux as a function of blanket thickness in the blanket and key reactor components and (2) the tritium production rate in the liquid blanket. These results will be used to estimate other quantities of interest, such as first-wall and gun-electrode lifetimes based on displacements per atom (dpa) accumulation, optimum blanket thickness, activation level of the outer wall and xenon liner, and achievable tritium-breeding ratios. Energy-dependent flux tallies were used to calculate neutron flux inside the FLiBe blanket and outer wall, as well as the cylindrical ports where plasma guns are located. Tally multipliers of the flux in MCNP6.2 estimated tritium breeding ratio, dpa, and nuclear heating, while the depletion code CINDER2008 was used to compare tritium breeding ratios with MCNP6.2 and calculate activation of the outer wall and xenon liner. These calculations provide a baseline for blanket requirements necessary for power production in a PJMIF reactor.
Spatially Resolved Narrow-Line Region Kinematics in Active Galactic Nuclei

We have analyzed Hubble Space Telescope spectroscopy of 24 nearby active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to investigate spatially resolved gas kinematics in the narrow-line region (NLR). These observations effectively isolate the nuclear line profiles on less than 100 pc scales and are used to investigate the origin of the substantial scatter between the widths of strong NLR lines and the stellar velocity dispersion σ* of the host galaxy, a quantity that relates with substantially less scatter to the mass of the central, supermassive black hole and more generally characterize variations in the NLR velocity field with radius. We find that line widths measured with STIS at a range of spatial scales systematically underestimate both σ* and the line width measured from ground-based observations, although they do have comparably large scatter to the relation between ground-based NLR line width and σ*. There are no obvious trends in the residuals when compared with a range of host galaxy and nuclear properties. The widths and asymmetries of [O III] λ5007 and [S II] λλ6716, 6731 as a function of radius exhibit a wide range of behavior. Some of the most common phenomena are substantial width increases from the STIS to the large-scale, ground-based aperture and almost no change in line profile between the unresolved nuclear spectrum and ground-based measurements. We identify asymmetries in a surprisingly large fraction of low-ionization [S II] line profiles and several examples of substantial red asymmetries in both [O III] and [S II]. These results underscore the complexity of the circumnuclear material that constitutes the NLR and suggest that the scatter in the NLR width and σ* correlation cannot be substantially reduced with a simple set of empirical relations.
Study of molten zone profile and defect formation during laser heated pedestal growth

High quality single crystal sapphire optical fiber is important not only for its capacity for high laser power delivery, but also for applications in harsh environment sensing. Improving the quality of Laser Heated Pedestal Growth (LHPG) fabricated single crystal fiber has been a long-term effort for decades. The equilibrium state during crystal growth and defect formation rate are the two most important factors in single crystal fiber fabrication. In this paper, we study the theory governing the molten zone profile and verify the theoretical predictions with a high-resolution CCD camera. We also study defect formation during the crystal growth process and observed dislocation defects with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). These analyses will help to guide high quality single crystal fiber fabrication and hopefully will lead to the production of better fibers for harsh-environment sensing applications.
Risk-sensitive inventory control problems

Summary form only given. We study an inventory control problem, under a stochastic demand process and with risk (i.e., variance) sensitive optimality criteria. Using convexity and semimodularity-type arguments, we present sufficient conditions for an optimal base-stock policy to exist, in the finite horizon problem. For the infinite horizon case, we show that there exists an ultimately stationary base-stock optimal policy.
Activation of a silent type I polyketide synthase gene cluster in Streptomyces ambofaciens ATCC23877 : isolation and characterization of a novel giant macrolide

The constant and urgent need of novel bioactive compounds is the result of the emergence in the last decades of new and old infectious diseases, a sore for humankind. Actinomycetes and especially the genus Streptomyces are the principal producers of microbial drugs producing nearly 60-70% of the natural products. The majority of secondary metabolites belong to the class of polyketides that are synthesised by multienzymatic complexes named polyketides synthases (PKS). PKSs condensate simple small carboxylic acids to generate a wide range of complex polyketide structures. In the search for new drugs, the genome mining approach proved to be a powerful tool in the identification of cryptic secondary metabolite pathways. The sequencing and the analysis of Streptomyces ambofaciens ATCC23877 genome has revealed a large type I PKS cluster, on the right arm of the chromosome. The cluster contains 9 PKS, composed of 25 functional modules. In silico analysis of the PKS genes and of the tailoring genes enabled to predict the structure of the expected metabolite, a macrolide. In the laboratory standard conditions, the cluster showed to be silent. Therefore, to promote the expression of the cluster, the regulatory gene samR0484, encoding a LAL regulator (Large ATP binding protein of the LuxR family) was overexpressed in the wt strain. Transcriptional analyses showed that the PKS genes were expressed. Subsequently, by comparative metabolic profiling between the mutant strain and the wt, we were able to detect the novel metabolite produced by S. ambofaciens. Structural elucidation revealed four form of a 50-membered macrolide, named sambomycin. The compounds endow antibacterial and antitumoral activities. The structure unveiled unique and interesting characteristics of sambomycin, i.e. the cyclization reaction and the presence of an atypical extender unit. The mechanisms of biosynthesis have been analysed more in details in this work. We also investigated in the regulation of the cluster. The LAL regulator was shown to be an essential transcriptional activator, binding to the promoter regions of the PKS genes and probably to other genes in the cluster.
A sparse negative binomial classifier with covariate adjustment for RNA-seq data

Supervised machine learning methods have been increasingly used in biomedical research and in clinical practice. In transcriptomic applications, RNA-seq data have become dominating and have gradually replaced traditional microarray due to its reduced background noise and increased digital precision. Most existing machine learning methods are, however, designed for continuous intensities of microarray and are not suitable for RNA-seq count data. In this paper, we develop a negative binomial model via generalized linear model framework with double regularization for gene and covariate sparsity to accommodate three key elements: adequate modeling of count data with overdispersion, gene selection and adjustment for covariate effect. The proposed method is evaluated in simulations and two real applications using cervical tumor miRNA-seq data and schizophrenia post-mortem brain tissue RNA-seq data to demonstrate its superior performance in prediction accuracy and feature selection.