Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On-Line Maximum Power Point Tracking for Photovoltaic System Grid Connected Through DC-DC Boost Converter and Three Phase Inverter

Photovoltaic solar electricity and solar thermal has the highest potential of all the renewable energies, since solar energy is a practically unlimited resource and available everywhere. These days photovoltaic energy has the potential to play an important role in the transition towards a sustainable energy supply system, to cover a significant share of the electricity needs, and is expected to be one of the key energy technologies of this century. This paper presents a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system with the functionality of on-line Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT). The integration topology is based on two-stage power conditioning modules, boost converter and three phase voltage source inverter. Therefore, the proposed MPPT algorithm is implemented to the boost converter to enable PV arrays to operate at maximum power point during variable climate and irradiation conditions. Fuzzy logic algorithm (MPPT) technique control is applied for on-line adapting the boost converter duty cycle. The Boost output is feeding the two level PWM inverter DC link. Adoringly, the Inverter modulation depth is tuned to have constant AC voltage and frequency for grid integration requirements. In addition, the three-phase output in phase with the voltage to optimize the PV power utilization . The results show that proposed on-line fuzzy algorithm performance has a fast response, stable and reliable to have MPP for the PV system during the different irradiation.
Critical infrastructure and disaster risk reduction planning under socioeconomic and climate change uncertainty

Planning of infrastructure and disaster risk mitigation measures is carried out under significant uncertainties. In particular, the effects of climate and anthropogenic change are associated with large uncertainty, but most extreme events are poorly understood even under stationary conditions. To address these uncertainties, the designers/decision makers can follow different strategies, such as conservative designs, flexible (adaptable) designs or delaying the decisions to later times when more information is available. The optimal adaptation strategy depends on multiple factors such as system type, regulatory framework, the degree and type of uncertainty and the amount of learning that is possible in the future. Based on quantitative Bayesian decision models, we derive general recommendations on optimal design approaches. Our results show, for example, that flexible systems are especially beneficial in cases where uncertainty is high and where the learning effect in the near future is expected to be significant. They are typically less advantageous in the context of a risk-based decision framework (where the aim is to find a balance between the residual risk and cost) than in a rule-based regulatory framework (where safety requirements are prescribed, e.g. that flood protection must be designed against a 100-year event). In the former case, it is often more effective to add safety margins, which is a no-regret strategy.
Evaluating Shared Surfaces for Co-Located Mixed-Presence Collaboration

When wearing a head-mounted display (HMD) in everyday environments, interactions with real world bystanders often fail due to the visual barrier. As a result, the HMD user takes off the headset, which ends the virtual reality (VR) experience. We address this problem by providing a shared surface with the same content for both users, which is located at the same physical position in the real and the virtual world. In a between-subject user study (N = 40), we investigate the effects of a shared surface for short-term collaboration in co-located mixed-presence scenarios. We compare (a) real-world collaboration, (b) having a shared surface only and (c) combining the shared surface with an avatar representation of the real world user in VR. We could show that shared surfaces are helpful for mixed-presence collaboration. Adding an avatar in VR improves performance measures such as task-completion time, error rate and number of clarifying questions. To support future work in this field, we finally propose design implications and research directions.
The smell of us - crowdsourcing human body odor evaluation

Human body odor is produced when sweat-secreted compounds are metabolized by bacteria present on the skin. The resulting volatile mixture is often negatively perceived, motivating the use of personal cosmetic deodorants. Yet body odor may also be positively perceived in some contexts, and is proposed to play a role in sexual attraction, kin identification and social bonding. Because only human smellers can report the hedonic qualities of body odor, their persceptions are a valualbe complement to modern GC-MS-based quantitative chemical measurements. Here we present a crowdsourcing framework that engages volunteer smellers to characterize human sweat samples. Our approach seeks to reward both the sweat donor and the smeller with a web-based graphical interface that is informative, interesting, and fun. 300 samples from 87 individual donors were scored by 93 smellers for intensity, pleasantness, and a variety of odor descriptors. Body odor intensity and pleasantness were determined to vary with age, gender, and self-reported deodorant use. Counterintuitively, deodorant use showed no effect on the perceived intensity of body odor, and was associated with a decrease in the perceived pleasantness. From these data, we determine the precision and dynamic range of the volunteer nose as a body odor evaluation instrument and estimate the scale of crowdsourcing effort that would be required to precisely quantify the public perception of body odors.
Global Mindset in International Virtual Research Teams – A Research Framework and Agenda

Purpose:Continuous internationalization of RD hence, it needs to be considered on both the leader’s and follower’s level. Propositions can be used for future empirical studies.Limitations:As a conceptual paper, the focus is on providing a blueprint for promising empirical research and not on early empirical findings.Originality:The paper combines two schools of thought i.e. the literature on IVRT literature and GM. As such it allows for advancing both fields, offers promising research opportunities, and practical insights for successfully managing international research teams.
Revisiting entrainment relationships for shear‐free and sheared convective boundary layers through large‐eddy simulations

Entrainment is critical to the development of the atmospheric convective boundary layers (CBLs) and for the exchange of energy and substances between the boundary layer and free atmosphere. In this study, entrainment relationships are systematically evaluated from large‐eddy simulations (LESs) of shear‐free and sheared CBLs under a broad variety of atmospheric conditions. A total of 36 LES runs are conducted for varying free‐atmosphere stratifications, surface heat fluxes, and height‐constant geostrophic winds. It has been found that entrainment flux ratios have a common value of 0.2 regardless of the stratification of free atmosphere and the surface heat‐flux value when analysed within the zero‐order‐model (ZOM) framework for the shear‐free CBLs, whereas the actual (LES) entrainment ratios are not only stratification‐dependent, but also surface heat flux‐dependent. For the sheared CBLs, the entrainment‐flux ratios are substantially increased when the geostrophic winds are strong while they have a slight reduction under weak wind conditions. In the free‐encroachment regime, the dimensionless entrainment rates have been found to be approximately constant and surface heat‐flux independent, with the value in the range from 0.4 to 0.7 depending on the method used to evaluate the CBL depth.
The effect of dynamic active-inactive agents on spreading phenomena

In this work a novel model of spreading processes is presented. The model is an upgrade of a previously introduced model of information spreading [1]. Here we take into account that agents of the system are not always active during the spreading and information can flow only through those that are currently active. In order to suit our work to other findings related to spreading phenomena we describe our model using the classical terminology of disease spreading. Namely our model can be viewed as an SRS/SIRI model of disease spreading [4]. Based on this model we carried out computer simulations showing that the activity of agents highly aec t the process. The results of the work can be used to qualitatively predict what would be the eect if the activity of agents change in a social system e.g. in a social network.
Performance and financing of the corporate sector: the role of foreign direct investment

Foreign direct investment has been one of the main drivers of economic developments over the past few years in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Within the ongoing globalization and international division of labor, a large number of foreign companies have established production units in CEE countries to benefit from low labor costs and other advantages. This study looks both in theoretical and empirical terms at whether large foreign presence has also affected domestic firms. Foreign firms might both intentionally and unintentionally influence the productivity, financing and export performance of local firms within the same industry or across industries along the production chain via sub-supplier and client linkages. Economic theory does not suggest unambiguous answer to a question whether the influence is positive or negative. For answering the question, both firm-level and industry-level data on performance, financing and exports and interactions of firms within production chain in the Czech Republic are analyzed.
Potential moderators of Caribbean immigrants’ experience of discrimination

POTENTIAL MODERATORS OF CARIBBEAN IMMIGRANTS’ EXPERIENCE OF DISCRMINATION Vanessa Hazell Advisor: University of Guelph, 2014 Professor S. Safdar From 1996 to 2001, the number of people of Caribbean background in Canada increased by 11%, compared to 4% for the overall Canadian population (Statistics Canada, 2013). With increasing numbers of Caribbean immigrants moving to Canada every year, it is important for researchers to gain a better understanding of this group successfully copes with this major life transition. This study adopted a resilience framework in its examination of the acculturative stressor of discrimination and its relationship with sociocultural and psychological adaptation and psychological well-being. The potential protective roles of religious coping and bicultural competence (i.e., one’s ability to develop and maintain competence in the heritage and receiving cultures) in these relationships were also examined. Data was collected from 115 first-generation Caribbean Canadian immigrants from the Ontario community. Path analyses revealed that 1) discrimination predicted lower levels of psychological and sociocultural adaptation, but not psychological well-being; 2) positive religious coping protected psychological well-being from the harmful effects of discrimination; 3) bicultural competence protected psychological adaptation from the harmful effects of discrimination; 4) negative religious coping was associated with lower levels of psychological adaptation and psychological well-being. The researcher offers suggestions for future research in this area.
Learning Fast Optimizers for Contextual Stochastic Integer Programs

The constraints in the problem are known as non-anticipativity constraiants, since the enforce that x has to be chosen independent of the value of ω (i.e., at the first stage, we do not know the precise realization of the second stage randomness). We obtain a relaxation of the above problem by dropping the non-anticipativity constraints and simply adding a Lagrangian term that tries to enforce the constraint:
FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF GASTRORETENTIVE MICROBALLOONS OF ACEBROPHYLLINE FOR THE TREATMENT OF BRONCHIAL ASTHMA

Objective: Gastroretentive dosage forms are an approach for prolonged and predictable drug delivery in the upper gastrointestinal tract to control the gastric residence time. Microballoons are considered as one of the most promising buoyant drug delivery systems as they possess the advantages of both multiple-unit systems and good floating properties. Acebrophylline is a xanthine derivative with potent bronchodilator, mucosecretolytic, and anti-inflammatory property. It is used to treat bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. Methods: Microballoons of acebrophylline were prepared by emulsion solvent diffusion method using hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and ethyl cellulose (EC) as polymer. The microballoons were evaluated with their micromeritic properties, particle size, tapped density, compressibility index, angle of repose, percentage yield, in vitro buoyancy, entrapment efficiency, drug-polymer compatibility, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and drug release kinetics. Results: The mean particle size of the microballoons formulation MB1 to MB6 containing HPMC and EC was in the range between 226±16 and 577±10, respectively. The mean particle size of microballoons was found to increase with increasing polymer concentration. The micromeritic properties were found be good, and SEM confirmed their hollow structure with smooth and dense which helped to prolong floating to increase residence time in stomach. The in vitro drug release studies showed controlled release of acebrophylline microballoons in the simulated gastric fluid more than 12 hrs. Conclusions: The results showed that the prepared floating microballoons of acebrophylline prove to be potential multiple-unit delivery devices adaptable for safe and effective sustained drug delivery. Keywords: Microballoons, Acebrophylline, Bronchial asthma, Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, Ethyl cellulose.
Bank Credit and Aggregate Import Demand in Nigeria: A Cointegration Analysis

This study reformulated the aggregate import demand for Nigeria by including a financial variable (bank credit) into the traditional import demand function for the period 1970-2009. The Johansen Multivariate cointegration analysis was used to estimate the function. The result obtained from the study shows no evidence of the existence of cointegrating relations between bank credit and import demand. This shows that bank credit is found to be insufficient as a policy instrument for long term import demand in Nigeria. Thus, the financial variable should not be included in modelling the aggregate import demand for Nigeria.
Investigating the Relationship of E-Government, Control of Corruption, Economic Prosperity and Environmental Degradation: An Analysis of Asian Region

To generate and maintain sustainable economic growth, e-government and control of corruption are considered as a key contributor in the nation. E-government not only increases control of corruption and economic growth but also reduces environmental degradation. In this study, the relationship of e-government to control of corruption, economic prosperity and environmental degradation has been investigated. Government has a positive and significant association with economic prosperity and control of corruption. However, e-government negatively related to S curve. The impact of control variables such that manufacturing, working for population and political stability all are positive to economic prosperity while exports and urban population show a negative association with the economic prosperity. In the case of environmental degradation, manufacturing and working population shows negative relationship while exports, political stability, and urban population shows a positive association with the environmental degradation. The study suggests that constructive national policies by practitioners and policy makers are required for the development of e-government.
Ultrastructure of the Anacardium occidentale L . leaves from Amazon in Northern Brazil

Resumo A superfície das plantas possui diversas estruturas com funções específicas e que contribuem para a relação delas com o meio ambiente. Em estudos morfológicos são analisados diversos parâmetros variando da escala macro, passando pela micro e atualmente chegando à escala nanométrica, contribuindo assim com o estudo da taxonomia, farmacognosia, ecologia, entre outras. Embora o Anacardium occidentale L. , conhecido também como cajueiro, seja uma planta popular e amplamente distribuída no mundo, estudos morfológicosde suas folhas são raros. Considerando a ausência de trabalhos realizados com a folha de Anacardium occidentale L. , conhecido como cajueiro, este artigo apresenta resultados sobre a ultraestrutura dos lados adaxial e abaxial da folha com imagens realizadas em um microscópio eletrônico de varredura ambiental, destacando a presença de ceras epicuticulares apenas na epiderme superior e analisando sua cristalinidade através de medidas de difração de raios-x.
Molecular Marker Con fi rmation for Member of Anopheles barbirostris Van Der Wulp 1884 in Different Localities Tri

Vector and non-vector forms of Anopheles barbirostris have been recognized in Indonesia. However, because of their similarity in morphology, they were considered to be a single species. This information has led to the hypothesis that Anopheles barbirostris is a complex of species, which are morphologically indistinguishable from each other by ordinary methods. Objectives of the research was to identify the member of Anopheles barbirostris by PCR Assay. Samples were taken from two localities in Java, two in Sulawesi, two in Flores Indonesia, one from Thailand, one from China. The study was to develop a PCR-based technique of rDNA ITS2 region. Results showed that there are at least four species within the Anopheles barbirostris population studied, namely Anopheles barbirostris species DW, DX, DY and DZ. The length of the sequence amplifi ed for species W, species X, species Y, and species Z were 339bps, 247bps, 165bps. and 157bps, respectively. Verifi cation of the method was carried out with 270 mosquitoes from eight different fi eld-collection sites using various sampling methods. Samples collected from Singaraja-Flores were identifi ed as species W and X. All specimens collected from human bite outdoors were identifi ed as species X; this species showed to be predominant among indoor light trap, indoor human bite and indoor resting collections Samples from Reo-Flores were identifi ed as species W and X. All specimens from Manado and Palopo in Sulawesi were identifi ed as species Z. Similarly only species Y was found in samples from Thailand, while specimens from Salaman and Jambu in Java were identifi ed as species W or species X. These species-specifi c molecular markers for the Anopheles barbirostris, complex appear to be reliable over a wide geographical area. However, larger number of samples is still needed from throughout the range of this species.
STRUCTURE DISCOVERING USING DYNAMIC AUDIO FEATURES FOR AUDIO SUMMARY GENERATION : “ SEQUENCE ” AND “ STATE ” APPROACH

Music structure discovery from signal analysis is a recent topic of interest. In this paper, we study two approaches the ”sequence” and the “state” structure representations with the aim of creating automatically music visual and audio summary. We introduce new type of audio features, the dynamic audio features in order to represents the temporal evolution of musical content. The ”sequence” approach aims at representing the music as repetitions of sequences of events (repetitions of the melody in popular music). It is derived from the similarity matrix by a proposed algorithm based on 2D structuring filter and segments connection. The ”state” approach aims at representing the music as a succession of ”states” (various arrangements of chorus/verse in popular music). It is derived using a proposed two-pass approach using unsupervised learning methods (K-means and hidden Markov model). Both ”sequence” and ”state” representation are used for the creation of audio summary. Various techniques are proposed in order to achieve this.
Development of a Mesoscale Ensemble Data Assimilation System at the Naval Research Laboratory

An ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) has been adopted and implemented at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for mesoscale and storm-scale data assimilation to study the impact of ensemble assimilation of highresolution observations, including those from Doppler radars, on storm prediction. The system has been improved during its implementation at NRL to further enhance its capability of assimilating various types of meteorological data. A parallel algorithm was also developed to increase the system’s computational efficiency on multiprocessor computers. The EnKF has been integrated into the NRL mesoscale data assimilation system and extensively tested to ensure that the system works appropriately with new observational data stream and forecast systems. An innovative procedure was developed to evaluate the impact of assimilated observations onensemble analyses with no need to exclude any observations for independent validation (as required by the conventional evaluation based on data-denying experiments). The procedure was employed in this study to examine the impacts of ensemble size and localization on data assimilation and the results reveal a very interesting relationship between the ensemble sizeand the localizationlength scale. All the tests conductedinthis studydemonstratethecapabilitiesoftheEnKF as a research tool for mesoscale and storm-scale data assimilation with potential operational applications.
Calibration of column-averaged CH4 over European TCCON FTS sites with airborne in-situ measurements

Abstract. In September/October 2009, six European ground-based Fourier Transform Spectrometers (FTS) of the Total Carbon Column Observation Network (TCCON) were calibrated for the first time using aircraft measurements. The campaign was part of the Infrastructure for Measurement of the European Carbon Cycle (IMECC) project. During this campaign, altitude profiles of several trace gases and meteorological parameters were taken close to the FTS sites (typically within 1–2 km distance for flight altitudes below 5000 m). Profiles of CO 2 , CH 4 , CO and H 2 O were measured continuously. N 2 O, H 2 , and SF 6 were later derived from flask measurements. The aircraft data had a vertical coverage ranging from approximately 300 to 13 000 m, corresponding to ~80% of the total atmospheric column seen by the FTS. This study summarizes the calibration results for CH 4 . The resulting calibration factor of 0.978 ± 0.002 (±1 σ) from the IMECC campaign agreed very well with the results that Wunch et al. (2010) had derived for TCCON instruments in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan using similar methods. By combining our results with the data of Wunch et al. (2010), the uncertainty of the calibration factor could be reduced by a factor of three (compared to using only IMECC or only Wunch et al. (2010) data). A careful analysis of the calibration method used by Wunch et al. (2010) revealed that the incomplete vertical coverage of the aircraft profiles can lead to a bias in the calibration factor. This bias can be compensated with a new iterative approach that we developed. Using this improved method, we derived a significantly lower calibration factor of 0.974 ± 0.002 (±1 σ). This corresponds to a correction of all TCCON CH 4 measurements by roughly −7 ppb.