Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An E-band Voltage Variable Attenuator Realised on a Low Cost 0 . 13 m PHEMT Process

E-band spectrum at 71 to 76GHz and 81 to 86GHz offers worldwide availability and wide bandwidths under a light license system [1]. This makes it very attractive for very high data rate applications such as cellular back-haul. Component availability is currently relatively limited and cost relatively high [2] but this is starting to change. This paper describes the development of an E-band Voltage Variable Attenuator (VVA) realised on a low cost 0.13m gate length PHEMT process. The core VVA is a single-ended design that operates from a control voltage of between -2V and +0.6V. Simulated insertion loss is <1dB at 50GHz rising to 2.8dB at 90GHz. The E-band design uses two of the core circuit in a balanced configuration for improved return loss and increased linearity. It has an insertion loss of <4dB over 71 to 86GHz and a dynamic range of >30dB. Good performance is exhibited over an extended band of 50 to 90GHz. Devices are currently in fabrication and it is anticipated that measured results will be available in time for the presentation.
Modulation of the Escherichia coliσE (RpoE) heat‐shock transcription‐factor activity by the RseA, RseB and RseC proteins

The σE (RpoE) transcription factor of Escherichia coli regulates the expression of genes whose products are devoted to extracytoplasmic activities. The σE regulon is induced upon misfolding of proteins in the periplasm or the outer membrane. Similar to other alternative sigma factors, the activity of σE is tightly regulated in E. coli. We have previously shown that σE is positively autoregulated at the transcriptional level. DNA sequencing, coupled with transcriptional analyses, have shown that σE is encoded by the first gene of a four‐gene operon. The second gene of this operon, rseA, encodes an anti‐σE activity. This was demonstrated at both the genetic and biochemical levels. For example, mutations in rseA constitutively increase σE activity. Consistent with this, overproduction of RseA leads to an inhibitory effect on σE activity. Topological analysis of RseA suggests the existence of one transmembrane domain, with the N‐terminal part localized in the cytoplasm. Overproduction of this N‐terminal domain alone was shown to inhibit σE activity. These observations were confirmed in vitro, because either purified RseA or only its purified N‐terminal domain inhibited transcription from EσE‐dependent promoters. Furthermore, RseA and σE co‐purify, and can be co‐immunoprecipitated, and chemically cross‐linked. The σE activity is further modulated by the products of the remaining genes in this operon, rseB and rseC. RseB is a periplasmic protein, which negatively regulates σE activity and specifically interacts with the C‐terminal periplasmic domain of RseA. In contrast, RseC is an inner membrane protein that positively modulates σE activity. Most of these protein–protein interactions were verified in vivo using the yeast two‐hybrid system.
Quasi-Continuous High-Order Sliding-Mode Controller Design for Variable-Speed Wind Turbines

In this paper, a multivariable control strategy is done which solves the problem of output power regulation of variable speed wind energy conversion systems, while also reduced the mechanical loads by combining a linear control for blade pitch angle with a nonlinear quasi-continuous high-order sliding-mode torque control. The properties of the proposed controller are robustness to parametric uncertainties of the turbine, robustness with respect to external disturbances, robustness to unmodeled dynamics and accuracy, with an accuracy of higher order and finite reaching time. The high-order sliding-mode controller is applied to reduce the effects of chattering in the generated torque that could lead to increased mechanical stress because of strong torque variations. We use a realistic model which takes into account the nonlinear dynamic aspect of the wind turbine and the turbulent nature of the wind. We assume that the rotor speed and electric power are available from measurements on the wind turbine. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the controller in terms of power regulation and load reduction.
Patterns of coastal eddy circulation and abundance of pelagic juvenile fish in the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USA

Annual midwater trawling surveys (sampling at depths of 20 to 40 m) in early summer 1998 and 1999 revealed strong interannual variability in the patterns of abundance of late-stage lar- val and juvenile fishes in the Santa Barbara Channel. In June 1998, sampling revealed high concen- trations of fishes in the center of a cyclonic eddy in the western Channel corresponding to the lowest dynamic height in the study area. In contrast, eddy circulation was not consistent during the second survey in June 1999, and high concentrations of fishes were not observed. Patterns of evolving sur- face currents, observed by high frequency radar and concurrent CTD sampling during the trawling surveys, suggest that interannual variability in fish abundance within the Santa Barbara Channel resulted from local retention in 1998, but not in 1999. Time series of relative vorticity (a measure of eddy rotation) computed from surface current fields indicates that the cyclonic eddy observed during the 1998 survey was a stable, persistent feature developing about 6 wk before the trawling surveys. We speculate that the closed circulation of the eddy in 1998 retained larval and juvenile fishes from about late April until late June. In 1999, trains of smaller eddies propagated across the region begin- ning in mid-May, lasting through the survey period. Given their size and circulation strength, the propagating eddies probably disrupted the closed circulation in the western Channel. These obser- vations indicate a strong link between coastal mesoscale flows and spatial abundance patterns of juvenile and late-stage larval fishes.
RELIABILITY OF A WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM IN QUANTITY AND QUALITY TERMS

This work presents an approach focused on the analysis of the Pescara city (Italy) water distribution network reliability. Through a multicriteria analysis a list of scenario will be ranked in order to obtain the most critical pipes for the reliability of the whole system combining hydraulic and quality performances. The simulation of the water distribution system has been done with the EPANET software developed by US EPA. The calibration has been done on the basis of experimental data collected during previous works. The objective of the study was reached defining specific Reliability Indicators for both quantity and quality aspects and for combination of them. This study will contribute to the management of water distribution system like a Decision Support System (DSS) according to the guidelines of the European Project CARE-W.
spcopula : Modelling Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Dependence with Copulas in R

The spcopula R package provides tools to model spatial and spatio-temporal phenomena with spatial and spatio-temporal vine copulas. Copulas allow us to flexibly build multivariate distributions with mixed margins where the copula describes the multivariate dependence structure coupling the margins. In classical geostatistics, a multivariate Gaussian distribution is typically assumed and dependence is summarized in a covariance matrix implying limitations like elliptical symmetry in the strength of dependence. Copulas allow for dependence structures beyond the Gaussian one, being for instance asymmetric. We developed the spatio-temporal vine copulas such that the bivariate copula families in the lower trees may change with distance across space and time allowing not only for a varying strength of dependence but also for a changing dependence structure. These spatio-temporal distributions are used to predict values at unobserved locations, assess risk, or run simulations. Based on the concept of vine copulas, the spcopula package provides a large set of multivariate distributions. As bivariate spatial copulas do not have any probabilistic restrictions, the spatial vine copula is a powerful approach for modelling skewed or heavy tailed data with complex and potentially asymmetric dependence structures in the spatial and spatio-temporal domain.
DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATED BIOLOGICAL PREPARATION FOR GROWTH ENHANCEMENT OF VARIOUS VEGETABLE TRANSPLANT PLUGS SUPPRESSIVE TO PLANT DISEASES

For the past 3 years, we have been developing an application of PGPR which combines several tactics with the goal of protecting tomato against root-knot nematode and fungal pathogens. We report here the initial development of the system, including evidence for synergy among the components of the application. The application, termed here, a “biological preparation” consisted of three components--an organic amendment (chitosan), designed for nematode control and selection of an antagonistic microflora, a PGPR strain previously shown to control seedling diseases by antifungal activity, and a PGPR strain previously shown to induce systemic protection against foliar pathogens. The formulated biological preparation could not be coated onto seeds due to the volume required after combining the three components, so we chose to use a seedling transplant system, in which the three components were incorporated into soil-less mix used to produce tomato transplants. An unexpected effect of the integrated system on tomato was a marked promotion of overall seedling growth. In initial field trials, growth promotion was retained for several weeks after transplanting and treated transplants exhibited some reductions in damage from nematodes, Fusarium crown rot, and bacterial spot. Further, a series of experiments were conducted to test the efficacy of the biological preparation (LS213) for growth promotion and ISR activity against foliar pathogens on the following crops: tomato against bacterial spot (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria) and late blight (Phytophthora infestans), cucumber against angular leaf spot (Pseudomonas syringae pv. lachrymans), tobacco against blue mold (Peronospora tabacina) and pepper seedling growth. Additional treatments consisted of each bacterial strain with and without chitosan, chitosan alone, and a nontreated control. Results showed that the biological preparation significantly increased growth of all the crops across all the measurements when compared with the various individual components of the biological preparation. Also, the highest degree of disease protection against all the pathogens tested occurred with LS213. This indicates a clear synergy in plant growth promotion by the combination of chitosan and the two bacterial strains. Synergy in plant growth promotion translated into synergy in ISR activity.
Yield evaluation of plantain and banana landraces and hybrids in humid agro ecological zone of Nigeria

Plantain and banana landraces are faced with yield decline due to diseases and pest pressure in the study area. Field studies was conducted with the aim to evaluate and select the best performing cultivar with high bunch yield in farmers production system in the humid agro ecological zone of Nigeria. The studies were carried out during the rainy seasons in humid forest agro ecological zone of Nigeria, known to be centre of plantain and banana diversification. Experimental layout was designed in a randomized complete block (RCBD) with thirty six treatments; each replicated two times. The analysis of variance test of significance showed that bunch yield per producing plant was highly variable and was statistically significant across genotypes tested and within replicates, although some variable measured within replication were not significantly different. A study like this is a necessary step to sustain increased production and a pre requisite for routinely identifying best performing genotypes in plantain and banana growing areas. The hybrids appear to be more suitable for the growing system in the study area as most of the hybrids perform excellently well as compared to the landraces. FHIA 21, SH 3436-9 sv and SH 3640 had the highest bunch yield compared to other hybrids and the landraces. This investigation has determined the best yield performance genotypes and the components of yield in the thirty six genotypes investigated. The best hybrids can be promoted for farmers’ adoption in view of the fact that they are best suitable for humid agro ecological zones of Nigeria. This result will be of major impact on plantain production in Nigeria if there is increase in awareness and adoption of these hybrids with consistent high yield performance. Therefore, a further investigation to validate the result over three years or more is required.
A data fusion approach to indications and warnings of terrorist attacks

Indications and Warning (I&W) of terrorist attacks, particularly IED attacks, require detection of networks of agents and patterns of behavior. Social Network Analysis tries to detect a network; activity analysis tries to detect anomalous activities. This work builds on both to detect elements of an activity model of terrorist attack activity – the agents, resources, networks, and behaviors. The activity model is expressed as RDF triples statements where the tuple positions are elements or subsets of a formal ontology for activity models. The advantage of a model is that elements are interdependent and evidence for or against one will influence others so that there is a multiplier effect. The advantage of the formality is that detection could occur hierarchically, that is, at different levels of abstraction. The model matching is expressed as a likelihood ratio between input text and the model triples. The likelihood ratio is designed to be analogous to track correlation likelihood ratios common in JDL fusion level 1. This required development of a semantic distance metric for positive and null hypotheses as well as for complex objects. The metric uses the Web 1Terabype database of one to five gram frequencies for priors. This size requires the use of big data technologies so a Hadoop cluster is used in conjunction with OpenNLP natural language and Mahout clustering software. Distributed data fusion Map Reduce jobs distribute parts of the data fusion problem to the Hadoop nodes. For the purposes of this initial testing, open source models and text inputs of similar complexity to terrorist events were used as surrogates for the intended counter-terrorist application.
CHINESE BUYING LUXURY COUNTERFEITS BEHAVIOR : THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND PERSONAL GRATIFICATION IN FORMING ATTITUDES AND PURCHASE INTENTION 1

This paper’s objectives are to examine the determinants that influence consumers to purchase counterfeit products in Chinese societies, using Taiwan and Shanghai as sample. We examine the antecedent factors of attitudes regarding counterfeits and the relation between the attitudes regarding counterfeit luxury brands and the purchase intention. The results reveal that both social influence and personal gratification have significant effect on attitudes toward counterfeits luxury brands. This study contributes to research on relation between the consumer attitude toward counterfeit and its antecedents and intention to purchase counterfeit luxury brand by a holistic analysis.
First-Mode Damping Ratios Inferred From the Seismic Response of Buildings

This paper analyzes damping ratios inferred from 1335 seismic responses, obtained from 154 different buildings in California. All the damping ratios were inferred using a parametric system identification technique in the time domain, and subjected to a series of reliability screening tests to ensure that only high-quality data was included. The resulting damping ratios conform a data set of 1037 high-quality values inferred exclusively from the seismic response of buildings, a database several times larger than all previous studies on damping. The data set is analyzed using a linear mixed effects statistical model to account for the fact that many of the data points come from damping ratios in the same building shaken by various earthquakes and then a conventional regression analysis, which assumes independence of all data points, may not be employed to perform statistical inference on the data. It is shown that damping decreases with increasing building height, which is the factor that best explains the relatively large variance observed in the data. Results show that, after correcting by building height, there is no statistical significance between the damping ratios of reinforced concrete and steel buildings. However, when including the combined material and lateral resistant system as a factor in the statistical model an additional 6% of the variance is explained. Results show that steel buildings with momentresistant frames have, on average, a slightly higher damping ratio than those with steel braced frames. The amplitude dependency of damping is examined, showing that the overall lateral deformation demand in the building, as measured by the peak roof drift ratio, has little effect in damping ratios subjected to moderate earthquakes. Senior Structural Engineer, Nishkian Menninger, San Francisco, CA 94107 (email: ccruz@nishkian.com) Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 Cruz C, Miranda E. First mode damping ratios inferred from the seismic response of buildings. Proceedings of the 11 National Conference in Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA. 2018. First Mode Damping Ratios Inferred from the Seismic Response of Buildings C. Cruz and E. Miranda
Neural Network Deconvolution Method for Resolving Pathway-Level Progression of Tumor Clonal Expression Programs With Application to Breast Cancer Brain Metastases

Metastasis is the primary mechanism by which cancer results in mortality and there are currently no reliable treatment options once it occurs, making the metastatic process a critical target for new diagnostics and therapeutics. Treating metastasis before it appears is challenging, however, in part because metastases may be quite distinct genomically from the primary tumors from which they presumably emerged. Phylogenetic studies of cancer development have suggested that changes in tumor genomics over stages of progression often result from shifts in the abundance of clonal cellular populations, as late stages of progression may derive from or select for clonal populations rare in the primary tumor. The present study develops computational methods to infer clonal heterogeneity and dynamics across progression stages via deconvolution and clonal phylogeny reconstruction of pathway-level expression signatures in order to reconstruct how these processes might influence average changes in genomic signatures over progression. We show, via application to a study of gene expression in a collection of matched breast primary tumor and metastatic samples, that the method can infer coarse-grained substructure and stromal infiltration across the metastatic transition. The results suggest that genomic changes observed in metastasis, such as gain of the ErbB signaling pathway, are likely caused by early events in clonal evolution followed by expansion of minor clonal populations in metastasis, a finding that may have translational implications for early detection or prevention of metastasis1.
Checkpointing for the RESTART problem in Markov networks

We apply the known formulae of the RESTART problem to Markov models of software (and many other) systems, and derive new equations. We show how checkpoints might be included, with their resultant performance under RESTART. The result is a complete procedure for finding the mean, variance, and tail behavior of the job completion time as a function of the failure rate. We also provide a detailed example.
A proposal to develop domain and subtask-adaptive dialog management models

Statistical dialog management techniques have the main advantage of allowing an easy adaptation of the dialog model to different application domains. In this paper we propose to also adapt the operation of the dialog manager to the different sub-tasks that conform the structure of the dialog in each domain. To do so, we present a variation of a statistical dialog management technique to address this challenge. The evaluation results with a practical dialog system show that the use of such speciﬁc sub-task models increase the quality and number of successful interactions with the system
Micro-photographic analysis of titanium anodization to assess bio-activation

Today surface modifications of titanium implants have become a development strategy of dental implants. The present study investigated the morphology (SEM), surface elemental analysis (EDX), surface roughness (AFM) and crystalline structure (XRD) of TiO2 film prepared via anodic oxidation of grade II commercially pure titanium specimens in different electrolytic solutions and times. Incubation of anodized specimens into simulated body fluids for 7 days showed that a layer containing calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) was precipitated on the titanium surface. This was detected by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), the atomic Ca/P ration was calculated and compared to the hydroxyapatite ratio 1.67. The oxide film observed on specimens, which did not experience dielectric breakdown experienced little morphological, surface areas and roughness changes. When sulfuric acid and sodium sulfate solution were used as electrolyte, the anodized specimens experienced dielectric breakdown and showed variation in their morphology, surface areas and roughness changes. It was found that bioactive titanium metals could be prepared via anodic oxidation of grade II cpTi in 1M sulfuric acid solution for 4 min, followed by heat treatment at 600 o C for 1 h. Small globules of the calcium phosphate layer precipitated on the titanium surfaces after 7 days of soaking time into SBF. However, for the nontreated titanium samples the precipitation of the bone-like apatite was not observed. The oxide film exhibits suitable in vitro behavior due to its ability of inducing the precipitation of a calciumphosphate layer similar to the bone-like apatite.
Enhancing Theoretical Contribution in is Research: the Case of Technology Adoption

Many editors of top information systems (IS) journals often blame the lack of theoretical contribution as a major reason for rejecting articles. This essay proposes an actionable approach for IS researchers that views research and the process of theorizing as a discursive practice and applies discourse analysis to (1) analyse the extent of their study’s theoretical contribution, (2) suggest alternative theoretical strategies, (3) consolidate the theoretical foundation of the study and, (4) use generative theoretical products that modify existing concepts or invent new concepts to declare the insights and value the study offers. To demonstrate this approach, one of the IS field’s most prolific research programs, technology acceptance and adoption, is analysed to show the efficacy of the approach. The analysis demonstrates that the trajectory of technology acceptance research could have taken a more impactful route if its underlying theories were seriously addressed.