Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Signal-noise Ratio Recognition Algorithm Based on Singular Value Decomposition

Signal-noise ratio is an important parameter in modern wireless communication systems and an important indicator to reflect signal quality. An accuracy signal-noise ratio can provide signal quality information required for power control and channel decoder, etc. This paper proposes a blind signal-noise ratio estimation algorithm, which makes use of singular value decomposition of signal autocorrelation matrix to estimate the signal-noise ratio. The algorithm does not require prior information related to the signal and has no special equipments on signal sampling rate and signal type. It is relatively easier, with a certain acceptable complexity to some estimated accuracy extent.
On modeling of laminar-turbulent transition in supersonic flows with engineering correlations and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations

This paper deals with different engineering correlations for prediction of transitional hypersonic flows both for transition onset prediction and transition zone description. In spite of recent progress in simulation of stability equations and direct methods, these approaches remain main tool in everyday design practice. Very close approach is using correlations incorporated in the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, e. g. , γ -Reθ transition model. But this model has some limitations when applied to supersonic flows and some approaches for subduing these limitations are considered. Also, the effect of local heating/cooling on laminar-turbulent transition (LTT) on sharp cone is analyzed on the basis of both algebraic correlations and RANS models.
HD 146875: a newly identified ZAMS active double-lined spectroscopic binary

Aims. We present a newly identified zero-age main-sequence (ZAMS) active double-lined spectroscopic binary, HD 146875, based on the analysis of our 45 high-resolution spectra obtained between 2005 and 2008 at Xinglong Observatory, NAOC. Methods. From spectroscopic analysis and abundance analysis, we derived the accurate orbital parameters of the binary and determined the stellar atmospheric parameters of the two components. Results. Our results indicate that HD 146875 is a ZAMS active double-lined spectroscopic binary of age between 100 and 150 Myr. We derived the accurate orbital parameters of the binary and determined the stellar atmospheric parameters of the two components. The photometric observations taken in 2008 show a variation of about 0.057 mag caused by large spots most probably on the primary component of the binary rather than any ellipsoidal distortion. Furthermore, the radial velocity curve and the light curve imply that HD 146875 is already a synchronous system. We also studied the chromospheric activity of the components.
Kinetics of aerobic treatment of two-phase olive-mill waste by activated sludge in sequencing batch reactor

Olive mill waste has a very high organic load, high amount of toxicity/phytotoxicity-associated compounds, low pH value and high electrical conductivity. In this study, the removal of COD (chemical oxygen demand) and total phenols from extracted wastewater (EW) from two-phase olive-mill waste (TPOMW) in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was studied. The experiments were carried out at 23 °C with the initial COD concentration of 5 g L and 10 g L at different initial concentrations of activated sludge (3 and 6 g L). The obtained results showed that activated sludge possessed a strong ability to degraded organic matter and total phenols. The COD and phenols removal efficiency was between 80 90 %. Toxicity Impact Index (TII50) was 312.5 which indicated that this wastewater is extremely toxic. Four different kinetic models were select to describe the kinetics of TPOMW biodegradation. The lowest deviation and the best fit with experimental data were achieved using Endo-Haldane model.
Recovering viable fisheries

This paper develops a formal analysis of the recovery processes for a fishery, from undesired to desired levels of sustainable exploitation, using the theoretical framework of viability control. We define sustainability in terms of biological, economic and social constraints which need to be met for a viable fishery to exist. Biological constraints are based on the definition of a minimal resource stock to be preserved. Economic constraints relate to the existence of a minimum profit per vessel. Social constraints refer to the maintenance of a minimum size of the fleet, and to the maximum speed at which fleet adjustment can take place. Using fleet size and fishing effort per vessel as control variables, we identify the states of this bioeconomic system for which sustainable exploitation is possible, i.e. for which all constraints are dynamically met. Such favorable states are called viable states. We then examine possible transition phases, from non-viable to viable states. We characterize recovery paths, wih respect to the economic and social costs of limiting catches during the recovery period, and to the duration of this transition period. Sensitivity of each of the constraints to transition costs and time are analyzed. The analysis is applied to a single stock fishery; preliminary results of an empirical application to the bay of Biscay nephrops fishery are presented.
The environmental Kuznets curve in a public spending model of economic growth

This paper theoretically analyzes the dynamics of economic growth and the environmental Kuznets curve. This curve states an inverse U-relationship between pollution and income. The presented model specifically shows how a dynamic environmental Kuznets curve can emerge by introducing pollution and abatement technology in a public spending model of endogenous economic growth. We also derive the turning point in function of the parameters of the model. The numerical section demonstrates that when taxes are below some threshold, the turning point decreases with taxes but it increases when taxes are above the threshold point given some explanations about an N-shaped Kuznets curve. Additionally, the simulations demonstrate that taxes reduce the level of pollution by pulling down the environmental Kuznets curve. Lastly the numerical exercises highlight that the pollution level of the social planner problem is less than that of the representative agent.
Iterative correlation‐based controller tuning

This paper gives an overview on the theoretical results of recently developed algorithms for iterative controller tuning based on the correlation approach. The basic idea is to decorrelate the output error between the achieved and designed closed‐loop systems by iteratively tuning the controller parameters. Two different approaches are investigated. In the first one, a correlation equation involving a vector of instrumental variables is solved using the stochastic approximation method. It is shown that, with an appropriate choice of instrumental variables and a finite number of data at each iteration, the algorithm converges to the solution of the correlation equation. The convergence conditions are derived and the accuracy of the estimates are studied. The second approach is based on the minimization of a correlation criterion. The frequency analysis of the criterion shows that the two norm of the error between the desired and achieved closed‐loop transfer functions is minimized independent of the noise characteristics. This analysis leads to the definition of a generalized correlation criterion which allows the mixed sensitivity problem to be handled in two norm. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Modeling Free Surface Flows Using Stabilized Finite Element Method

This work aims to develop a numerical wave tank for viscous and inviscid flows. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved by time-discontinuous stabilized space-time finite element method. The numerical scheme tracks the free surface location using fluid velocity. A segregated algorithm is proposed to iteratively couple the fluid flow and mesh deformation problems. The numerical scheme and the developed computer code are validated over three free surface problems: solitary wave propagation, the collision between two counter moving waves, and wave damping in a viscous fluid. The benchmark tests demonstrate that the numerical approach is effective and an attractive tool for simulating viscous and inviscid free surface flows.
Floating European football clubs in the stock market

Since the first initial public offering of a European football (soccer) club in 1983, more than forty other clubs have experienced a venture in the stock market. In this paper, it is investigated how much relevant and successful these experiences of listing and floating football clubs at the stock exchange have been. First, by showing that investing in the Dow Jones StoXX Football index is of little attractiveness in the perspective of an investor's efficient overall asset allocation. Then in examining the determinants of a football club's fair value and the relationship between stock performances and sporting results. Finally, an approach (alternative to the Anglo-American model of capitalism) of corporate governance, based on the concept of a soft budget constraint, is applied to European football clubs taking stake of their lasting financial deficits and debts. This alternative theoretical approach paves the way for an empirical testing of a vicious circle between negotiating higher TV rights revenues and player wage inflation.
Involvement of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Palmitate-induced Apoptosis in HepG2 Cells

The results of recent studies indicate that high levels of free fatty acids (FFAs) and adipokines may be the main causes of non-alcoholic liver disease; however, the molecular mechanism that links FFAs to lipotoxicity remains unclear. In the present study, we treated HepG2 cells with FFA (either palmitate or oleate) to investigate the mechanisms involved in lipotoxicity in the liver cells. We also treated cells with palmitate in the presence of a chemical chaperone, 4-phenylbutyric acid (PBA), to confirm the involvement of ER stress in lipotoxicity. Palmitate significantly induced cytotoxicity in dose- and time-dependent manners. Apoptosis was also significantly induced by palmitate as measured by caspase-3 activity and DAPI staining. Palmitate led to increased expressions of the spliced form of X-box-protein (Xbp)-1 mRNA and C/EBP homologous transcription factor (CHOP) protein, suggesting activation of the unfolded-protein response. PBA co-incubation significantly attenuated apoptosis induced by palmitate. The above data demonstrate that high levels of palmitate induce apoptosis via the mediation of ER stress in the liver cells and that chemical chaperones act to modulate ER stress and accompanying apoptosis.
A Randomized Double-Blinded Superiority Trial to Compare the Efficacy of Vitamin D3 and Calcium versus placebo in Prevention of Hip Fractures in Elderly Women

Background and Aim: The role of vitamin D plus calcium to protect against hip fracture in postmenopausal women remains controversial. Two major studies on this subject presented diverse outcomes; they implemented different doses of Vitamin D and Calcium, and they studied different populations. One study found evidence that Calcium plus Vitamin D do protect against fractures; the second study failed to demonstrate such protection. The aim of the present study is to test the hypothesis that a higher dose of vitamin D plus calcium is effective in reducing hip fractures in non-osteoporotic elderly women when compared to placebo. Methods: This will be a randomized, double-blinded superiority, multicenter trial involving three centers in Sao Paulo, Lima and Mexico City. After a three-month run-in period, 7176 participants will receive Calcium + Vitamin D or Placebo. The primary outcome is the occurrence of hip fractures assessed by the pelvic radiographic image; secondary outcomes include other fractures, the variation of Bone Mass Density, and the adverse effects rate. Conclusion: There is an increase in morbidity, mortality, and costs resulting from hip fractures since it is an important risk fact following accidents. A possible lack of benefit inside the active group drives more attention to an eventual over-prescription of those substances. Therefore, further studies including a phase II trial with different exclusion criteria could be desirable to confirm these findings and help to reduce the incidence of hip fractures. Key-Words: Hip Fractures, Bone Loss, Postmenopausal, Vitamin D Deficiency, Bone Density, Calcium, Dietary, Osteopenia, Postmenopausal Osteoporosis, Design, Research Protocol, Clinical Research.
Stated Preference Approaches for Measuring Passive Use Values: Choice Experiments and Contingent Valuation

The measurement of passive use values has become an important issue in environmental economics. In this paper we examine an extension or variant of contingent valuation, the choice experiment, which employs a series of questions with more than two alternatives that are designed to elicit responses that allow the estimation of preferences over attributes of an environmental state. We also combine the information from choice experiments and contingent valuation to test for differences in preferences and error variances arising from the two methods. Our results show that choice experiments have considerable merit in measuring passive use values. Copyright 1998, Oxford University Press.
Status of the integrated RFQ-drifttube-combination for the medicine-synchrotron in Heidelberg

Design and construction of the RFQ including an integrated rebunching section as a part of the LINAC system is our contribution to the medicine project in Heidelberg. The building of the machine has been finished, first rf-measurements at low power have been done. The concept of assembling, especially the alignment of the electrodes, and the results of the rf-measurements will be presented.
Simplex underwater acoustic communications using passive time reversal

The spatial-temporal compression, which is achieved through using simple time reversal (TR) process, can reduce the inter-symbol interference and increase the signal strength. The active TR needs two-way propagation, so it cannot be used in simplex underwater acoustic communications. Based on the one-way propagation property of passive TR, a simplex underwater acoustic communication method using passive TR is proposed. The proposed method is considered in two scenarios: uplink transmission from a single send-only element to an array and downlink transmission from an array to a single receive-only element. The principle of proposed method is analyzed in theory and the performance of proposed method is verified through experiment. Results demonstrate that passive TR process can improve the output signal-to-noise ratio and decrease the bit error rate, so the performance of proposed method is superior to that of simplex acoustic communication method without using passive TR.
Parallel Monte Carlo Method for Pricing Asian Options Using Trapezium Scheme

We concentrate in this paper on Asian options. As defined, the value of those options depends on the average I = ∫ T 0 Sudu of the price of underlying during all the life of the option. This price is written in integral form, from where the benefits to use Monte Carlo method (MC ) to evaluate it. MC techniques have proved to be flexible, robust and easily computed. But on other side, MC require a big number of calculations. So, we turn it on parallel machine to reduce time execution. As known, results obtained by this method depends on the quality of the underlying pseudo-random number generator PRNG. In [17] we considered the standard C generator to compute algorithms (sequential and parallel). This generator gives good results for the three examples cited, but in higher number of iteration, it’s become uncontrolled. We consider here a modified LCG, and in parallel algorithm, we use a splitting approach to produce independent sub-sequences. To evaluate Asian option, in preference to Euler scheme, we present a higher MC algorithm, based on the Trapezium schema [5]. Finally, we turn to an application of some Asian
Ethnoscapes, National Territorialisation, and the Afghan War

This article pursues the question of how the territorialisation of power in the establishment of the Afghan nation-state has affected the spatial perceptions of political actors and the population at large. This question is particularly topical as spatial references are at present the driving force behind an ethnicisation of politics in Afghanistan. These perceived ethnic spaces, so-called ethnoscapes, not only compete with one another, but also contradict Afghanistan itself as a national territory. Thus since the outbreak of the Afghan war 1979 various political actors have been attempting to mobilise their constituencies over ethnic issues in order to use references to the spatial origins and expansion of their ethnic category to legitimise political claims. The principal argument of this article is that the population’s strong identification with the national territory of Afghanistan has to date prevented an ethnicisation of the masses in the Afghan conflict. Furthermore the article argues that the irreconcilability of the various perceived ethnic territories is an obstacle to the currently much-discussed establishment of ethno-federalism.
SUB-KILOPARSEC ALMA IMAGING OF COMPACT STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT z ∼ 2.5: REVEALING THE FORMATION OF DENSE GALACTIC CORES IN THE PROGENITORS OF COMPACT QUIESCENT GALAXIES

We present spatially resolved Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 870 μm dust continuum maps of six massive, compact, dusty star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 2.5. These galaxies are selected for their small rest-frame optical sizes ( kpc) and high stellar mass densities that suggest that they are direct progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 2. The deep observations yield high far-infrared (FIR) luminosities of and star formation rates (SFRs) of SFR = 200–700 M⊙ yr−1, consistent with those of typical star-forming “main sequence” galaxies. The high spatial resolution (FWHM ∼ 0.″12–0.″18) ALMA and Hubble Space Telescope photometry are combined to construct deconvolved, mean radial profiles of their stellar mass and (UV+IR) SFR. We find that the dusty, nuclear IR–SFR overwhelmingly dominates the bolometric SFR up to r ∼ 5 kpc, by a factor of over 100× from the unobscured UV–SFR. Furthermore, the effective radius of the mean SFR profile ( kpc) is ∼30% smaller than that of the stellar mass profile. The implied structural evolution, if such nuclear starburst last for the estimated gas depletion time of Δt = ±100 Myr, is a 4× increase of the stellar mass density within the central 1 kpc and a 1.6× decrease of the half-mass–radius. This structural evolution fully supports dissipation-driven, formation scenarios in which strong nuclear starbursts transform larger, star-forming progenitors into compact quiescent galaxies.
Evaluation of Genetic Diversity and Population Genetic Parameters of Farmed Turbot Species ( Scophtalmus maximus ) from France, Turkey, and Korea

Turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) is a European flounder species, characterized by the absence of scales on the epidermis and the presence of small protuberances. Its capacity to be cultured effectively in fish farms at high densities makes it appealing in the aquaculture industry specifically in the UK, France and Spain. In recent years, development of a new strain by managing genetic resources is being intensively studied in Korea. It is a necessity in aquaculture to check the genetic diversity of a certain species in order to propagate better performing generations of its species. Microsatellite refers to 2-4 nucleotide repeats throughout genome with highly diverse repeat numbers, allowing of which to be used as biological marker for population identification and evaluation of genetic diversity. Population genetic analysis was carried out through the basis of 36 alleles which are different among the groups, presented by eleven markers that could be used in differentiating the genetic platforms of farmed turbot populations from Korea, France, and Turkey. The results obtained can be used in developing markers that are beneficial in identifying superior traits which in turn can be helpful in securing genetic diversity. In conclusion, this study identified genetic differences between farmed turbots in France and Turkey against the S. Korea. Based on the results, it can be implied that the genetic pool is capable of being expanded, and thereby maintenance of genetic diversity and improvement of excellent traits would be possible.
Periodontal Disease and Gingival Innate Immunity – Who Has the Upper Hand?

Dental plaque is a complex microbial biofilm that forms at high cell density in the oral cavity by the successive accumulation of hundreds of different species of bacteria. Both host immune and bacterial factors are involved in the progression from healthy to diseased state in plaque biofilm, and in the oral cavity, gingival epithelial cells (GECs) are one of the first host cell types that encounter colonizing bacteria. As a consequence, GECs respond to the presence of bacteria through an elaborate signaling network, producing antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and cytokines, leading to host innate immune responses. Periodontal disease is a consequence of the imbalance between the pathogenic potential of the biofilm and host immune defense properties, resulting in an inflammatory reaction of the periodontium. As a part of host defense mechanism, GECs secrete specific endogenous serine protease inhibitors to prevent tissue damage from excessive proteolytic enzyme activity due to inflammation. Recent studies showed GECs induced different serine protease inhibitors in the presence of non-pathogenic bacteria, but these protease inhibitors were attenuated by periopathogens, whose main virulence factors are proteases. Furthermore, periodontal patients with periopathogens present in their plaque exhibited significantly lower protease inhibitors in gingival crevicular fluid in comparison to healthy controls. The degradation of protease inhibitors by periopathogens may result in decreased host protective capacity, and the balance between cellular protease inhibitors and their degradation by periodontal pathogens may be an important factor in susceptibility to breakdown from chronic infection. In addition to bacterial infection, genetic and environmental factors contribute to occurrence and progression of periodontal disease. Recent studies suggest that the manifestation and severity of periodontal disease may be influenced by epigenetic factors. Many patients with the same clinical symptoms respond differently to the same therapy, suggesting the interindividual variability observed as a clinical outcome of the disease is influenced by genetic as well as epigenetic factors. In this chapter, we will closely examine the mechanisms gingival epithelia utilize in inducing AMPs in response to bacterial presence and assess future therapeutic potential of AMPs. We will also focus on the impact the balance between the proteases and protease inhibitors has on oral health and how epigenetic modifications brought on by exposure to periodontal pathogens affect the progression of periodontal disease.