Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Photovoltaic Array Maximum Power Point Tracking Techniques

The many different techniques for maximum power point tracking of photovoltaic (PV) arrays are discussed. The techniques are taken from the literature dating back to the earliest methods. It is shown that at least 19 distinct methods(Algo.) have been introduced in the literature, with many variations on implementation. One of the major concerns in the power sector is the day- to-day increasing power demand but the unavailability of enough resources to meet the power demand using the conventional energy sources. Demand has increased for renewable sources of energy to be utilized along with conventional systems to meet the energy demand. Renewable sources like wind energy and solar energy are the prime energy sources which are being utilized in this regard. The continuous use of fossil fuels has caused the fossil fuel deposit to be reduced and has drastically affected the environment depleting the biosphere and cumulatively adding to global warming. Solar energy is abundantly available that has made it possible to harvest it and utilize it properly. Solar energy can be a standalone generating unit or can be a grid connected generating unit depending on the availability of a grid nearby. Thus it can be used to power rural areas where the availability of grids is very low. Another advantage of using solar energy is the portable operation whenever wherever necessary. In order to tackle the present energy crisis one has to develop an efficient manner in which power has to be extracted from the incoming solar radiation. The power conversion mechanisms have been greatly reduced in size in the past few years. The development in power electronics and material science has helped engineers to come up very small but powerful systems to withstand the high power demand. But the disadvantage of these systems is the increased power density. Trend has set in for the use of multi-input converter units that can effectively handle the voltage fluctuations. But due to high production cost and the low efficiency of these systems they can hardly compete in the competitive markets as a prime power generation source. The constant increase in the development of the solar cells manufacturing technology would definitely make the use of these technologies possible on a wider basis than what the scenario is presently. The use of the newest power control mechanisms called the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms has led to the increase in the efficiency of operation of the solar modules and thus is effective in the field of utilization of renewable sources of energy. Solar cell operates at very low efficiency and thus a better control mechanism is required to increase the efficiency of the solar cell. In this field researchers have developed what are now called the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms.
Multiple Conserved Epitopes in HIV-1 to Induce Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Responses Development of a DNA Vaccine Designed to

Epitope-based vaccines designed to induce CTL responses speciﬁc for HIV-1 are being developed as a means for addressing vaccine potency and viral heterogeneity. We identiﬁed a set of 21 HLA-A2, HLA-A3, and HLA-B7 restricted supertype epitopes from conserved regions of HIV-1 to develop such a vaccine. Based on peptide-binding studies and phenotypic frequencies of HLA-A2, HLA-A3, and HLA-B7 allelic variants, these epitopes are predicted to be immunogenic in greater than 85% of individuals. Immunological recognition of all but one of the vaccine candidate epitopes was demonstrated by IFN- (cid:1) ELISPOT assays in PBMC from HIV-1-infected subjects. The HLA supertypes of the subjects was a very strong predictor of epitope-speciﬁc responses, but some subjects responded to epitopes outside of the predicted HLA type. A DNA plasmid vaccine, EP HIV-1090, was designed to express the 21 CTL epitopes as a single Ag and tested for immunogenicity using HLA transgenic mice. Immunization of HLA transgenic mice with this vaccine was sufﬁcient to induce CTL responses to multiple HIV-1 epitopes, comparable in magnitude to those induced by immunization with peptides. The CTL induced by the vaccine recognized target cells pulsed with peptide or cells transfected with HIV-1 env or g ag genes. There was no indication of immunodominance, as the vaccine induced CTL responses speciﬁc for multiple epitopes in individual mice. These data indicate that the EP HIV-1090 DNA vaccine may be suitable for inducing relevant HIV-1-speciﬁc
Development of a modular dual engine hybrid electric vehicle simulation model

Depleting resources of fossil fuel, climate change impacts, high oil prices, and strict emission requirements are leading to the research on efficient, environmentally friendly, and lowered fossil fuel dependent solutions in the transportation field. While a number of studies used computer modeling and simulation tools to investigate hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), very few attempted to model and simulate a dual-engine hybrid vehicle. Designing a vehicle engine to meet energy needs in the fully loaded condition is not an optimal solution for manufacturers and customers. The larger the engine, the higher the manufacturing costs for companies, and higher fuel consumption for customers. The integration of dual-engine hybrid technology can help to solve this problem. The objective of this study was to design and simulate a dual-engine hybrid electric vehicle (DE-HEV) model to investigate whether it can be a fuel efficient and environmentally friendly solution without sacrificing vehicle performance. The simulated DE-HEV uses two small engines instead of one large engine. In the simulated design, a smaller single engine supplies the power if the energy need is not more than a single engine can provide. The second engine turns on when the power demand is greater than the single engine can supply. Working models for the DE-HEV components, such as an electric motor, • • TM generator, battery, and the controller have been developed using the Matlab/Simulink simulation package. Each model was validated with test data from the literature. Appropriate power management strategy has been developed to accommodate the dual engine design. Fuel-efficiency, overall performance, and manufacturing cost for the simulated DE-HEV model have been compared against current commercial models. Simulation results showed that DE-HEV has between a 2% to 6% higher efficiency than comparable HEVs. Cost analysis results showed that the manufacturing cost of DE-HEV is 11% higher. Performance of the vehicle was tested with standard drive cycles. Test results are satisfactory; although there was significant increase in fuelefficiency, because of its higher initial manufacturing cost, maintenance, and complexity, DE-HEVs may have challenges in the short term. However, with expected decreases in manufacturing costs of battery storage and power electronics technology, the implementation of DE-HEVs can be feasible transportation options in the near future. DEVELOPMENT OF A MODULAR DUAL ENGINE HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE SIMULATION MODEL A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Technology Approved: Dr. Recayi "Reg" Pecen, Chair Dr. Hong "Jeffrey" Nie, Co-Chair Dr. Nilmani Pramanik, Committee Member Dr. William M. Stigliani, Committee Member Dr. Otto H. MacLin, Committee Member Dr. Ayhan Zora, Committee Member
Simplified estimation of the expected annual loss of reinforced concrete buildings

Performance‐based earthquake engineering procedures have now developed to the point that it is possible to evaluate a range of possible decision variables, including the expected annual monetary loss (EAL). Quantification of the EAL is considered to be particularly useful because it could assist with the identification of effective design and retrofit measures that consider seismic performance over a range of intensity levels. Recognizing, however, that existing procedures for the evaluation of EAL tends to be quite time consuming, this paper builds on a recent proposal to use simplified limit state loss versus intensity relationships to compute EAL via a closed‐form equation, without the need to compile an inventory of damageable components and with freedom in the choice of structural analysis method. Various developments to the simplified approach are made in this paper to allow consideration of loss thresholds, non‐uniform damage distributions and the impact of differences in seismic performance in orthogonal directions. In addition, means of accounting for uncertainties in the simplified EAL assessment are described. The work has focused on the assessment of EAL for reinforced concrete frame buildings with details representative of construction practice adopted in Italy in the 1950s through to the early 1970s. By comparing loss assessment results obtained using a refined methodology with those obtained using the new guidelines developed here for two case study buildings, it is concluded that the simplified approach works well. Future research should therefore aim to further validate the approach and extend it to other building typologies and construction eras. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ENERGY EFFICIENT IR-UWB WBAN BASED ON THE IEEE 802.15.6 STANDARD A THESIS

This work presents an exhaustive study on the use of one-relay and two-relay cooperative communication schemes and 2-hop communication scheme for improving the energy efﬁciency and reliability of ultra-wideband based wireless body area networks (UWB WBANs). Various investigations have been performed to study the impact of the parameters like packet size, hop distance and channel error rate on the energy efﬁciency and reliability. An optimal packet size is obtained for the maximization of energy efﬁciency for both on-body communication and in-body communication. The analytical and simulation results show enhanced reliability with cooperative communication than direct communication and 2-hop communication, for all values of source to destination distances. The results also depict a threshold behaviour for energy efﬁciency which separates the hoplength for direct transmission from the hoplength where cooperation and 2-hop communication will be useful. It is also noticed that an extension of hop distance in which energy efﬁcienct communication can be obtained gets better in the case of 2-hop communication than with direct and cooperative communication for all propagation scenarios. The simulation results reveal that if the channel conditions are poor, when the source to destination distance is larger than the threshold value, 2-hop communication gives higher energy efﬁciency when compared with direct and cooperative communications.
Objective Motion Cueing Test for Driving Simulators

The evaluation of motion cueing quality is a difficult task. Subjective ratings can give a hint on preferable parameter settings or algorithm design choices. Though, inter-individual rating differences are huge and evaluation results are often contradicting. Hence, the aviation community tried and succeeded in defining an objective motion cueing test during the past decade. Even though the interpretation of the results is still a topic of discussion and continuous research, the test serves as a useful tool for the design process of motion cueing algorithms. This paper presents an approach to adapt this motion cueing test for driving simulators. Evaluation results of two different motion systems and motion cueing designs are presented.
Coaxial Probe for High Temperature Dielectric Characterization

ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . iii LIST OF TABLES . viii LIST OF FIGURES . ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Motivation . 1 1.2 Survey of Measurement Techniques . 2 1.2. 1 Freespace.2 1.2. 2 Transmission Line . 3 1.2. 3 Resonant Cavity . 4 1.2. 4 Parallel Plate . 5 1.2. 5 Coaxial Probe . 6 1.3 Open-Ended Coaxial Probe for Elevated Temperature Measurements . 6 1.4 Presented Coaxial Probes . 7 1.4. 1 RF Coaxial Connector Test Probe . 8 1.4. 2 Stainless Steel Probe . 8 1.4. 3 Spring-loaded Stainless Steel Probe . 8 1.5 Looking Ahead.9 CHAPTER 2: OPEN-ENDED COAXIAL PROBE THEORY . 10
Identification of conserved gene expression features between Identification of conserved gene expression features between murine mammary carcinoma models and human breast tumors murine mammary carcinoma models and human breast tumors you.

Breast cancer-model expression <p>Comparison of mammary tumor gene-expression profiles from thirteen murine models using microarrays and with that of human breast tumors showed that many of the defining characteristics of human subtypes were conserved among mouse models. </p> Abstract Background: Although numerous mouse models of breast carcinomas have been developed, we do not know the extent to which any faithfully represent clinically significant human phenotypes. To address this need, we characterized mammary tumor gene expression profiles from 13 different murine models using DNA microarrays and compared the resulting data to those from human breast tumors. Results: Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis showed that six models (TgWAP- Myc , TgMMTV- Neu , TgMMTV- PyMT , TgWAP- Int3 , TgWAP- Tag , and TgC3(1)- Tag ) yielded tumors with distinctive and homogeneous expression patterns within each strain. However, in each of four other models (TgWAP- T 121 , TgMMTV- Wnt1 , Brca1
Organising Tourism Providers on Remote Touring Tracks as Geographically Dispersed Teams

The Australian outback is a popular tourism destination. Iconic four wheel drive touring tracks are particularly attractive. This study considers how tourism providers are organised in remote touring tracks (RTTs) through a case study of the Oodnadatta Track. A framework developed from the geographically dispersed teams’ (GDTs) literature provided the analytical lens for the study. This framework produced a useful description and explanation of the contemporary context and also a tentative improvement agenda. Particularly noteworthy was the question of leadership, which emerged as an influential and pervasive factor.
Improving Deep Learning Model Robustness Against Adversarial Attack by Increasing the Network Capacity

Nowadays, we are more and more reliant on Deep Learning (DL) models and thus it is essential to safeguard the security of these systems. This paper explores the security issues in Deep Learning and analyses, through the use of experiments, the way forward to build more resilient models. Experiments are conducted to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a new approach to improve the robustness of DL models against adversarial attacks. The results show improvements and new ideas that can be used as recommendations for researchers and practitioners to create increasingly better DL algorithms.
Uncovering intrinsic connectional architecture of functional Uncovering intrinsic connectional architecture of functional networks in awake rat brain networks in awake rat brain

Intrinsic connectional architecture of the brain is a crucial element in understanding the governing principle of brain organization. To date, enormous effort has been focused on addressing this issue in humans by combining resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) with other techniques. However, this research area is significantly underexplored in animals, perhaps because of confounding effects of anesthetic agents used in most animal experiments on functional connectivity. To bridge this gap, we have systematically investigated the intrinsic connectional architecture in the rodent brain by using a previously established awake-animal imaging model. First, group independent component analysis was applied to the rsfMRI data to extract elementary functional clusters of thebrain.Theconnectionalrelationshipsbetweentheseclusters,asevaluatedbypartialcorrelationanalysis,werethenusedtoconstructagraphofwhole-brainneuralnetwork.Thisnetworkexhibitedthetypicalfeaturesofsmall-worldnessandstrongcommunitystructuresseeninthehumanbrain.Finally,thewhole-brainnetworkwassegregatedintocommunitystructuresusingagraph-basedanalysis.Theresultsofthisworkprovidedafunctionalatlasofintrinsicconnectionalarchitectureoftheratbrainatbothintraregionandinterregionlevels. Moreimportantly,thecurrentworkrevealedthatfunctionalnetworksinratsareorganizedinanontrivialmannerandconservefundamentaltopologicalpropertiesthatarealsoseeninthehumanbrain.Giventhehighpsychopathologicalrelevanceofnetworkorganizationofthebrain,thisstudydemonstratedthefeasibilityofstudyingmechanismsandtherapiesofmultipleneurologicalandpsychiatricdiseasesthroughtranslationalresearch.
Peripheral Lymphocyte Proliferation Negatively Regulates Thymocyte and ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter G1

Cholesterol is a key component of cell membranes and is essential for cell growth and proliferation. How the accumulation of cellular cholesterol affects lymphocyte development and function is not well understood. We demonstrate that ATP-binding cassette transporter G1 (ABCG1) regulates cholesterol homeostasis in thymocytes and peripheral CD4 T cells. Our work is the ﬁrst to describe a cell type in Abcg1 -deﬁcient mice with such a robust change in cholesterol content and the expression of cholesterol metabolism genes. Abcg1 -deﬁcient mice display increased thymocyte cellularity and enhanced proliferation of thymocytes and peripheral T lymphocytes in vivo. The absence of ABCG1 in CD4 T cells results in hyperproliferation in vitro, but only when cells are stimulated through the TCR. We hypothesize that cholesterol accumulation in Abcg1 2 / 2 T cells alters the plasma membrane structure, resulting in enhanced TCR signaling for proliferation. Supporting this idea, we demonstrate that B6 T cells pretreated with soluble cholesterol have a signiﬁcant increase in proliferation. Cholesterol accumulation in Abcg1 2 / 2 CD4 T cells results in enhanced basal phosphorylation levels of ZAP70 and ERK1/2. Furthermore, inhibition of ERK phosphorylation in TCR-stimu-lated Abcg1 2 / 2 T cells rescues the hyperproliferative phenotype. We describe a novel mechanism by which cholesterol can alter signaling from the plasma membrane to affect downstream signaling pathways and proliferation. These results implicate ABCG1 as an important negative regulator of lymphocyte proliferation through the maintenance of cellular cholesterol homeostasis. The Journal of Immunology , 2010, 184: 173–183.
A Bird in Hand: An Examination of the Influence of Nursing School Proximal Density on Hospital Quality of Care Outcomes in U.S. Hospitals

While nurse staffing shortage is generally true, it is not universal, and it remains unclear the degree to which variation in local staffing markets might influence the relationship between nurse staffing and care quality. This study seeks to determine the effect of nurse staffing markets on the quality of hospital care delivered in U.S. hospitals by examining the relationship between the proximal density of nurse staffing resources to hospitals and patient-reported care quality outcomes. This examination analyzes hospital performance on (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) HCAHPS based on the proximal density of nursing schools. The analysis combines data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare (N1 = 2959) and U.S. nursing school locations from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (N2 = 811) via a series of binary logistic regressions to determine whether local nurse staffing availability is related to hospital’s attainment of either low or high star quality ratings. A sensitivity analysis is also offered to determine the association with 1, 3, and 5-star ratings. The findings suggest that the odds of receiving both a low-star rating and a high-star rating of HCAHPS performance increase as proximal density increases while the odds of receiving a 3-star rating decrease. Hospitals are able to achieve the highest levels of performance as high performing hospitals in high-density markets seem to be taking advantage of resource availability to establish close, strong ties with nurse staffing resources as opposed to viewing nurses as an easily replaceable resource.
Airway Macrophages Encompass Transcriptionally and Functionally Distinct Subsets Altered by Smoking

Alveolar macrophages (AMs) are functionally important innate cells involved in lung homeostasis and immunity and whose diversity in health and disease is a subject of intense investigations. Yet, it remains unclear to what extent conditions like smoking or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) trigger changes in the AM compartment. Here, we aimed to explore heterogeneity of human AMs isolated from healthy nonsmokers, smokers without COPD, and smokers with COPD by analyzing BAL fluid cells by flow cytometry and bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing. We found that subpopulations of BAL fluid CD206+ macrophages could be distinguished based on their degree of autofluorescence in each subject analyzed. CD206+ autofluorescenthigh AMs were identified as classical, self-proliferative AM, whereas autofluorescentlow AMs were expressing both monocyte and classical AM-related genes, supportive of a monocytic origin. Of note, monocyte-derived autofluorescentlow AMs exhibited a functionally distinct immunoregulatory profile, including the ability to secrete the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10. Interestingly, single-cell RNA-sequencing analyses showed that transcriptionally distinct clusters of classical and monocyte-derived AM were uniquely enriched in smokers with and without COPD as compared with healthy nonsmokers. Of note, such smoking-associated clusters exhibited gene signatures enriched in detoxification, oxidative stress, and proinflammatory responses. Our study independently confirms previous reports supporting that monocyte-derived macrophages coexist with classical AM in the airways of healthy subjects and patients with COPD and identifies smoking-associated changes in the AM compartment that may favor COPD initiation or progression.