Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CMOS triode-transistor transconductor for high-frequency continuous-time filters

The paper describes a high-frequency fully-CMOS differential transconductor, which uses MOS transistors biased in the triode region with a constant drain-to-source voltage. The measured total harmonic distortion (THD) of the transconductor achieved using conventional 2 µm n-well CMOS technology, is -46 dB for a 1.2Vpeak input signal at 10 MHz (supply voltage=5 V). A second-order continuous-time filter with the characteristic frequency tunable in the 10 MHz range is realised. It occupies a silicon area of 0.21 mm2 and requires a power consumption of 12 mW. Its measured THD (in the low-pass configuration) is -50 dB with a 0.8Vpeak differential input. Tuning capabilities are also shown.
Using Sentinel-2 to Track Field-Level Tillage Practices at Regional Scales in Smallholder Systems

Zero tillage is an important pathway to sustainable intensification and low-emission agriculture. However, quantifying the extent of zero tillage adoption at the field scale has been challenging, especially in smallholder systems where field sizes are small and there is limited ground data on zero tillage adoption. Remote sensing offers the ability to map tillage practices at large spatio-temporal scales, yet to date no studies have used satellite data to map zero tillage adoption in smallholder agricultural systems. In this study, we use Sentinel-2 satellite data, random forest classifiers, and Google Earth Engine to map tillage practices across India’s main grain producing region, the Indo-Gangetic Plains. We find that tillage practices can be classified with moderate accuracy (an overall accuracy of 75%), particularly in regions with relatively large field sizes and homogenous crop management practices. We find that models that use satellite data from only the first half of the growing season perform as well as models that use data throughout the growing season, allowing for the creation of within-season tillage maps. Finally, we find that our model can generalize well through time in the western IGP, with reductions in accuracy of only 5–10%. Our results highlight the ability of Sentinel-2 satellite data to map tillage practices at scale, even in smallholder systems where field sizes are small and cropping practices are heterogeneous.
A Graph-based Method for Interbeat Interval and Heart Rate Variability Estimation Featuring Multichannel PPG Signals During Intensive Activity

Inter-beat-interval (IBI) and heartrate variability (HRV) is important for numerous health monitoring applications. Although photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensors in wearables enable measurement of IBI, motion artifacts significantly impact the ability to accurately measure IBI. In this paper, we design a graph-based method to estimate IBI from motion-corrupted multi-channel PPG. We extract candidate heartbeats from noisy signals and leverage continuity in heartbeats to model them as a directed acyclic graph. IBI estimation is then modeled as a shortest-path problem in this graph. Our algorithm achieves percentage error of 4.33% and correlation of 0.94 for IBI estimation in motion-contaminated segments of PPG signals.
Comparative analysis of the exosomal contents of DF-1 cells infected by ALV-J

Exploration of the abnormal expression of exosomal molecules during the infection of avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) is essential to provide a deeper understanding of the exosome’s role in the viral pathogenesis involved. The study aimed to investigate the differentially expressed proteins and miRNAs of the exosomes derived from DF-1 cells infected by ALV-J, their gene function and involved signal pathways. We isolated exosomes from DF-1 cells infected by ALV-J. The differentially expressed proteins and miRNAs of the exosomes were determined by proteomics and transcription detection technology. A Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and a Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) signal pathway analysis identified the miRNAs target genes and the signal pathways regulated by the different proteins or/and miRNAs. A total of 116 proteins (58 upregulated and 58 downregulated) and 3 miRNAs (all upregulated) were determined. These proteins were involved in 155 signal pathways, in which the highest number of proteins involved in the cancer pathway was (up to) seven. The target genes of the miRNAs were involved in 3 signal pathways. Both the proteins and target genes of the miRNAs were involved in the Ribosome pathway and ECM-receptor interaction pathway. The results suggested that the ALV-J infection changed the proteins and miRNAs of the exosomes significantly.
Changing Dimensional Feedback Correction Method of INS/GPS Integrated Navigation System Based on Lever Arm Estimation

In traditional INS/GPS integrated navigation system, whether a error state can be feedback is determined by its observability, however, in that there is no precise motion reference, it is difficult to judge whether the system is observable, therefore, which error states can be feedback is hard to determine. According to the vehicle’s maneuver’s effect on error states’ observability, a changing dimensional feedback correction method based on lever arm estimation error minimization is proposed. In the beginning phase of Kalman filtering, part of error states feedback correction was executed on a 18 dimensional error sates vector including lever arm error, this scheme runs until the difference between lever arm estimation and it’s measurement less than the setting threshold, all error states feedback correction was executed with a 15 dimensional error states model. The flying test shows that the estimation result with all error states feedback is prevail to that of part of error states feedback correction after lever arm estimation error converges. The proposed method is of great value in engineering application.
A method of defining the load impedance specification for a stable distributed power system

By applying the loop gain analysis technique, a forbidden region for the polar plot of the ratio of impedances at the interface between two cascaded subsystems is determined. A method of transforming the forbidden region into a load impedance specification for a given source impedance is developed. The method assures system stability and minimal performance degradation of the distributed power system, while allowing impedance overlap at the interface. <<ETX>>
Information sources using chaotic dynamics

A sequence of binary random variables has found significant applications in modem digital communication systems. For such sequences, several kinds of linear feedback shift register sequences have been proposed. It is, however, well known in probability theory that the Bernoulli shift is a fundamental theoretic model of a sequence of independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) binary random variables. In this paper after reviewing fundamental subjects of chaotic dynamics, in particular a close relationship between information sources and Markov chains, we give the generation method of sequences of i.i. d. binary random variables using chaotic dynamics. Such a generation method is given as a sufficient condition composed of simple symmetric properties for some class of ergodic maps. Furthermore, we give the applications of such sequences: (1) to running-key sequences for stream cipher systems and (2) to a color image communication system through code-division multiple access channels and its extended version, a digital watermarking system. In addition, the performance of spread spectrum codes generated by a Markov chain is theoretically evaluated in asynchronous direct-sequence/code-division multiple access systems.
A climatological feature with forecasting aspect of heavy rainfall events over Kolkata

In this paper an attempt has been made to study climatological characteristics and forecasting aspects of heavy rainfall over Kolkata for data of 34 years of period from 1974 to 2007. Total 184 events has been found out and the data set has been subjected to various types of analysis along with favourable synoptic system and critical index for occurrence of heavy rainfall over Kolkata. Average occurrence is found as 5.4 events per year. Monthly distribution shows maximum of 26% events in July followed by September 20%, August17% and June as 14%. Seasonal distribution naturally indicates maximum of 77% occurrence during monsoon followed by post-monsoon with 14% and pre-monsoon with 09 %. Synoptic analysis revealed that majority of heavy rainfall events occurred due to low pressure system (LPS). Study of 167 cases (during June to October) suggests that when any one of the favourable synoptic condition prevailed over the region and DPD-Wind-PW-WS index reaches a critical value, heavy to very heavy rain occurred over Kolkata and suburban areas.
The McGill Digital Orchestra: An Interdisciplinary Project on Digital Musical Instruments

A digital musical instrument (DMI) comprises a control surface that controls the parameters of a digital synthesis algorithm in real time. In the Digital Orchestra Project, a three-year research/creation project, the synthesis engine was hosted on a general-purpose computer, while the gestural control surfaces were new hardware devices created for the project. The mapping between gestural data and synthesis parameters was carried out through the use of custom-written software: The Mapper.
Data Warehouse Strategy to Enable Performance Analysis

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has engaged to implement an enterprise data warehouse as part of a strategic investment in its information technology (IT) infrastructure. Data warehousing provides an information architecture that serves as the enterprisewide source of data for performance analysis and organizational reporting. To assist VDOT in achieving its strategic outcome area objectives, a programming and scheduling (P&S) data mart is being developed to track preconstruction project activities. This data mart and subsequent data marts function as departmental decision support platforms, enabling VDOT’s operating divisions to perform their own enhanced analytical processing, visualization, and data mining for more informed business decision capabilities. Presented is a case study based on the enterprise data warehouse and P&S data mart being developed and implemented for VDOT by TransCore. Explicitly described is how one VDOT division, Programming and Scheduling, will benefit by investing in IT to achieve its strategic goals. The design approach, methodology, and implementation procedure for the P&S decision support data mart are detailed. The methodology for capturing the performance measures that have been defined by the P&S division in the context of its strategic outcome areas is highlighted. Recommended future direction and the technologies that the agency should adopt to continue to maximize their IT investment are outlined.
A Discourse Analysis of Accounting Syllabuses to Assess the Extent of Curriculum Change: The Case of Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education

This study was undertaken to assess the extent of changes brought by the Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE). The LGCSE replaced the British General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCE O level). The new system was hailed as modern and progressive, recognizing wider ability performance. The study employed a comparative research methodology within qualitative research paradigm, comparing two Accounting syllabuses from GCE O level and LGCSE. Document and discourse analysis was used to obtain data. The study found that despite the educational rhetoric accompanying the introduction of the LGCSE, the syllabuses did not reflect any substantial changes or shifts.
Optimization Of A Ship’s ICCP System ToMinimize Electrical And Magnetic Signature ByMathematical Simulation

In this paper, the protective effect and distribution of the magnetic field of cathodic protection (CP) systems designed by experience were calculated by the boundary element method (BEM), and the calculation results had agreement with the measured results when the ship berthed at port, which suggested that calculation results are accurate. The performance of the CP system was optimized by moving the position of the anodes, as well as changing the output current of the anodes. The objective was to design the system to minimize the electric and magnetic field and provide adequate protection. Calculation results show that when the anodes were symmetrically installed at the 130 frame and the 232 frame, the corrosion related magnetic field and total output current were reduced by about 40% and 8.6% respectively.
Serum Metabolic Profiles Based on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy among Patients with Deep Vein Thrombosis and Healthy Controls

Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Studies on changes in the level of metabolites could have the potential to reveal biomarkers that can assist in the early detection, diagnosis, monitoring of DVT progression, response to treatment, or recurrence of DVT. In this scenario, the metabolomic analysis can provide a better understanding of the biochemical dysregulations of thrombosis. Using an untargeted metabolomic approach through magnetic resonance spectroscopy and multi- and univariate statistical analysis, we compared 40 patients with previous venous thrombosis and 40 healthy individuals, and we showed important serum differences between patients and controls, especially in the spectral regions that correspond to glucose, lipids, unsaturated lipids, and glycoprotein A. Considering the groups depending on risk factors and the local of the previous episode (lower limbs or cerebral system), we also noticed differences in metabolites linked to lipids and lactate. Comparative analyses pointed to altered ratios of glucose/lactate and branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs)/alanine, which might be associated with the fingerprints of thrombosis. Although samples for metabolomic analysis were collected months after the acute episode, these results highlighted that, alterations can still remain and may contribute to a better understanding of the complications of the disease.
Integration of Physical Activity in Reablement for Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Scoping Review

Abstract The aim of this study was to map evidence of how physical activity (PA) strategies are integrated and explored in research of interdisciplinary, time-limited reablement for community dwelling older adults and to identify knowledge gaps. Following an apriori protocol, we searched eight databases for eligible studies, in addition to citation and reference searches. Study selection and data-extraction was made independently by two reviewers. Fifty-one studies were included, showing that exercises and practice of daily activities were included in the majority of intervention studies, but in most cases little information about exercise components or strategies for increasing PA were provided. There was insufficient evidence for any synthesis of how reablement affects older adults’ PA levels, their physical fitness or how PA is experienced in reablement. There is a need to further investigate how the promotion of PA can be adequately implemented in reablement and how it may affect older adults’ function.
Design of high gain slotted patch antenna with defected ground for WLAN/WiMAX applications

A new defected ground plane planar antenna feed by microstrip line is proposed for triple-band wireless communi- cations. The proposed design of the antenna contains a radiating patch embedded with pair of open square-loop slot and pair of arc slot, and full length ground plane with defect on it. The final optimized design of the antenna is printed on ceramic filled polytetrafluoroethylene based dielectric substrate with size of 50 mm × 55 mm and 1.905 mm thick. The measured data reveal that the antenna offers bandwidths of 630, 600 and 690 MHz at 2.49, 3.54 and 5.6 center resonant frequency respectively which can cover the bandwidth requirements for WLAN/WiMAX standards. The antenna offers good radiation pattern and reflection coefficient characteristics in the frequency band of interest. Moreover, the experimental results well agreed with the simulated results of the proposed antenna and it can be a good candidate for multiband operations in wireless applications.
Adoption of Computer Assisted Audit Tools and Techniques (CAATTs) by Internal Auditors: Current issues in the UK

Adoption of Computer Assisted Audit Techniques and Tools (CAATTs) has not only become a beneficial choice for some businesses, but has become a fundamental part of many audit methodologies. (CICA, 1994; Progrob, Isenberg, 1999; Paukowits, 2000; Hudson, 1998). However, little is known about the adoption process for these tools. This research posits that further knowledge about the motivations for successful adoption of CAATTs may be contained in general literature on IT adoption activity. It also argues this could be usefully supplemented to address wider implementation and operational issues by better understanding of existing practices of internal audit departments who use CAATTs extensively to illustrate best practice in this field that others could benefit from. This paper therefore reviews, then makes use of, current theories that are seeking to better understand IT adoption processes (in particular, the most recent unified theory called the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology - UTAUT) and explores the application of this theory to the specialized domain of CAATTs adoption for internal audit. This is undertaken initially using a survey instrument to collect quantitative data on the potential applicability of this theory. Building on the results of this survey, a series of ten mini-case studies is then used to add qualitative depth to the survey results. Using a combination of these two approaches, a model of successful CAATTs adoption by internal auditors is then proposed. This resulting model is comprised of four dimensions covering the issues of; factors influencing motivation, best practices of implementation, performance measurement criteria and challenges that can become barriers to successful implementation. This paper details the theoretical foundations used for the development of this model, details the empirics used to explore the motivational theory for adoption, presents the resulting model and illustrates the validation performed on the model.
Influence of Lanthanum Oxycarbonate Deposition on Carbon Dioxide Detection

This work aims to compare two deposition methods to highlight the strong influence of the induced morphology on the sensitive film conductivity. Lanthanum oxycarbonate films have been deposited by drop coating and screen printing for carbon dioxide detection. The measurements are based on a change in resistance and provide sensitive responses to carbon dioxide concentrations in a humid environment maintained at 50%. Electrical measurements were made under 5 000 ppm of carbon dioxide in synthetic air. Our results highlighted the close link between the morphology of the sensitive layers and the electrical responses of the sensors, and therefore the need to master the deposition technique.
Biased gates CMOS resistive ring mixer

A biased gates passive resistive ring mixer with integrated baluns in 0.18‐μm CMOS Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacture Company (TSMC) process is reported. The mixer shows 10% improvement compared with the mixer without biased gates. This is the first circuit report of biased gates resistive ring mixer with integrated baluns. The circuit has been designed and optimized for 2.4 GHz RF frequency and for applying in the contactless heart rate extraction system using microwave Doppler radar. The circuit has the conversion loss of 8.36 dB for 2.4 GHz frequency and indicates 17% improvement compared to the similar types without gate biasing have been reported so far. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:388–391, 2015
Prying Action—a General Treatment*

7th Edition Manual, this method is not restricted to specific bolt-plate combinations, since all major parameters which influence the prying action are included in the model. The Q denotes the prying force per bolt and is assumed to act as a line load at the edge of the flange. Test results have shown this to be a reasonable assumption for conditions near ultimate, as long as the edge distance a is within certain limits. The tensile load in the fastener is Bc, and the corresponding applied load per bolt is equal to T. The bending moment at the interface between the web and the flange is taken as Mc, and the moment at the bolt line due to prying force Q is taken equal to δαMc where δ is equal to the ratio of the net area (at the bolt line section bb) and the gross area (at the web face section aa) of the flange. The α represents the ratio between the moment per unit width at the centerline of the bolt line and the flange moment at the web face. When α = 0, it corresponds to the case of single curvature bending, i.e., no prying action, and α = 1 corresponds to double curvature bending and maximum prying action. Note that, from physical considerations, 0 ≤ α ≤ 1.
POP-OP: A Shape Memory-Based Morphing Wall

Recent tendencies in architecture take a unique point of view, with aesthetically novel and unnatural sensibilities emerging from a close scrutiny and study of apparently natural systems. These tendencies are being driven by mathematical and computational abstractions that transform the way we understand the matterinformation relationship. This project was inspired by Op Art, a twentieth century art movement and style in which artists sought to create an impression of movement on an image surface by means of an optical illusion. Passive elements consisting of composite laminates were produced with the goal of creating lightweight, semi-rigid, and nearly transparent pieces. The incorporation of active materials comprised a unique aspect of this project: the investigation of surface movement through controlled and repeatable deformation of the composite structure using shape memory alloy (SMA) wiring technology. The integration of composite materials with SMA wiring and Arduino automation control resulted in an architectural wall that incorporated perceptual and actual motion.
Impact of Potassium Pre-Harvest Applications on Fruit Quality and Condition of Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium L.) Cultivated under Plastic Covers in Southern Chile Orchards

In rainy locations, sweet cherry is cultivated under plastic covers, which are useful to prevent fruit cracking but decrease cherry quality such as firmness and acidity. Here we evaluate the impact of pre-harvest K foliar applications on harvest and post-harvest fruit quality and condition of sweet cherry cultivated under plastic covers in southern Chile orchards. The study was performed on two commercial orchards (cv. Regina), located in different regions, during two consecutive seasons. In all cases, a conventional K regime (four sprays) was compared to an intensive K regimen (seven sprays). Results showed that cherries from the most southern region revealed lower acidity but higher soluble solids content weight and size. The intensive K regime improved the firmness and acidity of fruits of covered trees at harvest and post-harvest. Moreover, we found that condition defects were higher in fruits from un-covered trees and that trees grown under intensive K regime showed lower levels of cracking at harvest and pitting at post-harvest compared to trees treated with the conventional K regime. Otherwise, pedicel browning was inconsistently affected by K sprays. Our results revealed that an intensive K regime could improve the quality and condition of fruits at harvest and post-harvest in covered orchards of sweet cherry cv. Regina; however, the impacts can significantly vary depending on season and locality.