Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Active noise control systems

A retrospective review of the development of active noise control systems is presented, arguing that the design of active noise control (ANC) systems should be considered from a control systems point of view. This approach provides a design methodology that accounts for the design parameters of the system which determine its performance, thereby producing an ANC system that reduces the problems associated with, and the limited practical success of, previous techniques. Based on this argument, the fundamental conditions required for cancellation are derived in terms of the power spectral densities of the primary and secondary waves. These conditions are in turn related to the geometry-related (incorporating the acoustic response of the propagation medium) and source-related parameters of the system. From these conditions, the control structures employed in current ANC systems are examined and compared with the reported applications. A method for the design of controllers for use in ANC systems with broadband compact noise sources suitable for implementation on digital signal processing devices is presented. Using this method, experimental results using differing controllers are illustrated and discussed for both synthetic and practical sources. Finally, current developments in ANC systems are summarised and areas for further work are suggested.
The use of information and communication technologies in Nigerian Baptist churches

The purpose of the study was to investigate the information and communication technologies (ICT) resources in use in these churches and the constraints being experienced in the use of these resources. The study adopted a descriptive survey method through random sampling of respondents. The respondents were sampled during the 2010 ministers Conference of The Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso. A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed and 520 received. The study revealed that, Baptist churches pastors use ICT for sermon preparation, worship and running of teaching materials during service. Findings also showed that, educational background played a great factor in the use of ICT by the pastors themselves and in their churches. Some of the challenges faced by Baptist pastors in the use of ICT principally are lack of ICT education, personnel and finance. The study recommends that, ICT training and education should be a core part of the curriculum in the training of Baptist pastors as most are ignorant of ICT resources and how they can be applied for private and public benefits. Key words: Information and communication technologies (ICT) resources, Ogbomoso, Baptist churches, pastors.
Excess loop delay in continuous-time delta-sigma modulators

Continuous-time (CT) delta-sigma modulators (/spl Delta//spl Sigma/M's) suffer from a problem not seen in discrete-time (DT) designs, that of excess loop delay: nonzero delay between the quantizer clock edge and the time when a change in output bit is seen at the feedback point in the modulator. This paper analytically shows how such delay affects the equivalence between the CT modulator loop filter and its DT counterpart. The effect of this delay on modulator dynamic range is studied through simulation for the standard double-integration (low pass) CT modulator and its equivalent fourth-order f/sub s//4 band pass circuit. For the first time, the results are extended to higher order low-pass and bandpass designs, as well as multibit designs. Methods for alleviating the performance loss caused by excess loop delay are also discussed.
A theoretical study on ground movement prediction for braced excavation in soft clay

Abstract Braced excavation in urban areas requires control of ground movements as well as wall deflection. Previously interpolation from empirical database or numerical analysis by finite element method is used for estimation of ground settlement. But these methods are relatively complex and sometimes important assumptions are invalid at different situations. A design approach for calculating wall deflection and ground settlement is proposed by Bolton and Osman (2006) assuming the plastic deformation mechanism. Here, in this paper this design method is extended by presenting displacement profiles at different zones of the mechanism with different mathematical functions on the basis of ground settlement profile suggested by Peck (1969) and reported case study of Kolkata Metro Excavation (Som, 1991). From this deformation function incremental shear strain is calculated and average shear strain mobilized in each zone is expressed in term of maximum deflection. The conventional hyperbolic stress strain relationship is used to relate mobilized shear stress and shear strain. Finally, the total loss of potential energy is equated with the virtual work done by the soil within the deformed zone in order to develop an equation which may serve as a design tool for calculating ground surface movement and wall deflection at different stages of excavation at different depth.
Copy number profiling of circulating free DNA predicts transarterial chemoembolization response in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the most commonly used treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but still lacks accurate real‐time biomarkers for monitoring its therapeutic efficacy. Here, we explored whether copy number profiling of circulating free DNA (cfDNA) could be utilized to predict responses and prognosis in HCC patients with TACE treatment. In total, 266 plasma cfDNA samples were collected from 64 HCC patients, 57 liver cirrhosis (LC) patients and 32 healthy volunteers. We performed low‐depth whole‐genome sequencing (LD‐WGS) on cfDNA samples to conduct copy number variant (CNV) analysis and tumour fraction (TFx) quantification. Then, the correlation between TFx/CNVs and therapeutic efficacy, treatment outcomes and lipiodol deposition were explored. The change in TFx during TACE treatment was associated with patients' tumour burden, and could accurately and earlier predict treatment response and prognosis, providing an alternative strategy other than mRECIST. Meanwhile, the chromosomal 16q/NQO1 amplification indicated worse therapeutic response; in patients who underwent multiple TACE sessions, TFx change during their first TACE treatment reflected the long‐term survival; additionally, the copy number amplification of chromosome 1q, 3p, 6p, 8q, 10p, 12q, 18p or 18q affected lipiodol deposition. Overall, we have provided a new liquid biopsy approach for future TACE management of HCC patients.
Basic principle for the solution of the building evacuation problem

Nowadays, there exist different offers to find the solution of the building evacuation problem. As we analyze in the state of the art, this problem can be studied from different perspectives and even as a problem of optimization considering different objectives. We can wonder on which is the most suitable formulation and the response can be as confusing as saying that it depends on our aims. The more important things to study the ideal building evacuation, understood as the distribution of the occupants towards the exits that achieves the minimal evacuation time, are the valid principles for any formulation of the problem. One of them appears in the present work. To expose the principle, we use graphical procedures that are applied to the optimization of the enclosure evacuation. In the exposed procedure, speeds and constant flows of traffic are considered to model the movement of the persons. Ways and possible delays in the beginning of the bulging evacuation are studied
Design of dual-band tri-way GaN doherty power amplifier with frequency dependent power division

A dual-band tri-way Doherty power amplifier (PA) with frequency dependent power division is proposed. Compared to the dual-band two-way Doherty PA, the power back-off range of the dual-band tri-way Doherty PA is extended efficiently. Due to frequency dependent power division, the efficiency of the proposed PA is improved at two different frequencies concurrently. The measured results show that power-added efficiencies of 61 and 44% are reached at the 9 dB back-off point from saturation at 0.9 and 2.31 GHz, respectively.
A coordinated control of voltage and reactive power by heuristic modeling and approximate reasoning

A flexible approximate reasoning approach to coordinated control of voltage and reactive power in order to enhance the voltage security of an electric power system is presented. The control strategy is expressed by simple rules, which measure the proximity of system state to certain operating conditions, and utilize linear equations to obtain the effective control models. The desired control actions are determined by considering several criteria at the same time. The procedure has been applied to a model system in order to verify its effectiveness. The simulation results show the advantages of this fuzzy modeling approach over conventional expert systems for voltage-reactive-power control. >
Generation of Time-Series Working Patterns for Manufacturing High-Quality Products through Auxiliary Classifier Generative Adversarial Network

Product quality is a major concern in manufacturing. In the metal processing industry, low-quality products must be remanufactured, which requires additional labor, money, and time. Therefore, user-controllable variables for machines and raw material compositions are key factors for ensuring product quality. In this study, we propose a method for generating the time-series working patterns of the control variables for metal-melting induction furnaces and continuous casting machines, thus improving product quality by aiding machine operators. We used an auxiliary classifier generative adversarial network (AC-GAN) model to generate time-series working patterns of two processes depending on product type and additional material data. To check accuracy, the difference between the generated time-series data of the model and the ground truth data was calculated. Specifically, the proposed model results were compared with those of other deep learning models: multilayer perceptron (MLP), convolutional neural network (CNN), long short-term memory (LSTM), and gated recurrent unit (GRU). It was demonstrated that the proposed model outperformed the other deep learning models. Moreover, the proposed method generated different time-series data for different inputs, whereas the other deep learning models generated the same time-series data.
Flexibility in migratory strategy contrasts with reliance on restricted staging and overwintering grounds for Sabine’s gulls from the Canadian High Arctic

Abstract Sabine’s gulls (Xema sabini) undertake the longest migration of any gull, a trans-equatorial journey between Arctic breeding and southern hemisphere wintering areas. For such long-distance migrants, quantifying within- and between-individual variation in migratory strategy is key towards understanding resilience to environmental variability encountered over migration. We tracked 22 birds on 32 migrations from the Canadian Arctic to evaluate strategies and quantify flexibility among individuals and years. All birds undertook extended stopovers in a geographically-restricted staging area halfway through migration in the California Current System in both directions. Individuals were otherwise flexible in most aspects of migration but were repeatable in arrival date and duration of the southbound staging phase. Routes taken during southbound migration and overlap in overwintering areas were significantly larger within the same year than among years. Overall, birds showed high individual flexibility in migratory strategies but made similar decisions to one another in the same years. Every year, all birds showed repeatable, consistent reliance on the staging grounds as a key stopover site in both directions. This suggests Sabine’s gulls adjust to environmental change in many aspects of their migration but may be vulnerable to climate change and other anthropogenic influences during critical stages of the journey.
Analysis of a method to measure the dodecapole component of the LHC triplet magnets with a wobbling closed bump

Due to finite manufacturing tolerances the triplet quadrupoles used in the interaction regions of LHC will have non-vanishing multipole errors which need to be measured and corrected in order to guarantee sufficient dynamic aperture at collision energy. Here we discuss a method to measure the unwanted multipole components by oscillating a closed orbit bump inthe in teractionregionan d observin g the orbit at pickups outside the bump. The beam’s response will contain very weak signals at harmonic frequencies of the sinusoidal excitation. Even though the amplitude of the harmonic signal will be below the resolution of the position monitor system, it can be made visible by adding noise to the original pickup data and subsequent careful filtering and averaging. We use a simple computer model to simulate the oscillating bump that generates pickup signals and then analyze those in a sophisticated signal processing chain in order to retrieve the magnitude of the unwanted multipole components.
Avian influenza overview September – December 2021

Abstract Between 16 September and 8 December 2021, 867 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus detections were reported in 27 EU/EEA countries and the UK in poultry (316), in wild (523) and in captive birds (28). The detections in poultry were mainly reported by Italy (167) followed by Hungary and Poland (35 each). Tha majority of the detections in wild birds were reported by Germany (280), Netherlands (65) and United Kingdom (53). The observed persistence and continuous circulation of HPAI viruses in migratory and resident wild birds will continue to pose a risk for the poultry industry in Europe for the coming months. The frequent occurrence of HPAI A(H5) incursions in commercial farms (including poultry production types considered at low avian influenza risk) raises concern about the capacity of the applied biosecurity measures to prevent virus introduction. Short‐term preparedness and medium‐ and long‐term prevention strategies, including revising and reinforcing biosecurity measures, reduction of the density of commercial poultry farms and possible appropriate vaccination strategies, should be implemented. The results of the genetic analysis indicate that the viruses characterised during this reporting period belong to clade 2.3. 4.4b. Some of the characterized HPAI A(H5N1) viruses detected in Sweden, Germany, Poland and United Kingdom are related to the viruses which have been circulating in Europe since October 2020; in North, Central, South and East Europe novel reassortant A(H5N1) virus has been introduced starting from October 2021. HPAI A(H5N1) was also detected in wild mammal species in Sweden, Estonia and Finland; some of these strains characterised so far present an adaptive marker that is associated with increased virulence and replication in mammals. Since the last report, 13 human infections due to HPAI A(H5N6) and two human cases due to LPAI A(H9N2) virus have been reported from China. Some of these A(H5N6) cases were caused by a reassortant virus of clade 2.3. 4.4b, which possessed an HA gene closely related to the A(H5) viruses circulating in Europe. The risk of infection for the general population in the EU/EEA is assessed as low, and for occupationally exposed people, low to medium, with large uncertainty due to the high diversity of circulating viruses in the bird populations.
Interpretation of DGA data and its use in the detection of malfunctions (transformers)

Dissolved gas analysis (DGA) has been used for more than 20 years to evaluate the behaviour of oil filled electrical equipment. The analysis carried out by gas chromatography, allows the determinations of the principal gas, hydrogen, hydrocarbons in C1, C2 and C3 and carbon oxides, which can be generated by an oil impregnated insulation under various fault conditions. The IEC 567 Publication gives the sampling and analysis methods. Its revision, which has now been completed by IET TC 10, includes the test methods with the latest improvements and specifies the detection limits following the analysis concerning samples taken in apparatus in service or samples taken during factory tests. The author discusses the interpretation of the DGA including diagnosis of the condition of equipment and the nature of the fault at the origin of gas production. >
Detailed analysis of POD method applied on turbulent ﬂow

Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of a very turbulent flow inside a street canyon is performed. The energy contribution of each mode is obtained. Also, physical meaning of the POD result is clarified. Particular modes of POD are assigned to the particular flow events like a sweep event, a vortex behind a roof or a vortex at the bottom of a street. Test of POD sensitivity to the acquisition time of data records is done. Test with decreasing sample frequency is also executed. Fur- ther, interpolation of POD expansion coefficient is performed in order to test possible increase in sample frequency and get new information about the flow from the POD analysis. We tested a linear and a spline type of the interpolation and the linear one carried out a slightly better result.
Hepatoprotective effect of acetovanillone against methotrexate hepatotoxicity: Role of Keap‐1/Nrf2/ARE, IL6/STAT‐3, and NF‐κB/AP‐1 signaling pathways

This study targeted to examine the protective effects of acetovanillone (AV) against methotrexate (MTX)‐induced hepatotoxicity. Thirty‐two rats were allocated into four groups of eight animals; Group 1: Normal; Group 2: administered AV (100 ml/kg; P.O.) for 10 days; Group 3: challenged with MTX (20 mg/kg, i.p; single dose); Group 4: administered AV 5 days before and 5 days after MTX. For the first time, this study affords evidence for AV's hepatoprotective effects on MTX‐induced hepatotoxicity. The underlined mechanisms behind its hepatic protection include counteracting MTX‐induced oxidative injury via down‐regulation of NADPH oxidase and up‐regulation of Nrf2/ARE, SIRT1, PPARγ, and cytoglobin signals. Additionally, AV attenuated hepatic inflammation through down‐regulation of IL‐6/STAT‐3 and NF‐κB/AP‐1 signaling. Network pharmacology analysis exhibited a high enrichment score between the interacting proteins and strongly suggested the intricate and essential role of the target proteins regulating MTX‐induced oxidative damage and inflammatory perturbation. Besides, AV increased the in vitro cytotoxic activity of MTX toward PC‐3, HeLa, and K562 cancer cell lines. On the whole, our investigation suggested that AV might be regarded as a promising adjuvant for the amelioration of MTX hepatotoxicity and/or increased its in vitro antitumor efficacy, and it could be used in patients receiving MTX.
Modeling the Dynamics and Forecasting the fourth Peak of COVID-19 in Iran Using PSO Algorithm

Background and aims: Iran had passed the third peak of COVID-19 pandemic, and was probably witnessing the fourth peak at the time of this study. This study aimed to model the spread of COVID-19 in Iran in order to predict the short-term future trend of COVID-19 from April 23, 2021 to May 7, 2021. Methods: In this study, a modified SEIR epidemic spread model was proposed and the data on the number of cases reported by Iranian government from February 20, 2020 to April 23, 2021 were used to fit the proposed model to the reported data using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Then the short-term future trend of COVID-19 cases were predicted by using the estimated parameters. Results: The results indicated that the effective reproduction number increased in Nowruz (i.e., Persian New Year, 1400) and it was estimated to be 1.28 in the given period. According to the results from the short-term prediction of COVID-19 cases, the number of active confirmed cases in the fourth peak was estimated to be 516411 cases on May 2, 2021. Conclusion: Following the results from our short-term prediction, implementing strict social distancing policies was found absolutely necessary for relieving the Iran’s health care system of the tremendous burden of COVID-19.
IOT-BASED SMART ENVIRONMENTS: STATE OF THE ART, SECURITY THREATS AND SOLUTIONS

Abstract. Smart environments provide many benefits to the users including comfort, convenience, energy efficiency, safety, automation, and service quality. The Internet of Things (IoT) has developed to become one of the widely used technologies in smart environments. Many security attacks and threats are generated by security flaws in IoT-based systems and devices, which may affect smart environments applications. As a result, security is one of the most important issues in any smart area or environment based on the IoT model. This paper presents an overview of smart environments based on IoT technology and highlights the main security issues and countermeasures in the four layers of smart environment IoT architecture. It also reviews some of the current solutions that ensure the security of information in smart environments applications.
Propensity score-integrated Bayesian prior approaches for augmented control designs: a simulation study

ABSTRACT Drug development can be costly, and the availability of clinical trial participants may be limited either due to the disease setting (rare or pediatric diseases) or due to many sponsors evaluating multiple drugs or combinations in the same patient population. To maximize resource utilization, sponsors may leverage patient-level control data from historical trials. However, in a study with no control arm, it is impossible to evaluate if the historical controls are an appropriate comparator for the current study. Here, instead of conducting a single-arm trial and relying solely on historical controls, we evaluate the situation where a minimal number of patients are enrolled into a control arm, which is augmented by borrowing historical control data. Propensity score (PS) methods are commonly used to minimize bias for non-randomized data. In addition, Bayesian information borrowing with PS adjustments has been proposed when it may not be reasonable to include all available historical data. This paper proposes using PS adjustment integrated with Bayesian commensurate priors to adaptively borrow information. We then evaluate the performance of different PS adjustment methods and different Bayesian priors for augmented control using simulation studies to help inform the design of future trials. In general, we find that propensity weighting or matching combined with the commensurate prior yield reasonable statistical properties across a range of scenarios. Finally, our proposed methods are applied to a real trial with a binary outcome. Abbreviations: PS: propensity score; IPTW: inverse probability of treatment weighting; ATT: average treatment effect on those who received treatment; RCT: randomized controlled trial; CDD: covariate distribution difference; ESS: effective sample size