Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of Voltage Gain Tolerance Due to the Resonant Circuit Variation of LLC Resonant Converter

The LLC converter is a n attractive solution for high power application, hence many photovoltaic systems which use LLC converter have been proposed. It is important on mass production stage to clarify the relationship between design parameters and its voltage gain tolerance which is caused by component variations. This issue is especially important for systems whose LLC converter is directly connected to photovoltaic panels, because there is no boost converter which can compensate insufficient voltage gain of the LLC converter. However the voltage gain tolerance of the LLC converter has rarely studied. Therefore we researched the relationship between the voltage gain tolerance and three normalized parameters which are related to the resonant circuit by Monte Carlo analysis . As a result, it has found that there is a linear area where voltage gain tolerance becomes to be small in quality factor – inductance ratio plane. By utilizing this knowledge, designers can reduce unnecessary losses of the LLC converter which are generated by too much voltage gain margin.
Assembly-free and alignment-free sample identification using genome skims

The ability to quickly and inexpensively describe taxonomic diversity is critical in this era of rapid climate and biodiversity changes. The currently preferred molecular technique, barcoding, has been very successful, but is based on short organelle markers. Recently, an alternative genome-skimming approach has been proposed: low-pass sequencing (100Mb – several Gb per sample) is applied to voucher and/or query samples, and marker genes and/or organelle genomes are recovered computationally. The current practice of genome-skimming discards the vast majority of the data because the low coverage of genome-skims prevents assembling the nuclear genomes. In contrast, we suggest using all unassembled reads directly, but existing methods poorly support this goal. We introduce a new alignment-free tool, Skmer, to estimate genomic distances between the query and each reference genome-skim using the k-mer decomposition of reads. We test Skmer on a large set of insect and bird genomes, sub-sampled to create genome-skims. Skmer shows great accuracy in estimating genomic distances, identifying the closest match in a reference dataset, and inferring the phylogeny. The software is publicly available on https://github.com/shahab-sarmashghi/Skmer.git
Smart energy management system for microgrid planning and operation.

A Smart grid refers to an electricity transmission and distribution system that incorporates elements of traditional and cutting-edge power engineering, information technology, and communications, which can provide better grid performance and to support a wide array of additional custom services to consumers. A smart grid would facilitate the full use of sustainable energy technologies like solar power, wind power and fuel cells with the help of distributed energy storage systems (ESS). To understand the behavior of a smart grid, the author develops models suitable for overall analysis and design. The final goal is to lay the groundwork which would allow efficient management of the smart grid by solving all kinds of optimization problems, i.e., minimizing the operating costs, enhancing efficiency and reducing emission level while meeting the load demand. Smart Energy Management System (SEMS) is a core part for a smart grid system, which can make this system more intelligent. The optimal placement of the capacitors with the renewable energy is also discussed in this thesis. To handle the multi-objective optimization in the smart grid, a Jump and Shift method is proposed in this thesis. It aims to solve a large scale linear/nonlinear programming problem where the constraints are related to another large scale linear/nonlinear programming. A 14-bus and 112-bus power systems are tested to verify the multi-objective optimization algorithm based on the Jump and Shift method. ESS plays an important role in the smart grid. It is desirable to shave the peak demand and store the surplus electrical/renewable energy. A new method based on the cost-benefit analysis for the optimal sizing of an ESS in a microgrid (MG) is proposed. The Unit Commitment problem with the required spinning reserve capacity for the MG is considered in this method. To deal with the optimal control of ESS, the author presents an online management energy system for the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery based on the proposed mathematical battery model and the adaptive Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) method. The proposed technique can be used to predict the state of charge (SOC) of the Li-ion battery via the online measured voltage and current.
Effects of Host Plants on Bacterial Community Structure in Larvae Midgut of Spodoptera frugiperda

Simple Summary The gut microbiota plays an important role in insect physiology and behavior. The interaction among the different structures of gut bacterial community in the fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, and different host plants, and whether these different gut bacteria are responsible for the rapid spread of FAW to a variety of host plants after invasion are largely unexplored. In the present paper, we used a culture-independent approach targeting the bacterial 16S rRNA gene of gut bacteria of the 5th instar larvae of FAW fed on four different host plants. It aimed to analyze the effects of host plants on gut bacteria abundance, community structure and metabolic function. We found that host plants exerted considerable effects on the structure and composition of the gut bacteria in FAW and the differences among the four groups identified were significant. They were related to the detoxification and adaptation of FAW to toxic secondary metabolites of the host plant. These differences enabled the gut microbiome to perform different functions. This study lays a foundation for further studies on the function of intestinal bacteria in FAW and the adaptive mechanism to the host. Abstract The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, is one of the most important invasive species and causes great damage to various host crops in China. In this study, the diversity and function of gut bacteria in the 5th instar larvae of FAW fed on maize, wheat, potato and tobacco leaves were analyzed through 16S rRNA sequencing. A total of 1324.25 ± 199.73, 1313.5 ± 74.87, 1873.00 ± 190.66 and 1435.25 ± 139.87 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) from the gut of FAW fed on these four different host plants were detected, respectively. Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the most abundant bacterial phyla. Beta diversity analysis showed that the gut bacterial community structure of larvae fed on different host plants was significantly differentiated. At the genus level, the abundance of Enterococcus in larvae fed on wheat was significantly lower than those fed on the other three host plants. Enterobacter and ZOR0006 were dominant in FAW fed on tobacco leaves, and in low abundance in larvae fed on wheat. Interestingly, when fed on Solanaceae (tobacco and potato) leaves which contained relative higher levels of toxic secondary metabolites than Gramineae (wheat and maize), the genera Enterococcus, Enterobacter and Acinetobacter were significantly enriched. The results indicated that gut bacteria were related to the detoxification and adaptation of toxic secondary metabolites of host plants in FAW. Further analysis showed that replication, repair and nucleotide metabolism functions were enriched in the gut bacteria of larvae fed on tobacco and potato. In conclusion, the gut bacterial diversity and community composition in FAW larvae fed on different host plants showed significant differences, and the insect is likely to regulate their gut bacteria for adaptation to different host plants.
A NEW APPROACH FOR RESOLVING CYBER CRIME IN NETWORK FORENSICS BASED ON GENERIC PROCESS MODEL

Current network forensics approaches are costly and time consuming. In addition, these approaches normally use active and reactive processes to resolve cyber crimes, and such processes start after the cyber crime has been identified, which makes identifying useful evidence difficult. Moreover, the information required to understand and resolve cyber crime are limited. This paper proposes a new approach to resolve cyber crime in network forensics. The proposed approach aims to use cyber crime evidence to help investigators to resolve cyber crime efficiently. The paper presents the current network forensics approaches and various existing digital forensics models in order to determine the suitable process to be used in the proposed approach. Thus, the proposed approach based on the generic and modern process model for network forensics.
Development of prototype text-to-speech systems for northern sotho

Two text-to-speech synthesis systems were developed for one of the eleven official languages of South Africa, viz. Northern Sotho. A diphone synthesis system, based on extraction of diphones from nonsense words, was constructed. A cluster unit selection synthesis system, based on recordings of sentences containing a selection of most common words in Northern Sotho, was also built. The Festival speech synthesis system was used for both systems. Both of these systems performed well in a subjective evaluation.
The role of healthcare providers in using the knowledge of sickle cell trait to mitigate health problems in African American Clients

Background: Sickle cell trait (SCT) for long has been regarded as a benign condition and as such healthcare providers do little to nothing to mitigate adverse health problems associated with sickle cell trait. An effective approach to improving health outcome for those with SCT is to educate providers on SCT, its complications and management. This study is aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of an educational intervention on providers’ knowledge, attitude and practice regarding sickle cell trait. Method: A quasi experiment study was conducted in Jackson Health System on 30 providers belonging to internal medicine team to evaluate their pre and post knowledge, attitude and practice towards SCT. Result: Out of 30 providers recruited for the study, 21 completed both the pretest and posttest questionnaire giving a response rate of 70%. The overall score improved after the educational intervention, however the overall mean score for pretest and posttest was not significantly different (p = 0.223). There was a significant difference (p = 0.045) between the knowledge mean score for pretest and posttest. Attitude scores for pretest and posttest were not significantly different (p= 0.545). A similar finding was obtained for practice score (P-value 0.604). Conclusion: Educational intervention was effective in improving knowledge, attitude and practice of providers regarding sickle cell trait. Therefore this effort must be sustained through continuous education within the institution to increase awareness towards sickle cell trait among healthcare providers especially for new hires.
Transplant Outcome in Mice Effects of T Cell Frequency and Graft Size on

The features that determine whether graft-reactive T lymphocytes develop into effector cells capable of mediating organ destruction are not well understood. To investigate potential factors involved in this process, we ﬁrst conﬁrmed that female recipient mice acutely rejected minor Ag-disparate male skin, but not heart transplants. Despite this difference in outcome, heart and skin transplantation induced antidonor T cell responses of similar magnitude, speciﬁcity, and cytokine proﬁle. The heart-graft-primed T cells transiently inﬁltrated the graft and ultimately induced the development of chronic transplant vasculopathy. Increasing the frequency of donor-reactive T cells by presensitization or by using TCR (CD8 (cid:1) antimale)-transgenic recipients did not mediate acute rejection but accelerated the pace and severity of the vasculopathy. Surprisingly, decreasing the tissue mass of the donor heart by 50% resulted in acute rejection of these smaller grafts without increasing the frequency of antidonor effector T cells in the recipients. In complementary studies, placement of one or two male skin grafts on a single recipient did not affect the frequency or cytokine proﬁle of the induced antimale T cell repertoire. Nonetheless, the recipients of single grafts acutely rejected the transplanted skin while the recipients of two skin grafts did not. These results provide new insight into the pathogenesis of transplant vasculopathy and provide an explanation for the difference in outcome between murine skin and heart transplants by highlighting the novel concept that the efﬁciency of transplant-reactive T cell immunity is heavily inﬂuenced by the tissue burden it encounters at the effector stage. The Journal of Immunology, 2004, 172: 240–247.
Intelligent Agent Transparency

We evaluated the usability and utility of an unmanned vehicle management interface that was developed based on the Situation awareness–based Agent Transparency model. We sought to examine the effect of increasing levels of agent transparency on operator task performance and perceived usability of the agent. Usability and utility were assessed through flash testing, a focus group, and experimental testing. While usability appeared to decrease with the portrayal of uncertainty, operator performance and reliance on key parts of the interface increased. Implications and next steps are discussed.
IgG4-Related disease simulating paraneoplastic syndrome: Role of 18FDG PET/CT imaging

Abstract Immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related systemic disease (IgG4-RSD) is a new systemic entity associated with autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP). Other organ involvements take the form of sclerosing cholangitis, sclerosing cholecystitis, sclerosing sialadenitis, retroperitoneal fibrosis, and interstitial nephritis. Recently, lung diseases related to IgG4 have been described to occur with or without other organ involvement. These diseases include interstitial lung disease (ILD), pulmonary inflammatory pseudotumor, and lymphomatoid granulomatosis. Most of these cases occur in combination with AIP, which also appears to have a general preponderance for males. The true incidence of IgG4-related ILD and the incidence of AIP are unknown. Here, we describe a case of a 53-year-old gentleman who presented with weight loss, fever, loose motions, altered sensorium, and persistent low hemoglobin, for which he was referred for 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan to diagnose probable underlying occult malignancy/paraneoplastic syndrome. It revealed features suggestive of IgG4 disease involving the pancreas and lungs, which was confirmed subsequently.
Genetic Variability of Polypedilum (Diptera: Chironomidae) from Southwest Ecuador

Simple Summary Polypedilum is a genus of aquatic non-biting midges in the family Chironomidae. This genus is widely distributed in neotropical rivers from lowlands to Andean highlands. Nevertheless, making species identification based on morphology is quite complex, even more so in the Neotropics, since systematic studies of this group are scarce. DNA barcoding can help to overcome this problem using a short DNA sequence as a barcode for species delimitation. A fragment of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase I (CO1) has been successfully employed as a barcode in the genus Polypedilum. In this study, our aim was to understand the effect of environmental characteristics on Polypedilum diversity and distribution. We examined the CO1 sequence of 68 Polypedilum specimens from rivers with different environmental conditions located in an important biogeographic area of Ecuador. We identified five morphotypes and seven putative species which revealed high genetic variability among them. Polypedilum distribution seems to be affected mainly by two environmental factors, dissolved oxygen, and temperature. Our study is the first evidence of richness within the genus in Ecuador, highlighting the importance of developing taxonomic studies along with ecological assessments to further describe and identify new species. Abstract Chironomids show a wide distribution and can occupy several habitats due to their high adaptive capacity in different freshwater environments. The genus Polypedilum is found along a wide elevational and environmental gradient in the neotropics, and its genetic variability could help to elucidate factors determining its distribution and tolerance to the environmental changes of different species or populations. This study examines the genetic variability of Polypedilum in an important biogeographic area that acts as a geographical barrier of biodiversity at the border of the Choco and Tumbes biomes. We identified five Polypedilum morphotypes using classic taxonomic methods. We examined 68 Polypedilum individuals from eight sampling sites in El Oro Province, Ecuador, analyzing the putative molecular species using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) mitochondrial gene fragment. Then, we calculated molecular diversity indices, Haplotype diversity (Hd), and θs and θπ estimators. Seven Polypedilum OTUs were determined from which a high molecular diversity was registered. A CCA was conducted to understand the population composition in relation to environmental characteristics. Results indicated that dissolved oxygen and temperature are the main environmental factors affecting Polypedilum distribution across elevational gradients and between basins.
‘It Was Worth Every Minute, I’m Proud of the Way It Turned Out!’ Defining Reading and Writing in the Digital Age

Drawing on research conducted in a Maltese government school, this paper presents a definition for the terms ‘reading’ and ‘writing’ in a digital age, given that definitions tend to be dominated by traditional concepts of reading and writing that ignore the role of digital technology (Lankshear and Knobel, 2008; Levy, 2011). Data were mainly collected through classroom observations with two different groups of children. One of these classes was participating in the One Tablet per Child Pilot Project, a project part-financed by the European Union Social Fund under the Ministry of Education and Employment. Children’s drawings, focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews were analysed in order to explore what it means to read and write today and understand how these terms are defined by teachers and students. This paper answers the two research questions: ‘How do students and teachers define reading and writing in the 21st Century? ’ and ‘How are children reading and writing in the digital age? ’ The definitions provided by teachers and students focused on conveying, presenting and comprehending texts through the use of paper-based resources, however this contrasted with the observations. Reading and writing on-screen involved a complex array of skills that differed from reading and writing on paper. Reading was seen as a collaborative activity which often involved physical interaction as well as a need to follow multidirectional pathways and interact with various modes. Similarly writing on-screen involved a high element of ‘design’, physicality, touch and collaboration with others.
Perceptual-Based Locally Adaptive Noise and Blur Detection

The quality of real-world visual content is typically impaired by many factors including image noise and blur. Detecting and analyzing these impairments are important steps for multiple computer vision tasks. This work focuses on perceptual-based locally adaptive noise and blur detection and their application to image restoration. In the context of noise detection, this work proposes perceptual-based full-reference and no-reference objective image quality metrics by integrating perceptually weighted local noise into a probability summation model. Results are reported on both the LIVE and TID2008 databases. The proposed metrics achieve consistently a good performance across noise types and across databases as compared to many of the best very recent quality metrics. The proposed metrics are able to predict with high accuracy the relative amount of perceived noise in images of different content. In the context of blur detection, existing approaches are either computationally costly or cannot perform reliably when dealing with the spatially-varying nature of the defocus blur. In addition, many existing approaches do not take human perception into account. This work proposes a blur detection algorithm that is capable of detecting and quantifying the level of spatially-varying blur by integrating directional edge spread calculation, probability of blur detection and local probability summation. The proposed method generates a blur map indicating the relative amount of perceived local blurriness. In order to detect the flat/near flat regions that do not contribute to perceivable blur, a perceptual model based on the Just Noticeable Difference (JND) is further integrated in the proposed blur detection algorithm to generate perceptually significant blur maps. We compare our proposed method with six other state-of-the-art blur detection methods. Experimental results show that the proposed method performs the best both visually and quantitatively. This work further investigates the application of the proposed blur detection methods to image deblurring. Two selective perceptual-based image deblurring frameworks are
Evaluation and Prediction Method of System Security Situational Awareness Index Based on HMM Model

In recent years, with the continuous development and progress of information technology and science and technology, big data has entered all walks of life, integrated into the lives of the public, and has become a necessity for social operation; the gradual development of artiﬁcial intelligence has also made life in modern times. People in society are more and more convenient. However, the development of science and technology is also accompanied by corresponding problems, and the war in information has gradually started. This paper simulates the possible information security through the hidden Markov model and then veriﬁes the feasibility and eﬀectiveness of the situation assessment method and the situation prediction method, in order to eﬀectively evaluate the relevant information security level and eﬀectively predict the accuracy of the situation value. The experimental results show that the ﬂuctuation of the situation value corresponds to the diﬀerent attack behaviors carried out by the attacker, accurately describes the information security status of the system, and veriﬁes the eﬀectiveness and accuracy of the situational awareness method proposed in this paper, while the situation prediction method based on ARIMA predictable short-term changes in situational values can be used for short-term forecasts that require high accuracy.