Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonlinear PI control with adaptive interaction algorithm for multivariable wastewater treatment process

The wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is highly known with the nonlinearity of the control parameters, thus it is difficult to be controlled. In this paper, the enhancement of nonlinear PI controller (ENon-PI) to compensate the nonlinearity of the activated sludge WWTP is proposed. The ENon-PI controller is designed by cascading a sector-bounded nonlinear gain to linear PI controller. The rate variation of the nonlinear gain is automatically updated based on adaptive interaction algorithm. Initiative to simplify the ENon-PI control structure by adapting has been proved by significant improvement under various dynamic influents. More than 30% of integral square error and 14% of integral absolute error are reduced compared to benchmark PI for DO control and nitrate in nitrogen removal control. Better average effluent qualities, less number of effluent violations, and lower aeration energy consumption resulted.
The Great Canadian Grain Logistics Crisis of 2013-14 and Its Aftermath

This study revisits the Great Canadian Grain Logistics Crisis of 2013-14 to explore the competitiveness of the country's grain exports. An approach to comprehending the dilemmas of the international grain supply chain and trade, and national logistics policy in an era of multinational corporations, draws upon the literature on global value chain analysis. This analysis identifies both the grain industry's global and local dimensions. An important literature on the 'politics’ of the supply chain is also called into play to discuss who controls what aspects. This task of interpreting the various steps in Canada's grain logistics chain recognizes the key economic actors producers, grain companies, railway companies, port terminal operators and export buyers and political struggles between them as they each seek to maximize their self-interest. Policy implications for streamlining logistics operations are drawn from identifying where changes in the supply chain arrangements have gained or lost opportunities in export markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
Co-occurrence between macrophytes and macroinvertebrates: towards a new approach for the running waters quality evaluation?

Several studies on concordance between macrophyte and macroinvertebrate communities were carried out for decades while any investigation on co-occurrence of single pair of taxa of these two groups was never addressed. Our main aim was to verify the existence of co-occurrence of single macrophyte–macroinvertebrate pair in a Mediterranean river of central Italy. We compared the co-occurrence frequencies of different plant and animal taxa with those expected by chance through the null model approach. Specifically, we proposed two main co-occurrence patterns of macrophyte and macroinvertebrate taxa in terms of aggregation (when groups co-occur more frequently than expected) and segregation (when groups co-occur less frequently than expected). This approach was supported by correlations and analysis of covariance in order to identify the most significant co-occurring pairs. In this study we collected a total of 123 taxa (50 macrophytes + 73 macroinvertebrates) in October 2008 and 102 (42+60) in June 2009. We obtained a total of 379 significantly correlating macrophyte-macroinvertebrate pairs. Amongst all these correlating pairs, 83.7% of them correlated in October session while 90.3% in June. All the correlating pairs showed a high relationships with human alterations in both the sampling sessions. Our results confirmed that direct correlations there are between macrophytes and macroinvertebrates, highlighting how these two biological groups co-occur mainly following the aggregative model in both sampling sessions. Therefore, it was possible to observe significant relationships between macrophyte and macroinvertebrate pairs along an entire river ecosystem. It allows us to demonstrate that there are some prospective for trying to increase the knowledge on macrophytes-macroinvertebrates co-occurrence and for suggesting to use only single pair of co-occurring taxa in the monitoring running water quality. Aware that more investigations ought to be performed for confirming our proposal, the findings of the present study may be suggested as a new monitoring tool since it represents an investigation approach easy in the application, feasible and rapid in the execution, and within the European Water Framework Directive freshwater management policies. In addition, a such tool does not need a detailed taxonomical expertise since its applicability is restricted only to the few taxa indicated as representatives of a certain water quality condition.
Nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation of population size based on the counting distribution

Summary. The paper discusses the estimation of an unknown population size n. Suppose that an identification mechanism can identify nobs cases. The Horvitz–Thompson estimator of n adjusts this number by the inverse of 1−p0, where the latter is the probability of not identifying a case. When repeated counts of identifying the same case are available, we can use the counting distribution for estimating p0 to solve the problem. Frequently, the Poisson distribution is used and, more recently, mixtures of Poisson distributions. Maximum likelihood estimation is discussed by means of the EM algorithm. For truncated Poisson mixtures, a nested EM algorithm is suggested and illustrated for several application cases. The algorithmic principles are used to show an inequality, stating that the Horvitz–Thompson estimator of n by using the mixed Poisson model is always at least as large as the estimator by using a homogeneous Poisson model. In turn, if the homogeneous Poisson model is misspecified it will, potentially strongly, underestimate the true population size. Examples from various areas illustrate this finding.
Deciphering the role of vaginal and sperm metagenome in the success of artificial insemination in sheep

For the first time the vaginal and sperm microbiota of ewes and rams relative to artificial insemination (AI) success have been studied. Hypervariable regions V3 and V4 of the 16s ribosomal gene have been sequenced with a MiSeq Illumina platform in 50 ewes from 5 different herds and 5 AI rams. Microbiota differences at the phylum, family, genera and species were tested for antibiotic treatment in progesterone releasing intravaginal devices (PRIDs), pregnancy rate, AI ram and herd. Results showed that antibiotic treatment only affects the presence of Streptobacillus which was 21 times more abundant (padj=0.0002) in ewes carrying PRIDs without antibiotic. One species of this genus, Streptobacillus notomytis, was 19 times more abundant in non-pregnant that in pregnant ewes, which reveals the efficiency of framycetin in the PRIDs to increase AI fertility. Mageebacillus, Histophilus, Actinobacilllus and Sneathia genera were 70, 25, 22 and 13 (p_adjusted<0.05) times more abundant in non-pregnant than in pregnant ewes. These genera are also highly overrepresented in two of the three herds with the lowest AI success. Mageeibacillus genus belongs to the family Ruminococcaceae and has been recovered from the genital tract of women with bacterial vaginitis. Sneathia has been associated with bacterial vaginosis, spontaneous abortion and other invasive infections in woman. Actinobacillus and Histophilus belong to the HAP group (Haemophilus-Actinobacillus-Pasteurella), which includes great number pathogens resistant to most cellular defence mechanisms, and are related with epididymitis, vaginitis, placentitis, infertility, abortions in the ovine species. However, Actinobacillus and Histophilus were not detected from the sperm samples of the AI rams here analysed. The high presence of these genera in non-pregnant ewes and herds with low AI success could be due to the venereal transmission of these microorganisms by natural mating with rams exiting in the herds.
Enabling factors for establishing REDD+ in a context of weak governance

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) has emerged as an important carbon governance mechanism. However, forest governance is weak in most REDD+ countries, which undermines efforts to establish REDD+. This study analyses the factors that enable national REDD+ processes in the context of weak governance using a two-step ‘qualitative comparative analysis’ (QCA) of 12 REDD+ countries. Assuming that actor-related factors can be effective only if certain institutional preconditions are met, six factors were divided into two categories that were analysed separately: institutional setting (pressure from forest-resource shortage; forest legislation, policy, and governance; already initiated policy change) and the policy arena (national ownership; transformational coalitions; inclusiveness of the policy process). The factors were analysed to determine their role in efforts to establish comprehensive REDD+ policies that target transformational change. The results reveal path dependencies and institutional stickiness in all the study countries. Only countries already undertaking institutional change have been able to establish REDD+ policies in a relatively short period – but only in the presence of either high pressure from forest-resource shortages or key features of effective forest legislation, policy, and governance. Furthermore, where an enabling institutional setting is in place, the policy arena conditions of national ownership and transformational coalitions are crucial.Policy relevance Although the aim of REDD+ is to provide performance-based payments for emissions reductions, the outcomes in terms of actual emission reductions or co-benefits are not yet observable. Most REDD+ countries are still at the design and implementation stage for policies and measures. Indicators and criteria to measure progress in this phase are required to identify which factors enable or hinder countries' performance in delivering necessary policy change to provide targeted financial incentives to support countries' efforts. This study analyses the factors that shape national REDD+ processes in the context of weak governance using a two-step QCA of 12 REDD+ countries. The results show a set of enabling conditions and characteristics of the policy process under which REDD+ policies can be established. These findings may help guide other countries seeking to formulate REDD+ policies that are likely to deliver efficient, effective, and equitable outcomes.
Traveling convection vortices induced by solar wind tangential discontinuities

[1] Two typical magnetic impulse events (MIEs) accompanied by traveling convection vortices (TCVs) are investigated. The analysis of their conjugate equivalent convection patterns is performed using magnetic field data obtained from high-latitude ground magnetometer networks in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. A three-dimensional analysis of solar wind structures is also performed using solar wind data obtained from multiple International Solar-Terrestrial Physics satellites. In the first event observed at � 1310 UT on 22 May 1996, a westward moving TCV appeared simultaneously in the noon-to-dawn sector in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The solar wind source of this TCV is found to be a tangential discontinuity (TD), which causes a rapid northward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and abrupt dynamic pressure changes. In the second event observed at � 1610 UT on 27 May 1998, an eastward moving TCV appeared in the noon sector in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with a timing delay of 2 to 3 min in the Southern Hemisphere. The solar wind source of this TCV is found again to be a TD, which causes a rapid IMF By negative turning and an abrupt enhancement of dynamic pressure. Analyses show that the TDs driving these events have their motional electric fields pointing toward the TDs and their normal vectors with large cone angles from the sunward direction. These TDs satisfy the conditions for the formation of a hot flow anomaly (HFA) at the bow shock. The sweeping motion across the magnetosphere of the intersection of the TD and the bow shock is found to be consistent with the observed TCV motion in each event. Magnetopause deformations due to HFAs can explain all the observed morphological features and the triggering process of these two MIEs. It is suggested, however, that bursty merging and/or pressure pulses would reinforce the processes produced by the HFAs, since the TDs are usually accompanied by both abrupt IMF changes and pressure enhancements. Consequently, it seems reasonable to conclude that the integrated processes of HFA, bursty magnetic field merging, and pressure pulses produce the evolution of these MIEs and TCVs. INDEX TERMS: 2784 Magnetospheric Physics: Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions; 2724 Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers; 2708 Magnetospheric Physics: Current systems (2409); 2463 Ionosphere: Plasma convection; KEYWORDS: traveling convection vortex, magnetic impulse event, interplanetary tangential discontinuity
Uniform treatment of Jensen type inequalities

The main purpose of this paper is to give the uniform treatment of the Jensen type inequalities. Using the Green function, we give some new conditions for Jensen's inequality to hold. Integral and discrete case are presented. In the discrete version we get the generalization of the results from [A. McD. Mercer: An "error term" for the Ky Fan inequality, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 220 (1998), 774-777. ] and [A. McD. Mercer: Some new inequalities involving elementary mean values, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 229 (1999), 677-681. ], and in integral version the generalization of the results from [J. E. Pecaric, I. Peric, H. M. Srivastava: A family of the Cauchy type mean-value theorems, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 306 (2005) 730-739. ]. Using the same method we also give adequate results for the converses of the Jensen inequality. As a consequence, also the results concerning the Hermite-Hadamard inequalities are presented.
Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium Losses in a Grazing System with Different Stocking Rates in a Volcanic Soil

A B S T R A C T In Chile there is little information on nutrient losses in livestock systems. The experiment was carried out between 2004 and 2006. Two stocking rates (3.5 and 5.0 steers ha -1 ) were tested under rotational grazing with Black and White Friesian steers on a permanent pasture (67.5 kg N and 40 kg P ha -1 yr -1 ). To quantify surface runoff losses (N, P, K), three surface lysimeters (5 x 5 m) per treatment were established. N and K leaching losses were estimated with ceramic cups. Runoff and leachate samples were individually analyzed for available and total N, reactive (RP) and total P, and K. Dissolved organic N (DON) and organic P (OP) were estimated as the difference between total and available forms. The stocking rate did not increase total N, P and K losses (P > 0.05). Losses in surface runoff were < 0.5 kg N, < 0.05 kg P and < 0.6 kg K ha -1 yr -1 , respectively, due to the low amount of runoff measured. Nitrogen leaching losses were high (11 up to 71 kg ha -1 yr -1 ) and K leaching losses were low (3 to 5 kg ha -1 yr -1 ). Nitrogen in runoff was mainly lost as DON (50%). Nitrogen leaching losses were mainly as nitrate (70%). Phosphorus was lost as RP (70%). Thus, stocking rates of 5.0 steers ha -1 are plausible, but fertilizer application should be avoided in rainfall periods during the year to reduce incidental nutrient losses.
Feature Extraction by Mutual Information Based on Minimal-Redundancy-Maximal-Relevance Criterion and Its Application to Classifying EEG Signal for Brain-Computer Interfaces

Dimensionality reduction of the raw input variable space is an essential preprocessing step in the classification process. In general, it is desirable to keep the dimensionality of the input features as small as possible to reduce the computational cost of training a classifier as well as its complexity (Torkkola, 2003; Murillo & Rodriguez, 2007). Moreover, using large number of features, when the number of data is low, can cause degradation of the classification performance (Chow & Huang, 2005). Reduction of the number of input features can be done by selecting useful features and discarding others (i.e., feature selection) (Battiti, 1994; Kwak & Choi, 2002; Peng et al., 2005; Estevez et al., 2009; Sindhwani et al., 2004) or extracting new features containing maximal information about the class label from the original ones (i.e., feature extraction) (Torkkola, 2003; Hild II et al., 2006; Kwak, 2007; Murillo & Rodriguez, 2007). In this paper, we focus on feature selection methods. A variety of linear feature extraction methods have been proposed. One well-known feature extraction methods may be principal component analysis (PCA) (Li et al., 2006). The purpose of PCA is to find an orthogonal set of projection vectors or principal components for feature extraction from given training data through maximizing the variance of the projected data with aim of optimal representing the data in terms of minimal reconstruction error. However, in its feature extraction for classification tasks, PCA does not sufficiently use class information associated with patterns and its maximization to the variance of the projected patterns might not necessarily be in favor of discrimination among classes, thus naturally it likely loses some useful discriminating information for classification. Linear discrimination analysis (LDA) is another popular linear dimensionally reduction algorithm for supervised feature extraction (Duda et al., 2001). LDA computes a linear transformation by maximizing the ratio of between-class distance to within-class distance, thereby achieving maximal discrimination. In LDA, a transformation matrix from an ndimensional feature space to a d-dimensional space is determined such that the Fisher criterion of between-class scatter over within-class scatter is maximized. LDA algorithm assumes the sample vectors of each class are generated from underlying multivariate
Comparison of Power Output from Solar PV Panels with Reflectors and Solar Tracker

In this paper, performance enhancement of solar Photo Voltaic (PV) panels has been experimented utilizing diffused reflectors and solar-tracker in other to determine the one with higher power output. An intelligent solar tracker and diffused reflector augmented systems were designed, developed and installed to compare the power output that can be generated from each of them when standing alone; and which system will achieve higher power output so as to reduce the number of PV panels required at any given time especially when cost is a major factor. For this comparative study, experimental readings were simultaneously taken from the panel, with sun tracker and the panel with diffuse reflectors aligned at 23.5 0 with the horizontal. Experimental results indicate appreciable increase in the overall power output of the solar panels. It is discovered that the power output of the panel with reflectors was higher from about 11 am till 2 pm, while the panel with tracking was higher at other times. The average power output of the system for a day is about the same. Looking at the cost of fabrication and the complexity of the tracking system, the reflector system is the better option. Keywords: Diffuse Reflectors, Performance enhancement, Power output, Solar PV panels, Tracking system.
Convective instabilities in a backward-facing step flow: global forced perturbations

The two-dimensional (2D) stability of a backward-facing step fiow is investigated at the low Reynolds number Re = 500. Optimal energy growth of linear perturbations sustained by harmonic forcing is computed for several frequencies. The maximum sustained energy growth is of order 105 at frequency fS ∼ 0.08 and is related to the excitation of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the shear layer of the separated fiow. Stability results are compared to a direct numerical simulation (DNS) forced by a random signal.
Energy Efficiency Regulation and R&D Activity: A Study of the Top Runner Program in Japan

The Top Runner Program, a new approach to enhancing the energy efficiency of appliances and vehicles, has been in-troduced in Japan. In this paper an empirical analysis of the impact of the program and the labeling systems on firms’ R&D efforts is carried out. The results show that the Top Runner Program and the labeling system for appliances led to increases in R&D expenditures by appliance producers. The program combined with the labeling system caused a 9.5% increase in appliance producers’ R&D expenditures. However, the Top Runner Program and the labeling system for motor vehicles had little or even a negative effect on the innovative activity of motor vehicle manufacturers. R&D ex-penditures by motor vehicle producers may have increased in response to the exhaust gas regulation for diesel-powered vehicles rather than the energy efficiency regulation.
Large-scale releases of native species: the mallard as a predictive model system

Human alteration of natural systems, and its consequences are of great concern and the impact on global ecosystems is one of the biggest threats that biodiversity stands before. Translocations of invasive species, as well as intraspecific contingents with non-native genotypes, whether they are deliberate or unintentional, are one such alteration and its consequences are continuously being assessed. The mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is the most numerous and widespread duck in the world and a flagship in wetland conservation. It is also an important game species which is heavily restocked for hunting purposes, especially in Europe where over three million ducklings are released every year. Because of its hunted status, its abundance, and the number of released individuals, it can serve as a model species to study effects of releases, both for conservation and restocking for hunting, on wild populations. In this thesis the status of the mallard was assessed in the Nordic countries and the effects of releases on the wild populations were studied by mining historical ringing data, comparing morphology of present-day wild, farmed, and historical mallards, and analyzing phylogeography of wild and farmed mallards in Europe. The status of the mallard population in the Nordic countries are generally good, however, a joint effort of European countries is needed to monitor and manage the population. A significant difference between wild and farmed mallards concerning longevity, migration, bill morphology and genetic structure was also found, together with signs of cryptic introgression of farmed genotypes in the wild population with potential fitness reduction as a result. The effect is however limited by that only a fraction of released farmed mallards reach the breeding season due to low survival. A natural captive environment is crucial to keep individuals wild-like with high survival rates after release. However, with an introgression of potentially maladapted farmed genotypes leading to a reduction in fitness, a low survival of released mallards would favor the wild population. A legislative change regarding obligation to report numbers, provenance, and release sites of farmed mallard should be considered, together with practical solutions of ringing and genetic monitoring of released mallards.