Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A double-hybrid spread-spectrum technique for EMI mitigation in DC-DC switching regulators

Randomizing the switching frequency (RSF) to reduce the electromagnetic interference (EMI) of switching power converters is a well-known technique that has been previously discussed. The randomized pulse position (RPP) technique, in which the switching frequency is kept fixed while the pulse position (the delay from the starting of the switching cycle to the turn-on instant within the cycle) is randomized, has been previously addressed in the literature for the same purpose. This paper presents a double-hybrid technique (DHB) for EMI reduction in dc-dc switching regulators. The proposed technique employed both the RSF and the RPP techniques. To effectively spread the conducted-noise frequency spectrum and at the same time attain a satisfactory output voltage quality, two parameters (switching frequency and pulse position) were randomized, and a third parameter (the duty ratio) was controlled by a digital compensator. Implementation was achieved using field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology, which is increasingly being adopted in industrial electronic applications. To evaluate the contribution of the proposed DHB technique, investigations were carried out for each basic PWM, RPP, RSF, and DHB technique. Then a comparison was made of the performances achieved. The experimentally investigated features include the effect of each technique on the common-mode, differential-mode, and total conducted-noise characteristics, and their influence on the converter’s output ripple voltage.
The role of institutions in economic performance

The purpose of the article is to survey the significant literature on the role of institutions – formal and informal constraints that affect investment in physical and human capital – in economic performance and propose a new, comprehensive definition and classification of institutions, as well as to develop a conceptual model to illustrate the interaction between institutions and socioeconomic development. The literature shows that institutions played an important role in facilitating technological progress and leading the world into the modern economic regime. Moreover, quantitative research proves that institutions significantly impact socioeconomic performance around the globe.
Critical language assessment: students' voices at the heart of educational system

A B ST R A C T This study attempted to bring Critical Language Testing principles into practice by means of distributing the power, traditionally hold by teachers as the only source of knowledge, in a more unprejudiced way. The study took advantages of three features of fifteen CLT principles proposed by Shohamy (2001). Based on the first feature, which is encouraging an active, critical response from test-takers; learners could develop an assessment scale including five components which was used in the subsequent steps in their peer assessment. In line with the second principle, which is admitting to the limited knowledge of any tester and the need for multiple sources of knowledge, learners moved toward the leading edge taking the control of assessment process to some extent. Peer assessment as one criterion of democratic assessment was applied. The third principle exploited in the study was considering ‘interpretive’ approaches to assessment that allow for different meanings and interpretations rather than a single absolute truth. Students’ scores were reported by both quantitative and interpretive modes with some suggestive sentences. In this way learners’ voices are validated. After that and in line with “consequential validity” as one component of alternative assessment, it went through completing the process by bringing testees’ problematic areas into the teaching syllabus in a systematic way. With a qualitative study learners’ (the most critical figures of all assessment procedures) attitudes toward rejecting or retaining CLT principles were inquired. They, offering one caveat, which was the significance of teacher assessment to them, pronounced the method as a striking system.
USING GENETIC ALGORITHM TO OPTIMIZE THE TUNING PARAMETERS OF DYNAMIC MATRIX CONTROL

Dynamic Matrix Control algorithms are a powerful control method widely applied to industrial process. The idea of the work is applied genetic algorithms by tuning the parameters of the Dynamic Matrix Control. The Computation method proposed here is applies in four different type of process and after that, a comparison between the method proposed and the guidelines presented by literature, where are shown advantages of the method proposed. Keywords— Genetic Algorithm, Model Predictive Control, Dynamic Matrix Control, Optimization.
Warm Arctic−cold Siberia: comparing the recent and the early 20th-century Arctic warmings

The Warm Arctic–cold Siberia surface temperature pattern during recent boreal winter is suggested to be triggered by the ongoing decrease of Arctic autumn sea ice concentration and has been observed together with an increase in mid-latitude extreme events and a meridionalization of tropospheric circulation. However, the exact mechanism behind this dipole temperature pattern is still under debate, since model experiments with reduced sea ice show conflicting results. We use the early twentieth-century Arctic warming (ETCAW) as a case study to investigate the link between September sea ice in the Barents–Kara Sea (BKS) and the Siberian temperature evolution. Analyzing a variety of long-term climate reanalyses, we find that the overall winter temperature and heat flux trend occurs with the reduction of September BKS sea ice. Tropospheric conditions show a strengthened atmospheric blocking over the BKS, strengthening the advection of cold air from the Arctic to central Siberia on its eastern flank, together with a reduction of warm air advection by the westerlies. This setup is valid for both the ETCAW and the current Arctic warming period.
Laboratory Investigation of The Contributions of Rubber Latex to Tensile Strength of Hot Mix Asphalt Concrete Using Split Cylinder and Double Punch Tests

Flexible pavement design methods based on elastic theories require as input the elastic properties of the pavement materials. In particular the tensile properties of the pavement are of great concern in order to have sustainable and durable pavement during its useful life over the design period. However, determining the tensile properties of flexible pavement is one that has gained interest over the years. The present study used two forms of indirect tensile testing techniques (split cylinder and double punch) to determine tensile behaviour of asphalt concrete mixes synonymous with flexible pavement under loading for a rubber latex modified concrete. The results revealed that tensile strength of the asphalt concretes from the split cylinder test increased with increasing rubber latex content to a threshold value of 1.5% rubber latex content which was same for results from double punch test. However, the addition of rubber latex at this threshold value produced a 113% increase in the tensile strength of the asphalt concretes from split cylinder test and 133% increase in the tensile strength of the asphalt concretes from double punch test. Lastly, the results revealed that tensile strength from split cylinder test generally produced higher stress resistance than tensile strength from double punch test.
Implementation of modified SARSA learning technique in EMCAP

This research work presents analysis of Modified Sarsa learning algorithm. Modified Sarsa algorithm. State-Action-Reward-State-Action (SARSA) is an technique for learning a Markov decision process (MDP) strategy, used in for reinforcement learning int the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The Modified SARSA Algorithm makes better actions to get better rewards. Experiment are conducted to evaluate the performace for each agent individually. For result comparison among different agent, the same statistics were collected. This work considered varied kind of agents in different level of architecture for experiment analysis. The Fungus world testbed has been considered for experiment which is has been implemented using SwI-Prolog 5.4. 6. The fixed obstructs tend to be more versatile, to make a location that is specific to Fungus world testbed environment. The various parameters are introduced in an environment to test a agent’s performance. This modified SARSA learning algorithm can be more suitable in EMCAP architecture. The experiments are conducted the modified SARSA Learning system gets more rewards compare to existing SARSA algorithm.
Quest: a contest-based approach to technology-enhanced active learning in higher education

Active learning methodologies represent, nowadays, one of the most important tools in order to face the change that is taking place in university education. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can enhance this type of methodology, since they allow cooperative work and, both, distance and blended learning. QUEST (Quest Environment for Self-managed Training), an innovative system for active learning, is an approach to it. The system presents individual and group work environments in which several "challenges" are proposed as a contest. Therefore, the tasks must be achieved in a time-constrained way and, once submitted, are rewarded by means of a variable scoring system. QUEST is being applied, as a pilot project, in different university courses belonging to, both, Arts and Science degrees. The aim is to adapt a set of subjects of the current curriculum to the new educational model of the European Higher Education Area. The article describes the project and the system QUEST and analyses some of the results from the learning experiences.
Relationship between sarcopenia and the serum creatinine/cystatin C ratio in Japanese rural community‐dwelling older adults

Sarcopenia, the age‐related decline in skeletal muscle volume and function, is associated with negative clinical and socioeconomic outcomes in elderly people. Clinical biomarkers to diagnose sarcopenia that can be quantified in a reliable, and cost‐ effective manner, are needed. We investigated whether the creatinine (Cr) /cystatin C (CysC) ratio is correlated with muscle volume and physical function in Japanese community‐dwelling elderly subjects.
Power of Joint Decision-Making in a Finitely-Repeated Dilemma

A rich body of literature has proposed that pairs behave significantly differently from individuals due to a number of reasons such as group polarization. This paper experimentally compares cooperation behaviors between pairs and individuals in a finitely-repeated two-player public goods game (continuous prisoner’s dilemma game). We show that pairs contribute significantly more than individuals to their group accounts. Especially, when two pairs are matched with each other for the entire periods, they successfully build long-lasting cooperative relationships with their matched pairs. Our detailed analyses suggest that the enhanced cooperation behavior of pairs may be driven by (a) the mere fact that they have partners when they make decisions, (b) group polarization – those who initially prefer to contribute smaller amounts are more affected by the partners in their pairs, and (c) stronger conditional cooperation behavior of pairs to their matched pairs.
In vitro appraisal of interactions between spot blotch pathogen B. sorokiniana and selected parasitic fungi of wheat leaves.

Pathogenic micro-organisms living on wheat foliages may interact with each others. This study was conducted to reveal the interactive relationships existing between spot blotch causing fungus Bipolaris sorokiniana and selected pathogenic fungi subsisting on wheat foliages. Four fungal pathogens of wheat were selected, and the intensity and severity of the selected pathogenic fungi on wheat leaves were assessed. Pure cultures of the fungi were produced by isolating them from the spot blotch infected and blighted wheat leaves. Separate in vitro dual culture studies in completely randomized design with five replications were carried out to assess the interactions between each pair of B. sorokiniana and selected rival pathogens of wheat foliages. Percent inhibition in radial growth of either fungus was calculated. Viability test of the mycelium at the interface zone and pathogenicity test of the isolates were carried out. B. sorokiniana strongly inhibited the colony growth of Cercospora sp. and Phoma sp. under in vitro conditions. Similarly, there was not any effect on colony growth of either B. sorokiniana or Bipolaris sp. due to dual culture with each other. The dual culture of B. sorokiniana and Alternaria triticina results in the suppression of colony growth of both fungi. There were non-significant differences in percent growth inhibition between the first and the second week of dual culture in some of the tested fungi. The viability of mycelia of all the tested fungi was intact in dual culture. B. sorokiniana exerts antagonistic ability against some minor pathogens of wheat foliages under in-vitro conditions.
A Survey on Detection of Image Forgery using Copy Move Forgery Detection Technique

Digital images play a very substantial role in various fields. Due to the wide variety of image editing it becomes easy to modify images, which afterward becomes difficult to use digital images in applications like medical imaging, digital forensics, scientific publications, etc. where their authenticity is judge. One of the mostly found types of image Forgery is Copy-Move forgery and Creation of Contrast Enhancement. This paper proposed Copy Move Forgery and Global Contrast Enhancement Detection method for detecting the Image Forgery. The proposed technique is robust against compressed images of all image formats. Image forensics is a fast growing research field and promises a convincing improvement in forgery detection.
Multi-Hypothesis Prediction Scheme Based on the Joint Sparsity Model

Distributed compressive video sensing (DCVS) has received considerable attention due to its potential in source-limited communication, e.g., wireless video sensor networks (WVSNs). Multi-hypothesis (MH) prediction, which treats the target block as a linear combination of hypotheses, is a state-of-the-art technique in DCVS. The common approach is under the supposition that blocks that are dissimilar from the target block are given lower weights than blocks that are more similar. This assumption can yield acceptable reconstruction quality, but it is not suitable for scenarios with more details. In this paper, based on the joint sparsity model (JSM), the authors present a Tikhonov-regularized MH prediction scheme in which the most similar block provides the similar common portion and the others blocks provide respective unique portions, differing from the common supposition. Specifically, a new scheme for generating hypotheses and a Euclidean distance-based metric for the regularized term are proposed. Compared with several state-of-the-art algorithms, the authors show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme when there are a limited number of hypotheses. key words: distributed compressive video sensing (DCVS), multihypothesis (MH) reconstruction, joint sparsity model (JSM), wireless video sensor networks (WVSNs)
Software Engineering-Based Design for a Bayesian Spam Filter

The rapid spread and the easy availability of a free e-mail service have made it the medium of choice for the sending of unsolicited advertising and bulk e-mail in general. These messages, known as junk e-mail or spam mail, are an increasing problem to both Internet users and Internet service providers (ISPs). The research resolves one aspect of the spam problem by developing an appropriate filter for the e-mail client. The proposed filter is a combination of three forms of filters: Whitelist, Blacklist, and a Bayesian filter. Whitelist-based filter only accepts e-mails from known addresses. Blacklist filter blocks e-mails from addresses known to send out spam. Bayesian content-based filter makes estimations of spam probability based on the text and filters messages based on a pre-selected threshold. The Bayesian filter is selected to be the main filter. The Bayesian filter is manually trained on a set of gathered emails; some of them are spam and the others are legitimate based on the contents of an e-mail. Thereafter the classification phase has been implemented for new entered e-mails. All the required databases are constructed in form of tables stored in the Structured Query Language (SQL) server. The filter at the client side can transparently access the database in order to carry on the intended filtering. The proposed system (e-mail client interface and the filters) can manage messages written in both Arabic and English languages which is crucial for the users in our region. Software engineering principals are implemented throughout the design process to make the system less vulnerable to faults and easily maintained. The design steps have followed the Waterfall-model using the ASCENT software. A user-friendly interface has been developed to access the features of the spam filter at the client side. Visual Basic version 6 has been used to develop the system. As well, the SQL server has been implemented to build and process the database. A number of performance measurements have been carried out with asset of gathered e-mails. The results are used to evaluate the performance of the filter and to prove its efficiency.
Proposal for the Identification of Information Technology Services in Public Organizations

Handling complexity and symmetry in the identification of services for the management of information technology (IT) emerged as a serious challenge in recent times. One of the most important elements that must be defined in the management of information technology services is the construction and management of a service catalog. However, in order to create this catalog, it is necessary to correctly identify the services to be formed. So far, there are several proposals that serve to identify information technology services in public organizations. However, there are several inherent drawbacks to these processes, whereby many organizations are yet to adapt to the services. The main objective of this research is to present a proposal for the identification of information technology services and the construction of an information technology catalog. For this, the following methodology was applied: (a) a review of the literature, identifying the research that addressed the process of the identification of services; (b) a proposal based on automatic learning to identify information technology services in public organizations, adapting the catalog of services and taking as its main input the history of requests and incidents accredited by the department of information technologies in public organizations in the Republic of Ecuador. In conclusion, this work leads to satisfactory results for the identification of technology services used to construct its catalog.
A Review of the Building Blocks of Silicon Photonics: From Fabrication Perspective

Silicon photonics is a disruptive semiconductor technology that taps into the extraordinary properties of light while taking full advantage of the already matured CMOS processes developed in the semiconductor industry. However, just like electronic industry in the 1970s, currently, Silicon Photonics is in its infancy. The fundamental building blocks of silicon photonics such as waveguides, lasers, modulators, etc. are yet to be fully optimized for low-cost-mass-manufacturing. In this paper, the current state-of-the-art related to developing and optimizing these aforementioned key components will be presented. The challenges of process integration regarding Silicon photonics will also be discussed.
Physical refining of sunflower oil

Physical refining has several advantages compared to the classical chemical one. This process is more economical (improved yield, lower investment cost, less chemicals used) environmental friendly process (no soapstock to be treated, splitted) but more sensitive to the crude oil quality. Physical refining of sunflower oil is discussed in details. Recent developments in the field of processes, equipment and control have made it possible to refine by physical way the high phosphatide containing seed oils as well. Special degumming processes, improved performance of bleaching materials, better design of deodorizers are applied in new installations; huge capacity one-line physical refineries are successfully operated in different countries.
The Novell Linux Kernel Debugger, NLKD

In this paper we introduce the Novell Linux Kernel Debugger. After a brief introduction we will go into an in-depth discussion of NLKD’s architecture. Following the architecture discussion we will cover some of the features supported by NLKD and its supported debug agents. We wrap up the discussion with some of the work items that still need to be done and follow with a brief conclusion.
Experimental and Kinetic Studies on Ignition Delay Times of Dimethyl Ether/n-Butane/O2/Ar Mixtures

Ignition delay times of stoichiometric dimethyl ether (DME) and n-butane blends were measured using shock tube at varied DME blending ratios (0, 30, 70, and 100%), temperatures (1200–1600 K), and pressures (1.2–5.3 atm). Simulation work was conducted using the Chemkin code with a NUI C4_47 mechanism. Correlations of ignition delay times were obtained on the basis of the measured data through multiple linear regressions. Results show that the ignition delay times increase linearly with the increase of 1000/T, and this indicates that the overall activation energy is kept unchanged at the conditions in the study. Increasing pressure decreases the ignition delay time. Ignition delay time decreases with the increase of the DME blending ratio. The peak mole fractions of H and OH radicals increase, and the timing at the peak value of H and OH radicals advances as DME increases. Analysis on the reaction pathway shows that, at high temperatures, hydrogen-abstraction reactions play a dominant role in the consumptio.
Agent-based Crowd Simulation Modelling for a Gaming Environment

Crowd simulation study has become a favourite subject in the computer graphics community in the past three decades. It usually is a sub-function within many applications such as video games, films, and public security. This thesis proposes an independent crowd simulation model that is capable of running an Agent-based method through a gaming environment. It can simulate realistic human crowds with user-controllable features to provide a gaming-like experience. Our approach features an enhanced rendering system based on Distinguishable Agents Generating Method (DAGM). This method can generate distinguishable and scalable 3D human models in real-time. We also introduce our Multi-layer Collision System (MCS), which features a collision-message collection system and an evaluation processing system. We also introduce Building & City-planning Generating System (BCGS) for the purpose of setting up obstacles for the crowd during an evacuation simulation. Moreover, in this thesis, we also extend the study to other aspects such as crisis training and human animations to provide a complete agent-based crowd simulation model.