Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interpretation and analysis of power quality measurements

This paper describes advances in power quality monitoring equipment and software tools for analyzing power quality measurement results. Power quality monitoring has advanced from strictly problem solving to ongoing monitoring of system performance. The increased amount of data being collected requires more advanced analysis tools. Types of power quality variations are described and the methods of characterizing each type with measurements are presented. Finally, methods for summarizing the information and presenting it in useful report formats are described. <<ETX>>
Metastable evolutionary dynamics: Crossing fitness barriers or escaping via neutral paths?

We analytically study the dynamics of evolving populations that exhibit metastability on the level of phenotype or fitness. In constant selective environments, such metastable behavior is caused by two qualitatively different mechanisms. On the one hand, populations may become pinned at a local fitness optimum, being separated from higher-fitness genotypes by a fitness barrier of low-fitness genotypes. On the other hand, the population may only be metastable on the level of phenotype or fitness while, at the same time, diffusing over neutral networks of selectively neutral genotypes. Metastability occurs in this case because the population is separated from higher-fitness genotypes by an entropy barrier: the population must explore large portions of these neutral networks before it discovers a rare connection to fitter phenotypes.We derive analytical expressions for the barrier crossing times in both the fitness barrier and entropy barrier regime. In contrast with ‘landscape’ evolutionary models, we show that the waiting times to reach higher fitness depend strongly on the width of a fitness barrier and much less on its height. The analysis further shows that crossing entropy barriers is faster by orders of magnitude than fitness barrier crossing. Thus, when populations are trapped in a metastable phenotypic state, they are most likely to escape by crossing an entropy barrier, along a neutral path in genotype space. If no such escape route along a neutral path exists, a population is most likely to cross a fitness barrier where the barrier is narrowest, rather than where the barrier is shallowest.
A Novel Scheme to Reduce Control Overhead and Increase Link Duration in Highly Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Flooding-based approaches are incorporated in reactive routing protocols as the fundamental strategy for route discovery. They overtly affect traffic as the frequency of route discovery increases along with the mobility of users in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). This paper presents a scheme for reducing overall traffic and end-to-end delay in highly MANET networks. Firstly a new routing algorithm is proposed to reduce the frequency of flood requests by elongating the link duration of the selected paths. In order to increase the path duration, non-disjoint paths are also considered. This concept is a novel approach in route discovery as previous reactive routing protocols seek only disjoint paths. Secondly another novel approach is presented to estimate the link expiration time without the need for global positioning system (GPS) devices. To prevent broadcast storms that may be intrigued during the path discovery operation, another scheme is also introduced. The basic concept behind the proposed scheme is to broadcast only specific and well-defined packets, referred to as "best packets" in the paper. The new protocol is simulated with regard to traffic overhead. Although our main aim in this paper is to reduce the net control traffic in a MANET network, there are other benefits arising from the proposed schemes, namely the increase in link duration, reduction in the end-to-end communication delay, less disruption in data flow, and fewer path setups.
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT IN VECTOR CONTROLLED INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVE BY USING HYBRID PWM

In this paper, hybrid pulse width modulation algorithm for vector controlled induction motor drives is used to reduce the steady state ripple in current. Also the newly developed Hybrid PWM technique does not use angle and sector information and hence it simplifies the control algorithm. The conventional Space vector pulse width modulation (CSVPWM) algorithm gives inferior performance at higher modulation indices. As the CSVPWM is a continuous PWM (CPWM), it gives more switching losses. Discontinuous PWM is used at the higher modulation indices. Hybrid PWM (HPWM) algorithm uses the SVPWM and discontinuous PWM (DPWM) algorithms. The proposed HPWM algorithm uses the concept of imaginary switching times which are derived from instantaneous phase voltages. Performance of vector controlled induction motor drive at all modulation indices is improved by using MATLAB /SIMULINK
Research on Disk Array Parallel Test

Researches on technologies about testing IOPS and data transfer speed of disk arrays in mass storage systems. We propose a parallel testing technology towards the high performance disk array and realize the testing work on the newest developed disk array. By taking researches on many factors which effect disk performance seriously and quantifying them through experiments, so we realize evaluations on the whole disk array. Finally, we take researches on bottlenecks of the disk arrays and prove the results to be correct.
Optimal Design of Consumer Review Systems

Consumer review systems have become an important marketing communication tool through which consumers share and learn product information. This paper aims to analyze the review system design as firms’ strategic decision to facilitate consumer sharing and learning about their products. We show that firms’ optimal pricing and review system design decisions critically depend on contextual characteristics including product quality, product popularity, and consumer misfit cost. Our results suggest that firms choose a low rating scale for niche products and a high rating scale for popular products. Different pricing strategies should be deployed during the initial sale period for different product types. For niche products, firms are advised to adopt lower-bound pricing for high-quality products to take advantage of the positive word-of-mouth. For popular products, firms are advised to adopt upper-bound pricing for high-quality products to enjoy the direct profit from the initial sale without damaging the product review outcomes.
Separation of Respiratory Influences from the Tachogram: A Methodological Evaluation

The variability of the heart rate (HRV) is widely studied as it contains information about the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). However, HRV is influenced by breathing, independently of ANS activity. It is therefore important to include respiratory information in HRV analyses in order to correctly interpret the results. In this paper, we propose to record respiratory activity and use this information to separate the tachogram in two components: one which is related to breathing and one which contains all heart rate variations that are unrelated to respiration. Several algorithms to achieve this have been suggested in the literature, but no comparison between the methods has been performed yet. In this paper, we conduct two studies to evaluate the methods' performances to accurately decompose the tachogram in two components and to assess the robustness of the algorithms. The results show that orthogonal subspace projection and an ARMAX model yield the best performances over the two comparison studies. In addition, a real-life example of stress classification is presented to demonstrate that this approach to separate respiratory information in HRV studies can reveal changes in the heart rate variations that are otherwise masked by differing respiratory patterns.
Longitudinal Survey of Listening/Speaking Fluency of Students Entering a Japanese College

Due to internationalization of the Japanese society, an urgent need to cultivate Japanese with proficient English skills has emerged and is being recognized as a critical goal of English education. Because National syllabus for junior and senior high schools from Japan’s Ministry of Education has emphasized communicative approach since the 1990’s and a listening test has been incorporated into the College Entrance Examination Center test, it may seem reasonable to see improvement in oral English skills among high school students. On the other hand, college English teachers express that the traditional grammar-translation method is still dominant in Japanese junior and senior high schools because it still prepares students best for most entrance examinations. To better serve students in college English classes, it is critical to understand what level of spoken English skills freshman students possess when they enter universities. The authors have been surveying spoken English proficiency levels of university freshmen at a private university at the time of entrance. In this paper, we report on freshmen’s spoken English levels as measured by a standardized spoken English test, Versant English Test, which was administered every year in April from 2006 to 2011. An attempt is made to interpret the test scores with respect to CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference), as it incorporates functional and situational aspects of language use. Keyword fixed time point survey,university freshmen,English proficiency,spoken English test 1. 定点観測:大学入学時の口頭英語能力 1.1. 口頭英語運用能力の向上への期待 「仕事で英語が使える日本人の育成」が文部科 学省の戦略構想として 2002 年に提唱されて以来、 仕事の場面において英語でコミュニケーション ができる日本人の育成が小学校・中学校・高校・ 大学を通じての喫緊の課題と認識されるように なった。 文部省・文科省の定める学習指導要領で も 1990 年代以降は外国語科目(英語)の授業に おいて「コミュニケーション」を重視すること 1と なっており、2006 年度より大学入試センター試 験に英語リスニング試験が導入されるなど、日本 人英語学習者の英語口頭運用能力に一定の変 化・改善が見られてもおかしくない状況にある。 しかし、こうしたカリキュラム上の改変にもかか わらず、中学・高校における英語学習・英語指導 の中核が大学入試に向けての知識獲得型の訳読 式授業にあり、口頭英語運用能力の向上はあまり 見られないという感想も根強い。 大学で英語を担 当する教員からは、英語に限らず大学生の一般的 な学力低下を嘆く声が年毎に強まっており、(訳 読式の授業よりも時間をかけて習熟する必要の ある)「コミュニケーションを重視」するカリキ ュラムを導入した結果として(本来であれば中 学・高校での授業時間数をそれに応じて増やすべ きであるところ、そのような措置をしてこなかっ たため)語彙・文法などの知識の定着度が低下し ているという見解もある。 1.2. 客観的データ蓄積の重要性 仕事における英語でのコミュニケーションを 考えた場合、今日の職場ではメールの普及により ライティング力が以前よりも重要視されるよう になってきてはいるが、コミュニケーションの根 本として、リスニング・スピーキングが重要であ 1 文部科学省の中学校学習指導要領の第 9 節外国語第 1 「目標」には「外国語を通じて,言語や文化に対する理解を 深め,積極的にコミュニケーションを図ろうとする態度の育 成を図り,聞くことや話すことなどの実践的コミュニケーシ
Infected spinal dermal sinus tract with meningitis: a case report.

PURPOSE Congenital dermal sinus tract (DST), an uncommon entity of cranial or spinal dysraphism, occurs along the midline neuraxis that may arise from nasion and occiput down to the lumbar and sacral region. It is often diagnosed in infants and children for skin signs, neurological deficits, local infection, meningitis, or abscess. For spinal DST, there is a paucity of case or series report in Taiwan. CASE REPORT In this paper, we report a case in a 6-year-old girl. The girl presented with midline lumbar skin dimple, hypertrichosis, and history of bacterial meningitis. She was successful treated by surgical excision of the DST with local infection that ended within the subarachnoid space between L2-3 vertebrae. CONCLUSION This case highlights the importance of a thorough examination of the midline craniospinal axis in children with meningitis or history of meningitis.
Face detection technique based on skin color and facial features

Face detection is an essential first step in face recognition systems with the purpose of localizing and extracting the face region from the background. Apart from increasing the efficiency of face recognition systems, face detection technique also opens up the door of opportunity for application areas such as content based image retrieval, video encoding, video conferencing, crowd surveillance and intelligent human computer interfaces. In this paper, we propose a new face detection approach which is capable of detecting human faces from complex backgrounds. A skin color modeling process is proposed to the face segmentation process. Image enhancement is then used to improve the features of face candidates before feeding to the face object classifier which is based on the modified Hausdorff distance. The overall performance of the face detection system is evaluated with a successful rate of 87.5%.
Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine vs. Artemether-Lumefantrine for First-Line Treatment of Uncomplicated Malaria in African Children: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Background Recent multi-centre trials showed that dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) was as efficacious and safe as artemether-lumefantrine (AL) for treatment of young children with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria across diverse transmission settings in Africa. Longitudinal follow-up of patients in these trials supported previous findings that DP had a longer post-treatment prophylactic effect than AL, reducing the risk of reinfection and conferring additional health benefits to patients, particularly in areas with moderate to high malaria transmission. Methods We developed a Markov model to assess the cost-effectiveness of DP versus AL for first-line treatment of uncomplicated malaria in young children from the provider perspective, taking into consideration the post-treatment prophylactic effects of the drugs as reported by a recent multi-centre trial in Africa and using the maximum manufacturer drug prices for artemisinin-based combination therapies set by the Global Fund in 2013. We estimated the price per course of treatment threshold above which DP would cease to be a cost-saving alternative to AL as a first-line antimalarial drug. Results First-line treatment with DP compared to AL averted 0.03 DALYs (95% CI: 0.006–0.07) and 0.001 deaths (95% CI: 0.00–0.002) and saved $0.96 (95% CI: 0.33–2.46) per child over one year. The results of the threshold analysis showed that DP remained cost-saving over AL for any DP cost below $1.23 per course of treatment. Conclusions DP is superior to AL from both the clinical and economic perspectives for treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria in young children. A paediatric dispersible formulation of DP is under development and should facilitate a targeted deployment of this antimalarial drug. The use of DP as first-line antimalarial drug in paediatric malaria patients in moderate to high transmission areas of Africa merits serious consideration by health policymakers.
Birth weight of offspring and insulin resistance in late adulthood: cross sectional survey

Abstract Objective: To investigate the association between birth weight of offspring and mothers' insulin resistance in late adulthood. Design: Cross sectional survey. Setting: General practitioner's surgeries in 23 towns in Great Britain. Participants: 4286 women aged 60-79 years Main outcome measures: Maternal insulin resistance Results: Birth weight of offspring was inversely related to maternal insulin resistance in late adulthood. For each 1 kg higher birth weight of offspring, women had a 15% reduction in the odds of being in the fourth with highest insulin resistance, compared to other fourths (odds ratio 0.85; 95% confidence interval 0.71 to 1.00). This increased to 27% (0.73; 0.60 to 0.90) after adjusting data for potential confounders. A U shaped relation between birth weight of offspring and diabetes in older age was found; women with the lightest and heaviest offspring had the highest prevalence of diabetes Conclusions: Birth weight of offspring is inversely related to the mother's insulin resistance in late adulthood, despite the association of glucose intolerance during pregnancy with heavier offspring at birth. Common genetic factors contribute to the relation between birth weight and risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in adults
Accelerated Coordinate Descent with Adaptive Coordinate Frequencies

Coordinate descent (CD) algorithms have become the method of choice for solving a number of machine learning tasks. They are particularly popular for training linear models, includ- ing linear support vector machine classication, LASSO regression, and logistic regression. We propose an extension of the CD algorithm, called the adaptive coordinate frequencies (ACF) method. This modied CD scheme does not treat all coordinates equally, in that it does not pick all coordinates equally often for optimization. Instead the relative frequen- cies of coordinates are subject to online adaptation. The resulting optimization scheme can result in signicant speed-ups. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach on a number of large scale machine learning problems.
Assessing the quality of e-government portals - the Polish experience

The transition from a government to e-government poses continuous challenges in employing increasingly sophisticated web portals as the gateway to government units, their information and services. The high quality of those portals is needed for the successful adoption of e-government. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess quality of selected Polish e-government portals based on a proposed framework. This framework employs the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standard. Firstly, the paper presents various definitions of quality and different theories/models for assessing the quality of e-government portals. Secondly, the framework for assessing the quality of e-gov portals is presented. Thirdly, the assessment of Polish e-government portals based on the proposed framework is shown. The paper concludes with a discussion of research findings and recommendations for studies on e-gov portals' evaluation. Finally, the future works are submitted. The obtained research findings will prove to be helpful for researchers in developing studies on e-government, especially in the research issue of e-gov portals. Moreover, they can be useful while undertaking empirical activities aimed at the e-government adoption.
17.6 A Fourth-Order Σ∆ Interface for Micromachined Inertial Sensors

This paper presents the design and implementation of a high-order interface for micromachined inertial sensors, which employs an electronic filter in series with the mechanical sensor element to reject the excessive in-band quantization noise inherently present in state-of-the-art second-order solutions. A fourth-order prototype was fabricated in a standard 0.5m CMOS process. The active circuit area measures 0.9 mm, and the interface consumes 13 mW from a 5-V supply and achieves resolution of 1 /s/ Hz with a gyroscope and 150 Hz with an accelerometer. Comparison between the measured and simulated behavior of the system shows that the contribution of the quantization error to the total noise is negligible.
Investigation of sensitive parameters in the structural simulation tool chain for fiber reinforced plastics in automotive electronic control units

In automotive electronic control units (ECU) the use of fiber reinforced plastics is widely spread. In contrast to the common utilization of these materials their influence on the reliability of electronic or interconnecting components on Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is not yet sufficiently accounted for in design decisions in early stages of the product development. Fiber reinforced plastic parts exhibit a strong anisotropic macroscopic material behavior. Their deformation under thermal and mechanical load cannot be correctly predicted by simulation if oversimplified material properties are applied. However, this deformation behavior can dominate the strain and stress induced in electronic or interconnecting components on PCB and hence their reliability over lifetime. By means of an integrative simulation approach the influence of the microscopic fiber orientation on the macroscopic behavior of plastic parts can be evaluated. In this paper a study of sensitive parameters of the integrative simulation and their influence on the simulation quality and accuracy is presented. For this purpose test specimen have been cut from an ECU cover which is made of reinforced polybutylene terephthalate with 30 wt% short glass fiber (PBT-GF30). Subsequently, uni-axial, quasi-static tensile tests as well as structural finite element (FE) simulations, comparable to the experiments and including the mapping of fiber orientation information from injection molding simulation were performed.
Perceived Body Image and Reasons for Exercise Among College Students

Perceptions of an ideal body image constructed by Western culture has led body dissatisfaction levels to increase significantly in the past 30 years. Researchers have found that individuals tend to have inaccurate perceptions of their body shapes that leads to body dissatisfaction. Minimal research however, has been done focusing on the relationship between body image and specific exercise behaviors. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how someone’s own body perception affects their exercise behavior, type and frequency. A total of 30 participants were observed for 20 minutes focusing on behaviors like concentration, body surveillance, and confidence while exercising. Participants also answered a questionnaire about current workout routine, motivational reasons to exercise, and body size. Using the observations and questionnaires, relationships between body image and exercise behaviors were established. Results showed that participants who were less satisfied with their body shape engaged in higher levels of body surveillance behaviors and performed less efficient workouts. These results can help fitness and wellness professionals understand potential behaviors of individuals with a distorted body image and better help them achieve desired health outcomes.