Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Governance supporting distributed energy systems for low carbon urban development

Global change is required from a strong dependency on high consumption and carbon intensive economies to reduced consumption and low carbon society construction. Cities can offer an enormous contribution to the reduction of carbon emissions; however this process requires a certain degree of rethinking and redesigning of our cities including, infrastructural restructuring with network patterns and resource flows that foster low carbon urban development. Distributed systems that support low carbon urban development including, decentralised power, water, waste and transport are becoming popular as a viable alternative or complimentary addition to centralised city services. However, the emerging decentralised systems pose a unique set of risks and this is generating new modes of governance at national, regional and local. The growing interest in distributed energy systems and the parallel transition that is occurring towards multi- level governance, which can support such schemes, will be examined in this paper. A framework will be used to characterise the different governance structures being used to implement decentralised services; and this study will examine how such approaches promise to facilitate delivery, operation and ownership of distributed city services. An assessment will also be made on a series of economic models and business partnerships that are emerging that offer viable structures to manage distributed energy systems in cooperation with local government utilities, investors and corporate entities. This research will investigate how certain regulatory barriers to centralised energy systems can be overcome to allow for large-scale implementation of distributed energy options. The possible governance strategies will be demonstrated with reference to some international and national case studies including Woking and London in the UK and Sydney in Australia, which best exemplify the distributed energy systems' model and the success factors and barriers for its implementation. Finally, the study will discuss the opportunities, challenges and risks that exist for Australia in adoption of such governance schemes, and it will suggest areas where future governance investigation could enhance sustainable planning and development in Australia.
Altered Na,K-ATPase Pattern in γ-Crystallin Mutant Mice

PURPOSE Na,K-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity is elevated in the lenses of murine cataract Cryge(t) and Cryge(ns) mutant mice. In the present study, the expression of Na,K-ATPase alpha1, alpha2, and alpha3 catalytic subunit polypeptides was examined in the lenses of these mutant mice. METHODS Membrane material was isolated from lenses and brain of 3-week-old wild-type mice, as well as heterozygous and homozygous mutant mice. Microsomal membranes were prepared by centrifugation of the homogenized material, and Na,K-ATPase polypeptides were detected by immunoblot analysis with antibodies directed against the Na,K-ATPase isoforms alpha1, alpha2, and alpha3. RESULTS For the Na,K-ATPase isoforms alpha2 and alpha3, membrane material obtained from the homozygous cataract mutants showed dense immunoblot bands that were not detected in material obtained from wild-type mice. An apparent increase of the alpha1 Na,K-ATPase isoform band density was also detected in lens material from the homozygous mutant mice. The Na,K-ATPase alpha3 polypeptide was also detected in lens membrane material obtained from heterozygous mice of both mutant strains. The alpha2 Na,K-ATPase polypeptide was observed in lens membrane material obtained from heterozygous Cryge(t) mice, and a less dense band was detected in heterozygous Cryge(ns) mice. Band densities of Na,K-ATPase subunits alpha1, alpha2, and alpha3 detected in brain membrane material were similar in both mutant and wild-type mice. CONCLUSIONS The immunoblot results suggest that the abundance of Na,K-ATPase polypeptide is increased in the lens of the cataract mouse mutant but is not altered in the brain. The expression of the alpha2 and alpha3 isoform proteins of Na,K-ATPase is markedly upregulated in the cataractous lens.
The Impact of Mass Migration on the Israeli Labor Market

Immigration increased Israel's population by 12 percent between 1990 and 1994, after emigration restrictions were lifted in an unstable Soviet Union. Following the influx, occupations that employed more immigrants had substantially lower native wage growth and slightly lower native employment growth than others. However, because the immigrants' postmigration occupational distribution was influenced by relative labor market conditions across occupations in Israel, Ordinary Least Squares estimates of the immigrants' impact on those conditions are biased. Instrumental Variables estimation, exploiting information on the immigrants' former occupations abroad, suggests no adverse impact of immigration on native outcomes.
Bayesian Approach for Data Fusion in Sensor Networks

We formulate the target tracking based on received signal strength in the sensor networks using Bayesian network representation. Data fusion among the same type of sensors in an active sensor neighborhood is referred to as cross-sensor fusion, conceptualized as "cooperative fusion". This data fusion is embedded in the likelihood function derivation. Fusion of signals collected by multiple types of sensors are referred to as cross-modality fusion. It is "complementary", and represented by the contribution of their likelihood functions to the state update. The tracking algorithm is implemented using particle filter. Very good experimental results are obtained using sensor data
eQueue-MAC: Enhanced traffic adaptive hybrid MAC protocol with IEEE 802.15.4e features for industrial applications

To extend the system life, duty-cycling technique is widely adopted in wireless sensor network. However, this technique also introduces limited throughput and extra packet delay to the system. To solve the problem, in this paper, we propose eQueue-MAC, a multi-channel traffic adaptive CSMA/TDMA hybrid MAC protocol with slotted channel hopping technique which is robust to external interference and can adapt to variable traffic loads. eQueue-MAC maintains high flexibility by allowing CSMA accesses in light traffic conditions. With traffic increases, eQueue-MAC utilizes the queue-length information to dynamically allocate TDMA slots to sensor nodes to deal with the burst traffic load. In addition, the up to date IEEE 802.15. 4e slotted channel hopping scheme is adopted in the vTDMA period to mitigate the impact from external interference or multipath fading. We have successfully implemented eQueue-MAC on STM32W108 SOC chips and carried out extensive experiments to evaluate its effectiveness. The results show that eQueue-MAC achieves low packet delay and high throughput under various traffic conditions. Moreover, the proposed protocol has also shown its effectiveness in handling external interferences, making it suitable for various industrial applications.
Low cost estimation of σ for SVM using local features

We investigate low cost methods to select the spread parameter in RBF kernels for Support Vector Machines. These methods try to gain information about the local structure of the dataset from the performance of simple local methods such as k-nearest neighbors. Empirical results in UCI datasets show that the proposed methods can be used as an alternative to the standard crossvalidation with the advantage that one does not need to fix a range of values of the parameter.
Clustering of highly homologous sequences to reduce the size of large protein databases

We present a fast and flexible program for clustering large protein databases at different sequence identity levels. It takes less than 2 h for the all-against-all sequence comparison and clustering of the non-redundant protein database of over 560,000 sequences on a high-end PC. The output database, including only the representative sequences, can be used for more efficient and sensitive database searches.
Modelling, stability analysis and control offlexible single link robotic manipulator

In this paper, a mathematical model of flexible single link robotic manipulator that has a rotational base and translational motion has been developed using lagrangian method. The control strategies like PID, LQR and State feedback controller have been implemented for controlling the tip position of flexible single link robotic manipulators through MATLAB. State feedback controller uses pole placement approach, while the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is obtained by resolving the Riccati equation. The best control strategy for controlling the tip position of flexible single link robotic manipulator is obtained by implementation of LQR controller. Finally, it is concluded from our study that LQR control method is the best method among PID and State feedback controller to control the flexible link manipulators.
Performance evaluation of MIMO system incorporating water filling model and minimum eigenvalue constraints

In this paper, both equal power and water filling models are simulated for comparison of their performance in a multiple-input multiple-output environment. The effects of fast fading and the shadowing effects have been incorporated in the models. Minimum eigenvalue required for successful transmission for individual link is evaluated from the probability density functions of eigenvalue and equivalent uncoupled multiple-input multiple-output link. Impact of the number of antenna elements of an array on the minimum eigenvalue of an uncoupled channel is analyzed based on probability density function of eigenvalue of the channel matrix. The analysis shows that the cutoff eigenvalue decreases with increase in the number of antenna elements and signal to noise ratio of the received signal.
Recursion relation of hyperelliptic PSI-functions of genus two

A recursion relation of hyperelliptic ψ functions of genus two, which was derived by D. G. Cantor (J. reine angew. Math. 447 (1994) 91–145), is studied. As Cantor's approach is algebraic, another derivation is presented as a natural extension of the analytic derivation of the recursion relation of the elliptic ψ function in a sense of study of special functions.
Applicability of current diagnostic algorithms in geriatric patients suspected of new, slow onset heart failure.

BACKGROUND referral for echocardiography for all geriatric outpatients suspected of heart failure (HF) is not feasible. Diagnostic algorithms could be helpful. OBJECTIVE to investigate whether available diagnostic algorithms accurately identify (older) patients (aged 70 years or over) eligible for echocardiography, with acceptable numbers of false-negatives. METHODS algorithms (European Society of Cardiology (ESC)) guideline, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guideline, multidisciplinary guideline the Netherlands (NL) and algorithm by Mant et al. were validated in 203 geriatric patients (mean age 82 ± 6 years, 30% men) suspected of new, slow onset HF. HF was adjudicated by an outcome panel. Applicability of algorithms was evaluated by calculating proportion of patients (i) referred for echocardiography, (ii) with HF among referred patients and (iii) without HF in the non-referred. RESULTS ninety-two (45%) patients had HF. Applying algorithms resulted in referral for echocardiography in 52% (normal NT-proBNP; ESC), 72% (normal ECG; ESC), 56% (NICE), 93% (NL) and 70% (Mant) of all patients, diagnosing HF in 78, 56, 76, 49 and 62% of those referred, respectively. In patients not referred for echocardiography HF was absent in 90, 82, 93, 100 and 95%, respectively. CONCLUSION the ESC NT-proBNP (<400 pg/ml)-based algorithm combines the lowest number of referrals for echocardiography (of whom 78% has HF) with a limited number (10%) of false negatives in the non-referred.
Naive Bayes Web Page Classification with HTML Mark-Up Enrichment

In text and Web page classification, Bayesian prior probabilities are usually based on term frequencies, term counts within a page and among all the pages. However, new approaches in Web page representation use HTML mark-up information to find the term relevance in a Web page. This paper presents a naive Bayes Web page classification system for these approaches
Evidence of a metabolic reserve in the skeletal muscle of elderly people

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether mitochondrial function is limited by O2 availability or the intrinsic capacity of mitochondria to synthesize ATP in elderly individuals. To this aim, we examined, in comparison to free-flow conditions (FF), the effect of superimposing reactive hyperemia (RH), induced by a period of brief ischemia during the last min of exercise, on O2 availability and mitochondrial function in the calf muscle. 12 healthy, untrained, elderly subjects performed dynamic plantar flexion exercise and phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), and Doppler ultrasound were used to assess muscle metabolism and peripheral hemodynamics. Limb blood flow [area under the curve (AUC), FF: 1.5±0.5L; RH: 3.2±1.1L, P<0.01] and convective O2 delivery (AUC, FF: 0.30±0.13L; RH: 0.64±0.29L, P<0.01) were significantly increased in RH in comparison to FF. RH was also associated with significantly higher capillary blood flow (P<0.05) and this resulted in a 33% increase in estimated peak mitochondrial ATP synthesis rate (FF: 24±11 mM.min−1; RH: 31±7 mM.min−1, P<0.05). These results document a hemodynamic reserve in the contracting calf muscle of the elderly accessible by superimposing reactive hyperemia. Furthermore, this increase in O2 availability enhanced mitochondrial function thus indicating a skeletal muscle metabolic reserve despite advancing age and low level of physical activity.
Qualitative Interpretation of Spectral Images: Reasoning with Uncertain Evidence

Interpreting spectral images requires comparing known patterns with input data (images) to identify which patterns are contained in the input data. In practice, however, it is hard to identify any pattern when the inaccuracy of input data is not slight. In this paper, we present a method for interpreting spectral images by using qualitative reasoning. First, we put forward a new concept called support coefficient function (SCF) which can be used to extract, represent, and calculate qualitative correlations among data. Then, we introduce an approach to determining dynamic shift intervals of inaccurate data on the basis of qualitative correlations. Finally, we discuss how to use qualitative correlations as evidence of enhancing or depressing hypotheses for in accurate data. The method has been applied to a practical system for interpreting infrared spectral images. We have fully tested the system against several hundred real spectral images. The rate of identification (RI) and the rate of correctness (RC) are near 90% and 74% respectively, and the latter is the highest among known systems.
Changes in output characteristics of broad-band superluminescent diodes in the process of long-term operation

Methods and results of reliability tests of SQW broad-band superluminescent diodes (SLD-37 series), widely used in optical coherence tomography (OCT) are presented. Main attention was paid to the alteration of SLD spectral characteristics in the aging process. It is shown that the usage of these methods in the input control of processed epiwafers deployed in the production of active elements for SLD-modules ensures the estimation of their expected life time (MTTF).
Impact of knowledge management practices on firm performance: Testing the mediation role of innovation in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan

With the emergence of intellectual capital and knowledge management as new disciplines, organizational authors and practitioners added these constructs as possible antecedents of the innovation. In consistent with this stream of research, this study aims to find the impact of three knowledge management practices i.e. knowledge acquisition, knowledge dissemination and responsiveness to knowledge on innovation and firm performance. For this purpose, data was collected from 407 manufacturing organizations listed in Karachi Stock Exchange, representing mainly textile, FMCG, cement, petroleum, fertilizers, pesticides, chemicals, electronics, pharmaceuticals and other sectors. SPSS has been used for data analysis. Factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha confirmed the validity and reliability of the measurement scales. Similarly, correlation and regression analysis were applied to find out the relationship among independent variables (Knowledge management practices), mediating variable (innovation) and dependent variable (firm performance). The findings show positive and significant relationship among all the study variables. Specifically, innovation partially mediates the relationship between knowledge management practices and firm performance. Theoretical & managerial implications along with limitations and recommendations for future research have also been discussed in the paper.
Trends in spatial forest planning

Both mathematical and heuristic methods have advanced rapidly in spatial forest planning over the past 20 years. We conduct here a world-wide literature review and extensive analysis of the status and trends over the past two decades in spatial forest planning. The literature review results suggest that methods used in forest planning have shifted somewhat from exact analytical solution techniques to heuristic techniques. In an effort to incorporate complex relationship into forest plans, other solution methods have also been evaluated for adoption in the planning process. Besides the economic and commodity production objectives, there is a noticeable increase in the proportion of ecological and social concerns in objective functions. In Europe, multi-parameter objective functions now seem to be in vogue, containing little or no constraints. In the U.S., single-parameter objective functions are still common, with multiple concerns recognized as constraints. In addition to the economic and commodity production constraints, adjacency and green-up relationships have recently been considered as important constraints in many areas of the world. Vector data are found to be more popular than raster data in the forest planning process, particularly in real-life applications of methods. In theoretical applications of methods, both vector and raster data are commonly used. Limitations in mixed integer programming, heuristic parameter selection processes, modification and enhancements to heuristics, and measurements of heuristic solution quality are some of the gaps we have identified. MCFNS 1(2):86-112.
Prevalence of Common Infections Among Employees in Different Work Schedules

Learning ObjectivesDiscuss possible mechanisms through which the work schedule—particularly “shift work,” which includes nighttime work—might influence the risk of contracting common infections.Compare the demographic and behavioral features of day workers and shift workers.Contrast the prevalence of common infections in day and shift workers, adjusting for type of work. This study examined the prevalence of common infections among employees in different work schedules. Self-administered questionnaire data from the Maastricht Cohort Study on “Fatigue at Work” (n = 12,140) were used. Job title was used as a matching variable between day and shift workers to control for their different work environment. We used a multilevel analysis of a two-level structure, in which the individual employees (level 1) were nested within job titles (level 2), adjusted for demographics, longstanding disease, health behavior, work-related factors, fatigue and sleep quality. Results from the multilevel analyses showed that, compared to day work, shift work was associated with a higher risk for common infections, with the highest risk in three-shift workers. Compared to day work, shift work was further associated with differences in health, health behavior, sleep, fatigue and perceived job characteristics, factors that may influence the occurrence of infections and should be taken into account in future studies as well.
Data-aided frequency offset estimation in frequency selective channels: Training sequence selection

We consider the problem of frequency-offset estimation in frequency selective channels in a data-aided context. More specifically, we address the training sequence selection issue with the goal of providing the most accurate frequency offset estimates. Towards this end, we examine the Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) for the problem at hand. Since it is hardly feasible to derive the training sequence that results in a minimum CRB, an expression for the asymptotic CRB is derived which depends in a simple way on the channel impulse response and the training sequence correlation. Based on the asymptotic CRB, two methods are presented to select an optimal training sequence. Numerical simulations illustrate the estimation performance obtained with these training sequences.
Evaluating free school fruit: results from a natural experiment in Norway with representative data

Abstract Objective To assess impacts of the nationwide Norwegian School Fruit Scheme (NSFS) using nationally representative data. Design The NSFS is organized such that primary-school children (grades 1–7) are randomly assigned to one of three school fruit arrangements: (i) the child receives one free fruit or vegetable per day; (ii) the child is given the option to subscribe to one fruit or vegetable per day at a subsidized price; and (iii) the child attends a school that has no school fruit arrangement. Setting Data from an Internet survey are used to compare child and parental fruit and vegetable intakes across the three NSFS groups focusing mainly on groups (i) and (iii). The analysis was conducted using multivariate regression techniques. Subjects Parents of primary-school children (n 1423) who report on behalf of themselves and their children. Results Children who receive free school fruit eat on average 0·36 more fruit portions daily – or 25·0 % more fruits – than children who attend schools with no fruit arrangement (P < 0·001). Moreover, parents of children who receive free school fruit eat on average 0·19 more fruit portions daily – or 12·5 % more fruits – than parents of children who attend schools with no fruit arrangement (P = 0·040). No significant associations were found between the NSFS and the vegetable intakes of children and their parents. Conclusions The study shows, using nationally representative data, that free school fruit is associated with increased child fruit intake and that it may also affect parental fruit intake.