Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implementation of harmonic phase angle measurement for power quality instruments

This paper introduces a general implementation procedure for the measurement of harmonic phase angles using Power Quality (PQ) instruments. It is intended to fill this gap of the standards IEC 61000-4-7 and IEC 61000-4-30, particular with focus on grid measurements. While measurement for a single time instant is well defined, the paper focuses on methods to aggregate the harmonic phase angles in frequency and in time. The application of the methods is illustrated with different simulated and real data. Moreover, the accuracy of the harmonic phase angle measurement and procedures for implementation test are provided.
Iraq's Oil Law: Parsing the Fine Print

In May 2007, a draft Oil and Gas Law was sent by the Iraqi cabinet to Parliament, and according to government plans, it was to have been passed into law by the end of May. The law faces strong popular, technocratic, and political resistance indeed in early June, the new Iraqi military was in the southern oilfields with a warrant to arrest leaders of the Iraq Federation of Oil Unions who oppose core sections of the law and who demand that no law is passed without consultation with civil society and themselves as principal elements within it. Parliament subsequently went into summer recess without considering the draft. As it stands, the law would represent a momentous shift in state policy and a reversal of measures begun in Iraq as far back as 1961 which culminated in the nationalization of the oil industry in 1972-75. It is also a departure from practices that have been universal in the major oil-exporting countries since the 1970s whereby resources are publicly owned and production operations are mainly carried out by state-owned companies and managed nationally. In all these cases, oil policy is part of a broader national economic policy and the oil sector is intended to be integrated with the rest of the economy in ways that go beyond its financial contributions. In permitting long-term contracts with international oil companies (iocs) whereby foreign companies will control and manage Iraq's oil resources for up to 25 years, the draft law is a fundamental reversal of previous policies, not only of the ousted Ba'ath regime, but of an erstwhile national consensus. This essay examines the draft Oil and Gas Law, focusing on the web of interests driving its formulation and the ideological underpinnings upon which it is based. The main argument put forward is that the law is weak on economic rationale and will serve to deepen ethnic and sectarian forms of economic and political organization, solidifying and calcifying communal factions by moving away from nationallybased control of the oil economy to a regionally and locally controlled oil industry. In this respect, the new law does not only promise to shift the relationship between the public and private sectors, and between national and foreign companies, but it would also fundamentally alter the relationship between the central government and the regions and provinces. The law also threatens to unleash rapid and uncontrolled development of oil production without a program to diversify the economy or guarantee effective arrangements for the proper use of revenues.
Multinational Work Teams: A New Perspective

This authored book's purpose is to extend and consolidate the evolving literature on multinational work teams by developing a comprehensive theory that incorporates a dynamic, multilevel view of such teams. The model used by the authors focuses on various features of the team's members, their interactions as a team, and the organizational context in which they operate. The concept of integration and differentiation, as well as the notion of equilibrium are used as a general force guiding the specific processes that link various levels of analysis in the model. Providing a framework for scholars and students in the field of organizational studies, this book presents: *a comprehensive review of the literature related to multinational and multicultural teams; *an overview of the specific model driving our thinking along with an extensive description of the component parts; *the individual and group-level elements of teams and their members; *the linking processes that connect various elements and structures; *the catalysts that give rise to changes in various elements and structures described in the theory section; and *a general integration of the model and an application of this framework for understanding MNT's in diverse cultural contexts.
The Likely Economic Impact of Increasing Investment in Wind on the Island of Ireland

Like most countries Ireland faces the double target of decreasing emissions and keeping energy costs low to maintain competitiveness of the economy. The two goals are not always compatible. This study measures the effect of increasing wind in electricity generation on the total electricity costs for the Island of Ireland for the year 2020 under a variety of scenarios on fuel and carbon costs, generating plant portfolio mixes and electricity demand growth. We find that with high levels of interconnection 6000MW of installed wind capacity are likely to reduce overall costs, especially if the price of natural gas stays high. The sensitivity of the results to the level of interconnection suggests that it is important for interconnection to be operated and governed as efficiently as possible. We also find that the deregulated all-island system will face major challenges moving into the future since returns to traditional fossil-fuelled plants might not be sufficient to create new (needed) investment when wind penetration is high.
Percutaneous Management of Malignant Biliary Strictures: Current Status and Future Directions

Abstract Various minimally invasive percutaneous interventions may be performed for the treatment and management of malignant biliary obstruction. The types of percutaneous interventions include percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage, percutaneous cholecystostomy, and biliary stent placement. Biliary stents have undergone continued evolution in design to prolong patency, increase cost-effectiveness, improve patient survival, and quality of life. Furthermore, investigational techniques, such as radiofrequency ablation, intraluminal brachytherapy, and photodynamic therapy promise new technologies in the field of biliary intervention. This review focuses on the current status of percutaneous therapies for malignant biliary strictures and obstruction.
A novel converter configuration for wind applications using PWM CSI with diode rectifier and buck converter

A novel converter configuration is proposed in this paper for mega-watt wind energy conversion system (WECS) using permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The converter consists of a diode rectifier, a buck converter and a pulse-width-modulated (PWM) current source inverter (CSI). Two DC current requirements in the system are analyzed and compared: one from the generator and diode rectifier for maximum power point tracking (MPPT), and the other from the grid and PWM CSI to obtain desired grid power factor. The theoretical analysis concludes the necessity of a buck converter for achieving all the control objectives in the full wind turbine operating range. Moreover, control scheme is developed for MPPT and grid reactive power compensation. The DC current is controlled at the minimum required level for system loss reduction. Simulation results on a 2MW WECS demonstrate the desired performance of the proposed system over a wide range.
The interrelationships between corporations' dependence on external financing, information disclosure and cost of capital

The paper tests the relationship between corporations' dependence on external financing and their level of corporate information disclosure, and the relationship between the cost of capital and the level of corporate information disclosure in the Integrated Circuit (IC) industry in Taiwan. Using a sample of 108 companies, it is found that firms with greater external financing have more incentives to provide higher information disclosure levels. Further, an active disclosure policy would lead to a lower cost of both debt and equity capital.
Iterative Learning Control based on strong practical stability of repetitive processes

This paper develops significant new results on the design of Iterative Learning Control (ILC) schemes based on treating the problem within the framework of the stability/control theory for linear repetitive processes. These processes propagate in two independent directions and arise in the modeling of a number of physical processes. The duration of information propagation in one of these two directions is finite, and this is a key link to ILC which has been developed as a technique for controlling systems which are required to repeat the same operation over a finite duration known as the trial length. Each execution of the operation is known as a trial and when it finishes the process resets and the next trial begins. The novel idea in ILC is to use information from previous trials to compute the input to the current one and thereby sequentially improve performance. Previous work has shown that linear model ILC can be described by certain repetitive process models and in this paper the starting point is so-called strong practical stability for these processes. In particular, it is shown how this stability property can be used to design ILC laws in the case when there are performance specifications that require control of the transient dynamics produced along the trials, in addition to trial-to-trial error convergence.
AP-1 Activated by Toll-like Receptors Regulates Expression of IL-23 p19*

Interleukin (IL)-23, a new member of the IL-12 family, plays a central role in the Th17 immune response and in autoimmune diseases. It is clear that activated macrophages and dendritic cells produce IL-23, but the molecular mechanisms whereby inflammatory signals stimulate IL-23 expression are not fully understood. We demonstrate that induction of IL-23 p19 gene expression by LPS depends on the TLR4 and MyD88 pathways. All three MAPK pathways (ERK, JNK, and p38) that are activated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation were shown to exert a positive effect on p19 expression. We cloned a 1.3-kb putative p19 promoter and defined its transcription initiation sites by the 5′-rapid amplification of cDNA ends method. By analyzing IL-23 p19 promoter mutants, we have identified a promoter region (−413 to +10) that contains several important elements, including NF-κB and AP-1. In addition to NF-κB, we have demonstrated that the proximal AP-1 site is important for p19 promoter activation. Mutation of the AP-1 site resulted in the loss of p19 promoter activation. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) analysis showed that c-Jun and c-Fos bind to the AP-1 site, which was confirmed by a chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. Furthermore, co-transfection of c-Jun and ATF2 synergistically induced p19 promoter activation, and c-Jun and ATF2 formed a protein complex, demonstrated by co-immunoprecipitation. Finally, LPS-stimulated peritoneal macrophages from IL-10-deficient mice expressed significantly higher IL-23 p19 than macrophages from wild type mice, and the addition of recombinant IL-10 strongly inhibited LPS-induced p19 expression. Thus, this study suggests that MyD88-dependent Toll-like receptor signaling induces IL-23 p19 gene expression through both MAPKs and NF-κB.
Involvement of Akt in synergistic effects of thermo-chemotherapy on human small cell lung cancer H446 cell apoptosis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Akt pathway plays an important role in cell growth and apoptosis. This study was to characterize the role of Akt in the synergistic effects of thermo-chemotherapy on lung cancer cell growth and its underlying mechanisms. METHODS H446 cells were subjected to different thermo-chemotherapy schemes: 43centigrade + paclitaxel (120 microg/L) (thermo-chemotherapy group), 43centigrade + paclitaxel (120 microg/L) + Wortmannin (1 micromol/L, PI3K/Akt pathway inhibitor) (Wortmannin group), 43centigrade + paclitaxel (120 microg/L) + N-acety-L-cysteine (NAC) (30 micromol/L, reactive oxygen species, ROS inhibitor) (NAC group), and paclitaxel (120 microg/L) group. The cells without any treatment were used as the control. MTT assay was conducted to measure the cell proliferation rate. Cell apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM). ROS was detected with fluorescence. Phosphorylation of Akt and the expressions of Caspase-3 were determined by Western blot. RESULTS The cell proliferation rate was significantly lower in the thermo-chemotherapy group than in the control and the chemotherapy groups ((59.83 +/- 3.36)% vs. (100.00 +/- 0.00)% and (69.16 +/- 2.95)%, P < 0.05). The rate of cell apoptosis was the highest in the thermo-chemotherapy group (27.59 +/- 5.47)% (P < 0.05). The ROS expression level was higher in the cells of thermo-chemotherapy group (102.14 +/- 18.34) than in the other groups (P < 0.05), which could be inhibited by NAC(28.01 +/- 1.19), but not by the PI3K inhibitor Wortmannin (99.87 +/- 8.35). Phosphorylation of Akt significantly decreased in the thermo-chemotherapy group (0.69+/-0.03) (P < 0.05), which could be blocked by Wortmannin (0.00 +/- 0.00), but increased by NAC (1.05 +/- 0.29) (P < 0.05). The expression level of Caspase-3 was higher in the thermo-chemotherapy group (1.07 +/- 0.08) than in other groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Thermo-chemotherapy has a stronger inhibitory effect than chemotherapy alone in lung tumor cell growth, probably through induction of ROS production and subsequent inhibition of Akt pathway activation and Caspase pathway-induced cancer cell apoptosis.
Pathogenic mechanisms of neuronal damage in the AIDS dementia complex.

It has become clear that infection with HIV1 is capable of causing a progressive syndrome of neurological disease that is not strictly dependent upon the state of immunosuppression in the infected individual. ' Although the central nervous system (CNS) is often the target of opportunistic infections in the later stages of AIDS related complex (ARC) or in AIDS itself, the AIDS dementia complex (ADC), or the HIV associated cognitive motor complex as it is otherwise known, is by far the most common cause of neurological dysfunction.2 Neuropsychiatric abnormalities become most prevalent in the late stages of HIV-1 infection, and occur in 40-50% of adults and as many as 70-80% of children with clinically defined AIDS.3 Rarely, the sole indication of HIV-1 infection is the involvement of the CNS.45 Patients with the neurological syndrome associated with HIV1 infection portray a slow, progressive degeneration of both cognitive and motor functions that does not remit.6 Frequently, it begins with mild symptoms of impaired concentration and difficulty in performing simple tasks that gradually increase in severity, leading to a major loss of intellectual capacity and complete motor disability. Finally, patients enter a nearly vegetative state that is terminal.7 The time course for progression through the disease is variable and probably dependent upon unknown host or viral factors5 but significant deterioration can occur in the course of two months to one year following the appearance of symptoms.6
Commodities and Macroeconomic Factors: Unconditional Volatility Measures

Abstract: This study focuses on the measurement of spillover effects from macroeconomic factors to commodity volatility. It argues that such measurement is sensitive to volatility computation and to causality testing. To this end, I analyze two commodity data sets-gold and the Continuous Commodity Index (1969-2011), and twenty-four Dow Jones futures indexes (1991-2011)-and various macroeconomic indicators. I conclude that the macroeconomic factors that influence volatility generally depend on the commodity under consideration. I also explore whether commodities of the same class experience volatility shifts around the same dates, and find that this is not the case except for energy commodities.
Three dimensional mathematical modelling of pronuclei migration for the mouse

It is still an open question when the orientation of the embryonic-abembryonic axis of the mouse embryo is laid down. The two most explicit symmetry breaking events for the egg are the extrusion of the second polar body and the sperm entry. The main question addressed in this paper is what happens between the sperm entering the egg and fusion of the two pronuclei. Orientation of the apposing pronuclei probably plays a decisive role in the polarity of the developing embryo. In order to shed some lights on this intriguing question, a mathematical model that describes the pronuclei dynamics have been constructed in the form of a stochastic differential equation. The model concerns pronuclei migration from the time of the sperm entry to the fusion and spatial orientation of this fusion. The methodology consists of using stacks of confocal microscopy time-lapse images of the pronuclei migration together with statistical methods to identify realistic parameters in the model. Given different angles between the sperm entry and the position of the second polar body, the final model is then used to produce distributions of orientations of the meeting positions between the pronuclei. However, the main result is the suggested model itself which describes the main features of the migration. The fitted model is based on two forces of attraction. Migration is directed towards the centre but also towards the other pronucleus. Parameter values corresponding to the size of these forces are estimated from data of both eggs treated with a microtubule inhibitor and untreated eggs. Simulations from the model with the different model parameters are accomplished and distributions of meeting positions are plotted. These simulated distributions could for instance be used as initial value distributions for future models of egg cleavage.
Impact of Changes in Energy Input Prices on Ethanol Importation and Prices

This study examines the link between ethanol markets in the United States and Brazil. Vector autoregression is used to explore the relationship between ethanol prices in the United States and Brazil and the primary feed stocks used in production for January 2005 through February 2011. Vector autoregression is also used to explore the relationship between the two ethanol markets and the Brazilian real/United States dollar exchange rate. Causality tests, impulse responses, and forecast error decomposition are used to determine the economic implications. Results indicate the markets are not as closely linked as many have hypothesized.
Phenotype conversion in Pseudomonas solanacearum due to spontaneous inactivation of PhcA, a putative LysR transcriptional regulator

Phenotype conversion (PC) in Pseudomonas solanacearum is the coordinated change in production of extracellular polysaccharide and a variety of extracellular proteins, some of which contribute to virulence. Although PC is normally spontaneous, it is mimicked by transposon inactivation of the phcA locus (S. M. Brumbley and T. P. Denny, J. Bacteriol. 172:5677-5685, 1990). The DNA sequence of a 1.8-kb region from strain AW1 that contains phcA revealed one open reading frame that should encode a polypeptide of 38.6 kDa. The PhcA protein produced in Escherichia coli by using a T7 RNA polymerase expression system was of the predicted size. The deduced amino acid sequence of PhcA is similar to that of some members of the LysR transcriptional activator gene family, especially in the amino terminus, where a putative helix-turn-helix DNA-binding motif was identified. An analogous allele (phcA1) was cloned from the spontaneous PC mutant strain AW1-PC and found to be nonfunctional in complementation studies. When phcA1 was expressed in E. coli, the PhcA1 protein was 35.5 kDa, 3 kDa smaller than PhcA. Sequence analysis of phcA1 and chimeric constructs of phcA and phcA1 confirmed that PhcA1 is truncated by a 2-bp insertion 147 nucleotides upstream of the carboxyl terminus of PhcA. Southern blot analysis of 10 additional independently isolated PC mutants of strain AW1 revealed that two strains have larger insertions (0.2 and 1.0 kb) within phcA. These results suggest that phcA encodes a DNA-binding protein that regulates the transcription of one or more of the genes involved in P. solanacearum virulence and that spontaneous PC can be attributed to one of several different insertions within this locus.
Works councils: the European model of industrial democracy?

Book synopsis: Employee participation encompasses the range of mechanisms used to involve the workforce in decisions at all levels of the organization - whether direct or indirect - conducted with employees or through their representatives. In its various guises, the topic of employee participation has been a recurring theme in industrial relations and human resource management. One of the problems in trying to develop any analysis of participation is that there is potentially limited overlap between these different disciplinary traditions, and scholars from diverse traditions may know relatively little of the research that has been done elsewhere. Accordingly in this book, a number of the more significant disciplinary areas are analysed in greater depth in order to ensure that readers gain a better appreciation of what participation means from these quite different contextual perspectives. Not only is there a range of different traditions contributing to the research and literature on the subject, there is also an extremely diverse sets of practices that congregate under the banner of participation. The handbook discusses various arguments and schools of thought about employee participation, analyzes the range of forms that participation can take in practice, and examines the way in which it meets objectives that are set for it, either by employers, trade unions, individual workers, or, indeed, the state. In doing so, the Handbook brings together leading scholars from around the world who present and discuss fundamental theories and approaches to participation in organization as well as their connection to broader political forces. These selections address the changing contexts of employee participation, different cultural/ institutional models, old/'new' economy models, shifting social and political patterns, and the correspondence between industrial and political democracy and participation.
Would You Stick To Using Your Car Even If Charged? Evidence from Trento, Italy

Abstract Road pricing is becoming increasingly popular among decision‐makers as a policy tool meant to rationalize transport flows in a given area. This paper aims to study modal choice as a function of the personal characteristics of commuters by considering an original data set of more than 9000 commuters in the Trento district of Italy which was collected in 2001. Empirical estimates of drivers' reaction to the introduction of road pricing and to the improvement of the quality of public transport services are provided. It was found that the introduction of a system of road pricing would be far more effective in reducing private car use than an improvement in the speed of public transport. It is also shown that road pricing should be carefully defined, as elderly people and families with children are among those with more inelastic private transport demand.
On the Monte Carlo simulation of digital communication systems in Gaussian noise

We consider the general problem of the simulation of highly reliable systems operating in the presence of Gaussian noise. Our methodology uses importance sampling which has been shown to be a particularly effective method in the general discipline of rare-event simulation. The methods we propose are optimal in a certain sense, i.e., they are efficient. We also give a new class of simulation distributions that are universally efficient in the sense that they depend only on a single scalar parameter, regardless of the dimensionality of the underlying system or of the error sets to be simulated.