Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic Reactive Compensation for High Penetration of Embedded Generation in the IESO-Controlled Grid System Capability

Embedded Generation (EG) is a small scale production of power, typically located close to electricity consumers. Technologies used for EG include combined head and power, solar, wind, biomass, and gas. In Ontario, as a result of the Standard Offer Program (SOP), a large amount of EG projects has been proposed to be directly connected to distribution systems in the IESOControlled Grid (ICG). These small projects, when integrated to distribution systems, will cause substation transformer power to be reversed under some operating conditions, thus may have some aggregate impacts on the reliability of the ICG. One of the impacts is on dynamic reactive capability.
Competence Modeling in Twitter : Mapping Theory to Practice

Availability of “big data” from the Social Web provides a unique opportunity for synergy between the computational and social sciences. On one hand, psychologists and social scientists have developed and established models of human competence, credibility, trust and skill over many years. Currently, much research is being conducted by computer scientists to evaluate these human-behavioral aspects using real-world data from Twitter and other sources. However, many of these algorithms are formulated in an ad-hoc way, without much reference to established theory from the existing literature. This paper presents a framework for mapping existing models of human competence and skill onto a real world streaming data from a social network. An example mapping is described using the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition, and an analysis and discussion of resulting feature distributions is presented on four topic-specific data collections from Twitter, including one on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The mapping is evaluated using human assessments of competence through a crowd sourced study of 150 participants.
Understanding the Role of Recovery in Default Risk Models: Empirical Comparisons and Implied Recovery Rates

This article presents a framework for modeling defaultable debt under alternative recovery conventions (for a wide class of processes describing recovery rates and default probability). These debt models have the ability to differentiate the impact of recovery rates and default probability, and can be utilized to invert the market expectation of recovery rates implicit in bond prices. Among potential applications, the framework can be used for pricing and hedging credit derivatives that are contingent on the default event and/or recovery levels. Empirical implementation of these models suggests two central findings. First, the recovery concept that specifies recovery as a fraction of the discounted par value has broader empirical support. Second, parametric debt valuation models can provide a useful assessment of recovery rates embedded in bond prices. This article has attempted to model recovery and comprehend their impact on debt values.
OPART: Towards an Open Platform for Abstraction of real-time communication in cross-domain applications

Developing real-time communication in various application fields such as robotics, factory automation, etc. is one the most important steps achieving a deterministic system. However, the development of this step is very complex and requires low level and advanced knowledge about the real-time communication systems. This complexity decelerates the developing process specially in cross-domain applications e.g. surgical control applications in Networked Medical Systems (NMS) requiring real-time communication and deterministic system behavior. General complexities developing real-time communication systems are classified. The architecture of an Open Platform for Abstraction of Real-Time Communication (OPART) is introduced for reducing these complexities. The architecture of OPART is based on the Ethernet-based real-time communication protocol openPOWERLINK. An experimental setup of OPART using a medical sensor and actuator is demonstrated.
Genetic programming as strategy for learning image descriptor operators

Nowadays, object recognition based on local invariant features is widely acknowledged as one of the best paradigms for object recognition due to its robustness for solving image matching across different views of a given scene. This paper proposes a new approach for learning invariant region descriptor operators through genetic programming and introduces another optimization method based on a hill-climbing algorithm with multiple re-starts. The approach relies on the synthesis of mathematical expressions that extract information derived from local image patches called local features. These local features have been previously designed by human experts using traditional representations that have a clear and, preferably mathematically, well-founded definition. We propose in this paper that the mathematical principles that are used in the description of such local features could be well optimized using a genetic programming paradigm. Experimental results confirm the validity of our approach using a widely accepted testbed that is used for testing local descriptor algorithms. In addition, we compare our results not only against three state-of-the-art algorithms designed by human experts, but also, against a simpler search method for automatically generating programs such as hill-climber. Furthermore, we provide results that illustrate the performance of our improved SIFT algorithms using an object recognition application for indoor and outdoor scenarios.
Nav1.1 Localizes to Axons of Parvalbumin-Positive Inhibitory Interneurons: A Circuit Basis for Epileptic Seizures in Mice Carrying an Scn1a Gene Mutation

Loss-of-function mutations in human SCN1A gene encoding Nav1.1 are associated with a severe epileptic disorder known as severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy. Here, we generated and characterized a knock-in mouse line with a loss-of-function nonsense mutation in the Scn1a gene. Both homozygous and heterozygous knock-in mice developed epileptic seizures within the first postnatal month. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed that, in the developing neocortex, Nav1.1 was clustered predominantly at the axon initial segments of parvalbumin-positive (PV) interneurons. In heterozygous knock-in mice, trains of evoked action potentials in these fast-spiking, inhibitory cells exhibited pronounced spike amplitude decrement late in the burst. Our data indicate that Nav1.1 plays critical roles in the spike output from PV interneurons and, furthermore, that the specifically altered function of these inhibitory circuits may contribute to epileptic seizures in the mice.
Fast converging semi-blind space-time equalisation for dispersive QAM MIMO systems

A novel semi-blind space-time equaliser (STE) is proposed for dispersive multiple-input multiple-output systems that employ high-throughput quadrature amplitude modulation signalling. A minimum number of training symbols, approximately equal to the dimension of the STE, are first utilised to provide a rough initial least squares estimate of the STE's weight vector. A concurrent gradient-Newton constant modulus algorithm and soft decision-directed scheme is then applied to adapt the STE. The proposed semi-blind adaptive STE is capable of converging fast to the minimum mean square error STE solution. Simulation results confirms that the convergence speed of this semi-blind adaptive algorithm is very close to that of the training-based recursive least squares algorithm.
A Framework for Ontology based Integration of Structured IT-Systems

This paper describes a framework for the integration of information systems by providing a structurally abstracted and unified communication combined with similarity-comparison methods knows as Alignment from Semantic Web Technology. Using implementations of abstract Adapters for each platform and conceptual model, this framework is amongst other features a hub and spoke communication system, which transmits five defined Elements of Communication, propagates changes and listens to change events. Each Adapter listens to and propagates events at five specific levels. These are classes, subclasses, concepts (individuals), relations (structural and instance) and generic restrictions which can be applied to classes and relations. This framework does not substitute middleware it makes use of it and exceeds it in a way that communication is lifted on a common, and system and platform independent and comparable level. This communication is supported by integrating methods that are of syntactic nature such as XSLT-Transformations and by semantic methods provided by alignment tools. These transformations are conducted by the integration bridge concept, where adapter-to adapter mapping is processed.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports the Federal Reserve's Commercial Paper Funding Facility the Federal Reserve's Commercial Paper Funding Facility

This paper presents preliminary findings and is being distributed to economists and other interested readers solely to stimulate discussion and elicit comments. The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and are not necessarily reflective of views at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the authors. Abstract The Federal Reserve created the Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF) in the midst of severe disruptions in money markets following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008. The CPFF financed the purchase of highly rated unsecured and asset-backed commercial paper from eligible issuers via primary dealers. The CPFF was a liquidity backstop to U.S. issuers of commercial paper, and its creation was part of a range of policy actions undertaken by the Federal Reserve to provide liquidity to the financial system. This paper documents aspects of the financial crisis relevant to the creation of the CPFF, reviews the operation of the CPFF, discusses usage of the facility, and draws conclusions for lending of last resort facilities in a market based financial system. for substantial comments and contributions to the paper. Some sections of the paper are based on notes prepared by James McAndrews and Joshua Rosenberg in October 2008. Hoai-Luu Nguyen and Jordan Winder provided outstanding research assistance. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System.
Small group discussion as a key component in online assessment training for enhanced student learning in web-based peer assessment

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of online assessment training, with synchronous group discussion as a key component, on subsequent web-based peer assessment results. Participants included 81 college students, mostly women, taking a business writing class. After initial submission of a draft counter-offer letter, they completed online assessment training by engaging in a consensus-seeking, synchronous group discussion of the rubric-based ratings they gave to sample counter-offer letters. They then engaged in web-based assessment of randomly assigned peer counter-offer letters and upon receiving peer feedback, submitted revision of their own counter-offer letter. The discussion groups were randomly assigned to either anonymous (using a pseudo name) or identified conditions (using real name). Findings indicate that the quality of student counter-offer letters improved after online assessment training, and improved even more after web-based peer assessment. There were no significant differences between anonymous discussion groups and identified groups.
Earth-Space Links and Fade-Duration Statistics

In recent years, fade-duration statistics have been the subject of several experimental investigations. A good knowledge of the fade-duration distribution is important for the assessment of a satellite communication system's channel dynamics: What is a typical link outage duration? How often do link outages exceeding a given duration occur? Unfortunately there is yet no model that can universally answer the above questions. The available field measurements mainly come from temperate climatic zones and only from a few sites. Furthermore, the available statistics are also limited in the choice of frequency and path elevation angle. Yet, much can be learned from the available information. For example, we now know that the fade-duration distribution is approximately lognormal. Under certain conditions, we can even determine the median and other percentiles of the distribution. This paper reviews the available data obtained by several experimenters in different parts of the world. Areas of emphasis are mobile and fixed satellite links. Fades in mobile links are due to roadside-tree shadowing, whereas fades in fixed links are due to rain attenuation.
IMMUNITY TO YELLOW FEVER ENCEPHALITIS OF MONKEYS AND MICE IMMUNIZED BY NEURAL AND EXTRANEURAL ROUTES

Monkeys and mice surviving cerebral infection with yellow fever virus of relatively avirulent strains have been found to resist maximal intracerebral doses of yellow fever virus of a highly neurotropic strain. Such animals, however, do not resist more than very small doses of intracerebrally inoculated virus of Eastern equine encephalomyelitis. Animals immunized by extraneural routes, on the other hand, are not uniformly resistant to neural infection with neurotropic yellow fever virus. Monkeys which have undergone systemic infection with virus of the avirulent 17D strain or of several jungle strains resist only small intracerebral doses of neurotropic virus; while mice, even when possessed of very high serum-antibody levels as the result of intraperitoneal hyperimmunization, manifest only an irregular resistance to intracerebral challenge inocula. The difference in the resistance of neurally and extraneurally immunized animals is not related to similar differences in the levels of protective antibody in the sera. Indeed, the average of the serum-antibody titers of the hyperimmune mice is several times that of the intracerebral immunes. A possibly significant relation does exist, however, between the resistance of mice to neural infection and the content of protective antibody in the brain. The protective activity of suspensions of brains from mice surviving cerebral infection was found to be several times that of brain suspensions from the hyperimmunized animals. It is concluded that the superior resistance to neural infection of animals whose immunity results from a previous non-fatal infection of the nervous system is effected by a specific local mechanism which is based at least in part upon an increased concentration of antibody in the cerebral tissue.
The Ears of a Seventh Grader

*Many of the findings discussed may apply more generally to early adolescents and to older pre-adolescent students. (1982) obtained similar results when he studied music listening by thirteenyear-olds; they focused on musical elements-most frequently on loudness and instrumentation (timbre). The knowledge that seventh graders frequently pay attention to specific aspects of the music they hear has important applications to general music instruction, particularly in light of investigations by Getz (1966) Prince (1972). Each researcher identified several musical characteristics to which seventh-grade listeners react positively:
Lower Respiratory Tract Infection in a Renal Transplant Recipient: Do not Forget Metapneumovirus

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is emerging as a cause of a severe respiratory tract infection in immunocompromised patients. hMPV pneumonia has only been seldom reported in nonpulmonary solid organ transplanted patients, such as renal transplant recipients. We report here a case of a 39-year-old patient presenting with fever, cough, and interstitial opacities on CT scan diagnosed as a nonsevere hMPV pneumonia 11 years after a renal transplantation. Infection resolved spontaneously. Differential diagnosis with Pneumocystis pneumonia was discussed. We review the medical literature and discuss clinical presentation and detection methods that can be proposed in solid organ transplant recipients.
SIRT1/PGC1α-Dependent Increase in Oxidative Phosphorylation Supports Chemotherapy Resistance of Colon Cancer

Purpose: Chemotherapy treatment of metastatic colon cancer ultimately fails due to development of drug resistance. Identification of chemotherapy-induced changes in tumor biology may provide insight into drug resistance mechanisms. Experimental Design: We studied gene expression differences between groups of liver metastases that were exposed to preoperative chemotherapy or not. Multiple patient-derived colonosphere cultures were used to assess how chemotherapy alters energy metabolism by measuring mitochondrial biomass, oxygen consumption, and lactate production. Genetically manipulated colonosphere-initiated tumors were used to assess how altered energy metabolism affects chemotherapy efficacy. Results: Gene ontology and pathway enrichment analysis revealed significant upregulation of genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and mitochondrial biogenesis in metastases that were exposed to chemotherapy. This suggested chemotherapy induces a shift in tumor metabolism from glycolysis towards OXPHOS. Indeed, chemotreatment of patient-derived colonosphere cultures resulted in an increase of mitochondrial biomass, increased expression of respiratory chain enzymes, and higher rates of oxygen consumption. This was mediated by the histone deacetylase sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) and its substrate, the transcriptional coactivator PGC1α. Knockdown of SIRT1 or PGC1α prevented chemotherapy-induced OXPHOS and significantly sensitized patient-derived colonospheres as well as tumor xenografts to chemotherapy. Conclusions: Chemotherapy of colorectal tumors induces a SIRT1/PGC1α-dependent increase in OXPHOS that promotes tumor survival during treatment. This phenomenon is also observed in chemotherapy-exposed resected liver metastases, strongly suggesting that chemotherapy induces long-lasting changes in tumor metabolism that potentially interfere with drug efficacy. In conclusion, we propose a novel mechanism of chemotherapy resistance that may be clinically relevant and therapeutically exploitable. Clin Cancer Res; 21(12); 2870–9. ©2015 AACR.
Enhancing the teaching of introductory economics with a team-based, multi-section competition

ABSTRACT The authors describe a unique approach to enhancing student learning at the introductory economics level that utilizes a multi-section, team-based competition. The competition is structured to supplement learning throughout the entire introductory course. Student teams are presented with current economic issues, trends, or events, and use economic tools and theories to comprehensively examine the topics. Students present their analyses in their own sections with one team from each section moving on to compete in an inter-section round. Students are judged on technicality, creativity, and applicability of economic concepts. The competition has the potential to advance students' creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical and analytical thinking skills, while enhancing their ability to apply foundational economic concepts to real-world settings.
The Arecibo Dual-Beam Survey: The H I Mass Function of Galaxies

We use the H I-selected galaxy sample from the Arecibo Dual-Beam Survey of Rosenberg and Schneider to determine the shape of the H I mass function of galaxies in the local universe using both the stepwise maximum likelihood and the 1/𝒱tot methods. Our survey region spanned all 24 hours of right ascension at selected declinations between 8° and 29° covering ~430 deg2 of sky in the main beam. The survey is not as deep as some previous Arecibo surveys, but it has a larger total search volume and samples a much larger area of the sky. We conducted extensive tests on all aspects of the galaxy detection process, allowing us to empirically correct for our sensitivity limits, unlike the previous surveys. The mass function for the entire sample is quite steep, with a power-law slope of α ≈ -1.5. We find indications that the slope of the H I mass function is flatter near the Virgo Cluster, suggesting that evolutionary effects in high-density environments may alter the shape of the H I mass function. These evolutionary effects may help to explain differences in the H I mass function derived by different groups. We are sensitive to the most massive sources (log M > 5 × 1010 M☉) over most of the declination range, ~1 sr, and do not detect any massive low surface brightness galaxies. These statistics restrict the population of Malin 1-like galaxies to less than 5.5 × 10-6 Mpc-3.
An assessment of biofuel use and burning of agricultural waste in the developing world

We present an assessment of biofuel use and agricultural field burning in the developing world. We used information from government statistics, energy assessments from the World Bank, and many technical reports, as well as from discussions with experts in agronomy, forestry, and agro‐industries. We estimate that 2060 Tg biomass fuel was used in the developing world in 1985; of this, 66% was burned in Asia, and 21% and 13% in Africa and Latin America, respectively. Agricultural waste supplies about 33% of total biofuel use, providing 39%, 29%, and 13% of biofuel use in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, and 41% and 51% of the biofuel use in India and China. We find that 400 Tg of crop residues are burned in the fields, with the fraction of available residue burned in 1985 ranging from 1% in China, 16–30% in the Middle East and India, to about 70% in Indonesia; in Africa about 1% residue is burned in the fields of the northern drylands, but up to 50% in the humid tropics. We distributed this biomass burning on a spatial grid with resolution of 1° × 1°, and applied emission factors to the amount of dry matter burned to give maps of trace gas emissions in the developing world. The emissions of CO from biofuel use in the developing world, 156 Tg, are about 50% of the estimated global CO emissions from fossil fuel use and industry. The emission of 0.9 Pg C (as CO2) from burning of biofuels and field residues together is small, but nonnegligible when compared with the emissions of CO2 from fossil fuel use and industry, 5.3 Pg C. The biomass burning source of 10 Tg/yr for CH4 and 2.2 Tg N/yr of NOx are relatively small when compared with total CH4 and NOx sources; this source of NOx may be important on a regional basis.
PSSs and SVC Damping Controllers Design to Mitigate Low Frequency Oscillations Problem in a Multi-machine Power System

This paper deals with the design of multi-machine power system stabilizers (PSSs) and Static var compensator (SVC) using Modified shuffled frog leaping algorithm (MSFLA). The effectiveness of the proposed scheme for optimal setting of the PSSs and SVC controllers has been attended. The PSSs and SVC controllers designing is converted to an optimization problem in which the speed deviations between generators are involved. In order to compare the capability of PSS and SVC, they are designed independently once, and in a coordinated mode once again. The proposed method is applied on a multi-machine power system under different operating conditions and disturbances to confirm the effectiveness of it. The results of tuned PSS controller based on MSFLA (MSFLAPSS) and tuned SVC controller based on MSFLA (MSFLA SVC) are compared with the Strength pareto evolutionary algorithm (SPEA) and Particle swarm optimization (PSO) based optimized PSS and SVC through some performance to reveal its strong performance.