Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A distributed agent-based system for coordinating smart solar-powered microgrids

Renewable energy like solar power is crucial for the transition to more sustainable energy supply and use in the modern society. Buildings with rooftop solar panels form microgrids acting as prosumers and are usually not under the control of the regulated companies operating the public grids. Currently much work has focused on the self-consumption of individual microgrids. On the contrary, the CoSSMic system targets at a neighborhood of microgrids with the primary goal to maximize the self-consumption of the whole neighborhood by co-ordinating their energy use and storage. To address the challenge of the fluctuating and partly unpredictable nature of renewable energy, a novel hybrid control mechanism is proposed, where planning and scheduling based on predictions is supplemented by a reactive feedback loop to compensate the inability to predict accurately the rapid fluctuations in PV output due to passing clouds. To enable easy creation, evolution, and operation of the neighborhoods without the need for expensive central equipment and support, a Peer-to-Peer, multi agent, and negotiation based architecture has been designed and implemented to realize the control mechanism. Early evaluation has been based on user centered design and involvement, while final evaluation will be carried out using experiments and simulations based on one-year trials on two trial neighborhoods in Germany and Italy respectively.
Globally sustainable management: a dynamic model of IHRM learning and control

Purpose – After a thorough literature review on multinational learning, it is apparent organizations “learn” when they capitalize on expatriate management, a “learning strategy” (international work teams, employee involvement and other human resource policies), technology transfer and political environment and cross‐cultural adaptation. This suggests learning is possible when control mechanisms are relaxed or reduced, resulting in an ambiguous relationship between multinational learning and control. There has been no research on the relationship between learning and control largely due to this assumption of ambiguity and this paper attempts to overcome this gap by presenting a holistic approach to multinational learning and control. This paper posits that focusing on optimizing learning and control through flexible IHRM policies is a globally sustainable approach to MNE management. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework designed to address two major issues in international manageme.
Network analysis of motor system connectivity in Parkinson's disease: Modulation of thalamocortical interactions after pallidotomy

Structural equation modeling was used to examine functional interactions between cortical and subcortical motor areas in Parkinson's disease patients and normal subjects. Neuronal activity was defined by positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during performance of movement and control tasks. Patients were scanned before and 8‐12 weeks after stereotactic unilateral left posterovental globus pallidotomy. Pallidotomy attenuates basal ganglion inhibition of thalamocortical neurons involved in motor control and reduces the severity of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease patients. It was hypothesized that with surgery there would be a similar alteration in thalamocortical interactions as measured with PET rCBF. A path analysis model of cortical and basal ganglia circuitry (defined by anatomic and electrophysiologic connectivity) was used to estimate unidirectional path coefficients describing the magnitude of region to region interactions. The resultant interactions defined a composite task‐and disease‐specific functional network of connectivity. After pallidotomy, there were significant reductions in the strength of interactions between the globus pallidus projection to thalamus, and the thalamus, projection to mesial frontal motor areas, consistent with the presumed physiologic interactions of these areas. This modeling approach can identify regional interactions that are not always apparent in categorical comparisons of inmaging data. ©1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Programmable Aerial Multispectral Camera System for In-Season Crop Biomass and Nitrogen Content Estimation

The study introduces a prototype multispectral camera system for aerial estimation of above-ground biomass and nitrogen (N) content in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The system is fully programmable and designed as a lightweight payload for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). It is based on an industrial multi-sensor camera and a customizable image processing routine. The system was tested in a split fertilized N field trial at different growth stages in between the end of stem elongation and the end of anthesis. The acquired multispectral images were processed to normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and red-edge inflection point (REIP) orthoimages for an analysis with simple linear regression models. The best results for the estimation of above-ground biomass were achieved with the NDVI (R 2 = 0.72–0.85, RMSE = 12.3%–17.6%), whereas N content was estimated best with the REIP (R 2 = 0.58–0.89, RMSE = 7.6%–11.7%). Moreover, NDVI and REIP predicted grain yield at a high level of accuracy (R 2 = 0.89–0.94, RMSE = 9.0%–12.1%). Grain protein content could be predicted best with the REIP (R 2 = 0.76–0.86, RMSE = 3.6%–4.7%), with the limitation of prediction inaccuracies for N-deficient canopies.
DNA methylation and healthy human aging

The process of aging results in a host of changes at the cellular and molecular levels, which include senescence, telomere shortening, and changes in gene expression. Epigenetic patterns also change over the lifespan, suggesting that epigenetic changes may constitute an important component of the aging process. The epigenetic mark that has been most highly studied is DNA methylation, the presence of methyl groups at CpG dinucleotides. These dinucleotides are often located near gene promoters and associate with gene expression levels. Early studies indicated that global levels of DNA methylation increase over the first few years of life and then decrease beginning in late adulthood. Recently, with the advent of microarray and next‐generation sequencing technologies, increases in variability of DNA methylation with age have been observed, and a number of site‐specific patterns have been identified. It has also been shown that certain CpG sites are highly associated with age, to the extent that prediction models using a small number of these sites can accurately predict the chronological age of the donor. Together, these observations point to the existence of two phenomena that both contribute to age‐related DNA methylation changes: epigenetic drift and the epigenetic clock. In this review, we focus on healthy human aging throughout the lifetime and discuss the dynamics of DNA methylation as well as how interactions between the genome, environment, and the epigenome influence aging rates. We also discuss the impact of determining ‘epigenetic age’ for human health and outline some important caveats to existing and future studies.
Investigating a relevance of fuzzy mappings

The study introduces a concept of relevance of fuzzy mappings regarded as fundamental constructs of granular computing and rule-based systems, in particular. The notion of relevance of the fuzzy mappings is instrumental in the quantification of the quality of such mappings prior to their detailed construction. For the purposes of such quantification, we introduce shadowed sets and discuss as an algorithmic framework to be instrumental in expressing and quantifying the property of relevance of the fuzzy mappings. It is revealed that shadowed sets provide an interesting three-valued quantification of this property (such as acceptable mapping, marginal mapping, and a lack of mapping). The paper includes a number of detailed calculations concerning two commonly exploited classes of triangular and Gaussian fuzzy sets. Numerical studies are discussed as well.
A Model for Developing a Parent Resource Center on Campus

This study describes the development of a parent resource center at a university child care center. The parent resource center is funded by a federal grant and is designed to provide support to low-income student-parents on campus. Early childhood education interns work in the center to learn how to build family relationships. The program has been beneficial to families and the early childhood education interns. Recommendations for creating parent resource centers on university campuses to support the learning of early childhood professionals are provided.
Leveraging Integrated Data Systems to Examine the Effect of Housing and Neighborhood Conditions on Kindergarten Readiness

In many big cities, substantial numbers of children enter kindergarten already well behind in their cognitive and social development, presenting a major challenge for public education systems. While it is generally acknowledged that the environment in which children spend their early years is crucial, little is known specifically about how housing conditions in children’s own homes and the immediately surrounding areas factor into their school readiness. Drawing on two Integrated Data Systems (IDSs), this longitudinal, population-based study examines the influence of housing and neighborhood conditions since birth on school readiness of all children entering kindergarten over a four-year period in a big city school system. Using marginal structural models that properly account for dynamic housing and neighborhood selection, we find that children exposed to problematic housing and disadvantaged neighborhoods have lower kindergarten readiness scores after accounting for other factors. The negative effects of housing problems on kindergarten readiness are partially mediated by child maltreatment incidences, residential instability, and elevated blood lead levels. Communities are advised to pay more attention to distressed housing as a cause of disparities in early child development and school readiness. IDSs that incorporate detailed housing and property information, especially for the youngest children, can be used to target areas where there is elevated risk and coordinate local efforts to prevent the adverse effects of distressed housing stock on early child development.
Authoritarianism and the Revival of Political Racism: Reassessments in The Netherlands of the Reliability and Validity of the Concept of Authoritarianism by Adorno et al.

The supporters of a right-wing extremist and racist party which held a seat in the Dutch Parliament, have been shown to be highly authoritarian and ethnocentric. Research among a large number of high school students in The Netherlands proves that the concepts and instruments of Adorno et al. are reliable and valid. Authoritarianism is related to ethnocentrism, right-wing extremism, conservatism, and anti-feminism. This was demonstrated using scaling methods and in-depth interviews. It was concluded that authoritarianism is not only related to potential fascism but also to actual fascism.
Persistent pulmonary hypertension late after neonatal aortic valvotomy: a consequence of an expanded surgical cohort

Background: Survival of neonates with critical aortic stenosis has improved over the past decade. Models based on morphological characteristics have been designed to help determine whether early survival is more likely after biventricular repair (surgical or balloon aortic valvotomy) or after a single ventricle staged palliative surgical strategy. However, late follow up data are lacking. Objective: To report follow up data on survivors of neonatal aortic valvotomy who had persistent pulmonary hypertension caused by restriction to left ventricular filling. Results: Of four medium term survivors of neonatal valvotomy for critical aortic stenosis who had persistent pulmonary hypertension, one died aged 4 years and the other three have severe limitation of effort tolerance. Conclusions: This previously unreported late complication of “successful” biventricular repair for neonatal critical aortic stenosis is an important consideration in determining the initial management.
Intravenous insulin normalizes cardiovascular function and sympathetic activity after oral glucose in insulin‐dependent diabetic patients

Intravenous injection of insulin increases plasma noradrenaline (NA) as wellas heart ra te (Christensen 1983; Christensen et al. 1980). These effects of insulin do not require the presence of hypoglycemia. Recently we have studied the possible physiological impor tance of these observations by examining the influence of oral glucose (I g/kg body weight) on plasma NA and heart rate in Type 1(insulin-dependent) male diabetics, without signs of peripheral neuropathy, and in weight- and age-matched healthy subjects (Hegedus et al. 1983). In the NA concentration glucse change in response to a not change in either or controls. for plasma NA These results suggest that insulin may serve as an important signal to or regulator of the cardiovascular system oral study if cardiovascular responses as well as changes in plasma noradrenaline after oral glucose could be normalized in insulin dependent diabetics if insulin was infused at a rate which increased plasma insulin to levels normally seen after oral glucose administration. Eight young male Type 1(insulin dependent) diabetic patients were examined twice after an oral glucose load with and without i.v. infusion of insulin. The rise in plasma insulin during insulin infusion was approximately similar to that seen in normal subjects after oral glucose ingestion. In the where only glucose was given, the heart rate and arterial
Fieldwork with Children

While there is an expanding literature of qualitative studies with children, there is relatively little that examines the actual fieldwork process with them. This book looks at fieldwork with children from a number of perspectives, and helps to address the needs of researchers working with children. Robyn M Holmes overviews the study of children in the early chapters, discussing basic methodology and considering the school as the primary site for studying children. In later chapters, she examines closely how a researcher's personal attributes, such as gender and ethnicity, can and do affect research with children.
Balancing acts in qualitative accounting research

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the motivation for this special issue and its contributions. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is a conceptual editorial piece which discusses current methodological tendencies in qualitative accounting research. Findings - The paper argues that qualitative research involves some balancing acts between, on the one hand, pragmatic and aesthetic aspects and, on the other, the necessary steps for establishing trust in a particular piece of research. The authors explicate how this is manifest in the contributions to this special issue. Originality/value - This paper highlights the need for greater attention to the many pragmatic aspects associated with qualitative accounting research rarely accounted for in previous texts on the topic.
COMPACT: a hybrid method for compressing test data

The overall throughput of automatic test equipment (ATE) is sensitive to the download time of test data. An effective approach to the reduction of the download time is to compress test data before the download. The authors introduced a test data compression method which outperforms other methods for compressing test data. Our previous method was based on the Burrows-Wheeler transformation on the sequence of test patterns and run-length coding. In this paper, we present a new method, called COMPACT, which further improves our previous method. The key idea of COMPACT is to employ two data compression schemes, run-length coding for data with low activity and GZIP for data with high activity. COMPACT increases the compression ratio of test data, on average, by 1.9 times compared with our previous method.
Microsomal Prostaglandin E2 Synthase-1 Is Induced by Conditional Expression of RET/PTC in Thyroid PCCL3 Cells through the Activation of the MEK-ERK Pathway*

RET/PTC rearrangements are believed to be tumor-initiating events in papillary thyroid carcinomas. We identified microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase-1 (mPGES-1) as a RET/PTC-inducible gene through subtraction hybridization cloning and expression profiling with custom microarrays. The inducible prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) biosynthetic enzymes cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and mPGES-1 are up-regulated in many cancers. COX-2 is overexpressed in thyroid malignancies compared with benign nodules and normal thyroid tissues. Eicosanoids may promote tumorigenesis through effects on tumor cell growth, immune surveillance, and angiogenesis. Conditional RET/PTC1 or RET/PTC3 expression in PCCL3 thyroid cells markedly induced mPGES-1 and COX-2. PGE2 was the principal prostanoid and up-regulated (by ∼60-fold), whereas hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid metabolites were decreased, consistent with shunting of prostanoid biosynthesis toward PGE2 by coactivation of the two enzymes. RET/PTC activated mPGES-1 gene transcription. Based on experiments with kinase inhibitors, with PCCL3 cell lines with doxycycline-inducible expression of RET/PTC mutants with substitutions of critical tyrosine residues in the kinase domain, and lines with inducible expression of activated mutants of H-RAS and MEK1, RET/PTC was found to regulate mPGES-1 through Shc-RAS-MEK-ERK. These data show a direct relationship between activation of a tyrosine kinase receptor oncogene and regulation of PGE2 biosynthesis. As enzymes involved in prostanoid biosynthesis can be targeted with pharmacological inhibitors, these findings may have therapeutic implications.
A suboptimal embedding algorithm with low complexity for binary data hiding

A novel suboptimal hiding algorithm for binary data based on weight approximation embedding, WAE, is proposed. Given a specified embedding rate, this algorithm exhibits an advantage of efficient binary embedding with reduced embedding complexity. The suboptimal WAE algorithm performs an embedding procedure through a parity check matrix. The optimal embedding based on maximal likelihood algorithm aims to locate the coset leader to minimize the embedding distortion. On the contrary, the WAE algorithm looks for a target vector close to the coset leader in an efficiently iterative manner. Given an linear embedding code C(n, k), the embedding complexity using the optimal algorithm is O(2k), while the complexity in the suboptimal WAE is reduced to O(sk) where s is the average iterations.
Smoking cessation for clients who are HIV-positive.

Aim To identify smoking prevalence and behaviour in clients who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive and to enrol those wanting to stop smoking in a smoking cessation programme. Method A questionnaire consisting of 28 questions on smoking behaviour was developed. Over an eight-week period at the Immunology Clinic, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, New South Wales, Australia, 68 clients were asked to complete the questionnaire; 23 were ineligible because they were non-smokers. Of the 45 respondents who completed the questionnaire, 39 were current smokers and six were ex-smokers. Twenty seven clients enrolled in the smoking cessation programme. Results Smoking behaviour did not change due to a diagnosis of HIV or living with HIV. Stress was the main reason for recommencing smoking. At the end of the programme, 22 per cent (n=6) had ceased smoking and 40 per cent (n=11) had reduced nicotine intake. Conclusion Smoking behaviour is complex and the reasons clientscontinue to smoke are multifactorial. Therefore, smoking cessationprogrammes should reflect this complexity.
Characteristics of the Russian Lower Class

Lower socioeconomic strata in Russia have their origins in both the former Soviet lower strata and economic decline of the 1990s. Part of the reason for their persistence is the geographic mismatch between jobs and the labor supply, in addition to lack of education, skills, and social support. The situation cannot be solved by just providing transfer payments.
Lymphoid Tissue Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Development and Tissue Remodeling

Secondary lymphoid organs (SLOs) are sites that facilitate cell-cell interactions required for generating adaptive immune responses. Nonhematopoietic mesenchymal stromal cells have been shown to play a critical role in SLO function, organization, and tissue homeostasis. The stromal microenvironment undergoes profound remodeling to support immune responses. However, chronic inflammatory conditions can promote uncontrolled stromal cell activation and aberrant tissue remodeling including fibrosis, thus leading to tissue damage. Despite recent advancements, the origin and role of mesenchymal stromal cells involved in SLO development and remodeling remain unclear.
A Computer Oriented toward Spatial Problems

A general purpose digital computer can, in principle, solve any well defined problem. At many tasks, such as the solution of systems of linear equations, these machines are thousands of times as fast as human beings. However, they are relatively inept at solving many problems where the data is arranged naturally in a spatial form. For example, when it comes to playing chess or recognizing sophisticated patterns, present day machines cannot match the performance of their designers. The difficulty in such cases appears to be that conventional computers can actively cope with only a small amount of information at any one time. (This circumstance is aptly illustrated by the title of an article by Samuel, "Computing Bit by Bit.") It appears that efficient handling of problems of the type mentioned above cannot be accomplished without some form of parallel action. A stored program computer is described which can handle spatial problems by operating directly on information in planar form without scanning or using other techniques for transforming the problem into some other domain. The order structure of this machine is explained and illustrated by a few simple programs. An estimate of the size of the computer (based on one possible design) is given. Programs have been written that enable the machine to recognize alphabetic characters independent of position, proportion, and size.
Using Edge-Clouds to Reduce Load on Traditional WiFi Infrastructures and Improve Quality of Experience

Crowd-sourcing the resources of mobile devices is a hot topic of research given the game-changing applications it may enable. In this paper we study the feasibility of using edge-clouds of mobile devices to reduce the load in traditional WiFi infrastructures for video dissemination applications. For this purpose, we designed and implemented a mobile application for video dissemination in sport venues that retrieves replays from a central server, through the access points in the WiFi infrastructure, into a smartphone. The fan's smartphones organize themselves into WiFi-Direct groups and exchange video replays whenever possible, bypassing the central server and access points. We performed a real-world experiment using the live TV feed for the Champions League game Benfica-Besiktas with the help of a group of volunteers using the application at the student's union lounge. The analysis of the logs strongly suggests that edge-clouds can significantly reduce the load in the access points at such large venues and improve quality of experience. Indeed, the edge-clouds formed were able to serve up to 80% of connected users and provide 56% of all downloads requested from within.