Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of AC-line-emulation controllers of VSC-HVDC links on inter-area-oscillation damping

This paper presents a fundamental study on the impact of AC-line-emulation controllers of High Voltage Direct Current links based on Voltage Source Converters (VSC-HVDC) on inter-area-oscillation damping. The analysis has been carried out using eigenvalue and frequency-domain methods. The results presented in the paper show that an AC-line-emulation controller in a VSC-HVDC link can have either a positive or negative impact on the damping ratio of inter-area modes, depending on the value of the filter time constant of the controller. The study concludes that the filter time constant must be high enough to avoid negative interactions of this control alternative on power oscillations and the paper provides guidelines for the design of this parameter.
The Pain of Oral Mucositis

Over the past two decades, advances in the supportive care of oncology patients have permitted more aggressive treatment strategies that would otherwise not have been possible. However, the prevention and treatment of oral mucositis (OM) remains a dilemma. The American Cancer Society in 1999 estimated that approximately 400,000 patients annually will experience some type of oral complication as a result of their cancer treatment. The tissue trauma and associated pain of OM were identified as major clinical problems as far back as the 1970s, yet they remain a significant concern for the majority of patients undergoing cancer treatments. The National Cancer Institute estimated in 2005 that almost 100% of patients receiving radiation therapy for head and neck cancers experience OM, as do 80% of patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and 40% of patients receiving standard-dose chemotherapy. Most patients who have experienced OM report that it is the most bothersome side effect of their cancer treatment. OM is a multifaceted problem that can lead to a number of clinical complications. It can manifest itself in various ways, but pain is the hallmark symptom and may be the first indication that OM is developing. The inability to eat and drink can lead to problems with maintaining nutrition and subsequent weight loss. It may be necessary for patients to have a feeding tube placed to ensure adequate nutrition. Pain can significantly impact a patient’s quality of life and trigger a cluster of symptoms including fatigue and depression. OM is a doselimiting side effect that may result in treatment delays, dose reductions, or the stopping of treatment altogether. It is essential to have strategies in place to manage the pain associated with OM.
Toward Engineering Fluorescent nanodiamonds

We have grown nanodiamonds (NDs) with Silicon vacancy (SiV) and Nitrogen vacancy (NV) color centers starting from organic precursors in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) using both resistive and laser heating methods. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) measured a size range of 2 -100 nm, and photoluminescence (PL) and optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) analysis found evidence of the NV and SiV centers. Our results imply that it might be possible to grow fluorescent nanodiamond by a high-pressure hightemperature (HPHT) organic “seeding” process. Such a process is possible if the temperatures and pressures are low enough to allow the creation of diamond without decomposition of an initial organic seed molecule (such as Adamantane). The concept of using an organic seed to grow nanodiamond would have benefits such as pristine surface quality and the deterministic creation of color-centers at the center of the nanodiamond, giving rise to better fluorescence properties than current probabilistic methods. Such high-quality nanodiamonds would have major impacts in fields such as biology, metrology and quantum information sciences.
An Area Efficient Sub-threshold Voltage Level Shifter using a Modified Wilson Current Mirror for Low Power Applications

In the present communication, a new technique has been introduced for implementing low-power area efficient sub-threshold voltage level shifter (LS) circuit. The proposed LS circuit consists of only nine transistors and can operate up to 100 MHz of input frequency successfully. The proposed LS is made of single threshold voltage transistors which show least complexity in fabrication and better performance in terms of delay analysis and power consumption compared to other available designs. CAD tool-based simulation at TSMC 180 nm technology and comparison between the proposed design and other available designs show that the proposed design performs better than other state-of-the-art designs for a similar range of voltage conversion with the most area efficiency.
What is new about mild temperature sensing? A review of recent findings

ABSTRACT The superfamily of Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels is composed by a group of calcium-permeable ionic channels with a generally shared topology. The thermoTRP channels are a subgroup of 11 members, found in the TRPA, TRPV, TRPC, and TRPM subfamilies. Historically, members of this subgroup have been classified as cold, warm or hot-specific temperature sensors. Recently, new experimental results have shown that the role that has been given to the thermoTRPs in thermosensation is not necessarily strict. In addition, it has been shown that these channels activate over temperature ranges, which can have variations depending on the species and the interaction with a specific biological context. Investigation of these interactions could help to elucidate the mechanisms of activation by temperature, which remains uncertain. Abbreviations: Cryo-EM: Cryogenic electron microscopy; DRG: Dorsal root ganglia; H: Human; ROS: Reactive Oxygen Species; TG: Trigeminal ganglia; TRP: Transient Receptor Potential; TRPA: TRP ankyrin; TRPV: TRP vanilloid; TRPC: TRP canonical; TRPM: TRP melastatin
Microencapsulation of corrosion inhibitors and active additives for anticorrosive protective polymer coatings

One of the most promising methods to improve the protective ability of coatings is the use of microencapsulated corrosion inhibitors (MCI) and active additives in their composition. Microencapsulation technology greatly simplifies the process of compounding the polymer protective coating and allows to isolate the active components from the reactive groups of polymer resins and hardener at the stage of curing, correctly form the polymer base of the coating and avoid the negative effect of the inhibitor on the adhesion of the coating to the protected substrate. The review discusses the main methods and techniques for producing microand nanocapsules. The basic requirements for the quality and complex characteristics of microand nanocapsulated corrosion inhibitors are presented. The advantages and disadvantages of capsules using solid materials, such as powders of natural and synthetic origin, carbon nanotubes, nanotubes based on clay materials and capsules with a liquid core and a polymer shell, for example, epoxy, epoxy, silicone resins, are noted. Description of the mechanism of transfer of the contents of microcapsules in the polymer base of the coating. The possibilities of “intelligent” microcapsules releasing the inhibitor when the pH level changes are considered. Examples of successful scientific and technical solutions for the manufacture and implementation of micro-and nanocapsulated corrosion inhibitors in coatings with specific materials used for the manufacture of microencapsulated corrosion inhibitors are given.
Strengthening local government through participation and leadership: Bangladesh perspective

Active participation and effective leadership are two accepted substantial objects of a well-functioning local government, without those ingredients, governance of local government intuitions cannot be contented to its founding purpose. Bangladesh, an emerging South Asian economic tiger, has achieved some exemplary development within short time in many fields, is still struggling to establish a strong and vibrant local government. There are several barriers identified beyond this such as colonial legacy in the governance, extreme controlling by the central government, weak participatory mechanism, poor finance etc. With the study of union parishad, the lowest tier of rural local government, this paper aims to illustrate the actual pattern of elected representative’s participation and the nature of leadership in the local government institution in Bangladesh. This is an exploratory study where multiple data collection tools are applied for collecting data from 77 elected members of 11 UPs of Kishoreganj Sadar Upazila. Major findings revealed that a significant amount of elected member does not have minimum knowledge about the laws and they do not have the proper understanding on management before entering their role. Moreover, patriarchy attitude is found as obstruction in the case of women’s active participation as body member. Finally, this paper provided some policy suggestions how this problems can be resolved. Key words: Participation, leadership, strengthening local government, union parishad,
Colloidal magnetite nanoparticles– cytotoxicity study on V79 lung fibroblast cells

Colloidal magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were yielded by chemical route for possible biomedical applications being characterized through microstructural and magnetometric methods and then tested for cytotoxicty with focus on cell apoptosis and DNA fragmentation. Cytotoxicity assays were performed on Chinese hamster lung fibroblast V79 cells. MNPs tested concentrations were of 25-50-100-150-200 μg/ml. Flow cytometry investigation evidenced apoptosis inducing for certain MNP levels. The electrophoresis comet assay showed up to 50% DNA progressive damage for MNP concentration up to 100 μg/ml that remained almost the same when concentration increased to 200 μg/ml. The main hypothesis upon the phenomenological background underlying the obtained results is based on iron ions released following MNPs uptake in the cytoplasm that were able to trigger apoptosis by DNA damages as well as cell necrosis through toxic reactive oxygen species formation.
Establishing metal exposure - dose - response relationships in marine organisms: illustrated with a case study of cadmium toxicity in tellina deltoidalis

The effects of metal contaminants in natural ecosystems are diverse, complex and often unpredictable. Establishing relationships between organism metal exposure, internal dose and associated biological effects is necessary to understand the fate and effects of metals in the environment. The accumulation and sequestration of biologically available metals by aquatic organisms, particularly bivalve molluscs, has led to their use as biomonitors of contamination, as it this portion which is of interest in pollution effects assessments. Biomarker measurements can provide evidence that organisms have been exposed to contaminants at levels that exceed their detoxification and repair capacity, thus establishing the link between contaminant exposure and ecologically relevant effects. This chapter will explore and evaluate approaches to establish relationships between organism exposure, dose and biological response to metals for sediment dwelling bivalve molluscs. Organism dose can be measured by total metal burden and subcellular fractionation of whole tissue used to determine the fraction of the total tissue metal which is in a metabolically available form. Measurements of oxidative stress such as total antioxidant scavenging capacity of cells, lipid peroxidation and lysosomal membrane stability, are good general effects biomarkers for metal exposure. The micronuclei assay, an index of chromosomal damage, can be used to identify genotoxic effects. By identifying relationships between exposure, dose and effects at various levels of biological organisation a better understanding of the mechanisms of organism stress responses to metals in ecological systems should be gained and the predictive capability of ecological risk assessment improved. The exclusive license for this PDF is limited to personal printing only. No part of this digital document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted commercially in any form or by any means. The publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this digital document, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained herein. This digital document is sold with the clear understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, medical or any other professional services. A. M. Taylor and W. A. Maher 2
Green Manure Planting Incentive Measures of Local Authorities and Farmers’ Perceptions of the Utilization of Rotation Fallow for Sustainable Agriculture in Guangxi, China

Planting green manure in fallow croplands in winter can bring various economic and environmental benefits, including increased food production, carbon capture and sequestration, soil retention, sandstorm prevention, water retention, and provision of habitat for biodiversity. However, the increased production cost of planting green manure reduces farmers’ willingness to adopt this approach, which is unfavorable for its sustainability. This research aims to investigate the influence of instrumental variables on farmers’ perceptions of sustainable agriculture practices, especially the use of rotation fallow, and tries to understand the relationship between farmers’ perceptions of using rotation fallow and planting green manure under incentive measures adopted by local authorities in Guangxi Province, China. Using simultaneous equation models, the results show that subsidies and planting training were the most important drivers for restoring green manure planting in the target region. These incentive measures could be further enhanced as a priority to restore green manure planting. The study also finds that socioeconomic factors such as farmer’s income, area of farmland, and labor for agricultural production have a certain influence on planting green manure planting and on farmers’ perceptions of using rotation fallow as a form of sustainable agriculture practice.
Water Resources Optimization using the Nexus Approach

Nexus considers water, energy and food as three sectors, whose interactions lead to an increased number of trade-offs and conflicts. In the present work, the water resources in the Upper Blue Nile River basin are investigated using the Hydronomeas model to produce Pareto optimal solutions of hydropower and irrigation. A relatively small number of optimized solutions are compared via a social cost-benefit analysis to quantify the net benefit for society and determine the most preferable solution.
NRC Publications Archive Archives des publications du CNRC

Both intensional and extensional background knowledge have previously been used in inductive problems to complement the training set used for a task. In this research, we propose to explore the usefulness, for inductive learning, of a new kind of intensional background knowledge: the inter-relationships or conditional probability distributions between subsets of attributes. Such information could be mined from publicly available knowledge sources but including only some of the attributes involved in the inductive task at hand. The purpose of our work is to show how this information can be useful in inductive tasks, and under what circumstances. We will consider injection of background knowledge into Bayesian Networks and explore its eﬀectiveness on training sets of diﬀerent sizes. We show that this additional knowledge not only improves the estimate of classiﬁcation accuracy it also reduces the variance in the accuracy of the model.
Validation of Reference Genes for Gene Expression Normalization in RAW264.7 Cells under Different Conditions

RAW264.7 is a macrophage strain derived from mice tumour and shows a significant ability in antigen uptake. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) is one of the most commonly used methods in gene studies and requires suitable reference genes to normalize and quantitate the expression of gene of interest with sensitivity and specificity. However, suitable reference genes in RAW264.7 cells have not yet been identified for accurate gene expression quantification. In the current study, we evaluated expression levels of ten candidate reference genes in RAW264.7 cells under different conditions. RT-qPCR results indicated significant differences in the expression levels among the ten reference genes. Statistical analyses were carried out using geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper software to further investigate the stability of the reference genes. Integrating the results from the three analytical methods, cytochrome c-1 and hydroxymethylbilane synthase were found to be the most stable and therefore more suitable reference genes, while ribosomal protein L4 and cyclophilin A were the least stable. This study emphasises the importance of identifying and selecting the most stable reference genes for normalization and provides a basis for future gene expression studies using RAW264.7 cells.
An External and Internal Understanding: Female Puberty

As a lifelong learner and student, I have learned that leadership, public awareness, and women’s health are important topics to focus on. Puberty is a process that occurs within female adolescence every day, but the external and internal understanding to why and how it occurs is rarely explored within U.S. school systems. Girl Talk Inc. is a school-based program that focuses on girls from diverse backgrounds to establish self-esteem, a love of learning, and assist with future educational endeavors. The one aspect that is not emphasized within the program is the understanding of female puberty. This is where I am organizing an educational plan for elementary, middle, and high school students pertaining to this topic. It will be incorporated within the 2019-2020 Girl Talk Inc. curriculum and future curriculums.
Direct Superior Approach to the Hip for Total Hip Arthroplasty

Background: Traditional posterior approaches to the hip, posterolateral and mini-posterior, violate the iliotibial band and the short external rotators, specifically the quadratus femoris and obturator externus muscles1-4. The direct anterior approach does not violate the iliotibial band or the quadratus femoris, resulting in earlier ambulation and lower dislocation rates1,5-9. The direct superior (DS) is a posterior approach that spares the iliotibial band, obturator externus tendon, and quadratus femoris muscle. The goal of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is to disrupt the least amount of tissue necessary to adequately expose the hip and correctly place implants. Although MIS total hip arthroplasty (THA) has not lived up to all of its promises10-13, MIS-THA may enable early ambulation and decrease length of stay14-16. Description: The patient is positioned in the lateral decubitus position. An 8 to 10-cm incision is made at a 60° oblique angle starting from the posterior-proximal corner of the greater trochanter. Only the gluteus maximus fascia is incised; the Iliotibial band is completely spared. The gluteus maximus muscle is split bluntly, exposing the gluteus medius muscle, piriformis tendon, and triceps coxae (the obturator internus and superior and inferior gemellus muscles). The piriformis and conjoined tendon are released from the greater trochanter and tagged. The gluteus minimus is elevated, exposing the posterior hip capsule. An arthrotomy is performed prior to dislocating the hip with flexion, adduction, internal rotation, and axial compression. The femoral neck is resected, the acetabulum is reamed, and components or trials are impacted into position. Hip stability is assessed. Final implants are placed. The posterior capsule, piriformis, and obturator internus tendons are repaired anatomically. The fascia and skin are closed. Alternatives:Posterolateral approach.Mini-posterior approach.Direct lateral approach.Anterolateral approach.Percutaneously assisted total hip (PATH). Supercapsular PATH (SuperPath). Rationale: The DS approach to the hip differs from the traditional posterior and mini-posterior approaches because it preserves the iliotibial band, quadratus femoris muscle, and obturator externus tendon1, potentially suppressing dislocation. The DS approach to the hip causes less soft-tissue destruction, especially to the gluteus minimus and tensor fasciae latae muscles, compared with the direct anterior approach to the hip, suggesting DS-THA may enhance postoperative mobility1,3,14-16. DS-THA is extensile by extending the incision distally, incising the iliotibial band, and releasing the quadratus femoris muscle. This converts a DS approach to a standard posterolateral approach, providing additional visualization.
ROLE OF LATERAL AND FEEDBACK CONNECTIONS IN PRIMARY 3 VISUAL CORTEX IN THE PROCESSING OF SPATIOTEMPORAL

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Validating the IS-impact model at queensland university of technology (QUT): part A

The overall research aims to develop a standardised instrument to measure the impacts resulting from contemporary Information Systems (IS). The research adopts the IS-Impact measurement model, introduced by Gable et al, (2008), as its theoretical foundation, and applies the extension strategy described by Berthon et al. (2002); extending both theory and the context, where the new context is the Human Resource (HR) system. The research will be conducted in two phases, the exploratory phase and the specification phase. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of the exploratory phase. 134 respondents from a major Australian University were involved in this phase. The findings have supported most of the existing IS-Impact model's credibility. However, some textual data may suggest new measures for the IS-Impact model, while the low response rate or the averting of some may suggest the elimination of some measures from the model.