Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Critical Notice

Sosa’s infl uence on contemporary epistemology is hard to overstate. The position that he articulates in A Virtue Epistemology is a magnifi cent contribution to the fi eld, one that synthesizes with great effectiveness a number of main themes, and that provides further elaboration and development of the position that he defends in Knowledge in Perspective. I will begin by surveying some main themes in A Virtue Epistemology: the view of animal and refl ective knowledge that Sosa develops, his two responses to skepticism, and his credit theory of knowledge. Then I will try to determine in more detail what animal and refl ective knowledge are, for Sosa, and show some problems that arise from his conception of them. At the time of writing, Sosa’s book had already been out for a year and a half, and a large amount of critical material has already appeared in print, along with replies from Sosa. I will take the liberty of making use of some of this material in this notice, since much that is diffi cult in the book is clarifi ed in Sosa’s responses to his critics.
“Analysis of Incremental Returns of Canadian Mutual Funds”, J. F. Carrière; C. F. Hill, April 2001

X. SHELDON LIN* Sales of variable annuities/segregated funds have surpassed $100 billion annually in North America in recent years. For many insurance companies, variable annuities/segregated funds are their largest block of business. As a result, the performance of underlying subaccounts/mutual funds and selection of the funds have a significant impact on the evaluation of variable annuities and guarantees associated with these annuities, such as the guaranteed minimimum death benefit (GMDB) and the guaranteed minimimum accumulation benefit (GMAB). Dr. Carrière and Mr. Hill are to be congratulated for writing a paper on this timely issue. In this discussion, I would like to comment on one aspect of their paper, the stochastic model presented in section 4, and propose a new model that may be viewed as an extension of their model. As proposed in their paper, the time-t value of the fund F(t) is given by
Methods for pattern discovery in unaligned biological

Pattern discovery in biological sequences is the problem of finding patterns that are overrepresented in a set of unaligned DNA or protein sequences of related biological function. Such patterns could correspond to regions of the sequences responsible for the function itself, and could be used later for the functional annotation of newly determined sequences. Despite many studies, this problem can be considered far from being solved. The main difficulty lies in the fact that significant patterns can appear within each sequence with mutations, insertions or deletions of nucleotides or amino acids, without losing their biological function. This paper provides a survey of a number of existing pattern discovery algorithms, focusing both on the methods underlying them and their availability for the scientific community.
The Role of Project Manager in Agile Software Teams: A Systematic Literature Review

The use of Agile methodologies in software development has grown steadily over recent years. One of the main emphases of these methods is employing cross-functional and self-organized teams and highly skilled developers in software projects. In such a condition, project management would be a serious concern. Indeed, it would be confusing whether Agile teams are really in need of the role of the project manager. While Agile methodologies do not explicitly define the role of the project manager, many reports mention the existence of this role in Agile projects in real environments. So, it seems that the existence of this role is debated. Conducting a Systematic Literature Review, this study tried to find out answers to the ambiguities and questions regarding the role of Agile project management, the role of the project manager, and related issues. Focusing on the primary studies, the results show that there is no independent job called project manager in Agile methodologies. However, there is a need for it. Moreover, in the absence of this role in Agile methodologies and the need for it, it seems that this role would be structurally different from the traditional role of the project manager in terms of responsibilities and duties. Finally, the results show that pre-defined roles in Agile methodologies are often responsible for the project manager duties in software teams with no project manager.
Antioxidant Activity and Essential Oil Evaluation of Satureja hortensis L. (Lamiaceae) from Iran

Abstract Satureja hortensis L. (Lamiaceae) is one of the most important of twelve species of Iranian Satureja species cultivated in several areas of the country. As a medicinal plant, S. hortensis has been traditionally used as a stimulant, carminative and aphrodisiac. This study reports the essential oil composition and antioxidant activity of the essential oil extract of aerial parts of Satureja hortensis L. GC-MS analysis identified twenty compounds representing 97.03 % of the oil. The main components comprising 70.72 % of the oil were γ-terpinene (31.47 %), borneol (5.73 %), carvacrol (26.78 %) and eugenol (6.78 %). The samples were screened for their antioxidant activities using 2,2’-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical assay methods. γ-Terpinene (11.21± 0.41 µg/ml) and eugenol (11.97± 0.07 µg/ml) showed appreciable antioxidant activity in DPPH test.
A Review on Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Interconnected Microgrids

Research means Re-Search i.e. search again. Microgrid system gives the best solutions of feeding electrical demand and checking pollution as most of the Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) used in the microgrid are environment friendly. Microgrid also maintains reliability of electricity in the system. Use of renewable generators like photo voltaic (PV), wind etc. provide power using conventional sources with less pollution, but their implementation in grid causes several complications like circulating current, voltage harmonies, reduction in storage life, over voltage and over current in transient etc. The literature review was done on the works done by different authors in the field of Interconnected Microgrids. With the help of the information gathered from the literature review, final proposed work was formulated.
Feed non-starch polysaccharides for monogastric animals: classification and function

This review outlines the importance of understanding the true fibre content, which is the sum of non-starch polysaccharides and lignin, of feed in order for animal nutritionists to improve the precision of feed formulation in the future. The continuing use of crude fibre in feed formulation means that up to a quarter of the feed components, mainly non-starch polysaccharides and oligosaccharides that are lost during acid and alkali extractions, are ignored for ingredients such as soybean meal. Furthermore, the values for acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre are not used for feed formulation. They also do not represent unique classes of chemically defined molecules. In some cases, neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre values do not cover a large proportion of soluble fibre, for example, in leguminous crops that contain a high level of pectic polysaccharides. Non-starch polysaccharides and their associated lignin content represent the true fibre levels in ingredients and this is the basis from which structural and physicochemical elucidation of fibre can be attained. Only with such understanding will nutritional strategies be applied to target specific fractions/types of fibre in ingredients to produce desired nutritional and health outcomes in pigs and poultry. In this context, an example is given to illustrate how gut microbiota of animals can be manipulated to enhance production performance and immunity.
Filter Transients onboard DC Rolling Stock and Exploitation for the Estimate of the Line Impedance

Power supply transients in dc railways related to filter charging may trigger network and filter oscillatory responses, as well as cause very fast voltage spikes. These phenomena are relevant not only for Power Quality and EMC, but also for their impact on the measured pantograph quantities e.g. for power and energy consumption estimate. The broadband excitation of the system gives the possibility of attempting the identification of the network impedance. The experimental results are discussed and compared to the output of a circuit and a distributed parameter simulator. Matching between simulated and experimental data is very good.
A Deep Learning Method to Predict Fading Channel in Multi-Antenna Systems

Channel state information (CSI) plays a vital role in adaptive transmission systems, which adapt their transmission parameters to instantaneous channel conditions. However, the CSI tends to become outdated due to the rapid channel variation caused by multi-path fading. The inaccuracy of outdated CSI imposes a severe impact on the performance of a wide range of wireless systems, highlighting the significance of channel prediction that can combat the outdated CSI effectively. The aim of this paper is to propose a novel predictor, leveraging the strong time-series prediction capability of deep learning, where a deep recurrent neural network incorporating long short-term memory or gated recurrent unit is applied. Performance evaluation is carried out upon multi-antenna fading channels, and the numerical results in terms of prediction accuracy unveil that deep learning can bring a notable performance gain compared with the conventional predictors built on shallow neural networks.
Reliability Characteristics of a High Density Metal- Insulator-Metal Capacitor on Intel’s 10+ Process

We present a high density MIM decoupling capacitor that enables improved microprocessor performance by providing robust on-chip power supply droop reduction. The MIM dielectric is fabricated using ALD-deposited HfO<inf>2</inf>-Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> and HfO<inf>2</inf>-ZrO<inf>2</inf> high-k dielectrics with PVD TiN electrodes. We achieve single MIM-cap densities of 37 fF/μm<sup>2</sup> and 52 fF/μm<sup>2</sup> that meet reliability requirement for both 1.98 V and 1.26 V use conditions. The reliability of the HfO<inf>2</inf>-ZrO<inf>2</inf> capacitor shows minimal voltage polarity dependence, which enables the use of multi-plate MIM-caps to increase capacitance density. We achieved a capacitance density of 141 fF/μm<sup>2</sup> with a four-plate configuration, representing a 3.5× improvement over the reported capacitance density on Intel’s 14 nm process. In addition, the stack meets environmental stress tests. This MIM- cap improves the on-chip power delivery network, leading to an increase in maximum frequency of microprocessors and is now shipping in volume.
Analysis of users perception of place branding: A case study of Alor Setar city, Malaysia

The study examined the perception of place users to place branding. It analysed perception to; first, place can be branded; second, most of Malaysian cities doesn’t has brand; third, place branding has some commercial values; fourth, local community should together with government agencies in branding process, and; fifth, brand should in line with place image and culture. The tool used in this study was quantitative by using the questionnaire as an instrument. The findings revealed that place users have a neutral perception that place can be branded. It also showed high agreement of the respondents on others topic. The paper concluded by recommending for further research in another place branding topic in Malaysia.
Electrical Conductivity Analysis of CFRP with Boundary Element Method

Carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP), as a new inorganic non-metal matrix composite material, has received extensive attention in both industrial and defense fields. The conductivity study of CFRP is of great significance for its applications, such as non-destructive testing, prevention of lightning strikes, and electromagnetic shielding. However, obvious electrical anisotropy and non-uniformity of CFRP pose strict requirements for the CFRP conductivity measurement method and calculation. In this study, a simplified model was established with the boundary element method (BEM) for exploring the electrical characteristics of CFRP. The conductivity distribution model was established through studying the local structure of single-layer unidirectional carbon fiber. This model provides the basis for the subsequent theoretical analysis of resistive networks.
Shrub Invasions of North American Semiarid Grasslands

▪ Abstract The composition and structure of the semiarid or desert grasslands of southwestern North America have changed over the past 150 y. Brushy or woody species in these communities have increased in density and cover. This increase in density of woody species is called brush encroachment because most of these species have been present in these communities at lower densities for thousands of years. The brushy or woody species were not introduced from other continents or from great distances. They are indigenous species that have increased in density or cover because of changes in local abiotic or biotic conditions. The brushy and woody plants are not the cause of these changes, but their increase is the result of other factors. The causes of changes that have led to the present woody-brushy composition of these semiarid grasslands has been difficult to determine. Warming of the climate seems to be a background condition, but the driving force seems to be chronic, high levels of herbivory by domestic .
Joint Vehicle-Beam Allocation for Reliability and Coverage in Vehicular Communication Systems

In vehicular communication systems, maximizing the number of served vehicles while simultaneously guaranteeing reliable coverage at all the vehicles can be a challenging proposition. A switched-beam based infrastructure can provide better reliability as the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) can be improved. However, a simple switched-beam based vehicle-toinfrastructure (V2I) system alone may not suffice for serving all the vehicles because (i) the number of vehicle is more than the number of beam, and (ii) a vehicle may be out of the coverage region of a beam. Therefore, introducing vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication becomes crucial in extending the number of served vehicles. In this paper, ajoint vehicle-beam allocation (VBA) and vehicular proximity (VP) algorithms for V2I and V2V, respectively are proposed to guarantee reliable coverage for vehicles. VBA is an SINR optimization algorithm, and VP is based on LTE Mode 4, a proximity based service for V2V communications. It is shown that setting a flexible SINR threshold helps in attaining a reliable beam coverage region in switched-beam based V2I communication. It is proven that the outage probability are also directly dependent on SINR thresholds. Lastly, the concept of utility ratio is also introduced as a metric for reliability. Simulation results show that joint V2I and V2V communication significantly improves the utility ratio.
A Comparison of the SNP Variation in the Calcification PMCA Gene of Lottia gigantea between a Santa Barbara Population and a More Acidic Monterey Bay Population

As the atmospheric levels of CO2 rise from human activity, the carbonic acid levels of the ocean increase, causing ocean acidification. This increase in acidity breaks down the calcified bodies that many marine organisms depend upon. Upwelling regions such as Monterey Bay in California have pH levels that are not expected to reach the open ocean for a few decades. This study reviews one of the common intertidal animals of the California coast, the Owl Limpet Lottia gigantea, and its genetic variation of the plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPase (PMCA) in relation to the acidity of its environment. The PMCA protein functions in the calcification process of many organisms. Specifically in limpets, this gene functions to form its protective shell. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were found among five sections of the gene to determine variation between the acidic environment population in Monterey, California and the non-acidic environment population in Santa Barbara, California. While some variation was determined, the Monterey Bay and Santa Barbara Lottia gigantea populations are not significantly distinct at the PMCA gene. Sections B, C, and D were found to be linked. Only one location in Section B was found to have an amino acid change within an exon. Section A has the strongest connection to the sampling location. Monterey individuals were seen to be more genetically recognizable, while Santa Barbara individuals showed slightly more variation. Understanding the trends of ocean acidification, upwelling region activities, and population genetics will assist in determining how the ocean environment will behave in the future.
My favourite molecule: Discovery of the nucleolar targeting signal

The discovery of the signal peptides that direct proteins to localize at the nucleolus is described here. The nucleolar targeting signal termed the NOS consists of clustered basic amino acids organized such that a portion also functions as the nuclear transporting signal. Although a NOS has been identified within the regulatory genes of human retroviruses, HTLV-I and HIV-I, signals of similar function in cellular proteins – such as heat shock proteins – may be induced through the configurational change of protein structure by heat or stress.
Exposure Modelling and Minimization for Multi-antenna Communication Systems

On the one hand, the number of wireless personal devices (WPDs) owned by individuals has soared in the last five years. On the other hand, WPDs exposed their users to electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation that has been linked with possible adverse physiological effects. In this paper, we first provide a generic analytical framework for modelling the exposure generated by WPDs having two transmit antennas. Our model is based on reliable exposure data for different types of human dielectric properties; its accuracy is showcased via simulations. We then integrate this model in an optimization framework for minimizing the exposure, while meeting spectral efficiency (SE) requirements, by means of beamforming. Results show the existence of a trade-off between the specific absorption rate (SAR) and SE, such that our exposure minimization beamforming approach can reduce the exposure by at least 27% by trading-off only 1% of the SE when compared to the optimal SE-based beamforming approach. In addition, they also indicate that increasing the number of antennas at the receiver side can help to further reduce the exposure generated by WPDs.
Effect of Frequency Uncertainty on the Sine-wave Amplitude Estimator Returned by Linear Least-Squares Fitting

This paper investigates the effect of frequency uncertainty on the sine-wave amplitude estimator returned by the linear least-square fitting approach when the waveform offset is null. The analytical expressions for the bias and the variance of the amplitude estimator are derived assuming a random sine-wave phase. The derived expressions allow us to analyze the effect of frequency uncertainty on sine-wave amplitude estimator accuracy. Also, the expressions for the mean square errors of the amplitude estimator obtained in the case of pure sine-waves and sine-waves corrupted by additive noise are given. Extensive computer simulations are carried out to verify the theoretical results.
Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Trachyspermum copticum L. Essential Oil in Iran

Abstract The ajowain (Trachyspermum copticum (L.) is a popular spice and traditionally used in Iranian system of medicine. Essential oils (EOs) of T. copticum, extracted by hydrodistillation, were analyzed by Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry. The main components of EOs of T. copticum were thymol (31.27 %), γ-terpinene (20.00 %) and p-cymene (16.11 %). The antibacterial effects of the EOs were assessed on several pathogens, namely Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella shiga, Candida parapsilosis, Aspergillus fumigatus and Escherichia coli. The ranges of MIC and MBC of the oils were 1.00±0.05 - 10±0.50 and 2.06±0.1 - 10.65±0.06 μg/ml, respectively.
Survey of VLC and OCC Applications on Tourism Industry: Potentials & Challenges

In this work we explore the potential applications of visible light Communications on the tourism industry, considering high speed links (indoor systems using LED or eventually lasers) or low speed services (using classical VLC receivers or camera-based systems -OCC-). We have made a survey with an expert panel to discover advantages, challenges, possible disadvantages or contributions to the destination or tourism facility image. We also have explored the state-of-the-art applications of this technology focused in three scenarios: the traveler itself, the tourism facility (hotels, restaurants, museums…) and the whole tourism destination (the city or territory where the tourist is received).
Bet‐hedging in diapausing egg hatching of temporary rotifer populations – A review of models and new insights

Habitat unpredictability is a local adaptation factor shaping life-history traits in rotifer populations. It may select for the evolution of bet-hedging through risk-spreading strategies in diapausing egg hatching. This means that a fraction of diapausing eggs in wild populations do not hatch even when the conditions are favorable for population growth. Thus, there is a remaining fraction of viable diapausing eggs standing in the sediments for longer periods. According to theory, it is expected that the incidence of bet-hedging strategies for diapausing egg hatching will be higher in more uncertain habitats. Here, we review the major predictions derived from theoretical models applied to the case of monogonont rotifers. In the simplest “bad versus good season” models, the highest environmental uncertainty occurs when the probability of a good season is 0.5, and then the optimal hatching fraction is 0.5 too, implying maximum variance in hatching (i.e., maximum bet-hedging). However, there is still little evidence to support this prediction. This is most likely due to the lack of long-term data of habitat fluctuations and the difficulties in identifying and analyzing bet-hedging strategies, as well as the potential to confound genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity. Moreover, we provide new evidence supporting the occurrence of bet-hedging strategies associated with diapausingegghatchingin theBrachionus plicatilisspecies complex. Ouranalysessuggesta gradient of predictability in the habitats of these rotifers, and the existence of a significant positive correlation between the hatching fraction of diapausing eggs and an index of habitat predictability.
Towards a governance dashboard for smart cities initiatives: a system of systems approach

This paper introduces a decision-making tool, designed to enable governing bodies to maintain management of traditional metropolitan areas as they evolve into smart cities. As metropolitan areas such as New York, Paris and Singapore begin embedding smart technologies into their infrastructure, real-time data become available to citizens and governments. As a result, new challenges have emerged that raised questions about more optimal ways to govern and manage cities operating as systems of systems environments that are now more highly connected and dynamic than ever before. To assist governing bodies to effectively manage these quickly growing systems of systems, this paper proposes a conceptual framework with a set of core building block components required to develop governance dashboards for smart cities. A case study of Singapore Smart City Lamppost initiative is presented, which acts as a practical example of the development of these governance dashboards within the lampposts component of smart cities and serves as a possible blueprint for expanding this approach to the rest of the smart city infrastructure.