Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of Radio-Frequency Transceivers for Wireless Sensor Networks

The SoC (System-on-Chip) design for the WSN (Wireless Sensor Networks) nodes is the most significant technology of modern WSN design. There are a large amount of nodes in a WSN system, the nodes are densely deployed either inside the environment or very close to it. Each node is equipped with a sensor, an ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter), a MCU (Micro Controller Unit), a storage unit, a power management unit, and a RF (Radio-Frequency) transceiver, as shown in Fig. 1, so that it can sense, store, process, and communicate with other sensors using multi-hop packet transmissions. The basic specifications of WSN are reliability, accuracy, flexibility, expenses, the difficulty of development and power consumption. Because all the nodes are battery-powered, power consumption is the most important specification of WSN. The core part of a WSN node is the RF transceiver, which is used to realize the wireless communication among the nodes. For a common used commercial chip, the distribution of power consumption is shown in Fig. 2, where TX and RX represent the transmitting mode and receiving mode of the transceiver. We can see that the RF part consumes the most power. Besides, modern RF design is composed of so many subjects that it requires IC designers to have sufficient knowledge. As a result, the IC design of RF transceivers becomes the most challenging research topic in the WSN field. As the applications of WSN become more and more widespread, many companies have developed highly-integrated chips for RF transceivers. The main specifications of several commercial chips are shown in Table. 1. The common characters of these chips can be summarized into several aspects: 1)a low data rate, 2)low power consumption, 3)high sensitivity, 4)relatively low output power, and 5)a simple modulation scheme. There are several ways to achieve low power consumption in WSN: 1)reduce the radiated power by using ad-hoc networks and multi-hop communication, 2)optimize the trade-off between communication and local computing, 3)design more power-efficient RF transceivers, and 4)develop more energy-efficient protocols and routing algorithms. And the third one is what we will talk about in this chapter. 1
Competing through consonance: a stakeholder engagement view of corporate relational environment

Purpose of the paper: The purpose of this paper is to investigate companies’ approach to market relationships with the aim of highlighting the positive impact of consonance-oriented strategies of stakeholder engagement. Methodology: Building upon a VSA view (Barile et al., 2015a) of stakeholder engagement that highlights the relevance of stakeholders’ perceptions of companies’ alignment with them, exploratory research is conducted using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with reference to a sample of stakeholders of 37 Italian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The aim is to verify possible relationships between companies’ ability to be perceived as aligned with stakeholders’ expectations and their market share (MS). Results: This paper offers evidence of a positive relationship between companies’ ability to be perceived as aligned with stakeholders’ expectations and their market share (MS), highlighting advantages for companies to actively embrace stakeholders’ engagement through consonance-oriented relational strategies. Research limitations: The research is conducted with reference to a non-random sample of companies. Findings herein should be verified with reference to a random sample and by adopting different qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Practical implications: The paper shows the positive impact on performances of companies’ capabilities to establish consonant relationships with their stakeholders in order to be perceived as aligned with their expectations. Originality of the paper: The paper contributes to previous studies on the topic of stakeholder engagement identifying elements upon which companies may act to build effective relational strategies with the aim of improving companies’ economic performance. The study also contributes to discussion about the VSA consonance/competitiveness dilemma providing empirical evidence of effectiveness of consonance oriented strategies.
Hip Strength and Core Endurance in Female Adolescent Runners With and Without Knee Pain

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: One of the most prevalent orthopedic conditions affecting young running athletes today is patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). Currently there is minimal research available on hip strength in female adolescent athletes with PFPS and there is a general lack of literature regarding core and endurance in relation to PFPS. Therefore, the primary purpose of our study was to investigate differences in hip strength and core endurance between female runners with PFPS and their age matched controls. The secondary purpose of our research was to examine any correlations between hip strength and core endurance in our participants. SUBJECTS: 34 adolescent female cross country runners. Cases with PFPS were defined as young female runners with a minimum 3 month history of anterior knee pain with insidious onset and a most severe knee pain of 3/10 or higher. Control subjects had no history of knee surgery, traumatic knee injuries, patellar instability, or neurologic conditions. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A cross sectional design was used. We recorded pain, Kujala score, hip strength and endurance and core endurance in our participants. ANALYSES: Between-group differences and correlations were calculated between age matched cases and controls for selected measures. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed between cases and controls for strength and endurance, but differences, though non-significant, in selected endurance measures between cases and controls were observed. A significant but low correlation was found between absolute hip abductor strength and side plank time (r=0.28, p<0.05)). A strong and significant negative correlation was found between subjects’ reported worst pain and Kujala score (r=-0.79, p<0.05)). A non-significant moderate negative correlation between side plank endurance and usual pain was found (r=-0.49). CONCLUSION: There were minimal differences noted in isometric strength tests between groups. There was a clear difference noted with endurance testing between group. However, this difference was not found to be significant, likely due to low number of subjects with PFPS. The differences in endurance between athletes with PFPS and their pain free counterparts merit further investigation and research. IMPLICATIONS: It was found that strength and endurance had a minimal correlation; this indicates that clinically, endurance cannot be inferred from isometric strength testing. Therefore, we recommend clinicians perform specific measures of endurance when attempting to identify impairments.
When Couples Become Parents: The Creation of Gender in the Transition to Parenthood

When couples make the journey through their first year of parenthood they confront the challenges of their new responsibilities with varying degrees of support and a range of personal resources. When Couples Become Parents examines the ways in which divisions based on gender both evolve and are challenged by heterosexual couples from late pregnancy through early parenthood. Following the experiences of forty heterosexual couples in various socio-economic positions, Bonnie Fox traces the intricate interplay of social and material resources in the negotiations that occur between partners, the resulting divisions of paid and unpaid work in their families, and the dynamics in their relationships. Exploring the diverse reactions of these women and men, When Couples Become Parents provides significant insights into the early stages of parenthood, the limitations of nuclear families, and the gender inequalities that often develop with parenthood.
Efeito da inclusão do farelo de coco em rações para frangos de corte

O experimento foi conduzido para avaliar o efeito da inclusao do farelo de coco (FC) na racao sobre o desempenho e as caracteristicas de carcaca de frangos de corte. No estudo foram utilizados 576 pintos com sete dias de idade, distribuidos em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado, com seis tratamentos e oito repeticoes de 12 aves cada. Os tratamentos consistiram na inclusao do FC nos niveis 0; 3,5; 7,0; 10,5; 14,0 e 17,5% em racoes isonutrientes. A medida que o nivel desse alimento aumentou na racao, houve reducao linear no consumo e no ganho de peso em todas as fases. Para conversao alimentar houve efeito quadratico na fase inicial e linear no periodo total. Em relacao ao grupo controle, observou-se que na fase inicial as aves alimentadas com as racoes contendo FC reduziram o consumo e o ganho de peso e tiveram pior conversao alimentar. Na fase final, o consumo e o ganho de peso nao diferiram entre os tratamentos. As caracteristicas de carcaca nao foram influenciadas significativamente pela inclusao do FC. Conclui-se que a inclusao do FC deve ser de 5% na fase de 7 a 21 dias de idade, podendo aumentar ate 17,5% na fase de 21 a 42 dias.
Optimal Harvesting Policies for a Stochastic Food-Chain System with Markovian Switching

An optimal harvesting problem for a stochastic food-chain system with Markovian switching is investigated in this paper. Firstly, the existence, uniqueness, and positivity of the food-chain system’s solution are proved. Secondly, persistent in mean of the system is obtained. Then the optimal harvesting policy is discussed. Finally, the main results are illustrated by several examples.
NreG two Years On : Where Do We Go from Here ?

The views expressed here are personal. Thanks are due to Naresh Saxena, Mihir Shah, Jean Dreze, Suhasini Ali and Aruna Roy and participants at two seminars one at NCAER, New Delhi in April 2008 and the other at Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram in May 2008, for comments on an earlier draft. This article draws upon published data from the NREGA web site, discussions with government officials, independent studies, discussions with various NGOs working in the field, and personal field visits by the author as member of the Central Employment Governing Council of NREGA.
Green synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles using Vitex negundo and its antimicrobial activity against human pathogens

The work is being carried out for the applica tions plant materials which would help in the prevention of human pathogens. We describe the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using plant Vitex negundo leaf extracts. A strong characteristic absorbance peak at around 420 nm was observed at different time intervals. This paper deals with a thorough investigation on the characterization of the silver nanoparticles by XRD, SEM and FTIR analysis and result reveals that, the average grain size of the silver nanoparticles formed in the bioreduction process is determined by XRD pattern of the silver nanoparticles formed in the experiment and is estimated to be 60 nm and spherical in shape. FTIR spectral analysis showed array of absorbance bands in 400 cm -1 -1500 cm -1 finally tested the biocompatibility by antimicrobial test against multi drug resistant human pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonous sp, Proteus vulgaris, and Salmonella typhi. The evaluation of agar diffusion test was made on the basis of zone of inhibition of bacteria around the test sample. The result reveals that the maximum antimicrobial activity was observed against the test organisms when compared to the control.
Heterogeneous expectations, Taylor rules and the merit of monetary policy inertia

We present new results for the performance of Taylor rules in a New Keynesian model with heterogeneous expectations. Agents have either rational or adaptive expectations. We find that depending on the particular rule, expectational heterogeneity can create or increase the set of policies that leads to local explosiveness. This is a new level of destabilization compared to what is known. In addition, we demonstrate that policy inertia is an effective tool to safeguard the economy against local explosiveness. Thus, we provide a rationalization for central banks to adjust interest rates with notable inertia in response to shocks.
Correlated errors in geodetic time series: Implications for time‐dependent deformation

Analysis of frequent trilateration observations from the two-color electronic distance measuring networks in California demonstrate that the noise power spectra are dominated by white noise at higher frequencies and power law behavior at lower frequencies. In contrast, Earth scientists typically have assumed that only white noise is present in a geodetic time series, since a combination of infrequent measurements and low precision usually preclude identifying the time-correlated signature in such data. After removing a linear trend from the two-color data, it becomes evident that there are primarily two recognizable types of time-correlated noise present in the residuals. The first type is a seasonal variation in displacement which is probably a result of measuring to shallow surface monuments installed in clayey soil which responds to seasonally occurring rainfall; this noise is significant only for a small fraction of the sites analyzed. The second type of correlated noise becomes evident only after spectral analysis of line length changes and shows a functional relation at long periods between power and frequency of 1/ƒα, where ƒ is frequency and α≈2. With α=2, this type of correlated noise is termed random-walk noise, and its source is mainly thought to be small random motions of geodetic monuments with respect to the Earth's crust, though other sources are possible. Because the line length changes in the two-color networks are measured at irregular intervals, power spectral techniques cannot reliably estimate the level of 1/ƒα noise. Rather, we also use here a maximum likelihood estimation technique which assumes that there are only two sources of noise in the residual time series (white noise and random-walk noise) and estimates the amount of each. From this analysis we find that the random-walk noise level averages about 1.3 mm/√yr and that our estimates of the white noise component confirm theoretical limitations of the measurement technique. In addition, the seasonal noise can be as large as 3 mm in amplitude but typically is less than 0.5 mm. Because of the presence of random-walk noise in these time series, modeling and interpretation of the geodetic data must account for this source of error. By way of example we show that estimating the time-varying strain tensor (a form of spatial averaging) from geodetic data having both random-walk and white noise error components results in seemingly significant variations in the rate of strain accumulation; spatial averaging does reduce the size of both noise components but not their relative influence on the resulting strain accumulation model.
Mining Users for Organizations on Mi-cro-blogs

This paper focuses on detecting relevant real-world users of organizations in micro-blogs. Many organizations and individuals choose to publish posts on microblogs. As the virtual social network may possibly be influenced by accounts’ real world social ties, it’s feasible to detect the user groups that have strong connections to organizations. In this paper, we propose a community-detection based method to discover the real world members of organizations on micro-blogs. In order to find the most relevant user groups, we also define ranking score for each user. Experiments show that, the top ranked users of each community is crucial for distinguishing the most relevant groups.
A simple method to recover the graphene-based chemi-resistor signal

Abstract. We present the development of a simple and fast method for restoring exhaust graphene-based chemi-resistors used for NO2 detection. Repeatedly exposing the devices to gases or to air for more than 2 days, an overall worsening of the sensing signal is observed; we hypothesized that the poisoning effect in both cases is caused by the exposure to NO2. Starting from this hypothesis and from the observation that NO2 is soluble in water, we performed a recovery method consisting in the dipping of exhaust devices into ultrapure water at 100 °C for 60 s. The device performances are compared with those obtained after the restoration is achieved using the typical annealing under vacuum method.
Applying Price's Equation in empirical research Perspectives on decomposition analyses of productivity change

This paper discusses and demonstrates how Price’s Equation may be applied in productivity studies. It derives and discusses the interpretation of the mathematics of the equation. Hereby it combines evolutionary theorizing on generalized Darwinism with the vast literature on decomposition studies of productivity change. It is shown that the inter firm reallocation effect of decomposition studies describes a special case of generative selection where fitness is a linear function of productivity. It is discussed how the recursive formulation of Price’s Equation allows decomposition studies to explicitly take into account that not all firms are competing with each other. They are part of different populations. And it is demonstrated how the evolution of Danish productivity from 1992 to 1999 can be decomposed, taking into account that firms competing on the basis of labour productivity are competing not with all other firms but only with those employing similar production processes.
The Savior Image in Online Collaborative Learning: How Adult Learning Groups Manage Age-related Difference

This qualitative cross-case study examines how age-related differences are manifest and managed within online groups of adult learners. The findings suggest lack of traditional instruction in the PBL groups created a vacuum of authority, which they were unable to satisfactorily resolve. Introduction Online scholars call for increased use of collaborative learning strategies in small groups to increase learner motivation, persistence, and learning outcomes (Bernard, Beatriz, & Pierre, 2000). Additionally, over the last 30 years, age diversity has increased from 28% to 43% from 1971 to 1991, and it is projected that the adult student enrollment will continue to represent about 38 percent of the undergraduate population for the next 15 years (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2002). Differences among adult learners can create powerful emotional contexts for adults. Age-related differences among online group members however, are virtually ignored in the literature. Within face-to-face settings, we have witnessed how younger students sometimes complain that older students obsess about their experiences, while older learners point to the lack of seriousness for learning among younger learners (Dirkx, 2002). As the use of online small groups increases, it is important for educators to more fully understand age related dynamics and the ways they may influence the learning experience. The purpose of this study was to examine how age-related differences are manifest and managed within online groups of adult learners. The findings contribute to our understanding of how adult learners recognize and learn to work across age-related differences in collaborative online contexts. Rational The theoretical perspectives of collaborative learning (Bruffee, 1999), group dynamics (Bennis & Shepard, 1956; Smith & Berg, 1987), and constructive developmental learning (Baxter-Magolda, 1999; Kegan, 1982, 1994) frame this study. Bruffee contends collaborative learning is best accomplished through consensus with heterogeneous groups that stress both the social and interdependent learning nature. Consensus discussion encourages individuals to coordinate different points of view, which in turn enhances reasoning and higher order thinking skills that promote new and shared knowledge construction (MacKnight, 2000). Thus, collaborative learning relies heavily on group process. As effective groups mature, they foster differentiation and development of a unique identity for individual group members (Smith & Berg, 1987). The process clarifies differences among members, creating specialized roles that serve to move the emotional development and work of the group forward. During early group processes, these specialized roles are created by a reliance on stereotypical perceptions of group
Pelagic Ecosystem Response to Climate Variability in the Pacific Ocean off Baja California

Gilberto Gaxiola-Castro1, Bertha E. Lavaniegos1, Antonio Martinez2, Ruben Castro2, T. Leticia Espinosa-Carreon3 1Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y Educacion Superior de Ensenada. Departamento de Oceanografia Biologica. Carretera Ensenada-Tijuana No. 328. Fracc. Zona Playitas. Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. C.P. 22860. 2Universidad Autonoma de Baja California. Facultad de Ciencias Marinas. Kilometro 107 carretera Tijuana-Ensenada. Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. C.P. 22810. 3Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigacion para el Desarrollo Integral Regional (CIIDIR) Unidad Sinaloa-IPN. Blvd. Juan de Dios Batiz Paredes #250. Col. San Joachin. C.P. 81101. Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico.
12 Application of Biotechnology for Industrial Waste Treatment

Environmental biotechnology concerns the science and practical knowledge relating to the use of microorganisms and their products. Biotechnology combines fundamental knowledge in microbiology, biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, and engineering knowledge of the specific processes and equipment. The main applications of biotechnology in industrial hazardous waste treatment are: prevention of environmental pollution through waste treatment, remediation of polluted environments, and biomonitoring of environment and treatment processes. The common biotechnological process in the treatment of hazardous waste is the biotransformation or biodegradation of hazardous substances by microbial communities. Bioagents for hazardous waste treatment are biotechnological agents that can be applied to hazardous waste treatment including bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa. Bacteria are microorganisms with prokaryotic cells and typically range from 1 to 5 mm in size. Bacteria are most active in the biodegradation of organic matter and are used in the wastewater treatment and solid waste or soil bioremediation. Fungi are eukaryotic microorganisms that assimilate organic substances and typically range from 5 to 20 mm in size. Fungi are important degraders of biopolymers and are used in solid waste treatment, especially in composting, or in soil bioremediation for the biodegradation of hazardous organic substances. Fungal biomass is also used as an adsorbent of heavy metals or radionuclides. Algae are saprophytic eukaryotic microorganisms that assimilate light energy. Algal cells typically range from 5 to 20 mm in size. Algae are used in environmental biotechnology for the removal of organic matter in waste lagoons. Protozoa are unicellular animals that absorb organic food and digest it intracellularly. Typical cell size is from 10 to 50 mm. Protozoa play an important role in the treatment of industrial hazardous solid, liquid, and gas wastes by grazing on bacterial cells, thus maintaining adequate bacterial biomass levels in the treatment systems and helping to reduce cell concentrations in the waste effluents. Microbial aggregates used in hazardous waste treatment. Microorganisms are key biotechnology agents because of their diverse biodegradation and biotransformation abilities and their small size. They have high ratios of biomass surface to biomass volume, which ensure