Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Probabilistic Approach to Quantifying the Contribution of Variable Generation and Transmission to System Reliability: Preprint

The increasing electrical load served by variable generation (VG), such as wind and solar energy, in the United States and many other countries has stimulated an interesting line of research to better quantify the capacity value of these resources. Methods applied traditionally to thermal units based on their average outage rates do not apply to VG because of their uncertain and non-dispatchable nature. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation's Integration of Variable Generation Task Force recently released a report that highlighted the need to develop and benchmark underlying loss-of-load expectation and related metrics that reasonably and fairly calculate the contribution to planning reserves, or capacity value, of solar and wind power. As the fraction of generation coming from VG becomes more significant, their estimated capacity value will have a larger impact on system planning. In this paper, we provide a method to include VG in traditional probabilistic-based adequacy methods. This method has been implemented in the Renewable Energy Probabilistic Resource Assessment tool developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Through an example based on the U.S. Western Interconnection, this method is applied to assess the effect that transmission can have on resource adequacy. We also analyze the interactions between available transmission and capacity value for VG.
BODY MASS CONDITION IN GREEK TORTOISES: REGIONAL AND INTERSPECIFIC VARIATION

Body mass and length data from large samples of wild Testudo graeca, T. hermanni and T. marginata in Greece were used to assess body mass condition. Mass-length relationships differed significantly between the sexes (females being heavier) and among the species ( T. marginata being least heavy). Mass-length relationships for each species and sex were used to calculate the condition index (CI) log (M/M'), where M is observed mass and M’ is mass predicted from length, which is equal to residuals from the regression of log M on log length. It was possible to use the empirical mass-length relationships from one population of T. hermanni to calculate CI in other populations of substantially different adult size. The seasonal pattern of the CI varied with latitude, with a sharper and later peak further north, and habitat, declining more in summer at a xeric coastal site. The seasonal patterns of CI in T. graeca and T. marginata were similar, with sharper and later peaks compared to T. hermanni. These seasonal patterns of CI were related to differences in activity and food availability among species and sites. The variability of the CI was similar in all three species, with most values between -0.1 and +0.1; seasonal variation was of relatively low amplitude, with a range of about 0.05 between the highest and lowest monthly means.
An empirical assessment of the closeness of hidden truncation and additive component based skewed distributions

Hidden truncation (HT) and additive component (AC) are two well known paradigms of generating skewed distributions from known symmetric distribution. In case of normal distribution it has been known that both the above paradigms lead to Azzalini’s (1985) skew normal distribution. While the HT directly gives the Azzalini’s (1985) skew normal distribution, the one generated by AC also leads to the same distribution under a re-parameterization proposed by Arnold and Gomez (2009). But no such re-parameterization which leads to exactly the same distribution by these two paradigms has so far been suggested for the skewed distributions generated from symmetric logistic and Laplace distributions. In this article, an attempt has been made to investigate numerically as well as statistically the closeness of skew distributions generated by HT and AC methods under the same re-parameterization of Arnold and Gomez (2009) in the case of logistic and Laplace distributions.
SYNTHESIS OF 4 - ((4)5 - IMIDAZOLYL) BENZOYL DERIVATIVES OF AMINO ACIDS AND PEPTIDES AS POTENT ANTHELMINTIC AGENTS

A series of 4 - [(4)5 - imidazolyl] benzoic acids derivatives of amino acids and peptides were synthe sized by reacting 4 - [(4)5 - imidazoyl benzoic acid with amino acids and dipeptides. The structures of the synthesized compounds were characterized by FTIR, 1 13 C NMR, and GC - MS data and the synthesized compounds were screened for their anthelmintic act ivity and the results showed that the compounds containing Ala - Ile and Pro - Val exhibited potent anthelmintic activity against Eudrillus Eugenia at that of standard Mebendazole a concentration of 100mg/50ml. The synthesized compounds were also studied for t heir insecticidal activity and they showed moderate to less insecticidal activity as compared to the standard drug Chloropyri fos.
Styles of Social Media Campaigning and Influence in a Hybrid Political Communication System

Social media have the potential to influence power relations in political parties as they allow individual candidates to campaign more independently of the central party. In this paper, we scrutinize the relationship between individualization and digital social media in a study that combines the 2013 Norwegian Candidate Survey with candidates’ Twitter data. We ask, first, to what extent are social media used as an individualistic campaign tool? Second, does an individualized social media campaign style increase influence in the Twitter sphere? Third, what constitutes success on Twitter? We found two main styles of social media campaigning: a party-centered and an individualized style. Moreover, an individualized style did increase the possibility of being active on Twitter, but it had a negative effect on Twitter influence. The Twitter influentials are young, male, and relatively centrally placed in their parties. In a hybrid communication system, it appears that the candidates who gain influence in social media are those who are able to create a synergy between traditional media channels and social media.
Land Use Dynamics and Agro-pastoral Conflicts in Menchum Division, Cameroon

This study sets out to investigate land use dynamics and agro-pastoral conflicts in Menchum Division, North West Region of Cameroon. The major land uses are: agriculture, settlements and grazing. The dynamism of these variables over time has led to the prevalence of agro-pastoral conflicts in Menchum Division. These conflicts are the farmer-grazier conflicts, grazier-grazier conflicts and the farmer-farmer conflicts. This paper has examined the different land uses over time in the context of these conflicts, has discussed the causes of the conflicts and the impacts of these conflicts on the people of Menchum. It has also proposed conflict management options in Menchum Division. The study employed the use of primary and secondary data sources to come out with the results. The major primary data sources included field observation, interviews and questionnaires. A total of 178 questionnaires were distributed using the stratified random sampling technique and the data obtained was supplemented by secondary sources from published and unpublished materials. The data were presented in tables, charts and graphs and subjected to interpretation. The findings revealed that the farmer-grazier conflicts have precarious effects on the indigenous population and that many indigenes are not satisfied with the way conflicts are resolved in Menchum. They attribute it to the appointment of Divisional Officers (DOs) and Senior Divisional Officers (SDOs) and the continuous money minded royal linages. It was also found out that conflict prevention strategies are used but remain inadequate because of animal mobility, population pressure and the deterioration of the environment. The study recommended, among other things, the need for agro-pastoral education in managing the commons, government subsidies to farmers and graziers and the creation of many transhumance zones.
The Top Runner policy concept: Pass it down?

In the 1990s, Japanese energy regulators were concerned by the fact that new generations of energy using appliances and products no longer displayed successive use-phase energy efficiency improvements, such as those that characterised product development in Japan after the 1970s oil crises. Therefore, in 1999, Japan incepted its Top Runner programme, designed to rejuvenate the lost momentum. Several years into the scheme, the programme, as a whole, seems generally to be perceived as successful by Japanese stakeholders. The approach now attracts increasing attention outside of its country of origin. In 2005, the German Bundestag assigned to the federal government the task of promoting Top Runner policies also in Europe. However, the suitableness of the strategy is under debate, one reason being claims of potential conflicts with existing energy efficiency programmes. Adopting a comparative stance, this presentation notes that Top Runner concept discussed in Europe and the original Japanese programme display fundamental differences. As in a game of Chinese whispers or Pass it down – where receivers of information interpret fragmented input by filling out gaps in ways that need not be in accordance at all with the original message – the Top Runner policy concept seems to have undergone significant change on its way from Japan to Germany. Nominally alike, the two approaches diverge on many accounts, for example in their implicit assumptions about stakeholder roles and responsibilities. Expounding on such variances this paper analyzes arguments from the debate about prospects for European Top Runner policies. (Less)
SAFE EXTUBATION AND REINTUBATION IN OPERATORY ROOM AND ICU PATIENTS

Each intubation should result in an ex- tubation at end of procedure, and each extubation, the- oretically, could represent a potential reintubation due to extubation manoeuvre failure. There are many and different reasons for extubati- on to fail, starting from mechanical iatrogenic lesions due to difficult intubation up to patient's inhability to sustain spontaneous breathing and unassisted ventila- tion, going through extubation associated respiratory and cardiovascular complications, local mechanic or inflammatory factors, surgical techniques and acciden- tal events. Recent literature has clearly shown that if critical events associated with difficult intubation have lower incidence thanks to guidelines diffusion and imple- mentation, extubation related accidents did not change incidence and consequences in last couple of decades. This observation has led to developement of dedi- cated extubation guidelines and to attention from Sci- entific Community to promote culture of safety and an- ticipation, with predicted difficult extubation concept and protected extubation strategies, by using pharma- cological and technical approach. Aim of this paper is to review data for extubation related accidents, to provide overview with existing guidelines and description of approaches to predict dif- ficult extubation, techniques to provide best extubation strategies including pharmacologic, non pharmacolo-
Observer Effects on the Behavior of Non-habituated Wild Living Marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

In order to assess the influence of the presence of a human observer on the behavior of wild, non-habituated common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), a group of marmosets was exposed to sessions of observation in which observers were visible and in which they hided into a blind. Results indicated that typical defensive reactions such as alarm calls and stares at observers were reduced when observations were made from inside the blind. There was no significant differences in other parameters such as foraging/social contact calls, minimal distance from observer and time duration of sessions. Both major and minor modifications in normal behavior of free living animals may thus arise from the conditons of observation and should be taken into account.
A New Fault-Tolerant Control Strategy for Open-Winding Drive System Under Single Leg Open-Circuit Fault

In this paper, a new fault-tolerant control strategy is proposed for open-winding fault-tolerant fractional-slot concentrated winding interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (FTFSCW-IPMSM) driving system under single leg open-circuit fault based on decoupled SVPWM and superimposed current injection. When the fault occurs, the faulty inverter is reconstructed to three-phase four-switch mode, a new simplify decoupled SVPWM algorithm is proposed. To eliminate the deviation of midpoint voltage of capacitor, a PI regulator is designed. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is verified by the simulation and experimental results.
Global μ-Stability of Impulsive Complex-Valued Neural Networks with Leakage Delay and Mixed Delays

The impulsive complex-valued neural networks with three kinds of time delays including leakage delay, discrete delay, and distributed delay are considered. Based on the homeomorphism mapping principle of complex domain, a sufficient condition for the existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium point of the addressed complex-valued neural networks is proposed in terms of linear matrix inequality (LMI). By constructing appropriate Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals, and employing the free weighting matrix method, several delay-dependent criteria for checking the global -stability of the complex-valued neural networks are established in LMIs. As direct applications of these results, several criteria on the exponential stability, power-stability, and log-stability are obtained. Two examples with simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed criteria.
Silicic magma reservoirs in the Earth’s crust

Abstract Magma reservoirs play a key role in controlling numerous processes in planetary evolution, including igneous differentiation and degassing, crustal construction, and volcanism. For decades, scientists have tried to understand what happens in these reservoirs, using an array of techniques such as field mapping/petrology/geochemistry/geochronology on plutonic and volcanic lithologies, geophysical imaging of active magmatic provinces, and numerical/experimental modeling. This review paper tries to follow this multi-disciplinary framework while discussing past and present ideas. We specifically focus on recent claims that magma columns within the Earth’s crust are mostly kept at high crystallinity (“mush zones”), and that the dynamics within those mush columns, albeit modulated by external factors (e.g., regional stress field, rheology of the crust, pre-existing tectonic structure), play an important role in controlling how magmas evolve, degas, and ultimately erupt. More specifically, we consider how the chemical and dynamical evolution of magma in dominantly mushy reservoirs provides a framework to understand: (1) the origin of petrological gradients within deposits from large volcanic eruptions (“ignimbrites”); (2) the link between volcanic and plutonic lithologies; (3) chemical fractionation of magmas within the upper layers of our planet, including compositional gaps noticed a century ago in volcanic series (4) volatile migration and storage within mush columns; and (5) the occurrence of petrological cycles associated with caldera-forming events in long-lived magmatic provinces. The recent advances in understanding the inner workings of silicic magmatism are paving the way to exciting future discoveries, which, we argue, will come from interdisciplinary studies involving more quantitative approaches to study the crust-reservoir thermo-mechanical coupling as well as the kinetics that govern these open systems.
Online Parametric NMF for Speech Enhancement

In this paper, we propose a speech enhancement method based on non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) techniques. NMF techniques allow us to approximate the power spectral density (PSD) of the noisy signal as a weighted linear combination of trained speech and noise basis vectors arranged as the columns of a matrix. In this work, we propose to use basis vectors that are parameterised by autoregressive (AR) coefficients. Parametric representation of the spectral basis is beneficial as it can encompass the signal characteristics like, e.g. the speech production model. It is observed that the parametric representation of basis vectors is beneficial while performing online speech enhancement in low delay scenarios.
Post-Kyoto climate policy targets: costs and competitiveness implications

Abstract This article starts with a review of climate policy targets (temperature, concentrations and emissions for individual regions as well as the world as a whole). A 20–40% reduction target for the EU is proposed for the period 2000–2020. It then looks at costs to meet such targets, and concludes that there is widespread agreement amongst macro-economic studies that stringent carbon controls are compatible with a significant increase in global and regional economic welfare. The difference in growth rates is found to be less than 0.05% per year. Nevertheless, concern still remains about the distribution of costs. If abatement policies are introduced in one or a few regions without similar climate policies being introduced in the rest of the world, some energy-intensive industries may lose competitiveness, and production may be relocated to other countries. Policies to protect these industries have for that reason been proposed (in order to protect jobs, to avoid strong actors lobbying against the climate policies, and to avoid carbon leakage). The article offers an overview of the advantages and drawbacks of such protective policies.
Electrical relaxation dynamics in TiO2 - polymer matrix composites

Polymer matrix-TiO2 composites were prepared in three different filler concentrations. The electrical relaxation dynamics as well as the electrical conductivity of all samples were examined by means of Broadband Dielectric Spec- troscopy (BDS) over a wide frequency and temperature range. The recorded relaxation response includes contributions from both the polymer matrix and the reinforcing phase. Two relaxation modes (β and γ) are observed in the low tempera- ture region, which are attributed to the re-orientation of polar side groups of the matrix and rearrangement of small parts of the polymeric chain respectively. The α-relaxation and the Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars effect (MWS), attributed to the glass- rubber transition of the polymeric matrix and to interfacial polarization phenomena respectively, are observed in the high temperature region. These two mechanisms are superimposed, thus a computer simulation procedure was followed in order to distinguish them. MWS effect becomes more pronounced with increasing concentration of the filler following an Arrhe- nius behaviour. The relaxation frequencies corresponding to α-mode follow the Vogel-Tamann-Fulcher (VTF) equation. An additional relaxation mode is recorded at relatively high temperatures and high frequencies. Its occurrence and dynam- ics are related to the presence and the concentration of the filler. Finally, the Direct Current (DC) conductivity follows the VTF equation.
Linear Phase FIR Low Pass Filter Design Using Hybrid- Differential Evolution

In this paper, a linear phase Low Pass FIR filter is presented and designed using an alternative approach called Hybrid Differential Evolution (H-DE). We used a local search routine and an adaptive crossover operator in order to improve the convergence and get higher speed computation. In additional, An H-DE is used to design optimum FIR filters for which the filter coefficients are represented using finite word length. Results will be presented and compared with two different numerical optimization algorithms developed, including Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Genetic Algorithm (GA). Furthermore, we compared H-DE with Parks–McClellan (PM) algorithm. In all design examples, the design goal is successfully achieved using the H-DE and compared with that obtained using the PSO and the GA. For the problem at hand, it is found that the H-DE outperforms the PSO in some of the presented design examples; Specially in the convergence speed and solution quality. Key Words— Finite Impulse Filter (FIR), Differential Evolution, Parks–McClellan (PM), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), convergence, Low pass Filter, Genetic Algorithm (GA).
Range Estimation from Single-Photon Lidar Data Using a Stochastic Em Approach

This paper addresses the problem of estimating range profiles from single-photon waveforms in the photon-starved regime, with a background illumination both high and unknown a priori such that the influence of nuisance photons cannot be neglected. We reformulate the classical observation model into a new mixture model, adopt a Bayesian approach and assign prior distributions to the unknown model parameters. First, the range profile of interest is marginalised from the Bayesian model to estimate the remaining model parameters (considered as nuisance parameters) using a stochastic EM algorithm. The range profile is then estimated via Monte Carlo simulation, conditioned on the previously estimated nuisance parameters. Results of simulations conducted with controlled data demonstrate the possibility to maintain satisfactory range estimation performance in high-background scenarios with less than 10 signal photons per pixel on average.
BIOIVI 0 LECULAR NETWORK MOTIF COUNTING AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN PPI NETWORK CONIPARISON

Protcin-protein intcraction (PPJ) networks of many organisms share global topological [eatmes snch as degree distribution. However, these networks can differ from one another in terms of local structures or occurrences of specific subgraphs can vary significantly among them. Previous algorithms can count induced occurrences of subgraphs \vith at most 7 vertices and no illlplell1entations can count non-induced occurrences of subgraphs with at IllOSt 7 verLices. ConDting non-induced occurrences of sllhgraphs is not only chelllenging hut, 8bo quite desiroble as a,vaiLl.ble PPJ netwOl'ks incliide several L)lsc ilitcHtctions nlld miss lIlallY others. 'Ve provide n. novd ralldoll1il',(·d approxirnation algorifhlIl t.o COllllt nOll-iJldllU'd 0('cmrences of a query tree in au inpnt graph for a given additive error and enol' probahility of failure. We use our algorithm to compare PPJ networks of several organisms among themselves and with emulated networks generated by random processes. keywords: protein-protein interaction networks, network motifs, subgraph counting.
A Novel Soft-Switching Secondary-Side Modulated Multioutput DC–DC Converter With Extended ZVS Range

In this paper, a novel soft-switching secondary-side modulated dc–dc structure with extended zero voltage switching (ZVS) range is proposed. In a simple manner, this structure can be extended to provide isolated multioutputs with independent voltage regulation capability. Besides, the secondary side can be bidirectional to interface with energy storage elements such as batteries and ultracapacitors. The proposed topology is suitable for high voltage gain or high output dc-link voltage, low-power, and multioutput applications. The primary-side full-bridge switches operate complementarily to generate a two-level square wave. Therefore, the circulating energy is significantly smaller than conventional phase-modulated full-bridge converters. The output voltage is regulated by controlling the duty cycle of the auxiliary mosfet on the active/semiactive rectifier, which offers a simple control. Moreover, the ZVS operation range of full-bridge mosfets is enhanced due to the volt-second balance of magnetizing inductance and the secondary-side control. All the secondary-side rectifying diodes turn off with limited di /dt. A 1-kW prototype generating two 390 V, 330–400 V outputs from a 130–180 V dc link is designed to serve as a proof of concept. The full-load efficiency is 95.6% at 100 kHz switching frequency.