Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and Control of a Double-inverted Pendulum

Control of the unstable inverted pendulum is a common research topic in the area of Dynamics and Controls. The project goal was to design, implement and test all of the mechanical, electrical, and software systems necessary to stabilize and control a double inverted pendulum. Mechanical design was completed in Solidworks and the manufactured parts were 3D printed. Electrical signal conditioning was accomplished through passive and active componentry and then integrated to a dsPIC microcontroller. All final software was developed in MATLAB Simulink then converted to C code to be used in the dsPIC. The MATLAB development environment provides an easy to use system for future attempts at controlling the system. Swing up and control of a single inverted pendulum was successful though further controller tuning could yield a better system performance. The hardware and software for a double inverted pendulum was successfully implemented though stable control was never achieved. Further tuning of the LQR controller parameters would yield a stable system.
Learning visual communication: A preliminary analysis of HCI/UX curricula

Both the significant impact of visual design on users' perceptions of products and the industry‐demand for employees with well‐developed visual design skills in the HCI/UX fields has been well‐documented. However, the question remains: are HCI/UX graduates prepared to address the visual design challenges they will face in their future careers? To answer this question, we have collected and analyzed program outcomes and titles, descriptions, and syllabi for courses relating to visual design and communication. Currently we have looked at 24 universities in North America that offer graduate‐level HCI/UX programs and plan to expand our search to include other countries and undergraduate programs. This visual presentation provides an overview of the current visual design courses being offered to HCI/UX students and introduces a new typology to develop a more comprehensive approach to visual design instruction in this field.
User Acceptability of Sustainable Soil Fertility Technologies: Lessons from Farmers' Knowledge, Attitude and Practice in Southern Africa

ABSTRACT Low soil fertility is one of the greatest biophysical constraints to agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa. “Improved fallow,” an agroforestry-based soil fertility replenishment technology was developed in response to the depletion of soil fertility and increasing difficulty of small-scale farmers to afford mineral fertilizers. The biophysical performance of the technology to improve soil fertility and increase crop yield has been well demonstrated and efforts are being made to enhance the adoption its adoption by farmers. There is relatively little information and systematic feedback regarding farmers' perception and knowledge of the technology. Using data collected from a stratified sample of 302 farmers in Zambia, this study analyzed farmers' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of soil fertility and food security problems, highlighting implications for user acceptability and the development of sustainable soil fertility management technologies. Results show that farmers have good understanding of soil fertility issues, its linkage to food security and household welfare indicators. They appreciate improved fallow because it responds to the critical problems of low soil fertility and provides additional benefits to the household. However, there are some challenges to the widespread uptake of the technology including land constraints, property rights availability of seeds, and knowledge-intensive nature of the technology. Farmer acceptability and improved adoption of the technology will be influenced by the extent to which efforts are taken to meet these challenges. Farmers' response on knowledge, attitude, and perception provides valuable inputs for further development and modification of the technology. Beyond technology development, an understanding of farmers' preference and other contextual issues-within which the technology is expected to be adopted-will enable researchers to develop appropriate sustainable technologies and enhance user acceptability of the same. The study shows that technical characteristics are important but not exclusive conditions for farmers' acceptability and adoption of good agricultural technologies by farmers.
Análise de redes de coautoria por meio de redes semânticas uniformes

Neste trabalho pretende-se analisar redes de coautores que publicam em um mesmo periodico por meio de redes semânticas baseadas em titulos de artigos. O uso de redes semânticas possibilita uma melhor compreensao de como autores de um mesmo periodico se integram visto que uma rede de coautoria pode ser altamente fragmentada. Escolheu-se dois periodicos para aplicacao do metodo que consiste em obter, por meio de redes semânticas uniformes, uma rede de coautoria associada. Os resultados apontam evidencias de como pesquisadores lidam com a escolha das palavras de titulos de artigos condizentes com a identidade do periodico.
Inhibitory effect of Dillenia indica L. bark extract on testosterone induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rat

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common urological disorder of elderly men, which is characterized by hyperplasia of prostatic stromal and epithelial cells. The present study was designed to investigate the inhibitory effect of the Aqueous Bark Extract of Dillenia indica L. (ABEDI) in the BPH rat model. The male rats were treated either corn oil or testosterone (10 mg/kg) dissolved in corn oil and testosterone with ABEDI (100 and 500 mg/kg) consecutively for three weeks. The inhibitory effect of ABEDI on BPH was illustrated by prostate weight, prostatic index, prostate epithelial height, percentage of inhibition and histological examinations. ABEDI caused significant reduction in the prostate weight and prostatic index compared to testosterone induced BPH model group. Serum ALT and creatinine levels did not differ among different experimental groups, when compared with a positive control group. ABEDI treated group also ameliorated the hyperplasia of prostate epithelium in a similar manner as observed in the finasteride (5 mg/kg) treated group. This study indicates that ABEDI significantly reduced the progression of BPH and it may be another phytotherapeutial source of drugs in BPH treatment.
“Virtual Testing Area” for Solving EMC Problems of Spatially Distributed Radiosystems based on Automated Double-Frequency Test System

A new technology named as “Virtual Testing Area” and intended for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) analysis in complexes of radio systems is presented. This te chnology is based on semi-physical EMC modeling with an expedie nt ratio of mathematical and physical modeling of (a) electroma gnetic environment (EME) and (b) behavior of radio receivers in complicated EME. The proposed technology has the fo ll wing advantages: (a) high informativity of the Automated doublefrequency testing technique (ADFTT), which is used for characterization of receivers, (b) high efficiency of the Discrete nonlinear analysis (DNA) technique, which is used f or behavior simulation of receivers, (c) high objectivity of EME modeling with the use of digital area maps and geoinformatio n systems (GIS), (d) efficiency and low cost of software-cont rolled physical modeling of receivers in laboratory conditions by using the equipment of Automated Double-Frequency Test System (ADFTS). Automated Double-Frequency Test System; Discrete Nonlinear Analysis; Physical Modeling of Radio Receivers; System-Level EMC Analysis
Exploiting Wireless Broadcast Advantage for Energy Efficient Packet Overhearing in WiFi

The energy efficiency of WiFi interfaces has become a significant concern for battery-powered mobile stations. In WiFi networks, a station's backoff procedure is interrupted by other stations’ channel activities to receive and decode useless packets that are not intended for it, which consumes a non-negligible amount of its energy. To reduce the energy consumption induced by such packet overhearing, we propose a novel transmission scheme, data symbol silence (DSS), which inserts silent data symbols into the front part of a data packet at the physical layer to encode information. By exploiting the wireless broadcast advantage, the embedded information is received by neighboring stations. Data symbol level energy detection is used to extract the embedded information without receiving and decoding the whole data packet. Thus, unintended receivers can quickly stop useless packet receiving and processing. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gap in current WiFi networks is utilized to ensure the inserted silent data symbols do not affect the correct decoding of the original data packet. We analyze the minimum SNR required for effective DSS and implement DSS to validate its feasibility. Compared with the 802.11 standards, our studies show that DSS significantly improves the energy efficiency of WiFi interfaces.
Allee effects in social species

†Both authors contributed equally to this work. 1Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Sevilla, Spain 2Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France 3Salmon and Trout Research Centre, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, East Stoke, UK 4Powdermill Nature Reserve, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Rector, PA, USA 5Department of Ecology, Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
A Span Power Management Scheme for Rapid Lightpath Provisioning and Releasing in Multi-Core Fiber Networks

The lightpath provisioning time or releasing time is adversely affected by the time that optical amplifiers require to adjust to a newly added or terminated signal power. This shortcoming is particularly true with multi-core erbium-doped amplifiers (EDFAs), as multi-core transient-suppressed EDFAs are unavailable at the current time. This paper proposes a fiber span power management scheme based on dummy wavelength signals that are used to shorten the lightpath provisioning and releasing times in multi-core fiber networks. With the shorter time of lightpath provisioning and releasing procedures, the total time that is required to reserve wavelengths in the system is decreased, which means that network resources are used more efficiently. As a result, the blocking performance and average waiting time in the system are improved. To evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme, this paper introduces both analytical model and simulation study. In the introduced model, the ratio of the number of activating and activated dummy wavelengths to the number of dummy wavelengths in each span is considered in the range between 0 and 1. The analysis reveals that the performance of the proposed scheme depends on $\alpha $ , which is the ratio of the number of dummy wavelengths to the number of dummy and lightpath wavelengths in each span, and there exists a point of $\alpha $ where the blocking probability becomes minimum. We further observe that the proposed scheme outperforms the conventional approaches in terms of blocking probability and average waiting time, as traffic loads increase. Finally, we provide the direction on how our introduced model can be considered for a network with multi-span routes.
Development and Validation of Superstitious Beliefs Scale

Superstitions though considered as irrational beliefs are widely prevalent in all cultures. Most of the existing work on superstitions are predominantly based on traditional western beliefs. The relevance of established superstition scales which are developed in western societies in collective societies need to explored. Interdependent nature of self which is a characteristic of collectivistic culture also has a role in belief formation. The present study aims at developing a new self-report measure of superstitious beliefs scale. Study 1, focused on exploring the factor structure and establishing reliability over a sample of 338 undergraduate students. The 17-item Superstitious Belief Scale (SBS) developed distinguishes a six-factor structure namely, Popular Beliefs, Belief in Good Luck, Belief in Bad Luck, Personal Superstitions and Social Superstitions. The six-factor structure was evaluated on a new sample (N = 483) using confirmatory factor analysis in Study 2. The internal consistency values of the new SBS over Studies 1 and 2 indicated high reliability. The findings have important implications for existing theory on superstitions. The new framework proposes and demonstrates the need to base the understanding of measurement of superstitious beliefs relevant in India.
Generating fake websites: WikiGen

Models for generating natural language have shown significant improvements recently with the introduction of the Transformer architecture, however attention has been focused on only generating single sequences of text. We propose a model we call WikiGen, which incorporates generative models for text and graphs to generate realistic ’mini-Wikipedias’. WikiGen generates fake Wikipedia articles and a fake link network with similar topology to the real Wikipedia link network, then assigns articles to nodes in an optimal manner. We also show that a language model finetuned on Wikipedia text can generate entirely fake Wikipedia articles that closely resemble real ones. Articles generated by this model are coherent, often entirely novel, and follow the structure of real Wikipedia articles. A demo, along with code and pretrained models, is published on GitHub. 1 1https://github.com/longland-m/wikigen
Do broiler chicks possess enough growth potential to compensate long-term feed and water depravation during the neonatal period?

Broiler performance to the end of the rearing period may be negatively influenced by delayed access to feed and water immediately after hatch. This study was conducted with 320 Ross 308 broiler chicks, to evaluate the influence of delayed access to feed and water during the neonatal period (0, 16, 32 and 48 h) on performance and gastrointestinal (GIT) growth. The experiment was conducted as a complete randomized design (four replicate, each with 20 chicks). The results showed that extending post-hatch deprivation of feed and water had a significant negative impact on bird performance. Broilers deprived for 48 h had lower body weights, average daily gains and feed intakes compared to the control and to a lesser extent to the other treatments. Average daily gain, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio were mostly significantly affected by feed and water deprivation regimens during the first week of the rearing period. At marketing age, the negative impact of severe feed and water deprivation on the birds’ performance was substantially decreased, though birds with a 48 h delayed access to feed and water had lower average daily gains and feed intakes compared to the control. Birds mortality rate (%) was not affected by feed and water deprivation during the neonatal period. The results also indicated that the relative weights of the jejunum, ileum and liver of birds getting access to feed and water only at 48 h after arrival were significantly lower when compared to the other groups. The broiler carcass characteristics, abdominal fat percentage at 42 days of age, and gastrointestinal measurements at 21 and 42 days of age were not influenced by the different treatments. In conclusion, the results of this experiment confirmed that immediate access to feed and water after placement will ensure the optimal performance of broiler chicks at market age, and that broiler chicks do not have enough potential to fully compensate for growth retardation caused by long-term deprivation of feed and water during the neonatal period.
HOW TO DO THINGS WITH PARTICLES

In this paper, we explore the grammar of two types of speech act modifiers: particles and sentence intonation. In particular, we explore the modification of declarative clauses. A formally declarative clause (SVO order) is typically used as an assertion. It may, however, be modified by either sentence intonation or a sentence-peripheral particle, and the result is an utterance which is associated with a different type of speech act, namely a biased question or a request for confirmation, respectively. We further explore the crosslinguistic variation that such speech act modifiers display. In particular, we investigate the difference between tonal and non-tonal languages. We show that in tonal languages, particles take over the function of sentence intonation. And finally, on the basis of our findings, we conclude that the construction of speech acts is mediated syntactically. As such, we contribute to the growing literature which can be characterized as a revival of Ross’ (1970) performative hypothesis. According to this neo-performative view, properties of speech acts and discourse more generally, are syntacticized (Speas and Tenny 2003, Hill 2013, Haegeman and Hill 2013). Studying speech acts requires us to investigate utterances in context. That is, (most) speech acts are directed at an addressee (A), and thus some aspects of the utterance directly reflect A-orientation. While Aoriented speech is a matter of course in daily conversations, such conversations are not always the best empirical basis to answer specific research questions, for all the familiar reasons (lack of negative data, lack of controlled context, etc.). For this study, we collected data via controlled story-board elicitation (Burton and Matthewson 2011), which allows for the exploration of the interaction between the speaker (S) and A. In particular, the language consultants were shown a series of pictures (story-boards) that provided enough context for the observer to know how much each of the involved speech act participants already knows about the topic, i.e., it establishes the common ground. The language consultants were asked to fill the appropriate utterance into the speechbubble provided in the storyboard. To collect negative data, we presented the consultant with a story-board and asked whether a given utterance is felicitous in the relevant speech-bubble. The paper is organized as follows. In section 2, we introduce the empirical problem: declarative clauses may be modified by intonation as well as by means of sentenceperipheral particles. As a result, not only the form of the clause is affected but also the discourse context. In section 3, we introduce our proposal of speech act modification, according to which there are two distinct syntactic layers dominating a root clause: one
Larval Flatfish Distributions and Drift on the Southern Grand Bank

Ichthyoplankton and hydrographic surveys of the southern Grand Bank in September of 1986, 1987, and 1988 revealed substantial correspondence between the areal distributions of larvae of three flatfish species and temperature below the thermocline. Depth-averaged densities of American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) were negatively correlated with temperature whereas yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea) and witch flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoghssus) densities were positively correlated with temperature. In spite of large interannual differences in abundance, the larval distributions showed similar structure from year to year. Using estimates of larval age inferred from length frequency distributions and literature values for growth rate, in conjunction with moored current measurements, estimates of spawning times and locations were obtained for each species. These estimates were compared with historical information on the distribution of prespawning fish for each species to examine the hypothesis.
Trust-based Recruitment in Multi-hop Social Participatory Sensing

The idea of social participatory sensing provides a substrate to beneﬁt from friendship relations in recruiting a critical mass of participants willing to attend in a sensing campaign. However, the selection of suitable participants who are trustable and provide high quality contributions is challenging. In this paper, we propose a recruitment framework for social participatory sensing. Our framework leverages multi-hop friendship relations to identify and select suitable and trustworthy participants among friends or friends of friends, and ﬁnds the most trustable paths to them. The framework also includes a suggestion component which provides a cluster of suggested friends along with the path to them, which can be further used for recruitment or friendship establishment. Simulation results demonstrate the eﬃcacy of our proposed recruitment framework in terms of selecting a large number of well-suited participants and providing contributions with high overall trust, in comparison with one-hop recruitment architecture.
The role of triglycerides and phospholipids in the aroma of cooked beef

The intramuscular triglycerides and the structural phospholipids were selectively removed from beef muscle by solvent extraction and the aroma of the residual material assessed after cooking. Removing triglycerides had little effect on the aroma of the cooked meat, but when both triglycerides and phospholipids were removed a marked difference in aroma was observed. The headspace volatiles from the different cooked meats were entrained on Tenax GC and analysed by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The profile of headspace volatiles for the meat devoid of triglycerides was similar to that from an unextracted control and the major components were aliphatic alcohols and aldehydes. Removing phospholipids as well as triglycerides gave a markedly different volatile profile; the quantities of aliphatic aldehydes were considerably reduced and only traces of aliphatic alcohols were found, while the amounts of benzaldehyde and pyrazines were greatly increased. The latter explains some of the changes in roast aroma.
Vehicle Routing and Road Traffic Simulation: A Smart Navigation System

In-vehicle navigation permits people to find their way while driving. Combining these applications with road traffic data may result in diminishing traveling time. In this paper we deal with the problem of vehicle routing on today’s congested roads. The result of this study is a web application that provides the user with two possibilities. The user can create a directed graph that corresponds to the city’s road network and he can also find the optimal path that leads to its destination as far as distance and traffic congestion are concerned. As we didn’t have real data about the traffic, we adopt a simulation technique to mimic actual traffic conditions.
Business strategies, profitability and efficiency of production

The strategy choices of market-oriented companies are a topic now under wide investigation in the analysis of business performance antecedents. The purpose of this study is to examine the outcomes of the combination of three different organizational strategies (market orientation, innovativeness and entrepreneurial orientation) on business performance indicators. Models using profitability and efficiency indicators are proposed with the specific aim of obtaining a deeper analysis of the relative roles played by each. The empirical work takes place in the agro-food industry in the Ebro Valley, one of Spain’s most competitive regions. The estimates from profitability quantile and truncated regressions of the efficiency scores reveal that market orientation has a positive effect on economic and productivity performance. The impact of pro-active, innovation-seeking, and risk-averse entrepreneurship is nevertheless more debatable, despite some influence of these entrepreneurial styles on observed performance values. This enables conclusions regarding the possibility of combining a market-oriented business culture with innovation and entrepreneurial activity with a view to obtaining business performance gains.