Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optical Scattering Properties of Fat Emulsions Determined by Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy and Monte Carlo Simulations

To estimate the propagation of light in tissue-like optical phantoms (fat emulsions), this thesis utilized the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in combination with Monte Carlo simulations. A method for determining the two-parametric Gegenbauer-kernal phase function was utilized in order to accurately describe the diffuse reflectance from poly-dispersive scattering optical phantoms with small source-detector separations. The method includes the spectral collimated transmission, spatially resolved diffuse reflectance spectra (SRDR) and the inverse technique of matching spectra from Monte Carlo simulations to those measured. An absolute calibration method using polystyrene micro-spheres was utilized to estimate the relation between simulated and measured SRDR intensities. The phase function parameters were comparable with previous studies and were able to model measured spectra with good accuracy. Significant differences between the phase functions for homogenized milk and the nutritive fat emulsions were found.
Meltzer-Richard and Social Mobility Hypothesis: Revisiting the Income-Redistribution Nexus Using German Choice Data

Whereas the supply of redistribution is relatively easy to measure, the determinants of the demand for redistribution are controversially discussed in international literature. Economic theory typically models redistribution as the result of a voting mechanism; this is only inadequately reflected by the existing empirical studies. In general, these studies use survey data and are therefore not able to predict individuals’ decision making under the restriction of a budget constraint. This study aims at eliciting preferences for redistribution in Germany with the help of a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE), based on a representative sample of 1,538 individuals. A DCE solves the aforementioned problems by forcing individuals to overcome trade-offs. The results show a strong preference for redistribution that overshoots the current level. Considering socio-demographic characteristics, the results contradict the Meltzer-Richard-Model and the POUM hypothesis, while Piketty’s learning model is strongly supported by the data.
Cohort intelligence algorithm for discrete and mixed variable engineering problems

Abstract In this study, the performance of an emerging socio inspired metaheuristic optimization technique referred to as Cohort Intelligence (CI) algorithm is evaluated on discrete and mixed variable nonlinear constrained optimization problems. The investigated problems are mainly adopted from discrete structural optimization and mixed variable mechanical engineering design domains. For handling the discrete solution variables, a round off integer sampling approach is proposed. Furthermore, in order to deal with the nonlinear constraints, a penalty function method is incorporated. The obtained results are promising and computationally more efficient when compared to the other existing optimization techniques including a Multi Random Start Local Search algorithm. The associated advantages and disadvantages of CI algorithm are also discussed evaluating the effect of its two parameters namely the number of candidates, and sampling space reduction factor. Graphical representation of Cohort Intelligence Algorithm
Long-term effects of violent conflict on second-generation health outcomes : evidence from Liberia Soazic

A recent body of literature has investigated the direct consequences of conflict on children’s health outcomes. Most of these studies report strong negative impacts of exposure to violence on childrens’ short-and long-term nutritional status. Yet it is unclear to what extent these negative impacts carry over to the next generation, born after the war. This paper examines the long-term effect of mothers’ exposure to the 1989-2003 Liberian civil war, on their children’s anthropometric outcomes. We use detailed districtlevel exposure to the war, including the intensity of violence in the village. We also use the mothers’ migration history and whether they were born and live in the village during the war, to accurately measure exposure to violence. In addition we find that it matters at which age mothers got exposed. We find a strong negative and significant impact of mothers exposure to the war in utero on their children’s HAZscore. Results are robust to including controls, and district and child’s birth cohort fixed effects.
Effects of transmitting correlated waveforms for co-located multi-input multi-output radar with target detection and localisation

Space time coding plays quite an important role in the design of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) radar. It has been shown that the correlation characteristics of waveform set have a great impact on the performance of target detection and localisation for MIMO radar. In this study, the target detection and localisation performance of co-located MIMO radar is analysed theoretically and experimentally, when correlated (not ideally orthogonal or fully coherent) waveforms are transmitted. The relationship between transmit–receive beam pattern improvement and correlation coefficients of transmitted waveforms is investigated. The signal to interference and noise ratio varying with correlation coefficients in range-Doppler matched processing is defined and analysed. Furthermore, Cramer–Rao bound for target direction of arrival estimation and target detection probability in the Neyman–Pearson criteria are derived when transmitting correlated waveforms. It is shown that the MIMO radar detection and localisation performance is much dependent with the correlation level of transmitted waveforms, which can be quite useful for MIMO radar orthogonal waveform design. Numerical simulation validates the theoretical analysis.
Academic research at a South African higher education institution: Quality issues

The aim of the research was to critically analyse how a university context influences the quality of academics' research output. Wenger's social theory of learning was used as theoretical framework. The investigation involved an ethnographic case study of the research culture at one college at the institution. Data collection was mainly by means of participant observation, interviews and document analysis. In the light of Wenger's theory, the findings revealed that certain institutional practices facilitated high-quality research. These included financial incentives, some training programmes and travel opportunities to interact with other researchers. Practices that inhibited the delivery of quality research related to lack of job security, research support and uninterrupted time as well as excessive institutional control. Training that was disconnected from research practice did not stimulate quality research. South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 22 (3) 2008: pp. 644-661
PHARMACOKINETICS OF PERGOLIDE IN NORMAL MARES

Objective: To determine the pharmacokinetic properties of oral pergolide in normal mares. Animals: 6 horses, 3-17 years of age, 355-582 kg Procedures: In a randomized, cross over design six healthy adult female horses received pergolide (PO) 0.01mg/kg or placebo after 8 hours of fasting. Samples were taken over a period of 6 day for each portion of the study (treatment or placebo) with a two week minimum wash out period between study periods. Quantification of pergolide concentration was determined by UPLC-MS. Quantification of α-MSH was determined by radioimmunoassay validated for horses. Quantification of ACTH concentration was determined by chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay. Results: Pergolide was detected in all treated horses. The relatively short time to peak concentration (0.5 hours) indicates a rapid absorption. Mean maximum concentration measured was 4.05 ng/ml + 2.02 with a median time to maximum concentration being 0.415 hours (range:0.33-1.0). The mean half life of pergolide was determined to be 5.86 hours + 3.42. Lower limits of quantitation for the UPLC-MS assay was 0.5 ng/ml. α-MSH results were evaluated using a multiple analysis of variance assay for repeated measures comparing treatment, time, and period. There was a significant treatment to period effect with p=0.02. The effect of period appears to be more significant (p=0.06) compared to the effect of treatment (p=0.77). No effect from pergolide was noted on ACTH concentrations. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Horses appear to absorb and eliminate pergolide more rapidly than previously expected. Based on this pharmacokinetic data the dosing strategies of pergolide may need to be altered. However, assay sensitivity does need to be improved prior to recommendations being made.
Theory of photoelectric detection of light fluctuationst

The basic formulae governing the fluctuations of counts registered by photoelectric detectors in an optical field are derived. The treatment, which has its origin in Purcell's explanation of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect, is shown to apply to any quasi-monochromatic light, whether stationary or not, and whether of thermal origin or not. The representation of the classical wave amplitude of the light by Gabor's complex analytic signal appears naturally in this treatment. I t is shown that the correlation of counts registered by N separate photodetectors at N points in space is determined by a 2Nth order correlation function of the complex classical field. The variance of the individual counts is shown to be expressible as the sum of terms representing the effects of classical particles and classical waves, in an~logy to a well-known result of Einstein relating to black-body radiation. Since the theory applies to correlation effects obtained with any type of light it applies, in particular, to the output of an optical maser , although, for a maser operating on one mode, correlation effects ar~ lik~ly to be very small.
End-of-Pipe or Cleaner Production? An Empirical Comparison of Environmental Innovation Decisions Across OECD Countries

While both fundamental types of abatement measures mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of production, cleaner production technologies are frequently more advantageous than end-of-pipe technologies for environmental and economic reasons. This paper analyzes a variety of factors that might enhance firms' propensity to implement cleaner products and production technologies instead of end-of-pipe technologies. On the basis of a unique facility-level data set derived from a recent OECD survey, we find a clear dominance of cleaner production in seven OECD countries: Surprisingly, 76.8% of the facilities report that they invest predominantly in cleaner production technologies. With regard to environmental product innovations, the large majority of facilities reports that the measures they have undertaken to reduce environmental impacts were geared at production processes and not so much at products. Our estimation results are based on multinomial logit models which indicate that regulatory measures and the stringency of environmental policies are positively correlated with end-of-pipe technologies, while cost savings, general management systems, and specific environmental management tools tend to favor clean production. We conclude that improvements towards cleaner products and production may be reached by the continuous development and wider diffusion of these management tools. Improvements may also be stimulated by widening the cost gap between the two types of technologies, for instance, by additionally charging for waste and energy use.
Why don't all firms do 'good' equally?

This paper shows that diÂ¤erence in equity holding structure leads to heterogeneous firm preference for investing in social capital (CSR). In our theoretical model managerial and customer preferences jointly influence CSR investments. We show that if managerial preference is high, social investments of firms are higher, independent of customer preference. We test our theoretical predications using data from Indian firms. We show that firms with concentrated shareholding invest more in CSR. Firms with dispersed shareholding increase social investments if they export to the United States and the European Union, but they decrease these expenses in reaction to antidumping penalties.
IGCT Switching Behaviour Under Resonant Operating Conditions

In the area of medium voltage DC-DC conversion, LLC Series Resonant Converter (LLC-SRC) presents itself as an attractive topology for implementation of the DC transformer. Employing Integrated Gate-Commutated Thyristor (IGCT) as a switching element one can obtain very low conduction losses with this design, while considerably lowering the switching losses. Low current turn-off of the switch previously flooded with the high quasi sinusoidal load current is explored throughout this paper. Conclusions are supported by Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) simulations and by waveforms obtained from a dedicated test setup designed to emulate the conduction and switching conditions present in LLC-SRC.
Enterprise Architecture Planning for Industry 4 . 0

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is a trend that substantially influences the manufacturing industry and is an increasing driver of change. However, companies are struggling with conducting the often expensive and risky IT transformation projects that are needed to reach goals like full automation of the logistics, production, and sales cycle. In our work, we give evidence for a lack of research on the practice of planning IT transformations towards I4.0. Additionally, we observed that guidance in this direction is strongly needed in practice. Our research aims to fill a part of this research gap. Additionally, our research aims to guide practitioners in their digital transformation by providing a planning process, a metamodel for I4.0 and tool support for I4.0 transformation planning.
Acetaminophen is both bronchodilatory and bronchoprotective in human precision cut lung slice airways

Abstract Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated an association between acetaminophen (APAP) use and the development of asthma symptoms. However, few studies have examined relationships between APAP-induced signaling pathways associated with the development of asthma symptoms. We tested the hypothesis that acute APAP exposure causes airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR) in human airways. Precision cut lung slice (PCLS) airways from humans and mice were used to determine the effects of APAP on airway bronchoconstriction and bronchodilation and to assess APAP metabolism in lungs. APAP did not promote AHR in normal or asthmatic human airways ex vivo. Rather, high concentrations mildly bronchodilated airways pre-constricted with carbachol (CCh), histamine (His), or immunoglobulin E (IgE) cross-linking. Further, the addition of APAP prior to bronchoconstrictors protected the airways from constriction. Similarly, in vivo treatment of mice with APAP (200 mg/kg IP) resulted in reduced bronchoconstrictor responses in PCLS airways ex vivo. Finally, in both mouse and human PCLS airways, exposure to APAP generated only low amounts of APAP-protein adducts, indicating minimal drug metabolic activity in the tissues. These findings indicate that acute exposure to APAP does not initiate AHR, that high-dose APAP is protective against bronchoconstriction, and that APAP is a mild bronchodilator.
A cross‐national analysis of sex differences in prisoner's dilemma games

In a comprehensive cross-national study involving samples from 12 different countries that were representative for the adult populations in terms of age and sex (N = 2,429), we found that women cooperate significantly less overall than men in fully incentivized one-shot prisoner's dilemma games. This gender gap in cooperation can be explained by the fact that women hold lower expectations regarding the cooperativeness of their anonymous interaction partners. These results contradict both the common stereotype that women are more communal, caring, emotionally expressive, and warm than men and substantial empirical evidence showing that women act more prosocially in many contexts.
Effects of photoperiod and temperature on recent growth rates of sprat larvae in the Baltic Sea

Growth rate has been shown to effect survival and recruitment of marine fishes. How growth rates in the field are affected by larval development and environmental variability is poorly understood. Recent growth rates of sprat larvae, a key species in the Baltic Marine ecosystem, were determined by converting RNA/DNA ratios determined from individual larvae into recent growth based on a laboratory calibrated RNA/DNA temperature growth model. Several factors (larval size, temperature and photoperiod) that may contribute to the observed variability in recent growth sampled in the spawning seasons 2002 through 2004 were analyzed with a variety of models. Best fit was found for the Generalized Additive Models (GAMs). Larval size (dry weight), photoperiod and temperature terms explained 29 % and 36 % of the variability observed in recent growth of sprat larvae in the Baltic Sea, respectively.
The phonology of rhythm from Classical to Modern Portuguese

The prosodic change that has been reported to have occurred from Classical to Modern Portuguese is investigated by means of a new approach to the study of rhythm in language change. Assuming that rhythm is a by-product of the presence/absence of a set of properties in a given linguistic system, we computed frequency information on rhythm-related properties from written texts of the 16th to the 19th centuries, by means of the electronic tool FreP. Results show a change in the distributions of properties related to word stress and prosodic word shape after the 16th century, indicating that the prosodic change occurred between the 16th and 17th centuries. A predictive analysis based on Bayesian statistics provided strong support for the timing of the change, and successfully modelled our data showing a timeline consistent with the direction of the prosodic shift towards the integration of stress-timing properties into Romance syllable-timed rhythm.
Nodal solutions for some singularly perturbed Dirichlet problems

We consider the equation ―e 2 Δu+u = f (u) in a bounded, smooth domain Ω ⊂ ℝ N with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. We prove the existence of nodal solutions with multiple peaks concentrating at different points of Ω. The nonlinearity f grows superlinearly and subcritically. We do not require symmetry conditions on the geometry of the domain.
Optical properties of high-pressure fluid hydrogen across molecular dissociation

Significance The properties of warm, dense hydrogen are important in material science, plasma physics, planetary science, and astrophysics. We present simulations of its behavior in relation to ongoing, and in some cases controversial, results from static- and dynamic-compression experiments. The optical properties of dense liquid hydrogen are computed under conditions such that hydrogen is changing from a molecular insulating fluid into an atomic metallic fluid. The computed reflectivity and absorption of light agree with recent experimental observations and reconcile the observations with each other, leading to an understanding of this transition, thereby guiding future experimental and theoretical work, as well as being useful for planetary and astrophysical models. Optical properties of compressed fluid hydrogen in the region where dissociation and metallization is observed are computed by ab initio methods and compared with recent experimental results. We confirm that at T > 3,000 K, both processes are continuous, while at T < 1,500 K, the first-order phase transition is accompanied by a discontinuity of the dc conductivity and the thermal conductivity, while both the reflectivity and absorption coefficient vary rapidly but continuously. Our results support the recent analysis of National Ignition Facility (NIF) experiments [Celliers PM, et al. (2018) Science 361:677–682], which assigned the inception of metallization to pressures where the reflectivity is ∼0.3. Our results also support the conclusion that the temperature plateau seen in laser-heated diamond-anvil cell (DAC) experiments at temperatures higher than 1,500 K corresponds to the onset of optical absorption, not to the phase transition.
Expectations and Aggregate Risk

We study the importance of anticipated shocks (news) for understanding the comovement between macroeconomic quantities and asset prices. We find that four-quarter anticipated investment shocks are an important source of fluctuations for macroeconomic variables: they account for about half of the variance in hours and investment. However, it is the four-quarter anticipated productivity shock that is driving a large fraction of consumption and most of the price-dividend ratio fluctuations. These productivity news are key for the model to reproduce the empirical tendency for stock-market valuations and excess returns to lead the business cycle. Importantly, a model that does not use asset price information in the estimation would downplay the role of productivity news; in this case, the model implies that return moves (almost) completely contemporaneously with the economic activity, counterfactually with the data.
A Three-Stage Based Ensemble Learning for Improved Software Fault Prediction: An Empirical Comparative Study

Software Fault Prediction (SFP) research has made enormous endeavor to accurately predict fault proneness of software modules, thus maximize precious software test resources, reduce maintenance cost and contributes to produce quality software products. In this regard, Machine Learning (ML) has been successfully applied to solve classification problems for SFP. However, SFP has many challenges that are created due to redundant and irrelevant features, class imbalance problem and the presence of noise in software defect datasets. Yet, neither of ML techniques alone handles those challenges and those may deteriorate the performance depending on the predictor’s sensitiveness to data corruptions. In the literature, it is widely claimed that building ensemble classifiers from preprocessed datasets and combining their predictions is an interesting method of overcoming the individual problems produced by each classifier. This statement is usually not supported by thorough empirical studies considering problems in combined implementation with resolving different types of challenges in defect datasets and, therefore, it must be carefully studied. Thus, the objective of this paper is to conduct large scale comprehensive experiments to study the effect of resolving those challenges in SFP in three stages in order to improve the practice and performance of SFP. In addition to that, the paper presents a thorough and statistically sound comparison of these techniques in each stage. Accordingly, a new three-stage based ensemble learning framework that efficiently handles those challenges in a combined form is proposed. The experimental results confirm that the proposed framework has exhibited the robustness of combined techniques in each stage. Particularly high performance results have achieved using combined ELA on selected features of balanced data after removing noise instances. Therefore, as shown in this study, ensemble techniques used for SFP must be carefully examined and combined with techniques to resolve those challenges and obtain robust performance so as to accurately identify the fault prone software modules. KeywordsSoftware Fault Prediction, Software Testing, Ensemble Learning Algorithms, Feature Selection, Data Balancing, Noise Filtering.