Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Verification of a novel method of detecting faults in medium-voltage systems with covered conductors

This paper describes the use of new methods of detecting faults in medium-voltage overhead lines built of covered conductors. The methods mainly address such faults as falling of a conductor, contacting a conductor with a tree branch, or falling a tree branch across three phases of a medium-voltage conductor. These faults cannot be detected by current digital relay protection systems. Therefore, a new system that can detect the above mentioned faults was developed. After having tested its operation, the system has already been implemented to protect mediumvoltage overhead lines built of covered conductors.
Finite element modeling of soft soil treated with prefabricated vertical drains

Abstract The Changi East Reclamation Project in Singapore consists of land reclamation and ground improvement works of the foreshore for the future expansion of the Changi International airport. Modeling of the deformation behavior of marine clay under reclamation fills and surcharge was carried out by the finite element method with the Plaxis 2 dimensional numerical modeling software. The analyses included the modeling of the consolidation behavior of marine clay under reclamation fills with and without prefabricated vertical drains. Modeling of the marine clay with vertical drains was carried out by both the axi-symmetric unit cell and full-scale analysis methods. Modeling of marine clay which was not treated with prefabricated vertical drains was carried out by means of full-scale analysis. The numerical analysis of marine clay deformation with and without vertical drain was carried out at two case study locations namely the Pilot Test Site and In situ Test Site. The test sites comprise of vertical drain treated sub-areas and untreated sub-areas which were reclaimed and preloaded under the same conditions. The results of the finite element modeling analysis was compared with that obtained by means of observational methods. Reasonable agreements were obtained from the finite element modeling analysis as compared to the actual field settlements for both the vertical drain treated embankments as well as the untreated control embankments at both the In situ Test Site and Pilot Test Site. The axi-symmetric unit cell and the full scale analysis of vertical drains were found to be in excellent agreement with each other and with the actual field settlement results. Ultimate settlement and degree of consolidation assessed by using Asaoka, Hyperbolic, piezometer and finite element modeling methods have also been compared for each of the sites and are also found to be in good agreement.
“Drugs was My Solution -- My Problem was Life”: Heroin Addiction and the Life Course Perspective

Heroin and other opiate dependencies affect individual users, interpersonal relationships, and communities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand risk factors of heroin dependence by examining the life course paths of individuals who have been through addiction, treatment, and are currently in recovery. In-depth interviews were conducted with five participants in recovery. Participant narratives suggest that early childhood experiences, specifically parental abuse and social rejection, combined with substance abuse as a model for coping, influenced the development of addiction. Social support and self-awareness during and after treatment were effective components of sustaining recovery.
Transaction Costs on the Ethiopian Formal Seed Market and Innovations for Encouraging Private Sector Investments

There is a considerable shortage of improved seed in Ethiopia. Despite good reasons to invest in this market, private sector investments are not observed. Using an institutional economics theoretical framework, this paper analyzes the formal Ethiopian seed system and identifies transaction costs to find potential starting points for institutional innovations. Analyzing data from more than 60 expert interviews conducted in Ethiopia mainly in 2012, it appears that transaction costs are high along the whole seed value chain and mainly born by the government as public organizations dominate the Ethiopian seed system, leaving little room for the private sector. However, direct marketing pilots that have been started recently are a signal of careful market liberalization efforts.
Adaptive Skin Color Detection Based on Human Face under Complex Background

Traditional skin color detection technique has a weak anti-interference ability against the pixels with color similar to skin under a complex background, and cannot reduce the influence of illumination on the characteristics of skin color. In this study, an adaptive skin color detection method is proposed to tackle the is- sues. The skin section containing illumination information is extracted by combining the face detection methods proposed by Haar and Adaboost, and using the improved binarization algorithm. Then, combining the best threshold of luminance component (Y) of skin color samples obtained after training in the YCbCr space, the improved histogram backprojection method is adopted to detect the skin color of the whole image. Experiments show that the method is robust under complex background and the influence of illumination. Moreover, the method has a higher accuracy and recall rate than traditional skin color detection methods.
Market orientation and brand orientation from customer perspective an empirical examination in the non-profit sector

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ‘market orientation’ and ‘brand orientation’ from the customer perspective. Data was collected from a non-profit organisation in Australia using a self-administered questionnaire. This yielded a useable sample of 344. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the validity and reliability of the measures, while structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings reveal that ‘interfunctional coordination’ perform the strongest effects on ‘perceived brand orientation’ whereas no significant association was found between ‘competitor orientation’ and ‘perceived brand orientation’. The study contributes to the body of literature through an examination of the relationship between ‘perceived market orientation’ and ‘perceived brand orientation’ and the development of ‘perceived brand orientation’ construct to assess the brand orientation level of an organisation from the customer perspective.
Being Yourself to be Creative: How Self-Similar Avatars can Support the Generation of Original Ideas in Virtual Environments

Creative idea generation, the generation of original yet effective ideas, can be supported in virtual environments when interactions are facilitated via avatars with an appearance similar to their user, i.e. self-similar avatars. However, it is not known how self-similar avatars support creative idea generation. We propose that self-similarity supports the generation of original ideas, because it (i) increases the identification a user has with its avatar, which (ii) increases positive affect, and (iii) influences the positive affect-original idea generation link. To test this conjecture, an experiment was conducted where people composed their own avatar to be either self-similar or non-self-similar, which they then used to engage in two idea generation tasks presented within a custom virtual environment. The results suggest that using a self-similar rather than a non-self-similar avatar positively influences the generation of original ideas; and that this depends on the influence of self-similarity on the link between identification and positive affect. Thus, this paper contributes a mechanism that explains how self-similar avatars support the generation of original ideas.
Identification and production of biofilm by Staphylococcus aureus isolated from buffalo milk and milking environment

The interest in production of buffalo milk is increasing in Brazil due to its physico-chemical and nutritional characteristics. However, just as sheep, goats and cows are susceptible to mastitis, so are buffaloes, which is mainly caused by Staphylococcus aureus. In this regard, biofilm formation, the ability to escape host immune defense and virulence factor, is presumably a key factor for acute and chronic intra-mammary infection in buffaloes. In this study, biofilm forming capabilities and virulence genes were evaluated in S. aureus isolated from buffalo milk and milking environments, using phenotypic and genotypic assays. Thirty two S. aureus strains isolated from buffalo milk, milking machines and milkers’ hands were obtained from a farm in Analândia, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Samples were collected in April, June, October and November 2013. These strains were tested for the presence of sa442, icaA, icaD, clfA, clfB, sarA and hla genes, slime production using Congo Red Agar (CRA), and biofilm formation using microtiter assay. All samples of S. aureus were positive for CRA and microtiter assay. Although, icaA and icaD genes were simultaneously detected in nine of the 32 samples, none of the samples were positive for icaA; only seven were positive for icaD gene. This suggests that other factors may be involved in biofilm formation. Seventeen strains of S. aureus were positive for sarA gene, nine for clfA gene, 16 for clfB and 16 for hla. A great variability in SmaI restriction profiles of S. aureus strains was observed. Thirty isolates were typified and two strains were not by SmaI restriction. In addition, 18 pulse types were detected. It is hypothesized that biofilm can be produced by the expression of icaD gene only. Our findings suggest that S. aureus strains from buffalo milk and milking environment are similar, which contradict the findings obtained from bovine strains. This behavior may contribute to the persistence of mastitis in buffalo caused by S. aureus, which results in a potential zoonotic problem. Our results may bring new insights into the development of novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of bubaline mastitis. Key words: Staphylococcus aureus, buffalo milk, biofilm, milking machine, milkers’ hands, utensils, mastitis.
Is Deafness a Disability?: Designing Hearing Aids Beyond Functionality

The question whether deafness is a disability causes controversial and emotionally charged debates. The experience of hearing loss is different from the experience of being born deaf, as well as the need and willingness of using hearing aids. Following a medical model of disability, deafness has been traditionally viewed as a physical impairment. This paper points out highly debated issues related to the design of assistive technologies for people with hearing impairment. It illustrates the design case of a suite of smart jewels designed to address their emotional and socio-cultural needs beyond the functional goal of supporting hearing. The design case calls for a shift in the attitude toward disability - from a medical model which sees impairment as a personal deficiency to be "normalized", to a socio-cultural model which views disability as a socially constructed concept defined by the obstacles of a hearing-oriented world.
Predicting mortality rate with ICH score in Thai intracerebral hemorrhage patients

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) constitutes 10% to 15% of all stroke patients. ICH score is a simple tool for outcome prediction for intracerebral hemorrhage patients. The score consists of 5 characteristics including age > 80 years, Glasgow Coma Scale, infratentorial location, hematoma volume and presence of intraventricular hemorrhage that were found to be independent predictors of poor prognosis. The study aimed to validate prediction of 30 days mortality in Thai intracerebral hemorrhage patients. This is a cross-sectional study of patients with ICH in Thammasat University Hospital from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011. Independent predictors of 30 days mortality were identifi ed and the ICH score was determined. The study showed that the signifi cant independent parameters were location of hemorrhage, Glasgow Coma Scale, and ICH volume. In multivariate analysis, the signifi cant parameters were infratentorial ICH, Glasgow Coma Scale (3-4), ICH volume > 30 cm 3 , and presence of intraventricular hemorrhage. We conclude that ICH score is a useful and reliable tool to predict 30 days mortality in Thai patients, although age > 80 years is not an independent predictor in this study.
On the homotopy type of the p-subgroup complex for finite solvable groups

Abstract We provide a wedge decomposition of the homotopy type of the p-subgroup complex in the case of a finite solvable group G. In particular, this includes a new proof of the result of Quillen which says that this complex is contractible if and only if there is a non-trivial normal p-subgroup in G. We also provide reduction formulas for the G-module structure of the homology groups. Our results are obtained with diagram-methods by gluing the p-subgroup complex of G along the p-subgroup complex of = G/N for a normal p′-subgroup of G.
Comparative studies on antisickling properties of brown and green leaves of Carica papaya Linn. (Caricaceae)

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is characterised by non-covalent polymerisation of the haemoglobin under hypoxia conditions and this promotes red blood cell sickling. Inhibition of sickle cell haemoglobin polymerization is one of the areas of focus in the management of SCD. Dried Carica papaya leaves are used in traditional herbal remedies for the management of sickle cell anaemia; without specifying if it is the dried green or brown leaf. This study was aimed at verifying the antisickling activity of the crude aqueous extract, crude methanol extract and fractions of dried brown and green leaves of Carica papaya . The method used was the sickle cell haemoglobin polymerization inhibition experiment measured with the Ultra Violet (UV) spectrophotometer. Sodium metabisulphite was used as a deoxygenating agent while isotonic saline (0.9% NaCl) was used as the negative control and phenylalanine as a positive control. The results obtained showed that crude aqueous extracts of both the green and brown leaves exhibited high level of inhibition of sickled haemoglobin (HbSS) polymerization at 200 mg/ml (97.76% and 93.25% ), 100 mg/ml (95.89% and 97.93%) also, 50 mg/ml (97.89% and 95.84%) respectively which compared favourably and significantly (p Crude aqueous methanol> Butanol>Chloroform>Ethyl acetate>Aqueous. This study showed that the extracts exhibited the potential of inhibiting polymerization of sickle cell haemoglobin thus would be beneficial in the management of sickle cell disease.
Assessment of β-D-Glucosidase Activity from Two Typical Strains of the Lactic Acid Bacteria, Oenococcus oeni, in China

β-D-glucosidase (βG) is one of the most interesting glycosidases for the hydrolysis of glycoconjugated precursors to release active aromatic compounds in musts and wines. Oenococcus oeni strains SD-2a and 31MBR are widely used in Chinese wines to reduce the acidity. In the present study, the βG activity of the two strains was localised and partially characterised using synthetic substrate. The activity occurred in whole cells, sonication supernatants and debris, but not in the culture supernatants for both strains. Whole cells of strain SD-2a possessed greater βG activity, while strain 31MBR showed higher enzyme activity in the sonication supernatants. Strain 31MBR exhibited higher total enzyme activity than strain SD-2a. The optimum temperatures for βG from the two strains were 40oС at pH 3.5 and 50oС at pH 5.0, respectively. Ethanol at low concentrations had a positive effect on βG activity in both strains, while a wine-like pH (3.5) decreased the enzyme activity to a great extent. Whole cells of strain SD-2a showed the highest activity among all samples tested under wine-like conditions. Thus, strain SD-2a proved to have potential for aroma improvement in winemaking.
Curing analysis of Drug Resistance Plasmid in Proteus mirabilis

Forty five isolates of Proteus mirabilis were identified among 600 samples taken from patients with urinary tract infection from different hospitals in Erbil City. Isolates were identified from urine sample by using cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics and confirmed confirmed by VITEK 2 systems. Antibiotic sensitivity testing was done for all isolates by using fifteen antibiotic types which included Amikacin (AK), Ampicillin (AMP), Aztreonam (AT), Chloramphenicol (C), Cephalothin (CEP), Ciprofloxacin (CIP), Ceftriaxone (CTR), Cefotaxime (CTX) Fosfomycin (FOX), Gentamicin (GEN), Imipenem (IMP), Nalidixic acid (NA), Norfloxacin (NOR), Piperacilin (PI) and Tobramycin (TOB). IMP was the most effective antibiotic against isolated of P. mirabilis. The resistance rate of the isolates toward these antibiotics were 8.8% for CIP, 11% for AT, 11% for FOX, 15.5% for NOR, 17.7% for TOB, 20% for AK, 22% for PI, 26% for CTR, 28.8% for CTX, 33% for NA, 35.5% for GEN, 44% for C, and 62% for AMP respectively. To control the antibiotic resistance of the tested P. mirabilis isolates, curing of plasmid DNA was conducted using tetracycline and elevated temperature at 46 C, two most resistance isolates were chosen for this purpose P32, and P40, then treated with different concentrations of tetracycline (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, and 4) μg/ml separately. The MIC for tetracycline was 2.5μg/ml and SMIC 2μg/ml was used as a curing agent. The genes encoded resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, cephalothin, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, gentamicin and tobramycin were cured from P32 and the percentage of curing was (46.6%), while amikacin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin and gentamicin resistance genes were cured from P40 isolate and the curing percent was (26.6%). The results confirmed by conducting gel electrophoresis and revealed that tetracycline DOI: 10.24086/cuesj.si. 2017.n2a5 Cihan University-Erbil Scientific Journal Special Issue No.2, July 2017 47 removed plasmid of P32, while it had no effect on plasmid of P40. On the other hand, elevated temperature used also as curing agent and the results revealed that resistance to amikacin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, cephalothin, ceftriaxone, gentamicin and tobramycin genes were cured from P32 and the curing percent was (46.6%), while genes encoding amikacin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, fosfomycin, gentamicin, nalidixic acid, norfloxacin and tobramycin were cured from P40 isolate with the percentages of (73.3%) after incubating the isolates at 46 o C. It is clear that elevated temperature is the most efficient method than tetracycline. The results confirmed by conducting gel electrophoresis and showed that both tested isolates lost their plasmids after incubation at 46 o C.
The Impact of Face-to-face and Frequent Interactions on Innovation: Evidence from Upstream-Downstream Relations

This paper proposes a new mechanism linking innovation and networks in developing economies to identify explicit production and information linkages. We investigate the testable hypotheses of these linkages using survey data gathered from manufacturing firms in East Asia: Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. We found that firms that dispatched engineers to customers achieved more product and process innovations than firms that did not. Just-in-time relationship is effective for dealing with process innovation. We found that such strong complementarities as Just-in-time are not effective for product innovation. These findings support the hypothesis that face-to-face communication and strong complementarities among buyer-seller networks have different roles in product and process innovation.
The Moderating Role of E-Marketing on the Consequences of Market Orientation in Nigerian Firms

With the increasing use of technology in the marketing activities of all types of organizations, it is important to know the extent to which electronic marketing moderates the impact of market orientation on firm marketing competencies which are, in turn, related to firm performance. Drawing on the strategic management and information technology literature, the author designed a survey to ascertain how e-marketing moderates market orientation – from the marketing competencies relationship on one hand to the marketing competencies and firm performance relationship on the other. Questionnaires were sent to 500 firms, of which 198 responded. The results reveal that e-marketing translates more into firm performance when supported by organizational culture and behavioral dispositions like market orientation, and that e-marketing also moderates the relationship between marketing competencies and firm performance. The author also discusses the managerial and public policy implications of the findings.
Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) Analysis of the Influence of Religious Films on Pro-Social Behaviour of Audience

This study discusses the effect of religious films as a factor that influences the form of pro-social behaviour. Ayoung audience comprised of 1028 respondents were selected from a public institution of higher learning inMalaysia by stratified random sampling. This study uses a cross sectional survey through the distribution of questionnaires as instruments. Data collected were analysed based on the hypothesis model developed and tested by structural equation model (SEM) using AMOS 21.0. The findings of the study show that pro-social behaviour corrrelates with the exposure of films, watching of the religious films and the message in the pro-social films. Thus, it can be concluded that religious films influence the development of pro-social behaviour among youthful audience.
Microsized subsurface modification of mono-crystalline silicon via non-linear absorption

We introduce a novel method of optically inducing microsized subsurface structures using non-linear absorption of near infrared light in mono-crystalline silicon. We discuss the physical processes such as multi-photon absorption and self focussing in the material. The results presented in this paper demonstrate a new method of subsurface modifications in silicon and may open up novel avenues for optical devices embedded in silicon and optical process for the separation of wafers from their ingots.
Evaluation of FNAC of head and neck swellings: a retrospective study

Background: Neck swellings are on­­e of the commonest clinical presentations encountered by the practicing physicians. Hence; we undertook the present study to assess the incidence and nature of various head and neck swellings by FNAC. Methods: The present study included evaluation of data of all the patients that underwent FNAC for various head and neck swellings. A total of 100 patients were included in this study in which FNAC was performed with lesions in the head and neck regions in the otorhinolaryngology, pediatric, and surgery departments. Cleaning of the area, to be aspirated, was done and a 23‑gauge needle with syringe and trocar was inserted at convenient angles to the lesions and multiple hits was made within the lesion, with sufficient negative pressure; the needle was removed and the pressure was applied to the area of aspiration to avoid bleeding or hematoma formation. Results: Majority of the patients with head and neck swellings belong to the age group of 21 to 30 years. Only 6 and 4 patients were having age of 51 to 60 years and 61 years and above respectively. Out of 100 patients, 36 were males and 64 were females. In a total of 54 patients, diagnosis of inflammatory lesion was made while in case of 34 and 12 patients; diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions was made respectively. Conclusions: Most of the swellings occurring in the head and neck region are inflammatory in nature and affect females more frequently than males.