Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonlinear effects in propagation of long-range surface plasmon polaritons in gold strip waveguides

This paper is devoted to experimental and theoretical studies of nonlinear propagation of a long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) in gold strip waveguides. The plasmonic waveguides are fabricated in house, and contain a gold layer, tantalum pentoxide adhesion layers, and silicon dioxide cladding. The optical characterization was performed using a high power picosecond laser at 1064 nm. The experiments reveal two nonlinear optical effects: nonlinear power transmission and spectral broadening of the LRSPP mode in the waveguides. Both nonlinear optical effects depend on the gold layer thickness. The theoretical model of these effects is based on the third-order susceptibility of the constituent materials. The linear and nonlinear parameters of the LRSPP mode are obtained, and the nonlinear Schrödinger equation is solved. The dispersion length is much larger than the waveguides length, and the chromatic dispersion does not affect the propagation of the plasmonic mode. We find that the third-order susceptibility of the gold layer has a dominant contribution to the effective third-order susceptibility of the LRSPP mode. The real part of the effective third-order susceptibility leads to the observed spectral broadening through the self-phase modulation effect, and its imaginary part determines the nonlinear absorption parameter and leads to the observed nonlinear power transmission. The experimental values of the third-order susceptibility of the gold layers are obtained. They indicate an effective enhancement of the third-order susceptibility for the gold layers, comparing to the bulk gold values. This enhancement is explained in terms of the change of the electrons motion.
Disclosure of Intellectual Capital in Annual Reports: An Exploratory Study of Indian IT Corporations

Knowledge, innovation, information technology, and people are the key contributories in the future of any organization, and IC is the key driver of market value in the ―knowledge‖ economy. Voluntary disclosure of IC information in the annual reports is done by a few leading corporations. The omission of IC information, therefore, may adversely influence the quality of decisions made by shareholders, or lead to material misstatements. This study attempts to provide an insight into the ―narrative‖ style of IC disclosures done by the Indian corporations. In order to survey the recent IC disclosure scenario, we conducted a study of 16 Indian IT corporations in which the ‗content analysis' was done on their 2007 to 2009 annual reports. The results of this study confirmed that IC disclosure by these IT corporations is almost negligible and its disclosure had not received any preference from the mentors of these corporations. IC reports may initially be used for ‗internal' management purposes; but an ‗external' stakeholder-focus of IC report should be the ultimate goal.
Design, development and performance evaluation of an on-farm evaporative cooler

The portable evaporative cooler was designed for storage of 50 kg fresh fruits having overall diamentions of 1220 x 860 x 787 to study the performance of an on-farm evaporative cooler with the effect of different filling materials viz., coconut coir, saw dust + gunny bag, ECC cool pad, wala sheet and gunny bag. Selection of filling material was based on the cost, water holding capacity, rate of evaporation of water from filled material and easy availability. Sapota (Cv. Kalipatti) fruits were stored in an on-farm evaporative cooler for 16 days. The effect of filling materials on Physiological weight loss (PLW), inside temperature, inside relative humidity and cooling efficiency of five filling materials were studied. The weight loss varied between 2.50 to 13.29, 14.96, 15.37, 15.36 and 15.20% in coconut coir, saw dust + gunny bag, ECC cool pad, walasheet and gunny bag, respectively. The mechanical test such as cooling efficiency for each filling material was determined and it was recorded as 90%, 54%, 38%, 70% and 79% for coconut coir, saw dust + gunny bag, ECC cool pad, walasheet and gunny bag respectively. Minimum inside temperature of 16.5 to 17.20C and maximum inside relative humidity of 97 to 90% was recorded in coconut coir of an on-farm evaporative cooler when ambient temperature was 27.660C and ambient relative humidity was 51%. The maximum storage life of 16 days was found in coconut coir. Coconut coir was performed better when compared with other filling material. It was most economical filing material over the other filling materials.
Sediment delivery ratios: a misaligned approach to determining sediment delivery from hillslopes

*Correspondence to: P. I. A. Kinnell, School of Resource, Environmental and Heritage Sciences, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. E-mail: peter.kinnell@canberra.edu. au Considerable interest exists in the impact of land management on water quality throughout the world. A large number of non-point source (NPS) pollution or water quality models exist. In many cases, these models use the universal soil loss equation (USLE; Wischmeier and Smith, 1978) or the revised version of the USLE (RUSLE; Renard et al., 1997) to model erosion on hillslopes in conjunction with sediment delivery ratios (SDRs) to determine the sediment delivered from the hillslope to water bodies. The SDR can be defined as the ratio of the erosion upslope of a point in the landscape to the sediment delivered from that point. Erosion involves detachment, transport and deposition processes that operate all the time. The net loss or gain of soil material depends on the balance between the rates of particle uplift and deposition. In the context of modelling sediment delivery on hillslopes with respect to water quality, erosion refers to the situation where there is a net loss of soil material from the soil surface, and deposition to the situation where there is a net gain. The use of SDRs owes its origin to the observation that using erosion predicted by the USLE overestimates the amount of sediment delivered from hillslopes, because sediment deposition often occurs on hillslopes and the USLE does not account for deposition. The USLE was developed on planar surfaces and was not designed to apply to situations where there is a net gain of soil material on the area being considered. However, SDRs are essentially ‘performance’ factors that simply relate observed or modelled amounts at the plot scale to observed amounts at a larger scale. Using them to predict sediment delivery from hillslopes can produce erroneous results. One of the features of the USLE/RUSLE–SDR approach is that the predicted amount of sediment delivered from the hillslopes varies directly with the predicted erosion for any given hillslope profile. Halving the erosion results in a halving of the amount of sediment delivered from the hillslope. However, the deposition effect results from sediment in or entering the flow exceeding the transport capacity of that flow at a point on the hillslope. As a result, sediment delivery is directly related to erosion if the transport capacity of the flow is not exceeded (i.e. SDR = 1·0), but it is limited by the transport capacity if erosion exceeds the capacity of the flow to transport the eroded material (i.e. SDR < 1·0). This concept is encapsulated in Figure 1 and in so-called process-based erosion models like WEPP
A CSCL approach to blended learning in the integration of technology in teaching

This paper presents a case study of a blended learning design where technology was integrated into a second year management subject in an attempt to increase student flexibility and interest while simultaneously delivering commercially valuable skills. Specifically, the study will evaluate the effectiveness of this move to a blended learning model of delivery and the use of social networking tools in aiding student learning. The technologies were designed to enhance the learning experience of students by providing an opportunity to work in small groups to collaborate on a group submission based on an authentic workplace scenario. Tasks were also designed to allow students to discuss their group project both synchronously, using a chat tool, and asynchronously, using discussions in the eLearning space. The success of this blended learning design is reported through analysis of the results from a student survey.
Cyclical Patterns in Risk Indicators Based on Financial Market Infrastructure Transaction Data

This paper studies cyclical patterns in risk indicators based on TARGET2 transaction data. These indicators provide information on network properties, operational aspects and links to ancillary systems. We compare the performance of two different ARIMA dummy models to the TBATS state space model. The results show that the forecasts of the ARIMA dummy models perform better than the TBATS model. We also find that there is no clear difference between the performances of the two ARIMA dummy models. The model with the fewest explanatory variables is therefore preferred.
Proteomic analysis of human bile reveals potential biomarkers for cholangiocarcinoma

2 INTRODUCTION . 3 METHODS . 9 Collection of Bile . 9 Selection of Samples . 10 Bile Sample Preparation . 12 Analysis . 14 RESULTS . 16 DISCUSSION . 21 Discussion of the Study Design and Methods . 27 Conclusions . 33 POPULÄRVETENSKAPLIG SAMMANFATTNING . 34 REFERENCES . 35 APPENDIX: TABLES . 39
PROPERTIES OF RING EXTENSIONS INVARIANT UNDER GROUP ACTION

Let G be a subgroup of the automorphism group of a commutative ring with identity T. Let R be a subring of T. We show that RG ⊂ T G is a minimal ring extension whenever R ⊂ T is a minimal extension under various assumptions. Of the two types of minimal ring extensions, integral and integrally closed, both of these properties are passed from R ⊂ T to RG ⊆ T G. An integrally closed minimal ring extension is a flat epimorphic extension as well as a normal pair. We show that each of these properties also pass from R ⊂ T to RG ⊆ T G under certain group action.
Helicobacter pylori Infection in Patients with Functional Dyspepsia in Jamaica

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common clinical problem associated with substantial health care cost. H. pylori infection may be an etiological factor in some patients. This study determined the prevalence of H. pylori infection in Jamaican patients with FD. Thirty patients with FD seen between 2005–2007 were studied. All patients had dyspepsia and normal endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract. The prevalence of H. pylori infection was 33%. The mean age was 47 years. 70% were female and resided mainly in urban areas. The most frequent presenting symptom was epigastric pain. All patients had access to piped water and refrigeration. Forty percent of infected patients had a history of alcohol consumption compared to 15% in non-infected patients. In H. pylori positive patients, 20% were cigarette smokers, compared to 5% in negative patients.
Use of sorghum straw (Sorghum bicolor) for second generation ethanol production: pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis

Agronomic biomass yields of forage sorghum BRS 655 presented similar results to other energy crops, producing 9 to 12.6 tons/ha (dry mass) of sorghum straw. The objective of this study was to evaluate the lignocellulosic part of this cultivar in terms of its potential in the different unit processes in the production of cellulosic ethanol, measuring the effects of pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. Three types of pre-treatments for two reaction times were conducted to evaluate the characteristics of the pulp for subsequent saccharification. The pulp pretreated by alkali, and by acid followed by delignification, attained hydrolysis rates of over 90%.
Genetic characterization of introduced Tunisian and French populations of pike-perch (Sander lucioperca) by species-specific microsatellites and mitochondrial haplotypes

The pike-perch is among the economically most valuable fish species for both commercial and recreational fishermen. This could be seen as the main reason for its introductions into Western Europe (including France) and Tunisia. Knowledge of the genetic structure of the introduced populations is a prerequisite for their successful long-term management. The present study focuses on the genetic characterization of introduced Tunisian and French pike-perch populations using species-specific microsatellite loci and mitochondrial cytochrome b haplotypes in order to better understand their genetic relationships and to try to trace the origin of the Tunisian populations. Lowered levels of genetic diversity have been observed in the two introduced Tunisian populations and a farmed Czech strain compared to a native wild German population. The reduction of microsatellite genetic variability of these three populations was supported by a genetic bottleneck signature. In contrast, the French populations showed high genetic diversity, probably due to multiple introductions and admixture of genetically differing sources. A high genetic differentiation level (significant F-ST values) between most pike-perch populations and a high average accuracy of self-assignments of individuals to populations of their origin were observed, probably resulting from genetic drift. The average pairwise relatedness values and results of the structure analysis highlighted a closer relationship between Tunisian and French populations than between Tunisian and German ones. Indeed, the two Tunisian populations clustered together with the French populations on a Neighbour-Joining tree based on D-A genetic distances. This was also sustained by the distribution of cytochrome b haplotypes A and B in the studied populations. The present results demonstrate that, despite the genetic differences, the studied populations cluster according to their phylogeographic origin. The Tunisian populations seem to be introduced from a French hatchery where the brood stock had the haplotype B of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene.
Impact of Organic Farming on Biodiversity

In last several decades agriculture has been oriented towards industrial and extremely intensive farming practices, aimed at ensuring enough food for the human population, a goal that was not achieved. These types of farming practices also caused several negative environ‐ mental impacts such as decreasing biodiversity, including the farm bird index, where a decline has been observed in Slovenia since 2008. Many farms intensified their activities and became highly mechanized, whilst those unable to do so became increasingly marginalized and were sometimes forced to abandon their land, causing equally devastating consequences for biodiversity [1]. Today, it is globally imperative that the growing demand for food be met in a manner that is socially equitable and ecologically sustainable over the long term. It is possible to design farming systems that are equally productive and that maintain or enhance the provisioning of ecosystem services (i.e., biodiversity, soil quality, nutrient management, waterholding capacity, control of weeds, diseases and pests, pollination services, carbon sequestra‐ tion, energy efficiency and reducing global warming potential, as well as resistance and resilience to climate change and crop productivity) and thus agroecosystem resilience and sustainability [2].
Exergo-ecological evaluation of heat exchanger

Thermodynamic optimization of thermal devices requires information about the influence of operational and structural parameters on its behaviour. The interconnections among parameters can be estimated by tools such as CFD, experimental statistic of the deviceetc. Despite precise and comprehensive results obtained by CFD, the time of computations is relatively long. This disadvantage often cannot be accepted in case of optimization as well as online control of thermal devices. As opposed to CFD the neural network or regression is characterized by short computational time, but does not take into account any physical phenomena occurring in the considered process. The CFD model of heat exchanger was built using commercial package Fluent/Ansys. The empirical model of heat exchanger has been assessed by regression and neural networks based on the set of pseudo-measurements generated by the exact CFD model. In the paper, the usage of the developed empirical model of heat exchanger for the minimisation of TEC is presented. The optimisationconcerns operational parameters of heat exchanger. The TEC expresses the cumulative exergy consumption of non-renewable resources. The minimization of the TEC is based on the objective function formulated by Szargut. However, the authors extended the classical TEC by the introduction of the exergy bonus theory proposed by Valero. The TEC objective function fulfils the rules of life cycle analysis because it contains the investment expenditures (measured by the cumulative exergy consumption of non-renewable natural resources), the operation of devices and the final effects of decommissioning the installation.
Observational Signatures of Mass-loading in Jets Launched by Rotating Black Holes

It is widely believed that relativistic jets in X-ray binaries (XRBs) and active-galactic nuclei are powered by the rotational energy of black holes. This idea is supported by general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of accreting black holes, which demonstrate efficient energy extraction via the Blandford–Znajek mechanism. However, due to uncertainties in the physics of mass loading, and the failure of GRMHD numerical schemes in the highly magnetized funnel region, the matter content of the jet remains poorly constrained. We investigate the observational signatures of mass loading in the funnel by performing general-relativistic radiative transfer calculations on a range of 3D GRMHD simulations of accreting black holes. We find significant observational differences between cases in which the funnel is empty and cases where the funnel is filled with plasma, particularly in the optical and X-ray bands. In the context of Sgr A*, current spectral data constrains the jet filling only if the black hole is rapidly rotating with a ≳ 0.9. In this case, the limits on the infrared flux disfavor a strong contribution from material in the funnel. We comment on the implications of our models for interpreting future Event Horizon Telescope observations. We also scale our models to stellar-mass black holes, and discuss their applicability to the low-luminosity state in XRBs.
Student difficulties in mathematizing word problems in algebra.

To investigate student difficulties in solving word problems in algebra, we carried out a teaching experiment involving 51 Indonesian students (12/13 year-old) who used a digital mathematics environment. The findings were backed up by an interview study, in which eighteen students (13/14 year-old) were involved. The perspective of mathematization, i.e., the activity to transform a problem into a symbolic mathematical problem, and to reorganize the mathematical system, was used to identify student difficulties on the topic of linear equations in one variable. The results show that formulating a mathematical model—evidenced by errors in formulating equations, schemas or diagrams—is the main difficulty. This highlights the importance of mathematization as a crucial process in the learning and teaching of algebra.
Cylindrical couette flow in the transition regime by the method of moments

The moment method is employed to study the characteristics of cylindrical Couette gas flow under rarefied conditions. Computed velocity profiles from the linearised R13 and R26 moment equations are compared with direct simulation Monte Carlo data. It is found that the moment method can extend the macroscopic equations into the early transition regime, but the surface curvature narrows the validity range of the macroscopic models. The slip velocity on the inner and outer cylinder is not equal due to curvature effects and the torque acting on the cylinder wall decreases as the rarefaction becomes stronger.
Simple prediction of the undrained displacement of a circular surface foundation on non-linear soil

Textbooks and university courses teach elasticity and plasticity as separate methods for analysing the stiffness and strength of a shallow foundation. The behaviour of real soil is neither linear elastic nor perfectly plastic. In this paper, two simple techniques for incorporating non-linearity in routine design have been validated using finite element (FE) analysis. These two techniques—Atkinson's method and the mobilisable strength design (MSD) approach—assume that the responses of an individual soil element and the boundary value problem being considered are self-similar. Using this assumption, the soil element response can be scaled to predict the response of the boundary value problem. Atkinson's method is based on elasticity whereas MSD uses plasticity. Non-linearity has been captured in the FE analysis using a power law soil model. This approach uses minimal parameters, but is shown to capture accurately the undrained stress–strain response of typical clays under monotonic loading. Comparison with .
Excitation thresholds of field-aligned irregularities and associated ionospheric hysteresis at very high latitudes observed using SPEAR-induced HF radar backscatter

Abstract. On 10 October 2006 the SPEAR high power radar facility was operated in a power-stepping mode where both CUTLASS radars were detecting backscatter from the SPEAR-induced field-aligned irregularities (FAIs). The effective radiated power of SPEAR was varied from 1–10 MW. The aim of the experiment was to investigate the power thresholds for excitation ( P t ) and collapse ( P c ) of artificially-induced FAIs in the ionosphere over Svalbard. It was demonstrated that FAI could be excited by a SPEAR ERP of only 1 MW, representing only 1/30th of SPEAR's total capability, and that once created the irregularities could be maintained for even lower powers. The experiment also demonstrated that the very high latitude ionosphere exhibits hysteresis, where the down-going part of the power cycle provided a higher density of irregularities than for the equivalent part of the up-going cycle. Although this second result is similar to that observed previously by CUTLASS in conjunction with the Tromso heater, the same is not true for the equivalent incoherent scatter measurements. The EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR) failed to detect any hysteresis in the plasma parameters over Svalbard in stark contract with the measurements made using the Tromso UHF.
Icelandic Norms for Verbal Fluency Test 1 Icelandic Norms for Verbal Fluency Tests

The Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) is one of the most used instruments in measuring cognitive functioning. In this study, two VFT (a letter fluency test and a category fluency test) were administrated to a sample of 405 individuals. The aim of this study was to create norms for VFT for the Icelandic population. The hypothesis was that the performance on VFT is dependent on the variables age, gender and education. In addition, it was hypothesised that performance on VFT was impaired among subjects with depression and dyslexia. Results of factorial analysis of variance revealed that age and education, but not gender had main effects on performance on VFT. Depression did not influence verbal fluency but dyslexia did. The normative data for the Icelandic population were created.