Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mobile Payment: The Hiding Impact of Learning Costs on User Intentions

This study analyzes how learning costs for technologies that lack de facto standards, such as mobile payment, affect user intentions. In addition, we evaluate how the negative effect of learning costs is mediated by perceived functional value and facilitating conditions. Data used in this research was obtained from a study among 463 consumers. We find support that negative effects from learning costs are fully mediated by perceived functional value and facilitating conditions. Hence, one important reason of slow user acceptance is that the high diversity mobile payment services, platforms and technologies increases the learning costs of users. The results pose important implications for managers willing to increase the acceptance of mobile payment.
Comparative analysis on bayesian classification for breast cancer problem

The problem of imbalanced class distribution or small datasets is quite frequent in certain fields especially in medical domain. However, the classical Naive Bayes approach in dealing with uncertainties within medical datasets face with the difficulties in selecting prior distributions, whereby parameter estimation such as the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) and maximum a posteriori (MAP) often hurt the accuracy of predictions. This paper presents the full Bayesian approach to assess the predictive distribution of all classes using three classifiers; naive bayes (NB), bayesian networks (BN), and tree augmented naive bayes (TAN) with three datasets; Breast cancer, breast cancer wisconsin, and breast tissue dataset. Next, the prediction accuracies of bayesian approaches are also compared with three standard machine learning algorithms from the literature; K-nearest neighbor (K-NN), support vector machine (SVM), and decision tree (DT). The results showed that the best performance was the bayesian networks (BN) algorithm with accuracy of 97.281%. The results are hoped to provide as base comparison for further research on breast cancer detection. All experiments are conducted in WEKA data mining tool.
Mineral elements in clover- and grass forage in Sweden

Minerals are essential elements for all living organisms. Plants and animals need minerals to function and maintain a balanced physiological state. Minerals are also important in the ecological cycle. The minerals originate in the soil and makes the foundation of the plants nutritional value for the animals. The minerals can later re-circulate to the soil in form of manure. Forage is the main feed giving to ruminants and knowledge about the mineral content in the forage is important to avoid deficiencies or toxicities and to get a good under-standing about the mineral balance of the farm. This study aimed to map the contents of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potas-sium, sodium, chlorine, sulphur, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, cobalt, selenium, iodine and molybdenum in clover- and grass forage in Sweden and to correlate those with the content of minerals in the soil of Sweden. The results generated 15 different maps showing the content of each mineral in samples of forages from all over Sweden. The results from the regression analysis between minerals in soil and feed, showed a varied relation, where calcium, phospho-rus, copper and molybdenum had the strongest determinations coefficient of 50% - 65%. It was concluded that this study showed mean concentration of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sulphur and copper comparable, to previously reported for Swedish forage. The mean contents of zinc, manganese and selenium, were however higher than those reported earlier and should therefore be the new refrence values for Swedish forage. This study also showed a difference in the phosphorus concentration between the northern and southern Sweden, which contradicts previously reported values of phosphorus in Swedish forage.
Biochemical markers for early senescence of erythrocyte membrane in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is an ice berg of disease resulting due to impairments in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. Hyperglycemia caused due to the above defects leads to complications like neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, peripheral vascular disease and coronary artery disease as a result of stimuli for oxidative stress on cell-membrane. The aim of the study is to establish a relation between the stress induced by oxidants bringing changes with the erythrocyte membrane. The protein content, protein thiols, protein carbonyl levels in relation to control of type 2 DM based on HbA1C level indicates that there is an auto-oxidation of glucose which results in persistent production of thiols and carbonyl leading to protein damage, modification due to amino acid residues, fragmentation of amino acid stress and raised proteolytic susceptibility. Protein thiols and carbonyl are the results of oxidation of amino acid which is non-specific or by specific amino acid oxidation. A case control comparative study was done with type 2 DM and normal control at BMCH & RC, Chitradurga. The maximum number were of the age group of 41-45 i.e. 32%. The mean FBS levels among cases and controls 197.50 mg/dl and 93.48 mg/dl respectively. There was significant difference between levels of protein content (4.56±0.19), protein carbonyl (1.20±0.08) and protein thiol levels (1.42±0.10) among diabetics in comparison to protein content (5.40±0.31), protein carbonyl (0.90±0.06), and protein thiols (2.12±0.12) in controls. It was found that there was significant increase of protein carbonyl, decrease protein content and decrease in protein thiols in diabetic patients. Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Oxidative stress, Reactive oxygen species, Protein content, Protein carbonyl, Protein thiols.
Influence of Mono-ammonium and Di-ammonium Phosphate on Phosphorus Use Efficiency of Maize and Bread Wheat Plants

Phosphorus fixation in soils is a big problem, for that, it affects negatively on phosphorus use efficiency of the plant. The amount of phosphorus which had fixed depends on orthophosphate ions and some soil properties. The goal of two experiments [In the first maize ( Zea mays L. ) and the second bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) ] to know the different influence of mono-ammonium phosphate [MAP NH 4 H 2 PO 4 ] and di-ammonium phosphate [DAP (NH 4 ) 2 HPO 4 ] fertilizers when were applied in the soil at rates (0, 30, 60 and 90 mg P 2 O 5 kg -1 ) on phosphorus use efficiency under greenhouse condition. Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was arranged for both experiments in four replications in first experiment and three in the second. Results cleared that plant dry weight (PDW, g pot -1 ) and plant phosphorus uptake (PPU, mg P pot -1 ) were increased with increasing doses of MAP and DAP fertilizers in both experiments according to control (0 ppm). Furthermore, apparent recovery phosphorus use efficiency (ARPUE, %) increased in DAP at maize and decreased in MAP at wheat trial when increasing phosphorus doses. All parameters had highly significantly affected by phosphorus. Also, fertilizers were a highly significant effect on PDW, PPU and agronomic phosphorus use efficiency (APUE) in maize and PPU in the wheat trial. Otherwise, interaction (F×P) had a highly significantly affected on PPU, physiological phosphorus use efficiency (PPUE) and ARPUE in wheat and APUE in maize. Additionally, PDW had a significant effect on interaction. When the MAP and DAP were increasing, that means increased PDW and PPU but MAP is better than DAP. Additionally, the results of the MAP in phosphorus use efficiency are better than DAP too.
A binary solvent for the simultaneous Calophyllum oil-resin extraction and purification

Sustainable biodiesel production can be realised by the use of a low-cost feedstock, efficient energy and renewable raw materials. The simultaneous Calophyllum oil-resin extraction and its purification using a binary solvent (n-hexane mixed with alcohol) were examined to meet those aspects. The extraction conditions effect was investigated to determine the optimal oil yield and quality. n-Hexane mixed with alcohol was extracted and purified effectively the oil from Calophyllum seeds. The oil yield and its quality were mainly affected by the n-hexane-to-alcohol ratio. The oil yield enhanced as the n-hexane-to-alcohol ratio enlarged from 1:1 to 2.5:1. The acid value and density of the oil improved as the n-hexane-to-alcohol ratio declined from 2.5:1 to 1:1. The n-Hexane-to-alcohol ratio of 2.5:1 provided the best yield (59%) of the oil extracted at 40°C for 5 hours. The oil presented its best quality at 0.893 g·cm–3 of density, 41.0 mPa·s of viscosity, 8.8 mg KOH·g–1 of the acid value, 88.3 g per 100 g of the iodine value, < 1% of moisture content and < 0.04% of ash content. The oil also had an inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus aureus.
Nonlocal Coupled Tensor CP Decomposition for Hyperspectral and Multispectral Image Fusion

Hyperspectral (HS) super-resolution, which aims at enhancing the spatial resolution of hyperspectral images (HSIs), has recently attracted considerable attention. A common way of HS super-resolution is to fuse the HSI with a higher spatial-resolution multispectral image (MSI). Various approaches have been proposed to solve this problem by establishing the degradation model of low spatial-resolution HSIs and MSIs based on matrix factorization methods, e.g., unmixing and sparse representation. However, this category of approaches cannot well construct the relationship between the high-spatial-resolution (HR) HSI and MSI. In fact, since the HSI and the MSI capture the same scene, these two image sources must have common factors. In this paper, a nonlocal tensor decomposition model for hyperspectral and multispectral image fusion (HSI-MSI fusion) is proposed. First, the nonlocal similar patch tensors of the HSI are constructed according to the MSI for the purpose of calculating the smooth order of all the patches for clustering. Then, the relationship between the HR HSI and the MSI is explored through coupled tensor canonical polyadic (CP) decomposition. The fundamental idea of the proposed model is that the factor matrices in the CP decomposition of the HR HSI’s nonlocal tensor can be shared with the matrices factorized by the MSI’s nonlocal tensor. Alternating direction method of multipliers is used to solve the proposed model. Through this method, the spatial structure of the MSI can be successfully transferred to the HSI. Experimental results on three synthetic data sets and one real data set suggest that the proposed method substantially outperforms the existing state-of-the-art HSI-MSI fusion methods.
Size dependent anti-invasiveness of silver nanoparticles in lung cancer cells

The molecular mechanism of cancer cell death caused by silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) of different sizes is investigated. Compared with the larger nanoparticles, 13 nm AgNPs significantly inhibit the migration and invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells, induce elevated reactive oxygen species and lead to NF-κB directed cellular apoptosis.
Grape Seed Oil plus DMBA Has a Hepatorenal Protective Effect against Damage Induced By DMBA in Rats

7,12-dimethylbenz(a) anthracene (DMBA)has an oxidative damaging effects and grape seed oil (GSO), among its protective mechanisms is the antioxidant properties. Objective: to investigate the hepatorenal protective effects of dietary GSO against liver and renal cytotoxicity induced by DMBA in the rats. Materials and methods: The experimental animals were divided into four groups, the first group was untreated and used as control, the second was treated for 2 weeks with DMBA alone, the third was treated with DMBA plus GSO for 2 weeks, and the fourth group was treated with GSO after DMBA for 2 weeks. Serum liver enzymes, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), glutamic pyruvic acid transaminase (GPT), glutamic oxaloacetic acid transaminase (GOT), and total plasma proteins (TPS), albumin and globulins were chosen to assess liver function. Urea and creatinine are measured as some of renal function tests. Results: In comparison with control group, DMBA alone significantly increased the serum level of liver GOT,GPT and LDH enzymes and urea and creatinine levels, while total proteins, albumin and globulin was decreased. GSO plus DMBA had decreased significantly, GOT, GPT and LDH and urea while, creatinine was insignificantly changed, also, it had increased total proteins, albumin and globulin when compared with rats subjected to DMBA alone. Administration of GSO weather plus or after DMBA had increased albumin, but, it is significantly lower than in control rats. Conclusion: Treatment with GSO plus DMBA significantly decreases the changes in some hepatic and renal functions induced by DMBA in rats.
Reliability Analysis of Self-Efficacy in Dealing with Legal and Ethical Issues

The aim of this preliminary study is to disseminate the reliability of Ethical and Legal Issues in Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale (ELICSES). ELICSES consists of 23 items and it is used to measure trainee counselors’ self-efficacy in dealing with legal and ethical issues. We performed a small-scale study to assess the degree of reliability in a university setting. The findings revealed acceptable internal consistency reliability of the full scale and three subscales. Hence, the scale is an ideal instrument to measure trainee counselors’ self-efficacy in dealing with legal and ethical issues. However, we suggest the future researchers work on test-retest reliability and examine ELICSES across cultures involving multination.
Optically effective complex refractive index of coated black carbon aerosols: from numerical aspects

Abstract. Aerosol complex refractive index (ACRI) is an important microphysical parameter used for the studies of modeling their radiative effects. With considerable uncertainties related to retrieval based on observations, a numerical study is a powerful method, if not the only one, to provide a better and more accurate understanding of retrieved optically effective ACRIs of aged black carbon (BC) particles. Numerical investigations of the optically effective ACRIs of polydisperse coated BC aggregates retrieved from their accurate scattering and absorption properties, which are calculated by the multiple-sphere T-matrix method (MSTM), without overall particle shape variations during retrieval, are carried out. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of aerosol microphysics, including shell∕core ratio Dp∕Dc, BC geometry, BC position inside coating, and size distribution, on retrieved optically effective ACRIs of coated BC particles. At odds with expectations, retrieved optically effective ACRIs of coated BC particles in coarse mode are not merely impacted by their chemical compositions and shell∕core ratio, being highly complicated functions of particle microphysics. However, in accumulation mode, the coated BC optically effective ACRI is dominantly influenced by particle chemical compositions and the shell∕core ratio. The popular volume-weighted average (VWA) method and effective medium theory (EMT) provide acceptable ACRI results for coated BC in accumulation mode, and the resulting uncertainties in particle scattering and absorption are both less than approximately 10 %. For coarse coated BC, the VWA and EMT, nevertheless, produce dramatically higher imaginary parts than those of optically effective ACRIs, significantly overestimating particle absorption by a factor of nearly 2 for heavily coated BC with a large BC fractal dimension or BC close to the coating boundary. Using the VWA could introduce significant overestimation in aged BC absorption analysis studies, and this may be one of the reasons why modeled aerosol optical depth is 20 % larger than observed, since it is widely employed in the state-of-the-art aerosol–climate models. We propose a simple new ACRI parameterization for fully coated BC with Dp/Dc≥2.0 in coarse mode, which can serve as a guide for the improvement of ACRIs of heavily coated BC, and its scattering and absorption errors are reduced by a factor of nearly 2 compared to the VWA. Our study indicates that a reliable estimate of the radiative effects of aged BC particles in coarse mode would require accounting for the optically effective ACRI, rather than the ACRI given by the VWA, in aerosol–climate models.
Effects of mulching with hyperaccumulator straw on growth and cadmium accumulation of accumulator Perilla frutescens

ABSTRACT To study the effects of hyperaccumulator straw application on the growth and cadmium (Cd) accumulation of accumulator Perilla frutescens, four hyperaccumulator plant straws (Youngia erythrocarpa, Galinsoga parviflora, Gnaphalium affine and Crassocephalum crepidioides) were mulched on the surface of a Cd-contaminated soil (10 mg/kg) and P. frutescens seedlings were planted. The Y. erythrocarpa, G. affine and C. crepidioides straws increased P. frutescens root and shoot biomasses, and its chlorophyll a, carotenoid and total chlorophyll contents, whereas G. parviflora decreased or had no significant effect on these parameters. The G. affine and C. crepidioides straws enhanced the superoxide dismutase and catalase activities, and increased the Cd contents in roots and shoots of P. frutescens, whereas Y. erythrocarpa and G. parviflora straws had a smaller increasing effect. The Y. erythrocarpa, G. affine and C. crepidioides straws increased Cd extraction by P. frutescens shoots by 13.44%, 51.96% and 55.67%, respectively, compared with the control, whereas G. parviflora straw decreased it. Therefore, mulching with Y. erythrocarpa, G. affine and C. crepidioides straws could promote P. frutescens growth and enhance its phytoremediation ability for Cd-contaminated soil, with a better effect for G. affine and C. crepidioides straws than Y. erythrocarpa straw.
Unsteady Flow Regimes in a T-Shaped Micromixer: Mixing and Characteristic Frequencies

Experiments and direct numerical simulations are used jointly to study the asymmetric and symmetric time-periodic regimes occurring in a T-shaped micro mixer for larger Reynolds numbers than those of steady regimes. The first is characterized by a large mixing degree, whereas the flow in the second regime always exhibits a nearly double mirror symmetry in the mixing channel, which strongly hampers mixing. The characteristic nondimensional frequency, calculated using the hydraulic diameter of the mixing channel and the bulk velocity, augments with the Reynolds number in both periodic regimes, but a large discontinuity is observed at the transition between the two regimes. A detailed description of the main flow features is given to provide a physical explanation on the Strouhal number variation. The present analysis can be exploited in practice to design active control strategies, e.g., by exciting the flow at the frequencies typical of the asymmetric unsteady regime.
Low-Voltage, Full-Swing InGaZnO-Based Inverters Enabled by Solution-Processed, Ultra-Thin AlxOy

High-performance, full-swing inverters implemented with InGaZnO thin-film transistors (TFTs) have been demonstrated capable of operating at a very low-voltage. The threshold voltage of the load and drive TFTs were modified through careful change of the gate dielectric anodization voltage. Both the load and drive TFTs show excellent electrical properties, including a current ON/OFF ratio > 106 and a subthreshold swing close to the theoretical limit. As a result, the inverters show high voltage gains up to 34 at a supply voltage of only 1 V as well as high noise margins >92% of the theoretical maximum. The devices and the fabrication process might have potential applications in future wearable and disposable electronics where low cost and low power are vital.
Bioassay Determination of Species Specific Phytoplankton Responses To The Herbicide Atrazine and Its Quantification in B. Everett Jordan Reservoir

Kevin James Currie. Bioassay Determination of Species Specific Phytoplankton Responses to the Herbicide Atrazine and its Quantification in B. Everett Jordan Reservoir. (Under the direction of Dr. Donald E. Francisco) Atrazine was quantified bi-weekly in samples from three locations in B. Everett Jordan Lake during March July 1985 using gas chromatography. The presence in Segment 1 of atrazine and other previously identified Haw River constituents was verified by GC/MS. The highest concentrations were consistently found in Segment 1 (0.5-2.5 ug/L) and residue concentrations were generally higher in Segment 2 than Segment 3. Although atrazine concentrations declined rather rapidly following the field application runoff pulse in May, herbicide residue levels remained higher than those prior to that date. In vitro, natural population bioassays revealed species specific responses to atrazine. The population as a whole was severely inhibited at 50 ug/L atrazine. Results suggest low-dose (1 ug/L) growth stimulation for several members of the Cyanophyta. Several species of the Chlorophyta exhibited temporal growth lags at atrazine concentrations of 50 ug/L. However, maximum biomass was not severely depressed. Other species of green algae, Chlamydomonas in particular, exhibited resistance to the effects of atrazine at all doses. Competitive interactions between species affected individual responses to the toxicant. Species specific responses to atrazine levels commonly found in agricultural watersheds (0.25-10 ug/L) illustrate the potential of this important herbicide to alter the ecological basis of the food web.
Volatile compounds and fatty acids in oleoresins from Vanilla Planifolia Andrews obtained by extraction with supercritical carbon dioxide

ABSTRACT Vanilla is currently sold as an ethyl alcoholic extract, typically at a concentration of 35% (v/v). Alcoholic extracts have some disadvantages, such as high concentrations of organic residues, long extraction times and the requirement of large volumes when used as a flavoring. In contrast, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) allows isolation of high-purity oleoresins without co-extraction of undesired organic residues, thereby preserving the desired volatile compounds in vanilla. In this study, we identified and quantified volatile compounds and fatty acids in four oleoresins and two ethanolic extracts of cured Vanilla planifolia Andrews beans following 10 or 20 sun-drying and sweating cycles (SS). SFE was carried out at a pressure of 20 MPa at 40°C, 50°C, or 60°C, and the resulting vanilla oleoresins were analyzed with GC-MS and GC-FID. The major compounds identified in the extracts were o-guaiacol, p-creosol, p-vinylguaiacol, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, vanillic acid and vanillin.
Formal Methods in Manufacturing Systems: Recent Advances

Publishing Academic Excellence at the Pace of Technology Since 1988 www.igi-global.com Evolving technologies in mass production have led to the development of advanced techniques in the field of manufacturing. These technologies can quickly and effectively respond to various market changes, necessitating processes that focus on small batches of multiple products rather than large, single-product lines.