Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fully Coupled Flow-Deformation Model for a Naturally Fractured Gas Reservoir

The Lacq gas field, a large scale fractured reservoir subjected to a significant dep- letion in its production life, has been investigated. A fully coupled model - two phase fluid flow in deformable fractured porous media - has been utilised in the investigation. Spatial discretisation of the governing equations has been achieved using the standard Galerkin me- thod while the finite difference technique is employed for the discretisation of the time do- main. A three dimensional finite element model representing a quarter of the reservoir and surrounding rock layers has been created and subjected to the actual course of field produc- tion from 1957 to 1989. A good agreement has been found between simulation results and field data on reservoir pressure evolution, maximum ground settlement and subsidence profile along the northwest-southeast direction.
Potential of Iron Nanoparticles to Increase Germination and Growth of Wheat Seedling

Rapidly expanding use of nanoparticles in every discipline of life necessitates finding their potential to increase food production to match with burgeoning population. This study was conducted first time in Bangladesh to determine the potentiality of iron nanoparticles for enhancing germination and growth of BARI Gom 25. Two experiments were conducted for this purpose. One was synthesis of iron nanoparticles. Another was seed priming effect on germination and growth of wheat seedlings. An aqoustic method has been considered to prepare iron nanoparticles in water by reducing their ionic salts such as FeCl3 in presence of surfactant (PVP) under oilbath heating for several minutes. The synthesized nanoparticles were purified by precipitation method. A sand culture seedlings growth experiment was conducted to quantify nanomaterials deliver to wheat seedlings. The treatments of the experiment were determined, including nanoparticles of iron at two levels like before germination and seven days of germination; doses of priming at five concentration levels of nanoparticles were 0, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 ppm. Seed germination and seedlings growth was regularly affected with 1.0 to 2.0 ppm but decreased significantly at 2.5 ppm of iron nanoparticles. This study concluded that optimum level of iron nanoparticles concentration helps to increase germination and growth response of wheat seedlings. Further experimentation is required to explore the internal mechanism of iron nanoparticle absorption and mode of application for yield maximization of wheat.
Regional Economies: a Threat to the Nation-State?

One of the main aims of the study is to identify how the modern firm’s reliance on the regional production environment varies according to different types of industrial firms. The findings indicate a much greater breadth, diversity and richness than is usually captured by the prototypes normally taken up for analysis e.g. industrial districts and “learning regions”. After having thoroughly examined the theoretical and empirical ties between firm and region it becomes possible to discuss the question posed in the title of this article, namely: In what way can an alliance between region and firms influence regional development? Is it possible for actors at the regional level to influence those factors and mechanisms which are deemed critical for the competitiveness of firms and their capacity for development? Is the scope for actors at the regional level greater than that of the EU and the nation state? What is the role of the EU in relation to that of the nation state? The answers in the article to these questions are toning down a future antagonism between regions and nation states and are appreciating an important and clear division of labour between the EU, the nation state, and the region in improving economic performance. 4 CFE Working paper series no. 3 5 Lundquist & Olander–Regional Economies: a Threat to the Nation-State?
Structural Orientation and Performance Relationship of Hotels in Malaysia

The major purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of structure and performance. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the differences in the performance according to their structural attributes. Structural Equation Modeling was used to confirm the factors underlying the structure constructs. The three performance variables used in this study were: 1) Occupancy percentage, 2) Return on sales, and 3) Return on assets. It is generally believed that organizational effectiveness is primarily due to its structure. There is a lack of empirical studies examining the relationship of structure and performance in the organization. Tse (1991) in a study of multi-unit restaurant firms in the USA indicated that structure have an impact on the performance of the restaurant firms. The current study however, failed to discover any relationship between structure and performance. The ANOVA test indicated that there were no differences in the degree of structure as measured by the three-performance measurement. The results were tabulated and analyzed based on primary data derived from mail survey questionnaires. A total of 283 hotel firms across the country that are rated as 5-star, 4-star, 3-star and 2-star were invited for participation. The response rate was 43.5 percent or 160 hotels responded within the required 5-week duration for data collection. It was found that all the three performance measures were not related to structure.
A Graph-Laplacian approach for calculating the effective thermal conductivity of complicated fiber geometries

Abstract. An efficient approach to the numerical upscaling of thermal conductivities of fibrous media, e.g. insulation materials, is considered. First, standard cell problems for a second order elliptic equation are formulated for a proper piece of random fibrous structure, following homogenization theory. Next, a graph formed by the fibers is considered, and a second order elliptic equation with suitable boundary conditions is solved on this graph only. Replacing the boundary value problem for the full cell with an auxiliary problem with special boundary conditions on a connected subdomain of highly conductive material is justified in a previous work of the authors. A discretization on the graph is presented here, and error estimates are provided. The efficient implementation of the algorithm is discussed. A number of numerical experiments is presented in order to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.
Comparison of spatial interpolators for variability analysis of soil chemical properties in Cuamba (Mozambique)

The knowledge of spatial distribution of soil attributes, particularly chemical ones, which is very relevant for agricultural planning. Several studies have focused on spatial interpolation of soil properties, but only a few of them have been undertaken in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aims to analyse the spatial variability of hydrogen potential (pH) and electric conductivity (EC) within an agricultural region in Cuamba district of Mozambique. Efficiency of a deterministic and a stochastic interpolator were compared, namely Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and Ordinary kriging, respectively. Soil samples were collected at random locations scattered through the study region, and were later analyzed in water and soil laboratory. These point data were then used to produce interpolated surfaces of soil chemical properties. Efficiency of spatial interpolation methods was assessed based on prediction errors’ statistics derived from cross-validation. Results show that ordinary kriging was less biased and more accurate than IDW at samples’ locations. Hence, maps produced using the former method are a valuable contribution for the spatial characterization of soil quality, according to its chemical properties. Considering the spatial patterns of pH, southeast area is characterized by clayey soils, which has a high fertility potential for food crops. Key words: Geostatistics, inverse distance weighting , kriging, electric conductivity, pH.
Testing for Allocation Efficiencies in Water Quality Tenders Across Catchments, Industries and Pollutants: A North Queensland Case Study

The design of competitive tenders to purchase environmental services requires judgements to be made about the funding scale and tender scope, with the latter incorporating considerations of geographic area, industries involved and the types of environmental outputs required. Increasing the scale and scope of tenders increases the likelihood that a larger range of proposals will be proposed and cost-effective ones selected. However, the use of larger and more broadly scoped tenders may reduce landholder participation and increase asking bids. In the study reported here, these issues have been tested with a single water quality tender run in north-eastern Australia in 2007 and 2008. Post hoc tests and workshop exercises show that while largerscale and scope tenders can generate efficiency gains, care has to be taken to maintain participation and avoid higher bid levels
Resource Use Efficiency of Mustard Production in Chitwan District of Nepal

The study was conducted to determine the profitability and resource use efficiency of mustard production in Chitwan. The study used 159 mustard growers from 300 farmers adopting different pollinator friendly practices. Descriptive and statistical tools including Cobb-Douglas production function were used to analyze data which were collected from structured interview schedule. The benefit cost ratio (1.43) indicates that mustard production was profitable with productivity of 0.81 ton per ha. The magnitude of regression coefficients of mustard implied that use of human labor, tractor, nutrient and irrigation and pesticides costs had significant positive effect on gross return with estimated increasing return to scale (1.03). According to estimated allocative efficiency indices, it is suggested to increase use of tractor labor, seed, nutrient and irrigation plus pesticides cost by about 47%, 82%, 84% and 94%, respectively. Extension of modern technologies with adjustment on resource use is to be encouraged for increase in productivity and profit from mustard production which indirectly promotes and ensure forage for pollinators. Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(4): 604-608
Comments regarding the GRACE publication "Ninety-day oral toxicity studies on two genetically modified maize MON810 varieties in Wistar Han RCC rats (EU 7th Framework Programme project GRACE)"

The results of a 90-day feeding study with genetically engineered maize MON810 that was part of the EU research project GRACE were published in October 2014. The results of this project are expected to have a significant impact on future standards in risk assessment of genetically engineered plants in the EU. The authors conclude that the diet did not trigger any toxicologically relevant effects in the rats.
A Model Explaining Academic Procrastination Behavior

DOI: 10.14527/pegegog.2014. 016 The present study aims at examining the extent, to which personality traits, goal orientations, academic self-efficacy belief and self-esteem explain the academic procrastination behaviors of university students within the framework of a mode. To this end, a model was created and a model test was performed in order to determine the direct and indirect effects of the research variables within the compass of a cause and effect relationship. In the present research in which a causative comparative pattern was used, the research group consists of 630 university students in total from different grades, 406 of whom are female and 224 of whom are male. In the data collection phase of the present research,” Aitken Academic Procrastination Scale”, “Adjective Based Personality Test”, “Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale”, “Achievement Goals Scale”, “Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale” and “Academic Self Efficacy Scale” were used. It was found that the academic procrastination behaviors of university students are directly and indirectly related to personality traits, success orientation, academic self efficacy belief and self esteem within the framework of a cause and effect relationship. Article history: Received Revised Accepted 29 March 2014 12 June 2014 07 July 2014
Effect of Mercury Transfer from Producerto Consumer in a Marine Environment

Biomonitoring a stressed Kuwait Bay environment revealed a differential and collective transfer of mercury (Hg) between the primary producer and primary and secondary consumers, in addition to possible Hg bioconcentrations and bioaccumulation in such marine organisms that attributed harmful effects to humans at the tertiary level of the food chain. Selected live samples were collected from five bay sites and exposed for 96 h and 30 d in aquarium tanks. Samples analyzed by direct mercury analyzer (detection limit of 0.0015 ng.g-1) revealed Hg concentrations in the sequence of Barbatia helblingii >Acanthopagrus berda>phytoplankton>zooplankton at sites IV>V>III>I>II during the summer and winter seasons, respectively. Bioaccumulation factor (BAF) was >1 in most of their trophic transfer, although Hg-BAF was <1 in a few trophic levels. Seasonal variations, anthropogenic sources, vestiges of Hg from the shut-down chlor-alkali plant, urbanization, slow water current, and nutrient upwelling attributed to the persistent Hg accumulation in the marine ecosystem. Since Hg is a ubiquitous pollutant in the bay, their transfer through the medium, diet, and net accumulation in higher predators is of importance to marine life and is a concern to tertiary consumers, including humans.
Australasian Temperature Reconstructions Spanning the Last Millennium

AbstractMultiproxy warm season (September–February) temperature reconstructions are presented for the combined land–ocean region of Australasia (0°–50°S, 110°E–180°) covering 1000–2001. Using between 2 (R2) and 28 (R28) paleoclimate records, four 1000-member ensemble reconstructions of regional temperature are developed using four statistical methods: principal component regression (PCR), composite plus scale (CPS), Bayesian hierarchical models (LNA), and pairwise comparison (PaiCo). The reconstructions are then compared with a three-member ensemble of GISS-E2-R climate model simulations and independent paleoclimate records. Decadal fluctuations in Australasian temperatures are remarkably similar between the four reconstruction methods. There are, however, differences in the amplitude of temperature variations between the different statistical methods and proxy networks. When the R28 network is used, the warmest 30-yr periods occur after 1950 in 77% of ensemble members over all methods. However, reconstru.
Automated layout of origin–destination flow maps: U.S. county-to-county migration 2009–2013

ABSTRACT Visualizing large movement datasets with flow maps is difficult because overlapping flows create significant graphical conflicts that make accurate interpretation difficult or impossible. Interactive flow mapping applications allow users to explore large movement datasets by automatically generating flow maps from subsets of the data in response to queries by the user. However, even a small number of flows can overlap and cross each other in a way that impedes accurate interpretation. We introduce an interactive flow map of migration in the United States from 2009 to 2013 that uses a force-directed method to automatically lay out migration flows at the county-to-county and state levels. This map, available at http://usmigrationflowmapper.com/, aims at improving readability by automatically creating origin–destination flow layouts according to identified cartographic design principles. Map users explore high-level state-to-state migration patterns as well as detailed county-to-county movements through a custom user interface and interactive map features. We show migration flows between counties of different states by representing other states as nodes with a circular arrangement around the selected state, and connect county flows to those nodes. This constrains the map layout to a smaller area, reducing clutter and the amount of interaction required to view flows.
Facial expression recognition research based on blocked local feature

Focus on the key feature extraction and selection of facial expression recognition, this paper firstly extracts the global Gabor features and facial key expression as local features. Then centering, rotating and scaling every feature block with Procrustes analysis to reduce the effect of position and size inconsistent. At last, reduce the dimension of global Gabor features and local features with PCA algorithm and combine them to fused features. Experimental results show that whether the single features or fused features, blockProcrustes can obviously improve the expression recognition performance in most cases, especially increase the stability and maximum of recognizing accuracy.
Continuous devulcanization by shear flow stage reaction control technology for rubber recycling. Part 3. Study of devulcanization process for EPDM.

We studied devulcanization process by measuring rubber state, viscosity, gel fraction, its effective network chain density and average molecular weight of sol. When passing through grinding zone, vulcanized rubber was ground by screw rotation and its size became small. Next, devulcanization proceeded in the devulcanizing zone and viscosity of rubber decreased. Gel fraction and its effective network chain, density decreased too. Finally, gel fraction of devulcanized rubber was 45% and its effective network chain density was one twentieth of virgin vulcanized rubber. On the other hand, average molecular weight of sol part did not change and its value was nearly equal to virgin raw rubber. Devulcanization process depended on shear stress by screw rotation. Gel fraction and its effective network chain density decreased by increasing screw rotation. Devulcanization rate depended on reaction temperature and became high by raising temperature.
Public Debt Regulation in the European Union : Poison or Panacea

This study will analyse to what extent the European debt regulation as outlined in the Stability and Growth Pact contributes towards sustainable economic growth. The primary focus of this paper is to see whether the deficit-debt ceilings as described in the SGP are in fact critical levels (they are not). The value of this thesis lies in the fact that it combines an extensive literature review of recent literature on the topic with an empirical study, both aimed for EU debt regulation analysis. For the empirical study, 19 OECD countries were taken in the period 1983 to 2010. The literature study yields the following results: first, debt affects economic growth only at high levels of approximately 75-80% or higher. Second, spending cuts are preferred to tax based corrections for their efficiency and their trait to have a smaller effect on output. Third, the timing of fiscal consolidation is of immeasurable importance: the state of the economy seriously influences both output and the structural deficit. Fourth, when considering spending reductions, the right mix of government expenditures targeted could in fact lead to stable debt, and a level that is allowed by EU fiscal regulation. The following can be concluded from the own empirical research: First, effects of debt on economic growth for different debt levels are not always significant but are never negative. Second, the effect of debt on the whole dataset is negligible, indicating a non-linear trend. Third, debt levels do not seem to matter much for debt levels lower than 30% of GDP. Fourth, debt levels produce a strong positive effect on economic growth starting somewhere between 30-50%, peak around 70%, and become weaker again after this. Fifth, and last, no significant effect of debt on growth exists above levels of 100%, but, if results were in fact significant, the sign of the effect is likely to be positive. All in all, there is no evidence that debt harms economic growth for levels below 70%, and debt rules do not contribute towards sustainable economic growth but tend to have a negative effect on growth instead.
Why Do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output per Worker than Others? Some Further Results

In this paper we develop and estimate a model of output per worker where total factor productivity is embedded into the model. Unlike previous research, we use the price of capital to proxy for capital intensity and the Economic Security Index developed by the ILO (2004) to capture social infrastructure. Using cross-sectional and panel regressions, we arrive at plausible and robust estimates of the key structural parameters of the model. Our results show that differences in capital intensity and educational attainment account for the bulk of cross-country variation in output per worker, leaving little residual variation. Total factor productivity accounts, at most, for a factor of 2.5 in explaining the 32fold output gap between wealthy and poor nations.
Varietal Difference of Polishing Characteristics and Suitability for Sake Brewing in “Hattan-Type Varieties” of Rice Suitable for Brewing Original Hiroshima Sake

Abstract By successive crossing using Hattan-type varieties originating from “Hattanso” as a parent, “Hattan-type varieties” of rice suitable for brewing the original Hiroshima sake have been bred. The varieties were improved inheriting the flavor of Hattan-type sake, and Hattan-nishiki No.1 and No.2 were bred in 1984. However, neither variety was suitable for brewing high-grade sake such as Ginjoshu and Daiginjoshu, which require high-degree polishing of rice grains. Therefore, their parent cultivar, Hattan No. 35, is attracting attention for the production of high-grade sake. We have been trying to breed a new variety, which retains the sake-brewing suitability of Hattan-type varieties but can endure high-degree polishing. In this study, to establish a guideline for further breeding, we examined the polishing characteristics and suitability for sake brewing of six Hattan-type varieties derived from Hattanso. In the process of breeding of “Hattan-type varieties” of rice, grain size, white-core size and % of white-core grains increased resulting in an increased suitability for sake brewing, such as water absorptivity and digestibility, in Hattan No.35, Hattan-nishiki No.1 and Hattan-nishiki No.2. However, Hattan-nishiki No.1 and No.2 had many ellipsoidal-white-cores with large white tissue, which cause the grains to be easily broken during high-degree polishing. On the other hand, Hattan No.35, having grains with relatively many lined-white-cores with small white tissue, was superior for high-degree polishing. In the future, breeding of a new variety, which has the superior cultivation characteristics of Hattan-nishiki No.1 and No.2, but with improved white-core characteristics, is expected.