Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the potential of enhancing rainfall through weather modification in Kenya

The study assessed the potential o f enhancing rainfall through weather modification. The specific objectives were aimed at determining the seasonal wind pattern; investigation of the temporal and spatial variation of atmospheric aerosols; identification of the cloud types and simulation of the effects of cloud seeding on precipitation. The study focused on enhancing rainfall during the months of October -November -December which constitute the short rain season due to the easiness of its prediction. The datasets used included observed rainfall (1971 -2010), National centers for environmental prediction (NCEP) global wind reanalyses (1971 -2010), Moderate resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) aerosol optical depth and mass concentration (2005 and 2006 October -November -December (OND), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer sensor (AVHRR) satellite imagery (316th Julian) and initial and boundary conditions from the Global Model for Europe (GME). Rainfall anomaly index, time series analysis, composite wind analysis, HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT), object oriented image classification and Consortium Of Small scale Modelling (COSMO) model simulation were used to achieve the objective. The 2005 and 2006 OND season were picked to represent the dry and wet years respectively during the OND season. These two years were subjected for further analysis. The pentad rainfall distribution indicated peak values mid-season during both dry and wet years. HYSPLIT backward trajectory indicated that most aerosols were continental in origin during dry year and oceanic origin during wet year. The low level winds were observed along the equator to be dominantly north easterlies with maximum wind speeds o f 4.9 ms'1 during dry season and south-easterlies with maximum wind speeds of 6ms'1 during the wet OND season. The aerosol optical depth (AOD550) and mass concentration were found to have higher values and highly variable during the wet rainfall season than dry rainfall season. It was noted that strato type of clouds dominated over Lodwar, Marsabit and Wajir during dry OND season while Kakamega Kisumu and Makindu were dominated by cumulo type of clouds during wet OND season. The error matrix based on training and testing analysis showed that the overall accuracy for dry and wet OND season image classification exceeded 90% with kappa coefficient of over 0.8. COSMO Model simulation results indicated that •' "V cloud seeding with intermediate Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) concentration lead to \ • significant increase in total accumulated precipitation. However high'CCN concentration was noted to have a reduced effect on accumulate precipitation.
The Effect of Simulated Transportation Conditions on the Chemical, Physical and Sensory Profiles of Mailler-Thurgau and Scheurebe Wines

The impact of different phases of shipment (at sea and at port) on two German white wines of two vintages and the lasting effects of the temperature regimes over time was investigated. The wines were subjected to three temperature programs—control (15 °C), linear increase (15 °C steadily increasing to 45 °C), and diurnal fluctuation (15 °C/40 °C)—in both movement and non-movement conditions. The wines were analyzed for chemical, physical and sensorial changes at one and eight months post-treatment. Changes in temperature and pressure were recorded within the bottles, which correlated with the temperature programs: +0.04 bar/°C in the linear increase program and +0.08 bar/°C in the diurnal fluctuation program. The oxygen levels in the headspace and in the wine were monitored during all of the treatments. The oxygen development in the bottles was similar between the diurnal and linear programs, and was found to be distinctive from the control program. The chemical analysis revealed that there were significant differences related to the experimental treatments of the wines for the following parameters: tartaric acid, free sulfur dioxide, total sulfur dioxide and percent cork weight loss measurements. Difference sensory testing found very few differences. After eight months storage, significant differences were found in the Diurnal Non-movement treatment compared to Linear Non-movement and control treatments, as well as Diurnal Movement and Control treatments for the 2014 Müller-Thurgau wine. Sensory descriptive analysis of the wines found that the wines could be differentiated by variety, but could not be distinguished according to experimental treatment after one month storage. These results indicate that wines of these types are more robust to shipping conditions than previously found.
The Impact of Social Connections on Merger Performance

This thesis investigates the impact of social connections on merger performance using a sample of U.S. firms. Specifically, we classify connections into four types based on previous literature: Type 1 connections refer to firms with overlapping directors or senior managers (Cai and Sevilir, 2012); Type 2 connections refer to situations where a director or senior manager from the acquirer and another director or senior manager from the target simultaneously serve on a third firm around the announcement date of the deal (Cai and Sevilir, 2012); Type 3 connections refer to situations where a director or senior manager from the acquirer and another director or senior manager from the target share a common educational tie or a past employment tie (Ishii and Xuan, 2014); Type 4 connections refer to the existence of cross-holding institutional investors, defined such that an institutional shareholder holds both shares of the bidder and the target around the announcement of the transaction. We find that the many of the conclusions reached by prior literature with respect to the influence of each of these types of social connections on the value creation of acquiring firms are not robust. In particular, they are sensitive to changes in sample period, industries, model specification and sample selection criteria. In addition, our results suggest that, on average, cross-holding institutional shareholders have positive total returns around the merger announcement date, while they tend to realize negative returns once we constrain the sample to the deals with negative acquirer announcement returns. Our results also suggest that cross-holding shareholders have significantly higher returns from the acquirer and the target together than from the acquirer alone, and acquirers with larger percentage of cross-holding shareholders are associated with lower announcement returns. By systematically considering all possible types of connections in the merger context, we find that different types of connections are interrelated to a certain extent.
Prediction of the pull-out strength of chemical anchors in natural stone

The applicability of some numerical models for the prediction of the failure mechanism and of the bearing capacity of post-installed threaded rods chemically anchored in basalt, sandstone and limestone is investigated, as well as the reliability of theoretical formulations conceived for concrete. The numerical predictions, performed by means of engineering structural analysis software and advanced numerical codes, are compared with the results of an experimental research related to chemical anchors in natural stone. The minimum embedment depth for such fastening system is identified.
Chromosomal criteria and taxonomic relationships in the genus Lathyrus (Fabaceae)

Taxonomic relationships in eight species belonging to five of the 13 currently recognized sections of the genus Lathyrus have been discussed and their phylogeny based on chromosomal criteria is suggested. A diploid number of 2n = 14 (x = 7) has been found in all species studied and thus x = 7 is confirmed as the basic number in the genus. Karyotypes of the examined species have metacentric and submetacentric chromosomes that are variable in length. The retention of L. pratensis in the section Pratensis is confirmed. The assignment of L. hirsutus to section Lathyrus and of L. cicera and L. sativus to section Clymenum are supported. The present data revealed that L. pratensis is the most likely ancestral type in the genus and that Layhyrus represents a natural monophyletic group in the tribe Vicieae.
Student understanding of the ideal gas law, Part I: A macroscopic perspective

Our findings from a long-term investigation indicate that many students cannot properly interpret or apply the ideal gas law after instruction in introductory physics and chemistry as well as more advanced courses. The emphasis in this paper is on the concepts of pressure, volume, and temperature at the macroscopic level. We describe some serious conceptual and reasoning difficulties that we have identified. Results from our research were applied in the design of a curriculum that has helped improve student understanding of the ideal gas law.
ADJUSTED PRICE INDEXES : a comparison of hedonic and discrete choice models

CONSTRUCTING QUALITY ADJUSTED PRICE INDEXES: a comparison of hedonic and discrete choice models Nicole Jonker The Boskin report (1996) concluded that the US consumer price index (CPI) overestimated the inflation by 1.1 percentage points. This was due to several measurement errors in the CPI. One of them is called quality change bias. In this paper two methods are compared which can be used to eliminate quality change bias, namely the hedonic method and a method based on the use of discrete choice models. The underlying micro-economic fundations of the two methods are compared as well as their empirical implementation. Although the discrete choice model has not often been used in order to calculate quality adjusted price indexes it seems to be quite promising to do so.
Exploring Human Images in Website Design Across Cultures: A Multi-Method Approach

To gain insight into how Internet users perceive human images, a controlled experiment was conducted using a survey, interviews, and an eye-tracking device. Three experimental conditions of human images were created including (1) human images with facial features; (2) human images but with no facial features; and (3) no human images. It was expected that human images with facial features would induce a user to perceive the website as more appealing, having warmth or social presence, and as more trustworthy. In turn, image appeal and perceived social presence were predicted to result in trust. All expected relationships in the model were supported except no direct relationship was found between the human image conditions and trust. Another goal of the research was to examine user reactions by cultural group, and differing reactions were observed between Canadian, German, and Japanese related to perceptions of use of human images in website design.
Decoupled phytoplankton growth and microzooplankton grazing in the deep euphotic zone of the eastern equatorial Pacific

We conducted dilution depth-profile experiments in the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) to define regional characteristics of phytoplankton growth and microzooplankton grazing and to test the hypothesis that the process rates decouple in the deep euphotic zone where growth is negligible. We used an abbreviated 2-treatment dilution protocol to produce daily profiles at 8 depths of phytoplankton growth, microzooplankton grazing and cellular changes in chlorophyll a (chl a) content from surface waters to the 0.1% light depth. Experiments were conducted at 16 stations from 2°N to 4°S at 110°W and from 110° to 140°W along the equator. Results were surprisingly robust and coherent over this broad spatial area and showed a euphotic zone essentially divided into 3 equal depth intervals. Mean (±SD) growth rates (0.83 ± 0.16 d–1) exceeded grazing rates (0.42 ± 0.15 d–1) in the light-saturated upper third of the water column. Growth, and to a lesser extent grazing, declined with light in the middle third. Effective cell growth was negligible (0.02 ± 0.21 d–1) in the lower third (1 to 0.1% of surface irradiance), with grazing (0.18 ± 0.17 d–1) exceeding growth in this layer. The deep euphotic zone accounted for 25.4 ± 8.4% of the total euphotic zone chl a, 0.5 ± 7.8% of depth-integrated phytoplankton growth and 12.7 ± 7.2% of depth-integrated microzooplankton grazing on phytoplankton. The decoupling of growth and grazing processes under low light conditions at the base of the euphotic zone substantially affected our estimates of microzooplankton consumption of phytoplankton, which ranged from 51% of daily chlorophyll growth for experiments conducted in the upper euphotic zone to 69% for the depth-integrated euphotic zone. In addition, the excess of grazing over growth processes in the deepest stratum, which is typically overlooked in experimental studies, suggests that protistan grazers may have a much larger role in biogeochemical transformations of export fluxes than previously appreciated.
VLBA+GBT observations of the COSMOS field and radio source counts at 1.4 GHz

We present very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of 179 radio sources in the COSMOS field with extremely high sensitivity using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) together with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) (VLBA+GBT) at 1.4 GHz, to explore the faint radio population in the flux density regime of tens of μJy. Here, the identification of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is based on the VLBI detection of the source, meaning that it is independent of X-ray or infrared properties. The milli-arcsecond resolution provided by the VLBI technique implies that the detected sources must be compact and have large brightness temperatures, and therefore they are most likely AGN (when the host galaxy is located at z ≥ 0.1). On the other hand, this technique only allows us to positively identify when a radio-active AGN is present, in other words, we cannot affirm that there is no AGN when the source is not detected. For this reason, the number of identified AGN using VLBI should be always treated as a lower limit. We present a catalogue containing the 35 radio sources detected with the VLBA+GBT, ten of which were not previously detected using only the VLBA. We have constructed the radio source counts at 1.4 GHz using the samples of the VLBA and VLBA+GBT detected sources of the COSMOS field to determine a lower limit for the AGN contribution to the faint radio source population. We found an AGN contribution of >40−75% at flux density levels between 150 μJy and 1 mJy. This flux density range is characterised by the upturn of the Euclidean-normalised radio source counts, which implies a contribution of a new population. This result supports the idea that the sub-mJy radio population is composed of a significant fraction of radio-emitting AGN, rather than solely by star-forming galaxies, in agreement with previous studies.
Antioxidant Properties of Various Solvent Extracts of Lemon Verbena (Lippia Citriodora) Leaves

Lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora) belongs tothe Verbenaceae (shahpasand) family. L.citriodora is chemical composition of the leaves plant have antimicrobial properties, refrigerant, anti-headaches one-sided, anti- pains nerve and housing, carminative, helping to digestion, relaxation, dizziness, colds therapy, memory Booster and etc. In this study, phenolic compounds of L.citriodora leaves were extracted with immersion method by acetone, ethanol, methanol and water. In this method, solvent type was found as an effective factor on the extraction. The highest amount of total phenol compounds was extracted by methanol which was 25/94 (mg Gallic acid per 100 mg of the extract). Among the solvents,acetone extremely had lower efficiency in the extracting phenolic compounds from the leaves of plant. Three complementary assays, reducing power of Fe (III), DPPH radical scavenging and total antioxidant capacity were used for analysis of antioxidant properties of various extracts compared with the synthetic antioxidant, BHT. In all tests, methanolic extract, which had the highest total phenolic compounds, showed the highest antioxidant activity although it was lower that of BHT. According to the survey results, L.citriodora leaves with a good source of natural antioxidants for use in food industry's.
Optimum Technique for Generating Angular Momentum in Accelerated Backward Giant Circles Prior to a Dismount

In men’s artistic gymnastics the backward giant circle on the high bar is used to produce the angular momentum that the gymnast needs for executing somersaulting dismounts. Dismounts in which the gymnast performs two somersaults in the layout (straight body) position require the greatest angular momentum. However, it appears there are two distinct techniques that elite gymnasts use when performing backward giant circles prior to a double layout somersault dismount. The “traditional” technique has been superseded by the “scooped” technique which is now used by the majority of elite gymnasts. To determine whether the scooped technique is better at producing angular momentum, a simulation model was used to optimize the angular momentum about the mass center at release. The model was evaluated using data obtained from a force/video analysis of accelerated giant circles. The model was able to estimate the reaction forces measured by strain gauges on the bar to within 9% of the peak forces, and the body rotatio.
Improvement of Bioenergetics Model Predictions for Fish Undergoing Compensatory Growth

Abstract A previous evaluation of a bioenergetics model applied to juvenile hybrid sunfish (F1 hybrid of female green sunfish Lepomis cyanellus × male bluegill L. macrochirus) undergoing compensatory growth (CG) indicated that the model substantially overestimated growth and underestimated cumulative consumption. This result suggested that fish bioenergetics models might not adequately account for physiological shifts that occur during CG. However, we demonstrate that application of a recently developed procedure for correcting consumption- and growth-rate-dependent systematic errors common among bioenergetics models negates much of the predictive error that had been attributed to the physiological complexities of CG. Correction equations for estimating the model-relative growth rate error (predicted less observed; g · g−1 · d−1) from the observed mean daily consumption rate (g · g−1 · d−1) and the consumption rate error (predicted less observed; g · g−1 · d−1) from the observed relative growth rate (g · .
Environmental variables in packing houses and their effects on the quality of grapes

The aim of this study was to characterize the thermal environment in the selection and packing areas of a packing house and its effects on the quality of table grapes produced in the Sao Francisco Valley, Brazil. The thermal environment was monitored during the winter and summer seasons. The highest value of air temperature (Tair) and the lowest relative humidity (RH) observed in the packing house were 35 °C and 40.0%, respectively, obtained during the summer, for 8 h. After observing the thermal environment data of the packing house, simulations were performed to evaluate the effect of the ideal environmental storage conditions and observed thermal conditions on the postharvest quality of ? Thompson? grapes. Grapes were harvested and stored directly at the ideal temperature and RH of 0 °C and 90%, respectively, or previously exposed to a temperature of 35 °C and RH of 40% for 8 h, the thermal environment observed in the evaluated packing house, followed by storage at 0 °C and 90% RH. Fruit exposure to high temperature and low RH before the ideal storage conditions resulted in higher loss of berry firmness and weight, along with increased soluble solids and dry matter content of rachis and berry. Based on these results, the environmental conditions observed in the packing house result in berry dehydration, which accelerates the loss of fruit quality during storage.
Evaluation of primary immunization coverage among children in a rural block of district Rohtak, Haryana, India

Background: Vaccination is the most important preventive and cost-effective intervention to decrease morbidity and mortality rates in children. Every year, vaccination averts an estimated 2-3 million deaths from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and measles. These are all life threatening diseases that disproportionately affect children. An estimated 1.5 million children die annually from diseases that can be prevented by immunization. In the past 50 years, vaccination has saved more lives worldwide than any other medical products or procedures. The objectives of the study were to evaluate primary immunization coverage along with 1 st dose of Vitamin-A supplementation coverage, age-appropriate immunization and also to know the reasons for partial or non-immunization among children. Methods: Community-based cross sectional study was conducted among 540 children in the rural area of Rohtak, Haryana during June 2015-May 2016. Information was collected from the mothers regarding immunization status of their children aged 12-23 months old and socio-demographic variables using a semi-structured interview schedule. Results: 395 (73.15%) of 12-23 months old children were fully immunized and the rest 145 (26.85%) were partially immunized. The major reason for drop-out rate was found to be unawareness regarding need for immunization. Immunization coverage was found to be significantly associated with the presence of immunization card and literacy level of mothers. Conclusions: Though the immunization coverage showed improvement through intensive immunization campaigns in recent years, still a lot needs to be done to increase awareness regarding importance of full immunization at the right time as mentioned in the National Immunization schedule (NIS).
INFLUENCE OF TRADE UNION PARTICIPATION ON EMPLOYEES’ PRODUCTIVITY IN TVET INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA

The study aimed at establishing the influence of trade unions participation on employee productivity in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Institutions in Kenya. The research adopted cross sectional survey research design. The target population was TVET Institutions with 5718 individuals that included Principals, Deputy Principals, heads of departments, teaching staff, non-teaching staff, a ministry of science and technology education official, Secretary Generals of KNUT, KUPPET, COTU, TUC and representative from the TVET Institutions. The sample size was 361 of which 315 responded. Purposive sampling was used to select 10% of sample size of institutions for pilot testing. Normal approximation to the binomial distribution and stratified sampling were used to arrive at the sample size. A structured questionnaire and an interview schedule were used to collect primary data. The questionnaire was pretested before data collection for validation and reliability. Secondary data was collected through evaluation of journals, reports, and publications. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 was used for the statistical analyses. The study revealed that there is a positive linear relationship between trade union participation and employees’ productivity . The study recommended that each TVET institution should have a trade union official representative. The study is beneficial to Education stakeholders, trade union officials and the Government at large. Key Words: Trade Union Participation, Employee Productivity, TVET Institutions in Kenya