Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterisation of a 200 kW/400 kWh Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

The incessant growth in energy demand has resulted in the deployment of renewable energy generators to reduce the impact of fossil fuel dependence. However, these generators often suffer from intermittency and require energy storage when there is over-generation and the subsequent release of this stored energy at high demand. One such energy storage technology that could provide a solution to improving energy management, as well as offering spinning reserve and grid stability, is the redox flow battery (RFB). One such system is the 200 kW/400 kWh vanadium RFB installed in the energy station at Martigny, Switzerland. This RFB utilises the excess energy from renewable generation to support the energy security of the local community, charge electric vehicle batteries, or to provide the power required to an alkaline electrolyser to produce hydrogen as a fuel for use in fuel cell vehicles. In this article, this vanadium RFB is fully characterised in terms of the system and electrochemical energy efficiency, with the focus being placed on areas of internal energy consumption from the regulatory systems and energy losses from self-discharge/side reactions.
Modelling the impact of Hieracium spp. on protected areas in Australia under future climates

Anthropogenically-induced climate change is one of the most important global threats to biodiversity. Understanding its impact on the distribution of exotic plant species is critical for developing effective adaptation and management strategies. However, there is insufficient information currently available on the biodiversity at risk from 1) exotic plant invasions, 2) climate change, and 3) the interaction between these two major threats, to develop such strategies. We use ecological niche models as a first step to identify zones inside and outside Australian protected areas that may be most at risk from invasions of three species of Hieracium (hawkweeds) under current and future (2030 and 2070) climate scenarios, should current control and eradication methods fail. These perennial herbs are native to Europe and invasive to New Zealand and North America. Naturalised in Australia, hawkweeds threaten native tussock grasslands and the grazing industry, and have been placed on the National Alert List. Using eight ecological niche models currently available in the software package BIOMOD, we found that these species have yet to realize the extent of their climatic distribution under present day climate in Australia. As climate change accelerates, the climatic range of hawkweeds was projected to contract overall. However, much of the Australian Alps, which contain large contiguous tracts of reserves and many endemic species, will continue to retain climatically suitable areas for hawkweeds through to 2070. These results emphasise the need for ongoing monitoring as well as focused control to minimize the likelihood of hawkweeds realizing their invasive potential in protected areas and beyond.
The Effect of Board Structure on Egyptian Mutual Fund Fees: A Structural Equation Model Analysis

Mutual fund governance has been a great concern among practitioners and has received considerable attention in the finance literature. This paper aims to assess the impact of mutual fund board structure and ownership structure on mutual fund fees. This study fill the gap on the literature by focusing on the Egyptian mutual funds during the period of 2007 to 2013 with using a final sample of 48 mutual fund. This paper applies a Structural Equation Modelling to solve the potential endogeneity problem between internal governance measures and fees. The results reveal that board size, proportion of professional directors, and proportion of audit committee are negatively correlated with mutual fund expenses ratio. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Mutual Fund, Endogeneity.
Bacterial Contamination of Expressed Breast Milk in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

1. Department of Pediatrics, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran 2. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Health Faculty, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran 3. General Physician, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran 4. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran 5. Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoghi Yazd University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran 6. Research Development Clinical Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran
Antimicrobial Activity of Cymbopogon Citratus (Lemon Grass) and It's Phytochemical Properties

The cold maceration and agar diffusion technique were employed to assess phytochemical properties and the antimicrobial potency of Cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass) against selected microbial pathogens using hexane, chloroform and methanol as extracting solvents. The mean zones of inhibition of the chloroform leaf and corresponding root extracts for the test organisms were Staphylococus aureus (11.33±1.15,11.66±2.52), Salmonella typhi (11.33±1.53,13.66±0.58), Escherichia coli (16.33±0.58,15.66±2.31) and Candida albicans (7.66±0.58,8.66±1.53) respectively. Hexane and methanol extracts showed no activity against the test organisms. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the corresponding minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) for chloroform leaf and root extracts were : Staphylococus aureus (24µg/ml, 28µg/ml), Salmonella typhi (20µg/ml, 28µg/ml), Escherichia coli (14µg/ml, 16µg/ml), Candida albicans (32µg/ml, 38µg/ml) and Staphylococus aureus (20µg/ml, 26µg/ml), Salmonella typhi (18µg/ml, 24µg/ml), Escherichia coli (14µg/ml, 16µg/ml), Candida albicans (28µg/ml, 32µg/ml) respectively. Phytochemical screening on Cymbopogon citratus showed that five active ingredients: Tannins, Flavonoids, Phenols, Carbohydrates and volatile oil were present in both the root and leaf parts. The mean zones of inhibition showed that Cymbopogon citratus exhibited an intermediate antimicrobial activity against the bacteria species while C. albicans was resistant. Higher dose of C. citratus may be recommended to exert a remarkable antimicrobial activity against the test organisms.
The Design of Bank Loan Syndicates in Emerging Markets Economies

We empirically explore the influence of loan characteristics, banking and financial structure, and regulatory and institutional factors on the design of 10,930 bank loan syndicates in emerging market economies from 1990 to 2006. Our results show that the structure of syndicates is adapted to enhance monitoring of the borrower and to increase the efficiency of re-contracting process in case of borrower's distress. Main syndication motives, such as loans portfolio diversification, regulatory pressure and management costs reduction, influence syndicate design in emerging markets economies.
Rhizosphere Fungal Diversity of Wild and Cultivated Soybeans in Field and Greenhouse Experiments

In order to find out the microorganisms that can improve the environmental adaptability of soybeans, the rhizosphere microbial diversity of wild and cultivated soybeans was studied using the Illumina MiSeq sequencing method. There were no significant difference in the dominant fungal phyla and dominant fungal genera of wild soybean rhizosphere and cultivated soybean rhizosphere. However, there was a significant difference in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) between wild soybean rhizosphere and cultivated soybean rhizosphere. Under controlled conditions, the relative abundance ratio of Paraglomus in wild soybean rhizosphere was much larger than that in cultivated soybean rhizosphere. While, the relative abundance of Funineliformis and Rhizophagus in cultivated soybean rhizosphere were much higher than that in wild soybean rhizosphere. Interestingly, in fields, no AMF was found in cultivated soybeans rhizosphere, and only Paraglomus with drought resistance was found in wild soybeans rhizosphere. It was concluded that under different growth conditions, there were differences in the number and types of rhizosphere fungi between wild soybean and cultivated soybean, and the similarity of fungal community structure was also different. © 2019 Friends Science Publishers
The 9 th International Conference on Emerging Ubiquitous Systems and Pervasive Networks ( EUSPN 2018 ) On the V 2 X speed synchronization at intersections : Rule based System for extended virtual platooning

Autonomous vehicles that are able to communicate together allowed the emergence of a new way of controlling intersections. Recently an active research community stakes on cooperative intersection management. Vehicles and intersection are able to communicate together in order to improve traffic condition at intersections. Many simulations have shown that the cooperative intersection management outperforms traffic lights because there are no limited stages as within traffic light and authorized movements are adapted to the current situation. This paper focusses on speed synchronization at intersections. More precisely, a virtual platoon is formed by vehicles coming from different lanes. When traffic rate is low this allows avoiding useless stops and thus the speed synchronization saves energy and increases the average speed. However, experiments showed that some parameters need to be considered. Hence, as the traffic rate grows, vehicles need to stop and speed synchronization is no more efficient. The main reason of this drawback is that the studied concepts are limited to First Come First Served or to First Out First-Served. This paper extends the virtual platooning, where new rules form new virtual platoon able to adjust dynamically the whole behavior according to the traffic flow growth under safety conditions. Simulations based on real-world experiences show that the proposed approach is very efficient by increasing the average speed while keeping a high capacity of the intersection. © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
A Framework for Housing Market Area Delineation: Principles and Application

A review is presented of the requirements of a framework for the delineation of housing market areas (HMAs) in the context of undertaking a housing market assessment. This prompts adoption of a methodology that features an iterative application of information obtained from estate agents, to identify HMA cores, and a functional regionalisation of 2001 Census interward migration flows. The approach is demonstrated using data for North West England. The concluding section explores some implications of the HMA framework for policy and future research.
Genetic signatures of small effective population sizes and demographic declines in an endangered rattlesnake, Sistrurus catenatus

Endangered species that exist in small isolated populations are at elevated risk of losing adaptive variation due to genetic drift. Analyses that estimate short‐term effective population sizes, characterize historical demographic processes, and project the trajectory of genetic variation into the future are useful for predicting how levels of genetic diversity may change. Here, we use data from two independent types of genetic markers (single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs] and microsatellites) to evaluate genetic diversity in 17 populations spanning the geographic range of the endangered eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus). First, we use SNP data to confirm previous reports that these populations exhibit high levels of genetic structure (overall Fst = 0.25). Second, we show that most populations have contemporary Ne estimates <50. Heterozygosity–fitness correlations in these populations provided no evidence for a genetic cost to living in small populations, though these tests may lack power. Third, model‐based demographic analyses of individual populations indicate that all have experienced declines, with the onset of many of these declines occurring over timescales consistent with anthropogenic impacts (<200 years). Finally, forward simulations of the expected loss of variation in relatively large (Ne = 50) and small (Ne = 10) populations indicate they will lose a substantial amount of their current standing neutral variation (63% and 99%, respectively) over the next 100 years. Our results argue that drift has a significant and increasing impact on levels of genetic variation in isolated populations of this snake, and efforts to assess and mitigate associated impacts on adaptive variation should be components of the management of this endangered reptile.
Limited capacity in project selection: competition through evidence production

An organization must decide which of two proposals to fund. In evaluating the proposals, the organization relies on the agents applying for funding to produce evidence about the merits of their own proposals. When the organization can fund all proposals, each agent engages in an independent game of Bayesian persuasion with the organization, choosing information strategies that maximize the probability of producing evidence in favor of funding. When the organization has limited capacity to implement proposals, the game becomes one of competitive Bayesian persuasion. Producing favorable evidence is not enough to secure funding; an agent must also produce more-favorable evidence than the other agent. We show that an organization’s limited capacity leads agents to produce more (Blackwell) informative evidence than they do when the organization is unconstrained. We fully characterize the unique equilibrium under unlimited and limited capacity, and show that unless the prior strongly favors accepting both proposals, the funding organization is better off when its capacity is limited. The analysis highlights similarities between competitive Bayesian persuasion games and all-pay auctions and generalized Colonel Blotto games.
Regional Sea Level Variability and Trends, 1960–2007: A Comparison of Sea Level Reconstructions and Ocean Syntheses

Several existing statistical and dynamical reconstructions of past regional sea level variability and trends are compared with each other and with tide gauges over the 48-yr period 1960–2007, partially pre-dating the satellite altimetry era. Evaluated statistical reconstructions were built from tide gauge data (TGR), and dynamical reconstructions from ocean data assimilation (ODA) approaches. Although most of the TGRs yield global-mean time series of sea level with trends deviating within only ±0.1 mm yr−1, the spatial anomalies of the trends deviate substantially between the reconstructions over the period predating altimetry. In contrast, TGRs match observed regional trend patterns fairly well during the satellite altimetry era. TGRs match tide gauge data better than ODA results; however, they exhibit less variability in the open ocean compared to altimetric data. Over the pre-altimetry period, all reconstructed regional sea level trend patterns deviate substantially from each other. In terms of detrended correlations in this earlier period, the reconstructions match tide gauges, and each other, much better in the Pacific than in the Atlantic. An ensemble of all TGR and ODA estimates provides some improvements in correlations and trends to both tide gauges and altimetry. Nevertheless, a lack of independent open-ocean sea surface height data predating altimetry makes impossible the validation of the ensemble for pre-altimetry open ocean sea level trends and variability. Estimating regional sea level changes prior to altimetry therefore remains an unsolved challenge.
Fine‐scale regional distribution modelling of rare and threatened species: bridging GIS Tools and conservation in practice

Snakes are more vulnerable to extinction than many other taxa. Additionally, their secretive behaviour makes it difficult to acquire the baseline ecological knowledge required to reliably evaluate extinction risks. Consequently, the conservation status of snakes has only been assessed for small populations; reliable methods for large‐scale evaluation remain to be tested. In this study, we explored how habitat‐suitability models (HSMs) could be used to provide relevant information to help assess extinction risks and formulate appropriate conservation strategies for the Orsini's viper (Vipera ursinii), a rare, endangered snake species.
γ-ray anisotropies from dark matter in the Milky Way: the role of the radial distribution

The annihilation of dark matter particles in the halo of galaxies may end up into γ-rays, which travel almost unperturbed till to their detection at the Earth. This annihilation signal can exhibit an anisotropic behaviour quantified by the angular power spectrum, whose properties strongly depend on the dark matter distribution and its clumpiness. We use high resolution pure dark matter N-body simulations to quantify the contribution of different components (main halo and satellites) to the global signal as a function of the analytical profile adopted to describe the numerical results. We find that the smooth main halo dominates the angular power spectrum of the γ-ray signal up to quite large multipoles, where the subhaloes anisotropy signal starts to emerge, but the transition multipole strongly depends on the assumed radial profile. The extrapolation down to radii not resolved by current numerical simulations can affect both the normalization and the shape of the γ-ray angular power spectrum. For the subhaloes described by an asymptotically cored dark matter distribution, the angular power spectrum shows an overall smaller normalization and a flattening at high multipoles. Our results show the criticality of the dark matter density profile shape in γ-ray anisotropy searches, and evaluate quantitatively the intrinsic errors occurring when extrapolating the dark matter radial profiles down to spatial scales not yet explored by numerical simulations.
Comparison of fracture toughness evaluating methods in 3 Y-TZP ceramics reinforced with Al 2 O 3 particles

3Y-TZP/Al2O3 composites containing 0 to 30 vol% alumina were fabricated by sintering at 1550 οC for 2 h. The fracture toughness was measured using a range of techniques. The fracture toughness measured using the single edge V-notched beam (SEVNB) method, the controlled surface flaw and indentation strength in bending methods decreased with increasing Al2O3 content. This can be explained by the increased critical transformation stress, decreased volume fraction of transformable tZrO2 and increased residual tensile stress. In contrast, the value obtained by the indentation fracture (IF) method showed an increasing tendency. Accordingly, the IF method is unsuitable for evaluating the fracture toughness of 3Y-TZP/Al2O3 composites. The SEVNB method is considered one of the most reliable methods for determining the fracture toughness of ceramic materials.
Epidemiology and psychosocial risk factors associated with adolescents drug consumption

Adolescence is a critical period in a person’s lifetime in relation to the initiation and regular practice of risk behaviours. This chapter deals with drug consumption during this stage of life. Firstly, we carried out an epidemiological analysis of this behaviour, where we studies factors such as the age of initiation, regular use, and prevalence or consumption patterns of legal and illegal drug use. Secondly, after reviewing the various explanatory models and current theories on drug consumption, we explored this behaviour from a psychosocial perspective. Finally, we carefully examined the factors that account for the use of drugs during adolescence within different interrelated contexts (individual, microsocial and macrosocial).
Foreign inventors in the US: Testing for diaspora and brain gain effects

We assess the role of ethnic ties in the diffusion of technical knowledge by means of a database of patent filed by US-resident inventors of foreign origin, which we identify through name analysis. We consider ten important countries of origin of highly skilled migration to the US, both Asian and European, and test whether foreign inventors’ patents are disproportionately cited by: (i) co-ethnic migrants (“diaspora” effect); and (ii) inventors residing in their country of origin (“brain gain” effect). We find evidence of the diaspora effect for Asian countries, but not for European ones, with the exception of Russia. Diaspora effects do not translate necessarily into a brain gain effect, most notably for India; nor brain gain occurs only in presence of diaspora effects. Both the diaspora and the brain gain effects bear less weight than other knowledge transmission channels, such as co-invention networks and multinational companies.
Annonaceous acetogenins: The unrevealed area for cytotoxic and pesticidal activities

The World Health Organization (WHO) redefined traditional medicine recently as comprising therapeutic practices that have been in existence, often for hundreds of years, before the development and spread of modern scientific medicine and are still in use today (WHO, 1991). [1] Traditional healers have used the drugs of herbal, herbomineral, and animal origin since the dawn of civilization to maintain health and treat disease. According to WHO, about 80% of the world′s population use herbal drugs for their primary health care. These drugs are cheap with no or less side effects. The Annonaceous acetogenins are C-32 or C-34 long-chain fatty acids that have been combined with a 2- propanol unit at C-2 to form a terminal a,b-unsaturated g-lactone. They often cyclize to form one, two, or three tetrahydrofuran or tetrahydopyran rings near the middle of the alphabetic chain. To date, nearly 400 of these compounds have been isolated from several genera of the plant family, Annonaceae. The potential application of acetogenin molecules is linked to their marked properties: cytotoxic and antitumor (gigantecin, bullatacin, and rolliniastatin) and pesticidal (asimicine and annonin). Biochemically, acetogenins block mitochondrial respiration by inhibiting NADH-cytochrome-c oxidoreductase; this would explain their pesticidal activity among others.
Particle velocity fluctuations and hydrodynamic self-diffusion of sedimenting non-Brownian spheres

The motion of non‐Brownian spheres settling in the midst of a suspension of like spheres has been experimentally studied under creeping flow conditions. A few glass spheres, marked with a thin coating of silver, were tracked in a suspension of unmarked glass spheres, made optically transparent by matching the index of refraction of the suspending fluid to that of the glass spheres. Particles were tracked with a real time digital imaging processing system. Particle trajectories were examined in the bulk region of the suspension for particle volume fractions ranging from 0% to 40% in 5% steps. Statistical analyses of local particle velocities yield the mean settling velocity, the RMS of the fluctuations of the vertical and horizontal particle velocity and the particle velocity autocorrelation functions. The long time fluctuating particle motion is demonstrated to be diffusive in nature. Vertical and horizontal correlation times and self‐diffusivities are found as a function of particle volume fraction, and a strongly anisotropic diffusion noted.
Nutrigenomics: a systems approach to cardiometabolic disease and personal nutrition

Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com J Investig Genomics 2015, 2(5): 00035 Nutrigenomic investigations combine’s insights generated from the meta-analysis of population-based studies, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), gene expression assays, lipidomics, metabolomics, metagenomics and proteomics to examine how the combination of genetic polymorphisms, diet, age, sex, ethnicity and lifestyle contribute to health and influence disease.