Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impacts of precursor reduction and meteorology on ground-level ozone in the Greater Toronto Area

Abstract. Tropospheric ozone (O3) is a major component of photochemical smog and is a known human health hazard, as well as a damaging factor for vegetation. Its precursor compounds, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), have a variety of anthropogenic and biogenic sources and exhibit non-linear effects on ozone production. As an update to previous studies on ground-level ozone in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), we present an analysis of NO2, VOC and O3 data from federal and provincial governmental monitoring sites in the GTA from 2000 to 2012. We show that, over the study period, summertime 24 h VOC reactivity and NO2 midday (11:00–15:00) concentrations at all sites decreased significantly; since 2000, all sites experienced a decrease in NO2 of 28–62% and in measured VOC reactivity of at least 53–71%. Comparing 2002–2003 to 2011–2012, the summed reactivity of OH towards NO2 and a suite of measured VOCs decreased from 8.6 to 4.6 s−1. Ratios of reactive VOC pairs indicate that the effective OH concentration experienced by primary pollutants in the GTA has increased significantly over the study period. Despite the continuous decrease in precursor levels, ozone concentrations are not following the same pattern at all stations; it was found that the Canada-wide Standard for ozone continues to be exceeded at all monitoring stations. Additionally, while the years 2008–2011 had consistently lower ozone levels than previous years, 2012 experienced one of the highest recorded summertime ozone concentrations and a large number of smog episodes. We demonstrate that these high ozone observations in 2012 may be a result of the number of days with high solar radiation, the number of stagnant periods and the transport of high ozone levels from upwind regions.
The role of psychiatrists and tobacco dependence treatment

Objective: Global tobacco control efforts in both prevention and treatment have advanced to levels never imagined 20 years ago. This review examines the relationship between mental illness and tobacco use, with particular focus on the role of psychiatrists in the treatment of tobacco dependence. Methods: The literature search utilised MEDLINE, Embase and PsychINFO databases using the terms psychiatry, psychiatrist, smoking cessation, tobacco use disorder and tobacco dependence treatment. A manual search of all references from relevant scientific articles obtained was also conducted. Finally, further material sourced included all major guidelines for smoking cessation or tobacco dependence treatment from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Results: Psychiatry has ignored tobacco dependence and its treatment resulting in multiple missed opportunities in improving the health and well-being of smokers with mental illness. Improvement in the training and knowledge of psychiatrists and those in the mental health sector will be the most effective activity to rectify this situation. Conclusion: Psychiatry must recognise tobacco dependence as equally important as the primary mental illness and to treat accordingly. A significant change in the training of future psychiatrists, introducing or implementing smoke free mental health services, changes in the management of caring for the mentally ill, and the introduction of tobacco treatment specialists within the mental health system is needed if psychiatry is serious about confronting this problem. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 16
Extrusion cooking technology: Principal mechanism and effect on direct expanded snacks – An overview

The snack industry is one of the fastest growing food sectors and is an important contributor within the global convenience food market. Nowadays snacks and convenience foods are also consumed regularly in India. Properly designed convenience foods can make an important contribution to nutrition in societies where social changes are altering traditional patterns of food preparation. Extrusion cooking as a popular means of preparing snack foods based on cereals and plant protein foodstuff has elicited considerable interest and attention over the past 30 years. Several studies on the extrusion of cereals and pulses, using various proportions, have been conducted because blends of cereals and pulses produce protein enriched products. Special importance is placed on the physicochemical and chemical modifications of protein, starch and dietary fibre. Extruded products can be categorized for a particular application based on their functional properties such as water absorption and water solubility index, expansion ratio, bulk density and viscosity of the dough. Therefore, the literature was reviewed for effect of extrusion processing on product parameters, and nutritional and anti-nutritional properties of extruded products.
Trade costs and Norwegian salmon export

Recent research indicates that transportation costs are more important for foods than other products due to food´s perishability. This paper uses transaction-level data to analyze the effect of trade costs on trade growth of a highly perishable good, fresh farmed salmon. I investigate trade growth, as well as two distinct margins of trade, the number of exporting firms and the shipment frequency. I find that trade growth is influenced by traditional gravity variables, such as distance and GDP. Further, the paper explores how variables, such as internal transportation costs and the exporters’ choice of transportation mode, impact export of salmon. To estimate the two margins of trade, two different count data models are estimated. The results indicate that increased transportation costs have a remarkably large negative effect on trade growth of salmon export from Norway, but that this effect is also highly dependent on aggregation level.
A study on sustainable utility of sugar mill effluent to vermicompost

Rapid increase in the human population beyond the limit of the urbanization, total agriculture land is decreasing day by day which are directly affecting the crop production. Although due to the usage of various chemical fertilizers and pesticides crop production has increased many fold; but their excessive and imbalance usages causing tremendous alterations in natural’s soil environment. Vermicomposting, although it has been around long enough to attract world wide attention, is any ways, still in a stage of infancy. Programs aimed to investigate the possibility of large scale vermicomposting. The vermicompost quality of the effluent treated bed is comparatively rich in N, P, K value than the control. From the present investigation it was made clear that the experimental groups Lampito mauritii have high protein content than the control samples hence they are suitable as fish bait, poultry and fish feed.
Advantageous Selection in Insurance Markets

This paper reverses the standard conclusion that asymmetric information plus competition results in insufficient insurance provision. Risk-tolerant individuals take few precautions and are disinclined to insure, but are drawn into a pooling equilibrium by the low premiums created by the presence of safer, more risk-averse types. Taxing insurance drives out the reckless clients, allowing a strict Pareto gain. This result depends on administrative costs in processing claims and issuing policies, as does the novel finding of a pure-strategy, partial-pooling, sub-game-perfect, Nash equilibrium in the insurance market.
The preparation and utilization of the cationic sorbent based on the surfactant modified bottle gourd shell

The surface of the bottle gourd shell (BGS), a solid agricultural residue of Lagenaria vulgaris Ser. was chemically modified using a cationic surfactant, hexadecyltrime-thylammonium chloride (HTAC). The success of the modification was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. Chemical characterization of the lignocellulosic BGS biomass and the surfactant modified bottle gourd shell (MBGS) was carried out using the compositional and elemental analysis. The amount of surfactant sorbed on the BGS surface was measured as a function of the surfactant bulk concentration. Sorption isotherms were used to verify self-assembly models of cationic surfactant sorption onto oppositely charged MBGS substrates. The shape of sorption isotherms was applied to describe the behavior of the surfactant/BGS system. The surfactant modified shell was tested as a sorbent for the removal of phosphate and nitrate from contaminated aqueous solutions. The sorption of anionic pollutants on MBGS was performed in a series of batch sorption experiments at 20oC. It was found that the MBGS yielded sorption efficiency was 40% for phosphate and 22% for nitrate. The sorption mechanism involving the ion exchange might be responsible for the uptake of anions. The morphology and surface properties of the MBGS sorbent before and after sorption of anionic pollutants were analyzed by SEM methods. Compared to other non-surfactant sorbents, the advantage of MBGS as a sorbent is that it can be used for the removal of anionic pollutants not only from aqueous solutions but also from the emulsified oil wastewater or nonpolar effluents.
Some Considerations about the Rotating Cell Structure

Rotating stall instability in axial flow compressors arises when the mass flow is reduced at constant rotational speed. Despite the number of experimental and theoretical work already published in the scientific literature, many questions still remain unanswered. A complete model that could be of help both in the design process and in the modelling process of existing engines is not yet available. A fundamental research program has been carried out at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Cagliari with the scope of reaching a better understanding of the basic flow field structures and of the global performance in stall. The cinematic structure of the cell during abrupt full 1-cell stall in a two-stage axial flow compressor with IGV has been analysed with the aid of hot-wire anemometer and of a total pressure probe. The results have revealed interesting features about the cell flow structures and their variations along the stalled performance branch of the compressor. The present paper aims at pursuing further the flow analysis including the investigation of upstream flow field. Therefore, the inlet duct has been extended to perform the measurements. The complete flow field measurements will allow to obtain a complete cinematic description of the cell.
Poverty Measurements in Small-scale Fisheries of Ghana: A Step towards Poverty Eradication

This study examined measurements of poverty in small-scale fishing communities of Ghana using FGT techniques and the Sumaila Relative Poverty Indices. Findings show that poverty head-count index was between 35.5% and 50% using the Local Poverty line and up to 80% using the International Poverty line. In terms of vulnerability, irrespective of the main fishing activity, community (rural or urban) and habitat of fishery resources (freshwater or marine), fishers were facing identical sources of vulnerability. Marginalization indicators were relatively better in the urban fishing communities (90%) than in the rural fishing communities (50%-80%).
Strategic Orientation, Access to Finance, Business Environment and SMEs Performance in Nigeria: Data Screening and Preliminary Analysis

The aim of this paper is to explore the collected data concerning on the influence of strategic orientation, access to finance, business environment and SMEs performance in Nigerian. Samples of five hundred and twenty-two were selected from the total population of 3,671 SMEs operating in northwestern. Therefore, this study employed stratified sampling technique to divide the three states into three strata. Additionally, data screening and cleaning were performed with the intention to satisfy the assumptions of multivariate analysis. Thus, the study conducted missing data analysis, outliers, normality and multicollinearity assessments. Likewise, the entire analysis was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) v18. Conclusively, the data found to fulfill the requirements for multivariate analysis. Keywords: SMEs Performance, Nigeria, Access to Finance, Data Screening, Strategic Orientation
The Climate Change - Development Nexus and Tripartite Partnerships

textabstractIn view of the very limited number of tripartite partnerships for climate change in general, and those focused on development (developing countries) in parti cular, as shown in an earlier position paper (Kolk & Pinkse, 2010), it would seem useful to take a step back and consider the linkages between climate and development in more detail. In view of the very limited number of triparti te partnerships for climate change in general, and those focused on development (developing countries) in parti cular, as shown in an earlier position paper (Kolk & Pinkse, 2010), it would seem useful to take a step back and consider the linkages between climate and development in more detail. This paper starts by doing that. It includes a brief discussion of linkages and trade-off s between the two issues and the crucial distinction between climate change adaptati on and climate change miti gati on. Subsequently, it presents the results of an empirical explorati on of a number of illustrati ve partnerships in what seems to be an emergent phenomenon. Implications will be given for follow-up research on climate change and development partnerships.
Look what you've done! Task recognition based on PC activities

days many people do their work on PCs. Due to interruptions and task switches it is quite common that at the end of a working day these people experience a feeling of having lost track of what they have been doing during the day. In this thesis a tool was developed which automatically recognizes the tasks a user is performing and presents these in an overview. It was investigated which task labels humans intuitively use and in how far it is possible to recognize these tasks on the basis of low level computer activity, like used applications and clicking and typing behavior. Results show that after only a few hours of training a reasonable classification accuracy can be reached. Comparison of several classification approaches reveals that there is not one classifier that suits all users best in terms of classification performance and learning Individual differences, due to mix of performed tasks and the individual work style, indicate that the tool should be personalized.
Temperature Effect on the Particle Entrainment Rate in a Gas Fluidized Bed

The qualitative effect of temperature on the particle entrainment rate has been measured in a gas fluidized bed (0.1 m i.d., 1.97 m height). The gas velocity (0.65-2.3 m/s), the bed temperature (12-600 °C), the particle density (2509-6158 kg/m 3 ), and the particle size (0.091-0.363 mm) were considered as experimental variables. The particle entrainment rate increased after an initial decrease with increasing bed temperature. The effect of temperature on particle entrainment rate decreased as either the gas velocity or the particle density increased. Within the experimental range, it could be confirmed that the change of the particle entrainment rate with temperature was very similar to that of the particle size for which the terminal velocity was equal to the gas velocity.
Density of Morse functions on sets definable in o-minimal structures

We present a tameness property of sets definable in o-minimal structures by showing that Morse functions on a definable closed set form a dense and open subset in the space of definable C functions endowed with the Whitney topology. Introduction. In Morse theory it is proved that the topological shape of a space can be described via data given by Morse functions defined on the space. For Morse theory on compact smooth manifolds we refer the readers to the book by Milnor [Mi], and for Morse theory on singular spaces to the book by Goresky and MacPherson [GM]. [GM] proves the density and openness of Morse functions on closed Whitney stratified subanalytic sets in the space of smooth functions endowed with the Whitney topology (see also [Mo], [Mi], [La], [Be], [P], [O] and [Br]). In this note we present similar results for definable sets in o-minimal structures. The definitions of o-minimal structures and Morse functions are given in Section 1, and the main theorems are stated and proved in Section 2. The proofs are based on Sard’s theorem and an approximation theorem in the o-minimal context. The proofs of Proposition 1 and Theorem 2 are essentially the same as the corresponding proofs in [GM], with “subanalytic” replaced by “definable”. Since the proofs are short, they are included for completeness. Note that the spiral {(x,y)∈R2 :x=e−φ 2 cosφ,y=e−φ 2 sinφ, φ≥0}∪{(0,0)} or the oscillation {(x,y)∈R2 :y=xsin(1/x),x>0}∪{(0,0)} has no Morse functions, even though the first one is a closed Whitney stratified set (see Remark 1 in 1.4). Therefore, in some sense, our results show a tameness property of definable sets. A part of this note was presented at the Conference on Real Algebraic Geometry and its Applications, at the ICTP, Trieste, 2003. The author 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 32B20, 14P10, 14B05.
Effect of temperature on the algicidal activity and the stability of HaV (Heterosigma akashiwo virus)

The effect of temperature on the algicidal activity and stability of HaV (Heterosigma akashiwo virus), which infects the harmful bloom causing alga, H. akashiwo (Raphidophyceae), was determined by growing H. akashiwo culture inoculated with HaV under various conditions. Temperature and growth stage of the host culture are considered to be important factors determining the algicidal activity of HaV. The optimum temperature for the algicidal activity of HaV ranged from 20 to 25°C. Comparing the viral susceptibility of H akashiwo strains and the algicidal activity of the HaV clones at different temperatures, both were suggested to be phenotypically diverse. Effect of temperature on the stability of HaV was also evaluated HaV showed a relatively rapid decrease in infectious titer even when preserved at 5°C in the dark. The data is discussed in relation to the behavior of HaV in natural environments and the disintegration mechanism of H. akashiwo red tide.
One more year of schooling or work: Grade-transition and child labor in rural Bangladesh

This paper aims to identify the main factors hindering the achievement of universal primary education (Millennium Development Goal 2) for children in Rural Bangladesh using a large household survey data. It empirically examine factors affecting the grade-transition and the labor force participation of children aged 7-14 years in rural Bangladesh using the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 3 2005-2006 data. It addresses following important questions: (i) effects of family background and resources and child-specific characteristics on the grade-transition and child labor and (ii) whether these effects vary across grade levels. It uses the bivariate probit model to jointly estimate the grade-transition and the labor force participation equations. Results show that parental education has a significant positive effect on the grade-transition and a significant negative effect on the labor force participation. Children of more educated parents are more likely to transit to the next grade and just study and are less likely to participate in the labor force, combine study and work, and just work. It also finds that the positive effect of mother’s education on the probability of grade-transition and just study is larger on children in higher grades. On the other hand, it has a greater negative effect on the probability of just work on children in higher grades. Overall results show that father’s education has greater effect on the grade-transition in lower grades, while mother’s education has greater effect on the grade-transition in higher grades. Results suggest that birth-order has larger effect on the grade-transition and the labor force participation of children in lower grades. First-born children in lower grades are less likely to transit to the next grade and just study. On the other hand, they are more likely to participate in the labor force, combine study and work, and just work. Similarly, results show that children who experienced interruptions in schooling in lower grades are more likely to participate in the labor force and combine study and work, and are less likely to just study compared to children who experienced interruptions in schooling in higher grades. Results suggest that low parental education level and significant resource constraints both in terms of wealth and time are main obstacles in achieving the goal of universal primary education for children. Many children lack adequate learning environment at home, in part due to low parental educational attainment. There is an urgent need to focus on increasing the capacity, financial and non-financial, of rural households. Conditional cash transfers, micro-finance programs, interest-free educational loans, and scholarships, particularly targeted towards poorer households and female students, will enhance educational investments and reduce child labor.
Testing fast photochemical theory during TRACE‐P based on measurements of OH, HO2, and CH2O

[1] Measurements of several short-lived photochemical species (e.g., OH, HO2, and CH2O) were obtained from the DC-8 and P3-B aircraft during the NASA Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) campaign. To assess fast photochemical theory over the east Asian coast and western Pacific, these measurements are compared to predictions using a photochemical time-dependent box model constrained by coincident measurements of long-lived tracers and physical parameters. Both OH and HO2 are generally overpredicted by the model throughout the troposphere, which is a different result from previous field campaigns. The calculated-to-observed ratio of OH shows an altitude trend, with OH overpredicted by 80% in the upper troposphere and by 40–60% in the middle troposphere. Boundary layer and lower tropospheric OH ratios decrease from middle tropospheric values to 1.07 for the DC-8 and to 0.70 for the P3-B. HO2 measured on the DC-8 is overpredicted by a median of 23% and shows no trend in the agreement with altitude. Three subsets of data which compose 12% of the HO2 measurements represent outliers with respect to calculated-to-observed ratios: stratospherically influenced air, upper tropospheric data with NO > 135 pptv, and data from within clouds. Pronounced underpredictions of both HO2 and OH were found for stratospherically influenced air, which is in contrast to previous studies showing good agreement of predicted and observed HOx in the stratosphere. Observational evidence of heterogeneous uptake of HO2 within low and middle tropospheric clouds is presented, though there is no indication of significant HO2 uptake within higher-altitude clouds. Model predictions of CH2O are in good agreement with observations in the median for background concentrations, but a large scatter exists. Factors contributing to this scatter are examined, including the limited availability of some important constraining measurements, particularly CH3OOH. Some high concentrations of CH2O near the coast are underpredicted by the box model as a result of the inherent neglect of transport effects of CH2O and its precursors via the steady state assumption; however, these occurrences are limited to ∼1% of the data. For the vast majority of the atmosphere, transport is unimportant in the budget of CH2O, which may be considered to be in steady state.