Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DETERMINATION OF MOISTURE DIFFUSIVITY OF RED DELICIOUS APPLE TISSUES BY THERMOGRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT Moisture diffusivity is an important parameter needed in the analysis, design and optimization of drying processes for food and other materials. Published data on moisture diffusivities of food materials are scarce and, sometimes, inconsistent due to a lack of a precise and repeatable experimental technique. Most experimental data are limited to low and moderate drying temperature (<70°C), whereas in the food industry hot air of up to 100°C is usually used in the falling rate period to speed up the drying processes. In this study, the effective moisture diffusivities of Red Delicious apple tissues were determined from drying curves produced with a Perkin Elmer thermogravimetric analyzer, using the slope method. The experiments were conducted at lour temperatures 60, 80, 100 and 120°C. Two well defined falling rate periods were observed. The effective moisture diffusivity, for the four temperature levels ranged from 3.2 × 10−7 to 7.9 × 10−8 m2/s for the first falling rate period and 3.8 × 10−8 to 4.7 × 10−8 m2/s for the second falling rate period. The temperature dependence of the effective diffusivity can be described with an Arrhenius-type equation.
Autism Spectrum Disorder and Transplantation of Intestinal Microbiota

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is undoubtedly an extraordinarily frequent condition and generator of great anxiety in its environment. Lately, considerations have been made regarding the effect that Intestinal Microbiota Transplantation (IMT) can have on the modulation of neurological development. The close relationship between the intestinal microbiota (IM) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been proven, as well as the frequent occurrence of gastrointestinal symptoms in children with autism. For the previous reason, we have carried out a mini review where we observe how interesting the Fecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) can be, accompanied by other procedures, in the search for the minimization of this great problem. Abbreviations: ASD: Autism Spectrum Disorder; IMT: Intestinal Microbiota Transplantation; IM: Intestinal Microbiota; FMT: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation
Characters of humus formed under rice cultivation

Abstract To characterize the nature of humus in paddy soils, a comparison was made between the properties of humus in paddy soils and those in adjacent unflooded arable soils. Rice cultivation generally brought about a considerable increase in organic matter and in the PQ-value, with the exception of Andosol-paddy soils in which organic matter tended to decrease somewhat and the PQ-value remained virtually unchanged. The humification degree of humic acid as judged from Δ log k and RF values was generally lowered by rice cultivation except in the case of Yellow soil-paddy soil in which humic acid was originally low in the degree of humification. The accumulation of poorly humified humic acid may be a characteristic feature common to all paddy soils. These changes by rice cultivation are observed only in the upper part of the profiles, and seem to be associated with seasonally flooded conditions ot paddy soils. Iron oxides accumulated in subsurface soil have virtually no effect on the properties of humus.
Fabrication of the CuO/Cu2O heterojunction using an electrodeposition technique for solar cell applications

Thin films of n-type cuprous oxide (Cu2O) were potentiostatically electrodeposited on a Ti substrate in an acetate bath. Cu2O thin films were annealed at 500 °C for 30 min in air for growing p-type cupric oxide (CuO) thin films. n-Cu2O thin films were potentiostatically electrodeposited in an acetate bath on Ti/CuO electrodes in order to fabricate the p-CuO/n-Cu2O heterojunction. The structural, morphological and optoelectronic properties of the CuO/Cu2O heterojunction were studied using x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron micrographs (SEMs) and dark and light current–voltage characteristics. XRD and SEM reveal that well-covered single phase polycrystalline Cu2O thin film on the Ti/CuO electrode can be possible at the deposition potential of −550 mV versus the saturated calomel electrode (SCE) in an acetate bath. Photovoltaic characteristics further established the formation of the CuO/Cu2O heterojunction.
MOBILIZATION OF LABELLED ORGANIC SULFUR IN RHIZOSPHERE OF RAPE AND BARLEY AND IN NON-RHIZOSPHERE SOIL

ABSTRACT Rape is known to require more sulfur (S) than is necessary for the secondary metabolite synthesis. It is hypothesized that its coarse root system harbors more homogenous microbial biomass specific for sulfur immobilization/remobilization. In a growth chamber experiment, this work examined the ability of rape and barley to take up the labile 35S (including 35S–SO4 2− and 35S-organic extracted by hot water). For that, the endogenous compounds of soil organic matter were previously labeled with 35S–SO4 2− for three months prior to plant growth. The use of “rhizobag”, a polyamide bag, easily allows the separation of rhizosphere from non-rhizosphere soil. In order to simulate the high input agrosystems, the soil received just before sowing, a unique dose of 76.9 mg N kg−1 soil as ammonium nitrate and three levels of S (20.4, 30.8, and 61.5 mg kg−1 soil) as MgSO4. Despite the dilutions made by levels of additional S–SO4 2−, the results showed an increase in 35S uptake by rape in contrary to barley, which showed a progressive decrease with increasing S–SO4 2− dilutions. The mean percentage values of total 35S taken up by rape were higher than barley (8.9, 22.2, and 28.2% at day 20, 42, and 56 after sowing vs. 3.7, 17.1, and 21.8% respectively). Correlated to 35S-uptake, significant coefficient was found with the 35S–SO4 2− (0.78, p<0.01), and 35S extracted by hot water at 70°C for 18 h in rape rhizosphere (r 2=0.75, p<0.05) but not in barley. Similarly, significant correlation coefficient was observed between soil arylsulfatase and root 35S uptake of rape (r 2=0.79, p<0.01) but not of barley. These results clearly showed the higher capacity of rape rhizosphere in regulating via the arylsulfatase activity the uptake of 35S-endogenous compounds.
Piezoelectric Properties of Ba and Ca Doped SrBi2Nb2O9 Based Ceramic Materials

The crystalline structure and dielectric and piezoelectric properties of SrBi2Nb2O9 (SBN)-based materials were investigated with the substitution of Ca and Ba ions into the Sr site in this study. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that these substitutes formed solid solutions throughout the compositions. The Ca substitution increases the ferroelectric transition temperature and maintains the phase transition as that of the normal ferroelectrics, while the Ba substitution lowers the ferroelectric transition temperatures and changes the transition from the normal to the diffuse ferroelectric one. The Ba-substituted SBN shows a smooth elastic anomaly for the Ba substitution of 0.2. A dielectric measurement revealed that the smooth elastic anomaly might be related to small dielectric dispersion characteristics observed around 300°C.
Lateral carrier diffusion and surface recombination in InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum‐well ridge‐waveguide lasers

We measured the increase in threshold currents due to lateral carrier diffusion in InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum‐well ridge‐waveguide laser diodes. The ridge stripes were fabricated by using both in situ monitored pure Cl2 reactive ion etching and selective wet etching to completely eliminate the spreading current in the conductive upper cladding layer while keeping the ridge sidewalls straight. After comparing the threshold data with a theoretical model, the ambipolar diffusion coefficient is found to be 22 cm2/s in the population‐inverted InGaAs layer. This model is based on the calculated optical gain curve and the ambipolar carrier transport in the quantum‐well and waveguiding layers. The dependence of carrier lifetime on the local carrier concentration is included in the calculation. Moreover, from another set of devices with the portions of the active layer outside the ridge stripes etched away, the surface recombination velocity is found to be around 1–2×105 cm/s.
Predictive maps in rats and humans for spatial navigation

The ability to navigate space is an essential part of mammalian life. Over the last 50 years, much research has investigated on how the mammalian brain represents space in the activity of populations of neurons, particularly focussing upon cells in the hippocampal formulation. But how does the brain integrate these representations to guide flexible and efficient navigational decision making? A useful way to approach this question is from the field of reinforcement learning, which seeks to address how an agent should act in its environment in order to maximise some form of reward signal. Typically solutions to a reinforcement learning problem are split into a dichotomy of model-free and model-based approaches. Here we investigate the biological validity of an intermediary approach called the successor representation, which works by forming a predictive map of the environment. First, we compare these three reinforcement learning methods to rat and human behaviour on a transition revaluation spatial navigation task, and show that the biological behaviour is most similar to that of a successor representation agent. Then we propose a neurally plausible implementation of the successor representation, based upon a set of known neurobiological features - boundary vector cells. We show that the place and grid cells generated using this model provide a good account of biological data for a variety of environmental manipulations, including dimensional stretches, barrier insertions, and the influence of environmental geometry on the hippocampal representation of space.
ACCEPTANCE OF ISLAMIC EQUITY-BASED MORTGAGE PRODUCT: AN EXTENSION OF DECOMPOSED THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOUR

This study examine the determinants that may predict the consumer’s intention to accept equity-based product, which is mushārakah mutanāqisah (MM) Islamic mortgage. Survey was conducted using multi-stage and purposive sampling. For the purpose of analysis structural equation modelling technique was used in current research. Moreover, 306 responses were gathered from users of MM Islamic mortgage. The theoretical framework of the current study was drawn upon the decomposed theory of planned behaviour (DTPB) because of its predictive power and robustness to base a model. The findings of the study revealed that behavioural intention appeared to have been directly and indirectly influenced by all constructs and above all most significant factors are Peers and perceived behaviour control. All the main beliefs, namely, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behaviour control, which are predicted by compatibility, relative advantage, peers and self-efficacy affects consumers’ intention to accept mushārakah mutanāqisah, MM home financing. The effect of pricing variable on intention was significant as well. Pricing variable is yet to be tested therefore, this paper will be a useful reference for the policymakers, academicians and future researchers.
Rethinking private authority: agents and entrepreneurs in global environmental governance

consequences of economic policies may have unintended consequences. Many novel debt instruments conceived of by banks, like the collateralised debt obligations, could not have been issued had their ultimate consequences been foreseen. Here, of course, an element of unintended fraud comes in, as elaborated in Courtemanche’s article. Some public disclosure statements on these new instruments issued by world-renowned banks run into scores of pages; and few read and understand them before subscribing, relying only on the name of the issuer. The regulatory authorities could take a cue to analyse whether novel money instruments issued by banks contain an element of potential fraud inasmuch as the gullible purchasers of these securities would never be in a position to delve deep into the ramifications. The revival of Keynes in the form of state stimuli, dealt with in one paper, refers to everything getting subordinated to the central bank. This may be true of the US and certain other countries which have gone on central bank-centred money creation. But in certain others, including some in the developed countries, it is through fiscal deficit that the stimulus has taken place. We should not forget that sensible people are arguing for a return to normality. But as growth has not yet picked up, Tratner rightly apprehends that we may all become creatures of the central bank. The paper on China and the US brings out their interdependence. China produces the cheap goods that the Americans want more and more and also holds the bulk of US debt. The trade surpluses of China with the US may be reducing, but will the US ever have a trade surplus with China? How will China be able to use its trillions of dollars of reserves? It is a complicated and unresolved relationship. The debt we owe to ecology is not uniformly spread and that is where the problem lies. A solution appears to be beyond reach. It is unthinkable that the developed nations will agree to stay where they are and allow the developing countries to catch up with them, at least to a level when they would have banished hunger and health problems. In the end, as Kennan Ferguson’s article ably argues, it is how the world considers the moral issues of debt that matters. This book is a treasure for those who have the patience to go through all the erudite papers, but not for the layman.
Greedy techniques for magnetic resonance fingerprinting

In this manuscript, we show four main results in the context of Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF): • A memory efficient method to explore the manifold of fingerprints. • A method that allows super-resolution reconstructions relying on spatial regularisation. • An extension to partial volumes and a greedy approximate projection algorithm. • An extension to Self-Calibration and Imaging. In quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging, traditional methods suffer from the so-called Partial Volume Effect (PVE) due to spatial resolution limitations. As a consequence of PVE, the parameters of the voxels containing more than one tissue are not correctly estimated. MRF is not an exception. The existing methods addressing PVE are neither scalable nor accurate. We propose to formulate the recovery of multiple tissues per voxel as a non-convex constrained least-squares minimisation problem. To solve this problem, we develop a memory efficient, greedy approximate projected gradient descent algorithm, dubbed GAP-MRF. Our method adaptively finds the regions of interest on the manifold of fingerprints defined by the MRF sequence. We generalise our method to compensate for phase errors appearing in the model, using an alternating minimisation approach. We show, through simulations on synthetic data with PVE, that our algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods in reconstruction quality. Our approach is validated on the EUROSPIN phantom and on in vivo datasets. Coil sensitivity calibration is a crucial step in the reconstruction process to obtain accurate results. Usual MRI self-calibration methods, reconstructing independently the time acquisitions, are not suitable for highly undersampled MRF data. In this work, leveraging recent developments in non-convex optimisation, we propose the first self-calibration method for MRF, exploiting the correlation in the time acquisitions, i the spatial regularity of the magnetisation images and the smoothness of the coil sensitivity maps.
Analysis of Single PEM Fuel Cell Performances Based on Current Density Distribution Measurement

A new in situ measurement method of mapping the current density distribution in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) is used to analyze the performance of a fuel cell under different operating conditions. The present method is useful in investigating the current density distribution in a single cell as well as a stack, which carries the information about the local reactant activity over the electrode area. It was found that the current density close to the gas inlets is strongly influenced by the reactants' relative humidity. The performance close to the gas outlets is greatly influenced by the inlet gas pressures and the stoichiometry factors of the reactant gases, mainly on the cathode side. It was also observed that the performance of the fuel cell drops with the increase in operating temperature if the reactant gases are not sufficiently humidified.
Differences in masturbation habits among men and women in Iceland

This study examined differences in masturbation habits, including the frequency of masturbation and pornography use, amongst men and women in Iceland. Participants in the study were university students, 18 years of age and older, who answered an anonymous online questionnaire sent to their university email address. A total of 245 students participated; 126 males and 119 females. Most of the participants were married or in a relationship (N = 145) and 91.4% of the participants were heterosexual. For statistical analysis, a t-test, independent samples t-test and a chi-square test was used. The results of this study revealed that there is a difference between men and women when it comes to masturbation habits. Men masturbate much more frequently than women. However, majority of the participants had masturbated at some point in their lives.
Social cognition and executive control in typical development and high-functioning autism spectrum disorder

Social cognition and executive function are core components of adaptive social behaviour and follow a protracted developmental course. Importantly, deficits in both processes have been hypothesised to play causal role in the social difficulties characterising autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite substantial advances in the field, a number of important gaps have yet to be fully addressed. This thesis set out to empirically examine five outstanding research questions using data drawn from typically developing adults and adolescents, and a sample of adults diagnosed with high-functioning ASD. Findings revealed evidence of age-related improvements in multiple domains of social cognition and executive control between middle adolescence and young adulthood (Chapter 2). Typically developing adults and adolescents with elevated autism symptomatology were found to display a qualitatively similar, though milder pattern of difficulties in facial affect processing, theory of mind, and executive control, and these impairments appeared to be independent of trait alexithymia (Chapter 3). Elevated levels of ASD traits were associated with difficulties in processing social information in the context of executive control, and, once again, these impairments were found to be independent of alexithymia (Chapter 4). Extending these measures to a clinical sample revealed ASD-specific impairments. Findings showed that compared to neurtotypical controls, individuals with ASD were significantly poorer on a referential communication task performed under varying levels of cognitive load, and were less adept in regulating behavioural responses in the presence of affective information. ASD-related deficits were also observed on neutral measures of executive control. However, deficits on these tasks appeared to be less pronounced relative to a dual assessment task examining social and executive processing concurrently (Chapter 5). Finally, autism severity was associated with impaired perspective-taking abilities on a referential communication task. By contrast, no such associations were found between neutral measures of executive control. (Chapter 5) Overall, findings from the current thesis contribute to a deeper understanding of the age-associated changes in social and executive function during the later stages of adolescence, and provide a more comprehensive understanding of ASD-related difficulties in higher-order cognition at the clinical and subclinical level.
Effects And Optimization Of Selected Operating Variables On Laccase Production From Pycnoporus Sanguineus In Stirred Tank Reactor.

Abstract The effects of selected variables in the production of laccase by Pycnoporus sanguineus using 2 L stirred tank reactor were investigated. Three operating variables namely agitation rate, aeration rate and pH were studied and optimized for maximum enzyme production. Screening experiments of the three variables were done using 2 level full factorial design (FFD). Analysis on factorial screening indicated laccase production was significantly influenced by agitation rate and pH and not aeration rate. The effect of agitation and pH were further optimized using face centered central composite (FCCCD) with fixed aeration rate. The initial factorial screening was augmented with new experiments in order to produce face-centered design for the optimization. Statistical analysis indicated the experimental data fitted well a quadratic model. Model validation was done through residual analysis. Maximum laccase production of 67.1 U L-1 was predicted and experimentally validated under the proposed optimum conditions.
Phase equilibria and thermal analysis in the Fe–Mn–Ni system

Abstract Based on the critical review of the experimental data available in the literature, 7 decisive ternary alloys were prepared. New phase transition temperatures and phase equilibria at 800°C in the Fe – Mn – Ni system were measured. An effective method to accurately determine phase transition temperatures from differential thermal analysis curves with overlapped peaks and nonlevel baselines within a narrow temperature range was developed. A massive transformation was observed in one quenched Fe-rich alloy. In order to make the fcc_A1 phase always in the fully disordered state in the ternary system, the effect of the binary reciprocal parameter on the Gibbs energy of ternary ordered L12 phase was considered. It was found that the introduction of only one parameter could describe all reliable experimental data in the Fe – Mn – Ni system satisfactorily. The presently obtained parameters were successfully applied in two practical cases.
N, P and K budgets for crop rotations on nine organic farms in the UK

Abstract. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) budgets were calculated for nine organic farms in the UK. The farms were situated on sandy loams, silty clay loams and silty loams over chalk with stockless farming systems and cattle, pig and poultry enterprises with a significant proportion of arable cropping. A soil surface nutrient budget was calculated for the target rotation on each farm using information about field management and measurements of the soil, crops and manure. Losses of N through leaching and volatilization were calculated independently using the nitcat and manner models. Nutrient budgets for seven of the farm rotations showed an N surplus, six a P surplus and three a K surplus. The ratio of N inputs supplied in the form of biological fixation : manure : atmospheric deposition was approximately 2 : 2 : 1 for stocked systems and 2 : 0 : 1 for stockless systems. Phosphorus surpluses resulted from supplementary P fertilizer (rock phosphate) and additional feed for non‐ruminant livestock. The stockless system without P fertilizer resulted in a large P deficit and stocked systems, which relied on recycling manure alone, a small P deficit. Only rotations with large returns of manure or imported feed showed a K surplus or a balanced K budget.
Characterizing ASTM Carbon Black Reference Materials Using a Disc Centrifuge Photosedimentometer

ABSTRACT Cumulative and differential particle size distributions using disc centrifugation are presented for ASTM carbon black reference materials A4 through F4. The distributions for A4 through C4 form a group of relatively small-size particles. The distributions for D4 through F4 form a group of relatively large-size particles. The distributions for A4 and C4 are very nearly the same as are the distributions for F4 and E4. The results suggest that proper sample preparation can maintain size distribution stability for at least a year; only mild agitation is required to re-suspend the particles.