Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The kinetics of thermally induced isomerisation of trilinolenin, an improved gas chromatography study

Summary The isomerisation reaction kinetics of heated trilinolenin was examined to better understand the mechanisms and controlling steps of the reaction. Trilinolenin was placed in glass ampoules and sealed before heating to 200, 220, 230 and 240 °C for regular time intervals. The contents were analysed using a newly established gas chromatography (GC) method that had been successfully applied to the separation of trans linolenic acid (TLNA) isomers. The kinetic studies show that the consumption of LNA is a second-order reaction while the formations of trans LNA (TLNA) isomers are zero-order reactions. The rate of the isomerisation reactions increases steadily with temperature and time, and the isomerisation mechanisms involved in the formation of TLNA isomers during heating are verified. These results suggest that controlling the formation of single TLNA isomers may be a key way to reduce TLNA isomers during heating of edible oils.
Effects of EVA emulsion addition on magnesium phosphate cement performances

Raw material selection was an essential and important way to improve the performance of magnesium phosphate cement( MPC). Using EVA emulsion to modify MPC to expand its application scope was investigated. The results show that:( 1) the impact of EVA emulsion addition in MPC on its setting time and fluidity was insignificant;( 2) with the increase of mixing amount of EVA emulsion,the compressive strength and the flexural strength of MPC both appear a trend of initial increase and subsequent decrease,but with different optimum dosage; and( 3) addition of EVA emulsion can significantly increase MPC bond strength and fracture energy. Further microscopic analysis indicates that addition of EVA emulsion does not change the types of hydration products,but change the hydration rate and the morphology formation of hydrated products,e. g. ,MgNH4PO4·6H2O mainly exists as columnar forms and with more condensed structure.
Are Workers’ Remittance Flows a Source of Economic Development in Sri Lanka?1

Large workers’ remittances inflows have been protuberant features of the Sri Lankan economy for many decades. Combining workers’ remittances among other exogenous variables into a growth model, and engaging time series annual data over the 1977-2014 period, this paper examines the impact of workers’ remittances on economic growth in Sri Lanka. The empirical evidences based on the VEC approach shows a positive direct as well as indirect relationship between workers’ remittances and economic growth in the long-term. However, the Wald test results reveal that there is no short-run causality between workers’ remittances and economic growth, either directly or indirectly.
Village fund accountability and gendering in Masculine Hegemonic Institution: A study during COVID-19

The study is aimed to evaluate accountability and gender roles in enhancing the accountability of village fund and other government-related assistance during COVID-19 pandemic. This study employed an integrated framework of accountability, gender socialization theory and gender subtext theory. This study applies a case study with 2 (two) types of instruments, i.e., observations and semi-structured interviews. The villages observed have provided limited information regarding the BLT DD assistance and other COVID19 related assistance. Consequently, the villagers did not have sufficient information to participate in the village decision-making process and to criticize BLT DD assistance and other COVID-19 related assistance distribution process. The villagers were not invited to any village meetings that it prevents them to provide inputs and consequences to the village government. As a result, the level of accountability regarding the information provided, a discussion held and consequences are given at a minimum level. The roles of female BPD members were insignificant due to the pervasiveness of gendering practice in village organizations. These findings contradict gender socialization theory that women with all their feminine traits are suitable and potential to perform supervisory tasks in guiding the organization. However, these findings are aligned with gender subtext theory that segregation of duties based on masculinity and femininity are apparent in the village organization.
Parental Dedicaton and Children’s Education. An Analysis of Germany*

Parental time dedication is decisive for children’s cognitive and emotional development, in particular when it favors highly stimulating activities. We examine two underexplored issues: a) the effect of time inputs in early childhood on later educational achievement and b) effect differences by parents’ level of education. We analyze the German Socioeconomic Panel and estimate with controls for sibling fixed-effects. We find, firstly, that the entire parenting effect derives from maternal involvement. Secondly, maternal time dedication (at age 2-3) increases the likelihood of attending the prestigious Gymnasium track for children of highly educated parents, especially in cases of educational homogamy. As is well-known, children of less educated parents are far less likely to attend Gymnasium. But, surprisingly, for these children the intensity of parenting seems to make no difference whatsoever. * This study is part of a project financed by ERC Advanced Grant, no. 269387, awarded to Gøsta Esping-Andersen
Farinographic parameter variation of doughs from wheat flour with amount of water added

In this paper we present the rheological properties of dough made from wheat flour FA-480 (0.440.48 % ash content) and water in different proportions relative to the flour used (from 55 % to 65 % in increments of 2.5 %) according to the experimental research. The moisture content of flour was 11.7-12.0 %. Measurements were made in laboratory conditions, using an electronic Brabender Farinograph (according to methods AACC 54-21.01 and AACC 54-50.01), and a kneader with a planetary spiral arm equipped with torque transducer and a proper strain gauge. For five types of dough characteristics the data of the obtained farinograph curves and shape parameters for variation curves or torque shaft were analyzed. It was observed that with increasing the amounts of added water content for both equipments dough fell, and the values given for dough prepared with the planetary stirrer are lower compared than that prepared by the Brabender farinograph. Simultaneously, in the paper other farinographic parameters obtained in our experiments are presented.
Study on properties of liquid ammonia via molecular dynamics simulation based on ABEEMσπ polarisable force field

Abstract The molecular dynamics simulation has been performed to investigate the charge distribution, structural and dynamical properties of liquid ammonia at 273 K using a polarisable force field of the atom-bond electronegativity equalisation method (ABEEMσπ). One ammonia molecule in this model has eight charge sites, one N atomic site, three H atomic sites, three N–H bond sites and one lone-pair electron site. ABEEMσπ model can present the quantitative site charges of molecular ammonias in liquid and their changing in response to their surroundings. The radial distribution functions and dynamical properties are in fair agreement with the available experimental data. The first peak of gNN(r) appears at N–N distance of ~3.50 ± 0.05 Å where most hydrogen bonds are formed. The average coordination number of the first shell is 13.0 ± 0.1 among which a central ammonia molecule intimately connects 3 ~ 4 ammonia molecules by hydrogen bonds. The power spectrum shows the vibrations of hydrogen bonds. For a reference, a simple estimation of the average hydrogen bonding energy in liquid ammonia is 6.5 ± 0.1 kcal/mol larger than 3.8 ± 0.3 kcal/mol in dimer ammonia. Our simulation results provide more detailed information about liquid ammonia.
Microwave extraction and separation of pectin from orange peel

Pectin has been prepared from the orange peel residues after the extraction of pigment,through the Microwave-assisted extraction of tartaric acid and precipitation of ethanol.The extraction rate of the refined pectin was chosen as the evaluation index.The process conditions determined by the Single-factor experiment was as followed:pH=2.0 for the tartaric acid as extractive solvent,the ratio of solvent to material 10 mL/g,microwave power 280W,radiation time 5min,extractive times 3,enriched ratio 4:1,ethanol concentration 60%,depositional time 60min.According to the optimum conditions,3 experiments were operated and the average extractive percentage reached 21.77%. The results of infra-red spectrometry and quality detection indicated that products were qualified.Tartaric acid as solvent to extract pectin has good quality and high yield;Microwave assisted extraction shows advantages of fast,energy-saving and higher yield.
The Feasibility of Including Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (Dpoaes) in Annual Medical Surveillance to Identify Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Objective: To determine the feasibility of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions in the annual medical surveillance test battery for the identification of noise-induced hearing loss in a group of employees in a beverage manufacturing industry in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Design: A cross-sectional and repeated measures design with a purposive convenience sampling technique was utilized. Study Sample: Sixty participants aged 18-45 years, who worked nine hours a day and were not exposed to noise for 16 hours prior to testing. Results: A high sensitivity and negative predictive value was found. The specificity of Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions ranged between 55%-97%. Visual inspection of the DP-gram revealed a reduction in DPOAE amplitudes in the high frequencies, in the absence of a statistically significant difference (p>0.05). Corresponding changes on the pure tone audiogram were not observed, however, noise notch configurations were observed for the groups with a longer service history. Good test-retest reliability of DPOAEs was observed with indication that probe removal and reinsertion may have an effect on Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions amplitudes. An average of 1 minute 26 seconds was calculated to conduct Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions bilaterally. Conclusion: These findings suggest that Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions is a feasible measure to be used to monitor early subtle cochlea changes in workers exposed to noise in the manufacturing industry as part of the annual medical surveillance test battery.
A UNIFICATION OF FAMILIES OF BIRNBAUM–SAUNDERS DISTRIBUTIONS WITH APPLICATIONS

• This paper considers an extension for the skew-elliptical Birnbaum–Saunders model by considering the power-normal model. Some properties of this family are studied and it is shown, in particular, that the range of asymmetry and kurtosis surpasses that of the ordinary skew-normal and powernormal models. Estimation is dealt with by using the maximum likelihood approach. Observed and expected information matrices are derived and it is shown to be nonsingular at the vicinity of symmetry. The applications illustrate the better performance of the new distribution when compared with other recently proposed alternative models. Key-Words: • elliptical Birnbaum–Saunders distribution; maximum likelihood; power-normal distribution. 638 G. Mart́ınez-Flórez, H. Bolfarine, Y.M. Gómez and H.W. Gómez
Hydroxyethyl curdlan as a novel water soluble derivative: Synthesis, characterization, and antioxidant capacity

ABSTRACT In this study, hydroxyethyl curdlans (HeCDs) with different molecular weights were successfully fabricated. The structure and properties of the synthesized HeCDs were measured by FTIR, 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and Raman spectroscopy and compared with curdlan. The degree of crystallinity of HeCDs was measured with X-ray diffractometry (XRD). Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis were performed to determine thermal properties of HeCs. Solubility of HeCDs was tested in water, common organic solvents, and NaOH solution. Antioxidant activities of HeCs were investigated using various in vitro assay systems. The HeCDs exhibited a dose-dependent free radical scavenging activity as shown by their DPPH radical, ABTS radical and superoxide anion radical inhibition, and ferrous chelating ability and reducing power. The improved water solubility property and antioxidant activity of these curdlan derivatives could have a wide range of applications, particularly its use as an antioxidant in food, food packaging, biomedical, and pharmaceutical industries.
MELODY GENERATION WITH MARKOV MODELS, A RULE BASED APPROACH

Algorithmic composition is an important area of musical research in machine learning and artiﬁcial intelligence. We propose a low-complexity solution to melody generation that develops melodies based on expert rule-based models and learned melody generation from Markov Models. Recent advances in machine learning based techniques for algorithmic composition have created an excellent set of methods for generating artistic musical works. These methods, while intrinsically very different from rule based models for the same purpose, can produce similar outputs if both are executed well. This project compares and contrasts a rule-based model and a markov model for melody generation. Both models strive to compare to a dataset of folk songs parsed into MIDI ﬁles, outputting MIDI data for playback and comparison. We compare the model outputs both quantitatively and qualitatively, both in terms of loy-alty to source material, and in terms of adherence to music theory rules and practices. Our comparative results conﬁrm the comparability of our melody generation with two additional advantages being ﬂexibility of melody generation based on user preference and user dataset selection to program in inherent biases.
Gaining Ground, Gaining Influence? Vote Shares and Power in the AIIB

This paper examines the distribution of voting power in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), in comparison to that in existing international institutions. A comparative analysis of the institutional design of the AIIB and other institutions informs the hypothesis: states’ vote shares in the AIIB are shaped by their respective vote shares in other institutions, conditioned on states’ developing status. The findings suggest that most states gain in vote shares in the AIIB, relative to their vote shares in other institutions; this increase in vote share is larger for states at lower levels of development. This paper contributes to literature on the distribution of voting power in international institutions, as well as the impact of international institutions created by rising powers on global governance.
Does SCA45 Cause Very Late-Onset Pure Cerebellar Ataxia?

Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are a large group of genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous autosomal dominant, neurodegenerative disorders manifesting with progressive cerebellar ataxia usually with adult-onset.1 Currently, 48 subtypes of SCAs are described; of which, for 40 SCAs, the genes have been identified. The most frequent types are related to coding repeat expansions including SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, and SCA7. However, for unusual SCA types, whole exome sequencing (WES) is necessary to identify the genetic cause. Late-onset cerebellar ataxia can be caused by several genetic mutations, but a large percentage of patients remain undiagnosed after WES.
Age-dependent annual effective dose estimations of 226Ra, 232Th, 40K and 222Rn from drinking water in Baling, Malaysia

Natural radioactivity and radon concentration were studied in drinking water samples from Baling area, Kedah, Malaysia, using HPGe and RAD-7 detectors, respectively. Average concentrations obtained for 226 Ra, 232 Th, 40 K and 222 Rn were 44.2 ± 3.9, 38.1 ± 5.0, 140.9 ± 10.6 mBq l −1 and 5.7 ± 0.68 Bq l −1 , respectively. Cumulative annual effective doses due to ingestion of 226 Ra, 232 Th, 40 K and 222 Rn for infants, children and adults were estimated to be 13.77, 2.857 and 2.581 μSv y −1 , respectively. Average annual effective doses due to inhalation of radon released in the air during consumption and ingestion of drinking water were separately estimated to be 15.2 and 1.2 μSv y −1 , respectively. A positive correlation ( R 2 = 0.87) was observed between 222 Rn and 226 Ra determined by RAD-7 and HPGe detectors, respectively. In this study, the estimated annual effective doses due to ingestion of 226 Ra, 232 Th, 40 K and 222 Rn for infants, children and adults were found to be below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limits of 0.1 mSv y −1 .
Sodium Chloride and Sodium Tripolyphosphate Effects on Characteristics of Restructured Beef Roasts

Restructured roasts were manufactured from three-piece boneless chucks. Four different treatments were prepared with eight replications. Excess fat and connective tissue were trimmed from the chuck muscles prior to processing. Half of the lean and 5% added fat were emulsified for 5 minutes, the rest of the lean was added and the product was emulsified again for 30 seconds. The mixture was divided into four equal portions to undergo treatment. Treatments contained different concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) and sodium tripolyphosphate (NaPO): T1 (0%, 0%), T2 (0%, 0.3%), T3 (1.7%, 0%), T4 (1.7%, 0.3%). Cooking loss, water holding capacity, Warner-Bratzler shear force, and sensory evaluations were conducted. Results showed significant differences (p .05) between treatments in shear force. Sensory panel evaluations for flavor indicated preference for roasts containing NaCl, with or without NaPO over roasts without NaCl.
Foreign Aid, Oil Revenues, and Political Accountability: Elite and Public Opinion Evidence from Seven Experiments in Ghana and Uganda∗

Oil revenues in developing countries – as windfalls for which citizens do not pay – may reduce voters’ willingness to to demand accountability from their government, enabling corruption, clientelism, and repression. This is an important causal mechanism underlying the resource curse. Prominent scholarship speculates that aid from foreign governments enables the same autocratic practices, but others counter that aid proves more beneficial than oil. Empirical work on the topic employs observational data at the national, macro level, and has left the question unresolved. At the micro level, domestic elites and citizens have experience with oil revenues and aid funds, thus possessing information about the political implications of these different revenues. This paper reports the effects of randomly assigned treatments identifying oil funds compared to aid money on attitudes and behavior of members of parliament and citizens in seven survey and lab experiments in Ghana and Uganda. Few differences in behavior or attitudes of elites or citizens toward accountability appear between oil and foreign aid that goes directly into government accounts. However, some significant differences arise between oil money (and state-to-state aid) versus foreign aid channeled through non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The results suggest that elites and citizens both view oil and state-to-state aid as equivalent but that aid channeled through NGOs is different in its anticipated effects and in its ability to motivate action promoting accountability. Preliminary Draft. Prepared for the 13th Annual Conference on The Political Economy of International Organization. February 20-22, 2020. Vancouver, Canada. Please do not cite or circulate without permission. We thank Dominic DeSapio, Brendan Cooley, James Gilman, and Elsa Voytas for their excellent research assistance and efforts in developing this protocol. We thank Michael Ross for helpful comments. Postdoctoral Research Fellow, King Center for Global Poverty an Development, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. Email: brandon.delacuesta@googlemail.com Assistant Professor, University North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Email: lucy.martin@unc.edu Director, Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544. Phone: 609–258–6601, Email: hmilner@princeton.edu Professor, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, Email: dan.nielson. byu@gmail.com
Kernel density estimation for circular data: a Fourier series-based plug-in approach for bandwidth selection

In this paper, we derive asymptotic expressions for the mean integrated squared error of a class of delta sequence density estimators for circular data. This class includes the class of kernel density estimators usually considered in the literature, as well as a new class that is closer in spirit to the class of Parzen–Rosenblatt estimators for linear data. For these two classes of kernel density estimators, a Fourier series-based direct plug-in approach for bandwidth selection is presented. The proposed bandwidth selector has a relative convergence rate whenever the underlying density is smooth enough and the simulation results testify that it presents a very good finite sample performance against other bandwidth selectors in the literature.
Evan’s Syndrome - A Case Report

Evan’s syndrome is a rare and chronic autoimmune disease characterised by autoimmune hemolytic anemia and immune thrombocytopenic purpura with a positive Coomb’s test in the absence of an underlying etiology. Majority of the patients with this syndrome have a chronic relapsing course and significant morbidity and mortality despite treatment. We present a case of a 22 year old female, in which, based on the clinical features, Coombs test, hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia, a diagnosis of Evans syndrome was made.
On Functional Load and its Relation to the Actuation Problem

There have been many attempts to address the actuation problem using interspeaker variation (Baker et al. 2011), articulatory biases (Sóskuthy 2013), and informativity (Cohen Priva 2017). In this work we study another factor, functional load, by examining ongoing mergers in English and Dutch, trying to isolate the conditions under which functional load has a detectable effect in preventing a merger from the conditions under which no effect is visible. The effect is clear in cases of unconditioned mergers, like devoicing of Dutch fricatives, but unclear in cases of conditioned mergers, like the loss of a contrast in rhotic environments in English. We discuss the implications of these findings for the actuation problem and for phonological acquisition. This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: https://repository.upenn. edu/pwpl/vol26/iss2/6 On Functional Load and Its Relation to the Actuation Problem
NUMERICAL SHAPE OPTIMIZATION OF SUBSONIC AIRFOIL SECTIONS

A tool for the numerical optimization of subsonic airfoil sections has been developed. Contrary to the usual approach, the airfoil geometry is not optimized in a direct way. Instead an inverse conformal mapping procedure is applied to generate the contour and to determine the corresponding inviscid flowfield. The input parameters of this method directly control the local pressure gradient and are used as design variables of the optimization process. Viscous effects are calculated by means of an improved integral boundary-layer procedure. A new approach was developed to efficiently calculate the effects of ’short’ transitional separation bubbles. To predict the transition location, a semi-empirical e-method is utilized. The aerodynamical model has been coupled with a commercial hybrid optimizer to perform numerical shape optimizations of natural laminar flow airfoils. The objective of the present optimizations was to minimize the average drag coefficient for a prescribed range of lift coefficients and Reynolds numbers. Wind-tunnel tests were performed for one of the optimized airfoils and confirmed the theoretical results.