Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prepulse Suppression on a High-Power Electron Beam Accelerator Using a Dielectric Cathode Holder

Intense gigawatt relativistic electron beam generation studies were carried out with a Perspex cathode holder. Purpose of the dielectric cathode holder was to minimize the prepulse voltage across the diode. The typical electron beam parameter was 180 kV, 26 kA, 100 ns, with a few hundreds of ampere per square centimeter current density. It was found that corrugated Perspex of length ges35 mm can eliminate the prepulse voltage but affects the rise time of the diode voltage. The diode voltage and current waveforms were analyzed with the bipolar space-charge limited flow model. The anode and cathode plasma expansion velocities were calculated using the perveance data. The plasma expands at 5.1 cm/mus for 18-mm anode-cathode gap and the plasma velocity increases for larger gap. Inserting a dielectric at the cathode holder could be a very effective method to reduce prepulse voltage at the electron beam diode, but it increases the rise time of the diode voltage and reduces the effective electron beam pulsewidth. The prepulse voltage reduces significantly (les10%) when an inductance is added to the charging circuit of the Blumlein line.
Geometrico-Harmonic Data Broadcasting and Receiving Scheme for Popular Videos

Among all the data broadcasting schemes, the harmonic scheme has been reported to provide the best performance for user latency; however, it does not always deliver the video data to the users in time. To provide the video data reliably, its two main variants, i.e., cautious and quasi-harmonic schemes have been proposed. These variants require a video to be divided into large number of subsegments that leads to a problem of management complexity. Besides the manageability problem, these variants require more bandwidth than the original harmonic scheme. The cautious and the quasi-harmonic schemes need, respectively, 0.50*b and 0.1771*b more bandwidth than the original harmonic scheme in limiting case. In this paper, we propose a new broadcasting scheme that is named as the geometrico-harmonic scheme. This scheme provides the video data to the users in time unlike the original harmonic scheme, and also its bandwidth requirement is very much same as that of the original harmonic scheme. In comparison to the cautious and the quasi-harmonic schemes, it has better performance for the user latency and the buffer space. For disk transfer rate, its performance is same as that of the cautious harmonic scheme, but in comparison the quasi-harmonic scheme, it performs better
Accurate Identification of Candida parapsilosis (Sensu Lato) by Use of Mitochondrial DNA and Real-Time PCR

ABSTRACT Candida parapsilosis is the Candida species isolated the second most frequently from blood cultures in South America and some European countries, such as Spain. Since 2005, this species has been considered a complex of 3 closely related species: C. parapsilosis, Candida metapsilosis, and Candida orthopsilosis. Here, we describe a real-time TaqMan-MGB PCR assay, using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) as the target, which readily distinguishes these 3 species. We first used comparative genomics to locate syntenic regions between these 3 mitochondrial genomes and then selected NADH5 as the target for the real-time PCR assay. Probes were designed to include a combination of different single-nucleotide polymorphisms that are able to differentiate each species within the C. parapsilosis complex. This new methodology was first tested using mtDNA and then genomic DNA from 4 reference and 5 clinical strains. For assay validation, a total of 96 clinical isolates and 4 American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) isolates previously identified by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequencing were tested. Real-time PCR using genomic DNA was able to differentiate the 3 species with 100% accuracy. No amplification was observed when DNA from other species was used as the template. We observed 100% congruence with ITS rDNA sequencing identification, including for 30 strains used in blind testing. This novel method allows a quick and accurate intracomplex identification of C. parapsilosis and saves time compared with sequencing, which so far has been considered the “gold standard” for Candida yeast identification. In addition, this assay provides a useful tool for epidemiological and clinical studies of these emergent species.
Power and cost reduction in optical transport networks by Multi-Granular switching with optical reach consideration

Multi-Granular (MG) switching concept has emerged as a strong candidate to alleviate the scalability problems of the conventional optical switching that will result from the expected exponential traffic growth in the optical transport networks. On the other hand, this tremendous increase in the bandwidth demands will also introduce the energy bottleneck in the transport networks. Furthermore, significant contribution of the telecommunication networks to the Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GGE) has appeared as another challenge to be met in network design and planning policies. In this paper, considering the benefits of MG switching in the optical backbone, we study the benefit of employing the MG switching concept in the transport networks in terms of energy savings. Under various scenarios, our numerical results present realistic design specifications for MG optical transport networks by efficiently integrating the optical reach limitation into the design and planning problem.
A Danish open-set speech corpus for competing-speech studies.

Studies investigating speech-on-speech masking effects commonly use closed-set speech materials such as the coordinate response measure [Bolia et al. (2000). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 107, 1065-1066]. However, these studies typically result in very low (i.e., negative) speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) when the competing speech signals are spatially separated. To achieve higher SRTs that correspond more closely to natural communication situations, an open-set, low-context, multi-talker speech corpus was developed. Three sets of 268 unique Danish sentences were created, and each set was recorded with one of three professional female talkers. The intelligibility of each sentence in the presence of speech-shaped noise was measured. For each talker, 200 approximately equally intelligible sentences were then selected and systematically distributed into 10 test lists. Test list homogeneity was assessed in a setup with a frontal target sentence and two concurrent masker sentences at ±50° azimuth. For a group of 16 normal-hearing listeners and a group of 15 elderly (linearly aided) hearing-impaired listeners, overall SRTs of, respectively, +1.3 dB and +6.3 dB target-to-masker ratio were obtained. The new corpus was found to be very sensitive to inter-individual differences and produced consistent results across test lists. The corpus is publicly available.
The Efficacy of Virtual Chromoendoscopy in the Diagnosis of Portal Hypertensive Gastropathy.

BACKGROUND Diagnosis of portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG) is based on endoscopic criteria. I-scan technology, a new technique of virtual chromoendoscopy, increases the diagnostic accuracy for lesions in the gastrointestinal tract. AIM To establish the role of i-scan endoscopy in the diagnosis of PHG. METHOD In this prospective study, endoscopic examination was conducted first by using white light and after that i-scan 1 and i-scan 2 technology in a group of 50 consecutive cirrhotic patients. The endoscopic diagnostic criteria for PHG followed the Baveno criteria. The interobserver agreement between white light endoscopy and i-scan endoscopy was determined using Cohen's kappa statistics. RESULTS Forty-five of the 50 patients met the diagnostic criteria for PHG when examined by i-scan endoscopy and 39 patients were diagnosed with PHG by white light endoscopy. The strength of agreement between the two methods for the diagnosis of PHG was moderate (k=0.565; 95%CI 0.271-0.859; p<0.001). I-scan 1 classified the mosaic pattern better than classic endoscopy; i-scan 2 described better the red spots. CONCLUSION I-scan examination increased the diagnostic sensitivity of PHG. The diagnostic criteria (mosaic pattern and red spots) were easier to observe endoscopically using i-scan than in white light.
Contemporary retrograde approach for the recanalisation of coronary chronic total occlusion: on behalf of the Japanese Retrograde Summit Group.

AIMS The retrograde approach to CTO is promising, but questions remain with regard to its wider application and the potential risks. This study evaluated the feasibility and efficacy of retrograde recanalisation of chronic total occlusion (CTO) of the coronary arteries. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 378 consecutive patients (previously failed PCI 32.0%) who enrolled in 27 institutions in Japan underwent retrograde recanalisation for CTO. We analysed the data on lesion characteristics, procedural materials, technique used, complications and clinical outcomes. Successful retrograde recanalisation was achieved in 70.4% and the overall procedural success was 83.6%. Collateral crossing was achieved via a septal route in 68.9%, epicardial in 27.2% and bypass grafts in 2.6%, respectively. The retrograde approach was completed with implementation of reverse CART in 42.5%, direct wire crossing in 23.1%, bilateral wiring in 22.7%, and CART in 11.7%. Major and minor collateral injuries and coronary perforations were noted in 1.3%, 10.3% and 2.9% of cases, respectively. Stroke occurred in 0.3%, QWMI and emergency PCI in 0.3% of patients with successful recanalisation. CONCLUSIONS Wider application of retrograde CTO PCI achieved a high rate of success in recanalisation with an acceptable rate of complications in Japan.
Effect of exchange rate volatility on economic growth in Nigeria (1986-2014)

This study evaluates the effect of exchange rate volatility on economic growth in Nigeria from 1986 to 2014. It determines the extent and manner to which economic growth responds to exchange rate volatility in Nigeria. The empirical analysis of this study is to determine the degree of volatility of real effective exchange rate using the generalised autoregressive heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model and the generalised method of moments is used to determine the effect of real exchange rate volatility on economic growth. The study finds that there is high volatility of real effective exchange rate. It also reveals that real effective exchange rate is negatively and significantly related to economic growth. This finding suggests that exchange rate volatility is harmful to the growth of the Nigerian economy. This study recommends that government should constantly seek to maintain a stable exchange rate, increase its expenditure, particularly capital expenditure and implement sustainable reforms to increase the depth of the financial sector.
Risk types and risk assessment in venture capital investments: a content analysis of investors' original documents

Venture capital is an important resource for new ventures with no access to the capital market. However, venture capital companies' investment decisions could be extremely risky. Assessing and managing risk is therefore a major task of venture capital companies. Despite the topic's high practical relevance, there is very little literature in this field. We aim to extend the academic discussion by investigating the risk types and risk assessment in venture capital investments. We analysed more than 500 deal documents of nine German venture capital companies, resulting in 2,452 qualitative quotes. We categorised these quotes into seven risk types, namely financial, market, strategy, technology, production, human capital, and legal risks, implying their relevance during the VC investment process. Market risk and technology risk are mentioned the most in the due diligence and the decision papers. Financial risk with 710 quotes is the most often documented risk considering all venture capital documents.
A two‐dimensional, two‐level framework for achieving corporate sustainable development: Assessing the return on sustainability initiatives

Sustainability studies in operations management have reported the positive effects of lean, green, and social management systems on various dimensions of a firm’s sustainability performance. However, despite its high importance and relevance, the time dimension of sustainability has not been systematically considered. This paper re-categorizes the well-identified sustainability initiatives based on a time dimension and empirically validates the categorization. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses were performed using data collected from 284 Chinese automotive firms. The results suggest that various lean and reactive green practices can be categorized as “short-term sustainability initiatives” because the effects of implementing these practices can be seen in a short period of time. Specifically, the benefits of implementing short-term sustainability initiatives can be further strengthened and reinforced in the long run by implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. In addition, our findings also demonstrate that to fully realize the potential associated with CSR practices, firms need to be long-term oriented and adopt a wait and watch approach.
Comparing Sentinel-2A and Landsat 7 and 8 Using Surface Reflectance over Australia

The new Sentinel-2 Multi Spectral Imager instrument has a set of bands with very similar spectral windows to the main bands of the Landsat Thematic Mapper family of instruments. While these should, in principle, give broadly comparable measurements, any differences are a function not only of the differences in the sensor responses, but also of the spectral characteristics of the target pixels. In order to test for and quantify differences between these sensors, a large set of coincident imagery was assembled for the Australian landscape. Comparisons were carried out in terms of surface reflectance, and also in terms of biophysical quantities estimated from the reflectances. Small but consistent differences were found, and suitable adjustment equations fitted to enable transformation of Sentinel-2A reflectance values to more closely match Landsat-7 or Landsat-8 values. This is useful if trying to take models and thresholds fitted from Landsat and use them with Sentinel-2. The fitted adjustment equations were also compared against those fitted globally for NASA’s Harmonized Landsat-8 Sentinel-2 product, and found to be substantially different, raising the possibility that such adjustments need to be fitted on a regional basis.
Data Driven Gabor Wavelet Design for Face Recognition

In this paper we propose a novel data driven strategy for designing Gabor wavelets for face recognition. Each face image is represented through a multi-sensor scheme, which splits the 2D frequency plane into a number of channels and identifies the most significant units for extracting information. The representative units for a set of face images are then derived based on statistical analysis of these units. The locations of these units in the 2D frequency plane are then used to design the frequency and orientation of Gabor wavelets for face recognition. Once frequency and orientation are determined, the scale of a Gabor wavelet is determined by the sharpness of the filtered images. Two Gabor wavelet based face recognition algorithms are applied to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed strategy against conventional parameter settings. Experimental results show that the face recognition algorithms using the designed Gabor wavelets achieve better performance in terms of accuracy and efficiency. Since the strategy is based on the training data, it can be easily applied to designing Gabor wavelets for general pattern recognition task.
Shape analysis of spatial relationships between orbito‐ocular and endocranial structures in modern humans and fossil hominids

The orbits and eyes of modern humans are situated directly below the frontal lobes and anterior to the temporal lobes. Contiguity between these orbital and cerebral elements could generate spatial constraints, and potentially lead to deformation of the eye and reduced visual acuity during development. In this shape analysis we evaluate whether and to what extent covariation exists between ocular morphology and the size and spatial position of the frontal and temporal areas in adult modern humans. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to investigate patterns of variation among the brain and eyes, while computed tomography (CT) was used to compare cranial morphology in this anatomical region among modern humans, extinct hominids and chimpanzees. Seventeen landmarks and semi‐landmarks that capture the outline of the eye, frontal lobe, anterior fossa/orbital roof and the position of the temporal tips were sampled using lateral scout views in two dimensions, after projection of the average grayscale values of each hemisphere, with midsagittal and parasagittal elements overlapped onto the same plane. MRI results demonstrated that eye position in adult humans varies most with regard to its horizontal distance from the temporal lobes and, secondly, in its vertical distance from the frontal lobes. Size was mainly found to covary with the distance between the eye and temporal lobes. Proximity to these cerebral lobes may generate spatial constraints, as some ocular deformation was observed. Considering the CT analysis, modern humans vary most with regard to the orientation of the orbits, while interspecific variation is mainly associated with separation between the orbits and endocranial elements. These findings suggest that size and position of the frontal and temporal lobes can affect eye and orbit morphology, though potential effects on eye shape require further study. In particular, possible effects of these spatial and allometric relationships on the eye and vision should be examined using ontogenetic samples, vision parameters such as refractive error in diopters, and three‐dimensional approaches that include measures of extraocular soft tissues within the orbit.
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Identity Scale (LGBIS): Construct Validation, Sensitivity Analyses and other Psychometric Properties

According to Mohr and Fassinger (2006), identity is seen as both self-identification and collective identification with values, beliefs, traits or behaviours and attachments. Their Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) multidimensional identity model accounts for important variables regarding the constitution of identities. This model not only accesses numerous dimensions of the lives of LGB individuals, but is also based on a body of research that recognizes how LGB difficulties are caused by societal intolerance and marginalization (Mohr & Fassinger, 2000). The Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Identity Scale (LGBIS; Kendra & Mohr, 2008) constitutes an operationalization of this multidimensional model, and the aim of this article is to present its construct validity by analysing its factor structure using a sample of Portuguese lesbian, gay and bisexual participants. Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, as well as from factor invariance analysis across sub-samples are presented. In a general way, the factor structure obtained in this study follows the original proposal of Kendra and Mohr's (2008) LGBIS. Moreover, scale sensitivity analyses are presented in order to check for eventual differences in the factor structure and/or factor intercorrelations regarding participant gender and sexual orientation. These results are then discussed in the light of LGB identity models. Según Mohr y Fassinger (2006), la identidad es vista como la auto-identificación y la identificación colectiva con valores, creencias, rasgos o comportamientos y apegos. Su modelo multidimensional de identidad de Lesbianas, Gays y Bisexuales (LGB) explica variables importantes con respecto a la constitución de identidades. Este modelo no sólo accede a múltiples dimensiones de la vida de las personas LGB, pero también se basa en un cuerpo de investigación que reconoce que las dificultades de LGB son causadas por la intolerancia social y la marginación (Mohr y Fassinger, 2000). La escala de Identidad de Lesbianas, Gays y Bisexuales (LGBIS; Kendra, y Mohr, 2008) constituye una puesta en marcha de este modelo multidimensional y el objetivo de este artículo es presentar su validez de constructo mediante el análisis de su estructura factorial utilizando una muestra de participantes lesbianas, gays y bisexuales portugueses. Se presentan los resultados de los análisis factoriales exploratorios y confirmatorios, así como los del análisis factorial invariante a través de sub-muestras. De manera general, la estructura factorial obtenida en este estudio sigue la propuesta original del LGBIS de Kendra y Mohr (2008). Además, se presentan los análisis de sensibilidad de la escala con el fin de comprobar posibles diferencias en la estructura de factores y / o en intercorrelaciones en relación con el género y la orientación sexual de los participantes. Estos resultados son discutidos con respecto a los modelos de identidad LGB.
Sense of place relationship with tourist satisfaction and intentional revisit: Evidence from Egypt

Tourism Studies Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt Tourist Guidance Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt Hotel Studies Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt Correspondence Mohamed A. Abou‐Shouk, Tourism Studies Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt. Email: maa15@fayoum.edu. eg Abstract Sense of place is a multidimensional concept. It implies an emotional relationship between an individual and a setting. The current study aims to explore the predictors of place attachment, and measure the effect of place attachment and its predictors on tourist satisfaction, and how this satisfaction could affect tourist future revisits. Using structural equation modelling, this study provides evidence from two distinct places in Egypt: Bahariya Oasis/the White Desert and Fayoum. A questionnaire was used to collect data from repeat tourists to both places. The findings revealed that repeat tourists are place attached. This attachment is positively influencing tourist satisfaction and their intentional repeat visit. The findings of the study could be used to develop marketing strategies of destinations with sense of place dimensions. Tour operators and travel agents are requested to include sense of place dimensions in their tour packages. National authorities are invited to focus on sense of place dimensions in their destinations.
Limited gene flow may enhance adaptation to local optima in isolated populations of the Roesel’s bush cricket (Metrioptera roeselii)

Variation in morphological traits along latitudinal gradients often manifests as size clines. In insects, both positive and negative correlations are seen, and the mechanism behind the response is unclear. We studied variation in seven morphological traits of Roesel’s bush cricket, Metrioptera roeselii, sampled from seven latitude‐matched‐pair populations that were either geographically isolated from or connected to the species continuous distribution range. The aim was to examine whether morphological traits differed between isolated and continuous populations, and whether latitudinal variation was apparent. The data were used to indicate whether variation in trait means originates from plastic responses to the environment or genetic adaptation to local conditions. To evaluate the influence of gene flow on trait means, we analysed the genetic variation in seven microsatellites. Data showed that individuals from isolated populations display a positive relationship between latitude and body size, whereas individuals from continuous populations show little or no such relationship. The combined morphological and genetic data suggest that the isolated populations have adapted to local optima, while gene flow between continuous populations appears to counteract this process.