Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physical characterization using diffusion NMR spectroscopy

NMR diffusion measurements (or dNMR) provide a powerful tool for analysis of solution organization and microgeometry of the environment by probing random molecular motion. Being a very versatile method, dNMR can be applied to a large variety of samples and systems. Here, a brief introduction into dNMR and a summary of recent advances in the field are presented. The research topics include restricted diffusion, anisotropic diffusion, polymer dynamics, solution structuring and dNMR method development. The dNMR studied systems include plants, cells (cell models), liquid crystals, polymer solutions, ionic liquids, supercooled solutions, untreated water, amino acid solutions and more. It is demonstrated how a variety of dNMR methods can be applied to a system to extract the data on particular structures present among, formed by or surrounding the diffusing particles. It is also demonstrated how dNMR methods can be developed to allow probing larger geometries, low sample concentrations and faster processes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Thermal Modeling of Flux-Switching Permanent-Magnet Machines Considering Anisotropic Conductivity and Thermal Contact Resistance

The technique to consider the anisotropic thermal conductivity and thermal contact resistances, as well as convection heat transfer in the air gap in the 3-D thermal modeling of electrical machines, is elaborated in detail and incorporated in the finite-element (FE) package developed with the FE program generator (FEPG) for thermal modeling of the flux-switching permanent-magnet (FSPM) machine. A dissymmetric model to simulate the convection heat transfer in the air gap with different stator and rotor poles is proposed. Moreover, a lumped parameter (LP) thermal model of this machine is also established to calculate the temperatures of the main machine components for comparative study purpose. The calculation results with different methods are verified with experiments. The conclusion highlights the importance of considering thermal contact resistance between windings and the stator core. The proposed model can reduce the total number of mesh comparing with traditional FE thermal model and eliminate complicated establishment of the thermal network and calculation of thermal resistances comparing with LP method.
Research and implementation on snort-based hybrid intrusion detection system

Since most of current intrusion detection systems (IDS) only use one of the two detection methods, misused detection or anomaly detection, both of them have their own limitations. In this paper, the technique that combines misuse detection system with anomaly detection system (ADS) is used. The hybrid intrusion detection system (HIDS) contains three sub-modules, misused detection module, anomaly detection module and signature generation module. The basis of misused detection module is snort. Anomaly detection module is constructed by using frequent episode rule. And signature generation module is based on a variant of Apriori algorithm. Misused detection module uses the signature of attacks to detection the known attacks. Anomaly detection module can detect the unknown attacks and signature generation module extracts the signature of attacks that are detected by ADS module, and maps the signatures into snort rules.
A Comparison of MIMO and Phased Array Radar with the Application of Music

The utilization of diversity in radar systems has shown improvements over conventional phased array radars in many aspects of the system performance including target detection probability, number of targets, and beam-pattern. We present here the application of the MUSIC algorithm to MIMO radar and the associated benefits of increasing the diversity to its performance for a single target and two closely spaced targets, but also show that a system with diversity can perform worse than that of a phased array system due to the directional transmit beamforming gain available to the phased array.
Enablers of co-creation in hospital-supplier relationships: empirical study in Indian healthcare context

ABSTRACT One of the biggest challenges in healthcare is cost containment. In the face of continuously spiralling cost hospitals are facing steep competition to provide increased access to high quality services. In this backdrop, network relationship become vital and offers extensive opportunities to explore hospital-supplier relationships. Past literature highlights interaction and collaborative ambience as pre-requisite to value co-creation. This study focuses on co-creation aspect in the hospital-supplier relationship context (medical-surgical suppliers) and uses a Service-Dominant-Logic lens besides drawing support from Relational-View and Relational-Coordination-Theory. This study aims at empirically exploring the relational antecedents of co-creation and establishing the DART (Dialogue-Access-Risk-Assessment-Transparency) framework proposed by Prahalad and Ramaswamy in the year 2004, trust and commitment as antecedents to co-creation. Data were collected from 229 private tertiary-care hospitals in and around four major urban areas in India. The relationships proposed in the research model were tested using structural equation modelling. Results indicate that DART parameters and relational variables (trust, commitment) act as antecedents to co-creation and have significant and positive relationships, thereby enhancing co-creation activities. Study also explored the impact of interdependence between hospital and suppliers on DART-parameters, trust and commitment besides exploring trust to DART linkages. Structural model outcomes indicate significant and positive relationship for the linkages.
Bringing benefits of chickpea to more men and women farmers in Southern Ethiopia

Pulses occupy about 12% of cropland in Ethiopia and are the second most important staple in the national diet after cereals. As a nutritious legume crop, chickpea has the potential to improve both soil health and human nutrition. Performing well on residual moisture, chickpea also allows farmers to harvest two crops in a growing season (cereal followed by chickpea), boosting their food supply and income.
Data Assimilation to extract Soil Moisture Information from SMAP Observations

This study compares different methods to extract soil moisture information through the assimilation of Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observations. Neural Network (NN) and physically-based SMAP soil moisture retrievals were assimilated into the NASA Catchment model over the contiguous United States for April 2015 to March 2017. By construction, the NN retrievals are consistent with the global climatology of the Catchment model soil moisture. Assimilating the NN retrievals without further bias correction improved the surface and root zone correlations against in situ measurements from 14 SMAP core validation sites (CVS) by 0.12 and 0.16, respectively, over the model-only skill and reduced the surface and root zone ubRMSE by 0.005 m3 m−3 and 0.001 m3 m−3, respectively. The assimilation reduced the average absolute surface bias against the CVS measurements by 0.009 m3 m−3, but increased the root zone bias by 0.014 m3 m−3. Assimilating the NN retrievals after a localized bias correction yielded slightly lower surface correlation and ubRMSE improvements, but generally the skill differences were small. The assimilation of the physically-based SMAP Level-2 passive soil moisture retrievals using a global bias correction yielded similar skill improvements, as did the direct assimilation of locally bias-corrected SMAP brightness temperatures within the SMAP Level-4 soil moisture algorithm. The results show that global bias correction methods may be able to extract more independent information from SMAP observations compared to local bias correction methods, but without accurate quality control and observation error characterization they are also more vulnerable to adverse effects from retrieval errors related to uncertainties in the retrieval inputs and algorithm. Furthermore, the results show that using global bias correction approaches without a simultaneous re-calibration of the land model processes can lead to a skill degradation in other land surface variables.
Association of overexpressed proline‐directed protein kinase FA with chemoresistance, invasion, and recurrence in patients with bladder carcinoma

It has been shown previously that proline‐directed protein kinase FA (PDPK FA) is overexpressed in various human malignancies compared with its expression in normal controls, and the suppression of overexpressed PDPK FA is capable of inhibiting the growth of various types of human carcinoma cells, suggesting a role for this PDPK in human malignancies. In this report, the authors combine immunohistologic, molecular, cellular, and clinicopathologic studies to demonstrate further an essential critical role for overexpressed PDPK FA in bladder carcinoma invasion, chemoresistance, and poor prognosis.
A Conserved Negative Regulatory Region in αPAK: Inhibition of PAK Kinases Reveals Their Morphological Roles Downstream of Cdc42 and Rac1

ABSTRACT αPAK in a constitutively active form can exert morphological effects (E. Manser, H.-Y. Huang, T.-H. Loo, X.-Q. Chen, J.-M. Dong, T. Leung, and L. Lim, Mol. Cell. Biol. 17:1129–1143, 1997) resembling those of Cdc42G12V. PAK family kinases, conserved from yeasts to humans, are directly activated by Cdc42 or Rac1 through interaction with a conserved N-terminal motif (corresponding to residues 71 to 137 in αPAK). αPAK mutants with substitutions in this motif that resulted in severely reduced Cdc42 binding can be recruited normally to Cdc42G12V-driven focal complexes. Mutation of residues in the C-terminal portion of the motif (residues 101 to 137), though not affecting Cdc42 binding, produced a constitutively active kinase, suggesting this to be a negative regulatory region. Indeed, a 67-residue polypeptide encoding αPAK83-149 potently inhibited GTPγS-bound Cdc42-mediated kinase activation of both αPAK and βPAK. Coexpression of this PAK inhibitor with Cdc42G12V prevented the formation of peripheral actin microspikes and associated loss of stress fibers normally induced by the p21. Coexpression of PAK inhibitor with Rac1G12V also prevented loss of stress fibers but not ruffling induced by the p21. Coexpression of αPAK83-149 completely blocked the phenotypic effects of hyperactive αPAKL107F in promoting dissolution of focal adhesions and actin stress fibers. These results, coupled with previous observations with constitutively active PAK, demonstrate that these kinases play an important role downstream of Cdc42 and Rac1 in cytoskeletal reorganization.
The Antecedent of Operational Capabilities and Effect on Process Management in Halal food manufacturing firm

Interest in operational capabilities and its influence on firmâ€™s competitive advantage and performance have generated a large research stream within the operations management strategy literature particularly in automotive and electronic industry. However, little has been done on the antecedents of operational capabilities leading to process management in food industry particularly on Halal food industry. Specifically, the present study serves as a ground work to examine the operational capabilities dimension and its effect on process management in the Halal food manufacturing industry. Operational capabilities in this study is operationalized as a higher order construct which consists of innovation, improvement, cooperation, customization, responsiveness, and reconfiguration. A quantitative approach was adopted using self-administered questionnaire. By using field data collected from 229 Halal food manufacturing industry in Sarawak, all postulated relationships are examined using partial lease squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The findings suggest that operational improvement, cooperation, customization, responsiveness, and reconfiguration have significant effect on the process management. This study highlights the importance of operational capabilities dimension as a tool to strengthen the process management of the firm. This study also provides the managerial implications to the halal food manufacturing industry as an economic engine of growth and future directions of the research also been discussed.
THE EFFECT OF NITROGEN FERTILIZATION OF MAIZE ON PROTEINCONCENTRATION AND IN VITRO FEMENTABILITY OF GRAIN

The effect of nitrogen fertilization of maize on fermentability of maize grain in the rumen was studied by means of in vitro method based on the measurement of gas produced during the incubation of samples with rumen liquor. Gas production was recorded continuously up to 72 h incubation time and cumulative gas production was described by the Gompertz equation Y=A*exp(-exp(-d*(t-tm))). Seven treatments, one of them unfertilized and others fertilized with 100 to 250 kg N ha–1, were compared. Grain yield and concentration of crude protein (CP) in grain increased linearly with nitrogen fertilization. Grain yield increased for 25 kg dry matter (DM) ha–1 and CP concentration for 0.13 g kg–1 DM per each additional kg of N. Concentration of CP in grain, which varied from 83 to 115 g kg–1 DM, was closely related to the dynamics of gas production. The maximal gas production rate (MPR) was negatively related to CP concentration in the grain (R2 = 0.53; p < 0.10) and the time of MPR (tm) was positively related to the amount of added N (R2 = 0.74; p < 0.05) and concentration of CP in the grain (R2 = 0.88; p < 0.01). It is likely that intensive N fertilization of maize limits ruminal digestion of maize starch. Due to the shift of starch digestion from the rumen to lower gastrointestinal tract better utilization of energy can be expected in maize grain of extensively fertilized maize than in the grain of maize, in which supply of N is sub-optimal.
Does the HR business partner model add value to the HR function and does it assist in preparing organisations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The WEF recommended that the HR function ‘reinvent’ itself to assist organisations to prepare for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) using the description of a HR business partner (BP) model that has existed for twenty years. This shows a gap between the theory and practice of the HR BP model. This research will seek to understand if the HR BP model adds value to the HR function and explore if the HR BP model can assist organisations to prepare for 4IR. Through qualitative research conducted using semi structured interviews the author also explores the benefits and challenges of the HR BP model, if the value of the BP model is defined by the six competency domains of Ulrich, Brockbank, Ulrich, and Kryscynski (2015) and the challenges of 4IR on the organisation. The author concluded that the HR BP model can add value to the HR function and assist with the preparations for 4IR, but this is determined by the effectiveness of 7 dynamic factors defined as: (1) organisation culture; (2) a shared service centre; (3) a HR information system; (4) HR competencies; (5) organisation strategy; (6) the speed of change; and (7) understanding the impact of 4IR.
Scrolling, Navigation, and Selection: How New Smartphone Users discover it

Despite having smart phones penetration, low literate novice users are still facing issues while using smart phone applications. There is a dire need to design customized application for such users to engage them actively in the digital world. In this paper, we share the design, development, and testing of an application with low literate novice users. Our research revolves around designing appropriate interfaces for low literate novice users with a focus on selection and scrolling usability. Our major findings include that using real hand gestures as animations help to explain things to low literate novice users is not recommended. This paper also revalidated the use of audio prompts as a help to complete the navigation in the application. This paper investigates some of the features and its adaptation that should be included while designing an application for low literate users. These features adaptations are for the actions of selection, scrolling, and navigation
A New Cyclic Biased T.H.B. Test for Power Dissipating IC's

As a test method for moisture resistance, conventional T.H. B. (Temperature, Humidity, Bias) Test is being widely used. However, in testing integrated circuits especially linear circuits, it is extremely difficult to put all of the circuit elements under reverse bias cutoff conditions. The T.H. B. Test is usually performed under an actual operating condition. As a result, the junction temperature increases due to a large power dissipation, and the humidity level in the devices decreases. Consequently, the test is not considered to be conducted under the intended high humidity condition. For that reason, the conventional T.H. B. Test is not thought to be a proper test method for integrated circuits*
Parallel and comparative analysis of the proteome and transcriptome of sorbic acid‐stressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Exposure of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to 0.9 mM sorbic acid at pH 4.5 resulted in the upregulation of 10 proteins; Hsp42, Atp2, Hsp26, Ssa1 or Ssa2, Ssb1 or Ssb2, Ssc1, Ssa4, Ach1, Zwf1 and Tdh1; and the downregulation of three proteins; Ade16, Adh3 and Eno2. In parallel, of 6144 ORFs, 94 (1.53%) showed greater than a 1.4‐fold increase in transcript level after exposure to sorbic acid and five of these were increased greater than two‐fold; MFA1, AGA2, HSP26, SIP18 and YDR533C. Similarly, of 6144 ORFs, 72 (1.17%) showed greater than a 1.4‐fold decrease in transcript level and only one of these, PCK1, was decreased greater than two‐fold Functional categories of genes that were induced by sorbic acid stress included cell stress (particularly oxidative stress), transposon function, mating response and energy generation. We found that proteomic analysis yielded distinct information from transcript analysis. Only the upregulation of Hsp26 was detected by both methods. Subsequently, we demonstrated that a deletion mutant of Hsp26 was sensitive to sorbic acid. Thus, the induction of Hsp26, which occurs during adaptation to sorbic acid, confers resistance to the inhibitory effects of this compound. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Sub-picosecond jitter SiGe BiCMOS transmit and receive PLLs for 12.5 Gbaud serial data communication

Fully integrated SiGe BiCMOS transmit and receive PLLs for 8B/10B coded 10 Gb/s serial links operate with excellent jitter characteristics. The transmit PLL (TxPLL) provides a 12.5 GHz clock with 0.4 ps rms jitter synthesized from a /spl sim/195.3 MHz reference. The receive PLL (RxPLL), which exhibits <0.56 ps rms jitter generation, extracts a full rate clock and recovers data from a 12.5 Gb/s input bit stream. The RxPLL operates error-free when tested with a 14 km optical link test bench. The power consumption of the TxPLL and RxPLL cores at 3.3 V are 270 mW and 330 mW, respectively.
Overestimation of the 25(OH)D serum concentration with the automated IDS EIA kit

We have recently observed an increasing number of patients presenting very high serum levels of 25‐hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] (> 150 ng/mL), which, in all cases, had been measured with the IDS EIA kit adapted on different “open” automated platforms. We performed a comparison between the IDS EIA kit adapted on two different “open”automated platforms and the DiaSorin RIA. We found a systematic bias (higher levels with the IDS EIA kit) for concentrations more than 50–60 ng/mL that was less obvious when the IDS EIA was used in its manual procedure. We thus suggest to use the IDS EIA kit in its manual procedure rather than to adapt it on an automated platform, and to interpret cautiously a 25(OH)D greater than 100 ng/mL with this kit. © 2011 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Application of immunoaffinity columns to mycotoxin analysis.

Immunoaffinity columns (IACs) are widely used for cleanup and isolation of mycotoxins extracted from foods and biological fluids, particularly aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, and fumonisins. The columns are prepared by binding antibodies specific for a given mycotoxin to a specially activated solid-phase support and packing the support suspended in aqueous buffer solution into a cartridge. The mycotoxin in the extract or fluid binds to the antibody, impurities are removed with water or aqueous solution, and then the mycotoxin is desorbed with a miscible solvent such as methanol. Further separation can be performed with IAC, followed by liquid chromatographic (LC) quantitation, either off-line or on-line in an automated system, or by fluorometry. IACs have been used by laboratories that developed the antibodies but are also available commercially for aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, fumonisins, zearalenone, and deoxynivalenol. Among commercial IACs, Aflatest P is used as the cleanup step in an LC method and in a solution fluorometry method for corn, peanuts, and peanut butter that was adopted as an AOAC INTERNATIONAL Official Method after evaluation by an international collaborative study. As part of a fluorometer-based test kit, aflatest P was further certified by the AOAC Research Institute to measure total aflatoxins in 10 grains and grain products. IACs can concentrate the analyte from a large amount of sample, allowing detection limits at low parts-per-trillion levels in some cases (e.g., for aflatoxin M1 and ochratoxin A in liquid food matrixes). Regeneration of IACs for reuse in aflatoxin, ochratoxin A, fumonisin, and zearalenone analyses has been investigated.
Segmentation Method based on Texture Unit Approach Derived on Local Directional Pattern (LDP)

Image segmentation is one of the crucial steps for image analysis, interpretation and recognition. This paper presents cross diagonal neighborhood approach based on local direction pattern (LDP) descriptor. Edge based segmentation divides images into regions based on local edge responses. The local attributes and edge responses are the crucial factors for edge based segmentation scheme. The LDP descriptor precisely measures the amount of each edge response in and around a centre pixel. The LDP overcomes the noise related problems of the local binary operator (LBP). On LDP images three categories of texture units are derived by partitioning the 3 x 3 neighborhood in to cross texture unit (CTU) and diagonal texture unit (DTU), to reduce the huge dimensionalities involved in the basic texture units and to characterize the local edge information precisely. The segmentation method is tested on five large databases namely Wang, Oxford flowers, Indian facial expressions, Brodatz textures and standard images from Google. The segmentation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.