Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microbial respiration and its consequences on oxygen availability in peat substrate

Oxygen availability to the root not only depends on the gas movement but also on the source-sink relationships involving roots and microorganisms respiration. For some organic soils or substrates, microbial respiration may be very high and could probably make oxygen no more available for the plant. In this context, the main purpose of this study was to model the influence of oxygen consumption by microorganisms in an organic growing media (Sphagnum peat) on oxygen transport and availability to the root. This is why, a one-dimensional transfer coupled model of water and oxygen in porous media was developed taking into account oxygen consumption in the substrate by microorganisms. Simulation results underlined that microbial respiration could cause important reductions in the root oxygen uptake during a one-day time scale simulation (800 mn). For a high microbial respiration rate equal to 120 mg of O2/m3/s, the reduction in oxygen root uptake reaches 60% for the peat substrate. These rapid and important decreases of oxygen content lead to important and sustained anoxic conditions in the root environment.
Simulation of flow past a rotating circular cylinder near a plane wall

A two dimensional incompressible flow past a rotating circular cylinder near a plane wall at is investigated by using the lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE). The effects of the gap between the cylinder and the wall, and tangential speed of the cylinder on the frequency of vortex shedding, and the lift and drag forces on the cylinder are quantified together with the flow patterns. With a fixed tangential speed of the cylinder, the flow behavior strongly depends on the normalized cylinder-wall gap , where H and D are gap height and cylinder diameter, respectively. The flow is steady and behaves almost like a surface mounted object when h is small. With a moderate h, the flow is periodic and pairs of vortices with alternating signs develop due to strong interaction between the rotating cylinder and the wall. As h increases beyond certain value, the wall effect diminishes and the flow behaves almost as in an unbounded domain. Our simulation also validates the LBE method as a tool for direct numerical simulations for hydrodynamics. And we demonstrate that the LBE model with multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) is superior than the popular lattice Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook model in terms of numerical stability and in turn the efficiency.
A novel microfluidic patterning device for neuron-glia co-culture

Many biological processes in the body are regulated by synchronized activity between two cell types. To study cell-cell interactions, it is necessary to develop easy to use co-culture systems, where different cell types can be cultured within the same confined space. Designing a complete 3D biomimetic system to study these interactions in vitro requires complex protocols and use of non-conventional materials such as hydrogels. This paper reports development of a temporarily sealed microfluidic device which utilizes a novel valve design to directly and accurately co-culture two cell lines in alternating rows, allowing them to proliferate towards each other and then observe their interaction at the boundaries of their interface.
Airborne observations and modeling of springtime stratosphere-to-troposphere transport over California

Abstract. Stratosphere-to-troposphere transport (STT) results in air masses of stratospheric origin intruding into the free troposphere. Once in the free troposphere, ozone (O 3 )-rich stratospheric air can be transported and mixed with tropospheric air masses, contributing to the tropospheric O 3 budget. Evidence of STT can be identified based on the differences in the trace gas composition of the two regions. Because O 3 is present in such large quantities in the stratosphere compared to the troposphere, it is frequently used as a tracer for STT events. This work reports on airborne in situ measurements of O 3 and other trace gases during two STT events observed over California, USA. The first, on 14 May 2012, was associated with a cutoff low, and the second, on 5 June 2012, occurred during a post-trough, building ridge event. In each STT event, airborne measurements identified high O 3 within the stratospheric intrusion, which were observed as low as 3 km above sea level. During both events the stratospheric air mass was characterized by elevated O 3 mixing ratios and reduced carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and water vapor. The reproducible observation of reduced CO 2 within the stratospheric air mass supports the use of non-conventional tracers as an additional method for detecting STT. A detailed meteorological analysis of each STT event is presented, and observations are interpreted with the Realtime Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS). The implications of the two STT events are discussed in terms of the impact on the total tropospheric O 3 budget and the impact on air quality and policy-making.
Development and Application of Solid Phase Extraction Method for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Water Samples in Johannesburg Area , South Africa

A solid phase extraction (SPE) technique has been developed for the quantitative determination of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in aqueous samples. The SPE technique involved extraction of PAHs from a 100 mL sample containing 10 % methanol as a modifier onto C18 cartridges. 40 % methanol in water was used as conditioning solvent, and 3 mL acetone:THF (1:1) as eluting solvent. After eluting, the extract was reduced to 1 mL under nitrogen and then analyzed by GC-MS. The extraction was optimized for the addition of organic modifier, sample load volume, conditioning solvent, washing solvent and eluting solvent. In order to evaluate the practical applicability of SPE technique, water samples were spiked with the PAHs to give final sample concentrations between 3 and 7 μg L. Enrichment factors of 81–135 were achieved with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of less than 6 %. Recoveries obtained ranged from 81 to 135 %. Detection limits ranged from 20.0–52.0 ng L. The optimized method was validated by analyzing certified reference materials. The optimized method was then applied to spiked real river samples in and around the Johannesburg area, South Africa. The concentrations obtained varied from 22.0 to 1040.0 ng L. The RSDs were between 2.3 and 13 %. The overall order of PAHs levels was: phenanthrene > acenaphthene > naphthalene > fluoranthene > pyrene.
Learnt skill manifolds for robot control

Many humanoid robotic tasks of common interest require the agent to satisfy a number of complex skill specifications. For instance, the task of handling a tray in a typical service scenario requires the robot to achieve one of a certain set of goal states while respecting state constraints that might induce slipping, falling or collisions while also taking care of the manipulator dynamics and internal constraints. Everyday tasks, like tray handling, need to be defined over a nontrivially large domain but in the absence of models it is hard to define robust task-level controllers. We develop a framework that uses manifolds to encode robotic skills. Such skill manifolds are learnt from demonstrated data and result in control strategies suitable for problems defined over large domains with strict skill specifications. In such scenarios planning and state evolution is restricted to geodesic trajectories, as states off the manifold fail the skill specifications implied by the demonstration data (e.g. Fig. 1).
Improving the Strength-to-Weight Ratio of 3-D Printed Antennas: Metal Versus Polymer

The research presented here compares the weight and structural strength of several lightweight three-dimensional (3-D) metal printed fractal antennas to the equivalent metal-coated polymer 3-D printed antenna. Lattice structures are recognized for their advantages in providing lightweight, stiff, and shock-resistant structures. In this work, they are used to create a strong, lightweight metal antenna, which is even comparatively lighter than the metal-coated 3-D printed polymer antenna, and with higher structural strength. A radio frequency (RF) performance, similar to the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) simulation results, was confirmed for each antenna. Mechanical testing has also been conducted, to compare the strength-to-weight ratio of lightweight metal printed structures to that of the polymer one.
Marangoni flows induced by atmospheric-pressure plasma

We studied the interaction of atmospheric-pressure plasma jets of Ar or air with liquid films of an aliphatic hydrocarbon on moving solid substrates. The hydrodynamic jet-liquid interaction induces a track of lower film thickness. The chemical plasma-surface interaction oxidizes the liquid, leading to a local increase of the surface tension and a self-organized redistribution of the liquid film. We developed a numerical model that qualitatively reproduces the formation, instability and coarsening of the flow patterns observed in the experiments. Monitoring the liquid flow has potential as an in-situ, spatially and temporally resolved, diagnostic tool for the plasma-liquid surface interaction.
Reliability and Agreement of Credit Ratings in the Mexican Fixed Income Market

Credit ratings play an important role in the fixed income market as the entire regulatory framework of this market segment is based on them and a significant part of what investors can and cannot do is dictated by ratings. Also, a number of ratings-based metrics are employed globally to estimate capital reserves, liquidity buffers, and solvency standards for many institutional investors such as insurance companies and pension funds. A critical assumption at the root of this regulatory architecture is that the credit-rating scales of the three leading agencies (Moody’s, Fitch, and Standard & Poor’s) are completely equivalent.In this study we focus on the Mexican fixed income market. We find that the ratings of all three rating agencies exhibit a very high degree of inter-rater reliability. This means that in terms of ranking a group of bonds based on creditworthiness the three rating agencies would produce very similar results.On the other hand, using a non-parametric statistic, the Wilcoxon matched-pairs test, we conclude that there are significant discrepancies among the ratings of the three agencies. This is consistent with a low level of inter-rater agreement detected. These findings challenge the suitability of credit ratings as a useful metric for regulatory purposes as they create the possibility of arbitrage.
Cloning and expression of a Vi mimotope of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi through nucleotide-nucleotide hybridization approach

, the recombinant His-Vi protein with a size of approximately 4 kDa was successfully produced and proven by Western blot analysis. This recombinant protein can be used to detect specific anti-Vi antibody produced by typhoid patients. Overall, the His-Vi recombinant protein could serve as a potential diagnostic reagent to detect
Applications of Carbon Materials for Ferroelectric and Related Materials

Ferroelectricity is spontaneous electric polarization of a material without an external electric field and the polarization can be reversed by applying an external electric field as shown in Fig.1 (Kanzig, 1957; Lines & Glass, 1979). Because the spontaneous polarization of the material is changed by an external stimulus, ferroelectric materials are also piezoelectric and pyroelectric, when the stimuli are force and heat, respectively. Ferroelectric materials have non-linear polarization; thus, they can be used as capacitors with tunable capacitance. Moreover, the hysteresis effect of the spontaneous polarization of ferroelectric materials enables the application of ferroelectric random-access memories (RAMS) for computers and radio-frequency identification (RFID) cards (Buck, 1952). In addition, piezoelectric materials are used for high voltage power source, sensors, and actuators. In these systems, it is evident that ferroelectric and related materials are not used alone. For complete systems, other materials are required to compensate for the poor properties, such as the low conductivity of piezoelectric concrete, or to enhance their performance (Shifeng, 2009; Ishiwara 2009).
Submillimetre Detection of the z=2.83 Lyman-Break Galaxy, Westphal-MM8, and Implications for SCUBA2

We present confusion limited submillimetre (submm) observations with the SCUBA camera on the JCMT of the z = 2.83 Lyman-break galaxy (LBG), Westphal-MM8, reaching an 850µm sensitivity even greater than that achieved in the SCUBA map of the Hubble Deep Field region. The detection of MM8 (S850µm = 1.98±0.48mJy), along with the literature submm detections of lensed LBGs, suggest that the LBG population may contribute significantly to the source counts of submm selected galaxies in the 12mJy regime. Additionally, submm-luminous LBGs are a viable progenitor population for the recently discovered evolved galaxies at z � 2 2.5. These observations represent an important baseline for SCUBA2 observations which will regularly map large regions of the sky to this depth.
Dynamics of initially correlated open quantum systems: Theory and applications

We show that the dynamics of any open quantum system that is initially correlated with its environment can be described by a set of $d^2$ (or less) completely positive maps, where $d$ is the dimension of the system. Only one such map is required for the special case of no initial correlations. The same maps describe the dynamics of any system-environment state obtained from the initial state by a local operation on the system (and are related to the set of states to which the environment may be steered via such local operations). The reduction of the system dynamics to a set of completely positive maps allows known numerical and analytic tools for uncorrelated initial states to be applied to the general case of initially correlated states, and provides a natural approach to quantum Markovianity for this case. We show that this set of completely positive maps can be experimentally characterised using only local operations on the system, via a generalisation of noise spectroscopy protocols. As applications, we first consider the problem of retrodicting the dynamics of an open quantum system which is in an arbitrary state when it becomes accessible to the experimenter, and explore the conditions under which retrodiction is possible. Further, we introduce a related one-sided or limited-access tomography protocol for determining an arbitrary bipartite state, evolving under a sufficiently rich Hamiltonian, via local operations and measurements on just one component. We simulate this protocol for a physical model of particular relevance to nitrogen-vacancy centres, and in particular show how to reconstruct the density matrix of a set of three qubits, interacting via dipolar coupling and in the presence of local magnetic fields, by measuring and controlling only one of them.
Antioxidant effect of a crude phenolic extract from sorghum bran in sunflower oil in the presence of ferric ions

Whole grain condensed tannin sorghum, its bran and a crude phenolic extract (CPE) prepared from the bran were evaluated for total phenols (TP), condensed tannins (CT) and antioxidant activity (AA). Antioxidant effect of the CPE from the sorghum bran was evaluated in sunflower oil in the presence of ferric ions by measuring peroxide values (PVs) and anisidine values (AVs) during storage at 65 °C, in comparison with tertiary butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ). Sorghum bran contained three times more TP and AA, and seven times more CT than the whole grain. The CPE had highest levels of TP, CT and AA. Sunflower oil with CPE had lower PVs and AVs compared to control samples. Oil samples with TBHQ had PVs lower than, but AVs similar to samples containing CPE. In the presence of ferric ions, the CPE was less effective in reducing PVs, but was more effective than TBHQ in reducing AVs.
END-POINT PREDICTION OF BASIC OXYGEN FURNACE ( BOF ) STEELMAKING BASED ON IMPROVED TWIN SUPPORT VECTOR REGRESSION

C. Gao (13500422153@163.com), M. G. Shen (Corresponding Author). School of Materials and Metallurgy, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Anshan, China. In this paper, a novel prediction method for low carbon steel is proposed based on an improved twin support vector regression algorithm. 300 qualified samples are collected by the sublance measurements from the real plant. The simulation results show that the prediction models can achieve a hit rate of 96 % for carbon content within the error bound of 0,005 % and 94 % for temperature within the error bound of 15 °C. The double hit rate reaches to 90 %. It indicates that the proposed method can provide a significant reference for real BOF applications, and also it can be extended to the prediction of other metallurgical industries.
A Study of Retrieval Methods of Multi-Dimensional Images in Different Domains

Multiple amount of multi-dimensional images are designed and most of them are available on internet at free of cost. The 3D images include three characteristics namely width, height, and depth. The images which are created as 3D can describe the geometry in terms of 3D co-ordinates. These co-ordinates help to obtain the object from the image much easier and accurate. In this paper, we presented a review about the Multi-dimensional image retrieval. Multi-dimensional image retrieval is a process of extracting the relevant 2D or 3D images from the huge database. To perform image retrieval process on large database, several methods like text based, Content based, Annotation based, semantic based, and sketch based were used. The image retrieval techniques are mostly used in the fields like Digital library, medical, forensic science, and so on. A systematic literature review has been shown for image retrieval methods reported on 2010 to 2017. The aim of this article is to show the various concept and efforts of different authors on image retrieval technique.
Optimization Of Culture Conditions For The Production Of Xylanase By Two Thermophilic Fungi Under Solid State Fermentation

Two thermophilic fungi, Thermomyces lanuginosus BPJ-10 and Rhizomucor pusillus BPJ-2 were studied under solid state fermentation (SSF) using wheat bran for the production of thermostable xylanase. The optimum time required for the production of xylanase was found to be 4 days and 7 days for R. pusillus BPJ-2 and T. lanuginosus BPJ-10 respectively. The optimum temperatures for the production of xylanase by R. pusillus BPJ-2 and T. lanuginosus BPJ-10 were 45°C and 50°C respectively. The maximum activity of xylanase (1.685 IU/ml and 0.075 IU/ml) was exhibited by T. lanuginosus BPJ-10 and R. pusillus BPJ-2 at pH 7.0 and pH 4.0 respectively. The optimum moisture content for maximum xylanase production was 90% for both fungi. J. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 39(1): 43-51, June 2013 DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/jasbs.v39i1. 16032
The Euro Crisis and Contagion Among Central and Eastern European Currencies: Recommendations for Avoiding Lending in a Safe Haven Currency Such as CHF

This study analyses the Czech, Hungarian, and Polish currencies by examining the statistical characteristics of the Swiss franc as well as the ECB monetary policy in order to indicate shocks in these markets between 2002 and 2013. The abundance of monetary easing decisions can be used as a viable sign of market misbehaviour in addition to the low probability of extreme exchange rate fluctuations. Indeed, the temporal distribution of extreme currency fluctuations provides vital information about the nature of the recent crisis. Contagions can be defined as increased correlations during periods of crisis, while divergence means a significant decrease in this regard. Methodologically, common movements in this study were calculated by using DCC-GARCH modelling. The findings of this study underline the special features of the Swiss franc exchange rate, notably that its extreme fluctuations can be managed by using swap agreements and that it tended towards divergences during the crisis era. These results support the idea of avoiding lending in reserve currencies.
Responses to temperature and shade in Abies alba seedlings from diverse provenances

Abstract Intraspecific variability in responses to temperature and shade was studied at Champenoux, north-eastern France, with seedlings from five Polish provenances of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.). Acclimation of photosynthesis to temperature was investigated in seedlings exposed to 10, 25 and 35°C in a climate chamber for 1 week. During two growth seasons, a population of seedlings was grown in the nursery under four different irradiance regimens: 100, 48, 18 and 8% of natural irradiance. Maximum carboxylation rate (V cmax), maximum light driven electron flow (J max) and maximum net carbon dioxide assimilation rate (A max) measured at 25°C increased with population altitude. One week of exposure to 35°C caused discoloration and massive needle shedding. After 2 years’ acclimation to different levels of irradiance, a significant interprovenance variability was evidenced in growth, total biomass, biomass allocation and photosynthetic performance. This study provided evidence for the existence of functional variation among the examined provenances.
SeCSeq: Semantic Coding for Sequence-to-Sequence based Extreme Multi-label Classification

Extreme multi-label classiﬁcation (XMC) aims at assigning to an instance the most relevant subset of labels from a colossal label set. There have been some success in formulating the multi-label problem as sequence-to-sequence (Seq2Seq) learning, where the positive class labels of each input instance are used as the corresponding output sequence. Seq2Seq methods, nonetheless, have not yet been scalable to the XMC setting due to the softmax bottleneck. In this paper, we propose a semantic coding framework, namely SeCSeq , for a Seq2Seq approach to the XMC problem. To circumvent the softmax bottleneck, SeCSeq compresses labels into sequences of semantic-aware compact codes, on which Seq2Seq models are trained. For inference, the generated semantic codes are then decompressed into sequences of positive labels using ensemble techniques. Preliminary experiments on XMC benchmark datasets show that SeCSeq is competitive with the state-of-the-art while requiring signiﬁcantly fewer model parameters.
Design and Fabrication of Orthogonal-Mode Transducer Using 3-D Printing Technology

This letter presents the design and fabrication of an orthogonal-mode transducer (OMT) integrated with a simple circular horn antenna. Two different approaches were used to fabricate the structure using additive manufacturing technology. In the first approach, the whole structure is printed as a single piece. To have better access to the interior layers, in the second approach, the structure is divided into two symmetric pieces, and then is fabricated. The S-parameters of both the fabricated OMTs are measured and compared to the simulations results and discussed. Finally, the radiation patterns of the fabricated prototypes are presented and compared.