Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
reatment with thidiazuron improves opening and vase life of iris flowers ndrew

The marketability of Dutch iris (Iris × hollandica) cut flowers is limited by their short display life and frequent failure to open fully. We tested the ability of thidiazuron (TDZ), a phenyl-urea compound with cytokinin-like activity, to improve iris flower opening and longevity. A postharvest pulse with 0.2–1 mM TDZ for 6–24 h at 0 or 20 ◦C extended the vase life of flowers by up to 1.5 d relative to control (0 mM TDZ) stems in water. TDZ treatment also stimulated growth of the pedicel and ovary by up to 2.5 cm that, in turn, led to more complete opening of flowers. Inclusion of 1 mM gibberellic acid (GA ) in the TDZ pulsing ibberellic acid A3 ris ostharvest ucrose hidiazuron 3 solution did not extend vase life further but did increase flower shoot elongation by an additional 1.0 cm. Provision of 20% sucrose with the TDZ plus GA3 treatment had an additive effect, increasing vase life and shoot growth by a further 0.8 d and 1.0 cm, respectively. Pulsing stems with this combined treatment prior to storing flowers dry for 14 d at 0 ◦C provided maximum flower opening and display life after storage. Treatment with 0.5 mM TDZ stimulated a significant increase in ethylene production by flowers DZ ase life during their opening.
The impact of (co-) ownership of renewable energy production facilities on demand flexibility

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources requires financial, technical and social innovation. This is particularly true for wind and solar energy which have structural differences to fossils: they depend on weather and thus are volatile in their power production scheme. Not only must a new energy infrastructure be built, but consumers motivated to change consumption habits so as to balance demand with a volatile energy supply and to accept new technologies like smart meters. Consumer (co-)ownership has proved successful in engaging consumers in financing renewable energy infrastructures, thus becoming “prosumers”. In addition, studies also indicate that co-ownership can induce behavioral changes in energy consumption. Based on a sample of 2,143 completed questionnaires collected through an online survey, the study presented in this paper seeks to empirically analyze empirically whether (co-)ownership also has an influence on demand side flexibility. Our results indicate a statistical correlation between (co-)ownership of renewable energy production facilities and the willingness of private households to adjust their consumption behavior. However, the relation is complex: Only when prosumers have the choice between self-consumption and sale of the surplus electricity production to the grid we observe a statistically significant effect on consumption behavior. As every kilowatt-hour not consumed is one potentially sold to the grid an economic incentive kicks in which is equally important for energy efficient behavior. To exclude a self-selection bias we have applied propensity score matching.
Analysis of research methodologies for neurorehabilitation

This paper analyses the research methodologies available and the choice made by the researchers in choosing a methodology for neurorehabilitation. Medical personnel find it hard to establish the appropriate medical classification with this group of disabled patients. This further complicates matters in performing research with such participants, since it is not known if some of these people are aware but unable to respond, or unable to comprehend and respond appropriately to the requests made by the communications around them. This paper describes the methods and methodologies available for neurorehabilitation and concludes by describing three examples of research approaches used by the authors
Towards Systematic Safety System Development with a Tool Supported Pattern Language

Design patterns illustrate qualities and features that would suit well in current understanding of safety system development, design and documentation. However, though a number of design patterns for safety system development have been proposed, the focus has been on individual quality attributes such as fault tolerance and reliability. The systematic use of design patterns in the development process has received less attention. In this paper, we discuss and illustrate extended usage possibilities for design patterns as part of safety system development. We discuss a design pattern language that we are developing to cover, e.g., safety system architecture, scope minimization and co-operation with basic control systems. Use of patterns for documentation purposes, tool support for using patterns, and rationale for the pattern approach are discussed as well. Keywords-safety system; software; design pattern; safety standard; tool support
Imaging the optical part of a web cam

In this paper we study the image illuminations and the reflected light propagations trough a web camera pipeline. We focus our analysis to illumination using a spectral image; the reflected light is captured by an achromatic doublet which focuses the light to a CCD sensor. We design the achromatic doublet; we use the aperture and the transfer function of a CCD. Several images are taken in rapid succession, at different exposure levels, and we blend the images in order to obtain a HDR (high dynamic range) image. We consider the image capture system to be axial and the light is orthogonal to the system.
Issues of cross-cultural variations in cyber bullying across Europe and beyond

Although the great majority of research studies on cyberbullying have been carried out in western countries (Zych, Ortega & del Rey, 2015), the issue is recognised to be an international one. There has been a tradition of research in the Asian Pacific Rim countries (Smith, Kwak & Toda, 2016), and growing research in other areas such as South-East Asia (Sittichai & Smith, 2015). These studies raise important methodological issues. How similar, or different, is the phenomenon of cyber bullying in different countries? What are the challenges in making comparisons and comparing rates in different countries? Finally, how can such differences be explained? In this paper we will examine societal and cross-national variations in bully and victim rates, and characteristics (such as age and gender differences, types of cyber bullying), across a wide range of countries. Explanations of cross-national differences will be discussed in terms of the five factors in the EU Kids Online model: Cultural values [e.g. Hofstede], Education system [schools, colleges], Technological infrastructure [penetration of mobile phones, smart phones and internet], Regulatory framework [policies, legal aspects] and Socio-economic stratification [GDP, socioeconomic inequality].
SIMULATION OF COAL COMBUSTION PROCESS IN SMALL BOILER

The aim of the work is to develop a method of simple characterization of solid fuels combustion in fixed bed, which would be useful for CFD modelling. In this work, the measurements were performed in a test rig, where a combustion front propagates against the airflow. Concentrations of flue gas species were registered at the exit of a fixed bed reactor and the temperature of burning coal was measured in selected points of the reactor as functions of time.
Double-Perovskite Anode Materials Sr2MMoO6 (M = Co, Ni) for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Double-perovskites Sr2MMoO6 (M = Co, Ni) have been investigated as anode materials for a solid oxide fuel cell. At room temperature, both Sr2CoMoO6 and Sr2NiMoO6 are tetragonal (I4/m). X-ray absorption spectroscopy confirmed the presence of Co2+/Mo6+ and Ni2+/Mo6+ pairs in the oxygen-stoichiometric compounds. The samples contain a limited concentration of oxygen vacancies in the reducing atmospheres at an anode. Reoxidation is facile below 600 °C; they become antiferromagnetic at low temperatures TN = 37 and 80 K for M = Co and Ni, respectively. As an anode with a 300 μm thick La0.8Sr0. 2Ga0.83Mg0. 17O2.815 electrolyte and SrFe0.2Co0. 8O3−δ as a cathode, Sr2CoMoO6 exhibited maximum power densities of 735 mW/cm2 in H2 and 527 mW/cm2 in wet CH4 at 800 °C; Sr2NiMoO6 shows a notable power output only in dry CH4. The high performance of Sr2CoMoO6 in wet CH4 may be due to its catalytic effect on steam reforming of methane, but some degradation of the structure that occurred in CH4 obscures identification of the ca.
DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH EFFICIENCY MICROPROPAGATION PROTOCOL FOR TAMARIX NILOTICA EHRENB WITH VALUED MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

Tamarix nilotica is an important medicinal plant grows throughout the Kingdom, except in mountains on high altitude. Propagation of T. nilotica through cuttings and seeds are limited. To supplement harvesting of active ingredient from plants, alternative method for the purpose has been developed. Stem node cuttings were subjected to in vitro culture under the influence of various cytokinin to induce shoot proliferation. Maximum shoot stimulation was found on MS medium comprising 1.0 µM TDZ followed by 2.5 µM BA, Kn and 2ip. The number of shoots declined as the concentration of cytokinin increased. A lower shoots obtained on 5.0 and 10.0 µM concentration of all the four cytokinins tested. After fair multiplication, individual shoots were subjected to different concentration of auxins IBA, NAA, 2,4-D and IAA 2.5-10.0 µM for root induction. Initial screening did not result desired rooting on MS medium. Therefore, pulse treatment of 100 µM IBA was given to the isolated shoots for 5, 10 and 15 days time. Incubation for 10 days on MS medium supplied with 100.0 µM resulted in maximum rooting when transferred on MS medium alone. Well rooted microshoots were exposed to four types of soil mixtures for acclimatization of plants. Among these soils, sand and FYM gave 100% survival under controlled green house conditions. This protocol would be helpful in regeneration and conservation of this plant species; and provide an alternative source of biomass for pharmaceutical active ingredients.
LOW SPEED VS HIGH SPEED TESTING OF LP TURBINE BLADE-WAKE INTERACTION

The techniques employed in high speed linear cascade testing to simulate the effect of unsteadiness are presented and compared with low speed counterparts. Results are obtained from a high speed cascade and a low speed cascade. Both are models of an existing (conventional) low pressure turbine blade. They are compared under steady and unsteady flow conditions. The results show that the same quantitative values of losses are obtained, proving the validity of the low speed approach for profiles with an exit Mach number of the order of 0.64. The range of validity of the conclusions is extended by reference to a profile designed using current low pressure turbine design practice.
Monotone Global Games

We extend the global games method to finite player, finite action, monotone games. These games include games with strategic complements, games with strategic substitutes, and arbitrary combinations of the two. Our result is based on common order properties present in both strategic complements and substitutes, the notion of p-dominance, and the use of dominance solvability as the solution concept. In addition to being closer to the original arguments in Carlsson and van Damme (1993), our approach requires fewer additional assumptions. In particular, we require only one dominance region, and no assumptions on state monotonicity, or aggregative structure, or overlapping dominance regions. As expected, the p-dominance condition becomes more restrictive as the number of players increases. In cases where the probabilistic burden in belief formation may be reduced, the p-dominance condition may be relaxed as well. We present some examples that are not covered by existing results.
Apoptosis-inducing effect of 6,7-dimethoxy-4'-hydroxy-8- formylflavon from Nicotiana tabacum L leaf in human hepatoma HepG2 cells via activation of mitochondriamediated apoptotic pathway

Purpose : To study the anti-proliferative and apoptotic influences of 6,7-dimethoxy-4'-hydroxy-8- formylflavon (DHF) from the leaves of Nicotiana tabacum L. in human hepatoma HepG2 cells, and the underlying mechanisms. Methods : The anti-proliferative effect of DHF (10 - 50 μg/mL) on HepG2 cells was assessed by CCK-8 assay. The pro-apoptotic effect of DHF (10, 20 and 30 μg/mL) on HepG2 cells was investigated via flow cytometry, while the mechanisms involved were studied using western blot. Xenograft assay was employed for determination of the in vivo effect of DHF (40 mg/kg/day) on HepG2 cell-induced tumor. Results : The proliferation of HepG2 cells was inhibited by DHF (IC 50 = 25.87 μg/mL) due to apoptosis. In addition, xenograft assay revealed that HepG2 cell-induced tumor growth was significantly suppressed by DHF (p < 0.05 or 0.01) without any effects on mice body weights. The expressions of Survivin and Bcl-2 proteins were significantly decreased, while those of Bax, c-caspase-9, and ccaspase- 3 proteins were significantly increased by DHF (p < 0.05 or 0.01), leading to increase in cytoplasmic levels of Smac and cytochrome c proteins. Conclusion : The underlying mechanism DHF-mediated apoptotic changes in HepG2 cells in vitro and in vivo involves induction of the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. Thus, DHF is a good drug candidate for the development of an effective therapy for liver cancer. Keywords : 6,7-Dimethoxy-4'-hydroxy-8-formylflavon, HepG2 cells, Hepatoma, Mitochondria, Apoptosis, Bax, Cytochrome C, Survivin
Realistic job previews : A test of the adverse self-selection hypothesis

The realistic job preview (RJP) literature has focused more on posthire outcomes such as employee retention than on prehire outcomes such as applicant attraction and job choice behavior. This study extends the RJP literature by focusing on 2 important issues related to applicant attraction: (a) the weight applicants place on negative information in relation to other variables such as pay level and promotional opportunity and (b) whether the "best" applicants react differently to negative information than do other applicants (adverse self-selection). Results indicate that applicants place a fairly high negative weight on negative job information, relative to other vacancy characteristics. The results regarding adverse self-selection are less clear but suggest that the highest quality applicants may be less willing to pursue jobs for which negative information has been presented, especially when doing so imposes opportunity costs.
Genetic Diversity of Spirometra erinaceieuropaei from Dogs in Hunan province, China Based on Analyses of Two Mitochondrial Sequences

Sequence variability in two mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) regions, namely NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (nad5) and small subunit of ribosomal RNA (rrnS) in Spirometra erinaceieuropaei from dogs in Hunan province in China was examined. A portion of the nad5 (pnad5) and rrnS (prrnS) genes were amplified separately from individual S. erinaceieuropaei by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Representative amplicons were subjected to sequencing in order to estimate sequence variability. The sequences of pnad5 and prrnS were 531 and 328 bp in size, respectively. The intra-specific sequence variations within each of the S. erinaceieuropaei were 0-3.5% for pnad5 and 0-1.4% for prrnS, while the inter-specific sequence variations within each of the S. erinaceieuropaei were 12.2-35.7% for pnad5 and 10.4-11.8% for prrnS. Phylogenetic analysis using neighbour joining (NJ), maximum likelihood (ML), and maximum parsimony (MP) methods, indicated that all the isolates in Hunan province represented S. erinaceieuropaei. These findings demonstrated clearly the usefulness of the three mtDNA sequences for population genetics studies of S. einaceieuropaei in human and animal health significance.
A study of economic index effects on return on equity in iranian companies

All beneficiary groups and of financial statements' users, in a way, interested in analysis of financial statements; stockholders and beneficiaries interested in recognizing effective factors on return on equity. Some of these factors resulted from managers' function and/or other internal factors or some of them caused by external ones. In this study, in addition to introduction of mentioned index, economical index correlation with return on equity will be investigated. Gross national product growth and average share price, considered as an economic index. The study aims to investigating mentioned index effects on return on equity in automobile Industry. For this, all active companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange selected in automobile industry and these indexes calculated for six-years namely 2004-2010. Results showed that there is a correlation between mentioned indexes and return on that could be a guide for users of financial statements in order to make optimal decisions.
On SURE-Type Shrinkage Estimation

The paper is concerned with empirical Bayes shrinkage estimators for the heteroscedastic hierarchical normal model based on Stein’s unbiased estimate of risk (SURE). Recently, Xie, Kou and Brown (2012) proposed a class of estimators for this type of problems and established their asymptotic optimality properties under the assumption of known but unequal variances. In this paper, we consider this problem with unequal and unknown variances, which may be more appropriate in real situations. Specifically, by putting priors for both means and variances, we propose novel double-shrinkage SURE type estimators that shrink both the means and the variances. Optimal properties for these estimators are derived under certain regularity conditions. We also conduct extensive simulation studies to compare the newly developed methodologies with other shrinkage techniques. Finally, the methods are applied to the well known baseball data set and a gene expression data set.
Earnings Management, Politically Connected CEOs, and Politically Connected Independent Board Members: Evidence from China

This study investigates whether Chinese firms’ earnings management behaviors vary systematically with politically connected CEOs and studies the association between Chinese firms’ earnings management behaviors and the presence of politically connected independent board members. We find that firms with politically connected CEOs engage in less real earnings management, probably because their political connections make raising capital easier and reduce incentives for earnings management. However, this relationship is weaker in State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) than in non-SOEs. In addition, we find that politically connected independent board members have significant negative impacts on real earnings management in non-SOEs, suggesting the independent directors with political ties could mitigate real earnings management.
Experimental Study on Communication Delay of Powertrain System of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

In order to contrast and analyze the real-time performance of the powertrain system of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, a mathematical model of the system delay is established under the circumstances that the transmission adopts the CAN (controller area network) protocol and the TTCAN (time-triggered CAN) protocol, respectively, and the interior of the controller adopts the foreground-background mode and the OSEK mode respectively. In addition, an experimental platform is developed to test communication delays of messages under 4 different implementation models. The 4 models are testing under the CAN protocol while the controller interior adopts the foreground-background mode; testing under the CAN protocol while the controller interior adopts the OSEK mode; testing under the TTCAN protocol while the controller interior adopts the foreground-background mode, and testing under the TTCAN protocol while the controller interior adopts the OSEK mode. The theoretical and testing results indicate that the communication delay of the OSEK mode is a little longer than the one of the foreground-background mode. Moreover, compared with the CAN protocol, the periodic message has a better real-time performance under the TTCAN protocol, while the nonperiodic message has a worse one.
Foreign Exchange Rate Expectations: Survey and Synthesis

This paper reviews the empirical literature on foreign exchange rate expectations. Prominent issues are the forward premium puzzle, expectations formation in financial markets, heterogeneity of expectations, market microstructure, time-varying risk premiums and forecast performance. Although much has been learned in each field, this survey highlights the areas of research in which our understanding of the mechanism of exchange rate expectations is still incomplete. Our survey suggests that both irrational expectations and time-varying risk premiums account for the forward discount anomaly, that long-term expectations reverse towards their long-run equilibrium values and that heterogeneous behaviour of market participants has the potential of explaining some of the empirical regularities in the international finance literature. Copyright 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
SEWAGE SYSTEM MANAGEMENT STRATEGY TO REDUCE RAIN WATER POLLUTION OVERFLOWS. THE CASE OF A WATER STORM BASIN IN NANCY

Since 1991, European Legislation on the urban treatment of waste water requires local authorities to take into consideration the treatment of polluted water transported by the sewage network both during dry and wet weather. The sewage system of Nancy, and of the majority of the larger European urban centres, are of the combined sewer network type. It conveys a mixture of wastewater and storm water, and it is connected to a limited capacity sewage treatment plant. This limited capacity conduce to consider new practices for the treatment of the wet weather flows. A new management strategy of the sewage system of Nancy has been developed in order to reduce rain water pollution overflows into the Meurthe river. This new management strategy, optimising the use of existing infrastructures, is named global pollution/flood management strategy. The word global refers as well as the system in its totality (rainfall forecasting and sewer network from collect to treatment plant) and the double objective : to conciliate flood risk management and the reduction of pollution overflows into the natural environment. This paper presents a first application project of this management strategy by the Metropolitan Authority of Nancy to regulate an existing underground storm basin aimed at protecting an urban area against flooding.