Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Electric Energy Generation from Sound Energy Using Piezoelectric Actuator

This paper presents the work done on the conversion techniques and methodologies of converting sound energy to its electrical counterpart, and focuses on the future of this type of energy sources than wind energy, solar energy, and biogas. Also, it includes the increase in energy consumption due to ever growing number of electronic devices, and the harvesting energy from humans and using of piezoelectricity. In the experimental work, a piezoelectric generator lead zirconate titante (PZT actuator) is used to extract sound energy from the loudspeaker from various distances and then to convert this energy into electrical energy. The maximum voltage generated by the piezoelectric generator occurs when its resonant frequency is operating near the frequency of sound. The result shows that the maximum output voltage of 28.8 mVrms was obtained with the sound intensity of 80.5 dB resonant frequency of 65 Hz at 1 cm distance in the first mode. In the second mode, the maximum output voltage of 94 m Vrms was obtained with the sound intensity of 105.7 dB at resonant frequency of 378 Hz at 1 cm which is larger than that of the first mode. However, for both modes, voltage decreases as
Firing Costs and Capital Structure Decisions

I exploit the adoption of state-level labor protection laws as an exogenous increase in employee firing costs to examine how the costs associated with discharging workers affect capital structure decisions. I find that firms reduce debt ratios following the adoption of these laws, with this result stronger for firms that experience larger increases in firing costs. I also document that, following the adoption of these laws, a firm's degree of operating leverage rises, earnings variability increases, and employment becomes more rigid. Overall, these results are consistent with higher firing costs crowding out financial leverage via increasing financial distress costs.
Predicting technology adoption to improve research priority—setting

This paper presents an improved approach for predicting the speed and ceiling of technology adoption, which is a crucial information for research priority setting. In the models it is assumed that both the speed and ceiling of adoption depend on the perceived characteristics of technologies. Knowing the characteristics that have determined adoption in the past provides relevant information about the characteristics which will enable new technologies to be quickly and widely adopted in the future. Using a case study from Meru District in Kenya, it is shown that relative investment, relative risk and relative complexity significantly influenced the speed and ceiling of adoption of dairy technologies in the past. These empirical results are used to predict the speed and ceiling of adoption of potential new dairy technologies to be developed by the Dairy Cattle Research Programme (DCRP) of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). The approach is theoretically sound and based on empirical evidence. It clearly distinguishes promising technologies from less promising technologies and is transparent to participants in priority setting exercises. Allowing for the participation of all interest groups within the research system, the approach improves the quality of the assessment and hence the credibility of results.
Analyzing management control systems: A cybernetic approach

This paper draws on two strands of cybernetic thought, namely Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety (LORV) and the Viable System Model (VSM), to analyze the control systems in one organization. The LORV specifies the conditions needed for effective control and the VSM provides the structural arrangements for operationalizing the LORV. The analysis considers a beyond budgeting system in a logistics company. The research proceeded by creating a VSM of the control system to depict its underlying structure including both components and the channels supporting their interactions. The subsequent analysis of interactions between components, guided by the VSM and informed by the LORV, revealed how the MCS managed variety, by either attenuating it or amplifying the organization’s ability to respond to it. It was found that beyond budgeting system relied extensively on amplifiers the impact of which is to increase branch managers’ ability to respond (variety) to high levels of external variety. Amplifiers include the creation of autonomous branches, continual access to resources, and availability of real-time performance information through which branches can self-organize and coordinate their interactions. General managers site visits and internal audit processes support the sporadic monitoring of branch operations by gathering detailed operational information. The predominantly horizontal communication flows between operational units, combined with continual access to resources, allow branch managers to respond to changing conditions without the need for general management intervention. The beyond budgeting system, designed around a range of amplifiers, is more readily able to absorb the impact of external shocks.
alophila ovalis in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean rederick

A species of seagrass in the genus Halophila was found growing in a shallow lagoon on the west shore of Antigua in the Caribbean West Indies. Genetic analysis showed the plants were Halophila ovalis. In addition, the samples had no genetic deviation (using nrDNA sequences) from Halophila johnsonii, considered to be an endemic and endangered species in Florida, USA. Morphological analysis demonstrated the Antiguan Halophila to be well within the range of plant characteristics previously described in the literature for H. ovalis, except for leaf width and number of seeds per fruit, and again, not different from H. johnsonii and very closely related to H. ovalis from the Indo-Pacific. Ours is the first report of H. ovalis in the Tropical Atlantic bioregion. enetics ntigua est Indies aribbean tlantic Ocean xotic © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON OF LDA-AND PIV-MEASUREMENTS

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is a well established measurement technique for the qualitative as well as quantitative description of flow fields and structures. To achieve a quantitative estimation of the PIV images analyzed with different algorithms, extensive investigations on mostly synthetic images have been published in the past (Raffel et al (1998), Keane & Adrian (1992)). For example, Willert & Gharib (1991) showed that the error based on real measured PIV images is one order of magnitude larger when compared with theoretical estimated errors based on synthetically generated images where the flow field is a priori known. To measure the turbulent velocity fluctuations, however, Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) is still the most widely accepted non intrusive optical method. LDA measurements of turbulent quantities have also been validated extensively against other measurement techniques such as hot wire measurements. The experiments presented in this article were conducted for a quantitative validation of PIV. Combined LDA and PIV measurements were carried out in the wake of a circular cylinder such that both measurements were taken simultaneously at the same position and during the same time with the same number of samples. The PIV raw images were subsequently analyzed with various commercial codes. Additionally, the Optical Flow was used as a new analysis method and compared with the classical algorithms. The analysis’ show that at least 2500 samples are needed to reach less than 1% deviation to the value at a statistic of 4000 samples. The velocity fluctuation at 2500 samples differ about 3% from the converged value. Regardless, the difference between LDAand PIVmeasurements is still huge, and varies strong with changing the PIV processing parameters.
Human influences on streamflow drought characteristics in England and Wales

Human influences can affect streamflow drought characteristics and propagation. The question is where, when and why? To answer these questions, the impact of different human influences on streamflow droughts were assessed in England and Wales, across a broad range of climate and catchments conditions. We used a dataset consisting of catchments with near-natural flow as well as catchments for which different human influences have been indicated in the metadata ("Factors Affecting Runoff") of the UK National River Flow Archive (NRFA). A screening approach was applied on the streamflow records to identify human influenced records with drought characteristics that deviated from those found for catchments with near-natural flow. Three different deviations were considered, specifically deviations in: 1) the relationship between streamflow drought duration and the Base Flow Index; 2) the correlation between streamflow and precipitation and 3) the temporal occurrence of streamflow droughts compared to precipitation droughts, i.e., an increase or decrease in streamflow drought months relative to precipitation drought months over the period of record. The identified deviations were then related to the indicated human influences. Results showed that the majority of catchments for which human influences were indicated did not show streamflow drought characteristics that deviated from those expected under near-natural conditions. For the catchments that did show deviating streamflow drought characteristics, prolonged streamflow drought durations were found in some of the catchments affected by groundwater abstractions. Weaker correlations between streamflow and precipitation were found for some of the catchments with reservoirs, water transfers or groundwater augmentation schemes. An increase in streamflow drought occurrence towards the end of record was found for some of the catchments affected by groundwater abstractions and a decrease in streamflow drought occurrence for some of the catchments with either reservoirs or groundwater abstractions. In conclusion, the proposed screening approaches were successful in identifying streamflow records with deviating drought characteristics that are likely related to different human influences. However, a quantitative attribution of the impact of human influences on streamflow drought characteristics requires more detailed case by case information about the type and degree of all different human influences. Given that, in many countries, such information is often not readily accessible, the approach adopted here could provide useful in targeting future efforts. In England and Wales specifically, the catchments with deviating streamflow drought characteristics identified in this study could serve as the starting point of detailed case study research.
THE ROLE OF MOBILE BANKING IN SERBIA

The aim of this paper is to provide the current situation of mobile banking implementation in Serbia. M-banking has changed the traditional business model which users are practiced in the use of banking services in the traditional manner. Mobile banking has allowed an increase in the number of existing distribution channels that banks used to offer their services. Following the tendencies of development of new services, banks in Serbia are increasingly opting to offer their banking services via mobile phones. Based on the analysis conducted herein, we find that 70% of banks that are operating in the banking system offers its clients m-banking services. Services are offered with much lower commission than traditional banking, thus leading to the dramatic increase in m-banking users in the last three years. Mobile banking plays the central role in the future of banking development.
Numerical Analysis of a Multi-Row Multi-Column Compact Heat Exchanger

In the present study we carry out three-dimensional fluid flow and heat transfer simulations on the external side of a compact heat exchanger to analyze the interaction between the fluid and its geometry. The overall objective is to use the resulting information for the design of more compact devices. The type of heat exchanger considered here is the common plain-fin and tube, with air flowing over the tubes and water as the inner-tube fluid. Two heat exchanger configurations, in which the tube arrangement is either in-line or staggered, conform the basic geometries. The size of the heat exchanger –regardless of the type of arrangement– which serves as the baseline for the parametric analysis, is defined by fixing its length; i.e., the number of rows in the flow direction. For the two heat exchanger configurations examined here, the dimensional form of the governing equations, along with the corresponding boundary conditions, are solved under specific flow and temperature values using a finite element method to compute the velocity, pressure and temperature fields. From these, the heat transfer rate and pressure drop are then calculated. The computations are performed for a range in the values of the Reynolds number within the laminar regime. For all cases considered, results from this investigation indicate that the geometrical arrangement plays a major role in the amount of heat being exchanged and that, for a given device, the length needed to exchange 99% of the corresponding amount of energy that may be transferred by the baseline model, is confined to less than 30% of the size of the original device.
Estimation model of single tree transpiration based upon heat pulse velocity and micrometeorological data

Apparatus (100) and accompanying methods for accurately simulating a digital facility, including impairments, in a public switched telephone network (PSTN). The invention is particularly suited for precisely emulating, as part of that facility, a line card within a channel bank including a hardware coder-decoder (CODEC) circuit contained therein, but without using an actual CODEC. Specifically, to properly emulate a digital facility, including such a line card, impairments, which need to be emulated, arise not only from the network facility itself but also from the line card. The former include robbed bit signaling (RBS), digital trunk loss and network delay. The latter include intermodulation distortion (IMD), analog loss and echo. To achieve very precise emulation, the simulator implements IMD and network impairments digitally but with the former impairment being processed at much higher, i.e., oversampled, (illustratively 32 kHz) sample rate relative to the sample rate for the latter impairments (e.g., at a standard network sample rate of 8 kHz).
Influence of mulching and plant spacing on growth and yield of french bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

A field experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm of the Department of Horticulture, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh to investigatethe effect of mulching and plant spacing on the growth and yield of French bean during the period from November 2014 to January 2015. The experiment consisted of three types of mulchingnamely (i) control (without mulch), (ii) water hyacinth and (iii) black ploythene much and three levels of spacing viz., (i) 30 cm x 25 cm (ii) 30 cm x 20 cm and (iii) 30 cm x 15 cm. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Results showed that both mulching and plant spacing significantly influenced the growth and yield components of French bean. Black polythene mulch produced the highest yield (5.82 t/ha) and the lowest yield (4.92 t/ha) was recorded fromno mulch treatment. The maximum yield (6.22 t/ha) was obtained from 30 cm x 15 cm plant spacing and the lowest (4.58 t/ha) was obtained with 30 cm x 25 cm plant spacing. The combined effects of mulching and plant spacing were statistically significant. The combination of black polythene mulch with 30 cm x 15 cm spacing gave the highest yield (6.97 t/ha) and the lowest yield (3.94 t/ha) was received from without mulching at spacing of 30 cm x 25 cm treatment combination. Considering the above findings the black polythene mulch with 30 x 15 cm plant spacing may be recommendfor French bean cultivation. Progressive Agriculture 26 (2): 129-135, 2015
The Organic Refractory Material in the Diffuse Interstellar Medium: Mid-Infrared Spectroscopic Constraints

This is an analysis of the 4000-1000 cm-1 (2.5-10 μm) region of the spectrum of diffuse interstellar medium (DISM) dust compared with the spectra of 13 materials produced in the laboratory which serve as analogs to the interstellar material. The organic signatures of extragalactic dust, carbonaceous chondritic material, and E. coli bacteria are also presented because these have been discussed in the literature as relevant to the diffuse interstellar medium. Spectral analysis of the DISM allows us to place significant constraints on the applicability of proposed candidate materials. The spectra of candidate materials are evaluated using four spectral characteristics based on the interstellar data: (i) comparisons of the profile and subpeak positions of the 2940 cm-1 (3.4 μm) aliphatic CH stretching-mode band, (ii) the ratio of the optical depth (O.D.) of the aliphatic CH stretch to the O.D. of the OH stretch near 3200 cm-1 (3.1 μm), (iii) the ratio of the O.D. of the aliphatic CH stretch to the O.D. of the carbonyl band near 1700 cm-1 (5.9 μm), and (iv) the ratio of the O.D. of the aliphatic CH stretch feature to the O.D. of the CH deformation modes near 1470 cm-1 (6.8 μm) and 1370 cm-1 (7.25 μm). We conclude that the organic refractory material in the diffuse interstellar medium is predominantly hydrocarbon in nature, possessing little nitrogen or oxygen, with the carbon distributed between the aromatic and aliphatic forms. Long alkane chains H3C–(CH2)n– with n much greater than 4 or 5 are not major constituents of this material. Comparisons to laboratory analogs indicate the DISM organic material resembles plasma processed pure hydrocarbon residues much more so than energetically processed ice residues. This result is consistent with a birth site for the carrier of the 3.4 μm band in the outflow region of evolved carbon stars. The organic material extracted from the Murchison carbonaceous meteorite and the spectrum of E. coli bacteria reveal spectral features in the 5-10 μm region that are absent in the DISM. Although the presence of unaltered circumstellar components in the Murchison meteorite has been established through several lines of evidence, it is unclear whether or not the aliphatic component which gives rise to the 3.4 μm band is in that category. Considering the complete 2-10 μm wavelength region, there is no spectral evidence for a biological origin of the 3.4 μm interstellar absorption band. The similarity of the aliphatic CH stretch region of dust from our own Galaxy compared with that of distant galaxies suggests that the organic component of the ISM is widespread and may be an important universal reservoir of prebiotic organic carbon.
Pollen Quantity, Viability and in vitro Pollen Germination of Longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.)

The genus Dimocarpus contained six species (Leenhouts, 1971) out of which five species (Dimocarpus longan, Dimocarpus dentatus, Dimocarpus gardneri, Dimocarpus foveolatus, and Dimocarpus fumatus) exists in Asian countries stretching from India to eastern Malaysia and one (Dimocarpus australianus) in Australia. Dimocarpus longan, usually known as longan is the most commonly cultivated among these species (Pham et al., 2015). Major producers of longan fruit are China, Vietnam, Thailand and it’s global production reached more than 2500 million tons (FAO, 2011).
Neighborhoods on the Rise: A Typology of Neighborhoods Experiencing Socioeconomic Ascent

Neighborhoods are an important source of inequality, and neighborhood change may lead to changing opportunities for residents. Past research on neighborhood upgrading tends to focus on one process: gentrification. I argue that a broader range of types of neighborhood socioeconomic ascent requires examination. This article documents the different types of neighborhoods ascending from 1970 to the present. Using principal components analysis and cluster analysis, I report the prevalence of socioeconomic ascent, based on increases in neighborhood income, rents, house values, and educational and occupational attainment, among five to seven types of neighborhoods in each decade. I also examine population and housing changes that co–occur with ascent to identify processes of ascent beyond gentrification. Overall, findings suggest mixed implications for neighborhood inequality. While white suburban neighborhoods make up the bulk of neighborhoods that ascend in each decade, minority and immigrant neighborhoods become increasingly likely to ascend over time, though displacement may occur.
Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in Cancer Patients

Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) is a common disease, comprising the life-threatening pulmonary embolism (PE) and its precursor deep vein thrombosis (DVT). In view of the clinically silent nature of VTE; the incidence, prevalence and mortality rates are probably under estimated (Kniffin et al., 1994). Although VTE is a common disease, fortunately it is preventable; identifying high risk patients and the application of suitable prophylactic measures is the best way to decrease the incidence of VTE and its associated complications. Using unfractionated heparin (UFH), the rate of radiologically detected DVT was reduced by 67% without significant bleeding complications (Belch et al., 1981).
HIV gag protein is efficiently cross-presented when targeted with an antibody towards the DEC-205 receptor in Flt 3 ligand-mobilized murine dendritic cells

Dendritic cells present exogenous proteins to MHC class I restricted CD8+ T cells. This function does not require endogenous antigen synthesis within DC, providing the potential to elicit CD8+ T cell responses to immune complexes, inactivated microbes, dying cells and proteins like ovalbumin. In mice, the CD8+ or DEC-205+ DC are specialized for cross-presentation, and this subset can be increased 10 fold in numbers following Flt3L treatment in vivo. Therefore we studied cross-presentation by abundant Flt3L DC using HIV gag protein. When enriched by positive selection with anti-CD11c beads, cells from Flt3L mice are not only more abundant but are more highly enriched in CD11c high DC, particularly the DEC-205+ subset. DC cross-present HIV gag to primed CD8+ T cells, but when the antigen is delivered within an antibody to DEC-205 receptor, cross-presentation becomes 100 fold more efficient than non-targeted antigen. This finding requires gag to be engineered into anti-DEC antibody, not just mixed with antibody. Flt3L DC are a valuable tool to study cross-presentation, since their use overcomes the obstacle posed by the low number of cross-presenting DC in the steady state. These findings support future experiments to use Flt3L to enhance presentation of DC-targeted vaccines.
Carbon-Based Electrode Materials for Supercapacitor: Progress, Challenges and Prospective Solutions

Carbon-based materials are typical and commercially active electrode for supercapacitors due to their advantages such as low cost, good stability and easy availability. In the light of energy storage, supercapacitors mechanism is classified into EDLCs (electrochemical double layer capacitors) and pseudocapacitors. Multidimensional carbon nanomaterials (active carbon, carbon nanotube, graphene, etc.), carbon-based composite and corresponding electrolyte are the critical and important factor in the eyes of researcher. In this minireview, we will discuss the storage mechanism and summarize recent developed novel carbon and carbon-based materials in supercapacitors. The techniques to design the novel nanostructure and high performance electrodematerials that facilitate charge transfer to achieve high energy and power densities will also be discussed.