Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Offscreen : Analysing the Chinese Tourist Experience of Cinematic Paris

This article examines from a European-Asian perspective the relationship between media representations and the tourist’s imagination. We use the case of Chinese tourists in Paris to investigate how these non-European tourists imagine Europe, and how these imaginations are being realized, challenged, and modified during concrete tourist experiences. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with tourists and field observations, this paper shows how the Chinese tourist imagination of Europe is strongly influenced by popular representations from the media. More in particular, the Chinese tourist experience of Paris as it turns out is characterised by an on-going negotiation between media-inspired fantasies and personal experiences of the ‘real’ Paris. As a result of this, the way the Chinese imagined Europe before their visitis reinforced, but also challenged. Chinese tourists tend to develop a hybrid perspective: they learn to re-appreciate Paris in its complexity, while at the same time re-constituting their own cultural identity vis-à-vis the European Other.
Development of an automated safety assessment framework for construction activities

This paper presents an ongoing research project concerning the development of an automated safety assessment framework for earthmoving and surface mining activities. This research seeks to determine data needs for safety assessment and investigates how to utilize collected data to promote more informed and efficient safety decision-making. The research first examined accidents and fatalities involved with earthmoving and surface mining activities—more specifically, those involving loading, hauling, and dumping operations,—investigated risk factors involved with the accidents, and finally identified data needs for safety assessment based on safety regulations and practices. An automated safety assessment method was then developed using the data needs that had been identified. This research is expected to contribute to the introduction of a fundamental framework for automated safety assessment and the systematic collection of safety-related data from construction activities. Implementation of the entire safety assessment process on actual construction sites remains a task for future research.
Analysis of Resource Pooling and Resource Allocation Schemes in Cloud Computing

: Cloud servers always do resource pooling for providing to their customers. In multi-tenant cloud environment, multiple tenants may demand for the same resource or multiple resources may be occupied by the same tenanct for long time and there may be lack of resource due to this reason. So, efficient Resource Allocation Schemes are required to manage the resources. Cloud computing basically is resource pooling and allocation or sharing technology of pooled resources. In this paper, we are analysing various resource pooling and resource allocation schemes proposed by researchers for cloud computing.
An Object Oriented Framework For Bitstream Generation For Multi-Technology FPGA Chips

Technologies in FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) chips have rapidly evolved over the past few decades. The architectures of these FPGA chips are constantly evolving. To increase their applicability, newer analog, digital and mixed signal components are been integrated. The software tool chain used to program application specific functionality onto these chips also needs to evolve simultaneously to support these new components and architectures. This software tool chain starts with high level design entry and is completed by the generation of bitstream for programming the chip. In this thesis, we present a novel object oriented framework approach for bitstream generation: XBits. XBits takes in a placed and routed circuit description and generates the bitstream for an FPGA chip whose architecture is specified in our custom Architecture Description File Format. This format allows us to specify varying FPGA architectures and components which can be easily integrated into rest of the framework.
Genetic variation and heritability for germination, seed vigour and field emergence in brown and yellow-seeded genotypes of flax

Genetic improvement of seed vigour and emergence of yellow-seeded flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is important to have a good stand establishment, since they are negatively affected by yellow seed colour. This study was conducted to investigate genetic variation, broad-sense heritability and expected genetic response to selection for germination, seed vigour and field emergence. Sixteen genotypes of yellow-seeded flax and 17 of brown-seeded were evaluated for germination at 5°C, 15°C and vigour test (cold test) and also for field emergence in 2005 and 2006. Genetic variation for vigour test and field emergence in yellow-seeded genotypes was much higher than brown-seeded, as shown by their genetic coefficients of variation of 41% vs. 17.9% in vigour test, 50.9% vs. 3.8% and 34.1% vs. 18% for field emergence in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Germination of yellow and brown-seeded genotypes in vigour test varied from 10.7 to 55.3% and 40.7 to 88.7%, respectively. Field emergence ranged from 20 to 217.3 and 35 to 184.3 seedlings/m 2 among yellow-seeded genotypes in 2005 and 2006; however, the corresponding range for brown-seeded genotypes was 266 to 414 and 93.7 to 210 seedlings/m 2 . Broad-sense heritability for germination at 5°C and vigour test, days to 50% emergence and seed weight were high (65.9 to 98.4%). The heritabilities for field emergence were low to moderate for brown seeds (6.7% and 51.6%), and moderate to high (56.2 % to 96.8%) for yellow seeds in 2005 and 2006. High estimates of genetic response to selection for seed vigour and field emergence were found in yellow-seeded genotypes, indicating the possibility of genetic improvement of these traits.
Evaluation of Tide Embankment and Protection Forest Width on Tsunami Disaster Using Tsunami Simulator

The tsunami that occurred after the Tohoku Earthquake of March 11, 2011, devastated the infrastructure in Tohoku, including roads and water channels. This study reports the results of a tsunami simulation experiment using an open channel for evaluation of tide embankments and protection forest in controlling the force of tsunami waves and flow of sand carried by tsunami. Coastal areas in Minami Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture, that were devastated by the Tohoku Earthquake were assumed as the experimental location. A 0.3 m-wide, 12 m-long open channel was used for the tsunami experiment. To simulate a tsunami, a removable barrier was set near the upstream end of the channel to retain water. The barrier was lifted to generate a bore. The scale for the model was 1/100. A model protection forest and a tide embankment made of acrylic were placed at the longitudinal midpoint of the channel. To examine the sand control effect of the tide embankment and protection forest at the time of tsunami, Toyoura silica sand was laid in the channel bottom upstream of the tide embankment and protection forest. The sand left behind after the tsunami simulation was measured for dry weight. The speed of the wave beyond the protection forest tended to decrease with increases in forest width. The amount of sand carried by the tsunami was found to decrease with increases in forest width. The results, however, are from a simplified model channel experiment. It is necessary to perform experiments that more closely reproduce the original sites in terms of topography and vegetation.
Pseudo-random number generators and an improved steganographic algorithm

Steganography is the art and science of hiding secret information in a cover medium such that the presence of the hidden information cannot be detected. This thesis proposes a new method of steganography by cover modification in JPEG images. Essentially, the algorithm exercises LSB replacement using the definition for steganographic values from F5. After the nonzero quantized DCT coefficients of a cover image undergo a pseudorandom walk, the coefficients and the payload are split into an equal number of partitions and paired. Each coefficient partition is permuted again by the 1/P pseudo-random number generator until an optimal embedding efficiency for its corresponding payload is achieved. Using this method, we achieve a higher embedding efficiency than that of LSB replacement alone. We evaluate the detectability of our algorithm by creating a multi-classifier based on the output of multiple non-linear, soft-margin support vector machines trained on POMM features. We show that our algorithm performs nearly as well as the state-of-the-art nsF5 algorithm, and outperforms other state-of-the-art algorithms under most conditions.
Attosecond x-ray scattering from a particle-hole wave packet

We investigate the imaging of electron wave-packet dynamics by measuring the pattern of inelastically scattered photons. For this purpose, we develop a theory of time-resolved Compton scattering. We demonstrate that, by using a sufficiently short x-ray pulse, the scattering cross section directly reflects the instantaneous momentum density of the electron. Therefore, we propose time-resolved Compton scattering as a tool to image electron wave-packet dynamics in momentum space. To illustrate this, we simulate electron wave packets in argon by using the time-dependent configuration-interaction singles method. Specifically, we consider coherent particle-hole wave packets, where the hole is in either the 3p or the 3s shell, and the particle (the excited electron) is either in a Rydberg state or in the continuum. Our calculations confirm that the dynamics of electron wave packets can indeed be imaged by measuring the doubly differential Compton scattering cross section. When the x-ray detector has no energy resolution at all, the contribution of Compton scattering to the differential scattering cross section becomes stationary. In that case, the motion of the particle and the hole can no longer be inferred from the scattering pattern.
Laser Ultrasonic Study of Crack Tip Diffraction

Ultrasonic diffraction pattern at a crack tip and crack depth sizing based on the diffraction are studied by using laser‐generated bulk waves. Directivity patterns oriented essentially along the normal for the diffracted longitudinal wave and essentially at 45 (deg) for the diffracted shear wave for any incident angles is obtained. A laser‐ultrasonic system combined with time‐of‐flight (TOFD) analysis is produced and demonstrates accurate crack sizing on an artificial slot having a variable depth from 0 mm to 10 mm. An improvement of signal‐to‐noise ratio by split spectrum processing (SSP) is also suggested.
In Vitro Evaluation of Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Potentials of Essential Oil of Tanacetum argenteum (Lam.) Willd. subsp. canum (K.Koch) Grierson var. canum

This study was performed to determine the antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities of essential oil of Tanacetum argenteum (Lam.) Willd . subsp . canum (K.Koch) Grierson var . canum . The plant was collected from Amasya. The antimicrobial activity was determined by disc diffusion and microdilution broth methods. Essential oil was active against indicator organisms. The maximal inhibition zone diameter were as follows: E. cloacae ATCC 28355 (14mm), P. fluorescens ATCC 55241 (16mm), P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853 (19mm), S. sonnei RSKK 8177 (18mm), E. coli ATCC 25922 (21mm), E. coli O157:H7 (13mm), Y. enterocolitica RSKK 1501 (11mm), C. jejuni ATCC 33291 (12mm), K. pneumoniae ATCC 27736 (13mm), S. enteritidis RSKK 171 (12mm), S. aureus ATCC 33862 (26mm) and S. aureus ATCC 25923 (29mm), M. luteus NRLL-B-4375 (20mm), E. faecalis ATCC 19433 (19mm), B. cereus NRRL-B-3711 (30mm), B. cereus RSKK (32mm), C. albicans ATCC 10231 (19mm) and C. tropicalis (17mm). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum lethal concentration (MLC) were ranged from 62.5-900 µg/ml and 125-1000 µg/ml, respectively. Plant essential oil was the most active against B. cereus NRRL-B 3711 and B. subtilis RSKK 867. Also, the essential oil has shown a strong anti-candidal activity against two Candida species. For determining the antibiofilm effect, various dilutions of oil were studied on M. luteus, E. cloacae, P. fluorescens, Y. enterocolitica and S. enteritidis by using microplate biofilm assay. According to results, antibiofilm effect was found as weak. Maximum antibiofilm effect was determined on E. cloacae ATCC 28355 with 32.92% biofilm inhibition rate.
Self-lubricating tribological characterization of lead free Fe-Cu based plain bearing material

The negative impact of lead on environment and thereby its reciprocity on the health of mankind, there is a growing emphasis on resisting the usage of lead in bearings. Owing to this, new bearing materials that provide comparable tribological performance to that of lead containing alloys are being developed. In this study, lead free Fe-Cu based powders with addition of elements such as tin, molybdenum disulfide and Nano boron nitride (BN) have been developed by powder metallurgy (PM) technique in order to improve the tribological and mechanical properties. The powder mixtures were compressed at a pressure of 500 MPa, and then sintered in dry hydrogen atmosphere at 900C for 50 minutes. The mechanical and tribological properties obtained due to addition of the said elements is presented in this study. The tribological behavior of the selected alloys is analyzed by reciprocating-sliding tests under dry conditions. The morphology of wear scars and the microstructure of the wear surfaces were investigated. The material with 2.5 wt. % of Sn exhibited the highest value of hardness, the material with 7.5 wt. % of Nano BN comparably shows the low coefficient of friction and wear rate as compared with 5 wt. % of Nano BN.
Particle Swarm Optimization for Adjusting Fuzzy Parameters of Modified Ant-based Classification to Improve Medical Diagnosis

In the real world of medical diagnosis, interpretation and integration of the rule-based systems is significantly necessary. Fuzzy version of ant- classification (FAC) provides a framework of prominent achievement on fuzzy rule-based systems. This is caused by the nature of simplicity, accuracy and comprehensibility belonging to ant-based learning and fuzzy systems as well. However, local optimal traps is still a non-trivial problem during rules generating process. The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), a robust stochastic evolutionary algorithm based on the movement and intelligence of swarms indicates outstanding performance on a wide range of applications. This paper proposes PSO-MFAC, which utilizes particle swarm optimization algorithm to find the optimal fuzzy set parameters, associated with the modified fuzzy ant-based classification (MFAC). MFAC is a modified version of the traditional fuzzy ant-based classification in terms of attributes and training cases weighting. The proposed method, PSO-MFAC is tested with six critical medical diagnosis cases. The performance measure relates to accuracy rate as well as interpretability of the classification rules. The performance of the PSO-MFAC is compared with MFAC, FAC, and some other well-known, powerful classification approaches. The experimental results indicate the outperformance of PSO-MFAC over the others.
The Frequency Control in the islanded Micro Grid by using STATCOM Controllers

When the distribution system is disconnected from the transmission system, the islanded portion of the network comprising DG (Distributed Generation) units forms a MG (Micro Grid). It is essential either to shut down the DG units or ensure the stable and the controlled operation of the islanded MG. The frequency and the voltage of the islanded MG vary when it is isolated from the main transmission grid. The voltage and the frequency of the islanded MG can be controlled to the permissible limits by providing the required amount of the active and reactive power by the local available sources in the MG. The main focus of this paper is about the control of the network frequency in the islanded MG by employing PI controllers based STATCOM (Static Compensator) and BESS-STATCOM (Battery Energy Storage System Equipped) devices. The study is done by using DIgSILENT power factory software version 15.0.
An Improvement of Yannakakis'Algorithm for MAX SAT

MAX SAT (maximum satisfiability problem) is stated as follows: given a set of clauses with weights, find a truth assignment that maximizes the sum of the weights of the satisfied clauses. In this paper, we consider approximation algorithms for MAX SAT proposed by Yannakakis and Goemans-Williamson and present an approximation algorithm which is an improvement of Yannakakis’ algorithm. Although Yannakakis’ original algorithm has no better performance guarantee than Goemans-Williamson, our improved algorithm has a better performance guarantee and leads to a 0.770-approximation algorithm.
Chitosan effects on physiochemical indicators of drought-induced leaf stress in cowpea

Water deficit stress in crops is associated a damaging oxidative process that is irreversible once it is initiated. This study was conducted to assess the effect of chitosan, a marine polysaccharide with unique bioactive properties that scavenges for reactive oxygen species; hence, chitosan application to plants has been suggested as an aid for reducing oxidative injury caused by water deficit stress. In a greenhouse, potted cowpea plants, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. (var. Cream 7), were subject to 12 treatments comprised of 70% (low water deficit stress, control), 50% (moderate stress), and 30% (high stress) field capacity irrigation regimes that were sprayed at the initiation of flowering with 0, 125, 250, and 500 mg/l chitosan. Chitosan application reduced hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) accumulation by as much as 37%, lipid peroxidation by as much as 57%, and membrane permeability by up to 16% in leaves from plants under high water deficit stress. The application of chitosan also elevated antioxidant enzyme activities, such as superoxide dismutase by up to 85% and catalase by up to 37%, and accumulations of ascorbic acid, calcium, carotenoids, magnesium, and phenolic compounds that were up to 204%, 29%, 193%, 27%, and 83%, respectively, over leaves of nonsprayed mature plants. Under moderate and severe water deficit, chitosan, particularly at a concentration of 250 mg/liter water, decreased physiochemical indicators of drought stress in leaves, and increased indicators of stress reduction. The greater levels of antioxidants and low H2O2 concentration in the chitosan-treated cowpea leaves suggest that chitosan delays effects of water deficit stress. Chitosan might be useful for crop production in situations where water availability is limited, and to make crop plants less attractive to pests that are favored by water deficit stressed plants.
Atmospheric fate of a series of Methyl Saturated Alcohols (MSA): Kinetic and Mechanistic study

Abstract. The atmospheric fate of a series of Methyl Saturated Alcohols (MSA) has been evaluated through the kinetic and reaction product studies with the main atmospheric oxidants. Rate coefficients (in cm3 molecule−1 s−1 unit) measured at ~ 298 K and atmospheric pressure (~ 740 Torr) were as follows: (3.71 ± 0.53) × 10−10, (1.91 ± 0.65) × 10−11 and (2.92 ± 1.38) × 10−15 for reaction of E-4-methyl-cyclohexanol with Cl, OH and NO3, respectively. (2.70 ± 0.55) × 10−10 and (5.57 ± 0.66) × 10−12 for reaction of 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol with Cl and OH radical respectively and (1.21 ± 0.37) × 10−10 and (10.51 ± 0.81) × 10−12 for reaction of 3,3-dimethyl-2-butanol with Cl and OH radical respectively. The main detected products were 4-methylcyclohexanone, 3,3-dimethylbutanal and 3,3-dimethyl-2-butanone for the reactions of E-4-methyl-cyclohexanol, 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol and 3,3-dimethyl-2-butanol respectively with the three oxidants. A tentative estimation of yields have been done obtaining the following ranges (25–60) % for 4-methylcyclohexanone, (40–60) % for 3,3-dimethylbutanal and (40–80) % for 3,3-dimethyl-2-butanone. Other products as HCOH, 2,2-dimethylpropanal and acetone have been identified in the reaction of 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol and 3,3-dimethyl-2-butanol. The yields of these products indicate a hydrogen abstraction mechanism at different sites of the alkyl chain in the case of Cl reaction and a predominant site in the case of OH and NO3 reactions, supported by SAR methods prediction. Tropospheric lifetimes (τ) of these MSA have been calculated using the experimental rate coefficients. Lifetimes are in the range of 0.6–2 days for OH reactions, 8–13 days for NO3 radical reactions and 1–3 months for Cl atoms. In coastal areas the lifetime due to the reaction with Cl decreases to hours. The global tropospheric lifetimes calculated, and the polyfunctional compounds detected as reaction products in this work, imply that the Methyl Saturated Alcohols could contribute to ozone and nitrated compound formation at local, but also regional and even to global scale. Therefore, the use of large saturated alcohols as additives in biofuels must be taken with caution.
Optimising cash flows in APVIOBPCS using control theory

This paper describes the investigation of the effects on profitability of production for an Automatic Pipeline, Variable Inventory and Order Based Production Control System (APVIOBPCS) production system using as an example electronic RAM production. The investigation includes varying the order up to inventory and WIP using PID control to illustrate the profit gain from using control analysis. The results show that greater PID gains for a controlled production system will increase profitability. The value of desired inventory level increases profitability with a defined optimum value
Identification of Growth Hormone (Gh) Gene MspI and AluI Loci Polymorphism in Beef Cattles

The research was conducted in order to identify the polymorphism of MspI and AluI locus of the growth hormone (GH) gene in Bali, Limousine and Simmental cattle. Total blood samples of 87 cattle were taken from population of Bali cattle were collected from Balai Pembibitan Ternak Unggul Sapi Bali in Bali island, whereas Limousine and Simmental cattle blood samples were collected from Balai Inseminasi Buatan (BIB) Singosari-Malang, West Java. PCR-RFLP and sequencing methods used to detect the polymorphism and mutation at MspI and AluI loci of GH gene. The results showed that at MspI locus, the Bali, Limousine and Simmental cattle had one genotype (-/-), three genotypes(+/+, +/, -/-) and two genotypes (+/+, +/-), respectively whereas for AluI locus, the Bali, Limousine and Simmental cattles had one genotype (LL), two genotypes (LL, LV) and three genotypes (LL, LV, VV), respectively. The allele frequencies of + and – alleles in Bali, Limousine and Simmental cattle were 0.000 and 1.000; 0.636 and 0.364; 0.889 and 0.111 respectively, whereas the frequencies of L and V alleles in Bali, Limousine and Simmental cattle were 0.000 and 0.000; 0.818 and 0.182; 0.694 and 0.306 respectively. Based on polymorphic informative content (PIC) value, it can be concluded that MspI and AluI loci in Bali cattle are monomorphic, while in Limousine and Simmental cattle is polymorphic. Based on the sequencing results, the MspI (+/+ and -/genotypes) and AluI (LL and VV genotypes) loci showed a occurrences of nucleotide base mutation from cytosine (C) to thymine (T) and cytosine (C) to guanine (G), respectively.