Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Small-scale Intensity Mapping: Extended Halos as a Probe of the Ionizing Escape Fraction and Faint Galaxy Populations during Reionization

We present a new method to quantify the value of the escape fraction of ionizing photons, and the existence of ultra-faint galaxies clustered around brighter objects during the epoch of cosmic reionization, using the diffuse Lyα, continuum, and Hα emission observed around galaxies at . We model the surface brightness profiles of the diffuse halos, considering the fluorescent emission powered by ionizing photons escaping from the central galaxies, and the nebular emission from satellite star-forming sources, by extending the formalisms developed in Mas-Ribas & Dijkstra and Mas-Ribas et al. The comparison between our predicted profiles and Lyα observations at z = 5.7 and z = 6.6 favors a low ionizing escape fraction, , for galaxies in the range . However, uncertainties and possible systematics in the observations do not allow for firm conclusions. We predict Hα and rest-frame visible continuum observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and show that it will be able to detect extended (a few tens of kiloparsecs) fluorescent Hα emission powered by ionizing photons escaping from a bright, , galaxy. Such observations could differentiate fluorescent emission from nebular emission by satellite sources. We discuss how observations and stacking several objects may provide unique constraints on the escape fraction for faint galaxies and/or the abundance of ultra-faint radiation sources.
Who Cares About the Day after Tomorrow? Pension Issues When Households are Myopic or Time Inconsistent

[German] Die wissenschaftliche Forschung stA¼tzt ihre Empfehlungen fA¼r die Rentenpolitik traditionell auf formale Modelle. Diese basieren regelmA¤AŸig auf der Lebenszyklushypothese, im Rahmen derer rationale Individuen mit perfekter Voraussicht und vollstA¤ndiger Information betrachtet werden, welche auf eine logische Art und Weise bzgl. der zeitlichen Abfolge ihrer Entscheidungen handeln. Diese Studie beleuchtet ausgewA¤hlte Aspekte, in welchen die starren Annahmen der Lebenszyklushypothese nicht weiter gelten. Wir konzentrieren uns dabei auf drei Aspekte, die besonders relevant sind fA¼r asiatische Volkswirtschaften mit schnell alternder BevA¶lkerung: erstens, die HA¶he der Ersparnisse fA¼r die Altersvorsorge, zweitens, die internationale Diversifikation der Altersvorsorgeaufwendungen und drittens, internationale Auswirkungen von Rentenreformen. [English] Pension economics has traditionally guided pension policy with the help of formal models based on individuals who think in a life cycle context with perfect foresight, full information and in a time-consistent manner. This paper sheds light on selected aspects of pension economics when these assumptions do not hold. We focus on three aspects which are particularly relevant for the quickly aging Asian economies: the volume of savings for old-age provisions, international diversification of retirement savings, and global spillover effects of pension reforms.
A Systematic Review on An Artificial Bee Colony optimized approach for segmentation of blood vessels using Neural Networks

Blood vessel in retinal image plays a vital role in medical diagnosis of many diseases. Diabetic retinopathy is one of the diseases which damages the retina and leads to blindness. Segmentation of blood vessels is helpful for ophthalmologists and this paper presents a new automatic method to extract blood vessels with high accuracy. This algorithm is comprised of optimized Gabor filter with local entropy thresholding for vessels segmentation under various normal or abnormal conditions. The retinal blood vessel network provides nutrition to the eyes and removes waste from the retinal systems. While doing this, it must not interfere with the light transmission to the photoreceptors in the neural layer. Human eyes have evolved a two layer circulation systems to accommodate this need [1, 2]. The two circulation systems are uveal blood circulation and retinal blood circulation. The retina needs both systems to survive [3].
Dynamic Characteristics of the Sinter-Forged Cu-Cr Alloys with the Variation of Chrome Content

This paper is concerned with the dynamic characteristics of sinter-forged Cu–Cr alloy for various strain-rates. The amount of the chrome content is varied from 10 %wt to 30 %wt in order to investigate the influence of the chrome content on the dynamic characteristics. The dynamic response at the corresponding level of strain-rate should be obtained with an adequate experimental technique and corresponding apparatus due to the inertia effect and the stress wave propagation. In this paper, the high speed tensile testing machine is utilized in order to identify the dynamic response of the Cu–Cr alloy at the intermediate strain-rates and the split Hopkinson pressure bar is used at the high strain-rates. Experimental results from both the quasi-static and the high strain-rates up to the 5000/s are interpolated with respect to the amount of the chrome content in order to construct the Johnson–Cook and the modified Johnson–Cook model as the constitutive relation for numerical simulation of the dynamic impact behavior of electrodes.
Characteristics of romantic relationships during adolescence: A review of Anglo-western literature

ABSTRACT Romantic relationships are a central aspect of the life of adolescents and have an important influence on the socio-affective and sexual development. This paper presents a review of the scientific literature on romantic relationships during adolescence and aims to unravel the ongoing debate in the literature and to identify possible gaps. The review encompasses the analysis of 36 studies on romantic relationships in adolescence, all published in peer-reviewed English scientific journals. The analysis of the published data was guided by five central characteristics of romantic relationships of adolescents: i.e., involvement, partner selection, content, quality, and emotions and cognitions emerging from the relationship. It was found that although during the last decade a growing interest of scholars in the study of romantic relationships in adolescents emerged, providing a certain body of knowledge on the topic in general, there are still gaps in the understanding of adolescents’ romantic relationships in different socio-cultural contexts. Limitations of the reviewed studies in terms of agreement on definitions, inconsistencies in sample population, research design and methodological approach are discussed. Keywords: Romantic relationships, adolescence, dating, socio-affective development, literature review. RESUMEN Las relaciones romanticas constituyen un aspecto central en la vida de los adolescentes y tienen una influencia importante en el desarrollo socio-afectivo y sexual. En este trabajo se presenta una revision sistematica de la literatura cientifica sobre las relaciones romanticas en la adolescencia, con el objetivo de desentranar el debate en curso en la literatura e identificar las posibles lagunas en la comprension. La revision incluyo un analisis de 36 estudios publicados en revistas cientificas en ingles. La revision de literatura se desarrolla dentro de un marco de cinco categorias de las relaciones romanticas: involucramiento, seleccion de pareja, contenido, calidad y las emociones y cogniciones que emergen de la relacion. Los resultados que surgen del analisis de los estudios existentes muestran que, si bien durante la ultima decada ha existido un creciente interes en el estudio de las relaciones romanticas en los adolescentes, la comprension de estas relaciones en diferentes contextos y grupos socio-culturales sigue siendo limitada. Se discuten las limitaciones metodologicas de los estudios, en terminos de falta de definiciones estandarizadas, limitaciones en las muestras, los disenos de investigacion y los enfoques metodologicos. Palabras clave: Relaciones romanticas, adolescencia, enamoramiento, el desarrollo socio-afectivo, revision de literatura.
Ein FEM-basierter Mimikgenerator für animierte anthropomorphe Avatare

Zusammenfassung Diese Arbeit beschreibt den Prototypen eines Editors fur menschliche Gesichtsausdrucke. Besondere Merkmale des vorgestellten Systems sind dabei der enge Bezug zu anatomischen Daten fur die Simulation sowie die Berucksichtigung der Gesichtsanatomie bei der Definition der Muskelgruppen. Sowohl die hohe Qualitat der C1-stetigen Ausgabegeometrie als auch der Abstraktionsgrad dieses Editors, der die emotionsbasierte Modellierung unterstutzt, sind weitere auszeichnende Eigenschaften. Durch die Verwendung der Methode der Finiten Elemente wird eine bessere Approximation des Ergebnisses erreicht als dies z.B. bei Partikel-Systemen der Fall ist. Das prasentierte Verfahren kann zur Animation von anthropomorphen Avataren in virtuellen Umgebungen dienen.
Molecular-level kinetic modeling of carbon feedstocks upgrading through hydrotreatment on bifunctional catalysts

The primary objective of this thesis is to develop molecular-level kinetic models for hydrotreating processes of conventional and non-conventional hydrocarbon feedstocks on bifunctional catalysts. A comprehensive comparison of the kinetics of the most important industrial hydroprocessing operations is obtained by developing a model for the green diesel and petroleum-derived lube base oil production. An overview is given of the different steps required for constructing the models. These are developed using the in-house Kinetic Modeling Toolbox software by reconstructing the molecular feed composition, building a reaction network and using an optimization algorithm to develop the reaction kinetics. Experimental data is used throughout this process to optimize and evaluate the obtained kinetics. Both hydrotreating processes are modeled assuming the Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson kinetics formalism and using the Bell-Evans-Polanyi linear free energy relationship to reduce the number of tunable kinetic parameters. To model the hydroprocessing for green diesel production, a fatty acid methyl ester is used as model compound to represent whole vegetable oil feeds. Experimental data of a coconut oil hydroprocessing operation is subsequently used to verify the accuracy of the obtained kinetics. This model consisted of 150 molecular species and 309 reactions, grouped into 8 reaction families. The hydroprocessing of a pretreated deasphalted oil is more complex and represented by a network containing 1 690 species and 24 754 individual reactions grouped in 11 reaction families. The model results for both processes show good agreement with the experimental results for a range of process conditions. While both models comprise the same reaction types, a significant difference in kinetics is witnessed based on operation conditions, feed properties and catalyst type. The biomass hydrotreatment is performed at mild conditions with a
Seed transmission of Acidovorax citrulli: implementation of detection in watermelon seeds and development of disinfection methods

Acidovorax citrulli is a seed-borne pathogen and the causal agent of bacterial fruit blotch of cucurbits. It is listed as an A1 quarantine pathogen by EPPO. Seed certification is based on the availability of a sensitive and specific pathogen detection in seed lots: this is a must for an effective disease management strategy. Therefore, an effective DNA extraction and purification procedure is a critical issue to ensure a robust PCR analysis. Pathogen detection in seed lots has been implemented by testing different known contamination levels by Acidovorax citrulli. Initially, two different sample preparation methods have been tested: a) Overnight soaking; b) Hammering of dry seeds, followed by three different manual DNA extraction. Each DNA sub-sample obtained has been analysed with two different primers sets, SEQID3/SEQID4 and WFB1/WFB2, to evaluate the capability to detect the pathogen. Results showed that a DNA extraction and purification procedure, based on soaking the seeds, followed by the use of the DNeasy Plant Mini kit (Qiagen) on the washing fluids gave the highest amount of DNA, sufficient to increase the detection threshold of the pathogen. This will allow the improvement of current detection procedures. Furthermore, naturally contaminated watermelon seeds were treated through different methods, in order to achieve a possible sanitation or eradication of Acidovorax citrulli: a bacterial antagonist, a microbial consortium, a plant polyphenol. Our results showed that treated seeds were only partially disinfected, and the pathogen was not eradicated after any of the methods used.
Competitor Analysis in Strategic Management: Is it a Worthwhile Managerial Practice in Contemporary Times?

Studying the actions and behavior of close competitors is essential. Unless a company pays attention to what competitors are doing, it ends up ‘flying blind’ into battle. Managers need competitive information to understand the industry and its competitors; to identify areas in which the competitors are weak and to evaluate the impact of strategic actions on competitors. The purpose of this study is to establish the relevance or otherwise of competitor analysis as a strategic management practice in modern business competition. An integrative literature review approach was adopted for the study. This involved reviews, critiques, and synthesis of representative literature on the topic in an integrated way for generating new perspectives on competitor analysis. Personal interpretations of the issues addressed were the bases upon which the authors drew their conclusions. The study revealed that identifying competitors and how they operate helps managers to tackle industry issues that are detrimental to their companies’ health and also helps managers to learn from competitors. It also revealed that firms that pay attention to competitors’ actions have been found to achieve better business performance. Keywords: strategic management, managerial practice, competitor analysis, competition
On the non-optimality of information: an analysis of the welfare effects of anticipated shocks in the New Keynesian model

This paper compares the welfare effects of anticipated and unanticipated cost-push shocks within the canonical New Keynesian model with optimal monetary policy. We find that, for empirically plausible degrees of nominal rigidity, the anticipation of a future cost-push shock leads to a higher welfare loss than an unanticipated shock. A welfare gain from the anticipation of a future cost shock may only occur if prices are sufficiently flexible. We show analytically that this result holds although unanticipated shocks lead to higher negative impact effects on welfare than anticipated shocks.
Continuous Seasonal and Large-Scale Periglacial Reservoir Sedimentation

Sustainable reservoir use is globally threatened by sedimentation. It has been generally recognized that inadequate consideration of reservoir sedimentation has caused the worldwide decline of net storage. Numerical models are useful tools to simulate sedimentation processes and can be used to derive efficient counter-measures and sediment management strategies. They can be applied to both existing and potential future reservoirs to predict long-term sedimentation. In this study, an application of a simple, robust, and stable numerical 1D model to Gebidem reservoir in Switzerland accompanied by field measurements is presented. It focusses on seasonal and large-scale reservoir sedimentation processes that occur continuously throughout the whole deposition season, while episodic events like turbidity currents are not taken into account. The model simulates both the delta formation of coarse sediments and the lake-wide sedimentation from homopycnal flows. The model is used to assess the effects and significance of varying boundary conditions like inflow, suspended sediment concentration, particle size distribution (PSD), or reservoir operation. It will be demonstrated that future reservoir operation and PSD are as important as future runoff evolution. Based on these findings, implications on future reservoir operation, also considering climate change, are discussed. Finally, an outlook on pending research topics is given.
A Study on the Enchancement of Manipulation Performance of Wheelchair-Mounted Rehabilitation Service Robot

A wheelchair-mounted reha- bilitation service robot called KARES (KAist Rehabilitation Engineering Service system) has been realized to as- sist the disabled / the elderly. One of the most important factors to be considered in the design of this system is to enhance reliability so that the disabled / the eld- erly can use with feelings of safety and confidence. For enhancing the reliabil- ity, it is suggested that autonomous ma- nipulation and manual manipulation be integrated in a proper manner. The basic autonomous tasks for KARES are grasping an object on the table, grasping an object on the floor, and manipulating a switch on the wall. For manual ma- nipulation of the disabled / the elderly, a 3D input device called SPACEBALL 2003 is used and an auxiliary device is designed for the disabled to facilitate rotational input function. Using this auxiliary device and SPACEBALL 2003, the disabled / the elderly are able to make a manual adjustment during the autonomous task. Integration of autonomous and manual operation proves to be robust and reliable. The performance of the system is verified by experiment.
ANALYSIS OF FACTORS AFFECTING POST-POWER SYNDROME AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE ELDERLY

Background: Quality of life is the individuals’ perception of their place in life in the context of the cultural system and values in which they live, along with their goals, expectations, and worries. Retirement is an adaptable period that results in a change of role, changes in social interactions, and limited financial resources. Aim: This study aims to analyze the factors that affect post power syndrome and quality of life of the elderly. Methods: The design of this research was a correlation study with a cross-sectional approach. The population consisted of 44 retired elderly individuals. Purposive sampling was applied to the determined sample size. The independent variables were physiological stressors, psychological stressors and aging attitudes. The dependent variables were post-power syndrome and the quality of life of elderly people. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling- Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) with a significance t statistic ≥ 1.96. Results: The findings showed all of the significant indicators measured to the variable factor. Physical stressor factors affect post-power syndrome with a t value of 2.366, and psychological stress factors affect post-power syndrome with a t value of 3.326. Aging behavior factors affects post-power syndrome with a t statistic of 5.296 and the post-power syndrome effect on the quality of life of the elderly has a t value of 7.689. Conclusion: There were significant effects in relation to physiological stressor factors, psychological stress factors, and aging attitudes towards post-power syndrome. There was an influence of post-power syndrome on the quality of elderly life.
A Conflicting Bifuzzy Evaluation Approach in Multi-Criteria Decision Making

and decision makers due to its ability to derive effectively a compromise solution in the decision process. The focus of this paper is to propose a conflicting bifuzzy evaluation in the overall decision process using linguistic expressions. The approach is based on the new theory sets, the so- called ‘conflicting bifuzzy sets’ (CBFS) which are an extension of Atanassov intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFS). A definition of the CBFS is discussed and the approach employs a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) hybrid model which is developed using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy ideal solution. Through this proposed approach, the decision maker needs to evaluate all the qualitative criteria using totally linguistic expressions through both positive and negative aspects such as ‘very good’, ‘good’, ‘slightly poor’ etc. The direct assigned was employed to derive the importance weight of the criteria and the best compromise options among the potential alternatives was measured by performance index. A hypothetical example of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal alternatives was given to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach. Based on the calculations, the approach is comprehensive in concept, very flexible, suitable for various decision situations and very promising result to derive the holistic evaluation, particularly in complex MCDM problems.
Experimental Study on the Stability of Riprap at Bridge Piers in a 180 Degree Flume Bend

Every year, many bridges fail not for structural reasons but due to the scouring at their piers and abutments. One of the most important reasons for this destruction is local scour around the bridge pier in river bend. The use of riprap stones to deal with scour problems is very usual in civil engineering practice. In the present study application of riprap was examined experimentally for scour control around cylindrical bridge pier in a 180-degree laboratory flume bend. Experiments were conducted for four various sizes of riprap with flow discharge of 22, 25, 28 and sec / 31lit . The cylindrical model pier was installed at the positions of 30, 60, 90 and 120-degree with clear-water conditions. The results show that the maximum of riprap stability occurs at 30-degree position, and at least stability occurs at the 60-degree position. As the riprap grain size decreases, the effect of bridge pier position in the river bends on the riprap layer instability declines. Furthermore, the riprap stability around the bridge pier at the river bend was less than the straight channels.
Radiometric correction of observations from microwave humidity sounders

Abstract. The Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B) and Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) are total power microwave radiometers operating at frequencies near the water vapor absorption line at 183 GHz. The measurements of these instruments are crucial for deriving a variety of climate and hydrological products such as water vapor, precipitation, and ice cloud parameters. However, these measurements are subject to several errors that can be classified into radiometric and geometric errors. The aim of this study is to quantify and correct the radiometric errors in these observations through intercalibration. Since the bias in the calibration of microwave instruments changes with scene temperature, a two-point intercalibration correction scheme was developed based on averages of measurements over the tropical oceans and nighttime polar regions. The intercalibration coefficients were calculated on a monthly basis using measurements averaged over each specified region and each orbit, then interpolated to estimate the daily coefficients. Since AMSU-B and MHS channels operate at different frequencies and polarizations, the measurements from the two instruments were not intercalibrated. Because of the negligible diurnal cycle of both temperature and humidity fields over the tropical oceans, the satellites with the most stable time series of brightness temperatures over the tropical oceans (NOAA-17 for AMSU-B and NOAA-18 for MHS) were selected as the reference satellites and other similar instruments were intercalibrated with respect to the reference instrument. The results show that channels 1, 3, 4, and 5 of AMSU-B on board NOAA-16 and channels 1 and 4 of AMSU-B on board NOAA-15 show a large drift over the period of operation. The MHS measurements from instruments on board NOAA-18, NOAA-19, and MetOp-A are generally consistent with each other. Because of the lack of reference measurements, radiometric correction of microwave instruments remain a challenge, as the intercalibration of these instruments largely depends on the stability of the reference instrument.