Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Uncanny Interactions: A Digital Medium for Networked E.motion

Séa. nce: a networked glossalalia is a collaborative project involving a sound artist, visual artist, and a remotely-located interaction designer. The aim of the collaboration was to make a multiuser live performance work for local and remote players, in a work that asked how it would look, sound, and feel to interact in a networked séance environment that channels the e.motional relays within the network (the dot in ‘e.motion’ emphasises the moving aspects). This paper focuses on lessons learned during the process of designing uncanny interactions, dealing with both the piece itself, the collaborative process which created it, and how each of these informs the other. In the case of Séa. nce the work itself is a creative collaboration, and the process of creating it is an e.motional network.
Assessing the status of shallow lakes using an additive model of biomass size spectra

1. Planktonic biomass size spectra were used to summarize the ecological quality of six shallow lakes sampled in spring, early summer and late summer. 2. A simple additive model fitted to the data was used to assess the applicability of the size spectrum theory to shallow lake ecosystems. 3. The additive model replicated the hierarchical pattern of biomass predicted by the predator–prey theory of aquatic production, and was a more appropriate model for predicting biomass size spectra than the frequently used linear regression. 4. Lakes with varying ecological quality were a significant source of variation in the additive model, and further research into using size spectra to monitor ecological quality in shallow lakes is warranted. Specifically, the production of size spectra from a wider range of sites is needed to provide greater statistical validation. 5. The use of size spectra can provide an attractive and cost-effective way for classifying lake ecosystems because it circumvents the need for difficult taxonomic description. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Preferences regarding road transports of hazardous materials using choice experiments - any sign of biases?

This paper uses the choice experiment approach to assess people's preferences regarding road transports of hazardous materials. In a mail survey, carried out in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, changes in exposure to hazardous materials are used as a proxy for changes in accident risk. The results are analysed in the light of an earlier study on transports of hazardous materials by rail. Special attention is given to biases associated with the choice experiment method. The presence of hypothetical bias is studied by the use of self-reported degree of confidence that the respondent would vote the same way in a real referendum. The presence of a focusing effect is studied by an inclusion of information on other fatal risks. The indication is that there are no major differences in individual preferences for hazmat transported by rail or road. The estimates are also dependent on the confidence of stated choices and interpreting this dependence as a hypothetical bias, suggest that this type of bias tends to push estimated values downwards. The findings show that individual background data regarding transports of hazardous materials affect individuals in expected ways and there is no focusing effect.
Economic Issues in Ecosystem Management: An Introduction and Overview

Ecosystem management may extend multiple use management, where economists identify and value a complex mix of ecosystem outputs. The dominant theme in conservation biology favors “safe minimum standard” (SMS) constraints on ecosystem attributes, which respond to complex and purely uncertain ecological knowledge and lead economists toward valuation questions that identify “tolerable” constraints. A hierarchical SMS constraint raises substitution possibilities among ecosystem-level components. Economists may identify unavoidable resource tradeoffs, such as in allocating land among elements of a reserve network, particularly when ecological wealth differs among geographically dispersed human communities. Economic and ecological ironies obfuscate intuitive contributions to ecosystem management policy.
INDUCTION OF GERMINATION IN MYXOCOCCUS XANTHUS FRUITING BODY SPORES

SUMMARY: Myxococcus xanthus, when starved on a solid surface, undergoes a multicellular cycle of development that consists of fruiting and sporulation. Myxospore germination has been followed in CTT, a complex medium composed mainly of peptides, by monitoring the sequential disappearance of some characteristic spore properties. Loss of heat resistance, shortly after incubation was initiated, was followed by loss of resistance to SDS and finally, refractility and ovoid shape. Germination of a population of myxospores did not occur synchronously. However, in the presence of calcium, germination was activated, being more rapid and synchronous. Other spore activation treatments tested did not have the same stimulatory effect. We searched for specific nutrients or chemicals capable of inducing germination. Amino acids, unlike other potential carbon and energy sources for M. xanthus, or several sugars tested, were most effective in triggering germination. Continuous incubation in CTT and Casamino acids germinant solutions was not required for induction and completion of germination of a large proportion of spores in a population.
Zooplankton Communities 10 . 3 Near-surface zooplankton communities

1Australian Antarctic Division, Department of the Environment, Kingston, Australia 2National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Greta Point, Wellington, New Zealand 3National Institute of Polar Research, Tachikawa City, Tokyo, Japan 4Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia 5Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
FRUIT ANATOMY OF SPECIES OF SOLANUM SECT . TORVA ( SOLANACEAE )

The mature fruits of 10 South American species of Solanum sect. Torva were studied. Cross and longitudinal microtome sections, stained with astra blue/basic fuchsin, were made for microscopic examination. All species present an epidermis formed by a unistrate layer of small, isodiametric cells, with dense content and cellulosic walls. Immediately below, a hypodermis is always found, consisting of a well-defined layer of lignified cells with a single calcium oxalate crystal occupying the whole lumen of each cell. This is followed by one layer of cellulosic, isodiametric cells with dense cytoplasm and then several collenchymatous layers, sometimes with sclerified cell walls. The mesocarp comprises two zones histologically differentiated: an external one (formed by regular, vacuolated, medium-sized cells with small intercellular spaces), and an internal one, commonly juicy, and developing proliferations among the seeds. The fruits analyzed are alike, and despite some particularities, they can be classified as berries in the conventional sense. All the traits examined agree with the ornithochorous dispersal syndrome. The homogeneity in fruit traits may be due to shared habit, habitat and sexual system.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Space efficient indexes for the big data era

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Short Term Wind Speed Forecasting using Hybrid ELM Approach

Objectives: To enrich the accuracy of the wind speed forecasting to calculate wind power generation connecting to grid with the help of machine learning algorithms. Methods/Statistical Analysis: A novel hybrid method, Persistence - Extreme Learning Machine (P-ELM) algorithm is proposed. It uses the features of both Persistent and Extreme Learning Machine algorithms. The historical data of meteorological parameters viz. pressure, temperature and past wind speeds are considered as input parameters and wind speed for the next instant as the output, measured at one hour interval for a period of a month are used for the study. Findings: The forecasting is carried out for three areas Guntur, Vijayawada and Ongole of Andhra Pradesh state, India for winter, summer and rainy seasons. The performance of the P-ELM is evaluated in terms of Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). From the results obtained it can be concluded that the P-ELM algorithm leaves behind the fundamental Persistent and Extreme Learning Machine algorithm not only in terms of error metrics but also in simulation time. The entire simulation is carried out with the help of MATLAB 2013a software. Application/Improvements: This technique is very much helpful in real time forecasting of wind speed to avoid the high level of uncertainty involved in wind generation, there by increases the power system security and stability.
The seasonal characteristics of the breeze circulation at a coastal Mediterranean site in South Italy

Abstract. We present a study on the characteristics of the sea breeze flow at a coastal site located in the centre of the Mediterranean basin at the southern tip of Italy. This study is finalized to add new data on breeze circulations over a narrow peninsula and present a unique experimental coastal site at about 600 m from the coastline in a flat open area at the foot of a mountain chain located in a region of complex orography. We study the seasonal behaviour of the sea-land breeze circulation by analysing two years of hourly data of wind speed and direction, temperature, radiation and relative humidity from a surface meteorological station, eighteen-months data from a wind profiler, and two-year data from the ECMWF analysis. Results show that breezes dominate the local circulation and play a major role for the local climate. They are modulated by the season, through the sea-land temperature difference and the large-scale flow. The large-scale forcing acts in phase with the diurnal breeze and opposes the nocturnal breeze. In summer, the daytime difference between the land surface temperature and the SST (Sea Surface Temperature) reaches its maximum, while the nigh-time difference has its minimum. This causes a strong, frequent and intense diurnal breeze and a weak nocturnal breeze. In winter and fall the nocturnal difference between the sea and land surface temperature reaches a maximum value, while the diurnal difference is at its minimum value. This causes a strong, frequent and intense nocturnal breeze despite of the large-scale forcing that is usually opposed to local-scale flow.
Toxic and antinutritional substances content of Amaranthus dubius Mart. ex Thell. Effect of plant part and harvesting season

Amaranth species are gaining increasing interest for human and animal nutrition, although its use is limited due to their toxic and antinutritional substances contents. The contents of toxic and antinutritionals substances (oxalates, phytates, total phenols, condensate tannins, hydrolysable tannins and cyanide) in the leaves, stems, and panicles of Amaranthus dubius Mart. ex Thell. , not yet investigated, were evaluated in both rainy and dry seasons. The plants were cultivated in El Nectar Hacienda, located in Merecure, in the municipality of Acevedo, Miranda State, Venezuela (10o31’38" N, 66o33’16" W). The concentration of oxalates, phytates, total phenols, condensate and hydrolysable tannins were determined by classic colorimetric techniques, the cyanide being determined by silver nitrate titration. The content of toxic and antinutrients in A. dubiusranged from 169.6 to 368.5 mg of oxalates.kg -1 DM, 0.771 to 7.482 mg of phytates.g -1 DM, 0.47 to 1.77 mg of total phenols.g -1 DM, and 0.22 to 1.20 mg of condensate tannins.g -1 DM. Cyanide and hydrolysable tannins were not detected. The values of most of these substances presented differences according to harvesting seasons and plant part (P<0.001), as well as an interaction between both factors. The content of toxic and antinutrients was generally higher in the dry than in the rainy season for all parts of the plant. The harvesting season and the plant part affect the content of toxic and antinutritional substances in A.dubius, whose values were, however, below the maximum levels allowed by regulators for human consumption. Therefore, as raw material it does not need to be processed in order to guarantee its harmlessness.
Design of Binary Robust Independent Elementary Features through Compressive Sensing View

Binary Robust Independent Elemen tary Feature (BRIEF) is designed to be a very simple and efficient feature point descriptor for image. In this paper, compressive sensing theory is used in proposing the reason why it works and guiding the parameter determination of BRIEF. It is proved in this paper BRIEF is the Binarization of Compressive Sensing Sampling. Also, with theoretical basis for BRIEF, there is guidance for us to design new descriptors.
Resonant production of 
Z′
 and signature of right-handed neutrinos within a 3-3-1 model

Recent simulation studies indicate that right-handed neutrinos may be discovered at future high luminosity LHC runs as long as a new neutral gauge boson, Z', have been discovered first. In this case, when Z' is resonantly produced at the LHC it, subsequently, decays into a pair of right-handed neutrinos with mass up to TeV scale. Then the decay of these neutrinos leave as signature trilepton final states and/or same-sign dimuon and a boost diboson. The prospect of discovering right-handed neutrinos through this mechanism has been developed within Abelian gauge extension of the standard model. In this work we study the processes involved in this discovery mechanism within the framework of a 3-3-1 model.
Control of eigenfunctions on hyperbolic surfaces: an application of fractal uncertainty principle

This expository article, written for the proceedings of the Journ\'ees EDP (Roscoff, June 2017), presents recent work joint with Jean Bourgain [arXiv:1612.09040] and Long Jin [arXiv:1705.05019]. We in particular show that eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on hyperbolic surfaces are bounded from below in $L^2$ norm on each nonempty open set, by a constant depending on the set but not on the eigenvalue.
Interdependence between Sovereign and Bank CDS Spreads in Eurozone during the European Debt Crisis - The PSI Effect

This paper examines the changes in the interdependence between sovereign and bank credit risk, that were noticed, after the announcement of the voluntary exchange program of Greek bonds, with the participation of the private sector (Private Sector Involvement - PSI). More precisely, we investigate the progress of the credit default swaps (CDS) of eight eurozone countries and of twenty-one banking institutions, for the period of January 2009 to May 2014. We divide the sample into two sub-periods, based on the announcement of the program. We apply Hsiao's methodology (1981), in order to ascertain the causality which is observed between the CDS series and potential changes in their relationship, due to the implementation of the PSI. We identify limited causality relations between countries and banks of the sample examined, in the second sub-period, while the size of the interaction is reduced in the same period. After developing a Difference-in-Difference model, we confirm the weakening of causal relationships between the CDS series studied, for the period, after the announcement of the PSI. Our results suggest that the implementation of the PSI has contributed to the limitation of the interdependence between the CDS spreads of the sovereigns and banks in the period that follows.
Critical variables of business failure : a review and classification framework

Failure is a phenomenon that ventures face during all stages of the life cycle and requires insight into its causes before it can be reversed. The scientific literature on failure is, however, spread over multiple disciplines. This study’s line of enquiry firstly reviews the documented research (both theoretical and empirical) encompassing the phenomenon ‘business failure’ on a multi-disciplinary basis. A conceptual framework is then proposed for categorising variables into four sub-domains namely: signs and prediction; causes and preconditions; recovery; and cognition and learning. Better understanding of the failure phenomenon is achieved. The methodology applied is fundamentally based on grounded theory interpretation with a focus on classifying the identified relevant variables.
Learning mathematics through conversation and utilizing technology

This paper discusses how students' participation in conversation and classroom activities potentially evidences and constitutes their cognition. Participation is viewed in terms of reflective discourse, a construct from the literature, and is described in the context of two Year 11 students together designing a simple aplet for their graphics calculators, then discussing its operation. Reflective discourse is characterised by shifts in conversation so that concepts which are discussed initially as resulting from mathematical operations (calculations) become referred to, in turn, as objects that are operated on, to solve problems or for developing other concepts. The aplet was for calculating the magnitude of vectors given in component form. Interaction with each other, which centred on the technology, was seen to be instrumental to the students moving from understanding magnitude in its component definition, to later using magnitude to solve vector problems in an insightful way. Using reflective discourse as a framework for analysis suggested it is a valuable theoretical viewpoint for describing how learning might occur.
Comparison of RNA and DNA-Based Amplification Methods for the Discrimination of Viable from Non-Viable Salmonella Typhimurium

BINGHAM, JAMES. Comparison of RNA versus DNA-Based Amplification Methods for the Discrimination of Viable from Non-Viable Salmonella Typhimurium. (Under the direction of Dr. Lee-Ann Jaykus). Although nucleic acid-based foodborne pathogen detection strategies offer promise, a consistent concern has been their poor correlation to bacterial cell viability, largely due to long-term persistence of DNA even after cell death. Evidence has suggested that RNA may be a better target than DNA for detection of viable cells. The purpose of this study was to compare a real-time RNA amplification method (nucleic acid sequence-based amplification or NASBA) to a similar real-time DNA-based PCR method with respect to the ability to detect viable bacterial cells. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium was grown in both pure culture and a chicken carcass rinse and subjected to different time and temperature conditions (no heat, 2.5-5 min at 60°C, 10-20 min at 60°C, and 15 min at 121°C) followed by isolation and purification of both DNA and RNA and cultural enumeration by direct plating. Isolated RNA and DNA were amplified by real-time NASBA or molecular Beacon, SYBR Green, and/or TaqMan real-time PCR, respectively. Detection limits for each assay were determined using a modified MPN approach. The SYBR Green and the TaqMan®-based PCR assays had a detection limit of 1010 CFU/ml for each replicate, with a similar log linear quantification range (approximately 2.0-9.0 log10 CFU/ml); in comparison, the real-time NASBA assay had a detection limit of 10 CFU/ml indicating a less sensitive assay. Exposure of S. Typhimurium cells to 60°C for 2.5-5 min resulted in a 4 log10 reduction in viable count when compared to the control (unheated) samples, while an >8 log10 reduction in viable count was observed after exposure to heat for 10-20 min at 60°C or 15 min at 121°C, regardless of the matrix. Based on the MPN equivalents estimate, there was no statistically significant difference between detection of S. Typhimurium when comparing treatments for any one real-time PCR method in either matrix. There was a gradual reduction in real-time NASBA signal as the heat treatments increased in severity for each matrix. The RNA-based amplification assay was more indicative of bacterial cell viability than was a parallel DNA-based amplification assay, suggesting that RNA may be a more reliable target in this regard. While the real-time NASBA assay was a better indicator of cell viability, it appears that mRNA can still be detected up to one hour after cell death. Consequently, the detection of either DNA or RNA using nucleic acid amplification methods cannot be relied upon to completely indicate the presence of live target bacterial cells. Comparison of RNA versus DNA-based amplification methods for the discrimination of viable from non-viable Salmonella Typhimurium. by James Edmund Bingham A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Science
The order parameters and in nematic p-alkyl-p' -cyano-biphenyls : polarized Raman measurements and the influence of molecular association

Values for the order parameters and from polarized Raman measurements are reported for the homologous series of nemaric alkylcyanobiphenyls. With increasing chain length a change of behaviour is observed from «low» -values to higher values corresponding to the Maier-Saupe mean-fied theory. In addition, correlation factors describing the anti-parallel molecular association in these compounds have been derived from permittivity measurements. A tentative qualitative model is given in which the low -values are attributed to this association. This leads to a certain proportion of «dimers», for which the long molecular axis is not parallel to the direction of the Raman-vibration anymore. In addition, steric interactions can be expected to lead to non-parallelism of the long axis of a dimer and of a neighbouring monomer. For specific parameters of the dimer, the combination of these two effects can lead to a marked broadening of f(β), and thus to low or negative values for En fonction de la longueur des chaines, on observe une augmentation de correspondant a la theorie de champ moyen de Maier et Saupe. Evaluation des facteurs de correlation decrivant l'association moleculaire antiparallele en vue de mesures de permittivite
NBO, nonlinear optical and thermodynamic properties of 10-Acetyl-10H-phenothiazine 5-oxide

In this paper, natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis, nonlinear optical and the thermodynamic properties of 10-Acetyl-10H-phenothiazine 5-oxide have been analyzed by employing density functional theory level employing 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. NBO analysis reveals that the intra- intermolecular charge transfer occurs within the molecule leading to the stabilization. The predicted nonlinear optical properties (NLO) like; polarizability and first hyperpolarizabiliy support that the molecule could attract the interests for future investigation.BIBECHANA 15 (2018) 131-139
The role of string junctions in the spectrum of D-brane theories

A class of quantum field theories which can be realized as the world-volume theory of D3branes and 7-branes in the IIB superstring theory are investigated. The spectrum of the effective field theory on the branes consists of states which are realized as strings stretched between them. The complete description of theories with 7-branes also involve multipronged strings or string junctions these are genuine non-perturbative objects. The string junctions generate a Lie algebra which serves both as a gauge symmetry in the 8-dimensional field theory and as a global symmetry of a D3 probe-theory in the vicinity of the 7-branes. Thesis Supervisor: Barton Zwiebach Title: Associate Professor