Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors influencing stream baseflow transit times in tropical montane watersheds

Abstract. Stream water mean transit time (MTT) is a fundamental hydrologic parameter that integrates the distribution of sources, flow paths, and storages present in catchments. However, in the tropics little MTT work has been carried out, despite its usefulness for providing important information on watershed functioning at different spatial scales in (largely) ungauged basins. In particular, very few studies have quantified stream MTTs or have related these to catchment characteristics in tropical montane regions. Here we examined topographic, land use/cover and soil hydraulic controls on baseflow transit times for nested catchments (0.1–34 km2) within a humid mountainous region, underlain by volcanic soil (Andisols) in central Veracruz (eastern Mexico). We used a 2-year record of bi-weekly isotopic composition of precipitation and stream baseflow data to estimate MTT. Land use/cover and topographic parameters (catchment area and form, drainage density, slope gradient and length) were derived from geographic information system (GIS) analysis. Soil water retention characteristics, and depth and permeability of the soil–bedrock interface were obtained from intensive field measurements and laboratory analysis. Results showed that baseflow MTTs ranged between 1.2 and 2.7 years across the 12 study catchments. Overall, MTTs across scales were mainly controlled by catchment slope and the permeability observed at the soil–bedrock interface. In association with topography, catchment form and the depth to the soil–bedrock interface were also identified as important features influencing baseflow MTTs. The greatest differences in MTTs were found both within groups of small (0.1–1.5 km2) and large (14–34 km2) catchments. Interestingly, the longest stream MTTs were found in the headwater cloud forest catchments.
The Relevance of Productive Experience in the Process of Economic Growth: an Empirical Study

The purpose of this study is to analyse the effects of productive experience in the process of economic growth. To do this, we estimate an augmented version of the Solow growth model where we include a measure called centrality among the set of usual explanatory variables. This variable summarizes the overall usefulness of a country’s productive experience and it is computed as in Freitas and Salvado (2009), following Hausmann and Klinger (2007). In general, we failed to find a robust relationship between centrality and subsequent growth. This result casts doubts on the usefulness of the centrality measure in the prediction of economic growth.
New Processes and Technologies to Reduce the Low‐Frequency Noise of Digital and Analog Circuits

The chapter is intended to provide the reader with means to reduce low‐frequency noise in Metal‐Oxide‐Semiconductor Field-Effect-Transistor (MOSFET). It is demonstrated that low‐resistivity source and drain electrodes can greatly lower the low‐frequency noise level by suppressing their contribution to the total noise. Furthermore, new plasma processes having the advantages to work at low electron temperature can achieve a further reduction, thanks to the fabrication of a better gate oxide and to a reduction of damages generally induced by conventional plasma processes. Reducing the impact of the traps on the carrier flowing inside the channel by burying the channel can also achieve a reduction of the noise level, but unfortunately at the cost of a degradation of the electrical performances. Finally, the noise analysis of the low‐ frequency noise in accumulation‐mode MOSFETs showed that these newly developed devices have a lower noise level than conventional structures, which, in addition to their superiority in term of electrical performances, establishes them as a serious platform for the next Complementary Metal‐Oxide‐Semiconductor Field-Effect-Transistor (CMOS) technology.
Excess Capital in Agricultural Production

In this article we propose a theoretical model for analyzing capital requirement in agricultural production and define excess capital thereupon. We develop a two-step method that allows endogenous regressors in the maximum likelihood estimation. The two-step procedure is also capably of recovering the parameters of time invariant variables in fixed effect models. The model and method are applied to a capital requirement study using data from cash crop farms in the Netherlands. Empirical results show that excess capital widely exists on the farm. The implications of excess capital are further demonstrated with a production frontier analysis.
New trends in chemistry of magnetic colloids : polar and non polar magnetic fluids , emulsions , capsules and vesicles

Chemical synthesis of charged magnetic nanoparticles (spinel ferrite type) dispersed in water allows the production of ionic ferrofluids. These charges, which are beared by hydroxyl groups linked with surface iron atoms, are used to adsorb several types of ions or molecules on the particles. Adsorption is performed either through electrostatic interactions between the surface charges and the charges of the adsorbing ions, or through chelation of the surface iron atoms by complexing molecules. Processes are described for adsorption of ionic species, of surfactant molecules and of polymeric chains. Coated or non coated particles are dispersed in polar or non polar media in order to form magnetic colloidal solutions. These solutions may themselves be a component of more complex magnetic systems. Synthesis of magnetic emulsions, magnetic capsules and magnetic vesicles are described. The choice of the particle coatings (sign and nature of charges, nature of the surfactant or polymeric chains adsorbed) is the most important point for the successful synthesis of such complex magnetic colloids.
GBV Determinants of Survival of HIV-HAART Naive Patients to HAART Initiation at Bondo Sub-County Hospital: A Two Year Retrospective Cohort Study

HIV-AIDS remains a major public health issue in Kenya with a prevalence of 5.3% and contributing to 29% of annual mortality. Despite marked improvement in the provision for care and treatment, a search for improvement of the current care and treatment programs may lead to better health outcomes. Various factors influence the prognosis of HIV disease. However, minimal research has been conducted to determine information gathered on enrollment influence HIV-AIDS prognosis. Early identification of how information can inform disease prognosis may aid in improving management strategies and increase quality of life of the HIV infected patients. This research aimed at determining how collected information influence times to HAART eligibility and factors influencing this duration. A retrospective cohort study was carried out in Bondo Sub County Hospital Comprehensive Care Centre. Primary data was collected from patient treatment files, in the period beginning 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2014 in data collection forms entered in Microsoft Excel, cleaned and transferred to Stata ver 13 for survival analysis. In the study period 2015 patients were enrolled and 164 (female=93, male =71) satisfied the inclusion criteria. The medium survival time was 65 days. The WHO stage of enrollment (p = 0.0000) and age of enrollment (p = 0.006) were found to be the major determinants of the time to HAART eligibility. The WHO stages of enrollment and age of enrollment were strongly associated with HIV prognosis and this could be attributed to level of immune status which is affected by both this factors. Age of enrollment and WHO stage of enrollment were the main variables captured in MOH 257 that inform on HIV-HAART naive disease progression to HAART eligibility. This study needs to be done in a prospective study incorporating time dependent covariates so as to give a clear picture of the other covariates not picked in this study.
EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT PARAMETERS AND OPERATING PERFORMANCES OF THE THREE-PHASE ASYNCHRONOUS MOTOR

Starting from usual rated data (ηn, αη,m, cosφ1,n, sn, mM), a simple and efficient procedure is proposed for identifying T-equivalent circuit parameters of three-phase asynchronous motor. Subsequently, by numerical solving of equivalent circuit, the operating performances of a three-phase asynchronous motor supplied from voltage or current sources, at constant or variable frequency, can be obtained. A numerical example (75kW, 1485 rpm asynchronous motor) confirms the validity of proposed method and the relatively good agreement between numerical and analytical characteristics.
Design Optimization for Total Volume Reduction of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generators

Permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) are novel generators which can be used in high-performance wind farms. High efficiency and flexibility in producing electricity from variable rotation make them good candidate for wind power applications. Furthermore, because these kinds of generators have no excitation winding, there is no copper loss on rotor; hence, they can operate at high power factor. Besides, performance characteristics of such generators could be further improved by design optimization. This paper presents design optimization of PMSGs used in small wind turbines using novel and efficient optimization algorithm i.e. Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) Algorithm. Then, a well-known optimization algorithm i.e. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to show the validity and efficiency of the before-mentioned algorithm. For this purpose, the necessary equations are provided. Objective function of this study is to reduce the total volume of motor. Case study of this study is a 5 kW, 220 V, 50 Hz, 100 rpm generator. Finally, results obtained by optimization are verified with Maxwell software which is based on finite element method (FEM). Comparison shows that the results of optimization approach are in good agreement with that of FEM ones.
WEBSITE SPEED TESTING ANALYSIS USING SPEEDTESTING

aUniversity of Hradec Kralove, Faculty of Informatics and Management, Center for Basic and Applied Research, Rokitanskeho 62, Hradec Kralove, 500 03, Czech Republic bFaculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia cFaculty of Technology and Applied Sciences, Al Quds Open University (QOU), P.O. Box, 1804, AL-Bireh, Rammallah, Palestine dUTM-IRDA Digital Media Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia Article history Received 26 November 2015 Received in revised form 14 January 2016 Accepted 10 October 2016
Overseeding Cool‐Season Annual Legumes and Grasses into Dormant ‘Tifton 85’ Bermudagrass for Forage and Biomass

Overseeding dormant bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. ] ‘Tifton 85’ with cool-season annuals in the southeastern United States could provide winter and spring forage or bioenergy feedstock. We overseeded cool-season annual legumes and grasses in monocultures or mixtures into dormant Tifton 85 and compared aboveground dry matter (DM) and N yields of single harvests at peak biomass production and a multiple harvest forage system. We also measured first-cut spring Tifton 85 yields. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yielded as much or more (P £ 0.05) biomass in a single-harvest system than other grasses only during a dry cool season. Well-distributed precipitation, in combination with multiple cool-season grass legume harvests, resulted in lower yields than the single harvest system, whereas the reverse occurred when precipitation was erratic. Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) matured later in the spring, and monocultures or mixes with it yielded more (P £ 0.05) DM and N than the more precocious crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.). A drier cool season followed by a spring with good precipitation, as well as repeated cool-season grass and legume harvests, resulted in more (P £ 0.05) spring first-cut Tifton 85 DM regrowth. Results provide several management options to maximize cool-season, annual legume, and grass bioenergy feedstock or forage while minimizing negative and maximizing positive effects on subsequent early spring Tifton 85 regrowth. J.A. White, Dep. of Plant & Soil Sciences, Mississippi State Univ., Mississippi State, MS; J.P. Muir, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Soils & Crop Science, 1229 North US Hwy 281, Stephenville, TX 76401; B.D. Lambert, Tarleton State Univ., Stephenville, TX 76401. Received 5 Sept. 2017. Accepted 4 Dec. 2017. *Corresponding author ( j-muir@ tamu.edu). Assigned to Associate Editor Jose Dubeux. Abbreviations: DM, dry matter. Published in Crop Sci. 58:964–971 (2018). doi: 10.2135/cropsci2017.09. 0530 © Crop Science Society of America | 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Published January 18, 2018
Reforming of Light Alkanes by CO 2 Over Bimetallic Supported Catalyst

The bimetallic cobalt-containing catalyst supported on alumina has been investigated in the reaction of interaction between carbon dioxide and light alkanes (mix of C2-C4 hydrocarbons) or individual methane at varying experiment temperature and pressure. It has been shown that the catalyst possesses the high activity in reforming of alkanes. The reactants’ conversion and products’ yield and composition depend on composition of initial feed and process conditions. The main product of CO2+CH4 reaction is synthesis-gas at atmospheric pressure, also water and oxygenates are produced at higher pressure. The yield of oxygenates (mainly methanol and ethanol) is about 2 % under the certain conditions (P= 2-5 atm). In addition to above products olefins are formed at the interaction between carbon dioxide and alkanes (C2-C4). One of the advantages of the synthesized catalyst is its resistance to coke formation.
PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE ROTOKAWA ANDESITE FROM PRODUCTION WELLS RK 27_L2, RK 28 AND RK 30

Mighty River Power's geothermal production wells of RK 27_L2, RK 28 and RK 30 were spot cored within the Rotokawa Andesite during the drilling of the wells. Core recovery was nearly 100% from the three cores and these were analyzed and logged by GNS Science at Wairakei Research Centre. Subsequently, the cores were transferred to the University of Canterbury to determine alteration mineralogy and physical properties, and were subjected to rigorous mechanical testing to determine strength and stiffness properties. The Rotokawa Andesite ranges from mildly altered andesite lavas and breccias to a complete replacement by alteration products where host fabric can no longer be easily identified. Density, porosity, and acoustic velocity measurement were measured and samples were subjected to strength testing including uniaxial compressive strength and Brazilian tensile strength. Results are presented here with preliminary correlations between results of mechanical strength testing to physical parameters.
Response to review comments on “ The dynamics of the carbon dioxide system in the outer shelf and slope of the Eurasian Arctic Ocean ” by

The Arctic is undergoing dramatic changes which cover the entire range of natural processes, from extreme increases in the temperatures of air, soil, and water, to changes in the cryosphere, the biodiversity of Arctic waters, and land vegetation. Small changes in the largest marine carbon pool, the dissolved inorganic carbon pool, can have profound impact on the carbon dioxide (CO2) flux between the ocean and the atmosphere, and the feedback of this flux to climate. Knowledge of relevant processes in the Arctic seas improves the evaluation and projection of carbon cycle dynamics under current conditions of rapid climate change. Investigation of the CO2 system in the outer shelf and continental slope waters of the Eurasian Arctic seas (the Barents, Kara, Laptev, and East Siberian seas) during 2006, 2007, and 2009 revealed a general trend in the surface water partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) distribution, which manifested as an increase in pCO2 values eastward. The existence of this trend was defined by different oceanographic and biogeochemical regimes in the western and eastern parts of the study area; the trend is likely increasing due to a combination of factors determined by contemporary change in the Arctic climate each change in turn evoking a series of synergistic effects. A high-resolution in situ investigation of the carbonate system parameters of the four Arctic seas was carried out in the warm season of 2007; 2007 was characterized by the next-to-lowest historic sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean, on satellite record, to that date. The study showed the different responses of the seawater carbonate system to the environment changes in the western vs. the eastern Eurasian Arctic seas. The large open, highly productive water area in the northern Barents Sea enhances atmospheric CO2 uptake. In contrast, the uptake of CO2 was strongly weakened in the outer shelf and slope waters of the East Siberian Arctic seas under the 2007 environmental conditions. The surface seawater appears in equilibrium or slightly supersaturated by CO2 relative to atmosphere because of the increasing influence of river Отформатировано
Failure Analysis of a 30-in Subsea Oil Pipeline

This article presents the failure investigation of internal pitting corrosion on a 30-in (0.762-m) diameter sibsea oil pipeline in western offshore India. Detailed laboratory and analytical studies were made on the failed sample to establish the cause and mechanism of failure. This article describes the analysis methodology, the probable corrosion and failure mechanism, and recommended presentive measures.
Shoot and plantlet regeneration from meristems of Dioscorea rotundata Poir and Dioscorea alata L.

In vitro culture media capable of regenerating moderate to high shoots and/or plantlets from meristems of two yam species – Dioscorea rotundata and Dioscorea alata within comparable duration of 10 weeks as commonly obtained in other monocots and root and tuber crops were investigated. The study comprised 125 phytohormone combinations investigated in three factorial experiments each consisting of an auxin (NAA) and a cytokinin (BAP or kinetin), or two cytokinins only. The frequency of direct plantlet regeneration, though significantly (P and ranged from 0 to 10% at 3 weeks after culture (WAC) and 0 to 35% at 8 WAC. At 8 WAC, shoot regeneration of 42-75% was obtained in D. rotundata in MS medium supplemented with 0.1 M NAA + 0.20 M BAP, and shoot + plantlet regeneration of 60-82% obtained in media containing 0.05 M + 0.20 M BAP or 0.46 M BAP + 0.50 M kinetin in D. alata. Both shoot induction and plantlet regeneration were species-dependent. Induced shoots were successfully rooted in MS medium within 3 to 4 weeks, bringing time taken for plantlet regeneration to 11 to 12 weeks. Regenerants were morphologically similar to the mother plants. Results of the present study will facilitate regeneration of plantlets via meristem in D. rotundata and D. alata.
The mediating role of competencies in training effectiveness

Many organisations use a competency framework to structure HR(D) processes within the organisation. However, the validity of these frameworks is not always ensured. This research shows a method to validate a competency framework for HRD purposes by demonstrating the mediating effect between training and behaviour. It illustrates how competencies that are affected by training and positively affect behaviour at the job have a high validity. To execute this research, a survey-study was undertaken at a large HR-service provider in the Netherlands. A total of 152 employees attended the training program in February 2009 and participated in this research by completing a self-survey. The results show that five out of 22 identified competencies significantly mediate the relationship between training and behaviour, and can therefore be indicated as competencies that have a high validity. Furthermore, a way of indicating the return on investment of a given competency is given. This resulted in two out of 22 competencies indicated to realise a high return on investment. Discussions and implications for practice and future research are also included
Secured Load Rebalancing In Cloud

Distributed file systems are key building blocks for cloud computing applications based on the Map Reduce programming paradigm. In such file systems, nodes simultaneously serve computing and storage functions. Files can also be dynamically created, deleted, and appended. This results in load imbalance in a distributed file system; that is, the file chunks are not distributed as uniformly as possible among the nodes. Emerging distributed file systems in production systems strongly depend on a central node for chunk reallocation. This dependence is clearly inadequate in a large-scale, failure-prone environment because the central load balancer is put under considerable workload that is linearly scaled with the system size, and may thus become the performance bottleneck and the single point of failure. In this proposal, a fully distributed load rebalancing algorithm is presented to cope with the load imbalance problem. Additionally, we aim to reduce network traffic or movement cost caused by rebalancing the loads of nodes as much as possible to maximize the network bandwidth available to normal applications. Moreover, as failure is the norm, nodes are newly added to sustain the overall system performance resulting in the heterogeneity of nodes. Exploiting capable nodes to improve the system performance is thus demanded. In the proposed system we also provide security for the data stored on cloud through encryption and decryption concepts.
A New Model for Sparse and Low-Rank Matrix Decomposition

The robust principal component analysis (RPCA) model is a popular method for solving problems with the nuclear norm and `1 norm. However, it is time-consuming since in general one has to use the singular value decomposition in each iteration. In this paper, we introduce a novel model to reformulate the existed model by making use of low-rank matrix factorization to surrogate the nuclear norm for the sparse and low-rank decomposition problem. In such case we apply the Penalty Function Method (PFM) and Augmented Lagrangian Multipliers Method (ALMM) to solve this new nonconvex optimization problem. Theoretically, corresponding to our methods, the convergence analysis is given respectively. Compared with classical RPCA, some practical numerical examples are simulated to show that our methods are much better than RPCA.
MULTIMODAL MOBILE APPLICATIONS

Nowadays, mobile phones provide not just voice call and messaging services, but plethora of other services. Those computational capabilities allow mobile phones to serve people in various areas including education, banking, commerce, travelling, and other daily life aspects. Meanwhile, the number of mobile phone users has increased dramatically in the last decade. On the other hand, the usability of an application can usually be verified through the user interface. Therefore, this paper aims to design a measurement tool to evaluate the usability of mobile applications based on the usability attributes and dimensions that must be considered in the interface. To obtain the appropriate attributes, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) has been conducted and the Goal Question Metric (GQM) has been used to design the tool. From 261 related works only 18 most relevant ones were selected, through four SLR. 25 dimensions were found through the SLR, but some of these dimensions are synonymous or a part of other dimensions. Consequently, three dimensions must be included in any usability evaluation instrument, which is broken down into ten sub dimensions.