Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of sugarcane waste in the control of interrill erosion

The cultivation of sugarcane uses different cropping systems that result in varying quantities of crop waste, this may influence soil erosion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the loss of soil and water, the infiltration rate, and soil surface roughness in an area cultivated with sugarcane (Saccharum spp.). Six treatments with different levels of plant waste were evaluated: sugarcane without plant waste; sugarcane with 4.0 Mg ha-1 of waste; sugarcane with 8.0 Mg ha-1 of waste; sugarcane with 12.0 Mg ha-1 of waste; sugarcane with 16.0 Mg ha-1 of waste; and burned sugarcane. The treatments were arranged in a randomized block design with four replications, totalling 24 experimental plots. As soil depth increased, there is reduction in macroporosity, total soil porosity, organic carbon content, mean geometric diameter and weighted mean diameter of the soil aggregates, whereas the bulk density of the soil displays the opposite trend. The presence of sugarcane waste on the soil surface increases the time required for the initiation of surface runoff. Sugarcane waste does not alter soil surface roughness, and at the minimum amount of waste administered (4 Mg ha-1) reduces losses of soil and water and increases the infiltration rate. The lack of soil surface coverage after harvesting the sugarcane contributes to soil and water loss, and reduces the rate of stable infiltration of water into the soil.
Determinants of Child Labour and Schooling in the Native Cocoa Households of Côte d'Ivoire

This study examines the impact of top management changes on stock returns in Nigeria from 1997 to 2005. Child labour is a widespread and growing phenomenon in the developing world. This paper looks at the determinants of child labour participation in the cocoa farming sector of Cote d’Ivoire, an issue of special interest because the country accounts for approximately 40% of the world’s cocoa production. The study investigates child labour in conjunction with schooling status of children. It is based on a study done in 2002 that surveyed a representative sample of more than 11,000 members of cocoa households. A multinomial logit model was used to capture choice probabilities across work and school options. The results reveal that child labour in cocoa farms and non-enrolment in schools are significant. Moreover, many children are involved in potentially dangerous and/or harmful tasks. Data also highlight gender and age dimensions in the participation of children in tasks and the way labour is allocated. Econometric results generally indicated that the gender and age of children, whether or not the child is the biological child of the household head, parents’ education, the household dependency ratio, the farm size, the cocoa productivity level, the number of sharecroppers working with the household head, agroecological zone and communities’ characteristics are all pertinent in explaining the child work/schooling outcome.
The Application of Scanning Contact Potentiometry Method and Diffraction of Thermal Neutrons at Physico-Mechanical Tests of Materials

The results of physical and mechanical tests on the tensile strength of austenitic steel 12X18H10T, in the stress range from 100 MPa to the maximum value of 700 MPa, at which the sample was destroyed, are presented. Structural changes were registered synchronously by two methods: the method of scanning contact potentiometry and the method of diffraction of thermal neutrons. At loads above 650 MPa, the α-martensite phase was found in the austenite matrix, as well as the appearance of diffraction peaks characteristic of a cubic martensitic BCC lattice was observed in neutron spectra. On the potentiograms, this process corresponds to the appearance of local regions in which high values of electric potential gradients were observed. This is the case of discovery of the fatigue nucleus cracks in the tensile testing of steel ЭИ847 by the method of scanning contact potentiometry.
Micro-structured rough surfaces by laser etching for heat transfer enhancement on flush mounted heat sinks

The aim of this work is to improve heat transfer performances of flush mounted heat sinks used in electronic cooling. To do this we patterned 1.23 cm2 heat sinks surfaces by microstructured roughnesses built by laser etching manufacturing technique, and experimentally measured the convective heat transfer enhancements due to different patterns. Each roughness differs from the others with regards to the number and the size of the micro-fins (e.g. the micro- fin length ranges from 200 to 1100 μm). Experimental tests were carried out in forced air cooling regime. In particular fully turbulent flows (heating edge based Reynolds number ranging from 3000 to 17000) were explored. Convective heat transfer coefficient of the best micro-structured heat sink is found to be roughly two times compared to the smooth heat sinks one. In addition, surface area roughly doubles with regard to smooth heat sinks, due to the presence of micro-fins. Consequently, patterned heat sinks thermal transmittance [W/K] is found to be roughly four times the smooth heat sinks one. We hope this work may open the way for huge boost in the technology of electronic cooling by innovative manufacturing techniques.
Lecithin effects on blood biochemical parameters and resistance to thermal stress in juvenile of Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi (Cyprinidae family)

In this study, the effects of dietary chicken egg lecithin on some blood biochemical factors of Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi juveniles and resistance to thermal shock was investigated. Juveniles with initial average weight of 3.10±0.17 were stocked in 12 fiberglass tanks. Four isolipidic and isonitrogenic diets containing 0% (control), 2%, 4% and 6% chicken egg lecithin were used to feed the fish 3 times per day to satiation during 90 days. Total protein, cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) and albumin levels were significantly higher (p<0.05) in juveniles fed 6% lecithin compared to the control diet. The triglyceride level was also significantly decreased (p <0.05) in juveniles fed 4% and 6% lecithin compared to that of control group. No significant differences (p>0.05) in globulin and the ratio of albumin to globulin were found in dietary treatments. The thermal stress showed that survival rate of juveniles fed different levels of dietary chicken egg lecithin was higher than control group (p<0.05). The results indicated that administration 4 to 6% of chicken egg lecithin in diets of juvenile M. sharpeyi have positive effects on promoting health status and resistance to thermal shock.
Architectural implementation of cordic unit and its applications

The ubiquity of DSP has made increasing demand to develop area efficient and accurate architectures in carrying out many nonlinear arithmetic operations. One such architecture is CORDIC unit which has many applications in the field of DSP including implementing transforms based on Fourier basis. This report presents architecture of CORDIC, embedded with a scaling unit that has only minimal number of adders and shifters. It can be implemented in rotation mode as well as vectoring mode. The purpose of the design is to get a scaling free CORDIC unit preserving the design of original algorithm. The proposed design has a considerable reduction in hardware when compared with other scaling free architectures. The analysis of error for different word lengths and different input ranges for fixed word length gives a better choice to choose the parameters. The error in rotation mode for 16 bit data path, obtained for Y equivalent input is 0.073% and for X equivalent input is 0.067%. We also report architecture of a DFT core that is implemented using low latency CORDIC. A scaling unit has been included to get scaled outputs. The reported DFT core architecture has 22 adders in total, in addition to 2 CORDIC units. DDS or NCO are nowadays prominently used in the applications of RF signal processing, satellite communications, etc. This report also brings out the FPGA implementation of one such DDS which has quadrature outputs. The proposed DDS design, which is based on pipelined CORDIC, has considerable improvement in terms of SFDR compared to other existing designs at reduced hardware. This report also proposes multiplier-less architecture for the implementation of radix-2^2 folded pipelined complex FFT core based on CORDIC technique. The number of points considered in the work is sixteen and the folding is done by a factor of four.
On the geometry of binary symmetric models of phylogenetic trees

We investigate projective varieties which are binary symmetric models of trivalent phylogenetic trees. We prove that they have Gorenstein terminal singularities and are Fano varieties of index 4 and dimension equal to the number of edges of the tree in question. Moreover any two such varieties which are of the same dimension are deformation equivalent, that is, they are in the same connected component of the Hilbert scheme of the projective space. As an application we provide a simple formula for computing their Hilbert-Ehrhart polynomial.
Using SCUBA and Snorkeling Methods to Obtain Model Parameters for an Ecopath Network Model for Calabash Caye, Belize, Central America.

We have been collecting biological data for the construction of a food web model of Calabash Caye, Belize using Ecopath with Ecosim software. Characterization of the mangrove seagrass and coral reef environments surrounding Calabash Caye will provide baseline data for a network model of the trophic relationships in this area, which is currently being considered as a marine protected area. Our Ecopath model follows a previously published Puerto Rico - Virgin Islands 50 - compartment model; 27 of the compartments represents fishes. The collection of fish biomass and abundance data was done using visual surveys with both SCUBA and snorkel. Important dietary information was gathered from fish collected using a small suction dredge and larger invertebrates were counted along visual transects using SCUBA and snorkeling. Additional data for various compartments that were not sampled, including birds, phytoplankton, benthic autotrophs and detritus, come from other Belizean or Caribbean studies and literature values. Abundance and biomass or all compartments were determined and converted to g wet weight.m-2 Selected Ecopath outputs, such as effective trophic levels and mixed trophic impacts, allow us to gain insight into trophic structure and how changes in biomass travel through the food web to affect other species. The model will enable Belizean scientists and managers to monitor and formulate predictions about potential ecosystem changes that are associated with the marine reserve.
Sensor Nodes Localization for Temperature Distribution Measurement System

In sensor network systems, all the nodes are interconnected and the positional information of each sensor is essential. To measure the temperature, position detection and communication functions are required. Many sensor nodes are distributed to a measurement field, and these sensors have three main functions: they measure the distance to the other nodes, the data of which are used to determine the position of each node; they communicate with other nodes; and they measure the temperature of each node. A novel range measurement method using the difference between light and sound propagation speed is proposed. The experimental results show the temperature distribution as measured with the aid of the determined positions. The positions of every node were calculated with a PC program. Eight nodes were manufactured and their fundamental functions were tested. The results of the range measurement method, which takes relatively accurate measurements, contribute significantly to the accuracy of the position determination. Future studies will focus on 3-D position determination and on the architecture of appropriate sensors and actuators.
Spectropolarimetry of Galactic stars with anomalous extinction sightlines

Highly reddened type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) with low total-to-selective visual extinction ratio values,RV, also show peculiar linear polarization wavelength dependencies with peak polarizations at short wavelengths (λmax≲ 0.4μm). It is not clear why sightlines to SNe Ia display such different continuum polarization profiles from interstellar sightlines in the Milky Way with similarRVvalues. We investigate polarization profiles of a sample of Galactic stars with lowRVvalues, along anomalous extinction sightlines, with the aim to find similarities to the polarization profiles that we observe in SN Ia sightlines. We undertook spectropolarimetry of 14 stars, used archival data for 3 additional stars, and ran dust extinction and polarization simulations (by adopting the picket-fence alignment model) to infer a simple dust model (size distribution, alignment) that can reproduce the observed extinction and polarization curves. Our sample of Galactic stars with lowRVvalues and anomalous extinction sightlines displays normal polarization profiles with an averageλmax~ 0. 53μm, and is consistent within 3σto a larger coherent sample of Galactic stars from the literature. Despite the lowRVvalues of dust toward the stars in our sample, the polarization curves do not show any similarity to the continuum polarization curves observed toward SNe Ia with lowRVvalues. There is a correlation between the best-fit Serkowski parametersKandλmax, but we did not find any significant correlation betweenRVandλmax. Our simulations show that theK–λmaxrelationship is an intrinsic property of polarization. Furthermore, we have shown that in order to reproduce polarization curves with normalλmaxand lowRVvalues, a population of large (a ≥ 0.1μm) interstellar silicate grains must be contained in the dust composition.
Preparing Teachers: Expectations and Existing Situation at Faculties of Education

In-depth interviews were conducted to research the expectations of teacher educators from the prospective teachers and their opinions on the existing facilities provided by the faculty of education. Content analysis, performed on the data collected from a sample of eight teacher educators from different departments in one of the faculties of education, suggested that the expectations from teacher candidates had seven dimensions: content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, country specific realities, communication skills, teacher characteristics, scientific knowledge and research skills, and professional development. Regarding the results, implications for teacher education programs were discussed, and suggestions for further research were made
Ruthenium Sensitizers and Their Applications in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted considerable attention in recent years due to the possibility of low-cost conversion of photovoltaic energy. The DSSCs-based ruthenium complexes as sensitizers show high efficiency and excellent stability, implying potential practical applications. This review focuses on recent advances in design and preparation of efficient ruthenium sensitizers and their applications in DSSCs, including thiocyanate ruthenium sensitizers and thiocyanate-free ruthenium sensitizers.
Orientation-dependent spontaneous emission rates of a two-level quantum emitter in any nanophotonic environment

We study theoretically the spontaneous emission rate of a two-level quantum emitter in any nanophotonic system. We derive a general representation of the rate on the orientation of the transition dipole by only invoking symmetry of the Green function. The rate depends quadratically on orientation and is determined by rates along three principal axes, which greatly simplifies visualization: emission rate surfaces provide insight on how preferred orientations for enhancement (or inhibition) depend on emission frequency and location, as shown for a mirror, a plasmonic sphere, and a photonic band-gap crystal. Moreover, insight is provided on means to “switch” the emission rates by actively controlling the orientation of the emitters’ transition dipole.
How I Was Saved: Christian Faith Narratives in Contemporary Society

HOW I WAS SAVED: CHRISTIAN FAITH NARRATIVES IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY Allison C. Berg Marquette University, 2012 Recent studies indicate that Christian membership numbers have declined in the last few decades. At the same time, polls record that Americans are becoming more religiously diverse. Some scholars suggest that these changes in American society are also leading to changes in the ways that Christians talk about their faith. Since Christian theology and tradition demands that Christians continue to share their faith with others, it is necessary to understand the ways that Christians talk about their faith today. Of interest to this study are faith narratives: stories about one’s faith journey and experiences. Through sharing stories about their faith experiences, it follows that these narratives possibly help Christian individuals construct and communicate a sense of identity to their audiences. Furthermore, in sharing their faith through storytelling, Christians arguably indirectly engage others to listen, understand, and possibly accept the underlying message of their stories without creating an argument or incivility in their audiences. While faith narratives hold historical longevity in the Christian community, research on the topic is outdated, and somewhat narrowly focused. This study broadens the ways that faith narratives are thought about and researched by viewing these stories through an identity constructionist perspective. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Allison C. Berg Similar to the saying “It takes a village to raise a child,” no thesis is ever completed without the help of many people. First, I would like to express my most sincere thanks to my thesis committee chair, Dr. Sarah Feldner, for all of the time and effort she spent helping and guiding me through this process. Her method of never telling me the right answers, but leading me to find them on my own not only made me a more knowledgeable student, but a more confident writer. I would also like to thank my other thesis committee members, Dr. Lynn Turner and Dr. Susan Mountin, for their support and contributions in improving my work. Second, I would like to thank my participants for their time and efforts in providing me with the richest data possible for this study. Their willingness to reveal deeply personal information about their lives and their faith is what made this study so meaningful. Furthermore, I would like to thank my friends and family for their unending support and encouragement throughout this entire process. I am so thankful they have been there for me throughout all of the ups and downs of writing a thesis. I could not have done this without them. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank the Lord for His hand in this work. It is my greatest hope that His nature is revealed in this thesis. I have been blessed by each and every person involved in this thesis and I pray in return that the Lord showers blessings upon each of you. i ii
Operation Properties and δ-Equalities of Complex Fuzzy Sets

A complex fuzzy set is a fuzzy set whose membership function takes values in the unit circle in the complex plane. This paper investigates various operation properties and proposes a distance measure for complex fuzzy sets. The distance of two complex fuzzy sets measures the difference between the grades of two complex fuzzy sets as well as that between the phases of the two complex fuzzy sets. This distance measure is then used to define δ-equalities of complex fuzzy sets which coincide with those of fuzzy sets already defined in the literature if complex fuzzy sets reduce to real-valued fuzzy sets. Two complex fuzzy sets are said to be δ-equal if the distance between them is less than 1-δ. This paper shows how various operations between complex fuzzy sets affect given δ-equalities of complex fuzzy sets. An example application of signal detection demonstrates the utility of the concept of δ-equalities of complex fuzzy sets in practice.
Cohort Effect on Food Away From Home in Turkey : A Double Hurdle Approach

The objective of this study is to examine age, cohort and year effects on food away from home (FAFH) expenditure of Turkish households, employing double hurdle approach for the period of 2002-2005. Results show that both the decision to participate in FAFH market and the actual FAFH expenditure of Turkish households change according to cohort, age and time. It is determined that the households with younger household heads have higher probability to participate in the FAFH market than the households with older household heads. Cohort effects for younger generations, on the other hand, are positive and significant in FAFH market participation while they have significant but negative effect on FAFH expenditures. Cohort effects for probability of market participation of FAFH for older generations are found to be positive but statistically insignificant. The findings also indicate that year effects play a positive role in FAFH market participation and FAFH expenditures.
Mining Usable Customer feedback from Social networkind data for Business Intelligence

Business Organizations want to use the social media sites(SNS) data to understand the needs and behaviour of their customers of specific targeted groups of individuals with respect to the organizations' current or future products or services.SNS frequently discuss consumer products or services-from movies and restarants to hotels and politics.These shared customers opinions have become highly valuable to businesses and organizations large and small. To increase competitive advantage and effectively assess the competitive environment of businesses , companies need to monitor and analyze not only the data on thier oown SNS,but also the data on thier compitiors in different SNS.In this paper we have addressed the application of text mining methods to harness the large amount of unstructured data and transform it into structured information and then predict variety of customer trends and behaviour which is an important source of input for business intelligence to improve the chances of profitability and forecast the future business expansion.
Application for non-invasive analysis of paleontological data

Enhancements in tomographic imaging techniques facilitate non-destructive methods for visualizing fossil structures. However, to penetrate dense materials such as sediments or pyrites, image acquisition is typically performed with high beam energy and very sensitive image intensifiers, leading to artifacts and noise in the acquired data. The analysis of delicate fossil structures requires the images to be captured in maximum resolution, resulting in large data sets of several giga bytes (GB) in size. Since the structural information of interest is often almost in the same spatial range as artifacts and noise, image processing and segmentation algorithms have to cope with a very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Within this report we present a study on the performance of a collection of denoising algorithms applied to a very noisy fossil dataset. The study shows that a non-local means (NLM) filter, in case it is properly configured, is able to remove a considerable amount of noise while preserving most of the structural information of interest. Based on the results of this study, we developed a software tool within ZIBAmira that denoises large tomographic datasets using an adaptive, GPU-accelerated NLM filter. With the help of our implementation a user can interactively configure the filter’s parameters and thus its effectiveness with respect to the data of interest, while the filtering response is instantly visualized for a preselected region of interest (ROI). Our implementation efficiently denoises even large fossil datasets in a reasonable amount of time.