Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating the link between the sulfur-rich Laacher See volcanic eruption and the Younger Dryas climate anomaly

Abstract. The Younger Dryas is considered the archetypal millennial-scale climate change event, and identifying its cause is fundamental for thoroughly understanding climate systematics during deglaciations. However, the mechanisms responsible for its initiation remain elusive, and both of the most researched triggers (a meltwater pulse or a bolide impact) are controversial. Here, we consider the problem from a different perspective and explore a hypothesis that Younger Dryas climate shifts were catalysed by the unusually sulfur-rich 12.880 ± 0.040 ka BP eruption of the Laacher See volcano (Germany). We use the most recent chronology for the GISP2 ice core ion dataset from the Greenland ice sheet to identify a large volcanic sulfur spike coincident with both the Laacher See eruption and the onset of Younger Dryas-related cooling in Greenland (i.e. the most recent abrupt Greenland millennial-scale cooling event, the Greenland Stadial 1, GS-1). Previously published lake sediment and stalagmite records confirm that the eruption's timing was indistinguishable from the onset of cooling across the North Atlantic but that it preceded westerly wind repositioning over central Europe by ∼ 200 years. We suggest that the initial short-lived volcanic sulfate aerosol cooling was amplified by ocean circulation shifts and/or sea ice expansion, gradually cooling the North Atlantic region and incrementally shifting the midlatitude westerlies to the south. The aerosol-related cooling probably only lasted 1–3 years, and the majority of Younger Dryas-related cooling may have been due to the sea-ice–ocean circulation positive feedback, which was particularly effective during the intermediate ice volume conditions characteristic of ∼ 13 ka BP. We conclude that the large and sulfur-rich Laacher See eruption should be considered a viable trigger for the Younger Dryas. However, future studies should prioritise climate modelling of high-latitude volcanism during deglacial boundary conditions in order to test the hypothesis proposed here.
Sources of Protein as Food Baits for Anastrepha obliqua (Diptera: Tephritidae): Tests in a Wind Tunnel and the Field

Abstract The West Indian fruit fly, Anastrepha obliqua Macquart (Diptera: Tephritidae), is an economically important fruit pest in the Americas. Food attractants are used as bait in traps for monitoring the population of flies in orchards, but their effectiveness differs with location, fruit fly variety, and the type of trap deployed. In this work, we tested the effectiveness of a hydrolyzed protein, BioAnastrepha®, and a yeast extract, Bionis YE MF®, under field conditions and in a laboratory bioassay and identified the main volatile compounds emitted from such mixtures. Hydrolyzed protein and yeast extract were attractive in a wind tunnel, but in the field, hydrolyzed protein was not attractive and only pure yeast extract and yeast extract with sugar were attractive for A. obliqua. Sugar alone was not attractive to the flies in either experiment. Yeast extract itself is a good attractant for A. obliqua. The addition of sugar, however, will stimulate feeding, which could be useful in insecticide-bait sprays.
Acesso à Informação: Avaliação do Uso de Tecnologias De Interação Automática em Call Centers

With the purpose of at lowering costs and reendering the demanded information available to users with no access to the internet, service companies have adopted automated interaction technologies in their call centers, which may or may not meet the expectations of users. Based on different areas of knowledge (man-machine interaction, consumer behavior and use of IT) 13 propositions are raised and a research is carried out in three parts: focus group, field study with users and interviews with experts. Eleven automated service characteristics which support the explanation for user satisfaction are listed, a references model is proposed and evidence in favor or against each of the 13 propositions is brought in. With balance scorecard concepts, a managerial assessment model is proposed for the use of automated call center technology. In future works, the propositions may become verifiable hypotheses through conclusive empirical research.
An Accessible Non-redundant Storage for Extensive Virtual Machine Implementation

: In cloud computing and services, virtual machine powers with its features by providing resources and various infrastructure which is actually expected by large businesses and organizations. A challenging problem yet cannot be solved is the storage file system of a virtual machine instance. The existing deduplication concepts to reduce the VM storage are under DEDE and SAN clusters. In case of extensive VM hosting, all the existing techniques are unable to convince since they have inadequacy to cost. Our proposed system addresses accessible deduplication storage exclusively for Extensive VM implementation. Design of this system offers rapid creation of instances of VM including transmission of data in peer-to-peer networks. A wide range of features like very less utilization of VM storage, cloning of VM instances quicker and using copy on read techniques peer caches are managed to avoid bottlenecks.
Combining Weighted Centrality and Network Clustering

In Social Network Analysis (SNA) centrality measures focus on activity (degree), information access (betweenness), distance to all the nodes (closeness), or popularity (pagerank). We introduce a new measure quantifying the distance of nodes to the network center. It is called weighted distance to nearest center (WDNC) and it is based on edge-weighted closeness (EWC), a weighted version of closeness. It combines elements of weighted centrality as well as clustering. The WDNC will be tested on two e-mail networks of the R community, one of the most important open source programs for statistical computing and graphics. We will find that there is a relationship between the WDNC and the formal organization of the R community.
Factors underlying fertility transition in Zimbabwe : an examination of proximate determinants using data from demographic and health surveys.

Zimbabwe is amongst the few countries in Africa with a low fertility rate. The fertility transition began in the 1980s and has continued in recent years. The total fertility rate (TFR) declined from 5.5 births in 1988 to 4.3 births in 1994 and further declined in 1999 and 2005 to 4.0 births and 3.8 births respectively. Fertility declined by 1.7 births from 1988 to 2005. This study examines and evaluates the proximate determinants responsible for fertility decline in Zimbabwe from 1988 to 2005. The study attempts to address two questions: What are the principal proximate determinants responsible for fertility reduction in Zimbabwe? What is the contribution of each of the proximate determinants to fertility decline at different periods of time in Zimbabwe? This study utilizes data from the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Surveys (ZDHS) conducted in Zimbabwe from 1988 to 2005. The model introduced by Bongaarts (1978, 1982) and later modified by Jolly and Gribble (1993) will be utilized in this study to evaluate the impact of these proximate determinants on fertility. The results from the study confirm that fertility has declined in Zimbabwe from 1988 to 2005. The decline in fertility was influenced by proportion of women married, contraceptive use and postpartum infecundability. Since abortion is illegal in Zimbabwe, there is no reliable data available to examine its impact on fertility. As a result this determinant was not examined in this study. The results show that contraceptive use is the leading inhibitive factor of fertility from 1988 to 2005 in Zimbabwe. The findings also confirm that postpartum infecundability followed by marriage patterns is also responsible for fertility reduction during the same period. The results also showed that there are no variations in proximate determinants of fertility from 1988 to 2005. A review of the literature suggests that Zimbabwe is amongst the few countries in the subSaharan Africa with a high contraceptive rate. The family planning programmes introduced by the government before and after independence which were well organized and administered influenced fertility levels observed in Zimbabwe. It is hoped that this study will assist policy makers in developing countries especially Africa to reduce fertility rates.
Effect of Mobile Bag and Sample Sizes on Intestinal Digestibility of Forage in Sheep

This study aimed to clarify the effect of mobile bag size and ratio of sample size to bag surface area on intestinal digestibility of forage in sheep. Four Suffolk ewes fitted with ruminal and proximal duodenal cannulae were fed second-cut Italian rye- grass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) hay twice daily, and the same forage was used to measure intestinal digestibility. The forage samples were incubated in the rumen for 16 h and then in pepsin-HCl solution for 3 h before intestinal incubation. The incubated forage samples were placed in a nylon mobile bag. The bag sizes used were either 20 mm×20 mm (small bag size; SBS) or 30 mm×30 mm (large bag size; LBS) and the ratio of the sample size to the surface area of the bag was either 5.5 mg/cm 2 (low ratio; LR) or 11.0 mg/cm 2 (high ratio; HR) resulting in four different treatment conditions: SBS-LR, SBS-HR, LBS-LR and LBS-HR. Eight bags per animal were inserted through the duodenal cannulae at 15-min intervals and were subsequently collected from the feces of the animal. The mean intestinal bag transition time did not differ significantly between animals, but ranged from 23.2 to 27.0 h. The intestinal digestibility of dry matter (IDDM) ranged from 0.162±0.019 g/g in the SBS-HR treatment group to 0.195±0.018 g/g in the SBS-LR treatment. The intestinal digestibility of crude protein (IDCP) ranged from 0.610±0.031 g/g in the LBS-LR treatment to 0.693±0.018 g/g in the SBS-LR treatment. There was no difference in the IDDM and IDCP between different treatments. It was therefore concluded that the size of the mobile bag and the ratio of the sample size to the bag surface area did not influence the intestinal digestibility of forage. Future studies
Development of Ultra-Broadband Base Station Antenna for All Mainstream LTE 700/800/900 MHz Frequency Bands

LTE deployment is being accelerated due to its improved radio access structure meeting the requirements of current and next generation of wireless networks. Its low band application presents useful aspects such as low density of base station while providing good in-building penetration. In this work, we design and develop a dual-polarized base station antenna supporting 698 MHz to 960 MHz with an azimuth-plan half-power beam width of 90° covering all mainstream LTE 700/800/900 MHz frequency bands representing the widest low frequency range being actively used in the current mobile communication industry. In the design process, rigorous algorithm based on swarm method is developed to tune the electrical performances under strict base station antenna requirements. Experimental results from pattern tests demonstrate the design analysis and the significant advantages of using swarm method in the antenna development process.
DESIGN OF WIDEBAND, CIRCULARLY POLARIZED PATCH ANTENNAS FOR RFID APPLICATIONS IN THE FCC/ETSI UHF BANDS

Abstract—The primary objective of this paper is to design a high-gain, circularly polarized patch antenna suitable for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers that operate in the FCC and ETSI bands (865–928MHz). These designs will be used in a healthcare application to provide tag identification for thousands of medicines stored on shelves inside a pharmaceutical warehouse. Consequently, it is important that these antennas provide sufficient electromagnetic coverage and polarization diversity in order to boost tag readability and minimize item identification errors. The proposed RFID reader antenna design begins with a single patch with truncated corners on air substrate in order to help us understand the effect of various geometrical parameters on critical antenna figures of merit. A stub is introduced in order to improve the impedance matching characteristics of the antenna. The wideband characteristic of the design, for both impedance matching and axial ratio, is achieved by a second truncated-corner patch antenna positioned on top of the first one. An optimum design is achieved by changing the heights of the main and parasitic patches, the size of the truncated corners, and the probe position. The final antenna designs are verified by comparing measurement and simulation results.
Stable carbon isotope fractionation in the UV photolysis of CFC-11 and CFC-12

Abstract. The chlorofluorocarbons CFC-11 (CFCl3) and CFC-12 (CF2Cl2) are stable atmospheric compounds that are produced at the earth's surface, but removed only at high altitudes in the stratosphere by photolytic reactions. Their removal liberates atomic chlorine that then catalytically destroys stratospheric ozone. For such long-lived compounds, isotope effects in the stratospheric removal reactions have a large effect on their global isotope budgets. We have demonstrated a photolytic isotope fractionation for stable carbon isotopes of CFC-11 and CFC-12 in laboratory experiments using broadband UV-C (190–230 nm) light. 13C/12C isotope fractionations (e) range from (−23.8±0.9) to (−17.7±0.4) ‰ for CFC-11 and (−66.2±3.1) to (−51.0±2.9) ‰ for CFC-12 between 203 and 288 K, a temperature range relevant to conditions in the troposphere and stratosphere. These results suggest that CFCs should become strongly enriched in 13C with decreasing mixing ratio in the stratosphere, similar to what has been recently observed for CFC chlorine isotopes. In conjunction with the strong variations in CFC emissions before and after the Montreal Protocol, the stratospheric enrichments should also lead to a significant temporal increase in the 13C content of the CFCs at the surface over the past decades, which should be recorded in atmospheric air archives such as firn air.
Binary Classifier Evaluation Without Ground Truth

In this paper we study statistically sound ways of comparing classifiers in absence for fully reliable reference data. Based on previously published partial frameworks, we explore a more comprehensive approach to comparing and ranking classifiers that is robust to incomplete, erroneous or missing reference evaluation data. On the one hand, the use of a generalized McNemar's test is shown to give reliable confidence measures in the ranking of two classifiers under the assumption of an existing better-than-random reference classifier. We extend its use to cases where its traditional formulation is notoriously unstable. We also provide a computational context that allows it to be used for large amounts of data. Our classifier evaluation model is generic and applies to any set of binary classifiers. We have more specifically tested and validated it on synthetic and real data coming from document image binarization.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Title Performances of Multi-Level and Multi-Component Compressed Bitmap Indices Permalink

Bitmap indexes are known as the most effective indexing methods for range queries on append-only data, especially for low cardinality attributes. Recently, bitmap indexes were also shown to be just as effective for high cardinality attributes when certain compression methods are applied. There are many different bitmap indexes in the literature but no definite comparison among them has been made, largely because there is no accurate prediction of their index sizes and search time. This paper presents a systematic evaluation of two large subsets of compressed bitmap indexes that use multi-component and multi-level encodings. We combine extensive analyses with ample experimental results to confirm them, whereas earlier studies of these indexes are either empirical or for uncompressed indexes only. Our analyses provide highly accurate predictions that agree with test measurements. These analyses not only identify the best methods in terms of index size and query processing cost, but also reveal new ways of using multi-level methods that significantly improve their performance. Using the best parameters obtained through analyses, we produce three two-level indexes with the optimal computational complexity. Furthermore, the fastest two-level indexes are predicted and observed to be 5 to 10 times faster than other well-known indexes.
Novel Mechanical Handling Subsystems for On-Line Fruit Sorting

Grading and sorting of fruits is widely done using conventional mechanical sorters as well the more advanced machine vision based fruit sorters. Typical mechanical or machine vision based fruit sorting systems consist of mechanical handling subsystems for fruits singulation, conveying and sorting operations. Throughput of a fruit sorter mainly depends on the mechanical design of the fruit handling subsystems. The present paper describes some novel configurations for mechanical handling subsystems used for fruit singulation, conveying and sorting operations suitable for online mechanical or machine-vision based fruit sorting systems. Some of the proposed subsystems for conveying combine the imaging and sorting sections and thus minimize the fruit transfers.
TRENDS OF CLICK SYNTHESIS AND ITS APPLICATION

Article history In the field of pharmaceutical science, researchers are constantly seeking for new molecules and construct that exhibit specific properties. While one could easily come up with a structure design that would fit the needs but the real struggle lies in its synthesis and purification. If only readily available structure units could be easily linked together to form numerous molecules of desire in just a few crisp steps. While it still remains a far-reaching dream, click chemistry seems to offer a glimpse of hope. Click chemistry has recently emerged to become one of the most powerful tools in drug discovery, chemical biology and proteomic applications. In recent years, the design and synthesis of pharmacologically relevant heterocyclic molecules by combinatorial techniques have proven to be a promising strategy in the search for new pharmaceutical lead structures. Authors are interested to put current update of click synthesis in the field of enzyme inhibitors and in situ chemistry, in receptor−ligand binding studies, in labeling and Sequencing of DNA, in Site-Specific in Vitro and in Vivo incorporation of molecular probes to study G Protein-Coupled receptors and in design and synthesis of bioorthogonal reagents and nano-particular delivery system. An application of click chemistry in different fields proves effectiveness of click chemistry in lead discovery.
Assessing the Existing Performance Measures, & Measurement Systems in Developing Countries: An Ethiopian Study

The global integration and rapid applicability of supply chain concepts in manufacturing industries creates both opportunities and challenges for developing countries. The developing countries are becoming more open to adapting and accepting Western business practices. One of the important issues in this context is the use of the standard performance measurement systems. In the current literature, the capability to measure the performance of manufacturing industry operations can be seen as an important prerequisite for improvement. Companies have increased the capabilities of their performance measurement systems. The manufacturing industries in developed countries have been developed and implemented successfully multi-dimensional performance measures, and measurement systems for their business success. Whereas research results and data related to developing country's state of performance measures are very minimal. With the recent global integration and economic relevance of developing countries, we investigated the level of performance measurement systems in Ethiopian. The paper presents the existing practices in performance measures, and measurement systems based on case studies on twelve companies and questionnaire survey on thirty two companies’. A survey and case study results show that manufacturing industries still largely use financial and productivity performance measures. Despite the powerful advantages of performance measurement, it has not been widely implemented in the manufacturing industry in developing countries. The current performance measurement systems have faced different challenges what they did not encounter in developed nations companies.
COAXIAL NARROWBAND FILTERS USING A VERSATILE SUSPENDED RESONATOR

In this paper, two four-pole fllters at X-band are presented, both designs use a coaxial quarter wavelength resonator suspended in air by short circuits between the coaxial center and outer conductor. Difierent couplings between suspended resonators have been used to obtain a Chebyshev and a quasi-elliptic response. The Chebyshev fllter was designed to have a 9.2GHz centre frequency with a 4% fractional bandwidth. The second design is a quasi-elliptic fllter composed of two vertically stacked rectangular coaxial lines, where one pair of resonators is placed on the lower coaxial line and another pair is located on the upper line. Coupling between coaxial lines is achieved through an iris in the common coaxial ground plane. The quasi-elliptic fllter has been designed to have a centre frequency of 9.1GHz with a 4% fractional bandwidth. Two transmission zeros located at the sides of the passband have been successfully achieved with the proposed fllter topology. Experimental results for both designs are presented, where a good agreement with simulations has been obtained.
Using a Cavitation Model to Represent the Acoustic Release Kinetics from Folated Micelles

A Master of Science thesis in Chemical Engineering by Rafeeq Kamal Tanbour entitled, "Using a Cavitation Model to Represent the Acoustic Release Kinetics from Folated Micelles," submitted in December 2014. Thesis advisor is Dr. Ghaleb Husseini. Available are both soft and hard copies of the thesis.