Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computer-mediated epistemic interactions for co-constructing scientific notions: Lessons learned from a five-year research programme

This paper reports on a five-year collaborative research programme, the aim of which was to create Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Environments that favoured and supported the production of epistemic interactions for the co-construction of scientific notions. Three systems (C-CHENE, CONNECT and DAMOCLES) were developed and experimented with science problem-solving tasks within constraints of the French secondary school curriculum. A number of issues were explored in relation to our research goals, including: structuring the communication interface, statistically or automatically constituting dyads to favour conceptual confrontation, summarising points to be debated, and studying/defining the teacher's multiple roles in CSCL contexts. We discuss limitations of our research and bring out lessons that have been learned from this research programme, concerning notably: freedom and constraint in the communication interface, structuring collaborative problem-solving sequences, richness and negotiability of environments, interrelations between cognitive, epistemic and social dimensions of interaction, and evolution of new educational practices.
PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON TRICHOSANTHES DIOICA (R.) SEEDS

Trichosanthes, a genus of family Cucurbitaceae is an annual herb distributed in tropical Asia, Polynesia, & Australia. According to Ayurveda its seeds are used as antipyretic, anthelmintic, diuretic, cardio tonic & laxative etc. Physico-chemical studies of T. dioica seeds have set the some standard i.e. Ether soluble extractive value 16.15%w/w, alcohol soluble extractive value 10.11% w/w, water soluble extractive value 9.22% w/w, Total Ash value 6.21 w/w, acid insoluble ash value 1.32% w/w, water soluble ash value 4.29% & loss on drying 24.33% w/w etc. In the present study preliminary phytochemical screening was done and after achieving the idea of phytoconstituents group, thin layer chromatography studies were carried out for different organic solvent extracts. Medicinal plant materials normally carry a great number of bacteria and moulds, often of soil origin. While a large range of bacteria and fungi form the naturally occurring micro flora of herbs, aerobic spore forming bacteria frequently predominate. Current practices of harvesting, handling and production cause additional contamination and microbial growth. In the present study microbial load determination also carried out for crude seed powder of T. dioica.
A Survey of the Factors of Optimal Noise Reduction Algorithm for Terrorist Web Mining

Over the past few decades there have been frequent terrorist attacks around the world including India. This article describes Terrorist Network Mining and problems faced during studying such networks. A major challenge faced by the law enforcement agencies is the large crime „raw‟ data volumes and the lack of sophisticated network analysis tools and techniques to utilize the data effectively and efficiently. This article states different data collection techniques used for terrorist networks. The major challenge is the development of the optimal noise reduction algorithm which will help in creating accurate linkage map of terrorist network without the loss of any key player node. This article successfully lists the factors that can be taken under consideration during generation of optimal noise reduction algorithm for Terrorist Web Mining. Once the accurate linkage map is generated the identification and removal of the key player for the destabilization of terrorist networks will become lot easier.
Characterization of Structure, Divergence and Regulation Patterns of Plant Promoters

Plant promoters have attracted increasing attention because of their irreplaceable role in modulating the spatio-temporal expression of genes interacting with transcription factors (TFs). Despite their importance, the basic characteristics of plant promoters are not well understood. In order to determine sequence diversity within promoter regions, evolutionary divergence of promoters between plant species, and the general structural characteristics of promoter sequences, we downloaded and analyzed 3922 plant promoter sequences from a wide range of plant species. The average plant promoter GC content was lower in dicotyledons than in monocotyledons, which might suggest different evolutionary pressures for promoter sequences between the two clades. Approximately 3.3% of plant promoters harbored minisatellite sequences, and 15.4% of plant promoters harbored microsatellite sequences (also called simple sequence repeats). Very few transposable elements were detected within the plant promoters. The most common transcription factor binding site (TFBS) motif was AGAGAGAGA, followed by TTAGGGTTT and then GCCGCC. Transcribed gene regions with promoters containing the corresponding TFBSs were predicted to be most commonly involved in metabolic processes, biological regulation, and stimulus response in plants. These results reveal some basic structural characteristics of plant promoters and clarify the evolutionary forces shaping plant promoters. This data might facilitate cloning of plant promoter sequences and aid in our understanding of gene spatio-temporal expression patterns in plants.
Impact of export market orientation on export performance : A relational perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the mediating role of export market orientation (EMO) in the relationship between inter-organizational relationships and export performance, and the moderating role of degree of internationalization in the relationship between EMO and export performance. Design/methodology/approach – The authors sent questionnaires to the 1,000 largest manufacturers listed in CommonWealth magazine (2009), and a random sample of 500 machinery manufacturers listed in the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry Directory. The authors received 244 completed questionnaires through which to examine the hypotheses. Findings – The findings show that trust and social interaction positively influence EMO, which then enhances export performance. However, the moderating effect of degree of internationalization has no significant impact on the EMO and export performance relationship. Research limitations/implications – Future studies should conduct two-way research on focal firms (man.
Dredge-up effects in galactic and magellanic planetary nebulae

Chemical abundances are reported for 23 plan- etary nebulae in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Average abundances agree with values found for HII regions, sug- gesting that progenitors of most of these objects have been formed in the last 1 2 Gyr. The N/O vs. O/H anticorrelation is conrmed for Magellanic and galactic planetaries, and a more robust result is obtained if ob- jects of similar ages (or masses) are grouped together. For a given class, such a negative correlation suggests that the surface enrichment due to dredge-up episodes is more ecient at lower metallicities, in agreement with recent computations. CN-cycle products are dredge-up, oxygen remains un- changed, but some reduction is expected if the ON-cycle is operative. Theoretical estimates predict a maximum (un- certain) reduction of about 0.11 dex in the surface abun- dances of massive progenitors (Renzini & Voli 1981). The analyses of the C/N and C/O ratios in galactic super- giants suggest that these stars have dredged-up essentially CN-cycle products and that oxygen remained unchanged (Luck & Lambert 1985). Concerning PN, dierent data sets (Koppen et al. 1991; Kingsburgh & Barlow 1994; Costa & de Freitas Pacheco 1996) indicate that the oxy- gen abundances of massive and young planetaries (type I objects) agree with abundances derived from HII regions, consistent with the conclusion derived from galactic su- pergiants, namely, oxygen was not aected. These rst considerations may give some support to the scenario in which oxygen would not be altered by mixing episodes and its abundance reflects the pristine chemical composition of the medium from where PN have been formed out.
Gender, Race, and Intersectionality on the Federal Appellate Bench

While theoretical justifications predict that a judge's gender and race may influence judicial decisions, empirical support for these arguments has been mixed. However, recent increases in judicial diversity necessitate a reexamination of these earlier studies. Rather than examining individual judges on a single characteristic, such as gender or race alone, this research note argues that the intersection of individual characteristics may provide an alternative approach for evaluating the effects of diversity on the federal appellate bench. The results of cohort models examining the joint effects of race and gender suggest that minority female judges are more likely to support criminal defendants' claims when compared to their colleagues on the bench, even after controlling for other important factors. This suggests that our understanding of judicial behaviors may be assisted by the inclusion of how individual characteristics overlap rather than examining those characteristics alone.
An inquiry on the change profile of healthcare managers and entrepreneurs

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which people from two different sectors are ‘armed’ to deal effectively with change. Change is apparently the only constant factor in current work surroundings. A crucial issue to manage change professionally is coping with the involved uncertainty. The individual manager plays an important role in this regard, as successfully coping with change is strongly influenced by the psychological predispositions of the individual experiencing the change. We compared Flemish entrepreneurs and healthcare managers on four traits (locus of control, self-efficacy, tolerance for ambiguity, proactive personality) and on cognitive styles (i.e., individual preferences for organising and processing information). Entrepreneurs (n = 177) scored significantly higher on all traits than healthcare managers (n = 60). Healthcare managers scored significantly higher on the knowing and planning style than entrepreneurs, but no significant differences were found for the creating style. With this study, we hope to enhance the knowledge about the influence of particular characteristics in organisational change processes
Is it too early to learn lessons from the developed world on the potential of big data technology: Harnessing and nurturing intuition in organisational decision makers

As big data (BD) and data analytics gain significance in Europe, the industry expects that executives will eventually move towards evidence based decision making, and consequently would build sustainable competitive advantages for their organisations. Therefore, the lessons learned from experiences of European executives can be key for human development and also economic development. However, it also seems that in some cases decision makers in Europe seem to not use business intelligence systems at all. Since, executives are intelligent human beings with credible and proven expertise, it seems to raise a question mark on effectiveness of business intelligence systems, and the potential it has in human and economic development. Furthermore, repeated evaluation of literature pointed out that ultimately executives in Europe make decisions by intuition, and this leads to the question whether big data would ever replace intuition. In this paper, the mind-sets of executives about application and limitations of big data have been explored, by taking into account the cognitive factors in decision making. By using this, it is evaluated whether BD technologies can use to accelerate intuition development of the executives, and consequently lead to faster and sustainable economic development in the developing world.
Conventional ageing and sexing methods based on teeth and dry bone morphology in the person’s identification (victims of red terror in 1946)

Human skeletal remains exhumated from the post-war multiple grave in Southern Estonia were anthropologically analysed. Conventional ageing and sexing methods were used to esimate biological sex and age at death of buried people. The blind test was carried out by two independent researchers; the obtained results were compared with historic data concerning the chronological age at death and the sex of buried people.
Design and Development of Polyaniline-coated Fabric Strain Sensor for Goniometry Applications

In the last few years, the smart textile area has become increasingly widespread, leading to developments in new wearable sensing systems. As conventional sensor techniques often cause problems for long term patient monitoring (e.g. skin irritation, hampering wires), elegant solutions are explored to integrate sensors in clothing. By using the textile material itself as a sensor, the integration is increased resulting in even more patient friendliness. In this paper, a flexible fabric strain sensor with high sensitivity, good stability and large deformation is reported. It is fabricated by in-situ polymerization of polyaniline on the fabric substrate at low temperature. Thickness and morphology of the conducting thin film on the surface of the fibers were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The resistivity of the PANi coated fabric was measured using standard two probe apparatus. The measurement of the conductivity change with strain shows that the fabrics so prepared exhibits a high strain sensitivity while its good stability is indicated by a small loss of conductivity after the thermal and humidity aging tests, and supported by the slight change in conductivity over storage of 90 days. The developed flexible strain sensor can be used in the preparation of smart garment for goniometry applications.
CINR Performance of Downlink Mobile WiMAX IEEE 802.16e Deployed Using Coexistence Cellular Terrestrial and HAPS

Deploying WiMAX through High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) system is a new means of wireless delivery method and thus attracting much the attention in a telecommunication society. However delivering WiMAX through the terrestrial network has already been started a few years ago. Therefore, we need to look at the scenario of coexistence system both of HAPS and terrestrial in delivering WiMAX services. This paper evaluates the performance of coexistence system between cellular HAPS and terrestrial for the downlink scenario when they are transmitting WiMAX mobile 802.16e services. Our evaluation is based on the performance simulation of coexistence model using two methods. First method is a footprint exchange between the two systems.The second method is a combination of footprint exchange and HAPS footprint enhancement. The proposed methodsare then evaluated by computer simulation in terms of carrier to interference plus noise ratio (CINR) performance. In general, both methods resulting performance enhancement in CINR quality compared with coexistence deployment with normal scenario of the cell configuration used by HAPS and terrestrial. The method of combining footprint exchange and HAPS footprint enhancement is able to improve CINR more than 10 dB compared with the normal footprint configuration for all users location inside the coverage.
Perceptual image distortion metric based on a statistically-derived divisive normalization model

We present a perceptual image distortion metric based on recent models of primate primary visual cortex (V1). The perceptual metric is similar to that proposed by Teo and Heeger (1994) and includes a linear filtering stage followed by a gain control mechanism, known as “divisive normalization”, that explains some of the non-linear behaviour of V1 neurons. The main difference is that in our case, following the latest V1 models, the divisive normalization is more general (it considers not only neighbouring responses in orientation but also in position and scale) and also it is adapted to natural image statistics. In particular, the parameters of the divisive normalization are fixed using a novel statistically-derived model of minimum noticeable distortions in squared linear coefficients of natural images. The results show that the proposed metric fits very well (as well as the metric by Teo and Heeger, 1994) empirical data obtained from contrast masking experiments.
UManSysProp v1.0, an online and open-source facility for molecular property prediction and atmospheric aerosol calculations

In this paper we describe the development and application of a new web based facility, UManSysProp (http://umansysprop.seaes.manchester.ac.uk), for automating predictions of molecular and atmospheric aerosol properties. Current facilities include: pure component vapour pressures, critical properties and sub-cooled densities of organic molecules; activity coefﬁcient predictions for mixed inorganic-organic liquid systems; hygroscopic growth factors and CCN activation potential of 5 mixed inorganic/organic aerosol particles; absorptive partitioning calculations with/without a treat-ment of non-ideality. The aim of this new facility is to provide a single point of reference for all properties relevant to atmospheric aerosol that have been checked for applicability to atmospheric compounds where possible. The group contribution approach allows users to upload molecular information in the form of SMILES strings and UManSysProp will automatically extract the relevant 10 information for calculations. Built using open source chemical informatics, and hosted at the University of Manchester, the facilities are provided via a browser and device-friendly web-interface, or can be accessed using the user’s own code via a JSON API. We also provide the source code for all predictive techniques provided on the site,
The two-parameter quantum group of exceptional type G2 and Lusztig’s symmetries

We give the defining structure of two-parameter quantum group of type G2 defined over a field Q(r, s) (with r 6 s), and prove the Drinfel'd double structure as its upper and lower triangular parts, extending an earlier result of (BW1) in type A and a recent result of (BGH1) in types B, C, D. We further discuss the Lusztig's Q-isomorphisms from Ur,s(G2) to its associated object Us−1,r−1(G2), which give rise to the usual Lusztig's symmetries defined not only on Uq(G2) but also on the centralized quantum group U c(G2) only when r = s 1 = q. (This also reflects the distinguishing difference between our newly defined two-parameter object and the standard Drinfel'd-Jimbo quan- tum groups). Some interesting (r, s)-identities holding in Ur,s(G2) are derived from this discussion.
High Efficiency Radio Frequency Pulse Width Modulation of Class-E Power Amplifiers

A new switch mode power amplifier (SMPA) topology particularly suitable for energy efficient amplification of radio frequency pulse width modulation (RF-PWM) signals is derived. It is analytically shown that high efficiency can be maintained over a wide power dynamic range if the imaginary part of the Class-E load impedance is varied along with the duty cycle (pulse width). Using the theory developed, an explicit design procedure is presented that allows practical realization of the proposed topology from the circuit and component specifications. Following the design procedure, and using in-house (Chalmers University) SiC varactor diodes to implement the tunable imaginary load impedance, a 2 GHz 10 W peak output power GaN HEMT circuit demonstrator is realized. RF-PWM input signals for characterization of the prototype PA is generated with a dedicated 65 nm CMOS modulator. The measurements show that a drain efficiency > 70% can be obtained over an 6.5 dB dynamic range, which verifies the theory presented and demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed PA topology.
Effect of eucalyptus (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and maize (Zea mays) litter on growth, development, mycorrhizal colonization and roots nodulation of Arachis hypogaea

In Senegal, farmers often cultivate groundnut in association with eucalyptus plantations to increase their incomes. However eucalyptus plantations produce large amounts of litter, which impact on groundnut has not been clearly elucidated yet. In order to investigate litter accumulation effect on growth, development, and groundnut root infection by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and rhizobia, a greenhouse experiment was performed. The effect of eucalyptus litter was compared to that maize litter effect at three litter amendments (0, 1 and 5%). Chemical analysis showed that eucalyptus litter differed essentially from maize litter by its high polyphenols content and lower pH. At high amendment (5%), root nodulation and mycorrhizal colonization were significantly reduced with eucalyptus litter whereas no significant differences were observed with maize litter. In addition, groundnut growth, number of flowers per plant, pods yield and leaf mineral contents (N and C) were significantly lower for plant grown in soil highly amended with eucalyptus litter. Plants showed deficiency of chlorophyll content in leaves and were less vigorous compared to treatments without amendment and those amended at 1% level. For all parameters measured, plants grown in soil lowly amended (1%) and plants grown in control treatment did not significantly differ. Key words : Litter, Eucalyptus, Arachis hypogaea, Mycorrhizal symbiosis, Rhizobia.
Radar reflectivity calibration using differential propagation phase measurement

A method for calibrating radar reflectivity using polarization radar measurements in rain is described. Accurate calibration of radar reflectivity is essential for obtaining reliable rain rate estimation. In the case of polarization radar, rain rate can be independently estimated using power and phase measurements. Thus phase measurement can be estimated from power measurements. Comparison of the direct estimate of propagation phase (Φm) measurement, which is unaffected by absolute calibration of the radar system, with the estimated propagation phase (Φe) from power measurements is the basis for the calibration method. Polarization measurements such as reflectivity (Z), differential reflectivity (ZDR), and differential propagation phase (ΦDP) are sensitive to drop size distribution (DSD) and mean drop shape. It is important to devise a calibration technique relatively unperturbed by changes in DSD and drop shape. Statistical fluctuation in Φe is derived to estimate the accuracy of the calibration procedure, raindrop shape, and attenuation. The proposed method is applied for calibrating reflectivity measurements of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) S‐band polarization radar (S‐Pol) in midlatitude, subtropical, and tropical rain events.
Quantum Query Processing: Unifying Database Querying and Information Retrieval

Traditional database query languages are based on set theory and crisp first order logic. However, many applications require retrieval-like queries which return result objects associated with a degree value of being relevant to the query. Traditionally, retrieval systems estimate relevance by exploiting hidden object semantics whereas query processing in database systems relies on matching select-conditions with attribute values. Thus, different mechanisms were developed for database and information retrieval systems. In consequence, there is a lack of support for queries involving both retrieval and database search terms. In this work, we develop a unifying framework based on the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics and quantum logic. Van Rijsbergen already discussed the strong relation between the formalism of quantum mechanics and information retrieval. The goal of this work is to interrelate concepts from database query processing to concepts from quantum mechanics and logic. As result, we obtain a common theory which allows us to incorporate seamlessly retrieval search into traditional database query processing. Exploiting our theoretical results, we introduce the quantum query language QQL. In contrast to competing approaches, our formalism is based on quantum logic.