Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influenec of Azolla pinnata on Floodwater Chemistry, Grain Yield and Nitrogen Uptake of Rice in Dano, Southwestern Burkina Faso

Nitrogen fertilizer recovery by lowland rice can be as low as 10% and rarely exceeds 60%. Azolla contributes to the nitrogen (N) nutrition of rice plant through biological N fixation (BNF). This study aimed at assessing the influence of Azolla pinatta on floodwater chemistry, rice yield, total dry matter and N uptake of rice. The study was carried out at the Dreyer Research Station in South Western Burkina Faso in 2005 using a split urea application method called Experiment 1 (E1) which was compared with what the farmer’s practice (E2), which is basal application of NPK (16 16 16) and one top-dress of urea. Four levels of nitrogen was used in the experiments (0, 40, 80, 120 kg N ha -1 ). The full Azolla cover on the floodwater surface by the time of urea application prevented rapid increase in floodwater pH in the range of 0.52 to 0.68. The presence of Azolla lowered floodwater temperature by 1.9 to 2.0 o C. There was a significant increased (p 0.05) between Azolla and nitrogen. It is concluded that Azolla brought about an additive effect and could be an efficient fertilizer alternative or supplement in flooded rice cropping system in Dano.
Spatial distribution of overtopping

The scope of this research is to find an empirical formula to describe the distribution of wave overtopping in the region behind the crest. A physical model was set up in which irregular waves were generated. In order to find a formula which adequately describes the test observations, the influence of several parameters has been analysed. The proper determination of the crest freeboard, which is a dominant factor, has been investigated. Finally, the test results have been used to assess and compare the existing relevant computational methods.
Option Pricing and Spikes in Volatility: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

This paper considers a financial market where the asset prices and the corresponding volatility are driven by a multidimensional mixture of Wiener shocks and Poisson jumps. While implied volatility is characterized by spikes, the existing models rely on the restrictive assumption of positive jumps in volatility. To overcome this inadequacy, the present paper introduces normally distributed jumps in the logvariance process. The model proposed is able to mimic empirically observed spikes in volatility and, consequently, improves upon the existing literature as it replicates the main features of both the stock return series and the corresponding option prices. After estimating the stock returns via the Efficient Method of Moments, the expression for the valuation of a plain vanilla European call option is derived, using the no-arbitrage argument. S&P500 option prices are used to assess quantitatively the empirical performance of the innovative features of the proposed model. The estimates indicate that spikes in volatility introduce a significant improvement in option pricing and provide evidence for stochastic jump risk premia.
Humoral and cellular characterization of minor allergens in birch pollen

Allergische Erkrankungen haben in urbanen Regionen epidemische Ausmase angenommen und beeintrachtigen die Lebensqualitat der betroffenen Personen. Pollen von windbestaubenden Pflanzen wie der Europaischen Weiss-Birke (Betula verrucosa) gehoren in Mittel- und Nordeuropa zu den potentesten Allergenquellen. Birkenpollen enthalt das gut charakterisierte Hauptallergen Bet v 1 sowie mehrere Nebenallergene, die von weniger als 50% der Birkenpollen-Allergiker erkannt werden. Diagnose und Therapie von Typ I Allergien hangen von der Qualitat der verwendeten Allergenextrakte ab. Dabei konnen Defizite wie Chargenvariabilitat oder unterschiedliche Konzentrationen verschiedener Komponenten auftreten. Diese konnen durch die Verwendung rekombinanter Allergene uberwunden werden. Die wichtigsten Ziele dieser Arbeit waren i) die Expression, Aufreinigung und Charakterisierung der Birkenpollen-Nebenallergene Bet v 3, Bet v 4, Bet v 6, Bet v 7 und ii) die Isolierung und Charakterisierung von T-Zell-Klonen (TCC) spezifisch fur Birkenpollen Proteine. Alle Nebenallergene wurden in E.coli mit einem His-Tag exprimiert und mittels Ni- Affinitatschromatographie aufgereinigt. Der LPS-Gehalt wurde auf vernachlassigbare Mengen reduziert. Die korrekte Faltung und Allergenizitat wurde durch IgE ELISA-Experimente mit Seren von Birkenpollen-Allergikern getestet. Die Fahigkeit Birkenpollen-spezifische T-Zellen zu aktivieren wurde durch Proliferationsassays mit mononuklearen Zellen des peripheren Blutes (PBMC), allergen-spezifischen T-Zell-Linien (TCL) und T-Zell-Klonen von Birkenpollen-Allergikern ermittelt. Alle rekombinanten Allergene konnten IgE-Antikorper binden und Proliferation in PBMC induzieren. Allergen-spezifische TCC wurden aus Birkenpollen-spezifischen TCL isoliert und anhand von Proliferationsassays charakterisiert. Marker fur T-Zellen und spezifische T-Zell Subtypen wurden mittels Durchflusszytometrie analysiert. Zusatzlich wurden Zytokinkonzentrationen in Uberstanden von aktivierten Allergen-spezifischen TCC durch Bead-Arrays bestimmt. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Mehrzahl der mit Birkenpollenextrakt expandierten TCC und TCL spezifisch fur Bet v 1 waren und diese mehrheitlich zum TH2 Subtyp gehorten. TCC die nicht mit Bet v 1 reagierten gehorten grosteils zum TH0 Subtyp. Ein TCC war spezifisch fur das Nebenallergen Bet v 2. Kein Klon reagierte mit den rekombinanten Allergenen Bet v 3-7. Im Rahmen dieser Diplomarbeit wurden endotoxinfreie Chargen von Bet v 3, Bet v 4, Bet v 6 und Bet v 7 hergestellt und deren IgE-Reaktivitat bestatigt. Zum ersten Mal konnte die T-Zell-aktivierende Fahigkeit dieser Nebenallergene gezeigt werden. 89 In Zukunft konnten die produzierten und charakterisierten Allergene helfen, die immonologischen Unterschiede zwischen Bet v 1 und den identifizierten Nebenallergenen im Birkenpollen aufzuklaren. Daruber hinaus konnten die eingefrorenen TCC hilfreich bei der Suche nach neuen Proteinen von immunologischen Wert im Birkenpollen sein.
EVALUATION OF TAF AGILE FRAMEWORK BASED ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INNOVATIVE EMERGENCY WEARABLE FOR SENIORS

Due to shortened technology lifecycles and changing customer needs, companies are forced to get their products to the market quicker. To overcome these challenges, agile product development methods have been developed. After being widely prevailed in software development, agile methods find their way into hardware development. The TAF Agile Framework provides a procedural model specifically for developing mechatronic products. In this paper TAF is used for the development of an innovative emergency wearable for seniors and is evaluated using an adaption of the 4-Dimensional Analytical Tool.
ATM , ATR and Mre11 complex genes in hereditary susceptibility to breast cancer

Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 explain only about 20% of familial aggregation of breast cancer, suggesting involvement of additional susceptibility genes. In this study five DNA damage response genes, ATM, ATR, MRE11, NBS1 and RAD50, were considered as putative candidates to explain some of the remaining familial breast cancer risk, and were screened for germline mutations in families displaying genetic predisposition. Analysis of ATM indicated that clearly pathogenic mutations seem to be restricted to those reported in ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T). However, a cancer risk modifying effect was suggested for a combination of two ATM polymorphisms, 5557G>A and IVS38-8T>C, as this allele seemed to associate with bilateral breast cancer (OR 10.2, 95% CI 3.1–33.8, p = 0.001). The relevance of ATM mutations, originally identified in Finnish A-T patients, in breast cancer susceptibility was evaluated by a large case-control study. Two such alleles, 6903insA and 7570G>C, in addition to 8734A>G previously associated with breast cancer susceptibility, were observed. The overall mutation frequency in unselected cases (7/1124) was higher than in controls (1/1107), but a significantly elevated frequency was observed only in familial cases (6/541, p = 0.006, OR 12.4, 95% CI 1.5–103.3). These three mutations showed founder effects in their geographical occurrence, and had different functional consequences at protein level. In ATR no disease-related mutations were observed, suggesting that it is not a breast cancer susceptibility gene. The mutation screening of the Mre11 complex genes, MRE11, NBS1 and RAD50, revealed two novel potentially breast cancer associated alleles: NBS1 Leu150Phe and RAD50 687delT were observed in 2.0% (3/151) of the studied families. The subsequent study of newly diagnosed, unselected breast cancer cases indicated that RAD50 687delT is a relatively common low-penetrance susceptibility allele in Northern Finland (cases 8/317 vs. controls 6/1000, OR 4.3, 95% CI 1.5–12.5, p = 0.008). NBS1 Leu150Phe (2/317) together with a novel RAD50 IVS3-1G>A mutation (1/317) was also observed, both being absent from controls. Loss of the wild-type allele was not observed in the tumors of the studied mutation carriers, but they all showed an increase in chromosomal instability of peripheral T-lymphocytes. This suggests an effect for RAD50 and NBS1 haploinsufficiency on genomic integrity and susceptibility to cancer.
Impact of Oil Prices on GCC Stock Market

This paper i n v estigates the impact of oil Prices on Gulf Coope r ation Council (GCC) sto c k ma r k ets’. Since GCC count r ies are major suppliers of oil, their sto c k ma r k ets are li k ely to be suscepti b le to change in oil p r ice s . The results confirm that there is an influence of oil p r ice change on GCC sto c k ma r k ets retu r ns in the long-te r m. Long te r m is defined here as the pe r iod of time required f or the ef f ect of oil p r ice changes to w o r k out its w a y to influence major macroeconomic indicators that influence profitability of fi r ms t r aded in GCC sto c k ma r k et s .
Female Intensity, Trade Reforms and Capital Investments in Colombian Manufacturing Industries: 1981-2000

We exploit a natural experiment provided by the trade liberalisation that occurred in Colombia at the beginning of the 1990s to see its possible effects on the gender composition of the workforce across manufacturing industries. In order to account for the effects of changes in capital technology, our empirical strategy controls for different types of capital stock per worker (namely, machinery, office equipment and transport equipment) within a fixed-effects instrumental-variables framework in which estimates drawn from a variety of instruments are compared. We also include a concentration index variable in order to account for changes in the degree of market power. Our findings confirm that increasing levels of trade openness in the terms of both import penetration and export orientation tend to be associated with higher shares of female employment although this effect appears to be differentiated in terms of skill level. Equally we find that manufacturing industries with higher levels of industry concentration tend to have lower female shares of jobs. Our variables for different types of the stock of capital per worker suggest that machinery and office equipment are associated with higher shares of female jobs, particularly in the whitecollar workers category.
Design, Modeling, and Geometric Control on SE(3) of a Fully-Actuated Hexarotor for Aerial Interaction

In this work we present the optimization-based design and control of a fully-actuated omnidirectional hexarotor. The tilt angles of the propellers are designed by maximizing the control wrench applied by the propellers. This maximizes (a) the agility of the UAV, (b) the maximum payload the UAV can hover with at any orientation, and (c) the interaction wrench that the UAV can apply to the environment in physical contact. It is shown that only axial tilting of the propellers with respect to the UAV's body yields optimal results. Unlike the conventional hexarotor, the proposed hexarotor can generate at least 1.9 times the maximum thrust of one rotor in any direction, in addition to the higher control torque around the vehicle's upward axis. A geometric controller on SE(3) is proposed for the trajectory tracking problem for the class of fully actuated UAVs. The proposed controller avoids singularities and complexities that arise when using local parametrizations, in addition to being invariant to a change of inertial coordinate frame. The performance of the controller is validated in simulation.
A Review on Road Sign Recognition

In the present, the condition of roads has improved as compared to the past decade. So obviously the speed of thevehicles has increased and there might be chances of driver neglecting the road signs while driving which may result in roadaccidents. So there is a need for a system that automatically detects the road signs and helps the driver and makes the drivingsafer and easier. This review paper discusses the various techniques used recently for the detection and recognition of road signs.It also describes the classification of the road signs and the difficulties that arise during recognition.
EU Enlargement and the EMU

This paper investigates empirically the extent to which the ten new EU countries are ready to join the European Monetary Union (EMU). Using France and Germany as a benchmark, we assess the prospects of successful EMU participation based on common trends analysis of the nominal convergence criteria as well as on real exchange rates and real per capita GDPs. The empirical results indicate that the new EU countries are partially ready to join the eurozone, and need further adjustments in their government policies to be fully prepared for joining the EMU.
Mapping Space Through Sounds and Noises - An Innovative Approach for Geography Education

This paper aims at describing different school projects pertaining to noise and sound recordings for spatial analysis, in France. Students, from primary to upper secondary school, used location-based mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones to record data during fieldwork courses and to map their localities. The projects address the issues of (1) the relationship between the body and a nearby space for primary students and secondary students and (2) the question of soundscapes (SCHAFFER 1992), i.e an acoustic environment by which we hear the full set of sounds of the space where we are, as a basis for the analysis of urban spaces. These experiments allow a better understanding of space navigation for individuals and space modeling with visual and symbolic data. In this paper, we also address the question of the effectiveness of location-based mobile devices for educational purposes. Moreover, these experiments offer new perspectives for spatial analysis within an educational context.
Slicing: Privacy Preserving Data Publishing Technique

Today, most enterprises are actively collecting and storing data in large databases. Many of them have recognized the potential value of these data as an information source for making business decisions. Privacy-preserving data publishing (PPDP) provides methods and tools for publishing useful information while preserving data privacy. In this paper, a brief yet systematic review of several Anonymization techniques such as generalization and Bucketization, have been designed for privacy preserving micro data publishing. Recent work has shown that generalization loses considerable amount of information, especially for high-dimensional data. On the other hand, Bucketization does not prevent membership disclosure. Whereas slicing preserves better data utility than generalization and also prevents membership disclosure. This paper focuses on effective method that can be used for providing better data utility and can handle high dimensional data.
Employers Promoting Sustainable Commuting: a Multi-Level Count Data Analysis on Bicycle-Promoting Measures

Werkgevers promoten duurzame pendel: een multi-level analyse van fiets-ondersteunede maatregelen Heel wat werkgevers nemen zeer diverse maatregelen om het pendelgedrag van hun werknemers duurzamer te maken. Daarbij lijkt het logisch te veronderstellen dat werkgevers die geconfronteerd worden met bereikbaarheidsproblemen, meer maatregelen nemen om carpoolen, fietsen en het openbaar vervoer te ondersteunen. In een multilevel model werd aan de hand van vooral ruimtelijke variabelen getracht te verklaren waarom fietsmaatregelen genomen worden op een werkplek. Dit model incorporeert naast de vestiging als basiseenheid ook de niveaus gemeente en werkgelegenheidsbassin. Gebruik makend van de driejaarlijkse enquete woon-werk-verkeer bij grote ondernemingen (sinds 2005) is er nu, naast de data uit de Belgische volkstellingen, ook meer informatie voorhanden over de werkgevers-kant van het pendelgebeuren. In het merendeel van het onderzoek over pendelgedrag ligt de focus voornamelijk op de karakteristieken van de individuele pendelaar. Het onderzoek over bedrijven en pendel blijft dikwijls beperkt tot een kwalitatieve analyse met case-studies en ‘best practices’. Hier wordt getracht om daar een kwantitatieve analyse aan toe te voegen. Uit onze analyse blijkt dat op vestigingen met meer werknemers en met meer parkeerplaatsen per werknemer meer maatregelen worden genomen om het fietsen te bevorderen. Dit laatste lijkt erop te wijzen dat werkgevers het voorzien van autoparkeerplaatsen als een last ervaren. Als werkgevers aangeven dat ze lijden onder congestie nemen ze ook meer maatregelen. In vestigingen waar onveilig verkeer op de fietsroutes naar de werkplek werd gesignaleerd, worden ook meer maatregelen genomen om het fietsen te promoten. Het verbeteren van de infrastructuur is een voorbeeld van dergelijke maatregel. Hierbij is een diepgaandere analyse nodig om na te gaan of deze variabele op zich verantwoordelijk is voor het resultaat of dat er een (verborgen) variabele bestaat. In meer heuvelachtige gebieden in Belgie wordt de fiets minder gepromoot. In gemeenten die beter bediend worden door openbaar vervoer, wordt meer ingezet op openbaar vervoer dan op fietsgebruik. Verder onderzoek zal echter ook moeten focussen op (bedrijfs)economische variabelen en op alternatieven. Daarnaast zullen meer geavanceerde bereikbaarheidsindicatoren geincorporeerd worden in een model.
Pineal gliosis and gland ageing: The possible role of the glia in the transfer of melatonin from pinealocytes to the blood and cerebrospinal fluid

Using immunohistochemical approaches applied to 6 ? m-thick sections from the pineal glands of cows with ages between 1 and 7 years, we studied the expression of GFAP, vimentin and S-100 and of ? -tubulin. The latter compound appeared in both pinealocytes and in some nerve fibres. In both younger and older cows, vimentin was expressed in the somata of cells localised in peripheral zones of the glands and in fibres with a bead-like aspect that coursed deep into the centres of the glands, as well as in pericapillary cells, apparently in the endothelia of vessels and, like GFAP and S-100, in a thick network of prolongations located between the basal side of the epithelial cells of the pineal recess and pinealocytes, sometimes reaching the ependymal lumen. The network of glial prolongations formed a space with a reticulated aspect interposed between the pinealocytes and the ependymal epithelium. The thickness of this network was especially striking in the older cows. The expression of GFAP and S-100 was also observed in the somata and the cytoplasmic prolongations of cells distributed throughout the gland that surrounded the pinealocytes. In cows with ages of 4 and 7 years the pineal gland showed a pronounced degree of gliosis that isolated the pinealocytes from one another and from the vascular bed. Additionally, all three glial markers were expressed in cells whose somata and cytoplasmic prolongations configured spaces with a trabecular aspect, very poor in connective tissue, which coursed throughout the glands to reach the reticulated space, in especially thin neighbouring zones of the epithelium of the pineal recess. The results suggest a decisive role of the pineal glia in gland ageing, in the secretion of melatonin, and in the configuration of the vascular and ependymal pathways that the hormone must follow from pinealocytes to its target organs.
Rapid Peptide in-Solution Isoelectric Focusing Fractionation for Deep Proteome Analysis

The interplay between resolution, accuracy, sensitivity and speed of the mass spectrometer, as well as the complexity of the peptide mixture in relation to chromatographic separation and the analysis time finally determines the number of identified proteins within a ‘shotgun’ proteomic study. The improvement of one of these parameters can enhance the quality of the proteome analysis. Here we evaluated the technique of in-solution isoelectric focusing (IEF) for pre-fractionation of tryptic peptides prior to LC-MS/MS-based proteomics analysis. In-solution IEF turned out to be a simple and fast method for peptide fractionation prior to LC-MS analysis. By adapting the experimental procedures, this approach enabled identification of more than 44,000 peptides belonging to 5,800 proteins in less than 48 working hours, from protein extraction until the end of LC-MS analysis. This technique was applied successfully to analyze the proteomes of mammalian cells and different model organisms, without additional efforts or special technical equipment. The in-solution IEF of peptides is very robust and can be applied in combination with different extraction procedures. The high number of identified peptides using a standard LC-MS system led to average protein coverage of 25%. Such a high average number of identified peptides per protein improved the discrimination of protein species as isoforms or splice variants. Thus, in solution IEF is a fast and robust alternative to gel-based proteomics or other gel free fractionation techniques upstream to LC-MS/MS analysis. The reduction of processing time and the high performance of this technique can speed up deep proteomics analyses significantly.
Enhanced Equity-Credit Modeling for Contingent Convertibles

Contingent convertible (CoCo) bonds are characterized by forced equity conversion under either accounting or regulatory trigger. Accounting trigger occurs when the capital ratio of the issuing bank falls below some contractual threshold. Under the regulatory trigger, sometimes called the point-of-non-viability (PONV) trigger, the regulatory authority may enforce equity conversion when the financial health of the bank deteriorates to certain distressed level. In this paper, we propose an equity-credit modeling of the joint process of the stock price and capital ratio that integrates both the structural approach of accounting trigger and reduced form approach of PONV trigger of equity conversion. We also construct effective Fortet algorithms and finite difference schemes for numerical pricing of CoCo bonds under various forms of equity conversion payoff. The pricing properties of the CoCo bonds under different assumptions of the state dependent intensity of PONV trigger, contractual specifications and market conditions are examined.