Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mixing performance of viscoelastic fluids in a Kenics KM in-line static mixer

The mixing of ideal viscoelastic (Boger) fluids within a Kenics KM static mixer has been assessed by the analysis of images obtained by Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF). The effect of fluid elasticity and fluid superficial velocity has been investigated, with mixing performance quantified using the traditional measure of coefficient of variance CoV alongside the areal method developed by Alberini et al. (2013). As previously reported for non-Newtonian shear thinning fluids, trends in the coefficient of variance follow no set pattern, whilst areal analysis has shown that the >90% mixed fraction (i.e. portion of the flow that is within ±10% of the perfectly mixed concentration) decreases as fluid elasticity increases. Further, the >90% mixed fraction does not collapse onto a single curve with traditional dimensionless parameters such as Reynolds number Re and Weissenberg number Wi, and thus a generalised Reynolds number Reg = Re/(1 + 2Wi) has been implemented with data showing a good correlation to this parameter. Fluid blending © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Institution of Chemical Engineers. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). performance of in-line static mixers, also known as motion
So Close But So Far: Voting Propensity and Party Choice for Left‐Wing Parties

While the bulk of the literature focuses on the vote for parties from different blocs, the purpose of our article is to study the vote for two parties that are ideologically very close to each other: The Social Democrats and the Greens in Switzerland. To that end, we develop a two-step model, where voters first make a selection of parties that are acceptable to them and then make their electoral choice out of this set of acceptable alternatives. We use voting propensities as a measure of the first, consideration step and we show that they strongly depend on the distance between voters and parties on the Left–Right scale. With regard to the second, choice stage of the electoral process we hypothesize about the factors that may account for the varying ability of the two parties to convert potential voters into real voters. Our empirical tests provide encouraging support for our hypotheses regarding the impact of socio-demographic variables and issue voting. Strategic considerations, by contrast, do not seem to matter.
The Implementing of Business-to-business E-commerce Application: An Australian Case Study

This paper will discuss the effects of implementing e-commerce applications on a non-profit organisation, both pre- and post implementation of this form of business application. The commonality of the problems between a not-for-profit organisation and a typical profit-making organisation makes this paper applicable for both types of businesses. Currently, organisations are effectively “bandwagon jumping” into the e-commerce form of business without sufficiently studying the total effects that such a move create and the problems created by insufficient investigation into this tactical move. Consequently, too many enterprises are slow to restructure their organisation and their processes and then adapt to this new mode of
Industrialization and economic growth relationship in Nigeria

This paper investigates the impact of industrialization on economic growth in Nigeria from 2001 to 2013.Data was sourced from CBN statistical bulletin 2013. The paper employed Ordinary Least Square (OLS) techniques in estimating the relationship between industrial output, industrial employment and economic growth, after which ADF unit root test was conducted alongside Breusch-Godfrey serial correlation LM test and Breusch-Pagan-Godfrey heteroskeddasticity test.Base on the results of this study, the importance of industrialization to economic growth cannot be overemphasized. The OLS result of this study revaled that industrialization will go a long way in stimulating economic growth in Nigeria. The coefficient of industrial output shows that increase in industrial output will increase economic growth. This paper therefore, recommended that government and its relevant authorities should provide conducive investment environment by removing the structural rigidities that exist in the economy to encourage industrial activities. Government should endeavour to provide stable supply of power, good roads for transportation of goods and people, functional legal system, security of lives and property, infrastructural facilities etc. All these would boost industrial output thereby making goods and services readily available to meet the ever increasing demand in order to prevent inflation and subsequently lead to industrial expansion and improvement in economic growth of the economy. Based on the coefficient of industrial employment; increase in industrial employment will increase economic growth. This paper therefore, recommended the need to formulate policies to increase industrial employment which may likely improve the welfare of Nigerians which would provide employment opportunities for the people. The coefficients of elasticities revealed the extent to which industrial output and industrial employment affects economic growth in Nigeria. It was found that economic growth was highly susceptible to change in industrial output and less susceptible to change in industrial employment this paper therefore, recommended that more effort should be channel toward increasing industrial output than industrial employment so as to achieve the desired economic growth.
Power – property core of economic development: the cases of Russia and South Korea

The paper argues that some peculiarities of national development strategies may be described and explained with the help of the power – property concept which is used as a complement to the Economic Freedom surveys methodology. A cluster analysis approach is used to reveal the discrepancies in development strategies of Russia and of South Korea. The paper claims that factors which influence those discrepancies are mostly institutional and cultural attributes that concern the power – property phenomenon
Chemical data assimilation estimates of continental U.S. ozone and nitrogen budgets during the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment–North America

[1] Global ozone analyses, based on assimilation of stratospheric profile and ozone column measurements, and NOy predictions from the Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS) are used to estimate the ozone and NOy budget over the continental United States during the July–August 2004 Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment–North America (INTEX-A). Comparison with aircraft, satellite, surface, and ozonesonde measurements collected during INTEX-A show that RAQMS captures the main features of the global and continental U.S. distribution of tropospheric ozone, carbon monoxide, and NOy with reasonable fidelity. Assimilation of stratospheric profile and column ozone measurements is shown to have a positive impact on the RAQMS upper tropospheric/lower stratosphere ozone analyses, particularly during the period when SAGE III limb scattering measurements were available. Eulerian ozone and NOy budgets during INTEX-A show that the majority of the continental U.S. export occurs in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere poleward of the tropopause break, a consequence of convergence of tropospheric and stratospheric air in this region. Continental U.S. photochemically produced ozone was found to be a minor component of the total ozone export, which was dominated by stratospheric ozone during INTEX-A. The unusually low photochemical ozone export is attributed to anomalously cold surface temperatures during the latter half of the INTEX-A mission, which resulted in net ozone loss during the first 2 weeks of August. Eulerian NOy budgets are shown to be very consistent with previously published estimates. The NOy export efficiency was estimated to be 24%, with NOx + PAN accounting for 54% of the total NOy export during INTEX-A.
THE INSTANCE SELECTION METHOD FOR NEURO-FUZZY MODEL SYNTHESIS

The problem of automation of neuro-fuzzy model synthesis on instance set is addressed. The method of instance selection for neuro-fuzzy model synthesis is proposed. It allows reducing the sample size, and decreasing the requirements to computer resources. The method also performs transformation of the original multi-dimensional coordinate set to the one-dimensional axis, which is also discretized to improve the data generalization properties. The software implementing proposed method is developed. The experiments were conducted to study the proposed method at the real problem solution. The results of experiments allow recommending proposed method for usage at practice.
Is there light in "dark trading" ? A GARCH analysis of transactions in dark pools

The ability to trade in dark pools without publicly announcing trading orders, concerns regulators and market participants alike. This paper analyses the information contribution of contemporary transaction in dark pools on future prices. The analysis is conducted by performing a nested and non-nested pairwise comparisons between GARCH models, with GED distributed disturbances. We compare several models using (log) scores based on the one-step ahead density forecasts. In each model, dierent proxies of activity in dark pools (volume and number of transactions) are included in the variance equation. Results indicate that the activity in dark pools conveys meaningful information for the one-step-ahead log-returns density forecast. Furthermore, it is to some extent meaningful to the price discovery. At last, traded volume and transactions in dark pools each provide distinct information.
Impact of Excess Body Weight on Health-Related Quality of Life Among Adults in Lebanon

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of excess body weight on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). A convenience sample of 320 adults was recruited from different health centers in Lebanon. Body mass index (kg/m2 ) was calculated based on measured weight and height. Participants were divided into three groups: normal-weight (18.5-24.9), overweight (25.0-29.9) and obese (≥30.0). HRQoL was assessed using the Short-Form health survey questionnaire (SF-36). The eight scales as well as the physical (PCS-36) and mental (MCS-36) component summary measures of the SF-36 were calculated and compared statistically among the three groups. The impact of Body Mass Index (BMI) on HRQoL was also examined through linear regressions, adjusting for sociodemographics, health behaviors and presence of chronic diseases. The results show that overweight and obese men reported reduced HRQoL on all physical scales, while overweight/obese women reported impairments on only two subscales: bodily pain and general health perceptions. PCS-36 showed lower scores in the obese and overweight subjects than the reference group. With regard to mental well-being, obese men and women displayed lower scores on vitality, social functioning and mental health subscales compared to the normalweight group. Additionally, MCS-36 showed lower scores in obese subjects. Results from linear regressions revealed significant negative correlations between BMI and both PCS-36 and MCS-36. In conclusion, overweight adults experience significantly worse physical HRQoL, while obese adults suffer from reduced physical and mental HRQoL. This highlights the importance of development and implementation of effective prevention strategies to improve HRQoL among adults with overweight and obesity.
The Study of Superstition in Behavioral Sciences: Discussing Experimental Arrangements and Theoretical Assumptions

Superstition has been analyzed in behavioral sciences through the use of several terms (e.g., superstition, superstitious behavior, superstitious rules, and superstitious beliefs). This paper argues that the interpretation of the results of studies on superstition depend on: a) the experimental arrangements that are used to study this subject, b) what each of these arrangements enable us to conclude about behavioral relations, and c) assumptions about the role that is attributed to verbal behavior during the construction of superstitions. The role that is attributed to verbal behavior and the experimental arrangements that are chosen are related to underlying concepts of the effects of environmental variables on the control of behavior, namely whether these variables have a direct or indirect (mediational) effect over behavior. Based on these discussions, an alternative course of action is to emphasize existing functional relations between variables as a direct contingency effect, regardless of whether these variables or effects are verbal or nonverbal.
A summary of alien marine benthic invertebrates in Danish waters

There are 18 established alien marine benthic invertebrates in Danish waters. In addition, there are nine species that have been recorded one or more times in these waters, but which do not form reproducing populations in this area. The most important recipient localities in Danish waters are the Limfjord (n=4) and the Wadden Sea (n=3). The species found in these areas are mostly marine species that have spread through secondary dispersal from their original location of introduction. Data on distribution, dispersal, vectors, and donor regions are presented, and the adequacy of Danish monitoring programs is discussed.
Geographical, environmental and intrinsic biotic controls on Phanerozoic marine diversification

Abstract: The Paleobiology Database now includes enough data on fossil collections to produce useful time series of geographical and environmental variables in addition to a robust global Phanerozoic marine diversity curve. The curve is produced by a new ‘shareholder quorum’ method of sampling standardization that removes biases but avoids overcompensating for them by imposing entirely uniform data quotas. It involves drawing fossil collections until the taxa that have been sampled at least once (the ‘shareholders’) have a summed total of frequencies (i.e. coverage) that meets a target (the ‘quorum’). Coverage of each interval’s entire data set is estimated prior to subsampling using a variant of a standard index, Good’s u. This variant employs counts of occurrences of taxa described in only one publication instead of taxa found in only one collection. Each taxon’s frequency within an interval is multiplied by the interval’s index value, which limits the maximum possible sampling level and thereby creates the need for subsampling. Analyses focus on a global diversity curve and curves for northern, southern and ‘tropical’ (30°N to 30°S) palaeolatitudinal belts. Tropical genus richness is remarkably static, so most large shifts in the curve reflect trends at higher latitudes. Changes in diversity are analysed as a function of standing diversity; the number, spacing and palaeolatitudinal position of sampled geographical cells; the mean onshore–offshore position of cells; and proportions of cells from carbonate, onshore and reefal environments. Redundancy among the variables is eliminated by performing a principal components analysis of each data set and using the axis scores in multiple regressions. The key factors are standing diversity and the dominance of onshore environments such as reefs. These factors combine to produce logistic growth patterns with slowly changing equilibrium values. There is no evidence of unregulated exponential growth across any long stretch of the Phanerozoic, and in particular there was no large Cenozoic radiation beyond the Eocene. The end‐Ordovician, Permo–Triassic and Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinctions had relatively short‐term albeit severe effects. However, reef collapse was involved in these events and also may have caused large, longer term global diversity decreases in the mid‐Devonian and across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. Conversely, the expansion of reef ecosystems may explain newly recognized major radiations in the mid‐Permian and mid‐Jurassic. Reef ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to current environmental disturbances such as ocean acidification, and their decimation might prolong the recovery from today’s mass extinction by millions or even tens of millions of years.
Comprehensive program for teaching skills to children with autism.

The purpose of this research was to test a comprehensive system for teaching skills to children diagnosed with autism. Three children received intensive teaching for approximately three months. Each child received a daily set of programs tailored to his/her functional level. These programs had been demonstrated as effective in previous studies for teaching children with learning difficulties. Other programs were derived from basic learning principles. We evaluated on a continual basis the effectiveness of each program with each child, so that the programs that were not effective were replaced by others with more effective procedures. The three children learned roughly one skill for every hour of teaching. They learned more skills per hour when the intervention was intensive; this outcome shows that an intensive program increases the effectiveness of the intervention. On the whole, this system was shown to be effective for teaching skills to children with autism. Thus, it served to increase the children’s quality of life and that of their families. The present intervention can be applied to Special Education schools.
Analysis of within – Month Effects on the Bucharest Stock Exchange

This paper explores the presence of within – month effects on the Romanian capital markets. In our analysis we employ the daily values of some important indexes from two main components of the Bucharest Stock Exchange: BET, where there are listed some of the biggest Romanian corporations, and RASDAQ, which includes smaller companies. We find some significant differences between the calendar anomalies from the two markets. We also discover that in the last years within – month effects experienced some changes that could be linked with the development of the Romanian financial markets, by the adhesion to the European Union and by the global crisis.
Investigating the Potential of Long Time Series Remote Sensing NDVI datasets for Forest Gross Primary Productivity Estimation over Continental U.S.

Several global remote sensing normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) datasets have been established for vegetation monitoring and climate change study, including the MODIS NDVI product, the GIMMS and so on. Many researches focused on estimating forest gross primary productivity (GPP) by MODIS data, which is only available from 2000. However, the GIMMS dataset has a long record period from 1981 to 2006, and will be continued to most recent year (GIMMS3g). That is very suitable for long time period GPP monitoring. Nonetheless, there is a lack of comparison between those two different NDVI datasets for forest GPP estimation. As an attempt to deal with that problem, MOD13A1 from MODIS and GIMMS from AVHRR were used in this study to test the potential of NDVI for forest GPP estimation over continental U.S. from the greenness and radiation (GR) model. Meanwhile, three different predictors: NDVI, NDVI*NDVI and NDVI*NDVI*PAR were chosen to accompany with linear, quadratic and exponent functions for GPP estimation at 15 Ameriflux sites. Results showed that both MODIS and AVHRR NDVI datasets have the ability to predict GPP. However, the MODIS data outperforms AVHRR data. Meanwhile, the predictor of NDVI*NDVI*PAR has better explanatory power than others. As for three statistical models, no one is obvious better than others.
Dynamic Analysis and Optimization of a Production Control System under Supply and Demand Uncertainties

This study investigates the dynamic performance and optimization of a typical discrete production control system under supply disruption and demand uncertainty. Two different types of uncertain demands, disrupted demand with a step change in demand and random demand, are considered. We find that, under demand disruption, the system’s dynamic performance indicators (the peak values of the order rate, production completion rate, and inventory) increase with the duration of supply disruption; however, they increase and decrease sequentially with the supply disruption start time. This change tendency differs from the finding that each kind of peak is independent of the supply disruption start time under no demand disruption. We also find that, under random demand, the dynamic performance indicators (Bullwhip and variance amplification of inventory relative to demand) increase with the disruption duration, but they have a decreasing tendency as demand variance increases. In order to design an adaptive system, we propose a genetic algorithm that minimizes the respective objective function on the system’s dynamic performance indicators via choosing appropriate system parameters. It is shown that the optimal parameter choices relate closely to the supply disruption start time and duration under disrupted demand and to the supply disruption duration under random demand.
Assessing the status of fundamental chemistry knowledge Using a visually displayed chemistry diagnostic test

Students in the classroom may possess varying levels of knowledge and understanding of fundamental chemical concepts so it is necessary to ascertain if any misalignment exists with their expected prior knowledge; if left un-addressed, such misalignment may create difficulties for students beyond the first year of their undergraduate study. The aim of this initial diagnostic test study is to assess students' knowledge of basic concepts in chemistry that underpin the science of patient safety in pharmacy practice using a novel approach which enables a variety of question types. A diagnostic test using Microsoft PowerPoint© consisting of 40 individually timed questions was presented to an entire cohort of Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree programme undergraduate students in both the first year (n = 163) and third year (n = 118). The questions ranged from basic chemical nomenclature to more complex areas such as stereochemistry. Our results showed that the third year undergraduates performed significantly better than those in their first year (p ≤ 0.004) with both cohorts performing well in the basic questions such as recognition of elements and bonding. However, a more in-depth analysis of the questions indicated areas such as chemical structures and mole calculations that caused difficulty for both cohorts. This test highlights problem areas in fundamental chemistry concepts which students find difficult either to grasp or to solve, and as such it serves as a useful diagnostic tool enabling a more targeted approach to teaching.