Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of technological effects of yeast-bacterial co-inoculation in red table wine production.

The practice of inoculating selected bacteria before alcoholic fermentation (AF) (co-inoculation) to induce malolactic fermentation (MLF) was used to produce red table wines from several grape varieties. In most of the microvinification trials, MLF was completed before or within one week after de-vatting. The acetic acid content remained within an acceptable level (<0.60 g/L). In an industrial vinification (200 hL), MLF induced by co-inoculation was completed before de-vatting, while in the wines inoculated after AF, the total malic acid degradation was obtained 33 days later. The potential risk of increasing the volatile acidity was also evaluated by inducing MLF in partially fermented wines. The co-inoculation practice was compatible with the production of red wines. The decrease in vinification time with respect to traditional MLF management could offer a significant advantage for industrial wineries.
Tests as boundary signifiers: level 6 tests and the primary secondary divide

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the question: How do teachers and school leaders respond to high stakes testing of pupils transitioning from primary to secondary school? It explores how a new test, the Level 6 test, operated with regard to primary/secondary school relationships in England. It draws on an analysis of qualitative interviews with teachers and school leaders in 20 primary schools that took part in the test, 40 school leaders that chose not to and 20 secondary-school leaders. Theoretical work on social boundaries is utilised to develop an argument that this test and its results acted as a boundary signifier, crystallising many of the tensions between primary and secondary schools. These tensions included the role of accountability regimes in requiring schools to demonstrate progress; narrowing of the curriculum and teaching to the test; and the extent to which test results can provide a true representation of pupil attainment. We conclude by suggesting the potential of the boundary signifier concept in relation to other tests at the primary/secondary boundary and other key transition points in education, and consider whether such tests can act as an ideal boundary object, serving to help overcome, rather than cement, barriers between schools.
Attack Simulation based Software Protection Assessment Method with Petri Net

Software protection is an essential aspect of information security to withstand malicious activities on software, and preserving valuable software assets. However, software developers still lack an effective methodology for the assessment of deployed protections, especially in the area of mobile applications. To solve these issues, we present a novel attack simulation based software protection assessment method to evaluate and compare different protection solutions. Our solution relies on Petri Nets to specify and visualize attack models of mobile applications. We developed a Monte Carlo based approach to simulate attacking processes and to deal with the uncertainty. Then, based on this simulation, a novel protection comparison model is proposed to compare different protection solutions. Finally, our attack simulation based software protection assessment method is presented. We illustrate our method by means of a case study process to demonstrate that our approach can provide a suitable software protection assessment for developers and software companies.
Species richness and composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi occurring on eucalypt trees (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh.) in rainy and dry season

River red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh.), the most commonly planted eucalypt species globally, has several advantages and is widely used for many purposes, which makes the tree important. Mycorrhizal establishment in eucalyptus has been known for many years, and the benefits of this symbiosis have been commercially explored. The main goal of this research was to assess the diversity and distribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on eucalyptus planted in agricultural fields in the rainy and dry season. Fields were chosen in ten different sites located in four provinces in the northeast of Thailand. Rhizosphere soil and root samples were collected and the number of AMF spores and AMF root colonization were assessed. The number of AMF spores was higher in the rainy season than in the dry season, while AMF root colonization was higher in the dry season than in the rainy season. On the basis of morphological identification of AMF, a total of 35 AMF fungal taxa in eight genera were identified, ten belonging to Acaulospora, one to Dentiscutata, one to Entrophospora, 16 to Glomus, three to Gigaspora, one to Racocetra, two to Scutellospora, and one to Septoglomus. Glomus was the dominant genus followed by Acaulospora. Relative abundance, and frequency of occurrence were higher in the rainy season than in the dry season. Racocetra fulgida was the most common species with a frequency of occurrence of 90% in rainy season, and 80% in dry season. Species richness, Simpson's index of dominance and Shannon-Wiener index of diversity were not significantly different between both seasons.
Academic Staff Motivation in Tanzania Public Higher Learning Institutions: Unmasking the Intricacies and Experiences

This paper provides a descriptive analysis on the role of motivation on academic staff performance. Following the neglect of motivation practices in many higher learning institutions, the academic staff have opted to move on as usual at the expense of students who need their expertise. The paper acknowledges that higher learning institutions have several motivational packages to boost the performance but these were depicted as being not enough to incite a sense of commitment towards teaching, research, publication and supervision. To arrive at this, part of the sample i.e. 75 respondents comprising Associate Professors, Senior Lecturers, Lecturers, Assistant Lecturers, and Tutorial Assistants was obtained using simple random sampling and 4 key informants; two Deputy Principals and two Faculty Deans were purposively sampled out to constitute a sample of 79 respondents for the study. The study was guided by three research questions. A self-developed 4-Point Likert structured questionnaire, semi-structured interview questions, discussions and documentary reviews were the main instruments used in collecting data. Quantitative data collected were analyzed with descriptive statistics using a 4-Point Likert scale and qualitative using Content Analysis. Low monthly salaries were the major factor that dissatisfied academic staff and reduced motivation for high performance at the University. It is concluded and recommended that motivational aspects like salary, allowances, working conditions, recognition and career advancement once well managed and provided then better performance of academic staff is guaranteed. Keywords: Motivation, Academic Staff, Intricacies, Experiences
Gradual and Step-wise Halophilization Enables Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 to Adapt to 11% NaCl

Introduction: Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a non-halophilic microbe and is used to indicate faecal contamination. Salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) is a common food additive and is used in preservatives to counter microbial growth. Previous studies had shown that pathogenic E. coli has a higher salt tolerance than non-pathogenic E. coli. The effect of how E. coli interacts with the salt present in the human diet is under-studied. Thus, it is important to investigate this relationship. Methods: In this study, we observed the genetic changes and growth kinetics of E. coli ATCC 8739 under 3% 11% NaCl over 80 passages. Growth kinetics was estimated by generation time, cell density and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of NaCl. Results: Our results suggested that E. coli was able to adapt from 1% NaCl to 11% NaCl with an increment of 1% NaCl per month. Our MIC results suggested that E. coli was able to grow at NaCl concentration of more than 7.5% based on the Area under Curve (AUC) from 5% at passage 44 (cultured in 5% NaCl) to 13% at passage 72 (cultured at 7% NaCl). Conclusion: We conclude that E. coli ATCC 8739 can be adapted to grow in 11% NaCl by incremental adaptation.
An Economic Analysis of Polygyny: The Case of Maiduguri

This article demonstrates that economic analysis can contribute helpful insights to the understanding of marriage choices in a non-Western society. Polygyny illustrates ideally the relevance of economics to any topic where scarcity constrains the attainment of valued goals. All predictions derived from economic theory are confirmed in the empirical analysis of households in the polygynous city of Maiduguri, in northeastern Nigeria. The novelty of this study lies in the hypotheses generated by considering housewives as producers. The prediction of a life-cycle effect and of no tribal effect on polygyny also indicate the fruitfulness of an economic approach. The results depend crucially on simultaneous consideration of male and female attributes affecting the demand and supply of uxorial and genetricial services. Methodologically, regression techniques prove as useful in explaining polygyny and divorce as they have been in accounting for paradigms of market economies. Judging from R2, the coefficient of determination of the regressions, the variables accounted for in the analysis explain only a small fraction of reality. The purpose of the article is to show that we can learn by considering only portions of the reality of marriage choices.
Inequality Risk Premia

Using a long time-series of U.S. income inequality, I find that the market pays higher prices for assets that hedge against increased inequality. This is consistent with the prediction of an incomplete-markets model incorporating preferences over both comparative and noncomparative consumption “goods” when the weight on the former is large. The model implies that the time-series properties of the premium can be used to identify the substitutability of these two sources of utility. There is evidence that the magnitude of the (negative) inequality risk premium is countercyclical, suggesting that agents care more about status when they are worse off.
Can fit Indices be used to evaluate structural equation models

In recent years, many different fit indices have been formulated as an alternative for the standard likelihood ratio test (LRT) of Structural Equation Models (SEM). These fit indices were developed to solve specific problems associated with the LRT namely, sensitivity to sample size; the problem that no SEM will ever be an exact representation of reality; and the problem of deviation from the assumptions of the standard test. There is, however, one problem related to using the LRT that has been largely ignored by the developers of fit indices and this is the LRT’s varying sensitivity to the different characteristics of a model and different types of error. Because of this problem, it is impossible to use the LRT to test the fit of models with a fixed critical value. Since most new fit indices are functions of the fitting function or the test statistic itself, it was expected that the fit indices would have the same sensitivity problems as the LRT statistic. In the present paper, we confirm this by means of a Monte Carlo experiment. We also show that fit indices do not provide a simple instrument to test the fit of models. We conclude that the current practice of evaluating the fit of a model on the basis of the value of fit index and a general specified threshold is not justified.
Steering virtual sources for salt and subsalt imaging

Using walk-away or 3D VSP data to create Virtual Sources in salt is a new useful tool for imaging and assessing drilling hazards in salt and immediately below the base of salt. It can be also used for accurate positioning of steep salt flanks. Creating Virtual Sources inside homogeneous salt allows us to eliminate any distorting effects caused by rugged top salt and complex overburden. The Virtual Source radiation pattern can be controlled and steered in the direction of desired illumination by selecting appropriate shot ranges at the surface. These new Virtual Source applications can have significant business impact for de-risking drilling through salt and improving well targeting in areas with salt.
ASSESSMENT OF FACTORS AFFECTING QUALITY OF LIFE AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN ADULT ASTHMATIC OUTPATIENTS

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the quality of life of adult asthma patients compared to a healthy control group, and to evaluate the relationships between demographics, asthma-related variables, psychological status and health-related quality of life. Material and method: Those patients who were on routine follow-up at the outpatient Department of Chest Diseases between January 1 – May 30, 2005, literate, with no psychotic symptom or mental retardation, which had given informed consent for the study, were included in to the study (n=176). The Semi-structured Interview Form, the Revised Brief Patient Health Questionnaire (Brief PHQ-r), and the short version of the Health-related Quality of Life Scale (SF-36) were administered. 100 healthy adults from the general population matched sociodemoghraphically with asthma group formed the control group. Results: The mean age was 46.27 ± 11.46 years, women were 77.3%. The mean duration of the disease was 13.03±10.50 years. According to Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines 47.2% were moderate persistent. The mean value of % predicted FEV 1 was 86.62 ± 20.16. 29% of the cases defined psychiatric diagnosis according to Brief PHQ-r. The sub-domains on the SF-36 measurements of the asthma patients were significantly lower than those of the control subjects (p<0.05). Psychiatric diagnosis was found to decrease both physical and mental health dimensions of quality of life (p<0.001). Conclusion: Although physical parameters related to illness affected only the physical dimension, in patients with psychiatric morbidity, quality of life was significantly affected in all sub-dimensions.
Complementary Power Control of the Bipolar-type Low Voltage DC Distribution System

In this paper, a new power control strategy for the bipolar-type low voltage direct current (LVDC) distribution system is being proposed. The dc distribution system is considered as an innovative system according to the increase of dc loads and dc output type distribution energy resources (DERs) such as photovoltaic (PV) systems and energy storage systems (ESS). Since the dc distribution system has many advantages such as feasible connection of DERs, reduction of conversion losses between dc output sources and loads, no reactive power issues, it is very suitable solution for new type buildings and residences interfaced with DERs and ESSs. In the bipolar-type, if it has each grid-interfaced converter, both sides (upper, lower-side) can be operated individually or collectively. A complementary power control strategy using two ESSs in both sides for effective and reliable operation is proposed in this paper. Detailed power control methods of the host controller and local controllers are described. To verify the performances of the proposed control strategy, simulation analysis using PSCAD/EMTDC is being performed where the results show that the proposed strategy provides efficient operations and can be applied to the bipolar-type dc distribution system.
Is the South American water snake Helicops Angulatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Ddipsadidae:Xenodontinae) venomous?

The dipsadid genus Helicops comprises sixteen species ocurring in all South American countries, with the exception of Chile. Such aquatic snakes inhabit rivers and lagoons of Tropical areas; all species have enlarged rear teeth, although a sulcus is absent, reason why they are considered aglyphous snakes. Nonetheless, a well developed Duvernoy gland is present. The main objective of this study was to investigate the proteolytic and neurotoxic activities of the venom of H. angulatus. The crude venom lethal dose fifty (LD50) was of 5.3 mg/kg. Venom proteins were tested by 15% SDS-PAGE, resulting in bands from 14 to 70 kDa. Six peaks were obtained by Superose 12 size exclusion chromatography with neurotoxic activity in peak 3. The neurotoxic clinical manifestations produced death in INH mice eight minutes postinjection with crude venom and its fractions. The proteolytic activities tested on gelatin and casein were positive with crude venom and size exclusion peak 1. Hemorrhagic activity was not present in the crude venom nor in its fractions. Helicops angulatus should be considered a middly venomous dipsadid snake.
Entropic gradient flows on the Wasserstein space via large deviations from thermodynamic limits

In a seminal work, Jordan, Kinderlehrer and Otto proved that the Fokker- Planck equation can be described as a gradient flow of the free energy functional in the Wasserstein space, bringing this way the statistical mechanics point of view on the diffusion phenomenon to the foreground. The aim of this thesis is to show that it is possible to retrieve this natural coupling of functional and metric, by studying the large deviations of particle models. More specically, for the case where the ambient space is the real line, it is proved that the free energy functional can be retrieved as an asymptotic Gamma-limit ( ! 0) of the rate function of a large deviation principle, minus the square of the Wasserstein distance (normalized by time). Furthermore, for a special case where both measures in the denition of the rate function are Gaussians, its value and the rate of convergence are being calculated explicitly.
Characterization and Anti-proliferative Activity of Ethanol Extract of Tartary Buckwheat

Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) has been consumed in China as health food and medicine. In this study, the ethanol extract (EE) of tartary buckwheat was prepared. The major flavonoid in EE was identified as rutin by HPLC-PDA-ESI/MS and the content of rutin in EE was determined as 27.4 % by HPLC. In the anticancer assay, it was found EE could inhibit the proliferation of the human hepatocellular liver carcinoma Hep G2 cell line in a dose-dependent manner. The increase of an early apoptotic population was observed by both annexin-FITC and PI staining, which suggested that EE could induce Hep G2 cells to enter into apoptosis.
MONITORING OF BIOFILM DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF IMMOBILIZED YEAST CULTIVATIONS

Abstract A mathematical model is proposed to describe the growth dynamics of an immobilization system formed by calcium alginate pellets and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The system was used for the production of the alcoholic beverages tequila and beer. Scanning electron microscopy is employed to monitor the interactions caused by biomass growth and distribution inside the polymeric matrix support. It was found that the growth of immobilized yeast can be described by first order kinetics in the aerobic phase and by a power-law kinetic model in the anaerobic phase.
Learning and Earning: Do Multiple Training Events Pay

This paper estimates the impact of work‐related training on wage growth over the period 1981–91, using longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study, a cohort of young men aged 23 in 1981. A hurdle Negbin model is used to control for training endogeneity. We find that training incidence has a significant positive effect on wage growth. We also find that young men with a higher level of education are not only more likely to be trained, but are also more likely to experience substantially higher wage growth as a result.
Cost effectiveness analysis of cervical cancer screening in women until age 70

Background: 2017 US Preventive Services Task Force guidelines for screening cervical cancer and pre-malignant lesions advise that screenings cease for women over age 65, with qualifications. Recent literature has identified significant discrepancies in rates of cervical cancer in older women – if hysterectomies in this patient population is accounted for, cervical cancer incidence does not decline with age as previously established. This adjusted incidence of cervical cancer necessitates a re-examination of current practice.Methods: This study seeks to demonstrate the utility of extending the cervical cancer screening age recommendations to age 70. Cost effectiveness will be estimated, from a payer perspective, of extending screening to age 70 for the United States women’s population in those who have not undergone hysterectomy or otherwise been treated for past cervical cancer or premalignancy. A Markov model was constructed to project outcomes in a hypothetical cohort of 10 000 women aged 65 to 70, with a time horizon of lifetime. A Probability Sensitivity Analysis determined the robustness of the result, and the Incremental Cost-effectiveness Ratio (ICER) is charted.Results: The economic evaluation of screening compared to none in this population was determined to be cost effective, with an ICER demonstrating a cost benefit, and Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) benefit, to extended screening.Conclusions: The sensitivity analysis confirms the robustness of this result. Implementing extended screening guidelines could potentially be a significant gain for both patients and society.
First report on in situ biodeposition rates of ascidians (Ciona intestinalis and Styela clava) during summer in Sanggou Bay, northern China

Ascidians are globally important members of marine fouling communities. We meas- ured in situ biodeposition rates of Ciona intestinalis and Styela clava, common biofoulers of aqua- culture infrastructure, in Sanggou Bay, northern China, during September. Ascidian numbers were recorded within a scallop Chlamys farreri farming zone to assess biodeposit loading. Both ascidians were most abundant on lantern nets and scallop shells in August and September. The average densities of C. intestinalis and S. clava in the farming zone in September were approxi- mately 329 and 22 ind. m −2 , respectively, and their biodeposition rates were 32.1 and 121.2 mg dry material ind. �1 d �1 , respectively. Total daily biodeposit production by ascidians in September within the scallop farming zone may amount to 13.24 g m �2 , with daily organic matter, C, N, and P biodeposition rates of 1.88, 0.94, 0.11, and 0.98 × 10 �2 g m �2 , respectively. The predicted daily biodeposit production by C. intestinalis and S. clava within the scallop farming zone in the bay during September was 105.9 t dry material, 7.52 t C, 0.86 t N, and 0.078 t P. By comparison, drop- off to the sea floor was approximately 143.0 t of dry matter for an entire growing season, which would be a relatively small input if averaged on a daily basis. However, some of the drop-off is expected to occur as a short-duration pulse of material (e.g. during cleaning), which may be rela- tively important in terms of benthic effects. The results suggest that the biodeposition processes and drop-off of C. intestinalis and S. clava may play an important role in coupling material fluxes from the water column to the seabed.
Laboratory Studies of Ion Chemistry in the Interstellar Medium

Abstract Studies of gas phase ion-neutral reactions provide insight into many areas of astrochemistry, including the elusive characterization of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs). This presentation gives an overview of our experimental studies of several classes of positive and negative ions, using the flowing afterglow-selected ion flow tube and a newly modified ion trap. Earlier studies of carbon chain anions and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) cations, both of which have been suggested as carriers of the DIBs, are described. More recent work including isomeric PAHs, nitrogen-containing PAHs, negative ions of PAHs, and negative ions of 5-membered heterocyclic rings are discussed. Finally, the study of quantitative thermochemistry by coupling our results with data from Photoelectron Spectroscopy is described.