Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vitro free radical scavenging and antimicrobial activity of Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of different parts (leaf, stem and fruit) of a Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L. The extraction was done by cold percolation method using solvents like petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, acetone, methanol and water (aqueous). Total phenol and flavonoid content was measured by Folinciocalteu’s reagent and aluminium chloride colorimetric method respectively. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using antioxidant assays like 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity, superoxide radical scavenging assay (SO), 2, 2’-Azino-bis-(3-ethyl) benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) and reducing capacity assessment. The antibacterial activity was done by agar well diffusion method against four Gram positive, four Gram negative bacteria and four fungi. The results suggest that phenolic and non phenolic compounds are responsible for antioxidant activity. The Gram positive bacteria were more susceptible than Gram negative bacteria and fungi. Different parts showed different levels of antioxidant activity but they can be explored as a natural source of antioxidants.
Associations between sport involvement and youth psychosocial development in Sweden : a longitudinal study

There is a widespread belief that organized sport can be used as a tool for positive youth development. However, phenomena such as parental pressure, binge drinking, doping, bullying and marginalization are also present within the sport milieu, with potential risks for negative outcomes to occur. The aim of the present study was to examine the longitudinal effects of organized sport involvement on indicators of youth psychosocial development over 24 months. Surveys assessing reported sport involvement and psychosocial development indicators were carried out at baseline (T1), 12 months (T2), and 24 months (T3). The results, based on self-reports of 920 youth, ages 10-18 years from Sweden, showed strong evidence of an association between baseline sports involvement and end line selfesteem (SE) (r=.15; p<.001), perceived physical competence (PPC) (r=.47; p<.001), and social competence (PSC) (r=.21; p<.001), reported grades (GRAD) (r=.13; p<.001) and alcohol use (ALC) (r=.10; p=.016). After adjusting for selection effects (i.e. dropping out of sport) and prior level outcomes, the effects of sport involvement on indicators of youths’ psychosocial development used in this study, were in general negligible (SE=.05, p=.20;PSC=.05, p=.20;GRAD=.04, p=.60;ALC=.03, p=.49) except for PPC (PPC=.14, p<.001). The results of this study highlight the importance of using longitudinal studies that account for variances explained by prior level outcomes, sociodemographic variables and dropouts from sports.
A unified definition of CRM towards the successful adoption and implementation

Attempts to define Customer Relationship Management (CRM) have been varied and many,reflecting the diverse academic backgrounds of CRM scholars. The inexistence of a unified definition of CRM leads to undesired and unexpected outcomes from the adoption and implementation of CRM. Hence, this paper attempts to come out with a unified definition of CRM. Content-analysis is carried out to find out the main and most important facets of CRM definition from the existing literatures in the fields of marketing, management, and information system. From the content analysis, this paper proposes a unified definition of CRM. This definition could provide great help for researchers and practitioners in the field of CRM. In addition, this unified definition of CRM could enhance the successful adoption and implementation of CRM.
The 13 March 1993 Severe Squall Line over Western Cuba

Abstract On 13 March 1993 a powerful prefontal squall line hit western and central Cuba. At 0000 UTC, a fast-developing extratropical cyclone with a well-defined cold front was located in the northeast Gulf of Mexico. Over the eastern Gulf of Mexico there was a 300-hPa jet streak interacting with a low-level jet. A hodograph typically associated with supercells or severe squall lines was observed at Key West, Florida. The air mass over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and Cuba was conditionally unstable. Instability was enhanced by moist air at the surface interacting with a dry intrusion in the midtroposphere from the Mexican Plateau. Lifting induced by a strong short-wave trough favored the formation a compact squall line with embedded bow-echoes and line-echo wave patterns. Damaging winds were widespread with the squall line. Thus, the event fits the definition of a serial derecho. One of the two bow echoes that affected Cuba included a small but strong mesocyclone in its forward flank, as detected.
SAD PROCESSING ELEMENTS BASED ON VARIOUS APPROACHES OF MULTI OPERAND ADDITION 2 . 1 MOTION ESTIMATION ARCHITECTURE FOR FAST SEARCH

Motion estimation is a very important but computationally complex task in video coding. Process of determining motion vectors based on the temporal correlation of consecutive frame is used for video compression. In order to reduce the computational complexity of motion estimation and maintain the quality of encoding during motion compensation, different fast search techniques are available. These block based motion estimation algorithms use the sum of absolute difference (SAD) between corresponding macroblock in current frame and all the candidate macroblocks in the reference frame to identify best match. Existing implementations can perform SAD between two blocks using sequential or pipeline approach but performing multi operand SAD in single clock cycle with optimized recourses is state of art. In this paper various parallel architectures for computation of the fixed block size SAD is evaluated and fast parallel SAD architecture is proposed with optimized resources. Further SAD processor is described with 9 processing elements which can be configured for any existing fast search block matching algorithm. Proposed SAD processor consumes 7% fewer adders compared to existing implementation for one processing elements. Using nine PE it can process 84 HD frames per second in worse case which is good outcome for real time implementation. In average case architecture process 325 HD frames per second.
Identification and Prioritization of “Black Spots” without Using Accident Information

It is attempted to identify and prioritize the accident prone points (black spots) in “Iraanshahr-Sarbaaz-Chabahar” road located in Baluchistan, Iran, without no use of accident data but rather using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is the enhanced procedure of road safety audit technique. First, by surveying the whole route, all factors that could influence accidents in this road were specified; then the route was divided into eight sections; this division was performed based on the uniformity and homogeny of each section in terms of geometric design and regional conditions. In each section, potentially hazardous locations were identified and some questionnaires were prepared, which were filled by 5 road traffic experts familiar with the route; then the collected data were analyzed by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) using Expert Choice Software and the black spots were identified and prioritized. Finally, these black spots were compared with the black spots that had been obtained by traffic police based on accident data.
Fabrication and Characterization of Electrospun Anti-Proliferative Sutures for Vascular Applications

ii DEDICATION. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v LIST OF TABLES . viii LIST OF FIGURES . ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND . 1 1.1 Sutures.1 1.2 Vascular Anastomosis . 1 1.3 Vascular Anastomosis Complications . 2 1.3.1 Anastomotic Thrombosis . 2 1.3.2 Intimal Hyperplasia & Vascular Stenosis . 3 1.4 Anti-Coagulant Drugs . 4 1.5 Anti-Proliferative Drugs . 5 1.6 Electrospinning . 5 1.6. 1 General Electrospinning.5 1.6. 2 Electrospinning for Drug Delivery . 6 1.7 Current Approaches . 7 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH OBJECTIVE . 10 2.1 Research Rationale.10 2.2 Project Aims.12 CHAPTER 3: MATERIALS AND METHODS . 13 3.1 Materials . 13 3.2 Synthesis of PgP Polymer . 13 3.3 Electrospinning . 15 3.3.1 General Electrospinning Setup . 15 3.3.2 Polymer Solution Preparation . 15 3.3.3 Electrospinning Process . 16 3.3. 4 Collection of Nanofibers & Formation of Twisted Fiber Suture . 18
A new fossil Episinus (Araneae, Theridiidae) from tertiary Chiapas amber, Mexico)

Fossil inclusions in Mexican amber have been poorly studied to date. The fossil spider Episinus penneyi sp. n. (Theridiidae) is described from a mature male preserved in Tertiary (Miocene: 15–20 Ma) amber from Chiapas, Mexico and is most closely related to an extant species from Panama. It represents the first record of an extant theridiid genus from Mexican amber and adds a new locality record for this genus to the tertiary fossil fauna. Given the similarity of the Hispaniolan fossil (Dominican amber: Miocene: 15–20 Ma) and extant faunas and their proximity geographically and temporally to the Mexican fossil and extant faunas, the new species supports the idea that fossil and extant Mexican faunas may also show close similarities.
Critical Factors in Mobile Learning: A Quasi-Systematic Review.

The advance of mobile industry and research has expanded e-learning in order to support an efficient and effective educational process. However, the promised benefits are as much attractive as the existing difficulties and barriers. In this paper, we intend to identify and summarize the critical factors in mobile learning through a quasi-systematic review. Preliminary results are grouped on categories defined in previous studies accomplished by the researchers.
IFRS adoption and investor perceptions of earnings quality: evidence from Korea

This study examines the consequences of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in terms of the investor perception of earnings quality in the Korean stock market. Building on evidence from Ecker et al. (2006) suggesting that returnbased earnings quality (E-loading), as captured by the sensitivity of stock returns to accounting information risk, accurately represents investor perceptions of earnings information risk, the authors examine whether E-loading is different between the preand post-IFRS adoption periods. Using KSE-listed firms from 2006 to 2014, the authors find the evidence that the extent of stock return sensitivity to information risk embedded in financial statements is greater in the period of post-IFRS adoption than in the period of pre-IFRS adoption. This finding indicates that even though accounting-based earnings quality improves after the adoption of IFRS, investors perceive earnings information after the adoption of IFRS as riskier than before. In addition, the difference in investor perception is more pronounced for firms with low accruals quality as captured by discretionary accruals, indicating that the effect of IFRS adoption on return-based earnings quality is distinctive from that on accounting-based earnings quality. The paper contributes to the literature on IFRS by exploring the effect of IFRS adoption through a new perspective on earnings quality in capital market. Heejeong Shin (Korea), Su-In Kim (Korea), Sangmi Kim (Korea) BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES LLC “СPС “Business Perspectives” Hryhorii Skovoroda lane, 10, Sumy, 40022, Ukraine www.businessperspectives. org IFRS Adoption and Investor Perceptions of Earnings Quality: Evidence from Korea Received on: 14th of November, 2017 Accepted on: 3rd of January, 2018
Robust Control Design of an Induction Motor

A robust controller for an AC induction motor is designed using principal gains method to govern stator currents. State space equations of an AC induction motor in α-β stator fixed frame are nonlinear with respect to rotor speed. Nonlinear equations are rewritten to parameter from describing dependency on rotor speed which is assumed to be known by measurement or by estimation. A nominal model (ω=0rd/s) is considered for synthesis, and all regimes dependent of ω are considered perturbed regimes at output multiplicative uncertainty. The singular values of uncertainty are quantified. Robust conditions of stability and performances are given. It is showed, from the results in frequency and time domain, that the principal gains method can be successfully applied to induction motor.
Online-Learning and Its Utility to Higher Education in the Anglophone Caribbean

The theoretical piece uses the extant literature to define online-learning, weigh its effects on teaching and learning, and examine its utility in higher education within the Anglophone (English speaking) Caribbean territories. Online-learning is defined here as an integrative application of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). This article looks at the technical components of online-learning as well as how online-learning is impacted by environmental factors such as institutional policy, democratization, quality assurance, and the rise of the mega-university. This article also considers the coalescence between tools, audience, and environment to suggest on the utility of online-learning to a Caribbean learning community.
Design and Preparation of Low Absorbing Antireflection Coatings Using Chemical Spray Pyrolysis

Transmission of laser optical elements has been increased when Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film of relatively high index with different content of Sn was used to prepare ultra thin antireflection coating(ARC's) utilizing simple ,low cost non-vacuum chemical spray pyrolysis technique. Two plans were established to achieve the goal: theoretical transmission analysis of ITO film on glass was first carried on with the aid of TFcal software taking into account the effect of absorption, dispersion and ITO thickness variation on transmission profile. This step provides a clear vision and preliminary thickness range of ITO films before sample preparation with spray pyrolysis method. Results show that XRD spectra reveals that all the films were cubic polycrystalline. Both scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope indicate that the surface roughness increase with Sn content. Thus , durable and adhesive antireflection ITO ultrathin film, of good transmittance profile was achieved at NdYAG laser line of 1.064 μm wavelength when preparation conditions were optimum control .
Comparisons between two wavelet functions in extracting coherent structures from solar wind time series

Nowadays, wavelet analysis of turbulent flows have become increasingly popular. However, the study of geometric characteristics from wavelet functions is still poorly explored. In this work we compare the performance of two wavelet functions in extracting the coherent structures from solar wind velocity time series. The data series are from years 1996 to 2002 (except 1998 and 1999). The wavelet algorithm decomposes the annual time-series in two components: the coherent part and non-coherent one, using the daubechies-4 and haar wavelet function. The threshold assumed is based on a percentage of maximum variance found in each dyadic scale. After the extracting procedure, we applied the power spectral density on the original time series and coherent time series to obtain spectral indices. The results from spectral indices show higher values for the coherent part obtained by daubechies-4 than those obtained by the haar wavelet function. Using the kurtosis statistical parameter, on coherent and non-coherent time series, it was possible to conjecture that the differences found between two wavelet functions may be associated with their geometric forms.
The Effects of Climate Change Phenomena on Cocoa Production in Malaysia

Climate change is arguably one of the most important factors influencing agricultural production in developing countries such as Malaysia. Therefore, it becomes important to explore the impacts of climate change on agricultural yield and production. Cocoa was brought to Malaysia for commercial planting in the 1950s. The cocoa industry grew to become the third major commodity crop in Malaysia after oil palm and rubber. In 2013, Malaysia became 28th among the Cocoa-producing countries in the world. The way forward requires increased understanding and awareness to cope with the interdependencies and interactions of natural resources and climate change, the vulnerabilities and interdisciplinary efforts. This study applied the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) co-integration approach over the periods (1980 – 2014). There are two main methods including the Regional Climate Model (RCM) which can reasonably produce appropriate projections that can be used for climate scenario generation in a country-scale. Based on this information, this study considered three scenarios: 1) First Scenario, Rainfall changes 2) Second Scenario, Temperature changes 3) Third Scenario, Scenario 1 and 2 simultaneously. Preliminary results from the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model applied indicated that despite the projected changes in the climate variables (temperature and rainfall), in scenario 1 (the projected changes (5% increase) in rainfall), cocoa yield is expected to decline from 0.148 tonne per hectare (t/ha) in 2015 to 0.143 t/ha in 2020. The average trend compared to the baseline is positive and expected to develop by +3.83% annually. In scenario 2 (the projected changes (2% increase) in temperature), cocoa yield is expected increase from 0.149 t/ha in 2015 to 0.155 t/ha in 2020. The average trend compared to the baseline is positive and expected to increase by +1.76% annually. Similarly, in scenario 3 (the projected simultaneous changes (+5%) and (+2%) in rainfall and temperature respectively), cocoa yield is expected to increase from 0.154 t/ha in 2014 to 0.189 t/ha in 2020.
TESTS OF ROBUSTNESS OF GMM SPEAKER VERIFICATION IN VoIP TELEPHONY

The paper presents the scores of the GMM (Gaussian Mixture Mo dels) based speaker verification system for speech signal transmitted in VoIP (V oice over IP) telephony conditions. The speaker verification problem was partly solved ov er traditional PSTN networks (Public Switched Telephone Network), however nowadays it i also important to assess how specific distortions of VoIP transmission influence the spea ker verification scores. As a reference database XM2VTS (Extended multi Modal Verification f r Teleservices and Security appliations Data Base) containing English speech (strings of digits) was applied. Three coder degradations (PCM, G.711A and G.723.1) and three network co nditi ns were examined in various configurations to estimate the influence of each, cod ing and transmission degradation for the final verification scores.
Coexistence of chiral symmetry restoration and random orientation of galaxies

We studied the chiral symmetry restoration and the spatial orientation of 2288 spiral and spiral barred galaxies that have radial velocities (RV) less than 5000 km s −1 . A random direction of the rotation of galaxies is assumed in order to classify the structural modes. The distribution of spin vector and spin vector projections of leading and trailing arm galaxies in the total sample and subsamples are studied. We use chi-square, auto-correlation and Fourier tests in order to discriminate the preferred alignments from the random alignments. A good correlation between the random alignment and the chiral symmetry is noticed in the Local Supercluster (RV < 3000 km s −1 ) and in galaxies nearby the Local Supercluster (3000 < RV (km s −1 ) ≤ 5000). Spiral galaxies show a similar result. The barred spirals show an opposite trend to that observed for the spirals. Nearby the Local Supercluster, we noticed a preferred spatial alignment and non-chiral property in the leading and trailing arm spiral barred galaxies. Our result predicts that the progressive loss of chirality might have some connection with the rotationally supported (spirals, barred spirals) and randomized (lenticulars, ellipticals) systems. Thus, we suspect that the dynamical processes in the cluster evolution give rise to a dynamical loss of chirality.
Tissue distribution of the antigenic variants of canine parvovirus in various organs using nested PCR

Canine parvovirus-2(CPV-2) is a highly contagious and fatal disease of dogs causing acute haemorrhagic enteritis and myocarditis. In this study, tissue samples such as brain, cerebellum, cerebral bulb, tonsil, retropharyngeal lymph node, thymus, lungs, myocardium, bone-marrow, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidney, bladder, mesenteric lymph node, stomach, duodenum, jejunum, colon and rectum collected from 3-9 months old dead dogs reported with severe clinical symptoms of CPV were subjected to conventional and nested PCR assay, CPV-DNA was detected in all tissues including brain tissue.
The Effect of Chitosan on Organogenesis of Oil Palm Embryo-Derived Callus

Zygotic embryos of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq. var. tenera) were excised and cultured on MS medium containing 3 mg/l 2, 4-D either with or without 0.05% activated charcoal (AC). Improved growth of embryos was obtained on MS medium supplemented with 0.05% AC. Callus cultures were initiated from embryos, young leaves and roots on MS medium containing 2, 4-D, NAA and 0.05% AC. On these media, two morphologically distinct types of white and yellow compact calluses were produced. Green shoots regenerated after several transfers of the yellow compact calluses from zygotic embryos to MS medium supplemented with 15 mg/l chitosan either with or without 5 mg/l 2, 4-D. Histological sectioning revealed that regenerated shoots originated from a clump of meristematic cells that had dense cytoplasm. Regenerated shoots rooted when transferred to MS medium in the presence of 0.05% AC. Transfer of plantlets to soil was achieved. Callus from young seedling leaves and roots did not regenerate shoots or roots in medium containing 2, 4-D or TDZ, with or without chitosan. This finding shows that chitosan can initiate organogenesis in oil palm callus.
Colloquium: Experiments in vortex avalanches

Avalanche dynamics is found in many phenomena spanning from earthquakes to the evolution of species. It can be also found in vortex matter when a type II superconductor is externally driven, for example, by increasing the magnetic field. Vortex avalanches associated with thermal instabilities can be an undesirable effect for applications, but "dynamically driven" avalanches emerging from the competition between intervortex interactions and quenched disorder constitute an interesting scenario to test theoretical ideas related with non-equilibrium dynamics. However, differently from the equilibrium phases of vortex matter in type II superconductors, the study of the corresponding dynamical phases - in which avalanches can play a role - is still in its infancy. In this paper we critically review relevant experiments performed in the last decade or so, emphasizing the ability of different experimental techniques to establish the nature and statistical properties of the observed avalanche behavior.