Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative analysis of the chemical compositions of indigenous watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) seeds from two districts in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Seeds from different indigenous watermelons were analysed for their chemical composition such as phenolics, proteins, oils, minerals, ash and fibre content as well as antioxidant activity measured in methanol extract using 2.2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The morphological variations of watermelons, which revealed diversity in terms of fruit and seed colour were also assessed. Average percentages for lipid content, total proteins, crude fibre, ash and total carbohydrates as 34.4, 16.5, 23.1, 3.99, and 3.16%, respectively, were recorded for Capricorn district and 31.6, 14.9, 22.0, 4.58, and 5.26% were recorded for Sekhukhune landraces. The Capricorn landraces had higher content of flavonoids (0.222 mg/g) than Sekhukhune varieties (0.130 mg/g). But, landraces from Sekhukhune had higher antioxidant activity (46.5%) which corresponded to higher total phenolic content of 0.59 mg/g. Thus, suggest that watermelon seeds may serve as potential source of natural products for food, feed and pharmaceutical applications. Key words: Amino acids, Citrullus lanatus, flavonoids, phenolics, seeds, watermelon.
ICT EFFECT ON RELATIONSHIPS’ ENHANCEMENT AND PERFORMANCE IN TOURISM CHANNELS

ICT have provided new paths for relationships across tourism distribution channels. It is accepted that both competitiveness and efficiency in the sector have increased, improving business performance. Since there are no validated models in the tourism literature covering this, our objective with this research is to confirm a positive relationship between the growing use of ICT by tourism intermediaries and their business performance. To this end, a structural equations model (RE-BP Model) is estimated, using data from a survey of tourism intermediaries conducted in Spain. The estimation confirms two latent variables, one for the relationship enhancement brought about by ICT in the sector, and the other for business performance. There is a cause-effect association between the two variables. Our conc lus ion i s tha t tourism intermediaries should intensify the i r relationships with suppliers and tour operators whose strategies allow for improved effectiveness of the entire value chain.
Using Unsupervised Machine Learning to Detect Peer-to-Peer Botnet Flows

The war against botnet infection is fought every day by users that want to feel safe against any threat of compromise hosts. In this paper we are going to focus on the behavior of Peer 2 Peer (P2P) botnets, which along with hybrid botnets is a growing trend among attackers. The main approach will consist of a behavior comparison among features extracted from network flows, focusing only in the flows from P2P applications including P2P botnets.
Real-Time Database Management of Evoked Potential Records

INTRODUCTION Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) are signals recorded from the peripheral nervous system or the spinal cord in response to electrical stimuli applied at a peripheral site. The measurement of such signals can be used to test the integrity and functioning of the nervous system and to diagnose various neuromuscular disorders [1,2]. The detection and measurement of SEPs has been an ongoing area of research at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) for over 20 years. Over this time period, substantial amounts of data have been collected through the laboratory resources at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME). In the past this data collection has been conducted in an ad hoc fashion and with the passage of time has often been lost.
Welch Bounds and Quantum State Tomography by Aleksandrs Belovs

In this thesis we investigate complete systems of MUBs and SIC-POVMs. These are highly symmetric sets of vectors in Hilbert space, interesting because of their applications in quantum tomography, quantum cryptography and other areas. It is known that these objects form complex projective 2-designs, that is, they satisfy Welch bounds for k = 2 with equality. Using this fact, we derive a necessary and sufficient condition for a set of vectors to be a complete system of MUBs or a SIC-POVM. This condition uses the orthonormality of a specific set of vectors. Then we define homogeneous systems, as a special case of systems of vectors for which the condition takes an especially elegant form. We show how known results and some new results naturally follow from this construction.
Quasi-periodicity in the wake of a rotationally oscillating cylinder

A systematic numerical analysis is performed for the quasi-periodicity in the wake where a circular cylinder is rotationally oscillated in time. The main emphasis is placed on the identification of frequency selection subjected to the controlled perturbations in the vicinity of lock-on. The frequency responses are scrutinized by measuring the lift coefficient (CL). A direct numerical simulation is made to portray the unsteady dynamics of wake flows at Re = 110. It is found that, after the shedding frequency is bifurcated at the boundary of lock-on, one frequency follows the forcing frequency and the other gradually converges to the natural shedding frequency. The asymptotic convergence phenomena are observed by solving the Van der Pol equation and the circle map. A new frequency selection formula is proposed. The quasi-periodic states are interpreted in terms of the forcing frequency, shedding frequency and modulated frequencies by employing the torus concept and the CL(t) diagram. In the quasi-periodic state, the variation of magnitudes and relevant phase changes of CL with forcing phase are examined.
A General Method for Estimating a Linear Structural Equation System.

A general method for estimating the unknown coefficients in a set of linear structural equations is described. In its most general form the method allows for both errors in equations (residuals, disturbances) and errors in variables (errors of measurement, observational errors) and yields estimates of the residual variance-covariance matrix and the measurement error variances as well as estimates of the unknown coefficients in the structural equations, provided all these parameters are identified. Two special cases of this general method are discussed separately. One is when there are errors in equations but no errors in variables. The other is when there are errors in variables but no errors in equations. The methods are applied and illustrated using artificial, economic and psychological data.
Establishment of Pinus Wallichiana on a Himalayan Glacier Foreland: Stochastic Distribution or Safe Sites?

ABSTRACT The establishment of tree seedlings in primary succession is thought to occur only after an adequate reserve of nutrients has accumulated in the soil. Individuals of Pinaceae are sometimes reported to grow on very recently deglaciated substrates. This study analyzed the colonization of a glacier foreland by Pinus wallichiana. Physical, chemical, and biotic aspects of potential and observed seedling microsites were analyzed with regression methods and tests for proportions. Microsites with intermediate to high moisture levels and alkaline nutrient-poor soils were found to be conducive to seedling establishment. The most recently deglaciated parts of the foreland have soils with little nutrients and high pH. There is a linear change in soil variables from low nutrient content and high pH at the most recently deglaciated parts to more nutrient-rich and neutral toward the pre-neoglacial moraines. Surrounding old-growth forests of Pinus wallichiana shed an abundance of seeds onto the foreland, are able to germinate and grow, and are predominant among the early pioneers, which makes this species an unusual pioneer of primary succession. Colonization by P. wallichiana is not restricted to particular safe sites. Even though individuals look chlorotic and stunted, they grow at near normal rates. Leaf discoloration of seedlings occurs in soils with high pH and low nitrogen content. P. wallichiana is also a canopy dominant on some of the oldest terrains and outside the foreland.
Specification Testing of Production Frontier Function in Stochastic Frontier Model

Parametric production frontier function has been commonly employed in stochas-tic frontier model but there was no proper test statistic for its plausibility. To fill into this gap, this paper develops two test statistics to test for a hypothesized parametric production frontier function based on local smoothing and global smoothing, respectively. We then pro-pose the residual-based wild bootstrap approach to compute the p-values of our proposed test statistics. Our proposed test statistics are robust to heteroscedasticity. Simulation studies are carried out to examine the infinite sample performance of the sizes and powers of the test statistics.
MATURITÀ FENOLICA DEL 'NEBBIOLO' IN VALTELLINA: EFFETTO DELL'ANNATA E DEL SITO

La Valtellina e certamente una delle aree viticole piu vocate per la produzione divini rossi DOC e DOCG di grande pregio a base di ‘Nebbiolo’, localmente chiamato‘Chiavennasca’, coltivato da molti secoli soprattutto sul versante retico della valle neltratto compreso tra Ardenno e Tirano, in una fascia altitudinale che raggiunge i 700 ms.l. m. Le condizioni ambientali particolarmente difficili della viticoltura di montagnapossono potenzialmente impedire la completa maturazione delle uve, con evidentigravi ripercussioni sulla qualita del vino. Diviene dunque di primario interessecomprendere le dinamiche di maturazione tecnologica e fenolica, cosi come dei fattoriambientali ed agronomici che maggiormente le influenzano.La zonazione viticola realizzata dalla Fondazione Fojanini e dal Dipartimento diProduzione Vegetale dell'Universita di Milano nel triennio 1998 -2000 (Murada
High Performance Liquid Chromatographic Determination of Homocysteine and Cystathionine in Biological Samples by Derivatization with 6-Aminoquinolyl-N-Hydroxylsuccinimidyl Carbamate (AQC)

Depatmenr Natof urt al Scien504 CocesAlbGtate Un, , Alba. , anAS 317, y llege DUny05AiverS, itys r 1 2004. 10( . 1 ) . AQC         , AQC ! "# $ %& '()* +  ,-. / . AQC 0 1#2 HPLC 34 5)* 6 8)9: 7 (Hcy) ; =>? )9< (Cysta)  @ . / AB . $ C , F DE '( )* + Hcy  GHI @0 JJ 9.66, 4.66 7.77 nmol/g  , Cysta  GH @0 JJ 15.93, 2.55 8.08 nmol/g / . AQC  5)* +  , Hcy Cysta  @ KLM NO AB0P Q R/ . : Homocysteine, Cystathionine, HPLCABSTRACT. The AQC has been used for thederi vatization of primary and secondaryamino acids to yield fluorescentderivatives with high sensitivity. The AQC precolumn method was applied to analyze the amino acids using florescentdetector for tissue and blood samples of chickens. A new HPLC method was developed to measure the concentrationsof homocysteine (Hcy) and cystathionine (Cysta) in biological samples by using AQC method. The averaged total con-centrations of Hcy were obtained as 9.66, 4.66, and 7.77 nmol/g in liver, breast and blood samples of chicken, respec-tively. Also, the averaged values of Cysta concentrations were obtained as 15.93, 2.55, and 8.08 nmol/g in liver, breast,and blood samples, respectively. The AQC method was rapid and easy to measure the concentrations of amino acids,Hcy and Cysta in biological samples. Keywdo:sr Homeine,osytc Cyathist onine HPLC,
Synoptic‐to‐planetary scale wind variability enhances phytoplankton biomass at ocean fronts

In nutrient limited conditions, phytoplankton growth at fronts is enhanced by winds, which drive upward nutrient fluxes via enhanced turbulent mixing and upwelling. Hence, depth-integrated phytoplankton biomass can be ten times greater at isolated fronts. Using theory and two-dimensional simulations with a coupled physical-biogeochemical ocean model, this paper builds conceptual understanding of the physical processes driving upward nutrient fluxes at fronts forced by unsteady winds with timescales of 4-16 days. The largest vertical nutrient fluxes occur when the surface mixing layer penetrates the nutricline, which fuels phytoplankton in the mixed layer. At a front, mixed layer deepening depends on the magnitude and direction of the wind stress, cross-front variations in buoyancy and velocity at the surface, and potential vorticity at the base of the mixed layer, which itself depends on past wind events. Consequently, mixing layers are deeper and more intermittent in time at fronts than outside fronts. Moreover, mixing can decouple in time from the wind stress, even without other sources of physical variability. Wind-driven upwelling also enhances depth-integrated phytoplankton biomass at fronts; when the mixed layer remains shallower than the nutricline, this results in enhanced subsurface phytoplankton. Oscillatory along-front winds induce both oscillatory and mean upwelling. The mean effect of oscillatory vertical motion is to transiently increase subsurface phytoplankton over days to weeks, whereas slower mean upwelling sustains this increase over weeks to months. Taken together, these results emphasize that wind-driven phytoplankton growth is both spatially and temporally intermittent and depends on a diverse combination of physical processes.
( In ) Equality and ( In ) Justice ( Des ) Igualdade e ( In )

Understanding the connection between inequality and justice is important because justice is classically regarded as the first line of defense against self-interest and inequality. Absent a strong and clear link between inequality and justice, the sense of justice would not awaken to exert its moral suasion, no matter how great the inequality or how fast its increase. We obtain exact links between economic inequality and three parameters of the justice evaluation distribution –the mean, median, and variance– across a comprehensive set of inequality measures and a substantial starter set of just reward scenarios. This work shows that there is no general necessary connection between inequality and justice. There is, however, a striking pattern in some situations: as economic inequality increases, the average of the justice evaluations moves deeper into the territory of unjust underreward, and the distribution stretches outward, increasing the gulf between underrewarded and overrewarded and hollowing out the middle class.
Electrical Modeling of Lithium-Polymer Battery

Electrical modeling of lithium-polymer battery is very important for electric energy supply system. In this paper, electric equivalent circuit of lithium-polymer battery is proposed to simulate its dynamic characteristics. Maccor 8500 charge/discharge system is used to obtain the experimental data of lithium-polymer battery. Model parameters are calculated by using Matlab. This paper defines a R-C model for charging/discharging of battery and polynomial functions are used for OCV (Open Circuit Voltage) modeling. The proposed model is simulated with PSiM and then compared the simulation results with the experimental results to verify the validity of the proposed model.
COMPARISON OF METHODS FOR SOLVING THE VIBRATIONAL SCHRÖDINGER EQUATION IN THE COURSE OF SEQUENTIAL MONTE-CARLO-QUANTUM MECHANICAL TREATMENT OF HYDROXIDE ION HYDRATION

Three numerical methods were applied to compute the anharmonic O–H stretching vibrational frequencies of the free and aqueous hydroxide ion on the basis of one-dimensional vibrational potential energies computed at various levels of theory: i) simple Hamiltonian matrix diagonalization technique, based on representation of the vibrational potential in Simons-Parr-Finlan (SPF) coordinates, ii) Numerov algorithm and iii) Fourier grid Hamiltonian method (FGH). Considering the Numerov algorithm as a reference method, the diagonalization technique performs remarkably well in a very wide range of frequencies and frequency shifts (up to 300 cm –1 ). FGH method, on the other hand, though showing a very good performance as well, exhibits more significant (and nonuniform) discrepancies with the Numerov algorithm, even for rather modest frequency shifts.
Intra and interspecific variability of the cephalic labial glands' secretions in male bumblebees: the case of Bombus (Thoracobombus) ruderarius and B. (Thoracobombus) sylvarum [Hymenoptera, Apidae]

According to the species recognition concept of Paterson, the analyses of the secretions of the cephalic parts of the male labial glands confirm the conspecificity of Bombus (Thoracobombus) ruderarius ruderarius and B. (T.) r. montanus populations from the Pyrenees. These secretions were compared in B. ruderarius and B. sylvarum. We identified the same 7 major compounds as previously known for these species. We also identified 69 minor compounds. These minor compounds emphasise the close relationship between both species. Principal Component Analyses (PCA) were carried out on standardised peak areas of GC-MS chromatograms. The first PCA component is discriminant and shows no overlap between both species. Their secretions differ mostly by the relative concentration of their compounds rather than by their qualitative composition. On the contrary, PCA is unable to separate montanus from ruderarius. The larger variance in the secretions of B. ruderarius results from the very low concentration of the main compound (9-hexadecenol) in some specimens. Bombus sylvarum sylvarum / Bombus ruderarius ruderarius / Bombus ruderarius montanus / sexual pheromone / cephalic labial gland secretion / chemosystematics
An advanced risk analysis approach for container port safety evaluation

Risk analysis in seaports plays an increasingly important role in ensuring port operation reliability, maritime transportation safety and supply chain distribution resilience. However, the task is not straightforward given the challenges, including that port safety is affected by multiple factors related to design, installation, operation and maintenance and that traditional risk assessment methods such as quantitative risk analysis cannot sufficiently address uncertainty in failure data. This paper develops an advanced Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) approach through incorporating Fuzzy Rule-Based Bayesian Networks (FRBN) to evaluate the criticality of the hazardous events (HEs) in a container terminal. The rational use of the Degrees of Belief (DoB) in a fuzzy rule base (FRB) facilitates the implementation of the new method in Container Terminal Risk Evaluation (CTRE) in practice. Compared to conventional FMEA methods, the new approach integrates FRB and BN in a complementary manner, in which the former provides a realistic and flexible way to describe input failure information while the latter allows easy updating of risk estimation results and facilitates real-time safety evaluation and dynamic risk-based decision support in container terminals. The proposed approach can also be tailored for wider application in other engineering and management systems, especially when instant risk ranking is required by the stakeholders to measure, predict and improve their system safety and reliability performance.
Digital Interactive Kanban Advertisement System Using Face Recognition Methodology

Most of advertisement systems are presently still launch the publicity content by the static words and pictures. Recently, this static advertisement model will not be able to attract people’s attention more and more. Moreover, the static information content of advertisement system is limited because of the layout shown size. It can not also fully demonstrate the information content of advertisement system. In this paper, we develop a digital interactive kanban advertisement system using face recognition methodology to solve these problems. The system captures the person’s face through the camera. The digital advertisement content size is relevant by the person and camera observation locations. In this paper, we adopt the Adaboost algorithm to judge people face, and the system only need to grab the position of the face. The system doesn’t built expensive and complex equipment to reduce the system cost and enhance the system performance. This system can also achieve the same similar digital interactive advertising effectiveness.
Spatial Effects in the Bid Price Setting Strategies of the Wholesale Electricity Markets: The Case of Colombia

Weather conditions in Colombia vary greatly throughout the territory and therefore the location of electricity generating plants plays a key role in their bid pricing strategies. To account for these location-specific pricing strategies this paper estimates a Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) with monthly data gathered from the 17th largest hydraulic electricity generating plants of Colombia on bid prices, generation, energy inputs and positive reconciliation over the period January 2005-August 2015 and controlling also for the system marginal prices and the economy cycle. The paper reports three main results. First, firms ? bid prices are negatively affected by the energy inputs of the rivals, second they are unaffected by positive reconciliation payments to the rivals and third they are negatively affected by the generation amounts of the rivals. One potential policy recommendation of these results is the need to implement balancing markets to signal more efficiently the pricing strategies in these markets.
Commentary to Journal of Brand Management : Five Areas to Advance Branding Theory And Practice

The paper suggests five areas to advance branding theory and practice based on the authors’ recent work in brand management. In this commentary, we aim to put forward suggestions and ideas for further research in brand management; ideas, which we believe will have an impact on the way branding is researched and practiced by both academics and practitioners alike. We will focus on the future of branding in the following areas, inspired by our own work in the field: (1) branding in higher education, (2) branding in Asia Pacific, (3) brand ambidexterity, (4) brand innovation on social media, and (5) brand likeability. Branding in Higher Education As evidenced by our recent special issue on branding in higher education in Journal of Business Research and several calls for book chapters by our colleagues, we believe that branding in higher education will continue to be more important, not just
Speckle Noise Reduction for the Enhancement of Retinal Layers in Optical Coherence Tomography Images

Introduction One of the most important pre-processing steps in optical coherence tomography (OCT) is reducing speckle noise, resulting from multiple scattering of tissues, which degrades the quality of OCT images. Materials and Methods The present study focused on speckle noise reduction and edge detection techniques. Statistical filters with different masks and noise variances were applied on OCT and test images. Objective evaluation of both types of images was performed, using various image metrics such as peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), root mean square error, correlation coefficient and elapsed time. For the purpose of recovery, Kuan filter was used as an input for edge enhancement. Also, a spatial filter was applied to improve image quality. Results The obtained results were presented as statistical tables and images. Based on statistical measures and visual quality of OCT images, Enhanced Lee filter (3×3) with a PSNR value of 43.6735 in low noise variance and Kuan filter (3×3) with a PSNR value of 37.2850 in high noise variance showed superior performance over other filters. Conclusion Based on the obtained results, by using speckle reduction filters such as Enhanced Lee and Kuan filters on OCT images, the number of compounded images, required to achieve a given image quality, could be reduced. Moreover, use of Kuan filters for promoting the edges allowed smoothing of speckle regions, while preserving image tissue texture.