Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
IN VITRO RADICAL SCAVENGING POTENTIAL OF POD AND SEED EXTRACTS OF BAUHINIA TOMENTOSA L.

In the present investigation, the antioxidant and free radical scavenging efficiencies of B. tomentosa pod and seed extracts were evaluated for ferric reducing antioxidant power, DPPH ▪ ,NO ▪ , hydroxyl radical scavenging, metal iron chelating, ABTS ▪+ , β-carotene-linoleate model system and antihemolytic activities. Among the samples analyzed, acetone extracts of B. tomentosa seed showed remarkable antioxidant activity (P<0.05) in terms of reducing power, DPPH ▪ , NO ▪ , metal chelating, ABTS ▪+ ,β-carotene-linoleate model system and antihemolytic activities. In β-carotene-linoleic acid system, all the extracts exhibited efficient antioxidant activity and the values were comparably higher than the synthetic antioxidant, BHT and BHA. Considering all the activities performed, it is known that the seed acetone extract of B. tomentosa were found to be the most effective free radical quencher and a potent source of natural antioxidants due to their marked antioxidant activity. Overall, the acetone was found to be the best solvent for the extraction of antioxidant compounds. The result presented here implies that the consumption of such a legume food would not only improve the nutrient utilization but also provide the potential source of nutraceuticals for human health.
Can Combined Microfinance Boost Economic Results? An Empirical Cross-sectional Analysis

Worldwide, microcredit organizations are gradually transforming to multi-servicing organizations offering additional financial services. This paper examines whether combining microcredit with insurance and/or savings enhances their economic performance measured by their efficiency, productivity, sustainability or portfolio quality indicators. Using cross-sectional data from 250 microfinance institutions (MFIs) from Latin America and the Caribbean, it compares MFIs offering credit only with those combining credit with respectively savings and/or insurance. A cross-sectional multiple regression analysis shows positive effects of both savings and insurance on the efficiency and productivity of MFIs. Taking into account various risks, this can be attributed to economies of scope, especially in a context of large and mature MFIs which exhibit organisational readiness. Surprisingly, the research didn't observe significant results relating to possible effects on the sustainability and portfolio quality of MFIs.
A Mutual Peer-To-Peer Assessment on Pre-Service Teaching Practicum

Abstract This paper reports about peers assessing peers during the science teaching practicum. The purpose of the study was therefore to establish the foci of pre-service teachers (PSTs) on what they assess and if there is a link between their assessment comments or judgments and the grading of their peers’ teaching capabilities. This study was based on fifty three teaching journals PSTs used for assessment purposes during school practicum. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the comments of PSTs about their peers’ teaching capabilities and their mark allocations were respectively conducted from their teaching practice journals. The findings show that there is some consistency on the PSTs’ foci of content they assess and the value they attach on most of the five variables. In addition, there is a varied link between their comments or j udgements and the grading of their peers’ teaching capabilities. However, assessment on mastery of learning content had the least comments. Most of the comments were on teaching strategies, methods and techniques. In light of the findings, we recommend that assessment criteria for peer assessment be clearly defined and sections be added to the teaching practice journals, to justify mark allocation for every aspect of the assessment.
SURFACE PLASMON BASED ENHANCED TRANSMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES

SURFACE PLASMON BASED ENHANCED TRANSMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES Suheyla Sena Akarca Biyikli M. S. in Physics Supervisor: Prof. Ekmel Ozbay July 2004 Grating-coupling phenomena between surface plasmons and electromagnetic waves are studied in the microwave spectrum using metallic gratings. Transmission and reflection measurements were carried out to observe the transmitted and reflected radiation around the surface plasmon resonance frequencies. Grating structures with subwavelength apertures were designed for transmission experiments. Measurements were done in the microwave spectrum of 10−37.5 GHz, corresponding to a wavelength region of 8−30 mm. The Al samples had a grating periodicity of 16 mm. A 2 mm-wide subwavelength slit was opened for transmission samples. Samples with one/double-sided gratings displayed remarkably enhanced transmission and directivity with respect to the reference sample without gratings. The experimental results agreed well with theoretical
Ammonia Gas Sensing Characteristics of Spin Coated Polyaniline Films

The conductive layer of emeraldine base polyaniline (PANI) thin film coated on silicon has successfully tested for ammonia. The bulk PANI powder was synthesized by oxidative polymerization of aniline using ammonium peroxidisulfate in an acidic medium and dissolved in N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) for coating the thin film on Silicon using spin coater. FTIR, UVvisible, and SEM were used to characterize the PANI thin film. The electrical conductivity of the PANI films has been studied by measuring the change in electrical conductivity by Four Probe Set up on exposure to ammonia gas (NH 3 ) at different concentrations from 100 ppm to 500 ppm. margin.
Cavity enhanced spin measurement of the ground state spin of an NV center in diamond

A key step in the use of diamond nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers for quantum computational tasks is a single shot quantum non-demolition measurement of the electronic spin state. Here, we propose a high fidelity measurement of the ground state spin of a single NV center, using the effects of cavity quantum electrodynamics. The scheme we propose is based in the one-dimensional atom or Purcell regime, removing the need for high Q cavities that are challenging to fabricate. The ground state spin of the NV center has a splitting of ≈6–10 μeV, which can be resolved in a high-resolution absorption measurement. By incorporating the center in a low-Q and low volume cavity we show that it is possible to perform single shot readout of the ground state spin using a weak laser with an error rate of ≈7×10−3, when realistic experimental parameters are considered. Since very low levels of light are used to probe the state of the spin we limit the number of florescence cycles, which dramatically reduces the measurement induced decoherence approximating a non-demolition measurement of ground state spin.
Changes in power output under the influence of high-intensity training

The purpose of this research was to study the effect of high-intensity training programme carried out with a cycle ergometer and in the form of run intervals on physical fitness as measured in a running test and on power output measured in Wingate test. The study was carried out on 24 subjects divided into two groups: group GC (12 persons) did the high-intensity training on a cycle ergometer; group GR (12 persons) did the training in the form of running. The training lasted 8 weeks, 5 times a week in both groups. Running test consisted of a series of four 50 m sprints (25 m + 25 m back) at 15-second intervals. The training improved alactic anaerobic output (the phase of power increase and maintenance phase (IMP) in the Wingate test) by 20.3% WIMP and 9.1% PaIMP in the GC group and by 15.2% WIMP and 11.5% PaIMP in the GR group, and lactic anaerobic output (the phase of power decrease (DP)) by 9.1% WDP and 12.4% PaDP for group GC and by 12.8% WDP and 10.8% PaDP for group GR. In both groups, a significant improvement in time required to cover the distance in the series of four runs was noted (significantly larger in the group GR than in the group GC). The changes in running times, in terms of percentages, differed significantly between the groups. However, the groups did not differ in terms of their Wingate test results.
Millimeter Wave Antenna with Mounted Horn Integrated on FR4 for 60 GHz Gbps Communication Systems

A compact high gain and wideband millimeter wave (MMW) antenna for 60 GHz communication systems is presented. The proposed antenna consists of a multilayer structure with an aperture coupled microstrip patch and a surface mounted horn integrated on FR4 substrate. The proposed antenna contributes impedance bandwidth of 8.3% (57.4–62.4 GHz). The overall antenna gain and directivity are about 11.65 dBi and 12.51 dBi, which make it suitable for MMW applications and short-range communications. The proposed antenna occupies an area of 7.14 mm × 7.14 mm × 4 mm. The estimated efficiency is 82%. The proposed antenna finds application in V-band communication systems.
Online News Production, Consumption and Immediacy: The Remediation Perspective

Evidence suggests that media displacement theory has limitation to explain the current development in news industry. This paper turns to the work of Bolter and Grusin on remediation which promotes the idea that old media are being transformed into new digital forms. Anchoring on this idea, this paper offers ways of understanding the processes in which online news sources repurpose print news for digital spaces via remediation. Three processes were identified; (1) borrowing the content and reusing it in a different format, (2) borrowing the format only and not the content, and (3) absorbing the older medium in its entirety. The paper also explores users’ experience with new news media and suggests that greater interactivity and user control in online environment indicate the experience of immediacy. To achieve immediacy is the goal of all media, and its manifestation ranges from an improved experience to a sense of being there (or presence) in media use. Linking remediation and literature in journalism studies, this essay contests the straightforward definition of news immediacy and introduces a theoretically driven concept focusing on a sense of presence in news consumption. The dimension of immediacy adds to our knowledge of the complementary use of online and print news media, and is central to the issue of media survival and competition in today’s digital age. Keywords: immediacy, remediation, online news, news consumption, media displacement
Short-Term versus Climatological Relationship between Precipitation and Tropospheric Humidity

AbstractIn this study the observed relationship of precipitation with column relative humidity (CRH), a metric of tropospheric humidity, is examined in order to address a known discrepancy inherent to past studies. A composite analysis of satellite data is carried out to explore the short-term (i.e., from hourly to daily) atmospheric variability for comparison with the climatology, hypothesizing that a primary cause for the discrepancy arises from a difference in the time scale of interest. The analysis is broken down into four classes on the basis of the degree of convective organization, ranging from unorganized shallow cumuli to highly organized convective systems. The CRH–precipitation relationship is found to be extremely nonlinear for the short-term variability, while the nonlinearity weakens to some degree when different convective systems in diverse humidity environments are averaged together into climatology. The weak exponential rise in the climatological CRH–precipitation curve occurs because h.
Characteristics of Accounting Information Systems and their Impact on the Development of Corporate Financial Performance: Evidence from Jordan

The objective of this study was to uncover the characteristics of accounting information systems and their impact on the development of corporate financial performance evidence from Jordan. In order to achieve the objective of this study, the researcher applied the study tools: Measurement of the characteristics of accounting information systems and the measure of development of corporate financial performance. To confirm their psychometric properties, on a random sample of (271). The results of the study showed that the characteristics of accounting information systems as well as the development of corporate financial performance came at (average) level. The results of the study showed a positive effect on the characteristics of the accounting information systems (TA, TB, TC, TD) on the development of financial performance in the Jordanian industrial companies by (55%). The effect is in the order (TD, TB, TC and finally TA) Keywords: Financial Performance, (AISs), Jordanian industrial Shareholding Companies.
PII: S0141-0229(00)00266-0

The calorific value of five strains of Chlorella grown in Watanabe and low-nitrogen medium was determined. The algae were grown in small (2L) stirred tank bioreactors and the best growth was obtained with Chlorella vulgariswith a growth rate of 0.99 d 21 and the highest calorific value (29 KJ/g) was obtained with C. emersonii . The cellular components were assayed at the end of the growth period and the calorific value appears to be linked to the lipid content rather than any other component. © 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
Use of micro-tomography for validation of method to identify interfacial shear strength from tensile tests of short regenerated cellulose fibre composites

The interfacial shear strength of short regenerated cellulose fibre/polylactide composites was characterized by means of an industry-friendly adhesion test method. The interfacial shear strength was back-calculated from the experimental tensile stress-strain curves of composites by using a micro-mechanical model. The parameters characterizing the microstructure of the composites, e.g. fibre length and orientation distributions, used as input in the model were obtained by micro-tomography. The investigation was carried out on composites with untreated and surface treated fibres with various fibre weight contents (5wt%, 10wt%, and 15wt% for untreated fibres, and 15wt% for treated fibres). The properties of fibres were measured by an automated single fibre tensile test method. Based on these results, the efficiency of the fibre treatment to improve fibre/matrix adhesion is evaluated, and the applicability of the method to measure the interfacial shear strength is discussed. The results are compared with data from previous work, and with other results from the literature.
McTeague, C. P. and Duffy, A. and Hay, L. and Vuletic, T. and Campbell, G. and Choo, P. L. and Grealy, M. (2018) Insights into design concept

Similarity has been shown to influence various measures of outcome creativity in combinatorial design tasks, but the role of similarity during the combination of design concepts is unknown. As an initial step towards understanding design concept similarity we review prominent models of similarity in psychology and carry out an exploratory experimental investigation of design concept similarity judgements. Results suggest that as per non-design stimuli, similarity may be the result of structural alignment processing and similarity ratings may be related to the degree of common features.
Optimizing the electricity demand of electric vehicles Creating value through flexibility

This thesis focuses on models of plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) demand flexibility, as well as on methods to generate value from this flexibility, by reducing the costs of procuring the charging demand, and by providing ancillary services. First, individual and aggregated models of PEV charging flexibility, based on driving patterns from a transport simulation, are introduced. Specifically, flexibility is represented as a set of linear power and energy constraints, which can be used in different optimization problems. For the aggregated representation (virtual battery), a scenario-based robust approach to address driving pattern uncertainty is introduced. Second, different approaches to minimize the costs of procuring the charging demand are presented, categorized along three dimensions: centralized/decentralized control, unidirectional/bidirectional communication, strategic/cooperative decision-making. Mainly, the following methods are introduced: A) A bidding strategy for a PEV aggregator, based on complementarity modeling, B) a bidding strategy for individual PEVs in a market-based control context, based on reinforcement learning, C) a cooperative decentralized scheduling approach, based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers, D) a method to determine optimal time of use tariffs in a framework where PEVs respond optimally to exogenous price signals, and E) a hierarchical control approach combining the aggregator’s bidding strategy and the cooperative decentralized scheduling. Third, the aggregator’s bidding strategy and the cooperative decentralized scheduling are extended to use the PEVs’ flexibility to provide ancillary services (frequency regulation and real-time balancing), in addition to minimizing charging costs. Both unidirectional and bidirectional charging options are considered in this context, as well as different
Optimal Retirement Time and Consumption/Investment in Anticipation of a Better Investment Opportunity

We investigate an optimal retirement time and consumption/investment policy of a wage earner who expects to find a better investment opportunity after retirement by being freed from other work and participating fully in the financial market. We obtain a closed form solution to the optimization problem by using a dynamic programming method under general time-separable von Neumann-Morgenstern utility. It is optimal for the wage earner to retire from work if and only if his wealth exceeds a certain critical level which is obtained from a free boundary value problem. The wage earner consumes less and takes more risk than he would without anticipation of a better investment opportunity.
ELIMINATING ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES IN VIBRATION- BASED DAMAGE DETECTION USING ARMAX RESIDUAL ERROR AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS

Despite offering a great promise for continuous and automated monitoring of civil infrastructure systems, vibrationbased damage detection methods may yield false positives and negatives due to environmental and/or operational effects. This paper presents a method based on ARMAX residual error in conjunction with Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to eliminate the environmental effects from damage detection process. A finite element model of a bridge type structure was simulated with different damage scenarios under various temperatures. Damage features obtained from statistical process on ARMAX residual errors were then compared between with and without environmental effects. Artificial neural networks were trained to learn and predict damage features due to temperature change only, by subtracting which the final damage feature was obtained. It is shown that both damage location and damage severity can be accurately identified.
The Politics of Institutional Renovation and Economic Upgrading: Lessons from the Argentine Wine Industry

Through a comparative, longitudinal analysis of the wine industry in two Argentine provinces, this article examines how different political approaches to reform shape the ability of societies to build new institutions for economic upgrading. The article finds that inherited structural factors per se can not easily explain the different solutions to this challenge. A better explanation focuses on how governments confront the dual challenge of redefining the boundary between the public and private domains and of recombining the socio-economic ties among relevant firms and their respective business associations. A ? depoliticization? approach emphasizes the imposition of arm? s-length incentives by a powerful, insulated government, but appears to contribute little to institutional change and upgrading. A ? participatory restructuring? approach promotes the creation of public-private institutions via adherence to two key principles: a) inclusion of a wide variety of relevant stakeholder groups and b) rules of deliberative governance that promote collective problem-solving. This latter approach appears to have the advantage of facilitating collaboration and knowledge creation among previously antagonistic groups, including government.
Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Pleurotus Florida Cultivated in Bangladesh

Mushroom, a new food item in Bangladesh, has remained largely obscure about its nutritional and medicinal values. Evaluation of antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the Pleurotus florida ethanol extract was the purpose of the present study. Crude P. florida extract was qualitatively screened for the presence of phytochemicals while total polyphenol content was measured quantitatively. DPPH-free radical scavenging activity, total reducing power and ability of inhibiting in vitro Fenton’s reagent-induced oxidative stress were used to evaluate the antioxidant potentials of the P. florida extract. Minimum inhibitory concentration and antibiogram of the P. florida extract was assessed against six human pathogenic bacteria. Ethanol extract of P. florida possesses appreciable antioxidant activity, as indicated by the polyphenol contents, DPPH scavenging activity, reducing power and anti-lipid peroxide effect. The extract exhibited antimicrobial activity against all of the microorganisms tested. Keyword: Antioxidant activity, Antimicrobial activity, Phytochemicals, Lipid peroxidation.
The Value of Reunification in Germany: An Analysis of Changes in Life Satisfaction

We quantify the value of changes in life circumstances in Germany following reunification. To this end, we develop and implement a fixed-effect estimator for ordinal life satisfaction in the German Socio-Economic Panel. We find strong negative effects on life satisfaction from being recently fired, losing a spouse through either death or separation and time spent in hospital, whilst we find strong positive effects from income and marriage. Using a new causal decomposition technique, we find that East Germans experienced a continued improvement in life satisfaction after 1990 to which increased household incomes contributed around 12%. Most of the increase is explained by improved average circumstances, such as public services. For West Germans, we find virtually no change in satisfaction between 1991 and 1999.
Identifying Psychometric Properties of the Social-Emotional Learning Skills Scale.

This study aims to develop a comprehensive scale of social-emotional learning. After constructing a wide range of item pool and expertise evaluation, validity and reliability studies were carried out through using the data-set of 439 primary school students at 3rd and 4th grade levels. Explarotary and confirmatory factor analysis results revealed a valid and reliable 27-item, seven-factor model including the following factors: Relationship among Friends, Perception of Friendship, Persistence, Success, Self-Management, Impulse Control and Self-Confidence. Cronbach Alpha coefficient is calculated as . 856 for the whole scale.