Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sensory attributes, microbial quality and aroma profiles of off vine ripened mango (Mangifera indica L.) fruit

The need to develop the best off vine mango ripening technique for both consumption and processing was investigated. Sensory quality and microbial contamination was studied on mature green Dodo mangoes before and during a 3- and 6-day ripening period by Smoked Pit Ripening (SPR), Ethylene (fruit generated) Pit Ripening (EPR), Untreated Pit Ripening (UPR) and Room Temperature Ripening (RTR) as a control method. The post harvest ripening changes in the quality characteristic of ripe mangoes were correlated among treatments and compared with similar changes in other mango varieties. The results showed insignificant differences in sensory attributes among the employed techniques. Microbial quality was significantly different within the treatments, while with aroma profiles there were considerable differences of detected aromatic compounds between raw and ripe mango fruits. Increased number of aromatic compounds reflected the most significant sensory scores at ripening stage. Keywords: Mango, microbial quality, flavour, ripening, aroma
Interaction of Fixed Number of Photons with Retinal Rod Cells

New tools and approaches of quantum optics offer a unique opportunity to generate light pulses carrying a precise number of photons. Accurate control over the light pulses helps to improve the characterization of photo-induced processes. Here, we interface a specialized light source which provides flashes containing just one photon, with retinal rod cells of Xenopus laevis toads. We provide unambiguous proof of single photon sensitivity of rod cells without relying on the statistical modeling. We determined their quantum efficiencies without the use of any pre-calibrated detectors, and obtained the value of 29+-4.7 %. Our approach provides the path for future studies and applications of quantum properties of light in phototransduction, vision, and photosynthesis.
Impact of Merger and Acquisitions on Operating Performance: Evidence from Manufacturing Firms in India

The present paper is carried out with the objective of studying what shift-in-structure is experienced especially in the operating performance (OP) after merger and acquisitions (M&AS) by studying 39 selected acquiring manufacturing firms in India. The firms, which had gone in to the M&AS process during the financial year 2006–2007 are only considered for the study. Factor analysis, correlation matrix, multiple regression, and chow test are applied to study the op of these firms in the pre-and post-merger periods. The study reveals that the M&AS process has significant (positive improvement) effect on op of the acquiring manufacturing firms in India after M&AS over the study period.
Seasonality of ecosystem respiration in a double-cropping paddy field in Bangladesh

Abstract. Ecosystem respiration (RE) from cultivated ecosystems is important for understanding the role of these ecosystems in the global carbon balance. To evaluate carbon dynamics in a double-rice cropping paddy field, we conducted long-term measurements at Mymensingh, Bangladesh in 2007 using a tower-based eddy covariance technique. The study objectives were to investigate the diurnal and seasonal variations in RE and to develop and evaluate empirical models for predicting variations in RE using environmental parameters. We found that the diurnal pattern of RE was driven by soil temperature (Ts) whereas the seasonal variation in RE was controlled primarily by Ts and soil water content (SWC). Under high biomass conditions, Ts plays a dominant role in the magnitude of CO2 release. Both the amount and magnitude of RE variation were larger in the "Boro" dry-season rice growing period from late winter to mid-summer than in the "Aman" wet-season rice growing period from late summer to early winter. Annually, the ratio of RE to gross primary production (GPP) was 0.67, indicating a net sink of carbon; the two growing seasons had RE/GPP ratios of 0.58 and 0.52. A model using Ts, SWC, and aboveground biomass predicted daily RE with R2 values of 0.87 and 0.62 for the Boro and Aman seasons, respectively.
Use of extractable lipofuscin for age determination of blue crab Callinectes sapidus

The blue crab Callinectes sapidus is an economically and ecologically important species in many temperate estuaries, yet stock assessments have been limited to length-based methods for demographic analyses. We evaluated the potential of age pigments (lipofuscins) sequestered in neural tissue of eye-stalks and brains to estimate the age of blue crabs collected from Chesapeake Bay and Chincoteague Bay. The rate of lipofuscin accumulation was determined using crabs of known age reared in the laboratory. Age pigments were extracted from neural tissues (eye-stalk or brain), quantified, and normalized to protein content to allow comparisons across tissue types and crab sizes. Field-collected blue crabs (35 to 185 mm carapace width) contained highly variable levels of age pigments (coefficient of variation = 58 %). Lipofuscin level was significantly related to carapace width, but not significantly different between gender or sampling location. In juveniles (40 to 70 mm carapace width) reared for 6 mo, the age pigments showed no significant change during the rapid summer growth period, but significantly increased during fall (after 3 mo). Lipofuscin contents in known-age reared crabs were positively related to chronological age. Modal analysis of lipofuscin for field-collected adult males provided separation of multiple modes, whereas carapace width showed only a single broad mode. These results confirm the potential use of lipofuscin for age estimation of blue crabs.
Effect of dormancy breaking chemicals on microtuber production potential under in vivo conditions of central India

The present study was carried out at ICAR -Central Potato Research Station, Gwalior during 2012-13 to assess the effect of dormancy breaking chemicals, their dip duration and microtuber size on growth and yield parameters. The three different size >4-6mm, >6-8mm and >8mm of variety Kufri Sindhuri were given dip treatment with six types of growth regulators/ dormancy breaking chemicals viz 1ppm gibberelic acid, 0.5 ppm gibberllic acid, 1% thiourea, 0.5 % thiourea, 1ppm gibberllic acid + 1% thiourea and 0.5 ppm gibberllic acid + 0.5 % thiourea along with water control for 30 min, 45 min and 60 min. All the treatments exhibited better growth and yield parameters over water control but significantly best at 5% was 0.5 ppm gibberllic acid treatment for growth parameters and 0.5 ppm gibberllic acid + 0.5 % thiourea treatment for yield parameters. All the dip duration 30 min, 45 min and 60 min had not significant at 5% level effect for both growth and yield parameters. The larger sized micro-tuber (>8 mm) showed significantly superior plant emergence, plant height, number of compound leaves per plant, number of stems per plant both at 50 and 75 days after planting followed by 4-8 mm grade and 8mm (295.0 q/ha tuber) and among dip duration 30 min (206.67q/ha) and 45 min (210 q/ha) resulted in significantly higher yield parameters under nucleus seed production in in vivo conditions of central India.
Factors Affecting Management Accounting Practices in Malaysia

Management accounting is the process of preparing management reports and accounts that provide accurate and timely, financial and statistical information to assist in management decision making. It is also known as the process of identifying, measuring, accumulating, analyzing, preparing, interpreting and communicating information to help managers fulfill the organization’s objectives. Management accounting practices are used by organizational managers at various levels and at the same time, it gives managers the freedom of choice as there are no constraints, other than the cost of information collected relative to benefits of improved management decisions. Studies have found that there are factors that may affect management accounting practices. Literature has indicated that factors such as--organization size, intensity of market competition, level of qualification of accounting staff and advanced production technology--may affect management accounting practices. The objective of this research is to study the impact of these factors on management accounting practices in Malaysia. A total of 200 respondents from Klang Valley, Malaysia were involved in the survey using purposive sampling. The results of the study revealed that organization size and advanced production technology have significant relationships with management accounting practices.
Similarity Patterns and Stability of Environmental Response in Sunflower Hybrids

The rationale for the following research was to analyse the response of sunflower hybrids to different sowing dates and to evaluate hybrid response to critical environmental conditions. The data used are from an experiment conducted in a location-year combination over a period of two years (2007–09) in southern Italy. Eleven hybrids were tested following a randomized complete block design with three replications at each location-year combination. Eight agronomic characters including seed oil content were recorded. Classification and ordination procedures were used to investigate hybrid performance in relation to three different sowing dates. Combined analysis of variance showed that hybrids, location-year combination, sowing date and their interactions were highly significant for all characters. Hybrid performances were classified by cluster analysis into groups that were differentiable in terms of means and stability. The first three components accounted for 74%, 82%, and 87% of the total variation for the first, second and third sowing date respectively. Plotting component one against component two along Euclidean axes should therefore provide a reasonable representation of the spatial arrangements of hybrid performances in the original multi-dimensional space. The applied statistical method gives full information on hybrid performances similarity.
Machine driven predictions of the socio-economic status of Twitter users

In this study, we examine the possibilities of creating predictions of the Socio-Economic Status of twitter users with the use of machine learning algorithms. The study starts with an ethical evaluation of the process and data collection. After the data is collected we explore the data and create features and labels. We then employ machine learning algorithms out of the box and combine the prediction probabilities via a soft-voting ensemble method. We find that the model outperforms dummies, but has troubles with the skewed data. We run additional tests to examine the performance of the classifiers when the tasks increase in probability, where we find the random forest to show the most promising results.
Adverse Selection and the Choice between Joint-Ventures and Acquisitions: Evidence from Spanish Firms

We analyze the determinants of the choice between green field joint ventures, full acquisitions, and partial acquisitions in the international expansion of a firm through foreign direct investments. Our results show that this choice is conditioned by transaction-cost factors (particularly the cultural distance between the home and host countries), as well as by the previous experience and internationalization path of the foreign investor, as suggested by the knowledgebased theories of the firm.
Development of Filipino Phonetically-balanced Words and phoneme-level Hmms

2 Abstract: In this paper, we developed two sets of phonetically balanced word (PBW) lists in Filipino and two sets of phoneme-level HMMs (Hidden Markov Model). Two PBW lists were based on textbooks used in public school in Philippines and used to develop speech corpus with the fifty speakers of 25 males and 25 females. In a 2-syllable word list (PBW2), an average accuracy rate of 88.95% for speaker dependent and 82.57% for speaker independent test were achieved. For 3-syllable word list (PBW3), the recognizer achieved an accuracy rate of 90.28% for speaker dependent and 83.30% for speaker independent test.
An Overview of Hypospadias Surgery

Performed by urologists and paediatric surgeons, hypospadias procedures go unnoticed in many classical treatises of plastic surgery. Hypospadias is a very common malforma‐ tion that occurs in nearly 1 in 250 male births. It consists of an abnormal opening of the urethral meatus at some point of its dorsal aspect. It is associated with an incomplete, semi‐circumferential foreskin and in nearly half of the patients it may be accompanied with a curvature of the penile shaft called chordee. Most classifications differentiate between distal, middle and proximal presentations. Different techniques have been proposed for its treatment; some of the most usual ones are briefly revised. Continued improvement in surgical management has made currently practised one‐stage repairs possible. We provide an introduction to the current techniques, as well as operative tips and an overview of the most common pitfalls the surgeon must bear in mind when treat‐ ing this condition.
Fast Low Memory T-Transform String Complexity in Linear Time and Space with Applications to Android App Store Security

This thesis presents flott, the Fast LowMemory T-Transform, the currently fastest and most memory efficient linear time and space algorithm available to compute the string complexity measure T-complexity. The flott algorithm uses 64.3% less memory and in our experiments runs asymptotically 20% faster than its predecessor. A full C-implementation is provided and published under the Apache Licence 2.0. From the flott algorithm two deterministic information measures are derived and applied to Android app store security. The derived measures are the normalized Tcomplexity distance and the instantaneous T-complexity rate which are used to detect, locate, and visualize unusual information changes in Android applications. The information measures introduced present a novel, scalable approach to assist with the detection of malware in app stores.
Revolt a Performance of IMD by Rectified Number of MLI Through Simulink Computational Method

Titled research work has been dealt with three different topologies of Multilevel Inverter. In the past decades, the researchers have dealt with the conventional topology one which possesses the twelve switches of Multilevel Inverter is applied to an Induction motor drive. The present research work has been introduced a new topology II system which reduces 10 and 5 switches in induction motor. The performance of the research work has been investigated through MATLAB simulation.
THE IMPACT OF MARKETING CAPABILITY AND DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY ON PERFORMANCE.

This paper examines the impact of marketing capability and diversification strategy on the performance of organization. A survey design with a well structured questionnaire was adopted in collecting data from the respondents and thereafter, the data was analyzed using descriptive analyses on statistical package for social science (SPSS). The results above indicate that there exists a significant relationship between marketing capability and organizational performance, while also proving the fact that diversification have a significantly strong impact on the performance of an organization. Keywords: Marketing capability, diversification strategy, Resources based view, performance
Application of Bimodal Histogram Method to Oil Spill Detection from a Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar Image

As one of segmentation techniques for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image with oil spill, we applied a bimodal histogram method to discriminate oil pixels from non-oil pixels. The threshold of each moving window was objectively determined using the two peaks in the histogram distribution of backscattering coefficients from ENVISAT ASAR image. To reduce the effect of wind speed on oil spill detection, we selected ASAR image which satisfied a limit of wind speeds for successful detection. Overall, a commonly used adaptive threshold method has been applied with a subjectively-determined single threshold. In contrast, the bimodal histogram method utilized herein produces a variety of thresholds objectively for each moving window by considering the characteristics of statistical distribution of backscattering coefficients. Comparison between the two methods revealed that the bimodal histogram method exhibited no significant difference in terms of performance when compared to the adaptive threshold method, except for around the edges of dark oil spots. Thus, we anticipate that the objective method based on the bimodality of oil slicks may also be applicable to the detection of oil spills from other SAR imagery.
The Impact of Real Exchange Rate Misalignment on Economic Growth; Kenyan Evidence

This paper examines Real Exchange Rate (RER) Misalignment on economic growth in Kenya by using Johansen Cointegration, and Error Correction Model Technique to establish the factors that determine equilibrium real exchange rate, calculate the real exchange rate misalignment as the difference between equilibrium and actual real exchange rate. Generalized Method Moments (GMM) technique was used to assess the impact of the real exchange rate misalignment on economic growth for the period of January 1993 to December 2009. Data for the study was collected from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Central Bank of Kenya and International Monetary Fund Data Base by taking monthly frequency. Thus, 204 data values were analysed, which assisted in evaluating the extent of the trade Kenya had with different countries and used in the construction of the Real Exchange Rate ( RER ). The results of the study on the extent of RER misalignment suggest that over the study period 1993-2009, Kenya’s RER generally exhibited a depreciating trend, implying that in general, the country’s economic growth deteriorated over the study period.
Literature Survey on Educational Dropout Prediction

Educational Data Mining (EDM) is one of the crucial application areas of data mining which helps in predicting educational dropout and hence provides timely help to students. In Indian context, predicting educational dropouts is a major problem. By implementing EDM, we can predict the learning habits of the student. At present EDM has not been introduced at higher education level. Due to this we cannot recognize the genuine problems of students during their education. The objective of this analysis is to find the existing gaps in predicting educational dropout and find the missing attributes if any, which my further contribute for better prediction. After that we try to find the best attributes and DM techniques which are frequently used for dropout prediction. Based on the combination of missing attribute and best attribute of student data thus far, a new algorithm can be tested which may overcome the shortcomings of previous work done.
Indoor environmental quality surveys. A brief literature review.

Building occupants are a valuable source of information for indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and its effects on health, comfort, satisfaction, self-reported performances, and building performance. There are no standardized methods to survey occupants. A brief literature review has been conducted to collect and describe features of IEQ questionnaires. Ten surveys have been identified and analyzed in terms of type of evaluation, objectives, investigated topics, number of applications, integration with physical measurements, questionnaire structure, types of questions and answers, length of time to complete, languages, and distribution and gathering strategies.
Significance of Tribocorrosion in Biomedical Applications: Overview and Current Status

Recently, “tribocorrosion,” a research area combining the science of tribology and corrosion, has drawn attention from scientists and engineers belonging to a wide spectrum of research domains. This is due to its practical impact on daily life and also the accompanying economical burdens. It encompasses numerous applications including the offshore, space, and biomedical industry, for instance, in the case of artificial joints (Total Hip Replacement, THR) in orthopedic surgery, where implant metals are constantly exposed to tribological events (joint articulations) in the presence of corrosive solutions, that is, body fluids. Keeping the importance of this upcoming area of research in biomedical applications in mind, it was thought to consolidate the work in this area with some fundamental aspects so that a comprehensive picture of the current state of knowledge can be depicted. Complexity of tribocorrosion processes has been highlighted, as it is influenced by several parameters (mechanical and corrosion) and also due to the lack of an integrated/efficient test system. Finally a review of the recent work in the area of biotribocorrosion is provided, by focusing on orthopedic surgery and dentistry.
The Segmentation of Wear Particles Images Using -Segmentation Algorithm

This study aims to use a JSEG algorithm to segment the wear particle’s image. Wear particles provide detailed information about the wear processes taking place between mechanical components. Autosegmentation of their images is key to intelligent classification system. This study examined whether this algorithm can be used in particles’ image segmentation. Different scales have been tested. Compared with traditional thresholding along with edge detector, the JSEG algorithm showed promising result. It offers a relatively higher accuracy and can be used on color image instead of gray image with little computing complexity. A conclusion can be drawn that the JSEG method is suited for imaged wear particle segmentation and can be put into practical use in wear particle’s identification system.
Influence of ruminally dispensed monensin and forage maturity on intake and digestion.

Eight ruminally cannulated crossbred steers (average weight 336 kg) grazing native blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis [H.B.K.]) rangeland were used in a repeated measures design to evaluate effects of monensin ruminal delivery devices (MRDD) and forage phenology on ruminal digestion. Three periods were assessed: mid-August (Aug.), early October (Oct.), and mid-November (Nov.). One MRDD was placed in the reticulum of 4 steers via the ruminal cannula 21 days before each period. Intake was estimated using total fecal collections. Diet samples were collected using 3 esophageally fistulated steers. Ruminal fill was measured by ruminal evacuation; rate and extent of in situ ruminal neutral detergent fiber disappearance were estimated before ruminal evacuations. Ruminal passage rates, retention time, and apparent total tract organic matter digestibility were estimated using indigestible neutral detergent fiber. In vitro organic matter disappearance of esophageal masticate did not differ (P > .05) in Aug. and Oct. (average of 53.7%), but declined (P .10) by MRDD. In situ neutral detergent fiber disappearance at 96 hours was decreased (P < .10) by MRDD (68 vs 65% for control and MRDD, respectively). As the grazing season progressed, intake declined (P < .10), whereas ruminal fill and retention time increased (P < .05), and passage rate of indigestible neutral detergent fiber decreased (P < .05). At 48 hours in situ neutral detergent fiber was greatest (P < .05) in Aug. and least (P < .05) in Nov.