Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ERIC-based differentiation and antimicrobial susceptibility of Yersinia enterocolitica O:9 isolated from animals serologically positive and negative for brucellosis

Abstract The paper presents the results of genotypic differentiation and antimicrobial susceptibility of Y. enterocolitica O:9 isolates that originated from cows and pigs positive in serological reactions for brucellosis, and also from the animals, which were serologically negative. The genetic relationship between Y. enterocolitica O:9 isolates originating from different sources was determined by the use of ERIC-PCR, and resulted in detection of 6 to 13 DNA amplicons of different size. The clonal analysis was based on dendrogram created by Unweighted Pair Group Method with arithmetic mean and Jaccard’s coefficient, which enabled to divide Y. enterocolitica O:9 isolates into 16 different clonal groups. Among all Y. enterocolitica O:9, MIC value was >32 mg/L for the ampicillin, ≤0.008 mg/L for ciprofloxacin, ≤8 mg/L for sulphametoxazole, ≤2 mg/L for colistin, and ≤1 mg/L for tetracycline. The wide range of MIC for ceftazidime (≤0.25-2 mg/L) and cefotaxime (≤0.06-1 mg/L) among Y. enterocolitica O:9 isolates was also observed. No significant differences were observed between MIC values of Y. enterocolitica O:9 isolates originating from animals serologically positive for brucellosis, and the isolates from cows and pigs, which provided serologically negative reactions.
Dynamic Stability Improvement by Using STATCOM in a Multi Machine Environment

Static synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) is a commonly used FACTS devices and has been successfully applied in power systems. One of the most important functions of STATCOM is to improve power system stability. This purpose is obtained by application of a supplementary stabilizer on the STATCOM. In this way, a supplementary stabilizer is installed on the STATCOM and the function of this stabilizer is such as classical PSSs. In this study, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is used to adjustment of STATCOM supplementary stabilizer. A multi machine power system with different loading conditions is considered as case study. Nonlinear time-domain simulations clearly show the ability of STATCOM in damping of power system oscillations and consequently stability improvement.
Seasonal Predictability of Daily Rainfall Characteristics in Central Northern Chile for Dry-Land Management

Abstract The seasonal predictability of daily winter rainfall characteristics relevant to dry-land management was investigated in the Coquimbo region of central northern Chile, with focus on the seasonal rainfall total, daily rainfall frequency, and mean daily rainfall intensity on wet days at the station scale. Three approaches of increasing complexity were tested. First, an index of the simultaneous El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was regressed onto May–August (MJJA) observed precipitation; this explained 32% of station-averaged rainfall-amount variability, but performed poorly in a forecasting setting. The second approach used retrospective seasonal forecasts made with three general circulation models (GCMs) to produce downscaled seasonal rainfall statistics by means of canonical correlation analysis (CCA). In the third approach, a nonhomogeneous hidden Markov model (nHMM) driven by the GCM’s seasonal forecasts was used to model stochastic daily rainfall sequences. While the CCA is used as a downsc.
Survival and Growth of Larval Coastal Giant Salamanders (Dicamptodon tenebrosus) in Streams in the Oregon Coast Range

Abstract Conditions that affect amphibian larval growth and survival can affect population structure through both larval and adult stages of their life history. We conducted a two-year, mark-recapture study of larval, Coastal Giant Salamanders, Dicamptodon tenebrosus, in 14 small streams in the Oregon Coast Range to assess spatial and temporal variation in growth and apparent survival. We modeled larval survival and growth by season and age class and examined these demographic rates in the presence of road crossing culverts. Cormack-Jolly-Seber models indicated that apparent survival was lower for first-year larvae than second/third-year larvae (13%, SE = 0.03; 28%, SE = 0.08) and apparent survival varied by time/season. The >5% difference in the effect of age on survival is potentially biologically significant (effect size = −0.10; confidence interval = −0.05, −0.16). Effects of culverts on larval survival were inconclusive, while no effects on growth were detected.
Kinetics of conditioning layer formation on stainless steel immersed in seawater

Adhesion of microorganisms to surfaces in marine environments leads to biofouling. The deleterious effects of biofilm growth in the marine environment are numerous and include energy losses due to increased fluid frictional resistance or to increased heat transfer resistance, the risk of corrosion induced by microorganisms, loss of optical properties, and quality control and safety problems. Antifouling agents are generally used to protect surfaces from such a biofilm. These agents are toxic and can be persistent, causing harmful environmental and ecological effects. Moreover, the use of biocides and regular cleaning considerably increase the maintenance costs of marine industries. An improved knowledge of bio‐film adhesion mechanisms is needed for the development of an alternative approach to the currently used antifouling agents. The aim of this study is to characterise the chemical composition of the molecules first interacting with stainless steel during the period immediately following immersion in natural seawater and to elucidate the kinetics of the adsorbtion process. Proteins are shown to adhere very rapidly, closely followed by carbohydrates. The distribution on the surface of organic molecules is also examined. The ad‐sorbate on the surface is not a continuous film but a heterogeneous deposit, whose average thickness varies widely. The cleaning procedures used affect the adsorption kinetics. In particular, cleaning with hexane results in slower adsorption of nitrogen‐containing species than does cleaning in acetone.
NANOCRYSTALLINE DOUBLY DOPED TIN OXIDE FILMS DEPOSITED USING A SIMPLIFIED AND LOW-COST SPRAY TECHNIQUE FOR SOLAR CELL APPLICATIONS

A simplified and low-cost spray technique using perfume atomizer is employed for the fabrication of nanocrystalline antimony + fluorine doped tin oxide films (SnO2: Sb:F) from aqueous solutions of SnCl2 precursor. The structural studies showed that the grain size of the films increases from 32 nm for undoped film to 71 nm for doubly doped films. The AFM images depict that the films are homogeneous and uniform. The optical transmittance in the visible range is 76 % and the optical band gap is 3.55 eV. The sheet resistance is found to be minimum (4.74 Ω /) for the doubly doped film, for which doping levels of Sb and F are 2 and 40 at. % respectively. This value is lesser than those reported by many researchers for fluorine or antimony doped tin oxide films by employing different versions of spray pyrolysis technique. The films fabricated by the simplified technique have desirable figure of merit (1.36×10 -2 (Ω/ sq) -1 ) comparable with their conventional spray counterparts. Hence this simplified and in- expensive spray technique may be considered as an economic alternative to the conventional spray method for the mass production of solar cell TCO layers and transparent electrodes for optoelectronic devices.
Coronal energy release by MHD avalanches: continuous driving

Previous work has confirmed the concept of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) avalanche in pre-stressed threads within a coronal loop. We undertook a series of full, three-dimensional MHD simulations in order to create three threads by twisting the magnetic field through boundary motions until an instability ensues. We find that, following the original instability, one unstable thread can disrupt its neighbours with continued driving. A “bursty” heating profile results, with a series of ongoing energy releases, but no evident steady state. For the first time using full MHD, we show that avalanches are a viable mechanism for the storing and release of magnetic energy in the solar corona, as a result of photospheric motions.
Unitary Space-Time Transmit Diversity for Multiple Antenna Self-Interference Suppression

UNITARY SPACE-TIME TRANSMIT DIVERSITY FOR MULTIPLE ANTENNA SELF-INTERFERENCE SUPPRESSION Adam L. Anderson Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Master of Science A common practice for government defense agencies and commercial aeronautical companies is to use dual antennas on test flight air vehicles in order to overcome occlusion issues during high-speed telemetric maneuvers. The dual antennas, though never being masked at the same time, unfortunately lead to a drastic increase in nulls in the signal pattern. The result of this interference pattern can be compared to the effect of fading in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) multi-path scattering environment. Confidence in this comparison leads to the use of unitary space-time MIMO codes to overcome the signal self-interference. The possibility and performance of several of these codes will be examined. Such criteria as training for channel estimation, use of shaped offset quadrature phase shift keying (SOQPSK), hardware facility, and data throughput will be compared for each code. A realistic telemetry channel will be derived to increase accuracy of simulated results and conclusions.
Family Members As Important Role Models Ofcontemporary Adolescents

The contribution analyses role models of contemporary adolescents coming from their family background. Family patterns and ideals from close family network are perceived as models of identification connected with the process of socialization and therefore represent so called significant others. The text is based on results of a survey implemented in 2015 as a questionnaire among children and adolescents aged 9 – 17 years. Analysis of the research sample of 1010 children is focused on facts concerning the choice of one's parents or other family members for one's model. The survey results showed that almost one third of respondents named as their ideal somebody from the family circle (mainly mother and father). The text focuses primarily on identifying the respondents, who chose their model from their family and how they differ from others, who preferred somebody else. The age of respondents did not play a significant role in the choice of their idol; however gender had a significant impact. Furthermore, the text analyses which characteristics of parents/family members were important to the respondents and where was the choice for father and mother different. Those who focused on persons from family environment significantly more than others preferred character attributes and social skills of their models, they tried to imitate them precisely in this sphere and were convinced, that they were able to achieve it. © 2017 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy. org.UK
Characterizations of Tilt-Stable Minimizers in Second-Order Cone Programming

This paper is devoted to the study of tilt stability of local minimizers, which plays an important role in both theoretical and numerical aspects of optimization. This notion has been comprehensively investigated in the unconstrained framework as well as for problems of nonlinear programming with $C^2$-smooth data. Available results for nonpolyhedral conic programs were obtained only under strong constraint nondegeneracy assumptions. Here we develop an approach of second-order variational analysis, which allows us to establish complete neighborhood and pointbased characterizations of tilt stability for problems of second-order cone programming generated by the nonpolyhedral second-order/Lorentz/ice-cream cone. These characterizations are established under the weakest metric subregularity constraint qualification condition.
Effective Development Aid: Selectivity, Proliferation and Fragmentation, and the Growth Impact of Development Assistance

This paper examines several indicators of effective development aid, focusing on the contributions of major bilateral donors. The empirical analyses of selectivity for effective aid delivery revealed that, taking a long-term and regional perspective, some major donors including Japan have been as selective in delivering their aid as some countries well-known for their selective aid delivery, such as Denmark. Japan has provided higher aid for the countries with better policy and governance, and higher grant aid for the countries with lower income, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Recent Developments and Qualification of Cryogenic Helium Flow Meters

Flow measurement is mainly performed on the recovery at room temperature of vapour from liquid boil-off due to a lack of commercially available robust and precise cryogenic mass flowmeters. When high-accuracy or fast-time response is needed, or individual gas recovery at room temperature is not available, it is necessary to measure directly the fluid feed at cryogenic temperature. The results of extensive testing of industrially available and in-house developed flowmeters are presented in the paper. The characteristics and advantages of each measuring method are described.
INVESTIGATION OF ATMOSPHERIC DISPERSION IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT USING SF6 TRACER AND NUMERICAL METHODS By JULIA EMILY FLAHERTY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

by Julia Emily Flaherty, M.S. Washington State University August 2005 Chair: Brian K. Lamb Pollutant transport and dispersion in urban environments is a complex topic due to the variety of parameters that affect the flow in built-up landscapes. Although the effects of individual parameters are fairly well understood, the interactions among these various factors are still not well known. The goal of this research was to investigate dispersion in an urban environment using a combination of experimental tracer and numerical fluid dynamic methods. First, an extensive field campaign was conducted in Oklahoma City (OKC), Oklahoma during July, 2003 to collect a variety of measurements, including meteorology, turbulence, energy balances, and tracer concentrations related to controlled SF6 tracer releases from locations in the city center. Vertical profiles of tracer concentration measured by Washington State University presented here indicate that the urban landscape is very effective in mixing the plume vertically. As a simple analysis tool for emergency response, a maximum normalized concentration curve has been developed. The curve from the field data predicts higher concentrations than the centerline values predicted by the Guassian plume equation; however, it compared well with results from a computational fluid dynamics analysis.
Breast Lesion Segmentation and Area Calculation for MR Images

In this paper, our goal is to determine the boundaries of lesion and then calculate the area of existing lesion in breast magnetic resonance (MR) images to provide a useful information to the radiologists. For this purpose, at first stage region growing (RG) method and active contour model (Snake) is applied to the images to make the boundaries of lesion visible. RG method is one of the simplest approaches for image segmentation and provides accurate results with lower computation time due to its seed point initialization step. Snake method molds a closed contour to the boundary of a region in an image and is also popular in medical image segmentation studies. In the presented study, both of these methods are utilized to determine the lesion boundaries. After determining the boundaries of lesion accurately in the second stage of the study, bit-quad method is applied to the segmented images. Bit quad method is used to compute the area and perimeter of binary lesion images based on matching the logical state of regions of image to binary patterns. Finally, to evaluate the performance of the proposed study, computer simulations are performed. It is demonstrated via computer simulations that the lesion area and parameter values are very close to real values. By means of this study it is aimed to support radiologists during diagnosis and assessment of breast lesions.
Dark matter profiles and annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies: prospectives for present and future gamma-ray observatories - I. The classical dSphs

Due to their large dynamical mass-to-light ratios, dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter (DM) in gamma-rays. We examine their detectability by present and future gamma-ray observatories. The key innovative features of our analysis are: (i) We take into account the angular size of the dSphs; while nearby objects have higher gamma ray flux, their larger angular extent can make them less attractive targets for background-dominated instruments. (ii) We derive DM profiles and the astrophysical J-factor (which parameterises the expected gamma-ray flux, independently of the choice of DM particle model) for the classical dSphs directly from photometric and kinematic data. We assume very little about the DM profile, modelling this as a smooth split-power law distribution, with and without sub-clumps. (iii) We use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique to marginalise over unknown parameters and determine the sensitivity of our derived J-factors to both model and measurement uncertainties. (iv) We use simulated DM profiles to demonstrate that our J-factor determinations recover the correct solution within our quoted uncertainties. Our key findings are: (i) Sub-clumps in the dSphs do not usefully boost the signal; (ii) The sensitivity of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes to dSphs within 20 kpc with cored halos can be up to ~50 times worse than when estimated assuming them to be point-like. Even for the satellite-borne Fermi-LAT the sensitivity is significantly degraded on the relevant angular scales for long exposures, hence it is vital to consider the angular extent of the dSphs when selecting targets; (iii) No DM profile has been ruled out by current data, but using a prior on the inner dark matter cusp slope 0<=gamma<=1 provides J-factor estimates accurate to a factor of a few if an appropriate angular scale [abridged]
El túmulo de "La Dehesa de Río Fortes" (Mironcillo, Ávila): primera manifestación del "Horizonte Rechaba" en la Meseta norte

La intervencion arqueologica en la Dehesa de Rio Fortes nos ha permitido documentar un nuevo yacimiento de caracteristicas unicas en la secuencia cultural de la Meseta. Se trata de un monumento tumular con una dilatada trayectoria: desde finales del Neolitico hasta la fase postrera del megalitismo. Esta ultima se manifiesta en un peculiar conjunto de objetos pulimentados de prestigio hasta ahora solo conocidos en el denominado Horizonte Rechaha de la fachada atlantica peninsular.
I'VE OFFENDED SOMEONE HERE' INTERACTIONAL REPAIR IN A PUBLIC MESSAGE BOARD DISCUSSION THREAD

This study analyzes a complete discussion thread of a Public Internet Message Board with regards to the use of interactional repair strategies. It considers microas well as macro-level strategies and compares these to findings in natural interaction. This study shows that different micro and macro strategies are implemented in different stages of the discussion. Participants use the special framing conditions of public Internet Message Boards to carefully renegotiate their interpersonal relationships after conflictive passages on a one-to-one basis: this cannot be accomplished in the same way in natural polyor multilogues.
Indian Stock market and Aggregate macroeconomic variables: Time Series Analysis

This study investigates the impact of macroeconomic variables on the behaviour of Indian Stock market. Monthly data about six macro economic variables such as BSE Sensex, Call Money rate, Exchange rate between Indian Rupees and US dollar, Foreign Institutional Investment, Industrial productivity, money supply and whole sale price index over the period 2006:04 to 2013:07 has been taken for study. Descriptive Statistics, Pearson’s correlation matrix, Unit root test and Granger Causality tests have been applied to test the relationship between stock market and the above mentioned macroeconomic variables. The analysis reveals that Indian stock market is positively whole sale price index, money supply and industrial productivity. The exchange rate and inflow of foreign institutional investment are found to be insignificant to Indian Stock market. In the Granger Causality sense, whole sale price index and industrial productivity influence the stock market to a great extent.
Comparing Alternative Methods of Measuring Geographic Access to Health Services: An Assessment of People's Access to Specialist Hospital in Kebbi State

This paper presents comprehensive and analytical methodologies of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in identifying geographic access to health service provision. It compares some alternative measures of geographic access to health care facility using spatial analysis. ArcGIS based network analysis (Origin and Destination Cost Matrix) was used to denote Output areas as the origin (demand) and hospital as the destination (supply). Raster based straight line distances (Euclidean) for same area was measured to identify this access. The accessibility of people within 60 km, 100 km, 200 km, 250 km and distances i 300 km were assessed for both methods. The results for OD matrix stood at 29.77% (60 km), 42.48% (100 km), 53.78% (200 km), 72.99% (250 km) and 30.38% (i 300 km) whereas, for the straight line distance, 39.99% (60 km), 57.35% (100 km), 75.52% (200 km), 83.67% (250 km) and 0.0% (i 300 km) were recorded. The distance measurements were statistically not very strong (p- 0.07) between the methods. Moreover, travel time was also modelled at speed limit 50 km per hour using OD Matrix. The result indicates that only 33.35% are within drive time of 80 minutes (1 hr. 20 min.) and over 30% are within drive time i 2 hrs. 45 min. Thus, the study encourages the use of OD Matrix in facility location analysis being more promising than the Euclidean model. The paper also strongly recommend to policy makers in the health service to embrace GIS to incorporate the technology of how service areas of health servers can be used as a basis for better use of population health service ratios to ensure equitable distribution of resources and effective health care delivery.