Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Finite Element Modelling of Atomic Force Microscope Cantilever Beams with Uncertainty in Material and Dimensional Parameters

The stiffness and the natural frequencies of a rectangular and a V-shaped micro-cantilever beams used in Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) were analysed using the Finite Element (FE) method. A determinate analysis in the material and dimensional parameters was first carried out to compare with published analytical and experimental results. Uncertainties in the beams’ parameters such as the material properties and dimensions due to the fabrication process were then modelled using a statistic FE analysis. It is found that for the rectangular micro-beam, a ±5% change in the value of the parameters could result in 3 to 8-folds (up to more than 45%) errors in the stiffness or the 1st natural frequency of the cantilever. Such big uncertainties need to be considered in the design and calibration of AFM to ensure the measurement accuracy at the micron and nano scales. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was carried out for the influence of the studied parameters. The finding provides useful guidelines on the design of micro-cantilevers used in the AFM technology.
MEASUREMENTS OF THE LONGITUDINAL IMPEDANCE OF A COAXIAL CAVITY COUPLED WITH A CIRCULAR PIPE THROUGH SLOTS

The results of the measurements of the longitudinal impedance of a coaxial cavity coupled with a circular pipe through four slots are shown. Because of the slots, placed in the same longitudinal position but at different azimuthal angles, the device is rotationally asymmetric. The measurements have been performed with the coaxial wire method, and the results compared with theoretical ones obtained by applying the modified Bethe’s theory.
Geometrical description of the onset of multi-pulsing in mode-locked laser cavities

A simple iterative model is introduced quantifying the interaction of saturable gain and nonlinear loss in a mode-locked laser cavity. The resulting geometrical description of the laser dynamics completely characterizes the generic multi-pulsing instability observed in experiments. The model further shows that the onset of multi-pulsing can be preceded by periodic and chaotic transitions as recently confirmed in theory and experiment. The results suggest ways to engineer the nonlinear losses in the cavity in order to achieve an enhanced performance.
Nonlinear Filters and Characterization of the Discrete Pulse Transform of Images

The Discrete Pulse Transform (DPT) for images and videos has been developed over the past few years and provides a theoretically sound setting for a nonlinear decomposition of an image or video. In [1] the theoretical basis of the DPT was presented. In this paper we now present a sound characterization of this useful nonlinear hierarchical decomposition by referring to its ability as a separator, the consistency of the decomposition, as well as the smoothing ability of the decomposition.
An integrated approach to formulate a value-based software process tailoring framework

Software process tailoring is an approach to customise the existing software development process or model that able to meet the software project’s needs. Software development project is unique and identical from one and another whereby the practices and decision should not be equally treated. Software process tailoring requires knowledge and intuition to make decision such as factors involved in the software project, selection of the suitable software process elements and tailoring operations. Software process tailoring practices focusing more on project characteristics factors and employs ad hoc approach in making the decision. In the absent of value-based factors and systematic method in software process tailoring, subjectivity is embedded in decision making process and the software development project suffers from satisfying the stakeholder. This study presents an integrated approach to formulate a Value-Based Software Process Tailoring Framework (VBSPTF) to overcome this problem. The framework is a combination of value-based factors, MoSCoW rules, Quality Functional Deployment (QFD), Activity-Based Costing (ABC), Priority Map, Value Index and Value Graph. This study perhaps can contribute to the software process tailoring practitioners to be exposed with a systematic method to conduct software process tailoring as well as improving the practices and reducing subjectivity in decision making.
A Survey on Automatic Defect Report Triage

Software organizations use defect tracking system to keep track of reported software defects or bugs. Assigning a defect report to the proper developer is called as defect report triage. Large projects receive a large number of defects daily. It is a labor-intensive task to assign these defects to proper developers manually. It is prone to mistakes, like the assignment of defect report to a wrong developer. An automatic approach for defect or bug report triage reduces cost and time required in defect report triage. There are existing machine learning and information retrieval techniques for automatic defect assignment. This paper presents a survey of available defect report triage methods. First this paper gives a brief background of the defect reports then summarizes the existing defect report triage techniques and points out problems with these techniques.
Inducing salt tolerance in purple guinea grass (Panicum maximum TD58) via gamma irradiation and tissue culture

The seeds of Panicum maximum TD58 were cultured on MS medium supplemented with 15% coconut water, 5 mg/l kinetin and 100 mg/l casein hydrolysate to induce multiple shoots. The gamma irradiated shoots grown in 0‐2.0 % NaCl gave 58 clones of purple guinea grass. All clones were transferred to grow in the natural field. Ten clones of grass with good morphological properties were selected and subsequently grown in the salt stress environment at Maha Sarakham province, Northeastern Thailand. Under salt stress condition, seven out of ten selected clones showed salt tolerant trait. However, there was no difference in AFLP fingerprinting patterns found as compared with the controlled non-irradiated guinea grass. The salt tolerance character might be due to the mutation at a certain location or on a specific gene which could not be distinctly detected by the available AFLP primers.
Oligocene and Miocene foraminifera from CRP-2/2A, Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica

Sparse to moderately abundant foraminiferal assemblages from Oligocene and Lower Miocene sediments in the CRP-2/2A drillhole contain C.27 genera and 42 species of calcareous benthie foraminifera. No planktic or agglutinated taxa were observed. On the basis of [heir fauna1 characteristics. four Foraminiferal Units are defined in drillhole succession: Foraniiniferal Unit I (26.91-193.95 nibsf). mostly sparse assemblages with Elpl~ic/i~(ni i ~ ~ c ~ ~ ~ e l l c ~ i ~ i c ~ ~ r i ~ and C r i b ~ o e l ~ ~ / ~ i c l i ~ ~ ? ~ sp.: Fora~niniferal Unit I1 (193.95-342.42 nibsf). niostly niode~ately abundant asseniblages n~ith C~issicl~~li i~oides c~ q~~ilciterci and E/~or~ic/e. ~ 1 ~ 1 ~ 1 c l ~ i ; Foraminiferal Unit I11 (342.42-486.19 mbsf), moderately abundant to sparse assemblages characterised by Ccis.ricl~ili~~oides c11~1pmani and Stainforthi0 sp. ; and Foi'aminiferal Unit IV. Impc^erished (486.19-624.15, total depth, mbsf). with n~ostly barren residues. but with large Milioliidae recorded in situ at various horizons in the drill core. Foraniiniferal Units I-IV lack taxaallowingcorrelation tostandardzonal schemes. Inspection offaunal recordsfrom CIROS1 and DSDP 270 indicates that, although the faunas show an overall similarity, CRP-212A Foraminiferal Units I-IV are not identifiable at these sites. The units are therefore most likely to reflect local environmental changes. and probably will prove useful for local correlation. but their lateral extent is undetermined. All four assemblages apparently represent various glacially-influenced shelf environments. and appear to reflect a long term deepening trend from Units IV to 11, from perhaps inner to mid or outer-shelf depths. followed by areturn to shallower, inner shelf, conditios for Unit I.
Internal heating of old neutron stars: contrasting different mechanisms

Context. The standard cooling models of neutron stars predict temperatures of T 10 7 yr. However, the likely thermal emission detected from the millisecond pulsar J0437-4715, of spin-down age t s ~7 × 10 9 yr, implies a temperature T ~ 10 5 K. Thus, a heating mechanism needs to be added to the cooling models in order to obtain agreement between theory and observation. Aims. Several internal heating mechanisms could be operating in neutron stars, such as magnetic field decay, dark matter accretion, crust cracking, superfluid vortex creep, and non-equilibrium reactions ("rotochemical heating"). We study these mechanisms to establish which could be the dominant source of thermal emission from old pulsars. Methods. We show by simple estimates that magnetic field decay, dark matter accretion, and crust cracking are unlikely to have a significant heating effect on old neutron stars. The thermal evolution for the other mechanisms is computed with the code of Fernandez and Reisenegger. Given the dependence of the heating mechanisms on the spin-down parameters, we study the thermal evolution for two types of pulsars: young, slowly rotating "classical" pulsars and old, fast rotating millisecond pulsars. Results. We find that magnetic field decay, dark matter accretion, and crust cracking do not produce any detectable heating of old pulsars. Rotochemical heating and vortex creep can be important both for classical pulsars and millisecond pulsars. More restrictive upper limits on the surface temperatures of classical pulsars could rule out vortex creep as the main source of thermal emission. Rotochemical heating in classical pulsars is driven by the chemical imbalance built up during their early spin-down, and is therefore strongly sensitive to their initial rotation period.
THE PROCESS AND CHALLENGE OF STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION AT WORLD VISION KENYA BY MERCY

Strategy implementation is an important process in strategic management. This process is faced with complexity and challenges as many organizations create great plans for their future, but fail to fully implement the desired changes. Strategy implementation task is the most complicated and time consuming part of strategic management cutting across vertically all facets of management and must be initiated from many points within the organization to ensure its success.The study focused on the process of strategy implementation and its challenges in World Vision Kenya. The research was conducted through a case study and the researcher used an interview guide as a primary data collection tool. The interview guide was administered through face to face interviews to staff in management level in various offices within the organization.The data collected was qualitative and was analyzed using content analysis method.The study found that all the staff were involved in the strategic implementation process in their various positions and they were fully aware of the strategic plan which was in operation, running from the year 2010 to 2012. The study concluded that the staffwereable to identify the factors that facilitated successful strategy implementation. Communication and organizational structure were rated as the most critical success factors in strategy implementation. The study further concluded that some of the challenges that were affecting strategy implementation besides communication and organizational structure included, the context within which World Vision Kenya operatedwhich was very volatile and was subject to external factors (natural, political and environmental) which the organization had little or no control over thereby affecting implementation. Secondly, staff had many competing priorities which distracted them from performing their core functions thereby affecting
A Monte Carlo method for quantum Boltzmann statistical mechanics using Fourier representations of path integrals

By expanding Feynman path integrals in a Fourier series a practical Monte Carlo method is developed to calculate the thermodynamic properties of interacting systems obeying quantum Boltzmann statistical mechanics. Working expressions are developed to calculate internal energies, heat capacities, and quantum corrections to free energies. The method is applied to the harmonic oscillator, a double‐well potential, and clusters of Lennard‐Jones atoms parametrized to mimic the behavior of argon. The expansion of the path integrals in a Fourier series is found to be rapidly convergent and the computational effort for quantum calculations is found to be within an order of magnitude of the corresponding classical calculations. Unlike other related methods no special techniques are required to handle systems with strong short‐range repulsive forces.
A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Union Commitment in Australia

This paper evaluates the applicability of the different factor structures of union commitment identified in previous studies to the Australian case. Confirmatory factor analysis results using LISREL VII suggest that union commitment is best represented by four distinct factors, 'union loyalty; 'responsibility to the union; 'willingness to work for the union', and 'belief in unionism' in this sample of Australian workers. OLS regression results indicate that the four factors are differentially related to a set of common predictor variables. White-collar workers reported higher levels of commit ment than blue-collar workers. Participation in leadership positions and previous ex perience with union handling of grievances significantly increased commitment to the union. The results suggest support for the generalizability of the factor structure of union commitment to Australia. Implications for future research are discussed.
Enhancement of hopping conductivity by spontaneous fractal ordering of low-energy sites

Variable-range hopping conductivity has long been understood in terms of a canonical prescription for relating the single-particle density of states to the temperature-dependent conductivity. Here we demonstrate that this prescription breaks down in situations where a large and long-ranged random potential develops. In particular, we examine a canonical model of a completely compensated semiconductor, and we show that at low temperatures hopping proceeds along self-organized, low-dimensional subspaces having fractal dimension $d = 2$. We derive and study numerically the spatial structure of these subspaces, as well as the conductivity and density of states that result from them. One of our prominent findings is that fractal ordering of low energy sites greatly enhances the hopping conductivity, and allows Efros-Shklovskii type conductivity to persist up to unexpectedly high temperatures.
DETERMINANTS OF DOMESTIC PRIVATE INVESTMENTS IN KENYA

Private investment is the engine of growth in any economy. It is a major source of employment besides positively contributing to national output. With this in mind, we set out to investigate what determines new levels of domestic private investments in Kenya. The study used data covering the period 1970-2010. The estimated long-run regression shows that real GDP growth rate, real exchange rate and broad money supply have a positive and significant effect on private investment. Others like trade policy, domestic savings, lending rates and foreign aid have a positive but insignificant impact on private investments. Markets play a major role when it comes to new investments. This microeconomic variable has never been studied in past studies to see how markets affect new levels of investments. This study has attempted to establish the impact of markets, even though this impact has not been quantified. Private sector credit and political regimes have a negative but significant influence on private investments. Public investment, real deposit rates, public debt, inflation, foreign exchange reserves and financial liberalization have a negative but insignificant impact on private investments. In view of the positive contribution of public investment, the study suggests policies such as increasing allocation of public funds for capital accumulation. Since real lending rates have a negative influence, it is important to reduce cost of credit through monetary policies. He study is a guide to policy makers, economists and researchers in applying macroeconomic principles in real life economics of domestic private investments.
The Accuracy of Density Functional Theory Calculations in Biocatalysis

In the past few decades computational resources have become more and more powerful, and this technically means that relatively large chemical systems can be studied using quantum mechanical methods. Furthermore, it has opened up a range of opportunities for computational chemists to support and guide experimental work in the field of Biocatalysis. However, what are the major areas of research where computational methods can assist and most importantly are these methods reproducible and reliable enough for the description of complex biological systems? Specifically, how accurate should these methods be in order for the results to be meaningful for experimental guidance? These questions will be addressed in the present article.
NO 11 TESTING FOR CHANGING PERSISTENCE IN U . S . TREASURY ON / OFF SPREADS UNDER WEIGHTED-SYMMETRIC ESTIMATION

We extend the recursive break test procedure of Leybourne et al. by using weighted-symmetric estimation to detect a single change in time series persistence. An application to U.S. Treasury bond on/o spreads nds a signi cant change in persistence from I(0) to I(1) in the late 1990s. Author
Global oscillations in a magnetic solar model II. Oblique propagation

The coupling of solar global acoustic oscillations to a magnetised solar atmosphere is studied here. The solar interior – atmosphere interface is modelled by a non-magnetic polytrope interior overlayed by a planar atmosphere embedded in non-uniform horizontal atmospheric magnetic field. Pinter & Goossens (1999, A&A, 347, 321) showed that parallel propagating acoustic waves can couple resonantly to local magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) slow continuum modes only. In general, global acoustic modes can, however, propagate in arbitrary directions with respect to local atmospheric fields giving rise to an additional efficient coupling mechanism that has consequences on mode damping and atmospheric energetics. In this paper we study obliquely propagating global modes that can couple also to local MHD Alfven continuum modes. The atmospheric magnetic effects on global mode frequencies are still much of a debate. In particular, the resulting frequency shifts and damping rates of global modes caused by the resonant interaction with both local Alfven and slow waves are investigated. We found the coupling of global f and p modes and the Lamb mode, that penetrate into the magnetic solar atmosphere, will strongly depend on the direction of propagation with respect to the solar atmospheric magnetic field. These frequency shifts, as a function of the propagation direction, give us a further elegant tool and refinement method of local helioseismology techniques. Finally we briefly discuss the importance of studying obliquely propagating waves and discuss the results in the context of possible helioseismic observations.
Effect of the Polylysine Based Polymeric Polypeptides on the Growth and Chemotaxis of Tetrahymena Pyriformis

Polylysine based branched polypeptides represents a group of biocompatible polymers that could be utilized as macromolecular carriers for drugs, epitopes or reporter molecules. Ten polymers with different character (amino acid composition and charge properties) were prepared: polypeptides with single amino acid in the branches (poly[Lys(Xi)]), X = His, Pro or Glu; and polymers possessing oligo[DL-alanine] side chains only (poly[Lys(DL-Alam) (AK) or with an additional amino acid residue poly[Lys(Xi-DL-Alam)] (XAK), where X = Ser (SAK), Thr (TAK), Glu (EAK), acetyl-Glu (Ac-EAK) or succinyl-Glu (Succ-EAK). were investigated. The concentration of these compounds influence the chemotaxis and survival of eukaryotic unicellular model organism, Tetrahymena pyriformis GL. Two types of experiments were performed. First the polymer induced chemoattractant/chemorepellent response of Tetrahymena cells were tested, then chemotactic selection experiments were performed. The chemotactic responses elicited by the polymers were dependent not only on chemical properties (composition, charge and the length of the side chain) of the compounds, but also on their concentration. Based on these results, the polymers were grouped as full-chemoattractant expressing this behavior in the full concentration range investigated (HiK), full-chemorepellent (EiK and Ac-EAK) and partial chemoattractant/chemorepellent with concentration dependent activity (PiK, EAK and Succ-EAK).
Programme Impact Assessment in Micro‐Finance: The Need for Analysis of Real Markets

summary Impact assessment in micro‐finance has focused on the impact of services on users and the ability of the organisation delivering those services to sustain its operations into the future. However, a focus on building organisations capable of long‐term provision assumes that they will have a positive impact on the efficiency of the financial market. This is an assumption which impact assessment should also test but which has so far been neglected. Moreover, the search for a framework within which to undertake such an assessment must incorporate the complex array of social and political, as well as economic, relationships which financial markets embody. A fourfold analytical approach is proposed which can incorporate gender relations and which focuses on state involvement, market organisation, market structure and social embeddedness.
A Statistic-Based Calibration Method for TIADC System

Time-interleaved technique is widely used to increase the sampling rate of analog-to-digital converter (ADC). However, the channel mismatches degrade the performance of time-interleaved ADC (TIADC). Therefore, a statistic-based calibration method for TIADC is proposed in this paper. The average value of sampling points is utilized to calculate offset error, and the summation of sampling points is used to calculate gain error. After offset and gain error are obtained, they are calibrated by offset and gain adjustment elements in ADC. Timing skew is calibrated by an iterative method. The product of sampling points of two adjacent subchannels is used as a metric for calibration. The proposed method is employed to calibrate mismatches in a four-channel 5 GS/s TIADC system. Simulation results show that the proposed method can estimate mismatches accurately in a wide frequency range. It is also proved that an accurate estimation can be obtained even if the signal noise ratio (SNR) of input signal is 20 dB. Furthermore, the results obtained from a real four-channel 5 GS/s TIADC system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. We can see that the spectra spurs due to mismatches have been effectively eliminated after calibration.