Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Light Emission from Graphene

Graphene has attracted great interest due to its superior and unique physical proper‐ ties. The strong light‐matter interaction with ultrafast and broadband photoresponse of graphene has allowed for the development of state‐of‐the art optical components, such as photodetectors and optical modulators, making this material very promising for ultrafast optical communications. However, so far, light emission from graphene has remained elusive, although this would open the door towards obtaining atomically thin, flexible and transparent light sources and graphene‐based on‐chip interconnects. In this chapter, we review experimental results and techniques of the electrically driven light emission from graphene in the infrared and visible spectrum range.
SCREENING OF ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTHELMINTIC POTENTIALS OF LEAVES OF GYMNEMA SYLVESTRE

The present study was aimed to evaluate the antibacterial and anthelmintic evaluation of various leaf extracts of Gymnema sylvestre. Phytochemical screening of leaf extracts revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, cardiac-glycosides, steroids and saponins, phenols, quinones and tannins. The antibacterial activity was evaluated by cup diffusion method against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Hexane extract showed maximum activity against Staphylococcus aureus (IZ: 22±0.16mm; AI: 1.045) and Petroleum ether extract showed maximum activity against Bacillus subtilis (IZ: 23±0.16mm; AI: 1.045). Minimal inhibitory concentration values showed good correlation with test results. Hexane extract showed least MIC value against Staphylococcus aureus (0.019mg/ml). Total activity was done to quantify the test results. Methanolic extracts showed highest TA value (5128.20 ml/gm) against Escherichia coli. The anthelmintic profile of various extracts of Gymnema sylvestre showed that methanolic extract has greater potency to produce paralysis earlier than other extracts of same plant.
Individual Farm Model for Common Agricultural Policy Analysis (IFM-CAP)

This report presents the first EU-wide individual farm-level model (IFM-CAP) aiming to assess the impacts of CAP on farm economic and environmental performance. The rationale for such a farm-level model is based on the increasing demand for a micro-simulation tool able to model farm-specific policies and to capture farm heterogeneity across the EU in terms of policy representation and impacts. Based on positive mathematical programming, IFM-CAP seeks to improve the quality of policy assessment upon existing aggregate and aggregated farm-group models and to assess distributional effects over the EU farm population. To guarantee the highest representativeness of the EU agricultural sector, the model is applied to every EU-FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network) individual farm (around 60 500 farms). The report provides a detailed description of the IFM-CAP model prototype in terms of design, mathematical structure, data preparation, modelling livestock activities, allocation of input costs and the calibration process. The theoretical background, the technical specification and the outputs that can be generated from this prototype are also briefly presented and discussed. The report also presents an application of the model to the assessment of the effects of the crop diversification measure. The results show that most non-compliant farms (80 %) chose to reduce their level of non-compliance following the introduction of the diversification measure owing to the sizable subsidy reduction imposed. However, the overall impact on farm income is rather limited: farm income decreases by less than 1 % at EU level, and only 5 % of the farm population will be negatively affected. Nevertheless, for a small number of farms, the income effect could be more substantial (more than –10 %).
Final reply to Referee 1 ’ s review of the AMTD paper ” Detailed characterisation of AVHRR global cloud detection performance of the CM SAF CLARA-A 2 climate data record based on CALIPSO-CALIOP cloud information ” by

The cloud detection performance sensitivity in detecting thin clouds of the cloud mask screening method being 10 used in the CM SAF cloud, albedo and surface radiation dataset from AVHRR data (CLARA-A2) cloud climate data record (CDR) has been evaluated in detail using cloud information from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) onboard the CALIPSO satellite. Validation resultsThe sensitivity, including their its global distributionvariation, have has been calculated studied from based on collocations of AVHRR and CALIOP measurements over a ten-year period (2006-2015). The sensitivity of the results to the cloud optical thicknesses of CALIOP-observed clouds were studied leading 15 to the conclusion that Tthe global cloud detection sensitivity has been (defined as the minimum cloud optical thickness for which 50 % of clouds could be detected,) was estimatedwith the global average sensitivity estimated to be 0.225. After applying this optical thickness threshold to using this value to reduce the CALIOP cloud mask (i.e., clouds with optical thickness below this threshold were interpreted as cloud-free cases), cloudiness results were found to be basically unbiased over most of the globe except over the polar regions where a considerabley underestimation of cloudiness could be seen 20 during the polar winter. The overall probability of detecting clouds in the polar winter could be as low as 50 % over the highest and coldest portions parts of Greenland and Antarctica, showing that also a large fraction of optically thick clouds remains undetected here. The study included an in-depth analysis of the probability of detecting a cloud as a function of the vertically integrated cloud optical thickness as well as of the cloud’s geographical position. Best results were achieved over oceanic surfaces at mid-to-high latitudes where at least 50 % of all clouds with an optical thickness down to a value of 0.075 25 were detected. Corresponding cloud detection sensitivities over land surfaces outside of the polar regions were generally larger than 0.2 with maximum values of approximately 0.5 over the Sahara desert and the Arabian Peninsula. For polar land surfaces the values were close to 1 or higher with maximum values of 4.5 over for the geographically highest parts parts with the highest altitudes over of Greenland and Antarctica. It is suggested to also quantify the detection performance of other CDRs in terms of a sensitivity threshold of cloud optical thickness which can be estimated using active lidar observationsThe 30 validation method is suggested to be applied also to other satellite-based CDRs. and Vvalidation results are also proposed to be used in Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project (CFMIP) Observation Simulation Package (COSP) simulators for cloud detection characterisation of various cloud CDRs from passive imagery.
Phenolic Content of Apple Juice for Cider Making as Influenced by Common Pre-Fermentation Processes Using Two Analytical Methods

Pre-fermentation methods can influence the cider produced from apple juice. This study analyses the influence of pre-fermentation methods; maceration and press fractioning, on the total phenolic content of juice from four apple varieties; ‘Red Delicious’, ‘Pink Lady’, ‘Sturmer’, and ‘Bulmer’s Norman’. The must was macerated for 0 or 2 h and juice was collected at free run or under 200 kpa. Base juice characteristics and total phenolic content was analysed using the Folin–Ciocalteu method and spectrophotometric absorbance at 280 nm (A280), a method used for the analysis of white wine. Both methods of analysing the total phenolic content were used, measuring the same samples to determine if the methods are comparable. No interaction was found between pre-fermentation technique and the results varied by variety and analytical method. High pressure improved the phenolic extraction for ‘Bulmer’s Norman’ juice compared to free run juice when analysed by A280. Non-macerated juice had higher total phenolic content than macerated juice for ‘Red Delicious’ and ‘Pink Lady’ juice when analysed using the Folin–Ciocalteu method. There was a moderate positive correlation between the analytical methods.
Working Paper No . 649 , 200 5 Oppositional Identities and the Labor Market

We develop a model in which non-white individuals are defined with respect to their social environment (family, friends, neighbors) and their attachments to their culture of origin (religion, language), and in which jobs are mainly found through social networks. We find that, depending on how strong peer pressures are, nonwhites choose to adopt “oppositional” identities since some individuals may identify with the dominant culture and others may reject that culture, even if it implies adverse labor market outcomes.
The Reputation Driven Interplay of Relationships between Clients and Auditors in an Auditor Selection Process: A Multilevel Network Approach

This study investigates the reputation-based interplay between auditor selection and interlocking directorships from a multilevel network perspective. The aim of this article is to explore how and under what conditions reputation influences patterns of social selection processes in an assurance service context. To empirically determine the impact of reputation on establishing relational ties, this study applies exponential random graph models (ERGMs) for multilevel networks. The case study was carried out in the Danish field of mandatory audits, and findings here make a valuable contribution to the literature on auditor selection. A total of 774 annual reports were collected from 145 - 165 Danish public listed companies, and the relational data of companies was assembled, as comprised of the members of supervisory boards and partners who signed audit reports during the five-year period from 2010 to 2014. In this study, mechanisms for auditor selection were controlled by mechanisms for interlocking directorships in order to obtain a broader picture of the conditions under which board members have tendencies to select reputable auditors. The findings suggest that reputation has a significant impact on both observed processes, however, results reveal that reputation has a compensatory nature, as it drives both mechanisms of social selection but never simultaneously.
Film fraction in a vertical circular Venturi scrubber

The liquid film affects significantly the Venturi scrubber efficiency. Film fraction was measured in a vertically mounted laboratory scale Venturi scrubber with a 0.020 m throat diameter. The liquid was injected at the throat by one to six 0.001 m holes. The throat gas velocity varied from 50 to 90 m/s and the relative jet penetration varied between 0.05 and 0.85. A special test section with a slot was used to extract the film. The test section could be placed at different axial positions, allowing measurements at 0.0075, 0.0275 and 0.0675 m after the injection point. Results showed that film fraction varies as a function of the relative jet penetration and with distance from the injection point. There exists an optimal relative jet penetration (between 0.25 and 0.40) which minimizes film fraction. Film fraction increased with axial distance in the range studied, up to 3.375 throat diameters after the injection point.
A comparative study of self-adopting fault tolerant protocols in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor network technology appears in many areas of today’s life. An important role in wireless sensor network technology plays self-adopting protocols by which network responds to changes and faults, adapts and effectively manages the available resource. In this paper the comparative analysis of existing solutions in a field of wireless fault tolerant self-adopting protocols is presented. In the research simulation environment OMNeT++ was used. Slowa kluczowe: bezprzewodowe sieci sensorowe, odpornośc na uszkodzenia, samoadaptacyjne protokoly, OMNeT++.
Effects of Huge Earthquakes on Earth Rotation and the length of Day

We calculated the co-seismic Earth rotation changes for several typical great earthquakes since 1960 based on Dahlen’s analytical expression of Earth inertia moment change, the excitation functions of polar motion and, variation in the length of a day (ΔLOD). Then, we derived a mathematical relation between polar motion and earthquake parameters, to prove that the amplitude of polar motion is independent of longitude. Because the analytical expression of Dahlen’s theory is useful to theoretically estimate rotation changes by earthquakes having different seismic parameters, we show results for polar motion and ΔLOD for various types of earthquakes in a comprehensive manner. The modeled results show that the seismic effect on the Earth’s rotation decreases gradually with increased latitude if other parameters are unchanged. The Earth’s rotational change is symmetrical for a 45° dip angle and the maximum changes appear at the equator and poles. Earthquakes at a medium dip angle and low latitudes produce large rotation changes. As an example, we calculate the polar motion and ΔLOD caused by the 2011 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake using two different fault models. Results show that a fine slip fault model is useful to compute co-seismic Earth rotation change. The obtained results indicate Dahlen’s method gives good approximations for computation of co-seismic rotation changes, but there are some differences if one considers detailed fault slip distributions. Finally we analyze and discuss the co-seismic Earth rotation change signal using GRACE data, showing that such a signal is hard to be detected at present, but it might be detected under some conditions. Numerical results of this study will serve as a good indicator to check if satellite observations such as GRACE can detect a seismic rotation change when a great earthquake occur.
The Effects of Advertisement Encoding on the Failure to Discount Information: Implications for the Sleeper Effect

The study examines the impact of encoding of product information on temporal changes in product attitudes following exposure to discounting appeals. The sleeper effect, which is manifested by increased message effectiveness over time, was observed in two replications when participants were induced to encode the message elaboratively. Under this condition, consumers were guided to imagine themselves consuming the advertised products while viewing the ads. The sleeper effect was not observed, however, when consumers were not induced to elaborate on and integrate message information (Experiment 1 ) or when the request to imagine themselves using the products was delivered after the discounting cue was conveyed (Experiment 2). These findings support a model that postulates that the magnitude of the sleeper effect is influenced by the relative availability of the product information and the discounting cue appeal. Additional mediating mechanisms are explored and discussed.
Quasisynchronization in Quorum Sensing Systems with Parameter Mismatches

The paper investigates quasisynchronization in a communication system, which consists of cells communicating through quorum sensing. With the help of Lyapunov function method and Lur’e system approach, some sufficient conditions for quasisynchronization are presented, and a bound on the synchronization errors is derived. The obtained theoretical results show that the synchronization quality is influenced by two parameters detrimentally: the error bound depends almost linearly on the mismatches between cells and depends sensitively on the diffusion rates of the signals inward the cell membrane. Numerical experiments are carried out to verify the theoretical results.
Design MIMO Switch Architecture Based IEC 61850 Standard of Substation Automation Systems

Recently, there has been a tremendous change in the development of many protocols in electrical substation automation such as robust communication among control centers (GOOSE). It is a challenge to implement critical time operation such as tripping based on GOOSE protocol when the protocol is not tested in a wide area multi-substations environment. Another reason is the function of the packet forwarder may fail under a very high traffic condition with the constant generation of GOOSE packets due to multiple events. This study investigates the performance of packet forwarder in terms of packet loss under different models configurations. The investigations carried out on various switch configurations and architectures to reduce the number of dropped packets. The results showed that the architecture of two-switch system is the best performance in which the packet loss can be reduced by 2.9% in comparison with two buffer switches and 11.8% in comparison with the to original standard.
Prestressed fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates for the strengthening of reinforced concrete structures

Recent development in the field of strengthening has seen the application of prestressing of FRP laminate prior to bonding in order to exploit its high tensile strength. The method of prestressing the laminate induces an initial tensile strain in the concrete beams upmost fibre, thus reducing the deflection of the beam throughout the design loads. This alteration of the beams structural characteristics provides advantages in beam serviceability requirements. Structurally the beam can withstand greater ultimate loads, while yielding of internal reinforcement and cracking moments are delayed substantially, compared to unlaminated beams. Extensive experimental investigations have been undertaken by many researchers with variables ranging from anchorage type, number of laminates applied to beam, tensile reinforcement ratio and the initial prestress level of laminates before bonding. Despite the large amount of experimental data in the field, current analytical models generally employ elementary procedures in predicting beam behaviour and as a result the analytical results exhibit poor correlation with the experimental results. This implies the necessity for the development of a generic model that can accurately predict beam behaviour that will be the basis of the present study. The focus of this paper is the development of a new analytical model that can accurately predict the behaviour of an RC beam strengthened with an externally bonded (EB) prestressed fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) laminate. The model will be critically compared to an experimental database for calibration purposes then applied in a parametric study.
Dynamical Attribution of Recent Variability in Atlantic Overturning

AbstractAttributing observed variability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to past changes in surface forcing is challenging but essential for detecting any influence of anthropogenic forcing and reducing uncertainty in future climate predictions. Here, quantitative estimates of separate contributions from wind and buoyancy forcing to AMOC variations at 25°N are obtained. These estimates are achieved by projecting observed atmospheric anomalies onto model-based dynamical patterns of AMOC sensitivity to surface wind, thermal, and freshwater forcing over the preceding 15 years. Local wind forcing is shown to dominate AMOC variability on short time scales, whereas subpolar heat fluxes dominate on decadal time scales. The reconstructed transport time series successfully reproduces most of the interannual variability observed by RAPID–MOCHA. However, the apparent decadal trend in the RAPID–MOCHA time series is not captured, requiring improved model representation of ocean adjustment to .
Hierachy of Management Strategies in Improving Traditional Fishers's Welfare at Coastal Area of Manado Bay, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

This research is conducted to analyze management strategy in improving traditional fishers' welfare. Firstly, probability sampling is used to determine the sample of 125 fishers and collected by using questionnaire. Data are analyzed quantitatively using 'SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) to formulate the management strategies. Secondly, non probability sampling is used to identify 16 informants and collected data by using 'Analysis Hierarchy Process ('AHP')' questionnaire. It is analyzed by using 'AHP ' (analytical hierarchy process) program to identify priorities of variables, indicators and strategies which effectively affect the improvement of traditional fisher's welfare. Results show that the variables and indicators improvement of the traditional fi shers' welfare are: (1) environmental change, (2) adaptive behavior, and (3) coastal development. Management strategies to improve fishers' welfare include (1) human resource development; (2) income generating/investment and business development; (3) infrastructure development; (4) tourism development; and (5) law and regulation enforcement.
Macro and institutional determinants of domestic investment in Sub-Saharan African countries

This study examines the determinants of domestic investment in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries with explicit focus on the role of governance/institutions. The literature has emphases more on the macroeconomic factors that explain investment, neglecting the non-economic causes that could be more important. A panel of 45 selected sub-Saharan African countries and the period 1996? 2013 were considered in the estimations using the two-stage least-squares estimation techniques. The results are in line with the findings of existing literature. The study expands on the analysis that governance/institutions play an important role in explaining the long-term pattern of domestic investment in the region. In addition, the study identify that a sustainable level of domestic investment could be attained at a particular governance rating. Therefore, countries with better governance ratings will achieve higher investment levels and domestic investment tends to converge as poor governance is attained.
Facial Expression Recognition for a Sociable Robot by Wing Hei

In order to develop a sociable robot that can operate in the social environment of humans, we need to develop a robot system that can recognize the emotions of the people it interacts with and can respond to them accordingly. In this thesis, I present a facial expression system that recognizes the facial features of human subjects in an unsupervised manner and interprets the facial expressions of the individuals. The facial expression system is integrated with an existing emotional model for the expressive humanoid robot, Mertz. Thesis Supervisor: Rodney Brooks Title: Professor
Statistical Analysis of a GSC-based Jointly Optimized Beamformer-Assisted Acoustic Echo Canceler

This work presents a statistical analysis of a class of jointly optimized beamformer-assisted acoustic echo cancelers (AEC) with the beamformer (BF) implemented in the Generalized Sidelobe Canceler (GSC) form and using the least-mean square (LMS) algorithm. The analysis considers the possibility of independent convergence control for the BF and the AEC. The resulting models permit the study of system performance under typical handling of double-talk and channel changes. We show that the joint optimization of the BF-AEC is equivalent to a linearly-constrained minimum variance problem. Hence, the derived analytical model can be used to predict the transient performance of general adaptive wideband beamformers. We study the transient and steady-state behaviors of the residual mean echo power for stationary Gaussian inputs. A convergence analysis leads to stability bounds for the step-size matrix and design guidelines are derived from the analytical models. Monte Carlo simulations illustrate the accuracy of the theoretical models and the applicability of the proposed design guidelines. Examples include operation under mild degrees of nonstationarity. Finally, we show how a high convergence rate can be achieved using a quasi-Newton adaptation scheme in which the step-size matrix is designed to whiten the combined input vector.