Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biosynthesis of Metal Nanoparticles: A Review

The synthesis of nanostructured materials, especially metallic nanoparticles, has accrued utmost interest over the past decade owing to their unique properties that make them applicable in different fields of science and technology. The limitation to the use of these nanoparticles is the paucity of an effective method of synthesis that will produce homogeneous size and shape nanoparticles as well as particles with limited or no toxicity to the human health and the environment. The biological method of nanoparticle synthesis is a relatively simple, cheap, and environmentally friendly method than the conventional chemical method of synthesis and thus gains an upper hand. The biomineralization of nanoparticles in protein cages is one of such biological approaches used in the generation of nanoparticles. This method of synthesis apart from being a safer method in the production of nanoparticles is also able to control particle morphology.
Foreign direct investments and international agreements: a south perspective

This paper examines the implications of PMAI particularly from the standpoint ofdeveloping countries. It argues that (a) the case against an MAI-typeagreement is, if anything, stronger now than before; such a treaty would seriously prejudice economic development; (b) PMAI is not only incompatible with the developmental needs of poor countries, it is also likely to harm theinterests of advanced country citizens and workers; (c) a continuation of thestatus quo in this area (i.e., implementing the bilateral investment treaties) would be preferable for developing countries than the PMAI. The reasoning behind the propositions (a) to (c) above will be briefly presented in this Executive Summary and more fully explained in the main body of the paper.
Foundations for an Ecological Macroeconomics: literature review and model development.

This milestone provides a broad overview of model development under Work Package 205 of the WWWforEurope project. It describes briefly the challenge of modelling combined economic, ecological and financial systems and sets out a series of objectives for modelling the socio-economic transition towards sustainability. It highlights modelling needs in relation to full employment, financial stability, and social equity under conditions of constrained resource consumption and ecological limits. The paper also provides a broad overview of the literatures relevant to the task in hand. It then describes two separate modelling approaches, developed by two different teams within WWWforEurope. One of these approaches, led by WIFO, uses a Dynamic New Keynesian (DYNK) model to explore the implications of different long-run equilibrium paths for energy consumption. The other approach, led by Surrey in collaboration with York University, is motivated primarily by the desire to integrate a comprehensive model of the financial economy into a model of a (resource and emission-constrained) real economy. This paper sets out the overarching structure of each of these approaches. It discusses the similarities and differences between the two approaches and makes some proposals for the management of subsequent milestones in relation to WP 205. 1 Corresponding author Milestone 38 – Final version 31st July 2014
The concept of the uplight luminaire optical system

The article presents the design of the uplight luminaire optical system whose aim is to produce a homogeneous luminance distribution on the illuminated surface when its location in asymmetric. Proposed optical system was compared with two competitors currently available on the market. Evaluation of the proposed design takes into account the resulting area of homogeneous values of luminance, the luminaire efficiency and utilization factor.
Differentiation of South African potato cyst nematodes (PCN) by analysis of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer region

Cysts from nematode-infested plots on eight potato farms in the Sandveld and Ceres regions of South Africa were analysed by means of rDNA-RFLP. The size of the PCR amplification products for all populations was typical for the genus Globodera . Restriction digestion of the amplified products with Msp I and Hinf I confirmed Globodera rostochiensistol/Ig be present in both the Sandveld and Ceres regions and Globodera pallidatol/Ig be absent from South African potato cyst nematode populations. However, several populations from the Sandveld region showed no recognition of the Hinf I restriction site and no digestion took place, indicating them to be a distinct Globodera species. Sequencing of the ITS1 region confirmed the presence of G. rostochiensisl/Ig and an unknown Globodera species, and the absence of G. pallidal/Ig in South Africa. Species-specific primers for the identification of G. rostochiensisl/Ig and G. pallidal/Ig were optimised.
Effects of Change Interventions

Despite the popularity of organizational change management, the question arises whether its prescriptions are based on solid and convergent evidence. To answer this question, a systematic review was conducted of organizational change management research published in scholarly journals during the past 30 years. The databases ABI/INFORM, Business Source Premier, ERIC, and PsycINFO were searched for relevant studies. A total of 563 studies met the review’s criteria. Assessment shows a predominance of one-shot studies with a low internal validity. Replication studies are rare. Findings suggest that scholars and practitioners should be sceptical regarding the body of research results in the field of organizational change management published to date. Prescriptions are offered for researchers, editors, and educators to develop a more solid body of evidence on organizational change management.
Cloud Computing: New Business Opportunities for Telecommunications Companies?

Cloud computing has recently shifted into the center of attention of Telecommuications Companies. Deutsche Telekom, for example, just announced the importance of cloud computing as one of their leading growth sectors (Deutsche Telekom Press Release, 2010). Also other important telecommunication players such as AT&T, Vodafone and Telefonica are expanding their cloud computing business. Clearly, these developments indicate that telcos believe that cloud computing provides significant business opportunities, particularly by further driving the convergence of telecommunications and information technology. Some researchers, however (cf. Greelan, 2009) state that cloud computing is nothing more than a marketing buzzword. On the other hand, Weiss (2007) mentions that although cloud computing "is a buzzword almost designed to be vague, [it] is more than just a lot of fog". In an effort to shed more light on this debate, we investigate the business opportunities of cloud computing for telecommunication companies in more detail. Thereby, we focus especially on the factors that might especially qualify telcos in becoming a significant player in this emerging domain. More specifically, our contribution is twofold: First, we indentify technical and economic factors that are relevant for the telcos' competitive position in the cloud computing market. Second, we identify future scenarios on how telcos position themselves in this market.
A design of a configurable feature model configurator

Abstract. Our feature configuration tool S2T2 Configurator integrates (1) a visual interactive representation of the feature model and (2) a formal reasoning engine that calculates consequences of the user's actions and provides formal explanations. The tool's software architecture is designed as a chain of components, whichprovide mappings between visual elements and their corresponding formal representations. Using these mappings, consequences and explanations calculated by thereasoning engine are communicated in the interactive representation.
High dimensional variable selection via tilting

Summary. The paper considers variable selection in linear regression models where the number of covariates is possibly much larger than the number of observations. High dimensionality of the data brings in many complications, such as (possibly spurious) high correlations between the variables, which result in marginal correlation being unreliable as a measure of association between the variables and the response. We propose a new way of measuring the contribution of each variable to the response which takes into account high correlations between the variables in a data‐driven way. The proposed tilting procedure provides an adaptive choice between the use of marginal correlation and tilted correlation for each variable, where the choice is made depending on the values of the hard thresholded sample correlation of the design matrix. We study the conditions under which this measure can successfully discriminate between the relevant and the irrelevant variables and thus be used as a tool for variable selection. Finally, an iterative variable screening algorithm is constructed to exploit the theoretical properties of tilted correlation, and its good practical performance is demonstrated in a comparative simulation study.
Implications for Old-field Restoration: Diversity and abundance of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Soils of Restored York Gum (Eucalyptus loxophleba subsp. loxophleba) Sites vs. Remnants.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) may be critical to the restoration of ecosystem function in old-fields. Whether the diversity of the plant community is promoted by the AMF community or is the driving force of AMF diversity is unknown. We investigated two questions in the context of old-field restoration in southwestern Australia: 1) Does restoration of the plant community achieve the restoration of AMF and 2) Is AMF species diversity and abundance influenced by the plant species composition? Our study sites were located in the Ridgefield Experiment in the University of Western Australia’s “Future Farm”. Soil samples were collected from beneath York gum trees (Eucalyptus loxophleba subsp. loxophleba) in restored sites of varying plant species diversity and York gums in adjacent remnants. A total of 36 samples (nine per experimental treatment) were collected. AMF spores were extracted from each sample via centrifugation-sugar flotation method and examined under a dissecting microscope. Mean spore abundance of bare plot soils (331 spores/100 g soil ± 100 spores (S.E)) differed significantly from the abundances of the other three treatment soils (ANOVA, p=0.04). AMF species richness and Shannon-Wiener diversity indices did not differ significantly among treatments. Differences in mean percent abundance of individual species were observed. We conclude that AMF species can be found in restored plant communities of old-fields and that the restoration of the AMF community in old-fields will likely depend on the restoration of the plant community in conjunction with the restoration of other abiotic factors.
Heartbeat of the Mouse: A Young Radio Pulsar Associated with the Axisymmetric Nebula G359.23–0.82

We report the discovery of PSR J1747-2958, a radio pulsar with period P = 98 ms and dispersion measure DM = 101 cm-3 pc, in a deep observation with the Parkes telescope of the axially symmetric "Mouse" radio nebula (G359.23-0.82). Timing measurements of the newly discovered pulsar reveal a characteristic age P/2 = 25 kyr and spin-down luminosity = 2.5 × 1036 ergs s-1. The pulsar (timing) position is consistent with that of the Mouse's "head. " The distance derived from the DM (≈2 kpc) is consistent with the Mouse's distance limit from H I absorption (<5.5 kpc). Also, the X-ray energetics of the Mouse are compatible with being powered by the pulsar. Therefore, we argue that PSR J1747-2958, moving at supersonic speed through the local interstellar medium, powers this unusual nonthermal nebula. The pulsar is a weak radio source, with a period-averaged flux density at 1374 MHz of 0.25 mJy and a luminosity of ~1 mJy kpc2.
Implementation of Matching Tree Technique for Online Record Linkage

The task of finding records refering to the same entity across heterogeneous data sources is known as record linkage . the necessity to consolidate the information located in different data sources has been widely documented in recent years. For the purpose of completing this goal, several types of problems ,must be solved by an organization . when same real world substance is used by different identifiers in different sources entity heterogeneity problem will arise. For solving the entity heterogeneity problem statistical record linkage technique could be used. However, the use of such techniques for online record linkage could pose a tremendous communication bottleneck in a distributed environment (where entity heterogeneity problem often encountered). In order to resolve this issue, we develop a matching tree, similar to a decision tree, and use it to propose techniques that reduce the communication overhead significantly, while providing matching decisions that are guaranteed to be the same as those obtained using the conventional linkage technique. These techniques have been implemented, and experiments with real-world and synthetic databases show significant reduction in communication overhead.
EBSD-assisted Laue microdiffraction for microstrain analysis

The X-ray Laue microdiffraction (µLaue) technique has been establishing itself as a reliable means for microstrain analysis for the past few decades. One problem with this technique is that when the crystal size is significantly smaller than the probed volume and when the diffracting crystals are closely oriented, a large number of individual µLaue patterns are superimposed in a complex way on the recorded diffraction images. In that case, because of the difficulty of isolating unambiguously a single-grain µLaue pattern, a reliable analysis of strains is tedious manually and hardly achievable with current automated methods. This issue is even more severe for low-symmetry crystals or when high-energy X-rays are used, since each single-crystal µLaue pattern already contains a large number of spots. This paper proposes overcoming this challenge through the development of a combined approach coupling µLaue and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The capabilities of this `EBSD-assisted µLaue' automated method are illustrated on a monoclinic zirconia-based specimen and µLaue diffraction patterns are analysed with the crystal orientation input from EBSD. The obtained results are statistically reliable, reproducible and provide a physical insight into the micromechanical characteristics of the material.
Nest-Site Selection and Nest Survival of the Rusty Blackbird: Does Timber Management Adjacent to Wetlands Create Ecological Traps?

Abstract. Animals are subject to ecological traps when anthropogenic changes create habitat that appears suitable but when selected results in decreased fitness. The Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) breeds in boreal wetlands and has declined by 85–95% over the last half century. We studied nest-site selection and daily nest-survival rate (DSR) of 43 Rusty Blackbird nests in northern New England and evaluated whether regenerating logged areas adjacent to wetlands created ecological traps. Although nesting adults avoided high-canopied forests and selected areas with dense balsam fir (Abies balasmea) 1 to 3 m high, those characteristics were not associated with DSR. Conversely, the frequency of speckled alder (Alnus incana) and sedges (Cyperaceae) in the nest plot varied with DSR, suggesting that the risk of predation of nests within wetlands was lower. DSR also varied with past logging; nests in plots not harvested recently were 2.3× more likely to fledge young than nests in plots harvested within 20 years. When logging extends to the edges of or into wetlands, the subsequent dense regenerating conifers appear to attract Rusty Blackbirds to nest closer to or within these human-altered uplands, exposing their nests to increased predation not typical of unaltered wetlands. Three surrogates for habitat preference did not differ by timber-management history, suggesting that the birds do not prefer habitats that increase their fitness. Rusty Blackbirds nesting in harvested wetlands may be subject to “equal preference” ecological traps, and we suggest that buffers 75 m wide around the perimeter of suitable wetlands should increase DSR.
Does intelligence boost happiness? Smartness of all pays more than being smarter than others

We invest much in maximising intelligence and we get ever smarter: but does this make us any happier? The relation between intelligence and happiness is explored on two levels, at the micro-level of individuals and at the macro-level of nations. At the micro-level, we looked at the results of 23 studies and found no correlation between IQ and happiness. At the macro-level, we assessed the correlation between average IQ and average happiness in 143 nations and found a strong positive relationship. Together these findings mean that smartness of all pays more than being smarter than others.
Depression in Youth with Asthma: Asthma Severity, Exposure to Violence and Poverty

Draycen D. DeCator* Department of Psychology 1 DeCator: Depression in Youth with Asthma: Asthma Severity, Exposure to Violence and Poverty Published by Via Sapientiae, 2012 — 39 — relationship, (2) to determine if depressive symptoms, asthma severity, and poverty directly predict one another, and (3) to test for mediator effects between poverty and depressive symptoms when predicting asthma severity, and between asthma severity and poverty when predicting depressive symptoms.
The Effects of Managing Confidential Information on IT Security Investment Decision: An Empirical Analysis

Stronger reliance on information technologies is increasing firms’ vulnerability to information security breaches. The design of optimal information security investment strategies is complicated by the limited understanding of different security vulnerabilities. This paper provides a conceptual and empirical analysis of the characteristics of information security investment in the presence of different vulnerability levels. By distinguishing confidential and non-confidential information, the paper discusses how information security investment might be affected by different information types as vulnerability increases. The empirical research uses data from 4,378 organizations that participated in surveys conducted by the Korean Internet & Security Agency in 2007 and 2008. Our findings confirm that the decisions of organizations concerning information security investment depend not only on security vulnerability but also on the type of information to be protected: firms managing highly confidential information increase their level of security investments as vulnerability increases, whereas firms with less confidential information at first increase, but then subsequently decrease the investment as vulnerability rises.
PREDICTING LISTENER’S MOOD BASED ON MUSIC GENRE: AN ADAPTED REPRODUCED MODEL OF RUSSELL AND THAYER

Abstract Mood has presently received growing consideration as an interesting technique for organizing and accessing music. Stress which changes individual mood is a major physical and psychological problem of individuals today. Many researches have been conducted based on this study of mood, particularly in the U.S.A, Canada, Europe, and some part in Asia. However, while these studies are important, and help to solve the problem of mood change, still, researchers were unable to look into this important aspect in one of the 25 rapid growth markets in the world-Malaysia. In solving this problem, this study suggested using music genre as an influence mechanism to predict mood and again identify what kind of classified musical genre that can be used to predict certain mood. This study adapts and reproduces a model of Russell and Thayer to categorize moods. A total population of 245 university students of both sexes, aged from 18-56 and above, married and single, different educational level, race, and religions were used to achieved the objective of this study. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. The analysis results were presented based on majority and popularity of respondents. The findings indicate that the result of this study is 60%-80% percent positive on both part A and Part B due to the higher population respondents of the investigation. Hence, based on the findings, the study clearly interprets and presents an encouraging methodology that predicts the mood of the listener’s with a positive outcomes.
Multiannual changes of CO 2 emissions in China: indirect estimates derived from satellite measurements of tropospheric NO 2 columns

Abstract. Multiannual satellite measurements of tropospheric NO 2 columns are used for evaluation of CO 2 emission changes in China in the period from 1996 to 2008. Indirect top-down annual estimates of CO 2 emissions are derived from the satellite NO 2 column measurements by means of a simple inverse modeling procedure involving simulations performed with the CHIMERE mesoscale chemistry–transport model and the CO 2 -to-NO x emission ratios from the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) global anthropogenic emission inventory and Regional Emission Inventory in Asia (REAS). Exponential trends in the normalized time series of annual emissions are evaluated separately for the periods from 1996 to 2001 and from 2001 to 2008. The results indicate that the both periods manifest strong positive trends in the CO 2 emissions, and that the trend in the second period was significantly larger than the trend in the first period. Specifically, the trends in the first and second periods are best estimated to be in the range from 3.7 to 8.3 and from 11.0 to 13.2% per year, respectively, taking into account statistical uncertainties and differences between the CO 2 -to-NO x emission ratios from the EDGAR and REAS inventories. Comparison of our indirect top-down estimates of the CO 2 emission changes with the corresponding bottom-up estimates provided by the EDGAR (version 4.2) and Global Carbon Project (GCP) glomal emission inventories reveals that while acceleration of the CO 2 emission growth in the considered period is a common feature of both kinds of estimates, nonlinearity in the CO 2 emission changes may be strongly exaggerated in the global emission inventories. Specifically, the atmospheric NO 2 observations do not confirm the existence of a sharp bend in the emission inventory data time series in the period from 2000 to 2002. A significant quantitative difference is revealed between the bottom-up and indirect top-down estimates of the CO 2 emission trend in the period from 1996 to 2001 (specifically, the trend was not positive according to the global emission inventories, but is strongly positive in our estimates). These results confirm the findings of earlier studies that indicated probable large uncertainties in the energy production and other activity data for China from international energy statistics used as the input information in the global emission inventories. For the period from 2001 to 2008, some quantitative differences between the different kinds of estimates are found to be in the range of possible systematic uncertainties associated with our estimation method. In general, satellite measurements of tropospheric NO 2 are shown to be a useful source of information on CO 2 sources collocated with sources of nitrogen oxides; the corresponding potential of these measurements should be exploited further in future studies.