Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selection biases in the gamma-ray burst Eiso - Lopt, X correlation

Gamma ray burst (GRB) optical and X-ray afterglow luminosity is expected to correlate with the GRB isotropic equivalent kinetic energy of the outflow in the standard synchrotron model for GRB afterglows. Previous studies, using prompt GRB isotropic equivalent energy ($E_{\rm iso}$) as a proxy for isotropic equivalent kinetic energy, have generally confirmed a correlation between X-ray and optical afterglow luminosities. Assuming that GRB afterglow luminosity does not evolve strongly with redshift, we identify a strong Malmquist bias in GRB optical and X-ray afterglow luminosity data. We show that selection effects dominate the observed E$_{\rm iso}$ -- L$_{\rm opt,X}$ correlations, and have likely been underestimated in other studies. The bias is strongest for a subset of optically faint bursts $m>24$ at 24 hr with $z>2$. After removing this optical selection bias, the E$_{\rm iso}$ -- L$_{\rm opt,X}$ correlation for long GRBs is not statistically significant, but combining both long and short GRB luminosity data the correlation is significant. Using the median of the $E_{\rm iso}$ and $L_{\rm opt,X}$ distributions, we apply the synchrotron model assuming the same power law index for short and long GRBs, but different microphysical parameter distributions. Comparing the ratio of optical and X-ray luminosities, we find tentative evidence that the fraction of post-shock energy in magnetic fields, $\epsilon_B$, could be systematically higher in SGRBs compared to LGRBs.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA helicases Mph1, Srs2 and Sgs1 collaborate for the reinitiation of stalled or collapsed replication forks

The MPH1 gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae codes for a DNA helicase involved in the error-free bypass of DNA lesions via homologous recombination. Simultaneous deletion of the MPH1 and SRS2 genes, the latter coding also for a DNA-helicase, results in a severe synthetic growth defect in the yeast background CEN.PK2. The mph1 srs2 synthetic defect is rescued by deleting the RAD51, RAD52, RAD55 and RAD57 genes responsible for the formation of the Rad51 nucleoprotein filament, which is mediating the strand invasion process with an homologous DNA duplex. Deletion of MEC1, RAD53, RAD9, RAD17 and RAD24 genes, involved in the DNA damage checkpoint responses, can also rescue the synthetic defect. Moreover, the rad54 deletion is sub-additive to mph1 in terms of spontaneous mutator phenotype.The mph1 srs2 synthetic defect is less severe in other yeast genetic backgrounds where formation of viable mph1 srs2 spores is observed. The sensitivity of viable mph1 srs2 spores to the DNA-damaging agents MMS, 4-NQO and, in particular, camptothecin is higher when compared to single mutants mph1 and srs2. Overexpression of the SGS1 gene can partially suppress the DNA damage sensitivity of these mutants.Two models are proposed invoking an interplay of the three DNA helicases, Mph1, Srs2 and Sgs1 in the reinitiation of stalled or collapsed replication forks due to collision of the replication machinery with DNA-lesions or nicks in the template strand. In particular, the two models assigns a function to Mph1 at the processing of the D-loop structure arising after recombination-mediated sister chromatids interaction.This work was supported by the European Community's Human Potential Programme under contract HPRN-CT-2002-00240, "Linkage between genome stability and checkpoint control".
Long time Behaviour of Population Models

Non-negative matrices arise naturally in population models. In this thesis, we look at the theory of such matrices and we study the Perron-Frobenius type theorems regarding their spectral properties. We use these theorems to investigate the asymptotic behaviour of solutions to continuous time problems arising in population biology. In particular, we provide a description of long-time behaviour of populations depending on the nature of the associated matrix. Finally, we describe a few applications to population biology. Preface and Declaration The work described in this thesis was carried out in the School of Mathematical Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, from July 2008 to November 2009 under the supervision of Professor Jacek Banasiak and Dr. Robert Willie. The studies done in this thesis are the original work of the author and have not been submitted in whole or in parts for any degree or diploma in any tertially institution. Where use of the work of others has been made, proper citation has been done. Signed: Proscovia Namayanja 20 January 2010 As the candidate’s supervisor, I have approved this dissertation for submission. Signed: Prof. J. Banasiak 20 January 2010 Signed: Dr. R. Willie 20 January 2010
Interpreting Multitouch Gestures

Interpreting multitouch interactions can be as simple as understanding code that handles these multitouches and this code’s associated actions. As more touch events are added to an input, inputs become more complex. There are multiple approaches to interpreting these inputs between users and touchscreens. Researchers in this eld nd answers to common problems and provide developers with tools that make interactions with multitouch devices easier to describe and incorporate into their systems. These tools are then used to create gestures through dierent approaches, specically through demonstration and by declaration. In this paper, these researchers’ tools are described and compared.
1 - Une solution neuromimétique au problème de séparation de sources

The problem of sources discrimination, very classical in Signal Processing field, is also an actual problem in biological systems . Biological sensors are sensitive to many sources, so the Central Nervous System processes typically multidimensional signais, each component of which is an unknown mixture of unknown sources, assumed independent . The neuromimetic solution, proposed in this paper, is based on a recursive and fully-interconnected network of operators. The weight of the connections are varying according to an adaptation rule, which executes an independence test of the network outputs . With regard to adaptation rudes used in adaptive filtering, here the adaptive increment is achieved necessarily by the product of two non-linear functions . Some experimental results, in Signal Processing and Image Processing fields, show the efficiency of this adaptive algorithm . We proue also the possible generalization of this algorithm in the case of more complex (non-linear, degenerated, etc .) mixtures . This algorithm points out a new concept of Independent Components Analysis, more powerful than this one of Principal Components Analysis, and applicable in the general frame of data analysis.
Analysis of Household Demand for Meat , in Southwest , Nigeria By Dr ( Mrs )

This study investigated household demand for meat in some selected states in the Southwest Nigeria. The systematic sampling technique was used to select two hundred and forty household in the study area and data were collected through well structured questionnaire. Analysis was done using Descriptive Statistics and Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) Model. The findings showed that beef (43.7%) was mostly preferred in the study area, income levels of respondents and taste influenced the type of meat preferred. The budget share of beef decreased with an increase in the price of chicken and vice versa, but increased with an increase in its price, the budget share of chevon , chicken and mutton increased with an increase in their own prices respectively. The budget share of pork increased with an increase in the price of mutton but it decreased with an increase in its own price. Also one percent change in prices of beef,chevon and chicken would result in -0.827, -0.527 and -0.721 reduction in the quantity demanded respectively. Mutton and pork were confirmed to be luxury goods while chicken, beef and chevon were normal goods for households in southwest, Nigeria. Price intervention programmes should be introduced in order to stabilize the fluctuation in meat prices
ARGEL (Solennostemma argel Del. Hayenne) APPLICATIONS FOR CONTROL OF THE DATE PALM GREEN PIT SCALE INSECT (Asterolicanium phoenicis Rao) AND YIELD ENHANCEMENT

The epidemiology of the exotic green pit scale insect on Sudan’s main growing Date Palm State had been of negative impact on dates yield. As cost of the recommended pesticide was high, adoption of the recommendation was partial. In this study foliar, soil and combined foliar and soil applications of argel were compared for their potency to control this insect against the recommended pesticide and untreated control. A 100 g argel dose/ palm applied as foliar or soil dressing gave satisfactory control matching that of the chemical pesticide for around 3 months. Besides, clear yield gains were obtained upon argel application coupled with optimum cultural practices. Being a safe cheap local herb, argel can be proposed as an alternative or supplement to the chemical pesticide for the control of the green pit scale insect and enhanced date palm yield.
Fuel reduction potential of energy management for vehicular electric power systems

In the near future a significant increase in electric power consumption in vehicles is to be expected. To limit the associated increase in fuel consumption and exhaust emissions, smart strategies for the generation, storage/retrieval, distribution and consumption of the electric power can be used. This paper considers a vehicle configuration with a conventional drive train. Two energy management strategies that control the alternator power are analysed: a regenerative braking strategy and a more advanced strategy based on optimisation techniques. The potential behind these strategies is analysed by studying the typical characteristics of components that are directly related to the energy flow in the vehicle. It is shown that operating the internal combustion engine at the highest efficiency will not inherently lead to the lowest fuel consumption. Subsequently, engineering rules are presented to evaluate the performance that can be expected for each strategy. The component characteristics are included as input parameters to make the method generally applicable. To show the value of the engineering rules, the potential fuel reduction is computed for a specific vehicle configuration and driving cycle and compared with simulations results.
The big world experiment: the mobilization of social capital in migrant communities

Migrant organizations can play an important role in the process of integration; through the social capital that they have at their disposal, these organizations increase the political participation of their communities. The social capital of organizations is embodied by the organizational network.It is presupposed that this network is used by organizational leaders to exchange information and collaborate with each other. However, empirical support for this assumption is limited. The mechanism of how social capital works is hypothesized rather than studied. The aim of this book is to gain insight into what the social capital of migrant organizations looks like, and, more importantly, the manner in which organizations use their social capital. The latter is investigated by way of a field experiment: the Big World Experiment.
Dynamics of Malawi’s trade flows: a gravity model approach

The paper attempts to examine Malawi’s trade with her major trading partners using an econometric gravity model. In the model, the bilateral trade is a linear function of economic size of the country, geographical distance, and exchange rate volatility, among other factors. Preliminary results show that the fixed effects model is favourable over the random effects gravity model. Specifically, Malawi’s bilateral trade is positively determined by the size of the economies (GDP of the importing country) and similar membership to regional integration agreement. On the other hand, transportation cost, proxied by distance, is found to have a negative influence on Malawi’s trade. Likewise, exchange rate volatility depresses Malawi’s bilateral trade whereas regional economic groupings have had insignificant effect on the flow of bilateral trade. The implications of these results are many. First, all kinds of barriers to trade must be liberalized to a greater extent to enhance Malawi’s trade. One of the main problems of bilateral trade in Africa is transport infrastructure network. Improvement in infrastructure may be a necessary step for successful trade flows within Africa. Second, Malawi can do better if the country trades more with its neighbours. Third, greater stability in the international exchange system would help increase prospects for trade and investments for Southern African countries. Finally, the flow of trade in regional blocks is constrained by problems of compensation issues, overlapping membership, policy harmonization and poor private sector participation.
FINANCIAL STABILITY AND MONETARY POLICY : A REDUCED-FORM MODEL FOR THE EURO AREA 1

This paper is related to the growing academic literature on monetary policy and financial stability. In the first part, we propose a review of the literature on the subject, describing both theoretical and empirical models. In the second part, based on Filardo’s approach, we construct a reduced-form model for the Euro Area, addressing the need to include the financial stability objective into the ECB monetary policy decisions. The purpose of the paper is to see whether the ECB decisions can be improved if policymakers systematically react to financial instability signals. The novelty of the paper is the introduction of an aggregate financial instability index in the augmented Taylor’s rule that is a part of the proposed model. Our results show that, since the ECB setup until nowadays, the monetary policy decisions were influenced by the financial instability level, as indicated by the optimal policy rate. However, at the beginning and at the end of the analysed interval, we observe a discrepancy between the real key rate and the proposed optimal policy rule. More precisely, for the period 1999-2001, the model shows that the optimal rate ranged bellow the key rate, fact which shows that the ECB has intentionally fixed its initial interest rate to a much higher level in order to strengthen its credibility. In the same line, in 2009 the ECB should have decreased the key rate below the level of 1% to better overcome the lack of liquidity on the market. Our results also show that, towards the end of the analysed period (2010-2011), the ECB should have considerably increased the key rate to respond to inflation threats. Keyword: financial stability, monetary policy, ECB, reduced-form models, Taylor rule JEL Classification: C51, E52 1 This work was supported by the project "Post-Doctoral Studies in Economics: Training program for elite researchers SPODE" co-funded from the European Social Fund through the Development of Human Resources Operational Programme 2007-2013, contract no. POSDRU/89/1.5/S/61755. We also want to thank the two anonymous referees for their valuables comments during the reviewing process. 2 Politehnica” University of Timisoara, E-mail: claudiu.albulescu@ct.upt. ro 4. Financial Stability and Monetary Policy Romanian Journal of Economic Forecasting – 1/2013 63
Differential response of planktonic primary, bacterial, and dimethylsulfide production rates to vertically-moving and static incubations in upper mixed-layer summer sea waters

Pg. 8855 lines 18 to 21: I agree with every idea of the authors’ reply but I continue thinking that they also should recognize in the ms. that experimental mixing represent conditions nearer to reality than the experimental fixed-depth treatments (be ause of water movement within UML), even though actual mixing rates in UML were distinct than those simulated by experimental mixing. The results found from fixed-depth
Hormone-Sensitive Lipase - New roles in adipose tissue biology

Obesity is defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health, and increased knowledge about the enzymes controlling lipid metabolism is of great importance in order to combat this disease. Hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) is a key enzyme in the mobilization of fatty acids from acylglycerols in adipocytes, but also plays important roles in other cell types. The aim of this thesis has been to study the consequences of a targeted disruption of the HSL gene in mice, with a focus on the white adipose tissue (WAT). The initial study demonstrated a mild insulin resistance in multiple tissues of the HSL null mice, which was almost fully compensated for by increased insulin secretion by the pancreatic beta-cells. The HSL null mice were resistant to high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity, with severely reduced WAT. A proteomic analysis suggested a local inflammatory response in WAT of HSL null mice, supported by the findings of increased macrophage infiltration in this tissue. Increased energy expenditure and perturbed adipogenesis are possible explanations to the lean phenotype of HSL null mice. Acquirement of brown adipocyte features in white adipocytes was shown in HFD-fed HSL null mice demonstrated by increased UCP-1 expression and oxygen consumption in these cells. A high retinyl ester hydrolase activity of HSL was demonstrated which was almost absent in HSL null mice, suggested that retinoic acid could be a potential ligand normally supplied by HSL. Administration of retinoic acid to the diet partly restored the WAT mass and normalized the levels of several cofactors involved in the differentiation towards the white adipocyte lineage. The collected data suggests a working model where HSL is responsible for the generation of a retinoid ligand that is crucial for adipocyte determination and differentiation and/or survival of mature adipocytes. Failure to supply this ligand, seen in the HSL null model, results in impaired adipogenesis, attainment of brown adipocyte characteristics in classical WAT depots and a local inflammation in WAT. Increased infiltration of macrophages triggers the release of proinflammatory mediators from WAT e.g. tumor necrosis factor alpha, causing systemic inflammation precipitating in insulin resistance. Thus, in addition to its key role in energy homeostasis, HSL appears to play an important role by providing signals for transcriptional regulation. (Less)
Estimating Ease of Single-Fingered Operations of Hand-Held Appliances With Digital Hand

Ergonomic-conscious design of hand-held information appliances greatly strengthens their competitiveness. However, current ergonomic assessments are carried out in the form of “real” user-tests which need many human subjects and expensive physical mockups, and only subjective evaluations are obtained. To solve these problems, in this paper, the Digital Hand where the 3D bone structure, surface skin geometry of the human hand are imitated was developed for quantitatively estimating the ease of single-fingered operations of hand-held appliances. The ease is estimated based on the reachability of a finger tip to several specified operation target points, and on the finger joint angle margin which reflects the mobile range of motions of all operating fingers’ joints. An effective correlation was found between the estimation measures and the subjective comfort ratings in the fingered operations of a SLR camera.
I'm not playing anymore: developing a model of why consumers stop playing social sport

While a diverse range of programs and sports marketing research has been undertaken to explain the effects of participation in sport in general, little research has addressed how to increase sport participation rates and even less attention has been given to why participants choose to stop participating in social sport. This paper begins to address this gap by building a conceptual model identifying the psychological stages of a person’s participation in sport, specifically looking at why people stop participating. The model draws from a number of multi-disciplinary models utlising relevant constructs from each. Drawing on concepts from psychological, cultural and social frameworks the proposed model focuses specifically on why people choose to stop participating in social sport and proposes a more comprehensive examination and hence a better understanding of this important area.
The Significance of Group Work in a FAL Classroom: Language Learning as a Social Practice in Two High Schools in Eastern Cape

Abstract The national curriculum statement strongly embraces the idea of group. It stipulates that the culture of communication amongst learners must be promoted and the teacher must cooperate with the learners. In line with Archer’s Being Human, it can be viewed that group work can pay off at individuals and societal levels. This paper therefore strives for the betterment of teaching and learning. Group work seems to replace the traditional way of teaching with the teacher at the helm. It can as such create powerful learning experiences for learners which range from understanding the content to developing problem solving capabilities, communicative skills and team building. It is also a teaching strategy whose lessons go far beyond the classroom. Methodologically, the study used interviews and focus group. The paper makes use of Critical realism as its analytical framework where the themes for analysis are generated by the data.
Downstream processing of high chain length polysialic acid using membrane adsorbers and clay minerals for application in tissue engineering

Polysialic acid (polySia) is a carbohydrate polymer of varying chain length. It is a promising scaffold material for tissue engineering. In this work, high chain length polySia was produced by an Escherichia coli K1 strain in a 10‐L bioreactor in batch and fed‐batch mode, respectively. A new downstream process for polySia is presented, based on membrane adsorber technology and use of inorganic anion exchanger. These methods enable the replacement of precipitation steps, such as acetone, cetavlon, and ethanol precipitation of the already established purification process. The purification process was simplified, while process efficiency and product qualities were improved. The overall yield of polySia from a 10‐L batch cultivation process was 61% and for 10‐L fed‐batch cultivation process the yield was 40% with an overall purity of 98%. The endotoxin content was determined to be negligible (14 EU mg−1). The main advantage of this new downstream process is that polySia with high chain length of more than 130 degree of polymerization can be obtained. In fed‐batch cultivation, chain lengths up to 160 degree of polymerization were obtained.
Critical Remarks on Conceptualisations of Online Education

This paper deals with the question of how to conceptualise education performed online. To answer this question data from an online course were interpreted through a theoretical frame consisting of interactional and transactional approaches to human action. Consequences for understanding and conceptualising the environment, technology, and communication in education performed online were unfolded. Conceptualisations building on the concept of learning environment were found to be problematic.