Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synthesis of Composite Nanoparticles with Magnetic Properties

There is a lot of research being done in inorganic nanoparticles for use in biomedicine as magnetic resonance imaging contrast-agents, where especially gadolinium is very interesting because of its 7 unpaired electrons. In this work a noval rout of synthesising cubic-shaped Fe3O4 nanoparticles, by using a sodium oleate batch from J. T. Baker, have been found. The synthesis rout differs from earlier reported methods by making a precursor of metal composite oleate before the thermal decomposition reaction. This general and novel route of synthesis have been used to synthesise cation-substituded MXFe3-XO4 (M = Co, Gd) nanoparticles. Several compositions of cobalt iron oxide have been made with highly monodisperse cubic-shape and good size control, with particle size ranging from 4,46 nm to 13,29 nm. The same synthesis rout have been used to synthesis GdXFe3-XO4 particles with the compositions Fe:Gd = 1:0,1 and 1:0,5 where the different compositions gave spherical and cubic-shaped nanoparticles respectively, and the size range was between 1,2 nm and 7,4 nm. The synthesis rout has been proven to be able to synthesise Gd2O3, where the reaction time have been optimized to 4 hours. Samples of both the gadolinium iron oxide compositions and the pure gadolinium oxide have been phase-transferred to an aqueous media before their contrast-agent abilities were tested with MRI analysis. The MRI showed the samples increases the signal in the surrounding protons in both T1-weighted and T2-weighted images showing potential for further use of this synthesis rout in the production of MRI contrast-agent.
The moderating role of corporate political links on the relationship between CEO-duality and the corporate environmental reporting practices in Jordan

Article history: Received: January 19, 2020 Received in revised format: March 25 2020 Accepted: April 20, 2020 Available online: April 20, 2020 The present study explored the relationship between CEO duality and the scope of CER practices in the yearly reports of Jordanian industrial firms over the period 2009-2018 shaped by the board directors’ political links. To determine the amount of environmental data included in the firms’ yearly reports, the method of content analysis checklist was applied. CEO duality was chosen as an independent variable, which was measured by attributing a score to the existence/non-existence of CEO dual role, whilst the employed moderator variable was the political links and measured by attributing a score to the existence/non-existence of political links among the board directors of the investigated firms. Furthermore, to evaluate how the relationship between CEO duality and CER practices was influenced by political links, the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) and Hayes’ PROCESS macro were adopted. According to the results obtained, the above-mentioned relationship was substantially adversely impacted by political links. Such results could promote better corporate-stakeholder communication, enhancing stakeholders’ awareness of environmental responsibility in the context of Jordan as a developing nation. Therefore, the results have ramifications for the practices employed by firms to report on matters unrelated to finance. © 2020 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada
A New Framework of Moving Object Tracking based on Object Detection-Tracking with Removal of Moving Features

Object Tracking (OT) on a Moving Camera so-called Moving Object Tracking (MOT) is extremely vital in Computer Vision. While other conventional tracking methods based on fixed camera can only track the objects in its range, a moving camera can tackle this issue by following the objects. Moreover, single tracker is used widely to track object but it is not effective due to the moving camera because the challenges such as sudden movements, blurring, pose variation. The paper proposes a method inherited by tracking by detection approach. It integrates a single tracker with object detection method. The proposed tracking system can track object efficiency and effectively because object detection method can be used to find the tracked object again if the single tracker loses track. Three main contributions are presented in the paper as follow. First, the proposed Unified Visual based-MOT system can do the tasks such as Localization, 3D Environment Reconstruction and Tracking based on Stereo Camera and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). Second, it takes into account camera motion and the moving objects to improve the precision rate in localization and tracking. Third, proposed tracking system based on integration of single tracker as Deep Particle Filter and Object Detection as Yolov3. The overall system is tested on the dataset KITTI 2012, and it has achieved a good accuracy rate in real time.
Investigation of the Synergistic Effect of Sonolysis and Photocatalysis of Titanium Dioxide for Organic Dye Degradation

Herein, we report the effect of sonoluminescence and an initial dye concentration on the sonophotocatalysis of TiO2 for the degradation of eosin B, a textile dye. We first investigated the light illuminated during ultrasound irradiation (sonoluminescence) by photographic images, a radical indicator (luminol), and photoluminescence spectra of the detection range of 300–1050 nm. Next, we examined the synergistic effect of sonolysis on photocatalysis by comparing the dye degradation of sonophotocatalysis to that of individual contributions of sonolysis and photocatalysis. Since it was found that the synergist effect is highly engaged with a dye concentration and sonication power, we conducted the comparison test in different concentrations of eosin B (5 and 20 mg/L) and ultrasound powers (35.4, 106.1, and 176.8 W/cm2). When the concentration of dyes was low, negative synergistic effects were found at all ultrasound powers, whereas at the high concentration, positive synergistic effects were observed at high ultrasound power. This difference in synergistic effects was explained by the influence of ultrasound on dynamics of dye adsorption on the TiO2 surface.
Influence of Climate Change on the Design of Retention Basins in Northeastern Portugal

Retention basins are used to control the quantity and quality of stormwater runoff. Their design is based on Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves and on the assumption that the rainfall distribution is stationary. The analysis of rainfall observed for recent past conditions and projected for the future suggests the existence of significant changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events. This study aims to assess the potential impacts of climate change in the design of retention basins. The adopted multi- and interdisciplinary methodological approach comprises: Rainfall aggregation and disaggregation, distribution fitting for different climate change scenarios, durations and return periods, model bias correction, robust regression of rainfall intensity for different durations and, finally, engineering design based on IDF curves. Results obtained with IDF curves defined in the Portuguese law and estimated from the ECHAM5/MPI-OM1/COSMO-CLM regional climate model for recent past and future climate scenarios point to: (i) Increase in the volume of the retention basin, more expressive in the end of the XXI century; (ii) changes of different magnitude within the country and the same rainfall region; and (iii) increase of 20% to 23% on average, and 46% to 65% at most, for the conditions of B1 and A1B scenarios, respectively.
Emotional Closeness within Romantic Relationships: Is There Transmission Between Generations?

OF THESIS EMOTIONAL CLOSENESS WITHIN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS: IS THERE TRANSMISSION BETWEEN GENERATIONS? This study tested the existence of intergenerational transmission of romantic emotional closeness using Galovan and Schramm’s (2018) model of relationship flourishing as a theoretical backbone. Romantic emotional closeness in the present study included intimacy (i.e., self-disclosure), admiration (i.e., appreciation expression), and dyadic coping. Couples among three generations from the Panel of Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (Brüderl et al., 2013) were examined to test whether romantic emotional closeness in the first generation predicted romantic emotional closeness in the second generation, and whether that of the second generation predicted that of the third. Regressions within a partial latent model showed that intergenerational transmission existed between the first and second generation but not between the second and third generation. One possible explanation for this finding is a small sample size within the third generation, which limited the data used. Implications for future research, clinicians, and theorists are discussed.
Mr4Soil: A MapReduce-Based Framework Integrated with GIS for Soil Erosion Modelling

A soil erosion model is used to evaluate the conditions of soil erosion and guide agricultural production. Recently, high spatial resolution data have been collected in new ways, such as three-dimensional laser scanning, providing the foundation for refined soil erosion modelling. However, serial computing cannot fully meet the computational requirements of massive data sets. Therefore, it is necessary to perform soil erosion modelling under a parallel computing framework. This paper focuses on a parallel computing framework for soil erosion modelling based on the Hadoop platform. The framework includes three layers: the methodology, algorithm, and application layers. In the methodology layer, two types of parallel strategies for data splitting are defined as row-oriented and sub-basin-oriented methods. The algorithms for six parallel calculation operators for local, focal and zonal computing tasks are designed in detail. These operators can be called to calculate the model factors and perform model calculations. We defined the key-value data structure of GeoCSV format for vector, row-based and cell-based rasters as the inputs for the algorithms. A geoprocessing toolbox is developed and integrated with the geographic information system (GIS) platform in the application layer. The performance of the framework is examined by taking the Gushanchuan basin as an example. The results show that the framework can perform calculations involving large data sets with high computational efficiency and GIS integration. This approach is easy to extend and use and provides essential support for applying high-precision data to refine soil erosion modelling.
The Production Potential of Festuca spp., Lolium spp. and Festulolium Hybrids in the Southern Cape of South Africa

Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky. edu/igc/23/2-6-1/13 The 23rd International Grassland Congress (Sustainable use of Grassland Resources for Forage Production, Biodiversity and Environmental Protection) took place in New Delhi, India from November 20 through November 24, 2015. Proceedings Editors: M. M. Roy, D. R. Malaviya, V. K. Yadav, Tejveer Singh, R. P. Sah, D. Vijay, and A. Radhakrishna Published by Range Management Society of India
A Z Specification for Reliability Requirements of a Service-based System

The utilization of a Web services based application depends not only on meeting its functional requirements but also its non-functional requirements. The nonfunctional requirements express the quality of service (QoS) expected from a system. The QoS describes the capability of the service to meet the requirements of its consumers. In the context of Web services, considerations of QoS are critical for a number of reasons. Reliability is among the important QoS requirements of such distributed components as it enhances confidence in the services provided. Although the importance of QoS requirements are well established, they are often ignored until the end of the development cycle. Reasons cited for this are that they are difficult to define and represent precisely, and relay on entities that may not be known at early stages. This articles aims to address the challenges of incorporating the QoS at an early stage of service development and represent it in a precise manner. To achieve this goal, this paper makes use of a process model to facilitate the incorporation of the QoS attributes and Z as the specification language for its formalism. Reliability is used to exemplify the process. The Z schemas have been checked for syntax and type using the Fuzz type checker.
Aspergillus fumigatus and Sporormia minima Isolated from the Rumen of Sheep

The toxic metabolites of the micro-fungi are associated with many problems in the food-producing industries. The role of isolates of Aspergillus flavus that produce aflatoxin in the toxicity of feed-stuffs derived from ground nuts is well known (Paget, 1954; Wogan, 1966) and there is some evidence that metabolites of Pithomyces chartarum are implicated in the aetiology of diseases of ruminants in Australia and New Zealand and possibly in South Africa and the southern United States (Dingley, Done, Taylor & Russell, 1962; Mortimer & Taylor, 1962). Bilai & Pidoplichko (1962) suggested that the fungus Absidia ramosa, isolated aerobically from the rumen contents of diseased animals was a factor in haematuria in cattle in the Ukraine. This, to our knowledge, is the first suggestion that the colonization of the rumen by microfungi has important implications in the growth and health of ruminants; although the presence of yeasts in the rumen has been known for some time (Clarke & diMenna, 1961). In northern Nova Scotia the growth rate of sheep in summer and autumn is extremely slow (Calder, Nicholson & Cunningham, 1962), and whilst investigating this problem from a microbiological point of view we have observed the presence of fungi among the rumen flora. Since this appears to be of biochemical, microbiological and agricultural interest we report our preliminary results here.
Glacial geomorphology of the Bayan Har sector of the NE Tibetan Plateau

Abstract Please click here to download the map associated with this article. We here present a detailed glacial geomorphological map covering 136,500 km2 of the Bayan Har sector of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau—an area previously suggested to have nourished the most extensive Quaternary glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau. The map, presented at a scale of 1:650,000, is based on remote sensing of a 90 m SRTM digital elevation model and 15/30 m Landsat ETM+ satellite imagery. Seven landform types have been mapped; glacial valleys, glacial troughs, glacial lineations, marginal moraines, marginal moraine remnants, meltwater channels and hummocky terrain. A large number of glacial landforms exist, concentrated around mountain blocks protruding above the surrounding plateau area, testifying to former glacial activity. In contrast, large plateau areas of lower altitude lack glacial landforms. The mapped glacial geomorphology indicates multiple former glacial advances primarily by valley and piedmont glaciers, but lends no support to the hypothesis of ice sheet scale glaciation in the area. The presented glacial geomorphological map demonstrates the usefulness of remote sensing techniques for mapping the glacial geomorphology of the Tibetan Plateau, and it will be used for reconstructing the paleoglaciology of the Bayan Har sector of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau.
Investigating the Potential of Gamification to Improve Seniors' Experience and Use of Technology

A non-negligible proportion of seniors rarely uses new technology. Far too often, these rather tech unexperienced seniors struggle with new soft- or hard-ware, that do not provide easy access. As a result, some seniors avoid or completely desist to further use “these modern technologies” and consequently miss out on the benefits of digital age. Game-inspired design is supposed to be a promising way to overcome some perceived barriers of seniors by providing hedonic value during early interaction. Previous research has shown that game-inspired design is suitable to motivate seniors’ use of Health-IT. To investigate its potential to facilitate the use of information and communication technology (ICT), an experimental study was conducted. The study investigated the appeal of various gamification features, which were embedded in a prototype of an ICT learning software and compared it to a non-gamified version of the software. Results indicate that the concept of gamified ICT learning software appeals to seniors in general, but that the acceptance of different gamification features is quite diverse. A clear-cut superiority of adding gamification to the software was not found. After interacting with both software versions, seniors in around equal parts preferred either the non-gamified version, the gamified version, or could not decide. Those seniors that clearly favored the gamified version were particularly fond of continuous positive feedback and receiving rewards for each task they have accomplished. Whereas the remaining seniors rather disliked the intensive endorsement through these two features and decided against the gamified version, albeit they liked many of the other game features. Our results underline the necessity of following a user-centered design approach when developing game-inspired applications, and the need for an individualized use of gamification elements to meet the needs of the heterogeneous group of senior users.
Content Delivery Networks in Cross-border e-Commerce

Cross-border e-commerce has been growing in recent years. Purchasing goods from abroad is getting easier due to global deliveries, well-known payment methods and decreasing language barriers. Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a technical solution. Deploying CDN for cross-border e-commerce can improve performance and consumer experience. In this paper, four sets of cross-border online stores, containing together 57 e-commerce stores, are examined. Each set is a group of online stores operating in many European markets with different Domain Name System (DNS) settings. Two sets use Cloudflare CDN and its DNS server. Other two sets use country DNS server settings without CDN. Results show that DNS lookup time significantly decrease for cross-border users when online stores are using a CDN, improving overall website time load. Increase of speed for resolving domain names is on average from 40ms to 5ms. No significant improvement was observed for user in the same country location.
A System to Manage Multi-domain Software Product Line

The development with Software product Line (SPL) often concerns one domain. The representation of multi-domain software product line is mainly based on complex Feature models. The latter is used to represent multi-domain component commonalities and variabilities. However, the management of multi-domain feature models needs an important effort. In addition, it is not easy to have a visual representation of this type of models. Split of multi-domain SPL into two models, the first to formulate the business needs which leads to a specific domain SPL and the second is devoted to compose a product in terms of selected SPL features according to business needs can lend a hand to overcome the management difficulties of this Type of SPL. In this paper, we propose a system to manage the multi-domain SPL. It is composed of a business model to express the needs in terms of business area configuration and a feature model to identify a concerned SPL according to selected business area needs in terms of feature configurations.
PARECER DA COMISSÃO EXAMINADORA DA DEFESA DE TESE DO DOUTO- RADO EM ECONOMIA DE: KLEBSON HUMBERTO DE LUCENA MOURA

The objective of this thesis is to study some issues related to the Brazilian urban environment. In the first chapter the aim identify and to measure the external returns to human capital in Brazil using information from the Ministry of Labor’s Annual Social Information Report (RAIS) on all urban agglomeration in the country for the period 2002-2014. With a two step estimation and using instrumental variables for identification we find a considerable effect of local human capital concentration on local wages. The set of results indicates that, in the case of brazilian labor market areas, the external returns to human capital are a 0.86% increase in local wages for an increase of one percentage point in college graduates. Consistent with theoretical expectations and similar to literature results, we also found that the impact of local human capital is stronger for unskilled than for skilled workers. Finally, results are robust and not equally distributed across sectors; On the second chapter we analyze the influence of exposure to public spaces on victimization using a large nationally representative cross-section sample of Brazilian individuals for 2009, using propensity score matching techniques to create counterfactuals, performing robustness checks and implementing a simulation-based sensitivity analysis that support a causal interpretation of the results. We find that individuals with more than one hour of commuting have an overall 2.1% increase in the probability of being victim of robbery, with no robust impact on theft. Also, following the exposure literature we find larger effect on the probability of robbery victimization on women when compared with men, 2.5% and 2.2% respectively; Finally, in the last chapter, presents an evaluation of the impact of the housing financing for Brazilian families in commuting time. With the use of PNAD 2014 information and a strategy based on Propensity Score Matching and sensitivity analysis, the results indicate that housing financing increases the probability of the beneficiaries having larger commuting time. However, this effect is concentrated in lower income families living in non-metropolitan urban areas.
The Neural Network Conversation Model enables the Commonly Asked Student Query Agents

One of the challenges in academic counselling is to provide an automated service system for students. There several query questions asking the faculty staffs about related-academic services each semester. Offered the communication interface more convenience, the novel approach based on neural network model is introduced to investigate the automated conversational agent. The pre-defined dialogue sentences were collected manually from the student query questions and used as the training dataset. The questions have been varied and grouped by topic-categorizing queried from the registration help desk of the department. Artificial intelligence and machine learning have contributed each other to build the conversational agent so-call KUSE-ChatBOT plugged and used in the modern messenger application, LINE. The system is also included the dialogue back-end management system to use in further deep learning model updating. Tensorflow, the machine learning development platform originated by Google, was performed and obtained the learning model using Python development kits. The LINE Messaging APIs is then contributed as the user interface where users could have FAQs' conversation via the LINE application. The KUSE-ChatBOT is outperformed and efficient by providing automated consultation to the students precisely with the accuracy rate over 75 percent. The system could assist the staffs to be able to lessen the workload of answering the same question repeatedly and give response to the student timely.
The radical of the bidual of a Beurling algebra

We prove that the bidual of a Beurling algebra on $\mathbb{Z}$, considered as a Banach algebra with the first Arens product, can never be semisimple. We then show that ${\rm rad\,}(\ell^{\, 1}(\oplus_{i=1}^\infty \mathbb{Z})")$ contains nilpotent elements of every index. Each of these results settles a question of Dales and Lau. Finally we show that there exists a weight $\omega$ on $\mathbb{Z}$ such that the bidual of $\ell^{\, 1}(\mathbb{Z}, \omega)$ contains a radical element which is not nilpotent.