Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
State of the Art on Cactus Additions in Alkaline Media as Corrosion Inhibitors

This research in progress includes results on the corrosion performance of reinforcing steel in alkaline media when two different dehydrated cacti (Opuntia ficus-indica—Nopal—and Aloe Vera) were used as additions in pH 12.5 and 13.3 solutions and in concrete. The dehydrated cactus addition was mixed at different concentrations by either solution or cement mass (0.10%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 2.0%). Half-cell potentials and LPR measurements were performed at different time periods to characterize the possible corrosion inhibiting effect of the cactus additions tested in such alkaline media. Results showed good corrosion inhibiting effect of dehydrated Nopal on reinforcing steel, in all tested solutions, when chloride ions are present. Aloe Vera did show also corrosion inhibiting improvements in some extent. The addition of such cactus led to an apparent formation of a denser and more packed oxide/hydroxide surface layer on the steel surface that decreased corrosion activity. This oxide/hydroxide layer growth was confirmed by microscopic evaluation of the metal surface layer performed at the end of the research program. The preliminary findings suggest that adding Nopal at concentrations between 1% and 2%, by mass, might be suitable for durability enhancing applications in alkaline media, especially in concrete structures.
Trophic niche and feeding biology of the Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus campestris (De Betta, 1857) along western Mediterranean coast

Trophic niche of the Italian wall lizard was studied at three different sites in Tuscany (central northern Ita- ly), two along the Mediterranean sea, one inland. Fecal pellet analysis was carried out on 71 pellets (37 of male and 34 of female adult lizards), accounting on the whole for 184 prey items. Coleoptera, Hymenoptera (ants), Araneae and Gastropoda were the most represented taxa (numerical abundance of ca 22, 7, 7, 6% respectively). We found Brillouin diversity index similar in females and in males, with a marked overlap between sexes, but differences in niche overlap- ping among localities. Diet spectrum was quite different with that found in other central Italy localities, in the Tuscan Archipelago, or in areas where P. siculus has recently introduced. Our study confirms the opportunistic pattern and adaptability of this lizard species, and increases the range of sampled localities within the species' range.
Common patterns of rare-earth-element distribution in garnet

Samples Understanding of REE uptake and distribution in metamorphic garnets is essential to sound interpretation of petrologic and geochronologic analyses relying on REEs. This work expands upon previous studies of garnets in ultra-high-pressure eclogites from Zermatt-Sass, Switzerland (550-600 °C, 1.5-2.0 GPa; Skora et al., 2006) and from the Western Gneiss Region, Norway (750-800°C, 3.0 GPa; Konrad-Schmolke et al., 2008) by examining garnets in pelitic rocks from the Picuris Mountains, New Mexico (~550 °C, 0.45 GPa; Chernoff & Carlson, 1997) and Passo del Sole, Switzerland (~560 °C, 0.85 GPa; Janots et al., 2009), and in an eclogite block from the Franciscan Complex, California (~600°C, 1.0 GPa, Giaramita & Sorensen, 1994; or ~550-630 °C, 2.2-2.5 GPa, Tsujimori et al, 2006).
Work/family demands, work flexibility, work/family conflict, and their consequences at work: A national probability sample in Taiwan.

The aim of this research was to explore relations between work/family demands, work flexibility, work/family conflict, and work-related outcomes in the cultural context of Chinese society, using a national probability sample. For Taiwanese employees, work demands were positively related to work/family conflict, whereas both work and family demands were positively related to family/work conflict. Work/family conflict was negatively related to job satisfaction and family/work conflict to organizational commitment. More importantly, the authors found that organizational policies and practices such as work flexibility could alleviate feelings of work interfering with family, further enhancing job
Cloud-Top Properties of Growing Cumulus prior to Convective Initiation as Measured by Meteosat Second Generation. Part II: Use of Visible Reflectance

Abstract This study is a companion research effort to “Part I,” which emphasized use of infrared data for understanding various aspects of growing convective clouds in the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite’s Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) imagery. Reflectance and derived brightness variability (BV) fields from MSG SEVIRI are used here to understand relationships between cloud-top signatures and physical processes for growing cumulus clouds prior to known convective initiation (CI) events, or the first occurrence of a ≥35-dBZ echo from a new convective cloud. This study uses daytime SEVIRI visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) reflectances from 0.6 to 3.9 μm (3-km sampling distance), as well as high-resolution visible (1-km sampling distance) fields. Data from 123 CI events observed during the 2007 Convection and Orographically Induced Precipitation Study (COPS) field experiment conducted over southern Germany and northeastern France are processed, per convective cell, so t.
Nonparametric Estimation and Inference for Granger Causality Measures

We propose a nonparametric estimator and a nonparametric test for Granger causality measures that quantify linear and nonlinear Granger causality in distribution between random variables. We first show how to write the Granger causality measures in terms of copula densities. We suggest a consistent estimator for these causality measures based on nonparametric estimators of copula densities. Further, we prove that the nonparametric estimators are asymptotically normally distributed and we discuss the validity of a local smoothed bootstrap that we use in finite sample settings to compute a bootstrap bias-corrected estimator and test for our causality measures. A simulation study reveals that the bias-corrected bootstrap estimator of causality measures behaves well and the corresponding test has quite good finite sample size and power properties for a variety of typical data generating processes and different sample sizes. Finally, we illustrate the practical relevance of nonparametric causality measures by quantifying the Granger causality between S&P500 Index returns and many exchange rates (US/Canada, US/UK and US/Japen exchange rates).
Discussion about Conceptual Framework

Standard setters and most academics maintain that accounting standards ought to rest on a set of guiding principles stated explicitly in a “conceptual framework. ” The FASB and IASB are currently involved in a project to refine conceptual framework documents developed earlier. At this point, it is not clear what their final product will look like; its defining characteristics as well as the substantive content can only be surmised. This paper addresses the issues that FASB and IASB face, including the question of what a conceptual framework should be all about. First, the paper describes and illustrates the current conceptual framework and the attitude of FASB and IASB. Second, the paper suggests characteristics that a conceptual framework ought to exhibit. Most of these suggestions are based on our critique of the existing framework and the FASB-IASB work in progress.
How to use indicators to measure scientific performance: a balanced approach

Scientific performance should not be measured by a one-dimensional metric such as publication, since it is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. A quantitative analysis of the activities of research groups in three scientific fields demonstrates in particular the importance of sufficient numbers of PhD graduates and of contributions to the infrastructure of the scientific community, in terms of editorships or memberships of boards, etc. The results of a quantitative analysis are largely confirmed by a parallel qualitative investigation; however, both approaches complement each other by highlighting different aspects. For example, the qualitative approach conveys explicitly the demand structure for intermediary and final outputs in the qualitative approach that interlinks the activities of different research units. The results show that it is important for science policy to set appropriate incentives for all dimensions of scientific activities, i.e. not publication output exclusively, as this entails considerable hazard of distortion, endangering the sustainability of scientific research. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
Consumption-based GHG emission accounting: a UK case study

Global GHG emissions continue to rise, with nearly a quarter of it due to trade that is not currently captured within global climate policy. In the context of current trade patterns and limited global cooperation on climate change, the feasibility of consumption-based emissions accounting to contribute to a more comprehensive (national) policy framework in the UK is investigated. Consumption-based emissions results for the UK from a range of models are presented, their technical robustness is assessed, and their potential application in national climate policy is examined using examples of policies designed to reduce carbon leakage and to address high levels of consumption. It is shown that there is a need to include consumption-based emissions as a complementary indicator to the current approach of measuring territorial emissions. Methods are shown to be robust enough to measure progress on climate change and develop and inform mitigation policy. Finally, some suggestions are made for future policy-oriented research in the area of consumption-based accounting that will facilitate its application to policy. Policy relevance Emissions embodied in trade are rapidly increasing and there is thus a growing gap between production emissions and the emissions associated with consumption. This is a growing concern due to the absence of a global cap and significant variation in country-level mitigation ambitions. Robust measurements of consumption-based emissions are possible and provide new insights into policy options. This includes trade-related policy (e.g. border carbon adjustments) and domestic policies (e.g. resource efficiency strategies). As climate policy targets deepen, there is a need for a broad range of policy options in addition to production and technological solutions. Consumption-based emissions are complementary to production-based emissions inventories, which are still the most accurate estimate for aggregated emissions at the global level. However, without consumption-based approaches, territorial emissions alone will not provide a complete picture of progress in regional and national emissions reduction.
The legal side of IoT Cloud systems

As a growing number of communicating devices join the Internet, we will soon face a foggy and cloudy world of interconnected smart devices. Cloud systems already started to dominate the Internet, with the appearance of things of the Internet of Things (IoT) area IoT Cloud systems are formed that still needs a significant amount of research. IoT is a rapidly emerging concept where sensors, actuators and smart devices are often connected to cloud systems. Clouds are used in scenarios in which data from a large set of sensors is processed and often fed back to actuators or smart devices. The Cluster of European Research Projects on the Internet of Things [1] defined the Internet of Things (IoT) as a dynamic global network infrastructure with self configuring capabilities based on standard and interoperable communication protocols. Things in this network interact and communicate among themselves and with the environment by exchanging data and information sensed, and react autonomously to events and influence them by triggering actions with or without direct human intervention. According to recent Gartner reports [2], there will be 30 billion devices always online and more than 200 billion devices discontinuously online by 2020. Recent trends and estimations call for an ecosystem that provides means to interconnect and control these devices. With the help of cloud solutions, user data can be stored in a remote location, and can be accessed from anywhere. Legal and regulative constraints increase the complexity further and vary depending on the location of different stakeholders. In the supply of any goods and services, the law gives certain rights that protect the consumer and provider, which also applies for IoT cloud systems: it is subject to legal requirements and constraints to ensure cloud services are accurately described and provided to customers with guarantees on quality and fitness-for-purpose. Data that users produce with mobile devices are continuously posted to online services, which require the use of cloud providers to efficiently handle these data. In this paper we address the legal side of these systems. In our previous work we have derived a general federation architecture for clouds from definitions of international organizations, and used it to define common cloud computing usage patterns [3]. The aim of this work is to broaden this investigation for cases involving IoT utilization. Once the new rules set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of EU [5] is clarified, we plan to map these the legal constraints to IoT Cloud use cases, in order to help users to better understand the ecosystem and companies to design better applications for IoT cloud systems.
Facial Expression Recognition Based on Radon and Discrete Wavelet Transform using Support Vector Machines

Extracting facial features remains a difficult task because of unpredictable of facial features largely due to variations in pixel intensities and subtle changes of facial features. The Radon transform inherits rotational and translational properties that are capable of preserving pixel intensities variations and also is used to derive the directional features. Thus, this paper presents a new pattern framework for facial expression recognition based on Radon and wavelet transform using Support Vector Machines classifier to recognize the seven facial emotions. Firstly, the pre-processed facial images are projected into Radon space via Radon transform at a specified angle. Then, the obtained Radon space or sinogram that represent the facial emotions is subjected to wavelet transform. In this framework, the Radon space is decomposed into four sub-band at a different level of decomposition. The approximate coefficients sub-band are independently extracted and used as intrinsic features to recognize the facial emotion. To reduce the data dimensionality, principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to the extracted features. Then, the Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifier is adopted as a classifier to classify seven (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, neutral, sadness and surprise) facial emotions. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, the JAFFE database has been employed. Experimental results show that the proposed method has achieved 93.89% accuracy.
Nutrigenomics: An emerging scientific discipline

APRIL 2003 • VOL. 57, NO. 4 Nancy Fogg-Johnson and Jim Kaput ffects of the Human Genome Project are surfacing in anticipated and unanticipated areas. One of the key discoveries from the project is the existence of individual differences in gene sequences that result in differential response to environmental factors, such as diet. Those genetic differences, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, pronounced snips), are the key genetic enabler of the emerging scientific discipline called nutrigenomics or nutritional genomics. In the broad arena of health and wellness, one of the major impacts on the food industry, throughout the value chain from agricultural crops through consumer products, is this emerging understanding of human nutrition at the molecular level of gene expression. The science of nutrigenomics is the study of how naturally occurring chemicals in foods alter molecular expression of genetic information in each individual. In addition to bioinformatics, three scientific methodological approaches underpin nutrigenomics. Those methodological approaches are based on nutrition, molecular biology, and genomics. Integration of these disciplines is leading to identification and understanding of individual and population differences and similarities in gene expression, or phenotype, in response to diet (Fig. 1). The implications for the food industry range from market opportunities for customized or nutrient-enhanced crops through to products customized for individual nutritional needs.
MANAGING WORD-OF-MOUTH COMMUNICATION IN MICHELIN STARRED RESTAURANTS IN THE NETHERLANDS

This research attempts to investigate the effectiveness of word-of-mouth in the Michelin starred restaurants in the Netherlands. The research examined the management perspective of the restaurant owner's word-of-mouth communication. This study started with an explorative investigation and a pilot study, which aimed to discover the indications that encourage word-of-mouth. The indicators found were used to develop a conceptual model for the final research project. In the research project two instruments were used: expert interviews and a questionnaire to the restaurant owners. The results show that word-of-mouth is an effective tool in attracting new guests in Michelin starred restaurants. It also discovered that image is strongly related to word-of-mouth, as it influences the expectation by customers formed prior to the visit.
Characteristics of a birnavirus isolated from cultured sand goby Oxyeleotris marmoratus

A virus (SGV) was isolated from sand goby Oxyeleotris marrnoratus with ulcer disease reared in freshwater cages in Thailand. The virus was typical of members of the aquatic birnaviruses but it possessed phenotypic, serological and biochemical properties that distinguished it from previously described viruses of the Bimaviridae. Serologically, the virus is distinct from the described strains of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) and possesses the capability of replicating in several cell lines from warm water fishes at 30 'C. The use of rapid double-stranded RNA analyses and the immunoprecipltation of radio-labeled virion polypeptides demonstrated the unique biochemical nature of SGV and established the value of these techniques for strain identification of birnaviruses.
Re-Validating Weak-Form Hypothesis in Nigerian Capital Market: A Comparative Test Analyses

In the study, we adopted comparative statistical techniques to evaluate the behaviors of stock returns in Nigerian Capital market. Data were collected from CBN statistical bulletin over a period of Jan 1985 to Dec 2012. Our findings based on JB, BJ, portmantuea autocorrelation and LM serial correlation tests showed that the behaviors of stock returns follow the pattern of a random walk or alternatively the steps of a man who is drunk, while the K-S, Runs and unit root tests contradict this position. Therefore we conclude that the controversial issue on the tests of RWH in Nigerian stock market strikingly relies on the techniques that are applied and the asymptotic nature of data set.
The 2012 International Conference on Asia Pacific Business Innovation and Technology Management Antecedents, Drivers, and Success of Strategic Information Systems Planning: A Resource-Based View

Strategic information system planning (SISP) is a long-standing issue for both scholars and practitioners. Although many studies have been done on SISP success, firms still face with SISP failure. Reviewing previous SISP literature shows that organizational aspects have been neglected in SISP studies. Therefore, this study attempts to fulfil this gap by proposing a conceptual model for SISP success. Using Resource Based View (RBV) as underlying theory, in this paper, we investigated the firm-wide IS capabilities as drivers (i.e. organizational factors) of SISP success. Six firmwide IS capabilities were identified that are internal and external IS relationships capability, IS knowledge and skills capability, IS planning and change management capability, IS-business integration capability, and IS infrastructure capability. Furthermore, we hypothesized that top management support and formalization are antecedents of SISP success. Generally, the contribution of this study is developing a comprehensive and theory-based model for SISP success in terms of its antecedents and drivers.
Lesbians and Gay Men in the US Military: estimates from Census 2000

Very little is known about the extent to which gay men and lesbians choose to serve their country through military service. This lack of knowledge contrasts with intense policy debates about the compatibility between homosexuality and service in the United States armed forces. Bayesian inference techniques applied to data from Census 2000 that enumerates characteristics of same-sex “unmarried partners” provide a mechanism for estimating the size of the gay and lesbian population currently serving in the military and exploring historical gay and lesbian military service patterns. Analyses suggest that rates of gay men and lesbians in current military service range from 1.32 to 3.78 percent, implying that at least 30,446 gay men and lesbians and as many as 87,202 are currently in uniform. The findings also show that gay men and, to an ever greater degree, lesbians have served in relatively large portions in all of the major military conflicts of the later 20th century.
THE ANALYSİS OF THE EFFECT OF BRAND IMAGE ON CREATİNG BRAND LOYALTY WİTH THE STRUCTURAL EQUATİON MODEL: A RESEARCH STUDY ON THE SPORTS EQUİPMENT BRAND USERS

Brand image and brand loyalty are among the most important relational marketing elements for brand owners to be able to set up long – term relationships with their customers and to maintain these relationships. Brand owners improve their brand images with the positive perceptions remaining in the consumers’ minds. In addition, they try to find the customers that are both emotionally and behaviourally faithful to themselves in order to set up long – term relationships. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyse the effects of the brand image that has a very important role among relational marketing elements on the brand loyalty in terms of the variables such as the perceived value, the trust in brand and the brand satisfaction. In this context, a theoretical model was created to determine the effect of the brand image on the brand loyalty thanks to the Structural Equation Model (SEM). According to this aim and this model, the study was carried out in the scope of the data collected through the questionnaires in Konya with the method of convenience sampling. The results of the research showed that the brand image has positive significant effects on the perceived value and the trust in brand and that the trust in brand has positive significant effects on the brand satisfaction, and that the brand satisfaction has positive significant effects on the brand loyalty. Thus, the hypotheses that the brand image has direct effects on the perceived value and the trust in brand and that the trust in brand has direct effects on the brand satisfaction and that the brand satisfaction has direct effects on the brand loyalty were supported. In addition, the findings about whether the perceived value has a significant effect on the brand satisfaction were also acquired.