Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elimination of Essential (Cu, Zn) and Non-Essential (Cd, Pb) Metals from Tissues of a Freshwater Fish Tilapia zilli

Tilapia zilli were exposed to the same concentration (1 mg/L) of essential (Cu, Zn) and non-essential (Cd, Pb) metals for 10 days so that these metals would accumulate in the liver, gill, brain and muscle tissues. Subsequently, the animals were trans- ferred to uncontaminated water for a period of elimination, during which samples were taken at days 1, 7, 15 and 30. Cadmium and lead accumulated in all the tissues and the tissue concentrations increased many times compared to the levels of these metals in the control fish ( 0.05) in any tissue. The accumulation of the metals was found to be considerably different when the tissues and the metals were compared with each other. After a 30-day elimination period, the levels of cadmium, lead and copper in the gills decreased 21.5 (P<0.001), 3.02 (P<0.05) and 7.37 (P<0.05) times, respectively. Cadmium and copper were not eliminated from the liver. On the contrary, the levels increased during the elimination period. Lead was the only metal that was eliminated to a significant extent from the liver. Elimination of the metals also showed considerable differences in terms of both the tissues and the metals. The elimination levels of cadmium and copper from the gills were higher than the elimination level of lead, while the opposite was true for the liver.
Classification of Laser Scanning Data Using Deep Learning

In the last couple of years Deep Learning has gained popularity and shown potential in the field of classification. In contrast to 2D image data, Airborne Laser Scanning data is complex due to its irregular 3D structure, which turns the classification into a difficult task. Classifying point clouds can be separated into pointwise semantic classification and objectbased classification. In this paper, we investigate both classification strategies using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). In the first part of this paper, we focus on the semantic classification of 3D point clouds into three classes as required for generating digital terrain models. The second part of this paper deals with classifying archaeological structures in digital terrain models.
Towards Self-Enforcing Islamic Tax System: An Alternative to Current Approaches

هذه الورقة محاولة لتطوير بديل إسلامي عن النظم الضريبية السائدة لإيجاد نظام ضريبي ذاتي مباشر . هناك عدد كبير من الدول الإسلامية التي هي حاليا متخلفة اقتصاديا، ومن هنا تأخذ جهود تعبئة الموارد المالية مكان الصادرة. وفرض الضرائب هو واحد من أهم أساليب تعبئة هذه الموارد. يسعى النظام الجديد إلى نظام ضريبي مفروض ذاتيا، بحيث لا يساعد فقط على جمع الموارد المطلوبة ولكن يقلل أيضا من تسرب الموارد نتيجة التهرب من الضرائب، ويمكن تعريفه بأنه هو النظام الذي إذا ما حاول دافع الضريبة فيه التهرب من ضريبة ما وجد نفسه تلقائيا أمام ضرائب أخرى مما يجعل محاولته تبوء بالفشل، فهذا النظام يشجع إذن الشخص الأمير على دفع الضرائب. لا يمكن لأي نظام ضريبي ذاتي أن يسمى إسلاميا إلا إذا تحقق فيه شرطان. الأول ، لا بد أن تكون الزكاة فيه هي صلب جهود تعبئة الموارد. والثاني، يجب أن يحتوي على حد أدنى من قوانين الشريعة بالإضافة إلى القوانين الوضعية التي تحدد معدلاته ونصبه وإدارته . فمن جهة تحتل الزكاة موقع الصدارة في هذا النظام الإسلامي المطور في هذه الورقة، ومن جهة أخرى فإن الضريبة على الدخل والضريبة على الاستهلاك والضريبة على السحب يساند بعضها بعضا لتقوية هذا النظام. هذا النظام يجعل دفع الضرائب في كل مرحلة من مراحل زيادة الدخل والاستهلاك والتراكم
Ethnic di erentials on the labor market in the presence of asymmetric spatial sorting: Set identi cation and estimation

This paper aims to isolate the ethnic gap on the labor market that can be attributed to ethnicity and not to di erences in individual characteristics or residential location. Controlling for residential location is important as ethnic minorities often live in distressed neighborhoods. It is also challenging because spatial sorting is likely to di er across ethnicities because of laboror housing-market discrimination. This paper shows that controlling for neighborhoods and observed individual characteristics fails to provide a consistent estimate for the component of the gap accountable to ethnicity only. However, under some assumptions, the quantity of interest is set identi ed even when heterogeneous sorting patterns across ethnicities are allowed for and the set estimate can still be informative. A two-step estimation method is presented and applied to explain the ethnic employment di erential in France, between French individuals of North African ancestry and those with non-immigrant parents. Most of the gap is not due to di erences in residential location or individual characteristics, but rather to ethnicity itself.
Interrelationship and path coefficient analysis of morpho-physiological traits among maize ( Zea mays L.) diallelic crosses in the Southern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria

This study was done to determine the effect of the grain yield and its related characteristics on 10 openpollinated maize varieties and their 45 F1 hybrids using correlation and path coefficient analysis. A two-year study was conducted on maize genotypes at the University of Ilorin Teaching and Research Farm Ilorin, Nigeria, during 2005 and 2006 growing seasons. Positive and significant phenotypic and genotypic correlations were found for days to 50% tasselling with plant and ear heigh t, and grain yield with plant height, number of grains ear -1 and ear weight. Positive and significant environmental correlation was also recorded for grain yield with plant and ear height, and ear weight. The path analysis revealed that, days to 50% silking, ear weight and number of grains ear-1 had the highest direct effect on grain yield, while number of grains ear-1 had the highest moderate indirect negative effects on grain yield. Days to flowering, plant and ear height, number of grains ear-1 and ear weight could be the important selection criteria in improving open pollinated maize varieties and hybrids for high grain yield. Key words: Phenotypic, genotypic correlation, open pollinated varieties, yield characters
Permutation blocking path integral Monte Carlo: a highly efficient approach to the simulation of strongly degenerate non-ideal fermions

Correlated fermions are of high interest in condensed matter (Fermi liquids, Wigner molecules), cold atomic gases and dense plasmas. Here we propose a novel approach to path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations of strongly degenerate non-ideal fermions at finite temperature by combining a fourth-order factorization of the density matrix with antisymmetric propagators, i.e., determinants, between all imaginary time slices. To efficiently run through the modified configuration space, we introduce a modification of the widely used continuous space worm algorithm, which allows for an efficient sampling at arbitrary system parameters. We demonstrate how the application of determinants achieves an effective blocking of permutations with opposite signs, leading to a significant relieve of the fermion sign problem. To benchmark the capability of our method regarding the simulation of degenerate fermions, we consider multiple electrons in a quantum dot and compare our results with other ab initio techniques, where they are available. The present permutation blocking PIMC approach allows us to obtain accurate results even for N = 20 electrons at low temperature and arbitrary coupling, where no other ab initio results have been reported, so far.
A taxonomy of integral reaction path analysis

Achieving understanding through combustion modelling is limited by the ability to recognize the implications of what has been computed and to draw conclusions about the elementary steps underlying the reaction mechanism. This difficulty can be overcome in part by making better use of reaction path analysis in the context of multidimensional flame simulations. Following a survey of current practice, an integral reaction flux is formulated in terms of conserved scalars that can be calculated in a fully automated way. Conditional analyses are then introduced, and a taxonomy for bidirectional path analysis is explored. Many examples illustrate the resulting path analyses and uncover some new results about laminar non-premixed methane-air jets.
Objective and subjective compliance: how 'moral wiggle room' opens

We propose a cognitive-dissonance model of norm compliance to identify conditions for strategic information acquisition. The model distinguishes between: (i) objective norm compliers, for whom the right action is a function of the state of the world; (ii) subjective norm compliers, for whom it is a function of their belief. The former seek as much information as possible; the latter acquire only information that lowers, in expected terms, normative demands. The source of `moral wiggle room' is not belief manipulation, but the coarseness of normative prescriptions. In a novel experimental setup, we find evidence for such strategic information uptake.
Does the marine biosphere mix the ocean

Ocean mixing is thought to control the climatically important oceanic overturning circulation. Here we argue the marine biosphere, by a mechanism like the bioturbation occurring in marine sediments, mixes the oceans as effectively as the winds and tides. This statement is derived ultimately from an estimated 62.7 TeraWatts of chemical power provided to the marine environment in net primary production. Various approaches argue something like 1% (.63 TeraWatts) of this power is invested in aphotic ocean mechanical energy, a rate comparable to wind and tidal inputs.
S P ] 2 N ov 2 01 8 Optical Wireless Cochlear Implants

In the present contribution, we introduce a wireless optical communication-based system architecture which is shown to significantly improve the reliability and the spectral and power efficiency of the transcutaneous link in cochlear implants (CIs). We refer to the proposed system as optical wireless cochlear implant (OWCI). In order to provide a quantified understanding of its design parameters, we establish a theoretical framework that takes into account the channel particularities, the integration area of the internal unit, the transceivers misalignment, and the characteristics of the optical units. To this end, we derive explicit expressions for the corresponding average signal-to-noise-ratio, outage probability, ergodic spectral efficiency and capacity of the transcutaneous optical link (TOL). These expressions are subsequently used to assess the dependence of the TOL’s communication quality on the transceivers design parameters and the corresponding channels characteristics. The offered analytic results are corroborated with respective results from Monte Carlo simulations. Our findings reveal that OWCI is a particularly promising architecture that drastically increases the reliability and effectiveness of the CI TOL, whilst it requires considerably lower transmit power compared to the corresponding widely-used radio frequency (RF) solution. © 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement
Characterization of Biometric Template Aging in a Multiyear, Multivendor Longitudinal Fingerprint Matching Study

Biometric features are known to change over time, presenting a challenge for their use in identity management systems. Viewed as an instrumentation and measurement problem, these changes represent a potential source of measurement or calibration error that needs to be addressed at the system level in order to guarantee performance over the lifetime of the system. In this paper, we develop a novel metric, biometric permanence, to characterize the stability of biometric features. First, we define permanence in terms of the change in a false nonmatch rate (FNMR) over a repeated sequence of enrollment and verification events for a given population. However, since changes in the FNMR are expected to be small, any variability in the biometric capture over time will camouflage the changes of interest. To address this issue, we propose a robust methodology that can isolate the visit-to-visit variability and substantially improve the estimation. We develop and characterize a heuristic statistical model for a biometric capture system, and apply it to a large data set of fingerprint biometrics collected over a period of seven years on a variety of commercially available capture devices. We discuss how this methodology can be used to isolate the effect of biometric template aging and to develop system-level strategies for dealing with it.
Mobile payment services in developing countries. Information, trust, and training: The ingredients for retail agents’ success

Financial services in developing countries are often expensive, leaving many of the poorest citizens without access to bank accounts. However, the growth of mobile payment services have been seen as a way to increase access by allowing individuals to send and receive payments through their phones. Although there has been much research on the benefits of ‘mobile money’, there has been relatively little academic inquiry into the firms who provide such services and their effectiveness. This research comprised of two country level surveys of the retail agents involved in selling mobile payment systems in Bangladesh and Tanzania. Its aim was to understand their relationship with the distributors or master agents for whom they sell the service for. The findings of the research suggest that the performance of retail agents in Bangladesh and Tanzania are strongly affected by the relationship they form with their distributors or master agents, particularly in terms of communication, training, and goals. The researchers conclude that in order to improve the performance of retail payment agents, it is important to select agents carefully and train them well.
The Value of Control and the Costs of Illiquidity

An inherent difficulty in valuing controlling blocks of shares is the illiquidity of the market. We explore the pricing implications associated with the illiquidity of controlling blocks of shares in the context of a search model of block trades. The model considers several dimensions of illiquidity. First, following a liquidity shock, the controlling blockholder is forced to sell, possibly to a less efficient acquirer. Second, this sale may occur at a fire sale price. Third, absent a liquidity shock, a trade occurs only if a potential buyer arrives. We use a structural estimation approach and U.S. data on trades of controlling blocks of public corporations to identify these dimensions of illiquidity. We obtain estimates of counter-factual valuations that would result in the absence of illiquidity that are used to measure the blockholders’ marketability discount and the dispersed shareholders’ illiquidity-spillover discount.
Platform Competition: Betfair and the UK Market for Sports Betting

We examine two episodes of strategic interaction in the UK betting industry: (a) Betfair (an entrant multisided platform, or MSP) versus Flutter (also an MSP), and (b) Betfair versus traditional bookmakers. We find that although Betfair was an underfunded second mover in the betting exchange space, it was able to attract punters at a much faster rate than the better‐funded first mover, Flutter. Moreover, while Betfair and traditional bookmakers competed aggressively for market share, they also developed a highly complementary relationship that favored all parties. We discuss implications for research in the economics and management of MSPs. Specifically, we argue that the literature would benefit from work that endogenizes platform design and that considers the possible competitive and cooperative interactions between the business models of traditional incumbents and those of potential innovative MSP entrants.
Energy Efficiency and Economic Value in Affordable Housing

Strong rental protection in the affordable housing market often prohibits landlords from charging rental premiums for energy-efficient dwellings. This may impede (re)development of energy efficient affordable housing. In the Netherlands, affordable housing institutions regularly sell dwellings from their housing stock to individual households. If they can sell energy efficient dwellings at a premium, this may stimulate investments in the environmental performance of homes.
Reliable detection and characterization of low-frequency polarized sources in the LOFAR M51 field

Context. The new generation of broad-band radio continuum surveys will provide large data sets with polarization information. New algorithms need to be developed to extract reliable catalogs of linearly polarized sources that can be used to characterize those sources and produce a dense rotation measure (RM) grid to probe magneto-ionized structures along the line of sight via Faraday rotation. Aims. The aim of the paper is to develop a computationally efficient and rigorously defined source-finding algorithm for linearly polarized sources. Methods. We used a calibrated data set from the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) at 150 MHz centered on the nearby galaxy M 51 to search for polarized background sources. With a new imaging software, we re-imaged the field at a resolution of 18″ × 15″ and cataloged a total of about 3000 continuum sources within 2.5° of the center of M 51. We made small Stokes Q and U images centered on each source brighter than 100 mJy in total intensity (201 sources) and used RM synthesis to create corresponding Faraday cubes that were analyzed individually. For each source, the noise distribution function was determined from a subset of the measurements at high Faraday depths where no polarization is expected; the peaks in polarized intensity in the Faraday spectrum were identified and the p-value of each source was calculated. Finally, the false discovery rate method was applied to the list of p-values to produce a list of polarized sources and quantify the reliability of the detections. We also analyzed sources fainter than 100 mJy but that were reported as polarized in the literature at at least another radio frequency. Results. Of the 201 sources that were searched for polarization, six polarized sources were detected confidently (with a false discovery rate of 5%). This corresponds to a number density of one polarized source per 3.3 square degrees, or 0.3 source per square degree. Increasing the false discovery rate to 50% yields 19 sources. A majority of the sources have a morphology that is indicative of them being double-lobed radio galaxies, and the ones with literature redshift measurements have 0.5 < z < 1.0. Conclusions. We find that this method is effective in identifying polarized sources, and is well suited for LOFAR observations. In the future, we intend to develop it further and apply it to larger data sets such as the LOFAR Two-meter Survey of the whole northern sky, LOTSS, and the ongoing deep LOFAR observations of the GOODS-North field.
ORIENTATION-SPECIFIC IMMOBILIZATION OF BMP-2 ON PLGA SCAFFOLDS

OF THESIS ORIENTATION-SPECIFIC IMMOBILIZATION OF BMP-2 ON PLGA SCAFFOLDS A variety of synthetic bone graft materials such as the polymer poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) have been investigated as alternatives to current tissue based bone graft materials. In this study, efforts have been made to improve the tissue-PLGA interface by immobilizing bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) in an oriented manner on scaffolds using covalently immobilized heparin. The results demonstrated a four-fold increase in covalently immobilized heparin compared to non-specific heparin attachment. Furthermore, the scaffolds with covalently attached heparin retained approximately threefold more BMP-2 than did either scaffolds with no heparin attached or scaffolds with non-specific heparin attachment. The activity of scaffolds with BMP-2 immobilized in various manners was examined using an alkaline phosphatase assay on C3H10T1/2seeded scaffolds. These results indicated approximately twice the amount of activity with scaffolds that had BMP-2 immobilized with covalently attached heparin than on scaffolds with adsorption of BMP-2 and a three-fold increase in activity when compared to scaffolds that had non-specific heparin attachment as the mechanism for BMP-2 immobilization. These results demonstrated that PLGA with covalently linked heparin has potential to immobilize BMP-2 in a specific orientation that is favorable for cellreceptor binding, leading to the more efficient use of the bone-growth factor.
Quantative analysis of Bt protein on different events of IR-64 plants and insects sample by ELISA

The experiment was undertaken at the transgenic containment facility, Department of Plant molecular biology and Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Raipur during 2014 and 2015. The primary exposure data indicated that amount of Bt protein contained transgenic lines fed by BPH ranged from 0.001 to 0. 109μg/g and secondary exposure data indicated that the amount of Bt protein contained BPH on transgenic lines fed by Coccinella beetle ranged from 0.005 to 0.044μg/g. On the basis of two years mean, in primary exposure, the maximum (0.106 μg/g) amount of Bt protein was expressed in IR64-4 followed by IR64-2 (0.086 μg/g) and minimum in IR64-C (0.001 μg/g) Whereas, in secondary exposure, the maximum (0.044 μg/g) amount of Bt protein was expressed in IR64-3 followed by IR64-2 (0.029 μg/g while protein was not in detectable level in IR64-C.The transgenic plants expressing insecticidal properties are becoming environmentally safe alternatives to chemical pesticides.
The Estimation Method Comparison of Iron Loss Coefficients through the Iron Loss Calculation

A new calculation method for iron loss coefficients is proposed by using the Steinmetz equation from Epstein data. The hysteresis loss must have linear characteristic according to the frequency. However, the existing iron loss coefficients are defined by formula of frequency. In this case, the hysteresis loss has non-linear characteristics by frequency. So, in this paper, the iron loss coefficients were defined by a function of the magnetic flux density, and the iron loss calculation is applied for Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor(IPMSM) of 600(W) and 200(W). The iron loss calculation results and the experimental results are compared according to the various materials.
Reverse Revenue Sharing Contract versus Two-Part Tariff Contract under a Closed-Loop Supply Chain System

The importance of remanufacturing has been recognized in research and practice. The integrated system, combining the forward and reverse activities of supply chains, is called closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) system. By coordination in the CLSC system, players will get economic improvement. This paper studies different coordination performances of two types of contracts, two-part tariff (TTC) and reverse revenue sharing contract (RRSC), in a closed-loop system. Through mathematical analysis based on Stackelberg Game Theory, we find that it is easy for manufacturer to improve more profits and retailer’s collection effects by adjusting the ratio of transfer collection price through RRSC, and we also give the function to calculate the best ratio of transfer collection price, which may be a valuable reference for the decision maker in practice. Besides, our results also suggest that although the profits of the coordinated CLSC system are always higher than the contradictory scenario, the RRSC is more favorable to the manufacturer than to the retailer, as results show that the manufacturer will share more profits from the system through RRSC. Therefore, RRSC has attracted the manufacturers more to closing the supply chain for economic consideration.