Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial Distribution of the Average Air Temperatures in Italy: Quantitative Analysis

Annual and monthly average temperatures are analyzed with statistical methods to characterize the temperature regime in Italy. Data from 738 weather stations, with homogeneous spatial cover throughout Italy, are used to estimate the annual and monthly air temperature normals. Geographic and morphologic parameters, computed around the points of measure, are considered as explicative variables within a georegression model. Morphometric variables are defined using the USGS GTOPO30 digital elevation model, which has a resolution of 1 km. On the basis of a stepwise regression analysis, the significant variables are found to be elevation, latitude, distance from the sea, and a measure of terrain concavity. The relationship between the average annual air temperature and the mentioned variables explains 92% of the variance and produces a standard error of 0.89°C. The temperature regime normalized mean temperature for each of the 12 months is reproduced with a two-harmonic Fourier series, with parameters estimated using stepwise regression. Analyses of the reconstruction errors demonstrate that the results are quite satisfactory for many technical purposes, particularly for large-scale climatic characterization.
Broadrange Reflectarray Element with Combined Slot and Dielectric Resonator Resonances

This paper presents a dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) reflectarray unit element with multiple loading circular slots underneath in concentric form. The radii of the three slots are varied simultaneously to function as phase-shifting elements. For the case of three under-loading slots, it is very interesting to find out that the slot and DRA resonances can be pulled together to provide a very broad phase range of 916°. Study shows that the gradient and phase range of the S curve can be easily tuned by manipulating the dimensions of the under-loading slots. Waveguide method has been used to establish the simulation and measurement models. The reflection properties of the DRA unit elements loaded with different ring-shaped slots are compared, along with a complete parametric analysis. The proposed reflectarray unit element is very compact as its phase shifter can be entirely hidden beneath the DRA.
On the Stability of the Least-Mean Fourth (LMF) Algorithm

We show that the least-mean fourth (LMF) adaptive algorithm is not mean-square stable when the regressor input is not strictly bounded (as happens, for example, if the input has a Gaussian distribution). This happens no matter how small the step-size is made. We prove this result for a slight modification of the Gaussian distribution in a length M = 1 filter (in order to simplify our arguments), and provide several examples of divergence when the regressor is Gaussian. Our results provide tools for filter designers to better understand what can happen when the LMF algorithm is used, and in which situations it might not be a good idea to use this algorithm.
A Wide-Band Circularly Polarized Wide-Gap Antenna Loaded with a Y-Shaped Metal Strip for L-Band Application

A wide-band circularly polarized wide-gap antenna loaded with a Y-shaped metal strip applied to L-band is proposed in this paper. The Y-shaped metal strip coupling motivates the wide gap to achieve wide-band circularly polarized radiation. Both the simulated results by CST Microwave Studio and the measured results indicate that the antenna impedance bandwidth (reflection coefficient less than −10 dB) and axial ratio bandwidth (AR < 3 dB) are 35.9% (1.1–1.71 GHz). The antenna produces a dual circularly polarized radiation with gain of 0.8–3.2 dBic. The equivalent current array model of the antenna is also presented, which well explains the radiation characteristics of the antenna. The introduction of the metal reflecting plate makes the antenna a directional one, whose gain is above 4 dBic within the band. This design enables the satellite communication for most frequency bands with high gain, which has a vast potential for future development.
Characterization and applications of diamond-like nanocomposites: A brief review

Diamond-like Nanocomposites (DLN) is a newly member in amorphous carbon (a:C) family. It consists of two or more interpenetrated atomic scale network structures. The amorphous silicon oxide (a:SiO) is incorporated within diamond-like carbon (DLC) matrix i.e. a:CH and both the network is interpenetrated by Si-C bond. Hence, the internal stress of deposited DLN film decreases remarkably compare to DLC. The diamond-like properties have come due to deform tetrahedral carbon with sp3 configuration and high ratio of sp3 to sp2 bond. The DLN has excellent mechanical, electrical, optical and tribological properties. Those properties of DLN could be varied over a wide range by changing deposition parameters, precursor and even post deposition treatment also. The range of properties are: Resistivity 10-4 to 1014 Ωcm, hardness 10–22 GPa, coefficient of friction 0.03-0.2, wear factor 0.2-0.4 10-7mm3/Nm, transmission Vis-far IR, modulus of elasticity 150-200 GPa, residual stress 200-300 Mpa, dielectric constant 3-9 and maximum operating temperature 600°C in oxygen environment and 1200°C in O2 free air. Generally, the PECVD method is used to synthesize the DLN film. The most common procedures used for investigation of structure and composition of DLN films are Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), HRTEM, FESEM and X-ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS). Interest in the coating technology has been expressed by nearly every industrial segment including automotive, aerospace, chemical processing, marine, energy, personal care, office equipment, electronics, biomedical and tool and die or in a single line from data to beer in all segment of life. In this review paper, characterization of diamond-like nanocomposites is discussed and subsequently different application areas are also elaborated.
Estimating similarity in benthic communities over decades and in areas open and closed to fishing in the central Gulf of Maine, USA

The ledges and banks of the central Gulf of Maine (i.e. Fippennies Ledge, Jeffreys Ledge, Cashes Ledge, and Platts Bank) have supported groundfish and Atlantic sea scallop fisheries for centuries. The benthic community of Fippennies Ledge was evaluated and compared during 2 time periods separated by more than 2 decades, the first based on a series of photographs collected during manned submersible dives conducted in 1986 and 1987 and the second using photographs collected during drop camera video surveys conducted in 2009 to 2014. Further, Fippennies, Jeffreys, and Cashes ledges were permanently closed to fishing in 2002, while Platts Bank remained open, enabling a spatial comparison of benthic communities in open and closed areas along with the examination of changes in the benthos over the 28 yr period on Fippennies Ledge. In the absence of commercial fishing, the scallop population on Fippennies Ledge appeared to be unchanged between 1986 and 2014, while observed differences in other dominant species were attributed to predator−prey relationships and long-term shifts in benthic conditions. Benthos of scallop habitat in the open and closed areas between 2009 and 2014 were similar in spatially dominant species composition and species richness, likely a result of the study area being a high-energy environment and therefore resilient to both natural and fishing perturbations. Understanding change in benthic communities over decades and between open and closed areas helps better define the dynamic nature of the central Gulf of Maine and may inform fisheries management in this region as the ocean climate changes.
Effects of different porosities on shear strength of fiber clay by response surface methodology

To study the effects of different factors (fiber length, fiber content and porosity) on the shear strength of fiber reinforced soil, the direct shear test of 3 levels and 3 factors was designed by response surface methodology (RSM) to explore the effects of different factors on the increment of shear strength parameters and construct polynomial regression equation of each effect factor. The test results showed that internal friction angles of fiber soil and plain soil were very close in different porosities, and increment of cohesion was changed after mixing fiber. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), fiber content was the main factor, followed by porosity, and the fiber length and porosity had strong interaction significance; the validity of the theoretical model of fiber pull-out in soil was checked. From the test, the porosity variable influenced the effect of fiber reinforced soil cohesion, and porosity of soil should be considered in the engineering program of fiber reinforced soil.
Absenteeism, Health Insurance, and Business Cycles

We use a dependent competing risks hazard rate model to investigate individual sickness absence behaviour in Norway, on the basis of register data covering more than 2 million absence spells. Our findings are: i) that business cycle improvements yield lower work-resumption rates for persons who are absent, and higher relapse rates for persons who have already resumed work; ii) that absence sometimes represents a health investment, in the sense that longer absence ‘now’ reduces the subsequent relapse propensity; and iii) that the work-resumption rate increases when sickness benefits are exhausted, but that work-resumptions at this point tend to be short-lived.
Robust Adaptive Sliding Mode Consensus of Multiagent Systems with Perturbed Communications and Actuators

This paper deals with the asymptotic consensus problem for a class of multiagent systems with time-varying additive actuator faults and perturbed communications. The performance of systems is also considered in the consensus controller designs. The upper and lower bounds of faults and perturbations in actuators and communications and controller gains are assumed to be unknown but can be estimated by designing some indirect adaptive laws. Based on the information from the adaptive estimation mechanism, the distributed robust adaptive sliding mode controllers are constructed to automatically compensate for the effects of faults and perturbations and to achieve any given level of gain attenuation from external disturbance to consensus errors. Through Lyapunov functions and adaptive schemes, the asymptotic consensus of resulting adaptive multiagent system can be achieved with a specified performance criterion in the presence of perturbed communications and actuators. The effectiveness of the proposed design is illustrated via a decoupled longitudinal model of F-18 aircraft.
A user-friendly condition for exponential ergodicity in randomly switched environments.

We consider random switching between finitely many vector fields leaving positively invariant a compact set. Recently, Li, Liu and Cui showed that if one the vector fields has a globally asymptotically stable (G.A.S.) equilibrium from which one can reach a point satisfying a weak Hormander-bracket condition, then the process converges in total variation to a unique invariant probability measure. In this note, adapting the proof of Li, Liu and Cui and using results of Benaim, Le Borgne, Malrieu and Zitt, the assumption of a G.A. S. equilibrium is weakened to the existence of an accessible point at which a barycentric combination of the vector fields vanishes. Some examples are given which demonstrate the usefulness of this condition.
MOODY'S KMV RISKCALC ™ V3.1 DENMARK

Moody’s KMV RiskCalc is the Moody’s KMV model for predicting private company defaults. It covers over 80% of the world’s GDP, has more than 20 geographic specific models, and is used by hundreds of institutions worldwide. While using the same underlying framework, each model reflects the domestic lending, regulator, and accounting practices of its specific region.
Using the Attribute Hierarchy Method to Make Diagnostic Inferences about Examinees' Cognitive Skills in Algebra on the SAT.

The purpose of this study is to apply the attribute hierarchy method (AHM) to a subset of SAT algebra items administered in March 2005 to promote cognitive diagnostic inferences about examinees. The AHM is a psychometric method for classifying examinees’ test item responses into a set of structured attribute patterns associated with different components from a cognitive model of task performance. An attribute is a description of the procedural or declarative knowledge needed to perform a task. These attributes form a hierarchy of cognitive skills that represent a cognitive model of task performance. The study was conducted in two steps. In step 1, a cognitive model was developed by having content specialists, first, review the SAT algebra items, identify their salient attributes, and order the item-based attributes into a hierarchy. Then, the cognitive model was validated by having a sample of students think aloud as they solved each item. In step 2, psychometric analyses were conducted on the SAT algebra cognitive model by evaluating the model-data fit between the expected response patterns generated by the cognitive model and the observed response patterns produced from a random sample of 5000 examinees who wrote the items. Attribute probabilities were also computed for this random sample of examinees so diagnostic inferences about their attribute-level performances could be made. We conclude the study by describing key limitations, highlighting challenges inherent to the development and analysis of cognitive diagnostic assessments, and proposing directions for future research. This article contains embedded media (video and audio files) and may take a few minutes to download. You will need Flash Player 9.0 (available from www.adobe.com) to play the files. An alternate, smaller version of this article, that does not contain media files is available below under the Alternate Version heading.
Inactivated-Denitrifying Bacteria as a Supplement to Reduce Methane Gas from the Cow Rumen Liquid

Methane gas derived from ruminants is one contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the world, including Indonesia. The methane gas emitted from livestock comes from two sources of emissions, i.e. digestion and faeces, so that production can be reduced through modification of the feed. One strategy for reducing methane gas production is by the addition of denitrifying bacteria, which transfer the electron acceptor for denitrification instead of methanogenesis. This study aims to investigate the potential of radiation-inactive denitrification bacteria in reducing production of methane gas in cow rumen liquid, which examined in vitro. In this study four treatments were examined which was consisted of the addition of active denitrifying bacteria, denitrifying bacteria inactivated by the irradiation Gamma Cell 1000 Gy, and denitrifying bacteria inactivated by autoclaving 1.5 atmospheric pressure, 120°C for 15 minutes; all were applied to the cow rumen liquid with the forage sorghum as the substrate in vitro. Results on the measurement of some parameters which were pH, ammonia, total volatile fatty acids, acetate, propionate, butyrate, bacterial biomass, protozoa biomass, production of total gas and methane gas at the 24 hour and 48 hour supported to a reduction of methanogenesis due to the addition of active and inactive denitrifying bacteria. The supplementation with the inactivated denitrifying bacteria reduced the methane gas production slightly higher than the active bacteria. The decrease in methane gas production from 24 to 48 hours from the addition of radiation-inactive and autoclaved-inactive denitrifying bacteria was 41.5% and 55.3%, respectively, higher than that of the active denitrification bacteria with a decrease of 13, 6%.
Commensurator subgroups of surface groups.

Let M be a surface, and let H be a subgroup of n1M. In this paper we study the commensurator subgroup C n1M(H) of n1M, and we extend a result of L. Paris and D. Rolfsen [7], when H is a geometric subgroup of n1M. We also give an application of commensurator subgroups to group representa- tion theory. Finally, by considering certain closed curves on the Klein bottle, we apply a classification of these curves to self-intersection Nielsen theory.
An Automatic Cognitive Graph-Based Segmentation for Detection of Blood Vessels in Retinal Images

This paper presents a hierarchical graph-based segmentation for blood vessel detection in digital retinal images. This segmentation employs some of perceptual Gestalt principles: similarity, closure, continuity, and proximity to merge segments into coherent connected vessel-like patterns. The integration of Gestalt principles is based on object-based features (e.g., color and black top-hat (BTH) morphology and context) and graph-analysis algorithms (e.g., Dijkstra path). The segmentation framework consists of two main steps: preprocessing and multiscale graph-based segmentation. Preprocessing is to enhance lighting condition, due to low illumination contrast, and to construct necessary features to enhance vessel structure due to sensitivity of vessel patterns to multiscale/multiorientation structure. Graph-based segmentation is to decrease computational processing required for region of interest into most semantic objects. The segmentation was evaluated on three publicly available datasets. Experimental results show that preprocessing stage achieves better results compared to state-of-the-art enhancement methods. The performance of the proposed graph-based segmentation is found to be consistent and comparable to other existing methods, with improved capability of detecting small/thin vessels.
Rigor index, fillet yield and proximate composition of cultured striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) for its suitability in processing industries in Bangladesh

Rigor-index in market-size striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, locally called Thai-Pangas) was determined to assess fillet yield for production of value-added products. In whole fish, rigor started within 1 hr after death under both iced and room temperature conditions while rigor-index reached a maximum of 72.23% within 8 hr and 85.5% within 5 hr at room temperature and iced condition, respectively, which was fully relaxed after 22 hr under both storage conditions. Post-mortem muscle pH decreased to 6.8 after 2 hr, 6.2 after 8 hr and sharp increase to 6.9 after 9 hr. There was a positive correlation between rigor progress and pH shift in fish fillets. Hand filleting was done post-rigor and fillet yield experiment showed 50.4±2.1% fillet, 8.0±0.2% viscera, 8.0±1.3% skin and 32.0±3.2% carcass could be obtained from Thai-Pangas. Proximate composition analysis of four regions of Thai-Pangas viz., head region, middle region, tail region and viscera revealed moisture 78.36%, 81.14%, 81.45% and 57.33%; protein 15.83%, 15.97%, 16.14% and 17.20%; lipid 4.61%, 1.82%, 1.32% and 24.31% and ash 1.09%, 0.96%, 0.95% and 0.86%, respectively indicating suitability of Thai-Pangas for production of value-added products such as fish fillets.
Trophic niche overlap between flatfishes in a nursery area on the Portuguese coast

The diets and the trophic niche overlap between seven flatfish species were studied in a coastal nursery adjoining to the Tagus estuary (Portugal). Fish were sampled monthly, from March to November 1999, using a beach seine. Arnoglossus imperialis (Rafinesque, 1810), Arnoglossus laterna (Walbaum, 1792) and Arnoglossus thori Kyle, 1913, fed mainly on crustaceans. The diets of Buglossidium luteum (Risso, 1810) and Dicologoglossa cuneata (Moreau, 1881) were mainly composed of Bivalvia and Polychaeta, while for Scophthalmus rhombus (Linnaeus, 1758) the main food items were Mysidacea and Teleostei. The diet of Pegusa lascaris (Risso, 1810) was mainly composed by Cumacea, Bivalvia, Decapoda and Amphipoda. Based on diet similarities two main groups were identified: one composed of A. imperialis , A. laterna, A. thori and S. rhombus , and the other grouping B. luteum, P. lascaris and D. cuneata . For the most common flatfishes, a similar pattern of diet seasonal variation was found, such that Amphipoda presented higher indices values in the period from March to June, while from July to November, Decapoda were more abundant. Although high values of diet overlap were obtained among some of the species, the main items in the diet of flatfishes are probably the most abundant prey in this coastal area, which suggests a generalist and opportunistic utilization of these food resources. Furthermore, niche overlap between these species is probably minimized by differences in resource use in other niche dimensions, namely time and space.
Effects of cooperatives and contracts on rural income and production in the dairy supply chains: Evidence from Northern Ethiopia

Farmer-induced collective action (co-operatives) or buyer-driven contracts are often in place in global agrifood chains. Their economic contribution is well recognised, although the exclusion of smallholders remains. This paper pays particular attention to the impact of co-operatives and contracts on dairy production and the income of dairy farmers in the local food chains in Northern Ethiopia. A structured survey of 415 dairy farmers was undertaken in four districts of Northern Ethiopia. Propensity score matching, regression on observables and regression on propensity scores were implemented to control selection bias. Both models yielded consistent treatment effect estimates, implying that milk production, cow productivity and household income for the members of co-operatives are larger in contrast to dairy farmers employing the spot market. We suggest that strengthening co-operatives may enhance and upgrade the dairy sector/chain, improve the livelihoods of smallholders, and facilitate the link to global food chains.
Preserving today for tomorrow: a case study of an archive of Interactive Music Installations

This work presents the problems addressed and the first results obtained by a project aimed at the preservation of Interactive Music Installations (IMI). Preservation requires that besides all the necessary components for the (re)production of a performance, also the knowledge about these components is kept, so that the original process can be repeated at any given time. This work proposes a multilevel approach for the preservation of IMI. As case studies, the Pinocchio Square (installed in EXPO 2002) and the Il Caos delle Sfere are considered.
Impact of proton irradiation on the static and dynamic characteristics of high-voltage 4H-SiC JBS switching diodes

The effects of proton irradiation on the static ( dc) and dynamic (switching) performance of high-voltage 4H-SiC Junction Barrier Schottky (JBS) diodes are investigated for the first time. In contrast to that observed on a high-voltage Si p - i - n diode control device, these SiC JBS devices show an increase (degradation) in series resistance (R/sub S/), a decrease (improvement) of reverse leakage current, and increase (improvement) in blocking voltage after high-fluence proton exposure. Measured breakdown voltages of post-irradiated SiC diodes increase on average by about 200 V after irradiation. Dynamic reverse recovery transient measurements show good agreement between the various dc observations regarding differences between high-power SiC and Si diodes, and show that SiC JBS diodes are very effective in minimizing switching losses for high-power applications, even under high levels of radiation exposure.