Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phytochemical composition of Moroccan saffron accessions by headspace solid-phase-microextraction

The phytochemical composition of 19 saffron samples collected under different Moroccan environments is evaluated by Headspace Solid-Phase Micro-extraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The aim is to categorize Moroccan saffron volatiles and to highlight the impact of the environment on the chemical composition of the spice. This is the first research conducted on Moroccan saffron volatiles according to their geographical origin. A total of 57 volatile components have been identified. Differences in compound proportion and composition among the accessions were observed. The main chemical classes of volatiles identified were monoterpene hydrocarbons (6 to 42%), oxygenated monoterpenes (3 to 29%) and non-terpene derivatives. Only 14 compounds were found in common to all the accessions. The most important, in decreasing proportions, are safranal, 1, 8-cineole, 4-keto-isophorone, isophorone and α-pinene. 70% of the accessions analyzed contain β-isophorone, an isomere of isophorone which is a criterion of saffron high quality. Other components are identified in very few accessions, in lower amount, e.g., rose oxide (26% of accessions), allo-ocimene (13%) and piperitone (4%). A difference in the volatiles composition has been noticed consequently to accessions origin and drying mode. The cluster analysis based on Jaccard similarity and complete link method has identified five groups, at 75% of similarity. This study highlights the impact of the environment on saffron volatiles composition when the drying is done naturally, and this could be used as chemical fingerprinting for the authenticity of the product, according to its origin.
SNAKE (COLUBRIDAE: THAMNOPHIS) PREDATORY RESPONSES TO CHEMICAL CUES FROM NATIVE AND INTRODUCED PREY SPECIES

Abstract Several aquatic vertebrates have been introduced into freshwater systems in California over the past 100 years. Some populations of the two-striped garter snake (Thamnophis hammondii) have lived in sympatry with these species since their introduction; other populations have never encountered them. To assess the possible adaptation to a novel prey, we tested the predatory responses of T. hammondii from different populations to different chemosensory cues from native and introduced prey species. We presented chemical extracts from potential prey types and 2 control odors to individual snakes on cotton swabs and recorded the number of tongue flicks and attacks directed at each swab. Subject response was higher for prey odors than control substances. Odors from introduced centrarchid fish (Lepomis) elicited higher response levels than other prey types, including native anuran larvae (Pseudacris regilla). The pattern of response was similar for both populations of snakes (experienced and naïve, with respect to the introduced prey). We suggest that the generalist aquatic lifestyle of T. hammondii has allowed it to take advantage of increasing populations of introduced prey. Decisions on the management strategies for some of these introduced prey species should include consideration of how T. hammondii populations might respond in areas of sympatry.
Effective acoustic properties of a meta-material consisting of small Helmholtz resonators

We investigate the acoustic properties of meta-materials that are inspired by sound-absorbing structures. We show that it is possible to construct meta-materials with frequency-dependent effective properties, with large and/or negative permittivities. Mathematically, we investigate solutions $u^\varepsilon: \Omega_\varepsilon \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ to a Helmholtz equation in the limit $\varepsilon\rightarrow 0$ with the help of two-scale convergence. The domain $\Omega_\varepsilon$ is obtained by removing from an open set $\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^n$ in a periodic fashion a large number (order $\varepsilon^{-n}$) of small resonators (order $\varepsilon$). The special properties of the meta-material are obtained through sub-scale structures in the perforations.
State of Art of Different Clustering Approaches

This Paper presents an overview of the clustering and its methods used in Data Mining. Firstly, different measures that are used for determining whether two clusters are similar or dissimilar are defined. Then different methods of clustering are presented and are divided into: hierarchical, partitional and evolutionary algorithms. Finally clustering is performed in large data sets and subsequently their challenges are discussed.
Reinforcement corrosion : Limit states , reliability and modelling

An assessment of deteriorative effects on reinforced concrete structures is presented focusing mainly on the propagation of the reinforcement corrosion stage. It necessitates the utilization of relevant models and advanced simulation techniques to enable the probabilistic analysis of concrete structures and service life prognosis. Several analytical models for the initiation of concrete cracking, for crack width and for a decrease in the effective reinforcement cross-section are briefly presented. The described approach is applied to some illustrative examples showing the feasibility of predicting the development of reinforcement corrosion and its effect on the service life and/or reliability of the structure. The authors believe that such methodology supports the optimisation of design strategies as well as effective decision-making processes.
Adoption of Internet Banking in Maldives, the Most Important Determinants

This research explores the relationship between various variables that may influence the behavioural intention to use internet banking such as social influence, performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, effort expectancy, and trust. One of the main aims of this study is to find out the predictors of internet banking adoption and identify these factors. Further objectives include to investigate whether the independent variables namely performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and trust affect the behavioural intention to use internet banking. This study has been conducted in Maldives and it will focus on the internet banking users of central bank of Maldives namely Bank of Maldives. A questionnaire was developed using the variables from UTAUT model with an added variable of trust. A total of 150 respondents were collected using simple random sampling. Regression analysis and Correlation analysis was also carried out to determine the relationships between all the dependant variable and independent variables. The results showed that three variables were found to have less significance to the dependant variable of behavioural intention to use internet banking. These three variables are effort expectancy, social influence and trust.
Could Education Promote the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process?

This paper explores Palestinians' attitudes towards a peace process and their determinants, with a particular focus on the role of education. Understanding the factors that shape attitudes towards peace is important in order to be successful in negotiations or in implementing a peace agreement. In the literature, there is particular disagreement about the role of education. While some authors have linked violent and extreme positions to ignorance and to low market opportunities, others have found that education is positively correlated with being a member of a terrorist group. To better understand the role of education I decompose the attitudes towards peace into two dimensions; attitudes towards reconciliation and attitudes towards concessions. To measure these attitudes, I use a flexible item response model proposed by Spady (2007), which allows to take into account the multidimensionality of the concepts. The results show that education has a positive effect on attitudes towards concessions but a negative effect on attitudes towards reconciliation. This may occur because relative to a situation of peace, highly educated individuals are more strongly affected by current depressed economic conditions in Palestine. They therefore have more to gain from a peace agreement and may thus be more willing to make concessions. At the same time, they may be more frustrated and therefore less willing to reconcile. I also find that their attitudes to reconciliation move closely with aggregate economic conditions, while those of less educated individual are also influenced by local factors such as the construction of the separation barrier in their region of residence.
Roles of toll-like receptor 4 and immunomodulatory hormones in bovine endometritis

The aim of the study is to explore the role of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and immunomodulatory hormones in bovine endometritis. The bovine endometrial epithelial cell model (BenEpC) was used in the study. After contamination by Escherichia coli, BenEpCs were randomly divided into several groups according to the different concentration of 17-β estradiol (E2) treatment and the different stimulation, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or lipoteichoic acid (LTA). The expressions of TLR4 and COX-2 mRNA were determined by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Prostaglandin F (PGF) and prostaglandin E (PGE) levels were evaluated by radioimmunoassay. A significant difference was observed in TLR4 mRNA expression of bacterial contaminated BEnEpCs among low, middle and high-dose E2 treatment group (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, there was also a statistical difference in the relative changes of the prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and COX-2 mRNA expression in BEnEpCs among low, middle and high-dose E2 treatment group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the most significant increase of PGE2 and Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mRNA expression was achieved in the LPS-stimulated BEnEpCs compared with those stimulated with LTA. Our findings suggested that TLR4 was activated in bovine endometritis, and then led to more prostaglandin production as regulation of local inflammatory response. However, this response was dependent on and influenced by the immunomodulatory hormones.
Models and scenarios of the Neolithic in Central Europe

The Neolithic in Central Europe can no longer be characterised as comprising a compact population of a single society in which organisations and subsistence strategies were homogeneous. Despite the apparent uniformity of the pottery, the period was characterised by a mosaic of small communities that differed in both economic and social organisation for almost two millennia. These genetically diverse communities inhabited geographical spaces of varying size, from regions to micro-regions to single settlements. The polymorphous modes of exploiting natural resources ensured successful long-term survival, even when the results of the emerging farming economy were uncertain and unreliable in some groups.
A continuous rainfall model based on vine copulas

Copulas have already proven their flexibility in rainfall modelling. Yet, their use is generally restricted to the description of bivariate dependence. Recently, vine copulas have been introduced, allowing multi-dimensional dependence structures to be described on the basis of a stage by stage mixing of 2-dimensional copulas. This paper explores the use of such vine copulas in order to incorporate all relevant dependences between the storm variables of interest. On the basis of such fitted vine copulas, an external storm structure is modelled. An internal storm structure is superimposed based on Huff curves, such that a continuous time series of rainfall is generated. The performance of the rainfall model is evaluated through a statistical comparison between an ensemble of synthetical rainfall series and the observed rainfall series and through the comparison of the annual maxima.
Phytochemical screening, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of some plants from Brazilian flora

The present study evaluated the total phenolic and flavonoid content as well as the antioxidant activity of methanolic leaf extracts of five plants from Brazilian flora: Abarema cochliacarpos, Croton corchoropsis, Myroxylon peruiferum, Stryphnodendron pulcherrimum and Tanaecium cyrtanthum by 2,2’-azino-bis- (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and total antioxidant capacity assays. A thin layer chromatography analysis of all plant extracts has also been performed and it showed the presence of different types of secondary metabolites, namely saponins, phenylpropanoids and flavonoids. Among the studied plants, A. cochliacarpos and S. pulcherrimum showed considerable antioxidant radical scavenging activity on all the tested assays and they also exhibited substantial amounts of phenolic compounds. In addition, a positive correlation was found between total phenols and both ABTS radical scavenging activity and total antioxidant capacity assays, thus indicating the major role of phenols on the antioxidant activity of these plants. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first approach where the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of A. cochliacarpos, C. corchoropsis, M. peruiferum, S. pulcherrimum and T. xanthophyllum were explored. Key words: Brazilian medicinal plants, 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2’-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), flavonoid content, phenolic content.
Configurable computer systems can support dataflow computing

CONFIGURABLE COMPUTER SYSTEMS CAN SUPPORT DATAFLOW COMPUTING by Anish Arvind Sathe This work presents a practical implementation of a uni-processor system design. This design, named D2-CPU, satisfies the pure data-driven paradigm, which is a radical alternative to the conventional von Neumann paradigm and exploits the instruction-level parallelism to its full extent. The D2-CPU uses the natural flow of the program, dataflow, by minimizing redundant instructions like fetch, store, and write back. This leads to a design with the better performance, lower power consumption and efficient use of the onchip resources. This extraordinary performance is the result of a simple, pipelined and superscalar architecture with a very wide data bus and a completely out of order execution of instructions. This creates a program counter less, distributed controlled system design with the realization of intelligent memories. Upon the availability of data, the instructions advance further in the memory hierarchy and ultimately to the execution units by themselves, instead of having the CPU fetch the required instructions from the memory as in controlled flow processors. This application (data) oriented execution process is in contrast to application ignorant CPUs in conventional machines. The D 2CPU solves current architectural challenges and puts into practice a pure data-driven microprocessor. This work employs an FPGA implementation of the D 2-CPU to prove the practicability of the data-driven computer paradigm using configurable logic. A relative analysis at the end confirms its superiority in performance, resource utilization and ease of programming over conventional CPUs. CONFIGURABLE COMPUTER SYSTEMS CAN SUPPORT DATAFLOW COMPUTING by Anish Arvind Sathe A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of New Jersey Institute of Technology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
NBA Referee Bias: Do Statistics Suggest a Home Court Advantage? Is there Favoritism toward Teams Facing Elimination?

In the summer of 2007, former National Basketball Association (NBA) referee Tim Donaghy was found to have bet on games that he officiated. Donaghy subsequently alleged that referee bias is rampant throughout the league. The scandal created widespread speculation about the legitimacy of controversial games in recent history, though NBA Commissioner David Stern argued vehemently that Donaghy was an isolated individual in his deviance. In light of this contentious issue, this paper empirically investigates whether there is evidence of referee bias. Specifically, home bias and prolonged playoff series bias are examined through analysis of multiple statistical categories, including discretionary turnovers (DTOs) and non-discretionary turnovers (NTOs). To analyze prolonged series bias, this study observes teams facing elimination (down 2-3, 1-3, or 0-3) as well as those threatening to eliminate (up 3-2, 3-1, or 3-0). In these “one-sided elimination games,” or “pre-game 7 elimination games,” only a win by the team trailing in the series can extend the series to an additional game, generating added league revenue from ticket and advertisement sales. So, if the data analysis suggests that particular statistics are significantly favored toward teams facing “one-sided elimination,” it may suggest prolonged series bias among referees.
Offset Mirrors: Institutional Paths in Canadian and Australian Social Housing

Abstract Paired comparisons of liberal-welfare regimes are underrepresented in housing policy literature. This paper adopts historical institutionalist theory in comparing two such cases: Canada and Australia. Despite these countries’ many similarities, social housing policy differences have been shaped by institutional differences in federal systems, welfare states and social housing itself. Australia's earlier welfare state supported much larger postwar production, but Canada caught up once it departed from the residual US model in the 1960s. Although the 1970s economic shocks challenged Australia's welfare state more than Canada's, the latter's centrifugal federalism became a bigger threat to social housing. In 1985–1995 Australia expanded its social programmes, including demand-side assistance, while Canada devolved and retrenched social programmes, including social housing. Although supply-side social housing is an orphaned legacy in each case, Australia has higher assistance to low-income tenants, more active policy discourse and stronger recent signs of post-neoliberal re-engagement than Canada. These two cases illustrate the importance of institutional differences, including ‘‘institutional design’’, in creating different forces of change at key junctures, leading to divergences in policy paths. These findings suggest value in reinterpreting the existing secondary literature from the perspectives of welfare regime theory and historical institutionalism.
Causes of Corruption: History, Geography, and Government

Corruption, which remains a serious problem in many countries, has prompted considerable research in recent years. This paper adds to the extant literature with insights on factors influencing corrupt activity. Using cross-country data for about 100 nations, the roles of national history, geography, and government are examined to see how they affect conditions for corruption, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The innovative aspects of this research include use of a wide set of historical, geographical, and governmental determinants of corruption, as well as detailed assessment of several previously considered determinants. The main issues addressed are the effects of the size and scope of government on the incidence of corruption across countries, and the significance of historical and geographic factors in corruption. Regarding the first question, the authors find the size and scope of government can significantly affect corruption. On the second, it is shown that historical institutional inertia in older countries and new rent-seeking opportunities in younger nations can encourage corruption, while certain geographic factors can mitigate corruption. The paper ends with discussion aimed at the policymaker.
HARPS spectropolarimetry of Herbig Ae/Be stars ⋆

Our knowledge of the presence and the strength of magnetic fields in intermediate-mass pre-main-sequence stars remains very poor. We present new magnetic field measurements in six Herbig Ae/Be stars observed with HARPS in spectropolarimetric mode. We downloaded from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) archive the publically available HARPS spectra for six Herbig Ae/Be stars. Wavelength shifts between right- and left-hand side circularly polarised spectra were interpreted in terms of a longitudinal magnetic field 〈Bz〉, using the moment technique introduced by Mathys. The application of the moment technique to the HARPS spectra allowed us in addition to study the presence of the crossover effect and quadratic magnetic fields. Our search for longitudinal magnetic fields resulted in first detections of weak magnetic fields in the Herbig Ae/Be stars HD 58647 and HD 98922. Further, we confirm the previous tentative detection of a weak magnetic field in HD 104237 by Donati et al. and confirm the previous detection of a magnetic field in the Herbig Ae star HD 190073. Surprisingly, the measured longitudinal magnetic field of HD 190073, 〈Bz〉 = 91 ± 18 G at a significance level of 5σ is not in agreement with the measurement results of Alecian et al. (2013), 〈Bz〉 = –10 ± 20 G, who applied the LSD method to exactly the same data. No crossover effect was detected for any star in the sample. Only for HD 98922 the crossover effect was found tobe close to 3σ with a measured value of –4228 ± 1443 km s–1 G. A quadratic magnetic field of the order of 10 kG was detected in HD 98922, and of ∼3.5 kG in HD 104237. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Co-combustion - A summary of technology

Co-combustion of biomass or waste together with a base fuel in a boiler is a simple and economically suitable way to replace fossil fuels by biomass and to utilise waste. Co-combustion in a high-efficiency power station means utilisation of biomass and waste with a higher thermal efficiency than what otherwise had been possible. Due to transport limitations, the additional fuel will only supply a minor part (less than a few hundreds MWfuel) of the energy in a plant. There are several options: co-combustion with coal in pulverised or fluidised bed boilers, combustion on added grates inserted in pulverised coal boilers, combustors for added fuel coupled in parallel to the steam circuit of a power plant, external gas producers delivering its gas to replace an oil, gas or pulverised fuel burner. Furthermore biomass can be used for reburning in order to reduce NO emissions or for after burning to reduce N2O emissions in fluidised bed boilers. Combination of fuels can give rise to positive or negative synergy effects, of which the best known are the interactions between S, Cl, K, Al, and Si that may give rise to or prevent deposits on tubes or on catalyst surfaces, or that may have an influence on the formation of dioxins. With better knowledge of these effects the positive ones can be utilised and the negative ones can be avoided.