Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Qualité fromagère des laits de vache en fonction des régimes à base d'herbe

Resume L'influence du niveau des apports nutritifs et de la nature de la ration sur les caracteristiques physico-chimiques des laits de vache et leur aptitude fromagere est etudiee dans 3 essais realises a l'herbe. Les comparaisons ont porte sur; 1) la complementation isoenergetique du trefle blanc a l'auge par de la pulpe de betterave ou du ble; 2) la nature de l'espece pâturee (ray-grass ou dactyle) associee a une complementation supplementaire avec le dactyle; 3) les effets du chargement et du niveau de complementation au pâturage. La qualite du lait est determinee par des analyses physico-chimiques des laits portant essentiellement sur les fractions azotees et calciques et des tests technologiques qui ont necessite une mise au point. La vitesse de raffermissement de gel est obtenue avec un viscosimetre rotatif Rheomat 30. La fermete maximale du gel est correctement determinee avec "analyseur de consistance Stevens. Les rendements en fromage frais et azotes corriges sont evalues par centrifugation de lait empresure. Ces tests sont fiables mais presentent une variation inter-jours assez importante. De ce fait, ils doivent etre utilises pour comparer des laits traites le meme jour, et l'emploi de schemas experimentaux ou les animaux sont leurs propres temoins est necessaire. L'aptitude fromagere des laits issus de vaches au pâturage peut etre amelioree par une augmentation du niveau des apports energetiques. Celle-ci peut etre obtenue par un accroissement du niveau de complementation, une reduction du chargement au pâturage surtout lorsque les vaches ne recoivent pas d'aliments concentres, ou par le choix d'une espece pâturee de meilleure valeur alimentaire (ray-grass vs dactyle). L'effet depressif du dactyle peut etre corrige par un apport supplementaire d'aliment concentre. Par ailleurs, la nature de la complementation peut modifier l'aptitude fromagere des laits. Ainsi, la complementation d'une ration de trefle blanc avec de la pulpe a permis d'obtenir des laits d'une meilleure qualite fromagere comparativement au ble avec lequel les taux proteiques avaient pourtant ete les plus eleves. La quantite de caseine dans la fraction proteique et une teneur en calcium elevee peuvent tamponner l'effet nefaste d'un lait pauvre en proteines.
Characterization of aerosol particles at an industrial background site in Nairobi, Kenya

Air pollutants from industrial and urban sources contain harmful elements and chemical compounds. This work presents a study on background industrial and urban aerosol particles in the city of Nairobi. Its main focus was the understanding of elemental, black carbon (BC) and particulate mass (PM) concentrations in the perspective of identifying their sources. Aerosol particles were collected on Teflon filters in two size fractions, a fine fraction of particles having an aerodynamic diameter (da) < 2.5 µm and a coarse fraction with particles between 2.5 and 10 µm. A photometer and an energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometer were used to analyse BC and trace elements (Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb, Sr and Pb), respectively. The sampled mass of the particulate matter was determined gravimetrically. The measured concentrations of the analysable species were dominated by BC, K and S in the fine fraction and Si, Ca and Fe in the coarse fraction. Principal component analysis and correlation evaluation of the fine fraction concentrations implicated industrial, vehicular and biomass-burning emissions as the main sources of the measured elements. The average Pb concentration of 105 ng m-3 in the PM10 samples at the background industrial site was approximately 20% of the air quality guideline (AQG) recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO). Most of the measured elements exhibited higher concentrations than those measured in Francistown in Botswana, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Edinburgh in United Kingdom but less than those measured in Barcelona in Spain and from previous studies in Nairobi.
Biodesel Production from Pseudomonas Fluorescens Lp1 Lipase Immobilized on Amino-silane Modified Super Paramagnetic Fe3O4 Nanoparticles

An extracellular lipase from Pseudomonas fluorescens Lp1 isolated from oil contaminated soil was immobilized onto amino silane modified superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The magnetic nanoparticles, magnetite was synthesized chemically by co-precipitation and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Powder X-ray diffraction studies (XRD). The structure of the synthesized magnetic nanoparticles was uniform, spherical and the size was determined around 31 nm by powder XRD. The biodiesel production mixture was prepared by addition of waste cooking oil, lipase immobilized magnetite and methanol. The transesterified products were analyzed by Gas Liquid chromatography-Mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). The methyl esters such as Oxiraneundecanoic acid, 3-pentyl-methyl ester, Hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester and 10-Octadecenoic acid, methyl ester were obtained. The study experimentally proved the use of amino silane modified superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles in biodiesel production from waste cooking oil.
Low temperature thermal degradation of cellulosic insulating paper in air and transformer oil

The thermal degradation of cellulose in the form of Kraft insulating paper has been studied in air for up to 140 h and in transformer oil for up to 3500 h in the temperature range 60–120 °C using measurements of the degree of polymerization (DP) and (in oil) analysis of furanic degradation products. Degradation was faster in air than in oil. The DP decreased from the original value of 1.2 × 103 to a limiting value in the range of 300–900 depending on temperature and degradation conditions. The variation of the DP with degradation time was consistent with two mechanisms, one in which the first-order rate constant decreased exponentially with time, and another in which only a limited number of chain bonds were scissionable. The degradation rate was first order in scissionable bonds. The major furanic degradation products were 2-furaldehyde, 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde and furfuryl alcohol. Their concentrations continually increased over the timescale of the experiments. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry
Robust piecewise linear L 1-regression via nonsmooth DC optimization

ABSTRACT Piecewise linear -regression problem is formulated as an unconstrained difference of convex (DC) optimization problem and an algorithm for solving this problem is developed. Auxiliary problems are introduced to design an adaptive approach to generate a suitable piecewise linear regression model and starting points for solving the underlying DC optimization problems. The performance of the proposed algorithm as both approximation and prediction tool is evaluated using synthetic and real-world data sets containing outliers. It is also compared with mainstream machine learning regression algorithms using various performance measures. Results demonstrate that the new algorithm is robust to outliers and in general, provides better predictions than the other alternative regression algorithms for most data sets used in the numerical experiments.
Inhomogeneous broadening of optically detected magnetic resonance of the ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond by interstitial carbon atoms

We study the impact of the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV–) center density on the lattice strain resulting in the splitting of the optically detected magnetic resonance of HPHT diamond. A simple model, taking into account the presence of the interstitial carbon atoms, acting like a wedge force on the crystal lattice, explains the broadening and splitting of the optically detected magnetic resonance of the ensemble of NV– centers at densities within the range of 1013 ÷ 1014 cm−3. This model uses a complete generalized spin Hamiltonian, takes into account the strain-effect of each center in the ensemble and gives good agreement with experimental data.
Please, Please, Just Tell Me: The Linguistic Features of Humorous Deception

Prior research undertaken for the purpose of identifying deceptive language has focused on deception as it is used for nefarious ends, such as purposeful lying. However, despite the intent to mislead, not all examples of deception are carried out for malevolent ends. In this study, we describe the linguistic features of humorous deception. Specifically, we analyzed the linguistic features of 753 news stories, 1/3 of which were truthful and 2/3 of which we categorized as examples of humorous deception. The news stories we analyzed occurred naturally as part of a segment named Bluff the Listener on the popular American radio quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! Using a combination of supervised learning and predictive modeling, we identified 11 linguistic features accounting for approximately 18% of the variance between humorous deception and truthful news stories. These linguistic features suggested the deceptive news stories were more confident and descriptive but also less cohesive when compared to the truthful new stories. We suggest these findings reflect the dual communicative goal of this unique type of discourse to simultaneously deceive and be humorous.
Mediating role of prenatal depression in attachment and maternal-fetal attachment in primigravida in late pregnancy

Background: Prenatal depression and attachment are factors that affect the establishment of an intimate relationship between a mother and fetus. The study explored differences in prenatal depression and maternal-fetal attachment (MFA) scores between different type of attachment as well as the effects of maternal depression scores and attachment dimensions on maternal intimacy with fetus.Methods: The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Experience of Close Relationship (ECR) scale, Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (MAAS) and a general data scale were used to investigate 260 primigravida. Exploratory analysis was performed to analyze the effects of depression score and attachment on MFA.Results: The results showed that pregnant women with insecure attachment exhibited an increased prevalence of prenatal depression, lower total score of MFA and lower MFA quality compared with those women with secure attachment. Explorative analysis showed that depression score mediated the relationship between attachment avoidance and MFA quality.Conclusions: Primigravida who had insecure attachment exhibited an increased prevalence of prenatal depression and lower MFA. Maternal depression and attachment may affect the emotional bond between a mother and fetus. This finding should be taken seriously, and early intervention needs to take personality traits into consideration.
Impact of an Intermediate Respiratory Care Unit on Clinical Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients

Background: Many severe COVID-19 patients require respiratory support and monitoring. An intermediate respiratory care unit (IMCU) may be a valuable element for optimizing patient care and limited health-care resources management. We aim to assess the impact of an IMCU in the management of severe COVID-19.Methods: Observational, retrospective study including patients admitted to the IMCU due to COVID-19 pneumonia during the months of March and April 2020. Patients were stratified based on their requirement of transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU) and on survival status at the end of follow-up. A multivariable Cox proportional hazards method was used to assess risk factors associated with mortality.Results: A total of 253 patients were included. Of them, 68% were male and median age was 65 years (IQR 18 years). Ninety-two patients (36.4%) required ICU transfer. Patients transferred to the ICU had a higher mortality rate (44.6% Vs 24.2%; p<0.001). Multivariable proportional hazards model showed that age ³65 years (HR 4.14; 95%CI 2.31-7.42; p<0.001); chronic respiratory conditions (HR 2.34; 95%CI 1.38-3.99; p=0.002) and chronic kidney disease (HR 2.96; 95%CI 1.61-5.43; p<0.001) were independently associated with mortality. High-dose systemic corticosteroids followed by progressive dose tapering showed a lower risk of death (HR 0.15; 95%CI 0.06-0.40; p<0.001). Conclusions: IMCU allow to safely and effectively manage severe COVID-19 patients requiring respiratory support and non-invasive monitoring, therefore reducing ICU burden. Older age and chronic respiratory or renal conditions are associated with worse clinical outcomes, while treatment with systemic corticosteroids may have a protective effect on mortality.
Determinação da deformação inicial de um Atuador Polimérico Bobinado

This paper aims at proposing a method for determining an optimum initial stretching for a Coiled Polymer Actuator (CPA) subject to constraints. An analytical approach is adopted for determining steady state solutions of the system dynamic model, which is composed of a thermoelectric model and a thermomechanical model. The model parameters were estimated from experimental data acquired from a real actuator. An algorithm is proposed for determining the optimum initial stretching. The result of such algorithm was verified using computer simulations of the system dynamic model. The present study shows that it is possible to analytically determine an optimum initial stretching for a CPA subject to constraints. Resumo: Este artigo tem como objetivo propor um método para determinar uma deformação inicial ótima para um Atuador Polimérico Bobinado (CPA), sujeito a restrições. Uma abordagem anaĺıtica é adotada para determinar soluções em estado estacionário do modelo dinâmico do sistema, composto por um modelo termoelétrico e um modelo termomecânico. Os parâmetros do modelo foram estimados por meio de dados experimentais adquiridos a partir de um atuador real. Um algoritmo é proposto para determinar a deformação inicial ótima. O resultado obtido para o algoritmo foi verificado por meio de simulações computacionais do modelo dinâmico do sistema. O presente estudo mostra que é posśıvel determinar analiticamente uma deformação inicial ótima para um CPA, sujeito a restrições.
Model-Based Approach for Cornering Stiffness and Yaw Moment of Inertia Estimation of a Scaled Electric Vehicle

This paper addresses the problem of estimating the tire cornering stiffness coecient and the yaw moment of inertia of a scaled car-like vehicle. The method merges measurements information of the vehicle lateral response along with its nonlinear planar model. Aiming effective and accurate results, we propose solving an optimization problem based on a representative dataset obtained experimentally using a persistently exciting input. The validation of the proposed method is shown by comparing the agreement between numerical simulations, evaluated with the estimated parameters, with experimental data. Three representative maneuvers are considered for this purpose, including indoor and outdoor experiments.
Compositional analysis of intact alkyl esters in leaf epicuticular wax of swede by capillary gas chromatography and electron-impact mass spectrometry

A method for the separation and identification of complex mixtures of more than 50 different intact esters in epicuticular wax of swede, Brassica napus var. rapifera cv. Doon Major, using combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has been developed. The esters were separated at temperatures of up to 350°C by automatic pressure programming (for capillary GC) or by manually increasing helium carrier gas pressure (for GC-MS) in order to maintain flow at high temperatures. Esters in the range C41-C50 were detected, with regular repeating acid/alcohol combinations. Individual acid and alcohol moieties were identified from [RCO2H2]+ ions in the mass spectra of intact esters and, following trans-esterification and silylation, from the mass spectral and chromatographic characteristics of the methyl esters of the acid components (C14-C23) and trimethylsilyl derivatives of the alcohol components (C23-C31). The major compounds were doubly branched C44 and C46 esters, composed of anteiso-C17/anteiso-C27 (32.7%), anteiso-C17/anteiso-C29 (11.9%) and anteiso-C19/anteiso-C27 (13.1%) acid/alcohol combinations, respectively, singly branched C43 and C45 esters, composed of n-C16/anteiso-C27 (8.5%), anteiso-C17/n-C26 (3.9%), n-C18/anteiso-C27 (6.8%), anteiso-C17/n-C28 (2.3%) and anteiso-C19/n-C26 (1.6%), were minor components.
Aerodynamic Lens System for Producing Particle Beams at Stratospheric Pressures

ABSTRACT An aerodynamic lens has been developed and tested to produce a narrow particle beam of aerosols that are sampled from air at pressures between 20 and 75 mbar. The development of such a lens was motivated by polar ozone research to obtain a composition analysis of polar stratospheric cloud particles (PSCs). Although these particles play a key role in the ozone destruction process, their composition never has been measured exactly. The lens for stratospheric research is an extension development of a device operating at much lower pressures. The lens consists of seven single orifices that are separated by spacers. The orifice diameters range from 0.925 to 0.52 mm, and the entrance and exit of the lens contain openings of 1.40 and 0.45 mm, respectively. Laminar gas flow produces a particle beam that is directed through a skimmer into a vacuum chamber for determining beam widths and transport efficiencies. The lens was tested with spherical monodisperse DOS particles (0.1–0.9 μm in diameter) as well a.
Caractérisation mécanique des anches simples d'instruments à vent

When modelling woodwinds, when one try to built synthetic reeds one need a good mechanical description of the cane reed. We show that the basic approach in terms of a simple mechanical oscillator is not valid. The correct description must include a viscoplastic characteristic for a wet reed and a viscoelastic one for the dry reed. So it is not possible with classic methods to determine the elastic modulus of a cane reed, and the physical models which include the reed behaviour with a modal description should have to be modify according the equations we present here
Sistema de Conversão de Recursos Energéticos Distribuídos baseado no Conversor DAB para Suporte à Rede Elétrica

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the model and control of a power conversion system as interface of distributed energy resource (DER) for supporting the power grid. In this application, the conversion system, with the control strategy, must respond quickly and robustly to adequate the changes and intermittences of DERs to the grid codes, controlling instantly active and reactive power. Therefore, the system consists of dual active bridge (DAB) converter as an additional stage for regulating the dc-link voltage of the dc-ac converter, which is connected to the grid. In implementing the control strategy, the contribution of using an integralproportional controller was evaluated as alternative to the conventional proportional-integral one, whether for the voltage regulation of the DAB converter as for the instantaneous power control. Simulations were performed and the results were evaluated to validate the theoretical considerations. Resumo: Este trabalho apresenta uma análise abrangente de modelo e controle de um sistema de conversão de energia como interface de recurso energético distribúıdo (distributed energy resource) (DER) para suporte à rede elétrica. Nesta aplicação, o sistema de conversão, com a estratégia de controle, deve responder de forma rápida e robusta para adequar as variações e intermitências dos DERs aos padrões normativos da rede, controlando instantaneamente potência ativa e reativa. Portanto, o sistema é composto por um conversor ponte ativa dupla (dual active bridge) (DAB) como estágio adicional para regulação de tensão do barramento do conversor CC-CA, o qual é conectado à rede elétrica. Na implementação da estratégia de controle, avaliou-se a contribuição do emprego do controlador integral-proporcional como alternativa ao convencional proporcional-integral, tanto na regulação da tensão de sáıda do conversor DAB como no controle das potências instantâneas. Simulações foram realizadas e os resultados foram avaliados para validar as considerações teóricas.
Board mechanisms and corporate market value: Panel Data Evidence from Jordan)

The study examines the effect of board size, frequency of board meetings and frequency of audit committee meetings on the market value of 11 Jordanian commercial banks as measured by Tobin’s Q. Random effect panel data regression is employed to test the study hypotheses. Results reveal that board size has a significant and negative effect on bank market value. Results also show that frequency of board meetings has no effect on bank value, while the frequency of audit committee meetings has a significant and positive effect on bank value. The results suggest that the argument of agency theory and resource independence theory towards the role of board and its committees in supporting firm value should be always combined with the appropriate size. Accordingly, one important implication of the study is that the selection of an appropriate number of board members and the prior effective preparation for their meetings are critical factors to enhance the value of banks in Jordan.
Cost-effective Cloud Edge Traffic Engineering with Cascara

Inter-domain bandwidth costs comprise a significant amount of the operating expenditure of cloud providers, but have received little attention in research and practice. Traffic engineering systems at the cloud edge must strike a fine balance between minimizing costs and maintaining the latency expected by clients. The nature of this tradeoff is complex due to non-linear pricing schemes prevalent in the market for inter-domain bandwidth. We quantify this tradeoff and uncover several key insights from the link-utilization between a large cloud provider and Internet service providers. Based on these insights, we propose CASCARA, a cloud edge traffic engineering framework to optimize inter-domain bandwidth allocations with non-linear pricing schemes. CASCARA exploits the abundance of latency-equivalent peer links on the cloud edge to minimize costs without impacting latency significantly. Extensive evaluation on production traffic demands of a commercial cloud provider shows that CASCARA saves 11–50% in bandwidth costs per cloud PoP, while bounding the increase in client latency by 3 milliseconds.
Operational modal analysis of a nonlinear oscillation system under a harmonic excitation

Operational modal analysis (OMA) is a procedure that allows the modal parameters of a structure to be extracted from the measured response to an unknown excitation generated during operation. Nonlinearity is inevitably and frequently encountered in OMA. The problem: The traditional OMA method based on linear modal theory cannot be applied to a nonlinear oscillation system. The solution: This paper aims to propose a nonlinear OMA method for nonlinear oscillation systems. The new OMA method is based on the following: (1) a self-excitation phenomenon is caused by nonlinear components; (2) the nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) of the system appear under a single-frequency harmonic excitation; and (3) using forced response data, the symbolic regression method (SR) can be used to automatically search for the NNMs of the system, whose modal parameters are implicit in the expression structure expressing each NNM. The simulation result of a three-degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) nonlinear system verifies the correctness of the proposed OMA method. Then, a disc-rod rotor model is considered, and the proposed OMA method’s capability is further evaluated.