Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Dual-Band Branch Line Coupler for Dual-Band Butler Matrix

In this brief, a novel dual-band branch line coupler (BLC) for designing a dual-band Butler matrix (BM) has been proposed. To realize the proposed BLC, a unique dual-band impedance transformer (DBIT) with a derivation of closed-form design equations, capable of performing a dual-band operation for a traditional transmission line (TL) of any electrical length, has been proposed as well. The proposed BLC is different from the existing dual-band BLCs in terms of its phase difference between the output ports, which enables it to play a role equivalent to the combination of a dual-band equal power ±90° BLC and a dual-band ±45° / ±135° phase shifter. The circuit parameters analysis of the proposed BLC versus the frequency ratio has also been studied here. To verify the design method, a dual-band BLC has been designed using Keysight Technologies’ advanced design system (ADS), implemented on a Rogers 5870 for 1 GHz and 1.76 GHz operating frequencies, and then tested.
Predicate Acquisition for Opinion Holder Extraction. A Data-Intensive Approach

Opinion holder extraction is one of the most important tasks in sentiment analysis. We will briefly outline the importance of predicates for this task and categorize them according to part of speech and according to which semantic role they select for the opinion holder. For many languages there do not exist semantic resources from which such predicates can be easily extracted. Therefore, we present alternative corpus-based methods to gain such predicates automatically, including the usage of prototypical opinion holders, i.e. common nouns, denoting for example experts or analysts, which describe particular groups of people whose profession or occupation is to form and express opinions towards specific items.
Adapt or Die: Targeting Unique Transmission-Stage Biology for Malaria Elimination

Plasmodium parasites have a complex life cycle that includes development in the human host as well as the Anopheles vector. Successful transmission of the parasite between its host and vector therefore requires the parasite to balance its investments in asexual replication and sexual reproduction, varying the frequency of sexual commitment to persist within the human host and generate future opportunities for transmission. The transmission window is extended further by the ability of stage V gametocytes to circulate in peripheral blood for weeks, whereas immature stage I to IV gametocytes sequester in the bone marrow and spleen until final maturation. Due to the low gametocyte numbers in blood circulation and with the ease of targeting such life cycle bottlenecks, transmission represents an efficient target for therapeutic intervention. The biological process of Plasmodium transmission is a multistage, multifaceted process and the past decade has seen a much deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms and regulators involved. Clearly, specific and divergent processes are used during transmission compared to asexual proliferation, which both poses challenges but also opportunities for discovery of transmission-blocking antimalarials. This review therefore presents an update of our molecular understanding of gametocyte and gamete biology as well as the status of transmission-blocking activities of current antimalarials and lead development compounds. By defining the biological components associated with transmission, considerations for the development of new transmission-blocking drugs to target such untapped but unique biology is suggested as an important, main driver for transmission-blocking drug discovery.
To measure chlorophyll or phytoplankton biovolume: an aquatic conundrum with implications for the management of lakes

Abstract Canfield DE, Jr., Bachmann RW, Hoyer MV, Johansson LS, Søndergaard M, and Jeppesen E. 2018. To measure chlorophyl or phytoplankton biovolume: an aquatic conundrum with implications for the management of lakes. Lake Reserv Manage. 35:181–192. The log10-transformed relationship between measured phytoplankton biovolumes and chlorophyll concentrations, surrogates for algal biomass, was examined using 13,000-plus paired samples collected from lakes in Denmark (250), the continental United States (1835), and Florida (159). A positive (R2 = 0.57) relationship was found but predicted biovolumes had a 95% confidence interval of 11–912%. Regressing chlorophyll as opposed to phytoplankton biovolume against total phosphorus (TP) (R2 = 0.43 vs. R2 = 0.21), total nitrogen (TN) (R2 = 0.24 vs. R2 = 0.08), and Secchi disk (SD) (R2 = 0.60 vs. R2 = 0.39) yielded stronger relationships. Three algal groups (Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, and Bacillariophyceae) contributed approximately 100% of the biovolume in some samples. For these groups and samples, biovolume increased significantly with chlorophyll (R2 = 0.35, R2 = 0.27, and R2 = 0.31, respectively) and TP (R2 = 0.18, R2 = 0.13, and R2 = 0.13) and decreased significantly with increases in SD (R2 = 0.29, R2 = 0.31, and R2 = 0.17). All empirical relationships had substantial confidence intervals. Contingency tables for variance within the independent (horizontal variance) and dependent (vertical variance) variables are presented, providing managers information on how much change is required to insure noticeable effects. If resources are limited, chlorophyll is recommended for monitoring long-term trends because it provides an estimate of biomass magnitude and has better relationships with nutrients and SD. Managers may integrate occasional biovolume measurements if concerned with Cyanophyta abundance, taste and odor production, or changing algal population dynamics.
Capturing literacy learners: Evaluating a reading programme using popular novels and films with subtitles

The multimedia AVAILLL programme is currently being widely implemented into New Zealand classrooms. The Audio Visual Achievement in Literacy Language and Learning (AVAILLL) programme is an inexpensive, innovative, multimedia, six-week intensive reading programme to supplement classroom practice. Popular, subtitled movies and accompanying novels are used with targeted literacy-based activities to engage students in reading. AVAILLL has been implemented effectively in Christchurch, wider New Zealand and US schools. The programme is particularly focussed at senior elementary students (10-13 year olds) and is appropriate for variable ability classes. This paper reports on a large experimental research study examining the effectiveness of the AVAILLL programme. Findings from six New Zealand schools indicated gains in comprehension and vocabulary, with sustainability of improvement over a six-month period. Qualitative data revealed a noteworthy increase in fluency and engagement in reading. This research provides classroom practice with experimental research support.
Robust 2DPCA With F-Norm Minimization

While feature extraction based on two-dimensional principal component analysis (2DPCA) is widely used in image recognition, such a method usually fails to handle the noise and outliers, because adopted F-norm square actually exaggerates the effect of outliers. To tackle the aforementioned problem, we present a novel algorithm called Area-2DPCA, which uses F-norm to characterize the variance and reconstruction error. By doing so, the project directions, which minimize the summation of the area between projection directions and reconstruct error of each data, can be found. Moreover, the Area-2DPCA sets different weighted coefficients to each residual error. To find the solution of our model, a non-greedy algorithm, which has a closed form solution in each step, is presented. The extensive experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our proposed model, compared with the state-of-the-art. INDEX TERMS Two-dimensional principal component analysis, robust feature extraction, `2,1-norm.
The Conceptual Ecology of the Human Microbiome

It has become increasingly clear that there is a vast array of microorganisms on and in the human body, known collectively as the human microbiome. Our microbiomes are extraordinarily complex, and this complexity has been linked to human health and well-being. Given the complexity and importance of our microbiomes, we struggle with how to think about them. There is a long list of competing metaphors that we use to refer to our microbiomes, including as an “organ” containing our “second genome,” as a “symbiont” in the human “holobiont,” and as an ecological “community” in the human “ecosystem,” among others. Each of these makes different assumptions about the fundamental biology of the human-microbe system, with important implications for how we choose to study microbiomes, and the therapies we envision for correcting microbiome-linked disorders. We believe that it is time to move beyond metaphors, and we propose a scientifically pluralist approach that focuses on characterizing fundamental biological properties of microbiomes such as heritability, transmission mode, rates of dispersal rates, and strength of local selection. Such an approach will allow us to break out of the confines of narrow conceptual frameworks, and to guide the exploration of our complexity as chimeric beings.
Antiplasmin, the Fast-Reacting Plasmin Inhibitor of Human Plasma

Recently a new plasmin inhibitor was discovered in human plasma by three different groups (Eur. J. Biochem. 69, 209, 1976; J. Biol. Chem. 251, 5956, 1976; Biochem. J. 159, 545, 1976). This inhibitor is responsible for the fast-reacting plasmin-neutraIizing activity of human plasma and forms a very stable 1:1 molar complex with plasmin, which is devoid of protease and esterase activity. The concentration of antiplasmin in human plasma is approximately I μM (2/3 that of plasminogen). We have purified the inhibitor by affinity chromatography on insolubilized plasminogen, followed by DEAE-Sephadex and concanavalin A chromatography. It is a glycoprotein with a mol . wt. of 67,000 (SDS-gel electrophoresis), a carbohydrate content of 14%, and amino terminal sequence Asn-Gln-Glu-Gly (Wiman and Collen, submitted). The inhibitor interacts strongly with the light chain of plasmin (probably through reaction with the active site serine), and weakly with the heavy chain (probably through interaction with the lysine-binding site), suggesting that antiplasmin not only functions as an inhibitor of plasmin, but also interferes with the interaction between plasm in (ogen) and fibrin.
Diagnosing and managing scleroderma-related pulmonary arterial hypertension

ABSTRACT Scleroderma is an uncommon autoimmune disease of unknown cause that may affect any organ system in the body. Patients with scleroderma are prone to developing pulmonary complications, including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), that are the leading cause of death in this population. This article describes scleroderma-related PAH and its diagnosis and management.
Biocontrol efficacy of Trichoderma isolates against tomato damping off caused by Pythium spp. and Rhizoctonia solani (Kuhn.)

Damping-off of tomato is one of the worst diseases of tomato nurseries in Meghalaya. Pathogens can kill both germinating seeds and young seedlings. Management of damping off by fungicides is not the most desirable mean to manage the disease. Integration of biocontrol agents, specially the Trichoderma spp. , which can reduce doses of fungicides is considered as better management strategy against the damping off of pathogens. Considering the fact, present investigation was formulated and aimed on to evaluate bio-efficacy of Trichoderma formulation against Pythium spp. and Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn. Cause damping off in tomato. The bio priming of tomato seeds with 4 Trichoderma isolates (TR 55, TR 66, TR 122 and TR 136) showed considerable increase in germination percentage and vigour index over control, with highest germination percentage and vigour index recorded in TR 55 (75.13% and 47.99% respectively). Among the treatments (seed, soil and seed plus soil) highest reduction in incidences of preemergence and post emergence damping-off was obtained with the isolate, TR 55 (seed plus soil treatment) in both the pathogens i.e., Pythium spp. and R. solani Kuhn. The rhizosphere colonization of Trichoderma spp. showed that the rate of colonization increases up to 45 days after sowing and reduced at 60 days after sowing in all the treatments. Colonization was highest in TR 55 (3.73 × 10) followed by TR 122 (3.63× 10), TR 66 (3.50× 10) and TR 136 (3.37× 10). Plant height, number of leaves and flowers per plant, dry and fresh weight, root length and yield of tomato was significantly superior in Trichoderma treated plants and low in control. Viability of Trichoderma in talcum powder showed that microbial count was highest initially but a gradual decline was recorded with the increase in the storage time.
Synthesis, Characterization and Biological Activity of Saturated and Unsaturated Copolyesters Based on Bisphenol-A

ATURATED copolyesters were prepared by copolyesterfication of bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalic anhydride or tetrabromophthalic anhydride with ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, 1,3-propane diol, 1,5-pentane diol, 1,6-hexane diol and cis-2-butene-1,4-diol. Also, unsaturated copolyesters were prepared by copolyesterification of bisphenol-A and maleic anhydride with the same glycols. All the copolyester resins obtained have been characterized; unsaturated copolyesters were found to cure with styrene. The properties of the copolyester in the form of films were determined. Also, the fire retardancy of polyesters was evaluated as varnish films on plywood strips. IR and HNMR spectroscopy were used for characterization of the copolyester resins. The antimicrobial activity of the copolyesters obtained was examined against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
Implementing Green Human Resource Management, Cost-Effective Strategies and Tools

Now there has been a growing interest in the environmental issues all over the world and all most every sphere of life irrespective to politics, public or business. Some specific treaties like Vienna Convention 1985, Kyoto 1997, Montreal 1987, Copenhagen 2009, etc., have been signed by the world leaders to combat with the climate change [1]. Countries of the world are now seriously concerned about the severe harmful consequences of the environment pollution from various chemical and industrial waste materials. Hence the governments and NGOs are now formulating and promoting policies and regulations to abate and to some extent stop the destruction of natural resources so that they can minimize the negative effect of environment pollution on society and on the mankind as a whole [2,3].
Static-priority scheduling on multiprocessors

The preemptive scheduling of systems of periodic tasks on a platform comprised of several identical processors is considered. A scheduling algorithm is proposed for static-priority scheduling of such systems; this algorithm is a simple extension of the uniprocessor rate-monotonic scheduling algorithm. It is proven that this algorithm successfully schedules any periodic task system with a worst-case utilization no more than a third the capacity of the multiprocessor platform. It is also shown that no static-priority multiprocessor scheduling algorithm (partitioned or global) can guarantee schedulability for a periodic task set with a utilization higher than one half the capacity of the multiprocessor platform.
Characterizing Sources of Resistance to Phytophthora Blight of Pepper Caused by Phytophthora capsici in North Carolina

Phytophthora blight, caused by Phytophthora capsici, is an important disease of peppers in the United States and worldwide. P. capsici causes crown, root, and fruit rot as well as foliar lesions in peppers. Field trials were conducted in 2015 and 2016 to evaluate 32 commercial and experimental pepper cultivars against a mixed-isolate inoculum in North Carolina. Cultivars Martha-R and Meeting were classified as highly resistant to P. capsici, and Paladin was classified as resistant. Intermediate resistance to P. capsici in the field was observed with Fabuloso, Revolution, Vanguard, Archimedes, Aristotle, Ebano-R, and Declaration. Greenhouse experiments were conducted to determine the response of 48 pepper cultivars when inoculated individually with two isolates from North Carolina and an isolate from Michigan. Isolates exhibited different levels of virulence in pepper cultivars screened for resistance. Landraces CM334 and Fidel as well as the cultivars Martha-R, Meeting, and Intruder were categorized as highly resistant or resistant to the three isolates tested. Overall, highly resistant cultivars tended to respond similarly to field mix inoculations and greenhouse single isolate inoculations.
MAGIC and the very high energy gamma-ray sky

MAGIC is a system of two 17m Cherenkov telescopes for very high energy gamma-ray and cosmic-ray astrophysics and currently one of the best performing in the field. Through the discovery of more than 50 extragalactic and galactic sources including blazars, radiogalaxies, pulsars, supernovae remnants and binary systems (among other types) a broad range of topics can be studied: accretion to black holes, relativistic jets, shocks and their connection to the acceleration of cosmic rays. In addition, MAGIC tries to answer fundamental physics questions, such as the search for dark matter. In this talk I will discuss some selected highlights from MAGIC, especially the recent detection of very high energy gamma-rays from the blazar TXS 0506+056, which could potentially be the source of the high-energy extragalactic neutrino recently detected by Icecube.
Measuring Shariah Risk: Proposal for a New Shariah Risk Rating Model for Islamic Banks and Allocation of Capital for Shariah Risk Under Basel III

Customers interested in the Islamic banking Industry continue to put a question that whether the bank they wish to do business with is practically implementing Shariah rules and guidelines despite being registered as an Islamic bank and having fatwa from the competent authority. This paper proposes a set of 14 rating factors that measure the risk of Shariah non-compliance at an Islamic bank. These factors are used as an input to develop Shariah Risk Rating Model, which can be used by the customers of the Islamic banking industry, the management of an Islamic bank, and the central banks to measure the degree of Shariah compliance at an Islamic bank. The paper also suggests a methodology towards allocating capital charge against the risk of Shariah non-compliance under Pillar 2 of Basel III accords. The main strengths of this model are simplicity and relevance towards assessing the Shariah non-compliance risk because input factors are based on the information derived from published financial statements only. Another key strength is that the end rating can be used on a standalone basis or as an extension to the conventional rating models provided by external agencies such as Fitch, Moody’s, S&P etc. Development of this model is aimed at motivating the banking customers, management of Islamic banks, and central banks to improve the implementation of Shariah guidelines and hence contribute towards accelerated growth of the Islamic finance industry. The model was applied on three selected banks on unsolicited basis and results reflect discriminating power of the input factors in order to gauge the Shariah risk. هناك تساؤلا من قبل العملاء الراغبين في التعامل مع المؤسسات المالية الإسلامية، مفاده ما إذا كانت البنوك الإسلامية ملتزمة فعلا بتطبيق قواعد الشريعة، بغض النظر عن رخصتها الرسمية كبنك إسلامي وعن الفتاوى الصادرة عن هيئاتها الشرعية. بناء على ذلك يقترح هذا البحث 14 معيارا لقياس مخاطر عدم الالتزام بالشريعة، وتعتبر هذه المعايير مهمة في تطوير نموذج تصنيفي يوضح مستوى مخاطر عدم الالتزام بالشريعة في بنك إسلامي ما، والذي يمكن استخدامه من قبل عملاء المؤسسات المالية الإسلامية والبنوك المركزية. كما يقترح البحث منهجية لوضع مخصصات مالية تتعلق بمخاطر عدم الالتزام بالشريعة الإسلامية حسب متطلبات بازل 3. وتكمن قوة هذا النموذج المقترح في سهولة الحصول على المعلومات اللازمة والتي تستعمل كمداخل لقياس مخاطر عدم الالتزام بقواعد الشريعة الإسلامية، والتي تعتمد في أساسها على التقارير السنوية التي تصدرها البنوك الإسلامية. هناك ميزة أخرى لهذا النموذج، وهو أنه يمكن أن يستخدم كمنهج مستقل أو يمكن أن يكون امتدادا للمناهج التقليدية الأخرى المستخدمة من قبل وكالات التصنيف الرئيسية الثلاث المختصة مثل فيتش، موديز، وستاندرد آند بورز. إن هدف تطوير هذا النموذج هو تشجيع العملاء وإدارة البنوك الإسلامية والبنوك المركزية في تحسين أداء البنوك الإسلامية في التزامها الكامل بقواعد الشريعة الإسلامية مما يساهم في تطوير الصناعة المالية الإسلامية. وقد تم تطبيق النموذج على البنوك الثلاثة المختارة في الورقة على أساس غير ملتمس وتعكس النتائج قوة تمييزية لمدخلات النموذج المقترح .
Prediction of Fine-scale Jet Mixing Noise Using Geometrical Acoustics

A fine-scale jet mixing noise prediction methodology based on Tam and Auriault model combined with RANS CFD data for the modelling of the sources and geometrical acoustics to account for the propagation is studied. This approach is particularly useful in an industrial context because of its relatively short restitution time. The process is tested on the isolated configurations of the European EXEJET project.
Teaching Strategy as Excellence Organization Mission

During the last decade, theoretical and empirical researches have indicated that organizational teaching as a process occurs in various sites and situations, and it should not viewed from only economic-profit perspective. Individual organizational teaching in organizations' context includes the actions of key actors at every level for creating value in the organization. Generally, teaching strategy behavior in organizations regarded as a tool for organizations' growth and profitability, strategic innovation, organizational and customer-oriented changes. This article attempts to explain the teaching plan strategy by patterns of thinking. The importance of strategic, long-term policy and teaching plan strategy is very clear to planners. Teaching managers like to follow a similar and routine teaching behavioral pattern. Teaching plan strategy, normally taken, as a part of teaching planning, therefore also tends to run in cycles of around last years. Implementing excellence organization can give a competitive advantage and help foster goodwill toward teaching strategy approach. Studies on corporate organizational teaching have possessed an increasing growth. The rise of intense competition among the domestic and global markets has revealed the crucial role of organizational teaching in actualization and maintenance of competitive privilege development in the teaching organizations.