Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LOWERING THE PRODUCTION TEMPERATURE OF ASPHALT WHILE INCORPORATING A HIGH PROPORTION OF RECYCLED MATERIAL

The environmental footprint of asphalt mixtures can be reduced by production at lower temperatures and by the increase of recycled asphalt percentage. However, a reduced asphalt mixture production temperatures may result in the old asphalt particles containing hard and brittle bitumen not melt and disintegrate completely leading to a non-homogeneous asphalt mixture and a shorter service life on the road. By surveying the CO2 footprint of asphalt production, it is shown that the CO2 equivalent savings achieved by recycling old asphalt far outweigh those that may be achieved by reducing the production temperature. Therefore, aiming to reduce CO2 emissions through reduced mix plant temperatures but reducing also the recycled asphalt content is counterproductive. Performance and footprint advantage are to be gained through increasing the amount of recycled material and appropriately pre-treating it. A new process to pre-treat the old asphalt granulates, based on the two-phase Shell WAM Foam process allows to maximize the fraction of recycled material and reduce the environmental footprint while maintaining an appropriate performance level. Trials to produce asphalt at 105 o C and at a 60 % recycling level have met the performance criteria for conventionally produced asphalt.
Automatic Colorization of Webtoons Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

In this work we look at the task of colorizing black and white images on a new domain: webtoons. Although the colorization task has previously been explored for natural images, this type of dataset hasn’t been used before. Comics like webtoons present some additional challenges over natural images, such as occlusion by speech bubbles and text. Webtoons are usually produced in color, making them a good dataset for analyzing different colorization models. First we look at some of the previously introduced models’ performance on this task and establish a baseline. Then propose a new model to address the problems of color bleeding and color inconsistency. The proposed Color & Apply network is composed of two networks; one network generates sparse color information and a second network uses this generated color information as input to apply color to the whole image. These two networks are trained end-to-end. The proposed model solves some of the problems observed with other architectures, resulting in better colorizations.
Modular Cartesian Genetic Programming 1 Embedded Cartesian Genetic Programming (ECGP) 1.1 Cone-based and Age-based Module Creation

1 Modular Cartesian Genetic Programming . 1 1 Embedded Cartesian Genetic Programming (ECGP) . 1 1.1 Cone-based and Age-based Module Creation . 1 1.2 Cone-based Crossover . 6 References . 8
PEI DRAFT final.indd

The Prince Edward Islands are the most southerly part of South Africa’s official territory. They consist of Marion Island and Prince Edward Island, two volcanic outcrops approximately 500 000 years old, but still active. Marion Island covers an area of 270 km2; whereas Prince Edward Island – 19 km to the north-east – is only about 45 km2. The nearest landfall is Crozet Island, 950 km to the east, whereas contiguous South Africa lies over 2 000 km to the north-west. The islands were annexed by the South African government in 1947 for strategic reasons (Crawford 1982, 1999), but they are important for a number of other reasons as well. These have a lot to do with their oceanographic setting.
How Do Humans and Data Systems Establish a CommonQuery Language?

As most users do not precisely know the structure and/or the content of databases, their queries do not exactly reflect their information needs. While database management systems (DBMS) may interact with users and use their feedback on the returned results to learn the information needs behind their queries, current query interfaces assume that users do not learn and modify the way way they express their information needs in form of queries during their interaction with the DBMS. Using a real-world interaction workload, we show that users learn and modify how to express their information needs during their interactions with the DBMS and their learning is accurately modeled by a well-known reinforcement learning mechanism. As current data interaction systems assume that users do not modify their strategies, they cannot discover the information needs behind users' queries effectively. We model the interaction between users and DBMS as a game with identical interest between two rational agents whose goal is to establish a common language for representing information needs in form of queries. We propose a reinforcement learning method that learns and answers the information needs behind queries and adapts to the changes in users' strategies and prove that it stochastically improves the effectiveness of answering queries. We propose two efficient implementation of this method over large relational databases. Our empirical studies over realworld query workloads indicate that our algorithms are efficient and effective.
Organizing for Sustainability Reporting-A comparison between Denmark and Switzerland

This thesis analyses the national actors that organize for institutionalization of sustainability reporting (SR) in DK and CH. Studies on SR often focus on the global proliferation and ignoring the national idiosyncrasies, and in particular the national actors that are engaged in the institutionalization of SR outside reporting entities. This thesis fills this gap by addressing the question how national actors in different countries organize for institutionalization of SR on a national level. The actors of interests were corporate stakeholders, such as government, auditors, NGOs and business associations, while corporations were deliberately excluded. To answer the question, this study applied a qualitative, comparative case study, using Denmark as a case for mandatory SR, and Switzerland as a case for voluntary SR. The analysis builds on a novel analytical framework derived from three streams of new institutionalism: Issue-centric organizational field theory, institutional logics and institutional work. The combination of the three allowed defining clear boundaries of the national field (issue-centric field theory) and assessing the dynamics between institutions and actors (institutional logics and work) in the organization for SR. The main finding of this thesis is that the organization of SR on a national level differs between countries. The two case studies on Denmark and Switzerland have shown that actors organize – or in the case of Switzerland do not organize – for sustainability reporting on a national level. The regulatory context thereby plays a key role. Second, actors in both countries use different elements of institutional work and are guided by different logics. Last, permeable boundaries make national actors important promoters of international standards on national level. Local actors thereby contribute national as well as global institutionalization of SR.
TANGENTIAL CHERN-WEIL HOMOMORPHISM

Moore and Schochet gave the Chern-Weil homomorphism of a vector bundle f over a foliated space (M,F), measuring the nonexistence of partially flat covariant derivatives. We look at this problem (restricting our interest to vector bundles over foliated manifolds) from the point of view of nontransitive Lie algebroids. We use — for our problem — the Chern-Weil homomorphism of the regular Lie algebroid coming from the Lie algebroid A(f) of f by restricting it to the elements whose anchors are tangent to the foliation F . Our observations lead to the conjecture that we can sometimes obtain some essentially new kinds of characteristic classes (with respect to the construction of Moore-Schochet) called singular.
Gender Diversity in Corporate Governance and its Effect on Financial Performance

2 Introduction . 3 The effect of a diverse board . 7 Peculiarities of Italian Boards . 8 Data and Methodology. 10 Definition of variables, econometric models and hypothesis . 12 Empirical Results (2012) . 14 Empirical Results (2013-2015) . 15 Conclusions . 16 Appendix. 17 Bibliography . 21
Therapeutic modulation of leptin and adiponectin pathways in cancer

Obesity is a significant risk factor for the development of different cancer types and has been associated with poorer response to oncotherapies and linked to earlier recurrence of the neoplastic disease. While molecular mechanisms of these associations are still under investigation, functional dysregulation of two major fat tissuederived adipokines, leptin and adiponectin, appears to play an important role. Leptin is known to activate carcinogenic pathways, while adiponectin appears to exert antineoplastic activities and interfere with leptin-induced processes. Because excess body fat is associated with increased leptin expression and adiponectin downregulation, therapeutic rebalancing of these pathways may benefit cancer patients, especially the obese subpopulations. This review focuses on our novel leptin receptor antagonists and adiponectin receptor agonists designed for therapeutic modulation of obesity-associated pathways in cancer.
Optimization of harvesting stages for higher yield of Ocimum spp. in North Indian Plains

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is a popular culinary herb belongs to the family Lamiaceae. Basil also named as great basil or saint-joseph-wart. Leaf of basil has a pungent & strong taste some Asian basils have a clove like flavour. Basil used as a culinary herbs have been reported to posses antioxidant activities. A field experiment was conducted at the research farm of CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant,Research Centre, Pantnagar (U.S.Nagar) Uttarakhand.India during kharif season 2018. The highest oil yield observed in T2 Cim-Snigdha (126.99 kg/ha) as compared to T3 Cim-Soumya (108.64 kg/ha), T5 Cim-Surabhi (86.22 kg/ha) as compared to others. The lowest oil yield (37.90 kg/ha) recorded in T4 Cim-Jyoti. Oil yield also differ at different harvest stages of different Ocimum sp. The highest oil yield 142.69 kg/ha observed at 100% flowering stage (S4) as compared to 138.56 kg/h at seed setting stage (S5), 63.60 kg/ha at 50% flowering stage (S3), and 56.63 kg/ha at bud initiation stage (S2). The lowest oil yield 25.54 kg/ha recorded at pre budding stage (S1). The highest oil yield 267.00 kg/ha was recorded in T3S4 interaction of variety and harvest stages (Cim-Soumya at 100% flowering) as compared to other treatments. Therefore recommended the Ocimum should be harvest at 100% flowering stage to get maximum oil yield and return to the farmers as compared to other.
Online Identity Management Literacy for Engineering and Technology Students

This paper establishes the need for including online identity management literacy in undergraduate education, as part of preparing students for entering the job market. It discusses the impact of online information on employment, and presents original interview data about engineering and technology undergraduate students’ online identity management practices. The paper argues for the need to teach students social media literacy and proposes a specific plan for online identity management that can be integrated into undergraduate curricula.
Reproductive control of elephants 6

Introduction Chapter 6 deals specifically with fertility control as a possible means of population management of free-ranging african elephants. Because methods that are described here for elephants function by preventing cows from conceiving, fertility control cannot immediately reduce the population. This will only happen once mortality rates exceed birth rates. Considering, however, that elephants given the necessary resources can double their numbers every 15 years, fertility control may have an important role to play in population management. The first part of the chapter is devoted to the reproductive physiology of elephants in order to provide the reader with information and understanding which relate to fertility control. This is followed by examples of contraceptive methods that have been used in mammals, and a description of past and ongoing research specifically carried out in elephants. Finally guidelines for a contraception programme are provided, followed by a list of key research issues and gaps in our knowledge of elephants pertaining to reproduction and fertility control. In this chapter we will also attempt to answer the following questions in regard to reproductive control of african elephants:
Edinburgh Research Explorer Contraction of Hamiltonian K-spaces

In the spirit of recent work of Harada-Kaveh and Nishinou-Nohara-Ueda, we study the symplectic geometry of Popov’s horospherical degenerations of complex algebraic varieties with the action of a complex linearly reductive group. We formulate an intrinsic symplectic contraction of a Hamiltonian space, which is a surjective, continuous map onto a new Hamiltonian space that is a symplectomorphism on an explicitly deﬁned dense open subspace. This map is given by a precise formula, using techniques from the theory of symplectic reduction and symplectic implosion. We then show, using the Vinberg monoid, that the gradient-Hamiltonian ﬂow for a horospherical degeneration of an algebraic variety gives rise to this contraction from a general ﬁber to the special ﬁber. We apply this construction to branching problems in representation theory, and ﬁnally we show how the Gel’fand-Tsetlin integrable system can be understood to arise this way.
Use of a closed suction , perfused drainage system for peripancreatic drainage after pancreaticoduodenectomy

Objective: To use a novel drainage system in pancreaticoduodenectomy. Method: The data of 150 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy from January 2009 to July 2011 were analyzed, and all the surgeries were performed by a single team. First 93 surgeries were performed a novel drainage tube, the other 57 patients were placed the traditional one. The incidence and grade of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF), and the incidence of biliary leakage, delayed gastric emptying, bleeding and death within 30 days after the surgery were monitored. Result: In the first group, there were 22 patients had POPF (23.66%), the proportion of Grade A, B and C was 23.66%, 20.43% and 0%, respectively. In the contrary group, there were 17 patients had POPF (29.82%), the proportion of Grade A, B and C was 12.28%, 12.28% and 5.26%, respectively. Grade B and Grade C POPF rates between the two groups were statistically significance (P<0.05). Regarding the incidence of postoperative biliary leakage, delayed gastric emptying, bleeding and death, no significant differences were observed (P>0.05). Conclusion: The application of the novel drainage system in pancreaticoduodenectomy was safe, and could reduce the incidence of high grade POPF.
Isolation , Identification and Susceptibility Testing of Potential Lipase producing Bacterial and Fungal Strains from soil

Lipases are the enzymes that are generally used in the catalysis of the triacylglycerols to glycerol and free fatty acids. Microbial lipases are highly useful industrial enzymes and they represent more than 45% of total enzyme sales in enzyme market. This enzyme has wide application in processing of organic chemical, detergent formulations, manufacturing of paper, nutrition, cosmetics and processing in pharmaceutical. Due to the increasing demand of lipases, their stable production from microbial source is in high demand. In the present study, the isolation and screening of the lipase producing fungal and bacterial strains have been carried out on the different soil samples collected from different sites. In total, thirteen bacterial strains were isolated. Out of these strains, one potent strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (SJ2) was further validated by 16S rRNA sequencing, biochemical analysis and antibiotic resistance studies. Moreover, six fungal strains were also isolated and screened from which one strain selected for the additional study was Aspergillus flavus SJ3. The identity of the fungal strain was confirmed by the 18S rRNA gene sequencing. The best performing isolates from our collection can be commercialized after production process optimization.
Incremental Object Model Learning from Multimodal Human-Robot Interactions

Learning object models in the wild from natural human-robot interactions is es1 sential for robots to operate in real environments. Natural human interactions are 2 in essence multimodal, including among others language and gestures. The main 3 contribution of this paper is the development and evaluation of an incremental 4 learning algorithm that uses data from such interactions. Our experiments show 5 the first results within this area and confirm the challenges of the task. 6
Decoupling the Ces Distribution Circle with Quality and Beyond: Equilibrium Distributions and the Ces-Logit Nexus

We show for CES demands with heterogeneous productivities that profit, revenue and output distributions lie in the same closed power family as the productivity distribution (e.g., the â€˜Pareto circleâ€™). The price distribution lies in the inverse power family. Equilibrium distribution shapes are linked by linear relations between their density elasticities. Introducing product quality decouples the CES circle, and reconciles Pareto price and Pareto sales revenue distributions. We use discrete choice underpinnings to find variable mark-ups for a more flexible demand formulation bridging CES to logit and beyond. For logit demand, exponential (resp. normal) quality-cost distributions generate Pareto (log-normal) economic size distributions.
High-Speed Stream Structures and Interaction with the Magnetosphere

The task for this Master’s thesis was to examine periods of large-scale high solar wind speed during the years 1998 – 2007, using the interplanetary observations by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE). As a first step an improved definition of large-scale high-speed streams was developed. On this basis the structure of high-speed streams was analyzed, their effects on magnetospheric activity as well as their dependance on the solar cycle and the solar rotation. Furthermore the relation between high solar wind speed and the co-rotating interaction regions was examined. The high solar wind speed is one driver of space weather. Analysing the solar wind parameters of high-speed streams and their relation to geomagnetic activity will enhance our ability to understand and predict space weather
Wind Power Feed-in Impacts on Electricity system

Until quite recently no electricity system had faced the challenges associated with high penetrations of renewable energy sources (RES)-namely the need for greater flexibility, storability and reserve due to their intermittency, along with the potential conflict of interest between suppliers and consumers of electricity. These challenges may introduce controversy in the assessment of the cost-effectiveness of RES promoting policies. In this paper, we explore the economic impacts of the challenges of wind power feed-in on electricity prices (the merit order effect), on investments in back-up capacities and storage facilities, on grid transmission, and finally on end consumers (the households). Our main findings suggest that the increasing share of RES induces a lowering of electricity prices, an increase in back-up and transmission grids costs and huge over costs for power end consumers.
Qualitative and quantitative analysis of phytoplankton in culture pond of Noakhali district , Bangladesh

A study was conducted on qualitative and quantitative analysis of phytoplankton in cultured ponds of two fish farms of Noakhali district, Bangladesh from 15 September to 15 November 2012 to identify and estimate the abundance of phytoplankton in various culture ponds of two fish farms. Analyses of phytoplankton samples recorded a total of 4 classes phytoplankton viz.; Bacillariophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Euglenophyceae. Out of 21 phytoplankton genera identified, 5 belong to Cyanophyceae, 7 to Chlorophyceae, 5 to Bacillariophyceae and 4 to Euglenophyceae. Among the identified genera, Euglena, Microcystis, Eurolena were found to be dominant genera. Total phytoplankton abundance was varied from 36×10 cells/L to 94.92×10 cells/L in the experimental ponds. Among all experimental ponds, Chlorophyceae was found dominant (44.4×10 cells/L). Second dominant group was Euglenophyceae (39.6×10 cells/L) observed in pond-1 of Bismillah Agro Production (BAP). Total phytoplankton densities were recorded 47.82×10cells/L and 51×105 cells/L in pond-1 and pond-2 of Subarna Agro Based Initiative (SABI) respectively. In BAP, total phytoplankton densities were recorded 94.92×10cells/L and 36×10 cells/L in pond-1 and pond-2 respectively. Management technique and water quality parameters were also studied during study period namely water temperature, conductivity, salinity, transparency, dissolve oxygen and pH. The present study reveals that phytoplankton species are variable among the culture ponds and their density is also variable. The information provides for more research to compare water quality and pond phytoplankton characteristics in earthen aquaculture systems with and without fish stocking. Further studies on the seasonal changes of water quality parameters and its effects on phytoplankton production in the fish ponds and all year extended monitoring is recommended in future studies.
Organizational Reengineering for Relief Agencies based on BPR Methodology

Nowadays, organizations conduct change projects based on reengineering processes because business processes reengineering (BPR) methodologies implement process-oriented approach. By this view governmental organizational also utilizes such methodology. One of the main practical issues of such implementation is about using BPR methodology in relief organization. On the other hand, Iran has been faced with an increase of accidents in various forms. Thus having more efficiency in relief agencies to deal with these accidents and maintain readiness in the face of threats is essential. Relief agencies should be covered by the Unexpected Disasters Center in order to carry out their missions and duties perfectly. Therefore, familiarity with the tasks of each group is inevitable. Given the foregoing, the main objective of this study is to investigate how we can develop a reengineering project based on BPR approaches in Iran relief agencies. By this we propose a new model for reengineering which has the main capabilities of general models in BPR methodology. In addition, we show the prerequisites of implementing new model in Iran Unexpected Disasters Center.
Determination of the optimal inversion parameters in recovering the 2015 Illapel Chile Tsunami source by the r-solution method

This paper highlights the influence of the model parametrization, including the sea level recorders localization and source discretization, on the tsunami source inversion. Modeling the initial water displacement in the tsunami source area is based on the least square inversion and a truncated singular value decomposition approach that makes possible to overcome the instability of a numerical solution and to obtain an acceptable result in spite of the ill-posedness of the problem. This paper discusses the importance of the consideration of the parameter r in conjunction with the source spatial discretization. The results obtained allow one to explain the appearance of the artifacts in the solution by the truncation effect. Moreover, the optimal choice of such parameters as the spatial discretization of a source, the arrangement of the sea level recorders and the parameter r leads to a profound improvement in recovering the initial tsunami waveform. The methodology proposed has been verified by the numerical simulation of the 16 September 2015 Chile tsunami source.