Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sorghum Roti: II. Genotypic and Environmental Variation for Roti Quality Parameters

Grain, flour, dough, and roti quality characters of a large number of sorghum cultivars were evaluated in the laboratory by using standard methods. Roti quality of 422 genotypes of differentpericarp colors and endosperm texture were evaluated with the help of a trained taste panel. The range of variation for the various quality parameters under study was broad even among cultivars with pearly white grains. Pericarp color, endosperm type, and endosperm texture had significant effects on roti quality. Corneous grains, in genera,, exhibited more density and breaking strength, lower percent water absorption, and better dough and roti quality. Significant effects for season, year, and genotype x year interaction were recorded for grain. dough, and roti qualityparameters. The effect of the nitrogen fertility levelon roti quality was insignificant. However, a considerable effect of soil moisture stress on dough characters was noticed. Wet weather leading to grain deterioration caused the most significant effect on roti quality. The flour particle size index (PSI) varied among cultivars and was associat&d with endosperm texture. Grinding methods were found to have a profound effect on flour properties. Correlation coefficients between the grain, dough, and roti quality characters of 167 cultivars with pearly white grains were studied. None of the characters was strongly enough correlated with roti quality to be used as an indirect assessment, although several of them were statistically significant. Good roti producing grain types exhibited, on the average, a colorless thin pericarp, 60-70% corneous endosperm, less than 24% water absorption of grain. and flour PSI around 65. Grains with 100 % corneous endosperm produced rot is with a hard texture and unsatisfactory keeping quality, while floury grain types produced a poor dough and rotis with poor flavor and keeping quality. The implication of these results in breeding programs involved in improving roti quality are discussed.
The first study of deuterium retention in tungsten simultaneously damaged by high energy W ions and loaded by D

The first study of deuterium retention in tungsten simultaneously irradiated by W ions and exposed to D atom was performed at five different temperatures from 450 K to 1000 K. Samples were additionally exposed to D atoms at 600 K to populate the created defects in order to obtain the information on the defect concentration. The results were compared to different sequential damaging/exposure experiments. Synergistic effects were observed, namely, higher maximum D concentrations were found in the case of simultaneous damaging and D exposure as compared to damaging at elevated temperatures without offering D. Therefore part of the defects that would annihilate at high temperatures do not due to the presence of solute deuterium atoms in the bulk, that stabilize the defects. However, the deuterium retention is still lower as compared to sequential damaging at room temperature and post defect annealing. We have also observed the effect of exposure temperature on the D retention and depth range. At low temperatures the penetration depth is smaller for a given time i.e. fluence but the concentration is higher. On the other hand the maximum concentration is lower at high temperatures but the penetration is deeper due to faster diffusion. Results of simultaneous damaging and D exposure at elevated temperatures were also compared to the sequential experiment of damaging at room temperature and exposure to D at high temperatures showing that thermal D de-trapping is the dominant process at high tempeartures.
Quantum mechanics allows setting initial conditions at a cosmological singularity: Gowdy model example

It is shown that the initial conditions in the quasi-Heisenberg quantization scheme can be set at the initial cosmological singularity per se. This possibility is provided by finiteness of some quantities, namely momentums of the dynamical variables, at a singularity, in spite of infinity of the dynamical variables themselves. The uncertainty principle allows avoiding a necessity to set values of the dynamical variables at singularity, as a wave packet can be expressed through the finite momentums. Influence of the initial condition set in the singularity in such a way to a number of gravitons under a vacuum state, arising during later evolution, is investigated. It is shown that, even choosing of some special state at the singularity minimizing late time expansion rate, some amount of gravitons still appear in the late time evolution.
The relationship between stream segregation of complex tones and frequency selectivity

The discrimination of changes in fundamental frequency (F0) is better for complex tones with low than with high harmonics, perhaps because the low harmonics are spectrally resolved. The reduced frequency selectivity of hearing-impaired (HI) participants may lead to poorer resolution of low and medium harmonics. This may adversely affect F0 discrimination and in turn reduce the extent of perceptual segregation (streaming) of a rapid sequence of complex tones. We assessed how the streaming of complex tones is affected by harmonic rank and whether HI listeners are less able to segregate tones with low and medium harmonics than near normal-hearing (NH) participants. Subjective streaming was assessed for complex tones that were bandpass filtered between 2 and 4 kHz. Harmonic rank was varied by changing the baseline F0 (with differences in F0 from 5 to 11 semitones). Auditory filter shapes were estimated from notched-noise masking using a 2-kHz signal. The auditory filters were wider for the HI than for the NH participants. Streaming decreased with increasing harmonic rank but was similar for the two groups. Streaming scores were not correlated with auditory filter bandwidths. The results suggest that the effects of harmonic rank on streaming cannot be explained in terms of resolvability.
Distribution of different fractions of Iron, Zinc, Chromium, lead and Nickel in Soils around Petrol filling stations in selected Areas of Delta State, Nigeria

The geochemical forms of some heavy metals in soils around selected petrol filling stations were studied in order to assess the mobility and bioavailability of the metals and hence their potential environmental risk. Water soluble fraction (F1) contained an average of 0.97% iron, 1.40% zinc, 2.37% chromium, 2.08% lead and 41.96% nickel with the abundance trend of Ni > Cr > Pb > Zn > Fe. Metal bound to exchangeable phase followed the same abundance trend with an average of 6.46% nickel, 5.48% chromium, 2.64% lead, 2.55% zinc and 0.62% iron. Lead was predominantly associated with carbonate fraction with an average of 52.32% followed by iron with an average of 15.41%. Other metal average levels in the carbonate fractions were 9.66% for nickel, 8.78% for chromium, and 8.73% for zinc giving the abundance trend of Pb > Fe > Ni > Cr > Zn. The most important metal in iron-manganese oxide phase was zinc with an average of 42.49%, followed by iron with an average of 32.82%. The averages of the other metals bound to this phase were 30.39%, 13.24% and 6.46% for chromium, lead and nickel respectively. The organic bound metals were in the abundance trend of Fe > Zn > Cr > Pb > Ni with average of 39.48% for iron, 30.87% for zinc, 23.03% for chromium, 8.54% for lead and 4.94% for nickel. Nickel with an average of 51.58% was predominantly associated with the residual fraction. The other metals bound to this phase in order of their importance to the fraction had the average of 22.75% for chromium, 13.96% for zinc, 12.24% for lead and 10.97% for iron. The mobility factor values of the metals were moderately high with the abundance trend of Pb > Ni > Cr > Fe > Zn. The generally low levels of the metals in the residual fraction coupled with the mobility factor trend suggest potential risk for the metals. Keywords: Soil pollution, speciation, petrol filling stations, heavy metals, Delta State
Ultrafast harmonic mode-locking of monolithic compound-cavity laser diodes incorporating photonic-bandgap reflectors

We present the first demonstration of reproducible harmonic modelocked operation from a novel design of monolithic semiconductor laser comprising a compound cavity formed by a 1-D photonic-bandgap (PBG) mirror. Modelocking is achieved at a harmonic of the fundamental round-trip frequency with pulse repetition rates from 131 GHz up to a record high frequency of 2.1 THz. The devices are fabricated from GaAs/AlGaAs material emitting at a wavelength of 860 nm and incorporate two gain sections with an etched PBG reflector between them, and a saturable absorber section. Autocorrelation studies are reported, which allow the device behaviour for different modelocking frequencies, compound cavity ratios, and type and number of intra-cavity reflectors to be analyzed. The highly reflective PBG microstructures are shown to be essential for subharmonic-free modelocking operation of the high-frequency devices. We have also demonstrated that the multi-slot PBG reflector can be replaced by two separate slots with smaller reflectivity. These lasers may find applications in terahertz imaging, medicine, ultrafast optical links, and atmospheric sensing.
Body art as branded labour: At the intersection of employee selection and relationship marketing

Using mixed methods, this article examines the role of body art as a form of branded labour in customer-facing jobs. It brings together employee selection and relationship marketing into one framework, and uniquely conceptualizes body art as an asset in the labour market, rather than the traditional liability. In Study 1, 192 respondents with management experience participated in an online laboratory experiment in which they were asked to rate photographs of tattooed and non-tattooed job applicants in two hypothetical organizations: a fine dining restaurant and a popular nightclub. In Study 2, 20 in-depth, qualitative interviews were carried out with managers, tattooed front-line employees and potential consumers in two real-world service sector firms. The results show how body art can be strategically used to positively convey the brand of organizations, primarily those targeting a younger, ‘edgier’ demographic of customer.
Millimeter-Wave Cavity-Backed Patch-Slot Dipole for Circularly Polarized Radiation

A novel millimeter-wave antenna for circularly polarized (CP) radiation is presented. The proposed antenna is composed of a patch dipole and a slot dipole, and it is realized by a plated through-hole printed technique on a microwave substrate. Measurements show that the antenna can present a bandwidth from 56.2 to 65 GHz for a reflection coefficient S11 ≤ -10 dB as well as for an axial ratio (AR) ≤ 3 dB, and the 10.03-dBi average gain is achieved. This design yields good directional radiation patterns. Studies on several critical parameters are performed for practical designs.
WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT ?

Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house. Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What's left is magic. And it doesn't work.
VISCERAL MACHINES: REINFORCEMENT LEARNING WITH INTRINSIC PHYSIOLOGICAL REWARDS

The human autonomic nervous system has evolved over millions of years and is essential for survival and responding to threats. As people learn to navigate the world, “fight or flight” responses provide intrinsic feedback about the potential consequence of action choices (e.g., becoming nervous when close to a cliff edge or driving fast around a bend.) Physiological changes are correlated with these biological preparations to protect one-self from danger. We present a novel approach to reinforcement learning that leverages a task-independent intrinsic reward function trained on peripheral pulse measurements that are correlated with human autonomic nervous system responses. Our hypothesis is that such reward functions can circumvent the challenges associated with sparse and skewed rewards in reinforcement learning settings and can help improve sample efficiency. We test this in a simulated driving environment and show that it can increase the speed of learning and reduce the number of collisions during the learning stage.
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with index modulation

In this paper, a novel orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme, which is called OFDM with index modulation (OFDM-IM), is proposed for frequency-selective fading channels. In this scheme, inspiring from the recently introduced spatial modulation concept for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels, the information is conveyed not only by M-ary signal constellations as in classical OFDM, but also by the indices of the subcarriers, which are activated according to the incoming bit stream. Different transceiver structures are proposed and a theoretical error performance analysis is provided for the new scheme. It is shown via computer simulations that the proposed scheme achieves significantly better error performance than classical OFDM due to the information bits carried in the spatial domain by the indices of OFDM subcarriers.
Interference channels with correlated receiver side information

The problem of joint source-channel coding in transmitting independent sources over interference channels with correlated receiver side information is studied. When each receiver has side information correlated with its own desired source, it is shown that source-channel code separation is optimal. When each receiver has side information correlated with the interfering source, sufficient conditions for reliable transmission are provided based on a joint source-channel coding scheme using the superposition encoding and partial decoding idea of Han and Kobayashi. When the receiver side information is a deterministic function of the interfering source, source-channel code separation is again shown to be optimal. As a special case, for a class of Z-interference channels, when the side information of the receiver facing interference is a deterministic function of the interfering source, necessary and sufficient conditions for reliable transmission are provided in the form of single letter expressions. As a byproduct of these joint source-channel coding results, the capacity region of a class of Z-channels with degraded message sets is also provided.
Economic analysis of real-time large scale PEVs network power flow control algorithm with the consideration of V2G services

In this paper, economic analysis of a real-time power flow control algorithm for charging a large scale PEVs network in an urban area power system with renewable energy resources is proposed. In this model, PEVs charging rates are controlled by a central aggregator through wireless communication. To limit the impact of PEVs' charging to the utility grid, meanwhile optimize the scheduling of Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) frequency regulation services, a V2G intelligent power flow management algorithm based on the fuzzy logic control method is developed. The smart charging system will improve the power system stability and robustness meanwhile bring benefit to the utility AC grid, the PEVs network and its customers. An economic analysis model is built with the consideration of the battery degradation and capital cost. The proposed smart charging algorithm is tested with a 50,000 PEVs network model. The simulation results show effective and economic value of the proposed model.
Honest begging: expanding from Signal of Need

Overt soliciting for parental resources, primarily food, is often explained as having evolved to express the fitness gain a signaling offspring would derive from a favorable parental response. This Signal of Need model makes 4 unheralded assumptions: 1) that parents' life-history objective is egalitarian; 2) that contemporaneous siblings participate nepotistically; 3) that dependent young can assess their own reproductive value from internal sources; and 4) that the morphological and behavioral signals we call "begging" are essential for transferring such cryptic information reliably. We review 2 parsimonious alternative types of honest begging. First, if the life-history assumption is relaxed, solicitation signals may be positively correlated with reproductive value, obviating the nepotism assumption. According to this Signal of Quality logic, solicitation signals can be seen as typical handicap-type advertisements of personal merit. Second, by relaxing the assumptions concerning cryptic fitness information entirely, solicitation signals might be purely proximate Signals of Hunger, with parents basing their overriding life-history decisions on nonsignal information streams (ecological costs of foraging plus offspring cues already in the public domain). These 3 hypotheses are easily testable, along with existing models that do not require parents to have complete control over resources. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.
Merced Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society Title Mind Reading by Machine Learning : A Doubly Bayesian Method for Inferring Mental Representations Permalink

A central challenge in cognitive science is to measure and quantify the mental representations humans develop – in other words, to ‘read’ subject’s minds. In order to eliminate potential biases in reporting mental contents due to verbal elaboration, subjects’ responses in experiments are often limited to binary decisions or discrete choices that do not require conscious reflection upon their mental contents. However, it is unclear what such impoverished data can tell us about the potential richness and dynamics of subjects’ mental representations. To address this problem, we used ideal observer models that formalise choice behaviour as (quasi-)Bayes-optimal, given subjects’ representations in long-term memory, acquired through prior learning, and the stimuli currently available to them. Bayesian inversion of such ideal observer models allowed us to infer subjects’ mental representation from their choice behaviour in a variety of psychophysical tasks. The inferred mental representations also allowed us to predict future choices of subjects with reasonable accuracy, even in tasks that were different from those in which the representations were estimated. These results demonstrate a significant potential in standard binary decision tasks to recover detailed information about subjects’ mental representations.
THE EFFECTS OF CONTINUOUS PASSIVE MOTION FOLLOWING TOTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY

With a sample of 80 subjects undergoing total knee arthroplasty with cemented total endoprosthesis, a prospective observational study was conducted on the influence of continuous passive mobilization on the development of joint mobility and on the quality of life. Patients in group I have performed daily active gym sessions, whereas the patients in group II received daily passive motion exercises. Comparing the average goniometric measurements between the two groups, the results revealed significantly differences from the second day to 6 weeks postoperatively: the joint mobility of patients in group II was significantly better than the mobility of patients in group I. At the 3 and 6 months postoperative evaluation, no significant differences were noted in the patients' mobility and quality of life. Skin complications were more common with patients in group II. Our findings show that continuous passive motion does not have clinically important effects on long term active knee flexion range of motion, function or quality of life.
Bounds and Constructions for Granular Media Coding

Bounds on the rates of grain-correcting codes are presented. The lower bounds are Gilbert-Varshamov-like ones, whereas the upper bounds improve on the previously known result by Mazumdar Constructions of t-grain-correcting codes of length n for certain values of n and t are discussed. Finally, an infinite family of codes of rate approaching 1 that can detect an arbitrary number of grain errors is shown to exist.
Composition and Bandgap‐Graded Semiconductor Alloy Nanowires

Semiconductor alloy nanowires with spatially graded compositions (and bandgaps) provide a new material platform for many new multifunctional optoelectronic devices, such as broadly tunable lasers, multispectral photodetectors, broad‐band light emitting diodes (LEDs) and high‐efficiency solar cells. In this review, we will summarize the recent progress on composition graded semiconductor alloy nanowires with bandgaps graded in a wide range. Depending on different growth methods and material systems, two typical nanowire composition grading approaches will be presented in detail, including composition graded alloy nanowires along a single substrate and those along single nanowires. Furthermore, selected examples of applications of these composition graded semiconductor nanowires will be presented and discussed, including tunable nanolasers, multi‐terminal on‐nanowire photodetectors, full‐spectrum solar cells, and white‐light LEDs. Finally, we will make some concluding remarks with future perspectives including opportunities and challenges in this research area.
Rheological Properties and Self-Assembled Structures of Newly Synthesized Amide Organogelators, Butane 1,2,3,4-Tetracarboxamides, in Isododecane

The objectives of this study were to develop organogelators suitable for industrial use and to probe the viscosity-increasing mechanisms of such organic compounds. Butane 1,2,3,4-tetracar-boxamides, new organogelators that each has four chemical side chains, were synthesized. Two oleyl groups, each with another two side chains that varied from C4 to C18, were introduced to control the solubility and crystallinity of the compounds, and their solubility and rheological properties in isododecane were evaluated. The rheological properties of different amide compounds, N,N’,N’’,N’’’-1,2,4,5-tetra alkyl/alkenyl pyromellitamides with the same four chemical side chains, were also obtained to consider the skeleton’s effect on self-assembled structures due to hydrogen bonding among amide groups. The viscosity-increasing mechanism of the compounds was discussed through linkage of the molecular design, rheological evaluation, and morphological observations in this paper.
Surveillance des salmonelles : les acquis et les nouveaux objectifs

Ce numero special d’Eurosurveillance traite des progres du reseau Enter-Net pour la surveillance et le controle des epidemies d’infections a salmonelles en Europe. Le reseau a etabli une base de donnees internationale, mise a jour regulierement, et une collaboration entre experts qui ont permis le succes de plusieurs actions de sante publique en Europe . L’article sur la multiresistance de Salmonella typhimurium en Republique Tcheque illustre l’interet de l’extension recente des activites du reseau a la surveillance de la resistance antimicrobienne des salmonelles et de son ouverture a d’autres pays europeens. L’article sur les bases pratiques des investigations d’intoxications alimentaires internationales, dont l’objectif est d’ameliorer l’efficacite des enquetes sur le vehicule et la source de la contamination, est le fruit de l’experience acquise par les participants d’Enter-net.