Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving Photostability and Antifungal Performance of Bamboo with Nanostructured Zinc Oxide

We report on the formation of zinc oxide (ZnO) films with various morphologies on bamboo to simultaneously furnish it with excellent photostability and antifungal properties. A simple two-step process was adopted, consisting of generation of ZnO seeds on the bamboo surface followed by solution treatment to promote crystal growth. Effect of reaction conditions on film morphologies was systematically investigated. Results indicate morphologies of ZnO films can be tailored from nanoparticles to nanostructured networks and irregular aggregates at the micron scale with different crystallinities through specific combinations of reaction conditions. The photostability and antifungal performances of coated bamboo were greatly improved and highly dependent on both crystallinity and morphologies of ZnO films.
Competitive Intensity as a Quasi-moderator of the Relationship between Innovative Efforts and Performance

This study empirically investigates the moderating effect of competitive intensity on the relationship between innovative efforts and performance. The study proposes that a firm’s competitive intensity acts as a quasi-moderator of the relationship between innovative efforts and performance. The results support the predictions of the study. The results indicate that competitive intensity moderates the relationship between innovative efforts and performance such that when competitive intensity is high, the relationship between innovative efforts and performance is positive, and vice versa, when the competitive intensity is low, the relationship between innovative efforts and performance is negative. Furthermore, the results reveal that competitive intensity has a positive relationship to the level of innovative efforts but has a negative relationship to performance.
Online Purchasing Intentions of Croatian Customers

With the increasing importance of online shopping, it is crucial to better understand factors that influence customers’ purchasing behaviour in an electronic commerce environment. In order to explore which factorsdetermine the propensity of customers towards online purchase a binary probit regression was used. The data was collected through survey questionnaire using the purposive sample of 426 Croatian customers from the Dubrovnik- NeretvaCounty. Research results show that customers who feel insecure are less likely to make an online pur-chase.Additionally, place and environment are proven to be significant factorsof electronic retailing.The results also indicate that the probability of actual online purchase increases with higher customers’ purchase intentions.
The Quality of Financial Reporting: Sharia Supervisory Board Role in Zakat Management Organization

Public trust is closely related to the quality of the financial information which is presented by Zakat Management Organization (ZMO). The information will be useful if the information is able to support the community decision-making to entrust their zakat to ZMO. Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB) is a very important organ in the Islamic financial institutions (IFIs), SSB ensures all the objectives of Islamic governance are achieved, which includes directing, reviewing and supervising all the activities of IFIs in order to adhere to sharia. This study aims to determine the relation role of sharia supervisory board on the quality of financial reporting. The method which is used in this study is a survey method. The unit of analysis in this study is the ZMO in Indonesia. The respondents in this study are director, member of the supervisory board of sharia as well as Zakat collection and utilization. The hypothesis testing uses moment product moment correlation and coefficient of determination (R2). The result of this research is the relation of sharia supervisory board role with the quality of financial reporting is positive and very strong Public trust is closely related to the quality of the financial information which is presented by ZMO. The information will be useful if the information is able to support the community decision-making to entrust their zakat to ZMO as an institution which is considered mandate to receive, utilize and distribute zakat which is entrusted by community. The fundamental difference between Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) and conventional is in the existence of supervision over the implementation of Islamic law. Sharia Supervision is a process to ensure that financial products and services according to the principles of Islam. SSB is a very important organ in the IFIS, SSB ensures all the objectives of Islamic governance are achieved, which includes directing, reviewing and supervising all the activities of IFIs in order to adhere to sharia. Karim (2) argues that SSB is also involved in accounting policies and sharia reporting, it can be justified that the report could convince the reader that the financial statements are based on Islamic law. Quality financial statement is suitable with generally accepted accounting principles and meets the existing rules and SSB ensures the credibility of financial statements (3).
Ekinci: Foliar spray of nutrients affects fruit quality, polygalacturonic acid (pectin) content and storage life of peach fruits in Turkey

Fruit flesh softening is generally accompanied by changes in pectin structure in most fruits. In cell wall, pectin polysaccharides cross-linked with Ca. Especially Calcium chloride application is environmentally friendly and is also very effective on fruit quality. An experiment was performed by foliar spraying of calcium, magnesium and manganese alone and in combination to assess their effects on fruit quality, storage life and the polygalacturonic acid (pectin) content in peach (Prunus persica cv. JH. Hale). Experiment was conducted in commercial peach orchard located in Çanakkale, Turkey. Treatments included 1.5% CaCl2, 2% MgSO4, 1% MnSO4, combination (0.6% CaCl2, 1% MgSO4 + 0.1% MnSO4), and control (water) applications. Spray applications were started 30 days after the full bloom, and continued at four-week intervals up to four weeks before the harvest. The amount of pectin in the peach fruits was determined by FT-IR spectroscopy. Fruit weight loss, firmness, color, titratable acidity, pH and soluble solids contents were determined. Foliar nutrient-treated trees showed improved resistance to compression and penetration, as well as a decrease in weight-loss during postharvest storage. A similar response was obtained from Mg treatments. The smallest weight loss occurred in calcium and manganese applications, which were 0.71 and 0.75%, respectively. Calcium and magnesium treatments had a positive effect on fruit flesh firmness. The highest polygalacturonic acid content was obtained with CaCl2 treatment, which was 414% greater than that of control treatment. Therefore, CaCl2 application can be safely used to increase pectin content as well as fruit quality of peach fruit.
CRITERIA FOR DISCRIMINATING DRILLING-INDUCED TENSILE FRACTURES FROM NATURAL FRACTURES IN BASEMENT ROCKS

SUMMARY There are several facies in the Subis Limestone Formation. These include the skeletal rudstone, coral boundstone, mudstone and algal bindstone facies. The facies assemblage suggests a shallow biohermal depositional environment. Every facies is characterized by differences in fabric. This suggests also variation in the depositional environment. The resultant variation in microfabrics influences the thermal conductivity for each type of microfacies. Presence of corals, burrows, stylolites including differences in mineralogy between each facies appear to decrease the thermal conductivity values to varying extends. The mudstone facies has the highest thermal conductivity values among all other facies tested. The results of this study also suggest an inverse relationship between porosity and thermal conductivity values. This finding has some important bearing on the reservoir potential and stability of carbonates in general.
Tuning of undoped ZnO thin film via plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition and its application for an inverted polymer solar cell

We studied the tuning of structural and optical properties of ZnO thin film and its correlation to the efficiency of inverted solar cell using plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD). The sequential injection of DEZn and O2 plasma was employed for the plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of ZnO thin film. As the growth temperature of ZnO film was increased from 100 °C to 300 °C, the crystallinity of ZnO film was improved from amorphous to highly ordered (002) direction ploy-crystal due to self crystallization. Increasing oxygen plasma time in PEALD process also introduces growing of hexagonal wurtzite phase of ZnO nanocrystal. Excess of oxygen plasma time induces enhanced deep level emission band (500 ∼ 700 nm) in photoluminescence due to Zn vacancies and other defects. The evolution of structural and optical properties of PEALD ZnO films also involves in change of electrical conductivity by 3 orders of magnitude. The highly tunable PEALD ZnO thin films were employed as the electron conductive .
A RESEARCH ON WORK LIFE QUALITY, PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP RELATIONSHIP IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL EXCHANGE THEORY

Bu calismada, calisma hayati kalitesi ve psikolojik sahiplenme iliskisinde psikolojik sozlesmenin araci; sosyal mubadele hassasiyetinin duzenleyici etkisinin incelenmesi amaclanmaktadir. Yapilan literatur taramasinda, psikolojik sahiplenme uzerine yapilan calismalarin goreceli olarak sinirli sayida oldugu ve agirlikli olarak kavramin oncullerinden ziyade ardillari uzerine odaklanildigi gorulmustur. Calisma hayati kalitesinin psikolojik sahiplenmeye etki eden onemli bir faktor olabilecegi varsayimindan hareketle saha arastirmasinin yapilmasina karar verilmis; ozel okullarda gorev yapmakta olan 218 ogretmen uzerinde anket calismasi yurutulmustur. Calisma hayati kalitesi, psikolojik sozlesme ve psikolojik sahiplenme iliskisini ele alan herhangi bir calismaya rastlanmamis oldugundan arastirma bulgularinin ilgili alana katki saglayacagi soylenebilir. Yapilan analizler sonucunda, calisma hayati kalitesinin iliskisel sozlesme ve psikolojik sahiplenme ile pozitif; islemsel sozlesme ile de negatif yonde iliskili oldugunu gorulmustur. Bunun yani sira; calisma hayati kalitesi ve psikolojik sahiplenme iliskisinde psikolojik sozlesmenin araci; sosyal mubadele hassasiyetinin de duzenleyici bir etkiye sahip oldugu tespit edilmistir.
Ozone layer formation through Corona Discharge utilizing natural phenomena

H ere it has been tried to explain the mechanism of ozone formation, which would travel into the stratosphere where the odd numbered oxygen particles(O3) has a longer lifetime, thus basically serving to the formation, even though gradually, of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. An indepth analysis has been provided on the basis of the current state of perception of various atmospheric characteristics and phenomena that can result or that can obstruct the formation of ozone particles. A theory has been developed and discussed for generation of climatic conditions to induce various phenomena like thunderstorms, lightning, etc. The results of this phenomena is been tried to explain with greater detail. Static atmospheric conditions are discussed to try to analyse the effects on the resultant theory of ozone generation thus reducing or even curbing the global warming by compensation of the depletion of ozone.
A Brief Survey of Image-Based Depth Upsampling

Recently, there has been remarkable growth of interest in the development and applications of Time-of-Flight (ToF) depth cameras. However, despite the permanent improvement of their characteristics, the practical applicability of ToF cameras is still limited by low resolution and quality of depth measurements. This has motivated many researchers to combine ToF cameras with other sensors in order to enhance and upsample depth images. In this paper, we compare ToF cameras to three image-based techniques for depth recovery, discuss the upsampling problem and survey the approaches that couple ToF depth images with high-resolution optical images. Other classes of upsampling methods are also mentioned.
Anisotropic osmosis filtering for shadow removal in images

We present an anisotropic extension of the isotropic osmosis model that has been introduced by Weickert et al (2013 Energy Minimization Methods in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (Berlin: Springer)) for visual computing applications, and we adapt it specifically to shadow removal applications. We show that in the integrable setting, linear anisotropic osmosis minimises an energy that involves a suitable quadratic form which models local directional structures. In our shadow removal applications we estimate the local structure via a modified tensor voting approach (Moreno et al 2012 New Developments in the Visualization and Processing of Tensor Fields (Berlin: Springer)) and use this information within an anisotropic diffusion inpainting that resembles edge-enhancing anisotropic diffusion inpainting (Galić et al 2008 J. Math. Imaging Vis. 31 255–69; Weickert and Welk 2006 Visualization and Processing of Tensor Fields (Berlin: Springer)). Our numerical scheme combines the nonnegativity preserving stencil of Fehrenbach and Mirebeau (2014 J. Math. Imaging Vis. 49 123–47) with an exact time stepping based on highly accurate polynomial approximations of the matrix exponential. The resulting anisotropic model is tested on several synthetic and natural images corrupted by constant shadows. We show that it outperforms isotropic osmosis, since it does not suffer from blurring artefacts at the shadow boundaries.
Does learning by importing, self selection of markets and financial innovation matter for exporting firms in special economic zones?

Throughout the world, the establishment of special economic zones (SEZs) has found support among many developing countries. However, few African SEZs have proved successful. It is generally acknowledged that Mauritian SEZs are a model for success, particularly in terms of export diversification and integration into the Global Clothing Value Chains (GCVC). The contribution of this paper is to first examine the Mauritian export diversification policy experience, and for the first time, considers the test of three hypotheses – learning-by-importing, self-selection of markets and financial innovation using two firm-level survey data sets for a pooled sample and inter-firm comparison of exporters operating in the Mauritian clothing and textiles sector. Overall the regression results provide evidence to support two of the three hypotheses in that what primarily matters for performance are the use and productive inputs of labor and imported intermediate inputs consistent with learning-by-importing and the financial innovation capabilities of firms. From a policy perspective, the empirical findings of this study suggest that more careful attention should be paid to the type and allocation of public incentives to boost export performance. Policies that facilitate imported inputs and financial credit can make domestic firms more competitive and better integrated within the global markets.
Spatial and Temporal Variation of Dissolved Oxygen and Ecosystem Energetics in Devils Hole, Nevada

ABSTRACT . Devils Hole, a unique ecosystem in the Mojave Desert, is home to a few dominant species of algae and invertebrates as well as the endangered Devils Hole pupfish, Cyprinodon diabolis. With consistently high water temperature (33.5 °C/93 °F) and low dissolved oxygen (O2) concentration (about 2.5 mg O2 · L-1), organisms are at the extremes of their physiological limits, and production of O2 by microbial biofilms is essential to ecosystem stability. Water column O2 concentrations were measured from July 2008 to March 2010 in the deep pool and shallow shelf habitats of Devils Hole to quantify variability in O2 concentrations and ecosystem metabolism rates. Benthic O2 dynamics were also measured in microbial biofilms using microelectrode surveys. Water column O2 ranged from 2 to 6 mg O2 · L-1 in summers and from 1.5 to 2.2 mg O2 — L-1 in winter across the deep pool and shallow shelf habitats. Primary production ranged from 4 to 21 mg O2 · L-1d-1, with a significant decline over the study period, potentially due to a change in the microbial biofilm community. Respiration ranged from 1.5 to 9.7 mg O2 · L-1d-1 and showed a significant increase over time. Within microbial biofilms, O2 ranged from 0 to 76 mg O2 * L-1. Higher concentrations of O2 produced by these microbial biofilms may be due to improved photosynthetic efficiency under limited sunlight exposure. Autotrophic biofilms had higher O2 concentrations during direct light exposure than during indirect light exposure. In contrast, heterotrophic biofilms had similar O2 concentrations regardless of light exposure. Because microbial biofilms are important components of this unique ecosystem, shifts in their composition or activity may threaten ecosystem stability by reducing background O2 concentrations below the physiological limits of the endangered Devils Hole pupfish and the entire biotic community.
Living on the edge: habitat selection of Hierophis viridiflavus

We analysed habitat choices of H. viridiflavus in a continental area of north - ern Italy and compared our results with those reported from central Italy by other authors. We used two different field techniques, visual encounter surveys (VES) and radio tracking (RT), and both pointed out a clear preference for edges, while uniform habitats (like mature woods or meadow) were avoided. The same pattern of habitat use is documented for other whip snakes and can be related to the high thermal quality of edges, although other factors could not be ruled out (e.g., prey/shelters abundance). Nevertheless, other researches on Mediterranean populations do not show such a pref - erence, suggesting that at lower latitude habitat thermal quality is not the main con - straint and H. viridiflavus can behave as a habitat generalist. Finally, comparing the two field techniques, we find that VES partially overestimates the importance of edge use, suggesting that caution should be used about its utilization to obtain information in this kind of research.
Seismic tomographic imaging of P- and S-waves velocity perturbations in the upper mantle beneath Iran

SUMMARY The inverse tomography method has been used to study the P- and S-waves velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle underneath Iran. The method, based on the principle of source‐receiver reciprocity, allows for tomographic studies of regions with sparse distribution of seismic stations if the region has sufficient seismicity. The arrival times of body waves from earthquakes in the study area as reported in the ISC catalogue (1964‐1996) at all available epicentral distances are used for calculation of residual arrival times. Prior to inversion we have relocated hypocentres based on a 1-D spherical earth’s model taking into account variable crustal thickness and surface topography. During the inversion seismic sources are further relocated simultaneously with the calculation of velocity perturbations. With a series of synthetic tests we demonstrate the power of the algorithm and the data to reconstruct introduced anomalies using the ray paths of the real data set and taking into account the measurement errors and outliers. The velocity anomalies show that the crust and upper mantle beneath the Iranian Plateau comprises a low velocity domain between the Arabian Plate and the Caspian Block. This is in agreement with global tomographic models, and also tectonic models, in which active Iranian plateau is trapped between the stable Turan plate in the north and the Arabian shield in the south. Our results show clear evidence of the mainly aseismic subduction of the oceanic crust of the Oman Sea underneath the Iranian Plateau. However, along the Zagros suture zone, the subduction pattern is more complex than at Makran where the collision of the two plates is highly seismic.
Molecular simulations of cyclic loading behavior of carbon nanotubes using the atomistic finite element method

The potential applications of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in many engineered bionanomaterials and electromechanical devices have imposed an urgent need on the understanding of the fatigue behavior and mechanism of CNT under cyclic loading conditions. To date, however, very little work has been done in this field. This paper presents the results of a theoretical study on the behavior of CNT subject to cyclic tensile and compressive loads using quasi-static molecular simulations. The Atomistic Finite Element Method (AFEM) has been applied in the study. It is shown that CNT exhibited extreme cyclic loading resistance with yielding strain and strength becoming constant within limited number of loading cycles. Viscoelastic behavior including nonlinear elasticity, hysteresis, preconditioning (stress softening), and large strain have been observed. Chiral symmetry was found to have appreciable effects on the cyclic loading behavior of CNT. Mechanisms of the observed behavior have been revealed by close examination of the intrinsic geometric and mechanical features of tube structure. It was shown that the accumulated residual defect-free morphological deformation was the primary mechanism responsible for the cyclic failure of CNT, while the bond rotating and stretching experienced during loading/unloading played a dominant role on the strength, strain and modulus behavior of CNT.
HALF-WAVE IMPEDANCE REPEATER

This article brings in the second part general information about half-wave impedance repeater. The third part describes the basic functional principles of the half-wave impedance repeater using Smith chart. The main attention is focused in part four on the derivation of repeater frequency bandwidth depending on characteristics and load impedance of unknown feeder line. Derived dependences are based on the elementary features of the feeder lines with specific length. The described functionality is proved in part 4.3 by measurement of transformed impedance using vector several unbalanced feeder lines and network analyzer VNWA3+.
The Effects of Labour Tax Progression Under Nash Wage Bargaining and Flexible Outsourcing

This paper studies in the presence of flexible outsourcing the effects of outsourcing costs, productivity of outsourcing, wage tax and tax exemption in an imperfectly competitive labour markets when labour unions and firms negotiate wages and the impacts of labour tax progression on domestic wage setting and employment. The wage elasticity of domestic labour demand is higher than in the case of strategic outsourcing and a decreasing function of the outsourcing cost, an increasing function both of the productivity of outsourcing and of the wage rate. With sufficiently strong (weak) labour market imperfections a lower outsourcing cost has a wage-moderating (wage-increasing) effect. Finally, increasing the degree of tax progression, to keep the relative tax burden per worker constant, has a wage-moderating effect and a positive effect on domestic employment and a negative effect on outsourcing.