Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimum conditions for the synthesis of high solubility carboxymethyl chitosan

A research on optimizing the synthesis conditions to obtain carboxymethyl chitosan with the highest solubility in 1%(v/v) acetic acid solvent have been performed. Optimization was performed by varying: the concentration of NaOH during alkalizing the chitosan, chitosan: monochloroacetic acid ratio, temperature and reaction time. This study uses a full factorial experimental design. The results showed that the highest solubility was found in 40% (w/v) NaOH concentration, chitosan to monochloroacetic acid ratio of 1:7, reaction temperature of 80°C and reaction time at 4 hours with the solubility up to 63.78 mg /mL. IR and 1 H-NMR spectra showed that the synthesis gave result to carboxymethyl chitosan. Results of physical characterization of carboxymethyl chitosan at the highest solubility showed the value of water content, ash content, molecular weight, and swelling effects up to 14.27%, 8.48%, 2,86978 x 10 5 g/mol; and 884.19%, respectively.
Kernel Based Telegraph-Diffusion Equation for Image Noise Removal

The second-order partial differential equations have good performances on noise smoothing and edge preservation. However, for low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) images, the discrimination between edges and noise is a challenging problem. In this paper, the authors propose a kernel based telegraph-diffusion equation (KTDE) for noise removal. In this method, a kernelized gradient operator is introduced in the second-order telegraph-diffusion equation (TDE), which leads to more effective noise removal capability. Experiment results show that this method outperforms several anisotropic diffusion methods and the TDE method for noise removal and edge preservation.
Revisiting the Okun relationship

ABSTRACT Our article revisits the Okun relationship between observed unemployment rates and output gaps. We include in the relationship the effect of labour market institutions as well as age and gender effects. Our empirical analysis is based on 20 OECD countries over the period 1985–2013. We find that the share of temporary workers (which includes a high and rising share of young workers) played a crucial role in explaining changes in the Okun coefficient (the impact of the output gap on the unemployment rate) over time. The Okun coefficient is not only different for young, prime-age and older workers but also it decreases with age. From a policy perspective, it follows that an increase in economic growth will not only have the desired outcome of reducing the overall unemployment rate but it will also have the distributional effect of lowering youth unemployment.
The Effect of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) On Learning Idiomatic Expressions: A case of Iranian EFL students

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) deals with teaching of foreign or second languages via computer programs and softwares and can offer many potential benefits for both learners and teachers (Zinovjeva, 2005). A strong knowledge of idioms will help students to be better speakers and negotiators. This study seeks to find the most effective way of learning English language, to implement a computer program that supports and enhances the pedagogy, and then measures how effective people can learn idioms by using computer programs. The sample consists of 60 female university students who are 18-22 years old and are all Iranian and majoring in English Translation at Shahr-e-kord university. They were selected through the administration of Quick Placement Test (QPT) and were divided into 2 groups (the control group and the experimental group). The first part of the work was the development of a computer program for teaching the new idioms of English book 136 American English Idioms. The next step was teaching the new idioms of the lessons to two groups of 60 students, in one of which the medium of instruction of the idiom was Idiom LX software and in the other one the traditional method presented by a language teacher and the results were analyzed using SPSS. The results showed that the use of the above-mentioned software led to higher ability of the learners in long term recall of the English idioms and it can also be used as an effective educational material for improving the students' learning of English idioms and also for changing their negative attitudes toward learning English idioms as a difficult and in some cases an impossible task. ©
Stock market volatility and exchange rates: MGARCH-DCC and wavelet approaches

This study discusses the relationship between stock price index and exchange rate in Malaysia. Establishing the relationship between stock prices and exchange rate is important for several reasons. Firstly, it may affect the economic decisions in terms of monetary policy and fiscal policy. Secondly, by understanding the relationship of stock prices and exchange rate, it will assist to predict the possibility of financial downturn. This study makes an attempt to examine the positive or negative relationship between stock prices and exchange rate. The causality between stock price and exchange rate is important in order to assist in making economic decision. This study employs MGARCH-DCC and wavelet approach, more specifically the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and maximum overlap discrete wavelet transform (MODWT). The earlier studies used time-domain framework in their search for a relationship when the true relations might exist at different frequencies. The findings show that there is negative relationship between stock prices index and exchange rate in the case of Malaysia for both Islamic and conventional stock indices. The stock price index leads exchange rate in the long term investment horizon. This empirical research may have several implications for traders, portfolio managers and policymakers. It can be helpful for the traders in explaining the flow of information between stock and foreign exchange markets.
Vegetal Non-Timber Forest Products in Cameroon, Contribution to the National Economy

SUMMARY This pape r analyses the contribution of some non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to the economy of Cameroon through the lens of livelihoods, food security, employment and financial values. Specifically, the work aims at determining the income generated from vegetal NTFPs sales, the value of self-consumption and the number of jobs provided, in order to assess the contribution of NTFPs to the national economy. A combination of literature review and in-depth data collated by CIFOR from households and markets for different periods corresponding to specific NTFP funded projects in Cameroon was used. The results show that NTFPs constitute a regular source of income (even though not the most important) for rural households due to their diversity. About 38% of vegetal NTFPs are used as food and the annual economic value for 16 of them is estimated at 32 billion XAF (64.7 million USD). Their value added is estimated at 6.4 billion XAF (13 million USD) representing 0.2% of the GDP of the country with at least 283,000 people involved.
Electromagnetic damping of a mechanical harmonic oscillator with the effect of magnetic hysteresis

The paper presents a method of damping of mechanical vibrations by application of electromagnetic actuators. The physical phenomena that take place in such elements are related to magnetic induction and hysteresis. Induction, which consists in generation of electric current in a conductor placed within a variable magnetic field, has a precise quantitative description in form of the Faraday law. At the same time, magnetic hysteresis in ferromagnetic materials reflects the relation between magnetization of a given sample and magnitude of the external magnetic field that had been active during its whole history. Unfortunately, there is no at present a single commonly accepted model of this phenomenon. In this paper, some considerations by Bertotti (1998) are incorporated to this subject. The authors use a bilinear magnetization curve, which depicts the phenomenon of magnetic saturation. Analysis of the derived equations of motion of the coupled electromagneto-mechanical model revealed that the effect of hysteresis on reduction of vibration amplitude is rather of minor impact, however noticeable. At the same time, the electromagnetic damping itself is powerful. To support the conclusions, appropriate time histories, graphs of the logarithmic damping decrement as well as resonant characteristics are given here as in the previous authors' paper.
Paradigm shifts in marine fisheries genetics: ugly hypotheses slain by beautiful facts

By providing new approaches to the investigation of demographic and evolutionary dynamics of wild populations, molecular genetics has led to fundamental changes in our understanding of marine ecology. In particular, genetic approaches have revolutionized our understanding in three areas: (i) most importantly, they have contributed to the discovery of extensive genetic population structure in many marine species, overturning the notion of large, essentially homogenous marine populations limiting local adaptation and speciation. (ii) Concomitant differences in ecologically important traits now indicate extensive adaptive differentiation and biocomplexity, potentially increasing the resilience to exploitation and disturbance. Evidence for rapid adaptive change in many populations underlies recent concerns about fisheries-induced evolution affecting life-history traits. (iii) A compilation of recent published research shows estimated effective population sizes that are 2‐6 orders of magnitude smaller than census sizes, suggesting more complex recruitment dynamics in marine species than previously assumed. Studies on Atlantic cod are used to illustrate these paradigm shifts. In our synthesis, we emphasize the implications of these discoveries for marine ecology and evolution as well as the management and conservation of exploited marine fish populations. An important implication of genetic structuring and the potential for adaptive divergence is that locally adapted populations are unlikely to be replaced through immigration, with potentially detrimental consequences for the resilience to environmental change ‐ a key consideration for sustainable fisheries management.
CALIBRATION OF THE MIXING-LENGTH THEORY FOR CONVECTIVE WHITE DWARF ENVELOPES

A calibration of the mixing-length parameter in the local mixing-length theory (MLT) is presented for the lower part of the convection zone in pure-hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs. The parameterization is performed from a comparison of three-dimensional (3D) CO5BOLD simulations with a grid of one-dimensional (1D) envelopes with a varying mixing-length parameter. In many instances, the 3D simulations are restricted to the upper part of the convection zone. The hydrodynamical calculations suggest, in those cases, that the entropy of the upflows does not change significantly from the bottom of the convection zone to regions immediately below the photosphere. We rely on this asymptotic entropy value, characteristic of the deep and adiabatically stratified layers, to calibrate 1D envelopes. The calibration encompasses the convective hydrogen-line (DA) white dwarfs in the effective temperature range 6000 ⩽ Teff (K) ⩽15, 000 and the surface gravity range 7.0 ⩽ log g ⩽ 9.0. It is established that the local MLT is unable to reproduce simultaneously the thermodynamical, flux, and dynamical properties of the 3D simulations. We therefore propose three different parameterizations for these quantities. The resulting calibration can be applied to structure and envelope calculations, in particular for pulsation, chemical diffusion, and convective mixing studies. On the other hand, convection has no effect on the white dwarf cooling rates until there is a convective coupling with the degenerate core below Teff ∼ 5000 K. In this regime, the 1D structures are insensitive to the MLT parameterization and converge to the mean 3D results, hence they remain fully appropriate for age determinations.
Ejaculate traits in relation to male body size in the eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki

In the present study, the correlation between sperm number, sperm quality (speed, viability, longevity and length), sperm bundles quality (size and dissolving rate) and male body size has been tested in the eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki a poecilid species characterized by coercive mating tactics where males do not possess obvious ornaments, and the body size is the key determinant of pre-copulatory male mating success. The results do not tally with theoretical predictions. Indeed, no correlation between male body size and either sperm or sperm-bundle traits has been found, evidencing the lack of the theoretically expected trade-off between the investment in characters involved in mate acquisition and the investment in ejaculate quality. An explanation for the observed pattern comes from the extremely dynamic mating system of G. holbrooki, characterized by variable size-related male mating success and strong post-copulatory selective pressure, with all males facing a similar high level of sperm competition. In this situation, a higher investment in growth and maintenance at the expense of ejaculate quality is not expected. These results underscore the necessity to comprehend detailed information on species’ reproductive biology and reproductive environment to understand both the evolution of ejaculate characteristics and possible deviations from theoretical predictions.
An attribute detection based approach to automatic speech processing

State-of-the-art automatic speech and speaker recognition systems are often built with a pattern matching framework that has proven to achieve low recognition error rates for a variety of resource-rich tasks when the volume of speech and text examples to build statistical acoustic and language models is plentiful, and the speaker, acoustics and language conditions follow a rigid protocol. However, because of the “blackbox” top-down knowledge integration approach, such systems cannot easily leverage a rich set of knowledge sources already available in the literature on speech, acoustics and languages. In this paper, we present a bottom-up approach to knowledge integration, called automatic speech attribute transcription (ASAT), which is intended to be “knowledge-rich”, so that new and existing knowledge sources can be verified and integrated into current spoken language systems to improve recognition accuracy and system robustness. Since the ASAT framework offers a “divide-and-conquer” strategy and a “plug-andplay” game plan, it will facilitate a cooperative speech processing community that every researcher can contribute to, with a view to improving speech processing capabilities which are currently not easily accessible to researchers in the speech science community.
The quality of sales manager: salesperson exchanges under problem resolution conditions

Building on social exchange theory and qualitative inquiry, managerial responsiveness, caring, and aggressiveness were uncovered as three key social exchange dimensions used by sales managers when dealing with problem situations in the salesforce. We used Australian data to develop measures of these three constructs. Results of the development process indicate that the measures show good validity. Further to this, we also provide examination of the relationship of the three exchange dimensions with key organizational outcomes. Overall the findings suggest that the three constructs are important in sales manager problem resolution exchanges, and that they may ultimately influence the success of sales organizations.
Malignant Infarction Of The Middle Cerebral Artery In Elderly: A Point Of Controversy For Decompressive Surgery: A Case Report

Malignant infarction of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) is a remarkable life-threatening cerebrovascular condition. It represents up to 10% of all ischemic strokes and is characterized as a massive hemispheric or malignant space-occupying supratentorial infarct. An early diagnosis is essential to improve functional outcome and depends on clinical assessment and neuroimaging of patients with large MCA infarction to aid the prediction of an unfavorable course. However, there are still important questions about the management of patients with malignant MCA infarction, particularly with regard to the ideal timing for decompressive surgery and age limit for the surgical procedure. We present a case of an elderly man that sustained a large MCA infarction and debate, on the basis of available data, the management performed on our patient.
Photonic properties of multicontinuous cubic phases

We present a systematic study of the photonic properties (band structures) of periodic multicontinuous cubic phases based on the P, D, G, I-WP, F-RD, and C(P) triply periodic minimal surfaces. We investigate the structures with up to five separate interwoven subvolumes. The influence of the dielectric constant modulation at different spatial scales is discussed. The lowest dielectric constant contrasts required to observe the full three-dimensional photonic band gaps are stated.
Grade 7: Grade 9: *Group Activities: Junior Hiah Schools: Peer Relationship: *Race Relations; *Small Group Instruction: Social Integraticn: *Teamwork;

Several recent studies have shown that when black and white students wnrk together on biracial learning teams, they make more cross-racial friendships than students in traditional classrooms. This study i3 a secondary analysis of one of these studies, conducted to discover for whom the effects of cooperative learning are the greatest. The sample was 402 seventhand eighth-grade students in twelve inner-city English classrooms. Classes were randomly assigned to team learning or control classes for a 10-week program. Results indicated that the treatment increased cross-race friendships equally for students of different sexes, races and achievement levels. Further analyses revealed that new cross-race friends tended to be mutual instead of unreciprocated friends and to be among the first six friends named on the sociometric questionnaire rather than more distant choices.
M Radial Force Control for Triple Three-Phase Sectored SPM Machines . Part II : Open Winding Fault Tolerant Control

for a triple three-phase Surface Permanent Magnet (SPM) machine is investigated in this paper. The machine has a ninephase winding arranged in three sectors and supplied by three different Voltage Source Inverters (VSIs). The proposed current control technique is firstly exploited to avoid the radial force appearance in case of open winding of one machine sector. Then, the radial force fault tolerant control is improved to compensate for a bearing fault or another source of radial force in this open winding condition. Finite element simulations are used to validate the two proposed control techniques. Finally, advantages and drawbacks of the solution are highlighted.
Separating Developmental and Environmental Effects on Fluctuating Asymmetry in Lythrum salicaria and Penthorum sedoides

Environmental stress can disrupt developmental processes on biological, physiological, and chemical levels and thereby affect the symmetry of a trait. For this reason, fluctuating asymmetry is often proposed as a measure of stress encountered by an individual. One problem is that asymmetry may have multiple causes, including developmental noise and genetic background, and genetic differences may interact with any physiological stress imposed by the environment. The main objective of this research was to determine whether developmental noise and genetic stress can be separated from environmental effects on leaf asymmetry. The experiments were conducted on two wetland plants, Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) and Penthorum sedoides (ditch stonecrop). Replicates of different genotypes were measured when young and after they matured, with the latter group grown under two nutrient treatments. The largest and healthiest leaf of each plant was measured for length, width, and differences in width between the left and right sides (measuring from the central vein at the widest point). Nutrient enrichment increased leaf asymmetry, while age reduced asymmetry in L. salicaria. However, leaf asymmetry changed only as a consequence of development in P. sedoides and decreased. Genotype did not affect asymmetry in either species.
In-Line Measurement of Color and Total Phenolics during Red Wine Fermentations Using a Light-Emitting Diode Sensor

An in-line color and total phenolic sensor is described to track the color and total phenol evolution during red wine fermentations. The sensor uses multiple light-emitting diodes (LEDs) spanning the ultraviolet and visible spectrum, in particular 280 and 525 nm. The performance of phenolic sensor was evaluated by analyzing fermentation samples collected from multiple red wine fermentations performed during the 2012 season. The study confirmed that the LED phenolic sensor measurements strongly correlate with measurements performed with a reference UV-vis spectrophotometer and that in-line measurements can be made in a practical manner after removal of yeast and pulp with a 2.0 μm filter. The use of a 100 μm path-length flow cell avoids the need for dilution, making in-line measurements possible. The sensor provides in-line measurement on the evolution of the total phenolic content and color extraction patterns during red wine fermentations.
Corporate Strategy, Governance Structure and Organization Performance: A Research Agenda

Corporate strategy plays a critical role in the proper functioning of an organization as it provides the blueprint that guides the corporate direction of an organization while governance structure presents an organization with a framework for the distribution of responsibilities and resources to achieve organization performance. While the constructs have been sufficiently studied and documented in various studies separately in relation to organization performance, few studies have been undertaken to study the two constructs together to understand how they jointly explain organization performance. This paper presents a review of the extant theoretical and empirical literature on the two constructs in relation to organization performance. Relevant underpinning theories are reviewed, constructs described and their operational indicators identified and compared with empirical work and emergent knowledge gaps identified. The paper finally proposes a multidisciplinary based theoretical model suitable to address the gaps identified to advance knowledge in the area and calls upon future research to empirically test the propositions of the study.
The lessons of East Asia : common foundations of East Asian success

From small city states to large resource-rich countries, East Asia has developed remarkably fast. The region's diversity, however, is not adequately recognized in previous interpretations of its economic miracle. Several alternative explanations have been offered, emphasizing sustained market-oriented policies, cultural propensities for education, entrepreneurship and stable government. Each of these explanations provides insight into the causes of one or more of the region's miracles, but none fits fully the region's wide-ranging experience. This paper argues that the common features of East Asian development lie deeper in success along three critical dimensions of economic management. Each East Asian miracle economy built a stable macroeconomic environment conducive to investment and enterprise; used powerful market or non-market incentives to guide resources and initiative into efficient activities; and found a dynamic engine of growth to provide leadership for development. Each did so, however, with very different policies. The paper also proposes that East Asian growth was reinforced by the contagion effects of rapid progress and successsful policies, which helped each economy achieve more than it could have in a less dynamic setting.