Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gasification of Miscanthus X Giganteus in catalytic conditions Production of syngas, preliminary results

The continuous increase in CO2 content in the atmosphere, mainly due to the combustion of fossil fuels, is predicted to lead to the global warming. Biomass is considered as a promising renewable energy source. The conventional method for the production of synthesis gas from biomass is gasification. The gasification of biomass provides the most attractive solution for the introduction of biomass in decentralised power production. Conversion of biomass to synthesis gas becomes more and more important in terms of renewable energy sources. Moreover, in the different processes of gasification, the main problems remain the total removal of tars and light hydrocarbons like methane formed during the thermal treatment. In fact, it is necessary to obtain a very pure and stoichiometric mixture of CO and H2 that can be used for the preparation of hydrocarbons via the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. To solve this problem, beside temperature reaction process, it is also necessary to select an appropriate and efficient catalyst. Among the factors affecting the activity of the tar decomposition reactions, the positive catalytic role of iron has been demonstrated 1,2 . This good catalytic behaviour is exhibited by olivine, an iron-containing mineral, in a systematic study of bed inventories for the biomass gasification process. As reported extensively in the literature, biomass steam gasification (performed in main cases in fluidised bed reactors) results in the conversion of carbonaceous materials to permanent gases (H2, CO, CO2, CH4, and light hydrocarbons), chars and tars 1 . The addition of steam water as gasifying agent and catalyst in gasification process makes it possible to obtain high-grade product 3 .
Socializing intelligence and knowledge for the territorial development

Il notevole dinamismo sociale, economico e culturale degli ultimi tempi, impone una gestione sempre piu complessa e organizzata della conoscenza ai fini dello sviluppo; cio coinvolge ampi e complessi processi di interazione sociale, in cui gli individui ridefiniscono la conoscenza acquisita, attivano e sostengono processi di innovazione. Cio sottolinea l'importanza imprescindibile delle reti sociali, territoriali e non, e induce a rivedere i modelli di governance, secondo una chiave di lettura che coinvolge le dinamiche di socializzazione cognitiva e di trasferimento di competenze tra tutti gli attori locali. In questa prospettiva, socializzare intelligenza e conoscenza significa sviluppare azioni positive per la compensazione delle forme di svantaggio sociale, culturale, economico che caratterizzano alcuni territori piu di altri. Il modello della Tripla Elica (Etzkowitz, Leyesdorff, 1995) si presenta come un meccanismo socio-economico, nell'ambito del quale i network relazionali (imprese-universita-governi) si combinano per generare, dalla conoscenza, nuovi valori sociali. L'approfondimento analitico, che qui si propone, chiarisce come il punto critico resta quello della qualita della socialita. La governance relazionale della Tripla Elica, infatti, mentre alimenta la comunicazione e i rapporti tra gli attori di un territorio, favorisce le forme di apprendimento collettivo e rende piu agevoli gli scambi economici e culturali necessari allo sviluppo e all'inclusione sociale territoriali.
Convergence of controllers designed using state space methods

Abstract : In this paper convergence of finite-dimensional controllers for infinite-dimensional systems designed using approximations is examined. Stable coprime factorization theory is used to show that under the standard assumptions of uniform stabilizability/detectability, the controllers stabilize the original system for large enough model order. The controllers converge uniformly to an infinite-dimensional controller, as does the closed loop response.
Construction of Quantitative Transaction Strategy Based on LASSO and Neural Network

Since the establishment of the securities market, there has been a continuous search for the prediction of stock price trend. Based on the forecasting characteristics of stock index futures, this paper combines the variable selection in the statistical field and the machine learning to construct an effective quantitative trading strategy. Firstly, the LASSO algorithm is used to filter a large number of technical indexes to obtain reasonable and effective technical indicators. Then, the indicators are used as input variables, and the average expected return rate is predicted by neural network. Finally, based on the forecasting results, a reasonable quantitative trading strategy is constructed. We take the CSI 300 stock index futures trading data for empirical research. The results show that the variables selected by LASSO are effective and the introduction of LASSO can improve the generalization ability of neural network. At the same time, the quantitative trading strategy based on LASSO algorithm and neural network can achieve good effect and robustness at different times.
Temporal Variations in the Chemical and Carbon Isotope Compositions of Marine and Terrestrial Organic Inputs in the Bay of Marennes-Oleron, France

Composition of particulate organic matter inputs within Marennes-Oleron Bay (France) was investigated over various times scales through multiple measurements (SPM, C:N, Chl. a, δ 13 C ). Oceanic and terrestrial end-members show little δ 13 C variations over the seasonal cycle or between years. Seasonal variations in chemical and isotopic composition of riverine POM reflect the relative contribution of riverborne phytoplankton, but, except during spring bloom, POM appears to be mainly detrital. Between years, differences in rainfall regime greatly affect all the measured parameters. At the estuary mouth, seasonal variations observed within the river are blurred by sedimentation-resuspension processes linked to hydrodynamic constraints, leading to only little variations in the δ 13 C values. The larger variations were observed here in C:N values and were ascribed to the effect of high floods bringing more nitrogenous detritus in the lower part of the estuary. At the marine pole of the bay, POM is mainly dominated during winter by aged terrestrial detritus during low river flow periods, and reflects new "fresh" continental inputs during run off events. In spring and fall, its composition appears to be primarily controlled by primary production. 13 C/ 12 C ratios of bay phytoplankton are markedly more negative than true oceanic values, probably due to differences in species composition. In Marennes-Oleron Bay, POM composition cannot be described by a simple mixing model between oceanic and terrestial end-members, since many biological and physical processes alter their chemical and isotopic signatures. Variations between years emphasize also the need of considering meteorological events such as high floods or long drought periods.
Mobile Applications for Independent Living of Isolated Elderly

REMOTE aims at an open and innovative reference architecture, based upon ontologies and semantic services that allow plug and play of existing and new services in all domains required for the independent and autonomous living of the elderly and their Quality of Life enhancement. It utilizes ICT and other key technologies in order to provide holistic services to the elderly to support their physical, social or psychological engagement and foster their emotional well being. This paper is strong evidence that telemonitoring applications may ensure maximum gain for patients as long as they are properly designed and implemented. Keywords-Symbian OS; Java ME; Elderly; Independent Living; Guardian Angel; Nutritional Advisor; Personal Calendar; Environmental Home Control
Biodegradation of the Synthetic Pyrethroid, Fenvalerate by Pseudomonas viridiflava

A current environmental concern is the contamination of aquatic ecosystems due to pesticide discharges from manufacturing plant, agricultural runoff, leaching, accidental spills and other sources. The degradation of synthetic pyrethroids in the environment is an important index in the evaluation of ecological risk of pesticides. Microorganisms play a significant role in detoxifying pesticides in the environment. There are few reports on the degradation of pyrethroid insecticides in soils. This study may provide basis for prevention and control of synthetic pyrethroid, fenvalerate pollution. The present study investigated the potential of the chosen bacterium, a natural isolate Pseudomonas viridiflava isolated from an agricultural field and its degradation efficiency was evaluated by the assessment of various parameters like pH, carbon dioxide, turbidity and esterase activity during the long term and short term degradation process. HPLC analysis revealed that the peaks with different retention time and disappearance of several peaks confirm the degradation of fenvalerate by P. viridiflava. These findings suggest that the utilization of fenvalerate by P . viridiflava may be a feasible treatment option for the removal of pesticides from soil environment.
Threats from trading and hunting of pottos and angwantibos in Africa resemble those faced by slow lorises in Asia

Hunting and trading of wildlife, including primates, has been occurring for thou- sands of years. However, the rapid escalation of the bushmeat trade and the trade in live animals and body parts in recent years have come to present a serious threat to biodiversity. Asian slow lorises Nycticebus spp. are at a high risk of extinction due to their trade in wildlife markets. The African lorisiformes (pottos Perodicticus spp. and angwantibos Arctocebus spp.) are closely re - lated to Asian slow lorises, and show similar behaviour and ecology. Here, we present an ex - ploratory study comparing the threats faced by African and Asian lorises. Furthermore, we exam- ine the overall trend of the African lorisid trade. We conducted a comprehensive literature review covering all African lorisid range countries, analysed export and import data from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) database, distrib- uted questionnaires to researchers in the field and carried out an in-depth questionnaire in Nige- ria. Pottos were the most commonly hunted primate in the Nigerian focal villages studied herein, and 72% of respondents reported eating their meat at least once a month. The questionnaire responses from researchers reported on all types of trade, varying across different areas. The lit- erature reported hunting of Perodicticinae, but it did not mirror our findings from the 2 question- naires. Increased research into Asian slow lorises has revealed trade to be a real impediment to their conservation, and our data strongly suggest that the threat is of equal importance to the con- servation of their African counterparts.
Bayesian Parameter Estimation in LDA

-Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) probabilistic topic model is widely used in text mining, natural language processing and so on. But LDA’s mathematical theory is particularly complex, thus it is very difficult to understand LDA for a novice. In order to more quickly and easily learn LDA, and further promote its application, this paper will deeply analyze LDA from the perspective of Bayesian parameter estimation. At first we explain the advantage of Bayesian parameter estimation by an instance, and then introduce a simple Bayesian Unigram model. Next based on the simple Bayesian Unigram model and PLSA model, a full Bayesian probabilistic topic model—LDA is presented. Keywords-bayesian; parameter estimation; LDA; topic model
Determination of the volcanostratigraphy of oceanic crust formed at superfast spreading ridge: Electrofacies analyses of ODP/IODP Hole 1256D

The objective of this study is to construct a representative volcanostratigraphy of Ocean Drilling Program Hole 1256D, the first complete penetration of intact upper oceanic crust formed at a superfast spreading rate. An accurate knowledge of the volcanostratigraphy is vital to understand processes of crustal construction and submarine magmatism and to estimate chemical exchange with seawater, but this is rarely achieved due to very low recovery rates in most basement holes. We used two approaches to determine the rock types that form the wall rocks in the basement sections of Hole 1256D: (1) user guided interpretations of electrofacies acquired by imaging tools combined with other wireline tools; and (2) the use of an artificial neutral network to objectively classify the responses of all available logging information. Great availability of formation microscanner (FMS) images provided superior coverage of the borehole wall compared to previous attempts at core‐log integration. This has resulted in more confident and detailed lithologic classifications, such as with the distinction between pillows and different styles of breciation. Ten lithology types are suggested for a volcanostratigraphy model: massive flows, ponded lava, fractured massive flows, fragmented flows, thin flows or thick pillows, pillows, breccias, dikes in dike complex, isolated dikes, and gabbros. Three major lithology types in the extrusive section are massive flows (both massive and fragmented massive flow, 22%), fragmented flows (32%), and breccias (19%). Pillow lavas make up only 1.9% of the volcanic section and are confined to a 100 m interval. Below the extrusive section, subvertical contacts interpreted to be dike margins are typically observed every 1 to 2 m with brecciated zones along the contacts. The dikes dip steeply to the northeast indicating slight rotation away from the ridge axis. We used an artificial neural network (ANN) approach to determine a quantitative lithostratigraphy. The ANN is most strongly influenced by porosity and alteration degrees and the resulting stratigraphy most closely resembles the above classifications when clustered by FMS texture as opposed to lithologic interpretation. The ANN thus provides a porosity‐based stratigraphy of the basement rather than the traditional lithology‐based stratigraphy.
A STUDY ON THE SHORTEST QUEUEING MODEL WITH JOCKEYING

In this paper, we consider a stochastic model of two queues (queue I and queue II) with an interconnection between them is considered. When the Principal queue length exceeds a certain number N, secondary server open his own queue. Customer arrives according to a Poisson process with rate λ. Customers arrive at a constant rate λ and join the shortest of the two queues the service time for each server is exponentially distributed but the rates may be different. Jockeying between two queues is allowed. We assume that customers that customers always join the shortest queue. Parallel queueing system is obtained.
Pollination Mechanism and Role of Insects in Sida cordifolia. l

Sida cordifolia is a small perennial herb usually 20 cm to 1 m in height. The plant is used medicinally in different countries and is a source of many potent and powerful drugs. Flowers of S. cordifolia are slightly protandrous, opening and closing times of flower are temperature and light dependent. Bright yellow coloured flowers of sida cordifolia have been studied for its pollination biology and role of insects at Agra region. Mode of pollination indicated that S. cordifolia is both self and cross pollinated as fruit-set took place in bagged inflorescence. Breeding experiments indicated 80% fruit-set by open pollinated flowers while self pollinated flowers exhibited 60%. Cross-pollination was achieved by geitonogamy and xenogamy in which flowers exhibited 70% and 50% fruit-set by xenogamy and geitonogamy, respectively. The fruit formation was not merely dependent on the formation of viable gametes but also on primary (pollen and nectar) and secondary attractants (yellow colour, odour, fully open architecture and high floral density) which influenced insects and brought out reproductive success. On the basis of visitation rate and pollen load on their body parts honey bees (Apis spp.) and butterflies (Pieris sps.) were found to be the most efficient pollinators during the entire flowering period.
Racing Away? Income Inequality and the Evolution of High Incomes

This Briefing Note provides an analysis of the characteristics of high-income individuals and how their incomes have evolved over time. We begin by setting out recent trends in overall income inequality and why these lead us to focus on the pattern of income growth at the very top of the income distribution. We then present some basic facts about high-income individuals and how they compare with the rest of society (for example, what is their average before-tax income, what is their average tax rate, how much of total personal income do they receive, in what industries do they tend to work? ). We then discuss recent trends in their incomes over time and how this pattern compares with that for the rest of the income distribution. We then briefly summarise some recent research on longer-term trends in high incomes. Appendix A will undertake a brief comparison with other sources of information - compensation of executives and measures of personal wealth.
Application of Orthogonal Design to Optimize Extraction of Polysaccharide from Cynomorium songaricum Rupr (Cynomoriaceae)

Purpose: To optimize the extraction technology of polysaccharides from Cynomorium songaricum Rupr by ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE). Methods: Four parameters including ultrasonic power, ratio of raw material to water, extraction temperature, and extraction time were optimized by orthogonal design. The effects of the factors on the yield of polysaccharides were also studied. The hydroxyl and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activities were determined in vitro by spectrophotometry. Results: The optimal conditions were as follows: 1:30 as ratio of raw material to water, extraction for 70 min at 80 o C with ultrasonic power being 420 W. Under these conditions, the yield of polysaccharides was up to 4.51%, which was significantly higher than that obtained under the initial conditions (3.82 %). DPPH radical scavenging activity reached 64.82 % at 0.012 mg/mL, while hydroxyl radical scavenging activity was 18.36 % at 0.5 mg/mL. Conclusion: Ultrasonic-assisted extraction technology is a useful tool for the extraction of bioactive components from biological materials. Keywords: Cynomorium songaricum , Polysaccharide, Ultrasonic-assisted Extraction, Orthogonal Design
Purification and characterization of Rhodanese from the hepatopancreas of garden snail, Limicolaria flammea

2 2 3 cyanide (KCN) were 12.3 mM and 9.1 mM respectively, while their V were 10.5 RU/ml/min and 7.4 max RU/ml/min respectively. The substrate specificity study showed the percentage utilization of the various substrates to be: 2-mercaptoethanol (2-MCPE) (57.8%), ammonium persulphate ((NH ) S O ) (37.6%), 4 2 2 8 ammonium sulphate ((NH ) SO ) (46.8%) and Sodium metabisulphite (Na S O ) (48.1%). The K of rhodanese 4 2 4 2 2 5 m for the sulphur donor substrates were 13.3 mM, 15.4 mM, 15.9 mM and 13.5 mM respectively in the same order as above. The optimum temperature was 50°C at a pH of 8.0 and the activation energy values were 19.618 kcal/mol and 76.834 kcal/mol. The heat stability result showed the enzyme to be stable up to 50°C. The inhibition study on the enzyme by salts (BaCl , CaCl , CoCl , HgCl MgCl MnCl , NiCl and ZnCl ) showed no 2 2 2 2, 2, 2 2 2 significant effect. In summary, this study showed the presence of rhodanese activity in hepatopancreas of garden snail, Limicolaria flammea. The presence of rhodanese in the hepatopancreas of Limicolaria flammea suggests that the enzyme may possess functional cyanide detoxification mechanism necessary for the survival of the animal in the environment. ABSTRACT 289
Measurements and modeling of the transient acoustic field at impacted plates

A comparison between measured and simulated transient acoustic fields generated by thin impacted plates is reported. The plate is modeled by using finite difference methods and the radiated pressure is obtained by solving the Rayleigh integral [Ch. Lambourg and A. Chaigne, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 101(A) (1997)]. The results are evaluated in the form of the spatial pressure distribution at instants short after the excitation. Experimentally, a lead bullet (0.5 g, 100 m/s) is fired towards a cantilever steel plate (300×30×1 mm). The duration of the impact is estimated by using a high‐speed camera that can register several million frames per second. An interferometric comparison of the change in optical path length of two holographic recordings, captured before and shortly after the impact, gives a 2‐D projection of the acoustic field. A double‐pulsed ruby laser, emitting light pulses of short duration (30 ns), is used as light source [S. Schedin, A. O. Waahlin, and P. Gren, J. Acoust. Soc. Am 99, 700–705 (1996).
Information Asymmetry and Financial Dollarization in Sub-Saharan Africa

Purpose Financial dollarisation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is most persistent compared to other regions of the world. The purpose of this paper is to complement the existing scant literature on dollarisation in Africa by assessing the role of information sharing offices (public credit registries and private credit bureaus) on financial dollarisation in 25 SSA countries for the period 2001-2012. Design/methodology/approach The empirical evidence is based on ordinary least squares and generalised method of moments (GMM). Findings The findings show that information sharing offices (which are designed to reduce information asymmetry) in the banking industry are a deterrent to dollarisation. The underpinning assumption that financial development reduces financial dollarisation is confirmed. Originality/value There is scant literature on the relevance of information sharing offices in development outcomes in Africa. While the establishment of these offices in most countries in the continent began in 2004, scholarship on the importance of these offices in financial development is sparse.
Suppression of claudin-7 enhances human lung cancer cell survival

Claudin-7 belongs to a group of tight junction membrane proteins that play vital roles in many human diseases including human lung cancer. Lung cancer is noted to be the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the United States, with statistics reporting mortality rates as high as 85% and five-year survival rates as low as 15%. Lung cancer is especially prominent in North Carolina. Our current study focuses on the role of claudin-7 in human lung cancer cell survival under the exposure of tumor microenvironment. Hypoxia is one of the tumor microenvironment conditions and plays an important role in cancer progression. To achieve the hypoxia condition, HCC827 human lung cancer cells with normal claudin-7 expression (control) or with claudin-7 knockdown (KD) were treated with 1% O2 (hypoxic) for 3 days. The cell counting assay showed that the percentage of dead cells were significantly lower in KD cells compared to that of control cells. The immunofluorescent staining analysis also supported our finding through depicting the decreased expression of cleaved PARP in KD cells than that in the control cells (p<0.05). Reduced cleaved PARP expression means the cell survival is better since the cleaved PARP signal is activated in cell apoptosis. Western blot results further confirmed that the suppression of claudin-7 promoted cancer cell survival and reduced cell apoptosis. These results support our hypothesis that claudin-7 has a tumor suppression role in human lung cancer growth and suppression of claudin-7 enhances lung cancer cell survival under tumor microenvironment hypoxia condition through inhibiting cell apoptosis. This study is supported by 2015 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Award from ECU Division of Research and Graduate Studies.