Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Green ultrasound-assisted extraction of anthocyanin and phenolic compounds from purple sweet potato using response surface methodology**

Abstract Response surface methodology was used to optimize experimental conditions for ultrasound-assisted extraction of valuable components (anthocyanins and phenolics) from purple sweet potatoes using water as a solvent. The Box-Behnken design was used for optimizing extraction responses of anthocyanin extraction yield, phenolic extraction yield, and specific energy consumption. Conditions to obtain maximal anthocyanin extraction yield, maximal phenolic extraction yield, and minimal specific energy consumption were different; an overall desirability function was used to search for overall optimal conditions: extraction temperature of 68ºC, ultrasonic treatment time of 52 min, and a liquid/solid ratio of 20. The optimized anthocyanin extraction yield, phenolic extraction yield, and specific energy consumption were 4.91 mg 100 g−1 fresh weight, 3.24 mg g−1 fresh weight, and 2.07 kWh g−1, respectively, with a desirability of 0.99. This study indicates that ultrasound-assisted extraction should contribute to a green process for valorization of purple sweet potatoes.
RADIO SYNCHROTRON FLUCTUATION STATISTICS AS A PROBE OF MAGNETIZED INTERSTELLAR TURBULENCE

We investigate how observations of synchrotron intensity fluctuations can be used to probe the sonic and Alfvénic Mach numbers of interstellar turbulence, based on mock observations performed on simulations of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. We find that the structure function slope and a diagnostic of anisotropy that we call the integrated quadrupole ratio modulus both depend on the Alfvénic Mach number. However, these statistics also depend on the orientation of the mean magnetic field in the synchrotron emitting region relative to our line of sight, and this creates a degeneracy that cannot be broken by observations of synchrotron intensity alone. We conclude that the polarization of synchrotron emission could be analyzed to break this degeneracy, and suggest that this will be possible with the Square Kilometre Array.
Effects of price promotions on purchase intentions in post-promotion periods

The objective of this study is to examine the effects of price promotions on consumers’ purchase intentions. We want to show that purchase intentions in a period with no promotion are lower when consumers have previously had contact with a price promotion than when they have had no contact with a price promotion. In order to do so, we compare purchase intentions before contact with a price promotion, purchase intentions during the promotion period, and purchase intentions in the post-promotion period. In addition, we look at the psychological mechanisms underlying the observed effects. We examine possible effects through reductions of consumers’ reference price and willingness to pay because these two distinct concepts represent the most important price beliefs in the considered context. The study results provide support for our basic assumption. The findings additionally show that the negative change of purchase intentions is directly linked to a reduction of willingness to pay and indirectly linked to a reduction of consumers’ reference price after contact with a promotion.
Insights into the Low Overpotential Electroreduction of CO2 to CO on a Supported Gold Catalyst in an Alkaline Flow Electrolyzer

Cost competitive electroreduction of CO2 to CO requires electrochemical systems that exhibit partial current density (jCO) exceeding 150 mA cm–2 at cell overpotentials (|ηcell|) less than 1 V. However, achieving such benchmarks remains difficult. Here, we report the electroreduction of CO2 on a supported gold catalyst in an alkaline flow electrolyzer with performance levels close to the economic viability criteria. Onset of CO production occurred at cell and cathode overpotentials of just −0.25 and −0.02 V, respectively. High jCO (∼99, 158 mA cm–2) was obtained at low |ηcell| (∼0.70, 0.94 V) and high CO energetic efficiency (∼63.8, 49.4%). The performance was stable for at least 8 h. Additionally, the onset cathode potentials, kinetic isotope effect, and Tafel slopes indicate the low overpotential production of CO in alkaline media to be the result of a pH-independent rate-determining step (i.e., electron transfer) in contrast to a pH-dependent overall process.
An Anchor Based Information Retrieval For Link Analysis : A Survey

The growth of World Wide Web (WWW) is being increasing continuously and becomes a valuable resource to information retrieval and knowledge discovery from Web in the field of web mining. A challenge become emerging for extracting richly qualitative documents, particularly where the documents have linked via multiple types of relations. These links provide additional environment that can be helpful for web mining tasks. Hyperlinks may be created for different purposes and in different contexts. Conventional link analysis does all links likewise and assumes that links are endorsement. Hence, there is a need to extract links that are valuable. In recent days, the use of anchor text in link analysis has been found to increase the performance of web search significantly to extract a valuable link. In the present study, novel characteristic of the web page such as anchor text based information retrieval has been studied to help the search engine to extract a pertinent and valuable link.
Inverse Heat Transfer Problems in Structural Elements of Steam Turbines

The long and safe operation of high-power steam turbines depends of correct estimation of their main components thermal state and clearly identification of heat transfer conditions for the next thermal-stress analysis. The heat transfer conditions in structural elements of steam turbines are characterized by high complexity of processes. So the effective method of their identification is the numerical investigations by solving of inverse heat transfer problems. In work the structural elements of steam turbines (diaphragm and end sealings, exhaust hoods and inner space between cases of turbine K-325-23, 5) for which reasonable to make thermal researches were considered. The overview of solving methods for the inverse heat transfer problems in structural elements of steam turbines was carried out. On base of the conjugate heat transfer problems solving the methodology of boundary conditions identification was proposed. The mathematical model for considered problem was given. The flow structures which have influence on boundary conditions in each considered elements were detected. The results of identification of heat transfer coefficients on steam turbines’ rotors and cases surfaces in criterion equations were presented. There is possibility to use obtained results for repair of operating rotors and modernization of high power turbines’ constructions.
Nonlinear models for control of manufacturing systems

Current literature on modeling and control of manufacturing systems can roughly be divided into three groups: flow/fluid models, queueing theory, and discrete event models. Most fluid models describe linear time-invariant controllable systems without any dynamics. These models mainly focus on throughput and are not concerned with cycle time. Queuing theory deals with relationships between throughput and cycle time, but is mainly concerned with steady-state analysis. In addition, queueing models are not suitable for control theory. Discrete event models suffer from ``state-explosion''. Simple models of manufacturing systems can be studied and analyzed, but for larger problems the dimension of the state grows exponentially. In addition, most control problems studied are supervisory control problems: the avoidance of undesired states. An important class of interesting manufacturing control problems asks for proper balancing of both throughput and cycle time for a large nonlinear dynamical system that never is in steady state. None of the mentioned models is able to deal with these kind of control problems. In this paper, models are presented with are suitable for addressing this important class of interesting manufacturing control problems.
Analysis of synchronous reluctance machine with magnetically coupled three-phase windings and reactive power compensation

Synchronous reluctance machine with simple salient rotor is known to have poor power factor because of its poor reactance ratio. This study presents the use of an auxiliary winding attached to a balanced capacitor to improve the effective reactance ratio as well as the performance characteristics of synchronous reluctance machine. A unique feature of this configuration is that although the machine runs at synchronous speed, the effective reactance ratio of the machine can be improved by appropriate sizing of the capacitor attached to the auxiliary winding, with the constraint of the ampere turn rating of the auxiliary winding. The operational characteristics of a simple salient rotor synchronous reluctance machine equipped with this configuration were investigated and shown to have a desirable performance. How the effective reactance ratio, power factor and airgap flux distribution depend on the size of capacitor attached to the auxiliary winding is determined using a simplified mathematical model of the system. Analytical results and experimental measurements are in good agreement, and demonstrate the effectiveness and benefits of the configuration.
Environmental effects of marine fishing

1Some effects of fisheries on the associated biological systems are reviewed and management options and their inherent risks are considered. 2In addition to the effects on target species, other sensitive groups impacted by fishing are considered including marine mammals, turtles, sea birds, elasmobranchs and some invertebrates with low reproductive rates. 3Other impacts discussed include the destruction of benthic habitat, the provision of unnatural sources of food and the generation of debris. 4Management options are considered including the designation of marine protected areas, risk aversion, and the burden of proof. 5A balanced consideration of the risks and consequences of ‚Type 1’ and ‚Type II’ errors is advocated.
Job-Education Mismatch Among the Graduates: A Sri Lankan Perspective

When reviewing the literature with respect to skills mismatch it shows that there are different dimensions in this concept and these different dimensions take place due to mismatch in either demand or supply of labour. In Sri Lankan graduate job market, the skill mismatch is considered as an issue in the supply side. Therefore, most of the research had paid attention on the matters deriving from the supply side factors such as skill gap and skill shortage. However, skills mismatch is not always due to the supply side factors. It may take place due to the deficiencies in the demand side as well. Education mismatch (vertical mismatch and horizontal mismatch) is one of the main skill mismatch dimensions that occur due to the lack of labour demand. However, in the Sri Lankan graduate job market, there is a lacuna of research with regards to education mismatch dimension. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify whether there is an education mismatch in the Sri Lankan graduate job market and if there is an education mismatch to decide whether this mismatch is a real or a formal. The study has adopted a deductive methodology and two types of declarative hypothesis were developed. The data were analyzed by using both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The findings of the study conclude that, there exists an education mismatch in the Sri Lankan graduate job market and the vertical mismatch is a formal mismatch while horizontal mismatch is the real mismatch.
The mechanisms of phenology: the patterns and processes of phenological shifts

Author(s): Chmura, HE; Kharouba, HM; Ashander, J; Ehlman, SM; Rivest, EB; Yang, LH | Abstract: © 2018 by the Ecological Society of America Species across a wide range of taxa and habitats are shifting phenological events in response to climate change. While advances are common, shifts vary in magnitude and direction within and among species, and the basis for this variation is relatively unknown. We examine previously suggested patterns of variation in phenological shifts in order to understand the cue–response mechanisms that underlie phenological change. Here, we review what is known about the mechanistic basis for nine factors proposed to predict phenological change (latitude, elevation, habitat type, trophic level, migratory strategy, ecological specialization, species’ seasonality, thermoregulatory mode, and generation time). We find that many studies either do not identify a specific underlying mechanism or do not evaluate alternative mechanistic hypotheses, limiting the ability of scientists to predict future responses to global change with accuracy. We present a conceptual framework that emphasizes a critical distinction between environmental (cue-driven) and organismal (response-driven) mechanisms causing variation in phenological shifts and discuss how this distinction can reduce confusion in the field and improve predictions of future phenological change.
Effect of passage through duck gut on germination of fennel pondweed seeds

Vertebrates are important seed dispersers for many plants. In addition to transport of seeds, ingestion often affects the proportion or rate of seed germination. We present one of the first studies comparing the effects of different waterbird species on the seeds of a subcosmopolitan pondweed, Potamogeton pectinatus . We also pre- sent the first comparison of the effects of digestion by ducks (mallard Anas platyrhyn- chos, shoveler A. clypeata and wigeon A. penelope) and physical-chemical " simulation of digestion" on pondweed seed germination. In two experiments differing in the length of the preceding stratification period, two to three individuals per duck species were force-fed 150 seeds each. Average retrieval, total germination and germination rate did not differ significantly between duck species. Germination rate was higher for duck ingested seeds, intermediate for scarified seeds (i.e. after mechanical removal of the epicarp+mesocarp) and lowest for the controls and acid treated seeds, independ- ently of the length of the stratification period. Total germination, however, did not dif- fer significantly among duck-ingested, scarified, control and acid treated seeds. Conse- quently the changes in germination rate after ingestion by ducks seem related to the grinding treatment in the gut and unrelated to exposure to acidic conditions. The co- existence of ingested and uningested seeds within a given seed cohort will increase the diversification of seed germination patterns, which can favour the colonisation of habi- tats characterised by unpredictable environmental conditions.
Linear Cryptanalysis of DES Diploma Thesis

The main goal of this diploma work is the implementation of Matsui’s linear cryptanalysis of DES and a statistical and theoretical analysis of its complexity and success probability. In order to achieve this goal, we implement first a very fast DES routine on the Intel Pentium III MMX architecture which is fully optimised for linear cryptanalysis. New implementation concepts are applied, resulting in a speed increase of almost 50 % towards the best known classical implementation. The experimental results suggest strongly that the attack is in average about 10 times faster (O ( 239 ) DES computations) as expected with 243 known plaintext-ciphertext at disposal; furthermore, we have achieved a complexity of O ( 243 ) by using only 242.5 known pairs. Last, we propose a new analytical expression which approximates success probabilities; it gives slightly better results than Matsui’s experimental ones.
Distillery Wastewater: it's Impact on Environment and Remedies

Distillery wastewater causes serious concern to living organisms resulting in a greater environmental stress. There are >325 distilleries in India, producing approximately 3 billion liters of alcohol and 45 billion liters of spent wash annually [1] Distillery units are generating huge amount of wastewater during the alcohol production process, which an average of 10-15L of wastewater is released with the production of 1L of alcohol [2,3] In distillery wastewater, the presence of many types of organic and inorganic pollutants such as melanoidin, polysaccharides, reduced sugar, proteins, waxes, N, K, Ca, SO4-, PO4etc. are reported by various researchers [4,5].
Covariance approximation for large multivariate spatial data sets with an application to multiple climate model errors

This paper investigates the cross-correlations across multiple climate model errors. We build a Bayesian hierarchical model that accounts for the spatial dependence of individual models as well as cross-covariances across different climate models. Our method allows for a nonseparable and nonstationary cross-covariance structure. We also present a covariance approximation approach to facilitate the computation in the modeling and analysis of very large multivariate spatial data sets. The covariance approximation consists of two parts: a reduced-rank part to capture the large-scale spatial dependence, and a sparse covariance matrix to correct the small-scale dependence error induced by the reduced rank approximation. We pay special attention to the case that the second part of the approximation has a block-diagonal structure. Simulation results of model fitting and prediction show substantial improvement of the proposed approximation over the predictive process approximation and the independent blocks analysis. We then apply our computational approach to the joint statistical modeling of multiple climate model errors.
Nonlinear Fuzzy Robust PCA for Fault Detection of Environmental Processes

Fault detection is often utilized for proper operation of environmental processes. In this paper, a nonlinear statistical fault detection using nonlinear fuzzy robust principal component analysis (NFRPCA) -based generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) is proposed. The objective of this work is to extend our previous work (Mansouri et al., 2015), to achieve further improvements and widen the applicability of the developed method in practice by using the NFRPCA method. It is well known that the principal components are often affected by outliers, thus may not capture the true structure of the data. Therefore data reduction based on PCA becomes unreliable if outliers are present in the data. To relieve the noise sensitivity, to obtain accurate principal components of a data, and to reduce the effective system dimension, we propose to use the nonlinear fuzzy robust principal component analysis. The objective of this paper is to combine the GLRT with NFRPCA model in an attempt to improve the performance of fault detection. GLRT-based NFRPCA is a multivariate statistical method utilized in fault detection. Here the fault detection problem is addressed so that the data are first modeled using the NFRPCA analysis algorithm and then the faults are detected using generalized likelihood ratio test. The data is collected from the crop model data in order to calculate the NFRPCA model, the thresholds and the fault detection
Metal Acetylacetonates as General Precursors for the Synthesis of Early Transition Metal Oxide Nanomaterials

A versatile, convenient, and nontoxic solvothermal method for the synthesis of nanocrystalline iron, chromium, and manganese oxides is described. This method employs the reactions of metal acetylacetonate precursors and oxygen-containing solvents in a reaction to prepare metal oxide nanoparticles. Characterization of these nanocrystalline materials was carried out employing transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and elemental analysis.
Efficiency and Information Aggregation in Heterogeneous Markets ∗

This paper studies how heterogeneous preferences shape the informational and allocative efficiency of centralized markets with asymmetric information. We start by showing that introducing agent-level heterogeneity (e.g., in terms of trading costs) to the standard rational expectations equilibrium models reduces price informativeness by creating a bias towards the private information of agents with smaller trading costs. We then establish that this reduction in price informativeness in turn manifests itself as an informational externality: in the presence of heterogeneity, agents do not internalize the impact of their trading decisions on the information revealed to others via prices, even in competitive markets. We conclude the paper by investigating the welfare implications of market segmentation in the presence of the heterogeneity-induced informational externality.
lignment options for total knee arthroplasty : A systematic review

In spite of improvements in implant designs and surgical precision, functional outcomes of mechanically aligned total knee arthroplasty (MA TKA) have plateaued. This suggests probable technical intrinsic limitations that few alternate more anatomical recently promoted surgical techniques are trying to solve. This review aims at (1) classifying the different options to frontally align TKA implants, (2) at comparing their safety and efficacy with the one from MA TKAs, therefore answering the following questions: does alternative techniques to position TKA improve functional outcomes of TKA (question 1)? Is there any pathoanatomy not suitable for kinematic implantation of a TKA (question 2)? A systematic review of the existing literature utilizing PubMed and Google Scholar search engines was performed in February 2017. Only studies published in peer-reviewed journals over the last ten years in either English or French were reviewed. We identified 569 reports, of which 13 met our eligibility criteria. Four alternative techniques to position a TKA are challenging the traditional MA technique: anatomic (AA), adjusted mechanical (aMA), kinematic (KA), and restricted kinematic (rKA) alignment techniques. Regarding osteoarthritic patients with slight to mid constitutional knee frontal deformity, the KA technique enables a faster recovery and generally generates higher functional TKA outcomes than the MA technique. Kinematic alignment for TKA is a new attractive technique for TKA at early to mid-term, but need longer follow-up in order to assess its true value. It is probable that some forms of pathoanatomy might affect longer-term clinical outcomes of KA TKA and make the rKA technique or additional surgical corrections (realignment osteotomy, retinacular ligament reconstruction etc.) relevant for this sub-group of patients. Longer follow-up is needed to define the best indication of each alternative surgical technique for TKA. Level I for question 1 (systematic review of Level I studies), level 4 for question 2.
Anti-Social Media: Implications of Social Media in the Form of Stressors on Our Daily Lives

This research aims to investigate the role of social media (Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) in our daily lives and its implication on our everyday routine in the form of stressors. The study has been validated by a social media survey with 150 social media users belonging to various age groups. The study explores how social media can make an individual anti-social in his or her life offline. To explain the phenomenon, we have proposed and evaluated a model based on social media usage and stressors including burnout and social overload. Results, through correlation and regression tests, have revealed that with increase in social media usage, social overload and burnout also increases. Evidence for the fact that excessive social media usage causes social overload and burnout has been provided in the study. Keywords—Burnout, emotional exhaustion, fatigue, stressors, social networking, social media, social overload.