Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adsorption of Anionic Surfactant on Alumina and Reuse of the Surfactant-Modified Alumina for the Removal of Crystal Violet from Aquatic Environment

Abstract The adsorption characteristics of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), an anionic surfactant on neutral alumina were studied in detail. Alumina was found to be an efficient adsorbent for SDS and could be used for the removal of SDS from its highly concentrated (several thousand ppm) solution. The equilibrium time found was 2 h. Though the removal efficiency was low (∼65%) at neutral pH, but in slightly acidic condition and in the presence of NaCl the efficiency could be increased dramatically (up to >98%). The adsorption isotherm study showed distinct four regions. The effects of various other parameters such as adsorbent dose, time, and the presence of different ions (Cl- NO- 3, SO2- 4, and Fe3+), and nonionic surfactant on the SDS adsorption were also studied. It was observed that the adsorption capacity was increased due to the presence of these ions in general. After the adsorption of SDS on alumina, the surfactant-modified alumina (SMA) was used for the removal of crystal violet (CV), a well-known cationic dye from aquatic environment. The kinetic studies showed that 1 h shaking time was sufficient to achieve the equilibrium. The removal of CV followed the second order kinetics. Studies were conducted to see the effects of adsorbent dose and initial CV concentration on the removal of CV using SMA. The pH was maintained at 6.7 ± 0.1. SMA was found to be very efficient, and ∼99% efficiency could be achieved under optimised conditions for the removal of CV when present even at a high concentration (200 ppm). To test whether the removal of CV was possible from real water using SMA, the adsorption study was conducted using CV spiked samples using distilled water, tap water, and synthetically prepared wastewater. It was interesting to note that the removal efficiency was even better for tap water and much better for wastewater when compared to that using distilled water. Desorption of both SDS and CV from the SMA surface was possible using 1 M sodium hydroxide solutions.
The effects of noise reduction technologies on the acceptance of background noise.

BACKGROUND Directional microphones (D-Mics) and digital noise reduction (DNR) algorithms are used in hearing aids to reduce the negative effects of background noise on performance. Directional microphones attenuate sounds arriving from anywhere other than the front of the listener while DNR attenuates sounds with physical characteristics of noise. Although both noise reduction technologies are currently available in hearing aids, it is unclear if the use of these technologies in isolation or together affects acceptance of noise and/or preference for the end user when used in various types of background noise. PURPOSE The purpose of the research was to determine the effects of D-Mic, DNR, or the combination of D-Mic and DNR on acceptance of noise and preference when listening in various types of background noise. RESEARCH DESIGN An experimental study in which subjects were exposed to a repeated measures design was utilized. STUDY SAMPLE Thirty adult listeners with mild sloping to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss participated (mean age 67 yr). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Acceptable noise levels (ANLs) were obtained using no noise reduction technologies, D-Mic only, DNR only, and the combination of the two technologies (Combo) for three different background noises (single-talker speech, speech-shaped noise, and multitalker babble) for each listener. In addition, preference rankings of the noise reduction technologies were obtained within each background noise (1 = best, 3 = worst). RESULTS ANL values were significantly better for each noise reduction technology than baseline; and benefit increased significantly from DNR to D-Mic to Combo. Listeners with higher (worse) baseline ANLs received more benefit from noise reduction technologies than listeners with lower (better) baseline ANLs. Neither ANL values nor ANL benefit values were significantly affected by background noise type; however, ANL benefit with D-Mic and Combo was similar when speech-like noise was present while ANL benefit was greatest for Combo when speech spectrum noise was present. Listeners preferred the hearing aid settings that resulted in the best ANL value. CONCLUSION Noise reduction technologies improved ANL for each noise type, and the amount of improvement was related to the baseline ANL value. Improving an ANL with noise reduction technologies is noticeable to listeners, at least when examined in this laboratory setting, and listeners prefer noise reduction technologies that improved their ability to accept noise.
Experimental observation of the steady-oscillatory transition in a cubic lid-driven cavity

Particle image velocimetry is applied to the lid-driven flow in a cube to validate the numerical prediction of steady-oscillatory transition at lower than ever observed Reynolds number. Experimental results agree with the numerical simulation demonstrating large amplitude oscillatory motion overlaying the base quasi-two-dimensional flow in the mid-plane. A good agreement in the values of critical Reynolds number and frequency of the appearing oscillations as well as similar spatial distributions of the oscillations amplitude are obtained.
Dose‐Related Prolongation of Hyperbaric Tetracaine Spinal Anesthesia by Clonidine in Humans

The effect of clonidine, an α3 agonist, on sensory and motor blockade during spinal anesthesia was studied in 44 ASA physical status I II patients scheduled for orthopedic surgery. The patients were randomly allocated into three groups given 15 mg of 0.5% hyperbaric tetracaine (HT), within group 1 (N = 14) 1 ml isotonic saline, in group II (N = 15) 0.5 ml saline solution and 0.5 ml clonidine (75 μg), and in group III (N = 15) 1 ml clonidine (150 μg). Sensory blockade (SB) was evaluated by pinprick and motor blockade (MB) according to Bromage's scale. The level of SB was comparable in the three groups but the duration was different. The 75 pg clonidine was associated with 25% prolongation of SB at L2 and 29% prolongation of grade 3 MB Clonidine 150 pg prolonged the time of SB at L2 by 72% and grade 3 MB by 96%. Colloid infusion and the decrease in diastolic blood pressure were significantly greater in the clonidine 150 μg group compared to group 1. A dose related prolongation of spinal anesthesia is demonstrated with clonidine.
Anticipation of Increasing Monetary Reward Selectively Recruits Nucleus Accumbens

Comparative studies have implicated the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in the anticipation of incentives, but the relative responsiveness of this neural substrate during anticipation of rewards versus punishments remains unclear. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated whether the anticipation of increasing monetary rewards and punishments would increase NAcc blood oxygen level-dependent contrast (hereafter, "activation") in eight healthy volunteers. Whereas anticipation of increasing rewards elicited both increasing self-reported happiness and NAcc activation, anticipation of increasing punishment elicited neither. However, anticipation of both rewards and punishments activated a different striatal region (the medial caudate). At the highest reward level ($5.00), NAcc activation was correlated with individual differences in self-reported happiness elicited by the reward cues. These findings suggest that whereas other striatal areas may code for expected incentive magnitude, a region in the NAcc codes for expected positive incentive value.
ALEXIS O‐Ring wound retractor vs conventional wound protection for the prevention of surgical site infections in colorectal resections 1

Aim Surgical site infection (SSI) remains a common postoperative morbidity, particularly in colorectal resections, and poses a significant financial burden to the healthcare system. The omission of mechanical bowel preparation, as is performed in enhanced recovery after surgery programmes, appears to further increase the incidence. Various wound protection methods have been devised to reduce the incidence of SSIs. However, there are few randomized controlled trials assessing their efficacy. The aim of this study is to investigate whether ALEXIS wound retractors with reinforced O‐rings are superior to conventional wound protection methods in preventing SSIs in colorectal resections.
Switching direction in electric-signal-induced cell migration by cyclic guanosine monophosphate and phosphatidylinositol signaling

Switching between attractive and repulsive migration in cell movement in response to extracellular guidance cues has been found in various cell types and is an important cellular function for translocation during cellular and developmental processes. Here we show that the preferential direction of migration during electrotaxis in Dictyostelium cells can be reversed by genetically modulating both guanylyl cyclases (GCases) and the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-binding protein C (GbpC) in combination with the inhibition of phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinases (PI3Ks). The PI3K-dependent pathway is involved in cathode-directed migration under a direct-current electric field. The catalytic domains of soluble GCase (sGC) and GbpC also mediate cathode-directed signaling via cGMP, whereas the N-terminal domain of sGC mediates anode-directed signaling in conjunction with both the inhibition of PI3Ks and cGMP production. These observations provide an identification of the genes required for directional switching in electrotaxis and suggest that a parallel processing of electric signals, in which multiple-signaling pathways act to bias cell movement toward the cathode or anode, is used to determine the direction of migration.
A Bioassay of Nitrogen Availability in Soils Amended with Solid Digestate from Anaerobically Digested Beef Cattle Feedlot Manure

Anaerobically digested manure (ADM) from biogas plants is often applied to cropland at rates equivalent to those for raw manure. However, the digestion process may alter nutrient release patterns, necessitating adjustment of application rates. We tested this hypothesis using five cycles of forage barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grown in pots containing a Dark Brown Chernozem (mixed Typic Haploboroll) or a Black Chernozem (Typic Haplocryoll) amended with beef cattle (Bos taurus) feedlot manure, solid digestate (SD, that is, the separated solids fraction of ADM), pelletized SD (PSD), and urea + monoammonium phosphate (UMAP) at rates equivalent to 400 and 800 mg total N kg⁻¹ soil. Biomass yields did not differ significantly among manure, SD, and UMAP (mean = 32 g kg⁻¹ soil) and were lowest for PSD (18 g kg⁻¹ soil). Overall, apparent N recovery (ANR) from amendments over the five crop cycles decreased in the order: UMAP (53%) > manure (35%) ≈ SD (20%) > PSD (−7%) in the Dark Brown Chernozem; and UMAP (45%) ≈ manure (42%) > SD (26%) > PSD (−13%) in the Black Chernozem. Apparent net mineralization of organic N was higher in the Black Chernozem than the Dark Brown Chernozem and, in both soils, higher for manure (33% of initial total organic N) than SD (24%) and PSD (−16%). Although biomass yields were similar for manure and SD, slower organic N mineralization and lower apparent N recovery in SD-amended soils may limit the N supply capacity of SD. It may be prudent to apply SD at higher rates than manure or to supplement the SD with mineral N fertilizer to ensure adequate available N for plant uptake.
Hydrologic Effects of Urbanization and Climate Change on the Flint River Basin, Georgia

AbstractThe potential effects of long-term urbanization and climate change on the freshwater resources of the Flint River basin were examined by using the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS). PRMS is a deterministic, distributed-parameter watershed model developed to evaluate the effects of various combinations of precipitation, temperature, and land cover on streamflow and multiple intermediate hydrologic states. Precipitation and temperature output from five general circulation models (GCMs) using one current and three future climate-change scenarios were statistically downscaled for input into PRMS. Projections of urbanization through 2050 derived for the Flint River basin by the Forecasting Scenarios of Future Land-Cover (FORE-SCE) land-cover change model were also used as input to PRMS. Comparison of the central tendency of streamflow simulated based on the three climate-change scenarios showed a slight decrease in overall streamflow relative to simulations under current conditions, mostly ca.
New Response Time Bounds for Fixed Priority Multiprocessor Scheduling

Recently, there have been several promising techniques developed for schedulability analysis and response time analysis for multiprocessor systems based on over-approximation. This paper contains two contributions. First, to improve the analysis precision, we apply Baruah’s window analysis framework [6] to response time analysis for poradic tasks on multiprocessor systems where the deadlines of tasks are within their periods. The crucial observation is that for global fixed priority scheduling, a response time bound of each task can be efficiently estimated by fixed-point computation without enumerating all the busy window sizes as in [6] for schedulability analysis. The technique is proven to dominate theoretically state-of-the-art techniques for response time analysis for multiprocessor systems. Our experiments also show that the technique results in significant performance improvement compared with several existing techniques for multiprocessor schedulability analysis. As the second main contribution of this paper, we extend the proposed technique to task systems with arbitrary deadlines, allowing tasks to have deadlines beyond the end of their periods. This is a non-trivial extension even for single-processor systems. To our best knowledge, this is the first work of response time analysis for multiprocessor systems in this setting, which involves sophisticated techniques for the characterization and computation of response time bounds.
Adjustment of Fluvial Systems to Climate and Source Terrain in Tropical and Subtropical Environments

Abstract Rivers in western Brazil and northeastern Argentina are used to illustrate the complex adjustment of fluvial patterns and sediments to the shifting arid-humid climatic regimens of the tropics and subtropics. Many of these rivers show pronounced deviations from the sediment size-sinuosity relationships that were developed by studies of rivers in temperate semi-arid and humid environments. In the Amazon Basin, a broad range of sinuosity (P) and floodplain depositional features occurs in rivers that lack appreciable bedload. Rivers draining the tropical lowlands, e.g. the Jurua River, have very regular streamflow, nearly all solution and suspended load, numerous meander cutoffs, poorly developed point bars and scroll topography, and single channels of high sinuosity (P = 1.9–3.0). Major trunk rivers draining Andean source terrains, e.g. the Solimoes River, have pronounced anastomosing patterns of lower sinuosity (P = 1.2–1.5), prominent scroll topography on flood plains, and high suspended load. These differences result from the relative abilities of different rivers to rework coarse, relict alluvium that was deposited during the relatively arid full-glacial phases of the Pleistocene. Rivers of the Gran Chaco of northeastern Argentina display a detailed record of altered hydrologic regimen during the Quaternary. Many streams show a late Quaternary reduction of channel-forming discharge that always produced greatly reduced channel widths but only occasionally produced reduced meander wavelengths. However, not all these changes need be attributed to temporal climatic change. Major changes in both sediment load and discharge can be achieved in this piedmont environment through stream captures that delete or add the Andean source terrain to a given river’s drainage basin. Hydrologic calculations show that empirical formulae derived from studies of humid-temperate and semi-arid streams do not necessarily explain the regimen behavior of these complex tropical rivers. The low-sinuosity Amazon Basin streams are much less dominated by relatively coarse-grained sediment than are streams of equivalent sinuosity described for semi-arid regions by S. A. Schumm. Discharge characteristics and bank stability (related to both vegetation and lithology) appear to play the dominant role in accounting for channel pattern variations in the Amazon Basin.
Isolation strategy against substrate coupling in CMOS mixed-signal/RF circuits

A deep n-well guard-ring, DNW-GR, provides effective isolation from substrate-coupled high frequency noises in combination with high-resistive p-type substrates. AC-measurements of S21 with port geometry and guard-ring structure dependencies are reported in a 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS standard mixed-signal technology with p-type substrates having the bulk resistivity from 10 /spl Omega/cm to 3 k/spl Omega/cm. It is shown that DNW-GR on a 1-k/spl Omega/cm substrate gains 20dB improvement in isolation against 1-GHz coupling, compared with a p/sup +/ guard-ring on a standard 10-/spl Omega/cm substrate. S21 simulations with substrate equivalent circuit models derived by way of F-matrix computation on test structures are in good agreement with measurements for a frequency range over 5 GHz. The substrate models can compactly as well as precisely include layout-level isolation effects in circuit simulations for a mixed-signal/RF design.
A Toolkit for Analyzing Nonlinear Dynamic Stochastic Models Easily

Often researchers wish to analyze nonlinear dynamic discrete time stochastic models This chapter provides a toolkit for solving such models easily building on log linearizing the necessary equa tions characterizing the equilibrium and solving for the recursive equilibrium law of motion with the method of undetermined coe cients This chapter contains nothing substantially new In stead the chapter simpli es and uni es existing approaches to make them accessible for a wide audience showing how to log linearizing the nonlinear equations without the need for explicit di erentiation how to use the method of undetermined coe cients for models with a vector of endogenous state variables to provide a general solution by characterizing the solution with a matrix quadratic equation and solving it and to provide frequency domain techniques to cal culate the second order properties of the model in its HP ltered version without resorting to simulations Since the method is an Euler equation based approach rather than an approach based on solving a social planners problem models with externalities or distortionary taxation do not pose additional problems MATLAB programs to carry out the calculations in this chap ter are made available This chapter should be useful for researchers and Ph D students alike Corresponding address CentER for Economic Research Tilburg University Postbus LE Tilburg The Netherlands e mail uhlig kub nl I am grateful to Michael Binder Toni Braun Jan Magnus Ellen McGrattan and Yexiao Xu for helpful comments I am grateful to Andrew Atkeson for pointing out to me a signi cant im provement of subsection This chapter was completed while visiting the Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis I am grateful for its hospitality Any views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis or the Federal Reserve System This version is an updated version of the Discussion Paper at the Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics and of the CentER DP
A Markov Chain Approach to Reconstruction of Long Haplotypes

Haplotypes are important for association based gene mapping, but there are no practical laboratory methods for obtaining them directly from DNA samples. We propose simple Markov models for reconstruction of haplotypes for a given sample of multilocus genotypes. The models are aimed specifically for long marker maps, where linkage disequilibrium between markers may vary and be relatively weak. Such maps are ultimately used in chromosome or genome-wide association studies. Haplotype reconstruction with standard Markov chains is based on linkage disequilibrium (LD) between neighboring markers. Markov chains of higher order can capture LD in a neighborhood of a given size. We introduce a more flexible and robust model, MC-VL, which is based on a Markov chain of variable order. Experimental validation of the Markov chain methods on both a wide range of simulated data and real data shows that they clearly out perform previous methods on genetically long marker maps and are highly competitive with short maps, too. MC-VL performs well across different data sets and settings while avoiding the problem of manually choosing an appropriate order for the Markov chain, and it has low computational complexity.
When sleep is perceived as wakefulness: an experimental study on state perception during physiological sleep

While electrophysiologically measured sleep and perception of sleep generally concur, various studies have shown this is not always the case. The objective of the present study was to assess the perception of actual state during sleep by the technique of planned awakenings and interviewing subjects on the preawakening state. Sixty‐eight (43 females, 25 males) young (mean age: 24.1, SD 5.1 years) normal sleeping subjects were deliberately awakened out of consolidated sleep, either stage 2 (S2), or REM sleep, during the first night in a non‐clinical sleep laboratory. While the preawakening state was experienced as sleep in 48 cases (70.6%), it was experienced as wakefulness in 20 cases (29.4%). The percentage of awake judgements was somewhat, but not significantly, higher for awakenings out of S2 (38.2%), to REM sleep (20.6%). The proportion of mismatches between electrophysiologically defined sleep and state judgements was time‐dependent with more awake judgements for REM sleep in the second half of the sleep period (41.7%) than in the first one (17.4%). Those subjects who made an awake judgement more frequently had a feeling of being aware of the situation and their surroundings than those who made a sleep judgement (80% versus 33%). Awareness during sleep may be a cognitive style, which favours mismatches between state perception and electrophysiologically defined sleep. Sleep periods with concordant or discordant state judgements did not differ in electrophysiologically defined sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, or sleep state distribution.