Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigating the Effect of Fiber Concentration and Fiber Size on Mechanical Properties of Rice Husk Fiber Reinforced Polyester Composites

The use of natural fibers to replace synthetic fibers as reinforcement in polymer composites has received growing attention in the 21st Century. This is occasioned by global campaigns for utilization of eco-friendly materials as substitute to the conventional non-biodegradable materials which adversely affect the environment. Academicians and researchers have focused on value addition to agro-waste fibrous materials by utilizing them as reinforcements in composites for low load structural applications such as ceiling boards, cardboards, partition boards, mirrors, and picture frames. This study focused on fabrication and mechanical characterization of composite materials made of rice husk fibers and unsaturated polyester resin matrix, with methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) as hardener. The fibers were chemically treated with 4% NaOH then dried, milled and classified into three categories: small size (250 – 500 µm), medium size (500 – 1000 µm), and large size (1000 - 2000 µm), using standard laboratory sieves. For each size category, samples were prepared by varying fiber weight fraction (%wt) in increasing steps of 5% from 0% (lowest) to 20% (highest). Hand layup method was used to prepare the specimens, which were then sized in accordance with ASTM standards and subjected to tensile and impact testing. Statistical results for ANOVA two factor without replication at 5% level of significance showed that both fiber loading and fiber content affect mechanical behavior of the composite materials. Maximum tensile strength of 25.14 MPa was recorded by the small size rice husk fibers at 15 %wt, while large size rice husk fibers gave minimum tensile strength of 9.38 MPa at 5 %wt. Medium size rice husk fibers gave highest impact strength value of 7.75 J/mm2 at 15 %wt, while lowest impact strength value of 3.08 MPa was registered by the large size rice husks at 20 %wt. It can therefore be deduced that composite materials made of rice husk fibers can be worthwhile alternatives to synthetic fiber materials for both household and industrial applications.
Video Saliency Detection via Spatial-Temporal Fusion and Low-Rank Coherency Diffusion

This paper advocates a novel video saliency detection method based on the spatial-temporal saliency fusion and low-rank coherency guided saliency diffusion. In sharp contrast to the conventional methods, which conduct saliency detection locally in a frame-by-frame way and could easily give rise to incorrect low-level saliency map, in order to overcome the existing difficulties, this paper proposes to fuse the color saliency based on global motion clues in a batch-wise fashion. And we also propose low-rank coherency guided spatial-temporal saliency diffusion to guarantee the temporal smoothness of saliency maps. Meanwhile, a series of saliency boosting strategies are designed to further improve the saliency accuracy. First, the original long-term video sequence is equally segmented into many short-term frame batches, and the motion clues of the individual video batch are integrated and diffused temporally to facilitate the computation of color saliency. Then, based on the obtained saliency clues, inter-batch saliency priors are modeled to guide the low-level saliency fusion. After that, both the raw color information and the fused low-level saliency are regarded as the low-rank coherency clues, which are employed to guide the spatial-temporal saliency diffusion with the help of an additional permutation matrix serving as the alternative rank selection strategy. Thus, it could guarantee the robustness of the saliency map’s temporal consistence, and further boost the accuracy of the computed saliency map. Moreover, we conduct extensive experiments on five public available benchmarks, and make comprehensive, quantitative evaluations between our method and 16 state-of-the-art techniques. All the results demonstrate the superiority of our method in accuracy, reliability, robustness, and versatility.
Effect of Vildagliptin on Hepatic Steatosis

Context: Although dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 inhibitors exert their major action via an incretin mechanism, a favorable effect of vildagliptin on lipid metabolism remains unexplained. Objective: The objective was to examine hepatic triglyceride levels and insulin sensitivity on vildagliptin. Design: This was a 6-month, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Setting: This was an outpatient study at a university clinical research center. Patients: Individuals with type 2 diabetes (n = 44) and glycated hemoglobin ≤7.6% on stable metformin therapy were included. Intervention: Intervention was vildagliptin 50 mg twice a day or placebo over 6 months. Main Outcome Measures: Main outcome measures were hepatic triglyceride levels and insulin sensitivity. Results: Mean fasting liver triglyceride content decreased by 27% with vildagliptin, from 7.3 ± 1.0% (baseline) to 5.3 ± 0.9% (endpoint). There was no change in the placebo group. The between-group difference in change from baseline was significant (P = .013). Mean fasting plasma glucose concentration decreased over the study period with vildagliptin vs placebo by −1.0 mmol/L (P = .018), and there was a positive correlation between these decrements and liver triglyceride in the vildagliptin group at 3 months (r = 0.47; P = .02) and 6 months (r = 0.44; P = .03). Plasma alanine aminotransferase fell from 27.2 ± 2.8 to 20.3 ± 1.4 IU/L in the vildagliptin group (P = .0007), and there was a correlation between the decrements in alanine aminotransferase and liver triglyceride (r = 0.83; P < .0001). Insulin sensitivity during the euglycemic clamp was similar in each group at baseline (3.24 ± 0.30 vs 3.19 ± 0.38 mg/kg/min) and did not change (adjusted mean change of 0.26 ± 0.22 vs 0.32 ± 0.22 mg/kg/min; P = .86). Mean body weight decreased by 1.6 ± 0.5 vs 0.4 ± 0.5 kg in the vildagliptin and placebo groups, respectively (P = .08). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 inhibitor vildagliptin brings about a clinically significant decrease in hepatic triglyceride levels during 6 months of therapy unrelated to change in body weight. There was no change in peripheral insulin sensitivity.
A Nonisolated Interleaved Boost Converter for High-Voltage Gain Applications

The requirement for high-voltage gain step-up dc-dc converters is increasingly becoming important in many modern power supply applications. They are an essential power conversion stage in systems, such as grid-connected renewables and electric vehicles. Unfortunately, achieving a low cost, high efficiency, power dense, step-up converter with high-voltage gain is not a trivial task; yet they are highly desirable when aiming for a green power supply solution. For this reason, this paper presents a new nonisolated interleaved dc-dc boost converter with zero voltage switching. The proposed converter is designed around a coupled inductor with an active-clamping circuit arrangement to recycle the coupled inductor leakage energy and reduce the voltage stress on the semiconductor devices. The lack of isolation transformer improves the power density of the system. Likewise, the interleaved circuit allows for high efficiency over a broad range of operating conditions. The theoretical behavior of the power converter is fully described, and the performance of the circuit is validated through experimental results. Importantly, the circuit is capable of achieving > 10 × voltage gains without the need to apply extreme modulation signals to the pulse width modulation circuit.
Emotional responses to honour situations in Turkey and the northern USA

The main goal of the current research is to investigate emotional reactions to situations that implicate honour in Turkish and northern American cultural groups. In Studies 1A and 1B, participants rated the degree to which a variety of events fit their prototypes for honour-related situations. Both Turkish and American participants evaluated situations generated by their co-nationals as most central to their prototypes of honour-related situations. Study 2 examined emotional responses to Turkish or US-generated situations that varied in centrality to the prototype. Highly central situations and Turkish-generated situations elicited stronger emotions than less central situations and US-generated situations. Americans reported higher levels of positive emotions in response to honour-enhancing situations than did Turkish participants. These findings demonstrate that the prototypes of honour relevant situations differ for Turkish and northern American people, and that Turkish honour relevant situations are more emotion-laden than are northern American honour relevant situations.
Effect of diets with different energy and lipase levels on performance, digestibility and carcass trait in broilers

Objective A 28-d trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of diets with different energy and lipase levels on performance, nutrient digestibility, serum profiles, gut health, and carcass quality in broilers. Methods A total of 720 one-day-old male Ross 308 broilers (45.4±0.5 g) were randomly assigned to one of the following four treatments: i) RET, reduced energy treatment (metabolizable energy = 2,950 and 3,100 kcal/kg for starter and finisher diet), ii) BDT, basal diet treatment (metabolizable energy = 3,050 and 3,200 kcal/kg for starter and finisher diet, iii) RET015, RET+0.15 g/kg lipase, and iv) RET03, RET+0.3 g/kg lipase. There were 10 replications (cages) per treatment with 18 birds per cage. Results During d 1 to 14, broilers fed BDT, RET015, and RET03 diets had higher (p<0.05) body weight gain than those fed RET diet. During d 1 to 14, 15 to 28 and the overall experiment, feed conversion ratio in RET03 treatment was lower (p<0.05) compared with RET treatment. On d 14, the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM), ether extract (EE), and gross energy in RET03 treatment was higher (p<0.05) than those in RET treatment, while the ATTD of N was increased (p<0.05) by RET03 treatment. On d 28, broilers fed RET03 diet had higher (p<0.05) ATTD of DM than those fed RET and RET015 diets, while the ATTD of EE in BDT and RET03 treatments was increased (p<0.05) compared with RET and RET015 treatments. Broilers fed RET03 diet had higher villus height (VH) and VH:crypt depth (CD) ratio than those fed RET and BDT diets. The activity of pancreatic lipase in BDT and RET03 treatments was higher (p<0.05) than that in RET treatment. Conclusion Taken together, lipase supplementation (3,000 U/kg feed) increased growth performance, nutrient digestibility, VH, VH:CD ratio and lipase activity, but decreased triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and the abdominal fat percentage in broilers fed reduced energy diet.
K-tree: large scale document clustering

We introduce K-tree in an information retrieval context. It is an efficient approximation of the k-means clustering algorithm. Unlike k-means it forms a hierarchy of clusters. It has been extended to address issues with sparse representations. We compare performance and quality to CLUTO using document collections. The K-tree has a low time complexity that is suitable for large document collections. This tree structure allows for efficient disk based implementations where space requirements exceed that of main memory.
Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering EFFECT OF ROTATION RATES ON THE LAMINAR FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER PAST A CIRCULAR CYLINDER

In this work, forced convection heat transfer past a rotating circular cylinder with a constant nondimensional rotation rate α varying from 0 to 6 was investigated for Reynolds numbers of 20–200 and a Prandtl number of 0.7. The numerical calculations are carried out by using a finite-volume method based commercial computational fluid dynamics solver FLUENT. The successive changes in the flow pattern are studied as a function of the rotation rate. Suppression of vortex shedding occurs as the rotation rate increases (α > 2). A second kind of instability appears for higher rotation speed where a series of counter-clockwise vortices is shed in the upper shear layer. The rotation attenuates the secondary instability and increases the critical Reynolds number for the appearance of this instability. In addition, time-averaged (lift and drag coefficients and Nusselt number) results were obtained and compared with the literature data. A good agreement was obtained for both the local and averaged values.
Dauer pheromone and G-protein signaling modulate the coordination of intraflagellar transport kinesin motor proteins in C. elegans

Cilia length and function are dynamically regulated by modulation of intraflagellar transport (IFT). The cilia of C. elegans amphid channel neurons provide an excellent model to study this process, since they use two different kinesins for anterograde transport: kinesin-II and OSM-3 kinesin together in the cilia middle segments, but only OSM-3 in the distal segments. To address whether sensory signaling modulates the coordination of the kinesins, we studied IFT protein motility in gpa-3 mutant animals, since dominant active mutation of this sensory Gα protein GPA-3QL) affects cilia length. In addition, we examined animals exposed to dauer pheromone, since dauer formation, which involves gpa-3, induces changes in cilia morphology. Live imaging of fluorescently tagged IFT proteins showed that in gpa-3 mutants and in larvae exposed to dauer pheromone, kinesin-II speed is decreased and OSM-3 speed is increased, whereas structural IFT proteins move at an intermediate speed. These results indicate that mutation of gpa-3 and exposure to dauer pheromone partially uncouple the two kinesins. We propose a model in which GPA-3-regulated docking of kinesin-II and/or OSM-3 determines entry of IFT particles into the cilia subdomains, allowing structural and functional plasticity of cilia in response to environmental cues.
[Surveillance of postoperative wound infections: reference data of the Hospital Infection Surveillance System (KISS)].

BACKGROUND Surgical site infections (SSI), the third-most-frequent nosocomial infection, are a problem in all fields of surgery. Assessing the level of one's own infection rates is often difficult, since there have been no suitable comparative data available in Germany in the past due to the lack of a uniform method of determining these rates. METHODS Based on an American model, the Hospital Infection Surveillance System (KISS) has been carrying out a standard recording of SSI since 1997 in meanwhile 132 surgical departments of 89 hospitals. Specially trained hygiene personnel record SSI according to CDC definitions in selected indicator operations. RESULTS Since January 1997, 1,549 SSI have been recorded in 71,038 operations using 13 different surgical techniques. The risk-ratified SSI rates for each of these surgical techniques are provided and can serve as orientational data for other departments. CONCLUSION The KISS reference data can help in assessing one's own SSI rates. A prerequisite is surveillance according to the KISS protocol.
Guidelines on 99m Tc-dmsa Scintigraphy in Children I Purpose Ii Background Information and Definition

The purpose of this guideline is to offer to the nuclear medicine team a framework that could prove helpful in daily practice. This guideline contains information related to the acquisition, processing, interpretation and indications for 99m Tc-DMSA scintigraphy in children. This guideline summarizes the views of the Paediatric Committee of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine. It should be taken in the context of "good practice" of nuclear medicine and local regulation.
History of the virus in the world and in Iran

Russian scientists, led by Professor M.P.Chumakov, isolated the virus from human patients and from ticks. The same virus was isolated by C.Courtoise in 1956 from a 13 years old patient in the Belgium Congo. However, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic Fever has a much longer history, with the first record in the early 12th century. Although ticks transmit CCHF virus to a wide variety of animal species, the severe disease only affects humans. Cattle, sheep and small mammals, such as hares may develop mild fever following infection. The disease in humans is comparatively rare but a cause for concern because of high mortality and transmission through contact with patients. Handling the virus requires the highest degree of laboratory containment (Knipe (2001), Chinikar(2009), Chinikar(2007)).
Listen to the Music: Audio Preview Cues for Exploration of Online Music

This paper presents a novel mechanism that seeks to allow people to explore large collections of loosely structured audio. The approach provides a lightweight preview mechanism that allows people to explore the audio collection by providing supporting information (analogous to the use of tooltips in visual interfaces) We present an evaluation of these “preview cues” towards developing a design heuristics for their deployment.
Role of long‐range repulsive forces in organizing axonal neurofilament distributions: Evidence from mice deficient in myelin‐associated glycoprotein

When the axon of a motor neuron is sectioned and visualized by electron microscopy, a two‐dimensional distribution of neurofilaments (NFs) with nonrandom spacing is revealed; this ordered arrangement implies the presence of physical interactions between the NFs. To gain insight into the molecular basis of this organization, we characterized NF distributions from mouse sciatic nerve cross sections using two statistical mechanical measures: radial distribution functions and occupancy probability distributions. Our analysis shows that NF organization may be described in terms of effective pairwise interactions. In addition, we show that these statistical mechanical measures can detect differences in NF architecture between wild‐type and myelin‐associated glycoprotein null mutant mice. These differences are age dependent, with marked contrast between the NF distributions by 9 months of age. Finally, using Monte Carlo simulations, we compare the experimental results with predictions for models in which adjacent NFs interact through rigid cross bridges, deformable cross bridges, and long‐range repulsive forces. Among the models tested, a model in which the filaments interact through a long‐range repulsive force is most consistent with the results of our analysis. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Arrival of the New Principal: Reactions of Staff.

Findings of a study that identified the kinds of problems faced by new principals who had participated in innovative principal-preparation programs are presented in this paper. Data were collected through a series of interviews conducted with eight individuals who had assumed their first principalships during the 1991-92 school year. All had recently completed administrator-preparaticn programs in universities that had received curricular development support from the Danforth Foundation between 1987 and 1991. Principals reported that they encountered a similar problem during their first year--that of teachers' reactions to new leadership. The study uses Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's classic description of the stages of grief as a framework to describe such reactions. Examples of these stages--denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance--are described. Conclusions are: (1) that staff reactions are not directed personally toward the new principals; (2) that new principals should learn about their predecessors' leadership styles; and (3) that teachers often rely on their principals' subtle signals to guide their personal behaviors. (Contains 6 references.) (LMI) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U. & O(PMTMENT OF EDUCATION Ottorat of Educational Reesercn and Iinormstmnt EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) alros document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization woniamga O Minor changes have been made to improve te9rOduction quality Points of view or °gluons stated in this dccumerit do not necessarily represent official OERi position or pokey THE ARRIVAL OF THE NEM PRINCIPAL: REACTIONS OF STAFF by "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC). " John C. D'iresh Professor and Director Division of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies University of Northern Colorado Greeley, Colorado 80639 (303) 351-1645 Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association Atlanta, Georgia April, 1993
Oral treatment with the herbal formula B307 alleviates cardiac toxicity in doxorubicin-treated mice via suppressing oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis

Objective This study aimed to investigate whether the herbal formula B307 could alleviate doxorubicin (DOX)-induced acute cardiotoxicity. If so, we further unraveled possible molecular mechanisms of cardiac protection under treatment with the herbal formula B307. Methods Before the animal experiment, we examined relative viabilities of Huh7 cancer cells under treatment with the herbal formula B307. To test whether oral treatment with the herbal formula B307 could alleviate cardiotoxicity, equal volumes of B307 (50 mg/kg) or saline (sham treatment) were administered to 20-week-old male mice once daily for 14 consecutive days. Then, DOX (10 mg/kg; ip) was administered to male mice under B307 and sham treatments at 22–23 weeks of age. Cardiac functions in these mice were assessed via echocardiography at 23–24 weeks of age. Then, expressions of oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis-related proteins were examined in the heart tissue by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting at 24–25 weeks of age. Apart from this, mortality rate and body weight were measured during the experiment. Results In vitro, the relative viabilities of Huh7 cancer cells under treatment with the herbal formula B307 had shown no obvious change at doses of 10–160 ng/mL. Furthermore, the relative viabilities of Huh7 cancer cells were significantly reduced under DOX treatment but showed no significant change under DOX only and DOX plus B307 treatment. In vivo, the mortality rate, body weight, and cardiac function of DOX-treated mice were obviously improved under oral treatment with the herbal formula B307. Furthermore, cardiac expressions of endothelial nitric oxide synthase, superoxide dismutase 2, and B-cell lymphoma 2 were significantly enhanced, but tumor necrosis factor alpha, NFKB1 (p50 and its precursor, p105), neurotrophin-3, Bcl-2-associated X protein, calpain, caspase 12, caspase 9, and caspase 3 were significantly suppressed in DOX-treated mice under oral treatment with the herbal formula B307. Conclusion Our results revealed that oral treatment with the herbal formula B307 may provide cardioprotection in DOX-treated mice via suppressing oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis in heart tissue. We believe that the herbal formula B307 may be developed as a potential alternative treatment for cancer patients under DOX treatment.
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology Influence of Pregnancy and Labor on the Occurrence of Nerve Fibers Expressing the Capsaicin Receptor Trpv1 in Human Corpus and Cervix Uteri

Background: Cervical ripening is a prerequisite for a normal obstetrical outcome. This process, including labor, is a painful event that shares features with inflammatory reactions where peripheral nociceptive pathways are involved. The capsaicin and heat receptor TRPV1 is a key molecule in sensory nerves involved in peripheral nociception, but little is known regarding its role in the pregnant uterus. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate human corpus and cervix uteri during pregnancy and labor and non-pregnant controls for the presence of TRPV1.