Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microbial Carbon, Mineral-N and Soil Nutrients in Indigenous Agroforestry Systems and Other Land Use in the upper Solimões Region, Western Amazonas State, Brazil

Slash and burn cultivation systems carried out by many farmers in the Amazon region lead to changes in biogeochemical cycles of nutrients. To assess the extent of the impact of shifting cultivation on the soil in a floodplain portion of this region, samples of an Inceptisol surface layer (0 - 5 cm) under primary forest (FP), secondary forest at an advanced stage of recovery (FS), secondary forest at an initial stage of recovery (CAP), agroforestry (SAF), plantations (Rc) in indigenous communities and small farmers, and pasture (PAS) in the Upper SolimOes region, Amazonas, were subjected to analysis of chemical composition during the wet (May) and dry (October) seasons, 2007. Soils were fertile with levels of P, K, Ca and Mg above those generally found in Amazon soils. Microbial content did not vary significantly in the systems studied in the wet season, but there was a reduction of around 60% with the change of season, except for soils with SAF. Ammonium nitrogen was predominant in all systems and seasons studied. Nitrate content was higher in Rc soil, in two seasons, and lower in PAS. The type of management adopted by farmers in the region’s indigenous agroforestry systems resulted in small changes in P, K, Mg, MBC and mineral-N levels, independent of soil moisture.
Vibrational measurement of the specific damping capacity of 15-5 ph stainless steel

Abstract In order to quantify the phenomenon of mechanical hysteresis in precision force transducers, the specific damping capacity (SDC) of 15-5 ph stainless steel having various heat treatments was measured. Extraneous damping was greatly reduced by testing under vacuum. The results at cyclic stresses of 200 MPa in vibrational bending at room temperature were compared to static tests of force transducers, made from the same material and heat treated to the same specifications, also at 200 MPa maximum stress. This comparison confirms the vibrational test as a quick and reliable method for indicating the hysteresis characteristics of a material/heat treatment combination. However, no proportional relationship between the SDC and force transducer hysteresis was established. An attempt is made to explain the variation of SDC with the heat treatment of the steel.
PEG 400-Based Phase Change Materials Nano-Enhanced with Functionalized Graphene Nanoplatelets

This study presents new Nano-enhanced Phase Change Materials, NePCMs, formulated as dispersions of functionalized graphene nanoplatelets in a poly(ethylene glycol) with a mass-average molecular mass of 400 g·mol−1 for possible use in Thermal Energy Storage. Morphology, functionalization, purity, molecular mass and thermal stability of the graphene nanomaterial and/or the poly(ethylene glycol) were characterized. Design parameters of NePCMs were defined on the basis of a temporal stability study of nanoplatelet dispersions using dynamic light scattering. Influence of graphene loading on solid-liquid phase change transition temperature, latent heat of fusion, isobaric heat capacity, thermal conductivity, density, isobaric thermal expansivity, thermal diffusivity and dynamic viscosity were also investigated for designed dispersions. Graphene nanoplatelet loading leads to thermal conductivity enhancements up to 23% while the crystallization temperature reduces up to in 4 K. Finally, the heat storage capacities of base fluid and new designed NePCMs were examined by means of the thermophysical properties through Stefan and Rayleigh numbers. Functionalized graphene nanoplatelets leads to a slight increase in the Stefan number.
On the improvement of scaling laws for large-scale MANETs with network coding

This paper investigates the problem of how much benefit network coding can contribute to the network performance in terms of throughput, delay, and storage requirements for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), compared to when only replication, storage and forwarding are allowed in relay nodes. We characterize the throughput-delay-storage tradeoffs under different node mobility patterns, i.e., i.i. d. and random walk mobility, with and without network coding. Our results show that when random linear coding instead of replication is used in MANETs, an order improvement on the scaling laws of MANETs can be achieved. Note that previous work showed that network coding could only provide constant improvement on the throughput of static wireless networks. Our work thus differentiates MANETs from static wireless networks by the role network coding plays.
A Framework for Hand Gesture Recognition Based on Accelerometer and EMG Sensors

This paper presents a framework for hand gesture recognition based on the information fusion of a three-axis accelerometer (ACC) and multichannel electromyography (EMG) sensors. In our framework, the start and end points of meaningful gesture segments are detected automatically by the intensity of the EMG signals. A decision tree and multistream hidden Markov models are utilized as decision-level fusion to get the final results. For sign language recognition (SLR), experimental results on the classification of 72 Chinese Sign Language (CSL) words demonstrate the complementary functionality of the ACC and EMG sensors and the effectiveness of our framework. Additionally, the recognition of 40 CSL sentences is implemented to evaluate our framework for continuous SLR. For gesture-based control, a real-time interactive system is built as a virtual Rubik's cube game using 18 kinds of hand gestures as control commands. While ten subjects play the game, the performance is also examined in user-specific and user-independent classification. Our proposed framework facilitates intelligent and natural control in gesture-based interaction.
Effect of sirolimus on left ventricular hypertrophy in kidney transplant recipients: a 1-year nonrandomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) after renal transplantation may be affected by immunosuppressive therapy. STUDY DESIGN Nonrandomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of sirolimus (SRL) on LVH of renal transplant recipients (RTRs). SETTING & PARTICIPANTS 13 RTRs without diabetes who had received a single-kidney transplant from a deceased donor with chronic allograft dysfunction and biopsy-proven allograft nephropathy who were converted from calcineurin-inhibitor (CNI) to SRL treatment; 26 controls matched for age and year of transplantation who were not converted from CNI to SRL treatment. INTERVENTION Conversion from CNI to SRL therapy. OUTCOMES & MEASUREMENTS Left ventricular mass determination by using echocardiography at baseline and again 1 year later. Blood pressure (BP), hemoglobin level, serum creatinine level, uric acid level, lipid levels, trough levels of immunosuppressive drugs, and daily proteinuria were assessed at least twice monthly. Conventional antihypertensive therapy was used to achieve BP of 130/80 mm Hg or less. RESULTS The study population included 26 men and 13 women (age, 25 to 66 years). Changes in BP were similar in the 2 groups (between-group difference, -4 +/- 5 mm Hg; P = 0.5 for systolic BP; -2 +/- 3; P = 0.6 for diastolic BP), whereas left ventricular mass significantly decreased in the SRL group alone (between-group difference, 8.6 +/- 2.4 g/m(2.7); P < 0.001) because of a decrease in both the interventricular septum and left ventricular posterior wall. LVH regressed in 12 of 13 patients on SRL therapy and 10 of 26 controls (P = 0.002). LIMITATIONS Nonrandomized design. Single-center study with small sample size. CONCLUSIONS Conversion from CNI to SRL therapy may regress LVH in RTRs regardless of BP changes, mainly by decreasing left ventricular wall thickness, thus suggesting nonhemodynamic-effect mechanisms of SRL on left ventricular mass.
Comparison of 6- and 12-Core Prostate Biopsy in Taiwanese Men: Impact of Total Prostate-Specific Antigen, Prostate-Specific Antigen Density and Prostate Volume on Prostate Cancer Detection

Introduction: We retrospectively compared 6- and 12-core prostate biopsies in Taiwanese men and evaluated the impact of prostate volume (PV), prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and PSA density (PSAD) on the prostate cancer detection rate (PCDR). Patients and Methods: 1,086 consecutive patients with a total PSA of 4.1–20.0 ng/ml and/or abnormal digital rectal examination undergoing first-time transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy were included. Group I patients (n = 562) underwent sextant biopsy and group II patients (n = 524) underwent sextant biopsy with an extra three lateral cores on both sides. The patients were further stratified into subgroups according to PV (cut-off: 35 ml), PSA (cut-off: 10.0 ng/ml), and PSAD (cut-off: 0.2). Results: Prostate cancer was diagnosed in 228/1,086 (21.0%) patients. The PCDR was higher in group II (23.7%) than group I (18.5%). 12-Core biopsy yielded a significantly higher PCDR than 6-core biopsies in patients with PV >35 ml, PSA 4.1–10.0 ng/ml, PSAD ≤0.20, but not in patients with PV ≤35 ml, PSA 10.1–20.0 ng/ml, PSAD >0.20. Conclusions: 12-Core biopsy yielded a significantly higher PCDR in Taiwanese men with a total PSA of 4.1–20.0 ng/ml, especially in patients with PSA 4.1–10.0 ng/ml, PSAD ≤0.20, and PV >35 ml.
In situ temperature response of photosynthesis of 42 tree and liana species in the canopy of two Panamanian lowland tropical forests with contrasting rainfall regimes.

Tropical forests contribute significantly to the global carbon cycle, but little is known about the temperature response of photosynthetic carbon uptake in tropical species, and how this varies within and across forests. We determined in situ photosynthetic temperature-response curves for upper canopy leaves of 42 tree and liana species from two tropical forests in Panama with contrasting rainfall regimes. On the basis of seedling studies, we hypothesized that species with high photosynthetic capacity - light-demanding, fast-growing species - would have a higher temperature optimum of photosynthesis (TOpt ) than species with low photosynthetic capacity - shade-tolerant, slow-growing species - and that, therefore, TOpt would scale with the position of a species on the slow-fast continuum of plant functional traits. TOpt was remarkably similar across species, regardless of their photosynthetic capacity and other plant functional traits. Community-average TOpt was almost identical to mean maximum daytime temperature, which was higher in the dry forest. Photosynthesis above TOpt appeared to be more strongly limited by stomatal conductance in the dry forest than in the wet forest. The observation that all species in a community shared similar TOpt values suggests that photosynthetic performance is optimized under current temperature regimes. These results should facilitate the scaling up of photosynthesis in relation to temperature from leaf to stand level in species-rich tropical forests.
The first record of albanerpetontid amphibians (Amphibia: Albanerpetontidae) from East Asia

Albanerpetontids are an enigmatic fossil amphibian group known from deposits of Middle Jurassic to Pliocene age. The oldest and youngest records are from Europe, but the group appeared in North America in the late Early Cretaceous and radiated there during the Late Cretaceous. Until now, the Asian record has been limited to fragmentary specimens from the Late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan. This led to speculation that albanerpetontids migrated into eastern Asia from North America in the Albian to Cenomanian interval via the Beringian land bridge. However, here we describe albanerpetontid specimens from the Lower Cretaceous Kuwajima Formation of Japan, a record that predates their first known occurrence in North America. One specimen, an association of skull and postcranial bones from a single small individual, permits the diagnosis of a new taxon. High Resolution X-ray Computed Microtomography has revealed previously unrecorded features of albanerpetontid skull morphology in three dimensions, including the presence of a supraoccipital and epipterygoids, neither of which occurs in any known lissamphibian. The placement of this new taxon within the current phylogenetic framework for Albanerpetontidae is complicated by a limited overlap of comparable elements, most notably the non-preservation of the premaxillae in the Japanese taxon. Nonetheless, phylogenetic analysis places the new taxon closer to Albanerpeton than to Anoualerpeton, Celtedens, or Wesserpeton, although Bootstrap support values are weak. The results also question the monophyly of Albanerpeton as currently defined.
The GAP activity of Msb3p and Msb4p for the Rab GTPase Sec4p is required for efficient exocytosis and actin organization

Polarized growth in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is thought to occur by the transport of post-Golgi vesicles along actin cables to the daughter cell, and the subsequent fusion of the vesicles with the plasma membrane. Previously, we have shown that Msb3p and Msb4p genetically interact with Cdc42p and display a GTPase-activating protein (GAP) activity toward a number of Rab GTPases in vitro. We show here that Msb3p and Msb4p regulate exocytosis by functioning as GAPs for Sec4p in vivo. Cells lacking the GAP activity of Msb3p and Msb4p displayed secretory defects, including the accumulation of vesicles of 80–100 nm in diameter. Interestingly, the GAP activity of Msb3p and Msb4p was also required for efficient polarization of the actin patches and for the suppression of the actin-organization defects in cdc42 mutants. Using a strain defective in polarized secretion and actin-patch organization, we showed that a change in actin-patch organization could be a consequence of the fusion of mistargeted vesicles with the plasma membrane.
Realization of the kilogram by the XRCD method

When the kilogram is redefined in terms of the fixed numerical value of the Planck constant h, the x-ray-crystal-density (XRCD) method, among others, is used for realizing the redefined kilogram. The XRCD method has been used for the determination of the Avogadro constant NA by counting the number of atoms in a 28Si-enriched crystal, contributing to a substantial reduction of uncertainty in the values of NA and h to 2 parts in 108. This method can be therefore used reversely for the mass determination of a 1 kg sphere prepared from the crystal. This is realized by SI-traceable measurements of its lattice parameter, isotopic composition, volume, and surface properties. Details of the corresponding measurements are provided, as well as the concept of the XRCD method, isotope enrichment, crystal production, sphere manufacturing, and evaluation of impurities and self-point defects in the crystal, together with mass comparison with respect to the silicon sphere for disseminating mass standards.
Gaze typing compared with input by head and hand

This paper investigates the usability of gaze-typing systems for disabled people in a broad perspective that takes into account the usage scenarios and the particular users that these systems benefit. Design goals for a gaze-typing system are identified: productivity above 25 words per minute, robust tracking, high availability, and support of multimodal input. A detailed investigation of the efficiency and user satisfaction with a Danish and a Japanese gaze-typing system compares it to head- and mouse (hand) - typing. We found gaze typing to be more erroneous than the other two modalities. Gaze typing was just as fast as head typing, and both were slower than mouse (hand-) typing. Possibilities for design improvements are discussed.
Natural Medicines Used in the Traditional Tibetan Medical System for the Treatment of Liver Diseases

Liver disease is one of the most risk factors threatening human health. It is of great significance to find drugs that can treat liver diseases, especially for acute and chronic hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and liver cancer. The search for drugs with good efficacy from traditional natural medicines has attracted more and more attention. Tibetan medicine, one of the China's traditional medical systems, has been widely used by the Tibetan people for the prevention and treatment of liver diseases for hundreds of years. The present paper summarized the natural Tibetan medicines that have been used in Tibetan traditional system of medicine to treat liver diseases by bibliographic investigation of 22 Tibetan medicine monographs and drug standards. One hundred and ninety three species including 181 plants, 7 animals, and 5 minerals were found to treat liver diseases in traditional Tibetan medicine system. The most frequently used species are Carthamus tinctorius, Brag-zhun, Swertia chirayita, Swertia mussotii, Halenia elliptica, Herpetospermum pedunculosum, and Phyllanthus emblica. Their names, families, medicinal parts, traditional uses, phytochemicals information, and pharmacological activities were described in detail. These natural medicines might be a valuable gift from the old Tibetan medicine to the world, and would be potential drug candidates for the treatment of liver diseases. Further studies are needed to prove their medicinal values in liver diseases treatment, identify bioactive compounds, elucidate the underlying mechanism of action, and clarify their side effects or toxicity with the help of modern phytochemical, pharmacological, metabonomics, and/or clinical trial methods.
Electronic Health Record Adoption – Maybe It’s not about the Money

Summary Objective: The slow adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems has been linked to physician resistance to change and the expense of EHR adoption. This qualitative study was conducted to evaluate benefits, and clarify limitations of two mature, robust, comprehensive EHR Systems by tech-savvy physicians where resistance and expense are not at issue. Methods: Two EHR systems were examined – the paperless VistA / Computerized Patient Record System used at the Veterans‘ Administration, and the General Electric Centricity Enterprise system used at an academic medical center. A series of interviews was conducted with 20 EHR-savvy multi-institutional internal medicine (IM) faculty and house staff. Grounded theory was used to analyze the transcribed data and build themes. The relevance and importance of themes were constructed by examining their frequency, convergence, and intensity. Results: Despite eliminating resistance to both adoption and technology as drivers of acceptance, these two robust EHR’s are still viewed as having an adverse impact on two aspects of patient care, physician workflow and team communication. Both EHR’s had perceived strengths but also significant limitations and neither were able to satisfactorily address all of the physicians’ needs. Conclusion: Difficulties related to physician acceptance reflect real concerns about EHR impact on patient care. Physicians are optimistic about the future benefits of EHR systems, but are frustrated with the non-intuitive interfaces and cumbersome data searches of existing EHRs.
Potential Role of Blood Biomarkers in the Management of Nontraumatic Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), a subtype of stroke associated with high mortality and disability, accounts for 13% of all strokes. Basic and clinical research has contributed to our understanding of the complex pathophysiology of neuronal injury in ICH. Outcome rates, however, remain stable, and questions regarding acute management of ICH remain unanswered. Newer research is aiming at matching measured levels of serum proteins, enzymes, or cells to different stages of brain damage, suggesting that blood biomarkers may assist in acute diagnosis, therapeutic decisions, and prognostication. This paper provides an overview on the most promising blood biomarkers and their potential role in the diagnosis and management of spontaneous ICH. Summary: Information was collected from studies, reviews, and guidelines listed in PubMed up to November 2013 on blood biomarkers of nontraumatic ICH in humans. We describe the potential role and limitations of GFAP, S100B/RAGE, and ApoC-III as diagnostic biomarkers, F-Amyloid as a biomarker for etiological classification, and 27 biomarkers for prognosis of mortality and functional outcome. Within the group of prognostic markers we discuss markers involved in coagulation processes (e.g., D-Dimers), neuroendocrine markers (e.g., copeptin), systemic metabolic markers (e.g., blood glucose levels), markers of inflammation (e.g., IL-6), as well as growth factors (e.g., VEGF), and others (e.g., glutamate). Some of those blood biomarkers are agents of pathologic processes associated with hemorrhagic stroke but also other diseases, whereas others play more distinct pathophysiological roles and help in understanding the basic mechanisms of brain damage and/or recovery in ICH. Key Messages: Numerous blood biomarkers are associated with different pathophysiological pathways in ICH, and some of them promise to be useful in the management of ICH, eventually contributing additional information to current tools for diagnosis, therapy monitoring, risk stratification, or intervention. Up to date, however, no blood biomarker of ICH has been studied sufficiently to find its way into clinical routine yet; well-designed, large-scale, clinical studies addressing relevant clinical questions are needed. We suggest that the effectiveness of biomarker research in ICH might be improved by international cooperation and shared resources for large validation studies, such as provided by the consortium on stroke biomarker research (http://stroke-biomarkers.com/page.php? title=Resources). i 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel
Fabrication and Photocatalytic Activity of ZnO-TiO2 Nanofibers

PVP/ZnO-TiO2 composite nanofibers were prepared by Sol-gel processing followed by electrospinning technique using Ti(OC4H9)4 and polyvinglpyrrolidone ( PVP) as starting materials. ZnO-TiO2 nanofibers of 100–200 nm diameter were obtained by high temperature calcinations of the inorganic organic PVP/ZnO-TiO2 composite fibers.The materials were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry thermogravimetric analysis (DSC- TGA) , Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR),and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The process of the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue using ZnO-TiO2 nanofiber as catalyst was investigated.The results show that the ZnO-TiO2 nanofiber dopped 3% ZnO has better photocatalytic activity for methylene blue degradation, the degradation rate of methylene blue solution reached 99% under sunshine for 6 h. , and it’s still 95% after eight times reuse.
New Graduate Nurses' Structural Empowerment and Their E xperience of Co-worker Incivility and Burnout

ii CO-AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT iii DEDICATION iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix LIST OF APPENDICES x PART ONE – INTRODUCTION 1 References 6 PART TWO – MANUSCRIPT 10 Theoretical Framework 11 Related Literature 15 Structural Empowerment 15 Workplace Incivility 16 Burnout 19 Summary of the literature 20 Hypothesis and Rationale 21 Methods 23 Design and Sample 23 Instrumentation 25 Structural Empowerment 25 Co-worker Incivility 25 Burnout 25 Data Collection 27 Data Analysis 27 Results 27 Descriptive Results 27 Preliminary Analysis 29 Test of Hypotheses 30 Discussion 31 Limitations 33 Implications for Nursing Leaders and Administrators 34 Conclusion 35 References 36 PART THREE – DISCUSSION 43 Implications for Nursing Administrators 43