Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Removal Efficiency of Different Gemini Surfactants and Related Modified Clay to Chattonella marina

To obtain new modified clays with excellent algae removal efficiency, three gemini surfactants including ethylene bis (dodecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride), ethylene bis (octadecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride) and ethylene bis (dodecyl dimethyl ammonium bromide) (EDAB), and a poly quaternary ammonium salt, poly dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride, were screened with Chattonella marina. The four chemicals all exhibited high removal efficiencies against C. marina, with EDAB achieving the highest. A series of organ‐clays with different ratios of EDAB were prepared, and the associated removal efficiencies were evaluated. The removal efficiencies of the organ‐clays were improved by the EDAB intercalation and the organ‐clay with 15% EDAB had the highest removal efficiency. The LC50 of EDAB intercalated clay for zebrafish and shrimp was much higher than the values of intercalated clay required to obtain a desirable removal efficiency of algae. Taken together, EDAB intercalated clay might be a potential alternative to control harmful algal blooms (HABs).
Evidence of abnormalities in corticosteroid secretion leading to volume-dependent hypertension in Milan rats.

We examined corticosteroid secretory patterns and their relation to altered salt and water metabolism in Milan hypertensive and normotensive rats. Hypertensive rats had significantly higher blood pressures, exchangeable sodium (hypertensive, 41.2 +/- 0.3 mmol.kg-1; normotensive, 38.4 +/- 0.03 mmol.kg-1, P < .001), plasma volume (hypertensive, 5.39 +/- 0.12 mL.100 g-1; normotensive, 4.84 +/- 0.10 mL.100 g-1, P < .001), and plasma concentrations of atrial natriuretic peptide (hypertensive, 38.8 +/- 4.0 pg.mL-1, normotensive, 22.4 +/- 3.1 pg.mL-1, P < .02). These features coincide with those of mineralocorticoid-induced hypertension. Adrenal venous secretory rates (picomoles per minute) of corticosterone (hypertensive, 1696 +/- 202; normotensive, 873 +/- 139), 18-hydroxycorticosterone (hypertensive, 49.7 +/- 8.3; normotensive, 25.7 +/- 3.3), and aldosterone (hypertensive, 1.16 +/- 0.17; normotensive, 0.52 +/- 0.08) were higher in the hypertensive than the normotensive strain, but that of 11-deoxycorticosterone (DOC) (hypertensive, 94.4 +/- 14.9; normotensive, 114.3 +/- 33.9) was similar in the two strains. The corticosterone-DOC, 18-hydroxycorticosterone-DOC, and aldosterone-DOC ratios were higher in the hypertensive than the normotensive strain (P < .02), but the 18-hydroxycorticosterone-corticosterone and aldosterone-18-hydroxycorticosterone ratios were not. These results indicate increased activity of the "late" aldosterone biosynthetic pathway in the hypertensive compared with the normotensive strain caused by an increased conversion rate of DOC to corticosterone. The comparison of corticosterone secretion between the two strains indicates that 11 beta-hydroxylase rather than aldosterone synthase activity is more active in the hypertensive than the normotensive rats.
The Flux of Phenolic Compounds through Silicone Membranes

Phenols as a class of molecules have been reported to exhibit higher log maximum fluxes through human stratum corneum, SC, from water, log JMHAQ, than other classes of molecules. This suggests that their corresponding log maximum fluxes through silicone from water, log JMPAQ, may be useful to extend the existing n = 63 log JMPAQ database to include more log JMPAQ values greater than 0.0. The log JMPAQ values for n = 7 phenols predicted to give log JMPAQ values greater than 0.0 based on their log JMHAQ values have been experimentally determined. These n = 7 new log JMPAQ values have been added to the existing n = 63 log JMPAQ database to give a new n = 70 database and the n = 7 literature log JMHAQ values have been added to the existing n = 48 log JMHAQ database (matched to the n = 63 log JMPAQ database) to give a new n = 55 database. The addition of the n = 7 phenols improved the correlations of these flux databases when fitted to the Roberts-Sloan equation, RS, as well as the correlation between the matched experimental (Exp.) log JMPAQ with the Exp. log JMHAQ.
ROBNCA: Robust Network Component Analysis for recovering transcription factor activities

Network component analysis (NCA) is an efficient method of reconstructing the transcription factor activity (TFA), which makes use of the gene expression data and prior information available about transcription factor (TF) - gene regulations. We propose ROBust Network Component Analysis (ROBNCA), a novel iterative algorithm that explicitly models the possible outliers in the microarray data. ROBNCA algorithm provides a closed form solution for estimating the connectivity matrix, which was not available in prior contributions. The ROBNCA algorithm is compared to FastNCA and the Non-iterative NCA (NI-NCA) and is shown to estimate the TF activity profiles as well as the TF-gene control strength matrix with a much higher degree of accuracy than FastNCA and NI-NCA, irrespective of varying noise, and/or amount of outliers in case of synthetic data. The run time of the ROBNCA algorithm is comparable to that of FastNCA, and is hundreds of times faster than NI-NCA.
SPH Modelling of Hydraulic Jump Oscillations at an Abrupt Drop

This paper shows the results of the numerical modelling of the transition from supercritical to subcritical flow at an abrupt drop, which can be characterised by the occurrence of oscillatory flow conditions between two different jump types. Weakly-Compressible Smoothed Particle (WCSPH) model was employed and both an algebraic mixing-length model and a two-equation model were used to represent turbulent stresses. The purpose of this paper is to obtain through the SPH model a deeper understanding of the physical features of a flow, which is, in general, difficult to be reproduced numerically, owing to its unstable character. In particular, the experience already gained in SPH simulations of vorticity-dominated flows allows one to assess the fluctuations of hydrodynamic characteristics of the flow field, (e.g., free surface profile downstream of the jump, velocity, pressure and vorticity). Numerical results showed satisfactory agreement with measurements and most of the peculiar features of the flow were qualitatively and quantitatively reproduced.
Modern Advances in Wireless Power Transfer Systems for Roadway Powered Electric Vehicles

Wireless power transfer system (WPTS)-based wireless electric vehicles, classified into roadway-powered electric vehicles (RPEVs) and stationary charging electric vehicles (SCEVs), are in the spotlight as future mainstream transportations. RPEVs are free from serious battery problems such as large, heavy, and expensive battery packs and long charging time because they get power directly from the road while moving. The power transfer capacity, efficiency, lateral tolerance, electromagnetic field, air-gap, size, weight, and cost of the WPTSs have been improved by virtues of innovative semiconductor switches, better coil designs, roadway construction techniques, and higher operating frequency. Recent advances in WPTSs for RPEVs are summarized in this review paper. The fifth- and sixth-generation online electric vehicles, which reduce infrastructure cost for commercialization, and the interoperability between RPEVs and SCEVs are addressed in detail in this paper. Major milestones of the developments of other RPEVs are also summarized. The rest of this paper deals with a few important technical issues such as coil structures, power supply schemes, and segmentation switching techniques of a lumped inductive power transfer system for RPEVs.
A Relevance Theory Perspective on Translating the Implicit Information in Literary Texts

As one type of cross-cultural communication, the literary translation is more difficult for the translator as he has to deal with a large chunk of implicit information. The implicit information has as its characteristics, such as graded communicability, context-dependence, the correlation among the implicit information, text and context, etc. These characteristics restrict the communicability of the literary texts in another context, so the translator of the literary texts often finds more difficulties in translating. Encouraged by Gutt’s theory and his recent findings, this article adopts a relevance theory approach and attempts to present a cognitive study of the implicit information in literary texts. It experiments with building an explanatory framework for translating the implicit information in literary texts. The framework is based on a new notion: translation is clues-based interpretive use of language across language boundaries.
A study on soft margin estimation for LVCSR

We extend our previous work on soft margin estimation (SME) to large vocabulary continuous speech recognition in two aspects. The first is to use the extended Baum-Welch method to replace the conventional generalized probabilistic descent algorithm for optimization. The second is to compare SME with minimum classification error (MCE) training with the same implementation details in order to show that it is indeed the margin component in the objective function with margin-based utterance and frame selection that contributes to the success of SME. Tested on the 5 k-word Wall Street Journal task, all the SME methods work better than MCE. The best SME approach achieves a relative word error rate reduction of about 19% over our best baseline performance. This enhancement can only be demonstrated because of our use of margin-based objective function and the extended Baum-Welch parameter optimization method.
Communication and Creativity: How Does Media Usage Influence Those Who Create Media Texts?

Despite a rich history of research on the impact of various media on their users or consumers, very little has been done to investigate the impact these same texts have on those who produce texts themselves. As part of a larger multi-componential study of creativity, this article aims to show how adult media creators are directly and indirectly influenced by the media they consume, as well as how communication and media scholars may investigate media influence without neglecting the impact of other factors. Focusing on Australian fiction writers, this research found that media use was an important (but not the sole) component in developing their interest in writing, learning their craft, and generating and testing ideas.
Fission of Biological Membranes: Interplay Between Dynamin and Lipids

Membrane budding and fission are the key stages of ubiquitous processes of formation of intracellular transport vesicles. We present a theoretical consideration of one of the most important types of fission machinery, which is mediated by GTPase dynamin and controlled by lipid composition of the membrane. We suggest a mechanism for collapse of a membrane neck driven by interplay between the dynamin collar and the bending elastic energy of the neck membrane. The collar plays a role of a rigid external skeleton, which imposes mechanical constraints on the neck. We show that in certain conditions the membrane of the neck loses its stability and collapses. Collapse can result from: (i) shifting of the spontaneous curvature of the neck membrane towards negative values, (ii) stretching of the dynamin collar, (iii) tightening of the dynamin collar. The three factors can act separately or concertedly. The suggested model accounts for the major experimental knowledge on membrane fission mediated by dynamin. It includes the elements of all previous models of dynamin action based on different sets of experimental results [Sever et al., Traffic 2000; 1: 385–392]. It reconciles, at least partially, the apparent contradictions between the existing alternative views on biomembrane fission machinery.
On Gouldner's Crisis of Western Sociology

This is a critical analysis of Gouldner's The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology. It exposes some of the author's misinterpretations of the historical development of social theory and presents evidence drawn largely from the original works of the theorists. It disputes Gouldner's principal conclusion that there is a crisis in academic sociology insofar as this conclusion rests on his faulty reconstruction of social theory. Some contentions this critique opposes to those presented by Gouldner are: sociological positivism took a broader perspective than that toward the utilitarianism of the middle class; the functional theory of classical sociology appeared elsewhere than in contexts characterized by the supremacy of the middle class over the aristocracy; Parsons's theory is not an antideterministic defense of capitalism and does recognize the autonomy of the individual.
Workplace stress in a foreign environment: Chinese migrants in New Zealand

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevance of personal and organisational factors contributing to workplace stress among Chinese migrants in New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on surveys of 88 participants using the theoretical model of person-environment fit. Findings – The results reveal that perceived fit of organisational factors has a significant impact on workplace stress outcomes including emotional well-being, work-related health, job performance and intention to quit. Further analysis also shows that personal factors, some as a result of acculturation, play a moderating effect on the perceived relationship between the organisation and workplace stress. Education, advanced language skills and building networks in the new community are all important factors to minimise stress. Originality/value – From an organisational perspective, the study highlights the importance of understanding the factors that cause workplace stress, especially with a culturally diverse working population. This cross-sectional study could be furthered through the use of alternative cultural samples, and through the development of a longitudinal design. In short, this study of the work stress of Chinese migrants in New Zealand contributes to the field of knowledge providing exploratory insights for work stress research in human resource management.
Cerebellar Loops with Motor Cortex and Prefrontal Cortex of a Nonhuman Primate

We used transneuronal transport of neurotropic viruses to examine the topographic organization of circuits linking the cerebellar cortex with the arm area of the primary motor cortex (M1) and with area 46 in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of monkeys. Retrograde transneuronal transport of the CVS-11 (challenge virus strain 11) strain of rabies virus in cerebello-thalamocortical pathways revealed that the arm area of M1 receives input from Purkinje cells located primarily in lobules IV-VI of the cerebellar cortex. In contrast, transneuronal transport of rabies from area 46 revealed that it receives input from Purkinje cells located primarily in Crus II of the ansiform lobule. Thus, both M1 and area 46 are the targets of output from the cerebellar cortex. However, the output to each area of the cerebral cortex originates from Purkinje cells in different regions of the cerebellar cortex. Anterograde transneuronal transport of the H129 strain of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) revealed that neurons in the arm area of M1 project via the pons to granule cells primarily in lobules IV-VI, whereas neurons in area 46 project to granule cells primarily in Crus II. Together, the findings from rabies and HSV1 experiments indicate that the regions of the cerebellar cortex that receive input from M1 are the same as those that project to M1. Similarly, the regions of the cerebellar cortex that receive input from area 46 are the same as those that project to area 46. Thus, our observations suggest that multiple closed-loop circuits represent a fundamental architectural feature of cerebrocerebellar interactions.
On-line learning of rectangles in noisy environments

We investigate the implications of noise in the equivalence query model. Besides some results for general target and hypotheaea classes, we prove bounds on the learning complexity of ddimensional rectangles (of size at most nd) in the case where only rectangles are allowed aa hypotheses. Our noise model assumea that a certain fraction of the examplea is noisy. We show that d-dimensional rectangles are learnable if and only if the fraction of noisy examplea is less than l/(d + 1), where learnable means that the learner can learn the target by a finite number of examples. Besides this structural result we present an algorithm which learns rectangles in poly( -*j) time using 0(-$ ) examples if the fraction of noise r is less than &. Aa a related result we prove for the noise-free case that the number of examplea necessary to learn is at least Q(A log n), where the best known upper bound on the learning complexity is 0(d2 log n).
Coupled Gating Between Cardiac Calcium Release Channels (Ryanodine Receptors)

Abstract— Excitation-contraction coupling in heart muscle requires the activation of Ca2+-release channels/type 2 ryanodine receptors (RyR2s) by Ca2+ influx. RyR2s are arranged on the sarcoplasmic reticular membrane in closely packed arrays such that their large cytoplasmic domains contact one another. We now show that multiple RyR2s can be isolated under conditions such that they remain physically coupled to one another. When these coupled channels are examined in planar lipid bilayers, multiple channels exhibit simultaneous gating, termed “coupled gating. ” Removal of the regulatory subunit, the FK506 binding protein (FKBP12.6), functionally but not physically uncouples multiple RyR2 channels. Coupled gating between RyR2 channels may be an important regulatory mechanism in excitation-contraction coupling as well as in other signaling pathways involving intracellular Ca2+ release.
Effect of body mass index in acute respiratory distress syndrome.

BACKGROUND Obesity is associated in healthy subjects with a great reduction in functional residual capacity and with a stiffening of lung and chest wall elastance, which promote alveolar collapse and hypoxaemia. Likewise, obese patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) could present greater derangements of respiratory mechanics than patients of normal weight. METHODS One hundred and one ARDS patients were enrolled. Partitioned respiratory mechanics and gas exchange were measured at 5 and 15 cm H2O of PEEP with a tidal volume of 6-8 ml kg(-1) of predicted body weight. At 5 and 45 cm H2O of PEEP, two lung computed tomography scans were performed. RESULTS Patients were divided as follows according to BMI: normal weight (BMI≤25 kg m(-2)), overweight (BMI between 25 and 30 kg m(-2)), and obese (BMI>30 kg m(-2)). Obese, overweight, and normal-weight groups presented a similar lung elastance (median [interquartile range], respectively: 17.7 [14.2-24.8], 20.9 [16.1-30.2], and 20.5 [15.2-23.6] cm H2O litre(-1) at 5 cm H2O of PEEP and 19.3 [15.5-26.3], 21.1 [17.4-29.2], and 17.1 [13.4-20.4] cm H2O litre(-1) at 15 cm H2O of PEEP) and chest elastance (respectively: 4.9 [3.1-8.8], 5.9 [3.8-8.7], and 7.8 [3.9-9.8] cm H2O litre(-1) at 5 cm H2O of PEEP and 6.5 [4.5-9.6], 6.6 [4.2-9.2], and 4.9 [2.4-7.6] cm H2O litre(-1) at 15 cm H2O of PEEP). Lung recruitability was not affected by the body weight (15.6 [6.3-23.4], 15.7 [9.8-22.2], and 11.3 [6.2-15.6]% for normal-weight, overweight, and obese groups, respectively). Lung gas volume was significantly lower whereas total superimposed pressure was significantly higher in the obese compared with the normal-weight group (1148 [680-1815] vs 827 [686-1213] ml and 17.4 [15.8-19.3] vs 19.3 [18.6-21.7] cm H2O, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Obese ARDS patients do not present higher chest wall elastance and lung recruitability.
Hormone replacement therapy and increased plasma concentration of C-reactive protein.

BACKGROUND It has been hypothesized that postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may increase levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation associated with increased risk of future cardiovascular events. However, data evaluating this hypothesis are sparse and limited to older women. METHODS AND RESULTS CRP levels were evaluated in a cross-sectional survey of 493 healthy postmenopausal women; mean age was 51 years. Overall, median CRP levels were 2 times higher among women taking HRT than among women not taking HRT (0.27 versus 0.14 mg/dL; P=0.001). This difference was present in all subgroups evaluated, including those with no history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity, diabetes, or cigarette consumption or a family history of premature coronary artery disease (all P< 0.01). Compared with nonusers of HRT, median CRP levels were higher among women using estrogen alone (P=0.003) and women using estrogen plus progesterone (P=0.03); however, there was no significant difference in CRP levels between users of different HRT preparations. In multivariate analysis, the relationship between HRT use and CRP remained significant after control for body mass index, age, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, alcohol use, and cigarette consumption (P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS In this cross-sectional survey, CRP levels were increased among apparently healthy postmenopausal women taking HRT. The potential impact of HRT on inflammatory parameters should be investigated in ongoing clinical trials.
Dynamic Simulation of IC Engine Bearings for Fault Detection and Wear Prediction

Journal bearings used in IC engines are prone to premature failures and are likely to fail earlier than the rated life due to highly impulsive and unstable operating conditions and frequent starts/stops. Vibration signature extraction and wear debris analysis techniques are prevalent in industry for condition monitoring of rotary machinery. However, both techniques involve a great deal of technical expertise, time, and cost. Limited literature is available on the application of these techniques for fault detection in reciprocating machinery, due to the complex nature of impact forces that confounds the extraction of fault signals for vibration-based analysis and wear prediction. In present study, a simulation model was developed to investigate the bearing wear behaviour, resulting because of different operating conditions, to complement the vibration analysis. In current simulation, the dynamics of the engine was established first, based on which the hydrodynamic journal bearing forces were evaluated by numerical solution of the Reynold’s equation. In addition, the essential outputs of interest in this study, critical to determine wear rates are the tangential velocity and oil film thickness between the journals and bearing sleeve, which if not maintained appropriately, have a detrimental effect on the bearing performance. Archard’s wear prediction model was used in the simulation to calculate the wear rate of bearings with specific location information as all determinative parameters were obtained with reference to crank rotation. Oil film thickness obtained from the model was used as a criterion to determine if the lubrication is sufficient to prevent contact between the journal and bearing thus causing accelerated wear. A limiting value of 1 μm was used as the minimum oil film thickness needed to prevent contact. The increased wear rate with growing severity of operating conditions is analogous and comparable to the rise in amplitude of the squared envelope of the referenced vibration signals. Thus on one hand, the developed model demonstrated its capability to explain wear behaviour and on the other hand it also helps to establish a co-relation between wear based and vibration based analysis. Therefore, the model provides a cost effective and quick approach to predict the impending wear in IC engine bearings under various operating conditions. Keywords—Condition monitoring, IC engine, journal bearings, vibration analysis, wear prediction.