Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Article; Agriculture and Environmental Biotechnology Effect of Different Carbon Sources on the Biological Phosphorus Removal by a Sequencing Batch Reactor Using Pressurized Pure Oxygen

The effect of different carbon source on the efficiency of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) from synthetic wastewater with acetate and two ratios of acetate/starch as a carbon source was investigated. Three pressurized pure oxygen sequencing batch reactor (POSBR) experiments were operated. The reactors (POSBR1, POSBR2 and POSBR3) were developed and studied at different carbon source ratios of 100% acetate, 75% acetate plus 25% starch and 50% acetate plus 50% starch, respectively. The results showed that POSBR1 had a higher phosphate release-to-uptake ratio and, respectively, in a much higher phosphorus removal efficiency (93.8%) than POSBR2 (84.7%) and POSBR3 (77.3%) within 30 days of operation. This indicated that the phosphorus removal efficiency decreased the higher the starch concentration was. It was also found that POSBR1 produced more polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) than the other reactors. Based on the effect of the carbon source on the PHA concentration and consumption, the conditions of POSBR1 were favourable for the growth of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms and therefore, beneficial for the biological phosphorus removal process. Introduction In the last 30 years, nutrient enrichment has been recognized as a major threat for the condition of marine ecosystems and resources. Among the large array of nutrients in wastewater, phosphorus compounds are considered a major cause of eutrophication. The most effective and most commonly used method for phosphorus removal is biological treatment. The primary characteristic of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems is the alternating condition of anaerobic and aerobic environments to stimulate the growth of phosphorus-accumulating organisms (PAOs), which are capable of storing volatile fatty acids (VFAs) as internal storage compounds, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), under anaerobic conditions . [1] The energy required for this assimilation comes from intracellular degradation of polyphosphate, which is then released into the mixed liquor. Under subsequent aer-obic conditions where external carbon substrates are absent, bacteria use the stored PHAs to produce energy for cell growth and maintenance as well as uptake of phosphate from the liquid to build up polyphosphate. [2] The biochemical mechanisms of EBPR have been studied in detail by many authors. [1À5] In this study, a sequenc-ing batch reactor (SBR) process was carried out using
Improved integral channel allocation algorithms in cellular communication systems enabling multimedia QoS services

While bandwidth management in cellular communication systems has been thoroughly examined for voice channel admission by developing several DCA (Dynamic Channel Assignment) strategies, there are a few only efforts investigating assignment and management of multimedia enabling channels in wireless communications. However, the increasing demand for these advanced services in cellular networks such as data, MMS and video transfers raises the problem of efficient bandwidth management in terms of channel assignment meeting QoS criteria. Several algorithms for supporting QoS services have been presented in the literature based mainly on bandwidth reservation and capacity management for enabling efficient handoff over cellular networks. The goal of this paper is to develop and investigate, however, novel integral DCA algorithms for supporting data (e.g. files) and video (video viewing, video conference) transmission with Quality of Service (QoS), and their evaluation through a prototype advanced statistical simulation environment for cellular communications. Moreover, we analyze the dynamic and distributed channel allocation strategies for enabling advanced multimedia services based on signal purity measures and interference measurements. Finally, the performance of these suggested algorithms evaluated through a proposed prototype simulation environment is discussed.
Reflection as support for career adaptability: A concept for reflective learning in public administration

Reflective learning is a mechanism to turn experience into learning. As a mechanism for self-directed learning, it is critical for success at work. This is true for individual employees, but also for teams and whole organizations. Change processes are typical situations in which people question their practices, reflect on how they adopt new practice and try to learn from good or bad practice for future work. Such changes can support the development of expertise. In cases involving substantive changes in work roles and behaviours they may even contribute to a process of professional identity transformation, which leads to a deeper understanding of one’s own practice and of the processes involved in adapting it to internal and external constraints. Public administrations are examples of organisations that undergo constant change due to changes in legislation, financial pressure and demands of the public, and the public intensively observes them. These pressures are requiring staff to adapt, including by changing their professional identities. Integrating reflection into the practice of staff can support them in informal learning and improving, and it can thus lead to enhanced and more efficient services for the public. In this paper, we report on an approach of using reflection in Public Employment Services (PES) in Europe, which are currently being transformed from being principally concerned with administration of benefits and provision of advice and guidance to an increasing concern with coaching clients and co-operating with employers.
Child Endowments and Parental Investments: Intra‐Household Allocation in Oportunidades Families in Mexico

This paper estimates a family fixedâ€ effects model to test whether parental educational investments are reinforcing or compensating differences in child height and body mass index (BMI) within Oportunidades households. The results indicate that allocations are not made in response to endowment differences in isolation, but depend on the interaction of child endowment, gender, and beneficiary status. Moreover, investments are made so as to counterbalance efficiency and equity considerations: widening differences in height but closing gaps in BMI, where both strategies maximize returns given the earningsâ€“endowment function for height and BMI in Mexico. Finally, household socioâ€ economic status matters. Thus, discriminatory responses within the betterâ€ off urban beneficiary households are smaller. In contrast, indigenous beneficiary households, which have the lowest average endowment zâ€ scores and fraction spent on education, see the largest differences in educational outlay between child subgroups. While the economic effects seem small, these are measured relative to the mean of the base category. In some cases, then, parents are dedicating nearly a quarter of all expenditures to education for a standard deviation increase in endowment over mean sibling endowment. Hence, it seems that the success of the Oportunidades program in improving overall human capital formation may be masking rising inequalities within recipient households.
Free Radical Production in Immune Cell Systems Induced by Ti, Ti6Al4V and SS Assessed by Chemiluminescence Probe Pholasin Assay

The oxidative burst of human blood cells in the presence of different metal materials was investigated using chemiluminescence assay. Commercial pure titanium (Ti), titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V), and stainless steel 316L (SS) in particulate form with <20 μm in size were used. The effect of particulate materials opsonisation on the upregulation of the respiratory burst production by blood cells was also assessed. The largest chemiluminescence response was achieved after simultaneous injection of the stimulants fMLP+PMA. Moreover, Ti and SS induced a greater inflammatory reaction compared to Ti6Al4V, since the respiratory burst mounted was higher for both materials after opsonisation treatment. These results suggest that in vitro chemiluminescence response and respiratory burst measurements proved to be composition and treatment dependent.
Label Switched Paths Reconfiguration under Time-Varying Traffic Conditions

Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) has several advantages over destination-based IP routing protocols: it allows to setup end to end paths explicitly (also called label switched paths, LSP), to better monitor the traffic on these LSPs, to perform admission control, etc. While routing along a LSP is considered faster than IP routing, the operation of changing a LSP pipe requires processing and bandwidth resources in the network. This paper investigates cost optimized ways for re-dimensioning existing LSP pipes, to accommodate changing traffic demands. In the presented model the goal is to maximize the amount of carried traffic, while keeping the number of LSP modifications at a minimimum. The presented off-line procedure can be made part of a periodical traffic engineering process. We present a mixed integer LP formulation of this problem, a more efficient heuristic, as well as results on test networks.
A search for paraphrasing and plagiarism avoidance strategies in the context of writing from sources in a foreign language

Writing from sources is a keystone in academic education. Studies show that it can be problematic for students and in extreme cases may result in plagiarism. This article is devoted to one of the many skills necessary to write from sources, namely paraphrasing. The study described here aims to identify and categorise the paraphrasing and plagiarism avoidance strategies applied by students when writing their Master of Arts (MA) dissertations in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The data were collected via questionnaires and were based on students’ reports concerning their paraphrasing behaviours. The study enabled an array of before-, whileand after-paraphrasing strategies to be collected. The results may contribute to the literature on writing from sources by drawing greater attention to strategic behaviours of students connected with paraphrasing and plagiarism avoidance.
Mechanisms of Self-Control Failure: Motivation and Limited Resources

Research has found that individuals who are lower in self-control strength because of previous self-control exertions perform more poorly on subsequent tests of self-control. The present studies suggest that this effect may be moderated by motivation. In particular, depletion and motivation jointly determine self-control performance. Individuals who were depleted and believed that the task would help others (Experiment 1) or believed that their efforts could benefit them (Experiment 2) performed better on a subsequent test of self-control than individuals who were depleted and lower in motivation. The results of Experiment 3 replicated these findings and suggested that depletion only affects performance on tasks that require self-control; tasks that are difficult but do not require self-control are immune to the effects of depletion. Hence, depleted individuals may compensate for their lack of self-control resources when sufficiently motivated. The results may help explain the nature of self-control strength.
College Readiness Practices at 38 High Schools and the Development of the CollegeCareerReady School Diagnostic Tool

Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) researchers visited 38 public high schools around the United States in 2007 and 2008 with the goal of validating and operationalizing a definition of college readiness. Schools in the sample were selected because they were demonstrating success at enabling more students from underrepresented groups to be ready for postsecondary education. This paper presents a qualitative summary of what researchers collected—programs, activities, practices, attitudes, and cultures of the schools visited. The results of the study include the identification of seven key principles underlying a comprehensive approach for promoting college readiness. In addition, the findings have resulted in the creation of an instrument, the CollegeCareerReady School Diagnostic, to measure school level college readiness over time and provide a detailed profile tied to actionable recommendations and resources. College Readiness Practices at 38 High Schools 3
BOOMS AND BUSTS IN A HOUSING MARKET WITH HETEROGENEOUS AGENTS

We develop a dynamic partial equilibrium model of the housing market, in which the dynamics of the house price is determined by the interaction between chartists and fundamentalists. The model endogenously generates episodes of boom and bust in the house price and can replicate the recent US house price dynamics, and points to endogenous and exogenous behavioral factors as the main determinants of such dynamics.
Patterns of saproxylic beetle succession in loblolly pine

1 Patterns of insect succession in dead wood remain unclear, particularly beyond the first several years of decay. In the present study, saproxylic beetles were sampled from loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) logs aged between 1 month and 9 years old using both emergence traps attached to logs in the field and rearing bags in the laboratory. 2 Species richness peaked within the first year as a result of a diverse assemblage of bark beetles, wood‐borers and predators associated with young logs. After the phloem phase, there were no significant differences in species richness among decay classes. 3 Beetle communities differed significantly among decay classes, with 25 and seven species being significantly associated with young and old logs, respectively.
Lymphoid Organs Prion Dissemination between Secondary B Cell-Specific S1PR1 Deficiency Blocks

Many prion diseases are peripherally acquired (e.g., orally or via lesions to skin or mucous membranes). After peripheral exposure, prions replicate ﬁrst upon follicular dendritic cells (FDC) in the draining lymphoid tissue before infecting the brain. However, after replication upon FDC within the draining lymphoid tissue, prions are subsequently propagated to most nondraining secondary lymphoid organs (SLO), including the spleen, by a previously underdetermined mechanism. The germinal centers in which FDC are situated produce a population of B cells that can recirculate between SLO. Therefore, we reasoned that B cells were ideal candidates by which prion dissemination between SLO may occur. Sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor (S1PR)1 stimulation controls the egress of Tand B cells from SLO. S1PR1 signaling blockade sequesters lymphocytes within SLO, resulting in lymphopenia in the blood and lymph. We show that, in mice treated with the S1PR modulator FTY720 or with S1PR1 deﬁciency restricted to B cells, the dissemination of prions from the draining lymph node to nondraining SLO is blocked. These data suggest that B cells interacting with and acquiring surface proteins from FDC and recirculating between SLO via the blood and lymph mediate the initial propagation of prions from the draining lymphoid tissue to peripheral tissues. The Journal of Immunology , 2012, 188: 000–000.
The Storyline Annotation and Representation Scheme (StaR): A Proposal

This paper illustrates a proposal for the development of an annotation scheme and a corpus for storyline extraction and evaluation from large collections of documents clustered around a topic. The scheme extends existing annotation efforts for event coreference and temporal processing, introducing additional layers and addressing shortcomings. We also show how a storyline can be derived from the annotated data.
Removing digital certificates from the end-user ’ s experience of grid environments

This paper describes a lightweight interim solution to the problem of authentication in grid environments that removes the burden of digital certificates from the end-user’s experience of the grid environment. In doing so it increases the usability of the grid environment (and so arguably its security). It is intended to be deployed in existing grid environments, interfacing smoothly with their existing authentication and authorisation mechanisms, rather than replacing the existing authentication mechanisms. A number of other features are provided that may also be of interest to those involved in deploying grid environments.
A case study of multi-resolution modeling for crowd simulation

Crowd simulation has been becoming an efficient tool to study the crowd behavior and its movement. Macroscopic and microscopic approaches take a trade-off between efficiency and accuracy, but neither of them achieves the two goals at the same time. Aiming to achieve both efficiency and accuracy, a multi-resolution model is proposed in this paper for crowd simulation. The paper illustrates how macroscopic and microscopic models co-exist in a single simulator and the interactions between them. The simulation result of a case study shows that the proposed multi-resolution simulation model can obtain a more accurate result than that using a simple macroscopic model alone. The simulation performance is also improved in the meantime.
High-affinity agonist binding is not sufficient for agonist efficacy at 5-hydroxytryptamine2A receptors: evidence in favor of a modified ternary complex model.

In this study, the relationship between high-affinity agonist binding and second messenger production was examined at native and mutant 5-hydroxytryptamine2A receptors. At native 5-hydroxytryptamine2A receptors all agonists, with the exception of quipazine, discriminated between high- and low-affinity states of the receptor, as determined by analysis of competition binding assays. There was no correlation between the ability of selected agonists to label the high-affinity agonist state and to augment phosphoinositide hydrolysis. Quipazine, which did not discriminate between the affinity states of the receptor, behaved as a full agonist. Similar results were obtained when a point mutation (F340L) of a highly conserved phenylalanine located in transmembrane domain VI was examined. With the F340L mutant, most of the agonists tested labeled significantly fewer high-affinity sites, compared with the native receptor. There was no significant relationship between high-affinity agonist binding and second messenger production. Bufotenine and 4-iodo-3,5-dimethoxyphenylisopropylamine labeled similar percentages of high-affinity agonist binding sites (22% vs. 26%), but 4-iodo-3,5-dimethoxyphenylisopropylamine behaved as a full agonist, whereas bufotenine was devoid of detectable agonist activity. The inability of selected agonists to activate phosphoinositide hydrolysis was not due solely to lower agonist affinity for the mutant receptor, because the binding affinity of quipazine was unchanged by the F340L mutation but quipazine had no detectable agonist activity at the mutant receptor. Our results demonstrate that the ability of an agonist to promote the high-affinity state of the 5-hydroxytryptamine2A receptor is not correlated with its ability to augment second messenger production. These results are consistent with recent models of G protein-receptor functioning (e.g., modified ternary complex model) that predict that additional transition states of the receptor-ligand complex are essential for agonist efficacy.
Comparison of Plasma Neurosteroid and Prolactin Levels in Patients with Schizophrenia and Healthy Individuals

Background. The present study aimed to compare plasma levels of cortisol, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and prolactin in patients with schizophrenia and healthy individuals. Method. A total of 100 patients with schizophrenia disorder (69 men and 31 women) and 190 healthy individuals (94 men and 96 women) participated in this cross-sectional study. They were tested for hormone levels and completed demographic questionnaires. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and one-way analysis of variance. Results. Serum testosterone level was significantly higher in men with schizophrenia than in healthy men. Women with schizophrenia had a significantly higher level of testosterone and lower level of prolactin compared to healthy women. There were no significant differences in hormone levels across various subtypes of schizophrenia. No significant differences also were observed in hormones levels in patients with first-episode schizophrenia disorder compared to those in patients with recurrent episodes. Conclusion. This study indicated that abnormal testosterone and prolactin levels might be associated with pathophysiology of schizophrenia disorder.
Invertebrate fauna of four tree species in Orongorongo valley, New Zealand, as revealed by trunk traps

Tree trunks are important links between the forest floor and canopy, especially for flightless invertebrates that move from the forest floor to feed or breed in the canopy. Traps were used to sample invertebrates moving up and down on mahoe (Melicytus ramiflorus), hinau (Elaeocarpus dentatus), hard beech (Nothofagus truncata), and kamahi (]Weinmannia racemosa). In 19 months 22 696 invertebrates were collected. Many unexpected groups e.g. ground wetas, ground beetles, some caterpillars, amphipods, spring-tails, mites, peri patus, and earthworms were caught in up-traps 1.5 m above ground. Overall, up-traps caught more (80%) invertebrates than down-traps (20%) and 16 of 29 groups of invertebrates were caught more often in up-traps. Fewer invertebrates were caught on hard beech than on hinau with comparable catching surface area. The numbers of spiders caught were significantly corre lated with tree circumference. The invertebrates caught fell broadly into 3 trophic levels—most were saprophytes, with equal numbers of herbivores and predators. Perched leaf litter in epiphytes and in tree cavities contain invertebrates otherwise associated with the forest floor. Invertebrates in the lowland forests of New Zealand appear to be generalists in their use of habitats (as many of them are saprophytes and predators).
Mobilization of Neural Stem Cells and Generation of New Neurons in 6-OHDA–lesioned Rats by Intracerebroventricular Infusion of Liver Growth Factor

Neural stem cells with self-renewal and multilineage potential persist in the subventricular zone of the adult mammalian forebrain. These cells remain relatively quiescent but, under certain conditions, can be stimulated, giving rise to new neurons. Liver growth factor (LGF) is a mitogen for liver cells that shows biological activity in extrahepatic sites and is useful for neuroregenerative therapies. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential neurogenic activity of LGF in the 6-hydroxydopamine rat model of Parkinson's disease. Proliferation was significantly increased in the subventricular zone and denervated striatum of rats receiving ICV LGF infusions, and 25% of the proliferating cells were doublecortin-positive neurons. Doublecortin-positive cells with the morphology of migrating neuroblasts were also observed in the dorsal and ventral regions of the striatum of LGF-infused animals. Moreover, some newly generated cells were neuronal nuclei-positive mature neurons. LGF also stimulated microglia and induced astrogliosis, both phenomena associated with generation and migration of new neurons in the adult brain. In summary, our study shows that LGF stimulates neurogenesis when applied intraventricularly in 6-hydroxydopamine–lesioned rats. Considering that this factor also promotes neuronal migration into damaged tissue, we propose LGF as a novel factor useful for neuronal replacement in neurodegenerative diseases. (J Histochem Cytochem 57:491–502, 2009)
TESTING MARKET EQUILIBRIUM: IS COINTEGRATION INFORMATIVE?

Cointegration methods are increasingly used to test for market efficiency and integration. The economic rationale for these tests, however, is generally unclear. Using a simple spatial equilibrium model to simulate equilibrium price behavior, it is shown that prices in a well-integrated, efficient market need not be cointegrated. Furthermore, the number of cointegrating relationships among prices is not a good indicator of the degree to which a market is integrated.