Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strain Induced Electric Effects in Materials

In this work, we put forward Yuheng Zhang equation, a newly found law for condensed materials. Utilizing this law, we mainly investigate the mechanical-electric coupling effect in materials, which is named asYuheng Zhang effect. Through investigations, it is found that 1) under strain gradient, materials could behave as a p-n junction, exhibiting current-rectifying properties; 2) thermoelectric power or Seebeck coefficient of materials is contributed by thermal expansion (contraction) and Yuheng Zhang effect, which may be described by Yuheng Zhang coefficient; 3) this effect gives a new mechanism of electron-phonon interaction; 4) an electric field always accompanies defects in materials, such as dislocations, Abrikosov vortices and so on, and their electric field and related electrical potential are given; 5) strain gradient can cause an electric polarization in dielectric materials; 6) the gravity induced electric field persists within planets including the earth; 7) Yuheng Zhang effect may be the microscopic physical origin of flexoelectric effect and the flexoelectric coefficients can be derived by means of Yuheng Zhang equation; 8) microscopic theory of shock polarization, another long-standing problem in the world, may be clarified in terms of Yuheng Zhang effect. In all, Yuheng Zhang equation and Yuheng Zhang effect offer people new understanding of electric properties of strained materials, and may find various applications in multi-areas.
Tensile properties of alkalised jute fibres

The structure of jute fibre has been modified using caustic soda up to a limit in order to improve its performance. The SEM micrographs of untreated jute fibres show a smooth surface, while alkalised jute fibres show rough and void regions between individual fibre cells. The study showed that the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of jute fibre bundles depends on the physical characteristics of its internal structure such as the cellulose content, changes in the crystalline region content expressed in terms of crystallinity index, and micro-fibril angle. Results also showed tensile properties optimised at 0.24% NaOH (w/w). Overall, alkalised fibres exhibit brittle fracture. The study demonstrated the dependence of tensile properties on the changes in fibre structure following alkalisation.
Strategic Responses to Companies' Own Past Performance: Why Do Some Firms Fare Better than Others?

Recent work on business strategy considers the evaluation of company performance using frontier methods (Devinney et al., forthcoming). The present paper builds on that work to examine the extent to which company performance in one period impacts on business practices and hence performance in subsequent periods. We investigate this using a panel of annual data on some 4280 firms over the period 1983-2003, drawn from the Osiris data set of Bureau van Dijk. A data envelopment analysis is conducted to evaluate the efficiency of firms in converting inputs - in the form of shareholders' funds, liabilities and costs - into sales. The efficiency scores are then modelled in a random parameter framework where one of the determinants of current period efficiency is the firm's own lagged efficiency. In a parsimonious model, we find that the extent to which lagged efficiency affects current efficiency varies considerably from firm to firm. Some firms maintain a relatively constant level of efficiency period after period, while the efficiency of other firms is much more variable over time. Companies with extreme values of the random parameter (either low or high) are less likely than others to have high efficiency scores. These results are used to inform a number of qualitiative case studies of companies. Our evidence suggests that firms for which the random parameter is high tend to be long established enterprises operating in narrowly and clearly defined markets, and enjoying sustained periods of market stability; firms for which the random parameter is low tend to have had a turbulent recent past involving either rapid growth (including merger activity) or decline. Meanwhile efficiency is determined in part by the industry and country with which a firm is associated, and also by the opportunities to exploit scale economies.
Investigation and Characterization of Maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) Nanoparticles and Its Cytotoxicity Studies

Objective: The expansion of wet chemical method for the synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles with magnetic properties is reported. Methods: Iron oxide nanoparticles were investigated in the procedure using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). It has been seen that the distribution size changed by changing of Molarity precursor and heating the sample. The magnetization evaluations were performed using a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer device (VSM) to specify the magnetic answer. The Thermo Gravimetric Analyses (TGA) displayed the size-dependent weight loss of the magnetic nanoparticles. In this work, the cytotoxic activity of various samples of Maghemite on cancer cell lines HELA was studied. The in vitro cytotoxicity tests were also performed to determine the cell viability as a work of size and heat of the magnetic nanoparticles. Results: The samples c and d at T=300°C had a little magnetic hysteresis that can use in cancer cure with hyperthermia therapy method. Conclusions: These samples became amorphous and they were nontoxicity.
Low recruitment across life stages partly accounts for the slow colonization of forest herbs

1 Former land use has long‐lasting effects on the distribution and abundance of forest herbs. Previous studies mainly focussed on limited dispersal capacities of forest herbs to explain these patterns and few studies have experimentally evaluated the relative importance of recruitment. Introduction experiments offer a direct test of recruitment limitation, but are generally only monitored until the germination stage. 2 We examined recruitment of 10 forest herbs during five growing seasons by means of a seed sowing experiment in two contrasting forest types (valley and plateau) established on former agricultural land. Effects of seed density and clearing of vegetation and litter (disturbed microsites) were tested in a factorial design. The data were analysed in two successive steps: germination 2 years after seed introduction and subsequent recruitment into the adult life stage. We focussed on both the species and the community‐level. 3 Although adding more seeds resulted in more recruits, only a small fraction of seeds (between 1% and 20%) germinated after two growing seasons in both forest types. The need for disturbed microsites was species‐specific and differed between the two forest types. Evergreen hemicryptophytes benefited from clearing; vernal geophytes were not affected. Post‐seedling mortality further reduced recruitment success into the adult life stage. Results at the species and community‐level were largely analogous. 4 Because only a fraction of seeds effectively recruited into the adult life stage, forest herbs need high seed densities for colonization. Seed availability is, however, severely limited by the low dispersal capacity of many forest herbs. Disturbed microsites promoted recruitment of some, but not all forest herbs. The effect was most clear in valley forest, probably because the established vegetation had high cover and was dominated by competitive herbs. 5 Synthesis. Overall, the experimental results indicate that community assembly can be considered a two‐stage process in which restricted seed availability followed by low recruitment limits colonization. The need for disturbed microsites can be crucial, but depends on species‐specific life histories and the prevailing site conditions.
Internet (Information/Skill) Literacy in Iran

This study examines the associations of internet information literacy with two variables: (1) the ability to work with technical aspects of the internet (internet skill), and (2) attitudes about the need for qualitative necessities in the development of e-services. A hierarchical regressions software analyzes data from a national sample of 2134 internet users. In this paper, internet literacy is considered as a literacy which has two-dimensional aspects including information literacy and skill literacy. In an articulation as this, many of the capabilities associated with the internet such as technical, critical, analytical, and structural factors are studied. In addition, abilities that lead users to make distinctions between useful, safe and healthy data and fake, hateful and unhealthy data are taken into account. The analysis shows that the internet information literacy is positively related to internet skills. It is also shown that more internet information literacy leads to more demands for e-services’ qualitative necessities (in the eight indicators of cheapness, availability, usability, quickness, security, integrity, reliability, and transparency). Furthermore, some sociodemographic characteristics (i.e. age, gender, education, income, and place of residence) are explicitly associated with internet skills. Strategy suggestions are concluded for policy making in the respective fields.
Tea Extract Prevents Arsenic-mediated DNA Damage and Death of Murine Thymocytes in vitro

Groundwater contamination by arsenic has created a major health hazard in Bangladesh by affecting millions of people. In this study, we report cytotoxic effects of arsenic in primary culture of murine thymocytes and the counteractive actions of tea extract to reduce this cytotoxic effects. When murine thymocytes were incubated for shorter period (1 h) with higher concentrations (50 and 100 μM) of sodium arsenite (NaAsO 2 ), cell viability was decreased to 79.06 ± 0.52% and 62.53 ± 0.23%, respectively. In case of longer incubation (16 hrs) with a wide range of NaAsO 2 concentration (1-100 μM), cell viability was reduced from 89.30 ± 0.84% to 79.0 ± 0.52% by 1 μM NaAsO 2 , and this reduction was continued with increasing concentration reaching to 29.60 ± 0.72% by 100 μM. Tea is known to possess antioxidant property and we found that this tea extract reduced NaAsO 2 -mediated death of the cells in culture. After 16 h of incubation, the chromosomal DNA of 5 μM NaAsO 2 -exposed cells was found degraded suggesting apoptotic death of the cells. Interestingly, this degradation of chromosomal DNA was blocked by tea extract. All of these results together suggest a future therapeutic application of tea extract to reduce or block arsenic toxicity. Dhaka Univ. J. Pharm. Sci. 14(1): 79-85, 2015 (June)
Title Aquatic adaptation and the evolution of smell and taste inwhales

Introduction: While olfaction is one of the most important senses in most terrestrial mammals, it is absent in modern toothed whales (Odontoceti, Cetacea). Furthermore, behavioral evidence suggests that gustation is very limited. In contrast, their aquatic sistergroup, baleen whales (Mysticeti) retain small but functional olfactory organs, and nothing is known about their gustation. It is difficult to investigate mysticete chemosensory abilities because experiments in a controlled setting are impossible. Results: Here, we use the functional regionalization of the olfactory bulb (OB) to identify the loss of specific olfactory functions in mysticetes. We provide the whole-genome sequence of a mysticete and show that mysticetes lack the dorsal domain of the OB, an area known to induce innate avoidance behavior against odors of predators and spoiled foods. Genomic and fossil data suggest that mysticetes lost the dorsal domain of the OB before the Odontoceti-Mysticeti split. Furthermore, we found that all modern cetaceans are revealed to have lost the functional taste receptors. Conclusion: These results strongly indicate that profound changes in the chemosensory capabilities had occurred in the cetacean lineage during the period when ancestral whales migrated from land to water.
Globular cluster systems of early-type galaxies in low-density environments

Deep images of 10 early-type galaxies in low-density environments have been obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. The global properties of the globular cluster (GC) systems of the galaxies have been derived in order to investigate the role of the environment in galaxy formation and evolution. Using the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey as a high-density counterpart, the similarities and differences between the GC properties in high- and low-density environments are presented. We find a strong correlation of the GC mean colours and the degree of colour bimodality with the host galaxy luminosity in low-density environments, in good agreement with high-density environments. In contrast, the GC mean colours at a given host luminosity are somewhat bluer [Δ(g−z) ∼ 0.05] than those for cluster galaxies, indicating more metal poor (Δ[Fe/H] ∼ 0.10 − 0.15) and/or younger (Δage > 2 Gyr) GC systems than those in dense environments. Furthermore, with decreasing host luminosity, the colour bimodality disappears faster, when compared to galaxies in cluster environments. Our results suggest that: (1) in both high- and low-density environments, the mass of the host galaxy has the dominant effect on GC system properties; (2) the local environment has only a secondary effect on the history of GC system formation; and (3) GC formation must be governed by common physical processes across a range of environments.
Analysis of Actual Internet Sports Gambling Behavior

This article presents findings from the first taxometric study of actual gambling behavior to determine whether we can represent the characteristics of extreme gambling as qualitatively distinct (i.e., taxonic) or as a point along a dimension. We analyzed the bets made during a 24-month study period by the 4,595 most involved gamblers among a cohort of 48,114 people using an Internet service to gamble on sporting events. We applied two taxometric procedures (i.e., MAMBAC and MAXCOV) to three indicators of betting behavior: total money lost, total number of bets, and total money wagered. The results fail to provide support for the view that the most involved Internet sports gamblers include a distinct category of gamblers. More research is necessary to clarify the similar features of recreational and extreme gamblers and the dimensions that scientists can use to measure these behaviors. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for clinical, research, and public policy activities.
Ethnobotanical and Phytopharmacological attributes of Mesua ferrea: A mini review -

Members of clusiaceae family are widely distributed in the tropical areas of the world, especially Asian countries and are traditionally used by the local people for the treatment of various ailments ranging from headache to cancer. Mesua ferrea L. is an important member of this family, which has been shown to possess multifactorial pharmacological activities. This review highlights the traditional uses, phytochemical profiling and proven pharmacological attributes of different parts of M. ferrea. Almost every part of the plant is reported to have beneficial medicinal properties that can help to fight against different aliments. However, further studies are still required to explore the molecular targets responsible for the observed pharmacological activities and to test the efficacy of isolated compounds or standardised extracts in properly designed experiments. In addition, long term toxicity studies are also required to establish the safety profile of isolated compounds/standardised extracts before the commencement of clinical trials.
Development of methods for analysis and reconstruction of nuclear medicine images

This thesis presents four novel algorithms for processing and analysis of nuclear medicine images. In addition, the novel research image platform where these four algorithms have been implemented, together with most established algorithms for image processing and analysis, are shortly described. The majority of the algorithms in the image platform are executed on the graphics processing unit (GPU), which enable fast parallel execution of the scripts. The four novel algorithms have been constructed for analysis of nuclear medicine images of patients with neuroendocrine tumours, who has either been diagnosed or treated with the somatostatin analogues In-octreotide and Lu-octreotate, respectively. The first algorithm was constructed for analysis of two planar image methods for kidney dosimetry. The results of the analysis showed that it is most challenging to find a region of interest (ROI) that resembles the true activity in the overand underlying tissue of the kidney. Nevertheless, in this paper we propose that a ROI surrounding the kidney might be preferable over small ROIs. Furthermore, due to the high influence of background activity in the anterior image it seems to be favourable to perform the dosimetry on the posterior image instead of using the geometric mean value of the anterior and posterior images. The second algorithm was constructed for obtaining good estimates of the bone marrow doses from planar images. The algorithm generated estimates of the absorbed dose to bone marrow that were in agreement with earlier estimates. In addition, the obtained absorbed doses correlated to haematological response. The third algorithm was constructed for improved diagnosis of liver tumours. The methodology was based on a statistical approach for separating livers with tumour involvement from livers without tumour involvement. The method showed promising results in a retrospective study where an increased number of patients with liver tumour involvement could be diagnosed. Finally, a new Monte Carlobased single photon emission computed tomography reconstruction algorithm was constructed. Since the code is executed on the GPU the tremendous number of photon emission and scattering is rapidly simulated in parallel. Thereby, the simulation time for the reconstruction is only a few minutes. In phantom measurement this reconstruction method was superior to the conventional and the state-of-the-art methods used for reconstruction of clinical images.
High Performance Composite CO 2 Separation Membranes

The CO2 permeation of composite membranes obtained by impregnation of molten alkaline carbonates into a Gd-doped ceria ceramic skeleton was tested using several gas mixtures with up to 50 vol% CO2 as feed gas and Ar in the membrane permeate side. Experiments performed in the 550-850 °C temperature range showed high permeation rates reaching 0.6 ml.min.cm at 850 °C for the higher CO2 content. These values exceed those often reported for similar membranes and conditions. Furthermore, the characterization of the ceramic skeletons and composite membranes by impedance spectroscopy (in air at low temperature) could be used to estimate the temperature where dual oxide and carbonate ionic transport are balanced (around 800 °C). The inherent shift in the CO2 permeation activation energy is shown to match closely this prediction.
Positively Responsive Collective Choice Rules and Majority Rule: A Generalization of May'S Theorem to Many Alternatives

A collective choice rule selects a set of alternatives for each collective choice problem. Suppose that the alternative x is in the set selected by a collective choice rule for some collective choice problem. Now suppose that x rises above another selected alternative y in some individualâ€™s preferences. If the collective choice rule is "positively responsive", x remains selected but y is no longer selected. If the set of alternatives contains two members, an anonymous and neutral collective choice rule is positively responsive if and only if it is majority rule (May 1952). If the set of alternatives contains three or more members, a large set of collective choice rules satisfy these three conditions. We show, however, that in this case only the rule that assigns to every problem its strict Condorcet winner satisfies the three conditions plus Nashâ€™s version of "independence of irrelevant alternatives" for the domain of problems that have strict Condorcet winners. Further, no rule satisfies the four conditions for the domain of all preference relations.
Age-Season Adjustment Factors for Alphine, LaMancha, Nubian, Saanen, and Toggenburg Dairy Goats

Abstract Multiplicative age-season adjustment factors for milk and fat yields of five breeds of dairy goats were estimated by fitting a three-way, mixed classification model containing random effects for does with fixed effects for herd-year-season and age-season for 7544, 1994, 7456, 3307, and 4599 lactation records collected from 1965 to 1976 from Alpine, LaMancha, Nubian, Saanen, and Toggenburg dairy goats in the United States. These factors reflect changes in milk and fat yields associated with age and season of freshening. As with dairy cattle, these factors indicated that milk records of goats are affected differently in different seasons for a particular age. Season of freshening affected younger does more than their older herdmates. Does freshening in January through March produced larger milk yields than their herdmates that freshened at later months of the year. In general, does reached peak production at 34 to 38 mo of age and declined after 50 mo of age. Repeatabilities for milk yield were . 33, . 29, . 35, . 27, and . 35 for Alpine, LaMancha, Nubian, Saanen, and Toggenburg breeds. The adjustment factors indicate that age factors for dairy cows currently being used for adjusting goat records should be replaced by separate factors developed for specific breeds of dairy goats. No such set of age-season adjustment factors has been adopted universally for dairy goats in the United States. Factors in this study, however, could serve as a guide for such a set of adjustment factors.
Protein-Based Salivary Profiles as Novel Biomarkers for Oral Diseases

The Global Burden of Oral Diseases affects 3.5 billion people worldwide, representing the number of people affected by the burden of untreated dental caries, severe periodontal disease, and edentulism. Thus, much more efforts in terms of diagnostics and treatments must be provided in the fight of these outcomes. In this sense, recently, the study of saliva as biological matrix has been identified as a new landmark initiative in the search of novel and useful biomarkers to prevent and diagnose these conditions. Specifically, saliva is a rich reservoir of different proteins and peptides and accessible due to recent advances in molecular biology and specially in targeted and unbiased proteomics technologies. Nonetheless, emerging barriers are an obstacle to the study of the salivary proteome in an effective way. This review aims at giving an overall perspective of salivary biomarkers identified in several oral diseases by means of molecular biology approaches.
Does work-based learning facilitate transitions to decent work?

In 2012, the International Labour Conference issued a resolution with a call for action to tackle the unprecedented youth employment crisis through a set of policy measures. The resolution provides guiding principles and a package of inter-related policies for countries wanting to take immediate and targeted action to address the crisis of youth labour markets. This paper, is part of follow-up action on knowledge building co-ordinated by the ILO’s Youth Employment Programme (YEP). In the current global context of complex economic challenges, skills and employability have emerged as a key priority for policy makers. In this context, the need for more effective work-based learning practices has become increasingly important. This paper examines the different forms of work-based learning, and takes stock of available data on the labour market impact such schemes where they exist. It considers structured apprenticeships, internships, traineeships and other programmes that include a work-based learning component. The paper finds evidence of positive impacts of formal structured work-based learning, and argues that future efforts should encourage engagement with private sector firms in creating and expanding such structured opportunities for young people.