Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DNA Denaturation Mapping in Nanochannels for Bacterial Identification Master Thesis

In the current work, partial denaturation mapping of DNA in nanochannels is studied with the goal to use this technique as a tool for the identification of bacteria. This method has the potential to simplify and speed up the diagnosis of bacterial infections. A partially denatured and YOYO-1-labeled DNA molecule displays a sequence specific pattern of fluorescent and non-fluorescent regions along the molecule. This pattern can be interpreted as a barcode. By stretching the DNA molecule inside nanofluidic channels, this barcode can easily be imaged with an optical microscope and compared with a database consisting of theoretically generated barcodes. The DNA is identified by finding the theoretical barcode that matches best to the experimental barcode. In this project, first fundamental studies of the denaturation pattern formation have been performed. Pattern formation has been studied as a function of time, confinement and fluorescent dye concentration. Second, experimentally acquired barcodes were compared to their corresponding theoretical barcodes to demonstrate the agreement between experiment and theory. Finally, identification of the strain specific DNA of S. pneumoniae was attempted. The time it takes for denaturation patterns to form upon heating the DNA has been observed to be approximately 10 minutes. The difference in melting temperature between nanoand microconfinement was found to be in the range of 5-10 C. An effect of the fluorescent dye concentration on the melting temperature of DNA molecules was observed. Further, a good agreement between experimental and theoretical barcodes could be demonstrated. A large amount of denaturation maps of DNA fragments from different strains of S. pneumoniae were measured. However, successful identification of the bacterial DNA has not been realized yet. Potential ways to improve the results are discussed.
Activation Energy Determination in Case of Independent Complex Kinetic Processes

Theoretically simulated kinetic data were used to evaluate the performance of the most common isoconversional methods of kinetic analysis in complex-process scenarios with two independent overlapping processes exhibiting nucleation-growth kinetics, and further expand the conclusions for the autocatalytic kinetic processes with positive asymmetry. In close-to-real-life situations all the integral isoconversional methods provided practically indistinguishable E-α outcomes. The Friedman and incremental modified Vyazovkin methods results in significant over- and undershoots. However, the combined utilization of the integral and differential isoconversional methods was demonstrated to greatly contribute to the interpretation of the E-α dependences and estimation of E1 and E2—the conceptual evaluation involving positions of inflection points and plateaus is introduced. The influence of the range of applied heating rates q+ on the course of E-α dependences was studied. In this regard, the performance of the isoconversional methods changes significantly with both, the consistence of the shape of the complex kinetic curve and weighted presence of full overlaps of the involved sub-processes.
NOTES ON GRASSMANNIANS AND SCHUBERT VARIETIES

These notes form an enlarged version of a series of four lectures, given in the Curves Seminar at Queen’s in the winter of 2000. This is a purely expository account and except possibly in the commission of errors, no originality is in evidence. Since the general theorems of the subject are very well-documented, there are few complete proofs to be found here. Instead, I have consistently preferred to work out a specific low dimensional example to illustrate a theorem, and to let the reader do the general case. My intent has been to stay away from some of the notational clutter which must be suffered by anyone studying the Grassmann varieties. I thank Brian Coolen, Susan Cooper and Sindi Sabourin for typesetting the original lecture notes and the audience for helping me sustain my illusions. I have used Macaulay-2 and the Maple package SF for some computations and it is my pleasure to thank their creators.
New insights in the role of turbulence for simulating primary breakup of prefilming airblast atomization

Details of the liquid fuel disintegration in aircraft engines are not completely understood. Complex flows, a dense spray and fine liquid droplets demand high resolution and limit experimental and numerical studies. Getting access to the physical mechanisms and spray characteristics of the initial atomization step, the embedded DNS methodology has been proven to be a valuable tool: A Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of the primary breakup is embedded in a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of the atomizer, reducing computational costs and making expensive DNS feasible for technical relevant applications. A specific feature of the method is the consideration of a realistic turbulent nozzle flow instead of setting constant values at the boundaries of the DNS. In this study the relevance of the inclusion of the turbulent nozzle flow in primary breakup simulations of airblast atomization is demonstrated. Therefore, a sensitivity study for a planar prefilming airblast atomizer is conducted applying one operating point and two different sets of boundary data for the embedded domain. The first set consists of timevarying data from LES of the planar atomizer while the second one considers time-averaged values of the first set. The last mentioned set mimics a constant profile at the boundaries. 3D DNS of both cases is performed applying the Volume of Fluid method. Analyses of the liquid film development and spray characteristics relating to the different amounts of turbulent scales in the gaseous flow are presented. The results indicate a nonneglectable influence of turbulence on the breakup. In particular, the results show that turbulent scales in the gaseous flow increase the amount of fine droplets. The SMD is reduced from 182 μm to 148 μm and the atomized mass is increased by 10 % if a turbulent flow is considered. Therefore, the effects of turbulence should be considered.
A randomised double‐blind phase II study of lifestyle counselling and salicylate compounds in patients with progressive prostate cancer

Purpose – Salicylate intake and lifestyle have been implicated in the aetiology of prostate cancer, but the purpose of this paper is to evaluate their influence on established cancer progression.Design/methodology/approach – A randomised, double blind, phase II study involving 110 men whose prostate specific antigen (PSA), had risen in three consecutive values, >20 per cent over the proceeding six months. Men were counselled to eat less saturated fat, processed food, more fruit, vegetables and legumes; exercise more regularly and to stop smoking. They were then randomised to take sodium salicylate (SS) alone or SS combined with, vitamin C, copper and manganese gluconates (CV247). Patients took this daily, without other intervention, but were withdrawn if their PSA doubling time (PSAdt) shortened or their PSA rose >20 per cent from baseline.Findings – Although there was no difference in outcome between the SS or CV247 (21 v 19 p = 0.92), the intervention slowed or stopped the rate of PSA progression in 40 .
Safety assessment of Cymbopogon shoenanthus (L.) Spreng. (Poaceae) essential oils: Oral toxicity, dermal and eye irritancy investigations

The side effects prediction is a regulatory requirement prior the effective use of a new product as drug or pesticide constituent is allowed. The handling hazards of Cymbopogon schoenanthus essential oils (CSEO) were determined by investigating their acute and subacute toxicities as well as irritancy potential for eye and skin in compliance with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development guidelines. In mice, the essential oils did not induce mortality at the limit single dose of 2000 mg/kg b.w. , meaning that the test product estimated LD50 is 5000 mg/kg b.w. In the 28 days sub-acute oral toxicity study in rats, there was no mortality observed for all tested doses in both sex. Furthermore, besides body weight gain that slightly dropped, there was no significant difference observed in food and water consumption, relative organs weight, and blood biochemical proﬁle in test animals, compared to the control. No eye irritant reaction was shown in the rabbits exposed to CSEO. To assess dermal irritation, rabbits were dermally exposed to CSEO for 4 h. The results showed that no adverse reactions such as erythema and edema were observed throughout the test. Based on these ﬁndings, CSEO do not cause either oral toxicity up to 28 days in repeated administration, nor dermal and eye irritation, and seems to be safe for animal in the study conditions. These results constitute a new scientific support for the safe use of C. scheonanthus essential oils as alternatives to synthetic pesticides. However, for further clinical relevance of the results and complete toxicological profile elucidation, toxicity studies must be extended to long term toxicity test as subchronic and chronic toxicities, reprotoxicity, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, and mutagenicity investigations. Key words: Cymbopogon schoenanthus, Wistar rat, essential oils, sub-acute toxicity, blood chemistry, naturel insecticide.
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale: Method Effect and Gender Invariance

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the dimensionality of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), by testing the adjustment of eight factorial models: a one-factor and two-factor model and six single-factor models controlling for the method effect associated with the wording of negative and positive items, through the correlated traits-correlated uniqueness (CTCU) and correlated traits-correlated methods (CTCM) approaches. We also tested measurement invariance across gender. A total of 689 participants took part in the study, with ages between 18 and 70 years (M = 25.5; SD = 8.06), mainly females (77.1%), who answered the RSES and sociodemographic questions. The results showed that single-factor models controlling for the effect of negative items alone or positive and negative items together best fit the data. The results also indicated that the RSES is invariant across gender, presenting the same theoretical structure and psychological meaning for men and women.
Isolation, Characterization and Rapid Composting of Cellulolytic Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria for Biofertilizer Preparation

In this research, twenty isolated strains of cellulolytic nitrogen-fixing bacteria were isolated from different soil sources. Cellulase activity of each selected strain was detected by screening of clear zone formation and by using DNS (Dinitrosalicylic colorimetric) method. The clear zone formation were not significant among these strains but amongst them, for cellulose substrate isolated strain K-7 was considered as the most potent isolate in term of their high cellulase productivity in the concentration of 0.452 mg/0.5 ml and in carboxymethyl cellulose substrate, M-1 strain showed maximum yield for cellulase production in the concentration of 0.493 mg/0.5ml. Nitrogen fixation activity of those selected strains was measured by the color changes in G-NFMM (Glucose-Nitrogen Free Mineral Medium) supplemented with BTB (Bromothymol Blue) and ammonium test kit. Composting was studied by using six strains on straw waste. Finished composting was observed for a month and nitrogen rich compost was obtained. The finished compost was used as carrier system and six selected bacterial strains for nitrogen fixation were used as formulated biofertilizer and applied in rice field. They improve rice plant growth, yield and nitrogen content in soil when compared with other rice plant used in chemical fertilizer. Our research can fulfill the aspect of enhancing the usage of environmentally friendly biofertilizer without reducing farmers’ profit by maintaining the good yield.
Title: Voluntary Clawback Provisions and Executive Risk-taking Behavior

“Clawback Provisions” are corporate governance mechanisms intended to reduce executive risktaking and deter opportunistic behavior. Though voluntary clawback provisions have been associated with several positive consequences in extant literature, there is little empirical evidence of their effect on executive risk-taking and deterrence of opportunistic behavior. On the contrary, recent clawback research shows that clawback firms engage more in real activities earnings management suggesting increasing risk-taking and opportunistic behavior in clawback firms. Additionally, there is a need to better understand the consequences of voluntary clawback adoption as the debate on mandatory clawback provisions for all publicly traded companies in the U.S. rages on. In this study, we focus on voluntary restatement triggered clawback provisions, and examine whether clawback adoption leads to changes in executives’ risk-taking behavior. We use a difference-in-difference research design on a propensity score-matched sample of 418 firms for the period 2010-2013. Our findings are consistent with more risk-averse executives in clawback firms compared to those in non-clawback firms. Furthermore, we find empirical evidence suggesting that CFOs are more risk averse than CEOs.
Voluntary Disclosures and the Firm-Value Effects of Carbon Emissions

Concern about carbon emissions, and hence concern about disclosure of carbon emission levels, has been expressed by various stakeholders, including corporate executives, boards of directors, investors, creditors, standard setters, government regulators, and NGOs. Indeed, some informed observers expect that the relationship between carbon emissions and global climate change will drive a redistribution of value from firms that do not control their carbon emissions successfully to firms that do (GS Sustain 2009). Using hand-collected carbon emissions data for 2006-2008 that S&P 500 firms disclosed voluntarily to the Carbon Disclosure Project, we examine two separate, yet, related questions. The first question addresses firm-level characteristics associated with the choice to disclose carbon emissions. Consistent with economic theory, we predict and find a higher likelihood of carbon emission disclosures by firms with superior environmental performance, conditional on firms taking environmentally proactive actions. However, contrary to our predictions based on socio-political theories, we find no association between inferior environmental performance and the likelihood of disclosing carbon emissions, conditional on firms taking environmentally damaging actions. Further, we predict and find that firms are more likely to voluntarily disclose their carbon emissions as the proportion of industry peer firm disclosers increases. To address the second question concerning the relationship between carbon emission levels and firm value, we correct for self-selection bias caused by firmand industry-level characteristics associated with the decision to disclose such emissions. We predict and find a negative association between carbon emission levels and firm value. On average, for every additional thousand metric tons of carbon emissions for our sample of S&P 500 firms, firm value decreases by $202,000. Our sensitivity analyses and robustness test results are similar to our main results.
Effect of Storage on Tensile Properties of Natural Heart Valve Tissue

Aortic homograft valves are the preferred choice of replacement valve in aortic valve replacement procedures. The major drawback to their use is their availability. This project addressed two of the methods by which availability can be increased by assessing mechanical properties of the valves. Most pre-operative methods that assess homograft valve post-operative functional ability use biochemical or histological protocols. Rarely is their mechanical ability to sustain the pressure across them tested. Uniaxial tensile tests were performed on radial and circumferential leaflet sections from human and porcine aortic and pulmonary valves. The pulmonary valve has very similar anatomy to the aortic valve, although it is thinner and there is less pressure across it in vivo. When a patients own pulmonary valve is used to replace their aortic (their pulmonary valve is replaced with an aortic homograft), good post-operative results are achieved. The aim of this study was to see if pulmonary homografts would be able to sustain aortic pressures. It is concluded that pulmonary leaflet specimens have comparable mechanical characteristics to aortic and should therefore be suitable for aortic valve replacement. This would double the number of valves available for surgeons to use during valve replacements. Porcine aortic specimens were found to be stiffer and fail at higher stresses than the other valve types. The results from the porcine pulmonary specimen properties indicated that bioprosthetic valve manufacturers can consider their use in bioprosthetic valve manufacture as they are more than able to cope with human aortic valve pressures. Some storage methods have been assigned short duration or `sell-by' dates, with no evidence that the mechanical integrity of the tissues has been significantly compromised. Currently retrospective studies are used to assess whether the treatments are detrimental to the tissues; the post-operative durability being taken as the indicator! If the storage times can be extended then the number of valves available to surgeons
Merit Order Effect Modeling: The Case of the Hellenic Electricity Market

A simple effective model is proposed for the day-ahead electricity market. The model considers the main factors which govern the process, predicts the seasonal and daily variation of electricity demand, renewable production, system marginal price, and merit order effect. The accuracy of the model is increased by fitting to historic data of the Hellenic electricity market. During the period between October 2016 and December 2018, the Hellenic electricity market calculated explicitly the merit order effect using an innovative mechanism to directly charge the electricity suppliers (retailers). On the basis of the proposed model and the market recorded data, the effect of the renewable penetration on the wholesale Hellenic electricity prices is revealed. The model is further used to analyze the market future behavior when basic factors (electricity demand, conventional power, and renewable penetration) are known or estimated. The effect of merit order effect on the Hellenic legislation is discussed and the appropriate measures adopted by the Hellenic authorities are analyzed and evaluated.
WST 47(10) 033-040

A pilot plant membrane bioreactor has been tested in parallel with a full-scale activated sludge wastewater treatment plant fed on the wastewater from a textile factory. The possibility to upgrade the final effluent for internal reuse was investigated. The pilot and full-scale plants are located in a textile factory (Boselli & C., Olgiate Comasco, North Italy) which manufactures and finishes polyester fabric. The activated sludge wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is an extended aeration system. The MBR pilot plant is a ZW-10 bench hollow fibre module (membrane surface area: 0.93 m2) submerged in a 200 L tank. Performance and operation of the membrane bioreactor (MBR) were evaluated in terms of permeate characteristics and variability (COD, colour, total N and P, microbiological counts), of membrane specific flux (l m–2 h–1 bar–1) and other operational parameters (sludge growth and yield).
COMPLEX CONTACT MANIFOLDS , VARIETIES OF MINIMAL RATIONAL TANGENTS , AND EXTERIOR DIFFERENTIAL SYSTEMS

Complex contact manifolds arise naturally in differential geometry, algebraic geometry and exterior differential systems. Their classification would answer an important question about holonomy groups. The geometry of such manifold X is governed by the contact lines contained in X. These are related to the notion of a variety of minimal rational tangents. In this review we discuss the partial classification theorems of projective complex contact manifolds. Among such manifolds one finds contact Fano manifolds (which include adjoint varieties) and projectivised cotangent bundles. In the first case we also discuss a distinguished contact cone structure, arising as the variety of minimal rational tangents. We discuss the repercussion of the aforementioned classification theorems for the geometry of quaternionKähler manifolds with positive scalar curvature and for the geometry of second-order PDEs imposed on hypersurfaces.
Enhancement of the Madabhushi Liquid Jet in Crossflow Breakup Model by a Ligament Breakup Mechanism

Liquid fuel jet atomization in a gaseous crossflow has been numerically simulated with the ANSYS Fluent CFDSolver. The simulation utilized a Stress-Blended Eddy Simulation (SBES) model for turbulence closure [9] and the Discrete Particle Lagrangian Method (DPM) for the dispersed phase. For this purpose, the Madabhushi breakup model [1] was implemented into ANSYS Fluent. The original Madabhushi formulation was shown to overestimate the child droplet diameters after column breakup. An extension to the model is proposed here to overcome this limitation and to allow for a more realistic size distribution after initial ligament breakup. The new enhancement of the Madabhushi breakup model is compared to experimental data at different jet to air momentum flux ratios (J = 10, 20, We = 1500) provided by Gopola et al. [4] and Sekar et al. [5] and shows good agreement with measurement data.
OPTIMAL ALLOCATION OF BANK CREDIT AMONG AGRICULTURAL SUBSECTORS UNDER UNCERTAINTY CONDITION

Feizabadi, Y. and M. Akbarian, 2018. Optimal allocation of bank credit among agricultural subsectors under uncertainty condition. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 24 (3): 360–367 One of the institutions that play an important role in fi nancing the agricultural sector is Agricultural Bank. Since there is still no specifi c model for optimal allocation of Agricultural Bank credits in Iran, this research seeks to provide an optimal model for allocation of credits using multi-criteria linear programming based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and fuzzy logic, considering the risk and uncertainty conditions. The study period is related to the data of Agricultural Bank between 2011 and 2015. Using Cochran’s Formula, the sample size has been calculated 39 people out of the statistical population including all bank experts in Mazandaran province. Results show that the current model of credit allocation in Agricultural Bank is not optimal so that the fi rst prioritization of credit allocation should belong to agricultural industries and agricultural services followed by farming, livestock, non-agricultural sector, horticulture, poultry, fi shery, natural resources and machinery respectively.