Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microstructure and Mechanical Characteristics of the Ternary SnZnAl Lead-Free Alloy

The paper describes the studies of ternary SnZn9Al1.5 lead-free alloy from the viewpoint of its mechanical behavior as well as microstructure examined by the light and scanning electron microscopy. The authors focused their attention specifically on the fatigue parameters determined by the original modified low-cycle fatigue method (MLCF), which in a quick and economically justified way allows determination of a number of mechanical parameters based on the measurement data coming from one test sample only. The effect of the addition of 1.5% Al to the binary eutectic SnZn9 alloy on its microstructure and the obtained level of mechanical parameters was analyzed. The phases and intermetallic compounds occurring in the alloy were identified based on the chemical analysis carried out in micro-areas by the SEM/EDS technique. It was shown that the addition of 1.5% Al to the binary eutectic SnZn9 alloy resulted in a more favorable microstructure and consequently had a positive effect on the mechanical parameters of the alloy. Based on the conducted research, it was recommended to use a combinatorial method based on the phase quanta theory to quickly evaluate the microstructure and the original MLCF method to determine a number of mechanical parameters.
Self-Reported Sexual Symptoms in Women Attending Menopause Clinics

The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to investigate the frequency of self-reported sexual symptoms in women (n = 355; age range 46–60 years) attending menopausal clinics in Italy and to relate them to other vasomotor, psychological, physical, and genital complaints. Each subject completed a visual scale for sexual symptoms and for other complaints frequently occurring at menopause. Pain during sexual intercourse (29.8%) and low libido/lack of arousal (22%) were significantly more frequent with age (χ2 = 8.0, p < 0.02; χ2 = 6.2, p < 0.04, respectively) and years since menopause (χ2 = 13.0, p < 0.005; χ2 = 11.3, p < 0.01, respectively). Reduction of sexual pleasure/satisfaction (45.9%) was common with age, but was more frequent with longer time since the menopause (χ2 = 19.9, p < 0.001). By examining the intensity of sexual symptoms according to the presence of other complaints, we found that physical, psychological, and genital well-being significantly affects components of sexual response after the menopause. For example, loss of fitness, urogenital symptoms, a negative self-image (increase of facial hair), and depressive symptoms were more common in women with sexual complaints. Given the concomitant role of hormonal and aging determinants, a comprehensive approach to female health is needed when facing climacteric sexual dysfunction.
IDETC 2017-67266 Parametric Shape & Topology Optimization : A New Level Set Approach Based on Cardinal Kernel Functions

The parametric level set method is an extension of the conventional level set methods for topology optimization. By parameterizing the level set function, conventional levels let methods can be easily coupled with mathematical programming to achieve better numerical robustness and computational efficiency. Furthermore, the parametric level set scheme not only can inherit the original advantages of the conventional level set methods, such as clear boundary representation and high topological changes handling flexibility but also can alleviate some un-preferred features from the conventional level set methods, such as needing re-initialization. However, in the RBFbased parametric level set method, it was difficult to determine the range of the design variables. Moreover, with the mathematically driven optimization process, the level set function often results in significant fluctuations during the optimization process. This brings difficulties in both numerical stability control and material property interpolation. In this paper, an RBF partition of unity collocation method is implemented to create a new type of kernel function termed as the Cardinal Basis Function (CBF), which employed as the kernel function to parameterize the level set function. The advantage of using the CBF is that the range of the design variable, which was the weight factor in conventional RBF, can be explicitly specified. Additionally, a distance regularization energy functional is introduced to maintain a desired distance regularized level set function evolution. With this desired distance regularization feature, the level set evolution is stabilized against significant fluctuations. Besides, the material * Address all correspondence to this author. property interpolation from the level set function to the finite element model can be more accurate.
Measurement of high voltage substation generated electromagnetic field

High voltage substations produce strong electromagnetic fields (EMF) in the surrounding areas. People who live close to substations express concern about the possible health risk from the exposure to the EMFs. In this research, EMF characteristics are measured inside two 69 kV substations, and an independent and unbiased assessment of the EMF distribution in the substations is provided. The substation EMFs resulting from the field measurements are presented using 3-D plots and contour maps. The maps of EMF distributions and substation layouts are also overlapped to demonstrate their relationship. A conclusion is drawn by comparing the field measurements with the recommended limit of human exposure to the EMF.
KRAFT AND MODIFIED KRAFT PULPING OF BAMBOO

Delignification of bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides) grown in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey was carried out by kraft, kraft-anthraquinone (AQ) and kraft-sodium borohydride (NaBH4) pulping under a variety of conditions to determine the effect of AQ, NaBH4 and cooking parameters on pulp and paper properties such as yield, kappa number, viscosity, and strength properties. The chemical composition and fibre dimensions of the cell wall of Phyllostachys bambusoides culm fibres were also investigated. The analysed data revealed the following optimum kraft pulping conditions: Active alkali, 16% (as Na2O); NaBH4, 0.3%; AQ, 0.1%; and cooking time, 90 min. The modified kraft method with 0.1% AQ was found to provide better pulp properties than those with 0.3% NaBH4. Increasing the thickness of chip used in cooking from 2.0 mm to 4.0 mm increase the yield. The optimum cooking conditions of Phyllostachys bambusoides modified kraft pulps were found to be: screened yield, 48.1%; reject ratio, 0.53%; kappa number, 24.1; viscosity, 1210 ml/g; breaking length, 6.05 km; burst index, 5.08 kPa m2/g; tearing index, 4.99 mNm2/g; brightness 20.35%.
PLANNING THAILAND’S PROTECTED AREAS IN RESPONSE TO FUTURE LAND USE AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Only limited research on conservation planning to mitigate the impacts of synergies between land use and climate change have been conducted in Asia. The objectives of this research were to determine shifts in habitats of 17 mammal species resulting from land-use and climate change scenarios in 2050 in northern Thailand and to assess the proposed expansion of protected areas to mitigate the predicted impacts. Qualitative vulnerability assessment of species was determined by using national conservation status, shifts in distribution and coping capacity of protected areas. The potential expansion areas were identified using gravity model. The results indicated that the existing protected areas cannot guarantee the long-term survival of many species. Most selected species would substantially shift their current distributions and will be upgraded from moderate to high-risk. The proposed expansion areas of 5,200 km or 3% of the region would substantially minimize the risk level and increase the average coping capacity of the protection of suitable habitats from 82% as the current plan to 90%. Such patches adjoining existing protected areas should be included in the current system, while patches that are relatively far should be managed as stepping stones or habitat corridors to facilitate movements of wildlife in the landscape.
Seven decades of uninterrupted advance of Good Friday Glacier, Axel Heiberg Island, Arctic Canada

ABSTRACT Previous studies reported that Good Friday Glacier had been actively surging in the 1950–60s, 1990s and again in 2000–15. Based on observations of terminus position change from air photos and satellite imagery, we fill the gaps between previous studies and conclude that the glacier has been advancing continuously since 1959. Ice surface velocities extracted from optical and synthetic aperture radar satellite images show higher flow rates than on most other marine-terminating glaciers in the region. This behaviour contrasts with the regional trend of glacier retreat over this period. Possible explanations involve a delayed response to positive mass-balance conditions of the Little Ice Age, or a dynamic instability. There is, however, insufficient evidence to attribute this behaviour to classical glacier surging as suggested in previous studies. Based on present-day ice velocity and glacier geometry patterns in the terminus region, we reconstruct the evolution of ice motion throughout the advance, and suggest that what has previously been interpreted as a surge, may instead have been a localised response to small-scale perturbations in bedrock topography.
Prediction of General High School Exam Result Level Using Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks

The general high school exam is considered one of the most important exams for the student. The achievement of this academic qualification enables him to build his future career and determine the course of his life through joining a bachelor program in a university based on the marks obtained in this exam. On another hand, the universities determine the admission rates for each discipline and program depending on the general high school exam results in each year. Some universities with some specialization start the acceptance from high-level grade of high school exam and decrease it gradually to reduce the acceptance grade level depending on the demand for a specific specialization. A smart prediction model of the general high school exam results in next year will help the universities to determine the level from the beginning of the acceptance process. In this paper, we present a prediction model which has the ability to analyze previous patterns of general high school exam result and use them to predict the future results. The time series dataset consists of general high school exam results for the previous eleven years in Palestine, which was used as a target for the Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks with Backpropagation learning algorithm (MLPBP) to predict the future general high school exam results. The accuracy of the prediction results of the proposed model is significant as it appears in the result of Minimum Mean Square Error (MSE). Moreover, the prediction result of each level in the next year is very accurate regarding the compiled pattern of the historical data.
Copy Number Variation Analysis in Familial BRCA 1 / 2-Negative Finnish Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Background: Inherited factors predisposing individuals to breast and ovarian cancer are largely unidentified in a majority of families with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC). We aimed to identify germline copy number variations (CNVs) contributing to HBOC susceptibility in the Finnish population. Methods: A cohort of 84 HBOC individuals (negative for BRCA1/2-founder mutations and pre-screened for the most common breast cancer genes) and 36 healthy controls were analysed with a genome-wide SNP array. CNV-affecting genes were further studied by Gene Ontology term enrichment, pathway analyses, and database searches to reveal genes with potential for breast and ovarian cancer predisposition. CNVs that were considered to be important were validated and genotyped in 20 additional HBOC individuals (6 CNVs) and in additional healthy controls (5 CNVs) by qPCR. Results: An intronic deletion in the EPHA3 receptor tyrosine kinase was enriched in HBOC individuals (12 of 101, 11.9%) compared with controls (27 of 432, 6.3%) (OR= 1.96; P= 0.055). EPHA3 was identified in several enriched molecular functions including receptor activity. Both a novel intronic deletion in the CSMD1 tumor suppressor gene and a homozygous intergenic deletion at 5q15 were identified in 1 of 101 (1.0%) HBOC individuals but were very rare (1 of 436, 0.2% and 1 of 899, 0.1%, respectively) in healthy controls suggesting that these variants confer disease susceptibility. Conclusion: This study reveals new information regarding the germline CNVs that likely contribute to HBOC susceptibility in Finland. This information may be used to facilitate the genetic counselling of HBOC individuals but the preliminary results warrant additional studies of a larger study group. Citation: Kuusisto KM, Akinrinade O, Vihinen M, Kankuri-Tammilehto M, Laasanen S-L, et al. (2013) Copy Number Variation Analysis in Familial BRCA1/2-Negative Finnish Breast and Ovarian Cancer. PLoS ONE 8(8): e71802. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0071802 Editor: Syed A. Aziz, Health Canada and University of Ottawa, Canada Received March 13, 2013; Accepted July 3, 2013; Published August 13, 2013 Copyright: 2013 Kuusisto et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This research was funded in part by the Academy of Finland (grant 251074) and the Competitive Research Funding of the Tampere University Hospital (grant 9M094). The Finnish Cultural Foundation has supported author KMK as well. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: Johanna.Schleutker@utu.fi
Phytoremediation of wastewater toxicity using water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes)

ABSTRACT This paper elucidates the phytoremediation potential of water hyacinth and water lettuce on the reduction of wastewater toxicity. Acute toxicity tests were performed in an aquarium with a population of Sarotherodon melanotheron, contaminated by different concentrations of wastewaters before and after phytoremediation with Eichhornia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes. Lethal concentrations (LC50) of the fish's population obtained during 24 hours of exposures were determined. COD, BOD, ammonium, TKN and PO43− concentrations in wastewaters were of 1850.29, 973.33, 38.34, 61.49 and 39.23 mg L−1, respectively, for each plant. Phytoremediation reduced 58.87% of ammonium content, 50.04% of PO43−, 82.45% of COD and 84.91% of BOD. After 15 days of the experiment, metal contents in treated wastewaters decreased from 6.65 to 97.56% for water hyacinth and 3.51 to 93.51% for water lettuce tanks. Toxicity tests showed that the mortality of fish exposed increased with increase in concentration of pollutants in wastewaters and the time of exposure. Therefore, the highest value of LC50 was recorded for fish subjected to 3 hours of exposure (16.37%). The lowest rate was obtained after an exposure of 20 to 24 hours (5.85%). After phytoremediation, the effluents purified by Eichhornia crassipes can maintain the fish life beyond 24 hours of exposure.
Ten and a half years seroepidemiology of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in Denmark

SUMMARY The study was based on a computerized card index of 9161 patients who had at least one positive blood specimen in the Mycoplasma pneumoniae complement fixation test. A total of 12562 specimens from these patients had been sent to Statens Seruminstitut from hospitals and general practitioners during a 10·5-year period. The period encompassed a previously described endemic period in a 30-year study of the epidemiological pattern of M. pneumoniae infection in Denmark [1], The serological data presented support the hypothesis advanced here that a more than sixfold increase of children in day care might have contributed to a change in the epidemiological pattern. The correlation between age and level of specific antibodies, as well as persistence of seropositivity, were also investigated.
Changes in gravity influence rat postnatal motor system development: from simulation to space flight.

Our research examines the role of the environment in postnatal nervous system development. Recently we have been studying the effects of changes in gravity on the motor system of rats from postnatal day (P) 2 to 31 using kinematic analysis of swimming, walking, and righting reflexes. Using the tail suspension model of weightlessness we identified sensitive and critical periods of motor system development corresponding to the time during which a motor skill is first achieved. Motor performance in suspended animals was marked by slow swimming, walking, and air-righting, all of which were characterized by hindlimb extension. (Walton et al, Neurosci. 52,763,1992). The critical periods identified in these studies contributed to determining the age of animals for a small payload, NIH.R3. This 9-day mission (STS-72) included 2 litters at P5, P7, or P15 at launch. The P7-16 and P15-24 groups were studied post-flight. On the landing day (R+0) surface righting, swimming and walking were slower in flight compared to control animals. Differences were more marked in the younger animals and the hindlimbs were more affected than the forelimbs with marked, prolonged extension of, at least, the ankle joint angle. Readaptation to 1G was slower in the P7-16 group with righting reflexes adapting first, walking last. We have shown that gravity is an important factor in postnatal nervous system development and that its affect depends on the age of the animal, duration of the perturbation, and the motor function studied.
BIMODAL BILINGUAL CROSS-LANGUAGE INFLUENCE IN UNEXPECTED DOMAINS *

Many studies of bilingual language acquisition have addressed the following questions: How separate are the young bilingual child’s languages? Can one language influence the other during development? Why do children – and adults – mix languages within utterances? In this paper, we will bring some new data to bear on these questions from bimodal bilingual language acquisition. Research addressing the question of cross-language influence maintains that even if the bilingual child’s languages are distinct from a very early age, there may still be ‘influence’ from one language on the other. One well-known proposal regarding the limits of such influence comes from the work of Hulk & Müller (2000: 228). They proposed conditions on where such influence appears, as summarized in (1).
Comparing the effect of oral and vaginal isosorbide dinitrate in pre-induction cervical ripening in term pregnancy: A controlled clinical trial

Background: Cervical ripening for labor induction is one of the most important issues in midwifery. Isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) is one of the most important choices that have been proposed for cervical ripening, but still there are controversies regarding its prescription. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of vaginal and oral ISDN compared to the control group for pre-induction cervical ripening. Materials and Methods: In this non-blinded clinical trial, 149 nulliparous women with term or prolonged pregnancy were randomly selected and divided into three groups by block randomization. The intervention group included vaginal (50 subjects, 40 mg) and oral (49 subjects, 20 mg) ISDN groups. The third group was the control group (50 subjects) which did not receive any medication. The amount of ripening was given by Bishop score evaluated before taking medication and 24 h after taking it. Results: After 24 h, Bishop score in vaginal ISDN group significantly increased compared to the oral ISDN and control groups (P < 0.001 for both). Although the increase in Bishop score was lower in the oral ISDN group than in the vaginal group, it had a statistically significant increase in comparison to the control group (P = 0.001). All the three groups were matched regarding pregnancy termination and cesarean causes, and there was no statistically significant difference among the three groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Prescribing vaginal ISDN for cervical ripening was effective, and it can be used with confidence.
The Proceedings of INFACON 8 The Selective Carbothermic Reduction of Chromite

The project arose from chromite smelting trials conducted at Tetronics Research & Development Ltd in 1979, using a 1,4 MVA DC arc furnace(l). These results had demonstrated that selective carbothermic reduction of chromite to partially separate Cr and Fe was possible, by decreasing the fixed-carbon to chromite ratio in the feed. Slags containing 25 per cent Cr203 with Cr.Fe ratios of 4: I were produced from Transvaal chromite with a Cr:Fe ratio of 1.6: 1 The use of this high Cr: Fe ratio slag (HISLAG) as a synthetic ore to produce ferrochromium alloys with chromium contents greater than 65 per cent was considered to be a potentially useful means of widening the range of alloys which could be produced from the low Cr.Fe ratio Transvaal chromites. This was of particular interest for low-carbon ferrochromium alloys where high chromium contents are the market norm.
Methods for Reducing the Energy Consumption of Mobile Broadband Networks

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Unusual Cause of Acute Chest Pain : Rib and Scapula Fracture Due to Cough

Cough is a common symptom that medical assistance is needed. Chronic cough is often recovered from without sequelae and rarely results in pneumothorax and bone fractures. Fractures may occur frequently in ribs but also in other anatomic localisations. In this case report, a type of case rarely encountered in the literature, one that presented with acute onset of chest pain, chronic cough, depending on the left eighth rib and left scapula fracture is going to be discussed.
Adaptive and Variational Continuous Time Recurrent Neural Networks

In developmental robotics, we model cognitive processes, such as body motion or language processing, and study them in natural real-world conditions. Naturally, these sequential processes inherently occur on different continuous timescales. Similar as our brain can cope with them by hierarchical abstraction and coupling of different processing modes, computational recurrent neural models need to be capable of adapting to temporally different characteristics of sensorimotor information. In this paper, we propose adaptive and variational mechanisms that can tune the timescales in Continuous Time Recurrent Neural Networks (CTRNNs) to the characteristics of the data. We study these mechanisms in both synthetic and natural sequential tasks to contribute to a deeper understanding of how the networks develop multiple timescales and represent inherent periodicities and fluctuations. Our findings include that our Adaptive CTRNN (ACTRNN) model self-organises timescales towards both representing short-term dependencies and modulating representations based on long-term dependencies during end-to-end learning.