Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recycling of Rice Husk into a Locally-Made Water-Resistant Particle Board

A large quantity of rice husk in Nigerian rice milling industries poses a serious environmental health hazards. Rice husk particleboard is therefore one of such material which may be considered a potential substitutes for woods-based board products. This study presents an experimental work which investigates the potentiality of rice husk in the production of particleboards using starch wood glue (Top bond) as an alternative source of adhesives. The weighing scale was used to weigh the rice husk, starch, wood glue (Top bond) the mixture ratio adopted being 0.75 kg: 0.15 kg: 0.10 kg of the rice husk, starch, wood glue respectively, thoroughly mixed manually by using the mixer. The mixture was then poured into a mould with a dimension 300 mm × 300 mm × 15 mm. The particleboard was compacted using a hydraulic press in two (2) compacts. The particleboard was tested for water absorption in both cold hot media. The cold absorption test was performed by immersing the composite sample was immersed into the cold water a period of 30mins, 1 h, 2 h, 4 h, 6 h 8 h at room temperature (25°C) the thickness of the board. In hot absorption test, the composite sample was immersed into the hot water with temperature ranging 45°C, 65°C, 85°C and 100°C at constant time of period of 1hour the thickness of the board taken. The percentages of absorption were then calculated for both the cold the hot medium. The thickness of the particle board produced increases with an increasing time temperature for both the cold hot media water, until a point is reached when a saturation point is attained the board could no longer accommodate any more water. At this point the density remains constant. This value indicates that the board should be reserved for indoor application since percentage water absorption absorbed increases with increasing time of immersion. It is concluded that rice husk waste can be utilized in the manufacture of a water-resistant particleboard tropical area like Nigeria with long raining season. The use of starch, a biodegradable adhesive reduced the use of the more expensive synthetic adhesive based on petroleum resources. The test results showed that the rice husk, starch wood glue combination provides results which have high potential to be used in the production of particleboard.
Environmental effects on zooplankton abundance on a sub-Arctic shelf off northern Norway

We studied the abundance of common zooplankton on 8 dates and at 5 locations on the shelf off the Lofoten Islands, northern Norway, between September 2013 and August 2014. We tested for relationships between environmental variability and abundances. We found that, of 17 zooplankton taxa or groups for which we recorded abundances, 4 omnivorous or carnivorous groups persistently differed in abundance between stations. This difference probably reflected relatively deep centres of distribution in the water column, and abundances of these species were positively associated with bottom depth. In 10 taxa or groups, abundance correlated with sampling date or temperature, salinity, or fluorescence, but generally not with bottom depth. Most of these taxa were consumers on low trophic levels, with a vertical distribution often associated with near-surface waters. In the remaining taxa or groups, no association between abundance and the environment or with time of sampling was established. Our results suggest that on-shelf abundances of zooplankton with intermediate-to-deep vertical distribution patterns are mainly limited by bathymetry, while abundance variations in zooplankton with a predominately near-surface distribution are driven by intra-annual environmental variability.
An Efficient Scheme to Achieve Differential Unitary Space‐Time Modulation on MIMO‐OFDM Systems

Differential unitary space‐time modulation (DUSTM) has emerged as a promising technique to obtain spatial diversity without intractable channel estimation. This paper presents a study of the application of DUSTM on multiple‐input multiple‐output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO‐OFDM) systems with frequency‐selective fading channels. From the view of a correlation analysis between subcarriers of OFDM, we obtain the maximum achievable diversity of DUSTM on MIMO‐OFDM systems. Moreover, an efficient implementation strategy based on subcarrier reconstruction is proposed, which transmits all the signals of one signal matrix in one OFDM transmission and performs differential processing between two adjacent OFDM blocks. The proposed method is capable of obtaining both spatial and multipath diversity while reducing the effect of time variation of channels to a minimum. The performance improvement is confirmed by simulation results.
Relationship Between Perceived Stress, Life Satisfaction and Self Esteem Among Females Facing Domestic Violence

Domestic violence against females is a very common issue In any culture, religion and ethnicity and several reasons are found to be related with it which probably cause serious health outcomes. The study was undertaken to examine the perceived stress, life satisfaction and self-esteem among females facing domestic violence. It was a correlation research study being conducted in three different centers i.e. Dar-ul-Amaan, Dastak Shelter Homes and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Human Rights Centre for Women, Lahore Pakistan. Total sample size was 100 subjects who were selected for data collection. Purposive sampling technique was used for data collection, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was used for measuring mental stress level [1], Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSE) were used to measure a singular's emotions of self-esteem [2, 3]. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 18.0) by keeping 0.05 level of significance. A total of 80 subjects were approached in the study, weak negative relationship between perceived stress and life satisfaction was r (80) = -0.385, p<0.001 and our hypothesis I was accepted; A linear regression analysis revealed that perceived stress was a significant predictor of life satisfaction (β=0.40, p= 0.008) accounting for 16% of the variance in life satisfaction. Concerning the relationship between perceived stress and self-esteem highlights an in-significant relationship was found; r(80)=0.145, p=0.705 thus Hypothesis II was rejected. Also the relationship between life satisfaction and self-esteem was not significant r(80)=0.043, p=0.199 and hypothesis III was rejected. There was considerable negative relationship observed between perceived stress and life satisfaction among females facing domestic violence, an in-significant relationship between life satisfaction and self-esteem and similarly insignificant relationship between perceived stress and self-esteem was found among females facing domestic violence.
Income Distribution and Income Sources in Uruguay

This paper is concerned with changes in the distribution of income sources in Uruguay after the late eighties. An apparent stability in the distribution of total incomes is hiding deep transformations affecting the generation of that income. The distribution across all income earners at the end of the eighties exhibited two well-distinguished poles, each associated with one of the main income sources: pension benefits and wages. This bimodality diminished during the nineties due to the reduction in polarization by income sources. In the same period we find that in the case of labor earnings there was a net transfer of population mass from the middle of the distribution to both extremes, which results in an increasing polarization within this income source. This phenomenon resembles the Anglo-Saxon experience of the shrinking middle class.
Acute toxicity and blood profile of freshwater fish, Clarias batrachus (Linn.) exposed to Malathion

Effects of malathion on behavior and some haematological indices using Clarias batrachus as animal model was evaluated in this study. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the toxic effects of malathion in C. batrachus blood profile after 24, 48, 72 and 96 h exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of malathion (0.05, 0.25 and 0.5 ppm). Clarias batrahus (n=40) with average weight of 65.2 g and average length of 16.8 cm were divided into 4 groups at 10 fishes per group being acclimatized for 14 d. They were then exposed to various concentrations of malathion for 96 h. The 96 h LC 50 was calculated to be 1 ppm. It was observed that with increase of exposure time, total erythrocyte (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Ht) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) values decreased but leucocytes (WBC), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) values increased. It is believed that observed depression in hematocrit and hemoglobin values coupled with decreased and deformed erythrocytes are obvious signs of anemia. Resulted changes in erythrocytes and leukocytes after exposing to malathion are due to malfunction in hemopoiesis and decrease in non-specific immune system. In conclusion, long-term exposure to malathion at sub-lethal concentration induced biochemical alterations in C. batrachus and offers a simple tool to evaluate toxicity derived alterations.
Prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in patients hospitalized for acute exacerbation of COPD: prospective observational study

Background: Acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) has considerable cardiovascular risk. Various cardiovascular diseases are common during exacerbations. Both diseases share several similarities such as older age of the patient, smoking as a common risk factor and symptoms of exertional dyspnea. Knowledge regarding the magnitude of underlying cardiovascular diseases during AECOPD is limited. Authors performed this study to assess the presence of different associated cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in patients hospitalized for AECOPD and its effect on the outcome. Methods: It was a prospective observational study involving 436 patients of AECOPD divided to Group 1 (AECOPD with CVD- 137 (31.4%) patients) and Group 2 (AECOPD without CVD 299 (68.6%) patients). All the patients were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination, chest X-ray, spirometry, ECG and echocardiography. Results: COPD patients in exacerbation with CVD, were significantly more likely to have longer duration of hospital stay (p < 0.0001), high CRP level (p<0.001), more frequent mechanical ventilations (p < 0.001), two or more exacerbations per year (p <0.0001) and the mortality was (p<0.0001). Also, they have GOLD grade III/IV severe (43.5%) and very severe (19.5%) air flow limitation. The high percentage of them had (64.8%) pulmonary hypertension, (37.3%) systemic arterial hypertension, (31.5%) arrhythmia, (27.8%) ischemic heart diseases and (21.3%) heart failure. Conclusions: The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in patients hospitalized for COPD was high. Age, sex and CVD trends, as well as life style changes, should be considered when prevention and control strategies are formulated.
The Impact of IFRS Adoption on the Value Relevance of Accounting Information: Evidence from the Insurance Sector

This paper aims to investigate whether the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) increases the value relevance of accounting information for insurance firms listed in the Saudi stock market. The study employs the Ohlson model (1995) and the Easton–Harris valuation model (1991) in order to examine the association among stock market value and book value and earnings per share. The data was collected for 21 insurance companies listed in the Saudi stock market during the period 2007–2014, which covered pre- / post-IFRS periods. The results reveal that the book value of equity becomes less value relevant whereas earnings are more value relevant. Further analysis suggests that the increase in the value relevance of accounting information is positively influenced by companies’ attributes, especially profitability and size rather than IFRS adoption. These results highlight the importance of institutional factors in the determination of the value relevance of accounting information in emerging stock markets. These results also expand IFRS research through a consideration of the insurance industry, which is more vulnerable to the accounting evaluation model.
The UKC3 regional coupled environmental prediction system

Abstract. This paper describes an updated configuration of the regional coupled research system, termed UKC3, developed and evaluated under the UK Environmental Prediction collaboration. This represents a further step towards a vision of simulating the numerous interactions and feedbacks between different physical and biogeochemical components of the environment across sky, sea and land using more integrated regional coupled prediction systems at kilometre-scale resolution. The UKC3 coupled system incorporates models of the atmosphere (Met Office Unified Model), land surface with river routing (JULES), shelf-sea ocean (NEMO) and ocean surface waves (WAVEWATCH III®), coupled together using OASIS3-MCT libraries. The major update introduced since the UKC2 configuration is an explicit representation of wave–ocean feedbacks through introduction of wave-to-ocean coupling. Ocean model results demonstrate that wave coupling, in particular representing the wave-modified surface drag, has a small but positive improvement on the agreement between simulated sea surface temperatures and in situ observations, relative to simulations without wave feedbacks. Other incremental developments to the coupled modelling capability introduced since the UKC2 configuration are also detailed. Coupled regional prediction systems are of interest for applications across a range of timescales, from hours to decades ahead. The first results from four simulation experiments, each of the order of 1 month in duration, are analysed and discussed in the context of characterizing the potential benefits of coupled prediction on forecast skill. Results across atmosphere, ocean and wave components are shown to be stable over time periods of weeks. The coupled approach shows notable improvements in surface temperature, wave state (in near-coastal regions) and wind speed over the sea, whereas the prediction quality of other quantities shows no significant improvement or degradation relative to the equivalent uncoupled control simulations.
Critical soil bulk density for soybean growth in Oxisols

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the critical soil bulk density from the soil penetration resistance measurements for soybean root growth in Brazilian Amazon Oxisols. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse using disturbed soil samples collected from the northwest of Para characterized by different texture. The treatments consisted of a range of soil bulk densities for each soil textural class. Three pots were used for soybean growth of and two for the soil penetration resistance curve. From the fitted model, the critical soil bulk density was determined considering the penetration resistance values of 2 and 3 MPa. After sixty days, plants were cut and root length, dry mass of root, and dry mass of shoots were determined. At higher bulk densities, the increase in soil water content decreased the penetration resistance, allowing unrestricted growth of soybean roots. Regardless of soil texture, the penetration resistance of 2 and 3 MPa had a slight effect on root growth in soil moisture at field capacity and a reduction of 50% in the soybean root growth was achieved at critical soil bulk density of 1.82, 1.75, 1.51, and 1.45 Mg m-3 for the sandy loam, sandy clay loam, clayey, and very clayey soil.
Why Beauty Still Cannot Be Measured

This article focuses on the question of whether the latest results achieved in sciences such as evolution studies and brain research can help us understand the nature of aesthetic judgments. It suggests that such approaches may offer interesting insights for understanding many problems in aesthetics, but for clarifying aesthetic judgments one needs a philosophical point of view. Aesthetic judgments cannot be proven right or wrong by scientific methods, and beauty or other aesthetic qualities cannot be directly measured. The “method” of both making and analyzing aesthetic judgments is discussion, and the article clarifies why this is still the case, even if empirical, non-philosophical scientific methods are more accurate than ever before.
Experimental flame heat transfer correlations for a steel column adjacent to and surrounded by a pool fire

Heat flux and temperature measurements were conducted on a square steel column adjacent to and surrounded by fire sources from the interest in the application to the structural fire safety design of metal structures. The tests on the adjacent fires demonstrate a description of the heat flux profile along the column surface as a single function of the height normalized by flame height for each column-fire distance and notable decrease of surface heat flux by the increase of the column-source distance. Surface temperature of the column in this configuration was found to be notably lower than the estimate from heat flux data based on the uniform heating assumption, which suggests the significance of the conductive heat loss to unheated surfaces of the column. The tests on the surrounding fires has resulted in heat flux profile weakly dependent on heat release rate and coincidence of the measured surface temperature and its estimate from heat flux due to rather even heat flux on all surfaces of the column.
Comparison of Visual Evoked Potentials in Patients Undergoing Peritoneal Dialysis and Hemodialysis and its Association with Blood Biochemical Profile

Purpose: Cranial nerve is one of optic nerves to be influenced by uremia. The symptoms can be diagnosed by Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) tests. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis upon VEP results and assess the association of VEP results with the results of blood biochemical tests and dialysis duration. Methods: VEP was assessed in 30 patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis, 29 patients undergoing hemodialysis and 40 healthy controls. Moreover, blood biochemical tests involving urea, ceartinine, potassium, cholesterol, triglyceride, hemoglobin, hematocrit, albumin, parathormon (PTH) were carried out in all subjects. Results: In comparison with the control group, there were exclusively significant prolonged N140 and P100 latencies in hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis group; notwithstanding nonsignificant P100 amplitude and N75 latency. Durations of renal failure and dialysis were not associated with VEP parameters. Of the blood biochemical parameters, P100 latency in the right eyes and N140 latency in the left eyes were exclusively associated with serum potassium. Conclusion: The present study suggests that optic pathway can be affected by chronic renal failure; even so, there would be no marked difference in optic pathway involvement between patients undergoing hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. This may indicate the equal effects of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis upon subclinical damages of optic pathway.
Perspectives on spoken grammar

English language teachers' opinions on the pedagogic relevance of spoken grammar are beginning to be reported, yet the voices of teachers in East Asia are rarely heard. In this article, the views of teachers from China and Singapore expressed in an online discussion are compared. The discussion, which was part of a taught postgraduate course, focused on the usefulness of British spoken grammar norms and the potential value of spoken grammar knowledge for language learners. There is a broad consensus of opinion about its importance for raising learners' language awareness, but Chinese and Singaporean teachers generally had different attitudes to native speaker norms, while opinions on some pedagogical issues vary more at the individual level. The similarities and differences are attributed to the teachers' sociolinguistic concerns, understanding of learner needs, and beliefs about grammar that are influenced by the written language. The implications of these teacher perspectives for teacher education are highlighted.
Comparative study on decolorization of reactive dye 222 by white rot fungi Pleurotus ostreatus IBL-02 and Phanerochaete chrysosporium IBL-03

White rot basidiomycetes have unique ability to decolorize synthetic industrial dyes. Initial experiment was performed with five locally isolated indigenous white rot species fungi S. commune IBL-01 (SC), P. ostreatus IBL-02 (PO) P. chrysosporium IBL-03 (PC), T. versicolor IBL-04 (TV) and G. lucidum IBL-05 (GL), for the selection of white rot fungal cultures based on their maximal decolorization potential. Based on the screening experiment, two white rot fungi P. ostreatus IBL-02 and P. chrysosporium IBL03 (PC) showing maximum decolorization of dye under study were selected. A comparative study was conducted for the selected white rot fungi to get the maximum decolorization of synthetic azo dye. Different fermentation conditions and nutritional factors were optimized to enhance the efficiency of white rot fungal cultures for dye decolorization. Both cultures produced all the three major ligninolytic enzymes including lignin peroxidase (LiP), manganase peroxidase (MnP) and laccase which are responsible for decolorization process. Under optimum conditions fermentation conditions, P. ostreatus IBL-02 (PO) and P. chrysosporium IBL-03 (PC) decolorized the azo dye by 92.7 and 85.9%, respectively.
First report of grapevine dieback caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae and Neoscytalidium dimidiatum in Basrah, Southern Iraq

In Basrah, grapevines suffer from dieback. Lasiodiplodia theobromae and Neoscytalidium dimidiatum were isolated from diseased grapevines, Vitis vinifera L. and identified based on morphological characteristics and DNA sequence data of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. The results of the pathogenicity test conducted under greenhouse conditions for L. theobromae and N. dimidiatum reveal that both species were the causal agents of grapevines diebacks in Basrah, Southern Iraq. A brief description is provided for the isolated species. Key words : grapevine, dieback, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Neoscytalidium dimidiatum, internal transcribed spacer (ITS), rDNA, Iraq.
Cisplatin Causes Oxidation in Rat Liver Tissues : Possible Protective Effects of Antioxidant Food Supplementation

Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight rats were used throughout the study. Cisplatin was administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) in a single dose (10 mg/kg). Antioxidant food supplementation was started three days before cisplatin treatment. There were 7 animals in each group (control, cisplatin, cisplatin plus dried black grape and cisplatin plus tomato juice). Rats were sacrificed 72 h after the treatment. The livers were removed and prepared for the biochemical and histopathological investigations. Oxidant and antioxidant parameters were measured in liver tissues of the groups.