Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental Study of a Gas Engine-driven Heat Pump System for Space Heating and Cooling

In this paper, the performance of a gas engine-driven heat pump (GEHP) was experimentally studied for space heating and cooling. An experimental test facility was developed for this purpose. The effect of key parameters on system performance was investigated under both cooling and heating modes. The results showed that as the engine speed increased from 1400 to 2000 rpm, the cooling and heating capacities increased by 23% and 28.5%, respectively while the GEHP system Primary Energy Ratio (PER) decreased by 13.5% and 11.7% in the cooling and heating modes, respectively. The system PER in the cooling mode was found lower than that in the heating mode. This indicated that heat recovery from the engine cylinder and exhaust gas was very important for improving the GEHP system performance. In the heating mode, the ambient temperature and condenser water flow rate had a large effect on the system heating capacity and PER, and insignificant effect on the gas energy input. In the cooling mode, the chilled water inlet temperature showed a large effect on both cooling capacity and gas energy input while the chilled water flow rate had a large effect on cooling capacity and insignificant effect on the gas energy input.
Multi-objective Solution Approaches for Employee Shift Scheduling Problems in Service Sectors (RESEARCH NOTE)

Today, workforce scheduling programs are being implemented in many production and service centers. These sectors can provide better quality products and/or services to their customers, taking into account employees’ desires and preferences in order to increase sector productivity. In this study, an employee shift scheduling problem in the service sector is discussed. In the problem, the aim is to minimize the total amount of workloads of the employees and to provide the preferences of the employees. Under this multi-objective structure, by taking into account the needs of employees, a multi-objective decision model has been developed. After then, a multi-criteria decision-making model has been developed to obtain the weights/priorities of the objective functions. By the help of these obtained weights, the problem is scalarized by the Weighted Sum Scalarization (WSS) and Conic Scalarization (CS) methods. When Pareto solutions are compared, it is seen that more Pareto solutions are obtained with CS method. Additionally, better schedules have been obtained in a very short time in terms of the quality of the solution according to the manually prepared schedule.
Non-local conserved charges from defects in perturbed conformal field theory

Perturbing a Virasoro minimal model by the (1,3) primary bulk field results in an integrable field theory. In this paper, an infinite set of commuting conserved charges is obtained by considering defects: a one-parameter family of perturbed defect operators is given, and it is shown that these operators mutually commute, they commute with the Hamiltonian of the perturbed conformal field theories and they satisfy a T-system functional relation. The formulation in terms of perturbed defects is a modification of the original prescription for such charges by Bazhanov, Lukyanov and Zamolodchikov.
A discretely propagating nocturnal Oklahoma squall line: Observations and numerical simulations

Many common storms, such as squall lines, propagate because they precipitate. More precisely, some of the precipitation evaporates before reaching the surface, establishing a subcloud cold pool that spreads along the ground. This pool helps lift moist, low-level air into the storm at its leading edge or gust front. Even though the ascent tends to get temporally punctuated into individual convective cells, this mechanism has become known as continuous propagation. The continuity is provided by the spreading cold pool’s persistence.
Prediction of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder From Peritraumatic Dissociation and Distress Among Men and Women Victims of Violent Crimes

ABSTRACT This prospective study evaluated the main and interactive effects of peritraumatic reactions with gender on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) onset, independently of known risk factors. Further, 111 adult victims of violent crime completed the Structured Clinical Interview, the Modified PTSD Symptom Scale, the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experience Questionnaire, and the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory. Hierarchical regressions and chi-square tests were conducted for continuous and categorical measures of PTSD. Extremely elevated scores of peritraumatic dissociation (PD) and peritraumatic distress (PDI) were obtained for both sexes. Greater PDI and PD were related to more PTSD symptoms. No significant interaction effects with gender emerged. These results remained when acute stress disorder was controlled for. Analyses on categorical data produced similar results. Victims of violent crimes recall severe peritraumatic reactions. The more severe these are, the more likely they are to develop significant PTSD symptomatology in the months that follow.
Predicting Stellar-mass Black Hole Populations in Globular Clusters

Recent discoveries of black hole (BH) candidates in Galactic and extragalactic globular clusters (GCs) have ignited interest in understanding how BHs dynamically evolve in a GC and the number of BHs ( N BH ) that may still be retained by today’s GCs. Numerical models show that even if stellar-mass BHs are retained in today’s GCs, they are typically in configurations that are not directly detectable. We show that a suitably defined measure of mass segregation (Δ) between, e.g., giants and low-mass main-sequence stars, can be an effective probe to indirectly estimate N BH in a GC aided by calibrations from numerical models. Using numerical models, including all relevant physics, we first show that N BH is strongly anticorrelated with Δ between giant stars and low-mass main-sequence stars. We apply the distributions of Δ versus N BH obtained from models to three Milky Way GCs to predict the N BH retained by them at present. We calculate Δ using the publicly available Advanced Camera for Surveys’ survey data for 47 Tuc, M10, and M22, all with identified stellar-mass BH candidates. Using these measured Δ and distributions of Δ versus N BH from models as calibration we predict distributions for N BH expected to be retained in these GCs. For 47 Tuc, M10, and M22 our predicted distributions peak at N BH ≈ 20, 24, and 50, whereas, within the 2σ confidence level, N BH can be up to ∼150, 50, and 200, respectively.
Reactive molecular dynamics simulations of oxygen species in a liquid water layer of interest for plasma medicine

The application of atmospheric pressure plasmas in medicine is increasingly gaining attention in recent years, although very little is currently known about the plasma-induced processes occurring on the surface of living organisms. It is known that most bio-organisms, including bacteria, are coated by a liquid film surrounding them, and there might be many interactions between plasma species and the liquid layer before the plasma species reach the surface of the bio-organisms. Therefore, it is essential to study the behaviour of the reactive species in a liquid film, in order to determine whether these species can travel through this layer and reach the biomolecules, or whether new species are formed along the way. In this work, we investigate the interaction of reactive oxygen species (i.e. O, OH, HO2 and H2O2) with water, which is assumed as a simple model system for the liquid layer surrounding biomolecules. Our computational investigations show that OH, HO2 and H2O2 can travel deep into the liquid layer and are hence in principle able to reach the bio-organism. Furthermore, O, OH and HO2 radicals react with water molecules through hydrogen-abstraction reactions, whereas no H-abstraction reaction takes place in the case of H2O2. This study is important to gain insight into the fundamental operating mechanisms in plasma medicine, in general, and the interaction mechanisms of plasma species with a liquid film, in particular.
Somatic incompatibility of Rosellinia necatrix on avocado plants in southern Spain

A somatic incompatibility system was demonstrated in Rosellinia necatrix (anamorph Dematophora necatrix) through barrage formation in pairings among mass fungal isolates from infected avocado trees in commercial orchards in southern Spain, as well as among single ascospore isolates derived from perithecia formed in infected roots. Results revealed the occurrence of high diversity in somatic incompatibility in the R. necatrix population in the study. The occurrence of R. necatrix perithecia in naturally infected avocado roots in the field suggests that such a diversity might originate from sexual reproduction. However, the possibility that other parasexual mechanisms demonstrated in this fungus may contribute to the genetic diversity can not be discounted.
THERMOTHERAPY AS A MICROBIAL CONTAMINANT-REDUCING AGENT IN MICROPROPAGATION OF BAMBOO

ABSTRACT The aim of the research was to evaluate the effectiveness of thermotherapy by humid heat of nodal segments to reduce the incidence of microbial contaminants in the introduction phase of the in vitro propagation of Bambusa vulgaris. Two independent experiments were carried out in a completely randomized design using a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement, four levels of temperature (25, 30, 40 and 50 °C) versus two treatment time intervals (5 or 10 min). Each treatment was composed of nine replications, corresponding to one single-nodal segment obtained from primary or secondary branches, in sucrose-free Murashige and Skoog medium with half the concentration of salts, supplemented with 6.5 g L-1 agar, 50 mg L-1 citric acid, 50 mg L-1 ascorbic acid, 200 mg L-1 chloramphenicol and 2 mg L-1 N6-benzylaminopurine. Isolation of prevalent mold fungi per repetition was conducted, and identification at genus level obtained from microcultures. The treatments corresponding to 50 °C for 5 or 10 min reduced significantly the fungal contamination that occurred at 11% and 0%, respectively, in nodal segments from primary branches, and 0% and 11%, respectively, in those from secondary ones. Fungi of genera Alternaria, Bipolaris and Curvularia were isolated from both types of segment, and Cladosporium from secondary branches only. The lowest percentages of mycelial growth detected in nodal segments submitted to both binomials demonstrated the effectiveness of the technique to reduce fungal contamination despite negative interference on sprouting.
Ehrlich-type Methods with King's Correction for the Simultaneous Approximation of Polynomial Complex Zeros

There are many simultaneous iterative methods for approximating complex polynomial zeros, from more traditional numerical algorithms, such as the well-known third order Ehrlich–Aberth method, to the more recent ones. In this paper, we present a new family of combined iterative methods for the simultaneous determination of simple complex zeros of a polynomial, which uses the Ehrlich iteration and a correction based on King's family of iterative methods for nonlinear equations. The use of King's correction allows increasing the convergence order of the basic method from three to six. Some numerical examples are given to illustrate the convergence behaviour and effectiveness of the proposed sixth order Ehrlich-like family of combined iterative methods for the simultaneous approximation of simple complex polynomial zeros.
Evaluation of productive performance of broiler in response to Koroch (Pongamia pinnata) cake feeding

The study was conducted for a period of 28 days to investigate the response of broiler to the inclusion of de-oiled koroch (Pongamia Pinnata) seed cake in the diet of broiler. A total of 192 day-old broiler chicks were individually weighed and randomly allocated to 4 dietary treatment groups having 4 replications of 12 chicks each, in a completely randomized design. Broilers under treatment 1 received a basal diet containing no koroch seed cake, considered as control; in treatment 2, 3 and 4, broilers were fed on basal diet containing 2%, 4% and 6% koroch seed cake, respectively. All productive performances (live weight, live weight gain, feed consumption and feed efficiency) of broiler fed on koroch seed cake were significantly (P 0.05) effect except for the percentage of dressing yield, breast, liver and gizzard weight for the broilers in all treatment groups. Broilers fed on diet containing 6% koroch seed cake yielded the lowest dressed weight in the treatment groups. Inclusion of 2% koroch seed cake resulted in higher breast meat yield compared to any other level of koroch cake inclusion in the diet (P<0.01). However, liver and gizzard weight were increased significantly (P<0.05) for incorporation of de-oiled koroch seed cake in the diet at all levels (2%, 4% or 6%). On the basis of these results it is concluded that feeding de-oiled koroch cake had no positive effect on growth response and meat yield characteristics of broiler. Therefore, it is suggested that the koroch seed cake may contain anti-nutritional factor(s), which seemed to be associated with growth depression in broilers. Further research is warranted to alleviate the potential toxic effect of koroch seed cake on broiler performances. Res. Agric. , Livest. Fish.3(2): 315-321, August 2016
Impact of antiretroviral drugs on PD-L1 expression and copy number gains with clinical outcomes in HIV-positive and -negative locally advanced cervical cancers

Cervical cancer has become a leading cause of death in both HIV-infected and uninfected women. Previous studies have revealed that antiretroviral therapy (ART) possesses anti-human papillomavirus (HPV) and antitumour properties, potentially serving as an anticancer agent and improving functional immunity in HIV-positive individuals. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have examined the association between ART and the clinical outcome of patients with pre-existing invasive cervical cancer. The current study analysed 48 HIV-positive and 123 HIV-negative patients with locally advanced stage IB2-IVA cervical cancer between December 2008 and December 2016. Tumours were categorized based on programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immunoreactivity and copy number alterations in the PD-L1 gene, as determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The results revealed that ART-treated patients exhibited a lower prevalence of PD-L1 immunopositivity, PD-L1 amplification and polysomy compared with patients that did not receive ART and those that were HIV-negative. Furthermore, ART-treated patients with PD-L1 immunonegativity exhibited an improved recurrence-free survival (RFS) compared with patients that did not receive ART and HIV-negative individuals with PD-L1 immunopositivity (P=0.041 vs. P=0.030). Additionally, ART-exposed patients with PD-L1 disomy demonstrated improved locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRR) when compared with HIV-negative patients with PD-L1 amplification and polysomy (P=0.039 vs. P=0.007), RFS (P<0.001 vs. P=0.006) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) (P=0.021 vs. P=0.025). ART-exposed patients with PD-L1 disomy also exhibited improved RFS (P<0.001) and CSS (P<0.001) compared with HIV-negative patients with PD-L1 amplification. Improved LRRs were demonstrated in ART-exposed patients with PD-L1 disomy (P=0.028) compared with non-HIV patients with polysomy. Following multivariate analysis, International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics stage and PD-L1 amplification were determined to be predictors of poor a RFS [hazard ratio (HR), 2.43; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.37–4.30; P=0.002 vs. HR, 7.03; 95% CI, 2.79–17.74; P<0.001) and CSS (HR, 11.47; 95% CI, 4.70–27.99; P<0.001 vs. HR, 4.05; 95% CI, 1.64–9.98; P=0.002). However, only PD-L1 polysomy was determined to be a predictor of poor LRR (HR, 2.50; 95% CI, 1.11–5.63; P=0.027). HIV status was not associated with poor outcomes, as determined using Cox models. The results of the current study indicated that ART may be used for the treatment of cervical cancer in both HIV-infected and uninfected patients. However, additional research is required to further elucidate these results.
Complete Minors in Graphs Without Sparse Cuts

We show that if $G$ is a graph on $n$ vertices, with all degrees comparable to some $d = d(n)$, and without a sparse cut, for a suitably chosen notion of sparseness, then it contains a complete minor of order $$\begin{equation*} \Omega\left( \sqrt{\frac{n d}{\log d}} \right). \end{equation*}$$As a corollary we determine the order of a largest complete minor one can guarantee in $d$-regular graphs for which the 2nd largest eigenvalue is bounded away from $d/2$, in $(d/n, o(d))$-jumbled graphs, and in random $d$-regular graphs, for almost all $d = d(n)$.
Trauma Exposure and Risk Recognition in Young Adults: The Role of Attention Biases and Memory Biases

The vast literature on trauma and revictimization suggests that it is still relatively unknown as to why some people are more susceptible to re-experiencing trauma. Research suggests that women with previous histories of sexual victimization are at increased risk for revictimization. Increasingly, studies have demonstrated that women with histories of sexual assault took significantly longer to recognize risk as compared to non-victimized women. However, the research on risk recognition has focused almost exclusively on sexually victimized women. Extant studies however, have not examined risk recognition in a more diverse group of traumatized individuals nor the potential contributions of cognitive biases to risk recognition deficits. The current study examined the role of attention and memory biases in risk recognition in a sample of young adults with no, some, and multiple incident trauma histories. Participants were 312 college students at a large, northeastern university. They completed a packet of self-reported questionnaires, an attentional dot probe task, and a recall and recognition memory task. Participants received extra credit in their undergraduate psychology course for their participation. Participants were categorized into one of three conditions: individuals with no, some, and multiple trauma histories. Data were analyzed by MANOV As and chisquare analyses. Results found no evidence to support the hypothesis that multiply traumatized individuals are more likely than individuals with some or no trauma histories to demonstrate risk recognition deficits. This finding emerged for both attention and memory tasks aimed at assessing biases to threat-related words as a way of evaluating risk recognition. Such results suggest that traumatized individuals are not characterized by memory and attention biases to threat, contributing to the growing body of literature supporting that these effects do not exist. The limitations of this study, implications of these findings, and future directions for this line of research are discussed . Acknowledgements I would like to extend my utmost gratitude to my major professor, Dr. Ellen Flannery-Schroeder , for inviting me to join her research lab, mentoring me and for the use of her data . Her expertise , patience , unwavering support and guidance with this project were unparalleled and I am deeply indebted to her. I am also grateful to my thesis committee members , Dr. Kat Quina , Dr. Tiffani Kisler , and committee chair, Dr. Leslie Mahler, for their valuable input, feedback, and encouragement. Lastly, I am genuinely grateful to my parents, Leslie and Michel Reichert , my brother, Alexander, and Lara Kaplan and Cerissa Blaney who have provided me with consistent moral support and encouragement as I worked on this project.
OTT_A_201924 5077..5086

Silun Xie Zhenyi Wu Lizhi Niu Jibing Chen Yunkun Ma Mingjie Zhang 1Research and Development Department, HANK Bioengineering Co., Ltd, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Oncology, Fuda Cancer Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Central Laboratory, Fuda Cancer Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China Background: Natural killer (NK) cells can be used as an adoptive immunotherapy to treat cancer patients. Purpose: In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of highly activated NK (HANK) cell immunotherapy in patients with advanced lung cancer. Patients and methods: Between March 2016 and September 2017, we enrolled 13 patients who met the enrollment criteria. Donor peripheral blood monocytes were isolated from patients and the NK cells were expanded. After 12 days of culture, the cells were collected and infused intravenously on days 13 to 15. The enrolled patients received at least one course including three times of infusions. The lymphocyte subsets, cytokine production, and the expression of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) were measured before treatment and after the last infusion. Results: No side effects were observed. After a three-month follow-up, the percentage of patients who achieved stable disease and progressive disease was 84.6% and 15.4%. Moreover, the level of IFN-γ was significantly higher after treatment and the level of CEA decreased substantially. The overall immune function of the patients who received the NK cell therapy remained stable. Conclusion: This is the first study to describe the efficacy of NK cell therapy of patients with advanced lung cancer. These clinical observations demonstrated that NK cell is safe and efficient for advanced lung cancer therapy.
Household Indigenous Drought Coping and Adaptation Strategies in Baringo County, Kenya

Coping and adaptation to the impacts of climate change such as drought is increasingly necessary. Due to the expanding global impacts of climate change coping and adaptation agenda among various agencies, it is of primary importance to understand the coping and adaptation strategies in order to generate the most appropriate and effective interventions. The study established drought coping and adaptation strategies employed by households in Baringo County and this was based on Pressure and Release (PAR) model which grounds the framework for understanding vulnerability to disasters and adaptation. The 224 household heads were selected by simple random sampling out of which 204 completed the questionnaire. The study adopted description research design. Data was analyzed by both descriptive and qualitative statistics where the SPSS package version 22 was used in the analysis where the chi – square and percentages were obtained. The study established that households had various drought coping and adaptation strategies where 77 (37.7%) informed the study that during drought season they normally shift to other ways or sources of livelihoods, herd splitting were 58 (28.4%) while 44 (21.6%) do herd and crop diversification. A calculated chi – square (χ2 =79.186, p–value=0.000 df=4) of the main coping mechanisms indicated that the variation was statistically significant. The study provided baseline information for further research. However, there is need for outside intervention or strategies for effectiveness since the community does not have well laid down strategies for climate change coping and adaptation.