Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Nitric Acid Modification on Characteristics and Adsorption Properties of Lignite

The objective of this research was to explore the changes of the pore structure and surface properties of nitric-modified lignite and base the adsorption performance on physical and chemical adsorbent characteristics. To systematically evaluate pore structure and surface chemistry effects, several lignite samples were treated with different concentrations of nitric acid in order to get different pore structure and surface chemistry adsorbent levels. A common heavy metal ion contaminant in water, Pb2+, served as an adsorbate probe to demonstrate the change of modified lignite adsorption properties. The pore structure and surface properties of lignite samples before and after modification were characterized by static nitrogen adsorption, X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, zeta potential, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The experimental results showed that nitric acid modification can increase the ability of lignite to adsorb Pb2+. The adsorption amount of Pb2+ increased from 14.45 mg·g−1 to 30.68 mg·g−1. Nitric acid reacted with inorganic mineral impurities such as iron dolomite in lignite and organic components in coal, which caused an increase in pore size and a decrease in specific surface areas. A hydrophilic adsorbent surface more effectively removed Pb2+ from aqueous solution. Nitric acid treatment increased the content of polar oxygen-containing functional groups such as hydroxyl, carbonyl, and carboxyl groups on the surface of lignite. Treatment introduced nitro groups, which enhanced the negative electrical properties, the polarity of the lignite surface, and its metal ion adsorption performance, a result that can be explained by enhanced water adsorption on hydrophilic surfaces.
Trends in population size of Ophrys argolica subsp. biscutella in the Appennino Lucano-Val d'Agri-Lagonegrese National Park (Italy)

In this study we focused on population monitoring of Ophrys argolica subsp. biscutella , an orchid, endemic to the south of the Italian Peninsula, belonging to the section Araniferae . The study concerned its main detected population located within the Appennino Lucano-Val d’Agri-Lagonegrese National Park (Basilicata Region, South Italy). Ten permanent plots of 10 × 10 m were annually surveyed from 2010 to 2015 using total counts of flowering plants. The following char - acters were measured: height of inflorescences, number of flowers, lost plants, fruiting plants and fruit set. Percentage cover of trees, shrubs, herbs and bare rocks were visually estimated in 1 × 1 m subplots, and an accurate vegetation map of each plot was drawn. In regards to the plant height and the reproductive variables, no significant differences between the plots were detected. Similarly, with respect to population variables, no significant correlations with vegetation and environmental features (i.e. slope, aspect) emerged. On the contrary, a strong negative trend in the population size was observed (from 237 individuals in 2010 to 61 in 2015) and the number of plants per plot decreased from 23.7 individuals to 6.1 individuals. Reproductive variables (i.e. number of flowers, fruit set) showed a similar decreasing pattern. As for the lost of individuals we detected a higher incidence in 2011 (average number of lost plants per plot was 16.6) with 75% of lost spikes and fruit set amounting to zero. Although grazing management can heavily influence demographic parameters of Ophrys populations, there was no evidence of any kind of land cover or land use change. No appreciable differences were observed in vegetation cover, grazing type or grazing load. Moreover, no significant disturbance events occurred in this area. Finally, the inspection of meteorological data recorded during the monitoring interval lead to argue that the strong demographic decline of the Ophrys argolica subsp. biscutella population in the Appennino Lucano-Val d’Agri-Lagonegrese National Park must be mainly related to the late frost event that occurred in the spring of 2011.
Prevent the Growth of Microorganisms, Reduce the Enzymatic Activity, Storage Traits by Freezing

The current study was conducted on some cultivars of Iraqi dates (Khalal Hamrawi, Hamrawi date, Khalal Zahidi, Zahidi Dates, Khalal Barhi, Rutab Barhi, Khastawi dates) in order to know the effect of Storage in Freezing on the chemical, physical and sensory traits for these cultivars after freezing it at -18 °C. Plastic cans with the size of (1 kg), The fruit quality data were collected after 3, 6 and 9 months of storage. The results showed that frozen storage did not significantly affect the physical traits for date fruits,It was noticed that there were no significant differences in the length and width of the fruits as well as the weight of the fruits during the storage period, except for some cultivars such as Khalal Zahidi, Zahidi Dates, and Khalal Barhi, It was found an increase in fruit weight, There was a small increase in the volume of fruits during storage, the results remained constant after six months of storage in freezing, The study showed an increase in the content of TSS and total sugars of fruits during the period of conservation and storage in freezing and decrease in moisture content during storage periods.
Metastatic and non-metastatic sentinel inguinofemoral lymph nodes in vulvar cancer show an increased lymphangiogenesis.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE Lymph node involvement is a strong predictor of disease recurrence and patient survival in vulvar cancer. The aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of sentinel lymph node (SLN) screening, the incidence of skip metastases, and lymph node lymphangiogenesis. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifty-five patients participated in this prospective, single centre study. A double SLN screening method was employed using radiocolloid (technetium-99 sulfur colloid) and 1.0% Isosulfan Blue. Immunohistochemistry, using a mouse monoclonal antibody against D2-40, was used to evaluate lymphatic vessel density (LVD). All calculations were performed using STATISTICA software v. 10 (StatSoft, USA, 2011); p < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS Using both methods of SLN detection, 100% accuracy was achieved, and skip metastases were diagnosed in only one woman (1.82%). Peri-tumour median LVD was significantly increased compared with matched intra-tumour samples (p < 0.001), while median LVD was significantly lower in negative, compared with positive SLN, regardless of whether matched non-SLN were negative (p < 0.001) or positive (p = 0.005). Metastatic SLN exhibited significantly higher median LVD compared with matched negative non-SLN (p = 0.015), while no significant difference in median LVD was detected between positive SLN and matched positive non-SLN. However, negative SLN had a significantly higher median LVD compared with matched negative non-SLN (p = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS SLN detection is a safe and feasible procedure in vulvar cancer. In patients without nodular involvement, SLN, compared with non-SLN, exhibited significantly higher median LVD, which may be an indication of its preparation to host metastases, and thus requires further investigation.
The Novel Characteristics Of Pterosaurs: Biological Inspiration For Robotic Vehicles

Bioinspiration and biomimetic have led to a variety of robotic designs, especially small autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles for urban environment that have taken cues from birds, bats, and insects. The ease with which these fl ying animals negotiate confi ned obstacle-cluttered airspace has long inspired engineers for designing small robots for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. However, one group of extinct fl ying animals, which fl ew over the heads of dinosaurs and dominated the Mesozoic skies for 160 million years, have been largely overlooked for designing small aircrafts, partly because they are extinct and their fossils are diffi cult to study because of preservational deformation. Recently, exquisite pterosaur fossils have been discovered, which provide critical insights into their dynamics. Tapejara wellnhoferi, a pterodactyloid from the Early Cretaceous (~110 million years ago) of Brazil, provides a platform that is particularly valuable for biomimicry of a robotic vehicle. This pterodactyloid had sophisticated sensor mechanisms for determining its aerodynamics, had a cranial crest that was destabilizing but provided agility, had highly articulated wings that enabled precise shape control, and had the ability to fl walk, and sail. An initial design for a robotic vehicle is described, which incorporates some of the characteristics of the Tapejara wellnhoferi.
Observation of Eurasian Otter’s Diel Activity Using Camera Trapping in Central-Eastern Romania

Abstract The observation of elusive mammals, is still problematic, particularly in flowing waters or wetlands. But with the usage of camera traps, it was possible to obtain valuable information about otters. The aim of this study was finding the diel activity of the otters that live in Central-Eastern Romania. The diel activity of the Eurasian otter along its habitat was studied from March 2011 to April 2016 over 1356 days & nights of camera trapping. The camera traps have recorded a total of 222 otter visits at all 10 observation sites. Otters, passing through the observation sites, were strongly nocturnal and displayed a trimodal diel activity pattern, one occurring just before dawn (between 04:00 and 06:30 h), the second one occuring just after dusk (between 18:30 and 22:00 h) and the third one occurring in the middle of the night (between 00:30 and 01:30). Otters have been also active during the Civil Twilight (7.2 %), more active during the dusk (5 %) than during the dawn (2.3 %). Seasonally the Eurasian otters were more active during winter (39.6 %) and progressively less active in spring (31.5 %) summer (9 %) or autumn (19.8 %).
Multimodal Trips in the Netherlands: Microlevel Individual Attributes and Residential Context

Multimodal passenger transportation has received renewed attention in industrialized countries as a more sustainable and environmentally sensitive alternative to the uncontrolled growth in car travel. As a result there has been a diverse range of policy and planning guidelines supporting, promoting, and evaluating seamless multimodal travel alternatives. Few attempts, however, have been made at quantifying the space-time implications of multimodal transportation on the travel behavior and activity patterns of individuals. This research is concerned with an analysis of multimodal trips to provide insight into the specific travel behavioral and sociodemographic characteristics of multimodal transportation users in the Netherlands. A conceptual overview of multimodal transportation is provided followed by a brief literature review that discusses some relevant research themes relating to multimodal transportation. This conceptual overview is quantified with travel data from the 1998 Dutch National Travel Survey. On the basis of the analysis, conclusions are drawn with regard to the most frequently occurring mode chain combinations, number of trips, trip duration, and mean trip and stage distance. Attention is also paid to each mode’s unique distance decay function for the different stages in a multimodal trip. Finally, a schematic framework of the typical multimodal trip characteristics is provided. The individual level attributes that influence multimodal transportation is explored with multivariate analysis. The results indicate some very distinct person characteristics associated with multimodal transportation.
Universal filter with three inputs using CCII

A voltage-mode universal filter with three inputs and one output using only plus-type current conveyors (CCII+) is presented. This circuit uses three CCII+s, three resistors and a minimum number of capacitors. It has low sensitivity, low output impedance and low component spread. The use of only CCII+s simplifies the configuration.
Estimate Damping and Quake by Using Traditional Soil Testings

Impact pile driving greatly alters the behavior of the soil surrounding the pile. The changes in soil responses make it very difficult to estimate Smith soil parameters, even by means of Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) monitoring and CAPWAP Analysis. Although GRL, Inc. (1993) had recommended typical values of the Smith damping and quake parameters for different types of soils and pile sizes, much research indicated that the Smith parameters were not only dependent on soil types and pile sizes, but also on the pile driving conditions. The ranges of the Smith soil quake and damping from published data were so widely scattered that it was very difficult to select reasonable values for Wave Equation Analysis. The objective of this research was to explore the meaning of the Smith soil model in Wave Equation Analysis and identify the key variables affecting the determination of the Smith soil parameters. Using the University of Florida pile database for regression analysis, semi-empirical equations for estimating the Smith soil parameters were developed based on conventional soil properties.
Interseasonal Irrigation System Planning for Waterlogged Sodic Soils

Irrigation system planning and management of a semiarid region in Indian Punjab is imperative for sustainable agriculture. For the management of soil and water resources of these regions, three nonstructural management models have been developed and linked together to aid in planning the optimum allocation of land and water resources to achieve the objective of maximizing return in the command area of a canal distributary. A ground-water simulation model uses the mass-balance approach to simulate water-table depths. The seasonal crop water response models are developed to compute crop yields. Interseasonal irrigation system planning models maximize net annual return through conjunctive use of surface water and gypsum-treated sodic ground water to achieve an optimal cropping pattern using a linear programming algorithm. The linear programming models are operated at five water mixing indexes (mixing of surface water and poor quality ground water in different proportions) and seven probability of exceedence levels where rainfall, crop water requirement, and canal water supply are assumed as random variables. These random variables are fitted well to gamma probability density function.
LEAF AREA MEASUREMENT OF SELECTED VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS USING ELLIPTICAL HOUGH TRANSFORM

An image–processing algorithm using the elliptical Hough transform was developed to determine position, orientation, and leaf area of seedling leaves from top–view images. The algorithm significantly reduced the computational effort and memory requirement and was capable of identifying partly occluded leaves. Four varieties of vegetable seedlings, namely cabbage, Chinese mustard, edible amaranth (A. mangostanus Linn.), and edible amaranth (A. inamoenus Willd.), at various growth stages were used to test the efficacy of the measurement algorithm. For measurements of individual leaf area, the relative estimation errors were 8.2 µ9. 3%, 14.4 µ11. 7%, 27.5 µ14.4%, and 16.0 µ11. 0%, respectively. For measurements of total leaf area, the relative estimation errors were 16.0 µ6. 4%, 17.0 µ9. 8%, 24.9 µ8. 1%, and 18.4 µ9. 4% in corresponding order. The sources of error were mainly due to tilting leaves and unsuccessful identification of small or severely occluded leaves of the seedling.
Lateral Collision with Side Airbag: A Literature Review

The paper presents a literature review of the efficacy of side passive safety in the event of lateral collision and the latest development of side airbag. According to the latest Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, the total number of death every year due to road accident still maintained in a huge number of 1.24 million. Malaysia is one of the countries having highest estimated road traffic death rate of 25 per 100,000 populations. Moreover, 5% growth annually of fatalities rate forecasted. In general, lateral collision or side impact is the second most common vehicle crash type which takes almost 10,000 occupant deaths each year. Side airbags were introduced into vehicle firstly in 1995 in order to improve occupants injury. It is statically proven that combination of head with thorax side airbag is very effective in reducing occupants fatalities rate, however thorax only airbag is less significant. With the aid from Computer Aided Engineer (CAE) software, designer can further improve airbag design and optimize its performance in order to find the best combination of design parameter such as of area of air vent, Time-To-Fire (TTF), operating pressure of the inflator gas and many more, while design cycle time can be reduced significantly up to 40%. Nevertheless, people are afraid that side airbag deployment load may hurt children and small size female seated in Out-Of-Position (OOP). Researcher could resolve it by adopting the latest Computer Fluid Design (CFD) airbag simulation technique which have a better simulation result of OOP load, since CFD method provide more realistic airbag deployment simulations especially in the first few milliseconds which are significant in OOP test.
Structural Connections for Small-Diameter Poles

AbstractIn Portugal, given the large proportions of natural regeneration pine stands, a large amount of young trees must be removed from the forest, to assure the quality of mature trees and to decrease the risk of fire. With this problem in mind, a national study was launched to investigate the use of maritime pine small-diameter poles in structural applications. The study had two different tasks. The first task comprised the determination of mechanical properties and the establishment of visual and mechanical strength grading procedures and is already completed. The second task concerns the development of connections. This paper presents results within the second task. Three types of connections, regarding failure load and stiffness, were studied: connections using central plates; glued-in rods; and dowel nuts. The glued-in rods showed the highest mean failure load and, especially, stiffness. Indeed, the glued-in rods showed a mean stiffness around six times higher than the one obtained for the other st.
FSTL1 aggravates OVA-induced allergic airway inflammation by activating NLRP3 inflammasome

Background Asthma is a common respiratory disease characterized by chronic airway inflammation. As a novel inflammatory mediator, follistatin-like protein 1 (FSTL1) can activate immune reaction, suggesting that it may contribute to inflammatory disorders such as asthma. Besides, there are growing evidences that nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat protein 3 (NLRP3) / Interleukin (IL)-1β axis participates in asthma. In this study, we investigated the role of FSTL1 in allergic airway inflammation and its underlying mechanism of activating NLRP3 inflammasome. Methods Circulating FSTL1 and IL-1β levels were quantified in serum of asthmatic patients and controls. Whole-body ablation Fstl1 heterozygous mice (Fstl1 +/- ) and control group were assessed after the experimental treatment. The effects of FSTL1 on NLRP3 inflammasome were also tested in primary macrophages of mice in vitro. Results The concentration of FSTL1 and IL-1β in serum of asthmatic patients were elevated compared with controls and were positively correlated. FSTL1 deficiency ameliorated infiltration of inflammatory cells,corresponding pathological changes,cytokine responses (IL-1β, IL-5,IL-13), mucous hypersecretion and hyper-responsiveness of airway after Ovalbumin (OVA) exposure in the mouse model. Additionally, inhibition of NLRP3 with MCC950 attenuated FSTL1-induced activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and airway inflammation in vivo and vitro. Conclusions Our data showed that FSTL1 played an important role in allergic airway inflammation by activating NLRP3 inflammasome, providing the possibility that FSTL1 could be applied as a therapeutic strategy on asthma.
Combating Pulsed Radar Interference in Radio Astronomy

Only a small fraction of the radio spectrum can be reserved exclusively for passive scientific measurements, so radio astronomers must expect to observe some natural radiation at frequencies allocated to an increasing number of active users of the spectrum. This paper presents a scheme for removing pulsed transmissions of air surveillance radar from astronomical data based on the temporal and amplitude characteristics of the radar signals. Two filter schemes for maximizing the separation of the radar signals from normally distributed noise are compared on the same real data. The goal is to remove as little of the useful data as possible. Removal of both strong- and weak-signal interference to the level of detectability in a 5 s integration and a scheme for compensating for the frequency dependence of the excision algorithm are demonstrated.
Motivation intended to inform design teaching practice

Academic success is a difficult task that often involves struggles and mistakes, requiring effort and engagement on the part of students. As the literature is vast and complex, this work focuses on motivation with the intention of informing teaching practice. Design pedagogy is also affected by these aspects, which can influence student success, mastery and autonomy. Although the theme deserves attention, there are not many research reports on the impact of these factors in design teaching and learning. This work is a qualitative study based on subjective evaluation of specific aspects of motivation science regarding learning. The research design was developed with the intention of understanding the impact of noncognitive factors in design education, by compared perspectives. Twenty-one professors of diverse design (studio) courses and 49 design students, also of different institutions, answered a survey containing twelve questions under three themes: the development of self-determination basic characteristics; the utilization of grades, rewards and praise; and seven statements regarding rewards and praise to ensure motivation, presented to collect subjective perceptions. The results show that students have a much more positive perception of self-developed skills regarding self-determination elements compared to their colleagues. A finding is related to the different perception of the subjects about the utilization of praise. The discrepancy can be a symptom of instructional problems, lack of information by educational professionals or even indicates a poor communication channel in the classroom. Another finding refers to the two groups’ opposite views regarding three statements on the usage of rewards and praise for motivation. Apparently, professors utilize grades vastly, which is a clear opposition to the best practices signalized by scientists in the field. Students, also, do not seem to understand that the praise used is sincere and deserved, which could be an indication of lack of trust. Finally, although professors seem to agree that the emphasis of praise and rewards are associated to process and effort, students tend to feel that skill is the key point.
Manual switching patterns in private offices

Switching behaviour is important in evaluating energy requirements of manual lighting control strategies and in understanding occupant reactions to daylight. Switching behaviour was observed and monitored in south- and north-facing private offices. The occupants appeared to fall into two different behaviour groups: (a) people who typically switched lights on for the duration of the working day, including unoccupied periods, and (b) those who used electric lighting only when daylight levels were low. Switching probability functions for two north-facing private offices were consistent with Hunt's function for multi-occupant spaces.