Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The efficacy of edible film from Konjac glucomannan and saffron petal extract to improve shelf life of fresh‐cut cucumber

Abstract The efficacy of saffron petal extract (SPE; 1%–4%) incorporated into Konjac glucomannan (KGM) edible films on the quality and shelf life of fresh‐cut cucumbers was evaluated. Changes in chemical, physical, and microbial properties, antioxidant activity, and total soluble phenolic contents of sliced cucumbers during storage at 4°C for 5 days were investigated. Results showed that the addition of SPE markedly reduced the water vapor permeability features of produced films, whereas the moisture content and transparency of them increased (p < .05). All the formulated films containing 1%–4% of SPE exhibited significant antimicrobial properties against the examined pathogens (Escherichia coli, Shigella sonnei, Salmonella Typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus cereus) both in vitro and in vivo conditions. KGM films incorporated SPE were successful in reducing mesophilic bacteria and fungi populations so that the microbial load significantly decreased as the concentrations of SPE increased and KGM + 4% of SPE was considered as the most effective treatment in decreasing the microbial content of sliced cucumbers. Total soluble solids of the treated cucumbers were significantly increased at the end of the storage in refrigerator, compared to the control sample. Moreover, antioxidant activity (DPPH assay) and total soluble phenols in treated fruit increased with storage time, while these parameters decreased with increasing concentrations of SPE incorporated into KGM film. So according to the findings, the introduced film with KGM and SPE could be considered as an edible film and be applied to preserve the fruit and vegetables quality and extend the shelf life of sliced cucumbers.
Removal of Multi-Class Antibiotic Drugs from Wastewater Using Water-Soluble Protein of Moringa stenopetala Seeds

The removal of ten selected antibiotic drugs belonging to different classes (sulphonamides, fluoroquinolones, macrolides, and tetracycline) was investigated using water-soluble proteins from the seeds of Moringa stenopetala. The surface functional groups of water-soluble protein powder before and after removal of antibiotics were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). Processing parameters that could affect the removal efficiency, such as initial analyte concentration, protein dosage, and pH were studied. An optimized method was applied to a real wastewater sample collected from Daspoort Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) located in Pretoria, South Africa. Under optimal conditions, the results indicated good agreement between the efficiency of water-soluble proteins to remove antibiotics from the real wastewater sample and from the synthetic wastewater sample prepared in the laboratory using standard solutions with known concentrations. The percentage of removal under optimum conditions (protein dosage of 40 mg, initial analyte concentration of 0.1 mg L−1, and pH 7) was between 85.2 ± 0.01% and 96.3 ± 0.03% for standard mixture solution and from 72.4 ± 0.32% to 92.5 ± 0.84% and 70.4 ± 0.82% to 91.5 ± 0.71% for the real wastewater (effluent and influent) sample.
Seasonal changes in the community structure of chaetognaths and the life cycle of the dominant chaetognath Eukrohnia hamata in the Oyashio region, western subarctic Pacific

: The community structure and life cycle of dominant chaetognath species were studied in a 0–1000–m water column in the Oyashio region, western subarctic Paciﬁc, six times during the year from March 2003 to February 2004. The abundance of chaetognaths ranged from 3235 to 6691 inds. m − 2 . Throughout the study period, ten chaetognath species belonging to nine genera were identiﬁed. Among the chaetognaths, Eukrohnia hamata accounted for 39–62% of the abundance, followed by E. hamata / Eukrohnia bathypelagica juveniles, Parasagitta elegans , and E. bathypelagica . The species diversity ( H' ) of chaetognaths varied between 1.12 and 1.50. For E. hamata , individuals had a body length ranging from 2.3–23.8 mm. The abundance of juveniles ﬂuctuated from 22.0–48.3% and was higher in June 2003. Based on cohort analysis, recruitment of E. hamata juveniles occurred from spring to summer, and they reached a body length of 8 mm in one year. The overwintered population showed rapid growth from June to October, when they reached 15 mm in body length. Eukrohnia hamata showed little growth in winter and reproduced the subsequent spring. Thus, a two–year life cycle of E. hamata is proposed for the population in the Oyashio region. For comparable information about the life cycle of E. hamata , an eight to ten–month generation length was reported for the population in the eastern subarctic Paciﬁc. These regional differences in the generation length of E. hamata are attributed to differences in habitat temperature, with much higher temperatures in the eastern (3.8–6.0°C) than the western (2.3–2.9° C) subarctic Paciﬁc.
Establishing the Syntactic Rules of the Kankana-ey Dialect using TensorFlow

Kankana-ey is a widely used dialect in the northern region of the Philippines. Unfortunately, there are documented studies on the syntactic rules of this dialect. This study explored the development of a corpus for the Kankana-ey dialect. Further, the corpus was then used to establish the syntactic rules of Kankana-ey. A Kankana-ey version of the bible, dictionaries, news articles, songs and various online resources were used to collect words for the corpus of the Kankana-ey dialect. These identified words were also tagged using the parts of speech tags of the Penn TreeBank. Using the corpus and TensorFlow, 320 Kankana-ey sentences were analysed to determine the syntactic rules. In addition, 80 sentences were used to test the accuracy of the identified rules. At the end of the study, the created corpus has 3,412 tagged Kankana-ey words, while the analysis of the syntactic rules resulted to 1,722 rules. Testing also showed a 60% accuracy of the syntactic rules. In conclusion, the high number of identified rules from the 320 sentences was due to multiple Kankana-ey words having different possible tags. This also resulted to the low accuracy of the syntactic rules.
An economic production lot size model in an imperfect production system with a Markov process and shortage backordering

This paper studies optimal lot size for an imperfect production system in which the shortages are allowed and the deterioration process is characterized by a two-state discrete-time Markov chain. We show that there exists a unique optimal lot size to minimize the expected total relevant cost. In addition, bounds for the optimal lot size are provided to develop the solution procedure. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the results. Sensitivity analysis and managerial insights are also provided.
Zero – Reflection Absorbing Boundary Conditions in the Frequency – Domain TLM Method and their Application to Planar Circuit Analysis

The frequency–domain TLM (FDTLM) method is extended to include absorbing boundary conditions. An easy-to-implement zero-reflection termination (ZRT) is introduced to simulate open space. A comparison between anisotropic perfectly matched layer (PML), frequently used in time-domain field solvers, shows excellent agreement. The ZRT performance in the FDTLM is demonstrated for scattering matrix analysis of radiating structures and non-shielded planar transmission lines including flip-chip transitions.
Improving Image Quality in Cardiac Computed Tomography using Deep Learning

Cardiovascular diseases are the largest mortality factor globally, and early diagnosis is essential for a proper medical response. Cardiac computed tomography can be used to acquire images for their diagnosis, but without radiation dose reduction the radiation emitted to the patient becomes a significant risk factor. By reducing the dose, the image quality is often compromised, and determining a diagnosis becomes difficult. This project proposes image quality enhancement with deep learning. A cycle-consistent generative adversarial neural network was fed lowand high-quality images with the purpose to learn to translate between them. By using a cycle-consistency cost it was possible to train the network without paired data. With this method, a low-quality image acquired from a computed tomography scan with dose reduction could be enhanced in post processing. The results were mixed but showed an increase of ventricular contrast and artifact mitigation. The technique comes with several problems that are yet to be solved, such as structure alterations, but it shows promise for continued development.
Reducing Customer-Directed Deviant Behavior: The Roles of Psychological Detachment and Supervisory Unfairness

Conservation of resources (COR) theory proposes that mistreatment by customers (termed “customer mistreatment”) can deplete employees’ resources, lessen their ability to regulate their behaviors, and result in them engaging in customer-directed deviant behavior. However, COR has been criticized for its lack of precision regarding how this process unfolds. Integrating the person-situation interactionist perspective with COR theory, the present paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of COR theory by explicating how individual characteristics and work context—namely, psychological detachment and supervisory unfairness—can combine to attenuate/exacerbate the relationship between customer mistreatment and employees’ customer-directed deviant behavior. Using a multilevel field study with 1,092 daily-based surveys among 157 Korean call-center representatives, our results show that frontline employees’ emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between customer mistreatment and customer-directed deviant behavior that occurs on the next working day. When faced with customer mistreatment, employees with lower (vs. higher) psychological detachment were more likely to be emotionally exhausted and engage in customer-directed deviant behavior on the next working day. Moreover, their emotional exhaustion predicted customer-directed deviant behavior more so when their supervisors treated them unfairly (vs. fairly). Taken together, the results show that the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion was strongest among employees with low (vs. high) psychological detachment and who reported more (vs. less) supervisory unfairness. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications as well as directions for future research are discussed.
Exploring the Dynamics between M&A Activities and Industry-Level Performance

This study investigates the correlation between mergers and acquisitions (M&As) activities and industry-level performance. While extensive research on M&As has focused on financial performance at the firm-level around the merger announcement, not much focus has been given to the relationship between M&A activities and financial performance at the industry level. Using global data from the S&P (Standard & Poor’s) Capital IQ platform database, this study examines the significance of relationships of 12 industry-level financial values with M&A frequency and transaction value across 11 industry sectors throughout 2009–2018. The results show that M&A activities play a key role in identifying industries with lots of potential and that strategic investment planning can be drawn from both industry and time lag perspectives. This study bridges the gap by exploring the complexity of M&A performance across various firms and industries, and supports forward-looking investment processes by delineating emerging industries with expected positive returns.
Natural Polymers for Organ 3D Bioprinting

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, known as a promising technology for bioartificial organ manufacturing, has provided unprecedented versatility to manipulate cells and other biomaterials with precise control their locations in space. Over the last decade, a number of 3D bioprinting technologies have been explored. Natural polymers have played a central role in supporting the cellular and biomolecular activities before, during and after the 3D bioprinting processes. These polymers have been widely used as effective cell-loading hydrogels for homogeneous/heterogeneous tissue/organ formation, hierarchical vascular/neural/lymphatic network construction, as well as multiple biological/biochemial/physiological/biomedical/pathological functionality realization. This review aims to cover recent progress in natural polymers for bioartificial organ 3D bioprinting. It is structured as introducing the important properties of 3D printable natural polymers, successful models of 3D tissue/organ construction and typical technologies for bioartificial organ 3D bioprinting.
Selected Demographic Variables and Elder Abuse in Akwa Ibom State Nigeria

The study aimed at identifying the relationship between selected demographic factors and elder abuse in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study consisted of all male and female elderly persons aged 70 years and above. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted to select a sample size of 5,600 elderly. A structured questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages to answer the research questions, while Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used in Hypotheses testing. Results revealed that emotional abuse was topmost form of abuse suffered by the elderly in the study, closely followed by financial and material abuse; and neglect and abandonment, while physical and sexual abuses were not common. The test of hypotheses revealed a low positive correlation between age, gender, marital, income level and emotional/ psychological, physical, sexual, and neglect/ abandonment of the elderly. The only exception was the relationship between income level and financial and material abuse, where no significant relationship was found. The study concluded that the problem of elder abuse was pervasive in Akwa Ibom State judging from the percentage reporting all forms of abuse. Based on the findings it was recommended that awareness campaigns be organised to inform the public on what constitutes abuse as most individuals are not aware that most of their actions and behaviours toward the elderly people constitute abuse. In addition, the state and federal governments should consider the institution of social security scheme for the elderly to improve their economic base, while laws protecting women’s right especially widows should be formulated to ensure their safety as women have been found to suffer more abuse than men.
Evaluation of Terra-MODIS C6 and C6.1 Aerosol Products against Beijing, XiangHe, and Xinglong AERONET Sites in China during 2004-2014

In this study, Terra-MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Collections 6 and 6.1 (C6 & C6.1) aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals with the recommended high-quality flag (QF = 3) were retrieved from Dark-Target (DT), Deep-Blue (DB) and merged DT and DB (DTB) level–2 AOD products for verification against Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Version 3 Level 2.0 AOD data obtained from 2004–2014 for three sites located in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region. These are: Beijing, located over mixed bright urban surfaces, XiangHe located over suburban surfaces, and Xinglong located over hilly and vegetated surfaces. The AOD retrievals were also validated over different land-cover types defined by static monthly NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) values obtained from the Terra-MODIS level-3 product (MOD13A3). These include non-vegetated surfaces (NVS, NDVI < 0.2), partially vegetated surfaces (PVS, 0.2 ≤ NDVI ≤ 0.3), moderately vegetated surfaces (MVS, 0.3 < NDVI < 0.5) and densely vegetated surfaces (DVS, NDVI ≥ 0.5). Results show that the DT, DB, and DTB-collocated retrievals achieve a high correlation coefficient of ~ 0.90–0.97, 0.89–0.95, and 0.86–0.95, respectively, with AERONET AOD. The DT C6 and C6.1 collocated retrievals were comparable at XiangHe and Xinglong, whereas at Beijing, the percentage of collocated retrievals within the expected error (↔EE) increased from 21.4% to 35.5%, the root mean square error (RMSE) decreased from 0.37 to 0.24, and the relative percent mean error (RPME) decreased from 49% to 27%. These results suggest significant relative improvement in the DT C6.1 product. The percentage of DB-collocated AOD retrievals ↔EE was greater than 70% at Beijing and Xinglong, whereas less than 66% was observed at XiangHe. Similar to DT AOD, DTB AOD retrievals performed well at XiangHe and Xinglong compared with Beijing. Regionally, DB C6 and C6.1-collocated retrievals performed better than DT and DTB in terms of good quality retrievals and relatively small errors. For diverse vegetated surfaces, DT-collocated retrievals reported small errors and good quality retrievals only for NVS and DVS, whereas larger errors were reported for PVS. MVS. DB contains good quality AOD retrievals over PVS, MVS, and DVS compared with NVS. DTB C6.1 collocated retrievals were better than C6 over NVS, PVS, and DVS. C6.1 is substantially improved overall, compared with C6 at local and regional scales, and over diverse vegetated surfaces.
Theoretical Investigation of 2D Layered Materials as Protective Films for Lithium and Sodium Metal Anodes

Rechargeable batteries based on lithium (sodium) metal anodes have been attracting increasing attention due to their high capacity and energy density, but the implementation of lithium (sodium) metal anode still faces many challenges, such as low Coulombic efficiency and dendrites growth. Layered materials have been used experimentally as protective films (PFs) to address these issues. In this work, the authors explore using first‐principles computations the key factors that determine the properties and feasibility of various 2D layered PFs, including the defect pattern, crystalline structure, bond length, and metal proximity effect, and perform the simulations on both aspects of Li+ (Na+) ion diffusion property and mechanical stability. It is found that the introduction of defect, the increase in bond length, and the proximity effect by metal can accelerate the transfer of Li+ (Na+) ion and improve the ionic conductivity, but all of them make negative influences on the stiffness of materials against the suppression of dendrite growth and weaken both critical strains and critical stress. The results provide new insight into the interaction mechanism between Li+ (Na+) ions and PF materials at the atomic level and shed light onto exploring a variety of layered PF materials in metal anode battery systems.
Marine Invertebrate Conservation: Evaluation of Fisheries Over-exploitation Concerns

The nature of overfishing of marine invertebrates is complex, ranging from the perception of overfishing because of competition by user groups for a common property resource to extensive overfishing to near extinction because of poaching by either licensed or unlicensed fishers. As a group, marine invertebrates seem particularly resistant to overfishing, primarily because their relative immobility and scattered concentrations means refuge populations often exist. However, this distribution pattern also means a fishery is scattered over an often large geographical area with relatively small, frequent landings at any location. A minimum legal size regulation, enforceable anywhere before consumption, is the primary regulation applied by managers for many species to ensure against overfishing. Overfishing concerns arise primarily for those species where price is sufficiently high to encourage illegal fishing or where harvest by fishers is not easily monitored or controlled because of the nature of the fishing activity or because only part of the animal ( e.g. , the flesh) is harvested. Instances of overfishing by cause are discussed, and examples are presented to demonstrate how managers are dealing with or have dealt with different situations.
A Multiresonant Gate Driver for High-Frequency Resonant Converters

This paper presents the design and implementation of a high-frequency/very high frequency (VHF) multiresonant gate drive circuit. The design procedure outlined here is greatly simplified compared with other VHF self-oscillating multiresonant gate drivers presented in previous works. The proposed circuit can reduce the long start-up time required in a self-oscillating resonant gate drive circuit and utilize the fast transient capability of VHF converters better. We demonstrate a prototype resonant gate driver, which reduces up to 60% of the gate-driving power in a 20-MHz 32-W Class-E power amplifier using a Si MOSFET. The proposed technique could also drive a high-voltage rated SiC MOSFET at 30 MHz with a slew rate of 2.5 V/ns at the gate, while an integrated hard-switching gate driver only provides a slew rate of 1.8-V/ns and is five times less efficient than the proposed resonant gate driver.
Metallicity gradient of the thick disc progenitor at high redshift

© 2017 The Authors. We have developed a novel Markov Chain Monte Carlo chemical 'painting' technique to explore possible radial and vertical metallicity gradients for the thick disc progenitor. In our analysis, we match an N-body simulation to the data from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment survey.We assume that the thick disc has a constant scaleheight and has completed its formation at an early epoch, after which time radial mixing of its stars has taken place. Under these assumptions, we find that the initial radial metallicity gradient of the thick disc progenitor should not be negative, but either flat or even positive, to explain the current negative vertical metallicity gradient of the thick disc. Our study suggests that the thick disc was built-up in an inside-out and upside-down fashion, and older, smaller and thicker populations are more metal poor. In this case, star-forming discs at different epochs of the thick disc formation are allowed to have different radial metallicity gradients, including a negative one, which helps to explain a variety of slopes observed in high-redshift disc galaxies. This scenario helps to explain the positive slope of the metallicity-rotation velocity relation observed for the Galactic thick disc. On the other hand, radial mixing flattens the slope of an existing gradient.
Experimental Investigations on Explosion Characteristics of Different Ranks Coal Dust in Horizontal Pipeline

ABSTRACT To study the explosion characteristics of coal dust samples with different metamorphism, 19 coal samples including anthracite, bituminous coal, lignite were selected, explosion pressure distribution and flame propagation velocity were studied in an explosion pipeline with an outer diameter of 108 mm and an inner diameter of 88 mm. Coal dust particles were injected into the pipeline by eight dust nozzles controlled by solenoid valves. The explosion pressure and flame propagation profiles were obtained by PCB piezoelectric sensors and photoelectric sensors. The experimental results suggested that the explosion pressure profiles of different coal samples are all present a first increasing and then decreasing trend. However, there is a drop point at 0.875 m from the ignition end. The flame propagation velocity increases first and reaches the maximum at 0.625 m from the ignition end, and then the propagation velocity begins to decrease until the end of the pipeline, while there exist a slight enhancement at 1.105 m from the ignition end. Furthermore, the coal samples with different coal ranks have different explosion severity, coal samples with lower moisture content, and relatively higher volatile matter present a better deflagration property and cause a higher explosion severity.