Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SEBS colonized in ileal mucosa, optimized bacterial composition, improved Se level and activated TLR2－NF-kB1 signaling pathway to regulate β-defensin 1 expression

Background Both selenium (Se) and probiotic bacillus improve immunity. Beta defensin 1 (BD1), a component of intestinal mucosal immunity, could be up-regulated in dietary selenium enriched bacillus subtilis (SEBS) supplementation. SEBS was supplemented in the culture medium of mouse intestinal crypt cells and the diets of chicks to observe the effects of SEBS on BD1 in the intestine by colonization of bacillus subtilis, its recognition and signaling pathway, bacterial composition optimization, and biological functions of Se. Results BD1 was formed in intestinal crypt cells and secreted into the lumen through the villi brush border. BD1 was up-regulated in distal ileum segments with SEBS and bacillus subtilis colonization. This occurred through the recognition of toll like receptor 2 and the NF-kB1 signaling pathway (TLR2-MyD88།NF-kB1), this increased expression was further enhanced with Se combination. Pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, were up-regulated with bacillus subtilis supplementation, while this up-regulation was inhibited with Se. Colonization of bacillus subtilis in distal segments of the ileum improved bacterial diversity, while reducing the number of endogenous Salmonella and lactobacilli sp. in ileal mucous membranes with SEBS supplementation. Species of unclassified Lachnospiraceae, uncultured Anaerosporobacter, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-014, Peptococcus, and Lactobacillus salivarius, and unclassified Butyricicoccus were substantial in ileal mucous membranes to promote BD1 concentration. Conclusion SECB, colonized in the ileal mucous membrane, optimized bacterial composition, enhanced BD1 secretion through activation of the TLR2-MyD88།NF-kB1 signaling pathway, and reduced pro-inflammatory factors. Our results suggest a new avenue for the combination of probiotic bacteria and essential micro-element selenium to improve intestinal mucosal immunity, increase defense against cold stress, and reduce illness incidence and mortality.
Ambiguity and Content Mapping among Display Types

Abstract: The present study examines the efficacy of four display types. We tested digital, bar graph, polar graphic (Coury, Boulette, & Smith, 1989) and a coordinate display type. Participants completed a state classification task as described by Coury et al. Results indicate a clear performance difference among displays. The coordinate display showed significantly higher response accuracy and lower response times. The polar graphic display performed the poorest on both outcomes. Bar and digital displays demonstrated approximately equivalent performance. These results lend further support to the importance of ecological interface design and are consistent with the principles of semantic mapping. Directions for further study are discussed.
Nesting Effects of Climate and Local Drivers on Long-Term Subalpine Fires in the Alps

Background: The present article questions the relative importance of local- and large-scale processes on the long-term dynamics of fire in the subalpine belt in the western Alps. The study is based on soil charcoal dating and identification, several study sites in contrasting environmental conditions, and sampling of soil charcoal along the elevation gradient of each site. Based on local differences in biomass combustion, we hypothesize that local-scale processes have driven the fire history, while combustion homogeneity supports the hypothesis of the importance of large-scale processes, especially the climate. Results: The results show that biomass burning during the Holocene resulted from the nesting effects of climate, land use, and altitude, but was little influenced by topography (slope exposure: north versus south), soil (dryness, pH, depth), and vegetation. The mid-Holocene (6500–2700 cal BP) was an important period for climatic biomass burning in the subalpine ecosystems of the western Alps, while fires from about 2500 years ago appear much more episodic, prompting us to speculate that human society has played a vital role in their occurrence. Conclusion: Our working hypothesis assuming that the strength of mountain natural and local drivers should offset the effects of regional climate is not validated. The homogeneity of the fire regime between sites thus underscore that climate was the main driver during the Holocene of the western Alps. Long-term subalpine fires are controlled by climate at millennial scale. Local conditions count for little in determining variability at the century scale. The mid-Holocene was a chief period for climatic biomass burning in the subalpine zone, while fires during the late Holocene appear much more episodic, prompting the assumption that societal drivers has exercised key roles on their control.
Strong-Motion Records for Site-Specific Analysis

A procedure is presented to select and scale strong-motion records for site-specific analysis. The procedure matches records’ smooth response spectra with the site response spectrum by scaling of the acceleration histories. The parameters defining the smooth spectrum of various records are computed and tabulated to allow easy selection of records. Hazard de-aggregation is used to identify closer and distant seismic events, which are simulated by the scaled ground motion histories. The procedure can also be used to obtain ground motion pairs in orthogonal directions for multidimensional dynamic response analyses.
Life cycle cost assessment of masonry structures

The objective of this study is to propose a life cycle cost (LCC) model able to assess the structural performance of masonry structures. For this purpose the proposed LCC model is used for assessing the structural behaviour of one unreinforced and three retrofitted masonry structures derived following three retrofit scenarios that are suitable for strengthening this type of structures. According to the proposed LCC model the exceedance probabilities required, are calculated by means of fragility analysis (FA). In particular, FA is applied to the unreinforced and retrofitted masonry structures and the limit-states' exceedance frequencies are obtained by convolving fragilities with hazard curve. Life-cycle cost analysis models are recognised as suitable for assessing the structural performance, especially when the structure is expected to be functional for a long period of time. For the needs of the study, linear time history analyses are performed over a large database of natural records.
Treatment Outcome Of Malaria And Associated Factors Among Adults Admitted In Arba Minch General Hospital 2015-2018, Southern Nation Nationality And People Region, Ethiopia

Background: Malaria is a protozoan disease transmitted by the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. Progression to severe and fatal disease is largely but not entirely confined to Plasmodium falciparum infections. Despite remarkable progress in recent years, malaria remains a leading cause of sickness and death across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria disproportionately impacts the rural poor, typically people who must walk for miles to seek treatment. Methods: Institution based retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in Arba Minch General Hospital on February 2019. Data was collected from patient record whom admitted with severe malaria in the past 4 years from Sep. 2015 – September 2018. Data was entered to Epidata 3.1. And then exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was computed to assess statistical association between the outcome variable and independent variables using Odds Ratio; significant of statistical association was tested using 95% confidence interval (CI) and p value (<0.05). Result: Out of 422 patients with severe malaria intended to be included in the study, 387 cases were actually involved with response rate of 91.7%. The mortality rate associated with severe malaria in the year between 2015-2018 at Arba Minch General Hospital was 5.7%. Co-morbidity, impaired consciousness and acidosis were significantly associated with mortality, at significant level of P <0.05. Conclusion: co-morbidity, impaired consciousness and Acidosis were found to be poor prognostic indicators for patients with severe malaria, so priority should be given for those patients who came with such manifestations.
Safety climate in conditions of construction subcontracting: a multi‐level analysis

A multi‐level safety climate model was tested in the Australian construction industry. Subcontracted workers’ perceptions of the organizational safety response (OSR) and supervisor safety response (SSR) in their own organization and that of the principal contractor were measured using a safety climate survey administered at a large hospital construction project in Melbourne. One hundred and fourteen construction workers completed the survey, representing nine subcontractors engaged at the project. Two requisite conditions for the existence of group‐level safety climates, i.e. (1) within‐group homogeneity; and (2) between‐group variation were satisfied for perceptions of subcontractors’ OSR and SSR. This supports the contention that subcontractors working in a single construction project exhibit a unique group‐level safety climate. Subcontracted workers also discriminated between group‐level safety climates (i.e. the SSR) in their own and in the principal contractor’s organizations. The results suggest some cross‐level influence. Perceptions of the SSR were positively predicted by perceptions of the OSR in both the principal and subcontractor organizations. Perceptions of the OSR of the principal contractor were also a significant predictor of the perceived OSR and SSR in the subcontractor organizations. Perceptions of the subcontractors’ SSR were a significant predictor of the rate of lost‐time and medical treatment incidents reported by the subcontractor. Although perceptions of the principal contractor’s SSR were not directly related to subcontractors’ injury rates, they were a significant predictor of subcontractors’ SSR, revealing an indirect link. The results suggest that supervisory personnel (e.g. foremen and leading hands) play an important role in shaping safety performance in subcontracted workgroups.
Modelling a Single-Wheel Testbed for Planetary Rover Applications

This paper presents a dynamic model for a smooth wheel travelling through loose sandy soil. Many models that are used for such wheel-soil interactions are typically static or quasi-static models. The new model builds upon these widely-used models by adding the dynamic effect of the soil deformation. The new model is validated using experiments that were carried on a new single wheel testbed which was constructed at Dalhousie University. During experiments with a smooth wheel it was noticed that the track of the wheel had repeatable ridges. Moreover, it was noticed that the corresponding torque and force data also had oscillations in it with the periods of the harmonic coinciding with the ridges in the sand left by the track of the wheel.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
DESIGNING FOR FAILURE: ANOMALY IDENTIFICATION AND TREATMENT IN SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS

A method for identifying anomalous (or “what if”) conditions in the system requirements analysis (SRA) is proposed using the concept of functional failure (Spangler 1993, Armstrong 1995). The method complements and extends (Carson 1995) by defining “sufficient” conditions for SRA completeness which complement the previously defined “necessary” conditions for completeness. Identification of the functional failures during the SRA allows the system designer to treat different anomalies rigorously at the beginning of a program as part of the system design. System requirements for “fault tolerance” or “inhibiting fault cascading” are easily incorporated into the resulting SRA as required behaviors (functions) for specific antecedents. The developed process ensures in a verifiable manner that the SRA is complete and there are no incorrect or indeterminate behaviors due to inadequate system design. If applied at all levels of the system development (mission design, system design, subsystem design, end item design) one could expect no surprises during test and integration at any level of design.
An integrated inventory production system in a three-layer supply chain

With growing focus on supply chain management, firms realise that inventories across the entire supply chain can be more efficiently managed through greater co-operation and better co-ordination. This paper deals with inventory and production co-ordination in a three-layer supply chain involving suppliers, manufacturers and retailers. Each stage may have more than one firm. It is assumed that the cycle time at each stage is an integer multiple of the cycle time of the adjacent downstream stage. In addition, the produced lot at each stage is sent to the adjacent downstream stage in equal shipments. Shipments are sent as soon as they are produced and there is no need to wait until a whole lot is produced. A cost minimisation model and its solution procedure are derived. A numerical example is presented for illustrative purposes. This policy leads to considerable savings as compared to the scheme that allows shipments only after the whole lot is produced.
Mode conversion caused by surface imperfections of a dielectric slab waveguide

This paper contains a perturbation theory which is applicable to the scattering losses suffered by guided modes of a dielectric slab waveguide as a consequence of imperfections of the waveguide wall. The development of the theory occupies the bulk of the paper. Numerical results appear in Sections VI and VIII to which a reader less interested in the theory is referred. The theory allows us to conclude that random deviations of the waveguide wall in the order of 1 percent, for guides designed to guide an optical wave of Λ o = 1μ wavelength, can cause scattering losses of 10 percent per centimeter or 0.46 dB per centimeter. A systematic sinusoidal deviation of the waveguide wall can cause total exchange of energy from the lowest order to the first order guided mode in a distance of approximately 1 cm if the amplitude of the sinusoidal deviation from perfect straightness is only 0.5 percent of the thickness of the guide. An rms deviation of one of the waveguide walls of 9A causes a radiation loss of 10 dB per kilometer (index difference 1 percent, guide width 2.5μ).
Retracted: Critical Human Factor Evaluation of Knowledge Sharing Intention in Taiwanese Enterprises

Knowledge management (KM) is important in the Taiwan business world. Only 0.1% of SMEs, however, have been guided by the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA) to introduce knowledge management from 1993 through 2008. The population of KM‐implementing SMEs is low. The climate of knowledge sharing has been recognized as the critical factor to successful KM. According to the research results obtained in this study, relation‐based motivation is positively related to one's intention to share knowledge. Individual workers can have increased relation‐based motivation to become leaders of SMEs building the culture of interpersonal trust and offering group‐based reward mechanisms in an organization. This research can help business managers to identify the motivational elements that can encourage investment and propose pragmatic suggestions for introducing initiatives to reinvigorate the number of SMEs implementing KM in Taiwan. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Accurate and efficient CAD tool for the design of optimum packaging for (M)MICs

A CAD tool is developed for designing optimum packaging of (M)MICs. It is shown that the packaging effects can be isolated in the mixed potential integral equation (MPIE) Green's function. In this case, the package effects appear as an additive term in the method of moments (MoM) impedance matrix. An optimum packaging design is therefore possible by iteratively computing this additive term for different box sizes.
Modeling of slender laminated piezoelastic beams with resistive electrodes—comparison of analytical results with three-dimensional finite element calculations

In this work a theory for a slender piezoelectric laminated beam taking into account lossy electrodes is developed. For the modeling of the bending behavior of the beam with conductivity, the kinematical assumptions of Bernoulli–Euler and a simplified form of the Telegraph equations are used. Applying d’Alembert’s principle, Gauss’ law of electrostatics and Kirchhoff’s voltage and current rules, the partial differential equations of motion are derived, describing the bending vibrations of the beam and the voltage distribution and current flow along the resistive electrodes. The theory is valid for applications that are used for actuation and for sensing. In the first case the voltage at a certain location on the electrodes is prescribed and the beam is deformed, whereas in the second case the structure is excited by a distributed external load and the voltage distribution is a result of the structural deformation. For a bimorph with constant width and constant material properties the beam is governed by two coupled partial differential equations for the elastic deformation and for the voltage distribution: the first one is an extension of the Bernoulli–Euler equation of an elastic beam, the second one is a diffusion equation for the voltage. The analytical results of the developed theory are validated by means of three-dimensional electromechanically coupled finite element simulations with ANSYS 11.0. Different mechanical and electrical boundary conditions and resistances of the electrodes are considered in the numerical case study. Eigenfrequencies are compared and the frequency responses of the mechanical and electrical quantities show a good agreement between the proposed beam theory and FE results.
NORWEGIAN POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY WORK ON SHIPWRECKS

ABSTRACT Work on shipwrecks is one of the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority's (NPCA) priority areas. The basis for the “Wreck Program” was the desire to have a complete compilation of shipwrecks lying along the Norwegian coast. The project was defined in three phases: registration, priority ranking, and required action stages. A database consisting of 2,100 entries was built up from the study of archives in Norway and abroad. The search was limited to ships of over 100 tons gross weight that had gone down in Norwegian territorial waters after 1914. Wrecks were considered to be one of three types: of high pollution, possible pollution, or no pollution potential. In 1993, the NPCA commissioned the physical inspection of 15 wrecks using divers and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Findings were compiled in reports that indicate the condition of the wrecks varies greatly. Corrosion has set in, and the quantity of oil involved is greater than anticipated. This paper covers the registration work, cooperati.
The antecedents and consequences of product and process innovation strategy implementation in Australian manufacturing firms

Manufacturing firms employ different strategies to improve the performance of their products. In this study, we investigate the roles of environmental dynamism and competitive intensity as antecedents of product and process innovation strategy implementation. Furthermore, we investigate the effect of these initiatives on product innovation performance and product quality performance in manufacturing firms. Based on an analysis of a sample of 207 firms in Australia, the results reveal that environmental dynamism positively relates to both product and process innovation strategy implementation while competitive intensity positively relates to only process innovation strategy implementation. Moreover, product innovation strategy implementation positively relates to product innovation performance while process innovation strategy implementation positively affects product quality performance. Both product innovation performance and product quality performance are found to positively affect business performance. The theoretical and practical implications of the study in the context of Australian manufacturing are discussed.
Synthesis

This study examined the effects of innovativeness, brand portfolio, and consumer preference on consumer’s brand extension adoption, including brand extension evaluation and purchase intention. In addition, the moderating effect of consumer knowledge is examined in this research. Three hypotheses were developed based on relevant literature. Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses. Questionnaires with advertisement pertaining to each experimental condition were designed to collect data. In general, the hypotheses are supported by the data.
Nonlinear Modeling of Cascade Fin Aerodynamics Using Kirchhoff's Steady-State Stall Model

U NDER stationary attached flow conditions, aerodynamic effects can be adequately described using time-invariant parameters and linear models, but the models are highly nonlinear due to dominant unsteady effects and flow separation [1,2] at higher angles of attack. The models based on computational fluid dynamic methods, wind-tunnel (WT) tests, and semiempirical formulations provide a basis for analytical investigations of the complex flow phenomena, but postulating them in an analytical form suitable for parameter estimation is difficult. An alternative approach [3,4] has been followed to describe the flow separation analytically as a function of an internal state variable in the present study. The grid fins, sometimes also called the lattice fins, are a relatively recent development in guided missile technology [5], although grid fins exhibit more effective stability and control characteristics at intermediate and large angles of attack [6,7], but their aerodynamic efficiency is quite low.Misra [8] proposed a new category of grid fins (nomenclatured as “cascade fins”) with higher aerodynamic efficiency. A cascade fin has planar members (fins) placed parallel to each other at a distance based on an optimized gap-to-chord (g=c) ratio. It is the absence of crossmembers that makes a cascade fin different from a grid fin. This Note presents the modeling of nonlinear longitudinal aerodynamics associated with single/cascade fin models [8] at high angles of attack using Kirchhoff’s steady-state stall model. The WT data pertaining to single/cascade finmodels were used to analyze the effect of endplates, the number of planar fins in the cascade, and the g=c ratio on the stall characteristics parameters during nonlinear modeling and estimation. The National Wind Tunnel Facility [8] available in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, was used to generate the data consisting of the variation of lift coefficient (CL) as a function of angle of attack ( ).
In press conditions and their effect on runnability and convertability in digital package printing

A major advantage of digital printing is that printing can be performed on demand, but like all printing techniques it suffers from specific runnability problems. This study reports on an investigation of problems during printing and how to improve the runnability, with the aim of pointing out the most critical factors. Test printing has been performed on three different paperboard types in digital print units, based on both dry and liquid toner electrophotographic technology. The results show that the three main problems during printing were feeding in sheet‐fed print units, cutting in web‐fed print units, and increasing curl after printing. Feeding problems in sheet‐fed print units were mainly explained by curl and varying format size of the paperboard, but also by exceeding thicknesses limits for the press. Curl after printing principally occurred due to high temperature loads caused by, for example, fusing and conditioning. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.