Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the potential of cuttlebone waste to produce building lime

The goal of this study is to find a practicable way to recycle cuttlebone waste in the production of lime. It was studied the behavior of calcium oxide obtained from the calcination of this waste at 900, 1000 and 1100 ºC and, after wet slaking, the produced lime was characterized. All the results were compared to calcium oxide or to hydrated lime obtained from commercial limestone. According to the slaking results, the waste and the limestone calcined at 1000 ºC achieved the R4 (around 13 min to reach 60 ºC) and R5 (60 ºC in 25 s) reactiv­ity class, respectively. Changing the calcination temperature to 900 or 1100 ºC did not promote an increase in the reactivity of the calcined waste. Although less reactive than the calcined limestone, the calcined cuttlebone can be transformed without significant constraint into building lime, since this construction material fulfills the relevant physic-chemical standard specifications.
Robust Control of Grid-Tied Inverters using Particle Swarm Optimization and Linear Matrix Inequalities

This paper provides a new design procedure for robust current controllers applied to LCL-filtered grid-tied inverters suitable for the integration of renewable energy sources. The design takes into account the digital implementation delay, multiple resonant controllers and operation under uncertain grid impedance. The procedure is based on the optimization of an objective function that allows to get a good trade-off between the settling of transient responses and rejection of disturbances. A particle swarm algorithm is used to find the optimal control gains and, differently from other works, here the robust stability of the closed-loop system under uncertain parameters is theoretically certified by means of linear matrix inequalities. Experimental results are shown, confirming that the closed-loop system with gains obtained by the proposed procedure presents a good tradeoff between robustness and performance, with suitable transients and grid currents with low harmonic content, complying with requirements from IEEE 1547 Standard, becoming a useful robust control design alternative for power converters in the distributed generation scenario.
PENGARUH KINERJA LINGKUNGAN, SENSITIVITAS INDUSTRI, DAN UKURAN PERUSAHAAN, TERHADAP PENGUNGKAPAN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DI PERUSAHAAN MANUFAKTUR YANG TERDAFTAR DI BURSA EFEK INDONESIA

Corporate Social Responsibility is a disclosed transparently and is expected to obtain legitimacy from the public. This study aims to determine the effect of Environmental Performance, Company Size, and Industry Sensitivity on the disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility in Manufacturing Companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2015 - 2017. The technique of sample selection uses purposive sampling in 24 manufacturing companies. Data analysis techniques used in this study are the classic assumption test and multiple linear regression test. All variables are stated to be free from interference from classical assumptions. From the results of multiple linear regression test results f test obtained a significant value of 0,000 or <0.05. This means that Environmental Performance, Company Size, and Industrial Sensitivity in Manufacturing Companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange have a significant simultaneous effect. Partial testing shows the results that the variable Environmental Performance and Industrial Sensitivity has a positive and significant effect on Corporate Social Responsibility while the Company Size variable has a negative influence on Corporate Social Responsibility.
Development of Eco-friendly mosquito repellent printed textiles with synthesized Ocimum basilicum leaf dye extract

Due to rapid urbanization, climate change and other factors, the ill effects of mosquito bites are growing day by day. The use of repellents such as lotions, coils and liquidators are limited in their efficacy due to various reasons. This has necessitated the development of mosquito repellent fabrics especially in ecofriendly ways as the consumers are moving towards environment friendly products. Eco friendly mosquito repellent fabrics protect the humans from the bite of mosquitoes and thereby promising safety of the environment. On the other hand, today, nanotechnology is advertently used for the development of protective textiles with multifunctional properties. The unique and new properties of nanomaterial have attracted not only scientists and researchers, but also business due to huge economic potential. Hence, the present research was undertaken to develop mosquito repellent printed textiles. The research paper presents the findings of pre-treated cotton fabric screen printed with natural dyes in combination of nanoparticles in two forms (pre calcinated and calcinated) and in two percentages (5% and 10% respectively) using alum as a mordant. The performance of treated fabrics for mosquito repellent efficacy, wash durability along with geometrical properties was assessed. The findings indicated 93 percent mosquito repellent efficacy with ten percent pre calcinated nanoparticles and further the efficacy reduced with increased wash cycles. A very slight change in the geometrical properties like fabric weight, thickness and count was also observed.
Inferring ground-level nitrogen dioxide concentrations at fine spatial resolution applied to the TROPOMI satellite instrument

Satellite-based estimates of ground-level nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations are useful for understanding links between air quality and health. A longstanding question has been why prior satellite-derived surface NO2 concentrations are biased low with respect to ground-based measurements. In this work we demonstrate that these biases are due to both the coarse resolution of previous satellite NO2 products and inaccuracies in vertical mixing assumptions used to convert satellite-observed tropospheric columns to surface concentrations. We develop an algorithm that now allows for different mixing assumptions to be used based on observed NO2 conditions. We then apply this algorithm to observations from the TROPOMI satellite instrument, which has been providing NO2 column observations at an unprecedented spatial resolution for over a year. This new product achieves estimates of ground-level NO2 with greater accuracy and higher resolution compared to previous satellite-based estimates from OMI. These comparisons also show that TROPOMI-inferred surface NO2 concentrations from our updated algorithm have higher correlation and lower bias than those found using TROPOMI and the prior algorithm. TROPOMI-inferred estimates of the population exposed to NO2 conditions exceeding health standards are at least three times higher than for OMI-inferred estimates. These developments provide an exciting opportunity for air quality monitoring.
Objective measures for powdery mildew

Powdery mildew compromises wine quality. Visual inspection, currently used to estimate disease severity, is subjective and prone to inaccuracy. Research was undertaken to improve visual assessment and to develop objective measures. A diagrammatic key and smartphone app, with supporting online training resource, were developed, trialled in Australia in 2015 and released globally in 2016. A DNA-based assay (qPCR) was developed for absolute quantification of powdery mildew fungus in grapes. Mid- and near-infrared spectroscopy proved insufficiently sensitive to discriminate levels of powdery mildew severity critical to the sector. Arachidic fatty acid was identified as a potential biomarker for quantifying powdery mildew on grapes.
Min-Max Optimization without Gradients: Convergence and Applications to Black-Box Evasion and Poisoning Attacks

In this paper, we study the problem of constrained min-max optimization in a black-box setting, where the desired optimizer cannot access the gradients of the objective function but may query its values. We present a principled optimization framework, integrating a zeroth-order (ZO) gradient estimator with an alternating projected stochastic gradient descent-ascent method, where the former only requires a small number of function queries and the later needs just one-step descent/ascent update. We show that the proposed framework, referred to as ZO-Min-Max , has a sub-linear convergence rate under mild conditions and scales gracefully with problem size. We also explore a promising connection between black-box min-max optimization and black-box evasion and poisoning attacks in adversarial machine learning (ML). Our empirical evaluations on these use cases demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach and its scalability to dimensions that prohibit using recent black-box solvers.
Human neutrophil antigen allele frequencies and assessment of HNA alloimmunisation risk in donors and hematological patients

Human neutrophil antigens (HNAs) are localized on glycoproteins which are positioned on the surface membrane of human neutrophils. Alloantibodies against HNA are implicated in a number of clinical conditions, including immune-mediated neutropenia and transfusion reactions. Genotyping for HNA systems is important in the diagnosis of disorders involving alloimmunization to HNA. Aim. To assess the risk of HNA alloimmunization in donors and patients with hematological diseases in St. Petersburg based on the study of HNA allele and genotype frequencies. Materials and methods. DNA samples of 303 blood donors and 302 hematological patients were obtained and typed for HNA-1, -3, -4, -5. Polymerase chain reactions with homemade sequence-specific primers were used for typing. Genomic DNA was isolated from whole blood by a multistage purification method using the CTAB reagent. The results were detected in real time using the EVAGreen intercalating dye. Pearson’s chi-squared test was used to compare the HNA genotype frequencies in donors, patients with hematological diseases and in other populations. Results. In the study, the frequency of HNA-1bd allele was 0.584–0.588, of HNA-1a – 0.376–0.384, of HNA-1bc – 0.032–0.036. HNA-1bc allele was represented in the genotypes HNA-1a/bc/bd (0.023–0.036), HNA-1a/bc (0.020–0.043) and HNA-1bc/bd (0.007–0.010). The genotypes HNA-1bc/bc and HNA-1null were not identified. Allele “a” of HNA-3, -4, -5 systems was found in the majority of studied individuals (0.795–0.804; 0.887–0.898; 0.699–0.708). The highest calculated risk of HNA alloimmunization was noted in the absence of HNA-5b, HNA-1a, HNA-3b, and HNA-4b alleles in the genotype and was 0.250, 0.233, 0.231, and 0.163, respectively. Conclusions. Our data are consistent with the results of studies on the HNA allele and genotype frequencies in populations of Europeans and are significantly different from those of East and Southeast Asia, Africa and South America. The frequencies of HNA-1, -3, -4, -5 alleles and genotypes among donors in St. Petersburg and patients with hematological diseases did not have statistically significant differences. It was shown that the highest calculated risk of alloimmunization was observed in the absence of HNA-5b, HNA-1a, HNA-3b, and HNA-4b alleles in the genotype. These data are consistent with the results of similar studies on populations of white Europeans conducted by other authors.
Impact of a patient-derived hepatitis C viral RNA genome with a mutated microRNA binding site

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) depends on liver-specific microRNA miR-122 for efficient viral RNA amplification in liver cells. This microRNA interacts with two different conserved sites at the very 5’ end of the viral RNA, enhancing miR-122 stability and promoting replication of the viral RNA. Treatment of HCV patients with oligonucleotides that sequester mir-122 resulted in profound loss of viral RNA in phase II clinical trials. However, some patients accumulated in their sera a viral RNA genome that contained a single cytidine to uridine mutation at the third nucleotide from the 5’ genomic end. It is shown here that this C3U variant indeed displayed higher rates of replication than that of wild-type HCV when miR-122 abundance is low in liver cells. However, when miR-122 abundance is high, binding of miR-122 to site 1, most proximal to the 5’ end in the C3U variant RNA, is impaired without disrupting the binding of miR-122 to site 2. As a result, C3U RNA displays a much lower rate of replication than wild-type mRNA when miR-122 abundance is high in the liver. These findings suggest that sequestration of miR-122 leads to a resistance-associated mutation that has only been observed in treated patients so far, and raises the question about the function of the C3U variant in the peripheral blood. Author Summary With the advent of potent direct-acting antivirals (DAA), hepatitis C virus (HCV) can now be eliminated from the majority of patients, using multidrug therapy with DAAs. However, such DAAs are not available for the treatment of most RNA virus infections. The main problem is the high error rate by which RNA-dependent RNA polymerases copy viral RNA genomes, allowing the selection of mutations that are resistant to DAAs. Thus, targeting host-encoded functions that are essential for growth of the virus but not for the host cell offer promising, novel approaches. HCV needs host-encoded microRNA miR-122 for its viral RNA replication in the liver, and depletion of miR-122 in HCV patients results in loss of viral RNA. This study shows that a single-nucleotide mutation in HCV allows viral RNA amplification when miR-122 abundances are low, concomitant with changes in its tropism.
Tau Protein as a Biological Fluid Biomarker in Neurodegenerative Dementias

Tau is a microtubule-associated protein, whose main function is the modulation of the stability of axonal microtubules. In physiological conditions tau is abundant in neurons while its expression in glial populations is low and restricted to astrocytes and oligo- dendrocytes. The aggregation of tau in neurofibrillary or gliofibrillary tangles is the main hallmark of tauopathies, a complex group of human neurodegenerative conditions where tau hyper-phosphorylation causes its increased insolubility and aggregation leading to tangle formation and microtubule destabilization. Tau can be detected in biological fluids in physiological and pathological conditions. In several neurodegenerative demen -tias, either associated or not to a primary tauopathy, tau levels are altered in a disease- specific pattern, which can be used as a biomarker for disease diagnosis and prognosis. The study of tau levels in biological fluids has been mainly performed in the cerebro - spinal fluid (CSF), although the recent development of ultrasensitive techniques allows the robust quantification of tau in blood-based biofluids such as serum and plasma. The presence of elevated total-tau in the CSF is assumed in biological fluids of neurodegenerative dementias and its relevance in the differential diagnostic context. Additionally, we explore how tau alterations in the brain tissue may explain the etiology of its regulated levels in CSF and blood. with pre-MCI stage of subjective cogni tive decline (SCD) that t-tau is a late marker of neuro nal and cannot be used as a prognostic tool of the likelihood to develop AD-related sensitivity of the methodologies is
Spanish honeys with quality brand: a multivariate approach to physicochemical parameters, microbiological quality, and floral origin

This study consisted of a palynological, microbiological, and physicochemical characterization of fifteen samples of Spanish honey sold under quality brands with different botanical and geographical origins from two consecutive harvest years (2010 and 2011). Eight of the fifteen honey samples were classified as monofloral honey from botanical origins Persea americana, Castanea sativa, Rosmarinus officinalis, Eucalyptus sp. , and Thymus sp. With regard to microbiological analyses, mold, and yeast counting, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, sulfite-reducing clostridia, and Escherichia coli were not detected in any of the samples. Aerobic mesophilic microorganisms were detected only in some samples and the counts in these cases were low. Despite the great variability between samples, the results obtained in the physicochemical analysis were consistent with the limits set by the Council Directive 2001/100. Honey samples showed high variability between two consecutive harvests, since, even if they had similar geographical origins they showed different nectar floral origins. Mieles españolas con marca de calidad: un enfoque multivariado de parámetros fisicoquímicos, calidad microbiológica y origen floral Este estudio consistió en la caracterización botánica, microbiológica y fisicoquímica de quince muestras de miel españolas acogidas a marcas de calidad diferenciada de diferentes orígenes botánicos y geográficos y procedentes de dos cosechas consecutivas (años 2010 y 2011). Ocho de las quince muestras de miel estudiadas fueron clasificadas como mieles monoflorales de Persea americana, Castanea sativa, Rosmarinus officinalis, Eucalyptus sp. y Thymus sp. En relación a los análisis microbiológicos los recuentos de mohos y levaduras, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, clostridios sulfito reductores y Escherichia coli no fueron detectados en ninguna de las muestras. Se detectaron microorganismos aerobios mesófilos solo en algunas muestras y en este caso los recuentos fueron bajos. Aunque se detectaron coliformes, estos podrían estar asociados a un origen ambiental. A pesar de la gran variabilidad entre las muestras, los resultados obtenidos en el análisis fisicoquímico se encontraron dentro de los límites establecidos por la Directiva del Consejo 2001/100. Las muestras de miel mostraron una gran variabilidad entre cosechas porque aunque tuvieron un mismo origen geográfico, hubo diferencias en su origen floral.
The State-Owned Enterprise as an Identity: The Influence of Institutional Logics on Guanxi Behavior

ABSTRACT Previous research has debated whether guanxi persists or declines with the development of formal institutions. This study addresses this debate by investigating how the development of formal institutions in China's state-owned organizations influences employees’ guanxi behavior. Building on institutional logics theory, I propose that guanxi behavior is a reaction to the socialist institutions adopted by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and is associated with the collective identity of SOEs. Thus, employees’ identification with SOEs is the mechanism that influences their guanxi behavior. A survey of 721 employees from 12 organizations compared guanxi behavior across three types of organizations with different degrees of state ownership: SOEs, public firms, and joint ventures. The results showed that the employees of joint ventures identify less with SOEs and engage in less guanxi behaviors than do SOE employees. The employees of public firms still identify with SOEs, and their guanxi behavior did not differ from that of SOE employees. Identification with SOEs mediated the effect of organizational type on guanxi behavior, whereas formalization did not. Therefore, the development of formal institutions does not necessarily decrease guanxi behavior, and its effect depends on whether the collective identity underlying guanxi is changed. This study has important implications for guanxi research, institutional logics theory, and transition economies.
Workflow to Establish Time-Specific Zones in Precision Agriculture by Spatiotemporal Integration of Plant and Soil Sensing Data

Management zones (MZs) are used in precision agriculture to diversify agronomic management across a field. According to current common practices, MZs are often spatially static: they are developed once and used thereafter. However, the soil–plant relationship often varies over time and space, decreasing the efficiency of static MZ designs. Therefore, we propose a novel workflow for time-specific MZ delineation based on integration of plant and soil sensing data. The workflow includes four steps: (1) geospatial sensor measurements are used to describe soil spatial variability and in-season plant growth status; (2) moving-window regression modelling is used to characterize the sub-field changes of the soil–plant relationship; (3) soil information and sub-field indicator(s) of the soil–plant relationship (i.e., the local regression slope coefficient[s]) are used to delineate time-specific MZs using fuzzy cluster analysis; and (4) MZ delineation is evaluated and interpreted. We illustrate the workflow with an idealized, yet realistic, example using synthetic data and with an experimental example from a 21-ha maize field in Italy using two years of maize growth, soil apparent electrical conductivity and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data. In both examples, the MZs were characterized by unique combinations of soil properties and soil–plant relationships. The proposed approach provides an opportunity to address the spatiotemporal nature of changes in crop genetics × environment × management interactions.
Growth and development of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes as affected by drought stress and PGRs

The most important challenge in production of most of the crops including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is drought stress. Presently, growth and development of wheat genotypes (HD2967, PBW660, WH1105 and PBW658) as effected by drought stress and plant growth regulators like cytokinins [Kinetin (Kn) and Benzyl adenine (BA)] on various morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters under the lab conditions were studied to select the best concentration of Kn (@ 10, 20 and 40mg/L) and BA (@ 25 and 50mg/L). Drought stress in laboratory was induced by PEG-6000 creating -0.4MPa of stress. Under laboratory conditions, Kn@40mg/L and BA@50mg/L was performed better as compared to lower concentrations of Kn and BA tested and these were studied in combination with osmoprotectants like [Trehalose (Tre) and Glycine Betaine (GB)] in different combinations like Kn@40mg/L along with Tre@1mM, Kn@40mg/L along with Tre@ 1.5mM, BA @50mg/L along with Tre@1mM, BA @50mg/L along with Tre @ 1.5mM, Kn@40mg/L along with GB 50mM, Kn@40mg/L along with GB100mM, BA @50mg/L along with GB 50mM, BA @50mg/L along with GB 100mM in the field experiments on three wheat genotypes (HD2967, PBW660 and WH1105. Drought stress significantly reduced various morpho-physiological parameters like Relative Growth rate (RGR), Specific leaf area (SLA), Relative leaf water content (RLWC) and photosynthetic gas exchange parameters like net photosynthetic rate (NPR), transpiration rate (TR), stomatal conductance (SC) and intercellular CO2 concentration (ICC) at vegetative as well as flag leaf stage. Cytokinins along with different concentrations of osmoprotectants significantly decreased the negative effect of drought stress on various morpho-physiological parameters. Significant negative effect of drought stress was studied on biochemical parameters like Hill reaction activity, MDA content, membrane stability and cell viability. Drought stress significantly increased the photosynthetic pigments like chlorophyll and carotenoid content. Drought stress significantly increased the total soluble sugars, reducing sugars and decreased the non-reducing sugars. Enzymatic activities of various antioxidants like SOD, catalase, APx, DHAR and MDHAR were increased significantly under drought stress. Nonenzymatic ROS were alleviated significantly under drought stress and by application of cytokinins in combination with osmoprotectants. Under drought stress a significant reduction in yield contributing parameters like number of kernels per spike, number of productive tillers/m 2 , peduncle extrusion, thousand grain weight, grain yield/m 2 , biological yield/m 2 and harvest index was recorded. Cytokinins in combination with different concentrations of osmoprotectants significantly ameliorated the negative effect of drought stress. From among the tested combinations, Kn@40mg/L in combination with Tre@ 1.5mM had more pronounced effect in ameliorating the adverse effect of drought stress on yield contributing parameters of selected wheat genotypes.