Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Síntese e caracterização de biomateriais de fosfatos de cálcio a partir de conchas calcárias fossilizadas

As pesquisas tem demonstrando nestas ultimas decadas, que as biocerâmicas de fosfatos de calcio e os nanocompositos com matriz de fosfatos de calcio, podem ser a nova geracao de biomateriais para o uso na reparacao de defeitos e na reconstrucao de tecido osseo. Isto pode ser explicado pelas novas caracteristicas microestruturais, nanoestruturais, da microporosidade interconectada, da area superficial de graos e de microporos diferenciadas dos biomateriais convencionais. Dentre esta classe de biomateriais cerâmicos, se destacam a hidroxiapatita, e o fosfato de calcio-b, por apresentarem similaridade cristalografica com os tecidos osseos do esqueleto humano. O presente trabalho se concentrou na otimizacao do metodo de sintese via umida para obtencao de pos de fosfato de calcio, a partir do precursor carbonato de calcio (CaCO3), proveniente de conchas calcarias fossilizadas e acido fosforico. Elaboracao de biomateriais de fosfato de calcio, com caracteristicas de microporosidade e microestrutura diferenciadas dos biomateriais convencionais. Os pos recuperados da sintese, foram calcinados a temperatura de 900oC/2h, fornecendo os pos micro nanoestruturados de fosfato de calcio-b e hidroxiapatita. Foram elaborados corpos de prova cilindricos nas dimensoes 10mm de altura com 5mm de diâmetro, para as diferentes composicoes. Estes foram sinterizados a temperatura de 1200°C/2h, fornecendo os biomateriais. Os estudos de caracterizacao foram realizados em nivel morfologico, microestrutural, nanoestrutural, mineralogico, fisico, do comportamento termico, quimico, e das propriedades mecânicas. Os resultados obtidos neste estudo colocaram em evidencia, as caracteristicas diferenciadas de microporosidade, microestrutura e nanoestrutura dos biomateriais de fosfato de calcio, caracteristicas promissoras para adesao e proliferacao celular na superficie de graos e de microporos. Estes resultados indicam que o metodo de sintese a partir de um precursor natural se apresentou eficiente na sintese de pos de fosfato de calcio.
Extraction and Characterization Studies of Cellulose Derived from the Roots of Acalypha Indica L

ABSTRACT The underlying principle of this current research was to characterize the cellulosic fibers that were retted from the roots of Acalypha indica L. plant to find their aptness for making green composites. Physical characterization tests were conducted and reported proving the reinforcing capability of these fibers which has a density of 1.356 g/cm3. Chemical composition tests conducted on these fibers showed the weight % of cellulose as 67.86. Amorphous constituents such as hemicellulose and lignin were present as 0.24 and 18.75 weight %, respectively. Wax, ash, and moisture were respectively present as 0.86, 2.13, and 10.16 weight % of fibers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies purported the presence of both amorphous and crystalline contents of cellulose confirming the peaks of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies. The fibers possessed a crystallinity index of 46.62% and their crystallite size was computed as 3.68 nm from XRD, with a good temperature bearing capacity of 225°C as ascertained from the thermo-gravimetric analysis. Conglomeration of fibrils and the roughness characteristics were evident from the scanning electron microscopic images and atomic force microscopic observations, respectively. Thus, it can be seen that this newly identified fiber are apposite reinforcements and can be explored further by infusing them in polymer matrices for making sustainable products.
FlowPic: A Generic Representation for Encrypted Traffic Classification and Applications Identification

Identifying the type of a network flow or a specific application has many advantages, such as, traffic engineering, or to detect and prevent application or application types that violate the organization’s security policy. The use of encryption, such as VPN, makes such identification challenging. Current solutions rely mostly on handcrafted features and then apply supervised learning techniques for the classification. We introduce a novel approach for encrypted Internet traffic classification and application identification by transforming basic flow data into an intuitive picture, a FlowPic, and then using known image classification deep learning techniques, CNNs, to identify the flow category (browsing, chat, video, etc.) and the application in use. We show that our approach can classify traffic with high accuracy, both for a specific application, or a flow category, even for VPN and Tor traffic. Our classifier can even identify with high success new applications that were not part of the training phase for a category, thus, new versions or applications can be categorized without additional training.
The role of information systems and knowledge codification for service provision strategies

PurposeWhile service scholars see modularisation as balancing the efficiency of standardisation with the value added through customisation the relationships between these concepts are under-theorised. In addition, although information and communication technologies can facilitate all three service strategies, the degree to which they codify service knowledge is not explicitly considered in the extant literature. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a model that examines service strategy trajectories by specifically considering the ICTs used and the degree of knowledge codification employed.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on three qualitative case studies of service departments of firms involved in cardiovascular applications, orthopaedic, spinal and neuroscience product development and information technology support. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews, document analysis and non-participant observation.FindingsFindings show that ICTs were increasingly used to codify both standardised and customised services, though in different ways. For standardised services ICTs codified the service process, making them even more rigid. Due to the dynamic nature of customised services, drawing on experts' tacit knowledge, ICTs codified the possessors of knowledge rather than the service process they undertook. This study also identified a duality between the tacit development of customised services and modular service codification.Research limitations/implicationsThe model is validated using case studies from three companies in the medical and information technology sectors limiting its generalisability.Practical implicationsThe importance of considering the degree of tacitness or explicitness of service knowledge is important for service codification. The paper provides managers with empirical examples of how ICTs are used to support all three strategies, allows them to identify their current position and indicates possible future trajectories.Originality/valueThe papers main contribution is the development of a model that integrates the literature on service strategies with knowledge management strategies to classify service standardisation, customisation and modularisation in terms of both service orientation and degree of ICT codification.
Gender budgeting in emerging economies–a systematic literature review and research agenda

PurposeGender budgeting aims to include a gender perspective at all stages of the budgetary process. Emerging economies (EEs) face different challenges in gender equality to high-income economies–with larger informal economic sectors that typically employ a larger proportion of women and weaker political accountability. We analyse the literature on gender budgeting in EEs and derive avenues for future research.Design/methodology/approachAdopting a systematic literature review, we investigate the focus of research on gender budgeting in EEs and analyse how the literature has developed over the last decade.FindingsOur results show that gender budgeting is a relevant topic in EEs. The literature focuses on overall rationales for employing gender budgeting and its theoretical implementation. However, many studies remain explorative, reviewing existing content without collecting new and potentially more suitable data. The evidence on the success of gender budgeting initiatives is mixed. While a number of studies present positive experiences regarding certain aspects of gender budgeting, other studies discuss a decoupling between adopted instruments and their actual use, as well as projects not being further pursued or developed when donors retreat.Originality/valueGiven the identified lack of studies reporting on actual implementation experiences, future research should address gender budgeting from an accounting and accountability perspective and focus on the reform impacts.
SparseDGCNN: Recognizing Emotion From Multichannel EEG Signals

Emotion recognition from EEG signals has attracted much attention in affective computing. Recently, a novel dynamic graph convolutional neural network (DGCNN) model was proposed, which simultaneously optimized the network parameters and a weighted graph <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>G</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="zheng-ieq1-3051332.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> characterizing the strength of functional relation between each pair of two electrodes in the EEG recording equipment. In this article, we propose a sparse DGCNN model which modifies DGCNN by imposing a sparseness constraint on <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>G</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="zheng-ieq2-3051332.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and improves the emotion recognition performance. Our work is based on an important observation: the tomography study reveals that different brain regions sampled by EEG electrodes may be related to different functions of the brain and then the functional relations among electrodes are possibly highly localized and sparse. However, introducing sparseness constraint into the graph <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$G$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>G</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="zheng-ieq3-3051332.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> makes the loss function of sparse DGCNN non-differentiable at some singular points. To ensure that the training process of sparse DGCNN converges, we apply the forward-backward splitting method. To evaluate the performance of sparse DGCNN, we compare it with four representative recognition methods (SVM, DBN, GELM and DGCNN). In addition to comparing different recognition methods, our experiments also compare different features and spectral bands, including EEG features in time-frequency domain (DE, PSD, DASM, RASM, ASM and DCAU on different bands) extracted from four representative EEG datasets (SEED, DEAP, DREAMER, and CMEED). The results show that (1) sparse DGCNN has consistently better accuracy than representative methods and has a good scalability, and (2) DE, PSD, and ASM features on <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\gamma$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>γ</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="zheng-ieq4-3051332.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> band convey most discriminative emotional information, and fusion of separate features and frequency bands can improve recognition performance.
Tratamento de águas residuárias de suinocultura em sistemas alagados construídos, com Chrysopogon zizanioides e Polygonum punctatum cultivadas em leito de argila expandida

The objective of this study was to evaluate the pollutant removal of swine wastewater in horizontal-flow constructed wetlands (CW) and the contribution of vegetable species Polygonum punctatum (smartweed) and Chrysopogon zizanioides (vetiver grass). Three CW's were implanted with expanded clay as support bed, one cultivated with P. punctatum (CWE), another cultivated with C. zizanioides (CWV) and one without cultivation, used as control (CWC). Using a nominal hydraulic retention time (τ) of 3.21 days, theaverage removal efficiencies of BOD, NT and PT obtained were 85, 38 e 51% (CWC), 89, 48 e 69% (CWE) and 81, 36 e 45% (CWV), respectively. The best performance was observed on CWE. The dry mass productivities were 2.79 and 1.91 g m-2 d-1. NT removals were 1.54 and 1.01% and PT removals were 0.81 and 1.19%, respectively for Polygonum punctatum and Chrysopogon zizanioides .
The Effect of Chairside Verbal Instructions Matched with Instagram Social Media on Oral Hygiene of Young Orthodontic Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of Instagram in improving oral hygiene compliance and knowledge in young orthodontic patients compared to traditional chairside verbal instructions. Design: Single-center, parallel, randomized controlled trial. Setting: Section of Dentistry of University of Pavia. Participants: 40 patients having fixed appliances in both arches were recruited and randomly divided into an intervention (n = 20) and a control group (n = 20). Intervention: At a first appointment, both groups were given verbal instructions and motivated to oral hygiene. In addition, multimedia contents on Instagram were sent weekly to trial participants for six months. Main outcome measures: For all participants, the bleeding index (BI), modified gingival index (MGI), and plaque index (PI) were assessed at baseline (T0), after one (T1), three (T2), and six months (T3). A questionnaire was administered at the beginning (T0) and at the end of the study (T3) to assess participants’ knowledge. Results: In both groups, BI, MGI, and PI significantly decreased (p < 0.05) at T1 (means control group: BI 0.26 ± 0.22, MGI 0.77 ± 0.36, PI 0.53 ± 0.20; means test group: BI 0.24 ± 0.22, MGI 0.65 ± 0.46, PI 0.49 ± 0.21) compared to baseline (means control group: BI 0.56 ± 0.27, MGI 1.23 ± 0.41, PI 0.87 ± 0.23; means test group: BI 0.54 ± 0.26, MGI 1.18 ± 0.39, PI 0.93 ± 0.20) but no significant differences in clinical measures were showed between T1, T2, and T3 (p > 0.05) (intragroup differences). Trial patients demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge with respect to controls comparing scores at T0 and T3 (p < 0.05) but despite this result in the test group clinical outcomes did not report significant intergroup differences at any time (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Presenting multimedia information through Instagram resulted in a significant improvement in knowledge. Therefore, this social media represents an aid to the standard verbal motivation performed by orthodontists towards young patients under an orthodontic treatment.
Nusinersen Treatment in Adults With Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Objective To determine changes in motor and respiratory function after treatment with nusinersen in adults with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) during the first two years of commercial availability in the USA. Methods Data were collected prospectively on adult (age >17 years at treatment initiation) SMA participants in the Pediatric Neuromuscular Clinical Research (PNCR) Network. Baseline assessments of SMA outcomes including the Expanded Hammersmith Functional Rating Scale (HFMSE), Revised Upper Limb Module (RULM), and 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) occurred <5 months before treatment, and post-treatment assessments were made up to 24 months after nusinersen initation. Patient-reported experiences, safety laboratory tests and adverse events were monitored. The mean annual rate of change over time was determined for outcome measures using linear mixed effects models. Results Forty-two adult SMA participants (mean age: 34 years, range 17-66) receiving nusinersen for a mean of 12.5 months (range 3-24 months) were assessed. Several motor and respiratory measures showed improvement distinct from the progressive decline typically seen in untreated adults. Participants also reported qualitative improvements including muscle strength, stamina, breathing and bulbar related outcomes. All participants tolerated nusinersen with normal surveillance labs and no significant adverse events. Conclusions Trends of improvement emerged in functional motor, patient-reported, and respiratory measures, suggesting nusinersen may be efficacious in adults with SMA. Larger well-controlled studies and additional outcome measures are needed to firmly establish the efficacy of nusinersen in adults with SMA. Classification of Evidence This study provides Class IV evidence regarding nusinersen tolerability and efficacy based on reported side effects and pulmonary and physical therapy assessments in an adult SMA cohort.
Efficient Hardware Malware Detectors That are Resilient to Adversarial Evasion

Hardware Malware Detectors (HMDs) have recently been proposed to make systems more malware-resistant. HMDs use hardware features to detect malware as a computational anomaly. Several aspects of the detector construction have been explored, leading to detectors with high accuracy. In this article, we explore whether malware developers can modify malware to avoid HMDs detection. We show that existing HMDs can be effectively reverse-engineered and subsequently evaded. Next, we explore whether retraining using evasive malware would help and show that retraining is limited. To address these limitations, we propose a new type of Resilient HMDs (RHMDs) that stochastically switch between different detectors. These detectors can be shown to be provably more difficult to reverse engineer based on recent results in probably approximately correct (PAC) learnability theory. We show that indeed such detectors are resilient to both reverse engineering and evasion, and that the resilience increases with the number and diversity of the individual detectors. Furthermore, we show that an optimal switching strategy between the RHMDs base detectors not only reduces misclassification on evasive malware but also maintains high classification accuracy on non-evasive malware. Our results demonstrate that these HMDs offer effective defense against evasive malware at low additional complexity.
Biowaiver Study of Selected Solid Oral Prednisolone Products Available in Sri Lanka: Recommendations for Comparator Product Used in Biowaiver Testing

This post-marketing study on prednisolone products in Sri Lanka was conducted using BCS-based biowaiver procedures for performing in vitro bioequivalence studies. The market leader product with the highest availability was selected as the comparator in the absence of the innovator product. A validated UV/Visible spectrophotometric method was used to quantify the drug dissolution. Cumulative drug release profiles were determined in dissolution media at pH 1.2, 4.5, and 6.8 using the paddle apparatus. Although the two test products and the comparator met pharmacopoeial requirements for quality, they failed to meet in vitro biowaiver criteria. Acceptability of biowaiver study results depends on the performance of the comparator product. Information on the comparator product's bioequivalence to the innovator product was not available. This study revealed the difficulties in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) when conducting biowaiver studies for regulatory submission and highlights the necessity to have bioequivalence data and excipient information for the comparator product for better decision making. The study supports having an international standard comparator product used by LMICs when manufacturing and registering generic drug products.
Comparative Study For The Treatment Of Inactive Ovary In Local Iraqi Breed Cow By Using Massage Method Of The Ovaries And Gnrh

This study was conducted on 40 cows suffering from inactive ovaries brought to the Teaching Veterinary clinic of College of Veterinary, University of Mosul. The inactive ovary was diagnosed in 40 cows depending on the case's date and general examination by rectal palpation to determine the ovarian size and the existence of certain ovarian structures and check the uterine horns and body. The animals were divided following the identification of the affected animals with inactive ovaries, into two groups, each group composed of 20 cows. The animals in the first group were treated with GnRH hormone at a dose of 0.5 mg. In contrast, animals in the second group were treated by the ovaries' manual massage method via rectal palpation. The study findings clarified that the estrous response ratio amounts to 50% in the first group and 60% in the second group. Statistically, there were no differences in response ratio between the two groups in relation to the response.
Numerical Study on Unsteady Pressure Distribution on Bulk Carrier in Head Waves with Forward Speed

This study deals with wave-induced unsteady pressure on a ship moving with a constant forward speed in regular head waves. Two different numerical methods are applied to solve wave–ship interaction problems: a Rankine panel method which adopts velocity potential, and a Cartesian-grid method which solves the momentum and mass conservation equations under the assumption of inviscid and incompressible fluids. Before comparing l1ocal pressure distributions, the computational methods are validated for global quantities, such as ship motion responses and added resistance, by comparison with available experimental data. Then, the computational results and experimental data are compared for hydrodynamic pressure, particularly focusing on the magnitude of the first-harmonic component in different sections and vertical locations. Furthermore, the Cartesian-grid method is used to simulate the various wave-amplitude conditions, and the characteristics of the zeroth-, first-, and second-harmonic components of wave-induced pressure are investigated. The nonlinearity of pressure distribution is observed mostly from the pressure near the still-water-level of the ship bow and the normalized first-harmonic component of wave-induced pressure decreases as the wave steepness increases. Lastly, to understand the local characteristics of wave-induced unsteady pressure, the time-averaged added pressure and added local force are analyzed. It is found that the major contribution of the time-averaged added local force that occurs around the ship stem above the design waterline.
On the price volatility of steel futures and its influencing factors in China

Article history: Received: November 28, 2020 Received in revised format: December 28 2020 Accepted: February 7, 2021 Available online: February 7, 2021 Steel futures have the function of price discovery and hedging. Steel related enterprises can judge the hedging strategy through the direction of steel futures price volatility, and reasonably avoid the risk brought by price volatility. Therefore, it is particularly important to study steel futures price volatility and its influencing factors. Because steel futures in China have characteristics of peak and rear tail aggregation, the paper constructs Model of GARCH (1,1) to make positive analysis of futures price volatility and its influencing factors of deformed steel bars and hot rolled coils, and the following conclusions have been drawn: (1) The volume and open interest of deformed steel bars have very significant explanatory ability to futures price volatility of deformed steel bars; (2) The volume and open interest of hot rolled coils also have very significant explanatory ability to futures price volatility of hot rolled coils; (3) The sustainable capacity of the price volatility of deformed steel bars and hot rolled coils is relatively small; (4) Iron ore price have no obvious explanatory ability to futures price volatility. Finally, some managerial implications and suggestions are derived from the analysis of the proposed model. © 2021 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada