Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Flux measurements of volatile organic compounds from an urban tower platform

Flux Measurements of Volatile Organic Compounds from an Urban Tower Platform. (May 2010) Chang Hyoun Park, B.S., Pusan National University; M.S., Pusan National University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Gunnar W. Schade A tall tower flux measurement setup was established in metropolitan Houston, Texas, to measure trace gas fluxes from both anthropogenic and biogenic emission sources in the urban surface layer. We describe a new relaxed eddy accumulation system combined with a dual-channel gas chromatography flame ionization detection used for volatile organic compound (VOC) flux measurements in the urban area, focusing on the results of selected anthropogenic VOCs, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX), and biogenic VOCs including isoprene and its oxidation products, methacrolein (MACR) and methyl vinyl ketone (MVK). We present diurnal variations of concentrations and fluxes of BTEX, and isoprene and its oxidation products during summer time (May 22 – July 22, 2008) and winter time (January 1 – February 28). The measured BTEX values exhibited diurnal cycles with a morning peak during weekdays related to rush-hour traffic and additional workday daytime flux maxima for toluene and xylenes in summer time. However, in winter time there was no additional workday daytime peaks due mainly to the different flux footprints between the two seasons. A
Phenotypic screening of multidrug-resistant E. coli from water and fish collected from different fish farms within Abakaliki metropolis, Nigeria

The aim of this study was to screen fish farm water and fishes reared in fish farms within Abakaliki metropolis for multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli. Exactly 30 fish samples and 30 water samples were obtained from 10 different fish farms using sterile bottles from January to June, 2018. Samples were analyzed by standard microbiology methods. Susceptibility test to antibiotics was done by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. Double-disc synergy test was used to screen isolates for Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL)-production. Exactly 54 (60%) E. coli and 12 (40%) E. coli were recovered from 90 different fish parts and 30 farm water samples, respectively. Isolates exhibited resistance (54% - 100%) to ceftazidime, aztreonam, cefotetan, cefuroxime, cefoxitin, piperacillin/tazobactam, ofloxacin, and ceftriaxone, but were susceptible to imipenem (80%), cefotaxime (60%), and gentamicin (57%). All the E. coli isolates form water and fish samples were negative for ESBL production. An average multiple antibiotic resistance index (MARI) value of 0.71 was recorded for the isolates. High prevalence of E. coli with multidrug-resistant traits in fish and water samples in our study area is a serious public health concern as this will make the treatment of infections, especially E. coli-associated foodborne diseases very difficult, thus leading to increase in health care cost, morbidity, and mortality. Key words: Escherichia coli, fish farm, multidrug-resistance, farm water, fish.
Influence of dietary cobalt on performance, nutrient digestibility and rumen activity in lambs.

The present study was conducted to study the effects of different inclusion levels of dietary cobalt (Co) on performance, nutrient digestibility and rumen activity in lambs. Twenty, 5.0 monthold weaned lambs (Egyptian native breed) were randomly divided into four groups which were fed with the basal diet containing 0.0486 mg Co/kg DM, the basal diet supplied, respectively, with 0.35, 0.70 and 1.00 mg Co/kg DM reagent grade CoSO4·7H2O for 100 days. In the end of experimental period, three lambs from each group were allocated to the individual metabolic cages to measure the effects of dietary Co on apparent nutrient digestibility. Samples of rumen content were taken once a week for seven consecutive weeks, two times daily (before feeding and 3 hours after feeding). Average daily gain and average daily feed intake for the fourth group were higher than control group (P<0.05). However, there was no difference in gain/feed. Supplemental 1.0 mg Co/kg DM resulted in highest digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein and crude fiber (P<0.05). Nitrogen free extract was higher for third group (0.7 mg Co/mg DM) than the other three groups (P<0.05). The pH values and ammonia nitrogen were low in supplemented groups than in the control. The concentrations of volatile fatty acids were increased after feeding and peaked at 3-h post-feeding in the third group. The number of total protozoa was significantly increased for third group than other groups. In conclusion, supplementation of the basal diet with 0.70-1.00 mg Co/kg DM (the total dietary Co level of 0.749 -1.049 mg/kg DM) in the basal diet enhanced growth performance and improved nutrient digestibility and rumen activity of lambs.
Impact of international shipping emissions on ozone and PM2.5 in East Asia during summer: the important role of HONO and ClNO2

Abstract. Ocean-going ships emit large amounts of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide (NO x ) and particulate matter. NO x emitted from ships can be converted to nitrous acid (HONO) and nitryl chloride (ClNO 2 ), which produce hydroxyl (OH) and chlorine (Cl) radicals and recycle NO x , thereby affecting the oxidative capacity and production of secondary pollutants. However, these effects have not been quantified in previous investigations of the impacts of ship emissions. In this study, a regional transport model (WRF-Chem) revised to incorporate the latest HONO and ClNO 2 processes was used to investigate their effects on the concentrations of RO x (RO 2 + HO 2 + OH) radicals, ozone (O 3 ), and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) in Asia during summer. The results show that the ship-derived HONO and ClNO 2 increased the concentration of RO x radicals by approximately 2–3 times in the marine boundary layer. The enhanced radicals then increased the O 3 and PM 2.5 concentrations in marine areas, with the ship contributions increasing from 9 % to 21 % and from 7 % to 10 % respectively. The largest RO x enhancement was simulated over the remote ocean with the ship contribution increasing from 29 % to 50 %, which led to increases in ship-contributed O 3 and PM 2.5 from 21 % to 38 % and from 13 % to 19 % respectively. In coastal cities, the enhanced levels of radicals also increased the maximum O 3 and averaged PM 2.5 concentrations from 5 % to 11 % and from 4 %–8 % to 4 %–12 % respectively. These findings indicate that modelling studies that do not consider HONO and ClNO 2 can significantly underestimate the impact of ship emissions on radicals and secondary pollutants. Therefore, it is important that these nitrogen compounds be included in future models of the impact of ship emissions on air quality.
Development of characteristic airway bifurcations in cystic fibrosis

Abstract The objective of this study was to develop mathematically described characteristic tracheobronchial bifurcations that are representative of aerosol transport and deposition in the intermediate airways of children with cystic fibrosis (CF), where bronchiectasis is a major contributor to changes in lung anatomy. Realistic airway models in the region of bifurcations B4-B7 were extracted from CT scans of children that were scored as having either low (CT-Low) or moderate (CT-Mod) CF lung disease and served as a basis for comparison with characteristic models. Aerosol deposition characteristics in these CT-extracted models were compared with a previously developed baseline stochastic individual path model (Baseline SIP), based on mathematically defined physiologically realistic bifurcations (PRBs), and new characteristic PRB geometries with modifications made to account for the CF disease state. The Baseline SIP models provided a poor approximation of aerosol deposition in the scan-extracted geometries, as expected. In contrast, the new characteristic (modified) PRB geometries adequately captured deposition consistent with the scan-extracted geometries across the two disease states considered for multiple particle sizes and inhalation flow rates. This was surprising considering that the modified PRB geometries, which can be mathematically specified, only captured an expanded bifurcation region and extended carinal curvature, both representative of bronchiectasis, and neglected asymmetry, surface roughness and non-circular branch cross-sections. In conclusion, the new characteristic PRB geometries adequately captured the deposition characteristics of scan-extracted airway models and can be implemented to represent airway structures in the intermediate and likely deeper lung regions of children with CF for future complete-airway modeling studies. Copyright © 2021 American Association for Aerosol Research
Classification of Animals as Pet, Pest, or Profit: Consistency and Associated Variables Among Spanish University Students

ABSTRACT The present study analyzes the effectiveness (exhaustivity and mutual exclusivity) of a taxonomy for classifying animals into the categories of pet, pest, and profit (PPP), as well as variables that affect the classification assigned to the different species. A total of 463 university students (Mean age = 21.07 years; SD = 4.15), mainly female (87%), classified 14 animal species into the PPP categories and answered questionnaire assessments of personality, anthropomorphism, and attitudes toward the wellbeing of animals. On average, the different species were classified into a single PPP category in 71% of the cases (maximum 95% for dogs, and minimum 27% for chimpanzees), with 8% having multiple classifications (15% for horses and pigs, 21% for rabbits), and 21% being unclassified. Women used the profit category less than men (p < 0.05; g = 0.33). Attitudes toward animals, anthropomorphism, and conscientiousness presented significant correlations (p < 0.05) with the use of PPP categories. Finally, logistic regression analyses showed that these variables had a limited yet significative effect in predicting the classification of horses as either pet or profit (explained variance = 8%) and the classification of snakes as pet or pest (explained variance = 9%), but no effect on the classification of bees as pest or profit. The fact that 29% of the cases received multiple or null classifications indicates the need for caution when considering conclusions drawn from studies based on the PPP taxonomy. Personality, anthropomorphism, sex, and attitudes toward animals’ wellbeing had only a small effect on the classification of animals, but they revealed possible mechanisms for developing interventions to raise awareness about the treatment of animals.
Leeches alleviates diabetic macroangiopathy by increasing nitric oxide production in rat aorta and restoring endothelium-dependent vasodilatation

Introduction Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by elevated blood glucose level over a prolonged period, leading to severe damage in tissues including the heart, blood vessels, eyes and the kidneys. Danzhi Jiangtang Capsule (DJC) is an effective drug for diabetes, but the mechanism responsible for its efficacy remains unknown. This study aimed to explore the effective ingredient of DJC that ameliorated diabetes and the possible mechanisms. Material and methods We orally treated streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats with 540 mg/kg DIC or the same dose of its four active components, namely Leeches, Pseudostellaria Polysaccharides (PP), Paeonia Suffruticosa Andr (PSA) and Rehmannia Glutinosa Libosch (RGL), respectively for 8 weeks. Results Although all of these components could reduce blood glucose levels in diabetic rats, the extent of alleviation of DJC was more pronounced than all of its four ingredients. Unlike the other three components, Leeches is the only effective ingredient of DJC that decreased tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) oxidation to activate endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and increased nitric oxide (NO) production, leading to improved endothelium-dependent relaxation both in diabetic rats and in immortalized human mesangial cells under the stimulation of high glucose. Conclusions Leeches could alleviate diabetic macroangiopathy by inhibiting NO release in endothelial cells under high-glucose condition. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) P ep rin t
Double-circular-arc tooth profile design and parametric analysis on the comprehensive performance of the harmonic drive

A tooth profile is of significant importance to the performance of a harmonic drive. Available studies about designing a tooth profile only consider the influence of the tooth profile on the meshing characteristics from a macro perspective. However, the effects of the surface roughness and contact geometry of the tooth on the lubrication characteristics from the micro perspective are rarely reported. In the present study, a double-circular-arc tooth profile is used as the basic tooth profile of the flexspline. Based on the modified kinematic method, a conjugate profile is calculated and the tooth profile of the circular spline is obtained. On this basis, the mathematical model for the mixed lubrication of the harmonic drive with a double-circular-arc tooth profile is established by considering the factors of the normal load of meshing point, relative velocity, contact geometry, and surface roughness. The comprehensive performance under different double-circular-arc tooth profile parameters (tooth face radius, tooth flank radius, and common inclination) is analyzed. To verify the correctness of the research, four sets of harmonic drives are designed and machined for testing their basic performance. The results show that the parameters of the double-circular-arc tooth profile have multiple influences on the comprehensive performance. The meshing performance and lubrication performance are restricted. Parameter control can effectively improve comprehensive performance and different tooth profile parameters should be designed for different applications.
Pakistan's Growth Empirics and Foreign Direct Investment: An Assessment of the Role of Domestic Financial Sector

Noreen Safdar, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, The Women University Multan, Pakistan Ruqia Shaheen, Lecturer, Department of Economics, National University of Modern Languages Islamabad (Multan Campus), Pakistan Fouzia Yasmin, Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Sahiwal, Pakistan Naureen Afzal, Lecturer, Institute of Management Sciences, The Women University Multan, Pakistan
Application of a Two-Stage Steam Jet Injector Unit for Latent Heat Recovery of a Marine Steam Turbine Propulsion Plant

The paper presents the results of the numerical research of the steam jet injector applications for the regenerative feed water heating systems of marine steam turbine propulsion plants. The analysis shows that the use of a single injector for a single heat exchanger results in a relative increase in the thermal efficiency of the plant by 0.6–0.9%. The analysis also indicates the legitimacy of the usage of multistage feed water heating systems, which would enable the operating parameters optimization of the injectors. The obtained steam pressure up to the value of 1.8 barA allows for the heating of the feed water up to 110 °C. For higher degrees of feed water heating in the heat exchangers, it is necessary to supply heating steam of higher pressure. Therefore, the usage of two-stage steam jet injector units was considered advisable for the analyses.
Assessing the land degradation and greening response to changes in hydro‐climatic variables using a conceptual framework: A case‐study in central India

Field‐based investigations of land use/cover changes are time‐consuming and challenging for large areas, where short‐ and long‐term changes in climatic and hydrologic variables affect ecosystem services. Thus, there is a substantial demand to boost the new modelling framework and employ remote sensing capabilities to quantify hydro‐climatic impacts on land dynamics. In this study, a conceptual framework has used to assess the climatic land greening, climatic land degradation, nonclimatic (hydrological) land greening, and nonclimatic (anthropogenic) land degradation responses with hydro‐climatic variables under dry and wet spells' effect in the Betwa River basin (BRB) of central India. Remotely sensed moderate‐resolution imaging spectro‐radiometer (MODIS) (normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI] and land cover) time‐series datasets had been used to quantify spatiotemporal changes in major land use/cover classes. The standardized coefficients for rainfall (β = 0.62) and relative humidity (β = 0.32) showed their high relative importance in the relationship analysis performed using multiple linear regression (MLR). The result indicates that dominant agricultural cropland has been significantly impacted by changes in maximum and diurnal temperature, which affirm degradation, and positively responded by changes in rainfall, minimum temperature, and aridity index, which demonstrate greening wet period. Spatial analysis showed that land degradation affecting ecosystem services had been variedly distributed from the upper to lower basin due to more climatic impacts than anthropogenic disturbances. Thus, the developed conceptual framework can be adopted to discover dynamic land consequences and understand their responses for sustaining ecosystem services in the dominant agricultural region.
Nanowire architectured porous bimetallic transition metal oxides for high performance hybrid supercapacitor applications

The electrochemical performance of the Faradaic battery‐type binary metal oxide electrodes is dependent on the desirable architecture and the optimal cationic ratio. Herein, we report one‐dimensional nanowire‐like bimetallic spinel NixCo3‐xO4 (NCO) electrode materials for high performance hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) applications. This unique nanowire architecture is beneficial for providing abundant exposed active sites onto the large accessible surface area, which results in facilitating ion transporting pathways. Remarkably, the optimal NCO electrode with the ratio of Ni/Co of 1 to 1 (NCO11) achieves the maximum specific capacitance of 1033 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and the excellent rate capability of 74.55% at 30 A g−1, far exceeding those of their single counterparts. Furthermore, the as‐assembled HSCs integrating NCO11 and AC electrodes deliver large energy and power densities of 41.54 W h kg−1 and 44.95 kW kg−1 with excellent cyclic retention (96.12%).
Influence of freestream turbulence on the flow over a wall roughness

We demonstrate that free-stream turbulence has a strong impact on the dynamics of flow past a cylindrical roughness element. Previous works have shown that, depending on operating conditions, the leading flow instability can either be varicose (symmetric) or sinuous (antisymmetric). In both cases, when the flow is excited by broadband frequency forcing, dynamic mode decomposition extracts only varicose coherent structures, even though optimal response analysis predicts strong amplification of sinuous disturbances with frequency near the marginally stable sinuous eigenmode. We show that this is due to the flow essentially being an amplifier of varicose perturbations rather than a resonator.
Microbiome and Metagenome Analysis Reveals Huanglongbing Affects the Abundance of Citrus Rhizosphere Bacteria Associated with Resistance and Energy Metabolism

The plant rhizosphere microbiome is known to play a vital role in plant health by competing with pathogens or inducing plant resistance. This study aims to investigate rhizosphere microorganisms responsive to a devastating citrus disease caused by ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas) infection, by using 16S rRNA sequencing and metagenome technologies. The results show that 30 rhizosphere and 14 root bacterial genera were significantly affected by CLas infection, including 9 plant resistance-associated bacterial genera. Among these, Amycolatopsis, Sphingopyxis, Chryseobacterium, Flavobacterium, Ralstonia, Stenotrophomonas, Duganella, and Streptacidiphilus were considerably enriched in CLas-infected roots, while Rhizobium was significantly decreased. Metagenome analysis revealed that the abundance of genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, such as glycolysis, starch and sucrose metabolism, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, was significantly reduced in the CLas-infected citrus rhizosphere microbial community. Likewise, the abundance of genes involved in phosphoinositide signaling and phosphoinositide metabolism, which play important roles in energy metabolism (such as carbohydrate metabolism and lipid metabolism), was also decreased in the CLas-infected samples. Taken together, our results indicate that CLas infection could affect the resistance potential and energy metabolism of the citrus rhizosphere microbial community, which may help us to understand the rhizosphere responses to plant disease and thus facilitate the development and application of antagonistic microorganism products in citrus industry.
Incidence of potato green aphid and Lyriomiza sp. in radish plants grown on different levels of organic fertilizer

Radish is a short cycle horticultural product from family Brassicaceae. Between the insects found on radish leaves, potato green aphid (Myzus persicae Sulzer) is one of the main pests of this culture, causing economic damage. Synthetic fertilizers used in conventional crops can promote changes in the pattern of amino acids in plants, leading to a higher insect damage. The source of fertilization is one of the factors that could influence in the incidence of pests. The objective of the study was to evaluate the incidence of potato green aphid and other pests on radish plants grown with different doses of organic fertilizer. The experiment was carried under semi-field conditions, in Fortaleza (Ceará State). A completely randomized design was used, with six replicates. The treatments consisted of five doses of organic compost (0; 45; 60; 75; 90 t.ha-1). For the population survey of pests and natural enemies, counts were made in three evaluations (7, 14 and 21 days after sowing). The counting data were subjected to deviance analysis using a generalized linear model (GLM). It was observed significant differences in the number of adults M. persicae in the treatments of 75 and 90 t.ha-1. Presence of leafminer (Liriomyza sp.) was observed on plants without and with the lower doses of organic fertilizer. Even using organic fertilizers that promote a slower liberation of nutrients, high incidence of pests (Mainly M. persicae) was observed on radish plants.
Permeability of Expansive Soils Modified/Stabilized with lime (Review Paper)

Article history: Received 16 April 2021 Accepted 22 May 2021 The aim of this paper was to review the mechanism of the expansive soil-lime reactions: short term and long-term reactions in both lime modification and lime stabilization. The focus of the study was the effect of curing time for a certain centigrade 25C curing temperature in both lime modification / stabilization-expansive soils on the coefficient of permeability. Peer reviewed articles published between 2000and 2019 were collected and relevant data were extracted. Results of this review study showed that the coefficient of permeability of expansive soils modified with lime increased during the first 7 days of curing time at curing temperature 25C and it remains constant or slightly decreased for longer curing time periods. However, for expansive soils stabilized with lime, it was found that the coefficient of permeability increased during the first 7-day curing time at curing temperature 25C, then decreased during the longer curing time periods (pozzolanic reaction). It is also noted that even though the coefficient of permeability decreased during pozzolanic reaction, it remains higher than that of the untreated soils.