Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Manganese and Zinc in Acidic Agricultural Soils From Central Spain: Distribution and Phytoavailability Prediction With Chemical Extraction Tests

The extractability and distribution of manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) were evaluated in acidic agricultural soils from Central Spain. Both single (0.1 M hydrochloride [HCl] and 0.05 M ethylenediaminetetraacetate [EDTA]) and sequential extraction procedures (SEP) (modified Tessier procedure and Community Bureau of Reference [BCR] protocol) were applied to 29 representative soils that belong to the Alfisol, Inceptisol, and Entisol orders. Average relative Mn extractabilities with respect to the total content (16.6% for HCl and 31.9% for EDTA) were higher than those of Zn (7.7% for HCl and 6.5% for EDTA). Manganese was mainly released in the oxide-bound phase of both SEP (33.1% for modified Tessier and 48.9% for BCR), whereas Zn was predominantly found in the residual fraction (49.1% for modified Tessier and 31.4% for BCR). Significant correlations were only found between the amounts of extractable Zn and the oxide-bound fraction in both SEP. Few relationships were established between Zn fractions extracted by the BCR procedure and those obtained with the Tessier method. Both metal concentrations in spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L., cv Beka) grown in 11 selected soils and the calculated soil/plant transfer coefficients (soil/plant concentration factor (CF), mean values of 31.2 for Mn and 196 for Zn) were poorly (or not at all) correlated with the different extracted soil fractions (single and sequential). A number of empirical equations have been obtained by regression analyses to predict the Mn and Zn uptake by barley, with soil metal forms and some soil characteristics as components (pH for Mn and organic matter for Zn). Values of R2 in the equations were relatively low (<68%). Single-extraction techniques produced worse results than SEP for the evaluation of Mn phytoavailability. The modified Tessier procedure provided better predictions of Zn uptake by plants than BCR, but not better than those obtained with the HCl extraction method.
in disease , especially cancer

Mammalian NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (Complex I) in the mitochondrial inner membrane catalyzes the oxidation of NADH in the matrix. Excess NADH reduces nine of the ten prosthetic groups of the enzyme in bovine-heart submitochondrial particles with a rate of at least 3,300 s. This results in an overall NADH→O2 rate of ca. 150 s . It has long been known that the bovine enzyme also has a specific reaction site for NADPH. At neutral pH excess NADPH reduces only three to four of the prosthetic groups in Complex I with a rate of 40 s at 22 °C. The reducing equivalents remain essentially locked in the enzyme because the overall NADPH→O2 rate (1.4 s ) is negligible. The physiological significance of the reaction with NADPH is still unclear. A number of recent developments has revived our thinking about this enigma. We hypothesize that Complex I and the Δp-driven nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase (Nnt) co-operate in an energy-dependent attenuation of the hydrogen-peroxide generation by Complex I. This co-operation is thought to be mediated by the NADPH/NADP ratio in the vicinity of the NADPH site of Complex I. It is proposed that the specific H2O2 production by Complex I, and the attenuation of it, is of importance for apoptosis, autophagy and the survival mechanism of a number of cancers. Verification of this hypothesis may contribute to a better understanding of the regulation of these processes.
Performance and Emission Characteristics of LPG as Alternative Fuel in Internal Combustion Engine: An Overview

Use of alternative fuels in I C engine shows favourable impact in reduction of air pollution and also in the economy of the country. LPG, CNG etc. are easily available alternative fuels which can be used in I Cengine with proper modification of the engine. Though LPG is most commonly used in S I engine of the small vehicles by complete replacement, it can be used in C I engine too. A number of studies were conducted on the use of LPG not only in S I engine, but also in C I engine. This paper reviews some of the research works in this field to analyse the performance of S I engine fuelled with gasoline/ LPG&blends of gasoline-LPGin dual fuel mode and that of C I engine fuelled with LPG-diesel dual fuel mode. The results of these studies confirm thatthere is decrease of pollutants from the S I engine when fuelled with LPG or gasoline-LPG dual fuel mode as compared to gasoline fuelled engine and also from C I engine fuelled with LPG-diesel dual fuel mode as compared to diesel alone. Besides, the results show that the C I engine performance is better on diesel alone at lower loads while LPG substitution improves the performance of the engine at higher engine loads.
Volatile Organic Compound ( VOC ) Removal via Photocatalytic Oxidation Using TiO 2 Coated Nanofilms

In this paper, toluene removal via photocatalytic oxidation using TiO2 dip coated nanofilms is presented. Nanofilms were synthesized from bacterial cellulose using the electrospinning technique. The physical properties of the nanofilms were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The ratio of bacterial cellulose/nylon used in the spinning process was 0.165:1. The results from SEM showed that the structure of the TiO2 composite nanofilms was rutile crystalline with an average particle size of 20 nm, and synthesized nanofilms had an average size of 20 30 nm. The band gap energies of TiO2-dip coated nanofilms ranged from 3.18 3.21 eV. SEM results of TiO2 coated nanofilms suggested that the TiO2 was rather uniformly distributed onto the surface of the nanofilms. The actual amount of TiO2 coated on the nanofilms was estimated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for 1x1 cm surface area. It was found that 0.1852, 0.2897 and 0.7275 mg of TiO2 were coated on the surface of the nanofilms for 1, 2.5 and 5 % (weight) TiO2 dosage, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of the nanofilms was tested for the removal of gaseous toluene in a photocatalytic reactor. Experimental conditions were set as follows: UV light intensity of approximately 2.7 mW.cm, flow rate of 0.2 L.min, and an initial toluene concentration of about 200±20 ppm, and a retention time at 200 min. The degradation rate of toluene increased with increasing dosage of TiO2 from 1, 2.5 and 5 %. The nanofilms at a 5 % dosage yielded the highest removal efficiency of 92.71 %, followed by the 2.5 and 1 % dosage, respectively.
Performance of Broiler Fed on Mash , Pellet and Crumble

A total of 144 ISA-i757 broiler chicks were fed on mash, pellet and crumble diet in the age duration of 21 to 56 days to compare the performance of broiler on different dietary groups. All the forms of feed were of identical composition as well as same environment and management were provided for all the treatments. The body weight of birds fed on mash, pellet and crumble group from 4th to 8th weeks of age differed significantly (P<0.01). The highest, intermediate and the lowest body weight were observed for crumble, pellet and mash group respectively. The body weight gain also highest in crumble group (P<0.01). Feed consumption of the 3 treatments differed significantly (P<0.01). Crumble group showed high trend of feed consumption. Higher FCR value (P<0.01) was observed for mash group, which indicated low feed conversion efficiency. On the other hand crumble and pellet group showed better fed conversion efficiency. Significantly high (P<0.01) performance index and production number were observed for crumble group. Survivability percent of all treatments did not differ significantly (P>0.01). Total cost of production was significantly (P<0.01) less for crumble and this was statistically similar with pellet group. The results of this experiment give an impression that crumble form of feed is better than mash and pellet form for the production of commercial broiler for the age duration of 21 to 56 days.
Water chemistry of some rivers draining the basement complex in southwestern Nigeria

The pH, conductivity, total alkalinity, dissolved 02, COZ, silicnte-Si, P04-P, NOS-N, Fe, Cl-, Ca2+, Mgz’ nnd dissolved organic matfer, over c1 fifteen month study period (198041) of R’ avers Owena, Ohoo and Orunro, draining the Basement Complex of central southwestern Nigeria are presented. pH varied from neutral to slighthy alkaline (2 = 6.8: 7.0, 7.2 respectively) while the mean conductivity values are 63, 208 and 258 ,LAS. cm-l (25 “C) respectively. pH, conductivity, alkalinity and total CO2 showed clear relationships lvith the seasonal pattern of rainfall and skeamflou). Water chemistry reflected the chemistry and susceptibility to weathering of rocks underlying the basins of the rivers (quarfzites, quartz-schists, granite-gneisses, amphibolifes and basic schists). KEY WORD~ : Rivers Fresh waters Tropical area West. Africa Chernical composition.
Practical GUI Testing of Android Applications Via Model Abstraction and Refinement

This paper introduces a new, fully automated modelbased approach for effective testing of Android apps. Different from existing model-based approaches that guide testing with a static GUI model (i.e., the model does not evolve its abstraction during testing, and is thus often imprecise), our approach dynamically optimizes the model by leveraging the runtime information during testing. This capability of model evolution significantly improves model precision, and thus dramatically enhances the testing effectiveness compared to existing approaches, which our evaluation confirms.We have realized our technique in a practical tool, APE. On 15 large, widely-used apps from the Google Play Store, APE outperforms the state-of-the-art Android GUI testing tools in terms of both testing coverage and the number of detected unique crashes. To further demonstrate APE’s effectiveness and usability, we conduct another evaluation of APE on 1,316 popular apps, where it found 537 unique crashes. Out of the 38 reported crashes, 13 have been fixed and 5 have been confirmed.
High-density neural interface and microhotplate gas sensor in CMOS technology

This thesis presents mixed-signal circuit design, system integration and experimental results of two complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-based microsensor arrays: a high-density (HD) microelectrode array (MEA), used to interface with neuronal cells, and a microhotplate-based gas sensor system. The CMOS-based HD-MEA for bidirectional interaction with neuronal cells was designed with the aim to achieve a high spatial resolution while maintaining a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To this end, a recon gurable analog switchmatrix was implemented that allows for simultaneous recording from an almost arbitrary subset of 126 electrodes out of 11,011 electrodes in an array with an electrode density of 3,150 electrodes/mm. In contrast to other approaches, that scan the entire array, this approach enables low-noise signal ampli cation and ltering with the front-end circuitry placed outside the array. The readout channels with two ampli cation stages limit the bandwidth to between 0.3 Hz and 4 kHz and achieve a noise level of 2.4 μVrms (1 Hz-100 kHz). The data are sampled by on-chip analog-to-digital converters with 20 kSamples/s per channels and transmitted o chip through a digital interface, which was designed to reduce the complexity at the board level while providing a reliable communication. A custom-designed printed-circuit board (PCB) was built that provides sockets for ve HD-MEAs that can be operated simultaneously. The data from the ve devices are multiplexed to a single LVDS twisted-pair cable and sent to a eldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) board at a rate of 16 MB/s. The FPGA provides data processing features, such as CRC error detection, digital ltering, event detection and data reduction/compression before the data are sent to a PC for visualization, analysis and storage. The software to handle the switch matrix and the large amount of data recorded was developed. A spike-sorting algorithm was implemented that exploits the high spatial density of the electrodes relying on independent-component-analysis (ICA) techniques. Data recorded with the HD-MEA from more than 100 cultures with rat cardiomyocytes have been analyzed to conduct a study on pharmacological e ects on the electrical properties of these cells. The HD-MEA has been used to record activity from neuronal cells in acute rat cerebellum slices. The shape of the extracellular action potentials was revealed by applying the developed spike sorter. The action potential distribution was in good correlation with the anatomical arrangement of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum. The recorded extracellular action potentials included a wealth of information on subcellular dynamics. To better understand the recorded data, biophysically realistic compartment-model simulations of Purkinje cells have been carried out, which were in good agreement with the recorded data. ETH Zurich, U. Frey, ©2007 v
SST and the Consumer Behaviour in Portuguese Financial Services

Financial services, especially commercial banking has been introducing new self-service technologies (SST), in the contact with customers, which allows the customer to accede service in an autonomous and timeless form. This paper discusses the behaviour of users and non-users of self-service technologies (namely, ATMs, call center/telephone, and internet) in Portuguese banking services. An empirical study was carried out by means of a questionnaire. Data were collected on 300 individuals, representing a sample, by region, gender and age group, of the Portuguese population, age 18 and over, and living in mainland Portugal. The results call for a user’s profile and consumer’s behaviour of SST. The SST users reveal a higher intention of repurchase, propensity to complain and higher price sensibility than the non-users. They are younger and middle-aged individuals, with a medium and high level of education. The main contribution of the paper is that banking managers that invest in SST may expect more sales (as a result of consumers with higher intention of repurchase), more opportunities of recovering the service (as a result of consumers with higher propensity to complain), but more price competitiveness (as a result of a consumer behaviour more price sensible). The paper put in evidence that SST use is not sufficient to determine consumer satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth, and it is not a barrier to bank switching.
Improving the Supercritical CO2 Foaming of Polypropylene by the Addition of Fluoroelastomer as a Nucleation Agent

In this study, a small amount of fluoroelastomer (FKM) was used as a nucleating agent to prepare well-defined microporous PP foam by supercritical CO2. It was observed that solid FKM was present as the nanoscale independent phase in PP matrix and the FKM could induce a mass of CO2 aggregation, which significantly enhanced the diffusion rate of CO2 in PP. The resultant PP/FKM foams exhibited much smaller cell size (~24 μm), and more than 16 times cell density (3.2 × 108 cells/cm3) as well as a much more uniform cell size distribution. PP/FKM foams possessed major concurrent enhancement in their tensile stress and compressive stress compared to neat PP foam. We believe that the added FKM played a key role in enhancing the heterogeneous nucleation, combined with the change of local strain in the multiple-phase system, which was responsible for the considerably improved cell morphology of PP foaming. This work provides a deep understanding of the scCO2 foaming behavior of PP in the presence of FKM.
Stress-induced and fear circuitry disorders : advancing the research agenda for DSM-V Link

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\ FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ADOPTION OF CONSERVATION TILLAGE PRACTICES AND THEIR IMPLICATION ON PROFITABILITY IN MAIZE- CONN PEA CROPPING SYSTEMS - A CASE OF MAKUENI DISTRICT, KENYA ' BY MUTUNE

n the semi arid areas of eastern Kenya, the fanners are faced with food insecurity and low farm incomes due to rainfall unreliability. The low soil moisture resulting from low rainfall cannot support productive agriculture to meet the increasing population in the semi arid areas. In the year 2000 and 2001, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations disseminated conservation tillage practices, which included ripping and tied ridging. The Ministry of Agriculture and Kenya Network for Draft Animals Traction have been training the farmers on the use of ripping and tied ridging and informing the farmers on the technical gains o f these technologies. However, the adoption rate of these practices is below the expectation of researchers and policy makers. Further, the information on financial returns of these technologies is relatively scarce. The objective of this study is to analyze household and technology attributes that influence the adoption of ripping and tied ridging and to evaluate the financial returns of these technologies. A total of 177 farmers were purposively sampled from Kalawa and Kathonzweni divisions in Makueni district. The divisions were chosen based on their importance in conservation tillage. A logit model was used to identify the factors influencing the use of ripping and tied ridging. Partial budgets were drawn to account for the extra benefits and costs of these practices. The results confirmed that farmers have adopted the technologies but the adoption is still relatively low. About 1.8 percent of the farmers in the Makueni district was using ripping and tied ridging as forms of conservation tillage. The adopters of ripping were more than those of tied ridging since tied ridging required specialized planters that operate better in heavy crop residue. The non-adopters reported lack o f information, lack o f equipment and lack of interests as reasons for not using the technologies. Partial budgets showed that the
Assessment of Menus in a Selected Social Welfare Home with Regard to Nutritional Recommendations

Abstract—The aim of the study was to assess diets of residents of nursing homes. Provided by social welfare home, 10 day menus were introduced into the computer program Diet 5 and analyzed in respect of protein, fats, carbohydrates, energy, vitamin D and calcium. The resulting mean values of 10-day menus were compared with the existing Nutrition Standards for Polish population. The analysis menus showed that the average amount of energy supplied from food is not sufficient. Carbohydrates in food supply are too high and represent 257% of normal. The average value of fats and proteins supplied with food is adequate 85.2 g/day and 75.2 g/day. The calcium content of the diet is 513.9 mg/day. The amount of vitamin D supplied in the age group 51-65 years is 2.3 μg/day. Dietary errors that have been shown are due to the lack of detailed nutritional guidelines for nursing homes, as well as state-owned care facilities in general.
Psychological Factors That Influence Preference for Luxury Brands: Effect of “Openness to Experience1” on Psychological Factors for the Development of Purchase Intentions

Fujiwara & Nagasawa [1] performed an empirical analysis on the relationship between personality traits and purchase intentions for food and car luxurybrands2 by using the Big Five personality traits. The results revealed that consumers with high levels of Openness to Experience showed high purchase intentions for those brands. The objective of this study was to refine those results and to reveal the characteristics of psychological factors regarding the development of purchase intentions for consumers with high levels of Openness to Experience. As a result of empirical analysis using multiple regression analysis, this study demonstrated that satisfying the need for Differentiation from Others was particularly important in developing purchase intentions for those consumers with high levels of Openness to Experience for both food and car luxury brands.
Counterexamples to a Conjecture on Wiener Index of Common Neighborhood Graphs

For a simple graph G, the common neighborhood graph con(G) is the graph with the same vertex set as G, with two vertices adjacent in con(G) if they have a common neighbor in G. We describe here constructions of counterexamples to a conjecture of Knor et al. [MATCH Commun. Math. Comput. Chem. 72 (2014), 000–000] that there exists an absolute constant C such that for every graph G it holds that W (con(G)) ≤ C ·W (G), where W (G) denotes the Wiener index of G.
12-2018 “ State-level wage Phillips curves ” “

We examine reduced form versions of New Keynesian wage Phillips curves using monthly US state-level data for the period 1982-2016, taking account of the endogeneity of unemployment by instrumentation and the presence of common correlated effects (CCE). We find that theoretically coherent specifications taking account of the aggregate dynamics of unemployment may be estimated by the CCE estimator, whereas less efficient and potentially inconsistent methods differ and are problematic. JEL Codes: E24, E31, E32.
Two-center black holes duality-invariants for stu model and its lower-rank descendants

We classify 2-center extremal black hole charge configurations through duality-invariant homogeneous polynomials, which are the generalization of the unique invariant quartic polynomial for single-center black holes based on homogeneous symmetric cubic special Ka hler geometries. A crucial role is played by a horizontal SL(p,R) symmetry group, which classifies invariants for p-center black holes. For p = 2, a (spin 2) quintet of quartic invariants emerge. We provide the minimal set of independent invariants for the rank-3 N=2, d = 4 stu model, and for its lower-rank descendants, namely, the rank-2 st2 and rank-1 t3 models; these models, respectively, exhibit seven, six, and five independent invariants. We also derive the polynomial relations among these and other duality invariants. In particular, the symplectic product of two charge vectors is not independent from the quartic quintet in the t3 model, but rather it satisfies a degree-16 relation, corresponding to a quartic equation for the square of the s.
Evidence for M 1-Linked Polyubiquitin-Mediated Conformational Change in NEMO nstein ,

The NF-κB essential modulator (NEMO) is the scaffolding subunit of the inhibitor of κB kinase (IKK) holocomplex and is required for the activation of the catalytic IKK subunits, IKKα and IKKβ, during the canonical inflammatory response. Although structures of shorter constructs of NEMO have been solved, efforts to elucidate the full-length structure of NEMO have proved difficult due to its apparent high conformational plasticity. To better characterize the gross dimensions of full-length NEMO, we employed in-line size exclusion chromatography–small-angle X-ray scattering. We show that NEMO adopts a more compact conformation (Dmax = 320 Å) than predicted for a fully extended coiled-coil structure (N500 Å). In addition, wemap a region of NEMO (residues 112–150) in its coiled-coil 1 domain that impedes the binding of linear (M1-linked) di-ubiquitin to its coiled-coil 2–leucine zipper ubiquitin binding domain. This ubiquitin binding inhibition can be overcome by a longer chain of linear, but not K63-linked polyubiquitin. Collectively, these observations suggest that NEMO may be auto-inhibited in the resting state by intramolecular interactions and that during signaling, NEMO may be allosterically activated by binding to long M1-linked polyubiquitin chains. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.