Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Study of Pattern of Lipid Profile in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients on Conservative Management and Hemodialysis: A Comparative Study

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) causes irreversible damage to the renal tissue resulting in decreased kidney function. It is known more for its morbidity than for its mortality as the deranged kidney functioning affects almost every organ system of the body. Dyslipidemia is one of the most common complications of chronic renal failure (CRF) reflected even in the early stages of CRF and usually parallels the deterioration in renal function. As a consequence, dyslipidemia as a risk factor in CKD progression should be explored and documented more. The aim of the study was to compare the pattern of lipid profile in CKD patients on conservative management with that of CKD patients on hemodialysis. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study conducted in Lucknow, India, between January 2021 to May 2021 after considering inclusion and exclusion criteria. The lipid profile of 105 eligible patients was analyzed using an autoanalyzer. After generation of the proper template, data was entered in Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Washington, United States) and analysis was done through SPSS for Windows, Version 16.0 (Released 2007, SPSS Inc., Chicago, United States). Results: There was a statistically significant decrease in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and an increase in triglycerides (TG) and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) levels in CKD patients on hemodialysis when compared with CKD patients on conservative management. As far as total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels are concerned, they were also significantly increased in CKD patients on hemodialysis than CKD patients on conservative management. Conclusions: Dyslipidemia progresses with the stage of CKD, so early monitoring of lipid profile in CKD patients may help in decreasing the progression of the disease and, hence, mortality in CKD patients.
Diagnosing a Freeway Bottleneck in Portland, Oregon (USA) Using Archived Sensor Data

This paper describes a systematic bottleneck identification and analysis for Oregon Highway 217 in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan region. Bottleneck studies can reveal key information about freeway operations and traffic flow characteristics. They also provide relevant and useful tools when teaching the fundamentals of traffic operations. This study uses 20-second aggregated data collected from eleven mainline and eight on-ramp inductive loop detectors that form part of the regional intelligent transportation systems (ITS) network. The data is archived by the Oregon DOT in the Portland Archival Listing (PORTAL), a unique online database developed, maintained and housed at Portland State University. This study relies on the relationship between vehicle flows and occupancies to produce definitive proof of bottleneck activation during the morning peak period in the southbound travel lanes. Oblique plots comparing changes in flow and occupancy reveal time segments with stationary conditions and times at which transitions between congested and uncongested traffic states occur. An analysis of the data produces quantitative measurements of wave propagation speeds and queue discharge flows. Several days over a period of three months in 2006 are analyzed to confirm the presence of recurrent congestion and to demonstrate reproducibility. A comparison is made between recurrent congestion observed at the bottleneck site with non-recurrent congestion (due to an incident) observed at the same location on a different day. This research may contribute to additional analyses of this corridor including an ongoing ramp-metering study currently being conducted along the 217 corridor, and other analyses of Portland area freeways.
Predicting Response to McGurk Illusion Based on Periodic and Aperiodic Prestimulus EEG Activity

Studies have reported that prestimulus brain oscillations guide perceptual experiences during AV speech perception. However, ’what’ features of these prestimulus activity drives perception remains unknown. In this electroencephalography (EEG) study, we investigated the relationship between prestimulus periodic oscillations and aperiodic components with subsequent perception of the McGurk illusion at single-trial levels. Using logistic mixed-effect models, we determined which spectral features from different sensor regions predicted response to the illusory perception. We found that lower alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (15-30 Hz) band oscillations over parieto-occipital sensors predicted illusion perception. We also found lower aperiodic offset values over parieto-temporal sensors, and lower ‘global’ effect of exponent over the scalp, that predicted the response to McGurk illusion. We conclude that the predominant source of the prestimulus oscillatory state is aperiodic background activity, and that variations in these arrhythmic components account for inter-trial and inter-individual variability in perception of the McGurk illusion.
The Impact of Board Characteristics on Information Disclosure of Vietnamese Enterprises

The study investigates the impact of board characteristics on listed companies' information disclosure level in Vietnam. The data is collected from the audited financial statements and annual reports of 648 listed companies on HOSE and HNX. Based on the suggested items of Standard and Poor's and the Vietnamese stock exchange market context, the information disclosure index is calculated, which is used for measuring the level of information disclosure of the listed companies. The findings show that the information disclosure level is strongly influenced by board characteristics, namely the positive effect of the board size, state ownership, and duality role, and negative effect of non-executive directors. Additionally, we also find the positive effect of the quality of financial statements and the marketplace on information disclosure. Besides that, we find evidence that the relationship between information disclosure and board characteristics is also significant influenced by firm size, firm profitability, and firm leverage.
Investigation of the transcription complex in Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 and the identification of a novel small acidic transcription factor AtfA

1 CHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION . 3 1.1 BACKGROUND INTRODUCTION . 4 1.2 ACINETOBACTER SPP. 5 1.3 PROKARYOTIC RNA POLYMERASE . 7 1.3.1 STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF RNA POLYMERASE . 7 1.3.2 STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF σ FACTORS . 12 1.3. 3 ANTI-σ FACTORS . 15 1.4 PROKARYOTIC TRANSCRIPTION . 16 1.4. 1 INITIATION OF TRANSCRIPTION . 17 1.4. 2 ELONGATION OF TRANSCRIPTION . 21 1.4. 3 TERMINATION OF TRANSCRIPTION . 22 1.4. 3.1 Rho-independent termination . 23 1.4. 3.2 Rho-dependent termination . 24 1.5 TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS . 26 1.5. 1 NUSA . 27 1.5. 2 NUSB AND NUSE . 30 1.5. 3 NUSG . 30 1.5. 4 GREA AND GREB . 32 1.5. 5 MFD . 34 1.6 TRANSCRIPTION ANTITERMINATION . 36 1.7 TRANSCRIPTION AS A POTENTIAL TARGET FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANTIMICROBIAL COMPOUNDS . 38 1.8 PROJECT AIMS . 41 CHAPTER 2: MATERIALS AND METHODS . 43 2.1 SOLUTIONS . 44 2.2 GROWTH MEDIA . 44 2.2.1 SOLID MEDIA . 44 2.2.2 LIQUID MEDIA . 44 2.2.3 BACTERIAL STOCKS . 45 2.3 PLASMIDS AND STRAINS . 45 TABLE 2.1: BACTERIAL STRAINS AND PLASMIDS USED AND CREATED IN THIS WORK . 45 2.4 TRANSFORMATION PROTOCOLS . 50 2.4. 1 TRANSFORMATION OF COMPETENT E. COLI . 50 2.4. 2 TRANSFORMATION OF NATURALLY COMPETENT A. BAYLYI ADP1 . 50 2.4. 3 TRANSFORMATION OF A. BAUMANNII . 51 2.5 DNA MANIPULATIONS . 51 2.5. 1 PCR AMPLIFICATIONS . 51 2.5. 2 DNA AGAROSE GEL ELECTROPHORESIS . 54 2.5. 3 GEL PURIFICATION OF DNA . 54 2.5. 4 RESTRICTION DIGEST . 54 2.5. 5 LIGATION . 56 2.5. 6 OLIGONUCLEOTIDE LINKER PREPARATION . 56 2.5. 7 ISOLATION OF PLASMID DNA FROM E. COLI . 57
An Evaluation of Vaneless Diffuser Modelling Methods as a Means of Improving the Off-Design Performance Prediction of Centrifugal Compressors

An evaluation of existing 1-D vaneless diffuser design tools in the context of improving the off-design performance prediction of automotive turbocharger centrifugal compressors is described. A combination of extensive gas stand test data and single passage CFD simulations have been employed in order to permit evaluation of the different methods, allowing conclusions about the relative benefits and deficiencies of each of the different approaches to be determined. The vaneless diffuser itself has been isolated from the incumbent limitations in the accuracy of 1-D impeller modelling tools through development of a method to fully specify impeller exit conditions (in terms of mean quantities) using only standard test stand data with additional interstage static pressure measurements at the entrance to the diffuser. This method allowed a direct comparison between the test data and 1-D methods through sharing common inputs, thus achieving the aim of diffuser isolation.Crucial to the accuracy of determining the performance of each of the vaneless diffuser configurations was the ability to quantify the presence and extent of the spanwise aerodynamic blockage present at the diffuser inlet section. A method to evaluate this critical parameter using CFD data is described herein, along with a correlation for blockage related to a new diffuser inlet flow parameter ⚡, equal to the quotient of the local flow coefficient and impeller tip speed Mach number. The resulting correlation permitted the variation of blockage with operating condition to be captured.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CHOICE OF A CAREER IN SOFTWARE TESTING AMONG NORWEGIAN STUDENTS

There is an identified need of software testers in the industry with the required number of testers being expected to increase, yet the future candidates looking for positions in software industry tend to lean towards software development coding rather than software testing. In the same time, there is a gap between the education and industry needs with graduating students not being fully prepared or having the required skills when entering the testing industry. In addition to these factors, we noticed a reluctance towards this professional choice among students. In this paper we look into the elements influencing the students when making a career choice in the direction of software testing.
Numerical Simulation of Shaking Table Tests on Full-Scale Stone Masonry Buildings

ABSTRACT Based on the outcomes of a recent experimental project addressing unreinforced stone masonry undertaken at the European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering, the seismic response exhibited by two full-scale building prototypes during shaking table tests was simulated according to an existing equivalent frame modeling approach involving nonlinear macroelements. Given the use of different strengthening solutions, the two building specimens strongly differed in the in-plane stiffness of their timber floors and roof diaphragms. This article addresses several issues concerning numerical modeling of the seismic response of this type of masonry construction, particularly its effect upon assessing the global response of the discretization and geometry of the equivalent frame model and upon definition of model parameters based on tests of material characteristics and lateral response of structural members. Even in the case of flexible diaphragms, the results of pushover analysis of the calibrated models provided a fair approximation in terms of both envelope curve and damage pattern. The results of time history analysis accounting for cumulative damage indicate good simulation in terms of hysteretic response as well.
DETERMINANTS OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING (BIM) ACCEPTANCE FOR SUPPLIER INTEGRATION: A CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is expected to promote efficiency in project delivery through collaboration and integration within a highly diverse and fragmented construction industry. Yet, uncertainty concerns relating to the technical, human and inter-organisational contexts of the usage of technology for Supply Chain (SC) integration remain. This affects willingness and preparedness of SC to participate in such electronic data exchanges due to perceptions of greater risk compared to traditional paper-centric communications across the SC. It remains unclear, what model best explains acceptability of BIM within the SC. A conceptual model to aid investigation of influencing factors affecting acceptance and use of BIM in the SC context is presented. The model is proposed to aid examination of the interrelationship between the determinants of acceptance and the readiness of the SC as well as its impact on achieving the highest maturity of BIM adoption i.e. a fully integrated SC. The key constructs from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model are extended through consideration of the relational and transactional context of integration in the development of a SC specific BIM acceptance model. Through this proposed model, it is argued that the SC firms’ disposition towards BIM is a key determinant of technology usage and implementation success hence the need for the study of determinants of acceptance. Directions for empirical validation of the model are presented with a review of potential benefits of understanding the determinants of acceptance on the readiness of the SC.
ASSESSMENT ON LONG-TERM FLUCTUATIONS OF RUNOFF AND ITS CLIMATE DRIVING FACTORS

The Jing River is the largest tributary of the Wei River in northwestern China. Studying the long-term characteristics of its runoff is of significance to water resources planning and management as well as the design of hydraulic engineering activities at the local and Wei River basin scales in the present and future. Several methods were utilized in this study to investigate the long-term fluctuations in runoff for the Jing River, including continuous wavelet analysis, the Hilbert- Huang transform and correlational analysis. Furthermore, the responses of runoff to various climatic and meteorological factors including precipitation, evaporation, solar activity and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon were also studied. The results indicate that the river’s annual runoff exhibits multi-timescale fluctuation characteristics with a cycle of 2-4, 6-8 and 22-24 years, where the 22-24 year cycle oscillation being the first main period. The primary drivers of runoff fluctuations are climate changes, with precipitation the main driver of the 2-4 year’s fluctuation and solar activity & ENSO dominant for the 22-24 year period. Though runoff exhibits a significant response to the ENSO phenomenon, it lags behind ENSO by 5 years. This delay may occur as a result of Pacific-Asian atmospheric teleconnection transmitting some information on ENSO to Asia.
Comportamiento de semillas de Crambe sometidas a tratamientos pre-germinativoss

Encouraging the production and use of biodiesel, seeds of crambe today constitute one of the best options for the supply of raw material, is also an excellent alternative for autumn-winter crop rotation order. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of combined pre-germination treatments on the seed behavior of crambe. From a seed sample of FMS Brilhante cultivar, an experimental design completely randomized with a 2 x 5 factorial arrangement was performed. It was formed from combination of two structural conditions, seeds with or without pericarp, and treatments with or without giberelic acid, being: control (no treatment); seeds pre-soaked in distilled water for 24 hours as control; and seeds pre-soaked in gibberellic acid at 4 % at different concentrations (400, 500 and 600 mg.L-1). Water content, first count germination, germination, seedling emergence and emergence rate index were determined. From these results it is concluded that removal of the pericarp in seed of crambe, cultivar FMS Brilhante, accelerated the germination rate, however, decreased your final percentage. The pre-soaking in gibberellic acid (400, 500 and 600 mg L-1) for 24 hours, increased the germination and seed vigor crambe with pericarp.
EURO REALO INVERTER EFFICIENCY: DC-VOLTAGE DEPENDENCY

The PV inverters efficiency ranking is commonly based on the EURO efficiency. The today's EURO efficiency calculation takes into account only the variation of efficiency as a function of power. State of the art inverters additionally exhibit an up to 3% efficiency change as function of DC voltage. Thus the traditional EURO efficiency values will not represent a realistic average inverter efficiency in the whole DC-voltage MPP range. Usually the inverter manufacturer doesn't show this voltage dependency of efficiency in their datasheets. Up to now also less information is found in literature on this topic. In the present paper the mapping of efficiency in the power voltage plot is given for six commercial PV inverters. A change in efficiency of up to 0.5% in a voltage interval of 100VDC is typical for PV inverters with efficiency higher than 95%. Lower efficient inverters exhibit a much higher efficiency gradient of up to 2% at 100V. Two methods are presented to include the voltage dependency in the calculation of the average inverter efficiency. The results of the so called EURO REALO efficiency values are discussed. Due to the effect that few manufacturer started to hand over their efficiency values at several DC voltages this will led to more precise designing of the string voltage of PV plants with optimum over all system performance.
Bee core venom genes predominantly originated before aculeate stingers evolved

Venoms have convergently evolved in all major animal lineages and are ideal candidates to unravel the genomic processes underlying convergent trait evolution. However, few animal groups have been studied in detail, and large-scale comparative genomic analyses to address toxin gene evolution are rare. The hyper-diverse hymenopterans are the most speciose group of venomous animals, but the origin of their toxin genes has been largely overlooked. We combined proteo-transcriptomics with comparative genomics compiling an up-to-date list of core bee venom proteins to investigate the origin of 11 venom genes in 30 hymenopteran genomes including two newly sequenced genomes of stingless bees. We found a more distinct pattern in which toxin genes originated predominantly by single gene co-option, a prevalent mechanism in parasitoid wasps. These are always accompanied by parallel expansion events in other bee and hymenopteran sister gene groups. The short toxic peptides melittin and apamin appear to be unique to bees, a result supported by a novel machine learning approach. Based on the syntenic pattern we propose here Anthophilin1 as a bee-unique gene family that includes apamin and MCDP. It appears that bees co-adapted their venom genes which predominantly already existed before the aculeate ovipositor evolved to a stinger which exclusively injects venom. Our results provide insight into the large-scale evolution of bee venom compounds, and we present here the first study revealing general processes of venom evolution at a comparative genomic level for this mega-diverse Hymenoptera.
The Effects of Work-life Conflict and Mentoring on Female Career Advancement

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of work-life conflict and mentorship on the career development of Universiti Teknologi Mara’s (UiTM) alumnae. Multiple regression analysis was used in this study to evaluate the connection between the independent and dependent variables. The study's target demographic consisted of female graduates from all UiTM branches. The findings revealed that work-life conflict and mentorship is significantly related to career advancement. It is recommended that higher education institutions increase curriculum activities geared particularly toward female students. Employers should have a structured mentorship program in place to prepare their female employees for positions in higher management. These initiatives may eventually assist firms in finding suitable female candidates for their boards of directors, thus allowing them to meet the Malaysian Securities Commission's requirement of 30% female directors
Is LES of reacting flows predictive? Part 1: Impact of numerics

Combustors in modern aerospace propulsion systems are highly optimized devices. Further enhancements to their performance will require the existence of novel, highly predictive modeling capabilities. LES simulation has often been proposed as a leading candidate in this vein. Its predictive ability, however, has remained a challenge. In this paper a methodical study is performed to assess the impact of numerical architecture on the predictive ability of LES. The bluff body stabilized flame experiment of Volvo Flygmotor AB is simulated as a canonical representation of many realistic combustion systems. Four codes are employed, namely two research codes, the open source code OpenFOAM and the commercially available code Fluent. Physical models and computational grids are kept identical. Reacting and non-reacting solutions are obtained. Results indicate that all codes effectively reproduce the non reacting flow in terms of large scale unsteady vortex shedding behavior, mean profiles and second order turbulence statistics. In contrast, none of the codes is truly predictive in the reacting case. While all solutions approximate the experimentally observed behavior, significant qualitative and quantitative discrepancies remain. These range from a lack of prediction of large scale physics such as shedding mode behavior and recirculation zone features in some cases, to inaccuracies in the prediction of the mean velocity and temperature profiles and related second order turbulence statistics. These discrepancies are significant enough to raise questions as to whether the true physical manifestation of the flow is being reproduced. More importantly, however, these discrepancies are frequently not consistent between the various codes used. While the consistent discrepancies can be attributed to the limitations of the common physical models employed, the inconsistent ones point to a significant impact of the numerical architecture on the solution. It is recognized that the detailed root cause driving this behavior will require further study which is likely to yield necessary enhancements in the way LES is employed both in terms of numerical enhancements as well as the definition of new numerical metrics for application. The need for higher fidelity, more discriminating experiments for LES validation that include detailed dynamic information is also pointed out.
An extended uniform-price auction mechanism of homogeneous divisible goods: supply optimisation and non-strategic bidding

In an extended uniform-price auction mechanism of homogeneous divisible goods, strategic buyers and non-strategic buyers are allowed to participate in the auction simultaneously, and the optimal supply to strategic buyers is determined by a seller after having observed the bids. For both nonlinear bids and linear bids given by symmetric buyers, pure strategy symmetric Nash equilibriums are analysed, and then the dominant relationship is discussed deeply between the two kinds of equilibrium bids. Some conclusions are drawn about this extended uniform-price auction mechanism, i.e. nonlinear equilibrium bids dominate linear ones, and the supply optimisation can effectively reduce the buyers’ market power and thus eliminate many underpricing equilibriums. Moreover, several suggestions are given on how to choose optimal bidding strategies for buyers and how to design an optimal mechanism for a seller.