Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High NH3 deposition in the environs of a commercial fattening pig farm in central south China

Intensive livestock production has been increasing, and has resulted in the emission of more than seven teragram per year of ammonia (NH3) in China in recent years. However, little is known about the fate of the emitted NH3, especially the dry deposition of NH3 in the environs of intensive animal farms. In this study, the spatial and temporal variations of NH3 deposition in the environs of an intensive fattening pig farm were investigated in the central south of China. NH3 concentrations were measured at sites situated 50, 100, 200, 300, and 500 m in the downwind direction from the farm each month from July 2018 to June 2019. The NH3 deposition was calculated based on a bidirectional NH3 exchange model. The monthly NH3 emissions from the pig farm were estimated based on the breeding stock. The annual average NH3 concentrations ranged from 1200 to 14 μg m−3 at the downwind sites within 500 m of the pig farm, exhibiting exponential decay as distance increased. Strong seasonality in NH3 deposition was observed, with the highest season being in the summer and lowest in the winter, and air temperature was found to be an important factor affecting this seasonal variation. The estimated monthly total dry deposition within 500 m of the pig farm ranged from 92 to 1400 kg NH3–N mo−1, which accounted for 4.1%–14% of the total monthly NH3 emissions from the pig farm. The estimated total NH3 emissions and NH3 deposition from the pig farm were 63 000 kg NH3–N yr−1 and 5400 kg NH3–N yr−1, respectively, with the annual average ratio of NH3 deposition to NH3 emission being 8.6%. This study found NH3 deposition around intensive pig farms is high, and determined it as a significant fate of the NH3 emitted from pig farms.
Safety related rule violations investigated experimentally

Previous research in Human Factors has shown that improving safety in organizations requires the investigation of the interplay between organizational and person-related factors affecting rule violations. Two prestudies were conducted to test the validity of a newly designed experimental setting for investigating the influence of safety audits (organizational factors) on operators’ rule compliance behaviour in a simulated process control environment. The simulation environment simulates a production year of a waste water purification plant (WaTrSim-Annual). The process requires the operator to decide in every simulated week (48 in total) whether to start-up the plant using the mandatory safe start-up procedure or to use an illegitimate start-up procedure, which leads to a higher individual income. Two notable observations were made. Astonishingly, in the first prestudy (N = 5), participants used the illegitimate start-up procedure i.e. 76% of all cases (27 of 36 possible violations), despite the fact there was a fine if participants’ violations were uncovered by the safety audit. To reduce the use of the illegitimate procedure, in the second prestudy (N=10), the training of the procedures was revised and the fine was raised. These modifications led to a less frequent use of the illegitimate procedure, but simultaneously led to more "soft violations" in terms of "fine-tuning" the mandatory procedure to scrape the safety limits. As a preliminary conclusion, the prevention of violations should include a just in time on the job training for refreshing the skills required to follow the rules.
Analyzing the Effects of CLIL Method in Teaching Business English Writing in China

The use of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) teaching method in English writing proved to be efficient in enhancing students’ language and content knowledge. This study aims to explore the effects of utilizing CLIL method in teaching Business English Writing among Chinese college students. A quasi-experimental design was adopted. The experiment lasted for a total of eight weeks. The Experimental Group was taught Business English Writing using CLIL method while the Control Group was instructed with the conventional method. The sample of the study consists of 80 third year Business English college students from Shaoyang University in Hunan Province, China. Two classes of students were chosen as intact group sampling (40 students in each group). A pre-test and post-test were used as instruments. The data was analyzed using Independent samples t-test. Prior to the actual study a pilot test was carried out to obtain the reliability and validity of the instrument (writing test). The findings from quantitative data showed that students of the Experimental Group using CLIL teaching method performed significantly higher in their overall Business English Writing, report writing, memo writing, letter writing than students in the Control Group using conventional method. Therefore, it can be concluded that the CLIL principle should be employed as an alternative method in future writing classes. These findings have significant pedagogical implications because the CLIL method facilitated students to improve in their Business English writing skills.
Admission Resting Heart Rate as an Independent Predictor of All-Cause Mortality in Elderly Patients with Hip Fracture

Purpose To investigate the relationship between admission resting heart rate (RHR) and all-cause mortality in elderly patients with hip fracture. Methods A retrospective cohort study with 837 patients based on the established hip fracture database was conducted. Admission RHR was measured via electrocardiogram, and patients were grouped by the median RHR value (beats per minute, bpm). The main outcomes were 1-year and total all-cause mortality. Cox proportional hazard models and restricted cubic spline were used to assess the relationship between RHR and mortality. Sensitivity analyses were further performed to determine whether the results were stable. Results The mean and median RHR were 82.3 and 80.0 bpm, respectively. After a median follow-up of 31.8 months, the 1-year and total all-cause mortality were 17.6% and 31.2%. Multivariable Cox analyses showed that high RHR was an independent risk factor for 1-year mortality (HR = 1.51; 95% CI: 1.08–2.13; p = 0.016), and total mortality (HR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.12–1.85; p = 0.005). For each 10 bpm increase in RHR, the risk of 1-year death increased by 23.0% (HR = 1.23; 95% CI: 1.09–1.39; p = 0.001), and total death increased by 21.0% (HR = 1.21; 95% CI: 1.09–1.34; p < 0.001). A typical J-shaped curve was observed in the restricted cubic spline for the association between RHR and 1-year mortality, with the lowest mortality risk at 70 bpm. Sensitivity analyses yielded similar findings. Conclusion An increase in RHR was independently associated with all-cause mortality, and may be a useful prognostic predictor for elderly patients with hip fracture.
Extraction of Nanocellulose from Yerba Mate Residues Using Steam Explosion, TEMPO-mediated Oxidation and Ultra-fine Friction Grinding

ABSTRACT In this work, we evaluated the extraction of nanocellulose from agro-industrial residue of yerba mate (YM, Ilex paraguariensis, St.Hil) sticks through chemical (bleaching and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation), physical (steam explosion) and mechanical (ultra-fine friction grinding) treatments, divided into three distinct sequences for method comparison. The results showed that steam explosion as the initial treatment step makes an increase of up to 23% in the crystallinity index of cellulose nanofiber (CNF) in relation to the raw sample. The TEMPO-mediated oxidation resulted in more dispersed CNF, verified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Samples treated by steam-explosion and ultrafine grinding showed a higher yield in relation to steam-explosion and oxidative treatment (24.3% versus 16.2% respectively). CNFs with a diameter of 6 nm and a length range of 2200 to 2600 nm were obtained.
The Influence of Feedback on Automation Use, Misuse, and Disuse

The use of automated decision aids is increasing. Unfortunately, the productivity of human-automated work teams is not always superior to that of the human operator or the computer working alone (Parasuraman & Riley, 1997). In order to examine the effects of various kinds of feedback on appropriate automation use, 159 students provided with an automated aid determined whether a camouflaged soldier was present in 300 slides. A 2 (rationale why aid might err) X 2 (continuous feedback) X 2 (aid's relative performance) X 2 (aid's decision) ANOVA was performed with the transformed p(error) separately for the trials in which the target was present and for those in which the target was absent. Results indicated that participants were able to appropriately rely on the automated aid. For example, those paired with a superior aid were more likely to rely on the aid's decisions than ignore them; those paired with an inferior aid were more likely to ignore the aid than rely on it. A three way interaction indicated that this finding was most strong when participants were provided with information concerning why their aid might err, F(1, 51) = 3.27, p <. 08. Implications for future research are discussed.
Overview of X-38 Hypersonic Aerothermodynamic Wind Tunnel Data and Comparison with Numerical Results

A NASA team of engineers has been organized to design a crew return vehicle for returning International Space Station crew members from orbit. The hypersonic aerothermodynamic characteristics of the X-23/X-24A derived X-38 crew return vehicle are being evaluated in various wind tunnels in support of this effort. Aerothermodynamic data from two NASA hypersonic tunnels at Mach 6 and Mach 10 has been obtained with cast ceramic models and a thermographic phosphorus digital imaging system. General windward surface heating features are described based on experimental surface heating images and surface oil flow patterns for the nominal hypersonic aerodynamic orientation. Body flap reattachment heating levels are examined. Computational Fluid Dynamics tools have been applied at the appropriate wind tunnel conditions to make comparisons with this data.
Is OTT Video a Substitute for TV? Policy Insights from Cord-Cutting

Abstract The video entertainment industry is experiencing increases in over-the-top (OTT) video usage and cord-cutting behavior. Using unique panel data from 2012–2016, we document the behavior of the 2.4% of households who “cut the cord” annually. After dropping TV, these households increase internet usage by 22%, reduce payments to multiple-system operators (MSOs) by 50%, and 16% acquire new OTT video subscriptions. These results indicate meaningful substitution between OTT video and TV and suggest that competition authorities should consider broadening market definitions. MSOs appear to have little incentive to degrade OTT video, despite OTT video's contribution to declining TV revenues.
Effect on speech emotion classification of a feature selection approach using a convolutional neural network

Speech emotion recognition (SER) is a challenging issue because it is not clear which features are effective for classification. Emotionally related features are always extracted from speech signals for emotional classification. Handcrafted features are mainly used for emotional identification from audio signals. However, these features are not sufficient to correctly identify the emotional state of the speaker. The advantages of a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) are investigated in the proposed work. A pretrained framework is used to extract the features from speech emotion databases. In this work, we adopt the feature selection (FS) approach to find the discriminative and most important features for SER. Many algorithms are used for the emotion classification problem. We use the random forest (RF), decision tree (DT), support vector machine (SVM), multilayer perceptron classifier (MLP), and k-nearest neighbors (KNN) to classify seven emotions. All experiments are performed by utilizing four different publicly accessible databases. Our method obtains accuracies of 92.02%, 88.77%, 93.61%, and 77.23% for Emo-DB, SAVEE, RAVDESS, and IEMOCAP, respectively, for speaker-dependent (SD) recognition with the feature selection method. Furthermore, compared to current handcrafted feature-based SER methods, the proposed method shows the best results for speaker-independent SER. For EMO-DB, all classifiers attain an accuracy of more than 80% with or without the feature selection technique.
Real‐Time OD Estimation Using Automatic Vehicle Identification and Traffic Count Data

A key input to many advanced traffic management operations strategies are origin–destination (OD) matricies. In order to examine the possibility of estimating OD matricies in real‐time, two constrained OD estimators, based on generalized least squares and Kalman filtering, were developed and tested. A one‐at‐a‐time processing method was introduced to provide an efficient organized framework for incorporating observations from multiple data sources in real‐time. The estimators were tested under different conditions based on the type of prior OD information available, the type of assignment available, and the type of link volume model used. The performance of the Kalman filter estimators also was compared to that of the generalized least squares estimator to provide insight regarding their performance characteristics relative to one another for given scenarios. Automatic vehicle identification (AVI) tag counts were used so that observed and estimated OD parameters could be compared. While the approach was motivated using AVI data, the methodology can be generalized to any situation where traffic counts are available and origin volumes can be estimated reliably. The primary means by which AVI data was utilized was through the incorporation of prior observed OD information as measurements, the inclusion of a deterministic link volume component that makes use of OD data extracted from the latest time interval from which all trips have been completed, and through the use of link choice proportions estimated based on link travel time data. It was found that utilizing prior observed OD data along with link counts improves estimator accuracy relative to OD estimation based exclusively on link counts.
Study of Electric Conductivity of Urban Stream Water Polluted with Municipal Effluents

Specific electric conductivity of water samples in a polluted urban stream was compared with other water quality parameters such as concentration of inorganic carbon, total organic carbon, and total nitrogen. Increasing of water conductivity 1.3. 10 times was observed downstream canalization outlets discharging drainage waters together with residential waste waters from inhabited district of city. In some periods water conductivity showed good correlation with pollutants concentration such as TN and IC (with correlation coefficients 0.54.0.96). The received data show that electric conductivity can be used for revealing waste waters pollution in fresh surface waters.
Progressive collapsed zone extent estimation in two-way slab floors by yield line analysis

Loss of an external facade column is among the most probable scenarios in evaluating the vulnerability of a structural system to progressive collapse. In the case that the column loss causes adjoining panels to fall down in a two-way slab reinforced concrete structure, the capability of the lower floor to prevent formation of any collapse mechanism plays an important role in averting progressive collapse. This paper introduces relevant beam–slab collapse modes of the impacted storey, as well as developing a formula for the ultimate load of each mechanism using yield line analysis. The formulation includes beam and slab main properties and could be used as a way to roughly estimate the extent of collapsed area in lower storeys. A study is also performed to determine the influence of some parameters on the predicted ultimate load. It is concluded that the ratio of beam to slab flexural strength and existing dead and live loads on panels in the vicinity of impacted panels could change the yield line pattern .
Moderating Effect of Financial Constraint on Relationship Between Accounting Conservatism and Investment Efficiency of Nigerian Consumer Goods Firms

This study explores the moderating effect of financial constraint on relationship between Accounting conservatism and investment efficiency of consumer goods firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange market. The study used correlational and ex-post facto research design in a sample of 27 consumer goods firms. Secondary data for a period of 10 years (2010-2019) was used, and Advanced panel multiple regression was employed in data analysis. The results obtained from this research indicate that there is a significant relationship between accounting conservatism and investment efficiency. The study also found that there is a significant moderation effect between accounting conservatism and financial constraint on defining investment efficiency of consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The study concludes by showing that financial constraint has antagonistic role to accounting conservatism on explaining investment efficiency thus, conservatism may not improve investment efficiency in firms facing financial constraints. The study suggests that consideration of firms financial conditions should form an essential part of any analysis towards understanding the impact of Accounting conservatism more especially on investment behaviour, because of the influence financial constraint has on accounting conservatism is antagonistic in nature
CFD Modeling of Low Pressure Steam Turbine Radial Diffuser Flow by Using a Novel Multiple Mixing Plane Based Coupling: Simulation and Validation

The diffuser and exhaust of low pressure steam turbines shows significant impact on the overall turbine performance. The amount of recovered enthalpy leads to a considerable increase of the turbine power output, and therefore a continuous focus of turbine manufacturers is put on this component. On the one hand, the abilities to aerodynamically design such components is improved, but on the other hand a huge effort is required to properly predict the resulting performance and to enable an accurate modeling of the overall steam turbine and therewith plant heat rate. A wide range of approaches is used to compute the diffuser and exhaust flow, with a wide range of quality. Today it is well known and understood, that there is a strong interaction of rear stage and diffuser flow, and the accuracy of the overall diffuser performance prediction strongly depends on a proper coupling of both domains. The most accurate, but also most expensive method is currently seen in a full annulus and transient coupling. However, for a standard industrial application of diffuser design in a standard development schedule, such a coupling is not feasible and more simplified methods have to be developed.The paper below presents a CFD modeling of low pressure steam turbine diffusers and exhausts based on a direct coupling of the rear stage and diffuser using a novel multiple mixing plane. It is shown that the approach enables a fast diffuser design process and is still able to accurately predict the flow field and hence the exhaust performance. The method is validated against several turbine designs measured in a scaled low pressure turbine model test rig using steam. The results show a very good agreement of the presented CFD modeling against the measurements.Copyright © 2015 by ASME and Alstom Technologie AG
Management of Pregnancy and Childbirth in a Cervical Dystonia Patient with an Implanted Deep Brain Stimulation System: A Case Report

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) can lead to psychosocial and functional improvement in medically refractory cervical, segmental, or generalized moderate to severe dystonia. After treatment with DBS in women with dystonia, pregnancy can be planned. However, in the literature, there are no standardized clinical guidelines for the management of movement disorder treated with DBS during pregnancy. Herein, we report a 24-year-old female patient with cervical dystonia (CD) who have an implanted bilateral globus pallidus interna (GPi)-DBS. The patient got pregnant during the 5-year follow-up period after DBS surgery and then delivered a healthy baby via cesarean section under general anesthesia. A patient with CD who have a DBS system with a rechargeable battery could be managed safely during pregnancy and childbirth.
Earthquake-induced Transient Ground Strains from Dense Seismic Networks

Earthquake-induced transient ground strains are evaluated based on the records obtained by two dense seismic networks, namely the Parkway Valley, New Zealand, and the UPSAR, California, arrays. The calculations are based on the spatial interpolation of the recorded displacements and a numerical differentiation to obtain the strain tensor at ground surface. The computed peak ground strains show an important dependence on azimuth, by a factor of about two. Furthermore, the relationship of the peak ground strains as a function of the most common measures of ground motion severity, such as peak ground acceleration, velocity and displacement, is explored. Our results are in reasonable agreement with other published relationships and with some of the few available direct records of strain. However, they point out the limitations of the simplified evaluations used in the engineering practice, which uniquely consider the wave passage effect on the ground strain evaluation, and tend to significantly underestimate the observations.
Gut–Kidney Axis on Chip for Studying Effects of Antibiotics on Risk of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome by Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infects humans by colonizing the large intestine, and causes kidney damage by secreting Shiga toxins (Stxs). The increased secretion of Shiga toxin 2 (Stx2) by some antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin (CIP), increases the risk of hemolytic–uremic syndrome (HUS), which can be life-threatening. However, previous studies evaluating this relationship have been conflicting, owing to the low frequency of EHEC infection, very small number of patients, and lack of an appropriate animal model. In this study, we developed gut–kidney axis (GKA) on chip for co-culturing gut (Caco-2) and kidney (HKC-8) cells, and observed both STEC O157:H7 (O157) infection and Stx intoxication in the gut and kidney cells on the chip, respectively. Without any antibiotic treatment, O157 killed both gut and kidney cells in GKA on the chip. CIP treatment reduced O157 infection in the gut cells, but increased Stx2-induced damage in the kidney cells, whereas the gentamycin treatment reduced both O157 infection in the gut cells and Stx2-induced damage in the kidney cells. This is the first report to recapitulate a clinically relevant situation, i.e., that CIP treatment causes more damage than gentamicin treatment. These results suggest that GKA on chip is very useful for simultaneous observation of O157 infections and Stx2 poisoning in gut and kidney cells, making it suitable for studying the effects of antibiotics on the risk of HUS.
Real-time confocal microscopy

Real-time confocal imaging is subject to a number of constraints connected with the emission capabilities of (especially) fluorescent specimen and the particular confocal imaging technique employed. We will see that there are from the confocal image collection techniques no basic impediments towards real-time 3D imaging. The limitations sooner lie in the specimen fluorescence emission capabilities--both with respect to emission rate and total emission and of course biological tolerance limits to the exciting radiation. The various factors are examined and it is found that parallel confocal illumination and detection approaches especially via techniques of direct field (also known as direct view) confocal imaging. These combined with detection on CCD detectors offer probably the optimal and most convenient way to realize real-time imaging.