Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic Xiao-chai-hu Decoction Therapy Slows the Progression of Acute-on-chronic Liver Failure via Prokinetic Effects on Gastrointestinal Motility

BackgroundAcute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) has a high risk of mortality in liver diseases without effective treatment. Xiao Chai Hu decoction (XCHD) is a traditional herbal formula, widely administered for liver disease, including anti-hepatic fibrosis and anti-inflammatory. MethodsTo investigate whether XCHD prevents the progression of ACLF and the underlying mechanisms. Methods: Sprague–Dawley rats with compound factors were randomly divided into model control group with 30 rats and four treatment groups with 20 rats in each group: Polyene phosphatidylcholine (100 mg/kg; PP) group; high dose (44.5 g/kg; HXCHD), middle dose (26.5 g/kg; MXCHD), and low dose (8.5 g/kg; LXCHD). Firstly, liver disease progression after XCHD treatment was measured by detecting: 1) the serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin (TB), and albumin, prothrombin time (PT); 2) the survival rate and rat-adapted model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score; 3) the hepatic hyperplastic collagen fibers with Masson’s trichrome staining; 4) the serum level of TNF-α and endotoxin induced hepatocyte apoptosis expression; 5) the ileum slow waves, gastric emptying, and small intestinal transit after XCHD treatment. ResultsThe XCHD groups showed improved serum biochemical hepatic parameters, histological liver changes, and survival rate. In addition, the XCHD treatment decreased the serum level of TNF-α and endotoxin and reduced hepatocyte apoptosis. XCHD decreased the normal percentage ileum slow waves, prolonged gastric emptying, and increased the small intestinal transit of ACLF. ConclusionsXCHD prevented the progression of ACLF partially via the prokinetic effects on gastrointestinal motility to reduce TNF-α, endotoxin, and hepatocyte apoptosis.
Corporate Financial Performance and Corporate Environmental Performance: A Perfect Match?

Corporate financial performance (CFP) is determined by many factors. One of those factors, which has been subject to much attention in research, is corporate environmental performance (CEP). Moreover, CEP is influenced by CFP as well.The relationship between CFP and CEP has been studied for almost 40 years leading to a vast number of empirical studies and reviews.This paper aims at providing an overview of studies on the focal relationship and summarizing their findings in a quantitative way, employing the methodology of a systematic review and a vote-counting approach. First, there is an assessment of the state of research including an examination of 30 review studies, showing that the findings are far from conclusive enough to be considered satisfactory. Second, 274 empirical studies are analyzed regarding characteristics such as measurement constructs and findings.
A Physics-Infused Deep Learning Model for the Prediction of Refractive Indices and Its Use for the Large-Scale Screening of Organic Compound Space

We present a multitask, physics-infused deep learning model to accurately and efficiently predict refractive indices (RIs) of organic molecules, and we apply it to a library of 1.5 million compounds. We show that it outperforms earlier machine learning models by a significant margin, and that incorporating known physics into data-derived models provides valuable guardrails. Using a transfer learning approach, we augment the model to reproduce results consistent with higher-level computational chemistry training data, but with a considerably reduced number of corresponding calculations. Prediction errors of machine learning models are typically smallest for commonly observed target property values, consistent with the distribution of the training data. However, since our goal is to identify candidates with unusually large RI values, we propose a strategy to boost the performance of our model in the remoter areas of the RI distribution: We bias the model with respect to the under-represented classes of molecules that have values in the high-RI regime. By adopting a metric popular in web search engines, we evaluate our effectiveness in ranking top candidates. We confirm that the models developed in this study can reliably predict the RIs of the top 1,000 compounds, and are thus able to capture their ranking. We believe that this is the first study to develop a data-derived model that ensures the reliability of RI predictions by model augmentation in the extrapolation region on such a large scale. These results underscore the tremendous potential of machine learning in facilitating molecular (hyper)screening approaches on a massive scale and in accelerating the discovery of new compounds and materials, such as organic molecules with high-RI for applications in opto-electronics.
Boardroom Network and Corporate Performance: When Who You Know Contributes to What You Know

I study board members’ role in the firm’s performance through the lens of information sharing within the boardroom network. I measure the prominence of the board’s informationsharing in the boardroom network with boardroom centrality. Using an instrumental variable approach based on director deaths at distant firms in the boardroom network, I isolate the effect of boardroom centrality on firm performance from the confounding factors and find that boardroom centrality deteriorates firm performance on average. This deterioration is particularly strong for R&D-intensive firms, firms with intangible assets, and firms with advertising activity. Concurrently, firms that have no advertising activity can benefit from boardroom centrality. Therefore, the trade-off between the benefits of information collection from the boardroom network and the costs stemming from the dissemination of sensitive information to the rest of the network leads to a negative effect of boardroom centrality for firms with large amounts of proprietary information. Moreover, competition strengthens the negative impact of boardroom centrality on firm performance because the timely adoption of effective policies is highly important in competitive industries. This paper examines a difficult-to-measure and unobservable concept of information-sharing between directors, adding to the literature on directors’ value and providing a research design that can isolate the centrality effects in various applications.
PELAKSANAAN KEGIATAN BELAJAR MENGAJAR OLEH GURU PADA MATA PELAJARAN EKONOMI KELAS XI IPS 1 DI SMA

Abstract : This study aims to inform the Implementation of Learning by Teaching Subject Teacher Economics class XI IPS 1 in SMA 1 Selimbau Kapuas Hulu. The method used is descriptive research method research survey form. Sources of data subject teachers economics class XI IPS 1. Techniques of data collection, observation sheets, interview guidelines and documents. The data were analyzed qualitatively. The results showed that the implementation of the teaching and learning activities by teachers has been implemented with an average assessment score (1) 3,5 preliminary activities, (2) the core activities of 3,08 and (3) the closing of 3,35. Although there are still aspects of learning that does not happen but the teachers have been carrying out teaching and learning activities with either category. Keywords : Teaching and Learning Activities Abstrak: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menginformasikan Pelaksanaan Kegiatan Belajar Mengajar oleh Guru Mata Pelajaran Ekonomi kelas XI IPS 1 di SMA Negeri 1 Selimbau Kabupaten Kapuas Hulu. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode penelitian deskriptif bentuk penelitian survey. Sumber data guru mata pelajaran ekonomi kelas XI IPS 1. Teknik pengumpulan data, lembar observasi, pedoman wawancara dan dokumen. Analisis data dilakukan secara kualitatif. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa pelaksanaan kegiatan belajar mengajar oleh guru sudah terlaksana dengan rata-rata skor penilaian (1) kegiatan pendahuluan 3,5, (2) kegiatan inti 3,08 dan (3) kegiatan penutup 3,35. Meskipun masih ada aspek pembelajaran yang tidak terlaksana tapi guru sudah melaksanakan kegiatan belajar mengajar dengan katagori baik. Kata Kunci : Kegiatan Belajar Mengajar
Evaluasi kinerja tarik traktor tangan dengan bahan bakar minyak kelapa murni

Normal 0 false false false IN JA X-NONE Abstract Past research shown that coconut oil can be used directly in Diesel engine by adding a heating element in the fuel delivery system. This study aims to evaluate the performance of a hand tractor pull using pure coconut oil fuel. The Diesel engine of the tractor was equipped with a fuel heater installed on the mufler. Traction performance parameters tested were wheel slippage, drawbar pull, forward speed and drawbar power on the path of concrete and soil. Besides, the tractor was also tested on plowing using a moldboard plow. The test results on the concrete track showed that the maximum drawbar pull was 1.21 kN generated at a speed of 0.92 m/s, with a maximum drawbar power of 1.21 kW at the wheel slip of 10.87%. While the drawbar pull on the soil track was 1.37 kN at a speed of 0.79 m/s, with a maximum value of 0.71 kW drawbar power when wheels slip 22.25%. The results of tillage test showed that field efficiency was 84.66%, which was not much different from the test result using Diesel fuel. Keywords: fuel heater, Diesel engine, pure coconut oil, drawbar pull performance Diterima: 8 Desember 2009; Disetujui: 16 Maret 2010
Improving Mathematics at Work: The Need for Techno-Mathematical Literacies

Improving Mathematics at Work questions the mathematical knowledge and skills that matter in the twenty-first century world of work, and studies how the use of mathematics in the workplace is evolving in the rapidly-changing context of new technologies and globalisation. Through a series of case studies from the manufacturing and financial service sectors, the authors argue that there has been a radical shift in the type mathematical skills required for work  a shift not yet fully recognised by the formal education system, or by employers and managers. Examining how information technology has changed mathematical requirements, the idea of Techno-mathematical Literacies (TmL) is introduced to describe the emerging need to be fluent in the language of mathematical inputs and outputs to technologies and to interpret and communicate with these, rather than merely to be procedurally competent with calculations. The authors argue for careful analyses of workplace activities, looking beyond the conventional thinking about numeracy, which still dominates policy arguments about workplace mathematics. Throughout their study, the authors answer the following fundamental questions: What mathematical knowledge and skills matter for the world of work today? How does information technology change the necessary knowledge and the ways in which it is encountered? How can we develop these essential new skills in the workforce? With evidence of successful opportunities to learn with TmL that were co-designed and evaluated with employers and employees, this book provides suggestions for the development of TmL through the use of authentic learning activities, and interactive software design. Essential reading for trainers and managers in industry, teachers, researchers and lecturers of mathematics education, and stakeholders implementing evidence-based policy, this book maps the fundamental changes taking place in workplace mathematics. (http://books.google.fr/books? id=Gcm6g9TIG5wC&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr#v=onepage&q&f=false)
Concentração de cátions presentes no lixiviado de solos tratados com vinhaça

The present study had the objective of evaluating leachate quality from soils that received different vinasse doses and incubation time. In twenty-seven 20' 110 cm (diameter ' height) PVC columns, three soils, classified as Haplic Nitosol, Yellow Argisol and Carbic Spodosol, were reproduced with horizons, thickness and densities similar to original. The soils were treated with vinasse in doses equivalent to 0 (control), 350 and 700 m3 ha-1 and submitted to incubation time of 30 and 60 days. Collected effluents were analyzed for K, Ca, Mg and Na contents, and data evaluated by multivariate statistical analysis, at 5% level. The results pointed out significant effect for K, Ca, Mg and Na with regard to soil, dose and incubation time, except for Na in relation to soil. The lowest values for cation concentrations in the leachate were obtained for Nitosol which presented the highest clay fraction, followed by Spodosol due to the spodic horizon. When compared to vinasse in nature, leachate cation concentrations were significantly reduced indicating high retention power of the soils.
Efficient tools for erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) design: an experimental and theoretical analysis

In many amplification regimes, the EDFA gain is saturated by noise. The accurate computation of noise spectra is then necessary to predict the EDFA exact gain and noise characteristics. This is done by solving the rates equations (ordinary differential equations, ODE) describing the noise spectra. The first way to optimize the EDFA modeling tool is the noise spectrum discretization. Such a method is detailed in this paper. Another interesting approach has been given by E. Desurvire. One ordinary differential equation (ODE) describes the whole noise spectrum in one direction. This is the usual concept of noise effective bandwidth (NEB). The NEB definition we use has been modified in order to take into account the spatial distribution of the light power in the active fiber section and the population inversion. The NEB method we propose uses 1, 2, or 4 NEBs, leading to small computation times (approximately equals 4 s). The experimental set-up allowing the determination of the input parameters is also detailed. The predictions provided by one modified NEB are at least better than the results obtained with 4 standard NEBs, as defined by E. Desurvire. The computations fairly agree with experimental results: the larger discrepancy is lower than 0.7 dB. Prototype performances are discussed.
Stability improvements of an LCL-filter based three-phase active rectifier

Three-phase active rectifiers guarantee sinusoidal input currents and controllable dc voltage at the price of a high switching frequency ripple that can disturb and reduce efficiency of other EMI sensitive equipment connected to the grid. This problem could be solved choosing a high value for the ac inductors making them expensive and bulky. Moreover the dynamic of the system becomes poor with so high value of inductance. On the contrary to adopt an LCL-filter configuration allows to use reduced values of the inductances (preserving dynamic) and to reduce the switching frequency pollution emitted in the grid. However the stability of the system should be rigorously studied. A poor analysis made on qualitative considerations could lead to excessive damping (unnecessary increase of the losses) or insufficient damping (the system seems to be stable but it is not). In this paper the damping, both passive (based on the use of resistors) and active (based on the modification of the control algorithm), is studied using the z-plane root locus approach and looking to dynamic performances and losses. In fact it is necessary to verify the dynamic effects by the introduction of damping resistors or by the modification of the control algorithm to perform active damping. The analysis is validated both with simulation and experiments.
OVEN TERPROGRAM BERBASIS MIKROKONTROLER

Sebagian pengusaha roti setingkat home industry dengan jumlah tenaga kerja yang terbatas dengan beragam produk kue, masih menggunakan oven konvensional sehingga proses pekerjaan kurang efektif dan higienitas produknya kurang terjamin. Karena itu dibutuhkan oven yang dapat diprogram sehingga pada aspek pemanggangan memungkinkan berjalan secara otomatis dengan pengaturan suhu dan pewaktuannya yang dapat disimpan dalam memori, serta mampu memberikan tanda (indikasi) akhir dari pemanggangan. Makalah ini menggambarkan perancangan oven terprogram pada skala home industri menggunakan mikrokontroler AT 89C51 sebagai pengendali utamanya. Pengatur suhu terdiri atas sensor termokopel yang menghasilkan tegangan rata 0,041 mV/ OC dengan pengkondisi sinyal yang menguatkan sinyal 298 kali agar terbaca ADC sebesar 4,9 V untuk rasio suhu 400OC. Pengatur waktu pemanggangan dibuat rangkaian timer menggunakan RTC DS12C887 yang mampu menghasilkan waktu tunda yang sesuai dengan acuan. Secara keseluruhan rangkaian pengendali mampu mempertahankan suhu pada temperatur yang diinginkan dan mampu mengatur waktu kerja pemanas dari oven. Berdasarkan jenis kuenya, data temperatur dan waktu pemanggangan dapat disimpan dan dipanggil kembali dari memori untuk pemanggangan selanjutnya. Kat a kunci : oven, otomatis, temperatur, timer, terprogram
Six Sigma—Strategy for Organizational Excellence

Today’s business environment expects speed, flexibility, adaptability, accuracy, ease of doing business, with product and service performance as a minimum requirement. To meet this new set of business needs, organizations need to deploy tools, which can enable them to remain competitive and grow in the increasing digital age. Six Sigma is one of the strategies and tools which leading organizations have started using to achieve accuracy and speed and at the same time reduce cost and increase customer satisfaction and profits. Sigma is a Greek alphabet character and the sigma value indicates how often defects are likely to occur. Six Sigma’s target is to achieve less than 3.4 defects or errors per million opportunities, hence the name. According to Michael Hammer, at least 25% of the Fortune 200 companies claim to have a serious Six Sigma program. Six Sigma has been deployed strategically to change the culture of organization through inculcating process control discipline applied in manufacturing and non-manufacturing businesses. The issue is no longer whether Six Sigma should be considered or not, but a question of when and how, since an organization cannot do today’s job with yesterday’s methods and be in business tomorrow.
Comparing reactive Kanban systems

In an effort to achieve agile control in a just-in-time (JIT) environment, reactive JIT ordering systems have been proposed for multistage production systems with unstable changes in demand. In reactive JIT ordering systems, the time series data for the demand are monitored, and unstable changes in demand are detected using statistical control charts. Then, in these systems, the number of Kanbans and the buffer size at each stage are adjusted as a response to the detected unstable changes. Recently, an adaptive Kanban system based on inventory levels was proposed and applied to unstable demand conditions. However, its performance has not yet been analysed and compared with the other reactive system. Therefore, the first purpose of this paper is to analyse and compare the performance of the reactive Kanban systems, both the control chart-based and the inventory-based systems. In addition to comparing their performance, as the second purpose, a new inventory-based system is proposed. In the proposed system, the time series data for the demand is not monitored, but instead the inventory level of a product is monitored to detect unstable changes in demand, and the number of Kanbans is adjusted as a response to these detected unstable changes. The performance of the proposed system is investigated and compared with those of the previous systems by using simulation experiments that model unstable demand conditions.
Phased array antennas for personal communications handsets

A two element phased array is considered for use in a personal communications handset working at frequencies near 2 GHz. The interaction with the user's head is modelled approximately using the method of spherical wave expansions, treating the head as a two-layered dielectric sphere. By designing the array to radiate away from the head, overall efficiency and azimuth coverage are simultaneously improved, and user exposure is reduced. Improved results are obtained when the excitation ratio is chosen to produce a null field at a near field point on the head surface near the antenna. This requires a substantial increase in the relative excitation of the outer radiating element, as compared with a conventional cardioid pattern array. The peak specific absorption rate can be reduced by at least 15 dB.
About Dynamic Processing in Mainstream Music

In this article, we study the evolution of music level and music level variation between 1967 and 2011. To do so, we suggest a set of signal features, and examine the impact of limiters and compressors on a corpus of music tracks. As a result, we find that some of the dynamic processes used during music production may be retrieved from the signal. Then, we examine the evolution of studio practices in relation to dynamic processing during the past five decades, as well as the evolution of the relevant signal features. In particular, this results in a characterization of the loudness war. We find for instance that it may have peaked in 2004, resulted in reduction of peak salience, but did not result in any reduction of long-term musical dynamics.
Comparative evaluation of public universities in Malaysia using data envelopment analysis

Applications of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for the assessment of performance of universities have been widely reported in the literature. Often the number of universities under the assessment is relatively small compared to the number of performance measures (inputs and outputs) used in the analysis, which leads to a low discriminating power of DEA models on efficiency scores. The main objective of this thesis is the development of improved DEA models that overcome the above difficulty, using a sample of public universities in Malaysia as an illustrative application. The proposed new approach combines the recently introduced Hybrid returns to scale (HRS) model with the use of additional information about the functioning of universities stated in the form of production trade-offs. The new model developed in this thesis, called Hybrid returns to scale model with trade-offs (HRSTO), is applied to a sample of eighteen universities, which is considered to be a very small sample for the DEA methodology. Our results show that, in contrast with standard DEA models, the new model is perfectly suitable for such samples and discriminates well between good and bad performers. The proposed combined use of HRS model with production trade-offs is a novel methodology that can be used in other applications of DEA. Overall, the thesis makes several contributions of the theory and practice of DEA. First, for the first time, it is shown that the higher education sector satisfies the assumptions and can be modelled using the proposed HRSTO model. Second, also for the first time, it is shown that production trade-offs can be assessed for such applications and the methodology of their assessment has been developed and used in the thesis. Third, it is demonstrated that the HRSTO model significantly improves the discriminating power of analysis compared to standard DEA models, which is particularly important for small data sets. Fourth, it is concluded that the HRS model is further improved if production trade-offs are used. Fifth, by experimenting with different specific values of production trade-offs, it is shown that even the most conservative estimates of trade-offs notably improve the model. Finally, our results contribute to the more general discussion of the performance of universities in Malaysia and identification of the best performers among them.