Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cfd analysis of the oil-water separation performance on hydrocyclones with functionalized surfaces

The present work seeks to simulate the three dimensional oil-water turbulent flow and oil separation process on a traditional deoiling hydrocyclone using STAR-CCM+ CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software. In order to evaluate the effect of the implementation of functionalized surfaces on the deoiling process, The Reynolds Stress model and the eulerian-eulerian model are combined to handle the complex anisotropic turbulent two-phase flow. Velocity and pressure profiles were obtained for a single phase simulation in order to evaluate the flow behavior on the hydrocyclone. Then, oil volume fraction, velocity, and pressure profiles were obtained for a multiphase simulation and the results were in agreement with previously reported data in the literature. At last, surface functionalization was implemented on the monophasic simulation due to convergence issues with the multiphase modified simulation. The results were not conclusive towards the effect of surface functionalization on separation performance but strongly showed the need of continuing this work into the multiphase simulation or experimental research.
Dynamics of a diffusive viral model with Beddington-DeAngelis incidence rate and CTL immune response

In this paper, a four-dimensional system of viral model with cytotoxic lymphocyte (CTL) immune response is investigated. This model is a reaction-diffusion system with Beddington-DeAngelis incidence rate and free diffusion in a bounded domain. With the help of comparison principle and Lyapunov function method, the well-posedness of solutions and sufficient conditions for global stability of nonnegative equilibria are established. It can be found that free diffusion has no influence on the global stability of the system with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. c ©2017 All rights reserved.
Sequential tests for the detection of linkage.

INFORMATION ON LINKAGE in man is accumulated as a succession of samples, each of which is typically small relative to the amount of data required to detect even moderately close linkage. The best method of analysis for such sequential samples, in the sense of requiring the least number of observations consistent with a given risk of error, has been found to be a sequential probability ratio test (Wald, 1947). It will now be shown that this test, in addition to minimizing the number of observations, is in other respects a useful method for the detection of linkage in man.
Skycourt as a ventilated buffer zone in office buildings: assessing energy performance and thermal comfort

Skycourts, recently, have been considered as beneficial spaces in commercial buildings, in particular offices. Skycourts are perceived as spaces that act as transitional and recreational nodes. Research considering the performance in response to conditions in these regions is steadily growing. However, there is a lack of conclusive results in the available literature about the actual energy performance of these spaces. The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the potential of the skycourt to perform as a buffer zone that suits to the ventilation strategy in office buildings in a temperate climate, thus could potentially reduce energy demands for heating and cooling, furthermore ensure thermal comfort in these spaces. Using a hypothetical reference office building in London, coupled Building Energy Simulation (BES) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are carried out for two ventilation modes; mode one, the base model represents skycourt with isolated mechanical ventilation and mode two, alternative models that incorporate combined ventilation strategies with the adjacent offices’ zones of the skycourt. These are simulated and evaluated regarding energy consumption and thermal comfort. Overall, the simulation results highlight that the incorporation of skycourt as buffer zone can potentially have a significant impact on the annual energy consumption.
Short-distance dispersal of black coral larvae: inference from spatial analysis of colony genotypes

Ant~pathes fiordensis is a black coral species endermc to the south western reglon of New Zealand Restncted larval dlspersal has been demonstrated to occur In A fiordens~s although the exact scale of larval dlspersal is unknown Thls study examlnes the fine-scale (<50 m) pattern of relatedness between black coral colonles at 3 sltes in Doubtful Sound Fiordland to mfer dspersa l &stance and gain a better understanding of patch size in this species At each of the 3 sites the position of all black coral colonles was mapped and allozyme electrophoresis was used to determine the 10-locus genotype of each colony Two statlstlcal methods were used to examine the association between colony genotype and dlstance at each of the 3 plots, spatlal autocorrelatlon of ~n&vidual oci and Mantels Test which exanunes the relatlonshlp between multi locus genotypes At 1 of the 3 sites (Trlcky Cove) there was a signif~cant positive association among colonles separated by < 5 m for 4 of the 6 loci tested Sinularly Mdntel s Test showed a signdlcant positive correlation between genetic distance and Euclidean distance at the Tricky Cove site (r = 0 2 p = 0 007) These results suggest dlspersal of black coral larvae 1s highly philopatnc and that larvae settle very close to parent colonles However at the other 2 sites there was no spatial associabon detected among genotypes indicating either that gametes or larvae are more widely dspersed at these 2 sites (>50 m) or that other ecological and evolutionary factors are operating that have influenced the observed genetic structure of the populations Genetic stu&es suggest that gene flow in A f~ordensis populations ~ 1 1 1 be restncted and that patch size In this species may be relatively small These findlngs w l l have Important mlplications for the conservation and management of the rare and unique shallow water populations of black corals In New Zealand s flords
Secure Actor Directed Localization in Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks

Wireless sensor and actor networks are fully automated. Actor nodes are inducted to communicate with sensor nodes directly and reduce the communication delay caused by base station or sink nodes. Sometimes, the actor node is directly accessible without the involvement of any control room. The actor node is responsible for taking a prompt action against the reported event by a sensor node. For secure communication, it is essential that sensor and actor nodes be aware of their existing location and the data must be encrypted before transmission. Due to energy constraints, secure localization in wireless sensor networks is a hot issue. To date, the researchers have proposed many approaches for localization of sensor nodes in the network. In this paper, we provide new insights for secure actor directed localization technique in wireless sensor and actor networks. A secure connectivity based localization (CBL) approach for sensor and actor nodes localization is presented. The proposed approach helps to locate a sensor node efficiently and effectively. We have also decreased the possibility of attacks and the registration of attacker nodes with other legitimate nodes in the network. The proposed technique prevents man-in-the-middle attacks and securely delivers data to the destination.
Brownian Processes for Monte Carlo Integration on Compact Lie Groups

This article proposes a Monte Carlo approach for the evaluation of integrals of smooth functions defined on compact Lie groups. The approach is based on the ergodic property of Brownian processes in compact Lie groups. The article provides an elementary proof of this property and obtains the following results. It gives the rate of almost sure convergence of time averages along with a “large deviations” type upper bound and a central limit theorem. It derives probability of error bounds for uniform approximation of the paths of Brownian processes using two numerical schemes. Finally, it describes generalization to compact Riemannian manifolds.
Secure name services for the internet of things

The term Internet of Things (IOT) describes an emerging global, Internet-based information service architecture for RFID-tagged items (Radio-Frequency Identification). In the vision of its proponents, this IOT will facilitate information exchange about goods in global supply chain networks, increase transparency, and enhance their efficiency. In an extension of this initial application scope, the IOT could also serve as backbone for Ubiquitous Computing, enabling smart environments to easily recognize and identify objects, and retrieve information from the Internet to facilitate their adaptive functionality; for example, in smart homes where items or furniture of daily use could be upgraded to provide information and counseling services. Name Services for the IOT are distributed systems that serve the following fundamental lookup function: Given an identifier for a real-world object, e.g., an Electronic Product Code (EPC), they return a list of Internet addresses of services, which offer additional information about this object. Without name services acting as a broker between items and their information sources, the IOT could not achieve the flexibility and global scalability necessary to live up to its vision. This thesis discusses the information security challenges involved in the design and use of an IOT Name Service (IOTNS), evaluates possible countermeasures to reduce security risks, and discusses fundamental trade-offs between performance and security. Our main contributions are the following: • First, the requirements for an IOTNS are collected and discussed, including multilateral security and the client perspective, which have been neglected in IOT standards and research literature so far. • Second, we conduct a detailed security analysis of the most influential standard Object Naming Service (ONS). This extends our previous article that initiated this new research line in the field of RFID and IOT security. • Third, enhancements to ONS are discussed, which could mitigate some of the ONS security shortcomings in an evolutionary way without completely abandoning the established standard. In particular, we describe an architecture and prototype for Multipolar ONS, which reduces international dependency on a single country controlling the ONS Root. • Fourth, we present a new IOTNS architecture based on Distributed Hash Tables (DHT) and its implementation on the research platform PlanetLab. This architecture is shown to offer enhanced overall security compared to ONS while delivering equivalent or even better functionality, scalability, and performance. Future work should focus on the quantification of IOT diffusion and its scalability and performance demands, but also on further security requirements elicitation of its stakeholders, and on methods for secure and scalable cryptographic-key distribution among them. Emerging designs for IOT Discovery Services should take the security requirements, security and multipolarity analyses, as well as an extending of the DHT-based architecture presented in this thesis into consideration.
Spatial Tools for Case Selection: Using LISA Statistics to Design Mixed-Methods Research

Abstract Mixed-methods designs, especially those in which case selection is regression-based, have become popular across the social sciences. In this paper, we highlight why tools from spatial analysis—which have largely been overlooked in the mixed-methods literature—can be used for case selection and be particularly fruitful for theory development. We discuss two tools for integrating quantitative and qualitative analysis: (1) spatial autocorrelation in the outcome of interest; and (2) spatial autocorrelation in the residuals of a regression model. The case selection strategies presented here enable scholars to systematically use geography to learn more about their data and select cases that help identify scope conditions, evaluate the appropriate unit or level of analysis, examine causal mechanisms, and uncover previously omitted variables.
Insurance, Efficiency and the Design of Public Pensions

Government pension spending in advanced economies can be divided into three types: (1) Social Security-style benefits that depend on earnings during working life, (2) subsidies of private pension saving and (3) means-tested income floors provided to the elderly. Using an estimated lifecycle model that accounts for each of these, as well as endogenous labour supply, private savings and realistic uncertainty, this paper investigates the optimal combination of the three approaches. For countries (such as the US and the UK) that currently provide public pensions that depend on career-average earnings, I show that large welfare gains can be obtained by increases in the level of means-tested old-age income floors that are funded by any of reducing public pensions, increasing taxes or (especially) reducing private pension subsidies. While means-tested transfers cause costly distortions, these are more than offset by the value of the insurance they provide against low lifetime earnings potential. The optimality of greater means-tested support is specific to older individuals: I find that such support to younger households should be at a much lower level than that to the elderly. These results imply that governments should provide strong work incentives for the young, but provide pensions with good insurance properties for the old.
Immunoassay of Anti-Thyroid Autoantibodies: High Analytical Variability in Second Generation Methods

Abstract The use of highly sensitive immunometric methods in clinical laboratories to assay anti-thyroid antibodies has progressively expanded in recent years but it is not known whether the new techniques have improved the analytical variability connected with the preceding methodologies. The Italian Society of Laboratory Medicine Study Group on Autoimmune Diseases conducted a collaborative study with the biomedical industry to evaluate the degree of standardization of the new analytical procedures. Twelve companies agreed to participate in the study on the search for anti-thyroglobulin (anti-Tg) and anti-thyroperoxidase (anti-TPO) antibodies in nine sera from patients with autoimmune thyroiditis, and in six sera from patients with non-autoimmune thyroid disease; ten immunometric and three immunofluorescence methods were employed. Agreement of qualitative results was close to 90% for anti-Tg and 97% for anti-TPO, with no important differences between the methods; variability of the quantitative results, expressed as CV% of absolute (in IU/ml) and relative (in cut-off concentration multiples) values was 93.9% and 102.3%, respectively, for anti-Tg, and 75.5% and 62.9%, respectively, for anti-TPO. These findings show that despite the progressive improvement in the analytical techniques, the variability between methods for the assay of anti-Tg and anti-TPO is still unexpectedly high, and probably due to several factors such as uncertainty in defining the positive cutoff concentration, absence of adequate international reference preparations, modality of autoantigen purification, and analytical variability in the assay procedures.
Pharmacotherapy of anxious disorders

The present paper is a review of the treatment of anxious disorders by the current pharmaceutical medications; a short epidemiological survey is given for anxious disorders including: general anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety and post‐traumatic stress disorder. For all these disorders there are proposals of treatment built on literature data mainly on meta‐analysis as well on personal experience. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effects of antipsychotics and vitamin C on the formation of reactive oxygen species

There is evidence that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Indirect biochemical alterations of ROS formation have been shown for patients treated with antipsychotics as well as for untreated patients. Only one study measured directly the ROS formation after treatment with antipsychotics by using electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The aim of the present examination was to demonstrate the effects of haloperidol, clozapine and olanzapine in concentrations of 18, 90 and 180 μg/mL on the formation of ROS in the whole blood of rats by using electron spin resonance spectroscopy after incubation for 30 min. To test the protective capacity of vitamin C we incubated the highest concentration of each drug with vitamin C (1 mM). Under all treatment conditions, olanzapine led to a significantly higher formation of ROS compared with control conditions, whereas in the cases of haloperidol and clozapine the two higher concentrations induced a significantly enhanced formation of ROS. Vitamin C reduced the ROS production of all drugs tested and for haloperidol and clozapine the level of significance was reached. Our study demonstrated that antipsychotics induce the formation of ROS in the whole blood of rats, which can be reduced by the application of vitamin C.
High‐resolution crystal structure of human Mapkap kinase 3 in complex with a high affinity ligand

The Mapkap kinases 2 and 3 (MK2 and MK3) have been implicated in intracellular signaling pathways leading to the production of the pro‐inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha. MK2 has been pursued by the biopharmaceutical industry for many years for the development of a small molecule anti‐inflammatory treatment and drug‐like inhibitors have been described. The development of some of these compounds, however, has been slowed by the absence of a high‐resolution crystal structure of MK2. Herein we present a high‐resolution (1.9 Å) crystal structure of the highly homologous MK3 in complex with a pharmaceutical lead compound. While all of the canonical features of Ser/Thr kinases in general and MK2 in particular are recapitulated in MK3, the detailed analysis of the binding interaction of the drug‐like ligand within the adenine binding pocket allows relevant conclusions to be drawn for the further design of potent and selective drug candidates.
Genotoxicity detection in drinking water by ames test, zimmermann test and comet assay

Drinking water of good quality is the primary requirement from public health point of view. Over past two decades, many studies have reported the presence of various hazardous compounds in drinking water that may cause long-term health effects, e.g. gastrointestinal and urinary tract cancers. Sources of drinking water contamination are industrial and agricultural activities, disinfection by-products and transportation. Monitoring of drinking water in Slovenia is based on regular physico-chemical and microbiological assays according to European Community legislation. Since physico-chemical analyses do not provide enough information about biological effects of pollutants, we are studying the possibilities of including biological tests into drinking water monitoring. In the present work we tested three genotoxicity assays with water collected at three different sampling points in Ljubljana drinking water region. The Ames test was performed with and without metabolic activation using bacterium Salmonella typhimurium TA97a, TA100 and TA1535 strains. The same samples were tested with the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain D7, with and without metabolic activation in Zimmermann test. Parallel genotoxicity evaluation on the samples was carried out as alkaline version of the comet assay performed with human HepG2 cell line. Original and concentrated water samples were tested in all bioassays following the chemical analyses for pesticides and nitrate. There was no indication of genotoxic activity in any of drinking water samples according to Ames and Zimmermann test. On the contrary, the results of the comet assay revealed low genotoxicity in most of the drinking water samples. As only the Comet assay proved to be sensitive enough to detect genotoxicity, we propose to include it in regular biomonitoring of drinking water.
Alternative Splicing of Cyclooxygenase-1 mRNA in the Human Iris

In homogenates of the human iris, the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) S(+)flurbiprofen has been reported to inhibit cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) 70-fold more potently than in human whole blood. We hypothesized that this difference may be due to alternative splicing of COX-1 mRNA in the human iris or in whole blood. In this study, we have identified a similar COX-1 splice variant (COX-1SV) in both tissues with comparable COX-1/COX-1SV expression ratios. Therefore, we conclude that the difference in IC50 values of S(+)flurbiprofen towards COX-1 in the human iris and human whole blood is not related to differences in the occurrence of spliced COX-1.
A Prospective Multicenter Clinical Study of Extralevator Abdominoperineal Resection for Locally Advanced Low Rectal Cancer

BACKGROUND:Recent studies have shown that extralevator abdominoperineal resection has the potential for reduced circumferential resection margin involvement, intraoperative bowl perforation, and local recurrence rates; however, it has been suggested that extended resection may be associated with increased morbidity because of the formation of a larger perineal defect. OBJECTIVE:This study was undertaken to demonstrate the feasibility and complications of extralevator abdominoperineal resection for locally advanced low rectal cancer in China. DESIGN:This was a prospective cohort study. SETTING:The study was conducted at 7 university hospitals throughout China. PATIENTS:A total of 102 patients underwent this procedure for primary locally advanced low rectal cancer between August 2008 and October 2011. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:The main outcome measures comprised circumferential resection margin involvement, intraoperative perforation, postoperative complications, and local recurrence. RESULTS:The most common complications included sexual dysfunction (40.5%), perineal complications (23.5%), urinary retention (18.6%), and chronic perineal pain (13.7%). Chronic perineal pain was associated with coccygectomy (p < 0.001), and the pain gradually eased over time. Reconstruction of the pelvic floor with biological mesh was associated with a lower rate of perineal dehiscence (p = 0.006) and overall perineal wound complications (p = 0.02) in comparison with primary closure. A positive circumferential margin was demonstrated in 6 (5.9%) patients, and intraoperative perforations occurred in 4 (3.9%) patients. All circumferential margin involvements and intraoperative perforations were located anteriorly. The local recurrence was 4.9% at a median follow-up of 44 months (range, 18–68 months). LIMITATIONS:This was a nonrandomized, uncontrolled study. CONCLUSIONS:Extralevator abdominoperineal resection performed in the prone position for low rectal cancer is a relatively safe approach with acceptable circumferential resection margin involvement, intraoperative perforations, and local recurrences. Reconstruction of the pelvic floor with biological mesh might lower the rate of perineal wound complications (see Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/DCR/A161).