Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Caustic Soda and Bio-Soda Pulping of Jute

In this study, new approaches for pulping jute have been evaluated using caustic soda and bio-soda pulping approaches. Although caustic soda pulps had good yield and strength properties, the delignification ability of the system was limited. Requiring higher temperatures and cooking times to achieve desired residual lignin around 5%. This resulted in yield and strength losses of the pulp. A comparison of pulps from bio-tretaed and untretaed samples of jute bast at 300ml CSF clearly demonstrates the advantage of bio-treatment over untretaed samples. Ceriporiopsis subvermispora treatment prior to soda pulping synergistically affects on lignin removal. These preliminary results imply that white-rot fungi treatment was effective in pulp strength and lower residual lignin. This improvement is very important because the residual lignin in pulps had reducing effects on quality of paper products. In bio-soda pulps, the highest burst strength of 4.2 kPa.m 2 /g and tensile strength of 62.7 N.m/g were found at 200 0 C and 45 min reaction conditions.
Tabu Search Strategies in Scheduling Problem in Flexible Manufacturing System - Considering Tool Switches and Number of Setups

In this paper it’s investigated the impact of the Tabu List size, neighborhood generation approach and the managing of the decision variables of the Objective Function in the quality of a Tabu Search solution to the Scheduling Problem applied to a Flexible Manufacturing System. It was used a Part Scheduling Model, which starts with qualitatively different initial solutions that yields experiments in which it’s observed the Tabu List size influence in the results quality, according to the pre-defined Objective Function variables contribution. This Model creates a schedule in a Flexible Manufacturing System, considering resident tooling concepts, production turns, Part Selection, Machine Magazine Constraints and Due-dates. Numerical results show relations among neighborhood strategies and the Tabu List size behavior considering initial solutions and contribution managing of the Objective Function variables.
Investigating Concordance among Genetic Data, Subspecies Circumscriptions and Hostplant Use in the Nymphalid Butterfly Polygonia faunus

Subspecies are commonly used taxonomic units to formally describe intraspecific geographic variation in morphological traits. However, the concept of subspecies is not clearly defined, and there is little agreement about what they represent in terms of evolutionary units, and whether they can be used as reliably useful units in conservation, evolutionary theory and taxonomy. We here investigate whether the morphologically well-characterized subspecies in the North American butterfly Polygonia faunus are supported by genetic data from mitochondrial sequences and eight microsatellite loci. We also investigate the phylogeographic structure of P. faunus and test whether similarities in host-plant use among populations are related to genetic similarity. Neither the nuclear nor the mitochondrial data corroborated subspecies groupings. We found three well defined genetic clusters corresponding to California, Arizona and (New Mexico+Colorado). There was little structuring among the remaining populations, probably due to gene flow across populations. We found no support for the hypothesis that similarities in host use are related to genetic proximity. The results indicate that the species underwent a recent rapid expansion, probably from two glacial refugia in western North America. The mitochondrial haplotype network indicates at least two independent expansion phases into eastern North America. Our results clearly demonstrate that subspecies in P. faunus do not conform to the structuring of genetic variation. More studies on insects and other invertebrates are needed to better understand the scope of this phenomenon. The results of this study will be crucial in designing further experiments to understand the evolution of hostplant utilization in this species.
Bursty interference channel with feedback

We explore the benefit of feedback for physical layer interference management in wireless networks without centralized upper layer control mechanisms. Lack of coordination in the upper layer could make the interference experienced in the physical layer bursty. To understand how to harness such burstiness with feedback, we investigate a two-user bursty interference channel (IC), where the presence of interference is governed by a Bernoulli random state. We completely characterize the capacity region of the symmetric two-user linear deterministic bursty IC with feedback. The proposed two-phase scheme exploits feedback either for refining the previous interfered reception or for relaying additional information to the legitimate receiver of the other user. Matching outer bounds are derived by novel techniques that take the effect of delayed state information into account. We also use insights from the deterministic case to characterize the approximate symmetric capacity for the symmetric Gaussian bursty IC with feedback in the weak interference regime.
On the Robustness of the Quizzing Effect under Real Teaching Conditions

Lab experiments and field studies showed that studying improves short-term memory, whereas active retrieval improves long-term memory – a phenomenon known as the quizzing (or testing) effect. In a quasi-experimental field study with four elementary school classes (18 < n < 22) and a pretest – posttest (5 min after the intervention) – posttest (6 weeks later) design, we tested the robustness of the quizzing effect under real conditions involving verbal teacher-student interactions in geometry lessons on symmetry in elementary schoolers. Results showed that re-studying compared to active retrieval (quizzing) enhanced learning more when measured directly after the lessons. This pattern revered when knowledge was measured six weeks later, demonstrating that the quizzing effect was robust. Moreover, long-term memory generally increased after six weeks. Limitations of the quasi-experimental approach are discussed.
First Otoliths/Collagen/Bacterial Cellulose Nanocomposites as a Potential Scaffold for Bone Tissue Regeneration

In the present work, we report the first bionanocomposite material formed by otoliths/ collagen/ bacterial cellulose (BC) networks (OCBC). This biomaterial is an osteoinductor or be, stimulates the bone regeneration, enabling bigger migration of the cells for formation of the bone tissue regeneration mainly because nanotolith are rich in minerals considered essential to the bone mineralization process on a protein matrix (otolin). The objective in this study was to analyze the regeneration capacity of bone defects treated with this bionanocomposite. Histological experiments shows bone tissue formation with high regularity, higher osteoblast activity and osteo-reabsorption activities areas. The results suggest the potential for this new biomaterial as a scaffold for bone tissue regeneration.
Comparison of metabolic adaptations between endurance‐ and sprint‐trained athletes after an exhaustive exercise in two different calf muscles using a multi‐slice 31P‐MR spectroscopic sequence

Measurements of exercise‐induced metabolic changes, such as oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide exhalation or lactate concentration, are important indicators for assessing the current performance level of athletes in training science. With exercise‐limiting metabolic processes occurring in loaded muscles, 31P‐MRS represents a particularly powerful modality to identify and analyze corresponding training‐induced alterations. Against this background, the current study aimed to analyze metabolic adaptations after an exhaustive exercise in two calf muscles (m. soleus – SOL – and m. gastrocnemius medialis – GM) of sprinters and endurance athletes by using localized dynamic 31P‐MRS. In addition, the respiratory parameters VO2 and VCO2, as well as blood lactate concentrations, were monitored simultaneously to assess the effects of local metabolic adjustments in the loaded muscles on global physiological parameters. Besides noting obvious differences between the SOL and the GM muscles, we were also able to identify distinct physiological strategies in dealing with the exhaustive exercise by recruiting two athlete groups with opposing metabolic profiles. Endurance athletes tended to use the aerobic pathway in the metabolism of glucose, whereas sprinters produced a significantly higher peak concentration of lactate. These global findings go along with locally measured differences, especially in the main performer GM, with sprinters revealing a higher degree of acidification at the end of exercise (pH 6.29 ± 0.20 vs. 6.57 ± 0.21). Endurance athletes were able to partially recover their PCr stores during the exhaustive exercise and seemed to distribute their metabolic activity more consistently over both investigated muscles. In contrast, sprinters mainly stressed Type II muscle fibers, which corresponds more to their training orientation preferring the glycolytic energy supply pathway. In conclusion, we were able to analyze the relation between specific local metabolic processes in loaded muscles and typical global adaptation parameters, conventionally used to monitor the training status of athletes, in two cohorts with different sports orientations.
Some insights into the behaviour of millimetre wave spectrum on key 5G cellular KPIs

This invited paper discusses the challenging task of assessing the millmeter-wave spectrum for the use of 5G mobile systems. 3 key KPIs related to mobile systems, coverage, capacity and mobility are individually assessed and quantified with a simplistic figure of merit (FoM). The coverage and capacity KPIs are assessed through simulations while an analytical approach is developed for mobility. The key message is that the FoM degrades with the higher as the frequencies increase in this range. This indicates that there will be more challenges in deploying millimeter wave systems in higher frequencies, but these are not insurmountable. Many of these challenges are addressed in the mmMAGIC project and possible solutions are derived.
Effects of solar ultraviolet radiation exposure on early ocean survival and fry-to-smolt growth of juvenile salmon

Marine survival rates of many juvenile salmon populations have declined in recent decades. Although several potential causes have been proposed, there has been little conclusive evidence for which factors are responsible or not responsible for these declines. We experimen- tally addressed the hypothesis that exposure of coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch or sockeye salmon O. nerka to solar ultraviolet-B radiation (UVB) during freshwater rearing of fry and parr life-history stages increases mortality at the time of smoltification and ocean entry. Juvenile coho and sockeye salmon were reared in outdoor hatchery tanks either exposed to full spectrum sun- light or shielded from UVB radiation by plastic screens for up to 9 mo prior to release. Smolts were tagged with acoustic transmitters and detected with hydrophone receivers during their downriver and early ocean migration. Survival of treatment groups was compared using Cormack-Jolly- Seber and Burnham mark-recapture models. While exposure to UVB resulted in decreased growth of juvenile coho salmon, survivorship during the early marine period was unaffected by the UVB treatment for both populations. This first attempt to experimentally address the hypo - thesis of impaired survival resulting from solar UVB radiation has shown that other factors are more likely responsible for observed declines in salmon marine survival rates.
Discrete- and Continuous-Time Probabilistic Models and Algorithms for Inferring Neuronal UP and DOWN States

UP and DOWN states, the periodic fluctuations between increased and decreased spiking activity of a neuronal population, are a fundamental feature of cortical circuits. Understanding UP-DOWN state dynamics is important for understanding how these circuits represent and transmit information in the brain. To date, limited work has been done on characterizing the stochastic properties of UP-DOWN state dynamics. We present a set of Markov and semi-Markov discrete- and continuous-time probability models for estimating UP and DOWN states from multiunit neural spiking activity. We model multiunit neural spiking activity as a stochastic point process, modulated by the hidden (UP and DOWN) states and the ensemble spiking history. We estimate jointly the hidden states and the model parameters by maximum likelihood using an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm and a Monte Carlo EM algorithm that uses reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling in the E-step. We apply our models and algorithms in the analysis of both simulated multiunit spiking activity and actual multi- unit spiking activity recorded from primary somatosensory cortex in a behaving rat during slow-wave sleep. Our approach provides a statistical characterization of UP-DOWN state dynamics that can serve as a basis for verifying and refining mechanistic descriptions of this process.
Semantic Feature Analysis: Further Examination of Outcomes.

PURPOSE The purpose of this investigation was to systematically examine outcomes associated with Semantic feature analysis, which is an established treatment for word-retrieval deficits in aphasia. Attributes of the experimental design and stimuli were manipulated to evaluate generalized naming of semantically related and unrelated items. In addition, the study was designed to examine changes in production of semantic information. METHOD Semantic feature analysis was applied in the context of multiple-baseline designs with 5 persons with chronic aphasia. Experimental items were controlled for semantic category membership, number of naming attempts, and provision of item names. Acquisition, generalization, and maintenance effects were measured in probes of naming performance. Production of semantic information was also measured in response to experimental items and in discourse tasks. RESULTS Treatment was associated with systematic increases in naming of trained items for 4 of the 5 participants. Positive generalization to untrained exemplars of trained categories was found for repeatedly exposed items but not for limited-exposure items. Slight increases in production of semantic content were observed. CONCLUSION Repeated attempts to name untreated items appeared to play a role in generalization. Provision of the names of untrained items may have enhanced generalized responding for 2 participants.
How to investigate and adjust for selection bias in cohort studies

Longitudinal cohort studies can provide important evidence about preventable causes of disease, but the success relies heavily on the commitment of their participants, both at recruitment and during follow up. Initial participation rates have decreased in recent decades as have willingness to participate in subsequent follow ups. It is important to examine how such selection affects the validity of the results. In this article, we describe the conceptual framework for selection bias due to nonparticipation and loss to follow up in cohort studies, using both a traditional epidemiological approach and directed acyclic graphs. Methods to quantify selection bias are introduced together with analytical strategies to adjust for the bias including controlling for covariates associated with selection, inverse probability weighting and bias analysis. We use several studies conducted in the Danish National Birth Cohort as examples of how to quantify selection bias and also understand the underlying selection mechanisms. Although women who chose to participate in this cohort were typically of higher social status, healthier and with less disease than all those eligible for study, differential selection was modest and the influence of selection bias on several selected exposure–outcome associations was limited. These findings are reassuring and support enrolling a subset of motivated participants who would engage in long‐term follow up rather than prioritize representativeness. Some of the presented methods are applicable even with limited data on nonparticipants and those lost to follow up, and can also be applied to other study designs such as case–control studies and surveys.
Sleep Duration in Relation to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in American Adults

ABSTRACT Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition being diagnosed in increasing numbers. While the link between sleep and ADHD is of increasing interest, the relationship between sleep duration and ADHD remains largely uninvestigated in adult populations. We evaluated the association between self-reported sleep duration and ADHD in a cohort of American adults using data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Of the 30,858 participants eligible for our analyses, there were 1,122 cases of ADHD. Elevated and diminished sleep durations were both associated with increased odds of reporting ADHD (≤ 6 hr: OR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.19, 1.90; ≥ 9 hr: OR = 1.49, 95% CI 1.26, 1.75) in fully adjusted models. Future prospective studies are necessary to further examine this association in adult patients.
The Benefits and Risks of Mandating Network Neutrality, and the Quest for a Balanced Policy

A fundamental issue in the network neutrality debate is the extent to which network operators should be allowed to discriminate among Internet packet streams to selectively block, adjust quality of service, or adjust prices. This paper first reviews technology now available for traffic discrimination. It then shows how network operators can use this technology in ways that would make the Internet less valuable to Internet users, and why a network operator would have financial incentive to do this if and only if it has sufficient market power. A particular concern is that network operators could use discrimination to extract oligopoly rents from upstream markets that are highly competitive. This paper also shows how network operators can use the very same technology to discriminate in ways that benefit Internet users, as well as the network operator.Thus, network neutrality supporters are right to fear unlimited discrimination in some cases, while network neutrality opponents are right to fear a policy that imposes strict limits on discrimination. From this, we argue that the network neutrality debate should be refocused on the search for a balanced policy, which is a policy that limits the more harmful discriminatory practices in markets where there is insufficient competition, with little interference to beneficial discrimination or innovation. We apply this balanced policy in a few controversial scenarios as examples. There has been too little attention on the possibility of a nuanced balanced policy, in part because the network neutrality debate is focusing on the wrong issues. This paper argues that the debate should shift towards the complex details of differentiating harmful discrimination from beneficial discrimination, and away from high-level secondary questions like whether discrimination is inherently just, who ought to pay for certain Internet services, how important general design principles are, what abstract rights and freedoms consumers and carriers deserve, or whether network operators can give their affiliates special treatment. Reality is more complex than these questions would imply, and none of them will serve as a basis for a sufficiently specific and effective policy.
Extracellular Guanosine 5′-Triphosphate Induces Human Muscle Satellite Cells to Release Exosomes Stuffed With Guanosine

The extracellular guanosine 5′-triphosphate, GTP, has been demonstrated to be an enhancer of myogenic cell differentiation in a murine cell line, not yet in human muscle cells. Our hypothesis was that GTP could influence also human skeletal muscle regeneration, specifically in the first phases. We tested GTP stimulus on human muscle precursor cells established in culture by human satellite cells derived from Vastus Lateralis of three young male. Our data show that extracellular GTP (a) up-regulated miRNA (specifically miR133a and miR133b) and myogenic regulator factor and (b) induces human myogenic precursor cells to release exosomes stuffed with guanosine based molecules (mainly guanosine) in the extracellular milieu. We think that probably these exosomes could be addressed to influence by means of their content (mainly guanosine) in paracrine or autocrine manner the surrounding cells and/or at distance other muscles or tissues.
Is Cumulative Exposure to Suicide Attempts and Deaths a Risk Factor for Suicidal Behavior Among Firefighters? A Preliminary Study.

The association between cumulative exposure to suicide attempts and deaths and suicidal behavior was examined in a sample of 61 professional firefighters. On average, firefighters reported 13.1 (SD = 16.6) exposures over the course of their lifetime. Cumulative exposure to suicide attempts and deaths was positively correlated with suicidal behavior (r = .38, p = .004). Moreover, firefighters with 12+ exposures were more likely to screen positive for risk of suicidal behavior (OR = 7.885, p = .02). Additional research on the potential impact of cumulative exposure to suicide attempts and deaths on firefighters' health and safety is needed.
A window‐less approach for capturing time‐varying connectivity in fMRI data reveals the presence of states with variable rates of change

Functional connectivity during the resting state has been shown to change over time (i.e., has a dynamic connectivity). However, resting‐state fluctuations, in contrast to task‐based experiments, are not initiated by an external stimulus. Consequently, a more complicated method needs to be designed to measure the dynamic connectivity. Previous approaches have been based on assumptions regarding the nature of the underlying dynamic connectivity to compensate for this knowledge gap. The most common assumption is what we refer to as locality assumption. Under a locality assumption, a single connectivity state can be estimated from data that are close in time. This assumption is so natural that it has been either explicitly or implicitly embedded in many current approaches to capture dynamic connectivity. However, an important drawback of methods using this assumption is they are unable to capture dynamic changes in connectivity beyond the embedded rate while, there has been no evidence that the rate of change in brain connectivity matches the rates enforced by this assumption. In this study, we propose an approach that enables us to capture functional connectivity with arbitrary rates of change, varying from very slow to the theoretically maximum possible rate of change, which is only imposed by the sampling rate of the imaging device. This method allows us to observe unique patterns of connectivity that were not observable with previous approaches. As we explain further, these patterns are also significantly correlated to the age and gender of study subjects, which suggests they are also neurobiologically related.