Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A downscaling approach of phase transition water content using AMSR2 and MODIS products

A useful indicator to evaluate the soil freeze-thaw intensity is the amount of phase transition water content (PTWC) in soil pores. In this research, a power function relation between soil phase transition water content (PTWC) and the variation rate of land surface temperature (VTS) was found by analyzing of ground measured soil moisture and temperature data obtained in the Tibet plateau during the winter of 2012. Then a downscaling approach combining MODIS VTs and AMSR2 products was employed to retrieve high resolution PTWC. The downscaled result was tested using in situ observations from the CTP-SMTMN network and found that it quite followed the trend of ground data with a RMSE of 0.0034 (m3/m3) and MAE of 0.0025 (m3/m3). The comparisons indicate that PTWC-VTS model has combined the advantage of microwave remote sensing and optical remote sensing; it has a high precision and can generate PTWC in small scale.
Imalat Sanayi Sektorunde Kârliligin Belirleyicileri: TCMB Sektor Bilancolariyla Panel Veri Analizi (1996-2015)

Ticari isletmeler faaliyetlerini surdurebilmek ve uzun donemde buyuyebilmek icin yeterli duzeyde kâr etmek zorundadir. Kârlilik ozellikle Turkiye’nin de icinde bulundugu gelismekte olan ulkelerde ihracat, istihdam ve inovasyon kanallariyla ekonomik buyumeye katki saglayan ve sanayi sektorunun en buyuk alt sektorunu olusturan imalat sanayi sektorunde daha da onemli hale gelmektedir. Calismada, imalat sanayi sektorunde kârliligin isletme duzeyindeki baslica belirleyicileri, ulkemizdeki en kapsamli reel sektor veri seti olan Turkiye Cumhuriyet Merkez Bankasi (TCMB) sektor bilancolarindan yararlanilarak 1996- 2015 doneminde iki yonlu panel veri analizi ile incelenmistir. Ekonometrik analiz sonuclari; Turkiye imalat sanayi sektorunde aktif kârlilik oraninin kaldirac orani ve maddi duran varliklarin toplam varliklara oranindan negatif, alacak devir hizi ve reel aktif buyuklugunden pozitif olarak etkilendigini ortaya koymaktadir. Analiz sonuclarina gore kârliligini artirmak isteyen isletmeler daha az yabanci kaynak kullanmali, maddi duran varlik verimliligini artirmali ve alacaklarini satislarini etkilemeden daha hizli tahsil etmelidir. Imalat sanayi sektorunde genel kârlilik oraninin artmasi ekonomik buyume ve kalkinmayi da hizlandiracaktir.
A Fusion Algorithm Based Improved Function Link Artificial Neural Network for Lumber Moisture Content (LMC) Measuring

Aimed to improve the measurement precision of the traditional microwave transmission method for lumber moisture content (LMC), this paper presents a dynamic compensation technique based on function link neural networks (FLNN). The microwave attenuation and phase shift are taken as the inputs of the dynamic compensation model. Consider that the traditional BP algorithm has shortcomings of converging slowly and easily trapping a local minimum value, a combination learning algorithm using particle swarm optimization (PSO) and BP is adopted to train the neural network dynamic compensation model. It will enable the compensation process with an overall accuracy. Experimental results show that the use of the technology on lumber moisture content measurements for calibration is an effective method and has certain project value.
Chemical Composition, Antimicrobial and Antitumor Potentiality of Essential Oil of Ferula tingitana L. Apiaceae Grow in Libya

Background: Ferula tingitana L. (Apiaceae) has been considered to have abortive and menstruation-inducing properties. It used to treat sore throat, fever, indigestion, and pains. Objectives: The objective of this study is to establish the chemical composition of the essential oil of flower, leaves of F. tingitana, and to throw light on antimicrobial, cytotoxic activities of Libyan plant. Materials and Methods: The chemical composition of the essential oil of flower (0.06% w/v) and leaves (0.1% w/v) of F. tingitana was comparatively analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry using nonpolar column DB-5. Results: A total of 28–32 components were identified, 15 being common in both samples. The main constituents of both flower- and leave-derived oil samples were α -thujene (13.5%–2.3%), elemol (8.9%–8.3%), eudesmol (0.6%–9.7%) and cadinol (2.2%–13.8%), respectively. The principle difference was a considerably more pronounced sesquiterpenes presence in the leaves-oil, amounting to 74.0%, than in the flower counterpart (39.9%). Caryophyllene (5.6%) and elemol (8.9%) were the major sesquiterpenes detected in flower-oil while leaves-oil showed less amounts of sesquiterpenoid hydrocarbons (27.7%) and represented by eudesmadiene (9.0%). On the contrary, while remaining the dominant group in both oil samples, monoterpenoids are relatively more abundant in flower-derived oil constituting 57.7% versus 24.5% detected in leaves. Conclusion: Leaves-oil sample being mostly efficient as antibacterial against Bacillus subtilis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae with potency 48.3, 41.9% compared to tetracycline standard antibacterial drug. The essential oil samples revealed marked in vitro cytotoxicity against breast (MCF7), cervical (HELA) and liver(HEPG2) carcinoma cell lines with IC50% (6.9, 4.8), (8.6, 10.9), and (4.4, 4.2) for the flower-, leaves-derived oil sample, respectively. Abbreviations used: F: Flower-derived oil of F. tingitana; L: Leaves-derived oil of F. tingitana ; IPP: Isopentenyl pyrophosphate or also isopentenyl diphosphate; DMAPP: Dimethylally pyrophosphate or also dimethylallyl diphosphate; GPP: Geranyl pyrophosphate; GGPP: Geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate; MEP: Methylerythritol phosphate pathway; FPP: Farnesyl pyrophosphate; GC/MS: Analysis gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy; SRB: Sulforhodamine B.
An infrasonic event neural network classifier

An integral part of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty International Monitoring System is an infrasonic monitoring network that is capable of detecting and verifying nuclear explosions. Reliable detection of such events must be made from data that may contain other sources of infrasonic phenomena, such as volcano eruptions, mountain associated waves (MAW), gravity waves, and microbaroms, to name a few. Infrasonic waves are sub-audible acoustic waves typically in the frequency range 0.01<f<10 Hz. In the interest of working toward the development of a robust neural network discriminator for the IMS, for defecting and classifying nuclear explosions, we have studied the feasibility of discriminating between the infrasonic signatures of volcano activity (MAW), and internal atmospheric gravity waves using a neural discriminator.
Why do Users become inactive on Online Social Networks? A Friendship Perspective

Online social networks used to attract many users. However, in recent years, some users have become less active. Paradoxically, online social networks, which are supposed to help forge friendship, may actually jeopardize the relationship. Through a qualitative study, we offer a new perspective to explain why some people decrease their use of online social networks. Our preliminary findings show that in some conditions, online social networks do not improve but instead jeopardize friendship. Initially, active interactions prevail in online social networks because people are motivated to keep in touch with friends and enhance friendship. However, these active interactions may backfire, and turn destructive. Two pairs of contradictions within a relationship, which are similarity-difference and reciprocity-independence, would help explain such negative consequence of interactions. Users evaluate friendship using criteria of “similarity” and “reciprocity”, but these two criteria vary over time and across friends.
Teaching medical students gynaecological examination using professional patients—evaluation of students' skills and feelings

Gynaecological examinations are especially sensitive, both for the inexperienced student and for the woman being examined. To assist the students in this process, we have introduced a separate training session for medical students using so-called professional patients during the first week of the course in obstetrics and gynaecology. The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcome, attitudes and feelings towards this type of training and to gain knowledge on how to further develop the method. After the training session, students, teachers and professional patients were asked to fill in anonymously different questionnaires assessing their views on the education. In conclusion students, teachers and professional patients found this training programme with professional patients to be of great value. It was felt that the teaching session reduced stress and anxiety; the students were relieved, calmer and more secure after the training. It is strongly recommended that this type of programme with professional patients should be used for teaching gynaecological examination techniques to medical students.
Effects of retinoic acid steroidal analogs on human leukemic HL60 cell proliferation in vitro and on angiogenesis in vivo

Retinoic acid (RA) can be regarded as a pharmacological agent commonly used for its ability to affect growth and differentiation of a variety of cell types, such as acute promyelocytic leukemic and endothelial cells. In the present work we studied the effect of all-trans-RA (ATRA) and its steroidal analogs EA-4, EA-136 and EA-137 on the growth of human promyelocytic HL-60 cells in vitro. The specific steroidal substrates were chosen in order to further investigate their ability to improve the pharmacological properties of conjugated antileukemic agents. ATRA decreased the number of HL60 cells from the first 24 h after its addition to the cell culture medium. The decrease was significant at concentrations higher than 10−5 M. All the analogs tested also decreased the number of HL60 cells with an IC50 similar to that of ATRA, except for EA-4 whose IC50 was almost two orders of magnitude lower than that of ATRA, 72 h after its addition to the cell culture medium. Since angiogenesis is important for the growth of hematological malignancies, we furthermore studied the effect of ATRA and its analogs on the formation of new capillaries in the in vivo chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). ATRA, EA-136 and EA-137 induced angiogenesis in the CAM, increased the layer of CAM keratinocytes, and resulted in a significant degree of extravasation. EA-4 had no effect on either angiogenesis or tissue structure in general. It seems that the retinoid EA-4 is a promising agent for the inhibition of human leukemia cell growth.
PLL-based BiCMOS on-chip clock generator for very high speed microprocessor

A phase-locked loop (PLL)-based BiCMOS on-chip clock generator (PCG), which is employed to generate an internal clock synchronized to a reference clock from outside a chip, has been developed using 1.0-&mu;m BiCMOS technology. In order to obtain a very wide operation bandwidth, it is proposed that the PCG included a compensation circuit for voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) operation. The compensation circuit varies the vibration bandwidth of the VCO according to the reference clock frequency, preventing the expected vibration frequency from being outside the vibration bandwidth. Therefore, the operation bandwidth of the PCG is from 3 MHz to 90 MHz. If semiconductor technology is enhanced, it should be possible to realize a clock generator operating near 200 MHz
Quantitation of two pathways for cholesterol excretion from the brain in normal mice and mice with neurodegeneration Published, JLR Papers in Press, June 16, 2003. DOI 10.1194/jlr.M300164-JLR200

Although the pool of cholesterol in the adult central nervous system (CNS) is large and of constant size, little is known of the process(es) involved in regulation of sterol turnover in this pool. In 7-week-old mice, net excretion of cholesterol from the brain equaled 1.4 mg/day/kg body weight, and from the whole animal was 179 mg/day/kg. Deletion of cholesterol 24-hydroxylase, an enzyme highly expressed in the CNS, did not alter brain growth or myelination, but reduced sterol excretion from the CNS 64% to 0.5 mg/day/kg. In mice with a mutation in the Niemann-Pick C gene that had ongoing neurodegeneration, sterol excretion from the CNS was increased to 2.3 mg/day/kg. Deletion of cholesterol 24-hydroxylase activity in these animals reduced net excretion only 22% to 1.8 mg/day/kg. Thus, at least two different pathways promote net sterol excretion from the CNS. One uses cholesterol 24-hydroxylase and may reflect sterol turnover in large neurons in the brain. The other probably involves the movement of cholesterol or one of its metabolites across the blood-brain barrier and may more closely mirror sterol turnover in pools such as glial cell membranes and myelin.
Testing the Gaussianity of the Human EEG During Anesthesia

Abstract: The Gaussian properties of human EEGs, which were measured over various stages of general anesthesia, were tested. The basis of the method was to describe the EEG signals by autoregressive models and to test the normality of the regression residuals with the Shapiro-Wilk statistic. The results show that in general the human EEG during anesthesia can be considered as a realization of a Gaussian stochastic process.
Flexible Metal Oxide/Graphene Oxide Hybrid Neuromorphic Transistors on Flexible Conducting Graphene Substrates

Flexible metal oxide/graphene oxide hybrid multi-gate neuromorphic transistors are fabricated on flexible conducting graphene substrates. Dendritic integrations in both spatial and temporal modes are emulated, and spatiotemporal correlated logics are obtained. A proof-of-principle visual system model for emulating Lobula Giant Motion Detector neuron is also investigated. The results are of great significance for flexible sensors and neuromorphic cognitive systems.
Hybrid Resource Allocation for Millimeter-Wave NOMA

The ever increasing demand for data traffic for future wireless systems poses challenging requirements for 5G wireless communications, such as high spectral efficiency, better interference management, and extensive connectivity. These challenges open the possibility to use NOMA schemes in future radio access networks. In these schemes, the users are multiplexed in the power domain in the transmitter and de-multiplexed using successive interference cancellation in the receiver. In this work, we propose a hybrid resource allocation technique that consists of orthogonal and non-orthogonal radio resources and also study the improvements in cell capacity achieved in several proposed cases. To this end, we use millimeter- wave-based single-cell deployment to evaluate the performance of this hybrid scheme.
Evaluating Peripheral Interaction Design

Many actions in the physical world take place in the background or periphery of people’s attention. However, interactions with computing technologies usually require focused attention. This article explores the concept of peripheral interaction: physical interaction with technology that takes place outside the focus of attention. A peripheral interaction design (called FireFlies), which supports primary school teachers in their everyday routine through open-ended light-objects on the children’s desks, was deployed in 4 classrooms for 6 weeks. Results of interviews and video analysis indicate that the 6 participating teachers were able to physically interact with the FireFlies interactive artifact quickly and frequently without disturbing ongoing tasks. In the final weeks of the study, the teachers seemed able to easily shift their focus of attention between their main task and the interactive system. We therefore conclude that, even though it is difficult to measure people’s attention, a longitudinal approach seemed effective to find indicators for peripheral interaction.
Social Media Analysis for Higher Education

The educational system involves a complex set of actors, including learners, parents, teachers, and administrators. However, we now have more data than ever to analyze this system, which could result in a quick understanding and evaluation of public policies in this complex policy area. This paper explores a new area of data about the educational experience, namely social media data. This paper outlines an exploratory analysis of the Twitter discussions regarding higher education in the USA. Based on a collection of more than 1.5 million tweets over a period of 4 months, we identify a few key issues in the current higher education discourse on social media. We also identify the effect of the expressed feelings of the social media users when it comes to college applications, decisions and completion. We conclude that policies in higher education can be better tailored if they are informed by social media discussions. Introduction THE INCREASING AMOUNT OF DATA, the decreasing cost of computational power, and the improving state of analytics has revolutionized fields from stock trading to social analytics, but somehow higher education has not received as much attention. The technology that has transformed many forprofit businesses and governments can be applied at various colleges and universities. One obvious place that analytics could be useful is in the classroom, but currently instructors at many universities are using outdated and inefficient methods to grade assignments and compile these scores into selfgenerated databases. In fact, Darrell West argues that “many of the typical pedagogies provide little immediate feedback to students, require teachers to spend hours grading routine assignments, are not very proactive about showing students how to improve comprehension, and fail to take advantage of digital resources that can improve the learning process” (West 2012). Data mining and analytics provide the capabilities necessary to circumvent the traditionally cumbersome grading processes and glean
Occupation as a risk factor for renal cell cancer: a nationwide, prospective epidemiological study

Abstract Objective Using centralized registries in Iceland, the aim of this study was to prospectively investigate multiple risk factors for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), including occupational history. Materials and methods From the Reykjavik study database, 18,840 men and women born in the period 1907–1935 were linked with a population-based registry containing all RCCs diagnosed in Iceland from 1971 to 2005 (n = 910). From this cross-reference, altogether 225 cases were identified. A prospective analysis of the risk factors for RCC was performed using Cox regression analysis, from the time of entry into the Reykjavik study to the diagnosis of RCC, death or end of follow-up, with a median follow-up time of 25 years. The hazard ratio (HR) was then calculated for multiple risk factors including occupational history. Results Male gender [HR 1.65, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14–2.38], body mass index (BMI) over 25 kg/m² (HR 1.41, 95% CI 1.06–1.88) and age (HR 1.04, 95% CI 1.03–1.07) increased the risk of RCC, as did severe hypertension (>160/100 mmHg) (HR 1.46, 95% CI 1.05–2.03) and history of kidney disease (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.11–2.16); however, smoking and type 2 diabetes were not significantly associated with the disease. The risk of RCC was significantly increased in painters (HR 2.97, 95% CI 1.31–6.74), aircraft mechanics (HR 4.51, 95% CI 1.11–18.28) and shipbuilders (HR 2.03, 95% CI 1.06–3.84). Conclusions Together with male gender, advanced age, hypertension, BMI over 25 kg/m² and history of kidney disease, the risk of RCC was significantly increased in painters, aircraft mechanics and shipbuilders, suggesting a link to occupational exposure.
Salmonella cell rupture on a microfluidic chip using electroporation technique

Salmonella cell rupturing was performed on a microfluidic chip with electroporation technique. The gold electrode array for cell disruption was constructed on a glass substrate with the electrode gap and array gap of 100 μm and 50 μm, respectively. The PDMS microchannel was designed in order to concentrate the cells to flow between the array gaps. Teflon coating was applied to the electrodes to prevent heating and short-circuiting in the microchannel. The microchannel was treated with 1% BSA and then PBS to prevent cell adsorption on the PDMS. Bacterial cells were diluted in D-mannitol with an electric conductivity 53.4 μS/cm and strained with propidium iodide. Since propidium iodide is used as a DNA stain, we could use it to confirm the lysate of the cells. Spectrophotometer was used to detect cell lysate before and after the cell's passage to the microchannel. Both the operational voltage and the pulse duration were varied to achieve the effective cell rupture results. An operational DC voltage of 5V and 80 μs pulse duration, presented a high-percentage of bacterial cells to rupture. The disrupted cells percentage was 88% when compared to control. At these conditions, the generated electric field is higher than critical electric field strength that caused the cell membrane disruption and released of biological molecules. However, there is some amount of cells stuck in the channels during the operation. Thus, the bonding and treating of the microfluidic chip have to be further improved to increase the percentage of cell rupture.
Effect of Comorbid Chronic Diseases on Prevalence and Odds of Depression in Adults With Diabetes

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of coexisting chronic conditions on prevalence and odds of depression in individuals with diabetes. Methods: Data on 1794 adults with diabetes from the 1999 National Health Interview Survey were analyzed. Six chronic conditions were identified: hypertension, coronary artery disease, chronic arthritis, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and end-stage renal disease. Chronic conditions were counted and categorized into 4 groups: diabetes alone, diabetes + 1 condition, diabetes + 2 conditions, and diabetes + 3 or more conditions. Prevalence of depression was calculated by number of chronic conditions and for each condition. Adjusted odds of depression were calculated by number of chronic conditions and for each chronic condition while simultaneously controlling for covariates and for each chronic condition using multiple logistic regression. STATA was used for statistical analyses. Results: Using diabetes alone as reference, adjusted odds of major depression by number of conditions were: diabetes + 1 (1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.67–2.55), diabetes + 2 (2.09; 95% CI, 1.06–4.12), and diabetes + 3 or more (4.09; 95% CI, 2.04–8.17). Adjusted odds of major depression for each coexisting chronic conditions were: hypertension (1.22; 95% CI, 0.78–1.90), coronary artery disease (2.00; 95% CI, 1.27–3.14), chronic arthritis (2.02; 95% CI, 1.35–3.02), stroke (2.15; 95% CI, 1.10–4.31), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (0.96; 95% CI, 0.52–1.81), and end-stage renal disease (1.19; 95% CI, 0.57–2.49). Conclusion: Odds of major depression are significantly increased among adults with diabetes in the presence of two or more coexisting chronic conditions, and coexistence of coronary artery disease, chronic arthritis, and stroke in particular, are associated with increased odds of major depression. CAD= coronary artery diseaseCOPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseESRD = end-stage renal diseaseNHIS = National Health Interview SurveyCIDI-SF = Composite International Diagnostic Survey Short FormDSM-IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition.