Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Symbiosis of Salmonella and Escherichia coli by MY Phenomenon

Background: The symbiotic relationship between E. coli and Salmonella was demonstrated using hydrogen sulfide production named MY phenomenon, which is a feature of Salmonella. Methods: In order to confirm the hydrogen sulfide production of Salmonella by iron sulfide formation, deoxycholate-hydrogen sulfate-lactose agar medium having both a sulfur source and an iron source was used. The case where Salmonella was cultured alone was compared with the case co-cultured with E. coli. In the case of culture with Salmonella alone, the MY phenomenon has not occurred. When Salmonella was co-cultured with E. coli, Salmonella cultured near E. coli existing place showed a black color named MY phenomenon. When E. coli was cultured alone, it turned red due to the organic acid produced. However, when E. coli was cultured in the part where Salmonella. is inoculated on the surface of the medium, the MY phenomenon appeared there. Furthermore, hydrogen sulfide production was more active in Salmonella co-existing with E. coli. Conclusion: The study shows an important relation that E. coli is a promoting factor for Salmonella culture by NY phenomenon. The relation suggests that bacterial symbiosis relation exist in bacterial flora.
Biochar production from sewage sludge and microalgae combination: properties, 1 sustainability and possible role in a circular economy

7 One possible destination for sewage sludge sustainable disposal is the production of biochar, that can 8 be achieved by post-processing of the sludge itself, i.e. by pyrolysis. Biochar from sludge is 9 considered one of the most interesting products in a wastewater treatment based circular economy, as 10 proven by the multitude of possible uses so far tested in different areas. Recently, combined AS11 microalgae systems have been proposed to recover both carbon and nutrients from wastewaters as 12 alternative to conventional technologies such as those based on AS only. This could be efficient from 13 the point of view of removal of mandatory components from wastewater effluents, but it adds 14 potential issues to the problem of residue disposal. While in fact a consortium of microalgae and 15 bacteria will prevail in the reactor as a function of the wastewater composition, environmental 16 conditions, reactor design, and operation conditions, bacteria in the culture will oxidize the organic 17 matter to inorganic compounds, consuming oxygen in this step, whereas microalgae use the light to 18 uptake the inorganic nutrients that have been released by the bacteria and produce biomass, in turn 19 releasing (some of) the oxygen required by bacteria for the oxidizing step. Although quite efficient 20 for the liquid treatment stream side, such integrated systems seem to generate a residue that is 21 apparently difficult to dispose of, as algae normally respond poorly to traditional, mechanical drying 22 processes. In this study, alternative solutions for such disposal were investigated, by pyrolysation of 23 a mixed sludge/bioalgae matrix under different conditions: in such way, not only landfillable residuals 24 are practically eliminated, but a material with multiple possible end uses is generated. Starting 25 materials (algae, sludge and combinations of both) and end-products (biochar and bio-oil) were 26 physically and chemically characterized after pyrolysis under different conditions. Algae alone were 27 also subject to preliminary solvent oil extraction to verify whether an increased biochar production 28 would result from the modified process (which did, improving biochar generation by 25-33%). A 29 comprehensive discussion on properties of end products as function of process design, possible 30 applications and advantages of co-pyrolysis follows. 31
Augmented Reality for Emergency Situations in Buildings with the Support of Indoor Localization

Augmented reality is showing a continuous evolution due to the increasing number of smart glasses that are being used for different applications (e.g. training, marketing, industry, risk avoidance, etc.). In this paper, we present an implementation that uses augmented reality (AR) for emergency situations in smart buildings by means of indoor localization through the use of sub-GHz beacons. This also includes the mapping of emergency elements in the three-dimensional building, together with some example cases.
The Effect of Vitagnus on Treatment of Hot Flash in Menopause

The most common & probably the most undesirable disorders in menopause period, is the hot flash. Since hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for treatment of hot flash has several complications and use of herbal drugs is a new way for treatment of this disorder the aim of this study was to survey the effect of Vitagnus( Vitex Agnus Castus) on treatment of hot flash. In a randomized controlled double blind clinical trial study the efficacy of Vitagus for reducing the hot flash was evaluate as compared to placebo among 46 menopause women who suffered from hot flash. Mean women's age was 51.4 and 52.3years in Vitagnus and placebo groups, respectively. Reducing the severity, duration and frequency of hot flash regarding to Cooperman Index, was significant, before and in each stage (15 days & 30 days) after beginning of treatment in two groups (P < 0.05), but no significant difference was observed among the groups regarding their effects in every stage of treatment (P > 0.05) . We found that the Vitagnus is effective considerably in treatment of hot flash, but its effect is no more than the placebo. So we concluded that, in treatment of hot flash in menopause women more attention must be paid to mental and psychic supports of them. [Sakhavar Nahid,Teimoory,Batool, Razavi, Maryam, Mirteimoori, Massoumeh, Arbabisarjou, Azizollah, Ghaljeh Mahnaz. The effect of Vitagnus on treatment of hot flash in menopause. Life Sci J 2013;10(1):628-632] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 101
Strategic design under uncertain evaluations: Structural analysis of design-build auctions

I investigate firms’ competition over price and product design under uncertain design evaluations in the context of Design-Build (DB) auctions. Reviewers’ design evaluations contain uncertainty from a bidder’s perspective, leading luck to curtail differences in firms’ chances of winning. I model bidders’ behavior and derive semiparametric identification of the model primitives. Uncertain evaluations worsen the expected price of design quality, and exacerbate an auctioneer’s uncertainty in auction outcomes. A simple adjustment in the auction mechanism may completely shut down the impact of uncertain evaluations on bidding incentives, restoring efficient allocations of projects. ∗Mailing Address: Department of Economics, University of Mannheim, L7, 3-5, Mannheim, 68131, Germany. Email: htakahas@mail.uni-mannheim.de. This paper is based on Chapter 1 of my dissertation, completed in the Department of Economics at University of Toronto. I am indebted to Victor Aguirregabiria for invaluable advice and generous guidance. I would also like to thank Andre Boik, Ettore Damiano, Isis Durrmeyer, Rahul Deb, Takakazu Honryo, Yao Luo, Robert McMillan, Xianwen Shi, Junichi Suzuki, Yuya Takahashi, Naoki Wakamori, Yuanyuan Wan, and the participants in CEPR/JIE, EARIE, and Jornadas de Economı́a Industrial for helpful comments. Thanks to Daniel Garcia and Andrea Pozzi for extensive discussions. All errors are my own.
Endovascular approaches to complex aortic aneurysms

This thesis focused on the clinical outcome of endografts designed for infrarenal and complex aneurysms, and the considerations of these endografts in relation to patients’ anatomy. Chapter 2 gives an overview of the available endografts for infrarenal EVAR and Chapter 3 gives an overview of the available fenestrated endografts (FEVAR) for pararenal and suprarenal repair. As discussed in chapter 4 age itself should not be a reason to withhold treatment with FEVAR. FEVAR is an expensive treatment compared to open surgical treatment, and a balance in cost-effectiveness, gained life years and gained quality adjusted life years has yet to be settled. Two mainly used fenestrated endografts have a different effect on native patient anatomy. In Chapter 5 certain anatomic parameters are discussed, and these should be the main parameters to choose either of these fenestrated endografts. The Fenestrated Anaconda endograft is reviewed in Chapter 6 and the global results are discussed in chapter 7. In very specific cases, a Fenestrated Anaconda cuff can be used. Half of the cases treated globally, with this fenestrated cuff are discussed in chapter 8. Once an aneurysm extents to the thoracic aorta, a branched endograft (BEVAR) is used. The stents within these branches tend to slide outward. Chapter 9 discusses why a meticulous follow-up in patients treated with this endograft is necessary.
A Feasibility Study of Privacy Ensuring Emergency Vehicle Approaching Warning System

With the deployment of Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs), new transport safety and efficiency applications are emerging. One of the fields where the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) is expected to bring great benefits, is emergency systems. A properly designed emergency vehicle warning system should provide car drivers with adequate reaction times and additional information, complementing the currently used lights and sirens. The objective is to increase road safety and to create conditions for a fast and reliable movement of emergency vehicles (EVs). The available literature addressing privacy issues in VANET-based emergency vehicle warning systems is strongly limited. In this paper, the privacy ensuring emergency vehicle approaching warning system (PEEV-WS) is proposed based on a requirements analysis. Privacy is ensured by avoiding transmissions of sensitive information (e.g., expected EV route) over the wireless channel. This is achieved by assigning the decision-making responsibility to an EV and determining which vehicles can potentially interfere with the EV in the near future, and to notify those vehicles only by unicasting vehicle-customized information. The performance of the system is evaluated by federated telco-traffic simulations in terms of end-to-end delay and message delivery probability for three commonly used ad hoc routing protocols—Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV), Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPSR), and Dynamic MANET On-demand (DYMO), as well as in terms of reaction time, which the system provides to the drivers. Despite low applicability of the ad hoc routing protocols for vehicular communication, especially for low-latency and high-frequency applications, the simulations of the communication network demonstrate that the AODV protocol, with the modified configuration, can support the emergency vehicle warning system. The traffic simulations confirm that the system has the potential to provide drivers with sufficient reaction time.
Sustainable Liquefied Natural Gas Supply Chain Management: A Review of Quantitative Models

Natural gas is an essential fuel in the transitions towards a sustainable energy future as it is considered a cleaner source of fuel when compared to other hydrocarbon sources. To enable natural gas delivery from the producer to consumers, natural gas is liquified to enhance transportation efficiency and reliability. The main contribution of this paper is to develop sustainable LNG supply chain through a review of different sustainable supply chain management tools and assessing their applicability in managing LNG supply chains. Energy security has evolved to include the protection of the entire energy supply chain and infrastructure rather than a consideration for the availability of resources alone. There is a particular focus on coupling sustainability and resilience/risk as part of the need to develop integrated approaches to manage energy supply chains to deliver cargo at minimal cost and environmental impact, and to ensure that supply chains can overcome vulnerabilities withstanding potential disruptions to the supply chain. Outcomes of this review demonstrate the possibility to develop multi criteria models, which consider sustainability dimensions within the LNG supply chains and to integrate parameters that form part of the annual delivery plan ensuring day to day LNG supply chain planning consider multiple objectives.
Controlling neutral and charged excitons in MoS_2 with defects

In this contribution, we use heavy ion irradiation and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy to demonstrate that defects can be used to tailor the optical properties of two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS_2). Sonicated MoS_2 flakes were deposited onto Si/SiO_2 substrate and subjected to 3 MeV Au^2+ ion irradiation at room temperature to fluences ranging from 1 × 10^12 to 1 × 10^16 cm^−2. We demonstrate that irradiation-induced defects can control optical excitations in the inner core shell of MoS_2 by binding A_1s- and B_1s-excitons, and correlate the exciton peaks to the specific defects introduced with irradiation. The systematic increase of ion fluence produced different defect densities in MoS_2, which were estimated using B/A exciton ratios and progressively increased with ion fluence. We show that up to the fluences of 1 × 10^14 cm^−2, the MoS_2 lattice remains crystalline and defect densities can be controlled, whereas at higher fluences (≥1 × 10^15 cm^−2), the large number of introduced defects distorts the excitonic structure of the material. In addition to controlling excitons, defects were used to split bound and free trions, and we demonstrate that at higher fluences (1 × 10^15 cm^−2), both free and bound trions can be observed in the same PL spectrum. Most importantly, the lifetimes of these states exceed trion and exciton lifetimes in pristine MoS_2, and PL spectra of irradiated MoS_2 remains unchanged weeks after irradiation experiments. Thus, this work demonstrated the feasibility of engineering novel optical behaviors in low-dimensional materials using heavy ion irradiation. The insights gained from this study will aid in understanding the many-body interactions in low-dimensional materials and may ultimately be used to develop novel materials for optoelectronic applications.
The effects of zinc compounds on inflammatory and gastric cells.

Exogenous zinc has been shown to alter the cellular response to inflammatory conditions. Both common zinc salt and novel zinc compounds have been shown to be therapeutic in various disease states. However, little is known about their action on immune cells in these conditions. This thesis aims to investigate the effectiveness of zinc monoglycerolate (ZMG), a novel zinc compound, in providing bioavailable zinc. This study also aims to examine the effect of zinc on the inflammatory responses of immune and gastric cells.Using cell culture techniques, fluorescence microscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), comparison was made of zinc bioavailability from ZMG, zinc oxide and zinc sulphate. The cellular protein interactions of the zinc provided by these compounds was investigated by autoradiography, Western blot analysis and cytokine assay. As a result of the biological study, chemical analyses were carried out on ZMG using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation time of flight (MALDI-ToF). The result of the cell culture study indicated that ZMG and zinc oxide provided significantly more bioavailable zinc than zinc sulphate. Furthermore, these results showed that the different cell lines examined treated the zinc in distinctly different manners. The studies on direct zinc-protein interactions did not conclusively determine whether such interactions occurred between cytoplasmic proteins and exogenous zinc. However, zinc was shown to modulate cytokine secretions in vitro in cultured cell lines. The chemical analyses provided novel observations about the polymeric structure of ZMG and its solubility profile.In conclusion the results showed that ZMG is a highly effective source of bioavailable zinc and that exogenous zinc can modulate the immune response of cultured cell lines to external stimuli.
Research on Rapid Detection Method of Salient Region Detection

In this paper, the method of separation and detection of key components in the detection of airborne transmission lines is studied, and the separation of key components is detected by Salient Region Detection, and the feature extraction method of Salient Region Detection is closely related to the subsequent application in view of the problems in the detection of feature areas. Considering the validity of the subsequent application of the Salient Region Detection, the research we have carried out is to study the Salient Region Detection algorithm for regional matching, which is studied in this paper: Image feature extraction, image feature matching and geometric verification. Keywords—Visual Saliency, Salient Region Detection, Feature Extraction, Feature Matching, Geometric Validation
Self-Supervised Optical Flow Learning

Convolutional neural networks currently dominate in optical flow estimation. Neural network learning methods are categorized to three groups: supervised needing inputs and desired outputs, selfsupervised needing just inputs and semisupervised attempting to combine both. This work proposes a new method of semi-supervised optical flow learning. The method formulates the training optimization as constrained gradient descent on a supervised loss function that includes self-supervised terms. In the selfsupervised domain, a systematic study of selected current practices is done. Specifically, three photometric difference measures are tested brightness difference, census transform and structural similarity. Current research suggests that occlusion handling plays a role for selfsupervised learning. Two methods are tested forward backward consistency occlusion detection from UnFlow [32] and three-frame occlusion reasoning from Janai et al. [31]. Apart from these techniques, we also test the training dataset size effect and forward-backward consistency loss function term [32]. The experiments regarding semisupervision show that including the unsupervised objective with the proposed method significantly improves the estimation on a distant domain while maintaining the performance on the original domain. More specifically, the error decrease is demonstrated on an artistic-like Creative Flow+ dataset [42] while the model maintain its accuracy on the popular Sintel dataset [11]. Surprisingly, the effect is observed even wihtout using any Creative Flow+ samples. The self-supervised training experiments show that learning with census photometric difference leads to better accuracy on all tested datasets. Out of the two occlusion handling methods, none significantly increases the performance. The results suggest that the methods are unable to accurately detect occlusions. The experiments show that a large amount of training data does not necessarily lead to a performance increase. Surprisingly, training on as little as eighty frame pairs does not lead to a catastrophic loss of accuracy.
Forecasting of location occupancy by means of cell phone network data

This thesis examines the feasibility of building a forecasting model capable to predict the future location occupancy for different places in the UK. For this matter, historic data of the number of people in each location as well as other data sources during the same period of time have been used. Existing literature has researched the performance of different types of predictive models for time series. Some studies, with datasets from different sources and different time intervals, have been carried out at academia. After these studies, experts cannot agree on one best model and they tend to say that the performance of the models depends on the characteristics of the particular signal to forecast. In this thesis, a set of time series forecasting models have been tested on different time series signals corresponding to different locations. The code implemented provides an interface for the user to select the locations, models, and several other forecasting options in order to perform a proper evaluation of the predictions. Results obtained are not biased from what could be expected from the beginning, and the outcomes obtained with the small amount of data available tend to suggest that there is no single best model for all the different predicted locations. The use of data transformations and external regressors have also been tested in order to improve the performance of the models. Although some combinations of regressors and data transformations seem to improve some of the models, no promising conclusions can be concluded since this improvement does not apply for all the cases.
Lost in delegation

Using actor-networks as our conceptual lens for appreciating complex sociomaterial interdependencies, we explore how a vision to “do things differently” for sustainability becomes enacted and significantly diluted at a major brownfield development project in the UK. We show how visions for sustainability can become substantially delegated into a range of specialised and functionally differentiated practices, with nonhuman mediators producing significant agency. Additionally, extending actor-network approaches, we develop the concept of localised hybridity to consider how the possibilities for progressive sustainability practices are interdependent with mediators in other ‘locals’ across times and spaces. We suggest that greater reflexive attention and inquiry to the types of relational work required to form alliances with nonhuman mediators is crucial to realise visions for sustainability.
Growth and shape of indium islands on molybdenum at micro- roughened spots created by femtosecond laser pulses

Indium islands on molybdenum coated glass can be grown in ordered arrays by surface structuring using a femtosecond laser. The effect of varying the molybdenum coated glass substrate temperature and the indium deposition rate on island areal density, volume and geometry is investigated and evaluated in a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process. The joined impact of growth conditions and spacing of the femtosecond laser structured spots on the arrangement and morphology of indium islands is demonstrated. The results yield a deeper understanding of the island growth and its precise adjustment to industrial requirements, which is indispensable for a technological application of such structures at a high throughput, for instance as precursors for the preparation of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 micro concentrator solar cells.
REVEALED REPUTATIONS IN THE FINITELY-REPEATED

In a sequential-move, finitely-repeated prisoners’ dilemma game (FRPD), cooperation can be sustained if the first-mover believes her opponent might be a behavioral type who plays a tit-for-tat strategy in every period. We test this theory by revealing second-mover histories from an earlier FRPD experiment to their current opponent. Despite eliminating the possibility of reputation building, aggregate cooperation actually increases when histories are revealed. Cooperative histories lead to increased trust, but negative histories do not cause decreased trust. We develop a behavioral model to explain these findings.