Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE EFFECT OF THE POZZOLANIC ACTIVITY OF DIFFERENT MICRO-FILLERS ON PORTLAND CEMENT HYDRATION

This study estimates the influence of the different pozzolanic activity micro-fillers on the hydration of Portland cement. Cements with binary blends of ordinary Portland cement and different microfillers (15% by mass) were developed and their characteristics were investigated in terms of the fineness, chemical composition, mineral composition, setting time, particle distribution, hydration heat, water demand, changes in the mineral composition during the hydration, and the compressive strength. All the specific properties of the blended cement pastes were compared with the pure Portland cement paste. The study showed that the investigated micro-fillers (except for quartz sand) increase the initial hydration of the Portland cement. In addition to this, the inert limestone microfiller mainly affects the initial hydration of the calcium silicates, whereas the pozzolanic active micro-fillers (calcined mica and kaolinitic clay and its mixture) affect both processes: the initial hydration of the calcium silicates and the reaction of the aluminate-bearing phase with the gypsum. The inert micro-fillers (especially limestone) are more effective at the early stage of hardening (up to 7 days), but later, after 28 days, the compressive strength of the samples directly depends on the activity of the micro-fillers. All investigated pozzolanic active micro-fillers promote the formation of the calcium silicate hydrates, however, only in the samples with the most active (kaolinitic clay) micro-filler after 28 days of hardening clearly identifies the pozzolanic reaction. In contrast to the active micro-fillers, the inert micro-fillers increase the amount of portlandite in the hardened cement paste.
Identifying volunteers’ motivation: A factor analysis study

This paper focuses on the motivational factors that influence the volunteering acts of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) students from the Foundation Management course by using factor analysis. The volunteering programme at the university are vastly expanded in the form of charity works, funding, sports activities, events, and other aspects by which the main and primary volunteers are students. This study was conducted to identify students’ volunteer motivation that complement the programme organiser goal and objectives. This is a quantitative research by using factor analysis method and questionnaire survey is conducted on the UUM students (n=204). In this study, only variables with factor loading of greater than 0.4 is included in the analysis. From extraction sums of squared loading, 5 factors with eigenvalues higher than one were extracted. The volunteer’s motivation of UUM students may be summarized in 5 factors which represents 61.49% of total variance explained. Research findings reveal only four main reasons that influenced students’ volunteer motivation. The main factor that influenced students’ volunteer motivations was self-enhancement. The other factors that follows were expression of values, career orientation, and interpersonal contacts. In the future, any volunteering programme that is planned needs to consider the students interests in order to fully maximize the students’ participation which concurrently would help the organiser to achieve the desired objective and outcome of the programme itself.
In the mood for food: Markov-modulated models for animal foraging

Early theoretical models of animal foraging determined that Lévy flights were an optimal search strategy in a number of different scenarios. However, a new family of strategies known as intermittent or regime-switching strategies have been found to provide a higher search efficiency. In this thesis, we investigate regimeswitching strategies using Markov-modulated random walks. Our model allows a forager to have any number of different search strategies that it switches between according to some Markov chain. We derive an expression for the efficiency of a Markov-modulated random walk, and develop discrete approximations in order to solve our model numerically. We are able to show that many of the existing strategies investigated throughout the literature, such as giving-up time strategies, can be seen as a special case of a Markov-modulated random walk strategy. We are also able to approximate a search model with hidden-targets, where a forager can only locate targets while in a certain state. Using our new expression for the efficiency we recover some existing results from the literature as well as find some new results for the optimal search strategy under various circumstances. Finally, we outline a very simple two-dimensional model, in which food patches are distributed according to a homogeneous spatial Poisson process. We make some simplifying assumptions about the chance of finding food when backtracking, and find an upper bound on the efficiency of a search. We show that taking into account some backtracking makes the model too difficult to solve, and use simulations to investigate the accuracy of our model.
THE GREATEST REQUIREMENT OF SENSE OF MODERN EDUCATION: INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION AND TEACHING-FAMILY MODEL

proposed with the purpose of supporting their school learning and allowing them to prepare for central examinations. The research was conducted with the participation of students in 10 th and 11 th grades of high schools and in 6 th and 7 th grades of secondary schools in the central district of Şanliurfa in the spring semester of the 2014-2015 academic year. Total 120 students -60 of which are in 6 th and 7 th grades from 3 secondary schools and 60 of which are in 10 th and 11 th grades from high schools- specified in the centre of Şanliurfa were selected. In the research made according to the qualitative research technique, data were collected by semi-structured interview form. The students who participated in the research stated that the model was apprehensible and applicable. The opinions of students requesting a Teaching-Family centre having teachers in all branches to give individual attention to the students were grouped into three sub-themes. As related to the first sub-theme, the students expressed their complaints about too crowded classes in the school. The second sub-theme including the opinions of students is the matter that the teachers do not give individual attention to the students and the lessons are taught without considering the individual characteristics of the students so they fail to understand the lessons.
The Stature of Human Thyroid Cancer Related to Over Expressed mir-221 and mir-146b

Purpose: The ability of miRNAs for biomarker tools was further built by recent research showing that cancerspecific miRNAs are traceable in cell-free blood fluids such as plasma and serum. In this study, the levels of miR-221 and miR146b in human’s peripheral blood as tumor markers for early detection of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma [PTC] were investigated. Methods: A stem-loop quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction [qRT-PCR] method was performed to determine the serum levels of miR-221 and miR-146b from 25 healthy controls, 25 PTC patients the day before thyroidectomy, 25 patients with benign nodules and 25 patients after thyroidectomy during the scheduled medical examinations. Results: There was statistical difference in the serum levels for miR-221 and miR-146b between the controls and the PTC patients. It also showed no statistical difference for miR-221 and miR-146b between controls and thyroidectomy patients. Conclusion: The overexpression of miR-221 and miR-146b could be potentially served as serum indicator biomarkers in the approach for Thyroid Papillary Carcinoma detection from benign nodules.
Impact of the Application of IFRS 9 Standards on the Profits and Losses of Insurance Companies Listed on the Amman Stock Exchange

This study aims to identify the effect of applying the standard IFRS9 “Financial Instruments” standard on the profits and losses of insurance companies. Insurance companies in Jordan have started applying this standard as of 1/1/2018. The two researchers explored the effect of this standard through receivables on the profits and losses. Tax assets, bank deposits, financial assets at amortized cost and loans holders of life insurance and of life insurance and checks on the collection “Account Receivable: Reinsurers`”. Results show that there is a statistically significant impact for the application of the standard IFRS 9 standard on profits and losses of insurance companies, and that the independent variables have been impacted to varying degrees. By using the factor analysis, variables have been classified from the most influential on the profit and losses of the insurance companies to the least influential, while the most affected and influential of these variables were bank deposits. It has been also found that the FAAC, TA ranked second, and LHLT, PR third in terms of influence. The study mainly recommends that IFRS 9 standard should be applied to address some of the difficulties experienced by insurance companies when processing financial instruments and derivatives, as well as to present financial lists that conform to users of accounting information.
PSENet: Psoriasis Severity Evaluation Network

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease which affects hundreds of millions of people around the world. This disease cannot be fully cured and requires lifelong caring. If the deterioration of Psoriasis is not detected and properly treated in time, it could cause serious complications or even lead to a life threat. Therefore, a quantitative measurement that can track the Psoriasis severity is necessary. Currently, PASI (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index) is the most frequently used measurement in clinical practices. However, PASI has the following disadvantages: (1) Time consuming: calculating PASI usually takes more than 30 minutes which poses a heavy burden on dermatologists; and (2) Inconsistency: due to the complexity of PASI calculation, different or even the same dermatologist could give different scores for the same case. To overcome these drawbacks, we propose PSENet which applies deep neural networks to estimate Psoriasis severity based on skin lesion images. Different from typical deep learning frameworks for image processing, PSENet has the following characteristics: (1) PSENet introduces a score refine module which is able to capture the visual features of skin at both coarse and fine-grained granularities; (2) PSENet uses siamese structure in training and accepts pairwise inputs, which reduces the dependency on large amount of training data; and (3) PSENet can not only estimate the severity, but also locate the skin lesion regions from the input image. To train and evaluate PSENet, we work with professional dermatologists from a top hospital and spend years in building a golden dataset. The experimental results show that PSENet can achieve the mean absolute error of 2.21 and the accuracy of 77.87% in pair comparison, outperforming baseline methods. Overall, PSENet not only relieves dermatologists from the dull PASI calculation but also enables patients to track Psoriasis severity in a much more convenient manner.
Modelling the effect of condensed-phase diffusion on the homogeneous nucleation of ice in ultra-viscous particles

Abstract. Computational models of cloud formation typically use homogeneous nucleation to predict the ice nucleated in supercooled water. However, the existence of ultra-viscous organic aerosol in the upper troposphere has offered alternative ice nucleation pathways, which have been observed in laboratory studies. The possible effects of aerosol viscosity on cloud microphysical properties have traditionally been interpreted from simple model simulations of an individual aerosol particle based on equilibration timescales. In this study, to gain insight into the formation of ice in an ensemble of ultra-viscous aerosol particles, we have developed the first cloud parcel model with bin microphysics to simulate condensed phase diffusion through each individual aerosol particle. Our findings demonstrate, for the first time, the complex relationship between the rate of ice formation and the viscosity of secondary organic aerosol, driven by two competing effects – which cannot be explained using existing modelling approaches. The first is inhibition of homogeneous ice nucleation below 200 K, due to restricted particle growth and low water volume. The second occurs at temperatures between 200 and 220 K, where water molecules are slightly more mobile, and a layer of water condenses on the outside of the particle, causing an increase in the number of frozen aerosol particles. Our new model provides a basis to better understand and simulate ice cloud formation on a larger scale, addressing a major source of uncertainty in climate modelling through the representation of microphysical cloud processes.
Combat Sport Nutrition: A Pragmatic Case Study in an Elite Mixed Martial Arts Athlete

Introduction: Mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes typically undergo energy restriction and severe dehydration to compete in a specific weight category: a process known as making weight. This can pose a health risk to athletes and has led to fatalities. Some risks can be mitigated with structured sports nutrition. Methods: This case study provides an overview of a 10-week sports nutrition intervention devised to support an elite male MMA athlete for a world lightweight title bout. Results: Over a 9-week period, body mass was reduced from 81.6 kg (baseline) to 75.4 kg (1-week pre-competition): total loss 6.2 kg (8.2%) equivalent to 0.68 kg.wk-1. In the final 5 days, body mass was reduced by a further 5.2 kg (7.4%), before regaining 5.8 kg (8.3%) and entering competition at 76 kg. There was no incidence of injury or illness throughout the training camp and the athlete reported positive feedback regarding health, wellbeing, and physical performance. Conclusions: The intervention demonstrates a pragmatic approach tomaking weight by allowing moderate rapid weight loss(RWL)and rapid weight gainunder controlled conditions. In the absence of rule changes to prevent RWL, coaches and athletes can utilise sports nutrition strategies to minimise the risks associated with a traditional approach to making weight.
Seaweed community structure along environmental gradients in an ocean-dominated estuary

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v TABLE OF CONTENTS . vii LIST OF TABLES . ix LIST OF FIGURES . xi LIST OF APPENDICES . xv INTRODUCTION . 1 MATERIALS AND METHODS . 11 Site Selection and Sampling Design . 11 Environmental Variables . 20 Quadrat specific variables . 21 Horizontal physical gradients . 26 Vertical Physical Gradients . 36 Desiccation potential. 36 Vertical comparisons of temperature. 37 Macrophyte Surveys . 40 Data Analyses . 41 RESULTS . 45 Horizontal Comparisons of Physical Variables . 45 Modeled water temperatures and salinities . 45 Modelled wave exposure . 48 Vertical Comparisons of Physical Variables . 51 Potential desiccation . 51 Vertical observed temperature comparisons . 54 Among-Site Diversity . 54 Vertical Patterns of Richness and Diversity . 56 viii Community Composition and Environment Correlations . 72 Indicator Species of Intertidal Zones . 87 DISCUSSION . 92 The Physical Estuarine Environment . 92 The Macrophyte Flora . 97 Horizontal Community Structure . 99 Vertical Community Structure . 103 Study Limitations . 107 CONCLUSIONS.110 LITERATURE CITED . 111 APPENDICES . 123 Appendix A . 123 Grid cells used in the J. Anderson EFDC model . 123 Appendix B . 124 Downsized DEM for the fetch and wave height model . 124 Appendix C . 125 Code used for the fetch and wave height model . 125 Appendix D . 126 Observed temperature comparisons at hard-bottom sites . 126 Appendix E . 129 Vertical observed temperature comparisons at soft-bottom sites . 129 Appendix F . 135 Abundance of sessile invertebrates.135 Appendix G . 140 The marine macrophyte flora of Humboldt Bay and Baker Beach . 140
Strategies toward development of biodegradable hydrogels for biomedical applications

ABSTRACT Hydrogel is a macromolecular gel constructed of a network of cross-linked polymer chains. Hydrogels are class of materials that can be tuned toward the subjected stimuli and can be modified to imitate the extracellular environment of the body which makes hydrogel worthy of being used in tissue regeneration, drug delivery, and other fields of science. Hydrogels offer excellent potential as oral therapeutic systems due to inherent biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Hydrogels are having various tissue engineering and drug delivery application due to its high loading with ensured molecule efficacy, high encapsulation, variable release profile, stable, and inexpensive. Graphical abstact
Anti-oxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activity of Ethyl Acetate Fraction of Moringa oleifera Flowers

Aims: To investigate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of ethyl acetate extract of Moringa oleifera flowers. Place and Duration of Study: The research work was carried out at Research laboratory, Department of chemistry, Periyar E.V. R College, Trichy-23, between April 2017 and January 2018. Methodology: Extraction and fractionation were carried out from the solvents of ethanol, benzene, petroleum ether, diethyl ether and ethyl acetate. The anti-inflammatory effect of the extract was investigated by HRBC membrane stabilization and Albumin denaturation methods. Anti-oxidant effect of the extract was determined by DPPH assay and ABTS method. Results: The dry sample extracted from the ethyl acetate fraction of Moringa oleifera flowers possess highly anti-oxidant activity showed by the DPPH assay and ABTS method and also having anti-inflammatory activity is determined by human red blood cell (HRBC) membrane stabilization and Albumin denaturation methods. However, these effects need to be confirmed using in vivo models and clinical trials before its utilization as a therapeutic agent. Conclusion: The present study was concluded that the dry sample of ethyl acetate fraction of Moringa oleifera flowers possesses effective anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.
Effects of uranium on soil microbial biomass carbon, enzymes, plant biomass and microbial diversity in yellow soils

We conducted an experiment to investigate the effects of uranium (U) on soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), enzymes, plant biomass and microbial diversity in yellow soils under three concentrations: 0 mg kg-1 (T1, control), 30 mg kg-1 (T2) and 60 mg kg-1 (T3). Under each treatment, elevated U did not reduce soil MBC or plant biomass, but inhibited the activity of the soil enzymes urease (UR), dehydrogenase (DH) and phosphatase (PHO). The microbial diversity was different, with eight dominant phyla in T1 and six in T2 and T3. Furthermore, Proteobacteria and material X were both detected in each treatment site (T1, T2 and T3). Pseudomonas sp. was the dominant strain, followed by Acidiphilium sp. This initial study provided valuable data for further research toward a better understanding of U contamination in yellow soils in China.
Robust Recovery of Structured Sparse Signals With Uncertain Sensing Matrix: A Turbo-VBI Approach

In many applications in wireless communications, we need to recover a structured sparse signal from a linear measurement model with uncertain sensing matrix. There are two challenges of designing an algorithm framework for this problem. How to choose a flexible yet tractable sparse prior to capture different structured sparsities in specific applications? How to handle a sensing matrix with uncertain parameters and possibly correlated entries? As will be explained in the introduction, existing common methods in compressive sensing (CS), such as approximate message passing (AMP) and variational Bayesian inference (VBI), may not work well. To better address this problem, we propose a novel Turbo-VBI algorithm framework, in which a three-layer hierarchical structured (3LHS) sparse prior model is proposed to capture various structured sparsities that may occur in practice. By combining the message passing and VBI approaches via the turbo framework, the proposed Turbo-VBI algorithm is able to fully exploit the structured sparsity (as captured by the 3LHS sparse prior) for robust recovery of structured sparse signals under an uncertain sensing matrix. Finally, we apply the Turbo-VBI framework to solve two application problems in wireless communications and demonstrate its significant gain over the state-of-art CS algorithms.
Characterizing the impact of altitude and finishing system on mean pulmonary arterial pressure and carcass characteristics in Angus cattle

© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com Transl. Anim. Sci. 2019.3:1669–1672 doi: 10.1093/tas/txz052
Molecular cloning, characterization and expression profiles of a SoxB2 gene related to gonadal development in mud crab (Scylla paramamosain)

ABSTRACT The molecular mechanisms underlying sex differentiation and gonad development remain elusive in crustaceans. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of a Sry-related high-mobility group family B2 gene (SpSoxB2) from an economic crustacean species, the mud crab Scylla paramamosain. The SpSoxB2 encodes a putative HMG-box protein (317 amino acids) clustered with invertebrate Sox14 homologues in the SoxB2 subgroup, but shared low similarity with SpSox14. SpSoxB2 was expressed in the hepatopancreas, thoracic ganglion, and gonads (relatively higher expression in testis than ovary). In hepatopancreas, SpSoxB2 expression was not significantly affected by sex or gonadal development stages. In testis, it was demonstrated that the SpSoxB2 expression level increased from Stage I to Stage III and then decreased afterwards. During ovarian development, the SpSoxB2 expression level continually increased from Stage I to Stage V. Furthermore, fluorescence in-situ hybridization showed that SpSoxB2 transcripts were present in both somatic and developing germ cells in the gonads. In testis, SpSoxB2 transcripts were strongly localized in spermatocytes and spermatids. In ovary, SpSoxB2 transcripts were detected in follicle cells, oogonia and oocytes, with the strongest signal in follicle cells. Our results demonstrated that the SpSoxB2 gene may play an important role during gonadal development in mud crab.
Sensory Processing Patterns and Internalizing Behaviors in the Pediatric and Young Adult General Population: A Scoping Review

Background: While research has largely focused on the relationship between sensory processing patterns and internalizing behaviors (e.g., anxiety, depression) in children with autism spectrum disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, this relationship is not fully understood among the general population or across development. Method: This scoping review addressed the following research question: How are sensory processing patterns associated with internalizing behaviors (e.g., anxiety, depression) among children with various conditions as well as typically developing children from birth to 22 years of age? Results: Since 2005, n = 97 peer-reviewed articles have addressed this topic and were included in the current review. Overall, findings show a complex interplay between sensory processing patterns, internalizing behaviors, cognitive factors (intolerance of uncertainty, ritualism, cognitive rigidity), and personality characteristics. Discussion: The results of this review showed that research primarily focused on individuals with ASD, and many articles used mediation models to examine complex relationships. Implications for future research are discussed. Comments The authors report that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.