Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Removal Of Lead, Iron And Cadmium IonsBy Means Of Polyelectrolytes Of TheMoringa Oleifera Whole Seed Kernel

There is increasing interest in developing low cost water and wastewater treatment processes particularly in poor countries. The use of natural coagulants such as the Moringa polyelectrolytes to replace expensive imported synthetic coagulants is particularly appropriate for agro-based developing countries such as Malawi because local production of these coagulants will also contribute to the rural and national economy. There is also widespread recognition that the presence of heavy metals, such as cadmium, lead and iron, in water is hazardous to the environment and human health and their discharge into surface waters is a concern worldwide. This study was conducted to investigate the potential of Moringa Oleifera polelectrolytes for treatment of wastewater contaminated with heavy metals. The potential of Moringa Oleifera whole seed kernels and ram press cakes, in removing lead, iron, and cadmium ions from synthetic contaminated water was investigated at initial metal ion concentrations of 5.00 and 7.00 ppm by means of jar tests. Metal ion removal was observed ranging from 70.86 ± 2.22% to 89.40 ± 0.00% for lead, 66.33 ± 3.38% to 92.14 ± 0.00 % for iron and 44.95 ± 3.95% to 47.73 ± 6.38 % for cadmium. Further experiments on optimization of the reaction conditions such as pH and coagulant dosage, method of extraction of polyelectrolytes and elucidation of the nature of interactions are being carried out. Earlier work by the same group has shown that Moringa Oliefera ram press cake polyelectrolytes reduce wastewater turbidity by over 99% and reduce faecal coliform counts by 89% at an optimal dosage of 120 mg/L without affecting pH or significantly increasing BOD. This paper is the first report of heavy metal ion removal by moringa polyelectrolytes.
Views, authorization, and locking in a relational data base system

In the interest of brevity we assume that the reader is familiar with the notion of a relational data base. In particular, we assume a familiarity with the work of Codd or Boyce and Chamberlin. The examples in this paper will be drawn from a data base which describes a department store and consists of three relations: EMP(NAME, SAL, MGR, DEPT) SALES(DEPT, ITEM, VOL) LOC(DEPT, FLOOR)
Making the most of Papua New Guinea’s biodiversity: Establishment of an integrated set of programs that link botanical survey with pharmacological assessment in “the land of the unexpected”

An integrated and coordinated set of programs has been established to meet International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) goals in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Here we give an overview of the PNG ICBG and focus on the key elements and major steps taken to establish a program necessary for the pharmacological assessment of botanicals and traditional medicines in PNG and, by extrapolation, in other developing countries.
The Role of Adult-Born Neurons in the Constantly Changing Olfactory Bulb Network

The adult mammalian brain is remarkably plastic and constantly undergoes structurofunctional modifications in response to environmental stimuli. In many regions plasticity is manifested by modifications in the efficacy of existing synaptic connections or synapse formation and elimination. In a few regions, however, plasticity is brought by the addition of new neurons that integrate into established neuronal networks. This type of neuronal plasticity is particularly prominent in the olfactory bulb (OB) where thousands of neuronal progenitors are produced on a daily basis in the subventricular zone (SVZ) and migrate along the rostral migratory stream (RMS) towards the OB. In the OB, these neuronal precursors differentiate into local interneurons, mature, and functionally integrate into the bulbar network by establishing output synapses with principal neurons. Despite continuous progress, it is still not well understood how normal functioning of the OB is preserved in the constantly remodelling bulbar network and what role adult-born neurons play in odor behaviour. In this review we will discuss different levels of morphofunctional plasticity effected by adult-born neurons and their functional role in the adult OB and also highlight the possibility that different subpopulations of adult-born cells may fulfill distinct functions in the OB neuronal network and odor behaviour.
A Fault Tolerant Total Order Broadcast for Large Scale Systems

Fault tolerance is a key aspect on the development of distributed systems, but it is barely supported on large-scale systems due to the cost of traditional techniques. This paper revisits RBP, a Total Order Broadcast protocol known by its efficiency that presents some very interesting characteristics for scalable systems. However, we found a membership flaw on RBP that can lead to inconsistencies among correct processes. Hence, we propose iRBP, an improvement to the RBP algorithm that not only circumvents the membership weaknesses using recent membership techniques, but also improves its scalability aspects.
Image Rectification - Evaluation of Various Projections for Omnidirectional Vision Sensors using the Pixel Density

Abstract: Omnidirectional vision sensors provide a large field of view for numerous technical applications. But the original images of these sensors are distorted, not simply interpretable and not easy to apply for normal image processing routines. So image transformation of original into panoramic images is necessary using various projections like cylindrical, spherical and conical projection, but which projection is best for a specific application? In this paper, we present a novel method to evaluate different projections regarding their applicability in a specific application using a novel variable, the pixel density. The pixel density allows to determine the resolution of a panoramic image depending on the chosen projection. To achieve the pixel density, first the camera model is determined based on the gathered calibration data. Secondly, a projection matrix is calculated to map each pixel of the original image into the chosen projection area for image transformation. The pixel density is calculated based on this projection matrix in a final step. Theory is verified and discussed in experiments with simulated and real image data. We also demonstrate that the common cylindrical projection is not always the best projection to rectify images from omnidirectional vision sensors.
Synthesis, Characterization and Pharmacological Activity Studies of Pyrazolines Containing 3, 4-Dimethoxy and 2, 4-Dinitro Compounds

A series of novel pyrazoline derivatives 5-(substituted aryl)-3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2,4dinitrophenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazole (5a-l) were synthesized by heating 2,4-dinitrophenyl hydrazine (4) with (E)-3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-substituted aryl prop-2-en-1-one (3) in presence of catalytic amount of concentrated H2SO4. The structures of the novel derivatives were confirmed by various spectroscopic techniques i.e., IR, 1 H-NMR, 13 CNMR and LC–MS. The novel compounds were screened for antioxidant, antimicrobial and antihelmintic activity. Some of the compounds showed significant biological activity compared to the standard drug.
Fuzzy dominance rules for real-world many objective optimization

In real world optimization problems there are often multiple objectives to consider. However, with traditional multi-objective optimization algorithms, like the Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm, NSGA-II, one solution is not produced at the end of the process but a set of non-dominated solutions. This set of solutions make up what is known as the Pareto front. The Pareto front relies on calculating the dominance of each solution the multi-objective algorithm produces. Traditional dominance calculations are reasonable for a small number of objectives. However, the more objectives there are in the problem, the more unsuitable these dominance calculations become. This leads to poor selection criteria and ultimately a weaker form of optimization when compared to a small number of objectives. In this paper, we present a fuzzy logic system for computing dominance between two solutions. We have evaluated this fuzzy logic system in optimizing a set of black box test problems. In addition, we have also applied it to a real world many-objective system that optimizes five conflicting objectives, in the telecommunications domain. The implementation of the fuzzy logic system has led to the NSGA-II algorithm with Fuzzy Dominance Rules (FDRs) being able to perform better in a number of black box tests and improving the results of our real-world many-objective optimization problem, with a statistically significant improvement to the hypervolume of 5.46%.
EVALUATION OF THE BODY COMPOSITION OF FEMALE COLLEGIATE ATHLETES USING THE BOD POD

OF THESIS EVALUATION OF THE BODY COMPOSITION OF FEMALE COLLEGIATE ATHLETES USING THE BOD POD The body composition of female collegiate athletes was measured using the Bod Pod® device. The sample consisted of 75 student athletes, aged 18 to 22 years old. Five sports at the university level were represented, including basketball, gymnastics, soccer, swimming & diving, and soccer. Participants were measured at the preseason and postseason periods. Overall, participants in all five sports were not found to change significantly in total body mass, fat mass, fat free mass, percent body fat, or body mass index from the preseason period to the postseason period at the alpha = 0.05 level. On average, the members from each of the different teams were found to be significantly different from each other for one or more variables. In general, basketball and volleyball players were found to be similar in body composition. The average member on the swimming & diving, soccer, and gymnastics teams was found to vary from the average team member on each of the other teams.
Availability of prey resources drives evolution of predator–prey interaction

Productivity is predicted to drive the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of predator–prey interaction through changes in resource allocation between different traits. Here we report results of an evolutionary experiment where prey bacteria Serratia marcescens was exposed to predatory protozoa Tetrahymena thermophila in low- and high-resource environments for approximately 2400 prey generations. Predation generally increased prey allocation to defence and caused prey selection lines to become more diverse. On average, prey became most defensive in the high-resource environment and suffered from reduced resource use ability more in the low-resource environment. As a result, the evolution of stronger prey defence in the high-resource environment led to a strong decrease in predator-to-prey ratio. Predation increased temporal variability of populations and traits of prey. However, this destabilizing effect was less pronounced in the high-resource environment. Our results demonstrate that prey resource availability can shape the trade-off allocation of prey traits, which in turn affects multiple properties of the evolving predator–prey system.
Measuring information technology department service quality from casino's employees in Macau

Information technology (IT) acts as an important role in the hospitality and tourism industries. Without the IT department providing effective IT relating services, the employees can't offer the quality of service to their customers. In this study, casino employees are the main subject of the investigation. The purpose is identifying the improvement priority among those IT service quality attributes provided by IT department, and the questionnaire has adopted the importance-satisfaction model (I-S model) as the major research model. The result has also demonstrated some service items need to be improved.
Preferential trade agreements as building or stumbling blocs ? The importance of commitment

Will continual expansion of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) lead to global free trade? In the presence of multilateral negotiations, are PTAs necessary for, or will they necessarily lead away from, global free trade? This paper shows both answers depend crucially on a commitment problem faced by PTA members. Because the commitment problem revolves around a desire to commit to not form future PTAs, global free trade is not attained when PTA member's overcome their commitment problem. Market size asymmetry is an important determinant of member's ability to overcome the commitment problem. Higher levels of asymmetry generally increase member's rents and thus their ability to overcome it. This reduces the scope for global free trade. However, there is a threshold level of asymmetry at which the commitment problem cannot be overcome. This dramatically increases the extent to which PTAs both lead to, and are necessary for, global free trade.
The [ URE 3 ] Prion in Candida

Ure2p, normally a regulator of nitrogen catabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, can be a prion (infectious protein) by forming a folded in-register parallel amyloid called [URE3]. Using S. cerevisiae as a test bed, we previously showed that Ure2p of Candida albicans (CaUre2p) can also form a prion, but that Ure2p of C. glabrata (CgUre2p) cannot. Here, we constructed C. glabrata strains to test whether CgUre2p can form a prion in its native environment. We find that while CaUre2p can form a [URE3] in C. glabrata, CgUre2p cannot, although the latter has a prion domain sequence more similar to that of ScUre2p than that of CaUre2p. This supports the notion that prion formation is not a conserved property of Ure2p but is a pathology arising sporadically. We find that some [URE3albicans] variants are restricted in their transmissibility to certain recipient strains. In addition, we show that the C. glabrata HO can induce switching of the C. glabrata mating type locus.
Web journalism : from the inverted pyramid to the tumbled pyramid

As the main news writing technique (though one still at issue in professional and academic contexts), the inverted pyramid model is usually implied when we discuss journalism. By using the inverted pyramid technique, journalists organise information from the most relevant in the lead to the least relevant at the bottom, of course following their own criteria. But how will readers react when faced with several optional reading paths? Do
Isolation of carbon monoxide dehydrogenase from Acetobacterium woodii and comparison of its properties with those of the Clostridium thermoaceticum enzyme

An oxygen-labile carbon monoxide dehydrogenase was purified to at least 98% homogeneity from fructose-grown cells of Acetobacterium woodii. Gel filtration and electrophoresis experiments gave molecular weights of 480,000 and 153,000, respectively, of the active enzyme. The molecular weights for the subunits are 80,000 and 68,000; the subunits occur in equal proportion. The small subunit of the A. woodii enzyme differs in size from that of the Clostridium thermoaceticum enzyme; however, the large subunits are similar. The specific activity of the A. woodii enzyme, measured at 30 degrees C and pH 7.6, is 500 mumol of CO oxidized min-1 mg-1 with 20 mM methyl viologen as the electron acceptor. Analysis revealed (number per dimer) iron (9), acid-labile sulfide (12), nickel (1.4), and magnesium or zinc (1). This metal content is quite similar to that of the C. thermoaceticum enzyme (Ragsdale et al., J. Biol. Chem. 258:2364-2369, 1983). The nickel as well as the iron-sulfur clusters are redox-active, as was found for the C. thermoaceticum enzyme (Ragsdale et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 108:658-663, 1982). CO can reduce and CO2 can oxidize the iron-sulfur clusters. The enzyme is inhibited by cyanide, but CO2 in the presence of reduced methyl viologen or CO alone can reverse or prevent this inhibition. Several ferredoxins, flavodoxin, and rubredoxin and some artificial electron carriers were tested for their relative rates of reaction with the CO dehydrogenases from A. woodii, C. thermoaceticum, and Clostridium formicoaceticum. Rubredoxin was by far the most reactive acceptor and is proposed to be the primary natural electron carrier for the acetogenic CO dehydrogenases.
Monogamous pair bonds and mate switching in the Western Australian seahorse Hippocampus subelongatus

Apparently monogamous animals often prove, upon genetic inspection, to mate polygamously. Seahorse males provide care in a brood pouch. An earlier genetic study of the Western Australian seahorse demonstrated that males mate with only one female for each particular brood. Here we investigate whether males remain monogamous in sequential pregnancies during a breeding season. In a natural population we tagged males and sampled young from two successive broods of 14 males. Microsatellite analyses of parentage revealed that eight males re‐mated with the same female, and six with a new female. Thus, in this first study to document long‐term genetic monogamy in a seahorse, we show that switches of mates still occur. Polygynous males moved greater distances between broods, and tended to have longer interbrood intervals, than monogamous males, suggesting substantial costs associated with the breaking of pair bonds which may explain the high degree of social monogamy in this fish genus.
Toxicity of quantum dots on respiratory system

Abstract Quantum dots (QDs), as advanced nanotechnology products, are widely used in the bio-medical field for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes due to their unique properties. Therefore, it becomes important for researchers to elucidate the adverse effects of QDs on human beings. This essay provides an overview of the toxic effects of QDs on respiratory system, which are summarized into two main parts: in vitro toxicity, including reduction of cell viability, genetic material damage and disordered immune cell reactions; as well as in vivo toxicity, involving accumulation of QDs, lung injury and inflammation, and potential long-term adverse effects. As the toxic severity of a QD type depends on its composition, dose, size, surface chemistry and structure, it is a big challenge to determine a benchmark of QDs. Thus, we have to remember that each QD type is a unique nanocrystal, which needs to be assessed individually. However, there are still some feasible recommendations for minimizing the toxicity provided in this review. Overall, more and more large-scale well-organized toxicity studies of different QD types on different species need to be conducted in order to provide guidelines of QDs’ safety application.
Roles of Asp75, Asp78, and Glu83 of GTP-dependent Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase from Mycobacterium smegmatis*

The roles of Asp75, Asp78, and Glu83 of the 75DPSDVARVE83 element of Mycobacterium smegmatis GTP-dependent phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxykinase (GTP-PEPCK) were investigated. Asp78 and Glu83 are fully conserved in GTP-PEP-CKs. The human PEPCK crystal structure suggests that Asp78 influences Tyr220; Tyr220 helps to position bound PEP, and Glu83 interacts with Arg81. Experimental data on other PEPCKs indicate that Arg81 binds PEP, and the phosphate of PEP interacts with Mn2+ of metal site 1 for catalysis. We found that D78A and E83A replacements severely reduced activity. E83A substitution raised the apparent Km value for Mn2+ 170-fold. In contrast, Asp75 is highly but not fully conserved; natural substitutions are Ala, Asn, Gln, or Ser. Such substitutions, when engineered, in M. smegmatis enzyme caused the following. 1) For oxaloacetate synthesis, Vmax decreased 1.4-4-fold. Km values for PEP and Mn2+ increased 3-9- and 1.2-10-fold, respectively. Km values for GDP and bicarbonate changed little. 2) For PEP formation, Vmax increased 1.5-2.7-fold. Km values for oxaloacetate increased 2-2.8-fold. The substitutions did not change the secondary structure of protein significantly. The kinetic effects are rationalized as follows. In E83A the loss of Glu83-Arg81 interaction affected Arg81-PEP association. D78A change altered the Tyr220-PEP interaction. These events perturbed PEP-Mn2+ interaction and consequently affected catalysis severely. In contrast, substitutions at Asp75, a site far from bound PEP, brought subtle effects, lowering oxaloacetate formation rate but enhancing PEP formation rate. It is likely that Asp75 substitutions affected PEP-Mn2+ interaction by changing the positions of Asp78, Arg81, and Glu83, which translated to differential effects on two directions.
Sensor Event Processing on Grid

Wireless sensor networks are increasingly being deployed in many important applications. For sharing huge amount of sensor data efficiently with diverse users, an information dissemination mechanism is very necessary and important component. In this paper, we have proposed an efficient architecture integrated with sensor network and Grid technology. To disseminate the sensed data to users geographically distributed, an experimental method using Data Grid on pub/sub (publish/subscription) is designed for a u-Healthcare application and its performance is evaluated for various predicate cases.
A 100 W multi-band four-way integrated Doherty amplifier

A four-way Doherty amplifier architecture with high integration is proposed to address the simultaneous challenges of multi-band capability and high back-off efficiency. Based on this approach, a compact 100 W LDMOS amplifier is designed and characterized in the 1.805 to 2.17 GHz frequency band. It achieves 13.4 dB maximum gain, together with 47 % efficiency at 8 dB back-off, and can be linearized to lower than -59 dBc ACPR level with a 20 MHz wide LTE signal. The fabricated amplifier features a compact size of 50 × 80 mm2.
Impact of imidacloprid on Daphnia magna under different food quality regimes

Aquatic ecosystems are characterized by fluctuating conditions that have direct effects on aquatic communities but also indirect influences such as changing the toxicity of chemicals. Because the effect of food quality on pesticide toxicity has rarely been studied, in the present study Daphnia magna juveniles supplied with 4 different food quality levels were exposed to a range of imidacloprid concentrations for 21 d. Food quality was expressed as carbon:phosphorus ratios of algae Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata (C:P 35, C:P 240, C:P 400, and C:P 1300). Survival, growth rates, and reproduction of D. magna were monitored, and the combined effects of imidacloprid exposure and the phosphorus content of algae were analyzed. A stronger effect on survival was observed at the P‐deficient diet (C:P 1300), confirmed by lower 10% effect concentration (EC10) values at days 7, 9, 15, and 21 compared with diets with higher phosphorus contents. Similarly, the growth rate was reduced when D. magna were supplied with algae of low phosphorus content at imidacloprid exposure conditions. The highest reproductive output was observed for D. magna fed the optimal phosphorus diet (C:P 240), both at control and exposed conditions. Poor food quality increased the sensitivity of nontarget species to pesticide exposure, potentially leading to an underestimation of adverse effects on aquatic communities in the field. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:621–631. © 2013 SETAC