Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Survey of heavy metal (Copper, Iron, Lead, Cadmium, Zinc and Nickel) concentrations and their effects on the water quality of Anzali wetland

Anzali International wetland is one of the most valuable water resources as registered in Ramsar convention with an extent of about 150 km2 in the south Caspian Sea. This wetland, not only has ecological and biological importance for migratory birds and rare fish species, but also is used for farms to discharge into the Caspian Sea through this wetland. Therefore its pollution control is very important for human life. In this study 6 elements (copper, iron, lead, zinc, cadmium and nickel ) in Anzali wetland were analyzed by Atomic Absorption spectroscopy method. Water samples were collected from ten sampling sites seasonally and the results were compared with each other. The detection limits obtained were 0.016 ng/ml for cadmium, 0.02 ng/ml for copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn), 0.025 ng/ml for iron (Fe) and 0.026 ng/ml for nickel (Ni). Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) was 1.7%. The results showed that these heavy metals were present in the water. Concentrations of Cu (0.6 mg/l) were higher than international standards reported in some stations. This can be due to industries around the wetland. The average level of heavy metals was higher in spring than in the other seasons which can be due to increase in seasonal rainfall and intensity of flow from rivers to wetland.
Microalgae of Odisha Coast as a Potential Source for Biodiesel Production

In recent years microalgae have been proved as the potential source for biodiesel production due to high oil content. In the present study three brackish water microalgal strains (Chlorococcum sp., Chlorella sp. and Scenedesmus sp.) of Odisha coast were screened for the suitability for biodiesel production. Among all, Scenedesmus sp. seems to be the best one for high lipid productivity (24.66mg/L/day) with high biomass yield of 0.9g/L at stationary phase. Also the Scenedesmus sp. possesses the most adequate fatty acid profile. The present study suggested that Scenedesmus sp. is appropriate for biodiesel production for its high lipid content; this strain was selected for higher scale studies.
A jackknife-derived visual approach for sample size determination

Abstract The determination of the sample size is one of the most important topics in field research and preliminary sampling ses-sions should be carried out to determine the size of the sample before the collection of real data. A new method for sample size determination is proposed, based on a jackknife visual evolution. The method has been tested to determine (i) the sam-ple size in a rice field in order to collect aboveground biomass data and (ii) the minimum number of time domain reflecto-metry (TDR) data acquisitions necessary to get a reliable estimation of soil water content in a maize field. The 18-plants sample size determined for rice aboveground biomass with the proposed method is coherent with the 20-plants samples tra-ditionally harvested for field experiments with rice; while the 8 acquisitions indicated for soil water content take into account both the effort required for collecting data and the measurement accuracy. The method does not care if the sample units are normally distributed or not and takes into account both the variation of accuracy for increasing sample sizes and, indirectly, the effort required for getting the measurements.
Phenolic Constituents from Fallopia multiflora (Thunberg) Haraldson

Four naphtolic glycosides (1–4), three anthraquinones (5–7), two stilbenes (8-9), one benzyl glycoside (10), and one flavonoid (11) were isolated from the roots of Fallopia multiflora. The new compounds were elucidated to be 6-hydroxymusizin 8-O-α-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (1) and 6-methoxy-3-methyl-1,6,8-trihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid 8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (3). Compound 3 could be an important marker for chemotaxonomy of F. multiflora. Benzyl gentiobioside (10) was isolated for the first time from the family Polygonaceae.
Creative Gaming: An Immersive Experience Environment for Enabling User Co-creation

A number of existing innovation paradigms and design approaches such as Open Innovation (Chesbrough, 2003), User Experience (Hassenzahl & Tractinsky, 2006) and User-Centred Design (Von Hippel, 2005), as well as User-Centred Open Innovation Ecosystems (Pallot, 2009a) are promoting distributed collaboration among organisations and user communities. However, project stakeholders are mainly trained for improving their individual skills through learning experience (i.e. practical exercises, role playing game) rather than getting a live user experience through immersive environments (e.g. Virtual Reality, Serious Games) that could unleash their creativity potential. This chapter introduces the findings of a study on serious gaming, which discusses various aspects of games and explores a number of issues related to the use of innovation games for enabling user co-creation in the context of collaborative innovation and experiential Living Labs.
Carbon stocks in fynbos, pastures and vineyards on the Agulhas Plain, South Africa: a preliminary assessment

Large tracts of fynbos on the Agulhas Plain are being converted to agriculture. Carbon (C) stocks in fynbos, pastures and vineyards were measured in this preliminary study to determine whether conservation of fynbos results in greater C storage relative to agricultural land uses. Fynbos had greater aboveground C than pastures (12.7 ± 1.7 vs 0.8 ± 0.3 t C ha−1), greater root C than pastures and vineyards (13.0 ± 11.7, 4.9 ± 1.4 and 0.2 ± 0.2 t C ha−1, respectively), less soil organic C than pastures (1.26 ± 0.14 vs 2.06 ± 0.22%) and less total soil C than pastures (66.7 ± 7.2 vs 99.2 ± 10.9 t C ha−1). The results indicate that conversion of fynbos into pastures is unlikely to result in a net loss of C stocks because reductions in aboveground biomass, litter and root C are recovered through gains in soil C. Conversion of fynbos into vineyards is likely to result in a net loss of approximately 23 t C ha−1 in aboveground and root biomass.
Effect of Solanum aethiopicum and Solanum macrocarpon Fruits on Weight Gain, Blood Glucose and Liver Glycogen of Wistar Rats

This study investigated the effects of dietary supplements of two African eggplants, Solanum aethiopicum and S. macrocarpon, on weight gain and glucose metabolism in rats. FiftyWistar rats, divided into 5groups, were fed with diets supplemented with graded levels of the fruits as follows: Group 1 (control), 0%; Group 2, 4% S. aethiopicum; Group 3, 8% S. aethiopicum; Group 4,4% S. macrocarpon; and Group5,8% S. macrocarpon. Weight gain, blood glucose and liver glycogen levels of the rats were determined after 28 days. Results showed significant (p<0.05) reduction in weight gain by the two eggplants, marginal decrease in liver glycogen by 8% S. macrocarpon and no significant change in blood glucose level. Weight gain was54.63±6.96 g for the control; it was reduced to 39.80±3.37 g (27.15%) and 25.00±1.34 g (54.24%) respectively by 4% and 8%supplement of S. aethiopicum, and to 40.47±3.37 (25.92%) and 31.54±2.84 g (42.24%) respectively by 4% and 8%supplement of S. macrocarpon. Blood glucose level was 83.80±4.05 mg/dl for the control, 81.65±4.22 and 81.34±4.11mg/dl respectively for 4% and 8%S. aethiopicum supplement; it was 79.10±2.61 and78.69±2.21 respectively for 4% and 8%supplement of S. macrocarpon. Both eggplants exhibited a dose-dependent, weight-reducing effect on the rats. Solanum macrocarpon also showed significant hypoglycemic effect. These indigenous food crops could be exploited to mitigate the challenge of obesity.
BORAGE OIL RICH IN GAMMA LINOLENIC ACID (GLA) REDUCES CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE (CVD) RISK FACTORS IN HAMSTERS FED IN DIET RICH IN SATURATED FATTY ACIDS (SFAS) AND CHOLESTEROL.

The experiment was applied on /45/ healthy male of golden Syrian hamsters, were divided into three groups as follows: Control group(C), High Fat-High Cholesterol group(HF-HC) and Borage Oil group (BO). All groups had laboratorial diet freely during/15/ days(first period), after that each of HF-HC and BO groups took diet consisting of 80% laboratorial diet+ 20% fats(13.5% sheep fat+6.5% coconut oil) for /4/ weeks(second period). The treatment of BO group changed after second period and hamsters had laboratorial diet and dosed borage oil 2g/kg of the body weight daily for /4/ weeks(third period). The results showed a significant increase(p=0.0000) of the total cholesterol(TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycerides(TG) concentrations approximately(163%, 224%, 232%) respectively in each of HF-HC and BO groups in the second period in comparison with first period. Our results showed, in third period, a dramatic significant decrease(P=0.0000) in the TC, LDL-C and TG concentrations approximately (56%, 69%, 40%) respectively in BO group in comparison with the same group of second period.
The Organizational Fitness Navigator: Creating and Measuring Organizational Fitness for Fast-Paced Transformation

In the fast-changing environment of today dynamic capabilities to manage organizational transformation are regarded as crucial for business survival and improved performance. Although dynamic organizational capabilities have been receiving intense scrutiny by researchers and practitioners in the past few years, relatively little attention has been directed towards creating a systemic model of dynamic capabilities, and how to effectively measure what the authors call organizational fitness capabilities. This paper builds on the concepts of organizational fitness and its profiling (OFP), and proposes the organizational fitness navigator (OFN) as a systemic model of dynamic organizational capabilities. Part of the OFP model is a systemic scorecard (SCC) as a measurement tool for organizational fitness - in contrast to the well-known balanced scorecard (BSC) - for improving business survival and performance in increasingly networked environments.
Conditional cash transfers and health: unpacking the causal chain

This paper investigates whether conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes that include health and nutrition components improve health and nutritional outcomes, and if so, which components of the programmes, or combination thereof, are important in achieving these improvements. Using evidence from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the paper adopts a theory-based approach that spells out the assumptions behind the expectation that the CCT interventions will have a measurable impact on health and nutrition outcomes. CCT impact evaluations provide unambiguous evidence that financial incentives work to increase utilisation of those key health services by the poor upon which the cash transfer is conditioned, if the beneficiaries have knowledge of this condition. However, results are mixed with respect to nutrition and health outcomes, suggesting that encouraging utilisation when the pertinence of services is unknown or of poor quality may not produce the expected effects. Incipient results from Mexico indicate, however, that service quality is not necessarily exogenous to the programme, but may be positively affected by giving the poor women skills, information, and social support to negotiate better care from healthcare providers. Findings from Mexico indicate that there are direct routes by which the cash transfers affect health, outside of the health sector interactions. In particular, the poverty alleviation achieved with the cash transfers may affect the mental health of beneficiaries, as well as their lifestyle choices. The main policy recommendation that ensues from this review is the need to find the right mix of incentives and regulation to improve the quality of care, while at the same time investing in the empowerment of users. Future research that explores the relative cost-effectiveness of investing in the supply versus the demand-side within the health system will be crucial, along with further research on the need for conditionalities. Other areas that could benefit from further evidence include morbidity outcomes from programmes other than Oportunidades, including mental health and chronic disease, impacts on health-related behaviours and attitudes, and how these factors affect outcomes, and the effects on out-of-pocket expenditure.
Two-Way Denoise-and-Forward MIMO Relaying for Land Mobile Satellite Communication

In this paper, a two-way denoise-and-forward (DNF) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) relaying scheme for land mobile satellite (LMS) communication is proposed. We first describe the system model of two-way DNF MIMO relaying and the channel model used in LMS communication. Secondly, we use binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) to analyze the decoding bit error rate (BER) at the earth stations (ESs) and the satellite, and then obtain the end-to-end BER. Finally, we provide the simulation BER performance with BPSK modulation. The simulation results show that the two-way DNF MIMO relaying is suitable for LMS communication and the two-way MIMO with BPSK works well in LMS communication.
MCM-41-Accelerated PWA Catalysis of Friedel-Crafts Reaction of Indoles and Isatins

Ordered mesoporous siliceous material has been identified as one of the key elements of the catalysis concept. Here we report an efficient Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles with isatins catalyzed by PWA/MCM-41, which got the di(indolyl)indolin-2-ones derivatives with high yield. Moreover, the catalysts were characterized by XRD and SEM/EDS, the EDS spectrum indicated that the catalyst used in this reaction also contains tungsten, and the proposed mechanism for the synthesis of 3,3-di(indolyl)indolin-2-ones was also discussed. Finally, the catalyst can be reused repeatedly for several times without obvious loss of activity.
ERF and scale-free analyses of source-reconstructed MEG brain signals during a multisensory learning paradigm

Il existe deux facons d'analyser l'activite cerebrale acquise en magnetoencephalographie (MEG) : soit en moyennant les reponses suscitees par la repetition d'un stimulus afin d'observer le « champ evoque »; soit en decomposant le signal en bandes oscillatoires (tel que l'alpha, le beta ou le gamma), chacune etant associee a differents roles fonctionnels. Ces methodes ne prennent cependant pas compte de la complexite de l'activite cerebrale dont l'essentiel est arythmique, notamment au repos. Pour pallier a cela, une autre approche consiste a analyser le spectre de puissance en 1/f observable dans les tres basses frequences, une caracteristique des systemes dont la dynamique est invariante d'echelle. Pour savoir si cette propriete joue un quelconque role dans le fonctionnement cerebral et si elle a des consequences sur le comportement, nous avons etablit un paradigme d'apprentissage visuel permettant d'observer de la plasticite fonctionnelle au cours d'une session MEG. Pour avoir un entrainement optimal, nous avons developpe de nouveaux stimuli audiovisuels (AV) (une texture acoustique associee a un nuage de points colores en mouvement) permettant une integration multisensorielle et de ce fait un meilleur apprentissage que celui apporte par un entrainement visuel seul (V) ou accompagne d'un bruit acoustique (AVn). Nous avons ensuite etudie les correlats neuronaux de ces trois types d'apprentissage par l'analyse classique des champs evoques. Une fois l'activite reconstruite sur la surface corticale de chaque individu a l'aide de MNE-dSPM, nous avons identifie le reseau implique dans la tâche au sein de chaque groupe. En particulier, la plasticite selective observee dans l'aire hMT+ associee au traitement du mouvement visuel correlait avec les progressions comportementales des individus et etait soutenue en AV par un plus vaste reseau comprenant notamment des aires multisensorielles. Parallelement, nous avons explore les liens reliant le comportement et les proprietes d'invariance d'echelle de ces memes signaux MEG reconstruits sur le cortex. Tandis que la plupart des etudes se limitent a analyser l'auto-similarite (une caracteristique globale synonyme de longue memoire), nous avons aussi considere les fluctuations locales (c-a-d la multifractalite) au moyen de l'analyse WLBMF. Nous avons trouve des modulations couplees de l'auto-similarite et de la multifractalite dans des regions similaires a celles revelees par l'analyse des champs evoques. Plus surprenant, Le degre de multifractalite releve dans chaque individu convergeait durant l'entrainement vers un meme attracteur refletant la performance comportementale asymptotique.
Neuraminidase Activity as a Potential Enzymatic Marker for Rapid Detection of Airborne Viruses

Viruses offer a limited range of targets for their detection. To date, PCR and RT-PCR have been widely used for detection of viruses. In the case of environmental air sampling, the ability to detect a broad range of viruses would constitute a significant advantage for preventing outbreaks of airborne-transmitted viral infections. Given that neuraminidase is found on some respiratory virus species of medical or agricultural importance, this enzyme could theoretically be used to detect several different airborne viruses in a single assay. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential of neuraminidase activity as a marker for rapid detection of airborne viruses. We first validated the use of a low-pathogenic strain of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) as a model airborne virus. Our findings revealed that neuraminidase activity-based assays are almost as sensitive as RT-PCR assays currently used for detection of NDV. We also validated the utilization of a neuraminidase substrate specific to viral neuraminidase. Experiments conducted in a controlled chamber demonstrated that the neuraminidase activity is preserved after aerosolization, air sampling using impingement and handling. Finally, we tested our method with swine barn air samples. Our results demonstrate that neuraminidase activity-based assays are suitable for detection of viruses in air samples.
Revegetating Bagacay Mining Site: A review of potential tropical species for phytoremediation of non-essential heavy metals

Post-mining activities in Samar left serious environmental issues. Albeit it is used to provide prosperity to its constituents, mining in the area brought with it negative impacts. Bagacay Mine, an abandoned mining area in the province was left with enourmous amount of heavy metals. This include As (6-693 ppm), Cu (9-5,279), Pb (22-354 ppm), Hg (1-5 ppm), Zn (<1-7,138 ppm) and Fe (5,900-373,500 ppm). The area was then reforested with Swietenia macrophylla, Leucaena leucocephala, Acacia mangium, Bambusa blumeana and Thysanolaena maxima but only 1 percent survived. This paper touches the nature and effects of the non-essential heavy metals and metalloids present in the area as well as the mechanism of phytoextraction. Additionally, tropical metallophytes which can be used for phytoremediation activities in the future were introduced and reviewed.
Patterns of Interaction in University Tutorials: A Framework for Analyzing Interaction in Tutorials

The purpose of this article is to report on the framework used to analyse the tutorial data quantitatively by first determining the number of discourse acts and turns and by also analysing the quality as the framework postulates certain acts and turns as constituting more effective participation than others. The analytical framework developed involved a combination of a specific set of discourse acts derived from Crombie (1985) and Hubbard (1998) and turn categories based on Van Lier (1988) and these were explained with examples from the tutorial data of the present study. Using an integrated framework to explore differences in’ participation effectiveness’, (i.e. the quantity of speaker discourse acts and turns and speaker initiative at discourse act and turn taking levels) between first and third-year students and between male and female students in male-led and female-led tutorials revealed that third-year students participated more effectively than first-years and that the males in male-led tutorials used more discourse acts than females, while females in female-led tutorials did better than the males.
Does Physical Production of Nanoparticles Reduce Their Ecotoxicity? A Case of Lower Toxicity of AgNPs Produced by Laser Ablation to Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Use of nano-materials has increased in various aspects of human life. However, possible outbreak of nano-materials toxicity in humans and other organisms is one of the future challenges. Different chemical precursors which are used in chemical approaches for production of nano-materials may have secondary and sometimes toxic effects in living organisms. These secondary effects may be reduced in physical approaches due to not use of chemicals. To test this hypothesis, acute toxic effects of two types of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) which were produced by physical (top-down) and chemical (bottom-up) methods on survival rate of Zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) were compared. According to the results, AgNPs produced by physical method were 38 times less toxic than ones generated by chemical method and therefore, the hypothesis was approved. The estimated 96 hr LC 50 values of AgNPs produced by physical and chemical methods for zebra fish were 0.540 ± 0.032 and 0.014 ± 0.001 mg/L, respectively. According to these values and regarding the rules of European Union, both types of AgNPs are considered as highly toxic chemicals to aquatic organisms. Generally, AgNPs seems to have toxic effects on aquatic organisms regardless of the method used for their production, and so, their accidental or intentional entrance into the aquatic ecosystems should be inhibited.
A Hybrid Method for Lattice Basis Reduction and Applications

Lattice reduction aided techniques have been successfully applied to a wide range of applications. Efficient and robust lattice basis reduction algorithms are valuable. In this thesis, we present an O(n4 logB) hybrid Jacobi method for lattice basis reduction, where n is the dimension of the lattice and B is the maximum length of the input lattice basis vectors. Building upon a generic Jacobi method for lattice basis reduction, we integrate the size reduction into the algorithm to improve its performance. To ensure the convergence and the efficiency of the algorithm, we introduce a parameter to the Lagrange reduction. To improve the quality of the computed bases, we impose a condition on the size reduction, delay the structure restoration, and include a postprocessing in the hybrid method. Our experiments on random matrices show that the proposed algorithm produces better reduced bases than the well-known LLL algorithm and BKZ 2.0 algorithm, measured by both the orthogonality defect and the condition number of the basis matrix. Moreover, our hybrid method consistently runs faster than the LLL algorithm, although
NSW-IMOS: An Integrated Marine Observing System for Southeastern Australia

The East Australian Current (EAC) and its eddy field dominate the shelf circulation along the coast of SE Australia. It impacts the climate, weather and fisheries along the most populated part of the Australian coastline. Yet there is much we don't know about the EAC and its role in the transport of heat, generation of eddies, its role in upwelling and the associated biological processes. In this paper we introduce the New South Wales node of the Integrated Marine Observing System (NSW-IMOS). The observing system is designed to complement extant observations in the region and capture key continental shelf processes such as slope water intrusions and encroachments of the EAC, the generation of eddies and the biological response to such events.