Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bioremediating silty soil contaminated by phenanthrene, pyrene, benz(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene using Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp.: Biosurfactant/Beta vulgaris agrowaste effects

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are recalcitrant contaminants which are routinely found in numerous environmental matrices, contributing to ecological degradation. In this study, the removal of LMW and HMW PAHs with 4- and 5 benzene rings, by Bacillus licheniformis STK 01, Bacillus subtilis STK 02 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa STK 03, was evaluated in silty soil for a period of 60 days. Subsequently, a biosurfactant produced from Beta vulgaris agrowaste was used to augment the removal of the aforementioned PAHs in mono- and co cultures. The isolates proved to be proficient in removing the contaminants, with B. licheniformis STK01 cultures achieving the highest removal rates. Biosurfactant supplementation significantly enhanced the removal of benzo(a)pyrene- a 5-ring benzene HMW PAH. The highest removal rates achieved in biosurfactant supplemented cultures were: 100% for phenanthrene, 95.32% for pyrene, 82.71% for benz(a)anthracene and 86.17% for benzo(a)pyrene. The kinetic data used to simulate removal rates were suitably described by first-order kinetics, with the rate constants showing that phenanthrene removal was rapid in cultures without biosurfactant ( k = 0.0620 day -1 ) as well as with biosurfactant ( k = 0.0664 day -1 ), while the removal rates for others followed in the order of their increasing molecular weight. The synergy of the bacterial isolates and the biosurfactant produced from B. vulgaris agrowaste could be used in environmental bioremediation of PAHs even in silty soil. Keywords: Benz(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, bioremediation, biosurfactant, Beta vulgaris , polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Removal of Some Pharmaceuticals and Endocrine Disrupting Compounds by the Marine Macroalgae Pterocladia capillacea and Ulva lactuca

Phytoremediation of waters by aquatic organisms such as algae has been recently explored for the removal of organic pollutants possessing endocrine disrupting capacity. Two marine microalgae Pterocladia capillacea and Ulva lactuca were tested for tolerance and removal of chloramphenicol, clofibric acid, acetyl salicylic acid, nonylphenol and bisphenol in aqueous solutions as a single compound species at concentrations 5-60 mg/L under controlled laboratory conditions. The obtained results showed that chlorophyll “a” content of both algal biomasses reduced with increasing pharmaceuticals concentrations. Chlorophyll “a “content diminished nearly to half at 45mg/l for both algal species. However, the nonylphenol and bisphenol were showed a strong inhibition of chlorophyll “a” biosynthesis at higher concentration s (50-60 mg/L). The results also revealed that both the tested algae had high capacity for bioremoval of five pharmaceuticals which, recorded in order acetyl salicylic acid > bisphenol > clofibric acid > nonylphenol > chloramphenicol. Also Pterocladia capillacea had high capacity for bioremoval of five pharmaceuticals than Ulva lactuca. The highest percentage of pharmaceuticals occurred at 12 hours of contact. Both the tested algae suffered from oxidative stress as a result of drug exposure. Our results showed elevation in the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APO), catalase (CAT) levels in the tested algae after exposure to different pharmaceuticals when compared with their activities in the control.
The Construct Validity of the CES-D Among Hiv-infected Perinatal Thai Women: Explanatory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis

It is important to measure depressive symptoms in HIV-infected individuals because depressive symptoms have been found to be correlated with faster progression to AIDS. Worldwide, the CES-D has been used to assess depressive symptoms and examined for its construct validity. However, no previous studies have investigated the CES-D’s construct validity among HIV-infected perinatal women. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the construct validity of the CES-D using both explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis among HIV-positive perinatal women in Thailand. Results showed that, overall, the CES-D is a 4-factor instrument with good construct validity and can be used to evaluate depressive symptoms among HIV-positive perinatal Thai women. However, some items from our study loaded differently on the 4 factors from Radloff’s model. Finally, the CES-D can be used as a general-factor scale without being compromised. DOI : 10.14302/issn.2324-7339.jcrhap-12-158
Accretion disc viscosity: what do warped discs tell us?

Standard, planar accretion discs operate through a dissipative mechanism, usually thought to be turbulent, and often modelled as a viscosity. This acts to take energy from the radial shear, enabling the flow of mass and angular momentum in the radial direction. In a previous paper, we discussed observational evidence for the magnitude of this viscosity, and pointed out discrepancies between these values and those obtained in numerical simulations. In this paper, we discuss the observational evidence for the magnitude of the dissipative effects which act in non-planar discs, both to transfer and to eliminate the non-planarity. Estimates based on the model by Ogilvie, which assumes a small-scale, isotropic viscosity, give alignment timescales for fully ionized discs which are apparently too short by a factor of a few compared with observations, although we emphasize that more detailed computations as well as tighter observational constraints are required to verify this conclusion. For discs with low temperature and conductivity, we find that the time-scales for disc alignment based on isotropic viscosity are too short by around two orders of magnitude. This large discrepancy suggests that our understanding of viscosity in quiescent discs is currently inadequate.
Record of Dicranosepsis javanica (de Meijere, 1904) (Diptera, Sepsidae) from Meghalaya (India), with morphological and genetic data

Abstract The present article reports Dicranosepsis javanica (de Meijere 1904) (Diptera: Sepsidae) from Meghalaya and makes a note of its Oriental distribution range. The specimens were sampled in January 2014 by sweep net in the village of Schnongrim, Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, situated in the north-eastern part of India. A short morphological description is provided for the male specimen, while the female taxonomic characters are presented for the first time. The taxonomic identification of species was confirmed by DNA Barcoding.
Simultaneous Investigation of Flexibility and Plasma Actuation Effects on the Aerodynamic Characteristics of an Oscillating Airfoil

In this work, a numerical study of two dimensional laminar incompressible flow around the flexible oscillating NACA0012 airfoil is performed using the open source code OpenFOAM. Oscillatory motion types including pitching and flapping is considered. Reynolds number for these motions is assumed fixed at 12000. One of the important issues that must be considered in designing air structures, in particular the aircraft wing, is the interaction between the air and the elastic aircraft wings that is known as the Aeroelastic phenomenon. For this purpose, the effect of airfoil flexibility and flow induced vibration in these motion types is investigated and compared with the case of rigid airfoil. It is observed that the flexibility in both types of motions causes improvement of the thrust which is boosted with increasing the frequency. Contrary to thrust, the significant improvement of lift is only achievable in high frequencies. It was also found that the effect of flexibility on the flapping motion is higher than the pitching motion. For flow control on the airfoil, Dielectric Barrier Discharge plasma actuator is used in the trailing edge of a flexible airfoil, and its effect on the flexible airfoil is also investigated.
DUAL-STEEL FRAMES FOR MULTISTORY BUILDINGS IN SEISMIC AREAS

Seismic resistant building frames designed as dissipative structures must allow for plastic deformations to develop in specific members, whose behavior has to be predicted by proper design. Members designed to remain elastic during earthquake, such as columns, are responsible for robustness of the structure and prevention the collapse, being characterized by high strength demands. Consequently, a framing solution obtained by combining HSS and MCS, is natural. The robustness of structures to severe seismic action is ensured by their global performance, in terms of ductility, stiffness and strength, e.g. the "plastic" members of MCS - (S235 to S355) will dissipate the seismic energy, acting like "structural fuses", while the "elastic" members (HSS - S460 to S690), provided with adequate overstrength, will have the capacity to carry the supplementary stresses, following the redistribution of forces after appearance of plastic hinges. Such a structure is termed dual-steel structure. When braced frames of removable MCS dissipative members are used, such as the links in EBF , Buckling Restrained Braces in CBF or Shear Walls in MRF systems, the elastic HSS part of the structure has a beneficial restoring effect after earthquake enabling to replace the "fuses" . Dual-steel approach can be considered for beam-to column connections, too, on the same philosophy related to the role of ductile and brittle components. The paper summarizes the numerical and experimental results obtained on this subject in the Department of Steel Structures and Structural Mechanics at the Politehnica University of Timisoara.
In vitro propagation of Orthosiphon stamineus Benth (Lamiaceae) an important medicinal plant using nodal and leaf explants

The present paper reports the in vitro propagation of the valuable medicinal plant, Orthosiphon stamineus Benth in various concentrations of plant growth regulators. Nodes and leaves were used as explants for the induction of multiple shoots and callus respectively. The explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations of 6-benzyl amino purine (BAP) and Kinetin (KIN) alone and BAP in combination with αNaphthalene acetic acid (NAA) for multiple shoot induction. For callus induction leaf explants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of auxins like 2, 4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D), NAA and Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). The maximum number of shoots was produced in BAP 1.00mg/l after 8 weeks of culture. An average of 12.9 ± 0.10 shoots measuring 5.94 ± 0.13 mean length were produced from each explants. For root induction the shootlets were transferred to MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of IBA. Highest percentage of root induction was observed in 4.00 mg/L IBA. The rooted plantlets were hardened in the mixture of 1:1:1 ratio of soil, sand and vermicompost. 60-70% plants were successfully established in the field. Optimum callus induction was observed on MS medium supplemented with 2.00 mg/l 2, 4-D.The callus was subcultured on MS medium containing different combinations of BAP and NAA in various concentration. Though the callus showed greenish somatic embryoids, it failed to produce shoots even after 8 weeks of culture.
Implications of Being a Highly Rated Organization: Evidence from Four-Star Rated Nonprofits

This study examines a group of nonprofits rated four stars by Charity Navigator. The purpose is to determine whether this select group of charities exhibits characteristics associated with top charitable organizations, or whether the four-star rating achieved is limited to the more narrow financial metrics employed in the methodology utilized by Charity Navigator. This study finds that organizations rated four stars by Charity Navigator show a lower level of excess cash holdings, report a lower level of compensation expenses and exhibit lower sensitivity of compensation to performance. Financially, these organizations are less vulnerable than their lower rated peers. The results from this study shed light on the continuing debate of the effectiveness of rating agencies to accurately identify top performing charitable organizations.
Hybridizing Chaotic and Quantum Mechanisms and Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm with Least Squares Support Vector Regression Model in Electric Load Forecasting

Compared with a large power grid, a microgrid electric load (MEL) has the characteristics of strong nonlinearity, multiple factors, and large fluctuation, which lead to it being difficult to receive more accurate forecasting performances. To solve the abovementioned characteristics of a MEL time series, the least squares support vector machine (LS-SVR) hybridizing with meta-heuristic algorithms is applied to simulate the nonlinear system of a MEL time series. As it is known that the fruit fly optimization algorithm (FOA) has several embedded drawbacks that lead to problems, this paper applies a quantum computing mechanism (QCM) to empower each fruit fly to possess quantum behavior during the searching processes, i.e., a QFOA algorithm. Eventually, the cat chaotic mapping function is introduced into the QFOA algorithm, namely CQFOA, to implement the chaotic global perturbation strategy to help fruit flies to escape from the local optima while the population’s diversity is poor. Finally, a new MEL forecasting method, namely the LS-SVR-CQFOA model, is established by hybridizing the LS-SVR model with CQFOA. The experimental results illustrate that, in three datasets, the proposed LS-SVR-CQFOA model is superior to other alternative models, including BPNN (back-propagation neural networks), LS-SVR-CQPSO (LS-SVR with chaotic quantum particle swarm optimization algorithm), LS-SVR-CQTS (LS-SVR with chaotic quantum tabu search algorithm), LS-SVR-CQGA (LS-SVR with chaotic quantum genetic algorithm), LS-SVR-CQBA (LS-SVR with chaotic quantum bat algorithm), LS-SVR-FOA, and LS-SVR-QFOA models, in terms of forecasting accuracy indexes. In addition, it passes the significance test at a 97.5% confidence level.
The Influence of Organizational Justice on Intention to Leave: Examining the Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction

The current study was conducted on the employees of a Jordanian governmental department that has 240 employees, using a questionnaire. The number of the returned questionnaires was 150, achieving response rate of 62.5%. The influences of organizational justice, organizational commitment and job satisfaction on employees’ intention to leave their job were scrutinized and were supported. The mediating roles of organizational commitment and job satisfaction in the relationship between organizational justice and intention to leave were investigated and corroborated. As previous research supported the relations between the studied variables, the contribution of this study is the suggested and corroborated conceivable succession for the effects of the precursors of employees’ intentions to leave their jobs, which demonstrate its significance. The implications and limitations of this study are presented.
ESTIMATION OF THE LONG-RUN AVERAGE RELATIONSHIP IN NONSTATIONARY PANEL TIME SERIES

This paper proposes a new class of estimators of the long-run average relationship in nonstationary panel time series. The estimators are based on the long-run average variance estimate using bandwidth equal to T. The new estimators include the pooled least squares estimator and the fixed effects estimator as special cases. It is shown that the new estimators are consistent and asymptotically normal under both the sequential limit, wherein T → ∞ followed by n → ∞, and the joint limit where T,n → ∞ simultaneously. The rate condition for the joint limit to hold is relaxed to , which is less restrictive than the rate condition n/T → 0, as imposed by Phillips and Moon (1999, Econometrica 67, 1057–1111). By exponentiating existing kernels, this paper introduces a new approach to generating kernels and shows that these exponentiated kernels can deliver more efficient estimates of the long-run average coefficient.I am grateful to Bruce Hansen, Peter Phillips, Zhijie Xiao, and three anonymous referees for constructive comments and suggestions. All errors are mine alone.
Evaluating the redistributional effects of tax policy changes: with an application to the 2006 Norwegian tax reform

An evaluation strategy is presented for answering the question is the tax schedule more redistributive after a reform than prior to a reform? The proposed procedure builds upon addressing measures of tax redistribution, utilizing micro data from periods before and after the reform. Tax redistributional effects are measured in terms of a "common base" approach, which means that a benchmark is established to identify how the "redistributional efforts" of policy-makers develop over time. When applying this method for evaluation of the 2006 Norwegian tax reform, the results suggest that the modification of the dual income tax system of the 2006 reform has improved the redistributional effect of the schedule. This conclusion is qualified by addressing measurement challenges brought up by the
Evidence for Dry Eye Treatment in Hematopoietic Stem Cells Post-Transplantation

Introduction : Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) is a treatment modality for oncology and hematological diseases genetically inherited or acquired. The morbidities and mortalities related to HSCT are evident in its different phases, such as the Graft Versus Host Disease especially on dry eye syndrome, one of the most complication of chronic phase, characterized as a multifactorial disease of the ocular surface. Several treatments may be directed to the dry eye and the consequences caused by it during the HSCT post-period. Objective : To reveal the treatments for dry eye in patients after HSCT period. Method : This is a literature integrative review performed by the SCOPUS databases, National Library of Medicine (PubMed); Web of Science and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Heath Literature (CINAHL). Results : Of the 1,551 articles identified, there were 21 in the final sample. Regarding the treatments addressed, the most often used was found the cyclosporine 0.05%, followed by allogeneic and autologous drops. Conclusion : There was no consensus identified as the best type of treatment for these patients. However, it is known that depend mainly on clinical features of chronic graft-versus-host eye on the post-transplantation situation.
The risk assessment index in grape powdery mildew control decisions and the effect of temperature and humidity on conidial germination of Erysiphe necator

Powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator) is a major disease of grapevines (Vitis vinifera) in Chile. Severe outbreaks have occurred recently despite the use of strict fungicide programs to control it. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the infection risk assessment index (RAI), to predict conditions for E. necator infection, and to study the effect of temperature (T), relative humidity (RH) and free moisture (FM) on conidial germination and disease development. Conidial germination was affected by T, RH, and FM. There were significant (p<0.001) interactions between E. necator isolates and T and between isolates and RH. Conidial germination was optimal at 25 deg C. There was no germination at 5 and 35 deg C. At 20 deg C, conidia germinated at a low RH (33-35%). Germination increased at a RH between 47 and 90% but decreased at higher RHs. Powdery mildew development on Carmenere, Chardonnay, and Merlot vines increased linearly from 6 to 23 deg C. These grape cultivars were all equally susceptible to E. necator. Incubation periods varied. It was 13 to 14 d at 20 or 23 deg C, 19 to 24 d at 10 deg C, and more than 23 d at 6 deg C. Grape powdery mildew was markedly decreased when inoculated leaves were wet at 1 or 72 h post inoculation. In conclusion, RAI, determined on the basis of air T, was useful to decide on fungicide applications between grape bud burst and veraison in Chile.
Development and Evaluation of Cabin Crew Expected Safety Behaviours

Within the airline industry, expected safety behaviours are being increasingly used to assess or observe flight crew non-technical skills (CRM) performance. While safety and human factors programs are well established components of cabin crew training, airlines are yet to identify the non-technical skills required of cabin crew to successfully manage safety critical tasks and situations. In addition, there is a lack of data on how cabin crew deal with threats and avoid, recover and manage error. This paper describes a two-part research project being undertaken within Qantas Airways. Phase 1 involved the application of the Critical Decision Method protocol to identify successful decision making skills amongst experienced cabin crew. From a qualitative analysis of interviews with eighty Customer Service Managers (CSMs), expected safety behaviours were identified, and grouped under the following seven elements: situational awareness, information & resource management, operational understanding, passenger management, crew management, negotiation & influencing skills, and workplace safety. The use of these expected safety behaviours in training and performance planning is discussed. Phase 2 of the project involves the proposed implementation of a LOSA-type program within the Cabin Crew environment, utilising the expected safety behaviours developed in Phase 1. The applicability of LOSA for cabin operations as well as the logistical and practical challenges of planning and implementing normal operations monitoring for cabin crew is discussed. In addition, an outline of the expected benefits of this research to air operators and the wider aviation industry is provided.
Genetic relationships within a population of Blue Duck Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos

DNA fingerprinting revealed a very high degree of genetic similarity within a small population of Blue Ducks, supporting observations of limited dispersal. The three major family groups studied proved to be interrelated. One example of close inbreeding was confirmed and another suggested. All genetic relationships indicated by observational studies were confirmed by genetic data including correct parentage of ten broods. Thus, no evidence was found of multiple paternity or maternity in this territorial riverine species.