Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rapid Detection and Quantification of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) Using Raman Spectroscopy and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

With more than a million seizures of illegal drugs reported annually across Europe, the variety of psychoactive compounds available is vast and ever-growing. The multitude of risks associated with these compounds are well-known and can be life threatening. Hence the need for the development of new analytical techniques and approaches that allow for the rapid, sensitive, and specific quantitative detection and discrimination of such illicit materials, ultimately with portability for field testing, is of paramount importance. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the application of Raman spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) combined with chemometrics approaches, as rapid and portable techniques for the quantitative detection and discrimination of a wide range of novel psychoactive substances (methcathinone and aminoindane derivatives), both in powder form and in solution. The Raman spectra of the psychoactive compounds provided clear separation and classification of the compounds based on their core chemical structures; viz. methcathinones, aminoindanes, diphenidines, and synthetic cannabinoids. The SERS results also displayed similar clustering patterns, with improved limits of detections down to ~2 mM (0.41 g L−1). As mephedrone is currently very popular for recreational use we performed multiplexed quantitative detection of mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone), and its two major metabolites (nor-mephedrone and 4-methylephedrine), as tertiary mixtures in water and healthy human urine. These findings readily illustrate the potential application of SERS for simultaneous detection of multiple NPS as mixtures without the need for lengthy prior chromatographic separation or enrichment methods.
Influence of pharmaceutical effluent on some soil chemical properties and early growth of maize (Zea mays L)

A greenhouse experiment was conducted at the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria to determine the effect of pharmaceutical effluent on some soil chemical properties and early growth rate of maize (Zea mays L) in an experiment laid out in a completely randomized design with three replicates. Five rates of the effluent- 0, 25,000, 50,000, 75,000 and 100,000 l/ha were used. Results of the effluent analysis revealed that it is rich in some plant nutrients and the effluent also had effect on some soil chemical properties as well as the growth of maize. The organic carbon, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na and ECEC were raised whereas the exchangeable acidity and C/N ratio decreased. There were no drastic changes in the soil texture class. Also the nutrient uptake by the maize plant, the collar girth, leaf area were enhanced while the plant height as well as the number of leaves were depressed compared to control. The chlorophyll content of the maize plant however, was enhanced at low effluent concentration.
Occurrence of chicken anemia virus in backyard chickens of the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

The occurrence of CAV in backyard chickens in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, was evaluated. The spleen and thymus of chickens from different origins were collected for DNA extraction and nested-PCR. CAV genome was detected in 30% of the flocks (n=20) examined. CAV origin for backyard chickens is speculated, taking into consideration its widespread incidence in the chicken industry, the contamination of live vaccines with CAV prior to its eradication from SPF flocks, and the use of attenuated CAV vaccines.
Clinical and blood gasometric parameters during Vaquejada competition

Arruda S.S. B. , Huaixan L.N. , Barreto-Vianna A.R. C. , Godoy R.F. & Lima E.M. M. 2015. Clinical and blood gasometric parameters during Vaquejada competition. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira 35(11):889-892. Faculdade de Agronomia e Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Cx. Postal 4508, Brasília, DF 70910-970, Brazil. E-mail: limaemm@unb.br Clinical and complementary analysis are good alternatives to evaluate physiological demand in performance horses. The aim of this study was to assess whether the physical effort variation of the three-day Vaquejada competition (a Brazilian form of bullfighting) reflected in clinical and blood gasometric changes. During the competition eight sprints have been performed on the first day (D1), eight on the second (D2) and three on the last one (D3). Ten horses were evaluated by checking heart and respiratory rates and collecting blood samples for use in portable chemistry analyzer. Through that, it was assessed potential of hydrogen ion (pH), carbon dioxide pressure (pCO2), bicarbonate (HCO3-) and titratable base concentration (cBase). Evaluations were carried with resting of at least twenty hours, before physical activity (D0), as control parameter, and up to thirty minutes after each sprint. Clinical parameters have increased on D1, D2 and D3, when compared to D0, which demonstrated the increased demand for substrate and oxygen to the cells. Blood gasometric trial showed reductions of all variables, most marked between D1 and D2. It was verified less alteration of all clinical and blood gasometric parameters in D3 against D0. We concluded that the change effort between days of competition influenced the clinical and blood gas parameters, demonstrating appropriate physiological response. The data were presented as mean and standard error of the mean (mean ± SEM) obtained in different days. Normality was confirmed by the Kolmogorov-Sminov test and data were compared by one-way ANOVA, followed by post-test Holm-Sidak (GraphPad Prism 2.6 for Windows, GraphPad Software, San Diego, CA, USA). P≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
A further note on the variance of a background-corrected OSL count

Galbraith (2002) gave formulae for calculating the relative standard error of a background-corrected optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) count. This note extends those formulae to the case where the number of channels used to estimate the background is not necessarily a multiple of (and may indeed be less than) the number used to estimate the signal. The theoretical formulae are unchanged, but the estimate of the background is expressed in a more general notation and I comment further on how the Poisson over-dispersion may be estimated. I will use the same notation as in Galbraith (2002) and will repeat enough of the text there for this note to be selfcontained.
ANKLE FRACTURE ASSOCIATED WITH A TILLAUX FRACTURE IN ADULTS - A CASE REPORT

We report a particular case of a rare lesion association of ankle fracture occurring after an open trauma of the right ankle, and which associates a bimalleolar fracture, a Tillaux fracture and an interposition of the posterior tibial tendon in syndesmosis. We treated it surgically with a good clinical and radiological evolution. The objective of this study is to draw attention to this clinical and radiological variety.
Building an Environmental Quality Index for a big city: a spatial interpolation approach with DP2

The elaboration of Environmental Quality Indexes (EQI) for big cities is one of the main topics in regional and environmental economics. One of the usual methodological paths consists of generating a single measure as a linear combination of several air contaminants applying Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Then, as a final step, a spatial interpolation is carried out to determine the level of contamination across the city in order to point out the so-called ‘hot points’. In this article, we propose an alternative approach to build an EQI introducing some methodological and practical novelties. From the point of view of the selection of the variables, first we will consider noise -joint to air pollution- as a relevant environmental variable. We also propose to add ‘subjective’ data -available at the census tracts level- to the group of ‘objective’ environmental variables, which are only available at a number of environmental monitoring stations. This combination leads to a mixed environmental index (MEQI), which is more complete and adequate in a socioeconomic context. From the point of view of the computation process, we use kriging to match the monitoring stations registers to the Census data. We follow an inverse process as usual, since it leads to better estimates. In a first step, we krige the environmental variables to the complete surface and finally, we elaborate the environmental index. At last, in order to build the final synthetic index, we do not use Principal Components Analysis -as it is usual in this kind of exercises- but a better one, the Pena Distance method (DP2).
Permanent Magnet DC Motor Brush Transient Thermal Analysis

Despite the increased use of brushless permanent magnet motors over past 25 years, the permanent magnet dc commutator motor (PMDC) is still widely used in automotive applications. This is due to their low cost and simple drive requirements. The prediction of the brush temperature is important for applications that do not have a constant load, but have short duration overloads. Such intermittent loads are typical in applications such as electron-hydraulic systems (e.g. anti-lock brake systems - ABS/EPS) and auxiliaries such as windscreen wipers. This paper gives details of an analytical thermal model developed for the prediction of thermal transients in PMDC motors and in particular the brushes. This is important for lifetime expectancy analysis of the motor I. INTRODUCTION Permanent magnet dc commutator (PMDC) motors are still widely used in low cost automotive applications. Some of the applications such as anti-lock (ABS/EPS) braking systems have intermittent loads with short duration high overloads. The motor must be able to withstand such transient loads without excessive temperature rise within the winding and brushes. Thermal analysis is important in such cases to fully understand the thermal behavior of the machine and how it is influenced by design options, which include the electromagnetic circuit optimization and winding insulation material selection. The thermal behavior of the machine is a key component in lifetime expectance analysis. Details of the motors and thermal transient tests carried out to help develop an accurate thermal model for the PMDC motor are given in section II. The analytical thermal model developed to predict the temperature rise of the motor and in particular the thermal transient performance of the brushes and commtator is given in section III. Section IV compared the calculated thermal transient response of the brushes for two 13- slot motors with various measured transients. Section V compared the calculated thermal transient response of the winding, rotor, stator and commutator for two 7-slot motors, one having a Nomex slot liner and the other having a powder slot liner. The advantage of the powder liner in terms of heat transfer capability and its ability to allow an overload for a longer time period is reported. The testing on the two 7-slot machines was at zero speed to eliminate losses other than in the armature winding and resistive losses in the brushes.
IN SILICO INVESTIGATION OF CYSTEINE PROTEASES FROM ZINGIBER OFFICINALE

Zingiber officinale (Ginger) rhizome is frequently used for the treatment of diarrhea, cold, influenza and as appetite stimulant. Ginger has been reported to be one of the richest sources of proteolytic enzymes. In this study, bioinformatics approach has been adopted to explore properties of all the sequences of cysteine protease. Physico-chemical properties have been studied along with the prediction of motifs for the functional characterization. Apart from these analyses, subcellular location of the sequences, sequence hydropathicity and transmembrane domains have been identified. The secondary structure prediction of the cysteine protease sequences revealed the presence of maximum number of random coils probably due to rich content of more flexible glycine and hydrophobic proline amino acids. The three-dimensional models of the proteins were predicted and evaluated by using some computational approaches. The study may be valuable to understand the structural and functional aspects of the enzymes for academic and industrial proposes.
Insulin Sensitivity, Depression/Anxiety, and Physical Fitness in At-Risk Adolescents

Abstract Poor physical fitness contributes to the early progression of cardiometabolic disease, yet the physiological and psychological factors underpinning poor fitness in at-risk adolescents are not well understood. In this study, we sought to determine the relationship of physical fitness with two developmental phenomena of adolescence, insulin resistance and depression/anxiety symptoms among at-risk youth. We conducted secondary data analyses of 241 overweight or obese adolescents (12–17 years), drawn from two study cohorts. Insulin sensitivity index was derived from oral glucose tolerance tests. Adolescents self-reported depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms on validated surveys. A walk/run test was administered to determine perceived exertion and physical fitness (distance traveled). Insulin sensitivity was positively associated with walk/run distance (b=0.16, P<0.01), even after accounting for all covariates. Anxiety symptoms were inversely related to perceived exertion (b=–0.11, P<0.05), adjusting for covariates. These findings suggest that insulin resistance and anxiety symptoms are associated with different dimensions of physical fitness in overweight or obese adolescents and could both potentially contribute to declining fitness and worsening metabolic outcomes in at-risk youth.
Business integration as basis for growth in small and medium agricultural enterprises

Increased diversity in the agricultural sector in South Africa is forcing farmers to focus on the production of value-added commodities in the face of mounting global competitive pressures. However, many farmers, by operating individually, are unable to expand operations to the scale necessary to become involved in value-adding processing. This requires too much capital, skills, and time. By pooling resources and forming integrated small and medium sized agricultural enterprises even small producers can enter the processing arena successfully. This paper focuses on the specific driving forces, pitfalls and strategies that agricultural SMEs need to pursue in order to survive.
Micro computed tomography based finite element models of calcium phosphate scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Bone is a living tissue that is able to regenerate by itself. However, when severe bone defects occur, the natural regeneration may be impaired. In these cases, bone graft substitutes can be used to induce the natural healing process. As a scaffold for tissue engineering, these bone graft substitutes have to meet specific requirements. Among others, the material must be biocompatible, biodegradable and have a porous structure to allow vascularization, cell migration and formation of new bone. Additionally, the mechanical properties of the scaffold have to resemble the ones of native tissue. The goal of this project is to create a computational model of the calcium phosphate scaffolds that are produced by rapid-prototyping by the Biomaterials, Biomechanics, and Tissue Engineering group at the Technical University of Catalonia. These models are based on finite element analysis and micro computed tomography images in order to consider the actual architecture of the scaffolds. The generated FE-models allow the computation of both local strains, which act as mechanical stimuli on attached cells, as well as the behaviour of the entire scaffold. When considering this information, the scaffold can be optimized for tissue differentiation by tuning both the scaffold architecture and the scaffold material bulk properties.
Estimation of Serum Cholesterol in Sudanese Pregnant Ladies during Third Gestational Period

This study aimed to determine cholesterol serum levels among pregnant Sudanese women during their third gestational period. In this cross-sectional study, samples were collected from pregnant ladies during the period of September 2012 to April, 2013. The serum concentration of cholesterol was estimated in 120 cases and in a control group of 240 non pregnant women matched on the reproductive age. Cholesterol in serum samples was measured by enzymatic colorimetric technique, using commercially available test kits. Obtained data were analyzed using the statistical packages of social studies (SPSS), program for windows version 16, using student-'t' test. Results were compared as mean and standard deviation and considered significant when (P 6.5mmol/L. This study concluded that higher concentrations of serum cholesterol were more common in pregnant women than control and reaching maximum at weeks 33 to 36 of the 3 trimester of pregnancy. The elevation of cholesterol may be a purely physiological response to pregnancy or it may be indicative of pathology in some women.
A Catalog of GALEX Ultraviolet Emission from Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars

We have performed a comprehensive study of the UV emission detected from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). Of the 468 AGB stars in our sample, 316 were observed by GALEX. In the near-UV (NUV) bandpass ( ), 179 AGB stars were detected and 137 were not detected. Only 38 AGB stars were detected in the far-UV (FUV) bandpass ( ). We find that NUV emission is correlated with optical to near-infrared emission, leading to higher detection fractions among the brightest, and hence closest, AGB stars. Comparing the AGB time-variable visible phased light curves to corresponding GALEX NUV phased light curves, we find evidence that for some AGB stars the NUV emission varies in phase with the visible light curves. We also find evidence that the NUV emission and possibly the FUV emission are anticorrelated with the circumstellar envelope density. These results suggest that the origin of the GALEX-detected UV emission is an inherent characteristic of the AGB stars that can most likely be traced to a combination of photospheric and chromospheric emission. In most cases, UV detections of AGB stars are not likely to be indicative of the presence of binary companions.
Temporal analysis and automatic calibration of the velodyne HDL-32E lidar system

Abstract. At the end of the first quarter of 2012, more than 600 Velodyne LiDAR systems had been sold worldwide for various robotic and high-accuracy survey applications. The ultra-compact Velodyne HDL-32E LiDAR has become a predominant sensor for many applications that require lower sensor size/weight and cost. For high accuracy applications, cost-effective calibration methods with minimal manual intervention are always desired by users. However, the calibrations are complicated by the Velodyne LiDAR's narrow vertical field of view and the very highly time-variant nature of its measurements. In the paper, the temporal stability of the HDL-32E is first analysed as the motivation for developing a new, automated calibration method. This is followed by a detailed description of the calibration method that is driven by a novel segmentation method for extracting vertical cylindrical features from the Velodyne point clouds. The proposed segmentation method utilizes the Velodyne point cloud's slice-like nature and first decomposes the point clouds into 2D layers. Then the layers are treated as 2D images and are processed with the Generalized Hough Transform which extracts the points distributed in circular patterns from the point cloud layers. Subsequently, the vertical cylindrical features can be readily extracted from the whole point clouds based on the previously extracted points. The points are passed to the calibration that estimates the cylinder parameters and the LiDAR's additional parameters simultaneously by constraining the segmented points to fit to the cylindrical geometric model in such a way the weighted sum of the adjustment residuals are minimized. The proposed calibration is highly automatic and this allows end users to obtain the time-variant additional parameters instantly and frequently whenever there are vertical cylindrical features presenting in scenes. The methods were verified with two different real datasets, and the results suggest that up to 78.43% accuracy improvement for the HDL-32E can be achieved using the proposed calibration method.
On-the-Job Training and Human Resource Management: How to Improve Competitive Advantage of an Organization?

Abstract Background: In this paper, the effects of four groups of factors on organizational performance are examined. Those are human resource management (HRM) policies and practices, financial and business indicators, location, and firm characteristics. A review of selected literature confirmed that a similar set of factors, through its positive effects on boosting organizational performance, may significantly improve competitive advantage of firms. Methods: An empirical analysis using firm-level data is conducted on the sample of enterprises operating in Serbia. A microeconometric approach is employed in order to specify and estimate empirical models. Two statistical models are applied. The ordered probit model is used for investigating organizational performance and the standard binary probit model for examining the decision of a firm to integrate the human resource development (HRD) department into its organizational structure. The goodness of fit measures confirmed the statistical reliability of estimated models. Results: Estimation results revealed that optimization of the number of employees, sales and revenues, firm age, increased market demand and competitive environment, as well as the ‘right decisions’ of the top management have significantly positive effects on boosting organizational performance. Significance of on-the-job training for boosting organizational performance was not empirically supported. In the same group of factors are firm size, industry and region. An auxiliary model shown that large- and medium-sized firms, firms with high level of revenues, privately owned, foreign and those located in or near to the capital city are more likely to have HRD departments. Conclusions: This paper provides a survey of the theoretical literature and explains empirical findings that are relevant for understanding to what extent on-the-job training, managing human resource, as well as some other internal and external organizational and financial factors are important for enhancing competitive advantage of firms.
Microwave reflection based dielectric spectroscopy for moisture content in Melele mango fruit (Mangifera Indica L.)

The Melele mango is one of the special local fruit Malaysia and it has high commercial value. However, the current methods are not efficient in determining optimum period to harvest. The optimum harvest time has close relationship with moisture content in fruit. The reflection based dielectric spectroscopic technique is conducted to measure moisture in Melele mango fruits. Dielectric and reflection measurements were conducted over a frequency range from 200 MHz to 8 GHz on clone Melele mango. Dielectric constant, loss factor and complex reflection coefficient of Melele mango with different moisture content were measured using an Agilent E8362B PNA Network Analyzer in conjunction with an Agilent 85070E High Temperature Probe over a frequency range from 200 MHz to 8 GHz. The measured reflection coefficient is presented in magnitude and phase. Dielectric constant and loss factor decreases when the moisture content in mango fruit decreases. The magnitude of the reflection coefficient descends due to increment of the dielectric constant. The results show that the measured dielectric properties and complex reflection coefficient provides the ability to predict fruit moisture content.