Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of a cylindrical cyclone separator used in aircraft turbine engine

Cyclone separators are components commonly used in the oil system of aircraft gas turbine engines to separate air from the oil. The major advantage of this component is its simple construction and high reliability thus it does not require frequent inspections. The efficiency of the separator has a decisive impact on the quality of the oil, which affects directly the efficiency of the oil system. New generations of engines require more compact separator designs to reduce weight and project costs while maintaining (and often increasing) engine’s efficiency and reliability. To meet these requirements and optimize the construction of the separator, flow modelling of the air-oil mixture must be used in the design process. The purpose of this paper is to present a numerical simulation approach using the volume of fluid model for aircraft turbine separator.
La investigación del Internet Addiction Test desde una perspectiva intercultural: España, Estados Unidos y Colombia

Internet users worldwide often experience problems related to their Internet use, and although culture has an important influence over how people communicate, what they value, and therefore how they use the Internet, little cross-cultural research on the subject of problematic Internet use has been carried out. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT), the most common measurement tool for this purpose, has been used in various countries. In this study we compared and analyzed the cross-cultural results found in the most recent research on the IAT factor analysis. We found that in countries with two or more studies, results are often replicated, suggesting that cultural context influences Internet behaviors. We conducted our own IAT factor analysis studies in three countries – Spain, USA, and Colombia – with a total of 1,273 participants. We compared our results with those from previous studies in the same countries and found similar results. The most notable finding was that all the IAT factor analyses, both ours and the previous ones in the same regions, contained a factor related to loss of control/time management problems and another factor related to emotional/psychological problems, thereby suggesting that impulse control problems and unfulfilled emotional needs are the most important components in the development of problematic Internet use in various countries around the world. Future research on problematic Internet use should focus on these aspects.
Using Copula Functions to Estimate The AUC for Two Dependent Diagnostic Tests

Cuando se realizan estudios de validacion en procedimientos de clasificacion diagnostica, normalmente se miden uno o mas biomarcadores en los individuos. Algunos biomarcadores pueden proporcionar mejor informacion que otros y en muchos casos, mas de uno puede ser necesario. Cuando se utilizan varios biomarcadores para hacer clasificacion, se presenta dependencia entre ellos. En este trabajo se estima el area bajo la curva caracteristica de operacion (ABCOR) para establecer la capacidad clasificadora de dos biomarcadores en un procedimiento para diagnostico clinico. Se estudia mediante copulas (FGM y Gumbel-Barnett) la dependencia entre pruebas y se estima la respectiva area bajo la curva, asumiendo tres niveles para cada estructura de dependencia. En la literatura revisada los autores asumen un modelo normal para representar el comportamiento de los biomarcadores utilizados para el diagnostico clinico. Hay situaciones en las que no es posible asumir este modelo porque no es adecuado para uno o ambos biomarcadores. El metodo estadistico propuesto no depende de un supuesto distribucional para los biomarcadores utilizados en el procedimiento de diagnostico y tampoco es necesario considerar una dependencia lineal fuerte o moderada entre ellos.
Access to and use of Information on Credit Facilities by Farmers in Kiambu County

Research in Kiambu County shows a variety of farmers‟ information needs. Among subsistence farmers who produce a mix of food and cash crops, land size is 2-2.9 acres. Large-scale farmers grow more cash crops. Most farmers keep dairy cattle for milk and manure. This paper focuses information needs on credit, the key emerging issues. Using a descriptive research design we gathered qualitative and quantitative data on how farmers accessed credit information they needed; sources; and usage. We took a random sample of 150 farmers, 18 to 55 years, selected from 897 farmers, covering 28 cooperatives. A descriptive research design was applied. Stratified Random Sampling technique was used, with face-toface interviews and semi-structured questionnaires. Face-to-face interviews and semi-structured questionnaires were used. Specifically, we itemized a) farmers‟ information needs and search on the sub-clusters–loans availability from providers, interest rates charged, availability of low interest rates, supplementary services offered by credit providers, and availability of government funds; b) information sources from the cluster: Cooperatives, Banks, Government Offices, Churches, NGOs, No information access, Salesmen, and Other people; and c) usage of the information and challenges thereof. The study reveals access to information on loan availability by providers, interest rates charged, and lowest interest rates were the most sought-after sets (in that order). Government funds information is the least sought. Top providers are Cooperatives, Banks and Government, in that order. On usage, loans from the cooperatives and banks finance projects such as construction of boreholes, increasing dairy animals or planting additional crops. Credit from cooperatives is flexible. It may feature loans in kind, e.g., animal feeds.
Crowd Monitoring and Localization Using Deep Convolutional Neural Network: A Review

Crowd management and monitoring is crucial for maintaining public safety and is an important research topic. Developing a robust crowd monitoring system (CMS) is a challenging task as it involves addressing many key issues such as density variation, irregular distribution of objects, occlusions, pose estimation, etc. Crowd gathering at various places like hospitals, parks, stadiums, airports, cultural and religious points are usually monitored by Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. The drawbacks of CCTV cameras are: limited area coverage, installation problems, movability, high power consumption and constant monitoring by the operators. Therefore, many researchers have turned towards computer vision and machine learning that have overcome these issues by minimizing the need of human involvement. This review is aimed to categorize, analyze as well as provide the latest development and performance evolution in crowd monitoring using different machine learning techniques and methods that are published in journals and conferences over the past five years.
Dimensions of ant diversity on a small tropical island

Recent appreciation of the multidimensional nature of biodiversity has prompted biologists to examine the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic attributes of natural communities. Simultaneous consideration of such multiple diversity dimensions provides valuable insights into various community assembly processes. We studied the alpha and beta components of ant diversity on a simple island landscape dominated by adjacent but abiotically distinct evergreen (humid & dense canopy) and littoral (dry & sparse canopy) forest habitats. We sought to (i) describe and examine interrelationships of ant diversity dimensions, and (ii) identify potential processes structuring ant communities by comparing the diversity patterns of observed and randomly generated communities. We found that the drier littoral habitat had lower ant species richness and non‐random community composition, but had similar functional diversity as evergreen forests. This result is in contrast with previous studies comparing intact and human‐altered habitats that reported severe loss of ant functional diversity with reduced richness. In our study, the functional similarity between habitats was maintained because communities in littoral forests were functionally overdispersed than expected by chance. We suggest that competition and/or thermal tolerance of ants may drive overdispersion of littoral ant communities. At the small spatial scale of our island, phylogenetic diversity was a poor predictor of habitat differences despite significant phylogenetic signal in functional traits and non‐random functional diversity patterns. Our work highlights the need for a broad range of studies comparing multidimensional diversity in adjacent habitats that would provide a baseline for interpreting community‐level changes due to anthropogenic pressures.
N-alkylaryl styrylcyanine dyes as fluorescent probes for nucleic acids detection

M. Kuperman, Y. Snihirova, D. Kryvorotenko © 2018 M. Kuperman et al.; Published by the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, NAS of Ukraine on behalf of Biopolymers and Cell. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited UDC 577.336
The very ivory tower: pathways reproducing racial-ethnic stratification in US academic science

ABSTRACT We theorized that income racial-ethnic stratification among academic scientists is perpetuated by inequality of scientific capital including institutional prestige, research funding, publishing, and tenure. We tested our model with original survey data of US biologists and physicists (n = 1,160). Findings indicated that white scientists reported higher incomes than non-white scientists despite no significant differences in productivity, funding, or institutional status. Black scientists reported earning the lowest pay, while Hispanic scientists reported incomes statistically similar to those of white scientists. We also observed racial-ethnic inequality in promotion to tenure, which indirectly contributed to racial-ethnic stratification in pay. While overrepresented in our sample relative to the US population, East Asian scientists experienced particular disadvantages in promotion. Our findings challenge the Model Minority Myth, and they have implications for our understanding of the reproduction of a racial order, even in science, a field characterized by explicit overtures of tolerance and inclusion.
Model of phase synchronization system operating under conditions of violent ionospheric disturbances

A model of the phase synchronization system based on the circuit of digital phase-locked-loop frequency control, adaptive equalizer, and a system of frequency-matched filters is proposed. This model provides the required value of the bit error probability at the output of the digital demodulator under the influence of strong ionospheric disturbances in the decameter communication channel.
Structural Use of Expanded Polystyrene Concrete

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) wastes are generated from industries and post-consumer products. They are non-biodegradable but are usually disposed by burning or landfilling leading to environmental pollution. The possibility of using EPS as partial replacement for fine aggregates in concrete has generated research interests in recent times. However, since the physical and mechanical properties of EPS are not like those of conventional fine aggregates, this study is focussed on the use of EPS as an additive in concrete while keeping other composition (sand and granite) constant. Expanded polystyrene was milled, the bulk density of EPS was 10.57kg/m3 and particle size distributions were determined. Engineering properties of expanded polystyrene concrete were determined in accordance with BS 8110-2:1985. The result showed that the amount of expanded polystyrene incorporated in concrete influence the properties of hardened and fresh concrete. The compressive strengths of 17.07MPa with 5 % expanded polystyrene concrete at 28 days for example can be used as a lightweight concrete for partitioning in offices. Incorporating expanded polystyrene granules in a concrete matrix can produce lightweight polystyrene aggregate concrete of various densities, compressive strengths, flexural strengths and tensile strengths. In conclusion, this reduces environmental pollution, reduction in valuable landfill space and also for sustainability in construction companies
Being a ‘White Muslima’ in the Netherlands Ethnicity, Friendships and Relationships—The Dutch Conversion Narrative

This article, which is part of a larger ongoing project, examines relationships, friendships and levels of belonging in Dutch society, as well as in the Dutch Muslim community in narratives of women converted to Islam. The ethnicity of these women is always visible as ‘native Dutch’ and shapes their conversion narratives. This ethnography raises a number of questions that form the basis for the analysis presented here: How do Dutch Muslim women shape their identity in a way that is both Dutch and Muslim? Do they incorporate Dutch parameters into their Muslim identity, while at the same time weaving Islamic principles into their Dutch sense of self? The findings show how the conversion narrative can be mobilized by Dutch Muslim women to serve identity formation, levels of belonging and personal (religious) choice in the Netherlands, where Islam is largely considered by the non-Muslim population to be a religion that is oppressive and discriminatory towards women and is associated with foreignness and being the Other. It is argued that, in the context of being Dutch and Muslim, these women express their freedom of choice, which is manifested through friendships, relationships and marriages (Islamic vs. civil), while their ethnicity and conversion experience is a visible component in their identity. In so doing, these women push the limits of the archetypal Dutch identity and are able to criticize Dutch society while simultaneously stretching the meaning of Islam and being critical of Dutch Muslim communities to craft their own hybrid identity.
Analysis of the cell-specific expression of the serpent gene and its role as a cell -fate switch in Drosophila melanogaster

Analysis of the cell-specific expression of the serpent gene and its role as a cell-fate switch in Drosophila meianogaster by Jennell Marie Miller Dr. Deborah K. Hoshizaki, Ph.D., Examination Committee Chair Associate Professor of Biological Sciences University of Nevada, Las Vegas A universal problem in the development of complex organisms is programming totipotent cells into specialized cell types. I have focused on the the Drosophila fat body and the characterization of the positional information required for the adoption of a fat­ cell identity by mesodermal cells. Central to this study is serpent, a transcription factor gene, both necessary and sufficient for fat-cell development. 1 characterized the patterns of activity for regulatory regions that control serpent expression within the fat body. The fat body is composed of three morphological domains (lateral fat body, ventral commissure, and dorsal fat cell projections) each of which requires serpent activity. Using these enhancer-regions in reporter-gene constructs, I traced the development of the dorsal fat-cell projections, the ventralmost lateral fat body, and a portion o f the ventral commissure, and demonstrated that particular groups o f fat­ cell clusters give rise to these domains.
Using Open BIM and IFC to Enable a Comprehensive Consideration of Building Services within a Whole-Building LCA

Holistic views of all environmental impacts for buildings such as Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) are rarely performed. Building services are mostly included in this assessment only in a simplified way, which means that their embodied impacts are usually underestimated. Open Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) provide for significantly more efficient and comprehensive LCA performance. This study investigated how building services can be included in an open BIM-integrated whole-building LCA for the first time, identified challenges and showed six solution approaches. Based on the definition of 222 exchange requirements and their mapping with IFC, an example BIM model was modeled before the linking of 7312 BIM objects of building services with LCA data that were analyzed in an LCA tool. The results show that 94.5% of the BIM objects could only be linked by applying one of the six solution approaches. The main problems were due to: (1) modeling by a lack of standardization of attributes of BIM objects; (2) difficult machine readability of the building services LCA datasets as well as a general lack of these; and (3) non-standardized properties of building services and LCA specific dataset information in the IFC data format.
SMS: A Secure Healthcare Model for Smart Cities

Technological innovations have enabled the realization of a utopian world where all objects of everyday life, as well as humans, are interconnected to form an “Internet of Things (IoT). ” These connected technologies and IoT solutions have led to the emergence of smart cities where all components are converted into a connected smart ecosystem. IoT has envisioned several areas of smart cities including the modern healthcare environment like real-time monitoring, patient information management, ambient-assisted living, ambient-intelligence, anomaly detection, and accelerated sensing. IoT has also brought a breakthrough in the medical domain by integrating stake holders, medical components, and hospitals to bring about holistic healthcare management. The healthcare domain is already witnessing promising IoT-based solutions ranging from embedded mobile applications to wearable devices and implantable gadgets. However, with all these exemplary benefits, there is a need to ensure the safety and privacy of the patient’s personal and medical data communicated to and from the connected devices and systems. For a smart city, it is pertinent to have an accessible, effective, and secure healthcare system for its inhabitants. This paper discusses the various elements of technology-enabled healthcare and presents a privacy-preserved and secure “Smart Medical System (SMS)” framework for the smart city ecosystem. For providing real-time analysis and responses, this paper proposes to use the concept of secured Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for performing critical time-bound computations on the edge itself. In order to protect the medical and personal data of the patients and to make the data tamper-proof, the concept of blockchain has been used. Finally, this paper highlights the ways to capture and store the medical big data generated from IoT devices and sensors.
Identification, Monitoring and Control of the Fruit Fly Bactrocera invadens (Drew, Tsuruta and White)(Diptera: Tephritidae) in Guava Orchards in Greater Wad Medani locality, Gezira State, Sudan

Fruit flies )Diptera: Tephritidae ( are recently declared to be pests of national importance, as they cause extensive damage to several fruit and vegetable crops. This study was aimed to identify the prevailing species in Greater Wad Medani locality, Gezira State, Sudan, study the season abundance and fluctuations of Bactrocera invadens and other FF species, if present; evaluate the performance of Deltamethrin (Decis) 12.5% UL as a fogging treatment for controlling the adults in the orchards, evaluate the performance of neem seed powder extract (NSPE), when sprayed on the fruits before infestation and evaluate the performance of Methyl Eugenol and sticky traps for monitoring and control. The fieldwork was carried out in two locations (Hantoub and Gezirat-elfil), Greater Wad Medani locality, Gezira State, Sudan. Four orchards (one feddan each) were selected. Yellow sticky and Methyl Eugenol traps were used to collect and monitor FF species. Deltamethrin UL and NSPE were used against adults and immature stages, respectively. Deltamethrin was applied at three rates: (0.25, 0.5 and 1L/F) using a fogging machine. One orchard was selected and divided into 4 blocks; each block contained three treatments in addition to the control. The fogging was
Evaluation of Antioxidant, Antimicrobial and Antimutagenic Activity with Irritation Effects of Ceramium rubrum (Red Algae) Extract

This study was conducted to evaluate antioxidant, antimutagenic and antimicrobial activities as well as irritation/toxicity efficacy of n-hexane, chloroform and methanol extracts of the red algae Ceramium rubrum C. Agardh (1881). While spectrophotometric methods were used for the determination of total phenol and flavonoid content, antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH assay. Antimicrobial and antimutagenic efficacy of extracts were determined by MIC method and Ames test, respectively. Also, HET-CAM test was used for irritation/toxicity of extracts. While methanol extract was found to have higher total flavonoid and phenolic contents than the other extracts and hexane showed higher antioxidant activity than other extracts. All extracts exerted moderate antimicrobial activity against tested microorganisms as 64–256 μg/mL. However, extracts of the algae did not show any mutagenicity or irritation effect even at the highest concentration.
Biosynthesis, purification, characterization and immobilization of laccase from Lithothelium sp.

2 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, 11 Saulėtekio Avenue, 10223 Vilnius, Lithuania Novel fungal laccase isoenzymes (namely L95-1 and L95-2) produced by the Ascomycete Lithothelium sp. isolated from the forest soil were purified. However, only one of them was characterized, because the other isoenzyme lost its activity during purification. Extracellular L95-1 laccase was purified 30-fold using ion-exchange and hydrophobic interaction chromatography, with an overall yield of 88%. The molecular mass of purified L95-1 was estimated to be 85 kDa by SDS-PAGE analysis. L95-1 laccase was stable at temperature 4–22°C and pH 6.0–6.5. The substrate specificity of L95-1 laccase was examined with various compounds. Determined affinity constants (KM) varied in a wide range of 3.7–2020.0 μM, whereas catalytic efficiency constants (kcat/KM) covered a range of 0.008–1.9 μM–1 s–1. The optimum pH for most substrates varied in a range from pH 5.0 to 6.0. Sodium azide and fluoride strongly inhibited L95-1 activity, whereas sulphate salts inhibited weakly. The laccase was immobilized on the Fe3O4 nanoparticles and characterized. Residual activity remained at 20% after ten cycles of ABTS oxidation reaction. The immobilized laccase showed higher tolerance to various metal salts. The properties of L95-1 laccase make it potentially useful in the biotechnological applications.