Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Holistic Approach to Phosphorus Recovery from Urban Wastewater: Enhanced Biological Removal Combined with Precipitation

Combined phosphorus (P) removal and recovery from wastewater is a sensible and sustainable choice in view of potential future P-resource scarcity, due to dwindling primary global reserves. P-recovery from wastewater, notwithstanding the relatively small fraction of total global amounts involved (less than 1/5 of total global use ends up in wastewater) could extend the lifespan of available reserves and improve wastewater cycle sustainability. The recovery of the resource, rather than its mere removal as ferric or aluminum salt, will still allow to achieve protection of receiving waters quality, while saving on P-sludge disposal costs. To demonstrate the possibility of such a recovery, a strategy combining enhanced biological phosphorus removal and mineral P-precipitation was studied, by considering possible process modifications of a large treatment facility. Process simulation, a pilot study, and precipitation tests were conducted. The results demonstrated that it would be possible to convert this facility from chemical -precipitation to its biological removal followed by mineral precipitation, with minimal structural intervention. Considerable P-recovery could be obtained, either in form of struvite or, more sustainably, as calcium phosphate, a mineral that also has possible fertilizing applications. The latter would present a cost about one order of magnitude lower than the former.
Editorial—Managing and Planning Water Resources for Irrigation: Smart-Irrigation Systems for Providing Sustainable Agriculture and Maintaining Ecosystem Services

Smart-irrigation systems are a hot topic in irrigation management. Satellite imaging, sensors and controls, communication technologies and irrigation decision models are readily available. The price of the required technology is being reduced year after year, and its implementation in agriculture gives real-time information that allows for more accurate management of water resources. Even so, the adaptation of existing technologies to particular situations that the irrigation management is facing in different agro-environmental contexts is needed. This Special Issue addresses the application of different smart-irrigation technologies in four different research areas: (1) remote sensing-based estimates of crop evapotranspiration, (2) Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for smart-irrigation, (3) precision irrigation models and controls, and (4) the price of natural resources. The nine papers presented in this special issue cover a wide range of practical applications, and this editorial summarizes each of them.
A Survey from 2015 to 2019 to Investigate the Occurrence of Pesticide Residues in Dead Honeybees and Other Matrices Related to Honeybee Mortality Incidents in Italy

Honeybee health can be compromised not only by infectious and infesting diseases, but also by the acute or chronic action of certain pesticides. In recent years, there have been numerous reports of colony mortality by Italian beekeepers, but the investigations of these losses have been inconsistent, both in relation to the type of personnel involved (beekeepers, official veterinarians, members of the police force, etc.) and the procedures utilized. It was therefore deemed necessary to draw up national guidelines with the aim of standardizing sampling active ties. In this paper, we present the results of a survey carried out in Italy from 2015 to 2019, following these guidelines. Residues of 150 pesticides in 696 samples were analyzed by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS. On average, 50% of the honeybee samples were positive for one or more pesticides with an average of 2 different pesticides per sample and a maximum of seven active ingredients, some of which had been banned in Europe or were not authorized in Italy. Insecticides were the most frequently detected, mainly belonging to the pyrethroid group (49%, above all tau-fluvalinate), followed by organophosphates (chlorpyrifos, 18%) and neonicotinoids (imidacloprid, 7%). This work provides further evidence of the possible relationship between complex pesticide exposure and honeybee mortality and/or depopulation of hives.
Force-based Perception and Control Strategies for Human-Robot Shared Object Manipulation

Physical Human-Robot Interaction (PHRI) is essential for the future integration of robots in human-centered environments. In these settings, robots are expected to share the same workspace, interact physically, and collaborate with humans to achieve a common task. One of the primary tasks that require human-robot collaboration is object manipulation. The main challenges that need to be addressed to achieve a seamless cooperative object manipulation are related to uncertainties in human trajectory, grasp position, and intention. The object’s motion trajectory intended by the human is not always defined for the robot and the human may grasp any part of the object depending on the desired trajectory. In addition, the state-of-the-art object-manipulation control schemes suffer from the translation/rotation problem, where the human cannot move the object in all degrees of freedom, independently, and thus, needs to exert extra effort to accomplish the task. To address the challenges, first, we propose an estimation method for identifying the human grasp position. We extend the conventional contact point estimation method by formulating a new identification model with the human applied torque as an unknown parameter and employing empirical conditions to estimate the human grasp position. The proposed method is compared with a conventional contact point estimation using the experimental data collected for various collaboration scenarios. Second, given the human grasp position, a control strategy is suggested to transport the object in all degrees of freedom, independently. We employ the concept of “the instantaneous center of zero velocity” to reduce the human effort by minimizing the exerted human force. The stability of the interaction is evaluated using a passivity-based analysis of the closed-loop system, including the object and the robotic manipulator. The performance of the proposed control scheme is validated through simulation of scenarios containing rotations and translations of the object. Our study indicates that the exerted torque of the human has a significant effect on the human grasp position estimation. Besides, the knowledge of the human grasp position can be used in the control scheme design to avoid the translation/rotation problem and reduce the human effort.
Tuning the Bivariate Meta-Gaussian Distribution Conditionally in Quantifying Precipitation Prediction Uncertainty

One of the ways to quantify uncertainty of deterministic forecasts is to construct a joint distribution between the forecast variable and the observed variable; then, the uncertainty of the forecast can be represented by the conditional distribution of the observed given the forecast. The joint distribution of two continuous hydrometeorological variables can often be modeled by the bivariate meta-Gaussian distribution (BMGD). The BMGD can be obtained by transforming each of the two variables to a standard normal variable and the dependence between the transformed variables is provided by the Pearson correlation coefficient of these two variables. The BMGD modeling is exact provided that the transformed joint distribution is standard normal. In real-world applications, however, this normality assumption is hardly fulfilled. This is often the case for the modeling problem we consider in this paper: establish the joint distribution of a forecast variable and its corresponding observed variable for precipitation amounts accumulated over a duration of 24 h. In this case, the BMGD can only serve as an approximate model and the dependence parameter can be estimated in a variety of ways. In this paper, the effect of tuning this parameter is studied. Numerical simulations conducted suggest that, while the parameter tuning results in limited improvements in goodness-of-fit (GOF) for the BMGD as a bivariate distribution model, better results may be achieved by tuning the parameter for the one-dimensional conditional distribution of the observed given the forecast greater than a certain large value.
How Does the Surface Topography of a Green Composite Affect its Printability

Bu calismada, kabak lifi takviyeli bitkisel kompozit malzemelerin yuzey topografyasinin basilabilirligine etkisi incelenmistir. Bu amacla, takviye olarak kabak lifi ve matris olarak epoksi kullanilarak biyokompozit plakalar uretilmistir. Daha sonra bu plakalarin yuzeylerine cizgi ve nokta gibi baskilar serigrafi baski yontemi ile gerceklestirilmistir. Baskidan once ve sonra, uretilen biyo-kompozitlerin yuzey puruzluluk degerleri, 3D temassiz optik profilometre kullanilarak olculmustur. Daha sonra bu olcumleri dogrulamak ve baski kalitesini kontrol etmek icin 3D Optik Profilometre biyo-kompozit malzemelerin yuzey puruzlulugunu taramak icin kullanilmistir. Elde edilen sonuclara gore, kompozit yuzey topografyasindaki gelisme, yuzey puruzsuzlugunu arttirmaktadir. Bu sonuc ile yuzey puruzsuzlugunun, elde edilen goruntu netligi icin basilabilirligin ana parametresi oldugu acikca anlasilmaktadir.
HeteroRWR: A Novel Algorithm for Top-k Co-Author Recommendation with Fusion of Citation Networks

It is of great importance to recommend collaborators for scholars in academic social networks, which can benefit more scientific research results. Facing the problem of data sparsity of co-author recommendation in academic social networks, a novel recommendation algorithm named HeteroRWR (Heterogeneous Random Walk with Restart) is proposed. Different from the basic Random Walk with Restart (RWR) model which only walks in homogeneous networks, HeteroRWR implements multiple random walks in a heterogeneous network which integrates a citation network and a co-authorship network to mine the k mostly valuable coauthors for target users. By introducing the citation network, HeteroRWR algorithm can find more suitable candidate authors when the co-authorship network is extremely sparse. Candidate recommenders will not only have high topic similarities with target users, but also have good community centralities. Analyses on the convergence and time efficiency of the proposed approach are presented. Extensive experiments have been conducted on DBLP and CiteSeerX datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that HeteroRWR outperforms state-of-the-art baseline methods in terms of precision and recall rate even in the case of incorporating an incomplete citation dataset. key words: heterogeneous networks, social networks, friend recommendation, co-author recommendation, random walk with restart
A Framework for 3D Visualization of Active Catheters using Compressed Sensing

Introduction A crucial requirement in MR-guided interventions is the visualization of catheter devices in real-time. However, true three-dimensional visualization of the full length of catheters has hitherto been impossible given scan time constraints. Compressed Sensing (CS) has recently been proposed as a method to accelerate MR imaging of sparse objects [1]. Images acquired with active interventional devices [2] exhibit a high contrast-to-noise ratio and are inherently sparse therefore rendering CS ideally suited for accelerating data acquisition (Fig. 1). We propose a framework for the visualization of active catheters in 3D employing CS to gain high undersampling factors making real-time applications feasible. Constraints are introduced taking into account prior knowledge of catheter geometry and catheter motion over time to improve and accelerate image reconstruction. The potential of the method is demonstrated using computer simulations and phantom experiments.
Motion Planning for a Rhombic-Like Vehicle Operating in ITER Scenarios

The paper addresses the motion planning problem stated for an autonomous rhombic vehicle that will operate in the buildings of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The problem is addressed following two distinct headings. First, a refinement strategy is proposed which divides the motion planning problem in three different and successive stages: the geometric path evaluation, the path optimization and the trajectory evaluation. In its turn, the second strategy follows a more direct and unified trajectory planning philosophy that enables to directly output trajectory solutions. As a requirement for the latter approach the paper conducts a detailed analysis on the rhombic vehicle motion including the development of different vehicle behavior models. Gathered simulated results show the advantage of the refinement strategy on handling feasible and reliable trajectories in cluttered scenarios such as those found in ITER. The trajectory planning strategy reveals some limitations with future perspectives directed to a refinement-like strategy.
Relationship between Lower Limb Kinematics and Upper Trunk Acceleration in Recreational Runners

Upper trunk (UT) kinematics in runners and its relationship with lower limbs has been poorly investigated, although it is acknowledged that dynamic stability of the upper body is a primary objective of human locomotion. This study aimed to explore UT kinematics according to gender and level of training and in relation to lower limb run patterns described through the presence of: overstriding, crossover, excessive protonation, and pelvic drop. Lower body variables chosen to describe running pattern were those that are frequently modified during gait-retraining with the goal of reducing injury risk. Eighty-seven recreational runners (28 females and 59 males, age 41 ± 10 years) performed a one minute run test on a treadmill at self-selected speed. UT kinematics was measured using an inertial measurement unit, while run features were assessed through an optoelectronic system and video analysis. Accelerations and root-mean-square on mediolateral and anteroposterior axes, normalized using the vertical component of the acceleration, were estimated to describe UT stability. Results showed no significant differences in the normalized UT acceleration root-mean-square according to gender and level of training as well as according to the presence of overstriding, crossover, and excessive protonation. The only running strategy studied in this work that showed a significant relationship with UT stability was the presence of excessive pelvic drop. The latter was significantly associated (p=0.020) to a decrease in the normalized acceleration root-mean-square along the mediolateral direction. Although the excessive pelvic drop seemed to have a positive effect in stabilizing the upper body, concerns remain on the effect of a poor control of the pelvis on the biomechanics of lower limbs. Results obtained confirm the hypothesis that the lower body is able to respond to varying impact load conditions to maintain UT stability.
Metformin-loaded Citric Acid Cross-linked Agarose Films in the Prevention of Postoperative Abdominal Adhesion

Postoperative abdominal adhesion (PAA) causes significant long-term postoperative morbidity. Although numerous physical anti-adhesion barriers (AAB) are used as therapeutical interventions, none of them has achieved sustained success. As a potential strategy to overcome the limitations, drug-eluting AAB have attracted scientific attention. Here, we produced agar films (AF) chemically cross-linked with different concentrations of citric acid (CA) and we measured the physicochemical properties such as crosslinking strength, swelling ratio, hydrophilicity, and biodegradability of the yielded CA-AFs. Next, Metformin (MET), an antidiabetic drug with anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory properties, was loaded in the CA-AFs yielding the MET-loaded CA-AF (MET@CA-AF) and the time-dependent MET release was monitored. Based on their physicochemical properties, MET@CA-AF containing 20% CA appeared a promising AAB candidate and was further used in an in vivo study. Mouse models of PAA were established with cecum abrasion and the MET@CAAF and CA-AF were applied between the injured interfaces. At postoperative day 14, the therapeutic efficacies were analyzed by using clinical adhesion scoring and quantification of collagen-I and fibroblasts in adhesion interfaces. The results showed that applications of MET@CA-AF or CA-AF for 14 days significantly attenuated the clinical adhesion score and thickness of adhesion interface. Furthermore, when compared with the group with operation, the groups with MET@CA-AF or CA-AF exhibited the significant attenuation in PAA-associated myofibroblast activation in adhesion interface. Importantly, these attenuations were significantly more intensified in the group with MET@CA-AF than in the group with CA-AF. Based on our data, we anticipate that MET@CAAF, a novel synthesized drug-eluting AAB, can protect against PAA by exerting the dual role of physical barrier and MET-based pharmaceutic.
Dielectric Elastomer Actuator for Soft Robotics Applications and Challenges

This paper reviews state-of-the-art dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) and their future perspectives as soft actuators which have recently been considered as a key power generation component for soft robots. This paper begins with the introduction of the working principle of the dielectric elastomer actuators. Because the operation of DEA includes the physics of both mechanical viscoelastic properties and dielectric characteristics, we describe theoretical modeling methods for the DEA before introducing applications. In addition, the design of artificial muscles based on DEA is also introduced. This paper reviews four popular subjects for the application of DEA: soft robot hand, locomotion robots, wearable devices, and tunable optical components. Other potential applications and challenging issues are described in the conclusion.
LABOR MARKET FLUCTUATIONS

We devise a tractable model of firm dynamics with on-the-job search. The model admits analytical solutions for equilibrium outcomes, including quit, layoff, hiring and vacancy-filling rates, as well as the distributions of job values, a fundamental challenge posed by the environment. Optimal labor demand takes a novel form whereby hiring firms allow their marginal product to diffuse over an interval. The evolution of the marginal product over this interval endogenously exhibits gradual mean reversion, evoking a notion of imperfect labor market competition. This in turn contributes to dispersion in marginal products, giving rise to endogenous misallocation. Mirroring establishment microdata, quit and layoff rates fall, while hiring and vacancy-filling rates rise with firm growth in the model. We further show how it is possible to solve for the dynamic equilibrium path of model outcomes—including the distribution of job values—out of steady state. JEL codes: E24, E32, J63.
MILADINOVIĆ-TASIĆ Nataša, IGNJATOVIĆ Aleksandra: Serological diagnosis of trichinellosis

Introduction. The Nišava District has had low prevalence and incidence rates of trichinellosis for a long period. The aims of this study were to present the frequency of occurrence of trichinellosis in Nišava District and other districts in Southern and Eastern Serbia during 2007-2018, to investigate the demographic characteristics in the region and to compare the tests used for serological diagnosis of trichinellosis. Materials and Methods. This was a retrospective epidemiological study in which we analyzed the results of serological analyses of 139 serum samples taken from individual patients suspected to be infected with Trichinella spp. Indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) and immunoenzyme (ELISA) methods were used for serological diagnosis of trichinellosis. Results and Conclusions. Of 139 examined sera, 36 (25.9%) were seropositive. Most seropositive findings were encountered in 2012 and 2014 (in both these years, 12 sera were positive, i.e. 33.3% of the total 36 positive sera), when three minor outbreaks of trichinellosis were reported. Seropositivity was equally distributed according to patient sex and according to the district where they reported with illness. Positive serological findings were statistically significantly more common in hospitalized patients than in out-patients. Comparison of the findings with both IIF and ELISA test established the performance level of the tests, with the ELISA test being less sensitive than the IIF test. Veterinarski Glasnik 2019, 73 (2), 157-167 158 Immunodiagnostic procedures for the diagnosis of trichinellosis must be improved in view of the sporadic cases and minor outbreaks of the disease in the studied districts of Eastern and Southeastern Serbia.
The Physical and Psychological Impact of Multiple Sclerosis Using the MSIS-29 via the Web Portal of the UK

Introduction: The MSIS-29 was developed to assess the physical and psychological impact of MS. The aims of this study were to use the responses to the MSIS-29 via the web portal of the UK MS Register to: examine the internal properties of the scale delivered via the internet, profile the cohort, and assess how well the scale measures impact of disability on the potential workforce. Methods: Between May 2011 and April 2012, 4558 people with MS completed the MSIS-29(v.1). The responses were collated with basic demographic and descriptive MS data and the resulting dataset was analysed in SPSS(v.20). Results: Internal consistency was high (Cronbach’s alpha 0.97 MSIS-29-PHYS, 0.92 MSIS-29-PSYCH). The mean MSIS-29-PHYS score was 60.5 (50.6%) with a median of 62 and the mean MSIS-29-PSYCH score was 24.8 (43.8%) with a median of 24. Physical scores increased with age and disease duration (p,0.001, p,0.001), but there was a weak negative relationship between psychological scores and age (p,0.001). The odds of people having an employment status of sick/disabled were 7.2 (CI 5.5, 9.4, p,0.001) for people with a moderate physical score, and 22.3 (CI 17.0, 29.3, p,0.001) for people with a high physical score (relative to having a low physical score). Conclusions: This largest known study of its kind has demonstrated how the MSIS-29 can be administered via the internet to characterise a cohort, and to predict the likely impact of disability on taking an active part in the workforce, as a reasonable proxy for the effects of MS on general activities. The findings examining MSIS-29-PHYS and MSIS-29-PSYCH scores against age support the use of two sub-scales, not a combined score. These results underline the importance of using a scale such as this to monitor disability levels regularly in guiding MS care to enable people to be as active as possible. Citation: Jones KH, Ford DV, Jones PA, John A, Middleton RM, et al. (2013) The Physical and Psychological Impact of Multiple Sclerosis Using the MSIS-29 via the Web Portal of the UK MS Register. PLoS ONE 8(1): e55422. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0055422 Editor: Markus Reindl, Innsbruck Medical University, Austria Received October 13, 2012; Accepted December 22, 2012; Published January 31, 2013 Copyright: 2013 Jones et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: The study is funded by the MS Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (http://www.mssociety.org.uk/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: k.h. jones@swansea.ac. uk