Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors influencing the production of methane during the anaerobic digestion of poultry wastes

Factors Influencing Methane Production During the Anaerobic Digestion of Poultry Wastes. A.R. WEB13 The semi-continuous digestion of poultry litter and manure was carried out in 51 digesters at 35°C to determine the potential of each waste for methane production, and to investigate the relationships between gas _. yield (GY) and loading rate (LR). GY's obtained were 0.327 m3 kg VS added" for litter and 0.397 m kg VS added~l for manure. During the digestion of litter, GY increased both with increasing retention time (RT) and influent concentration. For manure GY increased with influent concentration up to 2.6 4.1% VS after which further increases caused reductions in GY due to ammonia inhibition which reached 4274 mgl of NH, + N. The effects of raised concentrations of NH, N on manure batch digesters seeded with sludge adapted to different levels of NH, N was investigated by shock loading NH,C1 or NH, HCO. ,. High adapted seed was more tolerant of NH,C1 than low adapted seed whereas the opposite was true for NH, HCO which at low levels had a stimulatory effect on low adapted seed. Long term effects of raised NH, N concentrations were examined by adding NH Cl to semi-continuously fed manure digesters. Increasing NH, concentrations to 3062 mgl and 4324 mgl" 1 reduced GY's to 88% and 73°^ of control levels respectively. After periods of up to 22 weeks exposure to these concentrations GY's failed to regain untreated values indicating that complete adaptation had not occurred. The potential for digestion of poultry wastes at high solids concentrations (up to 27% TS) was tested in a packed bed type digester. Successful hydrolysis and <icJdo;;enesi s occurred but mcthano^unesis was inhibited by NH, N concentrations of up to 13,314 mgl . Replacing the liquor allowed intiation of Methane production during the digestion of manure but not litter. A study of Monod growth kinetics revealed that the increase in GY obtained with increasing influent concentration was due to the dependence of digester effluent concentration on RT but not influent concentration. Models were developed to describe the uninhibited digestion of litter and the inhibited digestion of manure.
Factors Relating to Acceptance of Hepatitis B Virus Vaccination by Nursing Students in a Tertiary Hospital, Pakistan

This cross-sectional study aimed at assessing the prevalence of, and factors relating to, the acceptance of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination by nursing students in a tertiary hospital in Pakistan. In total, 210 nursing students of Year 2 to Year 4 were invited to participate in the study; of them, 196 (93.3%) returned completed questionnaires. Overall, the prevalence of acceptance of HBV vaccination among them was 75.0%. Of these, 37.2% (73/196) were completely vaccinated, and 25.0% (49/196) had not been vaccinated at all. More than half (27/49, 55.1%) of the unvaccinated nursing students stated that they would accept vaccination if offered. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated three variables significantly related to acceptance of HBV vaccination: history of accidental exposure to blood or blood products, acceptable knowledge about HBV infection, and adequate budget for HBV vaccination. Health institutions should allocate adequate budgets to vaccinate their nursing students. Effective intervention programmes designed to increase knowledge about HBV infection and adhering to universally-accepted precautions are needed.
Grounding ‘Responsibilisation Talk’: Masculinities, Citizenship and HIV in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract This paper investigates how the South African state has understood the relationship between HIV and poverty and how individuals and community-based organisations have responded to these state interventions. It considers the ways in which liberal forms of government frame people living with AIDS as a particular category of ‘deserving’ and ‘entrepreneurial’ citizens, and then re-frames them through a package of health and welfare interventions. Based on ethnographic research with the members of Khululeka, a support group for HIV-positive men, the study pays particular attention to how masculinity has shaped the ways these men have experienced and transformed these state interventions.
Reliable Multicast Scheme Based on Busy Signal in Wireless LANs

For unicast transmissions, the IEEE 802.11 WLAN MAC (Medium Access Control) layer has control packets such as RTS, CTS, and ACK. However, it has no such control packets for multicast transmissions. Therefore, it does not provide reliable multicast transmissions. Most of previous reliable multicast schemes are based on the ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest) used for unicast communications. Therefore, it causes the large number of packet transmissions and the excessive control overhead. In this paper, we propose a new reliable multicast scheme. The proposed scheme combines FEC (Forward Error Correction) and ARQ mechanisms to reduce the large number of packet transmissions. Also, it uses busy signals to improve efficiency by reducing the excessive control overhead. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme is more effective in terms of normalized throughput and average delay under a wide range of data packet error rates.
Effects of Apolipoprotein E Genotype on the Off-Line Memory Consolidation

Spontaneous brain activity or off-line activity after memory encoding is associated with memory consolidation. A few recent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) studies indicate that the RS-fMRI could map off-line memory consolidation effects. However, the gene effects on memory consolidation process remain largely unknown. Here we collected two RS-fMRI sessions, one before and another after an episodic memory encoding task, from two groups of healthy young adults, one with apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε2/ε3 and the other with APOE ε3/ε4. The ratio of regional homogeneity (ReHo), a measure of local synchronization of spontaneous RS-fMRI signal, of the two sessions was used as an index of memory-consolidation. APOE ε3/ε4 group showed greater ReHo ratio within the medial temporal lobe (MTL). The ReHo ratio in MTL was significantly correlated with the recognition memory performance in the APOE ε3/ε4 group but not in ε2/ε3 group. Additionally, APOE ε3/ε4 group showed lower ReHo ratio in the occipital and parietal picture-encoding areas. Our results indicate that APOE ε3/ε4 group may have a different off-line memory consolidation process compared to ε2/ε3 group. These results may help generate future hypotheses that the off-line memory consolidation might be impaired in Alzheimer’s disease.
Agent-based approach to enhance the new born social Web of Services

In this paper, we developed a business model of Social Web of Services that combines the idea of common social web and usual service selling, enhancing usual suggested ways of controlling smart devices. We modelled human-thing interactions using an agent-based simulation (ABM) to investigate the impact of IoT on human (user) behaviour patterns in order to provide analytical support and enhance the analysed business model. Results of this work can be used to predict people's way of living in the era of Smart things observing viral effects of Things application.
The U1‐snRNP complex: structural properties relating to autoimmune pathogenesis in rheumatic diseases

Summary: The U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle (snRNP) is a target of autoreactive B cells and T cells in several rheumatic diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD). We propose that inherent structural properties of this autoantigen complex, including common RNA‐binding motifs, B and T‐cell epitopes, and a unique stimulatory RNA molecule, underlie its susceptibility as a target of the autoimmune response. Immune mechanisms that may contribute to overall U1‐snRNP immunogenicity include epitope spreading through B and T‐cell interactions, apoptosis‐induced modifications, and Toll‐like receptor (TLR) activation through stimulation by U1‐snRNA. We conclude that understanding the interactions between U1‐snRNP and the immune system will provide insights into why certain patients develop anti‐U1‐snRNP autoimmunity, and more importantly how to effectively target therapies against this autoimmune response.
Sequential scan matching with sensor order

ICP (Iterative Closest Point) algorithm plays an important role in sequential scan matching SLAM. In the algorithm, closest point searching is the well-recognized speed bottleneck. We realize that a searching-friendly structure already exists in the raw data sequence from range acquisition device, and the acquisition order, which we called sensor order, is naturally derived from sensor working mechanism. We show that considering these geometric relations, the searching space could be greatly reduced and can lead to an efficient 3D sequential scan matching algorithm.
Codes for Digital Recorders

Constrained codes are a key component in digital recording devices that have become ubiquitous in computer data storage and electronic entertainment applications. This paper surveys the theory and practice of constrained coding, tracing the evolution of the subject from its origins in Shannon's classic 1948 paper to present-day applications in high-density digital recorders. Open problems and future research directions are also addressed.
MODELLING DISTRIBUTIONS OF RARE MARINE SPECIES: THE DEEP-DIVING CETACEANS

Les cetaces grands plongeurs, cachalots Physeteridae et Kogiidae, et baleines a bec Zipiidae, sont des especes marines rares. Leur faible densite, aire de distribution etendue et faible disponibilite en surface generent de faibles taux d’observations. Cette particularite constitue un defi pour la modelisation d’habitat de ces especes, prealable a leur conservation. Les modeles doivent gerer l’abondance de zeros qui limitent leur capacite a inferer des resultats ecologiquement coherents. Cette these vise donc a trouver une methodologie adaptee aux jeux de donnees abondants en zeros, a determiner comment les variables environnementales influencent la distribution des grands plongeurs et a predire les zones potentielles qu’ils utilisent. Tester la capacite de prediction de differents modeles d'habitat confrontes a un nombre decroissant d’observations a permis de souligner la pertinence d’un modele, meme si un minimum de 50 observations est necessaire pour fournir des predictions fiables. Des donnees issues de differentes campagnes visuelles ont ete assemblees afin de produire les premieres cartes de densites de grands plongeurs a l’echelle de l’ocean Atlantique Nord et la mer Mediterranee. Les densites les plus elevees sont predites dans les eaux entre 1500 et 4000 m de profondeur et pres des fronts thermiques, particulierement le long des pentes continentales et a l'ouest de l'ocean Atlantique Nord. Par ailleurs, l’analyse de la transferabilite des modeles a montre une variation des habitats preferentiels en fonction des ecosystemes. Finalement, cette these permet de discuter les defis de la modelisation statistique appliquee aux especes rares et les applications de gestion associees.
Segmentation of psoriasis vulgaris images using multiresolution-based orthogonal subspace techniques

In this paper, a method is proposed for the segmentation of color images using a multiresolution-based signature subspace classifier (MSSC) with application to psoriasis images. The essential techniques consist of feature extraction and image segmentation (classification) methods. In this approach, the fuzzy texture spectrum and the two-dimensional fuzzy color histogram in the hue-saturation space are first adopted as the feature vector to locate homogeneous regions in the image. Then these regions are used to compute the signature matrices for the orthogonal subspace classifier to obtain a more accurate segmentation. To reduce the computational requirement, the MSSC has been developed. In the experiments, the method is quantitatively evaluated by using a similarity function and compared with the well-known LS-SVM method. The results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively segment psoriasis images. The proposed approach can also be applied to general color texture segmentation applications.
The HPS3 Service: Reduction of Cost and Transfer Time for Storing Data on Clouds

In the past several years, organizations have been changing their storage methods as the volume of data they managed has increased. The cloud computing paradigm offers new ways of storing data based on scalability and on good conditions of reliability and accessibility. This paper proposes the design of HPS3, a service that uses compression and concurrency techniques in order to reduce storage costs and data processing times in public storage providers. Different strategies for compressing and uploading data depending on differential characteristics of the datasets are also explained. The evaluation of HPS3 shows, in comparison with the default use of the cloud storage provider (Amazon S3), an average reduction of 61.6% in data transfer volume, 85.5% in upload time and 73.2% in incurred costs. Compared to Drop box, HPS3 shows an average improvement of 27.4% in data transfer volume and 93.6% in upload time.
Taking stock of mangrove and seagrass blue carbon ecosystems: A perspective for future carbon trading

Seagrass and mangroves support a number of ecosystem services, such as sustaining marine fisheries, water clarity, and the protection of shoreline from erosion. Producing a national and global consensus of their total worth is a challenge. More often than not the variety and distal evaluation approaches do not fit comfortably within current market-based economic models, which are arguably more capable of swaying government policy in assessing their preservation over economic development. The exception to this rule is the increasing recognition of the importance of these systems as a carbon sink for combating â€˜greenhouseâ€™ gas emissions. In response, these sinks have been labelled as â€˜Blue Carbon, a rhetorical tool to distinguish them from terrestrial and ocean sinks, and the different approaches they would require for conservation. However, there are a number of knowledge gaps, untested underlying assumptions, and measurement practicalities in assessing an accurate value of carbon sequestration and storage. Unless these are addressed, then the push for seagrass and mangroves to be included within the carbon-financing network may not be successful. This short communication discusses the limitations of the current blue carbon conceptual model, and provides recommendations for a more limited but robust submission of its present and future worth, required for carbon financing.
Multi-disciplinary Lessons Learned from Low-Tech Coral Farming and Reef Rehabilitation: II. Coral Demography and Social-Ecological Benefits

Low-tech coral farming and reef rehabilitation have become important tools to foster com- munity-based participation in the management of coastal social-ecological systems. Lessons learned from coral demographic dynamics, ecosystem-level benefits, and sociological dynamics achieved in Culebra Island, Puerto Rico, are discussed. Important gaps regarding social-ecological interactions are also addressed. Coral reef rehabilitation efforts must be adaptive and focused on maximizing resilience as a long-term goal, with emphasis on managing non-linear dynamics, thresholds, environmental and climate uncertainty, and ecological surprises. In this context, coral demographic modelling becomes fundamental to address, not only ecological, but also sociological concerns. Only through sustained support and inputof harvested coralsrestored populations, and by increasing the spatial scale of reef rehabilitation, restored populations can remain viable and grow under present and projec- ted environmental and climate conditions. Understanding sociological dynamics, learning from others experiences, integrating visioning and scenario building, leadership building, multi-sectorial agents and actor groups, and strengthening cross-sectorial social networking are necessary adaptive approaches to cope with future environmental and climate changes, and are an integral part of reef rehabilitation. The combined benefits to social-ecological systems are multiple. With proper planning, design, funding, local support, and implemen- tation, these can have long-lasting impacts in restoring coastal resilience.
Improving soil fertility and performance of tomato plant using the anaerobic digestate of tithonia diversifolia as Bio-fertilizer

Prolonged application of agrochemicals has caused soil dehydration and destruction of plant tissues as well as spillage of excess fertilizers into water bodies. This study was designed to investigate improvement in soil fertility and performance of tomato using bio-fertilizer obtained from the anaerobic digestate of Tithonia diversifolia (Mexican sunflower) shoot. It also compared bio-fertilized, chemical-fertilized and non-fertilized plants. On the bio-fertilizer and soil, microbial analysis was carried out to determine the subsisting microbial diversities. Tomato plants were raised in twenty four pots, each containing containing 10 kg soil. Bio-fertilizer was applied at varying rates of 1000, 800, 600, 400 and 200 ml in three pots each; chemical fertilizer was also applied into three pots as positive control, while three pots served as negative control. A comparison was made across the three treatments with respect to productivity which was measured in plant height, leaf length and number of branches. Potted plants treated with 1000 ml of bio-fertilizer had the highest plant growth rate which was followed by those treated with 800 ml of bio-fertilizer. The plants to which chemical fertilizer was applied showed same increase in plant height and leaf length as the potted plant amended with 400 ml of bio-fertilizer. There was no distinct increase in height of the negative control and yellowing of leaves was observed two weeks after transplanting. The results of this study shows that bio-fertilizer is very effective in enhancing plant growth as it facilitates activities of beneficial microorganism.
Perception of High-Contrast Blurred Edges

Observer sensitivity to edge blur has been examined by experimental measurements of threshold blur as a function of contrast. An extension of previous results from Watt and Morgan for high-contrast blur edges is discussed and analyzed. We propose a psychophysical test based on a two-alternative forced choice test. The results found for three adult observers show a comparable behavior. A tendency for the blur threshold to reach an average value as contrast increases is mainly discussed. These results complement previous ones from other authors for which low- and intermediate-contrast ranges were analyzed. The observed behavior suggests a need to improve algorithms for image quality assessment, extending the actual range of contrast values to high-contrast ones.
The Effectiveness of Checksums for Embedded Control Networks

Embedded control networks commonly use checksums to detect data transmission errors. However, design decisions about which checksum to use are difficult because of a lack of information about the relative effectiveness of available options. We study the error detection effectiveness of the following commonly used checksum computations: exclusive or (XOR), two's complement addition, one's complement addition, Fletcher checksum, Adler checksum, and cyclic redundancy codes (CRCs). A study of error detection capabilities for random independent bit errors and burst errors reveals that XOR, two's complement addition, and Adler checksums are suboptimal for typical network use. Instead, one's complement addition should be used for networks willing to sacrifice error detection effectiveness to reduce compute cost, Fletcher checksum for networks looking for a balance of error detection and compute cost, and CRCs for networks willing to pay a higher compute cost for significantly improved error detection.
Building Qualitative Models of Plant Regulatory Networks with SQUAD

There is a wealth of molecular information that has enhanced the reconstruction of regulatory networks and pathways in plants, specially in Arabidopsis thaliana due to its central role as a model system. Most of this information, however, has proven to be insufficient to construct quantitative models due to the absence of sufficiently accurate measurements of kinetic constants. Hence, there have been efforts to develop qualitative methodologies that permit the use of the vast information regarding the regulatory interactions among molecules.
Statin-Induced Inhibition of 3-Hydroxy-3-Methyl Glutaryl Coenzyme A Reductase Sensitizes Human Osteosarcoma Cells to Anticancer Drugs

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumor in children and young adults. Resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs is a major problem that is responsible for the failure of treatment. This points to the need for increasing the responsiveness to cytotoxic drugs. We previously showed that lipophilic statins induce apoptosis in human osteosarcoma cells. In this study, we investigated the effects of atorvastatin [(3R,5R)-7[2-(4-fluorophenyl)-5-(1-methylethyl)-3-phenyl-4-[(phenylamino)carbonyl]-1H-pyrrol-1-yl]-3,5-dihydroxyheptanoïc acid] in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs on human osteosarcoma cell apoptosis, invasion, and migration. We report here that atorvastatin enhances the reduced cell viability induced by the anticancer drugs doxorubicin (Adriamycin; (1S,3S)-amino-3 tridesoxy-2,3,6 α-l-lyxo-hexopyranoside glycoloyl-3 trihydroxy-3,5,12 methoxy-10 dioxo-6,11 naphtacenyl-1) and cisplatin in human osteosarcoma cells. In particular, we found that atorvastatin enhances the induction of osteosarcoma cell apoptosis by anticancer drugs. In addition, we show that atorvastatin enhances the inhibitory effect of anticancer drugs on osteosarcoma cell migration. Moreover, atorvastatin and chemotherapeutic drugs had additive inhibitory effects on osteosarcoma cell invasion. In consistent tests, atorvastatin further augmented the reduction of matrix metalloprotease 2 activity induced by doxorubicin or cisplatin in osteosarcoma cells. The results show for the first time that atorvastatin sensitizes osteosarcoma cells to anticancer drugs, resulting in reduced cell viability, migration, and invasion, which suggest a strategy to improve the response to chemotherapy and reduce tumorigenesis in human osteosarcoma.
Major Pleistocene stages in a carbon perspective: The South China Sea record and its global comparison

[1] Carbon isotope sequences at Ocean Drilling Program Site 1143, South China Sea, reveal a long-term cyclicity of ∼500 kyr that is superimposed on the glacial cycles and is present in long δ13C sequences from all oceans. The Quaternary δ13C record is punctuated by four δ13C maximum events: δ13Cmax-I, which began in marine isotope stage (MIS) 3 around 50–60 kyr ago, δ13Cmax-II (MIS 13, 0.47–0.53 Ma), δ13Cmax-III (MIS 27–29, 0.97–1.04 Ma) and δ13Cmax-VI (MIS 53–57, 1.55–1.65 Ma). As the same cyclicity is also found in carbonate curves, the δ13Cmax events must denote major reorganization in the carbon reservoir of the global ocean. They also are associated with major changes in glacial cyclicity, such as the Mid-Brunhes Event following δ13Cmax-II and the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution following δ13Cmax-III, which in turn were associated with expansion of the ice sheets. From a carbon perspective, therefore, the Quaternary period has passed through three major stages, and each appears to represent a further step in ice cap development.