Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulation and Modeling of Wood Dust Combustion in Cyclone Burners

The wood products industry generates substantial amounts of saw and sander dust as part of normal operations. To dispose of this waste and to generate heat for industrial processes, the dust is burned, which can produce significant pollutant emissions, such as oxides of nitrogen (NOx). A step in reducing emissions from wood dust combustion is to identify under what conditions in the commercial dust burners the pollutants are being formed. As research in this area, the operating characteristics of a typical dust burner are examined by numerically simulating the device in three-dimensions using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the flow are examined, as are the major species and temperature fields. Especially, the production of NOx is examined. The NOx model being used requires, among other parameters, inputs for the fraction of fuel nitrogen that devolatalizes and the surface area of the char particles responsible for the reduction of NO to N2 (BET surface area), and neither of these quantities is well known for wood dust. Decreasing the BET surface area has the same effect as decreasing the volatile nitrogen fraction, i.e., it increases the exit plane NOx concentration. Fortunately, the concentration of NOx at the exit plane increases by only a factor of 1.9 when the BET surface area is reduced from 25000 to 0 (m2=kg) and the volatile nitrogen fraction is reduced from 93% to 50%. The conclusion is that modest uncertainty in either of the input parameters will not lead to significant errors in the NOx predictions. This encourages the thought that the simulations can lead to insight into how to reduce NOx emissions from wood dust burners.
COMPENSATION OF ON‐CALL AND FIXED‐TERM EMPLOYMENT: THE ROLE OF UNCERTAINTY*

In this paper I analyse the use and compensation of fixed-term and on-call employment contracts in the Netherlands. I use an analytical framework in which wage differentials result from two types of uncertainty. Quantity uncertainty originates from imperfect foresight in future product demand. I argue that workers who take over part of the quantity uncertainty from the employer get higher payments. Quality uncertainty on the other hand originates from the fact that employers are ex-ante unable to fully observe a workers ability and results in lower wages. Using a combination of propensity score and Mahalanobis matching I analyse wage differentials and find that on-call workers receive compensation for providing quantity flexibility. Compensation of fixed-term contracts on the other hand is dominated by the negative wage effect of quality uncertainty. I investigate whether this relation still holds after the 1999 policy change that had a substantial impact on the attractiveness of on-call and fixed-term workers from the employers perspective. I find that the policy change has not only influenced the use of on-call and fixed-term contracts, but unintentionally also their compensation.
Relationship between IL-8 Circulating Levels and TLR2 Hepatic Expression in Women with Morbid Obesity and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

The progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is linked to systemic inflammation. Currently, two of the aspects that need further investigation are diagnosis and treatment of NASH. In this sense, the aim of this study was to assess the relationship between circulating levels of cytokines, hepatic expression of toll-like receptors (TLRs), and degrees of NAFLD, and to investigate whether these levels could serve as noninvasive biomarkers of NASH. The present study assessed plasma levels of cytokines in 29 normal-weight women and 82 women with morbid obesity (MO) (subclassified: normal liver (n = 29), simple steatosis (n = 32), and NASH (n = 21)). We used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) to quantify cytokine and TLR4 levels and RTqPCR to assess TLRs hepatic expression. IL-1β, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, tPAI-1, and MCP-1 levels were increased, and adiponectin levels were decreased in women with MO. IL-8 was significantly higher in MO with NASH than in NL. To sum up, high levels of IL-8 were associated with the diagnosis of NASH in a cohort of women with morbid obesity. Moreover, a positive correlation between TLR2 hepatic expression and IL-8 circulating levels was found.
An automated pipeline for the discovery of conspiracy and conspiracy theory narrative frameworks: Bridgegate, Pizzagate and storytelling on the web

Although a great deal of attention has been paid to how conspiracy theories circulate on social media, and the deleterious effect that they, and their factual counterpart conspiracies, have on political institutions, there has been little computational work done on describing their narrative structures. Predicating our work on narrative theory, we present an automated pipeline for the discovery and description of the generative narrative frameworks of conspiracy theories that circulate on social media, and actual conspiracies reported in the news media. We base this work on two separate comprehensive repositories of blog posts and news articles describing the well-known conspiracy theory Pizzagate from 2016, and the New Jersey political conspiracy Bridgegate from 2013. Inspired by the qualitative narrative theory of Greimas, we formulate a graphical generative machine learning model where nodes represent actors/actants, and multi-edges and self-loops among nodes capture context-specific relationships. Posts and news items are viewed as samples of subgraphs of the hidden narrative framework network. The problem of reconstructing the underlying narrative structure is then posed as a latent model estimation problem. To derive the narrative frameworks in our target corpora, we automatically extract and aggregate the actants (people, places, objects) and their relationships from the posts and articles. We capture context specific actants and interactant relationships by developing a system of supernodes and subnodes. We use these to construct an actant-relationship network, which constitutes the underlying generative narrative framework for each of the corpora. We show how the Pizzagate framework relies on the conspiracy theorists’ interpretation of “hidden knowledge” to link otherwise unlinked domains of human interaction, and hypothesize that this multi-domain focus is an important feature of conspiracy theories. We contrast this to the single domain focus of an actual conspiracy. While Pizzagate relies on the alignment of multiple domains, Bridgegate remains firmly rooted in the single domain of New Jersey politics. We hypothesize that the narrative framework of a conspiracy theory might stabilize quickly in contrast to the narrative framework of an actual conspiracy, which might develop more slowly as revelations come to light. By highlighting the structural differences between the two narrative frameworks, our approach could be used by private and public analysts to help distinguish between conspiracy theories and conspiracies.
Management of Drug Resistance in Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare but aggressive B-cell hemopathy characterized by the translocation t(11;14)(q13;q32) that leads to the overexpression of the cell cycle regulatory protein cyclin D1. This translocation is the initial event of the lymphomagenesis, but tumor cells can acquire additional alterations allowing the progression of the disease with a more aggressive phenotype and a tight dependency on microenvironment signaling. To date, the chemotherapeutic-based standard care is largely inefficient and despite the recent advent of different targeted therapies including proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, relapses are frequent and are generally related to a dismal prognosis. As a result, MCL remains an incurable disease. In this review, we will present the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance learned from both preclinical and clinical experiences in MCL, detailing the main tumor intrinsic processes and signaling pathways associated to therapeutic drug escape. We will also discuss the possibility to counteract the acquisition of drug refractoriness through the design of more efficient strategies, with an emphasis on the most recent combination approaches.
Acceptability judgments and grammaticality, prospects and challenges

The grammar of L will thus be a device that generates all of the grammatical sequences of L and none of the ungrammatical ones. One way to test the adequacy of a grammar proposed for L is to determine whether or not the sequences that it generates are actually grammatical, i.e., acceptable to a native speaker, etc. We can take certain steps towards providing a behavioral criterion for grammaticalness so that this test of adequacy can be carried out. For the purposes of this discussion, however, suppose that we assume intuitive knowledge of the grammatical sentences of English and ask what sort of grammar will be able to do the job of producing these in some effective and illuminating way. (Chomsky 1957: 13)
Antifreeze proteins in naturally cold acclimated leaves of Drimys angustifolia, Senecio icoglossus, and Eucalyptus ssp.

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 work is properly cited. Antifreeze proteins in naturally cold acclimated leaves of Drimys angustifolia, Senecio icoglossus, and Eucalyptus ssp. Avaliação de proteínas anticongelantes em folhas de Drimys angustifolia, Senecio icoglossus e Eucalyptus ssp. naturalmente aclimatadas ao frio
Anti-inflammatory activity of lansais from endophytic Streptomyces sp . SUC 1 in LPS-induced RAW 264 . 7 cells

Anti-inflammatory activity of lansais from endophytic Streptomyces sp. SUC1 in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells Thongchai Taechowisan a , Asawin Wanbanjob b , Pittaya Tuntiwachwuttikul b & Jikai Liu c a Department of Microbiology, Silpakorn University, Nakorn Pathom, 73000, Thailand b Department of Chemistry, Silpakorn University, Nakorn Pathom, 73000, Thailand c Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB), The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650204, China
Pseudopterosin and O-Methyltylophorinidine Suppress Cell Growth in a 3D Spheroid Co-Culture Model of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Current therapies for treating pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are largely ineffective, with the desmoplastic environment established within these tumors being considered a central issue. We established a 3D spheroid co-culture in vitro model using a PDAC cell line (either PANC-1 or Capan-2), combined with stellate cells freshly isolated from pancreatic tumors (PSC) or hepatic lesions (HSC), and human type I collagen to analyze the efficiency of the chemotherapeutic gemcitabine (GEM) as well as two novel drug candidates derived from natural products: pseudopterosin (PsA-D) and O-methyltylophorinidine (TYLO). Traditional 2D in vitro testing of these agents for cytotoxicity on PANC-1 demonstrated IC50 values of 4.6 (±0.47) nM, 34.02 (±1.35) µM, and 1.99 (±0.13) µM for Tylo, PsA-D, and GEM, respectively; these values were comparable for Capan-2: 5.58 (±1.74) nM, 33.94 (±1.02) µM, and 0.41 (±0.06) µM for Tylo, PsA-D, and GEM, respectively. Importantly, by assessing the extent of viable cells within 3D co-culture spheroids of PANC-1 with PSC or HSC, we could demonstrate a significant lack of efficacy for GEM, while TYLO remained active and PsA-D showed slightly reduced efficacy: GEM in PANC-1/PSC (IC50 = >100 µM) or PANC-1/HSC (IC50 = >100 µM) spheroids, TYLO in PANC-1/PSC (IC50 = 3.57 ± 1.30 nM) or PANC-1/HSC (IC50 = 6.39 ± 2.28 nM) spheroids, and to PsA-D in PANC-1/PSC (IC50 = 54.42 ± 12.79 µM) or PANC-1/HSC (IC50 = 51.75 ± 0.60 µM). Microscopic 3D rendering supported these cytotoxicity outcomes, showing little or no morphological spheroid structure change during this period of rapid cell death. Our results support the use of this 3D spheroid co-culture in vitro model having a desmoplastic microenvironment for the identification of possible novel chemotherapeutic drug candidates for PDAC, such as TYLO and PsA-D.
Physicochemical Characteristics of Protein Isolated from Thraustochytrid Oilcake

The oil from thraustochytrids, unicellular heterotrophic marine protists, is increasingly used in the food and biotechnological industries as it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, squalene and a broad spectrum of carotenoids. This study showed that the oilcake, a by-product of oil extraction, is equally valuable as it contained 38% protein/dry mass, and thraustochytrid protein isolate can be obtained with 92% protein content and recovered with 70% efficiency. The highest and lowest solubilities of proteins were observed at pH 12.0 and 4.0, respectively, the latter being its isoelectric point. Aspartic acid, glutamic acid, histidine, and arginine were the most abundant amino acids in proteins. The arginine-to-lysine ratio was higher than one, which is desired in heart-healthy foods. The denaturation temperature of proteins ranged from 167.8–174.5 °C, indicating its high thermal stability. Proteins also showed high emulsion activity (784.1 m2/g) and emulsion stability (209.9 min) indices. The extracted omega-3-rich oil melted in the range of 30–34.6 °C and remained stable up to 163–213 °C. This study shows that thraustochytrids are not only a valuable source of omega 3-, squalene- and carotenoid-containing oils, but are also rich in high-value protein with characteristics similar to those from oilseeds.
Hydrogeologic characteristics of roto-translational slides in flysch rock masses

The hydrological characteristics of roto-translational slides in flysch are complex, due to the inherent anisotropy and heterogeneity of rock masses and related deposits. The paper deals with the hydrogeological characterization of a reactivated roto-translational slide affecting Cretaceous flysch rocks, located in the northern Apennines of Italy. Continuous monitoring of groundwater levels, in-situ permeability and pumping tests, hydrochemical analyses and uranine tracers were the adopted prospecting methods. Results showed that two overlaying aquifers exist at the slope scale: the first is unconfined, but highly compartmentalized, and hosted in the fractured and dismembered rock slide body. The second is confined and lays in the undisturbed flysch below the sliding surface. The latter is therefore a relevant factor for the instability of the slope. In this work, hydrologic monitoring and investigation are summarized, in order to support the analysis of landslide trigger mechanisms and to identify and design proper drainage system.
Ectopic Expression of OsPYL/RCAR7, an ABA Receptor Having Low Signaling Activity, Improves Drought Tolerance without Growth Defects in Rice

Overexpression of abscisic acid (ABA) receptors has been reported to enhance drought tolerance, but also to cause stunted growth and decreased crop yield. Here, we constructed transgenic rice for all monomeric ABA receptors and observed that only transgenic rice over-expressing OsPYL/RCAR7 showed similar phenotype with wild type, without total yield loss when grown under normal growth condition in a paddy field. Even though transgenic rice over-expressing OsPYL/RCAR7 showed neither an ABA-sensitivity nor an osmotic stress tolerance in plate assay, it showed drought tolerance. We investigated the ABA-dependent interaction with OsPP2CAs and ABA signaling induction by OsPYL/RCAR7. In yeast two hybrid assay, OsPYL/RCAR7 required critically higher ABA concentrations to interact with OsPP2CAs than other ABA receptors, and co-immunoprecipitation assay showed strong interaction under ABA treatment. When ABA-responsive signaling activity was monitored using a transient expression system in rice protoplasts, OsPYL/RCAR7 had the lowest ABA-responsive signaling activity as compared with other ABA receptors. OsPYL/RCAR7 also showed weak suppression of phosphatase activity as compared with other ABA receptors in vitro. Transcriptome analysis of transgenic rice over-expressing OsPYL/RCAR7 suggested that only a few genes were induced similar to control under without exogenous ABA, but a large number of genes was induced under ABA treatment compared with control. We conclude that OsPYL/RCAR7 is a novel functional ABA receptor that has low ABA signaling activity and exhibits high ABA dependence. These results lay the foundation for a new strategy to improve drought stress tolerance without compromising crop growth.
The Sensitivity of Structural Labor Supply Estimations to Modeling Assumptions

There is still considerable dispute about the magnitude of labor supply elasticities. While differences in estimates especially between micro and macro models are recently attributed to frictions and adjustment costs, we show that the variation in elasticities derived from structural labor supply models can also be explained by modeling assumptions. Specifically, we estimate 3,456 different models on the same data each representing a plausible combination of frequently made choices. While many modeling assumptions do not systematically affect labor supply elasticities, our controlled meta-analysis shows that results are very sensitive to the treatment of hourly wages in the estimation. For example, different (sensible) choices concerning the modeling of the underlying wage distribution and especially the imputation of (missing) wages lead to point estimates of elasticities between 0.2 and 0.65. We hence conclude that researchers should pay more attention to the robustness of their estimations with respect to the wage treatment.
Disease-associated DNA2 nuclease–helicase protects cells from lethal chromosome under-replication

Abstract DNA2 is an essential nuclease–helicase implicated in DNA repair, lagging-strand DNA synthesis, and the recovery of stalled DNA replication forks (RFs). In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, dna2Δ inviability is reversed by deletion of the conserved helicase PIF1 and/or DNA damage checkpoint-mediator RAD9. It has been suggested that Pif1 drives the formation of long 5′-flaps during Okazaki fragment maturation, and that the essential function of Dna2 is to remove these intermediates. In the absence of Dna2, 5′-flaps are thought to accumulate on the lagging strand, resulting in DNA damage-checkpoint arrest and cell death. In line with Dna2’s role in RF recovery, we find that the loss of Dna2 results in severe chromosome under-replication downstream of endogenous and exogenous RF-stalling. Importantly, unfaithful chromosome replication in Dna2-mutant cells is exacerbated by Pif1, which triggers the DNA damage checkpoint along a pathway involving Pif1’s ability to promote homologous recombination-coupled replication. We propose that Dna2 fulfils its essential function by promoting RF recovery, facilitating replication completion while suppressing excessive RF restart by recombination-dependent replication (RDR) and checkpoint activation. The critical nature of Dna2’s role in controlling the fate of stalled RFs provides a framework to rationalize the involvement of DNA2 in Seckel syndrome and cancer.
THE PURPOSEFUL ALLOCATION OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE COSTS

Today, business intelligence (BI) systems are recognized as a prerequisite for organizational success by providing management with decision-supportive information. Along with the pervasion of BI in organizations and its prospective benefits, BI has become widely established from a technological perspective, but remains challenging from an organizational view. Because BI causes a high monolithic cost block within an organization, effective BI cost management mechanisms need to be implemented. This study focusses on the different design situations of BI cost allocations since a one-size-fits-all approach is not supposed to be purposeful, but different situational requirements need to be considered. The design situations are characterized by relevant contextual factors, which we identify and thoroughly analyze. A set of relevant contextual factors is derived from an extensive review of prior work as well as from a focus group study with subject-matter experts. The contextual factors are synthesized in a classification scheme according to the dimensions objectives, technology-, organization-, and environment-related. Further, we discuss the characteristics of contextual factors and the impacts on cost allocation configurations in three archetypes of companies. Therefore, this publication delivers valuable insights for consideration in practice and stimulates further research on context-specific BI cost management.
Complex geodesics and iterates of holomorphic maps on convex domains in ⁿ

We study complex geodesics f: Δ→Ω, where Δ is the unit disk in C and Ω belongs to a class of bounded convex domains in C n with no boundary regularity assumption. Along with continuity up to the boundary, existence of such complex geodesics with two prescribed values z, w ∈ Ω is established. As a consequence we obtain some new results from iteration theory of holomorphic self maps of bounded convex domains in C n
Employees Management: Evidence from Gamification Techniques

The purpose of this paper is to find out the effect of Gamification on employee motivation, employee engagement, employee retention, employee loyalty and organizational commitment. We want to know this in order to check the viability of Gamification strategy for business development in Pakistan. Participants were 142 University students, who were working as well, we divided them into two groups, control group and Gamified group, we gave both groups pretest and post-test questionnaire. ANOVA and t-test were applied to pre-test and post-test data to analyze group difference and multivariate GLM model was applied to analyze the influence of gender and gamification preferences on employee related variables. The Gamification strategy used in the Gamified group was expected to influence the participants and increase their motivation, engagement, retention, loyalty and organizational commitment.
Choice-Theoretic Foundations of the Divisive Normalization Model

Recent advances in neuroscience suggest that a utility-like calculation is involved in how the brain makes choices, and that this calculation may use a computation known as divisive normalization. While this tells us how the brain makes choices, it is not immediately evident why the brain uses this computation or exactly what behavior is consistent with it. In this paper, we address both of these questions by proving a three-way equivalence theorem between the normalization model, an information-processing model, and an axiomatic characterization. The information-processing model views behavior as optimally balancing the expected value of the chosen object against the entropic cost of reducing stochasticity in choice. This provides an optimality rationale for why the brain may have evolved to use normalization-type models. The axiomatic characterization gives a set of testable behavioral statements equivalent to the normalization model. This answers what behavior arises from normalization. Our equivalence result unifies these three models into a single theory that answers the "how", "why", and "what" of choice behavior.