Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phytoremediation of Heavy Metals

Owing to the immutable nature, metals are a group of pollutants of much higher concern. Human activities such as mining and smelting of metalliferous ores, electroplating, gas exhaust, energy and fuel production, fertilizer and pesticide application, etc., lead towards metal pollution, which has become one of the most serious environmental problems today. At high concentrations, metals can act in a deleterious manner by blocking essential functional groups, displacing other metal ions, or modifying the active conformation of biological molecules. The current remediation techniques of heavy metal from contaminated soil are expensive, time consuming and environmentally destructive. Phytoremediation, an emerging technology for cleaning up contaminated sites, which is cost effective, and has aesthetic advantages and long term applicability. The efficiency of removal of heavy metals like Copper (Cu), Antimony (Sn) and Lead (Pb) from soil by Brassica juncea (L.) Czern and Cicer arientinum was studied. The phytoremediation rate with EDTA was compared to without . It was found that Phytoremediation is an effective method for remediation of soil with metal pollutants.the results with chelating agent like EDTA were very encouraging.
Influence of Antibiotic Contamination on Functioning of Microbiocenosis of Ordinary Chernozem

Objective: Wide-scale application of numerous antibiotics with various chemical compositions and spectra in medicine, agriculture, and food industry is accompanied by violation of microbial community in various ecosystems. Therefore, the resistance of microbial community of soils to contamination with antibiotics widely applied in medicine and agriculture (tylosin and oxytetracycline) has been assessed. Antibiotic contamination leads to decrease in the count of main ecotrophic groups of microorganisms, variation of their ratio, and structure of microbial community in total. Materials and Methods: Maximum impact of antibiotics was exposed in the 1st day after contamination of chernozem (3 days). Later (30 and 90 days), the trend of recovery of biological performances was observed, and dynamics of recovery of both microorganisms and enzyme activity was non-linear. Results: In terms of resistance to antibiotics, the considered microorganisms could be ranged as follows: Micromycetes >p. Azotobacter bacteria > amylolytic bacteria > ammonifiers. Comparison of laboratory and field simulation of antibiotic contamination of chernozem revealed that the rate of deterioration of biological performances was more pronounced under laboratory conditions in comparison with the field. Conclusion: The recovery rate of chernozem biological activity after field contamination was higher more than by 2 times. Probably, this could be attributed to the fact that in the field environment antibiotics were decomposed more rapidly under climatic impacts.
Development of enzymatic biofuel cell based on carbon nanotube electrodes on porous silicon

DEVELOPMENT OF ENZYMATIC BIOFUEL CELL BASED ON CARBON NANOTUBE ELECTRODES ON POROUS SILICON by Fan Yang The work presented in this thesis has focused on designing and characterizing biofuel cell electrodes using porous silicon (p-Si) as the substrate or current collecting platform on which carbon nanotubes (CNTs), both single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), were synthesized directly, followed by enzyme catalyst immobilization on the CNTs. Laccase and glucose oxidase (GOx) were used as enzymatic biocatalysts, which were immobilized on the CNT walls and tips using an electrochemical technique. Cyclic voltammetry showed well-defined redox peaks which indicated that the enzyme (GOx and laccase) were successfully immobilized on the CNTs. The amperometric responses of the laccase electrode upon additions of bubbled air and potentiometric responses of GOx electrode to additions of glucose demonstrated that the immobilized enzymes retained their bioelectrocatalytic activity after electrochemical deposition. Working biofuel cells with p-Si/SWNTs and p-Si/MWNTs based electrodes with immobilized enzymes were studied at room temperature in a 0.1M phosphate buffer solution of pH 7.0, containing 4 mM glucose. The peak power output of the biofuel cell with p-Si/SWNTs based electrodes was 3.32 p.W at 357 mV vs. SCE (Saturated Calomel Electrode). It provided much better performance than the biofuel cell with p-Si/MWNTs electrodes, which yielded a peak power of 1.23 nW at 5.6 mV. The combination of p-Si/CNTs with redox enzymes provided a convenient prototype for a direct electron transfer, membrane-less biofuel cell. DEVELOPMENT OF ENZYMATIC BIOFUEL CELL BASED ON CARBON NANOTUBE ELECTRODES ON POROUS SILICON
CLINICO-RADIOLOGICAL PROFILE, POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (PCR)- POSITIVITY AND OUTCOME-ANALYSIS IN HOSPITALIZED SUSPECTED H1N1 PNEUMONIA; EFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH CARE

Out of the total 145 suspected cases, 37 were selected for the study. The baseline characteristics studied were age, gender, pregnancy status, urban/rural residence, symptoms and signs, time to admission, radiological findings, oxygen saturation, need for ventilatory support, PCR-positivity and non-fatal/fatal outcome. The overall PCR-positivity and fatality was 11 (29.7%) and 14 (37.8%) respectively. The only factor which could predict a positive PCR and was statistically significant, was bilateral mid and lower zone consolidation on CXR, 10 out of 26 (38.5%) cases as compared to 01 out of 11 (9.1%) cases among other CXR findings (P= 0.00023). The factors associated with high fatality were hypoxia (oxygen saturation <80%) and the need for invasive ventilation, each associated with 09 out of 15 (60%) fatalities (P= 0.0217) and 14 out of 15 (93.3%) fatalities (P= 0.0007) respectively. No patient was previously flu-vaccinated. Majority (56.8%) of the patients were admitted after 5 days of symptom onset. PCR-diagnostic facility was provided to 25.5% of the suspected cases. Ventilatory support was provided to less than half (46.7%) of the total cases needing invasive ventilation. Oseltamivir treatment (both free and self-sponsored) was provided to only 59.5% cases.
Levels of interleukin-2 in patients with colon cancer and diabetes type 2

Introduction and objectives. The risk of development colon cancer (CC) is increased significantly among patients with the type 2 diabetes (T2DM). A mechanism responsible for the higher prevalence of CC among diabetic patients may be associated with the immunity system. The aim of this study is to point out the differences in the immunity state in terms of interleukin 2 level among patients with T2DM suffering from CC, and patients without these diseases. Materials and methods. 79 patients were included the tests, divided into 4 groups: Group 1–23 people with T2DM, Group 2–23 people with large intestine CC, Group 3–10 people with large CC and T2DM, and Group 4–23 people without T2DM or CC. Each patient had a colonoscopy and those with cancer were confirmed in a histopathological examination. Laboratory measurements included fasting glucose, insulin, C-peptide. The concentration of interleukin-2 in serum was determined with the immunoenzymatic (ELISA) method. Results. The results obtained showed that in patients with T2DM and CC the concentration of interleukin-2 was statistically higher than in the other groups. (4.21±1.61 pg/ml vs. Group 1 -1.64±0.44 pg/ml, Group 2–1.54±0.21 pg/ml, and Group 4–1.70±0.36 pg/ml; p<0.05). Insulin levels, C-peptide and HOMA-IR did not differ significantly between groups, but a tendency was observed to higher values of HOMA-IR and insulin levels in the groups with T2DM alone and T2DM with concomitant
Black-Bridge data in the detection of forest area changes in the example of Sudety and Beskidy

Abstract Two change detection techniques (NDVI differencing and post-classification analysis) were compared, in order to detect canopy cover changes in forests on the area of twelve forest districts in the Sudety and West Beskidy Mountains in Poland, using 2012 and 2013 Black-Bridge satellite images. Although the classification accuracy of the respective images was high (about 95%), the accuracy of the difference in bi-temporal images was much worse because of the short time between the dates of images and the imperfection of the algorithm calculating the unclear boundary between the forest and no-forest areas. NDVI differencing method and thresholding brought much better overall results, although roads, clouds and fogs caused much problem performing pseudo-changes.
Innate lymphoid cells in asthma: pathophysiological insights from murine models to human asthma phenotypes

Purpose of review The current review describes the role of different types of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) in the pathogenesis of asthma inflammatory phenotypes by linking findings from murine asthma models with human studies. Novel treatment options are needed for patients with steroid-insensitive asthma. Strategies targeting ILCs, or their upstream or downstream molecules are emerging and discussed in this review. Recent findings In eosinophilic asthma, ILCs, and especially type 2 ILCs (ILC2s), are activated by alarmins such as IL-33 upon allergen triggering of the airway epithelium. This initiates IL-5 and IL-13 production by ILC2, resulting in eosinophilic inflammation and airway hyperreactivity. Type 3 ILCs (ILC3s) have been shown to be implicated in obesity-induced asthma, via IL-1&bgr; production by macrophages, leading ILC3 and release of IL-17. ILC1s might play a role in severe asthma, but its role is currently less investigated. Summary Several studies have revealed that ILC2s play a role in the induction of eosinophilic inflammation in allergic and nonallergic asthmatic patients mainly via IL-5, IL-13, IL-33 and thymic stromal lymphopoietin. Knowledge on the role of ILC3s and ILC1s in asthmatic patients is lagging behind. Further studies are needed to support the hypothesis that these other types of ILCs contribute to asthma pathogenesis, presumably in nonallergic asthma phenotypes.
In vitro efficacy of methanolic extract of Mimosa pudica against selected micro-organisms for its broad spectrum antimicrobial activity

Indian ayurvedic system is one of the noteworthy systems of traditional medicine practice that uses mainly certain plants for the treatments of ailments in both man and other animals. The increasing prevalence of multidrug resistant strains of bacteria and the recent emergence off strains with reduced susceptibility to antibiotics raises the specter of untreatable bacterial infections and adds urgency to the search for new infectionfighting strategies (Sieradzki et al 1999). Contrary to the synthetic drugs, antimicrobial substances of plant origin are not associated with many side effects and have an enormous therapeutic potential to heal many infectious disease (Iwu et al 1999).
The Contagion Effects of Sovereign Downgrades: Evidence from the European Financial Crisis

This research examines the effects of sovereign downgrades on European financial markets between 2005 and 2012. Vector Autoregression (VAR) techniques are used to investigate the presence of contagion effects after a sovereign downgrade across equity indices, five year Credit Default Swaps (CDS) and ten year government bonds of the investigated European states. Sovereign downgrades are found to be associated with an increase in equity returns, and cause significant increases in the cost of insuring debt through CDS and the yield of government debt. The Greek and Irish downgrades are to found to have significant reverberations throughout European financial markets. German CDS spreads are found to increase when a European state is downgraded, signalling their use by investors as a barometer of European-wide defaults. Though credit rating agencies clearly missed the European sovereign crisis prior to 2007, their rating downgrades are still found to cause significant effects within European financial markets.
Exploring the Role of the Foraging Gene on Egg-laying Preferences in Drosophila melanogaster

Egg-laying decisions can have significant fitness consequences. In female Drosophila melanogaster, egg-laying involves foraging-like behaviour. Natural allelic variation in foraging (for) underlies the rover/sitter foraging behaviour polymorphism found in D. melanogaster. for encodes a cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) where rovers have higher for-PKG transcript levels and PKG activity than sitters. Interestingly, the orthologue of for in nematodes (egl-4) affects both egg-laying and foraging behaviours. When given a choice between lowand highnutrient patches, rovers preferentially lay more eggs on the low-nutrient patches while sitters and a sitter mutant prefer high-nutrient patches. Using the neuronal driver elav-GAL4, rover-like preferences were rescued in sitter flies. Compared to sitters, rovers have higher fitness on a suboptimal substrate which may explain the observed egg-laying preferences. By studying the link from genes to behaviour, this study provides insight to the evolutionary basis and maintenance of behaviour.
Perceptual enhancement of arteriovenous malformation in MRI angiography displays

The importance of presenting medical images in an intuitive and usable manner during a procedure is essential. However, most medical visualization interfaces, particularly those designed for minimally-invasive surgery, suffer from a number of issues as a consequence of disregarding the human perceptual, cognitive, and motor system's limitations. This matter is even more prominent when human visual system is overlooked during the design cycle. One example is the visualization of the neuro-vascular structures in MR angiography (MRA) images. This study investigates perceptual performance in the usability of a display to visualize blood vessels in MRA volumes using a contour enhancement technique. Our results show that when contours are enhanced, our participants, in general, can perform faster with higher level of accuracy when judging the connectivity of different vessels. One clinical outcome of such perceptual enhancement is improvement of spatial reasoning needed for planning complex neuro-vascular operations such as treating Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMs). The success of an AVM intervention greatly depends on fully understanding the anatomy of vascular structures. However, poor visualization of pre-operative MRA images makes the planning of such a treatment quite challenging.
Determining a Checkout Register Opening Policy to Maximize Profit In convenience Stores Chains

A major concern for convenience store managers is lost sales due to balking. Convenience stores customers pay high margins expecting fast service. If waiting lines are too long for their tolerance level at their arrival, they balk and the sale is lost as a result. In order to reduce lost sales, the length of the waiting line is usually controlled by opening additional checkout registers when the number of customers standing in the line exceeds a specified number and maintaining them open until they are no longer needed . This paper presents an applied approach to model the probability that customers actually enter the store and define the optimal opening level (N-policy) of the second checkout register based on several factors including the particular waiting line length tolerance level of usual customers, the average hourly arrival rate of customers to the store and the average gain per customer transaction. Several performance measures are computed. The total expected cost function per unit time is proposed to determine the optimal operating N-policy at minimum cost. The model is applied in a real case of a convenience store chain.
Glucosinolate Profiling and Expression Analysis of Glucosinolate Biosynthesis Genes Differentiate White Mold Resistant and Susceptible Cabbage Lines

Sclerotinia stem rot (white mold), caused by the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is a serious disease of Brassica crops worldwide. Despite considerable progress in investigating plant defense mechanisms against this pathogen, which have revealed the involvement of glucosinolates, the host–pathogen interaction between cabbage (Brassica oleracea) and S. sclerotiorum has not been fully explored. Here, we investigated glucosinolate profiles and the expression of glucosinolate biosynthesis genes in white-mold-resistant (R) and -susceptible (S) lines of cabbage after infection with S. sclerotiorum. The simultaneous rise in the levels of the aliphatic glucosinate glucoiberverin (GIV) and the indolic glucosinate glucobrassicin (GBS) was linked to white mold resistance in cabbage. Principal component analysis showed close association between fungal treatment and cabbage GIV and GBS contents. The correlation analysis showed significant positive associations between GIV content and expression of the glucosinolate biosynthesis genes ST5b-Bol026202 and ST5c-Bol030757, and between GBS content and the expression of the glucosinolate biosynthesis genes ST5a-Bol026200 and ST5a-Bol039395. Our results revealed that S. sclerotiorum infection of cabbage induces the expression of glucosinolate biosynthesis genes, altering the content of individual glucosinolates. This relationship between the expression of glucosinolate biosynthesis genes and accumulation of the corresponding glucosinolates and resistance to white mold extends the molecular understanding of glucosinolate-negotiated defense against S. sclerotiorum in cabbage.
Estimation of Serum Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) In the Age Related (Senile) Cataract: a Case Control Study

Aim: The aim was to estimate the serum Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) level, in the development of Age Related (Senile) Cataract, a common cause of curable blindness globally, especially in India. Materials and methods: This was a case control study in the age group of 45-70 years with 100 patients of age related cataract and 100 age matched normal patients as a control group with estimation of the level of vitamin C in the serum of the study group and the control group. Results: Serum ascorbic acid values were 0.54 ± 0.23 mg/dL (30.68 ± 13.07 umol/L) in senile cataract and 0.83 ± 0.35 mg/dl (47.16 ± 19.89 umol/L) in controls with a statistical difference between the cases and controls showing a significant decrease in the level of vitamin C in the serum of age related cataract patients compared with the control group. Conclusion: The present study with the low levels of Vitamin C in serum of age related cataract than in controls shows that the reduced antioxidant status defence mechanism due to the reduced serum Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) may play a role in the development of the senile cataract.
PROPOSAL FOR A GUIDELINE TO INTEGRATE KINEMATICS WITHIN LIGHTWEIGHT FORMATS

Over the past years, we have been engaged in defining requirements towards application of lightweight data formats in the product lifecycle. As of today, formats like JT do not provide containers to store joints, fixes and relevant attributes, all of which are used e.g. in multibody-simulation (MBS) and installation feasibility analysis. We present a guideline and implementation that maps such data in the product structure of these formats. We have then exported new contents to Physical Modelling XML as an intermediate solution to bridge from CAD to CAE, giving an exemplary proof of concept.
Optimization and Evaluation of Organic Acid Recovery from Kraft Black Liquor Using Liquid-Liquid Extraction

− Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) can be used for the recovery of acetic acid from black liquor prior to bioethanol fermentation. Recovery of value-added chemicals such as acetic-, formicand lactic acid using LLE from Kraft black liquor was studied. Acetic acid and formic acid have been reported to be strong inhibitors in fermentation. The study elucidates the effect of three reaction parameters: pH (0.5~3.5), temperature (25~65 oC), and reaction time (24~48 min). Extraction performance using tri-n-octylphosphine oxide as the extractant was evaluated. The maximum acetic acid concentration achieved from hydrolyzates was 69.87% at 25°C, pH= 0.5, and 36 min. Factorial design was used to study the effects of pH, temperature, and reaction time on the maximum inhibitor extraction yield after LLE. The maximum potential extraction yield of acetic acid was 70.4% at 25.8°C, pH=0.6 and 37.2 min residence time.
MULTIPHYSICS 3D FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING OF MICRO- ELECTRODISCHARGE MACHINING AIDED BY ULTRASONICS

The paper deals with modelling through finite element analysis (FEA) of material removal mechanism of micro- electrodischarge machining (∝EDM) aided by ultrasonics (US). Some essential requirements of this hybrid variant of EDM and some experimental data which fulfil these prerequisites are presented, and starting from these, a strategic approach is formulated. In this context, a multiphysics modelling is achieved, comprising a thermal component, corresponding to EDM and a mechanical component, related to ultrasonically induced cavitation within the working gap. On this basis, some improvements of main output technological parameters of micro electrodischarge machining aided by longitudinal ultrasonic oscillations of the electrode-tool are proposed in terms of machining rate and surface roughness.
New Ecological Paradigm and Sustainability Attitudes with Respect to a Multi-Cultural Educational Milieu in China.

Institutions of higher education are increasingly interested in how the student experience may or may not influence world views and particularly with respect to sustainability. Here we report preliminary results from a New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) study in China to benchmark student responses, and we relate these results to findings from other studies in China and elsewhere. The 15-item NEP was administered to 265 students at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China, a Sino-British joint venture between research-led universities that confers both University of Liverpool and Chinese degrees and where the teaching language is English. We analyse item-by-item and aggregated results and find that, as expected, our study cohort, which is largely constituted of Chinese students, is unique in having a multi-cultural educational milieu, and results from our cohort differ from the comparison cohorts. Our cohort is aligned with a so-called Western world view with respect to Limits to Growth and Anti-anthropocentrism, however, differs from the Western view with respect to Balance of Nature. We find that the most relevant aspect for our purposes is to understand the causal differences influencing response from “high” and “low” responders within our particular cohort. Implications of these findings to education and the student experience are discussed.
DICIONARIO ESTOcAsTICO MULTIPULSO PARA CODIFICADORES CELP

This paper presents a new algorithm to design co­ debooks of sparse vectors for code excited linear prediction (CELP) speech encoders. The algorithm is based on multi­ pulse excitations and on the LBG codebook training algo­ rithm. The codebooks, which are referred to as multi pulse (:MP) codebooks, have the inherent advantages of sparse co­ debooks. Moreover, they can be optimized by a closed-loop training procedure. We present a comparative analysis of the:MP codebook with vector-sum (VS) and Gaussian code­ books. Simulation results show that the :MP codebook yields the best performance in terms of speech quality. Complexities of these codebooks are also compared. Palavras chaves Codificacao de Voz, CELP, Otimizacao de Dicionario.