Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of Geosciences Exploration Summer Program (GeoX) for Increasing Awareness and Knowledge of Geosciences

ABSTRACT Summer research experiences are an increasingly popular means of increasing awareness of, and developing interest in, the geosciences and other science, technology, engineering, and math programs. We describe and report the preliminary results of a 1-wk Geosciences Exploration Summer Program in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University to introduce high-school students to opportunities and careers in the geosciences. Short-term indicators in the form of preprogram and postprogram surveys of participants and their parents suggest that there is an increase in participant understanding of geosciences and interest in pursuing a degree in the geosciences. The participants and their parents had relatively limited knowledge of the geosciences at the start of the program, and very few had a friend or acquaintance employed in the geosciences, despite the importance of geosciences to the state economy. Postprogram survey results suggest that the students had an improved and nuanced understanding of the geosciences and the career opportunities within the field. A survey of the parents several months after the program had ended suggests that the parents had greater awareness of the geosciences through conversations with the participants or their own research. Although the influence of the parents on a students' decision to study geoscience is unclear and merits further investigation, it is concluded that future offerings of this and similar programs should engage the parents to ensure that the geosciences are recognized as a potential academic and career path.
Distribution of serotonin transporters in the human hypothalamus

Background: Serotonergic signalling has been implicated in various hypothalamic functions including circadian rhythmicity, feeding behaviour and neuroendocrine regulation. However, the functional neuroanatomy underlying serotonergic signalling in the human hypothalamus is largely unknown. Aim and methods: To increase insight in hypothalamic serotonin signalling in humans, we investigated the distribution of serotonin transporters (SERT) systematically over the entire rostro-caudal axis of six post-mortem hypothalami by means of immunohistochemistry, using a monoclonal antibody raised against human SERT. Immunofluorescent doublelabelling of SERT with markers for the major cell populations in the suprachiasmatic (SCN) and infundibular nucleus (IFN) was performed to further identify cells that showed basketlike SERT-staining. Results: SERT-immunoreactivity was ubiquitously expressed in fibers throughout the hypothalamus. A dense track of fibers was seen a) in the perifornical area, b) as a plexus along the ependym and c) in close proximity to the anterior commissure. The suprachiasmaticand the infundibular nucleus showed strong SERT-immunoreactivity. Clusters of SERT-immunoreactive fibers outlining capillaries and basket cells were present in the SCN and IFN, highly suggestive of synaptic endings. The majority of SERT basket cells did not show double labelling with the major neuropeptidergic markers for SCN and IFN. Conclusion: We report the distribution of SERT in post-mortem human hypothalamus. The strong SERT-immunoreactivity in the human SCN and IFN suggests a local modulatory role for serotonin although the identity of the SERT-immunoreactive basket cells remains to be identified.
Multiple Objective–Based Modified Exponential Gravitational Search Algorithm to VMM Strategy for Load Balancing in Cloud

Cloud computing is a trending topic in the field of science and technology since the internet dependent services have been growing rapidly. In this environment, there are a lot of immense infrastructures and resources to satisfy the internet users. When a large number of service requests reach at a particular time, load balancing becomes a necessity. Load balancing involves the effective migration of the resources from the loaded physical machine to the other physical machine. For the effective migration, a method named Modified Exponential Gravitational Search Algorithm based on Virtual Machine Migration strategy (MEGSA-VMM) has been proposed that uses the gravitational concepts for performing the frequency-based velocity computations. MEGSA algorithm is the integration of the gravitational search algorithm and exponential weighted moving average theory. Also, the qualityof-Service (QoS) constraints considered for VM migration are migration cost, migration time, resource usage and energy. Simulation of the proposed method and the comparison of the results obtained, with the traditional methods like Ant-Colony Optimization (ACO), Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) and Exponential Gravitational Search Algorithm (EGSA) is performed. The proposed method is found to achieve an optimum migration with a minimum energy at a rate of 0.26 and minimum migration cost at a rate of 0.015.
Extended Tully–Fisher relations using H i stacking

We present a new technique for the statistical evaluation of the Tully–Fisher relation (TFR) using spectral line stacking. This technique has the potential to extend TFR observations to lower masses and higher redshifts than possible through a galaxy-by-galaxy analysis. It further avoids the need for individual galaxy inclination measurements. To quantify the properties of stacked H I emission lines, we consider a simplistic model of galactic discs with analytically expressible line profiles. Using this model, we compare the widths of stacked profiles with those of individual galaxies. We then follow the same procedure using more realistic mock galaxies drawn from the S 3 -SAX model (a derivative of the Millennium simulation). Remarkably, when stacking the apparent H I lines of galaxies with similar absolute magnitude and random inclinations, the width of the stack is very similar to the width of the deprojected (= corrected for inclination) and dedispersed (= after removal of velocity dispersion) input lines. Therefore, the ratio between the widths of the stack and the deprojected/dedispersed input lines is approximately constant – about 0.93 – with very little dependence on the gas dispersion, galaxy mass, galaxy morphology and shape of the rotation curve. Finally, we apply our technique to construct a stacked TFR using H I Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS) data which already has a well-defined TFR based on individual detections. We obtain a B-band TFR with a slope of −8.5 ± 0.4 and a K-band relation with a slope of −11.7 ± 0.6 for the HIPASS data set which is consistent with the existing results.
How do evaporating thin films evolve? Unravelling phase-separation mechanisms during solvent-based fabrication of polymer blends

Solvent-based fabrication is a flexible and affordable approach to manufacture polymer thin films. The properties of products made from such films can be tailored by the internal organization (morphology) of the films. However, a precise knowledge of morphology evolution leading to the final film structure remains elusive, thus limiting morphology control to a trial and error approach. In particular, understanding when and where phases are formed, and how they evolve would provide rational guidelines for more rigorous control. Here, we identify four modes of phase formation and subsequent propagation within the thinning film during solvent-based fabrication. We unravel the origin and propagation characteristics of each of these modes. Finally, we construct a mode diagram that maps processing conditions with individual modes. The idea introduced here enables choosing processing conditions to tailor film morphology characteristics and paves the ground for a deeper understanding of morphology control with th.
Planning Net with ordination of propositions : an improvement to planning solvers with Petri Nets

The Planning Net is a formalization of the classical planning problem using Petri Nets, where pairs of conflicting actions are represented by four different order relation between these actions. In this paper we present the order relation of propositions, pairs of conflicting propositions that allows the inclusion of more information in the Planning Net. The planning problem represented on the Planning Net with ordination of propositions is translated into a SAT instance and solved by a modern SAT solver. We show the advantages with inclusion of the ordination of propositions and compare our experimental results with the original Planning Net and the Satplan.
Tracking Women’s Awareness of Heart Disease: An American Heart Association National Study

Background—Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in men and women in the United States, yet prior research has shown a lack of awareness of risk among women. The purpose of this study was to assess the contemporary awareness, knowledge, and perceptions related to CVD risk among American women and to evaluate trends since 1997, when the American Heart Association initiated a national campaign to improve awareness of CVD among women. Methods and Results—A telephone survey of a nationally representative random sample of women was conducted in June and July 2003, with an oversampling of black and Hispanic women; results were compared with those of similar surveys in 2000 and 1997. The present survey included 1024 respondents age ≥25 years; 68% were white, 12% black, 12% Hispanic, and 8% other ethnicities. Awareness, knowledge, and perceptions about heart disease were evaluated by use of a standard interviewer-assisted questionnaire. A shift in awareness of heart disease as the leading killer of women has occurred since 1997. In 2003, 46% of respondents spontaneously identified heart disease as the leading cause of death in women, up from 30% in 1997 (P <0.05) and 34% in 2000 (P <0.05). In contrast, the percentage of women citing cancer as leading cause of death has significantly decreased. Black, Hispanic, and younger women (<45 years old) had lower awareness of heart disease as their leading cause of death than did white and older women. Nearly all women reported comfort in discussing prevention with healthcare providers, but only 38% of women reported that their doctors had ever discussed heart disease with them. Conclusions—Awareness of CVD has increased, although a significant gap between perceived and actual risk of CVD remains. Educational interventions to improve awareness and knowledge are needed, particularly for minority and younger women.
The Role of Integrins in Human Embryo Implantation

Integrins are adhesion molecules present in endometrial, decidual, and extravillous cytotrophoblast (EVCT) cells. They participate in cell-cell adhesion as well as in adhesion between cells and components of the extracellular matrix, and they play an important role in the endometrial phenotype change that occurs during the secretory phase, the first stage of implantation. At the beginning of pregnancy, the change in integrin expression is synchronized with the trophoblast attachment (embryo-endometrium interactions with integrins αvβ3, α4β1, α6β1, and α7β1) and the embryo’s invasion of the decidua (integrins α6β4→α5β1→α1β1→α4β1 switch from proliferative to endovascular EVCT). Several diseases, including preeclampsia, intrauterine growth retardation caused by vascular problems and defective luteal phases, may be explained by anomalies in integrin patterns.
THE PERFORMANCE OF PIP-CASCADE CONTROLER IN HVAC SYSTEM

Primitive controllers used in the early version for HVAC systems, like the on-off (Bang-Bang) controller, are inefficient, inaccurate, unstable, and suffer from high-level mechanical wear. On the other hand, other controllers like PI and cascade controllers, overcome these disadvantages but when an offset response (inaccurate response) occurs, power consumption will increase. In order to acquire better performance in the central air-conditioning system, PIP-cascade control is investigated in this paper and compared to the traditional PI and PID, in simulation of experimental data. The output of the system is predicted through disturbances. Based on the mathematical model of air-conditioning space, the simulations in this paper have found that the PIP-cascade controller has the capability of self-adapting to system changes and results in faster response and better performance.
Polymer-induced phase separation in suspensions of bacteria

We study phase separation in suspensions of two unrelated species of rod-like bacteria, Escherichia coli and Sinorhizobium meliloti, induced by the addition of two different anionic polyelectrolytes, sodium polystyrene sulfonate or succinoglycan, the former being synthetic and the latter of natural origin. Comparison with the known behaviour of synthetic colloid-polymer mixtures and with simulations show that “depletion” (or, equivalently, “macromolecular crowding”) is the dominant mechanism: exclusion of the non-adsorbing polymer from the region between two neighbouring bacteria creates an unbalanced osmotic force pushing them together. The implications of our results for understanding phenomena such as biofilm formation are discussed.
Cancer Risk in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

There is an increased risk of cancer in both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. In 3121 patients with ulcerative colitis, 225 cases of cancer were diagnosed compared with 142.1 expected (standardized incidence ratio [SIR] 1.6, 95% CI 1.4 to 1.8), and in 1655 patients with Crohn's disease, 58 cases of cancer were detected compared with 47.1 expected (SIR 1.2, 95% CI 0.9 to 1.6). After excluding colorectal cancer the observed number of malignancies was very close to that expected for ulcerative colitis (SIR 1.0, 95% CI 0.9 to 1.2) and for Crohn's disease (SIR 1.1, 95% CI 0.8 to 1.5). Thus, the increased risk of cancer in inflammatory bowel disease is confined to colorectal cancer. In Crohn's disease 12 cases of colorectal cancer were observed (SIR 2.5, 95% CI 1.3 to 4.3). The increased risk was confined to those with colonic involvement and young age at diagnosis. In patients with colonic involvement and younger than age 30 years at diagnosis, the SIR was 20.9 (95% CI 6.8 to 48.7) versus 2.2 for those older than 30 years at diagnosis (95% CI 0.6 to 5.7). In ulcerative colitis 91 cases of colorectal cancer were observed with an SIR of 5.7 (95% CI 4.6 to 7.0). Extensive disease and young age at diagnosis were independent risk factors. Pancolitis at diagnosis resulted in an SIR of 14.8 (95% CI 11.4 to 18.9), 2.8 in left-sided colitis (95% CI 1.6 to 4.4) and 1.7 in proctitis (95% CI 0.8 to 3.2). There is great variation in the risk estimates in different studies worldwide. Different treatment strategies could be an explanation, a hypothesis that was substantiated in a study of 102 cases of colorectal cancer among patients with ulcerative colitis compared with 196 controls. Pharmacological therapy with sulfasalazine entailed a strong protective effect against colorectal cancer (relative risk of 0.34, 95% CI 0.190 to 0.62).
Coupling $q$-deformed dark energy to dark matter

We propose a novel coupled dark energy model which is assumed to occur as a -deformed scalar field and investigate whether it will provide an expanding universe phase. We consider the -deformed dark energy as coupled to dark matter inhomogeneities. We perform the phase-space analysis of the model by numerical methods and find the late-time accelerated attractor solutions. The attractor solutions imply that the coupled -deformed dark energy model is consistent with the conventional dark energy models satisfying an acceleration phase of universe. At the end, we compare the cosmological parameters of deformed and standard dark energy models and interpret the implications.
Chapter 2 Traction Power Generation with Tethered Wings

A tethered wing can be used in two different ways, to lift payload or to provide traction power. The latter is the basis of several innovative technical applications, such as kite-assisted ship propulsion and pumping-kite wind energy conversion. This chapter presents a theoretical analysis of traction power generation by a tethered wing, with the objective to establish the fundamental relationships between system and operational parameters on the one hand, and achievable mechanical power output on the other hand. In a fi rst step, it is assumed that the instantaneous fl ight state of the wing can be approximated by the steady equilibrium of aerodynamic and tether forces. The analysis considers controlled fl ight along an arbitrary predefi ned trajectory, distinguishing the cases of varying tether length with fi xed point anchoring and constant tether length with anchoring at a point moving in the ground plane. Theoretical results are compared with literature. In a second step, the analysis includes the effect of weight and centrifugal acceleration of the wing.
Teachers’ perspectives on the use of technology to teach Functions at lower and upper secondary

This study aims to understand the perceptions of lower and upper secondary age teachers of mathematics regarding the use of technology to teach functions. For that, a mixed methodology was adopted, and the perceptions of 129 teachers were collected through a questionnaire (quantitative section) and four teachers through an interview (qualitative section). The main conclusions point to similarities in teachers' perceptions, but also to some differences related to the level that they taught. Teachers show conviction about their knowledge on technology and about the potential of technology in what concerns their teaching and the students’ learning. However, they are not so clear about the best way to articulate technology and paper-and-pencil methods, nor about the use of technology in assessment.
OF CURRENT STATE OF EUROPEAN 3 PL MARKET AND ITS MAIN CHALLENGES

The practice of outsourcing logistics operations has grown significantly over the past few years. Outsourcing is a strong trend and has been for decades now in most industries. Companies try to simplify the structure of their organizations and focus on “core business”, leaving everything out that does not belong to that central part of their operations. By doing so, the number of companies participating in production and distribution set-ups increases and thus the number of external relationships between the companies grows. Outsourcing opens the door to resources not necessarily available in one’s own organisation – world-class services, products, processes and technology – without the need to invest in infrastructure.
Isolation and characterization of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria associated with medicinal plant

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are naturally occurring soil bacteria that aggressively colonize plant roots and benefit plants by several mechanisms like IAA production, siderophore production, phosphate solubilization, etc. Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms play an important role in supplementing phosphorus to the plants by several mechanisms like lowering of pH by acid production and ion chelation and thus benefit plant growth and development. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the phosphate solubilizing potential of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) isolated from Picrorhiza kurroa. Forty bacterial isolates were selected (by modified replica plating technique) as the representative of the total plated population from the rhizosphere soil and rhizome/roots of the Picrorhiza kurroa from two locations of Chamba district. All the bacterial isolates were able to grow simultaneously on nutrient agar, Pikovskaya’s, nitrogen free media and CAS media and selected for further screening for various plant growth promoting activities. Four phosphate solubilizing bacterial isolates exhibited very good production of chitinase enzyme with a zone size of 30-45mm.Maximum IAA production of 30. 00μg/ml was exhibited by PkR(34)* and PkR(7b)*. The isolate Pk12(b) produced maximum per cent siderophore unit ( 27.21%). After screening, five isolates (PkR(7a)*,Pk7(B),Pk14(b), Pk12(d) and PC4) were selected for their ability to solubilize tricalcium phosphate(TCP). Out of the five isolates, isolate PkR(7a)* showed maximum Psolubilization of 320.00 mg/l at after 72 h of incubation at 35 0C in PVK broth. The isolate PkR(7a)* was identified to be Bacillus subtilis according to sequence analysis of 16S rDNA.
Examination of the Optimized Conditions for the Conversion of NO X Pollution in DBD Plasma Reactor

Since NOx family, one of the most important causes of air pollution, is the primary source of acid rains, ozone layer depletion, and breathing disorders, mitigation of these pollutants is now a global concern. In the off-gases of internal combustion engines running with oxygen excess, non-thermal plasmas (NTPs) have an oxidative potential, which results in an effective conversion of NO to NO2. This paper aims at studying the methods of mitigating and eliminating NOx in an atmospheric and non-thermal condition by means of plasma reactors. It examines some key parameters such as temperature, space velocity, voltage, and propane/NOx mole ratio. The results showed that, the space velocity in the 11500-2300 h -1 domain did not show any significant results on the NOx conversion. Our findings also revealed that the optimal conditions for conversion of NO into N2, O2, and NO2 are temperature (180 ◦ C), voltage (10 kV), and equal mole ratio of propane in NOx. In this condition, the optimal conversion efficiency of 78% and the standard deviation of 12% were obtained. The optimal temperature, voltage, and the mole ratio of propane in NOx conversion to N2 and O2. (efficiency=53% ) are 180 ◦ C, 5 kV, and 0.3 respectively. Plasma reactor acts as primery treatment in the direct mitigation of NOx into neutral and non-poisonous molecules of O2 and N2.
Interactive comment on “Projections of air pollutant emissions and its impacts on regional air quality in China in 2020” by J. Xing et al

Reply: The base year emission inventory was validated through comparison of a regional air quality model (CMAQ) simulations with NO2 column retrieved from OMI, SO2 column retrieved from SCIAMACHY, AOD retrieved from MODIS, and ground observations of SO2, NO2, PM10, PM2.5 and its components. Model simulations were performed for year 2005. The model generally reproduces both spatial distribution and seasonal variation of tropospheric NO2 and SO2 column densities and AOD in China that have been observed by OMI, SCIAMACHY, and MODIS. The correlation coefficients between model simulated and satellite observed NO2 column densities, SO2 column densities and AOD over China are 0.85, 0.89 and 0.79, and the NMBs are 11%, -27%, and -27% respectively, which are comparable with the errors from satellite retrievals. Surface concentrations of NO2, SO2, and PM10 given by CMAQ model are also comparable with those observed in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, with NMB ranging from 1%∼18%, -3%∼-25%, and -12%∼18%, respectively. The results suggest that the anthropogenic emissions of SO2, NOx, and PM10 used in this study are in line with both satellite and ground observations therefore are of acceptable accuracy.
The Economics of Administering Import Quotas with Licenses‐On‐Demand in Agriculture

A Nash equilibrium is determined for licenses-on-demand import quotas where licenses are allocated on a prorated basis. Inefficiency is incurred because licenses are allocated to high-cost firms. The ability to overbid exacerbates the inefficiency due to proportionate reductions in licenses. Quota expansion causes high-cost firms to decrease their bids but reduces inefficiency. The entry of a new firm causes all incumbent firms to increase bids or bid the quota. Not penalizing firms for the non-use of licenses increases inefficiency. The inefficiency impacts of tariff reductions, license fees, limits per firm, and imperfect information are also addressed.