Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Particle and Chemical Emissions from 3D Printers and Their Potential Health Impacts

Fused filament fabrication 3D printers, which are commonly used in non-industrial indoor environments, emit gases and particles that may deteriorate indoor air quality, and adversely impact human health. This study characterized particle and chemical emissions from various 3D printers using an established test method and controlled environmental chamber. High concentrations of ultrafine particles, and numerous hazardous volatile organic compounds were observed during printing. The emissions are due to heating of the filament and varied depending on print conditions and filament and printer properties. Particle toxicity was assessed using various methods, and exposure concentrations were estimated using a model.
Profitability, Asset Investment, and Aggregate Stock Returns

The book-to-market ratio (B/M), profitability, and asset investment exhibit robust joint predictive power for the equity premium, generating out-of-sample Rs of 7%, 20%, and 29%, respectively, in one-quarter-, one-year-, and two-year-ahead forecasts. Since profitability and investment are positively correlated with each other yet predict future returns in opposite directions, while B/M and profitability are negatively correlated with each other yet predict future returns in the same direction, the variables’ joint predictive power is much higher than the sum of their standalone counterparts. Just as Fama and French (2006, 2015, 2016) and Hou, Xue, and Zhang (2014, 2015, 2017) show that profitable firms who invest conservatively are associated with high future alphas in the cross section, we find that high aggregate profits and low asset growth precede high aggregate stock returns in the time series. We also find that short-term (long-term) asset growth predicts one-year-ahead (two-year-ahead) stock returns— consistent with firms’ investment decisions being more responsive to changes in discount rates that correspond to the investment’s time horizon. To explain this pattern from a behavioral perspective requires two types of sentiment—one that primarily influences short-term investment and another that affects long-term investment only.
The second syzygy of the trivial $G$-module, and an equivariant main conjecture

For a finite abelian $p$-extension $K/k$ of totally real fields and the cyclotomic $\mathbb{Z}_{p}$-extension $K_{\infty}/K$, we prove a strong version of an equivariant Iwasawa main conjecture by determining completely the Fitting ideal over $\mathbb{Z}_{p}[[\mathop{\rm Gal}\nolimits(K_{\infty}/k)]]$ of the classical Iwasawa module $X_{K_{\infty},S}$, which is the Galois group of the maximal pro-$p$ abelian $S$-ramified extension of $K_{\infty}$, where $S$ contains all ramified primes in $K_{\infty}/k$. To do this, we prove a conjecture which was proposed in a previous paper by the first and second author, concerning the minors of a relation matrix for the second syzygy module of the trivial module $\mathbb{Z}$ over a suitable group ring.
A 12-hour comprehensive nutrition care benefits blood glucose level and weight gain and improves outcomes in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with adverse outcomes and neonatal complications. Its prevalence has been rapidly increasing over the last decade; it is estimated that one in six pregnant women are diagnosed with GDM. Thus, an effective management approach is necessary for women with GDM. This study investigated the effect of a 12-h comprehensive nutrition care (12h-HNC) on the metabolism and outcomes of pregnant women with GDM and neonatal birth weight and hypoglycemia. METHODS The study included 312 pregnant women with GDM at 24-28 weeks of gestation who were treated in our department from January 2014 to December 2016. They were randomly assigned to receive a 12h-HNC (12h-HNC group, n=158) or traditional one-time nutrition guidance (control group, n=154). Maternal blood glucose levels and weight gain, as well as maternal and neonatal outcomes were evaluated and compared between the groups. RESULTS Compared to those in the control group, patients in the 12h-HNC group had significantly lower 2-h postprandial glucose levels (P<0.05), lower average weight increase (P<0.05), and better outcomes (P<0.05). Neonatal birth weight and incidence of macrosomia were significantly lower in the 12h-HNC group. The incidence of cesarean section was similar in the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS The 12h-HNC enabled better blood glucose and weight increase control, improving both maternal and neonatal outcomes in women with GDM. This comprehensive nutrition intervention may achieve favorable effects in clinical practice.
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The inherent factors influencing the shear strength of particulate materials are also believed to influence the flow rate through a hopper. These inherent particle characteristics include particle size, particle size distribution, particle shape, angularity, hardness, and surface roughness. To determine the effect of inherent particle characteristics on flow rate and pluviated void ratio, a wide range of materials were tested. These materials ranged from manufactured sands and glass beads to natural sands. Determination of particle size, particle size distribution, and hardness was achieved by conducting conventional tests such as sieve analyses and specific gravity tests. Quantification of the shape and angularity parameter is more difficult due to the non-availability of any standard techniques. To achieve the objective of quantifying shape and angularity, a new technique was developed utilizing the image analyzer. Two shape parameters, namely Shape Factor and Angularity Factor were determined for various materials. Shape and Angularity Factor were correlated with flow rate as well as the pluviated void ratio. Overall, the results indicate that as shape and angularity of particles increase, the flow rate decreases and pluviated void ratio increase. A good correlation between drained shear strength properties and the flow rates measured in the cone was also found to exist. Therefore, index tests such as flow rate through a flow cone (hopper) can be used to estimate the drained monotonic strength of particulate materials. Numerical simulation of the index test using a two-dimensional distinct element program has also been conducted to study the influence of interparticle friction and wall friction on the flow rate. I N T R O D U C T I O N The behaviour of particulate materials is influenced by the inherent characteristics of the material namely particle size, size distribution, shape, angularity, surface roughness, and specific gravity (1). At the interparticle level, the influence of mean grain size, size distribution, and shape of particles on the angle of internal friction and the dilatancy behaviour of granular assemblies has been long recognized (2,3). In recent years, the development of better methods to characterize inherent particle properties has also been motivated by the need to improve particle modelling in Discrete Element Method (DEM) applications. Some of these inherent characteristics can be quantified using standard techniques, such as the ASTM test method for particle-size analysis of soils (D 422) and ASTM test method for specific gravity of soils (D 854). It is more difficult to define particle shape, angularity and surface roughness (3,4,5). In this paper, a new methodology to quantify shape and angularity is presented. In addition, the influence of shape and angularity on hopper flow rate is studied.
Feature Extraction Using Hexagonal Pixel and Scale Invariant Feature Transform in Ornamental Letter Recognition

: Ornamental letters can be defined as letter characters that are decorated through the addition of symbolic ornaments that might affect the meaning of the word. The accuracy of the recognition of ornamental letters generally decreased due to various things, such as unrecognized type of letters due to lack of detected keypoints, keypoint’s position errors on the remaining letter ornament, different letter character forms from the data and the letter that is distorted by scale and rotation. The problem can be solved using Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) method combined with Hexagonal Pixel. SIFT method can produce features that are not affected by scale, translation, or rotation changes in objects. While the Hexagonal Pixel method is performed by changing the shape of pixels from square to hexagonal. The combination of SIFT and Hexagonal Pixel method proved that the number of keypoints increased by 50%, and the accuracy increased by 10%, comparing to the results using the SIFT basic method.
Developing temporal hydroecological perspectives to inform stewardship of a northern floodplain landscape subject to multiple stressors: paleolimnological investigations of the Peace – Athabasca Delta

: Effective stewardship of ecologically-significant floodplain landscapes requires knowledge of the relative roles of natural processes and upstream human activities on environmental flows. In these landscapes, hydroecological conditions that develop from potentially competing drivers, such as climate change and industrial development, tend to be expressed at spatial and temporal scales that are often inadequately captured by existing monitoring datasets. Consequently, perceived cause – effect relations may be misunderstood, conflict can escalate among stakeholders, and effectiveness of surveillance sys-tems, policies, and governance may be impaired. This is the context for the Peace – Athabasca Delta (PAD), an internationally-recognized water-rich floodplain landscape located in northern Alberta (Canada) that has been subject to multiple stressors. Here we synthesize evidence from paleolimnological records that have fostered an unparalled window into the natural history of this landscape. Over the past 12 years, we have assembled numerous decadal- to multicentennial-long records of hydrological and ecological variability, including an exceptionally detailed chronicle of Peace River flood frequency and magnitude spanning ~600 years. These efforts recently culminated in a 5200-year reconstruction of Lake Athabasca water-level history. Results have provided the foundation to identify drivers of landscape change and generate insight into the delta ’ s dynamic and ongoing evolution. Contrary to widespread perceptions that hydroelectric regulation of the Peace River since the late 1960s has reduced the frequency of ice-jam floods and lowered floodplain lake-water levels, results indicate that climate variability exerts the overwhelming influence on the delivery of water to the PAD. We show that impending climate-driven freshwater scarcity of a scale unprecedented in our collective societal memory now poses a significant threat to the ecological integrity of this world-renowned landscape and a major challenge to water resource managers. Also, we propose a hydroecological monitoring program, built upon the knowledge gained from our extensive process studies and paleoenvironmental research, to inform effective ongoing stewardship of the delta.
Digital Watermarking: Methods to Protect Digital Goods against Copyright Infringement as an Assumption for a Successful E-Business Integration

Multimedia assets have to be marked steganographically to protect the rights of the owner. Digital watermarks are inserted as a bit sample or digital signal into the data with an embedding algorithm using a secret key. The embedded information is hidden (in low-value bits or least significant bits of picture pixels, or in frequency space) and connected inseparably with the data. For the optimal application of watermark technology a trade-off has to be made between competing criteria such as robustness, non-perceptibility, non-detectability
State-machine replication for planet-scale systems

Online applications now routinely replicate their data at multiple sites around the world. In this paper we present Atlas, the first state-machine replication protocol tailored for such planet-scale systems. Atlas does not rely on a distinguished leader, so clients enjoy the same quality of service independently of their geographical locations. Furthermore, client-perceived latency improves as we add sites closer to clients. To achieve this, Atlas minimizes the size of its quorums using an observation that concurrent data center failures are rare. It also processes a high percentage of accesses in a single round trip, even when these conflict. We experimentally demonstrate that Atlas consistently outperforms state-of-the-art protocols in planet-scale scenarios. In particular, Atlas is up to two times faster than Flexible Paxos with identical failure assumptions, and more than doubles the performance of Egalitarian Paxos in the YCSB benchmark.
Design of Gamma Ray Detectors and Associated Readout Electronics for a Time Reversal Experiment

The TRIUMF Neutral Atom Trap (TRINAT) experiment looks at beta decay in radioactive isotopes of alkali metals (Rb and K) and searches for time-reversal symmetry violations on MeV scales. Detection is accomplished by measuring the momenta of three products of the decay – the beta particle, the gamma ray, and the recoiling nucleus. Time reversal is simulated conceptually by flipping the momenta of the three decay products, then smoothly rotating the result to target specific detectors. Asymmetries are present if, when the momenta are flipped, the number of events in the gamma detector changes. Such an observable is not sensitive to spin so, if detected, would point toward new physics different from contributions to the neutron electric dipole moment. Various scintillating materials were tested for their energy resolution, light output, and timing properties while a readout circuit was designed. Two bismuth germanate (BGO) crystals with silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout were then tested, calibrated, and mounted symmetrically on the atom trap. Background The excess of matter relative to antimatter points to an asymmetry in baryon generation in the early universe. Sakharov [1] showed that violation of charge-parity symmetry (equivalent to time reversal if CPT is conserved) may result in such an imbalance. The TRINAT experiment looks for a time-reversal violating (TRV) asymmetry in the radiative β decays of K and Rb. This requires determining the momenta of three products of the decay: the recoiling nucleus, the beta particle, and the radiating gamma ray. Such TRV correlations have been searched for in studies of meson decay but never in the first generation of particles [2]. My work this summer focused on constructing and calibrating a pair of detectors to determine the energy spectrum of the gamma ray which is produced in a small fraction (roughly 3% [3]) of decays of Rb. Time reversal modeled by momentum flips The idea of time reversal is simple mathematically: one switches the sign on time, or formally t 7→ −t If we apply such a reversal to momentum, we see that p = m dr dt 7→ m dr d(−t) = −m dt = −p Thus, momentum is a quantity which changes sign when the time reversal operator acts upon it. Now, consider the triple product of the three momenta (the recoiling nucleus, the beta particle, and the gamma ray) measured in the experiment: precoil · (pβ × pγ)
Application of Marginal Structural Models with Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting in Electronic Health Records to Investigate the Benefits and Risks of First Line Type II Diabetes Treatments.

Background: Electronic healthcare records (EHRs) provide opportunities to estimate the effects of type two diabetes (T2DM) treatments on outcomes such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. Marginal structural models (MSMs) with inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTW) can correctly estimate the causal effect of time-varying treatment in the presence of time-dependent confounders such as HbA1c. Dynamic MSMs can be used to compare dynamic treatment strategies. This thesis applies weighted MSMs and dynamic MSMs to explore risks and benefits of early-stage T2DM treatments, and considers the practicalities/impact of using these models in a complex clinical setting with a challenging data source. Methods and Findings: A cohort of patients with newly diagnosed T2DM was identified from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. MSMs with IPTW were used to estimate the causal effect of metformin monotherapy on cancer risk, and the effects of metformin and sulfonylurea monotherapies on risks of MI, stroke, all-cause mortality, and HbA1c trajectory. Dynamic MSMs were implemented to compare HbA1c thresholds for treatment initiation on risks of MI, stroke, all-cause mortality (ACM) and glucose control. No association was found between metformin use and cancer risk. Metformin and sulfonylureas led to better HbA1c control than diet only, as expected, and there was some evidence of reduced MI risk with long-term metformin use. Changes in estimates between standard models and weighted models were generally in the expected direction given hypothesised time-dependent confounding. For stroke and ACM, results were less conclusive, with some suggestions of residual confounding. Higher HbA1c thresholds for treatment initiation reduced the likelihood of reaching target HbA1c, and there was a suggestion that higher initiation thresholds increased MI risk. Conclusions: Fitting weighted MSMs and dynamic MSMs was feasible using routine primary care data. The models appeared to work well in controlling for strong time-dependent confounding with short-term outcomes; results for longer-term outcomes were less conclusive.
FUSION OF MACROPHAGES: FORMATION OF FOREIGN BODY GIANT CELLS IS STIFFNESS DEPENDENT, IRRESPECTIVE OF IL4/IL13 STIMULATION

Macrophage fusion and subsequent foreign body cell (FBGC) formation, important phenomena in the foreign body reaction towards implanted biomaterials, are not well understood. By using fibronectin-coated polyacryalamide hydrogels (PAAMs) of different stiffness (4-92 kPa) we investigated for the first time whether stiffness is involved in the formation of FBGC. Human CD14+ monocytes pre-stimulated with M-CSF for 3 days on 4, 12, 26 and 92 kPa PAAMs showed already small multinucleated cells on 12 and 26 kPa hydrogels, whereas only mononucleated macrophages were observed at lower (4 kPa) and higher (92 kPa) stiffness. Macrophages that were subsequently left unstimulated or stimulated with IL4/IL13 for 24 h, showed large FBGC on 12 kPa and 26 kPa hydrogels, whereas only small multinucleated cells were seen on 92 kPa hydrogels and no multinucleated cells on 4 kPa hydrogels. IL4/IL13 had only a promoting role: at 12 kPa gels FBGC with more nuclei were observed, whereas similar amounts of FBGC and nuclei per giant cell were observed at 26 kPa gels. We have measured in addition some of the mediators that have been reported to be important in macrophage fusion: CD36, CD44, dendritic cell-specific transmembrane protein DCSTAMP, lymphocyte co-stimulator B7H1, E-cadherin, P2X7 receptor, DNAX activation protein 12, and the matrix metalloproteinases 9 and 14. No relationship was found between FBGC frequencies and the level of these mediators. In conclusion, the data show that stiffness plays an important role in the formation of FBGC, and that our knowledge on fusion-mediators is still fragmentary.
AS AN INTERVENING VARIABLE JOB SATISFACTION AND ORGANIZATION COMMITMENT TO TURN OVER REWARD EMPLOYEES IN ISLAMIC BANKING IN THE BATAM, INDONESIA

The high rate of employee turnover leads to adverse effects to an organization. Such problem is Likely generating instability and uncertainty towards employment condition and human resources cost rise in forms of training invested in them, recruitment and newly built training programs. High employee turnover, in addition, results in organizational ineffectiveness Also Because It loses experienced employees as well as spends many times in training new, inexperienced employees. This study aims to analyze the effect of organizational commitment, turnover intention to reward through work satisfaction variables and to analyze the most effective variables on turnover intention. According to the analysis, it is concluded as the followings: organizational commitment has effect on work satisfaction, reward has effects on work satisfaction, Keyword: Organizational Commitment, Reward, Work Satisfaction, Intention to Turn Over
A Risk-Neutral Consumer and His Coherent Decisions Under Uncertainty: A Methodological Analysis

If we study the expected utility function then we deal with a uniﬁed approach to an integrated formulation of decision theory in its two subjective components: utility and probability. We decompose the expected utility function inside of an m-dimensional linear space after decomposing a contingent consumption plan viewed as a univariate random quantity. We propose a condition of coherence compatible with all possible attitudes in the face of risk of a consumer. It is a geometric condition of coherence. In particular, we consider a risk-neutral consumer and his coherent decisions under uncertainty. The right closed structure in order to deal with utility and probability is a linear space in which we study coherent decisions under uncertainty having as their goal the maximization of the prevision of the utility associated with a contingent consumption bundle.
Efficient Forest Fire Detection System Based on Data Fusion Applied in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper we propose an intelligent hybrid model for reliable and fast fire detection applied in Wireless Sensor Network platform. This model discusses a data fusion strategy hybridized with an intelligent information routing system based on a clustering method of sensor nodes located in the vicinity of the event. The transfer of the alert message to the base station is performed through the elected sensor nodes CH and IN. The alert message is transferred to notify BS in two successive levels of danger; first, the detection of the appearance of fire; second, the danger spread. The data fusion side is proposed in a hierarchical manner; the first step makes it possible to affirm the first appearance of fire detected by a first sensor node through a reasoning performed by the KNN classifier. The second is conditioned by the previous step, it allows in the positive case to perform an overall heterogeneous data fusion for a defined area where, in its first-level processing, data sorting operation are carried out using the K-means clustering. This processing allows ignoring unnecessary and incorrect data that influences the reliability of the detection. The magnitude of the event propagation is estimated in the second level using the Fuzzy Inference System in the final fusion center. This model shows, through its simulation experiments, a robustness of performance in terms of reliability of detection, rapidity of triggering of the alert, elimination of useless and redundant information, and will also guarantee an efficient energy consumption of the network which will lead to a remarkable extension of its lifetime.