Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thermal Drying of Malaysian Sewage Sludge

Abstract –Sewage sludge or biosolids is a type of solid waste that has been left after wastewater is treated in a domestic wastewater treatment facility. The most common way of sludge disposal is to dispose them on the land, sea or air. However, these methods are not environmentally-friendly, costly and time consuming, which requires expertise and knowledge. An ideal way to manage sewage sludge is to convert the sludge into energy. Conversion of this waste material into solid fuel can be an effective solution, as it does not only contribute as an energy source, but also solves environmental issues related to sewage sludge disposal. The main problem for sewage sludge is the high moisture content, which is higher than 80%. In order to convert the waste into useful energy, the moisture content of the sludge needs to reduce to an acceptable level. The aim of this study is to develop a horizontal indirect dryer that can be effectively used to dry sewage sludge and convert it into solid fuel in briquette form. A new design of thermal dryer was developed, which could dry a huge volume of sludge in a short time with less energy consumption. In this study, 240kW, 200kW, 160kW, 120kW and 80 kW of power provided by the burner were used to investigate the effect of heat on the final moisture content of sewage sludge. The results show that the burner must provide more than 200kW of power in order to dry the sewage sludge to less than 20% of moisture content. Copyright © 2014 Penerbit Akademia Baru All rights reserved.
APLICANDO O MÉTODO MULTIDIMENSIONAL IN-DEPTH LONG-TERM CASE STUDIES PARA AVALIAR VISUALIZAÇÃO DE INFORMAÇÕES

A visualizacao de dados multidimensionais tem o potencial de auxiliar na analise e compreensao de grandes volumes de dados atraves da deteccao de padroes, agrupamentos e tendencias, que nao sao obvios, quando se utilizam formas nao graficas de apresentacao. No desenvolvimento de uma tecnica de visualizacao, as tarefas que um usuario precisa desempenhar durante sua utilizacao devem guiar tanto a escolha das metaforas de visualizacao quanto os recursos de interacao implementados pela tecnica. Testes de usabilidade de tecnicas de visualizacao tambem necessitam de uma definicao clara das tarefas do usuario. A identificacao e o entendimento dessas tarefas e uma questao recente de pesquisa na area de visualizacao de informacoes, e alguns trabalhos tem proposto taxonomias para organiza-las. O presente trabalho relata e compara os resultados de estudos de caso conduzidos com o metodo Multidimensional In-depth Long-term Case studies (MILCs). Os estudos de caso foram executados para classificar as tarefas de visualizacao em diferentes niveis de abstracao, bem como, estabelecer um metodo de avaliacao de usabilidade para ferramentas de visualizacao baseado no MILCs. Palavras-chave: Visualizacao de informacoes. Taxonomia de tarefas. Avaliacao de usabilidade.
Prediction of skin penetration using artificial neural network (ANN) modeling.

Artificial neural network (ANN) analysis was used to predict the skin permeability of selected xenobiotics. Permeability coefficients (log k(p)) were obtained from various literature sources. A previously reported equation, which was shown to be useful in the prediction of skin permeability, uses the partial charges of the penetrants, their molecular weight, and their calculated octanol water partition coefficient (log K(oct)). The equation was used to predict the skin permeability for the set of 40 compounds (r(2) = 0.672). A successful ANN was developed and the ANN produced log k(p) values that correlated well with the experimental ones(r(2) = 0.997). The penetration properties of a selection of compounds through human skin that have not been previously investigated, etodolac, famotidine, nimesulide, nizatidine, ranitidine, were investigated. Their permeability coefficients were determined. It was then possible to compare the experimental data with that predicted using the partial charge equation and the trained ANN. ANN modeling for predicting skin permeability was found to be useful for predicting skin permeability coefficients of compounds. In conclusion, the developed and described ANN model in this publication does not require any experimental parameters; it could potentially provide useful and precise prediction of skin penetration for new drugs or toxic penetrants.
Genetic Defects

What is a genetic defect? Chromosomes inherited from parents determine an animal's genetic make-up. Chromosomes come in pairs; one chromosome from each pair is inherited from an individual’s sire and the other chromosome is inherited from its dam. There are thousands of genes on each chromosome. Genes are the basic units of inheritance and they comprise distinct sequences of DNA (A’s, T’s, C’s and G’s) that contain all of the instructions for making proteins. It is common for the DNA sequence that makes up a gene or “locus” to differ between individuals. These alternative DNA sequences or forms of a gene are called alleles, and they can result in differences in the amount or sequence of protein being produced by that gene among different individual animals. A single nucleotide polymorphism, or SNP (pronounced “snip”), occurs when alleles differ from each other by the sequence of only a single nucleotide base pair (e.g. one individual has a G and another has a T at a particular position in the gene as shown in Figure 1). However, when the SNP does produce an allele that can cause a phenotypic difference between individuals this variation provides the basis for selection programs and genetic improvement. Mutations are not always associated with decreased fitness, and in fact mutations can have positive effects and are the driving force of adaptive evolution. Mutations are a relatively common occurrence, and it has been estimated that the average human carries approximately 1,000 detrimental SNP mutations.
Modeling and simulation of a capacitive micro-accelerometer system

Capacitive Micro-Accelerometer digital feedback system was developed using the theory of second-order Σ-Δ modulator. The second-order mechanical gauge outfit behaves as two integrators in second-order Σ-Δ modulator and the number of bits of the quantizer is 1 bit. Continuous-time model of the gauge outfit was transformed to discrete-time model based on the IIR theory and the quantizer linear model was established using the LMS arithmetic. Therefore the quasi-linear discrete model was derived. The simulation results shown that the micro-accelerometer system was a low pass system and it had linear phase characteristic approximately in the low frequency band. The simulation results also displayed that the second order noise shaping was performed in the system which made the noise transfer to higher frequency band. Finally the accelerometer system was simulated with the sine signal input, and the results validated that the output and the input are consistent.
Antisense rescues babies from killer disease.

Spinal muscular atrophy, the leading inherited killer of children, has forced generations of parents to watch their kids become progressively weaker and, in severe cases, die by about their second birthdays. The recessively inherited disease inexorably destroys the motor neurons of the spinal cord and brain stem, hobbling muscle movement, including breathing. But now, building on a deep understanding of the biology of the disease, biologists have produced a breakthrough drug that is on the brink of regulatory approval. Nusinersen is an antisense therapy that restores cells9 ability to make a protein that is vital to the survival of motor neurons and that is largely absent in children with the disease, who carry a mutated form of the key gene that produces this protein. Two recent, late-stage clinical trials were stopped because nusinersen, developed by Ionis of Carlsbad, California, and now licensed to Biogen of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was so effective in restoring motor function in children and babies that it was deemed unethical to deny the drug to children in the placebo arms of the trials. Neuroscientists are optimistic that the success of nusinersen may portend similar positive results for antisense therapies now being developed to fight other genetically linked nervous system diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Huntington disease.
Krill Herd Optimization for Energy Efficient Protocol with Reliable Routing in MANET

The utilization of Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs)is done as a sector of several applications like defense application, surroundingobserving, security,traffic, modern detecting, computing framework security,smart homes etc.Here the energy is an significant issue since nodes are not replaced and/or rechargedfrequently and also the MANETs comprises minimal power lightweight nodes. The scaring assets of node are energy in all MANET utilization. It extracts high energy while doing transmissions plus processing. Routing in MANETs is a promising task and enormous amount of attentiveness has been received from the researches. The purpose of this paper is, preventing the malicious nodes from changingcluster heads (CHs) and evading the terminal node failures. The suggesteddesign method is illustrated in stages mentioned below; first every node energy value is computed. Selecting optimal cluster head is on energy values basis by utilizing krill herd algorithm. Neighboring nodes with single hop distance are grouped by the heads of optimal cluster. After generating the clusters, for the data transmission between the nodes routing is executed. In the routing process, for restricting the failures dependability is assessed and this provides result in reliable routing. The simulationresults indicate that our suggested one is very efficient comparing with prevailing methods.
Effect of diet containing sesame seed on epididymal histology of adult rat

Sesamin is a major lignan constituent of sesame seed and considered as a key factor in a number of beneficial effects on human health. Sesame leaves intake improve and increase epididymal spermatocytes reserve in adult male sprague dawle y rat. The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of contain sesame seed on epididymis histologhical structure. Thirty adu lt male rats were divided into two groups of 15 rats each. The regimen group received diet containing 30% sesame seed, while the contro l group received diet along 12 weeks. The right epididymis were removed and minced into several pieces on a specimen bottle containing normal saline for some few minutes to allow the sperms to become motile and swim out and sperm parameters were analyzed. Left epididym is were divided into three sections and fixed into bouin,s solution for further investigation. Serum FSH and LH concentration were estimated by ELISA technique, Testosterone concentration was done by using Chemo-Luminance method. The body weight gained during the treatment period did not differ significantly among groups. The mean epididymal sperm motility and count of the experimental gr oup was significantly higher than control group. LH levels significantly increased in experimental group compared to controls but s ignificant changes in FSH and testosterone levels were not observed in both groups. The results obtained showed that the mean epididymal diameter of the tubular, lumen and epithelium in three parts were not significant in two groups. It can be concluded that sesam e seed improves sperm parameters (motility and count) and also can increase LH. But diet contains sesame seed did not affect on epidid ymal tissue and body weight.
Social gradient in initiation and transition to daily use of tobacco and cannabis during adolescence: a retrospective cohort study.

AIMS This study explores whether the family socio-economic status (F-SES) and school situation could have an impact on tobacco and cannabis initiation and transition to daily use during adolescence. DESIGN AND SETTING A French cross-sectional nation-wide survey conducted in 2005 containing retrospective data. PARTICIPANTS French teenagers aged 17 (n = 29 393). MEASUREMENT The F-SES was defined by the highest occupational category of either parent, with seven categories ranging from unemployed/inactive to managers/professionals. Ages at repeat school years, at leaving school, at the first episode of drunkenness and at initiation of illicit drug use were used to model tobacco and cannabis initiation and transition to daily use with time-discrete logistic regressions. FINDINGS The risk for tobacco initiation was almost equally distributed across F-SES groups, but the risk of a progression to daily use was higher in every F-SES category compared to managers/professionals [odds ratio (OR) from 1.17 to 1.90]. Compared to managers/professionals, risk of cannabis initiation was lower in all F-SES categories (OR from 0.63 to 0.87), but all categories except farmers were at increased risk of transition to daily use: the OR range between 1.29 (intermediate) and 1.98 (unemployed/inactive). Repeating school years and leaving school predicted daily use of tobacco (OR = 2.00 and 2.37) and cannabis (4.58 and 2.07). CONCLUSIONS Adolescents from the highest family socio-economic status categories are at risk for tobacco and cannabis experimentation but are less prone to engage in daily use. Psychological and social mechanisms that inhibit transition to daily use should be investigated, including school attainment and performance.
Refinamento da segmentação do ventrículo cardíaco esquerdo em imagens de ressonância magnética baseado em simulated annealing

Neste trabalho apresentamos uma metodologia para o refinamento de segmentacoes 2D de imagens de ressonância magnetica. Os algoritmos implementados partem de uma segmentacao inicial e, atraves de inclusoes e exclusoes de pixels na borda da segmentacao ativa, obtem asegmentacao desejada. A cada passo dos algoritmos, duas segmentacoes estao disponiveis: uma segmentacao atual e uma candidata. A escolha de uma delas e feita de acordo com criterios deterministicos (refinamento por tecnica hibrida) ou estocasticos (refinamento utilizando simulated annealing), mediante a minimizacao de uma funcao de energia. Esta funcao e composta por termos que medem o constraste na borda, a variância da intensidade do sinal e a forma. A metodologia foi avaliada sobre phantoms numericos e aplicada com sucesso em imagens de ressonância magnetica. Esta metodologia pode ser facilmente estandida para outas modalidades de imagens.
Integration of Hardware in the Loop with Brake Pedal Robot and Control the System via dSpace

A highly increasing demand for using Hardware in the Loop is significant in automotive field and using HIL is increasing. This study shows the development of a brake pedal robot integration with Hardware in the Loop (HIL). The aim is to get the connection between brake pedal robot and HIL via Profibus successfully. Success will be defined by evaluation of the pedal robot control via control desk (dSPACE). To get the connection between dSPACE and brake pedal robot, a full SIMULINK model has been created. As a result, the brake pedal robot control by using dSPACE will represent. Force and position control can be achieved by installing the load cell and LVDT on the pedal. In this study, with help of control desk (dSPACE), the analysis on each parameters of PID controller will discuss and the best values for the parameters will demonstrate.
Molecular modelling and docking studies on heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitors

An adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP)-dependent molecular chaperone heat shock protein (Hsp90) is of current interest as a potential anticancer drug target. It has several oncogenic client proteins involved in signal transduction, cell cycle regulation and apoptosis. In order to identify essential chemical functional features for Hsp90 inhibition, a pharmacophore model consisting of one hydrogen bond donor, two hydrogen bond acceptor lipid and one hydrophobic feature has been developed using Hypogen (Catalyst 2.0 software) on a total set of 103 inhibitors consisting of 16 and 87 compounds in the training and the test set, respectively. The model shows good correlation for the training (r 2= 0.887) and the test set ( = 0.692). In view of the X-ray data structure of Hsp90, GOLD 3.2 docking software was used to dock the 16 training set compounds. A good correlation (r 2= 0.699) was observed between the experimental biological activity and the top-ranked Goldscore. The analysis of conserved patterns across the Hsp90 family, using the human Hsp90 X-ray structure as an alignment template, led to the identification of important amino acids involved in the ligand-binding interactions, which were found to be similar to those observed in docking studies. Hence, the best-generated pharmacophore model can be used for designing new Hsp90 inhibitors.
Evaluation of computer‐aided instruction in the medical gross anatomy curriculum

A two‐year study was conducted to provide summative evaluations of web‐based computer‐aided instruction (CAI) specifically designed to supplement the laboratory dissections in the medical human anatomy course. Utilization of CAI was analyzed using server statistics, student surveys and network login tables. There was a significant increase in server requests for CAI over the period of the course in both years of the study. In general, student surveys corresponded with the login data for individual students, although several discrepancies showed limitations of the respective methodologies. When course examination scores were compared to the number of CAI logins for individual students, there were statistically significant direct correlations between exam grades and frequency of CAI use. Our findings illustrate the value of combining server statistics with user surveys for evaluations of CAI as an effective supplement for student learning in the anatomy curriculum. Clin. Anat. 17:73–78, 2004. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Challenges in multi-hop networks

Wireless multi-hop networks have generated a lot of interest in the recent past due to their many potential applications. Examples of such networks are sensor, ad hoc, and mesh networks. These networks bring a lot of new challenges; some are linked to the wireless physical layer, some to the end-devices, and some to the multi-hop characteristic. A wireless channel is usually characterized by its broadcast nature, strong path loss, time varying fading and shadowing. Many wireless devices have limited battery and processing power. Multi-hopping implies the existence of many geographically distributed devices that share the wireless medium which creates the needs for efficient MAC and routing protocols to mitigate interference and take full advantage of spatial reuse. The complexity and time-varying attributes of the wireless channel seem to call for cross-layer integration, i.e., the need for the higher layers of the protocol stack to take into account the characteristics of the physical layer. In spite of a vast amount of research on multi-hop networks in the past few years, many fundamental challenges have not been answered. This presentation will ask fundamental questions on 3 of these challenges and bring some elements of response. The first challenge is the design of a fair and efficient MAC protocol. Another one is to find the right level of cross-layer interactions to design schemes that are more efficient while maintaining the robustness and the usability of the system. Another challenge is to understand the fundamental limits of multi-hop networks in realistic scenarios
A review of the customer lifetime value as a customer profitability measure in the context of customer relationship management

Purpose: A number of customer metrics allow estimating customer profitability with methods such as the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). However, investments in customer relationships carry the potential risk to destroy value and reduce profitability when based on incorrect estimates of customer profitability. Therefore, estimating future customer value correctly is essential to allocate marketing expenditures in the most effective way. In this article recent literature about the CLV is reviewed in order to assess its ability as a customer profitability measure.
Cost-effectiveness of the Mental Health and Development model for schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolar disorders in rural Kenya

Background The treatment gap for serious mental disorders across low-income countries is estimated to be 89%. The model for Mental Health and Development (MHD) offers community-based care for people with mental disorders in 11 low- and middle-income countries. Method In Kenya, using a pre-post design, 117 consecutively enrolled participants with schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolar disorders were followed-up at 10 and 20 months. Comparison outcomes were drawn from the literature. Costs were analysed from societal and health system perspectives. Results From the societal perspective, MHD cost Int$ 594 per person in the first year and Int$ 876 over 2 years. The cost per healthy day gained was Int$ 7.96 in the first year and Int$ 1.03 over 2 years – less than the agricultural minimum wage. The cost per disability-adjusted life year averted over 2 years was Int$ 13.1 and Int$ 727 from the societal and health system perspectives, respectively, on par with antiretrovirals for HIV. Conclusions MHD achieved increasing returns over time. The model appears cost-effective and equitable, especially over 2 years. Its affordability relies on multi-sectoral participation nationally and internationally.
Cenozoic climate change shaped the evolutionary ecophysiology of the Cupressaceae conifers

The Cupressaceae clade has the broadest diversity in habitat and morphology of any conifer family. This clade is characterized by highly divergent physiological strategies, with deciduous swamp-adapted genera-like Taxodium at one extreme, and evergreen desert genera-like Cupressus at the other. The size disparity within the Cupressaceae is equally impressive, with members ranging from 5-m-tall juniper shrubs to 100-m-tall redwood trees. Phylogenetic studies demonstrate that despite this variation, these taxa all share a single common ancestor; by extension, they also share a common ancestral habitat. Here, we use a common-garden approach to compare xylem and leaf-level physiology in this family. We then apply comparative phylogenetic methods to infer how Cenozoic climatic change shaped the morphological and physiological differences between modern-day members of the Cupressaceae. Our data show that drought-resistant crown clades (the Cupressoid and Callitroid clades) most likely evolved from drought-intolerant Mesozoic ancestors, and that this pattern is consistent with proposed shifts in post-Eocene paleoclimates. We also provide evidence that within the Cupressaceae, the evolution of drought-resistant xylem is coupled to increased carbon investment in xylem tissue, reduced xylem transport efficiency, and at the leaf level, reduced photosynthetic capacity. Phylogenetically based analyses suggest that the ancestors of the Cupressaceae were dependent upon moist habitats, and that drought-resistant physiology developed along with increasing habitat aridity from the Oligocene onward. We conclude that the modern biogeography of the Cupressaceae conifers was shaped in large part by their capacity to adapt to drought.