Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Meta-model for VR-based design reviews

The paper describes the development of a tool to make it possible to generate a Virtual Reality (VR) representation of the current state of an engineering project without additional effort. The VR tool extends the CAD and simulation programs used in the development process through a visualisation module. Making use of current geometry and calculation data, it provides direct visualisation in virtual environments. The tool developed is based on a meta-model generated from the data from different application programs. The tool concept and implementation are described for a configurator applied to energy systems.
Dispersive and Strichartz estimates for the wave equation in domains with boundary

In this note we consider a strictly convex domain Ω ⊂ Rd of dimension d ≥ 2 with smooth boundary ∂Ω 6= ∅ and we describe the dispersive and Strichartz estimates for the wave equation with the Dirichlet boundary condition. We obtain counterexamples to the optimal Strichartz estimates of the flat case; we also discuss the some results concerning the dispersive estimates.
Analysis of performance, management practices and challenges to intensive pig farming in peri-urban Kampala, Uganda

Uganda is currently among the largest per capita consumers of pork in sub Saharan Africa. Most of this pork is consumed in “pork joints” in Kampala and other major urban centers in the country. However, the current productivity is low and cannot meet the soaring demand for pork. No information was previously available on the performance productivity of intensive piggeries in Uganda. This study was aimed at assessing the performance, factors affecting productivity and challenges to intensive pig farming in peri-urban Kampala. Production parameters were captured from purposively selected 332 sows and 521 grower pigs. Information on management practices, challenges and prospects of the industry was gathered through questionnaires administered to farmers, key informant interviews and stakeholder’s focus group discussions. Results showed most farms had good level of management but the breeding practices were uniformly erratic in all the farms, and different breeds were crossed anyhow. Furthermore both reproduction and performance parameters were suboptimal. Analysis of management practices revealed that breed had a significant effect on growth performance (p < 0.001) and litter size (p < 0.005). Feeding had significant effects on litter size (p < 0.001), number weaned (p < 0.01), weight:age ratio (p < 0.05) and weaning to service interval (p < 0.05). The major constraints found were high feed costs, diseases and competition for land with the upcoming residential estates. The performance indices varied greatly between farms, indicating great potential for improved productivity. We recommend improved housing, breeding practices, feeding and biosecurity measures so as to improve on performance and productivity of peri-urban pig farming. Key words: Peri-urban farming, pig production, performance indices, management systems, challenges.
Factors Affecting the Choice of Professors as a Role Model from the Viewpoint of Medical Students

Background and purpose: The role of professors as a model can have a beneficial impact on the mental, psychological and educational conditions of medical students. This also plays an important role in improving professionalism and academic achievements among medical students. Therefore, the present study was aimed at evaluating the standpoint of students on factors influencing the selection of professors as a role model.Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on the students of different disciplines studying in Jahrom University of Medical Sciences in 2016. A randomized sampling method was conducted on 217 students. Their viewpoints were collected using a 30-question researcher-made questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three parts, each containing ten items. In addition, this questionnaire was distributed among 20 people (as a pilot survey), the alpha coefficient of which was equal to 0.88; and its measurement was based on Likert scale "from very low to very high". Data were analyzed using SPSS 18 and descriptive statistics. Results: Most respondents were nursing students and the highest influence of professors as a role model was associated with their role as a research leader (future specialized courses) in the clinical choices and selection of future specialized fields. The factors influencing the selection of professors as a role model included their respectful attitude toward students, and the high level of their knowledge and skills. On the other hand, the most important factors that caused professors not to be regarded as a role model included their inappropriate relationship with the students and refusing to listen to them.Discussion and Conclusion: Role model professors can have a beneficial impact on the future of students and scientific communities, as far as the science and education is concerned. Therefore, it is necessary for professors to pay particular attention to strengthening their role as a model at universities.
Habitat use and conservation of an Endangered dolphin

ABSTRACT: We studied habitat use by Hector’s dolphins Cephalorhynchus hectori in order toquantify the influences of location, season, time and tide, and to determine how frequently dol-phins use inner Akaroa Harbour where unattended gillnetting is allowed for 7 mo of the year(1 April to 30 September). T-POD acoustic dataloggers were moored in outer, mid- and innerAkaroa Harbour to quantify variation in habitat utilisation by Hector’s dolphins over a year.Acoustic detections were analysed via an information-theoretic approach, with model choicesmade via quasi-Akaike’s Information Criterion. The best model included all 4 factors ‘site’, ‘sea-son’, ‘time’ (since sunrise) and ‘tide’ (time since high tide) and 5 interactions (site × season, site ×time, site × tide, season × time, season × tide). Of the interactions, site × season was most impor-tant, with seasonal differences being much greater in the inner harbour than elsewhere. Nextmost important was site × time after sunrise, suggesting diurnal movement of dolphins within theharbour. T-POD data showed a much higher level of use of the inner harbour in winter than wasexpected, in dicating that the current compromise allowing gillnetting in this area poses a genuinerisk of entanglement.KEY WORDS: Hector’s dolphin · Habitat use · Time · Tide · Season
Understanding the Aggregate Effects of Criminal Prevention Policy: The Role of Relative Safety in Argentina

Criminal prevention policies necessarily affect safety in all neighborhoods at the same time, given the existing spillovers these policies entail. Thus they affect not only absolute but also relative safety in each neighborhood. This analysis studies how the perceived relative safety of one’s own neighborhood affects neighborhood satisfaction, which is one of the determinants of life satisfaction, and finds there is a diminishing marginal utility of relative safety.
The Cytotoxin-Associated Gene A (CagA) of Helicobacter pylori: the Paradigm of an Oncogenic Virulence Factor

Alfiia I. Iunusovaa, Irina S. Litvinovaa, Polina A. Karpenok a and Abolghasem Tohidpour*a,b,c aSiberian Federal University Institute of Fundamental Biology and Biotechnology Department of Biophysics 79 Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia bKrasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Prof. V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky Research Institute of Molecular Medicine and Pathobiochemistry 1 Partizan Zheleznyak Str. , Krasnoyarsk, 660022, Russia cMonash University Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute Department of Microbiology, Infection and Immunity Program Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
Celestial patterns in marine soundscapes

Soundscape ecology is the study of the acoustic characteristics of habitats, and aims to discern contributions from biological and non-biological sound sources. Acoustic communica- tion and orientation are important for both marine and terrestrial organisms, which underscores the need to identify salient cues within soundscapes. Here, we investigated temporal patterns in coral reef soundscapes, which is necessary to further understand the role of acoustic signals dur- ing larval settlement. We used 14 mo simultaneous acoustic recordings from 2 reefs, located 5 km apart in the Florida Keys, USA to describe temporal variability in the acoustic environment on scales of hours to months. We also used weather data from a nearby NOAA buoy to examine the influence of environmental variables on soundscape characteristics. We found that high acoustic frequencies typically varied on daily cycles, while low frequencies were primarily driven by lunar cycles. Some of the daily and lunar cycles in the acoustic data were explained by environmental conditions, but much of the temporal variability was caused by biological sound sources. The com- plexity of the soundscape had strong lunar periodicity at one reef, while it had a strong diurnal period at the other reef. At both reefs, the highest sound levels (~130 dB re: 1 μPa) occurred during new moons of the wet season, when many larval organisms settle on the reefs. This study repre- sents an important example of recently-developed soundscape ecology tools that can be applied to any ecosystem, and the patterns uncovered here provide valuable insights into natural acoustic phenomena that occur in these highly diverse, yet highly threatened ecosystems.
Poly(ethylene-co-methyl acrylate)/poly(caprolactone) triol blends for drug delivery systems: characterization and drug release

Poly(ethylene-co-methyl acrylate) (EMA) and poly (caprolactone) triol (PCL-T) blends, a biodegradable aliphatic polyester with low molecular weight and moderate water solubility containing diltiazem hydrochloride (DZ) were studied in terms of the thermal and morphological properties, and drug release mechanism. An increase in the PCL-T content in the EMA/PCL-T/DZ films decreased the degree of DZ crystallinity. Drug release from these films is temperature-dependent, and it is possible to modify the drug release rate by adjusting the EMA/PCL-T composition of the blends. The mechanism of drug release is governed by PCL-T melting and PCL-T leaching from EMA matrix.
Body Image and Female Sexual Functioning: Impact on Health Service Delivery in a Developing Country Context

Female sexuality is complex and highly contextual, influenced by among others one’s body image and self-esteem. Body image experiences are integral to the quality of an individual’s life including sexual function. Research findings have linked evaluations and cognitions interference with sexual responses and experiences during sexual activity. They may lead to sexual dysfunction, sexual aversion, avoidance and risky sexual behaviours. This paper presents three young Black African women with perceived poor body image of different parts of the body namely the breasts, weight and configuration and external genitalia, and impact thereof on their sexual functioning. They all were counselled and supported to accept who they were, two of whom made significant improvement. The potential impact of body image concerns on reproductive health care delivery in the context of a developing country is discussed. With the changing socio-cultural, demographic, lifestyles as well as increasing information dissemination due to technological advances, these concerns are likely to increase, compounded by an increase in sexual functioning problems, with an inevitably heightened demand on health service delivery. Health care providers and in particular gynaecologists need to be aware thereof, so that they may offer appropriate counselling, care and support to women seeking their help. Women need to be assured that their bodies are fine the way they are, and their male partners appraised on the need to appreciate and respect
Minimising the Supervision Costs of the Organizations

An Organisational structure is necessary as a framework for organising, planning, coordinating controlling and directing the organisational activities to achieve organisational goals Consequently, the organisational design problems have been formulated as that of minimisingcosts associated with supervision and coordination subject to some constraints with a heuristics as solution procedures. The difficulty of verifying the effectiveness of such heuristics in producing optimal organisation structures has created model acceptability problems. In this study, the concept of organisational work dynamics was used to reformulate supervision-cost function of a business organisation. Using this function, a dynamic programming version of the organisational design problem was defined and an associated algorithm developed. The performance (effectiveness and efficiency) of the algorithm was then compared to that of the existing heuristic. Also compared are the supervision-cost-based designed organisation structures and the existing organisational structure.
Influence of rearing temperature on muscle growth and adipose tissue in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) strains

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of temperature on the tissue growth of Red, GIFT and Supreme tilapia strains. Fingerlings of approximately 1.4 g from male populations were reared for a period of 60 days, in three recirculating systems, each system containing 6 water tanks of 0.5 m³, at three temperatures (22, 28 and 30oC). Ten fish of each recirculation system and each temperature studied were sampled. Fishes have been anesthetized, euthanized and weighed. The samplings have been done from the dorsal musculature, caudal, visceral and ventral subcutaneous adipose tissue. Histological sections were prepared and evaluated to determine the diameter of the cells. The experimental design was completely randomized factorial 3 X 3 (strain X temperature). Analysis of variance was performed and means were compared. Higher weights were found for fish reared at 30°C (56.23 g) compared to those grown at 28 (42.12 g) or 22°C (10.52 g). The cooled water temperature (22°C) may have contributed to the hypertrophy of white muscle fibers and visceral adipocytes from tilapia, compared to 28 or 30oC. Red Tilapia, GIFT and Supreme strains show differences in muscle growth and adipose tissues in response to temperature of cultivation.
The bacterial flora of surface-ripened cheeses with special regard to coryneforms

Summary - Randomly-selected Austrian bacterial surface-ripened cheeses were examined for changes in the microbiological composition of the smear. The bacterial counts of the Tilsit cheeses from 14 cheese plants and of 3 types of soft cheeses selected varied fram 1()4 ta 109 cfu/cm2 smear 3 d after manufacture and fram 108 ta 109 cfu/cm2 smear after a ripening period of 3 weeks. The flora tolerated a NaCI content of at least 80 g/kg in the plate count agar. A total of 386 isolates of coryneform bacteria were identified. The bacterial flora proved ta be of mixed population. However, Brevibacterium linens accounted for a large share of the flora, comprising 30% of the total bacterial count, Besides Brevibacterium linens, the other main types found ta be present in the heterogeneous flora were creamcoloured and yellow-pigmented coryneforms, which were predominantly identified as Arthrobacter globiformis and Brevibacterium ammoniagenes. The coryneforms isolated fram the cheeses 3 d after manufacture were more prateoly1ic than those isolated at later stages of ripening.
Sequential Shape Modification for Monotone Convex Function: L 2 Monotonization and Uniform Convexifiation

This paper studies two sequential procedures to estimate a monotone convex function using monotonization and uniform convexification; one, denoted by FMSC, monotonizes the data first and then, convexifis the monotone estimate; the other, denoted by FCSM, first convexifies the data and then monotonizes the convex estimate. We show that two shape modifiers are not commutable and so does FMSC and FCSM. We compare them numerically in uniform error(UE) and integrated mean squared error(IMSE). The results show that FMSC has smaller uniform error(UE) and integrated mean squared error(IMSE) than those of FCSC.
Tracking Risk of Exchange Traded Funds Revisited - A Multivariate Regression Approach

This empirical study investigates the ability of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to replicate the risk-return characteristics of their respective benchmarks accurately. By decomposing ex-post tracking performance, this study finds that the commonly used measure, tracking error, rarely sufficiently explains the deviation from the benchmark and hence has very limited predicting power for assessing the tracking quality of an ETF. The results presented here clearly indicate that in many cases a linear metric is a more reliable predictor for future return deviations and that, therefore, the total cost of administrating an ETF provides a fairly good estimate of its tracking quality.
Plant secondary metabolites as source of postharvest disease management: An overview

Postharvest losses of stored products are enormous due to fungal deteriorations. Although, there are a number of synthetic fungicides available in the market for checking these deteriorations, they have several side effects such as high toxicity, long degradation periods, their residues in food chain, chronic poisoning through the continuous intake of small quantities, development of new races of pathogens, non-biodegradable nature and exhaustible source. Therefore, we must search the new sources of pesticides, which in addition to their efficiency, must be safe and selective to target specific pathogen. Plants are very rich sources of bioactive chemicals such as phenolics, polyphenols, quinones, flavones, flavonoids, flavonols, tannins, cumarins, terpenoids, lectins and polypeptides. Some plants yield fraction of essential oils, which have inhibitory effects on microorganisms. They are highly enriched with terpenoids. They are volatile, biodegradable, eco-friendly and are easily available in local environment. Several studies have been conducted on the use of such botanicals for controlling postharvest diseases, and hence, the present communication reviews the work done on investigating the fungitoxic potential of essential oils and extracts from higher plants in fungal deterioration of stored products. Key words: Myotoxins, fungitoxic, biodeterioration.
Clinical toxicological investigations on acute carbofuran intoxication in dogs.

The present studies were conducted to evaluate the toxic effects of the carbamate insecticide carbofuran (Carbosan 35 СТ) after experimental acute intoxication in dogs. The experiments included one control and five experimental groups (total number of 42 dogs), treated with increasing single doses of the preparation via an oesophageal tube as followed: experimental group I: 0.525 mg/kg, experimental group II: 1.05 mg/kg; experimental group III: 2.1 mg/kg; experimental group IV: 3.5 mg/kg and experimental group V: 5.25 mg/kg, corresponding to 1/20 LD50, 1/10 LD50, 1/5 LD50, 1/3 LD50 and 1/2 LD50  oral doses for albino rats, respectively. The clinical status of all grous was followed out three consecutive days prior to the treatment (hours –48, –24 and 0) and 1, 3, 5, 7, 24 and 48 hours thereafter to evaluate rectal body temperature, heart and respiratory rates, faeces and urine excretion, locomotion, and perception. It was found out that the first toxic effects were observed at a dose of 1.05 mg/kg (1/10 of LD50 for albino rats), the first lethal issues occurred at 5.025 mg/kg (1/2 of LD50 for albino rats) and the dose provoking 100% lethality was 10.5 mg/kg, which was equal to LD50 for albino rats. The toxicity of the tested carbamate insecticide was clinically expressed by hyperthermia, tachycardia and polypnea hypersalivation, staggering, wandering gaze, bruxism, vomiting, faecal and urine incontinence, tremor, convulsions, seizures, clonic spasms, paresis and paralysis of limbs.
Exclusion in Very Old Age : The Impact of Three Critical Life Events

This paper focuses on relational exclusion (i.e. isolation and non-participation in social activities) in very old age. Based on a five-year study of an octogenarian cohort, the authors investigate the impact of three critical life events (deterioration of health, death of a close relative, entry into a nursing home) on relational life and social involvement. With advancing age, older people withdraw from some social activities, but their relationships with their family and friends remain stable. Life events have a stimulative effect on the support network (especially of family), and only the deterioration of health curbs social activity. This would seem to confirm the existence of a process of disengagement stemming more from the older people's functional or sensory disabilities than from an individual choice.
Comparison of Glass and Plastic Microplates in Kinetic LAL Assays

In 1986 Associates of Cape Cod, Inc. introduced the first FDA licensed kinetic turbidimetric assay. Accompanying this assay was an optical reader for running this test in glass tubes. It had been our experience, that microplate methods were ill-suited for kinetic LAL tests, regardless of whether the chromogenic or turbidimetric method was used. At the time of introduction, incubating microplate readers were just being introduced and an LAL which adequately incorporated the chromogenic substrate was still some years away. However, it was the lack of availability of "endotoxinfree" microplates that was the show-stopper. Today, reasonably "clean" plastic microplates are readily available, yet users still encounter numerous out-of-specification individual wells (hot wells). This is predictable because plastic contamination is usually particulate in nature. Plastic plates, having a static charge, tend to attract particulates and therefore are prone to exhibiting hot wells. Although the per well contamination is usually small and is therefore masked if it occurs in a well containing standard or sample with endogenous endotoxin, Murphy's Law generally dictates that a hot well will occur in a negative control, clean sample well, or will add to a low standard sufficiently to invalidate the standard curve or duplicate. To get around this problem, it has been suggested that dry heat depyrogenated glass microplates be used. Although these are expensive, with careful handling, glass microplates should be reusable many times. In addition, it has also been suggested that glass microplates might increase the sensitivity of the assay to the level (0.001 EU/mL) routinely obtained in the LAL-5000 / Pyros Kinetix readers. This Update reports on our experiments examining these issues.