Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Start-Up of Aerated Submerged Fixed-Bed Biofilm Reactors for Steady State Nitrification

The effects of two different start-up regimes on the operation performance and population dynamics of nitrification were evaluated in aerated submerged fixed-bed biofilm reactors (SFBBRs) operated at 20 °C on a mediumstrength ammonium wastewater at the bench scale. The reactors were operated in parallel at start-up with two reactors under the maximum nitrogen loading rate condition (NLR) designed for the system, and for the other two reactors, the NLR was increased stepwise over a period of 22 days. The dominant microorganism among the ammonia-oxidising bacteria (AOB) in the seeding sludge was Nitrosomonas oligotropha. There was an observed growth of Nitrosospira and Nitrosomonas europaea/eutropha when the reactors were started up. Nitrosospira vanished during the course of reactor operations, while N. communis was observed to flourish in the second low-load stage of the SFBBR cascade. Nitrospira was the dominant nitrite-oxidising bacteria (NOB) genus present throughout the investigation. Reactors gradually loaded showed higher nitrification rates during the start-up. However, there was no significant difference in the total time required to reach steady state between the two start-up regimes. The AOB required 30 days and the NOB required an additional 8 days on average to reach steady state because NOB development was inhibited by free ammonia (FA). Proposals with respect to pH control, seeding sludge and sludge recycling were developed to shorten the start-up period in SFBBRs. The specific nitrification rates of the attached biomass in SFBBRs were compared to previous studies as well. The results from these experiments will aid in process design.
Chernoff-type bound for finite Markov chains

This paper develops bounds on the distribution function of the empirical mean for irreducible finite-state Markov chains. One approach, explored by D. Gillman, reduces this problem to bounding the largest eigenvalue of a perturbation of the transition matrix for the Markov chain. By using estimates on eigenvalues given in Kato's book ''Perturbation Theory for Linear Operators'', we simplify the proof of D. Gillman and extend it to non-reversible finite-state Markov chains and continuous time. We also set out another method, directly applicable to some general ergodic Markov kernels having a spectral gap.
Marx's Theory of Metabolic Rift: Classical Foundations for Environmental Sociology1

This article addresses a paradox: on the one hand, environmental sociology, as currently developed, is closely associated with the thesis that the classical sociological tradition is devoid of systematic insights into environmental problems; on the other hand, evidence of crucial classical contributions in this area, particularly in Marx, but also in Weber, Durkheim, and others, is too abundant to be convincingly denied. The nature of this paradox, its origins, and the means of transcending it are illustrated primarily through an analysis of Marx's theory of metabolic rift, which, it is contended, offers important classical foundations for environmental sociology.
SECURITY ANALYSIS FOR CONTROL POLICY IN OSNs

Now a days popularity of Oniline Social Networks (OSNs) is immensively some users share private content such as images, videos, using some nline social networks with proceedings of real time data sharing. Online social networks provide open platforms for sharing user private information to support and interface to extend online social networks. Previous research concerns third party applications in social network data sharing, present research focus on user-to-user interaction in online social networks. For that we process to analyze diffent access control policy techniques (or) methods to procide security or protection in online social networks. Our analysis achieves 4 different techniques with introduction and analysis procedure to provide protection from online social networks in communicative data sharing in online social networks.
Surface characteristics and corrosion resistance properties of TiNi shape memory alloy coated with

Ti-50.6 at. % Ni alloy samples were coated with tantalum by the arc ion plating method with the aim to improve their radiopacity. Surface characteristics and corrosion resistance properties were investigated in the present study. The results of XRD show that the film as-deposited was composed of a metastable tetragonal h-phase tantalum which can transform into a-phase tantalum after annealing at 700 jC, 800 jC, 900 jC for 1 h, respectively. TEM observations show that thin nano-structured Ta layers were obtained in the as-deposited samples. Mixture of microcrystallite (approx. 40 nm) and large-size crystal (approx. 150 nm) a-phase tantalum was formed in the film after annealing at 700 jC. When annealed at 900 jC, the film is composed of dominantly uniform large-size a-phase tantalum. The results of XPS survey and high resolution spectra show that a thin oxide film with Ta2O5 in the outmost layer and tantalum suboxides in the inner layer, are formed inside tantalum coating as a result of natural passivation of Ta in the atmosphere. The corrosion resistance was determined by electrochemical methods in 0.9% NaCl solution at 37 jC. Both the as-deposited and annealed samples exhibit excellent corrosion resistance property. Compared to the untreated coating samples, the annealed Ta coating samples exhibit higher open-circuit corrosion potential (Ecorr), breakdown potential (Ebr), and lower passive current density (Ip). The results indicate that the annealing treatment can improve the corrosion resistance property. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Breaking the black-body limit with resonant surfaces

The speed with which electromagnetic energy can be wirelessly transferred from a source to the user is a crucial indicator for the performance of a large number of electronic and photonic devices. We expect that energy transfer can be enhanced using special materials. In this paper, we determine the constituent parameters of a medium which can support theoretically infinite energy concentration close to its boundary; such a material combines properties of Perfectly Matched Layers (PML) and Double-Negative (DNG) media. It realizes conjugate matching with free space for every possible mode including, most importantly, all evanescent modes; we call this medium Conjugate Matched Layer (CML). Sources located outside such layer deliver power to the conjugate-matched body exceptionally effectively, impressively overcoming the black-body absorption limit which takes into account only propagating waves. We also expand this near-field concept related to the infinitely fast absorption of energy along the air-medium interface to enhance the far-field radiation. This becomes possible with the use of small particles randomly placed along the boundary; the induced currents due to the extremely high-amplitude resonating fields can play the role of emission “vessels”, by sending part of the theoretically unlimited near-field energy far away from the CML structure.
Clinical Deficiencies : When to Suspect There Is a Problem

Despite notable recent advances in our appreciation of the role of trace elements in human nutrition and disease, clinical detection of trace-element-deficiency states usually remains extraordinarily difficult. There are several outstanding reasons for the continuing difficulties in diagnosis. These include a lack of specificity of symptoms and signs of individual trace deficiencies, a lack of sensitive reliable laboratory assays for the detection or confirmation of trace deficiencies, and continuing uncertainty about the occurrence of human deficiencies of some of the "newer" trace elements. If such deficiencies do occur, their clinical presentation in man has not been documented. Despite the recent growth of interest in and the expanding list of trace elements of probable or proved mammalian nutritional importance, there are relatively few of these that we know with certainty can be associated with deficiency diseases in man. Nevertheless, experience gained over the past 20 years indicates that we cannot afford to be complacent about the role of trace elements in human nutrition and disease, even in the case of those elements for which no specific roles have yet been identified. Meanwhile, the trace elements that have been shown to be associated with human deficiency diseases and which provide a basis for this discussion are seven or eight in number. These are iron, iodine, zinc, copper, selenium, molybdenum, chromium, and possibly manganese. With the exceptions of iron, iodine, and severe zinc deficiency, clinical identification of a deficiency of these trace minerals cannot be achieved without a very high index of suspicion. The circumstances in which such suspicion might reasonably be aroused provide the basis of this discussion.
Particulate Air Pollutants and Airway Inflammation

Particulate air pollutants emanating from traffic and various industries are related to allergic airway disorders including asthma. Particulate air pollutants inhalation directly induces lung inflammation to allergens or respiratory viral infection as an adjuvant by macrophages and epithelial cells. Inhalation of particulate air pollutants aggravates respiratory symptoms in patients with chronic airway diseases, but the mechanisms underlying this response remain poorly understood. Diesel exhaust particles induced airway hyperresponsiveness and Ym mRNA expression via a Th2 cell-biased response, which synthesized by activated macrophages are homologous to chitinase and have chitinase activity. Alveolar macrophages play an important role in particles-induced airway and lung inflammation via direct production of IL-13. Treatment of epithelial cells with bovine serum albumin coated titanium dioxide particles altered 20 protein spots on the two-dimensional gel, and these were then analyzed by nano-LC-MS/MS. These proteins included defense-related, cell-activating, and cytoskeletal proteins implicated in the response to oxidative stress. TiO2 treatment was found to increase the amount of mRNA for macrophage migration-inhibitory factor (MIF). MIF was expressed primarily in epithelium and was elevated in lung tissues and bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of TiO2-treated rats as compared with sham treated rats. Carbon black and diesel exhaust particles also induced expression of MIF protein in the epithelial cells. We attempt to offer insight into how particles may influence airway inflammation.
Comparing Post-CMOS Sense Amplifiers to Determine Design with Lowest Energy Consumption

Explore the designs of four different Sense Amplifiers in an effort to determine the most efficient design for memory read. With the increased scaling that has occurred in technology SA’s are crucial to assisting with making SpinTransfer Torque Magnetic Random Access Memories (STTMRAM) more reliable. The SA’s are compared to a test bench created by writing a program in MARS 4.5 and using that to calculate the energy consumption for each of the different designs. The test bench determines the number of times a word appears in a sentence hard coded to the memory and displays the output to the user. EASA had the best energy consumption of the SA’s studied with 74695.42fJ consumed. Keywords—Sense Amplifier, MTJ, Memory Read, EASA, VISA, PWSA, BVSC, energy leakage, Sense Margin, STT-MRAM
Awareness of Married Adults about Congenital Anomalies in a Rural Village, Assiut

Background: Congenital anomalies (CA) are significant causes of infant morbidity, mortality and disability. Objective(s): To assess the knowledge and attitude regarding congenital anomalies and their associated factors among married adults. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted on 633 currently married inhabitants in a rural village, Assiut. An interview was used for data collection via a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Most participants (96.7%) had ever heard about CA, 20.1% of participants had good knowledge, whereas 73.0% of them had positive attitude. Factors significantly affecting knowledge were family history of CA, educational level, and gender. The same factors were also significantly affecting the attitude towards CA in addition to age. Conclusion: Only one fifth of participants had good knowledge about CA. Family history of CA, educational level, and gender are significant factors affecting both knowledge and attitude. Recommendation: To increase the awareness about CA among the public in general and increase the role of health care providers in raising awareness and counseling about CA.
Improving Learning Experience by Employing DASH-Based Mulsemedia Delivery

This paper describes the experimental deployment of a DASH-based Multi-Sensory Media Delivery System (DASHMS) to support multi-sensorial media-enhanced learning. Multi-sensorial media (mulsemedia) combines multimedia components (video and audio) and emerging technologies targeting other human senses (e.g. touch & haptics, smell and taste). This paper studies learning experience with olfaction and haptic-based mulsemedia when employing DASHMS in a real-life subjective experiment with 40 participants. The tests performed evaluate the user-perceived quality of experience (QoE) and the effects of mulsemedia on user learning,
Identifying and Correcting Policy Misperceptions

This paper argues for the importance of distinguishing between misinformation (false information) and misperceptions (false beliefs). Factual misperceptions are not always the direct result of exposure to misinformation. I identify several substantive policy misperceptions in the American public using a combination of interview and survey data. Long-form interviews with a range of Americans probe the factual beliefs underlying their political opinions. These interviews yielded a number of common factual misperceptions, three of which are discussed in this paper. These misperceptions concern time limits on TANF, the U.S. debt to China, and Social Security. A representative survey confirms that each is present among both Democrats and Republicans. Finally, results from a twowave panel suggest that even a single correction can substantially reduce these misperceptions. ∗Emma Haberern provided invaluable research assistance for this project. Funding support was provided by the American Press Institute. Thanks to Jackie Stein, Kim Gross, Guarav Sood and members of the API Fact-Checking Project for helpful comments.
Protease Inhibitors and Stress Tolerance

Plant protease inhibitors (PIs) are extensively studied for their role in defense against pests and pathogens due to their ability to inhibit specific proteases of the intruder. All classes of PIs were found to play important roles in innate host defense mechanisms and are used to develop transgenic plants resistant to pests and pathogens. Recent reports suggest that they have a role in modulating abiotic stress tolerance also. The induction of PIs was observed in response to not only biotic but also abiotic cues suggesting their possible role in abiotic stress responses and in modulating tolerance to various stresses. During biotic stress, pathogen invasion or damage due to herbivory, induces SA/JA-mediated signalling pathways to combat the attack. Abiotic stress induces injury and different conditions like osmotic stress, oxidative stress etc. as long as the causative factor exists in the milieu. Unlike in the biotic stresses, the causative agent in abiotic stress cannot be countered by the plant. Hence, the abiotic stress has to be tolerated by the plant nullifying all its related damages mostly by adjustment through ABA-dependent, and sometimes through an independent pathway. The overexpression of PIs has been shown to enhance abiotic stress tolerance in the transgenic plants suggesting that their role is multidimensional. In this review, we focus on the possible role of PIs in plant growth, and biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Model of the Information Shock Waves in Social Network Based on the Special Continuum Neural Network

The article proposes a special class of continuum neural network with varying activation thresholds and a specific neuronal interaction mechanism as a model of message distribution in social networks. Activation function for every neuron is finded as a decision of the specific systems of differential equations which describe the information distribution in the chain of the network graph. This class of models allows to take into account the specific mechanisms for transmitting messages, where individuals who, receiving a message, initially form their attitude towards it, and then decide on the further transmission of this message, provided that the corresponding potential of the interaction of two individuals exceeds a certain threshold level. The authors developed the original algorithm for calculating the time moments of message distribution in the corresponding chain, which comes to the solution of a series of Cauchy problems for systems of ordinary nonlinear differential equations.
EMS for Bidirectional Boost Converters of a of a Hybrid Energy Storage System for Residential Microgrid Applications

Energy management and efficiency along with component lifetime extension are important concerns in small scale microgrids. In this document, a energy management system is proposed for a hybrid energy storage system in active configuration. Two different Bidirectional Boost converters are selected as interface components and the controllers for the different operation modes are presented. The proposed energy management system is aimed for residential microgrids and adaptable for Electric vehicles with minimum adjustment. In simulation, the behaviour of the system presents a suitable management of the stored energy, especially the transition between operation modes, looking for not only increasing the lifetime of components but also providing efficiency during operation.
Mutational Polymorphism in the Bacterial Topoisomerase Genes Driven by Treatment with Quinolones

Overuse of antimicrobial agents in human and veterinary medicine is a serious problem worldwide. Bacteria have developed resistance mechanisms decades ago, even before wide application of antibiotics had started. Naturally they had learned to cope with an unfavourable environment well before man changed it. Bacteria can develop resistance utilizing different mechanisms. Through mobile genetic elements bacteria transfer resistance to progeny, raising concerns about not being able to control the infection (Velhner et al., 2011). An understanding of resistance mechanisms is essential for developing new therapeutics and overcoming current problems in therapy.
Experimental immunology Toxicity of silver nanoparticles in monocytes and keratinocytes: potential to induce inflammatory reactions

Silver nanoparticles are of interest to be used as antimicrobial agents in wound dressings and coatings in medical devices, but potential adverse effects have been reported in the literature. The possible local inflammatory response to silver nanoparticles and the role of cell death in determining these effects are largely unknown. Effects of the mixture of silver nanoparticles of different sizes were compared in in vitro assays for cytotoxicity, caspase-1 and caspase-9 activity and bax expression. In all tested concentrations, silver nanoparticles were more toxic for RAW 264.7 monocytes than for 291.03C keratinocytes and induced significant caspase-1 activity and necrotic cell death. In keratinocytes, more significantly than in macrophages, silver nanoparticles led to increase of caspase-9 activity and apoptosis. These results indicate that effects of silver nanoparticles depend on the type of exposed cells. In addition, the potency of silver nanoparticles to induce necrosis and caspase-1 activity in monocytes indicates their possible immunotoxic inflammatory potential.
MNEs and flexible working practices in Mauritius

We compare how far companies based in Africa, India and the ‘global North’ operating in Mauritius adopt high-trust flexible working practices and how these are linked to different clusters of wider labour management practice. Using comprehensive firm-level data collected in late 2011, we find that African/Indian company practices are closer to those of indigenous firms than to those of Northern companies. The different company groups operate in quite different ways but regional multi-national enterprises operate in a similar way to indigenous companies. We therefore conclude that Rugman and Verbeke's ‘regionalization’ theory also applies to the HR field. We further find that both a relatively strategic approach to HRM and measures to develop employer–employee interdependence are, respectively, linked directly and indirectly to flexible working incidence.
How Being an Optimist Makes a Difference

This longitudinal study of N = 1,566 adolescents investigated the protective role of optimism in adjustment to parental separation, focusing on two salient challenges faced by adolescents, namely academic achievement and self-esteem. Based on latent change models, the results indicated associations between parental separation and short-term declines in academic achievement as well as short-term and longer term declines in self-esteem. Although optimism in general showed positive associations with academic achievement and self-esteem, its role as a protective factor proved to be particularly important for academic achievement in adjustment following parental separation.
MODELLING DRIVER BEHAVIOUR IN ORDER TO INFER THE INTENTION TO CHANGE LANES

This study focuses on the examination and comparison of selected behavioural and environmental indicators that predict the intention to change lanes. These indicators were chosen from previous driving studies and driver models. The data were gathered in a field study with an instrumented car that can log data from the driver, the car, and the environment. The collected data were analysed and modelled with the help of a "knowledge discovery framework" (Georgeon, Mille, & Bellet, 2006). The first analysis of all lane changes caused by a slow leading vehicle focuses on the following indicators: glance to the left outside mirror, turn signal, and lane crossing. It is shown that the glance to the left outside mirror could serve as a predictor with a high potential to get information about the intention to change lanes in a very early stage. However, it is important to combine this predictor with additional information to avoid a high false alarm rate.
Understanding the Chinese stock market: international comparison and policy implications

Abstract The definitions of the bear, sidewalk and bull markets are ambiguous in the existing literature. This makes it difficult for practitioners to distinguish between different market conditions. In this paper, we propose statistical definitions of the bear, sidewalk and bull markets, which correspond to the three states in our hidden semi-Markov model. We apply this analysis to the daily returns of the Chinese stock market and seven developed markets. Using the Viterbi algorithm to globally decode the most likely sequence of the market conditions, we systematically find the precise timing of the bear, sidewalk and bull markets for all the eight markets. Through the comparison of the estimation and decoding results, many unique characteristics of the Chinese stock market are revealed, such as ‘crazy bull’, ‘frequent and quick bear’ and ‘no buffer zone’. In China, the bull market is more volatile than in developed markets, the bear market occurs more frequently than in developed markets, and the sidewalk market has not functioned as a buffer zone since 2005. Possible causes of these unique characteristics are also discussed and implications for policy-making are suggested.