Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Field and Technical Report THE TULI MUMMY: A PRELIMINARY REPORT FROM NORTHEASTERN BOTSWANA

In October 2008, remains of what is now Botswana's first and currently the only mummified human remains were rescued from below the Cut Line Rock that separates the Loensa Property from the Tuli Game Lodge (TGL), Bobirwa District (Fig. 1). The remains came as chance discovery when the patrol staff at TGL stumbled upon what they thought was a buried animal killed by poachers (Mosothwane 2008). They went back to the site for further investigations and realised that they were dealing with a human grave and not a wild animal. The TGL management duly informed the Botswana National Museum. Fortunately, the site remained tightly secured while TGL was still sorting the logistics for the rescue operations and hence no further damage was caused to the remains. The game rangers concluded that since the grave was very shallow, some scavengers must have sniffed the remains and dug them out. Interviews with those present at the time of the discovery indicate that there were no features to indicate the presence of a grave.
High Calcium Score Predicts Severity of the Culprit Lesions in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes

Abstract Introduction: Coronary calcium score, as determined by Angio CT multislice, has been proved to represent a reliable parameter which reflects the global cardiovascular risk. We aimed to study the characteristics of culprit lesions in Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) patients with low versus high calcium score. Material and methods: A total of 45 patients with ACS underwent 64-slice CCTA. Group 1 - 19 patients with Ca score below 400HU, Group 2 - 26 patients with calcium score >400HU. In all patients a complex CT analysis of the culprit plaque was performed. Results: There were no significant differences between the groups at baseline as regard to age, gender, cardiovascular risk factors (p>0.2). In patients with high calcium score, culprit lesions presented a significantly larger amount of plaque burden than in patients with low calcium score (82.8ml versus 131.81ml, p <0.0001). This was also true when assessing in a subanalysis different cut-off points for definition of relatively higher calcium score (89.66ml versus 137.93ml, p <0.0001, for calcium score cut off 600HU, 97.88ml versus 137.57ml, p<0.0001 for calcium score cut-off of 1000HU). Conclusion: Our data shows that patients with high calcium score who develop an acute coronary syndrome present larger atheromatous plaque than those with low calcium scores, and theseverity of the culprit lesions correlates with global cardiovascular risk as expressed by a high calcium score
Lateral transport of sediment and organic matter, derived from coastal erosion, into the nearshore zone of the southern Beaufort Sea, Canada

Herschel Basin is a natural depression on the southern Beaufort Shelf, which is located in the western Canadian Arctic between the Mackenzie Delta and the Alaskan border. The submarine basin of late Wisconsin age is a natural sediment trap for material eroded along the Yukon coast and through its unique position within the area also a valuable paleoenvironmental archive. During a field campaign in spring 2016, a thirteen meter long sediment core was obtained from the Herschel Basin. The aim of this Master’s thesis was to quantify the amount of carbon, nitrogen and sediment with terrestrial origin throughout the sediment column from the Herschel Basin. The increasing research effort to understand the dynamics of Arctic coasts is justified by their contribution to the global carbon budget and their vulnerability. The results showed that the majority of sediment found in the sediment column of the Herschel Basin could be assigned to a mix of riverine and terrestrial/coastal inputs. However, the individual percentage of each input (marine, fluvial and terrestrial) could not be distinguished, due to lack of data. In conclusion, this thesis showed that in the Arctic nearshore zone coastal erosion affected by climate change will definitely have a negative impact on “[…] climate feedbacks, on nearshore food webs, and on local communities, whose survival still relies on marine biological resources”(M. Fritz et al., 2017).
Investigation of Hg Content by a Rapid Analytical Technique in Mediterranean Pelagic Fishes

Mercury (Hg) fish and seafood contamination is a global concern and needs worldwide sea investigations in order to protect consumers. The aim of this study was to investigate the Hg concentration by means of a rapid and simple analytical technique with a direct Mercury Analyzer (DMA-80) in pelagic fish species, Tetrapturus belone (spearfish), Thunnus thynnus (tuna) and Xiphias gladius (swordfish) caught in the Mediterranean Sea. Hg contents were evaluated also in Salmo salar (salmon) as pelagic fish not belonging to the Mediterranean area. The results obtained were variable, ranging between 0.015–2.562 mg kg−1 for T. thynnus species, 0.477–3.182 mg kg−1 for X. gladius, 0.434–1.730 mg kg−1 for T. belone and 0.004–0.019 mg kg−1 for S. salar, respectively. The total Hg tolerable weekly intake (TWI) and tolerable weekly intake % (TWI%) values according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) were calculated. The results highlighted that the pelagic species caught in the Mediterranean Sea should be constantly monitored due to their high Hg contents as well as their TWI and TWI% with respect to S. salar samples.
Ruminal microbial fermentation of dromedary camel in a dual flow continu-ous culture system using cultivable and pasture forages

In this experiment eight 1,600 mL dual-flow continuous culture fermenters were used to measure the fermentation pattern of cultivable and pasture forages in camel. Two adult camels were used as rumen inocula donors. Fermenters were fed with 120 g of DM/d in 3 equal portions at 08:00, 16:00, and 24:00 h. The trial contained two treatments of four replicate each in a completely randomized design. The treatments consisted (DM basis) of alfalfa hay (40%) and wheat straw (60%) as the cultivable forages, and Atriplex L. (80%), Suaeda F. (10%), and Seidlitzia R. (10%) as the pasture forages. Digestibility coefficients of DM, NDF and ADF were significantly smaller (P<0.05) in cultivable than pasture forages. Digestibility of OM for cultivable forages was significantly larger (P<0.05) than pasture forages. Total VFA, acetic, propionic, butyric, valeric and iso-valeric acids concentrations were significantly lower in (P<0.01) pasture forages than cultivable forages. Endoglucanase and exoglucanase activities were higher (P<0.01) in cultivable forages than pasture forages. Maximum NH3-N concentration for cultivable and pasture forages were observed at 2 and 4 h after feeding, respectively. The NH3-N concentration at 0 and 8 h after feeding was higher (P<0.05) for pasture forages than cultivable forages. The pH of the fermenter content containing cultivable forages was lower (P<0.05) than that for pasture forages. It seems that the presence of pasture forges in the diet, probably as a result of anti-nutrients in the forages, delayed the normal ruminal fermentation but may have been compensated by the decomposition of anti-nutritional substances by the microorganisms during the final hours of incubation.
Spectral Reflectance as a Tool to Study Soils in Semi-Arid Regions

Remote sensing techniques were applied to study the possibilities of soils identification in the semi-arid environment, belonging to the territory of the Dzhizakskaya steppe of Uzbekistan (the former Soviet Union). Aerial photographs (scale 1:2 000) and multispectral space photographs (scale 1:500 000) were digitally scanned and used for the soil spectral classification. Moistening conditions (relative elevation of the place, ground water depth) and salinization level were the main factors determining the differences of the soil’s spectral brightness. Aerial photographs allowed investigator to distinguish soils formed in the semihydromorphic conditions from the automorphic, and hydromorphic soils with the confidence level 0.90. Spectral classification of the color composite of satellite photographs (scale 1: 500 000) allowed the identification of five soil classes: two species of serosems, serosemicmeadow soils, meadow steppe soils, sulfate and gypsum solonchaks with average accuracy about 70%.
Effect of dietary supplementation of increasing levels of organic acid mixture on performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of different levels of organic mixture on growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of broiler chickens fed. For this purpose, three hundred, unsexed, one-day old, Ross 308 broiler chicks with 40 g average initial weight were used. After one week adaptation period, chicks were divided randomly to receive one of the four dietary treatments being, basal diet (A) or basal diet supplemented with organic acid mixture, Citrinal, at a level of 0.05% (B); 0.1% (C) and 0.2% (D). The results showed that feed intake/g, body weight/g, body weight gain/g/d, feed conversion ratio and meat chemical and physical characteristics were not affected at any level of supplementation. Dressed carcass weight/g was significantly higher (P<0.05) in those groups received diet supplemented with organic acid mixtures at a level of 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.2% compared to those received control diet. Moreover, dressing% was higher (P<0.05) in the group received 0.2% supplemented organic acid mixtures compared to those received the control diet; however, there were no significant differences among the groups fed the organic acid mixtures supplemented diets. It was concluded that supplementing broiler diet with organic mixture up to 0.2% slightly improved the carcass quality but meat quality did not affected.
9 kW Isolated DC-DC Converter for Hybrid Bus

This paper describes an OEM product – an isolated DC-DC converter that is becoming popular on hybrid buses. This converter has 9kW output power and CAN-bus communication that allows complete integration in the electrical system of a bus. It is completely soft-switched and a costeffective design: at least 10% lower than a comparable phase-shift topology converter. The converter replaces an alternator. This replacement provides significant cost reduction over the life of the bus. Also reliability of 24VDC system of the bus increases because the converter provides clean power unlike an alternator.
The uncertain future of comprehensive schooling in England

This is an article about secondary schools in England, and what type of school is fair and efficient for a national education system. It discusses what ‘fair’ could mean in this context, summarises some key policy revisions since 1944 in this light, and reminds readers of the damage caused by unfairness within education. Most notably it discusses the almost complete introduction of comprehensive schools by the 1970s, and the subsequent proliferation of new school types. The article then presents the methods used for the illustrations from secondary data that follow. Based on the Annual Schools Census 1989 to 2014, the article shows that the clustering of disadvantaged students using all available indicators has declined over historical time. This may be largely determined by an increase in prevalence created by immigration, sensitivity and improved diagnosis, and economic downturn. However, the system shows considerable variation between regions and areas linked to the local diversity of schools. Selective, faith-based, converter academies and free schools, as opposed to local authority comprehensives, are disproportionately in areas with the greatest segregation of disadvantaged students. And this occurs for no gain in improvement. The article concludes that the comprehensive ideal is not simply worth retaining, but that its implementation could be seen as the clear ethical duty of any secretary of state.
Dietary Sodium Restriction and Vascular Dysfunction with Aging

OBJECTIVE: Age and increasing systolic blood pressure (BP) are associated with vascular endothelial dysfunction, but the factors involved are incompletely understood. We tested the hypothesis that vascular endothelial function is related to dietary sodium intake among middle-aged and older adults (MA/O) with elevated systolic BP. METHODS: Data were analyzed on 25 otherwise healthy adults aged 48-73 years with high normal systolic BP or stage I systolic hypertension (130-159 mmHg) and diastolic BP 0.24) and was not related to sodium intake in the overall group (P>0.29). CONCLUSIONS: Low sodium intake is associated with enhanced brachial artery FMD in MA/O with elevated systolic BP. These results suggest that dietary sodium restriction may be an effective intervention for improving vascular endothelial function in this high-risk group.
A Generalized Framework for Detecting Anomalies in Real-Time Using Contextual Information

Detecting non-conforming behaviors, called anomalies, is an important tool for intelligent systems, as it serves as a first step for learning new information and handling it in an appropriate way. While the anomaly detection problem has been explored extensively in many different domains, there remains the challenge of generalizing the techniques in a way that would optimize their usefulness in artificial intelligence applications. In these applications, it is common for agents to encounter novel, anomalous scenarios, which they should be able to handle with human-like capability. To establish a technique for capturing anomalies using contextual and predictive information, we present a generalized framework for detecting anomalies in real-time. We apply the framework to two different domains: a traffic data set and a real-time aviation application run on a human-in-the-loop flight simulator.
A Robust General Multivariate Chain Ladder Method

The chain ladder method is a popular technique to estimate the future reserves needed to handle claims that are not fully settled. Since the predictions of the aggregate portfolio (consisting of different subportfolios) do not need to be equal to the sum of the predictions of the subportfolios, a general multivariate chain ladder (GMCL) method has already been proposed. However, the GMCL method is based on the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) technique which makes it very sensitive to outliers. To address this issue, we propose a robust alternative that estimates the SUR parameters in a more outlier resistant way. With the robust methodology it is possible to automatically flag the claims with a significantly large influence on the reserve estimates. We introduce a simulation design to generate artificial multivariate run-off triangles based on the GMCL model and illustrate the importance of taking into account contemporaneous correlations and structural connections between the run-off triangles. By adding contamination to these artificial datasets, the sensitivity of the traditional GMCL method and the good performance of the robust GMCL method is shown. From the analysis of a portfolio from practice it is clear that the robust GMCL method can provide better insight in the structure of the data.
Game Plan: Development of a Web App Designed to Help Men Who Have Sex With Men Reduce Their HIV Risk and Alcohol Use

Background Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk for HIV, and alcohol use is a major risk factor for HIV infection. Internet-facilitated brief interventions have been shown to reduce alcohol use and HIV-risk behavior in other at-risk populations, but have so far incorporated limited content and have not been tested among MSM. Objective This manuscript describes Game Plan, an interactive, tablet-optimized web application designed to help heavy drinking, high-risk MSM consider reducing their alcohol use and sexual risk behavior. In this paper, we discuss the rationale, goals, and flow for each of Game Plan’s components, which were modelled after common in-person and web-based brief motivational interventions for these behaviors. Methods The development of Game Plan was informed by a thorough user-focused design research process that included (1) audits of existing interventions, (2) focus groups with stakeholders and (3) intended users (high-risk, heavy drinking MSM), and (4) usability testing. The aesthetic, features, and content of the app were designed iteratively throughout this process Results The fully-functional Game Plan app provides (1) specific and personal feedback to users about their level of risk, (2) exercises to help prompt users to reflect on whether their current behavior aligns with other important life goals and values, and for those open to change, (3) exercises to help users understand factors that contribute to risk, and (4) a change planning module. In general, this flow was constructed to roughly align with the two phases described in early accounts of motivational interviewing (MI): (1) Content intended to elicit intrinsic motivation for change, and when/if sufficient motivation is present, (2) content intended to translate that motivation into specific goals and plans for change. This sequence first focuses on the user’s HIV risk behavior, followed by their alcohol use and the connection between the two. The app’s overall aesthetic (eg, branding, color palettes, icons/graphics) and its onboarding sequence was also designed to align with the “spirit” of MI by conveying respect for autonomy, open-mindedness (ie, avoiding judgment), and empathy. Conclusions Should future research support its efficacy in facilitating behavior change, Game Plan could represent a wide-reaching and scalable tool that is well-suited for use in settings where delivering evidence-based, in-person interventions would be difficult or cost-prohibitive.
New Developments in the Synthesis of EMICORON

This paper reports on the modification of two synthetic steps in the usual protocol used for obtaining EMICORON. EMICORON is a benzo[ghi]perylen-diimide, which was synthesized for the first time in our laboratory in 2012, and has shown to have in vivo antitumor activities that interferes with the tumor growth and development using a multi-target mechanism of action. The provided modifications, which involved the reaction times, the reaction conditions, and the work-up procedures, allowed the global yield of the process to be increased from 28% to about 40%. Thus, this new procedure may be more suitable for recovering higher amounts of EMICORON to be used in further preclinical studies.
AN EFFICIENT ALGORITHM FOR IMPLEMENTING TRAFFIC SIGN DETECTION ON LOW COST EMBEDDED SYSTEM

This paper presents the implementation of traﬃc sign detection on a low cost embedded system. The proposed system consists of color thresholding, shape detection, and sign validation. An eﬃcient color thresholding based on the red-blue angle color transformation (RBAT) and the normalized red color is employed to extract the red circular traﬃc sign in an image. Then an ellipse ﬁtting technique is applied to detecting the circular sign. Further, a novel technique to validate the circular sign is proposed by employing the histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) which is calculated on the outer area of the sign. The experimental results show that the true positive rate of 0.92 and the precision of 0.97 could be achieved. The execution time of the proposed algorithm which is implemented on a Raspberry Pi Type 3 module is 48.17 ms. It provides a promising result for the real-time implementation.
Study on Porous Mg-Zn-Zr ZK61 Alloys Produced by Laser Additive Manufacturing

This study reports the effect of Zn contents on surface morphology, porosity, microstructure and mechanical properties of laser additive manufacturing (LAM) porous ZK61 alloys. The surface morphology and porosity of the LAMed porous ZK61 alloys depend on the laser energy input. With increasing Zn contents, the surface quality of porous Mg-Zn-Zr alloys became worse, the grains are obviously refined and the precipitated phases experienced successive transitions: MgZn→MgZn + Mg7Zn3 →Mg7Zn3. The microhardness was improved significantly and ranged from 57.67 HV to 109.36 HV, which was ascribed to the fine grain strengthening, solid solution strengthening and precipitation strengthening. The LAMed porous Mg-15 wt. % Zn-0.3 wt. % Zr alloy exhibits the highest ultimate compressive strength (73.07 MPa) and elastic modulus (1.785 GPa).
A Full-Scale Comparative Study of Conventional and Side-Stream Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal Processes

In this study, a full-scale pilot testing was performed with side-by-side operation of a conventional enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process and a side-stream EBPR (S2EBPR) process. A comparison of the performance, activities and population dynamics of key functionally relevant populations between the two configurations were carried out. The results demonstrated that, with the same influent wastewater characteristics, S2EBPR configuration showed more effective and stable orthophosphate (PO4-P) removal performance (up to 94% with average effluent concentration down to 0.1 mg P/L) than conventional EBPR, especially when the mixers in side-stream reactor were operated intermittently. Mass balance analysis illustrated that both denitrification and EBPR performance have been enhanced in S2EBPR configuration through diverting primary effluent to anoxic zone and producing additional carbon (~40%) via fermentation in side-stream reactor. Microbial characterization showed that there was no significant difference in the relative abundances of Ca. Accumulibacter (~5.9%) and Tetrasphaera (~16%) putative polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) between the two configurations. However, lower relative abundance of known GAOs was observed in S2EBPR configuration (1.1%) than the conventional one (2.7%). A relatively higher PAO activity and increased degree of dependence on glycolysis pathway than TCA cycle was observed in S2EBPR configuration using P release and uptake batch test. Adequate anaerobic solid retention time (SRT) and conditions that generate continuous and slow feeding/production of volatile fatty acid (VFA) with higher composition percentage of propionate in the side-stream reactor of S2EBPR process likely provide a competitive advantage for PAOs over GAOs.
Storage and loss modulus of brain tissue determined with the atomic force microscope

Material properties are one critical requirement for accurate computational modeling of injury events. Modeling brain injuries is complicated by the brain’s heterogeneous structure and measuring material properties is further complicated by the sizes of those structures. We have previously used the atomic force microscope (AFM) to measure pseudo-static mechanical properties of rat brain tissue at a spatial resolution capable of discerning between anatomical structures. We are extending these earlier studies with the AFM to measure frequency dependent properties in response to sinusoidal indentations up to 800 Hz, in some cases. Preliminary analysis indicates significant regional differences in stiffness. Brain tissue stiffness was strongly dependent on both oscillation frequency and indentation depth, reinforcing the need for nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive models to adequately describe the mechanical behavior of brain tissue. The AFM methodology, data analysis, and limitations will be discussed.
PREVALENCE OF PARENTAL POSTNATAL DEPRESSION IN FATHERS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS

Background: Childbirth brings many changes to family and fathers who are at risk of depression. During this period, fathers face a lot of challenges and several new roles. Negative effects of paternal postpartum depression (PPND) affect marital/partner relationships, infant bonding, and child development. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of PPND and its relationship with some individual characteristics.