Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of subjects with occupational exposure to asbestos, quartz, and welding fumes in the general population of Telemark, Norway

ABSTRACT A questionnaire survey on the lifetime exposure to asbestos, quartz, and welding fumes among males aged 38-48 years (n=9,186) and females aged 40-43 years (n=3,495) in the county of Telemark, Norway was carried out in 1989-90. The overall response rate was 72%. A total of 42.9% of the males and 39.8% of the females were current smokers. Among the male responders, 32.5%, 16.4%, 21.1%, and 10.5% had been exposed at any time to asbestos, quartz, welding fumes, and stainless steel welding fumes respectively. The figures for exposure among female responders were negligible, i.e. 0.7%, 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.1% respectively. The mean reported duration of exposure for the exposed subjects was 9.8 years for asbestos, 8.8 years for quartz, and 11.3 years for welding fumes. Subjects reporting any one of the exposure factors were more likely to be smokers. Exposure at the time of the survey was reported by 13.8% among the asbestos-exposed subjects, and by 22.7% and 34.4% among those exposed to quartz and welding fumes respectively. The need for primary intervention is emphasized. Smoking intervention in those already exposed to any of these determinants for lung cancer is also needed, as tobacco smoke may increase the lung cancer risk further. Key words : smoking, gender, combined exposures, population survey, prevalent exposure
The Outflow from the Luminous Young Stellar Object IRAS 20126+4104: From 4000 AU to 0.4 pc

We have imaged the outflow from the luminous young stellar object IRAS 20126+4104 (I20126) with the Submillimeter Array in CO (3-2), HCN (4-3), and SiO (5-4) at 1''-2'' resolutions within a radius of ~20'' from the central driving source. Our observations reveal at least three different components of the outflowing gas: (1) A compact (~4000 AU) bipolar outflow toward the central young stellar object. With a dynamical timescale of ~120 yr, this component represents a very new jet/outflow activity in I20126. (2) A collimated outflow with an extent of ~0.2 pc previously detected in SiO (2-1). Both morphology and kinematics favor this component being a jet-driven bow shock system. (3) An S-shaped CO outflow with an extent of ~0.4 pc. This component records the precession history very well. Its kinematic feature, where the velocity increases with distance from the YSO, indicates, independently of other evidence, that the outflow axis is moving toward the plane of the sky. The three outflow components record the history of the primary jet precession over scales ranging from a few hundred AU to approximately 0.4 pc. Our results indicate that CO (3-2) emission is a good tracer to probe the primary jet. The gas densities and SiO relative abundances in I20126 shocks are estimated using the large velocity gradient calculations. The inferred SiO abundances of (1-5) × 10-8 in I20126 outflow lobes are comparable to the expected enhancement at shocked regions.
Isoprenaline-Induced Myocardial Infarction in Rats: Protective Effects of Hesperidin

Myocardial infarction is amongst the most common causes of death worldwide. The present study aimed to investigate the cardioprotective effect of hesperidin (200 mg/kg) either individually or in combination with atorvastatin (10 mg/kg), as a reference standard, in isoprenaline-induced myocardial infarction in rats. Markers chosen to assess cardiac damage included serum activity of creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) and serum level of cardiac troponin-I (cTn-I), oxidative stress biomarkers including cardiac contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and nitric oxide (NO) as well as serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-10 (IL-10). Furthermore, ECG monitoring and histologic examinations of cardiac tissues were done. Isoprenaline increased CK-MB activity as the well the levels of cTn-I, inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers. In addition, it produced ST segment elevation and degenerative changes in heart tissues. The obtained data revealed that pretreatment with hesperidin alone or in combination with atorvastatin significantly decreased the elevated activity of serum CKMB as well as serum levels of cTn-I, CRP, TNF-α and IL-10 coupled by a reduction in cardiac lipid peroxides and NO content. Moreover, both treatments resulted in marked improvement in isoprenaline-induced ECG and histopathologic changes. In conclusion, hesperidin can be regarded as a promising cardioprotective natural agent in myocardial infarction when used alone or combined with atorvastatin.
Analysis of Factors Affecting the Use of Google Classroom to Support Lectures

The rapid development of information technology in recent years has changed the paradigm of society. One field that is getting a signicant impact is the field of education, where education is a process of communication and information from teachers to students that contains the information education, that sparked the birth of the idea of e-learning. The use of any e-learning system is always followed by a push factors, as well as e-learning launched by Google, the Google Classrooms that currently used by the majority of students in STT Musi. TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) is a model of user acceptance of information systems and information technology assume that there are two individual beliefs, they are perception of bene�fit (Perceived Usefulness abbreviated as PU) and ease of use (perceived ease of use, abbreviated as PEOU). Therefore, this study was developed by adopting the model of TAM to see from both the perception in the TAM that affect the use of Google Classroom by some students STT Musi. Population of this research is the students who are already using Google Classroom in the lecture. Data obtained as much as 90 questionnaires distributed by using purposive sampling technique to all students active in the odd academic year 2014-2015.Results from this study showed that the perception of perceived Easy of Use and perceptions of perceived usefulness positively affect the use of Google Classroom. And both these perceptions also jointly affect the use of Google Classroom.
Coherent cross talk and parametric driving of matter-wave vortices

We show that the interaction between vortices and sound waves in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates can be elucidated in a double-well trap: with one vortex in each well, the sound emitted by each precessing vortex can be driven into the opposing vortex (if of the same polarity). This cross-talk leads to a periodic exchange of energy between the vortices which is long-range and highly efficient. The increase in vortex energy (obtained by numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation) is significant and experimentally observable as a migration of the vortex to higher density over just a few precession periods. Similar effects can be controllably engineered by introducing a precessing localised obstacle into one well as an artificial generator of sound, thereby demonstrating the parametric driving of energy into a vortex.
Content Based Image Retrieval

The importance of an effective technique in searching and retrieving images from the huge collection cannot be overemphasized. One approach for indexing and retrieving image data is using manual text annotations. The annotations can then be used to search images indirectly. But there are several problems with this approach. First, it is very difficult to describe the contents of an image using only a few keywords. Second, the manual annotation process is very subjective, ambiguous, and incomplete. Those problems have created great demands for automatic and effective techniques for content-based image retrieval (CBIR) systems. Most CBIR systems use low-level image features such as color, texture, shape, edge, etc., for image indexing and retrieval. It’s because the low-level features can be computed automatically. Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) has emerged during the last several years as a powerful tool to efficiently retrieve images visually similar to a query image. The main idea is to represent each image as a feature vector and to measure the similarity between images with distance between their corresponding feature vectors according to some metric. Finding the correct features to represent images with, as well as the similarity metric that groups visually similar images together, are important steps in the construction of any CBIR system.
The solution conformations of macrocycles. Applications in the exploration of weak interactions and in drug development

Understanding the solution conformation and dynamics of molecules with biological relevance, as well as the impact of their conformation stabilizing weak interactions, is for example important for drug design. Macrocycles have attractive pharmaceutical properties, and are of special interest as drug leads for targets with large, flat and featureless binding sites like protein-protein interfaces. As they are usually flexible and adopt a variety of solution geometries, the description of their ensembles is of high value. Most macrocyclic drugs are peptides or macrolides. Peptides, and in particular β-hairpin peptides, are suitable model systems for studying weak interactions. Due to their resemblance to proteins, studying peptides by solution state experiments provides knowledge gained in a biologically relevant environment. In this thesis, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been used for investigation of the solution ensembles of various macrocycles. Using a cyclic β-hairpin model system and NMR analysis of molecular flexibility in solution (NAMFIS), a single interstrand hydrogen bond was shown to provide significant stabilization of the folded conformation. In addition, it was shown that a chlorine-centered halogen bond stabilizes the β-hairpin to a comparable extent. Further, the solution ensembles of four cyclic βhairpin inhibitors of the MDM2/p53 protein-protein interaction were described, and a higher conformational flexibility was found to correlate with an increased inhibitory activity. In contrast, for cyclic azapeptide inhibitors of the cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36) receptor, higher flexibility correlated to decreased inhibitory activity. An increased population of one of the conformational families in solution was found to be beneficial for the CD36 inhibitory activity. Lastly, roxithromycin, a macrolide antibacterial agent, was described to convert from a more open conformation in polar media to a more closed and less flexible conformation in non-polar media. This thesis demonstrates that macrocycles are applicable as model systems for the study of weak interaction forces, which have a large influence on their conformational behavior. Furthermore, the obtained results show that the conformational stability of macrocycles vastly influences their bioactivity.
Study of some fingerprint verfication algorithms

Fingerprint Verification is one of the most reliable personal identification methods. Image processing provides power tools for this purpose. The target can be mainly decomposed into image preprocessing, feature extraction and feature match. For each sub-task, some classical and up-to-date methods in literatures are analyzed. Based on the analysis, an integrated solution for fingerprint recognition is implemented.
Paddy CH4 emission under FACE and warming

Effects of free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) and soil warming on CH4 emission from a rice paddy field: impact assessment and stoichiometric evaluation T. Tokida, T. Fumoto, W. Cheng, T. Matsunami, M. Adachi, N. Katayanagi, M. Matsushima, Y. Okawara, H. Nakamura, M. Okada, R. Sameshima, and T. Hasegawa Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan Akita Prefectural Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Center, Akita, Japan Chiba University, Matsudo, Chiba, Japan National Agricultural Research Center for Tohoku Region, Morioka, Japan Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate 020-8550, Japan
A MULTISCALE SOIL MOISTURE AND FREEZE-THAW MONITORING NETWORK ON THE THIRD POLE

Multisphere interactions over the Tibetan Plateau directly impact its surrounding climate and environment at a variety of spatiotemporal scales. Remote sensing and modeling are expected to provide hydrometeorological data needed for these process studies, but in situ observations are required to support their calibration and validation. For this purpose, we have established a dense monitoring network on the central Tibetan Plateau to measure two state variables (soil moisture and temperature) at three spatial scales (1.0°, 0.3°, and 0.1°) and four soil depths (0–5, 10, 20, and 40 cm). The experimental area is characterized by low biomass, high soil moisture dynamic range, and typical freeze–thaw cycle. The network consists of 56 stations with their elevation varying over 4470–4950 m. As auxiliary parameters of this network, soil texture and soil organic carbon content are measured at each station to support further studies. To guarantee continuous and high-quality data, tremendous efforts have been made t.
The Effects of Neurofeedback in the Default Mode Network: Pilot Study Results of Medicated Children with ADHD

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulty activating the Default Mode Network (DMN) in a resting or quiet state. The DMN function assists in processing and understanding a person's internal, reflective world and the world of self and others. Neurofeedback (NFB), a type of EEG operant conditioning, trains self-regulation skills using a brain–computer interface. The hardware and software have audio/video capabilities to correct irregular brainwave patterns and regional cerebral blood flow associated with mental health and cognitive concerns. Individual treatment sessions usually last approximately 20 min; to gain the largest overall treatment effect, NFB users need to experience about 30 to 40 sessions. This study randomly assigned 12 children diagnosed with ADHD and currently on a stimulant medication to a treatment or control group. Subjects in the treatment group completed 40 NFB sessions. Pre- and posttest fMRIs were administered on the treatment and control groups. E.
Fractal fragmentation theory for size effects of quasi-brittle materials in compression

Size effects on dissipated energy density and strength for quasi-brittle materials in compression are analysed theoretically and experimentally herein. By using a fractal fragmentation approach the dissipated energy density of a structural element under compression is deduced. In addition, the dissipated energy density and the strength for geometrically similar structural elements under compression, by varying their size, are obtained. Finally, a comparison between theoretical predictions and experimental results is presented for plane as well as fibre-reinforced concrete. The size effects on dissipated energy density and compressive strength are captured by the proposed model in a satisfactory way.
Comprehensive Analysis of Wound-inducible Genes from the Nicotiana glutinosa Leaves Using a Full-length cDNA Microarray

Wound-inducible gene expression in the the Nicotiana glutinosa leaves was studied by using a microarray with 9600 full-length CDNAS. As a result, 86 genes were identified as wound-inducible genes in the N. glutinosa leaves, including those encoding defense related proteins, such as heat shock proteins, glutathione S-transferase, ascorbate peroxidase and nonspecffic lipid-transfer proteins. Among 86 genes, 15 genes including 1 1 hypothetical protein genes and I unknown protein genes encode unknown functional proteins. Although the translational products of these genes have not been characterized, they are potential candidates for defense-related proteins toward wounding. The cluster analysis classified the genes into 6 groups on the basis of their expression patterns. It is likely that genes clustered in the same groups may be co-regulated by common transcriptional factors and also translational products belonging to the same clusters may share common functions in defense response to wounding.
Impact of Organizational Culture on the Quality of Management Accounting Information System : A Theoritical Approach

Management Accounting Information system (MAIS) equal as the information systems generally. MAIS refers to the normative, but when MAIS implemented have unintended consequence or unpredictable, this is because in the context of organization and social not well understood by users. To avoid misunderstanding of the user, thus resulting in the quality of information systems, the organizational culture can bridge these problems. Organizational culture is an important factor in the spread of management accounting information systems in organizations. Keywords : Accounting is Information System, Management Accounting Information System, Organizational Culture
Improving Power Quality of a Transmission Line using Static VAR Compensator

: In this paper improvement of power quality and efficiency of transmission line has been discussed using Static VAR Compensator (SVC). The Matlab Simulink model of SVC addressed here comprises of Thyristor Switched Capacitor (TSC) and Thyristor Controlled Reactor(TCR) which gave the enhanced results in terms of voltage , current and improved power quality in the transmission line font-weight:bold'>: Mangrove ecosystem plays an important role in preventing cyclones and tsunamis at estuaries from entering into interior land and in the economic development of local inhabitants. They have peculiar adaptations such as strong supporting interlocking and breathing root system called pneumatophores, vivipary mode of reproduction, salt regulation and nutrient retention. They flourished well in pulicat lake till 18 th century. Now mangrove vegetation remains as small patches only in the pulicat lake. They are largely destroyed by human induced activities such as Urbanisation and Agriculture. The present study documents the checklist of true mangroves and their associates present in the pulicat lake which helps to develop the conservative methods to protect leftover patches of Mangroves.
A framework for analysing the determinants of health and safety self-regulation in the construction industry

While regulating health and safety (H&S) is one of the preconditions for improving and sustaining H&S, there is substantial evidence that the Nigerian construction industry continues to suffer neglect in that regard. Nonetheless, some construction contractors self-regulate in the absence of external influences including regulation. The decision to self-regulate is determined by a number of key factors. It is, therefore, important to understand their decisions to self- regulate for effective policy making with the aim that more construction contractors will start adopting self-regulatory programs for H&S. Based on current evidence and theories from existing literature, this paper presents a proposed framework for analysing the determinants of H&S self-regulation in the Nigerian construction industry. Some elements of the framework are centred on: regulatory issues, the ability to self-regulate, normative factors, industry issues, social pressure and economic climate. It is established in this study that while there is significant hypothetical relationships among the elements of the framework, the evidence in practice may annul the hypothetical relationships.
NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE AUTOGENOUS SHRINKAGE OF HARDENING PORTLAND CEMENT PASTE

Autogenous shrinkage is the volume deformation of a closed, isothermal, cementitious material system not subjected to external forces. How to accurately predict the autogenous shrinkage in hardening cement-based materials is an important issue in concrete technology because autogenous shrinkage increases cracking risk and reduces the durability and service life of reinforced concrete structures. Many models simulated the autogenous shrinkage of cement-based materials based on some mechanisms such as capillary pressure and disjoining pressure. These models are normally empirical and cannot reveal the deformation behavior of cement-based materials under the internal load of the driving force of autogenous shrinkage in microscale. As a consequence, the reliability of these models are questionable. This paper proposes a numerical model to simulate the autogenous shrinkage of hardening cement paste. A cement hydration and microstructure model HYMOSTRUC3D is used to simulate the microstructure of cement paste. A pore morphology based method is applied to describe the water and empty capillary pores distribution in the microstructure. Capillary pressure in the microstructure of cement paste is calculated from relative humidity measured by experiment based on Kelvin equation. A discrete algorithm is proposed to divide the hydration time into several static times. At each static time, a lattice finite element fracture method is used to simulate the deformation of simulated microstructure of cement paste under capillary pressure imposing. The autogenous shrinkage of hardening cement paste is equal to the sum of deformation of cement paste at each static time. The autogenous shrinkage of Portland cement paste with water to cement ratio of 0.3 is predicted. The simulation results are in a good agreement with experiments.
eScholarship Title An alternative method for quantifying coronary artery calcification : the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis

Background: Extent of atherosclerosis measured by amount of coronary artery calcium (CAC) in computed tomography (CT) has been traditionally assessed using thresholded scoring methods, such as the Agatston score (AS). These thresholded scores have value in clinical prediction, but important information might exist below the threshold, which would have important advantages for understanding genetic, environmental, and other risk factors in atherosclerosis. We developed a semi-automated threshold-free scoring method, the spatially weighted calcium score (SWCS) for CAC in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Methods: Chest CT scans were obtained from 6814 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). The SWCS and the AS were calculated for each of the scans. Cox proportional hazards models and linear regression models were used to evaluate the associations of the scores with CHD events and CHD risk factors. CHD risk factors were summarized using a linear predictor. Results: Among all participants and participants with AS > 0, the SWCS and AS both showed similar strongly significant associations with CHD events (hazard ratios, 1.23 and 1.19 per doubling of SWCS and AS; 95% CI, 1.16 to 1.30 and 1.14 to 1.26) and CHD risk factors (slopes, 0.178 and 0.164; 95% CI, 0.162 to 0.195 and 0.149 to 0.179). Even among participants with AS = 0, an increase in the SWCS was still significantly associated with established CHD risk factors (slope, 0.181; 95% CI, 0.138 to 0.224). The SWCS appeared to be predictive of CHD events even in participants with AS = 0, though those events were rare as expected. Conclusions: The SWCS provides a valid, continuous measure of CAC suitable for quantifying the extent of atherosclerosis without a threshold, which will be useful for examining novel genetic and environmental risk factors for atherosclerosis.