Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of poly(vinyl alcohol)-based membranes by the response surface methodology for environmental applications

The pollution of hydric sources by pharmaceuticals is an issue in many countries, particularly in Brazil. The presence of these substances causes deleterious effects on the environment and human health. One of the main sources of this contamination is domestic sewage, due to the expressive amount of medicines released in their unaltered form. Unfortunately, traditional wastewater treatment is not effective for the removal of pharmaceuticals and, for this reason, membrane technology is an attractive alternative to overcome this issue. In this regard, hydrophilic polymers, such as poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), are the most suitable. However, their high affinity with water causes intense swelling, leading to severe modifications in the membrane properties. In view of all these facts, the present work evaluated the swelling of PVA-based membranes, with the aim of finding the membrane preparation method that has the lowest swelling, thereby providing the most suitable characteristics for pharmaceutical removal from wastewater. The membranes were prepared by the casting of a polymeric solution, with PVA as a basis polymer, citric acid as a crosslink agent and glycerol and silver nanoparticles as performance additives. The process optimization was performed using a design of experiments with posterior analysis by the response surface methodology (RSM). The RSM assessed the effect on the membrane swelling of the factors, including citric acid concentration and the time and temperature of crosslinking. The membrane characterization was performed by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with a field emission gun (SEM-FEG) and water contact angle (WCA) measurements. Overall, the condition that showed the lowest swelling was obtained with 10% of citric acid and crosslinking for 4 h at 130 °C. Under these conditions, the membrane had a mass swelling of 42% and a dimensional swelling of 24%. Additionally, our statistical analysis revealed that the factors with the dominant effects were the citric acid concentration and the temperature of crosslinking. The FT-IR analysis suggested that the crosslinking occurred by an esterification reaction, as showed by the stretching frequencies of C=O at 1710 cm -1 and ester C-O at 1230 cm -1 . Moreover, the SEM-FEG images revealed a smooth and flat surface and a dense cross section with a thickness of ~113 μm. Concerning the WCA, the angle was at ~80°, which is characteristic of hydrophilic materials. Finally, the data suggested that it is possible to optimize the membrane preparation process with adequate properties so that it can be subsequently applied to the removal of pharmaceuticals from hospital wastewater.
Einfluss der fakultativen Direktzahlungen auf die durchschnittliche Höhe der Stützung für einen landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb in Polen in regionaler Perspektive

Im Artikel wurden Ergebnisse der simulativen Untersuchungen dargestellt, mit denen gemessen werden konnte, welchen Einfluss die fakultativen Direktzahlungen auf die durchschnittliche Hohe der Stutzung je landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb in den einzelnen Woiwodschaften Polens hatten. Es wurde u.a. festgestellt, dass im Jahr 2017 infolge der Anwendung von freiwilligen Instrumenten die Anderung der durchschnittlichen Hohe der Stutzung fur landwirtschaftliche Betriebe in den Woiwodschaften, in denen diese Instrumente den starksten Einfluss auf die zu untersuchende Variable ausubten, ca. +/-12 % betrug (im Vergleich zu der Situation, wenn die fakultativen Zahlungen nicht eingefuhrt wurden und somit die fur deren Finanzierung bestimmten Mittel im Rahmen der einheitlichen Flachenzahlung verteilt wurden). Daruber hinaus wurde bemerkt, dass die in Polen angewandten fakultativen Instrumente zum Wachstum der durchschnittlichen Hohe der Stutzung bei landwirtschaftlichen Betrieben in Mittel- sowie in Mittelostpolen, insbesondere in der Woiwodschaft Podlachien, beigetragen haben. In den westlichen, nordlichen und sudlichen Woiwodschaften Polens ware der durchschnittliche Betrag der Stutzung pro landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb hoher, wenn keine fakultativen Instrumente implementiert wurden; somit ware auch das Niveau der Finanzierung fur die einheitliche Flachenzahlung hoher.
Stimulus-responsive hydrogels reinforced by cellulose nanowhisker for controlled drug release

Hybrid hydrogels (W–C gels), composed of PDMAEMA, cellulose nanowhisker (CNW) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS), were prepared for developing a stimuli-responsive drug-release system. Compared to the neat gels, W–C gels exhibit improved properties, which are directly dependent on the content of both the CNW and CMCS. For W–C gels, an increase in the CNW has an obvious reinforcement effect, which could be strengthened further by an increased CMCS content, due to the strong interaction between these components. Better compression resistance and elasticity is also observed as the CNW and CMCS content increases. Moreover, the W–C gels retain good swelling capacity with obvious responsiveness to both pH and temperature, which is similar to that of neat gels; the ionization of CMCS increases the swelling ratio of gels in both acidic and alkaline conditions, except in a certain pH region (pH = 4–6), corresponding to the correlative isoelectric points (IEP) of CMCS with PDMAEMA, where a low swelling ratio is found. In the meantime, the increased CNW content brings about a decreased swelling ratio and a faster deswelling rate in the gels. To test the potential of W–C gels as drug carriers, flutamide was used as a target drug to analyze the drug-loading and release properties of the gels. The hybrid gels exhibit better drug-loading ability than neat gels; for W–C gels, a burst release is followed by a slow and sustained release, and the release of the drug could be controlled by deprotonation or protonation of PDMAEMA and CMCS in the gels under different pH conditions; this is fast in alkaline conditions and slow in acidic conditions, and the drug-release mechanism with a changed pH value could be explained by the superposition of Fickian diffusion.
Social media innovation on consumer buying behaviour

Online media is fundamental to advanced promoting of brands. Organizations use it to arrive at a huge number of potential and current clients. There are some different web-based media like Instagram, Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, etc., by which consumer buying behavior is decided. A questionnaire was prepared and data was collected from a sample of 100 consumers who live in and around Chennai. The data was analyzed by variables such as Names of the Social media, Advertisement, and Customization. The findings show that Name of the Social media (0.26) and Advertisement (0.184) having positive linearity. Relationship with respect to Product purchase. The Customization (0.491) has a higher number of positive responses with respect to Product Purchase intention.
A Dashboard for System Trustworthiness Properties Evaluation

Understanding the trustworthiness of a cloud system is a difficult task, because it encompasses a large diversity of properties such as security, privacy, performance, among others. Evaluating and improving the system regarding trustworthiness require the analysis of huge data considering their historical status. The goal of this paper is to present a dashboard developed for the visualization of these properties, the relationship among them and their relevance in the composition of a trustworthiness score over usage time. Resumo. Entender a confiança de um sistema na nuvem é uma tarefa difı́cil, pois abrange uma grande diversidade de propriedades, tais como, segurança, privacidade, desempenho, entre outras. Avaliar e melhorar o sistema em relação a confiança implica na análise de um número grande de dados históricos dessas propriedades. O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar uma interface desenvolvida para a visualização dessas propriedades, a relação entre elas e a relevância de cada uma na composição de uma medida da confiança ao longo do tempo de uso do sistema.
Genomic scans for selective sweeps with four complementary statistical 1 tests on 14 indigenous sheep breeds from Middle East and South Asia 2

The performance and productivity of livestock have consistently improved by natural and artificial selection over the centuries. Both these selections are expected to leave patterns on the genome and lead to changes in 29 allele frequencies, but natural selection has played the major role among indigenous populations. Detecting 30 selective sweeps in livestock may assist in understanding the processes involved in domestication, genome 31 evolution and discovery of genomic regions associated with economically important traits. We investigated 32 selection signals in this study using SNP genotype data of 14 indigenous sheep breeds from Middle East and 33 South Asia, including six breeds from Iran, namely Iranian Balochi, Afshari, Moghani, Qezel, Zel, and Lori- 34 Bakhtiari, three breeds from Afghanistan, namely Afghan Balochi, Arabi, and Gadik, three breeds from India, 35 namely Indian Garole, Changthangi, and Deccani, and two breeds from Bangladesh, namely Bangladeshi 36 Garole and Bangladesh East. The SNP genotype data were generated by the Illumina OvineSNP50 37 Genotyping BeadChip array. We applied four complementary statistical tests, F ST (fixation index), xp-EHH 38 (cross-population extended haplotype homozygosity), Rsb (extended haplotype homozygosity between- 39 populations), and FLK (the extension of the Lewontin and Krakauer) to detect selective sweeps. Our results 40 not only confirm the previous studies but also provide a suite of novel candidate genes involved in different 41 traits in sheep. On average, F ST , xp-EHH, Rsb, and FLK detected 128, 207, 222, and 252 genomic regions as 42 candidates for selective sweeps, respectively. Furthermore, overlapping candidate genes were detected by 43 these four tests, including; TNIK, DOCK1, SFMBT1, SPO11, USH2A, TYW1B, NELL2, EML5, and IQCE. The first six of these genes, especially TNIK, DOCK1, and SPO11 were enriched by Gene Ontology (GO) 45 and are involved in embryonic development, immune response, and fertility respectively. Knowledge of candidate genomic regions in sheep populations may facilitate the identification and potential exploitation 47 of the underlying genes in sheep breeding.
Variability of Some Meteorological Elements During the Southwest Monsoon Season in Bangladesh

Statistical computation and analysis of the co-efficient of variation of different meteorological parameter such as mean sea level pressure, rainfall, dew-point depression, minimum temperature and maximum temperature over Bangladesh during the onset, on-going and withdrawal phases of southwest monsoon, season of 1981- 2010 was dealt with. The study reveals that the coefficient of variation of the mean sea level (msl) pressure is practically small over Bangladesh during the onset and ongoing phases of southwest monsoon. During the onset phase, the CV of msl pressure is relatively higher and decreases during the on-going phase. The variation of msl pressure increases slightly in the withdrawal phase of monsoon. The ranges of CV of msl pressure are 0.064 - 0.197%, 0.079 - 0.809%, 0.091 - 0.793%, 0.069 - 0.272%, 0.0695 - 0.229% and 0.127 - 0.32% in May, June, July, August, September and October, respectively. The variation of dew-point depression decreases in the eastern part during the onset phase of southwest monsoon and becomes lower all over Bangladesh during the on-going phase of monsoon. It again increases during the withdrawal phase. The maximum co-efficient of variation of rainfall exists over the southeastern part of Bangladesh during the on-going phase of southwest monsoon and decreases in June and July over Bangladesh i.e. during the early on-going phase of monsoon. The co-efficient of variation of minimum and maximum temperatures is found to decrease during the onset and on-going phases of southwest monsoon and increases during the withdrawal of monsoon from Bangladesh. Journal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Vol. 40, No. 2, 155-167, 2016
Association Between Body Composition with Pulmonary Function Tests

Background: Why is bodyweight not a predictor of lung function, however, height, sex, race, and age are predictors of lung capacity and function. In this study, we want to investigate the association between body composition and pulmonary function. And as much as possible, answer the question of why bodyweight is not predictive of lung function.Method: This cross-sectional study was performed among 2967 employees of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) who participated in the TUMS Employees Cohort (TEC) study. The body composition of the participants was measured using the Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) method. Anthropometric variables were also measured as a confounder. The pulmonary function of participants was assessed by a forced spirometry test.Results: The correlation of BIA values including fat-free mass and total body water with a pulmonary function such as FEV1, FVC, and FEF25-75 is higher than most anthropometric values such as weight, wrist circumference, and the waist to hip ratio. Also, in regression analysis, age and sex had an association with pulmonary function, but the weight did not show a significant relationship. On the other hand, fat-free mass and visceral fat were significantly associated with pulmonary function. One is direct and the other is inverse.Conclusion: The hypothesis that the results of this study created in the minds of the authors were that; The direct association of fat-free mass with pulmonary function may be ineffective by the inverse association of visceral fat with pulmonary function, leading to a lack of association between weight and pulmonary function.
ÁGATA: um chatbot para difusão de práticas para Educação Ambiental

Instant messaging apps have billions of monthly active users, which made this environment a good medium for purposes other than communication, such as education. In this context, one of the most appropriate technologies to encourage learning in these applications is chatbots. They consist of conversational applications that make use of artificial intelligence and natural language processing to interact with the user in a similar way to a human. In this scenario, this article presents the AGATE a chatbot developed for the Environmental Management Office (AGA / UEMA) in order to disseminate knowledge on environmental education, focusing on the problems of water and energy waste. The chatbot was developed for Telegram through the pyTelegramBotAPI implementation. In addition, conversation flows were created using DialogFlow. A multidisciplinary team composed of 14 people participated in the evaluation of the project, with a greater participation of professionals in the field of Biology. The initial results focused on the user experience were satisfactory.
O Comportamento no uso de um Agregador de Podcasts na Disseminação do Conhecimento

Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study aims to identify which factors interfere in students' behavior in relation to acceptance and use of a podcast aggregator that provides tips to students about the content disseminated in the expository class, in the undergraduate course in Accounting Sciences, at a Federal University of Southern Brazil. With regard to the development of methodological aspects, this study used the quasi-experiment method of single case projects, data were collected through the application of a questionnaire on site with closed questions, the technique used for data analysis was the modeling of structural equations (SEM), using the method of partial least squares by modeling the paths, operationalized by the software SPSS v. 017 and SmartPLS v. 3.0. After the hypothesis test, two relationships were significant (H2 and H14): expectation of performance and social influence positively impacted the acceptance and intention to use the podcast aggregator. Thus, based on the results of the Structural Equation Modeling, it was possible to know the behavior of the UTAUT constructs in the scenario of higher accounting education, with the inclusion of an active methodology that valued the insertion of a technological tool in the dissemination of knowledge.
Smartphone-based interventions for employees' well-being promotion: a systematic review

Occupational Psychology faces challenges concerning the promotion of employees' well-being and health. The use of emergent technologies (e.g. smartphone) has revealed new opportunities to deliver effective, cheap and early interventions. By following the international PRISMA statement guidelines, this systematic review aims to bring together workplace smartphone-based interventions, targeting employees' well-being and psycho-physical health, to address the lack of studies focused on workplace settings. Results were drawn from 31 quantitative and qualitative studies, testing smartphone applications. The authors extracted multiple information for each article: focus, target, theoretical background, users' engagement and study design. Findings show the lack of theoretical background, reliable study design and the prevalence of physical health interventions. Moreover, our review identifies the importance of users' engagement for an intervention's effectiveness. It is relevant to design specific mHealth interventions, to provide employees with the skills to cope with and manage work-stress and enhance their general health and well-being.
DecisionTree for Classification and Regression: A State-of-the Art Review

Classification and regression are defined under the umbrella of the prediction task of data mining. Discrete values are predicted using classification techniques whereas regression techniques are most suitable for predicting continuous data. Analysts from different research areas like data mining, statistics, machine learning, pattern recognition, and big data analytics preferred decision trees over other classifiers as it is simple, effective, efficient, and its performance is competitive with others. In this paper, we review extensively many popularly used state-of-the-art decision tree-based techniques for classification and regression. We present a survey of more than forty years of research that has been emphasized on the application of decision trees in both classification and regression. This survey could be the potential source for all the researchers who are keenly interested to apply the decision tree classifier/regressor for their research work.
Performance Measurement System of Domestic Garbage Sorting in China: An Improved Balanced Scorecard

Domestic garbage sorting has been put on the agenda in China. To promote the implementation of the strategy of garbage sorting and cooperate with its management, it is of certain significance to construct the performance measurement system. According to the characteristics that garbage sorting is composed of multistakeholders, this paper improves the Balanced Scorecard and constructs a performance measurement system of domestic garbage sorting in China through investigation method, garbage sorting assessment documents, and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). This system not only highlights the priorities of various stakeholders but also balances the contradictions within each main stakeholder and the relationship between them.
KEBIJAKAN HUKUM PIDANA DALAM PENANGGULANGAN DESTRUCTIVE FISHING PADA REZIM PEMBANGUNAN BERKELANJUTAN

Abstract, The criminal law policy in dealing with destructive fishing is currently primum remedium. However, in its development the criminal law policy in overcoming destructive fishing experiences several obstacles and is not yet in line with the concept of sustainable development. Considering that sustainable development is one of the principles in fisheries management, it is necessary to make adjustments between criminal law policies and sustainable development. Therefore this research aims to study and analyze the ideal criminal law policy in overcoming destructive fishing in the sustainable development regime. This research is a doctrinal law research using a statutory approach, analytical approach, conceptual approach, and case approach. The results showed that the ideal policy of criminal law in overcoming destructive fishing in sustainable development regimes is to make arrangements for sanctions actions that lead to social, economic improvement and repair damage to fish resources and their ecosystems due to destructive fishing practices. Sanctions for actions are more restorative, anticipatory, and educational so that they can reduce the degradation of fish resources and the environment. Thus, the balance between the use of fish resources and sustainable development can be realized. Keywords: Destructive Fishing, Criminal Law, Sustainable Development Intisari, Kebijakan hukum pidana dalam penanggulangan tindak pidana destructive fishing saat ini bersifat primum remedium. Namun dalam perkembangannya kebijakan hukum pidana dalam menanggulangi destructive fishing mengalami beberapa hambatan dan belum selaras dengan konsep pembangunan berkelanjutan. Mengingat pembangunan berkelanjutan merupakan salah satu asas dalam pengelolaan perikanan, maka perlu dilakukan penyesuaian antara kebijakan hukum pidana dengan pembangunan berkelanjutan. Oleh karena itu penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji dan menganalisis kebijakan ideal hukum pidana dalam penanggulangan destructive fishing pada rezim pembangunan berkelanjutan. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian hukum doktrinal dengan menggunakan pendekatan perundang-undangan, pendekatan analitis, pendekatan konseptual, dan pendekatan kasus. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kebijakan ideal hukum pidana dalam penanggulangan destructive fishing pada rezim pembangunan berkelanjutan yakni dengan melakukan pengaturan terhadap sanksi tindakan yang mengarah pada perbaikan sosial, ekonomi dan perbaikan kerusakan sumber daya ikan dan ekosistemnya akibat praktik destructive fishing. Sanksi tindakan lebih bersifat restoratif, antisipatif, dan mendidik sehingga dapat mengurangi degradasi sumber daya ikan dan lingkungan. Dengan demikian, keseimbangan antara pemanfaatan sumber daya ikan dan pembangunan berkelanjutan dapat terwujud. Kata Kunci: Destructive Fishing, Hukum Pidana, Pembangunan Berkelanjutan
Variations in serum malondialdehyde levels in patients with leukemia

Leukemias are malignant neoplasms of hematopoietic stem cells characterized by diffuse infiltration of the blood and bone marrow by neoplastic cells. Leukemias are classified as acute and chronic according to clinical course and myeloid and lymphoid according to the cell predominantly involved in leukemic process. Free radicals are implicated in the pathogenesis of leukemia. Oxidative destruction of polyunsaturated fatty acid is called as lipid peroxidation. In this study, we determined serum malonyldialdehyde (MDA) level as a lipid peroxidation product in patients with leukemia. The mean serum MDA levels were significantly increased in leukemic patients (psignificant difference in serum MDA levels with respect to sex only in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Whereas in age groups, we found significant trend in serum MDA levels in patients with CML, AML and ALL patients. There was no significant difference in serum MDA level in patients with CLL with respect to age. Our finding of the high levels of serum malondialdehyde in leukemic patients as compared to healthy control may be due to increased oxidative stress in patients with leukemia. Keywords: Malondialdehyde, Leukemia, Oxidative stress