Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oxidative Precipitation of Manganese from Acid Mine Drainage by Potassium Permanganate

Although oxidative precipitation by potassium permanganate is a widely recognised process for manganese removal, research dealing with highly contaminated acid mine drainage (AMD) has yet to be performed. The present study investigated the efficiency of KMnO4 in removing manganese from AMD effluents. Samples of AMD that originated from inactive uranium mine in Brazil were chemically characterised and treated by KMnO4 at pH 3.0, 5.0, and 7.0. Analyses by Raman spectroscopy and geochemical modelling using PHREEQC code were employed to assess solid phases. Results indicated that the manganese was rapidly oxidised by KMnO4 in a process enhanced at higher pH. The greatest removal, that is, 99%, occurred at pH 7.0, when treated waters presented manganese levels as low as 1.0 mg/L, the limit established by the Brazilian legislation. Birnessite (MnO2), hausmannite (Mn3O4), and manganite (MnOOH) were detected by Raman spectroscopy. These phases were consistently identified by the geochemical model, which also predicted phases containing iron, uranium, manganese, and aluminium during the correction of the pH as well as bixbyite (Mn2O3), nsutite (MnO2), pyrolusite (MnO2), and fluorite (CaF2) following the KMnO4 addition.
EU-US WORKING GROUP ON SPOKEN-WORD AUDIO COLLECTIONS

0.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Our diverse cultures rely increasingly on audio and video resources. We need to chart a steady course to assure the utility of this record. Such a course calls for a plan to preserve these resources and to determine the most effective ways to access their rich content. For example, though our nations possess enormous collections of spoken-word materials, much of these collections will remain inaccessible to the public for lack of adequate search technologies or from decay unless we act to chart an access and preservation path. Our aim is to forge agreement on these vital topics so that as technology changes, we will be able to rely on our collections to understand and preserve these essential components of our cultural heritage. We also need to focus research support on areas of access and preservation that we believe will yield the greatest benefits across many intersecting disciplines. This document presents an agenda for collaborative research in this field.
Systematics and Evolution of Spiders (Araneae)

In the last 15 years understanding of the higher systematics of Araneae has changed greatly. Large classical superfamilies and families have turned out to be polyor paraphyletic; posited relationships were often based on sym­ plesiomorphies. In this brief review we summarize current taxonomic and phylogenetic knowledge and suggest where future efforts might profitably be concentrated. We lack space to discuss fully all the clades mentioned, and the cited numbers of described taxa are only approximate. Other aspects of spider biology have been summarized by Barth (7), Eberhard (47), Jackson & Parks (72), Nentwig (l05), Nyffeler & Benz ( 1 06), Riechert & Lockley ( 134), Shear ( 1 49) and Turnbull ( 160).
University of Birmingham Critical care nurses' experiences of withdrawal of treatment:

Background: Death and dying is reality of the clinical context of the intensive care unit. Death often follows a decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatments. Critical care nurses are the primary care providers to patients and families at the end-of-life in the intensive care unit. Objective: To synthesize qualitative evidence on the experiences of critical care nurses who have cared for patients and families throughout the process of withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. Methods: This was a systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis modeled on the Joanna Briggs Methodology. Pre-defined keywords were searched for in Medline, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and Web of Sciences to locate studies published in the English, French, and Greek languages in any year. Two reviewers independently screened articles for congruence with eligibility criteria, engaged in data extraction, and assessed quality of the included studies. Meta-aggregation was performed to synthesize the findings. A protocol was developed by two members of the review team prior to initiation of the study. Results: Thirteen studies were included in the review, 12 qualitative and one mixed-methods. Four key themes were identified from the original research: Navigating Complexity and Conflict; Focusing on the Patient; Working with Families; and Dealing with Emotions Related to Treatment Withdrawal. Critical care nurses provide care to patients and families during the process of withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment which is described as complex and challenging. Despite the inherent challenges, nurses strive towards doing their utmost for patients and families.
TETX2- A TETRACYCLINE INACTIVATING ENZYME TETX2·· A TETRACYCLINE INACTIVATING ENZYME BY

Resistance to the tetracycline antibiotics occurs primarily by efflux and ribosome protection mechanisms, however a tetracycline inactivating enzyme, TetX, was identified 15 years ago, although little is known about this mechanism. The gene encoding this enzyme was identified on a Bacteroides transposon and results from DNA sequence analysis and studies of bacterial culture media suggested that tetX's protein product might be a NADPH-requiring oxidase (Speer BS and Salyers AA. J Bacterial. 171(1): 148-153, 1989). We have expre! ;sed a copy of tetx gene, tetx2, in Escherichia coli, and purified the enzyme to high punty. We showed that TetX2 is a monomeric 44 kDa cytoplasmic protein and UV-Vis anc HPLC studies established that TetX contained an FAD cofactor. Continuous and stoppeo enzyme assays have been developed and established that that the enzyme requires 0 2 and NADPH for tetracycline degradation. Liquid chromatographic mass spectrometry (LC -MS) analysis of TetX reaction products using oxytetracycline (461 Da) as a substrat~ indicated that the enzyme catalyses the incorporation of one oxygen atom into oxytetracycline, resulting in a compound of 477 Da with no antibiotic activity. Steady state kinetic analysis demonstrated that TetX2 has a broad substrate specificity with the capacity to inactivate several members of the tetracycline family tested. Identification of the inactivated tetracycline product revealed that the tetracycline inactivation process is a TetX2 catalyzes tetracycline oxidation reaction. These studies provide the first biochemical analysis of a tetracycline inactivating enzyme.
The role of L-carnitine in acetyl salicylic acid-induced acute gastric mucosal injury in rats

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine the protective effects of L-carnitine on acetyl salicylic acid (ASA)-induced acute gastric mucosal injury through oxidant/antioxidant parameters and histopathological alterations in rat gastric tissues. Material and methods: Forty-two rats were randomly assigned to six groups: The control group received 1 mg/kg distilled water, while the other groups were pretreated with L-carnitine 50 mg/kg/day (LC), pantoprazole 40 mg/ kg/day (PPI), ASA + LC (50 mg/kg/day), and ASA + PPI (40 mg/kg/day), for 21 days, respectively. On day 23, gastric mucosal injury was induced by a single intragastric administration of 600 mg/kg aspirin in ASA, ASA + LC, and ASA + PPI groups. The animals were killed 60 min after the administration of aspirin. The stomach of each animal was removed. Gastric mucosal injury was scored histopathologically (ulcer score). Tissue catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, and malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) levels were also measured. Results: The ulcer score increased significantly in the ASA group, but this increase was not significantly inhibited by the administration of L-carnitine (2.71 ±1.0 vs. 2.57 ±0.5, p = 0.965). The CAT and GSH-Px activities were significantly reduced, whereas MDA and NO levels were significantly increased in the ASA group. Pretreatment with L-carnitine did not alter CAT or GSH-Px activities, but reduced MDA and NO levels insignificantly (p = 0.204 and p = 0.277, respectively). Conclusions: Long-term administration of L-carnitine did not improve the oxidative and histological parameters of acute gastric mucosal injury induced by ASA.
Understanding the Dynamics of Molecular Solids

Superconductors, single-molecule magnets, and spin-ladders materials are at the center of interest in condensed matter science. All of these materials have incredibly important potential applications and their exploration is the key to the future technologies. We carried out various measurements on representative compounds of each group of interest. The main tool for all these projects was optical spectroscopy, varied in each case to apply magnetic field or change temperature. In our magneto-optical measurements of κ-(ET)2Cu[N(CN)2]Br and κ-(ET)2Cu[N(CN)2]Cl, we sought to understand correlations between intramolecular vibrations and superconductivity. We found several totally symmetric intramolecular modes that change significantly at the field-induced superconducting to normal state transition. In our polarized vibrational and electronic spectra of [(C6H15N3)6Fe8(μ3-O)2(μ2-OH)12]Br7(H2O)Br.8H2O, we aimed to understand the charge excitations and benchmark electronic structure calculations. We found excellent agreement with theoretical work. And finally, in our low temperature measurements of (DT-TTF)2Au(mnt)2, we sought to understand phase transitions and investigate the possibility that this material may be a spin-ladder. We identified and characterized two low temperature magnetoelastic and structural transitions. The overall goal of entire work was to understand mechanisms that drive complicated and challenging physical phenomena.
Revealing the 'Invisible Gorilla' in Construction: Assessing Mental Workload through Time-Frequency Analysis

Construction companies suffer huge losses due to labor fatalities and injuries. Since more than 70% of all accidents are related to human activities, detecting and mitigating human-related risks holds the key to improve the safety condition of construction industry. Many research reveals the psychological and emotional conditions of workers could contribute to the fatalities and injuries. More recent observations in the area of neural science and psychology suggest inattentional blindness is one major cause of unexpected human related accidents. Due to the limitation of human mental workload, labors are vulnerable to unexpected hazards while they are focusing on complicated construction tasks. Therefore, detecting the mental conditions of workers could indicate the hazards level of unexpected injuries. However, there is no available measurement can monitor construction workers’ mental condition and related hazards. This proposed research aims at proposing a measurement framework to evaluate such hazards through a neural time-frequency analysis approach. At the same time, the researchers also developed a prototype wearable Electroencephalography (EEG) safety helmet to enable the neural information collection.
Parental Job Loss, Secondary School Completion and Home Environment

This study examines the effect of parental job loss on adolescents' school completion during the secondary school years and the moderating role of home environment in that effect. It uses rich survey data from Hungary on adolescents between 14 and 21 years of age, with detailed measures of parental employment and home environment. The study replicates the average negative effect found in the literature. No effect is found for families with a history of providing a cognitively stimulating home environment, but the negative effect is strong for other families. Home environment matters more than initial income in moderating the effect. The results highlight the protective nature of a cognitively stimulating home environment.
Multimodal Horizontal Branches: Empirical Evidence and Possible Evolutionary Scenarios

We review the available empirical evidence for the presence of "gaps" and multimodal distributions among horizontal branch (HB) stars, along with some of the theoretical scenarios that have been proposed to explain these features. While gaps along the HB have become increasingly less prominent and frequent as more and better color-magnitude diagram data have been obtained for Galactic globular clusters, the evidence for multimodal HBs has instead become stronger. In addition, different HB modes have recently started to be traced down to multiple components that have been detected among subgiant branch and main sequence stars, thus suggesting that their origin lies in the complex physical processes that took place at the earliest stages in the history of massive stellar clusters.
MIMO Over-The-Air Research, Development, and Testing

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) over-the-air (OTA) measurements and simulations for network and terminal performance evaluation and prediction have become very important research topics in recent years. Research into MIMO OTA for standardisation purposes has been ongoing in The Wireless Association (CTIA), the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), and the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) for three years. This is motivated by the urgent need to develop accurate, realistic, and cost-effective test standards for UMTS and LTE systems. Although many MIMO-capable networks are already deployed, there is pressure to finish the test standards by the end of 2012. While the first MIMO devices appeared some years ago and were commercially deployed two years ago, there are not yet any standards for testing MIMO performance OTA. The development of MIMO OTA test standards has proven to be particularly complex compared to single-input single-output (SISO) OTA, and developing a test standard is taking considerable time. Unlike SISO OTA, which was relatively straightforward and purely a function of the device, MIMO OTA is highly dependent on the interaction between the propagation characteristics of the radio channel and the receive antennas of the UE. Consequently, the existing SISO measurement techniques are unable to test the UE’s MIMO properties. Many different MIMO test methods have been proposed, which vary widely in their propagation channel characteristics, size, and cost. Many challenges remain in the areas of identifying the optimal channel models and test method(s), and it is possible that the outcome could be that more than one test methodology will be standardized. Current standards activities are concentrated on showing if the proposed test methodologies provide the same results, with the ultimate goal being to clearly differentiate good from bad MIMO devices. The aim of this special issue, guest edited by a balanced representation from across academia and industry is to provide a valuable source of information for the state of this important research area. Section 2 of this introductory paper provides an introduction to MIMO OTA standardization activities, and Section 3 describes the different test methodologies under consideration by 3GPP/CTIA. A comparison between test methodologies is made in Section 4. A summary of the papers accepted for publication in this special issue is presented in Section 5. These articles discuss important aspects of MIMO OTA testing and the latest advances of all test methodologies. The research represents the latest thinking of well-known experts in industry and academia and will undoubtedly influence future decisions on testing standardization. Some conclusions and future work are provided in Section 6.
Yttrium Oxide Nanowires

Yttrium is one of the most important rare-earth elements. Yttrium compounds show promise for applications such as high quality phosphors, catalysts, up-conversion materials and fine ceramics because of their optical, catalytic properties and high-temperature stability. Yttrium oxide is the most familiar yttrium compound, which is popularly known as host for ion doping of other rare earth elements. For example, europium doped yttrium oxide, Y
A Research on Machine Learning Methods for Big Data Processing

Machine learning has found widespread implementations and applications in many different domains in our life. However, as the big data era is coming, some traditional machine learning techniques cannot satisfy the requirements of real-time processing for large volumes of data. In response, machine learning needs to reinvent itself for big data. In this article, we provide a review of machine learning for big data processing in recent studies. Firstly, a discussion about big data is presented, followed by the analysis of the new characteristics of machine learning in the context of big data. Then, we propose a feasible reference framework for dealing with big data based on machine learning techniques. Finally, several research challenges and open issues are addressed.
The Markov-Switching Multifractal Model of Asset Returns

Multifractal processes have recently been proposed as a new formalism for modeling the time series of returns in finance. The major attraction of these processes is their ability to generate various degrees of long memory in different powers of returns—a feature that has been found in virtually all financial data. Initial difficulties stemming from nonstationarity and the combinatorial nature of the original model have been overcome by the introduction of an iterative Markov-switching multifractal model which allows for estimation of its parameters via maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian forecasting of volatility. However, applicability of MLE is restricted to cases with a discrete distribution of volatility components. From a practical point of view, ML also becomes computationally unfeasible for large numbers of components even if they are drawn from a discrete distribution. Here we propose an alternative generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator together with linear forecasts which in principle is applicable for any continuous distribution with any number of volatility components. Monte Carlo studies show that GMM performs reasonably well for the popular binomial and lognormal models and that the loss incurred with linear compared to optimal forecasts is small. Extending the number of volatility components beyond what is feasible with MLE leads to gains in forecasting accuracy for some time series.
A novel low-voltage and low-power bandgap voltage reference

The paper proposes a novel low-voltage and low-power bandgap voltage reference, which has superior performance such as low-voltage, low-power and low-temperature coefficient. The simulation based on 0.18-um CMOS process of TSMC. The proposed circuit consists of current source subcircuit, a bipolar transistor and a proportional-to-absolute-Temperature (PTAT) voltage generators, the PTAT voltage generator compensates for negative temperature dependence of a base-emitter voltage in a PNP bipolar transistor, and the voltage with zero temperature coefficient can be generated. Moreover, all of the MOSFETs work in subthreshold region, as a result, the low-voltage and low-power is achieved. The supply voltage is 1V,and it can also work normally from 0.8V to 4V,while the output voltage of the circuit is 0.58V,with maximal power dissipation less than 38nA. The temperature coefficient is about 14.5ppm/℃ under temperature from -40℃ to 80℃, that means a better temperature stability. So the performance of the proposed circuit is excellent.
Role of bacterial communities in coral’s defence against a causative agent of coral bleaching: Vibrio coralliilyticus

Aims: Different studies have shown that members of the Vibrio such as Vibrio coralliilyticus and Vibrio shiloi are opportunistic pathogens which can cause coral lysis. The aims of this study were to assess whether this results of the virulence of V. coralliilyticus are transmittable to Acropora hyacinthus and Porites lobata, and what role the microbiome of the corals plays during exposure to V. coralliilyticus. Methodology and results: In laboratory-based experiments, we examined the impact of V. coralliilyticus (ATCC BAA450) to the microbiome of Acropora hyacinthus and Porites lobata. A. hyacinthus and P. lobata were exposed to ampicillin, V. coralliilyticus, and a combination of both. Results indicate a resistance of A. hyacinthus to V. coralliilyticus through the microbiome and underpin the importance of the microbiome for the coral’s health. Conclusion, significance and impact study: Further studies are needed to identify the bacteria responsible for the coral resistance and could in future lead to the development of a probiotic treatment or prevention of bleaching for sensitive corals.
New Trends in Higher EducationManagement: Teachers’ Perception of the Inclusion of Libraries’ E-Services into LMS

Integration of academic libraries' e-services into universities' learning management systems (LMS) can be seen as one aspect of advancing the higher education management. Libraries' e-services delivered within a learning context can facilitate the process of teaching and contribute to the quality of students' learning. Academic libraries' e-services integrated into universities' learning management systems demand but at the same time develop information literacy skills of their users - students and teachers. Successful information literacy instruction programs are not only oriented to teaching information literacy skills but also to designing learning environment that demands usage of information literacy skills within the context where these skills are necessary. The research outlined in this paper was conducted to explore the effects of integration of academic libraries’ e-services into learning management system at the university and its possible impact on the process of teaching and learning. This paper is focused on the teachers’ perception of the effects of such integration and their views on the possible impact on their teaching activities and on students’ learning. The results of the interviews with teachers show that teachers’ opinions about the integration of libraries’ e-services into learning management system are mostly positive. In addition, they report the immediate benefits for their teaching activities as well as for their students which consequently makes academic library more visible and accessible. Teachers pointed out that the major benefit of the integration of library eservices into the learning management system was a better usage of academic library and its resources.
Virtual keyboard with scanning and augmented by prediction

All our teenage users are confined to electric wheelchairs and are unable to speak or make any voluntary movements much beyond either moving their head against one of three switches mounted in the chair’s headrest or to hit a large “banger” switch. Real-world devices are beyond reach, only devices in a virtual world are attainable. This virtual keyboard project was designed to meet their needs for interacting with commercial off-the-shelf software such as word processors, spreadsheets, electronic mail and Internet tools. The virtual keyboard uses scanning augmented by character prediction and word completion.