Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphological and molecular assessment of hip dysplasia in two body types of Spanish Mastiff

Canine hip dysplasia is a polygenic disorder having genetic and non-genetic components. Divergent breeding lines for working dogs (livestock guardians) and non-working dogs (pets) gave rise to different selection pressure and differences in hip morphology and prevalence in this giant breed. We investigated morphological and genetic traits associated to Canine Hip Dysplasia in the Spanish mastiff. Norberg angle was used to diagnose this disorder, with agreement between evaluators assessed. Validity of a genetic test based on the Fibrillin-2 gene in distinguishing presence of Canine Hip Dysplasia was evaluated. Relationships between Norberg angle, sex, Fibrillin-2 genotype and morphology of working and non-working dogs were analyzed. Directional asymmetry was also found, in most cases related to animal manipulation during radiography. Standardization of radiography and Norberg angle measurement is crucial to diagnosis of Canine Hip Dysplasia and to avoid evaluator’s bias.
Systematic Risk Premia in EM Bond Markets

Despite the fact, that emerging market (EM) bond investments have yielded decent returns over the last 15 years and have recently become more and more popular among risk-taking investors due to the low interest-rate environment, the academic research on this asset class is still quite meager. We address this issue by firstly developing a three-factor model that allows to systematically explain the return-generating process of EM bond investments. We find that up to 83.1% of the variation of local currency bond returns can be explained by a market, a duration and a carry factor. We use linear regressions to show the importance of the carry factor in explaining EM bond specific return dynamics, since this factor does not only capture currency risk but also sovereign credit risk two components inherently connected to EM bond investments. In a final step, we find that the average long-term risk premia of all three factors are significantly positive, but substantially vary over time. A Fama-MacBeth framework based on EM bond fund returns is used to get monthly out-of-sample estimates of the time-varying risk premia.
FINANCIAL LITERACY: A STUDY AMONG THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

This research seeks to examine the financial literacy among university students. The study is used primary data by questionnaires and the sample consisted of 384 students and the target population of the study is from local Universities of Malaysia. Convenience sampling method is used in collecting the data and the results compiled by using SPSS software system. The result comprises of reliability, and multiple linear regression analysis. There are five independent variables such as age, gender, business major and non-business major, spending habit and year of study whereby the dependent variable is the financial literacy. The results revealed that the spending habit and year of study have a significant positive relationship with the financial literacy, whereby the age and gender are negatively associated with the financial literacy. Finally, the limitation and recommendation are included to help further researchers to have a better finding of the result.
Generative augmentation to improve lung nodules detection in resource-limited settings

Introduction: Lung cancer is one of the most formidable cancers. The use of neural networks technologies in its diagnostics is promising, but the datasets collected from real clinical practice cannot cover a variety of lung cancer manifestations. Purpose: Assessment of the possibility of improving the classification of pulmonary nodules by means of generative augmentation of available datasets under resource constraints. Methods: We used part of LIDC-IDRI dataset, the StyleGAN architecture for generating artificial lung nodules and the VGG11 model as a classifier. We generated pulmonary nodules using the proposed pipeline and invited four experts to visually evaluate them. We formed four experimental datasets with different types of augmentation, including use of synthesized data, and we compared the effectiveness of the classification performed by the VGG11 network when training for each dataset. Results: 10 generated nodules in each group of characteristics were presented for assessment. In all cases, positive expert assessments were obtained with a Fleiss's kappa coefficient k = 0.6–0.9. We got the best values of ROCAUC=0.9604 and PRAUC=0.9625 with the proposed approach of a generative augmentation. Discussion: The obtained efficience metrics are superior to the baseline results obtained using comparably small training datasets, and slightly less than the best results achieved using much more powerful computational resources. So, we have shown that one can effectively use for augmenting an unbalanced dataset a combination of StyleGAN and VGG11, which does not require large computing resources as well as a large initial dataset for training.
Ab Initio Analysis of the Effects of Aqueous Solvation on the Resonance Raman Intensities of N-Methylacetamide

The resonance Raman spectrum of the simple peptide N-methylacetamide (NMA) is very different in the vapor phase than when dissolved in aqueous solution. The spectrum for an acetonitrile solution is intermediate. The major difference is that the amide I mode, primarily involving CO stretching, is very strong in the vapor-phase spectrum but very weak or absent in the aqueous solution spectrum. Since resonance Raman scattering reflects the geometry change associated with electronic excitation, this suggests that there is a large effect of solvation on the geometry of the excited electronic state. The present work describes the development of quantitative ab initio quantum chemical procedures for calculating resonance Raman spectra with application to NMA both isolated and in solution. It is shown that a simple cluster model involving hydrogen-bonding of water molecules to NMA provides an adequate description of the effect of aqueous solvation on resonance Raman spectra of NMA. The major effect appears to be .
Molecular‐beam epitaxy of beryllium‐chalcogenide‐based thin films and quantum‐well structures

A variety of BeMgZnSe–ZnSe‐ as well as BeTe‐based quantum‐well structures has been fabri‐ cated and investigated. BeTe buffer layers improve the growth start on GaAs substrates drasti‐ cally compared to ZnSe/GaAs. The valence‐band offset between BeTe and ZnSe has been determined to be 0.9 eV (type II). Due to the high‐lying valence band of BeTe, a BeTe–ZnSe pseudograding can be used for an efficient electrical contact between p‐ZnSe and p‐GaAs. BeMgZnSe quaternary thin‐film structures have reproducibly been grown with high struc‐ tural quality, and rocking curve widths below 20 arcsec could be reached. Quantum‐well structures show a high photoluminescence intensity even at room temperature.
The Challenges of Building Local Collaboratives for Sustaining Educational Improvement

TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE The Challenges of Building Local Collaboratives for Sustaining Educational Improvement In attempting to create an educational system that promotes and ensures high standards for all students, policymakers have reached for both old and new policy levers (such as standards, incentives, and choice options) to create and sustain organizational improvement. One newer lever is the creation of community-based collaborations to sustain education reforms across the chaotic conditions often associated with switches in district superintendents. A RAND Corporation study reported in Challenges and Potential of a Collaborative Approach to Education Reform looks at one such attempt and draws out lessons that can benefit further efforts to use collaboration as a tool for improving a community’s schools.
Molecular motors on lipid bilayers and silicon dioxide: different driving forces for adsorption

Understanding how different types of interactions govern adsorption of the myosin motor fragment heavy meromyosin (HMM) onto different substrates is important in functional studies of actomyosin and for the development of motor powered lab-on-a-chip applications. In this study, we have combined in vitro motility assays and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) monitoring to investigate the underlying adsorption mechanisms of HMM onto supported lipid bilayers in comparison with pure and silanized SiO2. The QCM-D results, combined with data showing actin transportation by HMM adsorbed onto positively charged supported lipid bilayers, suggest reversible HMM surface adsorption via the negatively charged coiled-coil tail region. In contrast, the QCM-D data for HMM adsorption onto negatively charged lipids support a model according to which HMM adsorbs onto negatively charged surfaces largely via the positively charged actin binding regions. Adsorption studies at low (30–65 mM) and high (185–245 mM) ionic strengths onto piranha cleaned SiO2 surfaces (contact angle < 20°) support this general model. However, unlike the situation for charged lipids, rinsing in high ionic strength solution caused only partial HMM desorption from SiO2, without restoration of actin propulsion by the remaining HMM molecules. This suggests that mechanisms other than electrostatic interactions are involved in the tethering of HMM heads to SiO2 surfaces. An expanded model for HMM adsorption is formulated on the basis of the data and the potential of the results for nanotechnological applications of actomyosin is discussed.
Phytoremediation of Lead-Contaminated Soils: Role of Synthetic Chelates in Lead Phytoextraction

Lead phytoextraction, using plants to extract Pb from contaminated soils, is an emerging technology. Calculations of soil Pb mass balance suggest that this technology will be economically feasible only if systems can be developed to employ high biomass plants that can accumulate greater than 1% Pb in their shoots. In this study, we investigated the potential of adding chelates to Pb-contaminated soils to increase Pb accumulation in plants. The addition of chelates to a Pb-contaminated soil (total soil Pb 2500 mg kg-1) increased shoot Pb concentrations of corn (Zea mays L. cv. Fiesta) and pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Sparkle) from less than 500 mg kg-1 to more than 10000 mg kg-1. The surge of Pb accumulation in these plants was associated with the surge of Pb level in the soil solution due to the addition of chelates to the soil. For the chelates tested, the order of the effectiveness in increasing Pb desorption from the soil was EDTA > HEDTA > DTPA > EGTA >EDDHA. We also found that EDTA significantly increas.
Chemosensors for detection of nitroaromatic compounds (explosives)

The key types of low-molecular-mass chemosensors for the detection of nitroaromatic compounds representing energetic substances (explosives) are analyzed. The coordination and chemical properties of these chemosensors and structural features of their complexes with nitroaromatic compounds are considered. The causes and methods for attaining high selectivity of recognition are demonstrated. The primary attention is paid to the use of low-molecular-mass chemosensors for visual detection of explosives of this class by colorimetric and photometric methods. Examples of using photo- and chemiluminescence for this purpose are described. A separate section is devoted to electrochemical methods of detection of nitroaromatic compounds. Data published from 2000 to 2014 are mainly covered. The bibliography includes 245 references.
Simulation of self-diffusion of point-like and finite-size tracers in stochastically reconstructed Vycor porous glasses

Aim of the present study is to simulate self-diffusion in three-dimensional images of reconstructed Vycor porous glass, which have the same statistical content as the actual material in terms of porosity and autocorrelation function. Effective diffusivities are determined from a step-by-step random walk process at different porosities and diffusion regimes. In all cases, the effective diffusivity curves show a sharp decrease below 20% porosity and drop to zero below a porosity of about 15%, a value suggested independently from the theory of spinodal decomposition. Comparison between the computed and experimental diffusivity values obtained in the Knudsen regime, shows a relative difference of less than 6%. Additional simulations in the molecular diffusion regime are performed using inert tracers of finite size. In these simulations, a transition is found in the value of diffusivity from a high value at small time scales, to a lower constant value achieved at large times. The time at which this crossover t.
René Girard’s Shakespeare

In what sense was Shakespeare an anthropologist? Harold Bloom credits Shakespeare with having “invented” the human. (1) This may be an overstatement. Anthropologists are supposed to study humans, not invent them. Of course, when Bloom says such things he is being deliberately belligerent. He presents himself as the last romantic, the last believer in the transcendence of art. As far as Bloom is concerned, Shakespeare provided us not merely with entertainment but also with ethical models for how to live the good life—good life here meaning above all an aesthetic life. “Shakespeare,” Bloom writes, “teaches us how and what to perceive, and he also instructs us how and what to sense and then to experience as sensation. ”(2) Shakespeare teaches you how to see the world aesthetically.
Reactive Ce0.8RE0.2O1.9 (RE = La, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Y, Ho, Er, and Yb) Powders via Carbonate Coprecipitation. 2. Sintering

The densification behavior of nanocrystalline Ce 0.8 RE 0.2 O 1 . 9 (RE = La, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Y, Ho, Er, and Yb) solid-solution oxides, synthesized via carbonate coprecipitation, has been investigated in air by means of constant-rate-of-heating sintering and the conventional ramp-and-holding sintering methods. Fully dense Ce 0.8 RE 0.2 O 1.9 ceramics with ultrafine microstructures (grain size 150-250 nm) were obtained at very low sintering temperatures of 1100-1250 °C from the powders calcined at 700 °C. The effect of calcination temperature on the sinterability of Ce 0.8 RE 0.2 O 1.9 oxides was discussed using three typical samples: Ce 0.8 -La 0.2 O 1.9 , Ce 0.8 Sm 0.2 O 1.9 , and Ce 0.8 Yb 0.2 O 1.9 . The densification behavior of Ce 0.8 RE 0.2 O 1.9 materials was found to mainly depend on powder characteristics, that is, the rate of crystallite coarsening upon calcination, particle morphology, and the extent of agglomeration.
Polymerisable liquid crystalline organic semiconductors and their fabrication in organic field effect transistors

The performance of the semiconducting component in organic field effect transistors (OFETs) is a key parameter in the advancement of organic electronic devices. New semiconductors are required, which can be solution processed, possess high mobility and current modulation, and are stable in ambient conditions. This work provides the first demonstration of working field effect transistor devices fabricated from novel solution processible, polymerisable, small molecule liquid crystalline semiconductors, referred to as reactive mesogens. The design, synthesis, and performance of these materials in transistor devices are reported. The relationship between liquid crystal molecular structure, its corresponding phase behaviour and electrical performance is examined. Molecular design methodology was employed to control the liquid crystalline morphology, in an attempt to optimise organisation and packing. Alignment of the molecules in large homeotropic domains was achieved through surface treatment techniques, and the highly ordered mesophase was preserved by polymerisation of the reactive end groups, creating a crosslinked network.
Effects of a novel compatible interface structure on the properties of starch–PCL composites

Polycaprolactone (PCL)–starch composites were prepared in an intensive mixer using a PCL-based polyurethane (PCLPU) prepolymer as a compatibilizer. A multifunctional polyurethane layer (PCLPU layer) was then located at the interface between the starch granules and the PCL matrix. Good compatibility was shown between starch and the PCLPU layer, which was attributed to the urethane linkages. And the degradation experiment revealed that the urethane linkages between PCLPU and starch were stable. The PCL soft segments in the PCLPU layer could also interact with the PCL matrix through PCL crystallinity to improve the compatibility between the PCL matrix and PCLPU. The multifunctional PCLPU was thus deemed effective in improving the compatibility of starch–PCL composites. Additionally, the mechanical properties and thermal stability of the composites enhanced compared to starch–PCL composites. The novel multifunctional PCLPU layer therefore played an important role in improving the compatibility between the starch and PCL and the properties of starch–PCL composites.
Investigation of petroleum-contaminated groundwater remediation using multi-stage pilot system: physical and biological approach

AbstractIn this paper, a pilot-scale system including various process steps was investigated in order to treat contaminated groundwater supplies which have been exposed to oil pollutants for a long time as they are located near the Tehran oil refinery company (TORC). For achieving this goal, a combination of dissolved air flotation unit that is followed by activated sludge bioreactors (ASBRs) and an activated carbon filter was chosen. The crude oil combined with tap water was applied to synthesize contaminated groundwater. Activated sludge taken from wastewater treatment plant at TORC was used to supply oil-degrading bacteria. Besides, the solution of mineral salts was added to the bioreactor as nutrients amendment. The optimum design parameters such as hydraulic retention time, return activated sludge rate of the ASBRs, and total residence time for all steps were 14 h, 100%, and 21 h, respectively. The operation of the pilot system which was implemented in different initial crude oil concentrations (206 .
High Surface Area ZnO Nanoparticles via a Novel Continuous Precipitation Route

High surface area ZnO nanoparticles are synthesized by applying a novel continuous precipitation method using a micromixer coupled directly to a bench‐top spray dryer. The polycrystalline material is obtained by fast turbulent precipitation from aqueous zinc nitrate solutions with either sodium or potassium carbonate followed by immediate quenching of the aging due to the rapid water removal. Specific surface areas up to 98 m2 g−1 are obtained, depending on the precipitant and the sequence of unit operations applied after precipitation.
Thermodynamic analysis of isothermal transformation diagrams

AbstractA thermodynamic method has been developed to allow the prediction of isothermal transformation diagrams, starting simply from a knowledge of the chemical composition of the steel concerned. The method has been extensively tested and has been shown to be capable of faithfully reproducing the critical ‘bay region’ of time–temperature–transformation (TTT) curves. The TTT diagram has been treated as being composed of two overlapping ‘C’ curves, one representing the diffusional polygonalferrite and pearlite transformations, and the other representing the displacive Widmanstatten ferrite and bainite reactions. It is possible to predict relative shifts in these component curves, as a function of alloying element content, thus making the technique potentially useful in theoretical steel design. While the analysis is formally based on Russell's theory of incubation periods, it is believed that a number of difficulties prevent a fundamental interpretation of the results.
Effects of Temperature and NaCl on Toxic Metal Retention in Bioretention Media

AbstractColumn experiments were performed to compare the removals of Cd, Cu, and Zn from synthetic storm water by bioretention media at 3.6 and 19.4°C and to investigate the potential for metals retained on the bioretention media to be mobilized by a 1,000 mg/L NaCl solution. Bioretention media were effective at capturing Cd and Zn at both temperatures with sorption capacities greater at the lower temperature and increasing with increasing compost volume fraction (CVF). Removal of the primarily particulate-phase Cu was reduced at the lower temperature, suggesting that removal of particulate metals at low temperatures is of greater concern. The NaCl pulse caused accumulated metals in the bioretention media to leach in the order of Cd>Zn≫Cu. The fractions of metal released from the columns in all cases were relatively small (≤3.5%) and decreased with increasing CVF. Overall, the results suggest that bioretention is likely to be effective for metals capture and retention under cold climate conditions, espec.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY TO ASSESS LEVEL OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AMONG LIBRARIANS WORKING IN GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE COLLEGES OF BHOPAL

The purpose of the study was to compare and assess the occupational stress among librarians working in private and Government colleges of Bhopal (M.P.). For this purpose, one hundred librarians at various colleges were selected. Further they were divided into two groups where 50 librarians from government colleges and 50 librarians from private colleges were taken. Occupational Stress Index (O.S.I) by Dr. A K Shrivastava & Dr. A P Singh was adopted in the study to measure the level of stress among the librarians. To find out the level of occupational stress descriptive statistics mean, standard deviation and ‘t’ test were employed. The results of the analysis of data revealed that librarians from private colleges of Bhopal had more occupation stress when compared with librarians from government colleges. from this study. Highly significant difference was also observed between librarians of private and Government college.
Modified Fenton's processes for effective in‐situ chemical oxidation—Laboratory and field evaluation

Fenton's reagent in its conventional form, although effective for contaminant treatment, is impractical from an in-situ field application perspective due to low pH requirements (i.e., pH 3-4), and limited reagent mobility when introduced into the subsurface. Modified Fenton's processes that use chelated-iron catalysts and stabilized hydrogen peroxide have been developed with the goal of promoting effective in-situ field application under native pH conditions (i.e., pH 5-7), while extending the longevity of hydrogen peroxide. Laboratory experiments conducted in soil columns packed with organic soil to compare modified Fenton's catalysts with conventional catalysts (acidified iron [II]) indicated superior mobility and sorption characteristics for modified Fenton's catalysts. Furthermore, the acidic pH of a conventional catalyst was buffered to the native soil range, leading to increased iron precipitation/adsorption following permeation through the soil column. The chelates present within the modified Fenton's catalyst showed greater affinity toward iron compared with the native soil and, hence, minimized iron loss through adsorption during the permeation process even at pH 5-7. Field effectiveness of the modified Fenton's process was demonstrated at a former dry-cleaning facility located in northeast Florida. Preliminary laboratory-scale experiments were conducted on soil-slurry and groundwater samples to test the process efficacy for remediation of chlorinated solvents. Based on successful experimental results that indicated a 94 percent (soil slurry) to 99 percent (groundwater) reduction of cis-1,2-DCE, PCE, and TCE, a field-scale treatment program was initiated utilizing a plurality of dual-zone direct push injection points installed in a grid fashion throughout the site. Results of treatment indicated a 72 percent reduction in total chlorinated contamination detected in the site groundwater following the first injection event; the reduction increased to 90 percent following the second injection event. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals Inc.