Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pigmentation of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with Carotenoids from Marigold Flower (Tagetes erecta) and Red Pepper (Capsicum annum)

The effects of diets including various natural carotenoid sources and synthetic astaxanthin on the pigmentation and growth of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were investigated. Rainbow trout weighing about 111 g were fed diets containing 1.6%, 2.4% and 3.2% marigold flower; 4.4%, 6.6% and 8.8% red pepper; 100 mg kg-1 synthetic astaxanthin; and a control diet for 60 days. At the end of the experiment, synthetic astaxanthin provided the highest carotenoid accumulation in the fish flesh (6.42 mg kg-1) in the groups. This was followed by red pepper (5.78 mg kg-1) and marigold flower (5.59 mg kg-1), each of which included equal levels (100 mg kg-1) of carotenoids (P < 0.05). The fish fed marigold flower experienced yellow pigmentation, which was remarkably different from the other groups. An addition level of 2.4% or higher marigold flower and 6.6% or higher red pepper into the diet had negative effects on growth performance (P < 0.05). It can be concluded that the most appropriate dietary doses of marigold flower and red pepper for pigmentation of rainbow trout are 1.6% and 4.4%, respectively.
Filter capacitance reduction in DC/DC step-down reconfigurable Switched-Capacitor Converters by a balanced switching

A challenge for DC-DC converters miniaturization is the inability to integrate passive components on silicon due to their relatively large size at modern operating frequencies of some MHz. Switched Capacitor Converters may be a preferred choice for developing new miniaturized product formats because of their relatively small size and elimination of magnetic elements. The size and cost a DC-DC power supply are essentially defined by its bulky filter (storage) capacitor that is selected to meet output voltage ripple requirements. This paper investigates into filter capacitance reduction possibilities in different reconfigurable step-down capacitive converters by capacitor balanced switching. It is shown that balanced switching approach allows for filter capacitor reduction by 30-50% for an open-loop operation with a target voltage conversion ratio. Reducing filter capacitance also allows to speed up converter open-loop dynamic response.
Cell-based models to predict human hepatotoxicity of drugs

Drug-induced liver injury is a significant leading cause of liver disease and post-market attrition of approved drugs. Several hepatic cell-based models have been used for early safety risk assessment during drug development. Their capacity to predict hepatotoxicity depends on cells' functional performance. Cultured hepatocytes have contributed to increase knowledge of the metabolic patterns and mechanisms involved in drug toxicity. A major limitation of monolayer hepatocytes is that they undergo rapid loss of hepatic functionality over time, particularly drug metabolising capability. The sandwich culture model promotes polarised cell surface and stabilises hepatocyte functionality, particularly transport systems, better than monolayer cultures. As 3D spatial organisation and complex heterotypic cell interactions are essential for the functional homeostasis of the liver, hepatocyte models (3D cultures, co-cultures with NPCs and microfluidic systems) that mimic cell-cell, cell- matrix interactions and nutrient flow characteristic of the liver microenvironment have been shown to improve the metabolic competency of hepatocytes and have been proposed for better in vitro predictions of drug hepatotoxicity. In addition to hepatocytes, other cell-based models have been proposed for hepatotoxicity studies. Hepatoma cell lines are metabolically poor compared to hepatocytes, but offer key advantages, such as unlimited life span, reproducibility, high availability and easy handling, which make them useful for screening purposes. Alternatively, hepatic cell lines engineered for stable or transient expression of key drug-metabolising enzymes have also been used. Finally, stem cell-derived hepatocytes are emerging in vitro systems that would provide a stable source of hepatocytes from individuals with highly valuable particular polymorphic characteristics for preclinical drug metabolism and toxicity prediction of new drugs.
On the Carrier Frequency Offset Estimation for Frequency Hopping Burst Mode Mobile Radio

In this paper, we evaluate the Cramer-Rao bounds (CRB) for the estimation of the carrier frequency offset (CFO) for general QAM modulations with no knowledge of the transmitted sequence (blind operation) in frequency hopping (FH) based short burst mode mobile radios. We investigate the blind CFO estimation problem in FH based mobile system that uses multiple short narrowband bursts in different frequency channels for the transmission of one packet. Joint blind channel and CFO estimation over multiple frequency bursts is considered. In the first part of the paper, we determine the limiting performance by finding the CRB for blind estimation, and compare it to the CRB for known data (genie aided) case. The CRB relates the reliability of CFO estimation to the number of radio frequency bursts (RFB) used, constellation and SNR level, and is an important measure for system design without the need to simulate specific algorithms. It is shown that the linear combination (in MMSE sense) of multiple frequency estimates, each obtained from a single RFB independently, achieves the joint CRB over multiple bursts. In the second part of the paper, some practical blind estimation methods are proposed. They are shown to exhibit close performance to the true CRB.
Design of HV transmission line protection and control system using wavelet transform for microcontroller application

The increasing complexity of the modern power system makes the transient as an important phenomenon. It required the fast fault detection. The fault has the fundamental components and higher order harmonics and time domain information. Analysis of these higher frequencies and noise are very helpful for the detection of the fault. For the proper planning and the operation of digital computation and simulation is necessary. These computer programs include short-circuit analysis, transients program, stability analysis, and power flow study. The extraction of the frequency component of voltage & current with the help of wavelet is presented. This frequency component directly gives the faulty transmission line resistance & reactance. The Mho relay characteristic is utilized for the analysis purpose. Calculated values of resistance & reactance are plotted in the graph. This paper proposed wavelet theory and its application in the development of transmission line protections. The proposed paper simulates a power system network in the PSCAD-a transient simulation and microcontroller program. The simulation of the protective relays under power disturbance is of particular interest in this work
Ecotourism : A Tool for Sustainable Development in an Era of International Integration ?

Ecotourism, to be successful, must promote sustainable development by establishing a durable productive base that allows local inhabitants and ecotourist service providers to enjoy rising standards of living. An ecotourist project must incorporate the social dimensions of productive organization and environmental conservation. Based on the experience of the overwintering reserves of the Monarch Butterfly in west-central Mexico, we suggest that unless ecotourism actively incorporates the local society into service planning and provision, and includes programs to meet the fundamental needs for income and employment for all people in the region, the special qualities of the site and its flora and fauna may be irreparably damaged. 1 A definition offered by a leading scholarly participant in the discussions of the theme, Kreg Lindberg, of Charles Stuart University in Australia, in the InterNet discussion group “Green-travel” (@igc.apc.org) on 14 March 1996. He adds: “because ‘true’ ecotourism (i.e., verifiably sustainable nature tourism) is comparatively rare, perhaps we are left with ecotourism as a goal. ”  
Mobile banking usage, quality of growth, inequality and poverty in developing countries

The transition from Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals has substantially shifted the policy debate from development to inclusive development. Using interactive quantile regressions, we examine the correlations between mobile banking and inclusive development (quality of growth, inequality and poverty) among individuals in 93 developing countries for the year 2011. Mobile banking entails: ‘mobile used to pay bills’ and ‘mobile used to receive/send money’. The findings broadly show that increasing mobile banking dynamics to certain thresholds would increase (decrease) quality of growth (inequality) in quantiles at the high-end of inclusive development distributions for the most part. The study is original in that it explores the relationship between mobile banking and inclusive development using three measurements of inclusive development, namely: quality of growth, inequality and poverty. As a main policy implication, encouraging mobile banking applications would play a substantial role in responding to the challenges of immiserizing growth, inequality and poverty in developing countries.
Arsenic Captured from Drinking Water with Fe-Zr Adsorbents

The object of this study was to develop some iron (III+II) based oxide adsorbents for arsenic removal. Some Fe-Zr complex hydroxide adsorbents were prepared and their As adsorption capacity were evaluated. Results showed that all the new materials are superior to activated alumina in adsorption capacity. While taking the raw material cost for consideration, an optimum Fe/Zr molar ratio of 8/1 was set. The synthesis pH and drying temperature influence adsorbents performance distinctly, and their optimal range were studied. Results indicate this synthesis method can give out a novel effective adsorbent for arsenic removal from drinking water.
Gastroprotective effect of Phyllanthus niruri leaf extract against ethanolinduced ethanolinduced ethanolinduced gastric mucosal injury in rats

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the gastroprotective activity of the Phyllanthus niruri leaf extract against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats. Six groups of Wistar rats were pretreated, respectively, with distilled water; omeprazole 20 mg/kg; and 250, 500, 750 and 1000 mg/kg P. niruri leaf extract 30 min before oral administration of absolute ethanol to generate gastric mucosal injury. After one hour later, the rats were sacrificed and the ulcer areas of the gastric walls were determined. Gross evaluation has revealed that the negative control rats exhibited severe mucosal injury, whereas, pre-treatment with P. niruri leaf extract resulted in significantly less gastric mucosal injury and flattening of the mucosal folds. Histological studies of the gastric wall revealed that negative control rats suffered very severe damage of gastric mucosa, along with edema and leucocytes infiltration of the submucosal layer compared to rats pre-treated with P. niruri leaf extract where there was marked gastric protection along with reduction or inhibition of edema and leucocytes infiltration of the submucosa. The present finding suggests that P. niruri leaf extract promotes ulcer protection as ascertained by the comparative decreases in ulcer areas, inhibition or reduction of edema and leukocyte infiltration of the submucosa.
Analysis of LiDAR waveform data for ground filtering in a forest area

The airborne laser scanning (ALS) data is becoming a standard approach for generating digital elevation model (DEM) in recent years. To generate the DEM, the ground points in the point clouds need to be classified firstly. Traditionally, the points provided by the multi-return LiDAR system only provide the three-dimension coordinates of points and the classification approaches normally can mainly utilize the geometric conditions to separate the ground points from the non-ground points. If the terrain relief is varied quickly, the geometry-based classifier could not be satisfied for ground filtering purpose. In recent years, the commercial waveform LiDAR system has advanced developed.The waveforms can preserve more information of targets than the traditional multireturnLiDAR data.Since waveform is the interactions between targets and laser signals,this interaction can be considered as the convolution between the transmitted laser pulse and the backscatter cross-section function of the targets.For this reason,more radiation and geometric characteristics of targets can be extracted. As the observations of real waveform data, we found out that the width of trees is larger than the ground. For this reason, we utilized the backscattered cross-section of targets and the echo width extracted from waveform data as new properties of points for improving the classification accuracy. Firstly some training data is chosen for designing the classifier to separate the non-ground points from the point clouds. We aimed at the analysis of the performance in classifying ground points by using the extracted waveform features. Our preliminary results show the potential of the waveform features for ground classification purpose in a forest area and also reveal thatthe characteristics of waveform is useful in classification.
Provisional chapter Potential Use of Nonconventional Silages in Ru inant Feeding for Tropical and Subtropical Areas

The conventional silage uses crops such as corn, sorghum or other forages for this specific objective. The nonconventional silages use by-products, co-products and other materials obtained during the harvest or during the processing in the industry of sugarcane, juice extraction of citrus, pineapple, cassava, pumpkin and others. These products are available in high amounts during a short period of time. These by-products can be ensiled to maintain their nutritive value during longer period in the year and then used as feed for animals. These by-products have adequate characteristics for ensiling, i.e., moisture content and fermentable carbohydrates. Forages reduce their crude protein (CP) concentration in a period of the year (dry season or in winter), which may limit animal production. Most by-products used for silage have low CP concentration; some additives may help increase the nutritive value of these silages. These byproducts (sugarcane, juice extraction of citrus, pineapple, cassava, pumpkin and others) can be mixed and ensiled with other by-products as poultry excreta or forage rich in protein to obtain silage with greater CP concentration. The research shows the feasibility of obtaining good quality silages from sugarcane tops, by-products of citrus, cassava and pumpkin; the particularities of each are discussed in detail in this chapter.
Effect of Stress-Adaptation on Antibiotic Sensitivity Profiles of Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the leading causes of human gastroenteritis. Campylobacter jejuni requires special conditions and media in the laboratory for its growth. In nature, however, this organism is able to survive in very diverse and hostile environments and produce disease in humans and animals. The different mechanisms by which C. jejuni survives stressful conditions in the environment still remain unclear. Stress-adaptation may be one of the factors helping this organism to survive stresses. Some C. jejuni strains have been found to have increased antibiotic resistance in last several years. To determine the effect of acid adaptation on the antibiotic sensitivity profile of C. jejuni, 4 different isolates of C. jejuni (a human isolate and 3 poultry isolates) were exposed to an acid pH of 5.5 and then rechallenged with different stresses. The antibiotic sensitivity profiles of C. jejuni after stress-adaptation were compared with antibiotic sensitivity profiles of non-stressed C. jejuni using the Kirby Bauer agar disc diffusion assay. The antibiotic sensitivity profiles of the C. jejuni isolates used in this study were found to change when the acidadapted bacteria were subjected to further stresses such as an acidic pH of 4.5, aerobic atmosphere and starvation. In the majority of the cases, antibiotic-resistant C. jejuni isolates were found to be more sensitive to antibiotics after stress-adaptation, but in a few cases C. jejuni showed increased resistance. These results indicate that increasing various stresses in a sequential pattern may, in some cases, reduce antibiotic resistance of C. jejuni isolates.
China and the Fifth Estate: Net Delusion or Democratic Potential?

Arguably, liberal democratic societies are seeing the emergence of a ‘Fifth Estate’ that is being enabled by the Internet. This new organizational form is comparable to, but potentially more powerful than, the Fourth Estate, which developed as a significant force in an earlier period with an independent press and other mass media. While the significance of the press and the Internet to democratic governance is questioned in all societies, there is particular skepticism of their relevance outside the most liberal democratic regimes, which have a relatively free press and more pluralistic political systems, such as in North America and West Europe. Nevertheless, there have been vivid examples of where networked individuals have appeared to assert greater communicative power in the politics of governance, the media and everyday life, even in non-liberal democratic regimes, such as Hong Kong, and in some cases, China. This potential points to the need for more systematic empirical research in a wider variety of economic and political settings worldwide, particularly in states in which the Internet might offer a potential for more democratic governance and greater accountability of government controlled media. This paper examines cases in which networked individuals in China used the Internet to hold governmental and press institutions more accountable. The cases provide support for the relevance of the Fifth Estate concept in China, and also illuminates the process – showing how the Internet can be used to empower networked individuals in more autocratic regimes.
Design Strategy for Scale-Up of Physical Vapor Deposition of Cu(InGa) Se2 on Flexible Substrates

It has been observed that scale-up of the Cu(InGa)Se2 physical vapor deposition (PVD) onto flexible substrates to wide webs and long runtimes will lead to unacceptable film qualities due to issues associated with the thermal characteristics of the source-boats and the effect of melt level reduction with time. These issues are the subject of the present paper. The difficulties encountered with the design of the sources presently in operation are addressed, and new designs are proposed that resolve the problem of thickness and composition uniformity over wider substrates (~12 inches). Simulation results are presented comparing the old source design with the proposed new one for a 12-inch wide substrate. It is shown that improved film thickness uniformity and hence composition uniformity is achieved with the proposed designs, and material utilization can be improved by an appropriate choice of system design parameters such as nozzle-to-substrate distance
Enhancement of Doppler resolution for chirp-sequence modulated radars

For automotive radar sensors the Doppler resolution is a key parameter, since it is used to separate targets which are in the same radial distance. For future applications the Doppler signature of targets can be exploited for classification purpose, e.g. discrimination among road users like pedestrians or bicyclists. In this paper, a signal processing scheme based on the chirp-sequence modulation principle is proposed to enhance the Doppler domain resolution. Simulations and measurement results are shown to prove the signal processing leading to an enhanced separability of close targets.
Erionite-associated malignant pleural mesothelioma in Mexico

Malignant mesothelioma is a highly fatal cancer of the visceral and parietal pleura most often caused by asbestos exposure. However, studies over the past thirty-five to forty years have shown that a fibrous zeolite mineral found in the soil, erionite, is a strong causative agent of malignant mesothelioma as well. Cases of erioniteassociated pleural mesothelioma have been widely reported in Turkey, but only one case has been documented in North America. Here we report a new North American case of epithelial malignant pleural mesothelioma in a vehicle repairman who was raised on a farm in the Mexican Volcanic Belt region. The complexities of the case highlight the importance of objective lung digestion studies to uncover the causative agents of mesotheliomas. It also highlights a need for increased environmental precautions and medical vigilance for mesotheliomas in erionite-rich regions of the United States and Mexico.
IN VITRO HELMINTHOLYTIC ACTIVITY OF LEAVES OF CITRULLUS COLOCYNTHIS

Citrullus colocynthis(L) Schrad (Cucurbitaceae) is commonly known as "Indrayan or Bitter Apple"distributed throughout the tropics which It is used in the treatment of cough, opthalmia, neuralgia, migraine bronchitis, abortifacient, cathartic, purgative and for the treatment of fever, cancer, amenorrhea, jaundice, leukemia, rheumatism and tumour.Authenticated plant leaves were taken for the study includes extraction of leaves using different solvents and evaluation of in vitro helmintholytic activity. Coarse dried leaves of the plant were extracted successively by soxhlet using petroleum ether, ethanol and water as solvents according to their increasing polarity. Dried extracts were tested for helmintholytic activity using Pheretima posthumaas a species of earth worm and compare the paralysis time and death time with standard drug Albendazole. Ethanol (40mg/ml) and aqueous extract (40mg/ml) shows comparable anthelmintic Activity with standard drug Albendazole (40mg/ml).
Prognostic value of submaximal exercise data for cardiac morbidity in Fontan patients.

INTRODUCTION Submaximal exercise parameters are associated with an increased risk of hospitalization in patients with heart failure, but the implication in patients with Fontan circulation remains unknown. We investigated the prognostic value of these parameters in a Fontan cohort, in whom maximal exercise effort is often limited. METHODS Fifty-two Fontan patients received cardiopulmonary exercise tests at least 12 months after Fontan completion. We evaluated two maximal parameters (peak oxygen consumption (V˙O2) and HR reserve) and two submaximal parameters (oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES) and minute ventilation (V˙E) to carbon dioxide elimination (V˙CO2) slope). RESULTS The peak V˙O2 and OUES were 58.0% ± 11.2% and 56.6% ± 14.5% of the age- and sex-related predicted values. In the subsequent follow-up (median, 22.7 months), 11 patients (21%, including one death) exhibited cardiac morbidity, defined as cardiac-related hospitalization. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that only submaximal parameters were related to 2-yr cardiac morbidity (area under the curve for OUES 0.781, P = 0.018; for V˙E/V˙CO2 slope 0.714, P = 0.04), even in the subgroup achieved maximal exercise effort. The optimal threshold value for OUES was 45%, and for the V˙E/V˙CO2 slope, it was 37. Furthermore, the OUES conveyed independent prognostic information beyond resting oxygen saturation and a history of heart failure or protein-losing enteropathy. CONCLUSION Submaximal exercise parameters provide superior prognostic information to maximal exercise data for predicting cardiac morbidity in Fontan patients. Moreover, the association between the OUES and cardiac morbidity is independent of relevant baseline clinical information.