Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhanced adsorption and removal of ciprofloxacin on regenerable long TiO 2 nanotube/graphene oxide hydrogel adsorbents

To improve the adsorption performance and regeneration ability of adsorbent, a simple method was designed to synthesize long TiO2 nanotube/reduced graphene oxide (rGO-TON) hydrogel, which has good adsorption and regeneration capacity toward ciprofloxacin. rGO-TON hydrogel could form 3D structure, which makes the separation and regeneration of adsorbent easy. For comparison, commercial P25 particle is used to prepare composite hydrogel with rGO; the results showed that TiO2 nanotube supports the graphene sheets better than P25 particles, which would reduce the agglomeration of graphene sheets. rGO-TON have larger specific surface area (138.2m2/g) than rGO-P25 (79.4m2/g). In this paper, ciprofloxacin was chosen as target pollutants, the rGO-TON obtain excellent adsorption capacity, and the maximum adsorption capacities of rGO-TON for ciprofloxacin calculated from Langmuir model are 178.6mg/g (R2 = 0.9929), 181.8mg/g (R2 = 0.9954), and 108.7mg/g (R2 = 0.9964) for graphene oxide (GO), GO-TON, and GO-P25, respectively. In regeneration, the adsorption capacity of rGO-TON and rGO-P25 has little reduced after 5 cycles, while the adsorption capacity of rGO decreases to below 100mg/g. Results of this work are of great significance for environmental applications of regenerable long TiO2 nanotube/graphene oxide hydrogel as a promising adsorbent nanomaterial for antibiotic pollutants from aqueous solutions.
NIG-Levy process in asset price modeling: case of Estonian companies

As an asset is traded at fair value, its varying price trace an interesting trajectory reflecting in a general way the asset’s value and underlying economic activities. These trajectory exhibit jumps, clustering and a host of other properties not usually captured by Gaussian based models. Levy processes offer the possibility of distinguishing jumps, diffusion, drift and the laxity to answer questions on frequency, continuity, etc. An important feature of normal inverse Gaussian-Levy (NIGLevy) model is its path richness: it can model so many small jumps in a way that eliminates the need for a Gaussian component; hence, limitations arising from Gaussian based models are almost eliminated. Secondly, the characteristics listed above are reflected in the Levy triplet and are easily introduced in the modeling picture through estimated Levy parameters. Thirdly, knowledge of NIG-Levy parameters enables us to use NIG-Levy models as underlying asset price models for pricing financial derivatives. We use the R open software to calculate Levy parameters for 12 Estonian companies and choose good NIG-Levy asset price models by the method proposed by Kaarik and Umbleja (2011). We observe that not all financial data of Estonian companies trading on the Tallinn Stock Exchange between 01 Jan 2008 – 01 Jan 2012 can be effectively modeled by NIG-Levy process, despite having Levy parameters. Those positively modeled are recommended as underlying assets for pricing financial derivatives.
Analysis of Soot Particle Movement in Diesel Engine under the Influence of Drag Force

The formation of soot is influenced by the composition of air entrainment and structure of hydrocarbon in the fuel. Soot will then form during combustion in a diesel engine. Some of the soot particles will be released from the engine through the exhaust nozzle and some will stick to the cylinder walls. The soot that sticks to the cylinder wall can affect the lifetime of the lubricant oil. Subsequently this will decrease the durability of the diesel engine. By understanding the movement of the soot particles, the effect to the engine can be decreased. Therefore, the initial position and last position of soot particle was recognized through this study. The data for the formation of soot particles in the diesel engine was obtained from previous investigation. The study of soot movement at 8° crankshaft angle under the influence of drag force with different radial, axial and angular settings were carried out using a MATLAB routine. The results showed that the movement of soot particle will change with different parameter settings. Besides that, comparison of the results of soot particle movement influenced by drag force and without drag force has been carried out. It was observed that drag force caused shorter soot particle movement path and moves them away from the cylinder wall.
Career Success and Its Predictors: Comparing between Canadian and Chinese

Purpose–The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference between Canadian and Chinese about career success, and what are predictors of career in their eyes. Design/Methodology–A sample of 121 employees in Canada and China is surveyed. Data analyses are used to test the hypotheses. Career success was measured by subjective, that is career satisfaction. Findings–1) Career success can be measured by subjective feeling. 2) There are significant difference in career success between Canadian and Chinese. 3) There were three main predictors of career success, which were education, personality and perception of organizational support. Implications–Knowledge of the different attitude on the predictors of career success between Canadian and Chinese should provide certain advantages to understand the culture of the two countries. Originality/Value–This paper makes a valuable contribution to the career success literatures by investigating kinds of predictors of career success.
D ec 2 01 2 On the Chameleon Brans-Dicke Cosmology

We consider a generalized Brans-Dicke model in which the scalar field has a potential function and is also allowed to couple non-minimally with the matter sector. We assume a power law form for the potential and the coupling functions as the inputs of the model and show that acceleration of the universe can be realized for a constrained range of exponent of the potential function. We also argue that this accelerating phase is consistent with a large and positive Brans-Dicke parameter. In our analysis, the potential plays a more important role with respect to the coupling function in dynamics of the universe as the latter does not contribute to any of the relations characterizing evolution of scale factor of the universe and the scalar field. However, we will show that the coupling function is closely related to magnitude and direction of the energy transfer between matter and the scale field. We use this fact and some thermodynamic aspects of the model to put some constraints on the coupling function. In particular, we argue that the second law of thermodynamics constrains direction of the overall energy transfer. PACS Numbers: 04.50. Kd, 04.20. Cv, 95.36. +x
Optimizing Oral Controlled Release Drug Delivery Systems using Experimental Designs

The number of literature reports on the use of design of experiments optimization in development of drug delivery technology has been piling up steadily. This review article provides an updated bird’s eye view survey account on the publications and optimization techniques of different novel controlled release delivery designs for use in oral applications. Such systematic techniques find their use in every type of conventional dosage form and novel drug delivery system. The drug delivery devices investigated for optimization using various designs include oral controlled release tablet. The present manuscript deal with various steps involved in design of experiments optimization methodology using diverse experimental designs. It also deals with a variety of showing literature findings as well as the potential application of such design of experiments procedures on optimization of assorted drug delivery systems. Such an explicit and updated review on drug delivery optimization has not been published anywhere else in the recent past.
STABILITY ANALYSIS OF THE THIN POWER LAW LIQUID FILM FLOWING DOWN ON A VERTICAL CYLINDER

The paper investigates the stability theory of a thin power law liquid film flowing down along the outside surface of a vertical cylinder. The long-wave perturbation method is employed to solve for generalized linear kinematic equations with free film interface. The normal mode approach is used to compute the stability solution for the film flow. The degree of instability in the film flow is further intensified by the lateral curvature of cylinder. This i:; somewhat different from that of the planar flow. The analysis results also indicate that by increasing the flow index and increasing the radius of the cylinder the film flow can become relatively more stable as traveling down along the vertical cylinder.
Compensating for the meltdown: The critical effective size of a population with deleterious and compensatory mutations

In the short term, the persistence of species depends on the continued existence of suitable habitat and protection from extraordinary causes of mortality, essentially ecological and socioeconomic problems. On a longer time-scale, however, genetic problems could become paramount. Populations that have only deleterious mutations eventually decline in fitness to extinction, because of the fixation by genetic drift of a small fraction of these mutations. This proceeds fastest in small populations, because genetic drift is a more powerful factor in these circumstances. If, as is biologically reasonable, some mutations are beneficial to the population, there will exist a critical effective size above which the population can persist indefinitely, because fixation of beneficial alleles can balance the effects of deleterious mutations. This critical effective size is likely to be in the hundreds, meaning a census population size in the thousands. If some mutations act to compensate for the detrimental effects of others, then the rate of beneficial mutations will increase as fitness declines; this causes the critical effective size to be even lower. In this paper, we review the theoretical impact of beneficial and compensatory mutations on the probability of extinction, as well as the substantial theoretical and empirical literature on compensation. There are many possible mechanisms for compensatory mutations. There are insufficient data to make quantitative predictions, but it is clear that there is more hope for preserving the genetic integrity of threatened species than previously thought.
Leadership Styles, Organisational Culture and Learning Organisational Capability in Education Industry: Evidence from Egypt

We aim in this study to explore the interaction between three constructs: leadership style, organisational culture, and organisational learning capacity. In addition to that, we investigated the validity of this trio relationship in both public and private Egyptian universities situated in Greater Cairo area. A quota sampling procedure was used to recruit 298 academicians - 186 from public universities and 112 from private universities. Significant correlations were obtained between transformational and transactional leadership style and organisational learning capacity dimensions. However, the moderating effect of organisational culture in the relationship between leadership styles and organisational learning capacity was not reported. Lastly, researchers recommended to Egyptian leaders and decision makers the leadership style and culture type that may enhance the learning capacity in higher education institutes.
Support Vector Machines based on set covering

Absfract-Support Vector \Iachines (SVMs) have been the promising method in the field of machine learning. But for the real applications there are still some drawbacks in S,"\ls. e.g. the high training cost and too many support vectors. This paper presents a novel method based on set covering to overcome these drawbacks. called SC-S,"\ls. Some experiments on real data show the effectiveness of this new method.
How Robust are Estimates of Equilibrium Real Exchange Rates: The Case of China

Assessments of a country's real exchange rate relative to its 'equilibrium' value as suggested by 'fundamental' determinants have received increasing attention. Using China as an example, the present paper illustrates models commonly used to derive equilibrium real exchange rate estimates. The large variance in the estimates raises serious questions about the robustness of these results. The basic conclusion is that, at least for China, small changes in model specifications, explanatory variable definitions, and time periods used in estimation can lead to very substantial differences in equilibrium real exchange rate estimates. Therefore, such estimates should be treated with great caution. Copyright 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation 2009 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd
Length-Weight Relationships and Morphological Variability of Black- Striped Pipefish Syngnathus abaster Risso, 1827 in the Dnieper River Basin

Length-weight relationships and morphological variability were assessed for black-striped pipefish Sygnathusabaster Risso, 1827 that has successfully spread in freshwater ecosystems of Ponto-Caspian basin. Ninety females and ninety males were analyzed. Their standard length was 10.65±0.9 cm, ranged 6.90–14.10 cm and the wet weight – 0.71±0.02 g (0.15 – 1.53 g) respectively. The length-weight relationships were significant (P≤ 0.05) for all samples. The R values ranged from 0.869 to 0.949. In terms of growth, males in all observed areas were positively allometric (b > 3), while females showed isometry (b = 3). Poled samples (males + females) were positively allometric. In addition, measurements of thirteen morphometric characters allowed indicating several morphological differences of individuals from several samples. They manifested in body and head proportions, fins position and body heights with P≤0.05. Furthermore, principal components analysis allowed us to differentiatefish from lacustrine and stream habitats into two separate scatters by external morphology that proved the availability of some different ckreods (ontogenetic channels) of black-striped pipefish. One of them was implemented in lotic ecosystems of the lacustrine parts and another in lentic stream parts of Dnieper reservoirs.
BIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF BLOOD OF NATIVE CATTLE IN THE HILLY AREA OF BANGLADESH

A yearlong study was carried out in indigenous cattle of five upazila namely Khagrachari Sadar, Laxmichari, Matiranga, Mahalchari and Dighinala in Khagrachari Hill District, Bangladesh for determination of statuses of various biochemical parameters. Apparently healthy cattle (100) were selected and blood samples were collected aseptically. Biochemical analysis of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, electrolytes and enzymes were performed by using automated biochemical analyzer (Humalizer ® -3000). The results showed that, the variations of parameters were not significant (P>0.05) between male and female. Although there was a slight increase of calcium 8.01±0.32mg/dl, glucose 69.21±2.31mg/dl, LDL 5.69±0.22mg/dl and uric acid 3.85±0.34mg/dl of female compared to 7.34±0.42, 68.32±1.81, 5.05±0.25 and 3.37±0.27 of the male. On the other hand, SGOT (100.14±4.86U/L) was slightly higher in male compared to the female (91.97±5.55 U/L). There was a slight variation in ALP (218.81±29.12U/L) of growing cattle compared to the calf’s (293.57±42.78) and production cattle (300.88±27.24), although the variation was not significant (P>0.05). DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/bjvm.v11i1. 16513 Bangl. J. Vet. Med. (2013). 11 (1): 51-56
Bichromatic Travelling Waves for Lattice Nagumo Equations

We discuss bichromatic (two-color) front solutions to the bistable Nagumo lattice differential equation. Such fronts connect the stable spatially homogeneous equilibria with spatially heterogeneous 2-periodic equilibria and hence are not monotonic like the standard monochromatic fronts. We provide explicit criteria that can determine whether or not these fronts are stationary and show that the bichromatic fronts can travel in parameter regimes where the monochromatic fronts are pinned. The presence of these bichromatic waves allows the two stable homogeneous equlibria to both spread out through the spatial domain towards each other, buffered by a shrinking intermediate zone in which the periodic pattern is visible.
Efficient Analysis Technique for Modeling Periodic Structures Based on Finite Element Method using High-Order Multiscalets Functions

Periodic structures have a variety of important applications in electromagnetic engineering and modern technologies. Commonly used, periodic structures include frequency selective surfaces, optical gratings, phased array antennas and various metamaterials. A three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) with efficient boundaries conditions is presented to simulate the electromagnetic properties of homogeneous periodic material. In our approach, we describe an accurate and efficient numerical analysis based on high-order multiscalets applied in vector edge FEM using new reduction meshing technique (MSRM-FEM) to characterize the electromagnetic properties of periodic structures. Here, we have achieved a factor of 4 in memory reduction and 711 in CPU speedup over the typical meshing. The FEM is applied to solve Maxwell’s equation in the unit cell. The Floquet’s theorem is used to take into account the periodicity of the boundaries conditions radiation for the unit cell. The numerical results are compared to published data and other simulation results. Good agreement is important to establish the validity and usefulness of the (MSRM-FEM) method given in this paper.
Sphingomonas paucimobilis Urinary Tract Infection in a Renal Transplant Recipient: a Rare Case

Infections in immunocompromised hosts warrant special attention. Normally existing as hospital contaminants, Sphingomonas paucimobilis can be a rare opportunistic human pathogen. We report one such case by this nonfermenting bacilli causing uncomplicated urinary tract infection in a renal transplant recipient patient with histoplasmosis of colon. Awareness about the posssiblity of the same is important. Infection control measures of the hospital needs to be stepped up with the isolation of such organisms to prevent cross-transmission and outbreaks.
Subsistence and Semi-Subsistence Farms in Hungary-Role, Determinants and Directions

vi List of Figures . ix List of Tables . ix Abbreviations and Acronyms . x Acknowledgements . xi Chapter 1 – Introduction.1 1.1 General Background of Agriculture in Hungary . 1 1.2 Motivation and Context of the Study.3 1.3 Problem Statement . 5 1.4 Objective of the study . 8 1.5 Research Hypothesis and Expectations . 8 1.6 Methodology and Data Used . 9 1.7 Outline.9 Chapter 2 – Literature Review . 11 2.1. Concepts of subsistence and semi-subsistence farms . 11 2.2. Previous Findings on the Determinants of SFs and SSFs . 13 2.3. Review of the theoretical model underlying the empirical analysis . 16 2.3.1 The Traditional Household Model in Imperfect Markets . 16 2.3.2 The Non-Separable Two-Stage Decision Process . 18 2.3.3 Underlying assumptions of the traditional household model . 20 2.4. Contribution of this study . 21 Chapter 3 – Conceptual Framework . 23 3.1. Household production model . 23 3.2. Reduced form equations . 27 3.3. Empirical Model Specification . 28 3.4. Limitations of the household production model. 29 Chapter 4 – Data Description and Econometric Approach . 31 4.1 Data Description . 31 4.2 Review of Previous Methods . 32 4.3 Model selection and Estimation method . 33
Title: Drug sales data analysis for outbreak detection of infectious diseases: a systematic literature review

Background This systematic literature review aimed to summarize evidence for the added value of drug sales data analysis for the surveillance of infectious diseases. Methods A search for relevant publications was conducted in Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Library, African Index Medicus and Lilacs databases. Retrieved studies were evaluated in terms of objectives, diseases studied, data sources, methodologies and performance for real-time surveillance. Most studies compared drug sales data to reference surveillance data using correlation measurements or indicators of outbreak detection performance (sensitivity, specificity, timeliness of the detection). Results We screened 3266 articles and included 27 in the review. Most studies focused on acute respiratory and gastroenteritis infections. Nineteen studies retrospectively compared drug sales data to reference clinical data, and significant correlations were observed in 17 of them. Four studies found that over-the-counter drug sales preceded clinical data in terms of incidence increase. Five studies developed and evaluated statistical algorithms for selecting drug groups to monitor specific diseases. Another three studies developed models to predict incidence increase from drug sales. Conclusions Drug sales data analyses appear to be a useful tool for surveillance of gastrointestinal and respiratory disease, and OTC drugs have the potential for early outbreak detection. Their utility remains to be investigated for other diseases, in particular those poorly surveyed. Drug sales data analysis for outbreak detection of infectious diseases: a systematic literature review, BMC Infect Dis. Internet. 2014 Nov. 18;14:604.
Review of evidence on the effect of QA/QI approaches in HIV primary prevention in the EU-27 countries

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a major public health burden in Europe, with an incidence rate of 5.7 per 100,000 population in the European Union (EU) / European Economic Area (EEA) countries in 2013 [1]. HIV prevention plays a crucial role in combating the HIV epidemic. However, Quality Improvement (QI) and Quality Assurance (QA) approaches have not been applied or documented widely in HIV prevention research. Instead, most research centers have commonly used more traditional approaches to quality control like checklists completed by staff members. These approaches mostly document what has been done but not the quality of what has been done [2]. This review has been conducted as a subcontract with the EU-funded “Joint Action on Improving Quality in HIV Prevention” and was commissioned by the Work Package 7. The so called “Quality Action” aims to increase the effectiveness of HIV prevention in Europe by using practical QA and QI tools and approaches. Quality Action has validated three tools for HIV prevention so far: SUCCEED, Quality in Prevention (QIP) and Participatory Quality Development (PQD) (http://www.qualityaction.eu/) and will develop new ones. The aim of this review was to identify and synthesize evidence on how QA / QI approaches have been applied and their effect in indicating quality in HIV primary prevention.
Interface delocalization transitions in finite systems

Interface delocalization transitions are studied for slabs and strips of linear dimension L. For large L , the shift of the transition temperature is found to be proportional to l / L . This implies that the continuous behavior predicted for various surface quantities in a semi-infinite geometry becomes weakly discontinuous for large but finite L. The consequences for new experiments and computer simulations on threeand two-dimensional systems are discussed,