Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Apoptosis - a Dangerous Phenomenon in Vascular Disease?

Apoptosis (programmed cell death) of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) has been recognised recently in the vessel wall in disease states such as atherosclerosis and restenosis after angioplasty, and also in physiological arterial remodelling. Although apoptosis has been observed, the role and importance of VSMC apoptosis has not been determined. Although VSMC apoptosis is undoubtedly one mechanism employed for changing VSMC mass in vessel remodelling, VSMC apoptosis appears to be almost entirely a detrimental phenomenon in vascular disease.
Herbivory alters resource allocation and compensation in the invasive tree Melaleuca quinquenervia

Abstract. 1. Plants may compensate for the effects of herbivory, especially under favourable growing conditions, limited competition, and minimal top‐down regulation. These conditions characterise many disturbed wetlands dominated by introduced plants, implying that exotic, invasive weeds in these systems should exhibit strong compensatory responses.
Biochemical and histopathological endpoints of in vivo cadmium toxicity in Sparus aurata Respuestas bioquímicas e histopatológicas a la toxicidad por cadmio in vivo en Sparus aurata

Cadmium (Cd) is a non-essential metal common in water bodies subjected to anthropogenic pollution. Its proven toxicity to aquatic and terrestrial organisms (including humans) has made this metal a subject of particular interest in toxicological studies, especially concerning common coastal fish species that are important marine resources, such as Sparus aurata. In order to establish laboratory tests and biomarker techniques to assess in vivo Cd toxicity in a multilevel (from histological to biochemical) approach, a short-term (48 h) assay was performed using juvenile S. aurata injected intraperitoneally with individual Cd dosages (0–8.1 μg Cd g–1 fish w.w.). The results showed that Cd causes a fast and pronounced histopathological degeneration of liver tissue and an exponential induction in liver metallothionein-like proteins (MTs) strongly correlated to the injected Cd dosage (Spearman R = 0.97, P < 0.01) but not to Cd bioaccumulation or survival time. The relationships between Cd dosage, liver Cd, and liver MT suggested the existence of an absorbed Cd threshold after which the animals were no longer able to regulate and bioaccumulate the metal. This threshold was not dependent on survival time but rather on Cd dosage. The findings also confirmed the suitability of S. aurata as a test organism regarding toxicity caused by Cd. Complimentarily, a histological technique using a fluorochrome (acridine orange) to enhance tissue detail is described, as well as a method suitable for the detection of MTs in SDS-PAGE gels with a colloidal Coomassie blue stain.
Interannual variability of the Mediterranean outflow observed in Espartel sill, western Strait of Gibraltar

[1] Four-year time series of observations in Espartel sill at the western part of the Strait of Gibraltar have been analyzed in order to investigate the variability of the Mediterranean outflow. It is assumed that the observed variability comes from the changing properties of the dense waters that are located at the maximum depth from where they can be uplifted in the upstream basin (Alboran Sea, inside the Mediterranean Sea) and evacuated through the strait. From this perspective, the following three mechanisms are investigated: (1) the replenishment of the deep basin by newly formed Western Mediterranean Deep Water that, depending on its density, can either uplift old resident waters or lay above them leaving in any case a cold signature in the temperature series; (2) the presence/absence of the energetic anticyclonic gyres in the Alboran Sea, particularly the western one, which can transfer momentum to the underlying Mediterranean vein and provide it with additional energy to ascend over the sills of the strait; and (3) the meteorologically enhanced flows that follow the rapid changes of atmospheric pressure over the western Mediterranean basin, which would be able to aspire deeper waters residing in the upstream basin. The three mechanisms act on different timescales, from annual in case (1) to monthly in case (2) to weekly in case (3) although these two latter are modulated annually by the seasonal prevalence of the western Alboran gyre in summer and of the strong meteorologically driven fluctuations in winter. The mechanisms overlap at annual timescales making it difficult to separate out the different contributions.
Controlling Cocaine: Supply Versus Demand Programs

Abstract : The current cocaine epidemic in the United States started in the late 1960s, picked up momentum during the 1970s, and is still going strong in the 1990s. The number of cocaine users peaked in the early 1980s at about 9 million, and has gradually decreased to a little more than 7 million today. However, that downward trend in the total number of users is misleading, because a decline in the number of light users has masked an increase in the number of heavy users. Heavy users consume cocaine at a rate approximately eight times that of light users, so the upward trend in consumption by heavy users roughly cancels the downward trend in consumption by light users. The result is that total consumption of cocaine in the United States has remained at its mid-1980s peak for almost a decade
Sustainable processing of waste plastics to produce high yield hydrogen-rich synthesis gas and high quality carbon nanotubes

Gasification provides a promising alternative to thermally recycle waste plastics to produce a synthesis gas. The catalytic gasification process described here can process waste plastics to produce either a high yield, hydrogen-rich synthesis gas or high value, multi-walled carbon nano-tubes; a process that can be altered to produce the desired targeted end-product.
Autonomous helicopter control by a mobile phone with android for precision agriculture- Acronym

The goal of this thesis is to create a mobile application which serves to map agricultural areas using aerial photographs taken from a UAV. An analysis was made in order to examine the options available to create an application for communicating between the phone and a ROS environment, which is the meta operating system running on the UAV. The best-found option was implemented on an Android platform. The thesis covers the issues of planning trajectories for complete coverage, of taking photos from a flying object and of stitching images into a single image to create a map of the desired area. A series of experiments is presented. These show the performance of the system under various conditions, both in a simulation environment and with a real platform.
Application of Twist Extrusion

Twist Extrusion (TE) is a process of severe plastic deformation (SPD) being developed by us during recent 5 years. Upon this time we published few papers on mechanics of the process and influence of the TE processing on materials structure and properties. Here we reported some results on application of the twist extrusion processing and made few general conclusions.
Testing the discriminant validity of Schwartz’ Portrait Value Questionnaire items – A replication and extension of Knoppen and Saris (2009)

Schwartz' theory of ten basic human values has stimulated numerous studies using a variety of instruments. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of the properties of some of the instruments have revealed that three pairs of values were excessively highly correlated. This led Davidov et al. (2008) to propose unifying values. To overcome the problems of loss of precision due to unifying distinct values, Knoppen and Saris (2009a,b) investigated the factorial structure of each of the ten values measured with the PVQ (Schwartz et al. 2001). They identified both cross-loadings and distinct sub-dimensions for the pairs of nondiscriminated values in two German student samples. They concluded that the original strategy for selecting items, maximizing theoretical coverage at the expense of item homogeneity, produced the poor discrimination between values. Our Study 1 examines whether the Knoppen and Saris findings generalize to a representative sample of the German population. With some notable exceptions, our findings replicate theirs. Study 2 uses 33 items from an experimental version of the PVQ to operationalize and test a full model of the 11 basic values. Following Knoppen and Saris, we included only one sub-dimension of each of the 11 values. This CFA model yielded a satisfactory fit with no estimation problems. We conclude that available indicators permit measuring the distinct values without the need to collapse factors. Limitations and implications of the research are discussed.
The Economic Consequences of Mandatory IFRS Reporting: Emerging Market Perspective

The value relevance of accounting information in the contemporary electronic and institutionally planned market environment has acquired considerable consideration since accounting regulators have positioned the value relevance as the primary feature of accounting information. Given such phenomenon, the existence of transparency related to accounting information in financial markets is a significant issue. IFRS standards have some prerequisite to get the maximum output in terms of getting quality reports. These prerequisites include investor protection, strictly enforced laws, transparency, and active stock market. This study investigates the economic consequences of mandatory IFRS reporting in the domain of value relevant of accounting information in Pakistan. We used panel data methodologies by incorporating the Ohlson (1995) price and product valuation model. The Study has utilized the data of one hundred and seventy (170) firms listed on the Karachi stock exchange from 2006–2010. The overall results show that both earnings per share and book value have positive and significant influence on the share price. Furthermore, the relationship between share price, book value, and earnings per share signifies that relationship tends to deteriorate with the passage of time following IFRS implementation. The study further finds that book value is more relevant than earning per share in pooled, fixed, and random effect. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.ee. 25.4. 2775
An Improved Nonlinear Five-Point Model for Photovoltaic Modules

This paper presents an improved nonlinear five-point model capable of analytically describing the electrical behaviors of a photovoltaic module for each generic operating condition of temperature and solar irradiance. The models used to replicate the electrical behaviors of operating PV modules are usually based on some simplified assumptions which provide convenient mathematical model which can be used in conventional simulation tools. Unfortunately, these assumptions cause some inaccuracies, and hence unrealistic economic returns are predicted. As an alternative, we used the advantages of a nonlinear analytical five-point model to take into account the nonideal diode effects and nonlinear effects generally ignored, which PV modules operation depends on. To verify the capability of our method to fit PV panel characteristics, the procedure was tested on three different panels. Results were compared with the data issued by manufacturers and with the results obtained using the five-parameter model proposed by other authors.
Particle size distribution analysis and physico-chemical characterization of Chenab River water at Marala Headworks.

The present study describes the environmental profile of the River Chenab at Marala Headworks regarding physico-chemical characterization and particle size distribution. Water samples from the selected stations were collected and analyzed for physico-chemical characteristics. To evaluate pollution status the parameters determined were temperature, pH, colour, TDS, TSS, turbidity, total hardness, Ca-hardness, Mg-hardness, nitrates, ammonia, sulphates, chlorides, fluorides, Fe, Zn, Cu, Pb and Na. The results indicated a wide variation of different parameters among the selected sampling stations.
Utilizing Word Matching for Duplicate Article Removal: A Study using Malaysian Online News Feed

Users of feed aggregators know that duplicated articles are found occasionally on the feeds they subscribe to. It can be time consuming to read all articles and stumble upon duplicated items they have already read. Our work here is to determine the effectiveness of using basic word matching to remove duplicated items and only show the most relevant item, thus saving readers? time. The method described in this paper to remove duplicates involves word matching heuristics with an appropriate matching percentage. The duplicated feeds are then ranked to only display the highest ranked article. Ranking is done using the number of search items found on the titles of the news feeds where the highest number returned will be considered the highest ranked article. Using Malaysian online news feeds, our method found that with a matching percentage of 40%, the method will be able to minimize duplicates
Evaluation of the relationship between sedentary behavior and physical activity and correlation factors of sedentary behavior in male university students

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between sedentary behavior and parameters related to physical activity in Japanese male university students. Further, we examined the decisional balance for exercise, which is a correlation factor of physical inactivity. The study participants were 638 male freshmen from an institute of technology in Japan who were rated on the time spent on sedentary behavior and the use of TV/PC as a measure of sedentary behavior. The physical activity assessment scale (exercise/sports and daily activity), and the stages of change in the exercise behavior scale were used as measures of physical activity. The following variables were measured as potential correlates: self-effi cacy and decisional balance for exercise. A signifi cant negative correlation was observed between the time spent on the use of TV/PC and the exercise/sports score. An ANOVA showed that the participants in the 'precontemplation' group reported a signifi cantly longer time spent on the use of TV/PC when compared with those in the 'action' and 'maintenance' groups. A signifi cant relationship was observed between the time spent on the use of TV/PC, the 'pros for exercise', and self-effi cacy for exercise. On the other hand, no signifi cant relationship was observed between time spent on sedentary behavior and any parameters related to physical activity. As a result of multiple regression analysis, the decisional balance for exercise signifi cantly explained the time spent on the use of TV/PC. In conclusion, it was suggested that time spent on the use of TV/PC might be preferable as a measure of sedentary behavior in future research on sedentary behavior.
ORNL Cray X1 evaluation status report

On August 15, 2002 the Department of Energy (DOE) selected the Center for Computational Sciences (CCS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to deploy a new scalable vector supercomputer architecture for solving important scientific problems in climate, fusion, biology, nanoscale materials and astrophysics. ''This program is one of the first steps in an initiative designed to provide U.S. scientists with the computational power that is essential to 21st century scientific leadership,'' said Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, director of the department's Office of Science. In FY03, CCS procured a 256-processor Cray X1 to evaluate the processors, memory subsystem, scalability of the architecture, software environment and to predict the expected sustained performance on key DOE applications codes. The results of the micro-benchmarks and kernel bench marks show the architecture of the Cray X1 to be exceptionally fast for most operations. The best results are shown on large problems, where it is not possible to fit the entire problem into the cache of the processors. These large problems are exactly the types of problems that are important for the DOE and ultra-scale simulation. Application performance is found to be markedly improved by this architecture: - Large-scale simulations of high-temperature superconductors run 25 timesmore » faster than on an IBM Power4 cluster using the same number of processors. - Best performance of the parallel ocean program (POP v1.4.3) is 50 percent higher than on Japan s Earth Simulator and 5 times higher than on an IBM Power4 cluster. - A fusion application, global GYRO transport, was found to be 16 times faster on the X1 than on an IBM Power3. The increased performance allowed simulations to fully resolve questions raised by a prior study. - The transport kernel in the AGILE-BOLTZTRAN astrophysics code runs 15 times faster than on an IBM Power4 cluster using the same number of processors. - Molecular dynamics simulations related to the phenomenon of photon echo run 8 times faster than previously achieved. Even at 256 processors, the Cray X1 system is already outperforming other supercomputers with thousands of processors for a certain class of applications such as climate modeling and some fusion applications. This evaluation is the outcome of a number of meetings with both high-performance computing (HPC) system vendors and application experts over the past 9 months and has received broad-based support from the scientific community and other agencies. « less
Dark matter annihilation and decay factors in the Milky Way's dwarf spheroidal galaxies

The Milky Way’s dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies are among the best targets for the indirect detection of dark matter (DM) from annihilation (resp. decay) products. The expected gammaray flux depends on the so-called ‘J-factor’ (resp. ‘D-factor’), the integral of the squared DM density (resp. DM density) along the line-of-sight. Using a large number of simulated dSphs, we define an optimized Jeans analysis setup for the reconstruction of the DM density with stellarkinematic data. Employing this setup, we provide estimates of astrophysical Jand D-factors for twenty-two Galactic dSphs, including the newly discovered Reticulum II. We finally identify several criteria that may indicate a contamination of a kinematic dataset by interlopers, leading to unreliable astrophysical factors. We find that the kinematic sample of Segue I, one of the closest dSph, might be affected by this issue.
Does Learning Beget Learning Throughout Adulthood? Evidence from Employees' Training Participation

Individuals with more years of education generally acquire more training later on in life. Such a relationship may be due to skills learned in early periods increasing returns to educational investments in later periods. This paper addresses the question whether the complementarity between education and training is causal. The identification is based on exogenous variation in years of education due to a reform of the schooling system and the buildup of universities. Results confirm that education has a significant impact on training participation during working life.
Integrated program protects trees from eucalyptus longhorned borer

Phoracantha semipunctata F. , a cerambycid beetle introduced into California within the last 10 years, is killing large numbers of eucalyptus trees throughout much of the state. Risk of tree mortality can be reduced through managing tree stress, selection of more resistant tree species and disposal of infested wood. A biological control program to reduce beetle populations through the introduction of egg and larval parasites is currently being implemented. The combination of appropriate tree management and biological control holds promise for protecting these valuable ornamental tree species.
Effect of process conditions on the yield of pyrolytic products from Southern pine

Southern pine samples were subjected to temperatures of 250, 350, 400, 500, and 800 C for 1, 2, and 4 hours in an atmosphere of flowing nitrogen gas at two flow rates. Solid, liquid, and gaseous phases were produced, the yields of which were statistically analyzed and found to be dependent on the pyrolytic conditions. All product yields differed significantly with temperature, but no significant differences with regard to reaction times were detected.
A NOVEL MINIATURIZED BANDPASS FILTER BASED ON COMPLEMENTARY SPLIT RING RESONATORS (CSRRs) AND OPEN-LOOP RESONATORS

A microstrip bandpass fllter is presented based on Complementary Split Ring Resonators (CSRRs) and a pair of open- loop resonators that has a single pair of transmission zeros at flnite frequencies that causes an improvement at skirt response. An equivalent circuit is introduced to make analysis and optimization faster. Finally a fllter is designed using the proposed cell and the simulation results with both equivalent model and full wave analysis are in very good agreement. The fllter was fabricated and the measurement result was also in good agreement with simulation results. Besides, the size of the designed fllter is very small and it occupies an area less than 0:23‚g £ 0:16‚g, where ‚g is the guided wavelength at the midband frequency.
Organization and Innovation: Essays on the Effects of Ambidexterity and Open Innovation on Innovation Performance

This dissertation investigates the role of ambidexterity and open innovation for innovation performance, adopting a contingency view. The essays employ econometric study designs to provide an empirical investigation of the phenomena with a focus on relevant contingencies and moderators. The essays identify important moderators and contigencies for the effects of ambidexterity and open innovation on the emergence of several types of innovation. Based on these findings, the dissertation provides important implactions for research and practice.
Effect of Ionic Liquids on the Physical Properties of the Newly Synthesized Conducting Polymer

Conducting polymer has many applications in electronics, optical devices, sensors, and so on; however, there is still a massive scope of improvement in this area. Therefore, towards this aim, in this study, we synthesized a new thiophene-based conducting polymer, 2-heptadecyl-5-hexyl-6-(5-methylthiophen-2-yl)-4-(5-((E)-prop-1-enyl)thiophen-2-yl)-5H-pyrrolo[3,4-d]thiazole (HHMPT). Further, to increase its application, the interactions between the conducting polymer (HHMPT) and ionic liquids (ILs) were investigated by UV-Vis spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, and confocal Raman spectroscopy techniques. Moreover, film roughness and conductivity of the polymer film with or without ILs were also studied. The imidazolium- and ammonium family ILs with the potential to interact with the newly synthesized conducting polymer were used. The results of the interaction studies revealed that the imidazolium family IL-polymer mixtures and ammonium family IL-polymer mixtures have almost similar conductivity at low concentration of ILs. This study provides an insight into the combined effect of a polymer and ILs and may generate many theoretical and experimental opportunities.