Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Municipal wastewater treatment by photocatalysis : comparison between UV lamp and solar radiation using TiO 2 and ZnO / TiO 2 synthesized catalysts

To reverse the negative impacts on water resources caused by industries, advanced oxidation processes (AOP’s) have been developed as an alternative for the treatment of effluents. This work evaluates the photodegradation of organic, inorganic oxidizable compounds and the inactivation of microorganisms in municipal wastewater, from the effluent of a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). The efficiency of two light sources, a UV lamp and solar radiation, and two catalysts synthesized through the sol-gel method, TiO2 with a crystallite size of 20 nm and ZnO/TiO2 with a crystallite size of 8 nm, were compared. The results obtained showed that photocatalytic treatments reduced TSS levels by 91%, COD by 69%, and BOD5 by 73%, in the best of cases. Besides, 10 of the 11 organic compounds present were degraded, most of which are of hospital origin. It was also possible to inactivate some microorganisms such as Enterobacter, pseudomonas, and Klebsiella, in the order of 3.6 ×108 CFU to 1.63 ×104 CFU in the best of results. It was found that both photocatalytic processes represent a viable option for polishing the treatment of wastewater discharges from conventional WWTPs. However, the ZnO/TiO2 catalyst with solar radiation showed the best result.
Full Review Molecular bases of circadian rhythmicity in renal physiology and pathology

The physiological processes that maintain body homeostasis oscillate during the day. Diurnal changes characterize kidney functions, comprising regulation of hydro-electrolytic and acid-base balance, reabsorption of small solutes and hormone production. Renal physiology is characterized by 24-h periodicity and contributes to circadian variability of blood pressure levels, related as well to nychthemeral changes of sodium sensitivity, physical activity, vascular tone, autonomic function and neurotransmitter release from sympathetic innervations. The circadian rhythmicity of body physiology is driven by central and peripheral biological clockworks and entrained by the geophysical light/dark cycle. Chronodisruption, de ﬁ ned as the mismatch between environmental – social cues and physiological – behavioral patterns, causes internal desynchronization of periodic functions, leading to pathophysiological mechanisms underlying degenerative, immune related, metabolic and neoplastic diseases. In this review we will address the genetic, molecular and anatomical elements that hardwire circadian rhythmicity in renal physiology and subtend disarray of time – dependent changes in renal pathology.
Direct Construction of a Dividing Surface of Minimal Flux for Multi-Degree-of-Freedom Systems: The Equivalence of Conventional and Variational Transition State Theory

The fundamental assumption of conventional transition state theory is the existence of a dividing surface having the property that trajectories originating in reactants must cross the surface only once and then proceed to products. Recently it has been shown how to construct a dividing surface in phase space for Hamiltonian systems with an arbitrary (but finite) number of degrees of freedom having the property that trajectories only cross once locally. In this letter we provide an argument showing that the flux across this dividing surface is a minimum with respect to certain types of variations of the dividing surface. In this sense, conventional transition state theory is shown to be equivalent to variational transition state theory.
Interstellar helium in interplanetary space

The velocity distribution function of He(+) in the solar wind at 1 AU is calculated with the assumption that the source is photoionization of a cold (T = 100 K), neutral interstellar wind. If the spiral magnetic field is noise free, the velocity distribution is diffuse and would not produce a peak at 4(E over Q) sub H in an E over Q particle spectrum. If the velocity of the interstellar wind with respect to the sun lies in the ecliptic, a large variation of the He(+) number density with respect to ecliptic longitude is expected.
The B Lymphocyte-Speciﬁc Coactivator BOB.1/OBF.1 Is Required at Multiple Stages of B-Cell Development

The transcriptional coactivator BOB.1/OBF.1 confers B-cell speciﬁcity on the transcription factors Oct1 and Oct2 at octamer site-containing promoters. A hallmark of the BOB.1/OBF.1 mutation in the mouse is the absence of germinal center development in secondary lymphoid organs, demonstrating the requirement for BOB.1/OBF.1 in antigen-dependent stages of B-cell differentiation. Here we analyzed earlier stages of B lymphopoiesis in BOB.1/OBF.1-deﬁcient mice. Examination of B-cell development in the bone marrow revealed that the numbers of transitional immature (B220 1 IgM hi ) B cells were reduced and that B-cell apoptosis was increased. When in competition with wild-type cells, BOB.1/OBF.1 2 / 2 bone marrow cells exhibited defects in repopulating the bone marrow B-cell compartment and were unable to establish a presence in the periphery of host mice. The defective bone marrow populations in BOB.1/OBF.1 2 / 2 mice were rescued by conditional expression of a BOB.1/OBF.1 transgene controlled by the tetracycline gene expression system. However, the restored populations did not restore the numbers of IgD hi B cells in the periphery, where the BOB.1/OBF.1 transgene was not expressed. These results show that BOB.1/OBF.1 2 / 2 B cells exhibit multistage defects in B-cell development, including impaired production of transitional B cells and defective maturation of recir- culating B cells.
Alpha lipoic acid supplementation improved antioxidant enzyme activities in hemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of death in hemodialysis (HD) patients and oxidative stress is an important risk factor for CVD. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) are primary antioxidant enzymes in human cells acting against toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) and their reduced activity may contribute to oxidative disorders in HD patients. Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) as a potent strong antioxidant may affect these enzymes. OBJECTIVE We examined the effects of ALA supplementation on antioxidant enzyme activities in HD patients. METHOD In this double-blinded, randomized clinical trial, 63 HD patients (43 males and 20 females; age range: 22-79 years) were assigned into the ALA group (n: 31), receiving a daily dose of ALA (600 mg), or a control group (n: 32), receiving placebo for 8 weeks. Body mass index (BMI), antioxidant enzymes, albumin (Alb) and hemoglobin (Hb) were determined before and after intervention. RESULTS At baseline, the mean blood activities of SOD, GPx, and CAT in ALA group were 1032±366, 18.9±5.09 and 191±82.7 U/gHb which increased at the end of study to 1149±502, 19.1±7.19 and 208±86.6 U/gHb respectively. However, only the increase of SOD was statistically significant in comparison with placebo group (P = 0.04). The mean levels of Alb, Hb, weight and BMI were not significantly changed in study groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION ALA may be beneficial for HD patients by increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes; however, further studies are needed to achieve precise results.
Where traditional extinction estimates fall flat: using novel cophylogenetic methods to estimate extinction risk in platyhelminths

Today parasites comprise a huge proportion of living biodiversity and play a major role in shaping community structure. Given their ecological significance, parasite extinctions could result in massive cascading effects across ecosystems. It is therefore crucial that we have a way of estimating their extinction risk. Attempts to do this have often relied on information about host extinction risk, without explicitly incorporating information about the parasites. However, assuming an identical risk may be misleading. Here, we apply a novel metric to estimate the cophylogenetic extinction rate, Ec, of parasites with their hosts. This metric incorporates information about the evolutionary history of parasites and hosts that can be estimated using event-based cophylogenetic methods. To explore this metric, we investigated the use of different cophylogenetic methods to inform the Ec rate, based on the analysis of polystome parasites and their anuran hosts. We show using both parsimony- and model-based approaches that different methods can have a large effect on extinction risk estimation. Further, we demonstrate that model-based approaches offer greater potential to provide insights into cophylogenetic history and extinction risk.
Towards practical multikernel OSes with MySyS

The multikernel operating system architecture appeared over a decade ago in response to a significant shift in an underlying computer system architecture that saw a massive transition from unicore to multicore processors to deal with scalability and hardware diversity issues. Multikernel considers the computer a distributed system, directly reflects this observation to the OS design and proposes several respective design principles. In particular, multikernel OS constructs the system as a tightly-coupled distributed operating system consisting of a network of isolated nodes and interconnections between them. Furthermore, it replaces implicit inter-core communication through shared memory by explicit message passing and maintains a general OS state using replication. The original multikernel design was prototyped in the experimental operating system Barrelfish and proved that it scales better than conventional Linux in environments of many-core computer systems. While over a decade has passed after the multikernel OS design introduction, we still failed to see any significant application of its ideas outside of academic research. We reevaluate the architecture of multikernel OS and their design principles from the practical application viewpoint and consider the current state of the art in the microprocessor market, reconsidering assumptions made ten years ago. We highlight the advantages of multikernel OS design and the problems preventing its industrial adoption. Finally, we propose a practical way to overcome these challenges and promote beneficial practical applications of the new OS architecture.
A Model for Non High Energy Gamma Ray Bursts

As a progenitor of NHE (Non High Energy) GRBs, we propose a (C+O) star and a neutron star (black hole) close binary system. Since the (C+O) star is tidally locked, a new born pulsar should be a milli second pulsar (MSP). Dynamo will generate a superstrong magnetic field(SSM). The beam of the energy from the super strongly magnetized milli second pulsar can punch a hole in the supernova ejecta . Then the beam of gamma rays flows out of the ejecta. If we observe this beam from the lateral direction, it will be NHE-GRB. In this model the pulsar with the spin period about 1sec should exist in SN1998bw so that the searches for this pulsar in all the wave length are urgent. SSM-MSPs can accelerate protons up to Ultra High Energy. If a few percent of the beam energy of SSM-MSP in NHE-GRB event is in the form of UHECRs, the flux of the observed UHECRs can be explained. Then along the direction of each UHECR, a supernova remnant should be found. It is suggested that NHE-GRB is the progenitor of the soft gamma ray repeater which has also the superstrong magnetic field and is in the supernova remnant.
Ergodicity of Time Reversal Process of Stochastic Consensus Formation and Its Application

The consensus reached in stochastic consensus formation is a random variable whose distribution is generally difficult to determine analytically. We show that the time reversal process for the stochastic consensus formation process is ergodic. This fact allows us to numerically obtain the distribution for the consensus by observing the time reversal process for consensus formation for a fixed sample path.
A realistic, multimodal virtual agent for the healthcare domain

We introduce an interactive embodied conversational agent for deployment in the healthcare sector. The agent is operated by a software architecture that integrates speech recognition, dialog management, and speech synthesis, and is embodied by a virtual human face developed using photogrammetry techniques. These features together allow for real-time, face-to-face interactions with human users. Although the developed software architecture is domain-independent and highly customizable, the virtual agent will initially be applied to healtcare domain. Here we give an overview of the different components of the architecture.
In a father’s mind: paternal reflective functioning, sensitive parenting, and protection against socioeconomic risk

ABSTRACT This study utilized attachment theory as a framework for understanding how fathers’ reflective functioning (RF) and social emotional (SE) and autonomy (AU) supportive behaviors relate to children’s emotion regulation (ER) beyond effects of mothers’ RF. Moreover, the study explored how fathers’ RF may be a protective factor against risks associated with low income. Fathers (n = 77) and their toddlers participated. Fathers’ RF was coded from narrative accounts of parenting and mothers’ RF was assessed by questionnaire. Fathers’ SE and AU supportive behaviors were coded from observations of father-child interactions; toddlers’ ER was assessed as distress on a challenging task. Results show that, after accounting for mothers’ RF, fathers’ RF was directly associated with SE supportive behaviors; RF moderated the association between income and AU supportive behaviors. Fathers’ SE and AU supportive behaviors were associated with children’s distress. Fathers’ RF plays a central role in parenting and in children’s ER.
7.Sınıf Matematik Dersinde Bilgisayar Animasyonları ve Aktiviteleri ile Simetri Öğretiminin Akademik Başarıya Etkisi

Teaching symmetry is of great importance. In school mathematics, students are expected not only to explain the characteristics of geometrical shapes, but also to create tessellation by using one or more symmetry types on these shapes or to cover a surface by the shapes repeating with no empty space and not tessellation on each other by using one or a few of them. The children make sense of life and mathematics by studying on symmetry and its characteristics. In this study, it is researched to see whether there is an impact of teaching different symmetry types by using pattern models aided by computer. The symmetry subject is explained by using original drawings that belong to Mine AKTAŞ, Selcenay AKTAŞ and Burcu AKTAŞ with computer aided samples. According to the findings, it is observed that the teaching of symmetry with the use of computer animations and activities has increased students' academic success
From Ideas to Expressed Needs: an Empirical Study on Early Requirements Evolution

—Requirements are elicited from the customer and other stakeholders through an iterative process of interviews, prototyping, and other interactive sessions. Many communication phenomena may emerge in these early iterations, that lead initial ideas to be transformed, renegotiated, or reframed. Understanding how this process takes place can help in solving possible communication issues as well as their consequences. In this work, we perform an exploratory study of descriptive nature to understand in which way requirements get transformed from initial ideas into documented needs. To this end, we select 30 subjects that act as requirements analysts, and we perform a set of elicitation sessions with a ﬁctional customer. The customer is required to study a sample requirements document for a system beforehand and to answer the questions of the analysts about the system. After the elicitation sessions, the analysts produce user stories for the system. These are compared with the original ones by two researchers to assess to which extent and in which way the initial requirements evolved throughout the interactive sessions. Our results show that between 30% and 38% of the produced user stories include content that can be fully traced to the initial ones, while the rest of the content is dedicated to new requirements. We also show what types of requirements are introduced through the elicitation process, and how they vary depending on the analyst. Our work contributes to theory in requirements engineering, with empirically grounded, quantitative data, concerning the impact of elicitation activities with respect to initial ideas.
STRATEGIES ON LARGE SIZED DATA IMPLEMENTING META-HEURISTIC APPROACH IN BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

In broad sense the term business intelligence is linked to enhancement of determination of performance, integration of databases along with planning as well as making decisions on the specified performance. In such a situation it is required to improve the decision support facilitating the process of data integration along with initiation of actions. The significance in this scenario is to carry out proper information management along with making decisions in different changed environments. It is also understood that the business intelligence is responsible towards making decisions in case of modification of business strategies even if there is an influence of information management towards decision making. It is clear that business intelligence is associated with the mechanisms implemented towards analysis of data of business sectors. Basically it has the provision of predictive as well as actual views of operations in business. The technologies associated with business intelligence can manage huge sized structured as well as unstructured data to build new strategic opportunities in business. The main intention in this case is to permit for accessing the large sized data easily. Considering the decisions related to strategic business, it is seen that the objective is achieved provided the involvement of decisions linked to internal or external data are consistent. During involvement of such activities, it is essential to focus on decisions on queries and continuous transactions to manage effectively the mechanism.
“Driver Take Over”: A Preliminary Exploration of Driver Trust and Performance in Autonomous Vehicles

Automated vehicles are becoming more prominent in research and development. These automated vehicles introduce issues that have been seen in other autonomous systems such as decreases in situation awareness, complacency, and trust. Previous literature has looked at the effects of alerts and voice agents on driving performance. This preliminary study compares different in-car alerts (no alert, sound alert, task irrelevant voice alert, and task relevant voice alert) on trust and the driver’s ability to get back in-the-loop when the automation has failed. Participants were asked to monitor a simulated automated vehicle as it drove down a straight two-lane road. The main statistical results of our study show no difference in trust between the four different conditions; however, more participants avoided collision with a leading car in the task relevant voice condition in comparison to the three other conditions. These preliminary findings have important implications for the design of automated vehicles.
Numerical hull resistance calculation of a catamarán using OpenFOAM

In the present study, numerical resistance predictions using OpenFOAM were performed considering the Cormorant Evolution Catamaran, which provides travel services in the Galapagos Islands. These predictions were compared with experimental data published by Chavez and Lucin [1] and with systematic series [2]. Simulations were made at model scale of 2 [m] in two load conditions, considering demi and twin hull (s=0.56 [m]) configurations. A mesh convergence study was performed with 3 different meshes for V=1.05 [m/s] at Light Condition (T=0.086 [m]). The converged mesh, with 1 million of cells approximately, has the lower standard deviation and a 5% error when compared to its experimental value of 1.79 [N]. The errors between the experimental data and the numerical simulations for demi hull configuration were 43% and 36% for Light and Full conditions, respectively. Besides, for twin hull configuration the errors were around 14% and 32% for Light and Full conditions, respectively.
Une nouvelle approche de parcellisation multi-niveaux pour l'analyse de la connectivité fonctionnelle cérébrale

Most brain functional connectivity methods in functional MRI require a brain parcellation into functionally homogeneous regions. In this work we propose a novel parcellation approach based on a spatial hierarchical clustering, that provides clusters within a multi-level framework. The method has the advantage of producing several brain parcellations rather than a single one from a fixed size-homogeneity criterion. Results obtained on real data demonstrate the relevance of the approach. Finally, a connectivity study shows the interest of a prior multi-level parcellation of the brain.
Research on Lane a Compensation Method Based on Multi-Sensor Fusion

The curvature of the lane output by the vision sensor caused by shadows, changes in lighting and line breaking jumps over in a period of time, which leads to serious problems for unmanned driving control. It is particularly important to predict or compensate the real lane in real-time during sensor jumps. This paper presents a lane compensation method based on multi-sensor fusion of global positioning system (GPS), inertial measurement unit (IMU) and vision sensors. In order to compensate the lane, the cubic polynomial function of the longitudinal distance is selected as the lane model. In this method, a Kalman filter is used to estimate vehicle velocity and yaw angle by GPS and IMU measurements, and a vehicle kinematics model is established to describe vehicle motion. It uses the geometric relationship between vehicle and relative lane motion at the current moment to solve the coefficient of the lane polynomial at the next moment. The simulation and vehicle test results show that the prediction information can compensate for the failure of the vision sensor, and has good real-time, robustness and accuracy.
A New Derivation of GRB Jet Opening Angles from the Prompt Gamma-Ray Emission

The jet opening angle of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is an important parameter for determining the characteristics of the progenitor, and the information contained in the opening angle gives insight into the relativistic outflow and the total energy that is contained in the burst. Unfortunately, a confident inference of the jet opening angle usually requires broadband measurement of the afterglow of the GRB, from the X-ray down to the radio and from minutes to days after the prompt gamma-ray emission, which may be difficult to obtain. For this reason, very few of all detected GRBs have constrained jet angles. We present an alternative approach to derive jet opening angles from the prompt emission of the GRB, given that the GRB has a measurable Epeak and fluence, and which does not require any afterglow measurements. We present the distribution of derived jet opening angles for the first two years of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) operation, and we compare a number of our derived opening angles to the reported opening angles using the traditional afterglow method. We derive the collimation-corrected gamma-ray energy, E_{\gamma}, for GRBs with redshift and find that some of the GRBs in our sample are inconsistent with a proto-magnetar progenitor. Finally, we show that the use of the derived jet opening angles results in a tighter correlation between the rest-frame Epeak and E_{\gamma} than has previously been presented, which places long GRBs and short GRBs onto one empirical power law.