Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment Alternatives of Olive Mill Wastewater (OMW): A Review

Olive oil industry has an economic importance for many Mediterranean countries, such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey. Olive mill wastewater (OMW) arises from olive oil production process is characterized by high chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), oil and grease (O&G), phenolic compounds and acidic pH. It is produced seasonally by a large number of small olive mills scattered throughout the olive oil producing countries. The treatment of OMW has been studied by different treatment methods, resulted in considerable organic load and toxicity abatement in literature. The main problem of this type of wastewater treatment is providing the discharge criteria. Single treatment methods are not so appropriate for this aim. Therefore, combined treatment processes have been carried out for OMW treatment. Chemical, biological, advanced and combined treatment technologies are reviewed and the results of these studies have been presented in this study.
Factores asociados a la fragilidad en el paciente en tratamiento renal sustitutivo con diálisis. Una revisión sistemática

Introducción: La fragilidad es un síndrome multidimensional caracterizado por una disminución de reservas fisiológicas, de masa corporal magra, debilidad y disminución de resistencia al ejercicio físico. Sitúa a la persona en una situación de mayor vulnerabilidad ante factores externos, además existe una estrecha relación entre la fragilidad y las enfermedades crónicas, como es el caso de la enfermedad renal crónica. Objetivo: El objetivo principal de esta revisión fue sintetizar y conocer la evidencia científica sobre los factores asociados a la fragilidad de los pacientes con enfermedad renal crónica en tratamiento renal sustitutivo en diálisis. Material y Método: Se llevó a cabo una revisión sistemática a través de las bases de datos de Pubmed y Proquest. Se incluyeron artículos originales en inglés y español publicados entre 2015 y 2020, y se analizaron los artículos que trataban sobre fragilidad en el paciente con enfermedad renal en tratamiento sustitutivo. Se excluyeron aquellos artículos que no presentaron resultados. Resultados: Se incluyeron 26 artículos de diseño observacional. Los hallazgos se enfocan a la prevalencia, mortalidad, tasa de hospitalización, discapacidad, deterioro cognitivo, síntomas depresivos, obesidad, comorbilidades, caídas o fracturas y actividad y rendimiento físico. Conclusiones: Se ha encontrado una elevada prevalencia de fragilidad en el enfermo renal crónico en tratamiento renal sustitutivo con diálisis, sin diferencias entre diálisis peritoneal y hemodiálisis. La fragilidad en estos pacientes está asociada a mayor mortalidad, tasa de hospitalización, discapacidad, deterioro cognitivo, síntomas depresivos y comorbilidades. La actividad y rendimiento físico, parecen ser factores que disminuyen la fragilidad.
Global Path Planning for Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Abstract : This paper is an overview of high-level path planning methods used in mobile robotics with special emphasis on outdoor planning for unmanned ground vehicles. It surveys all portions of the path planning process including world representation, graph search algorithms, and planning for partially and completely unknown environments. Planning representations such as Cell Decompositions, Roadmaps, and Potential Fields are covered as well as both heuristic and non-heuristic methods of graph search. Specific recently developed and popular algorithms are also investigated such as A*, D*, Potential Fields, Wavefront Planning, Probabilistic Roadmaps and Rapidly Exploring Random Trees.
Stress Induced Permanent Magnetic Signal Degradation of Perpendicular Magnetic Recording System

Model scratches of the size found in hard disk drives are produced under controlled conditions at a series of applied loads on both longitudinal magnetic recording (LMR) media and perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) media using a diamond tip. The scratches are created at low speed, eliminating thermal considerations from the interpretation of the media response. Nanoindentations are produced as well. The scratches and indentations are characterized by atomic force microscope (AFM), magnetic force microscope (MFM), and also by the same magnetic reader and writer used in an integrated hard disk drive (HDD). A comparison of the response of PMR and LMR media shows the PMR media to have larger scratches and greater magnetic signal degradation than LMR media for a given scratch load. The extent of magnetic damage, as measured by MFM, is greater than the extent of surface mechanical damage, as measured by AFM. Analysis of scratches using the HDD reveals that the magnetic damage is irreversible and permanent damage in magnetic layer, which is confirmed by cross section transmission electron microscope image. The experiments reveal the mechanism for magnetic scratch erasure in the absence of thermal effects. This understanding is expected to lead to improved designs for mechanical scratch robustness of next-generation PMR media.
Radar on the railways

In order to apply electronic computers to high-speed railway traffic analysis, accurate data on positions and speeds are essential. Conventional methods of railway-traffic control and detection have limitations in these conditions. A more suitable method, described by the author, uses a form of radar in which the signals are confined to waveguides.
C-GEN - a Lightweight Permanent Magnet Generator for Direct Drive Power Take Off Systems

A new type of air-cored permanen magnet generator ‐ known as the “C-GEN” ‐ is introduced. For both linear and rotary types this machine removes the normal component of Maxwell stress between the stator and the moving part of the generator. By eliminating the magnetic attraction forces, the assembly process is easier than for conventional machines. The performance matches that of conventional PM machines but has the potential to scale up to large power levels without the need for large supporting structures.
Data report: digital core images as data: an example from IODP Expedition 303 1

Digital core images offer the highest resolution realization of core properties available to scientific investigators. The digital core scanner used aboard the JOIDES Resolution during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 303 captured ~10 pixels per millimeter of core. The ocean drilling community, however, has been slow to utilize these digital data as other than highly detailed pictures. In this study we illustrate a fast and simple method to extract core images as depth-scaled digital data. These data can then be manipulated through image enhancement to highlight detail not easily recognized in the original image or cores. Other data such as multisensor track core scans can be easily overlain on the images. We use digital core images to examine core distortion by developing sets of tables for five Expedition 303 sites that precisely map features in the site composite to those same features in individual cores from each hole at that site. In general, results show that in 80% of instances features within the composite section line up to within 35 cm of the same features in sections not used for the composite.
Effect of Principal Heuristics on Accuracy of Property Valuation in Nigeria

Valuation inaccuracy has been attributed amongst others to behavioural issues such as the usage of Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristics. There is however a dearth in the research of the other principal heuristics namely availability, representative and positivity. This research is hereby aimed at discovering the effects of these heuristics on the accuracy of property valuation. To accomplish this, the study undertook a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 159 of the 270 Head Offices of Estate Surveying and Valuation firms in Lagos Metropolis, while 29 and 30 questionnaires were distributed to the Head Offices of the entire Estate Surveying and Valuation Firms in Abuja and Port Harcourt respectively. For ease of coverage, Lagos Metropolis was stratified into six zones; thereafter respondents were selected randomly. The respondents were required to carry out simulated valuations using each of the four types of heuristics and also with supplied current market data. The T-test at the 95 per cent confidence interval was employed to test for inaccuracy in heuristically determined values relative to the sale values (values of the ‘control’ properties). The result reveals that heuristic-determined values, particularly that of representative, are not as accurate as those derived from supplied current market data. The authors recommended more focus on research of representative heuristics while consistent usage of heuristics should be dissuaded, to prevent loss of clients’ confidence in valuation reports.
Consistent estimation of the number of communities in stochastic block models using cross‐validation

The stochastic block model (SBM) and its variants constitute an important family of probabilistic tools for studying network data. There is a rich literature on methods for estimating block labels and model parameters of stochastic block models. Most of these studies require the number of communities K as an input, making the estimation of K an important problem. Cross‐validation is a natural option for this problem since it is a widely used generic method for evaluating model fitting. However, cross‐validation is known to be inconsistent and prone to overfitting unless impractical split ratios are used. Cross‐validation with confidence (CVC) is proposed with better theoretical guarantees in conventional settings. We study the properties of CVC for stochastic block models. Our theoretical studies show that CVC, unlike the standard cross‐validation, can consistently pick the optimal K under suitable conditions. We implement this method and check its performance against other established methods on both synthetic and real datasets.
New development of torque analysis of synchronous machine

ABSTRACT By using a multi-loop model, a new technique for analysing the torque of a synchronous machine is presented in this paper. The electro-magnetic torque of the machine which is very difficult to calculate in some operation conditions by other methods, can be obtained from the inductances of the machine and the currents of every loop of the machine, then the average torque and the pulse torque by Fast Fourier Technique. Comparing the results obtained by the new technique with an established method, the new method is justified.
Intelligent built-in test and stress management

The authors describe two areas of technology, time stress measurement devices (TSMDs) and smart built-in test (smart BIT), which offer a combined approach to meeting future BIT needs. With reference to TSMD, one or more microelectronic packages are being developed with the capability of providing programmable and environmental stress measurement and recording. Smart BIT is an enhancement to traditional functional BIT which utilizes artificial intelligence techniques to produce an integrated test methodology for increased BIT effectiveness and confidence levels. The implementation of these techniques in conjunction with comprehensive fault-logging of the BIT output, associated TSMD, data and smart BIT decision criteria provides a singular, integrated, and complete test and maintenance capability in support of the needs of two-level maintenance. The state of this research and development is described along with the effect of its implementation on the respective operational and maintenance communities. <<ETX>>
PSTNet: Crowd Flow Prediction by Pyramidal Spatio-Temporal Network

SUMMARY Crowd ﬂow prediction in high density urban scenes is involved in a wide range of intelligent transportation and smart city applications, and it has become a signiﬁcant topic in urban computing. In this letter, a CNN-based framework called Pyramidal Spatio-Temporal Network (PSTNet) for crowd ﬂow prediction is proposed. Spatial encoding is employed for spatial representation of external factors, while prior pyramid enhances feature dependence of spatial scale distances and temporal spans, after that, post pyramid is proposed to fuse the heterogeneous spatio-temporal features of multiple scales. Experimental results based on TaxiBJ and MobileBJ demonstrate that proposed PSTNet outperforms the state-of-the-art methods. key words: crowd ﬂow prediction, spatial encoding
A Facile HPLC-UV-Based Method for Determining the Concentration of the Bacterial Universal Signal Autoinducer-2 in Environmental Samples

As a universal quorum sensing (QS) signal, autoinducer-2 (AI-2) is utilized by both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria to coordinate several group behaviors, such as biofilm formation, virulence, and motility, when the bacterial cell density exceeds the thresholds. The determination of the AI-2 level is essential to understand the physiological and biochemical processes involved in bacterial communication. However, the current methods for AI-2 determination are complicated, time-consuming, and require costly equipment, such as a mass spectrometer (MS) or fluorescence detector (FLD). In this study, we present a new and easily applicable method for AI-2 determination. This method, based on the primary derivatization of AI-2 with 2,3-diaminonaphthalene (DAN), uses an affordable high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) instrument with a UV detector. Under optimized conditions, our method showed a good linearity (r2 = 0.999) and demonstrated the effective detection of AI-2 levels in various environmental samples, as follows: 0.38 (±0.05) μM for E. coli K12, 0.48 (±0.05) μM for Aeromonas sp. YB-2, 0.32 (±0.06) μM for the Enterobacter sp. YB-3, and 0.28 (±0.16) μM for activated sludge.
Ендотеліальна дисфункція у хворих на хронічне обструктивне захворювання легень: можливості немедикаментозного лікування (огляд літератури та власний досвід)

The aim of the work was to study the feasibility of the use of non-medicamental factors for the correction of endothelial dysfunction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Results. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is considered as a systemic disease, one of the pathogenetic components of which is endothelial dysfunction (ED), which contributes to the development of comorbid cardiovascular pathology. At the same time, the basic treatment of patients with COPD includes drugs that may adversely influence it, and some medicines for the cardiac pathology treatment can increase the bronchial obstruction. Therefore, a question of non-medicamental methods of ED correction is actual, especially beyond the acute period of the disease. Methods of hardware physiotherapy, including ozone therapy, singlet oxygen therapy and its combination with magnetic therapy, low-intensity laser radiation, ultrasound therapy, a combination of laser therapy with balneotherapy, are widely employed. These methods have antioxidant, bronchodilating and anti-inflammatory effects, promote improvement of hemodynamics, as well as rheological properties of blood and microcirculation. Interval hypoxic therapy is also used, because in response to the hypoxic stimulation, the mechanisms of the respiratory system regulation, gas exchange and blood circulation are activated. It is also promising to use haloaerosoltherapy (HAT), which due to the increase of bronchs drainage function and sanitizing effect leads to the inhibition of local inflammation, improves ventilation and gas exchange, and reduces the intensity of oxidative stress, which promotes decrease of systemic inflammation and ED, associated with it. Particularly, this effect is manifested by lowering of edothelin-1 level and the expression of adhesion molecules by lymphocytes (CD54+). Conclusions. The analysis shows that the inclusion of methods with non-medicamental influence on the endothelium can significantly increase the effectiveness of complex treatment of patients with COPD, without increasing the medicinal load on the organism, which helps to avoid undesirable side effects. The use of HAT in the rehabilitation treatment of COPD patients contributes not only to decreasing the activity of local and systemic inflammatory processes, but also is accompanied by a certain correction of ED. However, specific recommendations for the use of certain non-medicamental effects in the complex rehabilitation treatment of patients with COPD, taking into account the presence of ED, have not been developed.
A Sequential Bayesian Control Model for Influenza-Like Illnesses and Early Detection of Intentional Outbreaks

ABSTRACT Data pertaining to influenza and influenza-like illnesses (ILI) are being used in the United States and around the globe to assess evidence of influenza activity, whether it is the natural course of the flu or intentional release of a biological agent with flu-like symptoms. These data, used in surveillance, are unstable, serially correlated, and non-stationary. An important goal is to detect, as soon as possible, either emergence of an epidemic or release of biological agent whose symptoms may be initially classified as ILI. Statistical methodologies for analyzing these data are currently short of being able to capture all their important structural details and are generally deficient. Tools from statistical process control (SPC) are, on the face of it, ideally suited for the task since they address a problem of detecting sudden shift against a background of random variability. However, traditional SPC methods are generally deficient in assuming exact knowledge of the background prevalence and in relying on over simplified models. The objective of this article is to use a Bayesian model to find statistical and data-driven evidence for a surveillance problem based on the U.S. Sentinel ILI data. Bayesian statistical methodologies applied to SPC are very well suited for this setting of partial but imperfect information on the parameters describing these data. This article provides a control algorithm capable to act in detect-to-warn fashion on near-real-time data, to increase the ability to detect unusual surges in the prevalence of ILIs. We defined a model that uses sequential update methods to chart the discrepancy between the observed and predicted incidence of ILI.
User-Centered Design and Evaluation of an Interactive Visual-Haptic-Auditory Interface: A User Study on Assembly

Utilizing user-centred system design and evaluation method has become an increasingly important tool to foster better usability in the field of virtual environments (VEs). In recent years, although it is still the norm that designers and developers are concerning the technological advancement and striving for designing impressive multimodal multisensory interfaces, more and more awareness are aroused among the development team that in order to produce usable and useful interfaces, it is essential to have users in mind during design and validate a new design from users’ perspective. In this paper, we describe a user study carried out to validate a newly developed haptically enabled virtual training system. By taking consideration of the complexity of individual differences on human performance, adoption and acceptance of haptic and audio-visual I/O devices, we address how well users learn, perform, adapt to and perceive object assembly training. We also explore user experience and interaction with the system, and discuss how multisensory feedback affects user performance, perception and acceptance. At last, we discuss how to better design VEs that enhance users perception, their interaction and motor activity.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
The Key Technology of the Application of MultiGen Creator / Vega Prime in Visual Simulation System of Civil Aviation Airport

Visual simulation is the most important manifestation of virtual reality technology. Take a civil aviation airport as an example of visual simulation, based on the real-time, interactivity and realism of visual simulation system, we discuss Creator 3.0 in building three-dimensional scene of the civilian airport, and the development of visual simulation system based on Vega Prime. The simulation results show that it provides the basis for the safe and reliable in air traffic control, reducing the working pressure of the air traffic controller, improving the operating efficiency of the air traffic, and increasing the traffic flow of air and surface.
Exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells promote osteogenesis through the AKT signaling pathway in postmenopausal osteoporosis

Postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO) is a relatively common disease characterized by low bone mass and microstructural changes of trabecular bone. The reduced bone strength is caused a variety of complications, including fragility fracture and sarcopenia. We used CCK-8 and EdU assays to evaluate cell proliferation rates. The osteogenesis effect was detected using ALP staining, alizarin red staining, and q-PCR. In vivo, the effects of exosomes derived from HUC-MSCs were evaluated using HE staining, IHC staining and Masson staining. In addition, we explored the mechanism of exosomes and found that the AKT signaling pathway played an important role in osteogenesis and cell proliferation. This paper mainly explored the function of exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUC-MSCs) and provided a new strategy for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. In conclusion, exogenous administration of exosomes can contribute to the treatment postmenopausal osteoporosis to a certain extent.
Effectiveness of Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Training Curricula and Delivery Methods

This synthesis will be useful to federal and state agencies, commercial truck and bus operators, and others interested in improving commercial vehicle safety. The synthesis summarizes the state of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operator training in the trucking and motorcoach industries. It captures in detail the experiences of those training programs that are using some combination of simulators and computer-based instruction. It also identifies current measures of training effectiveness being used in the CMV community. The synthesis is based on a comprehensive literature review complemented by a survey of selected truck and bus companies, industry associations, CMV driving schools, and vendors and users of training technologies such as simulators and computer-based training programs.
Plastics in Mass Media. A Content Analysis of German Media Coverage of Plastic-Associated Risks and Sustainable Alternatives to Plastics

ABSTRACT Using risk communication theory and the concept of sustainability communication, the goal of this study is to assess to which extent and how mass media address risk issues as well as sustainable issues regarding the use of plastics. A quantitative media content analysis was conducted of 161 reports that focused on plastics as the main topic in selected German print and TV mass media published between January 2015 and March 2017. Findings indicated that journalists typically report on specific events and hazards and primarily focus on damages concerning plastics that have already occurred. Nevertheless, even though mass media reports were mainly one-sided, focusing overly on risks and damages and negative outcomes of plastic use rather than on the opportunities and benefits and positive outcomes of plastic use, an overly sensational or dramatic description of worst-case scenarios could not be supported.