Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of Tourism in Promoting Geothermal Energy: Public Interest and Motivation for Geothermal Energy Tourism in Slovenia

From household geothermal heat pumps to industrial geothermal heating and electricity production, geothermal energy is one of the most promising future climate change mitigation areas. This paper aims to analyse the potential role that the tourism industry has in the promotion of geothermal energy. Although general knowledge and understanding of geothermal energy is often relatively low, geothermal energy tourism has the potential to encourage the public to use and learn about geothermal energy and its applications. The paper first provides a theoretical conceptualisation of geothermal energy tourism at the energy production level and energy usage level. Empirical results from an online survey amongst a sample of the Slovenian population show that there is a reasonably strong interest in geothermal energy tourism, correlating with the public image of geothermal energy. The study furthermore identified three main motivational factors for energy tourism: the first is “Knowledge,” followed by “Having fun,” with the lowest level on the motivational factor being “Self-recognition. ” The paper finally provides future recommendations on geothermal energy tourism as a tool for wider public acceptance but also knowledge on the potential risks of geothermal energy as a sustainable energy source.
Influences of ovarian hormones on physiological responses to cold in women

ABSTRACT While it is clear that the ovarian hormones estradiol and progesterone have important influences on physiological thermoregulation in women, the influences of these hormones on responses to cold exposure are not well understood. Both heat conservation and heat production must increase to offset heat losses that decrease body temperature in cold ambient conditions. Cutaneous vasoconstriction conserves heat, whereas shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis produce heat – all as part of reflex physiological responses to cold exposure. Our goal in this brief review is to highlight existing knowledge and recent advances pertaining to sex and sex hormone influences on thermoeffector responses to cold stress. Estrogens have multiple influences that contribute to heat dissipation and a lower body temperature, while the influence of progesterone appears to primarily increase body temperature. Fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone across the menstrual cycle can alter the level at which body temperature is regulated. Recent evidence suggests that female reproductive hormones can modulate the cutaneous vasoconstrictor response, and may influence metabolic mechanisms such as substrate utilization during shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis. Overall, it appears that quantitative differences in cold thermoregulation between sexes are minimal when anthropometric measures are minimized, such that women do not have a strong “advantage” or “disadvantage” in terms of overall ability to tolerate cold. Thermoregulatory physiology in women during cold exposure remains relatively understudied and many mechanisms require further elucidation.
Towards an Efficient Chipless RFID System for Modern Applications in IoT Networks

In this article, we present the design and validation of an efficient chipless RFID system. A multi-resonator chipless tag is designed and tested for high bit coding capacity. A high gain, ultra-wideband step-shape rectangular patch (USRP) antenna is proposed to validate the specificity of the tag in terms of its operation. The devised antenna is evaluated for various performance parameters, which recommend its suitability for testing and validation of high-capacity tags that can be deployed in modern applications, particularly in the Internet of Things (IoT) networks. A measurement setup is established to achieve performance validation of the tag over a significant range of 40 cm. There is close agreement between the measured and simulated results, which suggests that the proposed antenna system can be adopted in a similar measurement setup to test and validate the performance of any chipless RFID tag operating in the same bandwidth meant for IoT networks.
Parkinson's Disease-Related Biomarkers That May Appear in Amphetamine Abusers

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders. Amphetamine addiction may cause serious of psychotic and physical damage to humans. There is some evidence that shows that amphetamine may increase the risk of PD. Thus, this study is aimed at comparing the PD serum biomarkers between amphetamine addicts and PD patients and utilizing them as diagnostic biomarkers for the early detection of PD incidence among amphetamine addicts. In the current study, nineteen amphetamine addicts, aged <40, were recruited from the Al Amal Psychiatric hospital, Jazan, Saudi Arabia. Nineteen PD patients and 19 healthy controls, who have never taken amphetamine, were also recruited. Blood samples were withdrawn from all groups. A biomarker multiplex assay from MILLIPLEX was used to assess the levels of serum amyloid-P (SAP), complement C4, C-reactive protein (CRP), and CRP/albumin ratio in serum samples (Vitros 350® slide was used to assess the albumin). All data were statistically analyzed using one-way ANOVA. The results showed that SAP and CRP levels were significantly higher in amphetamine addicts compared to healthy controls (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively). The results of amphetamine addicts were comparable to PD levels. However, there are no significant differences between all studied groups concerning complement C4 level. Moreover, albumin levels were significantly decreased and CRP/Albumin ratio levels were significantly increased in amphetamine addicts (p = 0.01 and p = 0.041, respectively) in contrast with controls. These findings indicate that the increased level of these inflammatory biomarkers (SAP and CRP) in the amphetamine addicts may give a potential possibility of their serum level to be used as screening markers to detect PD development in the amphetamine addict. It may be useful to evaluate the changes in easily accessible and cost-effective parameters such as the serum CRP/albumin ratio.
A new pioneer colorimetric micro-plate method for the estimation of ammonia production by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR)

The ability of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) to produce ammonia (NH3) is one of the key mechanisms for the growth and development of plants. Ammonia spectrophotometric quantification assay using Nessler’s reagent remains laborious and seems to be not suitable for large-scale PGP screening assay. Here, we performed a new accurate, easy, and cost-effective micro-plate protocol for large-scale ammonia quantification in bacterial supernatants as an alternative to the spectrophotometric method. In order to validate the accuracy of our innovative microplate assay, 9 bacterial strains were explored for their ability to produce ammonia using both the conventionally described assay and the newly performed micro-plate one. The ammonia 96-well microplate assay was successfully performed by scaling down the spectrophotometric methods to reduce the volume of bacterial supernatant as well as Nessler’s reagent. The reduction was estimated to 90%of the total used volume in comparison to the conventional test. The micro-test is 10-fold cheaper and 26 times faster than the conventional method. All bacterial isolates were positive for ammonia production. Bacillus inaquorsum and Bacillus mojavensis produced the highest ammonia concentration of about 371 and 370μM respectively. Furthermore, the application of the ammonia micro-plate assay reduces drastically the reagent waste and toxicity hazard of K2HgI4 (Nessler’s reagent) in the environment, thus, we can classify it as eco-friendly respecting the Green Chemistry concept according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The statistical data obtained from both assays are significantly correlated (r = 0.985, R squared = 0.9329, and p < 0.001) proving the accuracy of the micro-plate assay. The proposed NH3 micro-assay is a reliable, rapid, eco-friendly, and cost-effective method to screen plant growth-promoting potential of more than 25 bacterial strains in one micro-plate. It could be an alternative for the conventional NH3 assay as a routine research tool.
Coordinate-Free Distributed Localization and Circumnavigation for Nonholonomic Vehicles Without Position Information

This article studies the localization and circumnavigation problem concerned with a cluster of nonholonomic vehicles independently of a uniform global coordinate. Particularly, the clustered vehicles collaboratively locate an unknown target and then circumnavigate it isometrically with desired distance and velocity. However, the vehicles have no access to any position information, including their own absolute positions and others’ relative positions. Instead, they are capable of measuring relative bearings only with respect to their neighbors within their local coordinates. Different local coordinates are not necessarily aligned. Moreover, only some of the vehicles can measure relative bearings with respect to the target. For the solution to the concerned localization and circumnavigation problem, a coordinate-free distributed algorithm composed by two parts is proposed. To be specific, the first distributed localization part guarantees that the vehicles accurately estimate the relative positions with respect to the target and neighbors given a persistently exciting condition. And the second distributed circumnavigation part further guarantees that the vehicles move around the target estimation isometrically with the desired distance and velocity. Also, the necessary persistently exciting condition is shown to be met. Finally, simulation and experiment are both given to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed distributed algorithm.
Combining GLCM with LBP features for knee osteoarthritis prediction: Data from the Osteoarthritis initiative

INTRODUCTION: Knee osteoarthritis is a chronic disease that can make a person more susceptible to develop health complications. It is a significant cause of disability among adults. In advanced stages, people can die from these complications. OBJECTIVES: This paper introduces a quick and effective approach to classify knee X-ray images using LogitBoost and wavelet-based Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and Local Binary Patterns (LBP) to increase image classification accuracy and minimize training and testing time. METHODS: The proposed technique involves image enhancement followed by Haar wavelet transformation. GLCM and LBP were extracted from the transformed image and these attributes were used to differentiate the radiographs into two groups of patients composed of 100 normal subjects (KL 0) and 100 pathological cases with osteoarthritis (KL 2). The validation of the classification was carried out using the K-fold cross-validation technique with k = 10. RESULTS: The results revealed that the GLCM provided an accuracy of 77 % and the LBP approach achieved an accuracy of 82.5 %. Moreover, the combination of the two techniques LBP-GLCM improved the accuracy of the prediction with the LogitBoost model (91.16 %). Compared to other classifiers (SVM, logistic regression, and decision tree), the LogitBoost provided a low root mean square error (RMSE) of 27.5 %. CONCLUSION: In addition, the proposed method was compared to the state-of-the-art and revealed the highest accuracy in the prediction of KOA, outperforming the methods existing in the literature.
Lactoferrin as Antiviral Treatment in COVID-19 Management: Preliminary Evidence

Lactoferrin (Lf), a multifunctional cationic glycoprotein synthesized by exocrine glands and neutrophils, possesses an in vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. Thus, we conducted an in vivo preliminary study to investigate the antiviral effect of oral and intranasal liposomal bovine Lf (bLf) in asymptomatic and mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients. From April 2020 to June 2020, a total of 92 mild-to-moderate (67/92) and asymptomatic (25/92) COVID-19 patients were recruited and divided into three groups. Thirty-two patients (14 hospitalized and 18 in home-based isolation) received only oral and intranasal liposomal bLf; 32 hospitalized patients were treated only with standard of care (SOC) treatment; and 28, in home-based isolation, did not take any medication. Furthermore, 32 COVID-19 negative, untreated, healthy subjects were added for ancillary analysis. Liposomal bLf-treated COVID-19 patients obtained an earlier and significant (p < 0.0001) SARS-CoV-2 RNA negative conversion compared to the SOC-treated and untreated COVID-19 patients (14.25 vs. 27.13 vs. 32.61 days, respectively). Liposomal bLf-treated COVID-19 patients showed fast clinical symptoms recovery compared to the SOC-treated COVID-19 patients. In bLf-treated patients, a significant decrease in serum ferritin, IL-6, and D-dimers levels was observed. No adverse events were reported. These observations led us to speculate a potential role of bLf in the management of mild-to-moderate and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients.
Assessment of intrathoracic lymph nodes by FDG PET/CT in patients with asbestos-related lung cancer

Background This study explored the assessment of intrathoracic lymph node metastasis by 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET/CT) in patients with asbestos-related lung cancer (ARLC). Methods We retrospectively reviewed the data on 35 patients with ARLC who underwent preoperative FDG-PET/CT and surgical resection between January 2012 and December 2018. We collected medical information from medical records and imaging systems and examined the FDG uptake in each lymph nodal region resected by surgery and the presence or absence of pathological lymph node metastasis. Results Pathological lymph node metastases were detected in 14 (8.70%) of 161 nodal stations. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of FDG-PET/CT were 71.4% (10/14), 87.8% (129/147), 35.7% (10/28), 97.0% (129/133), and 86.3% (139/161), respectively. Six of the eight false-positive patients had bilateral accumulations, whereas all six true-positive patients had unilateral accumulation (P=0.006). On histopathological examination, the false-positive nodes showed disruption of lymphoid follicles in the cortex, infiltration of histiocyte-like cells in the medulla, fibrous micronodules, and severe anthracosis. Conclusions PET/CT scans of patients with ARLC showed comparable sensitivity and specificity to those of PET/CT scans of patients with conventional lung cancer reported in the literature. Many false-positive cases also showed bilateral symmetric accumulation. This method can be used to evaluate lymph node involvement in lung cancer.
Study on the organic carbon and total nitrogen reserves in brown soils in the Chirchik river basin: A case study of Tashkent region, Uzbekistan

To identify the role in carbon stabilization, the content and reserves of SOC and TN in brown soils of the middle mountains of the Chirchik river basin of the Tashkent region of Uzbekistan were investigated in connection with the climatic conditions of the slopes of various topographic aspects. The content and reserves of SOC and N were the highest in the soils of the northern slope, and the lowest in the soils of the southern slopes; the eastern slopes, in this respect, occupied an intermediate position. The climates of slope exposures were the main factors influencing on the content and reserves of SOC and N in the profile of brown soils, indicating the need for separate consideration of carbon emissions from soils which are developed on slopes of various topographic aspects.
Managing Circular Business Model Uncertainties with Future Adaptive Design

Designing products that can adapt to changes over time is crucial for managing product-related business risks in circular business models. However, there is limited circular economy research on how product adaptivity can contribute to more circular products and business models, especially in the early phases of business development and design. To address this research gap, this conceptual paper builds on the adaptable design concept and incorporates ideas from research on circular business models and circular design literature. It proposes a framework we collectively term “Future Adaptive Design” to help manage product-related business risks in circular business models and investigates related design strategies for product-based companies aiming to adopt circular business models.
Heavy metals resistance potential of some Aspergillus spp. isolated from Tannery wastewater

Wastewater from three functional tanneries within sokoto metropolis, Nigeria, was investigated to determine the physicochemical properties as well as the distribution of fungal species in the untreated wastewater samples. Samples collected were designated (a-c) representing three sampling points. The isolated fungal species were; Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus tamarii and Aspergillus oryzae. Of the fungal species, Aspergillus flavus was the most prevalent (17%) of the total count on the isolation plate, followed by Aspergillus niger (12%) and the least was Aspergillus oryzae . High levels of pH (9.6±1.7-9.9±1.2); electrical conductivity (4656 μs/cm ±886-5933μs/cm± 228); total dissolved solids (2024 mg/l±514-2934 mg/l±113) and nitrate (88.7 mg/l±2.2-94.7 mg/l±4.5) was observed in all the sampling points. The fungal species were screened for their ability to resist and grow in the presence of different concentrations of Pb (lead), Cr (chromium) and Cd (cadmium) in the laboratory. The result revealed that the majority of the isolates were resistant to Pb and Cr, whereas to Cd, only a few were able to resist and grow. A. niger, A. flavus and A. terreus had the highest level of resistance and tolerance to all the heavy metals, with a strong growth often exceeding the control (PDB without test heavy metals). Therefore, it was concluded that these species of Aspergillus could be performing an essential role in the mycoremediation of these metals present in the tannery wastewater during their period of acclimatization through bioaccumulation. Keywords : Aspergillus sp . , Bioaccumulation, Mycoremediation, NESREA
BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF FOUR MINOR NUTRIENT ELEMENTS AGAINST THE NEWLY HATCHED LARVAE OF THE PINK BOLLWORM , PECTIONOPHORA GOSSYIPELLA (SAUND.) LEPIDOPTERA : GELECHIIDAE

The biological activity of four minor nutrient elements, Manganese(Mn) ,Copper (Cu) ,Iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) was evaluated against the newly hatched larvae of the pink bollworm , Pectionophora gossyipella in a laboratory experiment. The newly hatched larvae were allowed to contact with a residual film at different concentrations of each mineral element until the pupation. The first element Manganese (Mn) was the most toxic one against the newly hatched larvae. The LC50 value was 62.5 ppm , while the fourth element, zinc (Zn) was the least toxic one. Its’ LC50 value was 1200 ppm. The biological activities of the treated larvae were affected. The four tested elements had a similar effect in elongation the larval duration comparing with the control ,while Manganese only significantly increased in the pupal duration and pupal malformation percentages . Whereas, the two treatments, Manganese and Copper showed higher effect than other treatments on most of another biological parameters . Therefore , the pupation and the adult emergence percentages were depressed, and the pupil weight was decreased . Also, the adult fecundity , eggs fertility were inhibited ,and the adult longevity was shortened . While the adult malformation percentages were more pronounced with the copper treatment. On the other side, the Iron treatment had the highest effect on the sex ratio of both adult males and females, it occurred males decreased and female increased, as compared to control, while the copper had an vis versa effect, it gave males increased and decreased in females as compared to the untreated ones.
Effects of Strip Tillage and Irrigation Rate on Sugar Beet Crop Yield and Incidence of Insect Pests, Weeds, and Plant Pathogens

Despite the many agronomic benefits of conservation tillage, little is known regarding the effects of reduced tillage on the pest complex in sugar beet. We examined the effects of two types of tillage (strip till versus conventional) and different irrigation rates on yield as well as densities of insect pests, weeds, and a soil-borne plant pathogen in sugar beet. Yields were similar between tillage treatments for two of the three years, but were greater for conventional tillage during one year in which a wet spring may have slowed seedling development in strip-tilled plots. The low irrigation treatment exhibited lower yields in one of three years, regardless of tillage treatment. Eggs of beet leafminer flies were more abundant in conventional tillage on three of eight observation dates, but larval densities did not differ by tillage treatment. Bean aphid incidences generally were positively related to irrigation rate. Total weed counts within beet rows did not 80 Journal of Sugar Beet Research Vol. 56 Nos. 3 & 4 differ by tillage or irrigation, but between-row counts were greater for the high irrigation treatment during two years. Area under the disease progress curve for Rhizoctonia crown and root rot was higher in conventional tillage during one year. The results presented here show that strip-till sugar beet can be produced with yields comparable to conventional tillage without compromising pest management programs. Additional
Optimal design of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system using PSO and ant colony optimization for estimation of uncertain observed values

This paper aims to address uncertainty in practical applications that the experimental observations and measurements have nature of inhomogeneity, randomness, and imprecision. This study employs a new method for regression model prediction in an uncertain environment and presents fuzzy parameter estimation of fuzzy regression models using triangular fuzzy numbers. These estimation methods are obtained by new learning algorithms in which linear programming is used. In this study, the new algorithm is a combination of a fuzzy rule-based system, on the basis of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and ant colony optimization ACO_ R . In the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system method, the output is crisp. In this research, a hybrid algorithm has been proposed to get the fuzzy output based on linear programming. Meta-heuristic algorithms have been used to reduce the error in the proposed methods based on PSO and ACO_ R . In addition, two simulation and two practical examples in the field of machining process are applied to indicate the performance of the proposed methods in dealing with crisp input and fuzzy output (CIFO) problems where the observed output variables have the nature of inhomogeneity, randomness, and imprecision. Finally, the results of the proposed algorithms are evaluated. Based on examples, the proposed method is more accurate than the LP and FWLP methods but is not more complicated than the FWLP in computations. Using paired t test, a significant difference was shown between the proposed methods and previous methods, such as LP and FWLP, but there was no significant difference between the two proposed methods ACO_ R and PSO.