Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Mercerization/Alkali Surface Treatment of Natural Fibres and Their Utilization in Polymer Composites: Mechanical and Morphological Studies

Environmental pollution, such as air, water, and soil pollution, has become the most serious issue. Soil pollution is a major concern as it generally affects the lands and makes them non-fertile. The main cause of soil pollution is agro-waste. It may be possible to mitigate the agro-waste pollution by re-utilizing this agro-waste, namely natural fibres (NFs), by blending into polymer-based material to reinforce the polymer composite. However, there are pros and cons to this approach. Consequently, the polymer composite materials fabricated using NFs are inferior to those polymer composites that are reinforced by, e.g., carbon or glass fibres from the mechanical properties’ perspectives. The limitations of utilizing natural fibres in polymer matrix are their high moisture absorption, resulting in high swelling rate and degradation, inferior resistance to fire and chemical, and inferior mechanical properties. In particular, the NF polymer composites exhibit inferior interfacial adhesion between the fibre and the matrix, which, if improved, ultimately overcome all the listed limitations and improve the mechanical properties of the developed composites. To improve the interfacial adhesion leading to the enhancement of the mechanical properties, optimum chemical treatment such as Alkalization/Mercerization of the fibres have been explored. This article discusses the Mercerization/Alkali surface treatment method for NFs and its effects on the fibres regarding the Mercerization/Alkali surface treatment method for NFs and its effect on the fibres regarding their utilization in the polymer composites, the morphological features, and mechanical properties of composites.
Universality and cross-cultural variation in mental representations of music revealed by global comparison of rhythm priors

Music is present in every known society, yet varies from place to place. What is universal to the perception of music? We measured a signature of mental representations of rhythm in 923 participants from 39 participant groups in 15 countries across 5 continents, spanning urban societies, indigenous populations, and online participants. Listeners reproduced random ‘‘seed’’ rhythms; their reproductions were fed back as the stimulus (as in the game of “telephone”), such that their biases (the prior) could be estimated from the distribution of reproductions. Every tested group showed a prior with peaks at integer ratio rhythms, suggesting that discrete rhythm “categories” at small integer ratios are universal. The occurrence and relative importance of different integer ratio categories varied across groups, often reflecting local musical systems. However, university students and online participants in non-Western countries tended to resemble Western participants, underrepresenting the variability otherwise evident across cultures. The results suggest the universality of discrete mental representations of music while showing their interaction with culture-specific traditions.
Impact of Combustion Variance on Sustainability of Free-Piston Linear Generator during Steady-State Generation

A free-piston linear generator (FPLG) has a number of advantages compared to a traditional crank-slider internal combustion engine, including better thermal and mechanical efficiencies, different fuel compatibility, and a higher power-to-weight ratio. For electric vehicle propulsion and generation of portable power, an FPLG is a very attractive alternative source of energy. This paper presents the development of an FPLG simulation model using MATLAB-Simulink and investigates the impact of combustion variance on its operation. Results provided insight into various characteristics of system behavior through variation of structural dimension and operational parameters. In steady-state operation with fixed electrical load and fixed ignition for combustion, it was found that consecutively low combustion pressures can easily lead to engine stoppage, pointing to the significance of control for continuous operation. Due to the absence of the moment of inertia and flywheel character of the rotating engine, a linear engine-generator is subject to ceased operation even after two consecutively low combustions under 10% variance. This will not be a fundamental problem in an ordinary crank-slider engine-generator, but in a linear engine-generator, control measure will be necessary to ensure sustained operation.
An Analysis of Key Influencing Factors on Island Tourism Revisit Intentions – Evidence from the Matsu Islands

Sightseeing and tourism not only brings economic benefits to the local community but also drive the development of related industries. In 1992, when the Matsu's battlefield mission was dissolved, tourism became one of the key development strategies to boom the region. Although the number of visitors to Matsu Islands has risen significantly in recent years, how to increase the island's willingness to revisit the island has been an important issue. Since local tourism has its own characteristics, island tourism marketing strategies should be different. Many previous studies have quantified the relationship between tourism area satisfaction and willingness to revisit, but there is no research analyzing of island tourism marketing importance performance to evaluate the influencing factors of revisiting willingness. Based on the local tourism marketing position, this paper mainly adopts the SAVE marketing model, taking the Matsu Islands as an example, to explore the key influencing factors on island tourism revisit intentions. Next, it transforms the model into the island tourism marketing mix, and conducts an empirical analysis of the key influencing factors on Matsu tourism revisit intentions by the Importance-Performance (IPA) method. The study indicates that the main criteria of the desire to revisit Matsu Islands are “Integration Solution” and “Tourism Education,” while the key influencing factor of the major improvement area is “The Integrity of Transportation Construction. ” It is suggested the local government and related companies strengthen marketing and improve the current situation. The findings may serve as a reference for the allocation of tourism resources in Matsu Islands.
Rationale and design of a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of gum Arabic in patients with nephrolithiasis and renal cyst simultaneously

Abstract: Elderly group is one of the most heterogeneous and vulnerable groups of the population in developed countries with a greater risk of suffering from imbalances, deficiencies and nutritional problems. Diet and nutritional status have a great influence particularly on prevention or treatment of various diseases that affect these groups. Long-term accumulation of waste in the body and age-related changes in metabolism create many problems that shorten their life expectancy. Their diet and gastrointestinal function play a key role in their Urine composition. It seems that the gastrointestinal microbiome has a great influence on metabolization and absorption of the ingredients of the diet. In this study, we concluded that oral administration of Gum Arabic dissolved in orange juice could conceivably wash out renal stone and eliminate renal cysts. The oral administration of Gum Arabic reduces kidney failure and slows its progression, which might be ascribed to their antioxidant and free radical-scavenging properties. Gum Arabic could be considered as an important natural medicinal compound, actually a fascinating one because of its high therapeutic capabilities. Objective: The purpose of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of gum Arabic as a prebiotic, mixed in fresh orange juice upon long-term consumption.
Study of thyroid profile in pre and post-menopausal women: a case control study

Background:The prevalence and incidence of thyroid disorders is influenced primarily by sex and age are more common in women and in older adults. Thyroid disorders if left untreated will increase risk of cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis. Hence, screening for thyroid dysfunction must be done as routine investigation in the women presenting with menopausal symptoms.Methods:This case control study includes 50 pre-menopausal women of age group 34-49 years and 50 post-menopausal women of age group 50-55 years, visiting General medicine department of Victoria hospital and hospital affiliated to Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. All the subjects were subjected for serum triiodothyronine (T3), tetraiodothyronine or thyroxine (T4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free T3 and T4 levels.Results:Out of all subjects; 23 were hyperthyroid out of which 14 were post-menopausal women, 37 were hypothyroid out of which 19 were post-menopausal women. Chi-square test showed no significant association. Negative and weak correlation was seen between total T3 and age; total T4 and age; TSH and age; free T3 and age; free T4 and age in pre-menopausal women. Negative and moderate correlation was seen between total T3 and age; total T4 and age; free T3 and age. There was a positive and weak correlation seen between TSH and age; weak positive non-significant correlation seen between free T4 and age. Significant correlation was seen between total T3 and age in post-menopausal women.Conclusions:Post-menopausal women should be monitored for serum T3, T4, TSH levels for reducing risk of thyroid dysfunction.
DEVELOPMENT OF A METHOD FOR THE INTERACTIVE CONSTRUCTION OF EXPLANATIONS IN INTELLIGENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS BASED ON THE PROBABILISTIC APPROACH

Subject: the use of the apparatus of temporal logic and probabilistic approaches to construct an explanation of the results of the work of an intelligent system in order to increase the efficiency of using the solutions and recommendations obtained. Purpose: development of a method for constructing explanations in intelligent systems with the ability to form and evaluate several alternative interpretations of the results of the operation of such a system. Tasks: justification for the use of the black box principle for interactive construction of explanations; development of a pattern explanation model that provides for probabilistic estimation; development of a method of interactive construction of explanations on the basis of the probabilistic approach. Methods: methods of data analysis, methods of system analysis, methods of constructing explanations, models of knowledge representation. Results: A model of the explanation pattern is proposed, which contains temporal regulations reflecting the sequence of user interaction with an intelligent system, which allows the formation of explanations based on a comparison of the actions of the current user and other well-known users. An interactive method for constructing explanations based on a probabilistic approach has been developed; the method uses patterns of user interaction with an intelligent system and contains phases of constructing patterns of explanations and forming explanations using the obtained patterns. The method organizes the received explanations according to the likelihood of use, which makes it possible to form target and alternative explanations for the user. Conclusions: The use of the black box principle for the development of a probabilistic approach to the construction of explanations in intelligent systems has been substantiated. A model of a pattern of explanations based on temporal regulations is proposed. The model reflects the sequence of user interaction with the intelligent system when receiving decisions and recommendations and contains an interaction pattern as part of temporal regulations that have weight, and also determines the likelihood of using the user interaction pattern. An interactive method for constructing explanations has been developed, considering the interaction of the user with the intelligent system. The method includes phases and stages of the formation of regulations and patterns of user interaction with the determination of the probability of their implementation, as well as the ordering of patterns according to the probability of their implementation. The implementation of the method was carried out when constructing explanations for recommender systems.
Active targeting of cancer cells by CD44 binding peptide-functionalized oil core-based nanocapsules

Selectivity in tumor targeting is one of the major issues in cancer treatment. Therefore, surface functionalization of drug delivery systems with active moieties, able to selectively target tumors, has become a worldwide-recognized strategy. The CD44 receptor is largely used as a biomarker, being overexpressed in several tumors, and consequently as a target thanks to the identification of the CD44 binding peptide. Here we implemented the CD44 binding peptide logic onto an oil core–polymer multilayer shell, taking into account and optimizing all relevant features of drug delivery systems, such as small size (down to 100 nm), narrow size distribution, drug loading capability, antifouling and biodegradability. Besides promoting active targeting, the oil core-based system enables the delivery of natural and synthetic therapeutic compounds. Biological tests, using curcumin as a bioactive compound and fluorescent tag, demonstrated that CD44 binding peptide-functionalized nanocapsules selectively accumulate and internalize in cancer cells, compared to the control, thanks to ligand–receptor binding.
Alactic Base Excess, New Potential Marker Associated for Circulatory Stress Due to Hemodialysis, a Pilot Study

Indroduction: Circulatory stress increases mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease in renal replacement therapy by hemodialysis, the measurement of central venous saturation has been proposed as a useful tool for diagnosis but with limitations. We wanted to evaluate a new marker, the alactic base excess, to be applied in all types of hemodialysis patients to help diagnose this clinical condition.Methodology: An observational, analytical, prospective and longitudinal study was carried out in hemodialysis of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, in León, Guanajuato from May 2020 to June 2021 by determining the alactic base excess. The association of alactic base excess as a marker of circulatory stress in hemodialysis was proposed as a primary end point and mortality at 12 months was evaluated as a secondary end point.Results: An inverse association was found between the alactic base excess with the initial pH (r= -0.303, p= <0.05) and the final lactate (r= -0.297, p= <0.05), in addition to bicarbonate (r= 0.593, p= <0.05) and central venous saturation variability (r= 0.304, p= <0.05). In the analysis by subgroups, both lower tertiles had a higher risk of presenting the adverse event (HR= 0.817, [95% CI 0.21 to 3.05], p= 0.763). No association of mortality was found with the first (HR= 0.95, [95% CI= 0.73 to 1.2], p= 0.687) or final determination (HR= 1, [95% CI= 0.758 to 1.3], p= 0.99). Discussion: In this study we found that the alactic base excess proposed to diagnostic different types of acidosis is capable of identifying small changes related to circulatory stress, regardless of the chronicity of kidney failure, hemodynamic status or hemoglobin concentration, but not related to mortality.Conclusions: Alactic base excess is potentially useful to evaluate circulatory stress in conjunction with other tissue hypoperfusion markers, however it would be necessary to expand the sample size and introduce therapeutic variables to determine its clinical impact.
Universal Rényi entanglement entropy of quasiparticle excitations

The Rényi entanglement entropies of quasiparticle excitations in the many-body gapped systems show a remarkable universal picture which is independent of the model, the quasiparticle momenta, and the connectedness of the subsystem. In this letter we calculate exactly the single-interval and double-interval Rényi entanglement entropies of quasiparticle excitations in the many-body gapped fermions, bosons, and XY chains and find additional contributions to the universal Rényi entanglement entropy in the excited states with quasiparticles of different momenta. The additional terms are different in different models, depend on the momentum differences of the quasiparticles, and are different for the single interval and the double interval. We derive the analytical Rényi entanglement entropy in the extremely gapped limit, matching perfectly the numerical results as long as either the intrinsic correlation length of the model or all the de Broglie wavelengths of the quasiparticles are small. When the momentum difference of any pair of distinct quasiparticles is small, the additional terms are non-negligible. We argue that the derived formulas can be applied to a wider range of models than those discussed here.
Co-Occurrence of Marine Extremes Induced by Tropical Storms and an Ocean Eddy in Summer 2016: Anomalous Hydrographic Conditions in the Pacific Shelf Waters off Southeast Hokkaido, Japan

This study proposes an analysis methodology to address how very rare marine extremes can be understood using limited data. In summer 2016, extreme weather and marine events occurred simultaneously around the Pacific shelf off southeastern Hokkaido, Japan. Six successive tropical storms brought extreme precipitation and an anticyclonic mesoscale eddy of subtropical Kuroshio water closely approached the coast, locally causing marine heat waves. We examined how these compound extremes affected oceanographic conditions on the coastal shelf by analyzing data from ship surveys in October 2016 on the Pacific shelf and outputs from a realistic ocean model. Climatologically, warm, high-salinity (33.0–33.7) subtropical water from the Okhotsk Sea (modified Soya Warm Current water) is distributed near the sea surface on the Pacific shelf in October and transported by the along-shelf boundary current. In 2016, however, a vertically well-mixed low-salinity (<33.0) layer associated with the heavy rainfall was observed at 0–50 m depth on the shelf, salinity maxima (≥33.7) associated with Kuroshio water from the mesoscale eddy occurred at 50–150 m depth on the slope, and baroclinic jets formed along the salinity front near the shelfbreak. These observed salinity structures were reproduced by a 1/50° ocean model. Particle-tracking experiments revealed that the low-salinity water originated mainly off eastern Hokkaido, where heavy rainfall events occurred in August, and was modified by mixing with Soya Warm Current water before transport to the Pacific shelf.
The Formation of Terrorist Groups: An Empirical Analysis

ABSTRACT This article investigates the determinants of terrorist group formation. Using a series of negative binomial regressions with both time and country fixed effects, this paper finds that population, state failure, and civil wars are positive determinants of terrorist group formation. Per capita income has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the incubation of terrorist groups, while regime type is not a significant indicator of the establishment of new terrorist groups. This paper contributes to the existing literature by taking the annual number of newly formed terrorist groups as the dependent variable and extending the time frame of previous research with the help of a recently published dataset.
Study of Different Treatment Methods on Chicken Feather Biomass

The chicken feathers (CFs) consist of up to 10 % of total chicken dry mass and they have many potential industrial applications. CFs contains protein fibers named as keratin, which is an insoluble protein. Primary sanitization phases are complex because of the presence of lots of blood born microbes, pathogens and parasites in raw biomass. The extraction process of keratins from the unprocessed feathers is also a challenging task. Prior to the extraction cleaning/sanitization of feathers is a very necessary step. Thus, the present work was conducted to optimize an efficient surfactant for the cleaning process of the CFs by using ionic and non-ionic surfactants. The experiment was conducted by the washing of feathers with double distilled water (ddH 2 O), detergents, ether and lastly with boiling water. The washed feathers treated with surfactants and the effect of each surfactant was analyzed by a microbiological test which tells about the extent of the presence of different bacteria on the treated feathers. SEM, EDX, FTIR were used to study the morphology and composition of untreated and treated CFs. SEM showed there was no detectable fiber damage after treatment. Cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) (t3) was one of the best surfactant for the treatment of CFs among all the surfactant used. The present study described the best treatment method for the CFs.
Protestant Revivals (Awakenings) and Transformational Impact: A Comparative Evaluation Framework Applied on the Revival among the Zulus (South Africa)

This article addresses paucity in literature on the conceptualising of the true nature of a Protestant revival. Through a literary review and document study, the article aims to compile a Protestant revival evaluation criterion (PREC) to assess protestant revivals. This was done by integrating the distinctives (characteristics) of Evangelical revivals throughout history as described by prominent scholars such as Armstrong, Cairns, Edwards, Lloyd-Jones and Sprague in general. In addition, various past and present examples and exponents of true and juxtaposing anti-revivals were investigated and beacons set for sustainable revival. From the PREC, three levels were established by which to assess revivals: individuals (micro), the church (meso) and surrounding communities (macro). For the case study, information was gleaned from multiple sources, including interviews, documents, sermons, newsletters, observations and research reports. Applying the PREC in a case study, demonstrates how it operates as a valuable tool; in this case, the revival among the Zulus in KwaSizabantu, South Africa.
Rapid Interpretation of Temporal–Spatial Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Operational Data – RITSUD: Aiding UAV Operators With Visualizations of Patterns-of-Life Activities

To accomplish their missions, the operators of military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) aggregate and process information from multiple sources under time constraints, while experiencing partial sensory deprivation. We aimed to design, develop, and evaluate the need for designated information aids in the form of visualizations of spatial and temporal patterns-of-life for specific operational mission phases. In an evaluation conducted to assess the usefulness of the proposed visualizations, experienced UAV operators from two nations were presented with five scenarios in a narrative format. Each scenario contained one information-aid visualization for a specific mission phase. Participants had to interpret each mission phase and rate the information aid. Results showed that, in general, most operators favored the aids, but their appreciation of specific aids depended on the mission phase. There were also statistically significant differences between the nations. The results emphasize the potential for equipping UAV operators with information aids in the form of visualizations of spatial and temporal patterns-of-life. Moreover, the findings underline the need for more rigorous analyses of operators’ missions, as the need for specific visualizations was shown to vary with mission phase, and some visualizations were found to be more widely useful than others.