Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of onion and garlic on non-polar heterocyclic aromatic amines (α-, β-, γ- and δ-carbolines) formation in pan-fried meat and gravy

ABSTRACT Thermal treatment of protein-rich food can lead to the formation of biologically active heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs). One of the methods to learn how to reduce the content as well as the influence of these compounds on heath is the study of factors inhibiting their synthesis. In the current investigation, the effect of onion and garlic on the formation of six possibly carcinogenic non-polar HAAs (α-, γ- and δ-carbolines) and two co-mutagenic β-carbolines (harmane and norharmane) was evaluated by comparing their contents in meat and gravy samples obtained from pan-fried pork dishes prepared in the presence and absence of these vegetables. Carbolines were isolated from food samples by solid phase extraction. The quantitative analysis was performed by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. The concentrations of individual compounds in dishes prepared without added vegetables ranged from 0.02 ng g−1 (3-amino-1,4-dimethyl-5 H-pyrido(4,3-b)indole; Trp-P-1) to 10.1 ng g−1 of meat (2-amino-9 H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole; AαC). Onion (30 g/100 g of meat) and garlic (15 g/100 g of meat) lowered the total content (in meat and gravy) of the α-, δ- and γ-carbolines in the range from 52% to 87%. In contrast, onion caused an increase in the norharmane concentration both in meat and gravy. The percentage of carbolines in the gravies (assuming that their total content in meat and gravy is 100%) was higher in dishes prepared with onion and garlic than in dishes without these seasonings. Graphical Abstract
Development of Database for Checking Fixtures for Automotive Parts

The purpose of this study is to develop a database for checking fixtures for automotive parts. The parts used in the fixture checking process were automotive parts such as clamper, stand and toggle. The goal of this project is to implement a database of checking fixtures parts. The project started with identifying the current problems that were faced by the designer at a design department, in a support service for automotive industries. Idle time has been the major problem that designer have to faced. All the data and information related to this project has been sought and explored in the literature review. Catia software is used as the CAD software to construct three-dimensional models for the design of all the parts in the parts library. All the parts are organized in three different sizes which are determined by the size of car body panel. Referring to the result, new libraries were developed and created using the Catia software to aid designers in the checking fixture design process. The validation of the new libraries had been conducted with the company’s design engineer to test the effectiveness, usability and relevancy. In summary, this database and method can potentially accelerate the checking fixtures design process to be faster and more efficient.
Complete Genome Sequences of Four Phages of the Horse Chestnut Phyllosphere

Bacteriophages play important roles in determining bacterial communities, including plant microbiota. Here, we describe four lytic phages, three Siphoviridae and one Podoviridae, isolated from four different bacterial species found on the leaves of horse chestnut trees. Their double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genomes range from 39,095 to 46,062 bp and contain 51 to 70 genes. ABSTRACT Bacteriophages play important roles in determining bacterial communities, including plant microbiota. Here, we describe four lytic phages, three Siphoviridae and one Podoviridae, isolated from four different bacterial species found on the leaves of horse chestnut trees. Their double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genomes range from 39,095 to 46,062 bp and contain 51 to 70 genes.
Organotypic spinal cord cultures: An in vitro 3D model to preliminary screen treatments for spinal muscular atrophy

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a severe neuromuscular disease affecting children, due to mutation/deletion of survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene. The lack of functional protein SMN determines motor neuron (MN) degeneration and skeletal muscle atrophy, leading to premature death due to respiratory failure. Nowadays, the Food and Drug Administration approved the administration of three drugs, aiming at increasing the SMN production: although assuring noteworthy results, all these therapies show some non-negligible limitations, making essential the identification of alternative/synergistic therapeutic strategies. To offer a valuable in vitro experimental model for easily performing preliminary screenings of alternative promising treatments, we optimized an organotypic spinal cord culture (derived from murine spinal cord slices), which well recapitulates the pathogenetic features of SMA. Then, to validate the model, we tested the effects of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) or murine C2C12 cells (a mouse skeletal myoblast cell line) conditioned media: 1/3 of conditioned medium (obtained from either hMSCs or C2C12 cells) was added to the conventional medium of the organotypic culture and maintained for 7 days. Then the slices were fixed and immunoreacted to evaluate the MN survival. In particular we observed that the C2C12 and hMSCs conditioned media positively influenced the MN soma size and the axonal length respectively, without modulating the glial activation. These data suggest that trophic factors released by MSCs or muscular cells can exert beneficial effects, by acting on different targets, and confirm the reliability of the model. Overall, we propose the organotypic spinal cord culture as an excellent tool to preliminarily screen molecules and drugs before moving to in vivo models, in this way partly reducing the use of animals and the costs.
Photothermal/pH Responsive B-CuS-DOX Nanodrug for Chemo-photothermal Synergistic Therapy of Tumor

: Nanoparticles-based drug delivery system for synergetic chemo-photothermal therapy is an efficient strategy for tumor therapy. However, construction of nanodrugs with high drug loading capacity and good photothermal conversion property is still a great challenge. In this work, two-dimensional boron nanosheets were prepared by ultrasonic liquid exfoliation method, which were further loaded with ultra-small copper sulfide (CuS) nanoparticles and doxorubicin (DOX) to obtain B-CuS-DOX nanocomposites. The prepared B-CuS-DOX exhibited high drug loading capacity (864 mg/g) and excellent photothermal conversion efficiency (55.8%). In addition, B-CuS-DOX exhibited pH and laser--responsive drug release behavior. In vitro results demonstrated that the prepared B-CuS-DOX achieved a good synergistic effect of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy. This work is expected to provide an effective chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy strategy for tumor therapy.
Managing agile information technology infrastructure

Information technology (IT) can be a key contributor for the successful implementation of business strategies. However, companies normally find it hard to synchronize their evolving business strategies with the capabilities in IT. This thesis analyzes the key contributors to the problems in synchronizing business strategy and Information Technology and suggests both management and technical frameworks for an agile IT infrastructure that can stay in sync with the evolving business strategy. Agility in IT infrastructure means the ability for the infrastructure to accommodate evolving needs and business strategies without significant re-architecture. There is no magic bullet that could induce agility into an IT infrastructure and its management. But, this thesis studies the best practices in management and technology which are being used by industry leaders successfully. Thesis Supervisor: Michael Cusumano Title: Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management
Wireless local positioning - concepts, solutions, applications

Local positioning will be one of the most exciting features of the next generation of wireless system. With this technique a mobile device can either gather the information about its position or can be localized from elsewhere. Completely new concepts and features in wireless data transmission and transponder systems is enabled by this. Self-organizing sensor networks, ubiquitous computing, location service billing, context dependent information services, tracking and guiding are only some of the numerous possible application areas. This paper gives an overview over existing wireless positioning solutions and attempts to structure different techniques and applications. Furthermore two novel positioning systems currently developed by Siemens are featured as system examples. First a neural cellular positioning system NCPS is introduced. This system is designed for positioning solutions for industrial, medical and consumer scenarios and is based on existing wireless voice and data infrastructure. Second the Siemens local positioning radar (LPR) is presented. This system is designed for cm-precision and realtime positioning in the area of industrial logistics, control and automation. The application examples are completed by an application in the field of augmented reality computing.
Partssamverkan i nedläggningsprocesser

The main topic of this thesis is union-management relations during plant closures. The thesis includes five papers.The first paper is based on a case study that illustrates how management and unions can exchange numerical flexibility with social responsibility to create favorable solutions. This is called a “local flexicurity model in restructuring processes. ” The second paper is based on multiple case studies and stresses the importance of longer transition periods that include active Human Resource Management (HRM) efforts toward the local community, which are labeled as “outreach HRM. ” The benefit of a longer transition period is that it gives employees, unions and local communities time to plan activities that may mitigate the adverse effects of the closure. The third paper addresses the dynamics of the local labor market and jobseekers’ willingness to commute to work, showing how socio-economic factors affect an individual’s willingness to commute. This implies that socio-economic factors may affect the ability to reconnect to new employment. The fourth paper is based on two case studies. It develops a typology of patterns in union-management relations, which is described as coordination and separation, and it reveals five key factors that contribute to creating the different patterns. It also shows how tension between management and labor can be reduced. The fifth paper is an international comparative study of Sweden and Australia. The paper deals with institutional differences with regard to how mass redundancies and plant closures are handled. Regulations that facilitate the voice of the union and employees are critically examined and illustrated through cases from both countries.Partly based on the five papers, the thesis proposes a model that addresses union-management relations in plant closures. The model takes context, process and outcomes into account. Finally, it discusses recommendations for further research.
Effectiveness of problem-based learning in engineering education: a comparative study on three levels of knowledge structure

The effectiveness of problem-based learning is still a matter of debate in higher education. A previous meta-analysis introduced adistinction between three levels of knowledge structure to be assessed (understanding of concepts, understanding of principles, andapplication of these concepts and principles) and showed that, in medical education, problem-based learning only significantlyoutperformed conventional learning on the ‘understanding of principles’ component. The purpose of this study is to compare theunderstanding of concepts, understanding of principles, and application of knowledge among engineering students before and afterthe introduction of a problem- and project-based curriculum (PBL). To achieve this, four cohorts of students (total N = 385), twoof which had followed a lecture-based curriculum and two a PBL curriculum, completed a criterion-referenced test assessing thethree levels of knowledge structure. It was found that students from the PBL curriculum outperformed students from theconventional curriculum, particularly on the application of knowledge. In conclusion, these results indicate that PBL can beeffective in engineering education, but bring into question the generalizability of findings from medical education to other curriculain higher education (especially when a project-based learning component is added).
Osteomyelitis

CRD summary This review assessed the diagnostic accuracy of antigranulocyte scintigraphy with monoclonal antibodies for the diagnosis of osteomyelitis. The authors concluded that the sensitivity was 81% and the specificity 77%, so the method, while useful, cannot completely replace established methods. Although the review was rigorously conducted, the conclusions represent an over-interpretation of the results from a relatively small number of patients and may not be reliable.
Large scale renewable power integration with electric vehicles : long term analysis for Germany with a renewable based power supply

The use of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES) in the transport sector has many advantages compared to the internal combustion engine (ICE). A transition from a fossil fuel based mobility to one based on electricity from renewable sources can allow for significant greenhouse gas reductions (GHG) as well as of air pollutants and noise in urban areas. In addition, greater independence from imported oil in the transport sector can be achieved. The aim of this work is to study the feasibility and system impact of electric mobility in the German power system with a high share of fluctuating renewable energy. One major advantage of electric vehicles (EV) is the high flexibility in charging times, which can be used to integrate renewable power generation and to make the operation of the system more efficient. This work will focus on the period comprised between 2030 and 2050, since at that time it can be assumed that electric vehicles under favourable conditions can reach a significant magnitude for the power system. The REMix model developed at the DLR couples the in the energy economics well established approach of linear optimisation with a geographic information system (GIS) that provides spatial and temporal information of the renewable energy potentials. The GIS-based dataset is a key element of the model and is calculated based on satellite measurements, weather service and land cover data for the whole of Europe with a high spatial (10 x 10 km) and temporal (hourly) resolution. In contrast to other planning models, in which only typical load situations are represented, REMix considers real weather conditions and thus allows representing the particularities of fluctuating renewable energy sources in an optimization model. The results prove the feasibility of a power system with a RES share of over 85% assuming an ambitious network expansion based on underground HVDC lines. The analysis points out that controlling the charging times of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) and with a flexible hydrogen production for fuel cell vehicles (FCV) not only the additional demand of EVs but also the renewable power generation required to power these vehicles can be integrated in the system. These actions allow completely avoiding increases of the residual peak demand, of surpluses from RES, as well as of the required transmission network expansion.
Surveillance of cutaneous leishmaniasis in clinical samples: distribution of Leishmania guyanensis in the state of Amapá, Brazil, 2018.

OBJECTIVE to investigate Leishmania species in a series of autochthonous cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) cases in Amapá State, Brazilian Amazon. METHODS this was a descriptive ecological study carried out from January-October/2018 at a reference center for CL diagnosis in Amapá; individuals with CL receiving care from January-May/2018 were recruited; clinical data and skin biopsies were obtained; from extracted DNA (phenol-chloroform) we amplified the hsp70-234 gene region (PCR) for nucleotide sequencing (Applied Biosystems: ABI3500XL). RESULTS 38 individuals were interviewed, examined and diagnosed; men predominated (28/38; mean age=32.5±11.3); lesions (most ulcers: 37/38) measuring 0,4-10mm (34/38) and ≥11mm (4/38) were multiple in 20/38 individuals; diagnosis of L. braziliensis (1), L. naiffi (1), L. infantum (1), L. (Viannia) sp. (1), L. amazonensis (2) and L. guyanensis (32); individuals infected with L. guyanensis (32/38) lived in 9/10 municipalities represented in the sample, and 17/32 of these had multiple lesions. CONCLUSION presence of Leishmania guyanensis predominated and was frequently associated with multiple lesions.
Assessment of Interventions in Primary Health Care for Improved Maternal, New-born and Child Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review

Primary health care (PHC) holds great potentials to improve maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) outcomes. However, there has been limited documentation of its effects on increasing universal access to maternal, newborn, and child health services in sub-Saharan Africa. Also, not adequately known are the most effective interventions to improve the delivery of PHC services in the region. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of empirical evidence of interventions that improved access and quality of PHC services for maternal, newborn, and child health in sub-Saharan Africa. The protocol was registered on Prospero (Registration number CRD42019126029). Using terms related to primary health care and MNCH, we searched African Journals Online (AJOL), PubMed/Medline, Popline, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, WHO Repository (IRIS), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Cochrane Library, and reference lists for studies published in English between 2000 and 2019. Studies were included in the search if they reported interventions, and strategies implemented to improve quality and access to primary health care for maternal, newborn, and child health in sub-Saharan Africa. A total of 25 studies were included in the review. Effective interventions included financial incentives, task-shifting, community-directed engagements, training of providers, mobile health, cost-sharing, and supportive supervision among others. The result of this review contributes useful insight to guide the reformation, and development of new policies and programs for improving access and quality of primary health care delivery in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly to improve maternal and child health in the region. However, strategies to scale and sustain the successes need to be in place.
Life‐Cycle Assessment of Construction in a Developing Country

The construction industry plays a great role in a country's or an area's economy. Construction activities also have significant and increasing effects on the environment. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the environmental management techniques that can be used to evaluate the environmental burdens of construction. The authors of this study applied the LCA approach and SimaPro 7.1 software within the framework of the International Organization of Standardization's (ISO) 14040 series of standards and analyzed the global warming potential (GWP) and acidification potential (AP) of the materials acquisition and construction phases of the Parand residential apartment complex located in the southwest part of Tehran province, Iran.
FPGA implementation of dual-microphone delay-and-sum beamforming for in-car speech enhancement and recognition

In an automotive environment, the performance of a speech recognition system is affected by environmental noise if the speech signal is acquired directly from a microphone. Speech enhancement techniques are therefore necessary to improve the speech recognition performance. In this paper, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation of dual-microphone delay-and-sum beamforming (DASB) for speech enhancement is presented. As the first step towards a cost-effective solution, the implementation described in this paper uses a relatively high-end FPGA device to facilitate the verification of various design strategies and parameters. Experimental results show that the proposed design can produce output waveforms close to those generated by a theoretical (floating-point) model with modest usage of FPGA resources. Speech recognition experiments are also conducted on enhanced in-car speech waveforms produced by the FPGA in order to compare recognition performance with the floating-point representation running on a PC. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E217711.
CENTRALIZAÇÃO VERSUS DESCENTRALIZAÇÃO DE TECNOLOGIA DA INFORMAÇÃO (TI): UMA ANÁLISE SOB A ÓTICA DA EFICÁCIA ORGANIZACIONAL

Centralization versus decentralization of IT constitutes a theme of appealing debate in the business and academic environment. Informed of a theoretical referential that it includes the concepts of both currents, the present study has the purpose to discuss the effectiveness of the decentralization of IT in a federal financial institution. Thus, the company was analyzed in accordance with the model of Donovan (1988) and was realized researches with main-employee of it IT solutions supply process. It was verified that the company combines politics of IT of both apprenticeships wacthdog and network, what would harm it IT evolutionary path, in the future, obstructing initiatives of innovation and competitiveness. As mentioned author was affirm, the apprenticeship watchdog contains the most severe tensions of all models for him studied. On the other hand, in the research with the employees, it was found evidences that corroborate the effectiveness of the IT solutions supply process decentralization. The objective of this work was contributed for the establishment of a referential for evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of IT decentralization.
Analysis of Log Hauling Vehicle Accidents in the State of Georgia, USA, 1988–2004

Abstract Mechanical failure rates associated with logging vehicle accidents in Georgia are dramatically lower today than they were in 1988–1991 before these trucks became subject to random roadside inspections. Mechanical failure dropped by half for logging tractor-trailers (from 10.9% to 4.8%) and by two-thirds for logging trucks (from 12.9% to 4.2%). Mechanical failure is now the seventh most cited contributing factor in logging tractor-trailer accidents instead of first as it was prior to 1991. Specific types of mechanical failures have also declined sharply. Three potential failure items that are visually checked during roadside inspections - brakes, slick tires, and lights - have seen the most dramatic declines. Brake failure has dropped by two-thirds and improper lights as a factor have almost disappeared. Driver impairment due to use of alcohol or drugs today occurs in less than 0.5 percent of accidents. Factors associated with logging vehicle accidents today in Georgia closely resemble those associated with all trucking accidents generally. Accidents per million tons of wood consumed, however, has increased steadily from 11 in 1991 to 19 per million tons in 2003.