bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Explaining Value vs. Growth Fallacy: An Empirical Study for Indian Market
Authors: Vasishth Vibhuti , Sehgal Sanjay
Published: October 2019

Prior research describes value and growth characteristics on the same continuum. We attempt to test this for the Indian market. Similar to past studies, our results confirm the presence of value premium. But unlike previous literature, superior profits in growth strategy are also observed. This leads us to believe that value and growth are different dimensions. Value premium may be explained by investor overreaction. Whereas, growth premium arises due to future growth potential of high growth stocks.Negative correlation is observed between value and growth premiums which can be used by investors for achieving time diversification. We find that higher profits can be achieved by combining value and growth. The returns on univariate value or growth strategies are explained by either Capital Asset Pricing Model or Fama-French three factor model. The returns on bivariate strategies based on both value and growth remain unexplained even by Fama-French five factor model level.
n. 36 - Avaliação da efetividade de uma política pública: ação afirmativa para a agricultura familiar no Campus Concórdia/IFC
Authors: Marchesan Francieli , Oliveira Oséias Santos de
Published: October 2019

As políticas públicas implementadas no Brasil visam, principalmente, a redução das desigualdades sociais e a melhoria da qualidade de vida da população, sendo que grande parte delas voltam-se à educação, por sua influência no desenvolvimento socioeconômico do país. Para a melhor gestão e otimização destas ações, são necessárias avaliações constantes dos resultados alcançados. Nesse sentido, este trabalho objetiva analisar a efetividade da ação afirmativa para a agricultura familiar implementada pelo Campus Concórdia/IFC, para o curso Técnico em Agropecuária. A metodologia pauta-se em uma pesquisa quali-quantitativa, de um estudo de caso, utilizando-se para coleta de dados a análise dos documentos nacionais e institucionais que balizam as cotas sociais. Como resultado, verificou-se que a política desenvolvida é efetiva, por intervir positivamente na realidade da população-alvo. Considera-se a ação afirmativa assertiva, pois esta representa uma medida fundamental para a inclusão sócio educacional de estudantes provenientes da atividade agrícola.
Cleaning and disinfecting protocols for hospital environmental surfaces: A systematic review of the literature
Authors: Taylor Keyanna P. , D Harris Debra
Published: October 2019

Background: Healthcare associated infections are a leading cause of illness and death in the United States and across the world. Environmental surfaces are considered non-critical, although recent evidence suggests that the built environment may contribute to the transmission of pathogens. Ineffective cleaning and disinfecting of environmental non-critical surfaces may increase risk of transmitting nosocomial pathogens leading to hospital acquired infections among hospital patients.Objective: This systematic review identifies elements of cleaning and disinfecting protocols, synthesizing the evidence to evaluate cleaning protocols that effectively reduce surface contamination and minimize risk of hospital acquired illness.Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted with a clearly formulated research question and systematic approach to identify publications, select relevant studies, critically appraise the research through analysis of reported data, and reported the results according to the Cochrane methodology.Results: In total, 245 studies were initially identified with 19 studies meeting inclusion criteria. Emerging categories include chemical application methods, chemical application time, cleaning type and frequency, and interventions for training and monitoring.Conclusions: Establishing adequate cleaning protocols for hospital environments is a complex process which requires consideration of multiple components including mechanical action, chemical application materials, types of cleaning, chemical contact times, education and training of EVS staff, cleaning monitoring and feedback, no-contact cleaning methods, and self-disinfecting surfaces. Recommendations for protocol development based on the study results are provided.
The Social Wasp Fauna and Biology of Khorezm Region (Hymenoptera, Vespidae: Vespinae, Polistinae)
Authors: Abdullaev Ulmasbek R. , Abdullaev Ikram I. , Masharipova Oygul O.
Published: October 2019

For the first time in Uzbekistan, there was a research on four species of Poleses dominula (Christ, 1791) and Polistes wattiim (Cameron, 1900), Vespula germanica (Fabricius, 1793), Vespa orientalis (Linnaeus, 1771) in Vespinae, Polistinae 2 subspecies of Vespidae family in Khorezm region species composition, distribution and their biology.
GC-MS Modified Quechers Method for Multiresidue Pesticide Determination in Red Wine
Authors: Pelajić Maja , Pelajić Izidor , Mutavdžić Pavlović Dragana , Vitali Čepo Dubravka
Published: October 2019

This work reports a new selective and accurate multiresidue procedure for determination of 25 pesticides in red wine by GC-MS. Proposed procedure uses an original approach in sample preparation technique based on QuEChERS theory. Main focus of method development was modification of salts thus increasing ionic strength of solution which improved pesticides partitioning and extraction efficiency. LOQs were in the range 0.01–250 μg L–1 with 56 % of target pesticides below or equal to 10 μg L–1. RSD for most pesticides was < 20 % and recoveries were in the range 70–120 %. Matrix effect was found to be high for five pesticides confirming sample preparation procedure to be efficient. The proposed procedure was applied to 12 wine samples of different variety with determination of 40 % of target pesticides. Developed GC-MS methodology provides novel, selective and accurate approach for determination of 25 pesticide residues in red wine.
On the Training Algorithms for Restricted Boltzmann Machines
Authors: Passos Leandro Aparecido , Papa João Paulo
Published: October 2019

Deep learning techniques have been studied extensively in the last years due to their good results related to essential tasks on a large range of applications, such as speech and face recognition, as well as object classification. Restrict Boltzmann Machines (RBMs) are among the most employed techniques, which are energy-based stochastic neural networks composed of two layers of neurons whose objective is to estimate the connection weights between them. Recently, the scientific community spent much effort on sampling methods since the effectiveness of RBMs is directly related to the success of such a process. Thereby, this work contributes to studies concerning different training algorithms for RBMs, as well as its variants Deep Belief Networks and Deep Boltzmann Machines. Further, the work covers the application of meta-heuristic methods concerning a proper fine-tune of these techniques. Moreover, the validation of the model is presented in the context of image reconstruction and unsupervised feature learning. In general, we present different approaches to training these techniques, as well as the evaluation of meta-heuristic methods for fine-tuning parameters, and its main contributions are: (i) temperature parameter introduction in DBM formulation, (ii) DBM using adaptive temperature, (iii) DBM meta-parameter optimization through meta-heuristic techniques, and (iv) infinity Restricted Boltzmann Machine (iRBM) meta-parameters optimization through meta-heuristic techniques.
Adaptive Face Tracking Based on Online Learning
Authors: Khurshid Aasim , Scharcanski Jacob
Published: October 2019

Object tracking can be used to localize objects in scenes, and also can be used for locating changes in the object’s appearance or shape over time. Most of the available object tracking methods tend to perform satisfactorily in controlled environments but tend to fail when the objects appearance or shape changes, or even when the illumination changes (e.g., when tracking non-rigid objects such as a human face). Also, in many available tracking methods, the tracking error tends to increase indefinitely when the target is missed. Therefore, tracking the target objects in long and uninterrupted video sequences tends to be quite challenging for these methods. This work proposes a face tracking algorithm that contains two operating modes. Both the operating modes are based on feature learning techniques that utilize the useful data accumulated during the face tracking and implements an incremental learning framework. To accumulate the training data, the quality of the test sample is checked before its utilization in the incremental and online training scheme. Furthermore, a novel error prediction scheme is proposed that is capable of estimating the tracking error during the execution of the tracking algorithm. Furthermore, an improvement in the Constrained Local Model (CLM), called weighted-CLM (W-CLM) is proposed that utilize the raining data to assign weights to the landmarks based on their consistency. These weights are used in the CLM search process to improve CLM search optimization process. The experimental results show that the proposed tracking method (both variants) perform better than the comparative state of the art methods in terms of Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and Center Location Error (CLE). In order to prove the efficiency of the proposed techniques, an application in yawning detection is presented.
FASTensor: A tensor framework for spatiotemporal description
Authors: Mota Virgínia F. , Santos Jefersson A. dos , Araújo Arnaldo de A.
Published: October 2019

Spatiotemporal description is a research field with applications in various areas such as video indexing, surveillance, human-computer interfaces, among others. Big Data problems in large databases are now being treated with Deep Learning tools, however we still have room for improvement in spatiotemporal handcraft description. Moreover, we still have problems that involve small data in which data augmentation and other techniques are not valid. The main contribution of this Ph.D. Thesis 1 is the development of a framework for spatiotemporal representation using orientation tensors enabling dimension reduction and invariance. This is a multipurpose framework called Features As Spatiotemporal Tensors (FASTensor). We evaluate this framework in three different applications: Human Action recognition, Video Pornography classification and Cancer Cell classification. The latter one is also a contribution of this work, since we introduce a new dataset called Melanoma Cancer Cell dataset (MCC). It is a small data that cannot be artificially augmented due the difficulty of extraction and the nature of motion. The results were competitive, while also being fast and simple to implement. Finally, our results in the MCC dataset can be used in other cancer cell treatment analysis.
Concomitant Hierarchy Construction and Rendering of Large Point Clouds
Authors: Silva Vinícius , Marroquim Ricardo Guerra , Esperança Claudio
Published: October 2019

Rendering large point clouds ordinarily requires building a hierarchical data structure for accessing the points that best represent the object for a given viewing frustum and level-of-detail. The building of such data structures frequently represents a large portion of the cost of the rendering pipeline both in terms of time and space complexity, especially when rendering is done for inspection purposes only. In this work we present OMiCroN -- Oblique Multipass Hierarchy Creation while Navigating -- which is the first algorithm capable of immediately displaying partial renders of the geometry, provided the cloud is made available sorted in Morton order. In fact, a pipeline coupling OMiCroN with an incremental sorting algorithm running in parallel can start rendering as soon as the first sorted prefix is produced, making this setup very convenient for streamed viewing.
Multimodal social scenario perception model for initial human-robot interaction
Authors: Alves Diego Cardoso , Costa Paula Dornhofer Paro
Published: October 2019

Human-robot interaction imposes many challenges and artificial intelligence researchers are demanded to improve scene perception, social navigation and engagement. Great attention is being dedicated to the development of computer vision and multimodal sensing approaches that are focused on the evolution of social robotic systems and the improvement of social model accuracy. Most recent works related to social robotics rely on the engagement process with a focus on maintaining a previously established conversation. This work brings up the study of initial human-robot interaction contexts, proposing a system that is able to analyze a social scenario through the detection and analysis of persons and surrounding features in a scene. RGB and depth frames, as well as audio data, were used in order to achieve better performance in indoor scene monitoring and human behavior analysis.
Normal Transformations for Overhang Reduction
Authors: Castro Carlos Leal de , Sacht Leonardo Koller
Published: October 2019

We present a partial solution for the problem of reducing overhanging parts of a surface to 3D print it with minimal number of supports. We first present a summary about how a 3D printer works and why the overhanging problem happens. This review focuses on a specific type of 3D printer that uses polymer melted to print solids on cross-sectional layers. We then do a fast review of three-dimensional surface representation in a computer and its discrete representation. Then we present our minimization problem and show some test results, using libigl library and gptoolbox functions, to observe the solution of problem.
A New Strategy for Mobile Robots Localization based on Omnidirectional Sonar Images and Machine Learning
Authors: Rebouças Filho Pedro Pedrosa , Silva Suane Pires Pinheiro da , Ohata Elene Firmeza , Almeida Jefferson Silva , Sousa Pedro Henrique Feijó de , Nascimento Navar Medeiros M. , Silva Francisco Hercules dos Santos
Published: October 2019

In later years, research in mobile robotic areas have been experiencing a growth in interest due to its vast application area. In an unknown environment, the robot's location and movement are essential for its operation. In addition, machine learning techniques, along with signal or image processing, have been applied to map the environment, locate and move the mobile robot. This article proposes a low cost and efficient approach for mobile robot localization. It uses a omnidirectional sonar with machine learning and image processing. The feature extractors used in this paper were: Structural Co-occurrence Matrix (SCM), Statistical Moments, Central Moments, Hu Moments and Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). The classifiers used in this study were: Bayes classifier, k-Nearest Neighbors (kNN), Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), Optimum Path Forest (OPF) and Support Vector Machines (SVM). The results showed that the best accuracy was achieved with Central Moments as feature extractor and OPF as classifier, achieving 96.61% and with a test time of 100us.
An assault detection system based on human Pose Tracking for video surveillance
Authors: Soares Pedro Gabriel Santos do Couto , da Silva Arnaldo Barros , Pereira Luis Filipe Alves
Published: October 2019

The development of new technologies for video surveillance and automatic violence detection can bring more security to our daily lives. Solutions previously published in the state-of-the-art had presented techniques to detect violence at movie scenes, sports matches, or crowds. In this work, we propose a novel system architecture based on human Pose Track for detecting evidence of assaults in real-world videos from closed-circuit television (CCTV) of Brazilian lottery agencies. The results showed that our method can identify individuals with hands up and lying down with accuracy rates up to 85%. We believe that the detection of potentially risky situations in real-time is a crucial tool in the fighting against crime.
Tecnologia assistiva para reconhecimento de cartas de baralho utilizando aprendizado profundo
Authors: dos Santos Samuel Alves , dos Santos Allan Duque , de Lima Junio Cesar , Soares Fabrízzio Alphonsus Alves de Melo Nunes , Vieira Gabriel da Silva
Published: October 2019

Apresentamos neste trabalho uma aplicação inclusiva que permite pessoas com deficiência visual interagir socialmente com outros indivíduos em atividades de lazer, como jogos que envolvam carteado. Para isso, foi construído um modelo generalizável, treinado para detecção e reconhecimento de cartas de baralho através do aprendizado de máquina profundo. Neste contexto, foi projetado e implementado um sistema denominado Smart Assistant, baseado na API de detecção de objetos do TensorFlow. Em um local previamente definido, as cartas são colocadas dentro do campo de visão de uma câmera digital para que possam ser detectadas e classificadas em tempo real. A API SAPI, de sintetização de texto para fala (TTS), é usada para converter os rótulos das cartas detectadas (em formato de texto) em saída de áudio. Os experimentos iniciais mostram que em situações reais de jogo, a aplicação consegue identificar e classificar cartas com alta assertividade.
Multi-Lingual Text Localization via Language-Specific Convolutional Neural Networks
Authors: Conceição Jhonatas Santos de Jesus , Pinto Allan , Decker Luis , Campana Jose Luis Flores , Neira Manuel Cordova , dos Santos Andrezza A. , Pedrini Helio , Torres Ricardo
Published: October 2019

Scene text localization and recognition is a topic in computer vision that aims to delimit candidate regions in an input image containing incidental scene text elements. The challenge of this research consists in devising detectors capable of dealing with a wide range of variability, such as font size, font style, color, complex background, text in different languages, among others. This work presents a comparison between two strategies of building classification models, based on a Convolution Neural Network method, to detect textual elements in multiple languages in images: (i) classification model built on a multi-lingual training scenario; and (ii) classification model built on a language-specific training scenario. The experiments designed in this work indicate that language-specific model outperforms the classification model trained over a multi-lingual scenario, with an improvement of 14.79%, 8.94%, and 11.43%, in terms of precision, recall, and F-measure values, respectively.
Improving the performance of a SVM+HOG classifier for detection and tracking of wagon components by using geometric constraints
Authors: Gonçalves Camilo Lélis A. , Zampolo Ronaldo F. , Barros Fabrício José B. , Gomes Ana Claudia S. , Carvalho Eduardo C. de , Ferreira Bruno Victor M. , Rocha Rafael L. , Rodrigues Rodrigo C. , Dias Giovanni Augusto F. , Freitas Diego A.
Published: October 2019

The inspection of train and railway components that can cause derailment plays a key role in rail maintenance. To improve productivity and safety, service providers look for automatic and reliable inspection solutions. Although automatic inspection based on computer vision is a standard concept, such an application challenges development community due to the environmental and logistic factors to be considered. Previous publications presented automatic classifiers to evaluate integrity and placement of wagon components. Although the high classification accuracy reported, ineffective object detection affected the general performance. Our object detector/tracker consists of a descriptor based on the histogram of oriented gradients, a support vector machine classifier, and a set of geometric constraints, which takes in account the ideal trajectory path of the wagon’s components of interest and the distances between them. We detail training and validation procedures, together with the metrics used to assess the performance of the system. Presented results compare two other techniques with our approach, which exhibits a fair trade-off between reliability and computational complexity for the application of wagon component detection.
Schuldrecht Allgemeiner Teil
Authors: Weiler Frank
Published: October 2019

Der Allgemeine Teil des Schuldrechts zeichnet sich durch eine große Stofffülle und eine erhebliche Komplexität vor allem im prüfungswichtigen Leistungsstörungsrecht aus. In diesem „Dickicht“ ist die Kenntnis grundlegender Strukturen wichtig. Hierauf zielt das Lehrbuch. Es deckt den Allgemeinen Teil in seiner ganzen Breite ab (Entstehung, Inhalt, Störung und Erlöschen von Schuldverhältnissen, Einbeziehung Dritter, Wechsel und Mehrheit von Gläubiger und Schuldner sowie das Schadensrecht).
Mehr als 300 Fallbeispiele veranschaulichen das Gesagte und zeigen die Bedeutung für die Falllösung auf. Sie laden ebenso wie die Wiederholungs- und Vertiefungsfragen zum selbständigen Lernen und Durchdenken des Stoffs ein. Bei den wichtigsten Ansprüchen und Rechten ist auch der Prüfungsaufbau dargestellt.
Environmental Compliance
Authors: Labinsky Jonas
Published: October 2019

‘Environmental Compliance’—the organisational ensuring of companies’ compliance with environmental law—relates to one of the most significant topics of the 21st century: environmental protection. This work, which is situated at the point at which corporate law and environmental law overlap, initially examines urgent legal issues at a general level from the perspective of both the USA and Germany: How comprehensive must companies’ compliance measures be? How far do compliance obligations extend within a corporate group? Do compliance obligations also extend to third parties in some cases (‘third party compliance’)?
This work focuses on the corporate organisational obligations established by legislators in the field of environmental law and the additional steps that legislators may consider in this respect. The result is a comprehensive overview of how companies should organise their compliance with this law so that it corresponds to the legal system in which they operate.
BGB
Authors: Hirsch Christoph
Published: October 2019

Der Allgemeine Teil des BGB ist das Eingangstor zum ganzen Zivilrecht. Aber viele Erstsemester haben den Eindruck, dass dieses Tor nicht offen steht, sondern mehrfach verriegelt ist. Das liegt an dem hohen Abstraktionsgrad, den die allgemeinen Vorschriften notwendigerweise haben. Das Lehrbuch von Hirsch ist geeignet, dem Allgemeinen Teil seine Schrecken zu nehmen. Denn es beherzigt den Grundsatz: „Regeln lernt man am besten anhand von Beispielen“. Deshalb beginnt jeder Abschnitt mit einem aktuellen Fall, der ausführlich im Gutachtenstil gelöst wird. Insgesamt gibt es 52 solcher Einleitungsfälle.
Auch in der jeweils anschließenden Lerneinheit bietet das Buch viele kurze Fälle, die der neueren Rechtsprechung entnommen sind. So haben die Leser(innen) eine lebendige Anschauung davon, welche Bedeutung eine Vorschrift in der Praxis hat, und verstehen die Absicht des Gesetzgebers. Hirsch erklärt alle Probleme in einer wissenschaftlich korrekten, aber leicht verständlichen Sprache und gliedert den Text sehr übersichtlich.
Mit diesem Buch kann sogar der Allgemeine Teil des BGB richtig Spaß machen.
Gerichte als politische Akteure
Authors: Glatzmeier Armin
Published: October 2019

Courts make a key contribution to the functioning of a political system and to political processes in democracies. Depending on the design of judicial control regimes, they take part in preserving the coherence of the norm system, upholding fundamental rights as well as maintaining and stabilising the function of their respective political system. Their political role goes beyond judicial review in a narrow sense, and the functional contribution of constitutional justice to a political system is only partially recognisable if one focuses on the jurisprudence of a constitutional court or a supreme court. Using the historical development of constitutional justice and in discourse with central research approaches, the author of this book proposes a redefinition of the terms ‘constitutional court’ and ‘constitutional jurisdiction’ for comparative politics and develops a basic model of judicial control regimes.
Plaisir et acte selon Alexandre d’Aphrodise
Authors: Guyomarc’h Gweltaz ,   Editua Polirom
Published: October 2019

According to some testimonies, the Aristotelian ethics have been torn between a hedonist reading, as much as an anti‑hedonist one, throughout Antiquity. From Critolaos to Verginius Rufus and Sosicrates, pleasure is considered both as “an evil [that] gives birth to many other evils” and as the first appropriate thing and the supreme good. This noteworthy disagreement stems from a famous difficulty within the Aristotelian corpus, raised by Aspasius, i.e. the alleged coexistence of two ‘definitions’ of pleasure in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics VII and X. In this paper, I offer a reconstruction of Alexander’s treatment of this difficulty, based on some passages from Alexander’s Ethical Problems and the Mantissa. I try to show that Alexander does not dismiss the so‑called “definition A” of pleasure (the unimpeded activity of one’s natural state) as being spurious, although he obviously values more the definition B (according to which pleasure perfects the activity as a kind of supervenient end). Even if he never openly brands the definition A as “dialectic” (like Aspasius), Alexander takes it as a reputable endoxon, which however needs to be emended in that it blurs the distinction between pleasure and activity. Pleasure only supervenes on the activity to which it is appropriate, and this supervenience is precisely what accounts for the inaccuracy of the definition A. As much as the child conflates the apparent good and the good, so the hedonist takes pleasure to be identical with the activity and the telos of human life. On the contrary, for Alexander, pleasure is actually only a sign of happiness and the shadow of the activity.
Race as a Social Construction
Authors: Garcia J. L. A. ,   The Harvard Review of Philosophy
Published: October 2019

This paper raises serious problems for the commonly held claim that races are socially constructed. The first section sketches out an approach to our construction of institutional phenomena that, taking Searle’s general approach, restricts social construction proper to cases where we adopt rules that bind relevant parties to treat things of a type in certain ways, thus constituting important roles in, and parts of, our social lives. I argue this conception, construction-by-rules, helps distinguish genuine construction from other activities and relations and also solves a problem raised against simplistic conceptions. The second shows why and how Sally Haslanger, Linda Alcoff, and Glenn Loury have explained race as a social construct. The next points out problems for their and other accounts, including circularity, difficulties arising from conceptual and linguistic history, and non sequiturs. After returning to Haslanger in more detail, I proceed critically to engage work by Ian Hacking, Lawrence Blum, Luc Faucher and Edouard Machery, and Charles Mills. The following sections move from specific accounts in the literature to offer general arguments that viewing races as products of social construction threatens to mislead in numerous ways. At the end, I discuss the significance of the issue and challenge whether social constructionist accounts are genuinely liberating.
Umbilical Cord Teratomas Associated With Congenital Malformations
Authors: Adams Kristen V. , Bernieh Anas , Morris Robert W. , Saad Ali G.
Published: October 2019

Context.—

Congenital mature teratomas of the umbilical cord are extremely rare and pose a challenge in prenatal diagnosis. Mature teratomas are defined as tumors composed of mature tissues derived from more than 1 germ cell layer. The tumor often shows solid and cystic components, which adds to the difficulty of prenatal diagnosis. Although benign, mature teratomas of the umbilical cord are commonly associated with congenital malformations of the fetus with variable severity and rarely, with chromosomal abnormalities.

Objective.—

To review the clinical, radiologic, gross, and histologic features of umbilical cord teratoma; its differential diagnosis; and to emphasize the increased risk of associated congenital malformations.

Data Sources.—

Umbilical cord teratoma cases published in the literature.

Conclusions.—

Umbilical cord teratomas are difficult to diagnose by imaging studies alone and require histopathologic examination for diagnosis. Given the increased risk of associated anomalies and malformations, the finding of umbilical cord teratoma should trigger a detailed and comprehensive evaluation of the neonate for additional abnormalities.
Chromatographic characterization of pyroligneous liquid obtained from carbonization of peach stone
Authors: Valadão Lidiane Schmalfuss , Duarte Caroline dos Santos , Filho Pedro José Sanches
Published: October 2019

The peach stone is considered an agroindustrial residue originating from the industrial process of peach in halves in syrup. It does not have an adequate destination, its final disposal is incorrect and may cause contamination in the environmental compartments. In this way, the burning of this raw material as biomass enables its reuse, besides adding value to the residue. Among the processes used for the application of this residue is the carbonization process, which allows to obtain co-products with higher added value, such as pyroligneous liquid, which represents a fraction of organic compounds condensed from the smoke emitted during carbonization. The quality of the liquid depends on the process conditions and the biomass used. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterize the sample of pyrolignous liquid obtained from the carbonization of the peach stone, on an industrial scale, qualitative and semi quantitative. Preliminary characterization (pH, conductivity, color, density and contents of tar, organic matter and acidity) and a chemical characterization by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were performed. The liquid presented satisfactory results for the physico-chemical evaluations. Regarding the qualitative determination, it was possible to identify 49 compounds. Highlighting the phenols, with 44.90% of the number of compounds, mainly methoxyphenols. These are compounds with significant added value and industrial importance, indicating their use as raw material in the production of polymer resins, among other purposes.
Produção de biogás via codigestão anaeróbia de efluente da parboilização de arroz e resíduos orgânicos
Authors: Lourenço Vitor Alves , Nadaleti Willian Cezár , Vieira Bruno MÃ¼ller , Leandro Diuliana , Silva Marcos Antonio da , Santos Renan de Freitas , Santos Gabriel Borges dos , Valentini Marlon Heitor Kunst , Schoeler Guilherme Pereira , Koschier Ivanna Franck , Duarte Victoria Huch , Corrêa Anderson Gabriel
Published: October 2019

A urgência de inovação na matriz energética brasileira, aliada à alta geração de resíduos e efluentes agroindustriais do cenário nacional, impulsiona o uso da técnica de digestão anaeróbia como tecnologia promissora para tratamento de tais passivos ambientais e produção de biogás. A codigestão anaeróbia, digestão simultânea de dois ou mais substratos, permite vantagens operacionais e melhores condições do meio para as bactérias responsáveis pela produção do biocombustível. Desse modo, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o potencial de produção de biogás através da codigestão de efluente (substrato) e lodo (inóculo) do Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket da Estação de Tratamento de Efluentes de uma indústria de arroz parboilizado do Sul do Brasil com dois diferentes resíduos sólidos orgânicos (cosubstrato), casca de laranja e de banana, separadamente. Um arranjo fatorial 2³ foi realizado utilizando casca de laranja como cosubstrato e outro utilizando casca de banana. Os digestores utilizados no estudo foram desenvolvidos a partir da reutilização de garrafas de Polietileno Tereftalato e operados por 168 horas à 35°C. A quantificação de biogás foi realizada através do princípio de deslocamento de fluídos. A maior produção de biogás semelhante em ambos os arranjos fatoriais se deu com 40% de efluente, 20% da solução de resíduo sólido e 30% de lodo, 8,49E-03m³ produzidos quando utilizado casca de banana e 1,17E-02m³ com casca de laranja, com remoções de DQO de 4686,87mgL-1 e 6809,92mgL-1, respectivamente.
Life and Professional Activities of a Graduate of the Department of Engineering of Riga Polytechnic Institute Mikhail Krivoshapkin (1888–1943)
Authors: Feigmane Tatjana , Šervinska Liena Ivonna
Published: October 2019

Rigan, a graduate of the Department of Engineering (1914) of Riga Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Mikhail Krivoshapkin, after studies worked as an engineer in Russia, where he built grain elevators. From 1920 until deportation to Siberia in 1941 he lived in Riga and was the author of several bridge projects in Latvia, worked as an engineer at Riga Construction Board and was a member of the Riga City Council (1925–1934). He worked in various public organizations. His descendants – grandchildren and great-grandchildren also pursue careers in engineering.
Aerial survey and telemetry data analysis of a peripheral caribou calving area in northwestern Alaska
Authors: Prichard Alexander K. , Klimstra Ryan L. , Person Brian T. , Parrett Lincoln S.
Published: October 2019

With industrial development expanding in the Arctic, there is increasing interest in quantifying the impacts of development projects on barren ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti). The primary data source to assess caribou distribution and predict impacts in remote areas of Alaska has shifted in recent decades from aerial survey data to telemetry data, but these techniques have different strengths and weaknesses. The ranges of two caribou herds, the Western Arctic Herd and the Teshekpuk Herd, overlap in northwest Alaska between Wainwright and Atqasuk, Alaska. Based on long-term telemetry data sets, this region was thought to be outside of the core calving ranges of both herds. Calving has long been reported to occur in this general area, but early reports assumed caribou were from the Western Arctic Herd and only one systematic aerial survey of caribou density and distribution during calving has been conducted in this area in recent decades. Following interest in industrial development in this area, we conducted aerial strip-transect surveys during early to mid-June 2013–2015 to directly assess the density and distribution of caribou in the area and we used existing telemetry data to compare our results to the seasonal distribution of both herds. Total caribou densities varied between 0.36 and 1.06 caribou/km² among years, and calf densities varied 0.04 and 0.25 calves/km² among years. Contrary to assumptions by early researchers in the area, telemetry data indicated that caribou in this area during early to mid-June were from the Teshekpuk Herd. The use of telemetry data alone underestimated the importance of this area for calving, but the combination of aerial surveys and telemetry data provided complementary information on caribou use of this area showing the importance of collecting the appropriate types of data for assessing potential impacts of development on caribou.
Detection of disease in Cucurbita maxima Duch. ex Lam. caused by a mixed infection of Zucchini yellow mosaic virus, Watermelon mosaic virus, and Cucumber mosaic virus in Southeast China using a novel small RNA sequencing method
Authors: Wang Yi , Zhu Pu , Zhou Qin , Zhou Xiaojun , Guo Ziqing , Cheng Linrun , Zhu Liyan , He Xiaochan , Zhu Yidan , Hu Yang
Published: October 2019

The genus Cucurbita comprises many popular vegetable and ornamental plants, including pumpkins, squashes, and gourds, that are highly valued in China as well as in many other countries. During a survey conducted in Zhejiang province, Southeast China in 2016, severe symptoms of viral infection were observed on Cucurbita maxima Duch. ex Lam. Diseased plants showed symptoms such as stunting, mosaicking, Shoe string, blistering, yellowing, leaf deformation, and fruit distortion. Approximately, 50% of Cucurbita crops produced in Jinhua were diseased, causing an estimated yield loss of 35%. In this study, we developed a method using all known virus genomes from the NCBI database as a reference to map small RNAs to develop a diagnostic tool that could be used to diagnose virus diseases of C. maxima. 25 leaf samples from different symptomatic plants and 25 leaf samples from non-symptomatic plants were collected from the experimental field of Jihua National Agricultural Technology Garden for pathogen identification. Small RNAs from each set of three symptomatic and non-symptomatic samples were extracted and sequenced by Illumina sequencing. Twenty-four different viruses were detected in total. However, the majority of the small RNAs were from Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV), Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV), and Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). Mixed infections of these three viruses were diagnosed in leaf samples from diseased plants and confirmed by reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) using primers specific to these three viruses. Crude sap extract from symptomatic leaf samples was mechanically inoculated back into healthy C. maxima plants growing under greenhouse conditions. Inoculated plants developed the same disease symptoms as those observed in the diseased plants and a mixed infection of ZYMV, WMV, and CMV was detected again by RT-PCR, thus fulfilling Koch’s postulates. The diagnostic method developed in this study involves fewer bioinformatics processes than other diagnostic methods, does not require complex settings for bioinformatics parameters, provides a high level of sensitivity to rapidly diagnose plant samples with symptoms of virus diseases and can be performed cheaply. This method therefore has the potential to be widely applied as a diagnostic tool for viruses that have genome information in the NCBI database.
Ameliorating Effect of Moringa against Liver and Kidney Injury Induced by Monosodium Glutamate
Authors: El-Gharabawy Rehab M. , Ahmed Amira S. , Al-Adhadh Thara I.
Published: October 2019

Background: Monosodium glutamate (MSG) produces adverse and damaging effects in different organs like liver and kidneys. Moringa has ameliorating effect on kidney and liver injury induced by monosodium glutamate.

Objective: To study the ameliorating effect of moringa against rats liver and kidney injury induced by monosodium glutamate.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: College of Pharmacy, Qassim University.

Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 20 male rats and equally divided into 4 groups. The first group was control group, second group was moringa group, third group was MSG group and forth group was MSG plus moringa group. We determined liver function, albumin, total protein, kidney function, electrolytes and histopathological examination of tissue.

Main Outcome Results: Moringa has ameliorating effect on kidney and liver injury induced by monosodium glutamate.

Sample Size:  A total of 20 malerats.

Results: There was a significant increase in the levels of serum aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), urea and creatinine. Significant decrease in the levels of albumin, total proteins and sodium levels in rats treated with monosodium glutamate. Kidney sections revealed normal structure of glomeruli and renal tubules as control group, liver revealed good improvements and mild cellular infiltrations were observed in rats treated with MSG and moringa group.

Conclusion: Moringa causes ameliorating effect on kidney and liver injury induced by monosodium glutamate in rats.

Limitation of the Study: Few studies about the protective effect of Moringa against toxic effect of MSG.  So we need to focus on its beneficial effect against toxicity induced by MSG.
Quantitative Comparison of Oral Site-specific DNA Isolates Reveals Differential Outcomes
Authors: Carr Graydon , Alexander Arvin , Dionisio Kevin , Kingsley Karl
Published: October 2019

Introduction: More and more evidence has accumulated that suggests salivary sampling may provide direct analysis of oral conditions and microbial constituents, but may also be useful in the diagnosis and early detection of other chronic diseases. Although multiple methods of oral sampling currently exist, some methods are prohibitively expensive or based upon technologies not ubiquitously available at public health centers or state-funded colleges. This study provides a comparative analysis of DNA concentrations and quality from five specific oral sites derived using sterile paper points, including the gingival crevice between the upper central incisors, biofilm of the upper first molar, lingual incisor, and the dorsum of the tongue for comparison with unstimulated saliva collection.

Methods: This study analyzed previously collected unstimulated saliva and paper point samples. In brief, DNA was isolated from each using TRIzol (phenol: Chloroform) extraction and DNA quantification and quality was measured using a NanoDrop spectrophotometer at 260 and 280 nm.

Results: Analysis of Paper Point (PP) biofilm sampling sites from upper first molar, lower incisor, and dorsum of the tongue revealed similar average DNA concentrations, ranging between 14,342 ng/uL and 14,402 ng/uL (p=0.9851). Although variations were observed between different patients, samples from different oral sites within the same patient were strikingly similar, R=0.8355. Comparison of DNA isolated from fluids, gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and unstimulated saliva revealed average DNA concentrations that were similar to the biofilm sampling sites (14,686 ng/uL and 13,743 ng/uL, respectively), which were not significantly different from one another (p=0.7893). DNA concentrations ranged considerably between patients (low = 4,410 ng/uL; high = 48,783 ng/uL), but were most similar with different samples (GCF, saliva) from the same patient (Pearson’s R=0.6979). In addition, DNA purity measured by A260:A280 nm absorbance did not reveal any significant difference among sampling sites (range 1.62 – 1.70; p=0.427).

Discussion: Although many methods are available to provide oral sampling, simple and low-cost methods such as paper point sampling, unstimulated saliva collection and buccal swabs may represent tools that provide sufficient DNA quality and quantity for molecular screening. In addition, although heterogeneity between patient samples will always be present – samples from various oral sites within the same patient may provide roughly equivalent DNA samples for further screening and molecular analysis.
The homeobox transcription factor HOXC13 upregulates human papillomavirus E1 gene expression and contributes to viral genome maintenance
Authors: Ishii Yoshiyuki , Taguchi Ayumi , Kukimoto Iwao
Published: October 2019

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infects the basal cells of epithelia and maintains its genome stably as episomes. However, the mechanisms of viral genome maintenance are not fully understood. Here, using normal human immortalized keratinocytes (NIKS), we identified the homeobox transcription factor HOXC13 as a critical host factor for retaining the copy number of HPV genomes in the cell. HOXC13 knockdown in NIKS significantly decreased mRNA levels of the E1 gene, which encodes a DNA helicase required for HPV genome replication, accompanied by a reduction of the viral genome copy number. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed HOXC13 binding to the long control region that regulates E1 expression. These results indicate that HOXC13 plays invaluable roles in maintaining HPV persistent infection through E1 gene upregulation.
Cerebellar connectivity in Parkinson's disease with levodopa‐induced dyskinesia
Authors: Yoo Han Soo , Choi Yong Ho , Chung Seok Jong , Lee Yang Hyun , Ye Byoung Seok , Sohn Young H. , Lee Jong‐Min , Lee Phil Hyu
Published: October 2019

Objective

The precise pathogenesis or neural correlates underlying levodopa‐induced dyskinesia (LID) remains poorly understood. There is growing evidence of the involvement of the cerebellum in Parkinson's disease (PD). The present study evaluated the role of motor cerebellar connectivity in determining vulnerability to LID.

Methods

We enrolled 25 de novo patients with PD who developed LID within 5 years of levodopa treatment, 26 propensity score‐matched PD patients who had not developed LID, and 24 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls. We performed a comparative analysis of resting‐state functional connectivity (FC) between the motor cerebellum and whole brain between the groups.

Results

The patients with PD had increased FC bewteen the motor cerebellum and posterior cortical and cerebellar regions, while no gray matter regions had decreased FC with the motor cerebellum compared to the control participant. The patients with PD who were vulnerable to the development of LID had a significantly higher FC between the motor cerebellum lobule VIIIb and the left inferior frontal gyrus than those who were resistant to LID development. The connectivity of the motor cerebellum and left inferior frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with the latency from PD onset to the occurrence of LID.

Interpretation

Increased FC between the motor cerebellum and left inferior frontal gyrus in de novo patients with PD could be an important determinant of vulnerability to LID.
A Comparison of Warm and Combined Warm and Low‐Temperature Processing Routes for the Equal‐Channel Angular Pressing of Pure Titanium
Authors: Bulutsuz Asli Günay , Chrominski Witold , Huang Yi , Kral Petr , Yurci Mehmet Emin , Lewandowska Malgorzata , Langdon Terence G.
Published: October 2019

Two different processing routes are used to investigate the microstructure and strength of commercial purity (CP) titanium of grade 4 processed by equal‐channel angular pressing (ECAP). In the combined temperature (CT) route, the specimens are pressed at 723 K in the first pass and at 373 K in the second pass, but in the warm temperature (WT) route, the specimens are pressed through two passes at 723 K. Both routes lead to an inhomogeneous microstructure with an average grain size of ≈1.5 and ≈1.7 μm after the CT and WT routes, respectively. Both routes give improved strengthening and higher hardness, but the CT route with a lower temperature step gives the highest ultimate tensile strength of ≈790 MPa. The inclusion of a lower temperature processing step may be important for optimizing the strength of CP Ti for the use in medical implants.
Over 1000‐Fold Enhancement of the Unidirectional Photoluminescence from a Microsphere‐Cavity‐Array‐Capped QD/PDMS Composite Film for Flexible Lighting and Displays
Authors: Yang Lixue , Li Lin , Wang Qiang , Xing Cheng , Ma Lin , Zeng Yong , Zhao Yan , Yan Yinzhou
Published: October 2019

The development of quantum dot (QD) composite films for lighting and displays is of great importance because of their exceptional mechanical flexibility, chemical stability, and optical tunability. Generally, QDs are attached to plasmonic nanostructures to enhance their photoluminescence (PL) emission. However, plasmonic QD composite films suffer from deteriorated inherent quantum yields and lower enhancement ratios due to variations in the refractive index and dielectricity in the composites. Herein, the use of a dielectric microsphere cavity is reported to realize over 1000‐fold enhancement of the PL in CdSe/ZnS QD/polydimethylsiloxane films with a highly unidirectional emission angle of ≈9°. The field regulation by the optical whispering‐gallery resonance and directional antenna effect at the microscale is revealed to interpret the PL enhancement mechanism. Additionally, the microsphere cavity allows for the enhancement of white‐light emission in the RGB‐QD hybrid composite film. The present work inspires a straightforward strategy for boosting the light efficiency in QD composite films, with promising applications in flexible lighting/display devices.