Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ethanol-Extracted Brazilian Propolis Exerts Protective Effects on Tumorigenesis in Wistar Hannover Rats

The present study was conducted over a course of 104 weeks to estimate the carcinogenicity of ethanol-extracted Brazilian green propolis (EEP). Groups of 50 male and 50 female Wistar Hannover rats, 6-week-old at commencement were exposed to EEP at doses of 0, 0.5 or 2.5% in the diet. Survival rates of 0.5% and 2.5% EEP-treated male and female rats, respectively, were significantly higher than those of respective control groups. Overall histopathological evaluation of neoplasms in rat tissues after 2 years showed no significant increase of tumors or preneoplastic lesions in any organ of animals administered EEP. Significantly lower incidences of pituitary tumors in 0.5% EEP male and 2.5% EEP female groups, malignant lymphoma/leukemia in both 2.5% EEP-treated males and females and total thyroid tumors in 0.5% EEP male group were found. Administration of EEP caused significant decreases of lymphoid hyperplasia of the thymus and lymph nodes in 2.5% EEP-treated rats, tubular cell hyperplasia of kidneys in all EEP groups, and cortical hyperplasia of adrenals in EEP-treated females. In the blood, significant reduction of neutrophils in all EEP-treated males and band neutrophils in 2.5% EEP-treated females was found indicating lower levels of inflammation. Total cholesterol and triglicerides levels were significantly lower in the blood of 2.5% EEP-treated female rats. In conclusion, under the conditions of the 2-year feeding experiment, EEP was not carcinogenic, did not induce significant histopathological changes in any organ, and further exerted anti-inflammatory and antitumorigenic effects resulting in increase of survival of Wistar Hannover rats.
High-involvement human resource practices, affective commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviors

Although understanding the concept of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) in a service context is important, very few studies have investigated what motivates frontline service employees to exhibit such behaviors. This study examines how high-involvement human resource (HR) practices influence affective commitment, which contributes to citizenship behaviors in service settings from the employees' point of view. Based on previous studies, this study proposed a conceptual model and hypothesized that five constructs of HR practices (i.e. recognition, empowerment, competence development, fair rewards, and information sharing) facilitate the development of frontline employees' affective commitment. This kind of organizational commitment in turn contributes to OCB (i.e. loyalty, participation, and service delivery). Data were collected from 172 contact employees of Taiwanese restaurants. The result indicated that high-involvement HR practices play an important role in determining contact employees' affective commitment. Moreover, affective commitment was found to be an effective linkage between high-involvement HR practices and contact employees' citizenship behaviors.
Federal Bureau of Investigation

As of March 2018, more than 1.4 million international students and professors were participating in America’s open and collaborative academic environment. The inclusion of these international scholars at U.S. colleges and universities entails both substantial benefit—and notable risk. Many of these visitors contribute to the impressive successes and achievements enjoyed by these institutions, which produce advanced research, cutting-edge technology, and insightful scholarship. However, this open environment also puts academia at risk for exploitation by foreign actors who do not follow our rules or share our values.
Neuronal cell death in neurodegenerative diseases: recurring themes around protein handling

Neuronal cell death plays a role in many chronic neurodegenerative diseases with the loss of particular subsets of neurons. The loss of the neurons occurs during a period of many years, which can make the mode(s) of cell death and the initiating factors difficult to determine. In vitro and in vivo models have proved invaluable in this regard, yielding insight into cell death pathways. This review describes the main mechanisms of neuronal cell death, particularly apoptosis, necrosis, excitotoxicity and autophagic cell death, and their role in neurodegenerative diseases such as ischaemia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. Crosstalk between these death mechanisms is also discussed. The link between cell death and protein mishandling, including misfolded proteins, impairment of protein degradation, protein aggregation is described and finally, some pro‐survival strategies are discussed.
Econometric Analyses of Home Bias in Government Procurement

The extent of discrimination in government procurement and its impact on economic efficiency has attracted both theoretical and analytical work, but little econometric evidence. We bridge this gap by building a new sector-level dataset on domestic and foreign purchases by Japanese and Swiss governments over 1990–2003 to undertake “new” econometric analyses. Unlike previous work, we explain home-bias using variables inspired by the political economy, trade-macroeconomic and procurement literatures. We also provide “new” econometric evidence for previous theoretical predictions. Our results reveal the importance of domestic-foreign productivity differences in governments’ cross-border purchases and also support previous theoretical predictions. However, Membership of the World Trade Organizations's Agreement on Government Procurement is not found to increase market access.
The role of farmer self-identity in agricultural decision making in the Marston Vale Community Forest.

In 1989 the UK Government announced a scheme to create 12 'Community Forests' in areas of urban fringe despoiled by industry and intensive agriculture. Political dogma of the time decreed that the dedication of land for the forest was to be on a purely voluntary basis, with the farming community encouraged to establish large areas of woodland and diversify into providers of leisure facilities and woodland related products. Unresolved, however, was the question of whether farmers would voluntarily move away from traditional farming roles associated with production of agricultural commodities and around which their self-identity is defined. This study focuses on the question of whether farmers' self-identity is likely to influence their uptake of the Community Forest scheme. To investigate this, a conceptual framework was developed based on Sheldon Stryker's (1968) identity theory. This introduces into geography the concept that the 'self' should not be viewed as a single entity (as in attitude studies), but should be viewed as a hierarchical structure of identities mirroring the structured nature of society. Salience of these identities influences choice of role-behaviour, particularly in times of crisis where a change of role may be required. From the literature it was possible to distinguish four basic 'identity sub-cultures' namely, 'agricultural producer', 'diversifiers/entrepreneur', 'conservationist', and 'agribusinessman'. Through analysing preferred role-behaviour and identity salience, it was established that farmers with distinct identities generally exhibit behavioural patterns consistent with these identities. In particular, farmers who see themselves as 'conservationists' and 'diversifiers' appear more willing to accept the role changes required by the Community Forest than those whose identity centres on agricultural production. A qualitative investigation of how woodland, diversification, and leisure provision may conflict with farmers' identity revealed that, for the majority of farmers, woodland does not have the same social value as other agricultural crops. Thus, even if woodland becomes economically viable for small farmers, the social costs of establishing large woodlands on farms and changing the farming role need serious consideration.
Engineering Dynamic Real-Time Distributed Systems: Architecture, System Description Language, and Middleware

The paper presents an architectural framework and algorithms for engineering dynamic real-time distributed systems using commercial off-the-shelf technologies. In the proposed architecture, a real-time system application is developed in a general-purpose programming language. Further, the architectural-level description of the system such as composition and interconnections of application software and hardware, and the operational requirements of the system such as timeliness and survivability are specified in a system description language. The specification of the system is automatically translated into an intermediate representation (IR) that models the system in a platform-independent manner. The IR is augmented with dynamic measurements of the system by a language runtime system to produce a dynamic system model. The dynamic model is used by resource management middleware strategies to perform resource management that achieves timeliness and survivability requirements. We present two classes of algorithms: predictive and availability-based, for performing resource allocation. To validate the viability of the approach, we use a real-time benchmark application that functionally approximates dynamic real-time command and control systems. The benchmark results illustrate that the middleware is able to achieve the desired timeliness requirements during a number of load situations. Furthermore, availability-based allocation algorithms perform resource allocation less frequently, whereas predictive algorithms give a better steady state performance for the application.
Social security contribution evasion : an evaluation from the perspective of former contribution evaders : Jordan - case study

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How Informative are Central Bank Assessments of Macroeconomic Risks?

Surveying the forecasting practice of several central banks, we find that all these banks issue statements about risks to their macroeconomic forecasts. Often the balance of these risks is assessed as well. Upward [downward] risks to the forecast commonly imply that the outturn is expected to lie above [below] the central forecast. Investigating the inflation risk forecasts of the Bank of England and the Sveriges Riksbank, however, we do not find conclusive evidence for informativeness, that is, for a systematic connection between risk assessments and forecast errors. Thus, it seems questionable whether macroeconomic risk forecasts are meaningful.
Stochastic dynamic programming based approaches to sensor resource management

This paper describes a stochastic dynamic programming based approach to solve sensor resource management (SRM) problems such as occur in tracking multiple targets with electronically scanned, multi-mode radar Specifically, it formulates the SRM problem as a stochastic scheduling problem and develops approximate solutions based on the Gittins index rule. Novel results include a hybrid state stochastic model for the information dynamics of tracked targets, an exact index rule solution of the SRM problem for a simplified tracking model, and use of approximate dynamic programming to extend the index rule solution to more realistic models.
A framework for recognizing the hand written digits with multi-zone approach

In this paper, we proposed a handwritten digit recognition system which uses multiple feature extraction methods. Here we extract the size features, and we proposed multi-zoning method. It is shown that multi zoning method is sufficient to achieve high recognition rates. Several combination schemes were tested, showing good results. By using this multi-zoning method we achieved a recognition rate of 97%, the highest one on the MNIST database.
Oral Health Knowledge, Attitude, and Approaches of Pre-Primary and Primary School Teachers in Mumbai, India

Background. School teachers have an internationally recognized potential role in school-based dental education and considerable importance has therefore been attributed to their dental knowledge. The objectives of this study were to determine the oral health related knowledge, attitudes, and approaches of pre-primary and primary school teachers in the city of Mumbai. Methods. The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the suburban regions of Mumbai using a self-administered questionnaire and involved 511 teachers. Results. Teachers demonstrated inappropriate or incomplete knowledge regarding children's oral health. Only 53.2% knew that an individual has two sets of dentition. Moreover, only 45.4% of the teachers knew that a primary dentition consists of 20 teeth. Only 56.9% of the teachers asked their children to clean their mouth after snacking during school hours. 45.0% of the teachers were unaware of fluoridated tooth pastes whilst 78.9% of them were unaware of school water fluoridation programmes. Also, 54.8% of the teachers never discussed the oral health of children with their parents during parents meet. Conclusions. The studied school teachers demonstrated incomplete oral health knowledge, inappropriate oral practices, and unfavourable approaches to children's oral health. There is a definite and immediate need for organized training of school teachers on basic oral health knowledge.
Mapping stellar kinematics across the Galactic bar: HST measurements of proper motions in 35 fields

We present a proper motion mini-survey of 35 fields in the vicinity of Baade window, (l, b) = (1 degrees, -4 degrees), sampling roughly a 5 x 2.5-deg(2) region of the Galactic bar. Our second epoch observations collected with the Advanced Camera for Surveys/High Resolution Channel instrument onboard the Hubble Space Telescope were combined with the archival Wide Field Planetary Camera 2/PC images. The resulting time baselines are in the range of 4 to 8 yr. Precise proper motions of 15 863 stars were determined in the reference frame defined by the mean motion of stars with magnitudes between I(F814W) = 16.5 and 21.5 along the line of sight. We clearly detect small gradients in proper motion dispersions (sigma(l), sigma(b) similar to (3.0, 2.5) mas yr(-1), and in the amount of anisotropy (sigma(l)/sigma(b) similar to 1.2). Both the longitude dispersion sigma(l) and its ratio to the vertical motion sigma(b) increase towards the Galactic plane. The decline of the anisotropy ratio sigma(l)/sigma(b) towards the minor axis of the bulge is mostly due to increasing sigma(b). We also find, for the first time, a significant negative covariance term in the transverse velocity field sigma(lb)/(sigma(l)sigma(b)) similar or equal to -0.10. Our results extend by a factor of similar to 15 the number of the Galactic bar fields with good proper motion dispersions.
Social Projection Increases for Positive Targets

Social projection denotes the attribution of characteristics of the self to others and, therefore, increases perceived self–other similarity. The present research tests the assumption that positive but not negative targets elicit social projection. Earlier research has attributed an effect of target valence to mere consistency principles of judgment and has, thus, questioned projection processes to be the origin of self–other similarity. Building on more recent evidence, we suggest that target valence influences self–other similarity above and beyond a consistent response behavior. The results of three experiments in which target valence was manipulated through evaluative conditioning and by smiling versus neutral facial expression support our hypothesis. We discuss how cognitive versus motivated processes can account for these findings and suggest a new conceptualization of social projection whereby projection is a means to regulate social distance.
Comparative Analysis of the Pattern of Population Genetic Diversity in Three Indo-West Pacific Rhizophora Mangrove Species

Rhizophora species are the most widely distributed mangrove trees in the Indo-West Pacific (IWP) region. Comparative studies of these species with shared life history traits can help identify evolutionary factors that have played most important roles in determining genetic diversity within and between populations in ocean-current dispersed mangrove tree species. We sampled 935 individuals from 54 natural populations for genotyping with 13 microsatellite markers to investigate the level of genetic variation, population structure, and gene flow on a broad geographic scale in Rhizophora apiculata, Rhizophora mucronata, and Rhizophora stylosa across the IWP region. In contrast to the pattern expected of long-lived woody plants with predominant wind-pollination, water-dispersed seeds and wide geographic range, genetic variation within populations was generally low in all the three species, especially in those peripheral populations from geographic range limits. Although the large water-buoyant propagules of Rhizophora have capacity for long distance dispersal, such events might be rare in reality, as reflected by the low level of gene flow and high genetic differentiation between most of population pairs within each species. Phylogeographic separation of Australian and Pacific island populations from SE Asian lineages previously revealed with DNA sequence data was still detectable in R. apiculata based on genetic distances, but this pattern of disjunction was not always evident in R. mucronata and R. stylosa, suggesting that fast-evolving molecular markers could be more suitable for detecting contemporary genetic structure but not deep evolutionary divergence caused by historical vicariance. Given that mangrove species generally have small effective population sizes, we conclude that genetic drift coupled with limited gene flow have played a dominant role in producing the current pattern of population genetic diversity in the IWP Rhizophora species, overshadowing the effects of their life history traits. Recent population fragmentation and disturbances arising from human activities could further endanger genetic diversity in mangrove trees.
A SOCIO-PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF TAIWAN ENGLISH FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF WORLD ENGLISHES

While earlier studies on English pronunciation features among native speakers of Mandarin, albeit scarce, have discovered many sound features distinct from Standard English, they failed to analyse how frequently each of the features occurred in learners with different English proficiency levels (Chang, 1991; Chen, 1975; Chung, 2006; Gao, 1995; Lee, 1986). This study focuses on intermediate-level learners of English explore the occurrence frequency of such pronunciation features among them because there is evidence that mesolectal speakers, to use a sociolinguistic term, are the majority in a community speaking English for international communication with foreigners (Hilgendorf, 2007; Jenkins, 2003, 2005; Mattock, 2003; Nero, 2006). To this end, ten Taiwan Mandarin speakers were invited in this study to read 1,225 common English words, and the findings indicate that a total of 11 sound features regularly appear in the readings of the respondents. Among these, five features have not been described in prior research. In particular, three of these features are identified as those which make Taiwan Mandarin-accented English distinct from other varieties of English. This study details the results and concludes by discussing this Expanding-Circle variety of English from the perspective of World Englishes.
An Efficient Algorithm for the Performance of TCP over Multi-hop Wireless Mesh Networks

Improving the performance of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) associated with the presence of multi-hop is one of the research challenges in wireless mesh networks. Wireless mesh networks have large round trip time variations and these variations are dependent on the number of hops. The end-to-end TCP throughput degrades rapidly with increase in number of hops. This is one of the biggest problems of TCP over wireless mesh networks. In wireless mesh network, when congestion loss and wireless loss are co-existed the number of packets dropped increases and will have adverse effects on TCP and its congestion control mechanism which leads to low throughput. In this paper, we designed a TCP scheme called TCP SAC for multi-hop wireless mesh networks, by modifying the sender side congestion control functionality of TCP NewReno, which is tuned towards improving the performance of TCP. The simulation results show that TCP SAC has more than 10% higher performance than TCP NewReno, Reno, Sack and Vegas in multi-hop wireless mesh networks.
Hepatoprotective effect of aqueous extract of Aframomum melegueta on ethanol-induced toxicity in rats.

In recent years there have been remarkable developments in the prevention of diseases, especially with regards to the role of free radicals and antioxidants. Ethanol-induced oxidative stress appears to be one mechanism by which ethanol causes liver injury. The protective effect of aqueous plant extract of Aframomum melegueta on ethanol-induced toxicity was investigated in male Wistar rats. The rats were treated with 45 % ethanol (4.8 g/kg b.w.t.) for 16 days to induce alcoholic diseases in the liver. The activities of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and triglyceride were monitored and the histological changes in liver examined in order to evaluate the protective effects of the plant extract. Hepatic malondialdehyde and reduced glutathione, as well as superoxide dismutase and glutathione-S-transferase activities were determined for the antioxidant status. Chronic ethanol administration resulted in a statistically significant elevation of serum alanine aminotransferases and triglyceride levels, as well as a decrease in reduced glutathione and superoxide dismutase which was dramatically attenuated by the co-administration of the plant extract. Histological changes were related to these indices. Co-administration of the plant extract suppressed the elevation of lipid peroxidation, restored the reduced glutathion, and enhanced the superoxide dismutase activity. These results highlight the ability of Aframomum melegueta to ameliorate oxidative damage in the liver and the observed effects are associated with its antioxidant activities.
An Asymmetry Subsethood-Based Neural Fuzzy Network

This paper proposes a novel asymmetric subsethood-based neural fuzzy network (ASNFN) that identifies and controls nonlinear dynamic systems. ASNFN has the flexibility to handle both numeric and linguistic inputs. The numeric inputs in ASNFN are fuzzified by input nodes as tunable feature fuzzifiers. Connections in ASNFN are represented by Pseudo-Gaussian fuzzy sets which provide the neural fuzzy network with higher flexibility and which get more accurate optimization. An on-line self-constructing learning algorithm that is constructed and implemented in ASNFN consists of structural learning and parametric learning, and would create adaptive fuzzy logic rules. Computer simulations illustrate the performance and capability of the proposed model in identifying a dynamic system, in Iris data classification, and in backing to park the truck.