Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Some Adverse Effects of Used Engine Oil (Common Waste Pollutant) On Reproduction of Male Sprague Dawley Rats

AIM: Used oil is contaminated not only with heavy metals but also with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are insignificant in the unused oil. In our study we determined possible reproductive effects of used engine oil on male rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty eight male Wistar rats were used for the study. The rats had average weight of 181.5 ± 10 g, animal feeds and portable water was provided ad-libitum. The rats were assigned to 4 groups (n = 7) including control. The treated groups orally received 0.1 ml/rat, 0.2 ml/rat and 0.4 ml/rat of the used engine oil every other day for 28 days using oral canulla. The spermatozoa were collected from epididymis for sperm analysis and testes were removed and preserved in Bouin’s fluid for routine histological analysis. RESULTS: Our results showed that there was progressive weight increase among the control group of rats that received distilled water. Meanwhile, rats that received 0.4 ml/rat of the used engine oil showed significant (P < 0.05) weight loss in second and third week of administration while rats that received 0.2 ml/rat and 0.1 ml/rat of the used engine oil showed non-significant (P > 0.05) weight reduction. The spermatozoa number was decreased with significance (P < 0.05) at 0.2 ml/rat (2.38 ± 0.29) and 0.4 ml/rat (1.98 ± 0.08) when compared with the control (5.00 ± 0.89). However, the percentage of motile sperms was reduced significantly (P <0.05) at 0.2 ml/rat (52.86 ± 3.59) and 0.4 ml/rat (45.71 ± 2.94) except at 0.1 ml/rat where the reduction (64.00 ± 7.5) was not significant (P> 0.05). The percentage of head deformity been 41.43 ± 2.61 and 42.00 ± 3.74 at 0.2 ml/rat and 0.4 ml/rat respectively, also significant increase of middle piece deformity was observed only at 0.1 ml/rat (45.71 ± 2.02) while tail deformity significantly decreased (15.71 ± 2.02, 20.00 ± 4.36 and 20.00 ± 4.47) when compared with the control (30.00 ± 1.29). The testicular seminiferous tubules were slightly degenerated with absence of Lumen. The germinal cell layer consisting of necrosis of spermatogonia and interstitial (Leydig) cells with affected Sertoli cells at different maturation stages. CONCLUSION: Hence, it can be said that there is a negative relation between used engine oil and male reproductive parameters. And it can be concluded that used engine oil should be prevented from leaking, spilling or improperly discarded as through medium it may enter storm water runoff and eventually affect the environmental health receiving water bodies.
Robust content-based image searches for copyright protection

This paper proposes a novel content-based image retrieval scheme for image copy identification. Its goal is to detect matches between a set of doubtful images and the ones stored in the database of the legal holders of the photographies. If an image was stolen and used to create a pirated copy, it tries to identify from which original image that copy was created. The image recognition scheme is based on local differential descriptors. Therefore, the matching process takes into account a large set of variations that might have been applied to stolen images in order to create pirated copies. The high cost and the complexity of this image recognition scheme requires a very efficient retrieval process since many individual queries must be executed before being able to construct the final result. This paper therefore proposes to use a novel search method that trades the precision of each individual search for reduced query execution time. This imprecision has only little impact on the overall recognition performance since the final result is a consolidation of many partial results. However, it dramatically accelerates queries. This result has then been corroborated by a theoretically study. Experiments show the efficiency and the robustness of the proposed scheme.
Genetic Variation of Durum Wheat Landraces and Cultivars Using Morphological and Protein Markers

— Knowledge of patterns of genetic diversity enhances the efficiency of germplasm conservation and improvement. In this study 96 Iranian landraces of Triticum turgidum originating from different geographical areas of Iran, along with 18 durum cultivars from ten countries were evaluated for variation in morphological and high molecular weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) composition. The first two principal components clearly separated the Iranian landraces from cultivars. Three alleles were present at the Glu-A1 locus and 11 alleles at Glu-B1. In both cultivars and landraces of durum wheat, the null allele (Glu-A1c) was observed more frequently than the Glu-A1a and Glu-A1b alleles. Two alleles, namely Glu-B1a (subunit 7) and Glu-B1e (subunit 20) represented the more frequent alleles at Glu-B1 locus. The results showed that the evaluated Iranian landraces formed an interesting source of favourable glutenin subunits that might be very desirable in breeding activities for improving pasta-making quality.
Effect of Heterogeneous Investments on the Evolution of Cooperation in Spatial Public Goods Game

Understanding the emergence of cooperation in spatial public goods game remains a grand challenge across disciplines. In most previous studies, it is assumed that the investments of all the cooperators are identical, and often equal to 1. However, it is worth mentioning that players are diverse and heterogeneous when choosing actions in the rapidly developing modern society and researchers have shown more interest to the heterogeneity of players recently. For modeling the heterogeneous players without loss of generality, it is assumed in this work that the investment of a cooperator is a random variable with uniform distribution, the mean value of which is equal to 1. The results of extensive numerical simulations convincingly indicate that heterogeneous investments can promote cooperation. Specifically, a large value of the variance of the random variable can decrease the two critical values for the result of behavioral evolution effectively. Moreover, the larger the variance is, the better the promotion effect will be. In addition, this article has discussed the impact of heterogeneous investments when the coevolution of both strategy and investment is taken into account. Comparing the promotion effect of coevolution of strategy and investment with that of strategy imitation only, we can conclude that the coevolution of strategy and investment decreases the asymptotic fraction of cooperators by weakening the heterogeneity of investments, which further demonstrates that heterogeneous investments can promote cooperation in spatial public goods game.
PTSD, Trauma, and Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders in Detained Youth

This bulletin series presents the results of the Northwestern Juvenile Project, the first large-scale, prospective longitudinal study of drug, alcohol, and psychiatric disorders in a diverse sample of juvenile detainees. Individual bulletins examine topics such as suicidal behaviors in youth in detention, posttraumatic stress disorder and trauma among this population, functional impairment in youth after detention, and barriers for youth who need to receive mental health services.
Distinct effects of ubiquitin overexpression on NMJ structure and motor performance in mice expressing catalytically inactive USP14

Ubiquitin-specific protease 14 (USP14) is a major deubiquitinating enzyme and a key determinant of neuromuscular junction (NMJ) structure and function. We have previously reported dramatic ubiquitin depletion in the nervous systems of the USP14-deficient ataxia (axJ) mice and demonstrated that transgenic ubiquitin overexpression partially rescues the axJ neuromuscular phenotype. However, later work has shown that ubiquitin overexpression does not correct the axJ deficits in hippocampal short term plasticity, and that transgenic expression of a catalytically inactive form of USP14 in the nervous system mimics the neuromuscular phenotype observed in the axJ mice, but causes a only a modest reduction of free ubiquitin. Instead, increased ubiquitin conjugates and aberrant activation of pJNK are observed in the nervous systems of the USP14 catalytic mutant mice. In this report, we demonstrate that restoring free ubiquitin levels in the USP14 catalytic mutant mice improved NMJ structure and reduced pJNK accumulation in motor neuron terminals, but had a negative impact on measures of NMJ function, such as motor performance and muscle development. Transgenic expression of ubiquitin had a dose-dependent effect on NMJ function in wild type mice: moderate levels of overexpression improved NMJ function while more robust ubiquitin overexpression reduced muscle development and motor coordination. Combined, these results suggest that maintenance of free ubiquitin levels by USP14 contributes to NMJ structure, but that USP14 regulates NMJ function through a separate pathway.
Towards Renewable Iodide Sources for Electrolytes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

A novel family of iodide salts and ionic liquids based on different carbohydrate core units is herein described for application in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC). The influence of the molecular skeleton and the cationic structure on the electrolyte properties, device performance and on interfacial charge transfer has been investigated. In combination with the C106 polypyridyl ruthenium sensitizer, power conversion efficiencies lying between 5.0% and 7.3% under standard Air Mass (A.M.) 1.5G conditions were obtained in association with a low volatile methoxypropionitrile (MPN)-based electrolyte.
R-mode oscillations of differentially and rapidly rotating Newtonian polytropic stars

For analysis of the r-mode oscillation of hot young neutron stars, it is necessary to consider the effect of differential rotation, because viscosity is not strong enough for differentially rotating young neutron stars to be led to uniformly rotating configurations on a very short time scale after their birth. In this paper, we have developed a numerical scheme to solve the r-mode oscillations of differentially rotating polytropic inviscid stars. This is the extended version of the method which was applied to compute the r-mode oscillations of uniformly rotating Newtonian polytropic stars. By using this new method, we have succeeded in obtaining eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the r-mode oscillations of differentially rotating polytropic stars. Our numerical results show that as the degree of differential rotation is increased, it becomes more difficult to solve the r-mode oscillations for slightly deformed configurations from a sphere compared to solving the r-mode oscillations of considerably deformed stars. One reason for this seems that for slightly deformed stars a corotation cylinder appears near the stellar surface region if the degree of differential rotation is large enough. This is similar to the situation that the perturbational approach of low-frequency r-mode oscillations for slowly rotating stars in general relativity results in a singular eigenvalue problem.
Homeownership and Unemployment: The Roles of Leverage and Public Housing

Oswald hypothesizes that regions and countries with high homeownership rates will experience higher natural rates of unemployment and that rising homeownership in OECD countries since the 1960s provides a key explanation for the rise in the natural rate of unemployment over the same time period. Recent tests of the Oswald thesis have found the opposite. This study differs from earlier ones both by considering different states of ownership (degrees of leverage) and types of tenancy (private, public, and rent-free) and by examining data from Australia, rather than the U.S. We demonstrate that the recent anti-Oswald results are the result of (1) highly leveraged owners having a greater incentive to remain employed and to become reemployed more rapidly that outright owners and (2) those paying below-market rents having a lower incentive to avoid unemployment or become reemployed than those paying market rents. The only positive Oswald result is that females who are outright owners have significantly slower exits from unemployment. Overall, homeownership does not increase unemployment. Finally, in line with expectations but in contrast to some earlier studies, our results indicate a significant impact of the predicted replacement ratio (unemployment benefits to wage if reemployed) on unemployment behavior. Persons with a higher predicted ratio are significantly more likely to become unemployed, and unemployed females with a higher predicted replacement ratio have longer unemployment spells than those with lower predicted ratios.
Lower-Dimensional Volumes and Kastler–Kalau–Walze Type Theorem for Manifolds with Boundary

In this paper, we define lower-dimensional volumes of spin manifolds with boundary. We compute the lower-dimensional volume Vol(2,2) for 5-dimensional and 6-dimensional spin manifolds with boundary and we also get the Kastler–Kalau–Walze type theorem in this case.
Distributors' Business Characteristics, Buyer/Seller Relationship and Market Orientation

Abstract The high level of customer concentration that suppliers normally face in competitive domestic and international business markets makes selecting customers a critical issue. This study empirically examines the relationship between the supplier's market orientation, the buyer-seller relationship and requirements for foreign distributor characteristics. Based on an exploratory study of more than 80 Australian wine export oriented firms, it appears that firms presenting the strongest market orientation and a longer term buyer-seller relationship perspective select their overseas distributors differently than those firms with a weak market orientation and a shorter-term perspective in their business relationships. The difference between the groups lies in the role that different distributors' business characteristics play in the selection of overseas business partners. Our results suggest that firms, which are both strongly market oriented and long-term oriented are more likely to select overseas distributors who (1) have an important sales force, (2) have good knowledge about the Australian wine industry, and (3) have a management culture and capabilities similar to the producer firm. We also demonstrate that the former group achieved better business performance, in accordance with the literature on market orientation and buyer-seller relationship.
Climatology of pure tropospheric profiles and column contents of ozone and carbon monoxide using MOZAIC in the mid-northern latitudes (24° N to 50° N) from 1994 to 2009

Abstract. The objective of this paper is to deliver the most accurate ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) climatology for the pure troposphere only, i.e. exclusively from the ground to the dynamical tropopause on an individual profile basis. The results (profiles and columns) are derived solely from the Measurements of OZone and water vapour by in-service Alrbus airCraft programme (MOZAIC) over 15 years (1994–2009). The study, focused on the northern mid-latitudes [24–50° N] and [119° W–140° E], includes more than 40 000 profiles over 11 sites to give a quasi-global zonal picture. Considering all the sites, the pure tropospheric column peak-to-peak seasonal cycle ranges are 23.7–43.2 DU for O3 and 1.7–6.9 × 10 18 molecules cm−2 for CO. The maxima of the seasonal cycles are not in phase, occurring in February–April for CO and May–July for O3. The phase shift is related to the photochemistry and OH removal efficiencies. The purely tropospheric seasonal profiles are characterized by a typical autumn–winter/spring–summer O3 dichotomy (except in Los Angeles, Eastmed – a cluster of Cairo and Tel Aviv – and the regions impacted by the summer monsoon) and a summer–autumn/winter–spring CO dichotomy. We revisit the boundary-layer, mid-tropospheric (MT) and upper-tropospheric (UT) partial columns using a~new monthly varying MT ceiling. Interestingly, the seasonal cycle maximum of the UT partial columns is shifted from summer to spring for O3 and to very early spring for CO. Conversely, the MT maximum is shifted from spring to summer and is associated with a summer (winter) MT thickening (thinning). Lastly, the pure tropospheric seasonal cycles derived from our analysis are consistent with the cycles derived from spaceborne measurements, the correlation coefficients being r=0.6–0.9 for O3 and r>0.9 for CO. The cycles observed from space are nevertheless greater than MOZAIC for O3 (by 9–18 DU) and smaller for CO (up to 1 × 10 18 molecules cm−2). The larger winter O3 difference between the two data sets suggests probable stratospheric contamination in satellite data due to the tropopause position. The study underlines the importance of rigorously discriminating between the stratospheric and tropospheric reservoirs and avoiding use of a~monthly averaged tropopause position without this strict discrimination in order to assess the pure O3 and CO tropospheric trends.
LEARNING AND MULTI-STEP ACTIVITY IMPAIRMENT IN PARKINSON ’ S DISEASE

Apraxia is rarely diagnosed in movement disorders. However, basal ganglia dysfunction may also lead to praxic disturbances. Our study aimed at showing selective motor sequence learning and multiplestep activity impairment in idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (IPD) in the absence of other praxic disturbances. The study methodology was based on Luria’s classification of apraxia. Motor sequence learning, one-step vs. multiple-step activity, was assessed in 29 patients with IPD and 25 healthy controls against a background of global cognitive status (Mini-Mental State Examination), mood (Beck Depression Inventory), bradykinesia (Finger Tapping Test), motor impairment and disease severity (Unified Par kin son’s Disease Rating Scale, Hoehn-Yahr staging) and other praxic dimensions according to Luria’s classification (clinical trials assessing spatial, afferent, and frontal apraxia). The patients exhibited selective impairment on multiple-step tasks and second motor sequence learning. First motor sequence learning, limb-kinetic praxis and one-step activities did not differentiate between the groups. Therefore, the deficit cannot be attributed to bradykinesia or other purely motor deficit. Selective impairment on multiple-step tasks and second-sequence learning may be due to deficient procedural memory. Sequence learning impairment is related to disease severity in IPD. Motor sequence learning and multiple-step activity impairment can be selectively impaired in IPD. The profile of praxic disturbances in IPD is consistent with the cognitive dysfunction observed in this disorder, namely procedural memory deficits.
On the relevancy of the perfect reconstruction property when minimizing the mean square error in FIR MIMO filter systems

Under the assumption that the transmitter FIR multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) filter is given and FIR left invertible, conditions are derived for when the minimum minimum mean square error (MSE) FIR MIMO filter system does possess the perfect reconstruction (PR) or zero forcing (ZF) property. In most cases, examples using common models for both source coding and communication systems show that constraining the system to have the PR or ZF property is suboptimal in the minimum MSE sense.
THE EVOLUTION OF GAS CLOUDS FALLING IN THE MAGNETIZED GALACTIC HALO: HIGH-VELOCITY CLOUDS (HVCs) ORIGINATED IN THE GALACTIC FOUNTAIN

In the Galactic fountain scenario, supernovae and/or stellar winds propel material into the Galactic halo. As the material cools, it condenses into clouds. By using FLASH three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we model and study the dynamical evolution of these gas clouds after they form and begin to fall toward the Galactic plane. In our simulations, we assume that the gas clouds form at a height of z = 5 kpc above the Galactic midplane, then begin to fall from rest. We investigate how the cloud's evolution, dynamics, and interaction with the interstellar medium (ISM) are affected by the initial mass of the cloud. We find that clouds with sufficiently large initial densities (n ⩾ 0.1 H atoms cm−3) accelerate sufficiently and maintain sufficiently large column densities as to be observed and identified as high-velocity clouds (HVCs) even if the ISM is weakly magnetized (1.3 μG). However, the ISM can provide noticeable resistance to the motion of a low-density cloud (n ⩽ 0.01 H atoms cm−3) thus making it more probable that a low-density cloud will attain the speed of an intermediate-velocity cloud rather than the speed of an HVC. We also investigate the effects of various possible magnetic field configurations. As expected, the ISM's resistance is greatest when the magnetic field is strong and perpendicular to the motion of the cloud. The trajectory of the cloud is guided by the magnetic field lines in cases where the magnetic field is oriented diagonal to the Galactic plane. The model cloud simulations show that the interactions between the cloud and the ISM can be understood via analogy to the shock tube problem which involves shock and rarefaction waves. We also discuss accelerated ambient gas, streamers of material ablated from the clouds, and the cloud's evolution from a sphere-shaped to a disk- or cigar-shaped object.
International Financial Flows in Low‐Income Countries

For a sample of low‐income countries, we analyse the behaviour of international financial flows during three periods: (i) the 2003–2007 global boom; (ii) the 2008–2009 crisis; and (iii) the 2010–2012 recovery phase. In particular, we examine aid‐adjusted net financial inflows, debt inflows, foreign direct investment inflows and official reserve outflows. We highlight the role of country characteristics in explaining the cross‐country variation in international financial flows during these different phases.
Mutation analysis of a recombinant NS replicon shows that influenza virus NS1 protein blocks the splicing and nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of its own viral mRNA

The genome of influenza A virus consists of eight single-stranded RNA molecules of negative polarity. Their replication and transcription take place in the nucleus of infected cells using ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) as templates. Two of the viral transcripts, those generated by RNPs 7 and 8, can be spliced and lead to two alternative protein products (M1 and M2, NS1 and NEP/NS2, respectively). Previous studies have shown that when expressed from cDNA, NS1 protein alters the splicing and transport of RNA polymerase II-driven transcripts. Here we used a transient replication/transcription system, in which RNP 8 is replicated and transcribed by recombinant RNA and proteins, to study the splicing and nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of true viral transcripts. Our results show that the encoded NS1 protein inhibits the splicing of the collinear transcript. This regulation is mediated by the N-terminal region of the protein but does not involve its RNA-binding activity. We also show that NS1 protein preferentially blocks the nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of the collinear RNP 8 transcript in an RNA-binding dependent manner. These results rule out previous models to explain the regulation of mRNA processing and transport by NS1 and underlines the relevance of NS1 protein in the control of virus gene expression.
Factors Affecting the Adoption of Soil Conservation Measures: A Case Study of Fijian Cane Farmers

This study explores the extent to which various factors affect Fijian cane farmers' adoption of soil conservation measures. The significant factors affecting perception of the soil erosion problem include age, education, ethnicity, and extension services. On the other hand, the significant factors affecting soil conservation effort include perception of the erosion problem, net farm income, farm size, land type, and extension services. In general, personal characteristics appear to affect perceptions of soil erosion while the extent of conservation effort is affected by economic and physical factors. The resulting implications for soil conservation policy are discussed.