Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ROS Methylene Blue Protects against Toluene-Induced Brain Damage : Involvement of Nitric Oxide , NF-B , and Caspase-3

| The effect of methylene blue on brain oxidative stress and neuronal damage after toluene poisoning in rats was investigated. Rats were treated intraperitoneally with toluene at 900 mg/kg either alone or in combination with methylene blue at 5, 10, or 20 mg/kg daily for 6 days. The levels of malondialdehyde, nitrite, and reduced glutathione (GSH), and the activity of paraoxonase-1 (PON1) were evaluated in the brain and serum. We also measured serum butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activity, brain derived neurorophic factor (BDNF), and nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-B). Histopathological examination and immunohistochemical staining for caspase-3 and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in the brain were performed. Toluene-treated rats exhibited increased lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde) and nitrite levels in the brain and serum and reduced brain GSH level. There were also decreased PON1 and BChE activities, decreased BDNF level, and increased NF-B level in the serum after toluene exposure. Neurodegeneration, cerebral edema, and marked degeneration of Purkinje cells were observed. There was increased caspase-3 immmunostaining, but decreased immmunostaining for GFAP in glial cells. Methylene blue induced a significant decrease in the levels of malondialdehyde and nitrite in the brain and serum of toluene-exposed rats. The GSH level did not change, but PON1 activity in the brain and serum increased. Methylene blue also decreased NF-B level, increased BChE activity, and increased BDNF level in a dose-dependent manner. Methylene blue protected against the neuronal damaging effects of toluene, decreased caspase-3 immunoreactivity, and restored GFAP positivity. These findings indicate a neuroprotective effect for methylene blue against the brain damage induced by toluene. This protection is likely to involve the inhibition of nitric oxide, NF-B, and caspase-3 by methylene blue treatment.
The Effect of Family Control on Firm Value and Performance: Evidence from Continental Europe

We investigate the relation between ownership structure and firm performance in Continental Europe, using data from 675 publicly traded corporations in 11 countries. Although family-controlled corporations exhibit larger separation between control and cash-flow rights, our results do not support the hypothesis that family control hampers firm performance. Valuation and operating performance are significantly higher in founder-controlled corporations and in corporations controlled by descendants who sit on the board as non-executive directors. When a descendant takes the position of CEO, family-controlled companies are not statistically distinguishable from non-family firms in terms of valuation and performance.
Master thesis : Multivariate Statistics for the Joint Analysis of Quantitative Maps

Life expectancy increase makes the need for understanding the mechanisms underlying ageing more essential. The ongoing development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides researchers with an innovative tool to study the brain non-invasively. In particular, quantitative MRI produces high-resolution quantitative maps of parameters dependent of relevant biological measures such as myelin, iron and water concentrations. In addition, a voxel-based quantification (VBQ) procedure corresponding to a spatial normalisation and a smoothing of the maps facilitates group analyses by creating images that are spatially comparable among participants. On one hand, this work aims at studying the correlation with age in the brain microstructures of a group of healthy volunteers (from 19 to 75 years old) using multivariate statistics. To do so, a joint analysis of the quantitative maps of the entire cohort was carried out using permutation tests implemented in the PALM (Permutation Analysis of Linear Models) toolbox and the results were then compared to univariate methods applied in the Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) framework. Whole-brain voxel-wise analysis showed extensive correlations with age in the gray and the white matter in line with histologic reports. Nonetheless, a severe loss of sensitivity in the joint analysis was observed due to the lack of signal present in the longitudinal relaxation rate (R1) modality. On the other hand, the VBQ approach was analysed in order to evaluate the pertinence of this normalisation method combining weighting and smoothing. The age effect embedded in the parameter maps was removed while an age-study was performed on the weights, supposed to be independent of ageing. Voxel-wise analysis revealed correlations with age around the ventricles and in the corpus callosum, corresponding to morphological effects, but strong robustness in the cortex. The effect size proved to be tiny compared to the real age effects though.
The tree of knot tunnels

We present a new theory which describes the collection of all tunnels of tunnel number 1 knots in the 3-sphere (up to orientation-preserving equivalence in the sense of Heegaard splittings) using the disk complex of the genus-2 handlebody and associated structures. It shows that each knot tunnel is obtained from the tunnel of the trivial knot by a uniquely determined sequence of simple cabling constructions. A cabling construction is determined by a single rational parameter, so there is a corresponding numerical parameterization of all tunnels by sequences of such parameters and some additional data. Up to superficial differences in definition, the final parameter of this sequence is the Scharlemann-Thompson invariant of the tunnel, and the other parameters are the Scharlemann-Thompson invariants of the intermediate tunnels produced by the constructions. We calculate the parameter sequences for tunnels of 2-bridge knots. The theory extends easily to links, and to allow equivalence of tunnels by homeomorphisms that may be orientation-reversing.
STOCHASTIC STABILITY, PASSIVITY ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS OF MARKOVIAN JUMP SYSTEMS OF NEUTRAL TYPE

Stochastic stability, passivity analysis and synthesis problems for Markovian jump systems of neutral type with state time-varying delay are investigated. Based on the definition of passivity extended from deterministic systems, in terms of a linear matrix inequality, a sufficient condition on passivity for the solvability of the above problem is proposed. The passive controller via memoryless state-feedback is given to guarantee the stability and passivity of appropriate closed-loop system. Two examples are carried out to illustrate the sufficient conditions.
MICROARCSECOND VLBI PULSAR ASTROMETRY WITH PSRπ. I. TWO BINARY MILLISECOND PULSARS WITH WHITE DWARF COMPANIONS

Model-independent distance constraints to binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are of great value to both the timing observations of the radio pulsars and multiwavelength observations of their companion stars. Astrometry using very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) can be employed to provide these model-independent distances with very high precision via the detection of annual geometric parallax. Using the Very Long Baseline Array, we have observed two binary MSPs, PSR J1022+1001 and J2145–0750, over a two-year period and measured their distances to be pc and pc respectively. We use the well-calibrated distance in conjunction with revised analysis of optical photometry to tightly constrain the nature of their massive ( ) white dwarf companions. Finally, we show that several measurements of the parallax and proper motion of PSR J1022+1001 and PSR J2145–0750 obtained by pulsar timing array projects are incorrect, differing from the more precise VLBI values by up to 5σ. We investigate possible causes for the discrepancy, and find that imperfect modeling of the solar wind is a likely candidate for the errors in the timing model given the low ecliptic latitude of these two pulsars.
The Use of Adverbial Conjuncts of Chinese EFL Learners and Native Speakers–Corpus-based Study

This paper presents the difference about the use of adverbial conjuncts between Chinese EFL learners and native speakers. The learners’ corpus CLEC and the native speakers’ corpus LOB have been used. Statistics and Chi-square test value demonstrate that Chinese EFL learners tend to overuse, underuse, and inappropriately use conjuncts compared with native speakers. They prefer to use a rather small set of conjuncts, such as listing conjuncts. Besides, Chinese EFL learners have a tendency to place the conjuncts in initial position, while native speakers prefer the medial position. The way that Chinese EFL learners emphasize on structure rather than content may cause the overuse of conjuncts, and limited exposure to those conjuncts may lead to the singleness of their positions.
The Impact of School Desegregation on Aspirations, Self-Concepts and other Aspects of Personality

The traditional measure of desegregation-the percentage of blacks in majority-white schools-reduces efforts to assess the effectiveness of desegregation to little more than a body count rather than an examination of the quality of education available to children in the schools. The focus of this article is on the impact of desegregation on certain aspects of personality generally considered to be important outcomes of schooling: aspirations, selfconcept, sense of control over the environment, and achievement orientation.
Animal Models of Lymphoproliferative Disorders Focusing on Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia

Lymphoproliferative disorders (LPDs) represent a heterogeneous group of expanding, monoclonal or oligoclonal, lymphoid cells that occur in the setting of immune dysfunction. They are sometimes equated with "immunoproliferative disorders", but technically LPDs are a subset of immunoproliferative disorders, along with hypergammaglobulinemia and paraproteinemias. Several inherited gene mutations have been identified to cause lymphoproliferative disorders. Acquired and iatrogenic causes are also responsible for the appearance of these diseases.
Future Educators' Preparation And Well-Being: A Qualitative Study

This qualitative interview study examines the retrospective accounts of junior and senior undergraduate students enrolled in a teacher preparation program. A phenomenological research approach (Creswell, 2013) was utilized during the data collection process. Ten students were interviewed to explore their experiences with test anxiety, their experience with test preparation methods for the Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure (MTEL), and their overall well-being during their academic experiences. Four thematic categories emerged after the completion of the data analysis: variance in preparedness, discrepancies in informed attitudes, positive emotions, and negative emotions. These thematic categories were further analyzed to determine how much students believed their experiences helped them achieve passing scores on licensure examinations. Results are discussed in terms of measures that can be taken to improve the overall well-being of students while they are enrolled within the preparation program.
Economic Evaluation of Nano and Organic Fertilisers As an Alternative Source to Chemical Fertilisers on Carum Carvi L. Plant Yield and Components

Abstract To show the benefits of organic agriculture, safe and sustainable production, the present research was performed in an open field (new reclaimed area of desert) of Wadi El-Notron, Beheira Governorate, Egypt, for two successive years (2013 and 2014) aimed at a better understanding and to investigate the role of alternative source of chemical fertilisers represented by humic substances, natural nano-zeolite-loaded nitrogen and biofertilisers (HNB) on yield, morphological, leaf and seed anatomy, chemical compositions reflected in macro and micro nutrients, indigenous hormones, plant pigments, total carbohydrates, ascorbic acid, thiamine, total phenolics, total flavonoids, total fatty acids, oil yield and constituents of caraway (Carum carvi L.) plants. Our results revealed that plants receiving a combination treatment (HNB) recorded significant increases over control in both growing seasons. Moreover, economic evaluation reflects the profound influence of combination treatment (HNB) that realized the maximum gross income and minimum production cost. These findings emphasize the magnitude of the role of natural soil additions and organic fertilisers in mitigating environmental pollution while providing safe production and also minimizing total costs of chemical fertilisers.
Treatment of Natural Geometry in Finite Volume River Flow Computations

A method is proposed for the treatment of irregular bathymetry in one-dimensional finite volume computations of open-channel flow. The strategy adopted is based on a reformulation of the Saint-Venant equations. In contrast with the usual treatment of topography effects as source terms, the method accounts for slope and nonprismaticity by modifying the momentum flux. This makes it possible to precisely balance the hydrostatic pressure contributions associated with variations in valley geometry. The characteristic method is applied to the revised equations, yielding topographic corrections to the numerical fluxes of an upwind scheme. Further adaptations endow the scheme with an ability to capture transcritical sections and wetting fronts in channels of abrupt topography. To test the approach, the scheme is first applied to idealized benchmark problems. The method is then used to route a severe flood through a complex river system: the Tanshui in Northern Taiwan. Computational results compare favorably with gauge records. Discrepancies in water stage represent no more than a fraction of the magnitude of typical bathymetry variations.
Dividend, debt, and investment policies as corporate governance mechanism

The purpose of the study is to test the dividend, debt, and investment policies as a corporate governance mechanism to reduce agency conflict between majority and minority shareholders under the domestic and foreign ownership structure. This research is important since most of companies in Indonesia are categorized based on concentrated structure, where it creates a conflict between majority and minority shareholders. The population of the research are companies that go public in the Indonesian capital market until the year of 2007. The sample of this research consists of 364 companies that are selected based on nonprobability technique with purposive sampling method. They were then divided into two groups, domestic and foreign ownership structure. In the process of testing the hypothesis, 2 indicators were used, i.e. market indicator and accounting indicator. Event study analysis was used for market indicator, whereas multiple regression analysis was used for accounting indicator. Based on empirical results, it is generally concluded that dividend policy can be used as a corporate governance mechanism, both under domestic and foreign ownership stucture. Debt policy cannot be used as a corporate governance mechanism, both under domestic and foreign ownership structure. This is because firms in Indonesia have high debt and are without fairness selection. Investment policy can be used as a corporate governance mechanism under the domestic ownership structure. But under the foreign ownership structure, investment policy can’t be used as a corporate governance mechanism because investment policy tends to be a tool of expropriation to minority shareholders.
Oxo Crater on (1) Ceres: Geological History and the Role of Water-ice

Dwarf planet Ceres (∅ ∼ 940 km) is the largest object in the main asteroid belt. Investigations suggest that Ceres is a thermally evolved, volatile-rich body with potential geological activity, a body that was never completely molten, but one that possibly partially differentiated into a rocky core and an ice-rich mantle, and may contain remnant internal liquid water. Thermal alteration and the infall of exogenic material contribute to producing a (dark) carbonaceous chondritic-like surface containing ammoniated phyllosilicates. Here we report imaging and spectroscopic analyses of data on the bright Oxo crater derived from the Framing Camera and the Visible and Infrared Spectrometer on board the Dawn spacecraft. We confirm that the transitional complex crater Oxo (∅ ∼ 9 km) exhibits exposed surface water-ice. We show that this water-ice-rich material is associated exclusively with two lobate deposits at pole-facing scarps, deposits that also contain carbonates and admixed phyllosilicates. Due to Oxo’s location at −4802 m below the cerean reference ellipsoid and its very young age of only 190 ka (1σ: +100 ka, −70 ka), Oxo is predestined for ongoing water-ice sublimation.
Significant effect of ph on photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants using semiconductor catalysts

Photocatalytic is one of the inexpensive and non-toxic techniques for degradation of organic pollutants into harmless substances such as water and carbon dioxide. In this study, simple electrolysis method was used in preparation of Ag/TiO 2 and α-Fe 2 O 3 /HY catalysts. The physicochemical properties of the catalysts were studied using XRD, FTIR, FESEM-EDX and surface area analysis. The pH of solution plays an important role in the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants which influences the surface-charge properties of the catalysts. Ag/TiO 2 and α-Fe 2 O 3 /HY were used as catalyst on degradation of 2-chlorophenol (2-CP) and methyl orange (MO), respectively. The effect of pH on degradation of 2-CP and MO were investigated over a pH range from 2 to 9. Higher degradation of 2-CP and MO were obtained at pH 5 (74%) and pH 2 (80%), respectively. This finding might be explained by the amphoteric performance of the catalyst using point zero charge (pH ZPC ). The pH ZPC for Ag/TiO 2 and α-Fe 2 O 3 /HY was found to be at pH 6.3 and pH 7.2, respectively. Hence, the activities of the catalysts may have been affected by the existence of a strong electrostatic field between the positively charged catalysts surface and negatively charged 2-CP and MO caused a pH value lower than their pH ZPC give greater degradation.
Consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods: traits, labels and diverse information

New experimental economic methods are described and used to assess consumers' willingness to pay for food products that might be made from new transgenic and intragenic genetically modified (GM) traits. Participants in auctions are randomly chosen adult consumers in major US metropolitan areas and not college students. Food labels are kept simple and focus on key attributes of experimental goods. Diverse private information from the agricultural biotech industry (largely Monsanto and Syngenta), environmental groups (largely Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth) and independent third-party information is used to construct the information treatments. Food labels and information treatments are randomized, which is a deviation from traditional lab methods. Auctions are best described as sealed bid random n-th price and not the standard Vickery 2nd price auctions. I show that participants in these experiments respond to both food labels and information treatments, but no single type of information is dominant
Origin of dimethylsulfide, non-sea-salt sulfate, and methanesulfonic acid in eastern Antarctica

[1] Ignoring the origin of atmospheric chemicals is often a strong limitation to the full interpretation of their measurement. In this article, this question is addressed in the case of the sulfur species in Antarctica, with an original method of retrotransport of tracers. The retrotransport model is derived from the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique Zoom-Tracers (LMD-ZT) atmospheric general circulation model, optimized for polar climate and expanded to simulate atmospheric sulfur chemistry. For two East Antarctic scientific stations (Dumont d'Urville and Vostok) the effects of transport and chemistry and the influence of oceanic, volcanic, and anthropogenic sources on dimethylsulfide (DMS), non-sea-salt (nss) sulfate, and methanesulfonic acid (MSA) concentrations are evaluated in summer and winter. The oceanic source largely dominates, but other sources can episodically be significant. The meridional origin and the age of DMS, MSA, and biogenic nss sulfate are also estimated. The latitudes of origin of MSA and nss sulfate are similar in summer, but they differ markedly in winter. This is a signature of their different chemical production scheme. Also, the interannual variability of the origin of the sulfur species at Vostok is weak compared to that at Dumont d'Urville. Acknowledging that the DMS concentrations in the ocean have no interannual variability in the model, this result suggests unsurprisingly that inland Antarctic stations may be better observation sites to monitor large-scale DMS bioproductivity variability than coastal sites are. The combination of slower chemistry and more intense atmospheric circulation in winter leads to unexpected results, such as a younger DMS in winter than in summer at Vostok.
A new dynamical downscaling approach with GCM bias corrections and spectral nudging

To improve confidence in regional projections of future climate, a new dynamical downscaling (NDD) approach with both general circulation model (GCM) bias corrections and spectral nudging is developed and assessed over North America. GCM biases are corrected by adjusting GCM climatological means and variances based on reanalysis data before the GCM output is used to drive a regional climate model (RCM). Spectral nudging is also applied to constrain RCM‐based biases. Three sets of RCM experiments are integrated over a 31 year period. In the first set of experiments, the model configurations are identical except that the initial and lateral boundary conditions are derived from either the original GCM output, the bias‐corrected GCM output, or the reanalysis data. The second set of experiments is the same as the first set except spectral nudging is applied. The third set of experiments includes two sensitivity runs with both GCM bias corrections and nudging where the nudging strength is progressively reduced. All RCM simulations are assessed against North American Regional Reanalysis. The results show that NDD significantly improves the downscaled mean climate and climate variability relative to other GCM‐driven RCM downscaling approach in terms of climatological mean air temperature, geopotential height, wind vectors, and surface air temperature variability. In the NDD approach, spectral nudging introduces the effects of GCM bias corrections throughout the RCM domain rather than just limiting them to the initial and lateral boundary conditions, thereby minimizing climate drifts resulting from both the GCM and RCM biases.