Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Burden of noise induced hearing loss among manufacturing industrial workers in Malaysia

Background: Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the highest reported occupational disease among industrial workers but there is scarcity of data on disease burden in Malaysia. This study estimated the risks and burden of NIHL in manufacturing industries in Malaysia. Methods: This cross-sectional industrial survey was conducted by interviewing OSH practitioners at 26 industries categorized as food, tobacco, textile, wearing apparel, wood products except furniture, paper, refined petroleum, chemicals, non-metallic mineral, basic metal, fabricated metal, motor vehicle parts. The catchment population is imputed based on stratified sampling design involving 60% of workers diagnosed with NIHL. Results: A total of 18 industries exposed to noise level of 86-90dBA and 8 industries at more than 91dBA were identified. All industries provide regular awareness training and hearing protection device to their workers but none of them implement attenuation, majority of them (81%) conduct onsite audiometric test annually. In overall, the risk of NIHL and incidence per 100,000 manufacturing workers projected is 8% (139 new cases), the highest risk and incidence is 32% (26) in motor vehicle parts industry; followed by 23% (1140 new cases) in tobacco industry and 23% (269 new cases) in fabricated metal industry. Male workers (89%) were exposed to a greater risk compared to female (11%). It was estimated that 103,000 workers were potentially affected by NIHL in Malaysia. Conclusion: NIHL is a major burden among industrial workers in Malaysia. Implementation of effective hearing conservation program and self-enforcement of noise regulations by the employer could potentially reduce the burden.
Trophy Hunting and Conservation in Africa: Problems and One Potential Solution

PETER A. LINDSEY,∗†† L. G. FRANK,† R. ALEXANDER,‡ A. MATHIESON,§ AND S. S. ROMANACH∗ ∗Tropical Resource Ecology Programme, University of Zimbabwe, Box 167, Mt. Pleasant, Zimbabwe †Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720-3160, U.S.A. ‡Department of Environmental Studies, Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA 24595, U.S.A. §Mpala research Centre, P.O. Box 555, Nanyuki, Kenya
ffects of hydrothermal processing on nutritional value of Canavalia nsiformis and its utilization by Clarias gariepinus ( Burchell , 1822 )

Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis) is one of the underutilized legumes in animal feed production partly because of its high antinutritional factors. This study investigated the nutritional value of C. ensiformis seed subjected to hydrothermal processing in the diet of the African catfish Clarias gariepinus. Five batches of C. ensiformis seeds were hydrothermally processed in boiling water (100 ◦C) for 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 min, respectively. Proximate composition of the seed showed no significant effect of hydrothermal processing on protein and fat content of C. ensiformis. However, all essential amino acids were significantly affected. The anti-nutritional factor canavanine was not markedly reduced even at 40 min hydrothermal processing. Fifty fingerlings of C. gariepinus (1.07 ± 0.01 g) were stocked in 15 hapas measuring 1 × 1 × 1m3, ydrothermal nti-nutritional factor frican catfish labeled in triplicate according to five isonitrogenous diets (35% CP) formulated using the processed C. ensiformis seed at an inclusion level of 27%. The highest body weight gain (2.73 g), specific growth rate (2.26gday−1), feed conversion efficiency (34.11%) and protein efficiency ratio (0.078) were observed at hydrothermal treatment of 30 and 40 min. Hydrothermal processing of C. ensiformis up to 40 min could be exploited in the commercial and on-farm production of catfish diet at 27% level of inclusion. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
The Role of Adrenergic and Cholinergic Receptors on the Antinociception of Korean Red Ginseng in the Spinal Cord of Rats

Background: Experimental evidence indicates that ginseng modulate the nociceptive transmission. Authorsexamined the role of adrenergic and cholinergic receptors on the antinociceptive action of Korean red ginsengagainst the formalin-induced pain at the spinal level.Methods: Catheters were inserted into the intrathecal space of male Sprague-DawIey rats. Fifty tA of 5%formalin solution was injected to the hindpaw for induction of pain and formalin-induced pain (flinching response)was observed. The role of spinal adrenergic and cholinergic receptors on the effect of Korean red ginseng wasassessed by antagonists (Prazosin, yohimbine, atropine and mecamylamine). Results: Intrathecal Korean red ginseng produced a dose-dependent suppression of the flinching responsein the rat formalin test. AII of prazosin, yohimbine, atropine and mecamylamine antagonized the antinociceptionof Korean red ginseng.Conclusions: Spinal Korean red ginseng is effective against acute pain and facilitated pain state evokedby formalin injection. AII of alpha 1, alpha 2, muscarinic and nicotinic receptors may play an important rolein the antinociceptive action of Korean red ginseng at the spinal level. (Korean J Pain 2008; 21: 27-32)
Comparison of radiation damage in silicon induced by proton and neutron irradiation

The subject of radiation damage to Si detectors induced by 24-GeV/c protons and nuclear reactor neutrons has been studied. Detectors fabricated on single-crystal silicon enriched with various impurities have been tested. Significant differences in electrically active defects have been found between the various types of material. The results of the study suggest for the first time that the widely used nonionizing energy loss (NIEL) factors are insufficient for normalization of the electrically active damage in case of oxygen- and carbon-enriched silicon detectors. It has been found that a deliberate introduction of impurities into the semiconductor can affect the radiation hardness of silicon detectors.
Conflicting National Recommendations and the Use of Screening Mammography: Does the Physician's Recommendation Matter?

Background: This study evaluated whether women's perceptions of the conflicting recommendations for breast cancer screening were associated with decreased use of mammography. Methods: We conducted a random-digit-dial telephone survey of 1024 women in four communities of western Washington State. In addition to collecting data for demographics, beliefs about mammography, and insurance coverage, we inquired whether the respondents were aware of any conflicting recommendations about when to begin or how frequently to perform screening mammography, whether their physicians had recommended a mammogram, and whether they were likely to do what their physicians recommended. After grouping women according to whether they perceived conflicting recommendations, we used chi-square statistics to compare the distribution of proportions of women by age, race, household income, education, and insurance coverage. To estimate the odds of their having a mammogram in the previous 2 years (yes or no), we used multivariate logistic regression and included the above variables as covariates. Results: Sixty-two percent of eligible women completed the survey, and 49 percent (479 of 985) perceived conflicting recommendations. The association between perceiving conflict and mammography use was not significant. Eighty-three percent of women who perceived conflicting recommendations reported being more comfortable using their own judgment about getting the procedure. After controlling for whether women perceived conflicting recommendations and all other factors, women who said they followed their physician's advice but did not recall their physician recommending mammography were 71 percent less likely to have received a recent mammogram than were women who reported their physician did recommend it (odds ratio 0.29, confidence interval 0.16-0.51). Conclusions: The conflicting recommendations surrounding breast cancer screening are not influencing women's choices about mammography. The physician recommendation and women's self-reported likeliness to follow it are the most important factors associated with mammography use.
Cloning, Expression, and Localization of 230-kDa Phosphatidylinositol 4-Kinase (*)

A phosphatidylinositol (PI) 4-kinase cDNA was cloned from a rat brain cDNA library. This cDNA encoded a protein of 2041 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 231,317. The deduced amino acid sequence shared the identity of 52.3 and 34.4% in the presumed catalytic domain with two yeast PI 4-kinases, STT4 and PIK1, respectively, and showed 31.7% identity to p110α subunit of rat PI 3-kinase in the same domain. In addition, a 3′ half coding region of the present cDNA was 89.6% identical to and its deduced amino acid sequence was 98.2% identical to the sequence for PI4Kα, a recently reported human PI 4-kinase of type II, suggesting that PI4Kα is an alternative form of the present PI 4-kinase molecule. The present cDNA contained sequences encoding the ankyrin repeat domain, lipid kinase unique domain, pleckstrin homology domain, presumed lipid kinase/protein kinase homology domain, proline-rich region, and SH3 domain. By examining PI kinase activity in transfected COS-7 cells using the epitope tag immunoprecipitation as well as the conventional way, the product phosphatidylinositol phosphate was identified as phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate but not phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate. This PI 4-kinase activity was markedly enhanced in the presence of Triton X-100 but relatively insensitive to inhibition by adenosine. By epitope tag immunohistochemistry, the immunoreactivity for this PI 4-kinase molecule was largely localized in close association with the membranes of the Golgi vesicles and vacuoles. By in situ hybridization analysis, the expression of mRNA for this PI 4-kinase was evident throughout the gray matter of entire brain with higher expression intensity in fetal brain. These data imply that this novel PI 4-kinase is involved in some processes essential to neuronal differentiation and maturation including the synaptogenesis and synaptic plasticity.
Comparative Analysis of Utilization Based Hybrid Overlay for Live Video Streaming in P2P Network

With a sudden surge in demand for live video streaming using peer to peer (P2P) network, there has been a rise of traffic in media transmission applications that employ this P2P approach. P2P is a decentralized media communication method which is more cost effective, and scalable. However, the traditional peer to peer network architecture has several limitations, and overlay construction is one of them. The two different unstructured overlay approaches like tree and mesh have already been discussed. This paper gives a detailed comparison of various overlay approaches in P2P networks. We have also proposed and implemented a utilization based hybrid overlay approach for the P2P network. The two crucial parameters which are primarily considered while overlay construction is: peer upload bandwidth and peer resource utilization. For the purpose of verifying our approach, we have done a comparative analysis of the proposed utilization based approach with the popular DenaCast approach. The different QoS parameters like start-up delay, playback delay, end to end delay, frame loss ratio are used for verifying our approach. The simulation results presented in this paper provide better network performance and quality of video at receiver side.
Designing Commenting Mechanisms for Dynamic Media: Synchronous Overlay and Adjacent Scrollable

Online interactions with dynamic media include both the content of media clips and comments, the latter expressing users' thoughts and attitudes towards media clips and one another. Effective interfaces must thus jointly support engagement with dynamic media as well with the viewpoints of others. In this paper, we report an experimental comparison of user interaction and engagement with two alternative designs for presenting comments on dynamic media: 'danmaku' Synchronous Overlay (SO) and Adjacent Scrollable (AS). Twenty participants each played two video clips of different political speeches, one with SO and the other with AS. Our findings suggest that when using SO participants felt a stronger sense of togetherness but remembered less about the comments than when using AS. We argue that commenting mechanisms are powerful elements of interaction design for making sense of others' opinions and feelings.
Experimental Social Psychology in Japan: Studies in Social Conformity

Research on Japanese conformity is not only of interest and value in its own right, it is also a representative issue that can tell us a great deal about Japanese experimental social psychology. Rather than give a superficial overview of all social psychology, I think it more profitable to discuss, in some detail, the topic of conformity as an example of the state of social psychology in Japan today. Theory and research related to conformity in Japan have a further significance. Experimental research can yield new perspectives on old issues in Japanese area studies. Careful, quantitative laboratory studies of social behavior can be a valuable, even indispensable, adjunct to anthropological field studies and sociological survey research. As Gaudill has pointed out earlier in this volume, many statements about behavior in Japan are implicitly comparative. Scholars have often written that "The Japanese are very 'x"' (introverted, excitable, inscrutable, skillful, or whatever), or "In Japan there is a high rate of 'y"' (suicide, dissatisfaction, conformity, and so forth). In all such statements, the writer is implying a baseline. Otherwise the terms "very" and "high rate" are meaningless. Empirical research is badly needed because intuitive and implicit judgments are often unreliable. * As an important issue in its own right, conformity merits greater attention than it has yet received in studies of culture and personality. Most research in culture and personality is still devoted to child rearing and early socialization. Thus conformity research, which tends to focus on adult social behavior, has been generally ignored in spite of virtually unanimous agreement among scholars on the need for more comparative research on adult behavior (viz. Inkeles and Levinson 1969).
Measurement of basophil‐activating capacity of grass pollen allergens, allergoids and hypoallergenic recombinant derivatives by flow cytometry using anti‐CD203c

Background The assessment of the basophil‐activating potential is an important aspect in the development of improved preparations for specific immunotherapy. The aim of the study was to evaluate the suitability of CD203c expression as a measure of basophil activation to compare allergoids with original allergen extracts, and recombinant hypoallergenic allergen derivatives with recombinant wild‐type and natural allergens.
Diversité et exploitation des équidés au Tardiglaciaire en Europe occidentale : implications pour les stratégies de subsistance et les modes de vie au Magdalénien et à l'Azilien du Bassin parisien

Une analyse des interactions entre les societes humaines et les populations de chevaux est envisagee dans le cadre du Tardiglaciaire en Europe occidentale, periode d'instabilite climatique et environnementale. L'analyse de la diversite des equides a ete realisee en fonctions de trois regions : le Bassin parisien, le Plateau suisse et la Charente. Des analyses en morphometrie conventionnelle sur differentes parties squelettiques debouchent sur l'observation d'une regionalisation des populations de chevaux, se demarquant du taxon de reference, Equuq caballus arcelini, Guadelli 1991. La fragmentation des aires de repartition implique des faible flux genetiques entre les regions, une forte densite demographique et l'absence de migrations a grande echelle. En revanche, il est possible d'avancer que les chevaux ont frequente des habitats similaires (plaines de fonds des vallees, berges de cours d'eau, marais). L'analyse de l'exploitation des equides a permis d'apprehender les schemas socio-economiques au Magdalenien et a l'Azilien ancien dans le Bassin parisien, aidee en cela par une etude comparative des Magdaleniens du Plateau suisse. Dans ces regions, l'existence de grands sites de boucherie montre une exploitation annuelle des groupes familiaux de chevaux, abattus lors de chasses collectives. Inversement, partout ou les spectres de chevaux sont domines par le renne, les chevaux ont ete abattus lors de chasses plus modestes. Le modele de " complementarite fonctionnelle " des sites magdaleniens est envisage, malgre les incertitudes chronologiques liees a l'existence d'un plateau radiocarbone. Pour l'Azilien ancien, les strategies d'exploitation se demarquent par l'emploi de tactiques d'approche ou de poursuite repetees a diverses saisons, mais moins efficientes. La plausible contemporaneite de ces deux entites culturelles dans le Bassin parisien pourrait avoir ete favorisee par la presence de grandes populations de chevaux.
Xavier : A Reinforcement-Learning Approach to TCP Congestion Control CS 221 Final Report

Controlling congestion is a fundmanetal problem in computer networks. If the input load is greater than the output bandwidth at a particular switch, the bottleneck’s queue begins to fill up and we say that it is congested. In pathological scenarios and under certain protocols, the saturation of buffers, or bufferbloat [5], can lead to congestion collapse, a condition in which congestion reaches a level sufficient to limit useful communication and encourage redundant packet retransmissions [9]. The twin problems of bufferbloat and congestion control have come into sharp relief over the past decade. In 2002, 100 GB of IP traffic were trasmitted globally per second; in 2014, that number rose to 16,144 GB/s, and by 2019, Cisco predits that it will rise to 51,794 GB/s [7].
Excessive daytime sleepiness in a general population sample: the role of sleep apnea, age, obesity, diabetes, and depression.

CONTEXT Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is commonly considered a cardinal sign of sleep apnea; however, the mechanism underlying the association is unclear. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the association between the complaint of EDS and sleep apnea, considering a wide range of possible risk factors in a population sample. DESIGN AND SETTING We examined this question in the Penn State cohort (a random sample of 16,583 men and women from central Pennsylvania, ranging in age from 20 to 100 yr). A random subset of this cohort (n = 1,741) was further evaluated for one night in the sleep laboratory. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The main measure was a complaint of EDS. RESULTS The final logistic regression model indicated depression was the most significant risk factor for EDS followed by body mass index, age, typical sleep duration, diabetes, smoking, and finally sleep apnea. The strength of the association with EDS decreased with increasing age, whereas the association of depression with EDS was stronger in the young. EDS is more prevalent in the young (<30 yr), suggesting the presence of unmet sleep needs and depression, and in the very old (>75 yr), suggesting increasing medical illness and health problems. EDS was associated with a reduced report of typical sleep duration without any association with objective polysomnographic measures. CONCLUSIONS It appears that the presence of EDS is more strongly associated with depression and metabolic factors than with sleep-disordered breathing or sleep disruption per se. Our findings suggest that patients with a complaint of EDS should be thoroughly assessed for depression and obesity/diabetes independent of whether sleep-disordered breathing is present.
Effect of low-ratio n-6/n-3 PUFA on blood glucose: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the effect of increasing dietary low-ratio n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake on blood glucose and other related indicators. METHODS We systematically searched randomized controlled trials of low-ratio n-6/n-3 PUFA intervention on PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library and related references up to August 2018. The change values were calculated as the weighted mean difference (WMD) by using a random-effect model. RESULTS Eleven randomized controlled trials were included. No significant effect of dietary low-ratio n-6/n-3 PUFA supplementation was observed on fasting blood glucose (WMD: 0.057 mmol L-1; 95% CI: -0.090 to 0.204 mmol L-1), insulin (WMD: -0.757 mIU L-1; 95% CI: -2.419 to 0.904 mIU L-1), insulin resistance index (WMD: -0.201; 95% CI: -0.566 to 0.165), and glycosylated hemoglobin (WMD: -0.063%; 95% CI: -0.061 to 0.186%). Subgroup analysis showed that the effect of low-ratio n-6/n-3 PUFA on the reduction of the plasma insulin level in North America (WMD: -3.473 mIU L-1; 95% CI: -5.760 to -1.185 mIU L-1) was more obvious than that in Asian countries (WMD: -0.797 mIU L-1; 95% CI: -2.497 to 0.902 mIU L-1) and European countries (WMD: -0.063 mIU L-1; 95% CI: -0.061 to 0.186 mIU L-1). In the subgroup of diabetic subjects, low-ratio n-6/n-3 PUFA supplementation can decrease the plasma insulin level (WMD: -3.010 mIU L-1; 95% CI: -5.371 to -0.648 mIU L-1) and insulin resistance index (WMD: -0.460; 95% CI: -0.908 to -0.012). When the intervention period was longer than 8 weeks, low-ratio n-6/n-3 PUFA supplementation could also decrease the plasma insulin level (WMD: -2.782 mIU L-1; 95% CI: -4.946 to -0.618 mIU L-1). No significant publication bias was observed for all blood glucose and other related indicators as suggested by Begg's test and Egger's test. CONCLUSION Our meta-analysis found that low-ratio n-6/n-3 PUFA supplementation could improve the glucose metabolism by reducing the insulin and insulin resistance in the diabetic patients. Low-ratio n-6/n-3 PUFA supplementation could reduce the plasma insulin level when the supplementation duration was longer than 8 weeks.