Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary Intake of Endocrine Disrupting Substances Presents in Environment and Their Impact on Thyroid Function

According to the available data, environmental pollution is a serious problem all over the world. Between 2015 and 2016, pollution was responsible for approximately nine million deaths worldwide. They also include endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that can interfere with the functioning of the thyroid gland. They are characterized by high persistence in the environment. These substances can enter the body through the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory system, as well as contact with the skin and overcome the placental barrier. EDC can be found in food, water, and personal care products. They can get into food from the environment and as a result of their migration to food products and cosmetics from packaging. EDCs can disrupt the functioning of the thyroid gland through a number of mechanisms, including disrupting the activation of thyroid receptors and the expression of genes that are related to the metabolism, synthesis, and transport of thyroid hormones (HT). There is a need to strengthen the food safety policy that aimed at the use of appropriate materials in direct contact with food. At the same time, an important action is to reduce the production of all waste and, when possible, use biodegradable packaging, which may contribute to the improvement of the quality of the entire ecosystem and the health of food, thus reducing the risk of developing thyroid diseases.
Plant uptake of nitrogen from the organic nitrogen fraction of animal manures: a laboratory experiment

Twenty slurries, 20 farmyard manures (FYM) and 10 poultry manures were chemically analysed to characterize their nitrogen (N) fractions and to assess their potential organic N supply. The organic N fraction varied between manure types and represented from 14% to 99% of the total N content. The readily mineralizable N fraction, measured by refluxing with KCl, was largest in the pig FYMs and broiler litters, but on average only represented 7–8% of the total N content. A pot experiment was undertaken to measure N mineralization from the organic N fraction of 17 of these manures. The ammonium-N content of the manures was removed and the remaining organic N mixed with a low mineral N status sandy soil, which was sown with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). N offtake was used as a measure of mineralization throughout the 199 day experiment. The greatest N mineralization was measured from a layer manure and a pig slurry, where N offtake represented 56% and 37% of the organic N added, respectively. Lowest (%) N mineralization was measured from a dairy cow slurry (< 2%) and a beef FYM (6%). The mineralization rate was negatively related to the C[ratio ]organic N ratio of the ammonium-N stripped manures (P < 0·01, r = −0·63).
Chlorophyll a fluorescence in leaves of 'Ponkan' mandarin and the 'Tahiti' acid lime submitted to water stress

The research was carried out with the aim to evaluate the stress caused by water deficiency on a chlorophyll a fluorescence in 'Ponkan' mandarin and 'Tahiti' acid lime plants. The plants were grafted on Rangpur lime submitted to water stress in growth chamber under controlled conditions for induce the flowering. the stress caused by water deficiency submitted in plants of mandarin 'Ponkan' and 'Tahiti' lime decreased the potential quantum efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm). After the irrigation the plants showed fluorescence parameters values similar to those prior to stress submitted by water deficiency.
Possible selves and self-esteem in uncertain times

: The present study aimed to investigate young people’s possible selves in the context of a socio-economic crisis. Based on the idea that the formation of possible selves depends on the contextual characteristics of the immediate microsystem and the wider macrosystem, it was expected that the experience of uncertainty caused by the economic crisis would have an impact on their formation. The study also aimed to investigate whether self-esteem level and self-esteem stability correlate with the subjective probability of materializing one’s hopes and fears, as well as with the elaborated notions of possible selves. Participants were 236 young adults, aged 18-35. The results show that the most salient hoped-for selves were related to career and health. High self-esteem participants were more likely to report specific possible selves, both hoped and feared. Similarly, participants with high self-esteem reported higher probability of realizing their hoped-for and avoiding their feared selves.
The relationship of platelet lymphocyte ratio with prognosis in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Background: The aim of this study is to analyze prognostic biomarkers, and determine the biomarkers which are more sensitive in the patients that were presented with acute chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation to the emergency department. Materials and Methods: The data of 243 patients presented with acute COPD exacerbation and 122 COPD patients with stable status as control group were analyzed retrospectively. The patients, whose arterial blood gas (ABG) studied, with Acute COPD exacerbation were identified as Group I. The patients whose venous blood gas (VBG) studied were identified as Group II and stable COPD patients whose ABG studied were identified as Control Group. The prognostic biomarker values were compared in the patients of Group I, Group II and Control Group Results: The mean age of the patients was 68.61 ± 11.02 and the mean age of the control group was 68.25 ± 11.07. It was found that platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) values were very high in both Group I and Group II compared to the control Group (P < 0.001). There was a significant difference related with mean erythrocyte distribution width (RDW) in Group I, mean erythrocyte volume (MCV)’ in group II, MPV and platelet count (PLT) in both Group I and Group II (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Especially in acute COPD exacerbation, PLR may be a useful inflammatory biomarker to reflect the severity and activity of inflammation in COPD patients.
Secure and Optimized Load Balancing for Multitier IoT and Edge-Cloud Computing Systems

Mobile-edge computing (MEC) has emerged as a new computing paradigm with great potential to alleviate resource limitations attributed to mobile device users (MDUs) by offloading intensive computations to ubiquitous MEC server. However, most of the current offloading policies allow MDUs to transmit their tasks to the same connected small base stations (sBSs), which invariably increases latency and limits performance gain due to overload. Moreover, the security issue mitigating sensitive communication of information is not adequately addressed. Therefore, in this study, in addition to proposing a joint load balancing and computation offloading (CO) technique for MEC systems, we introduce a new security layer to circumvent potential security issues. First, a load balancing algorithm for efficient redistribution of MDUs among sBSs is proposed. In addition, a new advanced encryption standard (AES) cryptographic technique suffused with electrocardiogram (ECG) signal-based encryption and decryption key is presented as a security layer to safeguard the vulnerability of data during the transmission. Furthermore, an integrated model of load balancing, CO and security is formulated as a problem whose goal is to decrease the time and energy demands of the system. Detailed experimental results prove that our model with and without the additional security layers can save about 68.2% and 72.4% of system consumption compared to the local execution.
Superior Adaptations in Adolescent Runners Using Heart Rate Variability (HRV)-Guided Training at Altitude

We evaluated the efficacy of heart rate variability (HRV)-guided training in adolescent athletes during a 2-week, high altitude (≈1900 m) training camp. Sixteen middle- and long-distance runners (4 female/12 male, 16.9 ± 1.0 years, 65.44 ± 4.03 mL·kg−1·min−1) were divided into 2 matched groups, both of which received the same training plan, but one of which acquired postwaking HRV values that were used to tailor the training prescription. During the camp, seven athletes in the HRV-guided group combined for a total of 32 training adjustments, whereas there were only 3 runners combined for 14 total training adjustments in the control group. A significant group by time interaction (p < 0.001) for VO2max was driven by VO2max improvements in the HRV group (+2.8 mL·kg−1·min−1, +4.27%; pBonf = 0.002) that were not observed in the control condition (+0.8 mL·kg−1·min−1, +1.26%; pBonf = 0.643). After returning from the camp, all athletes in the HRV group set a personal best, and six out of eight achieved their best positions in the National Championship, whereas only 75% of athletes in the control group set a personal best and five out of eight achieved their best positions in the National Championship. These data provide evidence in support of HRV-guided training as a way to optimize training prescriptions in adolescent athletes.
Hybrid esophagectomy for oesophageal cancer: long-term results. A single-centre experience

Introduction The authors report long-term outcomes in patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and consequently underwent hybrid oesophagectomy for oesophageal cancer (OC). Aim To evaluate long-term outcomes in patients suffering from OC, who underwent hybrid oesophagectomy. Material and methods Our cohort consisted of patients suffering from OC, who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Hybrid esophagectomy was performed 8–10 weeks after oncological treatment. Results Ninety-four patients underwent surgery for OC from 2011 to 2015. Histology revealed adenocarcinoma in 60.6%, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in 36.2%, and other type of cancer in 3.2%. Seventy-three (77.7%) patients with advanced stage (T3-4, N0-2, M0) were indicated to receive neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT). Trans-hiatal hybrid oesophagectomy was performed in 83 (88.3%) patients. Transthoracic hybrid oesophagectomy was performed in 11 (11.7%) patients. Histology of the resected specimens of 18 (24.7%) patients did not reveal OC, i.e. pathological complete response (pCR). In our cohort, we proved an association between occurrence of pCR and age as well as disease-free survival (DFS). The patients who presented with pCR were significantly younger – below 60 years of age (p = 0.017). They also showed significantly higher mean DFS (p = 0.004). Conclusions Combined oesophagectomy with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy results in a better long-term outcome in patients suffering from oesophageal cancer. In our set of patients who underwent hybrid esophagectomy, satisfactory short-term and especially long-term results of surgical treatment for oesophageal cancer were observed.
Thermal conductivity of aqueous sodium chloride solutions

This paper presents new absolute measurements of the thermal conductivity of aqueous potassium chloride solutions using the transient coated-hot-wire technique. The data cover the range from 295 to 360 K at pressures slightly above the vapor pressures and over a concentration range of 0 to 3 mol } kg &1 . The instrument can be used to measure the thermal conductivity with a reproducibility of better than 0.2 0, and a comparison of the present results with data available in the literature indicates that the uncertainty of the present data is better than 0.5 0. An empirical correlation that reproduces the data within the claimed uncertainty is presented.
Environmental applications of fine bubble generating apparatus with low energy and high treatment efficiency

A fine bubble generating equipment maintaining 12 mg L–1 of dissolved oxygen concentration with low energy consumption was developed, on a trial basis, to solve various kinds of environmental problems such as heavy metals, high concentration of T-N, malodor and hydrogen sulfide from the sewage treatment plant. Such heavy metals as Fe, As of acid mine drainage from stormwater runoff were effectively oxidized depending on aeration period. Almost 90% of T-N removal efficiency was obtained at around 10,000 mg L–1 concentration. On average, 55.6% removal efficiency for hydrogen sulfide was achieved in the reactor. The development of a novel reactor generating fine bubbles may be of use not only to protect water qualities polluted but also to keep clean air qualities.
Theories of Immigrant Entrepreneurship in the South African Context

Craft-making has always been central to the African way of life and various forms of craft have been observed in many parts of Africa. Cape Town is a well-known destination for many immigrants who have adopted craft-making as a business and a form of employment. Most of these immigrants run survivalist and micro craft enterprises with very few of them having grown to reach the small to medium-sized business threshold. Even though numerous studies have attempted to explain immigrant entrepreneurship in general, few of them focussed on understanding the theories of immigrant entrepreneurship in the South African context. The present article was formulated to explore and explain theories of immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa. The methodology involved a systematic review of literature, which aimed to identify the theories that best explained immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa.
Transient nucleation in condensed systems

Using classical nucleation theory we consider transient nucleation occurring in a one‐component, condensed system under isothermal conditions. We obtain an exact closed‐form expression for the time dependent cluster populations. In addition, a more versatile approach is developed: a numerical simulation technique which models directly the reactions by which clusters are produced. This simulation demonstrates the evolution of cluster populations and nucleation rate in the transient regime. Results from the simulation are verified by comparison with exact analytical solutions for the steady state. Experimental methods for measuring transient nucleation are assessed, and it is demonstrated that the observed behavior depends on the method used. The effect of preexisting cluster distributions is studied. Previous analytical and numerical treatments of transient nucleation are compared to the solutions obtained from the simulation. The simple expressions of Kashchiev are shown to give good descriptions of the n.
Medicines that are Biologicals, or maybe not: The Strange Case of Teriparatide Forsteo® and its Copy Drugs

Medicines that are Biologicals, or Maybe Not: The Strange Case of Teriparatide Forsteo® and its Copy Drugs Daniela Pilunni1, Pierluigi Navarra2* Post-graduate School of Hospital Pharmacy, ‘La Sapienza’ University, Rome, Italy; Department of Healthcare Surveillance and Bioethics, Section of Pharmacology, Catholic University Medical School, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A, Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
Development of Inquiry-Based Practicum Module on Supply Management Course to Strengthening Students Self Regulated

The aim of this research is to strengthen a student’s self regulated by produce an Inquiry based practicum module of supply management course for Office Administration Education Students, Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Malang. The practicum module developed in the form of mold to facilitate students in learning anytime and anywhere. This module provides the material and practice of practicum that can be directly used by students to know the level of student understanding. This research is Research and Development type, using a modified Borg & Gall model. Products have been tested for eligibility by module and material experts and tested on students. The results showed that the developed modules gained a good judgment from the module expert validator, the material expert validator and the student so that the practice-based inquiry management module inquiry was suitable for use as a teaching material at the lecturing process and help the students in developing their self regulated skills.
Reaction mechanism and rate constants of the CH+CH4 reaction: a theoretical study

Ab initio and density functional calculations have been performed to elucidate the mechanism of CH radical insertion into methane. The results show that the reaction can be viewed to occur via two stages. On the first stage, the CH radical approaches methane without large structural changes to acquire proper positioning for the subsequent stage, where H-migration occurs from CH4 to CH, along with a C–C bond formation. Where the first stage ends and the second begins, a tight transition state was located using the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) and MP4(SDQ)/6-311++G(d,p) methods. Using a rigid rotor – harmonic oscillator approach within transition state theory, we show that at the MP5/6-311++G(d,p)//MP4(SDQ)/6-311++G(d,p) level the calculated rate constants are in a reasonably good agreement with experiment in a broad temperature range of 145–581 K. Even at low temperatures, the insertion reaction bottleneck is found about the location of the tight transition state, rather than at long separations between the CH and CH4 reactants. In addition, high level CCSD(T)-F12/CBS calculations of the remainder of the C2H5 potential energy surface predict the CH+CH4 reaction to proceed via the initial insertion step to the ethyl radical which then can emit a hydrogen atom to form highly exothermic C2H4+H products.
Connections Between Extremal Combinatorics, Probabilistic Methods, Ricci Curvature of Graphs, and Linear Algebra

This thesis studies some problems in extremal and probabilistic combinatorics, Ricci curvature of graphs, spectral hypergraph theory and the interplay between these areas. The first main focus of this thesis is to investigate several Ramsey-type problems on graphs, hypergraphs and sequences using probabilistic, combinatorial, algorithmic and spectral techniques: • The size-Ramsey number R̂(G, r) is defined as the minimum number of edges in a hypergraph H such that every r-edge-coloring of H contains a monochromatic copy of G in H. We improved a result of Dudek, La Fleur, Mubayi and Rödl [ J. Graph Theory 2017 ] on the size-Ramsey number of tight paths and extended it to more colors. • An edge-colored graph G is called rainbow if every edge of G receives a different color. The anti-Ramsey number of t edge-disjoint rainbow spanning trees, denoted by r(n, t), is defined as the maximum number of colors in an edge-coloring of Kn containing no t edge-disjoint rainbow spanning trees. Confirming a conjecture of Jahanbekam and West [J. Graph Theory 2016], we determine the anti-Ramsey number of t edge-disjoint rainbow spanning trees for all values of n and t. • We study the extremal problems on Berge hypergraphs. Given a graph G = (V,E), a hypergraph H is called a Berge-G, denoted by BG, if there exists an injection i ∶ V (G) → V (H) and a bijection f ∶ E(G) → E(H) such that for every e = uv ∈ E(G), (i(u), i(v)) ⊆ f(e). We investigate the hypergraph Ramsey
QoEMultiSDN: Management of Multimedia Services using MPTCP/SR in Softwarized and Virtualized Networks

5G networks are set to empower new user experiences for multimedia streaming services by offering high data rates and low latency. The rapid growth of multimedia services, such as video streaming services over future softwarized 5G networks, poses great challenges for both service providers and network operators regarding service provisioning with high Quality of Experience (QoE). Network evolution towards Software Deﬁned Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) provides new opportunities to develop innovative ways to address the challenges. In this paper, we present a novel QoE-aware management scheme based on SDN/NFV by utilizing Multi-Path-TCP/Segment-Routing (MPTCP/SR) techniques and exploring information from both the network and client. The new scheme, entitled QoEMultiSDN, provides an optimized end-to-end QoE for multimedia service delivery. QoEMultiSDN employs two novel strategies to achieve this: (a) QoE-based multisource routing and QoE optimization, and (b) multipath protection and dynamic link-failure-free mechanisms. We implemented the proposed scheme over SDN through Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) experiments using Mininet, POX and OpenDaylight controllers, and compared its performance with MPTCP and regular TCP. Experimental results indicate that the QoEMultiSDN outperforms others in terms of system throughput, failure recovery time and the QoE of the end-user.
Dicopper(II) Complexes of the Antitumor Analogues Acylbis(salicylaldehyde hydrazones) and Crystal Structures of Monomeric [Cu2(1,3-propanedioyl bis(salicylaldehyde hydrazone))(H2O)2]·(ClO4)2·3H2O and Polymeric [{Cu2(1,6-hexanedioyl bis(salicylaldehyde hydrazone))(C2H5OH)2}m]·(ClO4)2m·m(C2H5OH)

Salicylaldehyde hydrazones derived from acyldicarboxylic acids (H4Ln, where n = 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14 and is the number of methylene units) of varying chain length have been prepared, and their dicopper(II) complexes have been isolated as bis analogues of antitumor carboxylate hydrazones. The predominant structural form adopted is polymeric, with [{Cu2Ln}m] formed in neutral or basic solution, [{Cu2(H2Ln)Cl2}m] from dilute HCl, and [{Cu2(H2Ln)}m]·(ClO4)2m from dilute HClO4. The crystal structures of [Cu2(H2L1)(H2O)2]·(ClO4)2·3H2O and [{Cu2(H2L4)(C2H5OH)2}m]·(ClO4)2m·m(C2H5OH) have been determined. The structure of [Cu2(H2L1)(H2O)2]· (ClO4)2·3H2O consists of discrete di-Cu(II) molecules with nonsymmetry-related Cu(II) centers. The copper atoms are square-planar with H2L1 supplying two tridentate, monoanionic ONO domains and water completing the coordination sphere. The two metal-binding domains are inclined at 80° to each other. For [{Cu2(H2L4)(C2H5OH)2}m]·(ClO4)2m·m(C2H5OH) the symmetry-related copper .
Hypertension among Police Personnel with Reference to Perceived Stress - A Cross Sectional Study

Aim: A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 340 police personnel for finding the prevalence of hypertension and associated risk factors with a reference to perceived stress from Dec 15 to Dec 17 in metro city in central India. Methods: In this study, after obtaining written informed consent, hypertension among police personnel was measured and classified as per strategy of WHO STEPS wise approach and criteria used was JNCVIII. The height and weight was assessed by standard methods and the perceived stress was measured by validated and structured scale PSS-10. The data were collected and entered into excel spreadsheet and analysis of data was done by Epi Info 7.2.2. 2 and Open Epi 3.01. Results: The prevalence of hypertension in study group was 37.6% (128 out of 340 participants) and perceived stress scale – 10 reported 43% of participants had surprisingly reported low stress, followed by average stress (38%) among study population. The factors with significant association with hypertension were reported as age, sex, education, designation, length of service, tobacco and alcohol consumption, additional salt intake, body mass index and waist to hip ratio, positive family history of hypertension and perceived stress. The length of service and family history of hypertension were reported significant on multivariate analysis. Conclusion: The association of stress was found to be significant with designation, tobacco and alcohol consumption and length of service among study participants and only alcohol consumption and family history of hypertension on multivariate analysis.