Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Authentication of commercially available frozen shrimp meats using DNA barcoding

Shrimps and prawns are quite nutritious and provide quality protein, omega-3 fatty acids, certain antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals like iodine. Therefore, they are healthy food for human consumption. In order to find out fish fraud in value-added products, in this study, six frozen shrimp species packed and sold by different commercial companies were purchased, correctly identified using DNA barcoding of mt-COI gene, and the sequences were authenticated properly with the GenBank. The genomic DNA isolated from frozen shrimp samples showed greater than 10 kb. Their amplified products showed 564–770 bp of mt-COI gene. The BLAST results for the labeled frozen shrimp sample Litopenaeus vannamei showed maximum similarity (99%–100%) with the same species sequences available with NCBI database. Five unlabeled sample sequences (two samples taken from two independent packets, and three samples taken from one mixed shrimp packet) showed maximum similarity with the sequences available in the NCBI database and exactly identified as Fenneropenaeus merguiensis, Penaeus monodon, Fenneropenaeus indicus, Penaeus semisulcatus, and P. monodon, respectively. These six sequences showed more variable amino acid sites than the identical and similar amino acid residues within themselves. The AT biases (61.5%–67.51%, P. semisulcatus and P. monodon taken from unlabeled mixed packet) and GC biases (32.9%–38.6%, P. monodon and P. semisulcatus) varied among these six species sequences, which indicated less NUMTs gene. The interspecies divergence rate calculated for these six species ranged between 0.434 and 3.401 (L. vennamei vs. F. indicus, and F. merguiensis vs. P. monodon, taken from unlabeled independent packet). Thus, it is recommended that DNA barcoding of mt-COI gene can be used to identify any unlabeled or labeled shrimp/prawn/seafood available in the market to avoid fish fraud.
ELUCIDATION OF NUTRITIONAL, PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF TEUCRIUM POLIUM L GROWN IN LIBYA

Consumption of plant compounds play a crucial role in promoting health by improving the nutritional value of diet and preventing several chronic conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes and neurological diseases. The current work aimed to analyse qualitatively and quantitatively the stem and leave extracts of Teucrium polium L. (Lamiaceae) grown in Libya for proximate, nutritional and phytochemical constituents as well as their biological properties. Methanolic extracts of leaves and stems were employed to evaluate their content of some of the primary and secondary compounds by several standard methods using a spectrophotometer. Additionally, the antioxidant properties of extracts were assessed using various in vitro systems including 1,1diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), nitric oxide (NO) radicals scavenging ability, Lipid peroxidation activity, phosphomolybdenum reduction, and reducing power activity at different concentrations (6.25 to 100 mg/ml). Moreover, the cytotoxic effect of extracts was tested by measuring the Hemolytic activity against human red blood cells (hRBCs) while the anti-inflammatory was investigated by measuring the Inhibition of albumin denaturation. Results showed that the leaves had a higher concentration of carbohydrates, protein, fat, phenols, flavonoids, flavanols, tannins, catechins and coumarins, whereas the stems had a higher concentration of alkaloids. Correspondingly, the leaves displayed higher antioxidant properties (specifically, combatting lipid peroxidation) and a greater prevention of albumin denaturation than the stems. Both extracts inhibited hemolysis. Our findings provided valuable insight into the efficacy and applicability of plant compounds in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
Aging And Emotional Effects On Working Memory And Long-Term Memory For Target And Distracting Information

To resolve discrepancies between studies on the effects of emotional content on working memory, and to examine changes with age, this study examined the effects of emotional content on working memory and subsequent long-term memory for targets and distracters. Thirty-six younger (ages 18-29) and 36 older adults (ages 65-87) participated in a working memory task in which they viewed two target words intermixed with two distracters followed by a probe word, and responded to whether the probe was a target word. The emotional content (valence and arousal) of targets and distracters was manipulated. Subsequent long-term memory was tested with a free recall task. Results indicated that emotional content of targets facilitated working adults experiencing disruption from positive and neutral distracters, and older adults experiencing interference from negative distracters. Emotional effects in long-term memory were only seen for younger adults.
Leveraging Transfer Learning for Segmenting Lesions and their Attributes in Dermoscopy Images

Computer-aided diagnosis systems for classification of different type of skin lesions have been an active field of research in recent decades. It has been shown that introducing lesions and their attributes masks into lesion classification pipeline can greatly improve the performance. In this paper, we propose a framework by incorporating transfer learning for segmenting lesions and their attributes based on the convolutional neural networks. The proposed framework is inspired by the well-known UNet architecture. It utilizes a variety of pre-trained networks in the encoding path and generates the prediction map by combining multi-scale information in decoding path using a pyramid pooling manner. To circumvent the lack of training data and increase the proposed model generalization, an extensive set of novel augmentation routines have been applied during the training of the network. Moreover, for each task of lesion and attribute segmentation, a specific loss function has been designed to obviate the training phase difficulties. Finally, the prediction for each task is generated by ensembling the outputs from different models. The proposed approach achieves promising results on the cross-validation experiments on the ISIC2018- Task1 and Task2 data sets.
Boolean Minimization of Projected Sums of Products via Boolean Relations

Projected Sums of Products (PSOPs) are a Generalized Shannon Decomposition (GSD) with remainder that restructures a logic function into three logic blocks corresponding to a logic bi-decomposition plus a reminder generated by a cofactoring function. In this paper we discuss a Boolean synthesis technique for PSOPs, which exploits the fact that the resulting logical structure induces don't care conditions that can be exploited to reduce the problem of area minimization to Boolean relation minimization, with the guarantee that all valid realizations of the circuit are considered. This technique is more general than the algebraic methods investigated so far. Moreover, we characterize the points that are in the remainder with a simple procedure that implies a fast construction of the Boolean relation for important classes of cofactoring functions like the chain of XORs or ANDs. We report experiments confirming the effectiveness in area of the proposed approach based on Boolean relations, with better run times for some cost functions.
The Creation of Technological Interactive Cerdik BM Series 1 as an Innovation of Pedagogical Tool to Support Malay Language Skills

Education is a process of growth and development as a result of individual interaction with the social and physical spheres. Basic skills such as reading and writing skills are important to children in the world including Malaysia. Therefore, the Literacy and Numeracy Screening (LINUS) program was introduced to help children achieve these two skills. LINUS children can be as successful as the mainstream students but they need some kind of pedagogical innovations to help, motivate and engage them in learning. As such, interactive pedagogical tool innovation helps in the dissemination of information by teachers to students. In this study, qualitative research method was used to gain LINUS teachers' and students' insights into the innovative application of Cerdik BM Series 1. Interviews with semi-structured protocols were conducted on ten LINUS teachers and six Linus students in Northern Malaysia. The results showed that LINUS teachers and students responded positively to the Cerdik BM Series 1. The application of virtual game-based learning approach can create an entertainment learning environment to stimulate LINUS students which helps to improve their literacy skills. Per se, an innovative pedagogical tool that integrates technology can increase the interest of students, especially primary school students.
Optimal Transmission Policy Derivation for IoNT Flow-Guided Nano-Sensor Networks

By empowering the Internet of Things (IoT) with nanoscale communications, thousands of small devices, called nano-nodes, are enabled to monitor complex environments in a nonintrusive way, giving rise to the Internet of Nano-Things (IoNT) paradigm. It is in one of these very complex and critical environments, the human cardiovascular system, where IoNT might stand out. However, the supervision of human health poses significant challenges: first, to reduce costs and allow in vivo monitoring nano-sensor networks, the number of deployed nano-routers must be limited, which could cause nano-nodes to undergo long out-of-coverage periods. Lastly, nano-nodes rely on harvested energy from the medium, which severely reduces the number of potential transmissions. To overcome these two problems, smart policies that direct devices on how to proceed with sensed events are crucial. In this line, we propose a generic Markov decision process (MDP) model which can be exploited to derive optimal transmission policies that are easily employed by nano-nodes. These policies maximize nano-node throughput and cope with the energy and coverage problems. We have also run a set of simulations to validate our proposal and to compare it to other alternative policies. Results reveal that: 1) our policy systematically outperforms the rest of policies by a large margin and 2) precision in placing nano-routers and average distance between them strongly affect the nano-network performance. The Python code for the MDP model and simulations has been programmed to be easily adaptable to researchers’ needs, making it easier for future IoNT works to add intelligence to the network.
Evaluating earwitness identification procedures: adapting pre-parade instructions and parade procedure

ABSTRACT Voice identification parades can be unreliable, as earwitness responses are error-prone. In this paper we tested performance across serial and sequential procedures, and varied pre-parade instructions, with the aim of reducing errors. The participants heard a target voice and later attempted to identify it from a parade. In Experiment 1 they were either warned that the target may or may not be present (standard warning) or encouraged to consider responding “not present” because of the associated risk of a wrongful conviction (strong warning). Strong warnings prompted a conservative criterion shift, with participants less likely to make a positive identification regardless of whether the target was present. In contrast to previous findings, we found no statistically reliable difference in accuracy between serial and sequential parades. Experiment 2 ruled out a potential confound in Experiment 1. Taken together, our results suggest that adapting pre-parade instructions provides a simple way of reducing the risk of false identifications.
Management Outcome of Uterine Rupture and Associated Factors in Yirgalem General and Teaching Hospital, Southern Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Uterine rupture is dropped significantly in the developed world. However, it is still a major public health problem in developing countries including Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to assess management outcome of uterine rupture and its associated factors in Yirgalem General and teaching Hospital of southern Ethiopia. Methods An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted. All records of uterine rupture managed in Yirgalem general and teaching hospital between January 1, 2012, and December 30, 2017, were reviewed. Data were collected using a checklist. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were done. Results A total of 331 cases of mothers who managed for uterine rupture were included in the study. 235 (71%) of them had a poor management outcome. Wound site infection 131 (39.6%) and anemia 129 (39%) where the common post-operative complications. There were 13 (4%) maternal death and 320 (96.7%) neonatal death. Lack of antenatal care follow up (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) =2.2, 95% CI: 1.1-4.5), prolonged duration of labor more than 24hr (AOR=3.6; 95% CI: 1.7-7.4), patients presented with sepsis (AOR=2.9; 95% CI: 1.4-6.1), mothers who did not transfuse for blood during the case scenario (AOR=4; 95% CI: 2.1-7.9) and prolonged intra operative time (AOR=5.5; 95% CI: 2.8-10.8) were factors associated with poor management outcome of uterine rupture. Conclusion Poor management outcome of uterine rupture was high in the study area as compared to other studies. Lack of ANC follow up, longer duration of the surgical procedure, prolonged duration of labor, lack of blood transfusion and pre and postoperative complications are associated with poor management outcome. Therefore, proper ANC and early identification of the high-risk groups can prevent and decline the occurrence of uterine rupture and that enhance good outcome.
Corporate Governance, Participation and Microfinance Performance: Empirical Evidence from Indonesia

The objectives of this research is to investigate the effects on participation of corporate governance, corporate governance on financial performance and social performance, financial performance on social performance in MFI community empowerment programs. This is explanatory research with a quantitative method. The data were collected from 75 MFi. Data analysis used WarpPLS. Results of the study showed that corporate governance impact affect positively significant to participation, corporate governance affect negatively significant to the financial and social performance, participation affect negatively significant to the financial performance and social performance and financial performance positive significant effect on financial performance, this shows that there is no trade-off between financial sustainability and the social mission of MFi. Keywords—corporate governance, partisipation, financial Performance and social performance
Utilization and associated factors of modern contraceptives during postpartum period among women who gave birth in the last 12 months in injibara town Awi Zone, North-West Ethiopia 2019

Background: The postpartum period is an important entry point for family planning service providers to reduce unintended and too closely spaced pregnancy. A postpartum modern contraceptive service is one of the recommended public health interventions for reducing maternal and child morbidity and mortalities. However, In Ethiopia modern contraceptive use during the postpartum period is low; resulting in unintended pregnancies and unwanted childbearing . there for this study was done to assess utilization and associated factors of modern contraceptives during the postpartum period among women who gave birth in the last 12 months in Injibara Town Awi Zone, North-Western Ethiopia. Methods: A Community based cross-sectional study design was conducted from March 01 to 15/2019 on 400 women who gave birth in the last 12 months preceding the survey. A simple random sampling technique was used to recruit study subjects. Data was collected using interviewer-administered pretested and structured questionnaires. Data were entered using Epi data 3.5 and exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. The association between variables was analyzed using Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models and p-value < 0.05 at 95% Confidence interval was considered as statistically significant. Result: The prevalence of modern contraceptive utilization was 58.5% (95% CI: 53.5- 63%) among postpartum mothers. Secondary school and higher educational levels [AOR= 5.02; 95% CI (1.53-16.47)],[AOR= 4.25; 95% CI:(1.32-13.64) respectively)], previous history of abortion [AOR= 3.93; 95%, CI: (1.43-10.84)], having three and four antenatal care visit [AOR= 4.74; 95%, CI: (1.94-11.54)] [AOR= 5.9; 95%, CI: (2.42-14.39) respectively], family planning counselling during antenatal care [AOR=2.81; 95% ,CI: (1.63- 4.86)], having postnatal care [AOR =1.79, 95%, CI: (1.09-2.96)], menses returning after birth [AOR=2.84, 95% CI: (1.77- 4.57)] and resuming sexual activity [AOR= 2.86, 95% CI: (1.71-4.78)] were factors affecting contraceptive use in postpartum period. Conclusion : The prevalence of modern contraceptive use among postpartum women was found to be high in Injibara town. Therefore, strengthen family planning counseling during antenatal care and postnatal care to reduce the missed opportunity of postpartum women to get family planning methods, especially long-acting reversible contraceptives.
Effects of Aluminum chloride on some hormones levele and reproductive organs of male rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Summary : This study was conducted at the Veterinary Medicine, University of Basrah to investigate the effect of Aluminium Chloride on some hormones and histological changes in the laboratory Male Rats ( Rattus norvegicus ). Rats sexually mature (16 weeks age) and 250±50 gm weighing, were used, they were divided into Four groups, each one consisted of 8 male rats in , Three groups were dosed Orally with 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg B.W. aluminium in the form of HgCl 2 for 21 days consecutive . An equivalent volume of distal water was administered to the fourth group which was set as the control group. Levels of the LH, FSH and Testosterone hormones were evaluated . in addition to histo – pathological changes of the Epididymis and testis. Results of this study indecate a significant decrease (P≤0.05) of FSH, LH and Testosterone hormones concentrations in treated groups compared with control groupe. The histopathological changes in Testis and epididymis were obvious in all treated groups comparison with control.
Exploring the Function of Member Checking

Member checking is commonly used in qualitative research as a means to maintain validity; however, little has been published about the effects the member checking process may have on participants. In this article, I provide the experiences of two participants in a qualitative case study and argue how member checking should be used as a reflective space for participants.
Brand Image, eWOM, Trust and Online Purchase Intention of Digital Products among Malaysian Consumers

This study aims to investigate the effects of electronic word of mouth (eWOM), brand image (BI), and trust in influencing the intention to buy any products from the online market in Malaysia. This study adopted a cross-sectional design and collected the quantitative data from 350 conveniently selected respondents in Malaysia. For data analysis, this study analyzed the data using partial least square structured equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed that eWOM, brand image (BI), and trust have a significant positive effect on online purchase intention (OPI). The results revealed the significant mediating effects of trust between the following: 1) eWOM and OPI, and 2) BI and OPI. Finally, the findings revealed the mediating effects of BI on eWOM and trust. Based on the empirical findings, this study suggests that advertisers can prioritize eWOM to maximize the product's sales rate that would affect customer purchasing intent. This study provides key insights for the online sellers to focus on the Malaysian market by building trust, BI, and eWOM to improve the intention of purchasing their products. Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology Volume XII, Issue III, 2020 Issn No : 1006-7930
Background Noise? TV Advertising Affects Real-Time Investor Behavior

Using minute-by-minute TV advertising data covering some 300 firms, 327,000 ads, and $20 billion in ad spending, we study the real-time effects of TV advertising on investors’ searches for online financial information and subsequent trading activity. Our identification strategy exploits the fact that viewers in different U.S. time zones are exposed to the same programming and national advertising at different times, allowing us to control for contemporaneous confounding events. We find that an average TV ad leads to a 3% increase in EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) system queries and an 8% increase in Google searches for financial information within 15 minutes of the airing of that ad. These searches translate into larger trading volume on the advertiser’s stock, driven primarily by retail investors. The findings on retail investor ad-induced trading are corroborated with hourly data from Robinhood, a popular retail trading platform. We also show that ads induce searches and trading of companies other than the advertiser, including of close rivals. Altogether, our findings suggest that advertising originally intended for consumers has a nonnegligible effect on financial markets. This paper was accepted by Karl Diether, finance.
Changes in source contributions of particulate matter during COVID-19 pandemic in the Yangtze River Delta, China

Abstract. Within a short time after the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, the Chinese government took a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the pandemic. The quarantine measures have significantly decreased the anthropogenic activities, and thus improving the air quality. To study the impacts caused by the lockdown on specific source sectors and regions in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to investigate the changes in source contributions to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from January 23 to February 28, 2020, based on different emission control cases. Compared to Case 1 (without emission reductions), the total PM2.5 mass for Case 2 (with emission reductions) decreased by larger than 20 % over the entire YRD and the reduction ratios of its components were 15 %, 16 %, 20 %, 43 %, 34 %, and 35 % in primary organic aerosol (POA), elemental carbon (EC), sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and secondary organic aerosol (SOA), respectively. The source appointment results showed that PM2.5 concentrations from transportation decreased by 40 % while from residential and power decreased by less than 10 % due to the lockdown. Although all sources decreased, the relative contribution changed differently. Contributions of residential increased by more than 10 % to 35 %, while that of the industry decreased to 33 %. Considering the regional transport, the total PM2.5 mass of all regions decreased 20–30 % in the YRD with the largest decreased value of 5.0 μg m−3 in Henan, Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin (Ha-BTH). In Shanghai, the lower contributions from local emissions and regional transmission (mainly Shandong and Ha-BTH) led to the reduced PM2.5. This study suggested adjustments of control measures for various sources and regions. Also, it was necessary to strengthen the regional collaboration at a large scale to improve the air quality in the YRD.