Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Processing on the Nutritional Quality of Ilex paraguariensis

Ilex paraguariensisA.St.-Hil. (IP) is a South American plant. IP-dried leaves have been consumed in the form of infusion by indigenous peoples since pre-Hispanic times. In recent years, IP has gained many beverage markets and new ways of consumption, reaching the category of a global consumer product. A side consequence is the increase in IP crops for the specification of human consumption. This situation is the driving force for the investigation of new uses of IP, including feed supplements for livestock and functional food for human consumption. A deep understanding of the influence of processing on the nutritional value of IP is crucial for the development of these alternative products. It is known that the quality and quantity of nutritional compounds occurring in IP depend on the origin, plant condition, and harvest time. However, the effects of the drying method of the leaves and the ageing time of dried leaves on the final IP products deserve further investigation. The present work presents the variation of the nutritional, digestibility, energy, and mineral assets of IP submitted to three different processes: open-air dried and crushed; dried under direct fire and grounded; and dried under direct fire, grounded, and aged for 6 months under controlled conditions. The presence of agrochemical residues and antinutritional factors were also studied. Processing widely influenced the nutritional and digestibility assets of IP leaves. The inorganic content (K, Mg, Ca, P, Zn, B and Fe) significantly varied among leaves treated using different processes. IP samples dried in open air resulted in the highest % of crude protein, Mg, K, S, and Mn. IP samples dried under direct fire resulted in the highest % of carbohydrates and Fe. IP samples dried under direct fire and aged for 6 months resulted in the highest % of digestible matter, Ca, P, Zn, and B. The results also showed quality protein levels between 10.03 and 19.06% of dry matter. The digestibility values showed that IP leaves are suitable for human functional foods and for enriched supplements for livestock feeds. No traces of agrochemicals or antinutritional factors were found.
How the Pandemic Fuels Linguistic Change: Lexical Innovations in L1 and L2 English Varieties

Wars and conquests have always opened the floodgates of new words and meanings into the lexicon of the English language. Another kind of war that opens the floodgates for the passage of neologisms into the English language is the war on health during epidemics or pandemics. The present study utilized the News On the Web (NOW) corpus of English-corpora.org to (1) produce a word-list of COVID-19 pandemic language classified as medical, economic, political, and psychosocial lexemes;(2) identify the word-formation processes operating on the COVID-19 related vocabulary, and (3) determine which words are prevalent and unique in L1, L2 Asian, and L2 African varieties of the English language based on their occurrences in the corpus. The study identified 590 pandemic-related words drawn from the News on the Web (NOW) corpus dating from January 2020 to October 2021. The psychosocial category of the pandemic lexicon constitutes the biggest category of words identified from the corpus. The word-formation processes that operated in the production of the pandemic lexemes are compounds, blends, affixation, acronyms, and back-formation. L1 countries have the highest number of pandemic neologisms, prevalent or high-frequent pandemic lexemes, and unique word combinations. People produce neologisms as a coping mechanism to overcome various stressors and reflect their pandemic-related experiences. © 2022, Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All rights reserved.
How Wartime Bonds Affect Ex-Combatant Political Attitudes: A Natural Experiment with the FARC

ABSTRACT What determines political attitudes of ex-combatant after conflict, specifically the inclination towards rearmament? And to what extent do these attitudes depend on ex-combatants’ individual profiles? I argue that ex-combatant political attitudes are determined by whether wartime bonds are maintained after conflict. The argument indirectly implies that the impact of individual characteristics, such as gender, age, education, time in conflict, and family relations, fade in the face of group-level factors determined both during and after conflict. The argument highlights the challenge of post-conflict peacebuilding, where keeping intact the organizational structure of rebel groups might lead to peace but discourage reintegration into the country’s political (non-rebel) institutions. The Colombian Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program’s design with a long demobilization process in camps lends itself to a natural experiment to distinguish community effects from individual-level influencers of ex-combatant political attitudes. Relying on data I have collected through 121 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with FARC ex-combatants residing in five ETCR, I find ex-combatants that have maintained their primary group cohesion in the post-conflict era have stronger secondary group cohesion, more favorable attitudes towards DDR, and less enthusiasm towards rearming. However, they have less trust in the government.
Multiparent-Derived, Marker-Assisted Introgression Lines of the Elite Indian Rice Cultivar, ‘Krishna Hamsa’ Show Resistance against Bacterial Blight and Blast and Tolerance to Drought

Major biotic stresses viz., bacterial blight (BB) and blast and brown plant hopper (BPH) coupled with abiotic stresses like drought stress, significantly affect rice yields. To address this, marker-assisted intercross (IC) breeding involving multiple donors was used to combine three BB resistance genes—xa5, xa13 and Xa21, two blast resistance genes—Pi9 and Pi54, two BPH resistance genes—Bph20 and Bph21, and four drought tolerant quantitative trait loci (QTL)—qDTY1.1, qDTY2.1, qDTY3.1 and qDTY12.1—in the genetic background of the elite Indian rice cultivar ‘Krishna Hamsa’. Three cycles of selective intercrossing followed by selfing coupled with foreground selection and phenotyping for the target traits resulted in the development of 196 introgression lines (ILs) with a myriad of gene/QTL combinations. Based on the phenotypic reaction, the ILs were classified into seven phenotypic classes of resistance/tolerance to the following: (1) BB, blast and drought—5 ILs; (2) BB and blast—10 ILs; (3) BB and drought—9 ILs; (4) blast and drought—42 ILs; (5) BB—3 ILs; (6) blast—84 ILs; and (7) drought—43 ILs; none of the ILs were resistant to BPH. Positive phenotypic response (resistance) was observed to both BB and blast in 2 ILs, BB in 9 ILs and blast in 64 ILs despite the absence of corresponding R genes. Inheritance of resistance to BB and/or blast in such ILs could be due to the unknown genes from other parents used in the breeding scheme. Negative phenotypic response (susceptibility) was observed in 67 ILs possessing BB-R genes, 9 ILs with blast-R genes and 9 ILs harboring QTLs for drought tolerance. Complex genic interactions and recombination events due to the involvement of multiple donors explain susceptibility in some of the marker positive ILs. The present investigation successfully demonstrates the possibility of rapid development of multiple stress-tolerant/resistant ILs in the elite cultivar background involving multiple donors through selective intercrossing and stringent phenotyping. The 196 ILs in seven phenotypic classes with myriad of gene/QTL combinations will serve as a useful genetic resource in combining multiple biotic and abiotic stress resistance in future breeding programs.
Embedded Temporal Convolutional Networks for Essential Climate Variables Forecasting

Forecasting the values of essential climate variables like land surface temperature and soil moisture can play a paramount role in understanding and predicting the impact of climate change. This work concerns the development of a deep learning model for analyzing and predicting spatial time series, considering both satellite derived and model-based data assimilation processes. To that end, we propose the Embedded Temporal Convolutional Network (E-TCN) architecture, which integrates three different networks, namely an encoder network, a temporal convolutional network, and a decoder network. The model accepts as input satellite or assimilation model derived values, such as land surface temperature and soil moisture, with monthly periodicity, going back more than fifteen years. We use our model and compare its results with the state-of-the-art model for spatiotemporal data, the ConvLSTM model. To quantify performance, we explore different cases of spatial resolution, spatial region extension, number of training examples and prediction windows, among others. The proposed approach achieves better performance in terms of prediction accuracy, while using a smaller number of parameters compared to the ConvLSTM model. Although we focus on two specific environmental variables, the method can be readily applied to other variables of interest.
Microsoft Word-ISC6_template_final_494_Mizuki Hira.docx

This study is aimed for the description of the deformation behavior of volcanic sandy soil Shirasu for reclamation and embankment, by the elastoplastic constitutive equation adopting the subloading surface model with the rotational hardening. And also test results for the isotropic consolidation and the monotonic/cyclic loading-unloading compression with several lateral stresses under the drained conditions for various initial void ratios are reported. Further, the simulation by the constitutive equation based on the extended subloading surface model is compared with the test results. High applicability of the constitutive equation for the prediction of mechanical behavior of Shirasu for a geomaterial at the construction site in the southern Kyushu is verified by the comparison.
Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Healthcare Workers Towards Medical Waste Management: A Comparative Study of Two Geographical Areas

A comparative study was carried out among healthcare workers in Sweden and Hungaray with a view of assessing their knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) towards healthcare waste management. Being a potential source of hazard and infections, healthcare waste continues to be a public health concern worldwide. Pretested questionnaire was instrument used for data collection. In both areas more female participated in the study than male. However, age groups of <20 years, 20-30years, 31-40years, 41-50years,51-60years and 61-70years yielded frequencies of 5.7%, 56.2%, 22.9%, 3.8%, 6.7% and 4.8% respectively for Swedish respondents. While amongst the Hungarian respondents, the respective age groups yielded frequencies of 1.0%, 18.1%, 21.0%, 36.2%, 17.1% and 6.7% respectively(p<0.05). Furthermore, results showed that 58.0% of Hungarian Healthcare workers demonstrated good knowledge of waste management guidelines, while 67.0% received training on waste handling and 84.0% had good knowledge on implementation of guidelines. Conversely, Sweden healthcare workers demonstrated poor knowledge towards waste management guidelines (34.4%), training on waste handling (47.9%) and implementation of waste management guidelines (35. 7%). Amongst the Hungarian healthcare workers, good attitude was observed towards hazardous waste disposal, labeling of containers, colour coding, waste segregation and occupation safety as evidenced by 99.0%, 95.2%, 82.9%, 99.0% and 94.3% good response to the research questions. while poor attitude (39.9%) on report of industrial accident was noted, and 31.4% poor attitude on safe management of healthcare waste was observed. Swedish healthcare workers also yielded good attitude towards hazardous waste disposal (81.0%), labeling of containers (85.7%), colour coding (56.2%), waste segregation (77.1%) and occupation safety (80.0%). While poor attitude was noted for report of industrial accident (44.9%) and safe management of waste. Total of 71.5% good response depicting good practice was observed amongst the Hungarian respondents towards waste management while the Swedish Healthcare workers yielded 72.0% good response on practices towards healthcare waste management which includes activities bordering waste segregation, use of personal protective equipments and prevention of infection. This result stands to be a useful tool to relevant authorities in healthcare facilities for drawing effective action plan towards healthcare waste management.
Factors Affecting Commercial Banks’ Capital Adequacy Ratios in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries

This study seeks to identify factors that influence bank capital adequacy ratios for a sample of consists of 62 commercial banks listed on the stock markets operating in GCC countries over the time between 2011 and 2018 was used. To deal with the problems of the data set, we utilize the PCSE method. The empirical results suggested that among the CAMELS model variables, capital ratio, management efficiency, earning capacity, liquidity management, and sensitivity have a positive statistical significant influence on bank capital adequacy ratios. In contrast, Asset quality, market concentration, and bank size have a negative effect on commercial banks' capital adequacy ratios. Concerning macro-economic variables, the empirical results suggested that economic growth and inflation rate influence bank capital adequacy ratios.
Antibacterial PDT nanoplatform capable of releasing therapeutic gas for synergistic and enhanced treatment against deep infections

Antibacterial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) has emerged as an attractive treatment option for efficient removal of pathogenic bacteria. However, aPDT in deep tissue will encounter difficulties such as limited light penetration depth, insufficient oxygen (O2) supply and inability to eliminate inflammation introduced by bacteria, which hinders its clinical application. Herein, the near infrared (NIR) strategy of simultaneously generating O2 and CO was developed for aPDT based antibacterial therapy and mitigation of deep infection inflammation. Methods: We prepared NIR-mediated multifunctional aPDT nanoplatform (POS-UCNPs/ICG) producing therapeutic gas of O2 and CO. The CO, O2 and ROS generation of the nanoplatform were characterized by dye probes, respectively. The antibacterial activity and anti-inflammation of POS-UCNPs/ICG were demonstrated in vitro and in vivo. In addition, the therapeutic effects in vivo were serially analyzed by immunofluorescence staining, Masson's staining, hematoxylin and eosin staining, colony formation units (CFU) and so on. Results: NIR-mediated multifunctional aPDT nanoplatform was realized by combining the up-conversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and partially oxidized SnS2 (POS) nanosheets (NSs) as well as indocyanine green (ICG). Using a single 808 nm light, aPDT can be achieved via ICG molecules, meanwhile, O2/CO can be generated by POS NSs through upconversion light excitation. During the aPDT process, O2 can enhance aPDT, while CO can regulate inflammation through the PI3K/NF-κB pathway. Therefore, POS-UCNPs/ICG groups had a highest percentage of healing area up to 91.55±1.26% in mouse abscess model. Conclusion: Due to enhanced aPDT and anti-inflammatory collaborative therapy, the POS-UCNPs/ICG composites showed remarkably accelerated recovery in animal abscess models. Such NIR light responsive nanoplatform with optimized antibacterial capacity and immunomodulatory functions is promising for clinical therapeutics of bacteria-induced infections.
Characterization of Expansive Soils in Southwest Brazilian Amazon – a case study in a Flexible Pavement

The main geotechnical aspects of the southwestern Brazilian Amazon are the absence of rocks for the gravel used in pavements and the widespread occurrence of expansive soils along the natural subgrade, associated with high rainfall indices. Although most of the local soils are rich in 2:1 clay minerals and amorphous material originated from Andes volcanic ashes – which is quite different from other Amazonian soils the state-of-art about the behavior of these materials is still very limited. The high volumetric variation of these expansive soils has been causing financial losses and making transportation by land difficult in the region. This paper presents the case study of a pavement built over expansive subsoil at Rio Branco city. Physical, hydraulic and mineralogical characterizations of samples are presented. The results showed the high swelling potential of the samples and the importance of developing a methodology for the control of expansive soils for building over these materials.
Running Title: Submandibular Gland Involvement by Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Received: August 22, 2020; Accepted: February 13, 2022 Incidence of Submandibular Gland Involvement in Oral Cancer Patients with Positive Lymph Nodes: Experience at a Tertiary Cancer Centre in South India

Background: Routine excision of submandibular gland along with level Ib lymph nodes is carried out as a part of standard neck dissections. The current study aimed to evaluate the incidence of submandibular gland involvement in oral squamous cell carcinoma cases undergoing neck dissections with clinically positive nodes. Method: We carried out a retrospective observational experiment. The records of 520 patients diagnosed with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma, who underwent neck dissection, were retrospectively reviewed. We recorded the incidence of submandibular gland involvement by the primary tumour. Results: Metastasis to level 1 lymph nodes was found in 35.6% of the patients. The involvement of submandibular gland in our study sample was 0.96%. Conclusion: Recent literature has recommended sparing of the submandibular gland in certain cases; that is because its removal causes postoperative xerostomia with exaggeration due to radiotherapy, which is considered morbid, based on various anatomical models. However, this finding is controversial. Our study suggested submandibular gland sparing neck dissections in all subsites, except for tongue, anterior alveolus, and floor of mouth
Global Journal of Management and Business Research

Tea factories especially those managed by Kenya Tea Development Agency are faced with challenges of implementing business growth strategies. This has resulted to poor performance leading to public outcry. The study sought to establish the effect of market development strategy and performance of selected tea factories in Kenya. This study was anchored on the Ansoff Matrix theory and Agency theories. A descriptive research design was adopted and used in this study. KTDA has seven regions comprising of 69 factories with 1506 management staff. This study purposively selected Kisii and Kericho Highlands regions. The population of this study was 701 with a sample size of 364 obtained using Yamane’s (1967) formula. Simple random sampling was used to get specific respondents. A selfconstructed questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. A pilot study was conducted at Kagwe and Theta Tea Factories in Aberdare Ranges region to test reliability of the data collection instruments. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was used to test reliability which had an overall coefficient of 0. 903. The study tested face validity through peer reviews and content validity by opinions of research expert and supervisors.
Gas hydrate saturation estimation from acoustic log data in the 2018 Alaska North Slope Hydrate-01 stratigraphic test well

Completed in December 2018, the Alaska North Slope Hydrate 01 stratigraphic test well provides a wealth of logging-while-drilling (LWD) data for strata to below the base of gas hydrate stability (BGHS). This well is intended to be the first of three wells drilled for a longterm gas hydrate production test to be conducted by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The Hydrate 01 stratigraphic test well confirmed the presence of gas hydrate in two sand reservoirs within the hydrate stability zone, indicating the suitability of this location for a longterm gas hydrate production test. The USGS, using an effective-medium-theory rockphysics approach, has estimated gas hydrate saturations from compressional (P) and shear (S) wave log data acquired in the Hydrate 01 well. We assume that gas hydrate occurs as pore-filling load-bearing material (i.e., part of the grain matrix). For Unit D, approximately 500 feet above the BGHS, both P-wave and S-wave acoustic logs indicate moderate to high gas hydrate saturations with S-wave results slightly lower than those for P-waves. For Unit B, located just above the BGHS, we obtain moderate to high gas hydrate saturation estimates from both sonic logs. Our P-wave saturation estimates agree well with results from electrical-resistivity-based estimates, whereas estimates from nuclear magnetic resonance LWD data generally suggest 5 to 10 percent higher saturations; our S-wave results suggest lower saturations. These differences likely indicate complexities in the form of gas hydrate occurrence within the sediment pore space, potentially including differences between hydrate occurrence in Units B and D.
Factors Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Hesitancy: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Fukushima Vaccination Community Survey

This was a retrospective cohort study, which aimed to investigate the factors associated with hesitancy to receive a third dose of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. A paper-based questionnaire survey was administered to all participants. This study included participants who provided answers in the questionnaire about whether they had an intent to receive a third dose of a vaccine. Data on sex, age, area of residence, adverse reactions after the second vaccination, whether the third vaccination was desired, and reasons to accept or hesitate over the booster vaccination were retrieved. Among the 2439 participants, with a mean (±SD) age of 52.6 ± 18.9 years, and a median IgG-S antibody titer of 324.9 (AU/mL), 97.9% of participants indicated their intent to accept a third vaccination dose. The logistic regression revealed that participants of a younger age (OR = 0.98; 95% CI: 0.96–1.00) and with a higher antibody level (OR = 2.52; 95% CI: 1.27–4.99) were positively associated with hesitancy over the third vaccine. The efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine and concerns about adverse reactions had a significant impact on behavior regarding the third vaccination. A rapid increase in the booster dose rate is needed to control the pandemic, and specific approaches should be taken with these groups that are likely to hesitate over the third vaccine, subsequently increasing booster contact rate.