Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Antioxidant Activity of a Commercial and a Fractionated Phycocyanin on Human Skin Cells In Vitro

The protective effects for cells against chemical and UVA stress of a commercial phycocyanin (PC) for food use and a PC extracted from Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina) in phosphate buffer were assessed. The purity of the commercial PC, spectrophotometrically estimated as A620/A280 and confirmed by HPLC, was higher than that of the fractionated PC (2.0 vs. 1.5) but was twofold less concentrated. The oxygen radical antioxidant capacities (ORACs) of the commercial and fractionated PCs were 12,141 ± 1928 and 32,680 ± 3295 TE/100 g, respectively. The degradation of PCs upon exposure to UVA was spectrophotometrically estimated, and cytotoxicity was evaluated with the MTS [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium) test on human fibroblasts and keratinocytes. A lower level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was recorded in the two cell lines incubated with the commercial PC after menadione treatment (p < 0.01) and UVA exposure (p < 0.001) on fibroblasts after 5 min and keratinocytes up to 25 min, compared with controls. Differently, the fractionated PC was not protective and showed significant (p < 0.01) paradoxical prooxidant effects. Overall, the PC for food consumption demonstrated a high safety threshold and antioxidant ability to cells that, along with its coloring power, make it an excellent candidate for cosmetic formulations.
Demand for TV Broadcasts of UEFA Champions League Games in Danish Television – The Impact of Uncertainty of Outcome, Stardom, and Local Heroes

: There are noticeable conceptual differences between competing concepts for organizing the highest level of European Football. One major conceptual controversy is concerned with the question whether fans have a stronger preference for (more) games between the top teams over a broad participation of less well-known clubs representing more of the regions in Europe or vice versa. Since sports economics theory offers explanations for both views, this paper takes an empirical approach and analyzes revealed fan preferences in a market outside of the Big-5 leagues. It examines the impact of uncertainty of outcome, market value as well as local heroes (domestic players & teams) as determinants of demand in national TV in Denmark. It uses representative panel data of national TV demand for UEFA Champions League games in Denmark from 2006/07-2018/19. We estimate a semi-logarithmic OLS regression model with team fixed-effects where the dependent variable is the natural logarithm of the average TV audience of UCL matches broadcasted in Denmark. We find that the presence of superstar clubs as measured by accumulated market value of players increases broadcast audience significantly, whereas the number of superstar players in a game did not. Matches including Danish clubs (domestic clubs) as well as the number of Danish players on a team’s roster (local hero players) show no robust effect on TV audience. Uncertainty of outcome increases TV demand in our model, supporting the UOH for TV audiences and furthering the discussion around diverging preferences between stadium attendance and TV demand.
Associations of Dyslipidemia with Dietary Intakes, Body Weight Status and Sociodemographic Factors among Adults in the United Arab Emirates

Research on dietary and other factors associated with dyslipidemia in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is limited. This study assessed the association of diet, body weight and other risk factors of dyslipidemia by conducting a cross-sectional survey among adults residing in three emirates of the UAE. Validated quantitative food frequency questionnaire and the WHO STEPS Instrument were used to assess dietary intakes, body weight and dyslipidemia-related diagnosis. Composite Mediterranean Diet Score was used to assess adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD). Of the 610 participants, dyslipidemia was reported by 23.5% of the 319 participants who ever had blood cholesterol levels measured. Self-reported dyslipidemia was associated with increased age, higher BMI, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Most participants did not meet the recommendations for dietary fiber and calorie intake from saturated fats (61.3% and 81.2%, respectively). Participants with dyslipidemia reported a higher median daily intake of vegetables compared to those without dyslipidemia (p < 0.001), who also showed a significantly higher intake of refined grains and sugar-sweetened beverages (p = 0.008). Participants aged ≥50 years were more likely to have adhered to the MD compared to 18–30-year old participants (OR = 4.16; 95% CI 2.59–6.69). Non-Emiratis had higher odds of adherence to the MD compared to UAE nationals (OR = 1.46; 95%CI 1.04–2.06). Interventions targeting behavioral risk factors of dyslipidemia are warranted.
Boundary Control of PDEs: A Course on Backstepping Designs

This concise and highly usable textbook presents an introduction to backstepping, an elegant new approach to boundary control of partial differential equations (PDEs). Backstepping provides mathematical tools for converting complex and unstable PDE systems into elementary, stable, and physically intuitive "target PDE systems" that are familiar to engineers and physicists. The text s broad coverage includes parabolic PDEs; hyperbolic PDEs of first and second order; fluid, thermal, and structural systems; delay systems; PDEs with third and fourth derivatives in space; real-valued as well as complex-valued PDEs; stabilization as well as motion planning and trajectory tracking for PDEs; and elements of adaptive control for PDEs and control of nonlinear PDEs. It is appropriate for courses in control theory and includes homework exercises and a solutions manual that is available from the authors upon request. Audience: This book is intended for both beginning and advanced graduate students in a one-quarter or one-semester course on backstepping techniques for boundary control of PDEs. It is also accessible to engineers with no prior training in PDEs. Contents: List of Figures; List of Tables; Preface; Introduction; Lyapunov Stability; Exact Solutions to PDEs; Parabolic PDEs: Reaction-Advection-Diffusion and Other Equations; Observer Design; Complex-Valued PDEs: Schrodinger and Ginzburg Landau Equations; Hyperbolic PDEs: Wave Equations; Beam Equations; First-Order Hyperbolic PDEs and Delay Equations; Kuramoto Sivashinsky, Korteweg de Vries, and Other Exotic Equations; Navier Stokes Equations; Motion Planning for PDEs; Adaptive Control for PDEs; Towards Nonlinear PDEs; Appendix: Bessel Functions; Bibliography; Index
LIDAR-Inertial Real-Time State Estimator with Rod-Shaped and Planar Feature

State estimation and mapping based on Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) are important for autonomous systems. Point cloud registration is a crucial module affecting the accuracy and real-time performance of LIDAR simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). In this paper, a novel point cloud feature selection for LIDAR-inertial tightly coupled systems is proposed. In the front-end, a point cloud registration is carried out after marking rod-shaped and planar feature information which is different from the existing LIDAR and inertial measurement unit (IMU) integration scheme. This preprocessing method subsequently reduces the outliers. IMU pre-integration outputs high-frequency result and is used to provide the initial value for LIDAR solution. In the scan-to-map module, a computationally efficient graph optimization framework is applied. Moreover, the LIDAR odometry further constrains the IMU states. In the back-end, the optimization based on sliding-window incorporates the LIDAR-inertial measurement and loop closure global constraints to reduce the cumulative error. Combining the front-end and back-end, we propose the low drift and high real-time LIDAR-inertial positioning system. Furthermore, we conducted an exhaustive comparison in open data sequences and real-word experiments. The proposed system outperforms much higher positioning accuracy than the state-of-the-art methods in various scenarios. Compared with the LIO-SAM, the absolute trajectory error (ATE) average RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) in this study increases by 64.45% in M2DGR street dataset (street_01, 04, 07, 10) and 24.85% in our actual scene datasets. In the most time-consuming mapping module of each system, our system runtime can also be significantly reduced due to the front-end preprocessing and back-end graph model.
Effects of Rhenium Substitution of Co and Fe in Spinel CoFe2O4 Ferrite Nanomaterials

In this work, nanoparticles of Co1−xRexFe2O4 and CoFe2−xRexO4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05) were synthesized by the sol-gel method. The Rietveld refinement analysis of XRD and Raman data revealed that all of the prepared samples were single phase with a cubic spinel-type structure. With the substitution of Re, the lattice parameters were slightly increased, and Raman spectra peak positions corresponding to the movement of the tetrahedral sublattice shifted to a higher energy position. Furthermore, Raman spectra showed the splitting of T2g mode into branches, indicating the presence of different cations at crystallographic A- and B-sites. The SEM micrograph confirms that surface Re exchange changes the coordination environment of metals and induces Fe-site structure distortion, thereby revealing more active sites for reactions and indicating the bulk sample’s porous and agglomerated morphology. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) results demonstrated that the synthesized nanoparticles of all samples were ferromagnetic across the entire temperature range of 300–4 K. The estimated magnetic parameters, such as the saturation magnetization, remanent magnetization, coercivity, blocking temperature (TB), and magnetic anisotropy, were found to reduce for the Co-site doping with the increasing doping ratio of Re, while in the Fe site, they enhanced with the increasing doping ratio. The ZFC-FC magnetization curve revealed the presence of spin-glass-like behavior due to the strong dipole–dipole interactions in these ferrite nanoparticles over the whole temperature range. Finally, the dielectric constant (εr′) and dielectric loss (tanδ) were sharply enhanced at low frequencies, while the AC conductivity increased at high frequencies. The sharp increases at high temperatures are explained by enhancing the barrier for charge mobility at grain boundaries, suggesting that samples were highly resistive. Interestingly, these parameters (εr′, tanδ) were found to be higher for the Fe-site doping with the increasing Re doping ratio compared with the Co site.
Vaccinations versus Lockdowns to Prevent COVID-19 Mortality

Measures employed to combat COVID-19 included public lockdowns and vaccination campaigns. Israel’s extensive public health system produced data demonstrating the real-world results of these measures. Our objective was to evaluate the health and economic outcomes of the measures to cope with COVID-19. Publicly available datasets from the Israeli Ministry of Health were used to model the parameters of the pandemic in Israel. The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker was used for quantitative data on government policies. Data on the Israeli economy were taken from the Central Bureau of Statistics. Our models demonstrate that the first lockdown prevented 1022 COVID-19 deaths at the cost of 36.4–38.6 billion NIS. The second lockdown prevented 1970 COVID-19 deaths and cost 18–21 billion NIS. These lifesaving effects were observed with a time lag from the declaration of lockdown. The primary vaccination campaign cost 1 billion NIS and prevented 4750 COVID-19 deaths. The first vaccination booster campaign prevented 650 COVID-19 deaths and cost 51.1 million NIS. Therefore, the cost per prevented COVID-19 death is 10–36 million NIS with a national lockdown versus 210,000 NIS in the primary vaccination campaign and 79,000 NIS in the first booster campaign. In conclusion, both lockdowns and vaccination campaigns effectively lower COVID-19 deaths, but the cost to avoid one COVID-19 death with effective vaccination is 50–466 times lower than with a lockdown.
Evaluation of Modified Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Mucilage as a Potential Pharmaceutical Excipient

Investigation on natural sources from plants, animals, and microorganisms that produce gums and mucilages goes on increasing day by day to check their pharmaceutical applications. Different mucilages have been studied for their pharmaceutical effects but the use of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) mucilage as a pharmaceutical excipient is still under the cover. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate and compare the flow property and binding ability of crude, purified, modified (hydrolyzed and grafted), green synthesized nanoparticles (Zinc oxide (ZnO), cuperic oxide (CuO), silver (Ag), and gold (Au)) of date palm mucilage with hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and commercially available paracetamol tablets. Previously purified mucilage (with 58.4% yield) was subjected to modification (i.e., acidic, basic, and enzymatic), grafting (polyacrylamide), and green synthesis of nanoparticles. Flow properties of powdered (granular) crude, purified, modified, and nanoparticles were studied and compared with flow properties of HPMC and paracetamol tablet granules. Tablets were made using granules of all types of date palm mucilage (discussed above), HPMC, and granules of paracetamol tablets to study and compare weight uniformity, hardness, friability, dissolution rate, and disintegration time. When 100 mg/kg of mucilage sample was given to mice no oral toxicity was found. The results obtained during this study were within the acceptable ranges given in pharmacopeias. The pseudoplastic flow behavior, hygroscopic nature, increased solubility, and swelling index across the increase in temperature, hardness of the tablets, friability, and drug release behavior were found better than HPMC and the binders used in commercially available paracetamol, hence making the date palm mucilage (crude, purified, and modified) an excellent excipient to be used in pharmaceutical dosage forms.
Integrating single cell transcriptomics and volume electron microscopy confirms the presence of pancreatic acinar-like cells in sea urchins

The identity and function of a given cell type relies on the differential expression of gene batteries that promote diverse phenotypes and functional specificities. Therefore, the identification of the molecular and morphological fingerprints of cell types across taxa is essential for untangling their evolution. Here we use a multidisciplinary approach to identify the molecular and morphological features of an exocrine, pancreas-like cell type harbored within the sea urchin larval gut. Using single cell transcriptomics, we identify various cell populations with a pancreatic-like molecular fingerprint that are enriched within the S. purpuratus larva digestive tract. Among these, in the region where they reside, the midgut/stomach domain, we find that populations of exocrine pancreas-like cells have a unique regulatory wiring distinct from the rest the of the cell types of the same region. Furthermore, Serial Block-face scanning Electron Microscopy (SBEM) of the exocrine cells shows that this reported molecular diversity is associated to distinct morphological features that reflect the physiological and functional properties of this cell type. Therefore, we propose that these sea urchin exocrine cells are homologous to the well-known mammalian pancreatic acinar cells and thus we trace the origin of this particular cell type to the time of deuterostome diversification. Overall, our approach allows a thorough characterization of a complex cell type and shows how both the transcriptomic and morphological information contribute to disentangling the evolution of cell types and organs such as the pancreatic cells and pancreas.
A Review of Biomarkers of Cardiac Allograft Rejection: Toward an Integrated Diagnosis of Rejection

Despite major advances in immunosuppression, allograft rejection remains an important complication after heart transplantation, and it is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The gold standard invasive strategy to monitor and diagnose cardiac allograft rejection, based on the pathologic evaluation of endomyocardial biopsies, suffers from many limitations including the low prevalence of rejection, sample bias, high inter-observer variability, and international working formulations based on arbitrary cut-offs that simplify the landscape of rejection. The development of innovative diagnostic and prognostic strategies—integrating conventional histology, molecular profiling of allograft biopsy, and the discovery of new tissue or circulating biomarkers—is one of the major challenges of translational medicine in solid organ transplantation, and particularly in heart transplantation. Major advances in the field of biomarkers of rejection have paved the way for a paradigm shift in the monitoring and diagnosis of cardiac allograft rejection. We review the recent developments in the field, including non-invasive biomarkers to minimize the number of protocol endomyocardial biopsies and tissue biomarkers as companion tools of pathology to refine the diagnosis of cardiac rejection. Finally, we discuss the potential role of these biomarkers to provide an integrated bio-histomolecular diagnosis of cardiac allograft rejection.
An Assessment of Major Factors Contributing towards Choosing Alternate Healers (Hakeem, Dispenser, Spiritual Healer) over Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP)

Background: Malpractice is characterized as "careless, unsuitable, or illegal activity while performing a professional task" by Oxford Learner's Dictionaries (1). Prevalence of alternate healers is a problem of nearly all less economically underdeveloped countries. Pakistan is also one of the victims of malpractice. Factors that contribute to malpractice are proximity, affordable fee, availability, family pressure, and the strong opinion of the community. The objective of the study was to analyze why people choose alternate healers and to evaluate the misconception and myths regarding registered medical practitioners. Methods: A Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample size of 319 with participants from Gujranwala’s rural and urban areas in 2021. Both the male and female population of Gujranwala was included. Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 21. Results: The socio-economic and demographic variables considerably effect the choice of health care provider. More people in rural areas visit alternate healers as compared to urban areas. Lack of information and misconceptions about physicians were also the factors effecting health seeking behavior of people. Conclusion: There is a potential to improve the health-seeking behavior and utilization of health facilities by addressing the demand side (community) factors i.e., socio-economic factors, cultural beliefs, by shutting down all unlicensed practitioners and educating the community to avoid visiting them to reduce the probability of exposure to unsafe healthcare practices.
Control Hybrid Filter To Improve Power Quality In Polluted Distribution System Using interval type-2 fuzzy logic

The growth of nonlinear load became a massive issue that might affect the system’s stability. This research study will focus on an enhanced current technique that employs a fuzzy interface in conjunction with a HSAPF (Hybrid Shunt Active Power Filter and is applied to a non-linear load. The use of fuzzy logic control overcomes the challenging problem of controller parameter tuning and proves the system’s stability using Clarke’s stability definition. A hybrid filter, which is a mix of active and passive filters, is used to make the whole system cost-effective. In terms of source current harmonics, it is discovered that the these above filter actually works significantly. Finally, a comparison of two other techniques, such as a hybrid filter with interval type-2 fuzzy logic and a hybrid filter, is conducted, with the latter configuration outperforming the typical active power filter. In IEEE std-519-1992, the identical model was simulated with both perfect and distorted supply conditions, and it was discovered that the latter arrangement produces better results than the former.
A Novel Unequal Power Divider With General Isolation Topology: Design and Verification

In this letter, a novel unequal power divider (PD) with three standard 50-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Omega $ </tex-math></inline-formula> ports is presented. It consists of two transmission line (TL) sections, two resistors, and a general isolation topology (GIT). Through analyzing voltages and currents of each branch, the constraint conditions of such a GIT are newly established. Considering realization of GIT, two types of topologies, i.e., asymmetrical coupled line and cascaded TL, are selected for verification. From the design charts and several design examples, the proposed PD could not only provide high power ratio <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> with compact size but also independently adjust their fractional bandwidths (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$S_{11}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> or <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$S_{32}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) with the same power ratio <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Finally, an unequal PD with the power ratio <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k^{2} =8$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is fabricated, and the measured results meet the simulated results very well.
STANDARD M10 SARS-CoV-2 Assay for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2: Comparison of Four Real-Time PCR Assays

The demand for assays that can rapidly and accurately detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains high. We evaluated the performance of two rapid real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assays (STANDARD M10 SARS-CoV-2 and Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2) against conventional RT-qPCR assays (STANDARD M nCoV and Allplex SARS-CoV-2) for detecting SARS-CoV-2. A total of 225 swab samples were collected and tested using the four assays. The STANDARD M10 SARS-CoV-2 assay showed 97.4% positive percent agreement (PPA) and 100.0% negative percent agreement (NPA) compared to the STANDARD M nCoV assay and Allplex SARS-CoV-2 assay. STANDARD M10 exhibited high performance except in samples with low viral loads (cycle threshold (Ct) > 30). Xpert Xpress showed PPA and NPA of 100.0% compared to the two conventional RT-qPCR assays. The kappa coefficient (Κ) showed nearly almost perfect agreement between each assay and conventional RT-qPCR assays. The correlations of Ct values between the two rapid RT-qPCR and conventional RT-qPCR assays were >0.8, indicating strong correlations. All included assays could detect SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma variants. The recently developed STANDARD M10 has a shorter turnaround time and random-access detection on automated devices, thereby facilitating efficient testing in emergency settings.