Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Moringa olifera Attenuated Nitrosodiethylamine-Induced Hepatocarcinogenesis by Modulating the Metabolic Activation and Detoxification Enzymes

Moringa olifera was shown to exert anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hepatoprotective properties, and anticancer activity. This study was done to investigate the protective effects of moringa olifera on Diethylnitrosamine (DEN) induced Hepatocellular carcinoma in rats. Fourty five male albino rats were divided into three groups. Group (normal control group): rats administered distilled water only. Group II: rats received diethylnitrosoamine (200 mg/kg b.wt/i.p), two weeks later rats received (2 ml/kg b.wt) Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) orally at 1:1 dilution in corn oil as a promoter of carcinogenic effect. DEN and CCl4 injections were repeated once again after 1 month from first DEN injection. Group III: rats received DEN then treated with moringa at a dose level of (500 mg/kg b.wt/orally) dissolved in distilled water for 6 weeks. All animals were sacrificed after the end of experiment. DEN induced HCC showed significant increase in hepatic marker enzymes (ALT and ALP), total bilirubin and alpha fetoprotein (AFP) with marked decrease in serum albumin concentration. Also, the results of molecular analysis of liver tissue revealed significant upregulation in TNF-α gene expression level. Conversely, down-regulation in tumor suppressor gene p53 and Cyp2E1 gene expression compared with control group. Treatment with moringa olifera to DEN induced HCC protects the liver cells from damage by regulating the biochemical parameters. These findings suggest the potential efficacy of moringa as an additional chemopreventive agent in treatment of hepatocellular carcionoma via initiation of tumor suppressor gene (P53) and modulating the metabolic activation of detoxification Enzyme (cytochrome P450 2E1) and antiinflammatory effect.
Experiences of African international students in a South African university – A qualitative study

South Africa has in latter decades embraced the growing trend of internationalization in higher education leading to greater international mobility of staff and students. Compared to other countries in most of the sub-Saharan Africa region, South Africa has a larger capacity to meet the tertiary needs of students within the region. An increasing number of international students has implications for their academic success, adaptation and wellbeing once in their host country. The current study explored the lived experiences of international students in a South African university, from 5 other African countries. The study adopted a qualitative design, using semi-structured in-depth interviews and open-ended questions. Nine mainly postgraduate students (4 males and 5 females) were recruited using convenient and snowball sampling methods. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis and revealed 5 themes namely “Internationalisation”, “experiencing the unforeseen”, “access”, “social support” and “structural support”, with several sub-themes emerging from these. A resulting framework shows “empowerment”, “alienation” and “adaptation” as over-arching themes in experiencing the phenomenon of being an African foreign student in South Africa.
Micropropagation and pigment extraction of Echinocereus cinerascens / Hashimah Elias

Protocols were successfully established for in vitro regeneration and coloured callus production of Echinocereus cinerascens. Investigation mainly focused on the effects of plant growth regulators in rapid production of this endangered species and the optimum production of coloured callus. Additional assessments studied concerning the production of synthetic seeds, extraction of natural pigments and detection of somaclonal variation of the regenerants. Rapid production through direct in vitro regeneration gave the highest mean number of shoots, 4.37 ± 0.27, observed in MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l Kinetin + 1.0 mg/l IBA which promoted the highest production of shoots after 4 months, 131 shoots in total. Nevertheless, through indirect in vitro regeneration, somatic embryos of Echinocereus cinerascens were successfully developed in two treatments of liquid medium including MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/l 2,4-D + 0.1 mg/l BAP + 0.5 mg/l thiamine HCl and MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/l 2,4-D + 0.5 mg/l BAP + 0.5 mg/l thiamine HCl, as both media promoted 100% total mean production of somatic embryos (globular, heart, torpedo-shaped and cotyledonary stage) after 4 months. Practically, the production of ideal synthetic seeds was successfully established whereby, micro shoots as the most responsive propagule were encapsulated in 3% of sodium alginate hardened in 100 mM of calcium chloride dehydrate solution for 30 minutes gave 100% of germination rate after 4 months. Complete plantlets were successfully acclimatized with the highest survival rate of 90% observed in sand, the most suitable planting substrate which possessed 3 major elements such as SiO2, Al2O3 and CaO that play important roles to support the growth of Echinocereus cinerascens. Basically, the present study indicated that 100% production of green, yellow and pink callus was obtained after 2 months in several treatments of MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D + BAP + thiamine HCl applied in combination. Interestingly, the occurrence of dramatic changes in the production of coloured callus was clearly observed in a conversion of green to pink callus within 2 months. Moreover, pigment extraction analysis through UV-VIS spectroscopy discovered that both regenerants and callus possessed chlorophyll a and b as the major pigment while carotenoids as the minor pigment. Meanwhile, HPLC analysis revealed individual carotenoids present in in vitro plantlets namely, neoxanthin, β-carotene, lutein and violaxanthin, whereas in callus were β-carotene and lutein only. Analysis of cytological studies clarified that there were no significant differences in cell organization and behaviour of in vitro plantlets and ex vitro plants. The evidence verified that Echinocereus cinerascens regenerated normally in vitro and grown vigorously after being transferred to the natural environment
Interference Suppression for Railway Wireless Communication Systems: A Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Approach

Due to transmission of train control and dispatch commands, the ultra high reliability is required for railway wireless communication systems (RWCS). However, the quality of service (QoS) of RWCS is affected by external interference and jamming seriously in railway transportation. The external interference and jamming generated from intentional and/or unintentional sources can disturb the transmission of RWCS and be extremely dangerous for the trains’ safety. In this paper, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) approach is proposed to suppress the interference and jamming in RWCS. By taking the signal-to-interference-plus-noise (SINR) as the QoS metrics, the interference suppression problem with RIS is transformed into a maximizing receiving SINR problem. Two optimum solutions, which one is based on Charnes-Cooper transformation and the other is based on single linear programming, are provided. In order to deploy the RIS in RWCS practically, two low-complexity sub-optimum solutions, which one is to bypass the channel estimation for interference links and the other is to maximize the receiving desired power, are also discussed. The simulations results show that the RIS can be employed in RWCS with considerable anti-interference gain.
A new approach to the solubility in aqueous salt solutions

Abstract The paper develops a new approach to the analysis of a solid–liquid phase diagram in terms of the chemical potentials of the single phases. The approach stems from the basic hypothesis that chemical potentials between different phases are equal at equilibrium. To make the idea operative, the mathematical dependence of the pertinent chemical potentials on the temperature and the mass fraction is determined by means of Aspen Plus; for definiteness a sodium chloride solution is examined. The phase diagram is established and the analytical properties of the curve are obtained. Moreover, the functional dependence of the mass fraction on the temperature at the freezing point is determined. The satisfactory agreement with new experimental data proves the validity of the procedure. The methodology so developed, provides an improved and rigorous mathematical overview for the analysis of phase diagrams. The approach is likely to be applicable to the investigation of solutions with several constituents or alloys.
Photo-induced synthesis of chiral galaxamide analogs and the biological activities against human tumor cells

Two novel chiral cyclic peptide analogues of galaxamide were synthesized by photoinduced single electron transfer cyclization. Their stereochemistry was studied by experimental and theoretical ECD simulations. The title compounds were found to be active against HepG-2 cell lines (IC50 = 19.52 for 1 and 26.34 μg mL−1 for 2).
Impact of aerosols on space-based retrievals of carbon dioxide, The

The Impact of Aerosols on Space-Based Retrievals of Carbon Dioxide This work describes an investigation into the impact of aerosols on space-based retrievals of the column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of carbon dioxide (XCO2). It was initially hypothesized that a simplified non-scattering, or “clear sky”, retrieval, which neglects scattering and absorption by clouds and aerosols, could potentially avoid errors and biases brought about by attempting to measure properties of clouds and aerosols when there are none present. Clear sky retrievals have the benefit of being orders of magnitude faster and potentially as accurate as “full physics” retrievals that attempt to gain information about clouds and aerosols. Real data from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) and simulated data from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) were analyzed to find conditions under which a clear sky retrieval might perform as well as a full physics retrieval. It was found that for real GOSAT data the clear sky retrieval performed relatively well over land but not as well over ocean. The opposite conclusion was found for simulated OCO-2 data: it performed well over ocean but poorly over land. For both real GOSAT data and simulated OCO-2 data, high levels of filtering were needed for the clear sky retrieval to be able to perform nearly as well as or better than the full physics retrieval for both land and ocean surfaces. Spectral residuals were then examined to determine if the clear sky algorithm’s performance was tied to errors in the spectral fitting. It was found that the clear sky retrievals had larger residuals than the full physics retrievals but that reducing the clear sky residuals by allowing them to fit for a customized residual pattern did little to reduce the XCO2 errors. It was also shown that even very clear scenes may result in small but detectable clear sky residual patterns.
Total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) leaves from different locations

The present study was carried out to determine the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of Ocimum basilicum collected from different regions of the world. The accession V1 is from Sudan, V2 from Iraq, V3 from Germany, V4 from Thailand, V5 from Russia and V6 from Maldives. The extracts from six basil accessions were analysed for their DPPH free radical scavenging activity and their total phenolic content (TPC). The results suggest that the highest antioxidant activity was found in V6 (from Maldives) and the lowest antioxidant activity was found in V4 (from Thailand). The highest amount of phenolic content was found in V6 (from Maldives) and the lowest phenolic content was found inV4 (from Thailand). This study shows that basil is a good source of free-radical scavenging compounds that have their traditional medicinal applications.
CRMP2 Is Involved in Regulation of Mitochondrial Morphology and Motility in Neurons

Regulation of mitochondrial morphology and motility is critical for neurons, but the exact mechanisms are unclear. Here, we demonstrate that these mechanisms may involve collapsin response mediator protein 2 (CRMP2). CRMP2 is attached to neuronal mitochondria and binds to dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), Miro 2, and Kinesin 1 light chain (KLC1). Treating neurons with okadaic acid (OA), an inhibitor of phosphatases PP1 and PP2A, resulted in increased CRMP2 phosphorylation at Thr509/514, Ser522, and Thr555, and augmented Drp1 phosphorylation at Ser616. The CRMP2-binding small molecule (S)-lacosamide ((S)-LCM) prevented an OA-induced increase in CRMP2 phosphorylation at Thr509/514 and Ser522 but not at Thr555, and also failed to alleviate Drp1 phosphorylation. The increased CRMP2 phosphorylation correlated with decreased CRMP2 binding to Drp1, Miro 2, and KLC1. (S)-LCM rescued CRMP2 binding to Drp1 and Miro 2 but not to KLC1. In parallel with CRMP2 hyperphosphorylation, OA increased mitochondrial fission and suppressed mitochondrial traffic. (S)-LCM prevented OA-induced alterations in mitochondrial morphology and motility. Deletion of CRMP2 with a small interfering RNA (siRNA) resulted in increased mitochondrial fission and diminished mitochondrial traffic. Overall, our data suggest that the CRMP2 expression level and phosphorylation state are involved in regulating mitochondrial morphology and motility in neurons.
Determinants in Investment Behaviour During The COVID-19 Pandemic

This study investigated the psychological behaviour of investors in the stock market during the period of COVID-19. The survey was conducted between April and June 2020, following the lockdown announcement of the Indian Government on 25th March. There were 400 respondents. This paper has attempted to identify the impact on psychological behaviour during the initial stage of COVID-19 in India. The collected data has been used to determine the psychological factors which may have influenced investment decisions. The statistical tools of Cronbach Alpha, factor analysis, descriptive analysis, and multiple regression techniques were applied using the SPSS 21 package. The study has analysed the psychological dimensions of the behaviour when responding to fear, risk perception, risk propensity, investors' anxiety to market volatility, herding and vaccination updates. The results show that the behavioural response to fear, risk perception, herding and vaccination updates have influenced investors' decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Precision of inertial measurement unit sensors in head-tracking systems used for binaural synthesis

Binaural synthesis is the most used sound system for diverse virtual and augmented reality systems nowadays, given its simplicity of implementation and the need of using only two audio channels. It is widely used in computer games, auralization and even audio production. To achieve the most natural sound field recreation, systems used for binaural synthesis must include a head-tracking sensor to dynamically calculate the binaural signal for the head orientation at any given moment. This is done by inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors, specifically the triaxial accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers. Simpler systems, e.g., Arduino or other embedded systems, provide only raw sensor data, and the orientation is calculated by a processing unit. Other, more complex systems such as smartphones or VR headsets already calculate their position from the raw data using complex sensor integration algorithms. In this paper, a measurement procedure for measuring the precision of IMU sensors is presented. The need of absolute orientation calibration is addressed, and challenges of sensor data drift are discussed. Measurement results for simple embedded systems and complex systems found in smartphones are presented, and an estimation of IMU sensor quality for binaural synthesis is made.
Round Robin Laboratory Testing of a Scaled 10 MW Floating Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

This paper documents the round robin testing campaign carried out on a floating wind turbine as part of the EU H2020 MaRINET2 project. A 1/60th scale model of a 10 MW floating platform was tested in wave basins in four different locations around Europe. The tests carried out in each facility included decay tests, tests in regular and irregular waves with and without wind thrust, and tests to characterise the mooring system as well as the model itself. For the tests in wind, only the thrust of the turbine was considered and it was fixed to pre-selected levels. Hence, this work focuses on the hydrodynamic responses of a semi-submersible floating foundation. It was found that the global surge stiffness was comparable across facilities, except in one case where different azimuth angles were used for the mooring lines. Heave and pitch had the same stiffness coefficient and periods for all basins. Response Amplitude Operators (RAOs) were used to compare the responses in waves from all facilities. The shape of the motion RAOs were globally similar for all basins except around some particular frequencies. As the results were non-linear around the resonance and cancellation frequencies, the differences between facilities were magnified at these frequencies. Surge motions were significantly impacted by reflections leading to large differences in these RAOs between all basins.
Mapping of water-related ecosystem services in the uMngeni catchment using a daily time-step hydrological model for prioritisation of ecological infrastructure investment – Part 2: Outputs

South Africa is a semi-arid country which frequently faces water shortages, and experienced a severe drought in the 2016 and 2017 rainfall seasons. Government is under pressure to continue to deliver clean water to the growing population at a high assurance of supply. Studies now show that the delivery of water may be sustained not only through built infrastructure such as dams and pipelines, but also through investment in ecological infrastructure (EI). Part 1 of this paper in 2 parts concentrated on the role of EI in delivering water-related ecosystem services, as well as the motivation for this study, and the methods used in modelling and mapping the catchment. Part 2 explores and illustrates the current level of delivery of water-related ecosystem services in different parts of the catchment, with potential hydrological benefits of rehabilitation and protection of EI in the uMngeni catchment. The Mpendle, Lions River, Karkloof, Inanda and Durban sub-catchments are important areas for the generation of streamflows which accumulate downstream (i.e. water yield in the catchment) when annual totals are considered. Modelled annual sediment yield (in tonnes) from naturally vegetated areas is most severe in the lower catchment areas with steeper slopes such as Inanda, and in the high-altitude areas which have both steeper slopes and higher rainfall. The central and eastern parts of the uMngeni catchment were found to contribute the greatest yield of sediment from degraded areas with low protective vegetation cover. This combined modelling and mapping exercise highlighted areas of priority ecosystem service delivery, such as higher altitude grassland areas, which could be recommended for formal conservation, or protection under private partnerships. Generally, these areas confirm the intuitive sense of catchment stakeholders, but provide a robust and more defendable analysis through which water volumes are quantifiable, and potential investment into catchment interventions are justified.
Outage Probability Analysis of RIS-Assisted Wireless Networks With Von Mises Phase Errors

In this letter, we investigate the performance of a communication link assisted by a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) over line-of-sight (LOS) channels. The phase configuration of the RIS is imperfect and the phase error for each reflective element is modeled by a Von Mises distribution. First, we derive novel closed-form approximations for the lower tail distribution of the magnitude of the equivalent channel coefficient. Then, we use the obtained expressions to evaluate the outage probability and diversity order of the proposed system. Approximation errors of the proposed method are analyzed in detail. Simulation results validate the theoretical analysis is accurate at a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime.
Leadership Communication and Knowledge Integration across the Artistic, Technical and Administration Area in Theaters

Abstract This study analyzes self–other agreement in leadership communication and its relation to knowledge integration across the artistic, technical and administration areas in theaters. Results of a cross-sectional survey among 177 managers and 249 employees of German theaters reveal that managers consider themselves attentive to all areas, but particularly sensitive to their own area. In contrast, employees assess leadership communication quality rather mixed and especially communication of managers from the artistic area as mediocre. Furthermore, results of a polynomial regression with surface analysis indicate that managers can reduce knowledge integration problems across the areas when being sensitive to employees in areas other than their own.
Evaluation and comparison of Sentinel-2 MSI, Landsat 8 OLI, and EFFIS data for forest fires mapping. Illustrations from the summer 2017 fires in Tunisia

Abstract This study aims to assess the performance of the Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 sensors to map forest fires. We choose two fire events, the Haddad fire and the Sidi Ferdjani fire, in northwestern Tunisia in 2017. Several spectral indices were derived from each sensor and the performance of each spectral index was assessed. A validation exercise was undertaken for each fire to compare the spatial matching between the burned area retrieved from each spectral index and its homologue obtained from the Emergency Management Service (EMS). Our results indicate that ΔNBR and its relativized version RBR derived from both sensors exhibit the highest discrimination power (M-statistic values >2.5). The Sentinel sensor is slightly more efficient than the Landsat 8 in mapping burned scars, but both sensors produce acceptable results. We conclude that both sensors could be a good alternative to EFFIS data, particularly when there is a need to detect details inside the burned areas.