Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of Piperine-Loaded Solid Self-Nanoemulsifying Drug Delivery System: Optimization, In-Vitro, Ex-Vivo, and In-Vivo Evaluation

Hypertension is a cardiovascular disease that needs long-term medication. Oral delivery is the most common route for the administration of drugs. The present research is to develop piperine self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (PE-SNEDDS) using glyceryl monolinoleate (GML), poloxamer 188, and transcutol HP as oil, surfactant, and co-surfactant, respectively. The formulation was optimized by three-factor, three-level Box-Behnken design. PE-SNEDDs were characterized for globule size, emulsification time, stability, in-vitro release, and ex-vivo intestinal permeation study. The optimized PE-SNEDDS (OF3) showed the globule size of 70.34 ± 3.27 nm, percentage transmittance of 99.02 ± 2.02%, and emulsification time of 53 ± 2 s Finally, the formulation OF3 was transformed into solid PE-SNEDDS (S-PE-SNEDDS) using avicel PH-101 as adsorbent. The reconstituted SOF3 showed a globule size of 73.56 ± 3.54 nm, PDI of 0.35 ± 0.03, and zeta potential of −28.12 ± 2.54 mV. SEM image exhibited the PE-SNEDDS completely adsorbed on avicel. Thermal analysis showed the drug was solubilized in oil, surfactant, and co-surfactant. S-PE-SNEDDS formulation showed a more significant (p < 0.05) release (97.87 ± 4.89% in 1 h) than pure PE (27.87 ± 2.65% in 1 h). It also exhibited better antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa and antioxidant activity as compared to PE dispersion. The in vivo activity in rats exhibited better (p < 0.05) antihypertensive activity as well as 4.92-fold higher relative bioavailability than pure PE dispersion. Finally, from the results it can be concluded that S-PE-SNEDDS might be a better approach for the oral delivery to improve the absorption and therapeutic activity.
LECAR: Location Estimation-Based Congestion-Aware Routing Protocol for Sparsely Deployed Energy-Efficient UAVs

Energy-efficient routing has become a critical issue for advanced energy-hungry unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Routing in a flying ad hoc network is always challenging and becomes even more critical when a small number of UAVs must cover a large area. The routing protocols based on the delay-tolerant network (DTN) are best suited for such scenarios. However, traditional DTN-based routing protocols depend on data dissemination to offer a better packet delivery ratio, leading to congestion and excess transmissions, causing heavy and unnecessary energy consumption. We propose a location estimation-based congestion-aware routing protocol (LECAR) to balance these two issues. Considering outdated location information, LECAR takes advantage of the mobility model to estimate the current location of the destination. In addition, LECAR routes a packet by considering both the distance to destination and buffer occupancy of the neighboring UAVs. Simulation results show that LECAR could ensure both a high packet delivery ratio and low energy consumption. Moreover, LECAR could provide a minimal number of transmissions, while minimizing the number of copies per packet at a time.
Impact of Little Cigars and Cigarillos Packaging Features on Product Preference

Background: We conducted a discrete choice experiment (DCE) among young adult cigarette smokers in the period July–August 2018 to examine their preference for cigarillos in response to various packaging-related attributes, including flavor, flavor description, quality descriptors, pack size, and prices. Methods: A convenience sample of 566 US young adult cigarette smokers aged 18–34, among whom 296 were current little cigar and cigarillo (LCC) smokers, were recruited using Facebook ads and invited to participate in an online (Qualtrics) tobacco survey containing DCE and tobacco use questions. In the experiment, participants chose among two cigarillo products or “neither” (opt-out). Results: We analyzed preferences for LCCs using multinomial, nested, random parameter logit models. Results showed that young adult cigarette smokers preferred grape over menthol, tobacco/regular, and wine flavors; “color only” and “color and text” flavor depictions over text only; “smooth” and “sweet” quality descriptors over “satisfying”; and larger pack sizes and lower prices. Conclusions: Regulating packaging-related features will impact LCC choices among US young adult smokers. FDA regulation over these packaging-related features may impact LCC use among young adult smokers.
Diversity of bet‐hedging strategies in microbial communities—Recent cases and insights

Abstract Microbial communities are continuously exposed to unpredictable changes in their environment. To thrive in such dynamic habitats, microorganisms have developed the ability to readily switch phenotypes, resulting in a number of differently adapted subpopulations expressing various traits. In evolutionary biology, a particular case of phenotypic heterogeneity that evolved in an unpredictably changing environment has been defined as bet‐hedging. Bet‐hedging is a risk‐spreading strategy where isogenic populations stochastically (randomly) diversify their phenotypes, often resulting in maladapted individuals that suffer lower reproductive success. This fitness trade‐off in a specific environment may have a selective advantage upon the sudden environmental shift. Thus, a bet‐hedging strategy allows populations to persist in very dynamic habitats, but with a particular fitness cost. In recent years, numerous examples of phenotypic heterogeneity in different microorganisms have been observed, some suggesting bet‐hedging. Here, we highlight the latest reports concerning bet‐hedging phenomena in various microorganisms to show how versatile this strategy is within the microbial realms. This article is categorized under: Infectious Diseases > Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Seaweeds as a Fermentation Substrate: A Challenge for the Food Processing Industry

Seaweeds are gaining momentum as novel and functional food and feed products. From whole consumption to small bioactive compounds, seaweeds have remarkable flexibility in their applicability, ranging from food production to fertilizers or usages in chemical industries. Regarding food production, there is an increasing interest in the development of novel foods that, at the same time, present high nutritious content and are sustainably developed. Seaweeds, because they require no arable land, no usage of fresh water, and they have high nutritious and bioactive content, can be further explored for the development of newer and functional food products. Fermentation, especially performed by lactic acid bacteria, is a method used to produce functional foods. However, fermentation of seaweed biomass remains an underdeveloped topic that nevertheless demonstrates high potential for the production of new alimentary products that hold and further improve the organoleptic and beneficial properties that these organisms are characterized for. Although further research has to be deployed in this field, the prebiotic and probiotic potential demonstrated by fermented seaweed can boost the development of new functional foods.
Do acquisitions and internal growth impact differen tially firm performance

Aktas de Bodt Samaras Address EMLYON Business School 23 av. Guy de Collongue 69130 Ecully France Academic Fellow, Europlace Institute of Finance Universite de Lille 2 Lille School of Management 1 place Deliot - BP381 59020 Lille Cedex France IAG - Louvain School of Management 1, Place des doyens; b212 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve Belgium Voice +33-4-7833-7847 33-3-2090-7477 +32-4-8667-7092 Fax +32-4-7833-7928 33-3-2090-7629 +32-0-1047-8324 E-mail aktas@em-lyon.com eric.debodt@univ-lille2.fr samaras@fin.ucl. ac.be *Corresponding author. Acknowledgements We are grateful to Jean-Gabriel Cousin, Tanguy de Launois, Manuel van Sluys and Charlie Weir for their constructive comments which greatly improved the article. We also thank the participants at the SIFF Conference (Paris, 2007), the LSM Ph.D Workshop (Mons, 2007) and the EFMA Conference (Athens, 2008).
Students' Attitude in a Web-enhanced Hybrid Course: A Structural Equaadon Modeling Inquiry

The present study focuses on five latent factors affecting students 'use of WebCT in a Web-enhanced hybrid undergraduate course at a southeastern university in the United States. An online questionnaire is used to measure a hypothetic model composed of two exogenous variables (i.e., subjective norm and computer self-efficacy), three endogenous variables (i.e., perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and attitude toward WebCT use), one dependent variable (i.e.; actual system use), and eleven demographic items. PROC CALIS is used to analyze the data collected. Results suggest the technology acceptance model may not be applicable to the higher education setting. However, student attitude toward WebCT instruction remains a significant determinant to WebCT use on a non-voluntary basis. Educational achievement (i.e., student final grades) is regressed on the attitude factor as an outcome variable. Suggestions for practitioners and researchers in the field are mentioned.
Association between 24 h Urinary Sodium and Potassium Excretion and Dietary Intake in Japanese Male Adolescent Football Players

High urinary sodium-to-potassium ratio is considered a strong risk factor for hypertension. This study aimed to evaluate urinary excretion of sodium and potassium, and we analyzed these levels associated with dietary intake in Japanese adolescent football players. This cross-sectional study included 120 Japanese male adolescent football players. Over 24 h, urine was collected and measured for creatinine, sodium, and potassium levels. A dietary assessment was performed using a self-administered diet history questionnaire. The study analyzed 79 participants. The mean urinary sodium was 143.2 mmol/day, urinary potassium was 42.8 mmol/day, and the mean urinary sodium-to-potassium ratio was 3.6. Compared with the Japanese Dietary Reference Intakes, the estimated salt intake was 73.4% for the participants who exceeded the sodium intake, and the estimated potassium intake was 73.4% for the participants who did not satisfy it. Multiple regression analysis revealed that milk and dairy product intake was independently and positively associated with urinary potassium (β = 0.252) and independently and negatively associated with the urinary sodium-to-potassium ratio (β = −0.254). Adolescent football players had a high-sodium and low-potassium diet, well above the Japanese Dietary Reference Intakes recommendations. Milk and dairy products could be effective for increasing urinary potassium and decreasing the urinary sodium-to-potassium ratio.
City Rules: How Regulations Affect Urban Form

"City Rules" offers a challenge to students and professionals in urban planning, design, and policy to change the rules of city-building, using regulations to reinvigorate, rather than stifle, our communities. Emily Talen demonstrates that rules like zoning and subdivision regulation are primary determinants of urban form. While many contemporary codes encourage sprawl and even urban blight, that hasn't always been the case - and it shouldn't be in the future. Talen provides a visually rich history, showing how certain eras used rules to produce beautiful, walkable communities, while others created just the opposite. She makes complex regulations understandable, demystifying zoning and illustrating how written rules translate into real-world consequences. Most importantly, Talen proposes changes to these rules that will actually enhance communities' freedom to develop unique spaces.
Dynamic Balance Performance In Relation To the Dependence in Activities of Daily Living: A Cross-Sectional Study in Stroke Patients

Aim: to determine if dynamic balance is related to activities of daily living (ADL) dependence in stroke patients. Methods: a cross-sectional study was carried out. The Barthel index (BI) was used to assess ADL dependence. The Timed Up and Go Test (TUG) and the Four Square Step Test (FSST) were used to evaluate dynamic balance. A Spearman correlation was used assuming a data abnormality in the performance of TUG and FSST and considering a significance of p<0.05. Results: 62 stroke patients were evaluated. The BI showed correlations with the performance of the TUG and the FSST. These correlations were also found between performance of both balance tests and ADLs, such as bathing, moving, and going up and down stairs. In contrast to TUG, correlations were estimated between the ADL related to dressing and the performance of the FSST. Conclusion: dynamic balance evaluated by the TUG and the FSST showed correlations with the ADL dependency in stroke patients.
Seeker optimisation algorithm: application to the solution of economic load dispatch problems

This study presents a seeker optimisation algorithm (SOA) for the solution of the constrained economic load dispatch (ELD) problems in different power systems considering various non-linear characteristics of generators. In the SOA, the act of human searching capability and understanding are exploited for the purpose of optimisation. In this algorithm, the search direction is based on empirical gradient by evaluating the response to the position changes and the step length is based on uncertainty reasoning by using a simple fuzzy rule. A comparison of simulation results reveals the optimisation efficacy of the algorithm over the prevailing optimisation techniques for the solution of the multimodal, non-differentiable, highly non-linear and constrained ELD problems.
Predicting the Geographic Range of an Invasive Livestock Disease across the Contiguous USA under Current and Future Climate Conditions

Vesicular stomatitis (VS) is the most common vesicular livestock disease in North America. Transmitted by direct contact and by several biting insect species, this disease results in quarantines and animal movement restrictions in horses, cattle and swine. As changes in climate drive shifts in geographic distributions of vectors and the viruses they transmit, there is considerable need to improve understanding of relationships among environmental drivers and patterns of disease occurrence. Multidisciplinary approaches integrating pathology, ecology, climatology, and biogeophysics are increasingly relied upon to disentangle complex relationships governing disease. We used a big data model integration approach combined with machine learning to estimate the potential geographic range of VS across the continental United States (CONUS) under long-term mean climate conditions over the past 30 years. The current extent of VS is confined to the western portion of the US and is related to summer and winter precipitation, winter maximum temperature, elevation, fall vegetation biomass, horse density, and proximity to water. Comparison with a climate-only model illustrates the importance of current processes-based parameters and identifies regions where uncertainty is likely to be greatest if mechanistic processes change. We then forecast shifts in the range of VS using climate change projections selected from CMIP5 climate models that most realistically simulate seasonal temperature and precipitation. Climate change scenarios that altered climatic conditions resulted in greater changes to potential range of VS, generally had non-uniform impacts in core areas of the current potential range of VS and expanded the range north and east. We expect that the heterogeneous impacts of climate change across the CONUS will be exacerbated with additional changes in land use and land cover affecting biodiversity and hydrological cycles that are connected to the ecology of insect vectors involved in VS transmission.
Protective Effects of Nootkatone on Renal Inflammation, Apoptosis, and Fibrosis in a Unilateral Ureteral Obstructive Mouse Model

Nootkatone is one of the major active ingredients of Alpiniae oxyphyllae, which has been used as both food and medicinal plants for the treatment of diarrhea, ulceration, and enuresis. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether nootkatone treatment ameliorated the progression of chronic kidney diseases (CKD) and clarified its underlying mechanisms in an obstructive nephropathy (unilateral ureteral obstructive; UUO) mouse model. Our results revealed that nootkatone treatment preventively decreased the pathological changes and significantly mitigated the collagen deposition as well as the protein expression of fibrotic markers. Nootkatone could also alleviate oxidative stress-induced injury, inflammatory cell infiltration, and renal cell apoptotic death in the kidneys of UUO mice. These results demonstrated for the first time that nootkatone protected against the progression of CKD in a UUO mouse model. It may serve as a potential therapeutic candidate for CKD intervention.
STOP, YIELD, AND NO CONTROL AT INTERSECTIONS

Observations and measurements were made at 140 low volume intersections in three regions of the United States. Control type, region, location (urban/rural), geometry (3-leg/4-leg), major roadway volume and sight distance are examined to determine their individual and interactive effects on driver behavior, accident experience, and travel time. Region, location and geometry have an essentially negligible effect on safety and operations at low volume intersections. Increasingly restrictive control did not result in reductions in accident experience. STOP control produced the highest travel times and thus the highest total road user costs; YIELD control resulted in the lowest road user costs of the three control types considered.
The Role of Uncertainty in Assessing the NATO/Pact Central Region Balance

Abstract : This report is a revised version of a paper developed originally for the Conventional Defense Study Group (CDSG) created by the Congress under the 1988-198 National Defense Authorization Act. The CDSG is chaired by the Comptroller General and has representatives from the Congressional Budget Office, Congressional Research Service, Office of Technology Assessment, and General Accounting Office. The author was asked to develop, and present at a workshop, a paper on a net assessment of the NATO/Pact Central Region balance that would include issues of quality, combat readiness, mobilization, and sustainability. The original paper was published in April 1988 as RAND P-7427. The changes incorporated here include editorial improvements, clarification of NATO's sustainability problems, and a better description of the analytic differences among competing approaches to balance assessment. A basic question in any discussion of the military balance is which balance one is addressing: the balance of inputs such as defense expenditures and manpower under arms, the balance of combat equipment such as tanks, the balance of force readiness and mobilization potential, or the balance as measured by likely war outcomes if deterrence fails. This report is concerned primarily with the last of these, and with the challenge of addressing that warfighting balance in the face of massive uncertainty rendering it meaningless to talk about allegedly best estimate scenarios.
Between automation and gamification: forms of labour control on crowdwork platforms

Algorithmic management is a core concept to analyse labour control on online labour platforms. It runs the risk, however, of oversimplifying the existing variety and complexity of control forms. In order to provide a basis for further research, this article develops a typology of labour control forms within crowdwork and discusses how they influence perceptions of working conditions. It identifies the two most relevant forms of labour control in crowdwork: direct control mainly takes the form of automated output control, while indirect control aiming at creating motivation and commitment is mainly exerted through ranking and reputation systems (gamification). The article shows that these forms of control and their combination are linked with very different ways of how platform workers perceive working conditions on platforms. In addition, the analysis shows significant differences regarding the perception of working conditions between those who work on platforms in addition to a regular employment as opposed to those who are self-employed and rely more strongly, if not fully, on their income from platform work. The analysis is based on qualitative and quantitative research on crowdwork platforms. In particular, it builds on an online survey conducted with 1,131 crowdworkers active on different types of platforms.
The seismic response of precast segmental bridge superstructures with bonded tendons

Precast segmental construction of bridges can accelerate construction and minimize the cost of bridges in highly congested urban environments, environmentally sensitive regions, difficult to access ravines, and wide river crossings where medium to long repetitive spans are needed. Despite their proven benefits, the use of precast segmental bridges in seismic regions of the United States remains very limited. A main obstacle to their use is concern regarding the seismic response of segment joints. Recent research has shown that segment joints can undergo very large rotations that open up gaps in the superstructure, while maintaining its load carrying capacity, and with little, if any, damage. This dissertation investigates the seismic response of precast segmental bridges using detailed 2D non-linear time- history analyses and focuses on the behavior of segment-to -segment joints constructed using the balanced cantilever method. The joint model was calibrated using results available from experimental work on large scale sub- assemblages. Analytical models of full scale precast segmental bridges with geometries and characteristics, similar to the Otay River Bridge and the San Francisco- Oakland Bay Bridge Skyway in California, were also used in this study. A suite of twenty near field earthquake records was used to determine the median joint response as well as to quantify the effect of vertical motion on the joint response. The earthquake records were scaled using two different scaling methods and the effect on the structure response was studied. Four different pre- earthquake stress conditions were studied to determine if the effects of creep, shrinkage and temperature impact the seismic response of segment joints. In addition, a preliminary investigation into the possibility of removing a portion of the superstructure longitudinal post- tensioning and allowing non-linear elastic response of the segment joints during a significant seismic event was performed. Results indicated that vertical earthquake motions and the pre-earthquake stress-state can alter the response of segment joints. The results also showed that the method of record scaling does not significantly alter the median response, but may effect the variation in response. Furthermore, reducing the longitudinal post- tensioning near the piers may be possible provided that service load cases do not govern the design