Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic inhalation toxicity and carcinogenicity studies on β-chloroprene in rats and hamsters

Three groups of 100 Wistar rats and Syrian golden hamsters of each sex were exposed by inhalation to 0, 10, or 50 ppm (v/v) β-chloroprene for 6 h/day, 5 days a week for up to 24 and 18 too, respectively. To maintain the chemical integrity of this highly reactive material in the exposure chambers, β-chloroprene vapor was generated from freshly distilled chloroprene (99.6% β-chloroprene; 0.3% α-chloroprene and <50 ppm chloroprene dimers) by passing nitrogen through liquid β-chloroprene at 0°C. This mixture was then conducted through Teflon® and stainless steel transport tubes into the main airflow for the chambers. After 72 wk on test a technical fault in chamber operation procedures resulted in the accidental death of 87 male and 73 female rats at 10 ppm unrelated to βchloroprene. Otherwise, survival of the remaining 10 ppm rats and the rats exposed at 50 ppm was unaffected by exposure. Survival among both groups of hamsters exposed to β-chloroprene was higher than the controls. All treated rats exhibited slight restlessness during exposure, but only during the first few weeks on test. At 50 ppm, rats also showed an increased incidence of alopecia, slight growth retardation, and an increased incidence of loci of altered liver cells, a change frequently seen in aged rats. Hamsters showed only a slight growth retardation and a slight reduction in amyloidosis at 50 ppm. No serious adverse effects were seen in either species at 10 ppm. Overall, there was no evidence of carcinogenicity related to β-chloroprene exposure in either rats or hamsters at vapor concentrations as high as 50 ppm.
The Thermodynamic Properties of the Solitons Excited in the Protein Molecules

How to transport the energy released in ATP hydrolysis in the biology or protein is a very interesting and important problem. In the 1970s Davydov proposed a soliton mode for it, considering that the Davydov soliton arising in protein is due to the vibrational energy of amide-I vibration or the quanta of the intramolecular excitation resulting from the local fluctuation, and deformation of structure caused by the energy released in ATP hydrolysis becomes self-trapped through a coupling between intramolecular
NeckFace

Facial expressions are highly informative for computers to understand and interpret a person's mental and physical activities. However, continuously tracking facial expressions, especially when the user is in motion, is challenging. This paper presents NeckFace, a wearable sensing technology that can continuously track the full facial expressions using a neck-piece embedded with infrared (IR) cameras. A customized deep learning pipeline called NeckNet based on Resnet34 is developed to learn the captured infrared (IR) images of the chin and face and output 52 parameters representing the facial expressions. We demonstrated NeckFace on two common neck-mounted form factors: a necklace and a neckband (e.g., neck-mounted headphones), which was evaluated in a user study with 13 participants. The study results showed that NeckFace worked well when the participants were sitting, walking, or after remounting the device. We discuss the challenges and opportunities of using NeckFace in real-world applications.
Metastatic well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors to the liver: a narrative review of systemic and surgical management

Abstract Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) are a rare group of neoplasms originating from the endocrine pancreas. PNETs are classified as functional or non-functional tumors. PNETs are more often diagnosed at a higher stage with distant metastases or advanced locoregional disease. The majority of individuals with hepatic metastases will ultimately die of liver failure; therefore, the treatment of liver tumor burden is critical to providing a survival impact. While surgical resection remains the only chance of cure for disease confined to the pancreas or for locoregional disease, the treatment of advanced or metastatic PNETs is more complex and often requires a multimodal approach. This review focuses on treatment options for well and moderately differentiated PNETs with metastatic disease to the liver. These include surgery, liver-directed therapies including ablative and intra-arterial therapies, and systemic therapies such as somatostatin analogues, targeted therapies, chemotherapy, and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy. Developing an individualized treatment strategy requires careful assessment of liver tumor burden and predicted biological behavior. Aggressive surgical resection of hepatic metastases secondary to PNET primary tumors is associated with improved survival in multiple retrospective studies. General goals of treatment for metastatic disease include prolonging overall survival and progression free survival, improving quality of life, and control of symptoms.
A Systematic Review of Family Caregivers of Persons with Serious Mental Illnesses in Non-Western Countries

Family caregivers of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) play an essential role in managing patient conditions. The shift towards community care for patients has resulted in transferring patient care to family members, resulting in significant challenges. Studies have documented the experiences of family caregivers in Western countries. However, a clear overview of family caregiver experiences of persons with SMI in non-Western countries is warranted. The purpose of this study was to integrate and summarize the current literature about family caregiver experiences in non-Western countries. Five databases were searched using relevant keywords for studies published in English from 2015 to 2020. The studies included in the review were qualitative and quantitative designs, representing several non-Western countries. This systematic review included 25 articles and data synthesized based on similarities and different findings. The findings of this systematic review will provide more knowledge on the experiences of family caregivers of persons with SMI in nonWestern countries, including burden, coping, psychological well-being, and stigma. This review found that additional research is necessary to understand the family caregiver experience and how healthcare teams can support caregivers. Further, the findings may help to inform health care policymakers to tailor strategies that support family caregivers.
Robust Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controller Design for Stable/Integrating Processes with Inverse Response and Time Delay

Processes that exhibit dynamic behaviors of inverse response and time delay increase the difficulty of control system design. This paper presents the design concepts that lead to robust tuning of a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller for stable/integrating processes with inverse response and time delay. The proposed control system design is based on a Smith-type compensator for nonminimum phase dynamics, which aims to remove these elements from the feedback loop. In this control scheme, it is necessary to factorize the process model into minimum phase and nonminimum phase parts. By investigating and comparing different factorization methods, this study shows that a system based on the direct factorization method can achieve better trade-off between control performance and system robustness. Furthermore, this study approximates the equivalent feedback controller for the proposed control configuration as a classical PID controller based on Maclaurin-series approach. Analytical tuning rules for.
International financial reporting standards, domestic debt finance and institutional quality: Evidence from developing countries

We have examined the relationship between international financial reporting standards (IFRS and IFRS for SMEs) and domestic credit to the private sector by banks. Using data on 107 developing countries from 2000 to 2017, we found that the use of IFRS and IFRS for SMEs is positively associated with an increase in domestic credit to the private sector in developing countries. Our analysis on the individual global standards shows that the relationship is much stronger for the use of full IFRS than IFRS for SMEs. We found that the effect of both international standards on domestic credit is more profound in countries with weaker institutional quality, indicating the overwhelming support that these sets of international standards are quality standards that boost confidence in financial statements. Other robustness tests confirm our results.
“Wonders of Rapid Maxillary Expansion and Lower Premolar Extractions in Correction of a Skeletal Class III Case with Maxillary Deficiency and Mandibular Excess” – A Case Report on Non- Surgical Orthodontic Camouflage

Transverse deficiencies should be a priority in orthodontic treatment, and should be corrected as soon as diagnosed, to restore the correct transverse relationship between maxilla and mandible and, consequently, normal maxillary growth. Corrections may be performed at the skeletal level, by opening the midpalatal suture, or by dentoalveolar expansion. The choice of a treatment alternative depends on certain factors, such as age, sex, degree of maxillary hypoplasia and maturation of the midpalatal suture. Thus, the present case report discusses rapid palatal expansion to correct maxillary hypoplasia in a female patient with advanced skeletal maturation and bilateral cross-bite with constricted maxilla.
Determinant of Devidend Policy and Its Implications on Company Value (Study on Construction and Building Issuer Year 2014-2019)

The purpose of this research was to determine and analyze the effect of financial performance on devidend policy and its implications for corporate value in the construction and building industry sub-sector listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the years 2014-2019. The population was 18 companies and sampling technique is purposive sampling, so that the sample in this study amounted to 8 companies. The data analysis technique used is multiple linear regression analysis with the help of Eviews Statistic application. The results of this research indicate that Cash Ratio has a negative not significant effect on DPR. DER has a positive not significant effect on DPR. ROA has a negative significant effect on DPR, while RTO has a negative not significant effect on DPR, and DPR has an effect negative not significant on Tobin’s Q.
Effet du yaourt à Streptococcus thermophilus et Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus sur le cholestérol sanguin chez le lapin

L'etude porte sur l'effet de l'ingestion du yaourt, a Streptococcus thermophilus (Sc. t.) et Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus (Lb. b.), sur le taux sanguin du cholesterol total, du cholesterol des HDL et du cholesterol des LDL chez le lapin. Les resultats obtenus montrent que la supplementation du regime standard des lapins en cholesterol (Ch) et en cholesterol et lait (L + Ch), fait augmenter d'une maniere significative le cholesterol total, le cholesterol des HDL et le cholesterol des LDL. De meme, la supplementation du regime standard en cholesterol et en yaourt YB3 (Y + Ch) augmente le taux du cholesterol total, du cholesterol des HDL et du cholesterol des LDL. Mais dans tous les cas, le taux du cholesterol total, du cholesterol des HDL et du cholesterol des LDL est plus faible chez les lapins recevant du yaourt YB3 en plus du regime standard et du cholesterol (Y + Ch). Les resultats montrent aussi que lorsqu'on arrete les supplementations, les taux de cholesterol total, de cholesterol des HDL et de cholesterol des LDL reviennent aux valeurs initiales apres 7 jours. L'addition du yaourt YB3 au regime standard n'a aucun effet sur le taux de cholesterol total et de ses fractions, quand ces derniers sont initialement normaux. Par ailleurs, la charge et la duree de survie de Streptococcus thermophilus (Sc. t.) et de Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus (Lb. b.) au niveau du tube digestif du lapin, pendant la supplementation du regime par le yaourt YB3 et apres l'arret de celui-ci, semblent tres satisfaisantes.
An Empirical and Computational Investigation of Skill Learning in Internally-guided Sequencing

Sequence learning plays a central role in the acquisition of many daily life motor skills such as typing or playing the piano. Several canonical experimental paradigms such as the serial reaction time task, discrete sequence production task and m × n task have been proposed to study the typical behavioral phenomenon in sequencing tasks. Such paradigms are externally-specified, where the environment or the task paradigm extrinsically provides the sequence of stimuli that guides the motor actions. Such paradigms differ from a class of more realistic motor tasks that are internally-guided, where the sequence of motor actions is self-generated or internally-specified. Most previous studies on discrete sequencing have employed externally-specified paradigms and therefore, the cognitive mechanisms underlying skill learning in internally-guided sequencing paradigms remain largely unexplored. This thesis presents an empirical and computational investigation of skill learning in internallyguided sequencing. We employ the Grid-Sailing Task (GST) as a canonical paradigm to study internallyguided sequence learning. The GST requires navigating by executing sequential keypresses, a n × n grid from start to goal (SG) position while using a particular key-mapping (KM) among the three cursormovement directions and the three keyboard buttons. In the first study, we investigate the learning processes involved in internally-guided sequencing. The participants performed two behavioral experiments – Single-SG and Mixed-SG condition. The participants first completed the Single-SG condition, which required performing GST on a single SG position repeatedly. By showing performance-related improvements in various behavioral measures such as the execution time and reward score, we show that motor learning contributes to the trajectory-specific learning in GST with the repeated execution of the same keypress sequences. The Mixed-SG condition involved performing GST using the same KM (from Single-SG condition) on two novel SG positions presented in a random, inter-mixed manner. Since the participants utilize the previously learned KM, we anticipate a transfer of learning from the Single-SG condition. The acquisition and transfer of a KM-specific internal model facilitate efficient trajectory planning on novel SG conditions. The acquisition of such a KM-specific internal model amounts to trajectory-independent cognitive learning in GST. We provide evidence for the role of cognitive learning in GST by showing transfer-related performance improvements in the Mixed-SG condition. In a subsequent study, we probe the involvement of a particular motor learning process called motor chunking. Motor chunking is a phenomenon which enables efficient execution of the motor sequences by chaining several elementary actions into sub-sequences called motor chunks. The participants per-
Ethnobotanical Studies of Plants with Antihypertensive Properties in the City of Nkongsamba, Cameroon

The use of plants to treat chronic diseases such as high blood pressure is part of ancient African traditions. Many authors have placed an emphasis on the study of plants through the ethnobotanical approach and the results obtained in different regions have shown that the use of plants to treat chronic diseases is very widespread. Ethnobotanical surveys aiming at identifying plants with antihypertensive properties were carried out in the city of Nkongsamba, Littoral Region, Cameroon, with traditional health practitioners in markets and associations. The data analysis focused on determining, for each species, the frequency of citation (CF), the confirmation or consensus index of informants (ICs), the frequency of use (FU) and contribution to the constitution of revenue (Cpr). A total of 35 people were interviewed as part of this survey: 24 men and 11 women. The distribution of respondents by age group showed that the group [41-60] is the most represented. People from the Cameroon West Region were the most represented among respondents. The distribution of respondents according to profession showed that traditional healers were more represented. The distribution of respondents according to religion showed that Christians were more represented. The distribution of respondents by level of study showed that respondents who dropped out of secondary school were more represented. The floristic inventory identified 55 species divided into 50 genera and 33 families. The most cited species was Alium sativum. The flora of Nkongsamba therefore contains an important diversity of plants with antihypertensive properties widely used by traditional therapists.
A PRELIMINARY ALGERIAN STUDY OF CONTAMINATION ASSESSMENT FOR PATHOGENIC INTESTINAL PARASITE IN FRESH VEGETABLE

Fresh vegetables are frequently used to prepare fresh salad dishes widely consumed in the world. They are known to be the main source of pathogenic intestinal parasites. In this context, the present work aimed to (a) detect the pathogenic intestinal parasites (PIP) in washed fresh vegetables, and (b) assess the exposure to PIP in the city of Ain Témouchent (Algeria). In fact, 26 samples belonging to six groups of fresh vegetables (cabbages, lettuces, leeks, radishes, peppers and tomatoes) were collected, washed (similarly to domestic wash with or without vinegar addition), then examined for PIP contamination. The results indicated that 90% of the examined vegetable samples were contaminated with intestinal parasites showing higher prevalence in lettuce (70.85%) while the lowest contamination (23.52%) was reported in pepper. In addition, Cryptosperidium (72%) has been found to be the most dominant parasite in all vegetables while Toxocara (8%) was less present. These finding are a preliminary report to conduct a risk assessment of PIP linked to vegetable feeding.
Efficient Differentiable Simulation of Articulated Bodies

We present a method for efficient differentiable simulation of articulated bodies. This enables integration of articulated body dynamics into deep learning frameworks, and gradient-based optimization of neural networks that operate on articulated bodies. We derive the gradients of the forward dynamics using spatial algebra and the adjoint method. Our approach is an order of magnitude faster than autodiff tools. By only saving the initial states throughout the simulation process, our method reduces memory requirements by two orders of magnitude. We demonstrate the utility of efficient differentiable dynamics for articulated bodies in a variety of applications. We show that reinforcement learning with articulated systems can be accelerated using gradients provided by our method. In applications to control and inverse problems, gradient-based optimization enabled by our work accelerates convergence by more than an order of magnitude.
Redistribution, Voting and Clientelism: Evidence from the Italian Land Reform

Many democracies around the world feature pervasive clientelist practices. Inequality is often considered a key determinant of these practices. By reducing inequality, redistributive policies may therefore undermine clientelism. However, by inducing gratitude and reciprocity among beneficiaries, redistribution may also initiate clientelist exchange. We study the long-term effects of a major redistribution policy: the 1950 Italian land reform. Using a panel spatial regression discontinuity and data for half a century, we show that the large-scale redistribution led to the emergence of a long-lasting clientelist system characterized by political brokers, patronage and targeted benefits. Within this system, the Christian Democratic party, which promoted the reform, experienced persistent electoral benefits.
Assessment of Heavy Metals Migration in the Water - Soil - Fodder - Milk Food Chain in the Almaty Region

Corresponding Author: Tolkyn Abdigaliyeva, Department of Food Biotechnology, Almaty Technological University, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan Email: nurzhan_sarsembayeva@mail.ru Abstract: This study presents the results of monitoring heavy metals (Cd, Pb, As and Hg) in the water soil fodder milk food chain. The research aimed to study the effect of lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic in soil, water and components of the diet of cattle on their bioaccumulation in livestock products (milk) in basic farms of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The possibility of obtaining ecologically safe livestock products in meat and dairy cattle breeding has also been scientifically substantiated. A total of 120 soil samples, 60 water samples, 212 fodder samples and 60 milk samples were analyzed. Samples for the research were taken in spring, summer and fall in 2018 and 2019. Analysis of samples for the content of heavy metals was performed in the laboratory of the Kazakh-Japan Innovation Center at the Kazakh National Agrarian University. Determination of residual amounts of heavy metals (cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury) was carried out on a novAA350 atomic absorption spectrometer (Analytik Jena, Germany) with a TaLab voltammetric analyzer. The obtained data allow concluding the degree of environmental pollution (water bodies, soil, agricultural fodder) and, consequently, the environmental safety of milk. Considering the data obtained, the authors have found that in the studied administrative districts of the Almaty region, the calculated transition coefficients in the water-soilfodder-milk system indicated that the largest transition of heavy metals was for lead and less migration was observed for mercury and arsenic. Fodders and feed additives preserved the tendency to accumulate trace elements. The analysis of heavy metals content in the study objects has shown that their distribution occurred in decreasing order: Lead > zinc > mercury > arsenic.