Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating the sexual behaviour, barriers to condom use and its actual use by university students in Nigeria

This research quantified the barriers to condom use of a sample of university students in Nigeria. It further analyzed association between condom use at last intercourse and the barriers, in addition to HIV risk sexual practices. A total of 96 women and 128 men were randomly selected, and they completed a survey. Results indicated both men and women reported that condoms hindered their sexual satisfaction, caused health problems for them and reduced their sexual interest. The findings also showed that obtaining condoms from clinics and perception that condoms do not cause health problems predicted the likelihood of condom use for both sexes. In addition, the results indicated that obtaining first time information from family members or relatives predicted the likelihood of condom use for women. It was recommended that intervention efforts should make condoms freely available in tertiary institutions, and such interventions should be tailored to overcome the relevant barriers that interfere with condom use for both the women and men.
Interactions of CuO nanoparticles with the algae Chlorella pyrenoidosa: adhesion, uptake, and toxicity

Abstract The potential adverse effects of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) have increasingly attracted attention. Combining electron microscopic and toxicological investigations, we determined the adhesion, uptake, and toxicity of CuO NPs to eukaryotic alga Chlorella pyrenoidosa. CuO NPs were toxic to C. pyrenoidosa, with a 72 h EC50 of 45.7 mg/L. Scanning electron microscopy showed that CuO NPs were attached onto the surface of the algal cells and interacted with extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) excreted by the organisms. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that EPS layer of algae was thickened by nearly 4-fold after CuO NPs exposure, suggesting a possible protective mechanism. In spite of the thickening of EPS layer, CuO NPs were still internalized by endocytosis and were stored in algal vacuoles. TEM and electron diffraction analysis confirmed that the internalized CuO NPs were transformed to Cu2O NPs (d-spacing, ∼0.213 nm) with an average size approximately 5 nm. The toxicity investigation demonstrated that severe membrane damage was observed after attachment of CuO NPs with algae. Reactive oxygen species generation and mitochondrial depolarization were also noted upon exposure to CuO NPs. This work provides useful information on understanding the role of NPs–algae physical interactions in nanotoxicity.
Joint optimization of content placement and request redirection in Mobile-CDN

In a Mobile-CDN, Base Stations (BSs) are equipped with storages for replicating content, and they are allowed to cooperate in replying user requests through backhaul links. In this paper, we investigate the joint optimization problem of content placement and user request redirection for such a BS-based mobile CDN system. Specifically, each BS maintains a transmission queue for replying user requests issued from other BSs. Due to the limited link capacity and the dynamic network environment, the optimization problem should be jointly considered with the transmission queue states. We employ the Stochastic optimization model to minimize the long-term time-average transmission cost under content availability and network stability constraints. By applying the Lyapunov optimization technique, we transform the long-term problem into a set of linear programming (LP) problems, which are solved in each short time duration. Further, we propose a semi-distributed online algorithm to jointly decide content placement and user request redirection. The evaluation confirms that our solution guarantees network stability comparing to the traditional user request redirection scheme.
The effect of concave and convex weight adjustments on self-organizing maps

Two nonlinear models of weight adjustments of self-organizing maps are derived to obtain desirable densities of output units, one that approaches the probability distribution p(xi) of the inputs and one that approaches a uniform distribution. If a convex model is used to adjust weights, the density of output units can be made to approach p(xi) instead of the p(xi)(2/3) which results from the linear weight adjustment of Kohonen's self-organizing maps. If a concave model of weight adjustments is used, the density approaches a uniform distribution and the winner frequency distribution of output units is proportional to p(xi). The former can provide more efficient data representations for vector quantization, while the latter can provide more meaningful measures for cluster analysis. Numerical demonstrations validate the mathematical derivations. The convergence of the concave model is faster than the linear and convex models while the convergence of the convex model is comparable to that of the linear model.
Hepatitis C virus kinetics in chimeric mice during antiviral therapy

1. Wieckowska A, McCullough AJ, Feldstein AE. Noninvasive diagnosis and monitoring of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: present and future. HEPATOLOGY 2007;46:582-589. 2. Wieckowska A, Zein NN, Yerian LM, Lopez AR, McCullough AJ, Feldstein AE. In vivo assessment of liver cell apoptosis as a novel biomarker of disease severity in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. HEPATOLOGY 2006;44: 27-33. 3. Kleiner DE, Brunt EM, Van Natta M, Behling C, Contos MJ, Cummings OW, et al. Design and validation of a histological scoring system for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. HEPATOLOGY 2005;41:1313-1321.
Data for cancer comparative effectiveness research

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) can efficiently and rapidly generate new scientific evidence and address knowledge gaps, reduce clinical uncertainty, and guide health care choices. Much of the potential in CER is driven by the application of novel methods to analyze existing data. Despite its potential, several challenges must be identified and overcome so that CER may be improved, accelerated, and expeditiously implemented into the broad spectrum of cancer care and clinical practice. To identify and characterize the challenges to cancer CER, the authors reviewed the literature and conducted semistructured interviews with 41 cancer CER researchers at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions about Effectiveness (DEcIDE) Cancer CER Consortium. Several data sets for cancer CER were identified and differentiated into an ontology of 8 categories and were characterized in terms of strengths, weaknesses, and utility. Several themes emerged during the development of this ontology and discussions with CER researchers. Dominant among them was accelerating cancer CER and promoting the acceptance of findings, which will necessitate transcending disciplinary silos to incorporate diverse perspectives and expertise. Multidisciplinary collaboration is required, including those with expertise in nonexperimental data, statistics, outcomes research, clinical trials, epidemiology, generalist and specialty medicine, survivorship, informatics, data, and methods, among others. Recommendations highlight the systematic, collaborative identification of critical measures; application of more rigorous study design and sampling methods; policy‐level resolution of issues in data ownership, governance, access, and cost; and development and application of consistent standards for data security, privacy, and confidentiality. Cancer 2012. © 2012 American Cancer Society.
Cardiorespiratory effects of a tiletamine/zolazepam-ketamine-detomidine combination in horses.

OBJECTIVE To determine cardiorespiratory effects of a tiletamine/zolazepam-ketamine-detomidine (TZKD) combination in horses. ANIMALS 8 healthy adult horses. PROCEDURE Horses were instrumented for measurement of cardiorespiratory, acid-base, and electrolyte values. Each horse was given xylazine (0.44 mg/kg of body weight, IV) 10 to 15 minutes prior to induction of recumbency by administration of the TZKD combination. Cardiorespiratory, acid-base, and electrolyte values were measured at 5-minute intervals for > or =30 minutes. RESULTS All horses became recumbent within 1 minute after IV administration of TZKD. Mean +/- SD duration of recumbency was 40+/-8 minutes. All horses regained standing position after < or =2 attempts. Quality of anesthesia and analgesia was determined to be satisfactory in all horses. Xylazine induced decreases in respiratory rate, heart rate, cardiac output, maximum rate of increase of right ventricular pressure, and rate pressure product. The PaCO2, right atrial pressure, and peripheral vascular resistance increased, whereas blood temperature, PO2, pHa, HCO3-, PCV, total solids, Na, and K values remained unchanged. Subsequent administration of TZKD caused right atrial pressure and PaCO2 to increase and PaO2 to decrease, compared with values obtained after xylazine administration. Remaining cardiorespiratory, acid-base, hematologic, and electrolyte values did not differ from those obtained after xylazine administration. CONCLUSION IV administration of TZKD induces short-term anesthesia in horses. Potential advantages of this drug combination are the small volume of drug administered; minimal cardiorespiratory depression; quality of induction and maintenance of, and recovery from, anesthesia; and duration of drug effects.
Evaluation of DNA Primase DnaG as a Potential Target for Antibiotics

ABSTRACT Mycobacteria contain genes for several DNA-dependent RNA primases, including dnaG, which encodes an essential replication enzyme that has been proposed as a target for antituberculosis compounds. An in silico analysis revealed that mycobacteria also possess archaeo-eukaryotic superfamily primases (AEPs) of unknown function. Using a homologous recombination system, we obtained direct evidence that wild-type dnaG cannot be deleted from the chromosome of Mycobacterium smegmatis without disrupting viability, even in backgrounds in which mycobacterial AEPs are overexpressed. In contrast, single-deletion AEP mutants or mutants defective for all four identified M. smegmatis AEP genes did not exhibit growth defects under standard laboratory conditions. Deletion of native dnaG in M. smegmatis was tolerated only after the integration of an extra intact copy of the M. smegmatis or Mycobacterium tuberculosis dnaG gene, under the control of chemically inducible promoters, into the attB site of the chromosome. M. tuberculosis and M. smegmatis DnaG proteins were overproduced and purified, and their primase activities were confirmed using radioactive RNA synthesis assays. The enzymes appeared to be sensitive to known inhibitors (suramin and doxorubicin) of DnaG. Notably, M. smegmatis bacilli appeared to be sensitive to doxorubicin and resistant to suramin. The growth and survival of conditional mutant mycobacterial strains in which DnaG was significantly depleted were only slightly affected under standard laboratory conditions. Thus, although DnaG is essential for mycobacterial viability, only low levels of protein are required for growth. This suggests that very efficient inhibition of enzyme activity would be required for mycobacterial DnaG to be useful as an antibiotic target.
Extralysosomal Protein Degradation in Myofibrillar Myopathies

Myofibrillar myopathies (MFMs) are a group of heterogeneous muscle disorders morphologically defined by the presence of foci of dissolution of the myofibrils, accumulation of the products of myofibrillar degradation and ectopic expression of multiple proteins. MFMs represent the paradigm of conformational protein diseases of skeletal and cardiac muscles. Protein aggregation in MFMs is now considered to be the result of a failure of the extralysosomal proteolytic degradation system. Several factors including mutant proteins, aggresome formation and oxidative stress may compromise the ubiquitin–proteasome system, promoting the accumulation of potentially toxic protein aggregates within muscle cells.
The Influence of The Belt and Road on the A-share market

Since President Xi Jinping put forward the strategy of the "Belt and Road" in 2013, the strategy has got the high attention of the international community. The stock market as a barometer of the national economy can timely reflect the change of national policies. The strategy made a series of relevant stock price has a significant volatility, and they formed the independent plate called "Belt and Road". The paper intends to use Event Study Method and Fama-French Three-Factor Model to evaluate the influence of "Belt and Road" on the A-share market, so as to understand the impact of macro policies on the stock market, and find out some mechanism and measures to make the share market better.
On the performance of estimators for burst-mode offset QPSK

The Cramér-Rao bound for the joint estimator of carrier frequency offset, carrier phase offset, and symbol timing offset for offset QPSK is derived and used to identify “good” training sequences. Conveniently, sequences that repeat a single OQPSK constellation point are found to be the “best” for all three estimators when half-sine pulse shaping is used.
Accumulating Social Capital in an Online Urban Network: The Effects of User Behaviors

Social capital is often accumulated not only in ego-networks, but in larger communities. However, these communities, although seemingly visible through social media, are still under-researched. In this work, we examine an online friendship network spanning over an entire middle-size city amounting to 194,601 users of VK social network site. We find that the share of user’s in-city friends contributes to his/her brokerage and information influence abilities. More importantly, the number of user’s online groups - that is, user’s access to diverse or disconnected communities - is positively related with his/her bridging capital, and negatively with the bonding capital. Finally, our research questions the validity of some of the existing social capital measures.
Adaptive production control system based on optimal aggregation methods

Production control system, enabling to distribute resources or loads between subsystems quickly and optimally is suggested. The methodology of optimal aggregation allows us to replace the multidimensional optimization problem by a system of one-dimensional optimization problems, which removes the dimensionality problem. The solution of optimization problem is the optimal equivalent function of the production system. A technique of parametrization of this function is developed. Optimum control is represented as a function of resources prices, production products, parameters of production functions. A decision support system has been developed and software modules have been tested.
Vertical price transmission along the potato supply chain in Lithuania

Potato sector is one of the competitive areas of the European Union (EU) agriculture. Although Eurostat declared that in 2015 Lithuanian share in the EU-28 harvested production was modest and composed only 0.7%, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAOSTAT), this crop remained on the list of top 10 commodities by net production value in Lithuanian agriculture. However, over the past decades the Lithuanian potato sector survived undesired transformations. The aim of this paper is to analyse the changes of the main indicators, related to the potato sector, and vertical price transmission among the chain of potatoes in Lithuania. The conducted research indicates the most important development trends of the potato sector and applies econometric techniques to investigate if there is any long-run relationship between the farm and retail prices of potatoes for the period of 2010 to 2016. Although the statistics show the shrinking production and domestic consumption of potatoes in Lithuania, the analysis of the vertical price transmission does not provide evidence of market inefficiencies. The Johansen cointegration test confirms the existence of a long-run relationship between the farm and retail prices, while the Granger causality test shows that there is a bidirectional causality between the examined series. The M-TAR model does not provide evidence of the farm and retail price asymmetry in the long run.
Mobility Functional Outcomes of Neurofibromatosis Patients: A Preliminary Report

Objective The aim of the study was to describe the mobility outcomes of neurofibromatosis (NF) patients who received acute inpatient rehabilitation. Design This is a retrospective study of 62 consecutive neurofibromatosis patients of any age who received physical medicine and rehabilitation consultations at a comprehensive cancer center. Postoperative, inpatient rehabilitation admission and discharge functional independence measures (FIM scores) of transfers and gait and length of hospital stay were obtained from 37 patients who were transferred to inpatient rehabilitation (acute rehabilitation) and 25 who had an alternative disposition (consultation only). Results Mean age was 34 yrs. Both groups had similar postoperative FIM transfer and gait scores; however, at approximately postoperative day 10, the consultation only group was discharged with median FIM of 5 (supervision level) as compared with the acute rehabilitation group FIM of 4 (P = 0.000). The acute rehabilitation group had improved mobility FIM scores from postoperative to rehabilitation admission and again from rehabilitation admission to discharge (P < 0.0001). At discharge, the acute rehabilitation group ambulated a significantly longer distance (500 f. vs. 300 ft) (P = 0.04). The median length of hospital stay for the acute rehabilitation and consultation only groups was 20 and 10 days, respectively (P = 0.004). Conclusions Acute inpatient rehabilitation leads to improvement in mobility-associated FIM scores for neurofibromatosis patients minimizing caregiver needs at home.
Internet of Things: Security and Organization

The Internet today is mainly human-centric and many of the connected devices are well known technology (e.g. desktops, laptops, mobile phones). The Internet of Things (IoT) changes this situation by introducing a wide variety of new objects to the traditional Internet, so as to improve the daily lives of people and business, by enhancing new services and triggering innovations into these environments. However, the security solutions built around previous connected technologies is not completely sufficient for these new connected objects. This is due to their miniaturization they have many constraints in terms of computational power, memory, storage, and battery lifetime, which introduces new challenges in terms of implementing security solutions. Apart from the establishment of secure communications, the data collected from these devices also raises some privacy threats; how these data are processed, stored and shared, is still not clear. As more objects become Internet-enabled the threat will only increase if no measures are put in place during the early stages of the Internet of Things. This work was developed to identify potential security and privacy vulnerabilities associated with the current and future Internet of Things. This thesis starts by describing the concept of the Internet of Things followed by a description of the current state of security approaches for the IoT products. The technologies that will enable the IoT growth and the security challenges, requirements, threats, and countermeasures are thus summarized in this thesis. At the end an experimental assessment of the security implementation of a device present in the current market was performed and a more robust proposal for the security and privacy of the device was developed. The work was then followed by the implementation of an environment that will help organize and manage the heterogeneous IoT devices that will be part of a smart home. Finally some conclusions and directions for future work are presented.
Intégration d'approches symboliques pour le raisonnement à partir d'exemples : l'induction et le raisonnement par cas dans le cadre du diagnostic technique

Nous proposons dans cette these une methodologie d'integration entre deux techniques de resolution de problemes a partir d’exemples : l'induction et le raisonnement par cas. On developpe un cadre commun a ces deux approches, centre autour de la notion de biais d'apprentissage. On s'attache tout d'abord a caracteriser les avantages et les inconvenients de chaque technique vis-a-vis de contraintes applicatives specifiques : flexibilite, resistance au bruit, incrementalite, performances, representation des connaissances. Afin de satisfaire ces contraintes, on definit une architecture qui integre le raisonnement par cas et l'induction a plusieurs niveaux. Tout d'abord, les deux techniques doivent pouvoir etre utilisees independamment l'une de l'autre (strategie de boite a outils). Le deuxieme niveau d'integration consiste a echanger les resultats fournis par une des approches, de maniere a ameliorer ceux obtenus par l'autre (strategie de cooperation). Le troisieme niveau reprend le principe d'echange de resultats, mais l'etend a differents modules algorithmiques (strategie de travail en atelier). Le dernier niveau fond totalement les deux approches dans une plate-forme generique (strategie d'integration). Il necessite la redefinition des structures utilisees pour l'indexation dans le raisonnement par cas (arbres k-dimensionnels) et pour le diagnostic en induction (arbres de decision) en une structure unique baptisee arbre INRECA pouvant indifferemment servir de structure d'indexation ou de structure decisionnelle. Cet arbre permet l'apprentissage de concepts et de ponderations optimales des mesures de similarite. Ces architectures se concretisent au travers de la plate-forme INRECA. D'autre part, les composantes les plus significatives d'INRECA sont reprises dans KATE, le progiciel d'aide a la decision developpe a Acknosoft. On montre pourquoi l'integration du raisonnement par cas et de l'induction est necessaire dans le cadre d'une application industrielle : un systeme d'aide au diagnostic de pannes de robots manipulateurs realise par Acknosoft pour le service apres-vente de la societe Sepro Robotique
UNC93B1 Is Essential for TLR11 Activation and IL-12-dependent Host Resistance to Toxoplasma gondii*

Toll-like receptor (TLR) activation relies on biochemical recognition of microbial molecules and localization of the TLR within specific cellular compartments. Cell surface TLRs largely recognize bacterial membrane components, and intracellular TLRs are exclusively involved in sensing nucleic acids. Here we show that TLR11, an innate sensor for the Toxoplasma protein profilin, is an intracellular receptor that resides in the endoplasmic reticulum. The 12 membrane-spanning endoplasmic reticulum-resident protein UNC93B1 interacts directly with TLR11 and regulates the activation of dendritic cells in response to Toxoplasma gondii profilin and parasitic infection in vivo. A deficiency in functional UNC93B1 protein abolished TLR11-dependent IL-12 secretion by dendritic cells, attenuated Th1 responses against T. gondii, and dramatically enhanced susceptibility to the parasite. Our results reveal that the association with UNC93B1 and the intracellular localization of TLRs are not unique features of nucleic acid-sensing TLRs but is also essential for TLR11-dependent recognition of T. gondii profilin and for host protection against this parasite.