Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of acrylamide on testis of albino rats. Ultrastructure and DNA cytometry study.

OBJECTIVE To explore the harmful effects of acrylamide on the structure of testis in albino rats, in an attempt to clarify its potential risks on human health. METHODS The present study was carried out in the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from December 2010 to December 2011. Forty-eight adult male albino rats (250-300 g) were divided randomly into 6 groups. Electron microscopy and histochemical techniques using Feulgen stain were used to conduct the morphological study. In addition, DNA cytometry method was used. RESULTS Rats treated with acrylamide 25 mg/kg body weight for 10 days showed mild affection, whether acrylamide was administered orally or intraperitoneally. On the other hand, the testis of the group treated with a dose of 50 mg/kg/10 days showed damage, especially with intraperitoneal administration in comparison to oral treatment. This was in the form of degeneration of germ cells, numerous multinucleated giant cells with sloughed seminiferous epithelium, and vacuolation in-between the germ cells. CONCLUSION Exposure to acrylamide produced degenerative changes in the testis, which were more prominent with a longer period of exposure. Recommendations are necessary to decrease acrylamide level in different foods, and ways to decrease acrylamide formation during preparation of different foods should be advertised.
An analysis of the named entity recognition problem in digital library metadata

Information resources in digital libraries are usually described, along with their context, by structured data records, commonly referred as metadata. Those records often contain unstructured information in natural language text, since they typically follow a data model which defines generic semantics for its data elements, or includes data elements modeled to contain free text. The information contained in these data elements, although machine readable, resides in unstructured natural language texts that are difficult to process by computers. This paper addresses a particular task of information extraction, typically called named entity recognition, which deals with the references to entities made by names occurring in the texts. This paper presents the results of a study of how the named entity recognition problem manifests itself in digital library metadata. In particular, we present the main differences between performing named entity recognition in natural language and in the text within metadata. The paper finalizes with a novel approach for named entity recognition in metadata.
Challenging dichotomies – exploring resilience as an integrative and operative conceptual framework for large-scale urban green structures

Urban planners and urban planning as a field face a major challenge in balancing urban development interests against the need to safeguard socially equitable and ecologically functional green space. This need is still commonly seen through a modernist lens, whereby large-scale green areas are viewed as an antithesis to the city, creating a polarised landscape seemingly free from cross-scale social and ecological interactions. This study reports on a transdisciplinary work process that aimed to challenge this polarisation by exploring more integrative and operative planning approaches to large-scale urban green structures, using the concept of resilience, both as a theoretical umbrella and in relation to a case study in Stockholm, Sweden. The exploration took the form of a series of workshops in which professionals from the fields of planning, urban design, ecology, landscape architecture, and environmental history, as well as city-wide and regional planning, took part. Throughout the process, tentative designs served as “touchstones”, bringing questions from a theoretical level to a hands-on, specific, local context. This paper identifies three ways that resilience science can be useful in the planning and management of large urban green structures. Firstly, resilience can introduce complexity and thus make visible synergies and “win–win” situations within planning. Secondly, in highlighting change, resilience can offer alternatives to present conservationist perspectives on green space planning and thus offer constructive ways out of planning-related deadlocks. Thirdly, resilience can be advantageously combined with the concept of “legibility” in clarifying common goals and thus helping to build a constituency which will sustain large-scale green structures over time.
A Web Based General Thesaurus Browser to Support Indexing of Television and Radio Programs

Documentation and retrieval processes at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision are organized around a common thesaurus. To help improve the quality of these processes the thesaurus was transformed into a RDF/OWL ontology and extended on basis of implicit information and external resources. A thesaurus browser web application was designed, implemented and tested on future users.
Performance evaluation of FinFET pass-transistor full adders with BSIM-CMG model

In this paper, multiple full adder circuits have been implemented using the FinFET device described by the BSIM-CMG model. A variety of adders have been selected to compare the impact of this technology and evaluate the performance advantages that can be achieved. Full adder designs tested in this work include 28 transistor mirror adder, 10 transistor complementary and level restoring carry logic adder and ultra-low power full adder (ULPFA) architectures which cover a broad spectrum of adder designs. Comprehensive simulation results demonstrate FinFET transistors' advantage in key design metrics, including reduced dynamic power, leakage current and delay. Overall, PDP gains of up to 83% is observed when compared to conventional CMOS circuits. However, FinFET pass-transistor circuits without level restorers are shown to be more vulnerable to voltage degradation compared to CMOS counterparts.
Association of the macrophage migration inhibitory factor gene polymorphisms with inflammatory bowel disease

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), an immunoregulatory cytokine that has pro-inflammatory, hormonal and enzymatic activities, has been found to be markedly increased in the serum of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). 1,2 MIF-deficient mice failed to develop disease1 and blockage with anti-MIF antibody reduced disease activity.1,2 Finally, functional polymorphisms of the human MIF gene have been associated with increased susceptibility to inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.3 These findings prompted us to investigate the potential association of the functional MIF −173G/C and −794 (CATT)n gene variants with the susceptibility and clinical expression of IBD. We studied a case–control cohort (cohort 1) comprising 336 patients with Crohn’s disease and 287 patients with ulcerative colitis from south Spain and 361 controls from the same area. An additional cohort (cohort 2) was analysed, comprising 325 patients with Crohn’s disease, 347 patients with ulcerative colitis and 526 controls from Madrid. Table 1 shows the clinical characteristics …
Current Approaches for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infections

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are the most common type of nosocomial infection among surgical patients and are commonly caused by the patientsâ own microbial flora. The prevalence of SSI is a major concern because of the associated increase in the incidence of morbidity and mortality, length of hospitalization and cost of care for postoperative patients. Key factors that determine whether patients are at risk for developing SSI include the inherent potential contamination of the surgical site, the duration of the operation and the individual patient susceptibility. Preventive preoperative measures that can reduce the risk of SSIs include administration of antimicrobial prophylaxis, proper utilization of skin antiseptic agents for both the patient and the surgical team, proper patient preoperative hair removal and the policy of canceling elective procedures when remote skin, urinary or pulmonary infections occur. This paper will review the efficacy and safety of available antiseptic agents, as well as discuss patient-specific prevention strategies.
Finding Grasping Configurations of a Dexterous Hand and an Industrial Robot

Given an industrial robot equipped with a dexterous hand and an object to be grasped with four grasping points determined on its faces, this paper deals with the problem of finding the joint configurations that allow to grasp that object. The proposed solution is based on an iterative optimization method that consecutively moves the joint that best contributes to reduce the distance of the fingertips to the desired locations. The method is particularized for a Stäubli RX90 robot and the dexterous hand MA-I with four fingers developed at the IOC’s Robotics Lab.
Culture and Social Structure Revisited

This article proposes the possibility of recombining the analysis of culture and social structure. In the first part it analyses the reasons for the dissociation between these two types of analysis since the sixties, in close relation with the growing criticisms of the structural-functional school. Its basic assumption is that any new attempt must be based on new ways to combine the analysis of the crystallization of different aspects of social structure in processes of social interaction in which individuals act as autonomous agents and where power and control are also connected with different aspects of 'culture'. It illustrates the possibilities of such an approach through two case studies: first, the comparative political dynamics of two centralised agrarian Empires - the Byzantine and the Chinese; second, within the realm of the sociology of religion, different meanings of other-worldliness and impacts of such sectanan orientations on civilisational dynamics.
Radical liberalism, Rawls and the welfare state: justifying the politics of basic income

In response to recent policy trends towards linking social rights more tightly to work requirements, this article argues that those sharing Rawlsian commitments have good reasons to prefer a radical‐liberal policy agenda with a universal basic income at its core. Compared to its main rivals in present policy debates, the politics of basic income has greater potential to promote the economic life prospects of the least advantaged in a way that provides a robust protection for the bases of social recognition and non‐subservience. The argument seeks to establish that these concerns should be ascribed priority in the most plausible balancing of Rawlsian objectives and that doing so generates a strong case for basic income. As recent arguments for basic income have suggested that Rawls’ theory is insufficient to make the case for such a reform, this analysis also demonstrates that a powerful argument for basic income can be built on Rawlsian foundations alone.
Use the Force (or something) - Pressure and Pressure - Like Input for Mobile Music Performance

force is an important dimension for percussive musical instruments such as the piano. We explore three possible mechanisms how to get impact forces on mobile multi-touch devices: using built-in accelerometers, the pressure sensing capability of Android phones, and external force sensing resistors. We find that accelerometers are difficult to control for this purpose. Android's pressure sensing shows some promise, especially when combined with augmented playing technique. Force sensing resistors can offer good dynamic resolution but this technology is not currently offered in commodity devices and proper coupling of the sensor with the applied impact is difficult. Keywordsimpact, pressure, multi-touch, mobile phone, mobile music making.
Blinded by Sight: Divining the Future of Anthropology in Africa

Using the metaphor of the elephant and the three blind men, this paper discusses some elements of the scholarly debate on the postcolonial turn in academia, in and of Africa, and in anthropology in particular. It is a part of the context in which anthropology remains unpopular among many African intellectuals. How do local knowledge practices take up existential issues and epistemological perspectives that may interrogate and enrich more global transcultural debates and scholarly reflexivity? Many an anthropologist still resists opening his or her mind up to life-worlds unfolding themselves through the interplay between everyday practice and the manifold actions and messages of humans, ancestors and non-human agents in sites of emerging meaning-production and innovative world-making. African anthropologists seeking recognition find themselves contested or dismissed by fellow anthropologists for doing “native”, “self or “insider” anthropology, and are sometimes accused of perpetuating colonial epistemologies and subservience by fellow African scholars who are committed to scholarship driven by the need to valorise ways of being and knowing endogenous to Africa. This essay calls on anthropologists studying Africa to reflect creative diversity and reflexivity in the conceptualisation and implementation of research projects, as well as in how they provide for co-production, collaboration and co-implication within anthropology across and beyond disciplines.
Need for Cognition Its Dimensionality and Personality and Intelligence Correlates

The relationship between need for cognition (NFC) and measures of both personality and intelligence was investigated. Study 1 (N = 195) addressed recent concerns over item-polarity effects in NFC scales. With these effects removed, a reworded 34-item NFC scale showed evidence of multidimensionality. Study 2 (N = 93) investigated NFC and the Big Five personality traits as well as correlates of general intelligence. The regression model accounted for 24% of the variance in intelligence scores. Results showed that NFC mediated the relationship between Openness to Experience and intelligence, and suggested that NFC might similarly mediate the relationship between Neuroticism and intelligence. Results from the two studies suggest possible benefits of conceptualizing NFC as a motivation for cognitive challenge. Limitations are considered.
NSOM: A Real-Time Network-Based Intrusion Detection System Using Self-Organizing Maps

In this paper we describe an implementation of a network based Intrusion Detection System (IDS) using Self-Organizing Maps (SOM). The system uses a structured SOM to classify real-time Ethernet network data. A graphical tool continuously displays the clustered data to reflect network activities. Different system parameters such as data collection, data preprocessing and classifier structure are discussed. The systems shows promise in its ability to classify regular v.s. irregular and possibly intrusive network traffic for a given host.
A Systematic Review of Non-Western and Cross-Cultural/National Leisure Research

Abstract This study reviewed non-Western and cross-cultural/national research published in five major leisure studies journals between 1990 and 2009. Of 1,891 total articles, 4.1% were non-Western and cross-cultural/national in nature. Overall: (a) Greater China was the most frequently studied culture/nation (24.4%); (b) survey research was the most often employed method (33.8%); (c) (b) perceived benefits, motivations, and leisure meanings was the most common theme (14.1%); and (d) although articles on this topic increased fivefold over 20 years, over 90% of recent leisure articles still focused, in whole or in part, on only slightly more than 10% of the world's population. Culture/nation, methodological, and thematic differences across the five journals are described and implications for leisure theory and practice are outlined.
Fragile IP Watermarking Techniques

Intellectual property (IP) blocks reuse is essential for facilitating the design process of system-on-a-chip. Sharing IP designs still poses significant high security risks not only to copyright but also to design authenticity. Intruders, or even competitors, can make design changes to IPs, which can lead to the loss of the ownerpsilas credibility. In this paper, we are trying to solve such challenge by proposing a novel fragile IP watermarking technique. The proposed technique protects hardware designs from alteration or any modifications that might occur to the design. The approach utilizes existing transitions in a finite state machine (FSM) component of an IP and does not result on any overhead to the IP design. Finally, we implemented the algorithm proposed and tested it.
Relationality in the service logic of value creation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a framework – the Relationality Framework – for elaborating relational behaviour, in response to calls to address the ontological weaknesses identified in the extant value and value creation literature. Design/methodology/approach – The social philosophical understanding of interaction as an organic mode of social organisation, upon which the Relationality Framework is based, supersedes the economistic (mechanistic) understanding of interaction as a means of connecting otherwise independent actors. In foregrounding the relationality of interaction, the authors are inspired by Gronroos and Voima’s (2013) conceptualisation of spheres of value generation to conceptualise the intersubjective dynamics and domains invoked in direct interaction. Findings – The Relationality Framework identifies distinct relational concepts that build on service logic’s specificity and conceptualisation at the level of direct interactions between service providers and customers. I.
Minimax Quantization for Distributed Maximum Likelihood Estimation

We consider the design of quantizers for the distributed estimation of a deterministic parameter, when the fusion center uses a maximum-likelihood estimator. We define a new metric of performance, which is to minimize the maximum ratio between the Fisher information of the unquantized and quantized observations. Since the estimator is M-L, the criterion is equivalent to minimizing the maximum asymptotic relative efficiency due to quantization. We propose an algorithm to obtain the quantizer that optimizes the metric and prove its convergence. Through simulations, we illustrate that the quantizer performance is close to the best possible Fisher information as the number of quantization bits increases. Furthermore, under certain conditions, the quantizer structure is found to belong to the class of score-function quantizers, which maximizes Fisher information for a given value of the parameter
Present but Unreachable: Reducing Persistentlatent Secrets in HotSpot JVM

The two most popular Java platforms that use the HotSpot Java Virtual Machine (JVM) are Oracle and OpenJDK. The HotSpot JVM automatically manages application memory for the developer using generational garbage collection (GC). Unfortunately, this managed memory fails to give developers the power to adequately sanitize sensitive data in objects and defend against memory disclosure attacks, i.e., attackers who can read the memory of a process containing Java objects. This problem stems from two design flaws in the GC tasks. First, the generational GC allows more than one copy of an object to exist in multiple heaps, even though they are unreachable. Second, when objects become garbage, they’re not sanitized or zeroed by the garbage collector; they survive until the memory is reused for a new object. Even if a developer wants to explicitly sanitize critical data, such as cryptographic keys for closed network connections, there are no manual mechanisms for this activity because the data is out of the developers reach. Consequently, this sensitive data can be extracted from garbage after applying object reconstruction techniques to the heap. For this paper, we show that up to 40% of the observed TLS encryption keys can be recovered from a Java heap using Oracle’s TLS 1.2 implementation. This paper also shows how modest GC changes reduce the amount of recoverable data, albeit with performance overheads as high as 50% in the worst case.
Structure‐based prediction of DNA‐binding sites on proteins Using the empirical preference of electrostatic potential and the shape of molecular surfaces

Protein–DNA interactions play an essential role in the genetic activities of life. Many structures of protein–DNA complexes are already known, but the common rules on how and where proteins bind to DNA have not emerged. Many attempts have been made to predict protein–DNA interactions using structural information, but the success rate is still about 80%. We analyzed 63 protein–DNA complexes by focusing our attention on the shape of the molecular surface of the protein and DNA, along with the electrostatic potential on the surface, and constructed a new statistical evaluation function to make predictions of DNA interaction sites on protein molecular surfaces. The shape of the molecular surface was described by a combination of local and global average curvature, which are intended to describe the small convex and concave and the large‐scale concave curvatures of the protein surface preferentially appearing at DNA‐binding sites. Using these structural features, along with the electrostatic potential obtained by solving the Poisson–Boltzmann equation numerically, we have developed prediction schemes with 86% and 96% accuracy for DNA‐binding and non‐DNA‐binding proteins, respectively. Proteins 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
High prevalence of clonally diverse spa type t026 Staphylococcus aureus contaminating rural eggshells

Purpose. The presence of Staphylococcus aureus in poultry and poultry products, including eggs, increases its potential to enter the food chain, resulting in foodborne diseases. In this context, eggshell colonization by staphylococci may represent a risk factor. This study aimed to investigate the contamination of rural eggshell by S. aureus and to characterize the key features of the isolated strains. Methodology. Antibiotic resistance was assessed by disc diffusion. Resistant isolates were analysed by PCR for the identification of associated genetic determinants of resistance. PCR was also used to screen for the presence of genes coding for toxins, namely, sea, sec, sei, sem, seo and tst. The genetic characterization was extended by means of agr locus typing and spa typing. Results. 34 S. aureus were isolated. Macrolide‐ and tetracycline‐resistant strains were prevalent. All strains were susceptible to oxacillin, cefoxitin and trimethoprim‐sulfamethoxazole. PCR screening for genes encoding enterotoxins detected several virulence patterns, which, together with spa‐typing and agr‐locus typing, allowed cluster analysis and the description of novel clones. Conclusion. Continuous monitoring of staphylococci is needed also in rural or natural settings. Increasing the number of samples and expanding the geographical region will be needed to further extend the significance of the study.
Do Zero Correlations Really Exist among Measures of Different Intellectual Abilities?

Whether measures of different intellectual abilities are positively intercorrelated has been a topic of interest and debate since the turn of the century. The data from an article by Guilford pivotal to this debate are reexamined. It is argued that, contrary to the original claim of the article, the data set of over 7,000 correlations does not provide support for the existence of zero correlations among tests of intellectual abilities.