Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Copper sulfate and Cobalt chloride effect on total phenolics accumulation and antioxidant activity of Artemisia annua L. callus cultures

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of Copper sulfate (CuSO 4 ) and Cobalt chloride (CoCl 2 ) on callus biomass production, total phenolics accumulation and antioxidant activity of Artemisia annua . The in vitro leaf explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium contained 1 mg/l α -naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 0.5 mg/l 6-benzyl adenine (BA) for callus induction. CuSO 4 and CoCl 2 were added separately in four concentrations (1, 2, 5 and 10 mg/l) to MS medium. CuSO 4 at 2 mg/l was the most appropriate level for callus fresh and dry weights which recorded 1.29 g/explant and 0.122 g/explant, respectively. Application of CoCl 2 at different levels showed a positive impact on the growth of callus. Herein, the highest callus fresh weight (1.44 g/explant) and dry weight (0.139 g/explant) were achieved by 2 mg/l CoCl 2 , when compared with control (0.97 g/explant for fresh weight and 0.092 g/explant for dry weight). Elicitation with CuSO 4 at 2 mg/l recorded the highest total phenolic production (8.75 mg/g dry weight (DW)). However, the highest significant percentage of antioxidant activity (90.85%) was recorded for 5 mg/l CuSO 4 -elicited culture. For CoCl 2 , the highest significant values of total phenolic content (8.40 mg/g DW) and antioxidant activity (91.46 %) were achieved by 2 mg/l CoCl 2 enriched medium compared to control (6.66 mg/g DW and 90.68%, respectively). The current study revealed the possibility of using callus cultures of A. annua as a promising tool for the in vitro production of phytochemicals.
Targeting Colorectal Cancer Cells with Niosomes Systems Loaded with Two Anticancer Drugs Models; Comparative In Vitro and Anticancer Studies

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is considered one of the most commonly diagnosed malignant diseases. Recently, there has been an increased focus on using nanotechnology to resolve most of the limitations in conventional chemotherapy. Niosomes have great advantages that overcome the drawbacks associated with other lipid drug delivery systems. They are simple, cheap, and highly stable nanocarriers. This study investigated the effectiveness of using niosomes with their amphiphilic characteristics in the incorporation of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic anticancer drugs for CRC treatment. Methods: Drug-free niosomes were formulated using a response surface D-optimal factorial design to study the cholesterol molar ratio, surfactant molar ratio and surfactant type effect on the particle size and Z-potential of the prepared niosomes. After numerical and statistical optimization, an optimized formulation having a particle size of 194.4 ± 15.5 nm and a Z-potential of 31.8 ± 1.9 mV was selected to be loaded with Oxaliplatin and Paclitaxel separately in different concentrations. The formulations with the highest entrapment efficiency (EE%) were evaluated for their drug release using the dialysis bag method, in vitro antitumor activity on HT-29 colon cancer cell line and apoptosis activity. Results: Niosomes prepared using d-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) at a molar ratio 4, cholesterol (2 molar ratio) and loaded with 1 molar ratio of either Oxaliplatin or Paclitaxel provided nanosized vesicles (278.5 ± 19.7 and 251.6 ± 18.1 nm) with a Z-potential value (32.7 ± 1.01 and 31.69 ± 0.98 mV) with the highest EE% (90.57 ± 2.05 and 93.51 ± 2.97) for Oxaliplatin and Paclitaxel, respectively. These formulations demonstrated up to 48 h drug release and increased the in vitro cytotoxicity and apoptosis efficiency of both drugs up to twice as much as free drugs. Conclusion: These findings suggest that different formulation composition parameters can be adjusted to obtain nanosized niosomal vesicles with an accepted Z-potential. These niosomes could be loaded with either hydrophilic drugs such as Oxaliplatin or hydrophobic drugs such as Paclitaxel. Drug-loaded niosomes, as a unique nanomicellar system, could enhance the cellular uptake of both drugs, resulting in enhanced cytotoxic and apoptosis effects against HT-29 colon cancer cells. Oxaliplatin–niosomes and Paclitaxel–niosomes can be considered promising alternative drug delivery systems with enhanced bioavailability of these two anticancer drugs for colorectal cancer treatment.
Dynamic traffic assignment in degradable networks: paradoxes and formulations with stochastic link transmission model

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a simultaneous route and departure time choice (SRDTC) problem with fixed demand in a degradable transport network. In this network, travelers face with stochastic travel times. Their selection of routes and departure times follows the UE principle in terms of the mean generalized route cost, which is defined as the probabilistic dynamic user optimal (PDUO) principle. The proposed PDUO-SRDTC problem is formulated as a variational inequality (VI) problem. As a special case of PDUO-SRDTC problem, the PDUO route choice (PDUO-RC) problem is also proposed and formulated as a VI problem. Network degradation is defined on the degradation of the outflow capacity of each link. A Monte Carlo-based stochastic link transmission model (MC-SLTM) is developed to capture the effect of physical queues and the random evolution of traffic states during flow propagation to estimate mean generalized route costs. Both the extragradient algorithm and the route-swapping method with a variable sample size scheme are developed to solve the proposed VI problems. Numerical examples are developed to illustrate the paradoxical phenomena of the problems and the effectiveness of the solution methods. Numerical results show that constructing a new road, enhancing link outflow capacity, or reducing outflow capacity degradation can lead to poor network performance and it is important to consider both network degradation and queue spillback when making transportation policies aimed at improving network performance. The results also demonstrate that the variable sample size scheme can give a quicker and better solution than the traditional fixed sample size scheme.
Improved customer churn prediction model using word order contextualized semantics on customers’ social opinion

Through the hype in digital marketing and the continuous increase in volume and velocity of opinions about an organization’s brands, churn prediction now requires advanced analytics in opinion mining for effective customer behavioral management beyond keywords sentiment analysis (SA). Earlier, by analyzing customers’ opinions using SA models, the extracted positive-negative polarity is used to classify customers as churners or non-churner. In those methods, the impact of word order, context, and the inherent semantics of the clustered opinion set were oftentimes overlooked. However, with the consistent creation of new words with new meanings mapped to existing words on the web, the research extended the fuzzy support vector model (FSVM) to show that the dependency distance between the headword, its dependent, and tail word can be weighted by using information content derived from a corpus to generate four-classed social opinion categories as a strongly positive, positive, negative, and strong negative. These opinion classes formed the basis for the churn category as a premium customer, Inertia customer potential churner, and churner in customer behavioral management. In performance evaluation, aside from engendering quadrupled churn class against the existing churn binary pattern, better accuracy, precision, and recall values were obtained when compared with existing SA works in support vector machine and fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM), respectively.
A strengths-based approach to eliciting deep insights from social marketing customers experiencing vulnerability

ABSTRACT The notion of vulnerability is relevant to much of social marketing as interventions often involve people seeking support or people experiencing disadvantage. However, the deficit-framing of people experiencing vulnerability is problematic. We propose that the alternate strengths-based approach will improve social marketing success and illustrate this with data from a project aimed at widening participation in tertiary education. Using data from interviews and co-design workshops with 87 school students and recent school leavers, we offer a new evidence-based definition of customer/consumer vulnerability that is strengths-based. We also present a five-step, evidence-based process for how social marketers can use a strengths-based approach (SA) to elicit deep insights (I) from the tacit knowledge of customers/consumers experiencing vulnerability (V). We term this process SAIV and demonstrate the value of tacit knowledge in intervention innovation and how a strengths-based approach can draw out tacit knowledge. We encourage social marketers to adopt a strengths-based approach, definition of vulnerability and process to enhance intervention efficacy.
Evaluation of natural polymer for mobility control in carbon utilization and geo-storage applications

Abstract Underground CO2 injection is susceptible to bypass, viscous fingering, and premature breakthrough which reduces the efficacy of CO2 storage. Hence, this work explores the usage of a natural polymer (Guar Gum) for promising control in mobility of injected CO2 in subsurface. Guar gum solutions of varying concentration (500–4000 ppm) were prepared in deionized (DI) water, and CO2 absorption (by pressure decay method) tests were performed at varying pressure (2–20 bar). CO2 absorption experiments were performed by pressurized CO2 in a stirring pot and kept the confined gas (pressure reduces as gas molecules get entrapped in the body of fluid) till equilibrium pressure (no further decrease in pressure) was reached. Rheological analysis confirmed that increasing polymer concentration yielded an increase in viscosity. This increase in viscosity showed two effects on CO2 absorption; (1): reduced CO2 absorption (in polymer solutions, compared to pure water) and (2): higher retention of entrapped CO2 inside the body of polymer solution. Maximum CO2 retention (≈9 h) was observed in 4000 ppm solution. Furthermore, pH and temperature tolerance tests indicate superior stability of guar gum solutions for pH >3 and temperature <75 °C. This study proposes the use of natural polymer as mobility control agents in geo-sequestration of CO2.
Enhanced Machine Learning Sketches for Network Measurements

Network monitoring and management require accurate statistics of a variety of flow-level metrics such as flow sizes, top-<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>k</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="wang-ieq1-3185560.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> flows, and number of flows. Arguably, the current best technique to measure these metrics is sketches. While a significant amount of work has already been done on sketching techniques, there is still a lot of room for improvement because the accuracy of existing sketches varies with changing characteristics of network traffic. In this paper, we propose the idea of using machine learning to improve the accuracy of sketches, and propose a <italic>generic machine learning framework</italic> to reduce the dependence of accuracy of sketches on network traffic characteristics. We further present three case studies, where we applied our machine learning framework on sketches for measuring three flow-level network metrics, namely flow sizes, top-<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>k</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="wang-ieq2-3185560.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> flows, and number of flows. We implemented and extensively evaluated this framework for these three metrics using both real-world and synthetic traffic traces. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that uses machine learning to reduce the dependence of sketching techniques on the characteristics of network traffic. We have released all our traces and implementation codes at Github.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Chronic Pain Management: A Narrative Review

Chronic pain is disabling and impacts an individual’s psychosocial and functioning in multiple areas. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) appears to be one of the psychotherapies that has good potential of prominent efficacy in managing chronic pain. This narrative review aims to provide the necessary information and latest development on the delivery, results efficacy and barriers of CBT in chronic pain management. A search was conducted at Pubmed and Web of Science in April 2021 yielding a total of 251 articles. After careful screening and filtration, a total of 21 articles was selected for this review. Of these 21 articles, CBT was observed to be commonly delivered through online, which helped to preserving cost, promoting adherence, having good efficacy and also safer during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of the articles showed significant efficacy of CBT in chronic pain management. In order to improve CBT for better efficacy, understanding and consideration towards mediators that affect pain outcome and barriers in implementation are crucial in developing modules in CBT for chronic pain management. As such, CBT can be improved by integrating customised components in the modules to target mediators specifically, and training can be provided for psychotherapist to combat the barrier of online communication and time management. For future research, direction can be focused on development of CBT modules that are specific to chronic pain management.
Curriculum Implementers’ Perspectives on Relevance of Secondary Education in Real-Life Settings

The recent expansion of enrollment in secondary education in Tanzania has contributed to an increase in the number of secondary education graduates in the society than before. Regardless of the increase, there has been a poor transition rate to post-secondary education and therefore making the majority return to their communities to join the informal sector to sustain their livelihood. This article presents the findings on the relevance of secondary education curriculum to youth’s livelihood in Tanzania. It addresses the issue of the application of secondary education knowledge to learners’ social-economic context. Qualitative data were collected in 10 densely populated wards in the Mvomero district to secondary education leavers, headteachers, and academic teachers. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Content analysis was used to analyze data. The findings revealed secondary education has the potential to improve individuals’ living standards and birth control. However, the study also showed that economic activities are still gender-specific, coupled with male-dominated traditions. In addition, the study revealed knowledge disjunction between the school and real-life settings. Moreover, the centralized curriculum widens the gap between school knowledge and real-life because it does not respond to the diversified geographical environment of Tanzania. Based on the findings the study recommends curriculum development process involve diverse groups of stakeholders to design contents that are reflective of the respective societal needs, integration of theory and practice in teaching and learning, and integration of both general and skill-based education.
Optimization of antioxidant activity of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of cashew apple bagasse by mean of experimental design

Cashew apple bagasse (CAB) constitutes waste in cashew apple conversion in juice industries. This study focused on modelling an optimal condition of antioxidant activity of CAB, in view of valuing it. The response surface methodology through a Box-Behnken design was used to evaluate the effects of three factors influencing antioxidant component extraction. The factors are ethanol proportion of solvent (X1), sample/solvent ratio (X2) and time (X3). Non-toxic solvents (water and ethanol) were used for extraction. Results of the 15 runs show that polyphenol, flavonoid and tannin content varied from 3.12- 7.44 mg GAE/g CAB; 4.28- 14.99 mg QE/g CAB and 1.95- 9.25 TAE/g CAB respectively. The yield of ABTS radical scavenging varied from 22.9-75.9%. The DPPH 50% inhibiting concentration (IC50) varied from 2.28-26.97 mg/ml. Optimal polyphenol and tannin levels (7.44 mg GAE/g CAB and 9.25 mg TAE/g CAB respectively) were achieved using 50% ethanolic solvent. That of flavonoids was reached with the solvent 100% ethanol. Optimal antioxidant activity was reached using 50% ethanolic solvent for both ABTS and DPPH tests (75.9% and 2.28 mg/ml respectively). Statistical analysis showed that time has had no significant effect. Optimal condition of phenolic compounds extraction endowed with antioxidant property consists to macerate CAB powder in 46.1% ethanolic solvent at ratio of 9.5 g/100 ml for 6 h.
Associated Factors of Wasting among Infants and Young Children (IYC) in Kuyu District, Northern Oromia, Ethiopia

Wasting among infants and young children in underdeveloped countries including Ethiopia is one of the most serious public health issues. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the magnitude of wasting and the variables that associate with it among infants and young children in the Kuyu district of Northern Oromia, Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional study of 612 infants and young children aged 6-23 months was conducted. To select eligible infants and young children from each family in the Kuyu district, a multilevel sampling approach was used. The amount and determinants related to wasting were investigated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. In the study area, 14.1% of infants and young children were found to be wasting. Maternal educational status (AOR = 1.8, 95% CI; 1.01, 4.32), diarrhoea (AOR = 2.3, 95% CI; 1.98, 4.56), exclusive breastfeeding (AOR = 2.46, 95% CI, 1.4, 4.58), antenatal care visits (AOR = 2.21; 95% CI, 1.32, 3.48), and wealth index (AOR = 1.66, 95% CI; 1.07, 4.47) were significantly associated with wasting. According to the findings of this study, mother educational status, the occurrence of diarrhoea, exclusive breastfeeding, antenatal care visits, and wealth index have an impact on infants and young children's wasting. Therefore, to lower the burden of wasting among infants and young children in the study, community-based schooling and nutritional interventions are urgently needed.
ANALYSIS OF NIGERIAN LECTURERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME PARTICIPATION

In human capital management, the most imperative thing is to think about the human capital that is skillful, innovative, proactive, and profitable for comparative advantage. Any professional development programme (PDP) (Training for Higher Education, Conferences, and Workshops) embarked on by any institution should increase the output and development of both the staff and the university. This study, therefore, sought to investigate lecturers' rate and location of participation in professional development. The rate of participation was investigated using a descriptive survey design. The study participants were all lecturers in Nigerian Federal Universities. The 280 participants were chosen using a stratified sample procedure. The instrument's face, construct, and content validity was done with the internal consistency via Cronbach Alpha indicated 0.70. The research questions were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, graph, mean rating, and rank ordering). Thus, the finding indicated that the Nigerian universities’ lecturers have a high participation rate in PDP. Cross-border training that will enhance university lecturers' productivity should be encouraged more in Nigeria via a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Comparative Use of Contralateral and Sham-Operated Controls Reveals Traces of a Bilateral Genetic Response in the Rat Brain after Focal Stroke

Ischemic stroke is a multifactorial disease with a complex etiology and global consequences. Model animals are widely used in stroke studies. Various controls, either brain samples from sham-operated (SO) animals or symmetrically located brain samples from the opposite (contralateral) hemisphere (CH), are often used to analyze the processes in the damaged (ipsilateral) hemisphere (IH) after focal stroke. However, previously, it was shown that focal ischemia can lead to metabolic and transcriptomic changes not only in the IH but also in the CH. Here, using a transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) model and genome-wide RNA sequencing, we identified 1941 overlapping differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with a cutoff value >1.5 and Padj < 0.05 that reflected the general transcriptome response of IH subcortical cells at 24 h after tMCAO using both SO and CH controls. Concomitantly, 861 genes were differentially expressed in IH vs. SO, whereas they were not vs. the CH control. Furthermore, they were associated with apoptosis, the cell cycle, and neurotransmitter responses. In turn, we identified 221 DEGs in IH vs. CH, which were non-DEGs vs. the SO control. Moreover, they were predominantly associated with immune-related response. We believe that both sets of non-overlapping genes recorded transcriptome changes in IH cells associated with transhemispheric differences after focal cerebral ischemia. Thus, the specific response of the CH transcriptome should be considered when using it as a control in studies of target brain regions in diseases that induce a global bilateral genetic response, such as stroke.
The Folk Theory of Well-Being

What constitutes a “good” life—not necessarily a morally good life, but a life that is good for the person who lived it (sometimes called “prudential goodness” or “well-being” or “welfare”)? On some views, of course, a life cannot be good for the person who lived it if it was not also morally good, but we want to prescind from that question. Even scholars holding those views—such as some of the ancient Greeks or Kant, who arguably thought moral goodness was central to welfare—also recognized that a good life must have other features or attributes.
Comparison of Clinical Outcomes of Long Stent Implantation with First- and Second-Generation Drug-Eluting Stents Following Rotational Atherectomy

Objective: Rotational atherectomy (RA) and newly developed second-generation drug-eluting stent (DES) support the strategy of longer stent deployment in comparison to short stent implantations in the past. However, studies analyzing the outcome of patients who received long stent implantation following RA are few in number. The present study compared the clinical outcomes of patients with the coronary arterial disease (CAD) who underwent RA with long stent implantation using first- and second-generation DES.Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed at the single center from March 2003 to October 2019. Eighty-seven patients with CAD who underwent RA with ≥32 mm long stent implantation were enrolled in the study and divided into two groups according to the type of DES. As a primary endpoint, the cumulative 2-year incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) including death, myocardial infarction (MI), target vessel revascularization, and stent thrombosis (ST) was compared by DES type. Adjusted interaction between the type of stent and clinical variables was estimated to determine the predictor variables of MACE.Results: The second-generation DES group was associated with a shorter procedure duration and more common usage of intravascular ultrasound in procedural characteristics. In the second-generation DES group, a trend toward a lower rate of MI and ST existed. All-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality were not significantly different. When combined with MACE, we could identify a significant reduction in the second-generation DES group.Conclusion: In comparison to the first-generation DES group, the second-generation DES group was associated with a lower rate of MACE for 2 years in patients who underwent RA with long stent implantation.