Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decomposing Poverty in Hard Times: Greece 2007-2016

The Greek economic crisis resulted in a decline in household disposable income by more than 40%. Even though all population groups lost income in absolute terms, some were substantially more severely hit by the crisis. The paper examines the effect of the crisis on the population shares, the mean incomes and the level of poverty of various population groups using SILC data for the period 2007-2016. The population is partitioned according to four criteria: socioeconomic group of the household head, presence of unemployed individuals in the household, age of the population member and household type. When “anchored” poverty lines and distribution-sensitive poverty indices are employed the level of poverty rises to incredibly high levels. When the poverty lines used are “relative”, the poverty rate does not change substantially but when distribution-sensitive indices are used the increase in poverty is very substantial. The most interesting results are related to the changes in the structure of poverty. The crisis was associated with a very substantial increase in unemployment. Unemployment protection in Greece was inadequate while there was no “benefit of last resort”. As a result, the relative position of households with unemployed members (and, especially, with unemployed heads) deteriorated sharply, while their contribution to aggregate poverty skyrocketed. Unlike what is often claimed in the Greek public discourse, the relative position of pensioner-headed households improved, although they also experienced a considerable decline in their living standards.
Melatonin and tannic acid supplementation in vitro improve fertilization and embryonic development in pigs

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of melatonin supplementation during maturation and tannic acid supplementation during IVF on fertilization kinetics and early embryonic development. Experiment 1 determined the optimum concentration of melatonin supplemented to the oocytes for subsequent embryonic development. Oocytes (n = 400) were supplemented at 22 h of maturation with 0, 75, 100, or 150 nm melatonin and then subjected to IVF and embryo culture. After IVF, a portion of the embryos were evaluated for penetration, polyspermy, and male pronuclear (MPN) formation rates. Embryos were evaluated 48 h after IVF for cleavage and 144 h for blastocyst formation. There were no significant differences between treatment groups with respect to penetration and polyspermy. Supplementation of 150 nm melatonin produced a significantly greater (P < 0.05) percent of embryos with MPN compared to those supplemented with 75 nm or 100 nm. Supplementation of 150 nm melatonin produced significantly less (P < 0.05) embryos cleaved by 48 h after IVF while 75 nm melatonin supplementation had a significantly higher (P < 0.05) percentage of blastocyst formation by 144 h after IVF. Based on the optimal concentration of melatonin observed in experiment 1, experiment 2 determined the effects of supplementing 75 nm melatonin to the maturation media and 5.0 μg/ml tannic acid supplementation during IVF on oxidative stress, fertilization kinetics, and embryonic development. Oocytes (n = 720) were supplemented at 22 h of maturation with or without 75 nm melatonin and then fertilized with frozen-thawed sperm supplemented with or without 5 μg/ml tannic acid. Reactive oxygen species levels were measured in matured oocytes using 2’,7’-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate. Oocytes supplemented with 75 nm melatonin had significantly less (P < 0.05) reactive oxygen species generation and oocytes fertilized with sperm incubated with tannic acid had a significantly less (P < 0.05) incidence of polyspermic penetration compared to no supplementation. All treatment groups had significantly greater (P < 0.05) incidence of male pronuclear formation compared to oocytes not supplemented with melatonin and fertilized without tannic acid. Oocytes that were supplemented with melatonin and fertilized with sperm incubated with tannic acid had a significantly higher (P < 0.05) percentage of blastocyst formation by 144 h post-IVF compared all other treatment groups. Results indicate that supplementation of 75 nm melatonin during oocyte maturation and 5 μg/ml tannic acid during IVF leads to a decrease in oxidative stress, increase in IVF success and subsequent embryo development in pigs.
Using Recurrent Neural Networks for Part-of-Speech Tagging and Subject and Predicate Classification in a Sentence

In natural language processing the use of deep learning techniques is very common. In this paper, a technique to identify the subject and predicate in a sentence is introduced. To achieve this, the proposed technique completes POS tagging identifying in a later stage the subject and the predicate in a sentence. Two different deep neural networks are used to complete this process. A first one to establish a correspondence between individual words and part-of-speech (POS) tags and a second one that, taking as input these tags, identifies relevant elements of the sentence such like the subject and the predicate. To validate the architecture of our proposal a set of tests over public datasets have been designed. In these experiments, this model achieves high rates of accuracy in POS tagging and in subject and predicate classification. Finally, a comparison of the results obtained for each individual network with similar tools such as NLTK, pyStatParser and spaCy is made. © 2020 The Authors . Published by Atlantis Press SARL. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Ground Facility for Validation of Proximity Operations: a Hardware–In–the–Loop Experiment

Thanks to its great potential, On–Orbit Servicing (OOS) is rising major interest among the space community and is leading a considerable effort in the development of space technologies. While a growing number of global actors are focusing on OOS especially exploiting small satellites, the capability to simulate close–range operations between two or more agents in laboratory is essential for the validation of enabling technologies, such as guidance algorithms, relative navigation sensors and docking mechanisms. In the framework of proximity operations, miniaturized platforms like CubeSats are often considered as their compactness make them particularly suitable for fly–arounds and inspection tasks. The concept of a laboratory simulation environment composed of complementary facilities is proposed in this work and preliminary testing is presented. The goal of this initial experiment is to test the facility performances and its capability to accurately track a dynamic trajectory with a CubeSat–compatible navigation sensor.
Spinitectus mixtecoensis sp. nov. (Nematoda: Cystidicolidae), from the Oaxaca killifish Profundulus punctatus (Osteichthyes: Profundulidae) from Mexico, with comments on the distribution of Spinitectus humbertoi in the genera Profundulus and Tlaloc

Spinitectus mixtecoensis sp. nov. was isolated from the intestine of Profundulus punctatus from the rivers Apoala and Los Sabinos, Oaxaca, Mexico. The new species is described based on morphological and metric analyses, scanning electron microscopy, and partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (cox 1) gene. Spinitectus mixtecoensis sp. nov. is characterized by possessing 7 rings and few spines per ring, between 22-28 in both sexes and 5-8 spines per sector. The new species most closely resembles Spinitectus humbertoi, a parasite of Profundulus and Tlaloc from Central America. Specimens of Spinitectus mixtecoensis sp. nov. (n = 3) and S. humbertoi (n = 2) were sequenced for the cox 1 gene, and the sequences were aligned with other nematode sequences available in GenBank. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses indicated that this new species forms an independent, well-supported clade with high posterior probability (pp). Spinitectus mixtecoensis sp. nov. is the third species of Spinitectus recorded in profundulid fish from Central America.
Biomarkers of oxidative stress and antioxidant defense in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Background: Oxidative stress has become the focus of interest in most biomedical disciplines and many types of clinical research. Increasing evidence from research on several diseases shows that oxidative stress is associated with the pathogenesis of diabetes and many other diseases. Objectives: We aimed to investigate the status of oxidative stress and antioxidant enzymes related parameters in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Patients and Methods: A total of 110 patients (70 patients newly diagnosed diabetic and 40 healthy) were studied by evaluating the level of lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde [MDA]), nitric oxide (NO), fasting blood sugar (FBS), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), were also evaluated. Results: The FBS and HbA1c levels were significantly higher in diabetic patients compared to those of healthy participants. Higher levels of MDA and NO were observed in the diabetic group compared to those in the healthy participants. A significant decrease was observed in serum SOD, CAT, and GPx activities in the serum of T1DM patients by 16.7%, 72.8%, and 15.3%, respectively (P < 0.05), as compared with their activities in the controls. On the basis of sex, both male and female patients showed a significant reduction in antioxidant levels as compared to their respective controls. Conclusions: These results indicated that oxidative status and antioxidant levels were affected in T1DM. The results suggested that the biomarkers such as the plasma levels of lipid peroxidation and antioxidants in early diagnosed diabetics can be used to monitor the developing complications of the diabetes.
Rating-Based Collaborative Filtering Using Spectral Clustering Algorithm

Clustering analysis has been an important area of machine learning and data mining research, it can help us know the connection between things more clearly. In recent years, the research of spectral clustering algorithm has been a new and efficient clustering analysis algorithm. In this paper, the sparsity and the real-time problem of traditional recommendation algorithms, a new recommendation algorithm based on spectral clustering is proposed. The spectral clustering process can improve the efficiency of spectral clustering algorithm. Spectral clustering can be performed offline, which will accelerate the speed of online recommendation. The experimental results on Movie lens show that the new algorithm improves recommendation quality in MAE and coverage.
Communication-Aware Load Balancing of the LU Factorization over Heterogeneous Clusters

Supercomputers are designed to be as homogeneous as possible but it is common that a few nodes exhibit variable performance capabilities due to processor manufacturing. It is also common to find partitions equipped with different types of accelerators. Data distribution over heterogeneous nodes is very challenging but essential to exploit all resources efficiently. In this article, we build upon task-based runtimes' flexibility of managing data to study the interplay between static communication-aware data distribution strategies and dynamic scheduling of the linear algebra LU factorization over heterogeneous sets of hybrid nodes. We propose two techniques derived from the state-of-the-art $1\mathrm{D}\times 1\mathrm{D}$ data distributions. First, to use fewer computing nodes towards the end to better match performance bounds and save computing power. Second, to carefully move a few blocks between nodes to optimize even further the load balancing among nodes. We also demonstrate how $1\mathrm{D}\times 1\mathrm{D}$ data distributions, tailored for heterogeneous nodes, can scale better with homogeneous clusters than classical block-cyclic distributions. Validation is carried out both in real and in simulated environments under homogeneous and heterogeneous platforms, demonstrating compelling performance improvements.
EFICACIA OFENSIVA EN EL BALONMANO FEMENINO DE ÉLITE EN SITUACIONES DE SUPERIORIDAD NUMÉRICA

El balonmano, a pesar de ser uno de los deportes más practicados en Europa, no despierta gran interés por parte de la comunidad científica en su modalidad femenina. Dada la relevancia que tienen en los partidos las situaciones de superioridad numérica, el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar las secuencias ofensivas, eficaces e ineficaces, que se producen en el balonmano femenino de élite en situaciones de superioridad numérica ofensiva, durante el Campeonato Mundial celebrado en Suecia en 2016. Para ello se ha hecho uso de la metodología observacional y del análisis secuencial de retardos. Los resultados obtenidos revelan como patrón de juego ofensivo exitoso, es decir, que la secuencia ofensiva concluye en gol, un patrón de juego que utiliza un sistema táctico no estructurado, con independencia de su forma de inicio, que emplea como principal medio ofensivo el contraataque de primera oleada, para finalizar las acciones con situaciones de 1vs0.
Comparative Transcriptomics of Metabolites in Wild and Cultivated Pinellia ternata

Background: As a traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) used to treat cough, Pinellia ternata (PT) has been utilized for thousands of years. Studies focused on the genetic makeup underlying the differences between wild and cultivated PT are rare, while wild herb is quite effective and indispensable in the clinical use of TCM. There is still rare researches related to the cause of differences between wild and cultivated PT. With the application of transcriptome technology in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, High-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) could be employed to find out how environment affect the accumulation of active constituent in medicinal herbs.Result: Overall, 133 503 unigenes were assembled, and 1329 genes were differentially expressed in the cultivated PT compared to the wild PT. Of those, 70 DEGs (differentially expressed genes) were significantl[1]y downregulated and 9 were upregulated in the cultivated PT compared to the wild PT after filtering out genes involved in the biosynthesis and metabolism of amino acids, glutathione, phenylpropane and other constituents. These genes were assumed to be of special interest with respect to the better efficacy of the wild PT. Meanwhile, RT-qPCR was utilized to analysis the expression patterns of 9 selected genes and HPLC were applied to quantify the content of adenine and guanosine in PT which verified the RNA-Seq result.Conclusion: 79 DEGs were found in wild and cultivated PT, which played an important role in the synthesis and metabolism of the active ingredients of PT. And the expression of DEGs is higer in wild PT, indicated the importance of wild medicinal herb resources. The experiment produced robust resources for future investigations on the regulation of active ingredients in PT and Araceae and the promotion of the cultivation and clinical use of PT.
Season-dependent differential effect of temperature on diurnal rhythm of expression of core clock genes in the pineal organ of an air-breathing catfish, Clarias gariepinus

ABSTRACT All core clock genes (clock, bmal1, per1, per2, per3, cry1, and cry2) are expressed in the fish pineal organ and regulate melatonin rhythm. But there is practically no information on effect of temperature on clock genes. Therefore, we studied effects of three temperatures (15°, 25°, and 35°C; common photoperiod 12L–12D) on the diurnal rhythm of expression of core clock genes (clock, bmal1, per1, per2, per3, cry1, and cry2) in the pineal organ of an air-breathing catfish, Clarias gariepinus during summer and winter seasons. All clock genes invariably exhibited prominent diurnal rhythm of expression in the pineal organ of the fish irrespective of temperatures and seasons. However, mesor and amplitude of the diurnal rhythm of expression of the clock genes responded differently to different temperatures in a season-dependent manner. These findings seem to suggest that the fish pineal organ possesses an indigenous molecular clockwork composed of temperature-sensitive clock genes.
Cytochrome P450 expression-associated multiple-hit pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in HepG2 cells

Purpose: To establish a free fatty acid (FFA)-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) model in HepG2 cells.Methods: HepG2 cells were incubated with 0.1, 1, or 5 mM oleic acid (OA) or palmitic acid (PA) for 24 h. Histological features were examined by oil-red-O staining. Expression levels of metabolic genes (peroxisome proliferator activated receptors α/γ, sterol regulatory element binding proteins 1a/1c, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, acyl-CoA oxidase, and fatty acid synthase), antioxidative genes (catalase and superoxide dismutases 1/2), and cytochrome P450 genes (CYP1A2, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP2E1, CYP3A4, and CYP4A11) were determined by reverse transcription-real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Results: Intracellular lipid storage was observed in cells treated with 1 mM OA or PA while cell shrinkage was present at 5 mM concentrations of both. Expression of all metabolic genes were elevated by 1 mM PA and 5 mM OA and PA. Expression of all antioxidative genes were diminished by 5 mM OA whereas 5 mM PA only reduced superoxide dismutase-2 expression. Expression of CYP1A2, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4 genes were down-regulated by both FFAs, CYP2C19 was induced by PA, while CYP2E1 and CYP4A11 were up-regulated in a concentration-dependent manner.Conclusion: PA was the more potent steatogenic agent in an OA- or PA- induced NAFLD model in HepG2 cells. Increase in intracellular hepatic lipid and expression of metabolic genes, suppression of antioxidative genes, suppression of CYP1A2, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4, and induction of CYP2E1 andCYP4A11 correlated with the multiple-hit pathogenesis model of NAFLD. These findings suggest that PA-induced NAFLD model in HepG2 cells is a suitable in vitro model for studying novel therapeutic approaches to NAFLD treatment. Keywords: NAFLD, Multiple-hit pathogenesis, Free fatty acid, Oleic acid, Palmitic acid
Competitividade dos produtores de melão na Área Livre de Anastrepha grandis no Nordeste brasileiro

Este estudo busca identificar os fatores de competitividade dos produtores de melao que certificam e realizam a monitorizacao extensiva vis-a-vis dos que apenas emitem o Certificado Fitossanitario de Origem, porem nao monitorizam, na Area Livre de Pragas (ALP) da Anastrepha grandis no Nordeste brasileiro. Para tanto, e empregado o metodo de analise fatorial para analise de dados primarios coletados na regiao da ALP, referentes a 2014. Os resultados mostram que os agricultores que realizam a monitorizacao extensiva sao mais competitivos do que aqueles que nao monitorizam suas fazendas.
Influence of plant growth regulators on key‐coding genes expression associated with phytochemicals biosynthesis and antioxidant activity in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr) sprouts

1 School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China 2 Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of South Subtropical Fruit Biology and Genetic Resource Utilization (MOA), Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Tree Research, Institute of Fruit Tree Research, Guangzhou 510640, China 3 Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Postprandial Insulin and Glucagon Secretions during a Mixed-Meal Tolerance Test in Dietary Induced Metabolic Syndrome Cynomolgus Monkeys

Objective: The objective of this investigation was to assess the postprandial glucose, insulin and glucagon responses to a mixed-meal tolerance test (MMTT) in Cynomolgus monkeys with dietary-induced obese, prediabetes or overt type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and compare them to chow-fed controls. Method: Mixed meal was administered via nasogastric gavage in eighteen adult male Cynomolgus monkeys stratified into four groups either T2DM (n=3), pre-diabetes (n=5), metabolically healthy obese (n=5) or chow-fed control (n=5). The plasma was sampled for fasting and postprandial glucose, insulin and glucagon concentrations. And based on these, we calculated areas under curves (AUCs) of postprandial glucose, insulin and glucagon. Homeostasis model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and insulinogenic Index (IGI) were used to estimate pancreatic secretion and insulin resistance. Results: Compared to control group, the T2DM, pre-diabetes and obese groups had higher plasma fasting glucose and insulin concentrations, and a greater postprandial glucose and insulin AUC0240 min. The HOMA-IR and IGI indicated that the obese, pre-diabetes and T2DM animals are more insulin resistant and have impaired beta cell function compared to animals in control group. The highest and lowest fasting plasma glucagon concentrations were found in the pre-diabetes and T2DM groups, respectively and both groups showed moderate postprandial glucagon AUC0-240 min. Mild fasting plasma glucagon but a greatest postprandial glucagon AUC0-240 min was found in obese group. Moderate fasting plasma glucagon and a smallest postprandial glucagon AUC0240 min were found in the control group. Conclusion: The results of postprandial insulin and glucagon secretions in responses to the postprandial glucose challenge enclosed with anthropometric and lipidemic parameters well demonstrated the insulin sensitivity with beta and alpha cells function in each classified group and the very similar patterns to humans. It revealed that dietary induced metabolic disorders in Cynomolgus monkeys are useful models to study the therapeutically agents for human metabolic syndrome and T2DM.
Evaluation of biphasic positive airway pressure [BIPAP] versus control mode, SIMV and CPAP in post anesthetic patients receiving elective post-operative ventilation

Context: Prolonged mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit (ICU) stay increases morbidity and mortality. Objective: To evaluate the effects of biphasic positive airway pressure versus continuous mandatory ventilation (CMV), synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation (SIMV) and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in patients receiving elective post operative ventilation. Methods and Material: 40 patients of age group 20 yrs and older of American society of anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status 1 - 3 who underwent elective abdominal surgery under general anesthesia were divided into 2 groups, group B(n=20) comprised of patients who were put on BIPAP mode and group C(n=20) who were put on CMV, SIMV, CPAP mode. Outcomes measured were ratio of arterial oxygen partial pressure to fractional inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2), duration of mechanical ventilation, sedation requirement, and hemodynamic instability. Patients were put on ventilator and ventilated according to protocol. Results: The duration of mechanical ventilation was significantly reduced [p – 0.005] in group B [6.8±2.8 hours] than group C [9.9±3.6 hours]. Sedation requirement with midazolam was significantly reduced [p – 0.0001] in group B (4±2.71 mg) than group C (8.05±2.45 mg). There was no difference with respect to PaO2/FiO2 ratio and hemodynamic stability between both the groups. Conclusions: BIPAP as compared to CMV, SIMV and CPAP mode reduces the duration of mechanical ventilation and sedation requirement which in turn reduces morbidity. Pulmonary gas exchange was similar between the two groups. Keywords: Biphasic intermittent positive airway pressure, Pulmonary ventilation, Postoperative period