Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Radioprotective Activity of the Nitric Oxide Synthase Inhibitor T1023. Toxicological and Biochemical Properties, Cardiovascular and Radioprotective Effects

In this work, studies were performed to investigate the toxicological, biochemical, vasotropic and radiomodifying properties of the new nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor, compound T1023. Toxicological studies included the estimation of acute toxicity in mice after i.p. administration of T1023. Radiometric analysis and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy were used to study NOS-inhibitory properties of T1023 in vitro and in vivo, respectively. T1023 vasoactive properties were studied in rat central hemodynamics. Radiobiological experiments were performed using endogenous and exogenous spleen colony formation as well as 30-day survival tests. The morphological changes in peripheral blood and bone marrow (BM) induced with T1023 were analyzed in mice during hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome (H-ARS). It was shown that T1023 is a sufficiently safe compound (LD10 of 317 mg/kg; LD50 of 410 mg/kg). It is an effective competitive NOS-inhibitor that is 10-to-15-fold selective to endothelial and inducible NOS (IC50 for nNOS, iNOS, eNOS: 52.3, 3.2 and 5.1 µM, respectively). Its NOS-inhibitory activity is realized in vivo and is accompanied by an increase in vascular tone. Its single i.p. administration in doses greater than 1/8 LD10 provides significant (40–50%) and long-lasting (more than 90 min) weakening of cardiac output, which can cause transient hypoxia. In radiobiological studies, T1023 proved to be a hypoxic radioprotector. Its radioprotective effect was observed only when administered prophylactically [single i.p dose, 5–120 min before total-body irradiation (TBI)] and only in doses that reduced cardiac output (1/8 LD10 and more, 40 mg/kg for mice), and was correlated in time with the dynamics of circulatory depression. Its radioprotective effect was not observed when administered in vitro and in the first 4 h after TBI. The optimal radioprotective doses of T1023 are relatively safe (1/ 5–1/4 LD10). In addition, T1023 effectively prevents H-ARS and gastrointestinal acute radiation syndrome (G-ARS) in experimental animals in vivo: dose modifying factor of 1.6–1.9. In the H-ARS mouse model, the prophylactic effect of T1023 (75 mg/kg, single i.p. injection) was accompanied by clinically significant effects. There was an express decrease in the degree of indicators of early BM devastation (by 40%) and maximal neutropenia and thrombocytopenia (2–2.5 times), in addition to a reduction in recovery time (by 30–40%). The obtained experimental results and literature data indicate that NOS inhibitors are an independent class of vasoactive radioprotectors with a specific hypoxic mechanism of action. NOS inhibitors provide new opportunities for developing effective and safe tools for the prevention of ARS.
A cube-tree hybrid NoC topology with 3D mirroring technique for load balancing

The ever increasing demand for concurrent execution results in a significant escalation in the communication need, which has compelled the System-on-Chip architects to shift the focus to a more communication-centric design. With the emerging communication requirement, balancing the network load has become the essential requirement that profoundly influences the performance of the Network-on-Chips (NoC). The current work proposes an NoC topology along with a load balancing mechanism. The floorplan of the design yields optimized length interconnects. High bisection width and the presence of sufficient path diversity improves network performance significantly. Extensive experimentation has been done with the existing prevalent cube and tree-based networks. Across all the above cases, a minimum of 42% average latency improvement is found whereas, in the throughput, it is of 7%. Efficient load balancing comes with a minimum benefit of 29% on average network power consumption.
Energy-aware HW/SW Co-modeling of Batteryless Wireless Sensor Nodes

Energy harvesting wireless sensor nodes are sensitive to spatial and temporal fluctuations in energy availability. This issue is especially prevalent in batteryless systems, where devices are directly connected to power sources with little or no buffering. The strong coupling of energy supply and demand introduces a new dimension to the problem of designing robust networked sensing systems. We propose a modeling framework for this class of batteryless systems with an emphasis on the interactions between energy and function. The tool models energy harvesters, power management circuitry, energy storage, microcontrollers, sensors, radio modules, environmental models, and is fully extensible. The microcontroller model is based on cycle-accurate instruction set simulators from Fused, with various peripheral extensions to enable board-level functionality, such as SPI, DMA, hardware multiplier etc. The tool enables virtual prototyping of self-powered wireless sensor nodes, but is especially useful for studying intermittent operation and developing application specific software, hardware, or combined solutions. The simulator is capable of executing real workloads under realistic conditions and this is demonstrated through a case study where the same compiled binary is executed on a virtual prototype and its corresponding physical wireless sensor system to yield matching digital traces and current profiles
Intermittence Anomalies not Considered Harmful

We consider a new perspective on intermittence anomalies arising in intermittently-computing mixed-volatile systems. Existing forward progress techniques avoid such anomalies by enforcing a computation that corresponds to a continuous one, introducing a significant overhead. We take a different stand: by allowing the presence of specific anomalies, we make the program aware of intermittence, unlocking new design patterns. We argue about the various possibilities emerging from this and we make the concept concrete by applying it to loops. We show how intermittence anomalies allow to preserve the results of loop iterations across power failures, without requiring to save the device's volatile state after each iteration. Compared to existing checkpoint mechanisms, our technique shows on average a 35.2x lower energy consumption and a 48.4x lower execution time across several staple benchmarks.
Secrecy Capacity of Diffusive Molecular Communication Under Biological Spherical Environment

Smart drug delivery systems, automation of biological and chemical attacks are the most extensive applications of Diffusive Molecular Communication (DMC). Further, security in DMC is a crucial issue due to presence of eavesdroppers in the network. Recently, Physical-layer Security (PhySec) is regarded as the most suitable security technique as it is easy to implement. On the other hand, Biological Spherical Environment (BSE) is most appropriate for the modelling of spherical tissues such as stomach, lung, kidney and cells. However, none of the literatures have secrecy capacity of DMC under BSE. Therefore, this paper presents expression for Cs of DMC under BSE. In addition, Cs is analyzed as function of Eve's distance and Eve's radius keeping power and/or bandwidth as parameter. Proposed model is useful in analysis of DMC within the spherical tissues. Simulated results show perfect agreement with the theoretical background.
Gynaecologist is struck off for misconduct in his treatment of four patients

A locum consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology who was accused of a catalogue of clinical failings has been struck off the UK medical register after he repeatedly expressed contempt for the proceedings and declined to attend when his former patients were testifying. Malay Haldar, who qualified in India in 1987, was charged at a medical practitioners’ tribunal with misconduct in his treatment of four patients while working as a locum in Harlow in 2016 and in Birmingham in 2018. He carried out a perineal reconstruction on a hysterectomy patient when she had explicitly refused it, explaining that she was a widow and not interested in a sex life. …
Device-Free User Activity Detection using Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring: A Case Study

Data collected from smart electricity meters have been shown to contain a wealth of information. Through the application of algorithms for load disaggregation, it is possible to identify the contributions of individual appliances to the electricity bill as well as emitting suggestions to replace inefficient devices. Almost all documented practical use cases of load disaggregation rely on the analysis of appliance operational times and their impact on the monthly electricity bill. However, load disaggregation bears promising potential for other use cases. Recognizing user activities without the need to set up a dedicated sensing infrastructure is one such application, given that many household activities involve the use of electrical appliances. State-of-the-art disaggregation algorithms only provide support for the recognition of one appliance at a time, however. We thus take load disaggregation to the next level, and present to what extent it is applicable to monitor user activities involving multiple appliances (operating sequentially or in parallel) using this technique. For the evaluation of our Non-Intrusive Activity Detection (NIAD), we synthetically generate load signature data to model nine typical user activities, followed by an assessment to what extent they can be detected in aggregate electrical consumption data. Our results prove that state-of-the-art load disaggregation algorithms are also well-suited to identify user activities, at accuracy levels comparable to (but slightly below) the disaggregation of individual appliances.
Black Lives Matter: Storying, Identities, and Counternarratives

In this academic counternarrative, we examine how Black students and adults get positioned by, and come to resist, discourses that favor dominant linguistic and cultural practices. We ask, How do Black youth and adults resist the gaze of whiteness, or dominant discourses, in schools and communities, and what are pedagogical implications of such resistances? We address these questions by discussing three contemporary examples of injustices experienced by Rachel Jeantel, Amariyanna Copeny, and Black youth who continue the activism of Colin Kaepernik. Thereafter, we analyze data from three research vignettes of Black teachers and Youth of Color who produce counternarratives through storying. In our conclusion, we advocate for a pedagogical agenda in literacy studies grounded in cultural equality and linguistic, racial, and social justice for Black people and other People of Color. We situate this work as an academic counternarrative—an analysis of young people’s unapologetic affirmation of Black humanity, brilliance, and power.
Improved Intrusion Detection Accuracy Based on Optimization Fast Learning Network Model

In current days, accuracy of Intrusion detection system still represents one of main limitation of the system. Moreover, hybrid model based on intrusion detection system achieved better results in compared with model based single algorithm. This work presents a new intrusion detection system based on hybrid model based on Fast Learning Network (FLN) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) which called (GA-FLN), NSL-KDD dataset used to evaluate the proposed model. The results of new model represent with different numbers of hidden neurons to analysis the impact of neurons based on accuracy of intrusion detection system.
Market Integration And Price Transmission In A Selected Area Of The South African Market

This study analyses the performance of a part of the South African market by studying the transmission mechanism of some selected market prices, price spreads and market volatility in the market. A comparative assessment of future forecasts for import and export prices is also conducted using three forecasting models – double exponential smoothing, Winters’ multiplicative method and the Box- Jenkins forecasting method. The analyses reveal that a cointegrating relationship exists between producer and consumer prices of goods, producer prices Granger-cause consumer prices but not the reverse, the transmission between producer and consumer prices of goods is asymmetrical, and price transmission is elastic and perfect in the mark- up model but inelastic and imperfect in the mark-down price transmission model. The producer price shock effect is observed with a total consumer price increase after 4 periods (1 year), exchange rates significantly explain import prices (but only a small part of oil prices), and low standard deviations of the cyclical components of the import and export prices are observed suggesting high volatility of the prices. The best forecasting model for both import and export prices is produced by the Box-Jenkins method as ARIMA (1,1,1) model.
The Impact of China's Fdi and Fdi From Other Sources on Growth in Sub-Sahara Africa Through Export Upgrading

Abstract This paper seeks to analyse how FDI from China, US, EU, and the rest of Asia transmit to growth in sub-Sahara Africa through export upgrading for the period (2003-2012). Terms-of-trade is utilized as a proxy for export upgrading. We develop a theoretical argument to show that countries with worsening (less than 1%) terms-of-trade are associated with poor industrialization as a result they can hardly improve quality and quantity of their products for export market, vis-à-vis. In this respect, this study contributes to existing literature in two ways. First, we investigate if technology embodied in FDI from the above-mentioned sources can enhance quantity and quality improvements of export commodities in sub-Sahara Africa. Second, we account for industrial policy heterogeneity of sub-Sahara African countries in order to determine the threshold level at which FDI-induced export upgrading can contribute positively to growth. Using both 2SLS and PTR models, our results reveal that FDI from China and the rest of Asia does not bear significant impact on growth in sub-Sahara Africa through export upgrading. However, PTR analysis demonstrates that FDI from US and EU seem to have a significant negative impact only below a threshold of 1.08%. As the terms-of-trade improves beyond 1.08%, the estimated coefficients of both FDI from US and EU turn positive, albeit insignificant. We conclude that sub-Sahara African countries are far yet to reach a threshold at which FDI-induced export upgrading can contribute positively to growth.
Analysing the Effects of Macroeconomic Shocks on Public Debt in Zimbabwe

This paper analyses the impact of macroeconomic shocks on public debt in Zimbabwe. Understanding the impact of macroeconomic shocks on public debt is necessary as this allows debt managers to focus on a public debt structure which limits the potential of debt from deviating from its long-run steady state. The study applied the Bayesian Vector Auto regression (BVAR) model to simulate the impact of macroeconomic shocks on public debt. The results show that Zimbabwe’s public debt is more vulnerable to interest rate, exchange rate, economic growth and primary balance shocks. Together these shocks account for about 61 per cent of forecast error variation in the debt to GDP ratio. From this analysis, the major policy implication is the need for government to pay particular attention to automatic debt dynamics. There is also a need to maintain the primary balance at manageable levels as well as instituting growth enhancing policies to ensure long-term sustainability of public debt. The need for appropriate selection of the currency composition of public debt is also necessary to mitigate the risk of unexpected increases in public debt from adverse external sector developments.
Transgenesis as Art, Art as Infection

Adam Zaretsky’s performative art involving biotechnological methods occupies a particular place in the field of biotechnological art: His highly subversive modus operandi unfolds as provocative VivoArts hands-on workshops and lectures sharing lab skills with the untrained. His purpose is to directly include a larger public in the processes of genetic engineering in order to demystify these procedures that usually take place in scientific laboratories, and to viscerally confront participants with the actual questions arising from experiencing transgenic technology as ‘non-utilitarian research creation’. Zaretsky stages macroscopic actions with kitchen and household products, blood, excrement or executed animals, and uses sexually connoted metaphors such as ‘penetration’ and ‘injection’, in order to address biopolitical issues on the microscopic scale. His strategy can be analysed in the light of philosopher Vilém Flusser’s premonitory vision that molecular biology would become an everyday tool, and of molecular biologist François Jacob’s claim that evolution needs to be considered a phenomenon of tinkering, rather than of engineering.
The Causal Relationship Between Electricity Supply and Economic Growth in South Africa

This paper investigates the causal relationship between electricity supply and economic growth in South Africa using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The ARDL model results reveal existence of long run relationship among the variables. The VECM findings suggested bidirectional causality flowing between electricity supply and economic growth. Therefore, the policy makers should prioritise building capacity additions and infrastructure development of the electricity industry, as this will stimulate economic growth and increase electricity.
Optogenetic Gene Therapy for the Degenerate Retina: Recent Advances

The degeneration of light-detecting rod and cone photoreceptors in the human retina leads to severe visual impairment and ultimately legal blindness in millions of people worldwide. Multiple therapeutic options at different stages of degeneration are being explored but the majority of ongoing clinical trials involve adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector-based gene supplementation strategies for select forms of inherited retinal disease. Over 300 genes are associated with inherited retinal degenerations and only a small proportion of these will be suitable for gene replacement therapy. However, while the origins of disease may vary, there are considerable similarities in the physiological changes that occur in the retina. When early therapeutic intervention is not possible and patients suffer loss of photoreceptor cells but maintain remaining layers of cells in the neural retina, there is an opportunity for a universal gene therapy approach that can be applied regardless of the genetic origin of disease. Optogenetic therapy offers such a strategy by aiming to restore vision though the provision of light-sensitive molecules to surviving cell types of the retina that enable light perception through the residual neurons. Here we review the recent progress in attempts to restore visual function to the degenerate retina using optogenetic therapy. We focus on multiple pre-clinical models used in optogenetic strategies, discuss their strengths and limitations, and highlight considerations including vector and transgene designs that have advanced the field into two ongoing clinical trials.
Herd-Level Risk Factors for Swine Influenza (H1N1) Seropositivity in West Java and Banten Provinces of Indonesia (2016–2017)

Swine could play a role as a “mixing vessel” for avian and human influenza viruses and should, therefore, be thought of playing an intermediate role in the emergence of pandemic influenza strains. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for Swine influenza virus (SIV) seropositivity at the farm level in West Java and Banten provinces, Indonesia. A total of 649 blood samples were collected from 175 pig farms, and at the time of sampling, a questionnaire about routine herd management was administered to participant herd managers. Swine influenza virus serological status for each of the sampled pigs was tested using the IDEXX ELISA-test (Maine, US). The apparent herd-level prevalence of SIV seropositivity was expressed as a true herd-level prevalence using the Rogan and Gladen method, modified to account for low and high prevalence herds using a Markov chain Monte Carlo Bayesian approach. The association between herd-level characteristics and SIV seropositivity status was assessed using binary logistic regression. The true prevalence of SIV seropositivity was 26% (95% CI = 20–33). The presence of animals apart from pigs on farm (odds ratio, OR = 2.51, 95% CI = 1.0–6.0), keeping breeding sows for <2 years (OR = 5.9, 95% Cl = 1.8–20), being <1 km from a poultry farm (OR = 2.4, 95% Cl = 1.0–5.7), and purchasing pigs only through pig collectors (OR = 11, 95% CI = 4.3–29) increased the risk of a herd being seropositive to SIV. Our results show that biosecurity to limit the introduction of SIV should be enhanced on farms located in areas of high pig and poultry farm density. While the role that pig collectors play in the transmission of SIV warrants further investigation, swine producers in West Java and Banten should be made aware of the enhanced risk of SIV associated with purchasing of replacements from collectors.
Evaluating a Board Game Designed to Promote Young Children’s Delay of Gratification

Objective Delay of gratification, or the extent to which one can resist the temptation of an immediate reward and wait for a larger reward later, is a self-regulatory skill that predicts positive outcomes. The aim of this research was to conduct initial tests of the effects of a board game designed to increase children’s delay of gratification via two experimental studies. Methods Preschool children were randomized to play the study game or a control game. In Study 1, there were 48 children in the analytic sample, with a mean age of 4.81 ± 0.55 years; Study 2 included 50 children (M = 4.02 ± 0.76 years). Delay of gratification was assessed during the study game, as well as before and after game play sessions using the Marshmallow Test. Results In both studies, the intervention group’s likelihood of delaying gratification during the study game increased across game-play sessions (p < 0.05). In Study 1, the intervention group also increased wait times during the Marshmallow Test versus controls (p = 0.047). In Study 2, there was no effect on Marshmallow Test wait times. Conclusion Results provide some initial evidence supporting potential efficacy of a board game designed to increase delay of gratification. Future research can clarify: (1) which components of game play (if any) are linked with broader changes in delay of gratification, (2) impacts of this intervention in more diverse samples, and (3) whether experimental manipulation of delay of gratification affects outcomes like achievement and weight, which have been linked to this skill in observational studies.