Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Exposure of Pb to Hair and Nails in Children Around “X” Coal Mines Using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) Method

Introduction: The exposure of Pb from coal mining activity could be accumulated primarily in the hair and nails. It was a presence as a bioindicator of Pb contamination in the community. Children who lived around coal mining were also likely to experience contamination of Pb. The children could absorb up to 50% of Pb metal. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. The sample was taken using cluster sampling and classified based on the age group, namely 1-3 years, 4-6 years, and 7-9 years. Exposed respondents lived around 1-10 kilometers from the mining area, and the non-exposed respondents lived outside. Some hair and nails would be taken from all respondents, which were sent to a laboratory directly. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy was used to measure the levels of Pb. Results and Discussion: This study showed that Pb levels in the hair of exposed respondents in all age categories were above the WHO threshold limits value (≤ 12μg/g). In addition, in nails, Pb levels exceed the threshold limits value in the exposed sample groups 4-6 years and 7-9 years. Differences in Pb levels in the hair and nails between exposed dan non-exposed respondents showed significantly by the statistical test. Conclusion: Communities living in coal mining areas are at greater risk of exposure to heavy metals than others. Pb is one type of heavy metal that accumulates in the body, specifically in hair and nails, because it did not release by metabolism. Hence, it becomes a bioindicator to ensure our entire body exposure to hazardous materials. ORIGINAL RESEARCH Open Access
ACTIVIDAD ANTIMICROBIANA DE UNA BACTERIOCINA SINTÉTICA PROVENIENTE DEL GENOMA DE LACTOBACILLUS CASEI SOBRE LA MICROBIOTA DE QUESITO ANTIOQUEÑON GRANOS DE CACAO

Background: Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) are of special interest in the food industry due to their ability to produce metabolites. Among them, bacteriocins, which can inhibit the growth of altering microorganisms, and pathogens in a wide variety of foods, are considered safe for human consumption and are used as preservatives. Objectives: Evaluate the effect of a bacteriocin found by in silico methods on the microbiota present in Antioquian soft cheese. Methods: In this research, we design a synthetic bacteriocin, called Bac 22, found in the genome of Lactobacillus casei using the genomic mining methodology and bioinformatics tools. We also conducted a preliminary biological and hemolytic activities studies of the Bac 22 toward the microbiota present in the Antioquian soft cheese (Quesito Antioqueño). Results: The bacteriocin Bac 22 at a concentration of 100 μM presented a hemolytic capacity lower than 1% and reduced the CFU / g of total coliforms significantly when added to Antioquian soft cheese for eight days. Conclusions: The Bac 22 demonstrated a positive potential effect over the shelf life of a dairy product, such as the Antioquian soft cheese.
Software-Defined Optical Intra-rack Network Architecture and MAC Protocol for Data Centers

—The optical interconnection and switching technology has recently gained ground in the data centers (DCs) globally. In this paper, we propose an optical network configuration to interconnect the servers of the same rack in a DC, based on passive optical functionalities. Thus, we focus in the intra-rack passive optical network and we propose the use of a number of dedicated wavelengths for the data communication among the servers through a passive optical coupler in the data plane. Meanwhile, we adopt a parallel control plane which is implemented in the optical domain too, in opposition to the majority of previous studies that performs the control communication over electrical links. Based on the software-defined networking (SDN) paradigm, we adopt at the Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch level, a rack controller which is responsible for the operational functionalities in the intra-rack network, such as medium access control (MAC) etc. Moreover, we introduce an intra-rack MAC protocol in conjunction with a bandwidth efficient allocation (BEA) algorithm to optimally and fairly assign to the servers the available intra-rack bandwidth for synchronous data transmission. According to the BEA algorithm, both the channels collisions and the destination conflicts are effectively avoided. The proposed intra-rack MAC protocol in conjunction with the BEA algorithm achieves high intra-rack network bandwidth exploitation that reaches almost 88%, while it manages high throughput and very low packet delay, as compared with previous relative study.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERT SYSTEMS (IJAE)

The use of supervised learning algorithms to detect malicious traffic can be valuable in designing intrusion detection systems and ascertaining security risks. The Internet of things (IoT) refers to the billions of physical, electronic devices around the world that are often connected over the Internet. The growth of IoT systems comes at the risk of network attacks such as denial of service (DoS) and spoofing. In this research, we perform various supervised feature selection methods and employ three classifiers on IoT network data. The classifiers predict with high accuracy if the network traffic against the IoT device was malicious or benign. We compare the feature selection methods to arrive at the best that can be used for network intrusion prediction.
Resilience, Post-Traumatic Growth, and Psychological Well-Being Among Adolescents Experiencing Parents’ Marital Dissolution

The marital dissolution as a traumatic event for children and adolescents might yield different outcomes for each adolescent. Previous studies suggested that adolescents who have high resilience tend to experience positive changes / post- traumatic growth following traumatic events, which results in higher well-being. Hence, it is necessary to conduct research about resilience and post-traumatic growth as predictors of psychological well-being among adolescents who have been through their parents’ marital dissolution. The recent study aims to investigate the relations among those variables. A total of 56 participants (mean age: 15.27; 66.1% female) who lived in Semarang completed three measurements. Correlational, t-test, and path analysis were applied. The result suggests that both resilience and post-traumatic growth significantly and positively correlated toward psychological well-being. Furthermore, post-traumatic growth was found to have a significant partial mediating effect on the relationship between resilience and psychological well-being. These findings suggest that though promoting resilience could improve the psychological well-being of adolescents who have been through their parents’ marital dissolution, clinicians need to ensure that adolescents experience post-traumatic growth through cognitive therapy or counseling sessions to achieve better psychological well-being.
Long-Term Perceptions and Actions of the Public to Address Sustainable Water Resource Management in the Pacific Northwest, USA

The purpose of this paper is to examine public perceptions and the voluntary actions that have been taken to address the quality and quantity of water resources over a 32-year period in the Pacific Northwest. Mail-based surveys were used to collect data in 1988, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2019 in the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. In each survey year, the minimum sample size was 400 adult residents and appropriate statistics were used to evaluate survey answers. Since 1988, a majority of surveyed residents have considered (1) drinking water, (2) wetlands, (3) snowpack, (4) power generation, (5) commerce, (6) industry and (7) aquatic organisms very important. Compared with data initially collected in 1988 (21.6%), over 92% of the survey respondents undertook at least one voluntary action to address water quantity such as installing in-home watersaving devices, reducing water use in the home, reducing water use in the yard and/or changing the way vehicles were washed by 2019. Compared with 1988 (16.2%), over 72% of the survey respondents took one or more actions to protect water quality by 2019. Some of these voluntary actions to protect water quality included better disposal of hazardous household and/or yard chemicals, improved use of fertilizers and pesticides in yards, reduction in yard watering practices to reduce chemical leaching or erosion and proper disposal of used automobile/truck oil products. These surveys conducted over a 32-year period show that less than 10 and 8% of the surveyed public have not taken at least one action to positively address water quantity and water quality issues, respectively. These results are impressive because they show that the public have been engaged in protecting their water resources. Any activity that protects water quality and/or reduces water use makes the water resources of this region, which encompasses more than 26% of the USA’s land area more sustainable.
Relationship between Microfinance and Sustainable Women Entrepreneurial Performance: The mediating Role of Social capital

This study aims to investigate the impact of microfinance on poverty reduction through women entrepreneurship in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. We also examine if social capital plays any role in microfinance and women entrepreneurship growth that leads towards poverty reduction. This study uses the data collected through a survey of 210 women entrepreneurs, who secured microfinance loans for their new/established enterprises. By applying correlation and regression analysis techniques, this study finds that access to finance is important for female entrepreneurs and it helps them in realizing their potential as entrepreneurs. A range of entrepreneurial characteristics was found to be critical to the success of women led enterprises in general and to poverty reduction among their families, in particular. Our results reveal that microfinance plays a positive role in women's entrepreneurial performance. We also find that Islamic microfinance contributes more to sustainable women's entrepreneurial performance than non-Islamic microfinance. Although this study used a limited sample of Pakistani female entrepreneurs, yet the results can be relevant to women entrepreneurs in other developing countries with contextual cautions. Future researchers may incorporate more relevant variables and increase the sample size to enhance the understanding of our investigated phenomena.
Effect of eccentric and concentric squat exercise on quadriceps thickness and lower extremity performance in healthy young males

Background: In clinical practice, resistance training, which includes concentric and eccentric dynamic muscle movements, is widely used by physiotherapists to strengthen the quadriceps muscle. However, although eccentric training is assumed to induce greater hypertrophy compared to concentric contractions, there are also studies reporting that similar increases in muscle thickness can be seen in both eccentric and concentric training. Objective: This study aims to assess the effect of the eccentric and concentric squat exercise on quadriceps thickness, and lower extremity performance during jumping and walking in healthy young sedentary males. Methods: Participants were randomly divided into three groups: concentric exercise group (CE; n = 19), eccentric exercise group (EE; n = 13) and control group (CG; n = 16). Both exercises were performed seven days a week, for eight weeks with a gradual strength increase. The CG was not given any exercise. Ultrasound assessment of quadriceps muscle thickness, performance in Six-Minute Walk Test and vertical jump was measured. Results: Thickness of dominant side of rectus femoris (p = .008) and vastus lateralis (p = .021) differed significantly among the three groups; post hoc analysis revealed the thickness of rectus femoris in CG was significantly lower than in the CE (p = .046) and EE (p = .006) and the thickness of vastus lateralis in the EE was significantly higher than in the CG (p = .018). Six-Minute Walk Test score in the EE was significantly higher than in the CG (p = .025) and the vertical jump score in the CG significantly lower than in the EE (p = .002) and CE (p < .001). Conclusions: Eccentric and concentric training both benefits muscle hypertrophy and lower extremity functional performance. However, eccentric training also appears to offer a small advantage over concentric training.
Nose to brain delivery of drugs for CNS diseases

The management of central nervous system diseases is extremely challenging due to the numerous obstacles that stand against the successful delivery of drugs to their target site in the brain. Defeating the blood-brain barrier is considered the most significant challenge in this delivery. Different alternative routes of administration have been investigated. Nasal delivery is one of the possible ways for direct brain targeting. The nasal mucosa is the only part of the body at which the external environment become in straight connection with the central nervous system which takes place through the olfactory portion of the nasal mucosa. Different mechanisms have been suggested to describe the pathway for straight nasal to brain transport of medications, however, the precise route is still vague. The most important proposed pathways include nerve pathways (olfactory and trigeminal nerve), vascular, lymphatic, and cerebrospinal fluid mediated pathways. Among these mechanisms, the olfactory intra-neuronal delivery is the dominant one. Various particulate systems have been investigated for nasal delivery with the intention of direct transport to the brain. The most frequently studied delivery systems are polymeric nanosystems, lipid based nanosystems, and nanometric emulsions. In conclusion, direct nasal-to-brain delivery is a very fertile research area and any achievements in this area are running side by side with the progressions that occur in the particulate systems.
Management of software development projects in Brazil using agile methods

The aim of the paper is to analyze how agile management practices are being adopted by specialists from software development technology companies in Brazil, identifying actions that contribute to the success of software implementation, aiming to ensure the survival of organizations in the market. The study counted with a literature review to support the field research with software development specialists who use the agile methodology and work in Brazil in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The results were analyzed through a descriptive statistics and content analysis. The research identified that the companies that adopt agile software management methodology in Brazil prefer the Scrum method and the development teams may be geographically distributed. The main positive points identified when adopting agile methods were the process speed, team involvement, maximization of results, involvement with the client, and simplicity.
The Effects of Primary Budget Deficits on Economic Growth: Evidence from Kenya

Aims: The paper attempts to examine the effects of primary budget deficits on economic growth. It reviews the nature and direction of causality between primary budget deficit and economic growth. In the recent years, these have been debated both in developed and developing countries. In contributing to this ongoing debate, the study analyzes the case for Kenya from 1980 to 2016. The evidence is intended to provide policy insights for macroeconomic stability and sustained economic growth for shared prosperity in Kenya. Study Design: The study employs quantitative time-series research design by utilizing Stata econometrics software. Place and Duration of Study: Sample: Evidence from Kenya, from 1980 to 2016. Methodology: The study employs unit root tests, Johansen cointegration analysis, a dynamic vector error correction model and a multivariate Toda-Yamamoto Granger-causality representation. Results: The findings establish that the primary budget deficit, gross fixed capital formation, real interest rate, terms of trade, inflation growth and financial innovation have significant effects on GDP per capita growth in Kenya. Primary budget deficit has a strong and significant effect on GDP per capita growth both in short-run and long run. In the short-run, the results revealed that the primary budget deficit had a positive effect on economic growth which turned negative in the long-run. There was a unidirectional causality running from primary budget deficit to economic growth. Original Research Article Mugo et al.; JEMT, 27(5): 36-52, 2021; Article no.JEMT. 71485 37 Conclusion: The study concludes that both in the short run and long run, primary budget deficit has strong and significant causal effects on economic growth in Kenya. The evidence underscores the need for the authorities to reduce high primary budget deficits, interest payments and domestic borrowings and strictly apply the golden rule of public finances to boost long term inclusive growth, in Kenya.
Intelligent System for Disease prediction using Deep Learning Techniques

: The origin of BigData technologies can enhances the value of various industrial sectors including HealthCare. The large data generated is needed to be managed, stored and analyzed for developing forecast and recommendation intelligent systems. Diabetes is one of the most common and dangerous life style disease . The diabetes diagnosis is a lengthy process and the diagnosis play a major role in controlling this condition by altering the life style by the victims. In this paper an intelligent system is proposed for prediction of Diabetes using supervised learning methodology with Deep learning techniques. The model shows promising results so that further Deep learning models can be used for future researches .
Indonesian Sentence Boundary Detection using Deep Learning Approaches

Detecting the sentence boundary is one of the crucial pre-processing steps in natural language processing. It can define the boundary of a sentence since the border between a sentence, and another sentence might be ambiguous. Because there are multiple separators and dynamic sentence patterns, using a full stop at the end of a sentence is sometimes inappropriate. This research uses a deep learning approach to split each sentence from an Indonesian news document. Hence, there is no need to define any handcrafted features or rules. In Part of Speech Tagging and Named Entity Recognition, we use sequence labeling to determine sentence boundaries. Two labels will be used, namely O as a non-boundary token and E as the last token marker in the sentence. To do this, we used the Bi-LSTM approach, which has been widely used in sequence labeling. We have proved that our approach works for Indonesian text using pre-trained embedding in Indonesian, as in previous studies. This study achieved an F1-Score value of 98.49 percent. When compared to previous studies, the achieved performance represents a significant increase in outcomes.
Research on the Hedge Ratio of China's Crude Oil Futures — Based on DCC-GARCH Model

Crude oil plays an important role in economic development. This paper chooses China’s crude oil futures and crude oil actuals as the research objects, and builds the DCC-GARCH model to study the hedge ratio under the risk minimization standard. The hedge ratios obtained from the DCC-GARCH model will be compared with those obtained from OLS, B-VAR and VECM models. The empirical results prove that: China’s crude oil futures and actuals have a significant reverse “leverage effect”; China’s crude oil futures have a variance reduction of more than 70% under all models; the DCC-GARCH model achieves the best hedging performance in the four models.
Nuclear PPAR-γ Activation Modulates Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Attenuating Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathic Pain in Vivo

Background: Paclitaxel-induced painful neuropathy is a major dose-limiting side effect and can persist for up to two years after completing treatment that greatly affects both the course of chemotherapy and quality of life in cancer patients. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ belongs to a family of nuclear receptors known for their transcriptional and regulatory roles in metabolism, inflammation, and oxidative stress. However, the role of PPAR-γ activation on paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain is not yet known. Objective: To investigate whether pioglitazone, a PPAR-γ agonist reduce paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain and to elucidate underlying mechanisms. Original Research Article Pasupulati et al.; JPRI, 33(38B): 167-179, 2021; Article no.JPRI. 72070 168 Methodology: Peripheral neuropathy was induced by administration of paclitaxel (2 mg/kg per injection) intraperitoneally on four alternate days (days 0, 2, 4, 6). Thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia were assessed and the markers of inflammation and nitroso-oxidative stress were estimated. Results: Pioglitazone did not induce hypoalgesia and had no effect on locomotor activity. Repeated oral administration of pioglitazone (10 and 20 mg/kg,) for 2 weeks started 14 days after paclitaxel injection markedly attenuated paw withdrawal responses to thermal (hyperalgesia) and mechanical (allodynia) stimuli. Further, pioglitazone administration significantly reduced elevated level of pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNF-α, in both the dorsal root ganglia and the spinal cord accompanied by marked decrease in oxidative stress parameters as well as increase in activity of antioxidant defense enzyme, superoxide dismutase, in the spinal cord after paclitaxel injection. Conclusion: The results of the present study demonstrate that pioglitazone, a PPAR-γ agonist exerted antinociceptive effect in paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain through inhibiting neuroimmune inflammation in both the periphery and spinal cord and by reducing nitroso-oxidative stress in spinal cord. Our findings strongly suggest pharmacological activation of PPAR- as a promising therapeutic target in paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy and provide rationale for the clinical evaluation.
A survey and comparison of TV white space implementations in Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, the united kingdom, and the united states

For improving the utilization of the television radio spectrum, different countries worldwide have been testing and implementing White Space Devices (WSDs) that make use of the Television White Space (TVWS). This paper compares the implementations, standards, and regulations of TVWS of different countries, particularly Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and the Philippines. Comparisons on various points were made, mainly on the spectrum identification technology used, the classifications of their respective WSDs, the frequency range, bandwidth, and transmit power of operation, and the safety standards implemented. Having defined regulations for the use of TVWS would assure investors of the stability and the future of the technology. Furthermore, the commercialization and trials of TVWS to bridge gaps are also reported to show different use cases of TVWS for current and future deployment.
Extraction of Lactic Acid from Whey of Yoghurt by Solvent Extraction Technique

The aim of this paper is to investigate the possibility to recover lactic acid (LA) from the whey of yoghurt by easy and effective solvent extraction technique using tri-n-octylamine, tri-n-butyl phosphate, and their mixtures as extractant. All parameters affecting the transfer of lactic acid to the organic phase were investigated including: time of stirring, tri-n-butyl phosphate and tri-noctylamine concentrations, organic to aqueous phase ratio, temperature, NaCl concentration as a salting out agent, and number of contacts. The maximum yield of LA extraction can be obtained by using the following operation conditions: 0.8M TOA+11% TBP, Vorg/Vaq = 4/1, t = 30 C, [NaCl] = 2M. Complete stripping of LA from loaded organic phase can be done in 2 stages using double distilled water at 60C and Vaq/Vorg = 20/1.