Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biofunctional molecules from Citrullus colocynthis: An HPLC/MS analysis in correlation to antimicrobial and anticancer activities

Background: Citrullus colocynthis belongs to Family Cucurbitaceae . It grows widely in Egypt and Sudan and it has been used in folk medicine of Sudan and many other African countries as anti inflammatory, anti diabetic, and antioxidant agent. Objectives: To evaluate the antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anticancer activities of ethanolic crude extracts of the fruits, leaves, seeds and roots of this plant, as well as identifying them HPLC/MS. Materials and Methods: Dried fruits, seeds, leaves and roots of C. colocynthis were powdered and passed through a 40- mesh, then, the powders were extracted with 95% ethanol in a soxhlet apparatus. The residues were dried under reduced pressure in rotary evaporator. Crude extract from different plant parts were evaluated biologically and phytochemically. Results: All extracts showed good antifungal activities with inhibition zone ranges between 15.1 ± 0.32 to 25.6 ± 0.16 mm. In terms of plant organ, fruits were the most active. In term of fungal strain Aspergillus fumigatus and Geotricum candidum were the most sensitive. Against tested Gram +ve, all extracts showed good activities except roots, while antibacterial activity against Gram –ve showed that the fruits extract have good activity as it was the sole extract with activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Test for antiviral activities showed moderate to weak inhibitions of cytopathic effect (CPE). Anticancer activities of different crude extracts showed that fruits had significant antitumor activities against all tested cell lines, the IC 50 values were 24.6, 16, 18.5 and 19.7 µg /ml for HCT-116, MCF-7, Hep-G2 and Caco-2 respectively. Seeds extract was only active on HCT-116 and Hep G2 with IC50 =21.2 µg/ml for HCT-116 and 22.4 µg/ml for Hep G2. Leaves extract was only active against Hep G2 cancer cell line with IC 50 19.7 µg/ml. Roots extract show weak antitumor activity on tested cell lines (IC 50 values > 30µg/ml). HPLC/MS qualitative and quantitative analysis of different organs extracts revealed the presence of 21 compounds identified as fourteen cucurbitacins, three flavonoids, three tannins, and one sterol. The presence of cucurbitacins can explain most of the biological activities. Conclusion: The biological activities of colocynth different parts are due to the presence of secondary metabolites mainly cucurbitacins in addition to flavonoids and tannins. These activities prove the use of this plant in folk medicine and deserve much more future exploration targeting their discovery in unexplored sources and their derivatives for improving their anticancer and antimicrobial abilities. K ey w o r ds : C itrullus colocynthis , crude extracts, antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer, HPLC/MS
Economic Growth, Lifestyle Changes, and the Coexistence of Under and Overweight in China: A Semiparametric Approach

This paper investigates the relationship between the emerging coexistence of under and overweight and changes in socioeconomic conditions associated with economic growth in China during 1991-2000. Our key questions are: (1) whether any socioeconomic factor explains both increasing overweight and remaining underweight, (2) whether China's continuing economic growth leads to further increase in the prevalence of overweight, and (3) whether China's economic growth alone can lead to commensurate decrease in its remaining underweight. We find that changes in the pattern of job-related activity could partly explain both remaining underweight and increasing overweight, while overall income growth contributes to reducing both under and overweight. The effects of economic growth examined in this paper, particularly decreasing food prices, explain a large share of increasing overweight, and thus continuing economic growth is likely to lead to further increase in the revalence of overweight. Our empirical results also ndicate that there exist unobserved factors that significantly counteract the downward effects of economic growth on underweight rates, and thus economic growth alone is unlikely to lead to commensurate decrease in remaining underweight. To reduce remaining underweight more effectively, more direct interventions (e.g., micronutrient supplementation) may be needed.
Effect of dietary fructans and chromium(III) supplementation on apparent fat digestibility and blood lipid indices in rat.

Background. Fructans and chromium(III) are believed to influence lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in animal and human organisms, that can be applied in regulation or improvement of lipid indices, however the importance of their effect is still unclear. This study aimed at evaluation of the effect of inulin-type fructans and chromium(III) supplementation on fat digestibility and blood lipid indices in rats. Material and methods. In a three-factorial design 56 male Wistar rats were fed ad libitum semipurified diets (AIN-93) supplemented with two types and levels of fructans (inulin or oligofructose, 5% or 10% of diet) and two levels of chromium(III) (0.5 or 5 mg/kg of diet; as Cr(III) propionate complex) for 10 weeks. Apparent fat digestibility and blood lipid profile were determined. Results. It was found that experimental factors did not influence apparent fat digestibility, serum total cholesterol, HDL and HDL cholesterol concentrations, however serum TAG level was significantly lower in animals fed oligofructose vs. inulin diets, high-fructan vs. low-fructan diet. Conclusions. Inulin type fructans and supplementary Cr(III) do not affect apparent fat digestibility, fructans however influence lipid metabolism, lowering serum TAG levels in rat.
Amelioration of acidity in fresh waters : Individual to ecosystem level responses

Biodegradable shape memory polymers are attractive materials for the design of biomedical scaffolds as they allow deploying implants remotely with minimal intervention, whilst allowing degradation and tissue repair. However, shape memory properties are difficult to design from common degradable polymers, without chemical modifications. Here were developed readily tunable processable shape memory polymer composites (SMPCs) based on established degradable polymers in the biomedical field (poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) fibres). These SMPCs rely on the glass-rubber transition of the PLA network to trigger shape recovery, whilst the elastic PTMC matrix optimises the full recovery of the scaffold to permanent shape. We demonstrate the performance of SMPCs can be readily designed by adjusting the loading and processing of the fibre network, or through the addition of plasticising poly(ethylene glycol) chains. Importantly, we demonstrate that the use of cut fibres allows the solution processing of SMPCs, which should enable the design of potentially degradable shape memory 3D scaffolds with complex shapes.
HEURISTICS OPTIMISATION OF NUMERICAL FUNCTIONS

The article presents an investigation of heuristic behaviour of search algorithms applied to numerical problems. The aim is to compare the abilities of Particle Swarm Optimisation, Differential Evolution and Free Search to adapt to variety of search spaces without the need for constant re-tuning of algorithms parameters. The article focuses on several advanced characteristics of Free Search and attempts to clarify specifics of its behaviour. The achieved experimental results are presented and discussed.
Genetic Monitoring Reveals Genetic Stability within and among Threatened Chinook Salmon Populations in the Salmon River, Idaho

Abstract Identifying and understanding temporal genetic changes within fish populations is important for the management of these populations, especially those of conservation concern. Such changes are often the result of genetic drift, which can be exacerbated when the size of a population decreases. Using molecular-genetics techniques, we monitored nine populations of Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in the Salmon River, Idaho, to determine how the genetic characteristics within and among these populations have changed over time. We found no evidence of change in the level of heterozygosity or allelic richness over three to four generations in eight of the populations. This is probably due to the fact that the populations all maintained a sufficiently large effective size, even though a few of the populations did show a decline in effective size. Also, the genetic structure among the populations did not change appreciably over time. Populations that had been supplemented with hatchery-reared fish .
An investigation of statistical learning curves: do we always need big data?

The rapid revolutionary rapid Big Data technology has attracted increasing attention and widely been used in many industries. It is not only benefiting our life dramatically, but also posing new challenges to us at the same time. In many situations, dealing with these big and complex data can extremely difficult. However, do we really always need big data? This thesis attempted to investigate whether do we need a large dataset to build a model with acceptable accuracy, how the number of observations affect the performance of statistical predictive methods and use learning curves to describe this relationship. Some popular statistical learning methods were considered and applied on 3 large datasets. An efficient parallel coding strategy in R was also provided.
Alcohol And/or drug use: evAluAting spirituAl And religious Aspects

The aim of this study was to evaluate spiritual and religious aspects in drug and/or alcohol users. It is a descriptive, exploratory study using a quantitative approach. A total of 138 men participated, all with links to rehabilitation institutions or support groups, responding to a socio-demographic questionnaire, the AUDIT-C, and to the Brazilian version of the Spirituality Self Rating Scale. In the sample, 47.1% were alcohol users, 52.9% drug users. The results demonstrated differences between the groups concerning religious aspects: the alcohol users were Catholics (63.1%) or did not practice any religion (50.8%) and the drug users were evangelical (43.1%) or practicing a religion (72.2%). With regards aspects of spiritual practice, no differences were found between the groups. Both were shown to distinguish between the concepts of religiosity and spirituality. The findings broadened understanding of how the nurse can implement care which takes into consideration subjective aspects of the psycho-active substance user in their day-to-day practices.
Sustainable Transport Rating Tool via Traffic Impact Studies

In the Gulf Countries, rating systems that evaluates sustainable practices in construction and development has proven to have a positive impact in promoting the sustainability agenda to the point that it has become a marketing tool for developers, corporate, and sometimes regions and countries. Realizing that sustainability as a framework needs to be localized in order to achieve maximum effectiveness and attempting to reap such benefits of promoting sustainable transport practices among private sector developers, a sustainable transport rating tool for the Gulf countries was developed and is presented in this paper. This rating tool is novel since must be used in conjunction with the review process of the mandatory impact traffic studies (TIS) which is submitted for every new development. The tool is developed based on the content requirements of the TIS as set by Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority. After defining the objectives, four categorizes under the rating tool were identified, fourteen associated measurable performance indicators were selected by local experts so that the rating tool is practical and fitting to the applicable standards and regulations. Credits were assigned based on resulting weights using Saaty AHP pairwise comparison. At the end, certification levels were defined. Promoting sustainable transport practices, through using this tool and based on the certification level attained, transport agencies can waive some of the impact cost (cost sharing) that the developer is required to pay. 
Acceptance of Change Behaviour among Middle Managers: The Importance of Subjective Norms and Social Influence as Environmental Predictors

The study seeks to examine the influence of environmental-related factors among middle managers in Malaysian government organization. Specifically, this study seeks to determine the influence of subjective norms and social influence in public organizations on acceptance of change. Present study employed cross-sectional survey involving a sample of 400 Administrative and Diplomatic Officers (ADO) in Malaysian Public Service organizations. The findings highlighted that middle managers’ subjective norms in this study were significant in influencing acceptance of change but are not affected by their social pressure when changes are implemented. Practically, this investigation proffers essential effort in understanding the acceptance of change of middle managers in public service organizations. This study suggests ADO as change agents should be well informed and consulted to create social pressure among them to act in supportive ways of implementing planned change Theoretically, the results of this study append to the literature and to a certain extent provide better explanation of Theory of Reasoned Action and Social Cognitive Theory in the context of acceptance of change. The population of this study involved ADO as middle managers in Malaysian Public Service organizations thus the results cannot be generalized to other level of employees in public sector as well as private service organizations. A comparative study involving both public and private service organizations would be worth studying in future.
The Next Generation Fornax Survey (NGFS). II. The Central Dwarf Galaxy Population

We present a photometric study of the dwarf galaxy population in the core region (≲rvir/4) of the Fornax galaxy cluster based on deep u′g′i′ photometry from the Next Generation Fornax Cluster Survey. All imaging data were obtained with the Dark Energy Camera mounted on the 4 m Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory. We identify 258 dwarf galaxy candidates with luminosities −17 ≲ Mg′ ≲ −8 mag, corresponding to typical stellar masses of , reaching ∼3 mag deeper in point-source luminosity and ∼4 mag deeper in surface brightness sensitivity compared to the classic Fornax Cluster Catalog. Morphological analysis shows that the dwarf galaxy surface-brightness profiles are well represented by single-component Sérsic models with average Sérsic indices of and average effective radii of . Color–magnitude relations indicate a flattening of the galaxy red sequence at faint galaxy luminosities, similar to the one recently discovered in the Virgo cluster. A comparison with population synthesis models and the galaxy mass–metallicity relation reveals that the average faint dwarf galaxy is likely older than ∼5 Gyr. We study galaxy scaling relations between stellar mass, effective radius, and stellar mass surface density over a stellar mass range covering six orders of magnitude. We find that over the sampled stellar mass range several distinct mechanisms of galaxy mass assembly can be identified: (1) dwarf galaxies assemble mass inside the half-mass radius up to , (2) isometric mass assembly occurs in the range , and (3) massive galaxies assemble stellar mass predominantly in their halos at and above.
A Study of Law-Based Chinese Petition System From the Perspective of Evolutionary Game Model

Petition system (named Xinfang in Chinese) is a typical Chinese system for citizens to express opinions and seek non-lawsuit remedies. It was originally positioned with the emphasis on expression of public opinions, but the general public expect more on its rights relief function. Over the recent 30 years, China’s economy entered into a period of high-speed development, and the redressal of social interest structure aggregated the conflicts of functional position of petition, which has surged the volume of petition letters and visits. The frequent occurrence of social contradictions resulting from blockage of petitions has seriously impaired social stability. Hence, it is pressing to readjust the functional position of petition and guide the system onto the legal track. In this paper, theoretical analysis is made over the strategy selection and dynamic game of both players of petition during the interaction process by building an evolutionary game model, to conclude an ideal state of stable equilibrium. With the theory base, suggestions are proposed on guiding petition onto the legal track.
Screening in treatment programs for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders that could affect therapeutic progress

Grant, T. , Novick Brown, N. , Graham, J., Whitney, N. , Dubovsky, D. , & Nelson, L. (2013). Screening in treatment programs for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders that could affect therapeutic progress. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 2 (3), 37-49. doi:10.7895/ijadr.v2i3. 116 ( http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v2i3.116 ) Aims: While structured intake interviews are the standard of care in substance abuse treatment programs, these interviews often do not screen for cognitive impairments, such as those found in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and other brain-based developmental disorders. The research reported here supports a brief interview protocol, the Life History Screen (LHS), that screens clients unobtrusively for adverse life-course outcomes typically found in FASD, so as to guide follow-up assessments and treatment planning. Design: Two-group observational study. Setting: A three-year case management intervention program in Washington State for high-risk women who abuse alcohol and/or drugs during pregnancy. Participants: Group 1: No prenatal alcohol exposure ( N = 463); Group 2: Diagnosed with FASD (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder, fetal alcohol effects, or static encephalopathy) by a qualified physician ( N = 25), or suspected of having FASD (reported prenatal alcohol exposure and displayed behaviors consistent with a clinical diagnosis of FASD) ( N = 61). Measures: The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) was administered to participants at intake. We analyzed eleven ASI items that corresponded to questions on the LHS in order to assess the potential of the LHS for identifying adults with possible FASD. The Life History Screen itself was not administered. Findings: Analysis of group differences between the diagnosed FASD and suspected FASD groups supported our decision to collapse the two groups for the main analysis. The Life History Screen shows promise as an efficient pre-treatment screen, in that core items are significantly associated with FASD group membership on factors involving childhood history, maternal drinking, education, substance use, employment, and psychiatric symptomatology. Conclusions: The Life History Screen may have utility as a self-report measure that can be used at the outset of treatment to identify clients with cognitive impairments and learning disabilities due to prenatal alcohol exposure.
Investigating Seasonal Patterns in Developing Countries: The Case of FYROM Stock Market

This paper uses a data set from FYROM Stock Exchange to investigate the presence of calendar effects in this recently organised equity market during the period 2002–2008. Five well known calendar effects are examined by both mean (OLS) and variance (GARCH) regressions; the day of the week effect, the January effect, the half month effect, the turn of the month effect and the time of the month effect. Results indicate that two of the tested calendar effects are present in the MSE (day of the week and January effects) and conclusions using linear and various GARCH methodologies, always converged to the same results. This survey’s evidence are in line with the majority of similar research which report that calendar effects are still present especially in developing equity markets. However, considering the low level of liquidity and maturity of this market, we would expect more effects to appear significant.
Trophic ecology of the ichthyofauna of a stretch of the Urucu River (Coari, Amazonas, Brazil)

INTRODUCTION: The floodplains of the large Amazonian rivers are very productive as a result of seasonal fluctuations of water levels. This favors the fishes as they are provided with a wide range of habitats and food resources; AIM: In this study, we identified the trophic structure of fish assemblages in the upper river Urucu area (State of Amazonas - Brazil), observing seasonal changes determined by the hydrological cycle; Methods: Samples were collected with the aid of gillnets, during the flood season (April/2008) and the dry season (August/2008) in areas upstream and downstream of ports of the Urucu river within the municipality of Coari, Amazonas, Brazil; RESULTS: 902 individuals of seven orders, 23 families and 82 species were collected. Fishes were more abundant in the dry season than in the flood season, and the piscivores and carnivores (Serrasalumus rhombeus and Osteoglossum bicirrhosum) were the most significant trophic categories in the dry season whereas piscivores and insectivores (Serrasalumus rhombeus, Bryconops alburnoides and Dianema urostriatum) were more abundant in the flood season. The trophic diversity, dominance and evenness were very similar in all sampling periods and show lower values than taxonomic index patterns, except for the trophic dominance in the dry season. Taxonomic diversity and dominance were higher in the flood season if compared to the dry season, but figures were quite uniform and there were no great discrepancies between seasons. CONCLUSION: We found through our studies that the dry and flood seasons work as regulatory factors of abundance of fishes of certain trophic categories in the Urucu river, what can be possibly explained by the availability of resources and the food spectrum of each category.
"Imaginary Geography" in Caesar's Bellum Gallicum

Caesar"s "imaginary geography" of Germania as an infinite extension without any patterns but simply endless forests contrasts with his presentation of Gallia as an overviewed space. Within these geographies different concepts of space prevail, all of which serve to explain why his celeritas ceases in Germania. Having crossed the Rhine and thereby entered terra incognita like Alexander and Pompey, he refrains from campaigning because of the geographical conditions. By alluding to Scythia"s similar space and Darius" failure, he shows himself to act prudently. It is also a characteristic of the imperator optimus to know when a venture is too risky.