Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preliminary psychometric properties of a standard vocabulary test administered using a non-invasive brain-computer interface

Objective To examine measurement agreement between a vocabulary test that is administered in the standardized manner and a version that is administered with a brain-computer interface (BCI). Method The sample was comprised of 21 participants, ages 9–27, mean age 16.7 (5.4) years, 61.9% male, including 10 with congenital spastic cerebral palsy (CP), and 11 comparison peers. Participants completed both standard and BCI-facilitated alternate versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - 4 (PPVT™-4). The BCI-facilitated PPVT-4 uses items identical to the unmodified PPVT-4, but each quadrant forced-choice item is presented on a computer screen for use with the BCI. Results Measurement agreement between instruments was excellent, including an intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.98, and Bland-Altman plots and tests indicating adequate limits of agreement and no systematic test version bias. The mean standard score difference between test versions was 2.0 points (SD 6.3). Conclusion These results demonstrate that BCI-facilitated quadrant forced-choice vocabulary testing has the potential to measure aspects of language without requiring any overt physical or communicative response. Thus, it may be possible to identify the language capabilities and needs of many individuals who have not had access to standardized clinical and research instruments.
Current trends in artificial intelligence in reproductive endocrinology

Purpose of review Artificial Intelligence, a tool that integrates computer science and machine learning to mimic human decision-making processes, is transforming the world and changing the way we live. Recently, the healthcare industry has gradually adopted artificial intelligence in many applications and obtained some degree of success. In this review, we summarize the current applications of artificial intelligence in Reproductive Endocrinology, in both laboratory and clinical settings. Recent findings Artificial Intelligence has been used to select the embryos with high implantation potential, proper ploidy status, to predict later embryo development, and to increase pregnancy and live birth rates. Some studies also suggested that artificial intelligence can help improve infertility diagnosis and patient management. Recently, it has been demonstrated that artificial intelligence also plays a role in effective laboratory quality control and performance. Summary In this review, we discuss various applications of artificial intelligence in different areas of reproductive medicine. We summarize the current findings with their potentials and limitations, and also discuss the future direction for research and clinical applications.
Effects of activin A on the pluripotency of induced pluripotent stem cells derived from porcine Sertoli cells

The Activin/Nodal signaling pathway is necessary for promoting the self-renewal and pluripotency in several species. However, these effects in porcine stem cells have yet to be examined. We hypothesized that Activin/Nodal signaling could be an important factor for maintenance of porcine induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The effects of activin A on pluripotency of porcine iPSCs derived from Sertoli cells were examined. Two iPS cell lines were cultured with different culture conditions (control, activin A, TGF- β 1 inhibitor and activin A combined with TGF- β 1 inhibitor). The Sertoli iPSCs treated with different conditions were compared for morphology, alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity, OCT4 protein expression and quantitative expression of genes (endogenous pluripotency genes and cell differentiated genes). This study revealed that the activin A treated iPSCs increased intensity of OCT4 protein expression. Furthermore, expressions of the pluripotent genes including OCT4 and NANOG were significantly upregulated in the activin A treated group (P < 0.05). In contrast, the selective TGF- β 1 inhibitor adversely affected to iPSCs morphology and patterns of the AP and OCT4 protein expression. The TGF- β 1 inhibitor also resulted in significant upregulation and downregulation for DES (mesoderm differentiation) and GATA6 (endoderm differentiation), respectively (P < 0.05) when compared with other groups. In conclusion, activin A significantly upregulated the endogenous expression of OCT4 and NANOG pluripotent genes, thereby improving networks of the pluripotency in porcine iPSCs.
PHONOSTYLISTIC MEANS OF CAR BRAND IMAGE CREATION

The current paper presents an overview of phonostylistic devices (alliteration, assonance, rhyme, onomatopoeia) most commonly used in slogans and taglines of the modern car industry. The advertising slogan, being limited by space and time, is viewed as an important part of any marketing campaign. In a similar manner to previous studies, this paper confirms that a slogan is an effective type of storytelling for brands. However, it differs from the tagline, which is supposed to be long lasting. In an endeavour to convey some characteristics or information about the product and make it memorable for the consumer, brand designers resort to various linguistic devices that make the advertising language effective. The analysis of commercial advertising slogans and taglines demonstrated that such phonological devices as assonance and rhyme are infrequent, while alliteration is the most productive sound technique. As for onomatopoeia, it appeared to be the rarest device in the analysed bulk of slogans and taglines. The obtained results show the capacity of these sound techniques to enhance brand image. Numerous examples provided in the paper are tailored to support this statement. Moreover, the paper addresses the issue of sound symbolism, since the interest in its manifestation in marketing is on the rise. Thus, from a phonosemantic vantage point, the most productive phonemes are sibilants, plosives and sonorants. Their recurrent character contributes to the creation of a brand image. The overall results may have significant implications for marketing teams that seek to create ear-catching and memorable slogans and taglines as well as shed light on the consumer’s psychology.
The Moment Generating Function of the Truncated Multi‐Normal Distribution

SUMMARY In this paper the moment generating function (m.g.f.) of the truncated n-dimensional normal distribution is obtained. From the m.g. f. , formulae for E(Xi) and E(Xi Xj) are derived, and are used to investigate certain special cases. Some applications of these results to statistical genetics are also discussed.
Evaluation of the Erosive Effect of Pediatric Liquid Medicinal Syrups on Primary and Permanent Enamel

Purpose: To evaluate the erosive effect of pediatric liquid medicinal syrups on primary and permanent enamel. Materials and methods : Eighty primary and permanent teeth were equally divided into eight subgroups (n=10), according to the immersion solutions: Depakine, Ventolin, Sansovit, and Artificial saliva. The immersion cycles of the drugs were conducted under a 1-min agitation three times daily for 28 days. Enamel microhardness measurements were taken place at 0,7,14,21, and 28 days. The pH, titratable acidity, buffering capacity, and viscosity of the solutions were evaluated. A Scanning electron microscopy and statistical analysis of enamel microhardness measurements were assessed. Results: All the tested groups of the drugs had proven to produce significant demineralization of enamel after 28 days of exposure. At baseline, the permanent enamel showed higher mean enamel microhardness values than primary teeth. Generally with all the tested drugs, the primary teeth showed more decrease in enamel microhardness than permanent but without significance. The primary group (0-28days) , the highest decrease of enamel microhardness was recorded in Sansovit group, then Ventolin, followed by Depakine group without significant change between the tested drugs, while in the permanent group, the highest decrease of enamel microhardness was recorded in Sansovit, then Depakine, followed by Ventolin group without significant change between the tested drugs. Kruskall Wallis test revealed a significant difference between tested drugs and control groups in both substrates. Conclusion: This study revealed that medicines used in the study could erode teeth even though the pH was above critical pH if it had high sugar content and viscosity. Sugar-free formulations have the ability to produce an erosive effect if they have low pH, high titratable acidity, high buffering capacity, and viscosity. This study showed that permanent teeth had higher mean enamel microhardness values than primary teeth, however no significant difference in the erosive potential of both types of teeth.
Experimental Investigation on Quasi-Steady and Unsteady Self-Excited Aerodynamic Forces on Cable and Rivulet

AbstractThe aerodynamic forces on the cable and rivulet are usually determined by the quasi-steady method, which cannot take signature turbulence into account. Furthermore, the oscillation of the cable and rivulet might have significant effects on the aerodynamic forces. In this study, a series of wind tunnel tests were carried out to measure the wind pressures on a cable-rivulet test model, which can keep static and moving statuses utilizing a forced vibration system developed at Hunan University. Wind pressures measured on the test model surface were then used to integrate the drag and lift forces of the cable and rivulet. The results show that vertical vibration of the test model has little effect on the pressure distribution on the cable and rivulet and the mean wind pressures are not very sensitive to the vibration of test model. On the other hand, the oscillation of the rivulet on the cable surface seems to significantly amplify the fluctuating pressures. A sudden decrease of the lift coefficient wa.
Robust Data-Driven Detection of Electricity Theft Adversarial Evasion Attacks in Smart Grids

Existing machine learning-based detectors of electricity theft cyberattacks are trained to detect only simple traditional types of cyberattacks while neglecting complex ones like evasion attacks. This paper analyzes the robustness of electricity theft detectors against evasion attacks. Such attacks decrease the reported electricity reading values and fool the electricity theft detectors by injecting adversarial samples. We propose strong evasion attacks that fool the benchmark detectors by iteratively generating adversarial samples based on an electricity reading and its neighboring readings. We study the impact of evasion attacks using white, gray, and black-box settings based on the attacker’s knowledge about the detector’s parameters or datasets. Our investigations revealed that the performance degradation of benchmark detectors is up to 35.8%, 26.9%, and 22.2% in white, gray, and black-box settings, respectively. To enhance the detection robustness, we propose an ensemble learning-based anomaly detector trained only on benign data to detect unseen attacks (traditional and evasion) by sequentially combining an attentive autoencoder, convolutional-recurrent, and feed forward neural networks. The proposed model offers a stable detection performance where the average degradation is only <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.7 - 3\%$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.9 - 2.1\%$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.4 - 1.7\%$ </tex-math></inline-formula> in white, gray, and black-box settings, respectively, with maximum adversarial sample injection levels.
Antitumor Effects of Ral-GTPases Downregulation in Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common tumor in the central nervous system in adults. This neoplasia shows a high capacity of growth and spreading to the surrounding brain tissue, hindering its complete surgical resection. Therefore, the finding of new antitumor therapies for GBM treatment is a priority. We have previously described that cyclin D1-CDK4 promotes GBM dissemination through the activation of the small GTPases RalA and RalB. In this paper, we show that RalB GTPase is upregulated in primary GBM cells. We found that the downregulation of Ral GTPases, mainly RalB, prevents the proliferation of primary GBM cells and triggers a senescence-like response. Moreover, downregulation of RalA and RalB reduces the viability of GBM cells growing as tumorspheres, suggesting a possible role of these GTPases in the survival of GBM stem cells. By using mouse subcutaneous xenografts, we have corroborated the role of RalB in GBM growth in vivo. Finally, we have observed that the knockdown of RalB also inhibits cell growth in temozolomide-resistant GBM cells. Overall, our work shows that GBM cells are especially sensitive to Ral-GTPase availability. Therefore, we propose that the inactivation of Ral-GTPases may be a reliable therapeutic approach to prevent GBM progression and recurrence.
Possibility of mechanical transmission of parapoxvirus by houseflies (Musca domestica) on cattle and sheep farms

Parapoxvirus (PPV) causes papular stomatitis and contagious pustular dermatitis in ruminants worldwide. The virus is generally transmitted through close contact with skin lesions containing PPV in infected animals and indirectly through PPV-contaminated materials. PPV-infected animals frequently do not show clinical signs and the route of PPV transmission is sometimes unclear. In this study, the possibility of mechanical transmission of PPV by houseflies (Musca domestica) was investigated using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) gene surveillance. Samples were collected from cattle, sheep, barn environments, direct wash solution of the body surface of houseflies, and indirect wash solution of the body surface and feces of the flies. Bovine papular stomatitis virus, pseudocowpox virus, and orf virus were detected in the oral cavity and body surface of cattle and sheep without clinical signs of PPV infection or barn environments; PPV was considered to have been retained on the farm. PPVs were also detected in the direct wash solution of the body surface of houseflies, and the indirect wash solution of the body surface and feces of the flies. The viral sequence determined from the indirect wash solution of the body surface and feces of the flies was identical to that determined from the body surface of cattle and barns. These results suggested that houseflies may mechanically transmit PPV to both cattle and sheep.
Topical Alignment in Online Social Systems

Understanding the dynamics of social interactions is crucial to comprehend human behavior. The emergence of online social media has enabled access to data regarding people relationships at a large scale. Twitter, specifically, is an information oriented network, with users sharing and consuming information. In this work, we study whether users tend to be in contact with people interested in similar topics, i.e., if they are topically aligned. To do so, we propose an approach based on the use of hashtags to extract information topics from Twitter messages and model users' interests. Our results show that, on average, users are connected with other users similar to them. Furthermore, we show that topical alignment provides interesting information that can eventually allow inferring users' connectivity. Our work, besides providing a way to assess the topical similarity of users, quantifies topical alignment among individuals, contributing to a better understanding of how complex social systems are structured.
Review—A Nanomaterial-Based Sensor for Detecting the COVID-19 Virus through Various Techniques

The features of NMTs such as graphene, molybdenum disulfide, CNTs and quantum dots for unique sensing applicability are mentioned in this review study. Some notable sensors that have been produced are described based on the particular analyte compound to be determined and the functionalization processes that are used. For COVID-19 determination, biocompatible sensors manufactured from these materials capable of determining specific chemical components are also highlighted, which could support efficient and reliable sensing and rapid diagnosis.
Citizen assessments of clientelistic practices in South Africa

Abstract Research on political clientelism has provided conflicting findings on citizen perceptions and evaluations of clientelism. Survey as well as ethnographic research sometimes finds that citizens reject clientelism and politicians making clientelistic offers and at other times that citizens find clientelism acceptable and perceive clientelistic politicians as caring. We build on current literature on the characteristics of diverse types of clientelism and argue that the differences in evaluations result partly from differences in the type of clientelism that is studied. To investigate this idea, we conduct focus groups in low-income urban and rural areas in South Africa about how clients and citizens understand and evaluate different forms of clientelism in South Africa. We identify five distinctive exchange types across groups. Citizens evaluate vote-buying exchanges pragmatically but all other types negatively: relational forms of clientelism are seen as stirring welfare competition and coercive forms as unlawful. Patrons are mostly seen as selfish but views on clients vary across types. Citizens describe clients in vote-buying and coercive clientelism as victims and in relational types as egoistic. These findings suggest that citizens in communities where clientelism is prevalent have highly differentiated views on different types of clientelism and the actors involved in it.
Emotional impact of compassionate extubation on respiratory therapists and nurses: A pilot study

Background Compassionate extubation (CE) refers to withdrawing mechanical ventilation and allowing a patient to die peacefully at the end of life. The primary objective of this pilot study was to quantify the emotional impact of CE on Respiratory Therapists (RT) and Registered Nurses (RNs). Methods This pilot survey was conducted between March and April 2021 at an academic medical center among RTs and RNs. It included questions on participants’ demographics, work characteristics, and Impact of Events (IES) scale to assess the subjective stress caused by CE. Data were analyzed using descriptive and χ2 statistics. Results Among 20 participants, 18 (90%) were females, 12 (60%) were in the 20–40-year age group, 12 (60%) were RTs, and 8 (40%) RNs. Around 15 (75%) participants worked day shifts with a weekly average of 3–4 shifts, and 14 (70%) performed/observed CE within 1 month before taking this survey. CE performed/observed in a month was ≤2 among 15 (75%) and 3–5 among 4 (20%) participants. Mean total IES score was 16.7 (12.3) among all participants representing 7 (35%) having low, 6 (30%) moderate, and 7 (35%) high emotional impact when performing CE. Risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was present in 6 (30%) participants. A significantly higher number of participants in the low impact group were satisfied with the institutional CE process (p = 0.043) than those in the medium/high impact group. Conclusion This pilot study findings reveal that RTs and RNs experience moderate to high levels of subjective stress when performing CE. One-third of the survey participants were at risk of developing PTSD.
Severidade de doenças fúngicas foliares e desfolha da soja sob densidades de semeadura

Práticas culturais como o ajuste da densidade de semeadura da soja tem contribuído significativamente na prevenção e manejo de doenças foliares, por meio de alterações provocadas no crescimento de plantas, fechamento de entrelinhas e na taxa de penetração de agrotóxicos no dossel da cultura. Objetivou-se quantificar a severidade de doenças fúngicas foliares e o nível de desfolha ao longo do ciclo produtivo de cultivares de soja submetidas a densidades de semeadura. Para tal, foram utilizadas duas cultivares, dispostas em cinco densidades de semeadura. Durante o período reprodutivo da cultura, foram realizadas avaliações visuais, por meio da utilização de escalas diagramáticas propostas para quantificar a severidade de doenças foliares na cultura e grau de desfolha de plantas. De modo geral, o aumento da densidade de plantas proporcionou maior severidade de doenças de final de ciclo, intensificando a desfolha de plantas em ambas as cultivares de soja.
Variance‐Gamma Model

The variance-gamma (VG) process is a stochastic process with independent stationary increments, which allows for flexible parameterization of skewness and kurtosis and is analytically tractable. It can be represented either as a Levy process with VG increments or as a subordinated Brownian motion. We briefly discuss the VG model, parameter estimation issues, applications to option pricing, and extensions allowing for dependence in increments. Keywords: variance-gamma model; normal variance-mixing; heavy tails; skew distribution; subordinator model; option pricing; strictly stationary process
Matrix Models of 2D String Theory in Non--trivial Backgrounds

After a brief review of critical string theory in trivial backgrounds we begin with introduction to strings in non--trivial backgrounds and noncritical string theory. In particular, we relate the latter to critical string theory in a linear dilaton background. We then show how a black hole background arises from 2D string theory and discuss some of its properties. A time--dependant tachyon background is constructed by perturbing the CFT describing string theory in a linear dilaton background. It is then explained that the T--dual of this theory with one non--vanishing tachyon coupling, which is a sine-Liouville CFT, is seemingly equivalent to the exact CFT describing the Euclidean black hole background. Subsequently, we launch into a review of some important facts concerning random matrix models and matrix quantum mechanics (MQM), culminating in an MQM model of 2D string theory in a dynamic tachyon background. We then solve this theory explicitly in the tree level approximation for the case of two non--vanishing tachyon couplings, which generalises the case of sine-Liouville CFT previously considered in the literature.
Internal stellar kinematics of three dwarf ellipticals in the Local Group

Rotation curves for the stellar bodies of three low surface-brightness dwarf ellipticals in the Local Group are presented (NGC 147, NGC 185, NGC 205). NGC 147 rotates with 6.5 ± 2 km/s and has a mean velocity dispersion of 23 ± 5 km/s between 20 arcsec and 100 arcsec ; this galaxy is the faintest one for which a well sampled stellar rotation curve has been measured so far. NGC 185 and NGC 205 show no significant rotation (< 3 km/s)
Phytochemical profile and pro-healthy properties of berries

ABSTRACT In millennia, berries have captured great attention owing to their broad spectrum of functional as well as therapeutic activities, which is due to presence of their bioactive compounds. All edible forms of berries show important nutritional properties leading to their therapeutic potential and are considered as safe functional foods. Recently, various researches for further exploration of berries concerning nutritional and bioactive profiles as well as potential health benefits are on the way. This review highlights the latest research on bioactive compounds of all edible forms of berries and their related nutritional activities in humans and animals against different diseases. The current article revealed that berries have an array of bioactive moieties including phenolics, anthocyanins and ellagitannins with strong antioxidant potential contributing to their anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and cardio-protective roles. The demand and consumption trend is increasing day by day, due to their therapeutic effects as mentioned above. C-1: English and clarity of this paper must be checked by an expert, otherwise I will asked for professional editing