Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
"Evaluation of Tooth Size Discrepancies among Different Malocclusion Groups In Sirte" -Libya

Background: Orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning requires the patient's history, extra and intra oral examination, analysis of diagnostic records comprising of orthodontic photographs, radiographs and study casts. Tooth-size is the sum of the mesio distal widths of the maxillary and mandibular teeth. For ideal occlusion, teeth in both arches should be proportional in size. Tooth size analysis was presented by Bolton in 1958. The ratio for anterior segment was derived to be 77.2±0.22% and 91.3±0.26% for the whole arch. Material And Methods: Cross sectional data was gathered from the study casts of patients undergoing orthodontic treatment. 115 out of 160 study casts were filtered based upon the inclusion and exclusion criteria. ANB angle and Witt's appraisal were traced on corresponding lateral cephalograms. The mesio distal widths of all maxillary and mandibular teeth from right first molar to left first molar were calibrated with the use of a manual caliper. The readings were then used to compute the anterior and total Bolton ratios. Results: Significantly higher mean anterior tooth ratios were found for Class II (p<0.01) patients. All other ratios were within close range of Bolton's norms. Conclusions: Skeletal Class II patients showed a tendency towards higher mesiodistal widths of teeth in the mandibular anterior region. Keywords: Bolton's norms, Interarch tooth size discrepancy, Skeletal Class I, II and III.
Sensation of Realness From High-Resolution Images of Real Objects

We performed subjective assessments to quantify the sensation of realness for images at various angular resolutions and that of their real-object counterparts using a paired-comparison procedure. Both the images and real objects were viewed through a synopter, which removed horizontal disparity and presented the same images to both eyes. The size, perspective, luminance, and chromaticity of the images were reproduced to be identical to those of the real objects. Eighty-two observers with normal vision were asked to choose the viewed image that appeared most similar to the real object for each pair of images. The results indicated that the realness of images increased steadily as the image resolution increased up to around 60 cycles per degree, whereafter it gradually approached that of the real objects.
Draft Genome Sequence of Brucella abortus S99: Designated Antigenic Smooth Reference Strain Used in Diagnostic Tests in India

ABSTRACT Brucella abortus strain S99 is widely used for the preparation of colored, plain, recombinant and smooth lipopolysaccharide antigens for the preparation of Brucella diagnostic kits. The genome of this strain was sequenced and the length of the genome was 3,253,175 bp, with 57.2% G+C content. A total of 3,365 protein coding genes and 53 RNA genes were predicted.
Targeted Intracellular Delivery of Antituberculosis Drugs to Mycobacterium tuberculosis-Infected Macrophages via Functionalized Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles

ABSTRACT Delivery of antituberculosis drugs by nanoparticles offers potential advantages over free drug, including the potential to target specifically the tissues and cells that are infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, thereby simultaneously increasing therapeutic efficacy and decreasing systemic toxicity, and the capacity for prolonged release of drug, thereby allowing less-frequent dosing. We have employed mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSNP) drug delivery systems either equipped with a polyethyleneimine (PEI) coating to release rifampin or equipped with cyclodextrin-based pH-operated valves that open only at acidic pH to release isoniazid (INH) into M. tuberculosis-infected macrophages. The MSNP are internalized efficiently by human macrophages, traffic to acidified endosomes, and release high concentrations of antituberculosis drugs intracellularly. PEI-coated MSNP show much greater loading of rifampin than uncoated MSNP and much greater efficacy against M. tuberculosis-infected macrophages. MSNP were devoid of cytotoxicity at the particle doses employed for drug delivery. Similarly, we have demonstrated that the isoniazid delivered by MSNP equipped with pH-operated nanovalves kill M. tuberculosis within macrophages significantly more effectively than an equivalent amount of free drug. These data demonstrate that MSNP provide a versatile platform that can be functionalized to optimize the loading and intracellular release of specific drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis.
Fragrance compounds and essential oils with sedative effects upon inhalation.

Fragrance compounds and essential oils with sedative effects influence the motility of mice in inhalation studies under standardized conditions. A significant drop in the motility of mice was registered following exposure to these fragrances. The same results were achieved when the mice were artificially induced into overagitation by intraperitoneal application of caffeine and subsequently subjected to inhalation of fragrance compounds and essential oils. These results proved the sedative effects of these fragrants via inhalative exposure in low concentrations. Blood samples were taken from the mice after a 1-h inhalation period. Chromatographic and spectroscopic methods were used to detect and characterize the actual effective compounds after solid-phase extraction. Serum concentrations of 42 different substances, including fragrance compounds, were found in low ranges (ng/mL serum). The results contribute to the correct interpretation of the term aromatherapy (i.e., a stimulating or sedative effect on the behaviour of individuals only upon inhalation of fragrance compounds).
Multi-Operator Collaboration for Green Cellular Networks under Roaming Price Consideration

This paper investigates the collaboration between multiple mobile operators to optimize the energy efficiency of cellular networks. Our framework studies the case of LTE-Advanced networks deployed in the same area and owning renewable energy generators. The objective is to reduce the CO2 emissions of cellular networks via collaborative techniques and using base station sleeping strategy while respecting the network quality of service. Low complexity and practical algorithm is employed to achieve green goals during low traffic periods. Cooperation decision criteria are also established basing on derived roaming prices and profit gains of competitive mobile operators. Our numerical results show a significant save in terms of CO2 compared to the non-collaboration case and that cooperative mobile operator exploiting renewables are more awarded than traditional operators.
A Formal Approach to Software Architectures

Abstract : As software systems become more complex, the overall system structure-or software architecture-becomes a central design problem. A system's architecture provides a model of the system that suppresses implementation detail, allowing the architect to concentrate on the analyses and decisions that are most crucial to structuring the system to satisfy its requirements. Unfortunately, current representations of software architecture are informal and ad hoc. While architectural concepts are often embodied in infrastructure to support specific architectural styles and in the initial conceptualization of a system configuration, the lack of an explicit, independently-characterized architecture or architectural style significantly limits the benefits of software architectural design in current practice. In this dissertation, I show that an Architecture Description Language based on a formal, abstract model of system behavior can provide a practical means of describing and analyzing software architectures and architectural styles. This dissertation demonstrates this claim through WRIGHT, an architectural description language based on the formal description of the abstract behavior of architectural components and connectors. WRIGHT provides a practical formal basis for the description of both architectural configurations and of architectural styles. It is distinguished by the use of explicit, independent connector types as interaction patterns, the ability to describe the abstract behavior of components using a CSP-like notation, the characterization of styles using predicates over system instances, and a collection of static checks to determine the consistency and completeness of an architectural specification. We introduce techniques to support the analysis of large-scale systems, and demonstrate WRIGHT's expressiveness and practicality through three case studies.
Design of direct adaptive controller for a half-car suspension system

A direct adaptive neural network (DANN) controller is designed for a four degree of freedom (4-DOF) nonlinear half-car suspension system. A radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is used as part of the feedback linearisation (FBL) control law to make the controller adaptive by adjusting the network weights online. Performance of the DANN controller is benchmarked against that of a passive vehicle suspension system (PVSS) and of a fixed-gain PID controller. The active vehicle suspension system (AVSS) is subjected to a deterministic road disturbance during controller design. The novelty in this work is the design and application of a DANN controller to improve the ride comfort and road holding performance of the AVSS.
Planning And Executing Tactile Exploratory Procedures

A bsfract-This paper describes a procedure for exploring and sorting different objects by active touch. The architecture is centered around a PUMA 562 manipulator equipped with a 6-axis F/T force sensing wrist and with a finger incorporating different tactile sensors. The system operates under the control of a distributed architecture, in which sensory information is processed in parallel whereas some exploratory parameters are set in real t i m e . A haptic strategy consisting of a sequence of tactile exploratory procedures (EP) has been devised and successfully implemented to sort individual objects out Qf a set of 12 objects having identical size and shape, but made out of different materials and featured by different surface proper t i e s .
Classifying customers using navigational history for developing personalized Web services

An approach to classifying Web customers for developing personalized Web services is presented. The main objective of the proposed approach is to effectively distinguish a potential customer for the purpose of planning customized e-marketing. The proposed approach can be divided into four steps: determine a customer's general interest model, ascertain a customer's local browsing model, classify Web customers, and design a personalized marketing and promotion plan for e-commerce based on the customer classification. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework, an illustrative experiment is carried out. The proposed approach could be integrated with personalized Web services for improving their effectiveness.
Genotyping of Chlamydia trachomatis by Microsphere Suspension Array

ABSTRACT The identification of Chlamydia trachomatis genotypes is important for both the study of molecular epidemiology and infection control. We have developed a microsphere suspension array assay that can identify C. trachomatis genotypes rapidly and accurately and also discriminate among multiple genotypes in one clinical specimen.
Factors Affecting Bromus Tectorum Seed Bank Carryover in Western Utah

Abstract Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) is a winter annual weed that presents a serious obstacle to rangeland restoration in the Intermountain West. The objective of this study was to evaluate factors regulating the size and persistence of cheatgrass carryover seed banks on semiarid sites in western Utah. We prevented current-year seed production in each of four habitats, then tallied emerging seedlings over the next 4 yr. Two iterations of the study were conducted during consecutive years. One year before initiation of each iteration, we estimated seed rain at each site. Above-average precipitation in 1998–1999 resulted in relatively high seed rain (13942 seeds·m−2) for the first iteration, whereas seed rain for the second iteration averaged only 3567·m−2 because of drought conditions in 1999–2000. Mean total number of seedlings emerging from carryover seeds for the first and second iterations were 1304 and 270 seedlings·m−2. Seedling emergence from carryover seed was positively correlated with production-year seed rain (R2 = 0.69). The fraction of seed rain that carried over tended to be lower when precipitation the year following production favored fall emergence of the transient seed bank. First-year emergence of carryover seeds averaged 96% of total emergence, whereas third-year emergence averaged < 1% and was zero for six of eight cases. Carryover seeds persisted somewhat longer at the xeric black greasewood site than at more upland sites. Our study shows that cheatgrass seeds rarely persist beyond the second carryover year even on semiarid sites. Emergence from the carryover seed bank can be predicted from site attributes and precipitation patterns in previous years.
Prediction of siRNA Potency Using Sparse Logistic Regression

RNA interference (RNAi) can modulate gene expression at post-transcriptional as well as transcriptional levels. Short interfering RNA (siRNA) serves as a trigger for the RNAi gene inhibition mechanism, and therefore is a crucial intermediate step in RNAi. There have been extensive studies to identify the sequence characteristics of potent siRNAs. One such study built a linear model using LASSO (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator) to measure the contribution of each siRNA sequence feature. This model is simple and interpretable, but it requires a large number of nonzero weights. We have introduced a novel technique, sparse logistic regression, to build a linear model using single-position specific nucleotide compositions which has the same prediction accuracy of the linear model based on LASSO. The weights in our new model share the same general trend as those in the previous model, but have only 25 nonzero weights out of a total 84 weights, a 54% reduction compared to the previous model. Contrary to the linear model based on LASSO, our model suggests that only a few positions are influential on the efficacy of the siRNA, which are the 5' and 3' ends and the seed region of siRNA sequences. We also employed sparse logistic regression to build a linear model using dual-position specific nucleotide compositions, a task LASSO is not able to accomplish well due to its high dimensional nature. Our results demonstrate the superiority of sparse logistic regression as a technique for both feature selection and regression over LASSO in the context of siRNA design.
Impact of intense training and rapid weight changes on salivary parameters in elite female Taekwondo athletes

The aim of this study is to examine the cumulative effects of prolonged intensive training with or without rapid weight changes (RWC) on salivary parameters of elite female Taekwondo (TKD) athletes. Ten elite female Taiwanese TKD athletes (ages: 21.3 ± 1.2 years of age, Ht 164.4 ± 5.6 cm) volunteered to participate in this study. Resting saliva samples were collected at 28‐, 14‐, 7‐, and 1 day before and 1‐, 7‐, 21 days after a national competition. The levels of salivary immunoglobulin A (sIgA), cortisol, and lactoferrin were measured. In analyzing the anthropometric data, we found that a significant proportion (50%) of elite female TKD athletes had RWC shortly before and after a national competition. The participants were allocated either to the RWC or to the non‐RWC group according to their weight change profiles. Our results showed that levels of sIgA and cortisol of athletes with RWC were significantly modulated during the study period. However, athletes without RWC only showed reduced lactoferrin after competition. The results presented here demonstrate that intensive training in combination with RWC affects the mucosal immunity and disrupts the cortisol stress response of elite female TKD athletes.
An organelle proteomic method to study neurotransmission‐related proteins, applied to a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia

Limited information is currently available on molecular events that underlie schizophrenia‐like behaviors in animal models. Accordingly, we developed an organelle proteomic approach enabling the study of neurotransmission‐related proteins in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of postpubertal (postnatal day 60 (PD60)) neonatally ventral hippocampal (nVH) lesioned rats, an extensively used neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia‐like behaviors. The PFC was chosen because of its purported role in the etiology of the disease. Statistical analysis of 392 reproducible spots on 2‐D organelle proteomic patterns revealed significant changes in intensity of 18 proteinous spots in plasma membrane‐enriched fractions obtained from postpubertal nVH lesioned rats compared to controls. Mass spectrometric analysis and database searching allowed the identification of a single protein in each of the nine differential spots, including proteins of low abundance, such as neurocalcin δ. Most of the identified dysregulated proteins, including clathrin light chain B, syntaxin binding protein 1b and visinin‐like protein 1 are known to be linked to various neurotransmitter systems and to play key roles in plasma membrane receptor expression and recycling as well as synaptic vesicle exocytosis/recycling. Organelle proteomic approaches have hence proved to be most useful to identify key proteins linked to a given behavior in animal models of brain diseases.
On the Random Crossing of an Infostation Coverage

Infostations system provides low-cost, delay insensitive high data rate services intermittently with its discontinuous coverage. Key factors that affects to maximize the amount of information downloaded from the infostation include channel characteristics, velocity of the user, distance between user and the infostation as well as the underlying technologies used in the infostation. In general, throughput increases as the distance between infostation and the user decreases. This phenomenon can be characterized with throughput-distance relationship model. This paper provides a mathematical framework for calculating the received average throughput and total file size while randomly crossing the coverage area of an infostation. Two throughput-distance relationship models are presented to analyze the information transfer during random crossing of the coverage area of an infostation. Utilizing the results of this analysis, the performance of infostation using IEEE802.11b and g WLAN technologies is also compared.
Apical microleakage of AH Plus and MTA Fillapex® sealers in association with immediate and delayed post space preparation: a bacterial leakage study.

AIM The aim of the present study was to compare the apical microleakage of root canals obturated with AH Plus and MTA Fillapex® sealers. METHODS A total of 76 anterior teeth were randomly divided into 4 groups (N.=15) and in each group 2 positive and 2 negative control teeth. All the teeth were cleaned, shaped and obturated using lateral compaction technique with gutta-percha and AH Plus® sealer in groups 1 and 2 and MTA Fillapex® sealer in groups 3 and 4. In groups 1 and 3 post spaces were prepared immediately and groups 2 and 4 were stored for 1 week at 100% relative humidity and then post spaces were prepared. The teeth were connected to a bacterial microleakage evaluation system. Each 72 hours, E. faecalis bacteria were inoculated into the coronal thirds of the root canals. The study period was 90 days and the samples were evaluated on a daily basis, Meier-Kaplan technique was used for estimation of the mean time of microleakage to occur. Log-rank test was used for comparison of microleakage. RESULTS Contamination occurred in positive control groups on the first day of bacterial inoculation; however, the negative control groups did not exhibit any contamination up to the end of 90-day study period. the difference was not statistically significant between two materials (P>0.05). CONCLUSION There were no significant differences between AH Plus® and MTA Fillapex® sealers with the two immediate and delayed postspace preparation techniques.
Comparison on unbalanced-load handling capability of two power electronic transformer topologies

Power electronic transformer (PET) has many merits as compared with traditional power transformer. In this paper, the unbalanced-load handling capability of two H-bridge based modular PET topologies, the separate-phase-connection (SPC) one and the cross-phase-connection (CPC) one, are analyzed. The two topologies consist of input stage, isolation stage and output stage. The related operating ranges for the two topologies are obtained if the system is confirmed. It finds that the former can deal with full-range unbalanced load if device current stress of the input-stage is increased to 115% while the latter is suitable for dealing with partial unbalanced-load conditions. From practical point of view, the former is more suitable for practical applications. Simulation results verify the analysis.
Promoter polymorphism of IL‐18 gene in pulmonary tuberculosis in South Indian population

Interleukin‐18 (IL‐18) plays a vital role in both innate and acquired immunity. We analysed polymorphisms at –607(C/A) and –137(G/A) in the promoter region of IL‐18 gene by allele‐specific polymerase chain reaction in normal healthy subjects (n = 173) and patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (n = 165). Allele, genotype and haplotype frequencies did not differ significantly between normal healthy subjects and patients. The results suggest that the IL‐18 gene promoter polymorphisms are not associated with susceptibility or resistance to pulmonary tuberculosis in south Indian population of Dravidian descent.
In vitro experimental environments lacking or containing soil disparately affect competition experiments of Aspergillus flavus and co-occurring fungi in maize grains

ABSTRACT In vitro experimental environments are used to study interactions between microorganisms, and to predict dynamics in natural ecosystems. This study highlights that experimental in vitro environments should be selected to match closely the natural environment of interest during in vitro studies to strengthen extrapolations about aflatoxin production by Aspergillus and competing organisms. Fungal competition and aflatoxin accumulation were studied in soil, cotton wool or tube (water-only) environments, for Aspergillus flavus competition with Penicillium purpurogenum, Fusarium oxysporum or Sarocladium zeae within maize grains. Inoculated grains were incubated in each environment at two temperature regimes (25 and 30°C). Competition experiments showed interaction between the main effects of aflatoxin accumulation and the environment at 25°C, but not so at 30°C. However, competition experiments showed fungal populations were always interacting with their environments. Fungal survival differed after the 72-h incubation in different experimental environments. Whereas all fungi incubated within the soil environment survived, in the cotton wool environment none of the competitors of A. flavus survived at 30°C. With aflatoxin accumulation, F. oxysporum was the only fungus able to interdict aflatoxin production at both temperatures. This occurred only in the soil environment and fumonisins accumulated instead. Smallholder farmers in developing countries face serious mycotoxin contamination of their grains, and soil is a natural reservoir for the associated fungal propagules, and a drying and storage surface for grains on these farms. Studying fungal dynamics in the soil environment and other environments in vitro can provide insights into aflatoxin accumulation post-harvest. Graphical Abstract