Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFECT OF LONG TERM SUPPLEMENTATION WITH DIETARY LIPIDS ON GROWTH , FATTY ACID COMPOSITION AND HISTOPATHOLOGY IN RABBITS LIVER

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of long-term supplementation with dietary lipids on growth, fatty acid composition and histopathology of male and female rabbit’s liver. Soybean oil (SBO), fish oil (FO), sesame oil (SO), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) / arachidonic acid (ARA) were used as source of dietary lipids (treatments) in this study. The experimental diets were prepared by adding the oil blend to the basal diet (70 g/kg diet). The experiment was conducted on forty-five weanling (25 male (5 in each treatment) and 20 female (4 in each treatment)) New Zealand white rabbits. Dietary lipids had a distinct effect on growth rate particularly in males. Male rabbits fed the fish oil diet showed the highest total omega-3 (ω-3) fatty acids, lowest ω-6/ω-3 and ARA/EPA ratios. Rabbits fed the DHA diet had highest total saturated fatty acids and lowest values of total ω-6 in both genders. DHA/ARA diet supported highest 20:4 (ARA), 22:6 (DHA) in both genders and least total saturated fatty acids in males. Effect of treatment of dietary lipid was not significant among different gender and ω-6/ω-3 ratios of the rabbits treated with FO, DHA and DHA/ARA were within the recommended range of 4. ALP activity was significantly lowest in fish oil group. Liver treated with DHA and DHA/ARA showed very mild inflammation, and those with sesame oil showed patchy moderate micro vesicular steatosis. The rabbit livers treated with soya bean oil and fish oil showed no significant abnormality. However, granuloma, hepatocellular necrosis or fibrosis was absent in all groups. In summary, evidence of pathological damage in the rabbit livers was very limited to mild patchy micro vesicular steatosis, mild patchy chronic inflammation and few scattered eosinophil. This study shows that long-term supplementation of dietary lipids especially fish oil has beneficial effect on the fatty acid profile, ALP activity and histopathology of liver of rabbits.
PLASMA DIELECTRIC FOR A DUSTY PLASMA WITH MASS DISTRIBUTION AND CHARGE FLUCTUATIONS

The dynamical charging of grains in a dusty plasma leads to wave damping. A distribution of grain sizes is generally expected in actual dusty plasmas, and the contribution of thermalised dust to the plasma dielectric may in special cases be equivalent to that for a kappa (generalised Lorentzian) distribution of mono-sized particles. The plasma electrostatic dispersion relation combining these effects is derived. An enhanced shielding is found.
Using particle swarm optimization scheme to settlement prediction

To predict the settlement of foundations is an important issue in geotechnical engineering and one of the main concerns in design. The mechanism of particle swarm optimization (PSO) is inspired from the complex social behavior shown by the nature species. The advantage of PSO over many other optimization algorithms is its simplicity in implementation and its ability to converge to a reasonably good solution quickly. In this paper, PSO is used in an attempt to obtain accurate settlement prediction. The predicted settlements obtained by PSO are compared with those predicted by the least squares fitting method, Asaoka method and GA. The results show that PSO is a useful technique for predicting the settlement of foundations.
Tests with Wood-Decay Fungi to Control Sprouting from Cut Stumps Infected by Dutch Elm Disease

The Dutch elm disease pathogen Ophiostoma novo-ulmi in year 2005 invaded the Swedish island of Gotland, which possesses large and valuable population of elms. The control of the disease is accomplished when infected elms are harvested and destroyed, and stumps are treated with the glyphosate herbicide to kill the stumps and the root systems, and prevent further spread of the disease to the neighbouring trees via root contacts. The aim of the present study was to test an alternative method to control the stump sprouting by deploying two species of saprotrophic wood-decay fungi as biological control agents. The study was carried out during three consecutive years 2014, 2015 and 2016. Fungal inoculum of Chondrostereum purpureum and Stereum hirsutum was prepared by cultivating vegetative mycelia in liquid nutrient medium and then formulating into a gel. Each year, the inoculum was applied at the beginning of the growing season on the surface of fresh stumps. In total, 250 stumps were treated with saprotrophic wood-decay fungi and 250 stumps were left as non-treated control. Assessment of stump mortality was carried out ones after each growing season. Results showed that the mortality of stumps (without living sprouts) was low in each treatment and year (between 4.1% and 25.6%) and did not differ significantly from those in the control. In conclusion, the method tested had very limited or no effect on the mortality of elm stumps, and thus, appears to be unsuitable to control the spread of Dutch elm disease via root contacts and sprouts.
Temperature referenced supply voltage and forward-body-bias control (TSFC) architecture for minimum power consumption [ubiquitous computing processors]

A temperature referenced supply voltage and forward-body-bias (FBB) control architecture for ubiquitous computing processors is proposed. The architecture can minimize power consumption at all temperatures by using our discovered FBB self-feedback effect. The effect is that low temperature forces the FBB-controlled LSI to increase its performance. The TSFC reduced power consumption by 28% without any performance degradation compared with the conventional FBB technique. We also found and analyzed the dual parasitic bipolar modes in the FBB system by evaluating a test chip fabricated in 0.13-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. Moreover, the influence of supply and substrate wire resistances in the FBB system was found to be not significant. The TSFC architecture is effective for achieving ubiquitous computing LSIs.
Differential Expression of miR-130a in Postmortem Prefrontal Cortex of Subjects with Alcohol Use Disorders.

BACKGROUND Emerging evidence suggests that neuroadaptations to alcohol may result from chronic alcohol consumption-induced expression changes of microRNAs (miRNAs) and their target genes. Studies with animal or cell culture models have demonstrated that ethanol exposure leads to miRNA expression alterations. However, there is limited information on miRNA expression in the brains of subjects with alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The present study aimed to analyze expression changes of miRNAs and their target genes in postmortem prefrontal cortex (PFC) of AUD subjects. METHODS Genome-wide miRNA and mRNA expression was examined in postmortem PFC of 23 European Australia AUD cases and 23 matched controls using the Illumina HumanHT-12 v4 Expression BeadChip array, which targets 43,270 coding transcripts and 3,961 non-coding transcripts (including 574 miRNA transcripts). Multiple linear regression analysis and permutation test were performed to identify differentially expressed miRNAs and their target mRNAs. Target gene prediction, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GESA), and DAVID functional annotation clustering analysis were applied to identify AUD-associated gene sets and biological modules. RESULTS Two miRNAs and 787 coding genes were differentially expressed in the PFC of AUD cases [miR-130a (downregulated): Ppermutation=0.023, miR-604 (upregulated): Ppermutation=0.019, coding genes: 1.6×10-5≤Ppermutation≤0.05; but all P values did not survive multiple-testing correction]. GESA showed that the 202 predicted target genes of miR-130a were highly enriched in differentially expressed genes (Pnominal<0.001), but not the 116 predicted target genes of miR-604 (Pnominal=0.404). DAVID functional clustering further revealed that the hub target genes (e.g., ITPR2 and ATP1A2) of miRNA130a were mainly responsible for regulating ion channel function. CONCLUSION This study provides evidence that downregulation of miR-130a may lead to altered expression of a number of genes in the PFC of AUD subjects. Further studies are warranted to confirm these findings in replication samples and other reward-related brain regions.
An Exploration of Barriers to Health Care Access among Uninsured Patients : Using the Moderating Effect of Patients ’ Enablement

On March 23, 2010, Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) to increase value of care, improve clinical outcomes, decrease health care costs, and increase affordability in health care access. The purpose of the study attempts to examine the moderating effects of patient enablement impacting barriers, low socioeconomic status, and unmet basic needs, toward health care access in uninsured populations post ACA. Only certain aspects of patient enablement in self-management of an individual’s health care goals have been conducted with uninsured populations with barriers toward health care access. The research design was a quantitative, exploratory, cross-sectional study. The study participants were from a convenient sample of patients at the Presbyterian Medical Care Mission. Data was collected through a survey completed by 122 participants from March 20 through March 28, 2018. The Patient Enablement Instrument was used to gather survey data. The primary outcome measure was the effect of patient enablement, moderating variable, on the correlation between low socio-economics status and unmet basic nets, independent variables, on health care access, dependent variable. The primary outcome of the study was gathered by using a binomial logistic regression analysis to determine the association between the dependent, independent, and moderating variables. The results show that patient’s enablement buffers only the relationship between unemployed and primary care access (b = -1.596, Wald = 4.438, p = .035, OR = .203). None of the other predictors included in this model were statistically significant. The sample characteristics receiving primary care services at Presbyterian Medical Care Mission were predominantly white (50.0%), single (39.2%), female (62.0%), average age of 49 years old (11.210%), and a high school graduate (40.0%). This study concludes that a likely explanation of the findings reflects the population being studied. Future research is needed to further the study of patient enablement impact on health care access. It was determined that further studies, preferably longitudinal studies, are required to better determine the association of the variables to assist with future implications in practice to assist with assessment of accessto-care barriers and high out-of-pocket costs for already low-income, underserved populations. An Exploration of Barriers to Health Care Access among Uninsured Patients: Using the Moderating Effect of Patients’ Enablement A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School Abilene Christian University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Social Work Enedelia L. Jessup May 2018 This thesis, directed and approved by the candidate's committee. has been accepted by the Graduate Council of Abilene Christian University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in Social W Assistant Provost of Graduate Programs Date
Profiling Approach Based on Language-dependent Content and Stylometric Features Notebook for PAN at CLEF 2015

We describe the approach that we submitted to the 2015 PAN competition [5] for the author profiling task. The task consists in predicting some attributes of an author analyzing a set of his/her Twitter tweets. We consider several sets of stylometric and content features, and different decision algorithms: we use a different combination of features and decision algorithm for each language-attribute pair, hence treating it as an individual problem.
Copy Move Forgery Detection on Digital Images – Primer Research

V o l 2 I s s u e 3 | w w w . I s g j e s a r . c o m Page 1 ABSTRACT In today’s advanced age the reliable towards picture is twisting a direct result of malicious forgery images. The issues identified with the security have prompted the examination center towards tampering detection. As the source image also, the objective locales are from a similar picture so that copy move forgery is very effective in image manipulation due to its same properties such as temperature, color, noise and illumination conditions. In this article, we added preliminary research methods (existing algorithms). We used hybrid approaches of existing algorithms. The performance is evaluated in terms of normally used parameters precision and recall with improved results. Thus the proposed CMFD can manage all the image processing operations. We added single image forensics analysis method also. Finally made a comparative analysis based on some clustering algorithms and its applications, drawbacks, digital forensics tool analysis.
EnergyModel Machine ( EMM ) Instant Building Energy Prediction usingMachine Learning

In the process of building design, energy performance is often simulated using physical principles of thermodynamics and energy behaviour using elaborate simulation tools. However, energy simulation is computationally expensive and time consuming process. These drawbacks limit opportunities for design space exploration and prevent interactive design which results in environmentally inefficient buildings. In this paper we propose Energy Model Machine (EMM) as a general and flexible approximation model for instant energy performance prediction using machine learning (ML) algorithms to facilitate design space exploration in building design process. EMM can easily be added to design tools and provide instant feedback for real-time design iterations. To demonstrate its applicability, EMM is used to estimate energy performance of a medium size office building during the design space exploration in widely used parametrically design tool as a case study. The results of this study support the feasibility of using machine learning approaches to estimate energy performance for design exploration and optimization workflows to achieve high performance buildings.
Research on Geometry Modeling for Biomedical Simulation

To meet the various demands for organ geometry modeling in biomedical simulation system, a general scheme is presented to create triangular/tetrahedral mesh from medical volume data. Three kinds of models with different resolution, quality and elements can be created by our scheme. The scheme consists of three parts - isosurface generation for high quality and accuracy, simplified mesh modeling for real-time simulation and Delaunay tetrahedral modeling for special interactive operations such as cutting, suturing and so on. Several improved approaches are proposed to overcome the difficulties in each part. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Morphological characteristics and soil attributes of five species of Galium ( Rubiaceae ) from North Africa

* Corresponding Author: monierabdelghani@yahoo.com ABSTRACT The morphological variations between selected five Galium species from Libya, and the role of soil factors that affect their distribution in their natural habitats were investigated. Thirty-seven macromorphological characters (11quantitative, 26 qualitative) representing vegetative parts were subjected to numericaltaxonomic analysis. Five branches and clusters were distinguished; each was linked to a specific species. Representatives of these groups were clustered together according to characters with high factor loading in the Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The results showed congruence between the UPGMA clustering and PCA in suggesting five species groups. Seventeen soil factors were used in this assessment of soil factors responsible for the distribution of the 5 species of Galium. Calcium and chloride ions content exhibited the most significant difference (p=0.05) among the five species groups, while the other examined soil variables showed no significant differences. The relationship between the examined soil variables and the studied populations of Galium species was assessed by Principal Components Analysis (PCA). Each of the studied species of Galium was affected by one or more of the examined soil parameters.
Finite Element Analysis of the Critical Ratio of Coating Thickness to Indentation Depth of Soft Coating on a Harder Substrate by Nanoindentation

A BSTRACT : This study presents the critical ratio of coating thickness to indentation depth (CRTD) of a soft coating on a harder substrate by nanoindentation. The indentation processes were simulated with the finite element (FE) software programme. In the FE model, the influence of the yield strength ratio (Yc/Ys) and the indenter tip radius (r) have been investigated. In addition, the critical ratio of coating thickness to depth at which the substrate effect is less than 5% has been presented. It was found that increasing Yc/Ys and tip radius increases the CRTD. Furthermore, the CRTD is strongly dependent on the allowable degree of substrate effect. For example, when the substrate effect is increased from 5% to 10%, the CRTD is considerably reduced. Based on the FE calculations, an empirical equation has been derived in terms of the effect of substrate to determine the critical indentation depth when yield strength ratio is between 0.1 and 0.8 and the indenter tip radius is between 0 and 2 mm.
Alignment of Leagile Strategies With Off-site Manufacturing: Application of ANP in Australian Housing Supply

The supply response of Australian housing has not been commensurate with the growing demand. Four main factors affecting the Australian housing supply are house completion time, cost of finished house, customer preferences and level of skilled labor. Off-site manufacturing (OSM) could become a key innovation for the future of Australian house building as it provides capacity in meeting the growing housing demand, green construction and lesser requirements for labor force. OSM is a modern construction method in which house building components are produced in offsite factories and then transported to the construction site to be assembled. The supply responsiveness of OSM can be enhanced by employing lean and agile concepts. In this study, four leagile strategies are introduced to facilitate decision making based on different combinations of housing supply factors. This paper presents a matching of the four strategies with the four studied factors in the Australian house building using Analytical Network Process (ANP). The data employed for the ANP model derived from the actual specifications of 258 houses built in five Australian States by five major house builders in Australia. The results from the ANP model show the suitability in applying each strategy under different degrees influenced by the factors tested.
EFFECT OF PROCESSING ON ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF BER (Zizyphus mauritiana)

Indian Ber contain good source of ascorbic acid and total phenolics. Despite being rich in antioxidants it is an underutilized fruit. Effect of processing on antioxidant activity of ber fruit was studied. Antioxidant activity of ber fruit was evaluated by different methods viz. DPPH radical activity, reducing power assay, superoxide anion radical activity, TBARS, total phenolic content and total flavonoid conent. The results indicated that fresh ber fruits has 78.57±0.16% inhibition DPPH scavenging radical activity, 3.51±0.05 absorbance reducing power activity, 74.0±2% super oxide anion radical activity, 232.84±3.06% TBARS activity, 94.7±0.27 (μg of PE) total phenolic content and 7.48±0.01 μg of RE total flavonoid content. Blanching of ber fruits enhanced the total flavonoid content and super oxide anion radical activity but, at the same time, it reduce the scavenging radical activity, reducing power activity and total phenolic content compared to fresh fruit. Hence, optimization of blanching time and temperature for ber fruits is necessary. Secondary processing of ber fruits slightly slowed down the scavenging radical activity, reducing power activity, total flavonoid content and total phenolic content but raised the super oxide anion radical activity in RTS Ber beverage. TBARS activity of fruit increased 29% on blanching and 52% in RTS ber beverage. Therefore, value addition of ber fruits can boost the economy and health benefits by reducing the post harvest loss, establishment of agro process industry and promoting the importance of functional products from ber fruit.
A Propensity Score-adjusted Analysis of the Effects of Ubiquitin E3 Ligase Copy Number Variation in Peripheral Blood Leukocytes on Colorectal Cancer Risk

Background: The ubiquitin ligases E3 (E3s) plays a key role in the specific protein degradation in many carcinogenic biological processes. Colorectal cancer (CRC) development may be affected by the copy number variation (CNV) of E3s. Prior studies may have underestimated the impact of potential confounding factors' effects on the association between gene CNV and CRC risk, and CRC risk predictive model integrating gene CNV patterns is lacking. Our research sought to assess the genes CNVs of MDM2, SKP2, FBXW7, β-TRCP, and NEDD4-1 and CRC risk by using propensity score (PS) adjustment and developing models that integrate CNV patterns for CRC risk predictions. Methods: This study comprising 1036 participants used traditional regression and different PS techniques to adjust the confounding factors to evaluate the relationships between five gene CNVs and CRC risk, and to establish a CRC risk predictive model. The AUC was applied to evaluate the effect of the model. The categorical net reclassification improvement (NRI) and the integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were analyzed to evaluate the discriminatory accuracy improvement among the models. Results: Compared to variable adjustment, the odds ratios (ORs) tended to be conservative and accurate with narrow confidence intervals (CIs) after PS adjustment. After PS adjustment, MDM2 amplification was related to increased CRC risk (Amp-pattern: OR = 8.684, 95% CI: 1.213-62.155, P = 0.031), whereas SKP2 deletion and the (del+amp) genotype were associated with reduced CRC risk (Del-pattern: OR = 0.323, 95% CI: 0.106-0.979, P = 0.046; Var-pattern: OR = 0.339, 95% CI: 0.135-0.854, P = 0.024). The predictive model integrating the gene CNV pattern could correctly reclassify 1.7% of the subjects. Conclusions: MDM2 amplification and SKP2 CNVs are associated with increased and decreased CRC risk, respectively; abnormal CNV-integrated model is more precise for predicting CRC risk. Further studies are needed to verify these encouraging outcomes.
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA : DO INSTITUTIONS AND HUMAN CAPITAL MATTER ?

This paper assesses the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on economic growth in 31 sub-Saharan African countries. Different from previous studies, the paper attempts to uncover the channels through which FDI impacts on growth. The empirical results are motivated by an endogenous growth model in which FDI is considered as one of the major determinants of growth. Due to the endogeniety between FDI and growth, the paper uses a dynamic panel model in its analysis, hence uses the GMM estimator to obtain consistent and efficient estimates of the impact of FDI on economic growth. There is consistent finding that FDI has no direct impact on economic growth of the selected sample of SSA countries, but it has indirect impact on growth via human capital development and financial development. When the sample is subdivided into “resource-rich” and “resource-poor” countries, the findings showed that FDI positively impacts on growth through human capital and infrastructural developments, among the resource-rich SSA countries, while in the resource-poor its impact is via good governance and bureaucratic quality. JEL Classification: E02, F43, O43, G11 International Journal of Social Science and Economic Research