Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Politeness Strategies used in Lwisukha in Local Public Administrative Meetings

The use of politeness strategies among Abiisukha is propelled by the cultural need to maintain close ties and relationship. When the relationship is not maintained, there will definitely be a communication breakdown (Billow & Krauss 1988). This occurs when one interactant feels offended and the partner does not mend the offense using a polite strategy. Generally, rules of interaction are like grammatical rules as they allow social members to perform their acts according to various mutual expectations and to understand each other by making a sense of features like apologizing, requesting or complimenting. Being sensitive to these acts in the course of interaction satisfies the feelings of the offended partner (Chomsky, 1990). In this paper, we present a pragmatic analysis of politeness strategies used by Abiisukha in local public administrative meetings. Firstly, we introduce the politeness strategies used by Lwisukha speakers in local public administrative meetings. Secondly, we explain how gender influences the use of linguistic politeness strategies in local public administrative meetings. And lastly, we show how setting influences the use of linguistic politeness strategies. The findings of this paper will be helpful to the stake holders and policy makers as it will enable them appreciate the need of politeness strategies for the coexistence of not only Lwisukha speech community but the country at large considering that Kenya as a country has so many tribes with different languages. The politeness strategies identified in Lwisukha can be incorporated in the other Kenyan languages.
Anti-hyperlipidemic Effect of Berberis lycium Royle Root Bark Extract in Alloxanized Swiss Albino Mice

| Hyperlipidemia is a condition in which blood is overloaded with lipids. This condition is challenging for living beings. There are many ways to solve this problem but herbal medicines take on paramount importance in this regard. The purpose of the current research was to inspect the effects of an aqueous extract of Berberis lycium Royle root bark on lipid profiles of Swiss albino mice in which diabetic phenotype was induced by alloxan. A single injection of Alloxan (150 mg/kg) was applied intravenously to induce diabetic phenotype. Alloxan induction raised the overall level of triglycerides, low density- lipids (LDLs), and cholesterol and reduced the level of high density lipids (HDLs). Oral administration of 200 mg/kg aqueous extract of B. lycium Royle root bark for 28 days rescued all these changes. This study shows that the root bark extract of B. lycium Royle has antihyperlipidemic properties. Novelty Statement | This study reports that root bark extract of Berberis lycium Royle has very strong antihyperlipidemic properties.
When and How African Real Exchange Rates Relative to China Affect its Manufacturing

African countries suffer from a low rate of growth of manufacturing production. Many economists consider that it is due to an overvaluation of their currency. Indeed, several African countries have known an appreciation of their currency, notably against the Chines currency. Moreover, Chinese exports of manufactured goods rose between 2000 and 2015 at the astronomic annual rate of 26% (versus 10% for the rest of the world). This article tries to answer the following questions: what is the impact of the real exchange rates of African countries relative to China on African manufacturing? Is it specific? We estimated a manufacturing function by using a panel data of 44 African countries over the period from 2000 to 2015 and GMM estimator. We built an original set of real exchanges rates, weighted by the share of imports of manufactured goods from the ten main partners, globally and by categories of goods. Contrary to the common opinion, we show that African real appreciation of exchange rates relative to China exerts a positive and specific effect on African manufacturing, despite a traditional negative effect through the competition of China’s exports. We assume that this positive effect is due to productivity improvement. First, we reassure this assumption by several theoretical arguments relative to Schumpeterian “creative destruction,” improvement of labor efficiency, increase of capital-labor ratio. Second, by some specificities of imports from China, which are both consumption goods cheap and bottom of the range covering daily needs, and machines and transport equipment easily bought by medium and small enterprises. Naturally, this positive effect disappears with too strong appreciations. By contrast, we do not find the same positive effect for the rest of the world. Our work has clear political implication, as it does not speak in favor of systematic depreciations of African currencies.
PUM1 is upregulated by DNA methylation to suppress antitumor immunity and results in poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer

Background Pancreatic carcinoma (PAAD) is a highly malignant cancer with a poor prognosis and high mortality rate. Pumilio homologous protein 1 (PUM1) promotes cell growth, invasion, and metastasis and suppresses apoptosis in many different kinds of cancers, such as non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), ovarian cancer and lymphocyte leukemia. However, the underlying mechanism and potential role of PUM1 in PAAD have not been investigated. Methods Bioinformatics analysis was performed using multiple databases [The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA), BBCancer, Human Protein Atlas (HPA), MethSurv, cBioPortal, The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), xCell, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO)] to explore the diagnostic and prognostic role of PUM1, and the relationship between expression of PUM1 and prognosis of patients with PAAD. The analysis was further validated using the Kaplan-Meier plotter. Results PUM1 plays a role in both diagnostic and prognostic prediction. The PUM1 mRNA expression level correlates with both the prognosis and incidence of pancreatic cancer. PUM1 can serve as a potential diagnostic indicator for pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, the DNA methylation levels of PUM1 affects its oncogene function in pancreatic cancer. PUM1 can also inhibit the immune microenvironment by altering immune cell infiltration, which affects immunotherapy response in pancreatic cancer. Conclusions PUM1 takes a crucial part in the immune microenvironment and immunotherapy response of PAAD and is potentially useful for the development of novel diagnostic and treatment strategies.
Purchase Behavior of Young Consumers Toward Green Packaged Products in Vietnam

While green packaging related concerns are mainly studied in developed countries, there is a lack of knowledge to observe purchase behavior toward green packaging in developing countries, especially in Vietnam. Buying green packaged products in FMCG is not required to trade-off between sustainability and product performance. Hence, this present research aims to understand the gap attitude – behavior existing on FMCG green packaged products among Vietnamese young consumers with psychosocial factors (environmental concern, environmental knowledge of green packaging and green trust) and contextual factors (availability of desired green packaging and product attributes). With a sample size of 396 respondents, data was collected by convenient sampling method and then was analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results reveal that all psychosocial factors are positive related to attitudes while purchase behavior is positively influenced. The findings also report that contextual factors have positive impacts on purchase behavior, which proves the important role of contextual factors in influencing consumer choices. It suggests that green packaging is receptive to Vietnamese young consumers but it should be considered within product-related context to enhance the difference in sustainability among similar FMCG products. Practical implications for marketers and future researches have also been discussed at the end of study.
Two meta-heuristic algorithms for optimizing a multi-objective supply chain scheduling problem in an identical parallel machines environment

Article history: Received January 25 2021 Received in Revised Format March 17 2021 Accepted March 21 2021 Available online March, 21 2021 Optimizing the trade-off between crucial decisions has been a prominent issue to help decisionmakers for synchronizing the production scheduling and distribution planning in supply chain management. In this article, a bi-objective integrated scheduling problem of production and distribution is addressed in a production environment with identical parallel machines. Besides, two objective functions are considered as measures for customer satisfaction and reduction of the manufacturer’s costs. The first objective is considered aiming at minimizing the total weighted tardiness and total operation time. The second objective is considered aiming at minimizing the total cost of the company’s reputational damage due to the number of tardy orders, total earliness penalty, and total batch delivery costs. First, a mathematical programming model is developed for the problem. Then, two well-known meta-heuristic algorithms are designed to spot near-optimal solutions since the problem is strongly NP-hard. A multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) is designed using a mutation function, followed by a nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) with a one-point crossover operator and a heuristic mutation operator. The experiments on MOPSO and NSGA-II are carried out on small, medium, and large scale problems. Moreover, the performance of the two algorithms is compared according to some comparing criteria. The computational results reveal that the NSGA-II performs highly better than the MOPSO algorithm in small scale problems. In the case of medium and large scale problems, the efficiency of the MOPSO algorithm was significantly improved. Nevertheless, the NSGA-II performs robustly in the most important criteria. © 2021 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada
Molecular characterization and genetic diversity of Staphylococcus aureus isolates of dairy production farms in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Bianca da Silva Soares1, Cássia Couto da Motta2, Nicolle Lima Barbieri3, Dayanne Araújo de Melo4, Marisol Alvim Gomez5, Tatiani Abreu de Alencar4, Irene da Silva Coelho6, Shana de Mattos de Oliveira Coelho7, Catherine Mary Logue8, Miliane Moreira Soares de Souza9 1 Biologist, DSc. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Veterinárias (PPGCV), Departamento de Microbiologia e Imunologia (DMI), Instituto de Veterinária (IV), Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Campus Seropédica, RJ, Brazil 2 Veterinarian, DSc. , PPGCV, DMI, IV, UFRRJ, Campus Seropédica, RJ, Brazil 3 Pharmacist, Dsc. , Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States of America 4 Veterinarian, DSc. , Programa De Pós-Graduação Em Ciência, Tecnologia E Inovação Em Agropecuária (PPGCTIA), Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Campus Seropédica, RJ, Brazil 5 Veterinarian, MSc. , PPGCV, DMI, IV, UFRRJ, Campus Seropédica, RJ, Brazil 6 Agronomist, DSc. , DMI, IV, UFRRJ, Campus Seropédica, RJ, Brazil 7 Biologist, DSc. , DMI, IV, UFRRJ, Campus Seropédica, RJ, Brazil 8 Food Science and Technology, DSc. , Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States of America 9 Veterinarian, DSc. , DMI, IV, UFRRJ, Campus Seropédica, RJ, Brazil How to cite: Soares, B. S. , Motta, C. C. , Barbieri, N. L. , Melo, D. A. , Gomez, M. A. , Alencar, T. A. , Coelho, I. S. , Coelho, S. M. O. , Logue, C. M. , & Souza, M. M. S. (2021). Molecular characterization and genetic diversity of Staphylococcus aureus isolates of dairy production farms in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Medicine, 43, e001120. https://doi.org/10.29374/2527-2179. bjvm001120
A computationally assisted spectroscopic technique to measure secondary electron emission coefficients in radio frequency plasmas

A computationally assisted spectroscopic technique to measure secondary electron emission coefficients (γ-CAST) in capacitively-coupled radio-frequency plasmas is proposed. This non-intrusive, sensitive diagnostic is based on a combination of phase resolved optical emission spectroscopy and particle-based kinetic simulations. In such plasmas (under most conditions in electropositive gases) the spatio-temporally resolved electron-impact excitation/ionization rate features two distinct maxima adjacent to each electrode at different times within each RF period. While one maximum is the consequence of the energy gain of electrons due to sheath expansion, the second maximum is produced by secondary electrons accelerated towards the plasma bulk by the sheath electric field at the time of maximum voltage drop across the adjacent sheath. Due to these different excitation/ionization mechanisms, the ratio of the intensities of these maxima is very sensitive to the secondary electron emission coefficient γ. This sensitvity, in turn, allows γ to be determined by comparing experimental excitation profiles and simulation data obtained with various γ-coefficients. The diagnostic, tested here in a geometrically symmetric argon discharge, yields an effective secondary electron emission coefficient of γ=0.066±0.01 for stainless steel electrodes.
Bioimaging of 5 Fluorouracil Conjugated to CdTe Quantum Dots in MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells

Development of a single molecule tracing methods in vitro and in vivo is a challenging task and it has attracted the attention of scientists all over the world. Here we made an attempt to develop a system to trace a single molecule of 5-fluorouracil (an anti cancer agent) by conjugating it to fluorescent nano crystals called Quantum dots (QDs). In the present work we are reporting for the first time the conjugation of an anti-cancer drug, 5-fluorouracil which has specificity to enter nucleus, to CdTe QDs and analyzed their localization in breast cancer cell line, MCF-7, by confocal microscopy. 3-Mercapto propionic acid (3-MPA) capped CdTe QDs were prepared and characterized. 5-fluorouracil having the –NH (Imide) functional group is thought to bonded with –COOH of 3-MPA in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC). The conjugation is confirmed by absorbance and emission properties of conjugates. FTIR spectra analysis has given clear evidence that free functional groups on 5-fluorouracil are bonded with NH2 group of EDC to form amide bond in comparison to unconjugated QDs and the drug. This forms an indirect evidence for QDs and drug conjugation. For analyzing the localization of QD-5-fluorouracil conjugates, breast cancer cells (MCF-7), were incubated for 12, 24 and 48 h. Cells were also incubated with DAPI, a nuclear stain, to have clear borders of nucleus. These studies clearly revealed an entry of QD-drug conjugates in to the nucleus of cancer cells.
A Machine Learning Approach to Estimate the Annihilation Photon Interactions Inside the Scintillator of a PET Scanner

A Machine Learning Approach to Estimate the Annihilation Photon Interactions Inside the Scintillator of a PET Scanner Sai Akhil Bharthavarapu Biochemical processes are chemical processes that occur in living organisms. They can be studied with nuclear medicine through the help of radioactive tracers. Based on the radioisotope used, the photons that are emitted from the body tissue are either detected by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or by positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. SPECT uses gamma rays as tracer but gives a weaker contrast and spatial resolution compared to a PET scanner which uses positrons as tracer. PET scans show the metabolic changes occurring at the cellular level in an organ or a tissue. This detection is important because diseases begin at the cellular level and PET scans can detect these changes at a very early stage. To detect these changes machine learning plays an important role, mainly in sensing the position of positron emissions from the tissue. In this work, we rst generated a dataset of images representing the photon distribution on the PET photodetectors, using the Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) simulation software package and the DETECT2000 software environment. Second, we designed and developed a fully connected and two di erent convolutional neural network models to correlate the depth of interaction (DOI) with the shape of the photon distribution on the photodetectors, and to detect the position of the annihilation photon interactions inside the PET scanner. Experimental results show that the top performing network can detect the annihilation photon interactions or event positions with higher accuracy than current methods, on a very large dataset.
Analysis of factors affected the SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding time of COVID-19 patients in Anhui, China: a retrospective study

Background The epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread worldwide, but the factors that may affect the SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding time in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients were rarely reported. Methods We retrospectively recruited 40 confirmed common COVID-19 patients and classified them into two groups according to the SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding time (group A (less than 10 days) and group B (10 days or more)). The demographic, laboratory parameters and chest computed tomography (CT) features on admission and the 3 rd day after treatment were analyzed respectively. Results Fourteen patients were in group A and 26 patients in group B, the median SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding time of the two groups was 7 and 16 days respectively. Compared to the group A, the comorbidity, epidemiological risk history, serum glucose and CD4/8 on admission were significantly higher in the group B (P<0.05). On the 3 rd day after treatment, the group B got significantly higher IL-6, IL-2R, TNF-α and CD4/8, and lower platelet and CD8 + T lymphocyte counts than group A (P<0.05). Logistic regression analyses revealed that the higher epidemiological risk history, serum glucose and CD4/8 on admission were significantly associated with a longer SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding time (OR=7.5, 11.41, 9.21 respectively, P<0.05), as well as the higher TNF-α and lower CD8 + T lymphocytes on the 3 rd day after treatment (OR=2.36, 0.98 respectively, P<0.05). Conclusions Our study provides the evidence that the prolonged SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding time might be correlated with the patients’ epidemiological risk history, as well as the serum glucose and CD4/8 on admission, TNF-α and CD8 + T lymphocytes on the 3 rd day after treatment. Our result may help clinicians to distinguish the patients with a prolonged viral shedding time at the early stage.
Issues of the Preservation and Conservation of the Petroglyph in the Khoid Tsenkher Cave

The Khoid Tsenkher Cave is located 28 km away from the center of Mankhan soum, Khovd province in Mongolia. The cave contains about 40,000-year-old petroglyphs. A variety of animals were depicted on the surface of the rocks, such as ostriches, camels, lions, elephants, and buffaloes in red and light brown paints. These images prove the existence of the animals that became extinct a long time ago. These petroglyphs play an important role in the research of the history and culture of the Paleolithic period of the world due to its visual content and design methods. Unfortunately, 64 images and symbols were faded and became unknown due to the wrong action of the people and new carvings have been created on them. The cave is visited by about 5,000 international and domestic tourists a year, but they cannot actually see the main attraction and do not have the chance to understand its great value. Therefore, there is an opportunity to develop tourism by involving local people in the preservation and conservation process of the cave and its historical and cultural monuments.
Adsorption of Carbon Monoxide on Platinum–Ruthenium, Platinum–Osmium, Platinum–Ruthenium–Osmium, and Platinum–Ruthenium–Osmium–Iridium Alloys

Ternary and quaternary PtRuOs and PtRuOsIr alloys are promising alternatives to the binary PtRu alloys that serve as efficient anode catalysts for methanol and hydrogen air fuel cells. The efficiency of these catalysts is correlated to the adsorption of CO molecules on their surfaces. In this work, we study CO adsorption on a series of PtRu, PtOs, PtRuOs, and PtRuOsIr alloys and on pure Pt, Os, Ir, and Ru using periodic density functional theory. Systematically, we vary the location of the alloy atoms in the substrate and the alloy Pt mole percent. As CO is adsorbed on PtRu, PtRuOs, and PtRuOsIr alloys, the CO internal adsorbate bond and the C–Pt surface bond weaken on average (for alloy configurations of the same Pt mole percent) along with the decrease of the Pt mole fraction in the alloy. However, the frozen substrate calculations show that these bonds are about invariant of alloying Pt with Os atoms, with the exception of PtOs configurations with Os atoms in the middle layer, whereas relaxing the subs.
Factors Influencing the Intent and Usage Behavior of Restaurant Delivery Apps

Purpose – The purpose this paper is to analyze the factors that influence the usage behavior of delivery applications. Design/methodology/approach – A survey method was used and a questionnaire was applied. The simple size comprised 344 respondents. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with estimation by Partial Least Squares (PLS) was used to analyze thirteen hypotheses proposed in the survey model. Findings – The results support ten hypotheses and indicate that the Habit ( β = 0.580; p-value <0.001) is the factor greatest influence on the Intention to use applications for food delivery. Originality/value –How far we researched, this is the first study of its kind to be conducted in Brazil and also the first in the world to propose the expansion of the model with the Susceptibility to Offer, Inovativeness and Convenience constructs for the study of the adoption of restaurant delivery applications.
Can ownership structure and board characteristics affect firm performance?

Article history: Received: November 30, 2020 Received in revised format: April 3 2021 Accepted: April 4, 2021 Available online: April 6, 2021 This research aimed to examine the association between board of directors’ characteristics as a composite measure, the performance of companies in Jordan and the influence of family ownership on this association. Using data on industrial companies indexed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) from 2013 to 2017, a positive association between board characteristics and company performance was found, indicating that higher board effectiveness is associated with more effective monitoring of management behavior. In addition, the association between board characteristics and company performance was strong when there was an interaction with family ownership, as companies with boards with family members achieve higher performance than companies with boards run by external directors. The study findings could be useful to all regulators seeking to improve the quality of monitoring mechanism practices, especially in emerging economies. © 2021 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada