Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Therapeutic Potential of Mushrooms

Mushrooms are an important natural source of foods and medicines. Traditional aboriginals knew the medicinal importance of edible and wild mushrooms and these are now being screened for their bioactivity in various ailments. Mushrooms represent a major and untapped source of potent new pharmaceutical products. A wide range of activities including antitumour, cardiovascular and antimicrobial are reported in mushrooms. In developing countries like India mushroom progress is a boon in the field of food, medicine, and in generating employment. The alternative systems of medicine utilize the curative properties of mushrooms. The present review is aimed to discuss biological activities of mushrooms and their roles in various human diseases.
Temporal Illness Prediction using a Bayesian Model

The medical sector gathers and digitizes a lot of quantitative information on patients. This quantitative information is used to describe health properties of patients, such as analysis samples and diagnoses. Doctors are known to utilize information from analysis samples to diagnose illnesses of patients, but this relationship is not preserved when the information is digitized. This project aims to test the existence of a relationship between analysis samples and illnesses. To test this existence, a non-parametric bayesian model is constructed, which aims to predict the illness of a diagnosis based on analysis samples. This model uses Kernel Density Estimation to estimate normality spaces for medical properties of analysis samples given illnesses of diagnoses. These normality spaces contain densities based on temporal data of analysis samples and are used for estimating likelihoods of illnesses through analysis samples. The model is evaluated on different sets of illnesses and compared to naive prediction approaches. For each set of illnesses the model outperformed the naive approaches. Based on this, it is assumed that there exists a relationship between analysis samples and diagnoses.
CQI adjustment for eICIC scheme in heterogeneous networks

This paper investigates the channel quality indicator (CQI) adjustment for enhanced inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC) scheme in heterogeneous networks (HetNets). In the eICIC scheme, the user equipments (UEs) in the protected cells (either small or macro cells) experience different interference levels due to the almost blank subframes (ABSs) configured at aggressor eNBs (macro or small cell eNBs). In order to reduce the signaling overhead of the CQI report for both of the subframe types, we propose to adjust the reported CQIs of the UEs in protected cells by estimating the interference from the aggressor eNBs. The CQI adjustment requirement will be determined by comparing the types of subframes where the CQI is measured and used. The interference can be estimated either with UE position information or without UE position information. The latter one is applicable only in the scenario where macro eNBs are aggressors. Simulation results show that the CQI adjustment can improve the UE performance and achieve close gain compared with the two-CQI report method.
Optimization of planar periodic leaky-wave antennas by selective surface-wave suppression

Planar periodic `bull-eye' leaky-wave antennas are investigated for two-sided frequency beam scanning and broadside radiation at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies. In particular, the ground plane and the radial configuration of the structures are optimized to support leakage of the fundamental TM mode of the guiding structure in a regime without any other modes, either bound or radiating, while also taking into consideration the TM and TE fields generated by the practical slot source integrated into the bottom ground plane. These design approaches can improve beam scanning quality, reduce reflection losses, minimize cross-polarization levels, and increase antenna gain. In addition, full-wave simulations and antenna measurements are in agreement with the developed Method of Moments dispersion analysis where continuous wide-angle beam scanning is observed over a large radiating bandwidth.
High speed radiography can be used to measure dynamic spinal cord deformation in an in vivo rodent model

Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) are commonly studied by causing injury to rodent spinal cords in vivo and analyzing histological and behavioral results post injury. However, very few researchers have investigated the deformation of the in vivo spinal cord dynamically during impact. This knowledge would help to define relationships between impact parameters, internal structure deformation (such as grey and white matter), and histological and functional outcomes which could be used to improve SCI treatment and prevention methods. The objective of this study was to develop a method of tracking the real-time internal and surface deformations of an anesthetized rat’s spinal cord during injury. Twelve Sprague Dawley rats were used for this study. After a laminectomy of C5, two radio-opaque beads were injected into the cord (one dorsal, one ventral bead) using a custom technique. Four additional beads were glued to the surface of the cord caudal and cranial to the injection site (one dorsal, one ventral). The dorsal surface of the cord was impacted using a hydraulic actuator at approximately 130mm/s to a depth of 1mm. The spine was imaged laterally at 3,000 fps using a custom high speed x-ray system and the bead motion was tracked in the x-ray video. The internal dorsal bead had significantly larger anterior displacements than the internal ventral bead (0.85 ± 0.14 vs. 0.30mm ± 0.11mm (avg±SD) respectively) and than all surface beads. The internal ventral beads had significantly larger anterior displacements than the ventral surface bead displacements. The dorsal beads had larger maximum velocities in the anterior direction than the ventral beads. The bead migration was not significant in the anterior direction, and was small in the cranial direction (approximately 0.04mm). Harvested spinal cords showed that the internal dorsal beads were in the dorsal white matter. The internal ventral beads were in the ventral white matter for half of the animals and the ventral grey matter for the remaining. There were no significant differences found between white and grey matter motion. These results indicate the merit of this technique for measuring in vivo spinal cord deformation.
A Fourier-Fresnel integral-based transfer function model for a near-parabolic phase profile arrayed-waveguide grating

The near-parabolic phase profile arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) is known to exhibit a broad yet flat passband response. However, to our knowledge, the near-parabolic phase profile solution was previously obtainable only by numerical methods. Here, we show how a novel, hidden-variable optimization of an even second-order approximation to the near-parabolic phase aperture function, allows the AWG spectral transfer function to be described using a Fourier-Fresnel transform. The Fresnel integral-based analytic expression obtained provides a good fit to within 2.15 dB across the 3-dB passband width compared with the exact solution.
Improvement in ammonia sensing characteristics of titanium dioxide(TiO2) thin film by palladium(Pd) doping

A lot of reports are already available about how adding palladium to titanium dioxide improves its gas sensing abilities towards formaldehyde, ethanol, LPG, acetone and methane gases. However, not much has been reported about ammonia gas sensing using palladium doped titanium dioxide thin film. In this work, TiO2 and Pd doped TiO2 thin films have been deposited using DC magnetron sputtering. Thereafter, ammonia gas sensing characteristics of these films were investigated. In this paper, it has been shown that there results an improvement in the ammonia gas sensing characteristics of TiO2 thin film when it is doped with palladium.
Regulation of Expression for the RNP-4F Splicing Assembly Factor in the Fruit-Fly Drosophila melanogaster

Intron splicing in eukaryotic organisms requires the interactions of five snRNAs and numerous different proteins in the spliceosome. Although the molecular mechanism behind splicing has been well studied, relatively little is known about regulation of expression for these splicing factor proteins. One of these proteins is the evolutionarily-conserved Drosophila RNP-4F splicing assembly factor. This protein is transcribed from a single gene into two developmentally regulated mRNAs that differ in their 5’-UTR structure. In the longer isoform, known to be abundant in the developing fly central nervous system, a conserved retained intron which folds into a stem-loop has been implicated in expression control of the mRNA. Here, we describe construction and utilization of several new rnp-4f gene expression study vectors using a GFP reporter in the ΦC31 system. The results confirm our previous observation that presence of the regulatory stem-loop enhances RNP-4F protein expression. However, in that study, the enhancement factor protein was not identified. We show here that overexpression of the RNP-4F transgene compared to the control results in additional translation, as indicated by the GFP reporter in the fluorescent images. These results are interpreted to show that RNP-4F protein acts back on its own mRNA 5’-UTR regulatory region via a feedback pathway to enhance protein synthesis in the developing fly central nervous system. A model is proposed to explain the molecular mechanism behind rnp-4f gene expression control.
Assessment of the association between SMAD1 and HHIP gene variation and non-syndromic cleft-lip palate in Chilean case-parent trios

Nonsyndromic cleft lip/palate (NSCLP) is a congenital malformation with features of a complex genetic trait. Several studies have reported positive association and linkage between NSCLP and microsatellite markers in the 4q28-4q33 region particularly with the D4S192 (4q31) marker. We hypothesized that the candidate genes SMAD1 and HHIP (4q31) could be involved in the etiology of NSCLP based on previous positive linkage results and their important role in maxillofacial development. We evaluated the possible association between microsatellite markers located at less than 1 cM from these genes and NSCLP using a sample of 58 Chilean case-parent trios. Microsatellite markers were analyzed using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with fluorescent labeled primers. Electrophoresis of the PCR products was performed on a laser-fluorescent automatic DNA sequencer. The extended transmission disequilibrium test (ETDT) was used to analyze allelic transmissions from the parents to their affected progeny. No significant association due to linkage disequilibrium was detected between both markers and NSCLP.
Electricity theft detection system with RF communication between distribution and customer usage

Electricity theft is a major challenge that is experienced not only in South Africa, but also in many other countries. This has an adverse effect on a country's economy. This paper discusses a system that detects electricity theft remotely, and a mechanism of curbing electricity theft. The approach used is that the electric current supplied from a distribution transformer is monitored at the distribution transformer side and at the consumer's side, as well. The difference in electrical current monitored from the distribution and consumer sides is used to establish whether electricity theft has occurred or not. The communication between the two monitoring units is based on the use of wireless technology. The reporting of electricity theft is established using the Wi-Fi space.
British Association of Dermatologists guidelines for use of biological interventions in psoriasis 2005

Psoriasis is a common, persistent, relapsing inflammatory skin disease that can be associated with significant morbidity. Quality of life studies in psoriasis reveal a negative impact on patients comparable with that seen in cancer, arthritis and heart disease.1–5 Patients with severe disease constitute approximately 20–30% of all patients with psoriasis, often require systemic treatment, and represent a major economic burden to the Health Service. All standard systemic therapies for severe disease are associated with the potential for major long-term toxicity, many are expensive, and a proportion of patients has treatmentresistant disease.6 Biological therapies or ‘biologics’ describe agents designed to block specific molecular steps important in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and have emerged over the last 3–5 years as potentially valuable alternative therapeutic options. Currently, biological therapies for psoriasis comprise two main groups: (i) agents targeting the cytokine tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-a (e.g. etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab) and (ii) agents targeting T cells or antigen-presenting cells (e.g. efalizumab, alefacept). Two of these, etanercept (Enbrel) and efalizumab (Raptiva) were licensed in 2004 in the U.K. for patients with moderate to severe psoriasis.
On learning the structure of sum-product networks

LearnSPN is the standard unsupervised learning algorithm for sum-product networks (SPNs). It is based upon a “chop” operation for splitting features (columns) and a “slice” operation for clustering instances (rows). However, a number of techniques can be applied to chop and slice meaning that LearnSPN can learn a wide variety of SPNs from the same dataset. In this paper, we perform an empirical study of LearnSPN. We consider g-test and mutual information for chopping and k-means and Gaussian mixture models for slicing. Our experiments, conducted on 20 real-world datasets, suggest that the deepest SPNs tend to be learned when using mutual information for chopping and k-means for slicing. This is important, since SPNs are the only deep learning model where it is provably the case that deeper models are more expressive than shallow models. Second, our results show that the pair of g-test and Gaussian mixture models tends to yield the most accurate SPNs, especially on larger datasets. These results suggest that the particular combination of mutual information and k-means may be prone to overfitting. Lastly, we examine the sparseness of the learned SPN. Our experiments show that the pair of g-test and Gaussian mixture models regularly yields SPNs with fewer edges. This knowledge is beneficial to SPN learning algorithms that penalize networks with more edges. Our study then extends the SPN deep learning literature in both practical and theoretical directions.
The Nation-State and the Natural Environment over the Twentieth Century

National activities to protect the natural environment are on the rise. Conventional explanations of the phenomenon emphasize domestic processes, set in motion by environmental degradation and economic affluence. We propose instead a top-down causal imagery that hinges on a global redefinition of the “nation-state” to include environmental protection as a basic state responsibility. We test our view using event-history analyses of five indicators of environmentalization: the proliferation of(1) national parks, (2) chapters of international environmental associations, (3) memberships in intergovernmental environmental organizations, (4) environmental impact assessment laws, and (5) environmental ministries in countries around the world over the twentieth century. For all five measures, the top-down global explanation proves stronger than the bottom-up domestic alternative: The global institutionalization of the principle that nation-states bear responsibility for environmental protection drives national activities to protect the environment. This is especially true in countries with dense ties to world society and prolific “receptor sites,” even when controlling for domestic degradation and affluence. It appears that blueprints of nation-state environmentalization, which themselves become more universalistic over time, are drawn in world society before being diffused to and enacted by individual countries.
Multiple sparse component analysis based on subspace selective search algorithm

Sparse component analysis (SCA) is an approach for linear matrix factorization in an instantaneous mixing system when the number of sensors is fewer than the number of sources. SCA assumes that matrix source (S) contains as many zeros as possible. According to the Georgiev's proof, under some nonstrict conditions on sparsity of the sources, called k-sparse component analysis (k-SCA), we are able to estimate both mixing system (A) and sparse sources (S) uniquely. This paper studies the problem of underdetermind blind identification (UBI) in order to estimate the mixing matrix A based on subspace clustering scheme with k-SCA assumptions. Most k-SCA based algorithms have been designed when there are only at most k = m - 1 active sources in each time instant, where m is the number of sensors. First, we address the issue of multiple active sources i.e. when there are L active sources (0 ≤ L ≤ m - 1). Second, we propose an algorithm for joint or continuous subspace clustering and estimating of the channels in order to design an online scenario to estimate the mixing matrix columns and detect the number of sources as the mixture vectors are received sequentially. Third, our proposed algorithm “subspace selective search” (S3) deals with the outliers within subspace clustering process and improve the accuracy of channel estimation. Numerical simulations are reported to confirm the advantages of our UBI method.
GPS ISAR passive system characterization using Point Spread Function

This paper presents research results in space-surface multistatic synthetic aperture radar (SS-MSAR) with non cooperative GPS satellites. The goal of this paper is to characterize such a system in an ISAR context, with a moving ground target.point spread function (PSF) are defined and used in this work to estimate the performance in term of resolution. These criteria are computed, and compared, for several scenarios with targets of different velocities.
Long-Term Polarization Mode Dispersion Evolution and Accelerated Aging in Old Optical Cables

Today’s optical networks are composed of thousands of kilometers of aging optical cables. Many of these cables are located in harsh environments, which contribute to induced birefringence of the fibers and a corresponding increase of polarization mode dispersion (PMD). This letter introduces derived statistics from the longest-known running evaluation of a PMD measuring campaign and an investigation into how higher optical power affects these aging systems. Results indicate strong seasonal dependence of PMD on temperature for an optical cable test bed exposed to atmospheric changes, leading to a 16% increase of a mean PMD value in summer. This fluctuation causes bit error rate limits to be exceeded for 10 and 40 Gbps non-return-to-zero signals, which is a critical issue for applications where high reliability is required. Moreover, due to the high optical power load within old optical infrastructures, a more than 0.15 dB increase of relative loss per year in tested routes, compared with reference routes, has been observed.
Purification and Some Properties of Superoxide Dismutase from Aloe saponaria (Ait) Haw.

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) from Aloe saponaria (Ait) Haw was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by a sequential steps ,including of acetone and heat of treatment, DEAE-sepharose and Sephacryl S-200 column chromatography. Three SOD components were obtained, designated as SOD-I,SOD-II,SOD-III with the molecular weight of 46,000D, 35,000D and 40,000D, and isoelectric point of 8.9, 7.6, 7.35 respectively. The three components were consisted of two identical subunits. All three SOD components from A. saponaria (Ait) Haw were Fe-SOD as confirmed by its sensitivity to KCN and H2O2, elemental analyses and the absorption spectrum analyses. Key word aloe�ƒ Aloe saponaria (Ait) Haw. �≈ ; purification; properties; superoxide dismutase (SOD)
Supervisor Status, Health and Organizational Commitment: Mediating Role of Support and Family- friendly Policies among Information Technology Professionals in India

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between supervisor status on employees’ health and organizational commitment as well as to assess the mediating role of supervisor support and the availability and use of family-friendly policies among Information Technology (IT) professionals in India. Using snowball technique, 359 IT professionals were surveyed from four cities in South and Western India. Structural equation modeling was done and in the initial model, supervisor status was related to organizational commitment, but not employees’ health. The non-significant path was removed and the mediating variables were then included in the model. The model fit improved and was determined to be a good fit to the data. Supervisor status directly impacted two of the mediating variables - supervisor support and employees’ knowledge of family-friendly policies. The direct impact of supervisor status on employees’ organizational commitment was partially mediated by supervisor support. Moreover, supervisor support also directly impacted employees’ knowledge of family-friendly policies and employees’ organizational commitment. Employees’ knowledge of family-friendly policies directly impacted employees’ use of family-friendly policies and indirectly mediated the impact of supervisor status on employees’ use of family-friendly policies and the impact of supervisor support on policy use. Employees’ use of family-friendly policies directly and positively impacted employees’ health, and indirectly mediated the impact of employees’ knowledge of family-friendly policies on employees’ health.
Ultraviolet Detection Properties of p-Si/n-TiO2 Heterojunction Photodiodes Grown by Electron-Beam Evaporation and Sol–Gel Methods: A Comparative Study

This paper reports a comparative study of the ultraviolet (UV) detection properties of n-TiO2/p-Si heterojunction devices fabricated using two different deposition techniques namely the electron-beam evaporation (EBE) and sol-gel (SG) methods. A systematic study has also been carried out to investigate the structural, electrical, and optical properties of the as deposited TiO2 thin films on p-Si substrates by the EBE and SG methods. The electrical parameters of both the n-TiO2/p-Si heterojunction photodiodes have been measured and compared under dark and UV illumination conditions. The SG based n-TiO2/p-Si heterojunction photodiodes are observed with an excellent contrast ratio of ~83911 at -5.2 V bias voltage, which is ~6445 times higher than the EBE-based device. The measured responsivities of the EBE and SG based devices are ~0.69 and ~1.25 A/W at a bias voltage of -10 V (Popt = 650 μW and λ = 365 nm), respectively. Thus, the n-TiO2/p-Si heterojunction diodes with SG derived TiO2 films are considered to be a better choice over the EBE-based n-TiO2/p-Si diodes for UV detection applications.
Participation of children and adolescents in counselling : empirical findings and implications for practice

This paper reflects the experiences of young people in child guidance and family counselling. For this purpose, first the institutional background of these counselling services in Germany is outlined. The fact that the adolescents concerned feel partly excluded and insufficiently integrated into the counselling process is illustrated through qualitative analysis of the experiences 17 young people had during their counselling process. These empirical findings are critically discussed in terms of the institutional conditions and methodical approaches which counteract the involvement of the actual addressees of the counselling service. The closing thoughts include methodical options for a stronger orientation of professional behaviour towards facilitating participation.