Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protective effect of erdosteine against methotrexateinduced hepatotoxicity in rats

Purpose: To study the possible mitigating effect of erdosteine (ERD) against methotrexate (MTX)induced liver toxicity. Methods: Male albino Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to four groups of 8 rats each, viz, vehicle control, MTX (20 mg/kg i.p.), MTX (20 mg/kg i.p.) + ERD (300 mg/kg) and ERD (300 mg/kg) groups. Serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were determined by enzymatic colorimetric commercial kits while Hepatic tissue content of malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), SOD and catalase (CAT) were also evaluated. In addition, measurement of the inflammatory cytokine, TNF-α, as well as histopathological examination and histochemical assessment were carried out. Results: The results indicate that, compared to the control group, MTX group showed a remarkable elevation in oxidative stress as indicated by significantly lower levels of SOD, CAT and reduced glutathione, and increased tissue malondialdehyde (p < 0.05). MTX group exhibited significantly higher blood activities of ALT, AST and TNF-α, reflective of hepatocyte damage and inflammation (p < 0.05). In MTX group, significant hepatic degenerative changes were detected on histological examination, while marked apoptotic alternations were observed following immunohistochemical analysis of caspase-3 expression, when compared to control group. However, administration of ERD to rats ameliorated the changes in these parameters (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Treatment with ERD in rats produced alleviation in hepatic oxidative stress, apoptosis, inflammation, and histological damage, when compared to MTX group. This study is the first to demonstrate the potentially protective effect of ERD-pretreatment against hepatotoxicity associated with MTX.
Scalable and Decoupled Logging for State Machine Replication

State Machine Replication (SMR) is a widely used approach for fault tolerance of important services. Support for SMR implementations on shared infrastructures has emerged, allowing wider adoption. However, there are still non-trivial aspects that developers have to handle to build and deploy their dependable services. In this paper, we tackle the need for recovery to keep fault-tolerance levels, and propose an approach to: (i) simplify the development of logging; (ii) improve resource sharing in shared infrastructures; (iii) alleviate costs with replication in pay-per-use infrastructures. The central idea is to decouple service execution from logging and offer logging functionality as a service attachable to SMR deployments. Beyond the added simplicity to deploy an SMR, we show that this approach does not penalize performance of replicated services, and that a logging service can scale to look to several applications.
A SURVEY OF ENGLISH STUDENTS VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES (VLS)

T he objectives of this research are to know the kinds of vocabulary learning strategies, the most and the least vocabulary learning strategies, and strategy use based on gender differences. The methodology employed was survey with a research instrument questionnaire and interview. Results show Vocabulary Learning Strategies are Metacognitive, cognitive, memorization/repetition, and activation. Respondents tended to apply activation strategy as the highest, and it is indicated with a mean score (3.12). On the other side, the least utilized strategy was the memories/repetition strategy, and it is shown with the lowest mean score (1.87). Female students had a tendency to apply activation strategy, and it is indicated with the highest mean score (3.04) and least used memories/repetition strategies, and it is shown by mean score (1.84). In addition, the highest strategy employed by male students was also an activation strategy with mean score (3.0), and the lowest strategy was memories/repetition with the lowest score (1.51).
Crime and (a Preference for) Punishment: The Effects of Drug Policy Reform on Policing Activity

Researchers still know very little about the incentives of police. Using geocoded crime data and a novel source of within-city variation in punishment severity, I shed light on enforcement behavior. I find a 13 percent decrease in drug arrests in parts of a city where drug sale penalties were weakened. There is no displacement of nondrug offenses. If offenders are significantly deterred by harsher penalties, as the law intended and Becker’s model of criminal behavior predicts, drug arrests should increase in areas with weaker penalties. My results are therefore consistent with police officers treating enforcement effort and punishment severity as complements. I also find that citywide crime and drug use do not increase after the reform. I thus call into question the War on Drugs view of punishment and suggest that certain types of enforcement can be reduced without incurring large public safety costs.
Influence of cracking reactions during electromagnetic heating

ABSTRACT The electromagnetic heating for oil recovery is based on the transformation of electric energy into thermal energy. It happens through a direct interaction between the electromagnetic field and the electrically sensitive particles of the medium. There are different types of electromagnetic heating and the choice of the heating type depends on factors such as reservoir depth, geological heterogeneities, and electrical characteristics of the reservoir constituents. This study was based on reservoirs with characteristics similar to those found in the sedimentary basins of the Brazilian Northeast. The purpose of this work is to analyze the influence of the cracking reactions using electromagnetic heating and the influence of the fractures geometries in the reservoir model proposed.
Potential enzyme activity of thermophilic bacteria from hot spring in Egypt

This study aims to isolate and identify thermophilic hydrolytic bacteria from hot spring in South Sinai, Egypt for several industrial applications. In this work, 29 bacterial isolates from hot spring in Egypt were isolated and screened for the production of three thermozymes (amylase, cellulase and protease) at different high temperatures. Fifteen isolates were amylase producer, twenty-one were cellulase producer and twelve isolates were protease producer at different high temperatures. Ten bacterial isolates (34.5%) produced the three extracellular enzymes. All bacterial isolates were identified phenotypically as Bacillus spp. This study concludes that hot springs in Egypt is a source for the isolation of thermophilic bacteria producing thermostable enzymes.
Motile Properties of Cytoplasmic Dynein

Cytoplasmic dynein is the major minus-end-directed microtubule-based motor in nearly all eukaryotic cells. Due to its large size and subunit complexity, dissecting the motile properties of dynein has been challenging. However, recent advances in recombinant approaches to purify dynein, as well as studies with the native motors, have begun to reveal the details of how dynein steps along microtubules and responds to externally applied loads. Compared to studies on the other cytoskeletal motors, myosin and kinesin, studies of dynein are still in their infancy, leading to a number of controversies regarding the dynein motile mechanism. However, a consensus is beginning to emerge from single-molecule studies that dynein is a highly processive motor, which can take forward, backward and diagonal steps related in size to the minimum repeat unit of the microtubule (8 nm). Here we discuss some of the more controversial aspects of the dynein stepping mechanism and response to load. We also review what is known about dynein regulation by its multiple ATP-binding sites and associated cofactors, the dynactin complex, LIS1, and NudE.
Ant-Inspired Recurrent Deep Learning Model for Improving the Service Flow of Intelligent Transportation Systems

Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) serves as the on-the wheel communication and service platform for the real-world driving users. Navigation service and traffic information flow among the connected vehicles relies on the available resources and infrastructure units. Appropriate sensing and selection of infrastructure units for seamless navigation responses and information flow in the dynamic environment is facilitated using bio-inspired learning in this article. This method named as ant-inspired recurrent learning model (ARLM) introduced in this article is focused to improve the sensing and response rate of the navigation-based services for the vehicles. This model relies on forward and backward ant agents and recurrent learning for maximizing the navigation service response rate of the vehicles. In this model, the training sets are differentiated on the basis of connection probability and learning depreciation to retain the service rate through different learning iterates. The conditional verification for sensing and retaining active link helps to reduce the sensing and response time irrespective of the varying vehicle and request densities. The performance of the proposed model is verified using suitable experimental analysis and the metrics information flow rate, service sensing, sensing time, response rate, and response time are analyzed for assessing ARLM.
Outcomes of Percutaneous Pinning Technique in the Management of Two-Part and Three-Part Proximal Humerus Fracture in Adults

Background: Proximal humerus fractures represent 4-5% of over-all fractures. In patients above 40 years of age, it accounts for 75% of all humerus fractures. Fractures of the proximal end of the humerus oftentimes represent a management dilemma with the multiple surgical options available to deal with them. Objective: To evaluate the functional and radiographic outcomes of the percutaneous pinning techniques in the management of two-part and three-part proximal humerus fracture. Patients and Methods: A case series of 25 patients, functional outcome was determined by ASES and Constant scores and multiple radiographic views were taken to assess the fracture union, mal-union, and the presence of avascular necrosis. Results: ASES score of the whole group was 87.27 while the mean Constant score was 79.04. Only 16% of the entire group developed varus malunion (defined by Neck-Shaft-Angle <=120degrees). Moreover, 16% of the whole group developed OA of the glenohumeral joint. Conclusion: This study supports that the percutaneous close reduction and pinning technique is an effective and reliable surgical technique in the management of closed two-part and three-part proximal humerus fractures in adults. Appropriate preoperative planning is important to achieve a successful surgical result, and regular postoperative follow-up and rehabilitation are essential to get an optimum functional outcome. Keywords: Proximal humerus fracture, percutaneous pinning, upper extremity surgery, trauma surgery, Clinical outcomes, Percutaneous fracture fixation
How to Optimize an Academic Team When the Outlier Member is Leaving?

An academic team is a highly cohesive collaboration group of scholars, which has been recognized as an effective way to improve scientific output in terms of both quality and quantity. However, the high staff turnover brings about a series of problems that may have negative influences on team performance. To address this challenge, we first detect the tendency of the member who may potentially leave. Here, the outlierness is defined with respect to familiarity, which is quantified by using collaboration intensity. It is assumed that if a team member has a higher familiarity with scholars outside the team, then this member might probably leave the team. To minimize the influence caused by the leaving of such an outlier member, we propose an optimization solution to find a proper candidate who can replace the outlier member. Based on random walk with graph kernel, our solution involves familiarity matching, skill matching, as well as structure matching. The proposed approach proves to be effective and outperforms existing methods when applied to computer science academic teams.
A Dynamic Neural Network for Solving Time-varying Shortest Path with Hop-constraint

This paper proposes a dynamic neural network (DNN) to solve the time-varying shortest path problem with hop-constraint (HC-TSPP). The purpose of HC-TSPP is to find a path with the shortest transmission time and the restricted number of arcs. The proposed DNN is a novel neural network based on dynamic neurons. All neurons on DNN are computing in parallel, and each dynamic neuron is composed of seven parts: input, wave receiver, filter, status memorizer, wave generator, wave sender, and output. Wave is the carrier of neuron communication, and each wave is composed of three parts. The shortest path report is based on the first wave that reaches the destination node and satisfies the hop constraint. The example and experimental results based on the Internet dataset show that the proposed algorithm can arrive at the global optimal solution and outperform the existing algorithm (viz. Dijkstra algorithm).
Heat analysis of single point cutting tool coated with different natural bio composite

The paper presents the selection of suitable coating material for a single-point cutting tool. The coated tool exhibited superior wear and heat resistance. The coating is done over an uncoated tool. Single point cutting tool coating is done according to the points and regions we found getting affected due to cutting tool operation and due to thermal effects on it due to heat. The analysis of a coated tool is compared using three different coatings. The normal cutting tool is selected and subjected to various load and thermal conditions. The properties to determine the stress, deflection, heat flux and temperature sustained is the determination of single point cutting tool of various materials.
Electrochemical Biosensor for Mitochondrial DNA of Sus Scrofa Detection Using A Cerium-Modified Screen Printed Carbon Electrode

Cerium is one of the rare elements with high abundance and has been widely used in sensor applications. In this study, electrochemical DNA biosensor has been developed to detect mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Sus scrofa using a screen-printed carbon electrode-cerium (SPCE-Ce). The surface of the SPCE electrode before and after modification with cerium was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cyclic voltammetry. The design of the pig nucleotide sequence as probe DNA was determined using NCBI blast and t-coffee programs. The probe DNA was immobilized onto SPCE-Ce through electrostatic interactions between the cerium surface and the phosphate backbone of DNA. Furthermore, the hybridization probe-target DNA process was characterized using voltammetry differentiation pulse (DPV). The SPCE and SPCE-Ce surfaces in SEM show morphological differences, which are smoother and uniform surfaces after the carbon surface is covered by cerium. The cyclic voltammograms showed a redox current peak rise from the electroactive ferric cyanide species at SPCE-Ce. The probe sequence is 5'-TATTIATACCAATCACTAIC-3' has an identity of 100% with cytochrome b (Cyt b) mtDNA of Sus scrofa . Hybridization probe-target DNA characterized using voltammetry produce peak oxidation of guanine range potential to be at 1.20 V to 1.22 V. The optimum experimental conditions were carried out at 30.0 µg/mL for probe concentration, 20 minutes for immobilization time, and 20 minutes for hybridization time. The linear equation of the target concentration against was I = 0.0303[target]+3.947 for the target DNA concentration range 5.0 to 30.0 µg/mL. Determination of analytic parameters showed that the values of sensitivity, LoD, LoQ, and precision were 0.0303 µg/mL, 1.44 µg/mL, 4.81 µg/mL, and 98.99%, respectively. This biosensor can be used to determine pig mtDNA concentrations in real samples.
Performance increments without audience: paired data from mixed martial arts fighters during COVID-19

During COVID-19, athletes have been forced to compete in the absence of audience. Athletic and cognitive performance have been shown to be both incremented and decremented when competing either with or without audience, something that has been termed ‘social facilitation’. The current study sought to investigate this effect in a naturalistic experiment due to the current pandemic, in a sport in which the effect has never been examined; mixed martial arts (MMA). A performance variable was constructed, and data from 86 fighters who competed during COVID-19 were collected and compared to previous competition history. In total, 586 bouts were analyzed. Data distribution and assumptions were explored in which non-normal distribution was found. Subsequently, a test of marginal homogeneity and a Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test were performed. The results showed that MMA fighters who won their bout without audience displayed poorer performance’s in previous bouts, which were attended by audience. The current study further explores the notion of social facilitation effects and suggests there may be a need to pro-actively incorporate training alternatives that could mitigate performance decrements in fighters who are prone to negative effects due to external stimuli, such as an audience. However, due to the limited observations in the non-audience condition the study results should be interpreted cautiously and considered highly preliminary.
The Resilience of Small Business Organization During Pandemic Condition: A Perspective From Bali, Indonesia

This study aims to examine the resilience of small business organizations during the pandemic condition. Small business organization is an organization which has a high vulnerability to external business risks. The qualitative paradigm was used for this research. The object of this research is a small business organization in Buleleng Regency, Bali. The data collection instrument used semi-structured interview with the support of online meeting applications. The literature review method is also used to assist the research process. The results showed that the management of small business organizations did not understand the concept of business risk and did not have risk management to deal with the pandemic conditions. These results explain that small business organizations have low resilience to deal with the pandemic situations. This research has identified several key factors that small business organizations should improve in the future. This research also prepared several recommendations for the stakeholders to increase the resilience of small business organizations during the pandemic situation.
Puncture and Dose Accuracies of Navigation-Assisted 3D-Printing Templates Combined with Computed Tomography Guided Radioactive Iodine-125 Seed Implantation in the Treatment of Malignant Tumors

Objective: To preliminarily verify the accuracy of navigation-assisted seed implantation by comparing preoperative and actual differences in puncture characteristics and dosimetry in computed tomography-guided, navigation-assisted radioactive iodine-125 seed implantation using 3D-printed templates for the treatment of malignant tumors. Methods: A total of 27 tumor patients who were treated with seed implantation under combination guidance in our hospital between December 2018 to December 2019 were enrolled in this study. Navigation needles (n=1–3) were placed in each patient to obtain preoperative and intraoperative puncture information, including angle, depth, insertion point, and tip position; we also investigated the dosimetry parameters in the preoperative and postoperative plans, including D90, V100, V150, V200, minimum peripheral dose (MPD), conformal index, external index, and homogeneity index of the target area. The t-tests and nonparametric correlation tests were used for analysis (P<0.05 was considered significant). Results: The means errors of the angle, depth, insertion point, and tip position were 0.47 ± 0.521°, 0.35 ± 0.238 cm, 1.7 ± 0.99 mm, and 3.1 ± 1.75 mm, respectively. There were no significant differences between the intraoperative and preoperative angles (P = 0.271), but there was a significant difference in depth (P = 0.002). Errors of the angle, depth, and insertion point were larger for the pelvic/retroperitoneal area than for the head and neck/chest wall (P < 0.05). With the exception of MPD, there was no significant difference in dosimetry indices between the postoperative and preoperative plans (P > 0.05). The MPD in the postoperative plan was higher than that in the preoperative plan (mean: 72.1 Gy and 63.8 Gy, respectively; P < 0.05). Conclusion: Seed implantation under combination guidance showed good accuracy, and the actual intraoperative puncture information and postoperative doses were in good agreement with those in the preoperative plan, thereby demonstrating promising prospects for further development.
Biomechanical Model for Testing Cage Subsidence in the Osteoporotic Spine Under Permanent Maximum Load

BackgroundFusions in cases of reduced bone density are a tough challenge. As not only does bone quality have an influence on force transmission, these forces must be bridged for much longer time, as a fusion takes longer than in bone-healthy patients. However, cage subsidence or displacement results to loss of reposition and pain. From a biomechanical point of view, the majority of current studies have focussed on the range of motion or have shown test setups for single component tests. Definite setups for biomechanical testing of the primary stability of a 360° fusion using a screw rod system and cage on the osteoporotic spine are missing. The aim of this study is to develop a test stand to provide information about the bone-implant interface under reproducible conditions.MethodsAfter pre-testing with artificial bone, human functional spine units were tested with 360° fusion in TLIF technique. The movement sequences was conducted in flexion, extension, right-left lateral bending and right-left axial rotation on an osteoporotic human model.ResultsDuring the testings of human cadavers, 4 vertebrae were fully tested and were inconspicuous even after radiological and macroscopic examination. 1 vertebra showed a subsidence of 2mm and 1 vertebra had a cage collapsed into the vertebra.ConclusionsThis setup is suitable for biomechanical testing of cyclical continuous loads on the osteoporotic spine. The embedding method is stable and ensures a purely monosegmental setup. The optical monitoring provides a very accurate indication of cage movement, which correlates with the macroscopic and radiological results.
A Novel Solution Approach to a Priority-Slot-Based Continuous-Time Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming Formulation for a Crude-Oil Scheduling Problem

To satisfy component concentration constraints in crude oil operations, it is necessary to blend different oil types, resulting in a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) formulation for the scheduling problem of crude oil operations. Because of the intractability of such a nonlinear problem, approximate methods were proposed in the literature. However, by the existing methods, a composition concentration discrepancy may occur, leading to an infeasible solution; or a feasible solution cannot be found even if such a solution exists for some cases. Based on a priority-slot modeling method, this paper copes with the crude-oil scheduling problem suffering from composition concentration discrepancy. To find a solution without composition concentration discrepancy, a valid inequality is added to the MINLP model. Also, the model size is significantly reduced by properly determining the number of slots. Then, a novel solution method is proposed. By this method, the problem is iteratively solved and, at each.