Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Green Synthesis and Characterization of Palladium Nanoparticles Using Origanum vulgare L. Extract and Their Catalytic Activity

The synthesis of Palladium (Pd) nanoparticles by green methods has attracted remarkable attention in recent years because of its superiority above chemical approaches, owing to its low cost and ecological compatibility. In this present work, we describe a facile and environmentally friendly synthesis of Pd nanoparticles (Pd NPs) using an aqueous extract of aerial parts of Origanum vulgare L. (OV) as a bioreductant. This plant is available in many parts of the world as well as in Saudi Arabia and is known to be a rich source of phenolic components, a feature we fruitfully utilized in the synthesis of Pd NPs, using various concentrations of plant extracts. Moreover, the OV extract phytomolecules are not only accountable for the reduction and progression of nanoparticles, but they also act as stabilizing agents, which was confirmed by several characterization methods. The as-synthesized Pd nanoparticles (Pd NPs) were analyzed using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Further, FT-IR study has proven that the OV not merely represents a bioreductant but also functionalizes the nanoparticles. Furthermore, the green synthesized metallic Pd NPs were successfully applied as catalysts for selective oxidation of alcohols.
Tissue-Specific Progenitor and Stem Cells Bioactive Lipids and Circulating Progenitor Cells in Patients With Cardiovascular Disease

Bone marrow-derived progenitor cells are mobilized into the peripheral blood after acute myocardial injury and in chronic ischemic heart disease. However, themechanisms responsible for this mobilization are poorly understood.We examined the relationship between plasma levels of bioactive lipids and number of circulating progenitor cells (CPCs) in patients (N = 437) undergoing elective or emergent cardiac catheterization. Plasma levels of sphingosine-1 phosphate (S1P) and ceramide-1 phosphate (C1P) were quantified using mass spectrometry. CPCs were assessed using flow cytometry. S1P levels correlated with the numbers of CD341, CD341/CD1331, and CD341/CXCR41 CPCs even after adjustment for potential confounding factors. However, no significant correlation was observed between C1P levels and CPC count. Plasma levels of S1P correlated with the number of CPCs in patients with coronary artery disease, suggesting an important mechanistic role for S1P in stem cell mobilization. The therapeutic effects of adjunctive S1P therapy to mobilize endogenous stem cells need to be investigated. STEM CELLS TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE 2016;5:1–5
SPEAKER INDEPENDENT ARABIC SPEECH RECOGNITION USING SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE

Though Arabic language is a widely spoken language, research done in the area of Arabic Speech Recognition is limited when compared to other similar languages. Also, while the accuracy of speaker dependent speech recognizers has nearly reached to 100%, the accuracy of speaker independent speech recognition systems is still relatively poor. This paper concerns with the recognition of speaker independent Arabic speech using Support Vector Machine. The proposed model is applied on the connected Arabic digits (number) using Neural Networks as an example. Also we can apply the system to any other domain. A spoken digit recognition process is needed in many applications that use numbers as input such as telephone dialing using speech, airline reservation, and automatic directory to retrieve or send information. This has been realized by first building a corpus consisting of 1000 numbers composing 10000 digits recorded by 20 speakers different in gender, age, physical conditions. , in a noisy environment. Secondly, each recorded number has been digitized into 10 separate digits. Finally these digits have been used to extract their features using the Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) technique which are taken as input data to the Neural Networks for the recognition phase. The performance of the system is nearly 94% when we used the Support Vector Machine (SVM).
Stability of the adjustment scales for children and adolescents

Investigation of the short-term (90-day) stability of the Adjustment Scales for Children and Adolescents is reported for 124 randomly selected children in grades ranging from kindergarten to grade 12. Significant test-retest stability coefficients were obtained and mean differences across the retest interval did not exceed . 8 raw score points. The Solitary Aggressive-Impulsive, Diffident, and Lethargic/Hypoactive syndromes and the global Underactivity scale showed significant raw score and T score changes across the retest interval, but the effect strengths were small. Syndromic Profile Classifications and Discriminant Classifications were also significantly consistent across the retest interval. Results were similar to those obtained in other stability studies of teacher report behavior rating scales. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Improving View Selection in Query Rewriting Using Domain Semantics

Query rewriting using views is an important issue in data integration. Several algorithms have been proposed, such as the bucket algorithm, the inverse rules algorithm, the SVB algorithm, and the MiniCon algorithm. These algorithms can be divided into two categories. The algorithms of the first category are based on use of buckets while the ones of the second category are based on use of inverse rules. The bucketbased algorithms have not considered the effects of integrity constraints, such as domain semantics, functional and inclusion dependencies. As a result, they might miss query rewritings or generate redundant query rewritings in the presence of these constraints. A bucket-based algorithm consists of two steps. The first step is called view selection that selects views relevant to a given query and puts the views into the corresponding buckets. The second step is to generate all the possible query rewritings by combining a view from each bucket. In this paper, we consider an improvement of view selection in the bucket-based algorithms using domain semantics. We use the resolution method to generate a pseudo residue for each view given a set of domain semantics. Given a query, the pseudo residue of each view is compared with it and any conflict that exists can be found. As a result, irrelevant views can be removed even before a bucketbased algorithm is used.
Acute inactivation of the replicative helicase in human cells triggers MCM8–9-dependent DNA synthesis

Natsume et al. show that MCM2-depleted cells activate a DNA damage response pathway and generate replication-associated DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). These cells maintain some DNA synthesis in the absence of MCM2, and this requires the MCM8–9 complex, a paralog of the MCM2–7 replicative helicase.
Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis: Case report and Current Status

Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS), is a rare but devastating complication of long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) with a high mortality rate. The incidence is between 0.5 and 3.3%, decreasing with time. EPS is defi ned as a clinical syndrome with major signs of gastrointestinal obstruction, infl ammatory parameters, radiological and macroscopic changes.
New Evidence Supporting the Interfacial Model of Electrically Conductive Polymer Composites: I. Conductivity Behaviour of Polyaniline-Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) Composites

The change in the conducting properties of polyaniline-poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate (EVA)) composite films was investigated as a function of time. For the first time it was shown that the apparent concentration (ϕc), of polyaniline at which a conductivity jump occurs is not constant during ageing. Moreover, the conductivity behaviour of polyaniline-EVA composites is variable and dynamic during storage. The electrical conductivity of the films of low polyaniline content (up to 2.5 wt. %) increased by several orders of magnitude over a period of eight months. It was supposed that the polyaniline phase undergoes flocculation and that subsequently, a continuous conductive network is formed. The conductivity jump was attributed to dynamic interfacial interactions between the constituents of the polyaniline-EVA composites. A decrease in the average conductivity deviations for the samples of low polyaniline content (<2.5 wt.%) was observed, indicating that improvement of conductive pathways took place within the bulk of the insulating EVA matrix. Hence, the present study supported the dynamic interfacial model (particularly the dispersion/flocculation phase transition) of conductive polymer composites, proposed by Wessling.
Current epidemiology and clinical characteristics of autoimmune liver diseases in South Korea

Autoimmune liver diseases including autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) are rare diseases. The aim of this review is to examine the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of AIH and PBC in South Korea. There were 4,085 patients registered as AIH in the Rare Intractable Disease Registry of Korea between 2009-2013, with a median age of 56 years and female-to male ratio of 6.4. The age-adjusted incidence and prevalence of AIH were 1.07/100,000/year and 4.82/100,000 persons, respectively. Among the patients, 1.1% underwent liver transplantation, and case fatality was 2.18%. Liver cirrhosis at diagnosis was accompanied in 23%; liver biopsy was performed in 75.2%, and prednisolone therapy or prednisolone and azathioprine combination therapy was done in 73% with a remission rate of 86%. There were 2,824 patients with PBC (≥20 years) registered in Korea between 2009-2013 with a median age of 57 years and female-to male ratio of 6.2. The age-adjusted incidence and prevalence of PBC were 0.86/100,000/year and 4.75/100,000 persons, respectively. Among the patients, 2.5% underwent liver transplantation, and case fatality was 2.2% with a 5-year transplantation-free survival of 95.4%. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) was prescribed in 90% of the patients with a UDCA inadequate response rate of 30%. In conclusion, AIH and PBC are rare but mostly treatable diseases if diagnosed in the early stages. However, scarce data, low awareness, delayed diagnosis and non-availability of 2nd line therapeutics are important issues to be solved. Therefore, governmental support for research and drug development and nationwide cooperative studies are warranted.
KRAS wild-type state predicts survival and is associated to early radiological response in metastatic colorectal cancer treated with cetuximab.

BACKGROUND KRAS mutation status is a candidate marker for predicting survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treated with cetuximab (CTX). PATIENTS AND METHODS We studied the KRAS mutation status of 113 patients with irinotecan refractory mCRC treated with CTX in clinical trials. A predictive model for objective response (OR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was constructed using logistic and Cox regression. RESULTS OR was seen in 27 of 66 KRAS wild-type (WT) patients versus 0 of 42 in KRAS mutants. Median OS was significantly better in KRAS WT versus mutants (43.0 versus 27.3 weeks; P = 0.020). Decrease in tumor sizes was significantly larger at all time points in WT patients. KRAS WT patients with an initial relative decrease of tumor size >9.66% at week 6 had a significantly better median OS compared with all other patients (74.9 versus 30.6 weeks; P = 0.0000025). Within KRAS WT patients OS was significantly better in patients with an initial decrease compared with those without [median OS: 74.9 versus 30.6 weeks (P = 0.00000012)]. CONCLUSIONS KRAS WT status is associated to survival benefit in CTX treated mCRC. This benefit is even more pronounced in those patients with early radiological response. These characteristics may be exploited for response prediction.
An LDA-lexical Syntactical Approach for Events and Features Extraction of Earthquakes from Spanish and English Tweets

In the last few years, social networks like Twitter have been a very useful resource for tracking the events that happened before, during and after an earthquake. Several studies of this topic have applied different techniques like Clustering or Temporal models for extracting these events from Twitter. In this paper, however, we propose a new approach for extracting not only the events that happened in the earthquake but also some of its most prominent features like intensity, epicenter and affected places. We performed a lexical syntactical analysis of Spanish and English tweets in order to find the events that happened, in addition to a semantical analysis using statistical metrics and models like Pointwise Mutual Information(PMI) and Latent Dirichlet Allocation(LDA) for extracting the features of the earthquake. Our results show that, by considering the semantics and syntactics of the tweets, we can extract important events and features of an earthquake, which can be used for online detection and tracking of similar disasters.
A comparison of the treatment effects of the Forsus Fatigue Resistance Device and the Twin Block appliance in patients with class II malocclusions

Objectives We evaluated the skeletal and dentoalveolar effects of the Forsus Fatigue Resistance Device (FRD) and the Twin Block appliance (TB) in comparison with nontreated controls in the treatment of patients with class II division 1 malocclusion. Materials and methods This retrospective study included three groups: TB (n=37; mean age, 11.2 years), FRD (n=30; mean age, 12.9 years), and controls (n=25; mean age, 12.6 years). Lateral cephalograms were evaluated at T1 (pretreatment) and at T2 (postappliance removal/equivalent time frame in controls). Cephalometric changes were evaluated using the Clark analysis, including 27 measurements. Results Sagittal correction of class II malocclusion appeared to be mainly achieved by dentoalveolar changes in the FRD group. The TB was able to induce both skeletal and dentoalveolar changes. A favorable influence on facial convexity was achieved by both groups. Significant upper incisor retroclination occurred with the TB (−12.42°), whereas only −4° was observed in the FRD group. The lower incisors proclined more in the FRD group than the TB group. Incisor overjet reduction was 62% in the TB group versus 56% in the FRD group. Molar relation was corrected in both functional groups, resulting in a class I relation, although no change appeared in the control sample. Conclusion Both appliances were effective in correcting the class II malocclusion. Both the FRD and the TB induced significant maxillary and mandibular dentoalveolar changes; skeletal changes were induced by TB but not FRD therapy.
A validation study of the Chinese-Cantonese Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination Revised (C-ACER)

Background There is no valid instrument for multidomain cognitive assessment to aid the detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild dementia in Hong Kong. This study aimed to validate the Cantonese Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination Revised (C-ACER) in the identification of MCI and dementia. Methods 147 participants (Dementia, n = 54; MCI, n = 50; controls, n = 43) aged 60 or above were assessed by a psychiatrist using C-ACER. The C-ACER scores were validated against the expert diagnosis according to DSM-IV criteria for dementia and Petersen criteria for MCI. Statistical analysis was performed using the receiver operating characteristic method and regression analyses. Results The optimal cut-off score for the C-ACER to differentiate MCI from normal controls was 79/80, giving the sensitivity of 0.74, specificity of 0.84 and area under curve (AUC) of 0.84. At the optimal cut-off of 73/74, C-ACER had satisfactory sensitivity (0.93), specificity (0.95) and AUC (0.98) to identify dementia from controls. Performance of C-ACER, as reflected by AUC, was not affected after adjustment of the effect of education level. Total C-ACER scores were significantly correlated with scores of global deterioration scale (Spearman’s rho = −0.73, P < 0.01). Conclusion C-ACER is a sensitive and specific bedside test to assess a broad spectrum of cognitive abilities, and to detect MCI and dementia of different severity. It can be used and interpreted with ease, without the need to adjust for education level in persons aged 60 or above.
Collaborating to Improve ERP Usability

Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have unintuitive user interfaces that hinder usability, frustrate users, and ultimately interfere with their successful adoption and utilization in organizations. Despite the huge costs associated with poorly implemented systems, ERP usability has received little attention from the research community. It is our contention that existing theories on usability must be extended to address the unique challenges resulting from the size, complexity and integrated functionality of these industrial behemoths. This paper discusses collaboration theory as a potentially beneficial way to conceptualize the relationship between the user and the system and to provide a foundation on which interfaces can be developed that enhance user performance and satisfaction with ERP
Cell-free H-cluster Synthesis and [FeFe] Hydrogenase Activation: All Five CO and CN− Ligands Derive from Tyrosine

[FeFe] hydrogenases are promising catalysts for producing hydrogen as a sustainable fuel and chemical feedstock, and they also serve as paradigms for biomimetic hydrogen-evolving compounds. Hydrogen formation is catalyzed by the H-cluster, a unique iron-based cofactor requiring three carbon monoxide (CO) and two cyanide (CN−) ligands as well as a dithiolate bridge. Three accessory proteins (HydE, HydF, and HydG) are presumably responsible for assembling and installing the H-cluster, yet their precise roles and the biosynthetic pathway have yet to be fully defined. In this report, we describe effective cell-free methods for investigating H-cluster synthesis and [FeFe] hydrogenase activation. Combining isotopic labeling with FTIR spectroscopy, we conclusively show that each of the CO and CN− ligands derive respectively from the carboxylate and amino substituents of tyrosine. Such in vitro systems with reconstituted pathways comprise a versatile approach for studying biosynthetic mechanisms, and this work marks a significant step towards an understanding of both the protein-protein interactions and complex reactions required for H-cluster assembly and hydrogenase maturation.
The Effects of Densification and Heat Post-Treatment on Hardness and Morphological Properties of Wood Materials

This study investigated the effects of densification and heat post-treatment on the Janka hardness and microscopic structure of relatively low-density Uludag fir, linden, and black poplar woods. Wood samples were densified with compression ratios of 25% and 50% at 100 °C and 140 °C, respectively. Heat post-treatment was then applied to the samples at 185 °C and 212 °C for 2 h. The hardness in the radial and tangential directions was determined, and morphological changes in the cell structures were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The hardness values in the radial and tangential directions of the densified samples increased depending on the compression rate and treatment temperature. The hardness values in both directions were higher in the 50% compressed samples. For samples compressed at 140 °C, the hardness values were higher in the tangential direction, whereas the samples compressed at 100 °C were higher in the radial direction. After the heat post-treatment process, the hardness values of all samples decreased. As the treatment temperature increased, more adverse effects on the hardness was noted. According to the SEM analyses, the densification and heat post-treatment deteriorated the cell structure of the samples. The more cell deformation was observed in the samples densified at 100 °C with compression ratio 50% and high heat post-treatment temperature.
A Team Allocation Technique Ensuring Bug Assignment to Existing and New Developers Using Their Recency and Expertise

—Existing techniques allocate a bug ﬁxing team using only previous ﬁxed bug reports. Therefore, these techniques may lead to inactive team member allocation as well as fail to include new developers in the suggested list. A Team Allocation approach for ensuring bug assignment to both Existing and New developers (TAEN) is proposed, which uses expertise and recent activities of developers. TAEN ﬁrst applies Latent Dirichlet Allocation on previous bug reports to determine the possible bug types. For new developers, TAEN identiﬁes their preferred bug type, and adds them to the list of other developers, grouped under the identiﬁed bug types. Upon the arrival of a new bug report, TAEN determines its type and extracts the corresponding group of developers. A heterogeneous network is constructed using previous reports to ﬁnd the collaborations among the extracted developers. Next, for each developer, a TAEN score is computed combining the expertise and recency of their collaborations. Finally, based on the incoming report’s severity, a team of N members is allocated using the assigned TAEN score and current workloads. A case study conducted on Eclipse Java Development Tools (JDT), shows that TAEN outperforms K-nearest-neighbor Search And heterogeneous Proximity based approach (KSAP) by improving the team allocation recall from 52.88 up to 68.51, and showing the ﬁrst correct developer on average at position 1.98 in the suggested list. Besides, a lower standard deviation of workloads, 30.05 rather than 46.33 indicates balanced workload distribution by TAEN.
Bovine trypanosomiasis in tsetse-free pastoral zone of the Far-North region, Cameroon

Background & objectives: The Far-North region of Cameroon has been considered free of tsetse and trypanosomiasis for the past three decades. But recent reports by pastoralists indicate its reappearance in the region. This study was aimed to confirm the existence of cattle trypanosomiasis and determine its prevalence, and to establish pastoralists knowledge and practice (KP) of the disease in Ndiyam Shinwa pastoral zone of Cameroon. Methods: A total of 118 herds were surveyed for a descriptive, cross-sectional study in Ndiyam Shinwa pastoral zone from May to November 2014. Out of these, 110 herds were visited in the beginning of the rainy season, 22 of the 110 herds (suspect cattle) were revisited along with the remaining eight herds in the end of the season. The blood samples of 635 suspect cattle and 135 nonsuspect cattle were collected. Samples were subjected to two diagnostic tests: Buffy coat test (BCT) and packed cell volume (PCV) determination. A survey on pastoralist’s (n = 118) KP about trypanosomiasis was also undertaken. Results: Parasitological analyses revealed six infections by Trypanosoma vivax: Four in suspect cattle against two in nonsuspect cattle, corresponding respectively to apparent prevalence of 0.63 and 1.46% and true prevalence of (0.79–3.15%) and (1.82–7.30%). The proportion of cattle found infected in the PCV as well as BCT tests was 33.26% for suspect cattle. More than 75% of followed-up suspects showed persisting symptoms nearly three months after initial examination. The most common diagnostic signs for pastoralists were ruffled hair, lacrimation, anorexia and emaciation. Interpretation & conclusion: Cattle trypanosomiasis has reappeared in the Far-North region and seems to be in the inter-epizootic phase. Pastoralists have a good knowledge of the disease, but their perception of its importance seems to be influenced by the persistence of symptoms attributed to this disease in suspect cattle.