Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SHEAR BOND STRENGTH OF RESIN BONDED TO BLEACHED ENAMEL USING DIFFERENT MODIFIED 35% HYDROGEN PEROXIDES

Abstract Statement of Problem: Bleaching systems with different concentrations and applications are widely used to improve the visual appearance of the teeth, but one of the complications of these materials is reduction of bond strength for immediately bonding to the bleached enamel. Objectives : The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of using different modified hydrogen peroxide bleaching agents on the shear bond strength of composite resin bonded to the bleached enamel. Materials and Methods: Forty-eight sound extracted premolar teeth were collected, sectioned 1 mm below the CEJ to detach the root. The proximal surfaces of the teeth were flattened using diamond disks and silicon carbide papers to achieve flat homogeneous enamel surfaces without exposure to the dentin. The teeth were randomly divided into four groups as follows (n = 12): group 1: bleaching with 35% hydrogen peroxide gel; group 2: bleaching with 35% hydrogen peroxide gel contained (casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP); group 3: bleaching with 35% hydrogen peroxide gel combined with fluoride; and group 4: bleaching with 35% hydrogen peroxide applying one week before resin restoration placement. Composite resin, Clearfil AP-X (Kuraray, Tokyo, Japan), was bonded on each tooth in the mould (4 mm diameter × 3 mm height) using Clearfil SE Bond (Kuraray, Tokyo, Japan). After 24 hours of storage and 1000 cycles of thermocycling, the shear bond strength of the specimens at a cross-head speed of 0.5 mm/min was measured in MPa. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey’s post-hoc test. Results : The minimum and maximum mean shear bond strength values were observed in groups 2 (15.82 ± 4.41) and 4 (21.00 ± 3.90), respectively. Multiple comparisons of groups revealed no significant differences among the groups except between group 4 and all the other groups. The most common type of failure was adhesive. Conclusions: Using modified bleaching agents decreased the bond strength of the composite resin to the enamel when it was used immediately after bleaching. Keywords : Bleaching, Bond Strength, Composite Resin
Association between gait speed and residential environment amongst older adults

The ability to help mitigate prevalence of disability in the aging population may be developed by expanding the list of known risk factors to include environmental exposures. Understanding environmental risk factors for health is of public health importance. We contribute to these efforts by asking: Are attributes of the social and built residential environment able to explain between-people differences in gait speed? A cross-sectional analysis of relatively healthy community-dwelling older adults was conducted using baseline participants (n=2,637; female=52%; average age=74+2.89; Black=39%) from the Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study. Performed 6 meter walk at usual gait speed was the outcome of interest. The associations between measures of the residential environment (tracts) and gait speed (meters per-second, m/sec) were assessed using linear regressions. After adjusting for socioeconomics, health behaviors and conditions, results indicated that neither street connectivity nor net residential density explained between-people variance in gait speed. Poverty concentration did explain between-people variance in gait speed. Living in a tract where a 30% or more of the residents are in-poverty is associated with a 0.02 m/sec slower gait speed when compared to living in a tract where poverty concentration is <9%. In this observational study, poverty concentration in residential environment was significantly associated with gait speed. Research should continue to explore if and how aspects of the residential environment may explain physical function differences among older adults.
Forecasting Volatility Persistence: Evidence from International Stock Markets

Volatility persistence represents a notable feature of financial markets and is a widely studied phenomenon that explores the clustering and leverage effects of stock market returns. Recognizing and incorporating volatility persistence into risk management, asset pricing, and portfolio management strategies provide valuable insights for market participants enabling them to navigate and capitalize on the dynamics of market volatility. The aim of this study was to empirically investigate whether the current high volatility in stock markets are temporal or will persist in the future. An ARCH model and a GARCH model were employed to achieve the aim of this study for the JSE, CAC 40, DAX, Nasdaq and Nikkei 225 from May 29, 2023 to May 29, 2018. The findings revealed that stock market volatility will persist at least for some time from the ARCH and GARCH output results. Active traders and market makers need to adapt their strategies in response to the expected volatility persistence. Higher levels of persistence may call for adjustments such as widening stop-loss orders to accommodate larger price swings or using more extended timeframes to capture sustained trends. Portfolio managers may also opt for strategies that thrive in volatile market conditions such as breakout trading or mean reversion strategies
RESEARCH ON HOW SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS AFFECT TEENAGE PREGNANCIES AND THEIR FETAL AND MATERNAL OUTCOMES

Background: Teenage pregnancies are becoming more common worldwide. It is a condition with a high risk of having negative perinatal and obstetric outcomes. Teenage pregnancy has been linked to a variety of social, familial, and individual factors, according to analysis. To look into the socio-demographic factors that influence teen pregnancy and the complications that arise as a result. Materials and Methods: Over a December 2021 to November 2022 period, a cross sectional observational study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Government Medical College Nalgonda, Telangana, India. Three hundred pregnant women who had been admitted for delivery and met the criteria for inclusion were part of the study group. There were 150 in group A (teenagers aged 13 to 19) and 150 in group B (adults aged 20 to 29). Result: The average age at delivery for teen mothers is significantly lower than that of adults (18.61-+72 vs. 23.87-+ 2.8yrs. P.001), and 74% of them were Hindu, with 69% hailing from rural and slum areas. 92% of people in this group were housewives, 7.3% were employed, and 64.7% had only completed their primary education. 70% of teen mothers are low income, compared to 30% of adult mothers. Contraceptive use (21.3% vs. 72%) and planned pregnancy (18.7% vs. 24.7%) in group A were both significantly lower than in group B. They also have less frequent antenatal checkups (10% vs. 26%, P001). (47% vs. 30%) More anemic teen mothers were discovered. Unproductive labor (14.2% vs. 10.6%) In comparison to group B,
Adaptive Annealing for Robust Geometric Estimation

Geometric estimation problems in vision are often solved via minimization of statistical loss functions which account for the presence of outliers in the observations. The corresponding energy landscape often has many local minima. Many approaches attempt to avoid local minima by an-nealing the scale parameter of loss functions using methods such as graduated non-convexity (GNC). However, little attention has been paid to the annealing schedule, which is often carried out in a fixed manner, resulting in a poor speed-accuracy trade-off and unreliable convergence to the global minimum. In this paper, we propose a principled approach for adaptively annealing the scale for GNC by tracking the positive-definiteness (i.e. local convexity) of the Hessian of the cost function. We illustrate our approach using the classic problem of registering 3D correspondences in the presence of noise and outliers. We also develop approximations to the Hessian that significantly speeds up our method. The effectiveness of our approach is validated by comparing its performance with state-of-the-art 3D registration approaches on a number of synthetic and real datasets. Our approach is accurate and efficient and converges to the global solution more reliably than the state-of-the-art methods.
Model-based Causal Discovery for Zero-Inflated Count Data

Zero-inﬂated count data arise in a wide range of scientiﬁc areas such as social science, biology, and genomics. Very few causal discovery approaches can adequately account for excessive zeros as well as various features of multivariate count data such as overdisper-sion. In this paper, we propose a new zero-inﬂated generalized hypergeometric directed acyclic graph (ZiG-DAG) model for inference of causal structure from purely observational zero-inﬂated count data. The proposed ZiG-DAGs exploit a broad family of generalized hypergeometric probability distributions and are useful for modeling various types of zero-inﬂated count data with great ﬂexibility. In addition, ZiG-DAGs allow for both linear and nonlinear causal relationships. We prove that the causal structure is identiﬁable for the proposed ZiG-DAGs via a general proof technique for count data, which is applicable beyond the proposed model for investigating causal identiﬁability. Score-based algorithms are developed for causal structure learning. Extensive synthetic experiments as well as a real dataset with known ground truth demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed method against state-of-the-art alternative methods in discovering causal structure from observational zero-inﬂated count data. An application of reverse-engineering a gene regulatory network from a single-cell RNA-sequencing dataset illustrates the utility of ZiG-DAGs in practice.
A PROSPECTIVE STUDY ON PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION AND ITS IMPACT ON GLOMERULAR FILTRATION RATE (GFR) IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Background: Finding the prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension in a patient group and its fluctuation in incidence across different age groups is the specific purpose of the current investigation. Its relationship to GFR is sought after. According to certain research, the total prevalence of hypertension in India is 29.8%. Objectives : To find the prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension in patients of Tertiary care hospital and its effect on GFR. Materials and Methods: It was a prospective study done for a period of 1 year. After taking institutional ethical committee clearance a medical camp was organized in Tertiary care hospital premises. 520 people in total were examined. Age, gender, kidney disease history, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension data were gathered using a Proforma. SPSS was used for analysis. Results: The distribution of study subjects shows an increase in the incidence of hypertension as age advances. The overall prevalence of hypertension is found to be 13.9%. The overall prevalence of prehypertension is found to be 26.8%. There is a significant decrease in mean e-GFR in prehypertension and hypertension. (p<0.05). Conclusion: Kidney function is affected by an increase in blood pressure. The prevalence of hypertension is 13.9%, whereas the prevalence of prehypertension is 26.8%. A group of hypertensives and prehypertensives is observed to have a lower e-GFR.
SYLLABLE RATE DRIVES RATE NORMALIZATION, BUT IS NOT THE ONLY FACTOR

Speech is perceived relative to the speech rate in the context. It is unclear, however, what information listeners use to compute speech rate. The present study examines whether listeners use the number of syllables per unit time (i.e., syllable rate) as a measure of speech rate, as indexed by subsequent vowel perception. We ran two rate-normalization experiments in which participants heard duration-matched word lists that contained either monosyllabic vs. bisyllabic words (Experiment 1), or monosyllabic vs. trisyllabic pseudowords (Experiment 2). The participants’ task was to categorize an / ɑ -a ː / continuum that followed the word lists. The monosyllabic condition was perceived as slower (i.e., fewer /a ː / responses) than the bisyllabic and trisyllabic condition. However, no difference was observed between bisyllabic and trisyllabic contexts. Therefore, while syllable rate is used in perceiving speech rate, other factors, such as fast speech processes, mean F0, and intensity, must also influence rate normalization.
Simulating The Fate And Transport Of PesticideIn Unsaturated Soil: A Case Study WithGlyphosate-isopropylammonium

A simultaneous transport of water and glyphosate was studied experimentally and numerically. A greenhouse experiment was achieved for collecting data on the water content and glyphosate concentration. A numerical model (LEACHM) was used for simulating these data. Simulated results were compared with experimental data. Experiments were conducted in one-end open PVC columns (0.056-m ID and 1-m high) using unsaturated sandy soil under the atmospheric condition of Buridah, Al-Qassium, KSA. The soil had an initial water content of 0.0802 m/m and zero glyphosate concentration. Two soil columns lasted for 30 days and the other two for 60 days. Glyphosate solution was added at the open end of soil column then followed by adding distilled water at different times during the first 30 days. Both predicted and measured final water showed nonlinear distributions. The water moved from the hot region toward the cold region. The model overestimated slightly the water content in comparison to the observed data. The glyphosate redistributed along the soil column experimentally and numerically. The predicted glyphosate concentrations were improved by increasing the dispersivity up to 75 mm. The observed glyphosate concentration proved that the mass flow mechanism is important for migration of the glyphosate in the sandy soil. The results of this study indicated that transport models need to include the effect of temperature and temperature gradient to describe the movement of water and glyphosate. This could lead to using the LEACHM as a tool for glyphosate management strategy.
On Zombie Banks and Recessions after Systemic Banking Crises: Government Intervention Matters

Systemic banking crises often continue into recessions with large output losses. In this paper we ask whether the way governments intervene in the financial sector has an impact on the economy's subsequent performance. Our theoretical analysis focuses on bank incentives to manage bad loans. We show that interventions involving bank recapitalizations provide banks with incentives to restructure bad loans and free up resources for new economic activity. When the fundamental problem is undercapitalization of the banking sector, other interventions, such as guarantees on bank liabilities and liquidity support, lead banks to roll over bad loans, tying up resources in distressed firms: they become zombie banks and a drag on economic recovery. We then analyze 68 systemic banking crises from the period 1980-2013, of which 28 are part of the recent global financial crisis, and find that bank recapitalizations substantially reduce recession duration.
Modeling Infragravity Waves During NCEX

Abstract : The long-term goal is to develop a morphodynamic modeling capability on the time-scale of months (with a resolution of seconds) and a spatial scale of kilometers (with a resolution of meters) that can be used the predict the beach response (both hydrodynamics and beach-changes) due to changes in wave and flow conditions with specific attention for low-frequency motions. The objective of the present project is to examine the effects of offshore edge wave reflections and infragravity wave trapping on the nearshore infragravity wave climate using 2D numerical models that allow for the spatial variability of (infragravity) waves.
Towards Speeding Up Graph-Relational Queries in RDBMSs

Graph data is generally stored and processed using two main approaches: ( 𝑖 ) extending existing relational database management systems (RDBMSs) with graph capabilities, and ( 𝑖𝑖 ) through native graph database management systems (GDBMSs). The advantage of leveraging RDBMSs is to benefit from the maturity of their query optimization and execution. Conversely, native GDBMSs treat complex graph structure as a first-class citizen, which may make them more efficient on complex structural queries. In this work, we consider the processing of graph-relational queries , that is, queries mixing graph and relational operators, on graph data. We take a purely relational approach, reorganizing the graph connectivity information using a novel CSR Optimised Schema (COS). Based on our storage model, incoming queries are reformulated to take into account the COS data organization, and can then be optimized and executed by an RDBMS. We have implemented our approach on top of PostgreSQL and we demonstrate that COS improves the performance for many graph-relational queries of the popular Social Network Benchmark [5].
Evaluation of the incidence of antidepressant use among medical students in the state of Alagoas

This study aimed to determine the frequency of antidepressant use among medical students in the State of Alagoas, thus consisting of a prospective and cross-sectional study carried out in higher education institutions in the State of Alagoas that offer undergraduate medical education. Inclusion criteria were being enrolled and attending the course, from the first to the fourth year, and being 18 years old or older. The exclusion criteria were being in the fifth or sixth year of medical school; being younger than 18 years old, even if emancipated. Through a self-completed questionnaire (sociodemographic information, lifestyle, and Beck’s Anxiety Inventory), 342 students were randomly interviewed. The data were typed, tabulated and analyzed. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee. All participants who participated read and signed the Informed Consent Form according to the criteria of resolution 466/12. Fifteen percent of the respondents use antidepressants and 85% do not use this type of drug. Even giving a low percentage, it is still worrisome and quite important to always address this issue and reformulate medical education in order to decrease the levels of stress and anxiety among students. ABSTRACT
Biosensor development for the analysis of food quality

This thesis describes the development and evaluation of a number of biosensors for food applications. The first part of this thesis deals with the development of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) biosensor systems, coupled with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the detection of GMO related amplified nucleic acids in foodstuffs. The first SPR Biosensor described, used streptavidin-biotin linkage chemistry to attach a P35S nucleic acid probe on dextran-coated SPR transducer chips. Methodologies were developed for both the PCR stage and post-PCR sample preparation for the sensitive, rapid and cost-effective detection of GMO-specific amplified DNA sequences. The final embodiment of the method was an asymmetric PCR amplification system with a simple sample processing step (0.3 M NaOH for 30 min in 20 % v/v formamide). The developed PCR-SPR system was successfully applied to the screening of samples of GMO origin. The second SPR biosensor reported herein, is based on a SPR chip immobilised single-stranded thiolated DNA. The thiolated probe exhibited a hybridisation capacity of 95 RU (Resonance Units) for 100 nM of complementary DNA target and a detection limit of 5 nM. The potential of the current probe system for the detection of symmetrically amplified DNA sequences of short length was subsequently confirmed. Biosensor Development for the Analysis of Food Quality n The second part of this thesis involved preliminary studies into the development of simple, disposable screen-printed electrodes for the electrochemical determination of glucose and L-amino acids in horticultural products. The dynamic range of the developed biosensors was up to 10 mM for glucose and up to 1 mM for L-leucine determination. The developed glucose biosensor exhibited encouraging analytical performance in fresh fruit samples. However, the L-amino acid oxidase electrodes consistently underestimated the amino acid content of the fruit samples. The latter observation was found to be primarily due to inhibitory components in the matrix. Biosensor Development for the Analysis of Food Quality HI CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I ABSTRACT II
Cloning of cDNA sequences of a progestin-regulated mRtNA from MCF7 hunma breast cancer cells

A cDNA clone corresponding to an mRNA regulated by the progestin R5020, has been isolated by differential screening of a cDNA library from the MCF7 breast cancer cell line, which contains estrogen and progesterone receptors. This probe hybridized with a single species of poly A + RNA of 8-kb molecular weight as shown by Northern blot analysis and could also be used to total RNA preparation. This recombinant clone hybridized specifically to an mRNA coding for a 250,000 daltons protein when tranlated in vitro. This protein was identical to the 250 kDa progestin-regulated protein that we previously described (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 121, 421-427, 1984) as shown by immunoprecipitation with specific rabbit polyclonal antibodies. Dose-response curve and specificity studies show that the accumulation of the Pg8 mRNA and that of the 250-kDa protein was increased by 5 to 30-fold following progestin treatment and that this effect was mediated by the progesterone receptor. Time course of induction indicated that the accumulation of mRNA was rapid and preceded that of the protein. This is the first report on a cloned cDNA probe of progestin-regulated mRNA in human cell lines.
Oceanographic Analysis of the Acoustic Mid-Ocean Dynamics Experiment

Abstract : Reciprocal acoustic transmissions made in the Northwest Atlantic have been analyzed to determine the general circulation of the region between Bermuda and Puerto Rico. Six tomographic transceivers were moored from March 1991 to March 1992 in the region centered at 25 deg N, 66 deg W during Acoustic Mid- Ocean Dynamics Experiment (AMODE). The goals of the research performed under this contract have (1) to study large-scale (300 to 1000 km) circulation and variability in temperature, current, and relative vorticity fields, (2) to study mesoscale eddy kinematics and dynamics, and (3) to study the value of integral constraints on eddy-resolving numerical ocean models. Large-scale range averages (over 300 to 700 km sections) of temperature and velocity and large-scale areal averages (over regions comprising 100,000 sq km of relative vorticity in the upper 3500 m of the water column have been estimated through inversion of the tomographic travel time data.