Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Experimental Methods to Assess the Competitive Ability of Weed Species

Competition between crops and weeds interfere on growth and development with harm to one or both, in different ways. To quantify these differences in competition, additive and replacement series study methods are most often used, each with different characteristics and goals. Therefore, we aimed with this work to study inter-specific competition between plants of soybean and corn against the weeds Bidens pilosa (beggartick) and Digitaria insularis (sourgrass), by two experimental methods of study: additive and replacement series (substitutive) experiments. Initial tests were performed prior to the installation of replacement series experiments to describe the intra-specific competition features for all species. For additive experiments these are unnecessary. To compare the methods of study, there were two sets of trials (an additive and a substitutive) installed under greenhouse, during the growing season 2013/14. Variables analyzed were leaf area and dry weight of shoots of crops and weeds, at 50 days after emergence. The results were analyzed according to the methods used, these being compared. It was found that the additive method supplied results most prone to be applied in the field, while the replacement series (substitutive) method was more appropriate for studies that aimed to provide detailed scientific information regarding the proportions of plants and coefficients describing the behavior of the species community.
Cytisine for smoking cessation

Cytisine, primarily derived from the Cytisus laburnum plant (which inspired the development of varenicline), is a partial agonist of the α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor responsible for central effects of nicotine. [1][1] Oral cytisine reaches peak concentration two hours postdose[2][2] and is
Effect of Alkali Pectinase Pretreatment on Bagasse Soda-Anthraquinone Pulp

Pectinase pretreatment prior to bagasse soda-anthraquinone (AQ) pulping was conducted, and the effects of pectinase pretreatment on the pulp strength properties, energy consumption, and pulpability were evaluated in this study. Considering the pulp properties, the optimal conditions for the pectinase pretreatment were a pectinase dosage of 60 U/g (with respect to oven-dry bagasse) and 60-min treatment time. Compared with the control pulps obtained under the same treatment conditions with enzyme pretreatment (just without enzyme addition), the pretreated pulps attained a reduction in kappa number of 17.8% and an increase in total pulp yield of 15.8%. Moreover, higher breaking length, burst factor, and tear factor after soda-AQ pulping were found in the pectinase-pretreated samples, which suggests some improvements in pulp strength properties. With pectinase treatment, a 1% reduction in alkali charge and 20% decrease in pulping time were observed in subsequent pulping stages without affecting the pulp properties. Pectinase treatment prior to pulping seems to be a promising, economically feasible, and eco-friendly concept.
Inflation, exchange rate and efficacy of monetary policy in Nigeria: The empirical evidence

This paper analyses the post SAP persistence of inflation in Nigeria for the period, 1960-2008 with exchange rate, money supply and trade balance as preferred influential variables. To investigate the effect of policy switch from the period of direct instrument to the period of deregulation occasioned by SAP of 1986, we proceed to bifurcate the sample period into two, comprising the period of direct instruments of monetary policy, 1960 – 1985 and the period of indirect instruments of monetary policy, 1986 – 2008. Estimates from a vector auto regression model (VAR) of key macroeconomic variables demonstrate the weak link between money supply and inflation in the both time horizons, which suggests that the hypothesis that money supply is not an effective policy instrument for management of inflationary developments cannot be rejected for Nigeria. The results further suggest that in both time horizons, exchange rate has been identified as a singular most promising macroeconomic fundamental for both internal and external sectors adjustments. However, the deregulation of the domestic economy as occasioned by SAP has significantly diluted the efficacy of exchange rate as a monetary policy instrument for the management of Nigeria’s aggregate money stock and trade balance developments. These notwithstanding, the Central Bank of Nigeria can continue to play a stabilizing role in the economy through the continuation of prudent monetary policies and frequent interventions in exchange rate management to smooth out shocks.
Changes of Colonic Bacterial Composition in Parkinson’s Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases

In recent years evidence has emerged that neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are strongly associated with the microbiome composition in the gut. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most intensively studied neurodegenerative disease in this context. In this review, we performed a systematic evaluation of the published literature comparing changes in colonic microbiome in PD to the ones observed in other NDs including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), multiple system atrophy (MSA), multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). To enhance the comparability of different studies, only human case-control studies were included. Several studies showed an increase of Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Verrucomicrobiaceae and Akkermansia in PD. A decrease of Faecalibacterium spp. , Coprococcus spp. , Blautia spp. , Prevotella spp. and Prevotellaceae was observed in PD. On a low taxonomic resolution, like the phylum level, the changes are not disease-specific and are inconsistent. However, on a higher taxonomic resolution like genus or species level, a minor overlap was observed between PD and MSA, both alpha synucleinopathies. We show that standardization of sample collection and analysis is necessary for ensuring the reproducibility and comparability of data. We also provide evidence that assessing the microbiota composition at high taxonomic resolution reveals changes in relative abundance that may be specific to or characteristic of one disease or disease group, and might evolve discriminative power. The interactions between bacterial species and strains and the co-abundances must be investigated before assumptions about the effects of specific bacteria on the host can be made with certainty.
Contrasting bioaccumulation and transport behaviour of two artificial radionuclides (241AM and 134CS) in cuttlefish eggshell

Radionuclide experiments were performed to study the accumulation, retention and transport of Am-241 and Cs-134 in egos of the common cuttlefish Sepia officinalis. Experiments were designed to determine the processes controlling uptake of both radionuclides following, exposure via seawater. The bioaccumulation of both radionuclides displayed saturation kinetics with steady state in uptake being reached in 10 d for Am-241 and 6 d for (CS)-C-134. Am-241 was readily taken up by the eggs which reached a concentration factor (CF) of 20 after 10 d of exposure. During embryonic development. the eggshell acted as an effective shield against Am-241 penetration with 98% of the radionuclide associated with this membrane. In contrast. (CS)-C-134 was transported across the eggshell but was not concentrated to any large extent in the eggs. The mean (CS)-C-134 CF for the whole egg did not exceed 1.3 +/- 0.2. indicating a poor affinity of Cs-134 for the embryonic tissues of cuttlefish.
A Handy Diagnostic Tool for Preventive Therapy based on Prior Estimation of Metastasis

In this paper fuzzy arithmetic is used to develop a prediction model for the first site of breast cancer metastasis. Membership functions for the overly expressed protein biomarkers are developed. Three first sites of metastasis i.e., bone, liver and lung are chosen. A fuzzy relation between these metastases and the protein biomarkers is computed. A neural network is trained with these fuzzy relations to predict the first site of metastasis. The trained network is tested for different combination of proteins for the prediction of metastasis. These fuzzy relations were defuzzified using Lambda cut sets to predict the first site of metastasis. These results were compared to that obtained with the neuro-fuzzy model. The different protein biomarkers chosen were COX2, HER2, ER, PgR, CK5, CK18, GATA3 and Ecadherin.
A Survey on Security of Association Rules Using RDT in Distributed Network

: In many data mining methodologies as the data become more and more to process then they are unable to work in a single machine. So as a solution to this distributed paradigm is a suitable scenario. By creating random decision trees to distribute the data in the network it becomes easy to handle the scenario. But in the distributed network maintaining privacy of the data becomes a challenging job. Most of the association rules are becoming so heavy for large datasets. So proposed system introduces an idea of performing horizontal and vertical association using Apriori and Éclat algorithm respectively in the distributed paradigm. For maintaining the privacy of the data we are using the most secured reverse circle cipher cryptography technique.
The Impact of Regular Aerobic Exercise on the Levels of Leptin , Fasting Blood Glucose , Insulin and Insulin Resistance in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type 2

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease, characterized by chronic increased blood glucose levels, cardiovascular diseases and disorders in carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolisms. Leptin, which represents the amount of fat tissue in the body, plays an important role in overall body metabolic regulation and glucose homeostasis. This study has aimed to determine the effect of 12 weeks’ moderate aerobic exercise, on levels of leptin and glucose homeostasis factors, in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. In this quasi-experimental study, 40 patients with diabetes type 2, who had been referred to the Parsian clinic, Mashhad, were divided equally into two groups, namely, an experiment group and a control group. The experiment group participated in a twelve-week program (3 sessions a week and on average 40 minutes per session, with 60 to 70 percent intensity of heart rate reserve) in aerobic exercises on Treadmill. In this study, the factors, including leptin, fasting blood glucose, insulin and insulin resistance (HOMA) were measured before and after the exercise-period. A significant difference was observed in the plasma levels of leptin (p = 0.000), fasting blood glucose (p = 0.010), insulin (p = 0.015) and insulin resistance (p = 0.035) in the aerobic exercises group compared to the control group. Leptin can play an important role in reducing the cardiovascular risks and improving the process of glucose metabolism in diabetic patients. The process is aided through regular aerobic exercises, which has the effect on the one hand of reducing insulin resistance and increasing glucose metabolism, and on the other hand, of reducing serum. [Vahdat Boghrabadi, Seyyed Mahmud Hejazi, Hasan Sanian, Ali Hoseinzadeh Gonabadi, Reza Motejaded, Mohammad Ali Sardar, Mehrdad Jalalian. The Impact of Regular Aerobic Exercise on the Levels of Leptin, Fasting Blood Glucose, Insulin and Insulin Resistance in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type 2. Life Sci J 2012;9(3):944-949]. (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 135
Work Attitudes Among Office Personnel at MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology, Iligan City Philippines

The skills, competencies, and attitudes of employees determine the success or failure of any organization. The attainment of the objectives of an organization is determined in terms of profit or advancement of status. Thus, when employees do not perform well, the productivity of the organization suffers. This is a correlation study which explores the work attitude of employees using the variables such as generation, length of service, academic achievement, and employment status. A work attitude questionnaire (α=0.856) composed of statements relating to the manifestation and consideration of attitudes, habits, and behaviors was utilized. A total of 147 participants were determined using the purposive-convenient sampling procedure. Major findings include that female millennials as the foremost office personnel in the Institute. Majority are permanent employees with college degrees and have been working for more than ten years. The work attitude of the participants was excellent for Generation X participants, Master’s degree holder, employed as casuals, and those who have been working for more than five years. There is a significant relationship which was found between the participants’ work attitude and the variables generation, academic achievement, length of service, and status of employment. With these findings, it is then deduced that the work attitude of the employees is affected with their status of employment, generation, academic achievement, and length of service. Thus it is recommended that office personnel must pursue higher education and the management should provide avenue for their scholastic development. It is also recommended that further studies be undertaken to explore work attitudes alongside the performance of the participants such as punctuality and output.
A Survey on k-NN Classification over Semantically Secure Encrypted Relational

: Data Mining has wide applications in numerous zones, for example, keeping money, prescription, investigative exploration and among government offices. Order is one of the ordinarily utilized assignments as a part of information mining applications. For as far back as decade, due to the ascent of different protection issues, numerous hypothetical and commonsense answers for the order issue have been proposed under diverse security models. Notwithstanding, with the late fame of distributed computing, clients now have the chance to outsource their information, in encoded structure, and also the information mining assignments to the cloud. Since the information on the cloud is in encoded structure, existing security protecting characterization methods are not appropriate. In this paper, we concentrate on fathoming the characterization issue over encoded information. Specifically, we propose a safe k-NN classifier over scrambled information in the cloud. The proposed convention ensures the classification of information, security of client's data inquiry, and shrouds the information access designs. To the best of our learning, our work is the first to add to a safe k-NN classifier over scrambled information under the semi-legitimate model. Additionally, we exactly dissect the effectiveness of our proposed convention utilizing a genuine dataset under diverse parameter settings.
Three dimensional strain distribution of wrinkled silicon nanomembranes fabricated by rolling-transfer technique

This paper introduces a simple transfer technique named as rolling-transfer technology to transfer Si nanomembranes to pre-stressed elastomers with nearly 100% transfer efficiency. When transferred onto the elastomeric substrate, wave-like wrinkled Si nanomembranes with uniform periodicity and amplitude are formed. The three dimensional (3-D) strain distribution of the wrinkled Si nanomembranes has been investigated in detail through the micro-Raman mapping using two excited laser wavelengths. The sinusoidal bulking geometry of Si nanomembrane results in a periodical strain alternation along x direction, while a homogenous strain distribution in y direction. The inhomogeneous strain distribution along z direction can be interpreted with the physical model considering the shift of the neutral mechanical plane, which is qualitatively determined by the Von Karman elastic nonlinear plate theory, including the bending effect and the shear forces existing at the Si nanomembrane/elastomeric substrate interface.
Directing Corporate Entrepreneurship Strategy in the Public Sector to Public Value: Antecedents, Components, and Outcomes

ABSTRACT Over the last three decades, organizations worldwide have used corporate entrepreneurship (CE) as a means of building new competencies, revitalizing operations, achieving renewal, and/or creating value for stakeholders. However, little is understood about factors triggering corporate entrepreneurship strategy (CES) within organizations not driven by profit motives. The purpose of this article is to conceptualize CES in the public sector in order to synthesize, integrate, and link the key concepts within the CE domain, thereby creating new public value and generating new economic activity for the benefit of multiple stakeholders. The public sector CES model includes (1) the antecedents of public sector CES (external environmental conditions that generate entrepreneurial activity); (2) the key components of CES (entrepreneurial strategic vision, organizational conditions that support entrepreneurial processes and behavior, entrepreneurial orientation (EO) that reflects the overall level of such processes and behavior, and individual levels of entrepreneurial behavior); and (3) outcomes of CES within the public sector (organizational outcomes resulting from entrepreneurial actions, including the development of venturing and renewal that, in turn, leads to enhanced public value). We discuss how our model contributes to the CE literature, followed by implications for scholars and practice and future research directions.
CONTROLLING GOVERNMENT SPENDING AND DEFICITS: TRENDS IN THE 1980s AND PROSPECTS FOR THE 1990s

Introduction . 146 1. The evolution of general government net borrowing/lending in the 1980s. 147 II. Revenue trends in the 1980s . 153 111. General government expenditures in the 1980s . 154 A. Total expenditures . 154 B. The changing structure of government expenditure . 157 C. Government salaries and employment . 161 D. Merit goods and social transfer spending . 168 E. Summary of main findings . 173 IV. Challenges for the 1990s . 175 A. Expenditure pressures in the 1990s. 175 B. Policy issues for the 1990s . 178 Annex 7: Method underlying Table 3 . 183
Butein Inhibited In Vitro Hexokinase-2-Mediated Tumor Glycolysis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Blocking Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR)

Background Anaerobic glycolysis is an important physiological process of all cancer cells. Butein has been reported to demonstrate substantial antitumor activities in various cancers. However, the effect of butein on tumor glycolysis remains unclear. In this study, the effect of butein on tumor glycolysis and the underlying mechanism were investigated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Material/Methods Cell proliferation assay and anchorage-independent growth assay were carried out to evaluate the antitumor activities of butein in vitro. The effect of butein on tumor glycolysis was determined by examining the changes in glucose uptake and lactate production. Hexokinase-2 (HK-2) expression in HCC cells upon butein treatment was analyzed by Western blotting. The activity of butein on EGFR signaling pathway was studied and its potency in EGFR exogenous overexpression cells was investigated. Results After butein treatment, HCC cell proliferation was significantly inhibited (91.4% in Hep3B and 88.2% in Huh-7 at 80 μM, p<0.001). Moreover, the number of colonies formed in the agar was substantially decreased (93.8% in Hep3B and 72.3% in Huh-7 at 80 μM, p<0.001). With the suppression of HK-2 expression, glucose consumption in Hep3B and Huh-7 cells decreased by 48.4% and 56.3%, respectively (p<0.01), and the lactate production also was reduced accordingly (39.5% in Hep3B and 48.6% in Huh-7, p<0.01). Mechanism investigations demonstrated that butein dose-dependently blocked the activation of the EGFR signaling pathway in HCC cells. In EGFR exogenous overexpression cells, the glycolysis suppression exerted by butein was substantially attenuated. Conclusions Butein has a substantial inhibitory effect on tumor glycolysis in HCC cells, and the glycolysis suppression exerted by butein is closely related to its effect on the EGFR signaling pathway.
What do Dosimetric Errors Encountered in Prostate Implant Brachytherapy tell us about α/β?

Objective: To determine the α/β ratio of prostate cancer using the linear quadratic model taking into account different radiation prescription doses and RBE for low energy gamma rays. Methods and material: The linear quadratic model was used to evaluate the α/β ratio for prostate cancer taking into account the dosimetric errors resulting from seed displacements in prostate permanent implant brachytherapy with 125I and 103Pd. The study assessed the variability of the α/β ratio with different prescribed external beam radiation therapy doses and published values of the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for both 125I and 103Pd. The biological effective dose (BED) for prostate implant brachytherapy was equated to the external beam radiation therapy dose to derive an equation for α/β ratio. Results: The results showed that the α/β ratio for prostate cancer varied between 1 and 4.5 for an RBE of 1.0 when an external beam dose of 78.0 Gy was prescribed. When published values of RBEs were incorporated into the analysis, the α/β ratio varied between 0.37 and 4.4. The α/β ratio changed by 30% when the external beam radiation dose was increased from 72 Gy to 80 Gy. Conclusions: Assuming an average reduction in implanted seeds brachytherapy dose between 10–20% using 125I or 103Pd, the realistic value of the α/β ratio for prostate tumors likely lies between 0.7 and 2.0.
Glioblastoma recurrence correlates with NLGN3 levels

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive glioma in the brain. Recurrence of GBM is almost inevitable within a short term after tumor resection. In a retrospective study of 386 cases of GBM collected between 2013 and 2016, we found that recurrence of GBM mainly occurs in the deep brain regions, including the basal ganglia, thalamus, and corpus callosum. But the mechanism underlying this phenomenon is not clear. Previous studies suggest that neuroligin‐3 (NLGN3) is necessary for GBM growth. Our results show that the levels of NLGN3 in the cortex are higher than those in the deep regions in a normal human brain, and similar patterns are also found in a normal mouse brain. In contrast, NLGN3 levels in the deep brain regions of GBM patients are high. We also show that an increase in NLGN3 concentration promotes the growth of U251 cells and U87‐MG cells. Respective use of the cortex neuron culture medium (C‐NCM) and basal ganglia neuron culture medium (BG‐NCM) with DMEM to cultivate U251, U87‐MG and GBM cells isolated from patients, we found that these cells grew faster after treatment with C‐NCM and BG‐NCM in which the cells treated with C‐NCM grew faster than the ones treated with BG‐NCM group. Inhibition of NLGN3 release by ADAM10i prevents NCM‐induced cell growth. Together, this study suggests that increased levels of NLGN3 in the deep brain region under the GBM pathological circumstances may contribute to GBM recurrence in the basal ganglia, thalamus, and corpus callosum.