Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between Mast Cells and Autoimmune Diseases

Mast Cells (MCs) are no longer considered as only effectors cell in allergic disorders, but also as important modulators of innate and adaptive immune responses. Increased numbers of MCs together with signs of their degranulation at sites of inflammation and tissue injury have been shown in studies of both human disease and animal models of autoimmune disorders. Despite this substantial evidence, MCs role in autoimmunity is still on debate. MCs can regulate the recruitment, survival and function of many immune cells. Therefore, they are able to enhance or suppress the initiation, magnitude and/ or continuance of immune responses in autoimmune conditions. Further studies are essential to gain a more detailed understanding of MCs participation in autoimmunity. Targeting MC may be of value in future prevention and treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Free-to-Play Games: Professionals’ Perspectives

This paper investigates the free-to-play revenue model from the perspective of game professionals. To court larger player audiences and to address their wide willingness-topay spectrum, game developers have increasingly adopted the free-to-play revenue model. However, at the same time, worrying concerns over the revenue model have been voiced, deeming it as exploitative and unethical. We investigated this contrast by conducting an interview study. We employed thematic qualitative text analysis process with the data containing 14 interviews with game professionals about their views on the model. The results show that the free-to-play model is something that developers view favorably while it was felt that the public writing about the games can be negative, even hostile. Relatively few ethical problems were seen that would address the whole model while for instance the combination of children and free-to-play was seen as problematic. Even with some concerns at the moment, the future of the free-to-play games was seen bright.
A Simple Approach for Representation of Gene Regulatory Networks (GRN)

Gene expressions are controlled by a series of processes known as Gene Regulation, and their abstract mapping is represented by Gene Regulatory Network (GRN) which is a descriptive model of gene interactions. Reverse engineering GRNs can reveal the complexity of gene interactions whose comprehension can lead to several other details. RNA-seq data provides better measurement of gene expressions, however it is difficult to infer GRNs using it because of its discreteness. Multiple other methods have already been proposed to infer GRN using RNA-seq data, but these methodologies are difficult to grasp. In this paper, a simple model is presented to infer GRNs, using RNA-seq based coexpression map provided by GeneFriends database, and a graph-based database tool is used to create regulatory network. The obtained results show that it is convenient to use graph database tools to work with regulatory networks instead of developing a new model from scratch.
Reachability and Controllability of Delayed Switched Boolean Control Networks

In this paper we investigate the reachability and controllability of delayed switched Boolean control networks (DSBCNs). By resorting to the algebraic state space representation method built using semi-tensor product (STP) of matrices, we provide several necessary and sufficient conditions for these properties to hold which are based on input-state incidence matrix carrying entire network dynamics information. Also, to realize the reachability of DSBCNs in shortest time, an algorithm is presented which finds switching and control sequences forcing initial state trajectory to destination state. At last, an example is given to illustrate the main results.
APA-VANT: UM SISTEMA MULTI VANT PARA O MONITORAMENTO DE ÁREA DE PROTEÇÃO AMBIENTAL

— This paper presents a proposal for a multi-UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) system to monitor the Environmental Protection Area (EPA). EPAs are limited regions that aim the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems. However, controlling illegal anthropogenic actions is a hard activity, so monitoring actions are necessary. In this way, the speciﬁcation of a communication architecture made by UAVs network through XBee modules is presented. A computer vision system strategy are proposed in order to detect cars in dune areas where the access is restricted. A brief description is made about the initial information from the construction of the system. As results, the conﬁguring possibility from the communication system and the behavior of communication link are presented. It was found that the XBee S3 module allowed a distance between communication nodes were 6 km without decrease the system performance. Resumo— Este trabalho apresenta uma proposta para um sistema multi-VANT (Ve´ıculo A´ereo n˜ao Tripulado) para monitoramento de ´area de prote¸c˜ao ambiental. APAs s˜ao regi˜oes limitadas que visam a conserva¸c˜ao dos recursos naturais e ecossistemas. Entretanto, controlar a¸c˜oes antr´opicas ilegais ´e um problema, dessa forma, faz-se necess´ario a¸c˜oes de monitoramento. Para tal ´e apresentada a especiﬁca¸c˜ao de uma arquitetura de comunica¸c˜ao entre VANTs dentro de uma rede por meio de m´odulos XBee. ´E proposto tamb´em uma estrat´egia para elabora¸c˜ao de um sistema de vis˜ao computacional com intuito de detectar carros em ´areas de dunas com acesso restrito, nesse sentido ´e feito uma breve descri¸c˜ao com informa¸c˜oes iniciais para sua constru¸c˜ao. Como resultados foram apresentadas as poss´ıveis formas de conﬁgura¸c˜ao do sistema de comunica¸c˜ao e o comportamento do link de comunica¸c˜ao em diferentes modelos de propaga¸c˜ao. Constatou-se que o m´odulo XBee S3 permite uma distˆancia entre os pontos de comunica¸c˜ao de at´e 6 km sem comprometer o desempenho do sistema. Palavras-chave— Ve´ıculos A´ereos N˜ao Tripulados, Monitoramento, ´Area de Prote¸c˜ao Ambiental.
Genetically modified IFN-alpha for gene therapy treatment of squamous cell carcinoma

In the last twenty years, interferon-α (IFN-α) has gained success as an immunotherapy for treating such cancers as hairy cell leukemia, malignant melanoma, and renal cell cancer. Our goal was to improve the effectiveness of IFN-α therapy by genetically modified the IFNα gene to encode a tumor-targeting peptide fused to a functional IFN-α protein. To ensure the targeting peptide worked, a genetically modified reporter gene encoding a secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) gene and different mini-peptides were used to determine distribution and targeting ability. The DNA fragment encoding the most effective peptide was selected to modify the IFN-α gene construct for therapeutic trials. This fusion gene encoded the peptide with the amino acid sequence of C-D-G-R-C, and demonstrated a higher localization of the genetically modified gene product in the tumor local area. Tumor volume and animal survival was measured over several weeks to compare the anti-tumor effects of the IFN-α to CDGRCIFN-α treatments. Results indicate an increase in therapeutic efficacy due to treatment with the CDGRC-IFN-α gene over the wild-type IFN-α gene. Flow cytometry was performed and it was determined that both of the tumor targeted gene products, CDGRC-SEAP and CNGRC-SEAP share a high affinity for the receptor, Aminopeptidase N (CD13). In order to determine the mechanism responsible for the enhanced anti-tumor effect by CDGRC-IFN-α gene therapy, the T cell infiltration, subsequent CTL activity, and tumor vessel density were confirmed through immunostaining. An increase in number of CD8 T cells was seen, as well as an increase in activity of cytotoxic T cells. Decreased vessel density in CDGRC-IFN-α treated animals suggest that this therapy enhanced anti-angiogenesis. A high level of nonspecific activity was detected in the CTL assay, suggesting involvement of other immune
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Relative resources and moving from the joint home around divorce

We investigated the influence of relative resources on who moves from the marital home around divorce: the man, the woman, or both ex-partners. The likelihood of moving was expected to be smaller with greater relative resources. The study used register data from the Social Statistical Database for the Netherlands and multinomial logistic regression models. We found an asymmetrical effect of relative income: all else being equal, the woman was more likely to move out if her share of the couple’s income was less than half, but hardly less likely if it was greater than half. The woman was particularly likely to move out if the couple’s home was owner-occupied. Regardless of gender, the older one ex-partner was compared with the other, the less likely that ex-partner was to leave. Moves by both ex-partners were not influenced by relative resources. But they occurred less frequently with higher ages (and thus with longer partnership durations) and with the presence of children in the couple’s household. They also occurred less frequently when the couple lived in an owner-occupied home.
Investor's sentiment in predicting the Effective Federal Funds Rate

In this article we study if investor's sentiment measured by an intensity of Google searches may be used to predict future changes of the Effective Federal Funds rate. We find that online searches for â€œfed funds rateâ€ , â€œfed interest rateâ€ , â€œfed reserveâ€ , â€œfed reserve rateâ€ and â€œfederal interest rateâ€ are associated with next week decrease of the Effective Federal Funds Rate. Google searches for â€œfed rate hikeâ€ and â€œfed raise ratesâ€ are associated with next week increase of the Effective Federal Funds Rate even after we control for a number of macroeconomic indicators. We also find that intensity of Google searches is associated with the future decrease of volatility of the Effective Federal Funds rate. This finding can be explained by the reduction of information asymmetry about future changes that leads to a reduced volatility.
Black Hole Detection Scheme in WSN forMobile Replica Node Detection and Rejection

Security of wireless sensor network is a major concern in military, business and environmental applications. The replica nodes are controlled by the adversary, but have keying materials that allow them to behave like authorized participants in the network. Sequential Probability Ratio Test (SPRT) uses the fact that an uncompromised mobile node should never move at speed in excess of the system-configured maximum speed and it fails when the replica nodes fails to provide signed location and time information for speed measurement. This is overcome by employing a quarantine defense technique to block non complaint nodes. Black hole detection technique can be implemented, thereby enabling the effective detection of static and mobile replica nodes. This is realized using Network Simutator-2.
Cr/Al Oxide as Solid Acid Catalyst to Afford Babassu Biodisel

2g -1 ), pore size (7.0 µm), total acidity (182.28 µmol g -1 ), wherein Bronsted sites are the most active. Powder X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) show three phases of the catalyst (Cr2O3/Na2Cr2O3/Al2O3), 0.25:0.25:0.50, respectively. The reaction reached conversion about 98.6% under the conditions: alcohol/oil molar ratio (24:1), catalyst to oil mass ratio of 3.0%, 15 h and 70 oC. The turnover frequency (TOF) found was 24.5 × 10 -4 s -1 . Kinetic of the reaction was researched over a temperature range of 60-80 oC. A pseudo first-order model was proposed with the activation energy (Ea) of 49.18 kJ mol -1 . CRAL is active in the biodiesel production for just one cycle, because in the second one it loses its activity. The leaching of catalyst is about 13%, demonstrating that the catalyst is not totally heterogeneous.
A Regional Experience on Providing Comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health for Most-at-Risk Adolescents and Young People

The article aims to evaluate the current state of sexual and reproductive health policy regarding sexual and reproductive health service and reproductive rights for most at risk adolescent/youth. The training of trainers and local trainings present the nature of major challenges in service provision and the quality of services in the light of findings from international trainings conducted in Turkey and Tajikistan. The process of course development and feedback from participants was in focus of attention. The major findings of the study show that the past 10 years have seen unprecedented commitments to global health and development became known as the Millennium Development Goals with their corresponding set of time-bound targets. Greater attention to adolescence Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights is needed if global health targets are to be met. However, for specific target group as most-at-risk adolescents and young people the access to the quality comprehensive package of reproductive health services is not reality yet. In this article we present the most-at-risk adolescent/young people trends, health service needs and in service trainings on providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Eastern European and Central Asia countries based on official bodies statements, researchers evidences and acquired experience. The main conclusion is that healthcare providers and services providers, those who work with most-at-risk populations, vulnerable groups of young people, have to be trained to be able to meet the specific needs of most-at-risk adolescents and young people, to respond to their needs and to ensure sexual and reproductive health services and rights. These special trainings are definitely relevant to target populations, especially most at risk adolescents and young people in the Eastern European and Central Asia Region.
Pharmacological potential of cactus pear (Opuntia ficus Indica): A review

Plants with strong bioactive constituents have recently gained much interest for improving overall well being as well as for prevention and treatment of various diseases. The presence of potentially active constituents in cactus pear and their multifunctional action, make cactus pear (Opuntia ficus Indica) idealcandidate for theproduction of health-promoting foods and pharmacologicals. Despite the appreciation by its pharmacological property in different counties, cactus pear is still scarcely used in modern nutrition and medicine. However, recent studies on cactus pear revealedthat the different parts of the plant to be potential candidates for the development of healthy foods and pharmaceuticals. Hence, this review is intended to summarize recent developments of the use of cactus for diverse pharmacological importance.
Cloud computing: analysing the trade-off between user comfort and autonomy

This article presents a general analysis of how user autonomy in cloud computing is increasingly put into jeopardy by the growing comfort and efficiency of the user-interface. Although this issue has not been, thus far, explicitly addressed by law, it is a fundamental ethical question that should be carefully assessed to guide the future deployment of cloud services. Different policy decisions might, in fact, significantly affect user’s fundamental rights and online freedoms by shifting the balance from one part of the trade-off to the other. This article aims to explore emerging trends in cloud computing technologies and analyse them from an ethical perspective. among other in order to identify the issues they might raise, and the extent to which current laws and regulations take these issues into account.
Comparison of the Characteristics of Solid Type and Annular Type Nuclear Fuels Using Thermoelastic-Plastic-Creep FEM

The purpose of this study is to compare the characteristics of two types of nuclear fuel using the finite element program of thermoelastic-plastic-creep analysis. The analyzed fuel rods are of two types, solid and annular ones, and their thermomechanical characteristics are compared. Thermoelastic-plastic-creep analyses were made using an in-house finite element analysis program that adopts the “effective-stress-function” algorithm. The temperature-dependent material properties, which were obtained from the experiments for actual nuclear reactors, are adopted. The effects of type of fuel systems are revealed in both stresses and temperature distributions. The maximum tensile and compressive hoop stress of pellet and cladding are monitored to evaluate the mechanical behavior, and the maximum temperature is used to evaluate the thermal behavior. Although the annular type of fuel has certain disadvantage, it would be used very effectively or safely in future nuclear power plants.
The city model as a tool for participatory urban planning – a case study: The Bilotti open air museum of Cosenza

The paper describes the implementation of the 3D city model of the pedestrian area of Cosenza, which in recent years has become the Bilotti Open Air Museum (MAB). For this purpose were used both the data available (regional technical map, city maps, orthophotos) and acquired through several surveys of buildings and "Corso Mazzini" street (photos, topographic measurements, laser scanner point clouds). In addition to the urban scale model, the survey of the statues of the MAB was carried out. By means of data processing, the models of the same statues have been created, that can be used as objects within the city model. The 3D model of the MAB open air museum has been used to implement a Web-GIS allowing the citizen's participation, understanding and suggestions. The 3D city model is intended as a new tool for urban planning, therefore it has been used both for representing the current situation of the MAB and for design purposes, by acknowledging suggestions regarding a possible different location of the statues and a new way to enjoy the museum.
Is chronic rapeseed oil diet more neuroprotective than chronic corn/sunflower diet? - Evaluation by audiogenic seizure test in magnesium-deficient mice (MDDAS)

: Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and specifically omega3 have been shown to exert a potent protecting effect on both cardiac and neuronal functions. Rapeseed oil contains 9% of alphalinolenic acid (18-3n-3, ALA), whereas corn and sunflower oils (18:2n-6, linoleic acid rich) do not. The aim of the present study was to compare in mice the putative protective effects of ALA, by testing two chronic diets containing either rapeseed oil (ALA rich) or a corn/sunflower blend (devoided of ALA) using an epilepsy model, allowing the detection of neurotoxic or neuroprotective activities: the MDDAS test (Magnesium Deficiency-Dependent Audiogenic Seizure test). After a 30 day-Mg-deprivation period, neuronal hyperexcitability appeared only in the corn/sunflower fed group, suggesting a protecting effect of the rapeseed oil. The number of convulsive mice was twice reduced in the rapeseed group and all of them recovered whereas in the corn/sunflower group all the mice had seizures and 43% died. The pattern of seizures with the rapeseed diet showed an increase in the first two step durations (latency and wild running), and a non significant slight decrease in the third (convulsions) and the fourth (recovery) ones. These results suggest a GABAergic-like effect. The increases in the first 2 phases were also indicative of a likely effect on Na + channels, which was also observed using the maximum electroshock seizure test. These preliminary results indicate that adapted chronic dietary intake of rapeseed oil, an ALA rich monounsaturated oil, could help to control neuronal disorders as here shown in our model of magnesium-deficient mice.
THE USE OF CRYPTO-ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES FOR SECURING INTERNET TRANSACTIONS IN NIGERIA: CONCEPTS ISSUES

Internet Transactions is growing at a rapid rate and has broken the territorial and geographical barriers that characterized traditional commerce. Despite the great potentials of internet transactions, security issues in Nigeria constitute a major challenge to its growth. More people could have embraced it but are constrained by security concerns, such as their personal and credit card information being intercepted by unauthorized persons (hackers). In this paper, the use of crypto-analysis techniques for securing internet transactions and applications was considered, and symmetric encryption technique was recommended to combine with other techniques, such as client-side software, data transaction protocols, web server software, and the network server operating system involved in handling e-commerce, for securing internet transaction. This recommendation will invariable ensure that internet transaction is secured.
Isolation, Screening, Characterization of PGPR of Lentils Lens culinaris

In plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are soil bacteria that colonize plant roots and improve their growth by different ways. The main aim of the present study was the isolation and the characterization of the rhizospheric bacterial strains belonging to the genus of Bacillus, which were responsible for the growth of Lens culinaris. For this purpose, five samples of soils were collected from several region of Sidi Bel Abbes located, located in North West of Algeria such as Ain Temouchent, Tessala, ITCMI, Sfisef and Kaid Belarbi, which were investigated for their capability of promoting plant growth of Lens culinaris. Twenty four bacterial strains belonging the of the genus of Bacillus were isolated and initially selected by the study of germination process in vitro by the determination of some parameters such as root length, stem length, dry weight and fresh grain weight like the B8, B11, B14 and B15. Furthermore, the isolated, selected promoting growth bacterial strains were subsequently characterized by the study of indol-2-acetic acid (IAA) production, phosphate solubilization, nitrogen assimilation and screened for their antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum. The obtained results indicated that the isolated, selected bacterial strains (B15, B10) has manifested a excellent antagonistic activity against Fusarium oxysporum, with a maximal diameter of inhibition zone 50, 50 mm respectively. Whereas, the both isolates (B5, B6) have showed a average, with a maximal diameter of inhibition zone 25, 25 mm respectively. Moreover, the isolated, selected bacterial strains (B4, B7, B12) has indicated the lowest antagonistic activity against Fusarium oxysporum, with a diameter of inhibition zone of 10 mm. Furthermore, the both selected bacterial (B4, B15) were further characterized by the phosphorus solubilization with the varied Furthermore, the results revealed that the isolated strains presented similar characteristics to the genus of Bacillus sp, where both isolated, selected bacterial strains B7 and B15 has presented an excellent effect for promotion germination of Lens culinaris
Alcohol and the Asian flush reaction

A substantial proportion of Asian populations suffer from the ‘Asian flush reaction’, which is characterized by adverse reactions upon the consumption of alcohol. Common symptoms include heart facial flushing, heart palpitations, and nausea. These negative reactions are caused by a genetically polymorphic aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzyme that is deficient and fails to break down acetaldehyde, causing an inability to metabolize standard alcohol. The accumulated acetaldehyde in the human body results in serious health consequences for Asian American populations. This targeted population faces an increased risk of developing disease including colorectal cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and markedly head and neck cancers. Western social and cultural trends in alcohol use among Asian American youths demonstrate a great influence by social pressures to consume alcohol. Due to severity of the public health implications, it is important to educate and raise awareness of this health risk and explore a harm reducing method in order to facilitate safe alcohol consumption for affected individuals.