Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of Silver Nanoparticle Toxicity

The rapidly growing field of nanotechnology holds great promise for scientific advancement in many sectors such as medicine, consumer products, energy, and materials. In general terms, nanotechnology covers engineered structures, devices, and systems that have a length scale between 1 and 100 nanometers. At this size, materials begin to exhibit unique properties that affect physical, chemical, and biological behavior. However, the same characteristics which make nanomaterials attractive for exploitation in new products have led to concerns that nanomaterials may pose a risk for humans and the environment. Specific concerns have been raised about the possible toxicity of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) supported by studies which indicated that NPs are more toxic than larger particles on a mass for mass basis. As a consequence of their small size, NPs have a very high surface to volume ratio rendering them potentially more reactive than larger particles. Accordingly, there are strong indications that particle surface area and surface chemistry are responsible for the observed responses in cell cultures and animals. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are among the most commonly utilized nanomaterials due to their anti-microbial properties, high electrical conductivity, and optical properties. Information about the mechanisms involved in the cytotoxicity of Ag NPs is important in order to evaluate the potential hazards posed by these particles. Several studies have suggested oxidative stress plays a major role in NP toxicity. But, to what degree and by which mechanism Ag NPs cause oxidative stress in cells is unresolved. The present paper attempts to critically review the present knowledge about the underlying factors and mechanisms which may influence Ag NP toxicity
Modified Betweenness Centrality to Identify Relay Nodes in Data Networks

Several types of data networks require relay nodes to transmit data because the nodes would impact on services with the networks. Betweenness centrality is one of the measures that reveal important nodes for a network topology. However, the measure does not specialized in relay nodes of survivable networks. This paper proposes a evaluation method to designate the relay nodes in the network modifying betweenness centrality for relay nodes and survivability. In our simulation, we used two routing algorithms for the survivability of the network and compared the modified measure applying each algorithm with original betweenness centrality. The simulation results show that our approach estimates features different from the original does. The different implies that our method is effective to identify relay nodes. Keywords–Betweenness centrality; Graph theory; Data networks
ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES ON SOME HEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS DURING THE WOUND HEALING IN MICE

Background: Although nanosilver (Ag-NPs) has long been used to treat wounds, little attention has been paid to the toxicity of nanosilver wound dressing. This study aimed to examine the effect of nanosilver used for wound healing on some hematological parameters. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 50 BALB/c mice were randomly allocated into the treatment and control groups (n=25). After creating similar wound on the back of all animals, the wound bed in the treatment and control groups was treated with a volume of 50 microliters nanosilver solution (10ppm), and distilled water. Afterwards, the mean percentage reduction in wound area was determined at the end of each week by measuring the wound area at 0, 7 and 14 days post-wounding. MCV, distribution range of RBC, hematocrit and the number of blood cells were measured for both groups. Results: By the end of the second week, a significant reduction was observed in the mean wound area in the treatment group. In treatment group, the number of white blood cells was increased; however, no significant changes in the number of RBCs and other blood parameters were observed. Conclusion: Application of nanosilver wound dressing not only can accelerate healing process, but also can stimulate the immune system with no adverse effect on some hematological parameters.
Retirement Savings: A Tale of Decisions and Defaults

We examine the behavior of members of an industry-wide pension fund to assess both the prevalence of defaults and their impact on retirement savings. Our empirical investigations show that preferences, demographic characteristics and labor mobility matter greatly when it comes to the low active plan choice (or high defaulting) and overall level of pension bene ts. Using a structural dynamic life-cycle model, we then evaluate the ability of these empirically motivated factors to explain retirement savings patterns. In our model, individuals decide how much to save in a setting that combines an irreversible automatic enrolment with an active decision regime. After automatic enrolment, there is an initial choice between two pension plans (de fined benefi t vs. defi ned contribution), and then members decide (possibly by default) their voluntary contributions and type of investment allocation. We estimate the model using the simulated method of moments on administrative data from a large Australian pension fund. Our results show that default settings strongly influence wealth accumulation. Such settings are also highly persistent, both over time and across decisions. Overall, our findings suggest that if defaults (particularly the irreversible ones) are not carefully designed, retirement savings can be severely a ffected.
How big is the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) yield gap in Sub-Saharan Africa and why? A participatory approach

Abstract According to potato experts from ten Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries working together in a community of practice (CoP) over a 3-years period, potato farmers across SSA can increase their current annual production of 10.8 million metric tons by 140% if they had access to high quality seed along with improved management practices. This paper describes this innovative new methodology tested on potato for the first time, combining modelling and a comprehensive online survey through a CoP. The intent was to overcome the paucity of experimental information required for crop modelling. Researchers, whose data contributed to estimating model parameters, participated in the study using Solanum, a crop model developed by the International Potato Center (CIP). The first finding was that model parameters estimated through participatory modelling using experts’ knowledge were good approximations of those obtained experimentally. The estimated yield gap was 58 Mg ha-1, of which 35 corresponded to a research gap (potential yield minus research yield) and 24 to farmers’ gap (research yield minus farmer’s yield). Over a 6-month period, SurveyMonkey, a Web-based platform was used to assess yield gap drivers. The survey revealed that poor quality seed and bacterial wilt were the main yield gap drivers as perceived by survey respondents.
Design of Low Power Wireless Sensor Network Node with Component Activity Profile

A multi hop wireless sensor network is composed of large number of nodes and consecutive link between them. Wireless sensor network normally consist of large number of distributed nodes. In WSN one of the main problems is related to power issue because every node is operated by external battery. To have a large network life time all nodes need to minimize their power consumption. Node is composed of small battery so energy associated with this is very less so replacing or refilling of battery is not possible which is very costly. Hence some technique are applied through which power associated with each node can be conserved. In this paper we proposed design for implementation of wireless sensor network protocol for low power consumption by using power gating signal.
The effect of exercise and diet on rat skeletal muscle phospholipid molecular species profile: an electrospray ionisation mass spectrometric analysis

Morrissey B, Thomas MC, Mitchell TW, Ung AT, Pine SG & Blanksby SJ (2004) Negative ion phospholipid fragmentation: a mechanistic and regiochemical study. Proc. LII American Society for Mass Spectrometry (Nashville). ThPI 148. Mitchell TW, Blanksby SJ, Turner N, Else PL & Hulbert AJ (2003) Electrospray ionization mass spectrometric analysis of skeletal muscle lipid species: A powerful new tool in the exercise sciences. Proc. Exercise, Muscle and Metabolism (Melbourne). p 49. Mitchell TW, Hick LA, Blanksby SJ, Sheil MM, Turner N, Else PL & Hulbert AJ (2003) ESI-MS analysis of skeletal muscle phospholipids from sedentary and exercised rats. Proc. XIX Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry (Lorne). p 106. Turner N, Lee JS, Hawley JA, Blanksby SJ, Else PL, Hulbert AJ & Mitchell TW (2003) Effect of exercise on the fatty acid profile and molecular species composition of rat skeletal muscle phospholipids. Proc. Exercise, Muscle and Metabolism (Melbourne). p 55.
The Effect of Rapport in Forensic Interviewing

The psychological literature suggests that establishing rapport between interviewer and subject — whether in clinical, experimental or forensic settings — is likely to enhance the quality of the interaction. Yet there are surprisingly few studies that test this assumption. This article reports a study of the effect of rapport on eyewitness recall of a dramatic videotaped event by creating three interviewer-attitude conditions — “rapport”, “neutral” and “abrupt”. Participants were randomly assigned to the three conditions, and recall was elicited by two methods — free narrative and a semi-structured questionnaire. The results indicate participants in the rapport interview recalled more correct information, and the same amount of incorrect information as participants in the other two conditions. However, prompting via the semi-structured questionnaire yielded additional correct as well as incorrect information for the neutral and abrupt conditions. The results are discussed for their relevance to interviews conducted in forensic settings, and to highlight the need for more specific and improved interview training for police and other justice personnel.
Project UNITY: Cross Domain Visualization Collaboration

Abstract : Distributed collaboration research and applications have created the capability for documents, images, whiteboardsand computer displays to be shared by one of more collaborants. Commercial offerings from companies like Google,Adobe, Microsoft, IBM, and others offer a simplistic subset of access protocols and sharing methodologies. Whilethese methods work effectively for their purposes, the Department of Defense and their partners have limited capabilityto use them due to policy and security issues, which are especially stressed during coalition operations. This paperdescribes visualization collaboration issues and solutions for the forthcoming international experiment, project UNITY.The major difference between traditional Relaxed What You See Is What I See systems available today that provide aseparate private workspace is that the UNITY project situates private content in-situ with shared content while ensuringthat the operators understand the difference.
Simultaneous Coordinated Tuning of PSSs Using Artificial Fish-Swarm Algorithm

Artificial Fish-Swarm Algorithm (AFSA) is a novel method to search global optimum, which is typical application of behaviorism in artificial intelligence. This paper presents the use of AFSA as a new method for simultaneous coordinated turning of power system stabilizers (PSSs) to enhance small-signal stability in multi- machine system. Using the linearized system model and the parameter-constrained optimization algorithm, the parameters of PSSs are tuned simultaneously. The performance of the proposed PSSs under different loading conditions is investigated. The eigenvalue analysis and the nonlinear simulation results show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed PSSs to damp out the local as well as the inter-area modes of oscillations over a wide range of loading conditions. The method is applied for coordinated tuning of 15 PSSs in a practical system.
On Pseudo-Random Oracles

ABSTRACT Many cryptographic systems which involve hash functions have proof of their security in a so called random oracle model. Behavior of hash functions used in such cryptographic systems should be as close as possible to the behavior of a random function. There are several properties of hash functions dealing with a random behavior. A hash function is pseudo-random oracle if it is indifferentiable from a random oracle. However, it is well known that hash functions based on the popular Merkle-Damg˚ard domain extension transform do not satisfy the pseudo-random oracle property. On the other hand no attack is known for many concrete applications utilizing Merkle-Damg˚ard hash functions. Hence, a weakened notion called public-use pseudo random oracle was introduced. The property can be met by the Merkle-Damg˚ard construction and is sufficient for several important applications. A hash function is public use pseudo-random oracle if it is indifferentiable from a random oracle with public messages (i.e., all messages hashed so far are available to all parties). This is the case of most hash based signature schemes. In this paper we analyze relationship between the property pseudo-random oracle and its variant public image pseudo-random oracle. Roughly, a hash function is public image pseudo-random oracle if it is indifferentiable from a random oracle with public images (i.e., all images of messages hashed so far are available to all parties, messages are kept secret). We prove that the properties are equivalent.
Bidimensional quality competition and scope economies

In markets where product quality is important, more than one characteristic is usually necessary to define product quality and the amelioration of the goods characteristics is usually costly. Then, properties of production technologies, in particular if they exhibit economies or diseconomies of scope in producing quality along several dimensions, should matter for the industry configuration at equilibrium. To date, however, the literature has neglected the issue. We analyze a duopoly model where two characteristics can be used to vertically differentiate the products. Our results are that the existence of economies of scope (resp. diseconomies of scope) leads to the emergence of a quality leader in all dimensions (resp. to a different quality leader in each characteristic).
Communication Pattern and Conflict in Agricultural Extension

This paper deals with communication patterns and conflict in agricultural extension. A strong assumption is that, extension could be expected to enhance agricultural and rural development, but an appropriate communication pattern and conflict in extension remains unsolved. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are three-folds, namely (a) to identify the social processes among actors in implementation of social engineering-based extension and social learning-based extension, (b) to map the communication patterns in agricultural extension, and (iii) to analyze the conflicting functions in agricultural extension. This study uses a Comparative Case Studies Method by focusing on social engineering and social learning in agricultural extension, using a Purposive Sampling Technique. The sample consists of government oficial (including extension officer), private sector, researcher and farmer groups. The results show that (i) social process among actors in agricultural extension based on social engineering is more project-oriented (dissociative), while social process in social learning-based extension tends to be cooperation-oriented due to the same interest in achieving goal of programs, especially skill and knowledge improvement (associative), (ii) communication in social engineering-based extension is a linier pattern (top down), while communication in social learning-based extension is using a convergent (participatory) pattern, (iii) conflict in agricultural extension based on social engineering is generally latent (hidden) and will eventually explode and impede extension, impacting group unsolidarity, while in extension based on social learning, conflict generally are on the surface (manifest), and the accommodation is one way to solve. A major implication of these findings is the stepping up of agricultural extension (based on social learning process) which becomes a push factor towards independency group in finding new innovation. The research suggests that social learning-based extension should be developed as a potential way to sustain an important role of extension in agricultural and rural development.
Gifts, down payments, and housing affordability

Recent evidence shows that homeownership rates among young households have declined substantially since the mid 1980s. Although factors such as late household formation and the increasing user cost of housing are contributing factors, reduced affordability is also a concern. Aggregate data indicate that first-time buyers are relying more heavily on gifts from relatives and less on own savings in accumulating the down payment. ; This paper explores the role of gifts in helping first-time buyers purchase a home using data from two different sources: surveys of recent home buyers in 18 cities between 1988 and 1993, and 1990 Boston loan applicants. The evidence shows that financial constraints are important in explaining the increased reliance on gifts, with the receipt of a gift being negatively related to income and wealth, and positively related to the one-year rate of appreciation of house prices. The evidence is mixed as to whether givers target gifts to certain types of households, such as young, married couples.
How vortices mix

The advection of a passive scalar blob in the deformation field of an axisymmetric vortex is a simple mixing protocol for which the advection–diffusion problem is amenable to a near-exact description. The blob rolls up in a spiral which ultimately fades away in the diluting medium. The complete transient concentration field in the spiral is accessible from the Fourier equations in a properly chosen frame. The concentration histogram of the scalar wrapped in the spiral presents unexpected singular transient features and its long time properties are discussed in connection with real mixtures.
Decision making and the energy path towards carbon neutrality. The case of Costa Rica

Costa Rica announced its carbon neutrality by 2021; however, the real challenge is in the implementation by means of a national sustainable energy strategy. The possibilities to reach 100 percent of electricity generation expanding hydropower appears as the “dominant” solution, however this approach entails environmental problems and social conflicts that compromise sustainability in the long term. Alternatively, the strategy consisting in a higher diversification of renewable energy sources, i.e. with a relevant role of solar energy, remains relegated. Even though, some alternative technologies have been introduced in Costa Rica forty years ago, they still play a marginal role in the national strategy for climate change. Within the country energy mix, hydropower is widely used by public and private energy generators. This does not imply that all actors are expecting non-conventional technologies to become the sole or dominant provider of electricity. Nevertheless, sustainability and long term planning entail increasing the share of other renewable sources in future energy policies and strategies. In this sense, the following questions emerge: what kind of dilemmas stands before the national energy system today and how to create a path based upon alternative renewable sources in order to reach 100 percent renewable electricity generation, foreseeing carbon neutrality by 2021. There is a wide range of explanations in this respect that could be clustered in two groups: governance and people. First, a change in the energy route is a matter of governance with the number of challenges it entails. Second, energy developments are also a matter of strategic actions, from people or actors, oriented to strengthening the position of e.g. solar power into the national energy mix. To be able to answer these questions, a set of theories and approaches will be used from Agency, Governance and Path-dependence frameworks.
MONITORING OF RAILROAD PARTS FOR THE PRESENCE OF AN OBJECTS ON THE RAILS

The problems of wavelet-based data and image fusion design for on-board control equipment of the locomotive are highlighted. Development of a new algorithmic supply for the locomotive on-board hardware to process images obtained in different spectrum sub bands to create a fused image of high quality is required. It allows the algorithms for object detection and recognition to be efficiently applied to the fused image. Paper describes some our methods to the fusion of multispectral images, which are degraded not only by bad weather conditions, but also the internal noise of the sensors. The results of modeling and comparison are presented.
GMOs: Brazil's export competitiveness and new forms of coordination

This article compares Brazil’s export competitiveness with both the US and Argentina in the second half of the ’90 when both these latter countries had widely adopted transgenic crops, particularly in the case of soja and to a lesser extent for corn. It demonstrates that even without using GMOs, Brazil increased its international market share and showed itself competitive in both yields and costs. A review of the available literature further shows that there is no conclusive evidence of the benefits to be derived from this first generation of GMOs. These conclusions suggest that, rather than lobbying for the use of GMOs, Brazil should focus on impact studies and the development of segregation and identity preservation systems which would permit co-existence between GMO, conventional and organic production systems.
Genetic Fidelity in Micropropagated Plantlets of Pimpinella tirupatiensis-an Endemic and Threatened Medicinal Plant Using RAPD and ISSR Markers

Tissue cultured Pimpinella tirupatiensis plantlets were subjected to assessment of genetic stability considering the fact that associated in vitro stress might result in breakdown of control mechanism causing instability of the genome. We have used two DNA based molecular markers to assess the genetic fidelity of in vitro regenerated Pimpinella tirupatiensis through shoot tip from in vitro raised seedlings. The shoot tips upon transfer to MS medium containing different concentrations and combinations of 6- benzyl aminopurine (BAP) kinetin (KN), 2- isopentyl adenine (2- ip), α- napthalene acetic acid (NAA) and indole 3- acetic acid (IAA). The best morphogenic response was observed on MS medium fortified with BA (13.31 µM) and NAA (2.69 µM) which exhibited the highest regeneration frequency (90%), the maximum number of shoots/explants (6.50 ± 0.91) and shoot length (3.20 ± 0.20) within 5 weeks. Rooting was achieved within 15 days of shoot implantation on ½ strength MS media fortified with BAP (13.31 µM) and IBA (9.8 µM). The rooted plantlets were successfully acclimatized with 85% survival rate. Out of 20 RAPD and 3 ISSR primers screened, only 6 random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and all three inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) primers produced clear reproducible and scorable bands. All banding profiles from micropropagated plants were monomorphic and similar to the mother plant indicating an absence of noticeable genetic variation in the regenerated plantlets. This study is of high significance as these could be commercially utilized for large scale production of true-to-type plantlets in Pimpinella tirupatiensis .