Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preparation and characterization of ibuprofen-loaded alginate microspheres using ethylenediamine as a crosslinker

SUMMARY In this study, ionotropic gelation method was used for the preparation of ibuprofen-loadedcalcium alginate (CALG) and ethylenediamine (EDA) treated calcium alginate (EDA-CALG)microspheres. The effect of EDA-treatment on drug entrapment efficiency, particle size, morphology,swelling behavior and in vitro release characteristics of the microspheres was investigated byvarying its concentration from 0.5 to 2% (v/v). The reduction in drug entrapment efficiency by amaximum of 44.60% was noted for EDA-CALG microspheres compared to untreated CALGmicrospheres. The particle size and swelling index of EDA-CALG microspheres were reducedwith increasing EDA concentration. All the microspheres were observed to retain their sphericalshapes with rough surfaces. EDA-CALG microspheres prepared using 1% and 2% v/v EDA,released almost all of its content within 7 h in pH 6.8 phosphate buffer, however, CALGmicrospheres were found to release the same within 3 h. The intensity of melting endothermic peak ofibuprofen reduced significantly at lower drug load as experienced from DSC thermograms. The FT-IRspectrum of pure ibuprofen, ibuprofen-loaded CALG and EDA-CALG microspheres showed thecharacteristic band of C = O stretching vibration of ibuprofen. Hence, this study revealed thatEDA can be employed for the preparation of ibuprofen-loaded CALG microspheres to retard thedrug release to some extent.Key words: Ibuprofen; Alginate; Ethylenediamine; Microspheres; Ionotropic gelation
Improved Anticancer Effects on Various Cancers with Combinations of Chemotherapeutic Drugs or Vitamin C and D-Fraction

Although chemotherapy is one of several therapeutic options for cancer patients, the outcomes have been less satisfactory with palpable side effects in many cases. To help improve the efficacy of chemotherapy, we examined whether D-fraction (DF), a bioactive mushroom extract, would potentiate anticancer effects of those drugs in vitro. Seven types of cancer cell lines, including breast, lung, stomach, colon, prostate, bladder, and kidney cancers, were tested with various chemotherapeutic drugs and their combinations with DF. Compared to individual drugs alone, combinations of those drugs and DF have indeed improved anticancer activity, resulting in the significant (p 0.05) cell viability reduction in all cancer cells. As vitamin C (VC) has been insinuated to potentiate bioactivity of DF, combination of DF (300 μg/ml) and VC (200 μM) was also examined. Such studies showed that DF/VC combination led to the drastic (≥90%) viability reductions in 6 cancer cells and the 70% reduction in 1 cancer cell type. These results were superior to those from combinations of drugs and DF. To assess if such a profound cell viability reduction by DF/VC combination might be attributed to apoptosis, this possibility was tested by Western blots. Analyses revealed that anti-apoptotic bcl-2 was down-regulated while pro-apoptotic Bax was up-regulated with DF/VC combination, indicating induction of apoptosis. It is plausible that DF/VC combination may induce apoptosis, resulting in the severe cell viability reduction. Therefore, DF may have a great potential as an adjuvant agent that can be combined with chemotherapeutic drugs or with VC for the improved treatment of various human malignancies.
Historical Film: A Critical Introduction

List of Illustrations Acknowledgement Introduction: Film and the Invention of History Chapter One: What is Historical Cinema? Chapter Two: Detail, Authenticity and the Uses of the Past Chapter Three: Hollywood Historical Cinema up to WWII Chapter Four: The Age of Epics Chapter Five: New Hollywood, New Histories Chapter Six: Spectacle, Technology and Aesthetics Chapter Seven: Prestige, Education and Cultural Value Conclusion: The Role of the Historian Annotated Guide to Further Reading Bibliography Filmography Index
Movement fluidity of the impaired arm during stroke rehabilitation

We present an initial study on the measure of movement fluidity of the upper arm for 4 stroke patients for a duration of 3 weeks as they performed an archetypal activity of daily living – ‘making-a-cup-of-tea’ in an uncontrolled environment. Results of two complimenting measures – jerk metric and peak number computed from accelerometer data on the wrist are in agreement with the clinical scores from the Box and Block test and the Nine Hole Peg test
A Distributed Information Retrieval Strategy Based on Route Marking

By analysing the flooding strategy which is usually used in the distributed information retrieval, we found that the strategy is easy to duplicate retransmission with the same message, which results in a lot of redundant communication, and causes network congestion.The paper proposed a retrieval strategy to improve the flooding algorithm and demonstrated the avalidity of the strategy through theoretical analysis. Finally,it carries on the comparison of two kinds of strategy analysis with examples, and proves the effectiveness of the latter by theoretical derivation.
Mussel zonation in New Zealand: an integrative eco-physiological approach

Environmental stress and productivity models for community dynamics assume that the ecological responses of species are based on sub-organismal (physiological, cellular, molecular) mechanisms. Early tests of these models did not incorporate evaluation of physiological responses. Advances in remote sensing and molecular biology now allow more mechanistic and integrative approaches. In this study, we employed between-zone translocation experiments to test the effects of environmental stress and feeding time on the zonation of 2 species of mussel on rocky shores in New Zealand. Response variables were survival, shell growth, relative tissue mass, and short-term capac- ity for protein synthesis (indexed by RNA:DNA ratios). We predicted that the ecological and physio- logical performance of both mussels should increase with depth on the vertical tidal axis, but that the low-zone-dominant Perna canaliculus should perform relatively better than the mid-zone-dominant Mytilus galloprovincialis lower on the shore and at the more wave-exposed site. In contrast, we pre- dicted that mid-zone-dominant M. galloprovincialis should perform relatively better than P. canali- culus higher on the shore and at the less wave-exposed site. Collectively, the ecological and mole- cular responses supported many, but not all of our predictions. As expected, P. canaliculus out- performed M. galloprovincialis in the more wave-swept and lower shore habitats, and showed lower tolerance of the stressful conditions that prevail higher on the shore, suggesting that the zonation pat- tern was based on differential responses to stress and food environments.
Made You Listen

Abstract This experiment tested an intuitive principle in the radio industry: that production effects (i.e., laser sounds, voice modulation, etc.) increase listener attention to messages. Professional voice talent created 5-10 second promotional announcements (promos) for nine fictitious stations. Each contained a slogan considered typical of industry practices (“Channel 97 WRRK—The Classic Rock Station”). Three of the promos were produced as announcer only, three with laser effects, and three with an echo effect. The promos systematically alternated between 2-minute segments of talk show content to resemble typical broadcast programming. Heart rate data were collected, time locked to the media presentation, from 62 participants as they listened to the stimulus. Afterwards, recognition data were collected. Results show cardiac deceleration following production effects, indicative of automatic allocation of attention. Memory data show an expected increase in recognition for information in the promos containing production effects, although not all memory tests reach statistical significance.
An Investigation of Off-Design Operation in High Suction Performance Inducers

An Investigation of Off-Design Operation in High Suction Performance Inducers Ryan Collins Cluff Department of Mechanical Engineering, BYU Master of Science Three-dimensional two-phase unsteady CFD simulations were run on three and four-blade inducers for the purpose of analyzing differences in cavitation stability at design and off-design flow rates. At design flow rates, there were very small differences between the breakdown curves for the three and four-bladed inducers. However, at lower cavitation numbers, the three-bladed inducer exhibited up to three times the rotor forces than the four-bladed inducer. When moving to off-design flow rates, both inducers experienced multiple modes of cavitation instabilities including rotating cavitation, alternate-blade cavitation, and cavitation surge. The four-bladed inducer began experiencing the formation of these modes of instability beginning at a cavitation number of σ = 0.047 whereas the three-bladed inducer began at a cavitation number of σ = 0.091. Additionally, the three-bladed inducer showed rotor forces up to ten times higher than the four-bladed inducer at similar cavitation numbers. Three-dimensional single-phase steady CFD simulations were run on four-blade inducer geometries with 7◦, 9◦, 11◦ and 14◦ inlet tip blade angles with a stability control device (SCD) installed. The simulations were ran at multiple flow coefficients. Results show interesting flow effects from the SCD. For example, at lower flow coefficients, the incidence angle actually decreases at greater than 70% span. This is due to a region of accelerated axial flow coming from the recirculation of the SCD which occurs near the shroud. Results also show strong correlations between efficiency and head rise to the local mass flow gain experienced due to the recirculating flow through the SCD. A best fit curve was generated to predict mass flow gain based on the inducer’s inlet tip blade angle and flow coefficient. Based on this research, the ability to predict mass flow gain and consequently efficiency and head rise for similarly designed inducers with varying inlet blade angles has been demonstrated.
SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION OF ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF SOME NOVEL SUBSTITUTED L-ARGININE ANALOGUES

Objective: The present objective of the study is to synthesize a series of novel L-arginine analogues and to evaluate for their anti-inflammatory activity by rat paw oedema method. Methods: A series of novel L-arginine analogues (Compounds 1 - 11) were synthesized. The purity of the synthesized compounds has been characterized by various analytical techniques such as UV, FTIR and TLC. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity by carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema model using ibuprofen as the standard drug for comparing the test results. Results and Conclusion: The study concluded that the compounds 4 and 11 were found to exhibit significant anti-inflammatory action.
Galaxy Evolution Explorer Observations of the Ultraviolet Surface Brightness and Color Profiles of the Local Group Elliptical Galaxy M32 (NGC 221)

M32, the compact elliptical galaxy companion to the Andromeda spiral galaxy, has been imaged by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) in two UV bands, centered at ~1500 (far-ultraviolet [FUV]) and 2300 Å (near-ultraviolet). The imaging data have been carefully decomposed so as to properly account for the complicated background contamination from the disk of M31. We have derived the surface brightness and color profiles finding a slightly positive color gradient of Δ(FUV-B)/Δ log r = +0.15 ± 0.03 within one effective radius. Earlier data from the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope suggested that M32 had an extremely large (negative) FUV-optical color gradient [Δ(FUV-B)/Δ log r < -2], inverted with respect to the majority of gradients seen in giant elliptical galaxies. Our new results show that despite its very low UV upturn, M32 has similar UV properties to those observed in luminous elliptical galaxies.
Kinship and sociality in coastal river otters: are they related?

Previous studies of coastal river otters (Lontra canadensis) in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, documented atypical social organization for mammals. Social groups were composed largely of males, but some males remained solitary year-round and most females were asocial. Because, in carnivores, groups are usually composed of highly related individuals but group living also provides advantages unrelated to kinship, we concurrently evaluated the role of relatedness and ecological benefits in sociality among coastal river otters. By using DNA microsatellite analysis and radiotelemetry, we were able to reject the hypothesis that social groups of otters were kin based. In addition, we found no indication of kin avoidance, as would be expected from low dispersal and high local competition. Sociality conferred no reproductive benefits or costs to otters; number of offspring and number of relatives in the population did not differ between social and solitary animals. Solitary males were not older or larger than were social males, and there was no relation between male size and number of offspring, indicating that sexual selection did not mask a potential relation between sociality and reproductive success. Among coastal river otters in this region, sociality could be explained by the benefits obtained from cooperative foraging on high-quality schooling pelagic fishes. Such benefits did not require association with kin, resulting in no selection pressure for kin-based groups. The prediction that the degree of sociality in the population will fluctuate relative to the abundance of schooling pelagic fishes merits further investigation. Copyright 2004.
The evolved asymptotic giant branch stars in the central bar of the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822

Images of ${\it JHK}$ and ${\it gi}$ obtained with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope are used to investigate the stellar contents of the resolved asymptotic giant branch (AGB) population in the area of $3\farcm6\times6\farcm3$ on the central bar of the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822. The upper envelope of near-infrared $(J-K,K)$ and $(H-K,K)$ color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) shows four components of main-sequence stars, foreground stars, massive supergiants, and AGB stars. These components are also noticeable in the bright part of $(g-i,g)$ CMD. We select AGB stars in NGC 6822 from the $(g-K,g)$ CMD, which has a long spectral wavelength base line in the color index. There are 141 C stars with a mean absolute magnitude of $\langle M_{K}\rangle=-7.60\pm0.50$, and with mean colors of $\langle (J-K)_{0}\rangle=1.77\pm0.41$, and $\langle (H-K)_{0}\rangle=0.75\pm0.28$. The number ratio of C stars to M-giants (C/M) is estimated as $0.27\pm0.03$, while the northern part of the bar has a somewhat lower C/M ratio than the southern part. The $(J-K)$ and $(H-K)$ color distributions of AGB stars contain a main peak of M-giant stars and a red tail of C stars. The broad color distributions for M-giants indicate that NGC 6822 has a wide range of intermediate ages with a peak at log$(t_{\rm yr})\sim9.0$. The M K luminosity function (LF) for C stars in the central bar of NGC 6822 is likely to be a Gaussian distribution, while the LF of C stars in the southern part is slightly skewed to the brighter side than in northern part. The mean bolometric magnitude of 141 C stars in NGC 6822 is $\langle M_{\rm bol}\rangle=-4.36\pm0.54$. The bolometric LF for M-giants extends up to $M_{\rm bol}=-6.5$, while the one for C stars spans $-5.8
Reduced reference blockiness and blurriness meter for image quality assessment

Abstract This research work demonstrates an image quality assessment meter (IQAM) in reduced reference (RR) mode for discrete cosine transform (DCT) based compressed images. The DCT based image compression technique is lossy. As a result, it introduces blockiness and blurriness artefacts in the coded image. To send the image in image transmission systems, the system bandwidth is limited, and image data need to be adapted accordingly. To determine the quality of image at the recipient end, fewer image parameters are sent rather than the complete reference image. The aim of this paper is to suggest a method for the receiver to evaluate the objective received image quality. The presented RR quality meter operates in the frequency domain for the estimation of artefacts in the compressed image. The quality meter takes the image, performs edge detection, transforms it into the frequency domain and estimates the harmonics. The estimated strength of harmonics in the compressed image is compared with the received RR parameter for blockiness and blurriness distortions. For improved quality judgment, the combined effect of both these artefacts is measured as well. Peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) is another most familiar method of image quality assessment. The received image quality is also observed by measuring the PSNR. The objective values of the artefacts obtained by the designed RR IQAM algorithm are correlated with the subjective differential mean opinion scores (DMOS) blockiness and blurriness values of Laboratory for Image and Video Engineering (LIVE) image database2. The results obtained are well matched and give 93–94% correlation with the LIVE database values, whereas the correlation obtained by PSNR values with LIVE DMOS values is only around 70%. This proves the practical application of the designed IQAM in RR.
HANDBOOK OF KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION

Includes new chapters on the Allocation of Deceased Donor Organs and Kidney Transplantation in the Developing World, as well as expanded chapters on living donation and immunosuppressive drugs and protocols. Outlines the major concerns surrounding renal transplantation and the most successful approaches to problems arising in short-term and long-term patient care. Covers immunobiology and immunosuppression, as well as surgery, histocompatibility, and short and long-term follow-up.
Fouille de documents et d'opinions multilingue

L’objectif de cette these est d’etudier les sentiments dans les documents comparables. Premierement, nous avons recueillis des corpus comparables en anglais, francais et arabe de Wikipedia et d’Euronews, et nous avons aligne ces corpus au niveau document. Nous avons en plus collecte des documents d’informations des agences de presse locales et etrangeres dans les langues anglaise et arabe. Les documents en anglais ont ete recueillis du site de la BBC, ceux en arabe du site d’Al-Jazzera. Deuxiemement, nous avons presente une mesure de similarite cross-linguistique des documents dans le but de recuperer et aligner automatiquement les documents comparables. Ensuite, nous avons propose une methode d’annotation cross-linguistique en termes de sentiments, afin d’etiqueter les documents source et cible avec des sentiments. Enfin, nous avons utilise des mesures statistiques pour comparer l’accord des sentiments entre les documents comparables source et cible. Les methodes presentees dans cette these ne dependent pas d’une paire de langue bien determinee, elles peuvent etre appliquees sur toute autre couple de langue
Predicting the extent of discontinuous permafrost and affiliated ground water aquifers

Hydrocarbon spills at a former tank farm on Fort Wainwright, near Fairbanks Alaska, required a delineation of the contaminant pathways in aquifers within discontinuous permafrost. Ground water flow is com- plicated by large, irregularly shaped and impermeable bodies of frozen alluvial sediment that create aquifers that are of irregular dimension and hydraulically interconnected above and below the permafrost. Both natural and anthropogenic disturbances form isolated or interconnected unfrozen zones, further complicating the potential patterns of ground water flow and contaminant migration. Geophysical investigations coupled with borehole geo- logic information provide the basic data on the configuration and dimensions of the active layer, suprapermafrost and subpermafrost aquifers, and the perennially frozen materials. These data were synthesized in a three-dimensional model of the permafrost and aquifer distributions using the software "EarthVision". This model is the geologic framework for on-going site characterization and contaminant remediation.
BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT APPLICATION OF MODERN MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

Today, globally operating business world is exposed to constant change processes. Reengineering is the driving force that helps companies, business and manufacturing organizations to achieve success in the new millennium that is full of challenges, risks, information explosion, Internet communications, teleconferencing and global competition. Therefore, effective business strategy, well-trained management personnel, financial - tech resources (IT), management skills and the skills and flexibility (responsiveness) are essential for success in business. Market conditions will be created by people who will decide on the changes, plans and projects, organizational culture, new challenges to create value that can be sold (goods and services) and how to define where consumers expect to buy. In this paper, attention is concentrated on the three most important methods and techniques for strategic business changes, observed through the application re-engineering, including self-assessment, teamwork and benchmarking.
Aspect Oriented Software Architecture

— Natural language processing systems pose a unique challenge for software architectural design as system complexity has increased continually and systems cannot be easily constructed from loosely coupled modules. Lexical, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of linguistic information are tightly coupled in a manner that requires separation of concerns in a special way in design, implementation and maintenance. An aspect oriented software architecture is proposed in this paper after critically reviewing relevant architectural issues. For the purpose of this paper, the syntactic aspect is characterized by an augmented context-free grammar. The semantic aspect is composed of multiple perspectives including denotational, operational, axiomatic and case frame approaches. Case frame semantics matured in India from deep thematic analysis. It is argued that lexical, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic aspects work together in a mutually dependent way and their synergy is best represented in the aspect oriented approach. The software architecture is presented with an augmented Unified Modeling Language.
The validity of vignettes in cross country health studies

Cross-country comparisons of subjective assessments may be ham- pered by sub-population speci…c response style. To correct for this, the use of vignettes has become increasingly popular - notably within cross- country health studies. However, the validity of vignettes as a means to re-scale across sample sub-populations critically rests on the assump- tion of "response consistency" (RC): vignettes and self-assessments are evaluated on the same scale. In this paper we seek to test this as- sumption by using objective measures of health along with subjective measures and vignettes. Our results indicate that the assumption of RC is not innocous and that our extended model improves the …t and signi…cantly changes the cross-country rankings of health vis-a-vis the standard Chopit model.